142 FOKD ABBEY. 



here completed, as he died Anno 1654. We can trace the altera- 

 tions very distinctly, and it is fortunate that the splendid front was 

 not more mutilated. The square windows to the state rooms in 

 the western wing of the building are most incongruous with those 

 of the hall adjoining, which are in the Tudor style. There can 

 hardly, however, be a doubt that the house was very indifferent in 

 accommodation for a family of note ; and Mr. Prideaux must have 

 spent enormous sums in the alterations, for the internal decorations 

 are of the most magnificent description. Ford Abbey was saved 

 from the destruction with which so many other mansions were 

 visited during the civil wars and commonwealth, owing to the 

 fortunate circumstance of its being the residence of Mr. Attorney- 

 General Prideaux. He did not, however, live long after finishing 

 his house to enjoy it, the date of the completion of the grand 

 staircase being 1658, and he dying 8th August, 1659, having been 

 made a Baronet by Cromwell the year before. He was buried in 

 the chapel adjoining the house."* He was succeeded in his 

 estates by his son, Edmund Prideaux, Esq. (Cromwell's titles were 

 not admitted after the Restoration), who married in his father's 

 lifetime (1655) Amy Fraunceis, co-heiress of John Fraunceis, of 

 Combe Florey, co. Somerset. Edmund Prideaux was a highly 

 educated gentleman, having for his tutor the celebrated divine, 

 Archbishop Tillotson. 



In 1680 the Duke of Monmouth paid him a visit at Ford Abbey, 

 where he was hospitably entertained. In the following year he 

 was elected M.P. for Taunton, and in 1685, being suspected of 

 treason, was committed to the Tower, from which he was only 

 released upon payment of .15,000 to Judge Jeffreys, to whom the 

 king had "given him as a present." Upon the accession of 

 William III., Mr. Prideaux presented a petition to Parliament, 

 which Mrs. Allen gives in full, praying to be reimbursed from the 

 estate of Jeffreys the 15,000 he had paid the Chancellor for the 

 Royal pardon, but the application was not successful. 



Mr. Prideaux, who died intestate in 1702, had one son, 

 * Mrs. Allen's History of Ford Abbey. 



