This was designed by Mr. Essex,
the improver of King's College, Chapel, and is very neat, but of small
dimensions. On a tablet inserted in the base of the cross, is the following
inscription, from the pen of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford, which when
read on the spot, excites some degree of interest:--
In days of yore, here Ampthill's towers were seen,
The mournful refuge of an injured queen;
Here flowed her pure, but unavailing tears,
Here blinded zeal sustained her sinking years.
Yet Freedom hence her radiant banner wav'd,
And Love avenged a realm by priests enslav'd;
From Catherine's wrongs a nation's bliss was spread,
And Luther's light from lawless Henry's bed.
The possessors of Ampthill are thus traced by Mr. Parry:--
The survey of Ampthill Park, made by order of Parliament, 1649, speaks of
the castle as being long ago totally demolished.[1] There was, however,
what was called the Great Lodge, or Capital Mansion. King James I. gave the
Honour of Ampthill to the Earl of Kelly. It soon reverted to the Crown. In
1612, Thomas, Lord Fenton, and Elizabeth his wife, resigned the office of
High Steward of the Honour of Ampthill to the King. The following year the
custody of the Great Park was granted to Lord Bruce, whose family became
lessees of the Honour, which they kept till 1738.
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