I * 1 



EATON HALL, 



CHESTER. 



TML SEAT OF TMf 



DUttE OF WESTMINSTER 



w 



'HEN the Duke of West- 

 minster came into his 

 own, he succeeded to 

 a goodly heritage indeed. His ance^ors were mighty men 

 in ancient days, strong in counsel as in war, and perhaps 

 above all things else great huntsmen, and official Nimrods 

 in their time ; bearing now a name of famous meaning, 

 to which they have added many honours. For more than 





THE GATES OF THE Ml CHEN GAhDEN. 



a hundred years the st ihles of tlu-ir descendant! have 

 sheltered many a winner on the turf, and the association of 

 the Grosvenors with the sports and occupations of outdoor 

 life in the field is appropriate to tho^e in whose wins flows 

 the blood of the great Hugh Lupus. The late I hike did an 

 excellent thing when he commissioned Mr. (i. F. Watts, R.A., 

 to adorn the grounds of Katon Hall with the tine equestrian 

 statue of that historic huntsman, which, in its might and 



majesty, may well compare 

 n with the most tainous 

 equestrian figures of the Italian 

 Renaissance. 



baton Hall is a great and 

 imposing structure, possessing 

 the asp t -it ot st.itely mag- 

 nificence. There is nothing 

 merely picturesque in the 

 grouping or outline of the 

 structure. The ; had 



a somewhat singular architn- 

 tural history. In the 

 eighteenth century there 

 stood upon the site an old 

 brick house of plain character, 

 which had been built by Sir 

 Thomas Grosvenor about the 

 reign of William III. It Con- 

 sisted ot a central block, with 

 two advancing wings, and in 

 front of the house was a 

 forecourt, enclosed by raili -g> 

 of iron, and with a fountain in 

 the midst for its adornme t. 

 Such a structure might content 

 the age in which it was bu It, 

 hut when the romantic spu.t 

 passed through the land, and 

 men learned to look with 

 admiration upon the art of 

 their medisrval forefathers, it 

 fallowed almost necessarily 

 that a new mansion should 

 replace the old. In the 

 \ear iXoj, therefore, Earl 

 < ir svenor undertook the work 

 of rebuilding the house upon 

 the early foundations. A 

 ie tain Mr. PorJen was his 

 architect, and it is declared 

 that this gentleman's object 

 was " to adapt the rich 

 variety of our ancient ecclesi- 

 astical architecture to modern 

 domestic convenience." The 

 methods employed were 



