Fig. 1.Sir Henry Cheere design for a chimneypiece, circa 1750, Fig. 2.Chimneypiece by Sir Henry Cheere in the Dining
© Victoria & Albert Museum, London room at Picton Castle, Pembrokeshire
THE GRANGE
This magnificent chimneypiece originally formed part of the NO 19 THE LIBRARY A bright register stove winder, cast
Library of The Grange at Northington, Hampshire where it
iron hearth compass fender and set of fire irons and brush 5
was photographed in situ by the Winchester photographer, mahogany library book cases with carved pediment heads 2
William Savage (1817-87) in 1871.The Grange was originally
mahogany library tables thumb feet in piers — 2 pier glasses 48
built between 1664 and 1673 for Sir Robert Henley, a lawyer, to inches by 27 in carved and gilt frames — 3 green morine window
designs by William Samwell (1628-76).Samwell’s plan for the
curtains with laths lines and Valance tassells — a month clock
house, a five-storey brick built house, is held at the Ashmolean by Mudge and Dutton in a mahogany case 3 green Venetian
Museum, Oxford and is reconstructed in J.Geddes’s article
window blinds fixt a pair of large globes by Senex with cases —
‘The Prince of Wales at the Grange’ in Furniture History, 1986.a sliding fire screen (no weight) and a folding ditto — 2 Sienna
It was most probably Sir Robert’s grandson, also Robert, who
marble tables on carved mahogany frames — 2 mahogany
would have commissioned the chimneypiece.He inherited 1 leaf dining tables round ends to join a square mahogany
the house upon the death of his brother, Anthony, in 1746 and
Pembroke table with drawer and wire work under ditto — a pair
it is most likely that he refurbished the house after this date.of mahogany library steps covered with leather a double headed
He was appointed Attorney General and knighted in 1756 and
couch in canvas with squab 3 square bolsters 2 round ditto and
appointed the next year to Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, the check’d gingham cases a sopha mahogany frame 2 bolsters
last person to receive this title.Although as Lord Keeper he
and striped cases 3 French elbow chairs striped — manchester
presided over the House of Lords, he was not made a peer cases — 12 japanned chairs cane backs and seats, hair cushions
until 1760 when he became Baron Henley of The Grange in the
and striped manchester cases — a large ebony ink stand with
County of Southampton.It is probable that the refurbishment three glasses-— A horse in plaister and glass case to ditto-—
of The Grange and the commission of the chimneypiece would
Wilton carpet 12 feet square — a large Turkey carpet 19 feet by
have been during this period as his status and presumably 16 — A weighing machine by Merlin and a set of weights — 2
his wealth escalated.His prominence continued, he served as
lead door weights the damask hangings of the room—-a large
Lord High Steward for the trials of Lord Ferrers in 1760, and veined marble hearth the chimneypiece of statuary marble with
Lord Byron in 1765
he was Lord Chancellor in 1761-66
he was
carved tablet — a picture over chimney of Lord Stafford a pair
created Earl of Northington in 1764
he was Lord Lieutenant of 3 pannelled mahogany doors with mortice lock and key.
of Hampshire in 1764-71
and he was Lord President of the
The description of the room describes in detail how it would
Council in 1766-67.In 1764 he commissioned Robert Adam
to provide a new office and a service wing although no trace have appeared in the late 18th century and differs dramatically
from the room we see in Savage’s 1871 photograph.The original
of these survive.His collection of paintings was of ample
significance to meet the approval of Horace Walpole.library was a grand two-storeyed room on the first floor.It had
three windows which would have been at normal height from
The estate passed to Henley’s son, Robert 2nd Earl of the floor with no further windows at attic level.At that height,
Northington who was to die without heir in 1786 at which point in the centre of the south front there was probably an exterior
the estate was sold to the banker Henry Drummond.In 1795, the pediment, though Sir William Chambers wrote ‘there is nothing
estate was leased to George, Prince of Wales, which initiated an remarkable in the fronts which are very plain and built of brick
extensive inventory of the house, a record of which is retained and stone’.Inside, above the windows, the moulded brick
in the Royal Archives and is reproduced by Jane Geddes in her cornice of Samwell’s library still survives in spite of the insertion
article of the house published in the Furniture History Society of a later floor introduced by William Wilkins in his renovations
Journal.Here the library is described in the following detail
of 1809-10 which divided the library into two separate storeys
giving servant’s quarters above.It certainly was, given the
description, a well and expensively furnished country house,
evidently suitable for the Prince of Wales at a time when he was
finalising the building of Carlton House in London.
In 1800 the Prince vacated the house and it passed to Henry
Drummond’s grandson, also Henry.Henry Drummond,
encased the old house in the form of a Greek temple in c. 1809-
10 to designs by William Wilkins (1778-1839).Drummond sold
the house in 1816 and during the nineteenth century various
additions were made for the banking family the Barings, by Sir
Robert Smirke (1780-1867), Charles Robert Cockerell (1788-
1863) Frederick Pepys Cockerell (1833-78), and John Cox
(dates unknown).The results of these changes, leave us with
the form of the house we see today.
SIR HENRY CHEERE, BT. (1702-1781)
The design of the frieze of the current chimneypiece can be
closely compared to a drawing by Cheere held in the Victoria
and Albert Museum, London (D.715 (13)-1887), (fig. 1) which
depicts to the left of the central tablet a bear and on the right
a beaver and a rocaille scroll.The same motifs can be found
flanking the central tablet on a chimneypiece supplied for
the Dining Room at Picton Castle, Pembrokeshire, (fig. 2),
which was supplied circa 1749-52 by Cheere along with two
further examples in the Boudoir and Hall.Both the design and
the chimneypiece are reproduced by J.Physick, Designs for
English Sculpture, 1680-1860, pp.128-129, figs. 91 and 92.In
both instances there is a group of putti to the central tablet.
A further design, also held in the Victoria and Albert Museum,
displays similar fruited garlands below scrolled volutes (D.715
(3)-1887) also with similarly conceived mouldings to the shelf
and around the aperture with the tablet protruding into the
plain frieze as found in The Grange chimneypiece.The close
similarities certainly uphold the attribution to Cheere despite
the lack of firm documentary evidence.
Sir Henry Cheere was a leading figure in 18th century
sculpture and design.He was probably the pupil of John
Nost and later Henry Sheemakers, with whom he signed
the Duke of Ancaster’s monument in 1728.His yard was
near St.Margaret’s, Westminster, from where he worked
in all mediums: marble, bronze, stone and lead.During his
career he produced a wide body of work including busts,
statues, ornaments, as well as chimneypieces.He received
commissions from several institutions and estates including
three Portland stone statues of `Law’, `Physic’ and `Poetry’ for
Queen’s College, Oxford.Other commissions for the University
included two statues `for the theatre’, as mentioned in the
Vice-Chancellor of Oxford’s accounts from 1737/8, thought
to be of Archbishop Sheldon and the Duke of Ormonde.
Chimneypieces are, of course, central to Cheere’s oeuvre:
in 1739 Cheere supplied several to the 2nd Earl of Lichfield
at Ditchley Park, Oxon.These included a chimney piece for
the drawing-room with a `Bacchus head’ and others for `the
little room within the Great Room’, the Velvet Room and the
Tapestry Room.Other notable chimney pieces were executed
for Sir John Trevelyan of Wallington, Northumberland, circa
1740
for the Duke of Manchester, for whom he made a
chimney piece for the drawing room at Kimbolton Castle
and in
1746 one for Sir James Dashwood at Kirtlington Park, Oxon.
Cheere was one of a select committee of artists who met in
1755 to discuss the proposal which culminated in the founding
of the Royal Academy of Arts.In 1760 he was knighted.A
decade later he sold the contents of his yard and retired from
business (see Rupert Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors
1660-1851, 1965, pp. 97-99).
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