Lyveden New Bield in Northamptonshire stands as an enigmatic testament to its creator’s obdurate faith. Begun around 1594, towards the end of Elizabeth I’s reign, it remains much as it did in 1605 when, following the death of its owner, Sir Thomas Tresham, workers downed tools leaving the building incomplete. The well-preserved ruins of the house stand in the estate of Tresham’s second home, Lyveden Manor (the ‘Old Bield’). His principal residence was Rushton Hall, where he had an equally mysterious three-sided folly constructed, complete with similar cryptic symbols to those found at Lyveden; they all appear to attest to Tresham’s deep Catholic faith.
Tresham’s new house at Lyveden was probably designed by Robert Stickells to a plan reminiscent of a Greek cross. Throughout the building, the numbers three, five and seven recur, all being invested with Christian significance. Tresham’s intention, he said, was to ‘delight and edify the beholder’. Perhaps he also meant to make a statement: that he might be compelled to veil his Catholicism, but he was not going to hide it.
Tresham was a scholarly and wealthy member of the Catholic elite who inherited large estates and was distantly related to Catherine Parr (sixth and last wife of Henry VIII). He married Muriel Throckmorton and had twelve children with her of whom nine survived. Much of his fortune was spent providing doweries for his six daughters as well as paying massive fines for his recusancy. He was persecuted for his refusal to attend reformed church services, his association with Jesuits, and his fierce defense of an individual’s right to act according to conscience. As a result, he was imprisoned several times. On his death, two years after the accession of James I, his fortune had been substantially diminished and New Bield remained unfinished. His son, Francis, inherited the estate, but became involved with the Gunpowder Plot along with his cousins Robert Catesby, and Robert and Thomas Wintour.
A few months after the death of Sir Thomas, Francis Tresham died in the Tower. Francis was held there following the discovery of the plot to blow up King and Parliament thanks to an anonymous letter of warning sent to Baron Monteagle, a ‘fellow Catholic’. It is widely assumed that Francis was the author of the letter. Lyveden then passed to his son, Lewis, and was managed by Lewis’s mother until her death in 1615. Lewis, a spendthrift, lost what remained of the family fortune.
Lyveden New Bield is a fascinating place quite apart from the romanticism of its ruined state ‘caught in a moment of time’. It has two floors above a raised basement area (for the kitchen and servants’ quarters), and Tresham may well have intended for there to be three floors in all before the addition of the roof. Each floor has three rooms and a staircase in the southerly projection of the cross.
Externally, the house is decorated with friezes, emblems and motifs all of which relate to Christianity, specifically Catholic Christianity. The house was probably intended for use as a ‘Secret House’, a place to which Tresham could retire with a few servants and entertain his friends, or repose for peaceful contemplation. The first floor was designed to have a great hall and parlour, and there would have been bedrooms above that. The building is set within extensive grounds which would originally also have been invested with religious symbolism, complete with a moat on three sides, Elizabethan labyrinth, flower garden and orchard.
In the roundels between the ground and first floor there are seven references to the Passion of Christ. I’ve been able to identify the following after quite a bit pf puzzling (see if you can find them!): 1 ‘IHS’ for ‘Iheus Hominum Salvator’ (meaning ‘Jesus, Saviour of Men’), 2 ‘Chi Rho’ symbol (formed by superimposing the ‘X’ and ‘P’ letters in the Greek for ‘Christos’ – ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ), 3 Bag of silver (given to Judas for his betrayal of Christ), 4 Weapons and lantern used in the arrest of Christ, 5 Seamless robe of Christ and dice (representing the casting of lots), 6 Scourge and pillar (for the flogging of Christ), 7 Cross, ladder, lance, hammer and nails used in the Crucifixion.
There are three basement windows in each side of each wing, divided by three shields (said to represent the Trinity of Christ), and the perimeter of each wing measures 81 feet (which is 3x3x3x3!). Christ suffered five wounds on the cross, so each arm of the cross ends in a five-sided bay, with each arm of each bay measuring 5 feet (and 5×5 = 25 which is the date celebrated for Christmas in December and the Annunciation in March). I’m sure there’s more to decipher from what remains, and certainly much more to unpick at the Rushton Triangular Lodge, but that must be for another day…
