THE ISLE OF WIGHT 245 



he first met Elizabeth Wallbridge, " the dairyman's 

 daughter." It is much to be regretted that this fine 

 old Jacobean manor-house, " the most considerable 

 and beautiful of the ancient mansions of the Island/ 7 

 was pulled down in the year 1820. Standing on an 

 elevated terrace beneath the south slope of Ashey 

 Down, it occupied a position of great charm and 

 beauty. Close by, in a wooded dell, on the margin 

 of a pool of clear water, were to be seen the remains 

 of a medieval chapel, dating back to the time of 

 Edward III. The mansion possessed a massive 

 square tower of great antiquity, and several rooms 

 of considerable dimensions adorned with oak panel- 

 ling and carved mantelpieces. In the long gallery 

 beneath the roof there stood " a very large oaken 

 chest, covered with rich niche-work and tracery, of 

 the time, probably, of Henry IV., and possessing the 

 original lock with tracery carved in iron." Nothing 

 now remains of the ancient structure, save a few 

 dilapidated outbuildings, and the massive piers of 

 grey stone some fifteen feet in height which mark 

 the entrance from the road. A portion, too, of the 

 garden wall remains, with its ancient coping of red 

 brick, on which the beautiful ivy-leaved Linaria grows 

 abundantly, with here and there a delicate wall-fern, 

 or a plant of the greater yellow celandine, or the 

 ploughman's spikenard. The spot beside the pool 

 where the chapel stood is now covered with the 

 buildings of the Ryde Waterworks, and a farmyard 

 occupies the site of the Jacobean mansion. One 

 wonders what became of the ancient chest of curious 

 design, and the dignified oak panelling which en- 

 riched the rooms. Some of the latter seems to have 

 found its way to a cottage in the village of Brading, 



