Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 7.djvu/416

 408 NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. vu. may at, wis. It is true that the petition itself is undated (the date is supplied in the printed volume), but it is placed between two other petitions dated 24 August, 1663, and in State Papers Domestic Entry Book (vol. xiii. p. 352) is an entry, under date 24 August, 1663, in which the petition is referred to the Lord High Treasurer, who was to certify the King of the nature of the claim. It seems clear, therefore, that the date is that given in the printed Calendar: This disposes of Gerbier's being the architect of a house built 1662-5, unless it is meant that he merely supplied a design. His death at Hampstead Marshall might be held to show that he was there engaged on preliminaries for the rebuilding of the house, or its actual commencement. But that he carried it out can no longer be held, and the design of the existing gate piers may almost certainly be attributed to Wynne. The ' D.N.B.' (article ' Gerbier ') states that, " being unable to regain his position at Court, he [Gerbier] once more turned to architecture, and in 1662 supplied the designs for Lord Craven's house at Hampstead Marshall, in Berkshire, since destroyed by fire He died at Hampstead Marshall in 1667 while superintending the building of Lord Craven's house." This latter statement seems to be made on the authority of the inscription in the church, which is quoted in Lysons's ' Berkshire,' p. 286 ('D.N.B.,' article 'Craven, Lord'). Lysons states that "in 1662, the house built by Sir Thomas Parry having been pulled down, Sir Balthazar Gerbier began a stately pile of building." This takes no account of a house built in 1620 as mentioned by Mr. Blomfield, which he says was burnt; but it appears to be the opinion held locally, and finds expression in ' Kelly's Directory,' where it is stated that the manor house was built by Sir Thomas Parry. • On what authority, therefore, does Mr. Blomfield base his statement that Gerbier " is said to have designed the original house for Lord Craven in 1620 in imitation of Heidelberg" ? And at what date does the reference to Heidelberg first occur ? I cannot find it in Waipole. The ' D.N.B.' says that " it has been asserted " that at the time of the death of Elizabeth of Bohemia Lord Craven was building " a miniature Heidelberg " at Hampstead Marshal], which was to be con- secrated to the Queen, and reference is made to Miss Benger's ' Memoirs of Elizabeth Stuart' (1825), vol. ii. pp. 432-3. Lysons says nothing about " Heidelberg." As regards the date 1620, it seems im- possible that Lord Craven should then build a house at Hampstead Marshall—whether like Heidelberg or not—as in that year he- was only 14 years of age. The manor was sold in 1620 to his mother Elizabeth Craven, who died four years later. Did she build a house 1 and if so, did she pull down one then standing built by Sir Thomas Parry ? The first Sir Thomas Parry was granted the- manor in the autumn of 1560, and died 15 December of the same year, the estate passing to his elder son Thomas, who was- knighted in 1601, and died intestate, and without legitimate issue, in 1616. I am anxious to determine definitely the real facts concerning Hampstead Marshall house, the difficulties in connexion with which I have set out at length above. Were there three or two houses only on the site ? and if three, where can the evidence be found of the erection of the first two ? Moreover, which (if either) was the " miniature Heidel- berg," the house of 1620 or that of 1662 ? There is a reproduction of Kyp's engraving: in the article in Country Lile already referred to. . If a house was built in 1620 by Gerbier, it is possible that it was merely altered and enlarged in 1662, and such a view of the matter is to some extent borne out by Kyp's engraving, which shows the two lower stories of the east, or principal front, with a series- of square bay windows, two on either side of the porch, rather different in character from the upper part of the elevation, and from the long north and south wings—more, in fact, in the manner of " Heidelberg," if such an expression means simply an Eliza- bethan or early Jacobean style, as con- trasted with the more distinctly Renaissance or classic character of the rest of the build- ing, which, in Dallaway'swords,had "square windows dressed with architraves, like thoee at Whitehall." F. H. Ckeetham. Cotton Family. — I am preparing a genealogy of the Cotton family. About 1820 one Robert H. Cotton lived at Marham- church Mill. 1 believe bis wife was known as Philippa. One son, Robert H., after having married Anne, daughter of John Hicks, a Methodist minister, who resided in the neighbourhood, emigrated to America about 1861. The above John Hicks is said to have donated the necessary money for the erection of a church in his parish. I shall feel deeply indebted to any one who can give me any information concerning the ancestry of either Robert Cotton, sen., or John Hicks. L. J. Cotton. 605, South C Street, Richmond, Indiana.