Samuel Peploe (1667 - 1752).
Bishop of Chester from 1725.
This exceptional mural monument has for some reason fallen below the radar.
It is not inscribed but has all the hallmarks of a work of Henry Cheere (1703 - 81).
It is not mentioned in the Biographical Dictionary....... Pub Yale 2009.
Another monument that would be dramatically improved with a gentle wash.
https://www.dawleyheritage.co.uk/unpublished-articles/262/Biography
I will add to this post as I find further versions of the type of socle used on this bust
Described as A Bust of Sappho
19th century.
H 74 x W 50 x D 22.5 cm.
I don't think this is either Sappho or 19th Century!
A possible clue here is the form of the socle -
The bust was stolen from Durham Castle in 1994, and only recently returned in 2017, after significant conservation and reconstruction work.
Images courtesy Art uk website.
https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/sappho-277056
..................
A series of notes and images.
The Monument was erected on the instructions of his wife Ann Davies nee Brockholes, probably c. 1728/29, making it one of the earliest monuments designed and built by Henry Cheere.
After his apprenticeship with Robert Hartshorne, Henry Cheere set up independently in St Margaret's Lane, Westminster in 1728 but worked in collaboration with Henry Scheemakers until 1733 when Scheemakers left England in 1733.
The pose here of the standing cross legged figure leaning against an urn is that first used by the Italian Guelfi (working in England c1718 - 1734) on the influential monument in Westminster Abbey to James Craggs Secretary of State, put up c 1722 - designed by James Gibbs and superintended by Alexander Pope.
The pose of the Guelfi Craggs statue was very influential on future monuments - the Westminster Abbey monument to Shakespeare by Scheemakers of 1740 being the prime example.
It was used on the monument of 1746 to William and Elizabeth Powlett at St George's Church West Grinstead by Rysbrack,.
The statue of George Cooke of about 1749 formerly in the gardens of Belhamonds House, Middlesex and now in the Ashmolean.
The 1757 monument to Charles Polhill, St Bartholomew, Otford, Kent by Henry Cheere.
The 1761 to Cholmley Turner, at St Cuthberts, Kirkleatham, Cleveland also by Henry Cheere.
The monument to Peregrine Bertie at Edenham by Henry Cheere of c 1741/42.
The monument to Sir John Dutton at Sherborne, Glouc. by Rysbrack of 1749.
Duke odf Somerset in the Senate House, Cambridge Rysbrack of 1756.
For more on Guelfi and the derivation and use of this pose see -
https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2015/08/notes-on-giovanni-battista-guelfi-16912.html
https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-rysbrack-statuettes-of-rubens-van_8.html
Robert Davies of Llanerch.
Robert Davies (1685/86 – 22 May 1728) was a Welsh antiquary and son of fellow antiquary, Robert Davies of Llanerch (d. 1710).
Davies was born on 1685/6 the son of Robert Davies and his wife, Letitia (née Vaughan). Davies matriculated from Brasenose College, Oxford University on 27 June 1702, aged 16. His father died on 8 July 1710, when his Llannerch and Gwysaney estates passed on to his son. The son of our Robert Davies another Robert became High Sheriff of Flintshire in 1744.
See - Usher, G. A. (1964). Gwysaney and Owston: A History of the Family of Davies-Cooke of Gwysaney, Flintshire and Owston, West Riding of Yorkshire.
The current church was erected c.1500 under the patronage of Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby, on the site of an Early Medieval church. It is one of the 'Stanley' series of churches which were rebuilt around this time.
Later additions include the West Tower built 1768-73 which is attributed to Joseph Turner of Chester, and the Apsidal Chancel/general restoration of the church which was undertaken by G. G. Scott in 1856. The Church continues in use as a place of worship by the Church in Wales.
__________________
The Wynn's of Tower (or Twr Broncoed), Nercwys,
The Monuments in St Mary's Church, Mold.
The Monument to John Wynne of Tower,
died 1737
Erected by his son William Wynne.
William Wynne d. 1776.
William Wynn instructed that the monument be carved in his lifetime.
The monument inscribed by Michael Rysbrack(1694 - 1770).
Notable for the very fire carving of the Cherub's heads.
St Mary's Church, Mold, Flintshire.
.......................
of tangential interest.
A Photograph of Tower (or Twr Broncoed) taken on 7th January 1856.
The image below from.
https://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/unidentified-1856-british-photograph
It remains substantially unchanged.
The house (Listed Grade 1) is now a guest house and wedding venue.
see - https://tower.wales/contact-us/
The earliest part of the building, fortified tower house, is believed to date back to circa 1440-50. This
originally adjoined an open hall and the building has seen many structural changes over the centuries. A story perhaps apocryphal, of the Tower is the hanging of the former mayor of Chester in the 15th century. It is alleged that this man met his end in a kitchen in the house.
................................
Again of tangential interest ref. St Mary's, Mold -
https://www.walesher1974.org/herumd.php?group=CPAT&level=3&docid=301447635
The Dirdoe Monument.
Approx 18 ft tall.
Frances Dirdoe, who died at 33 in 1733, standing between her sisters Rebecca and Rachel. She was the youngest of 15 children, and was the last of her family.
Frances Dirdoe d. 1733.
Probably by the Bastards of Blandford.
Perhaps John Bastard I (1687 - 1770).
The Monument has for some obscure reason been attributed to brothers Richard (1736 - 1813) or Francis Lancashire of Bath (fl 1770 - 1829) but stylistically it is much earlier and it cannot be accepted.
For a useful look at Bath Marble Masons see -
https://historyofbath.org/images/documents/PROCEEDINGS%2008%202019-20.pdf
Monument to Henry Dirdoe (1647-1724) in St Mary's Church, Gillingham, Dorset.
By John Bastard of Blandford. Large, with three putto-heads at the top below a curved pediment. Inscription (translated from Latin):
'Here
lies what is left of Henry Dirdoe, esquire, the last male descendant of his
family, highly respected and long resident in this parish; who took in
marriage, Dorothy, the only daughter and heiress of Roger White, a rich
merchant and gentleman of Sherborne in this county and by her he begat five sons,
Henry, John, Christopher, James and Edward, the last died in infancy, the rest,
apart from John, all bachelors, died before their father without offspring and
are buried near him except John whose remains the City of London received; and
ten daughters, Dorothy, Sarah, Mary, Ann, Elizabeth, Catherine, Rebecca, Jane,
Rachel and Frances who suvived him. Departed this life on the 18th May, 1724.
Aged 77. Then his wife succumbed to fate on Oct. 21st 1727, aged 70, and is
also buried here. This memorial tablet was erected by their daughters Mary and
Catherine who their mother had appointed executors of her will. Arms: arms of
Dirdoe of Milton-on-Stour (The Manor House, now "The Old House")
(Argent, a chevron between three cranes/herons sable) (?, not listed in Burke's
General Armory) quartering White (Gules, three crossess bottony in bend
argent).
Andrew Kearne, seems likely to have been the sculptor at Lamport, Northamptonshire. He is known to have been working at Lamport when a chimneypiece was carved, with Vertue recording that he “carv’d many Statues for Sr Justinian Isum” at Lamport.
He created the lioness for the York Watergate (see below), and also a chimneypiece for Castle Ashby, not far from Lamport. Mark Girouard, A Biographical Dictionary of English Architecture 1540 – 1640, (London: Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2021), 188, 285.
See also BDS, 683; Spiers, “Nicholas Stone”,
Kearne married the sister of Nicholas Stone (1586 - 1647).
Stones workshop was on the South side of Long Acre at the St Martin's Lane end.
for Stone Notebook and Account Book see - https://www.walpolesociety.org.uk/vol7
extracts below.
Page 31 -
We know that Stone had a sister, who married Andrew Kearne,
a German sculptor, who assisted him in his work, and of whom mention is made
later. In the cancelled portion of his will Stone left ' unto Grace the nowe
wife of Andrewe Kerne and all her children tenn pounds vizt. five pounds to
herself and the other five pounds amongst her children. The expression 'nowe
wife' is ambiguous ; he does not call her his sister, and yet if she was a
second wife it is difficult to understand why this ten pounds should have been
left to her and her children.
Page 34
Nothing appears to be known of any original work of the various craftsmen employed by Stone with the exception of that of Schoerman and Kearne, a fact which suggests that it may have been only of value when under the supervision of a master mind ; of these two, however, Vertue has been able to give some information.
1 John Schoerman was born at Embden in the Low Countries; he executed for Sir John Danvers, of Chelsea, two sitting figures of shepherds and a group of Hercules and Antaeus, for which he received respectively £6 and £16, and an effigy of Sir Thomas Lucy for his monument in Charlcote Church, at a cost of £20 los. ; and another of Lord Belhaven at Holyrood, at a cost of £18; he also did some work for Sir Simon Baskerville.
Andreas Kearne was a German who married Nicholas Stone's sister. He carved some
statuary for Sir Justinian Isham, of Lamport, Northants, and statues of Apollo
and Venus for the Countess of Mulgrave. These, for which he obtained £7 apiece,
were six feet in height and were of Portland stone.
info above from -
The Development of Tudor and Stuart Garden Design in
Northamptonshire.
J. M. Steane
Boughton. (SP896814) This is probably the finest formal garden layout in England. The original scheme was carried out by Ralph Montagu, the first Duke, between 1684 and 1709 and then it was modified and extended by his son, John, second Duke, appropriately called "the Planter" in the 1720s, 30s and 40s.
It had survived to such a remarkable extent largely because no one spent much time at Boughton between 1750 and 1900.
The inspiration was mainly French (vistas, parterres, fountains) with a strong dash of Dutch (canals). Ralph Montagu had 'been Charles II's ambassador at the courts of Versailles and St. Cloud, and doubtless this was where he "formed the ideas in his own mind, both of buildings and Gardening".
With the aid of his gardener, a Dutchman called Van de Meulen, and money from the dowries of two of the richest women of the kingdom, Ralph laid out over a hundred acres in the pattern of Le Notre: branching radial avenues, water in straight geometric canals, parterres, a cascade, ponds and fountains.
As early as 1694 Charles Hatton wrote, "Here is great talk of vast gardens at Boughton: but I heardmy lord Montagu is very much concerned that ye water with wch he hoped to make so finefountains hath failed his expectations". There were two sources of water for the fountains. The highest pool which still survives South of the house, the Lily Pond, was fed from Warkton and provided a piped supply of water to the four fountains in the parterre seen in Stukely's plan and to those in the three pools at the West end shown on Delahaye's detailed survey of 1712 and Brasier's survey of 1715.
The other source of water was a spring to the North-east of the house and a water course from Boughton wood: the former filled the Grand Etang, a rectangular earthen basin now dry and grassed over, which supplied the three fountain pools in the long garden to the North of the parterre. The latter flowed into the Dead Reach, a long arm which was dug from the river Ise to a point below the Grand Etang.
Morton, in his description published in 1712, mentions "below the Western front of the House ... three more remarkable Parterres: the Parterre of Statues, the Parterre of Basins, and the Water Parterre: wherein is an octagon basin whose circumference is 216 yards, which in the middle of it has a jet d'eau whose height is above 80 feet, surrounded by other jet d'eaux.
On the North side of the Parterre Garden is a small wilderness which is called the "Wilderness of Apartments", an exceeding delightful place and nobly adorned with basins, jet d'eaux, statues, withthe platanus, lime tree, beech, bays, etc., all in exquisite form and order". 47
The river Ise itself was canalised to frame the West end of the parterres. A right angle was dug taking the canalised river parallel with the Western approach avenue; at the corner was a short arm known as the Boat Reach.
A further right angle led the river South of the Wilderness to the Cascade. Here the water was stepped down the cascade into the Starpond.
In 1974/5 the sluice was renewed at this point, the water level of the Ise raised and the Star pond re-excavated. An elm sill was found at the top of the cascade. The stone cascade steps and surrounds of the pond were exposed.
A ceramic spigot, possibly one of the fountain spouts, and a number of elm pipes also came to light.
Lord Halifax wrote from Bushey Park in 1710 "I desire you would write to Boughton to Monsr Vandermulen to send me an exact account of the cascade, viz., how many feet the water falls, the dimensions of the steps, the breadth of each step, the distance from step to step, and, if he can, to make such a draft of the whole, by a scale, as we may follow the example as far our ·ground admits of it".
Morton mentions that "to the Southward of the lower part of the Parterre Garden is a large wilderness of a different figure, having ten equidistant walks concentrating in a round area, and adorned also with statues.
In one of the Quarters is a fine Pheasantery. The larger trees upon the side of the walks have eglantine and woodbine climbing up and clasping about the bodies of them". A number of minor water ways crisscross, creating islands which seem to have formed osier beds. In winter these can still be traced in the standing water of the partially flooded field.
The elaborately planted and ornamented parterres which figured on Stukeley's Westward view from the house of 1706 and the long garden by the side of the Dead·Reach were swept away by the second Duke in the 1720s.
The Broad Water, a great rectangular pond about 200 metres East-west and 160 metres North-south, was dug and now occupied the space of the lower parterre with three fountains. The mount was built by William White from the upcast. This has ramped sides and is 70 metres by 75 metres at the base and 43 metres at the top.
Stukely designed a mausoleum to be placed on the top in 1742. This was never carried out.
The gardens were adorned in both phases of construction with statues. Thomas Drew, one of the masons, set up pedestals in the figure garden and the octagon. In the inventory made in 1709, the year of Ralph Montagu's death, there were listed 10 lead statues, 7 marble statues and 14 large vases. There are only two left now, probably those shown on Stukeley's drawing of 1706.
In the garden by the pool at Glendon Hall are two groups on impressive pedestals which came from Boughton, probably brought by the Booths who were the agents at Boughton in the 18thand 19th centuries.
They are Aeneas and Anchises, Hercules and Cacus, attributed to Andreas Kearne.by Rupert Gunnis
The second Duke seems to have directed operations in the first years, helped by Booth theagent, Joseph Burgis who was paid £250 a year for looking after the gardens, William White and George Nunns, the Kettering surveyor. In the late 1720s Bridgeman was employed and a bird's eye view attributed to him is found in the Gough volume in the Bodleian library with Bridgeman's plans.
One of the Duke's undated letters to Booth says "I wish you could get Mr. Bridgerhan to go down with you to see the ground of the Parke in order to see the scheme I proposed" .
J. M. STEANE.
