NAWORTH, CUMBERLAND.
England, down to the Union of the Houses of York and Lancaster, with many other noble personages; ‘they have, however, no recommendation but their antiquity.’ The Minstrels’ Gallery has been removed. In the Dining Hall are two portraits of the Lady of Lord William—one in her fourteenth year, just after she became a bride; the other when her years were three-score ten and three. The Chapel retains much of its original condition—a pulpit and stall of oak, and a painted window, exhibiting a Knight and Dame kneeling, being among the most remarkable objects that yet endure. The apartments of Lord William Howard are, however, those to which the chief interest is attached. They are entered at the east end of the long Gallery. The approach to them was secured by iron-bound doors, several in succession, containing numerous huge bolts, running far into the stone work. The strongest defends a narrow winding staircase, up which only one person can pass; a short dark passage leads to the bed-chamber; (pictured on the opposite page) in which the ‘original furniture’ is preserved.”[10] Among the rest, the plain and simple bed on which, it is said, belted Will slept. Above the stone mantel-piece are three sculptured shields with the arms of the Dacres. Above the bed-room, reached by the narrow stone staircase referred to, are the Library and the Oratory of Lord William.
The Library, here pictured, still contains some curious MSS., with a large collection
of rare old books, many of them having the autograph of Lord William. “Not a book has been added,” according to Pennant, “since his days.” The windows of this apartment are narrow, and are reached by an ascent of three steps:—“such was the caution of the times.” The ceiling is richly carved; the corbels and bosses being embellished with armorial devices; the skirting of the room is of oak, “black from age.” Lord William was—as he is styled by Camden, “a lover of the venerable antiquities,” and in this apartment much of his leisure time was spent.[11]
The other Chamber which tradition closely associates with the memory of the Lord William, is “the Oratory,” situated near the Library. “It is fitted up with plain
