AND 
 
 ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD, 
 
 BEING 
 
 A GUIDE TO THE LYNN & HUNSTANTON 
 RAILWAY LINE. 
 
 0-0 
 
 SECOND EDITION, 
 
 WITH ADDITIONS. 
 
 LYNN : THEW & SON. 
 1867. 
 
TO OUR SUMMER VISITORS, 
 
 THIS BOOK, 
 DESIGNED FOR THEIR USE, 
 
 IS INSCRIBED BY 
 THEIR OBEDIENT SERVANT, 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 This little book was originally written by the late Philip 
 Wilson, Esq., with especial reference to the then newly-opened 
 Lynn and Hunstanton line of railway. The West Norfolk 
 (Heacham and Wells) line has since been brought into operation, 
 and a few additions have been made to the work to suit it to 
 this altered state of circumstances. 
 
 Lynn, May, 1867. 
 
 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 My object, in writing and compiling this small book, has been 
 to be useful rather than original. I have therefore made copious 
 use of all the extant topographical works within my reach relat- 
 ing to the district. Besides drawing largely on Blomefleld's 
 History of Norfolk, I have to acknowledge my obligations to 
 Taylor's Antiquities of Lynn, White's History of Norfolk, Mr. 
 Harrod's Castles and Abbeys of Norfolk, and the Rev. J. H. 
 Bloom's History of Castleacre. 
 
 I have especially to thank the Rev. George Munford, of East 
 Winch, for the use of his manuscript on the Natural History of 
 Hunstanton, and regret that so careful and interesting a work is 
 not presented to the public in a more complete form. 
 
 It may be thought that my chapters upon Houghton and 
 Rainham are somewhat out of proportion to the rest of the book, 
 but it occurred to me that many a visitor might like to learn on 
 the spot what manner of spirits haunted those splendid mansions 
 in the days of their grandeur, and I shall rejoice if any shall find 
 as much pleasure in reading them as I had in writing them. 
 Since this book was printed, an Act of Parliament has been 
 obtained for an extension of the Hunstanton line of Railway, 
 from Heacham, by way of Docking and Burnham, to Wells ; and 
 rumour speaks of still further extensions along the Coast of 
 Norfolk, to nobody knows where. 
 
 Lynn, 1st July, 1864. 
 
 P. W, 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 King's Lynn 
 
 Gaywood f , 
 
 South Wootton 
 
 North Wootton 
 
 Castle Rising 
 
 Wolferton , 
 
 Sandringham 
 
 Baton gley .. 
 
 Dersingham 
 
 Snettisham , 
 
 Ingoldisthorpe 
 
 Heacham 
 
 Hunstanton ., 
 
 Ringstead , 
 
 Holme-next-the-Sea > 
 
 Brancaster 
 
 Sedgeford , 
 
 Docking , 
 
 The Burnhams ... . 
 Holkham ... ... 
 
 Wells 
 
 Houghton , 
 
 Rainham 
 
 Castleacre 
 
 Page 1 
 
 ... 9 
 
 ... 10 
 
 ... 11 
 
 ... 12 
 
 ... 15 
 
 ... 17 
 
 ... 20 
 
 ... 20 
 
 ... 21 
 
 ... 23 
 
 ... 23 
 
 .. 24 
 
 ... 38 
 
 ... 38 
 
 ... 39 
 
 ... 40 
 
 ... 40 
 41 
 
 ... 44 
 
 ... 45 
 
 ... 46 
 
 ... 63 
 
 .* 71 
 
KING'S LYNN. 
 
 "The ancient borough of King's Lynn was formerly called 
 " Lin-Episcopi or Bishop's Linn, until the time of Henry VIII., 
 "it being then the possession of the Bishop of Norwich. But 
 " that king exchanging the monastery and revenue of the bishop- 
 " rick, this town came into the hands of the king, and so hath 
 "with its possession changed its name to King's Lynn." — 
 Mackerell. 
 
 It stands on the mouth of the great Ouse, and was formerly 
 fortified. Parts of the ancient wall still remain, and may be seen 
 on the public walks. 
 
 It lies along the east side of the river, and before the invention 
 of railways enjoyed the almost exclusive advantage of supplying 
 Peterborough, Ely, Stamford, Bedford, St. Neot's, St. Ives, Hunt- 
 ingdon, Northampton, Cambridge, Bury St. Edmund's and Thet- 
 ford with deals, coals, wine and all the heavier articles of com- 
 merce. These places being now enabled by means of railways 
 to draw their supplies from other parts of the country, the com- 
 merce of the town has suffered very severely ; while at the same 
 time, by means, firstly, of the Eau Brink Drainage, and subse- 
 quently of the Norfolk Estuary Cut, the navigation of the river 
 and the accommodation in the harbour have been greatly 
 improved. 
 
 It is not easy to see how this severe commercial loss can ever 
 be compensated; but the prophets are not all prophets of evil, 
 and there are persons of great local knowledge and experience 
 who predict that the commanding situation of the town, together 
 with the excellence of the harbour and navigation must sooner 
 or later create a revival of its ancient commercial prosperity. It 
 still remains the great mart of trade for the agriculturists of 
 West Norfolk, and its corn and cattle markets have increased 
 in importance during the last few years. 
 
 The visitor having arrived at the Railway Station, we shall be 
 happy to direct his steps, so that, without loss of time, he may 
 see what is most deserving his attention. 
 
king's vzks. 
 
 Close to the Railway Station he will find the modern district 
 church of St. John, of which the Rev. John Fernie is vicar. For 
 this beautiful church the borough is greatly indebted to the late 
 Mr. Motteux, of Sandringham Hall. While his house at Sand- 
 ringham was being repaired, this gentleman took up his tem- 
 porary residence at Lynn, and going one Sunday to St. Nicholas' 
 church, seated himself in a vacant pew. H e had not been there 
 long before the family to whom the pew belonged arrived, and 
 Mr. Motteux was obliged to seek another, which was attended 
 with the same result. This led him to make some enquiry 
 relative to the church accommodation in Lynn, which resulted 
 in his giving £1000, which he afterwards increased to £1500, 
 towards the erection of a new church with free sittings. The 
 remaining funds were contributed in part by the Corporation, in 
 part by voluntary contributions, and in part by the Church 
 Building and other societies. 
 
 The architect was Mr. Salvin, and the style is Early English. 
 On entering the church, — which consists of a nave, two aisles 
 and a chancel, — the effect is imposing. The windows, being 
 small, admit no more than "a dim religious light,' 7 and the dim- 
 ness is somewhat increased by the elegant stained east window, 
 which was executed by Mr. Wailes. 
 
 Leaving St. John's church, the visitor should pass through the 
 gate to the right, leading to the public walks, of which the in- 
 habitants are justly proud. This will conduct him at once to 
 
 The Red Mount, or Lady's Mount, upon which is a beautiful 
 small chapel, erected (as appears by the Corporation records) 
 in 1482, during the mayoralty of Thomas Thoresby. "This 
 "religious place," says Mackerell, "was a receptacle for the 
 " pilgrims, who took this in their way, to say their orisons at, 
 " as they travelled along towards that sometime famous and 
 " celebrated priory or convent of our Lady at Walsingham, a 
 " village so much renowned all over England for pilgrimages to 
 " the Virgin Mary, that he who had not in that age visited and 
 " presented with offerings was accounted irreligious." 
 
 The beautiful groined roof of this small chapel, with its fan 
 tracery springing from slender columns, has long been the ad- 
 miration of all artists and architects. It is, so far as we know, 
 unique in this country, but at Amboise, in the South of France, 
 the traveller may see one of a sim/lar construction dedicated to 
 St. Hubert. It is somewhat larger, and even more beautiful 
 than Our Lady's Chapel ; and we are ashamed to add that it is 
 far better cared for than our own elegant relique. By the exer- 
 tions of the late Rev. Edward Edwards and the Rev. Edward 
 Blencowe, this chapel was repaired in 1828. It is now again 
 taking injury from neglect, and we trust that the burgesses of 
 Lynn will yet again avert its ruin by timely attention. A more 
 
3 
 
 minute but partly conjectural account of this chapel will be 
 found in " Taylor's Antiquities of Lynn." 
 
 Immediately on leaving the Red Mount, the visitor, proceed- 
 ing along the public walks, will pass on his left an old arch, for- 
 merly a postern gate, forming part of the borough wall. Age 
 and ivy have given it a venerable appearance, otherwise it would 
 have but slight claims on a traveller's attention. 
 
 A little onward he will pass under a picturesque group of trees 
 called the " Seven Sisters," from which he will see on his right 
 the West Norfolk and Lynn Hospital, and, beyond, the towers 
 of St. Margaret's church, and on his left the new Union house, 
 which from its mass, the good style of its architecture, and its 
 variety of form and elevation, is worthy of notice. 
 
 Leaving the walks, a causeway planted with beeches called 
 the Guanock Terrace will conduct the visitor to 
 
 The South Gate. — This gate is built upon the site of an 
 earlier one, and is a work of the 15th century. From the Cor- 
 poration records, it appears that in 1437 (the reign of Henry 
 VI.) the old gate and bridge were in a state of decay, and an 
 order was made for re-building them. 
 
 Some of our worthy burgesses, having more feeling for the 
 present than the past, have advocated their removal, as they 
 sometimes cause a momentary obstruction to traffic ; but we 
 trust they may long remain, partly for the sake of their beautiful 
 proportions and partly as silent witnesses to the ancient strength 
 and importance of the borough. 
 
 These gates stand in the parish of South Lynn, otherwise All 
 Saints ; and, time permitting, a visit to the church of All Saints 
 may be worth the while. This church consists of a nave with 
 aisles, transepts and a chancel. 
 
 Mr. Taylor, in his " Antiquities of Lynn," informs us that the 
 exterior of the building, which was originally a good design, has 
 lost much of its beauty through the falling of the tower, the de- 
 molition of the porch and the removal of the crosses from the 
 gables. Since Mr. Taylor published his work, both the exterior 
 and the interior of the church have been thoroughly repaired, 
 under the direction of Mr. Brown, of Norwich, the funds for 
 which were raised mainly by the exertions of the Rev. William 
 Leeper, the present vicar. 
 
 The Greyfriars' Tower.— Regaining the modern street called 
 London Road, we shall reach the Greyfriars' Tower, one of the 
 most interesting antiquities of the borough. It consists of a 
 lofty hexagonal tower, built of red brick and stone and supported 
 by four piers with finely turned arches, which once formed the 
 centre of a cruciform church. There is a staircase in a turret on 
 the north side, by which the visitor can ascend the tower and 
 obtain a very pleasing view of the town, the harbour and the 
 1 
 
4 
 
 KING'S fcYNff, 
 
 surrounding country. It stands in what is now the garden of the 
 Rev. Thos. White, the head master of the Grammar School, 
 which is on the opposite side of the street. To the traveller this 
 school may have a sinister kind of interest from the fact that 
 here Eugene Aram was under-master at the time he was appre- 
 hended for the murder of one Clarke at Knaresborough. The 
 crime for which Aram suffered would long ere this have been 
 forgotten but for the ingenuity, the eloquence and the learning of 
 his defence; and a factitious kind of interest has in our own day 
 been conferred upon the unhappy murderer by the interesting 
 fiction of Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton. 
 
 The old tower is all that is left of the Greyfriars' monastery ; 
 and the place of the monks who wore away a monotonous life 
 therein is now supplied by about half a dozen jackdaws, who 
 daily assemble there for the transaction of business. 
 
 Proceeding along St. James's street to the Saturday Market 
 place, on the right may be noticed the new Savings Bank, the 
 front of which, in the Tudor style, is an ornament to the street ; 
 and a few steps further on will bring us to the Saturday Marxet 
 place, on which stand the principal church of the town, dedicated 
 to St. Margaret. 
 
 St. Margaret's Church.— This church was founded by 
 Herbert, Bishop of Norwich, in the reign of William Kufus, and 
 its present condition shews it to have undergone many changes. 
 The first thing that will strike the visitor in approaching it will 
 be the butchers' shambles, with the billiard and reading rooms, 
 adhering to it, an unsightly excrescence much to be regretted. 
 It was built there at a time when church architecture was at a 
 low ebb, and being there, it is more easy to deplore it than re- 
 move it. Our regret may be somewhat diminished by the fact 
 that it conceals no architectural beauty. The nave and aisles 
 were destroyed by the fall of the spire from the south-west tower 
 in the gale of the 8th of September, 1741, and were re-built in 
 1742 in a style which reminds us of the Georgian era. The roof 
 of the nave is a beautiful piece of plasterer's work, out o fits 
 place. The visitor may, however, form a fair judgment of the 
 original design from the chancel, which shews the main body of 
 the church to have been at the period of this accident of Late 
 Perpendicular style, but the base of the south-west tower ex- 
 hibits good specimens of Norman and Early English work. 
 
 Within the chancel is a very large and handsome brass monu- 
 ment, in memory of Robert Braunche and his two wives, Letitia 
 and Margaret. At the bottom of the monument is represented 
 the feast of the peacocks, in which are seen attendants bearing 
 dishes with peacocks in their plumes, preceded by musicians 
 with trumpets, &c. This is said to represent a banquet given by 
 Braunche, during his mayoralty, to King Edward III., who is 
 
king's Miter. 
 
 5 
 
 known to have visited Lynn about that period. The date of 
 
 Braunche's death is 1364. Near this monument is another of 
 similar dimensions, in memory of Adamde Walsoken, of the date 
 1349. On this monument is represented a vintage harvest, with 
 numerous figures engaged in gathering grapes from the vines ; one 
 female figure is borne in triumph on the shoulders of attendants 
 through standing corn towards a windmill. In niches at the 
 sides are figures representing saints and martyrs. 
 
 On the south side of the church will be found a library, which 
 contains some good editions of the classics, the Latin Fathers and 
 the old English divines. 
 
 Mr. Taylor observes that " although shorn of its pristine 
 " beauty, this church exhibits in its details work of various 
 " periods and styles of architecture. Of the Norman style, which 
 " prevailed to the end of the reign of Henry II. in 1189, we have 
 " examples at the west end, especially in the south-west tower. 
 "Of the Early English, or pointed style, we have a display in 
 " the choir, and formerly had in the nave ; this style lasted to 
 " the end of the reign of Edward I. in 1307. Of the Decorated 
 " style, which reached the end of the reign of Edward III. in 
 " 1377, are the carved screens and stalls in the chancel. Of the 
 " Perpendicular style of the 15th century we have a fine specimsn 
 " in the north-west tower, and the windows of the choir are of 
 " the same period." 
 
 The Chapel of St. JonN. — Mr. Taylor observes that where 
 the butchers' shambles now stand, once stood, and that within the 
 memory of persons yet living, a beautiful chapel which must 
 have added much to the picturesque effect of the general view 
 of St. Margaret's Church. The Rev. E. Edwards, among 
 many other interesting sketches of Lynn in by-gone times, has 
 fortunately preserved a drawing of this building, from which we 
 learn that it was an elegant specimen, in the decorated style of 
 the 1 4th century, with lofty gables, rich east window, turrets 
 and pinnacles at the angles, and a central lantern. The base- 
 ment story was a charnel-house ; the superstructure, a chapel 
 where daily mass was sung for the repose of the dead. The 
 town records furnish manv entries relative to the appointment 
 of Charnel Priests. The Will of Thomas Thoresby, dated 1510, 
 explains minutely part of the duties of this office ; the following 
 is an extract from it : 
 
 " Item— I will that when Sir Thomas Grant, now being charnel priest in Lynn, 
 do leave the same service, and Sir Robert Burgh, priest, come into the same 
 service, and the same Sir Robert do teach and learn two children freely at 
 grammar and song, sufficiently to maintain the choir in St. Margaret's church, in 
 Lynne, in divine service, then I will immediately that the same Sir Robert Burgh 
 shall enter into the said service, that my lands lying in Gaywode beside Gold- 
 smith's Garden late Wynter's, which I bought of the executors of one Ade, shall 
 remain in Feoffees hands to the use of the said Robert and his successors after 
 that being priests of the said charnel, upon condition that he or they that after 
 that shall be chosen into the said service, be an honest and learned priest in 
 grammar and song, sufficiently to maintain the said service in the said church as 
 
6 
 
 KING'S LYNN. 
 
 aforesaid, and so to endure for ever. And for default of any of the said priests 
 made in teaching of the said six children freely as above written, contrary to this 
 my last will, then I will that my right heir or heirs at the time being, shall euter 
 into tha said lan*s to have to them and to their heirs, this gift notwithstanding. 
 — Item — I will that the charnel priest, and also the said two priests that shall sing 
 continually for mv soul, shall have their convenient chambers, in the college 
 newly by me builded in Lynn, to be assigned unto them by the master of the said 
 college for the time beins, and that they be continually in Comys in the said 
 college, and also be ordered by the orders of the said college for the time being. 
 
 In after times, this, with many similar foundations became 
 vested in the Crown, being considered at the time of the Refor- 
 mation as superstitious ; from that time the corporation supported 
 a grammar school at their own cost. — This was sometime con- 
 tinued in the charnel chapel, until in 1779 an order was made for 
 the demolition of the beautiful chapel of St. John, and for erecting 
 on its site the mean-looking brick-built shambles and billiard 
 room that now obstruct the best view of St. Margaret's Church. 
 
 The Town Hall. — Near to the West end of St. Margaret's 
 Church stands the Town Hall, within the walls of which are 
 three distinct establishments, namely, a Hall used as a Court of 
 Justice and for the transaction of the public business of the 
 borough, the Gaol,* and an Assembly and Card room. The part of 
 the Hall that best merits the attention of visitors is the Eliza- 
 bethan porch or entrance to the Hall. It consists of an arched 
 doorway surmounted by a large and handsome window, over 
 which may be seen the arms of Queen Elizabeth carved in stone. 
 
 It may be worth the visitor's w r hile to ask the hall-keeper 
 for admission to the assembly room, which contains a few 
 good portraits of King William III. and Queen Mary, Sir Robert 
 Walpole, Sir Benjamin Keane, the late Lord George Bentinck 
 and others. The borough was represented for several genera- 
 tions by the family of Walpole; and Horace Walpole, in one of 
 his admirable letters, gives a humourous account of his chairing 
 at his election. The town possesses no portrait of Horace 
 Walpole, which, considering the figure that he cut in the learned 
 and literary world, we think is to be regretted. The want could 
 now be easily supplied, as there is in the National Portrait 
 Gallery an original portrait of him of kitcat size, of which a 
 good copy might be had. 
 
 In the possession of the Mayor for the time being will be 
 found King John's cup, given, as it is said, by that unhappy 
 monarch to the Corporation of Lynn/ The form of this goblet 
 is of great elegance ; the enamelled compartments are ornamented 
 with figures engaged in hawking. 
 
 In the regalia of the Corporation will also be found a hand- 
 some state sword, unquestionably of great antiquity, and said to 
 be a royal gift to the Corporation. A not less curious remnant 
 of the days that are gone will be found in the ducking-stool for 
 
 * Since abolished by Act of Parliament. This portion of the premises is now 
 used for the police office and lock-up. 
 
KINO'S LYNN. 
 
 7 
 
 the punishment and cure of scolds, now kept at the Museum. 
 We learn from Mr. Taylor that the ducking-stool stood 
 at Purfleet, and the last gentlewoman who received immersion 
 there was one Hannah Clarke, who was ducked for scolding. 
 
 The charters preserved among the records of the Corporation 
 range from the 6th John to the 11th of George II. They are in a 
 good state of preservation, and some of them are of great beauty. 
 
 Passing from the Saturday Market place along Queen street 
 will be seen a venerable building, once Thoresby's college, but 
 now converted into dwelling houses. It was a college for priests, 
 founded by Thomas Thorisby, who was Mayor of the borough 
 in 1502. The richly carved door is of great beauty, and had 
 originally the following inscription : — " Orate pro anima Ma- 
 gistri Thomas Thorisby ;" but the three first words are defaced. 
 Pursuing his walk along King street to the Tuesday Market 
 place, the visitor may observe on his left the Custom-house and 
 a common looking building with a high pitched gable. This last 
 was once St. George's Hall, the property of St. George's Guild, 
 founded in the reign of Henry IV., by John Brandon, Bartholo- 
 mew Sistern and John Snailswell. Some interesting remains 
 of the original edifice may be found in the adjoining passage 
 called the Shakespeare yard. A few steps from this building 
 will bring the visitor to the Tuesday Market place, a spacious 
 square once adorned with a market cross and a statue of King 
 James II. The most interesting old building now leit in it is 
 the Duke's Head Inn, one of those large establishments whose 
 ancient glory has been affected by time and change. \ banking 
 establishment now occupies part of the old inn. The street 
 at the north-east corner of the square leads to St. Nicholas' 
 chapel, — undoubtedly, as to its interior, the most stately building 
 in the borough, and the admiration of all visitors. 
 
 St. Nicholas' Chapel.— -In our perambulation of the borough 
 we have consulted the time and convenience of the stranger, 
 leading him finally to one of the most striking churches on this 
 side the kingdom, that the impression made upon his mind may 
 be one of such beauty that he will not willingly let it die. We 
 learn from Blomefield's " Norfolk " that the Pope granted a bull 
 for the erection of this chapel during the mayoralty of Jeffery 
 Talb, in the year 1374 ; and it appears that when, some 
 few years after its erection, an attempt was made to make it a 
 separate parish church, Bishop John de Oxford decreed chat it 
 should be a chapel only and dependent on the church of St. Mar- 
 garet. The small tower at the south-west corner of the church 
 had a lofty spire, which, like the spire of St. Margaret, was 
 blown down in the gale of 1741.* Upon this tower will be seen 
 
 * An elegant spire is now being erected from the designs of Geo. Gilbert 
 Scott, Esq., R.A. 
 
8 
 
 kestg's ltnk. 
 
 some Early English work, proving it to be older than the main 
 body of the building. The south porch is a specimen of most 
 elaborate and beautiful workmanship in the Perpendicular style. 
 The building consists of three aisles, the centre one being sepa- 
 rated from those at the sides by light, lofty and elegant columns. 
 Standing on the north side of the altar rails and looking towards 
 the south-west, a noble view is obtained of the general effect of 
 the chapel, one which will not easily be forgotten. The windows 
 are in the Perpendicular style. Those at the east and west ends, 
 though of stately dimensions, are not considered to be good 
 specimens of the style ; and we remember some years ago, when 
 the Rev. Mr. Boutell gave a lecture in this chapel on the occasion 
 of the meeting of the Norfolk Archaeological Society, he praised 
 the general proportions and the stately magnitude of the building, 
 but did not consider that it presented a very favorable specimen 
 of the Perpendicular style. Pie said St. Nicholas' was a bad 
 specimen of a good style, while St. Margaret's was a good spe- 
 cimen of a bad style. 
 
 This beautiful chapel, which like most of the town churches 
 in the kingdom, was sadly disfigured by galleries and omnibus 
 pews, was restored in the year 1851 by public subscription. 
 The work was a good work, and in some respects well done ; 
 but an opinion prevails amongst those best acquainted with the 
 subject, that an opportunity was then lost, with regard both to 
 convenience and general effect, which will not soon recur. Since 
 this restoration, the fine stained glass window, by Messrs. Ward 
 and Hughes, over the altar has been inserted. The window to 
 the right of the altar, by Waddington, was erected to tliemeraon 
 of Frederick Lane, the late Town Clerk, by his family. In the 
 north aisle will be found the monument of Sir B. Keene, made of 
 stone and marble ; the design and workmanship are of an ordi- 
 nary kind, and it bears the following inscription; — 
 
 " Near this place are deposited the remains of Sir Benjamin Keene, son 
 of Charles Keene, Esq., formerly Mayor of this Corporation. He died at 
 Madrid on the 15th day of December, 1757, aged 61 years." 
 
 And on the west side, 
 
 " Sacred to the memory of Sir Benjamin Keene, Knight of the Bath, 
 Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Court of Spain. 
 
 " An able and faithful servant to his King and country. Honoured and 
 beloved at the court where he resided, valued and lamented by his Royal 
 Master, George the Second." 
 
 The Keenes appear to have been long residents in Lynn, for 
 there is a monument to an earlier Benjamin Keene, probably the 
 grandfather of the Ambassador, who is described as " mercator H 
 and having twice been Mayor of the Borough. He died in 1709. 
 
 Another of the family, of whom an engraved portrait may be 
 seen at the Guild Hall, in Lynn, was Bishop of Ely. Whether 
 he was son to Sir Benjamin 1 have not been able to ascertain, 
 
king's 
 
 8 
 
 but in the Athenoeum of the 7th March, 1863, he is spoken of as 
 Edmund Keene, who had formerly " occupied and enjoyed the 
 " see of Chester. — He was a man who had the talent of 1 securing 
 " the backstairs/ He took a living of £700 a year from Sir 
 " Robert Walpole, as the fee for marrying one of that statesman's 
 11 natural daughters ; but after he was inducted, Mr. Keene would 
 " have nothing to do with the lady." 
 
 On the wall above the monument of Sir Benjamin Keene will 
 be found a monument to Thomas Snelling, the inscription on 
 which is quaint enough to be worth the copying : — 
 
 " Here lyetk Thomas Snelling, sone of John Snelling, twise Maior of 
 Thetford, who married with Margaret, daughter of ye near lying Matthew 
 Clarck, twice Maior of Lyn, by which Margaret he had three sones and a 
 daughter. He was sometymes a worthy merchant and citizen of London, 
 who afterwards removed to this place, where he was chosen alderman, and 
 in his course ye Maior of the town. He dyed in ye year of his maioralty, 
 being 39 years of his age. Aprell 21, Anno Dni, 1623. 
 " Pitty, Justice, Bounty, good to all — 
 These were his Characters most Principall. 
 His Pitty helpt ye poore, Ill-doers his justice had, 
 His friends his bounty, his goodness good and bad. 
 Thus Lyn hath lost by his departure hence, 
 The wicked's terrour and ye poores defence. 
 But that's not lost which shall be found in Bliss, 
 Neither is that lost which here entombed is. 
 Stay but awhile, and then the trump shall sound, 
 Arise the dead, come forth out of the ground." 
 From St. Nicholas 7 Chapel, a few steps will lead, across the 
 North End Bridge, to the Norfolk Estuary Embankment and 
 Cut, — an engineering work of vast proportions, and destined, as 
 we hope, to produce important and beneficial results. Looking 
 from the bank athwart that dreary plain of alluvial mud, it needs 
 no great power of imagination to perceive in the near future a 
 pleasing metamorphosis of the scene before us, — a day when 
 meadows, orchards and market gardens shall occupy the reclaimed 
 land nearest the town, and broad pastures, adorned with sheep, 
 shall stretch over a space, yet indefinite, beyond. Those now in 
 the flower of youth may witness this new Arcadia, but the time 
 is not yet. The civil engineer may say to the sea, Retire, and to 
 the land, Arise ; but old time with his hour-glass must needs be a 
 party to the transaction, and he is an old gentleman that will 
 not be hurried. 
 
 In concluding our observations on the borough, it may be 
 observed that the spirit of the inhabitants has not declined with 
 their commercial prosperity, for within a few years several public 
 institutions have been founded and maintained, such as the ample 
 and well-lighted Corn Hall, in the Tuesday Market, and the 
 Athenaeum. 
 
8 
 
 KING'S LYNN. 
 
 In this latter building, which we owe in great part to the 
 energy and perseverance of Mr. Henry Edwards, are located the 
 public Subscription Library; the People's Library, which was 
 founded by the munificence of Lord Stanley, one of the present 
 members for the borough; and the Museum, containing, besides 
 the usual collections in natural history, a choice and beautiful 
 collection of birds, the greater number and the most costly of 
 which, together with the handsome cases in which they are 
 arranged, were presented to the town by Mr. John Henry 
 Gurney, the other member for the borough at that time. The 
 Athenaeum also contains a large music hall, and other apartments 
 for literary and scientific purposes. 
 
 The last, — perhaps, too, the handsomest, public edifice in the 
 borough, recently built by the government, is the County Court, 
 in a somewhat Italian style, of handsome proportions, and occu- 
 pying a prominent and well chosen site. The present occupant 
 of this building will persist in watching my pen as I write, in 
 spite of all I can do or say. I shall therefore conclude this de- 
 scription of the venerable old borough, by conducting the visitor 
 to the spot from which he started, and which I suppose by this 
 time he wishes to regain, namely, the Railway Station. 
 
 GAY WOOD. 
 
 Any one who remains long enough at Lynn to have time upon 
 his hands, may like to know what he will find at Gaywood, the 
 nearest village; or what, on proceeding on his railway journey, 
 he will leave behind unseen. 
 
 On foot he would find the distance to the village about three- 
 quarters of a mile; by train he would find himself crossing the 
 Queen's highway, with the village full in view to his right, 
 before he had well settled himself in the carriage. It is now a 
 somewhat dusty looking village, though surrounded by fertile 
 meadows and w r atered by the river which feeds the Lynn Water 
 Works ; but in days of yore it was a place of some importance. 
 It is known to have belonged to the Bishops of the East Angles 
 in the time of the Saxons, and that John de Grey Bishop of 
 Norwich, in the time of Henry II, built there a sumptuous 
 palace for himself and his successors, wherein he much resided; 
 and the priory of Norwich released to him all their right in the 
 profits of the fairs of Lynn and Gaywode, with the Saturday 
 market at Lynn, and all their salt pans, lands, rents and houses, 
 with the lay fees belonging to the Priory of Lynn ; for which he 
 gave them, in exchange, all his right in the Manor of Scchesford, 
 with the Manor of Great Cressingham, excepting the patronage, 
 and the service of knight's fees, reserving to himself and his 
 
GAYWOOD. 
 
 successors the same authority that they had in the other Manors 
 of that Monastery. 
 
 It continued in the see of Norwich, till it was granted by an 
 Act of Parliament, dated February 4th. in the 27th year of King 
 Henry 8tb, to the Crown, with other of the Bishop's manors and 
 lands, to St. Bennet, of Holme. 
 
 Gay wood takes its name from Guy or Qnie, which signifies a 
 river or water, and gives name to many places, such as Gayton 
 &c. The lands of the parish in the time of Henry 8th passed 
 into the family of the Howards, and from them, through the 
 Earls of Oxford, John Pepys, Esq., Thomas Thoresby and his 
 descendants, to Sir Cyril Wyche, Knight, of Hock wold Hall, in 
 Norfolk, whose descendants held it when Blomefield wrote his 
 History of Norfolk. 
 
 The principal landowner and lord of the manor at present is 
 Richard Bagge, Esq., who resides at Gay wood Hall, — a substan- 
 tial family mansion built to be lived in. 
 
 As the train crosses the turnpike road, the traveller may see 
 on his left a low range of buildings with several square chimneys. 
 This is the Gay wood almshouse, or Hospital of St. Mary Mag- 
 dalen, founded, it is said, by Peter Capellanns in 1174. We pre- 
 sume that its revenues were confiscated at the Reformation, for 
 it was re-established by letters patent of King James L, dated 
 22nd April, in the 9th year of his reign. The lands be- 
 longing to this Hospital, a few years ago, were scattered in the 
 various parishes of Gaywood, Holkham, East Lexham, Narford 
 and Great Dunham ; but by several exchanges the lands are now 
 chiefly in Gaywood, and make a total income of about £350, al- 
 lowing about lis a week to the reader and 8s a week to the other 
 inmates. It gives a comfortable and competent retreat from the 
 troubles of the world to twelve old women and a reader, and is 
 in the management and patronage of the Lynn Charity Trustees. 
 
 In the middle of the village street stands an interesting old 
 house with three gables, probably of the time of James I. What- 
 ever its former dignity, it is still the centre of many hopes and 
 fears, being at present the village post office. 
 
 The Church, which is not remarkable, exhibits specimens of 
 various styles of architecture. It has a good bold tower of red 
 brick and stone, and loses none of its beauty by being veiled 
 with ivy on the north side. The entrance is through a Norman 
 door in a square portico, surrounded at the top with some Nor- 
 man moulding. It has a nave and spacious north and south 
 transepts, the windows of which are of various sizes and of no 
 style of architecture. The effect of the interior is light and 
 agreeable. Open seats of commodious proportions have recently 
 taken the place of unsightly pews, and the whole church wears 
 the appearance of being well cared for. 
 2 
 
The patron of the living is Mr. Richard Bagge, and the present 
 incumbent is the Rev. Robert Pearse. It is rated in the King's 
 books at £5 13s 4d, and the tithes are commuted for a rent- 
 charge of £650. 
 
 The handsome and spacious schools near the churchyard have 
 been erected during the time of the present incumbent. 
 
 A fair for horses, &c, is held in Gaywood on the 22nd June, 
 which, as evening approaches, is frequented as a place of rural 
 jollification by persons of all ages and sizes from Lynn and the 
 surrounding villages. 
 
 Number of acres 2,380. 
 
 The next parishes are the Woottons — South and North, about 
 two miles from Gaywood. On the right will be seen the modest 
 tower of 
 
 SOUTH WOOTTON. 
 
 There is scarce a village in England, however small or how- 
 ever remote from the busy haunts of men, but has at least one 
 point of attraction — the church. To your genuine church-hunter 
 nothing comes amiss ; for if the church and its surroundings are 
 not to the wayfarer's taste, there is always the solid satisfaction 
 of giving scope for his criticism. If the church cannot be praised, 
 at least the churchwarden can be abused ; or it may be that some 
 incumbent, holding the heretical sentiment " Use before orna- 
 ment, v has built a vestry of red brick and tile against the wall of 
 the chancel ; or, as in the case before us, some former landowner 
 has built against the church a hideous burying room and called 
 it a mausoleum. See with what zest the late William Taylor has 
 sharpened his antiquarian pen for the encounter : — 
 
 " On the north side is, without exception, the ugliest piece of 
 " modern deformity that ever was appended to an old church. 
 u There we have a large room with huge, blank brick walls, no 
 " windows, no buttresses, no visible roof, — a dreary looking mass 
 u of bricks, built up, we believe, for a mausoleum. It probably 
 " occupies the site of the sacristy. ,, To this diatribe I will only 
 add that in this age there is a growing sentiment that when a 
 man is really dead he had better be buried, and that it is vain to 
 attempt to stave off the doom : " Dust thou art, and unto dust 
 "thou shalt return.' , 
 
 The church, dedicated to St. Mary, consists of a nave, tran- 
 septs, chancel and tower with three bells. At the east end of 
 the church is a beautiful window in the Decorated style, the 
 effect of which is lost by the roof having Long ago been lowered 
 nearly to the point of the arch. There is an ancient font, 
 
SOUTH WOOTTON. 
 
 11 
 
 possibly of the 12th century, consisting of a solid stone basin 
 supported upon eight columns ; and what is more curious, a 
 bier of the date of 1611, with the following inscriptions in old 
 English : — 
 
 * Ex dono Henrici Kidson. Rector de Soth Woottonn. Anno Dom 
 1611, Vbi vixit. annos. 41. JEtatis. sue. 65. Deo et ecclesia> dedicauit. 
 
 " Fashione not yourselues like unto this Worlde : Rom. 12, 2. for the 
 fashione of this Worlde goeth awaye : 1 Cor. 7, 31. But the worde of 
 God endure th for ever : 1 Pet. 1. 25. 
 
 44 It is appointed unto men that they shall once dye, and after that 
 cometh the judgment. Heb. 9, 27. 
 
 " Christ is unto me bothe in lyfe and death advantage. Phil. 1, 21. I 
 desire to be loosed, and to be with Christ which is best of all. Phil. 1, 23. 
 for he is able to subdue all things to himselfe. Phil. 31,3. 
 
 " We shall be changed in a moment, the trump shall blow, and the dead 
 shall rise incorruptible. Cor. 15, 52." 
 
 To the right of the altar are three sedilia and a piscina in a 
 good style. The windows in the nave are of various indescribable 
 shapes, and must have been inserted in an age when all sense 
 of beauty had died out both with getitle and simple. 
 
 The living is a rectory in the gift of the Lord Chancellor, and 
 is valued at about £270. The present incumbent is the Rev. 
 Wm. Haughton, M.A. 
 
 The population is about 164, and the principal landowner is 
 Anthony Hamond, Esq. 
 
 About a mile further the train reaches 
 
 NORTH WOOTTON. 
 
 From this, the first station from Lynn, is seen to the right a 
 view of the pretty tower of North Wootton church j and about a 
 quarter of a mile further is the neat, cheerful looking village, 
 surrounding a small village green where children play and geese 
 cackle. The church at North Wootton was entirely rebuilt in 
 1854, at the sole charge of the Hon. Mrs. Howard, of Castle 
 Rising. It therefore wants the charm of antiquity. It tells no 
 tale of the past, but to me it seems a perfect and beautiful pat- 
 tern of a village church. The style is Early English, and consists 
 of a lofty and well-proportioned nave and chancel in the Early 
 English manner, and a pleasing tower with a turret on one 
 corner. The windows are glazed with tinted, or what is called 
 cathedral glass, with elegant patterns traced on them with the 
 lead work. The font, which is carved with fleurs de lis, is copied 
 from one at Weston, in Lincolnshire ; and the floor, both of the 
 nave and chancel^ is beautifully paved with encaustic tiles. The 
 length of the church is about 90 feet, and is lighted with ha»d- 
 
12 
 
 NOETH WOOTTON. 
 
 some branches, which serve at the same time to adorn the build- 
 ing. The population is about 200. The living is a rectory of 
 the value of about £265, with a good parsonage house, in the 
 gift of the Hon. Mrs. Howard, the lady of the manor and the 
 principal landowner. The Rev. Wm. Wilcox Clarke, M.A , is the 
 incumbent. The National School is endowed with £20 per an- 
 num by Mrs. Howard. 
 
 A walk of about two miles from the North Wootton station 
 will bring the traveller to 
 
 CASTLE RISING. 
 
 The page of history has told us how the barons in the days of 
 our Norman kings strengthened themselves against the incur- 
 sions of troublesome neighbours and sometimes defied both king 
 and law. A better illustration of this rough age can scarcely be 
 found on this side the kingdom than the noble ruin of Rising 
 Castle. The village in which the castle stands is about four 
 miles north east of Lynn, with a strip of marsh land on its 
 western side separating it from the estuary of the Wash, and sur- 
 rounded on all other sides by open heaths, which have been 
 varied and adorned in modern times by extensive plantations. 
 The castle is said to have been built in the reign of William 
 Rufus by one William D'Albini. An account of the descent of 
 the castle and manor of Rising through several generations will 
 be found in Mr. Harrod's interesting work entitled " Gleanings 
 among the Castles and Convents of Norfolk." From that account 
 it appears that about the year 1243, the Castle and Manor of 
 Rising came into the possession of Roger Lord Montalt, in right 
 of Cecily his wife, one of the coheiresses of Hugh D'Albini. 
 Amongst the records of the Corporation of Lynn, there is a very 
 curious account of a law-suit between Robert de Montalt and 
 the Corporation of Lynn, of the date of the 6th Edward II. It 
 had relation to the profits of the toll-booth and of the water and 
 port of Lynn ; but from the account it appears that neither party 
 relied solely upon the pleadings, but had recourse to violence; 
 in the end however judgment was given for Montalt, and dam- 
 ages awarded to the amount of £6000. From that period it 
 passed into the hands of divers families, until the reign of Queen 
 Elizabeth, when it was, on the attainder of Thomas Howard, 
 Duke of Norfolk, granted by letters patent to Edward, Earl of 
 Oxford ; but this grant was shortly afterwards revoked, and the 
 estate given to a younger branch of the Howards, in the person 
 of Henry, Earl of Northampton, who dying without issue, it 
 reverted to Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, as his heir. The 
 estate continued in the family of the Dukes of Norfolk until it 
 
CASTLE BISING. 
 
 18 
 
 was sold, in 1693, to Thomas Howard, grandson of Thomas, Earl 
 of Berkshire, and from that time it was inherited by various 
 members of the Howard family, and now belongs to the Honor- 
 able Mary Howard. One of the most interesting events con- 
 nected with the History of this Castle, is its possession by the 
 * 4 She-wolf of France," Isabella, Queen Dowager and widow of 
 Edward II. After Mortimer's execution, on the 29th November, 
 in the 4th year of Edward the Third's reign, the Queen mother 
 was deprived of her enormous jointure, and shut up in her Castle 
 of Rising, where she spent the remaining twenty-seven years of 
 her life in obscurity. She does not appear, however, to have 
 been a close prisoner in the Castle, for there are traces in the 
 Lynn records of her having occasionally travelled to other places. 
 
 On examining the Castle itself, it will be seen that the build- 
 ings are all erected within a nearly circular space, enclosed by a 
 large bank and ditch. To the east and west of this great circular 
 work, are square additions protected in a similar manner, that to 
 the east being the larger, and having the bank and ditch remain- 
 ing in a much more perfect state than that to the west. 
 
 The Castle is approached over a bridge and through a Norman 
 gate-house, at which point all the buildings now remaining of 
 this once famous Castle meet the view. Mr. Harrod assigns the 
 earth-work surrounding the Castle to the Roman period, and he 
 states that of the numerous buildings that once filled the space 
 within the lofty bank,— all those, namely, for state or domestic 
 purposes, nothing now remains but the Great Tower or Keep, 
 with fragments of the Chapel and Gate-house. 
 
 It seems that by the time of Elizabeth, the Castle had very 
 different enemies to contend with than those of spear or batter- 
 ing-ram. Stephen Bull, the warrener, it is said, had so increased 
 " the brede of coneys," that they bid fair to annihilate the castle ; 
 the banks were decayed, and the walls in part, and the rest in 
 danger of falling. 
 
 To reach the upper floor of the Great Tower, the great stair- 
 case on the east side must be ascended, the doorway to which is 
 to the south. The architectural effect of the building enclosing 
 this staircase is very bold, appropriate and beautiful ; a tine 
 Norman arcade above the arch of the entrance is continued 
 along the east side, where the arches are interlaced ; and above 
 this arcade are large grotesque heads, each enclosed in a circular 
 moulding. 
 
 At the top of the great staircase an arch of fine proportions 
 opens to the room in the first floor of the entrance Tower. This 
 room is lighted on three sides by Norman windows, and contains 
 the main entrance to the hall of the Great Tower. This is now 
 walled up, and furnished with a fireplace for the use of the family 
 having charge of the building. 
 
14 
 
 CASTLE BISING. 
 
 From this room, the small door at the north-west corner leads 
 by the newel stair to a long gallery in the thickness of the north 
 wall, with five arches on the left, to what was once the hall, and 
 the windows lighting the hall on the right. From this passage 
 the visitor may explore the many curious apartments and closets, 
 which are minutely and accurately described by Mr. Harrod, who 
 concludes his description by saying that the effect of it is massive, 
 stern and appropriate, and expresses his gratification that this 
 splendid relic of past times has fallen into the hands of those 
 who fully appreciate its beauties and its interest. Care has been 
 taken by judicious repairs to stay the ravages of time : and the 
 constant presence of a person having charge of it, prevents those 
 dilapidations so frequently occurring to such ruins from mere 
 wantonness and love of mischief. 
 
 The Church. — This Church, which has recently been restored 
 by Mr. Salvin under the liberal auspices of the Honorable Mrs. 
 Howard, consists of a nave without aisles, and a chancel with a 
 central tower. The nave is Norman, of very late character, and 
 its west front is one of the most elaborate and beautiful of the 
 kind in the kingdom. The doorway is round, arched with the 
 deep and massive zig-zag and other mouldings of the style, with 
 an arcade above it, divided into five principal divisions, the centre 
 being the largest and pierced for the west window. Nothing 
 can exceed the richness and intricacy of the divisions at the side, 
 composed of intersecting arcades of the most beautiful mouldings, 
 curious ornaments and twisted pillars. On entering the Church, 
 the visitor will be struck with the internal arrangements. The 
 massive arches of the tower form a fine contrast to the light and 
 elegant east window, and the light of the church being subdued 
 and quiet, allows the painted glass to have its proper effect. 
 The west arch of the tower is of the horse-shoe kind much used 
 in late Norman, and the east tower arch is much pointed, but in 
 other respects both in form and moulding of true Norman type. 
 
 The interchange between the pointed and round arch was not 
 uncommon in late Norman work, the introduction of the pointed 
 arch being gradual ; and we find the pointed arch frequently 
 used in the constructive, and the round arch in the ornamental 
 parts of the same building. The Tower has one story open to 
 the church, above which it is internally groined, and the ribs 
 ornamented with zig-zag mouldings. 
 
 There is an arcade and gallery round the tower inserted in the 
 thickness of the wall. The arcade over the western arch opening 
 into the nave is worthy of observation, for its massive form and 
 rich ornament ; and the south wall of the tower is a beautiful 
 Early English arch opening into a trausept which is a recent 
 addition. The chancel, which is elegant in itself, has been 
 
CAOTIB RISING. 
 
 15 
 
 worthily restored. The east window is Early English of the usual 
 three lancet-lights, and filled with painted glass; the lights, 
 although when seen from the exterior, seem to be separate, yet 
 viewed from within appear united by the deep splay and by 
 elegant slender pillars ; the arches of the windows and portions 
 adjoining being ornamented with the almost universal dog-tooth 
 moulding of the time. 
 
 Some of those who remember this church before its restoration 
 may regret that although its present form may be architecturally 
 correct, yet that result has been obtained at the sacrifice of the 
 picturesque. The high-pitched roof gives to the west end what 
 an artist would call »f too much space to let." That this is so 
 will appear to any one who will refer to Mr. Cotman's beautiful 
 etching of the Church, in his Antiquities of Norfolk. 
 
 The high-pitched roof upon the Tower has, we believe, many 
 examples in Normandy and other parts of France, but it is less 
 pleasing to the eye than the old parapet that has made way 
 for it. 
 
 The chanting and psalmody in this Chnrch are creditable to 
 those who direct it. 
 
 The Bede House. — This Alms-house or hospital, adjoining 
 the churchyard, was founded by Henry Howard, Earl of North- 
 ampton, in the reign of King James I. On Sundays, and the 
 principal red letter days of the calendar, the inmates, — a group 
 of old women, clad in the quaint costume of King James's time, 
 may be seen at church ; their red cloaks with the Howard badge, 
 and their high-peaked hats, coupled with the curious old building 
 they inhabit, carry us back in imagination to the days of the 
 Stuarts. Both the architecture of the building and the costumes 
 of its inmates belong to a period which evinced the decline of 
 good f aste. 
 
 The great pleasure of a visit to Rising, consists in conjuring 
 up a vision of the past. Its ruined castle, its venerable church, 
 and its ancient hospital, situated in a picturesque and varied part 
 of the country, and seen by the light of a summer evening's sun, 
 are calculated to inspire the mind with that pleasing yet melan- 
 choly mood called reverie. 
 
 WOLEERTON. 
 
 Acreage, 2714. Population, 179. 
 Until the opening of the Hunstanton line of Railway, if any 
 one had wished to find a solitude, 
 
 " Ear from the busy haunts of men," 
 
16 
 
 WOLFERTON; 
 
 he might have been recommended to Wolferton. Now the soli- 
 tude has been invaded and opened to the world by the Railway 
 which has given it a station— the station at which on his own 
 estate H. R. H. the Prince of Wales alights when he resorts to 
 his Norfolk home. 
 
 It is a small village lying at the foot of the sandy hills rising 
 gently above the marshes bordering on Lynn deeps, and is distant 
 about seven miles nearly due north of Lynn. To the east and 
 across a wild and pleasant heath lies Sandringham House, the 
 residence of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, distant about two miles 
 from the Station. The road thither commands agreeable views 
 of the adjacent parishes of Snettisham, with Ken or Cane Hill 
 point, Dersingham and West Newton. The Prince is sole pro- 
 prietor of the soil and Lord of the Manor. 
 
 The Railway curves close round the west end of Wolferton 
 Church, dedicated to St. Peter, and built upon the site of one 
 said to have been burnt down in 1487. It consists of a nave of 
 five bays, chancel, north and south aisles; it is a spacious church 
 of very good proportions, and tells, we apprehend, of a large 
 population in former days. The Church is entered by a large 
 porch through a fine Early English arch, having a niche on either 
 side. In the east and west sides of the porch are fine windows, 
 though now chiefly closed with unsightly brickwork. A chapel 
 may be seen at the eastern extremity of either aisle, parted off 
 by rich screen work in fair condition. The piscina to each side 
 chapel still remains. The nave is separated from the chancel by 
 a rood screen ; the steps leading to the rood loft still remain. The 
 roof was lowered and repaired, and rude benches placed in the nave 
 a few years ago, at the expense of the Hon. Spencer Cowper. 
 The lower part of the roof is original, the old oak beams termin- 
 ating with figures of Saintsstanding under canopies; onthehammer 
 beams between these are figures bearing shields. There is an inter- 
 esting enclosure now used as a vestry, at the western extremity 
 of the southern aisle. In the chancel are sedilia for three priests, 
 and a piscina. The tower of the church J aich is lofty and well 
 built, is ornamented on three sides by cii^aefoil windows. The 
 ruins of the sacristy may be seen on the north side of the chancel. 
 There is one large bell, and a small sanctus bell. The patronage of 
 the Rectory, lately vested in the proprietor of the Sandringham 
 estate, is now held by the Bishop of Norwich ; the rent-charge 
 is £263 10s., with 22 acres of glebe. The present Incumbent is 
 the Rev. Willoughby W. Dickinson, M.A. A commodious 
 Rectory House, visible from the Railway, has recently been 
 erected in a good situation, and the parish now possesses, for th»j 
 first time, a resident clergyman. 
 
 Here is a small creek, or harbour, available for only srar 1 ' 
 boats. 
 
17 
 
 SANDRINGHAM. 
 
 Acreage, 1072. Population. 56. 
 
 About two miles due east of the Wolferton Station lies the 
 parish of Sandringham, distant about 7\ miles N.N.E. of Lynn. 
 
 This parish gives its name to the estate and residence of 
 H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. The estate embraces the 
 parishes of Sandringham, Babingley, Wolferton, Appleton, West 
 Newton and considerable parts of Dersingham. With ad- 
 ditons lately purchased, it amounts now to some 7000 acres. In 
 our day it passed, by purchase, from the family of Henry Hoste 
 Henley, Esq., to J. Motteux, Esq., a wealthy gentleman, moving 
 in the higher circles of society. He, dying without issue, or 
 other near relatives, devised the Sandringham estate, together 
 with other valuable properties, to the Hon. C. Spencer Cowper, 
 who, in 1861, sold the Sandringham estate to H.R.H. the Prince 
 of Wales for £220,000. 
 
 The road to Sandringham is indicated by a telegraphic wire, 
 which has recently been extended to Sandringham House from 
 the station, though unconnected with it. The improvement of 
 the road will also guide the visitor's steps. 
 
 The plateau above the station is little else than wild heath 
 and sand ; still the view is varied and pleasing, and this impres- 
 sion is still further confirmed on ascending the next plateau, 
 after crossing the Lynn and Hunstanton road; indeed, the view 
 from " Sandringham Heights," the residence of Mr. G. Brereton, 
 is very extensive and fine, and is alone enough to redeem Norfolk 
 from disrepute in regard to scenery and landscape beauty. The 
 view stretches over the rich marshes speckled with grazing stock, 
 and interspersed with arable lands, thence over the Estuary 
 of the Wash into Lincolnshire. On a fine day, the lofty, and 
 noble tower of Boston Church, locally dishonored with the name 
 of " Stump," may be plainly seen arising as it were from the 
 waters, — a valuable land-mark to the sailor, while it directs him 
 upwards to the true haven of rest. 
 
 The estate has many attractions besides those apparent to the 
 eye, which no doubt commended the purchase to the judgment of 
 the Prince and his advisers. Here is the wildness and privacy 
 of the Highlands, combined with rich and well cultivated lands. 
 You have hill and dale, moor and meadow, extensive woods and 
 the wide waters of the Wash. All kinds of game abound. The 
 partridge and pheasant shooting is of the first order. Woodcocks 
 and snipe abound. Every variety of sea-coast fowl invites the 
 sport of the gunning boat. In severe winters rarer birds from 
 colder climates frequent the neighbourhood. 
 3 
 
18 
 
 SAND It IN G-H A A r . 
 
 Passing on from Sandringham Heights, we approach, with 
 beautiful peeps through the plantations on the right, revealing 
 the Lynn Lodges, the park wall, surrounding about 300 acres of 
 land, open and wooded, and well stocked with a thriving herd 
 of deer. Further on to the right appears the house recently 
 erected for the accommodation of Lieutenant-General Knollys, 
 Comptroller and Treasurer of the Household of the Prince of 
 Wales. 
 
 Adjoining are Sandringham Church and Rectory, charmingly 
 embosomed iu foliage. The Church, dedicated to St. Mary 
 Magdalen, is small but well proportioned, and built in the perpen- 
 dicular style ; it comprises nave, chancel, western tower, with one 
 bell, and south porch. In a niche over the arch of the porch 
 stands a well-executed figure of a Guardian Angel. Internally a 
 beautiful restoration has been effected in good taste by Mr. S. S. 
 Teuton. " In the year 1835 this church was restored by Lady 
 Harriette Cowper, daughter and coheiress of the Earl of 
 Blessington, and wife of the Hon. C. Spencer Cowper, to 
 commemorate their only child, Marie Harriette Cowper." In the 
 nave are four beautiful windows of stained (some ancient) glass, 
 by Clayton and by Wilmsburst. Two windows in the nave 
 and another in the tower are filled with Munich glass, where 
 the subjects are given in outline on an amber ground. The font 
 is modern, but the cover is ancient ; it is a beautiful specimen of 
 the date of Hen. VII., running up into a richly crocketed spire. 
 The stone pulpit is modern, ornamented with glass mosaic inlaid 
 in the stone. The book rest is formed by a pilaster placed at one 
 of the angles, and expanded at the top. The roof is open, the ori- 
 ginal oak work having, as far as practicable, been retained. The 
 benches are of oak, of simple design but substantial character. 
 The chancel is more ornate, and was rene wed, with the assistance 
 of friends, by the much respected Rector lately deceased, the Rev. 
 G. Browne Moxon, over w r hose remains the Prince of Wales has 
 lately placed a chaste white marble monument, " in memoriam." 
 On either side of the chancel is a spacious seat of open carved 
 oak work, affording accommodation to their Royal Highnesses 
 and the family of the Rector. On the extremities of these seats 
 stand out finely carved emblematic figures, from 12 to 14 inches 
 in height. The east window was inserted by Lady II Cowper; 
 it is in the early English style ; the subjects are by Clayton, as 
 are also those in the two lancet windows in the south side of the 
 chancel. The reredos has a diapered pattern of tiles, adorned with 
 fleurs de lis, surmounted along the line of the window sill by orna- 
 mented stone work, in which marble and glass mosaic are 
 inserted. Illuminated texts and symbols arc distributed over the 
 walls of the church. The pavement of the church is throughout 
 patterned in black and red tiles. The church yard is entered by 
 
SANDKINGIIAM. 
 
 19 
 
 a licit 2;ate at the south west corner looking towards Sandringr- 
 ham House, and used by the Prince and Princess. 
 
 Sandringham is a Rectory valued in King's Books at £5 6s 8d, 
 and has Babingley annexed to it. Together they now produce 
 about £200 per annum, together with 32 acres of glebe. The 
 patronage of both belongs to His Royal Highness who has just 
 presented (I860) the Rev. William Lake Onslow, late Chaplain 
 in Her Majesty's navy, and now his domestic chaplain. 
 
 Sandringham House is approached by the magnificent Bronze 
 Gates presented in 1884 to His Royal Highness by the county 
 of Norfolk. They will be remembered in the Exhibition of 186 1 , 
 and are the work ot Messrs. Barnard, of Norwich. They will re- 
 pay minute inspection, and commaud admiration for their delicate 
 and elaborate decorations, composed of flowers and creepers. On 
 the piers of the gates and the extremes of the gateway recess, are 
 colored armorial shields, each held by bronzed heraldic griffins. 
 These shields represent the various titles held by His Royal 
 Highness. Elegant palisading, embodying the rose, the thistle 
 and shamrock, connects the gates with the wall on either side. 
 The gates are surmounted by a Royal Crown, and below are the 
 Royal arms, on a shield, encircled by the usual motto ; at the 
 back appear the Prince of Wales's feathers. 
 
 The house has no pretensions to architectural beauty, or to the 
 character of a royal residence. Originally it formed three sides 
 of a square ; one side now only remains, to which additions have 
 been made. The porch, having a room over, is constructed of 
 beautiful carstone work with suitable stone dressings. The 
 rest of the building is painted stucco. The western front to the 
 garden has been made to exhibit a certain character of uniformity. 
 Mr. Cooper added a terrace having an open brickwork parapet, 
 and a flight of steps at either end ; at the south end is a 
 conservatory of somewhat peculiar style, and not well har- 
 monizing with the house. The stables have been remodelled 
 and enlarged, and now form a substantial mass of accommodation. 
 One of the new and judiciously-formed drives leads to the 
 Bachelor's Cottage, designed to afford accommodation to the 
 members of the suite pi His Royal Highness. Branching from this 
 to the left, another path leads to the extensive kennels and the 
 pheasantry, over looked by the tastily designed residence of the 
 head gamekeeper ; a dairy also is erected here. At a short distance 
 beyond the Norwich Gates are formed the new kitchen gardens, com- 
 prising an enclosure of 15 acres, with an inner brick wall enclosure 
 of 7 acres, laid out with good taste. All the appliances of modern 
 gardening are here employed under the able management of the 
 head gardener, Mr. Carmichael, whose residence adjoins. In all 
 directions signs of skill, good taste and improvement appear. 
 In due time this home of the Prince and Princess will emerge 
 
20 
 
 SA.3TDBINGHAM. 
 
 into order, beauty and proportions more becoming the rank of 
 its Royal owner and more worthy of general admiration. 
 Already extensive offices Lave been commenced, and other addi- 
 tions are supposed to be in contemplation. 
 
 BABINGLEY. 
 
 Acreage, 849. Population, 67. 
 We must not omit a notice of Babingley Church, one and a half 
 miles distant, which stands in a meadow and is visible on the right 
 of the highway leading from Sandringham to Castle Rising. It is 
 noteworthy as said to be built on the site of the first Christian 
 church erected in the county, by Felix, a Burgundian Bishop, who, 
 sent as a Missionary, introduced Christianity into East Anglia 
 in the 7th century of our era. No traces remain of great antiquity 
 in the present structure. The church, in the decorated style, is 
 coeval with surrounding churches, and is now reduced by the loss 
 of north aisle and chancel ; the walls of the latter remain, with 
 the remarkably well proportioned arch of the eastern window. 
 The remains also of the piscina and sedilia may still be seen. The 
 chancel arch is bricked up, and a small square-headed window 
 inserted. 
 
 DEESINGHAM. 
 
 To the right of the station will be seen a pleasant view of this 
 large and thriving village, sheltered on the north by rising and 
 well cultivated fields, and bounded on the south by a sandy 
 heath and rabbit warren of 1,900 acres, lying in the parishes of 
 Wolferton, Sandringham, West Newton and Dersingham. The 
 parish contains about 700 inhabitants and 2,951 acres of land. 
 The Marquis of Cholmondeley and John Bellamy, Esq., own a 
 great part of the land, and are Lords of the Manors of West 
 Hall, Pakenham, Gelham, Shouldham Priory and Brook, all 
 within this parish. The living is a vicarage worth about £155 
 per annum, of which the Rev. Edward Bellamy is incumbent. 
 The wood hanging on the hill side, seen from the station, is a 
 pleasing object ; and a walk of about a mile and a half from the 
 station will bring the visitor to the church dedicated to St. 
 Nicholas, which is a large building with a square tower and six 
 bells. 
 
DERSINGIIAM. 
 
 21 
 
 To those who hunger and thirst for a grand and expensive 
 restoration, this church offers a first-rate opportunity. The 
 building is of noble dimensions, not ill proportioned ; but the 
 words " neglect and decay" are those that must first suggest 
 themselves to every visitor on entering the porch. A fine pointed 
 arch m the tower is boarded half-way up ; there is a screen separ- 
 ating the nave from the chancel, which formerly represented the 
 twelve apostles, painted (and not ill painted) upon panel ; this is in 
 a state of dilapidation ; the sedilia in the chancel are blocked up. 
 On the south side of the chancel are two fine windows in the 
 early Decorated style; the mullions are heavy, but there is con- 
 siderable grace in their form. 
 
 At the south-east corner of the nave will be found a monument 
 built of good material, in memory of John Pell. I subjoin the 
 inscriptions upon it, observing what is somewhat curious, — that 
 the stonemason, in carving the inscription, made what we call a 
 clerical error, and corrected it on the marble, as any clerk or 
 schoolboy would do in his book, by inserting the omitted words 
 over the line with a caret below : — 
 
 MEMORIA SACRUM, 
 cle Darsingham, 
 
 Hie jacet Johannes Pell a armr. quondam Maior Linn Regis, 
 qui uxorem duxit Margaritam filiam unicam, Gulielmi Overend, 
 armigeri, annos 61, et unum feliciter una vixerunt, sex filios et trcs filias 
 inter se habuerunt, ille vero cuui annos 81 compleverat, quinto die 
 Februarii anno Domini 1607, matura senectute mortem obiit, et octavo die 
 ejusdem mensis corpus sepulchro condebatur. 
 
 Mors nee metuanda nec optanda est. 
 
 EPITAPIUUM IN EUNDEIf. 
 
 Mors violenta nolenti est prorsus nulla volenti ; 
 
 Non queat ille mori, qui velit ergo mori. 
 Vivit non moritur Pellus, mors, kaec sibi vita est ; 
 
 Qui sibi posse dedit, vivere, vclle mori. 
 Dicere, quaiis erat, vellem, vox faucibus ha;ret. 
 
 Dicere fata negant, esse, fuisse dolet. 
 Mortem formidabilem error facit hominum. 
 
 Hue tendimus omnes. 
 
 SNETTISHAM. 
 
 This is a considerable village with an ancient cross. It con- 
 tains about 1 1 60 inhabitants, and 4940 acres of land ; and the 
 scattered hamlet of Southgate, distant nearly a mile to the south, 
 in the vale of the Ingold rivulet. Few villages in Norfolk can 
 boast prettier scenery than this parish. The view from the rail- 
 
22 
 
 SNETTISHAltf. 
 
 Way is pleasing ; and it Trill well repay any summer visitor to 
 Hunstanton, to take a ticket for the Smettisham station for the 
 sake of a walk about the village. If he is addicted to sketching 
 or photography, he will find here beautiful subjects for either 
 art. From the station can be seen, about a quarter of a mile 
 distant, a small water-mill. The darn at th3 back of this mill is a 
 beautiful mirror surrounded by fine trees of picturesque form, 
 such a subject as Creswick or Boddington would rejoice in. The 
 church is dedicated to St. Mary, and is said to be of the 14th 
 century. Shorn as it is of its pristine grandeur, it is still a fine 
 fabric of beautiful proportions. It has a lofty octangular spire, 
 rising from a tower containing five bells; with a nave, side aisles, 
 and a south transept. It had formerly a chancel and north 
 transept, and part of the former is still an ivy-mantled ruin. 
 Within the last few years, the interior of the church has been re- 
 stored at great cost, under the auspices of Mr. Butterfield and 
 the late Mr. L'Estrange. The pews have given place to com- 
 modious and well arranged open seats. The large west window 
 is a fine specimen of the Decorated style, and has been filled in 
 by Mr. Warrington with beautiful designs in stained glass. There 
 are, besides, two handsome memorial windows : one to Mr. Daws, 
 a young friend of Mr. Butterfield's, by Preedy, of Worcester ; 
 and the other, which is by O'Connor, was erected by the Rev. 
 Henry H. Bridgewater, in memory of his wife. There is a hand- 
 some brass eagle, which is used as a lectern ; and the pulpit 
 represents, well painted upon panels, Noah, Solomon. St. John, 
 St. Peter and St. Paul, with emblematic devices. 
 
 The lordship of Snettisham at the time of the conquest was 
 possessed by those terrible pluralists Stigand, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, and Odo, Bishop of Baycux. It appears subse- 
 quently to have followed the fortunes of the neighbouring lord- 
 ship of Rising, and to have belonged to William de Aibini, and 
 Walter de Montalt. Later it passed through the family of the 
 Caryes, to the family of its present owner, H anion L'Estrange, 
 Esq. The free school was established in 1804, under the will of 
 Anthony Hall, who, in 1708, left for its endowment, the reversion 
 of an estate of nearly 50 acres, now let for £90 a year ; besides 
 which the master has a dwelling-house and garden. The school 
 is free for instruction in reading, writing, arithmetic and Latin, 
 to 20 boys of Snettisham, whose parents are not possessed of 
 £400, or property worth £20 a year. The Hall, in the middle 
 of the village, was long the residence of the Styleman family, 
 now represented by Mr. L'Estrange, whose father assumed that 
 name on coming of age. It was lately tenanted by Capt. Campbell, 
 who married Miss Styleman. Little more can be seen of the 
 mansion from the high road than the roof, and that little is not 
 calculated to excite the curiosity of a visitor. 
 
SNETTISHAM. 
 
 23 
 
 The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in K.B. at £5 6s. 
 8d., and in 1831, at £110 ; and this it seems arises from the rent 
 of 34 acres of glebe, to which 32 acres were added at the time of 
 the inclosure. By what hocus pocus the small tithes were 
 abolished, and the land substituted, greatly to the damage of the 
 vicar, perhaps the squire of that day and the Inclosure Commis- 
 sioners alone could tell. 
 
 INGOLDIST.1IORPE. 
 
 A beautiful walk of about a mile from Dersingham will bring 
 the pedestrian to this pleasing village. Arriving at what, alas ! 
 lately was the common, the visitor will observe recent traces of 
 the ugly feet of the Inclosure Commissioners : hedge rows and 
 railings now shut out children from their accustomed gambols, 
 geese from their gabbling, and donxeys from their braying. The 
 road to the right, behind Mount Amelia, the imposing seat of 
 Capt. J. Davy, R.N., leads to the church, beautifully situated in 
 a churchyard surrounded by venerable fir trees. The church, dedi- 
 cated to St. Michael, has recently been completely and beauti- 
 fully restored under the auspices of the Rev. W. T. Beckett, the 
 present incumbent. The commodious open seats, the fine stained 
 glass windows, and the handsome encaustic tiling of the nave 
 and chancel, give a most pleasing aspect to the interior of the 
 church, rendering it a place meet and agreeable for public wor- 
 ship. To the left of the churchyard may be seen Ingoldisthorpe 
 Hall, the property of J. Bellamy, Esq., one of the principal land- 
 owners of the parish. From this strange, uncouth and melancholy 
 pile, the visitor will willingly avert his eyes in search ot the 
 modern rectory, a little to the right of the churchyard. A 
 few years' growth of shrubs and trees in the spacious garden 
 is all that is wanted to give this rectory an air of comfort 
 and rural beauty. A fine view of Mount Amelia is obtained 
 from the railway as it passes from the Dersingham to the Snet- 
 tisharn station. 
 
 A walk of about a mile will lead to the large village of 
 
 HEACHAM. 
 
 This parish is about 14 miles N.N.E. of Lynn, and about two 
 miles from Hunstanton. It is a large and scattered village on 
 the sea coast, sheltered behind by a bold acclivity, at the foot of 
 
HEAOllAM. 
 
 which a small rivulet flows across the salt-marsh to the flat beach, 
 where, although there is no harbour for shipping, coal vessels 
 and other small craft unlade their cargoes on the sands. The 
 principal land-owners are Hamon L' Estrange, Esq., C. Rolfe, 
 Esq., and Miss Davy. The hall stands in a well wooded park, 
 and is the residence of Mr. Rolfe. 
 
 The church, dedicated to St. Mary, has a square tower rising 
 between the nave and chancel, and formerly had transepts. It 
 is a handsome structure, in which a gallery and organ were 
 erected a few years ago ; together with other important repairs, 
 which would probably have been executed in better taste, had 
 the restoration been delayed a few years. The present yearly 
 value of the vicarage is £226. The present incumbent is the 
 Rev. J. W. Charles worth, and the patron, Mr. Rolfe. 
 
 HUNSTANTON. 
 
 We have now arrived at the north-east point of Norfolk, upon 
 which stands the pleasant village of Hunstanton, on an eminence, 
 with a declivity to the east, opening into a fine valley, and termi- 
 nated on the north-west by a lofty cliff called the Gore, or St. 
 Edmund's point, being distant 10 miles west of Burnham Market, 
 and 17 miles north by east of Lynn, commanding an extensive 
 view of the ocean, and having a firm sandy beach. The popula- 
 tion in 1861 was 490; since then it has been steadily increasing, 
 and at the present time amounts to about 670. Its rate of 
 mortality is exceedingly low. The deaths in 25 years ending 
 June, 1862, give an average of only 13*9 in 1000, thus placing 
 the village in the highest position in the kingdom in point of 
 salubrity. The beautiful scenery in its vicinity has for many 
 years past made Hunstanton a favourite watering place; 
 and it would unquestionably have been, long ere this, a place of 
 great resort for that purpose, had sufficient accommodation been 
 provided. Year after year every house, and even every cottage 
 that could be made available as a lodging-house, has been occu- 
 pied by visitors. Excellent houses of different sizes and a hand- 
 some and commodious hotel have now been erected on the cliff just 
 above the railway station, and there is every probability that in 
 a few years the influx of visitors will create a demand for terraces 
 of buildings, which will rival those of the most favored watering 
 places in England. 
 
 The lordship of Hunstanton has been in the family of the 
 L'Estranges ever since the conquest, and au elaborate pedigree 
 of the family will be found in Blomefield's Norfolk. The present 
 
HUNSTANTON. 
 
 25 
 
 owner of the hall, the manor and the surrounding estates is 
 Hamon Styleman L'Estrange, Esquire, — a name which has been 
 in the family for many centuries. The greater part of the hail 
 was built by Sir Roger L'Estrange, who built the noble entrance 
 gate -house; he died in 1506, and there is a fine brass to his 
 memory in the church. The wings by which the gatehouse is 
 connected with the rest of the building, together with the court 
 and granary in front, were built by S. Hamon L'Estrange in 
 1623. Sir Roger L'Estrange, Kt., born in 1616, espoused 
 the royal cause in the civil wars of Charles 1st; and in 
 1644, he intended to surprise the town of Lynn; but his 
 plans being divulged by two of his associates, he was seized, 
 tried and condemned to death. This punishment was, however, 
 commuted for imprisonment in Newgate, whence he escaped in 
 1648, and fled to the continent. Ai'ter the Restoration, he be- 
 came a great political writer, and established a newspaper called 
 " The Public Intelligencer and the News ;" but this was given 
 up to make room for the " London Gazette," commenced Feb- 
 ruary 4th, 1 666. 
 
 By way of compensation, Sir Roger was appointed " Licenser 
 of the Press ;" a post at that time of some trust and profit. He 
 was knighted in the reign of James II., and died in 1704, in his 
 88th year. The L'Estranges were connected by marriage with 
 many families whose names are still familiar to us, — such as the 
 Pastons, the Cokes, the Wodehouses and the Astleys ; and early 
 in the 18th century, Armine, daughter of Sir Nicholas L'Estrange, 
 married Nicholas Styleman, Esq., of Snettisham, from whom the 
 present proprietor, Hamon L'Estrange, Esq., is lineally de- 
 scended, — his father, who died in 1862, having assumed the 
 family name. 
 
 The ancient mansion of the L'Estranges remains in a good 
 state, though some of its most recent portions have been de- 
 stroyed by fire. Some additions were made to it by the late Mr. 
 L'Estrange, on his coming of age in 1835. The house, (sur- 
 rounded by a moat,) which has a picturesque and venerable ap- 
 pearance, was built at the latter end of the 15th century. The 
 building has been partially added to at subsequent periods, 
 but retains much of its original character ; it is quadrangular, 
 three sides of the quadrangle being a double house. It is entered 
 by the gatew ay, and from thence through a porch is the way to 
 the house. The hall is a large room ornamented with bucks' 
 heads and pictures of sporting and military subjects. Passing 
 through it is the great oak staircase, around which are numerous 
 paintings ; amongst others, a portrait of the first Pretender, to v 
 the interest of whose family the L'Estranges were warmly 
 attached. Within the turn of the staircase was the chapel, 
 which w as open at all sides through the banisters, and to the 
 4 
 
26 
 
 nUKSTAlSTTO-NT. 
 
 gallery above, so that the domestics might be present at the 
 offices there performed, for the chapel itself is more like a 
 large pew for the family, and never could have been used before 
 the Reformation. On the faded crimson velvet with which 
 it is hung, are embroidered the words : " In resurrectione tuft 
 Christe cceli et terroe laetentur. Alleluia. Amen." A large 
 parlour upstairs is wainscoted, and at the cornice is a beautifully 
 executed pedigree of the L'Estranges. Many family portraits (of 
 thirteen generations) hang in this room, of which by much the 
 best is one of Sir Thomas L'Estrange, by Holbein. The old 
 buttery and "kitchen, with a wicket in the upper part, where 
 the lady of the house might inspect the proceedings of the 
 servants; and the oyster-room, where the noonday meal of 
 oysters was taken, are still preserved, together with the armoury, 
 containing several rusty suits of coats of mail housings. A 
 great deal of the ancient furniture still exists, and the Gothic 
 construction of some of the bedsteads is remarkable. Around 
 the old hall are large offices, stew-ponds, a square walled garden, 
 originally laid out in parterres, and an inclosed bowling green. 
 The house is in a low situation, but in the park is some high 
 ground, on which is an antique summer-house, commanding 
 views of the sea and neighbouring country. 
 
 The above account of Hunstanton Hall (slightly altered) is 
 contained in a letter, written in 1833, by Mr. Daniel Gurney to 
 Sir Henry Ellis, accompanying some extracts from the very 
 curious household and privy purse accounts of the L'Estranges 
 of Hunstanton, during the reigns of Henry VIII and his children. 
 
 These accounts were kept with great minuteness, and relate 
 not only to the house, but to the farm, the stable, the hawking, 
 the journeys, and even rewards for bringing presents. I select 
 a few items as specimens, and for the rest must refer the reader 
 to the 25th vol. of the Archaeologia, Avhere the accounts arc set 
 out at length : — 
 
 11 Hen. 8. In pis. ofWyllm. Glover, of Elsing, the xij £ s. d. 
 1519. daye of ye monyth of Octobre, for vj shepe 
 
 skynnys , xij 
 
 Item rec. of Blackheds wine for iij lb 
 
 tallow, ye iiijth day of Decembre iij 
 
 Itm rec. of Mr. Psori, of Anmer, ye ixrh 
 
 daye of Decembre for a stone of tallow i\ 
 
 Itm rec. of Symon Bangotts and Willm. 
 Raven, junr., in full payment of ye lytill 
 boate, xxviijth daye of Jan vii j 
 
 THE FYRST WEKE. 
 
 xxvth Septembre Fyrst pd. to John Browne for ix stone 
 
 in the xjth yere befFe iiij j ob 
 
 of ye reigne of It. to a wiff of Yngaldesthorpe for vi gees . . xx 
 
 King Hen viiith Ttm to Blackwood wiff forTbuttr ij 
 
UOJNSTAMXOjS*. 
 
 27 
 
 1 
 
 vij ob 
 
 5 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 Itmfor a quartr veile 
 
 Itm for yj checons 
 
 Itm for vi lb candell 
 
 Itm for heryng 
 
 Itm to Blackwood wiff for buttr 
 
 THE XITI WEKE. 
 
 Itm pd to John Mas ton for mewyng and 
 kcpyng of ye Goshawks from Chrostydc 
 unto ye xvth daye of jNovembre x 
 
 REWARDES FOR BRYNGYNG OF P'SENTS. 
 THE FYRST WEKE. 
 
 In pis to ye Vicar of Holme servt in 
 
 rewarde for bryngyng of ij curlews ij 
 
 Itm to Mr. Asheley svnt for bryngyng of 
 a fesaunt cockc and iiij woodcocks ye 
 
 xviij daye of Octobrc in rewd iiij 
 
 the nuth WEKE. 
 Itm to Sr Henrye Sharnbum svnt for 
 bryngyng of a Bottell of llyniiysheWyne . -iiij 
 
 Further accounts kept by the L' Estrange family of a date as 
 late as the middle of the seventeenth century, quite as curious 
 as the above, are set out in the " Record of the House of Gournay 11 
 by Daniel Gurney, Esq., F.S.A.,— a work which, besides the 
 interest it must ever have for the Gurney family, must always 
 be of great value to all antiquarians, archaeologists, and indeed 
 all who take an interest in the domestic history of this country. 
 The work is printed for private distribution only, and is enriched 
 with numerous elegant wood engravings illustrative of places, 
 persons, arms, signets, &c. 
 
 In reference to the foregoing accounts, Mr. Gurney remarks : 
 "It is difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain the relative value 
 "of money in England at different periods. This arises partly 
 " from no good criterion being obtainable to form a basis of cal- 
 " culation. Wheat w as not the food of the masses ; and its price, 
 " and that of all kinds of corn, varied of course w ith the quality 
 " of the harvests. Therefore, no sound inference can be made 
 " from the comparative price of grain. Neither is there any 
 " other article either of produce or of daily use which is not sub- 
 ject to nearly as much variation in value; and this applies 
 " equally to the prices of agricultural stock and horses. The 
 " interest of money might be supposed to be a fair test ; but here 
 " again the supply and demand of money at the particular mo- 
 " ment regulate the rate, and the state of the exchanges with other 
 " countries has a main influence. Possibly the price of sheep 
 " and of wool might be the safest guide in an investigation of the 
 " value of money at different periods ; but even this cannot be 
 " sufficiently accurate to be fully relied upon. 
 
 "Asa rough calculation, if the clear value of an estate in the 
 
28 
 
 "reign of Elizabeth was about £100 a year, and the rental at 
 " that time was about one shilling: an acre, the same land would 
 " probably now let for thirty shillings an acre, and produce a 
 " rental of £3000 a year; and if to this is added the land paying 
 " rent in kind, and the commons now enclosed, such amount 
 " would be doubled ; but this may be too favorable a view of 
 " the case." 
 
 The church is situated at the lower end of the village, and has 
 a nave, two aisles and a chancel. During the ages of general 
 neglect of churches, Hunstanton church was well pieserved, and 
 is a fine structure. 
 
 The style is Decorated of an early period. The east window is 
 of very large proportions for the period, and very simple in de- 
 sign, consisting merely of plain circles above the lights. The 
 west window being dilapidated, one in the Perpendicular style, 
 ill agreeing with the general structure of the church, was inserted 
 about 40 years ago. 
 
 In the year 1860 the late Mr. L'Estrange undertook the en- 
 tire repair and restoration of the fabric, and added the clerestory 
 over the arches of the aisles, substituting at the same time for 
 the west window above referred to a new one of beautiful design 
 in the style of the church. The new roof is extremely costly and 
 elaborate ; the solid beams of oak, the lofty pitch and the sin- 
 gular beauty of its massive form are well worthy the attention 
 of the architect and the visitor. The whole of the timber was 
 given by Mr. L'Estrange off the Hunstanton estate ; and the 
 entire restoration was completed from designs by that accom- 
 plished gentleman, the work being carried out by masons and 
 carpenters under his immediate supervision. 
 
 In the centre of the chancel stood until the recent alterations of 
 the chancel, what Blomefield calls a most noble and beautiful 
 altar monument of marble to Roger L'Estrange, knight of the body 
 to Henry VII., but it has now been removed. This tomb is 
 curiously ornamented with brass, and the portraiture of a knight 
 in complete armour, having on his surtout the arms of L'Estrange 
 quartering Vernon, Camois, Walkfare, Morieux, Pike, Rushbrook, 
 &c, with his crest on his helmet, — a lion passant guardant; over 
 his head have been two brass shields with the arms of L'Estrange 
 impaling Heydon, one of which still remains, and two at his feet, 
 one of which is now remaining, quarterly L'Estrange and 
 Morieux, also one on each side of him, now reaved. On the foot 
 of the monument are the words " Remembrez a moy, remembyr 
 L'Estrange." On a fillet of brass round the edge of the stone 
 " Orate pro aTa." In the north wall is inserted a monument 
 under a lofty canopy of stone work finely carved, to Henry 
 L'Estrange and Katherine his wife, of the date of the 25th No- 
 vember, 1485 ; and on a marble grave-stone will be found the 
 following quaint inscription : — 
 
HUNSTANTON. 
 
 u Hamo extraneus, miles, obt 31 Maij, 1654 aetat sua3 71. 
 In terris peregrinus erara, nunc incolor cceli." 
 
 In heaven, at home, 0 blessed change ! 
 Who, while I was on earth, was strange. 
 
 Hunstanton Cliff. 
 
 The cliff at Hunstanton, which (erroneously stated by Blome- 
 field to be 100 feet high) is rather more than 60 feet in height in 
 the highest part, and about a mile in length, is composed of 
 different strata of the chalk or cretaceous system of geologists. 
 This system constitutes the last deposit of the great secondary 
 formation, and introduces in its hollows and basins what is 
 called the tertiary, or that which lies immediately beneath the 
 surface deposit or drift. 
 
 Commencing from the top of the cliff, we meet with the follow- 
 ing strata : — 
 
 ii The Lower Chalk, so called because it is generally found 
 lying beneath another stratum named the upper chalk ; this 
 latter, which is not found at Hunstanton, contains parallel 
 layers of flint, as may be seen in the neighbouring pits of Thorn- 
 ham and Ringstead, and more remarkably in the cutting made 
 for the railway from Lynn to S waff ham, near the latter place ; 
 while the lower chalk is entirely destitute of flints of any kind. 
 It is thinly covered by vegetable soil and drift, and is about 30 
 feet in thickness. Its bed is much disjointed and cleft in all 
 directions, affording ample facilities for searching its internal 
 structure ; but the traces of organic remains found in it are 
 very few, if any. 
 
 Cottages and farm houses are sometimes built of this material, 
 and it has even been employed in the erection of monumental 
 effigies, as in the churches of Marham and Ingham. Long 
 exposure to the weather, however, is said to decompose this 
 lower chalk. 
 
 2. Chalk Marl. — This is a greyish argillaceous limestone, of a 
 very compact nature, and about three feet in thickness. It 
 contains an immense quantity of organic remains. The sea has 
 the effect of hardening this rock, as it has been observed that 
 pieces long exposed to the influence of the waves are much 
 harder than such as have recently fallen from the cliff. 
 
 o. White Chalk. — This stratum is about a foot and a half in 
 thickness, and is of a looser texture than the marl, and contains 
 numerous remains of a remarkable species of branching zoo- 
 phytes, much resembling the roots of trees, and about an inch in 
 diameter. 
 
 2. Bed Chalky in two beds, the lower being the darker. 
 It is very conspicuous, aud of a rough, disjointed structure. 
 Its nature is similar, except in colour, to the stratum last men- 
 
30 
 
 HUNSTANTON. 
 
 tioned. The colour of chalk, indeed, varies much, it being usually 
 white ; but in some places it is found of a deep red, and in others 
 of different shades of yellow, &c. The red-chalk occurs no- 
 where else in Norfolk, but it may be seen on the Yorkshire coast, 
 in the Speeton Cliffs, near Flamborough head. About three 
 inches of the upper part of this stratum consists of a vein 
 of soft argillaceous substance, of a deep red colour, which 
 probably supplies the colouring matter of the whole bed. This 
 colouring matter forms a very good pigment, and beautiful draw- 
 ings of the cliff have been made, in which it has been used to 
 tint the stratum it represents. The red chalk contains organic 
 remains of several different species, particularly of the branching 
 zoophyte already mentioned. There are also numerous small 
 semi-transparent quartz pebbles, noticed by Sir Henry de la Beche, 
 as occurring near Lyme Regis. This stratum is about four feet 
 in thickness. 
 
 Near the north end of the cliff, from between the beds of white 
 and red chalk, small springs of water occasionally issue forth. 
 
 5. Green Sand or Glauconite. — This is an argillaceous limestone, 
 in which green sand is largely intermixed. In some places it 
 possesses all the properties of stone, and, under the name of 
 " carstone " is in extensive use for building ; in other places it is 
 soft and friab 1 ^. 
 
 The stratum contains no fossils, and varies much in thickness, 
 as, indeed, do all the different strata here seen. 
 
 6. Dark-brown Pudding Stone or Sandy Breccia, which forms the 
 lowest stratum of the cliff. It is composed of siliceous pebbles, 
 and slender white veins may be seen passing through many of 
 its masses. It varies much in the degree of intensity of its 
 colour ; many of the large rounded blocks that lie scattered about 
 the beach being almost black. 
 
 Some geologists have enumerated more than these six strata, 
 and probably one or two more might be denned ; but the six 
 above named are the most easily identified. 
 
 Ornithology. 
 
 From the top of the cliff at Hunstanton, early in autumn, 
 especially towards the decline of day, may be seen and heard 
 large flocks of migratory birds wending their way in the form 
 of a wedge towards some far distant home ; or, walking on the 
 shore, a great variety of waders may be observed sporting in the 
 shallows or on the sand-hills stretching away to the north of 
 Hunstanton. Of many of these birds Mr. Munford has given an 
 account in his valuable manuscript. 
 
 The swallow tribe, with several others of the smaller birds, 
 frequent the cliff of Hunstanton, while it is occasionally resorted 
 to by those of the nobler and larger kind. For many succes- 
 sive years a pair of peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) here 
 
HTOSTANTOX. 
 
 SI 
 
 built their nest. Year after year they reared their young on a 
 projecting ledge of chalk near the upper part of the cliff, and 
 not far from the lighthouse ; and year after year were they de- 
 prived of their brood, which were taken and trained to falconry 
 hy Mr. Downes, of Gunton, in Suffolk ; till at length, worn out 
 by this cruel persecution, they forsook the place in ] 821, and 
 went in search of a more secure abode. 
 
 The white-tailed eagle (Falco albicilla) has been several times 
 taken in Norfolk, particularly on the western side of the county. 
 Many years since, a fine specimen, which was slightly wounded 
 with a gun in this neighbourhood, was with difficulty over- 
 powered. This bird afterwards lived sixteen years in the pos- 
 session of Henry Styleman, Esq., of Snettisham, at whose house 
 it was in full vigour in 1818. 
 
 Mr. Munford also enumerates the following birds as frequent- 
 ing this shore and the neighbourhood : — 
 The Foolish Guillemot {Uria troile) 
 
 „ J^uffin (Fratercula arctica) 
 
 „ Razor Bill (Alca torda) 
 
 ,, Golden Plover {Charadrius pluvialis) 
 
 „ Dotterel (Cliaradrius morinellus) 
 
 „ Lapwing {Tringa vanellus) 
 
 „ Sea Pie {Hamatopus ostralegus) 
 
 „ Crane (Ardea grus) 
 
 „ Heron {Ardea cinerea) 
 
 „ Bittern {Ardea stellaris) 
 
 „ Spoonbill (Platulea leucorodia) 
 
 „ Curlew (Numenius arquata) 
 
 „ Whimbrel (Numenius phceopus) 
 
 ,, Redshank (Scolopax calidris) 
 
 „ Woodcock {Scolopax rusticola) 
 
 „ Snipe (Scolopax gallinago) 
 
 „ Knot {Tringa islandica) 
 
 „ Stint (Tringa puailla) 
 
 „ Water Hen (Gallinula chloropus) 
 
 „ Coot (Fulica atra) 
 
 „ Wild Goose (Anas anser) 
 
 „ Brent Goose (Anas bernicla) 
 
 „ Swan (Anas olor) 
 
 „ Mallard {Anas boschas) 
 
 „ Teal (Anas crecca) 
 
 „ Wigeon (Anas Penelope) 
 
 CONCHOLOGY. 
 
 The child who has out-grown his love for building houses and 
 fortifications of sand with a w ooden spade, will (if his curiosity 
 be properly excited) seek for the jewels of the sea along the 
 shore ; and no shore in East Anglia has a greater wealth of such 
 
32 
 
 HUNSTANTON. 
 
 treasures than Hunstanton. A few years onward, and the same 
 child, of larger growth, maturer mind, and an eye informed by 
 science, may perhaps be seen on the same shore, seeking the 
 same things to other, — I will not say, to better purpose ; and, to 
 quote again our clerical friend: " Shells, the habitations of that 
 division of Mollusca, or soft-bodied animals, which are denomi- 
 nated Testacea, have always been objects of very great interest 
 to sea-side visitors ; the elegance of their forms, the beauty of 
 their colours, and their extreme durability, appear in a manner 
 to adapt them with peculiar propriety for arrangement in the 
 cabinet of the curious in nature's works." 
 
 Multi valves. — Bordered Canoe-shell (Chiton marginatus). — 
 This little multivalve, which is about an inch long, and resembles 
 a wood-louse, is occasionally picked up in a dead state on the 
 shore ; but those who will give themselves the trouble of paying 
 a visit to the crab-sea at dead low water, may find it in thou- 
 sands, alive and in its natural habitat. 
 
 Common Acorn-shell (Lepas balanus).— - Very abundant on the 
 large boulders of black rock scattered along the shore. The 
 little animal inhabiting this multivalve will afford the observer 
 a spectacle of great interest. Let him find one of these acorn- 
 shells on a small detached piece of rock, and keep it from all 
 moisture lor an hour or two, till it becomes perfectly dry ; then 
 place it in a basin of sea-water, when it will open the valves of 
 its abode aud exhibit its beautiful plume-like processes ; these 
 are the tentacula of the animal, with which it procures its food, 
 and which it waves backwards and forwards in a most graceful 
 manner. 
 
 White Piddock (Pholas Candida ). — This and one or two other 
 species of the genus may be seen in myriads in a living state im- 
 bedded in the wood and clay ot the submarine forest, off the 
 coast, in that part now called the crab-sea. The sight of these 
 and various other molluscous creatures in their natural habitats 
 is so curious and interesting, that a walk to the crab-sea, even at 
 the hazard of a wet foot, will richly repay the trouble. Dead 
 valves of this shell may be frequently picked up on the beach. 
 
 Bivalves. — Abrupt Gaper (Mya truncata). — Dead shells of 
 the Mya truncata are very common here, and are sometimes found 
 with the long membranaceous tube attached to their truncated 
 end ; this tube, the animal, when embedded in its burrow, pro- 
 trudes through the sand for the purpose of collecting its food. 
 
 Sand Gaper (Mya arenaria).—T\\\s species is also common, and 
 resembles the last, but without its remarkably truncated appear- 
 ance. 
 
 Pod Razor-shell (Solen siliqua). 
 Sheath Razor-shell (Solen vagina). 
 Scimitar Razor-shell (Solen ensis). 
 
UtWSTAXTON. 
 
 as 
 
 These three species are found plentifully beyond the south 
 end of the cliff, towards Heacham, but Solen vagina is the most 
 rare. They form an article of food in many places ; and, indeed, 
 all the bivalves appear to be wholesome, or at least none of 
 them are positively injurious, except the mussel, to be hereafter 
 noticed. 
 
 One way in which these solens, or spout fish, as they are 
 called, are taken is rather remarkable. Although they live sur- 
 rounded with salt-water, pure salt appears to be very distasteful 
 to them ; and the fisher-lads, aware of the circumstance, are in 
 the habit of dropping salt into the hole in which the spout fish 
 resides, when it immediately rises to the surface and is taken. 
 
 The solens may be seen extended along the surface of the 
 sand in a fine summer's evening, enjoying, apparently, the calm- 
 ness and mildness of the sen son ; but on approaching them too 
 nearly, they instantaneously descend. We can hardly suppose 
 that they hear the foot-fall It is more probable that they feel the 
 percussion, and are warned by it. Dr. Johnston says : " I can 
 explain this and similar facts only on the supposition of the ex- 
 istence of a sense of touch feelingly alive to impressions impal- 
 pable to our grosser sense." 
 
 Thin Tellen (Tellina tenuis). — This and two or three other 
 species of this pretty genus are found plentifully on the beach. 
 The dead shells are often seen perforated by Buccina and other 
 ca rniv or o u s univ a 1 v es . 
 
 Common Cockle (Cardium edule). 
 Simpleton's Mactra {Mactra stultorum). 
 Solid Mactra {Mactra solida). 
 
 Smooth wedge-shell (Donax trunculm). — All the animals of the 
 four last-named genera live plunged more or less, deeply in the 
 sand or in the mud, but they are still able to come out of it at 
 particular times ; some of them lie as deep as six or eight fathoms 
 from the surface of the sea. 
 
 Silvery ark {Area nucleus). — The genus to which this beautiful 
 little pearly shell belongs, is found on bottorus of sandy mud, at 
 depths varying from the surface of the sea to seventeen fathoms ; 
 and some of the species are moored to stones, &c., by a byssus. 
 Painted scallop (Pecten opercular is). 
 Prickly scallop (Pecten varia). 
 Common oyster {Ostrea edidis). 
 Common mussel (Mytilus edulis). 
 
 Smooth mussel (Mytilus modiolus). —This abounds on the shore 
 towards Holme. Vast beds of mussels are exposed on every 
 ebb of the tide here ; and they are taken in great quantities for 
 manure, tor bait, and to be eaten, roasted or pickled. It is well 
 known that these shell-fish, although they may be commonh 
 eaten with impunity, are sometimes found to be poisonous, bu 
 5 
 
TIUNSTANTOX. 
 
 to what cause these deleterious effects are to be ascribed is 
 uncertain. 
 
 These casualties, however, usually resulting in the summer, 
 makes it not improbable that some natural change is at that 
 time taking place in the animal, which renders it at that season 
 unfit for food. 
 
 Univalves. — Nun Cowry (Cyprcca pediculus). 
 
 Waved Whelk (Buccinum undatum). — This species is very 
 common on this shore, and the dead shell is frequently found 
 tenanted by the Hermit Lobster (Pagurus Bernhardus). 
 
 Rock Whelk {Buccinum Lapillus). — This Mollusk is scattered 
 plentifully among the black rocks below high water mark, and 
 is remarkable as having been one of those from which the far- 
 famed Tyrian purple was procured. 
 
 Reticulated Whelk {Buccinum reticulatum) . 
 
 Pelican's Foot {Strombus Pes-Pelecani).— This species is now 
 called Rostellaria Pes-Pelecani, and is remarkable as being found 
 both living, and, in the Tertiary formations, in a fossil state. 
 
 Tubercled Top-shell {Tyochus magus). 
 Ash-coloured Top-shell (Trochus cinerarias). 
 
 Livid Top-shell {Trochus Ziziphinus). — These plant-eating 
 animals are captured at depths varying from the surface to 
 forty-five fathoms, creeping on rocks and sea-weeds, sandy-mud 
 and gravel. 
 
 Periwinkle (Turbo litoreus). — These well-known shells are also 
 found both living and fossil. When living they are taken on 
 rocks and weeds near the shore, and are plentiful here. 
 
 False Wentletrap {Turbo Clathrus). — As an instance of the 
 difficulty to which all systematists are occasionally exposed, 
 this shell, which by Linnreus was called a Turbo, was made a 
 Buccinum by Rumphius, a Serpula by Davila, a Terebra by 
 D'Argenville, and finally a Scalaria by Lamarck. It is not 
 common on this coast, but is sometimes met with ; the true or 
 precious Wentletrap is a foreign shell, and was formerly held in 
 very high estimation. 
 
 Livid Nerite (Nerita glaucina). 
 
 Strand Nerite (Nerita litoralis). — This pretty, well-known 
 genus is easily distinguished by its entire semicircular aperture. 
 The animal, like that of the Trochus and Turbo, feeds on marine 
 plants. 
 
 Common Limpet {Patella vulgata). — Sometimes found here, 
 but not frequently. 
 
 Common Tooth-shell (Dentalium entalis).— This shell is not 
 often found here, but, when met with, will be easily recognised 
 by its resemblance to the miniature tusk of an elephant, it 
 being much elongated, truncated at the summit, and open at 
 each extremitv bv a rounded orifice. 
 
 r 4 
 
HUNSTANTON. 
 
 35 
 
 Spiral Creeper (Serpula splrorbk). — It is scarcely possible to 
 pick up a piece of seaweed without finding it studded over with 
 numerous specimens of these minute shells, which are not above 
 the eighth of an inch in diameter. 
 
 Twining Creeper (Serpula vermicular is). — Every one must have 
 observed that stones, dead shells, &c, are often found covered 
 by irregularly twisted calcareous tubes. Large masses of these 
 tubes are* frequently dredged up by fishermen, and if placed in a 
 vessel of sea water, while the animals are alive, few spectacles 
 can be more pleasing than that -which they exhibit. The mouth 
 of the tube will be first seen to open, and then the creature will 
 cautiously protrude the anterior part of its body, spreading out 
 at the same time two gorgeous fan-like expansions of a rich 
 scarlet or purple colour, which float elegantly in the surrounding 
 water, and serve as breathing organs. 
 
 Sea Weeds. 
 
 The limits of this little book will not admit of our en- 
 tering here on the extensive field of botany ; but as sea- 
 weeds are generally a very attractive object to sea-side visi- 
 tors, I shall make no apology for drawing very copiously on 
 the manuscript of my reverend friend, introducing to the notice 
 of visitors a few of the more common species, which they are 
 almost sure to meet with during their sea-side rambles, par- 
 ticularly after a gale of wind. 
 
 The extensive order of plants called Algre is reckoned amongst 
 the lowest of the vegetable creation, yet it is one that approaches 
 the nearest to certain animals, and the greatest naturalists have 
 been unable to draw the line of distinction between the least 
 perfect of these vegetables and the less highly organized animals. 
 
 The shores of Britain afford a vast number of distinct species, 
 varying in size from the most minute parasitic, to the gigantic 
 Laminaria bulbosa, which is sometimes as much as a man can 
 carry. One specimen Avas observed by Mrs. Griffiths, of Torquay, 
 whose fronds formed a circle of at least 12 feet in diameter. 
 
 But it is in distant regions that the sea-weeds most abound, 
 and where they attain their greatest luxuriance. Mr. Darwin, 
 in speaking of the sea about Tierra del Fuego, says: "The 
 Macrocystis pyrifera grows on every rock from low-water mark to 
 a great depth, both in the outer coast, and within the channels. I 
 believe that, during the voyage of the ' Adventure ' and' Beagle,' 
 not one rock near the surface was discovered which was not 
 buoyed up by this floating weed. The good service it thus 
 affords to vessels navigating near this stormy land is evident ; 
 and it certainly has saved many a one from being wrecked. 
 T know few things more surprising than to see this plant 
 growing and flourishing amidst those great breakers of the 
 Western Ocean, which no mass of rock, let it be ever so hard, 
 
36 
 
 HUNSTANTON. 
 
 can long resist. The stem is round, slimy and smooth, and 
 seldom has a diameter of so much as an inch. A few taken 
 together are sufficiently strong to support the weight of the large 
 loose stones to which, in the inland channel, they grow attached; 
 and yet some of these stones were so heavy, that when drawn 
 to the surface, they could scarcely be lifted into the boat by one- 
 person. Captain Cook, in his second voyage, says that this plant 
 at Kerguelen land rises from a greater depth than twenty-four 
 fathoms ; and as it does not grow in a perpendicular direction, 
 but makes a very acute angle with the bottom, and much of it 
 afterwards spreads many fathoms on the surface of the sea, I am 
 well warranted to say that some of it grows to the length of 60 
 fathoms and upwards." 
 
 Here we may naturally enquire, What purposes in the economy 
 of nature are fulfilled by plants so numerous, so luxuriant 
 and so universally distributed as sea weeds are? We answer 
 that, although it is dangerous to decide on the designs and in- 
 tentions of creative wisdom, it must be apparent to every one in 
 the least accustomed to observation, that fishes, mollusks and 
 other creatures find food and shelter among the tangled sea- 
 weeds of the ocean. Many sea animals are strictly herbivorous ; 
 others are so fragile, that they would be perpetually exposed 
 to fatal injuries without the shelter of these submarine groves ; 
 while the spawn and young of a thousand species find amid 
 their leaves and branches a safe and fitting nursery. It has 
 also been surmised by chemists, from the quantity of alkaline 
 matter found in the algae, that they probably exercise a purifying 
 influence on the water of the sea, and assist in maintaining that 
 equilibrium which evaporation, and the discharge of rivers, con- 
 tinually tend to disturb. 
 
 But, if we know not certainly the part the sea-weeds are 
 destined to perform in the grand economy of nature, we cannot 
 be ignorant of the important service that mankind derives from 
 them. Many kinds are eaten in different parts of the world, 
 especially in the North of Europe, and some are esteemed great 
 delicacies. Cattle at certain seasons of the year repair to the 
 shores at low tide, and devour the sea weeds with great eager- 
 ness. The Chondrus Crispus, which is often cast up on our 
 shore, is an excellent substitute for isinglass, in making blanc- 
 mange, and the famous edible birds' nests are said to be made 
 from a species of sea-weed. Before the introduction of barilla, 
 sea-weeds were of the highest importance in the manufacture of 
 kelp for making glass and soap; and they are still very exten- 
 sively employed as a manure in agriculture. 
 
 In addition to the above may be found upon the beach the fol- 
 lowing plants ;— The Podded Sea Oak (Halidi ys sili.quosa^) ; Blad- 
 
37 
 
 dered Fucus (Fucus vesiculous) ; Serrated Fucus (Fucus serratus) ; 
 Knotted Fucus {Fucus nodosus) ; Sea-Belt (Laminaria saccharina) ; 
 Sea Whip-lash (Chordafilum) ; Red Ceramium (Ceramium rubrum); 
 Dulse (Rhodornenia palmata) ; Scarlet Plocamium (Plocamiam 
 coccineurn) ; Red Dock-leaved Delesseria (Delesseria sanguined) ; 
 Stone-crop Chylocladia (Chylocladia clavellosa) \ Dark Tufted 
 Polysiphonia (Polysiphoniafastigiata) ; Lobster-horn Polysiphonia 
 (Polysiphonia elongate}; Tutted Polysiphonia (Polysiphonia 
 byssoides) ; Scarlet Dasya (Dasya coccinea) ; Green Rock Con- 
 ferve (Conferva rupcstris) ; Laciniated Purple Lavcr (Porphyra 
 laciniata) ; Broad Green Laver (TJlva latissima). 
 
 I shall conclude the above account of the Natural History of 
 Hunstanton with Mr. Munford's description of one of its most 
 curious phenomena, namely "The Submarine Forest.' 7 
 
 "Avery striking instance of the destruction of land on the 
 "borders of the ocean, by the mighty agency of tides and currents, 
 or by some other natural causes, may be seen off the coast of 
 Hunstanton and Holme at deep neaps. For there commences at 
 Brancaster Bay, stretching by Hunstanton and Holme across 
 the Wash, and extending all along the coast of Lincolnshire, 
 from Skegness to Grimsby, a submarine forest, which, in ages far 
 remote, abounded in trees and plants indigenous to the district. 
 This now submerged tract was once inhabited by herds of deer 
 and oxen, as is evident from the remains of their horns and bones, 
 which have been occasionally found there ; the foot of man has 
 also trodden these now ruined wastes, for works of art have been 
 met with, buried with the forest beneath the waves. 
 
 " It is difficult to reach this overwhelmed forestfrom Hunstanton 
 without the assistance of a boat ; but in the autumn of 1831, ac- 
 companied by a friend, the writer managed to visit it on foot. 
 
 " About two miles north of the cliff, and a mile and a half from 
 high water mark, we arrived at the prostrate forest, consisting of 
 numberless large timber trees, trunks and branches; many of 
 them decomposed, and so soft that they might easily be pene- 
 trated by a spade. These vegetable remains are now occupied 
 by an immense colony of living pholades and other mollusks, and 
 lie in a black mass of vegetable matter, which seems to be com- 
 posed of the smaller branches, leaves and plants of undergrowth, 
 occupying altogether a space of about five or six hundred acres. 
 
 "Many of the trees r however, are quite sound, and still fit for 
 domestic purposes ; and indeed are sometimes used by the pro- 
 prietors of the neighbouring lands for posts and rails. But the 
 most extraordinary thing we met with in this expedition to the 
 submarine forest, was a British flint celt or axe, embedded in the 
 trunk of one of the decomposed trees, about an inch and a half, 
 
38 
 
 HUNSTANTON. 
 
 by its cutting edge. This curiosity is now deposited in the 
 Norwich Museum." 
 
 With this carious account of the long preservation of organic 
 remains, which, however slowly, must yield at last to that change 
 and decay that surrounds us on every hand, I close the account 
 of this interesting village, trusting that the description I have 
 given, however inadequate, of this region, may serve to indicate 
 what may be sought for with success, by the antiquarian, the 
 archaeologist and the student of natural history. 
 
 RINGSTEAD. 
 
 The visitor to Hunstanton will not be long in finding his way 
 to Ringstead Downs, a pretty valley running nearly east and 
 west, and a favourite spot for pic-nic parties. The walk thither 
 from St. Edmund's, is by Mr. Spanton's form, turning to the 
 right on approaching the Park gates, and passing within a field 
 of the ruined church of Barret Pdngstead, a Rectory now annexed 
 to the Vicarage of Hunstanton. The road then turns to the left 
 through Mr. Dodman's farm yard, where is a Chalybeate spring, 
 the chemical properties of which are said to be equal to some of 
 the best known spas in England. The pedestrian will now find 
 himself in the Downs, and cannot do better than traverse the 
 whole length of the valley (about a mile), at the end of which he 
 will come to the village of Ringstead, Here he should stop to 
 see the pretty Church, and he may then return to St. Edmund's 
 by way of Hunstanton Village. 
 
 Ringstead parish contains about 2700 acres, the property for 
 the most part of Mr. Le Strange of Hunstanton. The population 
 at the census of 1861, was 522. Formerly there were two 
 parishes, each with its church, — St. Peter and St. Andrew. About 
 1771 the Church of St. Peter was taken down (except its circular 
 tower, which is still standing,) and the two parishes were con- 
 solidated. The existing Church of St. Andrew has a nave, 
 chancel and tower, chiefly of the 13th and 14th centuries ; but 
 in 1864 the Church was restored at a cost of nearly £2500, and 
 a north aisle and south porch were added. Mr. Le. Strange is 
 patron of the living. The present Rector is the Rev. W. L. 
 Hussey. 
 
 HOLME-NEXT-THE-SEA 
 
 is a small village betw r een Hunstanton aud Brancaster Bay, nine 
 miles west of Burnham Market, containing ,305 inhabitants and 
 1607 acres of land, including 413 acres ol salt marsh, enclosed in 
 
HOLME-NEXT-TIIE-SEA , 
 
 39 
 
 1859. The church (St. Mary) comprises nave and chancel, with 
 a remarkably fine perpendicular tower at the south-west angle, 
 containing five hells. At the east end of the nave is a curious 
 brass, with figures of Henry Netyngdon, an itinerant judge in 
 the time of Henry IV., and his wife, and an inscription stating 
 that they built the steeple and choir, and also furnished the bells 
 and vestments. The nave was rebuilt on a smaller scale in 1778, 
 when the south aisle was destroyed. Both it and the chancel 
 are debased, but the latter contains sediiia and a double piscina 
 of very early date, and a monument dated 1607, bearing kneeling 
 figures of R. Stone, his wife and thirteen children. The nave is 
 filled with large pews. In 1861 some fragments of Roman 
 pottery were iound in the parish, near* the supposed course of 
 the Peddar's way, and they are now in the possession of the 
 Misses Nelson. This Peddar's (or Pedlar's) Way, is supposed 
 to be one of the Roman chimini minores, or vicinal roads, and 
 passes from Thetford, by lckborough, Swaffham, Castleacre, 
 Fring and Ringstead, to the sea, near Brancaster ; and it may be 
 distinctly traced through the greater part of that course. 
 
 BRANCASTER, 
 
 which is a large scattered village about eight miles from Hun- 
 stanton, has a staith or quay, where the tide rises nine feet, in a 
 commodious creek, which crosses the marshes to Brancaster Bay. 
 It has a considerable trade in coal and corn. In the salt marsh 
 have been dug up, near the beach, oak and chesnut trees, and the 
 antlers of deer. Here was a large Roman station called Brano- 
 dunum, and garrisoned with the Dalmatian cavalry, under a 
 general, who was designated, from the nature of his appointment, 
 Count of the Saxon shore, this part of the coast lying much 
 exposed to the attacks of the Saxons. The castle and entrench- 
 ment occupied an oblong area of about six acres of ground, now 
 a ploughed close above the marsh, where part of the ditch is 
 still visible, with many stones on the north side ; but all the 
 -other walls and foundation stones were cleared away many 
 years ago, and partly used in the erection of a malt-house, said 
 to be the largest in England, being 312 feet long by 31 broad, 
 capable of wetting 420 quarters of barley per week, but it is no 
 longer used for this purpose. 
 
 Numerous urns and coins found here are preserved in the 
 cabinets of the curious ; and knives and styles with handles 
 finely wrought, about the size of clasp knives, have also been 
 discovered. One of the coins found was inscribed Janus Bifrons^ 
 and another Ti. Claudius, Caes. Aug. A Roman road, afterwards 
 called the Jews'* Way, passed from Brancaster, along the coast^ 
 to the other great Roman station at Caistor, near Yarmouth. 
 
40 
 
 SEDGEFOKD, 
 
 a parish and scattered village, in the vale of a small rivulet, 
 between Heacham and Docking, has 742 inhabitants, and 4124 
 acres of land. The church (St. Mar}?) is a large edifice of the 
 decorated period, but most of the windows are perpendicular 
 insertions. It comprises a spacious and lofty nave, with aisles 
 and clerestory, large north and south porches, south transept, 
 chancel and short tower, with octagonal belfry and three bells. 
 The nave has six fine decorated arches on each side, opening to 
 the aisles. The chancel appears to be much smaller than the 
 original one. The old rood screen still exists, and in the transept 
 is a piscina with a lateral opening. The font is Norman, and the 
 pulpit is richly carved. An organ was purchased by subscription 
 in 1862. The east window contains some beautiful stained glass ; 
 and the west window is similarly decorated by the parishioners 
 as a memorial of their love for Mrs. Rolfe, who died in 1 803. 
 
 DOCKING 
 
 is a large village 6 miles south-west of Burnham, and 17 miles 
 north-east of Lynn. The parish, which includes Southmere, in- 
 creased its inhabitants from 777 in 1801, to 1625 in 1861, and 
 comprises 6228 acres of land. Southmere, commonly called 
 Summerfield, is in one farm, (with 100 acres of wood), occupied 
 by Mr. John Freeman. It was formerly a separate parish, and 
 had a church (All Saints), of which no vestiges are now extant, 
 though its benefice is still continued as a sinecure rectory, in the 
 gift of Eton College. Docking church (St. Mary) is a neat 
 structure, consisting of a spacious nave, chancel, south porch 
 (now closed), and a lofty square tower with one bell. The 
 tower and the windows of the nave are in the perpendicular 
 style; but the chancel is of the decorated period, and contains 
 some tablets of the Hare family, one of whom, Mrs. Winifred 
 Hare, gave the sacramental plate. The east window is of live 
 lights, with reticulated or net like tracery. The tower was re- 
 paired and the bell rehung in 1861, at a cost of £140. The 
 public well here is 73 yards deep, and a man is constantly 
 employed in drawing water, which is sold at a farthing a pailful. 
 There are also two other wells, each about 67 yards deep, be- 
 longing to private individuals. The Docking Union Workhouse 
 is in this parish, nearly in the centre of the Union, and is an 
 extensive range of brick building, erected in 1836, at a cost of 
 about £9000, including the furniture, &c. It was opened in 
 December, 1836, and has room for 513 paupers, but in summer 
 it has seldom more than 100. 
 
41 
 
 THE BURNHAMS. 
 
 The u seven Burnhams " are a noted Norfolk constellation, 
 and the distinction of being its " bright particular star " must 
 certainly be awarded to Burnham Thorpe, the birth-place of 
 England's greatest naval hero. The principal village — we beg 
 its pardon— town, of the cluster is 
 
 BURNHAM WESTGATE, OR MARKET. 
 
 This parish contains 2997 acres of land and at the last census 
 had 1094 inhabitants. There are several large and important 
 farms in the vicinity, of which Sussex Farm (occupied by H. E. 
 Blyth, Esq,) is the principal, and where English agriculture is 
 carried out to its fullest development. The country in the 
 vicinity is agreeably undulating and the air salubrious. The 
 town is about two miles from the sea coast, and for the most 
 part surrounds a large open space formerly used as a market 
 place. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, comprises nave with 
 aisles and clerestory, south porch, chancel and square tower with 
 four bells and a clock. On the battlements of the tower are 
 panels containing bas-reliefs, representing seenes from the life of 
 our Saviour. The south aisle was reroofed in 1858 at a cost of 
 £20; and the rest of the building needs restoration, the nave 
 being filled with pews, and the mullions and tracery of many of 
 the windows being gone. The clerestory is of the perpendicular 
 period, and evidently later than the rest of the church. The 
 chancel, which is covered by a very plain old roof, has three 
 sedilia, a curious stone effigy without date or name, and a marble 
 tablet of the Thornhill family. 
 
 BURNHAM ULPH AND BURNHAM SUTTON 
 
 now form one parish, with a number of houses adjoining the east 
 end and forming part of the town of Burnham Westgate. They 
 contain 380 inhabitants, and 145(1 acres of land, chiefly lying in 
 two farms, one belonging to the Earl of Leicester, and the other 
 called Muckleton, the property of the Earl of Orford. Sutton 
 church (St. Ethelbert) has long been a ruin, consisting only 
 of the tower and part of the north wall of the nave. Ulph 
 church (All Saints) is a small edifice, comprising nave, south 
 porch, chancel and small bell-cot, with one bell on the western 
 gable. It is much in need of restoration, the nave being filled 
 Avith unsightly pews, the west window blocked up by a gallery, 
 the east window partly hidden by a low ceiling, and the walls 
 covered with whitewash. 
 6 
 
 i 
 
42 
 
 THE BTTBNHAMS. 
 
 BURNHAM THORPK 
 
 is about a mile east by south of Burnham Market, has 427 in- 
 habitants, and 2327 acres of land. Burnham Thorpe is, as we have 
 said, famous as the birth-place of Admiral Lord Nelson, whose 
 father was many years reel or of this parish, and also of Burnham 
 Sutton. The church (St. Peter) comprises a lofty nave of four 
 bays, north aisle, clerestory, chancel, north porch, and square 
 tower with one bell. There was a south aisle, and the arches 
 which opened to it may still be seen in the wall. The present 
 windows are mostly perpendicular, though the original style 
 appears to have been decorated. In the chancel are a piscina 
 and three sedilia with richly-sculptured canopies. The east 
 window contains some stained glass. There are several tablets 
 of the Nelson and Everard families, and a fine brass, dated 1420, 
 representing Sir Willis Calthrop, knight, in armour. 
 
 BURNHAM OVERT 
 
 has 650 inhabitants and 1880 acres of land, and includes the 
 large village of Burnham Overy Staith, situated nearly two miles 
 N.N.E. of Burnham Market, on a rivulet or creak, which crosses 
 the salt marshes by two channels to the ocean, and is navigable 
 for vessels of 60 or 80 tons up to the staith, where the spring- 
 tides rise 9 or 10 feet. The church (St. Clement) stands on a 
 bold eminence, a mile south of the staith, and is a very plain 
 edifice, originally built in the form of a cross, but now consisting 
 only of nave, south aisle and porch, chancel and low square 
 tower. The latter is surmounted by a turret containing one bell. 
 The transepts and north aisle are entirely gone, but three arches, 
 which once opened into an aisle or chapel, and rest on massive 
 circular pillars, may still be seen on the south side of the chancel. 
 The building was probably erected in the I3th century, but has 
 been much mutilated and sadly needs restoration. It is filled 
 with unsightly pews, and many of the windows are common 
 domestic ones. On the north w all of the nave is a painting of 
 St. Christopher. Peterstone house, with its farm, at the south- 
 east end of the parish, is the site of a hospital and chapel, called 
 St. Peter de Patra, and anciently belonged to a religious com- 
 munity, who had a free chantry or oratory, granted them by the 
 priory oi Walsingham. At the dissolution, its site was granted 
 to the Bishop of Norwich, and is now held of the see by the 
 Earl of Leicester. 
 
 In this locality is an important brick-yard, the property of 
 Lord Leicester, where the manufacture of various kinds of 
 superior earthenware for use in building, drainage, &c, is carried 
 on in a scientific manner and on a large scale. A branch runs 
 from the West Norfolk railway into the heart of the premises. 
 
THE BURNHAMS. 
 
 43 
 
 BURNHAM NORTON, 
 
 one mile north of Burnham Market, has 172 inhabitants, and 
 1260 acres of land, belonging to the Earl of Orford, the lord of 
 the manor. The church (St. Margaret) is above half a mile 
 south of the village, on the western acclivity of a fertile valley. 
 It is a spacious building, comprising nave with aisles and clere- 
 story, north porch, and round tower with one bell. Almost all 
 the windows are in the perpendicular style, except those of the 
 chancel, which are decorated. The east window is filled up, and 
 the aisles have been lately screened oft' from the nave, as the 
 church is much too large for the present inhabitants of the 
 parish. The pulpit is dr. ted 1450, and supposed to be unique. 
 It is hexagonal, and was the gift of J. Golding and his wife, who 
 are portrayed on two of its panels. The other panels bear paint- 
 ings of the four doctors of the church. The whole of these 
 figures have lately been well restored. The ancient screen still 
 remains, and is ornamented with paintings of six saints; and 
 also of John (/room and his wife, by whom it was erected in 
 1458. The south aisle contains memorials of the ancestors of 
 the late Lord Chancellor Thurlow. 
 
 BURNHAM DEEPDALE. 
 
 is two and a-half miles north-west of Burnham Market, and 
 sheltered on the south by a range of lofty hills, finely clothed 
 with wood. The parish contains 81 inhabitants, and Kj2i acres 
 of land, of which 300 are marsh, enclosed under an Acl passed 
 in 1821. The church (St. Mary) consists of nave, chancel and 
 round Norman tower with one bell. '1 here was formerly a north 
 aisle. The font is square and very massive, and is supposed to 
 be of Saxon work and of a period prior to the Christian era, as 
 it contains no mark or symbol relating to religion. On three of 
 its sides are round-headed panels, in which are rudely sculptured 
 12 figures engaged in various works of husbandry, corresponding 
 to the months of the year, the Latin nanu s of which are boldly 
 carved over their heads. It is supported on four shafts, which 
 do not appear to have been designed for the purpose, and are of 
 much more recent date. On the fourth side is merely a little 
 ornamental leaf work. In 1855, the church was avcII restored, 
 reroofed, paved with encaustic tiles, and furnished with new 
 pews, pulpit and reading desk, at a cost of £300. At the same 
 time the east window, which is a decorated one of three lights, 
 was filled with stained glass, in memory of the Rev. E. G. Blyth, 
 a late rector; and one on the south side of the chancel was 
 similarly enriched in memory of John and Elizabeth Overman. 
 There are several marble tablets of the Blyth, Rodwell and Lane 
 families, 
 
44 
 
 HOLKHAM, 
 
 renowned as the residence of one of the greatest promoters of 
 agricultural improvement that ever lived, is situated about 14 
 miles from Hunstanton, the route to it lying through Titchwell, 
 Brancaster and the Burnhams. The house was built by Thomas 
 Coke, who, in 1 728, was created Baron Lovel, of Minster Lovel, 
 in Oxfordshire ; and in 1 744, Viscount Coke, of Holkham, and 
 Earl of Leicester ; but dying without issue in 17."; 9, his titles 
 became extinct. Over the door of the house is the folio wins: 
 inscription : " This seat, on an open barren estate, was planned, 
 "built, decorated and inhabited in the middle of the eighteenth 
 " century, by Thomas Coke, Earl of Leicester." It was begun 
 in 1734 and finished in 1760; it exhibit-; a centre and two wings, 
 but is not remarkable for the beauty of its architecture. The 
 most striking features of the interior are the entrance hall, built 
 of marble, which measures 46 feet by 70, and is 43 feet in height, 
 and has a gallery round it supported by 24 fluted Ionic columns ; 
 and the statue gallery connecting the principal apartments on 
 the first floor. Few objects in this mansion are more deserving 
 of attention than the marble chimney pieces, two of which, in 
 the dining room, represent a sow and pigs with a wolf, and a 
 bear and beehives, both specimens of exquisite carving. The 
 library, which is extensive, contains a large collection of curious 
 manuscripts, which were arranged in their present order by 
 Mr. Roscoe, in 1814. 
 
 There is spread about the house a large collection of pictures, 
 containing, especially, many beautiful landscapes by Claude 
 Lorraine ; there is a line portrait of the late Earl of Leicester in 
 his youth, by Gainsborough, walking in a wood in sporting 
 costume, and accompanied by spaniels ; and there are two of 
 Charles Fox, one in his youth, by Reynolds, the other in later 
 life, by Opie. I believe I am right in stating that the mansion 
 is not open to strangers ; but the garden and grounds, which are 
 beautiful and extensive, are open to visitors every Tuesday 
 during the summer months. 
 
 The family of Coke is very ancient ; the late Earl, whose 
 mother was sister of Thomas Coke, Earl of Leicester, was the 
 son of Roberts, Esq., but took the name of Coke on inherit- 
 ing the estates. He represented Norfolk in Parliament for 57 
 years, until he was raised to the peerage in 1837 ; he was a 
 staunch adherent of the Whig party, during the long period of 
 their exclusion from office, but lived to see the principles which 
 he had all his life espoused, at last triumphant. He married, 
 first, the daughter of Lord Sherbourn, by whom he had three 
 daughters: Lady Andover, Lady Anson and the Honorable Mrs. 
 Spencer Stanhope; and secondly, Lady Anne Keppel, daughter of 
 
HOLKHAM. 
 
 the Earl of Albemarle, by whom he left, besides the present Earl 
 of Leicester, three sons and one daughter. A conspicuous 
 memorial, emblematic of agriculture, has been erected to his 
 memory in Hoikham park at the expense of his tenantry and 
 friends. 
 
 WELLS 
 
 is an irregularly built sea-port town, 10 miles north of Fakenham, 
 29 miles north-east of Lynn, and about 18 from Hunstanton, 
 at the terminus of the West Norfolk line from Heacham, and of 
 the Great Eastern branch from Dereham. The parish has in- 
 creased its population since the year 1801, from 2316 to 3464 
 souls, and contains L ; C25 acres of land Wells had formerly a 
 weekly market on Saturday, and races yearly ; but both have 
 long been discontinued. Wells was formerly one of the most 
 incommodious seaports in England, but in 1845-6, the commission 
 appointed to carry out the provisions of two Acts of Parliament 
 obtained in 1844, borrowed £22,000, of which they expended 
 £10,000 in erecting a substantial stone quay, 250 yards in length ; 
 and £9500 in paving, lighting and improving the town and harbour. 
 The tide rises in the harbour from 1 1 to 12 feet, and on the bar 
 to 20 feet, so that vessels of 150 to 200 tons can get up at 
 high water; and some of that tonnage are built there. There 
 are two steam tugs and about a dozen fishing boats ; and 
 in the offing are prolific beds of mussels. Corn is the chief 
 export, and the imports are coal, timber, linseed cake, salt and 
 manure. There is a Custom House, but the receipts are very 
 small. The church (St. Nicholas) is a spacious structure of per- 
 pendicular architecture, apparently built about the middle of the 
 15th century. It comprises a nave with aisles and clerestory, 
 south porch, chancel with north chapel or vestry, and lofty 
 square embattled tower with eight bells and a clock. The aisles 
 extend considerably beyond the nave to nearly half the length of 
 the chancel, and the spandrils of their roofs are filled with rich 
 geometrical patterns, intricate tracery of foliage with small birds 
 perched in it, &c. The roof of the nave has been very fine, but 
 is now much decayed ; the wall plate has two rows of Tudor 
 leaves, and the flat space between the mouldings is relieved by 
 angels with extended wings ; the pendants are terminated by 
 angels bearing shields, rows of small Tudor leaves run round the 
 panels, and angels with shields cover the intersections of the ribs 
 and principals, as well as the ridge piece. In the chancel is a 
 beautiful doorway opening to the vestry, having in the hollow of 
 its moulding an elegant design representing a flowing stem, on 
 one side of which are vine leaves and fruit, and on the other 
 birds with extended w ings picking the grapes. Over it is a brass 
 to Thos. Bradley, rector (ob. 1499), who rebuilt the chancel. 
 
"WELLS. 
 
 There are also tablets of the Bloom, Robinson, Hill, Webber and 
 Cassidy families. The nave and aisles are filled with high pews 
 and disfigured by galleries ; and several of the windows are 
 partially blocked up. The rood staircase and part of the bottom 
 of the painted screen still remain ; and there are some traces of 
 mural paintings of Mowers and other subjects. 
 
 HOUGHTON. 
 
 The distance of Houghton from Hunstanton is about 14 miles, 
 and from Lynn 13 miles. Its main attraction is the splendid 
 mansion, — one might almost say palace, — erected by Ripley for 
 the great Sir Robert Walpole, between the years 1722 and 1735. 
 The approach to the house is by the south door, over which is 
 engraved the following inscription : — 
 
 Robertvs Walpole 
 has ;edes 
 ANNO 1722 
 
 IXHOCAVIT 
 
 ANNO 1735 
 
 PERFECIT. 
 
 In magnificence, it ranks as the first house in Norfolk, 
 Holkham being considered the second, Rainham the third, and 
 Melton Constable the fourth. It is built of freestone, having two 
 principal fronts, ornamented at each end with a cupola. The 
 wings, which contain the offices, are connected with the front by 
 handsome colonnades. The extent of the principal front is 166 
 feet, and including the colonnades, 450 feet. The apartments are 
 verv numerous and still wear traces of their pristine splendour. 
 The great hall, built chiefly of stone, but commonly called the 
 marble hall, is a cube of 40 feet, having a gallery running three- 
 quarters round it. It contains a lull-sized bronze copy of the 
 Laocoon. On the staircase is a fine original bronze statue of a 
 gladiator, by John of Bologna. 
 
 The saloon is 40 feet long, 30 broad and 40 high. The fine 
 collection of pictures which adorned the mansion in the days of 
 Sir Robert Walpole, were (as is well known) sold to the Empress 
 Catherine of Russia, of whom there is a fine portrait in one of 
 the state rooms ; but some among those that remain, are still 
 worth attention. 
 
 Of the modern pictures, two are remarkable: the Fortune-teller, 
 one of the best pictures Opie ever painted, containing portraits 
 of two of the Misses Gurney, of Karlham ; and a picture by Fuseli, 
 
IIULGKTO.V. 
 
 47 
 
 suggesting the notion that it must have been conceived under the 
 horrors of a fit of nightmare, representing a scene from Dry den's 
 story of Theodore and Honoria. A small recumbent Venus in 
 white marble is also greatly admired. 
 
 The hall, which is built close to the site of the ancient family 
 mansion, stands low, and the park is generally flat, with some 
 old avenues of beech and other forest trees. Upwards of a 
 thousand line cedars, which were great ornaments, were blown 
 down in the heavy gale of February, I860 ; but several still remain. 
 
 Catalogue of Pictures, &c. 
 
 THE SMALL PARLOUR. 
 
 third son of Sir The Godolphin 
 
 Horace Walpole 
 
 Rob ert Walpole . — Rosa lb a. 
 Robert, Lord Walpole, eldest son of 
 
 Sir Robert Walpole. — Rosalba. 
 Edward Walpole, second son of Sir 
 
 Robert Walpole. — Rosalba . 
 Over the chimney, the Norfolk 
 
 Militia encamped at Reedham. — 
 
 Renegale. 
 Over the first door, Sir Edward 
 
 Walpole, grandfather of Sir 
 
 Robert: — Master unknown. 
 
 THE CORNER 
 
 Over the chimney, Horace Walpole, 
 brother to Sir Robert Walpole. 
 He was Ambassador in France 
 and Holland, Cofferer of the 
 Household, and, lastly, one of the 
 Tellers of the Exchequer. Three- 
 quarters length, by — Riclmrdson. 
 
 Anne Walpole, aunt to Sir Robert 
 "Walpole, a head. 
 
 Colonel Walpole, uucle to Sir 
 Robert Walpole. — Jervase. 
 
 Gulfridus Walpole, younger brother 
 to Sir Robert Walpole, and one 
 of the General Post-masters. He 
 Was Captain of the "Lion" in 
 Queen Anne's Wars, and was 
 attacked by five I rench Ships on 
 the Coast of Italy, against three 
 English Ships, two of which 
 deserted him, but his own he 
 brought off, after fighting bravely 
 and having his arm shot off. — 
 
 Jcri'csr. 
 
 A Lady of the Walpole Family, wife 
 of Sir Charles Turner. 
 
 Arabian. — Masti r 
 
 unknown. 
 
 Over the second door, Sir Robert 
 Walpole, father of Sir Robert. — 
 Master unknown. 
 Lady Malpas, an unfinished picture. 
 
 — Jervase. 
 Lady Mary Churchill, in crayons. — 
 
 r<j,id. 
 
 PARLOUR. 
 
 Charles, Lord Viscount To wash end, 
 Secretary of State to Kings (Vorge 
 I. and II. Three-quarters. — Str 
 Godfrey KneUer. 
 Dorothy, his second wife, and second 
 sister to Sir Robert Walpole. 
 Three-quarters. — Jervase. 
 
 Sir Charles Turner, 
 
 one of the Lords 
 Three-quarter^. 
 
 of the Treasury. 
 — Richardson. 
 Sir Robert Walpole, when Secretary 
 at War to Queen Anne. Three- 
 quarters. — Jervase. 
 Catherine, Lady Walpole, his wife. - 
 Jervase. 
 
 A very line Drawing, Entombing 
 
 Christ. — Parmigiano. 
 Three portraits. George James, first 
 
 Marquis of Cholniondeley. 
 George Horatio, (present) 2nd Mar* 
 quis of Cholniondeley, also Susan 
 C., Marchioness of Cholniondeley. 
 — From Staler. 
 Lord Nelson. 
 
48 
 
 HOUGHTON. 
 
 PRAYER ROOM. 
 
 Hung with beautiful India Paper, Over the chimney, a .small Antique 
 the Furniture to correspond. Bust. 
 
 THE ARCADE. — (ANTE ROOM ADJOINING THE GALLERY.) 
 
 Over the first door, the finding of Two Scripture! Pieces. 
 Moses. — Romanelli. 
 
 Over the gallery door, Venus. 
 Albano. 
 
 Large picture, Elk and Reindeer. 
 Gerrad. 
 
 Portrait of a Young Gentleman. 
 Two Flemings. — Rcueyale. 
 Two Flower Pieces. 
 Lady with a Lamb. 
 Gentleman in Robes. 
 
 Over the window, Portrait of a Lady. 
 Foreign Sheep and Birds. — Shaw. 
 Large Landscape. 
 Portrait of a Gentleman. 
 
 Foreign Birds. 
 
 Portrait of Two Ladies. 
 Portrait of a Gentleman. 
 Near the window, a reclining Venus 
 
 — Locotetti. 
 Two Heads from Herculaneum. 
 
 THE GALLERY AND ANTE-ROOM (99 FT. BY 20 IT.) 
 
 A Sea View. 
 Queen Mab. 
 
 A Landscape with Cascade. 
 
 Birds. —Renegale. 
 
 Hawks and Cranes. 
 
 King Charles's Beauties. 
 
 Arthur, Earl of Essex. 
 
 George I. — Sir Godfrey Knellcr. 
 
 Sir Robert Walpole. 
 
 Portrait of a Lady. 
 
 Portrait of a Gentleman. 
 
 Picture of Hounds. — Wittcau. 
 
 Portrait of a Lady of the Cholmon- 
 
 deley Family. 
 Portrait of a Gentleman. — Woolton. 
 Flight into Egypt. 
 Head of St. Cecilia.— Guido. 
 Fine Head of Christ. — Correggio. 
 Fine Landscape, in the style of 
 
 Claude. — Woolton. 
 Two small Heads. 
 Landscape, with Titian's House. 
 Landscape, very fine. 
 Finding of Romulus and Remus. — 
 
 Pietro da Cortona. 
 Battle of Poictiers. — Bourgognone. 
 Susannah and the Elders. 
 Landscape. 
 
 The Marquis of Cholinondclcy. — 
 
 JSddis. 
 
 Birds and Insects. — Renegale. 
 Lady Whitmore. — Sir P. Lcly. 
 Countess of Orford. 
 Hawks and Cranes. 
 
 James II. 
 
 Portrait of a Gentleman. 
 The Misers, a copy from Quentin 
 Matzvs. 
 
 The Blind leading the Blind.— 
 
 Sal rata Rosa. 
 Small Landscape. 
 Child with Dog. 
 Verms attired by the Graces. 
 Noah's Ark. 
 
 St. John and the Lamb. — Carlo 
 
 Maratti. 
 Small Landscape. 
 
 African Bull and Sheep. The Girl 
 
 by Oplc. 
 Landscape. 
 
 A Marriage 
 
 Dog's Head, very good. — Adolphus, 
 Portrait of a Gentleman. 
 Portrait of a Lady. 
 St. Jerome. 
 
 Joseph and Potiphar's Wife. 
 
 Thunderstorm. 
 
 Dutch Piece. — Tenters. 
 
 Apollo flaying Marsyas. — Rubens. 
 
 Diana and Endymion. 
 
 Small Piece on Copper. 
 
 Campaign of Louis XIV. in the 
 
 Low Countries. — A. F. Vander 
 
 Maelen, 1672. 
 Small View. 
 
 Portrait of an Old Gentleman. 
 Portrait of a Young Gentleman. 
 Nymphs Dancing. 
 
HOUGHTON. 
 
 49 
 
 GALLERY AND ANTE-ROOM- 
 
 Two Antique Heads. 
 Charles I. — Vandyke. 
 Landscape. 
 
 Duchess of Portsmouth. 
 Campaign of Louis XIV. — A. F. 
 
 Vander Muelen, 1672. 
 Two Small Pictures. 
 Lions at Play, a masterly Picture, 
 
 copied by Richardson, of Lynn. — 
 
 Nymphs Bathing. — 
 
 Two Pictures. 
 
 Witteau. 
 Flower Piece. 
 
 David at the Camp of the Philistines. 
 A Perspective. 
 
 Lot and his Daughters. — Rubens. 
 Holy Family, on copper. — Bel Sard. 
 Bacchanalian Piece. — N. Pouissin. 
 A Magdalen. 
 
 Rome, by Camillo Rusconi. 
 Minerva. 
 
 BUSTS. 
 
 Apollo, by Camillo Rusconi. 
 Antinous, „ 
 
 HEADS FROM 
 
 Jupiter. (Antique) 
 
 A Philosopher „ 
 
 On the tables are bronze figures of 
 Venus and Cupid. 
 
 Returning through the Arcade, you 
 ascend the great staircase, painted 
 in chiaro oscuro, by Kent. In the 
 
 PRINCIPAL FLOOR. — THE COMMON 
 
 Over the chimney is a fine pear-tree 
 carving by Gibbons; and in the 
 middle is the Fortune Teller, by 
 Opie, Sir Robert "Walpole, and 
 another portrait, unknown. 
 
 Inigo Jones. 
 
 George III. 
 
 George II. — Zceman. 
 
 THE LIBRARY. — 
 
 Over the chimney a whole-length 
 portrait, by Sir Godfrey Kneller, 
 of King George L in his Corona- 
 
 THE MARCIUIS'S 
 
 Over the chimney is a half-length, 
 by Dahl, of Catherine Shorter, 
 first wife of Sir Robert Walpole ; 
 on the other side, a portrait of 
 
 HERCULANEUM. 
 
 middle, four Doric pillars rise and 
 support a fine cast, in bronze, of 
 the Gladiator, by John of Bologna, 
 which was a present to Sir Robert 
 from Thomas, Earl of Pembroke. 
 The subject of the painting of the 
 staircase is Malcagar and Atalanta. 
 
 DINING ROOM. — (30 FT. EY 21 FT.) 
 
 Lord Malpas 
 Queen Caroline. 
 
 George James, first Marquis of 
 Cholmondeley. — Bompco Baitoni. 
 Theodore's Vision. — Fusel i. 
 Aquatic Birds, from specimens of 
 the Loverian Society. — Rouyale. 
 
 -(21|ft. 21 J ft.) 
 
 tion Robes ; the only picture for 
 which he ever sat in England. 
 
 DRESSING ROOM. 
 
 Maria Skerret, second wife of Sir 
 Robert. — J. jo. Van Loo. 
 In the centre 
 
 Groom. — Woolton. 
 
 Sir Robert, Horse and 
 
 THE MARCHIONESS'S DRESSING ROOM. 
 
 Ovcrthechimnoy,the Cholmondeley Over the closet doors, two drawings 
 
 Family. — Hogarth. of the temple of Minerva. 
 
 Three Views of Charlton.—- Mattes. A View in Hampshire. 
 
 THE FAMILY BED ROOM. 
 
 Tapestry, the Four Seasons. 
 
 Over the chimney, a portrait of Lady 
 Malpas, daughter of Sir Robert 
 Walpole, and married to the 
 
 7 
 
 Great Grandfather of the Marquis 
 of Cholmondeley (1861). 
 Three Landscapes. —Locotdli. 
 
50 
 
 HOUGHTON. 
 
 GREEN DRAWING ROOM. — (30 FT. BY 21 FT.) 
 
 The ceiling is exactly taken (except Small Holy Family. — Raphael. 
 with the alteration of the paternal 
 coat for the star and 
 
 A Figure with a Globe. 
 
 garter,) from 
 one that was in the old house, 
 built by Sir Edward Walpole, 
 Grandfather to Sir Robert. 
 Over the doors, Lady Malpas, the 
 late Marquis and his mother, and 
 Robert Earl of Orford. 
 Our Saviour driving the Merchants 
 
 out of the Temple. — Bassano. 
 A fine Landscape. — De Korning. 
 Holy Family, very fine. — Titian. 
 A Landscape, very fine. — Claude 
 
 Lorraine. 
 A very antique Holy Family. — Old 
 Palma. 
 
 Two Pieces, Banditti. — Salvator 
 Rosa. 
 
 Margaret, Countess of Orford. 
 
 Mrs. Jenny 
 
 Lely. 
 Three Sea Views 
 
 der Velde. 
 
 Deering.- 
 
 ■Sir Peter 
 
 very fine. — Van 
 
 THE 
 
 Is forty feet high, forty long, and 
 thirty wide ; the hanging is of a 
 crimson flowered velvet ; the 
 ceiling painted by Kent— subject, 
 Fhaeton with the Chariot of the 
 Sun. The Chimney-piece is of 
 black and gold marble, of which, 
 also, are three tables. In the 
 broken pediment of the chimney, 
 stands a small antique bust of a 
 Venus, and over the greater door 
 is a large antique bust. 
 
 On the marble slab at the end, is a 
 most beautiful bronze of the Rape 
 of the Sabincs. 
 
 Four antique vases. 
 
 Over the chimney, a portrait of 
 Catherine, Empress of Russia. — 
 Painter unknown. 
 
 the Virgin.- 
 
 An Old "Woman Spinning, very 
 
 good. — Teniers. 
 Two small highly-finished Pieces. — 
 
 Polenburg. 
 Over the Chimney, a very fine Holy 
 Family.— Old copy from Raphael. 
 Lady Warton. — Sir Peter Ldy. 
 A small Holy Family. — Palma. 
 The Assumption of 
 
 Murillo. 
 A View of Venice. — Canaletti 
 The Family of Charles I.— Vandyke. 
 The Nativity. — Palma Vecchio (or 
 
 Old Palma). 
 The Angel appearing to the Shep- 
 herds.— Bassano. 
 Marriage of S. Catherine. — Vandyke. 
 Landscape. — Bassano. 
 Marriage of Henry IV., a sketch. — 
 
 Rubens. — 
 A fine Old Man's Head. — Rembrandt. 
 A beautiful Granite Table. 
 saloon. 
 
 Philoctetes in the Island of Lcmnos, 
 by Cipriani. " The attitude of 
 Philoctetes is considered very 
 fine ; he is drawn in the act of 
 presenting the arrows of Hercules, 
 with the intent of shooting 
 Ulysses, but is dissuaded from it 
 by the interposition of Neopto- 
 lemus. 
 
 Castor and Pollux. — Cipriani. 
 
 (Edipus, King of Thebes, by Cipriani. 
 There are five figures as large as 
 life. The figures of (Edipus and 
 Antigone his daughter, are con- 
 sidered very fine. The scene is 
 taken from Colonos, near Athens, 
 where he is supposed to breathe 
 his last. 
 
 THE SILK DRAWING ROOM. 
 
 The hanging of this elegant room is 
 of rich brocade ; it was presented 
 by George the Fourth when Prince 
 of Wales, was manufactured at 
 Chelsea, and is equal, if not 
 
 superior ; to any foreign. The 
 chairs arc tapestry. A most beau- 
 tiful ottoman embroidered with 
 gold, on white satin. In the pier 
 is a large table of lapis lazuli. 
 
HOUGHTON. 
 
 51 
 
 silk drawing room — continued. 
 
 Over the chimney is a full-length other end is a very handsome old 
 
 portrait of a Lady of the Walpole cabinet, engraven and inlaid with 
 
 Family. At the upper end of the silver. The ceiling, cornice and 
 
 room is a glass case with silver doors, rich beyond conception, 
 
 filagree, which belonged to Ca- There are few rooms that can 
 
 therine, Lady "Walpole ; at the surpass this and the saloon. 
 
 THE VELVET STATE ROOM. — (21^ FT. BY 22 J FT.) 
 
 The bed-curtains, &c, are of green King William III. 
 
 velvet, embroidered and laced Tapestry, the loves of Venus and 
 
 with gold. Bed cost £2,000. The Adonis. 
 
 ceiling, painted by Kedt, is Aurora A most beautiful little Bed, em- 
 
 and her Nymphs, who are deco- broidered with gold and coloured 
 
 rating her with flowers. silks on white satin, made for the 
 
 Over the chimney, the Marquis's christening of George Orford ; 
 
 Great Grandfather. — Master un- George II. and Queen Caroline 
 
 known. standing in person as his sureties, 
 
 Over the doors, Verrio the painter, with his Grandfather, the great 
 
 by himself. Sir Robert Walpole. 
 
 THE DRESSING ROOM 
 
 Is hung with very fine gold tapestry, Queen Anne. It has fine borders 
 
 after pictures by Vandyke. There of boys and festoons and oval 
 
 are whole-length portraits of pictures of children of the Royal 
 
 James I. ; Queen Anne, his wife, Family. 
 
 daughter of Frederick II. King of Over the chimney, George IV., by 
 
 Denmark ; Charles I. and his Thompson. 
 
 Queen ; and Christian the IV., Over the doors, the Duke and Duchess 
 
 King of Denmark, brother to of Gloucester. 
 
 THE EMBROIDERED BED ROOM. 
 
 This bed is of the finest India bed, when he came to visit Sir 
 
 needlework. Robert Walpole, at Houghton. 
 
 His Royal Highness Francis, Duke Over the chimney, a very fine Holy 
 
 of Lorrain, afterwards Grand Family. — Andrea del Sarto. 
 
 Duke of Tuscany, and since Over the doors are two Views of 
 
 Emperor of Germany, lay in this Florence, by Rosa de Tivoli. 
 
 THE DRESSING ROOM 
 
 Is hung with India paper ; the the centre is the figure of Minerva 
 
 ceiling and cornice of this witli the head of Medusa, 
 
 room are, like all the rest, in a Over the chimney, Tydcus. — Fuseli. 
 beautiful state of preservation. In 
 
 THE MARBLE PARLOUR. 
 
 One entire side of this room is Prince Edward. — Vandyke. 
 
 marble, with alcoves for side- Portrait of Sir Robert Walpole — 
 boards, with columns of marble. /. B. Van Loo. 
 Over the chimney is a fine piece Prince Rupert. — Vandyke. 
 of altorelievo in statuary marble ; Portrait of a Turk, 
 a sacrifice to Bacchus, by Rys- Lady Walpole. — JDahl. 
 brack ; and before one of the Portrait of the beautiful Miss Cham- 
 slabs is a fine granite cistern. The bers and Servant, 
 whole of this room is in unison. 
 
52 
 
 HOTJGIITOK. 
 
 THE HALL 
 
 Is a cube of forty feet, with a stone Before 
 gallery round three sides of the 
 room. The ceiling and the frieze 
 of boys, are by Altari ; the bas- 
 reliefs over the chimney and doors 
 are from th^ antique ; the figures 
 over the great door and the boys 
 over the lesser doors are by 
 Rysbrack ; in the frieze are bas- 
 reliefs of Sir Robert Walpole and 
 Catherine, his first Lady, and of 
 Robert, Lord Walpole, their 
 eldest son, and Margaret Rolle, 
 his wife. From the ceiling hangs 
 a French lustre. 
 
 Over the chimney is a bust of Sir 
 Robert Walpole, first Earl of 
 Orford.— Rysbrack. 
 
 niche, over against the 
 chimney, is the Laocoon, a fine 
 cast in bronze, by Girardon, 
 given to Sir Robert Walpole by 
 the Pope ; on the tables are the 
 Tiber and Nile in bronze, from 
 the antiquities in the Capitol at 
 Rome. 
 
 Fifteen mahogany doors in this room. 
 Two vases in bronze, from the 
 antiques in the Villas of Medici 
 and Borghese, at Rome. 
 The bust of a Woman, a most beau- 
 tiful antique. 
 The bust of a Roman Empress, 
 antique. 
 
 On the terms and pedestals round the 
 
 Marcus Aurelius. 
 Septimus Severus. 
 Trajan. 
 Commodus. 
 
 These last two were given to Ge- 
 neral Churchill, by Cardinal 
 Alexander Albani, and by him 
 to Sir Robert Walpole. 
 
 hall are the following busts : — 
 
 ANTIQUES. 
 
 A young Hercules, antique. 
 
 Baccia Bandanelli, by himself. 
 Faustina the elder, antique. 
 A young Commodus, antique. 
 Hesiod, antique. 
 Homer, modern. 
 
 Sir Robert Walpole, the prime minister to Queen Anne and 
 George I. and 1 1.,, was the eighteenth male of his family in a 
 lineal descent, which may be traced from Reginald de Walpole, 
 who lived at the time of the conquest, — a remarkable proof of 
 constitutional vigor of race. The Walpoles took their surname 
 from the Walpoles in Marshland, Norfolk, situate between Lynn 
 and Wisbech, where they had their residence, until one of them, 
 in the time of Henry 1st, obtained by marriage the estate of 
 Houghton, which has remained in the family ever since. 
 
 He was born at Houghton, in 1676. After his father's death 
 he inherited the family estate, said to be worth about £2000 a 
 year, and was elected M.P. for Castle Rising, for which lie sat in 
 the last two years of the reign of William III., and became an 
 active member of the Whig party. In 1711, he was voted by 
 the House guilty of a breach of trust and notorious corruption, 
 and it was resolved that he should be committed to the Tower 
 and expelled the House ; but the Whigs considered him as a 
 martyr to their cause, and the borough of Lynn re-elected him 
 in 1714. 
 
HOUGHTON. 
 
 53 
 
 It may be that some of my readers, who have heard of 
 Walpole's expulsion from the House of Commons and imprison- 
 ment in the tower, may not have heard the specific charge made 
 against him. Shortly, then, it appears that he was accused of 
 having taken, while Secretary of War, in two contracts, from 
 the contractors, two notes of hand, one for 500 guineas, the 
 other for £500, and appropriated them to himself; the fact 
 being that one Robert Mann, a friend ot Walpole's, had taken 
 and was entitled to a fifth part of the contracts, and the other 
 contractors bought Mann out, with these notes of hand, which 
 were designed for Mann, not for Walpole; accidentally, the 
 notes ot hand were made payable to Walpole for the use of his 
 friend, and he endorsed them for form's sake only ; but W T alpole 
 alleged that Mann alone received the money, and he (Walpole) 
 had no interest whatever in the affair.* 
 
 On the accession of George I., he rose again to office, and 
 remained Prime Minister, to the great advantage of his country, 
 until he was driven by faction from his office in 1742. On his 
 retirement he was created Baron Houghton and Viscount Wal- 
 pole, in Norfolk, and Earl of Orford, in Suffolk. 
 
 To most readers, the interest of Houghton must be closely 
 intertwined with the person and character of its founder and 
 central figure. Archdeacon Coxe informs us that Sir Robert 
 Walpole was tall and well proportioned, and in his youth and 
 opening manhood, so comely, that at the time of his marriage he 
 and his wife were called the handsome couple, and among the 
 Knights who walked in procession at the Installation of the 
 Garter, in 1725, he was, next to the Duke of Grafton and Lord 
 Townsend, most distinguished for his appearance. As he ad- 
 vanced in years he became extremely corpulent and unwieldy. 
 His countenance does not seem to have been remarkable for 
 strong traits. The features were regular; when he spoke, and 
 particularly when he smiled, his physiognomy was pleasing, 
 benign and enlightened. His eye was full of spirit and fire, and 
 his brow prominent and manly. His son observed, it would 
 have done you good to hear him laugh. Sir Charles Hanbury 
 Williams said, " he laughed the heart's laugh." His conversation 
 was sprightly, animated and facetious, yet occasionally coarse 
 and vulgar, and too often licentious to an unpardonable degree. 
 In company with women he assumed an air of gallantry, which 
 even in his younger days was ill-suited to his manner and cha- 
 racter, but in his latter years was totally incompatible with his 
 age and figure. He affected in his conversation with the sex a 
 trifling levity ; but his gaiety was rough and boisterous, his wit 
 too often coarse and licentious. Those who wish to learn the 
 
 *Coxe. 
 
HOUGHTON. 
 
 language of gallantry at that day, may find it in the comedies of 
 Congreve, which possibly furnished Sir Robert with his gallant 
 phraseology. 
 
 His buildings at Houghton were more magnificent than suited 
 his circumstances, and drew on him great obloquy. He felt the 
 impropriety of this expenditure, and, on seeing his brother's 
 house at Wolterton, expressed his wishes that he had contented 
 himself with a similar structure. 
 
 The following anecdote also shews that he regretted his pro- 
 fusion. Sitting by Sir John Hynde Cotton, during the reign of 
 Queen Anne, and in allusion to a sumptuous house which was 
 then building by Harley, he observed, that to construct a great 
 house was a high act of imprudence in any minister. Afterwards, 
 when he had pulled down the family mansion at Houghton, and 
 raised a magnificent edifice, being reminded of that observation 
 by Sir John Hynde Cotton, he readily acknow ledged its justness 
 and truth, but added : " Your recollection is too late ; I wish you 
 had reminded me of it before I began building; it might then 
 have been of service to me." 
 
 His style of living was consonant to the magnificence of his 
 mansion. He had usually two annual meetings at Houghton. 
 The one in the spring, to which w ere invited only the most select 
 friends and the leading members of the cabinet, continued about 
 three weeks. The second was in autumn, towards the com- 
 mencement of the shooting season ; it continued six weeks or two 
 months, and was called the "congress " ; at this time Houghton 
 was filled with company from all parts. He kept a public table, 
 to w r hich all gentlemen in the county found a ready admission. 
 
 Horace Walpole's account of his father's guests at Houghton 
 was far from flattering. In a letter to Mr. Chute he w r rites : 
 " Only imagine that I here every day see men w r ho are mountains 
 " of roast beef, and only seem just roughly hewn out into the 
 " outlines of human form, like the giant rock at Pratolino. I 
 " shudder when I see them brandish their knives in act to carve, 
 " and look on them as savages that devour one another. I 
 " should not stare at all more than I do, if yonder Alderman at 
 " the lower end of the table, was to stick his fork into his 
 " neighbour's jolly cheek, and cut a brave slice of brown and fat. 
 " Why, I'll swear I see no difference between a country gentle- 
 " man and a sirloin ; whenever the first laughs, or the latter is 
 " cut, there run out just the same streams of gravy ! Indeed, the 
 " sirloin does not ask quite so many questions. I have an aunt 
 " here, a famity piece of goods, an old remnant of inquisitive 
 " hospitality and economy, who, to all intents and purposes, is 
 " as beefy as her neighbours. She wore me so down yesterday 
 " with interrogatories, that I dreamt all night she was at my ear 
 " with who's and why's and what's and where's." 
 
HOUGHTON. 
 
 55 
 
 The expenses of these meetings have been computed at £3000. 
 Nothing could be more ill-judged than the enormous profusion, 
 except the company for which it was made. The mixed multitude 
 consisted of his friends in both Houses, and their friends. The 
 noise and uproar, the waste and confusion were prodigious. 
 As if by way of penance, the house has been silent enough now 
 for many a good year. The best friends of Sir Robert Walpole 
 in vain remonstrated against this scene of riot and misrule. As 
 the minister himself was fond of mirth and jollity, the convivi- 
 ality of their meetings was too frequently carried to excess ; and 
 Lord Townsend, whose dignity of deportment and decorum of 
 character revolted against these scenes, which he called the 
 Bacchanalian orgies of Houghton, not unfrequently quitted 
 Rainham during their continuance. But, notwithstanding these 
 censures, and the impropriety of such conduct, it undoubtedly 
 gained and preserved to the minister numerous adherents, who 
 applauded a mode of living so analogous to the spirit of ancient 
 hospitality. 
 
 In reference to his social qualities, Pope says in his satires : 
 
 " Seen him, I have, but in his happier hour 
 Of social pleasure, ill-exchanged for power ; 
 Seen him, uncnmbered with the venal tribe, 
 Smile without art, and win without a bribe." 
 
 Notwithstanding his long reign of office, and as his enemies 
 said of corruption, he died comparatively poor. Writing to Sir 
 Horace Mann at the time of his father's death, Horace Walpole 
 says : " His enemies pay him the compliment of saying ' they do 
 " believe now, that he did not plunder the public as he was ac- 
 " cused of doing, he having died in such circumstances.' If there 
 " were no proofs of his honesty but this, I don't think this would 
 " be indisputable authority ; not leaving immense riches would 
 " be scanty evidence of his not having acquired them, there hap- 
 pening to be such a thing as spending them. It is certain, he is 
 " dead, very poor; his debts, with his legacies, which are trifling, 
 "amount to fifty thousand pounds. His estate, a nominal eight 
 " thousand a-year, much mortgaged. In short, his fondness for 
 "Houghton has endangered Houghton. If he had not so over- 
 " done it, he might have left such an estate for his family as 
 " might have secured the glory of the place for many years ; 
 " another such debt must expose it to sale.'' 
 
 With all its grandeur, nothing but a house full of good com- 
 pany could prevent Houghton being a heavy, cheerless looking 
 place, and one is not surprised that Horace Walpole compared a 
 visit to Houghton to Siberian exile. Writing to Sir Horace 
 Mann, he says : " I am writing to you two or three days before- 
 "hand, my way of settling my affairs; not that I am going to be 
 
56 
 
 HOUGHTON. 
 
 " married, or to die, but something as bad as either, if it were to 
 " last as long. You will guess that it can only be going to 
 " Houghton ; but I make as much an affair of that, as other peo- 
 "pie would of going to Jamaica. You know St. Evremont'a 
 "rule for conquering the passions, was to indulge them ; mine, 
 " for keeping my temper in order, is never to leave it too long 
 " with another person. It is impossible, in one house, with one 
 " set of company, to be always agreeable. If I had a house of 
 " my own in the country, and could live there now and then alone, 
 " or frequently changing my company, I am persuaded I should 
 "like it ; at least I fancy I should," 
 
 This ideal, as we know, he afterwards realized by building 
 Strawberry Hill, where he not only indulged his antiquarian and 
 archaeological tastes, but planted lilacs, made hay, and enjoyed 
 the society of Kitty Clive and his Twickenham neighbours, with 
 the pleasing consciousness that at the first approach of ennui, a 
 drive of two hours and a half would take him to the warmth, 
 the life and the gossip of Arlington street. 
 
 On the death of Sir Robert Walpole, first Earl of Orford, 
 Houghton descended to his eldest son and grandson successively, 
 and the grandson dying without issue, the title and the estate 
 descended to Horace Walpole at an age when he was past 
 the power of enjoying either the one or the other. At length, 
 however, he w r as proprietor of Houghton, and is I think entitled 
 to occupy a short space in these pages ; for, large as is the space 
 that the father must ever occupy in the history of his country, I 
 believe that the reputation of the son, among men of letters, is 
 not only as great, but at the present day may be said to be the 
 more living reputation of the two, inasmuch as the name of 
 Horace Walpole continually recurs in general conversation and 
 dn the pages of modern authors. The following estimate of 
 Walpole as a writer, is by no friendly hand* : — 
 
 " The literary fame of Horace Walpole has passed through 
 " several phases, always on the increase, and we doubt whether 
 " it is even yet at its full. What a voluminous and important 
 " author this writer of light essays and gossiping letters has 
 " become! 
 
 " His first attempts as an author were those of a man of fashion 
 " amusing himself with literary trifles, in the intervals of still 
 " lighter frivolities. From these latter he w r as soon weaned by an 
 " instinctive love of the arts, and an almost instinctive zeal in 
 " politics ; but the ambition of authorship, which he w as for ever 
 *' disclaiming, was, we are satisfied, his predominant passion. To 
 "it, fortunately for posterity, he contrived to make both politics 
 "and the arts subservient, and he has achieved a reputation, not 
 
 The Quarterly Review, 1843. 
 
HOUGHTON. 
 
 57 
 
 " only, we believe, beyond all the aspirations of his vanity, but by 
 " means which at the outset he could not have contemplated, and 
 "perhaps to the last did not very distinctly appreciate. 
 
 " It is not by his slight but lively sketch of ' Royal and Noble 
 " Authors,' or the ' Anecdotes of Painting,' of which he supplied 
 " little more than the gay strings that tied together the gatherings 
 " of Virtue, nor by his ingenious * Historic Doubts,' nor by his 
 u romance of 4 Otranto,' which founded the school to which Mrs. 
 " RadclifFe succeeded as head mistress. It is not by any of these 
 " that he will be known to posterity, but by his i incomparable 
 "letters,' — and not even by them as letters, — models though they 
 u be of every variety of epistolary excellence. They will indeed 
 " be long read — as we for twenty years have been reading them — 
 " for amusement ; and their brilliancy— sparkling but cold, like 
 "icicles in sunshine — will perhaps rival, in the coarser tastes of 
 " the generality of mankind, the sprightly and sensible causeries of 
 " Madame de Sevigne and the mingled pleasantry and pathos of 
 " Cowper. 
 
 " Bat it is not for the mere merits of his style that Wal- 
 " pole's letters are destined, more surely perhaps than any other 
 " work of his or our age t to immortality ; it is because those 
 " letters are in fact a chronicle — much more minute and particular 
 " than Hollinshed or Hall— of every occurrence and of every 
 " opinion which attracted or deserved public attention, either at 
 " home or abroad, during one of the busiest half-centuries of 
 " European history. His letters are in fact a perfect encyclopaedia 
 " of information from the very best sources — politics from the 
 " fountain-head of parties — debates by the best reporters — foreign 
 " affairs from an habitue of diplomatic society— sketches of public 
 " characters by their intimate acquaintance or associates— the 
 " gossip of fashionable life from a man of fashion — literature from 
 " a man of letters — the arts from a man of taste— the news of the 
 "town from a member of every club in St. James's street; and 
 " all this retailed day by day, and hour by hour, to a variety of 
 "correspondents, by a pen whose vivacity and graphic power is 
 equalled by nothing but the wonderful industry and perseverance 
 " with which it was plied through so long a series of years." 
 
 H is taste in and knowledge of architecture, were before his 
 age ; and out ot Mrs. Chenevix s lath and plaister toy-shop, at 
 Strawberry hill, he manufactured a building which gave a new 
 impulse to our domestic architecture. Walpole, says his critic, 
 was no architect, nor was he designing a castle, nor even a house ; 
 he had set about repairing a small cottage, the mean proportions 
 and odd irregularities of which might, as it seemed to his pro- 
 phetic eye, be best reconciled to comfort and beauty by an adap- 
 tation of the old English style. The delightful work grew on 
 his hands, the tov villa gradually assumed the mingled features 
 8 
 
 • 
 
58 
 
 HOUGHTON. 
 
 of a cloister and a castle, thus making for himself, — what to him 
 Houghton could never be, — a very enjoyable and interesting 
 villa, and created for his country a noble and characteristic 
 style. This Gothic villa in his hands gradually became one of 
 the most interesting museums of antiquities, relics of history, 
 and objects of art and vertu of almost every variety which the 
 house of any private gentleman ever displayed. There were 
 works by Benvenuto Cellini, miniatures of rare beauty by Petito 
 and Zincke,* historical portraits by Holbein, rare and costly 
 pottery of all kinds, and, in fact, whatever could please the taste 
 of the enlightened virtuoso, or illustrate the history of the past. 
 When, a few years ago, this collection was dispersed by the ruth- 
 less hammer of George Robins, at a sale of 14 days' duration, it 
 was felt to be almost a national loss. He was the friend of West 
 and Gray, and when Marshal Conway was cashiered by Geo. 
 III. for giving an honest vote, Walpole offered him half his 
 fortune. One general charge made against him is, that he was 
 a sybarite, who lived to himself alone ; there are few traces of 
 any forwardness to promote schemes of charity, or benevolence. 
 Much of this must be admitted; but it may be pleaded in miti- 
 gation, that in Walpole's day the fashion of philanthropy had 
 not set in, and it is not fair to judge him by the existing 
 standard, so very different from that of the eighteenth century. 
 To dive into the almsgiving of Horace Walpole at this time of 
 day would be rather unprofitable employment, but to discover 
 that Hannah More got two guineas out of him for a poor family 
 is at least to make a beginning. 
 
 Much of the acrimony expressed against him was caused by 
 his holding an unfavorable opinion of George III., whom, in 
 conjunction with Mason, he satirized in the "Heroic Epistle." 
 Perhaps the recent publication of the "Grenville correspond- 
 ed e" may go far to justify Walpole's unfavorable estimate of the 
 K « g's public character. 
 
 One of the charges made against him was that, having affected 
 to patronize that wild, impracticable and ill-fated boy Chatterton, 
 he then neglected him. Of this he has been generally acquitted, 
 and specially by Mr. Masson, Chatterton's latest biographer, 
 who says : " Of all the unreasonable things ever done by a mis- 
 judging public, certainly that of condemning Walpole to in- 
 " famy for his conduct in this affair, and charging on him all the 
 "tragic sequel of Chatterton's life, is one of the most unreasou- 
 "able. The probability is that Walpole behaved better than 
 " most people would have done under the circumstances. Let 
 
 * Exquisite painters, on enamel ; the one born at Geneva, in 1607, and 
 patronized by Charles I. and Louis XIV. ; the other born at Dresden, about 
 1681, and patronised by George II. and Queen Caroline. 
 
HOUGHTON. 
 
 59 
 
 " any one in the present day fancy how he would act if some one 
 " utterly unknown to him were to try to impose upon him in a 
 " similar way through the post-office. Would the mere cleverness 
 " of the cheat take away the instinctive frown of resentment and 
 " change it into admiring enthusiasm." 
 
 He sat in Parliament for the boroughs of Carrington, Castle 
 Rising and King's Lynn, but did not distinguish himself in that 
 arena. On his election for Lynn in 1781 he wrote the following 
 humorous account to Mr. Montague : — " Think of me, the sub- 
 " ject of a mob, who was scarce ever before in a mob, addressing 
 " them in the Town Hall, riding at the head of two thousand 
 " people through such a town as Lynn, dining with above two 
 " hundred of them amid bumpers, huzzas, songs and tobacco, and 
 " finishing with country dancing at a ball and sixpenny whisk. 
 " I have borne it all cheerfully ; nay, have sat hours in conver- 
 " nation, the thing upon earth that I hate ; have been to hear 
 "misses play on the harpsichord and to see an alderman's copies 
 " of Rubens and Carlo Marat * Yet to do the folks justice, they 
 " are sensible and reasonable and civilized ; their very language 
 "is polished since I lived among them. 
 
 " P.S. — I forgot to tell you that my ancient aunt Hammond 
 " came over to Lynn to see me, not from any affection but 
 " curiosity. The first thing she said to me, though we have not 
 " met these sixteen years, was : ' Child, you have done a thing 
 " to-day that your father never did in all his life ; you sat as 
 "they carried you. He always stood the whole time. 
 "' Madam,' said I, ' When I am placed in a chair 1 conclude I 
 "am to sit in it; besides, as I cannot imitate my lather in great 
 "things, 1 am not at all ambitious ot mimicking him in little 
 " ones.' " 
 
 Whenever we have been charmed with the pages of an author 
 our curiosity is almost invariably excited to know what manner 
 of man he was ; we always seem to doubt whether one who ex- 
 cels ourselves so much in some fine qualities of mind resembles 
 the rest of his kind in other ways. Often enough when we come 
 to examine the lives of distinguished authors we find it a record 
 of very small circumstances, — only interesting to us and only 
 worth recording as accessories to the portrait of a man otherwise 
 note-worthy ; but who would willingly forego the record of the 
 facts that Dr. Johnson's teapot was always concocting, and that 
 he knocked down Osborn the bookseller with a big folio? Speak- 
 ing of Dr. Gibbons, a dissenting minister, he said : " f took to 
 Gibbons, and shall be glad to see him. Tell him if he will call 
 on me and dawdle over a dish of tea in an afternoon I shall take 
 
 * Which of the Lynn aldermen now possesses even copies of Rubens 
 and Carlo Maratti ? 
 
GO 
 
 1EOUGIITON. 
 
 it kind." Trifling anecdotes such as these individualize the man 
 and are pleasing lor many reasons, principally perhaps for the 
 reason that one touch of nature proves us all of kin ; and the 
 avidity with which memoirs as minute as Mr. Forster's life of 
 Goldsmith have been read, proves that even the record of a 
 genuine wash-woman's bill, particularly if it was not paid for, is 
 capable of interesting not the public alone but the most thought- 
 ful of readers. 
 
 The following description of the person and habits of Horace 
 Walpole from the stilted and affected pen of Mr. Pinkerton, is 
 therefore to my mind the most valuable page of the memoir of 
 Walpole, prefixed by him to the Walpoliana : — "The person of 
 Horace W alpole was short and slender, but compact and neatly 
 formed. When viewed from behind he had somewhat of a boyish 
 appearance owing lo the form of his person and the simplicity of 
 his dress. His features may be seen in many portraits ;* but none 
 can express the placid goodness of his eyes, which would often 
 sparkle with sudden rays of wit or dart forth flashes of the most 
 keen and intuitive intelligence. His laugh was forced and un- 
 couth, and even his smile not the most pleasing. His walk was 
 enfeebled by gout, which, if the editor's memory do not deceive, 
 he mentioned that he had been tormented with since the age of 
 twenty-five, adding, at the same time, that it was no hereditary 
 disorder, his father, Sir Robert Walpole, who always drank ale, 
 never having known that disorder, and far less his other parent. 
 This painlul complaint not only affected his feet but attacked his 
 hands to such a degree that his fingers were always swelled and 
 deformed and discharged large chalk-stones once or twice a year. 
 Whether owing to this disorder or to a sense of superiority of 
 mental delights and clear, even spirits, to the feverish delirium of 
 debauch, the perdition of memory, and the slow convalescence 
 amid the pangs of self-reproach, he passed the later half, at least, 
 of his life in the most strict temperance, though in his youth it 
 is believed he was rather addicted to the luxuries of a replete 
 table. Though he sat up very late, either writing or conversing, 
 he generally rose about nine o'clock, and appeared in the break- 
 fast room, his constant and chosen apartment, with fine vistas 
 towards the Thames His approach was proclaimed and attende d 
 by a little favorite dog, the legacy of the Marquise du Deflaud, 
 which ease and attention had rendered so fat that it could hardly 
 move. This was placed beside him on a small sofa; the tea- 
 kettle, stand and heater were brought in, and he drank two or 
 
 * A characteristic portrait of him, painted kit-cat size, will be found 
 in the National Portrait Gallery. There is one at Houghton painted in 
 early youth, dressed in a wig, and a silk coat embroidered with peacocks' 
 feathers, but little resembling the portraits taken in later life. 
 
IIOTJGIITW. 
 
 Gl 
 
 three cups ol that liquor out of most rare and precious ancient 
 porcelain of Japan, of a fine white, embossed with large leaves. 
 The account of his china cabinet in his description of his villa, 
 will show how rich he was in that elegant luxury. The loaf 
 and butter were not spared, for, never tasting even what is 
 called 'no supper,' he was appctised for breakfast ; and 
 the dog and the squirrels had a liberal share of his repast. Din- 
 ner was served up in the small parlour, or large dining-room, as 
 it happened; in winter, generally the former. His valet sup- 
 ported him downstairs, and he ate most moderately of chicken, 
 pheasant, or any light food. Pastry he disliked, as difficult ot 
 digestion, though he would taste a portion of venison pie. Never, 
 but once that he drank two glasses of white wine, did the editor 
 see him taste any liquor, except ice-water. A pail of ice was 
 placed under the table, in which stood a decanter of water, from 
 which he supplied himself with his favourite beverage. 
 
 " If his guest liked even a moderate supply of wine, he must 
 have called for it during dinner, for almost instantly after, he 
 rang the bell to order coffee upstairs. Thither he would pass 
 about five o'clock, and generally resuming his place on the sofa, 
 would sit till two o'clock in the morning, in miscellaneous chit- 
 chat, full of singular anecdotes, strokes of wit, and acute obser- 
 vations, occasionally sending for books or curiosities, or passing 
 to the library, as any reference happened to arise in conversation. 
 After his coffee he tasted nothing ; but the snuff-bos of tabac- 
 cTetrennes from Fribourg's was not forgotten, and was leplenished 
 from a canister lodged in an ancient marble urn of g>eat thick- 
 ness, which stood on the window-seat, and served to secure its 
 moisture and rich flavour. 
 
 " Such was a private rainy day of Horace Walpole. The fore- 
 noon quickly passed in roaming through the numerous apart- 
 ments of the house, in which, after twenty visits, still something 
 new would occur ; and he was, indeed, constantly adding fresh 
 acquisitions. Sometimes a walk in the grounds would intervene, 
 on which occasions he would go out in his slippers through a 
 thick dew, and he never wore a hat. He said that on his first visit 
 to Paris, he was ashamed of his effeminacy, w hen he saw every 
 little meagre Frenchman, whom even he could have thrown down 
 with a breath, walking without a hat, which he could not do 
 w ithout a certainty of that disease which the Germans say is en- 
 demial in England, and is termed by the natives le catch-cold. 
 The first trial cost him a slight fever, but he got over it, and 
 never caueht cold afterwards — draughts of air, damp rooms, 
 windows open at his back, all situations were alike to him in 
 this respect. He would even show some little offence at any 
 solicitude expressed by his guests on such an occasion, as an 
 idea arising from a seeming tenderness of his frame; and would 
 
02 
 
 HOUGHTON'. 
 
 say, with a Half-smite of good-humoured crossness : * My 
 hack is the same with my lace, and my neck is like my nose.' 
 i is iced-vvater he not only regarded as a preservative irom such 
 an accident, but lie would sometimes observe, that he thought 
 his stomach and bowels would last longer than his bones; such 
 conscious vigour and strength in those parts did he feel irom the 
 use of that beverage. 
 
 " Occasionally he would go in an evening to visit Mrs. Clive, to 
 whom he had assigned an adjacent cottage. The charms of that 
 lady's conversation were wonderful, and she was the life of every 
 company in which she appeared. ' 
 
 Horace Walpole had not even a younger son's portion out of 
 the family estates; but his father made ample provision for him 
 out of the places at his disposal. He enjoyed five sinecure 
 offices, producing him at least £6300 a-year. 
 
 Mr. Pinkerton charged him with what Lord Byron called 
 " the good old gentlemanly vice of avarice," and as he began the 
 world with nothing, and left behind him a hundred thousand 
 pounds, w hether the charge be true or not, there was at least 
 something to show for it. The Reviewer charitably suggests 
 that Mr. Pinkerton expected a legacy, but did not get one. 
 
 It is remarkable that neither father nor son is known by the 
 title of Eari ot Orford. It would seem for once that the Royal 
 prerogative was unable to confer a title. The peerage was of 
 some momentary value to Sir Robert, as a shield against his 
 enemies in the House of Commons, but when at last the coronet 
 fell upon the aged brow of Horace Walpole, it was rather a bur- 
 then than a pleasure to him. He died on the 2nd of March, 
 1797, in the eightieth year of his age, and was buried in the 
 family vault at Houghton There is no monument to his me- 
 mory, but in the parish register appears the following entry :• — 
 " The Right Honourable Horace Walpole, late Earl of Orford, 
 aged 80 years, was buried March 13th, 1797, a batchelor." It 
 was probably at his last visit to Houghton that, in writing to 
 Mr. Montague, he said: " Here I am, probably lor the last time 
 of my life, though not for the last time ; every clock that strikes 
 tells me that I am an hour nearer to yonder church — that church 
 into which I have not yet had courage to enter, where lies that 
 mother on whom I doated, and who doated on me ! There are 
 the two rival mistresses of Houghton, neither of whom ever 
 wished to enjoy it! There, too, lies he who founded its greatness, 
 to contribute to whose fall Europe w as embroiled ; there he sleeps 
 in quiet and dignity, while his enemies are exhausting the dregs 
 of their pitiful lives in squabbles and pamphlets." The tastes 
 and sympathies of Walpole are the tastes and sympathies of 
 thousands now living, and will be of thousands out of every suc- 
 ceeding generation. While tolerable health continued, he was 
 
HOUGHTON. 
 
 63 
 
 never used up ; he had none of the cui bono philosophy of our 
 day, and if he tailed in the more serious duties of lite, he played 
 bis part well in the circle of society to which he belonged ; he 
 contributed more than his quota to the general enjoyment, and 
 that contribution is perennial. 
 
 RAINHAM. 
 
 A drive of about five miles eastward of Houghton will bring 
 the visitors to Rainham, the seat of the Marquis of Townshend. 
 The house, which stands in a spacious park adorned with a lake, 
 was built by the celebrated Inigo Jones. It is a stately, har- 
 monious building, of dignified proportions, and contains, besides 
 the far-famed Belisarius of Salvator Rosa, one of the finest col- 
 lections of historical portraits in the kingdom. No where do I 
 remember to have seen the works of Reynolds to so great ad- 
 vantage, for here he has the merit of not coming off' with flying 
 colours. Whoever wants to see how great Sir Joshua really wis, 
 should see his works at Rainham, where his portraits exhibit the 
 grace of Vandyke and the rich colouring of Rembrandt. 
 
 I subjoin a list of the principal portraits, with an occasional 
 note to those which struck me as most worthy of attention. 
 
 IN THE BILLIARD ROOM. 
 
 Pym. Lord Sunderland. 
 
 Cromwell. Lady Sunderland, daughter of 
 
 Lucius Carey. Sarah, Duchess of Marl borough. 
 
 Lord Falkland. 
 
 A ROOM NAMED " THE DEN." 
 
 Edward Harrisson, Esq., Governor of Harrisson, the estate al Halls, in 
 
 Fort St. George, in the East Hertfordshire, came into the 
 
 Indies, and his wife, by marriage family, 
 with whose daughter, Audrey 
 
 THE DINING ROOM. 
 
 George Townsend, created Earl of pleasing. The portrait exhibits 
 Leicester, 18th May, 1784, after- a noble soldier in the very fresh- 
 wards 2nd Marquis. This por- ness of youth, 
 trait, as seen in the recess through Thomas, third son of Lord Townsend. 
 the arcade of the dining room, has Queen Anne, 
 a beautiful effect ; the attitude George the second's Queen Caroline, 
 is graceful and easy, and the and George the first and second, 
 coloring remarkably sweet and 
 
61 
 
 RATNHAM. 
 
 IN THE WHITE DRAWING ROOM. 
 
 The Father of Sir Thomas More, by description by Gilpin. 
 
 Holbein (very fine). The Duke of * Alva, — the Scourge 
 
 George Ferrars, Marquis of Towns- of the Netherlands, by Antonio 
 
 end, grandfather of the present More, a portrait in which those 
 
 Marquis. who have studied his history 
 
 Marie de Medici, by Reubens. Of will find the expression they ex- 
 
 this picture I subjoin an elaborate pect. 
 
 THE SALON. 
 
 Over the chimney piece, Lord de men and gentlemen of Norfolk who 
 Vcre, of the time of Queen Eliza- served under him. 
 beth, and a series of the noble- 
 
 THE RED DRAWING ROOM. 
 
 Charles Townsend, the Chancellor Townsend, also by Reynolds, 
 
 of the Exchequer (a notice of whose Both these are amongst the very 
 
 history I subjoin), by Reynolds; best of Sir Joshua's works, 
 and George, first Marquis of 
 
 THE STONE PARLOUR. 
 
 Sir Gerard Herbert. Generals Ireton and Fairfax, both 
 
 Montague, Lord Halifax. excellent. 
 Sir Peter Ball, by Sir Peter Lely. 
 
 ON THE STAIRCASE. 
 
 Lord Rochester, as a boy, very pleasing, and 
 Lilburn. 
 
 IN THE RED ROOM. 
 
 A picture of Fair Rosamond. 
 Portraits of Archbishops Laud and 
 
 Tillotson. 
 Bishop Ken. 
 Fenelon. 
 
 Sir Robert Walpole. 
 
 Prynne. 
 
 Andrew Marvel. 
 Frederick, King of Bohemia. 
 The celebrated Miss Gunnings. 
 Quin and Bettcrton, the actors, and 
 Pope. 
 
 IN THE BELISARIUS ROOM. 
 
 Belisarius, by Salvator Rosa (see Charles Lord Townsend, of whom I 
 Gilpin's description subjoined). subjoin a biographical notice, and 
 
 Sir John Suckling the Poet, Dorothy Walpole, his second wife. 
 
 Lucius Carey- Killigrew and Audrey Harrisson. 
 
 Lord Falkland. Lady Townsend, a beautiful portrait. 
 
 I ought not to omit all mention of the Rainham ghost, an 
 unresting spirit of a Townsend of the time of Elizabeth — a great 
 duelliat, with much blood upon his hands, who is still apt to 
 haunt the billiard room. To feel the full effect of the apparition's 
 appearance the visitor should be led blind-fold to the spot oppo- 
 site which he has been most frequently seen. 
 
RAIN II AM. 
 
 65 
 
 In the year 1769 Rainham was visited by William Gilpin, 
 prebendary of Salisbury, a connoisseur and an amateur artist of 
 no mean pretensions in bis day. His works, which adorned the 
 shelves of our fathers, are now becoming scarce; pictorial illus- 
 tration has in our day far outstripped Gilpin's conceptions of the 
 possible in that line of art. His works on Scotland, Wales and 
 England are now lying before me ; I greet them once more with 
 pleasure as the favourites of my childhood ; and on reviewing them 
 now as some fashion that has long passed away, I still acknow- 
 ledge in those oval mezzo-tints a grace and feeling for the beau- 
 tiful that justly earned for them the vogue they once possessed. 
 
 That which attracted Gilpin to Rainham is still its main at- 
 traction — the Belisarius of Salvator Rosa, which was presented 
 by the King of Prussia to Lord Townsend. The following is 
 Gilpin's description of this first-class picture : — 
 
 " It is a very noble picture, of which the print gives but an 
 inadequate idea. The unfortunate chief stands resting against 
 a wall. He occupies almost the whole piece, leaving room 
 only for two or three soldiers, who make a distant group. 
 The story, though told in this simple manner, can hardly be 
 mistaken. A blind figure, squalid, though dressed in rich 
 armour, discovering great dignity of character both in his own 
 appearance, and from the distant respect shewn him by the 
 spectators, leads the memory easily to recollect Belisarius. The 
 composition is as pleasing as the design. All the objects of the 
 piece are so contrived as to form a good whole. The harmony 
 of the colouring, too, is excellent. An agreeable sober tint runs 
 through the picture. Scarce a touch is out of time. If any, it 
 is a streak of light in the sky on the left. Belisarius's drapery 
 is rich in the highest degree, and yet harmonious. His mantle 
 is yellow, his sash of a white silvery hue, and his armour steel. 
 The light also is well disposed. Salvator has thrown over the 
 hero's face a quantity of squalid hair ; and the spectator must, iu 
 a great measure, make out the expression from his own imagi- 
 nation. I speak only of the face, which wants something of the 
 dignity of wretchedness ; in the action and character greatness 
 and misery are well united " 
 
 This ancient house deduces its descent from Ludovic, a noble 
 Norman, who, settling in England during the reign of Henry I., 
 assumed the surname of Townsend, and by marriage with 
 Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas de Haville, 
 obtained the manor of Rainham, which has ever since remained 
 in possession of his descendants. 
 
 In 1661, Sir Horatio Townsend, who had rendered essential 
 services to the royal cause during the usurpation, and being one 
 of the most forward in restoring the monarchy, was elevated to 
 the peerage bv the title of Baron Townshend, of Lynne Regis ; 
 9 
 
0(3 
 
 RAINHAM. 
 
 and advanced in 1682 to the dignity of Viscount Townsend, of 
 Rainham. George, the fourth Viscount Townsend, was created 
 Marquis of Townshend, in the Countv of Norfolk, 27th October, 
 1787. 
 
 The family seats are : Tamworth Castle, Warwickshire ; 
 Rainham Hall ; and Balls Park, Herts, which became the pro- 
 perty of the family in the eighteenth century, by marriage with 
 Audrey Harrisson, daughter of Edward Harrisson, Esq. 
 
 Rainham, no less than Houghton, is historical ground. We 
 shall lose much of the interest to be derived from strolling along 
 the salons and corridors of this venerable mansion, unless we 
 recall to memory the persons and characters of those who have 
 made it illustrious by their talents and their services to the state, 
 and whose portraits still adorn its walls. Conspicuous above 
 all in this long line of a noble race, stands Charles, second Lord 
 Viscount Townshend, born in 1675. He was second son of Sir 
 Horatio Townshend, who was so highly instrumental in forward- 
 ing the restoration of Charles the second, that in 1682 he was 
 created a peer. King Charles the second, who visited Rainham 
 in 1671, and the Duke of York were his godfathers. He took his 
 seat in the House of Peers, December 3rd, 1697; was made 
 Lord Lieutenant of the County, in 1702; was employed as 
 plenipotentiary and ambassador on several occasions of great 
 moment ; and in 1714 became principal Secretary of State ; in 
 1716 Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; and in 1720 President of the 
 Council ; in 1 724 he was made a Knight of the Garter ; he was 
 again more than once made Secretary of State ; and finally 
 retired from public life, in 1729. An early and intimate con- 
 nexion had been formed between Lord Townsend and Sir Robert 
 Walpole ; they were distantly related, neighbours in the same 
 county, and educated at the same school ; they joined the same 
 party, acted under the same leaders, underwent the same perse- 
 cutions, and co-operated in the same opposition. The marriage 
 which Townsend had contracted with Dorothy Wal jole, in 1703, 
 drew closer the bonds of amity, and added a union of blood to 
 the connection of party. Walpole had performed too many 
 essential services to the Hanover family and was too able a 
 speaker in the House of Commons not to occupy a distinguished 
 situation at the accession of George the first, and his connection 
 with Townsend facilitated his promotion. 
 
 This political connection, of about thirty years' duration, was 
 finally broken in 1729, when Townsend resigned the office of 
 Secretary of State, and soon after retired from public life alto- 
 gether. His retirement was owing to a disagreement with 
 Walpole, which had long subsisted. It had been occasionally 
 compromised by the interference of common friends, but finally 
 broke into a rupture, which rendered the continuance of both in 
 
RAIN HAM. 
 
 67 
 
 office incompatible. The causes of this misunderstanding were 
 various, and originated from the difference of their tempers, from 
 disagreement on subjects of domestic and foreign politics, and 
 from political and private jealousy. Townsend was frank, im- 
 petuous and overbearing, long accustomed to dictate in the 
 cabinet, and fond of recommending violent measures. Walpole 
 was mild, insinuating, pliant and good-tempered, desirous of 
 conciliating by lenient methods, but prepared to employ vigour 
 when vigour was necessary. To these public causes of misunder- 
 standing, derived from a desire of pre-eminence, a private motive 
 was unfortunately added. The family of Townsend had long 
 been the most conspicuous, and accustomed to take the lead, as 
 the only one then distinguished by a peerage in the County of 
 Norfolk. The Walpoles were subordinate both in estate and 
 in consequence, and Houghton was far inferior in splendour 
 to Rainham. But circumstances were much altered. Sir 
 Robert Walpole was at the head of the treasury ; a peerage 
 had been conferred on his son ; the increase of his paternal 
 domains, the building of a magnificent seat, the acquisition of a 
 superb collection of paintings, a sumptuous style of living and 
 affable manners, drew to Houghton a conflux of company, and 
 eclipsed the more sober and less splendid establishment at Rainham. 
 Walpole felt in all these circumstances his superior consequence ; 
 he was conscious that he should be supported by the Queen, 
 and was unwilling to continue to act in a subordinate situation ; 
 while Townsend, who had long been used to dictate, could not 
 bear any opposition to his sentiments, or any resistance to his 
 views. He considered his brother minister as one who had first 
 enlisted himself under his banner, and who ought to continue 
 to act with the same implicit obedience to his commands. Hence 
 a struggle for power ensued. 
 
 Townsend retired with a most unsullied character for integrity, 
 honour and disinterestedness, and gave several striking proofs 
 that he could command the natural warmth of his temper, and 
 rise superior to the malignant influence of party spirit and dis- 
 appointed ambition. The opposition, who had formed sanguine 
 expectations of the consequences of the disunion in the cabinet, 
 were prepared to receive him with open arms ; but he resisted 
 their advances, and firmly persevered in his original determina- 
 tion. Soon after Chesterfield commenced his ardent opposition to 
 Walpole, he went to Rainham, and requested Townsend to 
 attend an important question in the House of Lords. Townsend 
 replied that he had formed a resolution, which he could not 
 break, of never again engaging in political contests. U I recol- 
 lect" he added " Lord Cowper, though a staunch Whig, had been 
 betrayed by personal pique and party resentment, in lus oppo- 
 sition to the ministry, to throw himself into the arms of the 
 
68 
 
 RAINITAM. 
 
 Tories, and even to support principles which tended to serve the 
 cause of the Jacobites. I know that I am extremely warm, and 
 I am apprehensive, if I should attend the House of Lords, I also 
 may be hurried away by the impetuosity of my temper, and by 
 personal resentment, to adopt a line of conduct which in my 
 cooler moments I may regret." He maintained this honorable 
 and truly patriotic resolution, and thus proved himself worthy of 
 the highest eulogium. 
 
 He passed the evening of his days in rural occupations and 
 agricultural experiments, and was the first to introduce the cul- 
 tivation of turnips in the open field, as fodder for cattle. Pre- 
 viously they had been only grown in gardens as a vegetable for 
 the table. His improvements ameliorated the state of husbandry, 
 his hospitality endeared him to his neighbours, and the dignity 
 of his character insured respect. Apprehensive of being tempted 
 again to enter into those scenes ot active life which he had 
 resolved totally to abandon, he never revisited the capital, but 
 died at Rainham in 1738, aged 64 ; so that Walpole, who attained 
 his 69th year, and died in 1745, survived him by seven years. 
 
 Notwithstanding the asperity with which their political contest 
 was conducted, the brothers seem to have renounced their 
 friendship without forfeiting their esteem for each other. 
 Townsend did not indulge in peevish expressions against his 
 successful rival, and Sir Robert Walpole never blamed the minis- 
 terial conduct or depreciated the abilities of Lord Townsend. 
 He was always unwilling to enter into the causes of their 
 disunion. When an intimate friend pressed him on the subject 
 some years afterwards, he made several attempts to evade the 
 question, and at length replied, with as much candour as wit : 
 "It is difficult to trace the causes of a dispute between statesmen, 
 "but I will give you the history in a few words : as long as the 
 "firm of the house was Townsend and Walpole, the utmost 
 " harmony prevailed ; but it no sooner became Walpole and 
 " Townsend, than things went wrong, and a separation ensued "* 
 
 In a succeeding generation the same family gave another 
 statesman to the country, — the celebrated Charles Townsend, 
 who, if his career was less serviceable to the state than th ;t of 
 his grandsire, was unquestionably distinguished by more brilliant 
 parts. He was second son of Charles, third Lord Townsend, 
 and sat in parliament successively for Yarmouth, Harwich and 
 Saltash ; he served the offices of Secretary at War, first Lord of 
 Trade and the Plantations, Paymaster-general, and, on August 
 2nd, 1 766, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and one of the Lords of 
 the Treasury, in which post he continued to his death, which 
 happened on September 4th, 1767, in the forty-second year of his 
 
 *Coxe\s Memoirs of Walpole. 
 
RAINHAM. 
 
 69 
 
 age. A sketch of his character is preserved to us in the eloquent 
 language of Mr. Burke, who, in the House of Commons, said : 
 " He was the delight and ornament of this house, and the charm 
 "of every private society which he honoured with his presence. 
 " Perhaps there never arose in this country, nor in any country, 
 "a man of a mere pointed and finished wit; and (where his 
 " passions were not concerned) of a more refined, exquisite and 
 " penetrating judgment. If he had not so great a stock, as some 
 " have had who flourished formerly, of knowledge long treasured 
 " up, he knew better by far than any man I ever was acquainted 
 " with, how to bring together, within a short time, all that was 
 "necessary to establish, to illustrate and to decorate that side 
 " of the question he supported. He stated his matter skilfully 
 u and powerfully ; he particularly excelled in a most luminous 
 " explanation and display of his subject ; his style of argument 
 M was neither trite and vulgar, nor subtile and abstruse ; he hit 
 "the house just between wind andwater; and, not icing troubled 
 " with too anxious a zeal for any matter in question, he w as 
 " never more tedious, or more earnest, than the preconceived 
 " opinions and present temper of his hearers required, to whom 
 " he was always in perfect unison. He conformed exactly to the 
 " temper of the house ; and he seemed to guide because he w as 
 " always sure to follow it. There are many young members in 
 " the house, who never saw that prodigy Charles Townsend, nor 
 "of course knew what a ferment he was able to excite in 
 " everything, by the violent ebullition of his mixed virtues and 
 " failings, — for failings he undoubtedly had ; many of us remember 
 " them ; we are this day considering the effect of them. But he 
 " had no failings which w ere not owing to a noble cause, —to an 
 "ardent, generous, perhaps an immoderate passion for fame, — a 
 u passion which is the instinct of all great souls. He worshipped 
 " that goddess wheresoever she appeared, but he paid his par- 
 " ticular devotions to her in her favourite habitation in her 
 " chosen temple the House of Commons."' 
 
 On August 15th, 1755, he married the Countess of Dalkeith^ 
 and was carried off in the meridian of life, at the age of forty-two, 
 at a time when it might be hoped his lively talents w ere matured 
 by experience and the irregular sallies of his versatile temper 
 subjected to the restraints of judgment. 
 
 Horace Walpole occasionally mentions him in his letters, but 
 always in a depreciating tone. He has preserved for us one of 
 his bons mots. Being told by a friend that Miss Draycot,. a lady 
 of large fortune, had grown fat, Townsend replied l 11 Oh then r 
 her tonnage is equal to her poundage." On learning his death, 
 Walpole remarks : "As a man of mcomparable parts, and most 
 entertaining to a spectator, I regret his death. His good 
 humour prevented one from hating him, and his levity from. 
 
70 
 
 RAINHAM. 
 
 loving him ; but, in a political light, I own I cannot look upon it 
 as a misfortune. His treachery alarmed me, and I apprehended 
 everything from it. It was not advisable to throw him into the 
 arms of the opposition. His death avoids both kinds of mischief. 
 I take for granted you will have Lord North for Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer. He is very inferior to Charles in parts, but what 
 he wants in those, will be supplied by firmness of spirit." These 
 are the impressions of his contemporaries ; we have also his 
 portrait from the hand of an historian of our own generation. 
 <k He was," says the Earl of Stanhope, " the second son of Lord 
 u Townsend, a grandson of the Secretary of State under George 
 " the first, and a grand nephew of the Duke of Newcastle. 
 "Though at this time (1753) but 28 years of age, he had already 
 " distinguished himself in office at the Board of Trade. His 
 " figure was tall and advantageous, his action vehement, his 
 " voice loud, his laugh louder. In eloquence he gradually rose 
 " to a high and, to the period of his untimely end, still growing 
 " renown. His application was great, his ambition unbounded. 
 " No man had more quickness of wit, or less reserve in displaying 
 " it, whether in familiar conversation or public debate. But it 
 M was not free from that drawback by which great wit is so com- 
 " nionly attended,— a fickleness and unsteadiness of purpose, 
 " being rather attracted by the varying gleams upon the surface 
 " than held fast by the settled foundations of truth and con- 
 " victions."* 
 
 Rainham Church 
 Is dedicated to St. Mary, and consists of a nave with two 
 aisles, in the Perpendicular style. On the south side of the 
 tower is a curious large dial, with a clock, erected at the 
 charge of Charles Lord Towmsend ; and on the north side of the 
 church and chancel what is called in Blomefield a dormitory, 
 in fact, the burial place of the Townsend tamily. Against the 
 north-east side of the chancel is a beautiful tomb without in- 
 scription, erected to the memory of Sir Roger Townsend," a 
 " personage," says Blomefield, " of great eminence and dignity, a 
 " Judge of the Common Pleas in the time of Richard III. and 
 " Henry VII." Eleanor, his widow, by will, dated November 
 9th, 1499, ordered her body to be buried by the high altar before 
 our blessed Lady, in the chancel of Rainham St Mary, and anew 
 tomb to be made for her husband's and her bones, upon which 
 tomb to be cunningly graven a sepulchre for Easter day, if a 
 chapel be not made at her decease, and if a chapel be made, 
 then she would be buried in the same, and her husband's bones 
 to be had home into the same chapel and the tomb to be made 
 there. The chapel was not made, but here is the tomb of fine 
 
 *M alum's History of England. 
 
ItAINHAM. 
 
 71 
 
 workmanship of the ornate and elaborate style of the Tudor 
 period. There is an organ in the church, said to be a good one, 
 and purchased at the great exhibition of 1851 ; to this organ 
 there is a key-board, awaiting a competent player. At present 
 the psalmody is dependent upon the barrels. 
 
 CASTLE ACRE. 
 
 Time out of mind pilgrims of the artist and antiquarian order 
 have well worn the way that leads to Castle Acre. None who 
 have an eye for the picturesque, or a thought for the past, should 
 approach it within a day's march without a visit. An excursion 
 can be made to it from Hunstanton or from Lynn in the day 
 with ease. The train runs morning and evening from both places 
 to Swaffham and back ; thence it is but "a pleasant walk of about 
 three miles ; or if a drive be more convenient, a conveyance can 
 be had at the Crown Inn, at Swaffham. I have sometimes walked 
 to it on a bright summer's morning before the mist had cleared 
 away; at such a time the view of the place within a mile's dis- 
 tance, and when the outlines of objects are not sharply defined, is 
 very imposing. I extract the following notice of the existing 
 remains of the castle from Mr. Bloom's beautiful work on 
 Castle Acre : — 
 
 At the top of the steep street of the village, stands the sole re- 
 maining entrance gate-way. It gives to the village the air of a 
 small continental town, with its haute Rudbas.se ville ; and reminds 
 us of that period of our history, when the strength and thickness 
 of w alls made some amends for the impotence of law. The place 
 must have looked grand in those days, with its turreted castle and 
 its splendid priory, with the baron and his retainers, and the 
 monks and their processions moving about ; but, with all its 
 strength, perhaps the poor man's pig is safer now under the eye 
 of the county policeman, and the small shop-keeper finds a 
 surer remedy for his debts in the county court. If we have lost 
 much that is w ortb looking at, we have gained something that 
 is worth having. 
 
 The entrance itself consists of a double portal, opening in 
 either direction through a pointed arch, Hanked by small but 
 massy circular towers of rough flint. It had originally an outer 
 and an inner door of oak, — the hinge pivots of the latter still re- 
 maining in the side walls ; and between the doors was the usual 
 
72 
 
 CASTLE ACRE. 
 
 portcullis, — the stone groove in which it ran being yet in a perfect 
 state of preservation. 
 
 Mr. Bloom is of opinion that this gateway was not of so early 
 a period as the main body of the castle itself, since it must have 
 been built when the pointed style began to supersede the severe 
 curve of the early Norman ; although there can be no doubt they 
 were constructed on the foundations of similar approaches. 
 
 The name stiil retained by the street upon which we thus 
 enter, sufficiently indicates the nature of the locality. We stand 
 within the outer ballium, and the street is popularly called 
 Bailey street. 
 
 Passing down the steep declivity of the street of the modern 
 village, at somewhere about its centre, where a narrow stile 
 now serves as an approach to the castle, the visitor sees before 
 him, to the left, the ponderous mound and remaining wall of the 
 castle keep ; immediately in front, the remains of another gate- 
 way, corresponding in every respect with the similar entrances 
 already noticed ; and beyond this to the right, the fosse, rampart 
 and wall of the inner ballium. 
 
 Facing immediately to the north, we have before us the fosse 
 ?ind elevated mound whereon once towered the lordly keep. All 
 that now remains of this % the nucleus of the stronghold, is the 
 greater portion of the external wall enclosing the area upon 
 which the keep itself formerly stood; and the effect of the ruin 
 as viewed from the inner ballium is picturesque in the extreme. 
 The wall of the keep measures 561 feet in circumference. On 
 the outside it is slightly angular, the angles being marked by a 
 plain Norman buttress of stone recurring at regular intervals. 
 Internally, the wall, which varies in thickness from eight to 
 eleven feet, is perfectly circular ; and towards the summit 
 was a rampart, or terrace walk embrasured, of which traces 
 remain towards the north and west. The masonry consists 
 wholly of immense flints, disposed without regularity, and grout- 
 ed together into a firm compact mags, a large portion of which 
 still remains unaffected by the vicissitudes of so many seasons, 
 and almost defying the efforts of devastating man. The whole 
 presents a curious proof of the labour and care bestowed by the 
 Norman masters of the soil in securing the baronial strongholds 
 which they raised on their newly-acquired lands, and served to 
 shew the apprehensions they entertained of the force and resist- 
 ance of the oppressed English, whom they had ejected, 
 
 From the level of the keep, a bird's-eye view is obtained over 
 the whole of the works connected with the castle and the adjoin- 
 ing country, and a faint idea may be formed of the picturesque 
 effect of the scene in the early days of its glory. 
 
 The landscape to the west is still extremely engaging, — the 
 sight ranging along the well wooded valley of the Nar, w ith the 
 
CASTLEACRE. 
 
 73 
 
 venerable ruins of the Priory in the foreground, and nearer still, 
 between this point and the spot whereon we stand, the long line 
 of the barbican and outer ballium. An ascent to the summit 
 of the ancient rampart on the embrasured wall will well repay 
 the trouble. 
 
 Within the barbican stands an ancient farm-house, now occu- 
 pied as a cottage, probably as old as the fifteenth century, on the 
 external face of which can still be discerned the Tudor rose. 
 
 Mr. Bloom concludes his interesting description of the castle 
 by observing that on the survey of the general features of this 
 venerable remain there is ample scope for the exercise of fancy, 
 and he might easily have filled the area with conjectural (though 
 probable) buildings appertaining to a Norman stronghold, on a 
 scale of importance equal to the one before us. But as there is 
 so very little left to render such conclusions in any way decisive, 
 he has preferred adhering strictly to matters of fact, plainly evi- 
 dent to the apprehension of any visitor to the spot who will take 
 the trouble to examine the particulars we have indicated. 
 
 The very dimness of the detail, rendered more conspicuous by 
 the prominent strength of the outline, is well calculated to stimu- 
 late curiosity, and to call forth the powers of a ready imagin- 
 ation, which individuals will find a pleasure in exercising for 
 themselves ; bearing in mind the prevailing spirit and character 
 of the times which are to be re-embodied in the mental picture. 
 
 The founder, both of the castle and priory, was William, Earl 
 de Warrenne, who came over with the Conqueror, and for his 
 services at the time of the conquest was presented by the King 
 with enormous possessions. In the county of Norfolk alone, he 
 held no less than one hundred and thirty-nine lordships, eighteen 
 more in Suffolk, and many in the county of Sussex, where the 
 traveller will meet traces of him at the picturesque and interest- 
 ing town of Lewes. It remained in this family until 1347, 
 when it passed into the hands of Richard Fitzalan, Earl of 
 Arundel, nephew of the last Earl de Warrenne, and subsequently, 
 through the hands of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, Sir 
 Thomas Gresham, and the family of the Cecils, to Sir Edward Coke, 
 Lord Chief Justice of England, by purchase, in whose family, 
 now represented by Thomas William Coke, second Earl ot 
 Leicester, it still remains. 
 
 The Priory. — The Priory was founded in the year 1084, the 
 eighteenth year of the reign of the Conqueror. The date, which 
 may still be seen in stucco within the walls of the priory itself, 
 has probably caught the eye of many a visitor, without his per- 
 ceiving its true significance, in consequence of the peculiar posi- 
 tions of the figures ; and it was reserved for Dr. Murray, the late 
 Bishop of Rochester, to discern its true import, and to put the 
 question beyond a doubt. 
 10 
 
74 
 
 CASTLEACRE. 
 
 The establishment was endowed by Earl de Warrenne, as we 
 learn from the charter, for the good of his own soul, and for the 
 souls of his father, mother and heirs, with the advowsons of 
 Acre, Methwold, Wickmere, Trunch, Leaden Roding, and with 
 some tithes at Grimston ; and this endowment was subsequently 
 immensely augmented by other benefactors. 
 
 The Monks of this priory were originally subject to the parent 
 Abbey of Clugny, but ultimately became an independent commu- 
 nity ; and in 1537 followed the fate of other monastic establish- 
 ments, by a compulsory deed of surrender to King Henry VIII. 
 This document is still extant, and, together with an English trans- 
 lation, is set out at full length by Mr. Bloom. 
 
 The Priory is situated within little more than a quarter of a - 
 mile from the Castle Keep, and is approached from the north, 
 through a gate-house or lodge, through the main archway of 
 which is caught a view of the western extremity of the conven- 
 tual church, with its adjoining lodge, the private residence of 
 the Prior. The south front of the gate-house is entirely plain, 
 but on the northern facade there are five shields or armorial 
 bearings in stone. The shield in the centre, over the apex of the 
 principal archway, presentsthe armorial bearings of Warrenne ; that 
 on the extreme right, the device of John Fitzalan, Lord Maltravers ; 
 that on the left of the centre, the arms of England in the time of 
 Henry V. ; that to the extreme left, the arms of Arundel ; and 
 that above the crown of the footway arch, the arms of the priory 
 itself. 
 
 Passing through the gateway, we come in full view of an 
 object which no human eye can behold without pleasure, — the 
 west front of the conventual church, upon the south-western 
 angle of which the prior's lodge immediately abuts ; and, as Mr. 
 Bloom observes, we contemplate a structure over which the 
 storms of seven centuries have passed with a lenity which speaks 
 volumes in behalf of the solidity of its construction, as well as 
 the durability of its material. There is a freshness about the 
 whole, which might well nigh induce us to doubt whether this 
 be not the production of a later age, instead of being, as in truth 
 it is, a remnant of the skill and judgment with which architects 
 labored in their vocation when the Red King swayed the sceptre 
 of the realm. In this noble specimen of Norman work, the 
 visitor will not fail to notice the fine semicircular arch of the 
 central doorway, with its bold and varied moulding, the smaller 
 entrances to the north and south aisles, the tiers of blind arches, 
 interlacing and simple, covering the intervening spaces and rising 
 to the summit of the building, and the fantastic corbels and metopes, 
 all of Norman work. The pointed window, however, which 
 surmounts the central archway, is not purely Norman ; beautiful 
 and elegant as it is, it is manifestly an insertion of later date. 
 
CASTLEACEE. 75 
 
 It will be seen that the general plan of the church is cruciform, 
 — part of the choir, with the transepts, forming the upper portion 
 of the cross, — the nave, with its side aisles, constituting the shaft. 
 The pavement throughout the building appears to have been all 
 of small square red tile. Advancing from the west door along 
 the centre of the nave, we find that there were six massy piers 
 on either side, connecting it, by means of noble and richly de- 
 corated archways, with the north and south aisles. Of these 
 arches, all that remains is that upon which the south-western 
 tower rests, and which fortunately continues in a good state of 
 preservation. Enough only remains to indicate the site of the 
 nave, the side aisles and the choir; so complete is the ruin, 
 that little remains of them save a ground outline, just discernible 
 above the soil ; the walls of the transepts are still standing. 
 The eastern side of the south transept is occupied by an apsis. 
 It has a vaulted roof, an east window, a small altar beneath it, 
 and a piscina to the south of the altar. In the corner imme- 
 diately adjacent to the apsis is a staircase conducting to the 
 arcades in this direction, and on the southern wall of the transept 
 is a deep arched recess. The northern transept exhibits the 
 same architectural arrangements as the south transept. 
 
 To the left of the doorway, and in the north-east angle of the 
 transept, is a staircase leading to the arcades, wherein may be 
 seen the remarkably preserved date which so completely deter- 
 mines the period of the foundation of the establishment; on the 
 east side is a lotty and deep arched recess, and the western side 
 of the transept seems to have been perfectly plain and unbroken 
 throughout. 
 
 From so much as is preserved of the south-western tower, we 
 may judge of the character of the architectural embellishments 
 of the nave and other parts of the building. 
 
 The basement of the tower consists of two main arches, the 
 one communicating with the nave, the other opening into the 
 south aisle ; on the south side is a small arched doorway com- 
 municating with the cloister; in the adjoining angle a stone 
 staircase conducts to the upper part of the tower and to the 
 prior's private apartments ; and on the west side is the entrance 
 from the front. 
 
 Of the cloister, sufficient is left to shew that it comprised a 
 square of one hundred feet, with a covered ambulatory surround- 
 ing the cemetery of the establishment. The back wall is still 
 nearly entire on each of the sides ; but of the arcade separating 
 the ambulatory from the cemetery, scarcely any traces now 
 remain. 
 
 Of the chapter-room, the dormitory and the refectory, sufficient 
 traces are lett to determine their length and breadth, and little 
 more. 
 
7G 
 
 CASTLEACRE. 
 
 Passing to the west front of the conventual church, the visitor 
 will find the prior's lodge, occupying a range of buildings pro- 
 truding immediately at right angles to the south-western tower. 
 It had two fronts, one to the north and the other due west, the 
 southern side communicating with the prior's private garden. 
 The most conspicuous features in the north front are an arched 
 entrance of communication to the waiting-hall. 
 
 The other object deserving of peculiar attention, is a capital 
 specimen of an ancient bay-window, of admirable simplicity and 
 solidity of construction, and remarkable for the singular manner 
 in which it is supported, as it were, by a cluster of diminishing 
 arches nestled one within the other. 
 
 At the western extremity of this wing of the building, is 
 another good specimen of an Early English window, of which 
 the frame and mullions are stone, the lower part presenting a 
 corbel head, flanked on either side by quatrefoil work, the whole 
 being of the style prevalent in the thirteenth century. The west 
 part of the lodge is broken by the projecting buildings of the 
 modern house attached to the priory farm, many of the apart- 
 ments of which are incorporated with portions of the old structure, 
 and so altered as to have lost all trace of the purpose for which 
 they were originally planned. Some very interesting specimens 
 of art connected with the period are, however, interspersed in 
 the various chambers, and, through the kindness of the occupier, 
 visitors, upon application, may gratify their curiosity by a sight 
 of the greater part of the remains. 
 
 The Church. — The parish church stands upon the summit of 
 the rising ground, which constitutes the northern boundary of 
 the vale of the Mar, in a spacious churchyard of full three acres 
 in extent, immediately contiguous to the barbican, on its western 
 side, and overlooking the ruins of the priory and precinct in a 
 south-westerly direction. It is a spacious and elaborate pile, 
 consisting of nave, chancel, and north and south aisles, with a 
 lofty and handsome tower at the west end, containing a peal of 
 five bells, and a clock. It was founded at the close of the 
 thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century, as appears 
 from its general architectural features. The windows represent 
 specimens of the Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular 
 styles. 
 
 Three of the windows in the north aisle are deserving of notice, 
 as pleasing specimens of the Decorated style ; and the great east 
 window, though now partially closed, presents a capital example 
 of the pure Early English. 
 
 The interior of the church is neat, light and airy ; the arches 
 are bold and spacious, but, with their supporting columns, 
 particularly light and elegant; the length of the church from 
 east to west is 148 feet, and the breadth 48 feet. The whole of 
 
CASTLEACEE. 
 
 77 
 
 this space is unbroken by galleries, except at the junction of the 
 tower at the west end, where there is a light gallery for the 
 parish choir. The free seats are of oak, terminated with poppy 
 heads, and furnished with elbows, whereon rest lions and dogs 
 alternately; and the appropriated pews are fortunately kept, 
 sufficiently low to admit of a clear view of the whole interior. 
 
 The pulpit is supported upon a single stem or low column, 
 surmounted by a wreath of the Tudor flower, from which the 
 panelling forming the bottom of the pulpit gradually radiates. 
 The sides consist of single panels, upon each of which is repre- 
 sented one of the doctors of the church, seated, and at full length ; 
 the faces have been obliterated, but they are intended to repre- 
 sent St. Augustin, Ignatius, St. Jerome and St. Ambrose. 
 
 The font stands immediately in the centre of the nave, and 
 consists of a plain hexagon of stone, supported by a single shaft, 
 and resting on abasement raised two steps from the level of the 
 pavement ; the canopy rises nearly to the roof of the church, 
 from whence it is suspended by a gilt dove with outspread wings. 
 It is of rich and complicated shrine work diminishing to a 
 graceful spire. 
 
 Of the rood-loft screen only a portion remains, but in the 
 lower panelling of it will be observed exceedingly well finished 
 paintings of the Apostles, grouped six on each side of the central 
 entrance to the chancel or choir. The minute and careful finish 
 of the features and hands of the several figures, the natural and 
 easy flow of the drapery, and the rich though harmonious blend- 
 ing of the colouring, evince a degree of skill in the artist of no 
 mean order. 
 
 The general view of this remarkable village from the Lexham 
 road is interesting, peculiar and highly picturesque, and the 
 fields everywhere exhibit the results of practical agriculture in 
 its highest perfection. The influence of the late proprietor, 
 Thomas William, Earl of Leicester, to whom Norfolk is greatly 
 indebted for his constant attention to agricultural pursuits, and 
 the experience, skill and capital of his tenants, have rendered 
 Castleacre and its vicinity a school of agriculture, which is con- 
 tinually visited by practical farmers from various countries both 
 of Europe and America. 
 
I 
 
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