r-time.
The oldest part is perhaps Tudor, and the latest in the style of Wren.
One wall is decorated with fleurs-de-lys. In the garden was grown the
original moss-rose, a freak of Nature, from which all other moss-roses
have sprung. In the grounds was discovered a subterranean passage, which
Dr. Phene claims fixes the site of Shrewsbury or Alston House. It runs
due south, and indicates the site as adjacent to Winchester House on the
west side. Faulkner, writing in 1810, says: "The most ancient house now
remaining in this parish is situated on the banks of the river, not far
from the site of the Manor House built by King Henry VIII., and appears
to have been erected about that period. It was for many years the
residence of the Shrewsbury family, but little of its ancient splendour
now remains." He describes it as an irregular brick building, forming
three sides of a quadrangle. The principal room, which was wainscotted
with oak, was 120 feet long, and one of the rooms, supposed to have been
an oratory, was painted in imitation of marble. Faulkner mentions the
subterranean passage "leading towards Kensington," which Dr. Phene has
opened out.

Shrewsbury House was built in the reign of Henry VIII. by George, Earl of
Shrewsbury, who was succeeded in 1538 by his son Francis. The son of
Francis, George, sixth Earl of Shrewsbury, who succeeded in his turn, was
a very wealthy and powerful nobleman. He was high in Queen Elizabeth's
favour, and it was to his care that the captive Mary, Queen of Scots, was
entrusted. Though Elizabeth considered he treated the royal prisoner with
too much consideration, she afterwards forgave him, and appointed him to
see the execution of the death-warrant. He married for his second wife a
lady who had already had three husbands, each more wealthy than the last.
By the second of these, Sir William Cavendish, she had a large family.
Her husband left his house at Chelsea wholly to her. She outlived him
seventeen years, and with her immense wealth built the three magnificent
mansions of Chatsworth, Oldcotes, and Hardwick, and all these she left to
her son William Cavendish, afterwards created Baron Cavendish and Earl of
Devonshire. A son of a younger brother was created Marquis of Newcastle,
and his daughter and coheiress was Lady Jane, who brought her husband,
Charles Cheyne, such a large dower that he was enabled to buy the Manor
of Chelsea.

After the death of the Earl of Devonshire, Shrewsbury Ho