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On
the south side of the high road from Uxbridge to Beaconsfield, not far
from Gerards Cross, the traveler sees the fine woods and deer park which
surround Bulstrode Park, a seat of the Duke of Somerset. The house itself
was built in 1686, and is characteristic of the age of its founder, who
was none other than the infamous Judge Jeffreys, afterwards so celebrated
for his cruelties. It was sold by this son-in-law to the Earl of Portland,
whose son and successor, the first duke, resold it to the ancestor of lira
grace of Somerset.
The house is called
Bulstrode, and for a very good reason. For six centuries and more it was
the seat of the Bulstrodes, a family of some celebrity in their day, but
who seem to have passed away just as the sun of Jeffreys was in the
ascendant.
Their original name, it
is said, was Shobbington, and the story goes that they were
'at home' on their manor at Hedgerley,
'when the Conqueror came.' But they did not
apparently much relish the Conqueror's coming, and, tearing that they
should lose their broad lands, they resolved to fight and die for them.
The story of their
successful resistance to the arms and forces of the Norman king is gleaned
from various sources of information, stored amongst ancient documents in
the possession of the Bulstrodes, and it will be found told in extenso
in the pages of Lipscombe's 'History of
Buckinghamshire.' The following outline of the story will be sufficient
for my purpose:
The name of the
Bulstrodes in the old Saxon days was Shobbington. When William
I, after the battle of Hastings, set himself to
reduce this kingdom in detail under his sway, he offered to grant to one
of his Norman followers who had come over with him the fine and well
wooded estate which now is called Bulstrode, and which even then
was situated, we are told, in a fine and extensive park, by Gerard's
Cross, and had been in possession of a Saxon family for several
generations. But on this occasion William seems to have reckoned without
his host. The Shobbington who enjoyed it, having notice of the king's
intentions, declared that lie would rather die, and pour out his blood
freely and willingly, than tamely allow himself to be ousted from the
inheritance of his forefathers. Following up this resolution by prompt and
brave action, he armed his servants and tenants to a considerable number;
upon which the Norman lord above-mentioned asked and obtained from the
king a thousand of his bravest and finest Norman troops to help him to
take possession of the estate by force. Nothing daunted, the Shobbington
called on all his relatives and friends to assist him ; and especially his
neighbors of the two families of Penn and Hampden flew to arms in his
cause, and came to his relief with their servants and their able-bodied
tenantry. When they had all joined hands in the good cause, they took up a
strong position, and threw up earthworks to defend the place; and the
remains of these earthworks, after the lapse of eight hundred
years, are plainly traceable in the park to the present hour.
'Now,' writes Lipscombe,
'whether they wanted horses or not is uncertain; but the story goes that,
having managed to tame a parcel of bulls, they mounted (or strode) them,
and, sallying out of their entrenchments during the night, surprised the
Normans in their camp, killed many of them, and put the rest to flight.
The king, having intelligence of the affair, and not thinking it safe for
him, whilst his power was as yet new and unsettled, to drive a daring and
obstinate people to despair, sent a herald to them in order to know what
they would have, and promised Shobbington himself a safe conduct if he
would come to court. This Shobbington accordingly did, riding thither upon
a bull, and accompanied by his seven sons likewise mounted. On his being
introduced into the royal presence, the king asked him what were his
demands, and why he alone dared to resist the Norman arms when the rest of
the kingdom had submitted to his government, and owned him for their
sovereign? Shobbington, nothing daunted, made answer that he and his
ancestors had long been inhabitants of this island, and that they had
enjoyed that estate for many years, and were much attached to it; and he
promised the king that if he was permitted still to hold it, he and his
family would become his subjects, and be faithful to him in peace and in
war, as be had been to his Saxon predecessors on the throne.
'The king gave his
royal word that he would confirm him in his estate, and accordingly
forthwith had a grant made out, entitling him to its free enjoyment for
the future. Upon this the family adopted the name of Bulstrode in lieu of
Shobbington, in remembrance of having "strode" to court upon "bulls;" and
the name clung to them during the whole of the reigns of our Norman,
Plantagenet, Tudor, and Stuart kings.
' The truth of this
story is confirmed,' adds Lipscombe, 'not only
by long tradition in the family, but by several memorials which remain on
their lands; as also by the ruins of the works which they threw up in the
park, and by the crest of their arms, which is a veritable bull's head,
erased, Gu, attired Or, between two wings S.’
Lipscombe adds the
pedigree of the Bulstrodes from the Harleian Manuscripts, carrying it down
to Whitlock Bulstrode, of Clifford's Inn, London, who was aged 30 in 1683,
and who is described as 'of Hounslow Priory, and a justice of the peace
for Middlesex,' He died Nov. 27, 1724, and was
buried at Hounslow. He seems to have left an only daughter, Elizabeth. The
ancient Norman church of Upton, near Slough, contains memorials of Edward
Bulstrode, 'esquire of the body' to Henry VII. and Henry VIII., and of
other members of that ancient family.
I may add that a noble
bronze bull crowns the north tower of his grace of Somerset's fine
mansion, thus endorsing the truth of the story, and, as it were,
proclaiming it to the outer word.
Chapters From the Family Chests, 1887
Chapters From the Family Chest |
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