THE BRAES OF DERWENT COUNTRY. 79 



Street, which it joins seven miles north and twenty miles 



to the south. Hard by axe two farms with histories, Hole 



House and Wharnley Burn, once the property of the Maddison 



family, which came to an end in the persons of two bachelor 



brotiieirs, o^ne ol whom was Postmast^ir-General more than one 



hundred and twenty years ago, and the other Under-Secretary 



for Foreign Affairs in 1782, and Secreta.ry of Legation when 



the Peace of Paris was signed a year later. All that remains 



of Hole House is one corner of the original building, which 



is now used as a farmhouse, but even in this there is a secret 



room, and the walls are of immense age. The Maddison 



property went to the Greenwells of Broomshields through a 



sister of the celebrities just mentioned, and many years ago 



a lot of their old Court costumes were taken out of an old 



press to use in private theatricals, but the clothes of both 



brothers were so small that no one except a boy of fourteen 



could wear them, and John Greenwell — whose middle name 



was Maddison — decided that neither of the brothers could 



have had an ounce of sport' in him, or he never would have 



left such a beautiful spot as Hole House to enter into the 



political world. Wharnley Burn is famous for the fact that 



one of the last of the Mosstroopers lived, and died there in 



1714, but was denied " Christian sepulture," and is buried 



beneath a tree on the bank above the river. Anotlier 



Maddison, always called Mad Maddison, who lived some three 



hundred years ago, was, in his descendant's opinion, a real 



sports-man, for, having broken all the laws of his country, he 



was declared outlaw by the Bishop of Durham, who sent a 



troop of horse to Shotley Bridge, v^rith orders to bring 



Maddison back with them. This they succeeded in doing, 



but their arrival was unexpected, and Maddison, who lived at 



Shotley Hall, had to bolt from a side entrance to the house. 



He succeeded in getting a horse from one of his tenants, ana 



gave the troop a rare run, but his horse, probably out ot 



condition, stood still at Muggleswick Parli, some seven or eight 



miles away. Even when dismounted Maddison beat his 



pursuers for a time on foot, but they caught him at the Sneep, 



and hailed him to Durham, where he paid the penalty for his 



crimes. The present Shotley " Old " Hall is built on the site 



of Mad Maddison' s house, which is about three miles lower 



down the stream than Allansford. 



