CHAPTER II 



PARENTAGE 



THE situation of Sedbury (plate I.), rising to an elevation of 

 about 170 feet between the Severn and the Wye, opposite 

 Chepstow, was very beautiful, and the vegetation rich and 

 luxuriant. My father purchased the house and policy 

 grounds from Sir Henry Cosby about 1826, and it was our 

 home till his death in 1873. He retained Tyldesley, his 

 other property in Lancashire, with its coal mines, but we 

 did not reside there, as the climate was too cold for the 

 health of my mother and for the young family. 



[The original purchase was called Barnesville, and earlier 

 still Kingston Park, and it consisted of a moderate-sized villa 

 with the immediately adjoining grounds. The property was 

 added to by purchases from the Duke of Beaufort, and it 

 was renamed Sedbury Park after the nearest village. To the 

 house the new owner added a handsome colonnade about 

 10 feet wide, and a spacious library. Sir Robert Smirke, 

 the architect of all the improvements, was the man who 

 designed the British Museum, the General Post Office, &C. 1 

 Barnes Cottage on the property, at one time ' Barons 

 Cottage,' was kept in habitable repair because it secured 

 to the estate the privilege of a seat in church.] 



About sixteen miles from Sedbury Park are still to be seen 

 the interesting ruins of the Great Roman station of this part 

 of the country, Caerwent or the white tower, the Venta 

 Silurum of Antonine's " Itinerary." 2 Its trade and military 



1 About that period it was the practice for men who became leading 

 architects to undergo a thorough classical training, including a 

 lengthened course of practical study on the continent of Europe the 

 results of which are in evidence in so many public buildings then 

 erected in London. 



2 See George Ormerod's Strigulensia, Archaeological Memoirs relating 

 to the district adjacent to the confluence of the Severn and Wye (1861). 



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