At Garendon...
Garendon Hall Loughborough Echo Looking Back archive photos
A RELIGIOUS house was founded at Garendon in the first half of the twelfth, century by Robert de Montfort, the father of the famous Simon de Montfort, who was the leader of the rebel barons in the reign’ of Henry the Third, and was severely defeated in a battle at Mountsorrel by Brienne de Lisle.
It is a curious coincidence that some centuries later the descendents of this warlike baron obtained possession of the Garendon estate.
Robert de Montfort “had a hump upon his back,” and was therefore nicknamed “Bossu” by his friends — or possibly his enemies.
He did not appear to resent this familiarity apparently he used this name as frequently as he did his legal name.
The priory at Garendon belonged to the Cistercian order, a very strict one. The monks of this order live a life of the utmost self denial. They never eat flesh., meat or eggs, and the only animal food which they allow themselves is milk and cheese.
Their lent is very much longer than the normal, and they preserve an almost perpetual silence, speaking only to the superior unless they have his permission to converse.
Robert Bossu, alias de Montfort, was constantly endeavouring to increase the possessions of the
abbey, and having a persuasive tongue, he was successful in inducing the Earl of Chester, the lord of the manor of Barrow-onSoar, to make large grants of the land to the Garendon Priory.
At one time they owned at least a dozen granges in the counties of Leicester, Nottingham and Derby; included in these were Dishley, Burton-on-theWolds. Rempstone and Costock.
In 1540 the King granted the Garendon estate to the Earl of Rutland, but unlike a lot of fortunate, people who benefited by the dissolution of the monasteries, he had to put his hand in pocket to the tune of £2,356.
Having been high in the King’s service for many years it is possible that the request for this sum occasioned him no little surprise and disappointment. His second son, Sir John Manners, persuaded the famous Dorothy Vernon to elope with him from her beautiful home in the historic Haddon Hall, and eventually that picturesque Mansion came into the hands of the Manners family. It is interesting to surmise that Dorothy Vernon and her
husband may have been entertained at Garendon, but we do not think there are any records to prove it.
Coining Apparatus. In 1551 a branch of the Digby family rented Garendon for a short time, and Francis of that ilk appears to have been in desperate need of money.
He set up a coining apparatus in one of the dark cellars at Garendon, and for a period carried out the dangerous practice of supplementing the legitimate output of the Mint.
The inevitable detection followed, but luckily this impecunious gentleman had an influential backing in a high quarter, and in the reign of Edward the Sixth, he received a pardon from the young King for having “counterfeited the coin of the realm.”
One of the features of the reign of James the First was the rapid rise to fortune of George Villiers, the son of an impoverished Leicestershire squire, who lived at Brookesby Hall.
This handsome young adventurer became the established favourite of the first of our Stuart Kings, by whom he was affectionately known as “Steenie.” Most of the lucrative appointments were secured through his good offices, and even the haughtiest and most powerful of the old nobility found it expedient to humour this youngupstart. In 1620, according to Sir John Beaumont, he appeared at Garendon and formed a violent attachment for the Lady Catherine Manners, who was a reigning beauty, and moreover was likely to inherit a substantial fortune.
Her father, a very stately gentleman of the old school, did not altogether approve of the affair, and the young fortune hunter ran off with his
beautiful heiress in the approved style of the romantic tradition. Eventually the Earl of Rutland was reconciled to his sonin-law—who had in the meantime collected a dukedom - like Pooh Bah he was Lord High Everything except the Executioner and was not offended with impunity.
The young married pair received the parential forgiveness, and the new Duchess was presented with Garendon as her dowry Duke of Buckingham. During the Commonwealth the second Duke of Buckingham, an ardent Royalist, lost possession of Garendon for a time.
Later becoming weary of a precarious life in exile he modified his ardour for the royalist cause and endeavoured to make his peace with Oliver Cromwell.
At one time he had high hopes of leading the Protector’s daughter to the altar, but his ambitious plan fell through. In 1657, however, he married the daughter of Lord Fairfax, an eminent parliamentarian, and by this judicious marriage he repaired his fortunes and incidentally regained possession of Garendon.
About 1680 the estate was bought for £28,000 by Sir Ambrose Phillips, a distinguished barrister. When he came to live in this district he occupied part of his time by settling various disputes in the neighbourhood; though himself a man of law, he would earnestly advise his friends and tenants to settle their quarrels out of the courts.
His daughter, Mary, married Edward Lisle, a descendent of Brienne de Lisle, who was mentioned in the beginning of the article. The third daughter of this marriage, Yule Lisle, married a certain Thomas March, who traced his descent from “an honourable family of Turkey merchants,” whose wharf bearing their name in Smyrna was still in existence in 1914.
Thomas March, the eldest son, married his cousin Susan Lisle, and assumed the additional name of Phillips. The present squire of Garendon is a great great grandson of Thomas March the younger.
It is interesting to learn that Samuel Philips, the last descendent in the male line, was a keen supporter of the Stuarts, and when the young Pretender reached Derby he sent him a large sum of money which had collected in the district from the local Jacobites.
The Present Hall.
Mr. Charles March Phillips in 1836 built the present hall at Garendon. It is a large attractive house in the French renaissance style, and is surrounded by a beautiful and extensive park, covering over 500 acres.
A considerable portion of the outer walls of the old priory house was used in the modern building, some of them are very massive, and one part is believed to date back to the reign of Stephen.
The fine old picture gallery, nearly 100 feet in length, contained some notable pictures, among which are three of the finest paintings of Salvator Rosa, “A seventeenth century Neapolitan painter of brigands and wild scenery.” These, at one time hung in Naples in the royal gallery, but Prince Murat, one of Napoleon’s generals who was made King of Naples, inspected these pictures, liked them exceedingly, and acquired them in the usual military way. Later he gave them to a certain Prince Falconieri, at whose death they were bought by Mr. Ambrose Phillips de Lisle.
Mr. de Lisle joined the Roman Catholic Church at the age of eighteen and later founded the monastery near Whitwick. This, we believe, has the distinction of being the first canonically erected in England since the Reformation.
Mr. de Lisle had a very large family of nine sons and seven daughters, and his second son behaved with great valour at the siege of Delhi in the Indian Mutiny.
He led a successful attack on the water bastion, a position which had defied capture for a considerable time. He was recommended for the Victoria Cross, but three days later was killed while helping to repel an attack on one of the mosques.
After a lapse of fifty years the cross was given in 1907 to the next of kin, his brother Mr Edwin Lisle. A military tower was erected in Gracedieu Woods in memory of this gallant soldier.
Another brother, Mr. Rudolph de Lisle was a lieutenant in the navy and was killed at Abu Klea in 1885.
Mr. Everard de Lisle the present squire of Garendon succeeded his father early in the century. He is a magistrate and deputy lieutenant for the county, as High Sherriff in 1906.
For many years he held a commission in the Leicestershire Yeomanry and he retired in 1910 with the rank of Lieut. Colonel.