Warwickshire: The Land of Shakespeare

by Clive Holland

The part played by the Northampton family in the Civil War was such as to attract the attention of the Parliamentary forces to even so secluded a spot as Compton Wynyates, and on Thursday, June 6, a detachment of Parliamentarians under Major Bridges appeared before the house and besieged it for three days, when it surrendered. The Parliamentarians are reported by Dugdale to have killed many of the deer in the park, and also to have wantonly defaced the ornaments in the Church.

James, the third Earl of Northampton, was ultimately permitted to resume possession of the house and estates on payment of a heavy fine to the Parliamentary party.

Since that time the peace of the fine old grey pile has been undisturbed, and the ninth earl, who was created a marquis in 1812, repaired the house, which had fallen somewhat into decay.

Whether one regards Compton Wynyates from the point of view of an ancient building of romantic and architectural interest, or as a mansion set amid scenery of singular beauty, the place deserves to rank very high indeed among the old houses around which has in past days been woven so much of the glory and romance of England.

But to the interest of the house must be added the charm of the most beautiful and picturesque gardens, maintained all the year round with a care and lavishness which make them some of the most lovely in the country.

Some four miles to the south–west of Wormleighton, picturesquely situated amidst a group of the Burton Hills, is the tiny village of Burton Dassett, once said to have been a market–town, and then known as Chipping Dassett. It was, however, almost entirely destroyed in the reign of Henry VII. by Sir Edward Belknap; who, then lord of the manor, destroyed the village for the purpose of making enclosures of the lands. He was never punished for this ruthless act, because of the public services he had rendered the King, and at the close of the fifteenth century was granted immunity by his Sovereign from being punished for or questioned concerning his deeds. The village nowadays consists of but two or three farm–houses.

It possesses, however, a fine and very interesting Church of All Saints, and a romantic interest in its ancient beacon, which stands upon the extreme north–western point of the Burton Hills, near the well–known windmill.

The Beacon, which is a stone fourteenth and fifteenth century building, some sixteen feet in height and sixty–two feet in circumference, with walls of extreme thickness, has a conical roof, and projecting from the top are twenty–five corbels, which apparently supported a gallery in former times reached by a wooden ladder or outside stairs. There are two windows, one looking out westward to the Malvern Hills, and another in a north–easterly direction towards Rugby and High Cross. From the summit of this stunted tower there is on a clear day a wonderful prospect to the south–east, only bounded by Irvinghoe, forty miles distant, where there was another beacon; whilst to the north–east, twenty miles distant, was Bickenhill Beacon, and to the north north–east High Cross in Leicestershire, and the south south–east Nettlebed in Oxfordshire, twenty–five miles off, with all of which places there was in former days signalling communication by means of a fire lighted in a large cresset, some three feet in diameter and some eighteen inches deep, which was placed upon a pole and fixed to the roof.

Very prettily situated below the Beacon, on the southern spur of the hill, is the church, which in its size and beauty speaks eloquently of the town which once supplied it with worshippers, but is now almost untraceable. The building consists of a chancel, transepts, nave, aisles, and north porch, and at the west end an embattled tower. The architectural features of the exterior, which at once attract attention, are the fine Early English five–light window in the north transept, with its plate tracery.