C'HTPCHASE CASTLE, NORTH TYNEDALE. 303 



either at Haughton Castle or Chipchase ; but it must be remem- 

 bered that these are unusual up to the reign of Edward II. 

 Traces of the ordinary medieval decoration of the interior walls 

 of castellated residences may still be seen in the tattered 

 fragments of mural Gothic paintings, especially in the third story 

 or family chamber. 



The later works, which belong to what we might term the 

 third period of the history of Chipchase, possess high interest 

 also in their way. Within the more modern Manor House, built, 

 as we have seen, by Cuthbert Heron in 1621, is a mantel- 

 piece, of the Jacobean age, or as some suppose, perhaps older. 

 It is an elaborate carving in black oak representing " The 

 March of Time," and is a noble effort of art, in deep relief, 

 presenting fine effects of light and shadow. This adorns the 

 " Music-room," as it is called, of the Castle, a lofty apartment, 

 used as the library, which has a richly -wrought and elaborately 

 ornamented cornice round the ceiling that compares favourably 

 with anything similar in the North of England. 



Passing from the interior to the exterior, it may be mentioned, 

 in connection with the fine entrance porch, that there is a tradi- 

 tion respecting the sculpture in relief on the pediment of the 

 pillars on each side. On the summit of the central part above 

 the doorway, and on some of the later bays (these handsome 

 windows were added by the Reed family), are very peculiar- 

 looking bears, erect on haunch, holding shields, all carved in 

 solid stone, which give a somewhat weird aspect to the sky line. 

 The Heron crest, a heron and an oak, figures above the shield, 

 with the three herons in the centre of the shield. And close 

 upon the steps on each side of the doorway is a sculptured panel 

 to which the tradition refers. That to the right is of original 

 work, a heron in a very conventional oak. That on the left 

 is more recent. The legend says that on the pediment of the 

 pillar on the right hand is represented a heron sitting on its 

 perch, a tree or bush, in its usual haunt, symbolizing the pros- 

 perous times of the Heron family. On the left hand the sculp- 

 ture is evidently of later date, the bird being more rudely carved ; 

 and it is represented as charging through a boundary fence, with 



