Aa BEN iR 4 ET 4 RELAT a rn 4 HIFRRAOIR se * Eat „ nn $ 1 u Ü u H Ale er ar, B2 “ EN MERHR u tat? Ant RR H KELKEHGE rar MEANS Al: Kuah, Yen Ku nr je adg in " NR D H } IR BOBiHuR» are rt AHERREE, N FRBBROLDR INN A Fre er re $ BE Leit urn BEIN Wiriet Era I fi ee % yis BB ih BERN an A N € Arte Hall rl N in {} B i f I a ee, De "., Vet ER Sal En BR Ai ER ä Eh a N u 12 HR « ee ei = SER SEAT Sen - ex een SEES 22 35 a AORELN % et IR TG r N ’ Hr N Archeological and Natural zE \ es | Ast Sure z Au | PRÖCKEDINGS DURING THE YEAR 1054, . TAUNTON: ä i K- FREDERICK MAY, HIGH STREET. 4 ‚ LONDON: BELL & DALDY, 186, FLEET STREET. % ng SOMERSETSHIRE Archrological and Jatural Wistory Society. PROCEEDINGS DURING THE YEAR 1854. Somersetshire Archeological and Matıral Ristery Suriety. ss Proreediugs DURIN G THE YEAR 1854. TAUNTON: FREDERICK MAY, HIGH STREET. LONDON: BELL & DALDY, FLEET ST. MDCCCLY. PRINTED BY FREDERICK MAY, HIGH-STREET, TAUNTON. mtr ee THE Society is indebted to E. A. Freeman, Esq., for the use of the original drawings from which the following sketches were taken, given in the present volume:—S$t. Stephen’s and St. Andrew’s Church, Norwich ; Yatton and Wrington Churches, Somerset : to the Rev. F. B. Portman, for the ground plan of Castle Neroche: to Miss Stradling for the original drawings, and Miss Murch for the anastatic copies, of the Antiquities found in the Turba- ries: to the Rev. H. M. Scarth, for the drawings of the stone coffins, &e., found in Bath: and likewise to the Archzological Institute, for the use of the woodeut of the Roman inscription given in the Appendix. The Committee are not responsible for any statements or opinions expressed in the Proceedings, the authors of the several papers being alone answerable for the same. NET Pe As EN ' PR r v Kudr 5 E23 2 m BURN 2 - > Cautente. MT PART L—PROCEEDINGS, &c. Sixth Annual Meeting - - - - - Report of Committee - .- - - - - Abstract of Treasurer’s Account - - - - Evening Meeting. — Second Day. — Excursion.— Broomfield Hr RE - Cotbelston Hill.—Rev. F. Warre’s Exposition of View therefrom - - - - - - Third Day.—Exeursion.—The Museum - - Publications received - - - - - Temporary Museum - - - - - B Conversazione Meetings a At ME — PART O.—PAPERS. The Perpendicular of Somerset compared with that of East Anglia; by Mr. Edward A. Freeman, M.A. On Castle Neroche, by the Rev. F. Warre - - On Ancient Sepulchral Remains discovered in and around Bath, by the Rev. H.M. Scarth, M.A. - On the Application of Philology to Archzological Investigation, by the Rev. William A. Jones, M.A. ed 29 49 vi. CONTENTS. A Young Turf-bearer’s find in the Turbaries, by Mr. W. Stradling - - - - - - 9 On the Geology ofthe Quantocks, by Mr. J.H. Payne 95 On New Brachiopoda, from the Inferior Oolite of Dundry, &c., by Mr. Charles Moore, F.G.S. - 107 On the Natural History of the Past Year, by the Rev. W. R. Crotch, M.A. - - - - 129 Appendix to Paper on Ancient Sepulchral Remains discovered in and around Bath, by the Rev. H. M., Scarth, M.A. - - - - - 135 ILLUSTRATIONS. Somersetshire Bench Ends—Broomfield To face Title. e * Kingston part i. 6 Yatton Church, Somerset—W est Front part ii. 1 Wrinston , us Looking West PR 5 St. Andrew’s Church, Norwich - = A 12 St. Stephen’s ,„, = - = - ie 21 Plan of the British Encampment at Castle Neroche - - - - - - * 44 Plan of Ancient Burial Ground - - “ 60 Stone Coflins, &c. - - - - B En 61 Antiquities found in the Turbaries (plate i) , 91 ” „ „ ee 92 » ” ” ( ” il.) ” 93 Geological Section of the Quantocks, Somerset „, 106 New Brachiopoda (plate 1.) - - - 5 124 ” ” ( ” il.) = = z ” 126 „ ” ( „ ül.) x R 2 „ 128 Roman Inscription - - Br ru - 138 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOMERSETSHIRE ARCHZEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, DURING THE YEAR 1854. PART L HE Sixth Annual Meeting of the Somerset Arch»- . ologieal and Natural History Society was held at Taunton, on Tuesday, September 12th, 1854,— The Right Hon. H. LABOUCHERE, M.P., in the Chair. The meeting for business commenced at eleven o’clock, when the President, the Vice-Presidents, and general and local Secretaries were severally re-appointed. The Hon. and Right Rev. Lord Auckland, Bishop of Bath and Wells, and Sir John W. Ramsden, Bart., M.P., were elected Vice-Presidents; the Rev. Augustus O. Fitzgerald, local Secretary for Somerton ; Professor H. Milne Edwards, of Paris, and the Rev. Thomas Hugo, were elected Honorary Corresponding Members; J. Batten, junr., Esq., G. Cave, Esq., W. F. Elliot, Esq., W. E. Gillett, Esq,, W. M. Kelly, Esq., M.D, W. Metford, Esq., M.D., F. W. New ton, Esq., Rev. W.T. Redfern, Rev. W. Routledge, D.D., and Rev. T. A. Voules, were re-elected; and Captain Doveton, and J. Woodland, Esq., were elected Members of the Committee. 1854, PART ]. B 2 SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING. The CHAIRMAN having addressed the meeting in a highly appropriate speech, the following Report of the Committee was read by the Rev. W. R. Crotch, one of the Secretaries of the Society :— “Your Committee, in presenting their Sixth Annual Re- port, have great pleasure in announcing the accession of twenty-seven new members during the last year. As the efficiency of the Society not only depends on the zeal and ability of those who labour in the different fields of inves- tigation, but also on the amount of its funds, every increase in the number of subseribing members is a subject of con- gratulation; whilst the same consideration compels the committee to express their regret that the arrears into which some subscriptions are allowed to fall, and the re- fusal in some instances to pay what must by all the laws of good faith be considered due to the society, necessarily checks and hampers its proceedings, from the uncertainty thus attending its apparent income. “The exchange and sale of duplicate specimens from the Williams’ Geological Collection has been carried still further during the past year. In this way the society has been enabled to supply the Museum of Practical Geology, the British Museum, and other institutions, with some hun- dreds of duplicates, care having been taken not to part with those specimens which form the essential feature of the Society’s collection. The unique and interesting specimen of the Bellerophon was lent to Mr. Salter for the purpose of having a drawing taken of it, a suflicient testi- mony to its value, and duly returned by him. “ The manuscript of the late Mr. Williams, relating to the geological collection, was sold to the society under a covenant that, if it were not published within a given time, it should revert to the family. That time has REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. 3 elapsed, but the curators of the Museum are not yet able to dispense with theuse of the manuscript, which the family have very kindly allowed them to retain for a longer period. “ Whilst on this subject, the committee cannot refrain from expressing their painful sense of the loss of one of their secretaries, Mr. Baker, of Bridgwater, whose widely extended acquirements, not to mention his amiable and exemplary private character, rendered him a most invalu- able support to the society, and whose death has created a void which they can scarcely hope to see in a like manner filled up. “By the kindness of several individuals, a large addition has been made to the Museum of the society, not only of objects of archzology and natural history, but also of pamphlets on various questions of antiquity, and Mr. Petit’s Architectural Studies ın France. At the same time, a valuable collection of illuminated missals has been de- posited in the Museum, by its owner. “ Some casts of seals of the Haviland family suggest the idea that the members of the society at large should be re- quested to send casts or drawings of the arms of Somerset- shire families, together with brief notices of their history, as much more and better information can thus be expected than from the researches of any one enquirer. To this may be added another request to members of the society, that they would give their aid towards the collection of materials for a Bibliotheca Somersetensis, or Catalogue of books written by Somerset authors, or relating to the county. “Your committee have readily availed themselves of the offer of the Sussex Archxological Society to exchange pub- lications. They feel that they need not insist on the great 4 SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING. advantage of such exchanges, which they hope to be able to extend more widely. They have felt also the impor- tance of possessing such a work as the Pal®ontological Journal, which they have therefore purchased up to the present date, and have enrolled the Society among the annual subscribers for the future numbers. “The Museum presented a feature of peculiar attraction this year, in a collection of Zoophytes preserved in the living state, which, imitating on a very reduced scale, the similar exhibition in the Zoological gardens at London, was exceedingly interesting and instructive; and the thanks of the society are deservedly due to those who de- voted so much timeand trouble to the supplying and ar- ranging the specimens. “The annual volume has been prepared with as little cost as possible, while no necessary expense has been spared to do justice to the illustrations. “ As there stillseems to bea want of clear understanding „amongst the members regarding their claims, the commit- tee think it right to state definitely, that every member is entitled to a copy of the publication issued by the society for the year, to which his subscription, not being in arrear, relates. “The Conversazione meetings were resumed during the winter, at which many interesting subjects were brought forward. “ In conclusion, the committee feel that the society .has completed its first lustrum with more success than might have been anticipated, and with flattering prospects for the future.” Mr. R. Bapcock then presented the Treasurer’s report, an abstract of which is subjoined, viz. :— TREASURER’S REPORT. oa The Treasurer in Fecount with the Somerset Archaeelogiral and Patural Dr. History Sorietv. Cr. 1854 HERR 1854 2. To Balance of former Account 33 18 0 By Curator’s Salary (9 months) 18 15 0 „ Subscriptions .. A ER) „ Do. commission for colleeting Ente Members . .. BEE Arrears of Subseriptions 5 0 0 su Benti... a ae =» 2970410 .„, Printing, Drawing, and En- graving 4th vol of Pro- ceedings (1853) 93, 070 ‚„ Stationery and Printing .. 1114 2 „ Postage and Carriage .. 6116 10 „ Expenses attending Gene- ral Meeting Br a ta ucasesı.% 32 98 .1514 5 „ Coals and Gas > #10 102:0 „ Glass .. 12629 „ Drawings and Plans 9180 „ Stufüng Birds as Fr „ Insurance 126 „ Sundries le 413106, „, Books AS 58 ee) „ Balance ” 30 2 EH ZEN LO LS 2 Sl Z0 Papers were then read by the following gentlemen— The Rey. H. M. ScartH, on Stone Coffins discovered at Bath, and the immediate neighbourhood of that city, given in Part II., and in the Appendix. The Rev. F. WARRE, Secretary of the Society, for Mr. STRADLING, on a Young Turf-parer’s find in the Tur- baries, given in Part I. The Rev. W. A. JoNEs, Secretary to the Society, on the Application of Philology to Archxological investiga- tion, given in Part II. The Rev. F. WARRE, for Mr. FREEMAN, on the Per- pendiculars of Somerset, as compared with those of East Anglia, given in Part II. An ORrpvınarY was held at the London Inn, which was well attended. 6 SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING. Chr Enening Reeting. Papers were read by the following gentlemen :— Mr. A. Crosse, Walks on the Quantock Hills. Mr. J. H. Payne, on the Geology of the Quantock Hills, given in Part Il. Mr. C. MooRE, on the new Spirifers discovered in the Oolite of Dundry, given in Part I. The Rev. W. R. Crorcn, on Facts in Natural History, observed during the late year, given in Part Il. SECOND DAY. Wednesday, September 13th, 1854. Chr Errurzun. FTER partaking of a sumptuous breakfast, provided by the hospitality of Robert Badcock, and Eales White, Esqs., the Bailiffs of the borough, the party pro- ceeded on an excursion to Kingston: the church (fully de- scribed by the Rev. Eccles Carter, in his Paper, published in the proceedings of the Society, for the year 1853) having been visited, they proceeded to Broomfield, a small church of Perpendicular character, with earlier portions, chiefly remarkable for the beauty of its bench heads, two of which, as well as one from Kingston, are given in the illustrations of the present volume. From Broomfield church the company proceeded to Fyne Court, the residence of Andrew Crosse, Esq., where ample provision had been made for their hospitable recep- tion. The treasures of Mr. Crosse’s valuable Museum were exhibited, comprising a very extensive and varied ae 5 ! 5 : SENFHANIF as1Hsl SHWOT, "AIHHWOOIE SECOND DAY. 7 collection of the mineral productions of the county. To these were added some of the results of his electrical ex- periments, illustrating the origin and formation of metallic lodes; several powerful galvanıc batteries were in active operation, and, under Mr. Crosse’s direction, served to ex- plain and illustrate the modus operandi of many of the oceult phenomena of nature. From thence the company proceeded to Üothelstone Beacon, where the following Exposition of the View therefrom was made by the Rev. F. Warre :— “] need not tell you that the view before you is one of great extent, of varied character, and extreme beauty; it is bounded on the east by the long ridge of Mendip; on the west by the heights of Brendon; on the south by Blagdon, and on the north by the Severn sea, beyond which appears the coast of Wales; while to the south-west, at times, may be seen Haldon, and even the Peaks of Tors on Dartmoor. It embraces a variety of ex- tent hardly to be equalled in the south of England; but to us, a Society of Archzologists, its beauty is not its only charm. Its boundaries include many spots of historical interest, which it will be my endeavour on the present occasion to point out,—a task for which my only qualifi- eation is, that, being a native of this neishbourhood, I am familiar with the scene before us. “At a period before the times of written history, this ex- tensive tract of country was inhabited by several tribes of Celtic origin— members of the great Loegrian family—one of the three original tribes mentioned in the Welsh triads as the earliest occupiers of the British Isles; on the ex- treme east lie the territories of the Hedui; farther to the south were the Durotriges and Morini; to the south and west were seated the Danmonii; and that northern coast 8 SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING. was the habitation of the Silures; whilst below us extends the Gwlad-yr-hav, the ‘ summer-fields ’ of the Celtic poets, which, with the heights of the Quantock and the northern coast of Somerset, was the residence of the western Cangi. “] am well aware that my learned friend and colleague, Mr. Jones, will tell you that the “summer-field’ is a false translation of the Celtic name, and that Gwlad-yr-havren simply signifies “the land on the coast of the Severn;’ and it would, indeed, be presumptuous in me to doubt the correctness of his interpretation; but when I look down on that beautiful plain, I hope to be excused if (for the day at least), I hold the more poetical translation to be the right one, and believe with Harne, that the Cangi named their beautiful vale and plain “the laughing summer-field.’ “Far again to the south-east extend the grassy hills and undulating downs of Dorset and Wilts, for centuries the battle-field of the Belg&, those men of Galedin, who, having been received by the British tribes in peace, repaid their hospitality by wresting from them a large portion of their most valuable territory. Several of the mountain strongholds of these early nations are in sight—W’orle Hill, Hamdon, Neroche, Elworthy, and Dowsborough are all crowned with military works of these extinct nations, all of whom were soon to fall under the irresistible power of the Roman armies. “About the year 40, Ostorius Scapula took military possession of the coast from the mouth of the Avon to the zstuary of the Uxella, and having crossed the z»stuary, probably completed the conquest of the Cangi, on the very spot on which we are now standing. I know that this is controverted, and that many historians and archxologists hold that the battle, which was fought within sight of the ‘Mare quod aspicit Hiberniam,’ was fought against the COTHELSTON HILL. 3) Cangi of Shropshire; but, in order to see that sea, Ostorius must have penetrated beyond their territories into those of the Ordovices, while here, on a line of hills which the learned Camden states to have been occupied by the Cangi, he had seen the sea which may well be said to look towards Ireland, immediately below him. These bar- rows are the marks of battle. Roman and British orna- ments have been found in the immediate vicinity; and there is the Uxella to the mouth of which we know that he penetrated. “During 400 years of Roman occupation, no doubt the inhabitants of the distriet before us partook of that civili- zation, and admixture of Roman blood, which converted the barbarian Celt into the polished Romanized Briton. The British foss-way leading from Bath to Seaton was adopted by the Romans, and became one of their great highways. Cadbury, Ham Hill, and Neroche were occu- pied by their troops. The mines of Mendip and Brendon were extensively worked; and even on Blackdown there have been found traces of mining operations. Villas have been discovered at Pitney, Coker, Combe St. Nicholas, and without doubt existed in many other places. Roman coins have been found from time to time, particularly at Conquest, immediately below us, and at Holway, a little beyond Taunton, at both which places large deposits of money have been discovered ; those at Conquest in such numbers, and in such a perfect state of preservation, as to render it probable that a mint existed there, in confirma- tion of which, some years ago several large balls or lumps of metal resembling lead, probably the debased silver so often used in the Roman coinage, are said to have been found there, though I have not as yet succeeded in traeing any of them. 1854, PART. c 10 SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING. “It was during this period that Christianity was intro- duced into this Island, and the first Christian Church in Britain built at Glastonbury. The history of this vener- able and magnificent establishment, the burial-place of the British hero, King Arthur, the refuge of the historian Gildas, the residence of St. Patrick, the cradle of St. Dunstan, patronized and enriched by Ina, Canute, Alfred, and later kings; whose mitred Abbot is said to have been able to bring 15,000 fishting men into the field ; the scene of the brutal murder of the high spirited and conscientious Abbot Whiting, is too well known to Archsologists to require that I should now do more than point out its situation. “In the year 557, Ceawlin, the great West-Saxon Con- queror, over-ran the eastern part of the county. Kenewalch, in the year 680, defeated the Bretwallas at Pen, and drove them to this side of the Parret; and in the year 702, Ina founded the Uastle of Taunton, to strengthen his western frontier against the subjecets of Geraint, Prince of Corn- wall, whose dominions still extended as far eastward as Blackdown and Exmoor. “There at the juncetion of the Thone and Parret, is Athelney, described by Asser, as an island on the borders of Britain, where the indomitable Alfred lay hid while the Danish pirates ravaged the country far and wide; and farther to the east is Aller, where, after his defeat, the heathen Guthrum was baptized ; and again, nearer the ridge of Mendip, is Wedmore, the royal residence of his immortal conqueror, where a deposit of the coins of Can- ute the Dane was recently discovered, some of which are in our Museum in Taunton. “The distriet before us, indeed, appears to have been a favorite one with the West Saxon monarchs. South COTHELSTON HILL. "1 Petherton, Wedmore, and Taunton, before the latter manor was granted to the Church of Winchester, were all royal residencees. The family of Earl Godwin was possessed of large manors on the coast of the Severn ; and here, on the Steep Holmes, Githa, the mother of Harold, took refuge after the defeat and death of her son at Hastings. On that coast too, near the eastern boundary of the view, the two sons of Harold landed with a body of Saxon fugitives, and raised the retainers of their father in a desperate attempt to restore the fallen fortunes of their family ; and from that point sallied forth Drogo de Monta- cute, at the head of his Norman chivalry, met them between Congresbury and Worle, scattered their forces to the four winds of heaven, and drove them back foiled and defeated to their ships. There is in the Museum at Taunton an arrow-head of about that date, found near Worle, which may probably have been shot during their disastrous flight. “On this side Minehead lies Dunster, where the Nor- man Moion had his castle, which in the reign of Edward III. passed into the possession of the Luttrells, who still inhabit its majestic towers; and nearer to us again is Williton, the residence of Reginald Fitzurse, who, with Brito, Moreville, and Tracey, at a hasty word of Henry II., sacrilegiously murdered, before the altar of his own cathedral, the Archbishop A’Beckett, afterwards canonized as St. Thomas of Canterbury ; and a little beyond that hill stands Woodspring Priory, founded by William de Courteney, in expiation of the murder committed by his ancestor Tracey, where no doubt was originally deposited that very curious Reliquary now in our Museum, which was found a few years since, built into the north wall of Kewstoke Church, containing an oaken cup, in which may 12 SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING. be discerned a small quantity of brown dust, the residuum of human blood, which may be that of A’Beckett himself. Here again stands Cannington, where the Fair Rosamond, the vietim of a King’s lust and a Queen’s vengeance, passed her noviciate, and where a few years since a ring, apparently of the 13th century, now in the possession of Mr. Stradling, was found, on which were engraved the armorial bearings of the house of Clifford. “From this spot too may be seen the sites of no less than four of the medi®yal castles of Somerset,—Dunster, the stronghold of the Moions ; Stoke Courcey, the resi- dence of the De Courcey family; Bridgwater, founded in the reign of Henry I., by William Brewere; and Taunton, founded by Ina in the year 702, destroyed by his sister Ethelburga about twenty years after, and restored by William Gifford, Bishop of Winchester, in the reign of Henry the First. “] am not aware of any event of importance having taken place within sight of this place during the 13th, 14th, and the earlier part of the 15th century, sufficient to invest any partieular spot with historical interest. "There indeed lies Halsway, the hunting seat of Cardinal Beaufort; but grand indeed as a medi®val hunting scene must have been in these beautiful hills, and though painter or poet might rejoice at the recollection of the stately Prelate, sur- rounded by knights and esquires, and, if all tales be true, with ladies fair, sallying forth with hound and horn to rouse the good red deer in the woods of Cocker Coombe and Sevenwells, Halsway, exelusive of its architectural value, has little historical interest attached to it beyond that of having been the occasional residence of the celebrated Cardinal; and in this it is perhaps surpassed by Milverton, where there is a house built for himself by the more cele- brated Wolsey. COTHELSTON HILL. 13 “Those beautiful towers which we see on every side, have been supposed by some to bear witness to the grati- tude of the Tudor Monarchs to the faithful West for its support of the house of Lancaster; but this I fear is but a fancy. Henry VII. shewed more anxiety to drive Perkin Warbeck and his Cornish supporters from Taunton, than to reward those who had supported him in his difhiculties. “Here immediately below us is Cothelston, the resi- dence of Sir John Stawel, the daring royalist leader in the great Rebellion; and from Taunton it was that Blake led the Parliamentarian army to destroy his house and to besiege the stronghold of Dunster. Tradition says that the arms of Sir John Stawel’s forces were kept in Bishop’s Lydeard tower, and his levies made in a field which still bears the name of “Standards;” and the skirmish at I.ydeard between him and Blake was described to me by an o!d man who had heard it from his great-grandfather, as graphically as if he had witnessed it himself. He assured me that when Blake’s men and Sir John’s rode through Bishop’s Lydeard street together, they made more noise tban he had ever heard in his life; and I can easily conceive that it was not a very quiet ride. Gore and Cothelston were both the scenes of judicial murder during the bloody assize of Jeffries; a gentleman of the name of Gore having been executed and his limbs nailed to a tree at the former place, and two more, Bovet and Blackmore having been hanged on the arch before old Cothelston house. “The time will not permit me at present to do more than to call your attention to those two columns, that at Burton Pynsent, erected by that great statesman, Lord Chatham ; the other, above Wellington, raised to the me- mory of the greatest statesman and warrior that England, and perhaps the world, has ever seen.” 14 SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING. The party then proceeded along the ridge of Quantocks, to Will’s-neck, and thence to Crowcombe, and returned by Cothelston House, where refreshments had been provided for them by E. J. Esdaile, Esq. THIRD DAY. Thursday, September 14th, 1854. In spite of the unpromising state of the weather, which soon became very wet, a considerable number of the mem- bers of the Society started at eleven o’clock, on the second excursion, through Trull, Corfe, and Thurlbear, to Staple- Fitzpaine, where they were hospitably entertained by the Rev. F. B. Portman; and a Paper on Castle Neroche, which is given in Part II., was read by the Rev. F. Warre. The visit to Castle Neroche being deemed undesirable on account of the rain, the party having visited the churches of Bickenhalland Ashill, closed their meeting, and separa- ted at the latter place. Ce Rluzeum. THE FOLLOWING HAVYE BEEN DEPOSITED AS LOANS. A valuable collection of Illuminated Missals. — Dr. SYDENHAM. A collection of Roman Coins, found at Holway.— W. BLAKE, Es. Pair of Jack Boots and Sword, about the time of Mon- mouth; found inside a partition in the Manor House at Burrow.—-CAPT. BARRETT. THE MUSEUM. 15 Two Antelope Heads. —Mrs. BICKNELL. Specimens of Roman Pottery.—W.P. PıncHarp, EsQ. An Antique Silver Ring found at Exeter. Five Guinea piece of the reign of Charles II. Fossil Fern, &c.—W. JAacoBson, EsQ. Spear-heads and other Roman Remains, from Prythrop Park, Oxfordshire.—Rev. F. WARRE. PURCHASED BY THE SOCIETY. The Paleontographical Society’s Journal. CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED DURING THE YEAR 1854. Textrinum Antiquorum, or, The Art of Weaving among the Ancients, by James Yates, M.A.; Pamphlet on the use of the terms Acanthus, Acanthion, &c., in the ancient classics ; Do. on the Bulla, worn by the Roman Boys, the Proceedings of Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool, 1853 to 1854.— James YartEs, EsQ. Architectural Studies in France. —By the author— Rev. J. PETIT, M.A. A Crustacian from the Lias at Curry Rivel.— W. MunkKrton, EsQ. Two Blind-fish, and specimens of Stalactites from the Mammoth cave, Kentucky. —W. E. SurTEESs, EsQ. A Pamphlet on the Faussett Collection. — C. RoAcH SMITH, EsQ. A Pamphlet on the science of Geology and its applica- tion; a collection of Devonian Limestones, with Corals; a Geological Map of parts of Somerset.—J.D. Prıng, EsQ. Zoological Journal, 1824-29, 4 vols.; Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. 10 to 20; Memoirs of the Wernerian Natural History Society, 4 vols. and 3 parts; Robert of Gloucester's and Langtoft’s Chronieles.— Sır W. C. TrevELyan, Bart. 16 SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING. The Proceedings of the Architeetural Society of Scot- land, session 1853-4.—By post. The Book of the Axe.—By the author— Mr. G. P. R. PuLman. The defence against the reply of P. C., by J. Whitgift, 1574.—J. A. YATIMANn, EsQ. Fossil specimens of Trilobites, Ferns, &e.; from Scar- borougsh and Dudley.—C. WINDLE, EsQ. Head of Antelope; Case of Arrows.—Mr. P. TAayLor. Specimen of Ore, containing silver and copper, from a newly discovered mine at Ashburton ; and silver and lead Ore from Cornwall.—Mrs. G. H. Parne. Specimen of the First Printing done at Taunton.— H. Norrıs, EsQ. Specimens of Stalactite, from Holwell cavern.— J.D. Prıxg, EsQ. A series of rock specimens, from Scotland. — Sır W.C. TREVELYAn, Bart. Two fossil Ink-bags, from Ilminster.—C. MOORE, Esg. Three Medals, commemorative of Alliance between France and England, &c.; Pamphlet on the Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries, and a catalogue of the drawings, miniatures, cameos, &c., illustrative of the Bona- parte family; through Tuomas Dawson, EsQ. Copy of Magna Charta.—Mr. E. JEBOULT. Bones of Rhinoceros tichorinus, from the excavations at the Gaol at Wilton. A Block of Timber from the same. Stuffed Swan.—F. ©. JoHNson, EsQ. Coins—of Harold, struck at Bristol; Canute, struck at Bruton; Edward the Confessor, struck at Hastings.— Rev. T. F. Drmock. ee THE MUSEUM. 17 Large head of Alligator; head of Wild Boar; three Vampire Bats, &c. ; through J. F. Norman, Eso. Fourteen specimens of Zoophytes, from Minehead.— Mıss GIFFORD. Pottery from Castle Neroche, and from Bath; Roman horse shoes from Staple Fitzpaine.—Rev. F. WARRE. Gorgonia Verrucosa, from Seaton; Sertulariz, &e., mounted in spirits; Internal Shells of the Sepia and Loligo, together with their mandibles and ink-bags ; Various spe- cimens of the same, mounted in spirits; a specimen of the Aphrodite or Sea-mouse.—-Rev. W. A. Jones. The following Publications have been received during the year 1854, in exchange for the Proceedings of the Society :— Reports and Papers of the Architectural Societies of Northampton, York, the Diocese of Lincoln, and Bedford- shire, for 1853. Sussex Archzological Collections, vol. 6. Journal of the British Archxological Association, April, July, and October, 1854. 1854, PART L D 18 SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING. Crmporary Alusenm. HE following were ameng the articles of interest | kindly lent to form a temporary museum, during the days on which the annual meeting was held :— A collection of Somersetshire birds.—DRr. WOODFORDE. An ancient Pax, once among the treasures of Glaston- bury Abbey. —Rev. Tmomas Huco. Original portrait of Admiral Blake, and his dress- sword.—WILLIAM BLAKE, EsQ. Roman, Etruscan, Grecian, and Egyptian Pottery, ot great beauty and interest; a case of Stuffed Birds from Demerara, &c.—W. E. SURTEES, Esa. A variety of Roman and other antiquities.—Mr. DowTY. Cases of Insects, from Somerset.—Mr. R. KENDALL. Pottery, from Herculaneum.—Mr. PINcHARD. A silver ring (the “Douglas Cognizance”), found in Odiham Castle, Hampshire. —Dr. Prince. A series of Devonian rocks and fossils from the Quan- tocks, together with fossil corals from Doddington and Overstowey.—MRr. J. D. Prince. A series of drawings, and sketches of places of historie and antiquarian interest in the County. —MRr. CLARKE. Antique silver ring, found at Exeter.—MRr. JAcoBson. A great variety of curiosities, from India, China, and Africa —CAPTAIN SINCLAIR. An anciert Tea-pot, with the legend, “No cider tax; apples at liberty;” a record of the strong feeling of oppo- sition to the “cider duty,” which prevailed in Somerset- shire. A curious candlestick used in Wales. A series of zoophytes, recent and fossil; with a collection of beetles and insects, from the interior of Africa.—Rev. W. A. JoNEs. A a a CONVERSAZIONE MEETINGS. 19 Cmuersugione Alretinge. 4th Season. T the Conversazione Meetings of the Society held at A the Museum, in Taunton, during the winter of 1853-54, Papers on the following subjects were read. 1853, November,—1st Meeting. On Taunton Castle; by the Rev. F. Warre. On Electrie Fluid, with Experiments; by W. Metford, Esq., M.D. On Zoophytes living and fossil; illustrated with many specimens of Actini® and other Zoophytes, which were kept living for some months; and likewise by fossil specimens of Corals, &c., in the Museum; by the Rev. W. A. Jones. », December, —2nd Meeting. Memoir of the late Mr. W. Baker; by Mr. J. Bowen.* On the Trees, &c., dug up at the Gaol, Taunton; by the Rev. W.R. Crotch. 1854, January,—3rd Meeting. On Poundisford Park; by Mr. G. Cave. On the Crinoideans, illustrated by specimens in the Museum; by the Rev. W. A. Jones. „» February,—4th Meeting. On Electrieity; by W. Metford, Esq., M.D. Ona particular Electrical phenomenon observed by R. Walter, Esq. » March,—5th Meeting. On Fungi ; by the Rev. W. R. Crotch. On the Bridgwater levels; by G. S. Poole, Esq. * This very interesting Memoir has been published, with additions; ; and may behad through the Society’s publisher, Mr, Mary, Taunton. 20 *, * The Committee earnestly solieit the assistance of Members in different parts of the county towards the fol- lowing objects:— I.—The collection of a Complete Series of the Rocks and Mierals of the County, to be deposited in the Museum. II.—The formation of a Bibliotheca Somersetensis, in- cluding the Title-page of all books or MSS. written by Natives of Somerset, or relating to, or printed in, the County. | II.—The Collection of the Heraldie Bearings of So- mersetshire families. = 7 YATran CHURCH : WESTFRONT : SOMERSEF. PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOMERSETSHIRE ARCH/EOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1854, PART II. PAPRRBS; ETC; Che Perpendirnlar of Somevset rumparet with that uf Cnat-Anglin. BY EDWARD A. FREEMAN, M.A. _—— DISCOURSE on the architecture of Norfolk may A possibly at first sight be regarded as a subject not altogether appropriate to be brought before a Somerset- shire society. Yet I trust that a little consideration will show that, in the aspect from which I mean to consider it, it forms an essential portion of the subjeet which I have brought before you from time to time ever since the com- mencement of my connexion with your body. My objeet has been to illustrate the peculiarities of Somersetshire architecture, especially during the Perpendicular age, and in no way can I so vividly show you in what those peculiarities consist, as by contrasting your local style with that of some other distriet. Now the architecture of East- Anglia is at once sufliciently like and sufficiently unlike 1854, PART II, A 2 PAPERS, ETC. that of Somersetshire, to afford an admirable field for a comparison of this kind. I could not well compare your churches with those of Sussex, which I visited last year, because utter diversity precludes all comparison. I hope to use to more advantage the results of my last archxo- logical ramble, because the buildings of the two distriets, among immense diversity of detail, present a considerable general resemblance. I took the opportunity of the Meeting of the Archxo- logical Institute at Cambridge, to see as much as time would allow me of the architecture of the eastern part of England. I went without stopping to Wisbeach, and thence to Lynn, in excursions from which places I examined several of the magnificent churches of the distriet lying between them, known as Marshland. I thenee proceeded, chiefly along the line of the railway, to Swaffham, East Dereham, Hingham, Wymondham, and Norwich. From Norwich I went straight to Cambridge, whence the excursions of the Institute enabled me to examine Bury St. Edmunds and Saffron Walden. It will thus be seen that though I have been to several distant points, I am very far from having traversed the whole extent of the old East-English kingdom ; and I regret that some of the finest objects, as Cromer and Cley and Snettisham and Worstead and Yarmouth, did not come within my reach. The last mentioned place was sacrificed to a longer examination of the innumerable buildings of Norwich, so happily rescued by a wise House of Commons from the destruction which then threatened them from another quarter. I have however been far enough to see many very splendid churches, and to observe many points of difference from what I have been used to in your county. Possibly the examination of a greater number PERPENDICULAR OF SOMERSET AND EAST-ANGLIA. 3 might have revealed a more extensive list of diversities ; possibly, on the other hand, it might have shown me that some of those which I have remarked are less universal than I have imagined. I shall of course, in comparing the architecture of the two distriets, confine myself chiefly to the really great architectural works of both, those in which the peculiar characteristics of each display themselves on the grandest scale and to the greatest advantage. And I am bound to state that a first-rate East-Anglian church, though I think decidedly inferior in point of detail to a first-rate Somer- setshire one, is fully equal to it in general grandeur, and very frequently surpasses it in size. And I must add too that I have found an East-Saxon church, very near the East-Anglian border, to which, for splendour of internal effect and for beauty of detail, I must give precedence over every Somersetshire building I know, except, of course, the unapproachable glory of St. Mary Redcliffe. I have diligently compared the internal elevations of Martock and of Saffron Walden, and I am constrained to yield the palm to the latter. If it be any comfort to a Somersetshire audience, I can add that, in external outline and in the forms of the windows, the Somersetshire ex- ample has a no less decided advantage. I ought however to mention that the distriet of Marshland, that in which the churches are most remark- able for size and splendour, belongs both physically and architeeturally to Lincolnshire rather than to Norfolk, and is not especially rich in examples of the local Perpendicular. The island of East-Anglia, for such it originally was to all practical purposes, can certainly boast of no Cotswolds or Mendips, yet it is far from being a dead flat. Marshland, on the other hand, the distriet west of the Ouse, reminded 4 PAPERS, ETC. me much of Sedgemoor ; there is the same wide expanse intersected by rhines, but with this important difference, that in Marshland the expanse is simply boundless; no mountain-ranges fence in its horizon ; no Brent Knoll or Glastonbury Tor diversifies its dreariness. Here is un- doubtedly the grandest group of village churches I know of, the work of a most abiding spirit of taste and munifi- cence, no age or style being unrepresented. The stately Norman pile of Walsoken is succeeded by the elaborate Lancet work of West Walton ; a few miles further lead us to the vast Decorated pile of Walpole St. Peters, its gorgeous porch and illimitable clerestory ; finally, in Ter- rington St. Clements, we reach a still more gigantie Perpendicular building, with a west front rivalling Yatton and Crewkerne, and a whole nave which would not dis- grace a small cathedral. In these magnificent fabrics the Perpendieular is not the exclusive or predominant style, and, where it does occur, its peculiarities are not so strongly marked as in the distriet farther east. Again, though buildings of nearly equal splendour occur here and there in other parts of Norfolk, they do not seem to lie nearly so thick upon the ground. As in many parts of Somerset, we find an occasional splendid building, with several insignificant ones between each ; the average of the churches in North Northamptonshire would probably be higher than in either Norfolk or Somerset ; though no Northamptonshire church, hardly Rothwell or Warmington or Fotheringhay, could be set against the finest examples in those two counties. GENERAL OUTLINES. The first thing that strikes the observer in comparing the larger parish churches of Somerset and of East-Anglıa, Bar It + 4 k c# H j OMER£ CH 1 PERPENDICULAR OF SOMERSET AND EAST-ANGLIA. 5 is the greater average size of the latter. I have re- marked in former papers that many of the finest Somer- setshire churches, Wrington for instance, have their naves too short for their height, cramped as they often were between the tower at. one end and the chancel at the other. Very fine churches have naves of only four or five bays ; Crewkerne, with its broad arches, has only three. Putting aside St. Mary Redcliffe, the largest I know are Martock, North Petherton, Bridgwater, and Weston Zoyland.* In East-Anglia many churches far exceed these in length; naves of six and seven bays are the usual thing in buildings of any pretensions, and they sometimes extend to eight, nine, andeventen. Again, according to acustom on which I shall presently enlarge, there are generally two clerestory windows over each bay, so that ranges are produced of from twelve to twenty windows, to which Somersetshire can afford no parallel. Crewkerne is the only Somersetshire church I remember with two windows over each arch, and that can only muster six! The vast length of these naves has this special advantage, that two or three of the western bays are often left quite free from seats, to the great improvement of the general effect, and also to the much better display of the magnificent fonts for which the distriet is renowned, and which thus become subordinate central points at the west end. The fully developed cross form, with the central tower, of which Somersetshire affords such noble examples, seems to be rare in Norfolk, except of course in the case of great minsters, like Norwich, Wymondham, and Lynn. By Lynn I of course mean the vast fabrie of St. Marga- * Dunster occurs as a Somersetshire church of still greater size, but its monastie destination and irregular plan exclude it from the comparison, 6 PAPERS, ETC. rets; but there is another large cross church, St. James, with a central oetagon, now half destroyed, half desecrated,* which must surely have been monastic also. Snettisham is, I believe, eruciform, and East Dereham has the striking combination of a central lantern and a detached campanile. This church, owing to its original central tower having been taken down, and rebuilt immediately to the west of its old position, presents the singular phenomenon of a double transept.f Terrington may have been meant to exhibit the same type as Dereham;; at present it has only a detached tower ; but of this church more anon. Small transepts, or rather transeptal chapels, sometimes occur, as in St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich, where they are mere projections from a single bay of the aisle, with the clere- story carried uninterruptedliy over them. Swaffham has transepts nearly the full height, but the tower is western. The central tower without transepts occasionally oceurs, as in the Norman church at Castle Rising, and in two much more remarkable instances in Lynn and Norwich. The building called St. Andrew’s Hall, in the latter city, is in fact the nave of a large church of Friars, the choir of which nominally forms a Dutch church, but it is regularly used as the workhouse chapel. Between the nave and the choir is a single bay belonging to neither, which is said to have supported a hexagonal tower, which fell early in the last century. Now at Lynn there remains a very remark- able fragment, which, together with what we have just seen at Norwich, enables us to re-construct an entire church of this type. At Norwich we have the church without the steeple ; at Lynn we have the steeple without the church. * Since then, I see by the newspapers that the whole building has fallen down. rT See Archxological Proceedings at Norwich, p. 182. ne pe £ . an uns: PERPENDICULAR OF SOMERSET AND EAST-ANGLIA. 7 Two large arches, which evidently opened into a nave to the west and a choir to the east, support a tall, slender hexagonal turret, an excellent example of Perpendieular brickwork, which forms a most striking object in the general view of the town, and which must have had a still more singular appearance when perched upon the roof of a rather broad church. Neither building seems ever to have had transepts. The chancels are generally well developed, especially when the church contains work earlier than Perpendicular; nor is it common, as in Somersetshire, to find such dis- proportion between the two parts as we see at Wrington. The chancels are generally lofty, and have tall bold chancel arches.. But in some cases, especially in town churches which are Perpendicular from the ground, we find an arrangement of which Somersetshire, as far as Iam aware, affords no example. No architectural distinction is made between nave and chancel, which must have been divided by a screen only, but the arcades and clerestory are continued uninterruptedly to the east end, or, more commonly, to within a bay of the east end, so that the eastern bay, standing free, forms a small constructive presbytery. St. Nicholas at Lynn is a splendid example of this arrangement ; so is St. Peter Mancroft in Norwich, in which city there are several smaller examples. St. Mary’s, Bury, has a still more remarkable arrangement. A large choir with aisles is well defined, and divided from the nave by a chancel arch, but beyond this is a small constructive presbytery, no less pointedly marked off from the choir by asecond arch. Ido not know any church where the threefold division is so very distinetly marked, for, as no tower or transept intervenes at either point, the sole intention of the arches is clearly shown to have been to 8 PAPERS, ETC. maintain this ritual division. The East-Anglian churches share with those of Somerset the tendeney to introduce small turrets and spirelets besides the prineipal tower. They do not however often occeur at the side, but most commonly, like those at Banwell, at the east end of the nave, as in St. Mary’s, Bury, or when there is no con- struetive chancel, at the east end of the whole building, as in St. Peter Mancroft. TOWERS. The tower most distinetive of Norfolk is of course the round tower of flint, which is of all dates, from Anglo-Saxon to Perpendicular, but with which, as the later examples exhibit but little architeetural character, I am but little concerned at present. It is singular that the round form, introduced to avoid the necessity of quoins in a distriet where stone is rare, should, now and then, have sunk into the octagon—a closely allied form ssthetically, but its exact opposite economically, as requiring double as much quoin- ing as the square. I did not however observe any marked classes of octagons, like those in Somerset and Northamp- tonshire respectively; a few of the round towers have octagonal tops, and so has a small square one at Thuxton, a village lying between Dereham and Hingham. There are also the hexagons and the octagon I have already mentioned at Lynn and Norwich, and the noble “abbey steeple” at Wymondham. The western distriet contains several splendid towers and spires of earlier than Perpendicular date, among which the superb detached campanile of West Walton claims the unquestioned pre-eminencee. My business however lies with the great Perpendicular towers, which, in the most thoroushly East-Anglıan distriets, are built of flint. PERPENDICULAR OF SOMERSET AND EAST-ANGLIA, 9 Of these Iam very difident in pronouneing an opinion. I know that I have not seen some of the finest among their number, but, as far as I have seen, I have not the slightest hesitation in saying that, in this respect, the supremacy of Somersetshire over all other parts of England remains altogether unaffected. No Fast-Anglian towerthat I saw could be compared for a moment, as a real architectural design, to even a second-rate specimen of any one of the three Somersetshire classes. One thing that especially struck me was that I could not in the same way divide them into classes; each tower of any conse- quence must be described for itself. First came the de- tached tower at Wisbeach, a fine piece of masonry, with good details. Its lower stage forms a splendid porch, opening by a large arch, rather to be called a gateway. It has double buttresses, a most elaborate battlement in steps—a feature which I do not remember to have seen in Somerset— very small single belfry-windows, the richness of the belfry-stage being kept up by a lavish display of heraldie and similar figures. There is no sort of resemblance between this and the tower at Terrington, also detached, a bold, plain structure, with rather large single belfry-windows, and diagonal buttresses supporting a common pierced battlement and pinnacles.. St. Margaret’, Lynn, has a west front with two towers, the central octagon having been destroyed. Of these, the northern one is Perpendicular, not unlike Terrington, only that naturally the buttresses are not diagonal. Proceeding to Swaflham, we find in the very fine tower of its church, something which has no resemblance whatever to these two last exanıples, except in the use of a single large belfry-window, where a Somersetshire architect would certainly have employed 1854, PART II. B 10 PAPERS, ETC. two smaller ones. This tower is not very remarkable either for size or enrichment, but it is conspicuous for a certain delicacy both of design and execution. The rest of the church is of flint, but the tower is a beautiful piece of ashlar masonry. It has double buttresses, with a stair- case-turret worked in between them, in a way which I do not remember in Somerset, but which, in various forms, is common in the Decorated towers of West Norfolk. The tower has a tall belfry-stage, a pierced battlement and pinnacles; but these do not rise from the buttresses, which finish in a singular way against the battlements. I cannot think this fine tower improved by a small bulbous spire which rises from its centre, though it struck me as being ancient. I could not easily find a greater contrast to Swaffham than the western tower of Wymondham. This I imagine to be the most thoroughly typical example of a great Norfolk tower that I have yet mentioned, and certainly nothing can be conceived more opposite to anything to which we are used in Somerset. Its dimensions, both as to height and bulk, are enormous, and its material and treatment, being built of flint with very little ornament, unite with its size to produce an effect of bold and rugged majesty quite opposed to the elaborate finish of our western towers. As instead of “crutches” it has turrets at the angles, Mr. Ruskin would, I presume, extend to it at least some measure of pity ; while Swaffham is but “a babe held up in its nurses arms,” Wymondham at least “stands like a stern sentinel” Whether however its finish ever presented the requisite characteristics of “nobility”; whether it had “ wrathful erest” or “rent battlements,” I know not; nor can I venture to guess whether it kept its “vizor up,” or whether “dark vigi- PERPENDICULAR OF SOMERSET AND EAST-ANGLIA. 11 lance was seen through the clefts of it”; unluckily, its “ crest,” whether “ wrathful” or more peaceably disposed, has entirely fallen, and its battlement is not merely “rent,” but wholly swept away. That is, to translate from Ruskinish into English, the whole parapet has been either left unfinished, or has been totally destroyed, the turrets coming suddenly to a stop at the top of the belfry- stage. This immense tower consists of five stages, three of which rise above the church, though the high roof of the nave slightly encroaches upon the lowest of them. Of these five, on the north and south sides, one only besides the belfry-stage has received any ornament whatever ; this is the central one of the five, wlıich contains a not very pro- minent window, and has a band of flint panelling beneath it. The belfry-stage itself consists of two small two-light windows, thrown into one by the addition of a crocketted ogee label, so that practically this tower also has the single belfry-window. Ineed hardly point out how completely this differs from that gradual increase of lightness and ornament towards the top which is nowhere so thoroughly carried out as at Bishop’s Lydeard. The angle-turrets are adorned throughout with flint panelling. The architeetural history of Wymondham church ought to be studied in Mr. Petit’s admirable memoir in the Norwich volume of the Archzological Institute. The present eastern tower—the “abbey steeple,”—is a little earlier in date than the parish tower at the west end, and forms a most marked contrast to it in character. It is a slender octagon, rising two tall stages above the roof, being thus a little lower and very much less massive than its western rival. Each stage has a tall narrow window of two lights in each of the cardinal faces ; a buttress, by an 12 PAPERS, ETC. unusual arrangement, being set against the centre of each of the other faces, thus connecting them with the square base of the tower. It should be remarked that both towers have Decorated tracery in their windows, a localism which I shall again have occasion to mention. The tower of St. Peter Mancroft, the principal parish church in Norwich, is as unlike as possible to the west tower of Wymondham, but it does not therefore come any nearer to any of our western types. It is remarkable for massiveness and elaboration of ornament, rather than for height, being one mass of panelling and niches from the basement to—I cannot say the battlement, because this tower, like Wymondham, has quite lost its finish. The lower portion forms, or would form, were it not blocked, an open porch on three arches ; the west window is of a prodigious height, and the belfry-stage above contains a single large window, with panelling and niches on each side quite unconnected with its design. There are very elaborate double buttresses, those at the south-east angle concealing a turret; and the whole tower batters very conspicuously. The smaller parish churches of Norwich present an extensive study of Perpendicular towers, but they are not of much importance. Many of them are good, bold compositions, but they attract no special attention. They all have the single belfry-window, and most of them the diagonal buttress.. Some* present good examples of the peculiar air or sound-holes in the central stages; square apertures filled with tracery, which are very characteristic of the distriet. Some have a large staircase-turret, making a prominent object on one side, as at St. Lawrence, St. Andrew, and St. Michael Coslany, all good plain * See Rickman, p. 220, 5th ed, u u nn Aura BÄRRIE m * x = | —: ANDREWS : NORWICH.. PERPENDICULAR OF SOMERSET AND EAST-ANGLIA. 13 towers, but requiring no minute description or criticism. St. Giles is loftier, but not richer ; here we have the double buttress, finishing under the belfry-stage in a flat turret ; the belfry-windows are the largest of any I have mentioned. At East Dereham, the central tower, being open quite to the top, forms a noble lantern to the interior. It rises only one stage above the roof, and, as might be expected from its position, shape, and purpose, it has the double belfry-window. The campanile is a plain, massive structure, with diagonal buttresses ; both have lost their parapets and pinnacles, if ever they had any. The superb tower of Hingham is rather late Decorated than Perpendicular, but the two styles run so much into one another in this district, and this tower is so grand a specimen, that I cannot forbear mentioning it. It is a flint steeple, without any ornament besides its windows ; but both its design and workmanship are of a very high order, and it possesses that especial majesty of outline, which results from the union of height with massiveness. It consists of six stages, three of which now rise above the nave, though, while the latter retained its high roof, the greater part of the lowest of the three must have been hidden by it. The three other sides of this stage contain each a two-light window, which, to the south at least, is blank ; the belfry-windows are similar ; the intermediate stage has mere slits. All these windows, together with the east window, have excellent Flowing tracery. This tower has massive double buttresses, with a turret worked in between them at the south-west angle ; these buttresses finish immediately under the parapet, with a very bold set-oft, as if they were designed to support a spire. I think it will appear from these descriptions that the a 4 14 PAPERS, ETC. East-Anglian towers, as far as I have seen them, are widely different from ours in Somerset, and, at the same time, hardly less widely different from one another. I could make out no such classes asthose which I have named the Taunton and Bristol types. And I should find it more easy to describe them negatively than positively, except that the large single belfry-window seems characteristie. Ineed hardly say how utterly contrary this is to all our own best examples. I never saw in Norfolk a large portion of a tower oceupied by a panelled fenestriform design, of which the apertures actually pierced for light and air were merely small portions. St. Peter Mancroft is covered with panelling ; but panelling which the windows cut through, not of which they form a part. I did not find the ele- gant stone-work between the mullions, or indeed any one of the marked Somersetshire characteristics. Nor is this to be attributed solely to a difference of material ; Wis- beach and Swaffham are elaborate structures of ashlar, and St. Peter Mancroft displays a greater amount of ornament than any Somersetshire tower I know ; yet they come no nearer to any of our western types than the flint steeples of Wymondham and Hingham. The distinguishing cha- racteristic of the Norfolk towers is a majestic bold- ness, which is most successful when it attempts nothing more ; the two utterly unornamented towers just men- tioned please the eye far more than the excessive enrichment of St. Peter Mancroft. But our Somersetshire towers, to a grandeur of outline hardly inferior—not at all inferior in the four grand examples, Wrinston, Wells, Glastonbury, and North Petherton—unite the utmost delicacy of design and execntion. The ornament of St. Peter _ Maneroft is not architectural ; there is no design about it; the tower is converted into a mere vehicle for dis- ee N vor (u PERPENDICULAR OF SOMERSET AND EAST-ANGLIA. 15 playing images ; the interstices of the windows are filled in with utterly unconnected panelling and niches. Not so in the best Somersetshire towers of either type ; at Wrington and Huish the whole steeple forms an architec- tural unity ; the subsidiary arts may have their place, but they are never allowed to usurp a supremacy over their queen and mistress. Swaffham and Hingham and Wy- mondham are noble structures, and well worthy a journey, even out of Somersetshire, to examine them ; but, unless Cromer and 'Worstead can present something very different and immeasurably superior, Norfolk can never, in the article of towers, be put into competition with the distriet which has produced Wrinsten and Wells, Huish and Lydeard, Montacute and St. Stephens. INTERNAL ELEVATIONS. The piers, arches, elerestories, ete., of the East-Anglian churches afford a better subject than the towers for com- parison with those of Somerset. In general effect they are often very similar, but they present a most remarkable diversity in detail. I pointed out in one of my former papers the distinguishing characteristics of the Somerset- shire Perpendicular as applied to these portions of the churches. The pier is a lozenge with attached shafts ; the shafts have round capitals, frequently floriated ; the hollows between the shafts are continued uninterruptedly round the arch; the wave-moulding is lavishly employed. All this illustrates the general character of the style, the union of the most intense eontinuity of lines with a good deal of the purity and beauty of detail belonging to the earlier styles. The East-Anglian Perpendicular is widely different, and, I think, less distinetively English. Certainly some of its peculiarities approach more nearly to the 16 PAPERS, ETC. continental Flamboyant than is common in other parts of England. This is no more than might naturally be ex- pected from the almost insular position of the country, and the close intercourse which it constantly maintained with the opposite coast. It is shown in other respects; for instance, I believe that the paintings on the sereen- panels, which are very common in this distriet, are said by persons versed in such matters to bear a close resemblance to the Dutch and Flemish schools of art. In architeetural detail the eastern Perpendicular certainly displays the Flamboyant characteristics of discontinuous imposts and interpenetration of mouldings, which are quite unknown in the west; and the prevalence of these unpleasant peculiarities at once stamps this variety of Perpendicular as far inferior to its Somersetshire form. The piers frequently exhibit that mullion-shaped form, longer from north to south than from east to west, of which Somersetshire has few or no example. The capital, as in Somersetshire, is seldom continued round the whole pier, but the hollows are less universally continued in the mouldings of the arch, and we miss the prevalence of the wave-moulding. At Wisbeach, the piers are perhaps as unlike anything in Somersetshire as can be imagined. A long flattened pier, a parallelogram in fact, running north and south, with its angles chamfered off, has a semi-octagonal shaft attached to its east and west faces. These shafts have capitals of their own shape; the portion of the arch not supported by them rises from the chamfer with a discontinuous impost. This is cer- tainly an extreme case, and we shall not find all the East- Anglian piers presenting such a marked contrast to those of Somerset. It is common enough to find the ordinary Somersetshire section, only with the lozenge somewhat PERPENDICULAR OF SOMERSET AND EAST-ANGLIA. 17 flattened, and with the capitals of the attached shafts octagonal instead of round. Shafts, as in Somersetshire, are very often carried up from the pier to support the roof. Exceptional forms of pier also oceur, as I shall have occasion to point out when I come to desceribe particular examples. But the great difference in the internal elevations is to be found in the clerestory. In Somersetshire a single window, sometimes, as at Wells, Bruton, and Martock, of great size, but more commoniy of moderate dimensions, is placed over each arch. In almost all the grand East- Anglıan examples, two clerestory windows, as I have already mentioned, are placed over each arch, produeing those illimitable ranges of windows, which have so striking an external effect, and which reduce the clerestory wall to a nonentity, leaving hardly anything but a system of glass and mullions. Now as this arrangement of the clerestory tends so con- spieuously to diminish the amount of unocceupied space in the upper part of the wall, this has perhaps led to its being far more common than in Somerset, though still very far from the general rule, to fill the spandrils above the main arches with panelled ornaments of various kinds. When, as frequently happened, roof-shafts were carried up from the piers, while a shaft was also made to spring from the top of the arch, the spandril became so promi- nently marked as a piece of blank wall, that the idea of filling up the space in some way or other must have been imperatively suggested. I remarked in a former paper that in such a case it was far better to treat this space as a spandril, like that over a doorway, than to continue the elerestory window downwards, in the form of panelling. In the former case, while the whole design is artistically 1854, PART II. 6) 18 PAPERS, ETC. fused together, according to the main principle of the Continuous style, the constructive limits of the arcade and the clerestory are not confused, and the horizontal line is allowed sufficient prominence to give due and marked supremacy to the vertical. This is the case at Martock, and in the transepts of St. Mary Redcliffe. But where the other arrangement is followed, as in the nave of the latter church, the pier arches look as if they had been violently cut through a panelled wall, and the lines of panelling rise most unconnectedly and unnaturally from the label of thearch. This is the case in St. Stephen’s and St. Andrew’s in Norwich, while the Martock type is found in the far nobler naves of Saffron Walden and of Great St. Mary’s in Cambridge. I will now proceed to mention some of the more im- portant individual examples.. After Wisbeach, I next saw Leverington. Here I had my first taste of a complete East-Anglian elevation, but the local style is by no means fully carried out, and it has some peculiarities of its own. The pier is a flattened lozenge, with four attached shafts, those belonging to the arches are of an awkward celustered shape, and those supporting the roofs are semi-oetagonal. These latter afford, with the label, an opportunity for interpenetration. The clerestory has merely a single very poor window in each bay, without so much as a string below it. I remember very distinetly that this church evoked from me the remark that it was not wonderful that the Cambridge Camden Society should so despise Perpendicular, if their ideas of it were drawn from buildings of this kind, instead of from Wrington and Martock. At Walpole St. Andrew I began to see something of the local style in its grandeur. The arcades here are N ...‘ PERPENDICULAR OF SOMEBSET AND EAST-ANGLIA. 19 Decorated, and the piers have no continuous or discon- tinuous mouldings, for, though elustered, they finish under the capital, so that there are no roof shafts, nor is there any vertical division of bays. But the arches have a most unnecessary discontinuous impost above the capital, and the clerestory has the two windows over each bay in per- fection, producing a range, which I then thought well nigh innumerable, of fourteen. Walpole St. Peter exhibits the local Perpendicular in perfection, though in a comparatively small and plain building. The piers, save that their shafts have octagonal capitals, might exist in Somersetshire, but the two windows above and the shaft between them, rising from the top of the arch, are distinetively East-Anglian. Terrington St. Clement’s came next. I could enlarge for an indefinite period on this vast and magnificent building, even though much of its effect is lost by the mutilation of the transepts, and though the detached cam- panile is in itself a poor substitute for a central lantern, and moreover goes a good way to ruin the magnificent west front. But just now I am mainly concerned with the interior of the nave. Strange to say, the pillars are of the common octagonal form, which, of course, tends greatly to diminish the actual Continuous effect, though, as the work- manship is excellent, the arches being beautifully propor- tioned and elaborately moulded, it does not take off so much as might be expected from the general grandeur of appear- ance. The clerestory, two large windows over each arch, with roof-shafts springing from the string beneath, is one of the grandest in the district. St. Nicholas, at Lynn, is called a “ chapel,” but such a chapel as might be expected where the parish church might rank as a cathedral. Nave and choir form an un- 20 PAPERS, ETC. interrupted series of eleven bays, the twelfth making a presbytery. The section of the pier is very complex, the shafts under the soflits of the arch are semi-oetagonal ; the arches are of a sort of four-centred form ; the elerestory has only one segmental window, with Ogee tracery in each bay, with a niche on each side of the roof-shaft. This, it will be remembered, is a different arrangement from that of Martock and of St. Mary’s at Oxford, where the niche actually takes the place of the shaft as the apparent support of the roof. The spandrils are large and plain, but, as there is an unusual amount of blank space in the clere- story also, this is hardly felt. At Swaffham the arcades are Decorated, but the clerestory, with its thirteen windows and its magnificent roof, ranks among the finest and most characteristie speci- mens of the local Perpendicular. Hingham has also a Perpendicular clerestory over Decorated arcades ; but here, though the roof is grand, the windows are small and single, and inserted, Sussex-fashion, over the pillars instead of over the arches. Wymondham has a Perpendicular clerestory of single windows over its vast Norman arcade and triforium. Several of the Norwich churches afford good studies of the style under various modifications. St. John Mad- dermarket is perhaps the best of the smaller buildings. St. Andrew’s Hall, which, it will be remembered, is the desecrated nave of a monastie church, is a very charac- teristic specimen, and differs in nothing from purely parochial examples. The piers are lozenge-shaped, sending up roof-shafts, of which each alternate one is broken by a capital at the impost of the pier arch. There are two windows over each arch, the intermediate roof-shaft rising from the apices. Lv NORMICEH— r ’ 5 / —>ITEFHEN Y PRESS. IPSWIC PERPENDICULAR OF SOMERSET AND EAST-ANGLIA. 21 St. Peter Mancroft is managed in the same way in the two latter respects, but it is a building of a much more ornate character than that last mentioned, and differs widely from it in almost everything else. The piers are not of the ordinary Perpendicular type, but rather resem- ble those of the earlier styles ; they are not lozenges with shafts attached, but clusters of shafts with hollows between them; the capitals of the shafts also include the whole pier, so that there is no continuity between the arch and the pier, nor any shafts rising from the floor to the roof. Asat Martock, and St. Mary’s, Oxford, niches are intro- duced among the supports of the roof, but the peculiar manner of their treatment differs widely from those ex- amples. There they are placed in the clerestory range ; here they come immediately above the piers, and support the alternate shafts of the roof, the others rising from the tops of the arches. Two other very fine churches in Norwich, St. Andrew and St. Stephen, should be studied in connexion with the Bristol homonym of the latter. It may be remembered that I extolled that church as possessing some of the finest arcades in existence, but remarked that their effeet was much marred by the poor clerestory and the awkward way in which the window-sills were brought down to the arch, so as to form a kind of flat pilaster above the piers. Here the space is filled up with panelling, according to the manner I have already described. Both these churches have four- centred pier-arches, but the piers are widely different ; St. Andrew has the common form, only no shafts run up to the roof, whose supports are corbelled off just below the elerestory windows. St. Stephen has a singular modifi- cation of the octagonal form, with a kind of elustered shaft at each angle. Both these churches are of late 22 PAPERS, ETC. date. The history of St. Andrew’s is contained in a quaint insceription preserved therein : « This Church was builded of Timber and Stone and Bricks In the year of our Lord God XV hundred and six, And lately translated from extreme Idolatry A thousand five hundred and seven and fortie, And in the first year of our noble King EDWARD Thanks beto GOD. Anno Dom. 1547. Decemb.’” St. Stephen was commenced earlier than St. Andrew, namely, in 1501, but its tale of timber and stone and bricks was not finished till four years after the happy “ translation ” of the other. Its west end was not fully completed till 1550, a time when generally more churches were pulled down than built up. St. Mary’s at Bury is a splendid structure, remarkable for its gigantic scale, the nave alone consisting of ten bays, and for its magnificent roof. Its details however are but poor ; the elevations are of the most typical character. The choir aisles are worth notice, as one of the best exam- ples of a singular localism of this distriet. It is very common to find, placed between the windows of the aisles, an arch rising from a shaft, which at first sight looks as if it were traced out for contemplated vaulting. This instance is one of several which show that such could not have been the case, as the shaft which throws off these arches is continued above them to support the roof. It cannot fail to be remarked how closely analogous this is to the trefoil arches over the clerestory windows at Banwell and some other Somersetshire examples. It is in fact the same in principle as the apparent pier-arches in the chancel walls at Cogenhoe, Cuddesden, and Battle, in which latter case an ingenious later alteration has converted some of them into real ones. PERPENDICULAR OF SOMERSET AND EAST-ANGLIA. 23 St. James at Bury is, from its smaller size, and the loss of its original roof, a less striking whole than its neighbour St. Mary, but it is more satisfaetory in point of detail. For instance, it has floriated capitals, a peculiarity which at once leads me to the noblest example of all, the magnificent nave of Saffron Walden, which it is im- possible to avoid comparing, and, I am sorry to add, preferring, to Martock. Saffron Walden is certainly the finest purely parochial Perpendiceular interior which I have yet seen, that is, remanding Redcliffe to its natural architectural position among cathedrals and mitred abbeys. The arcades in the two examples are a good deal alike, but those at Walden are more elaborate. It may be remem- bered that the actual pier at Martock is rather plain; the section is of the simplest kind, and the capitals are without floriation. At Walden, the section is a little more com- plicated, and the capitals, which I need hardly say are octagonal, have a flowered enrichment. The work in the spandrils is of the same general character in both, but the foliation and other ornament at Walden is the more elaborate of the two. But the great difference is in the elerestory and in the supports of the roofs. At Martock, the corbel of the roof forms also the finial of a niche, which again rests upon a panelled shaft, corbelled off just above the pier, no shaft being carried up from the pier itself. The single large window of the clerestory is found insuf- ficient to prevent a certain amount of bareness in that part, as contrasted with the extreme richness of the work immediately below. At Walden all this is wonderfully well managed. The clerestory has two windows over each arch, their sills being brought down to the string over the arch, with a panelled space below each window ; 24 PAPERS, ETC. but the two windows are grouped into one by an arch which rises from a shaft continued from the pier, and cerossed by a band at the level of the string over the arch. This shaft also supports the tie-beam roof, the spandril between which and the containing arch of the window is filled up with timber devices. Altogether this range is the most thoroughly artistie and harmonious I know ; as a matter of skill, it actually surpasses Redecliffe, where we can only find an ideal perfec- tion by uniting portions of the nave and of the transepts. At Walden, every part is wonderfully adapted and fused into every other part; the whole, from the floor to the roof, is one faultless and harmonious design. The arrangement adapted in the clerestory admits the magni- ficent effect of the numerous range of windows, avoiding alike the bareness left by the moderate single window, and the somewhat erushing effect which would have resulted had one unbroken window filled up the whole space above the pier-arch. At the same time it retains the superior unity attaching to the latter arrangement. Great St. Mary’s at Cambridge, which, in most respects, closely imitates Saffron Walden, has the common East-Anglian arrangement in the elerestory. I am not sure that in either case the spandril-work over the chancel-arch is any im- provement. At Walden, this mode of ornament is even extended tothe back face of the arches towards the aisles. The germ of these arrangements is doubtless to be found in those arches in the choir of Ely, where the old Norman proportion and the perfection of Decorated detail are both so marvellously united with the full de- velopment of every prineiple of Continuous composition.* * See Proceedings for 1852, p. 39 ; History of Architecture, p. 389. PERPENDICULAR OF SOMERSET AND EAST-ANGLIA. 25 ROOFS. The East-Anglian roofs are, as every one knows, among the noblest and most characteristic features of the district, and perhaps that in which the contrast is most marked between them and their Somersetshire rivals.. But somehow or other, I never feel so much at home in dealing with structures of wood as when I keep myself safe among stone and mortar. I cannot eriticize these roofs with anything like the same facility and satisfaction as I can the arcades or the window-tracery. Besides, I know that the finest roofs are in Suffolk and not in Norfolk, and of Suffolk roofs I have only seen one, St. Mary’s at Bury. The low-pitched tie-beanı roof, which is found everywhere, is found in the eastern counties also ; Walden, for instance, is a fine example ; but as the distinet roof of the west is the coved form, so the distinetive roof of the east is the high-pitched roof in various forms, of which the trefoil is the most distincetive of all, though to my mind very much better suited for a hall than for a church. That particular form of roof which in Somersetshire is seen confined to domestic buildings, but which, in central Wales and its Marches, extends to churches also—that 1 mean of which the hall of Lytes Cary is so grand an example, I did not see. But really I must leave the subject of ornamental carpentry to some one else, and devote the little space I have left to my own special branch of the department of ornamental masonry, the tracery of the windows. WINDOW TRACERY. This is certainly one of the points in which the superi- ority of the Somersetshire over the East-Anglian type of 1854, PART II. D 26 PAPERS, ETC. Perpendieular is most incontestable. I have often* already remarked the great beauty of the Perpendieular tracery in Somerset, chiefly of the Alternate variety, or, better still, the Alternate combined with the Supermullioned. In employing these forms, the Somersetshire style is true to its general character of thorough Continuity, while retain- ing much of the most pleasing features of the earlier styles. In Norfolk, on the other hand, I saw very few fully devel- oped Perpendieular windows of any real merit. This I attribute to the fact, which I think is evident, that Flowing tracery stood its ground in that region far longer than in most parts of England, certainly far longer than in Somer- setshire. This practice I conceive to be an instance of the tendeney to approximate to the continental Flamboyant, which I have already mentioned as characteristic of the East-Anglian Perpendicular. It is not unusual to find windows of good Flowing tracery of a date evidently far advanced in the Perpendicular period. Such is the case in the clerestory and both towersof Wymondham. Still more remarkably is this the case in the tower of St. Margaret’s in Norwich, where the belfry-windows are of pure Divergent tracery, and in the elerestory of St. Gregory, where they are alternately Divergent and of a rich variety of Reticu- lated. It is remarkable that in these cases we should find such elaborate tracery in the clerestories and towers, where, even during the strietly Flowing period, it was, as f Mr. Paley has observed, except in very large buildings, but very sparingly employed. But the distinetive characteristic of Norfolk tracery is the extraordinary prevalence of forms intermediate between Flowing and Perpendieular, sometimes strietly transitional, * Essay on Window Tracery, pp. 189, 193. + Gothie Architeeture,p.107. See Essay on Window Tracery, p.257. PERPENDICULAR OF SOMERSET AND EAST-ANGLIA. 27 sometimes instances of mere commingling. This practice seems to have gone on during the whole period of Perpen- dieular, so that, except by other details, it is impossible to distinguish between the * historically Transitional, such as we see in the transepts at Redcliffe, and the revived Deco- rated which occurs at Burrington. This mixture of Deco- rated and Perpendicular may be found in very fine examples in Norwich Cathedral, chiefly in the cloisters and the cleres- tory of the presbytery, in the desecrated chapel near the west front, and in the churches of St. Gregory and St. Stephen. Lynn has, in St. Nicholas, some splendid instances of the combination of Arch tracery with Perpendicular, and the clerestory, as we have seen, is purely Ogee. It is this mixed style which Norfolk has to set against the excellent pure Perpendicular of Somerset. The more strietly Perpendicular tracery of Norfolk is mostly very miserable and fantastic. It indulges in ugly shaped arches, tracery commencing without reason below the impost, transoms not going across the whole window, sides not strietly corresponding, subarcuations set askew, lines utterly unmeaning and indescribable, sometimes an utterly uncon- nected Flowing line or two introduced here and there. I will not enlarge on individual examples, but many will be found in the accompanying drawings, and some in my work on Tracery. MISCELLANEOUS FEATURES. The absence of stone in Norfolk, and the necessary use of flint, has introduced the singular peculiarity known as flint panelling, so graphically described by Mr. Petit in his account of Wymondham. Somerset has nothing the least like this. A pattern, sometimes of very elaborate tracery * Essay on Window Tracery, p. 211, et segg. 28 PAPERS, ETC. or panelling, is traced out, in which the raised parts are represented by hewn stone and the flat by flint: I say represented, because the whole is one plane. It is in fact a picture of real panelling, done in black and white, and at a distance looks very like it. There is some of this work in St. Peter Mancroft, but St. /Ethelberht’s Gate and St. Michael Coslany are the best examples; the former Flowing, the latter Perpendicular. The lack of fine stone has also doubtless led to the frequent absence, not only of the magnificent pierced parapets of northern Somersetshire, but very often of any battlement or parapet at all. Such is my comparison between the two great Perpen- dieular distriets of England, which I spoke of two years ago as a desirable undertaking. But I have not yet exhausted my favourite subject of Somersetshire archi- tecture. I must ascertain the exact boundaries of the two types, or the existence of any other distinct ones. The Perpendicular of the midland counties, as far as I have seen it, is not identical with either, but comes much more nearly to the Norfolk type. Then I must trace out the exact influence of Somersetshire on the neighbouring counties, both in Perpendicular and in earlier times, when the great Welsh churches, as I have often observed, evi- dently imitated Somersetshire models. Here, to say nothing of more minute individual investigations, is matter for several more Meetings of the Somersetshire Archzolo- gical Society, before I have entirely done with the subject of Somersetshire architecture. CASTLE NEROCHE. 29 Enstle Heroche. BY THE REV. F. WARRE. HE extreme remoteness of the period during which the nations flourished to which the constructors of our mysterious hill forts and other earthworks belonged— nations of whom it has been truly said that their political existence terminated nearly at the time when the written history of this country commences—must necessarily render all investigations into their history, customs, residences and fortifications, dificult and uncertain, and the deductions drawn from them inconclusive and unsatis- factory. And yet it is impossible to see these vestiges of byegone races—stupendous temples, as at Sonehenge and Avebury; monuments of unknown meaning, such as Silbury; barrows without number scattered over our downs and hills, containing the bones of forgotten nations ; hut circles marking the sites of their towns and villages, in which the antiquary finds traces of domestie life in fragments of coarse pottery, rude ornaments and ruder weapons;; strong- holds, in some cases displaying a degree of science hardly compatible with our ideas of their barbarism, and skeletons, the unmistakeable relics in some cases of desperate battle, 30 PAPERS, ETC. in others of peaceable interment— without longing to know more about them than simply that they have lived and died and left their marks behind them. This natural wish to know the origin and history of the objects with which we are familiar, when unassisted by historical knowledge and accurate investigation, has given rise to many a strange opinion. I have heard the Devil, the Romans, the Danes, Merlin, Michael Scott, Robin Hood and Oliver Cromwell, all declared to have been the constructors not only of mysterious earthworks and monu- ments, “the work of men’s hands,” but, together with St. Hilda, St. Cuthbert, and some other saints, to have produced geological phenomena, which are certainly not the productions of human skill and labor, but of the more mysterious operations of Almighty power, through the agency of natural causes. Now it is clearly impossible to draw certain conclusions from uncertain premises, but it does not necessarily follow that because a thing is uncertain therefore it is absurd; and since our natural impulse will force us to conjecture, it will at all events be wise to make our conjectures as probable as we can: for on the degree of their probability will of course depend their value, and though it must be confessed that many of our data are mythical, yet it will be found that many of them are very probable, and some I will venture to say as nearly certain as the greater number of events of a like antiquity which are generally received as historial facts. I will then, without farther preface, proceed to lay before you a brief general sketch of what seems to me to be the probable history of those mysterious earthworks of which I have spoken, and will then go on more particularly to describe those at Castle Neroche, and to show the points of similarity and dissimilarity which these last present Lee u er Ei ir ka Du fa Bi. =: CASTLE NEROCHE. 3i when compared with other hill forts which I have carefully examined. The evidently fabulous aceounts of the origin of the British nation, given by Geoffrey of Monmouth and some other medi®val chroniclers, are altogether unworthy of notice ; and it would not be to our purpose to discuss the very doubtful questions, whether the Gael, of whom ves- tiges are said to remain in some parts of Wales, preceded the Cymri in the occupation of the country, or no; nor whether they were of cognate origin with that people or not. It is sufhicient for our present purpose to mention the indisputable fact, that at a very early period, perhaps as early as 1000 years B.c., this island was inhabited by a people of Celtie origin, three tribes of which, the Cymri, the Loegri, who came from the banks of the Loire, and the Britons, who came from Lydaw, or the water-side, no doubt the coast of Gaul, are mentioned in the Welsh triads collected by Caradoc of Langarvan in the twelfth century, as being the original and peaceable inhabitants of the country. Of these the Loegri occupied the south, the Britons the north and east, and the Cymri the west of the island ; but having, it seems, more room than they required, they afterwards admitted three other tribes, the Caledoni- ans, the Gwyddellians or Gael (who, according to some Archeologists, preceded the Cymri and other Celtic tribes), and the men of Galeden, who are supposed by Dr. Guest to be the same as the Belg®. This last tribe is said to have come in naked ships, or open boats, to the Isle of Wight, when their own country was overwhelmed by the sea, and to have had lands assigned them by the Cymri. In process of time these Belg® overran Hants, Wilts, and great part of Somerset, but do not appear to have penetrated into Devon until they were driven west- 32 PAPERS, ETC. ward by the Saxon invasion in the fifth and sixth centuries, when they had in truth become Romanized Britons. Whether that line of hill forts extending within sight of each other from the mouth of the Avon far into Devon- shire (of which chain of communication Neroche forms one link), was constructed by the Belg», or by the Loegrian tribes as a defence against Belgie usurpation, can perhaps never be satisfactorily decided ; but it seems probable that it was in some way connected with the mining traffic which undoubtedly existed in this country long before the Roman invasion, and that they are of very different ages and construction, some apparently of the very earliest date, others probably as late as the invasion of the Belg«. On Worle Hill, for instance, the ramparts are stone walls; and the plan of the fortifications (which is, curiously enough, almost identical with that of ancient Carthage, as described by Niebuhr) is so scientific as to render its construction by mere unassisted barbarians hardly credible. At Dolebury, though the construction of the walls betokens a more advanced knowledge of building, the plan is much more simple and less scientific. At Hamdon Hill it may be doubted whether the more ancient part of the fort was defended by walls at all, though I am myself inclined to think it was, and that to some part of it, at least, was added an internal breastwork of dry masonry, which I have not observed elsewhere. At Castle Neroche, I have found no traces of masonry except round what is called the beacon; but this is, comparatively speaking, of late date. The Romans, after the invasion of Britain, occupied many of these hill forts, such as Hamdon Hill, Neroche, Cadbury, and others. After them no doubt both Saxons and Danes used these strongholds as military stations, when it suited their convenience. It requires therefore some experience, CASTLE NEROCHE. 33 as well as considerable care, to enable us to decide with any degree of correctness as to what is British, what Roman, what Saxon, and what is Danish work; yet, unless this be done, it is manifestly impossible to trace the original plan or to conjecture the date or intention of any fortifi- cation. In the case of a Roman camp, where the site had not previously been occupied by a British fortification, or subsequently used as a residence by the Saxons, there is but little fear of mistake. The plan is invariably the same : a reetangular area is surrounded by a ditch, the earth from which, being thrown inwards, forms a high mound or agger, which was in many cases further defended by a wooden palisade placed on the top, but of this of course all vestiges have disappeared. In the middle of each side is an entrance, from which a way led to the opposite gate, and at or near the intersecetion of the two’ ways was the Pr&torium the remains of which may frequently be traced. These camps are not usually found on the tops of very high hills, nor, though undoubtedly sometimes of very great strength, do they appear, in general, to have been very elaborately fortified. For though the highly dis- eiplined troops of Rome, are said never to have halted even for a night without constructing aregularly entrenched camp, those conquerors of the world depended for vic- tory far more upon their legionary formation in the field, the heavy pilum, and the deadly thrust of the short sharp sword in close combat, than on walls and earthworks ; and it is no uncommon thing, where a British fortifieation occupies the summit of a hill, to find at a short distance below it the traces of a Roman camp, so placed that its occupiers might observe every sally of their opponents, and lose no opportunity of testing the superiority of scientifie warfare over the irregular attacks of even the most warlike 1854, PART I. E 34 PAPERS, ETC. and fearless barbarians. Its slight and simple, though regular entrenchment, displaying a marked and striking contrast to the complicated system of mounds and trenches with which the Britons fortified their more important strongholds. The Britons, on the contrary, appear always to have occupied the highest ground, frequently an isolated hill, which they surrounded with a series of deep trenches, generally following the natural form of the ground, and often so irregular in plan as to defy all attempts to find out their original design. But though thus irregular, their fortifications, on close inspection, will not be found deficient in a sort of rude science. Every inequality of the ground seems to have been taken advantage of ; outworks flanking the entrances may very frequently be traced, these en- trances moreover sometimes opening into one of the trenches through which the approach to the interior leads, so as to expose an enemy to an overwhelming storm of darts and stones from the heights above. Besides this complicated system of entrenchments, there is one very peculiar and characteristic feature of British fortification which I have hardly ever found wanting in the military works of that people. This is a series of low terraces scarped out of the side of the hill, rising one above another, not continued in an unbroken line round the place, but forming, in some cases, almost a net-work of platforms, commanding every approach to the entrances, and affording advantageous positions for the sling, in the use of which weapon the Britons peculiarly excelled. At Worle Hill, not only is this plan of fortification adopted on the side of the hill, but even the front also of the stone rampart (where it has been cleared) appears to have been composed of a series of platforms rising one above another, almost like the scales of a fish. In cases where no isolated position Be CASTLE NEROCHE. 35 could be found, we often find the extreme point of a hill separated from the rest by one or more deep trenches and ramparts, cut quite through the ridge from side to side, and fortified in the manner before described. It is also frequently the case, that a part of the area within the rampart is divided in this way from the rest, and fortified with peculiar care, forming what is almost analogous to the keep of a medival castle. The distinetion, then, between Roman and British en- trenchments is so marked as almost to obviate the possi- bility of mistake, where both have been kept separate; and even where the Romans afterwards occupied the British works, as at Hamdon Hill, the site of their camps is easily to be distinguished from the British fortifications. But with regard to Saxon and Danish works, the case is very different, nor am I able to give any criterion by which they may be distinguished from those of the Britons. Kenny Wilkins’s castle near the British fortified station at Pen, (which is probably the camp occupied, and perhaps con- structed by the West Saxons, in the year 658, when Kenewalch, King of Wessex, defeated the Bretwallas at Pen, and drove them beyond the Parret), has unfortu- nately been planted; and owing to the thickness of the covert, it is not very easy to trace its original plan. It ap- pears, however, to have consisted of one deep trench between two raised mounds, enclosing a considerable area, having two entrances into the trench through the external rampart, and one through the internal agger ; a higber point of ground within the area being separated from the rest by a trench and rampart. The earthworks of the Danes, whose rapid and predatory incursions did not admit of any elaborate fortifications, appear generally to consist of a rude and irregular entrenchment, of no great strength, 36 PAPERS, ETC. usually following the form of the ground, and presenting no very marked features of any fixed system of castrame- tation. DBesides these military works and sepulchral barrows of various dates and constructions, the earth- works generally met with are either Iynchets, small enclosures, almost invariably to be traced in the imme- diate vieinity of British towns and villages :—British track- ways, usually running between two low banks :—Roman roads, stretehing in straight lines over hill and dale, with a disregard of obstacles worthy of their invineible con- structors ; and boundary lines, which are in most cases high banks, with a ditch on one side. There are two other kinds of eartlı-works, occasionally met with, which are often mistaken for military. One of these consists of a small square area, surrounded by a moat and rampart, which is frequently supposed to be a Roman camp; this, however, from its small size, and the absence of the four regular gates, can hardly be so, but is, more probably, the site of a Saxon mansion, the wooden buildings of which have entirely disappeared. The other is a large, irregular en- closure, having the mote on the outside, and is probably a very ancient park. Besides these, we often find, on the steep side of a down, a series of terraces evidently artificial. These are generally considered to be the traces of early agriculture, and, in some instances, this may no doubt be the case. But from their analogy to the platforms before mentioned, as of general occurrence in British fortifications, and from the strength of the situations in which they are often found, added to the fact of their being so frequently met with in those distriets which we have reason to believe were for centuries the battle-ground of the Belge and original British tribes, Iam led to think that some, if not the greater number of them, are military field-works, and CASTLE NEROCHE. 3u probably mark the entrenched positions taken up by arınies expecting an attack from superior forces. But to return to the more immediate subject of my Paper : It is an historical fact that the mineral treasures of Mendip, Bleadon, and Brendon, were known, and highly appreciated, in very early days ; and indeed it is a question whether the lead mines of Mendip were not worked by the Phoenicians. Certain however it is, that long before the Roman inyasion, a considerable traffic in metals existed between the natives of this distriet and the more polished inhabitants of Gaul. Nor does it seem improbable that some, at least, of the fortifications of this part of the country may have been connected with this trade. We have certainly a connected line of forts, extending in various directions, within sight of each other, surrounding the mining distriet of Somerset, on all sides. Along the northern coast, the communication is kept up from the mouth of the Avon, throush Sand Point, Worle Hill, Brean Down, Cothelstone, Dousborough, Elworthy, and Dunkerry, with Exmoor and North Devon ; and I believe it extends through the county of Cornwall. On the land side, the line extends through Maes Castle, Cadbury, Dundry, Dolebury, Banwell, Musbury, Orchard Castle, Cadbury, near Yeovil, Hamdon Hill, Castle Neroche, Dumpdon, and Hembury, to the south of Devon, Dartmoor, and Cornwall ; and yet, though thus evidentiy connected, the difference of their plans in construction is so striking, that it is hardly possible that they can be the work of one people or of one age. From some of these points of difference I am inclined to think that they, in fact, belong to two distinet systems of forts—one being originally intended merely to defend the mining district, the other constructed in later days, by the 38 PAPERS, ETC. aboriginal tribes, to secure their frontier from the inceursions of the Belgie invaders. I am more disposed to this opinion, from the fact that Worle Hill and Dolebury, (two probably of the most ancient of these hill forts), though within sight of each other, are not absolutely necessary to complete the chain of beacons, and are situated in the very richest part of the mining district, that on Worle Hill having been probably an emporium of the mining trade at the very earliest period. However this may be, it is quite clear that there is a chain of forts of British, or, at all events, ante-Roman origin, protecting the mining district of Somerset, and watching the Belgie frontier, so disposed, that by fires lighted on their heights, intelligence of any approaching danger could be conveyed through a very large distriet, as quickly as was possible before the electric telegraph annihilated both time and space. Of this chain of forts, Castle Neroche* is a very important link, communicating on one side with Hamdon Hill; on the other, with Dumpdon, and within sight of Mendip, Brean Down, Cothelstone, Dousboroush, and Elworthy. At its eastern extremity, the line of Bleadon Hill suddenly changes its character, and from a tract of tame, though elevated table-land, rises abruptly into what may be called, in comparison with the general outline of the ridge, a bold and striking eminence, commanding, in every direction, a prospect equally remarkable for its great extent and varied beauty. On the north extends the rich vale of Taunton, bounded by the heights of Quantock and the Severn sea, the Havren of the Celtic poets, the habitation of the aboriginal tribe ofthe Cangi. Beyond this may be seen the hills of South Wales, the mountain home of Caractacus, * For the derivation of the word Neroche, see Mr. Jones’s Paper, on Topographical Etymology, in the present Volume. CASTLE NEROCHE. 39 and the indomitable Silures. On the west, the ridge of Brendon, the eastern frontier of the Dumnonii, bounds the view. On the south and east extend the territories of the Morini, Durotriges, and Hedui, for centuries the battle- field of the Belgie invaders and the original Loegrian tribes. From this point the beholder may see the earth- works of Dumpdon, Hamdon, Worle, Dousborough, and Elworthy, and immediately on the opposite side of the broad vale, rises the beacon of Cothelstone, rendered more conspicuous by the modern tower which erowns its summit. So commanding a point would hardly be neglected on a frontier defended by a system of repeating forts ; and accordingly we find it occupied by one of the most remark- able fortifications to be met with in the south of England. Whether, in conjunction with Dumpdon, Hembury, Black- bury, Belbury, Sidbury, and Woodbury, it completed the line of defence constructed by the Dumnonüi against their neighbours the Morini; or whether it owes its origin to the Belgie invasion, it is in vain now to enquire, for the history of petty tribes, and their wars, the latest of which probably dates as early as the third century before Christ, we need hardly say, cannot at this day be recovercd. But the earthworks are still before us, and though mutilated and obscured by extensive plantations, are still sufficiently preserved to enable us to form a tolerable conjecture as to their original plan and design ; and it will be more interesting to endeavor to show what they were, than to perplex ourselves with guesses about the boundaries and defences of tribes the very existence of which is rather a matter of tradition than of history. Of all the so called improvements of modern days, there is perhaps none more annoying to the antiquary than that, at one time so generally adopted, of planting the areas of ancient fortifica- 40 PAPERS, ETC. tions with trees. In some cases, no doubt, it may have preserved them from the more destructive ravages of the spade and plough; although oceupying, as they usually do, the very summits of the highest and most exposed hills, they might be supposed to be tolerably safe from the inroads of the agrieulturalist. But even where some good has thus arisen from the practice, the sides of the earth- works are too frequently mutilated, the arrangement of the terraces confused, the traces of hut circles obliterated, and the possibility of obtaining a comprehensive view of the whole fortification totally prevented. Such, Iregret to say, is the case at Castle Neroche. Ihope however, by the aid of a very accurate and carefully drawn ground-plan, for which I am indebted to Mr. Winter, of Coombe St. Nicholas, to be able to point out what can be seen on the spot by those only who are able and willing to undertake the labor of a rough scramble through a very thick covert. Leaving then the high.road from Taunton to Chard, on the right, after a walk of something more than a quarter of a mile, we arrive at the end of a rampart, consisting of a trench and high bank, on the right side of the path. This is the lowest of a series of what may almost be called fieldworks, proteeting the only accessible side of the beacon, and continued quite across the sloping side of the hill, in the form of a small segment of a large eircle. On turning either flank of this rampart, we find our- selves in front of another, eonsisting of a double trench and agger, above which again rises a second segmental rampart, similar in construction to the first, but facing more to the N.W.., the interior of which is also flanked by a double trench and rampart ; and, still higher up the steep ascent, two more ramparts and ditches occupy the face of the slope, from one precipitous side to the other, A CASTLE NEROCHE 41 altogether forming a series of works amply sufhicient for the protection of the beacon, the two sides of the narrow slope being too steep to require any regular entrenchments, though they were perhaps strengthened by platforms for slingers, some of which, I think, I have succeeded in tracing. We now find ourselves on the top of the beacon: and from this point, but for the plantation, we should obtain a comprehensive view of the whole entrenchment, which lies immediately below us, on the south of a deep trench, dividing the beacon itself from the rest of the hill. This trench may have been in part natural, but it has been so much increased by artificial escarpment, as to render it an eflicient defence either to the beacon or to the main fortification, in case either of them was attacked by a hostile force. Round the summit of the beacon itself, traces remain of a massive wall of strongly cemented masonry ; but this has been pronounced by a highly com- petent authority to be of Roman construction, and is consequently of later date than the earthworks I have described; as this, however, probably replaced the stockade of wooden beams, which it is believed usually crowned the British mounds, the beacon must have always presented obstacles well nigh insurmountable to any attack not conducted with the science peculiar to the warfare of eivilized nations.. From this point, the slopes of the hill towards the north-east, on the one side, and on the south- west on the other, are so steep as not to require any artifi- cial defences; and these accordinzly, with the exception perhaps of platforms for slingers, were dispensed with, except in that part of the camp which constitutes that remarkable feature of British fortifieation, to which I have alluded as being almost analogous to the keep of a medie- val castle. This, in the present instance, is situated imme- 1854, PART II. F 42 PAPERS, ETC. diately to the south of the trench before mentioned, and is defended on the west by the main rampart of the fortifica- tion, which is here continued along: the very brink of the preeipice, and is divided from what I may be permitted to call the inner bailey, by a deep trench and agger, through which, from the north-east, ran the approach to one of the smaller entrances. This rampart has been much mutilated in modern days, the original narrow communication having been enlarged, and the bank and ditch levelled, for the sake ofconvenience. The way which passes through the ramparts at the north-western corner of the inner bailey, is also modern ; but one of the original gates, probably the main entrance to the place, may still be traced at the north- western corner of the smaller enclosure. This is one of the most remarkable features of the place, and shall be more particularly described hereafter. From this gate, the interior fortifications of the place, consisting of two very deep trenches, with aggers of corresponding magnitude, extend to a considerable distance towards the south-east, and then, turning with an easy curve towards the east, the external rampart of the two finishes near the modern approach to the cottage, from the south-east ; while the interior is continued quite up to the precipitous descent of the hill on the north-east. These ramparts enclose the cottage, with its garden and field, and constituted the great line of defence of the main body of theplace. Themodern road from the cottage, passing, as before mentioned, through the ramparts on the west, leads us a few yards along the very brink of the steep descent, and at a short distance from the rampart, ents through the north-western extremity of the external defence of the place. This, like the internal works, consists of a very deep ditch and lofty agger, and extends towards the south-east in a direction parallel to ee N LLC CASTLE NEROCHE. 43 the two interior lines, forming, on this side, a third line of defence of very great strength, and extending considerably beyond the interior lines, like them turns to the east, and encloses an area of several acres, used probably as a place of safety for cattle, which is generally met with in British fortifications of any considerable importance. The original entrances of this very remarkable fortress, under existing circumstances, are not very easily to be traced. But it would appear that a small path led from the north, under the eastern rampart of the keep, to an entrance situated nearly where the present path-way opens, upon the un- planted space on which the cottage stands ; and it is probable that, as at Worle Hill and elsewhere, there was a narrow passage round the extremity of the outer rampart. Whether there was originally any opening in the external fortifications, where the old road from Taunton to Chard now passes, is very doubtful, but there seems to have been one through the inner line, at the point where the outer rampart of the two ceases, and it is likely that the modern path is the original gate widened. If this were not so, the only approach to the larger division of the enclosed area must apparently have been through the smaller and stronger enclosure, an arrangement which hardly seems probable. The entrance to the smaller enclosure may still be traced ; it is very curious, and, in all its details, particu- larly characteristie of British engineering science. A branch of the great Roman fossway, and, no doubt, in earlier days a British trackway, led from Hamdon Hill to Castle Neroche, through Watergore, Hurcott, Atherton, and Broadway, and probably entered the fortification nearly at the southern point of the outer enclosure, where the opening may still be traced, though in a very mutilated con- 44 PAPERS, ETC. dition. On crossing the enclosure towards the inner bailey, we come to a rampart and ditch of considerable size ; and passing the eastern extremity of this we find, in front, a similar rampart a few yards further back, the western extremity of which rather overlaps the eastern point of the other, foreing the person approaching the place to pass for some distance between two works, commanding his path on either side. Following this direction, we come to the eastern end of the outer trench of the double rampart of the enclosure, through which trench the path appears to have led between two high banks (the most helpless position in which troops can find themselves), all round the south- western side of the fortification, as far as the modern road and the north-western extremity of the external rampart. Having penetrated thus far, those who survived the storm of stones and arrows, by which their number would no doubt have been much diminished, would find themselves on an open platform on the very brink of the steepest part of the hill, down which they might easily be forced by a small body of defenders posted on the height above, before they could reach the gate leading into the more strongly fortified division of the place, nearly at its north- western corner, The first point on the plan to which I wish to draw attention, is :—that the area, enclosed within the outer rampart, is divided into three separate portions; of which that immediately within the rampart is much the largest ; that within the second line of defence smaller; and the third, which is much more strongly fortified than either of these, the smallest. The beacon, owing to the natural formation of the hill, being in this case outside the main entrench- ment, is defended by an entirely independent system of PLAN OF THE BRITISH ENGAMPLENT WITH ITS OUTWORKS, ON CASTLE NEROCHE, SOMERSET. 1854. PLAN OF THE BRITISH ENCAMPMENT WITH ITS OUTWORKS, ON CASTLE NERDCHR, SOMERSET. Meterenees, \ 1854. a. The spot whurethe Fkswero dıscorered h Wherv Ihesword. was found. c Thoplace where Ihe Skeletons wıre dug oub. Soole of Emmen, 2 CASTLE NEROCHE. 45 fortifications. This is a very common arrangement in British stations of importance. I imagine the outer enclosure to have been intended for cattle ; the second, which is more strongly fortified, to have been occupied by the neighbouring population, who took refuge in the strong- hold in times of danger ; and the smallest and strongest, to have been the eitadel. The analogy between this three- fold arrangement and that of a mediseval castle is so evident, that I trust I may be excused the slight anachro- nism of calling them the outer and inner bailies and keep of the place. This threefold division prevails at Worle Hill, Orchard Castle, near Pen, and, I think, at Hamdon Hill; and Iam inclined to believe that, where it is not adapted, the nature of the ground rendered it unnecessary or inconvenient, as at Cadbury, where there are but two; or the fortification was constructed in a hurried manner, on some particular emergency, as it appears was the case at Dousboroush, the work being probably incomplete in its details. The two ramparts facing the southern entrance, and slightly overlapping each other, show a method of fortification also to be seen in great perfection at Worle Hill, where the ground, for a considerable distance in front of the strongest part of the place, is trenched with several parallel ditches, rendering a direct approach to the ramparts almost impossible. The ap- proach to the entrance of what I have called the keep, running as it- does between two high ramparts, is a good specimen of the rude science often to be met with in British works. I have not discovered at Neroche any traces of flanking out-works, which form. striking features of the plans both of Worle and Dolebury ; nor does there appear to have been any masonry except the Roman work already 46 PAPERS, ETC. mentioned on the beacon, though this may perhaps be accounted for by the woodland nature of the country, which would have furnished ample materials for palisade.. On the whole, I am inclined to the opinion, that Neroche, though undoubtedly a British work, is not one of the very earliest date, and probably owes its origin to the Belgie invasion. This opinion is, in some degree, confirmed by the relics of antiquity which have been from time to time discovered on the spot. None of the pottery is ofthe same kind as that dug up at Worle and Sand Point, but appears to be Roman ware, of a very coarse description, some fragments of which being evidently failures in the making, would lead us to suppose that there had been a manufactory of earthenware on the spot. As farasI can find out, no weapons or ornaments of stone or bronze have ever been found there. I have been told that iron arrow-heads have been found on the beacon, but I have not been fortunate enough to see one of them. An iron sword-blade is also said to have been found at the spot marked in the plan, which, from the description given of it, I imagine to have been similar to those found on Hamdon Hill, which are probably British, of the Roman period. Several skeletons have also been dug up from time to time, one of which is stated to have been enclosed in a wooden coffin of enormous thickness, and was probably an interment of the fourth or fifth century. Curious excavations have also been found; these are circular, eight or ten feet in diameter, and seven or eight feet in depth, but their shape, that of an inverted cone, (which, in one that I saw, was distincetly marked by the light colour of the sand that had filled it), forbids the supposition that they were hut circles ; but I offer no suggestion as to their use, unless they CASTLE NEROCHE. 47 may be supposed to have been silos, or subterranean granaries. But perhaps the most remarkable discovery which has been made in connection with the fortress of Neroche, remains to be mentioned. The name of the parish in which this eurious entrenchment is situated is Staple Fitzpayne, the first part of which a local antiquary of great research derived from the Latin Stabula, and considered it to indicate the vieinity of a Roman cavalry station. And in confir- mation of this opinion, the workmen engaged in draining a field at about the distance of a quarter of a mile, discovered an immense heap of einders and scori®, such as might be expected near a very large forge, and among them a considerable number of horse shoes, evidently of very ancient date. One ofthem, being shewn to a groom of great experience, was pronounced by him to be a shoe of excellent construction, and to have the plate sloped away, so as to protect the sole of the foot from pressure, which is generally supposed to be an improvement of modern veterinary science. So true it is, that there is nothing new under the sun. I have now only to draw attention to the deep indenta- tions on the side of the beacon. These are modern ravages, and their true history is as follows : About a hundred years ago, a number of laboring men, urged on by the love of filthy lucere, and not having the fear of Arch»- logical societies before their eyes—not induced thereto by any hope of increasing their antiquarian and historical knowledge, but simply that they might obtain money— with sacrilegious spade and pick-axe, violated the sanctity of this mysterious hill. But before they had found a single coin they were seized with a panic fear, renounced 48 PAPERS, ETC. their presumptuous enterprize; and, wonderful and awful to relate, within one month from the commence- ment of their attempt, some by accident ; some by sudden death ; and some by violent fevers; all paid with their lives the penalty of their covetous and most presumptuous attempt. Oh! that this most veracious legend were uni- versally published, as a warning to all wanton mutilators of ancient earthworks. SEPULCHRAL REMAINS IN BATN. 49 On Ancient Sepulchrnl Remains dirraneret in amd raum Ball. — BY THE REV. H. M. SCARTH, M.A. — MONG the many antiquities that have been found in Ä Bath and its neighbourhood, there are none more frequent than the stone coffin. These have been dug up in every locality, and a uniform appearance is found to pervade the whole. Just previous to the meeting of the Somerset Archxological and Natural History Society in Bath, a discovery was made in Russell Street of several of these sepulchral remains, one of which was opened and examined at the time of the meeting, but without any particular result being obtained, or any very important conclusion come to. The discovery of these led to fur- ther enquiry, which has brought to light some particulars which it may not be uninteresting to place before this meeting ; not that it is apprehended any new ideas can be suggested, but it is rather with the hope of calling forth information and elieiting remark, that these observa- tions are offered. 1854, PART II. G 50 PAPERS, ETC. Some months ago a fresh discovery was made at Combe Down, the particulars of which are worthy the attention of the meeting, and that the facts may not be lost, I have determined to place them on record. It may not how- ever be uninteresting, in the first place, briefly to refer to the discoveries made in Russell Street in September, 1852. An account of them was given in the Bath Chronicle, from which the following is an extract, and which may be relied upon as correct : “On Friday last, the 10th inst., while the workmen were excavating the road at the top of Russell Street, for the purpose of enlarging the sewer, they discovered four stone coffins, with the heads lying to the N.E. One (the smallest) had no lid; the others were covered. They were disposed in pairs ; the upper ones nearly parallel, side by side, about two feet apart: the lower pair about a yard distant ; lying immediately above these was a skeleton. In the first coflin was found a skeleton of large size; in the next, two skulls, with various bones ; the small coflin contained no skull, but loose bones. One of the coffins was preserved untouched till Monday, when it was carefully removed, and afterwards examined. It was covered with a regularly adjusted lid, not with a plain slab (as was the case with the others we have mentioned), the coffin being bevelled off at the foot, to allow the cover to fit more closely; the upper end of the lid seemed to have been slightly lifted up. The cover was of superior workmanship. The coffin was full of a soft clayey earth, with two human vertebr& lying on it. The earth being removed, a perfect skeleton, supposed to be that of a female, was found; it was lying on its left side, with the right arm erossing the breast, the left arm extended down the side. "The remaining contents of the coffin were part of an infant’s jaw; a metal pin, SEPULCHRAL REMAINS IN BATH. Sl nearly two inches in length, but much corroded, together with the head of a smaller one; portions of the jaws of two small animals, and a considerable quantity of a peculiar bituminous substance, which left a greasy purple stain, when rubbed between the fingers. We may add that in the neighbourhood of the coffin were discovered some fragments of an earthen vessel, a coin of Constantine, several pieces of glass of a beautifully purple green hue, with various bones of graminivorous animals. “As far as can be made out by examination of the human bones, it is evident that they form part of eight skeletons-- three being those of children of about the ages of two, six, and ten or twelve; the remaining five skeletons were those of adults. “Yesterday morning a fifth coffin was discovered. It was found in a line with those to which we have already referred. It contains the perfect skeleton of, apparently, a larger body than any of those found in the other coflins, and a small urn of dark pottery which was placed on the right side of the skeleton, near the ribs. 'The urn (which is quite perfect, with the exception of being very slightly chipped on the rim), is now inthe Museum of the Bath Literary and Scientific Institution, having been given to the corporation of Bath by W.Long, Esq. The contents ofthe urn, described by the workmen as being yellowish earth, were unfortunately shaken out by them, so that it cannot be ascertained what they were. The coffin contained, also, a small quantity of earth, but not sufficient to prevent the skeleton from being completely seen on the removal of the cover, which is in two or three pieces. In addition to the above-mentioned urn, some interesting fragments of Roman pottery were found at the excavations. “Yesterday evening a sixth stone coffin was discovered, 52 PAPERS, ETC. containing the skeletons of two children, about eight or nine years of age. “ The following statements will show that previous dis- coveries of this kind have been made in the same locality. “In the year 1818, during some excavations made at No. 11, Russell Street, “three perfect skeletons were found lying beside each other (one of immense stature), with several copper coins of Vespasian.” In November, 1836, at No. 12, ‘a stone coffin was found, and beneath it two entire human skeletons.’ “The ground on which this street stands was originally a botanic garden, formed by David Russell, an apothecary, who died in 1765—from whom the street is supposed to have taken its name. This fact is further corroborated by reference to an old deed of a house in the neishbourhood, wherein it is expressed as being situated on land ‘called Russell’s Close, otherwise Holdstock’s Garden.’ “As the mode of burial in stone coffins seems to have prevailed in Bath and its neishbourhood, perhaps it may not be uninteresting to mention a few of the other sites in which they have been found :— “In the lane leading from Lansdown to Weston, a stone coffin may be seen serving the purpose of a watering trough. “March, 1808, in digging the foundation of a new house at St. Catherine’s Hermitage, near Lansdown Crescent, some stone cofiins were discovered. ‘ The first was found below the walls of the old building, the head to the N.E. In it was a complete skeleton, very perfect, six feet long: close to the bones of the feet were a number of iron rivet nails, some held together by a substance like thin plates of iron, the nails in general half-an-inch to the point ; some fragments of black pottery and a few long nails were seen SEPULCHRAL REMAINS IN BATH. 53 mixed with the earth inside the coffin, but no coins. Outside the cover on the right hand lay a skeleton with its head to the feet of the other, the bores of a very large size, and near them were some remains of a jaw, resem- bling that of ahorse’ “The head of the second coffin was to the S.W.; on the cover was a skeleton of very large size, with the handle of a sword and part of the blade; all of iron, much corroded ; there is a guard to the handle like like that of a cutlass. No pottery “We may notice that the eccentrie Philip Thicknesse buried his daughter in his garden, of which an account is given in his memoirs. “May, 1815, on the premises of Messrs. Sainsbury and Co., Walcot, two stone coffins, containing skeletons, were found (one with the face downwards), and “a half-pint of various coins, but of whose time is not ınentioned. “In the same month, also, one was exhumed in the garden at the back of Upham’s Library, near the Orange Grove. “May 1822, two stone coflins were found near Burnt House Turnpike Gate, and, previously to this, two near Claremont Place, Combe Down. “ June, 1824, at Lambridge, a sandstone coffin of rude construction, containing two skeletons, one an adult, the other a child were discovered; “near the head of the cofin were two rings of a yellow- metal, 14 inch in diameter, narrow and flat, and covered with the green patina so much admired ‚by antiquarians; near it were found three pins, the larger two inches long, of a green colour, the two others were broken : their use was probably to connect the grave clothes ; another skeleton was found near the place.’ “ September 1840, one or two coffins were found, with 54 PAPERS, ETC. skeletons, whilst digging the foundation of St. Stephen’s church. “In the year 1843, the workmen employed in the con- struction of a new cemetery in Lyncombe Vale, discovered a stone coflin, containing the remains of a human being, and to all appearance a man of 60 or 70, and of deformed stature. The coffin lay in a S.S.E. direction; it was found broken; the fracture, it is presumed by some, having been made at the interment from too quickly coming in contact with a stratum of rock, on which it was found. Thelid of the coffin was also broken; and though it appeared to have borne an inscription, or some rudely carved memorial of the deceased, ingenuity is at fault in seeking to decipher it. Afterwards, a second coffin was exhumed, being found only about 14 inches beneath the turf. This relic was about 64 feet in length, formed of one block of oolite, and excepting its weighty lid, unbroken. The skeleton it con- tained (supposed to be Roman) was much more perfect than that previously found, and was that of a tall man. Speaking phrenologically, the skull exhibited the general character of a Roman cranium. This coffin had been sculptured with more care than the preceding one, but it was of rude conformation; the sides and massive cover were covered with diagonal lines, but no letters were visible. Not far from the coffins were also found three copper coins; one was a counterfeit sterling of the reign of Edward I. The remaining two were struck by the Emperors Constan- tine and Carausius. The date on the former of these was sufficiently legible to be read without diffieulty; the latter was very much injured, as, indeed, are all the coins of Carausius that have been discovered in this country, and they generally require to be submitted to the educated eyes of those skilled in numismaties. We consider it important SEPULCHRAL REMAINS IN BATH. 55 that the coin of Carausius was found near the discovered cofins, as it may serve to fix the date when the spot was used by the Romans as a cemetery. “ A skeleton was dug up at the Gas Works in 1815, and a Roman urn, with reticulated lines ; and skeletons were dug up in the Gravel Walk in 1844, and in the Park in 1847 ; but there are no records of stone coffins. “It is asingular circumstance that one or more skeletons are generally found lying near the coffins. “Stone cofins are frequently discovered in barrows, which also contain Roman urns, proving their use in England at that period. Sir Christopher Wren found such, at the rebuilding of St. Paul’s; and Gough adds that, from the ninth century to the reign of Henry III., stone cofins were in general use—that is, for persons of the higher classes. The bodies of the common people, not only in the Norman, but also in the English era, as we see from the illuminations of ancient missals, were only wrapped in eloth, and so put into the ground. In this manner, Matthew Paris informs us, the monks of St. Alban’s were buried till the time of Abbot Warin, who died in 1195. He ordered that they should be buried in stone cöffins, as more decent. Matthew Paris, on this occasion (Hist. Abb. St. Alb. p. 95) charges him with innovations on established customs, to please the multitude. Strutt says, in the reigns of Henry V.and VI. stone coffins were made with necks, distin- guishing the head and shoulders. “ That stone coffins were used up to a comparatively recent date may be inferred from the fact that at Monkton Farley, near Bath, specimens of superior workmanship (with necks as above described) were discovered, a few years ago, in connection with efligies and architectural fragments, leading to the belief that such a mode of burial 56 PAPERS, ETC. prevailed at the time the monastery was in existence there, from A.D. 1125, to the dissolution. “A gentleman of this eity has informed us that he has seen stone coflins of a shape similar to those found here, equally rude in construction, dug up in the island of Cephalonia. .“ Further discoveries were afterwards made in Russell Street, and a seventh coflin was dug up. As the coffins first exhumed were lying in pairs, it might be inferred that, by excavating laterally from the seventh coffin, another would be discovered lying near it. Several large bones were dug out, as well as the lower stone of an ancient hand-mill, or quern, for grinding corn, which is now in the Literary and Scientifie Institution. A wall, taking a north-east direction, was also discovered ; it was three feet wide, at the base, but tapered towards the top, and was constructed of rough-hewn stones, apparently obtained from the neigh- bourhood of Lansdown, so firmly embedded in each other that they were separated with great difhiculty ; the mortar or cement, could not be distinguished. The portion laid bare was about five feet in length, and formed part ofa circle ; it was nine feet distant from the spot covered by the head ofthe seventh ceofin; and a few feet from the edge of the macad- amized road, between this and Russell Street, the whole of the coffins were deposited. This discovery has led to some interesting speculations. One view of the matter is, that the wall may indicate that the ground was enclosed for the purpose of sepulture, and, if so, traces of it may be found running along at the back of the houses on the western side of the street, so as to surround the cofins discovered some years since. Another view is, that the wall served as a boundary between this burial place, and the Roman road, the Via Julia, which, it is known, ran along at the top of SEPULCHRAL REMAINS IN BATH. 57 the street; and, if we assume that these coffins are Roman, some confirmation is given to this view by the frequent discoveries of Roman sepulchral remains in the present burial ground of Waleot, along the side of which passed the Roman road leading into “The City of the Waters of the Sun.” The above particulars relate to the stone coffins found in Russell Street, and to the other places which have come under the notice of the writer of the account which appeared in the Chroniele. The following is a letter from the Rev. J. Bond, Vicar of Weston, giving an account of the various instances which he has been able to collect of such remains being found in that part of the neighbourhood of Bath, where he resides. “ Weston Vicarage, Sept. 17, 1852. “ DEAR CAPTAIN CHAPMAN,— You desired me to collect for you what information I could respecting the stone coffins which at different times have been found in this parish. I regret that I have been so long in complying with your request, but I have found much difhieulty in ascertaining the facts, and I have been unwilling to com- municate them before I was able to do so on what: appeared to be sufficient authority. “] am informed that three stone coflins have been met with at different times, lying singly, in fields south of the farm house occupied by Mr. Thomas Davis, in Lansdown Lane; three or four, together, immediately behind Weston farm house, in the occupation of Mr. Powney; one in Mr. Saundere’s field at Foxhale, and one in Langridge common. But the largest number that has been discovered, were dug up about the year 1825, at or near the site of Partis College, which appeared to have been an ancient burial ground of considerable extent. Three were found, two at the back 1854, PART II. H 58 PAPERS, ETC. and one in the front of the Chapel there, and the remains of a wooden one, in digging the foundations of the west wing. This last was much damaged ; it was of very large dimensions, and appeared to have borne plates of metal, similar to the furniture of modern coffins. In the area between the three sides of the college buildings, and a little to the east of the front of the chapel, there was a bason-shaped hollow sunk into the rock, in which a large number of bodies had been interred without coffins. The skeletons remained, and the earth in which they were embedded is said to have been of a very fatty nature, and so slippery, that the workmen could not stand upon it if the surface was not level. About the same time no less than a dozen stone cofins were discovered by Thomas Bullock, in trenching some ground for a garden then held by him, but now in the oceupation of Captain Fownes, immediately behind the college premises. On the same ground he also found remains of buildings, which appeared to have under- “gone the action of fire. On the floor of a small chamber, or eist, some charred wheat was observed; a road, covered with yellow gravel, ran from this spot in a direction towards the village of Weston. Some coins were found with these remains, but they were not preserved, and it is not known to what era they belonged, although I remem- ber to have heard a report, when I first came to the parish of Weston, that they were Roman. “Allthe coflins above mentioned were of the common trough-shaped form, without any hollow for the head; they were of Bath freestone, covered with the same material, without efligy or insceription. The covers were about a foot beneath the surface of the ground ; they were lying in all directions, and, when east and west, the head was sometimes to the east. - SEPULCHRAL REMAINS IN BATH. 59 “ In making some repairs at the Chapel Farm, on Lans- down, last year, twelve skulls were discovered on the south side of the house, placed with their faces downwards, and without any trace of the other portions of the skeletons. I understand that several stone coffins have been found about the rectory house, in the parish of Langridge ; and in the neighbouring hamlet of Beach, there is a field called ‘Coffin Tining,’ where they have also been met with.” Stone cofins were found, about twelve years ago, at English Coombe, near Bath, where the remains of the Wansdyke are still so distinctly to be traced. 'They have also been found at Bitton, (probably the ancient Abone) through which passed the Roman road to the Trajectus, and communicated with Wales. The coffins found at Bitton were near the site of a Roman villa, N.E. of Ashton Lodge, where Roman pottery has also been found. In the coffins discovered at Langridge, some years since, a war implement, not unlike in form to an Indian tomahawk, and a spur, are said to have been found. Unhappily all these coffins were broken up and used as paving-stones for the yard of a house erected on the spot. Stone coflins have also been found in the parish of Bathwick, just at the foot of the hill; one of these is still preserved, being walled into the boundary of the burying-ground. On the ascent of the hill, and not far from a barrow, in opening a quarry, two skeletons were found in a sitting posture; the graves have since been destroyed. On the summit of the hill are the very interesting remains of an ancient British settlement, where there are several barrows, which appear never to have been opened. We now proceed to a description of those lately dis- covered at Combe Down. The occasion of the discovery was the making a garden 60 PAPERS, ETC. wall, the boundary of a new villa, just beyond the church. The situation of them is on the declivity of a hill, and a little lower down are the remains of a Roman villa, which was begun to be disinterred a few years since, but, for some reason, the work was discontinued. The builder who has taken the land, and intends constructing a modern habita- tion on it, has assured me that the old foundations shall be examined with the greatest care, and any objects of antiquity preserved. The site is very pic- turesque, looking direct south, and shielded on the north and east by gently sloping hills, having an open view of Mitford Castle to the south, with the Wiltshire downs in the back ground. Just above the site of this villa the coffins were found, and with them several pieces of broken pottery, and an entire small earthen vessel, now in the possession of the Rev. W. L. Nichols, of Lansdown Crescent, and undoubtedly Roman. Also a coin of the Emperor Licinius, now in my keeping. The cofäins are three in number. These are all that have been at present discovered, but as the excavations are continued along the hill side, in a westerly direction, probably more may be found. They were not many inches under ground, the end of one having been struck by the cart-track, which went close past them. The coffins were placed directly north and south, with the feet to the south, so that the faces looked toward the mid-day sun. In each of the two which lie towards the east, were skeletons of females, one said to be about forty-five years old, apparently, and the other thirty. These two coflins were of a large size, and the skeletons large also. They were three feet apart, and nine or ten inches from them lies a coffin somewhat smaller, square-headed, and of much better workmanship, which contained a male skeleton, PLAN: 08 ANCIENT BURIAL GROUAR : —DISCOVERED AT : COMB DOoYW naar _BATH- . 2 ee 2 Fin rl iz Io Sa € ER; WR - L t Ki) 4 Re H i LS) Bi I a ef K 4 Re OBLONG STORE Bex CONTAININE HZAD Or A HaRvE er AND Somz OTHER BaAES , ®. 5° _STOHFCoFFINS comumına ar EN = DUPPOSER To BE FEMALE, 2.5. er DTONE COFFIN Camanıns SKELETON- SuPfoser To BE MALE, &: STONE CIST Comamıa BURNT-BONES . k, Fr, LU $ I FÄRTHEN KARE MRS conramme— EEISmAS Re ArdHanıı lohren Such . A BEIVERN THE FIRSTAND SECOND Kon ur @0i . FORTY SEIEN BET = BURNTBONEg , A + INSCRIBED STONES PLACER ON THE LoneR PART or- SIONECOFIN # » | | | Ri STONE COFEIN Wirk MALE SAZLETON - | 0 AAVING A COM IN TRBEMOUTH ano ISKuıs a;2 EET, # ! STONE-COFFIN wıra CKELE FON 08 LARGESIZE, =; LiD or MESAmE. 4 a 7 h RB: ZARTUN POT famd m Com s G# STVDS aonmarte) Iy Wi mAÄ field = few of PM ech Mack re Dar ınEn USE Cordamımg Oinslfdmcl €: STONE CST Cola but bene! 5 N STE —BOX ala) Mat od Int 17.2 Aare’ , AU era at COMP DOWN - -BATH SEPULCHRAL REMAINS IN BATH. 61 smaller than those of the females.. On the east side of the first coffin, and about twelve feet from it, was found an oblong box, with a cover to it, measuring twenty inches by fourteen, which contained the head of a horse. A skeleton was also found lying bent round the head of the first coffin, and about two feet distant from it. But the most eurious portion of the discovery was a stone chest, full of burnt bones, measuring twelve inches by nine, and six and a quarter inches deep. The lid is so contrived as to fit into the top of the box, and is slightly oval on the outside. This chest was distant nine feet from the last of the three stone coffins, namely, that containing the skeleton of the man ; a few feet above this chest, a skeleton has since been found. In order to form any correct idea of the dates of these interments, or the nation to which they belonged, it will be necessary to compare them with similar discoveries in other parts of England. I am inclined to think that they go back to an early period, at least prior to the Saxon invasion. In the Saxon burial-grounds which have been lately examined, I am not aware that any stone coffins have been discovered. The investigations which have lately been made in the Anglo-Saxon Cemetery, at Harnham, near Salisbury, and those made in Lynton Heath, Cambridgeshire, have thrown much light upon the manner of Anglo-Saxon burials ; but in neither case are any stone coffins mentioned. The contents of these three coffins, as far as they have been investigated, have only revealed what is stated to have been found in those discovered in Russell Street, namely, long iron nails, and small iron studs, united together, and lying near the feet, which have apparently formed part of the sandals. I have in my possession a curious stone ornament, with a 62 PAPERS, ETC. circular hole in the centre, the stone itself being circular, with two flat surfaces. This may have been placed as a talisman or a charm, or have served merely as a rude ornament. On visiting the Museum at York, this winter, I was struck by the resemblance of the coffins found in Bath, to some that are there preserved, and which have been discovered around the ancient city. York was the ancient Eburacum, the quarters of the Sixth Legion, very striking records of which are still preserved there. It was also the residence of Roman Emperors, and the remains that have been found there, surpass in interest those of almost any other eity in England. They are preserved with much care, and have been recorded in alearned work by the Rev. C.Wellbeloved, from which I have extracted the account of stone coflins there discovered. Some of the chests found in York have Latin inscriptions upon them, by which they are undoubtedly proved tobe Roman; others are plain, and without any inseription at all, but in size and shape exactly correspond to those found in Bath. Many coffins, says Mr. Wellbeloved, in general rudely formed of a coarse grit-stone, a few of lead, originally perhaps cased in wood, have, at various times, been found in the vieinity of York. In the year 1813, some workmen engaged in digging a sunk fence, found two very large coffiins of grit-stone, placed close to each other, one side of each neatly panelled, and the lids, as usual, slishtly ridged. Each coffin contained an entire skeleton, (p. 108). Two stone coflins, of a coarser grit, and of inferior work- manship, were recently found in a gravel-pit in Heslinston Field, by the side of the road from Heslington to Grim- ston, and probably not far from the line of Roman road from Eburacum to Derventio ; one of these was presented SEPULCHRAL REMAINS IN BATH. 63 to the York Museum. On removing the lid, the coffin appeared to be almost half filled with lime, excepting the place in which the head had lain. The lime having been very carefully taken out, the lower surface presented a distinet impression of a human body, over which, with the exception of the face, the lime had been poured in a liquid state, the body having been first covered with a cloth, the texture of which is still clearly to be seen in the impres- sion on the lime. The feet had been crossed, and covered with shoes or sandals, having nails in the soles, the marks of which on the lime are distinctly visible, and several of the nails themselves were found in the coffin, in a very corroded state. These nails correspond with what have been found in the coffins in Bath and at Combe Down. A very small portion of the bones remained, sufficient how- ever to indicate that they were the bones of a female. All the teeth, except one, were found with the enamel undecayed. Just above the left shoulder, a small portion of a gold ring appeared ; and the lime surrounding it being carefully scraped away, the remnants of a lady’s ornaments were brought to light, consisting of fragments of large jet rings, two earrings of fine gold, two bracelets, several brass or copper rings, one of which resembled a cogwheel, about two inches in diameter, three finger rings, one ofthem of jet, of a modern pattern, and two necklaces; one of the necklaces was formed of glass beads, yellow and green ; the others, of small beads of coral, intermixed with smaller beads of blue glass, strung in both cases on very slender twisted silver wire. All these, with the coffin and the lime, are deposited in the Museum of the Philosophical Society. In the spring of 1841, when workmen were employed in removing earth to the depth of three or four feet, for the 64 PAPERS, ETC. purpose of forming the North of England Railway, several stone coffins, containing lime, were discovered, Just without the walls of York, but the skeletons in no case entire. It isremarked, that of the great number of stone coflins which have been at various times discovered at York, very few have been found bearing an inscription. Three only are known, which are engraved in Mr. Wellbeloved’s Eburacum, (see page 110.) Itissingular that very near to thefirst of these, the skeleton of a horse was found lying; and Gough, in his Sepulchral Remains, vol i. p- 22, notices a similar circumstance at Chute. At Combe Down we have the head and some bones of the horse enclosed in a stone chest. T’he reason of the interment of the horse, or some portion of its remains, near the human skeleton, would form a very interesting subject of enquiry, and might be pursued with advantage. Instances of it oceur not merely in Roman, but in Saxon burials. I am informed that in one of the graves at Linton Heath, opened by Mr. Neville, the skeleton of a Saxon was found, with a horse’s skull placed on the leg bones ; no other bones of the horse occurred there. In the Memoirs of the Society of Antiquaries of Picardy, vol. v., p. 145, there is a paper on the Remains of Horses, found near Gaulish tombs and places of sacrifice, by the Abbe Santerre. Not having the work at hand, I am unable to state his view of the fact. It has been conjectured that the remains of the horse may be connected with the funeral feast which took place at inter- ment; orit is more probable that the favorite horse was killed at such a time, because he was supposed to be of ser- vice to his master in the abodes of the dead. On the tomb of Cecilia Metella, near Rome, horses heads are said to be sculptured in relief. “The Hindoos have a custom of sacri- SEPULCHRAL REMAINS IN BATH. 65 fieing a horse, and the festival at which this takes place, is called the Aswa Medh. There is much probability that when the body was interred, it was apparelled as the deceased usually was. The iron nails found at the feet of the skeleton, are remains of sandals, which have, in some instances, been found entire. Thus, at Avisford, in Sussex, there was discovered a pair of well-nailed soles of calige. This was a case of cremation; the ashes being in a glass, were surrounded by vases, ete., and all placed in an oblong, rectangular stone box. In graves near Worthing, where was discovered a curious glass bottle, were found, in 1845, remains of well-nailed calige. The interments here were by crema- tion. (See Dixon’s Geology of Sussex, pp. 43 and 44.) It is curious to find these leathern relics placed with cinerary urns. Leather is less destructible than tissue, and it may be that a complete suit of clothes was placed in the cist, of which these soles are the only reliques preserved. There was certainly a curious notion of giving the dead all they wanted in a future state. We may remark that in none of the coffins recorded to bave been found in and near Bath, do we hear of the bodies having been covered with lime poured into the coffin, and on none of these have any inscriptions been found, unless it be on one discovered in the Wideombe Cemetery, which was illegible.. But the slight examination which such remains too often receive, leads us to suppose that many interesting peculiarities are often passed over. There is also a striking difference between the Roman altars found in Bath and those which I have seen elsewhere, and espe- cially in the north of England. The sides of all the altars found in Bath are plain ; the altars have merely the in- scription on the front,— while in most other altars, we have 1854, PART II. I 66 PAPERS, ETC. the sides ornamented with devices, such as the sacrificial implements, the head of the vietim, or some other device. From the close correspondence of the cofüns found in and near Bath with those found in and about York, which have been, without hesitation, assigned to the Roman period, I am inclined to think that the former are Roman also. They are of a humbler description, but the character of the two cities differed essentially; York was an imperial resi- dence at certain times; it was the station of a Legion ; oflicers of the first rank were located there ; wealth was there concentrated, and art of a very high order. Whereas Bath was a place of resort for relaxation, and for the restoration of health. The military men who came there were either retired oflicers, or on leave, for the purpose of recruiting their health, and although the city and neishbourhood was much frequented for pleasure, repose, and relaxation, yet it had not the same character or importance as York. Nor could it be supposed to possess the same amount of opulence, and the same class of workmen, as would naturally congregate about a military station. No doubt the remains of the Temple of Minerva, still preserved in Bath, indicate its importance and its advance- ment in the arts; but the general class of citizens appear to have been content with humbler memorials than those that have been found in some other parts of our land. The frequeney of Roman coins, in connection with these coffins, is a strong corroboration of their Roman origin. But if they be not actually Roman, I think there can be little doubt that they must be referred to the period Just preceding the Saxon invasion, and be attributed to the Romano-British inhabitants of the island, who retained the Roman mode of life, while they fell far short of Roman perfection, both in arts and arms. SEPULCHRAL REMAINS IN BATH. 67 lt will not be well to bring this notice to a conclusion, without mentioning an interesting discovery of a stone coffin, or Roman sarcophagus, which was made on the 24th May, 1853, in London, during excavations for the foundation of a warehouse, near Haydon Square, Minories. This sepulchral chest, which measures about five feet, by two feet one inch, the depth being about three feet, is now in the British Museum. The lid, which is ridged, is sculptured with foliage, and firmly fastened down by iron clamps ; one side of the chest is left plain, as if the sarcophagus had been formed to be placed against a wall; on the other side, and at the ends, are sculptures. When the coffin was opened, a leaden one was found within, the lid ornamented with lines of a beaded pattern, in relief, and escalop shells at intervals. Within this were found the remains of a child, supposed to be about eight years old, surrounded by a layer of soft matter, but not sufhicient to cover the bones. This was considered to result from the decomposition of the body, and presented no analogy to the bed of lime noticed in the Ro:nan interments at York. Leaden coffins of the Roman period are not unfrequent in this country; but in no case, it is believed, have they been found placed in a receptacle of stone. A learned antiquary, who gave an account of this disco- very to the Archxological Institute, at one of the monthly meetings, to which I am indebted for this information, — although I have myself seen and examined the sarcophagus —considers that both the stone and lead coffins had been used previously. Clamps of iron seem to be peculiar to the later Roman period, as is shewn by a rude, unsculptured sarcophagus, in the York Museum. The clamping seems, in the present case, to have been added at a later period. 68 PAPERS, ETC. The leaden cofin appears also to have been altered to fit the stone chest. The leaden coffins which have been found with escalops and other ornaments, have been discovered only in the neighbourhood of London, York, and Colchester. (See Weever’s Funeral Monuments, p. 30; also Arch@o- logia, vol. xvii, p. 333, vol. xxxi, p. 308). This sarcophagus, which, from the style of the sculp- ture, may be assigned to the fourth century, is formed of the material called Barnack Rag. The character of the sculpture, however, may recall that of an earlier period, as shewn on the tomb of Cecilia Metella, near Rome. A curious narrative of Bede, contained in the fourth book of the Ecclesiastical History, c. xix, confirms the opinion of a secondary interment. It appears from this that stone coffins, discovered on the sites of Roman cities, were taken for the purposes of christian burial in after times. On the site of Camboritum, the Roman Cambridge, stone coflins have been discovered of a large size, similar to those found in Bath and the neighbourhood, without any lids corres- ponding, but over them small stones, with devices on them, which fix the date of the interment to the time subsequent tothe Norman Conquest. (See Arch@ologia,xvii,221.) The Saxon historian, Bede,relates that the corpse of /Rdilthryda, Abbess of Coldingham, had been interred in a wooden coffin, by her desire, on her death, a.nD. 679. Her sister and successor, Sexburga, desiring to place her remains in a new receptacle, and to remove them into the church, sent forth some of the brethren to seek stone of which such a cofin might be formed. Having taken ship, and in yain sought for any of suffieient size in the marshy region of Ely, they came to the ruined eity of Granta-ceaster, and presently found a suitable coffin near its walls. Regardıng this as a providential interposition, they retraced their SEPULCHRAL REMAINS IN BATH. 69 steps from the Roman station. The marble chest perfectly fitted the corpse of the abbess ; a cavity provided in it for the skull, precisely fitted the head, and it seemed as if the coftin had been prepared specially for her. In the sepulchral remains found at Combe Down, we have an instance of the two modes of disposing of the dead which are known to have existed among the Romans, namely, by interment and by cremation. And this also leads me to suppose that the remains are to be attributed to the latter period of Roman occupation, or the times which immediately succeeded it. Wehave the body interred entire, placed in a coffin, and also no? placed in a coffin. "These two modes of sepulture were both common among the ancient Romans; and we have the small chest of burned bones, in which the ashes of the deceased were coliected after cre- mation, and deposited in the earth. This was likewise a Roman custom of disposing of the dead. Again, tlıe site of these remains leads to the supposition that they were Roman. In the country, we generally find the burial- places in the immediate neighbourhood of a villa or hamlet. As I observed before, the remains of a villa are to be traced in front of the spot where the coflins were found. The stone cist containing the burnt bones is certainly very remarkable. Sepulchral chests of this kind are fre- quently found on the site of Roman cemeteries ; and, according to Montfaucon, the number of square chests predominates over the round. Chests are also found which are made of tiles, and these are said to be more common in Roman burial places than stone chest. A remark- able stone one was found at Avisford, in Sussex, in 1817. Avisford is in the immediate neighbourhood of several large Roman villas, and not far from that of Bignor, where the very interesting pavements are still preserved. It ap- 70 PAPERS, ETC. pears to have been a chest formed out of a solid stone, and covered with a flat slab or id. Mr. Wright describes it as containing in the middle a large square vase of fine green glass, containing caleined bones. In a Roman cemetery, at Cirencester, was found a stone which had been cut into the shape of a short cylindrical column. This had been sawn through the middle, and in the centre of the lower half was cut a cell to contain the urn, which was enclosed by joining the two parts of the column together. (See Mr. Wright’s Celt, Roman, and Sazxen, p- 306.) We find that sepulchral urns were of different sizes and forms, and made of various materials, according to the wealth of the deceased, whose ashes they were to contain, and the taste of the surviving relative. When made of marble, they were generally rectangular, adorned with bas-reliefs, often of beautiful workmanship, and contained inscriptions. We are not to expect, on the site of a Roman villa, at some distance from a town, and in a Roman province at the extremity of the empire, the same amount of art which is displayed in the elaborate works preserved in Rome. The provincials were, no doubt, content with very humble imitations of the customs prevalent in the capital, and in rich eities ; a plain stone chest, of small dimensions, would, in a country seat in the provinces, perform the part allotted to a rich marble sarcophagus in the capital, and be made the depository of the remains of what was valued and loved while living. Montfaucon, Z’Ant. Exp. tome v., pt. 1, p. 55, pl. xviüi, gives a drawing containing the facade, the plan, the urns, and the inscriptions of a tomb of the family of Furia, discovered in 1665, at Camaldules, in the high ground above SEPULCHRAL REMAINS IN BATH. zul Frescati, in Italy. Everything is very simple. The urns, or chests, are made square shaped, and the cover is ridged. This monument is said to be more ancient than any in Italy, ofthe same kind, as appears from the character of the inscriptions. The inscriptions upon the two urns, or chests, are not easy to decipher ; but the true reading ap- pears to be—Lucio Turpleio Lueü filio. Turpleio may stand for Turpilio, which was the name of a Roman family. The other will be Quinto Turpleio Lueü filio.. All the other inscriptions are of the Furian family. Fourio is for Furio, in the manner of the ancient Romans. A question has arisen on the subject of cremation,— how it was possible to preserve the ashes of the persons apart from the ashes of the pile on which the body was burned? There is, in Montfaucon, an interesting letter detailing the circumstance of the discovery of a garment, or covering, of what the Greeks called Asbestos, in one of the sepulchral urns found near Rome. This had been subjected to the action of fire, and was found to be scorched by the heat, and partially burned ; it was placed, together with the bones, in the funereal urn. We may suppose, therefore, that in some instances the device was used of wrapping the body in this material; but it appears probable that the bones, when reduced to ashes, might generally be distinguished from the wood ashes. We know that when the body had been consumed, and the pile reduced to ashes, these were extinguished by having, in many instances, wine poured on them, which custom it was found necessary afterwards to regulate, as needlessly extravagant, and it was made lawful only to use water for such purposes. It would be very interesting to trace the various modes of sepulture which have prevailed at different periods, and 72 PAPERS, ETC. thus endeavor to throw some light upon the present subject; but this would occupy 100 much time. Let us hope that these very imperfect remarks may induce some other member of the society, more competent than myself, to pursue the subject further, and thus bring to light much that would clear up historical doubt. TOPOGRAPHICAL ETYMOLOGY. 73 Che application nf hilology te Archwologienl Innentigatiun, — BY REV. WM. ARTHUR JONES, M.A, — T is always interesting, and, I would add, though it may not be so regarded in this utilitarian age, even profitable, to mark the remains and to trace the footsteps of the various tribes which, in byegone ages, have succes- sively oceupied the land in which we dwell. The associa- tions which thus gather around the localities the eye becomes familiar with in our daily walks, greatly enhance the pleasure and the profit arising from the contemplation ofthe scenery around us ; and welive, for a time, not only in the present, but in the past ; while, to the mind’s eye, the mountain and the dell become peopled again by their ancient inhabitants. In almost every distriet in Great Britain, and especially in the West of England, we meet with many undoubted remains of our primz»val ancestors, the ancient Britons, which have survived the destroying power of time, and continue, to the present day, striking monuments of the 1854, PART II. K 74 PAPERS, ETC. power and greatness of that extraordinary people. As might have been expected, however, the incessant tide of ages has washed away many of their works, and rendered faint and indistinet many of their footprints. But, as the geologist delights in the faintest impress of organic remains when they present themselves in the primsval rocks ; so does the antiquarian delight in every new discovery of the remains of ancient times, and in every new gleam of light from old discoveries, which helps to define and illustrate the great epochs of his country’s history. Each great geological period, we know, is distinguished by peculiar and characteristic forms of organized life; hence, the oceur- rence of even a fragment of shell, or coral, or bone, or plant, is sufficient to enable the experienced geologist to determine the exact place any particular formation holds in the great series of created being. That which is true of the phenomena of the material world, is not less true of those which present themselves in connexion with the human race, For here, likewise, the form of the earth- work ; the masonry of the wall ; the shape and design of the pottery ; the curve and mouldings of the arch; the tracery of the window, whether presented entire or in fragments; are, in reality, so many dates impressed upon these remains of antiquity, enabling us to assign each to its true period and its people. Besides, and in addition to, these, which may be called the material tokens left to us by former generations, we have in the elements of our language, and especially in the names of mountains and towns, of rivers and encamp- ments, another class of remains, not less deserving of our attention, nor likely to be much less profitable to those who are engaged in antiquarian research. It is to this—the application of Philology to Archzological investigation— TOPOGRAPHICAL ETYMOLOGY. 75 that I have now the honor to direct your attention ; more especially, as it relates t0 the West of England in general, and to the county of Somerset in particular. While treating of words, Ineed hardly observe, that if time has dealt so roughly with the material remains of the handywork of by-gone ages, and has changed to a great extent their outline and their form, we cannot expect the fleeting sounds of the human voice,—the utterances of human thought—to have altogether escaped its influence. We must, therefore, be prepared to allow some margin in our derivations; more especially as some of the names of places in this county, undoubtedly had their origin, and were in use here, many ages before the Roman invasion. Besides, it should be borne in mind, that all those names for which we claim a Celtie origin, have been handed down to the present age, through generations of men altogether ignorant of their original signification. Yet, notwith- standing that so powerful a cause of corruption and change has existed for so many centuries, we find most of the local names retaining, in an extraordinary degree, their original form and sound. I am very sensible of the difhiculties which necessarily attend an investigation of this nature ; in which, perhaps, more than in any other, the imagination is like to outstrip the judgment. At the same time, seeing that among the Celtie race the names of places were always designed to be descriptive, we evidently possess, in the general outline and prominent features of the country, at the same time a guide, and a check, in our philological enquiries : and the results of Topographical Etymology become more sure and certain than otherwise could have been expected. In confirmation of this view, it is especially interesting to observe, that even where great physical changes have 76 PAPERS, ETC. undoubtedly occurred, the names of places in the distriet have been retained, though they evidently had their origin in, and literally describe, a state of things which does not now exist. Striking instances of this present themselves in the names of Ched-zoy; Middle-zoy; and Weston- zoyland ;—places which now stand on red-marl prominences slightly elevated above the alluvial deposit of the Bridg- water levels, but which, during the early period of Saxon occupation, were evidently surrounded by water. These names, as well as that of Langport, contain in themselves the physical history of the places they stand for; and the use made of them and other words of the same character, in the paper on Langport, the Llongborth of Llywarch H£n’s Elegy,* amply justifies the claim of philology to be regarded as the hand-maid of archxology. There can be no doubt, that the different races which, one after the other, have had possession of this country, have left behind them, in the names given to their settlements, distinet traces of their successive oecupa- tion : and it would be very interesting, and likewise instructive, to have the names of places in the county, whether Celtic, or Roman, or Danish, or Saxon, classified according to their origin. Such a classification is, no doubt, practicable; but it will necessarily involve great research, and lengthened investigation, to make it complete. It cannot, perhaps, be expected as the work of one man; but rather as the result of accumulated observations made at different times, and in different localities, by those who are interested in antiquarian pursuits in the county. The following explanation of names which seem to me to be of Celtic origin, I now submit to the members of the Society, as a contribution towards this object, in the hope that * See Proceedings 1853, p. 44. TOPOGRAPHICAL ETYMOLOGY. TER others will help to render complete this much-needed addition to our county history. That part of the county of Somerset which lies west of the Parret, belonged to the district known to the ancient Britons as Dyvnaınt. This the Romans called DumnonIuMm, adopting with some slight modification as their custom was, the names in use among the natives of the country. It requires very little philological skill to identify DyvnaınTt with Dumnonıum ; and both with Devon of the present day. That, however, which gives significance and meaning to the name must be sought for in the language of the ancient Britons ; and nothing could be more descriptive ofthe distriet than the name it bears— Dyvn-NAInT—“ the country of the deep vallies.” Frequently among the Quantocks—indeed all over the county—we meet with a genuine British word, Cwm, for avalley. Atthe foot or opening of one of the Coombes on the Quantocks, we find a striking British name in TRESCOMBE, which is composed of TRE-Is-Cwm—“ the dwelling beneath, or at the foot ofthe vale,” and the hill at the head of another Cwm, is called Buncombe Hill, which is no other than the British BEn-CWM, the vale head. The QUANTOcKS themselves have a very descriptive name, especially when they are regarded in respect to the physical characteristics which they present on their northern side ;—GwANnToG— “abounding in openings.” The great number, comparatively, of deep dells, almost amounting to ravines, which open among the Quantocks towards the Bristol Channel, and thus “divide ” the range of hills, would naturally give rise to their ancient name. On one of the loftiest eminences in this range, stands the extensive British encampment sometimes called Danes- borough, but by the peasants of the neighbourhood 78 PAPERS, ETC. known as Dousborougsh. This the ancient British inhabi- tants would have called Dıinas ;—a word which, standing by itself, means pre-eminently “the fortification ” of.the distriet ; a distinetion which Dousborough might well claim, alike from its situation and its extent. Dousborough and Danesborough Itake to be a corruption of Dinas, or Duns-borough ; the latter part being a Saxon addition made by a people ignorant of the meaning of its original name. The encampment on Hamdon Hill I believe to have had originally the same name, and to have been simply Dun, “ the fortified place” of that neighbourhood. When the hamlet underneath became of sufficient im- portance, in Saxon times, to require a name, the Saxon inhabitants called it Ham-Dun—the hamlet nigh to the Dun. Westward of the Quantocks we have the same word Dun occurring in DuNSTER, which is no other, I conceive, than Dun-ystrap— “the fort in the vale.” Ystrad, in Welsh, is applied to the flat or bottom, formed by the course of a river. The propriety of such a descrip- tive name as Dun-Ystrad, no one, I think, can doubt, who has stood upon the brow of Grabhurst Hill, and looked down upon Dunster Castle. CUNNEGAR tower surmounts another stronghold, standing between the castle and the sea. This would be appropriately called Cyn-GAER— the “ foremost” fortification—the GAER in advance. Going on a little farther west, we come to LuccorTT Hill, with the GREY-wooD, literally (in Welsh) LLwyp- COED, skirting its base, and stretching up its sides. Through this wood flows a rapid, impetuous stream, truly British in character, and in name : the Horner; CHWERN-DDWR ; which, in the Celtic, denotes the “whirling” and “wrangling” with which its “ waters” TOPOGRAPHICAL ETYMOLOGY. 79 rush towards the sea. And towering above, with its brow and sides bristling with fragments of rocks and stones, is DUNKERRY-BEACON, which, from these physical charac- teristics, obtained the name which it now retains— Dvn-Cerre*— “the stony height.” These are names selected, for illustration, after a mere cursory glance over the district. Others there doubtless are equally striking, and equally indicative of the tenacity with which the names given by the aboriginal Britons have clung to the localities where they made their homes. Retraeing our steps eastward, we pass by WILLITON (the Weellas-town), which, with WırLs-neck (Wellas- neck) has, not without reason, been assigned to the Saxons, as names given by them to these localities while they were still occupied by the Welsh, or W@LLaAs, as the Saxons first called the Celtie race in Britain. Wethen come to the gradual opening or widening of the vale, south-west of the Quantocks, until it is lost in the wider plain of Taunton Dean ;—just what the British would have called LLEDYAD, from the verb llediannu—“to grow wide.” Here, I believe, we have the origin of Lydeard (given, in Domesday Book, and in an old map, f published A.p. 1610, as LEDIARD), standing, as it does, where the smaller vale gradually opens and widens into the broader expanse of Taunton Dean. Following the course of the river Ton£, which I find by Toulmin’s History, is represented by Whittaker as a form of Avon (T’avon, hence Tone) we come to Taunton * The C, in the Celtic dialects, has always the power of K. + “Somerser-Suire Described and into Hunpreps devided, with the plott of the famous and most wholsom waters and eitie of the Bırue by I. $. Anno. 1610.” In tlie Museum of the Society at Taunton. 30 PAPERS, ETC. —the TonE-TOown—surrounded by a country beautiful and rich, herself not unworthy of the beautiful scenery with which she is surrounded. The connection of the name of this river with the Celtie “Avon,” is very probable ; and T’avon may be the contraction of Taw-Aavon, which literally deseribes the peculiarly “silent” course of the river. Taunton DEAN (well known not to have had its origin in any ecclesiastical division) may be either from the Anglo-Saxon DEN, “a valley ;” which, in the form of DEAN, is still used in the distriet of Craven : or, more probably, is identical with the Celtic root DEN, which enters into the names of many localities associated with forests or woodland. Thus, we have the FOREST OF DEAN in Gloucestershire, known to the present day by the Welsh as vr DvEnA ; the FOREST OF ARDEN, in War- wickshire, formerly extending from the Severn to the Trent, but now confined to that part of the county of Warwick west of the Avon about Henley, called the WoopLAND; and the parish of ARDEN-vVIL in Lanark- shire. Then, there is the great Forest of ARDENNE,—the ’ “ Arduenna Sylva” of Julius C»sar*—which gives a name to a department of France, and formerly extended as far as the country of Liege, in the neighbourhood of which—another indication of Celtic oceupation—there is a distriet very like our own Devon, known in the present day as Dinant, identical evidently in sound and significa- tion with the Dyvnaint of Ancient Britain. The aspect of Taunton Dean, even now, from any of the neighbouring heishts, fully justifies the appellation of DEN or DEAN in the sense of “ woodland.” Leaving Taunton, and passing through HarcH (a Somerset provincialism, even in the present day, for GATE) * Cesar de Bello Gall. 1. vi., c. 29, 31. TOPOGRAPHICAL ETYMOLOGY. 81 where there is every reason to believe was placed the old HaTcH or GATE to the unenclosed forest ; we have, stretehing on our right, the Blagdon hills; on the very spine of which the practiced eye of the antiquary (in spite of the thick and rapid growth of the plantation) may yet recognize the deep foss of Castle Neroche—a fine encampment, well deserving of the attention it has lately received from one of our most experienced and successful antiquarians. NEROCHE is so Norman in its sound, that I long thought its meaning would be got at only through the French. Had it stood near or upon a rock, LE ROCHE would naturally occur as the probably original form of the name. There being no such physical characteristie ; and, which is of equal importance, the name prevalent among the peasantry of the neighbourhood being CAstLE RachH, we are necessarily led to seek in some other source for its true meaning. Having been in the habit, on principle, of giving the preference to those forms of the names of places which are preserved by the peasantry of the neigh- bourhood, it was with no small pleasure I found this prineiple confirmed, by the reference to this place, in the “ Perambulations of the Royal Forests,” made by the command of Edward I. The part which applies to our subject opens as “ Perambulatio forest de Nerachist, in Comitatu Somerset.” In this there is reference made to a former Charter of Henry, the father of Edward, which relates—“‘ De forresta videlicet :—quidam mons qui vocatur Castrum de Rachich.”* Taking this as an approximation to the more ancient form of the name, I am disposed to regard it as derived from RuaAg, or RHAc, which signifies in Welch, “that which is uppermost,” as the spine of a quadruped : and Castell-Ruac would thus be the camp on * See Phelps’ History of Somerset, vol. I, p. 45. 1854, PART II. L 82 PAPERS, ETC the SPINE of the hill ; which is certainly deseriptive of its appearance from all the lowlands around.* Ineed not do more at present than merely refer, in passing, to Langport—the Llong-borth, the “port for vessels” of the ancient Britons,—as in a former paper I explained what I conceive to be its origin and its history. Leaving PoLDon likewise—the MOEL-Y-DONf or VOEL- DON of the Britons—a name descriptive of its character, when it stood out as “elevated land” (Morr) in the midst of the waves (Don); and STREET, which, of itself, is an undoubted indication of Roman occupaney, and of its position on a Roman high-way, STRATUM, we come to GLASTONBURY. This place is rich above all others in names, which clearly indicates the various points of interest from which it was regarded by successive generations, during the ancient British and the early Saxon periods. Thus we find it called, in very carly times, YNYS-AVALLON —“ the island of apple trees.” This name was evidently given at the time when the present turf moors between the Poldon and Mendips were in the course of formation beneath the expanding waters of an estuary, or of an inland lake. That it was known by this name during the Roman period is evident from the latinized form, Avalonia, which occurs in some of the Itineraries. Its former posi- tion in respect to surrounding water or marsh-lands, is indicated by another name— Yxys-WYrryn—“ the island in the midst of bogs or marshes.” Wytrin is a form of wY, the Celtic word for water, which enters so largely into the composition of the names of rivers and lakes in * In the modern Castle-Rach, the ch is soft: in the Celtie Castell- Rhac, the c is hard. Chester from Castr um ; Charter from Carta, are instances of a similar change of sound. f There is a Moeu-v-Don, in the present day, near the Menai Straits. TOPOGRAPHICAL ETYMOLOGY. 83 the kinsdom. A third purely British name is ABER- GLASTON. Wherever ABER occurs, it indicates the conflu- ence either of two rivers, or of a stream with a lake or the sea; the succeeding part of the word being either the name of the smaller river, or some characteristic feature in the locality. The confluence of the river BRuE with the lake or swampy grounds of that period could not have been far from the site of the present town. Hence ABER forms a part of the name; and GLAas-ToN would either describe the river Brue flowing with clear “blue waves” into the meares: or more probably would apply to the “oreen sward” in the neighbourhood of the confluence. The words admit of being rendered either way. In Saxon times, the ABER was dropped from GLASTON, and BYRIG was added. 'Thus we have Lleycınzabjnız of the Saxon Chronicle, and Glastonbury of the present day. We must not leave Glastonbury without a visit to WEARY-ALL-hill, for here we have a curious and inter- esting example of the corruption of an old word, from the prevalent and very natural desire to call things by names which have a meaning to those who use them. The origin of tlıe name, even in its present form, dates a long way back. Thus, in “A little monument to the once famous Abbey and Borough of Glastonbury,” published a.n. 1722, the writer says, that “he was told by the Innkeeper, that St. Joseph of Arimathea and his Companions marched, from the place where they landed, near the town, to a hill, and there, being weary, rested themselves, which gave the hill the name of Weary-all-hill”* This ineident is, no doubt, a comparatively modern addition to the older legend of St. Joseph of Arimathea, and was suggested by the old * The History and Antiquities of Glastonbury, etc. by T. Hearne, =.A., mdeexxi. 84 PAPERS, ETC. name of Wyrrall, which the hill seems to have borne at an early period. In the general survey of the temporal- ities of this monastery, as given in Dugdale’s Monasticon, we find, among others, “WYRRALL park, which con- teyneth in cireuite one myle and one quarter.” This WYRRALL is evidently the WEARY-ALL-hill of the present day, and itself, I believe, a corruption of an ancient British name—YR ALLT— “the wood.” We havea curious confirmation of this view in another entry of the Survey: “ Within the Park of Wirrall, Ix acres of fayre tymbre ;” and likewise in the Charta or Epistle of St. Patrick, in which he desceribes himself and his “ brother of Wells” as toiling to the summit of tbe hill through a “dense wood.” “Post multum vero temporis, assumpto mecum Wellia confratre meo, per condensitatem silve, cum magna dificeultate, conscendimus cacumen montis, qui eminet in eadem Insula.” * Another corruption of like character presents itself in the name of the site of-an ancient earthwork known as BLAcKEr’S hill, overlooking Nettle-bridge Valley. It has been described by the Rev. W. Phelps as a British encampment “protecting the pass of the defile” I do not know the locality myself, but this description clearly eorresponds with the Celtic Bwrcn, literally “the pass of the defile;” and BLACKER becomes the Saxon cor- ruption of a fme old British name—BWLcH-Y-GAER, the “pass of the defile below the camp.” In some cases the ancient British names have utterly * The whole Epistle is given in the Appendix to Hearne’s Glastonbury, p. 114. Its authentieity has been doubted. Indeed, the internal evidence alone is sufficient to prove it to have been a forgery, executed no doubt by one of tie monks of Glastonbury. This, however, does not necessarily affeet the value of its testimony in regard to the physical characteristics of the neighbourhood, TOPOGRAPHICAL ETYMOLOGY. 85 disappeared, being supplanted by those of more modern origin. Thus, in ancient Welch literature, ihe eity of BRISTOL is known as CAER-ODOR-NANT—“ the city of the rent valley”—a name which the appearance of St. Vincent's Rocks on each side of the Avon fully justifies. UxELA, likewise, the Latin form of the old British name by which the estuary of the Parret was called, and which oceurs in the old geographers, has disappeared, and has left no representative in the language of the people. The term would seem to have been applied to the land-locked estuary covering the Bridgwater levels, and is evidently derived from the British WYsc-HELI, implying the free access to it of the “ sea-water ”—HELI. AD UxeLam was a Roman station lying on the shore of this estuary. It has usually been supposed to have oceu- pied the site of the present town of Bridgwater; but the extensive Roman remains found by Mr. Stradling about the Poldon Hills, would lead us rather to look for it on the other side of the river. And if we are justified in identifying with Ad Uxellam and Avallonia the Uxellu- diano and Avallano which occur im the Excerpta ex Ravennate Geographo, as connected together—* recto tramite”—by a direct line of road, this view is greatly confirmed. The PARRET is a modern form of the Peönedan of the Saxon chronicles : and Pedredan is evidently a modification of PERYDDON, the name which was applied to the river by the ancient Britons. There is a peculiarity in this word Peryddon, deserving of notice. It has the plural termination. This may have arisen from its being applied not only to the river itself, but to the united waters of the Tone, the Ivel, and the Parret proper. It occurs ina Welsh poem of the seventh century, 86 PAPERS, ETC. by the Cambrian bard Golyddan, which relates to “ the great armed confederacy of Britain,” “ Arymes Prydyn Vawr.” Of this there are extracts, with a translation, in Thiery’s Norman Conquest* In one place we read— “In Aber-Peryddon, the deputies of a Saxon king Even before there was a publie stipulation, stirred up slaughter. By arbitrary act, with violence, the deputies Demanded and proceeded to collect a tribute. The Cymri resolved they were not bound to pay:” etc. The poem is mainly devoted to the utterance of the indignation of the Cymri at the wrong thus inflieted. "This occurred at Aber-Peryddon; and if we take Peryddon to have corresponded to the ancient name of WVYsc-HELI, the site of this great conference and confliet would not be far from Purırton, which is near to the confluence of the estuary with the Severn sea, and may possibly have been the ABER-PERYDDON of the Welsh bard. I find it in the same old map, before referred to, in the form of PERITON. Passing by the Avon and the Ax, universally known as Celtic words, we come to the SEVERN and SEVERN SEA: the British name of which is deserving of notice from its connexion, indirectly, with the name which this county bears. What is now called the Bristol Channel bore the name of Mor EsyLrws6, and likewise Mor HAVREN. Havren is the Welsh form of Severn. f In a very ancient notice of the “ Principal Territories of Britain,” given in the Iolo MSS., p. 86, we find the Mor Havren, with Dyvnaint and Cerniw, given as the bounda- ries of Gwlad-yr-hav, a distriet corresponding with that of East Somerset. This naturally leads to the conclusion that * Bogue’s edition voll. Appendix 1. T See Note, p. 89. TOPOGRAPHICAL ETYMOLOGY. 87 Gwlad-yr-Hav is a contraction of GwLAD-YR-HAVREN. The county of Somerset to the Welsh population of the principality, even now, is not known by any other name than Gwlad-yr-hav. But in Welsh this word Hav (which in Havren is doubtless identical with Av, the root of Avon, ariver) likewise means SUMMER : and Gwlad-yr-hav, there- fore, admits of being translated—either the “land on the shores of the Havren ;” or, “the SumMER-LAnD.” The early Saxons, who named the county, would seem to have chosen the more obvious but less correct translation, and hence the county bears the name of SOMERSET. Camden, in his Britannia, abandons the commonly received derivation of “the Summer-land,” assigning a reason which was sufficient even in his time, and must have had greater force during the period in which the name is supposed to have had its origin. His words are, “some thinke it was so called, for that the aire there, is so mild and summer-like : and in that sense the Welch Britans at this day terme it GLADERHAF, borrowing that name from our English tongue. And verily, howsoever in Summer-time it is a right summer-like country, yet surely, in winter it may worthily be called, a winterish region, so wet and weely, so miry and moorish it is, to the exceeding great trouble and encombrance of those that travell in it.” Immediately after, the old antiquarian adds, that the name of the County, “without all question grew out of Somerton, a famous town in ancient times,” etc. etc. The town of Somerton is, undoubtedly, very ancient ; occurring early in the Saxon chronicles. At the same time, seeing that the feelings cherished at this early period, by the Cymri towards the Saxon invaders were not such as to induce them to “borrow a name from the English tongue;” and seeing, likewise, that Gwlad-yr-Hav, is 88 PAPERS, ETC. applicable to a country—gwlad—only ; Somerton would seem more likely to have been itself derived from, rather than to have given origin to, the name of the county of Somerset. These observations on the Topographical Etymology of Somerset I now lay before the Society with great diffidence. Most of the derivations, I believe, are safe and satisfactory ; some may be open to objection. I have endeavoured to give not only the conclusion to which I have been led, but also the grounds on which they are founded. Such as they are, Inow leave them, as a contribution towards a more complete classification of the names of places in the county, according to their origin. Before I conclude, however, I would beg further to direct attention to the application of Philology to another department of the archzology of the county, which is deserving of noticee—the dialeets of Somersetshire. The vernacular dialects of our rural distriets are now, very properly, regarded as remains of the ancient language of the land, rather than as vulgarisms. The only Glossary of Somerset that has appeared in print, is that by Mr. James Jennings, published in 1825. In the Observations etc. prefixed, he states that his glossary relates especially to the distriets east of the river Parret, “the pronunciation and many of the words in the distriet west of that river, being very different indeed, so as to designate strongly the people that use them.” This statement I have more than once heard confirmed by our late esteemed Secretary, Mr. W. Baker, who, if his life had been spared, might have added his accurate observations on this subject to his many other valuable contributions to the Arch&ology and Natural History of the county. It is very desirable that TOPOGRAPHICAL ETYMOLOGY. 89 those who have opportunity should take note of these peculiarities; and if they would forward their observations to the Secretaries of the Society, even though it be by one or two words at a time, a suflieient number of charac- teristie words may be got together, to lead to a safe generalization, and possibly to explain the ethnological grounds of the difference of dialeet prevailing on either side of the river Parret. What is done in this way, had need to be done quickly ; for the fine old Saxon words which our forefathers used, and which enrich, while from our ignorance they sometimes obscure, our early literature, are fast disappearing before the shriek of the railway whistle, and its accompanying civilization and progress. NoTE.—The Severn occurs in the Irish version of the Historia Britonum of Nennius, (published by the Irish Ar- chxzologieal Society. A.D. 1848.) in the form of Sabnaınd, Sabraind. Notwithstanding that one of the learned editors, the Hon. A. Herbert, in a note p. 30, regards “the real etymology of Sabrina, Celtic Havren, to be, no doubt, from hav, (Irish Jam or yampa) summer : part of the adjoining country being called Gwlad-yr-Hav, or Land of the Summer,” I would still submit that the more probable derivation of Havren is from Av, the root of Avon, “a river.” How the idea of “summer” could become associated with the Channel, it is diflieult to conceive; and it is evident from the form of the word Gwlad-yr-hav, that the county took its name from the sea, and not the sea from the county. It may not be altogether out of place here, to insert a eurious and interesting notice of the phenomenon, usually 1854, PART II. M 90 PAPERS, ETC. called the Boar, which occeurs among the “ Wonders of Britain ” in the Irish version of Nennius, and likewise in the original Latin text, as given in the Monumenta Hist. Brit. p- 78, cap. Ixxii :—“ Aliud miraculum est Duorighabren, id est, duo reges Sabrine. Quando inundatur mare ad sissam in ostium Sabrin®, duo cumuli spumarum congregantur separatim, et bellum faciunt inter se in modum arietum : et procedit unusquisque ad alterum, et collidunt se ad invieem. Et iterum secedet alter ab altero, et iterum procedunt ex uno cumulo super omnem faciem maris. In unaquaque sissa hoc faciunt ab initio mundi usque ad hodiurnum diem.” “ Another wonder is Duorighabren, that is, The two kings of Severn. When the sea is poured into the mouth of the Severn to a full head of water, two heaps of surf are collected on either hand, and make war against each other like rams: and each goes towards the other, and they dash against each other, and separate again, and then flow from the one heap over the surface of the sea. This they do at every full head of water, from the begining of the world to the present day.” In the Anglia Rediviva, or History of the Motives, Actions, ete., of the Army under the Conduct of Sir Thomas Fairfax, by Joshua Sprigge, m.a. (1647), this phenomenon is called by another name—the Eager ; and General Cromwell is described, during the siege of Bridg- water, as narrowly escaping “a sudden surprisal ‘of the tide called the Eager,” while going over the river to view the posts on the other side. KH f: {5 f, F dy) Ip Bil vrh, 2 Antiquities found in the Turbarier. ANTIQUITIES DISCOVERED IN A TURBARY. 2 A Yang Cmf-bearer’s Km in the Curbarieg. BY MR. W. STRADLING. ANY years are now passed, since a young friend of mine, by the name of Murch, entered his father’s turbary,* with the determination of giving his assistance to the laborers, as turf-bearer,—a most arduous undertaking for one so young, and which I will endeavour to describe, as the process of preparing the peat, for fuel, is curious. A pit, ten feet square, is commenced by the delver, with the turf scythe, with which he removes the top spine, as useless ; he then proceeds to cut his brocks, which he does with the greatest accuracy : places them round the mouth of the pit, when the bearer, with the turf fork, lifts them into a barrow, and wheels them to the drying-place, where, with a scythe, he splits each brock into three. They then remain on the ground, until sufficiently dry to be placed into ruckles, or, the smallest kind of drying heaps. Those, * Near Edington Burtle. 92 PAPERS, ETC. in time, are formed into open worked tunegars, as they are termed; and lastly, they are ricked, in order to be carted to the different markets. A curious phenomenon, sometimes, oceurs in the turbaries. The delver, at the depth of eight, nine, and sometimes even ten feet, and when within a foot or two of the clay, on which the peat rests, is suddenly lifted to the mouth of the pit, and steps off without diffieulty or danger. A very old and experienced workman informed me “he had had several wind and water rides in his time, and that when wind caused the platform to rise, it went steadily up, and at the top he only had to pass his seythe through the mass, when the wind passed oft, with a sound much like the drone of the bagpipe, and he gradually descended to the bottom, and resumed his work. When water was the cause, the ascent was more rapid, attended by a violent rocking motion, and the pit became useless.” Our young bearer felt much fatigued at the completion of what was his first and last day’s work of that descrip- tion ; he was, however, well repaid; for whilst speaking to the delver, he espied in one corner at the bottom of the pit, what he imagined to be a log of black wood, and ordered it to be carefully removed. To his great delight, it proved to be a small square box, scooped in rather an oval shape within, and containing what I consider to be the most eurious collection of British antiquities ever discov- ered in the turbaries of Somerset. The cist was unfortu- nately made of maple, and soon fell to dust; had it been of oak, or yew, it would have remained an interesting relic for ages yet to come. I will now endeavour to describe its contents : A knife unfinished, as it came from the mould, with the rough edge on. Fig. 1: One which had been much used : 3 Fig. ies. ies found in the Turbar: Antiquit) Gr. N „e u > ® 2% RN ” BR 2, Be E i x us E ö p % i C ” Bub: Bo: # { - -. u; ‘> ’ \ Bu > Du‘ “ ” ua > z, N P < “ > » * un r - ‘ “ ei ' vr Fig. 6. Antiquities found in ühe Turbaries. ANTIQUITIES DISCOVERED IN A TURBARY. 93 A most beautiful specimen of nearly the same pat- tern. Fig. 2: Another not so perfect: An armlet, with a ring for the finger to match. Fig. 3: Two rings for the first or second joint of a lady’s finger. Fig. 4: An armlet, of a curious twisted pattern, with a finger ring to match. Fig.5: A torque, evidently, from its lightness, intended for the neck of a female. Fig. 6: Part of a ring, much rubbed, and probably broken in order to ascertain of what metal the whole collection was made; which is of British brass. Four palstaves, or celts, without sockets; three having loops for thongs, the other without; all of dif- ferent patterns. I now come to what I consider to be the most inte- resting of the whole collection—Fig. 7; it is of the same pattern as the Jogh-Draoch, or chain-ring of divina- tion, discovered in Ireland, and which, Meyrick says, was worn on the third finger of the left hand, by the Arch- druid :—the finger still held the most sacred, and on which is placed the wedding-ring. With all due deference to my Archsological friends, I will now risk my opinion as to those precious and truly interesting antiques. We know that from the number of oaks, yews, and other kinds of trees, which from time to time have been discovered in our once British lake, that forests were on its borders; in them, perhaps, the horrid rites of Druidism were performed. Misht not, then, a British priestess, at a very early date, have lost this then most valuable cist from her canoe. The knives are 94 PAPERS, ETC. precisely of the same pattern as those of gold found in Ireland, aud which were supposed to have been used for sacrificeing the vietims in those barbarous days. The torque, armlets, and rings, convince us that she was one of high rank, and the Jogh-Draoch, I conceive, gave the possessor the order of priesthood. Some of my Archxological friends will exclaim—If this be your theory, how do you account for a priestess having in her possession the four palstaves®? My reply would be, might they not have been trophies, taken from the vietims she had sacrificed ? Others, Iam aware, do not believe that any human sacrifices were ever made in Britain; but if we give up this chief, though inhuman rite, then farewell to Druidism, which from henceforth must be considered altogether fabulous. GEOLOGY OF THE QUANTOCKS. 95 On the Geology af the Quantucke. BY MR. J. H. PAYNE. HE Quantock Hills form part of the extensive series T of Schistose Rocks, so well known as occupying a very extended area in the counties of Devon and Corn- wall, as well the extreme north-west of the county of Somerset, separated, however, from the main body of these rocks by a fertile valley. The range is about twelve miles long, by four to six miles broad, extending in a direction from north-west to south-east. The water-shed it is very diffieult rightly to determine, there being no river or stream of any size. Each little valley seems to claim for itself the right to drain its own domain. We may describe it, however, as tending prineipally southward. Three prin- cipal heights may be noted, viz., Will’s-neck, 1,270 feet; Cothelstone, 1,066 feet; and Douseboro or Danesborough, 1,022 feet, above low water mark. The Rev. David Williams, in a paper read before the British Association,* divided the whole of these rocks of the West of England * I believe in 1836, but, it does not appear in their transactions, 96 PAPERS, ETC. into a group of ten divisions, the Quantocks belonging to the lowest five of the series, and the Cannington limestone being placed the very lowest in the scale. It is now, how- ever, ascertained, that, as regards Cannington, Mr. Wil- liams was in error; and without attempting at present to unriddle the “puzzle” as my late friend Mr. Baker called it, yet the discovery of shells in this limestone is suflicient to upset previous theories as far as l am acquainted with them, and to leave a fair field of geological research still open there to the physical geologist. Neither, indeed, would I pin my faith to much of Mr. Williams’s general- izations. Murchison, De la Beche, Phillips, and not for- getting Professor Sedgwick, have combined to topple down his “ synopsistic” column, and at present, I think, we must throw his groupings aside altogether. A very prominent feature as are the Quantock Hills in our county, the stran- ger on a nearer acquaintance will not be disappointed, for few distriets offer greater attractions to the lovers of nature, whether as regards varied scenery, or the magnifi- cent prospects from their summits. Seen from a distance, they present, with the exceptions of the heights I have mentioned, a gently undulating outline, and from the south- eastern extremity are divided into distant ridges, spread out in the form of a fan, having one extremity at North Petherton, and the other at West Monkton, with a gradual slope to the alluvial lands below. On the eastern side, lateral branches spread out from the main range, thus forming the beautiful valleys called Coombes : on the western side the descent is much more rapid. Of them- selves, from the general cultivation, few opportunities are offered for satisfactory sections, but we may compare the quarry sections with those presented by the cliffs on the shore of the sister distriet, and by these means arrive at GEOLOGY OF THE QUANTOCKS. 97 our conclusions. These rocks being sedimentary, the range owes its present elevation to igneous action in ages long gone by, probably before the disturbance of the So- merset coal field, and which we now know was before the deposition of the lias. In their present form, then, we may consider them as amongst our very oldest monuments of the power ofthe Almishty Worker, with whom a thousand years are but as one day. The Quantock HıLLs may be divided according to their geological character into three parts :—First, the northern part, being of the same class as the Linton sand- stones, conglomerates, &c. (No. 3 in Rev. Mr. Williams’ grouping), comprising rocks which may be described, gene- rally, as coarse calcareous slates, gritty, gravelly, with great beds of sand-stones and shales. These are placed erroneously by Mr. W.; for they are the oldest rocks of the Quantocks.* Secondly, that portion occupying the mid- dle and largest part of the range, comprising rocks next in age, which may be termed the Ilfracombe beds ; being of a finely arenaceous slaty character, very fossiliferous at Buncombe Hill, with compact and shaley limestone bed, of a sub-erystalline texture. And Thirdly, the remaining part, containing the quartzoze schists, or slates, of Mr. Wil- liams’ group No. 2, but which are now placed above his group No. 5, in accordance with the opinion of the high authorities who have since examined them. I shall confine myself now to facts derived from observa- tion, and put the conclusions aside for the present. Com- mencing our survey then at St. Audries and West Quan- tocks-head, we find reddish gritty sandstone beds, and red slaty shales between, the dip being about 22 deg. N.N.W. * This is very satisfactorily provedin Mr, David Sharpe’s paper, pub- lished inthe Transactions of the Geological Society, February, 1853. 1854, PART II. N 98 PAPERS, ETC. In another quarry of much the same character on the road leading to Bicknoller, south of St. Audries, the anticlinal of these beds has been discovered within a few days by Mr. J. D. Pring, of Taunton, and we are now enabled to complete a section of the whole range, the publication of which, in the present volume, has been superintended by that gentleman, to whom I anı also in- debted for other valuable information. The sandstones in this quarry are of a reddish grey colour, and very hard. The two dips may be clearly observed, viz., the northern at an angle of 20 deg. north- west, and the southern at about 10 deg. south-east. North of Doddington, the sandstones are of a purer gray colour, having a mixture of red only at certain points. Mr. Pring notes the discovery of the cast of a Terebratula in the hard grey sandstone of this part, and having on the same specimen traces of the fine lined corals of the Fenestella family, and Encrinital catss. Save this one solitary speci- men, the whole of this part has proved to be non-fossilifer- ous, and further evidence is certainly required before we can pronounce it to be otherwise. By Doddington we en- ter on the middle part. The beds now vary from those we have been examining by being more flag-like with dove and greenish coloured slates between. On the north-east of Crowceombe, near Fire Beacon, we find, in a quarry, beds composed of greenish and purple tinged sandstones, much cleaved, and the dip imperfect and southerly. It has a talcose appearance, and bears no trace of fossil remains. Clay slate lies between these beds, and which looks very much like soapstone, though it is not in the least steatitic, but contains a large proportion of silica and alumina, and a small trace of magnesia. Passing on to the northern escarpment of Will’s-neck hill, is a hard, light, greenish GEOLOGY OF THE QUANTOCKS. 99 looking slate, opening with purple stains, and also some red purplish sandstones. The former have a chloritic appear- ance, though chlorite is not found, on analysis, to be pre- sent. It is ofan extremely indurated nature, and contains a large proportion of siliceous matter, the dip about 22 deg. too South and thick bedded. Along the newly-cut road from Will’s-neck to Fly Green are red and grey sandstones, but from the shallowness of the cutting no perfect dip could be observed. A mile or more west of Cockercombe, we find the slates laminated, and assuming a rich claret colour, but, to all appearance, without the substrata of sandstone, or of any organic remains. The slates of Asholt, Lower Asholt, Buncombe Hill, and Cothelstone, occupying a cross line south-east to south-west, all appear of the same character, viz., laminated, with slightly glossy separations, and of a reddish grey colour. At Asholt the dip is south- east, about 30 deg.; in the Western part this variety ap- pears to be non-fossiliferous, but at Buncombe Hill and in the direetion of Asholt fossil remains are to be found in abundance, as will presently appear. Beyond Buncombe Hill the banks by the roadside shew the red sandstone beds, without a trace of any organic re- mains. At Plainsfield, Mr. Williams met with brachio- poda and gasteropoda, and he further remarks that the Old Red here supplied him with a few fossils, as well as at Will’ s- neck. Mr. Pring says, “I have searched very carefully at two different times, and I failed to discover anything save a doubtful-looking pebble stone, with an apparent cast, and another with a faint trace of an Encrinite, and may not Mr. Williams’ Will’s-neck fossils be in the debris stones instead of in the rock ?” I leave the question for future de- cision ; I think, however, it is worth careful attention, and to those who may be inclined to become explorers I would 100 PAPERS, ETC. say a word as to the extreme care necessary in determining what is and what is not a true cast even, of a Devonian fossil. My late most valued friend Mr. Baker shewed me several supposed casts of these fossils, collected by himself, but on their being submitted to the inspection of the Geological authorities of London, they were pronounced nothing of the kind. At Cockercombe we light upon a different variety of slate to any we have yet noticed, de- scribed by Mr. Williams as a “ vivid pea-green cerystalline slate,” the colour being due to Manganese; it is, however, a true clay slate. Returning to Cothelstone below the hill, or rather, on its slope in the park, we find the slate to be of the greenish blue variety, containing occasional casts of encrinites. Further east, in a quarry by the road-side, we observe a sage-colour clay slate, having a steatitic appearance, and which has been analysed by Mr. Draper, of Taunton, with the following result, viz. :— Siesta. 74 Alumina, ...... 18°5 Times. 6°0 Magnesia ...... 1:0 99-5 The odd decimal 5 he describes as containing iron. In the sandstone of this quarry may be found small en- erinital impressions; the dip of the strata is about 20 deg. southerly. At Buncombe Hill, near the four cross roads, eastward, the slate varies in colour from slisht olive to purplish, and contains abundance of fossil shells, the most abundant being atrypa with orthides and spirifera. A few encrinital casts also oceur, and the coral Fenestella. The glate here is finely laminated : dip southerly, 30 to 35 deg. GEOLOGY OF THE QUANTOCKS. 101 I yesterday visited this little quarry, and I was perfectly astonished at the great abundance of fossil remains to be found there. Though I was only there some ten minutes, yet I collected nearly 1 ewt. of speceimens. They require the greatest care in extracting and handling, being ex- ceedingly friable, and appear embedded in a ferruginous, elayish powder. Mr. Draper made a hasty analysis, with a result as follows, viz. :— Stheanshrosmaa rn TREUEN. A 70 Alumina and Oxide of Iron ..... 27°5 Magnesia and a little Lime .... 275 100°25 In alane westward of Lydeard Cross, on the road to Broomfield, we may observe ferruginous-like and soft yellow sandstones, with an abundance of beautifully-formed disks and casts of small encrinites. In a specimen 4% inches by 2, there are 1,800 appearing on one side of the specimen only. The slate also of this neighbourhood contains im- pressions of encrinites, but fewer than in the sandstone. To the south-east of Enmore we get a flesh-colour sand- stone appearing, the dip_ of the slate being south-east by 221 deg., and no trace of fossils. At Boomer and from the north of North Petherton, towards Goathurst, the colour changes to almost a greyish purple hue, and the sandstone becomes more siliceous : dip 15 deg. north-east, without a trace of fossil remains.. We pass now to the southern part where we have the quartzoze schists or slates. At Edg- borough or Adsborough, we find a siliceous, argillaceous slate, slightly tinged with green, with large veins of quartz intersecting, at an angle of about 60 deg. south, the slates dipping about 45 deg. south. The cutting at Green Dra- gon Hill offers an excellent view; the slate is more finely 102 PAPERS, ETC. argillaceous than at Edgborough or Adsborough, and the colour more of a purple hue. Passing round by Durston, at full a quarter of a mile from the extreme south-east end of the Quantock range, Mr. Pring has discovered a small bed of argillaceous slate and sandstone of a reddish colour, and which he supposes to occupy an area of about 20 acres, and which is entirely omitted in the Ordnance Geological Map. Further north to West Monkton we find a similar rock to that at Thurloxton, but containing perhaps more gritty, hard, sandstone beds. Exposed in the road to Cheddon Fitzpaine, we observe a remarkable change to a hard siliceous slate of an olive green colour, and gradually passing at Hestercombe to the whet-stone grit, and in the publie road west of Hestercombe, dipping at the high angle of 70 deg. or thereabouts. Near this spot we meet with the celebrated granite, or rather syenite dyke, discovered by Mr. Horner in 1814, the slates becoming more close and hard as we gradually approach it, the effect of igneous action. Mr. Horner thus describes his most in- teresting discovery :—-“ In passing through the village just named (Cheddon), I observed in the street a small block of stone, differing in appearance from any I had found pre- viously, and, upon examination, I found it to be granite, a rock I had searched for before without success, and, indeed, this is the only place where I saw an unstratified rock in the whole distriet, the porphyry and green stone which accompany this formation in Devonshire being wholly wanting here. On enquiry, I found that this granite, called by the country people ‘pottle-stone,’ came from an old quarry, not far distant, in the grounds of Hestercombe, belonging to Mr. Warre. My informant brought out of his house a whetstone, which he said came from another quarry close by the pottle-stone. It was a greenish com- GEOLOGY OF THE QUANTOCKS. 103 pact stone, very like some horn stones, or some of those close-grained siliceo-argillaceous compounds, which it is very diffieult to name.” On going to the quarry, Mr. Horner found it almost overgrown with brushwood, and he goes on to say that he there found it in situ; it is small grained, and consists of dull flesh-coloured feldspar, with green mica, and a small quantity of quartz. Through the kindness of Miss Warre, I examined this quarry yesterday, and found the junction of the slate with the granite. Itook sections and specimens, but I have not had sufficient time to give full attention to the matter so as to lay the result before you to-day. Near the junc- tion, the slates are much disturbed and broken, and there may be observed an indistinet blending, as it were, of the slate and granite. North and south the slate assumes a felspathic appearance, and fragments of it seem united by a granitic cement. Extending our examination towards Broomfield, and a little to the south, we get a laminated slate of a deep grey colour, and by the old and now aban- doned Broomfield copper mine, tru& killas may be ob- served. The slates at the mouth of the adit dip almost perpendicularly, with a tendency south, however. Here we may observe fine white quartz, with sulphuret of copper- Near Old mill* by Broomfield, we get a gritty, argillaceous flagstone of a purplish hue. The beds dip about 30 deg. south, and the quarry offers an admirable section, being nearly 30 feet in height. Returning by way of Kingston, we find in the lane leading to Tarr farm a purplish slate, occasionally verging to green in colour ; and we may observe here a most remarkable example of angular contortion of the strata, the dip being upwards of 70 deg. south, and covered by horizontal beds of red, argil- * See Ordnance Map. 104 PAPERS, ETC. laceous sandstone conglomerate. In this southern distriet we note a total absence of all organic remains. The whole ofthis series of rocks owe their origin to sedimentary de- posits: those, then, who are acquainted with the present formation of coral reefs in the Pacific ocean, will not be surprised at the limestone beds we meet with in the Quan- tocks, for we may describe the whole Quantock range as the bed of an ancient ocean, and the spots of limestone as being the coral reefs of that ancient sea, and the lasting monuments of the labours of those wonderful little zoophytic creatures, whose remains are plentiful in these spots, for many of these beds yield beautiful corals. We may remark that invariably we find the beds of coral lime- stones on the slope of the hill. I have met with favosites reticulata in the reddish limestone of Adscombe, Over- Stowey,and Doddington ; it is also found in the very dark indigo colored beds, as well as acervularia goldfussi, named by M. Milne Edwards, near the old mine at Doddington, and alveolites suborbieularis in the limestone beds of the same neighbourhood. The favosites polymorpha is a very prevailing coral at Over-Stowey, Asholt, and Doddington, as well as in the darker coloured beds of Blackhill and Higher Heatheombe. About one mile east of Buncombe Hill, Mr. Pring has discovered a small bed of limestone, altogether omitted from the Ordnance map, and which I have not yet seen. Specimens of favosites polymorpha were secured there, and its general character is much like the Cothelstone bed; only this latter has failed, as yet, to yield any organic remains. Encrinital impressions are common in the shales of all the beds. Generally the upper beds are of a dark indigo-coloured variety, then becoming, through various shades, a deep red. Near Ely Green ‚Favosites appear, but no encrinital remains. At Over- GEOLOGY OF THE QUANTOCKS. 105 Stowey we find the red limestone much used for burning into lime. The black-hill Quarry affords the darkest of these limestones, and is rich in remains. I shall have much pleasure in presenting a slab from a large block that I have, to range with other speeimens of these limestones of the Quantocks which are already in your museum; at Asholt and Merridge the colour is of a purple hue. The limestone bed of Cannington Park is of a very different appearance to any we observe in the Quantocks, and I cannot consider it as being analagous; indeed, I have very little doubt in my own mind, that we shall succeed in plaeing it as a true mountain limestone, and having geo- logical reference to the Mendip range, rather than to the Quantocks. Full four years since, I broached this sub- ject to Mr. Baker, but his opinion, and that of those who had gone before him, was so contrary, that I gave it up for the time. It is satisfactory to me, however, that my discovery of shells there, now three years since, sufliced, at least, to shake the long formed opinion of our most ex- cellent friend, and for him to record, at any rate, that we were not to rely upon previous theories respecting. it. Holwell Cavern I have omitted mentioning, as Mr. Crosse’s admirable paper may be referred to, being pub- lished in our Transactions. It would be wrong hastily to try to give you any general deductions from the facts I have stated; I consider it much better to leave doing so until our knowledge of the distriet is more extensive and matured. One thing, however, I am satisfied of, viz., that the Quantocks are true Devonian rocks, and that the unmeaning and most unsatisfactory word “Grauwacke” should be given up as applying to them. Before I close, I would refer to an attempt we are mak- ing, to illustrate the geology of our county, by a collection 1854, PART 11. 0 106 PAPERS, ETC. of’ all the various rocks to be found in it, and I trust that each of us, as far as his power goes, shall assist in this col- lection. It is astonishing what may be done, even by those who know but very little of geology. Care should be taken, however, to label each specimen as found, with a description of where and in what position. PhYysıcaL GEOLOGY is by no means the least interesting division of our science, and though generally skipped over as the “hard name” part of the story, yet it is the most useful branch of the subject. Conscious as I am of the many errors of omission, yet, I shall’be satisfied, if the pre- ent paper be the means of indueing others to give their attention to this romantic and beautiful part of our county, for — “ Nature never did betray “ The heart that lov’d her,’’ 2. a A - un 22 Fe 3». S # u . Y j £ ae : r m y . E B . u We - “ - | 2 Mt yi r Er E vr Eh Ne Er B 7 et BITTE ie CEOLOCICAL SECTION or ruz Qi (45 divided bu. NORTH. Ar D N Q Bi N & : :$ N N = R S & I x S Q = m S x SD < = : R S fi < ! N iR = >E er R N Im \@) N Q N z = N Q s © a F S 2 u R Er“ Eu < > 72 ZI AEIISE TI.D.Pring; Taunton. ! LinTon Beos. ILFRACOMBE BE £ SE Flesh, % eoloured Sundstun.s, ı72[H Red | Grey $ FF IAısts 3 Jhaly ‚parlings. | ' } Horizontal Scaler , I): Write tv an Snch. 2 N n g % JTOCK HILLS, SOMERSET. Pring.) 1. SOUTH. Br e$ “ R N \ Se K a S ur 5 s RN an N % R N Du. 8 RS ° = ER N Se R x N x Ss x N Q g IN N Ss u: N cu N ES N S 3 & De ek N R Ser 4S NR N vn N Se, N Ave N x \ ve N > % Such N AN Y N \ S \ N wich LimestoneBand's. QUARZOZESHISTS-. ' dstonrs; Nhales; #Clay Sates. ! Grey FGreenish Arge. 0, , Slates, with Quartz Veins. Red Marls Tertıral Seale, /JOOFrset to an Inch. ", | = 7 EN ya Ar V - Pipe 'i BE, X x a >. ON NEW BRACHIOPODA. 107 On Aru Brachionadg, ram the Inferior Balite of Dundey, Kr. BY MR. CHARLES MOORE, F.G.S, HEN a geologist removes from a distriet where he has been oceupied in working out its ancient fauna, and where its various localities are associated with the discovery of many interesting organic remains, to one comparatively new to him, his feelings of regret may be softened by the hope, that in the wide field of geological observation in which he may happen to be placed, some- thing may still be left for him to accomplish. Feelings akin to these were experieneed by myself, in removing from the rich geological locality of Ilminster, to take up my residence in Bath, in former years successively the residence of Waleot, and William Smith—to the latter of whom we are indebted forthe basis on which our know- ledge of stratification now rests—of' Lonsdale and others, through whose united labours its neighbourhood has ob- tained considerable distinetion. Close application to the arrangement of my collection, which is intended to form a free museum for the city, has as yet prevented my becom- ing familiar with its geological details. I have therefore to hope from future examination it will fully merit the reputa- tion which has been accorded to it. 108 PAPERS, ETC. The local newspapers having lately contained a state- ment that valuable beds of stone, equalling, according to the account, the oolite of Caen, in Normandy, had been found at Dundry, near Bristol, and knowing that it had long deservedly held a high position as a rich geological locality, I felt anxious to pay it a visit. I the more desired this, as I had seen, when examining the interesting collec- tion at the Bristol Institution, specimens whose specific forms were familiar to me, labelled as from the inferior oolite of Dundry, but which I had previously believed to be characteristic of the middle lias. These beds have, until lately, been confounded with the inferior oolite, but are situated between the latter formation and the lower lias, and I therefore hoped on the escarpment of the hillleading up to Dundry, I should find some sec- tions, shewing the beds intervening between the lower lias and the Dundry oolite, which would be the position of my old familiar beds at Ilminster, from whence these specimens might have come ; but after a careful examination no trace of them could be found. It is more than probable the speeimens to which I refer were from the middle lias of some other locality, associated by mistake with those of the inferior oolite. In proceeding from Bristol t0 Dundry, the new red sandstone is first passed, a good section of which may be observed at Bedminster, in a deep cutting of the Great Western Railway. On the side of the road ascending to Bedminster Down, a junction is seen of the marls of the new red sandstone with the clays ofthe lower lias, and in a quarry higher up the road appear the lowest beds of the lias, known as the white lias. In this section occurs a stratum called Cotham marble or landscape stone. From this point until the base of Dundry hill is reached, sections ON NEW BRACHIOPODA. 109 are seenin several other quarries, and occasionally in eut- tings by the road side, all still belonging to the lower lias. In ascending the escarpment of the hill, the beds next in succession should have been the middle lias—then the upper lias, and next in order the Dundry beds of inferior oolite. The summit ofthe hill, on which Dundry stands, 700 feet above the level of the sea being reached, a magnifi- cent prospect opens to the view, rich and varied as any lover of nature could desire. Beneath lies {he city of Bristol, and the eye can penetrate far beyond into Glou- cestershire, until intercepted by hills contemporary in age with those of Dundry, whilst on the other hand the land of the Silures, from whence we derive so much of our mineral wealth, opens to the view beyond the expanse of the Severn. The church of Dundry, dedicated to Michael the Arch- angel, is well known. Standing on the brow of the hill with its lofty and beautiful tower, it presents an object which may be seen to a great distance, and assists the mariner in hisnavigation ofthe channel. Collinson, writing in 1791, remarks that “the western summit of the hillis a most bleak, dreary and solitary situation, whereon nature has been very sparing with her gifts, and the hand of art never exerted itself, but in hewing out immense quarries in days of yore, and erecting one poor forsaken building for the purpose of a beacon house.” It is on the western side of the hill the principal quarries are found. They have lately passed into new hands, and the present proprietor is working the beds extensively. They are of considerable thickness, and yield a very com- pact, fine grained, durable freestone. It appears to me re- markable that the value of such beds of oolite within five miles of a city like Bristol, with ample means for its con- 110 PAPERS, ETC. veyance to a distance, should until lately have been lost sight of, and that, for a long period the best beds in these quarries should not have been worked. Formerly their value must have been appreciated, as is evidenced by the shafts and excavations everywhere apparent. No better illustra- tion of the durability of the stone they yield can be pre- sented than in the churches of Dundry and Redcliffe, Bristol, which were built with stone from this locality. The beds of oolite at Dundry are about fifty feet in thickness, and in descending order would show, 1st—raggy beds which are removed to obtain the best stone for building. 2nd,— beds of freestone for which the quarries are now worked 12 feet in thickness. These are not rich in organic remains. 3rd,—Rubbly beds of stone with intervening patches of sand and sandy clay overlying No. 4, the lowest or am- monite bed, for which this locality has so long been cele- brated. It is from this bed all the organic remains have hitherto been obtained. Knowing that it had yielded nearly two hundred speeifie forms, I looked forward to my visit to Dundry with pleasurable antieipation. It happened how- ever, that the ammonite bed had been of late but little worked, and as it underlies those of most value it is not so likely to be reached for the future. During the day I obtained but two or three species of Terebratula and Rhyn- conella, a Lima, and.a few corals, from a locality un- doubtedly rich, so that I did not realize the expectations with which I set out upon my excursion. On returning from Dundry to Bristol, on the north side of the hill, above the village of Bishport, are several small quarries by the roadside, the upper beds of which are com- posed of the rubbly stone mentioned above in section 3. The one nearest Bishport shows signs of much distur- bance and has a considerable dip to the north. In this ON NEW BRACHIOPODA Lit section may be traced thin bands of sandy clay, imme- diately overlying several compact beds of stone, (probably the ammonite bed,) for which the quarry was opened. Before leaving I colleeted some of these sands and elays to examine at my leisure. The result of my first examina- tion convinced me that they contained organic remains hitherto unknown, and the series of Brachiopoda I have succeeded in making from them are of no little interest. Great labour and perseverance are needed in the discovery of these little specimens, the completion of the series now noticed, with some others intended for a future paper, hav- ing required six visits to Dundry and an examination of upwards of two ewt. of sand under the lens, occupying me almost daily for several months. DESCRIPTION OF NEW BRACHIOPODA. Family—T EREBRATULIDE. Genus—ZELLANIA, Moore. —1854. Type—Zeı. Davıpsonın, Moore, Plate 1, fig. 1—3. Shell minute; unattached; foramen large and rounded, encroaching on both valves, or triangular ; valves depres- sed, convex, dorsal valve usually most so; external surface rugose, shewing slight tendency to striation, at others hav- ing concentric lines of growth, which are more defined on the ventral than on the dorsal vaive; valves articulate, Interior of dorsal valve granulated or smooth, shewing flattened granulated or smooth margin, surrounded by an elevated ridge, which commeneing under the dental sockets passes to the front of the shell, where it is partially ob- literated, and is there united by a central septum. Obs. Since reading my paper atthe Taunton Meeting, I have been enabled to determine more clearly the internal 112 PAPERS, ETC. characters of this genus, which were then unknown. Its exterior had led me to suppose it allied to Morrisia, a genus first appearing in the chalk, which in form it much re- sembles. I have since obtained several examples, shewing its interior; which at once shew that it does not belong to to that genus; I therefore propose for it the generic name of Zellania. The Zellania has a large and rounded fora- men, which, like that possessed by Morrisia, encroaches on both valves; while on the other hand the interior of the dorsal valve shews that it has afinities with Thecideum, in having internal ridges and a central septum; and will consequently unite the Terebratulide with the Thecideid. The probability of the existence of a loop such as that possessed by the Argyope, has been suggested by Mr. Davidson, but although I have in several instances made dissections for its discovery, its existence cannot be satis- factorily established. This genus is at present represented by three species. It first appears in the upper lias, where one species is found ; becomes more abundant in the inferior oolite; and I have also found a single specimen in the great oolite of Hampton down. Examples:—Zel. Davidsonü; Laboucherei; Liasiana. ZELLANIA Davıpsoni..— Moore. —Plate 1, fig. 1—3. Shell small--rugose; presenting a slight tendency to striation; widest towards the front, and contracting slightly towards the foramen; foramen large and rounded, en- croaching on both valves—slightly produced beak; hinge line straight; area small; valves convex, the dorsal one but slightly so. Interior presents a uniformly rugose, granu- lated structure; dorsal valve has a wide flattened margin, ON NEW BRACHIOPODA. k13 surrounded by a well defined internal ridge, which is partly obliterated towards the front of the shell; it is there united by an elevated septum, oceupying about half the length of the shell. Obs. This species is the most abundant; it is from the inferior oolite of Dundry. I have much pleasure in naming it after my kind friend, Mr. Davidson, to whose aid I have been indebted in my research into the Brachiopoda, and whose beautiful work on them does him so much honour. ZELLANIA LABOUCHEREL.— Moore.—Plate 1, fig. 4—5. Shell very minute; of an elongated oval shape; front rounded; both valves equally convex; foramen large; area small; beak slightly produced; exterior of dorsal valve smooth, ventral shewing distinet concentric lines of growth. Obs. This species is readily distinguished from the Zel. Davidsonü, by its more oval shape, the absence of radiating strie, and by the constant presence of lines of growth, which, by the aid of a lens, are perceived on the ventral valve only of this species. It is from the inferior oolite of Dundry, and is very rare. It is named after the respected president of our Taunton meeting, the Right Hon. H. Labouchere, M.P. ZELLANIA LIASIANA.— Moore. —Plate 1, fig. 6—8. Exterior of shell slightly striated, smooth, square ; fora- men large, triangular; valves thin and flattened ; ventral slightly concave, dorsal slightly convex; interior of dorsal valve shewing strongly defined elevated ridges, which, commeneing under the cural spurs, are united by a central septum. 1854, PART 11. pP 114 PAPERS, ETC. Obs. This species, being from the upper lias of Ilminster, is the oldest representative of the genus yet known. It may readily be distinguished from the other species by its flattened contour, the thinness of its shell, and by the less symmetrical arrangement of the internal ridges, these being generally seen through the shell, give it a somewhat plieated character. Like the ridges in Zel. Davidsonii, they are partly obliterated towards the front of the shell. Family„—RHYNCHONELLIDE. Genus—RHYNCHONELLA.—-Fischer. RHYNCHONELLA LOPENSISs.— Moore. —Plate 1, fig. 9—10. Shell small—flattened; thickest at the umbo; triangu- lar; nearly straight in front, from whence it tapers to the beak; deltideum triangular; dorsal valve slightly concave; ventral valve proportionately convex. Obs. This little species is from a bed of blue oolitie marl, occurring in the neighbourhood of Lopen, near llminster, where it is very rare. In Mr. Davidson’s appendix to his monograph on Brachiopoda, page 30, it is named A. triangularis, but that name having been pre- viously adopted by Walenberg, it has been altered. Family—SPIRIFERIDE. Genus—SPIRIFER.-— Sowerby. Shells of this family had their introduction at a very early geological period. They were numerous in the in- tervening periods, up to the lias, in the lower beds of which one species, S. Walcottü, is abundant. In the middle lias there are two species, S. Munsterü, and S. rostratus. The latter species passed into the upper lias, where I have found one specimen ofit. In these beds, anew but very ON NEW BRACHIOPODA. 115 rare species occurs, S. Ilminsteriensis. This hitherto has been supposed the highest point reached by the spirifer, but the discovery of a species at Dundry carries its range into the oolitic period. SPIRIFER OOLITICA.—Moore.—Plate 3, fig. 13—14. Shell very minute, usually much broader than long, having nine distinet plications, graduating regularly from central one which is in relative proportion to the others ; without defined sinus ‘or fold ; punetuations not distin- guishable. Interior of valves smooth; dorsal valve having large and deep dental sockets; ventral valve having no perceptible central septum. Obs. This little species is abundant in the inferior oolite of Dundry, and it also occurs at Seavington, near Ilminster. Family„—THECIDEIDE. Genus—THECIDEUM.— Defrance. The oldest forms of this genus in England are from the middle lias, from which formation I obtained three species in 1849, viz., Thecideum Bouchardü, Dav.; T\. Moorei, Dav.; and T. triangularis, D’Orb.; which, with 7. rustica, Moore, from the upper lias, and 7. Dickinsonii, Moore, from the in- ferior oolite, comprised all the then known oolitie species. With the exception of the latter, these species have since been found by M. Eugene Deslongchamps in the upper lias of France; and that zealous geologist has found associated with them seven other species, so that the list has thus been considerably increased. Two liasic forms, 7. Bouchardü, and 7. triangularis, pass into the inferior oolite of Dundry, 116 PAPERS, ETC. where they are the most abundant species, and with them are five new species, described in this paper. Not less than nineteen liasic and oolitie species are now known. These shells are in general attached to other bodies; and, as their forms are modified from this circumstance, greater care is necessary in the determination of species ; and more especially as the same species presents great contrast in form, depending upon age and the state of perfection in which the shell is found. This may be seen on comparing T. serratum, fig. 3, plate 3 (in which the supra-mem- braneal disk is preserved), with figs. 4—5, which are more imperfect forms of the same species. The same may be noticed on comparing 7. Forbesei, fig. 9, plate 3, with fig. 10. THECIDEUM BOUCHARDIL— Dav.—Plate 1, fig. 11—13. Shell inequivalve, flattened, sub-eireular; attached by the prineipal portion of the ventral valve; deltideum large, elevated, triangular; area large and extended, shew- ing lines of growth; hinge line depressed in centre, leaving a small flat area under the deltideum ; dorsal valve much smaller than the ventral. The interior of’the ventral valve shews a slight middle septum, on each side of which are two large scars, due to the attachment of the cardinal muscle, on the outer edge of which are two small depres- sions, which received the adduetor muscles ; interior rugosely striated; the cavity of the valve in adult shells surrounded by a broad margin, having a wavy appearance, due to lines of growth. Interior of dorsal valve has a broad granulated margin, within which is a very high cen- tral septum, nearly reaching the surface of the opposite valve, from whence proceeds a granulated ridge, united by ON NEW BRACHIOPODA. 10%, a bridge over the visceral cavity; within this ridge is a smooth slightly coneave space, between which and the granulated interior is a small granulated ridge. Obs. This species has been figured by Mr. Davidson and M. Eugene Deslongchamps, but from more imperfeet specimens. No examples have before been obtained so perfect as those now figured; which is due to my being successful in opening several bivalve specimens. In the detached and worn valves, the septum is less deep, and the granulations to some extent obliterated. From the inferior oolite of Dundry, where it is common. It is also found in the upper and middle lias. THECIDEUM GRANULOSUM.— Moore. —Plate 2, fig. 1—6. Shell thick, longitudinally oval; area triangular, concave; deltideum flattened; hinge line straight; outer side of dorsal valve convex, having lines of growth and short strise towards the frontal margin, ventral valve having a sinus in the centre. Interior of ventral valve has a central ridge through its greater length, on each side of which are muscular impressions. The interior of dorsal valve has a flattened thickly granulated margin, within which is a raised ridge, formed of larger single granulations, united in the centre by a septum occupying about one-half the length of the shell, sometimes smooth, at others covered with granulations, and joined over the visceral cavity by a bridge, the equivalent of the cural processes of Terebratula; within this ridge occurs a small raised ridge, answering to the loop in other Brachiopoda to which were attached the brachial membrane and oral arms, within which, and oceupying the larger portion of the cavity of the shell, oceurs a caleified supra-membraneal disk, divided by the 118 PAPERS, ETC. septum into two lobes of brain-shaped convolutions, the free portion of which extends over the visceral cavity. Obs. This species presents considerable variety, in most cases depending upon the completeness of the supra-membraneal disk. In the varieties presented by figures 4 and 5, the raised and solid portions’ only of the disk are preserved. This species has more punetua- tions than other oolitie forms, which are particularly numerous and large in the visceral cavity. From the inferior oolite of Dundry, and is not un- common. THECIDEUM DUPLICATUM.—Moore.—Plate 2, fig.”—12. Shell rather broader than long; valves convex; surface slightly granulated; attached by the upper part of the ventral valve; hinge line straight; deltideum small, de- pressed, triangular, under which is a small flattened space ; interior of the dorsal valve shews a regularly granulated margin, within which is araised granulated ridge, united in the centre by a septum, with an enlarged granulated base, from the top of which is thrown off on either side a high ridge, in the perfect shell covered in its whole course with irregularly shaped calcareous processes, which ap- pear in some instances long enough to reach the interior surface ofthe ventral valve; the ridge deseribing a circle returns towards the base of the central septum; over the visceral cavity is the bridge from whence two small pro- cesses depart. Interior of the ventral valve has a slightly raised septum, on either side of which are the impressions of the larger museles; above the septum is an elevation bounded by ridges, which received the insertion of the adductor muscles. ON NEW BRACHIOPODA. 119 Obs. The interior of the dorsal valve of this species is very variable; in some instances the internal ridges are formed by widely-separated granulations, of which fig. \2 ıs an extreme variety; in others they are continuous, as in fig. 11. Fig. 9 is drawn from a specimen I was successful in opening, but does not give a faithful representation of the spinose character of the ridges, which were acci- dentally broken before the drawing was made. From the inferior oolite of Dundry. THECIDEUM SEPTATUM.— Moore.—Plate 2, fig. 13—16. Shell small, thick, transversely oval; area flattened; deltideum small, depressed; hinge line straight, exterior ofthe dorsal valve convex. Interior of the dorsal valve shews a raised septum or ridge, from which, in the middle, spring lateral branches, assuming the form of a letter Y; these traverse the length of the shell, and occasionally divide it into three nearly equal parts; outer margin small, and slishtly granulated, within which is a granulated ridge. The interior of the ventral valve has a slightly raised central ridge. This species is rare. It is from the inferior oolite, Dundry. THECIDEUM SERRATUM.— Moore. —Plate 3, fig. 1—6. Shell inequivalve, triangular, very small; attached to other bodies by the whole of the ventral valve, and by an expanded base; area flattened; deltideum very long, rounded, shewing lines of growth. Exterior of dorsal valve flattened, or slightly convex, rather more than half the length of the whole shell. External front of the ventral valve very raised, shewing punetuations, sometimes 120 PAPERS, ETC. striate. Interior of the ventral valve shews two produced teeth, between which, under the deltideum, is a small central ridge, on either side of which are muscular depres- sions; beyond which are the impressions of the larger muscles. About the middle of the cavity of the valve, commence striated ribs, which become more produced as they approach the inner front of the shell, terminating at the margin of the valve in small bosses or knobs. The in- terior ofthe dorsal valve has a deep frontal margin, com- prising nearly half the area of the valve, chiefly occupied by a series of deep grooves, which received, when closed, the bosses of the ventral valve; where the grooves cease, a flattened striated band oceurs. Within the margin is an elevated ridge, with granulations, united at the top by a straight ridge, forming a bridge over an elongated visceral cavity, and at the bottom by a broad septum. The inner portion of the valve is occupied by a calcified supra-mem- braneal disk, divided into two lobes by the central septum. Obs. This beautiful species of Thecideum is the only one which presents so peculiar a frontal margin. It is very rarely found perfect; only two specimens shewing the supra-membraneal disk having been obtained. The usual forms of the less perfeet dorsal valves may be seen in varieties fig. 4—5. On the interior of the dorsal valves are large punctuations. The outer front of the ventral valve, when perfect, is also punetuated ; but when worn, the internal striated ribs appear. From the inferior oolite of Dundry. THECIDEUM FoRBESEL.—Moore—Plate 3, fig. 8—10. Shell transversely oval, depressed, smooth; deltideum short, raised, triangular; area flat; hinge line straight; ON NEW BRACHIOPODA. 121 margin of valves equal; attached by the whole of the larger valve. The interior of the ventral valve shews under the deltideum three little ridges, between which are situated muscular depressions; towards the front of the shell are short expanded ribs. The interior of the dorsal valve has a rounded visceral cavity, surmounted by the bridge, and partly hidden by the supra-membraneal disk, which in this species is formed by two eircular platforms, on the outer edge of which, and scattered over its surface, are arranged a number of elevated granulations. These are divided in the centre by a long septum, from the base of which proceeds the outer granulated ridge, and beyond this is a small granulated margin. Obs. The interior of the ventral valve of this species is not unlike 7! serratum, but it wants the elevated front of that shell; and it may also be distinguished by its more oval shape and less produced beak. When the supra- membraneal disk is wanting, the dorsal valve shews two small oblong elevations on each side of the septum, as seen in the variety fig. 10. This little species is named in remembrance of that emi- nent and lamented pal&ontologist, Professor E. FORBES. It is from the inferior oolite of Dundry. THECIDEUM TRIANGULARIS.—D Orb. Plate 3, fig. 11—12. Shell triangular, longer than broad ; deltideum small, area flat; hinge line straight; small valve slightly convex. Interior of ventral valve divided by a straight ridge oceu- pying the length of the shell. Interior of the dorsal valve has a granulated marginal ridge, from the centre of which 1854, PART 11. Q x“ 122 PAPERS, ETC. rises a thick triangular septum, on either side of which is a small sub-eircular ridge, formed by a range of granu- lations. Obs. This species has been figured by Mr. Davidson and M. E. Deslongchamps, the latter of whom mentions that the sub-circular ridges in the French specimens are some- times formed of a double line of granulations. In exam- ples that have come under my observation, the ridge is usually made up of single granulations, and those at times widely separated; but I have no hesitation in placing them under this species. It is common in the inferior oolite ot Dundry; the large valve is found in abundance attached to oyster and other shells, in the fuller’s earth near Combe Down, Bath; it occurs in the great oolite of Hampton Down, and I have obtained it in the middle lias of Ilminster. PLATES TO ILLUSTRATE MR. CHARLES MOORE’S PAPER ON NEW BRACHIOPODA. In each plate, the small lines placed by the figures, are in- tended to denote their natural size. 124 Fig. = 10. EL. 12, ON NEW BRACHIOPODA. PLATE 1. Zellania Davidsoniü, Moore, perfect shell, enlarged; J, foramen. Ventral valve enlarged. Interior of dorsal valve enlarged, shewing its rugose surface; c, cardinal process; a, area; Z, teeth sockets; r, ridge; s, septum. ” ” ” ”„ Zellania Laboucherei, Moore, perfect shell, enlarged. Exterior of ventral valve, shewing lines of growth. ” ” Zellania liasiana, Moore, enlarged illustration. " » Ventral valve enlarged. Interior of dorsal valve, enlarged ; shewing teeth sockets, cural spurs, ” ” ridges, and septum. Rhynchonella Lopensis, Moore, enlarged figure. » » Ventral valve enlarged. Thecideum Bouchardii, Dav., enlarged illustration of the perfect shell, shewing the comparative size of the dorsal valve, and the wavy margin of the larger valve; a, area; d, deltideum. Interior of the ventral valve, enlarged; m, muscular de- ” ” pressions. Plate] Fard. & West Imp Geo West Lith 126 ON NEW BRACHIOPODA. PLATE MH. Fig. 1. Thecideum granulosum, Moore, perfect shell, enlarged. & ” Enlarged exterior of ventral valve, shewing attached portion. 3. > > Interior of dorsal valve, enlarged ; m, the perfect calcified supra- membraneal disk; s, septum. 4. + 55 Another enlarged dorsal valve; b, the bridge; v, visceral cavity; I, loop; r, granulated ridge; m, solid portion of supra-mem- braneal disk. 3 5 ss Variety of dorsal valve, enlarged. 6. 35 = Interior of ventral valve enlarged. 7. Theeideum dupligatum, Moore, perfect shell, enlarged. 8. - > Exterior of ventral valve, enlarged, shewing point of attachment. 9, + a, Enlarged illustration of interior of dorsal valve, shewing spinose ridges; b, bridge, with two small processes. 10. Si . Enlarged interior of ventral valve, shewing teeth and muscular depressions. 11-12. „ = Dorsal valves, enlarged varieties. 13. Thecideum septatum, Moore, perfect shell; enlarged. 14. = = Dorsal valve, enlarged; shewing bridge and internal ridges. 15. = . Dorsal valve; variety; enlarged. 16. . -- Interior of dorsal valve, enlarged. Plate II Coo West. Lith Ford &Woest Imp 128 ON NEW BRACHIOPODA. PLATE Il. Fig. 1. Thecideum serratum, Moore, perfect shell, enlarged; shewing expanded base of at- tachment. 2, ’ > Enlarged interior of ventral vaive, shewing internal ribs and bosses on the edge of the valve; m, muscular impressions; zZ, teeth; d, deltideum. 3. y 5 Dorsal valve, enlarged; m, perfect supra-membraneal disk; and shewing besides the bridge, raised ridge and septum; also the grooved margin. 4—5. ,„ 5 Enlarged varieties. 6. > Er Profile enlarged; shewing the pro- duced front and deltideum. 7. Thecideum Forbesii, Moore, perfect shell; enlarged. 8. er ss Interior of ventral valve, enlarged. 9, 5 “ Interior of dorsal valve, enlarged; b, bridge; v. visceral cavity; m, supra-membraneal disk with granulations. 10. 5 n Imperfect or worn variety, en- larged. 11. Thecideum triangularis, D’Orb, perfect shell, enlarged. 21: e Mr Interior of dorsal valve, var. 13. Spirifer oolitica, Moore, enlarged exterior. 14. = 5 Exterior of ventral valve, enlarged. Geo West Litk Ford &West Ip PAPER®, ETC. 129 Onthe Hatural Bistory of the Past Prar. BY THE REY. W. R. CROTCH. HE object of the present paper is to bring before the notice of the meeting, such facts connected with Natural History, as have come to our knowledge during the past year. They are few in number, and not, perhaps, of much importance, except as possessing a local interest. Many, perhaps, now present, have only heard vaguely, if at all, ofthe singular discovery of fossil oaks made last autumn, in the excavations at the gaol in this town. The facts are briefly these. —At a depth of 18 feet from the surface, a bed of vegetable matter was dug into, con- sisting of matted leaves, fragments and trunks of trees, and amongst them a quantity of hazel nuts and decayed acorns. The leaves were capable of separation, and still exhibited the autumnal tint, being undecayed, and be- longing to different species of willow, hazel, and oak. The trees are both oak and alder; eleven oaks were found, for the most part perfeetly sound, and capable of taking a high polish, but quite blackened. One portion of one of the stems was 60 feet long, and 2 feet thick; another was 4 feet 4 inches thick, and apparently at least 40 feet long; thebranches of one of the trees can be traced. The 1854, PART II R 130 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PAST YEAR. alders still exhibit the red color of their wood when cut through. These trees were not lying in any definite di- rection, but across each other in confusion ; the roots were still attached to the trunks, but without fibres; and fresh bark still clothed several of the stems; no marks of axe or hatchet have been discovered. The bed of vegetable matter in which they were found inclines and deepens towards the north, being about a foot thick at the upper end, and about 5 feet at the lower. This bed rests on a thin layer of blue clay, scarcely one foot deep; immediately above it is another layer of the same blue clay, of about the same depth; above this, a layer of 5 feet of a reddish clay, then another seam of blue, and lastly, nearly 8 feet of a yellowish clay, with a still thinner seam of blue, about the middle. All these seams and beds are sharply defined, and for the most part horizontal. In another excavation made a few years since, for the new Gas works, near the river, trees were also found, some of which had become so hard that they could not be cut, while others were in a similar condition with those now discovered. At that time, also, a pair of horns were dug up which are supposed to be those of the Elk. In excavating a further portion of the ground at the gaol, there has been found, 6 feet above the level of the trees, the skull and teeth, with some bones, of a pachy- dermatous animal; and a comparison of these bones, and especially the teeth, with some previously determined specimens from other localities, leaves little, if any, room to doubt that this animal was a Rhinoceros.* To an early portion, therefore, of the post-tertiary period, we must refer these remains, and therefore the * It hassince been identified by Prof. Quekett as a Rhinoceros tichorinus. PAPERS, ETC. 131 trees which lie beneath them; and, instead of the Bishop of Winchester’s Porcarium, as I had last year ventured to suggest, from the scanty data then afforded, a grander pieture rises before us of the vale of Taunton in its youth- ful days, clothed with mishty forests, and every eminence at least capped with noble oaks, under which disported, not pigs, but the hyzna, the wild deer, the tiger, the bear, the elephant, the rhinoceros. I have another geological fact to announce—the dis- covery of what is commonly called a petrifying spring, on Pickeridge Hill, I believe, by the Rev. Mr. Stretch. These springs, holding calcareous matter in solution, and in such excess, that they readily part with some of it, and deposit it on whatever substance may lie in their course, which substance frequently perishes, and leaves only the calcareous case, though not uncommon, are yet sufliciently rare to justify our noticing them on such occasions as this. In ornithology, it may be worth mentioning, that the doubt which seems to have existed as to the plumage of the adult Montague’s Harrier, one of the hawks, has been removed by the acquisition of a nest of young birds and both the parents. The plumage of the male is of an wni- form leaden grey, with only very faint indications of bars on the tail. Mr. Yarrell has observed, that this bird has been found in Devonshire and Cornwall, and mentions a specimen from Dolgelly, but farther westward than this he had not traced it. Its occurrence, therefore, in Somerset- shire, was only a thing to be expected; and the wonder is, that it should not have been observed—or rather perhaps I should say distinguished-—here, till within these last few years; for the bird was known under the name of the black hawk, the specimens shot not having arrived at their adult plumage. 132 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PAST YEAR. Any deviation from the instinetive habits of birds, will, perbaps, be allowed to be deserving of record. Everyone, we may suppose, knows that the swallow almost always builds its nest in unused chimneys, and hence is commonly called the chimney swallow. Last spring, a pair of these birds chose for their habitation a magnolia tree, growing near a house at Corfe; such deviations as these, however, are not so uncommon as we should most of us in our ig- norance suppose. Yarrell has recorded, that in the north of England, these birds frequently build in the unused shafts of mines, or in old walls, sometimes under the roof ofa barn or open shed, between the rafters and the thatch or tiles. Turrets intended for bells are often resorted to, and unused rooms, or passages in out-houses, to which access can be gained by the round hole to be observed cut in the doors to such buildings, and within which the birds take advantage of any projecting peg, or end of a beam, that will serve as a buttress to support the rest. “I have heard,” he says, “of a nest made by a pair of swallows in the half open drawer of a small deal table, in an unoccupied garret, to which access was obtained by a broken pane of glass.” Pennant mentions an instance in which a pair of swallows attached their nest to the body and wing of an owl, nailed against a barn. Mr. Yarrell, however, concludes with saying that another most unusual selection of a situation for a swallow’s nest is the branches of a tree, which he moreover thinks deserving of a spirited vignette, and which justifies me in bringing our similar example before your notice. In zoology, Tam enabled to add another habitat for the Lisso-triton palmipes, or palmated smooth newt, which was found by my son in the pond at Stoke Court. There were only three species of newt or water eft known in Britain PAPERS, ETC. 133 up to the year 1843. The first discovery of the Zisso- triton palmipes was made by the late lamented Mr. Baker, of Bridgwater. Since then the same species has been found near Edinburgh, and still farther north; also at Ryde in the Isle of Wight, and near Poole, in Dorsetshire. The prineipal distinetions, according to Professor Bell, between this and the more common species are, that in the male, the hinder feet are palmate, the toes being connected by a web, which, however, in the winter, becomes a mere fringe, and the tail, which terminates abruptly, is furnished at its extremity with a small filament, which in the male varies in length from two to four inches, and in the female dwindles to a mere mucronation. In botany, I have observed the Ornithogalum umbella- tum, or star of Bethlehem, in great plenty, in a corn-field, at Stoke St. Mary. I am not aware that it occurs any- where else in this part of Somersetshire, but I find that Mr. Watson, in his Cybele Britannica, regards it as an in- troduced plant wherever it occurs in this country. I have also gathered the Lathyrus sylvestris, or narrow leaved everlasting pea, at Stoke; and the Anagallis cerulea, or blue pimpernell. The range of both these plants being limited, I consider their occurrence worthy of record; botanists have not yet decided whether the scarlet and blue pimper- nell are distinet species, and Mr. Borrer has suggested that the discerepancies which occur may be resolved by con- sidering them as distinet, and that each species varies with red and blue flowers. If we could but induce the members of the Society to note down whatever they may observe in Natural History, and communicate it to the secretaries, or write a statement of it themselves, we might hope to arrive in time at a complete Natural History of Somersetshire. 134 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PAST YEAR. Even fresh discoveries in English botany have not yet ceased; about a month ago, a plant was gathered in Herefordshire, which the lady who found it could not make out; she sent it to me, and I also was unable to reduce it to any known British genus; I therefore sent it to Mr. Watson, who pronounced it to be the Epipogium aphyllum, an orchideous plant, not uncommon in some parts of the Continent, but never before found in England. I mention this to stimulate the zeal of explorers, and to caution them against passing by, as mere monstrosities or varieties, plants which they cannot make out by such books as the Manual of Botany by Mr. Babington, which is the most complete record we have of British plants. It is not impossible that some may find a yet unrecorded plant, but, at the least, we should gain a complete list of the flora of our own county. In the lower tribes of plants, the conferv& and the fungi, there is an abundant harvest; and those who delight in mieroscopical investigations will find their labor amply repaid. The Peziza badia (Hook) grows at Stoke St. Mary, and the Polyporus lucidus has been found in the neighbourhood of Taunton. Allow me, in conclusion, to urge the importance of a suggestion, which has been made in the circular lately issued to the members, that specimens of all the different rocks and minerals of Somersetshire should be collected and labelled, and deposited in the Museum. The very extensive collection which the Society purchased of the late Rev. Mr. Williams is too excursive not to render a strietly Somersetshire series desirable and valuable. PAPERS, ETC. 135 Appendix fa Papers on Ancient Sepulchenl Kematız. BY THE REV. H. M. SCARTH. HILE the account contained in the former part of this journal was going through the press, my at- tention was called to another discovery oftwo stone coflins, at Coombe Down, on the same piece of ground as the former, but 47 feet more to the north. The coffins being placed as the former—north and south, and the pair lying together; the head of each coffin being turned towards the north, and the feet towards the south, this being also the position of the skeleton within each. The length of coffin (marked I) is about 6 feet 3 inches outside, and 6 feet inside, roughly hewn, and the upper end very irregular in form. The width about the centre, 20 inches, and tapering towards the feet. In this was found a skeleton entire, with a small coin lying on the lower jaw, which was discoloured by the coin becoming corroded. The coin, which is small brass, is illegible, but appears to be Roman. A nail is said to have been driven into the upper jaw, asifthelips had been fastened by it. At the feet of this skeleton, and within the coffin, were found 136 APPENDIX.—SEPULCHRAL REMAINS. three skulls, but no other parts of the bodies. Outside the coffin, however, on the east side, were found bones, which appeared to belong to these skeletons, but without skulls. The cover of this coffin was composed of 4 pieces of stone; the portion which covered the head and breast was plain, and in shape adapted to the coffin; the length 2 feet 10 inches, and breadth 22 inches. The middle and lower portions of the coffin was covered with a stone regu- larly cut, and with a margin round it, and an inscription within the margin, which, on being examined, proved to be in latin, and commemorated the restoration of a building; this stone had been afterwards adapted to the purpose of the coffin-lid. The inscription is given below, with a drawing of the stone and letters on it, and the rendering of them, which I believe to be accurate. The inscription has nothing whatever to do with the interment. Two small stones made out the length of the coffin. At the distance of 2 feet 5 inches from this coffin, lay another (marked J), the length of which was 7 feet out- side, and 6 feet 4 inches inside ; it was covered with a stone formed of one piece originally, but now broken in the middle; the thickness of this id is 8 inches; the length 6 feet 2 inches, and breadth 2 feet 2 inches. Within this cofin was a skeleton of large size, the thigh bone measuring 1 foot 6 inches in length and 4 inches in girt. The length ofthe jaw 6 inches, the teeth in excellent preservation, being very large and one of them decayed, and the skull & of an inch thick. Both these skeletons had the face turned upward, or rather reclining on one side. The cofin No. 2 tapered as usual towards the feet; the skeleton was entire. In these coffins were found, as in the preceding ones, small iron studs, united together by thin plates, and long thin nails. 138 APPENDIX.—-SEPULCHRAL REMAINS, ı FOOT APPENDIX.—SEPULCHRAL REMAIN®. 139 The most eurious and important part of this discovery is the inscription contained on a portion of the lid of the coffin, marked (I). This will help us to approximate to- wards the probable date of these interments. The Plate opposite is a correct drawing of the stone, which is engraved also in the last number of the Journal ofthe Archsological Institute, and to the kindness of the secretaries, I am iadebted for the engraving, which is very faithful, with a single exception. The word “ Antonini” at the commencement of the second line appears to have been written with two N’s, thus ANTONNINI, this seems afterwards to have been altered by the stone-cutter, and a small ı inserted above the N in the third sylla- ble, and the last N converted into PI, as there is a slight curved indentation in the stone. In the engraving, the P is given very marked, whereas in the stone, the N is most decided, and the curved part of the P comparatively faint, although distinetly to be traced. The inscription may be read as follows :— PRO SALUTE IMPERATORIS CAESARIS MARCI AURELII ANTONINI PU FELICIS INVICTI ADGUSTL nu sau NAEVIUS AUGUSTI LIBERTUS ADJUTOR PROCURATORUM PRINCIPIA RUINA OPPRESSA A SOLO RESTITUIT. and thus translated:— For the safety of the Emperor, Cxsar, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the Pious, Fortunate, and Invincible, Augus- ER «... Nevius, the Freedman of Augustus, and the Assistant of the Procurators, restored these chief military quarters which had fallen to ruin. 140 APPENDIX.—SEPULCHRAL REMAINS. I am indebted to Dr. Bruce, the learned historian of the Roman wall, and a most accurate investigator of Roman inscriptions, for elucidating what has, from the first, been the chief difieulty in this inscription, ..e, the word PRINCIPIA in the fourth line, which was at first read PRIMARIUS, and the word PROVINCLE, or PRE- TORIUM also suggested. A knot in the stone, (which is not quite accurately given in the plate), at the top of the risht limb of the N, between it and the C, which is only faintly traceable, occasioned the diffieulty. Dr. Bruce has given the following valuable remarks on the inscription which I here insert from the Archeological Journal, (No. 45, p. 93.) “The first question that arises here is re- specting the Emperor specially addressed. I find that the names and epithets used in this inseription are in others applied both to Caracalla and Heliogabalus, with the excep- tion of the word invictus, and in no other instance that I can find is this applied to either of these Emperors. I incline to Mr. Frank’s opinion, that Heliogabalus is the person here intended, for the following reasons:— 1. On the murder of Heliogabalus, his name seems to have been erased from inscriptions, or the slabs them- selves thrown down. This stone having been used to cover a tomb, must have previously been removed from its original position. 2. From the indistinctness of some of the letters, the inscription seems not to have been deeply carved, this, together with the omission of the A in Cxsaris, and the occurrence of tied letters, seems to indicate the later rather than the earlier period. 3. Had Caracalla been the person intended, one of his well-known epithets, such as Parthieus, Britannieus, or Germanicus, would pro- bably have occupied the place ofinvietus ; so far as I have noticed Heliogabalus had gained no such distinctions : his APPENDIX.—SEPULCHRAL REMAINS. 141 flatterers, therefore, on his assuming the purple, would have no resource left but to bestow upon him the indefinite title of invietus.” Ina private letter to myself, the Doctor also adds—“I wish I had seen your impression of the stone before I wrote to Mr. Way upon the subject; the sculptor has made more slips than I was aware of, all which make for the late rather than the earlier period.” The next thing which must be noticed is the name of the dedicator. The name NAEVIVS oceurs in Gruter. It is not without interest to observe, that one of the examples furnished by that author (p. civ. No. 9) contains the epithet adjutor appended :— TVTELAE ven P. NAEVIVS ADJVTOR The Nevius of the slab found in Bath was a Freedman of Augustus, and an assistant or secretary of the procurators of the province. We are not without an authority for the reading Adjutor Procuratorum. In Gruter, p. ccelxüi., No. 8, the following occurs. MEMORIAE, AVRELI DEMETRI. ADJVTORI. FROLO eier With reference to the oflice of Procurator, Dr. William Smith, in his Dietionary of Antiquities, Art. Provincia, has this remark, “No quastors were sent to the provinces ofthe Cxsar. In the place of the quasstors, there were Procuratores Cesaris, who were either equites or freedmen of the Cesar. The procuratores looked after the taxes, 142 APPENDIX.—SEPULCHRAL REMAINS. paid the troops, and generally were entrusted with the interests of the Fiscus.” The individual in question was a freedman of the Emperor, and though at the time that the dedication was made he was only an assistant to the procurators, he might be in training for the personal assumption of the office. An in- scription found at York, within Micklegate Bar, confirms the reading AVG LIB, Augusti Libeatus, it is as follows : BRITANNLE SANCTZE P. NICOMEDES AVGG. N.N. LIBERTVS. It is a votive tablet erected to the Genius of Britain, by Publius Nicomedes, a freedman of the Augusti, probably of Severus and his son Caracalla. See Gough’s Camden, vol. 3, p. 62. Until the writer of these remarks had communicated with Dr. Bruce, he was inclined to refer the dedication of the inscription to Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the successor of Antoninus Pius; or to the Emperor Caracalla, the son of Severus, who is called in inscriptions Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. Thus, on the portico of the Pantheon at Rome, he is united with his father under these names, and is so styled in several inscriptions in this country. See an inscription found at Greta Bridge, Yorkshire ; one found at Caerleon, Monmouthshire; and also at Reichester, Northum- berland. Given in the Mon. Hist. Brit., Insc. 16a and 39, and Horsley, p. 321 and 103, and xciv. p. 262. Butthe Doctor appears to him to have adduced satisfactory reasons for referring it rather to the Emperor Heliogabalus. The Emperor Severus died at York, A.D. 211, and by his will left his empire to his two sons, Caracalla and APPENDIX.—SEPULCHRAL REMAINS, 143 Geta. The latter was murdered by his brother Cara- calla, who was himself assassinated at Edessa, by Macrinus, A.D. 217. Heliogabalus, after an infamous reign of three years, was put to death by his soldiers, A.D. 222 ; so that, to whichever of these Emperors this inseription is referred, we have only a difference of eleven years; and the date of the burials is no doubt some years posterior to either of these periods. The word which has given most trouble in interpreting the reading of the slab, appears to be rightly explained by Dr. Bruce to be PRINCIPIA. The difficulty has arisen from the stone being damaged in this part. Dr. Bruce observes “ we are necessarily driven to conjecture, in order to supply the vacuity between the N and the I at the end of the fourth line,” where there is the faint mark of a curved letter, most probably part ofa C. The inscription speaks of the restoration of something which had become ruinous. The other words of the inseription are perfectly intelligible, aud this is the only word doubtful, yet upon it vests the determination of the object to which the building was dedicated. In the station at Lanchester a slab has been found (Horsley, Durham No. zii.) containing on its third and fourth lines the following words:— PRINCIPIA ET ARMEN TARIA CONLAPSA RESTITVIT Here, as Dr. Bruce observes, “we have evidence that there was a class of buildings, called Principia, which, like other buildings would fall into ruin and require restoration. The only letters which are diffieult to trace are, the first I in the word, which seems to have been attached to the top of the left limb of the N; and the C,” the curved portion of which can most certainly be traced. 144 APPENDIX.—SEPULCHRAL REMAINS. The word Prineipia has been thus explained ; see Faceiolati in verb. Prineipium :—“ Prineipıa — orum; Locus in castris, ubi erat Pr&torium, et tabernacula legatorum et tribunorum militum, et signa legionum; et ubi conciones militares et concilia habebantur, jus dice- batur, sacra fiebant. ’Apxaia. ita dietus vel quod ibi Prineipes ac duces exercitus tenderent (had their tents pitched), vel quod in castris metandis principio designa- retur, postea reliqua castra.” Any who are desirous of further information on this point, I would refer to Lipsius de militia Romana, lib. quintus. See edition printed at Antwerp, 1598, pp. 230, 231. Dr. Bruce observes that the word may probably here be translated Officers’ Barracks. We ought next to try to determine the spot from whence the slab was taken; it certainly seems to show that there was a military station near. By the assistance of the Somersetshire Archxological and Natural History Society, I have been enabled to make some excavations on the site of a building near at hand, which, from the remains, ap- pears certainly to have been Roman ; Roman coins having been dug up, as well as roofing-tiles and nails. The re- mains of a glass unguentory, and coarse baked pottery. This appears to have been an oblong building, placed north and south, the total length of which is 81 feet by 18 feet, and is composed of two compartments, one smaller than the other, and separated by a partition wall. Atsome distance below this is a fine spring of water, where an arched bath seems to have been constructed; there is, however, no ap- pearance of a fortified camp that I can detect, and it may be doubted if the inseription belonged to this building, the purpose of which I am unable to decide. APPENDIX.—SEPULCHRAL REMAINS. 145 It has been a subject of doubt if Bath was in Roman times a military station. The finding this slab leads to the supposition, that, in the near neighbourhood of Bath, if not in the city itself, was a station. I find that in April, 1822, stone coffins were discovered also at Coombe Down, near the site of these last, and that they lie in the same position as those already mentioned. The remains of a Roman station, near the spot, are also said to have been examined by the Rev. R. Warner, who traced the walls :——“ The two places laid open appeared to be parts of distinet structures, at a distance of 30 or 40 yards asunder. That of the highest and most considerable, if we may judge from the ridges in the turf which ap- peared to mark out the continuance of it, formed the outline, in the shape of a parallelogram, the usual form of campi explorativi, but from its diminutive size, about 40 paces long by 25 broad, it would seem to be the founda- tion of a building, perhaps a pr&torium or temple”’— Extract from the Bath and Cheltenham Gazette, April, 1822. Time and further excavations in this very interesting spot, may reveal more that is of historical value. It is however, not a little gratifying to the writer of this notice on Stone Cofäins, that the investigation of these curious remains should have led to the discovery of an inscription of such deep interest. Had former discoveries been accu- rately examined, no doubt other inscriptions might have been preserved from destruction, which would have thrown light upon the history of our native country, and the manners and habits of the times. Many curious facts have come to his knowledge since he commenced this enquiry, but if they were recorded, the length of this communication would be unduly ex- tended; he will hope, therefore, to produce them on some 1854, PART LI. T 146 APPENDIX.—SEPULCHRAL REMAINS,. future occasion, and content himself with a simple enumeration. In 1819, in the parish of Bathwick, where the stone coffin before mentioned was found, there were discovered 20 human skeletons lying together—some on one side, and others on their faces—and in one of the skulls a large iron nail was found driven quite through the crown. Near one of the skeletons, a copper box, nearly in the form of an inkstand, and opening with a spring, was discovered; it contained eight small Roman coins, all of the lower empire. A large fibula of fine brass was likewise dug up, the top of which was shaped like a eross, composed of three balls. Three coins were likewise dug up, one of which was of the eity of Constantinople. About 40 yards distant was found, at the same time, a leaden coffin, with the head Iying towards the east, containing a perfect human male skeleton.* The box discovered was of copper, about 24 inches high, divided into two by the upper part (1 inch high) drawing of. The fibula was of brass, gilt, of a handsome but com- mon form, and supposed to be Roman. In 1823, on Bathwick Hill, where Mr. Wallinger’s house now stands, at a small depth from the surface, a stone eoffin was also discovered, lying north and south, rudely finished; the cover formed of various stones, which appeared to have been disturbed, and the skull of the person interred taken out, and thrown on the outside, near the feet. The remaining bones were found in the coffin, and with them several fragments of earthen cups, and a larger one of Samian ware, used for libations, and fallen in two. A Roman coin, of small brass, was found near the cofün; also a glass bead, the size of a marble, perforated; and a * Astone coffin lined with lead has lately been found at Caerwent. See Archzsological Journal, No. 45, p. 76. APPENDIX.—SEPULCHRAL REMAINS. 147 small brass hook, apparently part of a larger article, calcu- lated to confine some part of the dress. A few yards from the coffin was picked up a small silver coin, which was supposed to be British or Gaulish. The coin was about the size of the Roman denarius, disked; on the obverse a rude head, on the reverse a poise. In 1815, a stone coffin and lid of another were found at Walcot, near Messrs. Sainsbury’s brewery; and with them an urn, of lemon-colored tint; two fragments of Samian pottery; also coins of Claudius, Nero, Vespasian, Domitian, Carausius, and Constantine. Either the Claudius or Vespasian was found inside the coffin, but which coin is now uncertain. It will be remembered that Dr. Musgrave, in his Belgium Britannicum, devotes a portion of his work to these curious remains, and makes mention where they had been found in his time; and endeavours to trace their origin, giving also a drawing of one. He does not, however, attempt to determine their date, They appear to have been used very early, as Plutarch relates that Numa was buried in a stone coffin, and his laws in another. He says, “They did not burn the body, because he forbade it; but they made two stone coffins, and buried him under the janiculum ; the one containing his body, and the other the sacred books which he had written.”—Plutarch, Vita Nume. 'Thus we find them very early in use. We find them also in use after the time of Marcus Aurelius Antonius, and resting upon the remains of Roman buildings, and also covered with the remains of a Roman edifice, as at Coombe Down; yet quite distinet fro.n Christian usage, in their position and accompaniments. We may, therefore, probably regard them of very different dates; but I am inclined to think these found at Coombe 148 APPENDIX.—SEPULCHRAL REMAINS. Down may be applied to the period between the departure of the Romans and coming of the Saxons, or the Roman- British period. As a fact corroborative of this, I may mention that stone coffins were found above the ancient Roman baths at Bath, and resting on the flooring of the baths. They are described in Dr. Lucas’ work on the Bath waters ; he considered them to be Saxon, but it may be doubted if this idea is correct, as no such coffins have (as far as I can discover) been found in ancient Saxon cemeteries, neither can they be regarded as Christian. The position of the coffins, north and south, and the coin in the mouth of the corpse, forbid this supposition. For this reason I am inclined to believe them to be Romano- British. NOTE. I have lately been informed that there is in the Museum of Roman Antiquities at Mayence, a curious instance of the adaptation of a Roman monument to the purpose of a Frankish coffin. This is a circumstance somewhat similar to what has been found at Coombe Down; and the only other instance that I recolleet of a like adaptation was one shewn me by that excellent antiquary, the Rev. James Raine, of Durham, who found a Roman altar converted to the purpose of a Christian grave-stone, in the burial ground ofa cathedral; the upper portion exposed to the weather being entirely worn away, but the part which had been buried remained perfeet. Itis now in the Museum of Antiquities in the Chapter Library. It may not here be out of place to remark, that two human skeletons have lately been discovered at Pierce- bridge, on the river Tees, an aneient Roman station, each with a small earthen jar placed on the breast. Zumersetslire Srchwaloniral Matural History Suriety. Annan nn nn PATRON, THE RIGHT HON. LORD PORTMAN. PRESIDENT, SIR WALTER CALVERLY TREVELYAN, Barr. VICE-PRESIDENTS, SIR P. P. F. P. ACLAND, Barr. THOMAS DYKE ACLAND, Es. THE RIGHT HON. AND RIGHT REV. THE LORD AUCKLAND, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELLS. THE WORSHIPFUL THE MAYOR OF BATH. THE HON. P. P. BOUVERIE. THE HON. AND REV. RICHARD BOYLE. THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF CAVAN. ANDREW CROSSE, Esg. F. H. DICKINSON, Esg. THE REV. J. S. H. HORNER. THOMAS TUTTON KNYFTON, Esa. THE RIGHT HON. H. LABOUCHERE, ı.r. Ww. H. P. GORE LANGTON, EsgQ., M.P. THE BREV. AND WORSHIPFUL CHANCELLOR J. T. LAW. AMBROSE GODDARD LETHBRIDGE, Esg. THE RIGHT HON. EARL OF LOVELACE, J. H MARKLAND, Esg, W. PINNEY. Esg,, m.r. THE REV. FITZHARDINGE BERKELEY PORTMAN, W. R. SHEPPARD, Esg. SIR JOHN W. RAMSDEN, Barr. ".p. THE RIGHT HON. LORD TALBOT DE MALAHIDE, CHARLES NOEL WELMAN, Esa. [3, 56.] 2 TREASURERS, HENRY AND ROBERT G. BADCOCK, Tuunton. GENERAL SECRETARIES. Arch@ological Department: REV. F. WARRE, REV. W.R. CROTCH, Bishop’s Lydeard. Stoke Court, Taunton. Natural History Department. REV. W. A. JONES, Zaunton, DISTRICT OR LOCAL SECRETARIES. E. BATTEN, Trorn Falcon. HENRY BERNARD, Welis. REV. W. F. CHILCOTT, Yonksiler. REV. H CLUTTERBUCK, Buckland Dinham. REV. A. O. FITZGERALD, Somerton. R. W. FALCONER, um.D., Bath. C. E. GILES, Taunton. C. MOORE, Bath. T. PORCH PORCH, Edgarley J. H. PRING, m.D., Weston-super- Mare. W. A. SANFORD, Nynehead, REV. HENRY M. SCARTH, Bath. W. STRADLING, Ckilton-super-Polden. REV. W. H. TURNER, Trent. R. WALTER, Stoke-sub- Hamdon. G. WALTERS, Frome. F. H. WOODFORDE, ı“.D., Taunton. COMMITTEE, J. BATTEN, JunR. F. W. NEWTON, G. CAVE, CAPTAIN DOVETON, W. F. ELLIOT, J. WOODLAND, W. E. GILLETT, Rev. W.T. REDFERN, W. M. KELLY, n.». Rev. W. ROUTLEDGE, D.D. 'W. METFORD, n.D. Rev. T. A. VOULES. The President, Vice-Presidents, Treasurers, and Secretaries, are ex-oficio Members of the Committee. CURATOR, BENJAMIN BAKER, Museum, Taunton. 3 Konarary amd Correspaming Kemberz. Acland, Dr., Lee's Reader of Anatomy, Oxford. Alford, Rev. H., London. Bliss, Rev. Dr., Prineipal of St. Mary Hall, Oxford. Britton, John, Esq., F s.A., Burton-erescent, London. Babington, C. C. Esq.. F.R.S., F.L.S. Buckland, Very Rev. Dr., Dean of Westminster. Carter, Rev. Eccles, Kingston. Charlton, Dr., Sec. Antiquarian Society, Newcastle-on-Tyne. Conybeare, Very Rev. W. D., Dean of Llandaf}. Daubeny, Dr. Professor of Botany and of Chemistry, Oxford. De La Beche, Sir H., Director of Ordnance Geological Survey. De Morgan, A. Esq., Prof. Mathematics, University College, London. Duncan, P. B. Esq., Curator of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Dymock, Rev. T.E. Edwards, Professor Milne, Paris. Ellis, Sir H., Principal Librarian, British Museum. Empson, C. Esq., Bath. Ferry, B. Esq., Charing Cross, London. Freeman, E. A. Esq., Oaklands, Dursley, Gloucestershire. Godwin, George, Esq., F.R.S., F.8.A., Brompton. Hardwick, P. C. Esq., Russell-square, London. Hawkins, E. Esq., Keeper of Antiquities, British Museum. Henslow, Rev. J. S., Professor of Botany, Cambridge. Hugo, Rev. Thomas, Bishopsgate-street, London. Hunter, Rev. Joseph. Lloyd, Dr., Sec. Archeologieal and Natural History Society, Warwick. Oliver, Rev. Dr., Exeter. Owen, Professor. Petit, Rev. T. L. the Uplands, Shifnal. Phillips, Sir Thomas, Middlehill, Worcester. Quekett, John, Esq., Royal College of Surgeons, London. Ramsay, A. C. Esq., F.R.S. Salter, J.W. Esq., Museum of Practical Geology. Segwick, Rev. A., F.R.S., F.G.8., Prof. Mineralogy, Cambridge. Smith, C. Roach, Esq., F.8.A., Liverpool-street, London. Turner, Dawson, Esq., Yarmouth. Willis, Rev. R., F.R 8., F.6.8., Jacksonıan Professor, Cambridge. Wilson, Daniel, Esq., See. Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Warner, Rev. R., Great Chalfield, Wilts. Yarrell, W. Esq., Ryder-street, St. James’s, London. Yates, J. Esq., F.R.s., Lauderdale House, Highgate. 4 Soriefieg in Correspowdenee Somersetshire Archzological and Natural History Society. THE ARCHZOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF GREAT BRITAIN. THE ECCLESIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. Tux BrıstoL AND West OF EnGLAND ARCHITECTURAL SOCIETY. TuE ARCHITECTURAL SOCIETY OF NORTHAMPTON. THoE Sussex ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. Tue Brırıst ARCHZOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION. THE SURREY ARCHZOLOGICAL SOCIETY. RULES. HIS Society shall be denominated “THE SOMERSET- SHIRE ARCHAZOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HısTorRY SocIETY 5” and its objects shall be, the eultivation of, and collecting information on, Archzology and Natural History, in their various branches, but more particularly in connection with the County of Somerset. II. The Society shall consist of a Patron, elected for life; a President, elected for three years; Vice-Presidents; General, and Distriet or Local Secretaries; and a Trea- surer, elected at each Anniversary Meeting; with a Com- mittee of twelve, six of whom shall go out annually by rotation, but may be re-elected.—No person shall be elected on the Committee until he shall have been six months a Member of the Society. III. Anniversary General Meetings shall be held for the purpose of electing the Officers, of receiving the Report of the Committee for the past year, and of transacting all other necessary business, at such time and place as the Committee shall appoint; of which Meetings three weeks’ notice shall be given to the Members. IV. There shall also be a General Meeting fixed hy the Committee, for the purpose of receiving Reports, read- ing Papers, and transacting Business. —All members shall have the privilege of introdueing one friend to the Anni- versary and General Meetings. = RULES. u) V. The Committee is empowered to call Special Meet- ings of the Society, upon receiving a requisition signed by ten members. — Three weeks’ notice of such Special Meet- ing, and its object shall be given to each Member. VI. The affairs of the Society shall be directed by the Committee (of which the ofäcers of the Society shall be ex-oficio Members) which shall hold Monthly . Meetings for receiving Reports from the Secretaries and Sub-committees, and for transaeting other necessary busi- ness; five of the Committee shall be a quorum.-— Members may attend the Monthly Committee Meetings, after the official business has been transacted. VII The Chairman, at Meetings of the Society, shall have a casting vote in addition to his vote asa member. VIII. One (at least) of the Secretaries shall attend each Meeting, and shall keep a record of its proceedings.—All Manuscripts, and Communications, and the other property of the Society, shall be under the charge of the Secretaries. IX. Candidates for admission as Members shall be proposed by two Members at any of the General or Committee Meetings, and the election shall be determined by ballot at the next Committee or General Meeting; three-fourths of the members present balloting shall elect. The rules of the Society shall be subseribed by every person becoming a Member. X. Ladies shall be eligible as Members of the Society without ballot, being proposed by two Members, and ap- proved by the majority ofthe Meeting. XI. Each Member shall pay ten shillings on admission to the Society, and ten shillings asan Annual Subscription, which shall become due on the first of January, in each year, and shall be paid in advance. XII. Donors of Ten Guineas or upwards, shall be Members for life. ‚XIII. At General Meetings of the Society the Com- mittee may recommend persons to be balloted for as Honorary or Corresponding Members. XIV. When any office shall become vacant, or any new appointment shall be requisite, the Committee shall 6 RULES. have power to fillup the same; such appointments shall remain in force only till the next General Meeting, when they shall be either confirmed or annulled. XV. The Treasurer shall receive all Subscriptions and Donations made to the Society, and shall pay all accounts passed by the Committee; he shall keep a book of receipts and payments, which he shall produce whenever the Com- mitttee shall require it; the accounts shall be audited previously to the Anniversary Meeting by two Members of the Committee, chosen for that purpose; and an abstract ol them shall be read at the Meeting. XVI. No change shall be made in the Laws of the Society, except at a General or Special Meeting, at which twelve members at least shall be present. —Of the proposed change a month’s notice shall be given to the Secretaries, who shall communicate the same to each Member three weeks before the Meeting. XVIl. Papers read at Meetings of the Society, and considered by the Committee of suflicient interest for pub- lication, shall be forwarded (with the author’s consent) to such Periodical as shall be determined by the Committee to be the best for the purpose, with a request that a num- ber of such papers may be printed separately, for distri- bution to the Members of the Society, either gratuitously or for such payment as may be agreed on. XVII. No religious or political discussions shall be permitted at Meetings ofthe Society. XIX. That any person contributing Books or Speci- mens to the Museum shall be at liberty to resume possession of them in the event of the property of the Society ever being sold, or transferred to any other county. Also per- sons shall have liberty to deposit Books or Specimens for a specific time only. N.B. One of the objects of the Society shall be to col- lect, by donation or purchase, a Library and Museum, more particularly illustrating the History (Natural, Civil, and Ecelesiastical) of the County of Somerset. *,* It is requested that Contributions to the Museum or Li- brary, be sent to the Curator, at the Society’s Rooms, Taunton. ou 10 15 20 2 oa 30 35 LIST OF MEMBERS. 1854. Those marked * are Life Members. Abraham, B. Taunton Abraham, T. Dunster Acland, Sir P. P. Bart. Fairfield House Acland, Sir T. D. Bart. Killerton Park, Devon Acland, T. D. a4 Pr ” Acres, Rev. J. Olevedon Adair, A. Heatherton Park Adaır, A.W. „ “ Addington, H. J. Langford Ainslie, Rev. A. C. Corfe, Taunton Alford, H. Taunton Allen, J. R. Lyngford House Allen, Rev. J. Stocklinch, near Ilminster Allen, B.T. Burnham Anstice, Rev. J. B. Kilton Anstice, Richard, Bridgwater Anstice, Mrs. J. a Auckland, the Risht Rev. Lord, Palace, Wells Axford, Richard, Bridgwater Badcock, Miss H. Taunton Badceock, H. g ‘ Badeock, R. G. The Eims, Taunton Badham, J. B. Bristol Bagehot, Edward, Langport Bagehot, Walter, ® Bagshawe, E. L. Bath Bailward, J. Horsington, Blandford, Dorset Baker, John, Weston-super-Mare Ball, Wm. Chapple, Taunton Bally, W. F. Sion Hill, Bath Barnard, Rev. Canon, Wells Barnard, Rev. H. J. Yatton Barrett, W. Moreden House, North Curry Barrowforth, J. Barry, Rev. H. Brockley Bartrum, J. J. 41, Gay-street, Bath Bateman, Hugh Willoughby, Sydney Place, Bath Batten, J. jun. Yeovil Batten, E. Thorn Faulcon, and Lincolns Inn, London 8 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 LIST OF MEMBERS. Baynes, T. S. Rumhill, Taunton Beadon, Rev. Canon, North Stoneham, Hants Beadon, W. jun. Otterhead, Honiton Beadon, Edwards, Highlands, Taunton Bearcroft, Rev. F. C.K. Cannington Bernard, H. Wells Berryman, W. C. jun. Wells Bewes, Rev. T. A. Lydeard St. Lawrence Blackwell, Rev. W. Mells Blair, H.M. Farley Castle Blake, W. Bishops Hull Blake, Downing, Holway Bluett, C. Taunton Bird, J. Taunton Bond, Rev. J. Weston, Bath Bouverie, Hon. P. P. Brymore House Bouverie, P. P. jun. Fr Bown, Miss, Taunton Boyd, R. m.p. Wells Boyle, Hon. and Rev. Richard, Marston, Frome Brace, W. H. 25, Gay-street, Bath Breton, Lieut. R.n. Camden-place ,, Briscoe, Miss, Bathford 5 Bridges, H. Dridgwater Broadmead, P. Milverton Broadley, J. 2, Gascoyne Place, Bath Broderip, Rev. J. S. Cossington Brown, Rev. Frederick, Naxlsea Brown, William, Bridgwater Broome, ©. E. Elmhurst, Batheaston Bruford, T. Nailsea Bryant, Rev.W. F. Taunton Brymer, J. West Charlton Buckle, Rev. G. Twerton Bullsck, George, East Coker Bush, W. 7, Circus, Bath Carew, T. G. Warrington, Crowcombe Court Castle, T. Worle Carver, R. Haines Hill, Taunton Cavan, the Earl of, Barford House 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 LIST OF MEMBERS. 9 Uave, G. Norton Fitzwarren Cave, T. Yeovil Chamberlain, G. Castle Carey Chapman, Capt. Royal Institution, Bath Chileott, Rev. W. F. Monksilver Chowne, Rev. J. Netherbury, Dorset Clarke, Rev. J. B. B. (deceased) Clarke, T. E. Tremlett House Clarke, A. A. Taunton Clerk, Rev. D. M. Kingston Deverül Clerk, Robert, Westholme House, Pilton, Shepton Mallet Clerk, Major F. J. is * - Clerk, E. H. n er 5 Cliffe, Rev. L. A. Uphill Clutterbuck, Rev. Henry, Buckland Dinham Coffin, Com. Genl. Sir E. P. Claremont Villa, Mount Radford, Exeter Coker, T. Taunton Coker, W. Worthington, Haydon House, Taunton Colebrooke, Sir T. E. Bart. Abington, Scotland Coles, Rev. J.S. Shepton Beauchamp Collings, Rev. W. T. Wells Collins, H. P. (deceased) Cooper, Lady, Leversdown House Cordwent, G. Zaunton Cornish, C. H. „5 Cox, W. Brockley, near Yatton Crosse, Andrew, Broomfield Crotch, Rev. W.R. Stoke Court, Taunton Custard, H.M. Yeovil Dance, Lady, Bishops Hull Dance, Rev. G. Swarinswick, Bath Davies, Edmund, Wells Davies, Henry, Weston-super-Mare Davis, Horatio, 5 2 Davis, C. E. Bath Davis, W. W. Oakhill, Taunton Davis, H. Taunton Dawe, Rev. Hill, Dawson, T. Trull De Haviland, Rev. C. R. Downside, Bath 10 120 125 130 135 140 145 150 155 LIST OF MEMBERS. Dickinson, F. H. Kingweston House Dickinson, E. H. ” Doveton, Capt. Haines Hill, Taunton Down, E. en Dowty, F. G. Easton, R. Taunton Edmonds, E. jun. Bradford, Wilts Edwards Rev. H. Churchstanton Edwards, R. P. Wedmore Egremont, Countess of, Orchard Wyndham Elliot, Miss, Osborne Hose, Taunton Elliot, W. F. ns Elliott, Rev. J. Pitminster Ellison, Rev. N. T. Huntspill Else, R. ©. Bridgwater Elwell, J. Weston-super-Mare Elwell, N Esdaile, E. J. Cothelstone House Esdaile, W. C. D. BDarley Park, Ringwood Eskersall, Miss, Bathwick Hill, Bath Estlin, J. P. 6, George-street » Fagan, Rev. G. H. Kingweston Falconer, R. W.m.p. Bath Falkner, Francis, 55 Falkner, Frederick, 2 Falkner, F. H. N Field, F. * Fisher, J. M. Taunton Fisher, T > Fiske, H. Fitzgerald, Rev. Ä.C. Charlton Mackerel Foley, Rev. R. North Cadbury Follett, Spencer Brent, m.p. 15, Cambridge-sq., London Foster, W. J. S. Wells Fox, C, m.D. Brislington Fox, E. F. Fullar, T. Springfield Place, Bath Gandy, G. The Chain, Preston Gandy, Rev. J. H. Old Cleeve 160 165 170 175 180 185 190 195 LIST OF MEMBERS. 11 Garrod, James, Wells Giles, W. Taunton Giles, C.E. ,„ Giles, Capt. Dinder Gill, J. E. Bath Gillett, W. E. Taunton Girardot, Rev. W. Hinton Charterhouse Gordon, James, Weston-super-Mare Goodridge, J. F. 5, Henrietta-street, Bath Goodford, Rev. C. O. D.p. Head Master of Eton Goodford, Henry, Chilton Cantello Grenville, Hon. and Very Rev. G. Neville, (deceased) Hagley, E. Oxford Hall, Rev. C. R. Hamilton, Col. J. 116, Park-st, Grosvenor-sq., London Hamilton, Rey. L. R. Castle Careu Hancock, W. Wiveliscombe Harbin, G. Newton House, Yeovil Hardy, Admiral, Bath Hardy, Lieut., R.n. , Harris, Charles, Tlchester Harrison, Rev. O. S. Thorn Faulcon Harrison, T. S. m.D, Frome Hatbway, Rev. R. C. Kewstoke Haviland, Alfred, Bridgwater Hawkins, Rev. H. C. H. Chilton-super-Polden Hayter, Right Hon. W. G.ım.r. Hyde Park Terrace, London Hayward, S. Abbey Churchyard, Bath Helyar, C. I. Poundisford Park Helyar, W. Coker Court, Yeovil Henderson, J. Taunton Higgs, Richard, Haines Hill, Taunton Highmore, J. N. Preston, near Yeovil Hitchcock, W. R. Taunton Hill, Rev. R. Timsbury, Bath Hill, Miss, Rock House, , Hill, Wm. John Langport Hood, Sir A. A. Bart. St. Audries Hooper, James, Miss Walker’s Cottage, Highgate, London Horner,Rev. J. S. H. Mells Park, Frome 12 200 205 210 215 220 225 230 235 LIST OF MEMBERS, Hoskins, T. Hazelbury Hunt, E. Bath Hutchings, H. 31, Chester-st., Grosvenor Place, London Ilchester, the Earl of, Melbury, near Sherborne Isaacs, G. Taunton Impey, Robert, Street Jacobson, W. Taunton Jeboult, J. ad Jeffrey, James, Orange Grove, Bath Johnson, J. George-street, Johnson, Rey. F. C. Wintelachington Jones, Rev. W. A. Taunton Kelly, W. M. m.p., Taunton Kemmis, Mrs. Arthur, Croham Hurst, Croydon, Surrey Kidgell, G. Wellington Kilvert, Rev. F. Cleverton Lodge, Bath King, M.D. Taunton King, Rev. C. Stoke St. Gregory King, J. W. Chilton-super-Polden King, R.M. Pyrland Hall Kinglake, R. A. Weston-super-Mare Kinglake, H. m.n. Taunion Knatchbull, W. F. m.p. Babington House Knowles, C. Bridgwater Knyfton, T. T. Upkill * Labouchere, Risht Hon. H. u.r. Store Park, Slough Lambert, W. C. Knowle House, Wimborne, Dorset Lance, Rev. J. E. Puckland St. Mary Langton, W. H. P. G. m.r. Newton Park Langton, W. H. G. m.p. Clifton Law, Worshipful Chancellor J. T. Banwell Lawson, Henry, Zansdown Creseent, Bath Leigh, Henry, 1, Zim Court Temple, London Lethbridge, A. G, Trull Leversedge, John, Zaunton Liddon, H. Littlehales, Rev. W. Compton Bishop Livett, H. W. Wells 240 245 250 255 | 260 265 270 275 LIST OF MEMBERS. 13 Lock, E. Halcon Lodge Lockey, Rev. F. Swainswick, Bath Long, W. Lansdown Place Lovelace, the Earl of, Ashley Combe, Porlock Luke, Rev. H. V. Thurlheer Lutley, R. E. Stogursey Mansell, J. ©. Shaftesbury Manners, G. P. Bath Markland, J. H. „ Marshall, W. Taunton Mate, Rev. R. P. Wymeswold May, Frederick, Taunton Mayow, Rev. P.W. Euston Meade, Rev. R. J. Castle Cary Metford, W. m.D. Flook House, Taunton Michell, Rev. R. B.D. Magdalen Hall, Oxford Mildmay, Paulet St. John, Haselburyy, Wincanton Miles, W. m.p. Leigh Court Mist, Miss, Bradford Mogg, J. R. High Lyttleton House Mogsg, J. F. Y. Midsomer Norton Moody, ©. A. m.p. Kingsdon, Somerton Moor, Rey. R. W. Stoke St. Gregory Moore, C. Cambridge Place, Bath Moore, Capt. F. Morgan, W. Claremont, Weston-super-Mare Morle, Thomas, Canning gton Park Morris, J. Bath Moysey, H. G. Bathealton Court Munckton, W. W. Curry Rivel Murch, E. Bridgwater Murch, Rey. Jerom, Bath Murley, G. B. Langport Naish, B. Stone Easton Neal, Miss, Pen House, Yeovil Neat, Rev. J. Standerwick Court Neville, Ralph, Glastonbury Newton, F. W. Barton Grange Nicholetts, J. South Petherton Nichols, Rev. W. L, Lansdown Crescent, Bath Norman, G. 1, Circus, Bath 14 LIST OF MEMBERS, Norman, W. Ashfield, Taunton Norman, A.M. Christ Church, Oxford Norman, J. Staplegrove, Taunton 280 Norman, J. F. Claverham, near Yatton Norris, J. Thorncombe Nutting, Rev. H. Chedzoy O’Callaghan, Capt. Taunton Ormond, J. Circus, Bath 285 Oakley, W. Taunton Paget, J. M. Cranmore Hall, Shepton Mallet Paget, Arthur J.E. „ Palairet, Rev. R. Norton St. Philip Parr, Rev. H. Taunton 290 Parfitt, Rev. C. C. Midford Castle, Bath Paul, Rev. C. S. Wellow, En Patton, T. Bishops Hull Payne, J. H. 1, Brunswick Square, Bristol Pearless, Richard, Taunton 295 Pearson, J. Bristol Penny, Rev. C. D.D. Crewkerne Perceval, Capt. Chapel Cleeve Perry, Rev.G. G. Warrington Rectory, near Lincoln Phelps, Rev. W. 300 Philipps, Dan, Bridgwater Pigott, Rev. G. O. 5. Weston-super-Mare Pigott, A. S. * Pigott, H. T. C.S. Brochle, Yy Court Pigott, E. F. S. Lincoln’s Inn 305 Pyke, J (deceased) Pinchard, W.P. Taunion Pinder, Rev. Professor, Wells Pinney, W. m.p. Somerton Erleigh Pinney, Miss, @ ® 310 Pitman, S. Rumwell Plowman, T. North Curry Pollard, G. Taunton Poole, G. S. Bridgwater Poole, J. R. 315 Poole, Rev. J. ‚Enmore Popham, F. Bagborough 320 325 330 335 340 345 350 355 LIST OF MEMBERS. 15 Porch, T. P. Edgarley * Portman Lord, Bryanston House, Dorset Portman, Rev. F. B. Staple Fitzpaine Powell, H. Wells Prance, V. Nether Stowey Prankerd, John, Langport Pring, J. D. Taunton Pring, J. H. m.v. Weston-super-Mare Pulman, Rev. W. W. Wellingten Pulteney, Rev. R. T. Ashley, Northamptonshire Pyne, Rev. W. Charlton, Somerton Quantock, J. M. Norton-sub-Hamdon Quekett, E. Langport Raban, R. B. Hatch Beauchamp Raban, Major ,„ > * Ramsden, Sir J. W. Bart., m.p. Byham, Yorkshire Rawle, T. Taunton Redfern, Rev. W. T. Taunton Rhodes, Rev. E. D. Hampton Villa, Bath Richards, Rev. T. M. Alcombe Richards, W. 2 Robbins, G. Bath Rodbard, John, Aldwick Court Roblyn, T. m.D. (deceased) Rogers, G. H. Bishops Hull Rooke, Mrs. S. Weston-super-Mare Rosenberg, G. Bath Rowe, J. K. Taunton Rowley, Rev. W. W. Weston-super-Mare Routledge, Rev. W. p.p. Bishops Hull Rowecliffe, Charles, Stogumber Rundell, E. W. West Monkton Sabine, W. Brympton Sanford, E. A. Nynehead Court Sanford, W. A. = 7 Samborne, S. P. S. Timsbury, Bath Saumarez, Lieut. r.n. Circus, 5 Scarth, Rev. H.M. Bathwickh , Schuldam, Mrs. E. Norton Fitzwarren 16 LIST OF MEMBERS. Scott, Rev. J. P. Staplegrove Sealy, John, Bridgwater * Seymour, H.D. m.p. Knoyle, Wilts Shaw, Rev. W. H. E. D. Fiddington 360 Sheppard, A. B. 18, Lincolns-Inn-Fields, London Sheppard, J. Frome Sheppard, W. H. Keyford House, Frome Sheppard, F. J. Wells Sheppard, S. B. Selwood, Frome 365 Shipton, Rev. J. N. p.n. Othery Shore, J. Whatley, near Frome Shout, R. H. Yeovil Shute, H. Cary Fitzpaine Skinner, George, Belmont, Bath 370 Slade, Wyndham, Munty’s Court Smith, N. Clifton Smith, Major T. Weston-super-Mare Smith, Rev. C. Bishops Lydeard Soden, J. sen. Bath 375 Solly, Mis L. „ Sotheby, Rev. T. H. Milverton Sparks, W. Crewkerne Speke, Mrs. Roeford Lodge Speke, W. Jordans, near Ilminster 380 Spencer, Rev. J. W. Wilton Sperrin, J. Weston-super-Mare Spicer, R. W. Chard Squire, F. Pall Mall, London Steinthal, Rev. S. A. Bridgwater 385 Stephenson, Rev. J. Lympsham Stewart, Rev. T. B. Wookey Stone, W. H. Taunton Stone, Rev. W. Taunton Stradling, W. Chilton-super-Polden 390 Street, Rev. H. Bath Sully, T. Bridgwater Surtees, W. Edward, Tainfield Sweet, Rev. C. Sampford Arundel Sweet, H. Taunton 395 Sydenham, D. A. C. m.D. Yeowl Symes, Rev. R. Cleeve, Bristol Synge, F. H. Weston-super-Mare LIST OF MEMBERS. 17, Talbot de Malahide, Lord, Zvercreech Thompson, Charles, Bridgwater 400 Thring, H. Alford, Castle Cary Tinling, Rev. E. 1}. 30, Crescent, Bath Todd, Lieut.-Col. Taunton Tomkins, C. m.D. PR BR Tomkins, H. G. 405 Traherne, Rev. J. M. Coedriglan, Cardiff Trenchard, H. C. Taunton Trevelyan, Sir W.C. Bart. Nettlecombe Court, and Wallington, Northumberland Trevelyan, Lady Re Es Trevelyan, Sir ©. E. Treasur: Y, London. 410 Trevelyan, Rev. E. O. Stogumber Trevelyan, Rev. W. P. Enmore Castle Trinder, Charles, Darlington-street, Bath Trudell, James, Taunton Tucker, Rev. H. T. Leigh Court 415 Tucker, W. Coryton Park (deceased) Tucker, Robert Tudway, R. C. Wells Turle, H. Taunton Turner, Rev. W. H. Trent 420 Turner, A. re Turner, ©. J. Turner, Rev. W. Er Banwell Tunstall, Dr. Queen’s Parade, Bath E Tynte, Col. C. K. K. Halswell House 425 Tynte, Col. ©. J. K.um.p. Cefn Mabley, Glamorganshire Tynte, Capt. K. Leversdown House. Uttermare, T. B. Langport Vane, Rev. J. Burrington, Wrington Vibart, James, Chilliswood 430 Vining, Charles, Yeovil Voules, Rev. T. A. Zeer C’rocombe Walker, L. 13, King’s Road, Gray’s Inn, London Walter, W. Oldbury Lodge Walter, R. Stoke-sub- Hamdon 18 LIST OF MEMBERS. 435 Walters, G. Frome Ward, Rev. J. W. Tickenham, near Bristol Warre, Rev. F. Bishops Lydeard Warre, Miss Mn Warren, J. F. H. Langport 440 Warren, Rev. J. Bawdrip Webber, Rev. E. D. Runnington Welman, C. N. Nörton Manor Welsh, W. I. Wells » Wells, EN. ,, (deceased) 445 West, G. Corfe Weston, Plowden C. J. South Carolina, United States White, F. Wellington White, F. G. Taunton Whitehead, Rev. E. Saltford, Bath 450 Whiting, Rev. H. B. Writhlington, Bath Whitmash, E. Zaunton Wickham, Rev. G. H. D. Frome Wickham Whalley, 5 Willmore, Graham, Taunton 455 Wills, Rev. T. A. Willmott, W. R. Weston-super-Mare Winter, Charles, Bishops Lydeard Winter, Mrs. Priory, Ash Priors Wolff, D. Foreign Office, London 460 Wood, Rev. James, Burlington-street, Bath Woodforde, F. H. m.v. Taunton Woodland, J. Taunton Wrangham, Digby G. The Rocks, Bath Yatman, Rev. J. A. Winscombe, Sidcot 465 Yeeles, J.M. Bathford Young, J. Elm Cottage, Taunton Members are requested to inform either of the Secretaries of any errors or omissions in the above List; they are also requested to authorize their Bankers to pay their subscriptions, annually, to Messrs. Badeock, or Messrs. Stuckey, Taunton; or to either of their branches; or their respective London Agents, on account of the Treasurer. PRINTED BY FREDERICK MAY, “ TAUNTON COURIER” OFFICE, TAUNTON. — | BE SOMERSETSHIRE I | | | FE Archwologienl and Aatural | E | story Ruriehy. =; | Trnocssnıxos # / F. | DURING THE YEAR | | | | | | 1855. N R = | I TAUNTON: | u FREDERICK MAY, HIGH STREET. | || LONDON: BELL & DALDY, 186, FLEET STREET. Dt Me N " SOMERSETSHIRE Archeeological any Patural Wistorp Society. EBEOCEEDINGS DURING THE YEAR 1855. VOL. VI. Clarke, Anas. < Be | " > w 7 m © < uw > wu th u Ära n) 3 Fun ae Be) © J ' ; [@} N = m w“ > je] == & w > a < z © w Br ha > if iu © 7) h) iM z I < I Ve w KR x Ri Pf, w zT Fan . SE DA: CLARKE 5; ’/ F ır 7 RE Somersetshire Archaological and Matural Ristory Sorieht. Prarerdings DURING THE YEAR 1855. VOL. VI. TAUNTON: FREDERICK MAY, HIGH - STREET. LONDON: BELL & DALDY, FLEET -ST. MDCCCLVI, THE Society is indebted to the Rev. Tmomas Huco for the Engravings of the Common Seal of Cleeve Abbey (hitherto unpublished), and of the Seal of David Juyner, Abbot of Cleeve, given in the present volume ; and likewise to Mr. C. E. GILEs for the original sketches (taken specially for the Proceedings) of the Refectory and supposed Ancient Refectory, Cleeve Abbey ; also, of the Interior and Exterior views of Dunster Church. CORRIGENDA. The Charters and other Archives of Cleeve Abbey. Part II. Page 18, » 19 Er} 20, ” 29, >} 30, „ 33, 2 34, » 3, » 98, » 39 ”„ 42, ”„ 44, bi] 50, line 13, for annals ” „ ” ” 19, 19, 5, Page 66, note, line 1, » crotchets nyneth 1228 1226 he’du’ suit sine firmit’r he’dib he’des ant he’dib’ q’m he’dib’ he’dum duratur’ tenend’ duratur’ tenend’ of the reverence Regni’ read annals? » ” ” crockets nyenth 1229 1227 h’edu’ sint siue firmit? h’edib’ h’edes aut h’edib’ gam h’edib’ h’edum duratur’, tenend’ duratur’, tenend’ of reverence Regni these letters, which were read letter D, which by whom they were was » by whomit was Cantente. PART IL—PROCEEDINGS, &c. Seventh Annual Meeting - - - .- - Report of Committee - - - - - - Abstract of Treasurer’s Account - - we Mr. Jones’s Notice of Remains of Ancient British Hut Cireles on Croydon Hill - - - - Evening Meeting- - keit, ma He Second Day. —Exeusion - - - - - Third Day.—Exeursion - - - - - Temporary Museum - - - - - The Museum - - - - - - - Conversazione Meetings 2 dr Me ER - Publications received - - - - - - — PART IL—PAPERS. On Dunster Priory Church ; by Mr. Edward A. Freeman, =m.A. - - - - - - On the Charters and other Archives of Cleeve Abbey; by the Rev. Thomas Hugo, m.Aa.- - Old Cleeve Abbey ; by the Rev. F. Warre - - [5 u Do) 17 74 vi. CONTENTS. On the Traces of Camps and Ancient Earth-works still existing around Bath and in the neighbour- hood; by the Rev. H. M. Scarth, .Aa. - - A brief account of the Painted Glass in Wells Cathedral; by Mr. Greville J. Chester - - Notices of the Rare and most Remarkable Plants in the neighbourhoods of Dunster, Blue Anchor, Minehead, &e.; by Miss Isabella Gifford - - On the Geological Formations in the neighbourhood of Dunster ; by the Rev. W. Arthur Jones, M.A. ILLUSTRATIONS. Dunster Church—Exterior ie = par „ Fr Interior ® & R Cleeve Abbey— Common Seal of the Abbey „ „ Seal of Abbot David Juyner - - - „ 5 > Interior Front of Gate-house s 5 5 Remains of supposed An- cient Refectory - - „ PM) » The Refectory - e £, „ 98 125 131 138 92 93 a5 nr Remains of Chapter-house frontispiece. PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOMERSETSHIRE ARCH/EOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, DURING THE YEAR 1855. PART k — HE Seventh Annual Meeting of the Somersetshire Eh Archsological and Natural History Society was held at Dunster on Tuesday, August 21, 1855,—the President, * Sir W. C. TREVELYANn, Bart., in the chair. The meeting for business commenced at eleven o’clock, when the President, the Vice-Presidents, the general and local Secretaries, were severally re-appointed. Captain Perceval was elected local Secretary for Blue Anchor; F. W. Newton, Esq., Rev. W. T. Redfern, Rev. W. Rout- ledge, D.D., Rev. T. A. Voules, were re-elected ; and Rev. J. P. Scott, and Edwards Beadon, Esq., were elected members of the Committee. The PresıDEnT, in his opening address, expressed the great pleasure he felt in taking part in the proceedings of the Society. He regretted that, in consequence of his residing at a distance, he had not been able to do so oftener. He took a deep interest inıthe prosperity of the Society, and in the objects it embraced, and was glad to find by the journals published that the Society had already done much to advance the Archxology and Natural His- tory of the county. He particularly adverted to the VOL. vI., 1855, PART I. B 2 SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING. recent important discovery at Taunton, at the depth of many feet, of the remains of a rhinoceros, in connection with the trees of the forest, comprising alder, oak, hazel, and other existing species—thus showing that the elimate of this country, when inhabited by this race of animals, was much the same as it is at the present day. He also referred to the value and interest which attached to the - collection in the library of the Society—of books relating to the county; and when the books themselves could not be obtained, it was very desirable to have their titles in full. This object would be attained by the Bibliotheca Somersetensis, to which he was glad to find the Committee were directing their attention. The President then re- ferred to the iron ore found in the neighbourhood at Tre- borough, which is equal to the best Silesian iron in quality, and is found in deeper and richer veins. This discovery is of great importance not only to this locality, but to the nation at large. The great value of microscopie inves- tigation was alluded to, especially towards determining the fertilizing properties of streams, by discovering the extent to which Desmidiex and Diotomacex are found in the water. The Rev. F. WARRE, Secretary to the Society, then read the following Report of the Committee :— “In presenting their Seventh Annual Report, your Committee have the gratification of being able again to announce that the Society is progressing in members and influence. “ Since the last general meeting, nearly 30 new members have been added to its list; and thoush the total bears as yet but a small proportion to the number of influential names belonging to the county of Somerset, yet it may be reasonably expeeted that with the growing taste for such REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. A) inquiries as those, which the Society was embodied in order to prosecute, and which, to be successfully con- ducted, require at once widely-spread exertions and united efforts; and with the more extended knowledge of what the Society has already accomplished, the many interesting parts it has been enabled to record, and the light it has thrown on the darker eras of our history—with these, it may be reasonably expected that cach succeeding year will present a goodly addition to its subseribing members, and thus render it more efficient, and better adapted to the re- quirements of our extensive county ; for in prosecuting arch&ological and other scientific inquiries, it is unfortu- nately as true as in most other cases, that independently of all the zeal and talent which may be exerted, it is money which constitutes the sinews. “ For further justification of these hopes, the Committee refer to the estimate which appears to have been formed of the Somersetshire Arch&ological and Natural History Society beyond the limits of the county. Thus exchanges of publications have been agreed upon between this Society and the Archzological Institute of Great Britain ; the Eeclesiological Society; the British Archzological Association ; the Sussex Archzological Society ; the Bristol and West of England Architectural Society ; the Archi- teetural Society of Northampton; the Surrey Archzxolo- gical Society; and the Societ&E Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles at Lausanne. “Your Committee feel that they may regard in the same view the handsome donations which still continue to be made to the museum, and the valuable deposits confided during the last year to the care of the Curator. Among these will be found curious and interesting pamphlets of ancient date; valuable works of reference ; fossils from 4 SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING. the important district of Dudley; Devonian limestones with corals ; stalactites from the Holwell Cave, and from the Mammoth Cave, Kentucky ; fossil madrepores ; speci- mens of ore containing silver and copper, from Ashburton ; casts of ancient British coins ; silver Roman coins ; geo- logical and other maps ; cases of birds from the Himalaya and Demerara ; shells from the Black Sea, and numerous other important additions to the Society’s museum, many of which are already recorded in the last publication of the Society. A complete list of the remainder, with the names of the donors or depositors, will appear in the next annual volume. “ A sub-committee has been appointed to classify these and previous donations and deposits, and to draw upa cata- logue for the convenience of the members and visitors. “Your Society has sustained a severe loss in the death of one of their Vice-Presidents, Andrew Crosse, Esq., who took so lively an interest in the well-being of the Society, and whose scientific zeal and attainments reflected so much lustre on this his native county. “The annual volume has been issued to those members who are entitled according to the rules to receive it— namely, those who have paid up their subscriptions; and it is hoped that this volume will not be deemed in any way inferior, either as to the matter it contains or the execution of the illustrations, to those which have preceded. “ An opportunity having occurred of purchasing some valuable casts of sculptures from Wells Cathedral— of the originals of which Flaxman says, “It seems to be the earliest specimen of such magnificent and varied sculp- ture united in a series of sacred history that is to be found in western Europe’—the Committee have availed themselves of it ; but at the same time must appeal to the TREASURER’S REPORT, 5 members for assistance, the cost being upwards of £50. They will be thankful for donations in aid of this object. “The Conversazione meetings at Taunton were resumed during the winter. “ In conclusion your Committee congratulate the mem- bers that during a year of great publie excitement, and private anxiety and sorrow, the interests of the Society have not only not lost ground, but have made considerable progress.’ Mr. R. Bapcock then presented the Treasurer’s report, of which the following is an abstract, viz. :— The Treasurer in Account With the Somersetshire Archacological and Dr. Natural Bistorp Society. Er. 1855. 2s.d, 1855, ml To balance of former Ac- By Curator’s salary - - 2334 count - - - 38 11 „» Do. commission colleeting Subseriptions & -184110 0 arrears of subsceriptions 4 8 0 „ Balance - - -.1 70:18 7 „ Bent = 2 N) ‚„ Printing, drawing, and engraving 5öth Vol. of “ Proceedings ” - 6 2 4 ‚„, Books, stationery, and printing-- - - 2017 1 „ Preserving birds - - 96 „ Specimen cases - - 9138 4 „ Vases - - - 1400 „ Coaland gas - 211340 „ Carriage - - EC) „ Postage - - el 2 7 „ Insurance - - = SUAREG „ Expenses of Annual Meet- ing - - - 012 2 »„, Sundries - - - 5143 £21810 6 £21810 6 NoTE.—By an error of the pressin the Treasurer’s Account for 1854, as printed in page 5 of the 5th Vol., the balance of former account is given as £33 185. Od,, instead of £10 105. The sum of 3s. 6d. is likewise omitted on the expenditure side. Papers were then read by the following gentlemen :— Rev. F. WARRE for E. A. FREEMAN, Esq., On Dunster Priory Church, given in Part II. 6 SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING. The Rev. W. ARTHUR JoNES, one of the Secretaries, read the following Notice of Remains of Ancient British Hut-cireles on Croydon Hill :— “] beg to call the attention of the Society to the remains of an ancient British village which I think I have dis- covered in this neighbourhood. I was led to examine this distriet from seeing, in Savage’s Carhampton that on the Croydon Hills there were two Druidic eircles. When I came to the spot indieated I could find no trace whatever of the tall upright stones invariably marking the site of sacred enclosures ; nor could I learn from any of the oldest inhabitants that stones of that description ever existed there. I had almost given up the search—concluding that the Druidie eirele, if it ever existed, was now utterly de- stroyed-—when I came upon the remains (almost entirely covered with the fern brake) which had given rise to the representations of Savage. But, instead of being a Druidie circle, it proved, considering the eircumstances, a remark- ably well-defined collection of hut eircles. “ This ancient British settlement (as I take it) lies on the south-western deelivity of the hill above Withycombe, under the eminence called the Fire-beacon, and close to the cottage known as Higher Dumbledeer. The outline of several of the cabin-eireles is perfect ; that of others is more or less obliterated; and I ascertained from some of the inhabitants that a great quantity of the stones had been used to drain the adjoining fields. The aspeet and position of this village corresponds most fully with those in which the ancient British villages are found on the Dartmoor. It stands on a gentle slope, looking towards the south- west, and sheltered by the hill behind from the cold winds of the north and north-east. Close by there is a spring of running water at Higher Dumbledeer ; and a little lower, fi ANCIENT HUT-CIRCLES ON CROYDON HILL. in a deep ravine, flows the erystal stream which works the mills at Withycombe. While the spot selected was retired, yet the inhabitants enjoyed a fine open prospect over the rich plains which separate the Brendon from the Quantock Hills. “ Although many hut-circles were made exclusively of earth, yet it is found that stone was used in their construc- tion wherever it was abundant. This was the case here. But while the lower part of the cabins was built of stone, the upper parts were constructed of more perishable mate- rials—of wood, or wattling, covered with turf or thatch. Judging from the allusions to British huts in Diodorus Sieulus, and likewise from the illustrations of them given on the Antonine Column, the eircular forms which now alone remain would seem to have been the base or founda- tions of dwellings of the description already referred to, with tapering roofs, and a hole at top for the escape of smoke. In accordance with the plan on which these settlements appear to have been constructed, the huts in this case were built side by side, in the eircumference of a large circle. From the measurements I was able to take of the more perfect, the huts themselves would seem to have been about 21ft. in diameter, and the large eircle, including the whole settlement, about 160ft., which would give a circumfer- ence of about 480ft. “] hope that during this meeting the spot to which I refer may be visited by the Society, in order to determine whether these circles are what they appear to be. It is not prudent to delay the investigation, for agricultural improve- ment is rapidly spreading ; enclosures are climbing up the valleys and along the slopes of the hills—so that before many years these remains of our Celtic ancestors will exist only in the records of antiquarian societies.” 8 SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING. The Rev. TaomaAs Hugo, On the Charters and other Archives of Cleeve Abbey, given in Part I. At the close of Mr. Hugo’s paper, much valuable infor- mation relating to Cleeve Abbey, was elicited by a con- versation in which Mr. WARDEN and other gentlemen took part. The meeting was then adjourned, and the company visited the Church and the Castle, under the able guid- ance of the Secretary, the Rev. F. Warre. Afterwards a a large party explored the fine encampments in the Park. At five o’elock there was an ORDINARY at the Luttrell Arms Hotel, which was numerously attended. Che Euening Peeting. Soon after seven o’elock the meeting was resumed. The PresıpEnt opened the proceedings by reading several interesting family letters, written during the time of the Commonwealth, and a curious passport to enable Mrs. Luttrell to cross over from Watchet into Wales. These form part of a series shortly to be published, from the treasures of Nettlecombe Court, and, consequently, do not appear in our Proceedings. The Rev. Wm. ARTHUR JONES then read a paper On the Greological Formations in the neighbourhood of Dunster, i given in Part II. Mr. C. MooRE, F.G.S., gave an interesting account of some further discoveries made by him in the Oolite in the neishbourhood of Dundry and Bath. This was followed by a paper by Miss N GIFFORD, On the rare and most remarkable Plants in the SECOND DAY. 9 neighbourhoods of Dunster, Blue Anchor, Minehead, &e., given in Part II. The announcement of the discovery of. Asplenium Sep- tentrionale in Somersetshire, gave rise to an animated discussion, in which the Rev. Tuomas Huco, Dr. Woop- FORDE, and others, took part. - The following papers were presented, but not read, owing to the absence of the writers, and are given in Part I. :— On the traces of Camps and Ancient Earth-works still existing around Bath, by the Rev. H. M. SCARTH. On the Painted Glass in Wells Cathedral, by Mr. (dREVILLE J. CHESTER. SECOND DAY. Wednesday, August 22nd, 1856. Che Ereurzion. A LARGE party assembled at Dunster, and proceeded thence, some to the Church at Carhampton, Old Cleeve and Chapel Cleeve ; others to geologize on the coast from Blue Anchor to Watchet. 'The outlines of the encampment, known as Daw’s Castle, having been in- speeted, the party assembled at Watchet, going thence to St. Decuman’s Church, and on to Battle Gore, close to Williton, to see the tumuli, and the undoubted remains of a British Cromlech. The three stones are there ; the two upright stones (now lying prostrate) are about 10 feet long. At Williton the company found luncheon provided for them by the liberality of Sir W. C. Trevelyan, who ex- pressed his regret, that having no establishment at Nettle- VOL. vI., 1855, PART IL B 10 SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING. combe, he was unable to entertain them there as he wished. The Hon. P. P. Bouverie having acknowledged the kind hospitality of the President, the party proceeded to Old Cleeve Abbey, where, under the far-spreading branches of a magnificent sycamore tree, the Rev. F. WARRE read a paper On Old Cleeve Abbey, given in Part II. After a minute examination of the remains of the Abbey, under the guidance of Mr. Warre, although the day was now far spent, a large party climbed the steep hill above Withycombe, to explore the supposed site of a British village. The Rev. Mr. Warre, who has explored so many of these remains, expressed his strong conviction that it was what Mr. Jones had suggested. Excavations were commenced, but, in consequence of ihe darkness, they were abandoned before any remains confirmatory of the hypothesis could be discovered. About half-way up this hill attention was directed to a natural section in the lane, showing very clearly the conjunction of the red sand-stone with the Devonian series, referred to in the paper on the geology of the neighbourhood. THIRD DAY. , Thursday, August 23rd, 1856. The Meeting was resumed at Dunster, when two very ancient MSS. relating to the county were exhibited by Sir Thos. Phillipps, Bart., of Middle Hill, Worcester ; these contained a terrarium of Bath and a cartularium of Glastonbury. The excursion this day embraced Marsh Farm, with its oratory over the porch, presenting in its interior many interesting architectural features ; Minehead Church, Bratton Court, the picturesque village of Sel- worthy, and the Church. Here the parish chest was THIRD DAY. 11 explored, and a curious proclamation of King James I. brought to light, maintaining the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings. From hence the party proceeded through Lynch, examining the most westerly portion of the lias which oceurs here, to Porlock Church, and on to the residence of Lord Lovelace, the house and grounds having been thrown open by his Lordship’s order. Some of the party lingered for a time in these delightful grounds, while others hurried on to Culbone Church. In the evening the whole party assembled at the resi- dence of the Rev. T. Richards, at Alcombe, by whom they were hospitably entertained. A communication was read _ by Sir Thos. Phillipps, on the name of Aluric Vaccarius, which occeurs in the Pipe-roll of 20 Hen. II., and which Sir Thomas suggested, had its origin in the grant probably made by Alfred to the cowherd (Vaccarius) at Athelney. After a vote of thanks to the President and the Secre- taries, the proceedings of the annual meeting were formally closed. THE FOLLOWING WERE EXHIBITED AT THE Comparary Rluzenm, AND PBRESENTED TO THE SOCIETY. SERIES of mieroscopic shells, of the orders Forami- fera and Brachiopoda ; highly magnified illustrations of the same.—Mr. ©. MOORE, F.G.S. A collection of specimens of rock and ores of Grabhurst, Alcombe Common, North Hill, Dunkery, &c.— Rev. T. M. RıcHARDSs. Specimens of slate from the Treborough Slate Quarry, on the Nettlecombe estate ; specimens of the red and 12 SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING. white iron ores taken from a mine on Brendon Hill, on the Nettlecombe estate.*—Sir W. ©. TREVELYAN, Bart. DEPOSITED. A silver chasing, date A.D. 1530, by Cellini; head of the Virgin, limosin enamel, 1515 ; and the old corporate seal of the Boro’ of Stoke de Courei (Stogursey).— J. H:Payne, Esq. An upper stone of a hand-mill found in the parish of Minehead—it formed the cover of a small enclosed space containing a vase, the contents of which were removed ; copper ore from Alcombe, with electrotype made from it; fragments of ancient pottery and scoriz found in the coal- barrow near the mouth of the Haven, or Hawn, Dunster ; a most beautiful specimen of arragonite, found in a lime- stone quarry at Stowey, in the parish of Cutcombe.— T. AprAHaAm, Esg. Fossil wood found on the beach at Watchet; and the jaws of Ichthyosaurus.—J. W. WıLLıams, Esg. Portion of a glass vessel from Cleeve Abbey, and Roman British Pottery.—Capt. PERCEVAL. Head of Ichthyosaurus tenuirostris, found at Blue An- chor.—W. BLAKE, Esq. Portions of decayed trees, and leaf mould, from the submarine forest near Minehead.—Rev. T. M. RıcHArps. A collection of marine alge, ferns, and other plants.— Miss GIFFORD. A two-looped celt, found near Cork in 1854, considered very rare.—Rev. THomAs Huco. Pen and ink sketches of the churches in the neighbour- hood, drawn and deposited by E. A. FREEMAN, Esq. % This mine is now worked to a depth of 140 feet, from which depth the ores presented were raised. TEMPORARY MUSEUM. 19 A portfolio of sketches of medi»val remains in Somer- setshire and Cornwall ; and water-colour paintings of St. German’s Priory Church, Old Cleeve Abbey gate-house, Crewkerne Monastery ; and views of Watchet, Minchead, and Holnicote Mills. —Mr. A. A. CLARKE. A list of turf-moor plants from the moors of Somerset- shire.— T. CLaRk, Esq., Bridgwater. Che Alusenm. THE FOLLOWING HAVE BEEN DEPOSITED AS LOANS, Two heads of deer, from Cashmere. —Capt. ABBOT. Specimen of lead ore, with quartz, from Dyfngwm mine, N. Wales. —H. D. Kıne, Esq. Five pieces of carving, including the Canterbury Pil- grimage, exhibited at the Crystal Palace in 1851.— Mr. HaALLıpar. Large earthen vessel found at Staplegrove, about three feet from the surface. —A. TURNER, Esq. Report on Somersetshire Charities, Commutation of Tithes, Report of Eeclesiastical Commissioners, Report on Church Revenues, and Maps of Europe. — Rev. W. PneLrs. Model of human figure in ivory.—Mr. J. C. BAKER. Pottery, horns, and copper bolt, from the clay pits near Bridgwater, belonging to the collection of the late Mr. W. Baker. PURCHASED BY THE SOCIETY. The Paleontographical Society’s Journal for 1855. The Archxological Society’s Journal for 1855. A collection of Casts from the Seulptures in Wells Cathedral :— Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4. Four subjeets, forming the capital 14 THE MUSEUM. of one of the large pillars in the south transept. No. 1 shews two figures in the act of stealing some kind of fruit; No. 2 also contains two figures (one armed with a fork, the other with an axe), who seem to be stealthily coming on the two thieves ; No. 3 contains two figures, in which the figure armed with the fork has seized one of the thieves by the ear, and is about to thrust the fork into his head ; in No. 4 the thief is supposed to be in custody, in an uneasy crouching posture, over whom the figure with the fork is standing, his hat fallen over his shoulder, apparently threat- ening the thief with a heavy blow, in the event of his attempting to move. No. 5. A shoe-maker at work. The “strap” is seen over the shoe on the knee of the figure, and passed under the foot. No. 6. Represents a female, exhibiting the appearance of great pain, in the act of extracting a thorn from her foot. No. 7. A curiously grotesque figure, having only one eye, and with distorted countenance, as if suffering from the tooth-ache. No. 8. A grotesque figure of a lion, in the act of seizing a man, who is armed with a kind of axe.* No. 9. A grotesque and curious figure, apparently of the monkey tribe, in an uneasy posture, seemingly sustain- ing a heavy weight on its back. No. 10. The figure of a man, bearing on his shoulder a sort of box, and on his arm is seen a string of beads. No. 11. A fox with a goose in its jaws, and behind, a man holding a crooked rod. No. 12. The figure of a man bearing the branch of some plant thrown over his shoulder. * Nos. 8 to 14 are from the north aisle of the nave. THE MUSEUM. 15 No. 13. Another figure with a small animal slung over his shoulder, and holding something in his hand. No. 14. A female figure carrying some animal, appar- ently a hare, on her shoulder, and leading a goat. No. 15. A venerable bearded figure of Moses, with the “two tables of stone,” on which is engraved * Zege Dei.” This is from the north transept. No. 16. A beautiful bracket or corbel, in which the figure of a lizard is elegantly carved. This is from the north transept. Nos. 17 and 18. Two pedestals, from the east end of the choir, over the altar. Nos. 19 and 20. The Annuneiation of the Virgin, and an emblematical representation of the Deity ; both from panels on the elegant alabaster tomb of Dean Henry Hussee, who died A-D. 1305. No. 21. A head, from the tomb of William de Marchia (A.D. 1302) inserted over the head of the recumbent statue of=the bishop. No. 22. Two mutilated figures of angels, and the figure of a headless bishop between, all gracefully draped ; from the wall under the canopy at the back of Bishop Marchia’s tomb. No. 23. A small figure of a female, in a crouching posi- tion, fronı the tomb of Bishop Beckington. No. 24. From the groined roof of the western cloister, and represents the curious rebus and initial of Bishop Beckington, who died A.D. 1465. The rebus is a flaming becon on a tun, or cask “beacon-tun,” bishop’s name, Beckington. Nos. 25, 26, 27 and 28. Four demi-angels, each holding a shield ; from the chantry chapel of Hugb Sugar, LL.D., who was one of Bishop Beckington’s executors. One in allusion to the 16 THE MUSEUM. shield is charged with three sugar-loaves, surmounted by a doctor’s cap, in allusion to the founder’s name ; another with the initials H. S. in a cypher; another with a cross and the Virgin and Child; and the fourth with the lily, emblematical of the annunciation. No. 29. The statue of Athelstan. He is distinguished by a large brooch on the breast, and by this the statue is elearly identified—the name “ Athelstan” meaning, liter- ally, the “gem” or “ precious stone.” The statue occu- pies one of the most prominent positions in the “ temporal” or north side of the west front, viz., in the second great buttress from the north-east corner of the front. The figure is 8ft. 4in. high, and, although somewhat stiff and ungraceful in appearance, yet it forms an admirable speci- men of English art of the early period at which it was executed. No. 30. The bust of Otho, son of Henry, Emperor of Germany. No. 31. A bust of “Ina,” King of the West Saxons. This statue is placed nearly over the central door, on the south or “spiritual ” side, the corresponding niche on the opposite or “temporal ” side being occupied by his Queen Ethelburga. No. 32. A bust of King Ethelbert, wearing a CLOWN. No. 33. A bust of Ethelred. No. 34. Edwärd, martyr. No. 35. Bust of King William Rufus. No. 36. From the north side of the north-western tower, the subject is “The Last Supper,” and consists of nine figures, described by Mr. Cockerell thus : “John reposes in the bosom of the Saviour; in front is a page kneeling on one knee, as constantly seen in the festive scenes of the middle ages.” THE MUSEUM. 164 No. 37. Christ among the Doctors, consists of ten figures. Nos. 38 and 39. Two statues from the eastern side of the chain gate, built by Bishop Beckington. CONTRIBU'TIONS RECEIVED DURING THE YEAR 1855. History of England, 2 vols, 1732, folio.— W. E. GILLETT, Esg. Two wasps’ nest.—Rev. O. S. HARRISON. Two pieces of hand-mill, or quern, from Kew-steps.— Rev. F. WARRE. Specimen of fossil wood from the Island of Portland, and sheet of metallic oxydes, struck by electrieity by the late Andrew Crosse.—Mrs. ANDREW ÜROSSE. Two specimens of antique carving.— W. E. SURTEES, Esg. Specimen of Ostrea.—W. M. Kery, Esq., m.D. Five photographic delineations of architeetural antiqui- ties of Somerset.—B. J. M. Donne, Esg. Ecelesiastical documents, Camden Society, containing a History of the Bishoprick of Somerset.— JAMES YATES, Esq., F.R.S. Specimens of polished madrepores.— Mrs, WARREN, and Mrs. CEcIL SMITH. Specimen of Travertine, from Pickeridge.— Rev. H. STRETCH. Stuffed badger.—Mr. W. FISHER. Collection of shells from the Black Sea.—Capt. ELLıor. Two casts of ancient British coins, and part of Roman chariot-wheel, found at Hamdon Hill.—R. WALTER, Esa. Churchwardens’ account of Parish of St. Mary’s, Taun- ton, 1672, 1673.—Mr. A. C. Cox. Monkland’s Literature and Literati of Bath, and Sup- plement to ditto.—W. E. SURTEES, Esq. VOL. vı., 1855, PART I. c 18 THE MUSEUM. Rotuli Hundredorum ; Nonarum Inquisitiones ; Inqui- sitiones post Mortem, 4 vols.; Valor Ecclesiasticus, vol. 5; Parliamentary Writs; Abstract of Poor Returns ; Gordon’s Tacitus; Register of Voters; Municipal Cor- porations ; Local Taxation ; County Rates ; Parliamentary Papers—8 vols.; Report of the Orders of Council on Education ; and collection of Railway Prospectuses.— Rev. W. Pers. Parts of mummy.—Mr. W. S. Lıncorn. Specimens of iron ore and fossil ferns.— C. WiINDLE, Eso. CONVERSAZIONE MEETINGS. 19 Conuersozione Ferfinge. öth Season. A the Conversazione Meetings of the Society held at the Museum, in Taunton, during the winter of 1854-55, Papers on the following subjects were read :— 1854, November, —1st Meeting. On Heraldry; by Mr. J. F. Y. Mogg.* On a Newly-discovered Roman Villa at Wadeford; by Mr. R. Walter. On Monumental Efigies in Tiekenham Church, near Clevedon ; by Mr. H. G. Tomkins. December,—2nd Meeting. Observations on a Tour through North America ; by Mr. W. E. Surtees. On Cephalopodes, recent and fossil, illustrative of objects in the Society’s Museum; by the Rev. W. A. Jones. 1855, January,—3rd Meeting. _ On the Life and Times of Roger Bacon; by Mr. Edmund Batten. On the Luminosity of the Sea; by W. Metford, M.D. | On some Recent Discoveries of Roman Remains in the neighbourhood of Bath ; by the Rev. H. M. Scart. March,—4th Meeting. On the Waters of the neighbourhood of Taunton ; by Mr. W. Price Jones. On the Baptism of Gutborm, King of the Danes, at Aller; by Mr. T. S. Baynes, LL.B. * This has since been published in a separate form, by Mr. May, Taunton. ” ” The following Publications have been received during the year 1855, in exchange for the Proceedings of the Society :—— Journals of the British Archeological Association, Janu- ary, March, June, September, and December, 1855. Journals of the Kilkenny and South-east of Ireland Archxzological Society, vol. 2, parts land 2 ; vol. 3, part 2, and for January, March, May, July, September, and No- vember, 1855. History of Kent, by Mr. Dunkin. Transactions of the Leicester Literary Philosophical Society, for 1855. | Reports, etc., of the Northampton Architectural So- ciety, for 1854. ee E:Er GIER ARGUTSET : Dil» MUNgrER :ÖHURCH : FOMERERTEHIRE : — —FROM THE PauTH WELT. PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOMERSETSHIRE ARCHZEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1855, PART U. — PAPERS, ETC. — Dungter Priury Church. —_— BY EDWARD A. FREEMAN, M.A. — MONG the various papers which I have now, for A some years past, annually communicated to the Somersetshire Archxological Society, there has not yet been any which has at all elosely approached to the nature of a monograph. I have generally dealt rather with groups of churches, and with the characteristics of whole distriets, than with detailed examinations of indi- vidual buildings. But the place of your present meeting scems to suggest a different course on the present occasion. The Priory Church of Dunster, though, as a work of architecture, immeasurably inferior to the glorious struc- tures on which I have commented upon in other parts of the county, has nevertheless, for the ecclesiastical anti- quary, an interest of a peculiar kind, and for myself more particularly so, as its more remarkable features throw voL. VI., 1855, PART II. A 2 PAPERS, ETC. great light on an important question to which I have for a long while devoted special attention. The subject to which I allude is that of the architectural distinction between merely parochial churches and those which were conventual or collegiate, and especially of the peceuliarities of those churches m which both purposes were united. This is a subject which I have often treated elsewhere, though 1 do not think that I have ever before been called upon to bring it at any length before my present audience. The general question I dealt with some time ago in a paper read before the Oxford Society, which was afterwards printed in the Builder. I have also followed it up in detail in my History of Llandaff Cathe- dral, and in various monographs and other papers in the Archzological Journal, the Ecclesiologist, and in the ex- cellent publication of your sister Association north of the Bristol Channel, the Archzologia Cambrensis. Any of you who may remember what I have said elsewhere of Llandaff, Monkton, Brecon, Chepstow, Ruthin, Leominster, Dorchester, and Malmesbury, will recognize what I have to say about Dunster, as naturally forming part of the same series. To others, I presume that a general recapi- tulation of the whole subject may not be unacceptable. The monastie and the larger collegiate churches of Eng- land may be dividel into two great classes, those which were simply and wholly designed for the use of the monastie or collegiate fraternity, and those which at the same time discharged the functions of ordinary parish churches. In the generality of these latter cases, the eastern part, or the choir, belonged to the monks ; the western part, or the nave, to the people. In fact, they often formed, to all intents and purposes, two distinct churches, and the two parts were often spoken of distinetly as “the parish DUNSTER PRIORY CHURCH. 3 church,” and “the abbey ” or “ priory church.” There was often a complete barrier between the two, and the people had what may be called their own high altar, at the east end of the nave. Now at the dissolution of monasteries, the fate of these buildings was different from that of those churches which were wholly monastic. The latter, having been the exclusive property of the monks, became the exclusive property of the King and his grantees, and the entire building was preserved, destroyed, or dismantled at their pleasure. Such were Glastonbury, Tintern, Netley, Llanthony, and generally the famous ruined abbeys throughout the country. But when only part of a church belonged to the monks, and part to the parish, the Disso- lution in no way interfered with the latter. Hence it is that we find so many grand churches imperfect ; the nave, as being the parish church, was left standing, while the eastern portion, which belonged to the monks or canons, was alienated by the Dissolution, and was commonly pulled down or left ruinous. This we see at Malmesbury, Waltham, Leominster, Fotheringhay, Usk, Chepstow, Ruthin, Deerhurst, and many others.* In some instances the monastie portion has been added to the parish church, as at Tewkesbury, where it was originally destined to destruction, but was purchased of the King by the parish- ioners; and at Dorchester, where it was the gift of an * T could prolong this list indefinitely. But there is an exceptional class of half-preserved churches, for which I cannot so well account, where the choir is preserved as the paris church, the nave being destroyed. This is the case with Great St. Bartholomew’s in London, Pershore, Wor- cestershire, Boxgrove and New Shoreham, Sussex, and, I may add, Bristol Cathedral. In connexion with the two Sussex examples, it is worth noting that at Winchelsea the Friary has the nave totally destroyed, wlıile the choir exists, though in ruins, and that the old Guildhall at Chichester is a desecrated choir, whose nave is destroyed. Winchelsea parish church, and Merton Chapel, Oxford, are unfinished; at Hexham, I believe, the nave was destroyed in the Scottish wars, and never rebuilt. 4 PAPERS, ETC. individual benefactor. At Monkton, in Pembrokeshire, and at Howden, the eastern portion remains, but roofless ; at Arundel, at Ewenny in Glamorganshire, and at Dunster, it remains, and retains its roof, but is otherwise in a con- dition than which a well-preserved ruin is incomparably less offensive. The general effect of Dunster church I have alluded to more than once in other papers. It is a long, low, irregular cruciform building, with its external architecture wholly Perpendicular, of a plain and in no way striking kind. Even externally its very peculiar arrangement suggests itself. East of the central tower, on whose character I commented some years back, is evidently the choir, or mo- nastic church ; west of it stretehes a nave of unusual length. Now, at some little distance west of the tower, you will see one of those side-turrets which are the never-failing sign of a grand Somersetshire roodscreen, stretching across the whole width of the church, both nave and aisles. On entering, you find the transept and the whole space east of the tower cut off and disused ; the altar is under the western arch of the tower; and some way to the west, as was suggested by the external turret, one of the noblest roodlofts in Somersetshire stretehes across both nave and aisles. That this is no modern arrangement is proved both by the turret and by the general proportion and arrange- ment of the whole. The fact is that Dunster church com- prises, in every sense, two churches. The priory church, east of the tower, remains disused, having been most probably spared from entire destruction on account of the monuments which it contains. The parish church remains, bating pews and such like, just as it was—a distmet church, west of the tower, so thoroughly distinet as to have not only its own altar, but its own clearly-marked DUNSTER PRIORY CHURCH. 5 choir, fenced off by its own very goodly roodsereen. Nor is this separate parish church, taken alone, a building of very insignificant extent. I roughly estimated its whole length at 101 feet, 67 to the nave, and 34 to the chancel. The lantern I reckoned at about 21, and the choir of the monks at 59, making the entire dimensions of the whole building about 180 feet, or a little more than the length of St. Asaph, the smallest English cathedral. This secondary choir, so distinetly marked within the parochial part of the church, I do not remember to have seen elsewhere, and it is fortunate that we have an authentie record of the date and cause of its introduction at Dunster. It appears from documents quoted in Collinson’s Somerset- shire, that in 1499 a dispute raged in Dunster between the Prior and his monks on the one hand, and the Vicar and his parishioners on the other, touching their respective rights in the church which served both for the monastery and the parish. The matter was referred to the then Abbot of Glastonbury and two other arbitrators, who gave judgment that the Vicar and his flock should leave the monks’ choir wholly to the monks themselves, and make themselves a separate choir within thenave. Here we have the explana- tion of the arrangement which still remains; but the evi- dence of the fabrie shows that they did something more than merely introduce the new arrangement into an existing church; they very nearly rebuilt the whole church in such a manner as to give the new arrangement the fullest scope, and to effect the most complete separation possible between the two portions of the building. To understand this, we must go back a little to consider what Dunster church had been in earlier times, Though I have called the present discourse a monograph, 6 PAPERS, ETC. yet I have not given it the regular form of an architectural history, partly because the church, as a mere piece of architecture, hardly merits it; partly because, when I last . visited Dunster, my physical strength and consequent spirits were by no means equal to that process of examining every nook and corner, every scam and joint of masonry, which has cost me many a considerable head-ache in the eastern chapels of St. David’s. I think, however, I can make out a general sketch of the history of the building, as far as is required for our immediate purpose, though I would not put it forth with the same confidence as I might under more favourable eircumstances. The Priory of Dunster was originally founded towards the close of the eleventh century, and some small portions of the church, which was doubtless built soon afterwards, still exist. A little to the west of the western arch of the present lantern a large Norman arch, spans the nave, and connected with it on each side is a portion of masonry, that to the south showing a small fragment of a Norman pillar. The Norman church then had a nave and aisles, doubtless of the same proportion in point of width as the present ones, for the nave is still extremely wide, and the aisles unusually narrow. Of its probable length I cannot undertake to speak. The Norman arch across the nave has clearly been tampered with, and its inner order or orders taken away; but I could see no sign of its having been removed from its original place. From its position, it might be either a mere chancel-arch, if there were no central tower, or the western arch of a lantern, if there were one. But as a Transitional arch leads from the south tran- sept into the south aisle of the monks’ choir, I think we may safely infer that the original church was erueiform, DUNSTER PRIORY CHURCH. 7 with a lantern tower, of considerably greater massiveness than the present one. Now, from the ordinary arrange- ments of Norman eonventual churches, we should expect to find the ritual choir, containing the stalls of the monks, under this central tower, the eastern limb—then probably of short extent—forming the presbytery. And I think we have some evidence that the stalls continued to occupy this position down to the award of 1499. In that sentence the Vicar and parishioners are directed to attach their new choir to the altar of St. James, on the south side of the door into the monks’ choir. But, as we can hardly doubt that the present altar occupies nearly the same position (as far as east and west are concerned) which those arbitrators intended, it seems to follow that the roodscreen was, up to that time, placed across the western arch of the lantern, and that the monks’ choir was under the central tower. The ceastern limb contains some vestiges of Early English work, in a string at the east end, continued along part of the south side. It is also clear from the masonry that the Perpendicular arches on each side have been cut through an earlier and more massive wall. Hence it appears that the original presbytery or castern limb was without aisles, strietly so called. Yet the Transitional arch leading from the south transept into one of the present aisles shows that something was attached to the east of this transept, perhaps an apse, perhaps a square chapel not opening at all into the presbytery, as at Ewenny, or opening only by a low arch, as at Brecon. Whatever it was, it was swallowed up by the Perpendicular aisle. This Transitional arch should be noticed, on account of the extraordinary shape of its shafts, which curve inwards below the capitals, so as to give the whole an approach to the trefoil form. The arch is pointed, with Early English mouldings, but the abaei are square. 8 PAPERS, ETC. We ınay therefore suppose that Dunster church, up to the end of the fifteenth century, consisted of a Norman nave and aisles, a massive lantern tower at the crossing, forming the ritual choir, an eastern limb without aisles, but with small chapels or apses attached to the transepts. The two portions, the parochial and the monastic, were brought into close juxtaposition, and were doubtless only separated by ascreen. It was now determined to recon- struct the whole pile in such a way as to make the most marked division between them, and, in fact, to convert the building into two distinet churches. It will here be desirable to refer to two somewhat ana- logous cases elsewhere, which may help to elucidate the prineiple on which this was effected. The one is the abbey church of Wymondham in Norfolk, which forms the sub- jeet of an admirable monograph by Mr. Petit, in the Norwich volume of the Proceedings of the Institute ; the other is the collegiate church of Ruthin in Denbighshire, illustrated by myself in a late number of the Arch»ologia Cambrensis. At Wymondham, as at Dunster, the monks and the people quarrelled about the possession of the church, and eventually compromised the matter by literally cutting it in two. The monks took the eastern, the parish the western portion, and the monks erected a tower be- tween the two. This tower was not a mere central lan- tern, but a real western tower to their own church, having a dead wall towards the parish church, pierced only by two small doorways. The parishioners subsequently built an immense tower at Zheir west end, so that, as the monas- tic portion is now in ruins, the parish church stands with a tower at each end. At Ruthin, a church of the fourteenth century, the plan adopted from the beginning was somewhat analogous to @ nr 2 = Tau ie er ir 2 42 ae EIER er ne SE u NE 4 x 3 MARZO A: FROM UNDER THE CENTRAL TOWER » . Del ä UNSTER ÖHURCH : SBOMERBETEMIRIG: C. E. Giles, DUNSTER PRIORY CHURCH. 9 that subsequently introduced at Wymondham. The church is not cruciform, but the tower is interposed between the nave or parish church, and the collegiate choir to the east, since destroyed. This tower differs from that at Wymondham in not having a solid west wall, but an eastern and western arch ; but it was evidently intended to act as a barrier between the choir and the nave, and not to be itself a portion of either. A screen, with signs of an altar against it, runs across the western arch, so that it was no part of the nave, while external doorways and other features of its arrangement show that it was no part of the choir. It evidently remained an insulated portion between the two. Now it appears to me that the changes of 1499 intro- duced a similar arrangement into Dunster church. The old Norman tower-choir was taken down, the monks’ choir was removed into the eastern limb, and the present tower was erected between the monastic and parochial portions of the church. The high altar of the parish church was placed under the western arch, the roodscreen of the priory church under the eastern arch. The lantern itself, with the transepts, formed a noble vestibule to the church of the monks, who had a private entrance in the west wall of the south transept. Even the external character of the tower suggests something of this kind ; it is em- phatically a tower and not a lantern, being unusually lofty, and furnished with diagonal buttresses. Perhaps, however, I ought not to insist upon this last feature, which oceurs in other central towers in Somersetshire, where the same explanation cannot be given. The internal appearance of this tower and transepts is exceedingly noble. The lantern arches, though not very elaborate, are of excellent proportions, tall, bold, and somewhat voL. VI., 1855, PART II. B 10 PAPERS, ETC. narrow; and the general effect of the empty transept, being neither choked with pews, like the nave, nor yet left to decay, like the choir, is striking in the extreme. One may perhaps regret that the crossing itself is not vaulted, like Ilminster; but possibly that grand finish is more in har- mony with the idea ofa genuine lantern, a centre of unity, than with that of a tower forming a barrier between two distinet buildings. Externally there is a pleasing effect about the south transept front ; it has a pretty, simple, elevation, consisting of a tall, well-proportioned window, with a niche on each side, and a doorway below. East and west of this neutral space, the monks and the parishioners appear to have remodelled their respective portions, without much regard to each other’s proceed- ings. At least there is a wide difference in the details employed in the two, and we cannot hesitate in de- cidedly preferring those of the parochial portion. One expeetation which we might fairly form is doomed to dis-. appointment. As the Priory of Dunster was a cell to that of Bath, one might have fairly expected to find some approximation in its architeeture, to the magnificent, if anomalous, reconstruction of the mother church which was going on much about the same time. But no resemblance is to be seen, unless we look for it in so vague a point as the use of the four-centred pier-arch, and in the somewhat uncouth design of the east window. Most of the windows in the church are of very much better character. The monks, as I before said, now. removed their stalls into the limb east of the tower, one undoubtedly quite spacious enough to contain both the choir and presbytery of so small a foundation. But while they thus diminished their space from east to west, they gave additional dignity to their portion by that addition of aisles which has been DUNSTER PRIORY CHURCH. Y already alluded to. They were added to two bays only, the third being left distinet as a presbytery. North of the high altar, a small chantry was thrown out, which still retains its altar. The pier-arches, as I have already im- plied, are four-centred; their execution is poor, and on neither side can the capitals be referred to the true Somer- setshire type; on the north the abacus runs round the whole section ; on the south we find a plain form of the Devonshire lozenge, a kind of capital which may be very satisfactory when exhibited in so splendid a shape as those at Lydeard St. Lawrence, but which certainly ıs poor enough in its Dunster variety. Both here and in the western limb the clerestory is absent throughout, and the roofs are all coved, except in the north aisle of the nave. Neglect has probably acted as their preserver, as “ restora- tion ” would almost infallibly have proved their destruction. The best bit of Perpendicular work in the conventual portion is the arch between the north transept and the north choir aisle, which comes nearer to the more usual and better kind of Somersetshire work. And now for the part of the building west of the tower, namely, the parish church—a church, I may observe, most thoroughly complete in all its parts and divisions. The splendid roodloft fences off the parochial choir, according to the judgment of the arbitrators in 1499; but, more than this, the retention of the old Norman arch a little to the west of the present lantern actually forms a constructive presbytery for the parochial high altar, so that we have all the essential parts of an aneient church duly marked off in what is, architeeturally,merely the nave ofa larger cruciform building. And we may observe that this parish church of Dunster, like Westminster and Llandaff, and like the primitive basilicas, makes a more marked division between 12 PAPERS, ETC. the choir and the presbytery than between the nave and the choir, separating the latter only by a screen, but the, former by an architectural member. The parish church has an aisle on each side, but not only does the southern one extend much further to the west than its northern fellow, but the arcades do not correspond with each other as far as they go. The four arches on the north side are perceptibly narrower than the six on the south. Consequently the roodloft erosses the church in a singular manner, passing close to a pillar on one side, but not on the other.* The pillars approach nearer to ordinary Somersetshire forms than those of the conventual church. They are of the common Somersetshire section, with capitals to the attached shafts only, but these capitals are octagonal, and not round, which last, I need not say, is the form most distinctive of the county. The general effect of this part of the church, though it does not altogether lack dignity either within or without, is gloomy and heavy, owing to its extreme width and low- ness. Nothing can be conceived in more complete contrast to the aspiring forms of Wrington and Banwell, than this long, low, unclerestoried mass. But its greatest failure is at the west end. What a falling off is here from the splendours of Yatton and Crewkerne! The north aisle not being prolonged to the full extent westward, the west end is irregular and lopsided, and no care whatever appears to have been bestowed upon it. There is simply the broad, heavy gable of the nave, containing the west window and doorway—the former well-proportioned in itself, though hardly suiting its position—-unrelieved by * Similarly, in Dursley Church, Gloucestershire, the arcades on the two sides do not correspond, so that, as there is neither screen nor chancel-arch, it is Impossible to say at what point the choir commences. DUNSTER PRIORY CHURCH. 13 buttress, pinnacle, or niche. The west end ofthe south aisle, too, not reaching quite to the same level as that of the nave,-increases the effeet of irregularity, while it adds nothing in point of pieturesque effect. Yet the general view of Dunster church, even from the south-west, is by no means unsatisfactory; its general outline, with the ex- ception of the actual west end, is pleasing, though it has little to offer on the score of strietly architectural excellence. The conventual buildings at Dunster lay on the north side of the church, but there is not very much to be made out, and the church is so enveloped with private houses and gardens that the enquiry is for the most part diflicult, if not impossible. There appears to have been a small cloister in the angle between the nave and the north aisle, and attached to this, to the west, is a building, part probably of the Prior’s lodgings, which retains a square-headed Per- pendieular window. The monastie dove-cot, a very good specimen, retaining a wooden medisval door, remains among the farm-buildings to the north ofthe church. The barn also struck me as the old one tampered with, though I must confess that I did not examine it quite so minutely as I ought. The above is the best account of Dunster Priory that I have been able to pnt together under very unfavourable eircumstances. Had I been in my usual health and spirits, I doubt not but that I might have produced something much better. I trust, however, that my general theory of the character and history of the building may be found accurate and satisfactory ; on minuter points I would not be understood as dogmatizing with the same confidence as on other occasions. Besides the Priory and the Castle, Dunster contains one 14 PAPERS, ETC. or two other architectural remains of some value. The old Market Hall can, indeed, hardly be called in strietness a work of architecture, but its pieturesque effect is about as perfect as may be. But the Luttrell Arms Inn contains some portions worthy of more detailed examination. There is a good Perpendicular porch, on each side of which may be discerned some defensive preparations, which seem to imply the possibility of mine host—if hostelry it were from the beginning—being called upon to stand a siege npon his own premises. Within are some good einquecento chimney- pieces and other ornamental work; there is also, in a rather out-of-the-way part, where the visitor will have to look for it, some effective, though rather coarse, Perpendicular wood-work, two ranges of windows namely, with inter- mediate panelling. I may also mention that in going up one of the hills out of the town, nearly westward from the church, I observed what appeared to be an ancient well or conduit. Of other churches in the neighbourhood, I have never seen many, and Minehead is the only one which I have been able to revisit on the present occasion. What I had to say about its tower, as well as St. Decumans, I said in a former paper, but the church itself may deserve a few words of notice. It is not a building of any great size or magnificence, but it possesses some remarkable features, and it derives a certain amount of attractiveness from its striking position on the slope of the bold promontory which forms one of the grandest features of this side of the Bristol Channel. The church consists of a nave and north aisle, with a small chapel north of the latter at the east end, so that there are three eastern gables, producing a pic- turesque effect from the south-east. This north-east chapel DUNSTER PRIORY CHURCH. 15 is connected with the north aisle by a wooden arch, and we may notice its coved roof, with the part over the altar boarded. There is another less intelligible projection about the middle of the north side, which appears to have a stone roof, but which is altogether blocked and inacces- sible within. The two prineipal bodies are separated by an arcade of eight arches, rising from plain octagonal pillars, which at present decline fearfully from the perpendicular. There is no architectural distinction between nave and chan- cel, but a magnificent roodloft screens off the three eastern bays. This terminates in the south wall in a remarkable staircase-turret, which is at once square in shape, unusually large, and lishted by a large square-headed window, of the kind usual in Somersetshire domestic work. There is also something singular in the panelled arch of the east window of the aislee The church, like Dunster, is very wide. The roofs are coved, except under the tower, where are the remains of a rich flat ceiling. There are some monu- mental antiquities worth attention, and also a statue or idol, apparently of Queen Anne, standing, for no intelli- gible cause, at the east end of the aisle.e. The richly- carved Communion-table should also be noticed. I do not think there are any portions earlier than the Perpen- dieular sera. St. Decumans I visited but hastily some years back, when I was chiefly studying the towers, and I cannot make very much out of my old notes. But I can perceive that it contains details which will repay examination, both of Perpendicular and earlier times. The chancel has an east window of good early Geometrical tracery, and a lancet on the north side, beautifully treated inside, with a deeply moulded trefoil rear-arch, rising from shafts with floriated capitals. Pointed coved roofs remain throughout. 16 PAPERS, ETC. Carhampton is a little double-bodied church, without a tower, which also contains some Early work. There is a small lancet at the west end, and a square-headed Deco- rated window on the north of the chancel, rather of a Northamptonshire pattern. But the arcade is Perpendi- cular, with four-centred arches, and the roodloft here also runs right across the church. This omission of the chancel- arch, and this extreme prominence given to the roodloft, is certainly a sign that we are here approaching the borders of Devon. It is quite different from what is usual in the more eastern part of Somersetshire. This is unfortunately all I have to lay before you re- lating to the churches and other antiquities of the Deanry of Dunster. ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. 17 On the Churters amd ather Archtues of Gleene Shen. BY THE REV. THOMAS HUGO, M.A., F.S.A., F.L.S., F.R.S.L., ETC.; HON. MEMBER. AM painfully sensible that the subject on which I have to solieit your attention is of necessity so deeply covered with the dust of ages as to be disregarded by many, and repulsive to more. The examination of ancient Records is a branch of arch&ology which none but pro- fessed antiquaries are accustomed to cultivate as its im- portance demands or as its interest deserves. Many causes, doubtless, concur to bring about this result. Our ancient Records are presented to us in characters strange and obso- lete—are not only unintelligible, but altogether illegible, by any save an initiated eye, and, whether in Latin or in English, häve little in common with the classical aspect of the former language, or the prevailing dialect of our own age. And yet I need not say, in the presence of such an auditory as I have now the honour of addressing, that on the knowledge with which ancient Records furnish us, VOL. vI., 1855, PART II, © 18 PAPERS, ETC. depends, in no inconsiderable degree, our ability of pur- suing with success any other branch of archsological science. A pilgrimage to some picturesque ruin is of itself delightful: but the gratification is increased a hundred-fold when we are in possession of its previous history, the affecting mutations which it has witnessed, the strange sights on which the old walls have looked down, and the wondrous words which they have heard. Who, for instance, can look at an Abbey intelligently, and as ruins of holy places ought to be looked at, unless he know something of its pious founder, its saintly benefac- tors, and the part which it has played in our country’s annals. For this species of information we must go to those sources to which I have alluded—our manuscript collections of record lore.. Or we must be miserably con- tent, as are only too many readers, and alas ! writers also, of archzological productions, to write or to read what has been written and published over and over again, to take our information at second, third, or tenth hand, and oftentimes to lose the truth, bewildered in the laby- rinth which copyists and retailers are unhappily certain to create. And yet, perhaps, apology is due from me for confining myself so closely, as I shall be found to do, to a depart- ment confessed to be to general students so repulsive and uninteresting. My excuse must be found in the fact that such a proceeding is obligatory on me. A few weeks ago my reverend friend, Mr. Warre, kindly invited me to furnish a paper for the present meeting, a proposal which, after the honour done to me by the Society last year, I could not bring myself to decline. I therefore mentioned Cleeve Abbey as a subject for my address to you, but was sorry to find that it was already in other hands. It was ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. 19 suggested to me, however, by more than one, that the department to which I proposed to devote special atten- tion, that of the Archives, was still open to me, and that I should undertake an investigation which my residence in the metropolis, as well as other advantages, by opening to me the rich stores of our national depositories, afforded me peculiar facilities for pursuing to a successful issue. On this desire Ihave acted. But see to what it has re- duced me! I cannot now lead you by some green path in the glade, with the honeysuckle hedges in full perfume alongside of us, and discourse with you as we pause every here and there, where the solemn arches are rising above the covert, or where the ivy all but conceals the sculptured foliage or the benignant lineaments of some angel or angelice man. I cannot take you through some fair portal, or bid you mark the wondrous adaptation of some architeetural arrangement, or point out to your de- lighted eyes the rich curves of some superb moulding, the delicate crotchets of some ornamented niche, or the graceful tracery of some exquisite window. I cannot speak of the lights and shadows, the deep silence, the hallowed repose of a spot, dilecta tabernacula Domini, which, from times of old, religion has chosen for her home. Neither can I present you with a retrospect for your imagination to revel in, the imposing ceremonial of some early age, the prayers which irradiated the House where they were offered, or the music which carried the soul to Heaven. AU this I must leave to my more fortunate coadjutor. I have, however, to say a few words about, and to put into a literal English dress, those dozen or two documents, which, be it remembered, alone enable us to know for certain that these walls are the veritable remains of a House dedicated to God, and used for His service ; which, 20 PAPERS, ETC. quaint, obsolete, jejune as they may be considered, will make us, nevertheless, far more able to enjoy our personal examination than we could have been, had the informa- tion afforded by them been through their absence lost beyond recal. I shall arrange the documents to be brought under your notice in three divisions :—— 1. Charters already printed, of which I shall give entire translations. 2. Charters not hitherto printed, which shall be accu- rately given in their original forms, as valuable and inter- esting additions to our English Monasticon ; and translated or abstracted, as most desirable. 3. Other documents illustrative of the subject, distin- guishing those now for the first time printed, the originals of which shall of course be presented. And I am happy to add that these also are of considerable interest. Cleeve Abbey was founded in the year 1188, for monks of the Cistertian Order, by William de Romare, youngest son or nephew of William de Romare, Earl of Lincoln. “This William, youngest son of the foreseid William de Romare, and of the seid Luce hys wyff, found the Abbey and Monastery of our seid blissed Lady of the Cliff, in the foreseid countie of Somerset, in the nyneth yere of the reigne of King Richard the First, late King of Eng- land; and that by the hondes and oversight of oone Hugh, then Abbat of the foreseyd Monastery and Abbey of Rewesby, the which stalled and made then first Abbot of the foresyd Monastery of Cliff aforeseid, oone Raff, as hit apperith by old wretyngs in the seide Abbey of Chff.” * * MS. Cott. Tib. E. 8, f. 208. ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. 21 The earliest which has come down to us is happily the charter of foundation, and furnishes us with the founder’s name, and the original possessions of the Abbey. It is printed in Dugdale,* with several otlıers from a Registrum formerly in the possession of Sir Hugh Wind- ham, one of the Judges of the Common Pleas in the year 1677, but which appears now to be lost. It is not in the British Museum, or at the Tower, or in any other Depo- sitory which I have examined ; nor is it known what became of it after Dugdale most fortunately transcribed and printed its contents, and thereby perpetuated the in- formation which it contained. And let me remark in passing, that the present is an excellent example of the advantages derivable from gentlemen submitting their MSS., which they are often unable themselves to read, to the hands of others by whom that work may be performed. Many a valuable MS. has perished by the conjoint influ- ences of aceident, carelessness, and time, unknown and untranscribed, the information contained in which would be of the greatest possible value to all who are interested in the history and habits of their forefathers. It has often happened that the copy has been preserved, whilst the original has been suffered to remain in its insecure situation till damp or violence completed what time had unhappily begun. Societies like the one which I am addressing cannot exert a more beneficial influence than by indncing gentlemen who possess archxological trea- sures, of whatever kind, to make their stores known, and consequently used, understood, and appreciated as they deserve. * Monasticon Anglicanum, Ed. 1825, Vol. V., pp. 732, 733. 22 PAPERS, ETC. The following is a literal translation of the charter of foundation just now alluded to :— (I.) “To Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Monks,and Can- ons, Earls, Barons, Soldiers, Clerks, and Laymen, and to all the sons of Holy Mother Church, as well present as future, William de Romara wisheth health. Know ye that I have given, and granted, and by this charter have confirmed all my land of Clyve, with all its appurtenances and liberties, and the customs which are due from the same land, the service of my soldiers of the same land alone excepted, to found an abbey, by the hand of Hugh, abbot of S. Lau- rence of Revesby, for the health of my soul and of that of my father, and of my mother, and of all my ancestors. These all I have given and granted and confirmed, to found the said abbey, with all its appurtenances, free and discharged from me and my heirs, and quit of all land service, and customs, and secular exaction, and pleas, and causes, and quests, for a perpetual and pure alms. Also I will and appoint that the said abbey do have and hold all these fully and entirely, in good-will and in peace, in the vill and out of the vill, with the tofts and crofts, and churches and chapels, arable land and marshes, and thickets, and meadows, and pastures, and woods, and flats, and alder groves, and moors, and roads, and paths, and waters, and rivers, and marshes, and mills, and liberties, and common rights, and all things pertaining to the same tenure, with other things and eustoms. These are witnesses: Reinald Bishop of Bath, Roger de Benigeworth, Radbot the butler, David de Thochington, Robert de Engain, Roger clerk.” This was written in or previously to a.D. 1188. It was followed by a second charter in the reign of Richard IL, who succeeded in 1189, reciting still more minutely the ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. 23 particulars of the gift. Literally translated it is as follows :— (II.) “To Richard, by the grace of God illustrious King of England, Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Earls, Barons, and to all free men of the realm, and to all sons of Holy Mother Church, William de Romara wisheth health. Know ye that I have granted, and given, and by this present charter have confirmed to God, and S. Mary, and the monks of S. Laurence of Revesby, in the hand of Hugh Abbot of the same place, to found an abbey of the order Cistertian, for the health and for the soul of my liege Richard, King of England, and for the soul of K. Henry his father, my lord, who brought me up, and of all my ancestors and heirs, and for my own soul, and of Philippa my wife, and for the souls of all our ancestors and of our heirs, and of our suc- cessors, for a pure and perpetual alms, all my land of Clyve, in the vill and out of the vill, with all its appurte- nances; to wit, the whole demesne, with all my rusties residing in the same vill, and with the lands which they hold plenarily in woods and flats, and meadows and pastures, and waters and mills, and roads and paths, and all the liberties and free customs pertaining to the aforesaid vill; but my free men of the same vill, and their service, I have retained in my own hand. All the other things aforesaid I have granted, and given to the aforesaid monks, for a pure and perpetual alms, free and quit of all customs, and pleas, and causes, and quests, from myself and my heirs and my successors, and released from all land service, and secular exaction, for ever ; to be held so well in peace and honorably, as any alms can be freely, quietly, and honor- ably, by any one given or held. And I and my heirs and successors will engage to maintain all these things to the aforesaid monks against all men. These are witnesses : 24 PAPERS, ETC. Lord Hugh bishop of Lincoln, Lord E. abbot of Rivaulx, Lord R. abbot of Kirkestede, Joscelin prior of Spalding, Master Hugh de Stikeswald, Gregory elerk of Bening- word, Roger chaplain, Roger elerk, Wido de Veer, Gilbert de Beningword seneschal, Ralph de Braibo, William his son, Joscelin de Autebarge, Nicholas de Henne, William le Ostriter, William son of Richard de Haltune, William de Kales, Philip de Kales, John son of Gerard, Alan de Stikeney, Alan son of Reingot, Reuer clerk of Haltune, Hugh de Warewich, William Bachun, John Carbunel, Ralph Carbunel, Thomas de Horreby, Gilbert son of Richard de Wadingword, Hugh de Gurney.” The famous Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent and Chan- cellor of England, the father-in-law, it will be recollected, of "the founder of the Abbey, was himself a benefactor. Accordingly, the next document is a confirmation by K. John of the donations both of the founder and of his noble relative. It is here offered in a literal translation :— (IIL.) “John, by the grace of God King of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitain, count of Angers, to the Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Earls, Barons, Justices, Viscounts, and all his Bailiffs and faithful servants health. Know ye that we have granted, and by the present charter have confirmed to God and S. Mary, and the monks of Clyve, of the Cistercian Order, serving God there, the gift which William de Romare made to them, of the site of their Abbey of Clyve, and of all the land of Clyve, with all its appurtenances. Also the gift which Hubert de Burgh our chamberlain made to them of a freehold in Clyve, with its appurtenances ; and of the church of Kammel, with its appurtenances. Also of the service and tenement of Ada de Wachedford, with its appurtenances ; and all other gifts made to them, as the u - . ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ADBEY. 25 charters of the donors respectively attest. Wherefore we will, et. Dated by the hand of H. Archbishop of Can- terbury, our chancellor, at Loch, on the twenty-eighth day of January, in the third year of our reign.” The instrument just read was accordingly written in the year 1201-1202. The Abbey had powerful friends; for the next charter is one of Richard E. of Cornwall, brother of K. Henry IIL., granting to the monks various lands in Cornwall of consider- able value, together with sundry important privileges. The series of exemptions furnishes a curious pieture of the multitudinous rights and services incident upon feudal tenure. In English it reads thus :— (IV.) “To all to whom the present writing shall arrive,, Richard Count of Poicetiers and Cornwall wisheth health. Know allof you that Ihave granted, and by this my present charter have confirmed for me and my heirs, to the Abbot of Clyve and to the monks serving God there, by considera- tion of charity, and for the health of my soul, and of all my ancestors and successors, for a free, pure, and perpetual alms, all the lands which they possessed in Cornwall, on the day of the nativity of S. John the Baptist, in the nine- teenth year of the reign of my brother King Henry; that is to say, Pochewill and Treglastan, with the appurtenances which they possessed before of the gift of Lord Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent; and the land which they possessed before at Pundestoke, of the gift of William de Pundestoke, to be had and holden by the same abbot and monks freely and peacefully, with infangendethef and utfangendethef. Also I have granted to the same, that the lands aforesaid should be quit of hidages, and shires, and hundreds, levies, assizes, and summonses for collecting treasure, and the eitements of the sheriff’ and his servants, of the sheriff’s turn, V@L. vI., 1855, PART II. D 26 PAPERS, ETC. and of all other citements, and of the county amercia- ment, passage, pontage, and of works of castles, bridges, stews, walls, parks, and of all enclosures, and of tithing peny. And that the aforesaid lands be quit of clearings, waste, and viewing of forest, and of toll, of pleas of forest, of knights’ service, and of all liabilities, customs, and secular exactions affecting me or my heirs. Wherefore I will, etc. These are witnesses: my venerable father, Jocelin, by the grace of God Bishop of Bath, Lord William de Ralegh, Richard de Curry, John the son of John, Guido of S. Amandus, Henry Theutonicus, John Bretach, and Nicholas de Anna clerk, Robert de Esthall clerk, and others.” The next is another charter of Hubert de Burgh the chamberlain. It is interesting, and, translated, reads thus :— (V.) “Know all men present and future, that I, Hubert de Burgh, chamberlain of our Lord the King, have given, granted, and by this my present charter have confirmed, to God and S. Mary, and the monks of Clyve there serving God, now and hereafter, for the health of my soul, and of my father and mother, and of allmy ancestors and parents, and of my heirs, for a perpetual alms, all the demesne which I possessed in Rugeham, and the homages and services of all freemen and their heirs, and the rustics with their lands which I possessed in Rugeham ; and whatsoever pertained to me and tomy heirs of all the tenement which I possessed ‘of the gift of my Lord Hugh de Fogingtone in Rugeham, in good-will and in peace, freely and quietly, plenarily and entirely, and honourably, in wood and in flat, in pastures and thickets, in waters and mills, in marshes and stews, in roads and footpaths, and with all their appurtenances, and with all the liberties and free customs pertaining to the ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. 27 same vill. Allthese aforesaid homages, and services, and tenements, with all their appurtenances, I have given to the aforesaid monks free and quit of me and my heirs, and released from all land service and secular demand; saving, nevertheless, the service of my Lord the King appertaining to the same land. Both I and my heirs will warrant all these tenements aforesaid to the aforesaid monks against allmen and women. These are witnesses: Henry Biset, Walter de Evermue, Robert Aguilun, Richard his brother, Roger la Veile, Richard his brother, Alan de Wichtone, Alexander de Rughanı, John de Yngeworth, Richard Russel, William Crakef . . . , and many others.” The next in order is the following, from Reginald de Mohun :— (VL) “ To all the faithful of Christ to whom the present writing shall come, Reginald de Mohun wisheth health. Know ye that I have given, and granted, and by my pre- sent charter have confirmed to God and blessed Mary, and to the monks of Flowery Vale, which is commonly called Clyve, there serving God, and that shall hereafter serve, for the health of my soul, and of Avis my wife, and of my heirs, and all my predecessors, and my successors, for a pure and perpetual alms, all my land of Slaworth, which belonged to Richard de Slaworth and Roger son of the same; to be held and possessed of me and of my heirs for ever, with all their appurtenances ; in roads and footpaths, in wood and flat, in waters and turbaries, and in pastures and downs, and all other things, by themselves and all their animals and other cattle, with free ingress and egress, freely, quietly, peacefully and honorably, and quit and released of all service and secular demand; saving the King's service, to wit as much äs belongeth to the eighth part of the fee of one soldier in the fee of Dunster. But if any other 28 PAPERS, ETC. service be due, or shall be due from thence to any man, I and my heirs will discharge it out of our tenement of Dunster. We will warrant all the aforesaid land of Sla- worth to the aforesaid monks, with all its appurtenances, against all men and women, as any alms can and ought freely to be discharged and warranted, saving the King’s service as is aforesaid. And that this my gift and grant may remain for ever firm and unshaken, I have thought fit that my seal should be appended to the present writing. These are witnesses : etc.” William de Mohun, brother of the aforesaid Reginald, was also a benefactor of the Abbey ; and the following instrument is tlıe confirmation by Reginald of his brother’s gift. In the interim it will be perceived that be had lost his wife; as {he lady named in the charter just read as Avis my wife, is here mentioned as Avis de Mohun of blessed memory :— (VIL) “To all men to whom the present writing shall arrive, Reginald de Mohun wisheth health in the Lord. Know allof you, that I,for the health of my soul,ofmy father and mother, and of Avis de Mohun of blessed memory, and of allmy ancestors and successors, have granted and confirmed all the gift of William de Mohun, my brother, which he gave to the monks of Clyve, of the land of Stortmanforde, with all its appurtenances, which the same William held and possessed of my gift, as the charter of the same to the same monks on that occasion made attests. And I and my heirs will warrant for ever the aforesaid land to the said monks, as our free, pure, and perpetual alms, with all its appurtenances. Which that it may con- tinue for ever firm and stable, I have strengthened the present writing by the impression of my seal. "These are „ . witnesses : etc a re a 20 ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEKY. 239 The Abbey had also royal benefactors, for the next is a charter of K. Henıy III., containing a very important concession, and was doubtless received and kept with all possible observance :— (VIIL.) “Henry, by the grace of God K. of England, lord of Ireland, etc., to the Archbishops, etc., health. Know ye that we, in regard of God, and for the health of our soul, and of the souls of our ancestors and our heirs, have granted, and by this present charter have confirmed, to our beloved in Christ the abbot and convent of Clyve, in the county of Somerset, our manor of Branton in the county of Devon, with the hundred outward, and other its appurtenances, to be had and holden of us and of our heirs, by paying every year to our treasury, by their own hand, twenty and two pounds, at two terms ; that is to say, at the feast of S. Michael eleven pounds, and at Easter eleven pounds; saving to the men of the same manor, and to other men who are not of the same manor, their own common pasturage, which they have possessed in the same manor, prior to this our grant. WWherefore we will, ete. Given by the hand of the venerable father R. bishop of Chichester, our chancellor, at Gloucester, the twenty-fifth day of June, in the thirteenth year of our reign.” This, therefore, was in the year 1228. Two years pre- vious to this, however, K. Henry had granted the Abbey a charter referring to grants already noticed. In English it stands thus:— (IX.) “Henry, King, etc., health. Know ye that we, in regard of God, ete., have granted, and by this our charter have confirmed to God and blessed Mary and the monks of Clyve, the lands and tenements underwritten, that is to say of the gift of Hubert de Burgh, at the time that he 30 PAPERS, ETC. was Chamberlain of our Lord K. John, our father, all the land which belonged to Walter, son of Matthew de Beninge- worth, in Clyve, with all its appurtenances. Ofthe gift of the same Hubert, then Chamberlain of the same our father, all homages and services of all their free men of Clyve, and of their heirs, with all appurtenances, the service of Ralph, son of William, and his heirs excepted. Also of the gift of the same Hubert, afterwards Earl of Kent, all his land of Treglastan and of Pothwell, with all its appurtenances. Wherefore I will, etc. "These are witnesses : A. Bishop of Coventry, Th. Bishop of Norwich, R. Earl of Chester and Lincoln, William Marshall Earl of Pembroke, J. constable of Chester, Osbert Giffard, Ralph son of Nicholas, Hugh Despenser, Geoffrey Despenser, and others. Given by the hand of the venerable father, R. Bishop of Chichester, our Chancellor, at Windsor, the third day of September, in the year, etc., eleven.”* That was in 1226. The next is also a confirmation by the same King of a previous grant:— (X.) “ The King has granted, and by his charter has con- firmed, to the abbot and convent of Olive, in the county of Somerset, the manor of Bramton, with the hundred without, in the county of Devon, with other its appur- tenances. To be holden of the King and his heirs for ever, at a rent of twentytwo pounds per annum. And it is ordered to the Sheriff of Gloucester that he make them to have a full seizin of the manor of Bramton, ete. Witness, the King, at Gloucester, the twenty-fifth day of June.”f At this point my first division, that of the charters hitherto printed, ends. The documents form an interesting * Cart. 11., Hen. III., pat. 2, m.3. Dwugdale, Monast. Angl., Vol. V., p. 734. + Rot. Fin. 23 Hen. III, m.7. Dugdale, Vol. V., p. 734. ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. 31 series; and I hope that the English dress, in which they now for the first time appear, will avail to make them more generally intelligible. My second division, however, may be allowed to be of still greater interest, as it consists of documents not hitherto printed, and which, I presume, are consequently new to the majority at least of the Society’s members. The first is a transcript of the original charter of K. Henry III., which was abstracted rather than copied in the Registrum before mentioned as belonging to Sir Hugh Windham, and thence printed by Dugdale, No. VIII. I believe the one now given to be the oldest of the Cleeve Charters which have come down to us in their original form, and have accordingly printed it, as supplying the means to those who possess the Monasticon of making a very interesting comparison. It is suffieiently similar to No. VIII, above given, as to need no translation.* * In printing these documents, I have thousht proper to give them as nearly as possible in their actual form; but as the Society’s fount is unable to supply the numerous marks of MS. contraction, I have signified the pre- sence of these by the apostrophe comma (’). By persons who are conver- sant with MS. literature, not the slightest diffieulty will be found in supplying the particular marks thus indicated, and the letters whose absence they serve to denote. My researches have furnished so large a quantity of materials, that I am precluded from even expressing a desire that the Society should publish the whole. I have, therefore, selected for the press such of the Charters, ete., as I deem most interesting. I would direct the attention, however, of any future historian of Cleeve Abbey to the following list of documents, which appear to me of the next degree of interest, and which I have taken from a long and varied catalogue :— Fin. 13 Hen. III., m. 7.—Pat. 20 Edw. I., m. 26.—Pat. 9 Edw. I., m. 16.—Rec. in Scace. 24 Edw. I, Rot. Trin.—Cart. 12 Ed. II., n. 37.—Pat. 14 Edw. II., p. 2, m. 13.—Pat. 20 Edw. III, p. 1, m. 19.—Pat. 27 Edw. III, p. 1, m. 26.—Pat. 30 Edw. III., p. 3, m. 10.—Pat. 2 Hen. IV.,p.1,m. 36.— Rec. in Scace. 4 Hen. V., Pasch. rot. 9.—Pat. 24 Hen. VI.,p. 1, m. 6.—Pat. 8 Edw. IV., p. 2, m. 20. 32 PAPERS, ETC. (1.) “P’ Abb’e de Clyva. H. Rex Angl’ &e., salt'. Nov’itis nos, intuitu Dei, & p’ salute ale n’re, & alar an’cess’ & he’du’ n’ror’, co’cessisse, & hac carta n’ra co’f’, dileis nob’ i’ X’po Abb’ti & Co’ventui de Clyva, i’ Com’ Sum’set, man’iu’ n’ı’m de Bramton’, i’ Com’ Devon’, cu’ hu’dredo forinseco, & aliis p’tin’ suis, h’nduw’ & tenend’ de nob’ & h’edib’ n’ris, s & eor’ succ’ i’p’petuu’ ad feodi f'ma’ ; reddendo inde nob’ & h’edib’ n’ris sing’lis annis ad scetm n’rm, p’ manu’ sua’ xxil. I. ad duos t’ios, videl ad festu’ S’ci Mich’is . xi. ’., & ad Pasch’ .xi. li’. salva ho’ib’ ejusd’ man’ij, et aliis ho'ib’ qui no’ sunt de man’io illo, com’i past'a sua qua habu’nt i’ eode’ man’io ante ha’c co’ces®’ n’ram. Qre volum’ &c. q’d p’dei abbas, & co’vent’, & eor’ succ’, h’ant & teneant de nob’ & h’edib’ n’ris p’de'm man’ium, cu’ p’tin’ suis ?’p’petuu’, ad feodi f'ma’, bn’, & 1’ pace, libe’, quiete, & integ®, cu’ o’ib’ lib’tatib’ & lib’is co’suetud’ ad p’de'm man’iu’ p'tin‘. Red- dendo inde nob’ & h’edib’ n’ris, singulis annis, ad sce!m nr'm, p’ manu’ sua), xxii. IV. p’de’as ad t’1’os p’de’os. Salva ho’ib’ ejusd’ man’ijj, & aliis ho’ib’ qui no’ sw’t de man’io illo, com’i past'a sua, qua’ h’unt i eod’ man’io an’ ha’c co’cess’ n’ram, sic’ p’de'm est. Hiis T’. H. de Burgo, &e. Joh’e de Munem’, Henr’ de Aldithel, Will’o de Cantilup, Rie’o de G?y, Gileb’to Basset, Thom’ Basset, Joh’e fil Phil’, Galfr’o Dispens’, Rad’o de Raleg’, & aliis. Dat’ p’ manu’, ut st, [ven’ab’ p’ris R. Cicestr’ Ep’i, Canc’ n’ri] ap’ Gloue’, xxv die Jun’, anno &e. xii®. ”* The next is from the Close Rolls, and is addressed by the same King to the tenants of Brampton, calling upon them to do suit and service to the Abbot and Convent, in agreement with the terms of the last-named grant :— * Cart. 13 Henry IIL, p. I, m. 3. ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. 33 (2.) “P’ Abbe & Monachis de Cliva de man’io de Bramton', “Rex militib’, lib'is ho’ib’, tene’tib’ de man’io de Bra’p- ton’, salt’. Sciatis qgd commisim’ Abb’i & Monachis de Oliva man’iu' de Bra’pton cu’ p’tin’, tenendu’ de nob’ & h’edib’ n’ris i’ppetuu’, ad feodi firma’, reddendo inde nob’ & heredib’ n’ris sing’lis annis xxij libras, sic’ pleni’ continet’ in carta n’ra q*m inde h’nt. Et id’o vob’ mandam’ q’d eisd’ Abb’i & Monachis de consuetudinib’ et s’viciis q’ nob’ fac’e consuevistis & fac’e debuistis, q’tmdiu man’iu’ prede’'m exstitit ’ manu n’ra, inte’de’tes decet’o sitis & respo’de’tes. T.R’. ap’ Lond’, xxvj die Sept’. Et ma’d’ est Vic’ Devon’, q’d si ip’i inde eisd’ Abb’i & Monach’ intendere nolu’int, & respo’dere, ad id faciend’ ip’os distingat. T.ut® [T. ®. ap’ Derteford’, xx die Sept'.]”* The next is a Charter of Inspeximus from the same King, recounting the provisions of one of his own former grants, and particularizing the various exemptions which the Abbey enjoyed. It is in many respects similar to No. IV., but the exemptions are stated with greater minuteness :— (3.) “Pro Abb’e & Monach’ de Clyve. R. Archiep’is &e. salt'm. Inspexim’ cartam n’ram q’m dudum fieri fecimus Abbati de Cliva & Monachis ibidem Deo s’vientib’, in hec v’ba: Henr’, Dei Gra’ Rex Ang!’, Dn’s Hibn’, Dux Norm’, Aquit, Com’ Ang’, Archiep’is, Ep’is, Abbatib', P'orib’, Comitib’, Baronib’, Justic’, Vic’, P’positis, ministris, & om’ib’ Ball'ıs, & fidel’ suis, sal’t’'m. Sciatis nos, intuitu Dei, & p’ salute anime n’re, & animar’ antecessor’ & her’ n’ror’, concessisse, & hac carta n’ra, confirmasse, Abbati de Cliva & Monachis ibidem Dev s’viantib’ & eor’ successorib’, * Claus. 13 Hen. III., m. 4. voL. VI., 1855, PART II. E 34 PAPERS, ETC. in lib’am pura’ et p'petua’ elemos’, Abbacia’ sua’ de Cliva, & q’d h’eant & tenea’t om’es terras & ten’ sua, que eis ronab’r data su’t, & infut"um ronabil’r & justis modis ad- quirere pot’u’t ; cu’ soca, & scota, & thol, & theam, infan- genethef, utfangenethef ; & q’d suit quieti de geldis, & danegeldis, & de murdr’, & de pecunia que ad murdr’ p'tinet, sine ad latrociniu‘, & de hydagüis, & schiris, & hundr', & exereitib’, & assisis, sum’onicoib’, & de tesauro ducendo, & auxilio Vic’ & s’vientu’ suor’, & de turno Vic’, & de om’ib’ auxilüs alıiis, & de misc’dia Comitat', passagio, pontagio, & de op’aco'ib' castellor’, ponciu', & vivarior', muror', vallor', parcor’, & de om’ib’ clausuris, & de warpeni, & hav’peni, & de lestagio, & stallagio, & de hengwite, & flemeneswyte, & de bladenewite, & fictwyte, & de thething- peni ; & ut om’s terra & tenem’ta que habent sint quieta de essartis, vasto, et regardo foreste, & de om’ib’ oce’onib’ & co'suetudinib', & ab o’i exacc’one s’culari ; & h’eant wreccu’ p' om’es terras suas. Et ne quis ponat eos qui de eadem Abbacia su’t in placitu’ de aliquo tenem’to quod tenea’t, nisi cora’ nob’ vl capitali Justice’ n’ro ; ut ipi de eadem Abbacia sint quieti de theoloneo, & de placitis foreste, & de scutagiis. Quare volum’ & firmit’r p’eipim’, q’d p’dei Abbas & Monachi & eor' successores h’eant & teneant imp’petuu’ p’de’as terras et ten’ p’de’a, bn’, & in pace, libe’, & quiete, & integre, cum om’ib’ libertatib' & quietanciis p’de’is, sieut p’de'm est. Hiis testib’, Hugone de Burgo, Com’ Kanc’, Justice’ Angl’, Will’o Marescallo Com’ Penbr', Walt’o de Clifford, Steph’o de Seg?ve, Joh’e de Monem’, Will’o Warini fil’, Ph’o de Albinaco, Rad’o fill! Nichi, Rad’o de Raleg’, Rico fill’ Hug’, & aliis. Dat p’ manu’ ven’abil’ p’ris Rad’i Cicestr’ Ep'i, Cancellar’ n’ri, apud Hereford’, vicesimo die Aug’ anno r.' n.’ duodecimo. Et quia imp’ssio sigilli n’ri quo ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. 35 tune utebam” casual’r confracta est, nos, intuitu caritatis, & ad instanciam Abb’tis & Monachor’ loci p’de'i, tenore' carte p’dc’e sub p’senti sigillo n’ro quo nune utim" duxim’ innovandum. Hiis testib, Rob’to Wealeraund, Rob’to Aguylim, Nich’o de Leukenore, Will’o de Aete, Joh’e de la Lynde, Petro de Nevill’, Rad’o de Bakepu, Will’o Belet, Barth’o Bigod, Steph’o de Eddeworth’, & aliis. Dat’ p’ manu’ n’ram, apud Westm’, duodeeimo die Januar‘.”’* } Next follows another Charter of Inspeximus, from Ed- ward I. to the Abbot and monks, recounting the provisions of a Charter of Hubert de Burgh, which is referred to in that of K. John, translated above, No. III. :—— (4.) “P’ Monachis de Clyva. R. om’ib’ ad quos &e. sal’'m. Inspexim’ cartam quam Hub’tus de Burgo feeit Deo, & B’e Marie, & Monachis de Clyve, in hec verba : Om’ib’ filiis S’ce M’ris Eecl’ie Hub’tus de Burgo, Cam’ari’ d’ni Regis, sal'm. Sciatis me dedisse, co’cessisse, & hac p’senti carta mea confirmasse, Deo, & S’ce Marie, & Mo- nachis meis de Clyva ibidem Deo s’vientib’, p’ salute ai’e mee, & o’um antecessor’, & her’ meor’, eccl'iam de Camel, cu’ om’ib’ p’tin’ suis, in p'petuam & pura’ el’am, habenda’ & possidendam in p’prios usus, scil’t ad vestitu’ p’de’or’ Monachor’ & frum’. Hiis testib’, Luca Capp’llano, Will’o de Cancell’, Rob’to Aguillim, Rog’o la Velye, Henr’ de Birlinghm, Rinaldo de Clyft, Thoma cl’ico, Alano de Wiht’, Milone Olivero de Vaus. Nos autem p’de’as dona- * Cart. 51 Hen. III., m. 10. + A translation of, and commentary on, this charter were desirable ; but my very limited space, and anxiety to include as many original docu- ments as possible, must plead for their absence. My English readers will find, nevertheless, that they have not been forgotten, as, besides the transla- tions already given, several others will be presented to them before the con- clusion of my paper, 36 PAPERS, ETC. co’em & co’cessione’ ratas h’entes & gratas, eas p’ nob’ & her’ n’ris, q’ntu’ in nob’ est, concedim’ & confirmam’, sieut carta p’de’a r’onabilit” testatur, In cuj’, &e. T. ut # [T. R. apud Westm’, vj. die Jun’.] ”* The next is an instrument permitting by special favour Gilbert de Wolavinton to assign a carucate of land, with its appurtenances, in Fernacre, Crandon, and Stanbrok, to the Abbot and Convent, the statute of mortmain not- withstanding, and the Abbot and Convent to accept the same with certain restrictions —— (5.) “P’ Abbate de Clyve. R’. om’ib’ ad quos &e. salt'm. Licet de co’i eonsilio regni n’ri statu’im’ q’d no’ liceat viris religiosis seu aliis ingredi feodum alicujus, ita q’d ad manu’ mortuam devenjat, sine liceneia n’ra & capital’ d’ni de quo res illa inmediate tenet”; volentes tamen dilc’o nob’ Gilb’to de Wolavinton’ gra’m fac’e sp’alem, dedimus ei licenciam, q’ntum in nob’ est, q’d ip'e unam carucatam t’re cum p’tin’ in Fernaere, Crandon, & Stanbrok’, que de dile’is nob’ in X’po Abbate & Conventu de Olyve tenent', inmediate dare possit & assignare eisdem Abbati & Con- ventui, tenendam et h’endam sibi & successorib’ suis imp’petuu’ ; et eisdem Abbati & Conventui q’d t’'ram illam ab eodem Gilb’to recip’e possint, tenore p’senciu’ similit’ liceneiam dedim’ sp’alem. Nolentes q’d idem Gilb’tus vel heredes sui, aut p’dei Abbas & Conventus aut eor’ suc- cessores, racione statuti p’de’i, p’ nos vel heredes n’ros inde occ’onentur in aliquo, seu g’vent”. Salvis tamen capitalib’ d’nis feodi illius s’viciis inde debitis & co’suetis. In cujus, &c. T’. R’. apud Wy, xvij. die Junii. “P’ ip'm Regem, quia finem fecit coram Thes’ & Baronib’ de Se?cio, sieut idem Thes’ mandavit.” f * Pat. 9 Edw. 1., m. 16. + Pat. 27 Edw. I., m. 22. ON THE CHARTERS OF GLEEVE ABBEY. 37 The Charter Roll, 14 Edward II., contains a Charter of Inspeximus, the greater portion of which is occupied by the instrument already given (No. 3.) It concludes thus :—— (6.) “Nos autem concessione’ & confirmaco’em p’de’as ratas h’entes & g’tas, eas p’ nob’ & heredib’ n’ris, quantum in nob’ est, dile’is nob’ in X’po Abbati & Monachis loei p’de’i & eor’ suecessorib’ concedim’ & confirmam’, sieut carta p’de’a r’onabilit’ testat’, & p’ut ip’i & p’decessores sui lib’tatib’ p’de’is hactenus r’onabilit’ usi sunt & gavisi. Hiis testib’, ven’abilib’ p’rib’ W. Cantuar’ Archiep’o tocius Angl’ primate, J. Norwieen’ Ep’o Cancellar’ n’ro, W. Exon’ Ep’o Thes’ n’ro, Adomaro de Valencia Comite Pembr', Humfr’o de Boum Comite Hereford’ & Essex’, Hugone le Despens’ seniore, Barth'o de Baddelesm’e senescallo Hospieij n’ri, & aliis. Data p’ manu’ n’ram apud Westm’, xxvij die Octobr'. P’ fine’ quing’ marear’. dupp'.” * The Charter which follows, confirms the gift by one Osmer de Tregu of a moiety of his mills at Great Hurdyn and Treglastan, and of the waste of Foymore, in the county of Cornwall :— (7.) *P’ Abb’e & Conventu B’e Marie de Clyve. R. om’ib’ ad quos &e. sal’t'm. Donaeo’em, remissione’, re- laxaco’em, & quietam clamanciam quas Henricus Osmer de Tregu p’ seriptum suu’ feeit, Deo, & Beate Marie de Clyve, & Monachis ibidem Deo s’vientib’, de tota medietate duor’ molendinor’, videlicet de magno Hurdyn & de Treglast’, & eeiam de medietate tocius vasti de Foymore, ratas h’entes & gratas, eas p’nob’ & he’dib n’ris, q’ntum in nob’ est, dile’is nob’ in X’po Abb’i & Conventui loci p’de’i concedim’ & confirmam’, sicut scriptum p’de'm r’onabilit’ testatr. %* Cart, 14 Edw. II, n. 30. 38 PAPERS, ETC. Nolentes q’d p’de’i Abbas, vel Conventus, aut successores sui, r’one statuti de t’ris & ten’ ad manu’ mortuam non ponend’ editi, p’ nos vel he’des n’ros, Justice’, Escaetores, Vicecomites, ant alios_ ballı’os, seu ministros n’ros quos- cumgq’, inde occ’onent", molestent* in aliquo, seu g’ventr. In cujus, &c. T’. R’. apud Nova’ Sar’, xxiijj. die Octobr”. P’ finem sexaginta solidor’. Cornub’.” * The Patent Rolls of the following year supply us with the next, which is in answer to a petition from the Abbot and Convent, in reference to lands at Brampton in the county of Devon, a locality whose name so often finds a place among the records of this House :— (8.) “ P’ Abb’e & Conv’ de Clyve, de t’r &c. adquirend’ &c. R’. om’ib’ ad quos &e. sal’t'm. Sciatis q’d cum dn’s E. nup’ Rex Angl’, pat" n’r, p’ I’ras suas patentes con- cessisset & licenciam dedisset p’ se & he’dib’ suis, q’ntum in ip’o fuit, dile’'is nob’ in X’po Abb’i & Conventui de Clyve, q’d ip’i t’ras ten’ & redditus usq’ ad valorem decem librar’ p’annu’ juxta verum valorem eor’dem tam de feodo suo p’pio q’m alieno, exceptis t'ris ten’ & redditib’ que de ip’o p’re n’ro tenebant? in ‚capite, adquirere possent, h’end’ & tenend’ sibi & successorib’ suis imp’petuu’, statuto de t’ris & ten’ ad manu’ mortuam non ponend’ edito non ob- stante, p’ut in l’ris ip’ius p’ris n’ri p’de’is plenius continet" ; ac idem Abbas & Conventus nob’ supplicaverint, ut ip’i unu’ mesuagiu’ duas solidatas reddit’, & medietatem unius ferlingi t’re cum p’tin’ in Brampton’ de Henr’ Billyng’, & duo mesuagia cum p’tin in eadem villa de Thoma fil’ Rob’ti Curtays Aleyn virtute concessionis p’de’e adquisivissent, & ea ingressi fuissent, priusq'm inquisico’es inde in Can- cellar’ ipiius p’ris n’ri seu n’ra retornate fuissent, velim’ * Pat. 2 Edw. III, p. 2, m. 19. ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. 39 concedere zisdem Abb’i & Conventui, q’d ip’i p’de’a mesu- agla, t'ram, & redditum cum p’tin’ retin’e possint, sibi & successorib’ suis imp’petuu’, in p’tem satisfacco’is decem libratar’ t’rar’ ten’ & reddituu’ p’de’ar’ ; Nos, eor’ suppli- caco’i in hac p’te annuentes, & concessionem ip’ius p’ris n’ri p'dc’am volentes effectui mancipari, p’donavim’ p’fatis Abb’i & Conventui t?nsgressiones fc’as in hac p’te, & con- cessim’ p’ nob’ & he’dib’ n’ris, quantu’ in nob’ est, q’d ip mesuagia t'ram et redditum p’de’a cum p’tin’ que de p’fatis Abb’e & Conventu tenent', sicut p’ inquisico’em p’ dile’'m & fidelem n’rm Simonem de Bereford’, Escaetorem n’rm eit? Trentam, de mandato n’ro captam, & in Canc’ n’ra retornatam est comp’tum, h’eant & teneant sibi & success- orib’ suis imp’petuu’, in valorem decem solidor’ p’ annu’ in p'tem satisfacco’is decem libratar’ t’rar’ ten’ & reddituu’ p’de’ar’, sine occ’one vel impedimento n’ri vel he’dum n’ror’, Justie’, Esc’, Vic’, aut alior’ balli’or’, seu ministror’ n’ror’ quor’cu’q’, statuto p’de’o non obstante : salvis tamen capi- talib’ d’nis feodor’ illor’ s’viciis inde debitis & consuetis. In cuj', &c. T’. J. de Eltham, &c. apud Cantuar’, quarto die Jun’. * In the Chapterhouse at Westminster is preserved a very interesting record which relates to the manor of Abbotes- hendra in Cornwall. Unfortunately it is too long for the space allotted to me; but one or two extracts will be neces- sary for the sake of exhibiting important information not elsewhere, so far as I know, to be found. Therecord itself may be referred to without difficulty, by attending to the reference. Abbot Leonard, at the time in question, governed the Monastery :— * Pat. 3 Edw. III, p. 1, m. 13. 40 PAPERS, ETC. (9.) “Et ad p’de'am xvm Pasche, p’de’i Leonardus Abbas B’e Marie de Clyva & mänucaptores sui p’dc’i ven’ p’ p’de’um Will’'m Gäscoigüie,” etc. Further on, & former instrument is quöted, in which occur the words, “ Tenuit die p'mulgaco’is utlagar’ p’de’e sibi & heredib’ suis man’iu’ de Abboteshendra, cu’ p’tin’ in Com’ p’dc’o, ex dono & concessione Joh’is Mason’, nup’ Abb’is de Clyva, & eiusdem locı Conventus,” etc. And still further, “Et q’d p’de’us Joh’es Mason’, & Joh’es Plympton’, nup’ Abbas de Clyva, et Leonardus nunc Abbas de Clyva, receperunt,” etc. ® These extracts furnish us, in John Mason or John Plympton, with the name of at least one additional Abbot to the list given in Dugdale. Dugdale, who, however, possessed sources of information which are now lost, gives none between Abbot Robert de Clire 1321, and William Seylake 1419, except “ John, 1407,” and “ Leonard, 1416.” The last mentioned is no doubt the Leonardus of the present Charter, which refers to the year 1416 : for the “John” which precedes him we can now insert John Plympton and John Mason. The document next in order is one of peculiar interest in the history of the Abbey. It appears that a chapel anciently erected to the honour of the Blessed Virgin had been wholly destroyed by a flood : and the Charter now to be offered is a license to hold a weekly market and two fairs yearly towards the liquidation of the expenses con- nected with its re-erection. I presume it was to this building that the commission to consecrate teferred, the #* Memorand, 4 Hen. V,, Pasch Rec. m. 9, dors. ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. 41 issue of which is recorded in Dugdale (Vol. v., p. 731, note e), from the Harleian MS. 6966, p. 82. The com- mission is said to be issued (I give it in translation) “for the dedieation of a chapel near the Monastery of Clyve, which David the Abbot of the same Monastery has lately caused to be built and erected from the foundation hand- somely and sumptuously to the honour of the B. V. Mary, and of a certain small portion of land adjacent and contigu-- ous to the said chapel, to be limited at the judgment of the said Bishop, for the formation of a cemetery, and itself to be consecrated ; it being provided that nothing be yielded to the prejudice of the parish church.” The Charter itself now follows, with a literal English translation :—— (10.) “P’ Abb’e & Conventu de Cliva. R’. Archiep’is, Ep’is, Abb’ib’, Priorib’, Comitib’, Baronib’, Justie’, Vice- comitib’, Prepositis, ministris, & om’ib’ Ballivis, & fidelib’ suis ad quos, &c. salt'm. Supplicarunt nob’ dilc’i nob’ in Xp’o David Abbas & Conventus Monast’ijj B’e Marie de Cliva, vt cum nup’ sup’ quandam Capellam, ab olim sup’ ripam maris in man’io ip’or’ Abb’is & Conventus de Cliva, ad laudem & honorem b’e & glo’se Dei genitricis Marie, p’ p’decessores p’de’or’ Abbis & Conventus fundatam & fabricatam, vbi vnigenitus Dei & ip’ius gl’iose virginis Filius multiplicia miraculor’ insignia & infinita salutis remedia, p’ m’ita sue gl’iose genitricis, misericordit’ op’ari dignatus est, Clivus magnus ibidem ex continua pluviar’ habundaneia & vehementi aquar’ decursu horribilit’ ceci- derit, & cadendo eandem capellam, cum vniv’sis edificiis adjacentib’, sola de’e gl’iose virginis imagine & altari ejusdem capelle illesis & intactis, p’ Dei virtutem vt credit" mirabilit’ reservatis, ad t'ram funditus prostraverat, op- presserat, & quassaverat; eaque de causa ijdem Abbas & VOL. VI., 1855, PART II. I 42 PAPERS, ETC. Conventus multiplieit’ depaup’ant' : Ipsi tamen quandam aliam Capellam, de novo, in quodam alio loco, infra p’eine- tum man’ij sui p’de’i, edificare & constru’e inceperunt, vt memoria de’e b’e & gl’iose virginis ibidem a devotis Xp’i fidelib’ in laude & ven’aco’e celebrit’ h’eatur, antiquus vt solebat ; ad hoc laborib’ et expensis suis in aliquo non par- cantes: Set quia ad tam sumptuosi op’is compleco’em & consum’aco’em, ac ad alia on’a eidem Monast’io ab antiquo incumbencia supportand’, facultates sue non suppetunt, absq’ gr’a nr’a sp’ali h’ita in hac parte, velim’, pietatis intuitu, cum eisdem n’ros sp’ales gr’am & favorem benig- nissime imp’tiri : Nos, p'missa intime considerantes, hac, ob reu’enciam de’e genitricis Dei Marie, in quam totam spem n’ram post Deum semp’ p’fixim’, de gr’a n’ra sp’ali con- cessim’, & liceneiam dedim’ p’ nob’ & heredib’ n’ris, quan- tum in nob’ est, p’fatis Abbi & Conventui, q’d ipi & successores sui imp’p'm h’eant vnu’ m’catum infra p’einc- tum man’ij sui p’de’i singulis septimanis, die merecurij, tenend’, & duas ferias ibidem singulis annis, videl’t in festo Sei Jacobi Ap’li, aceciam in festo Exaltaco’is S’ce Crucis, & p’ tres dies inmediate sequentes duratur’ tenend’, cum om’ib’ lib’tatib’, jurib', & consuetudinib’, ad hujusmodi m’catum & ferias p’tinentib’ sive spectantib’ ; nisi mercatum illud & ferie ille sint ad nocumentum vieinor’ mercator’ & vicinar’ feriar’. Quare volum’ & firmit’ p’eipim’ p’ nob’ & heredib’ n’ris, quantum in nob’ est, q’d p’de’i Abbas & Conventus & successores sui h’eant imp’p'm vnu’ m’catum ibidem singulis septimanis, die mercurij, & duas ferias ibidem singulis annis, videl’t, vnam in festo Sc’i Jacobi Ap’li, & alt’am in festo Exaltaco’is S’ce Crucis, & p’ tres dies inmediate festa p’dc’a sequentes duratur’ tenend’, cum om’ib’ lib’tatib’, jurib’, & lib’is consuetudinib’ ad hujusmodi m'catum & ferias p'tinentib’ sive speetantib’; nisi m’catum ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. 43 illud & ferie ille sint ad nocumentum vicinor' m’cator’ & vieinar’ feriar’, sicut pdie'm est : aliquo iure nob’ compe- tente ; aut nob’, heredib’, aut successorib’ n’ris compet', seu quovis statuto, actu, ordinaco’e, siue restrietu antea fact’; aut eo q’d exp’ssa mencio de aliquib’ alüis donis siue con- cessionib’ eisdem Abbii & Conventui aut p’decessorib’ suis, p’ nos aut aliquem p’genitor’ n’ror’ quondam Regum Angl' ante hec tempora fact’, in p’sentib’ non existit ; non obstant!'. In eujus, &c. T’. R’.apud Westm’, xxij die Octobr. P’ l’re de privato sigillo, & de dat’ &c.” * Or thus in English :— “ For the Abbot and Convent of Clive. The King to the Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Priors, Earls, Barons, Justices, Sheriffs, Provosts, servants, and all his Bailıffs and liegemen, to whom, etc. health. Our beloved in Christ David the Abbot and the Convent of the Monastery of Blessed Mary of Clyve have petitioned us, that,—whereas lately upon a certain chapel, from ancient times founded and erected on the seashore in the manor of the same Abbot and Convent of Clive, by the predecessors of the aforesaid Abbot and Convent, to the praise and honour of Mary the blessed and glorious Mother of God, where the only-begotten Son of God and of the same glorious Virgin has vouchsafed of His mercy, through the merits of His own glorious Mother, to work divers kinds of notable mira- cles, and innumerable restorations of health, a large clıff in the same place, by reason of an incessant abundance of rain and mighty down-flood of waters, horribly fell, and in fallıing had entirely prostrated, cast down, and shaken to the ground the same chapel, with all the adjacent buildings, (the image alone of the said glorious Virgin and the altar * Pat. 6 Edw. IV., p. 1, m. 2. 44 PAPERS, ETC. of the same chapel remaining uninjured and untouched, being miraculously preserved, as it is believed, by the assisting help of God,) and for that reason the same Abbot and Convent are in manifold ways impoverished : They have nevertheless begun to erect and build anew a cer- tain other chapel in a certain other place within the pre- cinet of their aforesaid manor, that the memory of the said blessed and glorious Virgin may in the same place by the devoted and faithful servants of Christ be honourably held in praise and veneration, as it used to be of old ; not in any wise sparing their labours and charges thereunto : But because their own means are not suflicient for the completion and full finishing of so expensive a work, and for sustaining the other burdens from old time lying on the same Monastery, apart from our special grace employed in this behalf,-—we would be pleased, by consideration of piety, most liberally to communicate with the same our special grace and favour: We, taking the premises into our deepest consideration, out of the reverence for the said Mary mother of God, in whom after God we have ever placed our entire hope, of our special favour we have by this granted and given licence for us and our heirs, as far as in us is, to the aforesaid Abbot and Convent, that they and their successors for ever may have one market within the preeinet of their aforesaid manor, to be held on Wednesday in every week, and two fairs to be held at the same place in every year, to wit, on the feast of S. James the Apostle, and also on the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and to last for the three days next following, with all the liberties, rights, and eus- toms, appertaining to or respecting a market and fairs of this kind ; unless that market and those fairs be to the injury of the neighbouring markets and the neighbouring fairs, er A a a 1 . ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. 45 Wherefore we will and straitly charge, for us and our heirs, as much as in us is, that the aforesaid Abbot and Con- vent and their successors do have for ever one market to be held in the same place on Wednesday in every week, and two fairs in the same place in every year, to wit, one on the feast of S. James the Apostle, and the other on the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and to last for three days next following the aforesaid feasts, with all the liberties, rights, and free customs appertaining to or respecting a market and fairs of this kind ; unless that market and those fairs be to the injury of the neishbouring markets and the neighbouring fairs, as is aforesaid : any right contrariwise suing to us ; or contrariwise suing to us, our heirs, or our successors, either any statute, act, rule, or restriction before made ; or because that express mention regarding any other gifts or grants to the same Abbot and Convent, or to their predecessors, by us or any one of our progenitors, formerly Kings of England, hitherto made, is not at present extant ; notwithstanding. In testimony whereof, etc. Witness, the King, at Westminster, the twenty-second day of October.” For the seven documents which now follow, (No. 11 to No. 17 incl.) and which not unpleasantly contrast with the royal and noble Charters already given, I am indebted to the kind courtesy of the President, Sir W. C. Trevelyan, Bart., to whom I desire to offer my best acknowledgments. They long found a home among the family papers at Net- tlecombe, but, with a rare liberality which cannot be too highly appreciated, have lately been presented to the British Museum, where they will be placed among what are technically called the “ Additional Charters.” They have not yet been furnished with numbers of reference ; but in the copies which follow I have taken very great care to put 46 PAPERS, ETC. the Society in possession of minutely accurate transcripts, whereby a long or troublesome search for the originals among the multitudinous treasures of our vast Repository is rendered less necessary for any future investigator. I give them in what I believe to be their chronological order, thoush only four of them are dated. In this and similar cases a conjecture must be taken from the style of the writing, which varied much at different periods, and generally presents sufficient indications for enabling us to arrive at considerable accuracy in the determination of the age of any document submitted to us. The first appears, from such internal evidence, to have been written in the reign of Edward I. It is as follows:— (11.) “ Radulf’ fil’ Will’ de piscar’ cu’ pt’ ap'd La’gacre desce’d’nt’ de riuulo de Clyue. “Om’ib’ filis S’ce Matris Eecl'ie Radulfus fil’ Will’mi de Wydecume salt’. Sciatis me concessisse, & dedisse, & p'senti carta confirmasse, p’ sal’te anime mee, & Yolente sponse mee, & o’ium an’cessor’ & heredu’ n’ror’, Deo & S’ce Marie & Monachis de Cliue, in pura’ & p’petua’ elemosina’, illam piscaria’ cu’ p’tine’tiis suis, que p’ximior est p‘to meo de La’gacre, & p’xima riuulo q! descendit de Cliue. Hane au’ piscaria’ dedi eis h'ndam & tenenda’, sicut alig® elemo- sina q’eti’ & lib’ius teneri potest. Et quicg! seruicii debet' Regi ut ulli alii p’ p’dieta piscaria, ego & heredes mei faciem’ & ag’etabim’. Et ip’am piscaria’ p’dietis monach’ warantizabim’ in p’petuu’, cont? om’s ho’ies. Hiis testib’, Ric’do de Cumbe, Will’o fil’ Heuerardi, Will’o de Sandhelle, Ada de Wacheford, Alexandro de la Bie, Ada de Fernacre, Joh’e fil’ Ric’di, Rob’to de Sandhelle, Gilleb’to Gymel, & multis aliis.” Which in English is as follows :— “To all the sons of Holy Mother Church Ralph the son ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. 47 of William de Wydecume wisheth health. Know ye that I have granted,and given,and by the present charter have con- firmed, for the health of my soul, and of Yolente my wife, and of all our ancestors and our heirs, to God and S. Mary and the monks of Clyve, for a pure and perpetual alms, that fishery with its appurtenances, which is nearer to my meadow of Langacre, and nearest to the little stream that descendeth from Clive. This fishery I have given to them to be had and holden, as any alms may be quietly and freely held. And what service soever is due to the King as to any one else in respect of the aforesaid fishery, I and my heirs will do and discharge it. And the same fishery we will warrant to the aforesaid monks for ever against all men. These are witnesses : Richard de Cumbe, William son of Everard, William de Sandhelle, Ada de Wacheford, Alexander de la Bie, Ada de Fernacre, John son of Richard, Robert de Sandhelle, Gilbert Gymel, and many others.” A triangular seal of green wax remains pendant, in tolerable condition. The impression, a lion passant to the right; under him what seems to be a rude representa- tion of water. For legend, ’F SIGILLVM RA » »* « VCEL FILII WILL.” The next is a bond of Henry Billing to the Abbot and Convent of Clyve in two shillings a-year, to be paid at Brampton. The instrument bears date the sixteenth year of Edw. II., Nov. 3, 1322. No seal remains :—— (12.) “Obligac’o H. Bylly'g de duob’ sol’ ann’ redd’ domui de Clyue deb’. “Om’ib’ Xp’i fidelib’ ad quos presens scriptu’ p’uen’it Henrie’ Billing salute’ in D’no. Nou’itis me teneri, & per presens sceriptu’ obligatu’ esse, Abbati & Conuentui de Clyue & eor successorib’ inp’petuu’, in duob’ solidis 48 PAPERS, ETC. annui redditus, solue’dis eisde’ uel eor’ p’po’ito vel Balli’o de Brampton’, ap’d Brampton, ad quatuor anni t'minos prineipales, eq’s porc’onib. Ad qua’ quide’ soluc’onem bene & fideliter facienda’ obligo me & om’es t'ras & tene- me’ta mea de Brampton’, in quoru’cumgq’ man’ deuen’int distriec’oni p’dcor’ Abbatis & Oo’uent’ & eor’ successoru'. In eui’ rei testimoniu’ sigillu’ meu’ apposui. Hiis testib', Joh’ne Fayrman, Will’o Sturel, Will’o Fabro, Ricardo Lovering, Joh’'ne Thurgod, & aliis. Dat’ ap’d Brampton’, die mercurij p’xima post festu’ Omniu’ Scor’. Anno regni Reg’ Edwardi filijj Reg’ Edwardi sextodect’o.” John de Berewyk, bailiff of Lord William de Hastyn- ges, in the county of Somerset, acknowledges the receipt of forty shillings from Ralph Fitz Urse and his tenants. The Lord de Hastynges was, 1 presume, the King's steward of that name :— (13.) “Pateat uniu’sis p’ p’sentes, q’d ego Joh’s de Berewyk’, ball’s d’ni Will’i de Hastynges, in Com’ Somers', fateor me recepisse de Rad’o filio Vrsi & tene’tib’ suis de Wilitone, p’ dimid’ feod’ milit’, quadragi'ta solid’, quos leuare feci p’ bre’ d’ni Regis ad opus d’ni Joh’s de Hastin- ges, de scutagio sibi co’cesso de ten’tib’ suis p’ duab’ guerris d’ni Regis in Skoc’, videl’ anno r. R. E. xxviij", & anno E. xxxi"° ; de quib’ quid'm quadraginta solid’ de'm Rad'm & tenentes suos u'sus p’de'um d’nm Joh'm aquie- tabo p’ p’sentes, & indempnu’ co's’uabo. In cuius rei tes- timon’ huie acquietane’ sigillu’ meu’ apposui. Dat’ apud Berewyk’, die mercurij, in festo Sc’i Laure’c’ Martiris, anno regni Regis Edwardi tricesimo quarto.” This, though itself ancient, is evidently a copy of an older document. It is on paper, and the seal of the worthy bailiff is of course wanting. The following is a grant by the Abbot of Clyve to Jolm u ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. 49 Bruer the younger and Lucy his wife, of lands and tene- ments in Zistecote, Lynegerscote, and Nonemanyslond, in consideration of a yearly payment of sixteen shillings and nine pence :— (14.) “ No’ decom’un’ pastur’ i’ Len’scote. “Om’ib' Xpi fidelib’ ad quos p’sens sc’ptu’ p’uen’it, Jacobus Dei Gra’ Abbas Mon’ de Clyua & eiusd'm loci Conuent‘, salutem in D’no sempitnam. Nouitis nos t’didisse, concessisse, et hoc p'senti sc'pto n'ro confirmasse, p’ nob’ & successorib' n’ris, Joh'ni Bruero juniori & Lucie ux’ sue, om’es t'ras & ten’ cu’ coi pastur* apd Zistecote eisd’m t'r' & ten’ p’tinenti, que qued'm tr’ & ten’ cu coi pastur’ Robert’ Peu’el quond'm h’uit & tenuit in Lynegers- cote, inf man’iu’ n’rm de Clyue. Dedim’, t', & concessim’ eisd’m Joh’i & Lucie ux’ sue sex acras tr’ de dominio n’ro apd Nonemanyslond, p’x iacentes iux® Lesforchis ibid'm, v'sus austru’ & orient'. H’end’ & tenend’ om’ia pde’a t'r' & ten’, eu’ co'i pastur’ p’de’a, vna cu’ p’de'is sex acr' t'r' pde'is, Joh’i & Lucie ux’i sue ad t'm vite eor', aut vni eor’ diucius viuent’, de nob’ & successor n’ris, lib’e, quiete, bene, & in pace. Reddendo inde annuati nob' & successor’ n’ris pdei Joh’ns & Lucia ux’ sua, ad t'm vite eor’, aut vni’ eor’ diu- cius viuentis, sexdecim solidos & noue’ denar’ sterlingor', ad q’tuor anni t'i’os p'neipal’, equis porcioib‘, & D’no de Wachetford annuati’ tres solidos & tres denar', in fo Sci Mich’is, p' s'uiciis, hietis, releuiis, exaccioib', & quibusceu’q‘ aliis seclar' demandis, exceptis dual’ sectis ad eur’ n’ram de Clyve p’ annu’, & hoc p’ racionabilem som’onicio'em. Et nos vo p’de'i Abb’ & Conuent’ & successors nri omia pdc'a tr’ & ten’ cu’ com’un’ pastur’ p’de’a sim] eu pdeis sex acı’ tr’ pdc’is Joh'i & Lucie ux'i sue, ad t'm’ vite eor', aut vni eor' diucius viuent', cont* om’es mortal’ warantizabim', ac- quietabim', & in forın® p’de’a defendem'‘. In cui' rei testi- VOL. VI., 1855, PART II. G 90 PAPERS, ETC. moniu’ huie p’senti sc’pto indentato sigill’ n'ra alt'natı’ apposuim’. Hiis testib, Will’mo Hamelyn, Roberto Martyn, Joh'ne Sandhull, Andr’ Drakewill', Rob’to Da- marle, et aliis. Dat’ apd Olyue, die d’nica p'x’ post f'm Sc’i Benedicti Abb’is, anno Regni Regis Edward’ t’cij post Conquest’ q’dragesimo p’mo.” Most unfortunately the seals are wanting. The docu- ment, however, is of special interest to the historian of this House, as it furnishes the name of another Abbot previ- ously unknown. To the list already published we have therefore the satisfaction of adding our second contribution in James, Abbot of Clyve, 1367-8. On this aceount a translation may probably be interest- 'ing, and is now presented :— “To all the faithful of Christ to whom the present writing: shall arrive, James, by the grace of God Abbot of the Monastery of Clyve, and of the Convent of the same place, health eternal in the Lord. Know ye, that we have delivered, granted, and by this our present writing have confirmed, for ourselves and our successors, to John Bruer the younger and Lucy his wife, all the lands and tenemeuts at Zistecote, with the common pasture appertaining to the same lands and tenements ; which certain lands and tene- ments with common pasture Robert Peverel formerly possessed and held in Lynegerscote, within our manor of Clyve. We have also given and granted to the same John and Lucy his wife, six acres of land of our demesne at Nonemanyslond, next adjacent to Les forchis in the same place, towards the south and east. All the lands and tene- ments aforesaid to be had and holden, with common pasture aforesaid, together with the aforesaid six acres of land aforesaid, by John and Lucy his wife, to the end of their life, or of the one of them surviving, of us and our ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. öl successors, freely, quietly, well, and in peace. The said John and Lucy his wife to pay from thence year by year to us and our successors, to the end of their life, or of the one of them surviving, sixteen sbillings and ninepence of sterling money, at the four principal terms of the year, by equal portions; and to the Lord of Wachetford, year by year, three shillings and three pence, on the feast of S. Michael, for services, heriots, reliefs, exaetions, and all other secular demands whatsoever ; saving two suits at our court of Clyve yearly, and this by the auditor’s summons. And we the aforesaid Abbot and Convent and our successors will warrant, and discharge, and in form aforesaid will defend, against all men, all the afore- said lands and tenements, with common pasture afore- said, together with the aforesaid six acres of land, to the aforesaid John and Lucy his wife, to the end of their life, or of the one of them surviving. In witness whereof we have one after the other affixed our seals to this present indenture. These are witnesses : William Hamelyn, Robert Martyn, John Sandhull, Andrew Drake- will, Robert Damarle, and others. Given at Clyve, on Sunday next after the feast of S. Benedict, Abbot, in the year of the reign of King Edward III. after the Conquest forty-first.” We have next a grant by Nicholas Orchard to Laurence de Lomene, Vicar of the Church of Clyve, and to Ralph Knap of Milverton, of all his lands with their ‘various appurtenances at Combe in the parish of Stogumber, and in Milverton and Taunton. It concludes with the usual warranty, assurance of quiet possession, &c. A seal of brown wax remains, having the impress of a shield of arms, but the bearings and legend are undecypherable :— (15.) “ Sciant p’'sentes & fut'i, q’d ego, Nich’us Orchard’, 52 PAPERS, ETC- dedi, concessi, & hac p’senti carta mea confirmaui, Lau- rencio de Lomene, Vicario Ecclie de Clyue, et Rad’o Knap de Milu’ton’, om’ia terras & ten’, redditus & s’uicia, & reu’siones, cu’ colu’bar’, molend’, fullon’ & moleratie’, eu’ eor’ sect’ & eurs’ aq’, & cu’ bosc’, & o’ib’ aliis p’tin’ suis que habui atte Combe in p’ochia de Stokegomm’, & in Milu’ton’, & in Taunton’. Hend’ & tenend’ o’ia p’de’a terras & ten’, reddit’ & s’uic’, & reu’siones, cu’ colu’bar’, molend’, boscis, & p’tin’ suis p’fatis Laurencio & Rad’o, h’edib’ & assign’ suis, libere, quiete, b’n’, & in pace, iure h’editar’ imp’petuu’, de capit’ d’nis feodor’ illor’ p’ reddit’ & s’uicia inde debita & de iure consueta. Et ego p’fatus Nich’us & h’edes mei om’ja p’de’a terras & ten’, reddit’, & s’uicia, & rev’siones, cu’ colu’bar’, molend’, bose’, & p’tin’ suis p’fatis Laurencio & Rad’o h’edib’ & assign’ suis cont? om’es gentes warrantizabim’, acquietabim’, & defendem’ imp’p'm. In cui’ rei testimon’ huic p’senti carte mee sigillum meu’ apposuil. Hüs testib’, Joh’ne Carre, Ric’o Haretrowe, Ric’o Tribel, Rad’o de Poulishele, & aliis. Dat’ ap’d Combe, die Lune p’x’ post festu’ S’ci Jacobi Ap’li anno regn’ Reg’ Edwardi t’eii a Conquestu q’dragesimo p’mo.” The next in order, without a seal and undated, but ap- parently written early in the reign of King Edward the Third, is preceisely similar to that printed in Dugdale, No. VI. The original, however, furnishes us with the names of the attesting witnesses, t0 some of whom we have been already introduced :— (16.) “ Hiis testib’, D’no Joh’e de Reyni, Will’o filio Euerardi, Ada de Fernacre, Will’o de Treb’ge, Rad’ Le Tort, Walt’o Fillel, & multis aliis.” The last of the Nettlecombe Charters is one of conside- rable interest, as well for the minute detail of the boun- ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. 53 daries of the land given, as for the stipulations which are annexed to the gift. The latter, however, are not uncom- mon in ancient instruments. To facilitate its due compre- hension, the original is now accompanied by a literal translation. Its age I consider to be about that of Richard I. or Henry IV. :— (17.) “ Abbas de Cleve cu’ aqua de Heyn’. “ Seiant p’'ntes & futuri, q’ ego, Rob’t', filius Hugonis de Wude, dedi, & conc’, & hac p’nti carta mea confirmavi, Deo & S’ce Marie & Mo®chis de Ulyua, pro salute anime mee, & o’im an’cessor’, & parentu’, & hered’ meor’, in puram & p’'petuam elemosinam, q’ndam p’tem t’re mee; scilicet p’ has diuisas :—quar’ prima ineipit ad diuisam de Chidesle subt’ Le Corde, & tendit vsq’ in spinam que diuidit t'ram illam, & t’ram qua’ ip’i mo:chi h’ent de feodo meo, de dono Geroldi filii Baldwyny ; &inde v’sus occiden- tem, vsq’ in vrlam bosci de Macherith; & inde v’sus aqui- lonem, p’ fossatu’ q’ p’dieti monachi fod’nt int’ terram illam & t'ram Geroldy ; & inde p’ id’m fossatu’ v’sus orientem, vsq’ in divisas t're de Weletuna ; & inde v’sus austru’, p’ id'm fossatum, vsq’ in diuisas t’r’ de Chidesle; & inde v'sus oceidentem vsq’ in p’dieta’ spinam. Et q’equid h’ui int’ p’de’as diuisas, cu’ p’dictis fossatis, dledi p’fatis mo’chis, eu’ o’ib’ p’tin’ suis. Et p’t’ea dedi eis co'munione’ pastur’ in o'i t'ra mea de Wude, excepto blado & p*to a Kl’ Ap’lis vsq’ du’ falcetur, & colligatur, ad trecentas oues, & ad sexaginta aljalia, & ad sexaginta porcos, cu’ lib’is introitib’, & exitib’, & cu’ om’ib’ lib'tatib’, & lib’is consuetudinib’, & aesiame’tis, in o’ib’ reb’ & locis eid’m ville p’tinentib’. Hec oija p’fata tenementa & pasturam dedi p’fatis mo®chis, cu’ o’ib’ p’tinenciis suis, lib’a, & quieta a me & h’edib’ meis, & soluta ab om’i t’reno s’uic’o & sec’lari exaccione in- p’petuu’. Et q’equid debetur inde regi vel ulli alüi ho'i, ego 54 PAPERS, ETC. & h’edes mei adgq’etabimus & warantisabim’ p’ n’rm alıud tenementu’ p’fatis mo®chis, contra om’s ho’ies & om’s femi- nas. Et sciendu’, q’ p’fati mo°chi in obitu meo facient seruiciu’ pro me sicud p’ uno mo’cho; & sim’ placu’it, corpus meu’ recipie’t ad sepulturam. His t’, Rob’to filio Ursy, Joh’e filio ejus, & aliis.” “Know men present and future, that I, Robert, son of Hugh de Wude, have given, and granted, and by this my present charter have confirmed, to God and S. Mary, and the Monks of Clyve, for the health of my soul, and of all my ancestors, and parents, and heirs, for a pure and per- petual alms, a certain part of my land ; to wit, by these bounds : whereof the first beginneth at the bound of Chidesle under Le Corde, and extendeth as far as the thorn which boundeth that land, and the land which the same monks have of my fee, of the gift of Gerald the son of Baldwyn ; and from thence towards the west, as far as the edge of the wood of Macherith; and from thence towards the north, by the ditch which the aforesaid monks have dug between that land and the land of Gerald ; and from thence by the same ditch towards the east, as far as the bounds of the land of Weletun; and from thence to- wards the south, by the same ditch, as far as the bounds of the land of Chidesle ; and from thence towards the west, as far as the thorn aforesaid. And whatsoever I had within the aforesaid bounds, with the ditches aforesaid, I have given to the aforesaid monks, with all its appurte- nances. And I have given to them in addition the right of common pasture in all my land of Wude, saving the corn and meadow land from the calends of April to the time that it is reaped and stacked, for three hundred sheep, and for sixty beasts, and for sixty swine, with free en- trances and exits, and with all the liberties, and free cus- ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. N, toms, and easements, in all things and places pertaining to the same vill. All these aforesaid tenements and pasture I have given to the aforesaid monks, with all their appur- tenances, free and quit of me and my heirs, and released from all land service and seeular exaction for ever. And whatsoever is due from thence to the King or to any other man, I and my heirs will discharge and warrant it by our other tenement to the aforesaid monks against all men and all women. And be it known that the aforesaid monks at my decease shall do service for me as for a monk, and, if it shall please me, shall receive my corpse for burial. "These are witnesses : Robert Fitz-Urse, John his son, and others.” With the following concludes my second division. It was written only two years previous to the Dissolution, and while the House was under the government of its last Abbot. For permission tocopy it Iam indebted, and offer my sincere thanks to, Thomas Warden, Esq., of Bardon, in whose office it has been, as he inforns me, for upwards of sixty years. In addition to its intrinsie interest, it possesses a most valuable appendage, in an impression, which I believe to be unique, of the Common Seal of the Abbey. I shall revert to this presently with greater detail. The document follows in the meanwhile ; and I have added a translation of the Latin portion :— (18.) “Nou’int vniu’si p’ p’sentes, nos, Will’m Dovell, Abb’tem Domus siue Monasterij B’te Marie de Cliua, in Com’ Som’s, & eiusdem loci Conventus, teneri & firmiter obligari Joh’i Sydenh’m de Netilcombe in Com’ p’de’o, Gen’os, in quadringent’ libris sterlingor’, soluend’ eidem Joh’i Sydenh’m, Executoribus, vel assign’ suis; ad quam quid’m solucio’em bene & fidelit’ faciend’ obligamus nos & Successores n’ros firmit’ p’ p’sent'. In cuius Rei testio'm, 56 PAPERS, ETC. huie p’sent scripto n’ro Sigillu’ n’rm Cov’ loci n’ri p’dei apposuim”. Dat’ apud Cliuam p’dict, in Domo n’ra Capi- tular’, vicesimo die Maij, anno Regni Regis Henrici octaui vicesimo septimo. “ The condicion of this obligacion is suche, that yf the abouebounden Abbot and Covent and ther Successors of ther p’te well and trewlie obs’ue, p’frme, and kepe all and singler Couen’nttes*, graunttes, and agrementes of ther p’te, to be obs’uyd, p'frmyd, and kepte as be comprised in a paire of Indenturs made bytwen the abouebonden Abbot & Covent of the one p’te, and the abouenamyde John Syd- enh’m of the other p’te, beryng the date of this p’sent obligac’on, conc’nyng a lesse for t'me of yere of the ferme or grange called Legh, and other thynges in the p’ysshe of Olde Clyve in the saide Countie of Somr’, as by the same Indenters more as large it may appere, that than this obli- gacon to be voyde, or elles to stond in his full strenght and vertue.” The former portion reads in English as follows :— “Know all by the present writings, that we, William Dovell, Abbot of the House or Monastery of Blessed Mary of Clive, in the county of Somerset, and of the Convent of the same place, are held and firmly bound to John Sydenham of Nettlecombe, in the county aforesaid, Gentleman, in four hunidred pounds of sterling money, to be paid to the same John Sydenham, his executors or assigns ; to the good and faithful execution of which pay- ment we oblige ourselves and our successors firmly by * The old English termination “es” is expressed in the MS. by a mark of contraction. I have thought it best to add the required letters to the words to which such mark is appended, in order to remove the ambiguity which might otherwise have arisen. The letters thus added are, however, given in italic; and in all other respects the orthography of the original is scrupulously followed. Id Einen Be, PR ZZ BEL DET, 2% hy ve, (yf Vieyve BER U : Hey, 2% he loun 7y SF: DomsRdcL. Yen am amp reden; Lelesrnsssl: 7 Gar unique, L - hended: 7a an Aywement, dated. Hay 2 29. Fon. VID, un Ahe _ 1ossesseen of Ihomas Ha hılen ß Os & Ongta ned er Hr Der Dhomras. Hayes ha ZIAERZ 70 her f Le tod Mer vC/ ı Mey : iR Fuy: PER ESS. L 7 * ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. 57 the present instrument. In witness whereof we have to this our present writing set our seal of our Conventual place aforesaid. Given at Clive aforesaid, in our Chapter House, the twentieth day of May, in the year of the reign of King Henry the Eighth twenty-seventh.” Down to the period of the Society’s present meeting, no seal either of the Abbey or of any one of the Abbots has been published. I am in consequence extremely gratified in being able to present the archzological world with en- gravings of two very beautiful specimens of these hitherto inedited and most interesting memorials.. The first is no less an acquisition than the Common Seal of the Abbey, an impression of which, believed to be unique, is appended to the instrument last recited.* It is of red wax, and, as will be perceived from the engraving, all but perfect. Itre- presents, within a vesica, the Virgin and Holy Child under a canopy, with a diapered background ;.and below, under an arch, an Abbot on his knees. The whole is surrounded by the legend SIGILLIM COMMVNE [A]BBATHIE DE CLYVE. If Imight hazard a conjecture respecting its age, I should say that it was executed from about the end of the thirteenth to the termination of the first half of the fourteenth century, —hetween 1290 and 1350. The second seal is that of Abbot David Juyner. He oceurs * I have scarcely need to congratulate the Society on this most inter- esting result of the Dunster Meeting. The fact itself speaks volumes for the excellence and advantage of such gatherings. All antiquaries are hereby put in possession of a treasure not hitherto known to exist, regarded on the spot with an interest unequal to its rightful claims, and at any time liable to be lost for ever. Had the Society done nothing else but furnish the oppor- tunity of making such a discovery, its existence would not have been in vain. I must not forget to add that the representations which I am enabled to give of both the seals are of the first excellence for scrupulous fidelity, and that, as usual, the work of my friend Mr. Cleghorn leaves nothing to be desired. VOL. vI., 1855, PART II. H 58 PAPERS, ETC. from 1435 to 1466; and is the same ecclesiastic, it will be remembered, that re-erected the chapel destroyed by the fall of the cliff, and that obtained the licence for the market and fairs in aid of the cost incurred thereby. This impression also is believed to be unique, and was ap- pended to a document of the period once in the possession of Sir W. C. Trevelyan, Bart., but which is now mis- laid and unable to be found. Happily a few casts were taken from it some years ago, one of which became the property of Mr. Laing, of Edinburgh. From this some others were taken, whereof‘that in my possession is the one which has furnished the artist with’'his model. Like its com- panion, it is in excellent condition, and, though smaller, has many points of general resemblance, as will be seen by comparison, The Virgin and Holy Child are here also under a canopy, and a kneeling Abbot below, on either side of whom is a shield, that on the right bearing the arms traditionally given to William de Romara the founder of the Abbey. The legend is 9: vauid Jupner abbatis de clepua. Our series of Charters (some of them, I ought to add, popularly but not quite technically, so called) has brought us down to the year 1535. For our third division of docu- ments, comprising those which although not Charters are illustrative of our subject, it will of course be necessary to retrace our steps. Much information respecting the Abbey will be found in the volumes published at various times under the direction of the Record Commissioners, to which I need only refer my reader. Notices of lands, etc., for example, may be seen in Rot. Hundred. vol.i. p. 69 ; vol. ii. pp. 121, 134. Plac. de quo War. pp. 108, 167 ; Abbrev. Plac. p. 194 ; Calend. 5 El, Yulherto ET La el fayner Ahlat A RE 07° Gens bb. fon! a rast Zahen kom am um EP VRR le TE afı - Benndedifa [72 BIER, DAR eriod, fe vineuly WE Uhr pebsabsion Fer H° D.. Iretwely am Bat BIZE varcd- OP, Dhe Ser: 4.7 BE VER FR len hd ober . YVıchivof EERBIN AB: fur PIRLL VER Pe ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. 59 Inquis. post mort: vol. ii, pp. 43, 132 ; vol. iii, p. 240; etc., etc. The amount of revenue about the year 1291, making a total temporalty of £32 5s. 8d., is afforded by the Taxatio of Pope Nicholas IV., pp. 152b, 153b, 205b. The enumeration and value of the lands, ete., on the eve of the Dissolution, the latter amounting to £155 9s. 5d., may be found in the Valor Eeelesiasticus, temp. Hen. VIIL, vol. i., pp. 217, 218; and subsequently in the Comput. Ministr. Dom. Reg. from the Roll, 28 Hen. VIIL, in the Augmentation Ofhce, printed in Dugdale, Append. no. xv., p. 734. Various summonses of the Abbots to Parliament, loans, etc., both of which, though considered at the time a grievance, are a criterion of the rank which the Abbey enjoyed, are to be found in Par- liamentary Writs, vol. i. p. 293, no. 20 ; p. 335, no. 19. Vol. ii. part ii., p. 88, no. 51; p. 379, no. 37; p. 384, no. 10 ; part ii., p. 690, etc. I do not think it necessary to reprint these and similar notices here, needing as they do very little orno translation, because they are already given to the world in volumes, which, though ponderous and necessarily expensive, are generally accessible in publie libraries of any extent or pretension. A similar feeling has prevented my making these pages a mere transcript of the accounts of Leland, Dugdale, Tanner, Willis, Archer, Collinson, and other writers. It were an easy expedient, and one too often resorted to, to reprint unne- cessarily, and for lack of original matter, what is without. difheulty and far better aequired from the authorities themselves, so needlessly, not to say reprehensibly, tran- scribed. But this is a practice which I would most earnestly discountenance, both by precept and example. And my aim, therefore, all along has been solely to furnish either matter entirely new, or translations of 60 PAPERS, ETC. important published documents, which, without such an accompaniment, would be useless to many of the Society’s members. The Harleian MS. 433, among many other choice and precious papers, includes contemporary transcripts of several letters addressed by K. Richard III. to the Houses of the Cistertian Order in England and Wales; with re- gard among other matters to the foundation of Barnard’s, or S. Bernard’s, College, Oxford. Three of them furnish conclusive evidence of the rank of the Abbey, and of its being considered one of the chief Houses of the Cister- tians in this country ; for the king expressly mentions the Abbot of Clyff as one of those specially entrusted with the visitation of the Houses and the conservation of the rules of the Order. These hitherto unpublished docu- ments, I may add, are equally interesting to the Oxford as to the Somersetshire Archeologist. I have carefully copied them from the MS., and scrupulously preserved their orthography. And I scarcely need draw my reader's attention to their importance and value, not only for the reasons stated above, but for the noble aspect which they exhibit of our language during the interesting period of the fifteenth century. The matter of S. Bernard’s College is thus intro- duced :— (A.) “ Thabbot of Stretford. “Richard, &c. To o’ trusty and welbeloued in God, Thabbotes* of 0" Monast’yes of Bukfast, Beaulieu, Hayles, Rewlegh, and to all other of y* religion wtin this 0" Roy”®, Whome vnto thise o' I’res shalbe shewed, greting. Forse- moche as We vnderstande that o' right trusty & welbe- * See note, page 56. u ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. 61 loued in God, Thabbot of 0" Monast’y of Stratford, hath ye Rule & guyding of yo" ordre win this our said Roy"®, and specially of a Collage named Barnardes College, besides o® Vniu’site of Oxford, which, as We vnd’stodde at o' last being ther, proceeded right wele in buylding, We y’fore woll & strettly charge you, all & eu’y of you, y* for no singuler loue or affeccion of any p’sone, of what condicion or degre soeu’ he be, ye deliu’e or do to be de- liu’ed your contribuc’ons or benyuolence g’unted amongst you, but onely to ye said Abbot, or to dompn’ Rob’t Hall, or dompn’ Thomas Wynston, his assignes. And ou’ y* considered his goode & meritorious entent, that ye geue vnto him and ye same his assignes yo" assistence and fauo’s, in noo wise int’rupting nor troubling them or any of them, by meane ofany surmyse or sinistre enfo'macion, by any p’sone maliciously made, touching Thabbot of Cisteux, hedhous of yo" said Religion ; acertanyng you y' for there deelaracion by ye said Abbot, nor any other in his name, was neu’ sute made nor mater shewed vnto vs y! in any wise shuld be p’iudiciall to ye said hedehouse of any of you. And y* none of you p’sume or take vpon him to enfringe, adnulle, or disobeie suche power and auctorite con- e’nyng ye wele & good Ruelles of yo’ said Religion, as is comitted to ye said Abbot of Stratford, and to Thabbotes of Founteyns, Woborn, & of Clyff; but y! in eu’y thing ye be obeieng ye same as to yo’ duetes app'- teigneth, as ye desire to stande in ye fauo' of 0" grace. Youen, &c. the ij day of Decembre, a° p’mo.” * Then there is a general commission, confirming a grant of almost absolute power :— (B.) “ Thabbotes of ye ordure of Cisteux. * Harl. MS. 433, f. 125 b. 62 PAPERS, ETC. “Richard, &c. To all Thabbottes and their oflie’s of thordre of Cisteux w'in this 0" Roy”®, and to all Maires, Shireffes, Escheato's, Baillieffes, Constables, and all other our offic’s, true liegemen & subgiettes, hering or seing thise o* l’res, greting. Forasmoche as 0’ trusty & welbeloued in God, Hugh Abbot of Stratford, and Rob’t Abbot of o' Monast’y of Woburne, & Thabbot of 0" Monast’y of Clyff, Refo'mato’s and Visitours of all ye said ordre of Cisteux win this 0" Roy"”®, haue power, by vertue of an Actorite to them yeven by ye holy Fader in God Thabbot of ye hede house of Cisteux, and by ye gen’all Chapitur of ye same ordre, to visite, refo'me, punysshe and courecte al- man’e of trespassoures, malefacto's, apostates, rebelles, & Rennegates out of their ordure, vndre profession of ye same, and all othere of ye same ordre suyng & keping any cure, or being in any suice w‘ any other p’sone w'in this o" Roy”, wtout licence of ye said Abbottes their refo'mato's. And y! the same refo'mato’s may also refo'me, correct, & addresse, aswele all misp’sons, vsurpacions, acerochementes, defaultes, & wronges, as any other vnlefull grauntes & charges by any Abbott or Abbottes of ye said ordre to any other p’sone* sp’uell’ or temp’ell’ before this tyme g’unted, made, done, or suffred to be done, in noyaunce, p’iudice, and derogacion of ye said religion & ordre, contrary to ye statutes & ordyn?nces by all ye said religion for ye good rule y’of made & ordeyned. We y’fore straitly charge you, all & eu’y of you, y' vnto ye said Abbotes of Strat- ford, Woburne, & Clyft, and eu’y of them, in execucion of their said auetorites in eu’y behalue, as is afore rehersed, ye be assisting, abeing, aiding, & supporting at all tymes, if ye by them or eu’y of them be required on our behalue * “Or p’sones” is added, but a line is drawn across the words. — 4, 0 a u ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. 63 so to doo. And y‘ ye neither resiste, no int’rupte them in y! p’tie; as ye woll aduoide o" greuoux despleısur, and ye p'ill which of ye contrarie may ensue. Youen, &c., at London, the ij day of Decembre, A® p’mo.” * The next, besides its other points of interest connected with our subject, is a remarkable example of the inveterate and ever-growing dislike to the removal from England of money for the maintenance of foreign Houses:— (C.) “To Thabbottes of Fountayns, Stratford, and Wo- burn, Refo'mato's of that Religion win this oure Roy"®, & to eu’y of yem. “Right trusty and welbeloued in God, We grete you wele. Albeit now in late daies past, not oonely by yo" as- sentes & oy’ Faders of yo" Religion win this oure Roy"®, but also at ye desire & pleasur of ye famous prince of blissed memorie, our brother, ft whome God assoill, it was condescended & agreed y! all suche annuell contribucions as h’tofore hath ben by you & yem g’unted to ye hede house of Cisteux, which by a statut unto ye contrarie y’of made be vtt/ly forboden, shuld be besett & bestowed, by thow’sisht of oure right trusty & welbeloued in God, Thabbot of oure Monast’y of Stratford, towardes & aboutes ye buylding of ye Collage called Bernardes College, be- sides oure Vniu’site of Oxonford, founded for Scolers of yo’ said Religion, thing full expedient & necessarie : Yet, nathelesse, it is shewed vnto vs, and to ye lordes of oure Counsell, y* c’tain Faders of yo’ said Religion, not Re- membring ye good entent and meritorious Werk, nor feering ye pynalte of ye said statut, as it semeth, priuatly & by colour, meoue and exhorte, asmoche as in yem is, as * Harl. MS. 433, f. 1266, + “brother ” is a correction for “fader,” which appears beneath. 64 PAPERS, ETC. it is said, that ye said money shuld be leueed and paied to ye vse of ye said hedehouse; Which, ye p’misses considered, ne shalbe suffred. And therfore* We woll & charge you, that, if ye shall knowe and p’ceyue any so disposed amongest you, ye do him or them to be refo'med & correected. And y*! yef faill so to do, as ye woll ad- uoide ye p’ill & paynalte of ye said statut, & our greuous displeasur. Youen &c. y® xxv'® day of May.”’} To the same purpose is the missive which follows :— (D.) “Richard, &e.$ To our trusty & right welbeloued in God, Thabbottes of the Monast’ies of Bukfast, Bieulieu, Clyve, Qvarr, Tourehill, Dunkeswell, Bukland, Wauwley, Netley, Byndon’, Newh’m’, 'Tynterne, Kyngeswoode, Stanley, Flaxley, Tame, Sipton’, Foord, Coxhale, Tilthey, and oy’, to whome these p’sentes shalbe shewed, greting. Forsomoche as it is shewed vnto vs |] that oure right trusty & welbeloued in God, Thabbot of oure Monast’y of Strat- ford, hath by yo" hoole & all assentes, and of oy’ like Faders of yo’ Religeon in this oure Roy“, at yo’ gen’all ° Chapitur, thouersight of the buyldinges of Bernard Col- lege, besides oure Vniu’site of Oxonford, co’mitted vnto him, and vnderstande y‘ w*‘ all effectuell diligence he entendeth in his p’sone to emplie & endeuoir him selff to * The following then oceurs in the original, but is cancelled: “by thaduice of oure derrest vnele the Duc of Gloucestre, Protector & Defendor of this oure Royme during or yong age,” + “ne,” I presume, is to be here supplied. tr Harl. MS. 483, f. 230. $ “ Edward &e.” appears beneath, but is cancelled. || Then follows, though cancelled, “& our derrest Oncle the Due of Gloucestre, protector of this oure Royme during oure yong age;” < I request my philological reader to observe the transitive use of this word, as in the Ordinal, the Order of Confirmation, and the Collect for the second Sunday after Easter. Another very interesting instance is furnished by a letter from Edmund Whalley, Abbot of S. Mary’s at York, 1521-1530, to Cardinal Wolsey. Cott. MS. Cleop. E. iv. f. 46. ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. 65 ye finall & p’fite conclusion of y® same : We, considering his laudable purpose in y* behalue, and y* the said Werke is right expedient & meritoriouse, desire y'fore & exorte you & eu’y of you to shewe youre selff benyuolent & aiding to ye same entent, as to yo" honeur & duete app’teyneth; and y* aboue ye yerely contribucion of ewWy of you & oy’ Faders abouesaid g’unted to ye said buydylnges, ye woll shewe your selff of suche towardenesse & benyuolence as may be thought condigne w‘ youre worship & promo- cion ; and to graunt the rather at oure instaunce suche a resonable sum’e of redy money, as may encourage oy’ like Faders forto shewe yem selff of ye same. And suche of you as haue of yo’ good disposicion & lib’te graunted e’tain money, as it appereth vnder yo’ seales, Wee desire you to see the hasty contentacion y’of: and other of you yt as yet ne haue confo'med nor shewed you of y* to- wardnesse & disposieion, We desire you also and eu’y of you w* all h’tynes to applie you y’unto, as ye tendre theffeet of ye p’misses, and to do vs singuler pleasur. And y* by o' welbeloued in God, Damp’ Rob’t Halle yis berer, or any oy’ by o' said Abbot appoynted, We may by youre writinges be e’tified of y* c’tain sum’e y' ye so shall geue or graunt, whome We haue com’aunded to shewe vnto you oure pleasur in y° said case. Wherin ye will geue vnto him eredence, and applie yo’ vtt/ly for yo" parties in y* behalue, as it apperet. Ow’ y* charging all man? oure offie’s, liegemen, & subiettes, forto geue from tyme to tyme vnto ye said Damp’ Rob’t, or other as aboue is said, their aides, fauo's, & assistences, in all thinges con- e’nyng ye p’misses, as they desire to do vs singuller pleasur, and eschewe the contrarie. Youen &e. y° xxüij® day of May, A° primo.’” * * Harl. MS., 433, f. 230b. u voL. vI., 1855, PART II. I 66 PAPERS, ETC. And the last of the series, although only a portion of the letter, has evident respect to the foundation already referred to :— (E.) “ Edward,* &c. To o' trusty & welbeloued in God, Thabbotes of the Monast’ies of Hayles, Rewley, Thame, Bittillesden, Brewern, Bordesley, Pipwell, Mira- uall, Combe, Wardone, Woborn, Sawere, Kirkestede, Riv- isby, Louth, P’ke, Fountayns, Mewx, Cristall, Fournes, Calder, Whallaye, Salley, Roche, Holmes, Newmynstre, Jaruais, Biland, Ryevax, Cumbermer, Vawdi, Dieuleucres, Hilton, Garadon, Rufford, Crokesten, Dore, Variatt, Stondeley, and all oy’, aswele in Walyes as in Englnd, greting. For asmoche as it is shewed vnto vs, vt antea,— And do vs singuler pleasur. Geving ou’ this playne cre- dence vnto ye said Abbot of Stratford in y! he shall shewe you oure desire for ye vtter p’fo'myng of ye same: So y! by y’ writinges and by him we may be c’tified of yo" singuler abilites & h’tynesse in y! behalue. Youen &c. y° xxiijje day of May, A° primo.” f It may not be amiss to add that S. Bernard’s College was founded for student monks of the Cistertian Order in 1436; and that, after falling into the King’s hands at the Disso- lution, and being given to the Dean and Chapter of Christ- church, it was purchased by the great and good Sir Thomas White, Alderman of London, in 1555, and re-built and endowed by him two years afterwards, under the name, which it still bears, of the College of S. John Baptist. * In these letters, which were originally written during the eleven weeks of the reign of Edward V., the name of his successor, by whom they were issued, is substituted. This alteration has been unintentionally forgotten by the scribe in the present instance ; but I think it better to adhere to the MS. asitstands, and to explain the discrepaney in this note. I have given the letters in the order of their sequence in the volume, but in striet chrono- logical arı angement they would probably stand thus :—D, E, C, B, A. + Harl. MS. 433, f. 230b. ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. 67 Thus in piety and honour Cleeve Abbey continued to Aourish for several hundred years, and to fulfil the great purposes for which it was founded. Its walls, still lovely in decay, re-echoed almost hourly with the prayers and praises of Christian men, and typified in their beauty and repose the majesty and perfeetion as well as the holiness and peace of Heaven. It was one of those great human- izers which alone for centuries availed to rescue European society from the savage influences which otherwise would have ruled supreme. It was Church, college, guesthouse, school, refuge, infirmary, hospital and inn, combined and in kindly union—a nucleus of eivilization—a centre of se- eurity, sociability, and noble hospitality—all graced and glorified by a sacred light which cast its bright beams over surrounding regions, sunk but for it in a long and dark night of ferocity, tyranny and erime. Hence went the in- fluence forth, which curbed the strong, raised the degraded, vindieated the oppressed, and eoerced the lawless. Here the doors were ever open, in agreement with the inscription on its stately gatehouse, and all ranks, from the sovereign to the beggar, found a welcome within their pale. Here, and in similar Houses, dwelt the best, the holiest, and the wisest ofthe day—the most profound of scholars, the most skilful of builders, the most expert of artificers, the most generous of landlords, the most princely of patrons, the most hospitable of hosts. And their presence and beauti- ful home, in places and during ages in which there was no middle class, and naught else but themselves between the lord of the soil and his subject vassal, was the point at which all met upon common ground—at which the great man thought not of his greatness, nor the humble man of his humility, but recognized a bond, closer and more 68 PAPERS, ETC. sacred than aught beside, in religious communion and Christian brotherhood. Time went on. The aspect of society changed ; and the hour and power of darkness at length arrived. It does not fall, Iam aware, within the bounds of my province to detail the successive steps of that aggression whereby a period was at length put to an Institution, wondrously adapted to the necessities of the ages in which it did its work, and meriting, even for the sake of ancient service, to say nothing of its sacred origin, very different treatment from that which it received. T'he peculiarities of the times, however, were inimical to it. The basest passions which can tyrannize over our nature were then in their full career of cruelty and crime; and the accompanying pre- tence of religious obligation only served to make the eruelty more heartless, and the crime more nauseous and abominable. It must not be supposed for a single mo- ment that religion and morality had anything whatever to do with the suppression of Cleeve Abbey. The brutal tyrant who sanctioned, the greedy courtiers who encour- aged, and the base tools who perpetrated that atrocious work, preclude any such a fancy.. Not piety, but pelf, was the motive; and the master principle was not the glory of God, but the gratification of the most loathsome lusts which can degrade mankind. Commissioners came down, having prejudged the cause which they pretended to try‚„—the willing agents of unscrupulous villany. Re- turns were made, wherein we know not which to detest the most, the fawning adulation, the hypoecritical affec- tation of regret, or the real and true spirit of wrong and robbery, which all the studied duplicity of the actors did not avail to conceal. Differ from the religious opinions DA nn un u 9 m U ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. 69 of the sufferers as we may, and to these no reference has been intended in the previous remarks, one thing is cer- tain. It was not their religious opinions which brought upon them the frown of disfavour, and at length the storm of perseeution and destruction. It was their possessions and not their precepts, their rents and not their religion, their money and not their morality, which caused their fall. The tyrant, like another of earlier date, first killed, and then took possession. We find, however, that soon afterwards a courtier was quite ready to appropriate the spoil, in the person of Robert Earl of Sussex. He was previously known as Robert Ratcliffe, baron and viscount Fitz-Walter ; was created Earl of Sussex on the 28th December, 21st Hen. VIII, and in the 33rd of the same reign was made Lord High Chamberlain for life. He was one of the peers who presented the ar- ticles against Cardinal Wolsey, and subscribed the letter to the Pope, representing the certain loss of his supre- macy unless he decided against Queen Katharine. Be- sides the Abbey of Cleeve, he obtained the College and Chantry of Attleburgh, in Norfolk, and died the follow- ing year, 1542. * The original grant is abstracted in Dugdale, p. 731, note b, from the Originalia, 29 Hen. VIIL, of which ab- stract the following is a translation :— (F.) “The King on the 30th day of January granted to Robert Earl of Sussex, the reversion of the house and site of the late Abbey of Clyve, and all the messuages etc. in the parishes of Old Cliffe, London, Bylbroke, Wasshe- ford, Hungerford, Golsyngeote, Roodwater, Leigh and * See Banks’s “Dormant and Extinet Baronage,” 4to. Lond. 1809., vol. iii, p. 696. 70. PAPERS, ETC. Bynham, in the county of Somerset, the rectory of Old Clyve excepted, to be held by him and the heirs male of his own body.” * Four years afterwards, the grant was repeated. It also is unpublished, but similar in many respects to that pre- viously made, and is a long and painfully interesting document. It sets forth that the King has granted the various estates (G.) “in consideratio’e boni, veri, fidelis, & accepta- bilis suieij, quod Charissimus consanguineus n’r Rob’tus Comes Sussex iamdudum cont? rebelles in partib’ borialib’ nob’ impendebat.” f “In eonsideration,” that is, “of the good, true, faithful, and acceptable service which our dearest cousin Robert Earl of Sussex a long time since expended in our behalf against the rebels in the northern parts.” Reference is here made to the insurrection in the North of England, commonly called the “ Pilgrimage of Grace,” which commenced in the autumn of 1536, and was not suppressed till the spring of the following year. It was created by the discontent which naturally prevailed among the people at the suppression of so many religious establish- ments, and was Joined, among others, by the Archbishop of York, and the Lords Lumley, Nevil, Darcey, and Latimer. Most of the leaders and hundreds of their fol- lowers were executed. On a charge that the monks had assisted the agitators, a commission to investigate their conduct was appointed under the presideney of this Earl of Sussex ; and history has not on record a more contempt- ible specimen of. hypocrisy, tyranny, and outrage. It * Orig. 29.Hen. VIII. Somers. rot. 28vo. + Orig. 33 Hen. VILI., Somers. rot, 22do. EEE BEER WELLE UWE ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. 71 resulted, as was intended, in the murder of many of the ecelesiasties, and in the suppression of the greater Mon- asteries, which alone remained to enrich the spoiler, This was “the good, true, faithful, and” no doubt most “ ac- ceptable service,” for which Cleeve Abbey—the “ Flowery Valley” of peace—was the payment. The lands are enumerated as situate “. . in parochia seu hamelettio de Vet’i Clyff, London, Bylbroke, Wassheford, Hungreford, Golsingeote, Roode- water, Leygh, & Bynham’, in d’eo Com’ n’ro Som’s.” There is in this also a distinet and emphatic reservation of the Rectory :— “ Except’ tamen semper ac nob’ hered’ & successorib’ n’ris omnino reservat’ tota R’toria de Olde Clyve.” These documents stand in mournful contrast to those which have previously been submitted. Sacrilege and tyranny have done their work. And silence and ruin have taken up their abode, where hitherto and for long resided the beauty of holiness and the voice of melody. From this time the place has no history save that of a private estate. The narrative of the fortunes of its sub- sequent host of owners may possess a melancholy interest, and suggest very fearful subjects of thought. But the peculiar fascination and charm is gone; and my task, already, perhaps, too protracted, necessarily hastens to its completion. It is indeed time, I feel, to draw to a conclusion. Yet have we pursued our way, not wearisomely, I trust, or without some little interest, over many a roll of time- hallowed parchment, and along many a line of strange and sometimes faded characters, and of obsolete phraseology, now presented in familiar type, distinetly punctuated, in- vested in the customary garb of our mother-tongue, and 72 PAPERS, ETC. thus reduced to language intelligible to all. Ideeply regret that the limited space at my command has necessitated the absence of such a commentary, as that whose presence is so greatly to be desired. Much indeed might be said in elueidation of many of the documents. The lands which they convey, the terms with which they abound, the various rights, exemptions, and customs which they particularize, the prineipals who gave and received them, and the wit- nesses by whom they were attested, suggest matter to which a score of volumes would fail to do justice. Still, in spite of all, we have had a glimpse of ages second to none in our national history for interest and importance, We have seen with our mind’s eye the kingly, vene- rable, and saintly forms whose names have been brought before us in connexion with these curious records of the past, these interesting memorials of a state of society of which modern England has no example, and but a meagre and for the most part a very inaccurate knowledge. The “Dominus Rex,” the pious William de Romara, the princely Hubert de Burgh, “our venerable Father R. Bishop of Chichester, our Chancellor,” “Lord E. Abbot of Rivaux,” “ Jocelyn prior of Spauding,” “Reginald de Mohun, and Avis my wife,” Ralph de Wydecume, “the Abbotes of Stratford, Founteyns, Woborn, & of Clyff,” and William Marshall, E. of Pembroke, the benefactor of Tynterne, have been all but visible, together with the Nicholases, the Hughs, the Gilberts, the Ralphs, the Wal- ters, and the Rogers, who have here been figuring before us. But now, however unwillingly, we must leave them, and allow them to retire once more into the gloom. I trust it will not be necessary for me to defend myself sgainst blame for too great a scrupulosity in presenting, as nearly as possible in their actual form, the documents now Ba DIE EBEN ON THE CHARTERS OF CLEEVE ABBEY. 73 for the first time committed to the press. But if so, I would shelter myself under the authority of Dr. Samuel Clarke, who, in his admirable preface to the Iliad, has triumphantly vindicated such reverent care : “Levia quidem hzc,” he says, “et parvi forte, si per se spectentur, momenti. Sed ex elementis constant, ex principiis oriuntur, omnia. Et ex judicii consuetudine in rebus minutis adhibita, pendet s2pissime, etiam in mazximis, vera atque accurata scientia.” Should I, however, have wearied any one of my readers, I would suggest to him the vital interest of my sub- jeet, most dear as it is to the real antiquary, how dis- tasteful soever to the general student. If, on the other hand, any gentleman should derive balf the pleasure from my labour that I have done in searching for the materials of this and similar contributions, I am abundantly con- tented, and feel sure that he will neither disregard what is now offered to his acceptance, nor quarrel with me for the length of time that I have presumed to detain him, For both of us, with the old dramatist, “Do loue these auncient Ruynes: We neuer tread vpon them, but we set Oure foote vpon some reuerend History. And questionles, here in this open Court, (Which now lies naked to the iniuries Of stormy weather) some men Iye Interr’d, Lou’d the Church so well, and gaue so largely to’t, They thought it should haue canopide their Bones Till Doombes-day : But all things haue their end: Churches and Citties, (which haue diseases like to men) Must haue like death that we haue.” * #* Webster. “ The Dutchesse of Malfy.” Act v., scene iii. 4to. Lond. 1623. VOL. vI., 1855, PART IT, RK 74 PAPERS, ETC. ON Kleve Ahlıy. BY THE REV. F. WARRE. Ze HENEVER we see ancient works, we naturally wish to know something of their history, and of those by whom they were raised. Earth-works, the marks of primsval occupation—castles, bearing witness to the power and military habits of the medisval nobility —-ruins, proving by their importance and beauty the wealth and civilization of the clergy of former days—mines, shewing how early commerce led to maritime adventure ; and sepulchres of all dates, shewing that in all ages man has longed for posthumous fame, are to be found around us, and cannot fail to interest every thinking mind in the habits, manners, and history of those who have preceded us as inhabitants of this country. But of all these objects of interest, none, perhaps, are more interesting than the remains of monastic establish- ments, such as Cleeve Abbey, evincing as they do, by the beauty of their details, a state of civilization far in ad- vance of what might be expected in the dark ages ; and by their costliness and extent bearing witness to a zeal for OLD CLEEVE ABBEY. 75 the honour of God far greater, I fear, than can generally be found in these more enlightened and practical, but less loving and devoted days. And yet, though deservedly interesting, monastic remains are, perhaps, of all ancient relics, those whose history is most completely forgotten in their own neighbourhood. Every castle has its own tradi- tions of war, splendour, and suffering—every earth-work, even those of the earliest date, has its own tale of blood- shed or superstition. But the same peasant who will tell you that the Romans ceonstructed this camp, and that the Danes were defeated at another, and knows the names and relates the deeds of valour or oppression of the warlike barons who built and inhabited each castle, will probably, when questioned as to the monastic ruins, however beauti- ful or extensive, only answer that he has heard that the monks lived there formerly, and, if pressed more closely, will speak of a dark figure, or more commonly of a white lady, who is said to haunt the ruins, It is not among the uneducated classes alone that this ignorance with regard to monastic institutions prevails.. We have, generally speak- ing, very vague notions of what they really were. Ac- cording to the bias of our minds, we look upon them either as the seats of piety and devotion, or as the habitation of laziness, luxury, and profligacy ; as the abodes of learning and religion, or as the strongholds of ignorance and super- stition ; as the residences of men devoted to the service of God, or as dens polluted by monsters of hypocrisy, cruelty, and sensuality. Now, it needs but little thought to con- vince us that no one of these views is correct. Men have always been men, and good and bad have always been mixed together in human institutions—there have been good and bad monks and nuns, as there have been good and bad members of every other profession. Nor are we 76 PAPERS, ETC. competent judges of the good or evil of monastie institu» tions, unless we take into consideration the circumstances of the times in which they existed ; for it may frequently be, as I believe it to have been in this ease, that what would have been worse than useless in modern days was peeuliarly adapted to the circumstances and wants of au earlier period. Nor should we forget that “the evil that men do lives after them, and the good is oft interred with their bones,” especially when the witnesses on whose au- thority we form our opinions of them were, in most cases, personally interested in encouraging a hostile feeling to- wards them. We learn then, from Doomsday-Book, that in the time of King Edward—that is, before the Norman Conquest— Earl Harold held Old Cleave, and shortly after the Conquest it was the property of the family of Romare, or De Romara, of whom William de Romara was created Earl of Lincoln, by King Stephen, in the year 1141. The total defeat of the Saxons at Hastings, together with the death of Harold and his brothers, inflieted so fatal a stroke on the power of England, that we are in the habit of sup- posing that the conquest was then finally completed, and that the Normans from that hour became undisputed masters of the island ; but this was certainly not the case. The Saxons, though worsted on all sides, were not con- quered. At Hastings, in the Isle of Ely, in Northumber- land, and elsewhere, they maintained a desperate, though unayailing, resistance. 'The sons of Harold invaded this very coast of Somerset, in the reign of William Rufus ; and a modern historian holds that the bands of outlaws who infested the forests in all parts of England were not robbers, but desperate men, who carried on a national warfare against the invaders, even as late as the beginning OLD CLEEVE ABBEY. 71 of the reign of Henry Ill. Under these cirecumstances, the life of a great Norman Baron, like William Moion, or De Mohun, at Dunster, settled soon after the Conquest in a remote and wild district, and one in which the family of Godwin had held great possessions, must have been one of constant warfare. Every act of power on his part would . be resented as an usurpation, and desperately resisted. Such a state of things could produce but one effect ; the ruling party became tyrants of the worst description—the ruled, sullen and obstinate, and ready, when occasion offered, to retaliate on their oppressors the sufferings > ‘ had undergone. That this was the case with the English in the reign of Stephen, the Saron Chronicle informs us, in the following words, as translated by Ingram :— “They (that is, the Norman nobles) eruelly oppressed the wretched men of the land with castle works, and when the castles were made they filled them with devils and evil men ; then took they those whom they supposed to have any goods, both by night and day, men and women, and threw them into prison for their gold and silver, and in- flieted on them unutterable tortures, for never were any martyrs so tortured as they were ; some they hanged up: by the feet, and smoked them with foul smoke, and some by the thumbs or by the head, and hung coats of mail on their feet. They tyed knotted strings about their heads, and twisted them till the pain went to the brains ; they put them into dungeons, wherein were snakes and toads, and so destroyed them; some they placed in a crucet-house, that is in a chest that is short and narrow and not deep, wherein they put sharp stones, and so thrust the man there- in, that they broke all his limbs. In many of the castles were things loathsome and grim called “ Sachenteges,’ ‚of 78 PAPERS, ETC. which two or three men had enough to bear one. It was thus made: that is, fastened to a beam, and they placed a sharp iron collar about the man’s throat and neck, so that he eould in no direction either sit, or lie, or sleep, but bear all that iron. Many thousands they wore out with hunger. I neither can, nor may ], tell all the wounds and all the pains they inflicted on wretched men in this land. This lasted the 19 winters, while Stephen was King; and it grew continually worse and worse. They constantly laid guilds on the towns, and called it “tenserie’; and when the wretehed men had-no more to give, they plundered and burnt all the towns, that well thou mightest go a whole day’s journey and never shouldest thou find a man sitting in a town, nor the land tilled. Then was corn dear, and flesh and cheese, and butter, for none there was in the land; wretched men starved for hunger ; some had recourse to alms who were once rich “men, and some fled out of the land ; never yet was there more wretchedness in the land, nor ever did heathen men worse than they did, for after a time they spared neither church nor churchyard, but took all the goods that were therein, and then burned the church and alltogether. Neither did they spare a bishop’s land, nor an abbot’s, nor a priest’s, but plundered both monk’s and clerk’s, and every man robbed another who could. If two or three men came riding to a town all the township fled, for they concluded them to be robbers. The bishops and learned men cursed them continually, but the effect thereof was nothing to them, for they were all accursed and for- sworn and abandoned ; to till the ground was to plough the sea ; the earth bore no corn, for the land was all laid waste by such deeds ; and they said openly that Christ slept and his Saints.’ Such was the miserable oppression from which the Saxons, OLD CLEEVE ABBEY. 19 both lay and clerical, suffered at the hands of these Norman tyrants in the reign of Stephen; nor does their state appear to have materially improved till the troublous times of Henry Ill. rendered it necessary for the leaders of both parties, more or less, to court popular favour. It was towards the close of this miserable period, about the year 1188, that William de Romare, youngest son, or, perhaps, nephew of the Earl of Lincoln, being religiously inclined, “ for the health of the soul of King Richard, Henry his father, their ancestors and successors, as well as for the health of his own soul and the soul of Phillipa his wife, and for the souls of alltheir progenitors and posterity, founded in this, his manor of Cleeve, to the honour of the blessed Virgin Mary, a Monastery of Cistercian Monks, and bestowed thereon all his lands in Cleeve in pure and perpetuable alms, with all liberties, immunities, customs, and other appurtenances.” These Cistereian Mönks, a branch of the great Bene- dietine order, who took their name from Cisteaux, or Cistereium, in the Bishopriec of Chalons,in Burgundy, did not take up their abode in England till the year 1128, only 60 years before the foundation of Cleeve, and therefore pro- bably had a larger proportion of foreigners among them than those orders which had taken root in this island at an earlier period. Hence they were more likely to exert a beneficial influence upon the Norman nobility than the parochial elergy, who had neither wealth nor power to give them weight with their military neighbours, or than a body of monks of Saxon descent, whose origin would have been enough to expose them to oppression and plunder from the hands of their foreign conquerors. Indeed when we find the name of Richard de Bret, no doubt a member of the neighbouring baronial house of Breto (notorious as having 80 PAPERS, ETC. produced one of the murderers of Thomas ä Becket), early in the list of the Abbots of Cleeve, we may fairly conclude that this Abbey, founded by a great Norman noble, occu- pied by an order of monks in which the proportion of Normans was possibly greater than in most others, was one in which men of Norman blood and Norman connec- tions formed the majority. And as the monks of the middle ages were the almost exclusive possessors of all the seience and literature existing in those times, and also were far better and kinder landlords and masters than the feudal barons around them, nothing could have been better adapted to the wants of the times or more likely to alle- viate the miseries of the lower classes; and at the same time induce a more just and lenient spirit into their conquerors, than such an establishment as that founded by Romara at Cleeve. I have been able to discover but little of interest re- corded of this Abbey, but that does not in any degree show that the good work of eivilisation and conciliation did not prosper in their hands; indeed, it is rather a proof that it did, for it can hardly be that a body of men superior in learning and intelligence to their neighbours, possessed of great wealtb, performing the duties of their profession with even ordinary propriety, in peace and quietness, through a . long series of years, should fail of ameliorating the condi- tion, both mental and bodily, of the wretched serfs and brutal soldiers by whom they were surrounded. The chief benefactors of the Abbey were William de Romara, the founder ; Hubert de Burgh ; Richard, Earl of Cornwall; Reginald de Mohun ; and King Henry II. ; all, it may be observed, Normans of the highest rank. According to the taxation of Pope Nicholas, the temporalities of this Abbey were in the diocese of Exeter, lands at Branton, the Manor OLD CLEEVE ABBEY. sl of Pochewell, the Manor of Treglaston, and that of Bruham in the diocese of Bath. We learn from Tanner, that shortly before the Reformation there were here 17 monks, who were endowed with £155 10s. 5ld. per annum, an in- come which, though it sounds but little to our ears, was in the reign of Henry VIII. a very considerable sum. The names of the Abbots of Cleeve, as siven in Dugdale, are Henry, who occurs in 1297; Richard de Bret, elected in 1315 ; Robert de Clyve, elected 1321; John occurs in 1407 ; Leonard in 1416 ; William Seylake, confirmed 28th of September, 1419; John Stone professed obedience as Abbot Ist October, 1421 ; David Joiner, who occeurs 1435, and again in 1463 ; John Paynter occurs in 1509 ; and William Dovell, who succeeded in 1510, and after the Dissolution had a pension of £26 13s. 4d. On the 30th of January in the 29th year of Henry VIII, the King granted to Robert Earl of Sussex the reversion of the house and site of Cleeve Abbey, with all the messuages belonging to it, in the parishes of Old Cleeve, London, Bylbrook, Washford, Hungerford, Golsinggate, Roadwater, Leigh, and Brynham, in the county of Somerset, except the rectory of Old Cleeve, to be held by him and his heirs male. Although the ruins of Cleeve Abbey at the present day present far more that is interesting both to the Archxo- logist and Artist than can be found on the sites of the great majority of monastie establishments, time, that ceaseless destroyer, and the far more rapidly destruc- tive hand of tasteless and ignorant utilitarianism, have committed such extensive ravages upon this once magnifi- cent fabrie, that, I fear, I can do little more than give a description of its remains as they now exist, offering to your consideration such conjectures as to their voL. v1., 1855, PART II. L 82 PAPERS, ETC. original use and general plan as appear to me to be founded on the strongest probabilities. On the left side of the road leading from Watchet to Wiveliscombe, a few hundred yards beyond the Washford turnpike-gate, an ancient bridge crosses the rapid stream which on that side divides the road from a line of rich meadow land oceupying the space between it and the rising ground on the east. This bridge leads to a gate apparently and probably modern, though the remains of an ancient jamb on the left side would seem to in- dicate the contrary ; the wall, however, in which it stands is hardly thick enough for an outer boundary. -It is more likely that this is an ancient fragment worked imto a modern wall, than that a gate should have been originally placed so far without the porter’slodge. There is, however, an ancient pitched causeway on the right side of the way, leading to the great gate-house. From the north-eastern corner of this gate-house a wall of excellent masonry and considerable height and thickness extends for some distance until it reaches the extremity of a deep moat ; at this point there was a gate leading into the meadow, part of the left jamb of which, formed of good ashler work and ornamented on the outside with a trefoiled chamfer stop, still remains. From this gate the moat, which is of considerable breadth and depth, extends on the eastern and southern sides of the ruins, to within a short distance of the brook, enclosing an irregularly-shaped area of several acres. From the point where the moat ceases to the brook, the boundary appears to have been continued by a wall which may also be traced along the side of the brook to the north-west corner of the gate-house. This moat, with the brook and the walls con- necting it with the gate, constituted the outer boundary of the home farm of the Abbey, and contained, besides the OLD CLEEVE ABBEY. 83 Abbey itself, an ancient mill, two fish-ponds, and, without doubt, the farm and other oflices necessarily attached to so large an establishment ; and at the same time afforded a defence against any sudden attack of robbers—a precaution which the state of society at the end of the 12th century must have rendered very useful to a body of foreign ecclesiastis. Near the middle of the south-eastern side of the moat is a ford which is now, and probably was anciently, used for farmiug purposes; and from the number of building stones lying near, it seems to have been flanked by walls, and, perhaps, closed by a gate, though I have not been able as yet to discover any well- defined foundations there. The gate-house itself is a very curious and beautiful structure ; and from its architeetural peculiarities requires a minute and accurate description. It ständs nearly north-east and south-west, and is entered at the north end by a very fine and lofty equilateral archway, flanked on the east side by a buttress of two stages, the mouldings of which prove it to be a work of the latter part of the 15th or the beginning of the 16th century. Upon close investigation, it does not seem that this buttress is part of the original building, which is probably as early as the 13th century; for it is simply built against the wall, with very little, if any, bonding, and was clearly meant to strengthen the original walls, when the additions, which I shall point out, were made to the gate-house by William Dovell, the last abbot. "The west side of the gate is entirely occupied by a massive plain buttress of modern construction, the necessity of which to the preservation of the building is unfortunate, as it not only diminishes the beauty of the gate, but by blocking up a doorway, traces of which may be seen on that side, destroys what might otherwise have probably afforded 84 PAPERS, ETC. a clue to the somewhat puzzling arrangement of the build- ing attached to the western side of the gate. Over the arch is an inscription in characters in use in the 15th and 16th centuries, “ Porta patens esto nulli elaudaris honesto,” the hospitable import of which gives, in my opinion, a clue to the purpose for which the gate-house was used. Above this is a square-headed window of late Perpendicular character, divided by stone mullions into three lishts, and above this the gable is ornamented with niches which how- ever are too much hidden by ivy to admit of accurate description. The passage which leads from the external to the internal archway is 46ft. long by 13ft. in breadth, and was arched through its whole length ; this arch, which has now disappeared, seems to have been of plain barrel forın, with plain ashler ribs, the spring of one of which may still be seen on the left side of the passage ; over the whöle length of this passage was a hall, lighted at each end by a square-headed window of three lights, having an open timber roof, which still remains ; a large fire-place on the west side, and a door communicating with a passage, and chambers much larger and more numerous than could have been required for a mere porter’s lodge. On the right side of the arched passage are two large segmental arches, now in great measure built up, having smaller doors in them, but which, from the care with which the ashler stones composing them are dressed on the underside, were no doubt originally open. This would reduce the right wall of the passage to a mere arcade, and the ground-floor rooms would have been a sort of aisle to it. These I imagine to have been stables ; an arrangement not un- common in the 13th and 14th centuries, when the hall, as in this case, oecupied the upper story. This conjeeture seems to be in some degree corroborated by the fact that \ - 'r 5 2 gr er & 2 ’ A. A. Clarke, Del. THE INTERIOR FRONT OF THE GATEHOUSE, OLD CLEEVE ABBEY. OLD CLEEVE ABBEY. 85 there is no fire-place in these rooms, ‚the flue of the hall chimney rising from a bracket at some height above the ground. The staircase leading to the hall above seems to have been placed in the right-hand corner of this stable, but owing to the modern buttress, I have not been able quite to satisfy myself as to its construction. A similar buttress on the east side of the building fills up the space, upon which an arch, such as I have described, opens on that side of the passage ; but there is every reason to sup- pose that it led into another stable, though I doubt whether on this side there were any rooms above the ground floor. About half-way up the passage was a door, the jambs of which may still be seen, and immediately beyond it, on the left-hand, is a niche, which, from a slight colouring of smoke on the stones, I conjecture to have been used for a lamp ; then again is a small doorway, having a segmental arch with plain chamfer mouldings, which may be of any date, and now serves as a side entrance to the abbey yard, but probably led into the original porter’s lodge ; for the two buttresses on that side are not original, but built against the wall in the manner I have already described, while the decorative lines still remaining on the plaster give ample reason for supposing that the wall was not originally an external one. We now come to the very beautiful internal front of the gate-house, which consists of a very fine arch, corresponding to that at the other end, flanked by perpendicular buttresses, between which is a bold and well-cut string supporting a square medallion containing the name of the last abbot Dovell, combined with an elegant ornament of vine foliage ; over this is a square-headed window of three lights, and above this win- dow in the gable are three niches of exquisite tabernacle work, the centre one containing a very fine crucifix in par- 6 PAPERS, ETC. tieularly good preservation, while the other two, which no doubt contained statues of the Blessed Virgin and the be- loved disciple St. John, are unfortunately vacant. At first sight I hastily concluded that this front was similar in con- struction to the other—that is to say, that it was an early building, probably of the 13th century, modernized and adorned in a later style. But my friend Mr. Giles, who has kindly assisted me in my investigation, and to whose professional acumen I am indebted for many valuable sug- gestions, pointed out that this arch, though apparently equilateral, was, in fact, four-centered ; and also that the flanking buttresses were not, as in the cases before men- tioned, built against the wall, but were actually parts of it; and that the whole front was really what it professes to be— a work of the latter part of the 15th or the beginning of the 16th century, beautifully adapted to the general effect of the gate-house modernized as I have described. The inferences which I draw from these facts are, that the gate-house is a fabrice of the 13th or 14th century, and was from the first used as the hostelry and guest-hall of the Abbey. That Abbot Dovell enlarged and raised the hall, built the internal front and the buttresses, filled up the arches leading to the stables on the ground floor (an arrangement which had in his days become antiquated,) added to the west side a porter’s lodge, the foundation of which may still be traced, pulled down the original lodge on the east side, and left the door by which it had origi- nally been entered as a side way to the gate for the use of foot passengers. Having passed the gate-house, we find ourselves in a scene of peculiar beauty—we are now within the enclo- sure of the Abbey, the boundary wall of which extends along the hedge on the left hand, in which there still re- OLD CGLEEVE ABBEY. 87 mains an ancient door, having a curious shallow porch, the covering of which, with traces of its side walls, still re- mains, though in a very dilapidated condition. The ancient mill-stream runs across this enclosure, finding an exit to the brook on the left side of the gate-house. Be- yond this again stand the modern farm-house and the venerable Abbey itself, almost hidden by the foliage of walnut and sycamore trees of gigantic size, under whose shade the monks may probably have sat, so venerable do they appear—-so truly monastic is the effect of the gloom they cast on the grey walls of the cloister near which they stand. Entering by a door near the farm-house, we find ourselves in a cloister of considerable size, surrounded by monastic buildings in, a state of preservation far superior to almost any I have met with. The cloister, a structure of the 15th century, still exists on the western side of the quadrangle ; it is now divided into sheds for cattle; on the other three sides it has disappeared, and a modern shed has been erected against the northern wall, where, however, may still be seen a recess of Early English character, pro- bably marking the situation of one of those seats which are occasionally found in cloister walls. The Perpendicular cloister apparently was not vaulted, though the strong ribs of ashler work which supported the floor of an upper story still exist, as well as the sills of some of the windows which gave light to the upper rooms. This building pro- bably contained the library, museum, lecture-room, singing school, and other rooms which were usually attached to mo- nastic establishments, and extended to the chapel, which (now destroyed) stood at the north end of the eastern side of the quadrangle. There is some difhiculty in the plan of the chapel, but though it has almost entirely disappeared, some vestiges reınain, which may in some degree enable us 83 PAPERS, ETC. to trace its position. In the jamb of the gate leading to the farın yard may be seen a square recess of ashler work ; this, though much mutilated, is undoubtedly a piscina, with a quatrefoiled water-drain. It is evidently in situ, and was of course placed at the side of the altar. Against the wall of the present granary, where tradition says the tower stood, there may be seen the remains of a strong pier, and op- posite to it are the foundations of one answering to it; above in the wall is a door entering into what was the turret stair, and at the other corner, a larger door which seems to have entered into the dormitory and probably led into the gallery intended for the accommodation of the sick monks. The spring of an arch is distinetly visible at the tower pier, and it seems probable that the choir extended from a little to the east of the gate just mentioned, to the western wall of the tower, occupying the breadth of the present road, and the area of the tower itself, which, though, small might have been large enough for the accommodation of the monks themselves. So far the plan is easily made out, but just to the west of the solid wall of the tower are the remains of what must have been the entrance to the chapel. That the gate opened outwards from the quadrangle is evident from the fastenings which remain, and there is still to be seen the spriug of a higher arch on the north side of the wall, an almost universal arrangement in church-doors, in which the inner arch is almost invariably higher than the outer. Now this door, I think, must have led into an ante-chapel, through which there was probably a passage to the burying-ground, which lay on the north side of the chapel, and it seems probable that there was a north aisle, and though I have not been able to trace its foundations, there have certainly been buildings of some kind on the north side; nor can I find any marks of the cross wall, OLD CLEEVE ABBEY. 89 which, if my conjeeture be right, must have touched the northern wall of the eloister sumewhere to the west of the chapel door. Iam, however, inclined to believe the chapel was a small edifice, having a central tower, probably of no great height, with a short north aisle, or rather transept, thus giving the rudimentary plan of a cruciform building, commonly to be traced in Early English churches in this part of England, which transept, being extended westward beyond the tower would have afforded space for the ante- chapel, as I suppose it to have existed.* Under the north end of the dormitory, which oceupied the whole length of the upper story of the eastern side of the quadrangle, is a small room with an arched ceiling, to which there was no access except from the chapel, the present entrance from the quadrangle being merely an aumbry, the wall under _ which has been broken through down to the ground, while the door into the chapel has been converted into a fire- place. This small room is surrounded by aumbries, and was no doubt the vestry; but, besides these aumbries, it contains a very curious and almost unaccountable feature. The window which looks to the east appears to have been originally a narrow Early Finglish window, with splay and rear arch similar to the others in this part of the building ; but some time after, probably early in the 14th century, * Since writing the above, I have found cause for doubting the correct- mess of my views on the structure of the church. It seems probable that it.was a cruciform building of considerable dimensions, the south transept of which was occupied by the tower; and that the piscma above mentioned was that attached to an altar situated at tlıe east end of the south transept ; that the high altar stood somewhere to the north-east of this, perhaps within the present rick-yard; and that the nave extended some distance to the west; of the entrance mentioned as having probably opened upon an ante- chapel, but which, it is more likely, entered into the nave itself. I have not, however, been able satisfactorily to ascertain the extent of the building towards the west. voL. VI., 1855, PART II. M 90 PAPERS, ETC. a round window ornamented with the scroll moulding has been substituted for the narrow Early English window. This round window, which appears never to have been glazed, is seven feet in diameter, and at its base, only a few inches from the ground. It opened into an ancient building, formerly used as a malt-house. Though an after-thought, it is evidently in situ, and was originally open to its whole circumference ; the wall work with which it is now in part blocked up is evidently a Post-Reformation work. This is a feature which I have never observed anywhere else; and tbe only solution of the mystery which I can venture to suggest is this: from the arrangement of the room above, and particularly from the door opening from it into the chapel which I mentioned just now, it seems probable that the infirmary was immediately over this room : when a monk died, his body was removed from the infirmary to a room adjoining the chapel, where it was prepared for in- terment. Now, might not this vestry have been also used for this purpose, and might not this large eircular aperture have been constructed for the purpose of admitting the corpse to this apartment instead of carrying it through the chapel, which, before it was prepared for burial, might have been considered improper and indecent ? The ground- floor of the building at the eastern side of the quadrangle, as far as the passage at the south-eastern corner, is occupied by small vaulted rooms, with one window at the end, appar- ently of the 13th century, except in the centre of the building, which is occupied by the splendid entrance to the chapter-house, the foundations of which may be traced extending to the east of the present buildings. This en- trance communieated with the quadrangle by a beautiful Early English doorway, having plain chamfer mouldings placed between two double windows with chamfer mould- WET WER u OLD CLEEVE ABBEY. 91 ings and blue lias shafts; those at the sides rising from worked brackets, each having a quatrefoil light above the central shaft. It oceupies the whole depth of the building, and it exhibits in its roof a very beautiful arrangement of Early English vaulting, the shafts springing from very elegant brackets, and being composed of blue lias. The remains of an ornament in fresco may still be seen on this roof. The chapter-house itself extended to the east of this entrance, and appears to have been in form a parallelogram, higher than the entrance, and vaulted in a similar style. Beyond the passage, in the south-eastern corner of the quadrangle, extends a very remarkable apartment; this is a hall 59ft. in length by 20ft. in breadth; at the south end are two very beautiful double Early English windows, now blocked up, divided in the centre of the rear arch by a shaft of blue lıas, with others at the sides springing from very well-moulded brackets, the space above the centre shafts being occupied by quatrefoil openings. This hall has three doors—one from the passage before mentioned, another froın the farın-yard, and another leading into the garden. It has been a low, heavily-vaulted rooın, the vaults springing from very massive brackets at the walls, and supported by a row of pillars up the centre of the hall. There was a large fire-place on the east side, and on the west a recess answering to it; altogether it is very similar in character, as it is nearly of the same date, as the hall in the Bishop’s palace at Wells. The most remarkable fea- ture in this hall, and one l am utterly unable to explain, consists of two low arched apertures opposite each other at the south end of the side walls. "These were certamly not windows, and they are too low for doors. They both passed quite through the wall: only one is now open, and it was evidently closed by a door. 'That there were pas- 92 PAPERS, ETC. sages into which these opened seems certain; but the purpose they were intended to answer is a point which I must leave to the decision of more learned archzologists. On the whole, I am inclined to believe that this was originually the refectory of the Abbey, and might have been altered to the Abbhot’s lodging, when the present glorious refectory was built in the 15th century; or it might have been the common room which we know existed in all monasteries of any importance. My idea that it was the original refectory seems to receive some corroboration from there being in the passage which leads to the oflices, and near the door of the hall, some curious shelves, which do not appear to have had doors, and which would certainly have been very convenient to the attendants. The dormitory, to which we ascend by a staircase from a fine Early English doorway with blue lias side shafts, in the eastern side of the quadrangle, appears to have extended the whole length of the building, the present partition, though old, being evidently an insertion. At the corners of the north end are two doors, before mentioned, one leading into the turret staircase, the other into the chapel, at some height from the ground, while the third seems to have led by a flight of steps into a room over the chapter- house. The mouldings of the staircase door are worthy of notice, as they appear to be of much later date than the rest of the arch; but on winutely examining the top of the capital of the shafts, I think I detected the marks of the original moulding, which seems to have been cut away in after days. We now come to what is, perhaps, the most interesting part of the Abbey, as it is certainly the most striking part of the building now in existence-—the south side of the quadrangle. On entering the cloisters by the door near C. E. Giles, Del. THE REMAINS OF THE "NulR IM \ f ANCIENT REFECTORY, OLD } ABREDA:CHÄRKE: AvquBT;2O : 1966. a egganr N CLEEVE ABBEY. [7 + * il ) Kun a > u w - [] a < [" > ‘ w uw — o a En ° > x ° [5 {0} wW 1 w w \ FE 7 w | 4 Fr 2 LINE eNüs C. E. Giles, Del. OLD CLEEVE ABBEY. 93 the farm-house, we are at once struck with the beauty of five large Perpendicular windows, which occupy the greater part of the upper story of this side, and give light to the great hall or refectory ; immediately to the right of these is a bell-cot, and the windows of the buttery. In the south-west corner may be seen the ruins of a newel stair- case leading from the cellar to the buttery, and to the left of this a very fine Early English arch opening upon the staircase of the refecetory ; on the wall may easily be traced the marks of the roofs of a porch and low building, which are represented in Collinson’s plate as occupying the south- western corner of the quadrangle, but which have now disappeared. To the left of this doorway is a recess in the thickness of the wall, surmounted by a low segmental arch of considerable span. This was the lavatory, and the situ- ation of the eistern used by the monks for their ablutions is still marked by the broaches from which the moulding rises; beyond this again are doors leading to the kitchen and other offices ; and in the cort:er a passage runs through the whole depth of the building, and leads to what I sup- pose to have been the garden, to which it gives access by a low arched door. On the left side of this door is an Early English loop, which enabled the porter to see who de- manded admittance before he unlocked the door. The whole of this lower story is of Early English date, though the mouldings of the doors leading to the kitchen, as well as the fire-places, have been modernized in the 15th cen- tury— probably at the time when the refectory was built. A passage of communication appears to have extended through the whole of these offices as far as the passage from which the vaulted hall was enteredl—an arrangement which would certainly have been required if, as I suppose, that room was the original refectory of the Abbey. That 94 PAPERS, ETC. there existed an apartment of importance over these oflices in the 13th century can hardly be doubted, from the size and beauty of the arch leading to the refectory staircase ; yet, whatever it was, it must have been a much lower building than the present one, the end of which blocks up some of the windows of the dormitory, against which it has been built, while marks on the outside of one of the walls to the south seem to indicate that the buildings which once stood there were considerably lower than those at present remaining. From the doorway we ascend by a broad flight of stone steps to a landing-place, lighted by a Perpendicular window, divided by a transom, on the left side of which is a stone bench, while the other side is occupied by the door of the buttery ; on the left side of this landing a door (having its arch, which is low, and its jambs ornamented with rather poor mouldings of late Perpendieular cha- racter), admits us to the great refecetory, which is certainly a most beautiful hall, and remains in a more perfeet state than almost any room of equal antiquity that I have ever seen. This magnificent room, which is ölft. in length by 22ft. in breadth, and still retains its exquisite carved » roof, supported by angel corbels, is liıghted on the north side by five large Perpendicular windows of three lights, and on the south by four, the space of the second being oceupied by the fire-place and reader’s pulpit, the situ- ation of which may still be traced on the wall on the east side of the fire-place. These four windows differ froın those on the north side, being divided by transoms, but as those on the north have evilently been repaired and other- wise tampered with, it is probable that the difference did not originally exist. In the left corner of the western end of the hall is a small arched doorway, connected with the buttery and staircase leading to the cellar, by an oak pas- En OLD CLEEVE ABBEY. 95 sage, apparently original. On the wall at the other end may still be traced a fresco painting, representing the erueifixion, the side figures being those of the Blessed Virgin and St. John, an ornament which, it is said, was invariably used in the refeetory halls of Cistercian monas- teries. To describe this hall with the minuteness its beauty deserves, would tax the patience of my audience far more than I am inclined to do. It is indeed a magnificent and beautiful room both in proportion and in detail, and would certainly lead us to suppose that in the 15th century the Cistercians had relaxed their rule of simple and coarse food, in which point they are said to have been more aus- tere than the monks of most other denominations. Besides what I have now described there are among the farm buildings a few other ancient fragments, but in so muti- lated a condition and of such small extent as to render any attempt at detailed description not only very diffieult, but unsatisfactory and uninteresting. I have thus given you a very brief description of the existing ruins of Cleeve Abbey, and I feel that I ought to apologise for offering to your notice so meagre and unsatis- factory an account of the ecclesiastical gem of this neigh- bourhood—a gem which, though small in comparison, vies in interest with its gigantie neighbour, Glastonbury. There the domestic offices and buildings have disappeared ; here they are particularly perfect. But in truth the Vallis Florida has proved to me not altogether free from thorns. The ruins are full of diffieulties, The construction of the gate-house ; the use of the Early-English hall, with its mysterious low side apertures ; the niche on the north side of the cloister ; and, above all, the Decorated round in what I have ventured to call the vestry, not to mention 96 PAPERS, ETC. the plan of the chapel, are all most perplexing features in this beautiful fabrie. But for the help of my friend Mr. Giles, whose practised eye at once detected many things which I might never have discovered, my account of these ruins would have been far less satisfactory to myself than it is at present. I have, however, done my best in the time I could give to this investigation to record what re- mains of the splendid Abbey of Old Cleeve, the nursing mother, as I believe, of civilisation in this distriet. It was a wild and remote country ; the Norman invaders had taken up a strong position in it; the native population were oppressed’and desperately hostile ; a body of foreign ecele- siastics, related by birth and country to the ruling party, and by the ties of Christian charity with the conquered and oppressed, settled themselves upon tlıis spot ; here they lived, and here, in charity let us believe, they did good in their generation. Time passed on—the conquering Nor- man and the conquered Saxon were gradually amalga- mated into one body ; those institutions which were peculiarly adapted to one state of society by degrees lost tbeir value as another state arose. Corruption, here, as in all other human establishments, no doubt sprung up from the growing unfitness of the institutions to the wants of the time, but let us not suppose that all the tales of corruption we read of are true. Let this be as it may, the fatal hour of monastie institutions, the 16th century, approached ; then, as elsewhere, the monks reading the signs of the times, and conscientiously thinking, as I believe, that they should by that means place the property of the church in a more secure position, laid out large sums in adorning and enlarging their fabric. How vain this attempt was, the state of the ruins proves. These have been preserved simply because they are useful for agrieultural purposes. After OLD CLEEVE ABBEY. 97 the lapse of a few short months a railroad will probably pass through the ancient moat. The Vallis Florida, the wild retreat chosen by the pioneers of civilisation for the scene of their religious meditations, will be desecrated and disturbed by the rattle of locomotives, and the solemn harmony of the choir be superseded by the discordant screams of the steam-whistle. But lamentable as this may appear to the lover of the pieturesque, harshly as this change may jar upon the feelings to those who look beyond mere pounds, shillings, and pence, trust me (and it is a strong recommendation to the study of antiquities), that no one knows so well as the archzologist that the present is better than the past—that no one has such sure grounds as the archxologist for hoping that the future will be better than the present. voL. vI., 1855, PART II. N 98 PAPERS, ETC. Din the Eraren of Campe umd Aneient Carth-Works still Eristung aranım Bath aut in the Neighbanrhund. BY THE REYV. H. M. SCARTH, M.A. HERE are no traces of human labour so lasting as 7 mounds or earth-works—none which in all the vieissitudes through which society passes in the lapse of ages, retain their characters with so little variation—none which so completely defy the hand of time, and provoke less the ravages of man. While lofty buildings are de- stroyed for the sake of their materials, when they have once fallen into disuse, and few edifices are suffered to continue unless they can be converted to other purposes, and so turned to profitable account—the earth-work con- tinues the same, or with very little alteration, from the time that it was neglected, or abandoned as a place of defencee, or forgotten as a boundary-line, or unused as a road, or ceased to be regarded as a place marking the repose of the dead, who it may be had fallen in battle. ON ANCIENT CAMPS AND EARTH-WORKS. 99 In certain places where the land is adapted for the purposes of agrieulture, there these land-marks of the history of former ages have gradually been effaced by the use of the plough, or the soil spread around with the object of im- proving the fertility of the land ; but as earth-works for the most part occur on high lands, or barren hills, or on moors unsuited for cultivation, they remain much in the same state as when they ceased to be occupied for defen- sive and other purposes, except that the gradual decay of herbage, and its reproduction, as well as the washing of the rain and winter floods, tend in some degree to bring them gradually to a level surface. The ditch becomes by degrees less deep, the mound less high ; but when turf has once covered it, the process is so slow that the earth-works of this country remain to the present time the truest monu- ments of the manners and habits of our forefathers; and as such they must be regarded with the deepest interest, and are well worthy of the most careful investigation; and happy it is that men have been found ready to give time and attention to their study, and have brought learning and research to bear upon their elucidation. These ancient mounds give life to history, which otherwise becomes in- “ sipid and wearisome. Who does not feel more enthusiastie and realize more vividly the scenes and events of bygone times, when he stands upon the very spot where the brave early defenders of this island first withstood attempts «t subjugation? Who does not read Cesar and Tacitus with deeper interest, when he traces the connection of forts, and treads upon the very line of march, and stands upon the battle-ground, described by the historian? Such investigations give health and recreation both to mind and body—they give study a vitality which it cannot otherwise possess ; and these historical monuments, however simple, 100 PAPERS, ETC. should be regarded as spots consecrated to history, and should be everywhere carefully preserved from injury. They are landmarks denoting the progress of society, tracing the gradual growth of anation’s greatness, pointing out how it has emerged from darkness into that light of eivilization which by the mercy of God it now enjoys. By means of these earth-works, it is highly probable that we can trace the first settlement of colonists in this country. i'he lands most probably first inhabited were the Chalk Downs—the high lands running through Sussex, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Somersetshire, Gloucestershire, Derbyshire, and on into Yorkshire, as far as the sea on the east—all present traces of early occupation. Along the lines of uncultivated down land, you find a series of eamps, which could communicate by signal, and at no great distance apart, which were no doubt the strongholds of the first inhabitants of the island, who used them as places of safety and defence for themselves, and for the protection of their cattle against the wolves and other beasts of prey which swarmed in the forests which then covered the low lands. The first occupants of the country no doubt seized upon the high lands, where they fed their sheep, and by degrees extended their dominion into the vales, and brought them into some degree of cultivation. I am inclined to think that the line of the chalk formation pretty fairly marks out the limit of first civilization. Yet, as it is to be feared every year makes these ‚interesting reliques more scarce, by reason of the daily improvements in agrieulture, and the increase of population—as waste lands are now so generally being enclosed, and spots bitherto uneultivated afford space to the spread of popu- lation—it is well that the pen of history should gather up what is left, and place it before the minds of men both as ON ANCIENT CAMPS AND EARTH-WORKS. 101 it exists now and as it may have existed in times long gone by. With this feeling I purpose to ask your indulgence while I seek to trace out before you the vestiges of Ancient Earth-works which still exist on the hills around Bath and in its neighbourhood. They are many and very interesting, and have escaped hitherto the hand of man. Much, however, that concerns their history must rest upon conjecture. The light by which we read their former pur- poses is somewhat obscure, and I know, therefore, that I shall receive at the hands of this assembly that kind indul- gence which should always be afforded to a work of this kind. And first, I ought to touch upon that very interesting landmark of an ancient people now passed away—the WANSDYKE—traces of which are here and there still visible in Somersetshire.* The general consent of antiquaries has fixed upon the Wansdyke as the last of the Belgie boun- daries. It seems probable, from the examination of ancient earth-works in Hampshire and South Wilts, that the Belg®e made three distinet conquests, each of which is marked by a new boundary-line, the last of which is the Wansdyke. This subject has been very ably discussed by that learned and intelligent antiquary, Dr. Guest, the present Master of Caius College, who in a paper published in the Archeological Journal, aceompanied with a map carefully noting the remains of ancient boundary-lines, has shewn that,very satisfactory reasons may be given for this opinion. “ This magnificent earth-work,” says he, “ reached from the woodlands of Berkshire to the British Channel. Its remains have been carefully surveyed by Sir R. C. * The etymology of this word is derived from the C. British, gwahann, separare—and denotes a line of separation or demarcation; and not, as sometimes has been stated, from “ Woden’s Dyke.” 102 PAPERS, ETC. Hoare. The conquests it was intended to include seems to have been—first, the Vale of Pewsey ; secondly, the mineral district of the Mendip Hills ; and thirdly, the country lying between this range and the marshes of the Parret.’ Ptolemy gives Winchester, Bath and llIchester, as the three prineipal towns of the Belgie province. But Bath was not included in the line of the Wansdyke; it lies just without it, and therefore is not properly a Belgie town ; although the Belgie fortress on Hampton Down, which I shall proceed to deseribe, is on the Wansdyke, and lies immediately above the present eity and the hot springs. This may have led the geographers into the mis- take. “If,” says Dr. Guest, “we run a line along the Wansdyke from Berkshire to the Channel, then along the coast to the Parret, then up that river eastward till we strike the southern borders of Wiltshire, and then follow across Dorsetshire to the sea, we shall have defined with tolerable accuracy the northern and western boundaries which Roman geographers assigned to the Belg& proper.” In the description which Collinson has given of the Wansdyke, he seems to have fallen into the error of mis- taking for it a portion of one of the older Belgie boundary- lines. When he wrote his history, earth-works had not received that careful attention which they have since had, and if both he and Sir R. C. Hoare have spoken somewhat inaccurately, and sometimes made mistakes in not diseri- minating between roads and boundary-lines, or confused lines of a different date, we must only be very thankful that their researches in days past have opened a path for others to enter upon their investigations and carry their labours to a more certain issue. Dr. Guest observes that our ancient boundary-lines seem to admit of a three-fold division : there are—first, the boundary-lines which defined u A ET ON ANCIENT CAMPS AND EARTH-WORKS. 103 the territories of the British tribes before the Roman Conquest ; secondly, those which were made by the Romanized Britons ; thirdly, the marsh ditches thrown up by our ancestors after the English colonization of the island. “ Wansdyke,” says Collinson, “ exists to this day in many places in perfect preservation—one of the greatest curiosities of antiquity. It commences at Andover in Hampshire, and thence passes in nearly a straight direction to Great Bedwin, within the confines of Wilts, near which, upon its track, have been discovered celts and instruments of war.” I cannot but think that this is an error in the historian of Somersetshire. The second Belgie boundary, according to Dr. Guest, “included the valleys of South Wilts, and then swept round so as to separate the downs of Hampshire from the woodlands which eneircle Scott’s Poor, and the remains of the boundary-line called the Devils Ditch, near Andover, and at Walbury (which Collinson calls Wansdyke) must be assigned to this period, rather than considered portions of Wansdyke”’ On the confines of the Forest of Savernake it seems to take its beginning; and on the wild Marlbro’ Downs it appears, as Collinson observes, “ in its pristine state, exceedingly deep, and flanked by a very lofty mound, attracting by its sin- gular appearance the attention of the cenrious traveller.” A curious feature in its course is that from the border of Savernake Forest it bends to the south, as if to avoid Avebury, and approaches close to, but does not include, Bath. “It seems reasonable to infer from this,” says Dr. Guest, “that when the line of demarcation was drawn, the Dobuni insisted on retaining their ancient temple and their hot baths ; and if'this inference be a just one, another and a more important one seems naturally to follow : 104 PAPERS, ETC. assuming that the Belg® were thus exceluded from Ave- bury, is it not likely that they would provide a * Locus Consecratus ’ at some central point within their own border — a place for their judicial assemblies, like the Gaulish Temple, “in finibus Carnutum, qu& regio totius Gallis media habetur?’ (Czxs. BG, vi.) And may not Stone- henge have been the substitute so provided?” With respect to this wonderful structure, the same writer ob- serves: “If the Belg® were the builders, it follows neces- sarily that this temple was erected after the vale became Belgie territory—i. e., after the Wansdyke had been raised,’’ and therefore we regard Wansdyke as older than Stonehenge. Avebury, which is outside the Wansdyke, is probably much older than either, but as to its date it is impossible to conjecture. Collinson, in his History of Somerset, considers the Wans- dyke to be the work of Divitiacus, who is mentioned by Csar, who tells us that he was king of the Suessiones, a people inhabiting the country around Soisson, and in Cxsar’s time (nosträ etiam memoriä) the most powerful chief in all Gaul. He tells us that he had not only ob- tained supremacy over a great part of Belgie Gaul, but also over a great part of Britain: “ Qui quam magne partis harum regionum tum etiam Britannie imperium obtinu- erit.” “By what steps,” observes Dr. Guest, “he had obtained this supremacy, we are not told; but we may surmise that it was by his aid that the Belg® pushed their conquests into the interior of the island.” If, as is pro- bable, the British king who opposed Cxsar belonged to the Belgie race, then the Belg® must have obtained posses- sion of the vale of Aylesbury and the plains of Hertford- shire, previous to the year 55 B.C., and we may infer that they acquired these distriets under the leadership of ON ANCIENT CAMPS AND EARTHWORKS. 105 Divitiacus, for we do not learn that Verulam had fallen into the hands of Cassivilaunus by any recent act of conquest. There exist some interesting lines of earth- work, which seem to have been made with a view to separate the new conquests from the country of the Trinobantes. They have been as yet only partially examined. It is possible that the same monarch who settled the boundaries of the Catyeuchlani may also have pushed for- ward the Belgic frontier to the Wansdyke. The Cantii, the Attrebates, the Catyeuchlani, were probably all three Belgie races, and as regards the Attrebates, we are able to make this assertion positively. Allthree seem to have been subject to the Imperium of Cassivilaunus ; but there is nothing to lead us to the inference that the Southern Belg® acknowledged his supremacy. As so few years separated the reign of this prince from that of Divitiacus, it is a reasonable presumption that he was, if not a de- scendant, at least a successor of the Gaulish monarch, and consequently that the limits of his dominion defined the British Imperium of his great predecessor. If so, the course of conquest which Divitiacus traced out must have nearly coincided with that followed by later invaders, by Cesar, Plautius, and by the Norman William; and con- sequently this celebrated chief could not have been the conqueror who reared the Wansdyke. Thus we see that Collinson appears to be in error on this point, at least if we admit the correetness of the above reasoning. As to the period assigned by him to the first entry of the Belg® into this country, about 213 2.c., and 250 before Diviti- acus, he may be correct, although the date can only be conjectural, as it may have been five, or four, or three eenturies before the Christian /Era. It is clear from VOL. vI., 1855, PART II, o 106 PAPERS, ETC. Cxsar that for some centuries before Christ, the Belg® were the most energetic and powerful, and, as Dr. Guest observes, among half-civilized races this means the most aggressive of the Gaulish tribes. We will now proceed to trace the course of Wansdyke, and to point out the camps which lie in its course, giving a brief description of each as we proceed. According to Collinson, after quitting Marlbro’ Down, it visits Calston, Edington, and Spye-Park, crosses the river Avon near Bennacre, and again, after being lost in tilled fields, meets with the same meandering river at Bathampton. Its course is then continued over Claverton Down to Prior-Park, English Combe, Stanton Prior, Publow, Norton, Long Ashton, and terminates at the Severn Sea, near the ancient port of Portishead, formins a line of eighty miles in length, in more than three parts of which it is yet visible. I have mentioned the ancient Belgie settlement, which can still be traced on Hampton (or, as Collinson calls it, Claverton) Down, and which overlooks Bath and Bath- ampton. Itisa fortified point of great interest, and has been one of great strength and importance. The vestiges which remain of it are very extensive, and can be traced without difhiculty. A plan of it is given in Mr. Phelps’ History of Somerset, which is far from accurate. A survey was made by the late Mr. Skinner, of Camerton, and is, as I understand, deposited with his MSS. in the British Museum. I applied there to have a tracing of it, but, by Mr. Skinner’s will, his MSS. are not to be opened until 50 years after his decease, and there are, I believe, about 36 years still to run out. It consists of a bold, projecting promontory, at the base of which winds the river Avon, and overlooks the valley extending to Bristol, and also that in the direction of a ON ANCIENT CAMPS AND EARTHWORKS. 107 Bradford. To the west the view extends to the Channel, and to the south-east far into Wiltskire. Communication might be made by signal with the other camps along the line of Wansdyke and those on the Wiltshire downs. Directly in front of it, on the other side of the river, is another earth-work of great interest, called Little Salisbury or Sulisbury, but which is not in the line of the Wansdyke, and must therefore not at present come under notice. This promontory, or lingula, is cut off from the adjoining por- tion of the hill by a deep trench and mound, which can be very distinctly traced from the top of Bathwick-Hill to the verge of Claverton-Park ; a wall runs on the whole lensth of it. The circuit enclosed is thirty acres. On the east side it is very precipitous, but the traces of it here have been much injured, and in places quite effaced, by the stone quarries which have been worked in years past. However the northern entrance and the road or track-way leading to it is very perfect, and this track-way may be traced through the settlement and the southern approach, which seems to have been about the place of the present handgate. The point towards Bath, and overlooking the rich vale through which the Avon flows before reaching the eity has been scarped, and so rendered less accessible, while traces of a rampart are still visible. The divisions into which this settlement has been formed are very dis- tinetly marked. From Little Salısbury, the hill opposite, a little before sun-set in the spring or autumn, you may very clearly discern the enclosures by the long shadows which the mounds cast. Each family or clan seems to have had its allotted space, which was enclosed by a mound, and no doubt either on or in front of that mound was a palisade. There are also remnants of hut cireles to be seen at various points, several barrows are also eontaine«l within the enclos- 108 BAPERS, ETC. ure,and these, as far as Iknow, have never been examined. Near the track-way leading from the north into the camp, there seems to have existed an avenue of stones, which are all thrown down, and many of which have been removed to decorate gardens, by being formed into rockwork. The large stones now in the park at Bath, to the number of 30, are stated to have been brought from this part of the down. Here may have existed the spot for religious worship, and by the aid of imagination we may figure the religious pro- cession with its priests and vietims slowly winding along the avenue to the circle of stones near the foot of the hill. Here also was probably the place for the administration of Justice. There are two enclosures contiguous to each other, and on each side an avenue of stones. Near this point also is the spring which probably supplied the camp, or at least this portion of it, with water. Betwixt the camp and the Avon a track-way seems to have run, traces of which may still be seen. On the side of the hill, and placed in cavities in the rock, skeletons have been found, placed in a sitting position, which seems to have been the most ancient form of burial. Three eircular burying-places are marked in Mr. Phelps’ plan as formerly existing, but of these at present no traces remain. Stone coffins con- taining skeletons have no doubt been found at the foot of the hill, but these belong to a period most probably much later than the Belgie settlement. Outside the deep fosse and mound which separated the camp from the mainland, are the vestiges of a quadran- gular earth-work, a portion of which has been removed for the purposes probably of agrieulture. This is not more tban 200 or 300 yards from the fosse, and from the two sides which remain appears to be Roman, but when or for what purpose it was formed it is difheult now to conjecture. ON ANCIENT CAMPS AND EARTHWORKS. 109 Certain it is that this is the point from which the settle- ment would be most assailable. Can this be the point from whence these bold subjugators of our island forced their way into this stronghold ? Certainly these traces of man’s handy-work in past times suggest stirring thoughts, and waken lively conjeetures! We have the fosse road running at no very great distance from this point. Upon the Ordnance Survey the Wansdyke is marked as erossing the down from this camp to the point where the road up Bathwick-hill falls into the road from Widcombe which runs on to the Brass-knocker-hill, and so joins the Warminster road. There are some faint traces of lines running in this direction, but not distinct enough to enable us to form any correct idea ; they appear to me to be nothing beyond the remains of old track-ways leading to the camp. Nor are there now any traces of Wansdyke which can be discerned at the back of Prior-Park, which are said to have formerly existed, the plough seems so thorougshly to have done its work in levelling every vestige of this aneient boundary. Not so a little beyond the vil- lage of Combe Down, at a place called Cross Keys, where the mound is very distinctly to be traced, and carries a wall on the top of it, stretching towards the turnpike at Burnt House. From hence it passes through Beech Wood to the village of English Combe, where it is very apparent, and can be examined with great facılity. Just beyond the line of Wansdyke, where it passes Burnt House, a camp called Berewyke Camp is said to have existed ; but no trace of it now remains, unless it be a portion of the earthen agger. I have carefully examined the spot several times, but cannot satisfy myself as to the present exist- ence of the camp, although it is mentioned by the historians 110 PAPERS, ETC. of Somersetshire. The stone has been worked here to such an extent that it has completely changed the surface of the ground. It is said to have stood on the bold summit of a projeeting point of hill just above Cottage Crescent, between the two roads leading to Wells, and near where the fosse road must have passed. It had certainly nothing to do with the Wansdyke or the Belgie settlement, and was probably an outpost of the Romans, such as we find on Lansdown, and probably at Combe Down, where the stone slab which is described in the Proceedings of the Society was found last year,* and which seems to identify that spot as a Roman military station. Follow- ing the line of Wansdyke which may be traced, as it is stated, on Newton Farm, to the south of Newton-Park, we come to Stantonbury Camp, which seems to have been one of the Belgie fortresses in its line. The camp lies to the south side of it, and is placed on the summit of an elevated and insulated eminence, commanding a wide range of country, and could communicate by signal with the camp on Bathwick-hill, with that on Maes Knoll, and with a fortress of similar construction on Lansdown, of which I shall hope hereafter to take notice—although not lying within the Belgie boundary, and probably not a work of that people. 'The area of Stantonbury Camp is about thirty acres, and divided by a ditch into two portions : it follows the natural formation of the ground. The northern portion is nearly straight, having a bank and ditch, which is supposed to be a continuation of Wansdyke. The sides of the hill appear to have been scarped, and platforms may be observed near the entrances, where slingers could be placed for the purposes of defence. We observe this pecu- liarity in all the camps of this construction. * See Proceedings of the Somerset Archxological and Natural History Society, Vol. V. for 1854. were ON ANCIENT CAMPS AND EARTHWORRS. 190! The name of this fortress is connected with that of an interesting Druidical temple not very far distant, but situated nearer to the next camp, Maes Knoll, than to the camp at Stantonbury. We have Stanton Drew, with its temple similar to that of Stonehenge, only three or four miles distant. The two fortresses, Stantonbury and Maes Knoll, may have been for the protection of this seat of religious worship and administration of publie justice. As Stonehenge served as a central spot for the worship and judicial assemblies of the people towards the east of the Belgie settlements, so Stanton Drew may have served this purpose towards the west. Stanton is, I apprehend, “ Stone Town :” the word Bury, in its primary significa- tion, denoted a place of defence. From these places of defence being situated on eminences, so that the approach to them should be more diftieult, they obtained the name of Burgs, and Stantonbury would be the strong place or fortification of Stanton. The next earth-work which calls for our attention is the camp of Maes Knoll, which is also attached to the Wans- dyke. This camp will well repay a visit : it is one of the most interesting I have examined, on account of the great height of the agger at the western end, and the depth of the foss. It is defended on three sides, by the nature of the ground ; the form is irregular, being adapted to the shape of the hill, which is the extreme eastern end of the Dundry ridge. It is admirably caleulated for observation and defence. At the spot where we find the huge agger and deep foss, the ridge is contracted to a neck of land, one hundred and thirty yards across, The agger rises forty-five feet above the level of the enclosure, is twenty- five feet broad, and slopes into the foss with a declivity of sixty feet. The escarpments of the hill on the south and 112 PAPERS, ETC. east sides are protected by earth-works. There is a spring of water within the rampart, and the surface of the hill enclosed by the camp occupies a space of thirty acres : various divisions and hut circles may be traced throughout this space. From this camp communication could be made by signal with the camps on Leigh Down, called Bury Walls, and Stokesleigh Camp, which are also supposed to be Belgic fortresses on the line of Wansdyke; but of these very interesting remnants of our ancient history, notice cannot now be taken: they would require more time than can now be devoted to discuss their history and associa- tions. The name Maes Knoll naturally attracts our atten- tion, and on looking into the etymology I find that Maes, in Celtie British, and in Breton or Armorican, signifies prelium—battle ; and thus Maes Knoll would be “ Battle- Hill.” This, I think, is a better derivation than that given by Mr. Phelps, who derives it from Maes—detached, and Knoll—a hill, which certainly does not express its position, for it is connected with the Dundry ridge, and does not stand isolated, as Stantonbury. We have other names in England compounded with Maes—as Maesbrook, Maesbury. At the former place was fought a battle between Oswald, king of Northumberland, and Penda, king of Merecia, in which Oswald was slain.- If from Maes Knoll we trace the course of Wansdyke to its western limit, we find that it descended the hill on which the camp is situated, crossed High Ridge Common, and after meeting the high road from Bristol to Bridg- water, forms by its vallum and ditch a deep narrow lane, according to Collinson’s account, leading to Yanley-street, in the parish of Long Ashton. From Yanley it traverses the meadow, to a lane anciently called Wondes-ditch- lane, as appears by a deed, dated at Ashton 3 Edward II., ON ANCIENT CAMPS AND EARTH-WORKS. 143 in which William Gondulph grants to Adam de Cloptone a cottage with a piece of land adjoining, in Aystone, jJuxta Bristoll, situated on the eastern side Venelle de Wondes- dich. Here it traverses the Ashton road at Raynes Cross, and, ascending the hill, enters the hundred of Portbury, in the parish of Wraxall, and terminates at the ancient port of Portishead, on the Severn Sea. From this account it will be seen that the camps on Leigh Down were not on the south side of Wansdyke, but without its limit, on the north. I ought here to mention the earth-work above the vil- lage of Tickenham, on the north side of it, called Cadbury Camp, which is of an oblong form, and contains about four acres. It is surrounded by a triple agger and a double fosse, and a track-way has led from it to the camps on Leigh Down. This camp commands a full view of the mouth of the Avon and Portishead, and may be regarded as one of the fortresses on the line of the Wansdyke. Having thus traced the course of the Wansdyke, and considered those earth-works which lie upon it where it passes through Somersetshire, I ought to offer some sug- gestions as to the state of civilization of the people by whom it was constructed, and who fortified the heights by which it is strengthened and protected. These works give us no mean opinion of their intelligence and civilization. We cannot regard them as altogether barbarians. They seem to have been capable of great works, and must have had instruments to carry them out, as well as understand- ing to plan and arrange them. Huge mounds of earth were not thrown up without the use of iron or bronze im- plements. It has been suggested that Wansdyke is the work of two distinet people. This was the opinion of the late Mr. Leman, whose investigations of ancient earth- VOL. vI., 1855, PART II. 2 114 PAPERS, ETC. works and lines of road entitle him to the greatest respect. This idea is stated by Mr. Phelps to have been confirmed before his death in a very satisfactory manner. On making a communication between two parts of the Down on St. Anne’s Hill, the vallum of Wansdyke was cut in two, where the stratum of soil evidently displayed the height of the original dyke, and its subsequent elevation. Yet al- though this conjeeture is plausible, and the fact in this particular instance confirms the idea, yet before we can adopt the theory, much more investigation would be re- quired at various points ; for Wansdyke may have been repaired and heightened at this particular point for reasons then existing ; and the same people who formed this boundary-line, may at a later period have found it neces- sary to make it more accurately defined. It may not be amiss to mention that there exist ın this kingdom several other instances of boundary-lines, the history of one of which we are acquainted with—:. e., Offa’s Dyke, which runs through the counties of Salop, Hereford, Montgomery, Denbigh, and Flint, and which is accompanied by another of earlier construction, namely, Watt’s Dyke, which is carried through the counties of Salop, Denbigh, and Flint. These two great ditches run side by side for twenty miles. In some places they are within a few hundred yards of each other ; in others they lie asunder, without any apparent reason, for three miles. Watt’s Dyke is much inferior to Offa’s. These dykes were intended as a boundary-line between the dominions of Offa, King of Mercia, and the Welsh. Having expelled the Welsh from the open country they possessed between the Severn and the Wye, and annexed the eastern parts of Wales as far as the former river to the kingdom of Mercia, Ofta proceeded to separate the Britons from his subjeets ON ANCIENT CAMPS AND EARTH-WORKS. 115 by a high mound and ditch. The date of this work is probably about 776 a.D., and that of Watt’s Dyke about twenty years earlier. This latter was broken through by an irruption of the people of Monmouthshire and Gla- morganshire, and replaced by Offa’s Dyke. There is pro- bably a space of 1,000 years between the date of the construction of Wansdyke and Offa’s Dyke, but boundary- lines of this nature seem to have been formed at all periods of the ancient history of our island. Thus, for instance, Dr. Guest in his discourse at the meeting of the Arch. Inst., at Cambridge, in 1854, in treating of the four great boundary-dykes of Cambridgeshire, considered them to be the boundary-lines of British princes. The Brent Dyke he assigned to the second period of the great Belgie Conquest, about B.c. 90, and the Pampisford Dyke to about A.D. 30. The Fleam Dyke and Devil’s Dyke are much later, the former being probably the Saxon lines of East Anglia in the war of the 7th century, between the Mercians and East Anglians, whilst the latter may be a Danish work of the close of the 9th century.* Wansdyke, although so much earlier than Offa’s Dyke, is a finer construction, the ditch deeper, the mound more elevated and abrupt. It is, however, inferior in these respects to Fleam Ditch and Devil’s Ditch, in the county of Cambridge. Both of these latter works, however, were for the purposes of defence, and fortified the ground be- tween two fens, or between a fen and a forest. Their length is very trifling compared to Wansdyke. The Devil’s Ditch does not extend further than eight miles, and might therefore be kept continually guarded. The Fleam Ditch extends nine and a quarter miles. The Devil’s * See Archxological Journal, No. 44, p. 395. 116 PAPERS, ETC. Ditch is eishteen feet above the average level of the country ; on the western, upon which side is the fosse, it is as much as thirty-eight feet. The width, taken across the summit of the ridge, is twelve feet ; the width of the ditch twenty feet. It is at present eight feet deep, and was, perhaps, originally two feet more. The entire length of the inclination of the sides of the vallum and fosse, are for the former, on the eastern side thirty feet, on the west- ern forty-six feet; the slope of the ditch bank on the western side of the fosse is seventeen feet. If I recollect right, a rampart runs at the top of the mound.* These great works betoken a people advanced in the arts of construction and using implements not much inferior to the means and appliances of modern times. Let us compare these works and the hill camps with the encampments of modern tribes, particularly with those of the New Zealanders : we shall see then how much supe- rior were the works of our forefathers to those of modern date. Two very interesting models of New Zealand en- campments are preserved in the United Service Museum in London. They are well worth examining, and give a good idea of what must have been a fortified British camp in Cxsar’s time. By comparing his description with these models, and again with the remains of those earth-works that exist on the tops of hills, we are enabled to form a pretty accurate idea of what they must have been when inhabited. Cxsar thus describes the capital of Cassivelaunus, and calls it “Oppidum sylvis paludibusque munitum, quo satis magnus hominum pecorisque numerus convenerit. Oppidum autem Britanni vocant, quum silvas impeditas * See Hartshorne’s Sal. Antiq., p. 167. a a ee ON ANCIENT CAMPS AND EARTH-WORKS. 117 vallo atque fossa munierunt, quo incursionis hostium vi- tand» causa convenire consuerunt.” Again, he says that when he had approached this stronghold with his soldiers, “Locum repperit egregie natura atque opere munitum.” He attacks it on two sides ; the enemy defend it for a short time, and not being able to sustain the assault of his sol- diers, retire in haste from the other part of the camp, and he finds in the camp “ magnus numerus pecoris.” Looking now at the modern settlements or pahs of the New Zealanders, we find them very irregular in shape, but angular like a modern fortification. They are pro- tected with a double palisade, the outer one short, the inner tall, and both composed of very stout palings, the angles having the strongest stakes; next comes a deep ditch, and then a mound of earth ; within this mound is the habitable part, formed into smaller fortified portions by means of palisades, and each appropriated to a different clan or family. The huts are within these enclosures, lying in long ranges, and no doubt each including many inhabitants. The approaches are well protected, and the ditches or mounds are drawn so as to overlap, and the palisades in the same manner, add to which there are several blinds or simulated entrances so as to deceive an enemy. The whole shows considerable strength and skill ; when we compare, then, the depth of some of our existing ditches and the height of the mounds, the platforms for slingers, and consider the palisades in most instances pro- bably double, we shall see that in ancient times these camps were no insignificant places of defence, and justify Uxsar’s expression “locum egregie natura atque opere munitum.” They give us no mean idea of the intelli- gence, skill and bravery of the primitive inhabitants of this island. 118 PAPERS, ETC. Mr. Kemble, in his work entitled T’he Saxons in England,* has this passage corroborative of the view I have taken. He says, “If we may implieitly trust the report of Csar, a British city in his time differed widely from what we understand by that term. A spot difficult of access from the trees which filled it, surrounded with a rampart and ditch, and which offered refuge from a sudden incursion of i an enemy, could be dignified by the name of an oppidum, and form the metropolis of Cassivilaunus.” Such also among the Sclavonians were the vici, encircled with an abbatis of timber, or at most a paling, proper to repel not only an unexpected attack, but even capable of resisting for a time the onset of practised forces ; such in our time have been found the stockades of the Burmese, and the pah of the New Zealander ; and if our skilful engineers have experienced no contemptible resistance, and the lives of many brave and disciplined men have been sacrificed to their reduction, we may admit that even the oppida of Cassivilaunus or Caratac, or Galgacus, might as fortresses have serious claims on the attention of a Roman commander. With this observation I must conclude my present im- perfect notice of the camps and earthworks in the neigh- bourhood of Bath, imperfect indeed, as it only treats of the portion to the south of the Avon, whereas those on the hills to the north are equally interesting and more varied. These may be treated of at some future period ; and although we have not here the very interesting boundary-line of the Wansdyke, yet we have in all probability the first of that chain of forts by meansof whichthe Roman general, Östorius, connected the two rivers the Severn and the Avon. This * Sce Vol. ii, p. 264. Pr ON ANCIENT CAMPS AND EARTHWORKS. 119 I know is a controverted point, but I am inclined to think that Little Salisbury, or Sulisbury, is the first in that line, and this hill was probably the seat of the worship of the Goddess Sul, whose name is found in so many altars dug upin Bath. The late Mr. Skinner, of Camerton, has en- deavoured to identify the Wansdyke with the vallum of Os- torius, and Mr. Phelps, in his History of Somerset, inserts a long dissertation, in which Mr. Skinner endeavours to identify Camerton with Camalodunum, which is generally supposed to be Colchester in Essex, or Lexden near to Colchester. The idea of this vallum he bases upon the words of Tacitus, which have led to so much conjecture and such learned inquiry. Ostorius, previous to his cam- paign against the Silures, or inhabitants of South Wales, drew a chain of forts between the Severn and the Avon, “ cinetosque castıis, sabrinam et avonam fluvios cohibere parat.” Many suppose that the Avon here mentioned is the river Nen which flows through Northamptonshire, and between the counties of Cambridge and Lincoln, and then empties itself into the Wash. The name of this river, however, does not warrant the supposition, or, if the conjeceture be true, it has wholly changed... Mr. Skinner, however, regards the following camps as guarding the conquests of the Romans up to the time of Ostorius :— 1. Clifton camp, on Durdham Down, 2. Stokesleigh, on Leigh Down opposite, beyond Clifton, 3. Borough Walls, contiguous to it, 4. Maes Knoll, which could communicate with Borough Walls and the heights in Wales, 5. Stantonbury camp. I am inclined to think that these camps, if carefully ex- amined, will give little indication of Roman occupation. 120 PAPERS, ETC. Their form is not that adopted by the Romans, who chose their encampments more in the open ground, and generally at the junction of two rivers ; but the earlier inhabitants or occupants of the country on the hill tops, or on a pro- montory, which they cut off from the remaining portion of the hill by a deep ditch. Mr. Skinner traces intermediate encampments, and observes that “by carrying on this line of connection between the camps on the hills facing the Avon, and extending it with intermediate stations and out- posts to Farley Castle, above the Frome river, it prevented all possibility of invasion by the Silures, who used to pass over the Severn from the opposite side in light coracles, made of hides, which drew so little water that they could ascend high up the river and pass through the interval between the hill camps to invade and plunder the distriet.” “The vallum of Antonine against the Caledonians in Scot- land, and that of Hadrian in Northumberland, were ar- ranged after the same manner.” Having lately had the satisfaction of examining the barrier of Hadrian, which stretches between Carlisle and Newcastle, and which is, perhaps, the most interesting Roman work existing in this country or in any other, I am compelled to come to a very different conclusion to Mr. Skinner. In the barrier of thelower Isthmus there are most unequivocal marks of Roman occupation, and I can discover scarcely any in the camps mentioned by Mr. Skinner, at least in Maes Knolland Stantonbury ; and the form of that on Leigh Down and the Borough Walls appears not to be Roman. The Vallum of Hadrian, between Newcastle and Car- lisle, has been most ably investigated by Dr. Bruce, whose researches are contained in a most interesting volume, which has now come to a third edition. The form of each m = Ro uw ON ANCIENT CAMPS AND EARTH-WORKS. 121 camp has been successfully made out, and the name for the most part identified by remains which have been found, in one or other in the list of fortresses given in the Notitia. Altars and inscribed stones have been dug up in most of the stations “ per lineam Valli,” but I cannot hear of any along the supposed line of Ostorius, except a few remains, not important, found at Camerton. The finding of the inseribed stone last year at Combe Down, just op- posite Midford Castle, where Mr. Skinner supposes a fort to have been placed, is, I believe, the only instance, and that belongs to a late period of the Roman oceupation. It is probable that inseriptions were not common in Roman works until the time of Hadrian, and few have been found, of an earlier date; but still the form of the earth-works is not Roman, nor do they exhibit signs of Roman occupa- tion, except it be the camp over Batheaston, called Little Salisbury, which seems to have been occupied by that people. This has been considered to be the first of a chain of forts communicating with the Severn, and running along the Cotswold Hills, which, if we regard the Bath Avon as the river Aufona, Antona, or Avona, mentioned by Taecitus, has certainly a better claim than the camps on the line of the Wansdyke between Bath and Portishead. The Ro- mans appear in certain cases to have occupied ancient British intrenchments, with little alteration of their form; but in these Roman coins are generally found. It is not always an easy matter to assign a particular date to an earth-work which has been occupied successively by Roman, Saxon, and Danish invaders, after having been first formed by the aboriginal British tribes. Nevertheless, in a con- nected chain of forts the Roman mode of intrenehment will always shew itself in places. If rectangular works are not VOL. VvI., 1855, PART I. Q 122 PAPERS, ETC. to be found occasionally among the irregular works, we may conclude that they were not permanently occupied as a chain of forts by the Romans. Leaving, however, this difhcult subject, and reverting to the camps around Bath: we have on Lansdown the re- mains of an ancient British camp formed similar to that of Maes Knoll (being cut off from the other portion of the hill by a deep fosse and agger), and so placed as to com- municate by signal with it and Stantonbury, and again with the camp on Leigh Down. This camp commands a view of the whole valley between Bath and Bristol, and is entered by a road from the west, and separated into two portions by a mound, apparently a continuation of the work. Each of these divisions has a mound in the centre, forming a long barrow, with a slight ditch. "The road leads direct from the west and the east gates, where it erosses the ditch, which is about thirty feet wide, and has amound out- side of it on the one half. At 300 paces from this entrance we have a Roman canıp, which has some curious works on the north side of it. The road to the camp which passes through the north and south gates is very distinctly to be traced. "There is also another Roman camp about a quarter of a mile distant, but the turnpike road passes through it, and has destroyed its symmetry. From these two camps it may be inferred that the British earth-work was stormed and taken. On the other side of the hill we have the curious works which bring us back into the period of modern history, and tell of eivil strife. We have the traces of the battle of Lansdown, in the works thrown up by Sir William Waller, which cost the cavalry of King Charles I. so many brave lives, and near to which is the monument to Sir Beville Grenville, who fell on this occa- sion. Looking from the western extremity of Lansdown, ee Zu ON ANCIENT CAMPS AND EARTH-WORKS. 123 we trace the Via Julia, and overlook the ancient Abone, where very interesting Roman remains have been found. We see the course that this line of road took to the Trajectus, the point where it crossed the Severn into Monmouthshire. Many barrows may also be traced on Lansdown ; and here may have been fought the battle of Mons Badonicus, although Banner Down, separated by a valley from Lansdown, lays claim to this event. The Roman roads and villas lying around Bath would occupy another hour, but all these are well worthy the attention of the antiquary, and mark a period more recent than that we have been considering. We may see in these traces that remain, how first came the British camp of rude for- mation ; then the Roman of more scientific construction ; and after the camp came the road, by means of which the country was gradually brought into subjection, and sup- plies procured and communications kept up; and then followed the villas, which speak of quieter times and more ease, Juxury, and civilization, when the Roman officer could have his country seat secure on the margin of the forest, and near the communication of some good road, and from whence he taught the rude peasant to cultivate the arts of peace, and employed him in agrieultural labours, and in rearing more permanent habitations than the rude huts of his forefathers. 'Thus may we trace the gradual progress of ceivilization, and learn how true are the words of the good George Herbert : “ Prowess and arts did train And tune men’s hearts before the gospel came; Strength levelled grounds; art formed a garden there; Then showered religion, and made all to bear.” Happy is it for us that we live in the latter times, when we 124 PAPERS, ETC. see how gradually and progressively all this has come to pass. Let us, in reading these landmarks of history, not neglect the lesson they teach us, but let us learn from them gratitude and thankfulness, and compassionate sym- pathy for those who have not the blessings we so largely possess. Be nn und PAINTED GLASS IN WELLS CATHEDRAL. 125 a iet Iecmmmt of the Zointet Claas in Wells Cathenal. BY GREVILLE J. CHESTER. N the following short account of the Painted Glass in Wells Cathedral, I am, I fear, incapable of offering more than a bare inventory of the existing specimens, and of their local position. I can only hope that, in the ab- sence of any other, this attempt may prove in some degree useful as a guide to those whose superior knowledge may supply what is wanting, when the position of the glass itself has been thus pointed out. The varieties of glass pamting, if the classification of Mr. Winston be followed, are arranged under five styles, which in the earlier instances coincide with the divisions of Gothie architecture in this country. These five styles are :— The Early English, which comprises all specimens exe- cuted before the year 1280. The Deecorated, from 1280 to 1380. The Perpendicular, from 1380 to 1530. The Cinque Cento, from 1500 to 1550. 126 PAPERS, ETC. And lastly, the Intermediate, which includes the speci- mens executed from the close of the Cinque Cento period to the present time.* Of the first of these styles, the Early English, it is probable that the Cathedral of Wells does not possess a single fragment. In glass of the second, or Decorated style, it is extremely rich ; and detached specimens of all the succeeding periods are to be found scattered about in different parts of the church. The Decorated glass is contained in the great east win- dow of the choir, that, viz., over the altar, and in the two clerestory windows adjoining on either side ; in the east and side windows of the ladye-chapel ; in the windows in the presbytery at the eastern extremity of the two choir-aisles, and in the tracery of the two windows on the north and south sides adjoining ; in some of the side windows of the aisles on either side the choir ; and lastly, in the windows of the chapter-house, and in the tracery of the two win- dows of the chapter-house staircase. Of ıhese examples, the east window of the choir, from its size and comparative perfection, demands the first at- tention. This beautiful window belongs to the class known as “Jesse windows,” from the representation which they exhibit of the prineipal personages in the family of our Lord in or among the foliage of a vine, which springs up from the body of Jesse, who lies prostrate at the bottom of the composition. In the present instance each window- light is surrounded by a border of a pattern repeated else- where in the Cathedral. In alternate lishts the border consists of yellow lions arranged between pieces of red * Vide Winston on Painted Glass, Vol. 1. PAINTED GLASS IN WELLS CATHEDRAL. 127 glass, and yellow crowns between pieces of blue glass. Within the border, surrounded by the foliage and tendrils of a vine, which sometimes cross their bodies, the principal figures stand under canopies. These figures, which are ar- ranged in two tiers (exclusive of Jesse, who lies below), represent various Scripture personages in our Lord’s gene- alogy, including Abraham, David, Solomon, Daniel, Hosea, and the Virgin und Child. It is worthy of remark that while the faces of the subordinate characters are, with the exception of a female (perhaps Ruth), formed of pink glass, those of the Blessed Virgin and her Child, as if by the force of contrast, to give them a greater prominence, are of a white colour. This truly splendid window, which is much out of repair, has been copied for the new church of All Saints, London, from tracings made by the late la- mented Mr. Gerente. The lishts of the four easternmost elerestory windows of the choir are ornamented with large figures of Saints standing under canopies. In one window the central figure is St. George ; in another the middle figure is King Ethelbert. In the tracery of the two win- dows next the east, is pourtrayed the resurrection of the dead : above are angels blowing trumpets, while below the dead are rising from the opening tombs. The top of one of these tombs is marked with a cross flory. The waving patterns, principally of blue and white and red and white glass, in the tracery of the two remaining windows of this series, are remarkable for extreme elegance and beauty both in point of design and of harmonious colouring. The east window of the ladye-chapel has been restored by Mr. Williment. This window contains two rows of figures under canopies. In the upper tier are Noah, Abraham, David, Isaiah, and Malachi. In the lower tier are Eve, the Deceiving Serpent, the Virgin and Child, the Brazen 128 PAPERS, ETC. Serpent, and Moses. The Serpent tempting Eve is twin- ing round a tree, and has a human face. Moses is depieted with horns, according to the old belief, combatted by Sir Thomas Browne of Norwich, in his quaint treatise on Vulgar Errors. In the lower part of the side windows of this chapel, little, beside some beautiful canopies, remains in situ ; in the tracery, however, some curious mitred heads and some elegant leaf-patterns still preserve their original situation. The windows of the east ends of the north and south choir-aisles, those, viz., next the ladye-chapel, are a jumble of broken pieces of glass from various places, but some of these are of value and interest. In the tracery of each of the two windows adjacent on the north and south sides, are some heads of Saints and Bishops, and a figure of our Lord seated. The tracery of three windows of the north aisle of the choir contains Decorated glass, which is as curious as it is beautiful. In two of these are Saints, (SS. Michael and John Baptist?) surrounded with an intricate pattern of conventional foliage. In the third is depieted the Crucifixion, with Saint John and the Vir- gin Mary. In this last design a great deal of light green glass is used, with very happy effect. To judge from the mutilated relics which still remain, the windows of the chapter-house must once have presented a truly glorious appearance. Now the upper part of the.lights and the tracery alone possess any part of the beautiful ornament with which they were once adorned. The patterns are de- signed in red and white ; and a few medallions containing figures still remain ; but these last are much broken and sadly defaced. The chapter-house is commonly supposed to have been built by Bishop William de la Marchia, who was elected to the see in 1293, and died in 1302. The date of the glass is therefore subsequent to the latter PAINTED GLASS IN WELLS CATHEDRAL. 129 period ; as, however, in a shield of the royal arms those of France are emblazoned with those of England, it may be concluded that it was executed after the 10th year of King Edward III, A.nD. 1337. Of the Perpendicular style, there is little glass left in Wells Cathedral. The best earlier specimens are found in the south transept, where there are some elegant figures and some ernamental quarries, and in the clerestory win- dow next the central tower on the north side of the nave. In this last position there are two figures, male and female, crowned. Later specimens of Perpendicular glass may be found in the choir-aisles; the best of these represent the arms of England, and the badge of a couching stag. In the west window of the chapel of St. John, near the tomb of Deans Gunthorpe and Jenkyns, are some curious late Per- pendicular quarries. Some of these display plants, others birds—such as eagles, ostriches, cocks, hens. One of the cocks is erowing, and holds a label, inscribed MBemento, in black letter characters—in allusion, no doubt, to St. Peter, who remembered his Lord’s words when the cock crew. In the windows of the Cathedral library there is a considerable quantity of glass of this period. In them the arms of Bishop Bubwith (a fess, engrailed, between three groups of conjoined holly-leaves, four in each) alter- nate with the arms of England ; each shield is surrounded with an elegant pattern. The remainder of each window is filled with quarries, on each of which is a plant of uni- forn type throughout. This series of windows supplies an excellent example for modern imitation, and for introduction in domestic buildings. Of the Cinque Cento style there is some foreign glass in the central lancet at the west end of the nave. Of the Intermediate style there are various shields of VOL. vI., 1855, PART II. R 130 PAPERS, ETC. arms in different windows, and two miserably washy figures of King Ina in the court costume of the eighteenth century, and of Bishop Ralph de Salopia in the western lancets. In the clerestory range of the choir are two modern memorial windows; and in St. John’s chapel a window of painted glass has been placed at the expense of members of the Theological College. None of these last require especial comment. It is, however, much to be re- gretted that more care is not bestowed upon the ancient glass. The splendid Jesse window in the choir is far from being in a secure state, while the condition of the Per- pendicular glass in the library is most precarious. Unless the lead-work of this last glass be speedily looked to, it will inevitably drop out, and then another memorial of the taste and munificence of former ages will be irretrievably lost. This would be the more lamentable, as signs are not wanting that the importance of preserving national anti- quities is becoming daily more and more recognized, and that the rising generation is far more interested in the me- morjals of past ages than were their fathers. RARE AND REMARKABLE PLANTS. 131 Dotives of the Mare amd most Aemark- able laute in the Heighhourhaadg of Dungter, Blue Ancher, Alinehend, &r. —_—- . BY MISS ISABELLA GIFFORD. AM quite aware that in offering so slight a sketch as I the present to the notice of this Society, I can give but a very imperfect idea of the rich and varied Flora of this part of Somerset. It is only after a careful enumera- tion of species, and by a comparison of their greater va- riety or frequency in the adjoining distriets, that the Flora of any particular distriet can be correetly estimated. Were such comparison fully carried out between Somerset and Devon, I have no doubt that the number of species in this county would equal those recorded in Devon, and that this distriet, from its bordering the sea, would afford many species not found in any other parts of the county. Co.a:neneing with such, I would notice Cochlearia danica, a plant which oceurs in erevices of the rocks near the sea under Greenaleigh and at Bossington Point. Arenaria pe- 132 PAPERS, ETC. ploides grows, but very sparingly, on the Warren near Minchead, and I have noticed the salt wort (Salsoli kalı) appear occasionally near the same spot. Erodium mariti- mum is exceedingly common in sandy and grassy places close to the sea ; it also grows at some distance from it, on the summit of Grabhurst, on Minehead Hill, and on a wall near Alcombe—three rather unlikely situations for this species. Erodium ceicutarium (common hemlock stork’s bill) is frequent with white blossoms on Minehead Warren, and I remark that a similar change of colour is observable in the following when growing in the same locality—viz., Lyeopsis vulgaris, Cynoglossum oficinale, Myosotis collina, Carduus arvensis, and Veronica chamaedrys. These, with the exception of the last named species, are all common with white blooms, though plants of the usual colours are likewise to be seen in the same spot. Some of the remain- ing peculiarly maritime plants of the distriet are, Euphor- bia paralias, Plantago maritimum, Triglochin maritimum, Juncus maritimus, Scirpus maritimus, Phleum arenaria, Glaux maritima, Salicornia herbacea, Schoberia maritima, Aster tripolium, Artemisia maritima, Armeria maritima, at the mouth of the river Hone ; Silene maritima, at Blue Anchor. Trifoium maritimum was observed by Mr. Babington when botanizing there some years ago. I may here remark that the Flora at and near Blue Anchor is partieularly interesting. Ophrys apifera (bee orchis), Ophrys museifera (fly orchis), Habenaria chlorantha, Or- chis pyramidalis, latifolia, mascula, and Listera ovata, are among the Orchidex that oceur there. The other remark- able plants in that neishbourhood are Chlora perfoliata, Vieia bithynica, Lathyrus aphaca, sylvestris, and Nissolia. This latter also grows in the viemity of Minehead. Vi- burnum lantana (mealy guelder rose) is common in the PETER EBEN WERE RARE AND REMARKABLE PLANTS. 133 hedge-rows about Blue Anchor. In the vieinity of Dunster the botanist has a good opportunity of studying the Rubi. I am assured by Mr. Lees, the well-known investigator of this genus, that the woods around are particularly rich in the various species. In the wood surrounding Conygar Tower I have colleected Rubus amplificatus, rosaceus, Sprengelii, and all the commoner kinds. Near Boniton Wood, and in the woods along the Timberscombe road, oceurs a peculiar species of raspberry, named Rubus Leesii by Mr. Babiugton, in honour of Mr. Lees, who first dis- covered it at Ilford Bridges, near Lynton. The specific differences will at once be seen on examina- tion with ‘the common kind, Rubus idoeus, which grows commonly in the same woods. They also afford Rubus suberectus, rudus, fuscus, villicaulis, Lindleianus, am- plifieatus, vestitus, cordifolius, änd others of this inte- resting but, until lately, little investigated genus. Melittis melissophyllum grows in the woods on the road-side near Cuteombe, and Mecanopsis cambrica near Stowey Mill and in Culbone Woods, near Porlock. On Dunkery, the rarest flowering plant is one of the Orchidex, Listera cordata. With the exception of Coddon Hill, near Barnstaple, this is the only station for it in the West of England. Empe- trum nigrum, Lycopodium clavatum, also grows on Porlock Hill; selago and alpinum are in this distriet confined to Dunkery. T'he small patches of boggy ground that oceur on the hills produce Eriophorum vaginatum, and angusti- folia, Drosera rotundifolia, Narthecium ossifragum, Erica tetralix, Hypereium elodes, and other less conspicuous spe- cies. Bordering the little rivulets which take their course down the sheltered combes, may be observed one of the rarest plants of the district, and until the last few years only known as a native of Cornwall—this is the delicate 134 PAPERS, ETC. little ereeping plant, Sibthorpia Europoea (Cornish money- wort). It generally grows associated with the tiny little ivy- leaved harebell, Wahlenbergia hederacea and Anagallis tenella. In these combes all the ferns common to such situ- ations may be found ; Athyrium filix-feemina in one or two varieties ; Blechnum boreale, Lastrea oreopteris, dilatata foeniseeii, and Filix-mas ; the incised variety I have gath- ered on Conygar Hill, in Periton Combe, and elsewhere. The other ferns growing in the district, but seleeting other habitats, are Asplenium trichomanes, Ruta-muraria, Adi- antum-nigrum. Asplenium marinum, I believe, grows under Bossington Point ; and Asplenium septentrionale* has been found in the parish of Porlock, and “on the borders of Devon and Somerset.” Üeterach officinarum may be seen on old walls at Stanton, Minehead, and Allerford. The incised variety called Cambricum of Poly- podium vulgare, I have observed in Bossington Woods, and the several multifid varieties of the common Scolo- pendrium vulgare are frequent in the hedges about Mine- head. Aspidium angulare in its various forms adorns the hedge-banks; and Pteris aquilina (the common bracken) grows as far up the hills as cultivation is practicable, * I am indebted to the Rev. G. B. Warren, of Exeter, for a specimen of Asplenium septentrionale, obtained from a station near Culbone, and which, I believe, is the locality alluded to by Newman in his History of British Ferns, as being “near Glenthorn, about six miles from the boun- dary of Devon.” All the stations hitherto observed for the fern have been on the Somerset side of the boundary. In North Devon, Mr. Warren informs me, he has often searched for it, but has never yet seen or heard of it across the borders, thoush very probably it may be found on Countes- bury or Brendon. Botrychium Lunaria, Mr. Warren further informs me, he has seen growing near Meyn Farm, and Ophioglossum vulgatum is said to be found in meadows near Selworthy. Aspidium aculeatum does not, 1 believe, appear in this district, aceording to a writer in the Phytologist for May, 1354, A. angulare and A. aculeatum rarely grow together in the same district; and A. angulare is rare in the North of England, showing its tendency to be tender. RARE AND REMARKABLE PLANTS. 135 attaining the highest position in the cultivated region, or “ Agrarian Region ” of the author of the C'ybele Britannica. On reference to my lists, I find upwards of 550 flowering plants and ferns recorded as growing in this district. Arranging these according to their “types of distribu- tion,” ten, or perhaps more, belong to the “ Atlantic type "—that is, “species that have their head-quarters in the south-west of England, and run out northward and eastward ;” two to the Germanic type, viz., Ophrys apifera and muscifera ; and one only to the “Hishland type,” Lycopodium alpinum, which reaches its southernmost limits in this part of the county; three appertain to the “ Scottish type,” Empetrum nigrum, Listera cordata, and Lycopodium selago ; 108 to the “ English type,” “ species which have their head-quarters in England, especially in the southern provinces, and become rare and finally cease altogether towards the north.” The rest, with the excep- tion of a few of uncertain type, belong to the “ British type,” species which are more or less generally diffused throughout the whole extent of Britain. The foregoing is necessarily but a hasty attempt at esti- mating the number of indigenous species ; it neither in- cludes varieties nor any species doubtfully wild. In the plants particularly specified, I believe I have named some of those most worthy of notice ; but as there is no work published on the botany generally of this county to which reference can be made, I am in doubt whether I may not have called attention to species more universally distributed over the county than Iam aware of. As regards the lit- toral species, possibly all those observed here range along the whole extent of the Somerset coast. In a short list appended to the Natural History of Portishead, I see the names of many such. Ina county so extensive as this, 136 PAPERS, ETC. with such variety of soil and aspect, there is a very wide field afforded for the botanist, and it is not a little surpris- ing, and much to be lamented, that there is no published Flora of Somerset, containing in its pages all the necessary information. In the literature of botany, ceounty or local Floras become of much account—such, for instance, are Leighton’s Flora of Shropshire, and Mr. Baker’s recently published supplement to the Flora of Yorkshire—books the value of which are well known to botanists. Before elosing this paper, I would beg leave to suggest to persons interested in the science, the benefit which may accrue to its more complete study by their noting down the species oceurring in their respective neishbourhoods, in the last edition of the London Catalogue of British Plants— the one generally employed for that purpose by English botanists. The enclosing of commons and waste land, and progress of agrieultural improvements generally, must unavoidably destroy the habitats of many rare plants, and in some in- stances lead to their extincetion ; such, I fear, is the case with Chrysocoma lynosiris and Lobelia urens, which used formerly to grow near Axminster. Therefore, it is parti- cularly desirable that a record should be kept of rare indi- genous plants. Some few species there are, such as Veronica Buxbaumi, which become naturalized in our fields by the agency of the farmer, who scatters the germ unwittingly along with his clover or other seed obtained from the Continent ; and though the botanist may not look with an unfriendly eye upon the “ foreigner,” he still feels that it cannot make amends for our native plants, the growth of our native soil, introduced by no human agency, placed in their appointed spot by the Almighty will, tlourishing for long years the “ flowers of the waste,” and RARE AND REMARKABLE PLANTS. 137 dying, at the approach of cultivation, like the Red Indian ko} disappearing from his hunting-grounds before the advaneing footsteps of the white man. But if the destruction of the natural vegetation of a country be a mournful sight to a botanist, no less is the re-appearance of vegetation over the ruined habitation of man a melancholy and interesting spectacle to all. The ivy, the same plant that hangs and spreads itself over the wildest cliffs, covers and supports the ruined walls with its evergreen mantle. On the proud- est edifices of bygone days we see the lichens appearing : “ Those living stains which Nature’s hand alone, Profuse of life, pours forth upon the stone; For ever growing where the common eye Can but the bare and rocky bed descry. These allincrease, till in unnoticel years The stony tower as grey with age appears, With coats of vegetation thinly spread, Coat above coat, the living on the dead; T'hese then dissolve to dust, and make away For bolder foliage ; nursed by their decay, The long-enduring Ferns in time will all Die, and depose their dust upon the wall— Where the winged seed will rest, till many a lower Shows Flora’s triumph on the falling tower.” ÜRABBE. VOL. VI., 1855, PART II. Ss 138 PAPERS, ETC. On the Geologienl Farmations in the Hrighkoncham af Dungter. BY REV. W. ARTHUR JONES, M.A. LL the lofty hills and high land in this distriet, in- eluding Dunkery Beacon, the north hill at Mine- head, Grabhurst Hill, and the Croydon range, with the outlying Quantocks, belong to a geological formation, which for a long time was known as the Grauwacke, but is now more frequently called the Devonian series. On the declivities and near the base of these hills, we find another series of rocks of more recent origin, which, while they skirt the upheaved masses of the older formation, in many places rest upon them in such a manner as clearly to prove that they were deposited after and upon the older sedimentary formations. These rocks are known as the red-sandstone series, which, for the most part, compose the lower hills, and supply the characteristice red marls of the lowlands. The red-sandstone, in its turn, is succeeded by later formations. Hence we find the Zas overlying the red-sandstone along the coast of the Bristol Channel, and ul u rl a an AZ A nn tt u a 2 GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS NEAR DUNSTER. 139 oceurring in such circumstances as to leave no doubt of the order in point of time in which they succeeded each other. And in the marsh land, extending from Dunster to Minehead on the one hand, and to Blue Anchor on the other, we have the comparatively very recent allumal de- posit, covering over the remains of primxval forests, por- tions of the foliage and timber of which are exposed to view every day at low water, between Minehead harbour and the Warren point. These geological formations severally, and as associated together, present features of great interest, and in a strik- ing manner illustrate and confirm the theories of the geologist respecting the physical history of the world. It is not, however, my intention to enter upon the great problems connected with some of the phenomena which this neighbourhood presents; but rather to seize on the more striking features, and to endeavour to present them so associated and connected together that we may be able in some measure to understand the ground over which we travel in our excursions, and with more pleasure to contem- plate the physical characteristics of the country, and the vast and mighty agencies by which, through countless ages, these stupendous effects have been produced. First, then, in point of time, we come to the Grauwacke, or Devonian series, embraeing sedimentary rocks differing from each other in some particulars, yet, on the whole, presenting common features which enable the close ob- server, without hesitation, to refer them to the same great epoch. The term sedimentary is applied to this series from the undoubted evidence the rock itself affords of its being the result of the gradual settling of the sandy and mineral matter held in suspension by the troubled waters of that period. When, therefore, we enquire into 140 PAPERS, ETC. the origin of these lofty hills, the revelations of geological science refer us to the time when the now upheaved heights of Dunkery, and Brendon, and Quantock, formed the sea- beds, over which rolled the waves and billows of a boister- ous ocean, and into and upon which were precipitated from the vast laboratory which Almighty power alone could form, and Infinite Wisdom alone direct, the metals and minerals which are dispersed among them. The various beds of rock included in this series present varying features, ac- cording to the varying circumstances in which the deposits oceurred. The direetion and force of different currents,_ together with the varying character of the rocks the de- trital matter of which they held in suspension, would neces- sarily affeet the character of the deposit in different localities. Hence we find the rocks of this series more or less calcareous, more or less sandy ; in some places alto- gether devoid of any traces of organie remains, in others crowded with fragments of corals and of encrinites.. The Museum of the Society contains a variety of organic re- mains found in strata belonging to this series on the Quantock Hills. The honour and merit of the discovery (which is comparatively recent) belong to Mr. Pring, of Taunton, to whom the Society is indebted for many beau- tiful speeimens, and valuable services in the geologieal department. But while a few beds abound with remains of encrinites and corals, the great mass would seem to be devoid of them. From this we are led to infer that forms of organic life did not abound in the seas of that period ; or if they did, that they were for the most part exposed to such destroying agencies as to prevent their being pre- served in the deposits then formed. It is interesting, however, to observe traces of the analogies which prevail between the seas of that remote Nun GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS NEAR DUNSTER. 141 period and those of tropieal climes of the present day. The Ordnance Geological Map of this distriet exhibits streaks or bands of lime-stone interspersed among the rocks of the Devonian series. Thus you have a belt trending from near Withycombe to Treborough, on the Croydon Hills, and patches occur on the Quantocks. Some of these abound to such an extent with calcareous skele- tons of corals and madrepores that we cannot fail to regard the bands and streaks of lime-stone which occur among the sedimentary beds as remains of coral reefs, akin to those which, in our own days, are piled up by the wondrous agency of the zoophytic race. So marvellously perfect are the fossil remains when imbedded in the lime- stone rocks, that polished specimens present the minutest features of their organization. During the time we kept living specimens of actinie and other zoophytes in our Museum, at Taunton, we had an opportunity of observing this fact. One beautiful actinia had attached its base to the side of a glass vase, and thus exhibited practically a horizontal section of its organism. We placed beside it a polished slab of Over-Stowey limestone, with a correspond- ing horizontal section of a fossil coral. Neither the natu- ralist nor the artist could desire a more faithful representa- tion of the base of the living zoophyte than was afforded by the polished section of the fossil coral. But while these coral reefs were being built up, and while these rocks were being deposited in the bed of primzval seas, there were vast and mighty agencies at work, indications of which present themselves in various portions of this forma- tion. Some of these beds were upheaved after they had attained to their present solid form; but others were manifestly disturbed, while as yet they were in a semi- liquid condition. The contortions and curvatures in 142 PAPERS, ETC. the slates and rocks, as exhibited in the cliffs between Minehead and Hurlstone Point, as well as elsewhere, clearly prove that the volcanie or other agency to which they are to be referred acted upon the deposit while it was yet in a plastic state, for the curve line is unbroken, and the strata present no such fractures, as would necessarily result from similar action on rocks which had already become hardened. That the period during which the de- posit took place was one of great volcanic disturbance is evident from the general character of the stratification ; and the elevated position and irregular outline of the dis- trict equally prove that by some great convulsion of nature the sea-beds became changed into mountain heights, and the waters of the ocean were thrown into new chan- nels. Then began, in the bottom of this new sea, a new geological formation. From the manner in which the new red sand-stone series rests upon the Devonian rocks in various parts of conjunction both on the Quantocks and the Brendon Hills,* it is clear that they are the deposit of an ocean whose margin, in this neishbourhood at least, was the uplifted distriet of the Devonian series. At that time — (and I would observe in passing that when the geologist speaks of time, he does not count by years, but by ages and cycles of ages, far exceeding the power of human computation)—at that time, it is evident that what are now the Quantock Hills was an island lying off shore, separated from the main land by the trough or channel, now indicated by the red sand-stone rocks and marls of the valley running from Williton into Taunton Deane. 'The hill on which Cunnegar Tower stands was likewise * A beautiful instance of conjunction occurs in the lane leading from Withycombe to the Fire-beacon. ee A GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS NEAR DUNSTER. 143 isolated ; for while the hill itself belongs to the Devonian series, its base is surrounded by the red sand-stone de- posit. The special object of this paper will not admit of our entering on the probable extent of surface over which the seas of the New red sand-stone extended. We must, there- fore, confine our observations to that portion which belongs to this immediate neighbourhood. Most of the character- istie features which distinguish the series present them- selves in this locality. We have the conglomerate, into the composition of which fragments of the rocks composing the neighbouring hills enter largely. We have the finer detrital matter, in the form of sand, held together by a natural red ferruginous. cement, and the various grades and shades between these two. We have the red mal, which forms so striking a feature in the agricultural aspeet of our large valleys. And as in the Devonian, so likewise in the red sand-stone, we have streaks or bands of lime- stone. The cementing matter of the conglomerate lime- stone contains so large a proportion of magnesia as to obtain the name of magnesian lime-stone. In some places it contains rounded fragments of the Devonian rocks, united in one solid mass by a magnesio-calcareous cement, thus clearly indicating its origin and the circumstances under which it was formed. The lower beds of the red sand-stone series are peculiarly interesting in this neighbourhood, from their affording in great purity the only truly precious metal of our country—I mean iron. If you refer to the Geological Map you will observe that during the time the red sand-stone was deposited, a gulf of the sea must have occupied the opening at Porlock, skirting Luc- combe, and flowing up as high as Timberscombe. At the 144 PAPERS, ETC. head of that gulf, in the beds of red sandstone, at Luc- combe and Brockwell, as many of you are aware, is found the red he@matite iron. It occurs in large patches, mixed up with the sandstone and conglomerates peculiar to the series, and is worked in the open quarry ; and it seems that near Porlock the rock upon which the new red sandstone rests contains veins of brown hamatite. This, very probably, is the source from whence was derived the red hematite of the succeeding formation. Copper has likewise been found in the same formation. At Treborough and Luxborough, in the rocks of the Devonian series, a peculiarly rich iron- ore has recently been found, the discovery of which is of national importance. In quality this metal is said to be equal to the best Silesian iron, and in quantity more abundant., The value of these mineral treasures has long been known by the successive generations and races of men that have occupied this distriet. That the Romans worked these mines is most clearly proved by the. coins, and mining implements, which have been discovered in the refuse mat- ter in this neishbourhood. How they worked, and to what extent they brought their characteristie energy to bear upon these sources of wealth, would be an interesting sub- ject for investigation, and one peculiarly within the pro- vince of this our Archzological Society. On this subject, however, I must not enter, as I desire to confine myself to the physical aspects of the district: While, then, we have iron in the lower beds of this series, we have gypsum in the higher beds. This mineral, which may be described as the erystals of native sulphate of lime, occurs in the red-marl, on the coast near Blue Anchor, sometimes in isolated masses ; at.other times in veins lying parallel to, and between layers of, the marl ; and occasion- GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS NEAR DUNSTER. 145 ally passing in thin lamine through the intermediate layers, and thus connecting the successive strata together. While valuable as an article of commerce, it also adds considerably _ tothe striking appearance of the a on the sea-coast in which it abounds. ‚But we must leave the sandstone, and pass on to the Lras. And, in order fully to comprehend the transition, we must imagine the bed of the sea to be again changed, its waters to be drained off, the red sandstone deposits become dryland. In fact in this neighbourhood the red sand-stone series with its marls constituted the lowland shore of the Lias sea. In this new sea a new deposit takes place, and a record of each change is faithfully preserved in the im- perishable archives of creation. Yea, a record, not only of each change, but of the varying forms of organic life peculiar to each period, and, not unfrequently, of the agen- cies, chemical and dynamical, by which the changes were produced. The sea-cliffs between Watchet and Sherton Bars afford most interesting and instructive sections of this portion of the earth’s crust, and show, with great accuracy and minuteness, how the strata succeeded each other, and point most unmistakeably to many of the disturbing in- fluences to which this series of rocks has been subjected. The natural sections presented in the clifis on the coast clearly show that the Z%as was deposited upon the red-sandstone. In very many places the strata lie con- - formably, one above the other; in other places they seem to abut against each other, yet always in circum- stances which clearly indicate the action of great dis- turbing forces. The disturbance in the stratification of the rocks, technically termed a Jault, as presented in the section of the cliff near Lilstoke, is only one of a great many, the traces of which are left in the change voL. vI., 1855, PART II. y\ 146 PAPERS, ETC: of dip in the strata, which is very considerable ; and in the few points of difficulty which occur at Blue Anchor, as to the relative position of the lias and red marl, there can be no doubt the obscurity is to be referred to these disturbing causes. During which particular geological period the dis- turbing cause was in operation, it is impossible to determine. The probability is there was a succession of convulsions. Some evidently occurred while the lias beds were plastic, for they are curved so regularly, and with so unbroken a line, as would be impossible if the rock had become in- durated. Others have taken place long after, as the great disturbance in the stratification clearly indicates. While these changes were going on, and the lias was being deposited, the sea-shores of that period were crowded with living creatures, differing most widely from those of the present time, yet presenting analogies which help the comparative anatomist to determine the simple types according to which animated being appears to have been arranged by the great Creator. To reproduce the living forms of that period—to re-people the shores of that ancient sea—to look into the deep pools swarming with strange and beautiful forms of life—would seem almost to require a spirit’s vision and a super-human power. But it is not so in reality. The record of that time, as writ by the finger of God upon the very rocks themselves, supplies the knowledge we need, and almost all the information we require. ‘The fossil remains are so abundant, and in general so well preserved, that we have little difficulty as to the main features of the Fauna of that period. The animals themselves stand before us. Shoals of Ammonites and Nau- tili crowd near the shore, now floating on the surface in their chambered shells, with their formidable arms stretched out in search of prey, and in an instant disappearing, on the GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS NEAR DUNSTER 147 approach of danger, and sinking into the sea-depths by the aid of their syphon. With rapid backward motion, their kindred, the Sepie and Lolgenes, the cuttle-fish of that period, dart after their prey, and then, as now, when attacked in its turn, envelope themselves in a cloud of black ink, and so make their escape. Close by, in deep pools and on rocky ledges, the marvellous enerinite lifts its tall stem, spreads out its thousand arms, opens its flower-like petals—every stem, every arm, every petal, built up of thousands and tens of thausands of sepa- rate joints, and each joint moveable and supplied with the requisite muscular apparatus. While we gaze on the marvellous beauty of this plant-like star-fish, near the shore, the huge Ichthyosaurus plunges into the deep waters after its prey, devouring everything within reach, not sparing even the young of its own species. Leaving these Saurian monsters of the deep—part lizard and part fish—which for the most part frequent the deep waters, we look with wonder on the ‚Plesiosaurus—a creature with the body of a fish, the tail of a crocodile, the head of a lizard, and a long neck like a huge snake, now swan-like swimming on the sea, and anon clambering along the shore—not improbably on this very spot of earth where we are now met to talk of them and their times. Then, more curious than all, we behold flitting around us that most extraordinary compound of bird and bat and lizard, the Pierodactyl—a cereature which the renowned Cuvier pronounced the furthest removed of any from the types of living beings with which we are acquainted. That these forms of life existed here we know, for the rocks in this neighbourhood contain their skeletons, and their remains most clearly explain the habits of their life. Such are a few among the leading facts in the history 148 GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS NEAR DUNSTER. of the earth’s crust, which the rocks in this distriet afford. I have not attempted to do more than state them in their simplest form. This will suffice for those who have al- ready paid attention to the subject, and, I trust, serve to induce others to study this most delightful and interesting department of physical science, and thus, likewise, to pro- mote one of the objects of our Society—the cultivation and advancement of the Natural History of the county of Somerset. This paper was very fully illustrated with enlarged copies of drawings and sections of the coast made by the late Mr. W. Baker, of Bridgwater. For some of these, as well as for large maps of the distriet geologically coloured, the Society is indebted ta Mr. J. D. Pring, of Taunton. Zunersetslive Srrlenlogieal AN 7 Matıral Ristery Soriehy. wrrnn PATRON, THE RIGHT HON. LORD PORTMAN. PRESIDENT, SIR WALTER CALVERLY TREVELYAN, Barr. VICE-PRESIDENTS, SIR P. P. F. P. ACLAND, Barr. THOMAS DYKE ACLAND, Es. THE RIGHT HON. AND RIGHT REV. THE LORD AUCKLAND, BISHOP OF BATH AND WELILS. THE WORSHIPFUL THE MAYOR OF BATH. THE HON. P. P. BOUVERIE. THE HON. AND REV. RICHARD BOYLE. THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF CAVAN. F. H. DICKINSON, Esa. THE REV. J.S. H. HORNER. THOMAS TUTTON KNYFTON, Eso. THE RIGHT HON. H. LABOUCHERE, ım.r. W. H. P. GORE LANGTON, Esg., =m.r. THE REV. AND WORSHIPFUL CHANCELLOR J. T. LAW. AMBROSE GODDARD LETHBRIDGE, Esg. THE RIGHT HON. EARL OF LOVELACE. J. H, MARKLAND, Esa. W. PINNEY, Esg., =.p. THE REV. FITZHARDINGE BERKELEY PORTMAN. W. R. SHEPPARD, Esg. SIR JOHN W. RAMSDEN, BaArT., m.r. THE RIGHT HON. LORD TALBOT DE MALAHIDE, CHARLES NOEL WELMAN, Esa. [ 4, 56. ] 150 TREASURERS, HENRY anp ROBERT G. BADCOCK, Taunton. GENERAL SECRETARIES, Archzological Department: REV. F. WARRE, REV. W. R. CROTCH, Bishop’s Lydeard. Stoke Court, Taunton. Natural History Department: REV. W. A. JONES, Taunton. DISTRICT OR LOCAL SECRETARIES, E. BATTEN, Thorn Faleon. HENRY BERNARD, Wells. REV. W. F. CHILCOTT, Monksiler. REV. H. CLUTTERBUCK, Buckland Dinham. REV. A. O. FITZGERALD, Somerton. R. W. FALCONER, =.p., Bath. C. E. GILES, Taunton. CC. MOORE, Bath. T. PORCH PORCH, Edgarley. J. H. PRING, m.p., Weston-super-Mare. W. A. SANFORD, Nynehead. REV. HENRY M. SCARTH, Batı. W. STRADLING, Chilton-super-Polden. REV. W. H. TURNER, Trent. R. WALTER, Stoke-sub-Hambdon. G. WALTERS, Frome. F. H. WOODFORDE, M“.D., Taunton. CAPTAIN PERCEVAL, Ohapel Cleeve, COMMITTEE, EDWARDS BEADON, F. W. NEWTON, Rev. J. P. SCOTT, CAPTAIN DOVETON, W.F ELLIOT, J. WOODLAND, W. E. GILLETT, Rev. W. T. REDFERN, W. M. KELLY, m.p, Rev. W. ROUTLEDGE, D.D. W. METFORD, m.D. Rev. T. A. VOULES. The President, Vice-Presidents, Treasurers, and Secretaries, are ex-oficia Members of the Committee. _—— CURATOR, BENJAMIN BAKER, Museum, Taunton. ie ee 151 Funarary and Gorrenpaming Aemberz. Acland, Dr., Lee’s Reader of Anatomy, Oxford. Alford, Rev. H., London. Bliss, Rev. Dr., Principal of St. Mary Hall, Oxford. Britton, John, Esq., F.8.A., Burton-erescent, London. Babington, C. C., Esq., F.R.S., F.L:S. Buckland, Very Rev. Dr., Dean of Westminster. Carter, Rev. Eccles, Kingston. Charlton, Dr., See. Antiquarian Society, Newcastle-on-Tyne. Conybeare, Very Rev. W. D., Dean of Llandaff. Daubeny, Dr., Professor of Botany and of Chemistry, Oxford. De La Beche, Sir H., Director of Ordnance Geological Survey. De Morgan, A. Esq., Prof. Mathematies, University College, London. Duncan, P. B., Esq., Curator of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Dymock, Rev. T. F. Edwards, Professor Milne, Paris. Ellis, Sir H. Empson, C. Esq., Bath. Ferry, B., Esq., Charing Cross, London. Freeman, E. A., Esq., Rhumny, Cardiff. Godwin, George, Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A., Brompton, Hardwick, P. C., Esq., Russell-square, London. Hawkins, E., Esq., Keeper of Antiquities, British Museum. Henslow, Rev. J. S., Professor of Botany, Cambridge. Hugo, Rev. Thomas, Bishopsgate-s'reet, London. Hunter, Rev. Joseph. Lloyd, Dr., Sec. Arch@ological and Natural History Society, Warwick. Oliver, Rev. Dr., Exeter. Owen, Professor. ® Petit, Rev. T. L., tbe Uplands, Shifnal. Phillipps, Sir Thomas, Bart., Middlehill, Worcester. Quekett, John, Esq., Royal College of Surgeons, London. Ramsay, A. C., Esq., F.R.S. Salter, J. W., Esq., Museum of Practical Geology. Sedgwick, Rev. A., F.R.S., F.G.S., Prof. Mineralogy, Cambridge. Smith, C. Roach, Esq., F.8.A., Liverpool-street, London. Turner, Dawson, Esq., Yarmouth. Willis, Rev. R., F.R.S., F.G.5., Jacksonian Professor, Cambridge. Wilson, Daniel, Esq., See. Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Warner, Rev. R., Great Chalfield, Wilts. Yarrell, W., Esq., Ryder-street, St. James’s, London. Yates, J., Esq., F.R.S., Lauderdale House, Highgate. 152 Soriefies in Correapondener With the Somersetshire Archzological and Natural History Society. THE ARCHZOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF GREAT BRITAIN. THE ECCLESIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. THE BRISTOL AND WEST OF ENGLAND ARCHITECTURAL SOCIETY. THE ARCHITECTURAL SOCIETY OF NORTHAMPTON. THE SUSSEX ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. THE BRITISH ARCHZOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION. THE SURREY ARCHZOLOGICAL SOCIETY. THE LEICESTER LITERARY AND PHTLOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. THE KILKENNY AND SOUTH-EAST OF [RELAND ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. THE SUFFOLK INSTITUTE OF ARCHEOLOGY AND NATURAL HiIsToRY. SOCIETE VAUDOISE DES SCIENCES NATURELLES, LAUSANNE. RULES. HIS Society shall be denominated “ Tre SOMERSET- SHIRE ARCHEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SocıIETY ;” and its objects shall be, the cultivation of, and collecting information on, Archxzology and Natural History, in their various branches, but more particularly in connection with the County of Somerset. II. The Society shall consist of a Patron, elected for life ; a President, elected for three years; Vice-Presidents; General, and Distriet or Local Secretaries; and a Trea- surer, elected at each Anniversay Meeting; with a Com- mittee of twelve, six of whom shall go out annually by rotation, but may be re-elected.—No person shall be elected on the Committee until he shall have been six months a Member of the Society. III. Anniversary General Meetings shall be held for the purpose of electing the Oflicers, of receiving the Report of the Committee for the past year, and of transacting all other necessary business, at such time and place as the Committee shall appoint; of which Meetings three weeks’ notice shall be given to the Members. IV. There shall also be a General Meeting fixed by the Committee, for the purpose of receiving Reports, reading Papers, and transaeting Business. —All members shall have the privilege ofintroducing one friend to the Anniversary and General Meetings. Pe ee SEND Zn RULES. 153 V. The Committee is empowered to call Special Meet- ings of the Society, upon receiving a requisition signed by ten members. — Three weeks’ notice of such Special Meet- ing, and its object, shall be given to each Member. VI. The affairs of the Society shall be directed by the Committee (of which the officers of the Society shall be ex-oficio Members) which shall hold Monthly Meetings for receiving Reports from the Secretaries and Sub-committees, and for transacting other necessary busi- ness ; five of the Committee shall be aquorum. Members may attend the Monthly Committee Meetings, after the official business has been transacted. ' VI. The Chairman, at Meetings of the Society, shall have a casting vote in addition to his vote as a member. VIIL One (at least) ofthe Secretaries shall attend each Meeting, and shall keep a record of its proceedings. All Manuscripts, and Communications, and the other property of the Society, shall be under the charge of the Secretaries. IX. Candidates for admission as Members shall be proposed by two Members at any of the General or Committee Meetings, and the election shall be determined by ballot at the next Committee or General Meeting; three-fourths of the members present balloting shall elect. The rules of the Society shall be subseribed by every - person becoming a Member. X, Ladies shall be eligible as Members of the Society without ballot, being proposed by two Members, and ap- proved by the majority of the Meeting. XI. Each Member shall pay ten shillings on admission to the Society, and ten shillings as an Annual Subseription, which shall become due on the first of January in each year, and shall be paid in advance. XII. Donors of Ten Guineas or upwards, shall be Members for life. XIIL At General Meetings of the Society the Com- mittee may recommend persons to be balloted for as Honorary or Corresponding Members. XIV. When any oflice shall become vacant, or any new appointment shall be requisite, the Committee shall 154 RULES. have power to fill up the same; such appointments shall remain in force only till the next General Meeting, when they shall be either confirmed or annulled. XV. The Treasurer shall receive all Subscriptions and Donations made to the Society, and shall pay all aecounts passed by the Committee; he shall keep a book of receipts and payments, which he shall produce whenever the Com- mittee shall require it; the accounts shall be audited previously to the Anniversary Meeting by two Members of the Committee, chosen for that purpose ; and an abstract of them shall be read at the Meeting. XVI. No change shall be made in the Laws of the Society, except at a General or Special Meeting, at which twelve members at least shall be present. Of the proposed change a month’s notice shall be given to the Secretaries, who shall communicate the same to each Member three weeks before the Meeting. XVNH. Papers read at Meetings of the Society, and considered by the Committee of suflicient interest for pub- lication, shall be forwarded (with the author’s consent) to such Periodical as shall be determined by the Committee to be the best for the purpose, with a request that a num- ber of such papers may be printed separately, for distri- bution to the Members of the Society, either gratuitously or for such payment as may be agreed on. XVIII. No religious or political discussions shall be permitted at Meetings of the Society. XIX. That any person contributing Books or Speci- mens to the Museum shall be at liberty to resume possession ofthem in the event of the property of the Society ever being sold, or transferred to any other county. Also per- sons shall have liberty to deposit Books or Specimens for a specific time only. N.B. One of the objects of the Soeiety shall be to col- leet, by donation or purchase, a Library and Museum, more particularly illustrating the History (Natural, Civil, and Ecclesiastical) of the County of Somerset. *,* Itis requested that Contributions to the Museum or Li- brary, be sent to the Curator, at the Society's Rooms, Taunton. LIST OF MEMBERS. 1855. Those marked * are Life Members. Abraham, B. Taunton Abraham, T. Dunster Acland, Sir P. P. Bart. Fairfield House Acland, Sir T. D. Bart. m.p. Killerton Park, Devon 5 Acland, T.D. Mr 2 ” Acres, Rev. J. Clevedon Adair, A. Heatherton Park Adair, A, W.. „ e Addington, H. J. Langford 10 Ainslie, Rev. A. C. Corfe, Taunton Alford, H. Taunton Allen, J. R. Lyngford House Allen, Rev. ©. Stocklinch, near Ilminster Allen, B.T. Zurnham 15 Anstice, Rev. J. B. Kilton Anstice, Richard, Bridgwater Anstice, Mrs. J. - Auckland, the Right Rev. Lord, Palace, Wells Badcock, Miss H. Taunton 20 Badcock, H. + Badceock, R. G. The Elms, Taunton Badham, J. B. Bristol Bagehot, Edward Langport Bagehot, Walter > 25 Bagshawe, E. L. Bath Bailward, J. Horsington, Blandford, Dorset Baker, John, Weston-super-Mare Baker, C. Gifford, Seaton, Devon Ball, Wm. Chapple, Taunton 30 Bally, W. F. Sion Hill, Bath Barnard, Rev. Canon, Wells, (deceased) Barnard, Rev. H. J. Yatton Barrett, W. Moreden House, North Curry Barrowforth, J. Cheddon Fitzpaine 35 Bartrum, J. J. 41, Gay-street, Bath Bateman, Hugh Willoughby, Sydney-place, Bath Batten, J. Yeovl Batten, E. Thorn Faulcon, and Lincolns Inn, London 156 40 45 55 60 65 70 LIST OF MEMBERS. Baynes, T. S. LL.B. Rumhill, Taunton Beadon, Rev. Canon, North Stoneham, Hants Beadon, W. Oiterhead, Honiton, Devon Beadon, Edwards, Highlands, Taunton Bearcroft, Rev. E.C.K. Bernard, H. Wells Berryman, W. C. jun. Wells Bewes, Rev. T. A. Zydeard St. Lawrence Blackwell, Rev. W. Mells Blair, H. M. Farley Castle Blake, W. Bishop’s Hull Blake, Downing, Holway, Taunton Bluett, C. Taunton Bird, J. Bond, Rev. J. Weston, Bath Bouverie, Hon. P. P. Brymore House Bouverie, P. P. jun. 3 5 Bown, Miss, Taunton Boyd, R. m.o. Wells Boyle, Hon. and Rev. Richard, Marston, Frome Brace, W. H. 25, Gay-street, Bath Breton, Lieut. R.N. Camden-place ,, Briscoe, Miss, Bathford „ Bridges, H. Bridgwater Broadmead, P. Milverton Broadley, J. 2, Gascoyne-place, Bath Broderip, Rev. J. S. Cossington Brown, Rev. Frederick, Nailsea Brown, William, Dridgwater Broome, C. E. Elmhurst, Batheaston Bruford, T. Nazxlsea Bryant, Rev. W. F. Taunton Brymer, J. S. 76, Pulteney-street,; Bath Buckle, Rev. G. Twerton Bullock, George, East Coker Bush, W. 7, Circus, Bath Carew, T. G. Warrington, Crowcombe Court, (deceased) Castle, T. Worle Carver, R. Haines Hill, Taunton Cavan, the Earl of, Barford House Cave, G. Norton Fitzwarren LIST OF MEMBERS. 157 80 Cave, T. Yeovil Chamberlain, G. Castle Cary Chileott, Rev. W. F. Monhsilver Chowne, Rev. J. Netherbury, Dorset Clarke, T. E. Tremlett House 85 Clarke, A. A. Taunton - Clerk, Rev. D. M. Kingston Deveril, Wilts Clerk, Robert, Westholme House, Pilton, Shepton Mallet Clerk, E.H. Clutterbuck, Rev. Henry, Buckland Dinham, Frome 90 Coflin, Com. Genl. Sir E. P. Claremont Villa, Exeter Coker, T. Taunton Coker, W. Worthington, Bournemouth, Dorset Colebrooke, Sir T. E. Bart. Abington, Scotland Coles, Rev. J. S. Shepton Beauchamp 95 Collings, Rev. W. T. Le Manvir Serk, Guernsey Cooper, Lady, Leversdown House Cordwent, G. Taunton Cornish, C.H. 1 Cotterell, Jacob H. Bath 100 Cox, W. "Brockley, near Yatton Crosse, Andrew, Broomfield, (deceased) Crotch, Rev. W. R. Stoke Court, Taunton ai John, Williton Custard, H. M. Yeovil 105 Dance, Lady, Bishop’s Hull Dance, Rev. G. Swainswick, Bath David, J. Bloomfield, Taunton Davies, Edmund, Wells Davies, Henry, Weston-super-Mare 110 Davis, Horatio, Mount Beacon House, Dath Davis, ©. E. Bath Davis, W. W. Oakhill, Taunton Davis, H. Taunton Dawe, Rev. Hill, Ditcheat 115 Dawson, T. Trull De Haviland, Rev. ©. R. Downside, Batlı De l’Hoste, Lieut.-Col. E. Taunton Dickinson, F. H. Kingweston House Dickinson, E. H. 120 Doveton, Capt. Haines ll, Taunton Down, E., Eixeter 158 LIST OF MEMBERS. — [Ss] or 130 135 140 145 150 155 160 Dowty, F. G. Bridgwater Easton, R. Taunton Edmunds, E. jun. Bradford, Wilts Edwards, Rev. H. Churchstanton Edwards, R. P. Wedmore Egremont, Countess of, Orchard Wyndham Elliot, Miss, Osborne House, Taunton Elliot, W. F. Elliott, Rev. J. Pitminster Ellison, Rev. N. T. HZuntspill Else, R. ©. Bridgwater Elwell, J. Weston-super-Mare Elwell, W. ©. h Escott, Miss, Hartrow House Esdaile, E. J. Cothelstone House Esdaile, W. C. D. Barley Park, Ringwood, Hants Eskersall, Miss, Bathwick Hill, Bath Estlin, J. P. Bridgwater ” Fagan, Rey. G. H. Kıngweston Falconer, R. W.m.D. Bath Falkner, Francis, 5 Falkner, Frederick, en Falkner, F. H. 5 Field, F. y Fisher, J.M. Taunton Fisher, T. 2 Fiske, H. Fitzgerald, Rev. "A. O. Charlton Mackerel Foley, Rey. R. North Cadburı Y Follett, Spencer Brent, m.p. 15, Cambridge-sq., London Foster, W. J. S. Wells Foster, F. Taunton (deceased) Fox, ©. J. m.D. Brislington Fox, E. F. Fuller, Thomas, 4, Richmond Hill, Bath Fullar, T. 2, Grafton Place, Park "Lane, Bath Gandy, G. The Chain, Preston, Lancashire Gandy, Rev. J. H. Old Cleeve God James, Wells 165 LIST OF MEMBERS. 159 Giles, W. Taunton Giles, C.E. ,„ Giles, Capt. Dinder Gill, J. E. Bath Gillett, W. E. Fairwater, Taunton Girardot, Rev. W. Hinton Charterhouse Gordon, James, Weston-super-Mare Goodford, Rev. ©. O. p.p. Head Master of Eton Goodford, Henry, Chilton Cantelo 170 Gould, Rev. W. Hatch Beauchamp 175 180 185 190 195 200 Grenyille, Ralph Neville, Butleigh, Glastonbury Hagley, E. Holywell, Oxford Hamilton, Col. J. 116, Park-st. Grosvenor-sq., London Hamilton, Rev. L. R. Castle Cary Hancock, W. Wiveliscombe Harbin, G. Newton House, Yeovil Hardy, Admiral, Bath Hardy, Lieut, R.N. ‚, Harris, Charles, Zlchester Harrison, Rev. O. S. Thorn Faulcon Harrison, T. S. m.D. Frome Hathway, Rev. R. ©. Kewstoke Haviland, Alfred, Bridgwater Hawkins, Rey. H. C. H. Chilton-super-Polden Hayter, Rt. Hon. W.G.m.p. Hyde Park Terrace, London Hayward, S. 7, Oxford Terrace, Bath Helyar, C. J. Poundisford Park Helyar, W. W. Coker Court, Yeovil Henderson, J. jun. Taunton (deceased) Higgs, Richard, Haines Heil, Taunton Hishmore, J. N. Preston, Yeovil Hitchcock, W. R. Taunton Hill, Rev. R. Timsbury, Bath Hill, Miss, Rock House , Hill, Wm. John, Langport Hood, Sir A. A. Bart. St. Audries Hooper, James, Hiyhgate, London Horner, Rev. J. S. H. Mells Park, Frome Hosegood, George, Huish Barton Hoskins, T. Hazelbury Hunt, E. River-st., Bath 160 LIST OF MEMBERS. 205 21 22 b) oO 230 Hutchings, H. 13, Chester-st., Grosvenor Place, London Ilchester, the Earl of, Melbury, Sherborne, Dorset Isaacs, G. Taunton Jacobson, W. Taunton Jeboult, J. ke Jeffrey, James, Orange Grove, Bath Johnson, Rev. F. C. Whitelackington Jones, Rev. W. A. Taunton Kelly, W. M. m.p., Taunton Kemmis, Mrs. Arthur, Croham Hurst, Croydon, Surrey Kidgell, G. Wellington Kilvert, Rev. F. Cleverton Lodge, Bath King, H.D. Taunton King, Rev. ©. Stoke St. Gregory King, J. W. Chilton-super-Polden King, R. M. Pyrland Hall Kinglake, R. A. Weston-super-Mare Kinglake, H. m.p. Taunton Kingsbury y, J. Knatchbull, W. F. Mr. Babington House Knowles, C. Bridgwater Knyfton, T. T. Upkill *Labouchere, Rt. Hon. H. m.p. Store Park, Slough, Bucks Lake, F. Taunton Lambert, W. C. Knowle House, Wimborne, Dorset Lance, Rev. J. E. Buckland St. Mary Langton, W.H. P.G. m.p. Hatch Park, Taunton Langton, W. H. G. m.p. Clifton Law, Worshipful Chancellor J. T. Banwell Lawson, Henry, Zansdown Crescent, Bath (deceased) Leigh, Henry, 1, Elm Court Temple, London Lethbridge, A. G. Trull Leversedge, John, Zaunton Liddon, H. „ Lindsey, G. Littlehales, Rev. W. Compton Bishop Livett, H. W. Wells Lock, E. Balcon Lod; ge LIST OF MEMBERS, 161 240 Lockey, Rev. F. Swainswick, Bath Long, W. Lansdown Place 3, Lopes, Ralph Ludlow, Tetton House Lovelace, the Earl of, Ashley Combe, Porlock Luke, Rev. H. V. Thurlbear 245 Lutley, R. E. Stogursey Mansell, J. C. Shaftesbury, Dorset Manners, G. P. Bath Markland, J.H. ,, Marshall, W. Taunton 250 May, Frederick, Taunton Mayhew, T. Glastonbury Meade, Rev. R. J. Castle Cary Metford, W. m.v. Flook House, Taunton Michell, Rev. R. B.D. Magdalen Hall, Oxford 255 Mildmay, Paulet St. John, Haselbury, Wincanton Miles, W. m.p. Leigh Court Miller, George Layng, Alcombe Mist, Miss, Bradford Mogg, J. R. High Lyttleton House 260 Mogs, J. F. Y. Midsomer Norton Moody, ©. A. m.Pp Kingsdon, Somerton Moor, Rev. R. W. Stoke St. Gregory Moore, C. Cambridge Place, Bath Morle, Thomas, Cannington Park 265 Morris, J. Bath Moysey, H. G. Bathealton Court Munckton, W. W. Curry Rivel Murch, E. Bridgwater Murch, Rev. Jerom, Bath 270 Murley, G. B. Langport Naish, B. Stone Easton Neal, Miss, Pen House, Yeowl Newton, F. W. Barton Grange Nicholetts, J. South Petherton 275 Nichols, Rev. W. L. Zansdown Crescent, Bath Norman, G. 1, Circus, Bath Norman, W. Ashfield, Taunton, (deceased) Norman, A. M. Christ Church, Oxford Norman, J. Staplegrove, Taunton 162 280 290 295 300 310 315 LIST OF MEMBERS. Norman, J. F. Claverham, near Yatton Norris, J. Thorncombe Nutting, Rev. H. Chedzoy Ormond, J. Circus, Bath Oakley, W. Taunton Paget, J. M. Cranmore Hall, mens Mallet Paget, Arthur J. 8. Palairet, Rev. R. Norton St. Philip” Parr, Rey. H. Taunton Parfitt, Rev. C. C. Midford Castle, Bath Paul, Rev. C. S. Wellow Patton, Capt. T. R.n. Bishops Hull Payne, J. H. 1, Brunswick-square, Bristol Pearless, Richard, Penny, Rev. C. D.D. Crewkerne Penny, Mrs. John, Taunton Perceval, Capt. Chhapel Cleeve Perry, Rev. G. G. Warrington Rectory, near Lincoln Phelps, Rev. W. (deceased) Philipps, Dan, Zridgwater Pinchard, W. P. Taunton Pinder, Rev. Professor, Wells Pinney, W.Mm.P. Somerton Erleigh Pinney, Miss, = r Pitman, S. Rumhil Plowman, T. North Curry Pollard, G. Taunton Poole, G. S. Bridgwater Poole, J. R. Poole, Rev. J. Enre Popham, F. Bagborough House Porch, T. P. Edgarley *Portman, Lord, Dryanston House, Dorset Powell, H. Wells Prance, V. Prankerd, John, Zangport Pring, J. D. Taunton Pring, J. H. m.D. Weston-super-Mare Pulman, Rev. W. W. Wellington Pulteney, Rev. R. T. Ashley Itecory, Northamptonshire LIST OF MEMBERS. 163 320 Pyne, Rev. W. Charlton, Somerton Quantock, J. M. Norton-sub-Hamdon Quekett, E. Langport Raban, R. B. Hatch Beauchamp "Raban, Lt.-Col. „, 5 325 *Ramsden, Sir. J. W. Bart., m.P. Byham, Yorkshire Rawle, T. Taunton Redfern, Rev. W. T. Taunton Rhodes, Rev. E. D. Hampton Villa, Bath Richards, Rev. T. M. Alcombe 330 Richards, W. y Robbins, G. 37, Grosvenor-place, Bath Rodbard, John, Aldwick Court Roblyn, T. m.D. (deceased) Rogers, G. Bishops Hull 335 Rooke, Mrs. S. Weston-super-Mare Rowe, J. K. Taunton Rowley, Rev. W. W. Weston-super-Mare Routledge, Rev. W. D.n. Bishops Hull Roweclifte, Charles, Stogumber 340 Rundell, E. W. West Monkton Sabine, Rev. Williams, Reetory, Brympton Sanford, E. A. Nynehead Court Sanford, W. A. 56 5 Scarth, Rev. H. M. Bathwick, Bath 345 Schuldam, Mrs. E. Norton Fitzwarren Scott, Rev. J. P. Staplegrove Sealy, John, Bridgwater Sealy, H. N. Nether Stowey *Seymour, H. D. m.p., Knoyle, Wilts 350 Shaw, Rev. W. H.E. D. Fiddington Sheppard, A. B. 18, Zincolns-Inn-Fields, London Sheppard, J. Frome Sheppard, W. B. Keyford House, Frome „Sheppard, F. J. Wells 355 Sheppard, S. B. Selwood, Frome Shipton, Rev. J. N. D.D. Othery Shore, J. Whatley, near Frome Shout, R. H. Yeovil Shute, H. Cary Fitzpaine 164 LIST OF MEMBERS. 360 Symons, William, Dunster Skinner, George, Belmont, Bath Slade, Wyndham, Munty’'s Court, Taunton Smith, N. Clifton Smith, Rev. C. Bishops Lydeard 365 Soden, J. sen. Bath Solly, Miss L. , Sotheby, Rev. T. H. Milverton Sparks, W. Crewkerne Speke, Mrs. Roeford Lodge 370 Speke, W. Jordans, near Ilminster Spencer, Rev. J. W. Wilton Sperrin, J. Weston-super-Mare Spicer, R. W. Chard Squire, F. Pall-mall, London 375 Steinthal, Rev. S. A. Dridywater Stephenson, Rev. J. Zympsham Stuart, Rev. T. B. Wookey Stone, W. H. Taunton Stradling, W. Chilton-super-Polden 380 Street, Rev. H. Bath Sully, T. Dridgwater Surtees, W. Edward, Tainfield Sweet, Rey. C. Sampford Arundel Sweet, H. Taunton 385 Sydenham, A. C. m.D. Yeovil Symes, Rev. R. Oleeve, Bristol Thompson, Charles, Bridgwater Tinling, Rev. E. D. 30, Crescent, Bath Todd, Lieut.-Col. Taunton 390 Tomkins, C. m.D. Ve Tomkins, H. G. Traherne, Rev. J. M. Coedı iglan, Cardi Trenchard, H. C. Taunton Trevelyan, Sir W. C. Bart. Nettlecombe Court, and Wallington, Northumberland 395 Trevelyan, Lady en y = a Trevelyan, Sir C. E. Treasury, London Trevelyan, Rev. E. O. Stogumber Trevelyan, Rev. W. P. Enmore Castle Trevelyan, Arthur, Tyneholm, Tranent, N.B. 400 405 410 415 420 425 430 435 LIST OF MEMBERS. 165 Trevelyan, Miss, Nettlecombe Court Tripp, Rev. John, Carhampton Trudell, James, Taunton Truseott, Francis, ,, Tucker, Rey. H. T. Leigh Court Tucker, Robert Tudway, R. ©. Wells (deceased) Turle, H. Taunton Turner, Rev. W. H. Trrent Turner, A. Staplegrove Turner, ©. J. u Turner, Rev. W. H. Banwell Tunstall, Dr. 35, Drock-street, Bath *Tynte, Col. C. K. K. Halswell House Tynte, Col. ©. J. K. m.p. Cefn Mabley, Glamorganshire Tynte, Capt. K. Leversdown House Tyreonnel, Earl, Evercreech Uttermare, T. B. Langport Vane, Rev. J. Burrington, Wrington Vibart, James, Chilliswood Vining, Charles, Yeovil Voules, Rev. T. A. Beer Crocombe Walker, L. 13, King’s Road, Gray’s Inn, London Walter, W. Oldbury Lodge Walter, R. Stoke-sub-Hamdon Walters, G. Frome Ward, Rev. J. W. Tickenham, near Bristol Waırre, Rey. F. Bishops Lydeard Warre, Miss ” Warren, J. F. H. Langport Warren, Rev. J. Bawdrip Webber, Rev. E. A. Runnington Welman, ©. N. Norton Manor Welsh, W. I. Wells West, G. Corfe Weston, Plowden C. J. South Carolina, United States White, F. Wellington White, F. G. Taunton Whitehead, Rev. E. Saltford, Bath 166 LIST OF MEMBERS. Whiting, Rev. H. B. Wrühlington, Bath 440 Whitmash, E., Taunton Wickham, Rev. G. H. D., Horsington Rectory, Win- canton Wickham, Whalley, Frome Williams, John W. Williton Willmore, Graham, Taunton (deceased) 445 Wills, Rev. T. A. Winter;’Charles, Dishops Lydeard Winter, Mrs. Priory, Ash Priors Wolff, D. Foreign Office, London Wood, Rev. James, Burlington-street, Bath 450 Woodforde, F. H. m.p. Taunton Woodland, J. Wrangham, Digby G. The "Rocks, Bath Yatman, Rev. J. A. Winscombe, Sidcot Yeeles, J. M. Bathford 455 Young, J. Elm Cottage, Taunton The following have been elected since 1855: Adlam, William, The Firs, Chew Magna Avery, J. G. Sherborne, Dorset Beadon, Capt. G. R.N. Creech Barrow, Taunton Browne, S. W. Bridgwater 460 Bullied, J. G. Glastonbury ! Clarke, F.R. Taunton Hobhouse, H. Hadspen, Castle Cary Pulman, G. P. R. Crewkerne Thomas, C. J. Paragon Buildings, Clifton 465 Williamson, Rev. John, Theale, near Wells Members are requested to inform either of the Secretaries of any errors or omissions in the above list; they are also requested to authorize their Bankers to pay their subscriptions, annually, to Messrs. Badcock, or Messrs. Stuckey, Taunton; or to either of their branches; or their respective London Agents, on account of the Treasurer, PRINTED BY F. MAY, AT TUE TAUNTON COURIER OFFICE, HIGH-STREET. en ers u h eu N 5 FR wir ed Bi KT Dad ;> IR =. 37 , nr ars 2 ; B [ A R > u u | 5 vr Be 4 2 z Ri » Pr y j en EI EN SE > ERS BERLINS Bi . Kit Hl » fi ‘ N } h HRRHSSPHAIEhE BEaEatBRN Ku Ar a EraR Shin % Kr} 4 a Me ) ni 2 RES EEE = EEE EEE ER RREERENAGE ERET: RE re De