84 



Ambresbury Monastery. 



" Ambrosbury. A large body of a man found here, the thigh- 

 bone 21 inches. Saw tho Duke of Queensberry's • a Chinese House 

 and Bridge, and fine Canals in the gardens. In the House a grand 

 new Room and furniture, Chimney pieces, red and white marble : 

 the fable of the Stork and the Fox carved on them : Emblems of 

 Her Grace's hospitality. 1 The Barber the best cicerone in the 

 village." 



William fourth Duke of Queensberry died 1810 : and in 1824 

 his estate was purchased by Sir Edmund Antrobus, Bart. 



Ambresbury house was built by John Webb from the designs 

 of his master Inigo Jones. 3 Colin Campbell adopted Inigo 

 Jones's principles, and fixed "The Ambresbury type" as the man- 

 sion of the 18th century. The house has been renovated by Mr. 

 Hopper, architect. The church was restored in 1852 at the 

 expense of Sir Edmund Antrobus. 



In the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, vol. iv., p. 27, 

 are woodcuts of three curious old seals found at Ambresbury in 

 1843 : and in the Journal of the Archaeological Institute, vol. ii. 

 p. 194, are drawings of two memorial escutcheons with the initials 

 I. D., and K. D. in the church. 



Ambresbury was in 1188 the birthplace of Ela Devereux, heiress 

 of the Earls of Sarum, and foundress of Lacock Abbey in Wilts, 

 and Henton Charterhouse Abbey, co. Somerset. That part of the 

 estate which belonged to her family was called Ambresbury Comitis 

 or Earl's. 



In his history of the Hundred of Ambresbury, Sir R. C. Hoare 



has omitted to mention that the Hundred included some outlying 



portions of co. Wilts, lying within co. Berks., viz., part of Shinfield, 



(alias Dydenham) comprising an old manor of Beaumys or Beames ; 



Hinton and Haines Hill, in Hurst ; Swallowfield, including Farley, 



and Sheepridge : and Wokingham, some part. J. E. J. j 



1 Lady Catherine Hyde, daughter of Henry, Earl of Clarendon and Rochester, 

 the "Kitty, beautiful and young" of Prior's Ballad, "The Female Phaeton." 

 For an account of her see Burke's Romantic Records, vol. ii., p. 31. As one of 

 the three coheiresses of Henry Earl of Clarendon in 1753, (the other two being 

 the Countess of Essex and lady Mary Forbes), she succeeded to one third share 

 of the great Lord Clarendon's pictures. 



2 "Walpole's Anecdotes of Painters, &c, iii., 168. 



