CHEQUERS COURT

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 235, 26 May 1932, Page 3

CHEQUERS COURT

HISTORIC HOME COUNTRY RESIDENCE of BRITISH PRIME ministers AN ANCIENT HOUSE. Tliis house of Peaoe and Ancient Memories • Was given to England as a thankoffering For her deliverance in the Great War, 1914-1918, And as a place of rest and recreation For her Prime Ministers forever. So runs the gracious inscription at Chequers Court, Buckinghamshire, commemorating the gift of Lord and Lady Lee in 1921 It was a gift truly munificent, for not only was it presented to the British nation to be used as the official country residence of future Prime Ministers, but it was endowed with an ample grant for its maintenance so, that no Prime Minister with limited finaneial resources should be debarred from enjoying its pleasures It is indeed a fitting home for the heads of the administration. Enter into Chequers Court and you find the very soil of the ground teeming with Great Britain's history before you even reaeh the threshold of the charming Elizabethan house. Passing through the outer gates tp a grassy down you see the unmistakable remains of what was once a British stronghold in the time of the Caesars. Here lived Cymbeline, the King of Shakespearian fame, whose memory is still retained in the names of the two charming villages, Little and Great Kimble, close by, and here, too, was born Caractacus, who, a chained but unbowed captive in Rome, defied a mighty conquereor and started the tradition of Britons never, never being slave*. Ancient Relics. Up beyond the Rookery are traces of a Druid circle, and near at hand is the old Roman road, the Icknield Way. The stump of a tree in the south-east corner by the garden wall is what remains of an 'elm said to have been planted by King Stephen and later made sinister by the legend that the falling of one of its boughs presaged the sudden death of the master of Chequers Turn the corner, and at the top of the stone steps toward the north front a captured German howitzer brings you back with a rush to the 20th century The house, a Tudor mansion, situated in the gap of the Chiltern Hills and nestling under the leafy beeches of Coombe Wood, is a place of rare chann and repose Although but an hour's drive from London, its rustic surroundings might easily be those of a spot hundreds " of miles from the noise and turmoil of the metropolis. With russet brick walls, grey stonemullioned windows and gabled roofs, the residence is a fine example of Elizabethan architecture. Its history was indeed a chequered one, for 100

years ago it fell a victim to the prevailing ideas of affactation and theatricalism when its owners conceived the notion of converting it into a Gothic building The result was an architectural atrocity which survived until Lord and Lady Lee became owners of the 'estate in 1909, and set to work to eradicate the trumperv-s of its assumed style and restore it. Historical Interest. The interior is spacious and com- 1 fortable and full of historical interest, writes the New York Times Magazine. The family of de Chekers possessed the estate from the 12th century and passed it down for 900 years. One of the marriages made was into the family of Oliver Cromwell and it was by that connection that Chequers acquired a rare and valuable collection of Cromwellian pictures and relics, including portraits of the Lord Protector's family, some fine miniatures, a unique cameo of Cromwell on a ring, the Bible which belonged to Mrs. Cromwell, a mask of the Protector, two of his swords, and various other articles that had been his personal property. All the rooms are remarkably well preserved as a result of the care of Lord and Lady Lee and most of them are beautifully panelled in oak, from the Stone Hall and its Little Parlour adjoining to the Great Parlour. The Long Gallery, one of the finest rooms in the house, is now both a library and a portrait gallery. Here are some rare first editions, and many of the more valuable portraits of the Cromwellian group It is in this room that conferences, which ooccasionally have to disturb the peace of a Prime Minister's week-end, are held. On the walls throughout the house is a fine collection of pictures, a number of them having been collected by Lord Lee. Beautiful stained glass windows are found in many of the rooms, and rare coll'ections of china. The state bedroom boasts an Elizabethan bedstead, the bedspread of which is made from hangings used at Westminster Abbey at King George V's coronation, while the charming White Parlour, which is dainty and feminine, possesses a set of four Heppelwhite armchairs and a settee, various Chinese articles and some fine Dutch pictures. Even the dinner gong in this "House of Ancient Memories" has a history. It is bronze, dating from 1608, and was formerly the old alarm bell of the house. The grounds of the house are beautiful. The Velvet Lawn, as lovely as its name, opens on a broad avenue with gigantic beeches hundreds of years old on either side. Deep-green, velvety moss carpets the lower paths and box and juniper border the innumerable walks leading to wooded copses and sunny glades.