What an opportunity for the genealogist with a history in
view, but that opportunity I fear has passed for ever. The ----
Hall estate was evidently mortgaged up to the hilt, and nothing
intervened to prevent the dispersal of these treasures, which
occurred some few months after my visit. Large though the building
was, I learned that its size was once far greater, some two-thirds
of the old building having been pulled down when the hall was
constituted in its present form. Hard by on an adjoining estate a
millionaire manufacturer (who owned several motor-cars) had set up
an establishment, but I gathered that his tastes were the reverse
of antiquarian, and that no effort would be made to restore the
old hall to its former glories and preserve such treasures as yet
remained intact--a golden opportunity to many people of taste with
leanings towards a country life. But time fled, and the ragged
retainer was once more at the door, so I left ---- Hall in a
blinding storm of rain, and took my last look at its gaunt facade,
carrying with me the seeds of a cold which prevented me from
visiting the Eastern Counties for some time to come."
Some historic houses of rare beauty have only just escaped
destruction. Such an one is the ancestral house of the Comptons,
Compton Wynyates, a vision of colour and architectural beauty--
A Tudor-chimneyed bulk
Of mellow brickwork on an isle of bowers.
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