Gents Mag 1849 part 2 p.140
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Gentleman's Magazine 1849 part 2 p.140
for in Mr. Machel's time, who visited the hall about 1680, and was curious in such matters, the following arms, described by him, were then to be found as fenestral enrichments, some of which, Dr. Burn says, were remaining when he wrote the History of the County in 1777:- "1. Philipson. Gules, a chevron between three boar's heads couped, ermineé, tusked or; impaling, Azure, a chevron between ten cinquefoils 4,2,1,2,1, argent, charged with three mullets gules, by the name of Carus. "2. Philipson, impaling Laburne, Azure, six lioncels rampant argent. "3. Barry of ten, or and sable, a canton of the second, by the name of Briggs. "4. Philipson, impaling Wyvill; Gules, three chevronels braced vair, on a chief or, a mullet pierced of five points sable. "5. Carus, impaling Wyvill. "6. Philipson, single; and both of these, say the authorities I have named, are also in plaster work over the hall chimney very complete, and over Philipson's is this mottoo, FIDE NON FRAUDE."All these intelligent memorials of other days are now gone, save thoses of the Briggs' and of Philipson impaling Wyvill, which, as has been poetically observed in relation to similar adornments elsewhere, "yet remain to attest by their presence that the former owner had made the very light subservient to his state, and pressed the sun itself into his list of flatterers, bidding it, when it shone into his chamber, reflect the badges of his ancient family, and take new hues and colours from their pride." In the same window, underneath the emblazonry, is this inscription, likewise on painted glass: ROBART . PHILIPSON AND . JENNET . LAIBOR NE . HIS . WIFE . HE DIE D . IN . ANNO . 1539 . SHE . ZZ . DECE MBAR . 1579. The room over the kitchen has been nobly ornamented after the fashion of the day by cunning artists, and it still retains, in its dilapidated oak-work and richly adorned ceiling, choice, though rude, remnants of its ancient splendour. It has a dark polished oak floor, and is wainscoted on three sides with the same tough wood; which, white and bleached with age, is elaborately carved in small and regular intersecting panels, inlaid with scroll work and tracery, and surmounted by an embattled cornice. In this wainscot two or three doors indicate the entrances to other rooms, whose approaches are walled up, the rooms themselves having been long since destroyed. The ceiling is flat, and formed into compartments by heavy intersecting moulded ribs, the intermediate spaces being covered with cumbrous ornamental work of the most grotesque figures and designs imaginable, amidst which flowers and fruits and other products of the earth, moulded in stucco, yet exist to tell how many times the fruitage and the leaves outside have come and gone, have ripened and decayed, whilst they endure unchanged. So late as 1789, when Clarke wrote his Survey of the Lakes, there was remaining over the fireplace, in what was then called the dining-room, two devices remarkably well carved in oak. One exhibited Samson asleep upon Delilah's lap, while the Philistines were cutting off his hair; the other was a representation of Jeptha, after his rash vow, meeting his daughter. In the room then designated the parlour, there were also upon the ceiling several devices moulded in stucco, in which the figure of the wyverne, the crest of the ancient family of Wyvill, was frequently repeated. And even down to so recent a period as 1820 the walls of one of the rooms were covered with various paintings in fresco or distemper, of the Virgin and other saints. But of all these perishing evidences that were so characteristic of the era of its youth and freshness, the only things indeed associated with the period of its former state which were left to tell of its interior decorations, how scanty are now the remains; most of what was existing within the last half century is gone, and the few abiding fragments, being liable to continued damage from the weather and want of care, are likely soon to vanish also. The fretted roof looks dark and cold And tatter'd all around, The carved work of ages old Dropp'd wither'd on the ground. The casement's antique tracery Was eaten by the dew, And the night-breeze whistling mournfully Crept keen and coldly through. |
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