xHELMINGHAM HALL,
SUFFOLK.
elmingham Hall may be classed among the most remarkable and interesting edifices in the Kingdom; for, although it has undergone many changes, and been subjected to a variety of “improvements,” the leading characteristics of the ancient structure are retained; it still exhibits a connecting link between the strong castles of the old Barons, and the embattled mansions which succeeded them. The Hall is distant about eight miles from the venerable town of Ipswich. The Park contains about five hundred acres, and is largely stocked with deer. The Entrance-gate—which forms the initial letter to this Chapter—is placed between two Lodges—modern, but in admirable keeping with the old House. An Avenue, arched by magnificently grown trees, conducts to the South
Front of the Mansion; in which is the principal Entrance, approached by a Bridge thrown across the Moat. The Moat encompasses the building; which is surrounded also by a Terrace. Both are kept in excellent repair; and the former is well supplied with fish. The Drawbridges are maintained in all their primitive formality, and are, we understand, even to this day, raised every night. The appended print exhibits the picturesque interior of one of the two “Gate-houses,” in which these ancient appendages still remain,—showing also the rude machinery by which it was elevated or depressed. It is an object now very rarely encountered: one of the most impressive records of “the state” (using the term in its double sense) in which our ancestors lived—keeping perpetual watch and ward. All praise be to the existing Lord of this Mansion, who has taken especial care to prevent Time from destroying so peculiar a relic of a remote age. The present representative of the Tollemaches—John Tollemache, Esq.—has indeed manifested continual zeal to protect from injury the seat of his ancestors—restoring with judgment, skill, and taste, where injuries have resulted from years, but so as in no
degree to impair its original character; neither adding to, nor taking from, its early and “fair” proportions.
Notwithstanding these solemn tokens of gone-by days, so intimately associated with times of peril, the external appearance of the building is peculiarly light and graceful—a character which it derives, chiefly, from four large Bay Windows, with projecting cornices and embattled parapets; Gables profusely ornamented with richly wrought finials; and a multiplicity of Chimneys similarly enriched, with reticulated and indented mouldings. The structure is quadrangular. The Courtyard, with its several dependent buildings, has been restored with remarkably good taste and imposing effect. The Eastern Entrance to these buildings is here pictured. Crossing this Court, the Hall is reached[34]; the State Apartments are limited to the Western Front. They have been arranged with greater care to comfort than to Baronial grandeur; due attention has been paid, however, to the “furnishing,” and the taste of the Tudor age harmoniously prevails throughout the Mansion. Until very lately, the Hall had been completely deserted by the family, and was rapidly falling to decay. When it became the residence of the present proprietor, it was completely renovated; the Garden or West Front, which had become dilapidated, having been entirely rebuilt. The Hall and several of the Apartments are adorned with Portraits of the ancient and noble Family; among them are some fine paintings by Lely, Kneller, and Reynolds.
A relic of exceeding interest is contained in one of the rooms. It is the Lute which Queen Elizabeth presented to an infant scion
