House and Garden 
DRAWING-ROOM — BROUGHTON CASTLE 
was a castle also held by the Lord of Broughton. 
1 he o-arrison was disaffected and the fortress sur- 
O 
rendered. Then the royal troops march on Brough¬ 
ton, and lay siege to it. You can still see in the 
park the remains of the earthworks thrown up by 
the Royal forces, and where the defenders hung 
hales of wool over the walls to deaden the impact 
of the cannon-halls. But all is of no avail. The 
place is too completely surrounded by hills. It 
surrenders, and is ruthlessly pillaged. The inhab¬ 
itants of Banbury learn the stern lessons of war 
and suffer at the hands of Prince Rupert’s 
troopers. 
They complain bitterly, and conclude “But that 
which touched us most is a warrant, under His 
Majesty’s hand, for the plundering of Lord Saye 
and Sele his house, demolishing of it, and invites 
the people to do it, with a grant unto them of all 
the material of the house.” “Old Subtlety” had, 
however, found his way so far into the hearts of 
the men of Oxfordshire that no man would touch 
a stone of the old castle, which remains until the 
present day to tell the story of those troublous 
times. Saye and Sele’s “Blue Coats” distinguished 
themselves in the long struggle, and their leader 
was not loved by the Cavaliers, who used to sing: 
“ Farewell Saye and Sele and hey, 
Farewell Saye and Sele and ho, 
And those sons of Ayman 
Shall hang as high as Hainan, 
With the old Anabaptists they came on, 
With a hey trolly lolly ho!’ ” 
We need not follow the fortunes of war further, 
save to note that the Lord of Broughton never 
agreed to the king’s murder, and when the Com¬ 
monwealth had run its course, was one of the first 
to bring back Charles 11 . The castle bears some 
traces of the change in the political opinions of 
its owner when “the king enjoyed his own again.” 
The long barrack-room where Cromwell’s troopers 
and the “Blue Coats” of Lord Saye and Sele used 
to sleep, was christened “Mount Rascal,” and 
on the beautiful angle lobby of the great dining¬ 
room the penitential words were placed: 
"Quod olim fiiit nicminissc miuimc jurat." 
Lord Saye and Sele became Lord Privy Seal. You 
can see his bag of office, with its C. R. upon it, 
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