Page:The Victoria History of the County of Surrey Volume 3.djvu/38

 A HISTORY OF SURREY

��front to the north a fact that, with the sombre colour of the stonework, and the stone roofs, accounts for the somewhat gloomy aspect of the house. Early in the I yth century, however, a considerable addition was made by Sir George More, the son of the founder, in the shape of a western wing, which included a gallery 121 ft. long by 1 8 ft. wide, and a chapel. This wing, said to have been designed by the famous John Thorpe, was entirely removed about 1835, but more recently a low range of offices has been erected in the rear of the house. Built of Bargate stone rubble, with dressings of firestone or clunch, the main front consists of a series of gables and interspaces backed by the long line of the main roof and planned with a pleasing irregularity, to which the numerous stacks of brick chimneys contribute. The pedimental doorway is of classical design and of I yth-century date, but in all other respects the front exhibits its original features, most noticeable of which are the long ranges of mullioned windows, in groups of two, three, four, and six lights. The early character of the work is evidenced in these, which have elliptical heads to the lights and a hood-mould with returned ends, such as might have been employed in work fifty years older in date. The great window of the hall bay is very tall and of three tiers of eight lights, including those in the return walls. Among the other coats and badges preserved in its glazing are the arms of the More family, with the date 1563.

The rear of the house is not so imposing. At the south-east angle is a large projecting group of gables, and a garden porch of later character occupies the centre of the recessed portion, with smaller gables to the right and dormers in the roof over.

In the interior the drawing-room is remarkable for its elaborate frieze, on which appears the rebus of the More family, a mulberry-tree intertwined with the motto, Morus tarde Mortens Morum cito Moriturum. The room is panelled from floor to ceiling, and the latter is a fine specimen of plaster rib-work with pen- dants and devices framed in the geometrical patterns, among them being the cockatrice (which occurs in other rooms also), a bearing of the Mudge family, to which Sir William More's mother belonged. The great window of this room is of six lights, three on either side of a broad pier, which in the interior is finished as a carved console.

The stately mantelpiece, a masterpiece of delicate carving in hard chalk, may without exaggeration be placed among the finest things of its kind in England. The fireplace opening is spanned by a flat arch, with rusticated keystones, and flanked by caryatides and coupled Corinthian columns, which stand upon pedestals bearing swags of fruit. Above is a frieze of arabesque or strap pattern, surmounted by a modillion cornice : and the overmantel is formed of six panels enriched with scrolled cartouches, bearing coats of arms, and framed in by male and female caryatides holding up the carved frieze and cornice under the ceiling. 98 "

Many of the other rooms have panelling, ceilings, and other features of interest, and the character of the

��house has been admirably kept up by the successive generations of its owners.

In some of the upper rooms are fine tapestries, including a good specimen of the Mortlake Tapestry. There was at one time a collection of armour and weapons which were mostly exhibited in the great hall, but these have been removed, and their place is now taken by pictures, many of which are of great interest, such as those of James I and Anne of Denmark, painted in celebration of their visit to Sir George More in 1603 ; and the large painting of Sir William More-Molyneux with his wife Cassandra and all their children. Besides these there are in other parts of the house many portraits of the More and Molyneux families ; and, among royal and eminent personages, Edward VI, presented by Henry VIII to Sir Christopher More; Anne Boleyn; Queen Elizabeth, presented by herself to Sir William More ; and Sir Thomas More, who was, however, no connexion of this More family.

The finest collection of manuscripts of family, local, and public interest, which is preserved in any private house in Surrey, is at Loseley. Sir Christopher, Sir William, and Sir George More, the three generations of owners whose lives covered the time from the beginning of the 1 6th century till the early part of the reign of Charles I, were continually employed in the public service. The first was King's Remembrancer in the Exchequer, Sheriff and member for the county ; Sir William was at different times or simultaneously Sheriff, Deputy-Lieutenant, and member for the county or for Guildford, and Vice-Admiral of Sussex ; Sir George was Sheriff, Deputy-Lieutenant, member of Parliament, and also Lieutenant of the Tower, Chan- cellor of the Garter, and Treasurer to the Prince of Wales ; Sir William was also executor to Sir Thomas Cawarden, who was Master of the Revels from Henry VIII to the first year of Elizabeth, and kept his- papers. They were also stewards of manors, con- stables of the castle, and keepers of the chase at Farn- ham, and all of them active justices of the peace. In these various capacities they received a vast quantity of official correspondence, besides private letters from many persons of importance. The bulk of these let- ters is preserved in twelve volumes, but over and above there is a great mass of letters, accounts, memo- randa, Hundred Rolls and Court Rolls of Godalming Hundred and of many manors, deeds and printed pamphlets. The greater number belong to the Tudor reigns and the time of James I, but they extend earlier and later. Among them are letters and papers of Dr. John Donne (1573-1631), poet and Dean of St. Paul's, who was imprisoned in the Mar- shalsea for clandestinely marrying Anne daughter of Sir George More. Later papers of much in- terest are memorials of a tour in Spain in the i8th century. Mr. A. J. Kempe printed a small selection of papers in extenso in 1835." William Bray, the his- torian of Surrey, had previously had access to the papers. They have been catalogued, very incompletely,. for the Historical MSS. Commission." 3 Recently the whole has been deposited on loan at the Public

��961 The effect of thi chimneypiece and of the room generally ii admirably ren- dered in Plate LXXI of Nash' Mentions of Engl. in the Olden Times. It it point in common between Loseley and Wakehurit in Sussex that the latter also

��boasts a chalk mantelpiece. A good example of a small chalk chimneypiece is preserved in the old house which now forms the museum of the Surrey Archaeo- logical Society in Guildford. The panels in the great hall bear the badges of

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��Henry VIII and Catherine Parr, and are said to have been brought from Nonsuch. Palace.

Kempe, Lately MSS.


 * > Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vii.

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