ATHELHAMPTON HALL. 1 27 



passage running along one side. The enriched moulded plaster 

 ceiling and panelling are therefore modern. You will notice a 

 secret staircase in this room, hidden in the thickness of the wall. 

 A pair of boots worn by King Charles I. when a boy are 

 preserved in this room ; also a very fine first folio Shakespeare. 

 If I have said little of the contents of the house, its decoration, 

 furniture, and the many objects of interest it contains I am sure 

 you will forgive me, for I fear I have already taken up too much 

 of your time. I must not, however, fail to draw your attention 

 to the old " culver," or pigeon house, in itself sufficiently 

 interesting, but doubly so containing as it does the original 

 "potence," or internal revolving ladder a thing, I believe, 

 almost unique. 



In conclusion I must say a word as to the gardens. The walls 

 and two terraces of Ham Hill stone were begun in 1891, and, 

 incredible as it may seem, some forty thousand tons of stone 

 were used in their construction. The site was formally occupied 

 by cowsheds and dilapidated outbuildings. The ground then 

 surrounding the house was about three feet higher than its 

 present level, and the former owner told me it was no unusual 

 thing in stormy weather to be called up in the middle of the 

 night to assist in baling the water out of the hall. This, I am 

 happy to say, I have been able to completely remedy. To the 

 garden, or south, front of the house, you will notice I have added 

 a new gable and turret, corresponding with the old one on the 

 opposite side. This is practically the only new building that has 

 so far been completed. Of its fitness I must leave you to judge. 

 Eight years ago I found Athelhampton neglected, sadly ill-used, 

 and, may I say, hardly known. Since then I have restored and 

 altered much. If I have made mistakes I trust they are not such 

 as cannot be corrected, and I would ask you in making your 

 criticism to bear in mind that the house, gardens, and surround- 

 ings generally are still in a very unfinished state. 



