The history of this interesting structure has been involved in uncertainty, and has a claim to much higher antiquity than has been attributed to it.

To gain a more perfect account of the manor, we must refer to that of the manor of , of which Fawkeshall was a member.

appears to have been a royal palace before the Norman Conquest; Hardicanute is said to have deceased here in .

Harold II. is said to have placed on his own head, at , that crown, of which, with his life, he was afterwards deprived by William the Norman.

At Henry III. assembled of his parliaments; at the same place Edward III. kept his Christmas in ; and after having annexed it as a member of the duchy of Cornwall, bestowed it on his son Edward, the Black Prince.

It continued a royal residence for several generations, till the royal domains were wrested from the right owner in the reign of Charles I.; it is described, in the parliamentary survey taken in , after the decease of that monarch, as

a small and an old low timber building, situate on part of the foundation of the ancient mansion-house of the Black Prince and other Dukes of Cornwall after him, which was long since utterly ruined, and nothing thereof remaining but the stable,

one hundred and eighty

feet long, built of flint and stone, and now used as a barn.

When the legal authority of the country resumed its due power, this manor reverted to the rightful possessors, and still belongs to the Prince of Wales, as part of his duchy of Cornwall. also gave the title of Earl to His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, uncle to His Majesty George III.

Foukeshall, Fawkeshall, or , appears to have nearly as antient date as its neighbour ; in a record in the reign of Edward I. it is declared to contain acres of meadow land, valued at per acre; and acres of arable land, at per acre.

We are at a loss respecting the name of this manor before it was held by Margaret De Ripariis or De Rivers, in dower from Baldwin De Insula, her late husband, of the inheritance of Isabella De Fortibus, Countess of Albemarle, sister and co-heir of Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury. It is evident, however, that, upon the marriage of that lady with Foukes de Brent, this was part of her jointure as well as the adjoining manor of South which she held; and from the circumstance of this marriage Foukeshall undoubtedly received its denomination.

Roger D'Amorie was the next possessor, by a grant from Edward II.; but this Roger having joined the disaffected Barons against their Sovereign, the King bestowed Foukeshall on his favorite Hugh Le Despenser.

After the execution of the latter in , the widow of D'Amorie regained the manor, which she exchanged with Edward III. for lands in the county of Suffolk. Edward bestowed Foukeshall on his son Edward the Black Prince, who made a donation of the manor to the church and monastery of Canterbury.

Fawkeshall continued in the above fraternity till their dissolution by Henry VIII. who transferred this estate to the dean and chapter,

Such is the history of what was properly named Foukeshall, or Fawkeshall, which had fallen to decay at a very early period: but the Fawkeshall of which we have given a view, was a large old mansion near the Thames, belonging to Sir Thomas Parry, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the reign of James I. held of the manor of , and at that period denominated

The unfortunate Lady Arabella Stuart suffered part of her imprisonment for the space of years in this mansion, under the custody of Sir Thomas Parry.

In , Copped or Copt Hall being situated opposite to the site of the antient Fawkeshall, adopted the name of that structure, and was recognised in the survey taken by order of Parliament in the reign of Charles I. as

a capital messuage called

Vauxhall

, alias Copped-Hall, bounded by the Thames, being a fair dwelling-house, strongly built, of

three

stories high, and a fair staircase breaking out from it

nineteen

feet square.

The notion that this was the mansion of, and took its name from, Guido (vulgarly Guy) Faux, of the traitors in the Gunpowder Plot, has not the smallest foundation. That infernal treason was contrived, and the meetings of the traitors held, at the house of a person named John Wright, at , where also the gunpowder was concealed till conveyed across the Thames to the Horse Ferry, .

The mansion in the year having been surrendered to the crown by John Abrahall, the tenant and heir of Sir Thomas Parry, dropped its name of Copped Hall, and was afterwards identified as only.

In the Parliament determined that it should be sold; the purchaser was John Trenchard, of the city of , who held it till the restoration of King Charles II.

That monarch leased it to Henry, Lord Moore, afterwards Earl of Drogheda, for years; but the lease contained a proviso, that if the King

should think fit to appropriate any part of it to his own use, it should be surrendered, upon proper allowance.

In the course of the year, advantage was made of the proviso, and the mansion was occupied by Jasper Calthoff, a Dutchman, who had been appointed to furnish warlike stores for the public service. It was soon after leased to Peter Jacobson, a sugar-baker.

During the year , Sir Samuel Morland obtained a lease of the premises, and made considerable improvements. Every apartment, however, exhibited proofs of his eccentric ingenuity:

the side-table in the dining-room was supplied with a large fountain, and the glasses stood under little streams of water. His coach had a moveable kitchen, with clock-work machinery, with which he could make soup, broil steaks, or roast a joint of meat; so that when he travelled, he was his own cook.

We are not informed how the manor was afterwards disposed of, till , when it was granted to a distiller named Kent. It was then held under leases, the manor-house having been long demolished: of the leases was demised under the title of

The Manor;

Vauxhall

Wharf,

The place of fashionable resort called , or , was the property of Jane, widow of John Vaux, in ; the mansion being at that time denominated Stockdens. Mrs. Vaux left daughters, of whom married Dr. Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln from to ; this estate having been divided in moieties between the sisters, passed to several possessors.

During the reign of Queen Anne this appears to have been a place of great celebrity: for Addison, in the Spectator, N, , introduces his favourite character, Sir Roger De Coverley, as accompanying him in a voyage from the to .

The premises were leased in the year to Jonathan Tyers, Esq. who opened , with a Ridotto al Fresco. Mr. Tyers was so successful in his speculation, that he purchased a moiety of the estates from George Doddington, Esq. in , for the sum of ; and the remainder a few years afterwards.

Towards the decorations of , Mr. Tyers was at great expense in procuring paintings by the most eminent artists of that period, particularly by Hogarth, Hayman, and other masters. A stately orchestra was erected, and a capital band of musicians engaged. He also placed there the beautiful statue of Handel by Roubiliac.

have since passed to several proprietors, they have lately been adapted for entertainments suitable to the higher classes of fashion, and several branches of the Royal Family have annually honoured the gardens with their presence.