HAMSTEAD MARSHALL, BERKSHIRE 167 



possible that 

 the house 

 was partly 

 dismantled, 1 

 as were many 

 others in 

 similar cir- 

 cumstances, 

 notably 

 Holdenby 

 House. On 

 his return in 

 1660, or as 

 soon after- 

 wards as he 

 could, he set 

 about re- 

 storing his 

 home. He 

 preserved 

 the Jacobean 

 front, but 

 added a new 

 top story 

 and new 

 sides. The 

 drawing of 



the portico, which would be at the back of the house shown by 

 Kip, is dated 1662 ; that of the gate piers in the front wall is 

 dated 1663 (Fig. no), and those in the circular wall at the rear 

 1673 ; a ceiling is dated 1686. The baron's coronet indicates 

 that the work was done before the earldom was bestowed, which 

 was in 1663. The dates on the drawings suggest what one 

 might expect, that the house itself was first taken in hand, then 

 the garden walls and lay out, and subsequently the embellishment 

 of some of the chief rooms. 



If the history of the house is rightly conjectured, there 



1 This conjecture is strengthened by a reference of Evelyn's, who notes 

 that in going from Reading to Marlborough in June 1654 he saw "my 

 Lord Craven's house at Causam now in ruines, his goodly woods felling 

 by the rebels." 



FIG. in. Gate Piers at Hamstead Marshall. 



