PART I. INTRODUCTION. (continued 3)

As to the Walpole family, it appears to be no less ancient than that of the Howards, although it did not rise so soon to very great eminence. Like the Howards, or rather the Wigenhales, it first appeared among the opulent Marshland families, not long after the conquest; but whether either of these families is of Saxon, Danish, or Norman descent, does not appear. The Walpole family took its name from the town of Walpole in Marshland, where the forefathers of the family resided, and had large possessions. Reginald de Walpole, who lived in the reign of Henry I. is thought the lineal ancestor of the present family. His son, Richard de Walpole, married Emma the daughter of Walter de Havelton (or de Houghton) of Houghton, in Norfolk. From that time, the family, or the principal branch of it, fixed its residence at Houghton, where it has continued almost ever since. Sir John Walpole, knight, was a favourite of Henry III. whom he accompanied in his expedition to Britany. His son, Sir Henry de Walpole, was a Judge, about the 50th year of the same king’s reign. Another of the family, Ralph de Walpole, was about the same time bishop of Ely, and afterward of Norwich. [132] Some of the family, at different times, long after the removal of one branch to Houghton, appear to reside at Walpole; and in the reign of Henry VII. we find the owner of Houghton residing at Lynn, as appears by his Will, where he is called Thomas Walpole, Esquire, of Lynne Bishop. In that Will, among other things, he leaves certain lands and tenements at Walpole, “to the brodirhode of the Holy Trinity at Lynne Bishop, to the intent the Alderman and Skyvens of the said Gylde shall find and pay yerly eight marks to the wages of an abil prest to synge mess perpetually for his sowl, and the sowl of Jone his wife, in the chapel of our Lady, in the chapel of St. Nicholas in Lynne.”—For many ages the Walpoles made no mean figure among the Norfolk gentry; but none of them appear to have been advanced to the peerage till the eighteenth century; since which time, they have ranked among the principal nobility of the kingdom. But of the whole race, from first to last, the most distinguished and memorable character was the famous Sir Robert Walpole, prime minister to our two first sovereigns, of the present dynasty, and afterward created Earl of Orford; of whom some account will be given in the next chapter, section IV.

Here it may be added, that the family of the Coneys has also, for some ages, figured among the principal inhabitants of Marshland. They seem however, to have been originally of Lynn, and to have ranked, at a pretty distant period, among the principal people of that town. Some of their modern descendants are said to have prided themselves, not a little, on the score of their remote ancestry, but as the remarkable, or memorable part of the history of those remote ancestors of the family, or even the very names of more than one of them, [134] have not yet come to the knowledge of the present writer; it cannot be expected that he should say any more here about them.—The pride of ancestry, or the plea of being descended from renowned progenitors, is often very idle and childish, especially when none of the eminent or estimable traits which distinguished and characterized those progenitors are discoverable in their descendants.

CHAP. III.

Of the parts about Lynn, on the eastern side of the Ouse.

Section I.

Aspect of the country—its agriculture and rural economy—Wayland Wood—Memoir of Shuckforth—parish churches and other edifices, ancient and modern.

After passing from Marshland to the eastern side of the Ouse, the country presently begins to exhibit a very different appearance. The surface now ceases to be flat and even as before, and the very soil appears considerably altered and diversified. A light sandy soil soon presents itself, and the land becomes higher and comparatively hilly, as well as in general much less fertile and productive than in Marshland. The style, or mode and process of agriculture also differs considerably, as do likewise even the very implements of husbandry. There are certainly some slovenly farmers on this eastern side, but there are many others who manage their farms in a manner greatly superior to what is generally done on the other side of the river. Indeed the comparative poorness of the soil here may operate in no small degree as a spur to superior exertion and improvement. Where the land is poor nature requires the greater attention and assistance; and without skilful, laborious, and expensive management the cultivator cannot expect to thrive. Those farmers who have distinguished themselves, by a close attention to the pursuit of wise projects of agricultural improvement, have found their account abundantly in so doing. They have generally attained to considerable opulence, so as to be able to exhibit the appearance of wealthy independent country gentleman, instead of a servile, cringing yeomanry or tenantry. Not a few of them are supposed to live as well as their landlords: but the conduct of some of them towards the poor has been thought cruel and tyrannical.

Dairies are said to be here rather neglected, and the farmers’ attention chiefly directed to tillage and the growing of corn. The cheese is for the most part very ordinary and poor, and the butter not excellent.—No part of England exceeds Norfolk, or even equals it, in the culture of turnips, for which its loose, light, and sandy soil is thought to be very favourable. Much dependence is here placed on the turnip crop, for subsisting the sheep and cattle during the winter season; and if it fail, or is materially injured by early frosts, or other means, the complaints become loud, and the consequences often prove serious and distressing.

The turnip was only cultivated in gardens, as a culinary plant in this country till the reign of George I. when Lord Townshend, an ancestor of the present marquis, who had attended the king to Hanover, as secretary of state, observing the profit and utility of the field cultivation of turnips in that electorate, on his return brought with him the seed and recommended it to his tenants who occupied land of a similar quality to that of Hanover. The experiment succeeded adequate to expectation: the practice gradually spread over the county, and made its way into other parts of the kingdom. This important root, the great source of abundance to the county, has been gradually rising to its present state, for upwards of seventy years—A good acre of turnips in Norfolk will produce between thirty and forty cart-loads, as heavy as three horses can draw; and an acre will fat a Scotch bullock from forty to fifty stone, or eight sheep. But the advantage of this crop does not end here, for it generally leaves the land so clean and in such fine condition, that it almost insures a good crop of barley, and a kind plant of clover; and the clover is a most excellent preparative for wheat, so that in the subsequent advantages the value of the turnip can hardly be estimated. It has however been observed, that the cultivation of this root has reached its acme; and that at present, from some latent causes, it is on the decline: for recently more seed is become necessary, and the crop is said to be more precarious. Some have attributed it to the want of deeper ploughing, and instances have been adduced of the extraordinary depth to which turnips, and even wheat will radicate. This however has been thought insufficient to affix the cause of failure to shallow ploughing. [137]

Among our enlightened agriculturists the first place in generally allotted to those of Norfolk; and it has been observed, that the first thing that attracts the eye of a stranger here, is the fine tilth of the soil, and the succession of crops. The mode of cultivating the arable lands is worthy, no doubt, of imitation, wherever it can be adopted. The plough, which is of an admirable construction, is drawn by two horses harnessed abreast, which with a pair of reins are guided by the person who holds the plough. Instead of working the animals seven or eight hours without drawing bit, as is the custom in some counties, they are here worked eight hours in winter, and ten in Summer, by two journeys, as they are termed, which enables them to do considerably more than they would by one journey. The ploughings are repeated till the land is high in tilth, when it is completely pulverized with wheeled drags and harrows, which are violently drawn by the horses being kept upon a trotting pace. Owing to this rapid movement, the clods are very effectually broken, and the land well prepared to receive the seed. After this is sown or planted, the utmost attention is paid to keep the land free from weeds. The ridiculous custom of letting the land lie idle one year in every three, for the advantage of what is termed fallowing, is here properly exploded. The necessity of it has been superceded, and the reasons of it done away, by a judicious course of cropping; so that one crop may fertilise as the other exhausts; and in this manner are the lands cultivated like gardens, yielding various crops in perpetual succession, to the mutual benefit of the landlord and tenant; and of general utility to the public.

The mode of cropping in general practice is what is termed a sixcourse shift—the first year wheat; second, barley, with or without clover; third, turnips; fourth, barley or oates, with or without clover; fifth, clover mown for hay; sixth, grazed and ploughed up for wheat again. Some vary this mode by a five or a four course shift. Wheat is a general crop over the whole county, but thrives best on the stiff loamy lands. The lighter soils are favourable to barley, vast quantities of which are raised, malted, and in that state sent out of the county. Both wheat and barley are principally either drilled, for which several kinds of ingeniously-contrived barrow-drills are used, or else planted with the hand by women and children, called dibbling. The latter is among the agricultural improvements that have originated in this county: it is very generally practised, and its superiority, in several respects, or circumstances, over the other methods has been generally admitted. The quantities produced, according to the seed sown, are very unequal in different parts of the county. Lands, in the hundred of Flegg and Marshland, usually bear six quarters of wheat per acre, and ten of oats; but in the very light soils, the farmer is glad to obtain two quarters of oats, and three of barley. The average crops of the whole county may be stated at three quarters of wheat, and four of barley, and other articles in proportion, per-acre. [139] Oats are mostly sown only as a shifting crop, and seldom more is raised than what are consumed within the county. Other crops are rye, buck wheat, peas, beans, vetches or tares, coleseed, clovers, rye and other artificial grasses; burnet; cocksfoot, chickary, cabbages, mangel wurzel, luzerne, carrots, and potatoes. The latter, though so valuable a root, and in other parts used as a preparatory crop for wheat, has not lately been adopted as a field course in Norfolk. [140a] Flax and hemp, and even mustard and saffron are grown in some parts about Marshland and the Fens.—Improved implements and machines, to facilitate the operations of husbandry, are here in the greatest variety and perfection. Threshing machines are become general throughout the county, as are also drills of all kinds; but a drill-roller has been supposed to be peculiar to Norfolk. It is a large cast-iron cylinder, with projecting rings round it, at about ten inches distance from each other. This being drawn over the ploughed land makes indentations, and the seed sown broad-cast chiefly falls into the drills, and is thus regularly and better deposited than in the common mode of sowing.—Among wheel-carriages the non descript one called a wizzard, or hermaphrodite, is curious and remarkable; it is the common cart, to which in harvest, or in pressing circumstances, a couple of temporary forewheels are placed under the shafts, and two oblique ladders to the frame, by which it is made to answer the purpose of a waggon: in little farms, it is an object of no small utility, and in large ones a great help in a busy season. [140b]

The fat cattle of these parts, except those sold at home to the butchers, are commonly sent up to London, and sold in Smithfield Market, by the authorized and sworn salesmen of that place, who regularly remit the money afterwards to the respective owners, to their entire satisfaction; for no murmurs against these salesmen, or reflections unfavourable to their integrity are ever heard. One man, commonly called a drover, generally takes charge of the disposable cattle of a whole district, and among them sometimes very fierce beasts, that would prove unmanageable to most other people, but which he contrives to drive along with tolerable ease, assisted only by a trusty and well-trained dog, his sagacious and constant companion.

The country eastward of Lynn, towards Westacre and Swaffham, soon becomes more and more elevated and hilly: the soil also, in many places, is of a very inferior sort—and so light, loose, and sandy, as to be easily, in its ploughed state, drifted by the wind; for which the marl, that abounds about those parts, is the very best manure, and almost the only effectual remedy; and it is generally nigh at hand; often but a few feet beneath the surface, and under the very soil that wants it. It is usually laid on very thick, and seldom disappoints the farmer’s wish or expectation, unless the soil be so incurably sterile as not to admit the marl’s incorporating with it. Wonderful effects have often been produced by this marling, upon lands that many would have deemed of invincible sterility.

Not far from the last mentioned town of Swaffham, between Watton and Merton, is a place called Wayland Wood, which gives name to the Hundred in which it lies. It is commonly called Wailing Wood, and tradition has marked it out as the scene of the pitiable, miserable, and horrid catastrophe recorded and commemorated in the old and well-known ballad of “The Children in the Wood; or the Norfolk Gentleman’s last will and testament.” The origin of the tradition, or the time when that shocking event happened, cannot now, it seems, be ascertained. Even Blomefield, with all his antiquarian sagacity, and extensive means of information, was not able to find it out. It was probably the occurrence of a very distant period: but that it really did happen, the ballad and the tradition may be considered as very sufficient proofs; and the latter renders it very probable, or rather more than probable, that Wayland, or Wailing Wood was the very theatre of its perpetration. Of the untimely and tragical ends of helpless and friendless orphans, by the procurement of unprincipled, unfeeling, and cruel relations, who were heirs to their possessions, the history of rude and barbarous ages furnish but too many and very shocking examples; and it is devoutly to be wished that nothing of the kind, or nothing equally inhuman and shocking, could be said of the history of what are usually called civilized and enlightened times.

At Saham Tony, not far from Watton and Wayland Wood, lived in the last century a remarkable person of the name of Shuckforth. He was a gentleman of good property, and resided there on his own estate. On some occasion, unknown to the present writer, he retired from the world many years before he died, and gave himself up to reading and meditation, and to the practice of piety and charity. His religion appeared to be of that cast that is usually and assumingly denominated orthodox and evangelical, with no slight tincture of credulity, superstition, and fanaticism. These, however, as his life was otherwise so inoffensive and fruitful of good works, lost in him a great part of their deformity. His oddities and eccentricities induced many of his neighbours, of the higher orders, to impute to him a strong twist of insanity; while a great part of their own conduct would have gone, perhaps, quite as far in supporting a similar imputation against themselves. A course of life so singular, unfashionable, and unadmired, as that which he chose and pursued, might excite in many no small degree of surprize and disgust, but it ought not to be taken as a proof of mental derangement. It was probably the result of the sober exercise of his private judgement, and of a full conviction that there was no other course in which he could so well serve God and his fellow creatures, or promote his own present and future happiness. He was seldom seen for many of his latter years, except by a few domestics, one of whom was a constant attendant, and employed to read to him, after his own eyesight had failed. He is also supposed to have been the chief agent to distribute his charities, in the mean time, among the neighbouring poor and indigent. Close to his house he had a lime-kiln erected, from an idea that the smell, or effluvia of burning lime conduced to health and longevity. Thus he passed his time, in innocent and useful retirement, during a great part of a very long life. May his opulent survivors imitate his benevolence and charitable actions, whatever they may think of his peculiarities. He died in 1781, in his 91st. year, and was buried in one of his own fields, in a spot which he had fixed upon, and enclosed for that purpose, near twenty years before; and where he had erected a tomb, or a kind of mausoleum, with a long inscription on each of its four sides, or on four different stones. The inscriptions, as to the style and substance of them, have no great merit. They possess no elegance; and may be very truly said to be far more fanciful than judicious. But of the writer’s good intention, no doubt ought to be entertained. As he had in his lifetime distinguished himself by numerous acts of benevolence, so at his death; and by his will, he left divers charitable donations to the poor of Saham and the neighbouring parishes. Thus did he, in life and in death, remember the poor, and maintain the character of the poor man’s friend. The blessing of the poor, and of those who were ready to perish he doubtless obtained, and even the blessing and approbation of Him who is the common parent, benefactor, and righteous judge of the rich as well as the poor, the creator, sustainer, and ruler of the universe.

The parish churches on this side the Ouse, for the most part, make but a mean appearance, compared with those of Marshland and Holland. Here are, however, and always have been other edifices greatly superior to anything of the kind found in those districts: that is, the sumptuous mansions and palaces, for which this county has been long remarkable, and not inferior, perhaps, to any part of the kingdom. Of these, the most distinguished, in former times, were, Rising Castle, once a royal palace, and the residence, for many years, of queen Isabel, the relict of Edward II; Gaywode Castle, the principal mansion, for some ages, of the bishops of Norwich, and one of the best houses, in the meantime, if not the very best, in the whole county; Middleton Castle, the seat of Lord Scales; Wormegay Castle, the seat of lord Bardolf; Castleacre, the seat of Earl Warren; and Hunstanton Hall, the seat of the Lestranges.

Among the modern mansions, or palaces, in these parts, the most distinguished is that of Lord Cholmondeley, at Houghton, built by the famous Sir Robert Walpole; that of Thomas William Coke Esq. at Holkham; and that of Lord Townshend, at Rainham. Besides these, there are many others worthy of notice; such as that of Mr. Henley, at Sandringham; that of Mr. Styleman, at Snettisham; that of Mr. Rolfe, at Hitcham; that of Mr. Coldham, at Anmer; that of Sir Martin Browne Folkes, at Hillington; that of Mr. Hamond, at Westacre; that of Mr. Fountaine, at Narford; that of Mr. Tyssen, at Narborough; that of Sir Richard Bedingfield, at Oxborough; that of Mr. Pratt, at Ruston; that of Mr. Hare, at Stowe; that of Mr. Bell, at Wallington; and that of Mr. Plestow, at Watlington; to which several others might be added; but most, if not all of them, are of inferior consideration.

Section II.

A further Account of the Castles, edifices, and places of ancient note, in these parts—Brancaster—Rising—Garwood—Middleton—Wormegay—Castle-acre, &c.

Rising, or, as it is commonly called, Castle-Rising, is generally considered as the most ancient of all places in this vicinity, except Brancaster, [146] with which it might originally have some connection. It is supposed to have existed in the time of the Romans, as one of their military posts, or inferior stations, which Spelman thought not improbable, from its situation, and the coins there discovered. But it seems by no means clear, or certain, that it is a place of so much greater antiquity than Lynn, as is generally supposed. As a borough, it may, and seems to be the most ancient of the two; but that its origin, as a town, was much, if at all, anterior to that of Lynn, is not so very probable or indubitable as most people have imagined. That it is a place of great antiquity, must however be allowed, as well as that it was formerly of far greater extent, population, and consequence, than it is at present, and than it has been for several ages; otherwise it could, surely, never have acquired the rank of a corporate town, with distinct municipal laws, chartered rights, and the privilege of sending members to parliament—even as many as the county itself: which must always have been absurd enough, but especially at this time, when it is actually one of the most inconsiderable villages within the whole county. It is said to have been formerly a noted sea-port; but the silt and sand, choking up its harbour, have long deprived it of that advantage. To that cause the decay of the town is, probably, to be ascribed. Spelman says, that Rising is a burgh of such high antiquity, that the royal archives and records give no account of it. But may it not be questioned, if his premises will really warrant his conclusion? or, if the silence of the archives and records amounts to a proof of its high antiquity, as a burgh? Might not that silence be owing to some other cause? and may it not be concluded, that the origin of some burghs, of which those archives and records give an account, is yet more ancient than that of Rising?

In its better times, Rising had two weekly markets, Mondays and Thursdays; and also a fair, or free mart, for fifteen days, from the feast of St. Matthew. But they have been long discontinued, and it is doubtful, if any one now can tell when that happened. Rising has now neither market nor fair, except a paltry, peddling merrimake, on or about Mayday; the miserable remnant, probably, of the fifteen days mart. Formerly the town was governed by a mayor, recorder, twelve aldermen, a speaker of the commons, and fifty (some say seventy) burgesses. At present the Corporation consists of two aldermen, who alternately serve the office of mayor, and return two members to parliament, the mayor being the returning officer. The burgage tenures are the property of Mr Howard, and Lord Cholmondeley; and though five or six names generally appear upon the poll, at an election for members of parliament, it is said to be very doubtful, whether there is a single legal voter belonging to the burgh, except the rector. [148] The arms are a Castle triple towered. We are told that this burgh first sent members to parliament in 1558.

The Church of Rising is an ancient pile, dedicated to St Lawrence, and built in the conventual form, with a tower between the body of it and the chancel, which last is now in ruins; the walls only of part of it being standing; also a south cross aisle, joining to the tower, which is entirely in ruins. The west end is adorned with antique carving, and small arches; the roof of the church is flat, covered with lead.—Near the east-end of the churchyard stands an hospital, built by Henry Howard, earl of Northampton, in the reign of James I. It is a square building, containing twelve apartments for twelve poor women, and one good room for the governess, with a spacious hall and kitchen, and a decent chapel. It is endowed with 100l. a year, out of lands in Rising, Roydon, S. and N. Wootton, and Gaywood; also with 5l. every fifth year, toward keeping it in repair, from an hospital in Greenwich, founded also by the said earl of Northampton, and commonly called Norfolk College, for a Warden and twenty pensioners, of whom twelve must be parishioners of Greenwich, and eight of Rising and Shotisham in Norfolk, whose allowance is eight shillings a week for commons, besides clothes, lodging, and salaries, which are varied at the discretion of the managers. The whole income of the said college, or hospital, amounts to about 1100l yearly. [149]—The allowance at Rising hospital is eight shillings a month for each pensioner, and twelve shillings for the Governess, with some addition on certain saints days, or festivals; also one chaldron of coals yearly for each, and two for the governess. Each has also a new gown every year, with a livery-gown, and hat, every seventh year.—The pensioners must be all single women, of an unblemished character, and free from all suspicion of heresy, blasphemy, and atheism. A further account of this institution may be seen in the different histories of the county.

The Castle of Rising is of much more modern origin than the town itself. It is supposed to have been built about the middle of the 12th century, by William de Albini, first Earl of Sussex, and son of another William de Albini, who was butler to William Rufus, and to whom that king had made a grant of Rising, upon the defection or rebellion of his uncle Odo, bishop of Bayeux and Earl of Kent, to whom his brother, the conqueror, had granted it, upon the forfeiture and seizure of the vast temporalities of Stigand archbishop of Canterbury, in whose possession it was before the conquest. The Earl of Sussex is said to have been one of the most celebrated warriors of the age in which he lived, and to have married Adeliza the dowager queen of Henry I. from which last circumstance the Castle of Rising appears to have been from the very first a royal palace. This Castle and lordship continued in the Albini family till the death of Earl Hugh, in 1243, when they went, together with the fourth part of the Tollbooth of Lynn, to Roger de Montalto, lord of Montalt, (in Flintshire) by his marriage to Cecily, fourth daughter and coheiress of William Earl of Sussex, and one of the Sisters of Earl Hugh, who made it his chief seat, and place of residence. It continued afterward, with all its appurtenances, in the Montalto family, till the death of Robert Lord Montalt, in 1329, when Emma his widow surrendered and conveyed them, with all her other possessions and castles, agreeable to a former deed, executed in the life time of her husband, to the dowager queen Isabel, the mother of Edward III. In 1330, soon after the trial and execution of her great favourite Mortimer, the Castle of Rising became the chief place of that queen’s residence, and continued to be so ever after to the time of her death, in 1358, when it descended to her grandson, Edward the black prince; but it does not appear that he ever resided there, though it seems very probable that he had been there often in the time of his grandmother. In the second year of the reign of his son, Richard II. it was granted by that king to John Montfort, surnamed the valiant, Earl of Richmond, and Duke of Britany (the husband of his half sister Joan) in exchange for the town and castle of Brest. On the defection of Montfort, about twelve years after, the king gave it to his uncle Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester; who being murdered at Calais, in 1398, Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, another of the king’s uncles, obtained a grant of it, with the manors of Beeston, Mileham, &c. in Norfolk; and at his death, in 1403, it came to his eldest son Edward, Duke of York; who being slain in the memorable battle of Agincourt, it came to his brother Richard Earl of Cambridge; and he being beheaded the same year, it fell to the Crown, where it remained till the 36th of Hen. VIII. when it was granted, with its manor and appurtenances, together with the manors of Thorpe, Gaywood, South Walsham, &c. &c. to Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk, and Henry his Son, Earl of Arundel and Surry, in exchange for the manors of Walton, Trimley, Falkenham, &c. &c. On the attainder of the Duke of Norfolk, in 15th Elizabeth, it came again to the crown, and was granted to Edward, Earl of Oxford; but this grant being soon revoked, it was then granted to Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, brother to the said Duke; and it seems to have continued in the Howard family ever since, together with its appurtenances, with the exception of a small farm, which was purchased by Sir Robert Walpole, and is now in the possession of his descendant, the present Lord Cholmondeley, which secures him a moiety of the influence, or command of the borough, in the election of members of Parliament. Among the titles of the Duke of Norfolk is that of baron, or lord Howard, of Castle Rising.

The Castle, as Parkin observes,—

“stands upon a hill, on the south side of the town, from whence is a fine prospect over land and an arm of the sea. Great part of the walls of the keep, or inward tower, are still standing, being a gothic pile, much resembling that of Norwich, and little inferior; the walls are about three yards thick, consisting chiefly of freestone, with [some] iron, or car stone; encompassed with a great circular ditch, and bank of earth, on which stood also a strong stone wall, as appears by a presentment, in 31st Elizabeth, when the wall on the said bank was said to be in part, and the rest in danger of being overthrown, by the warrener’s conies. This ditch, now dry, was formerly, probably, filled with water. There is but one entrance to it, [which is] on the eastside, over a strong stone bridge, about thirty paces long, and eight or nine broad, supported by a single arch, over which stood a gate-house. The inward part of the castle, or keep, is all in ruins, except the room, where the court leet of that lordship is held.”

The apartments were doubtless grand and sumptuous when queen Isabel resided here, and when her son the great king Edward III. and his queen and court were among her guests. A house resorted to by the very first personages in the kingdom, or in Europe, and which could furnish suitable accommodation and entertainment for them, may well be supposed to have been both capacious and commodious, as well fitted up in a style of superior elegance and magnificence. Some of our historians say, that the king used to visit his mother here, once or twice annually, for many years.

In 1340, the king and queen were here for some time, as appears from the account rolls of Adam de Reffham, and John de Newland, of Lynn, who sent his majesty, in the mean while, a present of wine. In the summer of that year workmen were employed at the Castle in making preparations, and the queen sent her precept to the Mayor of Lynn, for eight carpenters to assist on the occasion. Afterward, in 1344, the King and his court were here for some time, as appears from certain Letters which he sent from hence to the bishop of Norwich, then at Avignon, to be there delivered by him to the Pope. On the 22nd August, 1358, queen Isabel died at this Castle; and in November following her remains were taken to London, and buried there in the Church of the Grey Friars, now called Christ Church, where also (it seems) her favourite Mortimer had been buried.

It is somewhat remarkable, that few of our historians seem to know where this queen resided during the last 28 years of her life, or to have the least idea of this Castle being ever the place of her residence. Rapin, and Hume, and also the author, or authors of the Parliamentary history, call the place of her habitation or confinement, “Rising Castle, near London,” (they should have said, near Lynn,) and Petit Andrews calls it “the castle of Risings, in Surry;” whereas it is a most unquestionable fact, that it was no other than this very castle of Rising tie Norfolk, which was formerly, as we have seen, a place of no small note and consequence. But its best days are past, and its glory is departed.

Of Hunston, or Hunstanton Hall, not much is known that is worth recording. It was long the chief seat and residence of the ancient family of the Lestranges; of which the most notable person, perhaps, was the famous Sir Roger Lestrange, who wrote and published more books than most of his contemporaries; of some of which he was himself the author, of others the translator only. He was also among our earliest editors of Newspapers, and always a flaming church-and-king-man. Queen Mary the second is said to have anagrammed his name into Strange lying Roger. Hunston House, or Hall, is now uninhabited, and in ruins; and is the property of Mr Styleman of Snettisham, a descendant of the Lestranges by the female line.

Castleacre was formerly the principal seat and residence of the great Earls Warren, who lived here in all the rude pomp and feudal splendor which distinguished the great Norman barons, whom the conqueror introduced into this country, and who largely shared in the fortunes of their successful leader. The 11th 12th and 13th centuries were the times when the Earls Warren flourished most. King Edward I. was entertained at this Castle in 1297, by the then Earl Warren, who was one of the most powerful among the English nobility of that time. The first English peer of that name was nearly allied to the conqueror, and accompanied him hither. He died in 1089. He that was the founder of Castleacre is said to have owned no less than one hundred and forty lordships, or manors, in Norfolk alone; and yet, among them all, no spot pleased him so well as Castleacre; and therefore he determined to fix there his chief residence, and to erect an edifice suitable to his high rank and vast possessions. This Castle, or Palace, stood on a rising ground, including, with all its outworks and fortifications, about eighteen acres of ground, in a circular form. Through this there is now a way, or street, called Baily Street, running directly north and south. At the entrance of this street, on the north, stands a stone gate-house, with two round bastions. The gate-house had an inward and outward door, with a portcullis in the middle. A similar gate-house is supposed to have stood at the opposite, or south entrance. On the east side of the north gate was a chapel for the Castle, the walls of which are still standing; and on the east side of the said street, near the middle, was another stone gate-house, leading into the outward court of the great Castle, which was circular, enclosed with a strong and lofty wall, of freestone and flint, &c. embattled, seven feet thick. Further in is a deep ditch, and a lofty embattled wall round it. Within this is the keep; and across the ditch are three lofty walls at proper distances, which join the Castle wall, as buttresses &c. The other part of the fortifications, on the west side of Baily Street, is called the Barbican, and contains above ten acres of land, and was enclosed with deep ditches, entrenchments, and high ramparts.—Several coins of Vespasian, Constantine &c. have been found here, and the spot is supposed to have been originally a Roman station. From the North part of it there is said to run a way, by Castleacre Wicken, and from thence across the country, leaving Massingham and Houghton on the right, and Anmer on the left; then tending in a direct course, leaving Fring a little on the right, for Ringstead and Brancaster, which latter is known to have been a considerable Roman station. This way is said to be commonly called the Pedder’s Way, and probably went much further than Castleacre, even as far, at least, as Castor by Norwich, the Venta Icenorum of antiquity.—From the beauty of the situation of Castleacre, and the noble ruins at present remaining, of which the semicircular wall of the Castle is a very grand and striking part, the late Earl of Leicester, at one time, as it is said, entertained an idea of building there: a situation which has been judged every way superior to that of Holkham, which he afterward fixed upon. His Lordship has been by some much blamed on this occasion; justly or not, cannot be made here a subject of inquiry.—A little to the west of the Castle stood the ancient Priory of Castleacre; which was a building of great note for many ages. The priory church was a large venerable gothic pile, built in a cathedral or conventual form: the principal entrance was through a great arch, over which was a stately window; on each side of the great door were other doors to enter into the north and south aisles under the tower, as the grand door served as an entrance into the nave or body; at the north and south end of this front or west end, stood two towers, supported by strong arches, or pillars; the nave, or body, had twelve great pillars, making seven arches on each side, the lowest joining to the towers; on the east end of the nave stood the grand tower supported by four great pillars, through which was the entrance into the choir: on the south and north side of this tower were two cross aisles or transepts, and at the end of the north transept there seems to have been a chapel, or vestiary. The choir was of an equal breadth with the nave and aisles, but much shorter, and at the east end of it was in form of a chapel, and here stood the high altar.—The cloister was on the south side, and had an entrance at the west end, and another at the east end of the south aisle, The chapter house joined to the east side, and the dormitory was over the west part of the cloister, and adjoining was the prior’s apartment.

Castleacre was purchased, of his relations the Cecils, by lord chief justice Coke, and is now the property of his descendant, Thomas Wm. Coke Esq. of Holkham.

Of Wirmegay, or Wormegay Castle but little seems to be known at present, save that it was long the seat or residence of the Lords Bardolf, who had great possessions, and bore no small sway for a long time in these parts. This Castle of theirs appears to have been a place of considerable strength and consequence. King Edward II. in his 18th year, is said to have sent his precept to Lord Bardolf, to have great care and guard of it, on account of the supposed approach of his queen and his enemy Mortimer; as he also did to Lord Montalt in regard to his Castle of Rising: which seems to imply, that they were two of the most important places then in these parts.

Middleton Castle [158] was long the chief seat of the Lords Scales, descended from Hardewin, or Harlewin de Scalariis, lord of Waddon in Cambridgeshire, probably one of the conqueror’s favourite captains. The first footing which that family had at Middleton is supposed to have been in the reign of Henry II. by the marriage of Roger de Scales, with Muriel, daughter and coheiress of Jeffrey de Lisewis. The family afterward resided here, and had great possessions and power in these parts, for many generations. At what time the Castle was built is not known; but it was, probably, in the time of the said Roger, or at an early part of the residence of that family in this neighbourhood. It continued in the Scales family till the reign of Edward IV. when it passed into that of the Wodeviles, by the marriage of the memorable Anthony Wodevile Earl Rivers, and Elizabeth the heiress of Thomas the last Lord Scales. After the fall of the Wodeviles, it is said to have been granted, by Richard III. to the Duke of Norfolk. At the accession of Henry VII. being forfeited with the Duke’s other possessions, it went to the heiress of the Scales, in the person of the countess of Oxford. Afterward it passed by marriage to the Lord Latimer, and thence, from time to time, into other hands; such as Sir Edward Williams, Sir Roger Mostyn, &c. Of this ancient Castle nothing now remains but the gate-house, or tower, which is still pretty entire, and seems to have been the entrance into a court, or quadrangle, which was moated in. This tower is built of brick, about seventeen yards long, nine broad, and eighteen high, with turrets, &c. Over the arch is the shield of Scales; the inside of it is much decayed; the area, or court within is about eighty four paces long, and forty six broad. The situation is low and swampy, and what would not now be deemed very eligible for the habitation or residence of a noble or genteel family. The power and possessions the Scales were formerly very great in these parts.

Gaywood Castle stood where the farm house, called Gaywood Hall, now stands, as appears from the moat which surrounds it, and which must once have encircled a fortified edifice. That edifice could be no other than the castle or palace of Gaywood, which was long the favourite, or principal mansion and residence of the bishops of Norwich, who were from an early period the temporal as well as spiritual lords of Lynn; on which account the town was then called Bishop’s Lynn, or Lynn Bishop. So high and mighty was the bishop’s lordly sway then at Lynn, that the very Mayor was nominated and appointed by him, and was called the bishop’s man, being in fact only his bailiff, or deputy. Afterward, the Mayor’s power becoming more extensive and independent, would sometimes occasion no small disagreement and strife between him and his prelatical master: a very notable instance of which occurred in the reign of Richard II. and the time of the famous bishop Spencer, of persecuting, fighting, and crusading memory. This prelate, being one day in the town with his retinue, quarrelled with the Mayor (who was supported by the townsmen) on a point of frivolous etiquette. From words, the parties came to blows; and a very serious battle ensued, which terminated in the total defeat of the haughty prelate and his company, who were all driven out of town, many of them much bruised and wounded. This bishop Spencer was sometime after appointed generalissimo of Pope Urban’s forces, in the war he then waged against the antipope Clement of Avignon; as is related by Fox. It was he also who afterward prosecuted for heresy William Sawtre, then minister of St. Margaret’s, and the first who suffered under the Act De hæretico comburendo. Of these matters a more particular account shall be given in relating the history of the town, at that period.

The bishops having so much to do at Lynn, and deriving from it so much of their consequence, it was natural for them to choose to reside in its vicinity: hence the origin of the castle, or palace of Gaywood. At what time it was first built cannot now perhaps be ascertained. We are told that bishop John de Grey (about 1200, or soon after) erected, or rebuilt, a sumptuous palace here, for himself and successors, where he much resided. Succeeding bishops continued to reside here, and to pay attention to the improvement of the grounds, as well as of the palace. A deer park, and a warren, appear to have been made here by bishop William de Raleigh, about 1240; who also granted liberty of common pasture to the Earl of Arundel and Sussex, and his men, from the park of Bawsey to the bridge of Gaywood, and the cawsey between the river of Bawsey and the wood of the said Earl. In 1388, bishop Spencer, abovementioned, had licence to embattle his palace of Gaywood. This seems to have been after his return from the crusade, or war, in which he had been engaged for Pope Urban, against his competitor Pope Clement, as he had been appointed commander in chief five years before. From the high spirit and wealth of this proud prelate, it may be presumed that Gaywood Castle made a very splendid and princely appearance in his time; and it is likely that the same might be the case long after, even till the reign of Henry VIII. when it was surrendered, together with the bishop’s rights and immunities at Lynn, into the King’s hands. It was soon after, with its appurtenances, granted to the Duke of Norfolk, and then probably pulled down. Its site, and the adjoining estate passed afterward to the Thoresbys of Haveless hall, in Mintling; and from them to the Wyches, of Hockwold; and latterly to Philip Case Esq.—and now are the property of William Bagge Esq. of Lynn. Of the castle, or palace of Gaywood, no more needs now be said, but that it is fallen, never more, in all probability, to rise, or recover the least portion of its ancient splendor and consequence.

Besides the castles, or palaces above mentioned, there were formerly in this country many religious houses, of different orders, and some of them of considerable note: among which were Blackburgh priory, in Middleton; Castleacre priory; Westacre priory; Crab-house nunnery, by Maudlin; West Dereham Abbey; Flitcham priory; Massingham priory, and Pentney priory. Of these some were extensive and noble edifices, and had large possessions attached to them; but scarce any remains of most of them are now to be seen, and their very memory seems to be approaching fast towards oblivion. Such is the fate of the firmest fabrics: like those who constructed them, they were composed of perishing materials.

Section III.

Further Account of the modern palaces, and other notable mansions in this country.—Houghton—Holkham—Rainham—Narford—Narborough—Oxborough.

Of all the fine houses that now exist in this vicinity, and even throughout all the eastern parts of England, the precedence, in point of size and magnificence at least, is allowed to be due to

Houghton Hall, now the princely seat of the Earl of Cholmondeley, but formerly of the Earls of Orford, of the Walpole family, from which the present possessor is maternally descended. This Splendid Mansion was built by the memorable Sir Robert Walpole, while he was prime minister, and between the years 1722 and 1735. The whole extent of the building, including the Colonade and wings, which contain the offices, is four hundred and fifty feet: the main body of the house extends one hundred and sixty six feet. The whole building is of stone, and crowned with an entablature of the Ionic order, on which is a balustrade. At each corner is a Cupola, surmounted with a lanthorn. For a description of the inside of the house, the reader is referred to the Norfolk Tour and other printed accounts. It has been long distinguished for its noble Collection of pictures, by the best masters; but it is no longer there; it was sold in 1779 to the late Empress of Russia, for 45,500l. Its removal out of the kingdom has been, much regretted, as a very humiliating circumstance, and a national disgrace; and it has been thought that the legislature ought to have purchased it, rather than suffer it to be taken out of the kingdom. But it is unavailing now to lament: that celebrated collection is irrecoverably lost to Britain. Sometime before the removal of those pictures Lord Orford gave Mr Boydell permission to take drawings of them, which he proposed having engraved by the first artists, and published in fourteen numbers, at two guineas each, which has been since done.

The duke of Lorrain, afterward Emperor of Germany, and husband to Maria Theresa, was once entertained by Sir Robert Walpole, at Houghton, with more than British magnificence.—Relays of horses were, in the meantime, provided on the roads, to bring rarities thither from the remotest parts of the kingdom, with all possible speed: and this extraordinary expedient, it seems, was continued all the while that august guest staid at Houghton. Sir Robert’s expenses, in buildings and entertainments, must have been so very great, that one is apt to wonder how he could manage to bear them, but he was a prime minister, and prime ministers are supposed capable of doing great things in the pecuniary way, without embarrassing themselves. One of Sir Robert’s successors, however, a late prime minister, seems to have been an exception to that idea: with ample means, and without any great apparent outgoings, (except what his private revels, or midnight orgies, might cost him) he could by no means manage to live, or keep out of debt, and actually died insolvent!—Circumstances so dissimilar in the history of two men who stood in the same situation, must needs be deemed somewhat odd and remarkable.

The woods, or plantations, about Houghton are extensive, and thought very fine.

“In the road from Syderstone (says the Author of the Norfolk Tour) they appear we think to the greatest advantage; they are seen to a great extent, with openings left judiciously in many places, to let in the view of more distant woods; which changes the shade, and gives them that solemn brownness which has always a great effect. The flatness of the country, however, is a circumstance which, instead of setting them off, and making them appear larger than they really are, gives them a diminutive air, in comparison to the number of acres really planted. For were these vast plantations disposed upon ground with great inequalities of surface, such as hills rising one above another, or vast slopes stretching away to the right and left, they would appear to be almost boundless, and shew twenty times the extent they do at present. The woods which are seen from the south front of the house, are planted with great judgment, to remedy the effect of the country’s flatness; for they are so disposed as to appear one beyond another, in different shades, and to a great extent.”

Next to Houghton (if that expression may be allowed) the very best house in all this part of the kingdom is

Holkham House, the splendid Seat and residence of Thomas William Coke, Esq. the far-famed patron of the Norfolk agriculturists, and one of the representatives of the county in this and several of the preceding parliaments. Mr Coke is also a descendant of the famous Lord chief justice of that name, who was himself a Norfolk man. Holkham is not of so long standing as Houghton: it was begun in 1734 by the Earl of Leicester and completed by his dowager countess, in 1760.

“The central part of this spacious mansion, built of white brick, is accompanied by four wings, or pavilions, which are connected with it by rectilinear corridors, or galleries: each of the two fronts therefore display a centre and two wings. The south front presents an air of lightness and elegance, arising from the justness of its proportions. In the centre is a bold portico, with its entablature supported by six corinthian columns. The north front is the grand or principal entrance, and exhibits different, though handsome features. The wings which partake of similar characteristics, have been thought to diminish from the general magnificence of the building, by the want of uniformity of style with the south front, and being too much detached to be consistent with unity. The centre, which extends 345 feet in length, by 180 in depth, comprises the principal apartments: each wing has its respective destination. One contains the kitchens, servants’-hall, and some sleeping rooms. In the chapel wing is the dairy, laundry, with more sleeping rooms. Another contains the suit of family apartments; and the fourth, called the strangers’ wing, is appropriated to visitors.

“This grand residence is rendered superior to most other great houses in the kingdom, by its convenience and appropriate arrangement. The entrance hall, which forms a cube, has a gallery round it, supported by twenty four Ionic columns. Next is the saloon, on each side of which is a drawing room; and connected to this is the state dressing-room and bed chamber. Another drawing room communicates with the statue gallery, which connects a number of apartments in a most admirable manner; for one octagon opens into the private wing, and the other into the strangers’, on one side, and into the dining-room on the other. This dining-room is on one side of the hall; and on the other is Mrs. Coke’s bed-room, dressing-room, and closets. From the recess, in the dining-room, opens a door on the stair case, which immediately leads to the offices; and in the centre of the wings, by the saloon door, are invisible stair-cases, which lead to all the rooms and respective offices. Thus here are four general suits of apartments, all perfectly distinct from each other, with no reciprocal thoroughfares; the state, Mrs Coke’s, the late earl’s, and the strangers’. These severally open into what may be called common rooms, the statue gallery, and saloon, all which communicate with the dining room. There may be houses larger and more magnificent, and in some more uniformity and justness of proportion may be visible; but human genius could not contrive any thing in which convenience could be more apparent than in this. The fitting up of the interior is in the most splendid style, and, in numerous instances with the most elegant taste. The ceilings of many of the rooms are of curious gilt, fret, and mosaic work; the Venetian windows are ornamented with handsome pillars, and also profusely gilded. The marble chimney pieces are all handsome; but three are peculiarly deserving attention, for their exquisite sculpture. Two are in the dining-room, one ornamented with a sow and pigs, and a wolf; the other has a bear and bee hives, finely sculptured in white marble. A third, representing two pelicans, is exceedingly chaste and beautiful. The marble side-boards, agate-tables, rich tapestry, silk furniture, beds &c. are all in the same sumptuous style of elegance.

“The Statue Gallery consists of a central part and two octagonal ends. The first is seventy feet long, by twenty two feet wide, and each octagon, of twenty two feet in diameter, opens to the centre, by an handsome arch. One end is furnished with books, and the other with statues, &c. Among the latter, the figure of Diana is extremely fine. A Venus, clothed with wet drapery, is considered exquisite. The Saloon is forty feet long, twenty eight wide, and thirty two in height. This room, appropriated for paintings, contains many by the most eminent masters; but they are not exclusively preserved in this; a vast collection being distributed over most of the apartments throughout the house.—In a brief statement it will be impossible to give a just and adequate delineation of the pleasure grounds and park, with the various objects which environ and decorate this museum of taste and seat of hospitality.” [168]

Nor would such a delineation be very necessary for this work, as but few of its readers can be supposed altogether unacquainted with the premises.—After Holkham, the next place is due to

Rainham Hall, the venerable seat and residence of the late marquis Townshend. This house is of a much longer standing than either of the former; being built, as we are told, about 1630, by Sir Roger Townshend, bart. under the direction of that excellent and celebrated architect Inigo Jones. Its situation has been supposed the most delightful in the county. The house itself, though it has been greatly improved by the late marquis, is said to be in the style of an exceeding good habitable mansion rather than a magnificent one. The country around is rich, and charmingly cultivated. The park and woods are beautiful, and the lake below peculiarly striking. Extensive lawns, and opening views into the country, enrich the enlivening scene, and display the beauties and bounties of nature in their most enchanting and luxuriant pride. [169] Since the death of the late marquis this house has ceased to be the residence of the family.—To the preceding Mansions may be added

Oxborough, or Oxburgh-Hall, the seat of the Bedingfields, which is said to present features of a striking kind, and to be a peculiar and interesting remnant of ancient domestic architecture. It was erected as long ago as the latter end of the fifteenth century, by Sir Edmund Bedingfield, who obtained a grant, or patent of Edward IV. in 1482, to build the manor house with towers, battlements, &c. It is built of brick, and was originally of a square form, environing a court, or quadrangle, one hundred and eighteen feet long, and ninety two broad; round which the apartments were ranged. The whole building resembles Queen’s College, in Cambridge; a structure of about the same period. The entrance is over a bridge, formerly a drawbridge, through an arched gate way, between two majestic towers, which are eighty feet high. In the western tower is a winding brick staircase beautifully turned, and lighted by quatrefoil ilet-holes. The other tower is divided into four stories; each consisting of an octagonal room, with arched ceilings, stone window frames, and stone fire places. Between the turrets is an arched entrance gateway, the roof of which is supported by numerous groins; and over this is a large handsome room, having one window to the north and two bow windows to the south. These windows, and the whole exterior of this part of the building appear to be in their original state. The floor of the great room is paved with small fine bricks, and the walls covered with very curious tapestry. This appears to be of the age of Henry VII. and is mentioned in several wills of the family. The apartment is called “the King’s room,” and is supposed to have been appropriated to the monarch just mentioned, when he visited Oxburgh. In the eastern turret is a curious small closet, called a hiding place, which appears to have been an original part of the structure: it is a cavity, or hollow in the solid wall, measuring six feet by five feet, and seven feet high, and is approached by a secret passage through the floor. A similar hiding place is said to have been destroyed in that part of the building which has been taken down. The great hall, which had an oaken roof, in the style of the justly admired one at Westminster Hall; and other rooms, which formed the south side of the court, were taken down in 1778, and the distribution of almost every apartment has been successively changed. The offices are now on the east side, and the dining parlour, drawing room, and library, on the west. The whole is surrounded by a moat, about fifty two feet broad, and ten feet deep, which is supplied with water from an adjacent rivulet. In the different apartments, which are both spacious and elegant, are preserved a few good pictures, by eminent painters, and a collection of ancient armoury. [171] This venerable seat is the property of Sir Richard Bedingfield, but at present the residence of Lord Mountjoy.

Of the other modern mansions in these parts, mentioned at the close of the first section of this chapter, it seems needless here to give any further account, except those of Narford and Narborough. These, it must be allowed, deserve a more particular attention; not on account of the structures themselves, but of the curious and valuable articles they contain—or lately did contain; for what did once so much distinguish Narborough Hall, is no longer there.—It was a noble collection of coins and medals, ancient and modern; and the most valuable private collection, perhaps, in Britain, if not in Europe. Its possessor, the late Mr. Tyssen, assured this writer, that it had cost him, from first to last, above 20,000l. though he had been fortunate enough to purchase many of the most valuable articles much under the prices they usually fetch. In this collection were coins of the Grecian states and cities; a regular series of those of Philip and Alexander, of Alexander’s successors, of the Ptolemies, and the Cæsars—all in gold, in the highest state of preservation, and of most exquisite workmanship, (all but those of the former part of Philip’s reign, before he had become master of Greece, and could command the service of its artists,) and far exceeding the best of modern productions, except, perhaps, those of Thomas Simon, and Dossier, which come the nighest to the ancients. Many other curiosities were to be found at Narborough, and not the least among them was a MS. copy of the Eikon Bazilike, one of the most perfect specimens of fine penmanship extant, perhaps, on so large a scale. The pages, the lines, and the letters, were uniform, and exquisitely neat throughput. It was a quarto volume, and said to be written, or transcribed by I. Thomasen, schoolmaster, at Tarvin, in the county palatine of Chester. He was said to have written three different copies, all in nearly equal perfection: of the other two, one is deposited in the King’s library, and the other in the British Museum; but this was said to be the best the three. To the best of this writer’s recollection, Mr. Tyssen said, that it cost him a hundred guineas, nor did he seem to repent of his bargain. The price it fetched at the sale, however, fell greatly short of that sum.—An ancient shield, denoting and commemorating the taking of Carthage, was another of the late curiosities of Narborough: it represented one of the fair damsels of that devoted city, bearing the keys, and delivering them to Scipio, followed by a long train of the principal inhabitants, whose dejected and woeful looks, bespoke the grief and anguish that had then overwhelmed the Carthaginian nation.—Close to Narborough Hall is an old fortification, the remains of an ancient encampment, called the burgh; from whence to Oxburgh and Eastmore-fen, extends a large foss and rampart, whose original designation seems not very easy to discover.—In making a garden near the burgh, in 1600, several human and pieces of armour were found. This place is said to be peculiarly interesting to the antiquary; and it is supposed that a small Roman station was once established here. John Brame, a monkish writer, in a manuscript history, quoted by Spelman in his Icenia, says, that Narborough was a British city, governed by an earl Okenard, about the year 500, when it stood a seven months siege against a king Waldy: but little reliance, however, can be placed on such authority. In the adjoining parish of Narford, numerous Roman bricks and other relics, are said to have been found: also a large brass vase, or urn, was dug up in the court yard of the manor house,

Narford Hall, the seat of Andrew Fountaine Esq. It was erected in the reign of George I. by the late Sir Andrew Fountaine, Knt. of whom some account will be given in the next section. He was a great collector of rarities, and made his house the repository of works of art and learning. At present it is said to display a choice collection of pictures, ancient painted earthenware, some bronzes, coins, and a fine library of books, supposed to be the best in the whole county. The room, in which these books are deposited, is forty feet by twenty one; and contains, beside the books, several Roman and Egyptian Vases, and portraits of eminent men. This library seems not to have been collected for mere ostentation. The original collector is said to have been a man of letters, as well as a connoiseur and virtuoso, and one, at least, of his successors has been reputed a literary character, and a proficient in some branches, especially Spanish literature; in which language the said library contains many rare and valuable articles, one of which he sometime ago translated into English, and it has since made its appearance from the Swaffham Press.

Several springs of mineral water, of the chalybeate kind, are to be found in the neighbourhood of Lynn, on this eastern side; of which one is at Riffley, and another on Gaywood common, both within two miles of the town. There is also another beyond Setchey, on the Downham road. There are others in East Winch parish, one of which is much more strongly impregnated than any of the rest, and might, perhaps, be ranked, in point of medicinal virtue, with some of those springs that have acquired so much celebrity as to become places of considerable resort. This Spring is said to be strongly impregnated with what chymists and mineralogists call sulphate of iron.

Section IV.

Biographical Sketches of some of the most celebrated, or memorable persons who were natives of this part of the country.

Of all the eminent men who sprung up in this part of Norfolk, the precedence seems unquestionably due to

Sir Edward Coke, the famous Lord chief Justice. He was the son of Robert Coke, Esq. of Mileham, where he was born in 1550, or as some say in 1549. At ten years of age he was sent to the free school at Norwich; and after having spent there a competent time, he was removed to Trinity College in Cambridge, where he continued about four years, and then went to Clifford’s Inn, and the next year was entered a student of the Inner Temple. He was called to the bar at six years standing, which in that age was held very extraordinary. Lloyd tells us that “the first occasion of his rise was his stating the Cook’s case of the Temple, that all the house, who were puzzled with it, admired him; and his pleading it so, that the whole bench took notice of him.” His reputation increased very fast, and he soon came into great practice. When he had been at the bar about seven years, he married a lady of one of the best families in his native county, and with a very large fortune for that age. He now rose rapidly: the cities of Coventry and Norwich chose him their Recorder; and he was engaged in all the great causes in Westminster Hall. He was also in high credit with Lord Burleigh and the other rulers, and often consulted in state affairs. He became moreover, one of the representatives of his native county in parliament, Speaker of the House of Commons, and successively Solicitor-general, Attorney-general, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and finally, Lord Chief Justice of England, or rather of the King’s Bench, as king James would have it called. Sir Edward was a high spirited man, and on many occasions discovered much firmness and integrity, even when the other judges gave way, and the mandates of the Sovereign required a different conduct. This kind of behaviour, in time, rendered him obnoxious to the Court, and brought upon him its heavy displeasure, which issued in his expulsion from the Council Table, and his removal from the office of Lord Chief Justice; the king declaring, “That he was for a tyrant the fittest instrument that ever was in England.” He afterward joined the country party, and made a distinguished figure among the great parliamentary patriots, in the latter part of the reign of James and the former part of that of Charles I. He died at his house at Stoke Pogey, in Buckinghamshire, Sept. 3, 1634, in the 86 year of his age, and expired with these words in his mouth, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.” He was one of the greatest Lawyers that England ever produced. He had quick parts, a deep penetration, a retentive memory, and a solid judgement. He was greatly honoured and esteemed among his brethren of the long robe; and when persecuted by the Court, and a brief was given against him to Sir John Walter, that gentleman, though Attorney-general to the prince, laid aside the brief, with this remarkable sentence, “Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, whenever I open it against Sir Edward Coke.” He was observed to make a better figure in adversity than in prosperity; and he was so good at making the best of a disgrace, that king James said, “Let them throw him which way they would, he always fell upon his legs.” He valued himself, and not without reason, upon this, that he obtained all his preferments without employing either prayers or pence, and that he became Speaker of the House of Commons, Solicitor-general, Attorney-general, Chief Justice of both Benches, High Steward of Cambridge, and a member of the Privy Council, without either begging or bribing. In this he was very different from many of his most eminent cotemporaries, and especially from his great and celebrated rival Bacon, who was remarkable for the meanness with which he used to solicit preferment. He was in his person well proportioned, and his features were regular. He was neat, but not nice, in his dress; and would say, that “the cleanness of a man’s clothes ought to put him in mind of keeping all clean within.” He was twice married, but his second marriage proved unhappy. He left behind him a numerous issue, as well as a large fortune; and may be ranked among the greatest men of his time. [177a]

In the latter part of his life he appears to have been among the reputed Jacobins of that day, [as is also said to have been the case, in the estimation of some wise and virtuous people, [177b] with his present descendant of Holkham, during the late memorable reign and rage of our furious alarmists.] While he lay upon his death-bed, his house was, by an order of council, searched for seditions and dangerous papers: and the searchers took away his commentary upon Magna Charta; his commentary upon Lyttleton, with the history of his Life before it, written with his own hand; the Pleas of the Crown; and the Jurisdiction of Courts; his 11th. and 12th. Reports, in MS; with 51 other MSS; together with his Last Will and Testament, which contained the provision he had been making for his younger grandchildren. These papers were kept from the family for several years, and the Will was never heard of more. [178]

2. Sir Henry Spelman. He was born at Congham, in 1561, or 1562. Before he was fifteen he was sent to Trinity College, in Cambridge; but his father dying in about two years and half after, he was taken home by his mother to assist her in managing the affairs of the family. About a year after, he was sent to Lincoln’s Inn to study the law, where having continued almost three years, he retired into the country, and married a Lady of good family and fortune. Beside his own rural and domestic concerns, which now demanded and employed the chief of his attention, he was also very assiduous to improve himself in the knowledge of the Constitution, Laws and Antiquities of his Country. He was early admitted a member of the Society of Antiquaries, which brought him into an intimate acquaintance with Sir Robert Cotton, Camden, and others of the most eminent men for that kind of literature. In 1604, he was appointed High Sheriff of Norfolk, and about the same time wrote a description of that county, which he communicated to Speed: but it was not the first book he wrote: a book on Heraldry, and another on the Coins of the kingdom, he had before written; and perhaps more. In 1607, the king nominated him one of the Commissioners for determining the unsettled titles of lands and manors in Ireland; on which occasion he went thither several times, and discharged the trust reposed in him with great reputation. He was also appointed one of the Commissioners to enquire into the oppression of exacted fees in all courts and offices, as well ecclesiastical as civil; which gave rise to his treatise De Sepultura, or of the Burial Fees, in which he made it evident, that most part of the fees exacted by the clergy and church officers, on account of funerals, is no better than gross imposition. His close attention to those public employments proved prejudicial to his family and circumstances; in consideration of which the government made him a present of 300l, till something better could be done for him. His majesty also conferred on him the honour of knighthood, which, however, did probably impoverish rather than enrich him. His majesty did what was still worse, in prohibiting the Meetings of the Antiquarian Society, lest, forsooth, they might be led to treat of state affairs! [179] His wise majesty seemed conscious that those affairs were too brittle to be handled, and too foul to be exposed to open daylight. When about fifty he went to reside in London, and gave himself up to archaiological studies. He collected all such books and MSS. as he could find of that description, whether foreign or domestic. In 1626, he published the first part of his well known Glossary, which he never carried beyond the letter L, because, as some have suggested, he had said things under Magna Charta, and Maximum Concilium, that could not then have appeared without giving offence. He wrote many things, most of which are still held in considerable repute. He died in 1641: his posthumous works were published in 1698, in folio, under the inspection of bishop Gibson. At his death his papers came into the hands of his eldest Son,

3. Sir John Spelman, “the heir of his studies,” as he himself calls him, who was also a very learned man, and had great encouragement and assurance of favour from Charles I. That prince one time sent for Sir Henry Spelman, and offered him the mastership of Sutton Hospital, with some other advantages, in consideration of his good services both to church and state. He returned his majesty thanks, and told him that he was very old, and had now one foot in the grave, and should therefore be more obliged if he would consider his son. Upon which the king sent for Mr. Spelman, and conferred both the mastership of the Hospital and the honour of knighthood upon him; and he afterwards employed him to draw up several papers in vindication of the proceedings of the court. He published the Saxon Psalter under the title of Psalterium Davidis Latino-Saxonicum vetus, in 1640, in quarto, from a MS in his father’s Library, collated with three other copies. He also wrote “The Life of King Alfred the Great,” in English; which was translated into Latin, sometime after the Restoration, by Mr. Christopher Wase, superior Beadle of the Civil Law at Oxford; which translation, with notes and cuts by Mr. Obadiah Walker Master of University College, was published, from the Theatre Press, in 1679, in folio. The original English was also published from the same press, by Mr. Thomas Hearne, in 1709. 8vo. Sir John Spelman died in 1643.

4. Sir Roger L’Estrange is another of the notable natives of this part of the county. He was the youngest son of Sir Hamon L’Estrange, Bart. of Hunstanton Hall, where he was born Dec. 17, 1616. He received a liberal education, which he is supposed to have completed at Cambridge. His father being a zealous royalist, took care to instil the same principles in his son, which the latter eagerly embraced; and in 1639, he attended the king, in his expedition into Scotland. His attachment to the royal cause became now very strong; and sometime after nearly cost him his life: for in 1644, soon after the Earl of Manchester had reduced Lynn to the authority of the Parliament, young L’Estrange, thinking he had some interest in the place, as his father had been governor of it, formed a scheme for surprising it; and received a commission from the king, constituting him is governor, in case of success: but his design being betrayed by two of his confederates, (named Leman and Haggar,) though both bound under an oath of secresy, he was seized, tried, and, by a court-martial, condemned to die, as a traitor. While he lay in prison, he was visited by Mr. Arrowsmith, and Mr. Thorowgood, two of the assembly of divines, who very kindly offered him their utmost interest, if he would make some petitionary acknowledgement, and submit to take the covenant, but he refused. After thirty months spent in vain endeavours, either to have a hearing, or to be put into an exchangeable condition, he printed a state of his case, by way of appeal from the court martial (by which he had been tried) to the Parliament. About the time of the Kentish insurrection, in 1648, he escaped out of prison, with the keeper’s privity, as he himself says, and went into Kent, and retiring to the house of Mr Hales, a young gentleman, heir to a great estate in that county, he spirited him up to head the insurrection; but that design failed of success. After this miscarriage, he escaped beyond sea, where he continued till the autumn of 1653; when taking his opportunity, in the change of government, upon Cromwell’s dissolution of the long parliament, he returned into England, and having an opportunity to speak to Cromwell, and obtaining a favourable hearing, he escaped any further trouble, and shortly after received his discharge, by an order dated 31. Oct. 1653. How he spent his time for the next six or seven years does not appear; but it may be presumed that he remained pretty quiet, and avoided all interference with political, or state affairs. He is said to have sometimes played before the Protector on the bass viol, for which he was by some called Oliver’s fidler. After the Restoration he was little noticed, either by the king or his ministers, for sometime; which he very much resented. Afterward, however, he was appointed to a profitable, but odious office, that of Licencer of the Press; which he held till a little before the Revolution. In 1663 he set up a newspaper, called “The Public Intelligencer and the News,” which was afterwards put down by the London Gazette; for which, however, government allowed him a consideration. After the popish plot, when the Tories began to gain the ascendant over the Whigs, he, in a paper called the Observator, became a zealous champion for the former, and an advocate for some of the worst measures of the Court. He was afterward knighted, and served in the parliament called by James II. in 1685. After the Revolution he met with some trouble, as a disaffected person. He is said to have been particularly disliked by the queen, who very curiously anagrammed his name, as was mentioned in the first section of this chapter. He died on the 11th. of September 1704, in the 88th. year of his age, and was interred in the church of St. Giles in the fields, where there is an inscription to his memory. He wrote many political tracts, in a high tory strain, and often with little regard to truth; and also published translations of Josephus’s works, Cicero’s offices, Seneca’s morals, Erasmus’s colloquies, Esop’s fables, Quevedo’s visions, &c. His style has been praised by some, while others have represented it as intolerably low and nauseous: and Granger represents him as one of the great corrupters of our language. But there was something in his character that was still worse and more detestable than even his style.—Having mentioned him as one of our early compilers of newspapers, it may not be amiss here just to note, that he had been long preceded in that occupation, by a country-man of his, Wm. Watts, M.A. who is supposed to have been the very first compiler of a weekly, or stated English newspaper; at least his employer, Butter, seems to have been the first editor of such a paper, which was begun in August 1622, under the name of “The certain news of this present week;” and Watts is thought to have been the compiler of it from the first, and is therefore deemed the Gallo-Belgicus of England: alluding to the first newspaper, or periodical publication of the low Countries, about the beginning of the 17th century, which went by that name. But as Watts is said to have been a native of Lynn, a further account of him shall be given in its proper place.

5. Sir Robert Walpole, afterward Earl of Orford. He was born at Houghton, in 1674. In 1700, he was chosen member of Parliament for Lynn, which he also represented in many succeeding parliaments. In 1705 he was made one of the council to Prince George of Denmark, as lord high admiral. In 1707 he was made secretary at war; and in 1709 treasurer of the navy. On the change of the ministry, the year following, he was removed from all his places, and in 1711 was voted by the house of commons guilty of notorious corruption, in his office as secretary at war: it was therefore resolved that he should be committed to the tower, and expelled the house. But being considered by the whigs as a kind of martyr to their cause, the borough of Lynn rechose him, and though the house declared his election void, yet the electors persisted in their choice, and he sat in the next parliament. On the accession of George I. he was appointed paymaster-general of the forces, and a privy counsellor; but in a disagreement, two years after, with Mr. Secretary Stanhope, he resigned, turned patriot, of course, and opposed the ministry. Early in 1720 he was again made pay-master of the forces, and the complaisance of the courtier began once more to appear: nor was it long before he acquired full ministerial power, as first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer. The measures of his administration, during the long course of his premiership, have been often canvassed, with all the severity of critical inquiry, and variously determined. Though he has been called the father of corruption, and is said to have boasted, that he knew every man’s price, yet the opposition prevailed over him in 1742, and obliged him to resign. He was screened from any further resentment of the house of commons, by a peerage, being created Earl of Orford, and gratified with a pension of 4000l a year. He is generally allowed to have been a minister of considerable talents, and a notable manager of parliaments. Whatever were his faults, and he doubtless had many, he was evidently a man of peace, and no war minister, which ought to endear his memory to posterity. Had his successors, and particularly the late minister Pitt, been more of his disposition in that respect, it had probably, at this time, been a happy circumstance for the British empire, if not also for some other nations.

6. Sir Andrew Fountaine. He was born at Narford, and educated at Christ Church, Oxford, where he studied the Anglo-Saxon language, of his skill in which he afterward gave good proof, by a piece inserted in Dr Hicks’s Thesaurus, entitled, “Numismata Anglo-Saxonica, et Anglo-danica, breviter illustrata ab Andreâ Fountaine eq. aur. et æd. Christi Oxon alumno, 1705.” King William conferred on him the honour of knighthood: and he was afterwards, it seems, in 1726, made knight of the Bath, by patent; at which time he was Vice Chamberlain to the princess of Wales. He travelled for a considerable time in various parts of Europe, and is said to have made a noble collection of antiques and curiosities; of his adventures in the meantime, not all over and above delicate or reputable, some curious anecdotes are still remembered. In 1709 he drew the designs for the Tale of a Tub, by Swift, with whom he is said to have been very intimate, as well as with Pope, who complimented him for the elegance of his taste. In 1727 he was appointed Warden of the Mint, which office be held till his death, in 1753. He was reputed an eminent connoisseur, virtuoso, and antiquary; and Narford Hall owes to him most, if not the whole of its boasted curiosities.

7. Martin Folkes, Esq. much distinguished in his time as a philosopher and antiquary, was the eldest Son of a Barrister of the same name, by one of the two daughters and coheiresses of Sir Wm. Hovell of Hillington Hall; which accounts for the estate of the Hovells descending to him. He was born in 1690, at Westminster, where his father then resided. His education, which is supposed to have commenced at Westminster school, was finished at Cambridge, where his proficiency appears to have been very considerable. He became a member of the Royal Society in his 23rd year. About ten years after, he was appointed vice president of the same Society, to which he had been nominated by Sir Isaac Newton, the then President. He was also a member of the Society of Antiquaries. On the resignation of Sir Hans Sloane, in 1741, be was elected President of the R.S. and not long after he was nominated one of the eight foreign members of the Academy of Sciences at Paris. He died in 1754, and is said to have been a person of very extensive knowledge and great respectability; and in his private character polite, generous, and friendly. His principal service to science was his elucidation of the intricate subject of coins, weights, and measures. Though he had daughters of his own, he left the seat and estate of his maternal ancestors, the Hovells, to his brother, whose Son, Sir Martin Browne Folkes, bart. M.P. is their present possessor.

8. The honourable Horace Walpole, afterward Earl of Orford. He was the youngest Son of the celebrated Sir Robert Walpole, and born about the year 1717. In 1739 he set out upon his travels, accompanied by his friend Gray, the poet: but they afterward quarrelled and separated. In the parliament of 1741 he was a member for Collington; in that of 1747, for Castle Rising; and in those of 1754 and 1761, for Lynn. At the expiration of the latter parliament he retired from business, and attached himself wholly to literary pursuits, residing chiefly, if not wholly, at Strawberry Hill, in Surrey, where he had a private printing-office, for the purpose of having his productions edited under his own eye. His principal works are The Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors, and The Historic Doubts respecting the character, conduct, and person of Richard III. He wrote also The Mysterious Mother, Castle of Otranto, and other works, which are considered as proofs of his being a person of very extensive reading, and of eminent genius and talents. On the death of his nephew he succeeded to the family title and estates; but did not long enjoy them. He died in 1797.

9. Admiral Horatio Nelson, afterward Sir Horatio Nelson, and latterly, Lord Viscount Nelson, and Duke of Bronte in the kingdom of Naples. He was the 4th Son of the Rev. Edward Nelson, rector of Burnham Thorpe, where he was born September 29, 1758. He is said to have been maternally related to the Walpoles and the Townshends, two of the first families in his native county. He was sent early to sea, under the care of a relation, who was a captain in the navy, where he soon distinguished himself, and became in time one of the greatest naval commanders that this or any other country ever produced. His most renowned achievements were those at Aboukir, Copenhagen, and Trafalgar; the latter of which he did not survive, being killed by a musket ball, near the close of the engagement, which terminated in one of the most complete and decisive victories ever recorded in the annals of naval warfare. He arrived at high pre-eminence, through deeds of blood, and a vast destruction of his species, which can have no place among the christian virtues. But his biography and character are too well known to need being here further enlarged upon. [189]

10. William Bewley was for many years a most distinguished character among the inhabitants of this part of Norfolk. He was not a native of this country, but came hither, it is thought, from the north of England, about 1749, and settled at Great Massingham, as a surgeon and apothecary, where he continued for the remainder of his days, greatly respected as a professional man, but more especially so as a philosopher, in which character he was thought inferior to few, if any, of his cotemporaries. With some of the most enlightened of them he was held in high and deserved estimation. Dr. Burney and Dr. Priestley were of that number; the latter of whom he very materially assisted in his experimental pursuits, and was the first who discovered and suggested to him the acidity of mephitic or fixed air. Intimate as these two philosophers appear to have been, they were in some respects, it seems, of very different sentiments. Priestley was an admirer of Hartley, and a decided materialist, while Bewley, on the other hand, was a disciple of Berkeley, and a firm believer of the ideal system. Between these two systems there is evidently a very striking contrast; yet that occasioned no breach in their friendship, or any coolness or abatement in their esteem for each other. Among theologians, and minor philosophers, much slighter differences might have occasioned (as they generally do) endless jarrings, and an irreconcileable antipathy; but Priestley and Bewley were men of another, and a very different cast, and knew how to entertain the purest friendship for each other, while they held, on some important points, very dissimilar, and even opposite opinions. Their friendship commenced about the time that Priestley published his History of Electricity. Bewley’s critique upon that work, in the Monthly Review, was the means, as the Dr. says, of opening a correspondence between them, which was the source of much satisfaction to him, as long as Mr. Bewley lived. The Dr. used instantly to communicate to him an account of every new experiment that he made, and in return was favoured with his remarks upon them. All that Bewley published of his own (except those articles which he furnished for the Monthly Review) were papers inserted in the Dr’s. volumes on Air, all of which, says the doctor, are ingenious and valuable. Always publishing in that manner, he used to call himself Dr. Priestley’s Satellite. There was a vein of pleasant wit and humour (as the Dr. informs us) in all his correspondence, which added greatly to the value of it. His Letters to the Dr. would have made several volumes, and the Dr’s to him, still more. He was in his latter years a valetudinarian of a very sickly appearance. When he found himself dangerously ill, and his dissolution fast approaching, he made a point of paying the Dr. a visit before he died. He accordingly made a journey from Massingham to Birmingham, for that purpose, accompanied by Mrs. Bewley: and after spending about a week there, he went to pay another last or parting visit to his friend Dr. Burney, and there, at his house in St. Martin’s Street, London, he died, on the 5th. of Sept. 1783. He was for many years one of the writers of the Monthly Review, and the articles he furnished for that respectable publication were thought not inferior to the productions of the very ablest of his associates. How many articles he furnished for that work is not known, except, perhaps, to the Editor. The review of Priestley’s History of Electricity, (as was before observed,) of Whitehurst’s Inquiry into the original State and formation of the Earth, and of Sir John Hawkins’ History of Music, are understood to have been drawn up by Mr. Bewley. The last mentioned article is said to have been much admired at the time by the late celebrated Dr. Samuel Johnson. Mr. Bewley was sometimes denominated The Philosopher of Massingham, and with as much propriety, it was supposed, as Hobbes was styled The Philosopher of Malmsbury. The branches of knowledge in which he was said chiefly to excel were those of Anatomy, Electricity, and Chemistry. He had naturally a fine ear, and was particularly fond of music; and was not only an excellent judge of composition, but also a good performer on the violin. He cultivated the art and science of music as a relief from severer pursuits, and applied to it in the hours of relaxation, with that ardour which characterized all his undertakings. A love for every liberal science and an insatiable curiosity after whatever was connected with them, were his predominant passions. So strongly and lastingly did they operate, that he desired some books might be brought to him on the very evening before he died, when the excruciating pains of his disorder had a little abated; and though unable to read himself, he listened to what was read, and drank in knowledge with his wonted eagerness, and,

—“with his latest breath Thus shewed his ruling passion strong in death.”

He was a remarkably warm friend, and an excellent husband: and withal of so benevolent and peculiar a turn of mind, that he would not willingly hurt a worm; nor would he, it seems, cut a living twig from a shrub or tree, because he did not know, (as he would say) but the operation might occasion pain. Many will probably affect to smile at this, under an idea of their own fancied superiority, whose characters, nevertheless, would bear no comparison with that of William Bewley, not to say as scholars, and philosophers, but even as men, and members of society. In short, he appears to have been a very good, as well as a very wise and great man. [192]