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23 PART II DESCRIPTION OF HADDON HALL BY S. RAYNER
RAYNER’S OBSERVATIONS ON HADDON HALL. More than half a century has elapsed
since the survey of the ancient mansion excited in the breast of the learned antiquary such
feelings of admiration, and so much anxiety for its preservation, as a monument of the
domestic arrangements and modes of living among the nobles and gentry of this country
in former ages. Much to the honour of the present noble owner of Haddon Hall, the
building has been carefully kept in repair, and preserved in as perfect a state as when it
was last occupied as a family residence. This is as it should be: for the slightest
acquaintance with the edifice must convince any one that an attempt to modernize and
adapt it for the abode of rank and splendour, would be the height of absurdity. Nothing
less than a total demolition and re-construction of the whole fabric must be the result of
such an undertaking; which is therefore most devoutly to be deprecated.
While so much has been done to guard from dilapidation and ruin the towers and halls
of Haddon, the visitor may wish that the antique furniture with which the apartments
were heretofore filled, had been preserved, to complete the picture of a mansion of the
days of yore, when rude abundance crowned the festive board, and the splendid luxuries
of modern times were unknown. A few relics only of the furniture are, however, now
remaining; and these probably, as might be expected, are of no very ancient date.
Besides the State Bed, and other articles already mentioned, there is in the Drawing
Room, a pair of andirons, the brass fronts of which are ornamented with open work; and
in an apartment called the Guard Room, near the lower entrance, are kept a buff-coat,
some jack-boots, a fire lock, and a holster and pistols. According to Lysons, about 1760,
such of the furniture of this mansion as was thought valuable, was removed to Belvoir
Castle; and at the same time, that which was not wanted was lodged in a barn on the
north side of the Hall, one end of which extended into what is provincially called a “byewater,”
being a branch of the river Wye. The whole quantity consigned to this miserable
repository amounted to ten wagon loads. Here the furniture was kept till the moisture
arising from floods and rain reduced the wood-work to a state of rottenness and decay;
and then it was ordered to be used for fuel. Fifteen bedsteads were put into a long room
near the house, which had been a granary, and is now a stable; and after being left for a
time to fall in pieces, they likewise were ordered to be cut up and burnt. The neglect and
consequent destruction to which these relics of antiquity were thus consigned, may be
imputed to the person who was then Agent to the Duke of Rutland; and who made this
unfortunate use of the discretionary power with which it may be presumed he was
entrusted by his noble employer.