GARDENS OLD AN 7 !) NK\V. 



in the groining of the gate are seen St. Osyth's 

 head, and also the stag, and the Abbey seal of the 

 thirteenth century shows St. Osyth walking to the 

 door, carrying her head in her hands. The Normans 

 made up for stealing the Saxons' land by treating 

 their saints with great distinction, and in the year 

 1 1 1 8 King Henry I. consented that the Bishop of 

 London should found in honour of St. Osyth, and 

 also of St. Mary and the Blessed Apostles St. Peter 

 and St. Paul, a monastery of Augustinian canons. 

 This grew in wealth, endowments and renown, until 

 it had almost no rival in the Eastern Counties. The 

 last Abbot but one was named John Vintner. It 

 was he who in 1527, only twelve years before the 

 rapacious king seized the property of all the Abbeys, 

 caused the beautiful window to be built which now 

 adorns the great drawing-room of the house. This 

 stone oriel is set in a brick front, and unless it was 

 altered by the Lord Darcy who acquired the 

 property in the reign of Edward VI., it is a 

 very remarkable instance of the transition from 

 mediaeval to domestic Tudor work. In any case, 

 the date is almost the same as the building of 

 most of Wolsey's Palace of Hampton Court, 

 although a little later, and the modernity of it 

 is therefore not remarkable. The window, besides 

 the coats of arms of the Bishops of London and 

 other benefactors of the Priory, is adorned with the 

 device of Abbot Vintner, a bunch of grapes, a tun of 

 wine and the initials "J. V." This also appears in 

 the fine panelling of his day, which survives, and on 

 this is also carved St. Osyth's stag. The other parts 

 of the house were mainly built by the Lords Darcy, 

 or by the first of that title who occupied the estate. 

 How this came about is told by Mr. G. Biddell in 

 his account of the Priory. In July, 1539, the Abbot 

 and Canons were terrified into signing a deed sur- 

 rendering the Priory and all its property to the King, 

 who pensioned the Abbot and his inferiors, the 

 Abbot receiving about a seventh of the total revenue. 

 At that time a great part of the building, including 

 the gatehouse and great hall, was almost new. 

 Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, obtained a grant 

 of this splendid prize, but his execution shortly after- 

 wards led to its forfeiture to the Crown. Early in 



the next reign it was settled on the Princess Mary, to 

 whom, shortly after, other estates were given in 

 exchange, and it was sold to Lord Darcy, the King's 

 Chamberlain, for the ridiculous sum of rather less 

 than /.4,ooo. Lord Darcy converted it into the 

 house which we now see. His descendants increased 

 in riches and honour. Queen Elizabeth stayed with 

 his son twice at St. Osyth's. The third lord was 

 created Viscount Colchester by James I., and Earl 

 Rivers by Charles I. When he died his titles were 

 allowed to pass, together with the estates, by the 

 marriage of his daughter Elizabeth, to Sir Thomas 

 Savage of Melford Hall, which is described in the 

 second volume of this series. His widow, when he 

 died, was created by Charles I. Countess Rivers in 

 her own right. She was a staunch Royalist and Roman 

 Catholic, and owned not only St. Osyth's, but also 

 Melford Hall. The Colchester mob, at the outbreak 

 of the Civil War, attacked and sacked her house of 

 St. Osyth's and destroyed the furniture. She fled to 

 Melford, and there the local ruffians assaulted and 

 sacked this second house and killed all the deer. For 

 years afterwards the Earls Rivers preferred to live in 

 Cheshire, as, being Roman Catholics, they felt that 

 residence in Essex would be unpleasant. The last 

 Earl Rivers died in 1703, but his daughter, Lady 

 Bessie Savage, married the third Earl of Rochford, 

 who restored and refurnished the Priory as his 

 country seat. Marks of his son the fourth Earl's 

 occupancy remain in garden and park, such as a 

 Latin inscription, of 1740 date, on a stone gate- 

 pier, and two poplars mere remnants now which 

 Morant, the Essex historian, assures us were brought 

 by the Earl from Lombardy, and were the first of 

 their kind in England. These Rochfords were 

 Du'chmen, Nassau-Zulesteins, cousins of William III., 

 to whom they owed English tide and lands. The 

 fourth Earl was an Ambassador and a Knight of 

 the Garter, and twice entertained George III. at 

 St. Osyth's. His nephew ended the male line in 

 1830, and the Priory, after passing through the 

 hands of collaterals, was acquired in 1863 by Sir John 

 H. Johnson, whose care of the place, and especially 

 his restoration of the twelfth century Abbots' chapel, 

 are worthy of the greatest praise. 



