Chimney-piece No. 1, in the east drawing-room, the height of the room, consists of an arrangement of entablatures one within the other, the upper and outer cornice being supported by lofty Corinthian pillars with rich capitals; immediately beneath this are two large sunken panels, respectively containing figures of Hope and Justice, separated by male caryatides, which by their different costumes are intended perhaps to typify a citizen, knight, and esquire.
Within the innermost cornice, and immediately surrounding the fireplace, is a series of panels of great interest, displaying rural and hunting scenes, trades, satyrs, heads, etc., quaintly but faithfully carved.
Chimney-piece No. 2, in the west drawing-room, is similar in its general character; the principal subject amongst its decorations represents the contest of the goddesses in the garden of the Hesperides.
One of the most beautiful examples of carving is an inner door-case in the east drawing-room, the arch over which has a richly moulded soffit, and carved heads in the spandrils; over the door, rich Corinthian pillars, flanked by sculptured figures of a king in armour and a queen, support a cornice surmounting a large sunken panel.
In the front of the cornice is a shield bearing the following arms: Quarterly—1 and 4, Trenchard; 2, Mohun; 3, Semée of cross-crosslets, a lion rampant, Jurdain.
The East Drawing-Room, Wolfeton House.
There is, of course, much else to interest the antiquary in the way of old furniture and objects of art, and any visitor will be “charmed with the admirable manner in which the art of the modern furniture has been adapted to the character of the old house, lending its aid to heighten rather than to detract from the beauty of the antique carvings and of the interior.”
A curious legend in connection with the dining-room is that of the ghost of Lady Trenchard having made its appearance immediately before her death. Anyone, of course, can believe as much or as little as he likes about the ghost part of the story, but of the fact of the lady’s suicide there is no doubt. During the ownership of Sir Thomas Trenchard one of the Judges of Assize came to Wolfeton House to dine; but no sooner had the company sat down than his lordship, greatly to the surprise of everyone, ordered his carriage and abruptly left the house. On their way back to Dorchester he told his marshal that he had seen standing behind Lady Trenchard’s chair a figure of her ladyship with her throat cut and her head under her arm. Before the carriage reached the town a messenger overtook it on horseback with the news that Lady Trenchard had just committed suicide.
As to the dining-room as it now stands, it may be mentioned that Wolfeton, like many other old houses of the same period, suffered greatly at the hands of those who in the last century were wont to pull down one-half of their houses to repair the other half. This appears to have happened to Wolfeton House, as, judging from an old engraving of the house, the dining-hall must have been quite twice, or more than twice, the size of the present room.