GARDENS OLD AND NEW. 



to build nobly, that he was a favourite both with the 

 Lancastrians and the Yorkists throughout the Wars of 

 the Roses, and doubtless amassed money. He was 

 steward of Havering atte Bower, steward of Hadleigh 

 Castle and of the Forest of Essex, and he died in 1494. 

 It is stated on good authority that " part of the house 

 is ancient, supposed to be of the fifteenth century," 

 and part " modern imitation." But though this 

 omits the part built at known dates in the seventeenth 

 and eighteenth centuries, it does connect the oldest 

 part with the periods with which we have ventured to 

 compare it. " The details are peculiar, and appear 

 earlier than the generality of moulded brick buildings. 

 Some suppose it to have been built by Sir John 

 Montgomery about 1440." The recent discovery of 

 the licence to crenellate already alluded to very remark- 

 ably bears out this view quoted by Mr. Hudson 

 Turner. There is here none of the Renaissance work 

 which distinguishes our next subject, which was built 

 some thirty years after Sir Thomas died. 



If the above surmises as to the date of the older 

 part of Faulkbourne are correct, they will apply in 

 the main to the north-east tower and corner. The 

 rest of the building is of later date, and the whole of 

 the fenestration of the older portions has been at times 

 tampered with, though much of the extreme modernity 

 of their present appearance arises from the plate-glass 

 with which many of the mullioned windows are filled, 

 causing them to look of much later date even than 

 the sashes. The Fortescue family, who had held the 

 estate since Alice Montgomery married John Fortescue 

 at the close of the fifteenth century, sold it in 

 1637 to Sir Edward Bullock of Loftes in Essex. 

 Seven generations of Bullocks held the place before 

 they parted with it in 1897. A little later it was 

 acquired by Mr. Christopher Parker, the present 

 possessor. The Bullocks seem to have added to or 



renewed various parts of the buildings from time to 

 time. The metal vanes, which are such conspicuous 

 ornaments on the pinnacles, bear their initials and 

 various dates, from the E. B. of the first owner, with 

 the date 1666, to J. B. in 1786. Some of the rain- 

 water heads have the initials E. M. B. 1693, and the 

 gables and original sash windows of the charming and 

 untouched east front are clearly of about this date. 

 The illuminated shields of the family decorate the 

 panels, and their coats-of-arms some of the windows. 

 In the part built by the Bullocks is a very fine 

 oak staircase with steps 6ft. wide. Speaking generally, 

 the north and halt the east elevations represent the late 

 fifteenth century and sixteenth century house, while 

 the rest is of various periods from 1666 to 1786, 

 with some modern addition. The gardens, like those 

 of Gosfield Hall, contain some fine cedars, though 

 less in size than those at the latter house, while 

 running water by the north-east tower takes the place 

 of the still moat, so commonly dug round East 

 Anglian houses, and lends great charm and character 

 to the grounds. The grouping of trees and architec- 

 ture, relieved by the placid lily-dappled water, where 

 it lies in a still sheet before plunging over the weir, 

 makes an admirable picture. The surrounding 

 country is of the usual highly cultivated, but prettily 

 enclosed, Essex type, with abundance of good timber 

 in the fences, corn and clover fields, and good farm- 

 houses, forming in the aggregate that attractive land- 

 scape which speaks so eloquently of the long and 

 enduring peace and tranquillity enjoyed by the 

 cultivators of rural England during the centuries 

 when they enjoyed freedom alike from invasion and 

 civil war. Faulkbourne Hall itself, by its ancient 

 and partly fortified tower, probably recalls the latest 

 days when fear of a possible enemy dictated any of 

 the forms of English domestic architecture. 



THE S7AHLES. 



