154 



GARDENS OLD AND 



and crypt is supposed to be 

 about 1340; the chapel, from 

 having Sir Richard Clement's 

 arms and the badge of the 

 Tudors, appears to date from 

 1520 or thereabouts ; the arms 

 of the Selbys in the hall with 

 the motto "Fort et Loyal," 

 and on the tower, also indicate 

 the date of Henry VIII. or 

 later. There still remains in 

 Ightham Church the monu- 

 ment of Dame Dorothy Selby, 

 who died in 1641, and of 

 whom her wondrous epitaph 

 avers that she frustrated Guy 

 Fawkes. Her "curious 

 needle" 



"Turned the abused str.ge 

 Of this lewd world into the 

 golden age," 



whilst her nimble wit enabled 

 her to read a veiled letter to 

 Lord Monteagle for the un- 

 doing of deluded Guy. And 

 then, as if to confute the 



doubter, behind Dame Dorothy's 1-ead is a carving wherein 

 we see the Pope, in conclave with cardinals, monks, and the 

 devil, instructing the traitor, while ships are discerned making 

 towards England, and the Houses of Parliament are depicted 

 with the faggots, powder-kegs, plotter, and lantern in the cellar. 

 Even odd conceits and unveracious histories like thes : 

 add something to the interest of Ightham Mote. Romance 

 undoubtedly belongs of right to the place, as you feel when you 

 traverse the garden and cross the substantial structure which 

 has replaced the drawbridge that of old spanned the water. 

 Here is the embattled and turreted tower with the 

 gateway, and the flanking buildings rising sheer from 

 the moat. Through the archway we are really in another 

 world, with the great windows of the hall and the loveliest 

 of enriched gables and oriels looking upon the sunny 

 space v.ithin, while the graces of foliage and blossom 



Copyright. 



A GENERAL VIEW. 



' Country Lite." 



cling fondly to the ancient walls, and touch with brighter 

 colour their venerable tones. The hall, the famous 

 domestic chapel, and the apartments are all exceedingly 

 interesting, and from their deeply splayed windows look either 

 into the courtyard or across the glistening moat to the garden 

 and the fair country beyond. In olden times tradition says 

 that 300 horses were stabled in the quaint building opposite 

 to the entrance tower across the moat. These stables and 

 out-buildings form another quadrangle, built entirely of 

 timber in Elizabethan times, and are wondrously picturesque 

 to the eye. 



A house such as Ightham Mote must needs have a beautiful 

 garden. If the gardens had been of formal character there 

 would have been nothing unsuitable, but it cannot be gainsaid 

 that the scenes we depict are tilled with a sweeter and most 

 appropriate charm. The surrounding moat gives the character, 



Copyright. 



THE STABLES FROM THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 



