Levens Hall, Westmorland. 
 
" When we build, let us think that we build for ever. Let it not be for 
 present delight, nor for present use alone; let it be such work as our descendants 
 will thank us for, and let us think, as we lay stone on stone, thai a time is to 
 come when those stones will be lield sacred because our hands have touched them, 
 and that men will say as they look upon the labour and wrought substance of them, 
 ' See ! this our fathers did for us.' For, indeed, the greatest glory of a building 
 is not in its stones, nor in its gold. Its glory is in its Age, and in that deep sense 
 of voiccfulness, of stern watching, of mysterious sympathy, nay, even of approval 
 or condeninaiion, which we feel in walls that have been washed by the passing 
 waves of humanity. It is in their lasting witness against men, in their quiet 
 contrast with the transitional character of all things, in the strength which, through 
 the lapse of seasons and times, and the decline and birth of dynasties . . . . 
 maintains its sculptured shapeliness for a time insuperable. It is in that 
 golden stain of time, that we are to look for tlie real light, and colour, and 
 preciousness ; and it is not until a building has assumed this character, till it has 
 been entrusted with the fame, and hallowed by the deeds of men, till its walls 
 have been witnesses of suffering, and its pillars rise out of the shadows of death, 
 that its existence, more lasting as it is than that of the natural objects of the 
 world around it, can be gifted with even so much as these possess, of language 
 and of life.'' 
 
 RUSKIN. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2014 
 
 https://archive.org/details/historicaldescriOOcurw 
 
Ibistoincal H^eecinption 
 
 OF 
 
 Xcvene Dall. 
 
 Being a Paper prepared for 
 the visit of the Royal A rchceological Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 
 on the twenty -first day of July, MDCCCXCVIII. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN F. CURWEN, 
 
 FELLOW OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS. 
 
 MOSTLY ILLUSTRATED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN BY 
 
 Mr. J. H. HOGG. 
 
 •'LUCK TO LEVENS AS LONG AS THE KENT FLOWS." 
 
 KENDAL: 
 
 Printed and Published by T. Wilson, 28, Highgate. 
 mdcccxcviii. 
 
The Contents-- 
 
 Pa?e. 
 
 INTRODUCTION ..... i 
 
 THE POSSESSORS OF LEVENS— 
 
 First Epoch 1 189-1489 - - - - 2 
 
 Second Epoch 1489-1689 - - - - 4 
 
 Third Epoch 1689- 1898 - - - - 5 
 
 THE ERECTION— 
 
 First Epoch - - - - - 10 
 
 Second Epoch - - - - 13 
 
 Third Epoch - - - • -15 
 
 A DESCRIPTION OF SOME OF THE ROOMS - 17 
 
 THE GARDENS ------ 31 
 
 THE RADISH FEAST ... - - 36 
 
 THE PARK 
 
 39 
 
UPPER LEVENS HALL. 
 
 HE Manorial Hall of Levens, the seat of Captain Josceline Bagot, is a 
 
 fine old early English building, an ideal homestead, situated upon tlie 
 
 banks of the river Kent. This variable stream, as it flows in front of 
 the ancient Court Yard to the sandy estuary below, at one moment a purling 
 brooklet rippling and sparkling in the sunshine, can scarcely be recognised in 
 the next, as in quickly gathering flood, it 
 
 Above the ivy-clad bridge, which few traverse without a sensation of pleasure, 
 is an extensive deer park, surrounding an avenue of venerable oaks, nearly a 
 mile in length. 
 
 The origin of the name " Levens" is indeed difficult to determine, as many 
 are the theories put forward respecting it, and curiously enough, each having 
 diametrically the opposite cause. Some would have us believe that it is derived 
 from the Anglo-Saxon word " lefe," or " leve," signifying a leaf, with the common 
 plural termination of "en," and was applied to this district on account of the 
 abundance of foliage growing upon it. The name has been indifferently spelled 
 " Lefuen," " Leuen," and " Leven," and as in tlie Domes-day Book, we find it 
 spelled " Lefuenes," being a reduplication of the plural number, so now at the 
 present day, it has the postfix " s." Others tell us that the word " leven " is 
 still retained in Scotland, where it denotes an open space or clearing, and 
 having the same origin as the word "level," may have been applied to this 
 tract, either by reason of the wood once upon it having been levelled — as field 
 denotes an open space, from which the wood has been felled — or on account of 
 the general level character of the ground surrounding the sands. Whilst others 
 see in the name a corruption of the Norman-French, signifying the Manor 
 of Le-fens, 
 
 " Hastens along, conflicting and strong. 
 Now striking and raging, as if a war waging. 
 Its caverns and rocks among." 
 
2 
 
 THE POSSESSORS OF LEVENS. 
 
 FIRST EPOCH.— 1188-1489. 
 
 BEFORE the time of the Conquest, this district formed part of the 
 possessions belonging to Tosti, the great Earl of Northumberland, from 
 whom it passed to Roger of Poictou, probably by forfeiture, for William 
 was a despotic Prince, and rewarded his followers with the spoils of the native 
 Britons. In the next century, about 1168, it became the property of Ketel, 
 third Baron of Kendal, who seems to have occasionally lived at Low Levens, 
 probably on the site of what has now become through successive re-buildings, 
 known as Low Levens Hall. In the year 1188, Ketel sold off one moiety of his 
 domain, now designated Upper or Over Levens, to Henry, son of Norman de 
 Redeman,* retaining however, the other half, now known as Nether or Under 
 Levens, which subsequently passed, with the original Manor House standing 
 upon it, into the hands of a family who bore the name of " de Levins," and 
 after them to the Prestons, who sold it to the Wilsons of Dalham Tower, 
 about 1694. 
 
 From this time forward the two estates have remained separate, each 
 having its own manorial residence; the former, with which we have now more 
 concern, developing in historic importance, whilst the latter has become a farm- 
 house. 
 
 It is to the family of Redmayne, Redmaine, Redeman, or Redmain, 
 variously written, that we must ascribe the honour of commencing to build 
 this beautiful pile ; a family of immense wealth and importance in their day. 
 After the purchase of Levens by Henry, we find him appointed in 1212, 
 Seneschal of Kendal and a witness to Robert de Vetripont's grant to Shap 
 Abbey. His son, Benedict de Redeman, found himself in the year 1216 im- 
 prisoned in Rochester Castle as an hostage to King John, for the future good 
 behaviour of \Villiam de Lancastre, who had joined the rebellious barons. 
 Sometime during the reign of Henry III, (1216-1272), Matthew de Redeman 
 was Seneschal of Kendal, and attested the grant of Skelsmergh by William 
 de Lancastre the third to Robert de Leyburne, and doubtless it was his son 
 Matthew, who in 1295 we find M.P. for Lancaster, and a witness in 1297 to a 
 grant of land at Old Hutton and Holmescales, by John de Culwen (Curwen) 
 to his brother Patric. In 1312, Simon Redeman, and two years later, Matthew, 
 were both Members of Parliament for Westmorland, whilst we find in 1325, 
 a certain John de Redeman made Keeper of the King's Stud in Raleigh Park. 
 
 For what service to the king or state the family received the baronetcy, I 
 have not discovered, but the hrst record found of it is in 1357, when Sir 
 
 * " Henriciis filius Normanni de Redeman debet unam marcam ; ut finis, factus inter eum et Ketellum 
 filium Ucthredi de terra de 1. evens, recordetur in curia regis, de doininatione illius terrse, quam Ketellus 
 concessit Henrico et hoeredibus suis. Cujus medietatern Henricus tenebit in dominico suo ; et Ketellus 
 tenebit aliam medietatern de Henrico, per idem servicium quod Henricus inde facit capital! domino." 
 (Dugdale MS.) 
 
i 
 
 Matthew de Redeman was Knight of the Shire for Westmorland. He died in 
 1360, and was succeeded by his son Sir Matthew who married Joan de Coupland. 
 In 1376, the jurors on the inquisition postmortem of Joan de Coupland, found 
 that Matthew de Redeman held of her, on the day she died, the manors of 
 Upper Levens and Lupton, by homage and the service of £1 6s. 8d. yearly, 
 as of her manor of Kirkby in Kendal. This " Maheu de Redmane " served in 
 France and Spain under John O'Gaunt, in the years 1373, 1375, and 1380, and 
 we find him a prisoner in 1376, unable to ransom himself, so that the Commons 
 had to petition for him. He was elected in 1381 Warden of Roxburghe, in 
 1389 a Commissioner to treat with the Scottish envoys, and died in 1390. He 
 was then succeeded by his son, Sir Richard Redeman of Levens, who married 
 Elizabeth, widow of Sir Brian Stapleton, and daughter and co-heiress of Sir 
 William de Aldborough of Harewood. By this marriage the Redemans acquired 
 a moiety of the Lordship of Harewood, and other great possessions of the 
 Aldborough family. 
 
 We first hear of this Sir Richard in 1393, when he was granted leave to hold 
 a tournament at Carlisle, and then on the 17th of March, 1399, we find him 
 receiving letters of protection for a journey to Ireland with the third Lord 
 Cobham, and in May, treating for peace with the Scots. In 1405, he was com- 
 missioned to exact fines from those concerned in the Percy rising, and three 
 years later, to receive submissions and levy fines on the rebels who had been 
 defeated at Bramham Moor. In 1409 he was negotiating with, and raising 
 forces against the Scotch, and in 1415 mobilising forces for the French War. 
 Yet during all this martial life, Sir Richard seems to have been equally diligent 
 in his Parliamentary duties, successfully climbing up to the Speaker's chair 
 in less than ten years. Entering the House in 1405 as a representative from 
 Yorkshire, he was returned again and again in the years 1414, 1415, 1420, and 
 1421, being elected * Speaker of the short Parliament which met from the 4th to 
 the 12th of November, 1415. This Parliament was called together in the absence 
 of Henry V. by the Regent, John, Duke of Bedford " in order to provide a good 
 aid for the furtherance of the King's enterprise in France, and for the recovery 
 of his rights in that kingdom." At last he died, in 1426, and eight years later 
 his wife was buried with him in Harewood Church, both being predeceased by 
 their son Matthew (1419), the grandfather of Dr. Richard Redeman, who was 
 born in the Chapelry of Levens, educated at Cambridge and became Abbot of 
 Shap, Bishop of S. Asaph in 1468, of Exeter in 1496, and of Ely in 1501. 
 
 The estates thus passed to another Sir Richard Redeman, who married 
 Margaret, daughter of Middleton, of Middleton Hall, and who represented West- 
 morland in 1442. He had a son William, M.P. for Westmorland in 1477, but 
 who died in 1483 without issue. Edward, his brother, married Elizabeth, 
 daughter of William Hudleston of Millom Castle, widow of Sir Thomas Leigh 
 of Isell, Cambridgeshire. In 1482, it was found by inquisition, that this Edward 
 de Redeman held the Manor of Levens of William Parre, as of the Barony of 
 Kendal. He was the last of the Redemans of Levens. Of his two sons who 
 
 * This pedigree is based upon that set forth in the " National Biography " and " Jewell's Topography 
 of Harewood," but Manning in his " Lives of the Speakers," describes the Sir Richard who married 
 IVIargaret Middleton as Speaker. 
 
4 
 
 lived elsewhere, we may just mention that Henry the elder married Alice 
 daughter of Roger Pilkington, and had issue Johanna who married Marmaduke, 
 fourth son of Sir Wm. Gascoyne. Richard, the younger, married for his first 
 wife EHzabeth daughter of Sir Wm. Gascoyne, and had issue Matthew wlio 
 married Bridget Gascoyne, thus connecting the two famihes for the third time. 
 
 The arms which can be seen in the Speaker's house at Westminster 
 were: — Gules, a chevron argent between 3 cushions ermine, tasselled, or. 
 Crest: a dexter hand couped at the wrist, gules. Motto: sans sang nul 
 victoire. 
 
 The Aldborough arms were: — Gules, a lion rampant, argent, charged with a 
 fleur-de-lis, azure. Crest : out of a ducal coronet gules, a horse's head couped, 
 ermine. 
 
 SECOND EPOCH.— 1489-1689. 
 
 FOR three hundred years the Redemans held unbroken possession, until the 
 year 1489, when the property was sold to Alan, eighth son of Sir 
 Robert Bellingham, of Burneside. This Alan, who married Elizabeth, 
 daughter of William Gilpin of Kentmere, was Treasurer of Berwick and Deputy 
 Warden of the Marches. He further acquired numerous other estates in 
 Westmorland, to wit : — Helsington, Gathorne, Fawcett Forest, and other estates 
 in Lancashire and Northumberland, receiving in 1546 from Henry VHI, the 
 Lumley fee, which constituted a fourth part of the Barony of Kendal. He 
 appears to have been celebrated, not only for his social, but also for his martial 
 disposition, and was aptly described in the following lines : — 
 
 " Amicus Amico Alanus, 
 Beliiger Belligero Bellinghamus." 
 
 He was succeeded by his son Thomas, who owned the estates in 1549, and next 
 by his grandson Alan, a Bachelor of the Inner Temple, one of the King's 
 Council at York, and M.P. for Westmorland, in 1571. He married for his first 
 wife Catherine, daughter of Anthony Duckett, and for his second Dorothy, 
 daughter of Thom.as Sandford, and died, as appears from his monument in the 
 Parish Church, in May 1577. He was succeeded by his second son James, 
 who married Agnes, second daughter of Sir Henry Curwen, and was knighted 
 by James I at Durham, in 1603. 
 
 With Thorvias Strickland, Sir James, in the year 1593, gave answer to 
 Lord Scrope, Warden of the Western Marches, upon several points about which 
 he asked their advice, viz. : — amongst others, " What courses were most meet 
 to be taken for good order among the surname of the Grames," who appear to 
 have rendered themselves very obnoxious by their lawless proceedings. These 
 gentlemen advised that they ought to be held obedient to his lordship, or be 
 summarily dealt with in default. It transpired, however, that notwithstanding 
 promises to the contrary, the Grames still continued to give trouble, for in 1603, 
 
5 
 
 a proclamation was Issued by James I, decreeing the transplantation of these 
 Grames elsewhere, to the intent that their lands might be inhabited by others 
 of good and lionest conversation. This was followed in 1614, by another 
 proclamation for apprehending those who had returned from transportation. 
 I mention this because it is somewhat curious to find one of the clan, in later 
 years, holding the office of Privy Purse to the second James, and actually in 
 possession of the same estates owned by the Sir James Bellingham, who had 
 taken part some eighty years before in the family's disgrace. 
 
 Sir James died in 1641, and was succeeded by his second son, Sir Henry, 
 who was Knight of the Shire for Westmorland in every Parliament summoned 
 during the reign of King Charles I. Sir Henry, had seven daughters by his 
 wife Dorothy, daughter of Sir Francis Boynton, but having no male heir to 
 succeed him, his brother Alan Bellingham, Esq., by paying ;^30oo to Sir 
 Henry's daughters, entered as heir in tail. This Alan was M.P. for Westmor- 
 land in 1661, and died in 1672. He was succeeded by his son James, who 
 died in 1680, and next by his grandson Alan, who was M.P. from 1681 to 1685, 
 and died in i6go. As so often happens, however, these fine estates, gathered 
 together during long years with so much thrift and zeal, were for the sake of 
 pleasure, dissipated away by this " ingenious but unhappy young man." Tradi- 
 tion alone is our authority for saying that he gambled his property bit by bit, 
 whilst playing repeated games of chance, with his friend Colonel Grahme, the 
 wily courtier of Charles H and James H. 
 
 The arms of Bellingham were : — Argent, 3 bugles Sable garnished and 
 furnished Or ; and for Crest, a buck's head couped Or. 
 
 THIRD EPOCH.— 1689-1898. 
 
 L EVENS thus passed in 1689, by game or purchase, to Colonel James 
 Grahme, a younger brother of Sir Richard Grahme, of Netherby. He 
 IS described as being a man of strong character, considerable ability 
 and imbued with a good deal of caution. The latter would be a somewhat 
 useful possession, seeing that he was Privy Purse to James H, and one of his 
 most trusted servants. In those troublous times it required a certain amount of 
 adroitness to enable a man to keep his head upon his shoulders. 
 
 It seems that Grahme in his younger days, always desired to have a 
 Border Pele of his own, perhaps to recall to his fancies the customs and 
 exploits of his ancestors; but when at last he became possessed of this stronghold, 
 instead of engaging in guerilla warfare, he took infinite pains to make Levens 
 a well-ordered estate, and a centre of hospitable re-union. The old feuds, the 
 moss troopers, the burnings and cattle drivings had gone out of fashion, and 
 his desire seems to have been to perpetuate a race at Levens, as pacific as the 
 Netherby clan had been the reverse. 
 
 Born in 1649, educated at Westminster and at Christchurch, Oxford, he 
 soon entered the army, in the service of the French, where he obtained several 
 
6 
 
 Commissions. Amongst the papers preserved is a passport, signed and sealed 
 by Marshall Turenne to Mr. Grahame, dated from the camp at Detvveiler, 
 November 3rd, 1674, allowing him as Captain in the unfortunate Duke of 
 Monmouth's regiment of Infantry, to return on his own affairs to England. 
 This referred doubtless to his marriage at the age of 26, in the early part of the 
 following year, to Dorothy, one of the maids of honour to Queen Catherine of 
 Braganza, and daughter of the Honourable William Howard, fourth son of 
 Thomas, ist Earl of Berkshire. After settling down into married life, we find 
 him representing the City of Carlisle, 
 
 as Member of Parliament in 1685, ^ 
 Appleby in 1702, and Westmorland I yr^-^y^ 
 
 during the Parhaments of 1708, 1710, j/^^/^ O^-'^ 
 
 1713, 1714, and 1722. 
 
 But the life of Colonel James was one of more than usual trouble. He 
 had entered the world when the body of Charles I was hardly cold in its grave, 
 and he did not leave it until George H was on the throne. Daring the whole 
 of this time the air was rent by religious strife, and every man's hand was raised 
 against his neighbour for worshipping God in a different manner to himself. 
 A thorough Jacobite at heart, he suffered heavily amid the troubles of a 
 successful Revolution in i688-8g, but survived to be a witness of the other 
 less successful attempt in 1715. During the intervening quarter of a century 
 he submitted to a state of things which his shrewdness saw to be inevitable. 
 When his Parliamentary duties permitted, he sensibly lived quietly at Levens, 
 avoiding public notoriety, but doubtless all the time associated with every new 
 conspiracy, and breathing an atmosphere of intrigue, of discontent, of difficulty 
 and distress, amid his ruined fortunes. Warrants were frequently out against 
 him for high treason. In 1696, when a plot to murder King William III 
 was discovered, many Jacobites were arrested on suspicion and imprisoned 
 in the Fleet. Among these was Grahme, but with the Luck of Levens 
 he was soon released, as nothing could be proved against him. Less fortunate 
 in this respect were his two brothers. Fergus was banished from England 
 and Lord Preston, with many other of his associates, sentenced to death. 
 
 Captain Bagot has written such a good account of Colonel Grahme and 
 his close connection with the King, whom he accompanied in his flight to 
 Rochester, that it will be unnecessary here to follow further into his history. 
 
 Among some of the most interesting of the Levens papers is one endorsed 
 by Colonel Grahme, " King's Reasons from Rochester," and which is the 
 original draft in the handwriting of James II, givmg his reasons just before 
 starting, for withdrawing from the country. As soon as His Majesty had 
 crossed the Channel, he again writes in a disguised hand to Grahme the 
 following letter, which is thus docketted : — " Mr. Banks' ist letter after his 
 going to Oxford." In the Jacobite correspondence at Levens, " Mr. Banks," the 
 name of the Levens' steward, as it was then and curiously is now, often stands 
 for the King ; " Oxford," being the name for France. 
 
 Boulogne, January 4th, 1689. " I arrived safe here this day, and have but little to 
 say to you at present but that I am going on to Paris, from whence you shall heare from 
 me when I arrive there. In the meanetyme go to my corrispondent that payd you some 
 mony upon my account, and put him in mind of putting the rest of the mony I bad him 
 
7 
 
 put into your hands, that you may returne that, and what you had of myne in your hands, 
 to me as soon as you can, I having present occasion for it, and pray remember me to 
 your friend with whom I was to have been if I had stayed. Lett me know a little 
 newse." 
 
 It is not known with certainty what family Colonel Grahme had. We 
 only have mention of three sons and two daughters, to all of whom, with the 
 exception of his favourite daughter Catherine, a melancholy history is attached. 
 His eldest son Henry was elected one of the Knights of the Shire for Westmor- 
 land, to the Parliament which met in 1700, and only retired in order that his 
 father might succeed him. There is little to be recorded of the remainder of a 
 life which was speedily brought to a close, save the circumstance of his 
 unfortunate marriage. It seems that a celebrated actress, Moll Davis, had 
 attracted the notice of Charles II, and had by him a daughter, called Mary 
 Tudor, who was described by Pepys in his Diary (March 1667), as being an 
 infinitely superior dancer to Nell Gwynne. As she grew into womanhood, the 
 King seems to have discarded Moll Davis as " a slut," and fallen in love with 
 the daughter. Mary Tudor, being a notoriously bad woman, was married first 
 at the age of fourteen to the second Earl of Derwentwater, and had by him three 
 sons, two of whom perished on the scaffold. Within a year of the Earl's death, 
 in April 1705, Henry Grahme married the widowed Countess, being dismissed 
 in consequence from an office which he held about the person of Prince George 
 of Denmark. On his death, his wife was married again within the year to a son 
 of General Rooke. The second and third sons. Captain William and Richard 
 also sank into early graves, leaving Colonel Grahme without a male heir. 
 
 Thus did the old Jacobite live, with troubles surrounding him in his public 
 life and with sorrow in his home, until at last at the age of eighty years, 
 he died in 1730. 
 
 The arms of Grahme were : — i and 4 quarterly, Or, on a chief Sable 3 
 Escallops of the field ; being the paternal coat of Monteith. 2 and 3 Or, a 
 Fess Chequy, Azure and Argent, and in a chief a Chevron, Gules. 
 
 The estates then passed to his eldest daughter, Catherine, who married on the 
 5th of March 1708, / 
 
 inheritance of that noble family. 
 
 On the 2ist of March, 1757, Henry, fifth Earl of Berkshire, and grandson 
 of the above, became heir to the estates upon the death of his father Viscount 
 Andover. Also on the failure of the male issue of Thomas, Earl of Suffolk, he 
 succeeded to this title, as 12th Earl of Suffolk, but dying in 1779, without 
 issue, he bequeathed the whole of his Westmorland estates to his mother. Lady 
 Andover, and after her death, to his sister Frances. This heiress married on 
 the 20th of March 1783, Richard Bagot, fifth son of Sir Walter Wagstaffe 
 
 her first cousin Henry 
 Bowes Howard, 4th 
 Earl of Berkshire, 
 and Deputy Earl 
 Marshall of England. 
 By this marriage 
 Levens became the 
 
 1705) 
 
8 
 
 Bagot, who assumed by sign manual, the surname of Howard, and in after 
 years became Recorder of Kendal. 
 
 His daughter, the Hon, Mary Howard, also heiress of Levens, was born on the 
 9th ol May, 1785, and married on the 7th of July, 1807, Colonel, the Honourable 
 Fulke Greville Upton, second son of Clotworthy, first Baron Templetown, who 
 also assumed the name of Howard. They came to live here immediately after 
 their marriage, although they did not inherit the property till the death of tlie 
 Hon. Frances Howard, in 1818. Here their united influence at once became 
 manifest, for whilst the Colonel was busy in putting in order the beautiful house 
 and gardens, Mrs. Howard's benevolence found scope in the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood. The peat cutters of Beethwaite and Brigsteer she found living in a 
 disorderly and semi-lawless condition. The uneducated, barefooted and half- 
 clothed children she encouraged and tempted to attend school ; and the 
 neglected, uncleanly and comfortless cottages grew less disgraceful under her 
 repeated visits. Broken or stuffed-up windows were repaired, and the pigs 
 ejected from the dwellings. Greatly encouraged, she built the present schools 
 and master's house, the Church at Beethwaite Green in 1826, endowing it 
 with an income of ^200 per annum, and the Parsonage. 
 
 But her sympathies stretched beyond to all who were in trouble. She felt 
 for the orphan girls whose only home was the workhouse, and dreading its 
 demoralizing influences she was prompted to erect the Howard Orphan Home, 
 near Kendal. To her liberality in building and endowing many other churches, 
 schools and charitable institutions, Westmorland owes much, and by her friend- 
 ship and simple goodness many have been blessed. Loving and beloved, full of 
 years but fuller still of godliness and good works, she gently passed away at 
 Ashtead Park, where she had spent her closing years, on October 19th, 1877. 
 Her husband. Colonel Howard, died without issue, on the 4th of March, 1846, 
 aged 73. 
 
 The estates then passed to the Hon. Arthur Upton, General in the Cold- 
 stream Guards, nephew of the above, being third son of the first Viscount 
 Templetown, and brother of the third Viscount, who succeeded to the title on 
 the death of his eldest brother, the second Viscount, in 1863. His mother was 
 Lady Mary Montagu, only daughter of John, fifth Earl of Sandwich, and he 
 married in September 1866, the Hon. Elizabeth Frederica Blake, the eldest 
 daughter of Joseph, third Baron Wallscourt, and died without living issue 
 in 1883, at the age of 77. The present worthy owner, Josceline Fitzroy Bagot, 
 Captain in the Grenadier Guards, eldest son of Colonel Charles Bagot, and 
 the late Mrs. Bagot (who was a daughter of Vice- Admiral, the Hon. Josceline, 
 Percy, C.B.), and grandson of the late Right Honourable Sir Charles Bagot, 
 and great great nephew of Richard and Frances Howard, next succeeded by 
 entail. 
 
 The Bagots of Blithfield, Staffordshire, are a family of great antiquity, 
 giving their name to a township as long ago as the nth century, and having 
 possessed Blithfield in unbroken tenure for more than 530 years. Captain 
 Bagot, who married in June 1885, Theodosia, third daughter of Sir John Leslie, 
 was aide-de-camp to the Marquis of Lorne from 1882-3, and to Lord Stanley in 
 1889, while they were acting as Governors General of Canada, He was elected 
 M.P. for Westmorland, m 1892, 
 
$ 
 
 Thus for seven hundred years, this Hall has been in the hands of three 
 families only : — the Redemans, for a period of three hundred years exactly, the 
 Bellinghams for two hundred years exactly, and the Grahmes with their successors 
 for another two hundred years ; three epochs, each ot which has left its distinct 
 traces upon the building. The Redemans built. Sir James Bellingham made the 
 great restoration between the years 1586 and 1617, and Colonel Grahme and 
 Colonel Howard the later alterations and additions about the years 1700 and 
 1800. 
 
 And what of the future ? For unto Levens was born on February 20th, 1896, 
 a male heir, Alan Desmond Bagot, the first direct heir for upwards of two 
 hundred years. To him I desire to dedicate these pages, and may God grant 
 that his life be as full and as honourable as the lives of the noble ancestors from 
 whom he descends — a life blessed of men, a worthy steward of this historic 
 house. 
 
Id 
 
 THE ERECTION. 
 
 FIRST EPOCH. 
 
 " I built my soul a lordly pleasure house 
 Wherein at ease for aye to dwell." — Tennyson. 
 
 AT what period the Redemans first built upon their estate cannot be ascer- 
 tained for certain. We can only gather from clues, such as the enclosing 
 of the Park by license in 1360, and from the general character of 
 the residences of these early lords, that it could not have been much later than 
 the beginning of the 14th century. Moreover, I am certainly inclined to agree 
 with the late Canon Weston's theory, that the first building was in the form of a 
 border Pele Tower. 
 
 In former times, when these counties were overrun so frequently by the 
 northern tribes, it became necessary to erect places for defence and safety. A 
 few great lords built strong castles on commanding situations, such as Penrith, 
 Kendal and Lancaster Castles. But these fortresses alone were not sufficient 
 to repel the continual incursions, so that it became necessary to construct 
 a number of smaller castles, or halls, as they were called by way of distinction, 
 for the protection of the labouring part of the community. These were owned 
 by yeomen, friends and followers of the barons, who contracted to furnish their 
 lords with troops on every emergency, whilst the baron, in like manner, was 
 bound to defend their persons and property. The whole district in which Levens 
 is situated was studded with edifices of this description, as can still be seen at 
 Arnside, Hazleslack, Berwick, the ancient Dallam Tower, Sizergh, Burneside, 
 and Kentmere ; each of which has been constructed for purposes of security and 
 defence, with their massive towers as a distinguishing feature. " The vast and 
 solid mansions of our ancient nobility were like their characters — greatness with- 
 out elegance ; strength without refinement ; but lofty, firm and commanding." 
 
 Regarding the position of the Pele, Canon Weston inclined to the belief that 
 it stood at the north-east corner of the present buildings, and was built up of 
 plain rubble, without plinth, set off, or string course, over the existing barrel- 
 vaulted cellars and their low benchings of stone work, now filled with an array 
 of prodigious casks. If this were so, it must have measured externally 46 feet 
 by 25 feet, with the end walls 3 feet, and the flank walls 4^ feet thick. By way 
 of comparison, we may mention that the Pele of Sizergh measures 60 by 40 feet, 
 with its walls 7 feet thick ; Arnside, 48 by 32 feet ; Burneside, 45 by 30 feet ; 
 Kentmere, 32 by 23 feet ; and Hazleslack, 30 by 24 feet. 
 
 From the plan it will be seen that there are two projecting bays, leading out 
 from the cellars at the north-east and south-east corners, the former of which has 
 a blocked-up doorway, which may have been built for protection, as an outer 
 entrance to the Pele, whilst the latter has probably been the basement to a 
 garderobe tower. The three doorways marked C, D, and E, are Carnarvon 
 arched, which clearly indicate 13th or 14th century construction. 
 
12 
 
 As time advanced and property became more secure, additions and modifi- 
 cations were made to these comfortless abodes, and the Redemans would build 
 on to the west side of this Pele, the "Aula" or Great Hall, which had 
 probably a lofty, and massive oaken timber roof. There is still to be seen in the 
 present attics spanning across the same area, only higher up, two open-framed 
 and cut trusses, which may have been used for this ancient roof, and are now 
 doing service in the more modern structure above. This Hall measures inter- 
 nally 40 feet by 22 feet, being the same length and just 2 feet wider than the 
 Great Hall at Sizergh. The old connecting doorway with the Pele is still to be 
 seen, though now blocked up its recess is shewn at B, which would be closed, 
 first by a massive oak door, and then for further protection by a second door 
 of crossed iron bars, framed together. Just within would be the raised dais, with 
 its flanking window bay, and the long table, at the higher side of which the lord 
 with his family, and any distinguished guests took their meals, whilst on the 
 floor below those of an inferior rank were seated at tables ranging along each 
 side of the room. At the opposite or western end, the oaken screens, 9I feet 
 high, extended across the full width, dividing off the heck or passage, from 
 which opened out the kitchen, buttery and other ofifices and from over which 
 the musicians in the minstrel's gallery, would on all occasions of more than 
 ordinary importance, enliven the feast with their melody. This hall was also 
 used for the transaction of business between the lord and his vassals, for here he 
 would hold his royalty court, receiving their suit and service, and administer 
 justice according to the powers granted to him by the Crown. At night time, 
 the retainers would huddle together on the thickly strewn rushes in the middle 
 of the floor, around the fire and its convolving wreaths of smoke ascending to 
 the open lantern in the roof. For, it must be remembered that although we 
 have record of chimneys being destroyed by an earthquake at Venice in 1347, 
 and twenty years later of Francesco da Carraro introducing them to Rome as a 
 novelty, they were not introduced into England, except to a few castles such as 
 Kennilworth, Conway, and Bolton (1398), until the middle of the 15th century, 
 about the time when the Redemans would be transferring Levens to Alan 
 Bellingham. Leyland, in his Itinerary, writes, " One thynge I muche notyd in 
 the hawle of Bolton was how chimeneys were conveyed by tunnells made on the 
 syds of the walls and by this means and by no covers is the smoke of the harthe 
 wonder strangely conveyed." 
 
 The old stone pointed arched doorway, with a chamfer in cavetto, leading 
 to what used to be kitchens, still stands (A on plan), piercing a wall 4 feet 6 inches 
 thick, and we are told that traces of outbuildings have been discovered in the 
 garden at this end of the house, with indications of having been destroyed by fire. 
 
 But now all is greatly changed. The spiral stair, leading to the lord's 
 withdrawing room and solar, is gone. The Pele itself, bereft of its battle- 
 ments, is over-laid and disguised, and the ancient " Aula," with its kitchens, 
 after having endured possibly a century and a half, have given place to the 
 great re-modelling of the Second Epoch. 
 
 " Time 
 
 Has moulded into beauty many a tower, 
 Which, when it frown'd with all its battlements, 
 Was only terrible," 
 
13 
 
 SECOND EPOCH. 
 
 IT was Sir James Bellingham who commenced, and in a great measure, carried 
 out the extensive alterations, marking a distinctive feature in the growth of 
 Domestic Architecture, which transformed the Border Pele into a stately 
 Elizabethan mansion. Surely we may say with Emerson, 
 
 " He builded better than he knew ; 
 The conscious stone to beauty grew." 
 
 These alterations can easily be traced, owing to the good practice of carving on 
 some conspicious place the name and initials of the owner, together with the 
 date of the completion of the work. 
 
 His first undertaking seems to have been the pulling down of the south wall 
 of the ancient Pele, together with its spiral stair, in order to lengthen what is 
 now the drawing-room. With this work he entirely re-constructed the "Aula." 
 Raising the floor nearly to the level of the first one of the Pele, so as to give 
 ample room for servants' offices beneath, he built the present magnificent 
 banqueting hall, and above the enriched plaster ceiling, he raised a suite of 
 bedrooms. During this i6th century, wainscotting the walls in oak superseded, 
 to a very great extent, the tapestry which used to be so skilfully worked by 
 nimble fingers, and which, with the aid of the woven fabrics from Flanders and 
 France, had attained its climax as a mural decoration, during the 15th century. 
 So here we find the tapestry, with which the old hall had been hung, removed 
 for the adornment of other rooms, and replaced by an oak panelled dado, some 
 9^ feet in height, the interval between it and the ceiling being made up with 
 plaster decoration and emblazoned coats of arms. To this work he added the 
 beautiful staircase whose steps are made out of solid blocks of oak, but which 
 are now, we might almost say unfortunately, cased in. 
 
 After resting perhaps awhile Sir James seems next to have turned his 
 attention to the entrance, erecting that graceful flight of stone steps and the 
 square plinthless but embattled tower. The spiral stair, recessed in the thick- 
 ness of the wall, at first mounts with comparatively modern steps round its newel 
 to the right, and subsequently changing over continues the ascent round to the 
 left. This upper flight is so worn and old in appearance, that one is almost led 
 to believe that it may be a portion of the original Pele stair, reset into this new 
 position. In like manner, the rough, uneven flooring boards, left unplaned from 
 the adze, bear witness to the supposition that the tower stands to-day but little 
 altered since the date of its first erection. 
 
 In consequence of increasing refinement and the altered habits of living, 
 arising out of the decline of the feudal system, we find the lord and his family 
 wishing to dine apart from the retainers, necessitating a separate chamber for 
 that purpose, and likewise, a desire on the labourers' part to receive wages and 
 live with their own families. Hence the erection of the dining-room in 1586, 
 as is seen from the date on the mantel piece, built probably on the foundations 
 of the ancient kitchens. 
 
 Behind are the spacious kitchens, built about the same period at a right 
 angle to the great hall. No baronial hall could be complete without this impor- 
 
14 
 
 tant adjunct to hospitality, so accordingly we find it of large dimensions, with an 
 enormous fireplace. There is also still existing the long range of stoves for 
 charcoal cooking, and the dresser, glittering with the pewter dishes and plates 
 that were used at Grahme's table. 
 
 The windows, throughout, with the exception of a few modern ones, are 
 insertions made at this time. The comparatively peaceful state of the country 
 rendered it unnecessary to study so much their security and strength, as 
 formerly, hence we find from the 15th to the middle of the 17th century, they 
 attain to greater dimensions horizontally, whilst during the last two centuries, 
 the tendency has been for the enlargement to take a vertical direction, to 
 accommodate the innovation of the sash window. Likewise, glass being cheaper, 
 there was no longer the need for the windows either to remain unglazed, or to 
 have the small wooden frames of glass, which used to be carried about and 
 inserted in the windows of the house, to which the lord removed from time to 
 time. Stained glass also became more common at this period, and was intro- 
 duced as a means of adding beauty to the more important rooms. 
 
 Engraved upon the mullions throughout the house are various interesting 
 Mason's Marks, some of which are here illustrated. The hour glass form is one 
 
 of the best known of the Freemasonic signs, it is found on the stones of \/ 
 Carthage, and examples from all quarters occur from the iith to the i6th /\ 
 centuries. In like manner the pentacle, or Seal of Solomon, a five 
 pointed star formed by a continuous line, is a widely spread sign, and is found on 
 a Saxon fibula of the 7th century. 
 
 As at Burneside, Gathorne and Helsington, so also here we find that 
 the Bellingham family considered a domestic chapel a necessary part of their 
 residences, and that during the alterations they erected a room adjoining the 
 new dining room, which doubtless was used for this purpose until the time of 
 the Third Epoch. 
 
i5 
 
 THIRD EPOCH. 
 
 HE chief alteration made by Colonel James Grahme, was the conversion 
 
 of the above mentioned chapel into a library, and the space beneath 
 
 into a servants' hall. This took place about the year 1692, as is seen 
 from the initials I.D.G., 1692, 1700, upon the leaden spout heads, and 1704 on 
 the rainwater cistern, outside these walls. Added to this, he erected what is 
 now the main staircase, to give more commodious access to the bedrooms over 
 the dining room and hall, which had previously only been reached by the spiral 
 stair in the Bellingham Tower. Beneath this new staircase. Colonel Grahme 
 railed off the present enclosure to take the place of the dismantled chapel, and 
 here prayer is still daily said when the family reside at Levens. 
 
 During December, 1703, a rather alarming fire took place in the Bellingham 
 kitchens, which is well described in a letter from the steward, Timothy Banks to 
 the Colonel, dated December 23rd. 
 
 "Your honour will receive by this post several! letters about the sad and sudden 
 accident wch fell out at Levens on Tuesday morning last. I must say that it was the 
 greatest mercy that my lady and the young ladies (Catherine and Mary) were not burnt 
 in their beds — both the kitchings, the larder, my lady's closets, her chamber and the room 
 where the linen was laid out, were burnt downe and the halfe of Mrs. Sarah's chamber 
 was broken down to save the fire from going further into the staircase. There were two 
 great beams that lay over the furthest kitching that were burnt to pieces, when you see 
 it you will wonder the house was not on fire before, ffor in the roome where Mrs. Sarah 
 lay that chimney was built upon wood, and now it discovers that the piece of timber that 
 lay under the hearth was burnt quite through before now I told your Honour that all the 
 linen that was in the closet was burnt, but what was in the wash and foul was saved. 
 
 As for the Plate, all the Casters for Sugar, Mustard and Pepper were melted, and the 
 great Silver Bason and the two Gilded Cups, and all your Honour's Spoones and Forkes 
 but three were half melted. All the knives were entire, and Godfrey has 'em to boyle and 
 cleane. The service is all melted or spoyld ; but we think we have saved all the Bullion. 
 The high Kettle Pans for making Pyes in, and the Sauce Pans cannot be used again, but 
 the mettle is saved. They dress the meat now in the Brewhouse great chimney. After 
 the fire was put out, we watched the house all night, and next morning we were careful 
 to be present, when the rubbish was cleaned out of the Skullery, to see for the melted 
 Plate, Pewther and other things, and I am very sure there was nothing throvvne out among 
 the ashes. We sav'd the Bookes and Papers in your Honour's Closet and 1 believe that 
 none will be wanting. The accident was sad and molancholy, but certainly a great mercie 
 that any in the house was saved. The fire was extinguished with the greatest industry 
 and care that could be in the Country, and the damage only the two Kitchings and Larder 
 betwixt, and the rooms over 'em burnt to the ground. When you see I am confident you 
 will be pleased that there was no greater destruction. I bless God my Lady and younge 
 Ladies are in good health and hearty ; onely my Lady hurte her ancle in the fire, but I 
 thank God she is pretty well of it againe." 
 
 Colonel Grahme must therefore have restored these kitchens, above which, 
 at some later period, a suite of bedrooms were erected, together with buildings 
 at right angles to these, called the " White End," affording further accommoda- 
 tion, with a variety of offices beneath. The clock, which in its turret surmounts 
 this roof, bears date 1773, and the lead spout heads at the back bear date M.A. 
 1787-1788. 
 
i6 
 
 It would seem that when Colonel the Hon. Fulke GreviUe Howard came 
 to Levens in 1807, he found the old buildings and gardens in a very dilapidated 
 condition, and it was to his excellent judgment, admirable taste and true feeling 
 of interest in the work, that he was enabled to bring back the gardens and "old 
 brown rooms," into what might have been their condition when seen at their 
 best. 
 
 The fine Howard Tower, at the intersection of these two new wings was 
 erected by him, for the especial use of the Hon. Mary Howard. From the 
 windows of her little boudoir, but better still from the leads above, a splendid 
 view is obtained of Morecambe Bay, Whitbarrow Scar and beyond the distant 
 summits of the Langdale Pikes. Whilst in the foreground we obtain the best 
 view of the wondrous gardens, to which Levens owes at least half of its 
 celebrity. This boudoir is wainscotted with oak, purchased from Lord George 
 Cavendish's woods at Cartmel. So careful was Colonel Howard of his own 
 timber, that he would not injure them by felling a few trees, even for the repair 
 of his own mansion. Over the fireplace is a piece of carved work, representing 
 hunters to the left and reapers to the right, with a man in the centre, holding 
 out a horn to the one, and a sickle to the other. Above are two other old 
 panels, one representing our Saviour speaking to his twelve disciples, and the 
 other representing the two disciples, Peter and John, running to their Master's 
 tomb (a square wooden looking coffin and lid), and finding it empty. 
 
 The billiard room, which is now hung with tapestry, was converted into such 
 by the present owner. At the further end of the room is hung a splendidly em- 
 broidered crimson mameluke saddle, with its rich furnishings and huge gilt iron 
 stirrups, which was once used by Elphi Bey. There are also two fine oil 
 paintings one of Katherine Grahme, and the other of Mary Viscountess Andover, 
 by John Glover, R.A. 
 
17 
 
 ENTRANCE HALL. 
 
 HAVING now completed the history of this remarkable building, it will be 
 interesting to say a little more regarding the decoration of, and the 
 many relics contained in, some of the principal rooms. 
 What immediately strikes the notice of the visitor, as he crosses the court- 
 yard and ascends the flight of time-worn steps, is the beauty of the Entrance 
 Hall in its entirety. The massive door, with its iron horse-shoe, opens wide and 
 direct into the noble Hall, at once giving a feeling of hospitality and an old 
 English welcome, ever freshly and abundantly linked with cultured kindliness. 
 
 " Through this wide opening gate, 
 
 None come too early, none return too late." 
 
 On every hand there is a richness of decoration and of artistic repose. Around 
 the walls may be seen glaives, matchlocks, pistols with the Bellingham initials 
 engraved upon them and bearing date i68g, together with spears, spurs, and 
 other arms manifesting the bruises of war and the rust of time. Breastplates of 
 about the time of Charles I, doubtless those which were used by the armed 
 retainers in the days when the owner of Levens was Deputy Warden of the 
 Marches. There are also, a curious old firelock with all the machinery of its 
 clumsy lock on the outside, old powder horns, helmets, pikes, parts of mail 
 armour, and a particularly curious pair of bits, all of which are very well worth 
 the attention of the antiquary. 
 
Occupying a central position is the head of a Wapiti deer, unique ior 
 its great size, presented to Capt. Bagot by an American Indian, and beside 
 it there is a dog collar of Colonel Grahme's, engraved with a crown and 
 the initials C.R., and which has evidently been used for that fashionable breed, 
 known as King Charles' spaniels ; whilst on a carved oak cabinet beneath are to 
 be seen some old-fashioned brass taper holders. On the floor by the old clock, 
 as seen in our illustration, are piled up several hollow grenades, which filled with 
 powder and a fuse were thrown by the hands of the grenadiers. These interest- 
 ing relics of a bygone warfare, which have led to the name of " Grenadier 
 Guards " being given to one of our crack regiments, were carried by Prince 
 Charlie's army, when they passed through Kendal in 1745. They were found 
 in a pond at Forrest Hall and brought here. Above the cheery fireplace ever 
 filled with massive logs, are three beautifully carved oak Scripture pieces, 
 representing the Annunciation, the Wise Men's Offering, and the Adoration of 
 the Shepherds. 
 
 But perhaps the most noticeable feature of the Hall, is the enriched plaster 
 frieze of emblazoned coats of arms, which shew the different alliances of the 
 Bellingham family. Commencing at the Window Bay, they are as follows : — 
 
 1. Bellingham and Burnishead quartered. 
 
 2. Bellingham quartered with those of Burnishead on the dexter half, 
 
 impaling the Gilpin arms — a wild boar leaning against a tree — on 
 the sinister half, shewing the marriage of the Alan who purchased 
 Levens. 
 
 3. Bellingham and Burnishead on the dexter, impaling the arms of Sand- 
 
 ford with its three quarterings for English, Crackenthorpe, and Lan- 
 castre on the sinister. 
 
 4. Bellingham and Burnishead on the dexter half, impaling those of Curwen 
 
 on the sinister. 
 
 In the next three shields the Bellingham and Burnishead arms are curiously 
 placed on the sinister half with the arms of the three successive Bellingham 
 owners on the dexter. On the south wall, the first three shields bear the 
 Bellingham and Burnishead arms still on the sinister side, while the dexter 
 half is unoccupied, evidently intended for the emblazoning of future alliances, 
 whilst the fourth and fifth are occupied by the arms of Bellingham quartered 
 with Burnishead. All these shields are ornamented with scroll work and with 
 two most uncouth faces to each, raised in the plaster, looking very much 
 like the compressible indiarubber faces, which delight the children of to-day. 
 Over the fireplace in the place of honour, are the Royal Arms of Elizabeth, 
 with the garter bearing the motto " Honi soit qui mal y pense," the crest and 
 supporters surmounted by the letters E.R., and below " Dieu et mon droit." 
 The frieze, which continues around the west and north walls is filled in with 
 grotesque devices and figures of men and beasts. The one next to the front 
 door certainly gives the impress'on of a well-fed page boy, saluting the incoming 
 master. Among the minor devices on the ceiling and walls are the Tudor 
 Badge, the rose surmounted by a crown, the white and red roses of York and 
 Lancaster united, and the bugle horn and the buck of the Bellinghams. 
 
 The original stone fireplace, as we have said, is now to be seen in the 
 Servants' Hall, the present one being along with the front door, insertions made 
 
hy Colonel |ames Grahme. The oak screen at the west end, similar in detail to 
 one at Burneside Hall, bears the initials I.A.B. and the date of 1617. 
 
 A portion of the north side, recessed back and raised some two or three 
 steps, is a most delightful and cosy retreat, lighted by a large mullioned window 
 fitted with lead glazing of delicate and beautiful design, and where 
 
 "The beams that through tlie Oriel shine 
 Make prisms in every carven glass," 
 
 One can hardly desire a more idyllic place for letting the imagination run 
 free over the quickly filling page of fiction, or for the reader's fancy revelling in 
 some engrossing plot unravelling itself towards its close. 
 
 The two shields of old stained glass, inserted in the upper lights, bear the 
 quartered arms of Bellingham and Burnishead impaling (i) the arms of Curwen 
 and (2) the quartered arms of Sandford and English. 
 
NORTH DRAWING ROOM. 
 
 MOUNTING the few steps through the East Wall, we next enter into 
 what was formerly the lord's Solar of the Border Pele, but now all the 
 attributes of its ancient occupation are gone, and we have before us a 
 sumptuous example of two apartments, in which survive the adornment and 
 furnishings of the Elizabethan period. 
 
 There is a tradition that Sir James Bellingham keenly felt the rivalry of the 
 neighbouring Hall, where his contemporary Walter Strickland, was erecting 
 some exquisite inlaid and carved oak work. Being determined however, not to 
 be surpassed, he decided to lavish all the wealth he could upon this room, and 
 the richness of the carved panelled work with the magnificent chimney piece is 
 sufficient evidence of this resolution. Some conception may be formed of its 
 beauty from the accompanying illustration, and from the fact that the late Mr. 
 Gillow valued it, some eighty years ago, according to the state of wages then 
 given, at between two and three thousand pounds. The overmantel is divided 
 into six compartments, built up and separated by Ionic columns and entablature. 
 In the three upper compartments are carved the initials I.B., the Royal Arms of 
 Queen Elizabeth and the date 1595, and in the three lower compartments are the 
 Bellingham arms crested with motto " Ainsi il est," the Bellingham and Burnis- 
 head arms quartered and crested bearing the same motto, and the Bellingham 
 and Burnishead arms impaling the arms of Curwen, bearing the Curwen motto 
 " Si je nestoy." The whole mantel is considered to be one of the finest pieces of 
 
carved oak in the kingdom. Over the main door are again carved the Belllng- 
 ham and Burnishead arms quartered with those of Curwen, whilst over that 
 leading to the south drawing-room, is the figure of a man, clothed with a small 
 apron, upon even which the arms of Bellingham are again to be found. Truly 
 the horn was a most appropriate armorial bearing for a man so fond of blasting 
 forth the honour of his handiwork. 
 
 In the north window are the arms of. 
 
 1. Bellingham quartered with those of Burnishead with the legend " Amicus 
 
 Amico Alanus, Belliger Belligero Bellinghamus" in a scroll at the sides, 
 and for motto " Ainsy L'est." 
 
 2. Bellingham and Burnishead quartered in the dexter half impaling those 
 
 of Curwen. Motto " Si je nesto}'." 
 
 3. Bellingham and Burnishead quartered. Crested with couped buck and 
 
 Motto " Ains-yl-est." 
 
 4. Bellingham and Burnishead quartered and impaling Sandford and another 
 
 coat. 
 
 5. Same as number 2. 
 
 6. Bellingham and Burnishead on the dexter, and twelve different coats on 
 
 the sinister, bearing date 1613. 
 
 In the deep recessed bay we find eight small diamond panes stained with 
 the arms of Bellingham and Burnishead on the dexter side of each, whilst on 
 the sinister are the arms of (i) Salkeld, (2) Burnishead, (3) Tunstall, (4) Barburne, 
 (5) Becke, (6) Gylpyne, (7) Sandford, and (8) Curwen. 
 
 Around the walls are hung portraits of Henrj' VII by Mabeuse ; Anne 
 Boleyn, said to have been painted by Holbein ; and Lady Mary Bagot, grand- 
 mother of Captain Bagot, by J. Hoppner, R.A. 
 
 On every hand are rich treasures, consisting of inlaid tables of various 
 coloured wood, or inlaid with brass and covered with morocco, a valuable Chinese 
 screen in embossed gold, an exquisite and delicately painted fan and many 
 historical treasures contained in a glass case. Amongst the latter we notice an 
 autograph of the unfortunate King James II, endorsing a page of accounts, 
 lying beside one of our own Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria, pasted in the 
 cover of a book presented by her to the Rev. C. Kingsley, " in recollection of the 
 greatest and best of men from the beloved Prince's broken-hearted widow, 
 Jany. 4, 1863." Also a valuable prayer book, bound in a richly embossed and 
 oxydised silver cover, which was presented by the Queen to Canon Wellesley, 
 and afterwards given to Mrs. Bagot by her godmother Mrs. Wellesley. 
 
 Here also may be seen a most ancient parchment with the writing still 
 legible and its ink quite clear, bearing the date 1190, with the seal of Richard I 
 attached. It is a charter exempting Henry de Redeman from the payment of a 
 tax called " Nutgeld." A high backed chair is well worthy of attention, being 
 covered with an old crewel work embroidery, the colour of which is as fresh as 
 if newly done. Can it mean that the dyeing of wool, like the pigments of the 
 Old Masters, is to us a lost art ? 
 
 In a beautiful inlaid frame there are some very fine miniatures. Especially 
 we notice a rare one of Catherine of Russia as a young woman, which belonged 
 to Poniatowski, and was given by the Emperor Alexander to Sir Charles Bagot, 
 when ambassador at St. Petersburg ; Louis XIV and Prince de Conde by Petitot ; 
 
Joseph Addison, Bolingbroke, and Sarah Duchess of iMarlborough, by Zincke ; 
 a fine Cosway of Lord Wellesley, and below is one of the Duke of WelUngton 
 with a piece of his hair as a young man, and also another piece taken after his 
 death, together with some hair from the mane of his famous charger " Copen- 
 hagen." On a table close by is the clasp of Napoleon's cloak found in his 
 carriage at Genappes, on the day after Waterloo by Colonel Percy, aide-de- 
 camp to the Duke. 
 
 The touches of colour in this room given by the various coloured Italian and 
 English brocade of chair covering and curtain, light up the sombre brown of the 
 dark oak panelling, giving to it its complimentary tone, and thus making one 
 harmonious whole. 
 
83 
 
 SOUTH DRAWING ROOM. 
 
 PASSING through the panelled screen we enter the cosy and sunny drawing 
 room, overlooking the gardens, with its walls panelled in diamond pattern 
 up to the richly embossed plaster ceiling. The oaken mantelpiece, like 
 the one at South Wraxhall, is supported by two jambs, representing on the left 
 Samson armed with the jawbone of an ass, and on the right Hercules covered 
 with a lion's skin and armed with a club. The overmantel above is divided into 
 two compartments, surrounded by emblematical designs, over the top of which 
 are the well-known arms of Bellingham. That on the right is filled with the 
 four Seasons, and the one to the left with the four Elements, whilst beneath is 
 carved the following characteristic inscription : — 
 
 "Thvs the five Sences stand portraitted here ; 
 The Elements fovre ; and Seasons of the yeare ; 
 Samson supports the one side as in rage, 
 The other Hercvles, in like eqvipage." 
 
 The elements are thus depicted : — Fire is an old man sitting with his feet 
 upon flames, among which a salamander is crawling, in his hands he holds the 
 forked lightning. Air is a young man standing upon a cloud letting a bird fly 
 from his hand. Water is sitting upon a rock pouring water and fishes from 
 an urn. Earth is standing laden with the fruits of the earth and bearing a 
 castle upon his head. 
 
24 
 
 The Seasons are thus described : — Spring, a young man sitting with a 
 basket of flowers on his knee beneath a foliaged tree and crowned with a wreath 
 of daisies. Summer, a man with a wheat sheaf and sickle in his hands and 
 ears of corn for his cap. Autumn, an elderly man with grapes and a cup. 
 Winter, an old man clad in a fur garment, sitting under a leafless tree, 
 holding a chafing dish of coals to his breast. 
 
 The Senses are thus represented : — Hearing, a female figure blowing a 
 horn. Smelling, a similar figure with a rose in her hand. Tasting rejoices 
 in a handful of grapes, peaches and other fruit. Seeing reclines in an upper 
 corner beholding herself in a vanity looking-glass, whilst at the opposite corner 
 Feeling languidly allows a small bird to peck at her finger. Unfortunately the 
 bird is now missing. Considering the period at which this work was executed, 
 the drapery throughout is most graceful. 
 
 In the south window are the aims of Bellingham, quartered with Burnis- 
 head, also in another light the bugle horn of the Bellinghams, both of which 
 are crested with a couped buck and bear the initials I.B. with the motto 
 " Ainsi-il-est." 
 
 In this room are two fine portraits painted by Sir Peter Lely, of Colonel 
 James Grahme and his wife Dorothy, which were given to the Honourable Mary 
 Howard by Sir James Grahme of Netherby, and in both of which we notice the 
 beauty of the long tapering fingers. 
 
25 
 
 DINING ROOM. 
 
 MOUNTING the steps at the west end of the j^reat Hall, we enter the 
 dining room, its flanking windows overlooking the beautiful rose 
 garden. What a charming room it is ! With the walls overlaid with 
 richly coloured leather of old Spanish or Italian workmanship stamped on a 
 background of burnished gilt, one can easily recognise the allusions m old papers 
 to this room as the '• Gilded Parlour." Mrs. Bagot in her charming description 
 of Levens, written to the Pall Mall Magazine, ponders over the secrets and plots 
 that these walls might disclose, could we but trace on the panels as on a phono- 
 graphic disc, the talk of Grahme and his guests, as they mingled with their 
 wine the oft repeated toast — '• To the King over the water." But high carnival 
 need not be relegated only to that unrestful time, for in these later days and 
 quieter moods, each panel truly still continues to vibrate with many a joyous 
 sound and loyal toast, For Queen and Country. 
 
 The oak mantelpiece and door heads are ornamented with inlaid holly and 
 ebony, and in the centre of the mantel are the arms of BelHngham with the 
 initials and date I.B. 1586. 
 
 The southernmost window is evidently an insertion made in the time of 
 Colonel Grahme. 
 
26 
 
 BELLTNGHAM STAIRCASE. 
 
 THERE hangs on the Bellingham staircase, framed and glazed, a curious 
 relic of the ancient customs with which Christmas was celebrated in the 
 olden time. It is a sheet of folded paper, from which our illustration 
 has been photographed, about two-thirds full size, on which some doggerel lines 
 are written in faded manuscript, respecting The Lord of the Misrule at Levens 
 some two hundred years ago. Stowe, who described Christmas customs in 
 England nearly a century before the date of this paper, writes as follows : — 
 " At Christmasse, there was in the King's House, wheresoever hee was lodged, 
 a lorde of misrule or mayster of merrie disportes, and the like had they in 
 the house of every nobleman of honor or good worshippe, were he spiritualle 
 or temporall." 
 
 The term " His lordship's horse," is equivalent to " the stang " a Danish 
 name for a pole, and " his lordship's chair " is the same as " the basket " ; to 
 publicly ride either of which was a form of local punishment for notoriously 
 bad men or women. 
 
 Hanging upon the wall of the vestibule at the top of this staircase, is a 
 charming pastile drawing made by J. Nash, R.A. in 1840, of the Hon. Mary 
 Howard sitting in the south drawing room with her favourite dogs. 
 
 Near by is a glass case, in which are many interesting and valuable relics 
 interwoven with family history. Beside the dress worn by Charles Bagot as a 
 page of honour to King George IV at his coronation on the 19th of July, 1821, 
 we notice especially William Pitt's despatch box, which belonged to Canning 
 and was given by him to Sir Charles Bagot ; the gloves worn by the Duke 
 of Wellington on his entry with the allies into Paris in 1815, together with 
 his spectacles used in 1841 ; a locket containing the hair of Sir John Moore, 
 cut off at his burial at Corunna by his aide-de-camp the Hon. Henry Percy, 
 great uncle to the present owner of Levens, and worn by him until the day 
 of his death ; 
 
 " The treasures of a soldier, bought with blood 
 And kept at life's expense," 
 
 and many another token which conjour up to the mind's eye the stirring events 
 and great lives connected with our National history. 
 
 " We are a people yet 
 
 We have a voice, with which to pay the debt 
 
 Of boundless love and reverence and regret 
 
 To those great men who fought, and kept (our England) ours, 
 
 And keep it ours, O God, from brute control ; 
 
 O statesmen, guard us, guard the eye, the soul 
 
 Of Europe, keep our noble England whole," 
 
27 
 
 ^yA^t- P'f Corel ^ 4 U^ £y^etV ^ 
 
 .4 tl^'>^ Jlia.ci ^rx^lLffV KA^ 
 
 it U^B^c fhi"^^ rx/i'i 
 
 0 
 
 4 /'.v-c uJ^^t'^/ptpj af-^'^X./ 
 
 "5 i 
 
 THE ORDERS OF THE LORD OF THE MISRULE, 
 KEPT AT BROTH. BELLINGHAM'S OF LEVENS IN WESTMORELAND 
 IN YE YEAR l68f- 
 
2§ 
 
 GRAHME STAIRCASE. 
 
 ON the walls of this staircase, which is curtained off from the hall by a large 
 drop piece of tapestry, hang the oil portraits of the Honourable Mary 
 Howard by Weigall ; Sir Charles Bagot by H. W. Pickersgill, R.A. ; 
 Mrs. Bagot (1890) by her father Sir John Leslie; Colonel F. G. Howard by 
 G. H. Harlow ; and of William, third Earl of Mornington, by Sir T. Lawrence, 
 P.R.A. 
 
 In the transome lights of the great window are insertions of stained glass 
 bearing the arms of, 
 
 1. Grahme impaled with Howard. 
 
 2. Howard with the arms of Grahme upon a shield of Pretence. 
 
 3. Howard impaled with the arms of Suffolk. 
 
 4. Mary, Viscountess Andover. 
 
 5. Howard quartered with Bagot with the heiress' arms upon a shield of 
 
 Pretence. 
 
 6. Howard quartered with Upton with the united arms of Howard, Grahme, 
 
 and Bagot, likewise on a shield of Pretence. 
 
 The Howard arms all bear upon the Bend the Augmentation of Honour 
 which Henry VI H granted to Thomas Duke of Norfolk, and his posterity, for 
 his victory at Flodden Field, wherein King James IV of Scotland was slain 
 on the ninth of September 1513. It represents the Royal Shield of Scotland, 
 having a demi-lion pierced through the mouth with an arrow. 
 
 Below the transome is a small insertion placed to conmiemorate the 
 achievement of Lord Templeton, Colonel Howard's younger brother, at Alma, 
 Inkerman, and Balaclava, he having rented the Hall between the years 1850 and 
 i860. In the west window are the arms of Bagot with those of the heiress upon 
 a Shield of Pretence, bearing the initials R.B. — F.H., for Richard Bagot and 
 Frances Howard, with date Anno 1783; also the arms of Bagot impaled with 
 the arms of Leslie, bearing the initials of Captain and Mrs. Josceline Bagot, 
 with the date 1885, to commemorate their wedding. 
 
 On mounting the staircase, we find in several of the upper rooms some 
 most interesting specimens of needlework. Notably, in one of the bedrooms 
 leading out of the billiard room, known as Bishop Ken's room (it being occupied 
 by that saintly Bishop when staying at Levens), where all the curtains, both on 
 bed and windows, the covering of the chairs and the closely quilted counterpane 
 are made of the smallest patchwork, wrought in divers patterns and pieced 
 together with consummate patience in that bygone age. That was a time surely 
 when eyesight was at a discount and the world, at least a woman's world, did 
 not revolve, as it does now, on tyred wheels ! Some of the chintz used in this 
 patchwork is hand-painted, which at once takes us back to the time before the 
 days of Manchester printed calicoes. In another room we come across one of 
 the earliest examples of this latter day manufacture, in the curtains on a bed ; 
 and so in these lesser things, handcraft giving place to the development of steam 
 power, we read of the advance and rush of the world's history, which even the 
 quiet restfulness of Levens cannot shut out. 
 
YELLOW ROOM. 
 
 THE above illustration gives a fair representation of the beautiful bed which 
 still exists in this room with its carved wooden canopy, and delicately 
 wrought and twisted posts. Covering the bed is a most exquisite quilt 
 of fair linen worked with yellow silk embroidery, the quilting of which, in 
 a waving design, is of the finest backstitching. 
 
 There are two other quilts in neighbouring bedrooms worthy of mention, one 
 of which certainly hails from the far East and is a most interesting specimen 
 of Japanese work; whilst the other seems to have come from the far West, 
 perhaps from the wigwam of some Red Indian squaw, as the curious quaint 
 design of flowers and warlike figures, m many hues of silk, resembles the 
 handiwork of that fast diminishing race. 
 
 SERVANTS' HALL. 
 
 THE most interesting object in this room is the old fireplace, bearing the 
 initials I.B. and A.B. 1589, for James and Agnes Bellingham, which was 
 removed from the great hall and reset here by Colonel Grahme. 
 The walls are wainscotted around some 7 feet high, and contain two very 
 fine specimens of old arm chairs, and two long oaken tables together with their 
 benches. Here also as well as in other parts of the house are shelved large 
 numbers of pewter plate, mostly bearing the crest of the Grahraes. 
 
30 
 
 LIBRARY. 
 
 WITHIN this most cosy retreat, high wainscotted in old oak to the 
 ceiling, are two pictures worthy of mention, the one representing 
 some Canadian boatmen painted by H.R.H. the Princess Louise, 
 and the other a crayon portrait of Charles Bagot (1827), drawn by 
 George Richmond, R.A. 
 
 BREWHOUSE AND STABLES. 
 
 IN the court yard is the Brewhouse, with its wide open mouthed chimney, 
 and where are still the steps and other remains of places for vast coppers, 
 coolers, and ovens. 
 
 The Stables although interesting to walk through, have little to attract 
 especial attention, except the two very fine freestone doorways which come upon 
 you with great surprise. So striking are they in comparison with the rest of the 
 quaint old building that one can only speculate of their having a prior existence 
 in the hall itself. 
 
3t 
 
 THE GARDENS. 
 
 LIKE the house, the Gardens have also experienced the same three epochs, 
 each characteristic in its turn. The embattled wall of enclosure, moat 
 and entrance gateway, forming the outer defences of the old Pele Tower 
 of the Redemans, gave way to the Elizabethan pleasance with its terraced walks 
 of roses and other old English flowers under the Bellinghams, until the third 
 epoch, when Monsieur Beaumont laid out the strikingly beautiful gardens as seen 
 to-day. There is strong evidence to shew that, in all their main features, they 
 have been handed down almost exactly as at first designed. Covering an area 
 of some seven acres, these gardens are in themselves so perfect, absolutely 
 perfect and without rival, that Lord Stanhope speaks of them as being the best 
 specimens of their style in this country. 
 
 To the late Canon Weston I am indebted for the following history : — " The 
 gardens are in the style called ' topiary ' from the ' opus topiarum ' of the 
 Romans, a term applied by them to the trees and shrubs clipped into various 
 fantastic shapes, either alone or in groups, or extending in long lines, which 
 form the chief feature of this kind of gardening. It was one in which the 
 Romans — and when their taste was considered at its best — took great delight. 
 It may have been borrowed by them from those garden-loving nations the 
 Egyptians, Babylonians and Assyrians; so at least one might conjecture from 
 
32 
 
 garden scenes on the walls of Egyptian tombs, and from descriptions of the 
 hanging gardens of Babylon and Nineveh. But the fondness of the Romans for 
 gardens in this style we know from many of their own authors. Pliny, in 
 particular, has given us an account in great detail of the gardens of his Tusculan 
 Villa, now Frascati, a portion of which was laid out in this style. So minutely 
 and carefully, indeed, are its details described, that his account has served to 
 guide the laying out of all such gardens since the revival of classic learnmg, 
 when it became the rage to reproduce, as far as any traces afforded the means, 
 all the arts of Roman civilisation. These gardens were brought into vogue again 
 in Italy by the Medici family, in the begining of the i5th century, and inter- 
 course with Italy speedily led to their adoption in other countries. Francis I. in 
 building Fontainebleau, laid out part of his gardens in this manner ; but under 
 Le Notre who lived a little later, and who has been considered one of the ablest 
 gardeners of any age, this style attained a degree of perfection fully equalling, if 
 not excelHng, anything described by Pliny. It was under his supermtendence, 
 and the lavish niuniticence of Louis XIV, that the gardens of Versailles, St. 
 Cloud, and St. Germains were laid out, the former at a cost of no less than two 
 hundred millions of francs. From France the fashion passed on into this country; 
 and it is possible enough that King James II, when desirous of laying out his 
 Hampton Court Gardens in this style, would from his intimacy with the French 
 Court, seek a competent man for his purpose from the great French master of 
 the art, and that Beaumont, to whom the work was confided, was a pupil 
 recommended for his proficiency." 
 
 Known to Colonel Grahme while at Court, he no doubt accepted employ- 
 ment under him when the misfortunes of their common master (after the 
 Revolution of 1688) brought their respective engagements to a close, and under 
 his able superintendence the gardens of the Colonel's newly acquired property 
 were planned and carried out during their enforced seclusion in the country. 
 Hanging on the walls of the Bellingham staircase there is a portrait of this 
 pupil who is thereupon described as " Monsieur Beaumont, Gardener to 
 King James 2nd. and to Coll: Js. Grahme. He laid out the Gardens at 
 Hampton Court and at Levens." The gardener's house is still called " Beaumont 
 Hall." 
 
 There are some interesting and amusing scraps of information connected 
 with the work whilst in progress to be gathered from letters still preserved, 
 addressed to Colonel Grahme by persons in his employment, one of which at 
 least may be worth quoting. Soon after a commencement had been made, in 
 the autumn of 1701, a terrific storm seems to have raged, the effects of which are 
 described in a letter by the steward James Loftus, a shrewd intelligent man, but 
 a very bad speller, in this graphic manner : — 
 
 " I am very soury," he writes, " to send you this bad newes, but its such a thing as 
 hath not bene in this countrey in no ag of man that is a liffe now at prasent. Wind and 
 Raine. The wind hath blown down, in the parke, hallfe the best eash trees that is in the 
 parke, and done a boundinance of harme in others, that is in blowing down littel birchers. 
 Their is but one ocke tree, but it is a very good one and all shiffeard too bits, it stod upon 
 
 the bank by Lady Cloase, some ashers by it It hath done great damedg in the 
 
 garden amongst trees, bemun (Mr. Loftus' phonetic rendering of Beaumont) is very 
 much disturbed about is trees, he wants stakess for them," 
 
BELONGING TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE HENRY BOWES HOWARD EARL OF SUFFOLK 
 AND BERKSHIRE BY R. SKYRING." 
 
 MADE ABOUT 1720. 
 
34 
 
 Allusion is made in other letters to the principal features of the garden 
 existing at the present day — the bowling green, the beech hedges, and the greens 
 (meaning no doubt the evergreens), also to the rows of limes, chesnuts and 
 beeches at the end of the garden next Heversham, all now stately trees. These 
 limes, it may be noted in passing, must have been amongst the first of their 
 kind planted in England. They were introduced during William Ill's reign 
 (about 1695) from Holland, where they were favourite trees. From the mention 
 of the stout ash stakes which were needed to steady the trees against the wind, 
 we may infer that they must have been of considerable size when planted. 
 If this was also the case with the evergreens, they were probably large enough to 
 be shaped somewhat into the forms intended for them afterwards to present, and 
 by this means the general design of the garden, together with much of its detail, 
 would be realised at once. As a proof of this there is in the gallery at Levens 
 an old and remarkably accurate plan of the house and gardens (illustrated on the 
 preceding page), which was made not more than twenty years after Beaumont's 
 time and which shows the "Wig" summerhouse, clipped in the present form 
 and standing almost as large a feature as at the present time. Sticking up in 
 the "Judge's wig" is a military figure, painted on a piece of board, which 
 tradition says is a representation of Colonel Grahme. But the bower itself is 
 altogether a curiosity, as it opens with kindly attraction to the sighing swain to 
 lead the maid of his heart to its recess, free, shall we suppose, from the 
 prying eyes or listening ears of a maiden aunt or suspicious governess. But 
 it flatters alas only to betray ; for at either side, and opening out from 
 concealed walks are two other shelters, entering into the very heart of the 
 clump of yew, and affordmg every convenience for hearing the softest heart 
 thrown whisper. How man}' a love-sick lass has had cause to curse these secret 
 arbours! 
 
 Oh the ingenious design and quaintness of these great fantastic forms, 
 scattered about on every hand, which seem to rise up before one, as far as the 
 eye can see, for truly the whole garden seems bewitched. At one corner stands 
 the King with his crown upon his head, and opposite the Queen with her arms 
 all akimbo, here a crowned lion lashing its tail, there an archway, now a huge 
 umbrella or colossal helmet, and there along avenues carpetted with soft green 
 turf are, as Lord Stanhope in his "History of England" so well puts it, 
 "eagles of holly and peacocks of yew, which still find with each returning 
 summer, their wings clipped and their talons pared." 
 
 The Maze no longer exists, but upon the ancient bowling green can still be 
 seen some bowls, which have engraved upon them the Bellingham crest, in 
 addition to one or more pairs of James Grahme's and Lord Thanet's. Unfor- 
 tunately the green colour on the original plan has photographed a dark shade 
 which almost obliterates the four figures of the Colonel and his friends moving 
 about in their game, but on turning the page upside down they and their bowls 
 can just be traced. Near by is a central circular space, beech-walled all 
 round some 12 feet high, with smooth shaven surfaces, so sleek and comely. 
 As seen from the roof of Howard's Tower they remind us vividly of Versailles 
 and Watteau. Allowing the imagination to wander, you almost instinctively 
 look for the dent of high heeled shoes in the soft daisied turf, for the rustling 
 of hoops and the richness of plum coloured coats and laced waistcoats amid the 
 
35 
 
 tender green of the young beech leaves, which literally swarm with birds, 
 those "poor men's choristers" who 
 
 " Chaunt melody in every bush." 
 
 Flanking the frames and hotbeds is an embattled wall, just so high that you 
 cannot tell what it conceals, whilst the flower beds of most intricate patterns 
 are surrounded with well clipped box edging, said to be at least nine miles in 
 total length. The old fashioned herbaceous plants, the hollyhocks and sun- 
 flowers, pansy, fuchsia, marguerite, sweet-williams, roses, lavender, pinks, and 
 honeysuckle, which growing side by side in artless profusion, make these gardens 
 all the summer long a living mass of sweet scented brilliancy, to which on each 
 succeeding Thursday afternoon, by kindly permission, our townsfolk love to go. 
 
 There is still preserved at Castle Bellingham in Ireland a diary made 
 by Colonel Henry Bellingham, in August 1668, which is so interesting as 
 shewing the mode of lite in those days — the after dinner games of bowls, the 
 fishing and otter hunting in the river, and the shooting of fat bucks in the 
 park, — that I make bold to quote the entries made during a ten days' visit. 
 
 Preston, August i. — A Fayr day. The Duke of Somerset came to this town, upon whom 
 the Mayor and Corporation waited in their formalities, and gave him a noble banquet 
 and wine, and made him and Mr. Cholmondeley of Vale Royal and two other 
 gentlemen tree of the Corporation. I was envited with Col. Rawston to supper with 
 him — there we had some discourse about Parliament. 
 
 2nd. — A Fayr day. Chancery Court. Mr. Rochford and Mr. Ludlowe came here — we 
 dined at Turlegh's, after dinner and bowled, and at night went to Rigby's with several 
 gentlemen of the town. 
 
 3rd. — A Fayr day. We went to Lancaster and called at Garstin and saw Lancaster Castle 
 and Church. 
 
 4th. — A. Fayr day. We went over Cartmell Sands to Levens and found the sands boggy 
 and hazardous. Reach Levens before dmner, after which to ride a buck but he broke 
 out of the Parke, from thence we came to the Force but gott no Fish. We shott a 
 fat Buck. 
 
 5th. — A Hott day. We went to Heavsam Church and heard Mr. Ridley preach and the 
 Schoolmat-ter Green came to dinner with us, in the evening we all walked into the 
 Parke which is very pleasant and delightful, and Tom Banks came to us. 
 
 6th. — A Hott day. We rode to Heavsam Head and viewed the fine country about. 
 Went to the Force, some fish taken several ways after dinner. Bowled with several 
 of the neighbours. Sweetnam a youth of good fortune, dined with us. 
 
 7th. — Some rain this morning. We rode and saw the colts. After dinner we went to 
 Kendal where we were handsomely entertained by Mrs. North and her sonne, and by 
 Mr. Joseph Sympson. 
 
 8th. — Much rain this morning. We hunted an outlyer and brought him into the l^ark and 
 
 killed him after seeing admirable sport both by land and water. We bowled all the 
 
 afternoon with Dr. Farleton. 
 gth. — A Fayr day. We dined at Crooklands. Saw Sawney Harrington. Drank a bowl 
 
 of punch and came home in good time, 
 loth. — A Fayr day. We left Levens about eight in the morning. Dined at Lancaster. 
 
 Called at Garstin and reached Preston between eight and nine. 
 
36 
 
 RADISH FEAST. 
 
 THIS annual feast in these gardens was instituted in the time of Colonel 
 Grahme, and until quite recently it was regularly held. On each 
 recurring i2tli of May, the Mayor and Corporation of Kendal went in 
 procession to proclaim the Fair of Milnthorpe, originally a seaport town one 
 and a half miles distant, the rents of which belong to the House of Levens. The 
 ceremony of the Proclamation being ended, an adjournment was made to the 
 Cross Kej'S Hotel for the customary dinner, after which ihe whole company 
 retraced their steps to the garden at Levens to view the sports, to which also 
 the tenants of the estate and other friends were invited. Curiously enough, 
 and for why I cannot tell, none of the fair sex were allowed within the 
 garden walls, a rule which seems to have been most rigidly enforced. 
 
 Tradition gives a comical explanation of the reason why the Mayor and his 
 retinue attended this feast. It seems that in the time of the Colonel great rivalry 
 existed between the House of Levens and that of Dallam Tower, both being 
 anxious to attract the greatest attention. On one occasion Dallam Tower 
 invited every person who attended the Fair to partake of the good cheer lavishly 
 provided in their Park, and so great was the success that the time-honoured 
 festivities at Levens were, for that year entirely deserted. Whereupon Colonel 
 Grahme, exasperated at this affront, " swore a huge oath " that he would have 
 a more splendid company the following year, and he kept his word by inviting 
 the august Mayor and Corporation of Kendal and by giving them such a royal 
 reception and entertainment, that it is said, they were pleased to comply to his 
 invitation in the succeeding years. 
 
 Along one side oi the bowling green long tables were ranged, well laden with 
 haver-bread, butter, radishes, and the ever memorable " Morocco," an unique 
 species of strong ale brewed at the Hall. After the repast came the " Colting" 
 of new visitors. These neophytes were brought into a ring, or " haltered " 
 according to the conventional phrase, when they were required in turn to stand 
 upon one leg and drink what was called the " Constable," a weighty glass filled 
 with half a pint of " Morocco." This had to be emptied at one draught, pledging 
 at the time the ancient house in the words, " Luck to Levens as long as the 
 Kent flows." Declining or failing to accomplish this feat, the forfeiture of a 
 shilling was required for the benefit of the under gardeners, and well they 
 deserved it, for it is said that it took a full day's work for four men to clean 
 the radishes eaten at this festival, which were conveyed to the tables in wheel- 
 barrow loads. Cannot one easily imagine the ludicrousness of this sport ? The 
 anxious face of each as his turn came round, the choking trial and oft ignominious 
 failure. Oh the laughter and study of physiognomy and expression. But after 
 all the forfeited shilling was a better and a kinder ending than that prescribed 
 for failure in the colting at Haddon Hall. For there in the days of merriment, 
 if a man should fail to drink up his quota of liquor, he was fastened up like an 
 
37 
 
 obstreperous horse, by his wrist to a ring, and the hquor poured down his sleeve 
 so as gradually to trickle down him during the remainder of the feasting. 
 
 After the " colting " the whole company adjourned to the Park for the 
 customary sports, only to return again to the bowling green before wending 
 their way homewards, for further copious refreshment and for the lusty cheers, 
 three times three, which every north countryman knows so well how to give. 
 A similar colting custom described as " Drinking the fox's head," annually 
 takes place at the dinners given by the Eton Club in Oxford. 
 
 Castle Bellingham ale is still famous in Ireland, and it is quite possible that 
 one of the Bellinghams introduced the brewing of it at Levens, but so far 
 as I can ascertain, the distinctive name of " Morocco " was given to it by 
 Col. James Grahme when a courtier of Charles the Second. It will be 
 remembered that in 1662, Tangiers was granted by the Crown of Portugal as 
 part of the dowry of the Queen Catherine of Braganza, consort of Charles II. 
 There was probably, therefore, much laughter and talk about the dark Moorish 
 peasants of Morocco at the time of the marriage, and it is quite likely that the 
 "King's witty servant" may have in consequence given this name to his 
 favourite drink, the dark coloured ale of Levens. 
 
 There is a legend that the secret recipe for brewing this strong ale was, 
 during the civil wars, buried wrapped up in lead, near an evergreen in the 
 old garden. The beer is said to be kept twenty-one years before being tapped. 
 
 The origin of the name of " The Constable," in like manner, may be derived 
 from the fact that Colonel James Grahme was appomted by the Duke of Norfolk, 
 High Constable of Windsor Castle and a Deputy Ranger of Windsor Park. 
 The original massive and antique glass is still carefully preserved. In shape it 
 resembles a huge jelly glass, with a capacity of about one quart. Standing some 
 sixteen inches high, it measures four and a half inches across its mouth, and the 
 solid glass stem is an inch and a half thick. Engraved in bold characters 
 around the top are the words. 
 
 " LEVENS 
 
 HIGH CONSTABLE." 
 
39 
 
 THE PARK. 
 
 EVENS Park is one of the oldest deer parks in England still existing as 
 
 such, and is the only one left of fifteen which were round Kendal in the 
 
 i6th century. In 1360 it was enclosed by licence, at which time Sir 
 Matthew de Redeman was the owner, and to its glory we must add that the 
 acreage for which the licence was then granted remains the same to-day, if we 
 take into consideration the two fields on the south of the oak avenue, around 
 which the ancient park fence is distinctly traceable. 
 
 The park is bold, romantic, and beautifully wooded with limes, birches, 
 sycamores, and gigantic pines, through which the River Kent winds, at places 
 entirely shut in by lofty banks and the noble avenues of oaks, supplying as of 
 yore, many 
 
 On the southern side of the river, at a place called Kirkstead, were the 
 ruins, apparently in Dr. Burn's time, certainly in Camden's time, of an ancient 
 round building, said to have been a temple dedicated to Diana. Near to wliich 
 were the ruins ot another antique structure which seem to have belonged to the 
 same place. On the northern side is a spring, called the "dropping well," which 
 is still of a petrifying quality and in a short space of time will turn moss, wood, 
 leaves and the like into stone. 
 
 The park is stocked with a peculiarly dark breed of fallow deer, in connection 
 with which an odd coincidence is frequently remarked respecting them, so 
 much so indeed, that it has almost become a legend, that whenever a white 
 fawn is born to the herd, some change is predicted to the House of Levens. 
 Within living memory four such occasions have arisen, as for instance when 
 Lord Templetown came to Levens after the Crimean War a white fawn was 
 born, and another after General Upton's death in 1883, also another on 
 the twelfth of June 1885, the day after Captain and Mrs. Bagot's wedding 
 day, and the last instance occurred a little more than two years ago when 
 Mrs. Bagot bore to Levens a male heir. This latter fawn is still to be seen in 
 the park. To illustrate the superstition that had gathered around the white 
 deer, as early as Lord Templetown's residence at Levens, between 1850 and 
 i860, we may mention the following : — A white buck which had appeared in the 
 herd, was ordered to be shot, but the keeper was so horrified with the deed, 
 which he thought to be " waur ner robbin' a church " that he actually went so 
 far as to remonstrate with the Crimean veteran. Persuasion being of no use, he 
 at last refused point blank to do the deed himself, and another man had to do it 
 for him. In a few months great troubles came over the house. In quick succes- 
 sion it changed hands twice ; the steward, servants, and gardener all lost their 
 places, and the keeper firmly held to the belief that all was due to the shooting 
 
 " An oak whose boughs are moss'd with age, 
 And high top bald with dry antiquity." 
 
0 
 
 of this white deer. " Ouida " has written the following acrostic upon the white 
 fawn born at the time of Captain Bagot's wedding 
 
 "T he woods of Levens hail the white fawn's birth, 
 Herald and symbol of the " Gift of God " 
 E ven as summer broadens o'er the earth ; 
 Oh that the White Doe's Laureate liv'd now 
 D welling in misty shadows of the hills, 
 
 0 r that the Seer, who sans: "f Christabel 
 
 S inging could sing of this White Fawn which fills 
 
 1 n northern legend full as fair a place, 
 
 A s the fair beast which Rylstone's wood did haunt. 
 
 L ift up your voices. Poets of the Lakes, 
 E pithalamium meet we cannot chaunt, 
 S ing ye and shout until sweet echo wakes, 
 L ift up your voices ve immortal dead 
 I n the grave shallow of the mountains rise, 
 Even arise and hymn these lovers wed." 
 
 There are two waterfalls not far from here, which are alluded to by Fuller, in his 
 usual quaint manner:— "I learn out of Master Camden, that, in the River 
 Cann in this coimty, there be two catadiiphoe or waterfall, whereof the northern, 
 sounding clear and loud, foretokeneth fair weather ; the southern on the same 
 terms presageth rain. Now, I wish that the former of these may be vocail in 
 haytime and harvest ; the latter, after g^reat drought, that so, both of them may 
 make welcome musick for the inhabitants." The meaning of which of course is 
 that the south-west winds generally bring with them the rain. 
 
 And so — our task being done — we bid farewell to lovely Levens. But 
 lingering on the picturesque old bridge, that spans the 
 
 " Swoll'n brook that bubbles fast. 
 By meadows breathing of the past," 
 
 we let our eyes dwell once again upon the almost idyllic picture presented to our 
 gaze. And from the realms of fantasy, we conjure up to mind the warrior 
 Redemans, stern and fierce, marshalling their forces by the riverside ; we catch 
 glimpses of the courtly Bellinghams, in velvet and ruffles, walking and talking 
 in their pleasance, or drinking to the health of the Virgin Queen in the noble 
 Hall of Banquet ; whilst, yet again, our cheeks are scorched by the fierce breath 
 of treason and unrest that swept over Levens in the time of the wily Grahme ; 
 till at last the spell is broken, and we must fain realize that we are ourselves, 
 ourselves again, dwelling in the less romantic but more peaceful days of our own 
 beloved Sovereign. 
 
 And thus, with grateful thanks to Captain and Mrs. Bagot for their kindly 
 courtesy in allowmg a dive into every nook and corner, we leave this 
 
 "English home — gray twilight pour'd 
 On dewy pastures, dewy trees. 
 Softer than sleep — all things in order stored, 
 A haunt of ancient Peace." 
 
Kendal 
 Printed by T. Wilson, 
 mdcccxcviii.