History of Restoration House, Rochester

118 HISTOET OE EESTOEATION HOTJSE, EOOHESTEE. which, according to tradition, Charles I I . slept on the eve of the Restoration.* This room was panelled and decorated with hlack and gold, but a fire (luckily confined to this room) destroyed most of the panelling. The cornice, with the original hlack and gold decoration, remains; and there is a good chimney-piece of about the year 1700. It is now used as a drawing-room. The original staircase adjoins or is near to the dais-end of the hall, and is a picturesque specimen of late Elizabethan work. In some of the passages there are double floors, or double ceilings; and between most of the floors and the ceilings below them, the space is filled with silver sand. Whether the sand was placed there to deaden sound, or to prevent the passage of rats and mice, is uncertain. As sound is readily conveyed from the extreme parts of the house, and as there is an absence of rats and mice, it is assumed that the latter suggestion is correct. OWNERS OE RESTORATION HOUSE. Nicholas Morgan of the Inner Temple, the first owner of whom there is any record, in 1607 conveyed the property to Henry Clerke of the Middle Temple and his wife Grace, daughter of George Morgan. Henry Clerke was descended from the Clerkes of Willoughby. " Nor may I omit to take notice," says Dugdale, " that of this family was the famous Sir John Clerke in Hen. VIII.'s time (as constant tradition still affirmeth), who having taken the Duke of Longvile prisoner, at the battail of Spurs, was for that signal service rewarded by the King with an honourary addition to his Armes." The arms of Henry Clerke were Argent, on a bend gules, between three pellets (ogresses), as many swans proper. He represented the city of Rochester in Parliament from the 18th to the 21st year of King James I., and in the 1st year of Charles I. He was succeeded by his son. , * Two iron tie-bars passing through the north wall of the house are formed into the initials of Sir Francis Clerke, F.O. They were inserted about this time.