A dynastic seat

Dorfold Hall, Cheshire, part I The home of Charles and Dr Candice Roundell, An outstanding Jacobean house was an unexpected product of dynastic disappointment. John Goodall examines the remarkable circumstances of its construction

- Photographs by Paul Highnam

ON the evening of February 2, 1612, Richard Wilbraham, a wealthy Cheshire gentleman, died at home in Nantwich. According to the journal kept by his second son, Sir Roger Wilbraham, a successful lawyer of puritan sympathy, he expired peacefully 'as a candle whose oil was spent' at the age of '88 years and 5 months'. The entry continues that he was 'of a strong voice, perfect memory, and sound stomach to digest all gross meats till his death : naturally wise and politic : just in all his dealings : very liberal and charitable to the poor...' These filial pieties are followed by an unexpected additional insight.

'His chief care for 20 years,' the entry continues, 'was to see his grand child and heir married and settled to succeed him : but many motions [were attempted] and none succeeded : his overreaching experience and long age made him jealous of his younger children and best friends... God not giving him leave to see his heir married, which was the whole care of his life.' The heir in question was, in fact, Sir Roger's nephew—the son of his deceased older brother—and, although the formal language masks the reality, he clearly saw his father's dynastic disappointment as a stark warning to himself.

Sir Roger, by now aged 58, was confronted by his own problem of succession. His wife, Mary, had been delivered only of three daughters and the impending extinction of his name loomed large in his consciousness. He now took decisive action to prevent this happening. On February 4, 'being two days after his [father's] death, the journal continues, 'Elizabeth Wilbraham, second daughter of me' was married in St Bartholomew's Church, Smithfield, London, 'in an assembly of knights, divers gentlemen and others, to Thomas Wilbraham'. The match had been previously discussed, but the fact was that it was hurried, with the bride and groom respectively about 11 and 10 years old.