36 
Vicars, in ‘“ England’s Parliamentary Chronicle,” states 
“that Colonel Purefoy came to this attack on Compton 
with his own Warwick forces and some strength added trom 
Coventry; and that besides 120 prisoners, he took £5,000 
in money, 60 horses, 400 sheep, near 160 head of cattle, 
and eighteeen loads of other plunder, besides five or six 
earthen pots of money, which were afterwards discovered 
in the fishpond.” 
Compton Wyniate lies on the southern border of the 
county of Warwick, under the Edgehiils, and was the seat 
of the Earl of Northampton. It still exists, a specimen of 
a fine castellated brick mansion, moated round, with a court 
in the centre, erected in the reign of Henry VII. It is 
most curiously placed in a hollow and so completely hidden 
from view, that a force might appear before it suddenly. 
Though not a stronghold, as the castles of Warwickshire, a 
competent garrison was kept in it; but it was in a great 
measure insulated, and commanded no high road, though 
placed between the roads from Banbury to Warwick, and 
from Banbury to Shipston. In the mansion are two chapels; 
one on the ground floor, for the rites of the Church of 
England; and another in the roof, for performance of the 
rites of the Church of Rome, there being many recusants 
in that neighbourhood. Near to the latter chapel was a 
priest’s hole, or hiding place; but the most curious feature 
is that the altar was the window-sill, and of wood, with the 
five crosses cut upon it. This is the only original wooden 
altar, destined for the rites of the Church of Rome, I 
have met with in this country. 
I imagine this mansion surrendered from not being 
sufficiently provisioned, as there is no notice of any contest. 
It would have been a more severe blow to the Royalist party 
