Wonderful Welbeck.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XL, Issue 7925, 5 October 1904, Page 7

Wonderful Welbeck.

Romantic Features of a Famous

Demesne.

Mr Chamberlain began m August his series of country meetings in furtherance of his great fiscal campaign, in the riding school of Welbeck, the seat of the Duke of Portland. About 12.000 people assembled. This is probably tbe first occasion on which so large and such a memorable political gathering took place in an underground hall. For Welbeck is unique among the stately homes of England in being a palatial underground residence, built at a cost of £7,000,000 by tbe late Duke of Portland. Tbe Daily Chronicle gives the following interesting description of these vast and mysterious subterranean ways: SURTERRANEAN PASSAGES.

At its very entrance Welbeck strikes its characteristic .note. Instead of bowling along a broad avenue thiougb stately gates into a sunlit wooden park, as in approaching other noble houses, the visitor to Welbeck drives into a yanwing tunnel of brick walls and roof. Light filters through great bulbs of glass from above; by night electric globes relieve the darkness. The horses' hoofs and the carnage wheels clatter and echo weirdly through the long gallery dipping into the bowels of the earth.

It is a grim experience, this drive or walk through the mile and a half of the long tunnel. Its length as well as size is impressive, for the breadth allows two carriages to drive abreast or pass each other. Well might Mr Gladstone declare tbis tunnel to be one of tho wonders of the world. It was tbe first of the works of the late Duke of Portland, whose strange career was tangled in the Druoe oase of a few years ago. Taking the old high road from Manefie ld to Worksop, he turned i 6 into this grim subtenanean way that he might travel it without being seen by his fellow men. As compensation he built a new high road for tbe publio, and granted right I of way through the tunnel to all comers [ by day or night.

Suddenly from this dungeoned road you drive out into the clear sunshine again, and the full sweep of Welbeck Park. The Abbey is'not itself arohitec turally impressive, but as it stands on the shore of the ■ broad lake, which winds past for a mile aud a half, and overlooks the broad deer p<_rk, studded with rare gardens, and lined with graceful avenues until at its limit it touches the old oaks of Sherwood Forest, it ie a goodly mansion and fair to behold.

But everywhere the sward is dotted with great bullseyes of glass, which run at a few yards' interval in'disappeanng lines. These are the lanterns which light the. subterranean passages which undermine "Welbeck. From the Abbey they run in all directions, with secret means of entrance and exit. There are eleven miles of underground tunnels at "Welbeck, all the creation of the old Duke, who reigned there 'from 1854 to 1879.| By means of these tunnels he gratified his amazing passion for privacy, in being able to go to any part of his estate underground and unseen. Each tunnel is broad, light and airy. Three persons can walk abreast, and the'walls, of vast thickness and treated vfith asphalt, show not the slightest trace of dampness. THE RIDING SCHOOL. Such a passage runs underground from the Abbey to the riding school three-quarters of a mile away. This building, the scene of Mr Chamberlain's speech, is unsurpassed in Europe. Its massive stone walls rise 50 feet from the ground and enclose a space 355 feet long by 104 feet broad, Like all the buildings erected by the old Duke, it is lighted from the roof, whence also depend great, chandeliers with 8000 jets. Its stone cornice .cost five guineas a yard to carve, and below runs an iron frieze wrought in the likeness of fruit, flowers, birds and beasts. The floor, banked up with seats for themeeting, is ordinarily covered with tan. . From the riding school an underground passage runs to the tan gallop, 200 yards away. This great glass arcade has a straight run of nearly a quarter of a mile, and is the finest exercise ground for horses in wet weather in the world. Close by are the stables, a princely block of buildings with accommodation for 100 horses. Yet, though the mys-* tenous Duke thus lavished millions upon these equine buildings, he himself never bestrode a horse. He went afoot in bis roamings about the park in the shabbiest clothes and under a huge umbrella, wet or fine. When he posted to London he hired horses, and never used one of his own magnificent stud. From the tan gallop another underground passage leads back to the Abbey, nearly a mile away. Welbeck, indeed, is honey-combedwiththesesubterranean ways. From the Abbey they run in all directions, and only the Duke himself knew their meanderings. Each usually terminates at a lodge, of which there are 50 on the estate. The kitchens, etc., of each of these lodges are built under-. ground, and. form the terminus of a tunnel. "With a master key the old

Duke thus rose from or went to earth at any of the lodges.

In the Abbey itself he built - the kitchens, pantries, etc., underground, and for the conveyance,of food to the diniDgingroom there is a miniature railway. < A little waggon conveys the dishes along a tunnel-to asb aft below the dinin groom. Here a lift raises the waggon to a level, and shunts it into an iron cupboard,, which ia heated with steam to keep the dishes hot until required in au adjoining room. UNDERGROUND PICTURE GALLERY. Of the Bubterranean rooms in the Abbey the most famous is-the picture gallery. Entirely below ground, it was excavated from a quarter of an aore of solid clay. Lighted entirely from the roof, it bs 160 feet long, 64 feet wide, and 22 feet high. By night eighteen lustre chandelliers sparkle light brilliants, and illuminate the Vandykes, Rubenses, Rembrandts, Tenisrs, and o'her masterpieces whioh cover its , walls. Not without justice has this sub- ' terrane&n sallery been described as " tbe largest and in every way moßt magnificent private room in England." From this Btateliness and the mediaeval underground passages it is good to pass into the rich beauty cf the gardens. Close to the Abbey is the rosery, sunk below tbe level of the ground and approaohed by a rose corridor ovsr 100 yards long. The glass houseß, in whioh the old Duke experimented with the effect of various coloured glass on plants and dowers, are measured by the mile. The apricot house has a run of nearly a quarter of a mile, and its neighbours, devoted to peaches, vines, cherries, citrons, strawberries, are little shorter. Each oi tbe score of flower houses is a long viata of loveliness. A sheer 100 yards of glasß are devoted to Malmaison carnations alone; it is the'; favourite flower of the Duchess, and blooms for her the year round.

THE LATE DUKE'S ECCENTRICITY.

But the truer wender of Welbeck is none of fhese things; it is their maker, the late Duke of Portland. From his succession to the estate of 1854 to his death in 1879 he lived the most mysterious of lives. While extending, restoring and enriching Welbeck into a palace he himself lived in two simply furmshe d rooms. Secluding himself from his fel-low-creatures, instant dismissal was tbe penalty to any servant or employee who approached or spoke to him. Tbe building of these, tunnels, stables, riding schools, picture gallery took eighteen years. During that period the workmen engaged never fell below 1800; trequently the number engaged stood at 3000. From beginning to end he spent .£7,000,000.

Yet the only man with whom he had constant intercourse was hiß valet, who served as tbe ducal mouthpiece to the world. No servant ever waited at the table where tho Duke ate his solitary aud fiugal meals. Closely muffled and shielded by hiß umbrella he roved about the.park or wandered beneath in tbe tUDnelB and subterranean ways, flyiDg grimly at the approach of anyone, servant or str&Dger.

But while the one unpardonable crime in his eyea was for anyone to see or address him, he frequently indulged hi Quixotic generosity. One day while viewing the park from the roof of tbe Abbey he saw a poacher " tickling " for trout in the lake. Descending, the Duke waylaid the man, and compelled him io Bhow the contents of his basket—a dozen fine trout. " Follow me," grimly commanded the.Duke, leading the way to the house and his private room. In' fear and trembling the poacher saw his grace fill in a document—most surely his warrant as a magistrate for the man's arrest. " Take that, you rascal," said the Duke, handing the paper to the poacher. "You're, a clever villain, catching my trout as I couldn't catch 'em." The slip of paper was a cheque for £1000.