216 



GARDENS OLD AND NEW. 



Countiy Ltjt..' 



FROM THE SOUTH-WEST. 



to which he rose, and also, we may say, from the suggestive 

 fact that, when Worksop Priory was desecrated, lie obtained 

 permission to remove to Barlborough Church, where it may 

 now be seen, the monument of Joan, the daughter and heiress 

 of William, Lord Furnival, who carried vast estates to her 

 husband, Sir Thomas Nevile, and was the mother of another 

 heiress who married the famous John Talbot, the Talbot of 

 Shakespeare, who fell at Chatillon. 



Those, therefore, who stood prominent in the sounding 

 times of Elizabeth, lived in this beautiful and dignified mansion, 

 which is a place of many interests besides those which belong 

 to its beautiful gardens. It may be compared with its neigh- 

 bours, Bolsover and Hardwick, both built by famous " Bt;ss 



Copyright. 



1HB NORIH-EAST VIEW. 



of Hardwick," and seems, as it were, to occupy a place 

 midway between the two, for it has neither the castellated 

 aspect of the former, nor the spacious, lightsome character of 

 the latter. Yet, in a real sense, it typifies its age better than 

 either, for the day of the castle was over, and the influence 

 of modern ideas, which seems manifest in Hardwick, had th^n 

 in few places exercised a well-marked sway. 



It is not in any way surprising to find Barlborough Hall 

 so very remarkable in itself. Here, indeed, is the visible 

 presentment of the time in which it was built. We feel that 

 the modern hand had no right of intrusion in such a place, 

 that it would be something of a sacrilege if aught should break 

 the quaint historic charm. And, as a matter of fact, the house 



externally has practically been 

 left untouched ; it remains as 

 it left the hands of its builders, 

 with ancient features unim- 

 paired. The centuries have 

 passed over it, leaving upon 

 it little mark save that of the 

 kindly hand of Age, which 

 has clothed it with mosses, 

 and touched its grey stone 

 with the tender greens that 

 are the vesture of the eld. 

 Within, however, many 

 changes have been made, 

 especially in the lower part of 

 the structure, and much has 

 been modernised. 



If much of ancient Barl- 

 borough Hall, therefore, 

 remains untouched, notably 

 the splendid south front, we 

 cannot say the same of some 

 of its surroundings. The 

 utilitarian needs of the coal- 

 fields have shadowed that 

 district with features the 

 reverse of beautiful, and the 

 pits that are in the vicinity 



Lilt." 



