GARDENS OLD A\ : D 



1 beg my bread, and as for pension 1 care for none." Death 

 soon afterward-; released her from the humiliation of surrender. 

 Joan Darell, the last prioress, was more pliant, and surren- 

 dered to Henry Vlll., December 4th, 1540. 



According to Tanner, the Abbey Lands were given to the 

 Earl of Hertford, afterwards the Protestor Somerset, and after 

 liis execution were probably gr.mted to Irs son, Edward Earl of 

 Hertford, by Elizabeth This Lord Hertford lived at Amesbury, 

 and h s tomb is in Salisbury Cathedral. His second wife was 

 Francis, daughter of Lord Howard of Blindon. She had 

 previously been engaged to Sir George Rodney of Rodney- 

 Stoke, but jilted him for Lord Hertford. Sir George Rodney 

 was heart-broken. He followed Lady Hertford to Amesbury, 

 and sat up all one night writing verses to her w th his own 

 blood, and finally " fell upon his sword and died." 



Amesbury Church still possesses the bell given by Lady 

 Hertford, which bears the following inscription : 



" lie s! rouge in faythe, Prayes God well, 

 Francis, Countess Hertford's bell." 



The property of Amesbury passed by marriage, sale, and 

 inheritance respectively to the 

 families of Aylesbury, Boyle 

 and Queensberry, Henry Lord 

 Carleton (the owner before the 

 Queensberrys) leaving it by 

 will to his nephew, Charles 

 Duke of Queensbe'ry, in 1724, 

 who marrit-d the beautiful 

 Lady Catharine Hyde in 1720. 

 She was the Kitty of Prior, 

 and Gay Prior's ballad on her 

 is well known. It begins : 



'Thus K'tly, beautiful and younjj, 



And wild as colt untani'd, 

 I! 1 , s; okt' the Fair from whence she 

 sprung 



With li tie ra^e inflain'd. 

 ' Inflain'd with rage at snd restraint 



Which wise mamma ordained, 

 And sorely vex'il to play the saint 



Whilst wit and beauty reigned." 



The poet Gay was her 

 especial friend and protege. 

 Opposite t > the present dwell- 

 ing-lKuseis a grassy bank 

 sloping to th- river flowing 

 below cut into fanciful shapes 

 resembling the facets of a 

 diamond, and in this bank is 

 set a sort of stone room en- 

 closed by wrought-iron gates, 

 a beloved haunt of the pcet 

 when at Amesbury. He is 

 said to have written the words 

 of the " Beggar's Opera" 

 here, and the recess is still 

 called Gay's Cave. The old 

 house, inhabited by the 

 Queensberrys, was built by 

 John Webb (architect, born 1611), frcm designs by his uncle, 

 Inigo Jones, in the Palladian style beloved by him, and an 

 engraving and plans of it may be f^und in " Vitrivius 

 Bntannicus," pag- 7, Vol. 111. The beautiful entrance gate 

 piers, now standing at Ame.-bury, are by Webb. The 

 magnificent bridge, one of the finest garden features in 

 England, spanning the river Avon in the pleasure grounds 

 is later than Webb (1777), and is a lovely object amid its 

 sylvan surroundings. It is known kcally as Bannister Bridge 

 i.e., Baluster Bridge. 



The Duchess of Queensberry died in 1777, and the Duke 

 in the following year, the title descending to his cousin, William 

 Earl of March, in 1778. He succeeded his cousin Charles as 

 fourth Duke of Queensberry, and in 1786 was created a British 

 peer, taking the title of Baron Douglas of Amesbury. This 

 Duke of Queensberry was commonly known by the nickname 

 of " Old Q." He died unmarried in 1810, the estates passing 

 to Archibald, Lord Douglas of Douglas, whose executors sold 



A SUNDIAL. 



them to Sir Edmund Antrob'.is in iS.q A:nesbury HVJ<;P 

 remained uninhabited during a period of sixty years (for " Old 

 Q." never lived there, though he sent orders from time to 

 time to his steward for the cutting down of trees). At one 

 time Sir Elijah Impey was tenant, and at another some French 

 nuns occupied it for a while. 



Sir Edmund Antrobus's grandfather, upon inheriting 

 Amesbury from his uncle, \vi-hed to restore and enlarge the 

 house, but on examination, finding it to be eaten through with 

 dry rot, decided to pull the old place down and build a new 

 mansion in its place closely resembling the old, and in the 

 same Palladian style. 



The present Amesbury Abbey stands in a small but pretty- 

 park, through which the Christchurch Avon flows. Sorrow's 

 I avengro stopped to gize over the parapet of Amesbury town 

 Bridge at the river below; thus : "Presently I p:\ssed by a 

 church which rose indistinctly on my right hand; anon there 

 was the rustling <f foliage and the rushing of waters. 1 

 reached a bridge." Thick beeches and Lombardy poplars 

 flourish in the district, and a fine beech avenue leads 



through the wood which 

 crowns Vespas ; an's Camp, 

 beyond which stretches the 

 old deer park one no 

 more with its beech clumps 

 and expanse of rolling 

 down on either side. It 

 terminates in a little copse 

 by the hi^h road, passing 

 through which one catches 

 a first distant glimpse of 

 Stonehenue. 



One of the finest 

 deciduous cypresses in 

 England overshadows the 

 Chinese Temple Summer- 

 house, a minhture building 

 of exquisite proportions, with 

 delicate columns and b.ilus- 

 trading, built across an arm 

 of the river. To the east of 

 the park is a spK ndid old 

 flint wall, in which are 

 wrought-iron gates, with 

 rusticated stone pillars, once 

 an entrance. At either end 

 stand two curious old houses. 

 The house nearest the village 

 is called Kent Hou<e, and 

 bears the date 1607. The 

 other by the river has ihe 

 inscription carved in stone 

 over the doorway " Di.m i 

 her Hovs, 1600." Mr. Blom- 

 field, in his char m i n g 

 " Renaissance Architecture in 

 England," cites this garden- 

 house as a good example of 

 the fancifully designed buildings which delighted the architects 

 of 1600. These houses are. built of stone and squared (lints. 

 and are of the finest workmanship, and similar to the 

 tliiv-work found in Suffolk churches of the fifteenth 

 century. To Kent House the Duchess of Queensberry 

 added a remarkable octagon room, with a da ry b.low, with 

 brick fan vaulting. 



The present dwelling-house of Amesbury Abbey (rebuilt 

 by Hopper, 18-4) is an impressive building, and closely follows 

 Webb's plan. It is of O ilmark stone, and consists of a 

 basement storey, with Corinthian columns abjve. On the 

 south front is a pediment to the loggia ; an attic storey on the 

 east and west sides with floriated vases ; over the centre rises 

 a stone balustrading, which might be completed by a dome. 

 The whole is beautifully weathered in grey and golden lichens. 

 Inside the house only a fine marble chimney-piece with 

 columns and some carved panelling remain of Webb's 

 designing. 



