E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram
and Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders
THE MIRROR
OF
LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.
| Vol. 13. No. 350. | SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 1829. | [PRICE 2d. |
BRUCE CASTLE, TOTTENHAM.
The engraving represents this interestingstructure, as it appeared in the year 1686;being copied from a print, after a pictureby Wolridge.
The original castle was very ancient, asappears by the foundations, and an oldbrick tower over a deep well, the upperpart of which has been used as a dairy.The castle is said to have been built byEarl Waltheof, who, in 1069 marriedJudith, niece to William the Conqueror,who gave him the earldom of Northamptonand Huntingdon for her portion.Matilda or Maud, their only child, afterthe death of Simon St. Liz, her first husband,married David, first of the name,king of Scotland; and Maud, beingheiress of Huntingdon, had in her ownright, as an appendix to that honour, themanor of Tottenham in Middlesex.
Robert Bruce, grandson of David,Earl of Huntingdon, and grandfather toRobert I. of Scotland, memorable as therestorer of the independence of his country,became one of the competitors forthe crown of Scotland in 1290, but beingsuperseded by John Baliol, Bruce retiredto England, and settled at his grandfather'sestate at Tottenham, repaired thecastle, and acquiring another manor, calledit and the castle after his own name.Shakspeare says,
Fearless minds climb soonest unto crowns,
and the fortunes of the two Bruces are"confirmation strong as holy writ."
The estate being forfeited to the crown,it had different proprietors, till 1631,when it was in the possession of HughHare, Lord Coleraine. Henry Hare, thelast Lord Coleraine of that family, havingbeen deserted by his wife, who obstinatelyrefused, for twenty years, toreturn to him, formed a connexion withMiss Roze Duplessis, a French lady, bywhom he had a daughter, born in Italy,whom he named Henrietta Roza Peregrina,and to whom he left all his estates.This lady married the late Mr. AldermanTownsend; but, being an alien, shecould not take the estates; and the willbeing legally made, barred the heirs atlaw; so that the estate escheated to thecrown. However, a grant of these estates,confirmed by act of parliament,was made to Mr. Townsend and hislady, whose son, Henry Hare Townsend,Esq. in 1792, voluntarily sold the property[pg 2]for the payment of the family debts;and "although the castle may soon belevelled with the ground, yet the destructionof this ancient fabric will acquirehim more honour, than if the prudenceof his ancestors had enabled him to restorethe three towers, of which now onlyone remains."1
The present mansion is partly ancient,and partly modern, and was very lately theproperty of Sir William Curtis, Bart.Up to the period at which the castle is repr