3-034-838 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Fire at Warwick Castle, 1871. '...one of the finest baronial mansions in the kingdom, was partially destroyed...The sleepers in the bed rooms were removed in safety...Engines and troops of firemen speedily arrived; but the whole of the east wing was consumed before they came. A few books from the library and some of the most valuable pictures were secured and carried into the courtyard...The grand hall and its contents are wholly destroyed...So rapidly did the flames extend towards the state apartments, where were stored the most valuable pictures, tapestries, and other works of art, that preparations were made for the worst...The pictures by Rembrandt, Rubens, Vandervelde, Lely, Teniers, Murillo,...and the Vandyke portraits of Charles I., the Duke of Montrose, and Prince Rupert were first removed into the courtyard...The flames up to six o'clock appeared to defy the exertions of the fire brigade. Happily, their efforts at last got the mastery of the fire, and the west wing of the castle, with the state rooms, the chapel, the collections of sculpture, pictures, armour, and curiosities, was saved...Caesar's Tower, which appears on the left...is of greater antiquity than any other part of the building. On the right is Guy's Tower'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.