WOLFETON HOUSE
By Albert Bankes
HE present Wolfeton House, in the parish of Charminster, in the county of Dorset, is known to have been built by John, father of Sir Thomas Trenchard, during the reign of Henry VII.; but as the property was acquired by the Trenchard family (through marriage) from the Jurdains, and previously the Jurdains had obtained the house and land (also through marriage) from the Mohun family, it is quite clear that a house of some description must have existed on the same site as that of the present residence.
Some archæologists consider that the gatehouse is decidedly of the Norman period; so, should that be the case, probably the house inhabited by the Jurdains, before them by the Mohuns, was built soon after Norman Conquest.
A date is still to be seen on the north side of the north tower, but whether that refers to the actual building of the towers, or only to some portion that had been rebuilt or restored, is not known.
Wolfeton House.
In a note attached to the pedigree of Trenchard it is stated that the first Sir Thomas Trenchard rebuilt the house at Wolfeton as it now stands, except some addition made by Sir George Trenchard; and there seems no reason to doubt this statement, for a study of the existing house shows very clearly two distinct dates of building. There are evidences, also, that Sir Thomas Trenchard’s rebuilding incorporated many portions of a still older edifice.
Mr. Hamilton Rogers, in his Sepulchral Effigies of Devon, says:
Their last heiress, Christian, daughter and heir of John de Mohun by Joan his wife, daughter of John Jurdain, of Wolveton, Charminster, married Henry Trenchard (obit 1477), of Hordull, Hants, and subsequently of Wolveton.
His descendant, Sir Thomas Trenchard (ob. 1505), rebuilt this fine old mansion, and carved on escutcheons over the gateway; and first among the noble series of genealogical shields in the hall windows were the arms of Trenchard. Traces of the great Devonshire family of the Mohuns are not infrequently found in Dorset.
The elevation of the south front of Wolfeton House remains very much as originally erected, and is of two distinct styles of architecture—the portion of the building to the east being in the Tudor-Gothic, probably of the time of Henry VII., and the west portion in the Elizabethan, or, more probably, Jacobean style. The latter portion is a picturesque example of this pseudo-classical style of architecture and nothing more. The older part of the building, however, possesses features which are worthy of notice, as the rich labels over the windows are composed of hollow mouldings filled with rolls of sculptured fruit and foliage, and terminating in quaint corbels carved with great spirit.
Hutchins says:
The ancient seat of the Trenchards here is a noble building, and at the time when it was built perhaps the best in the country; it is a large fabric, its principal fronts to the east and south. On the north it is sheltered by a grove of trees.
One enters on the east into what formerly was a small court, and on both sides of the gate is a round tower. In this front are many windows, almost all of them different from each other, as if the architect had studied irregularity. This seems to have been the humour of that age, for Dugdale remarks that:
At Tixall, co. Stafford, the seat of the Lord Aston, there is a fine piece of masonry, built in the reign of Henry VIII.: though the windows are numerous, scarce two of them are alike, and there is the same variety of fretwork of the chimneys; so that the beauty of the structure in that age did not, as in the present, consist in uniformity, but in the greatest variety the artist could give.
On the north side of Wolfeton House there was a small cloister leading to what was the chapel, in which some of the family were married (within memory), but it has since been pulled down. To the west of the chapel there was a little court.
From Powel’s Topographical Collections in Devon and Dorset (A.D. 1820) we learn that a great deal of the back of the house had been destroyed, and the whole of the fine glass (with the exception of five or six shields) was taken down, amounting to 100 lbs., and sent to Mr. Trenchard’s other house at Lytchett; but it was so badly packed that when the case was opened almost the whole of the glass was pounded or broken to pieces, so that very little was preserved.
The only remaining portion of the eastern front is the old gateway, the most distinctive feature of the house. The entrance gate is flanked by large circular towers capped by conical stone roofs. That on the south side is somewhat larger than its fellow, as well as standing a little further eastwards. The arch of the entrance gateway has continuous mouldings east and west, with a label over. The eastern label contains a shield bearing the following arms:—Quarterly, 1 and 4, Trenchard; 2, Mohun; 3, Jurdain; and an inescutcheon, Quarterly 1 and 4, 3 lozenges; 2..., 3.... The western label terminates in figures holding shields on which are two T’s combined with T. E. united by a tasselled cord. Above the apex of the arch similar initials appear interlaced, and over all T. T. combined.
Over the door within the gateway are three escutcheons on stone: (1) An angel holding a T[transcriber; fractur script], and at the points T. E. (2) The arms of Trenchard. A little to the south of the gateway is a building, on which is this inscription: “Hoc opus constructum fuit An’ Dni.—MCCCCCXXVIII.” The tower, together with the series of rooms connecting the gatehouse westwards to the main house, are comparatively modern, as also is the entrance porch. These buildings form the present north front of the house, and over the porch are sculptured the arms of Weston.
The chapel mentioned by Hutchins as having formerly stood on the north side of the house has long since vanished, but traces of its foundations were discovered during some excavations made about fifty years ago.
Turning to the inside of the house, we find much to interest both the antiquary and the architect.
Before the hall was destroyed and replaced by the present dining-room, over the large chimney-piece there were carved representations of fourteen Kings of England, which, says Hutchins, “are said to resemble the figures in the first edition of Rastell’s History of England, ending with Charles I.” Aubrey, in his Miscellanies, states that on November 3rd, 1640 (the day on which the Long Parliament began to sit), the sceptre fell from the figure of Charles I. while the family and a large company were at dinner—an ill omen, the full import of which could not have been realised at the time. Opposite to these sculptured monarchs were the figures of an abbot, a soldier, and some esquires. On the screen were the arms and quarterings of the Trenchard family.
From the hall a large stone staircase led to the dining-room, a noble apartment, adorned, says Hutchins, “with a noble bay window, in which stood an octagon marble table on four wooden lions.”
The interior of the western portion of the house—i.e., of the part built by Sir George Trenchard, is composed of two storeys, of which the lower seems originally to have constituted a single apartment. Both storeys were very richly decorated; the flat ceiling of the first storey is covered with an arabesque of plaster, embracing foliage and various devices, finishing with large central pendants.
The upper floor had a lofty vaulted ceiling, corresponding with the high pitch of the roof of a similar character. Unfortunately, this ceiling has been utterly destroyed—a dreadful piece of vandalism, as the tracery of the pendants and ceiling must have equalled, or even surpassed, that of the lower rooms. This upper apartment now forms a series of bedrooms, in the centre of which is the original sculptured stone chimney-piece, having under the cornice a large panel, whereon is depicted a figure reclining on a couch surrounded by dancers.
The magnificent carved oak doorway and chimney-piece in the east drawing-room were sent to Sir Thomas Trenchard by Philip and Joanna at the same time that they presented him with their portraits and a china bowl. The following description of the chimney-pieces in the east and west drawing-rooms is given by the county historian:—
Chimney-piece No. 1, in the east drawing-room, the height of the room, consists of an arrangement of entablatures one within the other, the upper and outer cornice being supported by lofty Corinthian pillars with rich capitals; immediately beneath this are two large sunken panels, respectively containing figures of Hope and Justice, separated by male caryatides, which by their different costumes are intended perhaps to typify a citizen, knight, and esquire.
Within the innermost cornice, and immediately surrounding the fireplace, is a series of panels of great interest, displaying rural and hunting scenes, trades, satyrs, heads, etc., quaintly but faithfully carved.
Chimney-piece No. 2, in the west drawing-room, is similar in its general character; the principal subject amongst its decorations represents the contest of the goddesses in the garden of the Hesperides.
One of the most beautiful examples of carving is an inner door-case in the east drawing-room, the arch over which has a richly moulded soffit, and carved heads in the spandrils; over the door, rich Corinthian pillars, flanked by sculptured figures of a king in armour and a queen, support a cornice surmounting a large sunken panel.
In the front of the cornice is a shield bearing the following arms: Quarterly—1 and 4, Trenchard; 2, Mohun; 3, Semée of cross-crosslets, a lion rampant, Jurdain.
The East Drawing-Room, Wolfeton House.
There is, of course, much else to interest the antiquary in the way of old furniture and objects of art, and any visitor will be “charmed with the admirable manner in which the art of the modern furniture has been adapted to the character of the old house, lending its aid to heighten rather than to detract from the beauty of the antique carvings and of the interior.”
A curious legend in connection with the dining-room is that of the ghost of Lady Trenchard having made its appearance immediately before her death. Anyone, of course, can believe as much or as little as he likes about the ghost part of the story, but of the fact of the lady’s suicide there is no doubt. During the ownership of Sir Thomas Trenchard one of the Judges of Assize came to Wolfeton House to dine; but no sooner had the company sat down than his lordship, greatly to the surprise of everyone, ordered his carriage and abruptly left the house. On their way back to Dorchester he told his marshal that he had seen standing behind Lady Trenchard’s chair a figure of her ladyship with her throat cut and her head under her arm. Before the carriage reached the town a messenger overtook it on horseback with the news that Lady Trenchard had just committed suicide.
As to the dining-room as it now stands, it may be mentioned that Wolfeton, like many other old houses of the same period, suffered greatly at the hands of those who in the last century were wont to pull down one-half of their houses to repair the other half. This appears to have happened to Wolfeton House, as, judging from an old engraving of the house, the dining-hall must have been quite twice, or more than twice, the size of the present room.
Of the historical anecdotes connected with Wolfeton House, the visit of the King and Queen of Castile is, perhaps, of the greatest interest.
In the early part of the sixteenth century, Philip, Archduke of Austria and King of Castile, set forth with a great armada, with the intention of surprising the King of Aragon, but he had scarcely left the coast of Flanders when, encountering a violent storm, he was compelled to put into Weymouth in distress. King Philip and his Queen were invited to Wolfeton House by Sir Thomas Trenchard, then High Sheriff, and were hospitably entertained. And with this visit the origin of the Duke of Bedford’s family is curiously mixed up; for on the arrival of the King and Queen, Sir Thomas Trenchard, being unacquainted with the Spanish language, found a difficulty in conversing with his guests. In his dilemma he had recourse to his cousin, John Russell, of Kingston Russell, who, being a good linguist, became a favourite with the King, and was recommended by him to Henry VII., who appointed him to an office in the royal household. In the succeeding reign Russell was also popular, and the confiscation of Church property during this period rendered it possible for Henry VIII. to bestow upon him extensive lands. And thus was founded the great Bedford family.
In acknowledgment of his hospitality Sir Thomas Trenchard was presented by the King and Queen of Castile with some very valuable china vases, together with their portraits, all of which are now at Bloxworth House, near Wareham. They also presented to him the carved chimney-piece and doorway still standing in the drawing-room at Wolfeton House, as before described.
Engraved copies of the oil-paintings of the King and Queen of Castile hang on the left-hand side of the staircase, alongside of which is a Spanish engraving of the poor Queen Joan, when sorrow at the death of her husband had sent her mad. On their way to the Royal Mausoleum the funeral cortège had to pass a night at a nunnery. In the middle of the night the poor mad Queen suddenly asked where they were. “In a nunnery,” was the reply. “I will not have my husband surrounded by all these women,” exclaimed the Queen; so the cortège immediately removed, and spent the remainder of the night, until daylight, in the open country.
In the ancient gatehouse of Wolfeton the winding staircase of forty-one oaken steps appears to be quite unique: there are nine stone steps at the base, twenty-four of oak to the first floor level, and seventeen leading to the garret above. For years (some think one hundred) this staircase must have been a complete ruin, as is easily seen by the decayed state of those steps opposite to the two windows, the wind and the rain having beaten in on them for many years.
In addition to the King and Queen of Castile, other royal visitors have from time to time honoured Wolfeton House with their presence, and during the residence of George III. at Weymouth the King and Queen paid it frequent visits. On one occasion, when George III. admired a marble table that used to stand in the drawing-room, the Trenchard of that day immediately presented it to His Majesty, and the table is now in the royal dairy at Frogmore, Windsor.
No account of Wolfeton House would be complete without some allusion to the story of the Roman Catholic priest. In the time of Queen Elizabeth, when it was the object of the then Government to stamp out in every way the Papal influence in England, the Weld family had a Roman Catholic priest concealed at their house at Chideock, in Dorset. Sir Thomas Trenchard, who then resided at Wolfeton House, and was a personal friend of Mr. Weld, of Chideock, happened to be High Sheriff of the county of Dorset for that year, and received orders to go over and search for the priest therein concealed. On account of his friendship with Mr. Weld, Sir Thomas, on reaching Chideock, made a most cursory search, and left with the intention of reporting to the authorities that he could find no signs of the priest; but, unfortunately, as he was leaving, the villagers, whose sympathies were Roman, not aware of his benign intentions, began hooting and calling the High Sheriff and his constables a pack of blind owls for not being able to find the concealed priest. “If that’s what you want,” exclaimed Sir Thomas, losing his temper, “I’ll soon show you I am not so blind as you think!” and, surrounding the mansion with his constables, a real search was made, and the poor priest was soon discovered and brought over to Wolfeton House as a prisoner. The priest, a highly-educated French gentleman, made himself so agreeable that Sir Thomas Trenchard did all in his power, by writing to the authorities, to save his life; but the Government of that day was so desirous of making an example, that all entreaties were in vain—the poor priest was executed, and, it is said, was also drawn and quartered in the High Street of Dorchester.