SION 
monasteries and two thousand chapels and chantries suppressed by 
Henry VIII., was far too valuable a prize to be lightly given away 
when once the Abbey-breaker was in possession. He retained it 
in his own hands until his death ; and there his frail and unhappy 
fifth queen, Katherine Howard, was imprisoned for some time, 
prior to her trial and execution ; there also the King’s own body 
rested for a night, on its way from London to burial at Windsor. 
The young king, Edward VI., on his accession, presented the 
demesne, with its conventual buildings, to his uncle, the ‘‘ Pro- 
tector,” Edward, Duke of Somerset, who built the present house 
on the exact site of the renowned Monastery, which he seems first 
to have nearly razed to the ground. The palatial mansion that 
he erected, still stands, with little external alteration; but the 
interior has been almost entirely changed. It is surprising that 
there is little that is ancient in the general outward aspect, and 
even in the immediate surroundings, of Sion. The river has 
prevented all encroachments on its seclusion on the east side ; 
and although suburban London has advanced almost to the 
northern and eastern limits of the protecting walls of the park, 
it is so secluded that it is difficult to believe, on emerging from the 
long, dirty, narrow High Street of the ugly township of Brentford— 
until one suddenly comes upon the beautiful Adam’s gateway, which 
is the principal entrance—that between the high road and the 
river, lies an estate of many acres, with a house of imposing 
dimensions, the historic interest of which exceeds that of Holland 
House, for it began at a much earlier period of English history. 
This historic interest is not confined to Sion itself, and incident- 
ally I should mention that Turnham Green, a mile east of Sion, 
and Acton, or Oaktown, in its near neighbourhood, were the scenes 
of stirring events in the Parliamentary Wars, and hideous and 
unromantic as Brentford appears, it has had by no means an un- 
eventful history. Here, in 1016, Edmund Ironside is said by some 
authorities to have defeated the Danes, and in 1588, the closing 
year of Mary Tudor’s reign, six persons were burnt for holding, 
and propagating, Protestant opinions. Here also, more than half 
a century later, Prince Rupert routed two regiments of the Parlia- 
mentary Army, compelling the Parliament, in order to prevent 
King Charles from pressing onwards to London, to throw up 
fortifications, and to call out the Trained Bands, under the Earl 
97 7 
