DINB Llel ' AUli i THE COLLECTION OF BOOK PLATES (EX LIBRIS) OF THE LATE JAMES ROBERTS BROWN, ESQ. MESSRS. SOTHEBY, WILKINSON & HODGE Will sell by Auftion at their House, No. 13, WELLINGTON STREET, STRAND, W.C., on FRIDAY, JANUARY IQTH, at ONE O'CLOCK PRECISELY, the Colleaion of BOOK PLATES (Ex Llbrls) of the late JAMES ROBERTS BROWN, ESQ., of 44, TREGUNTER ROAD, LONDON, S.W. (Sold by Order of the Executors.) May be Viewed Two Days prior. Catalogues may be had. SAVOY, 3 vols. (complete) illustrated by Beardsley, 25^. j WORKS OF DEFOE, 16 vols., new half calf, a fine library edition, 90^.; EUGENE SUE'S WORKS, 12, vols., with 28 etchings, 42^. 5 THE NOVELLINO OF MASUCCIO, edition de luxe on Japanese vellum, 20 plates, 2 vols. (published at £6 6j.), 45^. ; ACKERMAN'S MICROCOSM OF LONDON, 3 vols., coloured plates, 1808, £20; ditto UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, 2 vols., coloured plates, 1814, £125 ditto UNIVERSITY OF CAM- BRIDGE, 2 vols., coloured plates, 1815, £12 iyj. 6d. ; ditto WESTMINSTER ABBEY, 2 vols., coloured plates, 1812, £7. FRANK ROLLINGS, Bookseller, 7, GREAT TURNSTILE, HOLBORN, W.C. Catalogues issued and sent on application. FENTON & SONS, n NEW OXFORD STREET, LONDON (Near Mudie's Library and the British Museum), Have for sale a large Collection of OLD ENGLISH and FOREIGN ARMS and ARMOUR; Weapons, Ornaments, etc., illustrating Savage Life; Egyptian, Greek, and Roman Antiquities; Antique China, Pottery, Carved Oak, Metalwork, and Curiosities of all kinds. Commissions at Auction Sales undertaken. _ ESTABLISHED 1880. First Editions of Modern Authors, Including Dickens, Thackeray, Lever, Ainsworth ; Books illustrated by G. and R. Cruikshank, Phiz, Rowlandson, Leech, etc. The largest and choicest collection offered for sale in the world. Catalogues issued and sent post free on application. Books bought. WALTER T. SPENCER, 27 New Oxford Street, London, W.C. GREEK, ROMAN, AND ENGLISH COINS IN GOLD, SILVER, AND COPPER. W. S. LINCOLN & SON, 69 NEW OXFORD STREET, LONDON, Have many thousands, arranged in Cabinets and separately priced, which can be readily- seen and selected from. List of some can be had on application. CONTENTS. PAGE HAM HOUSE AND ITS OWNERS . , . . i QUARTERLY NOTES . .... , $ GRAVESEND ^ .11 IN THE HEART OF THE CHILTERNS , . 18 SHEPWAY CROSS 23 RAMBLES IN THE HOME COUNTIES, No. XVIII 34 DICKENS IN SOUTHWARK 38 SOME EAST KENT PARISH HISTORY ... 42 RANELAGH GARDENS, CHELSEA ... 52 GRAYS INN 55 RUISLIP AND HAREFIELD 59 NOTES AND QUERIES 61 NOTICES. All Correspondence, Contributions, Books for Review, etc., should be addressed to the Editor of the Home Counties Magazine, 44, Chancery Lane, London, and Communications in regard to Distribution or Advertisements to Reynell & Son at the same address. The annual subscription to the Magazine is 6s. 64. post free. Quarterly Parts, is. 6d. net each, by post, is. %d. Cases for binding, is. 6d. each, can be obtained from the Publishers. Copies of some of the Plates which have appeared in the Magazine are for sale, and certain Blocks can also be purchased at moderate prices. REYNELL & SON, 44 Chancery Lane, W.C. THE HOME COUNTIES MAGAZINE HOME '-I COUNTIES MAGAZINE "Devoted to the Topography of London, ^Middlesex, Essex, Herts, Trucks, *Berks, , Surrey, and I^ent . ^ EDITED BY W. PALEY BAILDON, F.S.A. VOLUME VIII. 1906 LONDON: REYNELL & SON, 44 CHANCERY LANE, W.C. 2.0 H7 CHTSWICK PRESS : CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANK, LONDON. HAM HOUSE AND ITS OWNERS. BY MRS. HENRY WOOD. HAM HOUSE was built in 1610 by Sir Thomas Vavasour, Marshal of the Household to James I, his initials, "T.V.", are carved on the main entrance; whether there had been a house prior to this is unknown. He sold it in 1625 to Jonn Earl Holderness, who, in 1634, assigned it to Katherine, wife of the first Earl Dysart, who had been given a reversionary lease of the Manors of Ham and Hatch. The Manor of Ham was granted by Athelston to his minister Wulfgar (circa 930). We next come across a grant of it by Henry II (1154); tnen King John (1199) granted it to Richard de Mowbray. It escheated to the crown, and was given to Godfrey, Bishop of Winchester, and was valued in survey at £6. Henry III (1216) gave a charter to Isabella de Croun for a free warren there, and in 1271 granted the manor to Sir Robert Burrell, whose nephew Philip held it in 1329. Anne of Cleeves had a grant of it for her life; she probably surrendered it to Edward VI on his accession, after which date it was leased variously, and finally settled on the Prince of Wales. Tradition, which always dies hard, has it that Henry, Prince of Wales, lived at Ham House, and a room is actually shown as his bedroom, but there is no evidence in the Domestic State Papers of his having ever even possessed the house, and Agnes Strickland gives no authority for her statement that he injured his health by bathing after supper while in residence there. Aubrey in his " History of Surrey," tells us that : Ham is a manor belonging to the Crown and was formerly a privileged place, so that none could be arrested there, or one arrested at any other place could not be brought through this place, but through long and scandalous neglect this valuable privilege is lost. Ham House, an elegant building, is in this parish, where the Court for the King is kept. William, first Earl of Dysart, who acquired Ham House in 1 634, began his career as whipping-boy to Charles, Prince of Wales ; he became gentleman of the bedchamber, and was rewarded by his royal master with the Earldom of Dysart (his father was a minister of Dysart, in Fife) and the Barony of Huntingtower. He left five VOL. VIII. I B HAM HOUSE AND ITS OWNERS. daughters, and his wife having secured the title to the eldest, she became Elizabeth, Countess of Dysart in her own right. She married, first, Sir Lionel Tollemache, by whom she had issue. She was one of the worst women of her epoch, and was generally credited with having " kept on the right side of the hedge" during the Commonwealth by encouraging the " familiarities " of the Pro- tector. Of this liaison we can give her the benefit of the doubt ; but there is no doubt that she was the mistress of John, Earl Lauderdale, as her relations with him were a scandal, even at the Court of Charles II. She married him on the death of his wife, quite in the odour of sanctity. The entry in the Register at Petersham Church runs: The ryght Honorable John Earl of Lauderdale was married to the right honorable Elizabeth Countess of Dessart by the Rever- end Father in God (Walter) Lord Bishop of Worcester, in the Church of Petersham on the seventeenth day of Februarie 1 67 1-2, publiquely at the time of teaching the common prayer, and gave the carpet, pulpit cloth and cushion. Elizabeth, generally known as the great Duchess, had an un- bounded influence over her husband, who had an unbounded in- fluence over his sovereign, and it was she, therefore, who steered the distressed bark England into the troubled waters in which it lived during the whole reign of Charles II. Her husband settled all his estates on her, and upon his death she almost ruined his brother with never-ending law suits. Her char- acter is freely canvassed by the writers of the time. There is a quite unquotable pasquil, purporting to be a discussion on her demerits by her two husbands; and Wycherley's satire of her in "The Plain Dealer " is hardly less bitter, though considerably more decent. The Lauderdales took up their residence at Ham, which under their rule attained an almost regal splendour. They greatly altered and enlarged it, and since their day it has practically remained un- touched. Lord Lauderdale died at Tonbridge in 1682; his widow survived him sixteen years, and was "buried in linnen " in Petersham Church. During her widowhood Ham House was much deserted, and was offered by William of Orange to James II, who, however, declined it as being " an ill winter house and unfurnished " — an obvious excuse — but James desired to have more than the Thames between himself and his son-in-law. Evelyn, who has no motives for praise or blame, speaks very differently of the " ill winter house" ; he writes of it as " inferior to few of the great villas of Italy, the house furnished like a great Prince's; Parterres, flower gardens, Orangeries, groves, Avenues, 2 HAM HOUSE AND ITS OWNERS. Courts, perspectives, fountains, Aviaries, and all this at the Banks of the sweetest River in the world." " The more than Italian luxury of Ham " earned it the name of a Ham Palace," and as all the exquisite furniture placed in it by the Duchess of Lauderdale remains almost as she arranged it, even a few minutes spent in the State apartments disprove the accusation of it ever having been " ill-furnished." The most celebrated room, " the Cabal room," is absolutely as it was when the famous five met there to plot the sale of England's honour and their own, but for most of us it has a more domestic interest as having been occupied by the desolate and despised Katharine of Braganza. It was called the " Queen's room," and her host and hostess did her the honour which was mostly denied her — decorated the room with priceless pictures and tapestry, and even provided her with a " portingale bed " to remind her of her native land, but no such honours could have atoned to Katharine for the great wrong Lau- derdale had done her by making her the bride of Charles II. The second earl succeeded to all the glories of Ham House, but not to its traditions ; he was as penurious as his mother had been lavish, and lived there in miserly misery for thirty years ; the gardens went to decay, and no one entered the house. He rose betimes and went " a-walking " for fear anyone should descend on him for breakfast ; his daughters died spinsters, " like roses faded un- gathered," because he would not dower them ; his son " went ill educated, ill clothed " (Lord Dysart himself wore " obsolete gar- ments "), and, as a natural consequence, made a clandestine mar- riage, he and his wife and two children tasted all the bitterness of poverty, and he predeceased his father. His son succeeded in 1727 as fourth earl, and Ham House again opened its doors to society. He stands unique in the Dysart annals, having fifteen children, three of whom succeeded him — Lionel, fifth earl, married Charlotte, illegitimate daughter of Sir Edward Walpole and niece to the gar- rulous Horace, who, living at Strawberry Hill, congratulates him- self " on calling cousins with so charming a prospect over against me " — but a nearer view proves disenchanting, for he writes later : " I went yesterday to see my niece in her new principality of Ham. It delighted me, and made me peevish. Close to the Thames, in the centre of all rich and verdant beauty, it is so blocked up and barricaded with walls, vast trees, and gates, that you think yourself an hundred miles off and an hundred years back. The old furni- ture is so magnificently ancient, dreary, and decayed, that at every step one's spirits sink, and all my passion for antiquity could not keep them up. Every minute I expected to see ghosts sweeping 3 HAM HOUSE AND ITS OWNERS. by, ghosts I would not give sixpence to see — Lauderdales, Tolle- maches, Maitlands. There is one old brown gallery full of Van- dykes and Lelys, charming miniatures, delightful Wouvermanns and Polenburghs, china, japan, bronzes, ivory cabinets, and silver dogs, pokers, and bellows without end. One pair of bellows is of filigree. In this state of pomp and tatters my nephew intends it to remain, and is so religious an observer of the venerable rites of his house, that because the gates were never opened by his father but once for the late Lord Granville (one is told now at the house that they were last opened to aid Charles I in an escape from Cromwell), you are locked out and locked in, and after journeying all round the house as you do round an old French fortified town, you are at last admitted through the stableyard to creep along a dark passage by the housekeeper's room, and so by a back door to the great hall. He seems as much afraid of water as a cat, for though you might enjoy the Thames from every window of three sides of the house, you may tumble into it before you know it is there. Think of such a palace commanding all the reaches of Richmond and Twicken- ham, with a domain from the foot of Richmond Hill to Kingston Bridge, and then imagine it being as dismal and prospectless as if it stood on ' Stanmore's wintery wild.' I don't see why a man should not be divorced from his prospect, as well as from his wife, for not being able to enjoy it. " Lady Dysart frets, but it is not the etiquette of the family to yield, and she must content herself with her castle of Tonderten- dronk as well as she can." This Lady Dysart was a sweet and lovely woman. She early fell a victim to a dread and incurable disease, and Horace writes later: I am here still, in no uncertainty, God knows, about poor Lady Dysart, of whom there is not now slightest hope, she grows weaker every day, and does still go out for the air, and may languish many days, tho' probably will go off in a moment as the water rises. She retains her senses perfectly, and as perfectly her unalterable calmness and patience. The poor lady died almost as her uncle was penning these words, on 4th September, 1784. Her husband remarried, Magdalen, daughter of David Lewis, of Malvern Hall, and died childless in 1799. Wilbraham, his brother, also married a daughter of David Lewis, Anna Maria ; he lived at Ham House till her death, and then could not endure the place and its sad memories. He, however, returned there to die, the last male of his race, almost the last of his family. His sole surviving sister succeeded him as Countess of Dysart. 4 HAM HOUSE AND ITS OWNERS. She had made a runaway marriage with Mr. John Manners. Her beauty (a lovely portrait of her by Reynolds hangs in the hall of Ham House), charm of person and manner, were great, but she also lived in comparative seclusion. She died at Ham in 1840, her grandson succeeded her as eighth earl, and married Maria, daughter of Sweeny Toone, Esq., and was succeeded by his grandson, the present earl, whose marriage with Cecilia Florence Onslow in 1885 having been sans issue, the Dysart earldom will again pass into the female line, and for two generations. The main doorway of Ham House is on the river or North Front; it is set slightly back, and on either side between it and the short projecting wings are open alcoves, supported on arches. These are connected by a stone-paved terrace, and reached by two flights of wide, shallow steps. The alcoves and the terrace were known as the Forecourt and Cloisters. The entire house is built of the small red bricks almost universally used in Jacobean architecture, and above the ground-floor windows are forty-four circular niches, each containing a bust. The front door opens straight into the hall, paved in black and white marble ; at the east end, doors open on to the grand staircase, with its beautiful balustrades of walnut wood, which represent al- ternately groups of military trophies and weapons, and of flowers and fruit. Amongst other interesting pictures in the hall and staircase are portraits of Henrietta, Lady Huntingtower, by Sir Godfrey Kneller. Grace, Countess of Dysart, with a child and negro, by Hogarth. Grace, Countess of Dysart, and her husband in the robes worn at the coronation of George II, by Jan van der Bank. A beautiful Reynolds, of Charlotte, first wife of the fifth Earl; also one of his second wife, by the same artist. " The Battle of Lepanto," by Tintoretto, must be specially noted as we pass up the staircase. The fine State apartments are upstairs, and are : 1. The great drawing room, now forming a gallery to the hall, the centre having been cut away to make that apartment more lofty; it is hung with tapestry and has a beautiful Lely, a portrait of the Duke and Duchess of Lauderdale, and a beautiful bronze bust of Katharine, wife of the first Earl of Dysart. 2. In the tapestry room we find four Raphael cartoons in beautiful Mortlake tapestry, and a magnificent fireplace. 3. The picture gallery runs the whole length of the house from east to west; it is eighty feet long and about sixteen wide, and has 5 HAM HOUSE AND ITS OWNERS. large windows at either end. It contains, besides its twenty-two portraits, some interesting pieces of seventeenth century furniture. On the east side we have : 1 . William, first Earl Dysart. Jansen. 2. Lady Margaret Maynard. Lely. 3. Elizabeth, Countess of Dysart and Duchess of Lauderdale. Lely. 4. Rachel, Countess of Southampton. Van Somers. 5. Lady Anne Kerr. Vandycke. 6. Portrait of the artist. Vandycke. 7. Elizabeth Tollemache. Lely. 8. Katharine Tollemache. Van du Heist. 9. Queen Henrietta Maria. Vandycke. 10. Anne, Countess of Carlyle. Stone. On the West side : 1 . Col. John Russell. Rieters. 2. Sir Lionel Tollemache. Lely. 3. Sir Thomas Clifford. Lely. 4. King Charles II. Lely. 5. The Duke of Lauderdale. Gennari. 6. Sir William Compton. W. Dobson. 7. William, Lord Alington. Lely. 8. Sir Henry Vane. Vandycke. 9. King Charles I. Vandycke. 10. John, Lord Maitland. Jansen. 4. The blue drawing room opens out of this gallery; here we must notice the furniture and hangings, and the fine fireplace. 5. The Cabal room is hung with exquisite Mortlake tapestry representing the four seasons. There is a beautiful Andrea del Sarto over the mantelpiece, and the ceiling is tooled plaster. The chairs used by the " Cabal " are large, wide-seated, high- backed armchairs, upholstered in green, red and white Genoa velvet. A large table elaborately carved and supported by four female figures stands in the centre of the room. The exquisite jade tea service should be noted. The closet which leads out of the Cabal room has a small dais, evidently for a bed; and a concealed door opens on to a narrow passage, and so to the grand staircase. A beautiful painted ceiling (reputed Verrio), subject " the rape of Ganymede," an " inlaid " or parquet floor, and two small landscapes set into the wall are all as they were in Queen Katharine's time. The bed alcove has, how- ever, no longer its portingale bed, but holds the two sleeping chairs 6 HAM HOUSE AND ITS OWNERS. of the Duke and Duchess of Lauderdale. These chairs are adjust- able to any angle, and the sides project so as to form comfortable nooks for the head. This alcove is a very good sample of the " ruelle," as it was called in contemporary history, where so many important inter- views took place, the monarch in bed being able to have a perfectly private conversation with the subject who had been introduced by the private staircase. The mantelpiece and hearth are beautifully inlaid in green and white marble, and must be specially noticed, as also the silver fire irons and pan, and the fire back bearing the cypher of Charles II. The miniature room is arranged just as the Duchess left it. Its chief treasures are the portraits of Katharine, 1st Countess of Dysart. John Hoskins. Sir Lionel Tollemache (painted on copper). John Hoskins. Henry Rich, Earl of Holland. John Hoskins. The Countess D'Aubigny. John Hoskins. Lady Sydenham. John Hoskins. Dorothy Sydney. John Hoskins. The Countess of Sunderland. John Hoskins. Queen Elizabeth. Nicholas Hilliard. Robert, Earl of Leicester. Nicholas Hilliard. Queen Elizabeth. Nicholas Hilliard. Henry, Prince of Wales. J. Oliver. Charles II. Des Granges. Henrietta Maria. Des Granges. Alphonse Davalos,with wife, son, and two attendants. Des Granges. Mary, daughter of Charles I. H. P. W. Portrait of Mary Queen of Scots (unauthenticated). Lady Sydenham. S. Cooper. Mary of Modena. Laurence Crosse. The Duke of Lauderdale. E. A. Some small Dutch landscapes form just the right filling for the room. The lacquer cabinets are quite exquisite, and in a small cabinet is a treasure which appeals greatly to the romantic, an ear- ring containing a lock of the hair of the ill-fated Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex; but of a far greater interest to the antiquary is the deed determining the exact boundary between Scotland and England. The private apartments of the great Duke and Duchess were on the ground floor of the house, and were seven in number. The five appropriated to the Duchess were her bedroom, dressing room sitting room, gentlewoman's bedroom and bathing room. 7 HAM HOUSE AND ITS OWNERS. The Duke had a study and dressing room. There were also on this floor their dining room, drawing room, with communicating bedroom, the volery (or aviary) room and the white room, now used as a china room. These two last open on to the old garden. In one of these rooms is an interesting picture of the presenta- tion of a pineapple (or king pine as it was then called) to Charles II., on the Terrace at Dawnay Court. Evelyn, who was present at the ceremony, gives us an interesting description of it — and of the subsequent tasting of the fruit. The gardens of Ham House were, as early as 1678, when Evelyn visited them, celebrated for their rare trees and flowering shrubs, and the " old garden " on the east side of the house was laid out by the celebrated Le Notre, or his pupil Rose, and remains much as it was in the Duchess's day. The south front of the house has a fine terrace of about 550 feet long and 50 wide; beyond this is the lawn, of between two and three acres, which is bordered by the Wilderness, with its Scotch firs, reminding us that Henry Prince of Wales was to have lived at Ham, as all his southern homes had plantations of firs and pines, to recall to him his beloved northern land. The Ham House tradition, however, has it that they were planted by John, the celebrated Duke of Argyle, who was born there. The Ilex walk (250 feet long) has a very unusual number of these comparatively rare evergreens. Here we find a beautiful figure of Bacchus. The forecourt, on river front, has a colossal figure of Father Thames; it has neither signature nor date, and nothing is known of its history. Few if any of the great houses of England preserve the Stewart atmosphere as does Ham House, and it is a distinct loss to the community at large that it is almost impossible to get to see the interior; within an hour's drive from London, it is as inaccessible as if it lay in the depth of a forest or on a storm-beat island — the tradition of the Dysarts is against its being a show place in the one sense of the word, though it is in the other. Last summer on two different occasions the general public had the rare treat of seeing part of the house and the beautiful grounds, but even those who went twice must have failed to see more than half the treasures of the house, the furniture, hangings, carvings, chinas, books, manuscripts, parchments, jewel boxes, weapons, and iron work. The " detail " of even the window or door fastenings, the firebacks with royal or ducal cypher — the mirrors, the ivories, the silver fire irons, all these require many visits, many hours of study, and a vast appreciation for the old, the rare and the historical. 8 QUARTERLY NOTES. WE beg to draw the attention of our readers to the Notices on the table of contents page of this number of the Magazine. From these Notices it will be observed that the Magazine is now being published at a new address. We trust that this change will make no difference to our readers and contri- butors, but that we shall continue to meet their wants and con- venience in the same manner as heretofore. THE editor of the " Transactions of the St. Albans and Hertford- shire Architectural and Archaeological Society " has sent us a copy of the last issue, which contains several articles of antiquarian in- terest, consisting of papers read before the Society during the years 1903 and 1904. The article on Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, serves to remind us of the Duke's varied life, how he was appointed Protector of England during the absence of his brother, King Henry V, at the seat of war in France, how he endowed the Abbey of St. Albans and the University Library at Oxford, and how he aspired to the highest position in the realm, and as a result died in prison. Other well-written articles combine to make the volume instructive and interesting. The Society publishes a recent balance-sheet, which shows that it is in a flourishing condition. WE have pleasure in drawing the attention of our readers to the series of articles appearing in the " Willesden Chronicle " on the history of the parish, which was formerly known as Willesdon. The parish records of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are now being reproduced, and the information contained in them is very full and well worth reading. MANY of our readers will have heard the new Whittington chimes at Bow Church, Cheapside, arranged by Sir C. Villiers Stanford. They recall a favourite old melody that suitably associates itself with the story of Dick Whittington. THE many admirers of Dickens' " David Copperfield " will hear with regret that the old shop at the corner of the market-place in Dover, on the step of which David rested after his long and weary tramp from London, has been pulled down to make way for more modern premises. Dickens had pleasant associations with this part 9 QUARTERLY NOTES. of Kent, and the district forms the background to scenes in several of the novels. A CORRESPONDENT has drawn our attention to an interesting article on Addington Church which has recently appeared in the " Surrey Daily Argus." As our readers are probably aware, Addington Park was for many years one of the residences of the archbishops of Canterbury, and the church, which we illustrate from an old print, thus became in a sense the archbishop's parish church, and here more than one archbishop was interred. A STRANGER who revisits London after some years' absence is struck by changes of various kinds in the Metropolis. One of the most notable is perhaps the number of free libraries and public newsrooms now to be found, both in London proper and in the suburbs. Some twenty years ago such libraries were practically non-existent, although the people of large towns, like Manchester and Leeds, had long enjoyed these advantages. Thanks, however, in some degree to private generosity, London may now be said to be fully abreast of the towns of the North. The creation of the modern Metropolitan Boroughs has also probably been a cause of this development which has taken place with the growing interest being displayed in local government and institutions. The people of London are in this connection much indebted to Mr. Passmore Edwards and the late Sir Henry Tate. IN a former volume we had an article on Whitgift's Hospital at Croydon. Some of our readers may know that these old alms- houses are threatened with destruction. The site of the building is at the crossing of the two main streets in the middle of Croydon, where the traffic is the greatest and the roads particularly narrow. The slope of the ground practically precludes the possibility of set- ting the buildings back on the opposite side of the road, so that it looks as if the interesting old hospital will have to be either entirely destroyed and rebuilt elsewhere, or partially pulled down and re- constructed in such a way as to cover less ground. THE imminence of the general election takes us back in imagina- tion to the parliamentary elections of the beginning of last century. A contested election was then the occasion for bribery, dissipation and riot, such as is well described by Charles Dickens in the Pickwick Papers, as taking place in the Borough of Eatanswill. The expense to the candidates was enormous, especially in the case of County elections. One instance may be given, that of the elec- 10 c I GRAVESEND. tion for Yorkshire in 1805, which is said to have cost the Fitzwilliam and Harewood families £100,000 each. IT is also interesting to call to mind that in early times Parliament frequently met elsewhere than in Westminster; one readily recalls meetings of Parliament at Bury St. Edmund's and Oxford. KINDRED with this subject of parliaments is that of local assemblies and courts, such as the court of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, which is described by Mr. A. D. Cheney in our present issue; and we can heartily recommend a perusal of the article. GRAVESEND. BY ALFRED CHARLES JONAS, F.S.A. (Scot.). TO become acquainted with the history of our native place should be the aim of every intelligent person, and to be familiar with the history of our country is the duty of, and ought to be a pleasure to, all with the smallest claim to literary knowledge. It would be unnecessary to point to many great minds, whose delight in such subjects has been the means of leaving us a legacy, in respect of history, without which the world would be to us a perfect chaos. So it is that historic fame endures long after com- mercial prosperity has written its fleeting record in the sands, and long after a city or town has crumbled to dust and passed out of existence. Who then can command more enduring fame than the his- torian ? Who then will not consider the study of local and general history a subject of educational and literary prominence? Not a few writers have, in one way or another, helped to per- petuate the name of Gravesend. Dickens, that wonderful portrayer of the bright and shady side of frail humanity, has frequently re- ferred to it; in "Dombey and Son": "Florence Jove, the loading of our ship is nearly finished .... shall we go away that morning and stay in Kent until we go on board at Gravesend ? " Again, in " David Copperfield " : " If ever I chanced to come to Gravesend I was to come over and inquire for ' Mas'r Davy.'" In 1841 Dickens spent a day and night at Gravesend, and after he went to Gad's Hill, he frequently walked to the station there. The Rev. ii GRAVESEND. John Dolman, at one time Vicar of Chalk, resided at Gravesend. In 1772 he published a second edition of "Contemplations amongst S. Vincent's Rocks, near Bristol." Mr. Charles Kite, Surgeon, published in 1792 "Causes of Suspended Animation," while he was a regular contributor to medical and other journals of standing. The Rev. Thomas Harris, M.A., of Gravesend, was a writer on several religious topics, and so on. It is an open question if there are any important records of Gravesend traceable in Roman History, while with regard to Saxon records, information on the subject is of the scantiest kind. This adds piquancy to our inquiry into the origin of this place-name, which some writers trace to Saxon. Lambard, that celebrated antiquary, in his "Perambulations in Kent," published in I575> states that in Latin it was " Limes praetorius," and " Geresesend " in Saxon. Little up to now has been shown connecting Gravesend with the Roman occupation, and yet from its situation on the banks of the Thames, and for other reasons, one can hardly realize that the Romans were so short-sighted as to have ignored the importance of the position. With respect to the Saxon name, Dr. Harris, who printed in 1719 a volume, " History of Kent," states that he never saw the so-called name Lambard refers to, in Saxon, and further that Gravesend means no more than the end of a hollow place ; and gives illustrations to prove his case. Leland, in his Itinerary, calls it " Greva." It may come from " Grava," a word common in " Domesday," meaning a coppice or small wood ; sometimes a grove was called Grava-end. The alteration of "a" to " e," and the introduction of " s " is not such an innovation as to cause much surprise, learning then was in its infancy. If I dared to suggest an origin for the name, it would be from the Latin " Graves " — important, or great; and " mam " from Hamulus — an angle: /.*., the great hook-like shape, which the Thames takes beside Gravesend, and which is called in Domesday " Gravesham." Camden, in his "Britannia,"1 quotes Leland, and also states the name may come from the " limit of some authority." Leland's words are " Sed nee Greva suo caret rotundo " and so on. Certainly in Leland's suggestion we have something to work upon, and it will be apparent that Lambard was on the same tack when he states that the significance of " Gravesend " might be looked for in the official Portreve, anciently Portgereve. " Port " we take to come from " Portus " — a port town, and " gereve " from the Saxon verb " to rule." Gravesend would thus 1 London, 1695, p. 190 (note 21). 12 GRAVESEND. become the limit of some such ruler or official's authority. Of course we have evidence in Saxon records, which might be supposed to support the correctness of the theory; certainly there exists a Saxon charter which begins " William the King greeteth William the Bishop and Godfrey the Portreve, and all Burgers that in Lon- don be." This was in reference to Milton, near Sittingbourne. In ancient i times however, every manor had its Reve, who be- came Bailiff under the Normans. Little space has been devoted by historians to Gravesend. Camden disposes of the subject in a few lines ; Lambard in his " Description of the chief towns " does the same, and so it is with writers generally. One thing which fails not to strike an inquirer is, that there are many, and not a few eminent, families who have borne the name Gravesend. This fact raises curiosity, and tends to favour the idea that the place had an im- portance much greater than our historians have apparently succeeded in discovering. Ancient records are, as before indicated, few and far between, which throw light upon the subject ; in short, we have to come to the Norman period for the very little reliable which as yet has been found respecting Gravesend. It certainly appears as if neither the Romans, Saxons or Danes considered the place worth attention. In Domesday we find the following: "Gravesham : Herbert, son of Ivo, holds of the Bishop, Gravesham It answers for two sulings and one yoke. There is the arable land of four teams. In demense, there is one. And four Villans, with seven slaves, have two oxen. A church, and one Hythe. In the time of King Edward, it was worth ten pounds. When he received it. Now eleven pounds. This manor had been three manors. In the time of King Edward, Leuric, and Uluuin and Godun held it. Now it is one." With re- gard to Milton, which is usually associated with Gravesend: the former, in Domesday called " Meletune and Melestun, probably derives its name from the Mill which existed there at the time of the Survey. In a charter of Aegelric Bigge (1044) we ^n(^ the land of « Chart," " Stouting," and " Melton " (Melentun) the latter being the spelling in Saxon. Milton, however, js in the same position as Gravesend with respect to the paucity of information. It is worth notice that there are found great variations in the spelling of Gravesend from the first to the last. As late as 1653, on some tradesmen's tokens, the word was spelt Grawsend, and in 1671, on a similar sign, it appears as at present. Ignorance or in- difference must in a great measure account for such idiosyncrasy, yet it is evident no settled rule was observed. There was printed in Paris, 1673, "Travels in England," by one Jorevin, in which the name was spelt Gracesine, and curiously enough the writer, GRAVESEND. when dealing with Gravesend, describes a strong castle there, defended by ramparts and bastions of earth, furnished with a good number of cannons and a great garrison within. The origin from which this description is supposed to be derived, is the common seal in 1632. In maps of an earlier period, these ramparts are marked " blockhouses," l so we had blockhouses, at least in name, in England before they were introduced into our African possessions: whether or not they were the same, and simi- larly used in warfare, is a matter readers must decide for themselves. In the year 1268, in which Pope Clement the fourth died, and after which the Roman See remained vacant for three years, Edward, afterwards King, " proceeded by ship as far as Gravesend, meeting his uncle, he then took up his quarters at Northflete, from whence he proceeded to a conference with the King of France, who arranged to lend Edward 70,000 livers" (tournois)2 which was for "horses, for provisions, for ships, and for passage for the recovery of the Holy Land from the infidels." It is not relevant here to introduce a copy of the deed and document, which bound the borrower for the repayment of the loan, and the method of payment, yet the curious will be repaid by a perusal of it. In 1380 the French and Spanish entered the Thames, burnt and plundered Gravesend and Milton, carrying away most part of the inhabitants as prisoners. The Manor of Southfleet, which has been mentioned, belonged to the Bishops of Rochester before 1066. The liberty these bishops had, covered the power of trying and executing felons. A strange instance is on record connected with Croydon and this authority. In 1 200, two women, who had stolen a quantity of clothes in " Croindene," were pursued by men of that town to Southfleet, where the women were caught; being tried by Lord Cobham, they were put to the barbarous test (?) of the fire ordeal, one was allowed to go, the other was drowned. The two principal methods in those days of testing (?) the guilt or innocence of supposed criminals were by fire and water. Doubtless this is the foundation of the proverbial saying : " I would go through fire and water to save or assist a friend, etc." The ancient and no less important family of Cobham began, I believe, with William Quartermere, who, for services rendered Henry II, was brought from Normandy, and among other lands and rents given to him in Kent was " all the land of Cobham," which lands were afterwards called Quartermere's Fee. There is a perfect mine of literary wealth connected with 1 "England, Wales and Scotland," John Speed, 1627. a The livre tournois was worth zos., livre Parisis, 25*. Tournais, a French penny, the tenth part of a penny sterling (Blunt, 1681). GRAVESEND. this family, which lies waiting development at the hand of the historian, antiquary, or lover of matters genealogical. In 1280, Richard de Gravesend, Archdeacon of Northampton, was con- secrated Bishop of London. This Gravesend was the principal founder of the " Fryers at Maldon." In 1318, Stephen Gravesend was Bishop of London. When speaking of the surname Gravesend, it should not be omitted that a well-known mathematician, of Delft, in Holland, bore the name Gravesend, no doubt a descendant of one of the illustrious families who derived their name from the town under consideration. " Gravesande " was a literary man of no mean calibre. He was one of the delegates sent to congratulate George I on his accession, and while in England became a friend of Newton. Gravesande died in 1742. In the twelfth year of King Henry VI, among the gentlemen of Kent are found: John Petygede, Gravesend ; John Pete; William Doget and Robert Baker. In the Visitation of the County in 1619, among the pedigrees of families then resident at Gravesend are found Bere, Tucker, and Robinson. The family of Etkins, of whom George was Sheriff in the 32nd year of Charles II, had a son who married Ann, daughter of Colonel George Compton, Governor of Tilbury in 1650: the latter's daughter Susan married Thomas Holker of Gravesend. At the period when Domesday survey was made, the church at Gravesend, as did Gravesend itself, stood more in the direction of the turnpike road leading to the village of Perry Street, near Womb- well Hall, now, or at one time, called, I think, Wimble Hall, which was first built in 1471. To the northward was a small piece of ground called Church field, where might have been seen some years ago, if not now, part of the foundation of the ancient church of St. Maries, which existed in 1086. The plough, a hundred years ago, turned up ruins of the church, and bones of persons who had been buried in its ground. As indicated, the situation of Gravesend is not precisely that which it held in early days. Its position being inconvenient, the inhabitants moved near the river, and in 1497 licence was obtained for the purpose of holding service in the public building or oratory which had been erected there. Thirteen years after, this oratory was consecrated by John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, who was beheaded on Tower Hill, for refusing to acknowledge the King's supremacy in matters ecclesiastical. The Oratory was dedicated to St. George. In the same month the same bishop consecrated the parish church, which had been erected in place of the one burnt, and which was previously referred to as being mentioned in Domesday. 15 GRAVESEND. A rather curious circumstance is on record with respect to Bishop Fisher and S. Maries. It appears that it was the custom, when the bishop visited the parish, to ring the church bells. On one occasion, when the bishop made a visitation, this custom was not observed; the bishop thereupon prohibited the celebration of Divine service in the church. On its being shown that the churchwardens and all available parishioners had been summoned to appear before the King's officer, on that very day, and that therefore the seeming neglect was not so in fact, and that the failure to honour the bishop was not the result of indifference, but arose from circumstances over which they had not control, the bishop " graciously " withdrew the interdict. This stickler for honour to be paid himself refused to respect the supremacy of the King, and was accordingly punished in such a way as to preclude the possibility of a withdrawal of the sentence, and the bishop's head was set up on London Bridge, and his body buried in Barking churchyard. Read in the light of to-day there is an enigma connected with ecclesiastical law and good Archbishop Whitgift. In 1585 he " granted to Ambrose Potter, of Gravesend, a license to eat flesh and white meats during life with his wife : but with this proviso, that he did it soberly and frugally, cautiously, and avoiding public scandal, as much might be, and not to do so openly." When writing of Whitgift, who was so beneficent a giver to Croydon, it is worthy of notice that there should be an association between Gravesend and Croydon. Whitehorse Road, we have in Croydon, derives its name from a mansion which, nearly four decades ago, had in its brickwork the date 1604. The manor on which this mansion stood was called Bunchesham, which is fairly retained in Bencham Manor Road of to-day. Stephen de Graves- end died in the reign of Edward III, at which time he held the Manor of Croydon for the service of twenty-one shillings per annum. Reverting to " Melantun " and Brigge's will, in a later copy of which, written in the Kentish dialect, Milton is spelt Meletune, it will thus be noticed that this agrees with Domesday. A very interesting circumstance connected with this charter, is the rare instance where reference is made to u the Hago within the town." Hago has a twofold meaning — an enclosure made by a hedge ; a dwelling in a town so enclosed. In the north-east corner of the ancient parish of Milton the land gradually rises from the marshy ground to a hill, which com- mands a superior view. To the south-east may be seen a long range of trees, which point to Cobham Park, the residence of the 16 GRAVESEND. ancient lords already named, who trace their origin to a remote period. It may be noted that Milton parish, with others in the neighbourhood, were bound to contribute towards the ninth pier of the ancient bridge of Rochester.1 Milton was part of Odo's possessions, and at the Survey was held by Fitz Turold. The Manor of Gravesend probably reverted to the Crown on the disgrace of Odo, for soon after it became part of demenses of the family of Cremulle, and Henry de Cramaville possessed the manor. The manor was conveyed by sale to King Edward III, who in turn granted by Charter to certain feoffees the manor for the endowing of his Cistercian Abbey, called S. Mary Graces, near the Tower of London. In the tenth year of Richard II he, by his letters patent, granted the Abbot and Convent, and their successors, all rents and profits of the manor " untill he should otherwise alter or provide for them." Latterly the King, by a charter dated at Nottingham the third of July, in the last year of his reign, granted the manor and other lands to the Abbot and Convent, u To have and hold by the said Abbot and Monks, and their successors in perpetuity." Among the " other lands " granted, the charter particularized "all that messuage of ours of Tower Hall, with the gardens, and kitchen garden adjoining," and we are further enlightened by this charter that the King was indebted to John Cory for " Tower Hall." For the holding of the manors detailed in the charter, it was provided " a rose only " was to be given every year at the festival of the Nativity of John the Baptist. The Abbey was endowed with seven manors in Kent, and a reversion of the " Manor of Gomshulf " in the county of Surrey. That worthy competitor of Cromwell, in the race for distinction in the field of " reaction" from superstition, Henry VIII took the manor in question, and in the generosity of his heart gave what he had taken, so far, to his faithful servant, Sir Richard Long, Bart., the office of Bailiff of his Manor at Gravesend, with the fee or wages of Two PENCE a day, together with all fees, emoluments, and other profits belonging to it during the term of his natural life. What was the reason for the King, in the next year, giving the same manor to Sir Christopher Morrice, alias Morys, Knt., is not clear ; however, in those days it did not do to be particular in such matters. This much " changed-hands " Manor became the possession 1 See Vol. IV, No. 16, p. 266. VOL. VIII. 17 C IN THE HEART OF THE CHILTERNS. of the widow of the last holder. Edward VI granted it to his uncle, Sir Thomas Seymour, no doubt for good and sufficient reason. Unfortunately this owner fell under the displeasure of some one, and the King gave the Manor to Sir George Brooke, Lord Cobham. Four years after, the Lord Cobham surrendered the letters patent, and the King granted other letters for the same property to Sir Henry Sidney. In the twenty-fifth year of Elizabeth's reign the sole right to this manor was vested in Sir Thomas Gawdye, who had licence to give it to William Brooke, Lord Cobham. The Brooke family did not long enjoy the property ; the eldest son of the last named was attainted for high treason, and, although execution did not take place, he was stripped of all he possessed, and he died in poverty in 1619. It should be mentioned that his wife was wealthy in her own right, but she in no way assisted her husband in his distress, and we are left in the dark as to whether she had, or not, good reason for her seeming unfeeling conduct. King James granted the Manor of Gravesend and estates of the Cobhams and George Brooke to Lodowic Stewart, from whom descend the Darnleys, and whose ancestor was Robert Bruce of Scotland, and from whom descended King James the First of England. IN THE HEART OF THE CHILTERNS. BY WOLMER WHYTE. TO the few Londoners who know and love Buckinghamshire it has long been a matter for surprise that to their fellow citizens the beautiful county is practically a terra incognita. The charm of its lanes, its quaint, old-world villages, extensive woodlands and breezy commons, were they but better known, would bring it a popularity equal to that of vaunted Surrey. But such a popularity would rob Buckinghamshire of one, at least, of its charms, for the peaceful quietude which pervades the country would be rudely broken. As it is one may traverse the lanes for miles without meet- ing anyone save an occasional villager, and cycles and motor-cars are few and far between. Yet it must be admitted that the cycle is the best means of seeing the country, for thus we can cover more ground than on foot, and can go where motor car or carriage cannot follow. Perhaps the chief charm of the county lies in the variety of its scenery. It seems that every conceivable kind is 18 IN THE HEART OF THE CHILTERNS. here save a view of the sea, and when first we sight the chalky bluffs of the Chilterns by Wendover it is, indeed, hard to realize that the ocean is not surging restlessly at their base. With so many charms it is difficult to pick and choose, but perhaps a day spent in the very heart of the Chiltern Hills is as satisfying a pleasure as even Buck- inghamshire can afford. Amersham is a convenient starting point, and we pedal along the main road to Great Missenden, a typical village of the county. A few yards outside the village the road forks, and we take the narrow way on the left. All the way from Amersham the road has been undulating, but nevertheless it is plain to see that the country is ascending. Soon after turning off from the main road we see straight ahead of us a gate with two quaint lodges, one on either side. Between them and through the gate we look along a straight avenue of great breadth and more than a mile in length, and at the far end we can discern Hampden House, the seat of the Earl of Buckinghamshire. It is said that this remarkable avenue was cut by one of the Hampdens to honour the visit of Queen Elizabeth. It has long since fallen into disuse, and now a shorter drive leads up to the house. The Hampden family have owned the estate since Saxon times, and it was here that the patriot John Hampden resided. Our lane runs alongside the avenue for a little way, and on the right we see a narrow lane which, a finger-post tells us, leads to Little Hampden. It is a somewhat stiff hill, and, as we shall come down it on our way home, we are quite content to continue on our way. The road now turns sharply to the left, crosses the great avenue and plunges deep into a beech-wood. The steep rise has already caused us to dismount, and we can prop our cycles against a tree and roam through the woods at will. Everywhere around us are beech trees, with here and there a fir. Buckinghamshire is famous for its beeches, and in this wood we see as fine specimens as are to be found in the county. The great, gray trunks rise up straight as a plumb-line, and the downward and lateral sweep of their wide-spread branches gives them a majesty and grace which no other tree possesses. It is not a long hill we have to climb, and we come to the top and out of the wood at the same moment. From here it is but a short ride to the centre of Great Hampden, which we find is a wide common, thickly covered with furze, bracken and blackberry bushes. It is more beautiful than most commons, for the trees which grow upon it save it from the bareness which is characteristic of such places. A few scattered, picturesque cottages are the only sign of a village, and there is no inn in the place, although atone of the cottages, if you walk up the little garden path and knock at the door, you will be admitted and 19 IN THE HEART OF THE CHILTERNS. food and drink placed before you. A curious fact about Great Hampden is that there is not a brook or stream in the parish, but the deep wells yield a good supply of remarkably pure water. We now take the road to Prince's Risborough, and after riding through another wood we come out into open country, although we cannot see much of it owing to the high hedges on either side of the way. But the glimpse that we do obtain through the hedge on the left convinces us that we are on the very top of the Chilterns. The road forks, and we go to the left. There is a small hill on our right, and as our road curves round it a magnificent view is gradually unfolded before us. The hill ends abruptly, and the com- plete panorama is revealed with astonishing suddenness. The road as suddenly becomes a steep declivity, and prudence joins our in- clination and their combined forces compel us to dismount. We are on the very edge of the hills, the road descending from our feet right down to the Vale of Aylesbury. The view extends as far as the eye can see, the fields of pasture and corn and the fallow land giving the scene a remarkable variety of colour. From the height on which we stand the great trees in the vale below look as small and unreal as the little wooden trees which formed part of the mixed assembly that inhabited the Noah's Ark of our childhood. In the middle distance Bledlow Ridge, a spur of the Chilterns, thrusts its huge bulk halfway across the scene, and a little white wisp of steam moving slowly under its shadow marks the course of the Great Western Railway. Prince's Risborough seems to be almost at our feet, but when we descend into the Vale we find that it lies a full mile from the foot of the hills. Another discovery we make is that the Vale is by no means so flat as it seemed to be when we stood upon the heights. The road is undulating, and just before entering Prince's Risborough we descend a really considerable hill. Prince's Risborough is said to derive its name from the Black Prince, who had a palace there, and Monk's Risborough, the little village a mile further along the road, from the monks of Christ Church, Canterbury, whose property it was in the tenth century. Villages are plentiful hereabouts, and we seem scarcely to have left Monk's Risborough when we find ourselves in Great Kimble, and but a quarter of a mile further on is Little Kimble. It was at a parish meeting in Great Kimble Church that John Hampden resolutely refused to pay the ship-money impost. All the way from Prince's Risborough our road runs alongside the Chiltern Hills. Tall woods crown their heights and spread down to the Vale, bright green cornfields form a vivid contrast to the darker hues of the trees, and tracts of moorland and grassland give variety to the scene. Here and there an old chalk-pit shows white against 20 IN THE HEART OF THE CHILTERNS. the verdure, and Whiteleaf Cross stands out boldly and can be seen for miles. By Wendover the line of the hills turns in a more easterly direc- tion, so that as we ride along they seem to end a little way ahead of us. The limit of our view of them is marked by two lofty hills. Our attention is attracted to one by the monument which stands upon its summit, erected to the memory of men of the neighbour- hood who fell in South Africa. The other hill is of a curious conical shape, and is known as Beacon Hill, and also as Cymbeline's Mount. A legend tells how Cymbeline's two sons died upon this hill in battle against the Roman invaders, and, hearing the legend, the origin of the names of the two villages through which we have just passed is apparent. We take a turning to the right soon after leaving Little Kimble, and seem to be riding straight for Cymbeline's Mount. The little village of Ellesborough, which we pass, lies at the very foot of the Chilterns, and the ancient British road known as the Acknel Way- runs through here — one of the oldest roads in England, for it was used by the Britons many years before the Romans first set foot in the land. After Ellesborough our road begins to ascend. It is flanked by high banks, and, judging by the thickness of the trees which surmount them, it is evident that we are passing through a wood. It needs a steady trudge to get up this hill, but it must be done if we wish to be in the Chilterns again, and our labour will be well rewarded. A break in the wood lets a flood of sunlight into the lane, and at the same moment our nostrils become aware of a pleasant fragrance. On our right is a hedge, and on our left a steep bank. It is from the left that the fragrance comes, for the sides and summit of the bank are a gray-green mass of wild thyme. The trudge up the hill has made us thirsty, and it is the hour for tea ; the wild thyme tempts us, and we search for a way up the bank. At the far end is a gentle slope, and we wheel our bicycles up and, reaching the summit, prop them against a bush. It is the work of a moment to unpack the panniers, and we soon have the little spirit-stove placed snugly in the yawning mouth of a rabbit-bury. The breeze cannot reach it there, and we need not fear that Brer Rabbit will screw up enough courage to knock over the fearsome thing that bars the entrance to his home. While the kettle is boil- ing we can explore our camping ground. It is roughly triangular in shape, and there is not a square foot of it but yields its crop of thyme. The wood forms one of its sides, a hedge another, and the third is the little precipice with the lane at its base. The kettle is boiling by the time we have completed our survey, and we spread our table-cloth in the shade of a bush, make the tea, and sit 21 IN THE HEART OF THE CHILTERNS. down in the fragrant thyme with our backs to the wood, so that, while we are refreshing the inner man, our eyes may feast upon the beautiful view over the hedge and the road. We are undoubt- edly in the heart of the Chilterns again. Just below us are the tops of the trees through which our road has passed, and beyond them the rolling hills are spread with the cloud shadows racing over them. It is a beautiful scene and we are loth to leave it, but the sun is low and there is more to be seen. We finish our tea, repack the panniers, and the space left vacant by the consumed eatables we fill with a bunch of thyme : for some days its scent will serve to re- mind us of our day in the Chilterns. Descending into the road again, refreshed and vigorous, we step out briskly up the hill. The banks on either side must be quite twenty feet high, and the trees grow to the very edge, their branches forming a green arch above us and their roots curling out of the banks in a confused tangle. We reach the top and are glad to mount our machines again, but, to our surprise, the road leads straight on to a common, and then ceases to exist. We find ourselves riding over short thick grass, worthy of a tennis lawn. We ride along on the turf, until the ground descends sharply and some deep cart-ruts make riding dangerous, but we do not have to wheel our machines far, for ere long the road begins again in the same irrespon- sible fashion in which it ceased. There is a little inn and one or two cottages in a cluster here, and a little further down the road are two or three more cottages and a church. This is Little Hampden. The church is a quaint little building that seems scarcely forty feet in length, and it is constructed chiefly of flints and mortar, building material that is characteristic of Buckinghamshire. Little Hampden is beautifully situated. Although itself by no means low-lying, it is surrounded by thickly wooded hills which shelter it from the winds, and render it an exceptionally salubrious spot. The road leading out of the village is down hill, and when we turn out into the lane at the bottom we find ourselves at the entrance to the eeat avenue of Hampden House, but a few minutes ride from reat Missenden, and not much more from Amersham, for it is mostly easy riding, and we cover the ground quickly. It is dusk when we reach Amersham, pleasantly tired and well satisfied, but with a firm resolve that ere the summer is gone we will spend yet another day in the heart of the Chilterns. 22 SHEPWAY CROSS. BY A. DENTON CHENEY, F. R. HIST. S. " T" YMME HILL,orLyme,wassumtyme afamose haven, and good for shyppes that might come to the foot of the hille. * ^ The place is cawled Shipway or Old Haven. Farther, at thys daie the lord of the V ports kepeth his principal court a lytil by est from Lymme hill." Thus wrote Camden in his "Britannica" of a spot now remote from the world's busy affairs, leaving no trace nor sign of any special interest or antiquity, situated on a bye-road, in the vicinity of an unimportant village, yet replete with historical associations of so varied a character, and so momentous importance, that it is surpassed by none and equalled by few places in the whole realm of England. In the days of the old Roman occupation Shepway stood upon the great Roman highway running from London, through Rochester and Canterbury, to the Portus Lemanus, the principal port in Southern Britain.1 In the Itinerary of Antoninus (the fourth route) the distances are detailed thus: from London to Rochester 27 miles, thence to Canterbury 25 miles, thence to Lymme 16 miles. This latter portion of the road is excellently well defined through- out the greater part of its course, and is known as the Stone Street, from its having been paved with that material. It runs in a direct line from Canterbury, but at the foot of the hill from whose summit it points towards Lympne, it breaks suddenly off; its course, how- ever, may be traced almost up to the site of the ancient port (see "Antiquities of Richborough, Reculver and Lym," by C. Roach Smith, published in i85o).2 There can be little doubt but that the Stone Street road at this end is incorrectly marked in the Ordnance Survey and County maps. Some years ago a local antiquary, Mr. Thurston, pointed out that 1 Somner, in his " Roman Ports and Forts," argues at some length that this port stood at New Romney, but this rather far-fetched hypothesis has been universally discredited. He also derives " Studfall " from stud fold, a place for breeding horses or cattle, instead of the generally received interpretation of " a fallen place." 2 Messrs. Forbes and Burmester, in their recent work upon " Our Roman Highways," mention the road from Lympne to Canterbury as one of the earliest, if not the earliest, Roman road in England. " The three roads," they tell us, " running from Lympne, Dover, and Richborough on the Kentish coast to a junction at Canterbury, appear to have been undoubtedly the three first con- structed by the Romans in Britain." (P. 261.) 23 SHEPWAY CROSS. " The Stone Street Road leads direct from the castle at Canter- " bury to the parish of Lymne, but on reaching New Inn Green, " near Westenhanger, it appears to diverge to the west to Stud- " fall Castle. It is remarkable that if the straight line were con- " tinued from New Inn Green it would point to the Shepway " Cross, and continue down the present roadway which descends " the hill to West Hythe. Now this is the only place along the " hill where a roadway could possibly descend it in a straight line, "and I believe was naturally selected as the road to the ships in " port, and therefore called the Shipway. There is one remark- " able peculiarity in the Stone Street Road (he adds), namely, " that it forms a boundary to almost every parish along its course, 44 thus evincing its existence before these parishes were distin- " guished from each other." It is a well-known fact that public footpaths frequently perpetuate ancient British and Roman roads, and a reference to the Ordnance Map will show an existing right-of-way exactly following the pre- sumed line of the old Stone Street from New Inn Green to Shepway Cross. A corroborative piece of testimony is found in the fact that the principal entrance to Studfall Castle, the official and business centre of the old Roman City,1 lie east and west, which would correspond with the line of road above mentioned; the western gate doubtless was the entrance and exit to the city from Chichester and Pevensey (Anderida), mentioned in the I5th Iter. of Richard of Cirencester ; which road, and not the Stone Street, by the way, gave the name to the hamlet of Court-at-Street, about two miles to the west of Lympne. There has been some difference of opinion regarding the origin of the name Shepway ; one or two writers have derived it from the vast numbers of sheep which from time immemorial have fed upon the Romney Marshes, and which they contend were probably driven along this route to and from the villages and pastures on the higher country round. Somner somewhat fancifully suggests that the hill afforded a fine prospect of the way of the ships passing through the Channel, and quotes Talbot and Lambard as of the same opinion ; but as we know that the old Roman port lay at the foot of this hill (the site of its quays has been traced and placed beyond doubt), there can be little question but that it derived its name from its use, viz., the road or way to and from the ships in port. But the peculiar point of interest attaching to Shepway Cross is not that it stood upon the busy highway of Roman commerce, 1 "The fortified praetorium, standing in the centre of the city, towards the four cardinal points of the compass." (" Our Roman Highways/') 24 a"' Site of Shepway Cross. SHEPWAY CROSS. traversed by soldiers and sailors, by traders and merchants, by nobles and peasants, journeying to and from Duvernum and the more distant Londinium ; its special feature of attraction to every English- man lies in the fact of its intimate and important connection with that most remarkable organization, the Confederation of the Cinque Ports, which, in the words of Professor Montagu Burrows, " Has enjoyed the singular felicity of having taken, on the one "hand, a leading part in establishing the Constitutional liberties " of England, and on the other of having supplied the chief u weapons used by its kings in the consolidation of its territory, " and the restoration of its sovereignty in the Norman Seas. It "may also be fairly called the parent and exemplar of the Royal "Navy itself." ("History of the Cinque Ports," p. 3.) The exact locality of Shepway Cross has been regarded by the historians of the Cinque Ports as a matter of conjecture rather than of knowledge. Professor Burrows tells us that it is unknown, except that it "was about half a mile eastwards of Lympne" (p. 146); whilst Mr. HuefFer, in his recent work upon the same subject, hazards the suggestion that an ancient half-timbered building at Pedlinge, nearly facing the road down Hythe Hill, may have had some connection therewith, oblivious of the fact that the Court of Shepway, like all Teutonic assemblies, was held in the open air; that until the new road to Hythe was made in the early part of last century this building (which differs in no special degree from scores of other half-timbered houses in East Kent) stood in a narrow lane (which was, however, the old main road), and more particularly that the spot he has selected lies two miles distant from Lympne, and therefore far to the east of the place indicated by Camden and others. Having regard to the facts before mentioned as to the origin of its name, viz., the way to the ships of the Roman port, and the distance from Lympne, there seems no reason to doubt the accuracy of the Ordnance Survey which places it at the cross roads, where the way from Hythe along the line of the Quarry hills is crossed by the old Stone Street, which, as we have already seen, anciently ran across the spot now occupied by Beacon Cottages.1 (Berwick Lane, hard by, is a comparatively modern road, not marked on the map of Kent of 1768.) 1 Doubtless here stood a wayside cross, or crucifix, erected by the monks of Christ Church, Canterbury, who were large landowners in this district, and to whose munificence and pastoral care so many of the churches in and near the marsh owe their foundation. Before this emblem of Christian Faith the Lord Warden would repeat the solemn oath. The iconoclastic zeal of the Reformers of the sixteenth century, or of the Puritans of the seventeenth century, destroyed these evidences of the piety of our forefathers. 25 SHEPWAY CROSS. A reference to Shepway Cross would necessarily be imperfect without a few remarks upon the Confederation of the Cinque Ports, and more especially that unique institution, the Court of Shepway, which was at once its Parliament and its Court of Justice. The origin of this Confederation is lost in the mists of antiquity. Cam- den regards its head, the Lord Warden, as the successor of the Limenarcha, the officer charged, in the time of the Romans, with the duty of coast defence, and it is quite probable that that office formed the germ from which the larger institution was developed. The first Lord Warden recorded by Somner was Godwin, Earl of Kent, in the time of Edward the Confessor; Ireland, in his " His- tory of Kent," gives a list of all the Wardens, which also com- mences with Earl Godwin ; some other writers, however, doubt whether the office can be historically traced anterior to the Planta- genets; the truth probably being that there was a Warden, or head, from the earliest times of the Cinque Ports Confederation; but that his office was magnified, and his power amplified in the time of Edward I, into the position of the King's representative, presiding over the deliberations and sentences of the Court of Shepway, from whose decisions there existed no right of appeal. That this, and the two minor courts of Brodhull and Guestling, were of Teutonic origin, is proved by their leading features, viz., (i) meeting in the open air; (2) the method of trial by pledge and gage; and (3) the forty days' preliminary notice. The first association of the Cinque Ports was apparently an organization formed amongst the shipping and fishing interests of the English Channel ports for the regulation and management of affairs intimately connected with their special trade, for mutual assistance and protection against the incursions of foreign fishermen and traders, for the suppression of the malpractices of unscrupulous members of the community, and the punishment of the offenders, and for organized resistance against the exactions of the kings and nobles, who were ever ready to take toll of the fruits of the labours of the commonalty. And with such marked success that it gradually won its way to the unprecedented position of a body of subjects possessing a local parliament, a local court of justice, and a local navy, chartered with unrivalled privileges, awarded a special dignity above all others at coronations, and favoured with exemption from numerous taxes levied by Parliament, and from tolls and other charges which seriously curtailed the profits of other traders. For example, free- dom from the control of counties and hundreds, freedom through- out the whole kingdom from tolls at market fairs or at wharves; freedom from the tenths, fifteenths, and other taxes levied by Parliament. 26 SHEPWAY CROSS. By the time that the history of the Cinque Ports becomes a matter of certainty from the existence of records and charters l we find its organization managed by three courts, viz. : — Shepway, Brodhull, and Guestling, under one chief officer, the Lord War- den. Broadly speaking, the Court of Brodhull (or Brotherhood) settled internal disputes between port and port ; whilst the Court of Guestling regulated matters of supply and finance, and the respective contributions of each port towards the expenses of the year. The principal court, however, was that of Shepway, " it was the central law court of the whole body " (Burrows), presided over by the Lord Warden as the King's representative, dealing with all the larger questions of home and foreign policy. Here only could the men of the ports be impleaded, for during the Barons' war they obtained the great desire of their hearts, freedom from summonses before the Justices, a privilege which was subsequently confirmed by Edward I in a charter still preserved at Hythe.2 Later on it became a court of appeal upon five points, viz.: — High treason, falsifying money, failure of shipservice, false judgement, and treasure trove. The administration of justice was rough and ready. Any man indicted for treason or disturbing the King's peace, or debasing coin, if convicted, was immediately drawn round about the place of Shepway " and there hanged in the same place until he be dead ". Any man robbing or stealing ship, rope, boat, net, etc., to the value of 2od. also incurred sentence of death in the same manner ; whilst any jurat disclosing the King's counsel, his fellows and his own, was sentenced to the terrible punishment of being bound hand and foot to a stake on the seashore where it ebbs and flows, his throat cut and his tongue drawn through the hole out of his head. Minor punishments were awarded for minor offences. (From an account of the ancient Court of Shepway derived from Sir Basil Dixwell, Lieutenant of Dover Castle, pub- lished in 1719 in the "History of Kent" by Dr. Harris). The power of awarding capital punishment was also a privilege of the 1 Henry II conferred frequent charters upon the Cinque Ports, none of which have come down to us. The charters of John of 6 and 7 June, 1205, fill an important place in the history of the Court of Shepway. But from the terms of the earliest extant charter it is evident that It is a confirmation of previous and still earlier charters. 2 " Prince Edward, son of King Henry III, here (at Shepway Cross) exacted of the barons of the Cinque Ports their oths of fidelity to his father." (Lam- ard's " Perambulation of Kent "). They, however, joined in the revolt of Simon de Montfort against the king, and were amongst those against whom Pope Urban IV issued an Interdict, the consequences of which they evaded by board- ing the ship in which the papal messengers were travelling, seizing the bulls against themselves and the other members of the constitutional party, and de- stroying them, thus effectually preventing their publication. 27 SHEPWAY CROSS. individual ports : condemned criminals at Dover were thrown over Sharpness Cliff; at Sandwich were buried alive in the thiePs down ; at Hastings and Fordwich were drowned at places specially selected for that purpose.1 Very quaint and very impressive must have been the great gatherings of the barons, jurats,2 and selected freemen at Shepway Cross. One of the most important of these occasions must have been the " swearing in " of each new Lord Warden, who, before acting in any official capacity, was bound to take a solemn oath at Shepway Cross to properly fulfil the duties of his office, and to maintain the liberties of the freemen. Numerous entries are to be found in the records of the different Cinque Ports, certifying the appointment of the mayor and a specified number of jurats "to go to Shipway to do such service as to them pertains by the ancient usages and customs of the Cinque Ports at the solemnizing of the Cerement or Promise of the Lord Warden at his " first entry into the said office." (Report Hist. MSS., Comn. on Rye MSS.). Long after the time when the Court of Shepway had been removed to Dover for the transaction of all matters of business, Shepway Cross remained the place of the installation of the Warden ; the first departure from the ancient custom occurred in 1597, when Lord Cobham took the oath at Bekesbourn. At the time of the Restoration the ceremony was held at the Dover Bredenstone (destroyed some years ago by the erection of new fortifications), where it was located for about a century; but after 1765 it fell altogether into disuetude until it was revived in 1861 by Lord Palmerston at the request of the Portsmen. The Lord Warden having been duly sworn in, the next im- portant events which took place at Shepway Cross were the meetings of the ancient Court. Prior to each assembly, which in ancient times was held annually, forty days' notice was sent to each of the Cinque Ports, requiring the attendance of the Mayor and a specified number of Jurats or freemen of his town. For example, a summons was issued on I3th July in the eighteenth year of Richard II (A.D. 1395) by John de Beaumont, Constable of Dover Castle, to 1 The Fordwich Corporation Accounts include a charter from Henry II, the thirtieth clause of which defines what felonies may be dealt with in the Hundred Court, and what must be sent to the Court of Shepway. This clause shows that the Fordwich Court might lawfully inflict punishment, and that the sent- ence was, as in the other Cinque Ports, carried out by drowning — the prose- cutor being the executioner (See 5, Report Hist. MSS. Comn., p. 607)5 at Dover and at Romney the accuser was also the executioner. 2 The "barons" were the freemen of the ports, the "jurats " were governing burgesses, but Mr. Burrows tells us that the jurats sent to the court by each port are to be taken as sworn freemen, not necessarily jurats on the bench. 28 SHEPWAY CROSS. the mayor and bailiffs (it would probably be more correct to say the mayor or bailiff) of Rye, requiring them to enjoin twelve of their combarons, jurats as well as others, to be before him at a Court of Schipweye to be holden " at the usual place " on the Feast of St. Bartholomew the Apostle then next ensuing: the mayor or bailiff are also to be present (fifth Report Hist. MSS. Comn.).1 Upon receipt of these notices the mayor and bailiffs of each of the Cinque Ports summoned a meeting of the jurats to choose the re- quired number of good men and true to represent them at the Court. The number varied, sometimes twelve men and sometimes six, nor was it requisite that all the representatives chosen should be jurats (see Leake's "Charters," p. 72) from which it is evident that the composition of this important assemblage was designed upon a truly democratic and popular basis. The Court having assembled at Shepway Cross upon the day duly appointed, its members were arranged in due order of precedence, which is given by Dr. Harris (History of Kent, vol. i, p. 185) as follows, viz: — On the right of the Lord Warden the Mayor of Sandwich, on his left the Mayor of Dover, the third place on the right the Mayor of Hastings, the fourth places right and left belonged respectively to Romney and Hythe, the fifth to Winchelsea and Rye, the sixth to Faversham, Folkestone, or Fordwich, the seventh to Lydd, Pevensey or Seaford, the last to Tenterden. (This order of precedence must be received with considerable reserve, for in all matters Hastings was undoubtedly the Premier Port, always named first in charters, and its repre- sentatives always taking first place at Coronations ; but Dr. Harris gives as his authority the account of Sir Basil Dixwell already mentioned). It is probable that the Court of Brodhull is referred to, for the above order of precedence substantially agrees with that named by Leake (as observed in the Court of Brodhull) on an occasion when the Mayor of Hastings was the Speaker. From the fact that the Warden is represented as " sitting " in the middle 1 So also a Summons to the Court of Shepway dated 24 Ed. Ill quoted in Leake's " Charters of the Cinque Ports." The Sandwich Corpn. Records contain memos. relating to meetings of the Court held from the twenty-sixth year of Henry VI onwards (5 Report of Hist. MSS. p. 569). In the library of St. Catherine's College, Cambridge, is a small volume, mainly a register of the Corpn. of New Romney in the reigns of Ed. Ill and Richd. II. Fol. loth, Appt. of a new Warden and his oath. An inquisition to be made at the Court of Schepweie, the Warden to be there in person, and with him the Mayor and Bailiffs of the various Cinque Ports. Fol. 25 contains a summons (in Latin) by Sir Bartholomew de Burghersche, Warden of the Cinque Ports, to the Barons of Romney to send six of their most approved Barons to appear before him at Schipwaye, dated zand year of Ed. Ill (5 Report). 29 SHEPWAY CROSS. it would appear that some accommodation was found although the meetings were held in the open air.1 It may, perhaps, be asked, why was Shepway Cross chosen as the place of meeting? Why did not the Court sit at one of the Cinque Ports ? or at each in turn ? There were many considerations that doubtless led to the selection of this spot. In the first place, in Roman days Lympne was an important place, probably the official residence of the Limenarcha, the Roman guardian of the adjacent coast, who, as we have seen, there is reason to believe was the forerunner of the Saxon Warden. Hence, Shepway Cross, the most important highway of the Roman port, may have possessed the prestige of ancient use and custom. Then there is its topo- graphical position, almost exactly equidistant from the farthest Cinque Port on either side. The original five ports were Hastings, Sandwich, Dover, Romney and Hythe, and a glance at the map of Kent will show that Shepway Cross is a central point for them all. From westwards came the men of Hastings, from eastwards the men of Sandwich and Dover, across the marsh came the men of Romney, whilst those from Hythe had but to ascend the hill. And even when it became necessary to enlarge the area of the Cinque Ports' jurisdiction and privileges by adding other towns as " limbs " to the original five, the central position of Shepway Cross still remained. The mutual jealousies of the men of different ports would make it far more politic to choose a place of meeting in the open country than in one of the towns ; and doubtless it was the cumulative force of all these considerations that led to the selection of Shepway Cross, not only for the public installation of their chief officer, but also for the assemblage of their principal court. As time went on, however, the process of decay gradually eat away the privilege of the Portsmen and led to the fall of their ancient power. At times local feeling ran high, and the Wardens found it difficult to hold the members in check; the old democratic self-government was always distasteful to the ruling powers, and causes began to be remitted to Dover, argued by lawyers and decided by the Wardens as judges, in place of the ruder and more elementary form of procedure which in more civilized times was felt to be out of place; thus the functions and powers of the Court of Shepway fell into abeyance and then into disuetude, until in the 1 " There is no reason to doubt the impartiality of the Court, but it seems to have been customary, at any rate on occasions, to send complimentary presents to the Lord Warden. The fifth report of the Hist. MSS. Comn. gives an entry from the accounts of Lydd, under date 14-15 Richard II (1391-2) recording the expenditure of 3 1 s. 8*/. " Paid for all costs incurred upon 24 capons, 24 geese, 24 pullets, sent to the Constable of Dover on holding the Schipwey." 30 SHEPWAY CROSS. seventeenth century, in the troublous times of Civil and Religious War, it ceased to meet; and although in name it has been revived and still exists, its modern phase bears but little resemblance to its ancient form, and is but the ghost of the important assemblage whose memory it perpetuates. It is outside of the scope of this paper to present any account of the other Courts of the Cinque Ports, but it may be added that when the authority of the Court of Shepway as the free assembly of the men of the Ports became so seriously curtailed, the importance of the minor Court of Brodhill or Brodhull increased (as in this Court the Lord Warden had no seat) and in matters of popular concern took the place no longer filled by the Court of Shepway. The meetings of the Brodhull were held on or near Dymchurch beach (within sight of Shepway Cross), but later on they were removed from thence to Romney.1 The powerful reasons which exacted from our early monarchs the charters whereby so large a measure of self-government and so many valuable privileges and exemptions were granted to the men of the Cinque Ports, will not be understood without some reference to the services which they rendered in return. As Professor Burrows truly remarks, we have here the " parent and exemplar of the Royal Navy itself." This is literally correct. During the reign of the early Norman Kings down through the thirteenth and great part of the fourteenth centuries the ships pro- vided by the Cinque Ports formed the sole marine defence of the Kingdom (Professor Burrows tells us that they were very generally spoken of as the Royal Navy of England for considerably more than a century) ; the Ports were the nearest to the foreign foe; they were the most open to foreign aggression ; in the time of Julius Caesar and in the time of William the Conqueror it was on these shores that the invading hosts had landed; and the perpetual imminence of attack had made the men of the Ports the most capable of resist- ing foreign aggression.2 " The courage of those sailors who manned the rude barks of the Cinque Ports first made the flag of England terrible on the seas" (Burrows). In the words of a popular song, they had the men, they had the ships, and they had the money too. 1 The Brodhull consisted of the Mayor (formerly the Bailiff), of each of the seven Ports, three elected jurats, and three elected commoners — forty-nine in all. The Speaker was the chief officer of each Port in rotation. (Burrows.) 2 It may be asked, where was the Cinque Ports Fleet when William the Norman made his descent upon the Hastings shore ? The answer is simple. It had gone North to assist Harold against the invasion of the Northmen, and was returning in triumph when news came of the Conqueror's landing and success. Nevertheless Romney incurred the special vengeance of William, after his victory, tor the slaughter of his men, which proves the exceptionally effective nature of their resistance to his landing. 31 SHEPWAY CROSS. They entered therefore into a compact with the Kings of England that in return for the privileges for which they asked, they would provide a fixed number of vessels and seamen at their own cost, which should be at the service of the state for fifteen days in each year, free of charge; and for a longer period if required, at a charge to the royal exchequer of 6d. per day for the master and boatswain, to give them their modern names (they were called " rector " and " constable " in those days), and -$d. per day for each seaman. For example, in 1229, this contribution was fixed at twenty-one ships from Hastings (of which her prosperous " limbs " of Winchelsea and Rye found ten and five ships respectively), and five ships from Romney, five from Hythe, twenty-one from Dover (including her adjuncts), and five from Sandwich.1 Each ship was manned by twenty-one men and a boy; so that, including the officers, we have a grand total of fifty-seven ships, 1,311 men, and fifty-seven boys, which in those days formed a Channel Fleet of formidable dimen- sions. They were armed with cross-bows, long bows, swords, axes and spears. The respective contributions of each Port in ships and men varied from time to time, and were settled in their own meet- ings of Brotherhood. The record of their services over a period of some five centuries is a long one, from which a few examples may be given. In 1147 they formed an important portion of the force at the Siege of Lisbon; in 121 7, under their Warden and Admiral, Hubert de Burgh, they defeated a French fleet of eighty ships, and revenged the invasion by the French in the spring of 1216, when they reduced Hastings and Rye, and burnt Sandwich; in 1294 they again fought their ancient foe, with such success that the naval power of France was crippled for many years. In 1282 they rendered valuable assistance to Edward I. in the subjugation of Wales. In 1339 they took part in the great naval victory of Sluis. In 1407 they attacked and captured 120 French ships richly laden; and in the reign of Elizabeth, the Cinque Portsmen, under Lord Henry Seymour, took part in the action off Gravelines which drove the Spanish Armada into the North Seas.2 Henceforward the estab- 1 In A.D. 1300 we find thirty ships requisitioned by Ed. I. Of these Dover supplied eight; Winchelsea, five; Hythe, four; Sandwich and Rye three each; Hastings and Romney two each; Pevensey, Folkestone and Faversham one each. This was the first Cinque Ports' fleet commanded by an Admiral (Gervase Alard, one of their own men, whose monument stands in Winchelsea Church). He drew zs. per day, the Captains \s. and the boatswain 6d. A chaplain was appointed " to confess the sailors of the fleet." 2 In 1626 the Ports made their last contribution on the demand of Charles First, supplying two ships for the threatened Spanish War. In 1 64.2, in reply to a demand for men, they pleaded the charter of Edward the Fourth. (Burrows.) 32 SHEPWAY CROSS. lishment and growth of the Royal Navy, which had commenced under Edward III., made the task of home defence a national affair, but many a sturdy sailor of His Majesty's fleet hails from the ancient ports of Kent and Sussex. On certain occasions it seems that the portsmen were liable to be called out for home service at the cost of the ports. For example, in A.D. 1450 certain jurats and commoners of Lydd were sent to Dover to keep the castle at the " prayer of the Lieutenant there." The Lydd Corporation accounts show the expenditure of 2s. 6d. for their " baytyng" (/.*., refreshment). On their way home they spent ^.d. in drink at Romney, and finished up the day by a carousal at the house of one John Saulys, which cost an additional 8^. Such are the associations of Shepway Cross. How many of those who pass this quiet spot, lying in its loneliness far from the busy haunts of men, remember the stirring scenes which here have been enacted ? First of the strenuous life of a Roman port and a Roman fortress, when in coach and in litter the patrician passed by attended by his crowd of slaves and attendants, when soldiers and mariners and merchantmen from almost every European nation trod its highways ; then, in later centuries, of the solemn installation of the wardens of its great maritime corporation, the list of whose names includes many of the most powerful and most renowned of the princes and nobles of their age; then of the assemblages of the stalwart sea warriors of the Cinque Ports, their deliberations of policy, their administration of justice, sometimes of the gruesome execution of their stern laws. All these, the incidents of the rough, manly, and, in the main, honest mediaeval life has Shepway Cross seen during the long centuries of its history. " Should not some pains," wrote Professor Burrows, " be taken to replace the venerable cross of Shepway? Why should the means of identifying a spot which to some people is only less interesting than Runneymede itself, have been allowed to disappear ? " And we as archaeologists shall, I think, heartily endorse and re-echo the sentiment and the suggestion. We live in utilitarian times, but is it not desirable, even on the score of expediency, to keep before our minds and of those who shall follow us, the records of the noble deeds of our forefathers; how they defended Old England from her foreign foes ; and how they won the freedom and liberty which has placed the name or our country in the forefront of those who love and cherish national independence. VOL. vin. 33 RAMBLES IN THE HOME COUNTIES. APPENDIX. Among the parish papers of Lympne is a curious entry by the Rev. Henry Bagnell, who held the living during the middle of the eighteenth century. He wrote : " In digging for materials to mend the highways, on the left hand by the Beacon going down Limne Hill along the cliff, there was discovered the foundations of some very strong walls, of a castle or some other fortification, but no remains of any building above ground have been found, and as far as I can be informed there has been no talk of any such building in any man's memory till this was dis- covered by labourers digging with mattocks about the year 1738. I was surprised to see such walls, when there had been no kind of talk about them." I do not know that this has any connection with Shepway Cross, but as it closely adjoined the spot I think it worthy of record. The Beacon was one of a chain of these bonfire signals set round the coast, and regularly guarded by the men of each district in proper turn and at the expense of the Common Fund. Beacon Cottage at Shepway Cross perpetuates the name : the fields on each side of the road at this spot bear the same name, viz., Beaconfield : it is possible, therefore, that in early times they formed one large open space, upon which the meetings of the Court of Shepway were held. RAMBLES IN THE HOME COUNTIES, NO. XVIII. Roydon to Waltham Holy Cross, Essex. Roydon Station (Gt. Eastern Rly.) to Nether Hall Farm (li miles), Nazingbury (i-J miles), "Coach and Horses" Inn (i-J miles). New Inn, Waltham (l\ miles), Waltham Station (i-i- miles), about 8 miles in all. Map : Ordnance Survey (one-inch scale), sheet 240. THIS ramble takes us through some charming Essex scenery close to the Hertfordshire border. The route is anything but dull, especially in summer time ; the road runs through green pastures and fields, over wooded hills, from which the traveller gains delightful views, passing here and there many pic- turesque old Essex cottages, until it brings us to the ancient town of Waltham Holy Cross, with its venerable and historic Abbey Church. On alighting at Roydon Station, cross the railway and follow the road through the village, passing the parish church on the right, prettily situated in the churchyard. It is a picturesque building, 34 RAMBLES IN THE HOME COUNTIES. but does not contain much of interest, except some brasses to the Colte family, who formerly flourished at Nether Hall, the ruins of which we shall inspect on our way. The most noteworthy brass is that to Thomas Colte and his wife, Joan Trusbutt. This worthy was one of Edward IV's Privy Council, and his epitaph describes him as " prudens, discretus, fortis, tam consiliis quam armis, vix talem quis reperire potest." His effigy is clad in the elaborate but awkward armour worn during the Wars of the Roses, and his wife wears a close furred gown, with the " butterfly " headdress of that period. The date of the brass is 22 August, 1471, but it is expressed in such very roundabout Latin that it requires some puzzling out on the part of the reader. Just beyond the church, on the right-hand side, will be found the old village stocks and whipping-post. The village is fairly picturesque and of some length, with a good number of inns for so small a place. Turn to the right at the top, and when a new entrance lodge is reached (some way ahead on the left) keep to the right again. Having descended a steep and rather rough hill with a C.T.C. danger notice, we find ourselves in a wooded valley, Roy don being hidden from sight by the rising ground. The re- mains of Nether Hall gatehouse, with two tall chimney-stacks, are visible through the trees on the left, and to reach them we must take the first turning in that direction. Passing a wood which hides the farm from the road, we come upon a stretch of ancient red brick wall, at the end of which a gate gives access to the farm- yard. As we turn in through the gate, the picturesque old farm- house is directly in front, with the ruined gatehouse on the right, behind which the mansion of Nether Hall formerly stood before its demolition in 1773. The gatehouse is a splendid specimen of brick architecture, built about 1470, and of admirable workman- ship. Only its strength and solidity saved it from the fate of the mansion, but it is sadly ruined, and one of the semi-hexagonal towers flanking the archway has almost completely gone. Per- mission to examine the ruin is readily granted by the tenant for the trifling sum of threepence. The visitor should ascend the staircase in the remaining tower, from the top of which an excel- lent view can be obtained. The old brick handrail is fairly perfect, and the ingenious way in which the circular staircase is carried on arches, all in brick, is worthy of special notice. The top of the tower is very much broken away, but there is no danger if ordinary care is used. The moat surrounding the demolished mansion is still full of water; and on a fine summer's day the contrast of the inky-black water with the bright green foliage and the charming mellowed 35 RAMBLES IN THE HOME COUNTIES. tints of the old red brick walls, is a sight to be remembered. The fine rooms over the entrance have long been completely gutted, and nothing remains of their internal decorations except a large oaken boss in one corner, carved with the rose-en-soletl badge of Edward IV. An interesting article on the history of Nether Hall, with a photograph of the gatehouse, will be found on page 216 in the first volume of this magazine. Leaving this grand old relic of Essex architecture, our route goes on past the farm and bears round to the right. Some way further on the road makes a wide curve to the left, and then, turning again to the right, continues fairly straight until the four cross roads at Nazingbury are reached, where there are a few picturesque houses. Keep straight ahead, leaving Nazing church to the left, and bear round to the right past an old-fashioned house, the lawn of which is separated from the highway by a sunk fence only, a rather public arrangement for the inmates. The road now passes through some delightfully wooded scenery, and at the foot of a long descent we come to the " Coach and Horses " inn, which forms a convenient stopping-place for tea or other refreshment before we traverse the remaining two miles to Waltham. About a mile further on a fine view of the famous abbey is seen from the road, with the newly- repaired parapet and turrets of its tower gleaming white against a background of foliage, and the chimneys and plantations of the Royal Gunpowder Factory showing on the right. The road takes us past a fine length of old red brick wall with a charming variety of colouring, and some huge buttresses, and when the New Inn is reached, we turn round to the right up the main street of Waltham. The market-place is most picturesque, and the long irregular tiled roofs of the old " Welsh Harp " inn are very noticeable features in the surroundings. Through an entrance in this old building we ap- proach the churchyard and the venerable walls of the ancient Abbey. The charge for admission is very moderate, not more than sixpence, and the visitor will be amply repaid for the expenditure of so small a sum. The chief object of interest, apart from the building itself, is a small piece of carving from the tomb of King Harold the Saxon, which stood in the choir, and was destroyed at the Dissolution in 1540. It lies on an altar-tomb near the organ. This is not the place for a description of King Harold's famous foundation, nor for tracing its history down from Saxon times until its mutilation under Henry VIII. The visitor will find all that he wants to know in an excellent little publication written by the Rev. J. H. Stamp, entitled, " A Concise History of Waltham Holy Cross." It may, however, be remarked in passing, that the existing 36 RAMBLES IN THE HOME COUNTIES. nave of the Abbey Church is the only surviving example of Norman architecture erected in England before the Conquest. On this account, and as the pious monument of the last of the Saxon kings, Waltham Abbey possesses a unique interest for every Englishman. The west tower, lately under repair, was erected by the parishioners in 1558 out of the fragments of the choir and central tower which collapsed in 1552. Repairs were effected in 1798 — 1810, but it has now been found necessary to rebuild the top stage with new stone. A little way past the west end of the Abbey, on the right of the main street, is a most picturesque space known as " Romeland," surrounded by quaint old houses, and quite one of the sights of the town. Its name is supposed to be derived from the fact that the rents of its houses were devoted to the payment of " Peter's pence." We have now left the wooded country and come down into the valley of the Lea, which skirts Waltham and is several times crossed by the main road. It is believed that the Lea still flows in the channels cut by King Alfred in 895, when he drained the water away from the Danish ships then lying in the river, and thereby seriously crippled the power of the invaders. Following the road for about a quarter of an hour, the visitor arrives at the railway station on his left ; but before returning to town, he should not omit to see the beautiful Eleanor Cross at the little village of Waltham Cross, five minutes further on. It stands at the junction of the station road with the village street, and is surrounded by an iron railing. The lower portion, hexagonal on plan, is the original stonework, though much decayed by the weather of six hundred years. Each face contains two foliated and crocketed panels in which hang two carved shields displaying the arms of England, Castile and Leon, and Ponthieu, some of the most ancient heraldic carvings in the kingdom. The upper portion still retains the beautiful statues of the Queen, but was rebuilt by public subscrip- tion in 1885. There were originally twelve of these splendid memorials, erected, as is well known, to mark the resting places of Queen Eleanor's corpse as it was conveyed from Harby in Lincoln- shire to Westminster Abbey. Lincoln, Grantham, Stamford, Geddington, Hardingstone near Northampton, Stony Stratford, Woburn, Dunstable, St. Albans, Waltham, Cheapside, and Charing Cross, were the favoured spots, but nine crosses have completely disappeared, and only Geddington, Northampton and Waltham have been fortunate enough to retain theirs, that now at Charing Cross being entirely modern. This one at Waltham is the finest of the three survivors, and was built soon after the Queen's death in 1290, a charming monument of her virtue and Edward I.'s affec- 37 DICKENS IN SOUTHWARK. tion. The royal pair were most devoted to one another, and passed thirty-six years in wedlock. Of Queen Eleanor, the chronicler Holinshed has this record: " She was a godlie and modest princesse, full of pitie, and one that showed much favour to the English nation, readie to releeve everie man's griefe that susteined wrong, and to make them friends that were at discord, so farre as in hir laie." A prominent feature of the village street, near the Cross, is the quaint sign of the Four Swans Inn, which stretches right across the street, with figures of the swans and the date 1260 on the cross- beam. It was at this hostelry, as tradition informs us, that the Queen's body rested, before lying in state at Waltham Abbey on its way to Westminster. DICKENS IN SOUTHWARK BY THE EDITOR. THE Borough of Southwark, although so near to the centre of London, is, perhaps, as little known to many Londoners as any part of the metropolis, probably on account of the fact that there are not many show places within its confines. The works of Charles Dickens take us to this side of the Thames, especially "Pickwick" and "Little Dorrit." When Dickens was ten years of age the family were living in Gower Street, and things went badly with them, till finally his father was arrested for debt, and was placed in the Marshalsea Prison, and there Dickens used to visit him and spend his Sundays. Soon after this the boy was sent to lodge in Lant Street in the Borough, a street to be afterwards used in the writing of " Pick- wick " as the residence of Bob Sawyer, when he was a student at Guy's Hospital; and being so near to the Marshalsea, Dickens went there for breakfast and supper with the family who were now living in the prison on the father's income, which was sufficient to provide for their wants. The life here continued until the father, having received a legacy, the creditors were satisfied, and the family removed from the prison. This mode of life and the final release from it are well portrayed in the case of the Dorrit family in « Little Dorrit." As is well known, the writings of Charles Dickens largely con- tributed to the abolition of arrest and imprisonment for debt in this country. 38 DICKENS IN SOUTHWARK. Early in 1856 Dickens revisited the Borough when "Little Dorrit " was coming out. He says : Went to the Borough yesterday morning before going to Gads- hill to see if I could find any ruins of the Marshalsea ; found a great part of the original building — now Marshalsea Place; found the rooms that have been in my mind's eye in the story. Found, nursing a very big boy, a very small boy, who seeing me stand- ing on the Marshalsea pavement, looking about, told me how it all used to be. This incident doubtless provided the groundwork for the con- ception of Little Dorrit acting as "little mother" to her large and clumsy-looking charge Maggie, which forms a striking feature of the story. " Little Dorrit " has been called twaddle. It no doubt lacks many of the qualities that had been the making of " Pick- wick " and the works of the early period, but for genuine pathos, the Scenes between Little Dorrit, Maggie, and Arthur Clennam have the true artistic touch. In "Little Dorrit" Dickens says: Thirty years ago there stood, a few doors short of the Church of St. George in the Borough of Southwark, on the left-hand side of the way going southward, the Marshalsea Prison. It stood there many years before, and it remained there some years after- wards ; but it is gone now, and the world is none the worse without it. It was an oblong pile of barrack building, partitioned into squalid houses standing back to back, so that there were no back rooms; environed by a narrow paved yard, hemmed in by high walls duly spiked at top. Itself a close and confined prison for debtors, it contained within it a much closer and more con- fined jail for smugglers. Offenders against the revenue laws, and defaulters to excise or customs, who had incurred fines which they were unable to pay, were supposed to be incarcerated be- hind an iron-plated door, closing upon a second prison, consisting of a strong cell or two, and a blind alley some yard and a-half wide, which formed the mysterious termination of the very limited skittle ground in which the Marshalsea debtors bowled down their troubles. The church of St. George the Martyr in the Borough High Street comes prominently into the story. This is the church of the parish in which the Marshalsea was situated ; here was the bap- tism with the record of the birth of Little Dorrit. On the steps of the church Little Dorrit and Maggie passed part of the night when, after visiting Clennam, they returned too late to enter the prison ; and here at the end of the book Clennam and Little Dorrit were married. 39 DICKENS IN SOUTHWARK. The remains of the Marshalsea, seen by Dickens in 1857, have now been swept away, but there still may be observed a consider- able open space which now bears the name of Little Dorrit's play- ground, and the street called Marshalsea Road acts as a continuous reminder of the prison. In this same neighbourhood may now be seen Quilp Street, which serves to remind us that the well-known character of the dwarf in " The Old Curiosity Shop " had his place of business on the river bank in Southwark. Near by we notice Clenham Street, which should evidently be Clennam Street. When Dickens wrote Pickwick he says : There still remains in the Borough some half dozen old inns which have escaped the rage for public improvements and the encroachments of private speculation. Great, rambling, queer old places they are, with galleries, and passages, and staircases. In the courtyard of the " White Hart," High Street, Borough, were three or four lumbering wagons, each with a pile of goods beneath its ample canopy about the height of the second floor window of an ordinary house. A double tier of bedroom galleries with old clumsy balustrades ran round two sides of the straggling area. Two or three gigs and chaise-carts were wheeled up under different little sheds and penthouses ; and the occasional heavy tread of a cart horse or rattling of a chain at the further end of the yard announced to anyone who cared about the matter that the stable lay in that direction. This was where, in the " Pickwick Papers," Mr. Pickwick with Mr. Wardle and their legal adviser came to find Jingle and the spinster aunt, and here is the first introduction to Sam Weller, then the Boots at the inn, who afterwards became Mr. Pickwick's servant, and who played so important a part in the story. Dickens locates Bob Sawyer in lodgings in Lant Street, and de- scribes it as follows : There is a repose about Lant Street in the Borough which sheds a gentle melancholy upon the soul. There are always a good many houses to let in the Street; it is a bye street too, and its dulness is soothing. A house in Lant Street would not come within the denomination of a firstrate residence, in the strict acceptation of the term; but it is a most desirable spot never- theless. If a man wished to abstract himself from the world; to remove himself from the reach of temptation; to place himself beyond the possibility of any inducement to look out of the window; he should by all means go to Lant Street. In this happy retreat are colonized a few clear starchers, a sprinkling of journeymen bookbinders, one or two prison agents 40 DICKENS IN SOUTHWARK. for the Insolvent Court, several small housekeepers who are em- ployed in the docks, a handful of mantua makers, and a season- ing of jobbing tailors. The majority of the inhabitants either direct their energies to the letting of furnished apartments or devote themselves to the healthful and invigorating pursuit of mangling. The chief features in the still life of the street are green shutters, lodging bills, brass door plates and bell handles ; the principal specimens of animated nature, the pot-boy, the muffin youth, and the baked potatoe man. The population is migratory, usually disappearing on the verge of quarter day, and generally by night. His Majesty's revenues are seldom collected in this happy valley; the rents are dubious; and the water com- munication is very frequently cut off. Here were the lodgings of Bob Sawyer, and we have a descrip- tion of an evening party at the rooms, when the guests included Mr. Pickwick. Mr. Bob Sawyer was a somewhat impecunious gentleman, and being in debt to his landlady, she took her revenge on this occasion by raking out the kitchen fire, and locking up the kettle and going to bed, thus depriving the host of the means of preparing hot punch for his guests. One of these guests, Mr. Benjamin Allen, is described as wandering the streets after the party in a state of intoxication, and knocking at the door of the Borough Market, and sleeping on the steps alternately until day- SOME EAST KENT PARISH HISTORY. break, under the firm impression that he lived there and had for- gotten the key. Lant Street is now somewhat changed in appearance, as it con- tains a considerable number of warehouses, thus showing the con- tinuous growth of the trade of London, which has covered with places of business so many parts that were formerly of a resi- dential character. Guy's Hospital was founded early in the eighteenth century, and when Dickens wrote " Pickwick " the area of ground covered by buildings was considerably less than at the present day. The original part, of which we give an illustration, still remains, front- ing St. Thomas's Street, and the new portion partially covers the ground at the rear. The hospital is a centre of interest to the antiquarian, the scientist, and the humanitarian, and it should be visited by all who have sufficient leisure to go there. Southwark, as being the seat of a bishopric, may now lay claim to the title of city, but one may hope that it will long be known as par excellence <c The Borough." SOME EAST KENT PARISH HISTORY. BY PETER DE SANDWICH. [Continued from p. 262.] XVI.— DAVINGTON. 1569. (Abp. Parker's Visitation.) ^ I AHEY lack the Paraphrase of Erasmus. The communion is ministered in the finest common -*• bread. Rectory: — Impropriator, Sir Henry Cheney, Knight. Curate : — Dom. Lawrence Hollenden, he is not married, has no benefice, does not preach, and is not a graduate. Householders, 5 Communicants, 27. — (Page 37.) 1580. (See under Badlesmere, Vol. vii., p. 212.) 1583. We present our Curate for that he hath not worn the surplice. We lack such a Bible as is required, and our church is not yet sufficiently repaired. — (Vol. 1577-84, fol. 105-6.) 42 SOME EAST KENT PARISH HISTORY. 1590. Our church and churchyard are in some decay by the last great wind, and we have as we are able partly amended it, and shortly we shall finish it altogether. Our parish is very poor and scarce three householders able to give any thing, and some refuse to give as Valentine Finch and Edward Norton. The forfeitures for absence from church are not gathered, for some are poor and cannot, others are able and will not, neither is there any means to come by it. Valentine Finch refuseth to give anything to the reparation of the church (as above said), and both he and his wife have absented themselves from church by the space of one month. Edward Norton refuseth to give anything to the reparation of the Church, and he and his wife cometh not abroad to church these three months and more; also they have not received the communion. — (Fol. 167.) That the minister weareth the surplice very seldom or not at all, in the administration of the Sacraments and saying of divine ser- vice, but that other times or sometimes he hath administered the holy communion most undecently in his cloak and his boots ; also in saying the divine service he doth not observe the form and order presented in the Book of Common Prayer That the church 1 is much defiled and annoyed by pigeons and so lieth unhandsomely. — (Vol. 1584-91, fol. 176.) 1603. John Edwards2 presented by ... Cookson minister of Davington, for that [Cookson] being licensed to serve the cure there, he hath demanded the key of the church-door of Mr. Edwards whose key the same is, that he might discharge the cure and say service in the church, and being so required refuseth to deliver the same, whereby he is hindered to serve the same cure, and saying service there. — (Vol. 1601-6, fol. 87.) 1613. That Mr. Lawrence Parkinson their curate, hath not preached, but sometimes hath expounded as he believeth. 2. We have prayers on Sundays only in the afternoon, and none on holy days in our church. 3. There are no prayers read on Wednesdays and Fridays. 4. He doth not preach in our church, but expoundeth some- times. 1 For Davington Priory and Church, see "Arch. Cantiana," vol. 22, pages 190-6, 275-92. 2 He bought Davington Priory in 1583, where he lived until his death, 9th June, 1631, being buried in the church. 43 SOME EAST KENT PARISH HISTORY. 5. He doth not wear the surplice at all in our church, to my remembrance and knowledge. 6. He doth not catechise as is required, to my knowledge. 1 . I do not know whether there be any such book of christenings, marriages and burials in our church, and we have a chest with three locks and keys as I think, but I have no key as yet. 2. We have no such book of Canons in our church to my knowledge. 3. There are neither Book of Common Prayer nor such a table, nor Book of Homilies in our church. 4. We have not the Ten Commandments set up in the east end of the church. 5. There is a poor man's box, but I have no key as yet. 6. The church wanteth repairing, the windows glazing, and the floors paving. 7. We have no such table of the degrees of marriages forbidden. 8. There is neither pulpit cloth, nor cushion of silk, nor sur- plice in our church, that I know of. 9. The perambulation of our parish hath not been gone this last year to my knowledge. — (Fol. no-n.) 1613. Mr. William Tilman will not pay the clerk his dues these seven years, at 2s. 8^. by the year. Also widow Adye 9^., and William Giles 2s.~ (Fol. 116.) 1615. We have all well, saving our surplice which was stolen away. The church is not decently kept, but is put to unseemly uses, and our churchyard abused by the breaking in of cattle, which deface and spoil the graves wherein the bodies of Christians be buried. We have not Divine service nor the administration of the sacra- ment performed in due time in the whole year. Our minister (Lawrence Parkinson) doth not examine the youth of our parish. — (Fol. 222.) 1616. Our surplice was stolen out of our chest. We have a parchment book, and whether all be there written he knoweth not. We have no Book of Canons, or Ten Commandments set up ; no table of degrees, no pulpit cushion or cloth. We have such a box with locks but no keys. We have not gone the perambulations. — (Vol. 1610-17, fol. 233.) 44 SOME EAST KENT PARISH HISTORY. 1623. That our living being an Impropriation, as I take it, we have neither parson nor vicar, and Mr. Edwards, of our parish, who is proprietary, or farmer of the parsonage of Davington, and receiveth the tithes coming, growing, and increasing in our parish, provideth no curate as in former times he and others before him have done, but utterly refuseth to provide one. To the first I answer and present that for the space of one year and three-quarters, or thereabouts, during which time I have been an inhabitant of the parish, there hath not been Divine service, neither upon Sundays and holy-days, read in our parish church according as in this article is required, but we have been fain to go to other parishes to hear Divine service and God's word preached, to the great trouble and grief of the inhabitants of the same parish. Which abuse hath been by the default of the said Mr. Edwards in not providing us a curate, as in the answer I have made to the first article I have expressed, for which I present the same Mr. Edwards, and I desire, and not only I, but the whole parish heartily pray and desire your Court that Mr. Edwards may be compelled to provide a curate for the time to come, who may perform the contents of this article (of presentment), so as the parishioners may not be to seek out their church, and be at their own charge whether they will ever or never go to church. Where as the case now standeth in our parish about 21 or 22 several families in the parish, I cannot tell in what manner they or their servants go to any church according to the laws of the land, for to their own parish church they cannot come, and for to go to any other church they are not assigned. To the seventh article I answer : — That the same is not at all performed by the reason we have no curate, as before I have answered, for which I likewise present Mr. Edwards. To the eighth article I answer : — That during the time aforesaid that I have been inhabiting in the parish, Mr. Philips the minister of Faversham hath used to have the communion in our parish-church, at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide, and otherwise we have not had any to my knowledge. To the ninth: — We have no Minister as before I have answered, for which I present the said Mr. Edwards. To the tenth : — I cannot make a certain answer whether all the parishioners have received, as in this article is required, because we have no minister to take note who receiveth and who doth not, and to inform me, for which again I present the same Mr. Edwards. To the nineteenth: — We have no curate, but pray as before that we may have one. 45 SOME EAST KENT PARISH HISTORY. To the twenty-first: — No minister hath preached in our parish church, since the time I have been church- warden of the parish. To the twenty-ninth : — We have no minister to visit the sick as this article requireth, for which as before I again present Mr. Edwards. To the thirtieth : — We have no minister to christen children or bury the dead according to this article, but we are fain at some times for want of a minister to bury and christen at other parishes, for which as before I present Mr. Edwards. To the thirty-second: — We have no minister to be informed, according to the contents of this article, for which again I present Mr. Edwards in manner aforesaid. To the thirty-third : — I do not know whether we have such a Register Book, or such a cover for keeping the same, as is required, by reason that since I have been churchwarden of the parish, I could never get the key of the church door to go into the church to see what things were wanting in the church, although I have demanded the same of Mr. Edwards, who keepeth and detaineth the same from me, and denieth me, for which I present Mr. Edwards. To the forty-first: — I do not know whether we have the par- ticulars mentioned in this article, in our parish church, for the reason in the thirty-third article, viz : Mr. Edwards denieth and detaineth from me the key of the church. To the forty-second : — I know not whether we have in our church such a book of Common Prayer and Bible, as in this article is men- tioned, by reason the church key is kept from me, as before I have presented. To the forty-third and forty-fourth : — I cannot answer further than before I have, by reason I cannot get into the church. To the fifty-third: — There was no churchwarden chosen in the parish last year, and no account was given up, as in this article is required, so far as I know. To the sixty-first: — I answer as to the thirty-third: — I do not know concerning the particulars mentioned, because I cannot go into the church, by reason Mr. Edwards denyeth me the key. To the sixty-fifth: — The parishioners resort not to the church, and further I present Mr. Edwards aforesaid, for not coming to our parish church, but going to church elsewhere, because he will not suffer us to have divine service in our parish, according to the laws of the realm, and as in former times we have used to have. And also I present Mr. Boade and his wife who is Mr. Edwards' daughter, for repairing to Faversham church to divine service, where as I understand Mr. Boade hath a seat or seats assigned unto him, for he and his wife to sit in to hear divine service, because we should SOME EAST KENT PARISH HISTORY. have no service at our parish church, contrary as I and the rest of the parish think, to all equity. — (Vol. 1610-17, Part ii, fols. 192-3.) 1692. Mary Bode, spinster, for several matters herein presented — for prophaning the steeple (of the church) by laying wood therein ; for making the churchyard a common way to drive her waggon through, and defaming the graves: for hiring out the church to French Protestants for .£3 a year; and for stating the parishioners are trespassers to her, by coming into the church. On the 13 October, when the case was heard in court, the judge ordered : That the ^3 paid by the French Protestants yearly for the using of the church of Davington, be for the future paid to the churchwardens of the parish for the time being, and brought into their account and laid out for the use of the church. That the wood laid in the belfry of the steeple be removed, and that for the future she do not cause or suffer any wood to be laid there; also that she do not order or permit any carriages or waggons or carts to be driven or pass through the church-yard, upon pain of the law and con- tempt, for that they may conveniently pass through her own grounds to the house and not thro the churchyard. — (Vol. 1 675-98, fol. 200.) XVII.— DODDINGTON. 1560. Arnold Whitlocke doth withhold the Paraphrase of Eras- mus, which he had when he was churchwarden. The chancel is in decay, Mr. Archdeacon is parson there. Richard Sotherand of Charing hath a cow in his hands, and hath paid no farm for it this twelve years, and we cannot get the farm nor the cow. Simon Raynor doth withhold thirty shillings from our church. Arnold Whitlocke of Lynsted, hath a great saunce-bell (sic) from our church. — (Vol. 1560-84, fol. 38.) 1562. The chancel lacketh reparation, the fault thereof is in the Archdeacon of Canterbury. John Daniell refuseth to pay the cess towards the poor, which is but a half-penny a week, and hath with holden it this three months and more. — (Vol. 1562-3.) 1563. It is presented that the communion is sometimes minis- tered in white bread, because they can get none other. (The Vicar stated that at Easter last, he ministered the communion in wafer bread, and so eventually to continue.) The Vicar lacketh a square cap. 47 SOME EAST KENT PARISH HISTORY. Those whose names follow seldom come to the church, both on sabbath days and other festival days: — William Sandwich, William Rose, Matthew Bocher, Walter Backhurse, Edward Sowyall, Thomas Pye, Thomas Dane. The chancel is in great decay for lack of shingling, the fault is in Mr. Archdeacon of Canterbury. — (Vol. 1563-4.) 1566. The chancel is at reparations. That half a seam of barley which hath been yearly paid and given to the poor of the parish out of the parsonage, is now denied and not paid this twelvemonth. — (Vol. 1566-7.) 1569. (Abp. Parker's Visitation. — See Vol. vi, p. 30.) 1572. That Arnold Whitlock now dwelling in Lynstead, did take away a Paraphrase in Queen Mary's reign, and hath not restored the same again. The chancel is very much in decay. The Archdeadon being the parson there, hath and doth withhold 65. Sd. by year, given out of the parsonage towards the reparation of the church eleven years. Also half a quarter of wheat by year, given out of the parsonage to the poor of the parish by the space of six years ; which money and wheat hath been used to be paid time out of mind, and the same hath been presented very often ; and they can have no remedy therein. — (Vol. 1571-2, Fol. 131.) 1574. We present our chancel to be unglazed, so that the min- ister cannot administer the communion for rain and cold. — (Vol. 1574-6, Fol. 83.) 1580. (See under Badlesmere, vol. vii, p. 21 2.) 1585. All is well, except a cloth and cushion to lay on the pulpit. A coffer we have, but it hath not two locks. Our chancel is faulty, but we will see it amended. — (Vol. 1584-91, Fol. 42.) 1610. Mr. John Edward, patron, for keeping part of the church from the parish ; and we have not divine service said in the church in due order according to law. — (Fol. 7.) 1613. There is no contention about seats, a new seat hath been built by Mr. John Adye, what leave he hath obtained for the doing thereof we cannot tell. — (Fol. 112.) SOME EAST KENT PARISH HISTORY. 1615. The vicarage-house is come to great ruin, but all other things are in good order. — (Fol. 188.) We have had no Register of Christenings and Burials since the 17 April, 1613 set down in the Book, and now our late minister is dead, yet have we sent in our bills to the Court for the same, and do therefore refer ourselves to the same presentations formerly made. — (Fol. 219.) 1616. Mr. Milles, curate under Mr. Glutting, for that he did not go the bounds of the parish, and he did not say service upon one Sunday, nor upon Ascension day, nor upon St. John the Baptist, nor upon St. Peter. — (Fol. 240.) 1617. Common Prayer is not said at convenient hours, for one Sunday and divers holy days we had none at all, and sometimes he beginneth at ten of the clock in the forenoon, and sometimes after ten. We have a sermon once in every month, but whether the curate that preacheth be lawfully licensed or no, we know not, but on every Sunday he preacheth not, he doth not read one of the Homilies prescribed. We know not whether the curate of our parish be licensed from the Ordinary or not, but we are sure he serveth more than one church in one day. He doth not usually wear a gown with a standing collar. — (Fol. 261.) Robert Tilden, churchwarden, presented for want of things necessary to the chest belonging to the church appointed for the keeping of the Register Book, as namely : — for the want of two keys, a Canon Book, an Article Book, and a cloth for the pulpit. — (Vol. 1610-17.) 1664. On the 4 November, Edward Gurney and Robert Peck- enham the churchwardens appeared in the Court and stated: — That it is true that their steeple of Doddington is ruined by tempest of lightning,1 and thereupon their bells are fallen down, but the par- ishioners are not of ability to repair the same, it being almost twenty-two years since it happened, wherby the work will be very chargeable, insomuch that half the rent of the land in the parish will not be sufficient to do it. Whereupon the judge did advise them for a Brief for a collection 1 "About 1650 the steeple of this church was set on fire by lightning and much damaged.1' Hasted's " History of Kent," vol. ii, p. 696. VOL. VIII. 49 E SOME EAST KENT PARISH HISTORY. for the repair of the steeple and bells, and for a flagon for the com- munion which they say is yet wanting, and provide the same against Christmas next, and send a certificate thereof the next court day following. — (Vol. 1639-81, fol. 112.) 1678. That the steeple being burnt down and the bells all broken and cracked, the parish is not able to repair the steeple and mend the bells and hang them as is required. — (Vol. 1670-93, fol. 69.) 1 695 . A Petition of the minister and parishioners of Doddington, made unto his Grace for the selling and alienating of the bells belonging to the church, being cracked and useless. On the 24 May, 1695, the Vicar appeared in the Court and presented a petition to his Grace to the effect abovesaid, and his Grace was thereupon pleased to order that the Bells therein men- tioned being four in number and the weight of them said to be about forty hundred (sic) — be forthwith sold for the best price that can be got after an estimate of the weight, and that the weight of them with the price they are sold at, be forthwith intimated to the Vicar-General and to Mr. Archdeacon of Canterbury, and the money deposited in the Archdeacon's hands immediately after the sale, who is to appoint in what manner the money is to be laid out. On the 17 October when at Sittingbourne, Archdeacon John Battely enquired what had been done. The churchwardens answered that they were ignorant of the Order, and so knew not the weight of the Bells, nor were the Bells yet disposed of. Where- upon they were ordered and monished that they do forthwith cause an estimate to be taken of the weight of the Bells and the value of the metal of them, and certify that they have so done by the first Court-day after Michaelmas next. After several appearances in the Archdeacon's Court; on the 9 May, 1698, William Skeene churchwarden of Doddington came, when the Judge asked him whether he had sold the Bells belonging to the church, according to a former order made in the case. He answered that he had sold the bells for £77 ijs. 6d.y and that he had received so much money for them, and that upwards of £60 of the money was yet remaining in his hands, some of it being neces- sarily expended in charges; and that he is willing to pay interest for £60 of the money from last Michaelmas to Michaelmas next, if it shall continue in his hands so long. Whereupon the Judge did order that the said money continue in the hands of William Skeene till Michaelmas next, and that he pay interest thereof as he offers until that time ; and that he then pay in the money or give security for the same ; and desired Mr. Somer- 50 SOME EAST KENT PARISH HISTORY. scales, vicar of the parish to use his endeavours to find out a mort- gage or other good security for the placing of the j£6o. The 12 October 1690 when William Skeene again came to the Court he said: — That by reason of the harvest being late, he could not make up his accounts touching the ^77 175. 6<^., above-men- tioned, but that he will make up the same very speedily. Whereupon the Judge monished him that he do make up his accounts how the money is disposed of, by the next Court day, and then appear and bring the same into Court, to receive further order touching the same ; and that he do pay in Court such sums as he shall have remaining in the book of the account, until such time as he shall pay in the money to be placed out at interest elsewhere. — (Vol. 1675-98.) On the 2 May 1701, before Doctor George Oxenden when at Sittingbourne, appeared Thomas Bateman one of the churchwardens for the parish, who being sworn, was asked by the Judge, who had the bond for the jC6o of the parish, late in the hands of William Skeene, and who was bound for the same. Then Bateman answered that he had the bond, and that the sum was made up ^70, and now in the hands of Henry Hawker, and that John Giles and John Hawker were bound with him for the same. Whereupon the Judge ordered Thomas Bateman that he produce and exhibit in Court the next Michaelmas Visitation the same bond, and as there was now £6 and more interest for the same money, the Judge further ordered him, that he do make up the interest j£io, by adding thereto ^3 of the previous money according to former orders, and place the same out at interest as soon as he can, and then also bring the bond taken for the same if placed out. On the 15 October 1701, when Bateman was again in the Court, the Judge asked him in whose hands the money raised by the sale of the Bells was, and who had the bond. He stated the bond was in his custody, and produced it in Court, and the bond bore date 10 October, 1699, and is taken in the names of William Skeene, and Henry Gibbon then churchwardens, for the payment of £jo with interest, and bound in the same Henry Hawker of Milton, mariner, John Hawker of Doddington, and John Giles of Newnham; and the churchwardens declared the parishioners had agreed that ^3 be yearly made up and placed out for the increase of a sum to buy new Bells. The Judge ordered Bateman, that such an agreement be entered in their church-book, and that he certify it is so done the next Easter Visitation. — (Vol. 1678-1735, Fol. 46.) 51 RANELAGH GARDENS, CHELSEA. BY J. JEFFERY. UPON the eastern side of the Royal Hospital at Chelsea stood the mansion and grounds of Richard Earl of Rane- lagh. This nobleman, in the year 1690, was Paymaster- General of the Forces, and also one of the Commissioners of Chelsea Hospital. He obtained from the Crown a lease of seven acres and a half of land, adjoining and belonging to the Hospital, for sixty-one years, at an annual rent of £15 js. 6d. He built a house after a design of his own, and made it his principal residence. Soon after he obtained another lease of fifteen acres more, for fifty-eight years, at an annual rent of £30 4,$-., and another parcel of land, for ninety- nine years at a rent of ^5 per annum, for the purpose of laying out and extending his gardens. In the year 1698 he procured a grant of all these lands in fee, subject to an annual rent to the Hospital of £5. The Earl died in 1712, when his house was, for some years after his death, in the possession of his daughter, the Lady Catherine Jones. The estate was bounded on the south by the Thames, on the west by the Royal Hospital, on the north by a por- tion of what has since been known as Jews' Row, and on the east by a creek which ran from Knightsbridge, taking the southerly di- rection to the Thames. Subsequently this creek was requisitioned to receive the overflow from the Serpentine, and most probably the sewage from Cadogan Place; it then ran under the main road lead- ing into Eaton Square, down the back of George Street, and into Wilderness Row, under a bridge in Jews' Row, passing under two of the houses. The houses in question each had a trap door in the floor in the front, under which the evil-smelling creek ran in its passage to the Thames. During the fifties, the writer of this article, who was acquainted with the inhabitant of one of the houses in question, has repeatedly lifted the trap-door and listened to the rushing of the mixture below during the ebb tide in the Thames* Lord Ranelagh spared no trouble or expense in laying out his grounds, the very greenhouses and stables being adorned with fes- toons and urns, which gave them an air of grandeur not to be seen elsewhere. The plots and borders were elegantly designed, and had the advantage of opening into Chelsea College Walks. The house was beautifully built, and very fine within, being wainscoted with Norway oak, while the chimneys were adorned with carving similar to that in the Council Chamber of Chelsea College. 52 RANELAGH GARDENS, CHELSEA. In the year 1730, an Act of Parliament was passed by which the estates of the late Earl were vested in trustees, and, three years afterwards, the whole property was cut up and sold in lots, the greater part of which were bought by two men named Swift and Timbrell. About this period Mr. Lacey, the patentee of Drury Lane Theatre, conceived the idea of converting the property into a place of entertainment on a large scale for the inhabitants of south-west London, and in pursuance of this scheme he, with the help of a partner named Solomon Rietti, took a lease of the pre- mises from Messrs. Swift and Timbrell, but as the project did not answer, the idea was given up in 1741, when the Rotunda in the centre was built. Messrs. Crispe and Myonet were then the lessees. The grounds then passed into the hands of the former of these twain, who, in the year 1744, became bankrupt. The estate was then divided into thirty-six shares, and continued so until it was finally closed. The Rotunda was opened with a public breakfast on 5th April, 1 742, and for a short time morning concerts were given, the se- lections being made from oratorios. A Mr. Festing was the manager, who led the band. The gardens continued open for public break- fasts until 1752, when an alteration was made in the programme. In 1754 evening entertainments were given, under the title of "Comus' Court," when an exhibition of fireworks took place, which concluded the performances. Money for admission was taken at the gates, when the spectator quickly found himself near the Rotunda, upon which the musicians were placed. It was a beautiful structure, formed by four triumphal arches of the Tuscan order, separated from each other by intervals, which with the arches formed an octagon. The pillars were divided into storeys, painted in u marble and white," and surmounted by termini of plaster of Paris. The insides of the arches were decorated with masks, musical instruments, etc., painted in panels on a sky-blue ground, after a style which "could not be equalled at that period." Grouped round the Rotunda were forty-seven boxes for the accommodation of the assembled spectators, each box having a table, seats, etc. In each box the table was spread, ready for the guests. A large painting of some droll figure, or circumstance, decorated the interior of each box, while between each two a large bell-lamp was fixed, to give the amount of light required after dusk. Over the boxes was a long gallery, fronted with a balustrade, the pillars of which were in imitation marble, festooned with flowers and topped with termini of plaster of Paris. The gallery contained a number of boxes, similar to those upon the ground floor. At a distance of twelve boxes from the orchestra stood the Prince's 53 RANELAGH GARDENS, CHELSEA. box, for the reception of the members of the Royal Family whose tastes prompted them to visit the gardens. This alcove was beauti- fully papered, and decorated in front with the crest of the Prince of Wales. The whole of the interior of the gardens was fitted up with the greatest taste and elegance, so that it might be said of Ranelagh that it was one of those places of entertainment that for beauty, elegance and grandeur was not to be equalled in Europe. The greatest number of persons which were ever known to be admitted in one night was 4,622, exclusive of free admissions. This was on yth June, 1790, at an exhibition of fireworks, when the price of admission was 31. 6d. In June, 1802, Mr. Garnerin, the then celebrated aeronaut, ascended in a balloon from the gardens, accompanied by Captain Sowden of the Navy, who afterwards favoured the public with an account of their aerial excursion. In the forties, in Wilderness Row, there stood an old building which was occupied as a dissenting chapel and a private school. The whole of this block was formerly called " King William's Dining Room and Green House." Sir Thomas Robinson, who built and resided at Prospect Place, adjoining Ranelagh Gardens, held a con- siderable number of shares, and was a great promoter of the under- taking. His house with the surrounding premises were purchased after his death by the proprietors of Ranelagh. Finally, the gardens were closed and dismantled; but the stone bridge and the small reservoirs were in existence in 1 844. The dirty and evil-smelling creek flowed by the once beautiful gardens, and emptied itself by a channel of brick into the Thames. It was a favourite resort of scavengers, mudlarks, etc. ; and even the youths of the period, who haled from Pimlico, Westminster and Chelsea, did not despise the mouth of the creek, at high-water, as a place to learn to swim. The spot where Ranelagh stood is marked by that portion of land upon which Wellington Barracks now stands. The effect of Ranelagh upon the population of South-west London was shown by the open- ing of Vauxhall and Cremorne Gardens, and by the tea-gardens attached to the public houses during the thirties and forties, of which there were numbers in Chelsea and Pimlico. 54 cr C/3 ffi c K^ 6 GRAYS INN. BY E. J. RENAUD. THOUGH much has been written about Grays Inn, yet probably much more yet remains to be said, and possibly a little about a fresh side of a well-known friend may be interesting. For purposes of reconstruction, a block of building was pulled down last autumn, which for several generations had obscured the west gable of the old Hall, allowing a view for a very short time of this picturesque and unusual bit of mediaeval architecture : its un- English appearance, the hush of secluded Grays Inn, the green of the " garden," the cawing of rooks overhead in the great elm trees, takes one far away in imagination from busy London, to the quiet of some old-world Flemish town that has stood still for two or three centuries. This view appears to have great interest from the historical as well as antiquarian and artistic point of observation, for at once, it will be seen (plate i) that the curious stepped gable bears close resemblance to many houses and halls with which the old towns of Belgium and Holland are full, such as The Grande Place at Bruges, also at Ghent, Antwerp, and others, most of which were erected in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.1 In Belgium you are told this style is regarded as due to Spanish influence; this also is mentioned by Parker;2 it is curious that such should be so, as no similar style of terminal decoration is used in Spain, but the statement seems supported by the fact of Flemish houses bearing it having been erected only during the time of Spanish domination. The old Hall of the Inn had 3 by the time of Edward VI (i 547- 1553) fallen into decay, though in 1552 the great banquet of The Sergeants' Feast was held there. In 1556, during the treasurerships of Nicholas Bacon, father of Lord Bacon, and Gilbert Gerrard, a " re-edifying " of the structure was put in hand ; this rebuilding took four years, and cost £863 105. 8^., about equal to £4,000 of our money. Possibly a bit of the old hall remains in a doorway bearing the arms of the Duke of Suffolk. The rebuilding of Grays Inn Hall was commenced in 1556* 1 Gwilt's "Encyclopaedia of Architecture," p. 215. 2 Parker's "Gothic Architecture," p. 251. 3 The Rev. R. J. Fletcher, " Pension Book of Gray's Inn.1' 4 Douthwaite's "Grays Inn," p. in. 55 GRAYS INN. during the reign of Queen Mary, and after her marriage with Phillip II of Spain (she died in 1558) who also ruled Flanders; the court and monarchs of England always took great interest in this old Inn, and it is no great stretch of imagination to assign the reason for this very unusual architecture, to be a compliment to the taste for Spanish ways then in vogue at court ; a taste that subsequent events soon put an end to. A slate roof now replaces the old tiled one, and smoke no longer escapes through a smoke-louvre1 from an open hearth fire on the floor below it, but otherwise its exterior from the west and north is but little altered from the original structure. On entering the Hall from the east the visitor is at once struck by its general air of mediaeval sumptuousness, much heightened by the dim light given through the painted windows: opposite, high up, is the wide mullioned window we have seen from outside; overhead, the misty elegance of the oaken hammerbeams of the roof (plate 2) ; across the western end of the Hall stretches the minstrel gallery, the rail upheld by six caryatides or supporting figures ; below is a beautifully decorated oak screen, concealing an entrance to the vestibule. The beauty of the screen decoration is very great. Mr. W. R. Douthwaite, in his admirable book, writes of " its fine semicircular arched headings, carved spandrels, and Ionic columns overlaid with strapwork, between each bay." There is a well-founded tradition that the screen, its pillars, and the oaken floor were part of the cargo, or portions of the ships of the Spanish Armada sent by Phillip II to conquer his sister-in-law, Queen Elizabeth, and her country, in 1588, thirty years after her accession, and that she gave these to the Benchers of Grays Inn for the further beautifying of the Hall, after the capture or destruction of so many of the vessels. A few years ago the floor had to be taken up and relaid, the joints between the boards being very wide, when it was found by the holes for pullies, mortice holes, etc., that the oak beams supporting the floor had evidently been ships' timbers ; strongly confirming the legend. After the final conquest of the Moorish Kingdom of Granada by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain in 1491, many of the Moors re- mained, and became loyal subjects of their new sovereigns, con- tinuing till the bigotry of Phillip II drove them to Morocco in I571- We are familiar with the effect of their culture and art on those of Spain, and it is interesting to notice that the strap ornament on the minstrel gallery pillars (plate 2) which we have seen came from Spain, bears a rough resemblance to some of the decorations on the 1 Douthwaite's "Grays Inn," p. 114. 56 Grays Inn Hall (Interior). GRAYS INN. walls of the Alhambra, a sort of adaptation of that in x " The Hall of the Two Sisters," as given in Owen Jones's illustrations of that wonderful palace. This wood-carving is very effective, but appears done by persons of little skill ; it is somewhat rough and is not true or straight, and lacks the gracefulness of the Moro-Saracenic art ; but if only "after" one of their designs, it is of great interest. This is also very near to the well-known Jacobean strap ornament; is it possible both decorations are derived from one source? Thus does Grays Inn, so very much alive in the present day, yet so venerable a survival of days long gone by, bring vividly to mind some of the side lights and influences of the glorious Eliza- bethan age and the times immediately preceding it, and in the stirring words of the poet Clothes dry bones with flesh, And makes a dead past live again. PART II. Dugdale2 in 1780 tells us of the Inns of Court that "Edward I did appoint that the Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas and other justices, should ordain from every county certain attorneys and lawyers of learning to do service to his Court, that those chosen and no others should follow his Court and transact its business ; seven are deemed sufficient, but it is left to the discretion of the justices to add to the number." These attorneys and lawyers so called (to the bar of the Court) settled in certain Hostels or Inns which were thenceforth called Inns of Court ; where they did study the law and used such other exercises as might make them more serviceable in the King's Court. Sir John Fortescue, chancellor in the reign of Henry VI, calls Inns of Court the University of the law. But later, writing in 1468, he says, "as the laws of England are learned in three languages, English, French, and Latin, they cannot be conveniently taught ' in Universitatibus ' where Latin only is used"; but he recognizes in the Inns of Court and of Chancery a teaching centre which though formally was not essen- tially dissimilar from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Each of the Inns is to its members College and University in one. The Rev. R. J. Fletcher3 in describing the constitution of an inn indirectly compares its bench with the bench of judges, the benchers 1 Owen Jones, " Plans of the Alhambra." Plate XVI. 2 Dugdale's " History and Antiquities of the Inns of Court," pp. 5 and 6. 3 The Pension Book. 57 GRAYS INN. as those who sit on it in authority. The studium has its grades like the more formal university, with as long a period of training. Those who pass their examination and are admitted " inner barristers," be- come, after years of membership and study, and the performance of various "exercises" as hereafter, outer- or utter-barristers. After further period of probation, the barrister may become an " ancient." It is in the benchers that we have the company of " Masters," who entered upon their grade by lecturing, and who formed, if not the senate of the studium, yet the governing body of each inn. Of the functions held before the reader and two benchers, "Bolts" or recitation of pleadings in Law French ; and of" Moots," to plead and argue doubtful or suppositious cases, by rules drawn up in 1540 by command of Henry VIII — are all most interesting and instructive. Grays Inn l stands on the site of a property anciently known as the Manor of Portpool or Purpool on the north side of Holeburn, just outside the Tyburn Gate, and near a piece of water called by Parton 2 the Blose Pool. This is also shown in a map of London drawn by Ralph Agas about 1558, which may be seen in the British Museum. The complicated feudal system under which land was held in the Norman and Plantagenet days, is well illustrated by the tenure of Portpool by the de Greys. John de Grey wishing to alienate some part of the property, the Crown issued a writ at his request reciting that he held the property from Robert de Chiggewell by payment of a rose yearly, the same Robert held from the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, who held from the King in perpetuity. John's grand- son Reginald, who died in 1370, held the manor which was now for the first time called an Inn, " Hospitium in Pourtepole," which he is said to have leased out, probably as part of the scheme we have seen laid out by Edward I. The de Greys and the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's are men- tioned in many ancient deeds as holders in their various degrees, of Portpool; in Dugdale's list Theobald is the first prebendary of Portpool, he was probably archdeacon of Essex in 1218-1228; and again in Parton's account of St. Giles in the Fields, he tells that in the reign of Henry III, in 1263, Robert de Purtpool (Robert de Grey of Portpool) settled ten shillings a year on the hospital of St. Giles that the chaplain might celebrate a mass on the anniversary of his death. The prebendarial stall of Portpool still continues in St. Paul's Cathedral, the present holder being the Rev. W. Covington, Rector of St. Giles in the Fields, and Rural Dean. 1 W. R. Douthwaite, " Grays Inn.1' 2 John Parton. " Some account of the Hospital and Parish of St. Giles in the Fields, 1822." 58 RUISLIP AND HAREFIELD. BY H. J. DANIELL. IF we take the Metropolitan Railway from Baker Street to Ruislip, a pretty walk of about seven miles from the latter place brings us to the Hertfordshire town of Rickmansworth, via Harefield. Ruislip village, our starting point, is one of the most picturesque little places in Middlesex. The Church, with its grey tower peep- ing over the roofs of the old houses which line two sides of the Churchyard, is a subject worthy of any artist's brush, while the interior is well worth a visit. The key may be obtained at the shop opposite, but here as well as at Harefield, the custodian finds it her duty to accompany the visitor. The walls of the nave are covered with remains of fresco paint- ing, the best example being at the East end of the North aisle, the subject appearing to be the Blessed Virgin and S. Lawrence, who holds his gridiron in one hand. There are some good late brasses in and near the chancel, the best being to John Hawtrey (1593). There are other memorials to this family in the Church, noticeably a mural tablet with busts to Ralph Hawtrey and his wife Mary Altham (1638). Under the tower is a fine kind of cupboard to hold Charity Loaves. The inscription on it is to the effect that it was " The Gift of Jeremiah Bright of London, being 2s worth of Bread to be distributed by ye Ministr and Church Wardens to the Poor every Sunday for ever ANNO DOMINI 1697." Not far from the Church are the remains of a little priory, an appendage of the Norman Abbey of Bee. Leaving the village and keeping to the left, about a mile further on the rambler will come to a spot where the road forks at a little bridge. The direct route to Rickmansworth leads over the hill to our right, but a pleasanter walk is to take the left hand road and the first successive turns to the right and left. This brings us into a most picturesque part of the country, the whole place being covered with woods. The best time to see them is when the young leaves make their first appearance, and everything looks fresh and green. On turning to the left the pedestrian must neglect the sign-post which marks " To Harefield " on the right, and must take the first turning to the right farther down the road. A few minutes' walk 59 RUISLIP AND HAREFIELD. brings him to New Year's Green, a curiously situated group of cottages in a lonely hollow. Hence a pretty undulating road, about a mile and a half in length, brings us to the southerly corner of Harefield Parish. On our left, standing a little way back from the road, is an old Elizabethan cottage with the remains of an Early English Chapel attached. This was once a Preceptory of the Knights Hospitallers, and the smooth stretch of sward on the west of the house suggests the tilting ground. Harefield Church stands in the Park on our right (key at the cottage near). It is well worth visiting if only to see the complete set of Newdigate monuments, from the early sixteenth century to the present day. These are kept in a constant state of repair by the head of the family. The oldest are brasses to Edith Newdigate (1444), anc^ to Jonn anc^ Anne Newdigate (1500). In the south aisle is an elaborate mural monument, in the Jacobean style, to Sir John and Lady Newdigate, with kneeling figures of themselves and three daughters and two sons. A similar memorial is to Sir Francis Ashby (1623), near which are several sixteenth century brasses to members of the same family. Their residence was at Brakespeare's, an old house in the parish. But by far and away the most elaborate monument is that in the chancel to Alice, Dowager Countess of Derby. Her second husband, Lord Keeper Egerton, purchased the Maior of Harefield in 1601, and here, in 1602, he entertained "Good Queen Bess." The Countess was a patron of John Milton, and for her his " Arcades " was written, and first performed at Harefield. She died in 1637, anc^ tne wonderful tomb was erected to her memory. She lies in state in her robes, below a huge canopy, her three daughters kneel in niches by her side. The pulpit is one of the old fashioned " three decker " type. Harefield House was burnt down at the Restoration, it is said by the carelessness of Sir Charles Sedley, reading in bed and upsetting a candle. Leaving the Church we pass through the rather uninteresting village, noting the Almshouses founded by the Countess of Derby, on our right, and a walk of about three miles brings us to the curious old town of Rickmansworth, situated on the banks of the Colne, where the Londoner may return to his starting point by the Metropolitan Main Line. 60 NOTES AND QUERIES. u NPUBLISHED MS. RELATING TG THE HOME COUNTIES. BY P. C. RUSHEN. [Continued from p. 313.} 2 Aug. 1427. Power of Attorney by Alice Preston and John Preston son and heir of John Preston then late of Stanwell co. Midd. to John Tayllour citizen of London to take possession in their names of all the lands tenements rents and services in the Isle of Wight which were late the said John Preston's and descended to them on his death. Dated at London, Latin. 6 Hen. VI. Copy of Court Roll of the Manor of Myllyng showing that at a court held at Fulhm it was presented that John Copyndon had out of Court surrendered into the hands of Jno Carte Wm Wylmot Jno Reve senr & John Reve junr tenants of the manor a cottage and curtilage in Estbraynford parcel of the tenement Dykes & Popes situated between cottages of the said John Copyndon To the use of Alice his daughter wife of William Dourer. Latin. 8 Mar. 1672. Indenture of agreement of exchange of land between Jos. Tayler of Colchester Carpenter and John Lay of Weeley co. Essex Wheel- wright whereby the latter exchanged a piece of land of which he was seized in fee at the N end of a tenement lately built by him lying next Moore Elmes Lane in the psh of St. James Colchester 6i ft. in breadth against the said lane and 21 ft. long up to the N.W. corner for a piece of land belonging to the said Tayler extending Westward from the said corner 2 1 ft. and 6i ft. in breadth at the W. end. 7 Oct. 1531. Feoffment by Jno Pepy of Longham (Norf.) Rob Netherwoode of same and Rich Dey of Gt Bet'yng (Bittering co. Norf.) to Wm Atlee of Longham and Wm Harryson of same and John Harryson of Waltham co Essex of a tenement then lately erected in Hilgate with 1 3! acs. of land and pasture in divers pieces in the town and fields of Longham and also 2i acs. of arable land in i piece in Longham all which premises the feoffers had by feoffment of And. Cooke Jno. Ketilwell and James Forest by deed of 20 Hen VIII. 3 seals. Latin. Draft deed of Covenant 1702 between Alex. Pollington Cit. of London & Lettice Lee of same widow for the former to pay to the latter a rent of £24 for a year's tenancy of the " Bible " in Leadenhall St. in the parish of St. Andrew Undershaft and to leave all fittings Fragment of a Deed of Assignment of Mortgage of 2 July 1773 between Hen. Bullock of Pall Mall co. Midd ist pt. Jno. Abraham Fisher of Sl Paul's Covent Garden sd. co. Composer of Music & Eliz. his wife formerly Eliz. Powell widow of Wm Powell late of Russell St. sd. parish Gent. decd which sd. Eliz. was Adminx of sd. Powell decd. Jonathan Gaston of Gt. Russell St. par. of Sl George's Bloomsbury Gent, and Jas Hutchin- son of Leathersellers3 Hall Gent. 2nd part Mary Linnell of Berkley Sq. co. Midd. Spinster Jas. Maddon of Newport St. par of S* Martins in the Fields Esq. & Richd Lowe of London Banker 3rd pt. & Jno. Linnell of Berkley Sq. afsd. Upholsterer & Rob. Kilbye Cox of Se Giles in the Fields Brewer Nath1 Kelit of Fulham co. Midd. Esq & Evan Lewis of King St. par. of S* Paul afsd 61 NOTES AND QUERIES. Clothier 4th pt. Reciting Letts. Pat. of 25 Apl. 14. Chas. II. whereby His Maj. granted lie. to Thos Killigrew to erect and work one theatre in the cities of London and West1" and that no other Company but sd. Killigrews and one to be set up by Sir Wm Davenant should act in the sd. Cities. And reciting similar Letts Pat. dated 1 5 JanJ 14 Chas II to Sir Wm Davenant And reciting that the entirety of the Killigrew Pat. and 1 of the Davenant Pat. had by divers conveyances become vested in Jno. Rich of the psh. of S* Paul's afsd. & that the other | share of the latter Pat. afterwards became vested in Christ1". Mosyer Rich bro. of sd. Jno. And reciting lease of 16 Mar. 4 Geo. II. by which Wriothesley Duke of Bedford demised to sd. Jno. Rich, (i skin missing here) . . . And reciting lease of 31 Mar. 1743 whereby Jno. Duke of Bedford demised to sd. Jno. Rich the sd piece of ground on the S. side of Hart St. demised by the last therein before mentioned lease of 16 Mar 1730 to hold for 9 yrs. from Ladyday 1792 at £30 per ann. And reciting the will of sd. Jno. Rich dated i May 1761 whereby he made Paul Whitehead of Twickenham co. Midd. Esq Jno Beard of Sfc Martins in the Fields afsd. Esq & Edwd. Wilford of the Exchequer Esq residuary legatees upon certain trusts wh. will recited that testator was entitled to the 2 sd. Patents and the theatre royal Covent Garden with all fittings &c and directed that the same should be sold so soon as an adequate sum could be obtained for the same & that Priscilla Rich his widow should be sole judge of the value & that sd. legatees should sell for such sum as sd. Priscilla should judge value but before accepting an offer sd. Pris- cilla should give sd. legatees 3 mths. notice in wh. to find a better purchaser if possible & that the money arising from such sale should be applied as therein- after directed And the sd will further recited that testator's father Christ1" Rich decd Nov. 1714 leaving a will whereby he bequeathed to sd. Jno Rich |. of his interest in the Davenant Pat. & fittings and the other ± to another son Christr Mosyer Rich & that sd. Jno. had paid to the latter yearly a sum con- siderably more adequate to his claim under sd. will his said father's interest being but i/6th & being desirous that his sd. bro. should be more amply pro- vided for than he could claim from his estate testator sd. Jno. bequeathed to sd. bro. Christ1" an annuity of £200 until by the sale aforesaid or owse. £4000 should be raised for him in lieu of sd. annuity but that before the sd. annuity became payable sd. Christ1" should release to testators heirs &c all the sd. i part of his father's interest & also his interest in an indenture of 4 May 1682 whereby the sd. 2 Patents were united And reciting the death of sd. Jno Rich on 6 Nov. 1761 and the proof of his will by his widow at Canterbury And reciting a lease dated 2 Dec. 1765 whereby Jno Duke of Bedford demised to sd Priscilla the said 2 pieces of ground demised by the ist recited lease & the theatre &c thereon for 9 years from Lady Day 1792 at £100 per ann. in trust for the persons entitled to the premises under sd. Jno Rich's will And reciting the payment of sd. £4000 to sd. Christ1" by sd. Whitehead, Beard & Wilford and indenture of 2 Jan. 1762 whereby sd. Christ1" released ro sd. Whitehead Beard & Wilford as devisees in trust & sd. Priscilla as executrix his i pt. of the Davenant Pat. & his interest in sd. deed of 1682 And reciting a sale of all the premises to Tho8 Harris of Holborn co. Midd. & Jno Ruther- ford of Newman St. psh. of St Mary le Bone on behalf of themselves & Geo Coleman of Gt. Queen St. Lincolns Inn Fields & of the sd Wm Powell on the proposition of sd. Priscilla for £60,000 & the deed of conveyance thereof dated i July 1 767 . . . end of fragment. LONDON SIGNS, 1638. — The following notes complete the information on this subject to be obtained from Lambeth, MS. 272, though the 62 NOTES AND QUERIES. parish returns give valuable lists of inhabitants and rentals, without mentioning the house-signs in every case. ST. MICHAEL, CROOKED LANE CANDLEWICK STREET Edward Ash, draper, at ye Golden Lyon £30 rent Thomas Helwys „ Arrowes 12 Thomas Wateres „ Log 20 Nathan Humphries next ye boares head 20 William Leeds ye Boares head Tavern 30 Richard Rogeres a house and 2 shopps 24. Mr. Paul do do 24 ST. MICHAELS LANE, WEST SYDE Joseph Scoles behind the Log 10 William ffreeke at ye two hares 10 James Sleigh „ fflower de luces 8 William Lowen „ Golden Ball 10 Thomas fforrest „ Sonn 10 William Shawe „ Bell 16 John Kellet „ Whithouse 12 Thomas Jupe „ boares head 10 Richard Ward „ Golden Lyon 10 Richard Jordan „ black Bull 12 Grace Harden „ Cowes face 20 John Roach „ Plow 14 Robert Coram „ Lute 8 Humphry Palmer „ fflying horse 14 Cook too post at ye Doore 20 Widdow Lee at ye Shipp 10 ST. MICHAELS LANE, EAST SYDE Thomas Roach at ye Black boy 14 Matthew Tagell „ Cross keyes 14 Veamansons house att Whithart 8 Kiffet at ye Hand 8 Mr. Over next above the Church 12 John Parker att the Whitbeare 10 Thomas Forrest next ye Beare 8 Jacot ffranckton at ye Swan tavern 30 Mr. Crass beelow the Swan 4 Mr. Baker in ye Duck yard 10 THAMES STREET, NORTH SYDE Stephen Street, grocer, at ye Key 1 6 George Cook, oyleman 10 James Cookes 12 Nicholas Ball at ye Rams head 20 John Winson at ye Corner oi St. Mich. Lane 16 John Mariott at ye other Corner 16 John Cook at ye 3 Pidgions 10 Richard Gilli brand 10 Ralph Trattle at ye Kings head 14 Nathaniel Seikes at ye Bishopps head 14 THAMES STREET, SOUTH SYDE Mr. Vynor by the Thames 12 63 NOTES AND QUERIES. Mr. Packwood in fflowerdeluce Ally £4. rent. „ Gattenbe in the same Ally 4. Gregory Hearne, a warehouse there 6 „ „ at fflourdeluce 16 William Parker 16 Benjamine Henshaw, grocer 10 William Plowman in ye Ally 4. William Pratt in ye same Ally 4. Edward ffelton by the Thames 16 Sackford Tonson att ye Starr 26 Mr. Rogeres by ye Starr 26 Gabriel Binnion at ye Wheatsheafe 16 Clebrick next doore to it 3 Harrison in Griffin Ally 6 John Bridges in the same 4. Joanes in the same Ally 4. Josias Wassell by the Thames 12 Christopher Blinckensop, dyer, by Thames 16 Richard Miller in Griffin Ally 6 Samuel Cooper at the Griffin 16 ST. MILDRED, BREAD STREET The Signe of the Sheppard, beinge part of Capt. Crispe his howse. The Signe of the three blacke boyes, being the other part of the said howse. £iz IDS. %d. each. R. H. ERNEST HILL. KINGSGATE STREET, HOLBORN. — When the southern end of Southampton Row was widened, this small street, which opened out of Holborn, was abolished. It is interesting to recall that in " Martin Chuzzlewit " it is described as containing the residence of Mrs. Gamp. I shall be glad to know if any of your subscribers can tell the origin of the name ; whether there was formerly a gate here, or whether " gate " in this word had the meaning of road or way, as is frequently the case in old towns in the north of England and in Scotland. If the latter is the signification of the name it is a somewhat curious coincidence that the modern Kingsway should appear in the same neighbourhood where was formerly the ancient Kingsgate Street. — ENQUIRER. ALMSDISH AT GREAT YELDHAM. — Can any of your readers inform me of the meaning of the following inscription which appears on an old almsdish which has for years been in the hands of the late Rector of Great Yeldham, Essex? The following repeated six times on outer circle: "ZEIT. GELVEKART. AL." The following repeated three times in inner circle : " RAHEWISHNBI." — JOHN G. GEARE, Farnham Rectory, Bishop's Stortford. NONSUCH PALACE. — I was greatly interested in reading in your last number the account of Nonsuch Palace, and of the remains of the building still to be traced in the neighbourhood of Epsom and Ewell. Your readers will no doubt be pleased to examine the curious old print of the Palace which I have much pleasure in enclosing. — OBSERVER. 64 0 , 0~ c o Standing Cup, St. Michael, Bassishaw. See vol. vii, p. 279. A HERTFORDSHIRE WITCH ; OR, THE STORY OF JANE WENHAM, THE « WISE WOMAN " OF WALKERN. BY W. B. GERISH. IT has frequently puzzled the writer why it is reserved for the other sex, with but few exceptions, to possess the power of contracting with the Evil One. This fact has no doubt be- wildered others, for Richard Barnard, a Somersetshire divine, in 1627 accounts for this singular monopoly in his "Guide to Grand Jurymen about the Trial of Witches." He tells us: There are more women witches than men, and it may be for these reasons : First, Satan tries setting upon these rather than on men, since his unhappie outset and prevailing with Eve. Secondly, their more credulous Nature, and apt to be misled and deceived. Thirdly, for that they are commonlie more impatient and more superstitious; and being displeased more malicious, and so more apt to bitter cursing; and far more revengeful, according to their power, than men, and so herein more fit in- struments for the devill. Fourthly, they are more tongue-ripe, and less able to hide what they know from others ; and, therefore, in this respect, are more ready to be teachers of witchcraft to others, and to leave it to children, servants, or to some others, than men. Fifthly and lastly, because, where they think they can command, they are more proud in their rule, and more busy in setting suche on worke whom they may command, than men, and therefore the devill laboureth most to make them witches, because they, upon every light displeasure, will set him to worke, which is that which he desireth, and is sore displeased if he be not set on worke, which women will be ready enough to doe. This is not the place to attempt to trace the origin of the belief in witchcraft, but to those who are interested in the subject the article upon the "Witch Mania," by Charles Mackay, in vol. ii. of " Extraordinary Popular Delusions," 1852, is worthy of perusal. According to this writer, the mania for persecuting witches arose in the latter part of the fifteenth century and lasted until the end of the seventeenth century. Pope Innocent VIIL, in 1488, launched his celebrated Bull against witches, calling upon the nations of Europe to the rescue of the Church of Christ upon earth, imperilled by the arts of Satan, setting forth the horrors that had reached his ears; how that numbers of both sexes had intercourse with the VOL. vin. 65 F A HERTFORDSHIRE WITCH. infernal fiends; how by their sorceries they afflicted both man and beast ; how they destroyed the births of women and increase of cattle; and how they blighted the corn on the ground, the grapes in the vineyard, the fruits on the trees, and the herbs of the field. In order that criminals so atrocious might no longer pollute the earth he appointed inquisitors in every country, armed with the apostolic power to convict and punish. Fifty years afterwards the English legislature enacted more severe penalties against sorceries, but the statute of 1541 was the first that specified the particular crime of witchcraft. Previous to this time persons had suffered death for sorcery. Two statutes were passed in 1551, the first dealing with false prophets, and the second with conjuration, witchcraft, and sorcery. This enacted the death penalty against those who by spells, incantations, or contracts with the devil, attempted the lives of their neighbours. The statute of Elizabeth, in 1562, recognized witchcraft as a crime of the greatest magnitude, and fromj that date the persecution may be said to have commenced in England. Strange as it may seem, the Reformation was responsible for the outbreak of wild fanatical fury directed against so-called witches. Especially was this the case in Scotland, where education had made very slow progress. James I, who acceded to the throne of England in 1603, was renowned for his glorious discoveries of witchcraft. He speedily instigated an Act (drawn up by a committee which included twelve bishops) which was passed in 1604, enacting that if any person should use, practise, or exercise any conjuration of any wicked or evil spirit, or should consult, covenant with, or feed any such spirit, the first offence should be punished by imprisonment for a year and standing in the pillory once a quarter ; the second offence by death. The minor punishment seems but rarely to have been inflicted. Every record that has been preserved mentions that' witches were hanged and burned, or burned without previous strangling, "alive and quick." During the whole of James Fs reign, the Civil Wars, the Protectorate, and the reign of Charles II, there was no abate- ment of the persecution. If at any time it raged with less virulence it was during Cromwell's government. Zachary Gray (editor of " Hudibras ") says that he perused a list of 3,000 witches executed during the sitting of the Long Parliament, and from 1600 to 1680 the number executed has been estimated at 500 annually; or a total of 40,000 public executions for this offence alone. The following punishments were awarded to offenders who were found guilty of the crimes imputed to them at the General Quarter Sessions of Hertfordshire and Essex in 1682, which vividly display the harsh and sanguinary state of the laws at that period : 66 A HERTFORDSHIRE WITCHJ If any person have invocated, entertained or employed any wicked spirit to any intent or purpose whatsoever, or have used any witchcraft, charm, or sorcery, whereby any person is killed, destroyed or lamed, the offender shall suffer the pains of death as a felon, without clergy. If any person hath by witchcraft, charm or sorcery attempted to find out hidden treasure, to provoke unlawful love, to hurt any one's person, to injure any man's goods, the offender shall suffer imprisonment for a year, and once a quarter the shame of the pillory for six hours, and confess his offence, and for the second offence as a felon shall suffer the pains of death, without clergy. The year 1 705 saw the last person hanged for witchcraft, and in 1711 the popular credulity received a severe blow from Addison, in No. 117 of " The Spectator." But the triumph of common sense over superstition has been exceedingly slow, and even at the present day, in the more remote villages in Hertfordshire, the belief in witchcraft still lingers, and aged women are frequently held to possess occult powers. The victim of eighteenth century superstition who is the subject of this article lived at Walkern, a fairly large village near Stevenage. Her name was Jane Wenham and she resided in a cottage in the Church Lane, the exact site of which is unknown. From the various accounts, written both at the time of her persecution and since, we learn that she had had two husbands and had brought up a considerable family. Her second husband was apparently separated from her ; one account indeed says that as judicial separations were unknown, he adopted the plan of having the dissolution " cried,'* together with the statement that he was no longer answerable for her proceedings. The story states that he soon afterwards died miserably, and this was attributed to the witchcraft of his wife. At the time of her trial the poor woman was over seventy years of age. Her character is set forth by the Rev. Francis Bragge, son of the Vicar of Hitchin and Rector of Cottered, in his account of the case, as follows : If a continued course or Idleness and Thievery for many years together, of the character of a W . . ., and the Practise of Com- mon Swearing and Cursing, will denominate a good woman, we are willing to allow Jane Wenham to be one ; nay, upon Second Thoughts, we will allow it upon easier Terms, if she can find anyone in the Parish that will say that he thinks her so, we will say so too : Nay, if she can persuade her own husband to say so, we will not stand out ; but the Truth of the Business is, that her nearest Relations think she deserves to die, and that upon other Accounts than Witchcraft. 67 A HERTFORDSHIRE WITCH. The malevolent prejudice of this learned curate is apparent in these statements, and we may only remark that it was fortunate that the poor woman's fate did not lie in his hands. The story (taken from "A Full & Impartial Account of the Discovery of Sorcery and Witchcraft practised by Jane Wenham ", 1711) opens with the evidence of John Chapman, a Walkern farmer, who had noticed the strange deaths of his neighbours' horses and cattle, he himself having lost stock to the value of £200 in a similar unaccountable manner. He suspected Jane Wenham, but did not give his reasons; and it was not until one of his labourers, Matthew Gilston, told him the following strange story that he ventured to accuse her of witchcraft, and thus precipitated events. Matthew described how on New Year's Day, 1711-12, he was carrying straw from Mr. Gardiner's barn when he met Jane, who asked for a small quantity of the straw; this he refused to give her, and she thereupon helped herself. Four weeks afterwards, as he was thresh- ing, an old woman in a riding-hood or cloak came and asked for a pennyworth of straw, when he again refused, and she went away muttering. Directly afterwards he became unable to work, but was unaccountably compelled to run to Minders Hill, three miles away, and there ask for a pennyworth of straw, which being unable to obtain he went to a dunghill, found some dirty straw and brought it home in his shirt. On hearing Matthew's story, Farmer Chap- man called on Jane Wenham and foully abused and threatened her, which so scared the old body that she felt compelled to apply to Sir Henry Chauncy, the nearest magistrate, for protection. He suggested that one of her neighbours should act as arbitrator and peacemaker; so the plaintiff and defendant accordingly laid the case before the Rev. Godfrey Gardiner, the Rector. He counselled peace, and suggested a shilling compensation to the complainant which was accordingly paid to her. We are told that she " went away in a great heat, saying, c If she could not get justice here she would have it elsewhere,' or words to that purpose." Next we have the circumstantial narration, set out with elaborate detail, of the bewitching of Anne Thorne, the Rector's servant. Her knee being out of joint, it had just been set by the bone-setter when she came under the witch's spell. Having by yelling attracted the attention of the Gardiner household (including of course the compiler of the account, the Rev. Francis Bragge), they found Anne in the kitchen, only partially dressed, with her gown and apron rolled up, which on being opened was found to contain oak twigs and leaves. She narrated the most surprising adventures of a journey to Cromer (a hamlet half a mile away), when, in Hackney Lane, she saw a little old woman in a riding-hood, who assisted her 68 A HERTFORDSHIRE WITCH. to make up the aforesaid bundle. Acting on Mrs. Gardiner's advice " the Witch " (as they called the twigs) was burnt, and while it was burning in came Jane Wenham to inquire of Anne's mother respecting some washing they were to perform at Ardeley Bury. Here therefore was proof positive of witchcraft, not mere co-in- cidence. Evidence is forthcoming, too, of the lame servant Anne having been seen running with prodigious swiftness, even at the rate of eight miles an hour, on her journey with the sticks ! The day following she testified that, while on an errand, she met Jane Wenham and a verbal encounter took place, according to the maid's version, although upon Jane's being taxed with it, she stated that at the time specified she was at Weston, three miles away. This discrepancy is explained away by the assertion that it was her " Familiar " whom Anne Thorne encountered. Nearly the whole story now deals with Anne Thorne, and it is impossible to do more than refer to the extraordinary variety of bewitchments said to have been suffered by this remarkable girl. We are told that she was again compelled to go searching for more sticks, and, escorted by several persons, she leapt nimbly over five-barred gates and waded through streams and ditches, instead of crossing them by the bridges, suffering at intervals fits of a very distressing nature. After being brought home, accompanied by sundry extraordinary mani- festations, she made an attempt to visit the witch's abode, which only resulted in her falling into a ditch and putting her knee out of joint agairj . A dialogue of course ensued with the witch, and the poor demented girl's remarks are all noted with great solemnity. Next day another visit was paid to the bone-setter, but on her return home the craving for sticks again manifested itself, so, attended by witnesses (including Sir Henry's son Arthur) she went through her now customary performance. We have the racing and leaping, together with the finding of sticks, invisibly assisted by an old woman in a riding-hood who handed her a crooked pin ; the latter of course being duly found and exhibited. Later on, in another fit of hypochondria, she attempted to drown herself in the river. In the meantime Sir Henry Chauncy, who had unwisely listened to the clamour, issued a warrant for her apprehension upon a sus- picion of felony and witchcraft. The constable was sent for, and directed to execute the warrant; but, as Jane declined to come out and be arrested, the door was speedily forced, and the poor creature captured. She was dragged to the Vicarage, and in the kitchen was set upon by the demented girl, who flew at her and scratched her in the forehead with such fury that the noise of her nails seemed to all present as she had been scratching wainscot! In spite of the fact 69 A HERTFORDSHIRE WITCH. that her forehead was sadly mangled and torn by the girl's nails, we are assured no blood came, evidence sufficient in itself to prove her a witch. After expostulations from the company, who told Jane Wenham she " was a wicked wretch to abuse a poor young innocent creature," that " she had been reputed a practiser of Black Art for twenty years or more," and so forth, the poor woman offered to undergo the usual tests for witchcraft, such as the examination of her body for certain marks, or the water ordeal, but neither sugges- tion was adopted. Mrs. Gardiner tried to induce her to repeat the Lord's Prayer, but this she was unable to do, doubtless as a result of her ill-treatment. So she was remanded in custody, and we are told the " maid was pretty well that evening." Next day Sir Henry Chauncy came down to Walkern, and at the house of a Mr. Trigg conducted a judicial examination. We have a repetition of the scene of Anne Thorne in a fit, recovering at the sight of Jane Wenham, and endeavouring to scratch her. We also have the depositions of the witnesses, which, as Mr. Bragge truly says, were " very tedious." By Sir Henry's orders Jane was examined, but no incriminating mark was found on her body, and so the inquiry was adjourned. Anne Thorne had more paroxysms, out of which we are asked to believe "she was recovered by Prayer," and nothing further happened. Next day, at Ardeley Bury, Jane Wenham pleaded not to be sent to prison, but in vain. She offered to submit to the water- ordeal, but this Sir Henry would not permit, it being illegal. The attempt to repeat the Lord's Prayer, was, however allowed, but when she came to " Lead us not into temptation," she is reputed to have omitted the " not," or added " no " after " into." The witnesses for the prosecution were now examined. Susan Aylott deposed to the effect of Jane Wenham's sorcery upon the wife of Richard Harvey, some twelve years past. This woman was lying ill in bed when Jane Wenham came to the window, and uttered certain threats, with the result that " that night the woman aforesaid died." Another foolish story was told by this witness of a child that was stroked by Jane Wenham, and died " stark dis- tracted " on the Thursday following. We next have the evidence of Thomas Adams junior. He was afterwards murdered in 1728 by a highwayman on his way home from Hertford market. His fate scarcely deserves our pity, for he admitted that he threatened Jane for taking a few turnips at mid- winter, when she was " starving, and had had no victuals that day or money to buy any," and, as a result he said, four of his sheep died, while others "stood on their heads" and were otherwise affected, but afterwards recovered. 70 A HERTFORDSHIRE WITCH. Another adjournment took place, and the following day the Rev. Robert Strutt, Vicar of Ardeley, visited her at the White House (this was presumably the Walkern Cage), and found her with a relative, Mr. Archer of Sandon. There was the usual un- successful attempt to repeat the Lord's Prayer, but in addition, she was badgered into confessing herself to be a witch and to having bewitched Anne Thorne. She also acknowledged that she had a " Familiar," and that she had three confederates in Walkern, witches like herself; their names are not recorded. She admitted practising the Black Art for over sixteen years, before the death of her first husband, who, as mentioned above, is said to have come to a very miserable end owing to her bewitchments. Sir Henry Chauncy was speedily made acquainted with her "confession" and the implication of other witches; they were promptly arrested, but as Anne Thorne did not recognize them, they were set at liberty to await further evidence. Anne Thorne was in the meanwhile constantly having fits and being as frequently restored by prayers ; but a new source of dis- comfort was now added, viz., cats. She (and those in the house) saw and heard cats innumerable, which howled and scratched as cats do, and when discovered betook themselves to Jane Wen ham's dwelling. One had a face like Jane Wenham's, and young Arthur Chauncy (who was well to the fore in all these adventures), would have killed a feline imp, " but his arm was stay'd." Anne now fell into a comatose state, but was revived by Jane Wenham being brought to see her. While there, Arthur Chauncy amused himself by running a pin up to the head in Jane Wenham's arm " a great many times," and when he plucked it out no blood came, only a little thin watery serum. The fits still continued, and were exorcised by prayer as before. Towards the next evening we have a fresh phase ; crooked pins were placed in her hands by invisible means, and Arthur Chauncy (who seems to have spent all his leisure at the Rectory watching the maid) secured several for production in Court. These pins appeared everywhere, she even licked them off the pillows, and then suddenly they disappeared as mysteriously as they came; but persons who were watching Jane Wenham in the cage observed that her pincushion, which was full of pins at night, was in the morning quite empty! Meanwhile the cats screamed and scratched, and poor Mrs. Gardiner was so upset that she and her children with- drew to a neighbour's house for rest. Such a state of things could not continue, so a Mittimus was put into execution, and Jane Wenham was committed to Hertford Gaol. Before going the Revds. Bragge, Gardiner and Strutt with 71 A HERTFORDSHIRE WITCH. Arthur Chauncy tried to persuade Jane to make a " full and sincere Discovery," but to no effect; and when pressed to reveal her con- tract with the Evil One, she could only assert that " an Old Man did spit upon her." When urged further, she resolutely declined to commit herself, and said plainly they " lay in wait for her life," a truism that does not seem to have shamed the clergy in the least. Next we have the evidence of her escort to prison,Uriah Wright and Thomas Harvey. The latter merely echoed the former's state- ment, which was that Jane told him how she had seen the Devil over her shoulder, but on turning round he had gone, and that the said Devil came to her house and bade her hang herself in the buttery or drown herself in the river. Anne Thorne still continued to have her fits and recoveries, and now another discovery was made. In her newly-stuffed pillow were " cakes of feathers," so closely joined that no ordinary force could dismember them. The bewitched feathers were circular in form, a little larger than a crown piece, the small feathers placed in so many radii of the circle, in the centre of which the quill ends of the feathers met. Mr. Bragge counted the number of these feathers, and found them to be exactly thirty-two. He endeavoured to pull off two or three of them, but they were fastened by a sort of viscous matter, which would stretch seven or eight times in a thread before it broke ; he suspected it was made from dead men's flesh. Having taken off several of these feathers, he removed the viscous matter and found under it in the centre some short hairs black and gray, matted together, which he verily believed to be cats' hairs. Mr. Bragge wished to save one as evidence, but he was over-ruled, and they were burnt, a course which was so effective that Anne had no more fits until the Assizes ! It must be stated, too, that after Arthur Chauncy had killed a cat which knocked at the door, no more cries were heard. We have additional information, duly sworn before Sir Henry Chauncy, of how Anne saw a black cat, which spoke to her, and brought her a pin; she hid beneath the clothes, and on peeping out again found the cat gone. Jane Wenham (presumably in the shape of her " Familiar") also appeared to her some three times, but apparently without doing her any injury. The Rev. Francis Bragge admitted that he met with much dis- couragement, for when he went abroad to obtain evidence he found " most people very inclinable to believe nothing at all of it." His anxiety to obtain a conviction would be amusing were it not so painfully discreditable in a man holding the responsible position of Curate of Biggleswade. He found to his annoyance that the indictment as drawn up only accused Jane of " conversing 72 A HERTFORDSHIRE WITCH. familiarly with the Devil in the shape of a cat," and not of be- witching Anne Thorne, which the Clerk of the Peace (presumably) absolutely refused to charge her with, thereby showing his good sense. The Grand Jury (one regrets that no record remains of the names of these credulous persons) speedily found a True Bill, doubtless influenced by Anne Thome's behaviour, for she appro- priately had a fit while giving evidence. The Judge was Mr. Justice Powell, who is described by Swift in his Journal to Stella as u an old fellow with gray hairs, the merriest old gentleman ever seen, who spoke pleasant things until he chuckled and cried again." The Court was crowded, so many females being present that the judge remarked, " they must not look for witches amongst the old women but amongst the young" There were sixteen witnesses in all, commencing with Anne Thorne, who had another paroxysm when in the witness-box, an exhibition which caused the judge to remark sarcastically that " he had never heard in any witch's trial before the person affected had a fit in court." Then we have the evidence of the Rev. Godfrey Gardiner and Mrs. Gardiner, followed by that of the Rev. Robert Strutt, who told of the recoveries of Anne Thorne by prayers. The Judge asked what form was used, and, being told, remarked u that he had heard there were Forms of Exorcism in the Romish Liturgy, but knew not that we had any such in our Church." Anne Thorne continuing in her fit, prayer was offered and she recovered. Arthur Chauncy's evidence was next taken. He narrated the adventure in search of sticks, the leaping over gates, the gathering of the cats, and the discovery of the pins. Some of these pins he was ready to produce, but the judge thought it needless as "he supposed they were crooked pins." Next came the chief persecutor, the Rev. Francis Bragge. His evidence chiefly dealt with the discovery of the " cakes or feathers " of which his Lordship desired to see a specimen, but as we have already seen, one could not be produced, they having all been burnt. Ten other witnesses followed, all with vague, unsup- ported beliefs, opinions and prejudices, which were clearly not evidence. The summing-up we are told was brief; the Judge, being fully satisfied of her innocence, went as far in his charge to the jury as he could, consistent with law, to induce them to acquit her ; but as one writer says, " the same Ignorance and Superstition which had instigated her accusers to apprehend her, operated in the minds of twelve men, sworn to do justice ; and they, to their eternal shame, found her guilty." 73 A HERTFORDSHIRE WITCH. My Lord then asked them " whether they found her guilty upon the charge of conversing with the Devil in the shape of a cat," evidently thinking there must be some limit to their credulity; -but no, the Foreman replied, "we find her guilty of that." Upon this the prisoner (who said little for herself except that she was a clear woman) received sentence of death, but was reprieved till further orders. The rest of the Rev. Francis Bragge's first pamphlet is occupied with further descriptions of Anne Thome's hysterical convulsions, and an extra judicial summing up of the whole case, of course with the same biassed malignity that he had shown all through. In the meantime Mr. Justice Powell was not idle. He sought an interview with Queen Anne, and with but little difficulty obtained a free pardon. As it was impossible for the poor creature to return to her native village, so bitter was the hostility of a section of the inhabitants, the parish was compelled to grant her a settled main- tenance, and the authorities also had to bind themselves in sureties that she should be protected from all manner of violence. One account states that "she afterwards became possessed of a comfortable subsistence, that she did a great deal of good with it to the poor, and became as much the object of their esteem as she had been of their detestation." A home was found for her on the estate of Colonel Plumer at Gilston. Here she was visited by Mr. Hutchin- son, one of the King's Chaplains and Incumbent of the Parish of St. James in St. Edmund's Bury, who afterwards rose to the Episcopal Bench. He tells us, in his " Historical Essay concerning Witchcraft," that he found her living " soberly and inoffensively," and says further, I will take leave to add that as I have had the curiosity to see the good woman herself I have a very good assurance that she is a pious, sober woman. ... I verily believe that there is no one who reads this but may think in their own minds that such a storm as she met with might have fallen upon them if it had been their misfortune to be poor and to have met with such accidents as she did in such a barbarous parish as she lived in." At Colonel Plumer's death she removed to a cottage on the Cowper estate at Hertingfordbury. She lived for nearly twenty years after her trial, in the same harmless and inoffensive manner in which she had spent the former part of her life, and died with all the marks of unfeigned and genuine piety. She died on Thurs- day, nth January, 1730, and was buried in Hertingfordbury churchyard ; her funeral sermon was preached by the curate, the Rev. M. Squire, to a numerous audience. No account of this celebrated case would be complete without 74 Full and Impartial ACCOUNT O F T H E DISCOVERY OF SORCERY and WITCH CRAFT,, Praafe'd by JANE WENHAM of Wtdkernt in Herf- fffrtlfhire^ upon the Bodies of A*n* Thcrn^ An^e Street, &c. The j^ocee&OTgg againft Her from Her being firft Appre oended, till She ^was Coranrtitted to ALSO HER T R Y A L A T TH E Affixes at Hmford before Mr. JufticeJ>OiyE II, where (lie was found Guilty of jfrton? and CBftciltrafr, and receiv'd Sentence of Death for the farne^ March 4. 1711-12. wt jflfjtr a S21jtc{| /a Exod. c. 22. v. 1 8. N I> o tJ : Printed for £. CKT/^ at the Z>wJ and againft St Dw^in's Church ia fkttflrettt- 1712. Price 6 4. A HERTFORDSHIRE WITCH. some allusion to the battle of pamphlets of which it was the cause. Directly the trial was over the Rev. Francis Bragge rushed into print with a " A Full and Impartial Account of the Discovery of Sorcery and Witchcraft, Practis'd by Jane Wenham of Walkern in Hertfordshire," etc., etc. (see facsimile of the title page). It ran into five editions, four of them being published within a month.1 This was followed by a second pamphlet by the same author, entitled, " Witchcraft Farther Displayed. Containing : I. An Account of the Witchcraft practis'd by Jane Wenham, of Walkerne in Hert- fordshire, since her Condemnation, upon the bodies of Anne Thorne and Anne Street. ... II. An Answer to the most general Ob- jections against the Being and Power of Witches. With some Remarks upon the Case of Jane Wenham. . . . To which are added The Tryals of Florence Newton, a famous Irish Witch. . . . 1 66 1. As also of two Witches at the Assizes held at Bury St. Edmonds in Suffolk, Anno 1664, before Sir Matthew Hale. . . . London. Printed for E. Curll . . . 1712." 8°. With a Preface signed "F. B." The third of the pamphlets is a criticism of the first, but whether favourable or otherwise I am unable to determine, as I have not yet succeeded in obtaining a copy. It is designated : " The Case of the Hertfordshire Witchcraft Considered. Being an Examination of a Book entitl'd, c A Full and Impartial Account of the Discovery of Sorcery and Witchcraft, Practis'd by Jane Wenham of Walkern.' . . . Printed for John Pemberton. . . . 1712." This was followed by two pamphlets confuting and exposing the Walkern persecution. The first is called : " The Impossibility or Witchcraft. Plainly proving, from Scripture and Reason, that there never was a Witch ; and that it is both Irrational and Impious to believe there ever was. In which the Depositions against Jane Wenham, Lately Try'd and Condemned for a Witch at Hertford are Confuted and Exposed. London. Printed and Sold by J. Baker. . . . 1712." 8°. The second : "A Full Confutation of Witchcraft : More par- ticularly of the Depositions against Jane Wenham, Lately Con- demned for a Witch at Hertford. In which the Modern Notions of Witches are overthrown, and the 111 Consequences of such Doctrines are exposed by Arguments ; proving that Witchcraft is 1 It was reprinted at Nottingham with the following title : " A True and Faithful Account of the Discovery of Sorcery and Witchcraft, Practised by- Jane Wenham of Walkerne in Hertfordshire upon the Body of Anne Thorn. With the Proceedings against her, from her First Apprehension Till her Con- viction and Condemnation, At the Assizes at Hertford before Mr. Justice Powell. March 4, 1711-12. Nottingham : Printed by William Ayscough in the Middle Pavement." 76 A HERTFORDSHIRE WITCH. Priestcraft. ... In a Letter from a Physician in Hertfordshire to his Friend in London. Printed for J. Baker. . . . 1712." These were followed by a reply from the facile pen of the Rev. Francis Bragge. It is denominated: "A Defense of the Proceedings against Jane Wenham, wherein the Possibility and Reality of Witchcraft are Demonstrated from Scripture and the concurrent Testimonies of all ages. In Answer to Two Pamphlets Entitled, I. c The Impossibility of Witchcraft,' etc. II. < A Full Confutation of Witchcraft,' By Francis Bragge, A.B. . . . 1712." This final effort of Mr. Bragge's was supported by a pamphlet designated: "The Belief of Witchcraft vindicated, proving from Scripture there have been Witches: and from reason that there may be such still. In answer to a late Pamphlet Intitled, c The Impossi- bility of Witchcraft. Plainly proving from Scripture and Reason that there never was a Witch,' etc. By G. R. A. M. . . . 1712." A rejoinder to G. R. A. M.'s vindication was published, but it is only known to me by a brief reference to it in a manuscript list of these pamphlets. It is called " The Impossibility of Witchcraft further vindicated ", and the author is presumably to be identified with that of No. 3 on the list. In concluding this account of the so-called " Witch of Walkern" and her persecution, I cannot refrain from quoting two paragraphs from the Preface to " Witchcraft Farther Displayed." After de- scribing the renewed sufferings of Anne Thome and Anne Street, subsequent to the trial and pardon of their supposed tormenter, the Rev. Francis Bragge refers to what perhaps may be the key to his attempt to hound to death this poor woman. He says, As for Mother Wenham, I hear she has found out a Way to get plenty of Money while she is in Prison. She says she was Prosecuted out of spite, only because she went to the Dissenting Meetings: and by this means, she gets contributions from the Party: and of a Wicked old Witch, is in a sudden become a Precious Saint. This Story puts me upon enquiring of Mr. Gardiner whether she had ever been counted a Dissenter, and he declared that he never before heard that she us'd to go to any Place of Divine Worship, and that he never took her to be of any Religion at all ; however, we are very willing to part with her, and wish the Fanaticks much joy of their new Convert. I shall only take notice of one thing more to the Reader, viz., to assure him that neither Mr. Gardiner nor Mr. Strutt had any Hand in writing this Narrative of the Proceedings against Jane Wenham, altho* they are both Witnesses to the Truth of it ; so that some Gentlemen (who in Justice and Gratitude, as well as good Manners, ought to have held their tongues) might as well have spar'd their personal Reflections. 77 PICTURESQUE PETERSHAM: ITS GREATNESS AND DECAY. Written and Illustrated by A. LEONARD SUMMERS. AT the base of Richmond's proud hill nestles in quiet rural simplicity the picturesque little village of Petersham, one of those sweet bits of rusticity now so few and far between around the great, bustling, boisterous Metropolis. Even as its fair sister, Richmond, Petersham was once the home and resort of the world's greatest, though to a lesser degree ; and time has robbed both of their splendour and importance — as it is rapidly doing with regard to their natural beauty. Yet while the hilly village has con- formed to modern demands and grown into a large, flourishing town of some repute, that in the dale below has been content to slumber on peacefully, forgetful of its past gaiety or grandeur, unenvying its sister's go-ahead ambitions. And so far from ex- hibiting any aspirations to growth, Petersham has, alas, on the contrary, shown a diminishing tendency, and all that was so in- teresting as landmarks of history is slowly but surely disappearing. Excepting Ham House — which, though in the parish of Petersham, stands some distance from the village — there is nothing left now but the stately Sudbrook and the quaint little church to remind us of past glories. Only a few years back (in 1895) the last was seen of one of the few remaining famous old mansions of the neighbour- hood, viz., Bute House, formerly the seat of the Marquises of Bute. It will be remembered by many what an outcry was raised at that time, both by the people of Richmond and the London public, directly the fact became known that the fine old house was doomed to be pulled down, and its handsome grounds handed over to the ruthless speculative builder for the erection of " the vile suburban dwellings of the vain." The matter was taken up seriously by the Selborne Society, who appointed Sir Robert Hunter to act in conjunction with the Open Spaces Society to urge the Govern- ment to purchase the Bute estate from Sir J.Whittaker Ellis, Bart, (the owner, who generously offered to meet them easily). The hand of the spoiler was thus stayed for a time, the house remaining in a partly-demolished condition ; but, apparently, the move was unsuccessful, as since then Bute House has been completely razed to the ground, and what will eventually be done with its twelve acres of delightful grounds can only be conjectured. In the Doomsday book, Petersham is styled " Patricesham," that 78 PICTURESQUE PETERSHAM. is, the ham or dwelling of St. Peter it having belonged to the Abbey of Chertsey,of which Peter was the tutelary saint. Petersham remained in the possession of the cloistered fraternity until 1415, when Thomas, Abbat of Chertsey, and other members of the convent, delivered this estate to King Henry the Fifth and his heirs for ever. In the year 1522, Henry the Eighth granted a lease for thirty years of this manor (with Sheen and Ham) to Massey Villade and Thomas Brampton, at an annual rental of £23 8j.; but ere the expiration of that term, viz., in 1541, Petersham, etc., was granted to the divorced queen, Anne of Cleves, who is believed to have resigned the manor to Edward the Sixth, in the second year of his reign. These estates were settled, in 1610, on Henry, Prince of Wales, at whose death, in 1612, they reverted to the crown. In 1617 they were demised by the King to Sir Francis Bacon and others, for ninety-nine years, as trustees for his second son, Charles (then Prince of Wales). King Charles the First, in 1637, leased the manor to William Murray (afterwards created a peer of Scot- land, by the titles of Baron Huntingtower and Earl of Dysart), whose eldest daughter, Elizabeth, succeeded to the titles and estates. She married Sir Lionel Tollemache, Bart., and obtained a patent from Charles II, in 1660, whereby she became Baroness of Hunt- ingtower and Countess of Dysart. Charles II made various grants of land at Petersham and Ham to this lady in 1666. Sir Lionel Tollemache died in 1669, and a few years afterwards the Countess married John, Earl of Lauderdale, who, in 1674, became Baron of Petersham and Earl of Guildford. At their decease, the property and titles devolved on the Countess's eldest son, Sir Lionel Tollemache, Lord Huntingtower, whose descendants now possess this property. Ham House, the seat of the Dysarts, which stands on the banks of the Thames opposite the Twickenham shore and very near to the famous Twickenham Ferry, the present writer does not propose to describe, as this historic old mansion was fully dealt with in the last number of this magazine. Of other interesting mansions in the early days of Petersham, mention should be made of " Petersham Lodge," which was pur- chased by Charles I from Gregory Cole. In 1685 this house was granted on lease by James the Second to his nephew, Viscount Cornbury, and it was subsequently occupied by Henry, Earl of Rochester. This fine residence was destroyed, with nearly all its contents, by fire on October 1st, 1721. Another building was afterwards erected on its site by Viscount Petersham and Earl of Harrington, to which Thomson alludes in the lines the pendent woods That nodding hang o'er Harrington's retreat. 79 PICTURESQUE PETERSHAM. Later, this estate passed into the hands of Thomas Pitt (Baron Camelford, 1784); while in 1790, H.R.H. the then Duke of Clarence (afterwards William the Fourth) bought the mansion and occasionally resided in it. Eventually the property was transferred to Lord Huntingtower, who died in 1833; the house has since been demolished, and no trace of it now remains. At Petersham Lodge dwelt the fair Duchess of Queensberry, apostrophized by Pope as " Kitty, beautiful and young ; " and here, as her guest, Gay lived and wrote much of his best work. Sudbrookey Petersham, was referred to as a hamlet in 1266, but for somewhat over 200 years it has been reduced to a single domain, which at the present time is known as " Sudbrook Park," and occupies a position between Richmond Park and Ham Common. John, Duke of Argyle, owned this property during George the First's reign, and the Duke's grandson, Henry (third Duke of Buccleuch) succeeded to the estate. Sir Robert Wilmot Horton, Bart., was the last owner, prior to its purchase by the Crown. This stately mansion, though not as yet taken from our midst, has greatly degenerated in its surroundings and former characteristics; it now does duty as a hydropathic establishment, and its romantic old grounds — part of which have been annexed to Richmond Park — have been cut up to form golf-links for the benefit of a local club. 'Tis thus fallen are the "seats of the mighty" — who would doubtless despise our modern-day ideas and progressive " improve- ments," could they for a moment view the scene of their lives and its development. Petersham Church, which dates from about 1505, occupies a site almost opposite the entrance to Petersham Park, in immediate proximity to the site of Bute House, and at the foot of the hill leading up through the wood to the famous " Star and Garter " on the summit of Richmond Hill. At the time of the Doomsday Survey Petersham had a church belonging to Merton Abbey, as the manor did to Chertsey; but, in 1788, the chapelries of Kew and Petersham became a distinct vicarage. The present church, a small, picturesque building dedicated to St. Peter, consists of a chancel, north and south transepts, no nave, and a low western tower (containing one bell), which forms the entrance, thus present- ing a very unusual appearance. The body of the church is of brick, and was enlarged, by subscription, in 1840. It has a small organ, and accommodates 362 persons. On the north of the chancel are recumbent effigies of George Cole, Esq., of the Middle Temple, and his wife, Frances; the former died in 1624, and the latter in 1633. Over the reading desk is a tablet, with arms, etc., commemorative 80 PICTURESQUE PETERSHAM. of Sir Thomas Jenner, Knight, Serjeant-at-Law, created a Baron of the Exchequer by James the Second in 1686, and who died on January ist, 1706. There are other interesting tablets to Captain George Vancouver, R.N. (interred in the churchyard 1798); Sir Charles Stuart, K.B., M.P., the fourth son of John, Earl of Bute; General Gordon Forbes, Colonel of the 2Qth Foot, who died I7th January, 1828, and Margaret, his wife, 1822; Lady Frances Caroline Douglas, daughter of the Marquis of Oueensberry; Sir George Scott, of Gala, Vice-Admiral of the Red, K.C.B., who died at his Petersham villa in 1841; Lady Mary Buck, wife of Sir Charles Buck, Bart., of Han by Grange, Lincolnshire; the Hon. George Murray, fourth son of the eighth Lord Ellibank; also one in memory of the second Earl of Mount-Edgecombe, who died 26th September, 1839. In later times, when taking his customary rural outings, came Charles Dickens to Petersham, with his friends, Thomas Beard, the Parliamentary reporter, and Maclise, the painter — all particular admirers of this beauty-spot and good judges of the picturesque. But the fine old mansions that adorned the pretty village in those days have vanished, one by one, and who can tell what will be left to remind us of this interesting neighbourhood's flowery days a generation or two hence? A DIARIST'S HOUSE. — One of the two old houses which face the Water Gate at the bottom of Buckingham Street, Charing Cross, is about to come into the market, and will, there is little doubt, be demolished in course of a little time. It was here that Samuel Pepys, the famous Diarist and Secretary to the Admiralty, lived ; but the house has been entirely altered, if not actually rebuilt, since his days. By a somewhat curious coincidence another famous diarist, John Evelyn, had his home in Villiers Street, adjoining, towards the close of the seventeenth century. As he remarks in his diary, the house, which was known as York Buildings, was only taken for the winter, " having many important causes to despatch, and for the education of my daughters." Among other famous residents in Buckingham Street from time to time were Peter the Great; Sir Richard Steele; Henderson, the actor; Clarkson Stanfield, the sea- scape artist; William Black; Charles Dickens; Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford ; Etty, the painter, and the witty Earl of Dorset. Both Buckingham Street and Villiers Street mark the site of the once famous York House, and the street nomenclature — George, Villiers, Duke, and Buckingham — still preserves the memory of the well-known Duke of that name. — Daily Graphic. VOL. VIII. 8 1 G THE TOWER OF LONDON IN 1810. BY VISCOUNT DILLON, VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES. WHEN we read that in 1517 Sir Richard Cholmondeley discharged the cannon on the White Tower against the rioters in the city, we may fairly suppose that not only the act but also the idea of such a proceeding would never again occur. But that the possibility of such action was contemplated less than a century ago appears from an interesting u Memorandum upon the state of the Tower," dated July 12, 1810, and issuing from the Quarter-Master General's Office. It is in MS. and bears the initials A. H. in the margin. These were probably the initials of Major-General Hon. Alexander Hope, D.Q.M.G., who held that office in the year mentioned. The Memorandum throws an interesting light not only on the condition of the fortress at that date, but also on a state of things which in these days it is hard to imagine as possible. Perhaps it may interest some of our readers to learn what were the opinions of the military authorities of 1810 with regard to the public, and this we may learn from the Memo- randum. We must remember that on the I2th March Sir Francis Burdett — an anagram of whose name well describes him "Franctic disturber" — moved in the House of Commons the discharge from Newgate, where he was confined by Order of the House, of one John Gale Jones, for publishing a placard respecting a discussion held at a debating society called "The British Forum." Sir Francis — who contended that the House, by the committal of this man, had infringed the law of the land and subverted the principles of the Constitution — was defeated by a majority of 153 in a house of 167. Cobbet's Register, on the 24th March, printed a Notice ascribed to and admitted by Sir Francis as his own, to the same effect, and on 3rd April, on the motion of Sir R. Salisbury, Sir Francis was committed to the Tower. Admittance to his house in Piccadilly was denied to the Sergeant-at-Arms bearing the Speaker's warrant, and accordingly a force of police and some infantry and Horse Guards had to be employed to arrest and remove the Baronet. This led to a series of small riots, and the mob attacking the troops the Horse Guards rode up and down Piccadilly, firing their pistols in reply to some of the crowd who had fired at them. The Riot Act was read twice by Mr. Reid, the magistrate accompanying the troops, and several persons were wounded. So serious was the affair 82 THE TOWER OF LONDON IN 1810. considered that artillery was fetched from Woolwich and sixteen guns were stationed in St. James's Park and a howitzer and a six- pounder in Soho Square. Many houses had their windows smashed and other damage done, but at last Sir Francis was removed to the Tower; not, however, without bloodshed, for a Mr. Ebrall, a corn meter, was killed in Fenchurch Street, and the inquest produced a verdict of wilful murder against some Life Guardsmen unknown. Thomas Ebrall's tombstone, in St. Botolph's by Aldgate, mentions this. The Earl of Moira at once went to the Tower to make the necessary dispositions for the defence of the place, and a rather curious item, showing the condition of affairs, is seen in the petition of a master builder on Tower Hill to the Committee of City Finances for £20, the value of bricks taken from him by the mob while Sir Francis was being removed to the Tower. Towards the end of the month a petition from the Householders of Middlesex for the release of Sir Francis was rejected by the House. An action- at-law against the Speaker, in which Sir Francis' attorney de- scribed his client as being removed to " a certain prison called the Tower," also failed. On the 2ist of June, Parliament being pro- rogued, Sir Francis was set at liberty and left the Tower by water, thereby disappointing a procession which had been organized for the occasion, and which was joined by Jones, the origin of all the trouble, who was released the same day. Later on, in 1819, Sir Francis was committed to the King's Bench Prison for a libel on the Manchester magistrates, but he lived till 1844, when, at the age of seventy-four, and having changed some of his opinions, the fiery Baronet died unnoticed. As to the troops mentioned as being in the Tower, the yth Royal Veteran Battalion had with some others been raised in 1801-2, but in 1804 their title was changed from Royal Garrison to Royal Veteran Battalions. In 1814 the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and yth battalions were disbanded, the 6th only remaining in the Army List. The Colonel of the yth was Lieut.- General Thomas Murray, and the Lieut.-Colonel John William Cooke. There were three battalions of the West York Militia, but it is not stated which of these was sent to reinforce the Tower garrison. The barracks occupied in 1 8 10 were situated in the south-east corner of the fortress, with a detachment at the Stone Kitchen in the Byward Tower. The present barracks stand on the site of the Great Store, which, erected in William III.'s reign, was destroyed by fire on 3Oth October, 1841. The west side of Mint Street was occupied by the offices of the Mint and mill houses; the east side by private houses. On the 83 THE TOWER OF LONDON IN 1810. north, the north side was taken up with workshops of the Mint, while the south side was partly press rooms and mill rooms and more private houses. The east side of the Tower had private houses, and the Irish Barracks on the west side, and on the opposite side of the street were private houses and the blacksmith's shop. The troops occupied the Spur Barracks near the Byward Tower and the Irish Barracks, while St. Thomas Tower was the hospital. A place called on the map Golden Chain was where is now shown on the Ordnance map " The site of the Privy Garden." The block plan accompanying the Memorandum shows the numerous buildings which, till about 1856, encrusted as it were the Inner Ward of the Tower. These were for the most part on the west and north sides, and considerably blocking what is still called Mint Street, houses connected with the office of the Mint, whence for some hundreds of years issued a large portion of the coinage of the realm until 1811, when the present handsome building to the north-east of the fortress was erected. The continuation on the east side of this Mint Street was called Irish Mint Street, probably from some barracks so named. The plan also shows the wharf, now a popular promenade, as blocked up by numerous buildings at its eastern end. The menagerie, which comprised birds, reptiles and beasts, besides the Tower lions, was in 1834 removed to the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, and to the same neighbourhood was also transferred in 1828 St. Katherine's Hospital, a collection of residences occupied by pen- sioners of the Court. MEMORANDUM UPON THE STATE OF THE TOWER. QUARTER MASTER GENERAL'S OFFICE. July i2th, 1810. The General Officers who were charged with the safety of the Eastern part of the Metropolis during the late disturbances severally reported upon the insufficient state of the Tower, both in regard to its security and inadequate means of accommodation for Troops. These reports occasioned the Commander-in-Chief to inspect the state of the fortress, when he found, as represented, the Place encumbered throughout by overgrown Civil Establishments — The fire from the Ramparts obstructed upon the most material point, next to St. Catherine's by manufactories which occupy the Wharf, The Parade crowded with temporary sheds and workshops — The largest buildings occupied by warehouses and the others by indi- viduals, to such an extent that nearly seventy houses are stated to be liable to pay taxes. THE TOWER OF LONDON IN 1810. The complaint appeared equally well grounded of a free entry being given to a numerous class of artisans and other civilians, thereby affording an obvious channel through which to attempt the seduction of the troops or the conflagration of this Depot; and previous to any other observation arising out of this state of things, it may be remarked that the great and still recent event of this nature at Woolwich, offers a salutary warning as to the possibility of the recurrence of such a calamity. The Mint is believed to have been the first department which acquired an extended footing in the Tower as shown by the accompanying plan (made out by the Barrack Department) and which is sufficient for the general purposes of reference — The Office for transacting the business of the Ordnance, was likewise originally established in the Tower, as also the Drawing Depart- ment, and the Armoury for the custody of small arms — but of late years the Magazines and Stores of this Department, have not only been greatly augmented, but the manufactory for the Stocking of Musquets (alluded to) has been built upon the Wharf of the Fortress on the side of St. Catherine's, whilst the Quay has been otherwise encumbered and sheds erected for the shipping of goods (which certainly never could have been done on the recommendation of any Engineer). The accommodation, however, enjoyed by the Ordnance De- partment, is not yet deemed sufficient for their growing Establish- ments in the Tower, and measures are understood to have been taken for securing to that Department the most extensive buildings which are to be evacuated by the Mint upon the removal of that establishment to Tower Hill. The Publick danger and inconvenience arising from this Fortress having been thus converted into a manufactory and great Magazine of Stores, is of too recent a date, and was too sensibly felt to make it necessary to dwell upon the circumstances which occurred — The buildings upon the Wharf, which obstruct the fire from the ramparts as they touch the river, and nearly abut upon the private dwellings, could not be viewed without jealousy as favouring any attempt upon the Place. The West York Militia, brought from a distance by water the morning of Sir Francis Burdett's commitment, were stationed upon Tower Hill from want of accommodation within the Tower, though it was not then occupied by 400 men; and at a later period, when the fidelity of the yth Veteran Battalion (forming the Garrison) became suspected, several days even then elapsed before the temporary accommodation could be procured within the body of the place for 400 fresh troops deemed necessary for its security — As to the waver- 85 THE TOWER OF LONDON IN 1810. ing conduct of the yth Veteran Battalion, it would be difficult to determine, how far it ought to be stigmatized as disaffection — and equally so to fix the real causes from whence it originated; but it is material to recal the feeling of danger, which the apprehension of such conduct justly excited, and from thence to argue the necessity of new-regulating the interior of the Tower — of prepar- ing for the reception of a large and occasionally a mixed garrison — of restoring its means of defence, by levelling the buildings upon the Wharf — of removing the manufactory of arms and otherwise reducing the number of Artisans and Labourers — of lessening the temptation to attempt this Arsenal by diminishing the quantity of Military Stores — and of instituting a strict enquiry into the character of all Householders and ascertaining the authority under which they reside within the Walls. Publick and Private inconvenience must necessarily result from such measures, and which it may be expected will be opposed in various shapes, both by Departments and Individuals — On the other hand it should be remembered that it is impossible to compromise with the Public Danger. His Majesty's Government can alone determine upon the general situation of the Tower, and extent of the measures which ought to be taken, as affecting those branches of the Publick Service therein established. And in this Memorandum it appears only further requisite to state, that the Commander-in-Chief deems it necessary there should be provided Barrack Accommodation, first for 2 Field officers, 4 captains, 4 subs, 3 staff, 400 R. and F. with the usual pro- portion of Serjeants and Drummers, with suitable Mess Room, Kitchen, etc., as an ordinary Garrison which the Foot Guards have been directed to furnish. 2ndly to receive upon emergency a Battalion of 800 men in addition to the usual Garrison, when circumstances shall require it. The Barracks now existing in the Tower, will in part furnish this accommodation, and the Commissioners for the Affairs of Barracks have reported the following buildings as well adapted for Barracks, and which are to be abandoned by the Mint. g. New Press Room. / Old Press Room. m. Moneyers' Hall. h. Old Mill Rooms. /. New Mill Rooms. The Stone Kitchen as a canteen. a. The Deputy Master's House with the b. Assay Master's Office as an Hospital. 86 THE TOWER OF LONDON IN 1810. The object requiring the most immediate attention, is suitable accommodation for the officers now under orders to take the Tower Duty. The Dwelling houses belonging to the Mint are stated to be about thirty in number. WE have reproduced an old plan of the Tower which we thought would interest our readers, though it has really nothing to do with Lord Dillon's article. — EDITOR. REFERENCES TO THE PLAN. A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. I. K. L. M. N. O. P. The Middle Tower. The Tower at the Gate. The Bell Tower. The Beauchamp Tower. The Develin Tower. The Flint Tower. The Bowyer Tower. The Brick Tower. The Martin Tower; now the Jewel Tower. The Constable Tower. The Broad Arrow Tower. The Salt Tower. The Well Tower. The Tower leading to the Iron Gate. The Tower above the Iron Gate. The Cradle Tower. The Lanthorn Tower. The Hall Tower. The Bloody Tower. v. St. Thomas's Tower. w. Caesar's, or the White Tower. x. Cold Harbour Gate. Y. The Wardrobe Tower. AB. The house at the Water Gate, called The Ram's Head. A c. The place where the Mud Wall was, called Pike's Garden. AD. The City Wall at the N.E. of the Nine Gardens. AE. The place where the Broken Tower was. A F. Hog Lane End. A G. The house called the Stone Corner House. A H. The end of Tower Street. A i. The Stairs without the east end of the Tower. SOME EAST KENT PARISH HISTORY. BY PETER DE SANDWICH. [Continued from p. 51.] XVIIL— EASTLING. 1569. (Abp. Parker's Visitation.) RECTORY: — In the patronage of Nicholas Sentleger, Esquire, in right of his wife. Rector: — Dom. Richard Rogers, M.A., he is not married, lives there, has one benefice, and is hospitable as far as he is able, not a preacher nor licensed to preach. Householders, 24 Communicants, 87. — (Page 34.) 1572. That the church is out of reparation for lack of tileing. James Parker, farmer of the Court Lodge, suffereth his swine to turn up the churchyard, contrary to all good order. And that he ought to keep the enclosure, for that his occupancy is round about the churchyard -y and as by good record it may well appear it hath been enclosed by the farmers of the said Court-Lodge these hundred years. — (Vol. 1571-2, fol. 134.) 1576. We present that by reason of the great wind that was lately, our church is at reparation for lack of tileing. — (Vol. 1574-6, fol. 88.) 1580. (See under Baddlesmere, vol. vii, p. 212.) 1603. We, the churchwardens and sidesmen there, present Isaac Greenstreet and Sicily, the wife of Richard Hay ward, and Mary Mynge, the servant of Isaac Greenstreet, for their uncomely railing and scolding; to the great disturbance and offence of their neigh- bours.—(Fol. 84.) Thomas Greenstreet for not performing a legacy of his father Henry Greenstreet, late deceased, bequeathed to the poor of our parish, as the same Thomas hath reported and acknowledged, and as by the Will of the same plainly appeareth. — (Fol. 85.) James Greenstreet who, notwithstanding many warnings, hath not yet paid such money as he was cessed to pay towards the church.— (Fol. 86.) 88 SOME EAST KENT PARISH HISTORY. 1605. The east end, north side, and the south side of the church- yard is fenced only with hedge, through the which hogs brake, by which the churchyard is defiled and the graves offensively racked ; of this no redress will be had because Robert Yate and Richard his son, the occupiers of the land adjoining to the churchyard, refuse to make a sufficient fence, affirming that the parish ought to do it, and the parish plead to the contrary a very ancient custom. We pray that some speedy and lawful order may be taken. — (Vol. 1 60 1 -6, fol. 150.) 1612. Some part of the inward wall of our belfry is lately fallen down, and our church porch wanteth some shingling (else all is well), and we crave a reasonable day for the repairing of the same. (Fol. 64.) 1615. If by the Bible of the largest volume, a Bible of the latest translation be understood, we have none such; and that we have it not well bound. We have the Book of Common Prayer well bound, all other things we have accordingly and they are done as becometh, save that the seats are unseemly. — (Fol. 213.) 1617. All is well, saving that the north side of the church wanteth some rafters, and the steeple of the church doth lack shingling. — (Vol. 1610-17, fol. 267.) 1665. There is presented the want of a large Bible of the last translation, a font, and the churchyard fence not in good repair, and the steeple cracked, also the want of a chest to keep the utensils of the church in. — (Vol. 1636-81, fol. 124.) 1672. Robert Somerscall, for that the church is much out of repair together with the steeple thereof, which he confesseth to be true, and alledgeth that he hath repaired some part thereof, and hath material and workmen now at work to repair the rest, which work will be finished within a month's time. — (Vol. 1670-93, fol. 22.) FAVERSHAM. (Previously printed in vol. vi, page 316, and vol. vii, page 51.) XIX.— GOODNESTON, next Faversham. 1 560. That the Parson doth not his duty according to the article [of enquiry]. They lack the Paraphrase. Our parsonage is at SOME EAST KENT PARISH HISTORY. decay. Our parson hath appointed his tressher (sic) to be our Reader. Our parson is not resident, and hath another benefice called Boughton under the Blean. Our Reader doth not say his service in due time, and doth not read the catechism to the youth of our parish. — (Vol. 1560-84, fol. 49.) 1561. That their Parson is not resident, and he is Vicar also of Boughton under the Blean. The parsonage house of Goodneston is in decay, in default of Sir Robert Thompson,1 parson. He hath pulled down part of the house to boche2 up the rest, and for fault of reparation they are like to fall down, and the barn also. They lack the Paraphrase. That he hath sold the timber that was about the ground, and further that the pigeon-house is in decay for fault of reparation. — (Vol. 1561-2, fol. 124.) 1563. Their parson is not resident, neither keepeth he any hospitality there, but resides at Boughton under Blean. The parsonage house is somewhat in decay. Their parson hath cut down certain trees that did grow on the parsonage ground and carried them to Boughton under Blean, where he is also vicar, to build there, and our parsonage house being in decay. [The Rector explained that he carried them to Boughton, to be sawn into boards to repair the parsonage barn.] — (Vol. 1563-4.) 1569. (Abp. Parker's visitation. — See vol. vi, p. 31.) 1569. Rectory: — In patronage of Robert Fagg, Esquire. Rector: — Dom. Robert Thompson, he is not married, does not live there, has also the vicarage of Boughton Blean in the same deanery, does not preach, has no license to preach, not a graduate. Curate : — Thomas Gardiner, who preaches. Householders, 8. Communicants, 33. — (Page 36.) 1571. William Frende now of Faversham, who was sometime churchwarden of Goodneston four years past, hath not, neither will redeliver two keys, which were delivered to him to the use of the church, neither will pay 3*. 4^. for the occupying of them for this last year, according unto an order thereof made. — (Vol. 1571-2, fol. 134.) 1 He was Vicar of Boughton under Blean 1554-74, where he was buried 2 ist November, 1575. a Botch, to patch, mend clumsily. — " Dialect Dictionary." 90 SOME EAST KENT PARISH HISTORY. 1 574. We present the parson, for the ruin of a cove l of a house, adjoining to the barn. — (Vol. 1574-6, fol. 84.) 1580. (See under Badlesmere, vol. vii, p. 212.) 1581. William Havering for absenting himself from divine service upon the Sunday and at several times sy thence [sic]. Also he did openly defame the minister for examining the sureties at the christening of his own child, with opprobrious talk, which shall be declared more at large when the parties shall come together. — (Vol. 1577-84, fol. 51.) 1585. Our Bible and Communion Book are not altogether as they ought to be, for the Bible is not of the largest volume, and our Communion Book is somewhat torn, but we have already taken order for new, and look for them shortly from London. — (Fol. 46.) 1590. Our chancel is unrepaired and unpaved, and hath been unpaved for the space of this twelvemonths. — Fol. 156. Margaret Cole, wife of John Cole, for that there hath been and so yet is, a very common fame and vehement suspicion within the parish and other places adjoining, that she hath and doth use the most ungodly and wicked practise of sorcery or witchcraft to the offence of good people. Also Elizabeth Gardiner, wife to Benjamin Gardiner, and sister to the party aforesaid, for the same offence and in the same words as Margaret Cole. — (Vol. 1584-91, fol. 161.) 1592. Their vicar, John Foord, taketh upon himself to preach not only in his own cure, but in other parish churches publicly, being not authorized nor licensed thereunto, by order of law and the Church of England. That he doth not say the divine service according to the Book of Common Prayer, that he doth not administer the holy sacraments according to the same book. That he refuseth to read the lessons gathered out of certain of the books appointed to be read in the church, which he saith are Apocrypha, yet authorized to be read. That being asked why he refuseth so to do; answered — for that they contained untruths. 1 A cove means a shed, a lean-to or low building with a shelving roof, joined to the wall of another, the shelter which is formed by the projection of the eaves of a house acting as a roof to an outbuilding. — English " Dialect Dictionary.11 91 SOME EAST KENT PARISH HISTORY. That being asked why he refused to subscribe according to the order of the Church, whereby he might be licensed to preach, seeing that before he had subscribed : — he said that it grieved him, and he was sorry he had done it. — (Fol. 45.) 1594. That our Register Book for about these two years last past (since Mr. Plott came to be our parson) hath been orderly kept. But the Book that was before that time (and before we came into our office), is so defaced and rotten, that it cannot be read. The cause was this, — our old chest about that time was so great that it took up a great room in our church, wherefore by consent of our parish it was sold, and a new lesser [sic] made, which by reason it was of green wood, the sap and dampness thereof went through the book and spoiled it. Our church is somewhat untiled, and we are towards making a cess for the mending thereof. — (Vol. 1584-91, part ii., fol. 116.) 1603. That John Sheppard, our parson, contrary to the fourth article (of enquiry) doth cause one Henry Laesy to serve in our parish as Curate, and will not show openly unto us the sworn men of the same parish, sufficient license thereto by the Ordinary. — (Vol. 1601-6, fol. 70.) XX.— GRAVENEY. 1566. That the chancel is in decay, and the place where the altar was unpaved. — (Vol. 1566-7.) 1569. (Abp. Parker's Visitation. — See vol. vi, p. 32.) 1569. Rectory: — Appropriator, the Abp. of Canterbury. Vicarage: — In the patronage of the Queen. Vicar: — Dom. David Edwards, M.A., he is not married, does not live there, has one benefice, does not preach and has no licence to preach. Curate: — Thomas Cardyn, who is married, has no benefice, does not preach, not a graduate. Householders, 26 Communicants, 82. — (Page 36.) 1572. The chancel is out of reparation, both in timber work, and also it is untiled, so that it raineth upon the communion table whensoever it raineth. And the pigeons do spoil shamefully in our church. 92 SOME EAST KENT PARISH HISTORY. They lack a Curate, for they be served many times by their clerk, and many days we have no service in three or four days together. Our Curate serveth Goodneston and Seasalter, besides our parish. — (Vol. 1571-2, fol. 130.) 1574. That our chancel is at reparation which is a great annoy- ance to our church. We present Robert Shrubsole for with holding one of our church books, the name of the book is Erasmus' Paraphrases. — (Vol. 1574-6, fol. 84.) 1580. (See under Badlesmere, vol. vii., p. 2 12.) 1581. We lack a Paraphrase kept back by Robert Shrubsole. — (Vol. 1577-840 1592. Richard Swift, that he being one of the churchwardens doth himself come very slackly unto the church to the evil example of others, and doth also let others go unpresented for the same thing. 2. That he openly said that for one half-penny he would excuse his fellow churchwarden for being absent from the visitation. 3. He himself suffered his servant to thresh upon a holy-day at the time of divine service, and also that he did suffer one to thatch his house in time of divine service. 4. That he being demanded why he came not to the church, made answer — that he would do as he thought good, and as he had done, and that he would not come to hear Mr. Capron being their minister, and that he had no charge over him. — (Vol. 1584-91, part ii., fol. 48.) On 28 Nov. 1603, the Churchwardens of the parish appeared in the Archdeacon's Court: — For that they or the churchwardens before them took down a bell in their steeple of 5 cwt. and 50 Ib. weight; and prepared a new bell of 3 cwt. and 18 Ib.; and that there are divers other deceits and enormities in their parish present- able in this Court, not by them presented. — (Fol. 80.) 1605. The chancel door is not sufficiently kept, for which we present the same, but by whom it ought to be done we know not. A note at the side — " Gabriel Giles of Throwley is to repair the chancel." — (Vol. 1601-6, fol. 131.) 1607. The parsonage or vicarage-house, and the houses there- unto belonging are not sufficiently kept and repaired. — (Fol. 94.) 93 SOME EAST KENT PARISH HISTORY. 1608. I, Thomas Paine, minister of Graveney, do present Andrew Pettit of the same parish churchwarden, for that in the church there on the third day of July, 1608 (being the sabbath day), he took away and detained from me, and at his pleasure dis- posed of the residue of the wine which was left at a communion then and there administered by me to the parishioners of the same, and amongst them the said Pettit. At which time and place (be- sides his the said Pettit's opposition against my right herein), he used vehement speeches, for when I referred him to the Book of Common Prayer, telling him that there he should find that I only had right unto the wine so left, he replied that he cared not for the said Book, or the like in effect. — (Fol. 127.) 1609. We say that Mr. Doctor Covell (the vicarage of Mersham his other living) doth neither himself nor any other for him preach in our Church above six times at the most in the whole year, the want of which preaching we do all much feel, and therefore I present him humbly desiring your Worship to see it redressed so soon as may be. Also he doth not catechise. On the 22 July 1609, Thomas Paine, curate of the parish church of Graveney appeared in the Court and said : — That he is Curate of Graveney and hired to read service there, and doth not nor cannot preach. That he hath heretofore given warning that they should send their children and youth to be catechised, but of late they do not send them to be catechised, so as in that report he hath not performed his duties therein. — (Fol. 180.) Whereas John Tithernden and Edward Barrett, churchwardens, have in their last presentment presented me for not catechising, I according to the 59 Canon (as I take it) and the 26 Article, do present them for that they neglect to send their children and servants upon Sundays and Holydays before evening prayer to be catechised. The old collector of our parish, Jacob Napleton by name, came into the body of our church after evening prayer and spake these words which follow : — " That he had four or five times offered to give up his account of Collectorship to the churchwardens and new collector, and they were not there to take it." Unto which words I replied, one of the churchwardens being there present — "That they could present me for not catechising (although I performed the same), but they could not present themselves and others for not keeping their church." In the mean space, while we were thus speaking came in John Tithernden the other churchwarden, to whom I uttered the words aforegoing, and he answered me before the chief of the parish: — "That he presented not me but their 94 SOME EAST KENT PARISH HISTORY. minister, and that further he did not take me for his minister, nor never would." I urged him further that he should say unto Andrew Pettit the old churchwarden, that he would come to the church but once a month, neither for him nor the Commissary neither. At which words he told me flatly that I lied, twice or thrice, although my author were then present to affirm what I therein spake unto him. And he further said that " I had my conscience seared with an hot iron." And he further said that were it not for Authority he would not at any time come to hear me in the church ; and I replied and told him that I thought his conscience was seared, if he came more for fear than for conscience' sake. — (Vol. 1 606-10, fol. 196.) 1613. The wall of our churchyard is somewhat decayed by reason of extraordinary wet weather this last winter, but we have taken order with a mason to set it up again, and he is now in his work about it. — (Fol. 90.) 1615. We have all such things required, save only such a flaggon to put the wine in, and a table of the Degrees of Marriage, both which we do purpose shortly to provide. — (Fol. 211.) Our minister doth say divine service upon Sundays and Holydays, but as for Wednesdays and Fridays, and the Eves of the Holydays and Sundays, our parish is but small and the houses stand scattering (sic), and on such days the people do not resort to church. — (Fol. 212.) 1616. Andrew Pettit, for denying to pay his cess towards the reparations of the parish church of Seasalter, he being cessed at 20s. — (Vol. 1610-17, fol. 241.) XXI.— LEVELAND. 1561. That their parson is not resident, that he hath Throwley and Badlesmere. They lack the Paraphrase both at Leveland and Badlesmere. — (Vol. 1561-2.) 1569. Rectory: — In patronage of Anthony Sande, esquire. Rectory vacant through poverty. Curate : — Dora. Peter Player, rector of Badlesmere. Householders, 6. Communicants, 21. — (Page 36.) 1574. That one acre of land that should belong to the church is 95 SOME EAST KENT PARISH HISTORY. with holden by one Lewse Atleefe. Also one acre is withheld by John Upton.— (Vol. 1574-6, fol. 86.) 1579. We present Bartholomew Fryer to be malicious, con- tentious, and uncharitable, seeking the unjust reputation of his neighbours, and also suspected to be a fornicator and incestuous person, who has sought his filthy desire of the wife of Raynold Parkes divers times as she has complained to us. — (Fol. 32.) 1580. (See under Badlesmere, vol. vii. p. 21 2.) 1581. That our church is in reparations, also the chancel and the mansion-house. — (Vol. 1577-85, fol. 46.) 1589. — Edmund Roper, gentleman, and Katherine his wife, have not received the communion with us in our parish by the space of three years or more. — (Vol. 1584-91, fol. 135.) 1592. Richard Upland being churchwarden, knowing of divers defects within the parish, hath made no presentment thereof, as namely the want of a pulpit, the church and chancel unpaved in divers places, the church-porch unroofed, and the churchyard not well enclosed, and especially in the side next the street. — (Fol. 25.) Thomas Boyket and his wife, for not coming to church on Sundays and Holy-days, and especially on Easterday last past; neither have they received the communion. — (Vol. 1584-91, part 2, fol. 27.) 1604. We have one Jane Roper, gentlewoman, the daughter of Edmund Roper, gentleman, that refuseth to come to the communion being of convenient age. — (Vol. 1601-6, fol. 92.) 1606. We have no pulpit, but one seat both for reading and preaching God's word. We have no chest for alms, or pulpit cloth. — (Fol. 7.) 1609. That there is a young gentlewoman, Mr. Henry Roper's wife, that is lately come to our parish, that hath not been as yet at church. — (Vol. 1 606-10, fol. 191.) 1611. Our parish is so small that we need none, namely, a chest for the alms of the poor. — (Fol. 30.) 1612. Mr. Henry Roper's wife doth not receive the com- munion.— (Fol. 63.) SOME EAST KENT PARISH HISTORY. 1613. We answer that all persons within our parish that are of sufficient ago have received the communion in the last year, except one Mr. Henry Roper and his wife. 2. That there are no Popish Recusants in our parish that deny to come to church to common prayer, except the wife of Mr. Henry Roper. 3. That there are no women in our parish that after childbirth deny to come to church to give God thanks for their delivery, ex- cept one Mrs. Roper, wife to Mr. Henry Roper. — (Fol. 95.) 1615. We have no Bible of the largest volume of the last edition, neither convenient carpet for the communion table, but purpose shortly after harvest to provide them. — (Vol. 1610-17, fol. 216.) [To be continued.] HUNGERFORD HOUSE. — In January last a curious discovery was made at Charing Cross. The workmen who were sinking a shaft in connection with the " tube " railway, came on some extensive vaulted cellars beneath the cab-yard of the present railway station. They were twenty feet below the surface, and extended under about a quarter of the yard, and also under part of the pavement in the Strand. There seems little reason to doubt that these cellars are the remains of Hungerford House, which gave its name sub- sequently to Hungerford Market and Hungerford Bridge. This mansion was destroyed by fire on April 25th, 1669. Pepys duly records the event: "A great fire happened in Durham Yard last night, burning the house of one Lady Hungerford, who was to come to town to it this night; and so the house is burned, new furnished, by carelessness of the girl sent to take off a candle from a bunch of candles, which she did by burning it ofF, and left the rest, as is supposed, on fire. The King and Court were here, it seems, and stopped the fire by blowing up the next house." There is a good account of Hungerford Market and its vicissitudes in Mr. MacMichaePs " Story of Charing Cross " which is reviewed on another page. VOL. vni. 97 H RAMBLES IN THE HOME COUNTIES, NO. XIX. Misbourne Valley ; Denham ; Chalfont St. Peter; Chalfont St. Giles; Chesham. IN an earlier article of this series (No. xiii; vol. vi, p. 298), an interesting account was given of the road between London and Uxbridge. Beyond the latter town, however, along the valley of the Misbourne stream, lie several interesting villages which well repay a visit. Leaving Uxbridge by the broad Oxford Road, about a mile and a half from the town, a digression should be made to the picturesque village of Denham. This little village consists of one street com- posed of ancient red-brick houses, the eastern extremity terminated by the church, the western by the seventeenth century Denham Place, once the residence of the Peckham family. In the grounds of this house the little Misbourne stream has widened out into a lake of considerable size, and in summer time this piece of water, backed by the warm red-brick mansion, makes a picture of great beauty. The church should be visited on account of the Peckham monuments and brasses. The building, of flint, consists of nave, chancel, two aisles, and square embattled tower. The most inter- esting brass is in the chancel floor, and commemorates Dame Agnes Jordan,1 last Abbess of the monastery of Syon, who died in 1545. Robert Thornhill of Tuxford (1612), Vicar of the parish, Thomas Leydell and two wives (1527), are also commemorated by brasses, while on one of the chancel window frames is a palimpsest brass to a friar, having a figure of Amphyllis Peckham (1545), on the reverse. This brass is now hung in a hinged frame so that both sides may be seen. There are numerous memorials to the Bowyer family who long resided at Denham Court, and also at Radley, Berks. The oldest of these is a tablet to Sir William Bowyer (161 6). In the chancel is an altar tomb with mutilated, but restored, figures of Sir Edward Peckham and his wife. The date is given as 1564. Another early seventeenth century monument, near by, com- memorates Sir Robert Peckham, whose heart was buried at Den- 1 The marginal inscription is now lost. The brass is engraved in Aungier's "History of Syon and Isleworth," p. 895 "Trans. Lond. and Midx. Arch. Soc.," ii, p. 158; Raines1 "Monumental Brasses," Introd., p. 88. Her will, dated Oct. 28, 1545, was proved in P.C.C. (4 Alen) on Feb. 9, 1545-6. 98 O s; SB cn O a 2 RAMBLES IN THE HOME COUNTIES. ham, his body being interred in the Church of St. Gregory at Rome. Other objects of interest in the church are the Early English font, a fresco over the south door, and incised slabs in the chancel to John Sowthern (1631), and Philip Edelen (1656). Leaving Denham and retracing our steps to the main road, we continue to travel westward, until soon after passing the " Gravel Diggers' Arms" (Uxbridge 3 miles), we turn to the right and begin to descend into the Misbourne valley. The woods shut in this road on every side. The way winds up and down, with hardly a sign of any habitation until, two and a half miles further on, the village of Chalfont St. Peter is reached. Until a recent date the Misbourne used to flow right across the village street, a small bridge allowing foot passengers to cross dry shod, carts and carriages having to make their way through the ford. Now, alas, this picturesque feature has vanished. The river runs through a culvert, like an ordinary drain, because the drivers of motors objected to driving their cars axle deep through the stream. The church of Chalfont St. Peter contains no features of special interest, save a few brasses, the oldest being one to William Whappelode (1446). The church was largely rebuilt in the last century. The " Greyhound Inn " is a large rambling building, dating from the seventeenth century. Leaving Chalfont St. Peter, and following the Misbourne stream, which is almost dried up in summer, after a journey of two miles we reach the village of Chalfont St. Giles. Here, after the battle of Aylesbury, came the Roundhead soldiers under Cromwell, and from the fields on our left they amused them- selves by shooting their canon balls into the tower of the church. The village lies a little to the left of the road. The church is entered by one of those ancient fifteenth century lych-gates of which another example may be seen at Hayes, Middlesex. Near the south door is a curious fresco, the subject being the daughter of Herodias dancing before Herod. Another fresco may be seen over the chancel arch. In the reign of Elizabeth all these paintings were covered with scrolls bearing texts, and when these were cleared away the frescoes were discovered beneath. There are brasses to Thomas Fleetwood, High Sheriff of Bucks and Beds, with his family of two wives and eighteen children (1570), a palimpsest with inscriptions to John and Elizabeth Salter (1526), Thomas and Anne Bredham (1521), William Gardynerand his wife, Anne Newdigate (1558), and two more without dates. Ten hatchments show the alliances of the Fleetwood, Gardyner and Radcliffe families. The "Mecca" of all pilgrims to Chalfont St. Giles, however, is Milton's cottage. The poet's " pretty box," situated 99 RAMBLES IN THE HOME COUNTIES. at the upper end of the street, is now used as a museum of Milton relics, and can be viewed on payment of sixpence. Here the poet came in 1665 to avoid the Plague of London, and here, it is sup- posed, " Paradise Regained " was thought out. The Misbourne valley was a hotbed of Quakerism, and in the sixteenth century many natives of the Chalfont villages suffered for their religion during the Marian persecutions. Those interested in the history of Chalfont St. Giles can purchase an excellent account of the village, price one shilling, written by the Rector, and sold by the verger at the church. From Chalfont St. Giles to Amersham is a distance of some three miles, the road still keeping level with the stream. Amersham is a curious little town, once sending members to Parliament, among whose ranks are numbered the names of Edmund Waller, the Cavalier Poet, who lived at Beaconsfield, and Algernon Sidney. The town consists of one long street with a market house built in 1682 by Sir William Drake, a school dated 1643, a°d the Drake Almshouses built in 1617. The Drake family came to Amersham at the end of the sixteenth century, and their arms, argent a»wyvern gules, are conspicuous in the church and village. The church is a large building, with sturdy, pinnacled tower. Inside there are many monuments and memorials, and a large kind of mortuary chapel of the Drake family, full of every kind of monument to bygone Drakes. In the chancel is a monument to members of the Bent family. Mrs. Bent left ^5 for a sermon to be preached annually on the first Thursday in January. Formerly these sermons were preached in the morning, but of late the evening has been substituted as being more convenient. A curious brass to John Drake (1623) should be noticed, and there are others to Henry Brudenell (1430), Thomas Carbonell (1400) and John de la Penne (1521). At Amersham we have reached the limit of our ramble, and can return home by means of the Metropolitan Railway, which has a station in the town. Should this ramble, however, be made by means of a bicycle, the little town of Chesham, situated three miles to the north of Amersham, could be visited. It is situated in a little valley scooped out by the river Chess, a stream noted for its trout fishing. The town itself is of no interest, save for a few old houses, and a seven- teenth century Town Hall. The church, which stands to the south of the town, seems mainly to be built in the Perpendicular style, but there are some evidences of an earlier Norman building on the same site. Over the south porch is a parvise, in which church relics were kept, and where Thomas Harding, one of 100 RAMBLES IN THE HOME COUNTIES. Chesham's Marian martyrs, was imprisoned. Inside the church is a large fresco of St. Christopher, not, as is usual, opposite any door. There are several hatchments, one with the curious motto of " Ways and Means," and some monuments in the north transept. In the chancel is a piscina, and mural tablets to Thomas Bowie (1636), and Richard Woodcote, vicar (1623). The church is kept locked. H. J. DANIELL. THE DEANS OF BOOKING. — Apropos of the recent death of the Very Rev. Henry Carrington, Dean and Rector of Bocking in Essex, the "Church Times" for January I2th last had an in- teresting note on " Titular Deaneries." There are, it states, but three of these deaneries now surviving in England, namely, those of Bocking in Essex, Battle in Sussex, and Stamford in Lincoln- shire, and these are now shorn of all but titular prerogatives. " Anciently the Archbishop of Canterbury had several deans of peculiars, that is, of jurisdictions exempt from that of the bishop of the diocese. Chief of these was the Dean of the Arches, who de- rived his title from St. Mary of the Arches, Cheapside, the principal of the thirteen parishes in the City of London under the direct rule of the Metropolitan, and exempt from the Bishop of Lon- don's jurisdiction. The title, Dean of the Arches, is now the accepted style of the Official-principal of the Arches Court of Canterbury, but he is not appointed under that name, which is pro- bably traceable to the two offices having become united, and to Bow Church being the place of judicature common to both. Bocking was the head of the Archbishop's peculiars in Essex and Suffolk. The Deanery of Bocking is held conjointly by the Rectors of Bocking and of Hadleigh, Suffolk, the latter in the diocese of Ely. The late Dean Carrington was nominated in 1845, and thus held office for over sixty years. Bocking, with the rest of Essex, was then in the diocese of London, and has since become subject successively to Rochester and to St. Aibans. The Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Act, 1847, to°^ away the independence of peculiars in everything, except only the privilege, where existent, of issuing marriage licences concurrently with the Bishop of the diocese. The Deans are now subject to the ordinary visitatorial jurisdiction of the Bishop. Unlike the collegiate deans of Westminster and Windsor, they do not sit ex officio in the Lower House of Con- vocation of Canterbury. As beneficed clergy, they vote at the election of Proctors. They are liable to be cited to visitations and synods. Their remaining privileges are purely titular and sartorial. But these, in spite of, possibly because of, their attenuated propor- tions, are cherished locally as links with the past." 101 THE PLACE-NAMES OF NORTHWOOD AND DISTRICT.1 BY M. J. C. MEIKLEJOHN. WHEN Juliet inquired "What's in a name?" she was putting a question which, so far as the names of places are concerned, it is the aim of the following remarks to answer. However true it may be that to call a rose a cauliflower would make no difference to its perfume, I hope — I think — I shall be able to show that it is different with place-names, and that there is a very great deal in the name of a place, in that it often throws light on history where written history is dumb, or where documents speak falsely ; in that a name gives direct and authentic information about the lie and appearance of country which has been much altered either by the hand of man or by the operation of nature; that it tells of animals long since extinct in parts of the country where once they were common: how, for instance, the beaver used to build its lodges round Beverley; or the wild boar (which was in A. S. eofer) grubbed for roots round Eoferslea, which we now call Eversley; or how the badger, or brock, gave its name to Bagshot, Broxbourne, and Brockhurst; or the crane to Cranford, near Ux- bridge. Indeed, it would take too long to indicate the various quarries of information that a study of geographical names opens up to us. Local names furnish true records — in very many cases the only records — of the past. In them lies embedded and embodied for us a knowledge of physical geography; of history, both civil and natural; of commerce; of old religions; of the shiftings and migrations of some peoples, and of the extermination by war and conquest of others. Now the important point to observe about place-names — that is about those of any antiquity — is that they are not given arbitrarily or capriciously. Nearly every name of any long standing in the world has its meaning. We may not always be able at first to dis- cover that meaning, but it is there all the same ; and when dis- covered it will surely give some information either about the place to which it is attached, or about the people who gave it. The characteristic, then, of almost all genuinely English names is their essential prosiness. The earliest Teutonic settler in this country was a thoroughly matter-of-fact person; he had, as the 1 A lecture delivered to the Northwood Literary Society. 102 THE PLACE-NAMES OF NORTHWOOD. Americans say, " no use" for the airy flights in nomenclature which the modern house-builder permits himself to indulge in. For in- stance, Agmond, an early Saxon invader, planted his homestead in a beautiful valley, with a clear chalk stream purling through it. But when he came to give his place a name, did Agmond take into consideration at all the beauty of his surroundings? Not a bit of it. He simply dubbed his settlement "Agmond's hame," or Agmon- disham, which we now know as Amersham. In the same way one Aegel (either a veritable existent man or a mythical hero) took up his abode on English soil on a rich wooded plain overlooked by the finely swelling spurs of the Chiltern Hills; but he was quite satisfied to style his abiding place Aegel's town, or Aegel's bury, that place we now call Aylesbury. Or did Ceadel settle down near a limpid chalk spring, then he called his place Ceadel-funt, or Chalfont. (I might mention that the suggestion has been made that Chalfont comes from the Norman French Ghauld-font^ and means "hot spring"; an excellent derivation, were it not that Chalfont received its name before the Normans came to England, and that there are no hot springs there.) This method of nomenclature from the name of the owner — a very common one with our ancestors — is completely characteristic of the individuality and independence of the English character, and it has been well said that " the map of England, dotted over with the possessive case, is a standing protest against communism."1 And, in this regard, it is interesting to contrast the Teutonic with the Celtic genius for name-giving. " In the one case the names are fossil poetry, in the other they are fossil history."3 Glance for a moment at a few Irish names, " replete with legend and allusions to the beauties of nature." In Ireland we meet with such names as Carrig- cleena, the rock of Cleena, who was the queen of the fairies; Glennawoo, the glen of spectres; Derryevin, the beautiful oak- grove; Gloragh, the babbling brook; Coolkellure, the recess of warbling birds. But in our genuinely English names not a trace of such poetical imagination can be discovered. They know nothing — care nothing — about warbling birds or fairy queens ; they simply record in the most prosaic fashion the name or occupation of the earliest settler, or some fact about the suitability of the land round his habitation for agriculture or for keeping pigs. (The Saxon's fondness for pigs and pork I shall notice further on.) Before everything else the English settler loved privacy, resem- bling to this extent the South African Boer, also a Teuton; and the exclusiveness or seclusiveness of character, which is so often laid to 1 Ferguson, "Teutonic Name-System." 2 Taylor, " Names and their Histories." 103 THE PLACE-NAMES OF NORTHWOOD. the charge of the modern Englishman, prevailed with full force among his ancestors, who " imposed names upon our English villages, hamlets and farms."1 There are certain constantly re- curring terminations of English names all of which convey the notion of enclosure or protection. These are ton, ham, worth, stoke , hay, and bury. On this point — on the frequency of names implying enclosure — Canon Taylor remarks in his valuable book, " Words and Places," that " England is pre-eminently the land of hedges and enclosures," and he points to the fact that on a visit to most parts of the Continent almost the first thing the tourist notices is the absence of the hedgerows of England ; the fields, nay, even the farms, are bounded only by a furrow." The early Englishman, however, imbued with the principle of the sacred nature of property, almost invariably saw to it that his property should be securely fenced ofT against the intrusion of the outside world. First of all, then, for the suffix ton, or, as spelt in A.-S., tun. It is cognate with the Dutch word tuln, an enclosed garden, and the German zaun, a hedge, and it originally meant a place surrounded by a hedge or rough palisade. This ton, or rudely fortified farm- house, was the nucleus of course of what we now call a town, and in Scotland a farmhouse with its outbuildings is still called a town. In the immediate neighbourhood of Northwood there are no in- stances of place-names ending in ton, elsewhere so common a termi- nation; which goes to show that the northern part of Middlesex was not a favourite place for settlement, not unnaturally, as most of it consisted of dense forest and dreary marsh. It is perhaps worth while noticing that between Northwood and London, on the line of the Metropolitan Railway, there is not a single one of what may be called " settlement " terminations, with one exception. Not a single ton, ham, worth, stoke, hay, and only one bury; but, as that is a Kingsbury, we may suppose that the king, whoever he was, that owned a royal manor there, was able, being a capitalist, to make farming pay, or, at all events, was persuaded he could by an unjust steward. His shrewder subjects went elsewhere for their farms — to a locality where the soil was kindlier. They went, for instance, near Aylesbury to Walton, an additionally strong ton ; for, as its name implies, it must have been strengthened into a wall. Then there is Edmonton, which was originally written Eadhelm- ington, or the ton of the sons of Eadhelm ; and near Tring there is a Clinton, or little town. The din in this name is identical with the German klein, little; and we may contrast Clin-ton, "little town," with Mickle-field, or large field, near Sarrat. 1 Taylor, « Words and Places." 104 THE PLACE-NAMES OF NORTHWOOD. The second settlement-suffix ham (there are two forms of it in A.-S. charters, ham and ham — with a short ' a ' and a long * a '), is perhaps the sacred est word in our language. The long form is just the word c home,' and it is significant that the Teutonic peoples, alone in the world, have a word for home; other nations have to employ some weak periphrasis, like the French chez mot. "It may indeed be said without exaggeration that the universal prevalence throughout England of names containing this word HOME, gives us a clue to the real strength of the national character of the A.-S. race." l That race is emphatically a home-loving, though not necessarily a home-keeping, people. Instances of the termination ham — there are not many in the neighbourhood of North wood — are Denham,the home in the den or dene; Amersham, which has been already explained ; Chesham, the home on the River Chess (it may be noted that the local pronunciation Ches-ham keeps truer to the origin of the name than the commoner Chesh-am); Bradenham in Bucks, the early home of Lord Beaconsfield, which was once spelt Bradingham, and meant the home of the clan Brading. In the same way Buckingham was the home of the Buccings — the sons or clan of a warrior named, or nicknamed, Bucca, the goat. It is often erroneously stated that Buckingham means the home of the sons of the beech-wood, from the A.-S. bocy a beech tree. It is true that Bucks is extensively covered with beech-forest — a forest which loves a chalk soil; but, as the name always appears in the Saxon Chronicle as Buccingaham, it cannot possibly be derived from bocy a beech-tree; if it had, it would have been spelled Bocingaham. But before I go any further, I ought to explain the syllable ingy which we find occurring in so many names, and which is of very considerable importance. Ing has two meanings. Sometimes it is a substantive word, used either by itself or in composition, meaning 4 a meadow,' as in Bovingdon, which means the upper meadow on the hill. Bove, the upper, ing, meadow, and don^ hill,2 a name very well borne out by the situation of the place on a high and fertile table-land. Far more commonly, however, ing is a mere suffix or middle syllable, meaning " son of." In an A.-S. transla- tion of St. Luke's Gospel, Seth is described as Seth Adaming — Seth, the son of Adam. Ing, then, in local names denotes a family or clan community, either the descendants of some one man, or a number of persons who had attached themselves to some noted war- chief and become his clansmen. Thus the Buccings were, as has been already said, the sons or clan of Bucca; the Yeadings, or 1 Taylor, " Words and Places." 2 Cussans1 " History of Herts." 105 THE PLACE-NAMES OF NORTHWOOD. Geddings (as it stands in A.-S.) who dwelt round Yeading between Uxbridge and Ealing, were the children or following of a chieftain called Gedda ; Ealing itself is a clan name ; and Teddington on the Thames was the ton, or town, of the Teddings. This last word, by the way, is spelt in an A.-S. charter Tudlngtun (and Tudington in a map of North Middlesex, dated 1610) — a spelling which effect- ually disposes of the popular etymology of Teddington — the " tide- end-town," because the tide reaches thus far up the Thames. We get ing again in Tring, which was anciently Treding, and, in a disguised form, in Welwyn, Hertfordshire, which was originally Wellingum — a dative plural, meaning "at the settlement of the Wellings." The third of our settlement terminations, worthy has nearly the same meaning as ton. It denotes a place warded or protected. (From the same root comes the word weir — a structure which wards off the waters of a river.) Three instances of worth occur in this neighbourhood. Rickmansworth was always written in old deeds Rickmeresworth, and it means the farm in the rich or fertile mereland or marshland.1 For " there can be little doubt that, in prehistoric times, the whole of the low-lying part of Rickmansworth parish, extending over the meadows as far as Bushey, was one vast mere,"2 and Rickmeresworth was named accordingly. We get worth again in Edgware, which used to be written Edgeworth — the warded farm on the edge of the low hills round Stanmore and Elstree; and also in Batchworth. What Batch means it is not possible to say definitely, but as the name appears in an eleventh century charter (of which there is a facsimile in Oxhey Chapel) as Bacceswyrth, one is inclined to believe that Batchworth means the farm of some man with a name like Bac or Bacca. The next two endings can be passed rapidly over. The word stoke is, as the form would lead us to imagine, a place j/adr-aded. We meet it in Stoke Mandeville and Stoke Poges — the last half of the latter probably a Norman name, Mandeville certainly so. I shall return to Mandeville presently in discussing Norman names. A hey (or hay) meant simply a hedge, and it seems to have had a special secondary meaning of an enclosure for the purposes of the chase. Two illustrations of hey occur near Northwood — Oxhey, the ox hedge, and Westbrook Hay near Bovingdon. The last of the common town-terminations is bury^ which is the distinctively Saxon form of the word as distinguished from the Anglian and Danish borough. Both mean primarily "shelter 1 The old form of spelling may still be seen on a tablet over the door of the Fotherley Almshouses (1682) in High Street. 2 Cussans" " History of Herts." 1 06 THE PLACE-NAMES OF NORTHWOOD. place," and afterwards "town." In this district we only meet with the first form, and hence we may infer that our neighbour- hood was peopled — where peopled at all — principally by in- habitants of pure Saxon blood, with little or no intrusion of Anglians or Scandinavians. We have for an instance Cassiobury near Watford — a name referred by the antiquary, Camden, to the Cassii, a British tribe who were ruled by Cassivellaunus, though I confess the derivation appears to me to be more than doubtful. For one thing it is too pat and easy ; and for another Cassiobury appears in old documents under the spelling of Caysford, in which case it may have something to do with the River Chess. Then there are Aylesbury — Aegel's bury ; Langley Bury — the bury by the long lea or long meadow; and Sudbury, which is simply the South bury or South Town. South Town itself most frequently occurs in the abbreviated form of Sutton, which, by the way, is another instance of the general poverty of so much of our English nomenclature. For there are in England no fewer than 73 villages bearing the name of Sutton; while Norton and Weston — North Town and West Town — and East Town which is gener- ally changed to Aston (as Eastcote is to Ascot) are nearly or quite as common. One more word denoting a farm-place or dwelling may be added, and that is steady which, unlike the others, conveys no notion of protection or fortification. We get it in Hampstead (A.-S. Heanstede) which means " at the high place " — an allusion to trfe breezy, elevated character of the district; and in Berkhamp- stead, which was in A.-S. Beorh-hamstede. The k is an intrusive letter, and has no business there, and Berkhampstead means the homestead on the beorh or hill. That word beorh we find again in the two last syllables of Risborough in Bucks, i.e.y the hill covered with hris or brushwood. I mentioned Eastcote some few lines back. The ending cote is also indicative of a dwelling place; it denotes a thatched cottage with mud walls, and usually appears in the names of insignificant places like Eastcote and Ascot, the latter insignificant in the days before the Ascot Gold Cup was thought about. Now to come to names which throw light on and describe the natural features of the country. As these were there before the Saxons came, we shall expect to find, and we do find, some number of names that were left by a pre-Saxon people — by the Celtic race. It is hardly necessary to explain how the Saxon invaders dispossessed the British Celts, driving them into the more inaccessible parts of the country — into Wales and into Cornwall, where the Celts have held their ground to this day. But the Celtic tribes, though they were chased out of their old dominions by the Saxon land-grabbers, 107 THE PLACE-NAMES OF NORTHWOOD. left the names they had given to the natural features of the country behind them. These names were given before even the Romans came. They have outlasted Romans, Saxons, Danes, and Normans, and they will outlast us. To this day there is hardly a single river name in Great Britain that is not Celtic — not one, I think, of any large river. "Men come and go; towns rise and decay; even the sites of towns, like that of the Roman Verulam, which is by St. Albans, disappear; but the old river names remain — they are more lasting than the names of the eternal hills, just as the rivers are more lasting than the so-called eternal hills themselves." One of the commonest of Celtic river names is ulsge : l it simply means " water." This word is perhaps more familiar to some in the Anglicized form of whisky, which also means water. Ulsge as a river name, however, assumes many and most Proteanly varying forms — amongst others axe, exe, usk, and ux, and of the last we find an example in Uxbridge, which means the " bridge over the water." So also on the left-hand side of the Metropolitan railway just out of Harrow there stands a farm called Uxendon — at the foot of a low hill or dun, and on an ux or brook, which discharges into the River Brent. So the name of Uxendon Farm, entirely Celtic in its origin, would be, if translated into English, Brookhill Farm. The only other Celtic river name in the neighbourhood is that of the Colne, which is doubtfully referred to the Gaelic word caol? straight. The Saxons, when they wanted to name a stream (they have left their names to none but the very smallest), generally called it a bourne or burn. Holborn in London, for instance, marks the course of a burn which ran along the hollow or hole of the street so named, which is crossed by the present Holborn Viaduct, and then ran down Farringdon Street and New Bridge Street to fall into the Thames as the Fleet, whence of course the name of Fleet Street. There are also some bournes nearer here. There is Alder Bourne near Uxbridge, Woburn in Bucks, the crooked burn (A.-S. wo), and the Kilburn, a tributary of the West- bourne, which, after filling the Serpentine in Hyde Park, has to endure an inglorious ending in the Thames as the Ranelagh Sewer. Another evidence of the Celtic race is the word "combe," a valley, which the Saxons borrowed from the Celts, as they did dun, a hill. We get it in Coombe, the name of a hamlet among the Chilterns, in Bacombe Hill near it, and in High Wycombe in Bucks. For a hill itself the Celtic word was penn, a head or high point; and that we have in the village of Penn, which occupies 1 Pronounce Ooshky. * Pronounce Cole. 1 08 THE NAME-PLACES OF NORTHWOOD. about the highest point, or head of land, in the immediate neigh- bourhood. Celtic, too, in origin most probably, though not Celtic in name, is the remnant of that great earthwork called Grim's Dyke or Grim's Ditch. We find traces of it near Tring ; it sweeps, in disconnected lengths however, right round the northern and western faces of the Chilterns and reappears near Pinner. In origin it is certainly pre- Roman, that is, British or Celtic; but its purpose who shall pronounce on ? Probably it was a fortification, but possibly a boundary line between one tribe of Britons and another. Another form of penn, a head, is cenn^ as in Kenton, a village which occupies a slight elevation or hillock near Harrow L. and N. W. Station. Here is the story of the birth of that name. At some date probably in the seventh century a warrior of the Middle Saxon horde had just set up his dwelling — his ton — on that hillock, and being a dull-witted sort of person, handier at making British widows than making English names, he could not for the life of him think what to call his home. Then he suddenly remembered that some- where about the premises there was a red-haired British slave, and the bright thought occurred to him to ask the slave the name of the hillock on which the farmhouse stood. Perhaps it may be objected that the British bondman and his Saxon proprietor did not know each other's language. Very likely they didn't. But the butt end of a spear, judiciously applied, is a wonderful means of eliciting information from subject and unintelligent races; and thus appealed to more than once, the poor British slave at last perceived that his lord wanted to be told the name of the hillock, and he growled out " cenn," on which the enraptured Saxon, amazed at his own inventiveness, shouted out, "I have it! Kenton!" and Kenton, or " hill-head town," it is to this day. in addition to duny a hill, another word of something the same meaning is hall, A.-S. healb, which means a slope. Near Stoke Mandeville is a place named Hall End, which at first sight is an ab- solutely meaningless name. For why should a hall, assuming it to mean a home, have an end ? But this name becomes distinctly mean- ingful when we look at the map ; we see that it is precisely at this point that the slopes of the Chiltern Hills end and sink down into the Aylesbury Plain. Hall End then means " the end of the slope." Similarly Southall stands on the London and Uxbridge Road, on the south slope of a slight elevation. Now, is there a Northall to correspond ? Yes, there is, but not exactly in the same form. Just about two miles to the north of Southall lies the hamlet of Northolt, which might mean the North Holt or North Wood. But the name in Domesday is spelt Northala, i.e., North Heath, whence it be- comes clear that this Northolt is the true complement of Southall, 109 THE NAME-PLACES OF NORTHWOOD. and would, but for the corruption of centuries, have been spelled and pronounced Northall or North Slope.1 [To be continued.] 1 Note on Northolt and Southall. [Information supplied by the Rector of Northolt.] (1) Neither Northolt nor Southall stands on a slope, nor is there any vestige of a hill between these two places. (2) From very early times the former place has been called Northolt or Norths//. So Southall appears, in a map dated 1610, Southed?. (3) The Domesday name for Northolt is NortlW<2. (4) The part of Northolt parish under Harrow Hill still bears the name of Wood-End. (5) The manor of Northala was bestowed by the Conqueror on Geoffrey de Mandeville, Sheriff of Middlesex and Constable of the Tower, who set up his Court there. Conclusions : That Northall (Northala) and Northolt (i.e. North Wood) are not identical but separate names. That the village was first called Northall, and the wood near it Northolt. That in course of time the two names grow confused, and that the village was called by the name of the wood, and 'vice versa. So with Southall and Southolde. Hence I conjecture that Northall, the village name (Domesday, Northala), is derived from the A.-S. heall, a court, and that there stood there the dwelling-house (perhaps stone-built) of some wealthy Saxon, which was taken over by De Mandeville. Northall thus = North Court. Taylor in " Names and their Histories," says that Northolt (Domesday, Northala} means " North Slope." Probably he is wrong. I have allowed the passage in the text to stand as I originally wrote it. But, as will be seen from the note, my interpretation of the name Northolt (in which I followed Taylor) is incorrect. It is clear that the true complements are (i) Northolt and Southolde (North Wood and South Wood), and (2) Northall and Southall (North Court and South Court).— M. J. C. M. IJO THE VICTORIA COUNTY HISTORIES. BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, Vol. I. Edited by WILLIAM PAGE, F.S.A. 1905. THE first part of "The History of Bucks " was published towards the end of last year. The various natural history sections are in the hands of well-known specialists, and form nearly one-third of the volume. Mr. George Clinch, F.G.S., treats of Early Man. His map shows that Palaeolithic implements have been found at Great Missenden, Hambleden, Great Marlow, Taplow, Burnham, Langley Marish, and Iver. Neolithic finds are, of course, much more numerous, but bronze finds are rare; they are noted at Bradwell, Waddesdon, Halton, Hanridge, Princes Risborough, High Wycombe, Medmenham, and Dachet. A bronze spear-head found at Taplow is said to be unique. Mr. Clinch has a good deal to say about the two remarkable crosses cut in the turf on the steep slopes of the Chiltern Hills in the neighbourhood of Monks Risborough and Bledlow. These crosses are of great size, the former measures some eighty feet across the arms, and the latter about seventy-five by ninety-five; the former is set nearly due east and west, while the latter is approximately E.N.E. by W.S.W. They may be compared with the " White Horses " and " Long Men " in other parts of the country. These figures are certainly of great antiquity; popular tradition assigns them to the Saxons, and in some cases associates them with battles. The cross at Monks Risborough is said to be visible for thirty miles. Mr. Reginald A. Smith, F.S.A., writes on the Anglo-Saxon remains, of some of which there is a coloured plate. Mr. Horace Round and the Rev. F. W. Ragg are responsible for the chapters on Domesday. The most important fief in the county was that of Walter Giffard, who was assessed at nearly 300 hides, representing from that standpoint between a sixth and a seventh of the whole county. The Ecclesiastical History, which occupies the remainder of the volume, is by " Sister Elspeth of the Community of All Saints." The religious houses of the county, though fairly numerous, were for the most part small and insignificant. There are two plates of seals, the most curious of which is that of Ankerwick Priory, having for its device what is obviously intended to be a representa- tion of the Church. in THE VICTORIA COUNTY HISTORIES. A list of these will be useful to our readers. BENEDICTINE MONKS. — Luffield Priory ; Bradwell Priory; Snelshall Priory. BENEDICTINE NUNS. — Ivinghoe Priory; Ankerwick Priory; Little Marlow. CLUNIAC MONKS. — Tickford or Newport Pagnell Priory. CISTERCIAN MONKS. — Biddlesden Abbey. AUSTIN CANONS. — Missenden Abbey; Medmenham Abbey; Nutley Abbey; Chetwode Priory; Ravenstone Priory. AUSTIN NUNS. — Burnham Abbey. PREMONSTRATENSIAN CANONS. — Lavendon Abbey. BONHOMMES. — Ashridge College. KNIGHTS HOSPITALLERS. — Hogshaw Commandery. KNIGHTS TEMPLARS. — Bulstrode Preceptory. FRIARIES. — Aylesbury, Franciscan Friars. HOSPITALS. — Aylesbury: St. John the Baptist, St. Leonard; Buckingham : St. John the Baptist, St. Lawrence ; Newport Pagnell: St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, St. Margaret; Stony Stratford: St. John the Baptist; Wendover: St. John the Baptist; High Wy combe: St. Margaret, St. Giles, St. John the Baptist; Ludgershall. ALIEN HOUSES. — Newton Longville Priory ; Wing Priory. It is interesting to note that five of these houses came to an end before the general Dissolution. These were Luffield Priory, sup- pressed in 1494 to endow Henry VIFs new chapel at Westminster; the Priories of Tickford, Ravenstone and Bradwell formed part of the endowment of Cardinal's College in 1524, while Chetwode Priory was absorbed into Nutley Abbey in 1461. There is no description of the remains of any of these houses, which is no doubt reserved for treatment by an archaeological expert in a future volume. It would have been well, however, we think, to add to the history of each house a brief statement of " remains " or " no remains." The frontispiece, by Mr. Hyde, is a view of Eton College from the Thames. HERTFORDSHIRE, Vol. i. Edited by WILLIAM PAGE, F.S.A. 1902. The subjects most likely to interest our readers are here divided as follows: "Early Man," by Sir John Evans, K.C.B. ; "Anglo- Saxon Remains," by Mr. Reginald A. Smith; " Domesday Survey," by Mr. Horace Round and the Rev. F. W. Ragg ; " Sport, Ancient and Modern," by Mr. Charles T. Part; five gentleman write on cricket, and three on football. 112 THE VICTORIA COUNTY HISTORIES. Turning to the map of prehistorical remains, we find that there are earthworks at Harborough Banks, near Ashwell; Earl's Hill, near Therford ; Pirton ; Ravensburgh Castle, near Lilley ; Great Offley, Westmill, Stevenage, Watton, Frogmore, Sacombe, Wheat- hampstead, Hertford, Bonnington ; The Aubreys, near Redbourn, Hoddesdon, Berkhamsted, Strafford, near St. Alban's, and Cheshunt. The most important earthwork is the well-known Grimes-ditch or Grimsdyke, "of which traces are visible on Berkhamsted Com- mon, and which reappears on the other side of the valley of the Bulbourne, while a vallum extends in a bold sweep from near the town of Great Berkhamsted, through the parishes of Northchurch and Wiggington, to the north of the camp of Cholesbury, and thence to St. Leonard's in Buckinghamshire, continuing, it is said, past Missenden to near Bradenham. If the name of this earthwork be the Saxon Grams-die, 'the devil's dyke,' it seems to afford evidence that the work dates from pre-Saxon times, and in Saxon days was regarded as of unearthly origin." Another important earthwork, known as Beech-Bottom, between the site of Verulamium and Sandridge, is regarded by Sir John Evans as pre-Roman, and possibly connected with the large en- campment east of Wheathampstead, known as 4 The Moats ' or * The Slad.' The oval camp near Redbourn, known as c Aubury ' or ' The Aubreys,' is also pre-Roman. Berkhamsted Castle prob- ably stands upon the site of an early camp, as British and Roman coins have been found there. Palaeolithic implements have been found at Ickleford, Hitchin, Stocking Pelham, Bishop Stortford, Stevenage, Ippollitts, Kneb- worth, Welwyn, Wheathampstead, Ware, Hertford, Bayford, North Mimms, Cheshunt, and Kings and Abbots Langley, show- ing that the county was widely settled at a very remote period. Sir John Evans deals with Mr. Worthington G. Smith's discoveries1 at Caddington, of the original land surfaces on which the makers of these early flints worked. " He found their stores of unworked flints, the refuse chips and flakes resulting from the manufacture, broken and unfinished implements, and he was moreover able, by bringing fragments of flint together, to reconstitute the original blocks out of which the implements had been chipped." Such a discovery is, we believe, unique, and seems to afford abundant proof of Mr. Smith's claim. The neolithic and bronze finds do not call for special remark, except that we may mention the large horde of bronze instruments found in 1876 at Cumberlow Green, Rushden, near Baldock. 1 Fully described in his book entitled, "Man the Primeval Savage," 1894. VOL. VIII. 113 I THE VICTORIA COUNTY HISTORIES. The late Celtic coinage, that is, anterior to the complete subju- gation of Britain by the Romans, is well represented in Hertford- shire ; it is also a subject which Sir John Evans has made peculiarly his own. These coins form an instructive and interesting example of the gradual decadence of art among a relatively uncivilized people. Many of them were imitated from those of Gaul, which in turn purported to be copies of those of Philip of Macedon ; but the later ones have lost almost all semblance to the originals, and the designs have become absolutely meaningless. The principal mint appears to have been at Verulamium. The Anglo-Saxon remains in the country are few, and mostly unimportant, but there is one object so remarkable that Mr. Smith states that its like has never been found in these islands, and but seldom on the conti- nent. This is a bronze ewer, nearly nine inches high, with a pear-shaped body, a short curved spout issuing from near the top, and a thin handle with a pellet on the top ; the mouth is circular, and has a hinged lid with a knob ; the base is flat, and rests on three feet. The vessel, with the ex- ception of the lid, is cast in one piece with considerable skill. It is stated to have been found about 1886, in the neighbourhood of Wheat- hampstead, with a glass tumb- ler, several human skulls de- scribed as male, other bones, and some bronze rings. It is now in the British Museum. The Rhine district furnishes the only known parallels, and Mr. Smith considers that this ewer probably came from that part of Europe. The section on " Sport, Ancient and Modern," by various writers, seems a little out of place at the end of this volume, but it affords some interesting reading. There is a portrait of the Marchioness of Salisbury, about 1793, apparently in the somewhat unusual capacity, for a woman, ofAfistress of the Hertfordshire Fox Hounds. There are also several plates of the St. Alban's Steeple Chase, wherein most of the riders are coming to grief. The frontispiece, by Mr. Hyde, is a view of St. Albans. 114 THE WHEATHAMPSTEAD EWER. Paul's Cross in 1620. Engraved from the contemporary picture belonging to the Society of Antiquaries. Reproduced from Brayley's Londiniana. THE CHRONICLE OF PAUL'S CROSS. BY W. PALEY BAILDON, F.S.A. THE story of Paul's Cross has been often told. Stow, Dugdale, Brayley, Wilkinson, Knight, and others, have all dealt with it in detail; Dean Milman, in his "Annals of St. Paul's Cathedral," has much to say of it incidentally; Canon Sparrow Simpson has devoted four chapters to it in his " Chapters in the History of Old St. Paul's"; while in 1892, Mr. John B. Marsh published a small work, entitled, " St. Paul's Cross ; the most famous spot in London." But even with all this already printed, I make no excuse for the following pages. The earlier writers used the material available to them, but the later writers seem to have neglected the sources of information which the Calendars of State Papers and other publications of a similar nature have placed within our reach. Mr. Marsh, indeed, has used the Calendars published down to 1 892, but he gives no references, and, as a rule, prints only a short abstract of the documents he cites. The worthy Dean, again, is decidedly polemical, and his references to Paul's Cross are scattered through the volume. Canon Simpson's book was published in 1881, and his chapters on the Cross, charming as they are, do not constitute a Chronicle. I have, therefore, attempted to collect and arrange in chrono- logical order all references to Paul's Cross, from every source. It is highly probable that I have missed some, and I shall be grateful for any additions. Many of these hardly require any comment, and I have carefully refrained from writing a page of more or less relevant discourse on a text of three lines, in the way that makes Knight's account at once so irritating and so interesting. It is well over two centuries and a half since the citizens of London saw the last of Paul's Cross, and even its very site had until comparatively lately become a matter of conjecture. Writing in 1841, Knight tells us that " a few years ago, it seems, a tree grew, but even that no longer marks the spot, where stood of old the famous Paul's Cross, towards the eastern extremity of the vacant space on the north side of the Cathedral." 1 Now, however, thanks to the careful investigation of Mr. F. C. Penrose, F.S.A., the Surveyor to the Cathedral, the exact situation has been marked in the stone pavement. 1 "Pictorial History of London," vol. i, p. 33. THE CHRONICLE OF PAUL'S CROSS. How early there may have been a cross on this site, we cannot say. The earliest documentary evidence is in 1241; but one inter- esting feature in its history leads to the belief that a cross had existed here at a much earlier date. Paul's Cross was the recognized meeting place of the City Folkmote. Now these local gatherings unquestionably date from very early times, and were common alike to the Germanic and Scandinavian tribes; they were almost invari- ably held in the open air (a fact pointing, perhaps, to a time when there was no building large enough to hold the assembly), and very frequently were called after the object, natural or artificial, round which the meeting was held. Thus, we find a large number of names of hundreds or wapentakes ending in tree, or some particular kind of tree, such as oak or ash, or in low or bury (when they were held at some noted mound), or in bridge, or ford^ or stone ; and in the same way, there are a considerable number ending in cross, showing that some actual cross was the rendezvous.1 These folk- motes, whether of hundreds or cities, are long antecedent to the Norman Conquest, and the fact of the London folkmote meeting at Paul's Cross seems to suggest a very high antiquity for a cross at this spot. Apart from these interesting speculations, however, we have no evidence of the existence of a cross in St. Paul's Churchyard prior to the year I24-I.2 1241. In the same year his Lordship the King asked leave of the citizens of London, at Saint Paul's Cross, that he might pass over into Gascoigne, to aid the Count de la Marche against the King of France ; and soon after, crossed over. — (Riley, " Chronicle of the Mayors," etc., p. 9.) 1252. May 30. Afterwards, on the morrow of our Lord's 1 A list of these may prove interesting. They are, Faircross (Berks), Normancross (Hunts), Brothercross and Guiltcross (Norfolk), Singlecross (Sussex), Ewcross, Osgoldcross, Staincross, and perhaps Buckrose (Yorks). 2 Dean Milman (p. 38), and Mr. Marsh (p. 9), both give a statement under the year 1191. I quote from the former: "William Fitz Osbert was the demagogue of the day ; Paul's Cross was the rostrum from whence he poured forth his inflammatory harangues." The Dean gives in a footnote as authority for this, "Diceto, Howeden, and the other chroniclers. Lingard has well described the riot." Lingard's account (vol. ii, p. 498) is evidently the source of the Dean's story ; he cites Hoveden, Diceto, Gervase, and Newbrig. On reference to the chroniclers named we do indeed find the story of Fitz Osbert (under 1196, however), but I failed to find any mention of Paul's Cross. Diceto, who, as Dean of Paul's at the time, is the best authority of all, says that FitzOsbert's speeches were delivered in ecclesia Doctoris gentium Pauli. I have therefore omitted the incident in my chronology. THE CHRONICLE OF PAUL'S CROSS. Ascension, on the 3Oth day of May, namely, by precept of his Lordship the King, the whole community of London was assembled in the Churchyard at Westminster, where his Lordship the King took leave of them, saying that he was about to cross over into Gascoigne ; and gave orders that all persons in the City should meet together on the Sunday following at St. Paul's Cross, in the presence of those whom he should send thither, and there make oath of fealty to Sir Edward, his son, and to his Queen, to whose charge he was about to commit his kingdom. Afterwards, this matter was post- poned until the Tuesday in Pentecost; on which day, the whole commons of the City did fealty at the Cross aforesaid, to Sir Edward and in his presence, saving their fealty to his Lordship the King.— (Riley, " Chronicles," p. 20.) 1256. "In this xli yere [of Henry III], and begynnynge of the same, was foundyn, in the Kynges Wardrobe at Wyndesore, a byll or rolle closyd in grene waxe, and not knowen from whens it suld comme ; in the which rolle was conteyned dyverse artycles agayne the Mayre and rulers of the Cytie of London, and that by theym the comynaltie of the Cytie was grevouslye taskyd and wrongyd ; which bill was presented at lengthe to the Kynge : whereupon he anone sent John Mancell, one of his justycys, unto London, and there, in the feest of the Conversion of Saynt Pawle, by the King's auctoryte, callyd at Powlys Crosse^ a folk-moot, beynge their present Syr Richard de Clare, Erie of Glowcetyr, and dyverse other of the Kynges Counceyll ; where the sayd John Mancell causyd the sayd rolle to be redde before the comynalty of the Cytie, and after, shewyd to the people that the Kynges pleasure and mynd was, that they shulde be rulyd with justyce, and that the lybertyes of the Cytie shuld be maynteyned in every poynt, and if the Kynge myght knowe those parsonys [persons] that so hadde wrongyd the comynaltie of the Cytie, they shuld be grevouslye punysshed to the exaumple of other. . . . The sayde John Mansell, with dyverse of the Kynges Counceyll, kepte theyr Courtys daylye, the Sondayes excepte, tyll the fyrste Sondaye of Lent, the whiche, that yere, was the xxv daye of Februarii [1257], callynge before hym xij Wardys of the Cytie j of the whiche xij Wardys of everyche of theym was takyn thre men, soo that of those xij Wardys xxxvj men were impanellyd and sworne for to enquyre of the foresayde artycles, and what personys of the Cytie hadde offendyd in theym. . . . Upon the sayde Sonday of Lent, the Mayre, Aldre- men, and Shryvys, with the sayde enqueste and foure men of every Warde, were chargyd to appere at Westmynster before the Kynge; at whiche apperaunce they were countyrmaundyd tyll upon the 117 THE CHRONICLE OF PAUL'S CROSS. nexte morowe. . . . Upon the daye folowynge, the Kynge with many of his Lordys syttynge in the sayd Exchekyr, the foresayde inquysycyon was redde. . . . The Kynge commandyd that upon the mornynge folowynge, a Folkmoot shulde be callyd at Pawlys Crosse^ and so that Courte was dyssolvyd, and the Mayre and the other retournyd to London. Upon the morowe, ye Folkmoot beynge at Pawlys Crosse assemblyd, etc. — (Fabyan, "Chronicle," ed'. 1811, pp. 339 et seq.'t Riley, " Chronicles," p. 37.) 1259, November 5. On the day before the Feast of St. Leonard [November 6th], his Lordship the King came to the Cross of Saint Paul's, a countless multitude of the City being there assembled in Folkmote, and took leave of the people to cross over, just as he had done before at Westminter, and promised them that he would preserve all their liberties unimpaired. — (Riley, " Chronicles," P- 450 1260-1. " After the feast of Candelmasse T the Kyng commandid a folmoot to be called at Pawlys Crosse^ where he, in propre per- son, with the Kyng of Almayne, the Archebisshop of Canterbury, and many other nobles came, where the Kyng commaundyd unto the Mayor that every strypelinge of the age of xii yeres and above, should, before his Aldreman, be sworn, the day folowyng, to be trewe to the Kynge, and to his hey res, Kings of Englande, and that the gatis of the Cytie were kepte with armyd men, as before by the Kyng of Romayns was devysyd." — (Fabyan, u Chronicle," p. 347 ; Riley, p. 49.) 1261. "In this xlv yere [of Henry III], shortly after Alhalowyn daye [Nov. ist, 1260], the Baronys admytted & made Sheryfys of dyverse shyrys of Englande, and dyschargyd suche as the Kynge before had admytted, and namyd theym gardeyns and kepers of the counties and shyres ; and over that, the Baronys wolde not suffre ye Justice y* the Kynge had admytted to kepe ye plees & lawys callyd Itenerant^ but suche as were of theyr admyssyon : wherew* the Kynge was grevouslye dyscontentyd, in soo moche that, after that season, he laboured that he myght do dysanull ye former ordenaunces and statutes,2 and to cause them to be broken. In so moche yfc upon the seconde Sondaye of Lent folowinge, the Kynge commaundyd 1 In all these early chronicles there is a danger of mistaking the actual yearj for the most part they give the year only in November, when the Mayor and Sheriffs are elected. Consequently, for everything happening after ist January, the year actually given is wrong. This entry, for instance, appears under 1 260. 2 The Provisions of Oxford, June, 1257. 118 THE CHRONICLE OF PAUL'S CROSS. to be red at Pawlys Crosse^ a Bull of the graunte of Pope Urban, the iiij of that name, as a confyrmacyon of an other Bull before purchasyd of his predecessour Alexandre the iiij, for to assoyle the Kynge and all other that before had sworne to the mayntenaunce of the fore sayd Artycles made at Oxynforde: and after causyd the sayde absolucion to be shewyd thoroughe ye realme of Englande, Walys & Irelande, guyvyng streyght charge to all his subjectys, that none be so hardy as to withstande nor dysobey the sayde absolucyon: . . . About the feest of Sent Albon in the moneth of Junii [June 22], the Kynge of Almayne tooke shyppynge, and saylyd into Almayne, and the Kyng at a Folkmoot holdyn upon the Sondaye after Seynt Peter's daye [June 29], in the moneth of Julii had lycense to sayle into Fraunce, and ye morowe after he departyd from London towarde the see's syde, with the Quene and other Lordys."— (Fabyan, " Chronicle," p. 347.) This Folkmoot was doubtless held, like the others, at Paul's Cross. The incident of Pope Urban 's Bull is given elsewhere under 1262. — (Stow, "Annales," p. 192; Riley, "Chronicles," P- 53-) 1261-2. "Thenne, upon Mydlent Sondaye, the Mayre and the commons beynge present at a folkmote holden at Paulys Crosse before Sir Philyp Basset and other of the Kynges Counsayll, the Mayre was sworne to be trewe to the Kynge, and to his heyres kynges ; and upon the morowe at Guyldehalle, every Alderman in the presence of the Mayre toke the same othe ; and upon ye Sondaye folowynge, euery strypelyng of the age of xij yere and above, before his Alderman in his Warde, was newely charged with the same othe."— (Fabyan, "Chronicle," p. 349; Riley, "Chronicles," p. 56.) 1267, June 23. At this time also, on the Vigil of St. John the Baptist [June 24], Sir Alan la Suche [Zouche] was made Constable of the Tower and Warden of the City by his lordship the King in presence of all the people, at St. Paul's Cross. — (Riley, " Chronicles," p. 97.) 1270, May 13. Be it remembered that after this on the I3th day of May, there came to St. Paul's Cross nine Bishops, arrayed in their Pontificals, namely, Nicholas of Winchester, John of Hereford, Godfrey of Worcester, Roger of Norwich, Laurence of Rochester, Roger of Chester, Walter of Salisbury, William of Bath, and Anian of St. Asaph in Wales ; who caused to be read a certain Bull of Pope Innocent, confirmatory of the Charters of the 119 THE CHRONICLE OF PAUL'S CROSS. Liberties of England and of the Forest, which the King had exe- cuted unto the Barons of England in the Qth year of his reign ; and caused to be read openly and distinctly before all the people, the sentence which, in the year of Our Lord 1253, nad been Pro~ nounced in the greater hall at Westminster, before the King and many nobles of England, by thirteen Bishops arrayed in pontificals, against all transgressors of the said Charters. Which being read, and by all the people understood, these nine Bishops pronounced excommunicated all persons who, since the sentence aforesaid, had done or procured to be done anything in contravention of any articles in the aforesaid Charters specified. — (Riley, " Chronicles," P. 1272. There was a serious dispute as to the election of the Mayor this year, between the Aldermen and Walter Harvey, the popular favourite ; this was referred to the arbitration of ten persons, five chosen by each side. Immediately on the death of Henry III [Nov. 16, 1272], the Archbishop of York, the Earl of Gloucester, and others, came to the City ; the Earl, fearing a riot, caused a Folkmote to be called at St. PauFs Cross. This was apparently on November i6th. On the morrow accordingly, all the City came into St. Paul's Churchyard ; the Aldermen had to give way; and so, declaration was made by Walter de Merton before all the people at St. PauFs Cross, to the effect that the Aldermen had agreed that the said Walter should be Mayor for one year. — (Riley, "Chronicles," pp. 158, 159.) 1274-5, 3 Edward I. "In this yere, one Walter Harvy, whiche the firste yere of this Kyng, after longe contrasversie & stryfe that he had kept with the Aldermen of London, at a Folkmote kepte at Poules Crosse was made Mayre of London, and so continued to the hurte of the Cytie that yere : this yere was he accused of dyvers perjuries and other detestable dedes contrary his othe ; for the whiche, and for makynge of assembles of the commons whiche favored hym in his yl dedes, was depryved of his Aldermanshyp and Counsayll of the Cytie for ever. — (Fabyan, "Chronicle," p. 385.) From a writ of quo warrants of the year 1287, it appears, accord- ing to Dugdale, that the ground upon which Paul's Cross stood, described as lying eastward from the church, and as that on which the citizens of London had been anciently wont to hold their folk- motes,1 was claimed as belonging to the King, and had only newly 1 The " Liber Custumarum " says that the citizens held their folkmoot ab antique), in the east part of the new cemetery, where the great bell tower is. Rolls Series, vol. ii, p. 343. 1 2O THE CHRONICLE OF PAUL'S CROSS. come to be used for the interment of the dead. The people, it is stated, used to be summoned to the folkmote by the ringing of a bell, hanging in a tower which stood on the ground in question. This tower is conjectured by Dugdale to be the same that is mentioned in the time of Henry I, in a charter of Bishop Richard de Beau- meis, in which the Bishop grants to one, Hugh the Schoolmaster and his successors, the habitation at the corner of the turret where William the Dean had already placed him by his (the Bishop's) command; "doubtless (says Dugdale, writing in 1658) the place where the schoolmaster of Paul's School dwelleth at this day." This tower was still standing in Stow's time; he describes it as " a great and high Clochier or Bell-house, four-square, builded of stone, and in the same a most strong frame of timber, with four bells, the greatest that I have heard." (Dugdale, " St. Paul's," p. 87 ; Stow, " Survey," book iii, p. 148.) 1299. Also in the year 1299, the Dean of St. Paul's cursed, at St. Paul's Cross, all those which had searched in the Church of St. Martin in the Fields foranHoardof Gold, etc." — (Stow, "Survey," 1 754, vol. i, p. 644.) Fabyan gives some further details of this affair, though he does not mention the Cross. "In this xxvii yere [of Henry III, 1298-9], after Cristmasse, certayne persones made a dyggynge and a serche in the Churche of Seynt Martynes le Graunde in London, for certayne tresour yfc ther shuld be hyd, as it was reported of a gardyner; but theyr laboure was in vayne, for no thynge there was founde : for the whiche dede, the Deane of Poules, the seconde Sonday of Lent folowynge, denounced all theym accursed that were at that dede doynge, or consentynge to the same." — (Fabyan, " Chronicle," p. 400.) 1311. In August, Edward II summoned a Parliament. . . . The which Parliament lasted fifteen days; and at the next return of our Lord the King to the House of the Friars Preachers [the Black Friars], in London, the aforesaid statutes were published by the Bishop of Salisbury, substitute of the Archbishop of Canterbury, in St. Paul's Churchyard, . . . that is to say, on the Monday next before St. Michael, in the year of our Lord the King aforesaid (the fifth year). And on the Tuesday next after St. Michael, came the Earl of Gloucester, . . . and other Lords of the King's Council, and pronounced the aforesaid Statutes by the grant and the good will of our Lord the King to be maintained and confirmed through- out his realm, at the Cross in St. Paul's Churchyard aforesaid, in the presence of all the people. — (Riley, " Chronicles," pp. 224, 225.) 121 THE CHRONICLE OF PAUL'S CROSS. 1311, Michaelmass. The same year, the fifth year of King Ed- ward, soon after the feast of St. Michael, the new Ordinances were published in the great churchyard of St. Paul's, upon the Stone Cross (super crucem lapldeam\ and read in a loud voice by Master W. de Maydenstan, clerk, in the presence of Robert de Wynchelse, the Archbishop, the earls of Lancaster, Hereford, Pembroke and Warwick, and very many other magnates and prelates. — (" Annales Paulini," Rolls Series, vol. i, p. 270.) I reserve my comment on this for the present. 1330. The Duke of Bavaria was crowned Emperor at Rome by Pope Nicholas, whom he himself had made Pope, and was there- upon excommunicated by Pope John. The sentence was published at St. Paul's, one Sunday, at the Cross (ad crucem), the preacher being the Chancellor of the church, William de Renham, and the Bishop being present. — ("Annales Paulini," Rolls Series, vol. i, P- 351.) I have no doubt that Paul's Cross is the one referred to, and, if so, this is the earliest instance recorded of any sermons there. All this time there is no evidence that the cross had the form that it certainly had at a later date, that of an open-air pulpit, though addresses or sermons may have been delivered from its steps. Apart from the note in 1330, the earliest mention, of any sermons is in 1361, in the will of Michael de Northburgh, Bishop of London. This good bishop provided a fund of 1,000 marks (^666 13*. 4<^.), a very large sum in those days, to be put into a chest, standing in the treasury of the Cathedral, out of which any poor layman might, for a sufficient pledge, borrow j£io, the Dean and principal Canons £20 or 40 marks (£26 13^. 4^.), the Bishop £40 or near ^50, other noblemen or citizens ^20, for the term of a year; and if, at the year's end, payment was not made of any sum so borrowed, then he directed that the preacher at Paul's Cross should, in his sermon, declare that the pledge would be sold within fourteen days if the borrower did not forthwith redeem it. — (Dua;dale; " St. Pauls," p. 25.) It is clear from this reference to the preacher at Paul's Cross, that by this time the sermon there had become a recognized institution. 1378. On Sunday, the feast of SS. Perpetua and Felicitas [7th March], i Richard II, a conflict arose in Westchepe, between certain persons of the trade of Goldsmiths and others of the trade of Pepperers, from a certain rancour that had existed between them. By reason of which conflict, no small affray arose throughout the 122 Paradise Row, Chelsea. Reproduced by permission of the Daily Chronicle. THE CHRONICLE OF PAUL'S CROSS. whole city; and that, too, while the Bishop of Carlisle was preach- ing in St. Paul's Churchyard, in which place, because of such con- flict, and the wounded fleeing thither with very great outcry, no little tumult and alarm ensued. — (Riley, " Memorials of London and London Life," etc., p. 415.) There seems no reason to doubt that the Bishop was preaching at the Cross, though it is not actually named. Canon Simpson states that " in 1378 the Bishop of London pub- licly excommunicated at Paul's Cross the murderers of one Robert Hawle."— (" Chapters in the History of Old St. Pauls," p. 164). I have failed to verify this. Holinshed ("Chronicle," 1807, vol. ii, p. 720) says that it was done "in the church of S. Paule at London." [To be continued.] PARADISE Row, CHELSEA. — By the courtesy of the "Daily Chronicle " we reproduce some sketches of Paradise Row, Chelsea, recently pulled down to make way for modern houses. Mr. Blunt, in his " Handbook to Chelsea," thus describes them : " This delightful row of houses is, perhaps, the best and most representative remnant of the Old Chelsea which is so rapidly vanishing from among us. There is much old-world quiet charm about the simple homely features of this terrace, the tiled roofs, with dormer windows and shadowy eaves, the well-proportioned casements, and the pillared forecourt entrances." According to the same authority, some very notable people have been inhabitants of these houses. Pepys visited the famous Lord Robartes, who had fought under Lord Essex at Edgehill, and who lived to entertain Charles II in Paradise Row, and pronounced his house to be the prettiest contrived he had seen in his life. Here also lived Hortense, Duchesse de Mazarin, who supplanted " Madam Carwell " in the affections of Charles II ; Elizabeth, Duchess of Hamilton ; Nell Gwyn's son, the Duke of St. Albans; Sir Francis Wyndham ; Dr. Richard Mead, George II's physician; John Collet; Dicky Suett, the Drury Lane comedian; and many others. Lord Monkswell and other literary and artistic inhabitants of Chelsea, made a spirited appeal to Lord Cadogan, the ground landlord, and also in the daily press, but in vain. The spirit of utilitarianism is inexorable, and Paradise Row is a thing of the past. 123 NOTES ON CHURCH PLATE IN THE DIOCESE OF LONDON. BY EDWIN FRESHFIELD, JUNIOR. [Continued from Vol. vii, p. 281.] S. Michael, Cornhill. TWO silver tankards with the date mark for 1616, and a maker's mark N., with a pellet below in a scalloped shield; inscribed: "The guift of John Vernon merchant of the staple of England given to the parishioners of the parish church of S. Michael Cornhill London 1617," and with a coat of arms. Two silver-gilt cups ; one has the date mark for 1550, the maker's mark is not distinguishable; and the other has the date mark for 1608, and a maker's mark, S.O. Both are inscribed: " Saincte Michaels in Cornehill 1608." Two silver-gilt patens with the date mark for 1608, and a maker's mark, S.O., as above, and the same inscription as on the cups. A large silver-gilt paten with the date mark for 1678, and a maker's mark, I.S., in monogram in a circular stamp, and in- scribed: « S.M.C. 1678. Fisher Dilkes, John Shirley, Philip Har- mon, churchwardens." A large silver alms-dish with the date mark for 1698, and a maker's mark, G.A., crowned, with a crescent below in a lobed shield, and inscribed: " The gift of a generously charitable person to the parish of S. Michael Cornhill London to receive the alms and oblations at the Holy Communion 1689. Let none enquire after the name which the donor concealed. William Longland, John Cowper, Gary Kibble, churchwardens, 1698." A modern flagon and cup, and a glass bottle. The cup is inscribed : " In loving memory of Mary Miller, died 1 6 March, 1 88 1, aged 83." A beadle's staff with a metal head. The head is a crown with a statuette of a woman on the top of it ; probably late eighteenth century. The flagons of this church are tankards of the usual type, and similar to those given to S. Edmund the King and Martyr by the same donor.1 The cups belong to Type 7 and are alike. The older cup will be found figured on Plate i. I have fixed 1550 as the date 1 See Vol. vi, p. 60. 124 Paradise Reproduced by pern Chelsea. the Daily Chronicle. NOTES ON CHURCH PLATE. of it, but not without some hesitation. The date letter N on it is unlike both the N given in Old English Plate for 1550 and that for 1590. N on this cup is a Roman capital letter in a plain and square stamp, not following the outline of the letter as in the N given in Old English Plate for 1550; on the other hand the stamp is un- mistakably square, and not a shield as in the date letter for 1590. The leopard's head does not help matters, and the maker's mark is obliterated beyond recognition. The lion passant is not very distinct, but the lower part of the mark is straight, and apparently the stamp is a square one. In Old English Plate the lion passant for 1550 is given in a square stamp, while the lion for 1590 is in a stamp which follows the shape of the animal. On the whole I am inclined to fix 1550 as the date of this cup, and if I am right we shall be able to add it as the sixth example of an Edwardian cup in the City. I am the more inclined for this date as in the churchwardens' accounts for the parish in the year 1550-1551 there is a payment for con- verting a "gylt challes" into a communion cup. The weight of the cup is given as twenty-one ounces and a half; the cup probably in- cluded a paten cover. The paten covers were, no doubt, remade in 1 608, and weighed about seven ounces. The cup of 1608 is obviously a copy, and rather a heavy and clumsy copy, of the older cup, but I am not at all sure that the older cup was not altered shortly after it was made into its present thistle shape. The stem is quite plain and undivided by a knob like the usual style of Type I, found for instance in the cups of S. Lawrence, Jewry, and S. Mildred, Bread Street. The bowl of these early cups is usually oval and very plain, and it is not unlikely that the bowl of this early cup was also of the usual form, and was beaten out afterwards into its present thistle shape. The marks of the workman's tools on the metal are very distinct. The three other cups of Type 7 with thistle-shaped bowls will be found at S. Mary Abchurch, which has a cup made at Antwerp in 1580, and at All Hallows the Great and the Less, which has two made in 1575 and 1608 respectively. S. Margaret, Lothbury, also had a cup of this type made in 1815, now given to S. Olave, Stoke Newington. The thistle-shape style became a favourite one in the middle of the last century for athletic prize cups. The makers' marks, S.O. and I.S., in the Appendix of Old English Plate, under dates 1608 and 1675. N. will be found on plate at S. Edmund and S. Mary Woolnoth, and S.O. on plate at All Hallows the Great. All the silver-gilt plate of this church is wrongly described in the official terrier as gold. The church was destroyed in the Fire, and the tower is one of the few pieces of Wren's work in the Gothic style. 125 NOTES ON CHURCH PLATE. S. Michael Paternoster Royal with S. Martin in the Vintry. Two silver tankards with the date mark for 1681 and a maker's mark R.C., in a circle, inscribed : " Dedicated to the service of God and the use of the parish of S. Michael, Paternoster Royal, and S. Martin, Vintry, London, by Edward Langsdale Dr in Physick Anno Domini 1682." Two silver cups with the date mark for 1712 and a maker's mark Ra, in a shaped stamp, and inscribed with a coat of arms, and " Dedicated to the service of God and the use of the united parishes of S. Michael Paternoster Royal and S. Martin Vintry by William Fellowes of Lincolnes Inn Esqre1 and Mr. John Fellowes of London Merchant brothers Anno Dom ; 1712." A silver beaker j the date mark on it is illegible. The maker's mark is W.H. in a cross-shaped stamp, with a star above and an annulet below; it is inscribed with the weight and " S. Martin Vintry 1689." A silver-gilt cup made in 1868. Three silver patens, one large and two small. All have the same date mark, maker's mark, and inscription as the two cups, and they are inscribed with the weights. A silver paten with the date mark for 1675, inscribed with the weight and "S. Martin Vintry, S. Michaell Roiall 1676." Three silver dishes, one large and two small. The large dish has the same date mark and inscription as the two cups and patens, and is inscribed with the weight. The two other dishes have the date mark for 171 3, and are inscribed : " John Rivers of S. Michael Paternoster Royal and John Cumming of S. Martin Vintry church- wardens Anno Dom 1713 exchanged a parish cup for this." The flagons of this church are tankards of the usual type. The large cups are imitations of Type I, and the small cup of 1868 belongs to Type 9. The beaker or tumbler, a quaint little object, is probably earlier than the inscribed date. The maker's marks R.C. and W.H. will be found in Appendix A of Old English Plate under dates 1684 and 1655 respectively, and R.C. on plate at S. Mary- le-Bow, and W.H. on plate at S. Margaret, Lothbury (S. Olave). The parish of All Hallows the Great and the Less is now united to this church, and the All Hallows plate, one of the finest collections in the City, has come to this parish. These churches were destroyed in the Fire, and S. Michael was rebuilt by Wren. " Paternoster " is a family name, and " Royal " or " Roial " is derived from the same root as the French rive, and means by the strand or waterside. 1 William Fellowes of Eggesford, Devon, gave a silver menteith to Lincoln's Inn in 1718. See "Black Books," iii, 256 j iv, 372. 126 NOTES ON CHURCH PLATE. S. Michael Wood Street with S. Mary Staining. A silver-gilt tankard with the date mark for 1741 and a maker's mark JF, and inscribed : u This piece of plate was purchased by the inhabitants of S. Michael Hogan Lane, London March 1741 out of the estate left them by the Revd John Ive, John Forster, goldsmith and Peter Fikeldon, taylor in ye year 1350. John Abbott Rector Thos Rigbye and John Garbett churchwardens." A silver-gilt cup with the date mark for 1549 and no maker's mark, and inscribed : " S. Michael Wood Street." A silver cup with the date mark for 1636 and a maker's mark RC, and inscribed: "The gift of John Wright and Margaret his wife 1636 S. Michael Wood Street." Two silver-gilt patens. The one has the same date mark and maker's mark and inscription as on the second cup, and is inscribed with a coat of arms. The other is inscribed with the name of the church, and the same maker's mark as on the flagon. A large silver-gilt paten with the date mark for 1684, inscribed: " S. Michael Wood Street". The maker's mark is not distinguish- able. A silver-gilt spoon with a hind's foot handle and the same date mark as the last, and a maker's mark I S crowned in a plain shield, inscribed: "S.M.W." A beadle's staff with a brass head. The head is an orb and statuette of S. Michael spearing a dragon, inscribed: "Deum time, Regem honora. Sumptibus Parochiae Sancti Michaelis in Wood Street Londini, Jacobo Barrow, Roberto I. Ony, Edituis, a.d. I744-" The flagon of this church is a tankard of the usual type with a very broad foot. The inscription on it is interesting. Stow says : "John Ive, Parson of this church, John Forster, Goldsmith, and Peter Fikeldon, Taylor, gave two messuages and shops with terraces, cellars and other edifices in the same Parish and Street and in Ladle Lane to the Reparations of the Church Chancel and other works of charity the i6th of Richard the Second." The cups belong to Type 2. The cup of 1549 is one of the seven Edwardian cups in the City, and it is in all respects similar to a cup at S. James, Garlickhithe, of the same date. The spoon has half the bowl per- forated. The staff is very fine, and will be found illustrated on Plate vi. IS, a common mark on spoons; RC and JF will be found in Appendix A of Old English Plate under the dates 1685, 1624 and 1740 respectively. JF is given there as the mark of Jonathan Fossy. RC and IS will both be found frequently on plate in various churches in the city. Both these churches were destroyed in the 127 NOTES ON CHURCH PLATE. Fire ; S. Michael, rebuilt by Wren, has now been pulled down. I understand that the Bishop of London has taken possession of the Edwardian cup. S. Mildred Bread Street with S. Margaret Moses. Two silver tankards (a] with the date mark for 1617 and a maker's mark C. C. with a tree between, inscribed with a coat of arms and " These pots are ye guift of Captain Nicholas Crisp for ye perpetuall use of ye Holy Sacrament of ye Lord's Supper in ye church of S. Mildred in Bread Street London Ano: Dom: 1631." Two silver-gilt cups: (£) The one has the date mark for 1549 and a maker's mark FB in a scalloped shield, (c] The other has the datemark for 1571 and a maker's mark IG in monogram without a shield. Both these cups are inscribed : " This belongs to the parish of S. Mildred, Bread Street, 1648." (d and e.) Two silver-gilt patens without feet, belonging to, and with the same date and maker's marks and inscription as on the two cups respectively. A silver paten with the date mark for 1741 and a maker's mark H.P., inscribed : " This Plate was made new with an addition of five guineas by the Revd D. Mangey 1741. This belongs to S. Margaret Moses London IH 1631." A silver dish with the date mark for 1624 and a maker's mark(?) RC in a circular stamp, inscribed with the weight and "This belongs to S. Margaret Moses London IH 1631." The flagons of this church are tankards of the usual type and very large. The cups are very fine and belong to Type I. The larger of the cups and the paten without a foot belonging to it are both Edwardian, and were made by the same maker, F. B., and in the same year as a cup and paten at the neighbouring church of S. James, Garlickhithe. There is another Edwardian cup at that church, and the others will be found at S. Peter, Cornhill, S. Lawrence, Jewry, S. Michael, Cornhill, and S. Michael, Wood Street. The two patens belonging to the cups have no feet. The maker's marks CC and HP will be found in Appendix A of Old English Plate under 1629 and 1750. IG has no shield, but other- wise is similar to the same letters also in monogram in the Appendix under date 1591. The maker's mark on the dish is nearly obliter- ated and not distinguishable, but it is probably RC, as in 1629 m the Appendix. CC and FB will be found on plate at All Hallows the Great and S. James, Garlickhithe, respectively. This is one of the prettiest little churches in the city. It is square, without chancel or aisles, and has a flat domed roof. The internal 128 S. Mildred, Bread Street, with S. Margaret Moses. QUARTERLY NOTES. arrangements are in their original condition, and the high pews are arranged to face the pulpit, a fine three-decker with a sounding- board. I do hope that every effort will be made to preserve this little church from destruction. These churches were destroyed in the Great Fire; S. Mildred alone was rebuilt, and by Wren. [To be continued.] QUARTERLY NOTES. PROBABLY most of our readers are aware by this time that the HOME COUNTIES MAGAZINE has, since the issue of the last number, changed both its editor and its publishers. Its policy will remain as heretofore, namely (as Mr. Hardy expressed it in the first volume), " to treat accurately and usefully matters topo- graphical from a popular standpoint." WE intend from time to time to describe the volumes of " The Victoria County Histories," such of them, that is, as relate to the Home Counties, at greater length than is possible within the limits of an ordinary review. The price of these sumptuous volumes places them out of the reach of many, and it will be useful to in- dicate what has been done. We shall call attention to prehistoric, Saxon and Roman sites, camps, and other out-door matters which may form good objectives for rambles or cycle rides ; and with this view we shall give lists of all the religious houses. The first of these articles appears in our present number. WE have also arranged for a series of Star Chamber Cases of the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII. Several of these have been contributed to former volumes by Mr. Mark W. Bullen. We pro- pose now to begin at the beginning and work steadily through. No class of public document gives us such vivid pictures as those of the Star Chamber. Couched, as a rule, in the most picturesque language, we get curious details of manners and customs, and we see our forbears, if not as they actually were, at any rate as their neighbours saw them. We must not take everything for granted that we shall read ; for the principle of " blackguarding the plain- tifPs attorney " was elevated to a fine art by the learned counsel who practised in that court. IN consequence of the change of Editor, it becomes necessary to point out that the interesting article on " Dickens in Southwark," contained in the January number, was from the pen of Mr. E. Basil Lupton, M.A. VOL. vni. 129 K QUARTERLY NOTES. IN the New Year's number of "The Builder" there is an excel- lent article on " The Thames-side between Charing Cross and Blackfriars Bridges; Hungerford, Charing Cross Railway, and Waterloo Bridges ; Victoria Embankment : 1 80 1 — 1900." There are three plans in illustration, and two sheets of reproductions from old prints and drawings in the Grace Collection. The letterpress is very carefully written, and the number should be secured by all interested in disappearing London. WE are glad to learn from the same journal (January 20) that the fine carved doors and over-doors, dado and other panelling formerly in Lord Mexborough's house in Dover Street, have been pre- served. The old house was recently pulled down, and a very handsome building has been erected on the site, from the designs of Mr. J. S. Gibson, F.R.I.B.A. WE learn with great regret that the old house at Upton Park, East Ham, known locally as " Anne Boleyn's Castle," is in danger of destruction. Tradition has it that here Henry VIII came a- wooing the lady who afterwards became his second queen, before he had succeeded in getting rid of his first. From the battlements of the still existing tower, we are told, the luckless Anne used to watch the coming and going of her royal lover. Be this as it may, the building is undoubtedly contemporary, and it will be a thousand pities to have it wantonly destroyed. Many hard things have been said of the local authorities at East Ham ; here is a splendid chance to earn a good mark. ALL our readers will rejoice that the further attack on the Gate- house of the old Palace at Maidstone has been defeated; the Corporation have once more rejected the proposal to pull it down. The Gate-house is probably the work of Archbishop Courtney (1381 to 1397), who, as Leland tells us, " buildyd muche in the Towne selfe of Maydestone, and also at the Palace ther." THE late Mr. H. C. Richards, K.C., M.P., left to the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's a sum of £5,000 to be devoted to the rebuild- ing and sustentation of Paul's Cross ; if this plan cannot be carried out, then £1,000 only is to be used for a stained-glass window in the nave of the Cathedral. No official announcement has yet been made what the Dean and Chapter intend to do in the matter. The scheme is one of great interest, and we hope to see Paul's Cross rebuilt. There are, no doubt, serious difficulties in the way. The old Cross stood on the north side of the Choir, and one portion of its octagonal base coincides with Wren's wall. But the chief diffi- 130 QUARTERLY NOTES. culty will probably lie with the interments in the Churchyard since the Cross was pulled down. Several Churches in London have been provided with open-air pulpits in recent times, and we feel sure that if St. Paul's Cathedral can follow this example they will be acting in the best interests of the Church. Public attention having thus been directed to Paul's Cross, we thought that an exhaustive article on the subject would not be unwelcome to our readers. A first instalment appears in this number. BY a very remarkable coincidence, the publication of Mr. Richards' will was closely followed by litigation relating to another will, which contained a very similar bequest. Miss Lina Beatrice Clayton Browne by her will, dated in 1900, directed that the balance of her estate, after payment of certain legacies, should be devoted to " the erection, without buying land, of an ornamental structure of Gothic design, such as a market-cross, a stout crossing shelter in the form of a market-cross, a tall clock, a street lamp-stand, or all combined, in a central part of London, the plan whereof shall be offered for open competition, and ultimately decided upon by the Royal Institute of British Architects." Minute instructions were given as to the general design and the colours of the materials to be employed, and the following inscription was to be placed on it : " Many and munificent are the gifts ministering to the ills of the flesh, therefore is this structure dedicated merely to the more neglected gladdening of the eye. A thing of beauty is a joy for ever." Miss Browne's will was not admitted to probate, as it was proved that she was not of a sound testamentary capacity. It is a great pity. Will some public-spirited millionaire, tired of founding free libraries where they are not wanted, adopt Miss Browne's abortive scheme ? THE Records Committee of the London County Council are con- tinuing their good work of fixing memorial tablets on houses within their jurisdiction. The following have recently been decided upon: No. 33, Ampton St., Gray's Inn Road, which once sheltered the Chelsea Sage, Thomas Carlyle; No. 4, Carlton Gardens, which was the residence of Lord Palmerston; No. no, Gower Street, where Charles Darwin lived from 1839 to 1842; and Broomwood House, Clapham, where Wilberforce lived. Broomwood House no longer exists, and the tablet there will be placed on one of the modern houses built on the site. IN January last Sir John Evans, K.C.B., resigned the Chairman- ship of the Hertfordshire County Council. His colleagues on the QUARTERLY NOTES. "mil in Diagram of design Bench and on the County Council pre- sented him with a silver cup, suitably inscribed, and a half-length portrait of himself, painted by the Hon. John Collier. A replica of the portrait will be hung in the Court House at St. Albans. The Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Clarendon, made the presentation. ANOTHER presentation has also been de- cided on. The portrait of Viscount Mid- leton is to be painted, and hung in the County Hall at Kingston-on-Thames. Lord Midleton was formerly M.P. for Surrey, and for the last ten years has been Lord -Lieutenant. He resigned in December last. WE have been favoured with the loan of the journal of "The Archaeological Cycling Club," the Secretary of which is Miss B. Peat, 17, Glyn Mansions, West Kensington. The aim of the Club suffi- ciently appears from its name. The journal is typed and circulates in that form among the members. A perusal of its pages shows at once that the club is both energetic and enthusiastic ; many of the papers and de- scriptions show signs of careful prepara- tion, while the photographs and excellent sketches add greatly to the interest. It seems a pity that so much good work should not be recorded in more permanent form, and we beg to remind the members of the A. C. C. of the existence of this Magazine. Verb. sap. WE call the attention of our Kent readers and others to the excellent series of articles on Canterbury Churches, now appearing in the " Kentish Gazette and Canterbury Press," published at 39, St. George's Street, Canterbury. These papers consist of extracts from the wills of parishioners, 132 Gray's Inn Hall. QUARTERLY NOTES. relating to altars, images, lights, repairs, tombs, and so on. The wills dealt with are those proved in the Consistory and Archdeaconry Courts at Canterbury, and they begin about 1400. The series is contributed by a well-known Kent anti- quary, who prefers, for the present, to sign " A. H."; many of our readers will recog- nize these initials. WE owe an apology to our contributor, Mr. E. J. Renaud. Most readers of his interesting article on Gray's Inn, which ap- peared in our last number, must have been struck by the fact that something had gone wrong with the plates. They would look in vain for the " stepped gable " and " strap ornament " to which he refers. The fact is, that by one of those unfortunate acci- dents that will happen sometimes, two old plates of Gray's Inn were substituted. We make what amends are possible. The two illustrations we now give will bring out the point of Mr. Renaud's remarks as he in- tended. The gable is certainly very sug- gestive of the Low Countries ; the sketch shows it before the new block on the west was erected. THE January number of the " Reliquary and Illustrated Archaeologist" contains an article on the clock and bells of what it has pleased the author to call "Ye Antiente Hospitall of ye Holye Trynitie, Croydon" (why not " Coyyedonne " ?), with some good illustrations. There are also photo- graphs of a number of carved wooden stay- busks. A century or two ago it was con- sidered a graceful piece of attention on the part of a country swain to carve a stay- busk for his sweetheart; these generally bore the initials of the lady and some- times of the lover as well. It is pleas- ing to notice, from a specimen lettered '33 on Pillars, Gray's Inn Hall. NOTES AND QUERIES. IK — EK, and another ICD, that the practice did not always die out after matrimony. THE Surrey Parish Register Society is doing good work for its county, and is now beginning to make some show with its pub- lications. Two parts of the Richmond registers and one part of Godalming are already issued to subscribers; Farleigh and Wan- borough are in the press ; Carshalton, Beddington, Lympsfield, and Croydon are being transcribed. The honorary secretary is Mr. W. Bruce Bannerman, F.S.A., of The Lindens, Sydenham Road, Croydon. We should like to see similar societies in every county. OUR frontispiece to this number requires an explanation. It re- presents the cup belonging to St. Michael Bassishaw, referred to in vol. vii, p. 279. The block was not ready in time for insertion in its proper place. The cup bears the Augsburg mark, and its date is about 1600. NOTES AND QUERIES. "|" y NPUBLISHED MS. RELATING TO THE HOME COUNTIES. BY P. C. RUSHEN. u [Continued from p. 61.} 8 June 1 705 Agreement whereby Leonard Bower of Redrith co. Surrey Mariner agrees to let and Martha Stone of Staynes co. Midd. Widow agrees to take a mess, in Butcher Row psli of St. Clement Danes co. Midd. then lately occupied by Philip Francklyn and by him mortgaged to said Bower for i year from 24 June then next and afterwards on a quarterly tenancy at £20 per ann. Signed by Stone. 19 Jan 1722 Agreement whereby Anne Rogers Widow agrees to give and Arthur Brookes of London Gent, to take immediate possession of the house the former then lived in situate in the Old Bailey with an allowance to said Brookes of ^ of the rent due Lady day then next the said Rogers being allowed to keep possession for herself and family until Midsummer day of the chamber in which she then lived with its closet the back garret, the closet at the stairs " Lead," two pairs of stairs and the closet between the two garrets with the use of the kitchen. Signed by both parties. 1 6 Oct. 1720 Agreement between Rob. Gosling and Mich. Gardiner whereby the former agrees to let and the latter to take a house in the Old Bailey then lately occupied by "one Tysoe a Painter" for 3 years with option of 7 or n years more at £30 per ann. said Gardiner having paid said Gosling £2 izs. 6d. the rent not to commence until Lady day then next said Gardiner agreeing to do repairs. Signed by both parties. Memo, at foot. " Lease to John Pitcher of London Gent." "Rob1 Gosling Exr. of last will & test, of Christian Griffin late of London widow deed for & 134 NOTES AND QUERIES. on behalf of Joseph Griffin of Kingsale in the Kingdome of Ireland gent, all that messe or tent, belonging to the sd. Joseph Griffin situate in the old Bayley London in the pish of S1 Martin Ludgate late in the possn. of Tysoe painter abutting south on another house of the sd. Joseph Griffin in the possn of John Decks glazier." 2 July 1810 Agreement whereby John Long of Christ's Hospital London Builder agrees to let and Wm Barnfield of Camberwell Esq. agrees to take the house N° 9 John St. Pentonville in the psh. of St. James Clerkenwell on a yearly tenancy at £52 IQJ. clear of all rates and taxes except property tax ground rent and insurance which were to be paid by sd Long, who agrees to keep the roof watertight sd. Barnfield doing indoor repairs. Long also agrees to buy back from Barnfield at the end of the tenancy certain furniture which he had sold to latter at £36, for a sum varying from £33 to £20 according to the length of tenancy. Signed by both parties. 15 Mar 1702 Copy Agreement whereby Anne Felling of Chigwell Widow agrees to let and Richard Seggars of same place Husbandman agrees to take her houses outhouses lands then in his possession in Chigwell for i year from date at £25 — the said premises having then been lately leased to Rob. Markin- son said Seggars' father in law. Tenant to pay tithes except i $*{- payable by said Felling and to perform various duties of husbandry and binds himself in a £50 penalty to keep his covenants. 17 Mar 1809 Agreement whereby George Woodfall Esq. of Paternoster Row agrees to let and Rob. Hughes of Hermes St. Pentonville agrees to take the prem8 N° 28 St. John's Sq. Clerkenwell for zL years from Lady day then next at 38 guas. per ann. clear of all rates &c. with option at the termination if said Woodfall does not wish to reside in said prem8 of a 7, 14 or 21 years' lease at £50 per ann. Said Hughes agrees to paint the wood & iron work of the N. front. Signed by Tho8 Long 18 Little Britain for Woodfall and signed by Hughes. Memo, on fly " Mr Mercer N° i Basinghall Street gives him a good character J. L." Dec 1670 Dft. Agreement for building lease whereby Wm Warne Cit. & Scrivener of London agrees to grant and Wm Davies of London Carpenter agrees to accept a lease of a toft of ground in the Whitefriars 40 ft. from N. to S. & 50 ft. from E. to W. abutting W. on a lane from Fleet St. to the Thames, E. to Dogwell Court, W. to a mess, demised by sd. Warne to Jno Ogilby Esq. & S. to a way leading to Water Lane for a term 6 days less than that vested in said Warne at £20 per ann. & also a 10 Ib. sugar loaf during the surviving life of said Ogilby & his wife provided sd. Davies erects on said toft 2 second rate mess8 according to the London Rebuilding Act with timbers at the front to fit them for shops, the sd. Warne to pay said Davis £70 on laying the floors of 2nd floor and Davies to complete the building by 24 Aug. then next. ELMESTON, AND LITTLE MONGEHAM, KENT. — Can any one kindly inform me of the Dedication of these two parish churches, which at present is unknown. Neither the Wills of the parishioners proved in the Arch- deaconry or Consistory Court at Canterbury, nor the Registers of the Archbishops at Lambeth, make any mention of the dedication. From a Will of a parishioner, that of Elmeston may possibly be St. Peter. — ARTHUR HUSSEY, Tankerton-on-Sea, Kent. CAPEL LE FERNE, KENT. — This church dedicated to St. Mary, is spoken of as St. Mary Maurege, or Marregge, or Marige, or Marge. What is '35 REPLIES. the meaning of this word? In one Will it is St. Mary Magdalene, other- wise Capelfarne. — ARTHUR HUSSEY, Tankerton-on-Sea, Kent. SCAIFE FAMILY. — Arthur Scaife, born in 1733, was, at his death in 1766, a brazier in Grace Church Street. He became a Freeman of the Armourers' Company by redemption in 1766. His children were bap- tized at St. Andrew's, Holborn, and he was buried at St. John's, Clerkenwell. He is said to have had a brass foundry at Rotherhithe. For any information about him, or for the date and birthplace of any Arthur Scaife, I shall be greatly obliged — M.W;B. FRENCH PROTESTANTS. — In the notes on Davington Church on p. 47 it is alleged that Mary Bode, who seems to have been the lay impropriator of the rectory, had hired out the church to the French Protestants for £3 a year. The statement is confirmed by the judgment that the rent was to be paid to the churchwardens. Is not this a unique instance of a parish church being so used ? Of course I know of St. Faith's, the church under old St. Paul's, but that is rather different. — M. L. WROTHAM PARK. — I am much interested, and also much puzzled, by Mrs. Nettlefold's account of Wrotham Park (vol. vii., p. 265). Her description of the upper part of the house, with its absence of windows, its twenty-three sleeping cells, and its corridor in the form or a cross, is so unlike anything that I have ever come across in the course of my rambles, that I should like some further information. Will Mrs. Nettle- fold be good enough to give us a further description of this part of the house, with sketches or photographs, and, if possible, a plan? This last is very desirable. — ARCHITECT. [We shall be pleased to receive a further note on this subject. — EDITOR.] ST. ALBANS GRAMMAR SCHOOL TABLE (vol. vii., pp. 271, 272). — I fail to see how a semi-circular table can be described as oval, or vice versa. What is a " cope table " ? Can Mr. Ashdown supply a sketch of the existing table? Monastic furniture is so rare that any authentic pieces are of great interest. — ARCHITECT. REPLIES. INGSGATE STREET, HOLBORN (viii, 64).— This street rC had its name from a gate at which the Stuart Kings, on their JL. JL. way to the royal seat at Theobalds, turned off the main road through Holborn and passed into a by-road which had a north-easterly direction through Clerkenwell. The gate was established earlier, for it is plainly shown in the map of Ralph Agas, temp. Elizabeth, and doubt- less that Queen passed this way on the several occasions when she visited I36 REPLIES. her great minister, Lord Burghley, at Theobalds, which he obtained in 1560 and held until his death in 1598. In Agas's map (the probable date of which Mr. Overall thought circ. 1591), the road appears as a dotted track through the fields, neither gate nor road is named ; " Holbourne " itself has no houses along it where the gate occurs, the buildings commence opposite Lincoln's Inn, and are thence continuous into the City. In Faithorne's map of 1658, the gate is shown as an ordinary field-gate, between the houses now bordering the main road ; as yet there are no houses along the by-road, but the gate has its name, " King's Gate." That it took this name in James I's reign may be assumed from the fact that the King acquired Theobalds, in exchange for Hatfield, from Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, in 1607 ; and doubt- less James often passed this way to his favourite seat, as did afterwards his son, Charles I. Pepys records a mishap to Charles II and his company at "King's Gate in Holborne," on 8th March, 1669. The King, the Duke of York, the Duke of Monmouth, and Prince Rupert had set out in their coach from Whitehall at three in the morning, for Newmarket. " It was dark, and the torches did not light the coach as they should do." So the royal party was upset, and " the King all dirt, but no hurt." The by-road through the fields naturally took the name " King's Way," and retained that name, or " Theobalds Row," when, about 1 700, a street was formed by the building of houses. It is found thus on maps of that century; and at the beginning of the next, " Way" and "Row" became "Road." Theobalds Road remains, but the name king's Road was expunged in 1878, and now the old name, Kingsway, is been given to the grand new thoroughfare which at its northern end joins the old route. Kingsgate Street preserved the memory of the gate, md henceforth <c Kingsgate Baptist Church" on the site will serve as ^minder. — W. L. RUTTON. :KNEL WAY. — On page 21, Mr. Wolmer Whyte makes mention ot the ancient British road, known as the Aknel Way" — "one of the >ldest roads in England, for it was used by the Britons many years ;fore the Romans first set foot in the land." I have thought it might interest readers of this Magazine to put on :cord a little scrap of folk-lore regarding the Aknel Way, as it is called >y the people, Aknel being, I suppose, a local pronunciation of Iknield. ibout Watlington, and from there to Prince's Risborough, it is entirely rown over with grass, and, but for the hedges which bound it, would lot be visible ; it has a very weird appearance. I inquired of a woman rhere it led to, and she told me that "they say" it leads to the rld's end. Asking further if any one knew this for a fact, she said lat a gentleman once travelled along this road until he came to the iery mountains ; he turned back long before he reached them, for the uoke and smell nearly suffocated him ; he lived near Watlington, but informant had forgotten his name; he died before she came into this I37 REVIEWS. neighbourhood, and she had heard many speak of him. But, though I inquired of many, I could not obtain any confirmation or variant of this tale. I have walked this road from Crowmarsh in Oxfordshire, through Buckinghamshire, and on to Dunstable, and have heard from many that the road is said to go all round the world, " so that," as one of my in- formants said, " if you keep along it and travel on you'll come back to the place you started from." Some said that the road went all round the island, others that it went from sea to sea. — J. P. EMSLIE. RANELAGH GARDENS, CHELSEA. — On page 53, is an interesting descrip- tion of the interior of the building called the Rotunda. In the National Gallery is a view of this interior painted by Canaletti. — J. P. EMSLIE. REVIEWS. CHRONICLES OF LONDON. Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by Charles Lethbridge Kingsford, M.A., St. John's College, Oxford. Clarendon Press; pp. xlviii, 368. los. 6d. net. It will probably be news to most of our readers that there remained three imprinted "Chronicles of London1' for Mr. Kingsford to edit, but it was a good thing for those interested in the history of their country that this was so. Nothing more able, thorough, and scholarly has ever been accomplished, and if we had an " Order of Literary Merit," we should unhesitatingly award it to Mr. Kingsford on the strength of this volume alone. The Chronicles are from three MSS. in the Cotton Collection, Julius B. II, Cleopatra C. IV, and Vitel- lius A. XVI. The Introduction contains a careful and critical survey of all chronicles of this class, of which there are many. The author points out how these various writers copied from some one or more common sources of in- formation and from each other, but that each one has added items peculiar to himself. For instance, we read that " the subsequent scene ... is described with ... an apparent fidelity, which seems to stamp it as the work of an eye- witness " (p. xxxvii) ; and again, " the writer was clearly more concerned with the incidents of the war than with domestic affairs, and seems to have had at his command authentic information from France " (p. xl). We have here, too, the only known copy of a ballad by William Dunbar, which was recited by him at a dinner given by the Lord Mayor to the Scotch Ambassadors in Christmas week, 1501. The general character of Chronicles of this kind is too well known to need description. We may smile at the mention of " fyrye dragons and wykked spyrites, merveyllously fleynge in the eyre1' (p. 3), we may be mildly incredulous as to the " iiij greate fysshes takyn bitwene Eryth and London, wherof one was callid mors maryne, and the second a swerd fysshe, and the other ij whalis " (p. 167), and we may suspect exaggeration in the " haile stonys that were mesured xviij unchis aboute" (p. 216), but this will not detract from the valuable information and historical detail that we get in the chronicles and novrhere else. Many of the minor details, too, are curiously interesting. Take the following: "Also in this yere (1495) the xijth day ot 138 REVIEWS. October, was adjugged and set upon the pyllery in Cornhill, a yong man, named John Camell, which falsly by means of iiij boxes of ij sortes, ij of theym beyng like of fassion and quantite, in one of the which ij boxis was bedes or other thynges to the value of xx/. or iiij nobles, in the matche old nayles and stones ; upon which box stuffed wit the bedes he wold have borowed certeyn money, and soudenly and craftely delyvered the box wit nayles and stones in plegge for the other wit the bedes ; by meane wherof he had, by his owne confession, dysseaved dyvers men and women1'; an early case of "ringing the changes " (pp. 210, 211). Some of the troubles of our ancestors seem curiously like those of our own day; thus we read of "one Agnes Deynte sette upon the pillery for sellyng of false mengled buttur " (p. 187), and of " oon Edmund Atherige, colyer of Eggewar, set upon the pillery in Cornhill for sellyng of colis (coals) not kepyng the full mesure, and dyvers of his sakkes were brent under hym'3 (p. 234). The methods of local authorities were quite well understood in 1477, when, we are told that the Mayor continued " the workyng and clensyng of the wallis and diches of the City, howbeit he applyed it not so sore as his predecessour did " ; some excuse is found for this in the fact that he was " a syklew man, feble and weke," and then there is this delightful bit of philosophy: " and an other cawse was that for the more party (i.e., for the most part) there is not one Mayr that will accomplysshe that thyng which was begon in his predecessour's dayes, for then they thynk the worship thereof is ascrybed unto the fynder and to the be- gynner, and not to th' ender ; which causeth many good werkes and actes to be put owte of mynd, which is full greate pyte " (pp. 187, 188). Mr. Kings- ford's notes and glossary are admirable, and the book has that rare thing, a really good index. A reproduction of Ryther's map of London, 1604, forms the frontispiece. We would like to suggest to the Oxford University Press the desirability of reprinting some of the other Chronicles, edited, of course, by Mr. Kingsford. The old black letter folios are very picturesque, but they are costly and clumsy, and the indexes, when they have any, are lamentable. THE STORY OF CHARING CROSS AND ITS IMMEDIATE NEIGHBOURHOOD. By J. Holden MacMichael. Chatto and Windus ; pp. 332. js. 6d. net. This is in many respects one of the most remarkable topographical works published for many years. In fact it would be difficult to name any modern book on London topography in which the sources of information have been so thoroughly sifted. The author seems to have read everything that had the least bearing on his subject, and (excellent man!) he gives his references. In particular he has made an exhaustive search through the files of old news- papers, eighteenth century mostly, in the British Museum, and only those who have essayed a similar task can realize what this means. But the result has amply justified the labour, as nearly every page shows, and gives quite an in- dividuality to the book. We get racy scraps of gossip and current scandal, advertisments, descriptions; a medley of good things. Perhaps the advertise- ments are the most entertaining. Take, for example, the " Lythophagus " or Stone Eater, " an eccentric being, who actually cracked flints between his teeth like nuts, and then gnawed, crunched, and reduced them to the smallest pieces ; by striking him on the stomach the stones would resound as in a sack" ! Or again, " The Venetian Cream repels Pimples, removes Scruff and Mor- phew," etc. " Repels" is a charming touch, but what is " Morphew" ? What are " Armozeens"? they were to be sold in 1783 with " an elegant assortment of Tissues, Brocades, Satins, Lustrings, Bombazeens," and so on. What were " Chinese Brogdanones and Lillepushes "? The good old lady who advertised 139 REVIEWS. the clearance sale of her entire stock of china ware in 1742 describes them as " very great curiosities," and we can well believe it. The great Chippendale, so we learn from his advertisement in 1756, was a maker and upholsterer of Sedan chairs; a curious fact that has escaped his biographers. In 1742, we read of a chapel to be let, with a new pulpit, new pews, etc., "all complete and fit for any congregation of Protestant Dissenters; to be had on very easy Terms." But we must stop quoting. Mr. MacMichael does not confine himself to the lighter side of his subject; we have good accounts of the part played by Charing Cross in the history of London, of the various great houses in the neighbourhood, the theatres, taverns, clubs, churches, etc., etc. We miss, how- ever, the story of the Percy who is said to have turned the Northumberland House lion, so that it presented its back to Whitehall instead of its face as before, in revenge for some slight done him by the king. Perhaps the story is apochryphal. We are glad to find our author rejecting the chere re'tne deriva- tion of Charing. It is, as Professor Skeat says, " too funny to be pernicious," but it is widely held and dearly loved^by most Londoners. The book is so readable, there is not a dull page in it, that a second edition is sure to be called for soon, and we, therefore, suggest two improvements. The plan is too small j there should be a two-page plan, with the various new streets shown in red, over the old ones, in the way adopted by Mr. Laurence Gomme in the programme for the opening of Kingsway and Aldwych. And the index, though it runs to twelve pages with double columns, is not good enough. Such a work, containing so much new material, should have every name indexed. A glossary of archaic words would also be useful. ARCHAEOLOGIA CANTIANA, vol. xxvii, 1905. The Kent Archaeological Society keeps up to its high standard, and the present volume contains many articles of great interest. First we must note the excellent account of Ightham Mote by Mr. Henry Taylor, F.S.A., with plans and illustrations, to which Mr. T. C. Colyer-Fergusson, the present owner of Ightham, adds a pedigree of the Selby family, its former possessors. Mr. A. A. Arnold, F.S.A., contributes an exhaustive paper on Cobham College, with illustrations, facsimiles of documents, and seals. Mr. E. C. Youens' beautiful photographs are especially to be noticed. The same author has also a paper on Cobham and its Manors, of which there were several. Mr. George Payne, F.L.S., F.S.A., writes on some recent repairs at Rochester Castle; Mr. George M. Arnold, F.S.A., on an ancient timber-framed house at Shorne next Gravesend, and Mr. W. H. St. John Hope, M.A., on the so- called tomb of the Countess of Athol in Canterbury Cathedral, showing that it really represents a certain Lady Elizabeth Tryvet, and the Rev. G. M. Livett, F.S.A., on the Early English lead font at Brookland. We have only space to mention these, the principal papers, but the whole volume is ex- cellent. ST. GILES'S OF THE LEPERS. By Edward C. W. Grey. Longmans, Green & Co. ; pp. 252. 3/. 6d. net. A very interesting little book, giving an account of the parish of St. Giles's in the Fields. The author makes no pretence of much original research, but he has dealt with the work of previous writers and put it into a popular narra- tive. The book is divided into three parts, Historical, Peripatetic and Gossip, and Personal Reminiscences. The first deals with the foundation by Queen Maude, wife of Henry I, of a hospital for lepers, and the village which grew up around it; with the growth of modern Bioomsbury, the British Museum, 140 REVIEWS. St. Giles's Church and its Rectors, and the remarkable reputation that the parish subsequently acquired from its slums and rookeries. In the second part, the author takes us round the streets and squares, and discourses of old houses and old inhabitants, in an agreeable, chatty way. This section is particularly well donej but surely Shaftesbury Avenue does not go through Seven Dials. A map might have been inserted here with advantage. The third part deals with the author's work in the parish for thirty-four years, in connection with the Charity Organization Society, as a member of the Board of Guardians, and as the conductor of a Boy's Institute. Mr. Grey's experiences are well told, and any one engaged in similar work will read them with advantage} the sorrows and troubles of the very poor are contrasted with the wiles and deceits of the professional beggar, and many humorous stories are told at the expense of the latter class. The book is written throughout in a charming and graceful style that makes for pleasant reading. The author died before the work was printed, and we are told that he in- tended to publish it anonymously. His friends have exercised a wise and proper discretion in regarding that intention. There could be no more fitting memorial of Mr. Grey's years of ungrudging and unselfish work than this interesting book on the parish he loved so well. THE VISITATIONS OF SUSSEX, 1530 AND 1633-4. Edited by W. Bruce Bannerman, F.S.A. Harleian Society, 1905. Sussex is not reckoned among the Home Counties, but it is so near a neigh- bour that, as might be expected, many Home County families are to be found there. We find no less than twenty-three families described as coming from Kent, seven from Surrey, and one each from Berks, Bucks and Middlesex. It will be remembered that Mr. Bannerman edited the " Surrey Visitations" some few years ago, for the same Society. THE CHRIST IN SHAKESPEARE. By Charles Ellis. Of the making of books about Shakespeare there is no end, but Mr. Ellis has certainly produced a work of much originality. He gives extracts from certain plays, " The Merchant of Venice," " Measure for Measure," "Richard II," "Henry IV," "Henry V," "Henry VI," "Richard III,1' "Macbeth" and "Hamlet," and from the Sonnets, with parallel or applicable passages from the Bible printed opposite. The results are in many cases very striking, and the work could only have been done by one who knows his Shakespeare as he knows his Bible. But why does Mr. Ellis put a posthumous lie into Ben Jonson's mouth? "The figure that thou here seest put," referred to the Droeshout portrait, engraved for the first Folio 5 Mr. Ellis prints opposite the lines a reproduction of the Chandos portrait, which by all the most com- petent critics is admitted to be certainly not Shakespeare, and probably not even an Englishman. Mr. Ellis also includes among his facsimile autographs the one in Florio's " Montaigne," in the British Museum, which is we think universally admitted to be a forgery. The book can be obtained from the Bethnal Green Free Library. Price zs. 6d., post free. THE MAYERS AND THEIR SONG, or some account of the First of May and its observance in Hertfordshire. By W. B. Gerish. Our valued contributor, Mr. W. B. Gerish of Bishop's Stortford, is too modest in his title, for his pamphlet contains an interesting account of May Day doings all over England, to say nothing of New England, and elsewhere. REVIEWS. A considerable number of folk-songs are here collected, with curious local variations. " In conclusion (says the author) one may be pardoned for think- ing it a matter of regret that old customs, such as the May Day festival, should have fallen into desuetude "j a sentiment that will be cordially indorsed by all our readers. Copies may be had from the author. Price is., post free. THE WRITERS' AND ARTISTS* YEAR BOOK, 1906; a Directory for writers, Artists and Photographers. London : Adam and Charles Black. This is a new and improved version of " The Writers' Year Book," and in its present form caters for illustrators as well as authors. The ever-increasing difficulty of knowing where to " place " stories and articles owing to the vast number of papers, journals and magazines, makes a book of this sort almost indispensable. In addition to the long list of publications, and the description of articles and style of illustration likely to be acceptable to each, there are lists of publishers, both English and American, colour-printers, poster, show-card and post-card printers, and literary agents. In addition there is a most useful classified index, and hints to authors on the preparation of MSS. and the correction of proofs. TRANSACTIONS OF THE ST. PAUL'S ECCLESIOLOGICAL SOCIETY; vol. v, part v. Harrison and Sons. Price 5*. This Society continues its good work in the Diocese of London. The present part contains, "The Inventory of the Parish Church of Bledlow in 1783," by Dr. Wickham Leggj " On a Fragment of a Mass-Book from Burton Latimer, Northants/1 by the Rev. E. S. Dewick, and papers on the churches of St. Lawrence, Jewry, and All Hallows, Lombard St., by Mr. Philip Norman. The extraordinary part of the Bledlow Inventory is that an alb is mentioned j "its appearance is almost as prodigious as the finding of a chasuble." Dr. Legg's notes are learned and exhaustive ; the paper will repay close study. What Mr. Norman does not know about the City churches is not much; these two are dealt with in his usual thorough way, which leaves no more to be said. THE BERKS, BUCKS AND OXON ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL, vol. ii, N.S.; edited by the Rev. P. H. Ditchfield, M.A., F.S.A.; Charles Slaughter & Son, Reading; pp. 124. $s. This Journal keeps up its interest well, and the present volume contains some valuable contributions. Of these we may mention first, " Bulstrode and the Templars," by Mr. W. H. Wadham Powell, a capital paper, based on the manorial accounts for 1307-8 ; we hope Mr. Powell will continue this useful work. Mr. Charles E. Keyser gives an exhaustive description of two Berkshire Churches, Sparsholt and Childrey, with a large number of very fine plates. There was a church at Sparsholt before 963, but no vestiges of this ancient structure now remain. It was rebuilt in the twelfth century, and the lower part of the tower and the north door belong to this period, as also does the plain circular stone font. The greater part of the present structure belongs to the first half of the fourteenth century. On the south side of the chancel is a beautiful combination of piscina, sedilia and founder's tomb, all coeval with the present chancel. This tomb has a full-length effigy of a knight in armour, and probably commemorates a member of the Acland family at whose expense the chancel was rebuilt. There are other effigies, including one of the very rare wooden ones, and some fine brasses. All these features are well illustrated. At Childrey the north and south doorways of the nave, and possibly the nave 142 REVIEWS. walls, are of late transitional Norman. The font is one of the rare circular type in cast lead, and is probably Norman. " At intervals round the bowl are represented twelve ecclesiastics with low mitres, simply vested, holding a pastoral staff, with the crook turned inwards, in the right hand, and a book in the left." In the north wall of the chancel is a very beautiful Easter Sepulchre; the plate, by one of those extraordinary accidents that nutll happen, is lettered " Eastern Section." May we venture to suggest to the Editor the advisability of printing the name of the church on each plate? Here also are some fine brasses and effigies. Other papers of interest are Mr. Mill Stephenson on Palimpsest Brasses, Mr. Stephen Darby on Cookham Church, Mr. J. E. Field on the Saxon Charters of Brightwell, Solwell and Mackney, Berks, etc., etc. MEMORIALS OF OLD HERTFORDSHIRE, edited by Percy Cross Standing; with many illustrations. Bemrose and Sons; pp. 179. 15*. net. This series of Memorials of the Counties of England is well known to our readers. The present volume contains twenty articles, of which the editor con- tributes seven. Mr. Standing has the happy knack of conveying a very clear impression in a short article; his papers on "Historic Hertfordshire," "the Battles of St. Albans and Barnet," and " Folk-Lore and Legend,'1 are particu- larly good in this respect. His account of " St. Alban, Briton and Proto- Martyr," and Mr. F. A. Lumbye's paper on " The Hertfordshire Pope," are both carefully written biographies. Canon Benham on "Hertford Castle," and the Rev. P. H. Ditchfield on "Moor Park," write in the interesting and accurate style they have taught us to expect from them. The Rev. J. H. Stamp is responsible for a good paper on Waltham Cross, but he falls into the popular error of deriving Charing from cbere reine. Mr. W. B. Gerish and Mr. H. P. Pollard give a capital summary of the general Archaeology of the County. There are some curious slips; it is news that boroughs sent Bur- gesses to Parliament in John's time (p. 48); Elizabeth was not the daughter of Katherine of Arragon (p. 103) ; Edward III was not reigning in 1308 (p. 160) j while Sir Walter Nanny is enough to make the stout old soldier referred to turn in his grave. The book is nicely got up, the full-page illustrations are ex- cellent, and all the papers are well worth reading. HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS IN OXFORD AND THE COTSWOLDS. By Herbert A. Evans, with illustrations by Frederick L. Griggs. Macmillan & Co.; pp. 391; 6s. We were at first inclined to think that the Publishers had made a mistake in departing from the County plan hitherto adopted in this series, but after all it does not matter very much. The book is the thing, and this will rank with the best of Highways and Byways volumes. Mr. Evans proves the most delightful guide imaginable; a pleasant writer, a scholar, a man of wide reading, an antiquary, a naturalist, and, we suspect, a bit of an artist himself (witness his keen eye for beauty of colour and form), he has produced a many-sided book, but each side is equally good. We are pleased to read Mr. Evans' scathing criticism of the destruction wrought by the so-called " restoration " of churches. Over and over again he has to point this out. Indeed the instances of ruthless work are so numerous, that he apologizes for repeating his denunciations. Surely no apology is necessary; it is only by constantly drumming into the heads of the public that a church " restored" is generally a church despoiled of everything of interest, that this vandalism can be restrained. When we find also that our author protests against the immoderate growth of that "deadly REVIEWS. and insidious creeper," the ivy, and the disfigurement of so many church windows by what is grandiloquently called " cathedral glass,'1 we begin to feel that he is gifted with sound judgment withal. Mr. Evans is perhaps at his best when he is describing some ancient manor house, and giving a sketch of its former owners. His notes on various battles, too, are singularly clear and vivid. A necessarily brief sketch of Oxford history forms the opening chapter, and then we go far afield, to Warwickshire and Northants in the north, and to Gloucestershire and Worcestershire in the west ; a wide district, and full of interest. Mr. Griggs contributes seventy-two drawings. His work is well- known to readers of the series, as he has illustrated four previous volumes. These sketches are beautiful specimens of pen-work, some of them quite masterpieces of this branch of art. We know of no one who can put more sun- light into line work than Mr. Griggs ; the frontispiece, St. Mary's Porch at Oxford, Compton Wynyates, Little Wolford Manor House, Grevel's House at Chipping Camden, and Northleach Church, are particularly good examples, but the artist is equally at home with church, manor house, barn, dove-cote or village street. Though this volume is not directly concerned with Home Counties, we can cordially recommend it to our readers, for most of the country described could be visited in a series of week-ends from London. A MANUAL OF COSTUME, AS ILLUSTRATED BY MONUMENTAL BRASSES. By Herbert Druitt. The Delamore Press ; pp. 384, 1 10 illustrations ; IDS. 64. net. This work has reached us too late to insert an adequate review in this number ; we can therefore give only a brief preliminary notice, reserving a fuller account for next quarter. The aim of the book (as the author tells us in his preface) is to give, as far as possible, a straightforward account of the costume found represented on brasses. Starting with an introduction on brasses generally, he gives chapters on Ecclesiastical, Academical, Military, Civilian, Legal, and Female Costume $ each of these is treated in detail under various sub-headings, and forms an exhaustive essay on the subject. In each chapter is given a list of brasses in England covered by that particular section, so that we have a complete and most useful list of English costume brasses ; these are arranged in chronological order. The index runs to no less than sixty-four pages, and is divided into Persons, Places, Costume and General. The work is beautifully got up j paper and print are excellent j the numerous illustrations are well selected and printed, and are from photographs or rubbings j the frontispiece is a photogravure of the two D'Aubernon brasses at Stoke D'Abernon, Surrey ; it is marvellous how such a handsome volume can be published at the price. To all interested in costume or brasses this book is absolutely indispensable. The following books were received too late for review in this number: DIARY OF JOHN EVELYN, ESQ., F.R.S. ; new edition in four volumes, edited by Henry B. Wheatley, F.S.A. ; vol. i. Bickers and Son. NOTES ON THE EARLIER HISTORY OF BARTON-ON-HUMBER; by Robert Brown, jun., F.S.A. ; vol. i. Elliot Stock; 15^. net to subscribers. 144 Thomas Fry of Leigh and Penshurst, Kent, 1536-1585, 3 NOTES ON A PORTRAIT OF THOMAS FRY OF KENT. BY EDWARD ALEXANDER FRY. THE portrait, of which the accompanying illustration is a copy, has been for many years in the possession of my family. It is traditionally said to have been bought at a sale, or in a picture dealer's shop (by my great-grandfather, Henry Sampson Fry, or his father, Dr. Joseph Fry) about 1750, on account of the inscription ; but from investigations I have made I consider it to be the portrait of a Kentish man, and not of any ancestor of mine, who most certainly were of Dorset at the date this portrait must have been painted. Considering, therefore, that it relates to a Kentish man, from evidence to be related below, I think some notes about his family may be acceptable to the readers of the " Home Counties Maga- zine." The family to which the subject of this portrait belongs was resident at Penshurst. In Hasted's "History of Kent," vol. i, pp. 411 and 425, under Penshurst and Leigh, will be found men- tion of certain transactions which are more fully given in the appendix hereto, and which may be briefly summarized as follows : No. i. Is a deed dated 20 May, 36 Henry VIII (1544), be- tween the King and Edward Fry, Richard Fry, and John Moyse, which recites that John Fry, late of Penshurst, deceased, was seised of a tenement and lands, &c., in Penshurst and Leigh, valued at j£i2 6s. 6d. per annum, after whose death the property descended to said Edward and Richard and another son, deceased, named William, by custom of gavelkind. William's share is devisible among his seven sons, John, William, Robert, Richard, Walter, Andrew and Thomas, according to the custom of gavelkind. As these seven sons are within age, Edward and Richard the elder, and John Moyse, on their behalf, and Edward and Richard on their own, agree to exchange the said lands (which the King desires to enclose within his park of Penshurst) for the parsonage and advow- son of Leigh and certain lands belonging thereto, formerly part of the possessions of the late Cardinal Wolsey, and valued at jCio 2s. 6d. per annum. A money payment of ^49 13*. over and above the amount of £40 bargained for, is to be paid to Edward Fry in full satisfaction. VOL. vm. 14^ L NOTES ON PORTRAIT OF THOS. FRY OF KENT. No. 2. Is the patent dated 10 December, 36 Henry VIII (1544), granting to Edward Fry, Richard Fry and William Frye (or pre- sumably the trustees for William's children) the manor of Leigh, formerly belonging to the monastery of Tunbridge, and part of the possessions of the late Cardinal Wolsey. No. 2#. Is the exchange, dated 10 December, 36 Henry VIII (1544) of certain tenements and lands, &c., in Penshurst, late the possession of Edward Frye, Richard Frye and William Frye, to Edward Frye, for the Rectory and Advowson of Leigh, co. Kent, late parcel of the possessions of Thomas Wolsey, Cardinal, and formerly belonging to the monastery of Tunbridge. No. 2b. Is the lease dated 10 December, 36 Henry VIII (1544), of the Rectory and Advowson of Leigh to Edward Fry, formerly held by the monastery of Tunbridge, and since by the late Cardinal Wolsey. No. 3. Is the confirmation on the Originalia Roll, dated 36 Henry VIII (1544), of this exchange of lands in Penshurst for the Rectory and Manor of Leigh to Edward Fry. No. 4. In 1545 Edward Fry dies. By his will, dated 36 Henry VIII (1545), proved in the Consistory Court of London, 8 November, 1545 (Thurlby 66), he desires to be buried in the church- yard of Kensington, Middlesex. He gives his parsonage of Leigh to his eldest son Thomas. He mentions his wife Cicely and Ed- ward his youngest son, and his two daughters Denys and Eliza- beth.<