Lacock
7th June 1836
My Dear Mr F.
I have made such a discovery in the Tower <1> – no less than a plan of Lacock House “before the alteration” and a Map of the grounds immediately round it. When the alteration in question took place is not stated, but I believe it was in 1717 and succeeding years – Before that time the arrangement was, such as this plan indicates, but which I find in many respects difficult to comprehend – There was a little room between ye dining room & South Gallery – The Library door was near the fireplace & opened straight into the Stone Gallery. Between this door & the fireplace was another door (very inconvenient) leading East – The Tower Room was much as at present, but the 3 rooms Caroline’s Hor’s & Mlle’s <2> were all in one, forming a large apartment with small dressing room attached. – My mother’s <3> room had 2 South windows, 1 on each side the fireplace, which are now closets. The rest of the house is so materially altered that I have not yet made it out. The grounds are greatly altered – at the period in question the terrace and wall did not exist, the London road lined with cottages came close under the Abbey walls – John Talbot <4> moved it to its present situation – the ancient track is very visible in the field, but I never understood till now what it was – Between the Abbey & the River was an Orchard – Near where Mr Grosett’s <5> oak & the American Walnut now stand was a Mill, the stream still flows into the Avon across the field. West of the Abbey occupying the space, now shrubbery, was an Enormous Court Yard measuring Two Acres – such was the state of things towards the year of our Lord 1717 and anything more different than it must have looked then from what it does now, can scarcely be imagined – I think you will allow that our occasional conjectures respecting the former state of things, have been exceedingly wide of the truth: as the ideas of Geologists concerning the primitive world, would probably be found, could a similar revelation be made to them.
I have also found the intended elevation of the South Front, there were to have been 2 Towers to correspond at the angles, and large windows of 2 kinds on the Front. The effect would have been that of regular architecture – No intention apparently of widening the South Gallery – It seems that after finishing the Hall & dining Room that money fell short, & the rest was abandoned – At any rate I think it likely that the regular proportions of the Hall and Dining Room were imagined by the same person who designed this regular South Front. There is a good deal in the plan of the house to exercise your ingenuity, the next time you are at home, especially the numerous staircases, which I am not always sure whether they led up or down.
Yours affly
Henry
Capt. Feilding R.N.
31 Sackville St
London
Notes:
1. Sharington’s Tower, Muniments Room is home to Lacock family and history records.
2. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister, Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford, née Feilding (1810–1851), WHFT’s half-sister and Amélina Petit De Billier, ‘Mamie’, ‘Amandier’ (1798–1876), governess and later close friend of the Talbot family [See Amélina's journal].
3. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.
4. Sir John Talbot. [See Doc. No: 03306].
5. John Rock Grosett (1783-1866), MP; Jamaican Parliament; occupant of Lacock Abbey until summer 1827.