DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32039#0053
AT GREAT CHALFIELD, WILTSHIRE.
31
Sir Osbert Tropenell, Knight. As, in tbe pedigree of the Tropenells, “the said
“ Walter, the second son, took to wife Catherine, daughter of S r William Percy,”
“ sister to Sir Harry Percy, Knights, Lords of Much Chaldefeld, otherwise called ”
“ East Chaldefeld,” and by this marriage and the failure of male issue to Sir Harry
Percy, the third knight of that name, the estate, after much litigation, was re-
covered by Thomas Tropenell, Esq.,* who married Agnes, fourth daughter of
William Ludlow, Lord of Hill Deverell, and who by the arms now existing on
a shield in the roof of the noble banqueting hall at Great Chalfield, shewn in
Plate XIX., which are those of Ludlow of Hill Deverell, as also by those on
the elegant stone screen in the church, shewn at No. 4, Plate VI., must have
been the projector of The Manor-House at Great Chalfield, which is the
immediate subject of research ; and than which there cannot be found a more
interesting example of Domestic Gothic Architecture.
Thomas Tropenell, and Agnes, his wife, lie buried under a magnificent altar-
tomb, in a chantry, formerly belonging to his family, in Corsham church, Wilts,f
which is shewn in Plate VIII., Ecclesiastical Architecture, on which the Trope-
nelle and Ludlow arms appear, together with the motto which he seems to have
adopted : viz. jdttg fcdlemtttt, which we also find on the ceiling of the
hall at Great Chalfield in various places, and introduced in various ways (see
Plates XIX. and XX.), but always with the representation of a yoke, such as
was formerly used for oxen, forming the nominative case to the verb tyra.
Whether this was expressive of the tenure under which he held the manor, or
whether it applied to politics, or to agricultural pursuits, is not easy, at this
remote period, to determine; but it proved sadly prophetic of the melancholy
manner in which his race became extinct, in less than a century afterwards, as
mentioned in the pedigree above cited.
The author has to regret the absence of any kind of document as to the real
date of the erection of the building, beyond those he has given; which, how-
ever, sufficiently warrant him in ascribing it to the latter end of the reign of
Henry the Sixth. Since then, nothing has been added to its beauties. The
long range of offices to the right, and the barns, seem to have been built in
Queen Elizabeth’s time; and, in the guest chamber, a very elaborate fireplace
was inserted, by which the hand of destruction first went to work, in cutting up
* He was feoffee, in a.d. 1453, to Robert Lje, and, in a.d. 1486, to Robert, Lord Ilungerford.— See Sir Thomas
Piiillipp’s Institulions in IViltshire.
t This Chantry Chapel seems to have descended with the estate of Neston, as Mr. Fuller ofNeston is the present
proprietor.
31
Sir Osbert Tropenell, Knight. As, in tbe pedigree of the Tropenells, “the said
“ Walter, the second son, took to wife Catherine, daughter of S r William Percy,”
“ sister to Sir Harry Percy, Knights, Lords of Much Chaldefeld, otherwise called ”
“ East Chaldefeld,” and by this marriage and the failure of male issue to Sir Harry
Percy, the third knight of that name, the estate, after much litigation, was re-
covered by Thomas Tropenell, Esq.,* who married Agnes, fourth daughter of
William Ludlow, Lord of Hill Deverell, and who by the arms now existing on
a shield in the roof of the noble banqueting hall at Great Chalfield, shewn in
Plate XIX., which are those of Ludlow of Hill Deverell, as also by those on
the elegant stone screen in the church, shewn at No. 4, Plate VI., must have
been the projector of The Manor-House at Great Chalfield, which is the
immediate subject of research ; and than which there cannot be found a more
interesting example of Domestic Gothic Architecture.
Thomas Tropenell, and Agnes, his wife, lie buried under a magnificent altar-
tomb, in a chantry, formerly belonging to his family, in Corsham church, Wilts,f
which is shewn in Plate VIII., Ecclesiastical Architecture, on which the Trope-
nelle and Ludlow arms appear, together with the motto which he seems to have
adopted : viz. jdttg fcdlemtttt, which we also find on the ceiling of the
hall at Great Chalfield in various places, and introduced in various ways (see
Plates XIX. and XX.), but always with the representation of a yoke, such as
was formerly used for oxen, forming the nominative case to the verb tyra.
Whether this was expressive of the tenure under which he held the manor, or
whether it applied to politics, or to agricultural pursuits, is not easy, at this
remote period, to determine; but it proved sadly prophetic of the melancholy
manner in which his race became extinct, in less than a century afterwards, as
mentioned in the pedigree above cited.
The author has to regret the absence of any kind of document as to the real
date of the erection of the building, beyond those he has given; which, how-
ever, sufficiently warrant him in ascribing it to the latter end of the reign of
Henry the Sixth. Since then, nothing has been added to its beauties. The
long range of offices to the right, and the barns, seem to have been built in
Queen Elizabeth’s time; and, in the guest chamber, a very elaborate fireplace
was inserted, by which the hand of destruction first went to work, in cutting up
* He was feoffee, in a.d. 1453, to Robert Lje, and, in a.d. 1486, to Robert, Lord Ilungerford.— See Sir Thomas
Piiillipp’s Institulions in IViltshire.
t This Chantry Chapel seems to have descended with the estate of Neston, as Mr. Fuller ofNeston is the present
proprietor.