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Staunton Harold Hall is

History
built and designed by Washington fifth Earl Ferrers It is is situated in a beautiful valley with a fine hanging wood at the back and contrasted in the distance by a wild heath and a variety of pleasing scenery The principal front to the south east is in the style of Palladio and is ornamented with a pediment surmounted with three stone figures at its angles supported by Ionic pillars which are upheld by Doric columns The whole centre of this front is built of stone and the other parts of brick ornamented with stone The south west front is very extensive built in the form of a Roman H and surmounted in the centre by the statue of a large lion On the north east is the library front originally designed by Inigo Jones and nearly preserved in the present structure The view from this side is extremely good the lake which runs in front of the building here takes a winding course bounded on either side by a sloping eminence crowned with stately When the house was pulled down for the erection of the present building the Gate of the old Hall was left standing Its beauty and elaborate workmanship acted as a charmed safeguard from the hands of the destroyer and it was preserved as an ornament to the grounds As a specimen of the taste displayed by our ancestors in this peculiar walk of design at the time of its erection it is perhaps the most beautiful in England The gates are formed of light ornamental iron work and the supporting pillars animals &c of stone The workmanship is most elaborately finished yet solidity and grandeur are not lost sight of while the wreathed pillars which bring to mind Raphael's cartoon and the beautiful gate of the Jewish temple give a lightness and grace to the whole at once strikingly picturesque It can never fail in delighting the spectator viewed only as a work of art while on the antiquary it will have a double claim in the pleasure he would feel at its being thus preserved from destruction The Lake is a fine sheet of water covering a space of between twenty and thirty acres at the upper end of which is a pool of about seven acres called the Church Pool and at the lower end of this is a handsome stone bridge forming an approach to the house On the verge of the lake within a short distance of the hall is a most beautiful Gothic Chapel with a well proportioned tower built in 1653 by the celebrated Sir Robert Shirley who did the best of things in the worst of times and hoped them in the most calamitous This inscription in stone encircles the tower of the church Sir Robert in the civil war raised his people and marched to the succour of General Hastings then besieged in Ashby Castle by Cromwell's troops being defeated and his men dispersed he was taken prisoner and sent to the Tower of London where he died To reward in some degree the services of the family King Charles II on his restoration created his son Lord Ferrers of Chartley  The body of the church consists of a nave and two aisles separated by three arches over which are clerestory windows there is also a very handsome chancel parted from the nave by elegantly wrought iron gates on which are the Ferrers arms supporters and coronet The chancel is paved with marble and the ascent to the altar is by three steps The communion table and chairs are curious specimens of early carving the gilt communion plate is remarkably fine ancient and costly and was given to the church by its founder The font is plain The organ which is the production of the celebrated Father Schmidt is fine toned and melodious The funeral trophies of knights are hung up in different parts of the church consisting of the helmet tunic sword shield and spurs in the same style as those over the knights stalls in St George's Chapel Windsor The whole interior of this beautiful church dedicated to the Holy Trinity is richly ornamented with carved paneling raised lozenge work and bands of flowers The exterior of the building is very chaste and beautiful and the thick mantling of ivy adds to its general effect The windows of the tower and the lower range of windows in the body of the church are in the pointed style with mullions and rich tracery The park was anciently very large it was disparked by Washington Earl Ferrers and now comprises about one hundred and fifty acres well stocked with deer