94 



The Forty-Fifth General Meeting. 



Coleshill House ) To y e future Owners of this Ho built for 



31 Dec. 1748. j S 1 Geo. Pratt B l in 1650 by Inigo Jones 



Rebuild y e Cupola, case it w th lead & restore its scrolls 

 restore y e wooden Balustrade, let y e Base penetrate y e Balusters & not vice versa. 

 Dry slatt y e roof & gutters. Never lessen or weaken y e Jambs of y e Windows 

 & Chimneys. Ye 4 middle Stacks w ch are 5 — 4. by 5 — 4 project on decay'd Oak 

 8 inches to y e NW & 8 to y e S.E. if ever they fail, rebuild y m without timber 

 or diminucon supporting each projection w th an arch like that on y e Angular 

 Stacks w ch (being originally 6 — 4 by 6 — 4 & projecting only inwardly on Oak) 

 inclined 15 inches & were thus rebuilt for S r Mark Pleydell B l in 1744 by y e 

 direct 5 of y e Earls of Burlington & Leicester. 1 



Be careful of y e Aqueduct & its Spring discovered 21 Feb y 1743 at 96 yards 

 bey d y e Pump-ho after mining 4 mo at a venture & producing hitherto in 24 

 ho s in y e lowest Ebb 20 & in y e highest Flow 160 Hhds of y e best water by w ch 

 you are deliv d from extream scarcity even of y e worst & pay due regard to 

 Chambers's Diction y & to ye memory of Jonathan Barret who w th no other 

 instruction & with 1 any experience, open'd it a passage thro rocks damps So 

 falling sands often buried & once on 4 Feb. 1744 for 3 ho s at y e bottom of y 

 Northern Well under 9 perpendicular f* of stones. This Aqued* whose arch 

 extends a quarter of a measured mile begun 27 Oct r . 1743 at 53 y ds bey d y e 

 Pump-ho was perfected 19 Feb. 1745 at y e expense of L , including y* 



Fountains & other conseq 1 alteracons in y e Gardens & Offices (4 s being then y e 

 medium price of a bushel of Wheat.) Y e dryness or moisture of y e Stone Wall 

 bey d y° East ^ mine has hitherto presaged like a Weather glass y e degrees of 

 y e ensuing Ebb or Flow. Y e Flow has hitherto begun in Jan*, y e Sumer Ebb 

 in May, & y e Autumn in Sep r . Each Flow has lost one third in y e 1 st Ebb, 

 another in y e 2 d & sometimes more. Springs may be stop>p'd w th their own 

 Gravel till y° remove it. Y e Springs of Pidwell and Tinwell may be lower'd, 

 perhaps to great advantage and conducted to y e Northern Well. Y e Brickpipe 

 if loaded w th 4 f l of earth would probably carry water ascending. 



There is one room with Elizabethan panelling, apparently from 

 the earlier house, but otherwise the grand double staircase in 

 the hall, the fireplaces, and the elaborate (if somewhat heavy) 

 ceilings, are all of the date of the. house itself, and good examples 

 of the style of the time. The beautiful rose garden — just then at 



1 This plate shows that Papworth is wrong when he says that the house was 

 built in 1650 for Sir Mark Pleydell. 



