July 16, 1874. ] 



JOUENAL OF HOBTIOULTUKE AND COTTAGE GABDENER. 



57 



and flowered there the following season. — (JK. I'liompson's 

 Eiigliili I'loiier Garden, riei'Ui'd ii/ the Autlior.) 



HUNSTANTON HALL. 



THE SEAT OF HAMOK STYLEMAN L'ESTHANGE, ESQ. 



Never were family, mansion, gardens, and park more in 

 harmony than here. There is a solidity and antiquity charac- 

 terising all the surroundings that are betittiug an uninterrupted 

 possession of eight hundred years. Why, there are rows of 

 Cardoons in the kitchen garden which I had not seen grown 

 for blanching within the last fifty years, aud which the gar- 

 dener recently appointed had never before cultivated. 



Hunstanton Hall is about 2.J miles from the railway station, 

 the road passing parallel to the sea and by the lighthouse, the 

 keeper of which, by-the-by, is an indefatigable gardener ; and 



turning down by the church you roach a wall which might be 

 mistaken for a bastion of some old battery, for it is not straight, 



but in this crenelated fashion, sur- j : 



mounted by a closely-clipped Holly 



hedge some 6 feet high. This ore- ' ! 



nelatiou is of the wall's face, not its top. Through that wall 

 you enter a long, dark, subterranean passage, and at its end 

 emerge into the kitchen garden, of which more presently. The 

 tradition is, that at a tournament held in the time of William 

 the Conqueror at Castle Peverel in the Peak of Derbyshire, 

 among the nobles and kuights present were two sons of the 

 Duke of Bretagne ; and the younger, named Cuy, was by way 

 of distinction designated Guy le Strange (Guy the Stranger), 

 and from him descended the families of the Stranges. They 

 had estates in Shropshire, Northamptonshire, Norfolk, Leices- 

 tershire, and Gloucestershire. This Guy L'Eatrange received 



rig. 21. — HUKSTANTON HALL.* 



Hunstanton aud other estates from an elder] branch of the 

 family ; and when the grant was confirmed to one of his de- 

 scendants in 1342, it was on the condition that he rendered 

 annually to the representative of the grantor a Rose at the feast 

 of St. John the Baptist (Midsummer-day), in lieu of all other 

 services. From that time Hunstanton has remained in their 

 possession uninterruptedly. The name of Hunstanton is lite- 

 rally " Hunna's residence." That Anglo-Saxon was probably 

 deprived of his estate by the strange Norman, but it deserves 

 remark that a Mr. Hunn is a principal farmer here. Who can 

 prove that he is not an offset from Hunna, whose descendants 

 have lingered here ? 



The principal entrance to the quadrangle, which is really 

 now the back of the house, is on the east side through a stone- 

 arched gateway bearing the date 1623, and various heraldic 

 bearings and mottoes, " Dirietur possessionem " being one, 

 and " Ubi non est sepes " another. To the left of this quad- 

 rangle is a second ; and in its centre, standing alone, is another 

 arched stone gateway, also bearing the L'Estrange arms, and 

 dated IfilR. The greater part of the mansion still remaining 

 was built by Sir Roger L'Estrange, who died in 150G ; but the 

 gateway, granaries, and other outbuildings of the first quad- 

 rangle were erected by Sir Hamond L'Estrange in 1C23. Re- 

 cent additions have been made. The house was moated, but 

 the moat remains perfect orjy on the east and west sides. The 



wall in front of our drawing is the side of the western moat. The 

 family, either immediately or collaterally, have been connected 

 with the three families of the Norfolk proverb — " Never was a 

 Paston poor, a Heydon a coward, nor a Cornwallis a fool." 



In the " Houseliold and Privy-purse Accounts" are various 

 entries which may interest many of our readers, but we will 

 make a few extracts only from one in Henry VIlL's reign. 

 Money then was from ten to twelve times more valuable than 

 now. In 1519-1522 for " six gees " 20d. were paid ; for " six 

 cheoons," Od.; for "2 lbs. sugar," Idd.; for "three chalder 

 of colys," 16s. ; and for fifty eggs, Od. There are continued 

 payments for all departments except the garden, so it is not 

 surprising that there are "rewards" to servants and others 

 who brought as presents " Strauberries," Apples, " Graps," 

 " Peachys," " Medlers," "Fyggs," "Wardens," " Orengez," 

 and " Lemondes." 



Now for the gardens, beginning with the kitchen garden, the 

 first I entered. It is unique in arrangement, being divided 

 into portions by hedges clipped uniformly, each about 8 feet 

 high and 6 feet wide. Some are of Yew and some of Holly. 

 They are capital shelters ; but the gardener, not being an anti- 

 quary, evidently thought that walls would afford quite as 

 much shelter and might be made much more productive. The 



^ From a photogi-apli by Mr. M'Cleon. 



