138 



G/1RDKNS OLD AN 11 NklV. 



Manor is a very charming and satisfactory example of the 

 architecture appropriate to a garden and e:tate. The picture 

 brings it before the reader to the very life. 



There is particular pleasure in publishing th^se pictures. 

 They represent the house under the happiest circumstances, 

 and a study of their features should be a lesson and an expe 

 rience to him \\-ho examines them. He may mark in one of 

 them ihe very footsteps of the artist upon the dewy grass on 

 that early morning of summer when the pictures wer_ j taken. 

 There is an inexpressible delght in those floral borders leading 

 up to the exquisite structure of the house. The green lawn 

 creeping up to 

 the wall at the 

 end of the build- 

 ing, where the 

 low, broad tower 

 of tlie church of 

 SS. Mary and 

 Bartholomew, 

 dating from 

 Norman to Per- 

 pendicular times, 

 is seen rising in 

 the background, 

 completes a pic- 

 ture not easily 

 surpassed. Ihe 

 shadowy walks 

 between the tall 

 hedges, the 

 radiant region 

 which lies below 

 the terrace, the 

 glori us prospect 

 of wood and 

 sky, disclosed 

 from the porch 

 ;Mid the windows 

 of the n an.Mon 

 t h e s e are 

 among some ot 

 the n. any n.eri.s 

 of this delightful 

 house in the 

 We-t Country. 

 The church at 

 C r a ii bo r n e , 

 which has been 

 alluded to, is one 

 of the largest 

 and most 

 dignified in the 

 county, with 

 Norman 

 w a y , 

 Early 

 w o r 1< 

 sevi ral 



a 



door- 

 m uch 

 English 

 a n d 

 notable 



monuments, 

 while ihe p.iri. 1 -!! 

 ( f u hich it is 

 the mother 

 cl urch is s< me 

 forty miles 

 in c i r c u m - 

 ference. Here, 

 anciently, was a Benedictine Priory, which lost ;-o:ne of 

 its importance when its monks were reduced upon the rebuild- 

 ing of Teu kesbury Priory. There are other ancient features 

 hereabout. I hus, on Castle Hill, rising about a mile south- 

 east, is a great and lofty mound, with a semi-circular rampart 

 andadcrp fosse behind, which is reckoned very remaikable 

 amorg ancient earthworks. History is written broadly on the 

 f.ice of the land. 



'I hi re was, of cour>e, in ancient limes a lordly -dwelling- 

 place at Cranborne, v. here resided the lord of th.it great chase 



THE SOUTH PORCH. 



or forest which had for its early limits Salisbury, W Iton, 

 Tisbury, Kingsettle near Shaftesbury, BlanJford, Wimbome, 

 Ringwood, Fordingbridge, and L'ownton. 't was a Koya! 

 possess! -n granted out to great nobles. The Earl of Glou. ester 

 had it, but it was in the hands of the Crown in the reign of 

 John. Old Aubrey, gossiping, mwc SIM, of the country and 

 the things he heard in his journeying, says Roger Moi timer 

 owned it, having his castle at Cranborn?, and " if these oakes 

 were vocall as Dodona's, some of the old dotards (old stagge- 

 headed oakes, so-called) could give us an account of the amours 

 and secret whispers between this great Earle and faire Queen 



Isabell." ~ The 

 chase remained 

 with the Crown 

 from Edward IV. 

 to James I., and 

 the latter 

 monarch granted 

 it to the Earl of 

 Pembroke, fro n 

 whom it pissed 

 through several 

 noble families 

 to Earl Rivers, 

 to who m 

 General Lane- 

 Fox succeeded. 

 It was a green 

 and shadowy 

 region, prized for 

 vert and 

 venison, where 

 often t.ie hunts- 

 m a n would 

 " drive the deer 

 with h >und and 

 h m." 



' Mi-rry it is in 

 tin- j; o.l green 

 \-,<\, 



\V;;eu tin; mavis 

 and nr He are 

 singing," 



trolled the old 

 balladist when 

 he heard the 

 huntsman's 

 horn. I rue was 

 his song of those 

 privilege J to be 

 merry in the 

 forest, but a 

 hard law lay 

 upon others 

 within the 

 bounds, whic i 

 caused the 

 fi -rests of the 

 king an. I the 

 great nob'es to 

 be looked upon 

 as the abodes 

 of cruelty. It 

 was a condition 

 of English life 

 long since passed 

 away, and in 

 these days it is hard to realise the important part forest- 

 land played in rural economy in ancient times, when s-j 

 much depended upon the chase. Even in Bede's day, 

 the mighty Andred's Weald stretched for 120 miles from 

 Hampshire to the Medway, while the counties to the 

 west were thickly overgrown, and vast woods covered what 

 are now the Midland counties and stretched away right into 

 the North. It was as much a capital offence to kill a sta-j; 

 as to kill a man, and by lash or fine the unsuccessful hunt-.- 

 man was rewarded. Within the bounds no bows mijit be 



