Village London

other three of one acre. Pasture for the cattle of the village; pannage for twelve hundred hogs, and for herbage twelve pence." *

In the reign of Henry I. the manor was wrested from the Earl of Moreton's successor, and it continued in the hands of the Crown till 1220, when it was given to the monks of St. Albans, under whom it was held till the middle of the fourteenth century by the family of Francis. It next passed, subject to an annual rent to that abbey, to the priory and convent of St. Bartholomew, in Smithfield. After the dissolution of religious houses the manor passed through the possession of various persons, among whom was Sir Peter Gambo, a Spaniard, who was murdered near St. Sepulchre's Church, London, in 1550, by a Fleming named Gavaro. In the reign of James I. the estate was granted to Sir Thomas Lake, of whom we have spoken in our account of Little Stanmore and Canons; and it subsequently underwent various changes, and towards the close of the last century the manor passed, by the marriage of the daughter and sole heiress of James Brydges, third and last Duke of Chandos, to Richard, Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. His Grace, who died in 1839, was the grandfather of the present duke. The ownership of the manor has since passed into the hands of Sir John Kelk, Bart., of Bentley Priory.

The village of Great Stanmore is about a mile in length; it is built on the slope of a hill, and lies on the road to Watford, about two miles north-west from the Edgware Station of the Great Northern Railway. It is quiet and secluded, and the houses generally have a neat and respectable appearance. Both in the village and in the immediate neighbourhood are several good oldfashioned residences, and close by are some large and well-wooded parks and lordly domains.

On Stanmore Hill, a gentle elevation on the north side of the village, the celebrated Dr. Parr opened a school on quitting Harrow,t in 1771; here he received a large number of pupils, many of whom became distinguished in after life. The school was pulled down many years ago, and the site afterwards built upon.

In 1871 the number of houses in the parish was 265, the population at the same time amounting to 1,355. In 1881 it had slightly risen.

A conspicuous building in the village is the Memorial Institute, which was erected by subscription in memory of Mr. Ernest Bernays, a son of the Rev. Leopold John Bernays, many years

* Bawdwen's "Translation of Domesday for Middlesex." ↑ See ante, p. 266.

rector of this parish, who was accidentally drowned in 1870. The building, which is of Gothic design, is used for concerts, lectures, and similar entertainments.

The church, dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, stands at the western end of the village, and was built, from the designs of Mr. Henry Clutton, in the Decorated style. The foundation-stone was laid by the Earl of Aberdeen (whose son, the Hon. and Rev. Douglas Gordon, was the vicar), in the presence of the Dowager Queen Adelaide, who then appeared for the last time in public. She did not live to see it opened. The building is constructed of stone, and consists of a nave, having north and south aisles, a chancel, with spacious south aisle, and a lofty tower at the north-west corner of the nave, in which is a peal of six bells, removed from Little Stanmore Church in 1720. The east window, by Willement, was erected by subscription as a memorial of Queen Adelaide. There are in the church several other stained glass windows, presented by the rector and others, among them being one presented by the Earl of Wicklow in memory of his two daughters, the Ladies Harriet and Isabella Howard. The font, of Caen stone, was the gift of the Queen-Dowager shortly before her death.

This is the third church in succession that the parish has had within little more than two centuries. The original structure stood at a considerable distance, and its exact site is preserved only by tradition and a single tombstone. The second structure was built about 1632, and was consecrated by Archbishop Laud. It was of brick, in the worst style of ecclesiastical architecture, and was built at the expense of Sir John Wolstenholme, who is said by Newcourt to have been "nursed at this parish." Its consecration by Archbishop Laud constituted one of the accusations afterwards brought against that prelate with fatal success. The extending of the ceremony of consecration to chapels was made one of the charges against the archbishop, and this structure was perversely termed a "chapel" by the accuser. In reply, Laud admitted the consecration, but observed that the edifice was “a parish church, erected by Sir John Worstenham, in the place where he was born, and in the diocese of himself." The remains of this church, roofless, and seemingly held together by the thick clusters of ivy which cover them, are still standing a few yards distant from the western end of the new church. They are built of red brick, square in form, and with an embattled tower at the west end. The porch was designed by Nicholas Stone, who re

ceived £30 for work done at this part of the building. For a monument of Sir John Wolstenholme, the founder of this church, Stone received the sum of £200. This monument, which was on the north side of the communion-table, represents the deceased as lying upon a mattress. There are other monuments and inscriptions to different members of the Wolstenholme family. A large tablet of white marble, with a long inscription, commemorates Catherine, Marchioness of Abercorn, wife of John, first marquis, and daughter of Sir Joseph Copley, Bart., of Sprotborough, Yorkshire. The floor of the old church is carpeted with turf, and in the centre is an elaborate mausoleum, of Gothic design, for the family of the Hollonds, of Stanmore Hall. Lord Henry Beauclerk, who died in 1761, was buried in this church, as also was Mr. John Drummond, M.P., who died in 1774, and other members of the families of Beauclerk and DrumCharles Hart, a celebrated tragedian of the seventeenth century, "the Roscius of his age," lies buried in the churchyard. According to Lysons, Hart had a "country house" at Stanmore, where he was enrolled a copyholder in 1679. Close by the entrance to the churchyard is a handsome cottage, erected as a memorial of the late Mr. R. Hollond, M.P., of Stanmore Hall, the aëronaut, who died in 1876.

Almost abutting upon the south-west angle of the churchyard, and stretching away for some distance towards Harrow, is Stanmore Park, the seat of Lord Wolverton. Early in the last century the estate, then known as Belmont, was purchased by Mr. Andrew Drummond, the founder of the great banking-house bearing his name at Charing Cross. Mr. George H. Drummond, who subsequently possessed the property, preserved here a large and valuable collection of original portraits, which were bequeathed to the Hon. Mrs. Drummond by the Duke of St. Albans. The mansion was for a short time occupied by Lord Castlereagh, and later on, early in the present century, it was the residence of the Countess of Aylesford. In 1840 the estate was purchased by the Marquis of Abercorn, and the collection of portraits above mentioned, which comprised among their number several by Kneller and Lely, was shortly after sold by auction. The mansion and estate next passed by sale to Mr. George Carr Glyn, who was in 1869 raised to the peerage, with the title of Lord Wolverton. His lordship died in 1873, and was succeeded by his son, the Hon. George Grenfell Glyn, the present Lord Wolverton.

* Walpole's "Anecdotes of Painting."

299

The mansion is a good modern building, consisting of a centre, with two slightly-projecting wings. The park is extensive and well wooded, and is rendered attractive by fine undulations of surface and a handsome lake. At the southern extremity of the park is a hill, termed Belmont, thrown up by the Duke of Chandos, whence the estate derived its original name. It is approached by a fine avenue, and on its summit is a summerhouse, which is a conspicuous object from several neighbouring points.

Bentley Priory, the seat of Sir John Kelk, Bart., lies to the north-west of the village, and though far nearer to Stanmore than to Harrow-on-theHill, actually stands in the latter parish. The estate comprises upwards of 460 acres. The mansion is approached from the high roads, which almost surround the estate, by carriage-drives, with six ornamental entrance-lodges; it is placed on the southern slope of the hill, well sheltered by its own woods from the north, and commanding most charming and panoramic views of its own beautiful terraces, gardens, lawns, and undulating deer-park, adorned with oaks, beeches, and other grand forest trees.

The eastern entrance to the estate is at the top of Stanmore Hill, near the junction of the roads leading on the right to Elstree, and on the left to Bushey Heath and Watford. From the Harrow station of the London and North-Western Railway, a long winding walk, up-hill and "against the collar," through the pretty district of Harrow Weald, leads us past several handsome residences in pretty grounds nearly to Stanmore Common. Turning sharply to the east at Bamford's Corner, and leaving the estates of the Hermitage and Woodlands on the left, and, further off, Lord Wolverton's seat, Stanmore Park, on the right, at the end of about three miles the tall trees which surround Bentley Priory are seen on the left. The house is not visible from the road, as the mansion lies about a mile and a half from the park gates at this point. The Watford road, from Harrow Station, skirts the grounds of the Priory on the north-west. Proceeding to the mansion by this road, the visitor will pass, on his left, the pretty little lodge-house of Harrow Weald Park,* and, as he ascends the hill, obtain a good view of its castellated mansion, the seat of Mr. Alexander Sim. He will find an entrance to the Bentley Priory estate at the top of the hill, near the "Hare" hostelry. The house is called a Priory for as good a reason as that for which the ducal residence of

• See ante, p. 270.