The Much Married Mrs Minshull

 

As I entered Bath Abbey last week, I noticed a plaque high on the porch wall that mentioned the name Craven - twice! I had known that members of the Craven family were said to be buried in the Abbey, the first being Sir Robert Craven, master of the horse to Elizabeth of Bohemia, and the other a sister of the 6th Baron Craven. I had never been able to trace a memorial for Sir Robert and when I asked a verger their records contained no reference of a plaque to him, although they did tell me that some early burials such as his (he died in 1672) had been moved and subsequently lost. The plaque that I did see, however, is the one on the left here. Apologies for the poor quality of the picture: It was high up and the light was shining directly on it, making it difficult to photograph.

The wording is as follows: "Jane, the wife of John Minshull Esq of Swansea, sister to the late Lord Craven and aunt to the present Earl departed this life Dec. 2nd 1807. Aged 64 years. Abi Lector et Aeternitatem animo contemplare. (Roughly translated as let the reader go and contemplate eternity with his mind.)

This intriguing plaque certainly made me contemplate. I have a fairly comprehensive Craven family tree on Ancestry as part of my research and although it has gaps it is accurate and supported by documentary evidence from many sources. (You can see it here.) However the name John Minshull did not feature on it. 

Therefore I did some reverse genealogy from the plaque itself. I knew from the name, date and wording that the Jane referred to had to be the sister of the 6th Baron Craven since she was the only "Jane" to be sister to one baron and aunt to his son, the first earl of the second creation. In fact William, 6th Baron Craven had three sisters: Maria Rebecca, who was his elder by a year, Jane who was born in 1743 and Anna Rebecca, the youngest. All of them had been baptised at Stanton Lacy in Shropshire, where their father the Rev. John Craven was appointed vicar in 1736.

Jane Craven's first marriage took place at St Bartholomew's church Binley, the parish church for Coombe Abbey, in September 1769 when she was 26 years old. Her brother William had inherited the Craven barony earlier the same year. Perhaps it was this social promotion that led to her becoming a more attractive marriageable prospect as the sister of the baron rather than the daughter of a country rector. Her husband was the Rev. John Shuckburgh who, at sixty five was a widower almost forty years her senior. He came from a family of landowners that had risen to prominence in the Tudor period and his home was at Bourton Hall, Bourton on Dunsmore in Warwickshire. Less than a year later, John was dead and Jane a widow.

Within a year, Jane had married again this time at St George's Hanover Square in London. Her second

husband was William Stratton Liddiard whose estate at Rockley near Marlborough in Wiltshire was close to Craven Berkshire estates. (Rockley House is pictured on the right.) William and Jane went on to have five children. William was also a vicar and in 1776 he succeeded to the living of Stanton Lacy that had been Jane's father's earlier in the century. It is perhaps no surprise that this living was in the gift of Lord Craven.

Two years later, in 1778, William Liddiard died leaving Jane a widow for a second time at the age of  thirty five and with her youngest child only a year old. It was a full ten years before Jane remarried to John Minshull and at the time of their nuptials she was living in Walcot, a suburb of Bath. Although William Liddiard was buried in Wiltshire and had been an (absentee) vicar of Stanton Lacy in Shropshire, documents suggest that the family already had a home in Walcot during his lifetime which was inherited by his son, also William.

I have not yet been able to discover much about John Minshull Esq. of Swansea. He was living in the St James area of Bath and was a bachelor when he and Jane married. Evidently he took on her young children as well, for Jane's youngest daughter Louisa was married in Swansea in January 1800. There is still much to discover about Jane Craven's life and about her third husband. Curiously there is a Minshull/Craven connection in earlier generations of the family when some Craven relations married into the Minshull family of Cheshire. It may be that this connection, several generations earlier, had been maintained and was the catalyst for Jane's introduction to John. 

The Elusive 5th Baron Craven

 

You don’t hear much about the 5^th Baron Craven. Sandwiched between Fulwar the 4^th Baron, a supreme sportsman, and William, the 6^th Baron, whose personal life has eclipsed much of the rest of his story, William, 5^th Baron Craven seems at the same time both stolid and shadowy. 

The History of Parliament, noting that he served as MP for Warwickshire between 1746 and 1764, comments that “William Craven was returned unopposed as a Tory for the county. He is not known to have spoken nor is any vote of his recorded.” It’s not much of a tribute to a man who served for eighteen years. In fact, he has two entries on the record and both agree that he appears to have contributed nothing to any debate or had any kind of influence.

In dynastic terms as well, the 5^th Baron was something of a side step. He married Jane Berkeley in 1749 but they had no children together. He was the cousin of his predecessor, who was unmarried, and was succeeded by his nephew. However, no man is an island and the 5^th Baron’s family played a crucial role in forming both the man and his role.

William Craven was born in 1705, the son of John Craven. John, who died in 1726, was a younger brother of the 2^nd Baron Craven and uncle to the 3^rd and 4^th barons. He was one of the many children of Sir William Craven of Coombe Abbey and his wife Margaret Clapham, and grew up at Benham in Berkshire and then Coombe Abbey in Warwickshire. He benefitted from his relationship to the Earl of Craven by gaining a commission in the army whilst still in his teens and when he was looking to marry and settle on a country estate, he was granted land at Whitley in Warwickshire, close to Coombe Abbey. The 2^nd Baron Craven had taken a lease on the estate of Cheylesmore in Coventry shortly before. (The manor house is pictured above, painted by Brooke.)

John Craven married in 1700 to Maria Rebecca Berkeley Green. It made sense to make an alliance with another local well-connected gentry family and the Greens held land at Wyken in Warwickshire and at Cotheridge in Worcestershire. Their history was an interesting one. Henry Green, Maria’s father, was the grandson of a prosperous yeoman from Wyken in Warwickshire. His father had taken the leap into local and then national politics, buying land and property along the way. Their manor house has been identified as being the extant “Wyken Manor Farm” on Henley Road which has an L-shaped ground plan and contains some early 17^th century features. It seems probable that this was the original Green family house before they purchased the manor of Wyken from the Willoughby family in 1596, after which it became the manor house. (Picture of Wyken Manor farm from Geograph.org). 

Henry Green married well, to Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Rowland Berkeley of Cotheridge. The Berkeleys were a junior branch of the Barons Berkeley of Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire and they owned Cotheridge Court, an ancient manor in Worcestershire. When Sir Rowland’s only son died, his daughter Elizabeth inherited the manor and her husband Henry Green adopted the name Berkeley. Their son Rowland went on to inherit Cotheridge whilst their daughter Maria Rebecca inherited Wyken. The Wyken estate passed to her eldest son William Craven on her death in 1729.

When William Craven was born in 1705, there was no indication or expectation that he would one day inherit the Craven barony. William, 2^nd Baron Craven, was still alive and he had no fewer than three sons to follow in him. The children of John and Maria Craven therefore followed a typical upbringing for their period and their class; William studied and Emmanuel College, Cambridge (pictured below) and went on to become an MP whilst two of his surviving brothers went into the church and a third into the Navy. The only surviving daughter, Maria Rebecca, made a very good match to the 4^th Baron Leigh of Stoneleigh in Warwickshire.

With his family annuities plus the Wyken estate, William Craven would have lived very comfortably. He showed no urge to marry young, being forty-three when he married Jane Berkeley, who was ten years younger than he. In fact, she was a first cousin of his, one of the daughters of his mother Maria’s brother Rowland Berkeley Green. 

The 2^nd Baron Craven had died young and intestate in 1711 leaving his son William a minor, which had cause a great deal of litigation. When William 3^rd Baron died without a male heir in 1739, his younger brother Robert was already dead, leaving only Fulwar Craven to carry on the line. This, Fulwar (pictured) seemed disinclined to do; whilst he had a long-time female companion, he did not marry. As time progressed, it must have become apparent that his second cousin William would be next in line. Yet he too was childless.

In the event, William, 5^th Baron Craven lived only five years longer than Fulwar, dying in 1769 at the age of sixty-three. His short tenure of the barony was spent largely at Coombe Abbey. He was one of the trustees of his nephew Edward, 5^th Baron Leigh, and the correspondence between him and Lord Leigh, and also with the agent for the Stoneleigh estate, suggests a man of sound and steady character and influence.

Newspaper reports from the era also give an insight into the 5^th Baron and his activities. In April 1765

the Coventry Standard reported that Lord Craven had been sworn into the office of High Steward of Newbury and gave a very handsome entertainment to the corporation and gentlemen of Newbury to celebrate the occasion. An interesting side note was that the Recorder for the Corporation requested that Lord Craven have a portrait painted so that they could hang it in the town hall; his lordship agreed and it was to be painted by Mr Taylor. There are no portraits of the 5^th Baron, as far as I know, so I wonder whether this was completed. Perhaps there is still a portrait of Lord Craven hanging in the council offices, or perhaps it was sold long ago.

The same newspaper report went on to note that Lord and Lady Craven subsequently travelled from Berkshire to their house in Upper Grosvenor Street in London. This was number 11, previously occupied by Fulwar Craven and after the death of the 5^th Baron, by his brother Rear Admiral Thomas Craven.

In sporting terms, it seems that the 5^th Baron had the family interest in the turf. Reports of race meetings record a number of his horses running; many of these had been bred by his predecessor Fulwar Craven.

In January of 1769 the newspapers reported the 5^th Baron Craven to be dangerously ill and he died in March of that year after what was described as a “tedious illness”. The obituaries were generous, observing that “his many eminent virtues rendered his death universally lamented.” He was buried at Binley having requested a quiet funeral with no pomp, leaving in his will a substantial annuity to his widow Jane and also a sum to enable her to buy and furnish a suitable house of her own choosing. He also left her his private effects including silver, china and his best carriage and horses for her use. There were other annuities for family members and recognition of all the servants. The bulk of the estates and possessions, of course, went to his nephew William Craven who was to become the 6^th Baron on his death. Jane, Dowager Baroness Craven, lived until 1791. Hers is another story I hope to tell in the future. 

There is one other rather nice way in which the 5th Baron Craven has made his mark on history and that is via an apple. It is said that when Thomas Craven returned from a tour with the Navy he brought with him the seeds of an apple from Holland which were planted in his brother's garden at Wyken Manor. From these grew a yellowish-green apple with a sweet aroma and a tangy flavour, which became popular in orchards of the 18th and 19th centuries. This apple was the Wyken Pippin, an ancestor of many popular modern apples.

Ashdown Village and the Old Stables

Over the years I've done a number of blog posts about Ashdown village, the old farmhouse and the stunning Victorian stables. (You can find the posts if you search on Ashdown village in the search box top left). The village is to the south of the white gates at the bottom of the drive and it's possible to do a circular walk from the house, down the drive, out of the picket gate, turn right past what is left of the village, and right again up the ha ha to Alfred's Castle where there is a footpath taking you back into the woods. It's a fantastic walk and there is so much history to see on it, but it's not publicized because I imagine the National Trust doesn't want hordes of people walking through the village. However with an OS map it's easy to follow the paths and although there isn't a guided walk, you can look out for the following landmarks along the way:

1. The white gates at the bottom of the south avenue are modelled on the original ones which can be seen in early paintings, such as the Kyp drawing of Ashdown House from 1708 and the series of paintings by Henry Seymour.

2. Opposite the gate at the bottom of the drive is a paddock where once there was a pond. This has dried out in the last century but it was once the place where the ice was cut to be stored in the ice house.

3. Immediately opposite and to the right of the paddock is the old stable yard which is now the National

Trust's site office. These are old barns and stables dating to the 18th century in some cases. The barn that borders the road has been restored and is absolutely beautiful (see picture above). Some of the old beams still remain. Behind the southernmost stables is the kennel where the hounds were housed for the Vine and Craven and the Old Berkshire Hunt when these were based at Ashdown. 

4. The biggest and most impressive building to the left of the road is the red brick Victorian stables, which were built in the mid 19th century in a gothic style. Look out for the little clock tower and the Earl's coronet and horse and carriage on the weather vane. The Craven initials and coronet are also on the rainwater heads on the downpipes. Very smart! I've had the pleasure of seeing inside the stables on a couple of occasions and whilst they are in dire need of renovation, you can see what a prestigious building it once was, with huge box stalls for the most valuable horses. The grooms lived on the floors above; the censuses from the 19th century give details of who they were. Look out for the magnificent chimneys as well.

5. The small set of stables to the right of the square is much older. They are the original early 18th century stables with a Flemish Bond pattern to the brick on the north side. Look out for the ghost sign on the wall that dates from when the stable block was used to store ammunition in the Second World War. "No Smoking." Good idea.

6. Beyond the stables there is the village green with the old farmhouse, incorporating an earlier medieval forester's cottage, a grain store standing on staddle stones (those ones that are shaped like mushrooms) and a laundry. It's probable that the green was originally a tenter ground where the washing from the house was dried in the open air.

7. Before you get to the end of the road, where you turn right to go up the ha ha path, there is a  paddock on the left with a huge wall in which you can still see the outline of a hearth. This was the heated kitchen-garden wall, where espaliered fruit trees would grow. There were also mushroom houses and vegetable beds to supply the house in the 19th century. In the field in front of the wall there was once the Ashdown House Chapel but no trace of this remains now.

8. There is a T junction and the road turns left, up towards what was the gamekeeper's cottage and the

choristers' lodge. This is private although you can continue walking straight up the path along the edge of the upper wood. This is the line of the medieval park pale and it takes you to the top of the hill and some spectacular views. In order to do the circular walk, though, you need to take the path that goes straight on at the gate and then bend to the right, keeping the house on your right as you go up the hill towards Alfred's Castle. Here you pass the ha ha at the end of the West Avenue. When the house was originally built, the west avenue stretched across the field as far as the coppice on the left. You will reach a gate that takes you into the hill fort and from there another that takes you back to the Ashdown House woods.

Enjoy the nature, the views and the history along the way!

New Light Through Old Windows

It's hard to believe that it's seven years since I wrote any new posts on this Ashdown House blog. In the meantime, I've written five new dual-time books, raised several more guide dog puppies and dealt with lots of difficult family issues. However, I'm still (just about!) working at Ashdown House and finally, after many years of good intentions, I am writing a non-fiction book about the history of the house. 

During those seven years, so many people have told me how much they enjoyed the blog and found it so useful in discovering more about the Craven family, Ashdown House itself and the local history associated with it. It's been amazing to get such wonderful feedback! Perhaps, at the time, I thought that I had discovered everything I could about Ashdown and didn't have anything left to write about. How wrong I was. In the intervening years, I've studied the Craven papers in the Bodleian Library in Oxford and made many more astonishing finds. I've been to museums and records offices around the country and will continue to do so for my research, and I've had the amazing experience of cataloguing some of the original and previously-unseen Craven papers. All of this I'd like to share here with you as I have a passion for Ashdown House (no surprises there!) and love to share all the history bits that the official site doesn't mention. This blog is not affiliated to the National Trust in any way - they are the people who own and run Ashdown and organize the tours of the property. But this is the place where the magic happens <G!>

There are a number of other places where you can find out more about the history of the Craven family

and their historic homes including The Craven Society Facebook Page and Elizabeth Craven and her World, a blog run by Dr Julia Gaspar. You may also be interested in the Jane Austen side of the family at Kintbury and Beyond. As we go along I'll be including recommended books and places to visit for those discerning tourists who like to see all the famous sites but head off the beaten track as well for something different. And if you are a genealogist interested in Craven family history, please do get in touch as well.

I hope you will rejoin me in stepping into Ashdown's story once again for new light through old windows!

Debunking the Curse of the Cravens

Curses. They’re rather fun in fiction. As someone who has written a book featuring a cursed pearl, I’m the first to admit that I like the Gothic, spooky element of a curse story, especially as the nights draw in towards Halloween and the ghosts start to gather.

However, I have a different attitude towards real-life family curses. They make me feel pretty uncomfortable because these are real people the curses refer to, not fictional ones. Someone might get hurt. And really… Can they possibly stand up to the light of historical enquiry?

One of the biggest, spookiest and most notorious family curse stories that pops up every so often (I

was reading about it again only yesterday) is the so-called curse of the Craven family of Ashdown Park. When it comes to family curses this has all the classic elements; a heartless nobleman who gets a maidservant (or gypsy girl, depending on which version you read) pregnant, casts her out and is cursed for his cruelty. The curse itself is blood-curdling in its threat: That no son and heir to the title shall outlive his mother.  And it comes true, striking down each generation of the family with death and destruction.

Except in one generation this doesn’t happen. Or maybe in two. Or three… Well, you can see where I’m going with this.  Can we talk the incidence of illness in any given historical era? Or the dangers of war? Perhaps not, because that would spoil the story... Well, I’m going to do it anyway because I'm a spoilsport.

What is the truth behind this apparent curse that no son of the Craven family would outlive his mother? Well, first it’s a bit vague, isn’t it?  The Craven family has produced a great many sons across all branches of the family over the years and plenty of them have outlived their mothers. So for convenience sake the curse has been interpreted as “no heir to the title shall outlive his mother” which is a lot easier to check. And if you do check, you’ll find that there is no historical basis for the story of the curse. Not one reference. The first mention of it is in The News of the World in the 1980s.

Never mind. Let’s look at the actual detail behind this claim because it could be true anyway.

If we start with William, First Earl of Craven, who was supposed to have been the philandering

nobleman who brought this on the family, he was born in 1608 and died in 1697. His mother Elizabeth died in 1624, so he outlived her by quite a long chalk.

William was succeeded as 2^nd Lord Craven by the grandson of a cousin. This William was born in 1688 and died in 1711. His mother, Margaret also died in 1711, but in April to William’s October. Foiled again.

William the 3^rd Baron and Fulwar the 4^th Baron were brothers. They died in 1739 and 1764 respectively. Their mother Elizabeth died in 1704 before both of her sons.

William the 5^th Baron died in 1769. There is no record of when his mother died.

William 6^th Baron died in 1791. His mother Mary also died in 1791. William predeceased her by 2 months. At last we’re getting somewhere!

William, 7^th Baron and 1^st Earl of the 2^nd Creation was born in 1770 and died in 1825. His mother, the “beautiful Lady Craven” was alive and causing scandal until three years later!

William 2^nd Earl was born in 1809 and died in 1866. His mother, the actress Louisa Brunton, had died in 1860. Oops! After only 2 generations the curse fails again.

The second Earl’s heir was Viscount Uffington who was born in 1838. He pre-deceased his father, never mind his mother, a not uncommon occurrence. It was his brother George who went on to inherit the Craven Earldom. Both sons were outlived by their mother Emily who died in 1901.

And it’s here that the story of the curse really kicks off because it is the case that in the subsequent four generations the Dowager Countesses of Craven have outlived the son and heir. Which all goes to prove…  Not very much in my opinion, especially as the 5^th Earl was badly wounded in the First World War which affected his health throughout the rest of his life. However there are others who are more open to the idea than I am and I’m sure they will carry on telling the tale of the wicked earl, the pregnant maid/gypsy and the subsequent curse that has wreaked havoc for ten generations. As for me, I’ll just keep looking for some historical evidence to back up the tale and in the meantime wish the Earl of Craven (and his mother) a long and happy life untroubled by these stories.

The apples of Wyken Manor

Aficionados of Ashdown House and William Craven will already know that he was a man of wide-ranging interests. I had not previously realised, however, that one of them was horticulture. Last week I discovered that when he came back from the Netherlands after the Restoration of King Charles II in 1660 William Craven brought with him the seeds of an apple which he planted at Wyken Manor near Coventry. This grew to be the Wyken Pippin apple tree. On Thursday, wandering in the orchard at Stanton Park near Swindon, I found a Wyken Pippin tree and learned of its history. Apparently the fruit is creamy white, moderately firm, juicy, sweet and aromatic, which sounds delicious. At Stanton you can pick the pippin and other heritage apples, which is a rather lovely idea!

Seas of Blue

The first bluebells are starting to come out in the Ashdown woods. In a week, or perhaps two, there will be a carpet of blue beneath the trees, mingling with the yellow primroses and the white of the wild wood anemones.