Alston House, Cheyne Walk.
Shrewsbury, or Alston House, a capital mansion, built about the latter end of the reign of Henry VIII., was situated in Cheyne Walk, to the west of the present “Pier Hotel.” This house was considered for a long time to have been the residence of Sir Thomas More; but Dr. King has proved, from the most authentic documents, that it never had any just pretensions to that honour.
It was an irregular brick building, forming three sides of a quadrangle. The principal room was one hundred and twenty feet in length, and was originally wainscotted with carved oak. One of the rooms was painted in imitation of marble, and appeared to have been originally an oratory. Certain curious portraits on panel, which had ornamented the large rooms, were destroyed some few years since; this is to be regretted, as, in all probability, they represented its former owners, or, at least, some persons of note.
Leading from the premises, towards the King’s Road, there is a subterranean passage, which has been explored for a short distance. It is said, traditionally, to have communicated with a cave or dungeon, situated at a considerable distance from the house; but for what purpose made, no one now in its vicinity confidently presumes to guess.
The following information concerning this subterranean passage, is obtained from a letter of Miss Gulston to Miss Tate, who was the proprietor of the estate:—
“I have found an old man, now living at Chelsea, who worked at the paper manufactory when a lad, and who has established the facts. I have always been laughed at when I have mentioned the story. I have gotten two drawings of the room and passage.
“The entrance to this passage was from the room used by the paper stainers as a drying place. It had no fire-place in it; the dimensions were nearly as follows: 25 feet high, 50 long, 36 wide; the ceiling was strong with beams, to sustain the upper floors, but without any plastered ceiling. You descended into it by a wide winding staircase, through a circular-top door, strongly fortified with rivets and four large hinges: this door was so contrived, that it opened far enough back to hide the approach to the hole, and could there be fastened so as to have the appearance of belonging to the large room, and the circular steps leading to it caused the more deception.
“The side walls are all brick. This man never could proceed with his light more than a distance of thirty yards, when the light invariably went out. The passage is free from any incumbrance of earth, or from any part of the side walls having given way; as far as could be ascertained, its direction was towards the river.
“It is regularly paved with two flag stones, leaving a border of six inches of earth; width 3 feet, length 5½ feet.
“This passage was discovered, owing to the proprietor having been robbed of a quantity of paper for years. The man now alive volunteered to detect the thief; the paper was found on the staircase descending to the passage.
“E. Gulston.”
Alston House was for many years the residence of the Shrewsbury family.
George, Earl of Shrewsbury, succeeded his father in the title, June 28th, the 13th Edward IV., while a minor. In the reign of Henry VIII. he was in high favour with that monarch, was steward of the household, and a privy counsellor, and accompanied the King at his interview with Francis I. at Guisnes.
In 28 Henry VIII., on the rebellion in the North, called “the pilgrimage of grace,” occasioned by the dissolution of the lesser monasteries, he was constituted the King’s Lieutenant, to march thither with a powerful army, he himself having raised a number of men at his own expense, when the Earl, and the Duke of Norfolk, succeeded in bringing the rebels to submission, and obtained for them the King’s pardon. This nobleman resided occasionally at Chelsea; and here his sixth son, by his first wife, was born. The Earl died 1538; he is characterised by Polydore Virgil, “as a person noble, prudent, and moderate through the whole course of his life.”
Francis, his son and heir, is mentioned among the freeholders in the court rolls of the Manor of Chelsea, 35 Henry VIII. This nobleman also enjoyed the favour of his sovereign during three succeeding reigns. In 1545 he was appointed the King’s Lieutenant in the North; and in the following year was installed one of the Knights Companions of the most noble order of the Garter. In 2 Edward VI. he had the command of a large army that was sent into Scotland, and in 1st of Queen Mary was made President of the Council of the North. He died September 21, 1560.