HOUGHTON TOWER
Houghton Tower (also known as Hogton Tower) has been well known in Lancashire for several centuries. The Houghton family is an old one of Norman descent, with a history dating from 1065. The information I have to date is largely from the family genealogy written by Dr. John Houghton. This record has known errors in research and work is going on to purify this where possible.
Dr. John W. Houghton, The Houghton Genealogy. "The Descendants of Ralph and John Houghton of Lancaster, Massachusetts", with an Introduction Giving the Houghton Families in England from the Time of William the Conqueror, 1065, to Lord Henry Bold Houghton, 1848. (1912). (NEHGS # CS/71/H838/1912)
These photographs were taken on a vacation trip by Mr. George Houghton (not my uncle) of Connecticut. This home was built and owned at one time by a Houghton thought to be one of my great grandfathers (12th gen back), Thomas Houghton.
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From the lane leading to Houghton Tower. |
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Battlements. |
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Inner courtyard. |
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Guest quarters. |
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Entryway to grand dining hall where guests were served. This is the location of King James I's sirloin of beef dubbing - if it really happened. |
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Entry from main gate. |
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Inner gate. |
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Lane leading from Houghton Tower. |
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Coat of arms for Thomas Houghton who built Houghton Tower. |
I have puzzled for years over what must have happened for my great (8th gen) grandfather, Ralph Houghton, to have uprooted from the family home at Eaton Bray in England and make his way with his cousin, John, to Massachusetts. In recent weeks, I have used the internet to search for web pages related to the family and, as detailed below, have begun to piece together some of the circumstances. The content of the geneology speakes volumes when compared with things now turning up as theories.
The family, being of Norman French descent, was largely if not all Catholic. There are not a lot of records, so much of what I believe can be nothing more than conjecture, but I really believe my conjecture is closer to the facts than not. English history from the Middle Ages has had continuous incidents of conflict as the Protestant movement arose and took hold there. In the 1500s, the Catholic Houghtons of Lancashire England were underground supporters of Catholicism to the extent they brought in Jesuit priests and hid them as did many other Catholic families. To do so risked death at the hands of English royalty.
William (Shakeshafte) Shakespeare and the Houghtons
There is ongoing research into the possibility William Shakespeare (Shakeshafte) was under the care of Thomas Houghton for a time after the death of one Alexander Houghton. This came from a quote in Alexander's will naming Thomas to care for a William Shakeshafte. This will is on display at Houghton Tower and was featured in a
See the article referring to this on Jim Bennett's page "Shakespeare in Lancashire". See also "How Shakespeare risked the scaffold".
The Sirloin of Beef incident was discussed in the family genealogy written by Dr. John Houghton of Wilkes Barre, PA. The following quote carries a slightly different twist to the story.
Sirloin of Beef - A corruption of Surloin. (French, surlonge.) La partie due baeuf qui reste aprèsqu'on en a coupél'épaule et la cuisse. In Queen Elizabeth's “Progresses,” one of the items mentioned under March 31st, 1573, is a “sorloyne of byf.” Fuller tells us that Henry VIII. jocularly knighted the surloin. If so, James I. could claim neither wit nor originality when, at a banquet given him at HOGTON Tower, near Blackburn, he said, “Bring hither that surloin, sirrah, for tis worthy of a more honourable post, being, as I may say, not sur loin, but sir loin.”
“Dining with the Abbot of Reading, he [Henry VIII.] ate so heartily of a loin of beef that the abbot said he would give 1,000 marks for such a stomach. `Done!' said the king, and kept the abbot a prisoner in the Tower, won his 1,000 marks, and knighted the beef.”- See Fuller: Church History, vi. 2, p. 299 (1655).
Reprinted from The Dictionary of Phrase and Fable by written permission of Anthony Freeman, Data Text Publishing Ltd, UK.
It has been established, by various writers, the Houghton (probably great grandfather Thomas) family was directly responsible for the establishment of the English Colony in Douai, France which was a Jesuit educational facility. It is therefore not surprising that Father Edmund Campain, who was martyred in England, would have come to know and stay at Houghton Tower. The entire family was arrested for harboring Catholic priests. Why they were let free is a matter of interest to me. I am not so sure of the Houghtons in Eaton Bray who may have been more Protestant than Catholic.
Much of this occurred as the time approached when my US progenitor boarded the Abigail, a ship bound for the colonies. The descendents of Ralph and John Houghton of Lancaster, Massachusetts have been Protestant as far as I know. It would appear then, the reason they left England was due to a rift in the family caused by elements of Catholicism versus Protestantism and other issues relating to the great civil war of that time in English history.
Houghton Hall is located in Norwich in eastern England. I have known about this place since a subordinate of mine in Germany mentioned he had seen a documentary on it. Only recently have details of it come to my knowledge and until very recently, I had no idea why this marvel of Palladian architecture was named after the Houghton family. I have discovered that Walpole may have had some connection with them in Lancaster as a Henry Walpole was implicated there in the harboring of Catholic priests in their travels. I still have no real idea what the connection was, but will continue my research.
Date Created: February 25, 1999, by Ralph H. Houghton
Last Modified
Tuesday, June 22, 2004 04:40:50 PM, by Ralph H. Houghton
© 1999 Albion College Academic Computing
Current document URL:
http://people.albion.edu/rhoughto/houghton_tower.htm