ROMANCE OF WARWICK PRIORY

Evening Star, Issue 19052, 22 September 1925, Page 9

ROMANCE OF WARWICK PRIORY

DEMOLITION SALT! OF AN HISTORIC MANSION. The old county town of Warwick (England) is shortly to lose one ol its i> lll - i ancient and in 1 nrcst ing links with the past—namely, M anvick Priory, tho demolition sale of which has been announced. Eilorts have been made to save the fine old mansion, Mid these have apparently laded, and unless some eleventh-hour -arrangement is made with the owner, Air Thomas Lloyd, ol liuanrooke House, the demolition v. ill take place. . Tho local Archeological Society asked the town council to use its influence with tho owner to prevent such a loss, hut when a resolution recommending action in the matter came before the council it was lost hv a large majority. Tho Office of Works was also approached in the hope that it wouki take action under the Ancient Monoinents Act, but, while expressing the liopo that some local cflort would b<> made to preserve the building intact, the department regretted its inability to adopt, this course. Standing on an eminence in the centre of the town, the priory of St. Sepulchre, ns it was originally known, was founded in 1124, during tho reign of Tlcnrv 1., by Henry Do Newburgh, Earl of Warwick. For many years the house, and the lands in Marwick continued vested in the Crown until thev were granted by letters patent, in 1547, to Thomas Hawkins, “tho son of one Hawkins who sold fish by retail at tho market‘cross in Warwick, and who was therefore called Fisher by most people.” QUEEN ELIZABETH ENTERTAINED. Hawkins seems to have had a, romantic rise to wealth and lame, lor, having built tho present mansion and named ii Hawke’s Nest, he there extended hospitality to Queen Elizabeth on urn occasion of her visit in 1572. It is recorded that Mr Fisher was “grievously vexed with the gout, and was comforted by tho Queen with most gracious words.” In spito of tho gout, however, ho mounted his Rorse as best he could and accompanied the Queen to Kenilworth. , . . Following the death of Hawkins, the priory passed to his spondthrilt son, who ended his days in the fleet prison ns the result of making a fraudulent eonvevance to Sir .hum i'lickeriug. a Speaker of the House of Commons and i\coper of the Croat Seal oi England, to whom the property was sold, ft remained in the Puckering family lor nearly 140 years. 'The next owner was Mr Henry Wise, Deputy Ranger ol Hyde Park and Superintendent of the Royal Gardens at Hampton Court. His descendants were still in possession when,’pi 1850, the Great 'Western Railway, desiring to cut through with their main line to'Birmingham, were obliged to purchase the whole estate. The property subsequently passed to a Mr Scott, of Birmingham, and then to Mr Thomas Lloyd, the grandfather ol the present owner and of Sir George Lloyd, the High Commissioner for Egypt. In the early part of the eighteenth century, when the property was occupied by Sir John and Lady Rowyen, indirect descendants of Sir John Puckering, a tradition of lavish hospitality seems to have been associated with the priory. Features of the mansion arc a great hall and a fine dining room with richly-stained windows, a boantilnl carved oak staircase, and oak panelling. Many of the residents of Warwick would like to see the buildings converted into a museum and the grounds used a a public park. The probable end, however, will be that a fine building site will become available.