Bayons Manor

'Bayons Manor' took its name from the 'Bayeaux Estate' at Tealby, which was once owned by

The Bishop of Bayeaux, brother of William the Conqueror.

[NB. There is no known Drakes family link to the Tennyson d'Eyncourt line, but their estate was later purchased by a 'Drakes' - see below and Tealby]

Bayons Manor, Tealby, Lincolnshire from 'Eustace' 1851

This engraving was made especially for this book and it depicts Charles Tennyson's deceased son, Eustace, reclining in the foreground.

(also published in A Visitation of The Seats and Arms of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain by John Bernard Burke, esq., 1852)

Bayons Manor at Tealby, Lincs. was once owned by Charles Tennyson, later Tennyson d'Eyncourt, the uncle of Alfred Lord Tennyson. The estate was purchased by Reginald William Drakes (1894-1969) in 1944 [see Tealby]. He was a local farmer, who bought it primarily for the farmland, as the house was already derelict and becoming dangerous. Sadly, due its dangerous condition, a subsequent owner had it demolished in 1964 by Thomas Walkley & Son Explosives Ltd.

The 1960s was a period when a great deal of England's history was sadly lost. It was only 19 years after the end of World War II and people were looking forward to a bright and more 'modern' future. Many large houses were sold off, the estates frequently being broken up into smaller plots of land. There just wasn't the money or interest to preserve our heritage. Though this was a 'Victorian folly' created around an earlier and much smaller home, it was an inestimable loss to the Nation, the village of Tealby and the Lincolnshire Wolds. It would have become a great tourist attraction, and would have been of considerable benefit to the local economy, had English Heritage or The National Trust taken it over, apart from being a beautiful building and estate. It was an extremely rare example of a Victorian Stately home in the style of a moated castle.

An early print of Bayons Manor, Tealby, Lincolnshire, with the moat filled with water, from A Visitation of The Seats and Arms of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain by John Bernard Burke, esq., 1852

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George Tennyson was born 7.2.1750 at Hedon, Holderness, East Yorks. In 1783, he purchased half of the Manor of Beacons at Tealby from Wharton Amcotts for £1,000; in 1787, he bought the rest of it from the Rev. Browlow Potter for £1,100. He re-named it 'Bayons Manor', which was allegedly a corruption of the Norman name 'Bayeux'. It was then a small 17th-century manor house, situated just below the high ground where the foundations of an earlier manorial stronghold formerly stood. The manor had once belonged to Francis, Lord Lovel and d'Eyncourt, an ancestor of Dorothy Hildyard, who second married George's uncle Ralph Tennyson. George Tennyson also claimed descent from the ancient family of d'Eyncourt through his mother's Clayton ancestors, who were closely associated with the Hildyard family, though this link is more tenuous. George talked of re-building the old castle, but he never did. He eventually moved into the small manor house in 1801. He died in 1835, aged 85. In-keeping with his father's Will, Charles (born 1784) changed his name by King's licence to d'Eyncourt. He then fulfilled his father's dream and built a vast Gothic Mansion on the site, encapsulating the 17th-century manor house, which his father insisted should not be demolished. He also built a tower (folly) on the site of the earlier stronghold and a castle-like drawbridge over the moat. The new manor house was erected in parts, and designed as if built during different periods. This gave it the appearance of being extended over a period of centuries, like many of the larger stately homes were, rather than being new. Villagers estate cottages were demolished, and roads were diverted and sunk to create extensive parkland views. He installed herds of deer and horned sheep. A moat and wall, enclosing about six and a half acres, was erected around the new manor, and a lake with exotic birds was created in the park below. Furnishings, including statues and suits of armour, were purchased to give the whole a truly 'historic stately home' appearance. The drive was diverted to ensure that visitors drove around the outside of the entire house, to view it from all aspects, before finally arriving at the front door. If you are interested in reading more about this family and the creation of Bayons Manor, I recommend reading, The Tennysons - Background to genius, by Sir Charles Tennyson and Hope Dyson, published by Macmillan, 1974, ISBN: 33177029, which is frequently available under £2.00 (+p&p) via Amazon and Ebay. It gives considerable insight into the family and the creation of Bayons Manor.

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Bayons Manor, Lincolnshire

Bayons Manor, Lincolnshire, the seat of The Right Hon. Charles Tennyson D'Eyncourt

from The Illustrated London News of 8th January 1859, page 28

This romantic and stately pile, which is the residence of the Right Hon. Charles Tennyson D'Eyncourt, is situated nineteen miles north-east from Lincoln, and four miles from Market Rasen. The outer walls contain between five and six acres. It is a castellated manor-house, which, with its ivy-mantled walls, towers, and machicolations; with its frowning barbican, courts, ramparts, and ruined keep, presents a picturesque and magnificent example of a baronial residence in the middle ages. It is surrounded by an extensive park abounding with deer, diversified by every variety of hill, dale, wood and lake, and situated in a beautiful and commanding position on the Wolds. A rapid stream, with occasional waterfalls, rising in the D'Eyncourt property, and forming the source of the river Ancholme, rushes through the park. The entrance over the moat, by a draw-bridge, and through four successive gates of powerful architecture - two of them with portcullises - is exceedingly picturesque and impressive. The interior comprises apartments of great size and dignity. The spacious, lofty, and magnificent banqueting-hall is entered through a Gothic oak screen, above which is a minstrels gallery. This apartment has an open and massive timber roof, with pendants after the fashion of early times, and is adorned with suits of armour, ancient weapons of war and chase, banners, and portraits. The library has a monastic effect, and has also a ponderous open timber roof, resting on stone corbels, like that in the hall, and equally occupies the entire height of the building. It is well stored in every department of elegant literature, history, topography, and antiques, with some curious MSS, and fine statuary, including a bust of the Queen when a child, by Behnes. here also is the only existing model of the Bastille, formerly belonging to Louis XVIII. The withdrawing-room is a splendid saloon, cruciform, fifty-four feet in length and thirty-six feet in the transept, corresponding in mediaeval character with the hall. The building contains, moreover, a variety of other apartments and galleries decorated with pictures, statuary, armour, &c. The oriels and windows are beautifully enriched with painted glass, exhibiting coat-armour and heraldic devices connected with the family. In the gallery are original busts of Napoleon I. and Byron, the former by Chaudet, and the latter by Bartolini, for each of which the sculptors had the benefit of several sittings. The bust of Napoleon was given by him to his uncle, Cardinal Fesh, and that of Byron was executed at Pisa before he went to Greece, and is mentioned by him in his correspondence. There are several portraits of great historical interest, and some noble Etruscan vases, among the finest in the country. The walls of some of the chambers are decorated by ancient arms, and in the state-room, which has an open wooden roof, is an antique bed, the canopy and hangings of which are of rare and brilliant bugle tapestry, formerly in the ducal palace at Venice. Sir E. Bulwer-Lytton wrote his "Harold" in this apartment, and in his dedication to Mr. D'Eyncourt refers to its peculiarities and to the history of this mansion, which, indeed, abounds in interesting relics of former ages. In a tower connected with the second gateway is a deep-sounding clock-bell with musical chimes. This bell forms a monument to Captain Eustace D'Eyncourt, the youngest son of the present owner of the manor, who died at Barbados in 1842, and bears the following touching inscription: -

Me posuit

CAROLUS DE EYNCOURT,

Filium flore ætatis abreptum,

Eustachium delectissimum

Deflens

Revocat vox mea dulcis amoris horas:

Moneat quoque-quàm figaces!

Quantuta sit vita!

This manor became at the Conquest the property of the Conqueror's brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, whence it was denominated Bayeux Manor (since corrupted to "Bayons"), and was subsequently the baronial inheritance of the family of De Bayeux till the reign of Edward II., when it passed to that of Beaumont, and thence, by inheritance, into the hands of Francis, Lord Lovel and D'Eyncourt, who forfeited it, with his other vast possessions, temp. Henry VII., in consequence of his share in the battle of Stoke, 1487. This powerful nobleman escaped from that battle, and Lord Bacon states that he was said to have lived for years afterwards in a cave or vault. In fact, about one hundred and fifty years ago his skeleton, as it was supposed to be, was found in a concealed room at his residence in Oxfordshire, Mister Lovel. It was seated in a chair, in rich attire, with a cap, book, pens, &c., all much decayed. Bayons Manor came thus into the hands of the Crown, and was subsequently granted by Henry VIII. to Sir Henry Norris, who was afterwards sacrificed on the block by the King, in order to rid himself of his unhappy Queen, Anne Boleyn. It was, consequently, again forfeited, but afterwards, by grant and re-purchase, came back to, and continues the property of, the descendants of William, second son of Alice, Baroness D'Eyncourt, and male heir (unattainted by blood) of the Lord Lovel and D'Eyncourt, whose untoward fate we have related. This manor with its appendages well corresponds with the romantic annals which belong to this baronial family, of which Sir Bernard Burke has given an account in his engaging history of Bayons Manor and genealogical works. The View we present to our readers is taken from the north-west. The varied landscape from the Manor-House is beautiful: the village and church of Tealby are seen hanging on the side of a steep acclivity crowned with wood, which is gracefully scattered over the green slopes of the park. Southward, beyond a vast plain, covered for miles with ancient timber, appears in the distance Lincoln Cathedral; and the whole scene has a charm incapable of description. Amongst the salient objects seen from the manor is a noble stone building of Gothic architecture, recently erected by Mr. D'Eyncourt as a school for the surrounding district and an institute for the instruction generally of the rural classes, to be maintained at his expense. The manor owes its existing condition chiefly to the present owner. It contains several of the ancient apartments; but he has restored and added to it in a style which has rendered it one of the chief ornaments of the county of Lincoln.

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Entrance to Bayons Park, Tealby, Lincolnshire

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The Drawbridge at Bayons Manor, which still stands, but is hidden in undergrowth & the outside wall and tower

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The driveway leading through the Drawbridge & the Clocktower at Bayons Manor

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Bayons Manor, sadly abandoned with a central stone mullioned window frame hanging out on the first floor.

 The Deserted House by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

[This is very appropriate here, though it is too early to have been written about Bayons Manor]

Life and Thought have gone away

Side by side,

Leaving door and windows wide:

Careless tenants they!

All within is dark as night:

In the windows is no light;

And no murmer at the door,

So frequent on its hinge before.

Close the door, the shutters close,

Or thro' the windows we shall see

The nakedness and vacancy

Of the dark deserted house.

Come away: no more of mirth

Is here or merry-making sound.

The house was builded of the earth,

And shall fall again to ground.

Come away: for Life and Thought

Here no longer dwell;

But in a city glorious -

A great and distant city - have bought

A mansion incorruptible.

Would they could have stayed with us!

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The west front and other views of Bayons Manor, sadly since demolished.

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The Sitting Room & Dining Hall at Bayons Manor, Tealby, Lincolnshire

Interior views of Bayons Manor

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The Southwold Hunt outside the west front of Bayons Manor, Tealby, Lincolnshire

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The original 'Bayons Manor' embossed letter-head

A 'free-front' signed by Charles Tennyson d'Eyncourt of Bayons Manor on 21st November 1836, and posted at Market Rasen to the Reverend W.H. Flowers at Hackthorne, Lincoln[shire]. In 1840, the Reverend Field Flowers was the vicar of Tealby

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The Clocktower at Bayons Manor, Tealby, Lincolnshire from 'Eustace' 1851

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'At Bayons Manor, a house which is quite the most picturesque of the stately homes of England in the County of Lincoln, the home of the ancient family of Tennyson d'Eyncourts, there is a Farewell Cup of considerable interest. The son and heir of the head of the family was about to journey to distant lands and, at a farewell dinner in the great hall at Bayons, the father presented to his son, Eustace d'Eyncourt, a hanap, shaped cup, the occasion being immortalised in a canto. Eustace; An Elegy, by Charles Tennyson D'Eyncourt, first published by Wm. Davy & Son, London in 1850.'

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The Farewell Supper held in The Hall at Bayons Manor prior to the son and heir, Eustace d'Eyncourt, leaving with his Regiment (46th Foot) for Barbados in 1842, copied from 'Eustace', second edition, 1851

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'The Farewell Cup' was created for the farewell dinner above, and it is this cup that is being held aloft in the engraving above. He took it to Barbados with him, and it was returned to Bayons Manor after his death and retained by the family in his memory.

(from 'Eustace' 1851)

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Eustace: An Elegy, published by Saunders and Otley, Conduit Street, London, second edition, 1851

Eustace - This Elegy is an expanded translation of the following lines inscribed on a deep-sounding Clock-Bell, cast in 1842, immediately after the death, at Barbadoes, - of Captain Eustace d'Eyncourt, aged 25, who fell a victim of Yellow Fever within a few days after he had arrived from England to join his Regiment.

The Clock and Bell are placed in one of the Towers of Bayons Manor, Lincolnshire, the residence of his family. -

Me Posuit

Carolus de Eyncourt,

Filium, Flore Ætatis Abreptum,

EUSTACHIUM Dilectissimum

Deflens.

Revocet Vox Mea Dulces Amoris Horas: -

Moneat Quoque-Quam Fugaces!

Quantula Sit Vita!

As in the Original, the Bell is supposed to speak, throughout the Poem.

Epitaph

On a Monument erected in the Chancel of the Parish Church of Tealby, in the County of Lincoln.

TO THE MEMORY OF

EUSTACE ALEXANDER TENNYSON D'EYNCOURT,

CAPTAIN IN THE 46TH REGIMENT,

WHO DIED AT BARBADOES,

ON THE 9TH MARCH

1842,

AGED 25 YEARS.

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HE WAS

THE FOURTH AND YOUNGEST SURVIVING SON OF

CHARLES TENNYSON D'EYNCOURT,

AND FRANCES MARY HIS WIFE.

HIS GENEROUS SPIRIT, VIGOROUS INTELLECT

AND NOBLE QUALITIES,

PROMISED TO ADORN THE HIGH CAREER

TO WHICH THE ENERGY AND FIRMNESS

OF HIS CHARACTER

SEEMED TO DESTINE HIM;

WHILE HIS MANLY BEARING,

GENTLE NATURE AND WINNING GRACE,

ENDEARING HIM TO HIS COMRADES

AND TO ALL WITH WHOM HE LIVED.

TENDERLY BELOVED

BY HIS PARENTS AND FAMILY,

THIS MONUMENT RECORDS THEIR GRIEF,

AND ILLUSTRATES THE INSTABILITY

OF EARTHLY BLESSINGS.

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HIS REMAINS ARE DEPOSITED IN THE CEMETERY

OF ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, BARBADOES.

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Capt. Eustace D'Eyncourt and his friend Lieutenant Henry Mordaunt, 46th Regiment of Foot, died of yellow fever in Barbados on 9th March 1842 - copied from from 'Eustace' 1851.

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The D'Eyncourt Memorial Window in Lincoln Cathedral.

A beautiful stained glass window has just been placed in the west end of Lincoln Cathedral by the Right Hon. C. T. D'Eyncourt, of Bayons Manor, in commemoration of Remigius, first Bishop of Lincoln, who founded the church in the eleventh century. Remigius died in May, 1092, on the eve of the day appointed for the consecration of his church. Remigius de Fescamp and his relative Walter D'Eyncourt accompanied William the Conqueror to England. Walter, having aided in the battle of Hastings, became a powerful Baron in Lincolnshire; and Remigius, being an ecclesiastic, was appointed to the bishopric of Lincoln, then for the first time constituted an episcopal see. He was a man full of energy and intelligence. Enriched by the King, with whom he had, through the D'Eyncourts, a family connection, and aided by Gilbert de Gant, the Queen's nephew, he erected the first cathedral. What remains of that work may be found in part of the west front, over which, and central in the nave, is a beautiful rose window of large dimensions, hitherto filled with plain glass, although it was doubtless a coloured window prior to the puritanical destruction of such adornments. For this a splendid substitute of coloured glass (represented by our engraving) has been presented by the Right Hon. C. T. D'Eyncourt, of Bayons Manor, and dedicated to the memory of the founder, Remigius. The centre is occupied by a figure of the bishop in his pontifical vestments, and the entire widow creditably competes with some of the beautiful ancient specimens existing in other parts of the church. Thus a memorial worthy of the distinguished founder, and continually reminding those who frequent the cathedral of their obligation to him, is justly provided by the munificence of Mr. D'Eyncourt. The consanguinity of Remigius and Walter D'Eyncourt, their connection with the Conqueror, and the fact that Remigius built the cathedral, are curiously corroborated by a leaden plate which, in 1760, was found in a tomb, supposed to have been that of the D'Eyncourt family, near the western entrance. This plate is preserved in the cathedral library, and bears a Latin inscription, which, translated, is as follows: - Here lyeth William, son of Walter D'Eyncourt, cousin of Remigius, Bishop of Lincoln, who built this church. The aforesaid William was of Royal descent; and, while receiving his education in the Court of King William, son of the Great King William who conquered England, died on the 3rd kalends of November. Accordingly, as some other gentlemen of the county of Lincoln have recently placed windows in the cathedral to the memory of their connections, Mr. D'Eyncourt very naturally, as the descendant of Baron Walter, has dedicated this conspicuous window to Remigius, the first bishop and founder. The result is a further evidence of the taste and judgment of Mr. Crace, of Wigmore-street, whose great and well-known experience so fully qualified him for this undertaking. The antiquarian correctness of the design, as well as the richness and harmony of colour, produce a most gratifying effect, in admirable keeping with the ancient and magnificent building, the origin of which is fitly recalled by this new illustration.

The D'Eyncourt Memorial Window in Lincoln Cathedral

from The Illustrated London News of 8th January 1859, page 28

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"Bayons Manor, Market Rasen, Lincolnshire. Owner: A. E. C. Tennyson d’Eyncourt, Esq. Open: Thursdays, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., May to the end of September. Admission: 1s. per person. Three miles east of Market Rasen on the Louth road is a turning to Tealby, which brings one after a mile to the lodge gates. Bayons Manor is a not unsuccessful product of the romantic spirit of the early nineteenth century, and has the merit of a nice quality of stonework and restraint in decorative detail. There was originally a modest thatched Elizabethan manor house on this site, and this Mr. Charles Tennyson took as a nucleus for his new house which he started to build early in the nineteenth century. At the west end he added a large hall, a small replica of Westminster Hall, and to the south several Gothic reception rooms, of which the Large Drawing-room is an interesting example of the period. In the Small Drawing-room are several delightful family portraits, of which that of George Tennyson, grandfather of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, by Lawrence, and that of Charles Tennyson, later Tennyson d’Eyncourt, the builder of the present house, are particularly charming." It is interesting that this and Burghley are the only two in Lincolnshire houses, out of a total of 70, that are detailed in this book, which covers the whole of England; a further 10 houses are mentioned briefly at the back of the book, but none are in Lincolnshire. (Source: English Country Houses Open to the Public by Ralph Dutton & Angus Holden, published by George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1934, p.90)

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