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Peploe Ch 5 Copy.Pages Samuel was one of the more attractive members of the family, with a reputation for being considerate towards the point of view of others and at the same time well informed on the issues of the day. He travelled extensively through Europe and became fluent in Italian, French and probably German to a certain extent. He could count amongst his closest friends some of the most important people in English society of the day - at Eton he had been a contemporary of two British Prime ministers, Lord Canning and Lord Melbourne, and was cultured in both the arts and music. He had considerable charm and was able to converse happily with people from every walk of life. As a Garnstone in 1835 country gentleman he enjoyed discussing the state of the game, hunting locally with Mr Parry’s hounds, and frequently sent his agent in Leominster a spare brace of pheasants. One can only conjecture at his attitude towards Garnstone on the death of his father, but it may well have seemed small and old fashioned to him - inappropriate to the position in the county which he intended for himself and his family, and the fashionable life they expected to lead. Moreover it was strongly associated with the Birch family and even in 1800 it seems probable that Samuel found this connection with the eccentric Colonel John Birch embarrassing. The Colonel had been on the opposing side to many of Samuel’s neighbouring families during the Civil War and in a provincial place such as Herefordshire family traditions were not often forgotten - Samuel had dropped the Birch name his father had assumed on inheriting Garnstone in 1752 at the first opportunity. In 1801 and 1804 Samuel's father-in-law had employed John Nash to build two successful cottage lodges at the new south and east approaches to Moccas, and naturally Samuel had been introduced by Sir George Cornewall to the fashionable architect of the Regent street Quodrant, who had also done work at nearby Foxley and Stoke Edith Park. These two cottages were instigated by the contemporary vogue for cottage orne, and delighted Sir George who was a great supporter of the Picturesque style. Sir George's enthusiasm may have been contagious for in 1805, the same year as his father's death, Samuel employed John Nash to prepare designs for a new mansion at Garnstone. Unfortunately very little material relating to its rebuilding still exists but by 1806 work was well under way for a local journalist reported that the building will be 'a splendid mansion’ in the form of 'a castle ornamented with what are called Gothic towers, battlements e.t.c., in a pleasant situation commanding some fair views. This magnificent place, when completed, will be the pride of ‘the county. The roof is slated and covered with a new invented composition’. Garnstone in 1835 Samuel was advantageously placed at the Homme to follow the work closely, and 1805 and 1806 were particularly busy years, burning bricks, raising stone from the estate, and cutting, squaring and sawing timber. Green sandstone, quarried from the estate, was laid in seven inch courses and it was not long before the ground plan was discernible. Unfortunately this material, although beautiful, was very soft and the castellations frequently required replacing in years to come. Part of the old house was incorporated into the new servants quarters and it was always rumoured that a secret staircase had somehow been retained. Certainly old oak panelling from the original mansion was used to make dado's in parts of the staff quarters. A mezzanine device was introduced to take 6 staff bedrooms, this was a low storey situated between the principle bedrooms and the staff quarters below. It was self contained, and it could be approached by its own 2 staircases. The mezzanine device was also used by Nash when making alterations at Attingham Hall at the same time. Servants bedrooms were incorporated into the turrets and these were approached by narrow secret staircases sandwiched between lower bedroom walls. There was a spacious staircase hall lit by a great lantern 46 foot high and from this lead the anteroom and three other large reception rooms. Later oak from the park was used lavishly to decorate the inside; all the floors were of oak, Garnstone around 1840 from the front and oak doors and dados were fitted in most of the reception rooms. There were two lots of stone stairs and according to the memories of an old Garnstone servant ‘these were polished with beeswax twice a week.’ The staff sitting room had big bookshelves crammed with books each side of an alcove. The panels in the drawing room were decorated in gilt and ornamented with embroidered tapestry, and an elaborate plaster ceiling was made in the dining room. But the library was considered to be the best room in the house; it had two attractive alcoves and the walls were filled with carved bookcases of oak which housed over one and a half thousand books, and these imparted a rather beautiful subdued light to the space. The works agents to Edmund Darby, the famous Iron Founder of Coalbrookdale wrote in April 1806 ‘that a Mr Peploe of Herefordshire wanted some cast iron arches like those you did for Lord Berwick’. These were to be used for the covered verandah on the south side of the castle. (see The Darby’s of Coalbrookdale by Barry Trinder) Sir Uvedale Price (1747-1829), Samuel’s nearest neighbour and famous as one of the originators of the Picturesque Movement, was enthusiastic over the result. He wrote to a friend that Garnstone was a ‘modern castle’ that had ‘within a very few years been built by my nearest neighbour whose grounds adjoin mine, and I never look at it from any point, without rejoicing that it was not an unvaried lump of brick like most of the houses throughout the county. The two leading characters of Architecture, so speak in very general terms, are the Grecian and the Gothic; the first is to us a beautiful exotic; the other comparatively indigenous and even in respect to association, accords more with ours. ‘ (from Uvedale Price - decoding the Picturesque by Ben Cowell) The library at Garnstone in 1840 drawn by Samuel Peploe’s niece Ann Webb By 1807 it would seem that expenses at Garnstone were increasing at an unprecedented rate as Samuel decided that summer to sell the old Browne family estate at Shredicote in Staffordshire. Shredicote Hall and the 4 adjoining farms had been tenanted for over 70 years and little money had been spent on the estate's improvement. The land, which was naturally marshy, required irrigation and drainage and Samuel probably felt if prudent to sell the 900 odd acres. On Monday the 25th of August 1807 the land was put op for auction and sold at the Littleton’s Arms in Penkridge. Sadly Garnstone has not been considered a great aesthetic success by later generations. The architectural historian Peter Reid wrote that the ‘awkward massing of square, round and octagonal towers resulted in a wholly unsuccessful attempt to create a romantic Gothic Castle …surely Garnstone was the least happy of Nash’s country houses’. John Summerson thought it only ‘saved from ugliness by the beauty of the green sandstone of which it is built. (see The Life and Work of John Nash by John Summerson 1980). However watercolours from 1835 show Garnstone as originally envisaged - still closely surrounded by magnificent oak and ash trees and before the formal re-landscaping by William Nesfield of 1849, and actually the various fronts worked much better when broken up by parkland vegetation. The picturesque effect that John Nash was aiming for suddenly becomes apparent when the occasional castellated tower or battlement is spotted through the trees, and furthermore the walls of the house were covered with cascades of rambling roses and other climbers. By the early 20th century the house was considered to be hopelessly impractical. The kitchens were 40 yards away and up three steps at the other end of the house from the dining room with the result food was always served tepid - although this was a common design feature of Georgian and earlier houses where fires in the kitchen were common and could all too easily spread to the reception rooms and ruin the fine furniture and paintings. Further more the flat lead roof caused endless problems in the winter especially after a heavy fall of snow when specially designed shovels had to rapidly be employed to prevent the roof from ‘leaking like a sieve’. By the 1950’ties the heating apparatus for the house was using nearly a ton of coke everyday making upkeep prohibitively expensive. These were some of the factors that lead to its demolition in 1958, but even then the money ran out and for some years various ruins remained. Anita Record, and old resident of Weobley remembered playing there - “One day we found a baby’s old rattle - a wooden one - and we played imaginary games. We made the younger ones sit in a Victorian nursery and I lived being the strict nanny. One day we found an old pram in the cellar - a really old one with a floor - and we took it to the top of the hill and took turns to come down the hill in it.” Garnstone from the upper reaches of the park in 1835 It was said that ‘When seen from a distance the house sat well in its park, but a last great ball, held in the house to mark its closure before demolition in 1958, left few with real regret.’ Inside the house a clean sweep appears to have been made of the contents from old Garnstone.
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