ANCIENT MANSION IN SOUTH PETHERTON, SOMERSETSHIRE. (With a Plate.) THE handsome village of South Petherton, lying nearly midway between Ilchester and Ilminster, is rich in architectural antiquities. The Church, of a cruciform shape and distinguished by a lofty octagonal tower in the centre, is noble in all its proportions, and elegant rather than elaborate in the various details of its design. The prevailing style of architecture is that of the 15th century, and it appears engrafted upon the walls, or raised upon the foundations, of a structure of far older origin. Besides the Church, there are several ancient mansions which claim the attention of the antiquary. Of these, the most interesting, the most neglected, and the most obscurely situated, has been selected as a fit subject to accompany the present number. It has for many years past been the residence of several poor families. Its owner has bestowed no care upon it; and its inmates have wanted the means, if they possessed the inclination, of keeping the wind and the weather from penetrating through the roof and the windows. Thus slighted and misused, it is no wonder that this curious and once elegant building has been reduced to a condition which renders its entire demolition, if not necessary, very probable. It is deserted and shut up, its inmates having been driven from their abode by the dangerous condition of the walls, on which the steep gable roof imposes a fearful weight. This venerable mansion is not large, and perhaps its original dimensions were not considerably greater. The design of the south front, before which there is a spacious court, is singularly irregular. The hall in the centre is distinguished by its windows on the sides of a broad and lofty chimney, and a doorway of handsome design. At the upper or west end of the hall are rooms in two stories, moderate in size, and perfectly plain. The rooms at the lower end are of a nobler character; towards the south, they are distinguished by a superb bay-window, which occupies the width of the transGENT. MAG. VOL. V. verse building, and is carried to the height of two stories. It has an embattled parapet, and buttresses on the angles, once terminated with pinnacles. The windows are rich in tracery, and their beauty is enhanced by the manner in which they are connected, so as to give light to the double story, without losing the unity of their design. The tracery of the middle space in these windows is occupied by a double row of shields, but they appear never to have borne any heraldic devices. There is another shield on the exterior of the chimney belonging to the hall, but this also is without sculpture. We observed nothing in the interior to merit description. The owner was so sparing of decoration, that the modern occupants have found nothing to destroy. I have only to add that this interesting relic of domestic architecture was probably built by Sir Giles d'Aubeney, in the reign of King Henry the Sixth. It is in a low and watery situation, and has been encompassed and defended by a strong wall, the greater part of which has been thrown down, and the space converted into an orchard. J. C. B. The manor of South Petherton was in the possession of the family of Albini (afterwards written Daubeny), in the reign of Edward the First, if not before. Sir Giles Daubeny, the supposed builder of this mansion, was Sheriff of the counties of Bedford and Bucks, in 10 Hen. VI.; and by his will, bearing date March 3, 1444, he bequeathed his body to be buried in the chapel of our Lady within the church of St. Peter and Paul at South Petherton, before the altar there. His son William, says Collinson, seems to have been altogether resident at this place, where most of his deeds are dated, and for which he obtained a charter for a fair in 25 Hen. VI. His son Giles was a nobleman high in favour with King Henry the Seventh, to whom he was Lord Chamberlain and Lieutenant of Calais. He was created a Baron of the realm by 3 R patent in 1486 (two of his male ancestors had been summoned to Parliament in the reign of Edward the First, but the writ was not continued); and was also a Knight of the Garter. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, in 1507, where his monument and effigy still remain. By his will two chantry priests were settled at his tomb, and one in the church of South Petherton. With his son Henry, who was created Earl of Bridgwater, and who sold South Petherton to Lord Arundell of Wardour, the family became extinct. 1 AM much pleased with the representation in your March number of the old Abbatial Gate-House at Westminster, which is an object of historic interest as well as antiquarian curiosity. Your correspondent J.G. N. says truly, "that no representation has hitherto been published;" and the result of very extensive inquiries, during a period of many years, justifies me in saying that the sketch by Ravenhill, whence your view is accurately copied, is the only authentic drawing to be met with; and highly was it prized by the late respected and intelligent antiquary Mr. Sinedley-against whose late residence the only remaining arch is to be seen, and in whose interesting collection of local drawings it was for some years preserved. The accuracy of your view is shown by J. G. N.; but the following curious description, penned some years since from the lips of a very old inhabitant of the neighbourhood, to whom the building was familiar, and who had never seen a representation of it, will be a satisfactory confirmation. "The Gate-House was a handsome structure for those days, and ran fro north to south and east to west. In it were confined felons and debtors. They were kept separate; the former being confined in that part running east and west, and the latter in that facing Tothill-street. For the relief of these poor debtors, a box was held out by a pole forty feet long, or let down by a chain. The felons were brought to this prison through Bowstreet or Thieving-lane,† and Unionstreet, and were hence conducted to the Quarter Sessions, held under Westminster-Hall. This was the only receptacle for prisoners from the Court of Conscience. Gin and other spirits were allowed to be brought into this prison as freely as at public-houses, and the keeper or under-keeper used to go to the window and vociferate to the publican at the corner of the street, Jackass! Jackass!' who would then come and receive orders." * Engraved in Dart's Westminster Abbey. The public-house herein mentioned, I find from the list of taverns in London, &c. visited in 1636 by Taylor the Water Poet, was known by the sign of The Angel. Between the two gates there was, within the memory of my late intelligent and amusing friend, Mr. White, of Storey's Gate, a little hovel used as a hatter's shop; and another venerable chronicler and oral historian indicated to me that the house of Mrs. Wilford, the widow of the respected stone-mason, stands on the site of the Governor's house. Stow says, that the eastern part of the North gate was used as the Bishop of London's prison for "clarks convict." It was certainly an ecclesiastical prison even after the Reformation; but what right the Court of the Bishop of London had to commit within its walls is not clear, since The same venerable inhabitant informed me of the tradition that the Sanctuary being holy, the monks would not allow thieves to be brought into it, and therefore the officers of justice brought them through these streets, and by the back of the Sanctuary, whence the line became known as Thieving or Thief-taking Lane ❞— This is however incorrect. The Sanctuary was not avoided on account of a refusal of the monks to permit unholy persons to be brought through it, but to prevent the possibility of the culprits escaping from justice, into the hallowed liberties of the sanctuary. The word Thieving, is the old English plural Thieven for Thieves :"Thieving Lane," or "Thieves' Lane."-Highly finished views of this and the contiguous streets and buildings, which have been swept away to effect the improvements suggested by Lord Colchester during the last twenty-five years, were made by my late valued friend and industrious antiquary Mr. Capon; and are now in the possession of his daughter, Miss Capon of North-street. the Deanery of Westminster has always preserved an exempt ecclesias tical, as well as civil, jurisdiction. In the Lansdowne MSS. in the British Museum, No. 107, art. 116, is a petition to Queen Elizabeth from one William Kirkman, a minister, and prisoner in the Gate-House at Westminster, to which he had been committed on an accusation of forgery or fraud. The petitioner prays that he may have enlargement of his restraint, and be allowed to “lyue as a privat parson for euer hereafter in respect of his disgrace;" and that he may be "exempted for euer to haue any intercourse any mor in comon-wealth;" and he shows that her Majesty had been wronged by the persons who "brought his calamities upon him," who only sought their own private benefit under the pretence of doing her Majestie service;" and that he was not guilty of any forgery in the manner of passing the parsonage he had in marriage with his wife; neither had made thereof so much as unto her Highness was suggested. This petition is without date; but as the favours bestowed upon him by the late Sir Walter Mildmay are mentioned, it must have been subsequent to his death in 1589. From what court, civil or ecclesiastical, he was committed, I have no means of ascertaining. The next instance that I would bring under your notice is a commitment for an ecclesiastical offence, cognizable in an ecclesiastical court, and the offending party subject to the diocese of Winchester. The particulars are gathered from the original adulatory and supplicatory letter of the suspended and imprisoned minister to Lord Burghley, dated Jan. 20, 1596, and preserved in the Lansdowne MSS. No. 83, art. 34. He therein designates himself as "Edward Phillips, preacher of St. Mary Overies," Southwark, and sets forth the articles exhibited against him, and his answers thereto; and apologizes for transgressing the order, "for keeping Wednesday a fast, and transferring the observation of it unto Thursday;" the latter day being Twelfth-day. The other instance to which I will call your attention involves parties of historic interest. The daughter of Chief-Justice Coke married Sir John Villiers, the elder brother of the Duke of Buckingham, who was created Viscount Purbeck, and from whom she eloped in 1621 to live in adultery with Sir Robert Howard. For this offence (for which modern morals find atonement in a pecuniary award) Lady Purbeck was sentenced by the High Commission Court to do penance in a white sheet at the Savoy church; a degradation only escaped by the culprit's flight. A renewal of the intimacy in the following year flashed again the sword of justice, and the reckless Lady Purbeck with her paramour were taken into custody and committed to different prisons; she to the GateHouse, and Sir Robert to the Fleet.* Lady Purbeck escaped from her prison disguised in male apparel, and got over to France; and all that is further known of this devoted and unhallowed attachment is, that she was demanded by our Government; that she was again living with Sir Robert, and died whilst in garrison with him at Oxford in 1645. You have recorded two interesting facts connected with the commitments to this prison on charges of treason and offences against the State. The fate of that gallant, virtuous, and wise man, Sir Walter Rawleigh, "a pattern to all time," is noticed by J. G. N. in terms as just as severe; but other incidents might be mentioned in connection with the last hours of him who was described at the time of his sentence by the Attorney-general Yelverton "as a star at which the world had gazed." It was within the walls of this Gate-House that the last night of his existence, sad unto all but him, was spent; and I should have pleasure in transcribing for your readers that chapter on the last hours of Sir Walter Rawleigh" in the fifth volume of the 9th edition of D'Israeli's "Curiosities of Literature," if those delightful volumes were not accessible to all. Sir Robert suffered a tedious imprisonment; and the unbending prelate, intentions led to the infliction of heavier Archbishop Laud, whose sternly moral sentences on offenders whose rank placed them in the situation of exemplars, was visited by the Parliament with the infliction of a fine of 500l. for his severity. |