The Stately Homes of England

by Llewellynn Frederick William Jewitt; S. C. Hall

Arms of Leke.

The old hall of Kedleston, the ancient residence of the Curzon family for many generations, stood nearly on the site occupied by the present magnificent mansion. It was a fine quadrangular brick building of three stories in height, the entrance being under an advanced balustraded portico of three arches. Adjoining the house were training paddocks and all the appliances for the stud which was kept up. Of this house, fortunately, a painting is preserved in the present mansion. Not so of the still older house, of which no representation appears to be remaining. It must, however, judging from the records of the armorial bearings which decorated its stained-glass windows when the survey was made in 1667, have been a building possessed of many noticeable features. In the north window of the hall of 1677 we find recorded some of the bearings of the most distinguished families of the time, which seem to throw a strong light on the connections of the Curzon family. Among the arms, either alone or quartered or impaled, were, it seems, in the north window of the hall, Curzon, Twyford, Arden, Bek or Beke, Gresley, Wasteneys, Chandos of Radborne, Talbot, Furnival, and Montgomery of Cubley; in the south windows those of Curzon and Bagot; in another window those of Curzon, Vernon, Ludlow, Poole or Pole, and the device of the House of Lancaster; at the upper end of the hall, Curzon and Pole with Pole’s quarterings, Curzon alone, Curzon and Vernon with Vernon’s quarterings, and Curzon and Sacheverell with Sacheverell’s quarterings. About the room the following coats were irregularly dispersed—viz. Sacheverell, Vernon, Pole, Bagot, Montgomery, Ireton, Minors, Curzon, Twyford, and Brailsford; and on the inside of the large chimney of the Buttery were Touchet, Lord Audley of Marston, Erm, a chevron and lion rampt, but the colours gone, and Latimer or Greville (a cross fleury), and Frecheville. On the outside of the same chimney, a saltier without colour; Montgomery as before; a border of horse-shoes, probably Ferrers; Griffith of Whichnor, &c. These were presumed to be about the date of Henry IV., and the door was supposed at that time to be at least three hundred years old.

The old hall and the venerable church are said to have stood about the centre of the then village of Kedleston, and a corn-mill was near. The whole of the village, every house and every vestige of habitation, the “small inn for the accommodation of those who came to drink of a medicinal well, which has the virtues of the Harrogate water,” the corn-mill, and the old hall itself, were removed by the first Lord Scarsdale to make room for the present mansion, which he erected in 1765: the church alone remained. The village was removed to a charming spot a short distance off; the corn-mill was taken away; the stream which turned its wheel was converted into the magnificent lake that forms so fine a feature in the present park; the turnpike-road was removed to a distance of more than half a mile; and the “small inn” was replaced by the present capacious Kedleston Inn, some three-quarters of a mile away from its original site.

The present edifice was built from the designs of Robert Adam, one of the architect brothers of the Adelphi, and is considered to be his masterpiece. It consists of a noble central pile with two advanced wings or pavilions, with which it is connected by two curved corridors. The principal or north front has a grand central portico, the entablature and pediment of which are supported by six magnificent columns, 30 feet high, and 3 feet in diameter: some of these are composed of one single stone their entire length. They are designed from those at the Pantheon at Rome. The entrance in the portico is approached by a double or reflected flight of stone steps, which again are marvellous for the size of the stones: they are 10 feet in length, and each stone forms two steps. The pediment is surmounted by figures of Venus, Bacchus, and Ceres, and the sculptured bassi-relievi (by Collins) represent vintage, pasturage, harvest, ploughing, and boar-hunting; while within the porticos are statues of a Bacchante, two of the Muses, and a Vestal. The Arcade, leading to Cæsar’s Hall, and the Corridors, are designed from the Amphitheatre. The Grand Entrance is in the centre of the portico, and opens at once into the Great Hall.

The North Front.

The Great Hall, a noble room, and one of the finest classical apartments in existence in the purity of its style, the beauty of its details, and the perfection of its proportions, is about 67 feet in length by 42 feet in width, and 40 feet in height. The vaulted ceiling rises to the full height of the house, and is supported on twenty fluted Corinthian columns 25 feet in height, and 2 feet 6 inches in diameter. These columns, which are “the glory of Kedleston,” are of native alabaster from Red Hill, in Leicestershire. The Hall is decorated with paintings and sculpture, the whole being classical, and in perfect keeping with the design of the building itself. The subjects of the chiaro-oscuro paintings on the east side are—“Helen reproaching Paris, and silenced by Venus,” “Achilles receiving Armour from Thetis,” “Achilles delivering his Armour to Patroclus,” and “Mercury, Juno, and Neptune before Jupiter;” on the west side, “Helen and Paris,” “The Judgment of Paris,” “Hector and Andromache,” and “Juno and Minerva.” At the ends are “Apollo and the Hours,” “Night distributing her Poppies,” and “Sacrifices to Sylvanus, Diana, Apollo, and Mars.” Over the doors are four marriage subjects. The statues are Apollo Belvedere, Meleager, Idol, Venus, Faun, Apollo Vil. Med., Urania, Faun, Venus, Ganymede, Antinous, and Mercury. From the Hall the Dining-room is entered on the right, the Music-room on the left, and the Saloon at the south end.

The Great Hall.

Our account of the principal rooms must necessarily be very brief. It is enough to say that they are all fitted and finished in the most exquisite taste and in the most sumptuous manner, and are hung, or rather decorated—for the greater part of the pictures are let into the walls, as a part of the original design—with one of the best collections of paintings any house can boast.