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CHAPTER V. 



BELVOIR CASTLE AND THE GARDENS. 



A few general notes on the Castle and the gardens will 

 doubtless be acceptable to many of my readers and will ex- 

 plain to those who have not visited this place some of the 

 reasons why the Spring Flowers do so well here. 



The first castle of which any record remains was built by 

 Robert de Todeni, the founder of this estate, from whom 

 the present family trace their descent ; he was one of 

 William the Conqueror's chief nobles, and was presented by 

 the King with this site and a large tract of the surrounding 

 country. A representation of the Castle which he built is 

 still preserved on an old seal attached to a charter of property 

 granted to Belvoir Priory, which belongs to the early part of 

 the 1 3th century. This building seems to have remained 

 until the accession of Edward IV., when it was ruined by 

 Lord Hastings in 1461. He had come into possession of it 

 through the final triumph of the House of York over the 

 House of Lancaster, in the Wars of the Roses. The estate 

 continued in the possession of the Hastings' family more 

 than twenty years, when Henry VII. annulled the attainder 

 and restored it to the former owner. 



