Eggesford House.

It might well have been in the “Happy Valley” above which this Country House stands, among surrounding hills covered with wood, that Rasselas may be supposed to have meditated, “the world forgetting.” It gives the perfect idea of peaceful seclusion, and the little old church below adds its quaint and becoming feature to the lovely picture.

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The name of this very ancient family is plainly derived from the words Wall, or Well, and Hope, a valley, (vallis reductus, long drawn out.)

Peter de Barton, Lord of West Barton, Hampshire, married Alice Wallop, daughter and heiress of Sir Richard Wallop, grandson of Matthew de Wallop, living in the reign of King John. Their grandson, who assumed the name of Wallop, inherited, as

Richard de Wallop, M.P. for Hampshire in the second year of Edward III. He married Alice, daughter of Sir John Husee, Knight, of Betchworth Castle, Surrey, and was succeeded by his eldest son,

John Wallop, who married Margaret Wellington, and was followed by his son,

John Wallop, M.P. for Salisbury, tempore Henry IV. He married Avice, daughter of John Bush. Their son,

Thomas Wallop, married Margaret, daughter and heiress of Nicholas Valoynes, Lord of Farley and Clydesden, and was succeeded, at his death, by his grandson,

John Wallop, Sheriff of Hampshire in the thirty-third of Henry VI. and the first of Edward IV., and M.P. for Hampshire in the twelfth of the latter monarch. His son,

Richard Wallop, married Elizabeth, daughter and coheiress of — Hampton, of Old Stoke, Hampshire, but having no children, was followed by his brother,

Sir Robert Wallop, Knight, who dying sine prole, his nephew succeeded,

Sir John Wallop, Knight, an eminent military and diplomatic personage in the reign of Henry VIII., installed a K.G. in 1544. He married twice, but had no children, and his estates therefore went, at his decease, to his brother,

Sir Oliver Wallop, Knight, so created for his gallant conduct at the battle of Musselburgh, in 1517. His first wife was Bridget, daughter of — Pigot, of Beechampton, Buckinghamshire, their eldest son being

Sir Henry Wallop, Knight, Vice-Treasurer and Treasnrer-of-War in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and oue of the Lord Justices of Ireland in 1582. He married Catherine, daughter of Richard Gifford, Esq. Their eldest son,

Sie Henry Wallop, Knight, who married Elizabeth, only daughter and heiress of Robert Corbet, Esq., of Moreton Corbet, Red Castle, and divers other lordships and manors in Shropshire, and at his death, November 5th., 1624, his only son succeeded,

Robert Wallop, Esq., M.P. for Hampshire, and afterwards for Andover. He took the side of the Parliament in the Civil War, and at the Restoration, was imprisoned, January 30th., 1662, for life in the Tower of London, where he died, November 16th., 1667. He had married Anne, daughter of Henry Wriothesley, Esq., of Southampton, and was followed by his son,

Henry Wallop, Esq., M.P. for Whitchurch, in the first Parliament of Charles II. He married Dorothy, youngest daughter and coheiress of John Bluet, Esq., and dying, January 25th., 1678-9, was succeeded by his eldest surviving son,

Henry Wallop, Esq., whose brother followed,

John Wallop, Esq. This gentleman married Alicia, daughter and coheiress of William Borlase, Esq., of Great Marlow, in the county of Buckingham, and at his death, in 1694, was followed by his son,

Bluet Wallop, Esq., who dying, unmarried, in 1707, the estates went to his brother,

John Wallop, Esq., born April 15th., 1690, created Baron Wallop, of Parley Wallop, in the county of Southampton, and Viscount Lymington, June 11th., 1720, and further advanced to the dignity of Earl of Portsmouth, April 11th., 1743. His Lordship married, first, in 1716, Bridget, eldest daughter of Charles, Earl of Tankerville, and had six sons and three daughters. The eldest son,

John Wallop, Lord Lymington, born August 3rd., 1718, married, in 1740, to Catherine, daughter and coheiress of John Conduit, Esq., (whose wife was a niece and one of the coheiresses of Sir Isaac Newton.) He died in his father’s lifetime, November 23rd., 1762, and his son accordingly came to the title,

John Wallop, second Earl of Portsmouth, born in 1742. He married, in 1763, Urania, daughter of Coulson Fellowes, Esq., of Hampstead, Middlesex, and was succeeded, at his death, May 16th., 1797, by their eldest son,

John Charles Wallop, third Earl of Portsmouth, born December 18th., 1767, married, first, November 19th., 1799, Grace, daughter of Fletcher Norton, first Lord Grantley, but by that lady had no children. His brother,

Newton Wallop, fourth Earl of Portsmouth, born June 26th., 1772, on succeeding to the estates of his maternal uncle, Henry Arthur Fellowes, Esq., of Eggesford House, took, by Royal License, August 7th., 1794, the sirname and arms of Fellowes only. His Lordship married, first, January 30th., 1795, Frances, daughter of the Rev. Castel Sherard, and secondly, the Honourable Catherine Fortescue, second daughter of Hugh Fortescue, first Lord Fortescue, and left a son,

Isaac Newton Wallop, born January 11th., 1825. This nobleman resumed his paternal sirname of Wallop. He married, February 15th., 1855, Lady Eveline Herbert, daughter of Lord Carnarvon, and had twelve children, the eldest son being

Newton Wallop, Lord Lymington, born January 19th., 1856.