CHAPTER IX
THE STORY OF SOME ANCIENT MANOR–HOUSES—BADDESLEY CLINTON—PACKINGTON OLD HALL—MAXSTOKE CASTLE—ASTLEY CASTLE
In the north–western portion of the county lies a group of historic houses and churches which present many unique features. One of the most interesting of these, distant some seven miles from Warwick and situated amidst lovely scenery, is Baddesley Clinton, a typical old moated manor–house, such as a few years ago was associated in Christmastide publications with stories of ghosts and midnight villainy. This exquisite survival of ancient domestic architecture is a low–built house with grey stone walls, timbered gables, and battlemented parapets. It forms an unusually fine specimen of the old fortified manorial dwellings dating from the fifteenth century, and nowadays, alas! becoming fewer and fewer by reason of destruction by fire or the exigencies of the times.
During its early history the manor appears to have had several owners. From the middle of the thirteenth century, for a period of about a hundred years, it belonged to the Clinton family of Coleshill, becoming in the last years of the fifteenth century the property of one Nicholas Brome, at whose death it passed in 1517 to his daughter and co–heiress, Constantia, who had married in 1497 Sir Edward Ferrers, a grandson of William Lord Ferrers of Groby, in which family the estates have ever since remained. It is the boast of the family that their ancestry came over with the Conqueror, and there is little doubt that the boast is no idle one.
The Ferrers family of Baddesley Clinton are descended from the second son of the Earl who met his death so unromantically on the bridge at St. Neots; Groby passing into the hands of the Greys. A younger son of the Ferrers of Tamworth was the father of Sir Edward Ferrers, who by marriage with Constance Brome became the possessor of Baddesley Clinton.
During the Civil War Baddesley Clinton, although its owners appear to have sided neither with the King nor the Parliament, was plundered by the forces of the latter; and in a MS. of the period one finds a statement of some of the booty which was acquired by the Roundheads. This included a grey and a bright bay horse, which were led away by the troopers, one of them with a rich plush saddle trimmed round about the skirts with gold lace and gold fringe; arms and armour; gunpowder; cash taken from a desk; a Geneva Bible, and even the linen from the drying room! But the family appear to have succeeded in maintaining their neutral attitude, and at the Restoration were still in quiet enjoyment of their estates; which, however, had become smaller, and from the fact of their fidelity to Roman Catholicism were little likely in succeeding centuries to be added to.
The last squire of the line was Marmion Edward Ferrers, a noted antiquarian who lived quietly at Baddesley Clinton, and died leaving no heir; his widow married a second time Edward Heneage Dearing, Esq., the present owner of the property.
As was the case with most manor–houses of ancient times, and more especially with those belonging to Catholic families, there were several secret hiding–places at Baddesley Clinton, constructed for the salvation of the ministering Romish priests, or for other fugitives in times of need. Near the chapel is a well–like shaft of stone, formerly provided with steps or projecting stones, by means of which a fugitive was able to reach a secret passage extending round nearly the whole length of two sides of the house, and giving access to a small water–gate opening on the moat, at which a boat was kept at hand for use in cases of emergency. On the eastern side of the building adjoining the banqueting room is a secret chamber some six feet square, which has a bench running round it. This of recent years has been walled up, but the narrow staircase leading to it behind the wainscoting remains in its original condition.
There are probably other chambers in this ancient building, the existence of which may possibly at some future time be diescovered quite by accident, as have so many other hiding–places in similar houses throughout the country.