Over the doorway of the porch of the Great Hall are the arms of the Vernons and of Fulco de Pembridge, Lord of Tonge, in Shropshire; the latter Sir Richard Vernon was entitled to in right of his wife, who was the daughter and sole heiress of Sir Fulk de Pembridge. From this circumstance, it has been conjectured that he built this part of the house.
The provision made in the adjoining offices for the convenience and attendance of the several servants of the household is very curious. On the left hand of the great door of entrance, directly behind the hall screen, are four large doorways, with high pointed arches, extending, in a row, the whole length of the hall, and facing the upper end. The first of these still retains its ancient door of strong oak, with a little wicket in the middle, just big enough to put a trencher in or out, and was clearly the butler’s station; for the room within still retains a vast old chest of oak, with divisions for bread, a large old cupboard for cheese, and a number of shelves for butter. “Besides, out of this apartment (which is itself spacious, and separate from the rest of the house) is a passage, down steps, to a large vaulted room, arched with stone, and supported by pillars, like the crypt of a church, which, though very light and airy, was cool, and manifestly designed for the beer-cellar, there being still remains of a raised low benching of stonework all round, sufficient to hold a prodigious number of casks, and a neat stone drain all along before it, underneath, to carry away any droppings. Through this great arched room is also another passage to what was obviously the brewhouse and bakehouse, where are remains of places for vast coppers, coolers, and ovens. Near adjoining are store-rooms for corn and malt, and a communication from thence with the outside of the building for bringing in of stores. But in other respects this whole suite of offices was quite unconnected with the other offices, and had no kind of communication either with them or with the rest of the mansion, except by the door of entrance near the hall, in which is the little wicket.”
The second pointed arch—next to the buttery, and facing the hall in like manner—is the entrance of a long, narrow passage, leading, with a continued descent, to the great kitchen, and having in the midway an half door, or hatch, with a broad shelf on the top of it, whereupon to place dishes; to which, and no further, the servants in waiting were to have access. “The next, being the third of the great pointed arches, behind the screen, at the bottom of the hall, opens merely into one very small vaulted room, unconnected with any other: that was clearly the wine-cellar; which (according to the frugality and ideas of early times, when wine was considered merely as a cordial and dram) needed to be but small.” The fourth great arch is at the bottom of a great steep staircase, quite distinct from the grand staircase of the house, and leading up to a prodigious variety of small apartments, which seem to have been designed for the reception of guests and numerous retainers, there being others, of a still inferior sort, in other parts of the house, for servants; especially in the range of building opposite to the great door of the hall.
Such was the use of these four great arches behind the hall screen, and we may with great propriety conceive, that they were the stations of the butler, the clerk of the kitchen, the cellarer, and the chamberlain, or steward of the household, of this great family. “The provision for the officers and attendants being so great, we shall yet find here, as in all very ancient mansions, that the apartments of the lord of the castle (or what we should now call the state apartments) were very few in number, and little adequate to the rest, according to our modern and more refined ideas.”
The great hall of entrance, just described, was the only large apartment for dining. At the upper end remains the raised floor, where the table for the lord and his principal guests was placed; and along one side of the hall, and also over the screen at the lower end, is a gallery, supported by pillars; from whence (when the lord and his company had retired to the apartments above, and the inferior members of the family had supplied their places) the country guests and their hospitable hosts occasionally beheld the revels.
The Great Hall still contains the old oaken table, at which the lord feasted his more
favoured guests. The Minstrel’s Gallery is carved and panelled, and ornamented in the true old fashion, with the antlers of stags—memorials of the chase. There is no ceiling; the roof and rafters are exposed to view; the fireplaces are large; and the walls are wainscoted all round, to a certain height. From this great hall, at the upper end, in the corner on the left hand, are two passages; one opening upon the terraces in the garden, inviting the guests to refresh themselves; and the other leading to the grand staircase, and the principal apartments above.
“This staircase is formed of large blocks of stone; which can hardly be said to be
