The house is half-timbered; from the height above it looks old and peaceful amid its immemorial trees.

Towards the end of the eighteenth century it became the home of a family named Eldon, the estate including the greater part of the valley below.

But an Eldon who came into possession when William IV.

was King brought the fortunes of his house to a low ebb, and his son, seeking to improve matters by abandoning his prejudices and entering upon commercial speculation, in the end left a widow and two boys with little more to live upon than the income which arose from Mrs.Eldon's settlements.

The Manor was shortly after this purchased by a Mr.Mutimer, a Belwick ironmaster; but Mrs.
Eldon and her boys still inhabited the house, in consequence of certain events which will shortly be narrated.