By examining hip's view in the light of the principal facts of Lord Craven's life, and of the dates on the Bodleian drawings, a shrewd guess can be made as to the history of the house. In his youth William Craven achieved such honour through "valiant adventures" in Germany and the -Netherlands under Henry, Prince of Orange, that in the year 1626, when he was eighteen years old, he was knighted by Charles I. at New market and was immediately afterwards created a baron, with the title of Lord Craven of Hamstead 'Marshall. In 1631 he returned to the scenes of his early glories, and continued to reside abroad until the Restoration. Although absence prevented him from fighting for Charles I. he was a staunch loyalist, and helped the king with considerable supplies. This brought him under the notice of the Parliament, and his estates were confiscated in 1651, and sold to different persons.' After the Restoration, however, Charles II. created him an earl in recompense for his services, and he must previously have regained possession of Hamstead -Marshall, since the drawings of stair parts for the new work bear a baron's coronet and various dates, of which the earliest is 1662.
It would appear, then, that the original house was a Jacobean building, and from the fact that Lord Craven was a bachelor and was resident abroad for the greater part of his life previous to the Restoration, it is highly improbable that he did any building during that period ; he had neither family nor leisure to induce him. On -the sale of the property in 1651, it is quite
Stair Parts Fig 108 Hampstead Marshall, Berkshire
Stair Parts Fig. 109 Hampstead Marshall, Berkshire
Stair Parts Fig 110 North Piers Hampstead Marshall, Berkshire
possible that the house was partly dismantled and a new staircase installed with richly carved stair parts,' as were many others in similar circumstances, notably Holden by House. On his return in 166o, or as soon afterwards as he could, he set about restoring his home. Lie preserved the Jacobean front, but added a new top story and new sides. The drawing of the portico, which would be at the back of the house shown by hip, is dated 1662 ; that of the gate piers in the front wall is dated 1663 (Fib- i to), and those in the circular vval1 at the rear 1671 ; a ceiling is dated 1686. The baron's coronet indicates that the work was done before the earldom was bestowed, which was in 1663. The dates on the drawings suggest what one might expect, that the house itself was first taken in hand, then the garden walls and lay out, and subsequently the embellishment of some of the chief rooms. If the history of the house is rightly conjectured, there ' This conjecture is strengthened by a reference of Evelyn's, who notes that in going from Reading to Marlborough in June 1654 he saw "my Lord Craven's house at Causal now in ruines, his goodly woods felling by the rebels would be no room for Gerbier in its design of stair parts, for he is said to have died in 1662 when he was at least seventy years old, and there is no trace of senility in the Bodleian drawings. _ They are vigorous in design as well as drawing ; the gate piers (Fig. iii) are still in existence, some scattered, as it were, in a field, others still leading into a walled garden. It is only when the imagination restores the walls that once connected them that an idea is formed of the size of the original enclosures to which those piers were the noble entrances. The ceiling (Fig. 112), dated 1686 on the drawing, is of the type prevalent throughout the greater part of the seventeenth century, and usually employed by Jones, Webb, and Wren.
Stair Parts Fig. 111 Gate Piers Hampstead Marshall,Berkshire