The Strife of the Roses and Days of the Tudors in the West Part 1

The Strife of the Roses and Days of the Tudors in the West.

by William Henry Hamilton Rogers.

PREFACE

The subjects described in the following pages, have been chosen from among the almost unlimited number that present themselves to notice, during the stirring periods in which they are included, as they appeared to lend interest and variety of incident, ill.u.s.trative of the days wherein they occurred. The concluding paper--not originally written for this series--extends into the era of the early Stuart, and has claimed admission from the comparatively unique features of its history.

W. H. H. R.

"THE MIDDLE AGES HAD THEIR WARS AND AGONIES, BUT ALSO INTENSE DELIGHTS. THEIR GOLD WAS DASHED WITH BLOOD; BUT OURS IS SPRINKLED WITH DUST. THEIR LIFE WAS INWOVE WITH WHITE AND PURPLE, OURS IS ONE SEAMLESS STUFF OF BROWN."

_John Ruskin._

"OUR STEWARD OF HOUSEHOLD."

At somewhat more than halfway distance between Weymouth on the skirt of the Atlantic, and the good old city of Bristow by the Severn sea, on the thin iron line that crosses the wide end of the western peninsula between those places,--and which in the early days of railway enterprise was cleverly, but of course futilely, stretched as a boom, designed to 'block' all further extension westward,--and just inside the county of Wilts, lies the quiet little town of Westbury.

The station itself is somewhat "larger and more commodious" than common. A two-fold reason accounts for this, one, that of its being the junction of another line that departs hence for Salisbury, and secondly the nature of the industry that meets the eye from the platform, and is in its way unique in these parts. This is the appearance of three towering iron furnaces, with attendant rows of c.o.ke ovens, placed on an eminence just outside the station yard; busily smelting the iron-stone that is quarried from a large excavation on the opposite side of the line, and which pa.s.ses under the railway proper in mimic trains, pulled by a tiny locomotive up to the great glowing bastions, there to be speedily devoured and purified into 'pigs' of the best quality.

A very English sight indeed you will say. Yes, certainly if we were in some of the northern localities of this mineral-saturated island of ours, but strange in its isolated appearance among the bucolic characteristics of the southern portion of it, and moreover here, at least, a development in its way peculiarly modern. The antient 'staple' of the district is the very primeval one of the manufacture of woolen cloth, which has existed for centuries, is still considerably followed, and enjoys all its olden reputation as being 'West of England,' a pa.s.s-word for excellence and purity of fabric, untainted by the admixture of 'shoddy,' characteristic of north-country production. Westbury in company with her sister towns is largely interested in the industry.

Our wandering to-day is not in quest of manufactured products iron or woolen, but of a nature that lends a clue to our thoughts which takes us back to the far past strife of the Red and White Roses, and era of Bosworth, and of the heart-burning that inspired the distich,

"The Rat, the Cat, and Lovell our Dog, Rule all England under the Hog,"

for the writing of which and presumed sympathy with the Red Rose, be it remembered, a Wilts.h.i.+re knight, Sir William Collingbourn of Lydiard by name, was by the vindictive Richard "caused to be abbreviated shorter by the head, and to be divided into four quarters,"--and to search for traces of one of the princ.i.p.al actors, who played a conspicuous part in the turmoil, for he was probably born, or had his original habitation close by. Yonder is the town of Westbury with its factory chimneys and ma.s.sive church tower in their midst,--below us the busy railway-station, and immense iron-stone quarry,--in front the great furnaces. Nothing very suggestive in all this as to our expedition to find the old home of Willoughby in these parts; he of the famed circle of the Garter, and first Baron by a name taken from the little rill of Brooke or Broke, that, outlasting his name and fame, still flows past the house that he occupied while in the flesh.

Yet it cannot be very far off.

These are our thoughts as we look from the parapet of the bridge that carries the highway over the railroad below, our steps lead us northward, and although our local geography ends here, our usual luck for further guidance is at hand. An old stone-breaker by the wayside stays his hammer as we pa.s.s, to give us the morning's salutation, and to our respond we add the interrogatory as to our path to an old house or place called Brooke or Broke, somewhere near. "Brooke-_Hall_ you mean" said he, with special emphasis on the affix, "I know it well, follow on for nearly a mile until the road leads into the brook; then turn into the gate on your right, go through two meadows and you will see Brooke Hall before you. It is an old antient place, and I have heard was a grand one once, but it is only a farm-house now."

With due thanks to, and musing on the inextinguishable influence of tradition, thus continued and wove into the life of our humble but intelligent informant, we saunter along, until the rippling sound of water attracts us on our left. Mounting the low ledge that bounds our path on its other side, at our feet in the enclosure below (locally termed the Bisse) the Brooke or Broke sparkles along gaily as ever, and apparently as undiminished as when four centuries a-past, the knight, whose memories we are in search of, forded its flow. A little farther beyond, and the lane we have been traversing descends abruptly into its bed, which forms a continuance of the thoroughfare for a short distance. Our path diverges through the gate on the right, and into the green fields.

Here, at once, although much ameliorated to the wants of the modern farmer, the undulating nature of the ground, the richness of the turf, and scattered stately trees still lingering about to attest its olden beauty and importance, we recognize unerringly the well known characteristics of an antient park, but apparently not of large size.

Traces of a winding road lead on from the lane gate, and stretch away over a swarded knoll, on the right; with pleasurable steps we reach the summit of the acclivity, and descry at about another field's s.p.a.ce ahead, the still existing remains of the Brooke Hall of our trusty informant.

"A grand place once"--we ruminate, recalling the words of the old stone-breaker, as we halt under the shadow of a tall, ma.s.sive gable, b.u.t.tressed at the angles like a church, and with the original hip-knop a trefoil on a stalk, still very perfect, and bravely weathering the suns.h.i.+ne and breeze at its apex. From this gable stretches back a building ninety feet long with high-pitched roof, and forms one side of the farm-court. Its further end is joined to a cross-structure of smaller size, now used as the farm dwelling-house.

Cautiously we push open the large doors of the cow-court and look inside. This, from no dread of meeting, and having our intruding footsteps ordered off by the antient knight who once possessed it, but rather from the undesirableness of making too sudden acquaintances.h.i.+p with the vigilant curly-tailed custodian of its precincts eyeing us from within, and who may not, until properly a.s.sured to the contrary, be quite satisfied with the object of our investigation; but a kindly word of advice to him, and of welcome to us, from his master close by, speedily puts everything at ease, and with full permission for inspection.

Before however we proceed to investigate the old place, we mentally join company with the famous old itinerant Leland, who came here on a similar errand, and recall the burthen of his description, when it was in pristine condition, and still in possession of the Willoughbys.

"There was of very aunciente tyme an olde maner place wher _Brooke Hall_ is now, and parte of it yet appearithe, but the buyldynge that is there is of the erectynge of the Lorde Stewarde unto Kynge Henry the vii. The wyndowes be full of rudders.

Peradventure it was his badge or token of the Amiraltye. There is a fayre Parke, but no great large thynge. In it be a great nombar of very fair and fyne greyned okes apt to sele howses.

"The broke that renithe by _Brooke_ is properly caulyd _Bisse_, and risethe at a place namyd _Bismouth_, a two myles above _Brooke_ village, an hamlet longynge to _Westbyry_ paroche. Thens it c.u.mmithe onto _Brooke_ village, and so a myle lower onto _Brooke Haule_, levinge it hard on the right ripe, and about a two miles lower it goith to _Trougbridge_, and then into _Avon_."

We enter the court yard, and the main portion remaining, which was probably erected by the Lord Steward, occupies the whole of the left side. It is a strong substantial building. The front toward the yard has three doorways having good late-pointed arches, and five two-light windows of small dimensions. Between the doorways are b.u.t.tresses. At first sight, the building seems as if intended for a large hall, especially from the fine high-pitched roof, and its completeness inside, having all the old timbers remaining. But it appears to have been divided off, and formed into apartments, a considerable portion of the old wood part.i.tion-work still remains. It is now used as a stable, barn, and for other farm purposes. The upper end of this long building is joined to a cross portion, apparently the better part of the fabric, but not of large dimensions. This has been modernized to the requirements of a farm-house, and almost all its antient features obliterated. The walls are of great thickness, nearly six feet, and at the end are some later transomed Elizabethan windows, bricked up, and in a small outhouse below is "T.--1684;" a still later time-mark.

As far as could be observed, what at present remains, appears to be only a small portion of the original structure, but in which direction it extended is not certain. Aubrey, the Wilts.h.i.+re antiquary, writing in 1650, and who visited Broke about that time, describes it as "a very great and stately old howse" with "a Hall which is great and open, with very olde windowes." There was a "canopie chamber," a dining room, parlour and chapel, and the windows were filled with coats shewing the armorial descent of Willoughby, which he minutely describes; and further, the windows "are most of them _semee_ with _Rudder of a s.h.i.+p, or_;"--and again he observes "the _Rudder_ everywhere." We had greatly hoped to have enriched our sketch book with a similitude of one of those rudders, but alas, the most diligent search and enquiry was vain. Not a fragment of the old glazing remained, and neither arms, badge, nor device, was to be found anywhere on the building, sculptured or limned. A small enclosed garden (now used as a rick-plot), skirted with poplars, on the opposite side of the court, was the only other noticeable feature connected with the old place.

Thus much for Broke Hall, said we--retracing our steps over the gra.s.sy undulations--the antient residence successively of Paveley, Cheney, and Willoughby, all names of knightly renown; aforetime, as well as now, probably no more apt description could be given of the still st.u.r.dy old fabric, than the itinerant's terse note on this little park that surrounds it, it was and is "no great large thing," albeit the "grand one once" of the tradition-burthened mind of our friend the stone-breaker, and this true enough in its way perhaps also, when compared with the hovels of the peasantry that then had their stations near it.

The family of Paveley, the antient owners of Broke, held it as early as the reign of Henry I. Reginald de Paveley was Lord of Westbury, succeeded by Walter, and again by Walter Lord of Westbury, in 1255. To him Reginald, who deceased 1279, and Walter, Sheriff of Wilts 1297, died 1323, and succeeding him Reginald de Paveley, who died 1347; he married Alice, widow of John, the second Lord St. John of Lageham, died 1322. To him John de Paveley, who married Agnes, with issue two daughters, Joan married to Sir Ralph Cheney, and Alice wedded to Sir John St. Loe, died 1366. The Paveleys also held considerable possessions in Dorsets.h.i.+re, and bore for their arms, _Azure, a cross fleurie or_.

Cheney, Cheyney, or Cheyne,--originally _De Caineto_--(or query, from the French _du chene_, 'of the oak') was also an old and largely ramifying family, that first came over with the Conqueror, and were subsequently scattered throughout midland and southern England, from Kent to Cornwall, their name still surviving as an affix to their olden possessions in several localities.

A branch appears to have been early settled, and afterward held considerable station in Devon. "In king Henry III. tyme" says Pole, "Sir Nicholas Cheyney was lord of Upotery," where he was succeeded by his son Sir William, of whom the Antiquary continues "at what tyme the Dean and Chapter of Roane, with consent of the Kinge, and Archbishop of Roane, granted the same unto ye said Sir William Cheyney, which they had formerly held of the grant of William the Conqueror."

Sir William Cheney married Felicia, and had issue Sir Nicholas, who married Elinor, was Sheriff of Devon, 15 Edward II., 1322, and died 3 Edward III., 1330.

To Sir Nicholas succeeded William his son, who married Joan daughter of William Lamborn. He had two sons, Edmond, who died without issue, and Ralph.

Sir Ralph Cheney married Joan, daughter and coheiress of Sir John Paveley of Broke, and died 2 Henry IV., 1401.

Sir William Cheney, his son and successor, married Cicely, daughter of Sir John Stretch of Pinhoe, Devon, and widow of Thomas Bonville. She died 14 October, 1430. To him and his lady, Bishop Stafford of Exeter on 27 Jan., 1400-1, granted license for them to have divine service performed in their Chapel, "_infra manerium suum de Pinho_." He was Sheriff of Devon 1408. Secondly he married Joan daughter of John Frome of Woodlands, Dorset, and widow of Sir William Filliol who died 3 Henry V., 1418. Sir William Cheney died 12 Henry VI., 1434, leaving two sons Edmond and John.

Sir John Cheney was of Pinhoe. He married Elizabeth daughter of John Hill of Spaxton, was Sheriff of Devon 12 and 22 Henry VI., 1434-44, and was succeeded by his son John, four times Sheriff, who married Margaret daughter of Nicholas Kirkham of Blagdon, and died leaving four daughters his coheiresses.

Sir Edmond Cheney, of Broke, knt., born 4 Dec., 1401, married Alice daughter of Sir Humphrey Stafford, knt. "_with the Silver Hand_," of Suthwyke, Wilts, and Hooke, Dorset, who died 27 May, 1442, and was buried in the Chapel of St. Anne in the Abbey Church of Abbotsbury, which he founded;--by his wife Elizabeth who died in 1420, daughter of Sir John Mautravers of Hooke, knt. Sir Edmond, who died 30 May, 1430, left two daughters,--Elizabeth, born Nov., 1424, married Sir John Coles.h.i.+ll, knt., of Duloe, Cornwall, and died about 1492,[1]--and Anne, born, 26 July, 1428, who married Sir John Willoughby, knt., who was killed at Tewkesbury 3 May, 1471. Secondly his wife Alice married Walter Tailboys, of Newton-Kyme, Yorks.h.i.+re, by whom she had a daughter Alianore married to Thomas Strangeways of Melbury, Dorset, ancestor to the Earls of Ilchester. She died in 1469.

[1] The manor of Tremoderet or Tremedart in Duloe, Cornwall, by Emmeline or Emma, daughter and heiress of Hiwis, brought it to her first husband Sir Robert Tresillian, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, who was executed at Tyburn in 1388. In 1391 she married as her second husband Sir John Coles.h.i.+ll, who procured a grant of this and other manors forfeited by the Chief Justice's attainder. Sir John Coles.h.i.+ll, their son, then about twenty-three years of age, was slain at the battle of Agincourt, leaving an infant son who died without issue in 1483, being then Sir John Coles.h.i.+ll, Knt. His only sister Joanna, was thrice married, first to Sir Renfrey Arundell, a younger son of the Lanberne family, secondly to Sir John Nanfan, thirdly to Sir William Haughton. The manor pa.s.sed from Arundell to St. Aubin, and thence to Sir John Anstis, Garter King at Arms, who died in 1743 and is buried in the church, after him to his son who held it, and was also buried there 1754. "Under an arch in Duloe Church," says Lysons, "richly ornamented with vine tracery, is an altar tomb, enriched with s.h.i.+elds in quatrefoils, having at the west a bas-relief of the Crucifixion; on this tomb lies the effigies of a knight, carved in stone, in plate armour with collar of S.S. Round the verge of a large slab of Purbeck marble, on which it rests is the following inscription,

=Hic jacet Joh'es Colshull miles quo'd'm d'n's de Tremethert et patron' huj's eccl'e qui obiit xviii die m'es m'cii an'o D'ni Mill' cccclx.x.xiii cuj' a'ie prop'ciet' Deu' a'="

Thus at the death of these brothers, the name of Cheney in the Devons.h.i.+re branch became extinct.

A long genealogical digression this, but only the necessary putting together a portion of the skeleton of our little history, which we hope to clothe eventually with something of living interest. Our path has led us back again to the elevated platform of the railway bridge, and also at a mile's distance before us, the old town of Westbury, in which, says Leland, "there is a large churche, and the towne stondith moste by clothiers" appears dimly among the trees,--and its characteristics of to-day still accurately confirm the itinerant's description of three centuries ago. There, rises the lofty church tower much as he witnessed it, but the tall chimney shafts that bear it company have absorbed all the hand-looms that then made busy, by the weaving of kersey and serge, the cottage precincts when he paced its streets.

Through the long, and comparatively quiet main thoroughfare of the little borough, and our thoughts are busy, though our steps are stayed, as we halt to admire the large and handsome west window of the church, perpendicular in style, but with considerable originality of treatment in design; and rising behind it, the ma.s.sive proportions of the tower.

Here we hope to find some memorials of Paveley, Cheney or Willoughby, for our historic memory recalls to us, that within the fabric there is a Chantry which was formerly attached to Broke Hall, and that its windows were said to be filled with _rudders_ as at their old seat.

Our foot crosses the porch threshold, and with intuitive direction leads us at once to the east end of the south aisle, where some apparently well-preserved old oak screen-work, part.i.tion off what we rightly divine was the Broke Chantry. But as we draw near a vision of ominous newness, windows flaming with colour, and garish decoration of costly kind spread over every part, puts to the rout at once all hope of anything antient being found within it; and we learn that the Chantry has been recently elaborately 'restored' as a memorial chapel to the present owners of Broke, whose family have held its possession for about a century.

We scan the enclosure minutely, but not a vestige of sculpture or inscription, nor stray _rudder_ in the windows, was visible to identify its olden founders, and whether any such had ever existed within it, could not be ascertained. Foiled in our examination of the Chantry, we proceed to look carefully over the whole of the s.p.a.cious interior of the edifice, but the search is vain.

There is yet one chance left, friend of mine, peradventure some stray s.h.i.+eld or badge memorizing these antient families may be found outside. Slowly we perambulate the exterior of the structure, and were just preparing to leave the churchyard precincts altogether vanquished, when on the right dripstone termination of the label of the doorway-arch of the little porch at the base of the west window, there on a small s.h.i.+eld very much denuded and weather-worn, we trace the _four fusils in fess_ of Cheney, with the ghosts of _the escallops_ faintly visible in their centres. On the s.h.i.+eld to the left is the indistinct outline of _a bird_ of some kind.

In his notice of Westbury church, Aubrey remarks:--

"In an aisle, north of the chancel where nothing remains of the old gla.s.s, tradition is that two maydes of Brook built it (probably Alice and Joan coheiresses of Sir John Paveley (1361) of Brook,--the one married Sir John St. Loe, the other Sir John Cheney). In a chappelle south of the chancell, are left in one windowe some _Rudders of s.h.i.+ps_ or the cognizance of the Lord Willoughby of Brook. In an aisle north of the tower, called Leversidge aisle, were these two escutcheons now gone, viz.--Cheney impaling Paveley, Cheney as before impaling _a lion ramp_: quartering _a cross flory_, not coloured."