DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32038#0037
HERST-MONCEAUX CASTLE, SUSSEX.
5
PLATE 9—14.
HERST-MONCEAUX CASTLE, SUSSEX.
“ Such as Monceaux, novv weedy ruin, boasts,
Reproach and glory of the Regnian coasts ;
Ravage, not Time, has stript thy stately halls,
Unroofed thy graceful towers, and bared thy walls!”*
The destruction of such a magnificent pile of building is, indeed a national
loss. Had an accidental fire, or a siege in the civil wars, reduced it to the mere
shell we have now before us, our regret would have been softened by reflections
on the inevitable fate, which, sooner or later, attends all human grandeur. But
what can be said of the sordid possessor of such a treasure who could deli-
berately pull it to pieces ? It is true he had a legal right to do as he pleased:
and so had that other reverend person who chopped down Shakspeare’s mul-
berry-tree at Stratford-upon-Avon. The right of property was unquestionable
in both cases ; but it would have been happy for the memory of these gentlemen
had they considered that the possession of any thing which the public admire
and value is, in some sort, equivalent to a public trust, and its destruction is
sure to be followed by the censure of posterity.
Herst-Monceaux Castle was built by Sir Roger Fienes, Knight, by virtue of
a royal license, dated in the nineteenth year of Henry VI. a.d. 1440, empowering
him to kernellate and fortify his manor-house at Herst-Monceaux, and to enclose
six hundred acres of land for the enlargement of the park.f The family of
Fienes was descended from a very illustrious stock. John, lord de Fienes,;j; in
the Bolonois, was related by blood to William, duke of Normandy, whom he
* “ Metrical Remarks on Modern Castles and Cottages.” London, 1813. Pp. 44.
f See Dugdale’s “ Baronage,” tom. ii. p. 244, where reference is made to Cart. ab An. 1.
usque ad 20. H. 6. m. 21. Grose refers this grant to the first year of Henry VI. (vol. v. p. 154,
8vo. edition) ; and Gough has copied the error in his additions to Camden’s “ Britannia,” vol. i.
p. 297, 2d edition, 1806. See also Bp. Lyttleton’s essay on Brick-Buildings, printed in “ Archm-
ologia,” vol. i.
This date is erroneously referred to the year 1448, in vol. i. of Woolnoth’s “ Ancient Castles,”
published in 1825. The patent rolls of 1 Hen. V. (a.d. 1413), have an entry, “ De elargacione
parci de Horstemonceaux in Com. Sussex.”
% We find the name spelt with many variations, as Fiennes, Fienes, De Fenis, or Fenys,
Fynes, &c.
VOL. II.
C
5
PLATE 9—14.
HERST-MONCEAUX CASTLE, SUSSEX.
“ Such as Monceaux, novv weedy ruin, boasts,
Reproach and glory of the Regnian coasts ;
Ravage, not Time, has stript thy stately halls,
Unroofed thy graceful towers, and bared thy walls!”*
The destruction of such a magnificent pile of building is, indeed a national
loss. Had an accidental fire, or a siege in the civil wars, reduced it to the mere
shell we have now before us, our regret would have been softened by reflections
on the inevitable fate, which, sooner or later, attends all human grandeur. But
what can be said of the sordid possessor of such a treasure who could deli-
berately pull it to pieces ? It is true he had a legal right to do as he pleased:
and so had that other reverend person who chopped down Shakspeare’s mul-
berry-tree at Stratford-upon-Avon. The right of property was unquestionable
in both cases ; but it would have been happy for the memory of these gentlemen
had they considered that the possession of any thing which the public admire
and value is, in some sort, equivalent to a public trust, and its destruction is
sure to be followed by the censure of posterity.
Herst-Monceaux Castle was built by Sir Roger Fienes, Knight, by virtue of
a royal license, dated in the nineteenth year of Henry VI. a.d. 1440, empowering
him to kernellate and fortify his manor-house at Herst-Monceaux, and to enclose
six hundred acres of land for the enlargement of the park.f The family of
Fienes was descended from a very illustrious stock. John, lord de Fienes,;j; in
the Bolonois, was related by blood to William, duke of Normandy, whom he
* “ Metrical Remarks on Modern Castles and Cottages.” London, 1813. Pp. 44.
f See Dugdale’s “ Baronage,” tom. ii. p. 244, where reference is made to Cart. ab An. 1.
usque ad 20. H. 6. m. 21. Grose refers this grant to the first year of Henry VI. (vol. v. p. 154,
8vo. edition) ; and Gough has copied the error in his additions to Camden’s “ Britannia,” vol. i.
p. 297, 2d edition, 1806. See also Bp. Lyttleton’s essay on Brick-Buildings, printed in “ Archm-
ologia,” vol. i.
This date is erroneously referred to the year 1448, in vol. i. of Woolnoth’s “ Ancient Castles,”
published in 1825. The patent rolls of 1 Hen. V. (a.d. 1413), have an entry, “ De elargacione
parci de Horstemonceaux in Com. Sussex.”
% We find the name spelt with many variations, as Fiennes, Fienes, De Fenis, or Fenys,
Fynes, &c.
VOL. II.
C