THE STONE HOUSE PREBEND, LITTLE CHESTER, DERBY. II 



it is plain that the brick house now standing cannot altogether be 

 of that date, though some portions of it may be, and it is quite 

 possible that the mullioned windows may have been taken out 

 and the present ones inserted, this having been done at the other 

 farm near by, and of which something will be said in a future 

 notice. Allowing this, it does not seem likely that the dated 

 stone belongs to the present brickwork, which must be later than 

 Elizabeth's time. 



There is little doubt that more than one rebuilding, or 

 partial rebuilding, has taken place ; this can be seen more easily 

 from the interior of the house, various adaptations and altera- 

 tions being at once revealed. The floors are on various levels, 

 and the staircase is in an out-of-way corner scarcely likely to 

 be the original position in the stone house. The room on the 

 ground floor, overlooking the garden, is a large and handsome 

 one, fully panelled in oak, but it has been divided by a lath 

 and plaster partition to allow of a corridor, thus destroying its 

 proportions, the handsome carved and inlaid oak chimney-piece 

 being thrust into a corner, instead of occupying the centre of 

 the room. From this we conclude that the present house does 

 not quite stand on the old foundations, and besides, this is the 

 only fully panelled room now remaining. There is, however, little 

 doubt that during the reign of Queen Elizabeth the house was for 

 the most part rebuilt, and that it has undergone several changes 

 since ; and the handsomely carved date stone now in the gable 

 is, together with the panelled room, part of the Elizabethan 

 house. This stone, besides the date, bears a unique sculpture of 

 the arms of the borough, and as we give a copy of it a reference 

 to it is easily made ; from it the reader will see that it is of good 

 design and well executed, the Buck is lodged in a park having a 

 very elegant entrance gate or door, the shield is indicated by a 

 delicate piece of chain work, and he reclines under a holly tree 

 in fruit, and that it is altogether a very good piece of Elizabethan 

 renaissance. 



It is not a little curious that there are three different 

 designs of the arms of Derby : that now before us ; the beautiful 



