HUXLOE HUNDRED 



LOWICK 



by pairs of long sash windows in the east and west 

 walls, and is wainscoted with tall oblong panels of 

 handsome proportions with bolcction mouldings, in 

 which are hung a series of portraits of the Mordaunt 

 owners of Drayton. There is a good plaster ceiling, 

 contemporary with the panelling : the cabinets and 

 other furniture belong for the most part to the time 

 of the second Lord Peterborough. A doorway at the 

 south-east corner communicates with the rooms in the 

 south-east wing, which contain much tapestry. 

 From the southernmost of these, in which the Eliza- 

 bethan panelling remains, a doonvay leads into 

 the private gallery at the east end of the chapel. 



Above the entrance to the great chamber, doorways 

 from the geometrical stair open into the upper floors 

 of the north-east wing, which remains to be described. 

 The lowest floor, entered from the passage which 

 leads to the geometrical stair, contains three rooms 

 which open into one another. The south room, 

 38 ft. north to south by 21 ft. east to west, is the 

 drawing-room, with a projecting bay in the north- 

 west corner. It was redecorated by Lord George 

 Germain in 1 773-4, whose portrait by Romney is 

 above the handsome marble fireplace. William Rhodes 

 was employed for the plaster work. The ceiling has a 

 formal and elaborate pattern ; but the beautiful 

 relief-work which has been noticed in the dining- 

 room appears again in the frieze. North of the 

 drawing-room is a smaller drawing-room, and beyond 

 this is the state room, fitted up as a bedroom by Lord 

 Peterborough, whose arras are on the chimney-piece, 

 attributed with high probability to John Webb. 

 Side doors at the end of this room open into the 

 projections which give the wing its T shape. That 

 on the east side is a powdering closet, with panels of 

 Chinese work. From the room on the west there is a 

 stair to the upper floors, at the foot of which is a door- 

 way to the terrace along the west front of the wing. 



These rooms contain much fine furniture and 

 china, to describe which would require a detailed 

 inventory. The furniture of the state room, including 

 a handsome four-post bed and Mortlake tapestry 

 hangings, is practically left as it was in the time of 

 Lord Peterborough and his daughter, the duchess of 

 Norfolk, while the other rooms chiefly reflect the taste 

 of Lady Betty Germain and her heir. Lord George. 



The suite of guest-chambers on the first floor calls 

 for no special description, their most interesting 

 feature being the small concealed chamber or hiding- 

 place between the floor of the powdcring-closet which 

 leads out of the northernmost room and the ceiling of 

 the one below. The whole length of the top floor is 

 occupied by the long gallery or library, which was fitted 

 with book-shelves by Sir John Germain, who also, as 

 already said, inserted a Venetian window at the north 

 end. This was removed by the late owner and a 

 raullioned window substituted ; at the same time a 

 new coved plaster ceiling was made in place of the 

 plain ceiling which had been put in during the 1 8th 

 century. This is relieved witii shields bearing the arms 

 of Mordaunt, Germain, Berkeley, and Sackville. Here, 

 as in the rooms below, a powdering-closet projects 

 from the wall near the north-east corner. This was 



fitted up as a boudoir for the duchess of Norfolk with 

 inlaid Ciiinese panelling, a mirrored ceiling, and par- 

 queted floor. 



Between the doorways from the geometrical stair to 

 the first-floor bedrooms and the gallery, there is a door 

 to the two rooms upon the top floor of the building 

 upon the south side of the tower, the lower rooms of 

 which are entered from the great chamber and cellar 

 respectively. Of these, the nortliern, known as the 

 Norfolk room, is hung with p.inels of Mortlake 

 tapestry. 



Of the numerous portraits in the house the most 

 interesting are the Mordaunt portraits in the great 

 chamber, the series of portraits of the Berkeley family, 

 to which Lady Betty Germain belonged, in the first- 

 floor rooms of the Elizabethan wing, and the two por- 

 traits of Lord George Germain, of which that in the 

 drawing-room, by Romney, has been mentioned. The 

 other, by Reynolds, is in the sitting-room on the east 

 side of the 15th-century porch. A portrait of Lady 

 Betty, by Kneller, was added some years ago to the 

 Berkeley series. The large portraits of royal and noble 

 persons in the hall, and of Louis XIV and William and 

 Mary in the dining-room, were placed in the house by 

 Sir John Germain. 



The fine lay-out of the gardens and approaches 

 has been referred to. The iron gates are of great 

 beauty. The finest of these afford access to the wide 

 open space in front of the entrance gateway. On each 

 side of the middle gate, in the head of which is wrought 

 the shield of Howard impaling Mordaunt, are stone 

 gateposts crowned with figures of birds in allusion to 

 the crest of Mordaunt ; while Sir John Germain's 

 hawks crown the posts of the lateral gates. The date 

 MDCci is worked as a monogram into the heads of 

 some of the gates, and occurs elsewhere in the house. 

 Other gates were placed at the extremity of the east 

 garden, and at the top of the long incline of park in 

 front of the house. The iron railings of the stair to the 

 doorway of the hall, and of the stair from the east 

 front to the garden, are also of the same period. All 

 this work was probably designed by Tijou, to whom 

 the iron gates at Hampton Court are due. The east 

 garden is ornamented with a great profusion of lead 

 statues and vases, which form one of the largest col- 

 lections of the kind remaining ; these, like most 

 similar work of the day, probably came from the work- 

 shop of Van Noodt in London. 



LOfVICK formed part of the great fief 

 MANORS of the Bishop of Coutancesin 1086/ and 

 the overlordship passed after his for- 

 feiture to the Clares, later earls of Gloucester,* and 

 followed the descent of the overlordship of Thrapston 

 (q.v.). 



The under-tenants holding of the Bishop in 1086 

 were Edwin and Algar, who held 2 hides less one virgate, 

 which had increased in value from the time of Edward 

 the Confessor from 10s. to 25^.' Edwin's holding 

 possibly represented that of the Nowers (de Nodariis), 

 as he also held Stanion, which went with this holding, 

 while Algar also held Islip which went with Drayton 

 manor. In 1 2 17 Robert de Nowers presented to the 

 church.^" His successor Almaric was dealing with an 



' V.C.H. Norihanls. i, 3116. 



• Cal. Inq. iv, no. 435 ; Plae. de Quo 

 Warr. (Rec. Com.). 543. 



* y.C.H. Nortbanls. i, 311*. 



'» Rol. Hug. di Wtlles (Cant. &■ York 

 Soc), i, 13; Almaric, son of Ralph dc 

 Noweri, was holding landt in Nortbanti 

 in 1198-9, 1209 {Abhrev. Plac. Rec. Com. 



9, 61). Robert may have been son of 

 Ralph de Nowers, living 1211 [V.C.H. 

 Bucks, iv, 345, where the Noweri pedigree 

 is let out). 



