\) ll a all * ~ ae Pe AF ¢ Y Ts F o. =« * a J oe ~ - = oad . a o = ma ~ = ~~ - ver ” aw - — + J * . oe be en eee ~ — ~ Ne a ~ 5 lll ~~ ~~ ~ =e ~ Bee" : A ™. ; i A ‘ r PROCEEDINGS BATH NATURAL HISTORY ANTIQUARIAN. FIELD CLUB. conan VOL. Iil. No. 1. etc tS PRISE HALK-A-CROWN. BATH : ; , | - pRmvTEp (FoR THE CLUB) AT THE ‘‘ EXPRESS AND HE »” OFFICE, NORTHGATE ST. sts 1874, ; er di PROCEEDINGS - OF THE BATH NATURAL HISTORY AND ANTIQUARIAN FIELD CLUB. VOL, III. a Ds Lf Nee ANG BATH : PRINTED (FOR THE CLUB) AT “THE BATH HERALD” OFFICE, NORTH GATS 187 % si : erty a si ott re ai oe met, oe TABLE OF CONTENTS. Vou. III. No. 1. 1.—A_ Biographical Notice of Sam. Crooke, Rector of Wrington, A.D. 1602-1649, by E. GREEN 2.—Will of Tobias iningue M.D., communicated by D Dr. HUNTER... aes “n, avi 3.—Copy of a Letter from Mr. Stephens, of Camerton, to Mr. Davis, of Longleat, on the subject of Diseases of Wheat, with remarks by the Rev. LEoNARD BLOMEFIELD, M.A., F.L.S., F.G.S. = 4.—Tumulus at Nempnett, by the Rev. Preb. Scartu, M.A. 5.—A Sketch of the History of Butcomhe, by the Rev. W. H. Cartwricut, M.A... 6.—Ethandun (a Narrative), by H. D. Skring, M.A. 7.—The Chairman’s Address on Topography, by Dr. HUNTER 8.—On some of the Fungi found in the Bath District, by C. E. BRoomE, MA, F.LS. me 9.—Note on the occurrence of Planaria terrestris in the Neighbourhood of Bath, by the PRESIDENT 10.—Summary of Proceedings for the ee 1873-4, pe the SECRETARY No. 2. 1.—On some Excommunications and Public Penances in Somerset, by E. GREEN 2.—Tragical Adventure of the Viscount du Barri at Bath, communicated by RoBERT Biecs aoe 3.—Notes on some Railway Sections near Bath, by the Rey. H. H. Winwoon, M.A., F.G.S. " es PAGE 1 11 12 20 25 34 43 53 72 73 105 121 129 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 4,—Address to the Members, by the VICE-PRESIDENT 5.—The Battle of Lansdown, A.D. 1643, by E. GREEN 6.—The Bath Waters, by Capt. Mackay HErroT 7.—The Mineral Spring at Batheaston, sees ra MACKAY HERIOT 8.—Studies and Problems for Somersetshire Geologists, communicated by H. B. Woopwarp, F.G.S., &c. ... 9.—Summary of Proceedings for the bai 1874-5, ssi the SECRETARY ; ; ; No. 3. 1.—Results of ten years’ Meteorological Observations made at the Bath Literary and Scientific Institution, from 1865 to 1875, by the PRESIDENT i 2.—On certain Isolated Areas of Mountain Limestone at Luckington and Vobster, by J. McMurrrir, F.G.S. 3.—Notes on a Rheetic and Lower Lias Section on Bath and Evercreech Line, by the Rev. H. H. Wrywoon, M.A., F.G.S. 4—Further remarks on the Bath Fungi, by C. E. BrRoomg, M.A., F.L.S. ; i sik a 5.—Further Gleanings in the Mendip, by the VIcE- PRESIDENT oe “hs SE , 6.—Summary of Proceedings for the year 1875-6, by the SECRETARY ig : : No. 4. 1.—The Ancient Stronghold of etic! by the Rev. H. G. TOMKINS sas 2.—Anniversary Address, by the VICE-PRESIDENT 3.—Summary of ene for the gr 1876-7, he the SECRETARY PAGE 135 145 163 344 I A Biographical Notice of Sam. Orooke, Rector of Wrington, A.D. 1602-1649... By E. GREEN. (Read March 12th, 1873.) - Samuel Crooke was born on the 17th of January, 1574, at Great Waldingfield, in the county of Suffolk, of which -place his father, Thomas Crook, D.D., was Rector.* He was educated at Merchant Taylor's School, and then entered Cambridge as a eae 4 Me Tea ay POR HIS y. He w and bs sh and NOTICE.—ANy OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THE ‘ta These ROCEEDINGS OF THE CLUB MUST REST ON THE ] usly a UTHORITY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE AUTHORS, be giving cted at Fellow of Emmanuel College, and was there considered one of its choicest ornaments. He was also appointed Rhetoric Reader and then Philosophy Reader in the Public Schools. Asa qualification for his Fellowship he took orders on the 24th Sept., 1601, and what was then considered a rare thing for the Fellow of a College to do, commenced preaching at Caxton, near Cambridge, and it is recorded that he preached twenty-eight sermons in eleven months. In Sept., 1602, he was presented by Sir Arthur Capell, of Little Hadham, Hertfordshire, to the Rectory of Wrington, and went at once to his new work, to “ manure and manage a most uncultivated spot,” and amongst “a people who had never before known a preaching minister.” In his parish, and the country round, he was the first who, “by preaching of the Gospel, brought religion into notice and credit” there. Soon after he was settled in his new home, he married “ one of his own tribe,” Juditha, the eldest daughter of Mr. Walsh, a minister in Suffolk, and a “ great and rare light in his time.” - * Athenee Cantab, Vor. IIL, No. 1. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 4,—Address to the Members, by the VICE-PRESIDENT 5.—The Battle of Lansdown, A.D. 1643, by E. GREEN 6.—The Bath Waters, by Capt. Mackay HERIOT 7.—The Mineral Spring at Pelee by ae MAcKAY HERIOT 8.—Studies and Problems for Somersetshire euansiills, communicated by H. B. Woopwarp, F.G.S., &e. ... 9, —Summerrr Pee SU) be e 1—R 2.—O: 3.—Notes on a Rhetic and Lower Lias Section on Bath and Evercreech Line, by the Rev. H. H. Winwoop, 4.—Further remarks on the Bath Fungi, by C. E. BRoomE, M.A., F.LS. 5.—Further Gleanings in the Mendip, by the VIcE- PRESIDENT ae acs oer aaa 6.—Summary of Proceedings for the year 1875-6, by the SECRETARY = : ; No. 4. 1.—The Ancient Stronghold of Worlebury, eh the Rey. H. G. TOMKINS sais she 2.—Anniversary Address, by the VICE-PRESIDENT 3.—Summary of ab er for the fei 1876-7, ee the SECRETARY 379 . 397 412 I A Biographical’ Notice of Sam. Crooke, Rector of Wrington, A.D. 1602-1649. By E. GREEN. (Read March 12th, 1873.) . Samuel Crooke was born on the 17th of January, 1574, at Great Waldingfield, in the county of Suffolk, of which place his father, Thomas Crook, D.D., was Rector.* He was educated at Merchant Taylor’s School, and then entered Cambridge as a scholar at Pembroke Hall. Here he was much esteemed for his great industry, his comely person, and agreeable society. He became skilled in music, and accurate in Greek, Hebrew and Arabic. He also spoke and well understood Italian, Spanish and French, and had read many works in those languages. These qualifications caused him to be elected almost unanimously a Fellow of Pembroke Hall, but the Master opposing, and giving his vote against him, he was disqualified. Being thus rejected at Pembroke he was afterwards admitted a first foundation Fellow of Emmanuel College, and was there considered one of its choicest ornaments. He was also appointed Rhetoric Reader and then Philosophy Reader in the Public Schools. Asa qualification for his Fellowship he took orders on the 24th Sept., 1601, and what was then considered a rare thing for the Fellow of a College to do, commenced preaching at Caxton, near Cambridge, and it is recorded that he preached twenty-eight sermons in eleven months. In Sept., 1602, he was presented by Sir Arthur Capell, of Little Hadham, Hertfordshire, to the Rectory of Wrington, and went at once to his new work, to “ manure and manage a most uncultivated spot,” and amongst “a people who had never before known a preaching minister.” In his parish, and the country round, he was the first who, “by preaching of the Gospel, brought religion into notice and credit” there. Soon after he was settled in his new home, he married “ one of his own tribe,” Juditha, the eldest daughter of Mr. Walsh, a minister in Suffolk, and a “ great and rare light in his time.” - * Athence Cantab. Vor. IIL, No. 1. 2 This lady proved to be a prudent, loving and tender wife, zealous and active for his comfort in all things, a “ meet helper, indeed, all the days of their conjugal lives.”* The first years of his residence passed tranquilly enough, Occupying much time in his study he from time to time published an occasional work. The first was “ A Guide unto True Blessed- nesse,” &¢. Svo., 1613. This is dedicated to Sir Arthur Capel, Knight, his “singular good patrone,” and addressed to all Christian readers, especially those of “ my charge, inhabitants of Wrington, in Somersetshire.” After this, in the same year, there was an epitome of this Guide, entitled, “‘ A Briefe Direction to True Happinesse, for the more Convenient Use of Private Families and Instruction of the Yonger Sort.” And then the three following Sermons, all 8vo., 1615 :—‘“ The Waking Sleeper,” from Cant. v., 2; “The Ministerial Husbandry and Building,” from 1 Cor. iii., 9, preached at the Triennall Visitation at Bath, July 30th, 1612; and “ The Discovery of the Heart,” from Matt. vi, 21, “in a sermon preached unto an honourable assembly at Bath,” 19th September, 1613; also in 1619, 8vo., “ Death Subdued, or the Death of Death,” from Hosea xiii., 14, preached on Ascension Day, 1619+. At his death he left unpublished on account of the troubled times, another work which was afterwards printed in two parts, folio, 1658, entitled “ Divine Characters,” distinguish- ing the more secret differences between——1. The hypocrite in his best dresse of seeming virtues and the true Christian in his real graces, 2. Between the Blackest weeds of dayly infirmities of the truly Godly and the reigning sinnes of the unregenerate that pretend unto godlinesse. Always active and energetic in his ministerial work, he was the first to introduce catechising as a means of instruction. It was for this purpose that he published his second book, “ The Guide * Anthologia., + Bodleian. + Bibliotheca Britan, to True Happinesse,” which he called his “ Lesser Catechism.” On the title page, for motto, is the text, improved to meet the occasion, from Proverbs xxii, 6, ‘‘ Train up (catechise) a child in the way he should go,” &., &e. He also established a Tuesday Lecture, which attracted notice in the neighbourhood, but this, by the interference of the Bishop, was stopped. With the excep- tion of this little matter he seems to have lived on quietly for some forty years, seeing himself respected in his own parish and his influence constantly increasing through a wide district around it. During the latter half of this time, however, serious difficulties both Civil and Ecclesiastical had been troubling the whole of England. Archbishop Laud had brought Episcopacy into such prominent disfavour that in April, 1642, the Commons declared their inten- -tion to reform the Government of the Church. For their assist- ance and consultation they voted that an Assembly of learned and godly Divines should be called, and the matter so far advanced that the names approved for each county were sent up. Those selected for Somerset were Mr. Samuel Crooke, of Wrington, and Mr. John Conant, of Limington.* But for want of thorough approval in the House of Lords, the subject after several notices was allowed to drop for a short time, and this Assembly existed only in name. Then came the troubles of the Civil War in August, 1642, Mr. Crooke at once declared for the Parliament, and soon became a public man, by his zeal and activity in its behalf. Being now so well known, he was better able than any man to influence large numbers, and by his personal exertions many thousands were persuaded and encouraged to join his party.t That party soon attacked the Established Church, abolished the office of Bishop, and the use of the surplice, and showed a strong tendency * A catalogue of names approved, &c. + Mercurius Aulicus, No, 39, 4, ‘towards the Presbyterian plan; and it is probable that a newly modelled or reformed service, having a like tendency, was early in use at Wrington. Mr. Crooke was the first to introduce into his neighbourhood and parish, conceived prayer, i.¢., extemporary prayer, presumably conceived at the moment of utterance. In this practice he excelled, being “free from impertinent expres- sions, and vain repetitions; rich in piercing supplications and pathetical thanksgiving ; prompt and full in expressing the feel- ings to the bottom of their hearts” of those who joined with him, so that “their souls seemed to have entered into his,.”* At length in June, 1643, the Parliament fully adopted the Presbyterian as the national system, and took the Solemn League and Covenant, by which they swore to establish it, and to oppose and not even to tolerate any other. This Covenant was sent into every village, and every man was expected to swear and sign it. As will be seen presently under his own hand, Mr. Crooke was one of those who did so. At the commencement of the war, Somerset kept fairly free from any enemy, and was willingly obedient to all votes and orders of the Parliament. But after the great drawn fight on Lansdown, on the 5th July, 1643, followed in a few days by the absolute royalist victory on Roundway, near Devizes, the whole county was brought under the power of the king, was quickly occupied by his forces, and his majesty at once issued a Commission .for reducing to obedience all his opponents in the west. On Thursday, the 21st September, the Commissioners favoured Wrington with their notice, and Mr. Samuel Crooke was compelled to appear before them. ‘The result of the interview was that he found it necessary to submit to the powers that were, and as a testimony of his new obedience he openly subscribed the following _Eight Articles :— 1.—That all armes taken up by the Subject against the King, including the person as well as His power, is unlawful. * Antho, a —E—————— ee ee 5 2.—That I have alwaies abhorred the defacing of Churches. and Images and the contemning and defacing the Common Prayer Booke. 3.—'That I have alwaies disliked the indeavours of the Houses of Parliament for a separation from the Religion established in the Church of England. 4.—That I am sorry for any words let fall by me in Sermons and discourse, whereby it might be collected I should advance the Parliament: designes in taking up armes or maintaining of Warre against the King. 5.—That I will make a Sermon in the Cathedral Church of Wells, at what time limited, testifying these particulars and another at Wrington. 6.—That I doe acknowledge the protestation made by the King, dated 16th October, 1642, to be lawfull in every particular and have taken it accordingly. 7,—That I will henceforth preach and encourage my parishioners in their allegiance to His Majesty, in their active and passive obedience. 8.—That I subscribe my name unto these particulars without any equivocation or mentall reservation whatsoever.* SAM. CROOKE, Rectour of Wrington. This submission was published by the King’s party as a “pregnant instance” that the very men who were “ prime instruments to seduce those parts, through shame, and conviction of the horror of rebellion,” now desired to be admitted to His Majesty’s protection. _ Mr. Crooke was further advised that instead of being a “Bedlam Rebell,” and preaching nonsense and blasphemy, he had better inform all “wel meaning folke,” who may have been drawn from their obedience, that their “ strictest” leaders would in like manner confess their guilt and follow his example, if they it 2p * Mercurius Aulicus, 27th Sept., 1643. 6 were “put to it” and called upon to do so. Royalist soldiers were now quartered upon him, “ bloody minded, dangerous ruffians,” who tyrannised over him in his own house, not per- mitting him quietly to enjoy himself, even in his own private study. When he retired there, as he was often obliged to do, to escape from their insolence, they frequently pursued him with drawn swords, vowing his instant death for not more fully complying with their wishes. But when the submission became known in London, early in October, the astonishment and vexation were great amongst his own party. In the account sent to the Royalist quarters at Oxford, the Commissioners called him Rector of Wrington. Look! cried his old friends, they now call him Rector of Wrington ; had not he subscribed, he had been “plain Craftsman or Presbyter, or Crooke, the Coachman.” Master Crooke, adds the chronicler, “T would your late cousin, Judge Crooke,* were alive, either to counsell or condemn you.” Then noticing the Fifth Article, which promised two sermons, one at Wells, the other at Wrington, he adds, “be sure and take heed first, Master Crooke, that these places be far enough from the Parliament Armies.”t In November there appeared a feeble attempted refutation of this story, which stated that Master Crooke absolutely denied it, and “protested his innocency in that particular, and had ample testimonies” of his taking part with the Parliament. That he deeply regretted being compelled to this act may well be believed. Refusal to submit was certain deprivation, possibly some painful imprisonment ; and only the hope that others would be induced to follow his example, and that his great influence may be used on the King’s side could have got him off so easily. In judging his conduct, it must be remembered, too, that he was now seventy years of age, a time when the desire to die Rector of Wrington might well be strong upon him. * (?) Sir Geo. Croke, of Waterstoke, Bucks, Decd. 1641, Athenee, Oxon. + Mercurius Britanicus, No.7. § + Mercurius Civicus, No, 25, 7 The Prayer Book and surplice were thus again brought into use at Wrington, and so affairs remained through 1644, and until the great victories of Sir Thomas Fairfax, in 1645, once more restored Somersetshire to the Parliament. The King being then beaten everywhere, was soon without an army strong enough to cause anxiety, and the attention of the Parliament was busily turned to the completion of the Presbyterian Establishment. A new Assembly of Divines was called, but Mr. Crooke was not now one of the Members for Somerset ; Mr. Humphry Chambers, of Claverton, being appointed in his stead. The Parliament took care, nevertheless, to retain the entire manage- ment of all Church affairs, and from this cause the new system adopted was allowed to remain incomplete. No Presbyteries were created, by which vacancies in the Assembly could be filled up, until some time in the year 1648, when the county of Somerset was made a “Province” in itself, and for the “better settling the Presbyterial Government,” was divided into nine Classes, or districts, of which nine Bath and Wrington were two.* But as there were not “ fitting members” enough, these nine were reduced to four, and Bath and Wrington were united. The boundary of this united district extended from Axmouth across by Chilcompton to Brackley, on the borders of Wiltshire, and included a hundred and forty-one parishes and hamlets. To superintend this large part of the county there were eleven Ministers only appointed, besides those for the City of Bath, and the first named on the list is Mr. Samuel Crooke de Wrington. Besides the Ministers there were thirty-two Elders, and amongst them were John Amery and Edmund Keene, of Wrington. This “long looked for” settling, came however, too late, for besides that many were tired of the Parliamentary dictation, there had now arisen that ‘“‘Great Goliah,” Cromwell, and with him the Independent party, ‘“‘ Dissenting Brethren” as they were * The County of Somerset Divided, &c. 8 called. Mr. Crooke was much troubled with these ‘ Dissenters,” “silly seduced ones who were carried away with a spirit of giddiness,”* and who with all his endeavours and affectionate essays he failed to reclaim. Advancing age rendered him less able than formerly to cope with this new trouble. He now often suffered from lowness of spirits, and imagining the approach of death several times preached his own funeral sermon. He also took a dislike to hearing himself praised or his parish highly spoken of, for the reason that he feared the then state of things would not last. Unable to check the increasing influence of these “silly seduced ones,” and being pledged against toleration, he joined in 1648, five-and-forty others, ministers of the Gospel in the county of Somerset, “brethren and companions in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ,” in an Attestation sent up to the Parliament; in which he declared himself “ deeply sensible of and heartily sorrowful for the high innovation” of the errors, heresies, and toleration of the times, and the slighting and vilifying that Solemn League and Covenant, which had laid upon him the “greatest ingagement and endeavours for their extirpation.”* This was his last public act, but he continued to study and to preach as long as his strength enabled him. He constantly preached, if at all in health, three times a week, and when illness came upon him, and his physician told him if he would preach more seldom he would live the longer, he answered, “Alas! if I may not labour I cannot live, what good will life do me if I be hindered from the end of living.”+ His last sickness, which caused him much suffering, and was full of “biting pains,” he bore with patience, and died after forty-seven years’ residence at Wrington, on the 25th December, 1649, aged seventy-five all but,one month, leaving a widow, but no family surviving. ~ * Attestation of the Ministers of Somerset, -&c;~~ + A Collection of Lives, &c, 9 His last sermon was preached on the 16th October, from Rom. viii. 16, and his last ministerial duty was the baptizing two children privately, he being too unwell to get to the church. On his illness becoming known there was regret everywhere, and at his death “great lamentation and mourning.” His funeral on the 3rd January, 1650, was an extraordinary one. A crowd of gentlemen and ministers stood about his hearse in tears, all striving to outmourn each other, and who should honour him most by bearing his body to the “bed of rest.” The church was crammed with the greatest number ever got into it, and many hundreds remained outside unable to gain admission. The usual exhortation was delivered by his friend and neighbour, Mr. William Thomas, pastor at Ubley. So passed away “this singular servant of God,” not, however, to be at once forgotten, for on the 12th August, 1652, Mr. John Chetwinde, pastor at Wells, preached a Commemorative Sermon, entitled the Dead Speaking, &c., from Zech. i 56. This was dedicated to the Worshipful John Hipsley, of Emborough, and John Buckland, of West Harptree, Esquires, and their “ vertuous comforts.” During his forty-seven years’ labour, he preached 7,000 sermons, and his style became the model for, and was imitated by other ‘ministers. Instead of giving much learning and a “ weak” ‘sermon, he preached plainly and profitably, avoiding new and affected words or uncouth far-fetched notions.* He always brought new matter into the pulpit, not like many “ setting on -always the same dishes with a little new garnish, even to nause- ousness.” His expressions were described as “ choice, solid, savoury and seasonable,” his applications “ home and pertinent,” his eloquence and elocution “ sweet and moving.”t Such an “ opening and warming” of his hearers’ hearts before the sermon, ease te eh, ~ * An Exhortation, &c. + Antho. 10 and after the preaching “ such a sweet closing up of all.” He was thus always “full of power in God’s House,” and also “ profitable” in his own as well as other men’s. In manner he was grave without austerity, pleasant without levity, courteous without hypocrisy, and charitable almost without an equal.* From the parish registers it is found that at this time a rent was paid for the pews or seats in Wrington Church, a judicious proceeding, when so many strangers flocked to hear the great preacher, the renowned “ magazine of piety, and most accom- plished and triumphant servant of Jesus Christ.” But besides this the people of Wrington, “ did him right” in the matter of maintenance, and paid him their tithe, when it was withheld from all his neighbours, at a time when even the sound of the word was hateful, so that being a “ lover of hospitality,” being “ willing of himself,” and made “ able” by his parishioners, he saw much company. Having excellent and “ acute parts” and much wit, he was merry at table, yet free from “ unworthy or empty” discourse. Few men could draw after them so much affection and admiration. On the 4th of Dec., 1648, he was nominated to the less valuable Vicarage of Bouby (Boothby), in Lincolnshire, void by death,t and apparently refused it, as another was appointed a few days afterwards. He had at other times been offered promotion, with “accessories” of maintenance and honour, but had always declined to leave his beloved Wrington. His monument or tablet in the chancel of his Churcht records the death of his mourning widow, in 1658, and tells also that there are deposited the remains of this faithful unwearied pastor, this priceless and venerable man. * Brook’s Lives. + Lords Journals, vol, 10. + Collinson, 11 WILL OF TOBIAS VENNER, M.D. (Communicated to the Club by Dr. Hunter, 11th Feb,, 1874.) In the name of God Amen I Tobias Venner of the Cittie of Bathe in the Countie of Somerset Doctour of Physicke beinge of perfect memorie and understanding doe ordaine and make this my last Will and Testament in manner followinge. Imprimis I bequeathe my soule into the hands of Almightie God my only Saviour and redeemer and my body unto Christian buriall in the Church of Peter and Paule in Bathe. It. I give to my servant Elizabeth Parker my silver bason and ewer. It. I give to her sister Mary Parker fiftie pounds of Lawfull English monie. It. I give to Henry Parker the sonne of Henry Parker apothecary one hundred pounds, allsoe I give to him my silver piped Cup and guilt Boll, and to his mother Anne Parker my dish of mother of Perle and guilt spoone. It. I give to Tobias Mills the son of Arthur Mills deceased fiftie shillings and to his sister Anne Mills fiftie shillings. It. I forgive to Ralph Bowy sixe pounds that he oweth to mee. It. I give to John Bowy the sonne of Ralph Bowy five pounds. It. I forgive unto James Murford fortie shillings that he oweth mee. It. I give to the poore of Bathe Twentie pounds, Tenne pounds wereof to be distributed at thaire houses the day after my funerall at the discretion of Mr. Henry Parker, and the other Tenne pounds uppon the same day month after followinge, as for the rest of all my goods and chattles whatsoever not before given and bequethed I give and bequethe to Elizabeth Parker aforesaide whome I make the sole executrix of this my last will and testament to see these my legacies discharged. In witnesse whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seale the one and twentieth day of January Anno Dom, 1659. ToBIAS VENNER. Wittnesses hereunto are Benjamen Gostlett, Henry Parker, John Pyncombe, ‘See Britton’s Bath Abbey for an account of Dr. Venner, compiled from Guidott and others, The copy of the Will is among the evidences of the family of Parker of Bath and Widcombe, in the possession of Mr, H. E. Howse. Copy of a Letter from Mr. Stephens, of Camerton, near Bath, to Mr. Davis, of Longleat, on the subject of Diseases of Wheat, dated August 22nd, 1800. With Remarks by the Rev. LEONARD BLOMEFIELD, M.A., F.L.S., F.G.8., &c., President. (Read March 12th, 1873.) “T have examined my Botanical Books for information con- “cerning the blighted wheat you put into my hands at Wells. “The specimen agrees so exactly with the Plate in Sowerby’s “Fungi, No. 140, that there cannot remain a doubt upon the “subject. In the Letterpress he states it to be ‘ Uredo Frumenti,’ “a new genus of Fungus detected by Persoon (whose work I “have not got) and of which there are several species. Mr. “Lambert (a very sagacious Botanist) has given to the world “a paper on this Fungus, in the Transactions of the Linnean “ Society, and which he names as before cited ‘Uredo Frumenti.’ “ He seems to indicate this disease in wheat as very prevalent “in the West of England, and particularly about Warminster, “and that it comes on particularly after rain, but that it has “not been known above 12 or 14 years,* with some other “ observations wishing the attention of persons more skilled in * Agriculture to this important point. “Yet the staff of life is attacked also in another formidable “‘ way by Insects breeding in the parts of flowering, and which “ destroy, or rather lessen the pollen so necessary to the fructifi- “ cation that the grain becomes more or less affected, and which “T take to be the cause of those shrivelled, diminutive grains * you showed me. Indeed the very intelligent letters of Mr. “‘Marsham and Mr. Kirby in the Linnean Transactions exhibit “to mankind a perfectly new account of this malady, and the “ proofs appear equally strong with the facts. * “Mr, S. is not quite correct in point of time. This disorder has been ‘¢ noticed for a much longer period, under the name of Rust or Mildew, ‘* but it has certainly increased very seriously of late years,” —7Z. D. 13 . “Tt seems to me, therefore, that the first is a disease of the plant originally, or superinduced by such weather as usually “ produces the Fungus tribe. But the affair of the insects is « clearly an Ordinance of Nature not to be resisted. « T should be happy if anything I have said should lead your « active mind to further discoveries on the subject. “ Yours, &., &c., « JAS. STEPHENS. “ 99nd Aug., 1800.” Mr. Davis's Remarks on Mr. Stephens’s Letter. “The shrivelled, diminutive grains of wheat shown to Mr. §8. « were occasioned by the blight, and not by insects. “ The effect of the blight, or rust, or mildew, as it is variously «alled in different countries, and which is clearly the ‘ Uredo « Frumenti’ Fungus, is to stop the circulation of the sap in the - « wheat straw, when the grain is in a milky state, in consequence «“ of which the grains cease to fill and become shrivelled, thin and “light. But it is clear that the impregnation is complete before « this effect operates, as the grain is equally good for seed as the “ most perfect wheat, although the quantity of flour therein is so “ much reduced that it is scarcely fit for anything but chickens’ “ meat. The only remedy, and that a partial one, is to cut the « wheat very green (as soon as the disease appears), and lay it on “the ground to receive moisture from the dews for eight or ten “days. The straw also is not only rendered black, but is so « brittle as to be of very little value. “ As to the Insects, Mr. 8. is not quite correct. The disease “ig certainly frequent, but not in any degree so injurious to “wheat as the Blight. They are generally found in ears of «wheat where some blossoms have been rendered abortive by « frost, The stamina of the flowers die in the husk, and the “anthers, together with the rudiment of the grain, becoming 14 “putrid, a particular kind of fly blows its maggots in them. “These maggots sometimes, but not often, eat the adjoining “ grains, in the manner the weevil does in granaries—perhaps it “may be the same insect. But this injury is not very serious, as “the blossom being already abortive, there could be no grains in “ those husks, and it seldom happens that above three or four “ grains in an ear, and not one ear in a hundred, are thus injured. “The shrivelled grains are entirely the effect of the fungus, and “ not of the insects, as I have since explained to Mr. Stephens. “This fungus certainly appears after slight misty rains, which “‘ T suppose enables the seed (probably flying about in the air) to “fix on the straw, for it always appears in currents through a “ field, as if brought by the air. The best cause assigned for it “is sowing too late, or on exhausted land, where wheat cannot “find good foothold, the sine qua non of a wheat crop. Such “crops are always the most affected by it, although the best “ husbandry cannot always prevent it. “Tt is a most serious evil, and seems to get more and more so “every year. In this year (1800) many crops of wheat: have “been reduced from a fair prospect of 40 bushels per acre, to 15 “and some to 12, and at the same time the grain reduced at least “ one-third in its value. “THOS. DAVIS.” “ Tt is a very singular but well ascertained fact, that a Barberry “ Bush in a wheat field will produce an effect very similar to the “ Blight, without any appearance of Fungus on the straw.” Remarks on Messrs. Stephens and Davis's Letters. By the REv. L, BLOMEFIELD. These letters came into my hands, along with other papers, books, &c., from the Rev. L. Chappelow, my great-uncle, in the year 1820, in which he died: He was a good naturalist and botanist, and his books formed the nucleus of the “Jenyns 15 Library” now in the Bath Literary and Scientific Institution. He had been formerly, I believe, tutor to the then Marquis of Bath, and was often a visitor at Longleat. This renders it probable that he got the copy of Mr. Stephens’s letter from Mr. Davis himself, who may have been a steward or agent connected with the management of the Longleat property. Mr. Stephens, of Camerton, is quite unknown to me; but he seems to have been a botanist whom Mr. Davis had consulted in reference to the ' subject to which the letter relates. The letter, with Mr. Davis's remarks on it, has not merely a local interest. It is instructive, as coming from one who was well acquainted with what had been written by others on the diseases of corn up to that time; while the remarks of Mr. Davis are these of a clear-headed practical agriculturist, as well as a close observer ; and, taken both together, they enable us to judge of the advance made in our knowledge of wheat diseases since the period of their date, the last year of the last century. Two distinct sources of disease in wheat are spoken of by Mr. Stephens—one he calls “ blight,” due to fungus growth ; the other caused by insects, as he imagines ; though in the particular case of the “ shrivelled diminutive grain” shown to him by Mr. Davis, the latter considers this also due to blight. Fungi, their history, structure and mode of development, were comparatively little understood in those days, and the species not accurately distinguished. Several others are known to attack corn besides the one Mr. Stephens alludes to, which has been called by the different names of rust, mildew and blight; the latter word being one to which no very definite meaning can be attached—being often used indiscriminately for maladies in plants arising from very different causes. A good account of the rust or mildew, which in fact are the names of two different stages of the same species of fungus (spots of a rust-coloured dust being the immature form of mildew which appears in dark or black streaks) will be found in a pamphlet 16 published by Sir Joseph Banks in 1805. In- this tract ‘will be found very accurate and highly magnified figures of this fungus in various stages of growth, as it appears on the straw of wheat, delineated by Bauer, who was the first botanical draughtsman of that day. Mildew is much more prevalent some seasons than others. The alarming deficiency which it caused in the yield of wheat, in the harvest of 1804, was the cause of Sir Joseph Banks taking up the subject, and publishing the year following the tract just alluded to. The spores of the fungus, by which mildew is caused, are present all years and generally diffused ; but to what extent they are developed, and whether so far as to be productive of any serious mischief, probably depends upon seasonal influences (like the potato disease, also due to the growth and spread of a small species of fungus), combined with peculiar conditions of soil, and the state of the wheat plant itself at the particular time when the germination of the fungus takes place. Both Mr. Stephens and Mr. Davis speak of its coming on after rain ; and that it abounds most in wet summers, to the especial prejudice of corn that has been much laid by wind and rain together, is what I suppose all agriculturists would allow. At the conclusion of Mr. Davis’s remarks, reference will be found to what he terms “a very singular but well ascertained fact, viz., that a berberry bush in a wheat field will produce an effect very similar to the blight, without any appearance of fungus on the straw.” The latter part of this statement I doubt being correct ; but the circumstance of the connection between mildew and a berberry bush is a very curious one, and all the more so from this apparent anomaly having been only within the last few years cleared up ; if, indeed, it be yet quite cleared up. It has been over and over again asserted that such a connection does exist, however it may be explained, and over and over again as stoutly denied. The supposed connection was grounded upon no end of cases brought forward, in which the mildew upon the 17. wheat was to all appearance due to the presence of some berberry bush in close proximity to the field in which the wheat was grown. The denial of such connection was based upon the fact—that, though there was a fungus very common upon the leaves of the berberry, which in ‘its young state bore some resemblance to the rust of wheat, in its adult state that fungus presented a totally different character from mildew, and belonged to quite a distinct genus. Botanists generally maintained this last opinion till very recently ; notwithstanding, the belief in the injurious effect of a berberry bush on wheat has remained un- shaken with a large class of farmers for more than a hundred years back. One of the most decided instances on record in stipport of such belief, is mentioned in the first volume of the periodical “ Nature,” published in 1870. It has reference to the conduct of a railway company in the south of France, the notice being taken from the “Bulletin de la Société botanique de France,” for January that same year :— “Jn the commune of Genlis, department of Céte-d’Or, a ber- berry hedge was not long since planted on one of the railway embankments ; when immediately the crops of wheat, rye, and barley in the neighbourhood became infested with rust. The complaints of the farmers caused the appointment by the company of a commission to investigate the subject, who reported, after a full inquiry, that wherever the berberry was planted the cereals were more or less attacked by rust ; where they were absent, the crops were free from the disease ; and that the planting of a single berberry bush was sufficient to produce the rust where it had never appeared before. The railway company’s Own com- mission held that compensation was due from the company to the farmers.” Nothing would seem to be clearer than the testimony afforded by this circumstance to the point in question. The probable explanation of the mystery, so far as it can be accepted, is due to the better knowledge we have now respecting B 18 the changes of form which many fungi undergo in their progress to maturity ; at the same time that they are capable of propagating themselves while immature, in cases in which the conditions for attaining to a higher growth do not exist. Since the discoveries of Steenstrup respecting the alternation of generation among the lowest forms of animals, the same phenomenon has been observed among the lowest forms of vegetables; and it is now believed that there are whole tribes of fungi, hitherto considered distinct, which are but different phases of one another. The circumstances of the mildew fungus are as follows :-—It has been already stated that rust (Uredo rubigo, as it used to be called) and mildew (Puccinia graminis) are but two stages of the same plant, the former being an earlier form of the latter. This was clearly shown by the late Professor Henslow, in a paper published in the “Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society,” in 1841; and indeed the idea has been taken up that the Uredines generally, of which there are a great variety, are all of them but first phases of the Puccinewe—these two genera being in this way brought together. With regard to mildew, however,—the Puccinia graminis—it has been now further ascertained that this fungus, as it appears on wheat, does not ordinarily reproduce itself; but that, if the spores are sown on the leaves of the common berberry, they give rise to the well-known orange-coloured spots of Acidium berberidis, formerly considered as a fungus belonging to an entirely different group. The spores of the Acidiwm, on the other hand, do not reproduce the Acidium, but the Puccinia in its rust form, showing the berberry fungus to be the third and last of a series of changes through which one and the same species passes before arriving at maturity ; and so explaining how the proximity of a berberry bush, where it exists, may cause mildew in wheat. But a seeming difficulty here presents itself: if the berberry fungus is the same as the mildew fungus, and the form which the latter finally assumes—supposing the conditions favourable—how do we explain the extremely common cases in which the wheat is still 19 mildewed, and to a very mischievous extent, though no berberry bush is near ; and when consequently the spores from which the mildew arose could not have derived their origin from the fungus of the berberry? To explain this, Mr. Berkeley thinks it pro- bable that, when the berberry is not at hand, the subsidiary rust spores, equally with the Puccinia itself, may have the property of reproducing the mildew ; the same mildew that attacks wheat being found on various grasses and reeds, such as grow in ditches and on the borders of fields—from which may arise a plentiful supply of spores—and the parasite, in this way, be propagated season after season without the Afcidioid form intervening. There are other cases analogous to this, Mr. Berkeley observes, in the vegetable kingdom ; .and so there are also in the animal kingdom ; in this last may be mentioned especially the case of a small gnat, the larve of which, according to recent discovery, give birth to other larve, and these again to others for several generations, without the mature winged state being previously attained.* I now pass on to the second disease in wheat spoken of by Mr. Stephens caused by insects. There are several different species of insects that attack corn ; but the insect here referred to, both by Mr. Stephens and Mr. Davis, is in all probability the wheat midge, whose history was so closely investigated by the late Professor Henslow, forming the subject of another communication by him to the “ Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society,” in 1842. The wheat midge is a minute two-winged fly, that “ may be seen in myriads in the early part of June, between seven and nine o'clock in the evening, flying about the wheat for the purpose of depositing its eggs within the blossoms. From these eggs are hatched small yellow maggots, the larve or caterpillars a this fly ; and by these the mischief is occasioned.” It has not been exactly ascertained on what part of the flower * See two articles in Nature, vol. i., p. 516, and vol. ii., p. 318, from which much of what has been said above is taken. 20 these maggots feed; “but in some way they cause the non- development or abortion of the ovary, so that the grain never advances beyond the state in which it appears at the time the flower first expands.” The damage done to crops of wheat in some seasons by this insect is very great. In one instance recorded, the loss occasioned by its attacks in the late-sown wheats is supposed to have amounted to one-third of the crop. Some of the larvee, when about to pass into the pupa or chrysalis state, quit the ears and fall to the ground, where they probably remain buried till their final metamorphosis takes place. But the greater number of the larve attach themselves to a sound grain, or to the inside of one of the chaff-scales, a circumstance leading to the belief that ‘“‘ great multitudes of them might easily be destroyed by burning or scalding the chaff after the grain has been thrashed out.” And this is the recommendation of Professor Henslow—surely worth every farmer’s knowing and trying, as a means of lessening the evil, notwithstanding the summary way in which Mr. Stephens, at the conclusion of his letter to Mr. Davis, dismisses the “affair of the insects as clearly an ordinance of Nature not to be resisted.” Tumulus at Nempnett, now destroyed. By the Rev. Preb. SCARTH. (Read 13th May, 1873.) An account of this Tumulus is given in the Gen. Mag. for 1789. This was communicated by the Rev. Thos. Bere, Rector of Butcombe ; the length is given from N. to S. 150 feet, and from E. to W. 76 feet. It was known by the name of Fairy’s Toot. The Waywarden of the parish being in want of stones for the road began to cart it away, and this led to the discovery of the internal chambers. The construction appears to have re- sembled that at Wellow, but the central passage reached the entire length of the Tumulus, and had cells on each side. - This avenue was closed by a perforated stone 13 feet N. from the entrance. The walls of the passage were constructed like those at Wellow of slabs of stone of considerable size, and the interstices filled with dry walling. The outer circuit of the Barrow was probably like that at Wellow finished off with dry walling, and the whole coated with earth. The entire length of the passage and the cells were covered at the top with horizontal slabs. Unfortunately this Tumulus was not so carefully described and planned by Mr. Bere, as that at Wellow by the Rev. J, Skinner, and the same interest was not felt at that time in the preservation of pre-historic monuments. It is much to be regretted that a careful plan and exact measurement were not made of the Tumulus in its perfect state, and the size of the slab-stones of which the chambers were composed correctly ascer- tained. Collinson in his History of Somerset (vol. ii. p. 318), makes mention of this Tumulus as situated on the borders of Nempnett or Nemnet and of Butcombe parishes, but standing in the former at a short distance from the parish church, and covered with briars and thick shrubs.* This account in Collin- son was probably communicated by Mr. Bere, as Collinson published his History in 1791 only two years after Mr. Bere’s account appeared in the “Gen. Mag.,” in 1789, or Collinson may have written it from personal inspection. We cannot but feel sorry that such a fine example of primitive sepulture should now be almost totally destroyed. A lime-kiln has been built on the site of it, and the stones of which it was composed burned into lime ; also a fold-yard constructed at another point, and the stones used for walling! A very small portion still re- mains just to mark the original height of the side, and the dimen- sions may be ascertained by a careful inspection of the ground which indicates where the Barrow began to riso out of the level field ; and the places from whence the earth has been brought for covering it are also discernible. * See also ** Rutter’s Somerset” (published 1829) Pp 124, 22 This Barrow was visited by our Club, July 17th, 1856, and a notice of it will be found in the proceedings of the Somerset Archeological and Natural History Society, for the year 1858 (p.55.) tis also recorded by Mr. Sayer in his History of Bristol, but in its ruined condition has ceased to be of the interest it would have been, and which now attaches to all monuments of an early Celtic population. Very few examples remain in this island of structures of a similar kind. These are now beginning to be _ valued, and are receiving that attention which had it been be- stowed upon them years ago would have saved many from wanton destruction, and have aided greatly in the elucidation of the manners and customs of our forefathers. The Nemnet Tumulus seems to have been as perfect when first discovered as that at Wellow. This was happily preserved from neglect, and probably from destruction, by the exertions of this Field Club. Within the last twenty years Tumuli of a similar construction, though less perfect, have been opened and examined in Gloucester- shire. The Tumulus at Uley, which was visited by this Club, is sufficiently known, having been so well described by Dr. Thurnam in the proceedings of the Archeological Institute. When that interesting relic was visited three years ago by this Club it was found to have been wantonly injured above the capstone of the entrance, and unless attention has been paid to replacing the stones it must soon become a mass of ruins. The attention of the Cotteswold Field Club was called to this at the time, as it more naturally came under their province, to arrest, if possible, the work of demolition, but I have not heard what result has followed the effort of our Club to preserve from destruction another of these ancient sepulchres. A Tumulus of similar construction was opened and examined at Rodmarton, by the Rev. S. Lysons, F.S.A. An account of this will be found in the “ Proceedings of the Society of Anti- quaries, June 4, 1864,” in the plan and drawings, and also in a work entitled “Our British Ancestors,” (p. 136), by the same 23 gentleman. This tumulus presented features similar to the Nemnet Tumulus, but was much less perfect in its internal con- struction ; only two chambers were found in different parts of the Barrow, but the dry walling was similar. A Tumulus near Nympsfield was also opened 1862 by the Cotteswold Club, and has been described by the President of that Society, Sir W. V. Guise, Bart. The form and arrangement of this Tumulus was similar to that of Uley, and the contents were similar also. In 1864 another Tumulus of like construction was opened. at Ablington, in Gloucestershire, and formed an elongated oval 270 feet long by 100 feet wide, and 12 feet high. It stands N. NE. at the larger end, and is built of oolite stone covered with soil and turf. This was surrounded with an outer wall of dry masonry like that at Wellow, and had an entrance of like construction. The chambered ‘Tumuli in Wiltshire have had the attention of the late Dr. Thurnam, who has carefully recorded their construction and their contents, and given drawings of the chambers in his papers in the “ Archeologia” (see vols. aazviit. and alit.), as well as in the “Wilts Arch. Mag.” (see vol. iii. p. 164 ); but it would occupy too much time to dwell upon the peculiarities of these Barrows; they are chambered, but the chambers differ from those in Somerset and Gloucestershire. The chambered Tumuli for which Brittany is noted, have happily received from the Rev. W. C. Lukis very careful exami- nation, and he has carefully classified and arranged them in a paper read to the Archeological Association, in September, 1866, and printed in their proceedings for that year. He has there given plans of the different arrangements of the chambers to be found within Brittany and in this Island, and also in Jersey. Archeology owes much to his labours as these have been con- ducted with great pains and careful observation. He considers that the round Barrows were lengthened into long Barrows by 24 the addition of fresh chambers, and gives an instande of this (see Jour. Arch. Ass., 1866, p. 253). Chambers seem to have been formed as occasion demanded, and the Barrow adapted to the size of the chamber. Mr. Furgusson in his elaborate work on “ Rude Stone Monu- ments,” wishes to show that these Tumuliare of much more recent formation than is generally supposed. He has with great pains brought together examples from many countries, and argues this point with considerable ability, but in a recent paper read by Mr. Lukis to the Society of Antiquaries, he has pointed out some of the errors into which Mr. Furgusson has fallen. It is not for us to attempt to decide such questions, but rather, as a club, to gather up materials from which just conclusions may eventually be drawn. It is the duty of a body like ours to call attention to the value of existing prehistoric remains, and te prevent their destruction, if possible, and to point out the need of their preser- vation, and the interest which attaches to their history. Such monuments as the Nempnett Tumulus are destroyed through ignorance of their true value, and of the use which may be made of them. The spots of land on which they stand not unfrequently fall into the possession of persons quite unable to comprehend their value or importance, and for the sake of a little temporary gain a record of past ages is ruined irretrievably! This can hardly be otherwise when the owner is of humble rank and little education, but we might hope better things of men who are supposed to possess a higher education. What shall we say of a building company which has lately consigned to utter destruction one of the most important and interesting historical monuments of this neighbourhood? I mean the camp on the Somerset side of the river Avon, called Bowre Walls, and opposite the camp on Clifton Down. This has been almost obliterated for the sake of the material of which the ramparts of the camp were composed, and which has been used in making roads! How much better to have preserved these ramparts entire, and have made them a part 25 of the ornamental garden attached to the new villas erected on the heights over the Avon, and so associated the marks of ancient warfare with the elegancies of modern civilisation. Surely it is necessary that some power should be given to prevent the monu- ments of past ages being wantonly destroyed, and we must be thankful that the subject has lately been brought under the consideration of Parliament. A Sketch of the History of Butcombe, with some particulars respecting the Church and Parish. By the Rev. W. H. CARTWRIGHT, M.A., Rector of the Parish. (Read May 13th, 1873.) Butcombe is a parish in the Hundred of Hartcliffe and Bedminster, in the County of Somerset ; 3 miles from Wrington, and 9 from Bristol, in the Axbridge Union, from which place it is also about the same distance. It contains 999 acres of land, extending W. by N.E., from the River Yeo to Broadfield Down, or rather that part of it now called Felton Common. It is long and narrow, being about four miles in length, and scarcely any- where exceeding half-a-mile in breadth, and has scattered over it many detached portions of the Tything of Regilbury, which’ is part of the adjoining parish of Blagdon. It is bounded by the parishes of Wrington, Blagdon, Nempnett and Winford, and contains about 230 inhabitants. The Manor,—besides the Manor of Butcombe (proper) there are parts of at least two other manors in this parish, viz., those of Thrubwell and Aldwick. The chief part of the former of these with its Manor House being in the parish of Nempnett, and of the latter with its Court House in the parish of Blagdon. The Manor of Butcombe (proper) seems to have gone with the Advowson of the Rectory up to a comparatively late period ; we will therefore for the present take them together, and in speaking of them and of the Manor of Butcombe Thrubwell, I think I cannot do better than use, for the most part, the words of Mr. Bere one of my predecessors, as recorded by him in one of our Parish Registers; wherein, by his lively sallies, he has rendered amusing what might to some have appeared a matter of dry legal or historical detail. “Butcombe, he says, is thus entered in Doomsday Book.”—“ Fulcran holds of the Bishop Budcombe. Edward held it in the time of King Edward, and it gelded for 3 hides. The arable is 3 Carucates. The demesne is one Carucate and two servants and eleven villans and four cottagers, with five ploughs. There is a mill of twenty pence rent, and ten acres of meadow, and thirty acres of wood. It was and is worth four pounds per annum.” “This Bishop, of whom Fulrcan held Budcombe, was Geoffrey of Coutances, a Norman by birth He was elected Bishop of Lincoln, A.D. 1048. On the invasion of this kingdom by William Duke of Normandy, in October, 1066—this son of violence, a bishop ! joined his countrymen, the Bastard, at Pevensey—and so wielded his spiritual, or rather carnal weapons, at the deadly Battle of Hastings which bestowed on William the title of Conqueror, and the Crown of England, that, for his services (which from his remuneration must have been pretty considerable) he received from William 280 Lordships in England—was made Chief Justiciary of Ireland—and President of the great trial held at the County Court of Kent at Tenterden, between Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Odo Bishop of Baieux. We find him in the year 1070, denominated by Ordericus Vitalis, Magister Militum. In 1074, he marched with the other fighting Bishop Odo, to suppress what these pious, modest, Norman Bishops were pleased to call a rebellion, into which the poor people maddened by vile oppression were driven. The natives, under the command of the Earls of Hereford and Norfolk, were defeated with great slaughter. Bishop Geoffrey then detached his forces from those of Odo, 27 and with great rapidity marched up to, and in a bloody battle defeated the army of the west Saxons, which was then besieging Montacute in the County of Somerset. In 1079 he appears a very active member of the great National Council held in Saint Paul’s Church, London. In 1087 he attended the funeral of William his most munificent patron. Soon after he and Bishop Odo, (ah! precious pair !) contrived to conjure up a rebellion in Normandy against William Rufus ; but by extreme activity William defeated the laudable designs of these peaceable prelates, and Geoffrey, with his friend Robert de Mowbray, fled over to England, and fortified the Castle of Bristol for the most honour- able purpose, as the Saxon Chronicle thus records; “ Bishop Godfrey and Robert, a disturber of the peace, went to Brigstowe, and committed spoils, and brought their booty into the Castle.” Radulphus de Diceto calls the Castle the Bishop’s Castle, “In suo castello Bristow”—but he was in this mistaken, Godfrey was warden only. However his looting and spoiling in the neigh- bourhood rendered even the Castle of Bristowe an unsafe place for his sacred person, so he fled thence privately back to Nor- mandy, where he ended his pastoral cares and temporal concerns in the year 1093.” “Tn consideration of this last, and indeed in remembrance of sundry other political freaks and military frolics, King William seized honest Geoffrey's Manor of Budicombe (Thrubwell?) and bestowed it in the year 1094, on Walter de Budicombe, whose son Robert sold it, A.D. 1111, to De Mohun Lord of Dunster in Somersetshire. In this family it remained till the year 1200, when it passed in portion with the daughter of William de Mohun to Sir Richard Percival, of Weston in Gordano, Somerset. Sir Richard though a gallant warrior, was, it seems, in his latter days a little monkish ; for we find he granted to the Cisterian Abbey of Thame in Oxfordshire “a plough land in the Manor of Budi- combe in pure and perpetual alms for the rebuilding a certain house there belonging to the Abbot and Convent.” Sir Richard ‘ 28 seems to have made, as the times were, a pretty saving bargain with these cowled gentlemen, for he stipulated and obtained in lieu of his plough land, these valuable considerations :—“ First, the prayers of the good monks for the welfare of King Henry son of John his Lord—and secondly, that all his predecessors and successors, he and they, shall be partakers of all the benefits and alms which had been made or should be made from the days of the Apostles to the end of time ;” and on these conditions ‘“ he willed the said plough land should be free of all secular service whatsoever.” Sir Richard Percival must have been a very Jew to demand all the valuable requisitions he specifies for the paltry consideration of one plough land and that in Budicombe. John de Percival, Sir Richard’s grandson, very generously (for there was no need, as Sir Richard had included him in the bargain with them) bestowed on the said Abbot and Convent “one yard land on the north side of the plough land given by Sir Richard,” to be parker of their works of supererogation.” This Deed bears date at Stowell, and was witnessed by Robert and Hugh brothers of said John de Percival, Robert de Chew, Edward de Bosco, Roger, John, and Asceline his sons, Master Thomas de Kene and others. In 1272, John, great-grandson of Peter le Sore, held this Manor of the Percivals by the sevice of half a Knight’s Fee. The profits of the Manor were estimated at this period at two shillings.” “This Manor of the Percivals within the parish of Butcombe continued in the male line of that family till the time of King William the Third, when it devolved to Anne the sole daughter and heiress of Thomas Percival. Anne was twice married, first, to Evan Lloyd, of Salop, Esquire ; and after, to Thomas Salis- bury, of Flintshire, Esquire. She at different times, in favour ‘of her husbands, parted with her inheritance in the parish of Butcombe.” The Hospital of St. John in Redcliffe Putte, Bristol, founded by John Farceyne about 1260, became possessed of the Rectory 29 of Butcombe, and also a Manor (Butcombe proper?) within this parish. A.D. 1358, when William Topsley was master of the said hospital, the Rectory and Manor continued vested in the brethren and sisters of Saint John, of the Order of Saint Augustine, Redcliffe Putte, Bristol, and so continued even till the fatal Statute of Dissolution. At that time on the resignation of Richard Broomfield, the last Abbot, King Henry the Eighth seized the Manor and Advowson ; and soon after, on the 29th of April, in the thirty-six year of his reign, A.D. 1545, he gave them to George Owen his physician. Owen, on the 3rd of June, 1547, sold them to John Bush, of Dulton in Wiltshire, whose brother Paul Bush, through the influence of Owen, King Henry made first Bishop of Bristol. The widow of John Bush married William Mann, of London, and so conveyed the Manor and Advowson to the family of the Manns. Francis, the grandson of William Mann, of Kidlington in Oxfordshire, sold both on the 29th of September, 1735, to Mr. Richard Plaister, whose grandson John Plaister, of Wrington, disposed of it to John Curtis, of Bristol, Esquire ; whose son John, when member for the City of Wells, sold it to John Savery, Esquire, of South Devon, who was originally seated at Shelston in that County, and there married Sarah Butler Clark, daughter and co-heiress of Peter Clark, merchant of Exeter; and after her decease, married, at Walthamstow in Essex, Mary Towgood, on the 27th September, 1779, daughter of Matthew Towgood of the City of London banker. They then passed rapidly by purchase till in the early part of this century the Manor and Advowson seem to have been separated. The Manor still passed on by purchase till it became the property of Charles Gordon Ashley, Esquire, from whose estate it was purchased by George Coles, Esquire, merchant of Bristol, the present proprietor. The Manor House, called Butcombe Court, which was burnt in _the great rebellion, and was afterwards rebuilt, is a large square capacious mansion, with some fine rooms—some of which, how- 30 ever, are still in a ruinous state. It is enclosed within a small park bounded on all sides by four roads, and has an excellent walled garden which tells you that it has seen better days. The house is at present occupied by a farmer, the owner reserving some rooms to himself, which he uses as a residence occasionally in the summer season. The Advowson—passing on as the Manor through several hands; was purchased in 1848 by the late Cornelius Cartwright, Esquire, of Dudley in Worcestershire, from whom it has come to his nephew the Rev. William Henry Cartwright the present Patron and Incumbent. The living of Butcombe is a discharged Rectory in the Deanery of Chew (formerly Redcliffe and Bedminster), in the diocese of Bath and Wells. The Church is dedicated to St. Michael and all angels. It consists of a Nave and Chancel, North Chapel (recently added), and South Chapel and Lady Chapel on the south side of the Chancel. “Tn the year 1484, says Mr. Bere, the Church of Butcombe was gorgeously ornamented, having all its windows exquisitely painted. There still remain (A.D. 1798), some beautiful pieces that somehow escaped Cromwell’s lambs, when for the love of God and honor of Holy Kirk they in pure zeal plundered and burnt the Manor House, and nearly demolished the Church. Among the pieces are the portraits of several of the monks in their sacerdotal habits—many roses—initials W.R., with brillant rays of glory streaming from them—a Saint Peter and some other of the Apostles mutilated—a beautiful representation of the Sun in a dark blue sky. In the windows over the North Door is the figure of a human heart pierced with 3 nails. This was the cognizance of John Newland alias Nailheart, elected Abbot of St. Augustine’s, in Bristol, April 6th, 1481. His shield was thus blazoned—Argent, 3 nails, or, piercing superior a human heart, Val. Sang. This man was much employed by Henry the Seventh in foreign embassies. He died June 12th, 1515. He was much 31 patronised by William Canynges, the great Bristol Merchant. I suppose Abbot Nailheart to have been the donor of these costly embellishments. When the present Rector came to Butcombe the Church was in a very decayed condition, and many years elapsed before he could see his way to effect, in any degree, its restoration. At last, some six years ago, he was enabled by the help of friends to begin the work; and it was sufficiently advanced for Divine service to be resumed in the Church on the 22nd September, 1869. So decayed was the fabric from roof to foundation that, with the exception of the Tower and Lady Chapel, it was necessary to rebuild it. The restoration, however, is still incom- plete, though it is gradually progressing, and we have hope that, some day, if it please God, and the funds can be obtained, it may again boast some of the grandeur which it possessed in the days of Abbot Nailheart. All the remains of the old stained glass have been collected and placed in the East Window of the Lady Chapel. The old roofs, which had been beautifully painted and gilded, had been concealed by plaster ceilings, erected apparently for the purpose of concealing the miserable state of the old timbers, which were so much decayed that it seems most provi- dential that they did not fall upon the heads of the worshipers. They have now been restored~--what was sound being retained, what was decayed being replaced by new timbers—as to mouldings and every other particular, except painting (which it is hoped may yet be accomplished), exactly in accordance with the patterns of the old. This remark will apply also to the new stone work in the Church, especially the arch of the north Chapel, that between the Chancel and Lady Chapel and the Chancel arch. In the Church, before the Restoration, there was not a Chancel arch, but the critical state of the Tower rendered it absolutely necessary to erect one for its support. In the east wall of the Lady Chapel is a niche, which was once, we may see, richly carved, painted and gilded ; but the face of which has been destroyed with axes 32 and hammers, the recess still existing, shewing the whole to have been out of a single stone, in which probably stood an image of the Virgin. Fragments of a small Altar and a Piscina, which seem to have belonged to this Chapel, were found buried in the floor at the west end of the Church ; and near to them, forming part of the flooring, so that the face was very much worn, was another and very large slab with mouldings similar to the other fragments, which is believed to have been the original stone altar of the old Church; this has been repaired and reworked, and being placed on a strong wooden frame is now the altar of the present Church. There was also found in the floor a stone with a circular water drain, and round it a groove in which, probably, a much earlier font than the present one had stood. On the side of the window in the north wall of the Church, now the window of the north Chapel, were the broken pieces of a magnificent niche, which must have been, judging from the fragments, at least six feet high, elaborately carved and beautifully illuminated ; this had been knocked to pieces, and with the aid of slate, stones and plaster, made to form the eastern splay of the window. The whole of the fragments could not be found, or it would have been replaced. The remains of it now lie under the east wall of the Churchyard. The walls seem to have had upon them three dates of painting ; the first was a coarse fresco, of which little could be seen further than that there were many figures in which angels seemed to be part of the Dramatis Persone, but nothing like a subject could be made out. The colours seemed to be chiefly flaming red and yellow, and the figures, ete., colossal. This appeared to have been covered with a coat of plaster and painted again, but nothing definite of this period could be traced. This had again been followed by a thin coat of plaster, of which little but portions of inscriptions in Roman letter could be made out. Among them, however, it was remarkable that along the north wall, facing the entrance by the south porch, there were parts of all three Creeds and of the Lord’s Prayer. All of which 33 had been covered, from time to time, with coat upon coat of yellow and white wash. The Village—of Butcombe is very picturesquely situated in a secluded nook in the long hill which forms the Southern escarp- ment of Broadfield Down, on a brawling brook which runs rapidly down to the River Yeo, of which it forms one of the most considerable tributaries, turning on its way, at the foot of the Village the Mill of which mention is made in Doomsday Book. This brook is greatly increased in volume by two remarkable springs which have never been known to fail. One of these rises in the field behind the Church, the other in the Bristol Road -above Yew Tree Batch, and is known as Cleeve’s or Clive’s Well ; this well is mentioned “ina Deed in 1360, by which Hathewisia daughter of the famous Gurney of the Court at Barrow, confirmed her father Robert’s grant to Alexander de Budecombe of lands in Budecombe, near Clivewell, for his services in the fields of Cressy, 1346.” On the boundary between this parish and Nempnett, stand the remains of a large Tumulus or Barrow, stated by Collinson to be then (A.D. 1791), 60 yards in length, 20 in breadth and 15 in height, (now 1873, nearly obliterated), covered on the top with ash trees, briars and shrubs. See Collinson, Vol. If. p. 318. This is still (1873) called Butcombe Barrow, and by the villagers, “Fairy’s Toot.” But the grand mound here described by Collin- son has all but disappeared. The ground on which it stood became the property of a farmer who planted a lime kiln upon it, which still exists, and literally burnt it into lime ; and the large stones which formed the roof and walls were carried away and used as covers for drains ; so that very little of the pile remains. A portion of one or two stones apparently ‘standing edgewise may still be seen, and may be some part of the original structure. Some sheds and a small yard for cattle occupy a portion of the site of this stupendous and in a sense Cc 34 once glorious work; of which we may truly say “sic transit gloria mundi.” There are photographs by Batiste, of Bath, of the exterior and interior of the Church, and of the Rectory, which latter though modernised into a plain and unpretending structure is in reality of great antiquity probably coeval with the Church. And here we will finish our notice of this retired and pretty parish, which not only possesses interest for the Archeologist, but would amply repay an ardent botanist or any other lover of nature who would care to expend upon it a summer day’s ramble. Ethandun (a narratwe). By H. D. SKRINE. (Read September 30th, 1873.) On the north western slope of the Wiltshire downs is cut, clear and sharp, the outline in chalk of a White Horse. Far and wide it may be seen, and far and wide has been its fame as the well- known symbol of the great Alfred’s victory of Ethandun, which, by one crushing blow, destroyed the power of the Danish invading host, and turned the enemy of England into its firm ally. It is true, nevertheless, that this view of the case has been of late years hotly disputed ; and some very clever papers suggesting other sites have been written. But there is one remarkable circumstance, that all the older, and I believe I may say, more learned Archceologists maintain this to be the site of the battle. Camden, Gibson, Gough, and last, not least, Sir Richard Colt Hoare, are very confident that Edington is Ethandun. Let us take for our text, as all these writers have done, the wo-ds of Asser, the contemporary, friend and biographer of Alfred —‘“In the same year (878), after Easter, King Alfred with a few assistants constructed a fort in a place called Aithelinga-Egge, or the Island of the nobles, now Athelney, and from that fort harassed Note on the Westbury and Uffington White Horses, from an article in the Wilts Archeological Magazine, by the Rev. C. W. Plenderleath, to illustrate drawing, copied by permission, from the Magazine. ‘‘T am inclined to think that the wonderful head /of the Ufington Steed) really points to an epithet which is applied to the horses of “‘Ceridwen, the Druidical Ceres, in several poems of Taliesin, preserved “in the Myvyrian Archeology ‘‘ Hen-headed Steeds.” Ceridwen is herself “reported to have assumed the form of a white mare, and Mr. Davies in “his Druidical Mythology referring to a coin (a fac-similie of which is ‘« given in the plate, Fig. 2,) of Bodno, wife of Prassitagas, and Queen of “the Iceni, endeavours to prove that the horse thereon depicted is no ‘‘other than Ceridwen herself, and the name Bodno the same as Budd, ‘equivalent to the Latin Ceres, and one of the titles under which she “was worshipped.” On the Westbury White Horse, Mr. Plenderleath says, ‘‘ Fortunately ‘“we possess a drawing of the old horse made in 1772, by Gough, the “editor of Camden, of which I shew a copy (Fig. 3.) Dimensions as ‘given by Gough, length 100 feet, height nearly the same, from toe to “chest 54 feet. I must here call attention to the curious crescent-shaped “tip given to the tail, which can hardly be accidental, as on more than ‘one Ancient British Coin we find something more or less resembling it, ‘‘and on one very clearly cut coin of Cunobeline, of which I show an “ outline, (Fig. 5,) we find, with the horse, a crescent indroduced evidently “for some set purpose, and this I think can be no other than the symbol “of Ceridwen, to whom all horses were probably considered sacred. “Taliesin in his poem speaks of ‘The strong horse of the crescent.” Note—The above strongly confirms the theory of the antiquity both of the Uffington and Westbury White Horses. (H.D.8.) shoving the site and neighbourhood of the Battle of Ethandune,. evi at by? - Stale of Miles! ine seat. fae “~ [Castle ee Le Dlerne i Wuyi. : 5 ~ -Afinger ford 5 ice j L ent 79 a Faden dong _ : 3 t 2 Bratton (amp o Warminster “4, re ae ct 33 the Pagans with attacks. At length, in the seventh week after Easter, he set out to Egbright Stone, which is on the east side of Selwood Forest, called in the Latin language “ Magna Silva,” and in the British ‘Coit Maur, and there flocked to him all the inhabitants of Somersetshire and of Wiltshire, and all the inhabitants of Hampshire who had not sailed beyond the sea for fear of the Pagans. And when they beheld the King they very naturally received him with great tribulation as risen from the grave again, were filled with infinite joy, and there encamped for one night, and next morning they moved forward to a place called Ecglea, and there encamped also for one night, and next morning moved forward to a place called Ethandun, where he attacked the Danes with a compact phalanx, and after a long and obstinate combat obtained a complete victory over them, routed them with immense slaughter, and pursued the fugitives to their entrenched camp, putting everyone to the sword whom he overtook. All that he found without the entrenchment he seized, men, horses and other cattle, but instantly put the men to death and boldly encamped at the entrance of the entrenchment with all his army ; and when he had.remained there fourteen [days, the Pagans, pinched with cold and hunger, and broken with terror and distraction, sued for peace, and offered to give the King what hostages he pleased wihout expecting any from him.” Such is the account given by Asser of the celebrated battle which decided the fortunes of Alfred. Of its correctness and authenticity, says John Britton, there can be no doubt as it is corroborated by all contemporary and succeeding writers. Different conclusions have, however, been drawn from this simple statement, and different sites have been identified with Ethandun. Those who differ from the view which I am prepared to uphold, namely, that we have here the veritable Ethandun of Alfred, are, Milner, in his History of Winchester, who places the scene of action at Heddington, near Calne, and north of Round Way Down, and supposes Oldborough castle, near the road between 36 Calne and Marlborough, to be the entrenchment to which the Danes fled ; Lysons, in his Magna Britannia, would transplant it to Heddington in Berkshire, near Hungerford ; Whitaker, dissent- ing from these opinions, contends that it was fought near Yatton, in North Wilts, where he finds the name of “ Slaughterford ” a passage of the Avon near Chippenham. To make his case out he considers Highley Common in Melksham to be the Eglea of Asser, and finds the Danish stronghold in Bury Wood, between Colerne and Wraxall. This view has been also maintained by Dr. Thurnam and Mr. Powlett Scrope, in the “ Wilts Archeological Magazine.” It would take too long to discuss all the arguments in favour of these views. I shall content myself by stating as clearly as I can the arguments which have been advanced in favour of Edington, and the reasons which seem to militate against the other conjectures, availing myself of the papers published in the “ Wilts Archeological Magazine,” by Mr. Matcham and others. The first argument in favour of Edington is its name, which certainly can fairly be considered to represent Ethandun, as it has differed very slightly in spelling, and the difference can be easily accounted for. Ethandun would, by a mere omission of a stroke to the second letter of the Saxon word, become Edandun ; and it is written Edendone in Domesday, and Edyndun as late as Henry VI. time, 1449. The present mode of spelling is of compara- tively modern usage. Heddington near Calne was written with a“t” in Domesday, and its aspirate seems to show it to have been a different word. Yatton never had a “dun” or don attached to it in ancient documents, and is written “ Ettone” in Domesday. It would be strange indeed if the memory of Alfred's victory fought at Htton-down, as Dr. Thurnam and Whitaker imagine, could have been so forgotten that the “dun” should have fallen out of the word by the time of William the Norman. Secondly—The old tradition which has for so many centuries linked the site of the battle to Edington is still preserved, and the White Horse is believed by the most learned Archzologists to be 37 of very great antiquity. There is indeed a story referred to by Whitaker of a Mr. Wise who in 1742 visited the spot, and said he had heard that the White Horse had been made by the men of Westbury of recent times to celebrate the place where their town revels were held. But Mr. Wise seems to have placed little credit in that version, for he says “yet still I think it may deserve enquiry of others how the common people were so fortunate in the choice of their ground, and whether they have not preserved the tradition of some older horse, and some older tradition, now forgot.” And this is the view taken of the matter by Sir Richard Colt Hoare. The third argument is the situation of the fortified camp of Bratton Castle, just above the Battlefield—and the distance from Brixton Deverill or Egbright’stone—all agreeing admirably with the account of the battle in Asser and the Saxon Chronicle. The late Rev. Arthur Fane in a paper on Edington, in the “Wilts Archeological Magazine,” thus admirably describes its position. ‘The table land, which, dispersed in several groups, is called by the common name of Salisbury Plain, terminates from Westbury to the high road hanging over Earlstoke, in a series of ramparts of turf, which stand out against the Vale of Pewsey with the sheer massiveness of a fortified town. At no point does the upper plain rise more abruptly than where the down lands, forming a bason in which the little hamlet of Bratton is placed, sweep round to the north westward, and rise up almost perpendicularly from the vale of Pewsey below. Close under this natural rampart, a rich fringing of gigantic Elms and Walnuts surrounds the village of Edington, whose magnificent old Church startles the passer by with its almost Cathedral proportions and its rich outline of Pinnacle, Battlement and Tower. Britton says the camp is of irregular form, humouring the slope of the hill. On one side, where the approach is easy, it is defended by double ramparts thirty-six feet high and a large out-work. The latter appears like a detached camp. On the 38 other side, where the ground is precipitous, it has only a single ditch and vallum, and at one spot it has no artificial defence. This encampment has two entrances in the area, S.E. towards the plain, and N.E. towards Edington, both defended by redoubts. The circuit of the vallum is 1540 yards, the general height of of the ramparts 31 feet. The area is 23 acres. Outside the ramparts, on the 8.W. declivity of the hill, is a figure of a White Horse cut from the surface in a walking attitude, 100 feet. high from the hoof to the tip of the ear, and 100 feet from the ear to the tail. According to Gough, Camden and Gibson, it is an undoubted monument of the battle of Ethandun. Doubts have been thrown on the identity of Bratton Castle with the stronghold of the Danes to which they retired after Ethandun, on account of there not being more than one entrance except from the south; but this is in the face of facts, and there is no improbability in the Danes flying to it after the battle. In order to enforce the argument from the nature of the ground I must take a brief general review of the history of the years 877-878, as given by Asser and other contemporary historians. Writers differ as to the position of affairs in the year 877. Some say that the Danes were, during that year, fiercely engaged in war with Alfred, and that he had fought so many battles with them that his people were both wasted and worsted. But it is asserted with more seeming authority by Turner, that that last year and some previous years had been a period of comparative peace and quiet, during which Alfred had contrived to alienate the minds of his subjects by his bad government. If the former supposition be true about the continued battles, which were generally victories over the Danes, we may ask how was it that Alfred was so suddenly overcome, his people stricken with panic and himself driven from the Royal Vill, of Chippenham, which was so girt with strong fortified posts, without a blow to the woods and marshes of West Somerset ? If, however, the other supposition be true that Alfred had lost : 39 the good opinion of his countrymen, that will explain everything. The monarch ‘Deserted at his utmost need By those his former bounty fed,” may well have felt his power collapse, and have seen no safety but in flight. And what do the valiant men of Wessex do? They fly beyond the sea, or submit tamely to the Danes! We hear of the King, indeed, in Somerset, as fighting and harassing with a sort of guerilla warfare the triumphant enemy ; but at the same time he must have been driven to great straits to have had to live on terms of equality with swineherds and to be set to turn their cakes on the fire. All of a sudden, but it is after six or eight months of depression, Alfred appears again at Egbright’stone and unfurls his flag. Then you hear of the men of Hampshire, Somerset and Wilts gathering round him overjoyed to receive their King amongst them again as one risen from the grave. Whatever of doubt or disaffection may have existed is now all removed, and he is surrounded by a loyal and determined band. It is no time for halting now. He must burst upon the Danes with the same suddenness as they had sprung upon Chippenham. And where are they? Why, on the edge of the Wiltshire Downs, at a point from whence the greater part of Wiltshire could be observed and held in subjection ; only some 15 miles in advance of Chippenham, where they may have left a garrison to support them by reinforcements, or cover their retreat into Mercia. Bratton Castle is their entrenched camp ; a strong position made ready to their hands by the ancient inhabitants of the land. Those who could not be so well retained in the area of the fortifications are in the valley below Luckam or Low Combe Bottom, where is still a field called “Danesley.” Here they would be sheltered by the sloping ridge of the hill, with a fine stream of water flowing beside their camp. Alfred has visited 40 the spot in disguise, so ’tis said; at all events he knows that they are there, and that they are entirely unsuspicious of his approach, deeming themselves secure from any small predatory bands and expecting none other. Some two or three miles, or less, from the Danish Camp skirts along the edge of the great Forest of Selwood, which has hitherto preserved Alfred and his followers from pursuit. Through this _ forest, from Egbright’stone, or Brixton Deverill, which is an ascertained spot, Alfred marches to Ecglea, of Asser—Iglea of the Saxon chronicle. We find it in Cley Hill; though some have thought Westbury Leigh, on the high road from Westbury to Edington, was the place of his first halt. I prefer Cley Hill; first, because Westbury would be in too dangerous proximity to the Danish Camp, perhaps within sight of Bratton Castle; and secondly, because the name retains the last half of the word almost intact, the c andthe Lea. Geoffry Gaimar, a poet of the twelfth century, reads it Aclee. Thirdly, because it realises the meaning of the name itself. The Ig-Lea, island-mead or pasture. It rises like an island hill in the midst of a wooded plain ; and lastly, it is at a most convenient distance for the march and attack on the Danish Camp. Alfred wished to surprise the Danes, and also to collect round him as formidable a force as he could to throw upon their position. For this object he does not move very far the first day in order to give every opportunity to stragglers to come up; and he keeps within the forest as long as he can, till he gets nearly opposite to the Danish Camp. He fortifies himself; and there are marks of such fortifications at Cley Hill, supposed to have been of very great antiquity—all the better for Alfred. In the early dawn of the following day, “ mane illucescente,” he quits his camp and begins his march, and would easily come before the camp of the Danes by nine o'clock, as Geoffrey Gaimar says, the distance being eight miles. By this time his enemy would, of course, be awake and drawn up for action, but as they were 41 encumbered with horses, cattle and speil, and not expecting an attack from an army of disciplined soldiers, the dense phalanx, densa testudo,” with which Alfred charged them, notwithstand- ing the most obstinate resistance, ere long broke their array, and a terrible slaughter followed. Those, who were able, retired to the fortified camp on the Down. Alfred boldly entrenches him- self around the fortress and blockades it. Why did not the Danes burst forth? ‘They had done so under similar circum- stances before; but Alfred had cowed them by his desperate assault, and they were outnumbered. Every day the English host was being reinforced, while the Danes were suffering from want of provisions, and possibly also of water. The end was an unconditional surrender, signalised by the wise clemency and generosity of Alfred, who thus turned Guthrum from an enemy into a friend and ally. Now all this can be shown to be consistent with Edington as the scene of the battle; but how about the other sites that have been mentioned? MHeddington, in Berkshire, the conjecture of Lysons, is out of the question altogether, being 60 miles away! And Heddington, near Calne, also appears too much out of the way strategically for the purpose of watching Alfred or protecting Chippenham ; and Alfred would have had to cross a considerable open plain to attack the Danes, and it has no tradition attached to it, the White Horse there being of certainly modern origin. The most plausible conjecture is that which links the spot to Yatton, near Chippenham. But, notwithstand- ing the able arguments which have been adduced in its favour, it does not seem to me to be consistent with all we know of the history. First, on account of the name, which sounds like the original name—Yatton is Gate-ton, or the residence near some passage or gateway, or road through a forest. It may have been the gate of Melksham forest ; and there is no down near it now, nor any rising ground of sufficient importance to compare with that of Edington. Moreover, to understand the battle to have 42, taken place there, you must suppose Alfred to have made a long march of eighteen miles the first day to Highley Common—the “Tglea” of Whitaker and Dr. Thurnam—which place is simply a swamp nearly surrounded by water, and on the very road of the Danish communications with the south, so that they would be sure to have heard of his movements. Then Yatton is to the rear and west of Chippenham, and Old Bury Camp, to which the Danes have to retire over the ford of Slaughterford, is some distance to the west. So that Alfred would have placed himself between two fires and got into a very difficult country, attacking under every disadvantage ; and when successful he would be in the enemy’s country, and he could not, perhaps, have maintained the blockade; whereas at Bratton he could completely isolate the Danish army and would be himself in too strong a position to be assailed from Chippenham, should any troops march to the relief of Guthrum. And after all Whitaker does not believe the battle was at Yatton, but at Slaughterford. This name is certainly referable to some bloody action in the neighbourhood. But may not the first attack of the Danes on Chippenham have been attended with slaughter of the Saxons? And this is, I think, confirmed by a name occurring a little to the north of Slaughterford, “‘ Woeful Danes Bottom;” besides which it is known that there was a great fight at Sherston, not far off. Again, if we refer to the Saxon chronicle, in the very beginning of the year 878—“The Danish host bestole (i.e. came suddenly) upon Chippenham, then they rode through the West Saxons’ land and there sat down, and mickle of the folk over sea they drove, and of the other the most deal they rode over, all but the King Alfred, he with a little band hardly fared after ye woods, and on the new fastnesses.” How came the victorious Danish army to be crouching behind the fortifications to the rear of Chippenham ? On the whole then, I think that the balance of probabilities is decidedly in favour of Ethandun being Edington, The name is almost identical, and tradition finding its expression in, or deriving —_—_— a 43 its strength from the White Horse, is deserving of grave consideration. The most learned archeologists all concur in supporting this theory. Contemporary historians fully confirm it ; and the strategic and topographical reasons are, to my mind, most natural and conclusive. It will not therefore I trust be presumptuous in me, in opposition to the learned researches of most modern writers, to assert confidently my belief in the old established tradition of this being the scene of Alfred’s crowning victory.* The Chairman's Address on Topography. By Dr. HUNTER. (Read 12th November, 1873.) The following Address to the Club was not offered as a Communication of original matter, but rather as a useful address with which to commence the Winter Session. Its length has been reduced by the omission of some superfluous illustrations. To those who would pursue the subject the writer recommends examination of the publi- cations of the Record Commission and the Master of the Rolls, and a perusal of the prefaces to the topographical volumes in the Bath Institution Library. Again the season for the fields has closed to field clubs, and * There is also a living witnesss to the original name that can I think be ealled, the furze bushes that crown the steep. It has been suggested that the root of the word Ethandun may be the British word Aeth, Eth, Furze or Gorse, and the origin of ‘‘Heath.” The names of hills are more frequently found to be given them by the early inhabitants, and this dun may in old times have been known as the Aeth-dun, or Furze Hill. If we derive it from a Saxon root it may be traced to Hth-a wave; and this would well express the character of the hill, as it is very like a wave about to topple over into the plain below. 44 again cities and the hum of men are restored to our favour. In the good days past ‘* Health wandered on the breezy down And Science on the silent plain ;” but now the gaslit room must for a few months be the scene of our most useful operations. Whether in the long days now gone by any of us has dis- covered aught, has made an original observation, has conducted a laborious investigation, or has created an hypothesis which may string together and explain the observations of others—all these questions will be solved as the winter passes and our transactions develope themselves. Few men are discoverers or can ever be so, and still fewer can hope to find acceptance as theorists. All are not investigators or observers, nor can men take up in middle life habits of accurate observation which were not encouraged in youth. Nevertheless “ They also serve who only stand and wait,” and it is with sincere welcome that I again greet ladies and gentle- men whose presence here may show no more than an earnestness for knowledge of God’s creatures and the works of man, or who are brought here simply by the praiseworthy desire to raise the tone of Bath society, and to support those associations which aim to leaven the mass of it with a taste for sciences and literature. A short Augustan age has illuminated in succession several English cities. Warrington, Lichfield, Exeter, Norwich and two or three more still look westward to catch a little gilding from a set sun. Who can doubt that Bath shall have her day, or that this is the spot where we must watch for the dawn ? The Bath Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club is professedly a mixed body, one made by the mutual agreement of members who cultivate the knowledge of the local peculiarities which natural objects present, and who have attained to some general knowledge of natural history in order accurately to observe Nature in the pleasant aspect which she here presents ; together with other members who give attention to the minuter Ee 45 details of past events which hardly rise to the dignity of history, but which derive a special interest from our residence upon the scene, members whose observations upon our remains of bygone man are rendered useful and worthy of record in our Transactions through their previous preparatory studies in what are called Topography and Antiquities. To those who have not adopted this latter branch of our subject, and to those more newly joined members who wish to add something to our useful- ness, I have, without pretending to teach those at whose feet I ought to sit as a learner, prepared to address some remarks on what the study of Topography is, and on what can be done in the subject by one who brings the requisite temper and industry. Topography has in England acquired a definite intention, and a rank among men’s studies to which the subject has not attained in foreign countries. Topography is descriptive of a portion of the globe as Geography is of the whole, but Topography stoops over the microscope while Geography extends her powers with the telescope. Topography, like History, tells also the order of events, but she differs from both these sister studies in her dealings being merely with baronies, parishes, lords of the manor, and rectors of the church, while she has nothing to say of continents, empires, kings or popes. Foreign accounts abound of great cities and dynastic genealogies ; all these belong rather to Geography or to History than to Topography, and as to the latter the experience of every tourist proves that, in place of sound topography, the minute information he may usually receive of a parish or village abroad proves to be nothing of more worth than a pack of so ealled legends, such as any hired driver could invent to amuse his fare. I confess I am utterly sick of Keltic demons and Teutonic robber knights. In England some of our ablest historians and naturalists have been true Topographers. The study which had its birth with Leland and Lambarde, and which claims Camden and Dugdale among its devotees may hold up its head 46 in the same rank with studies usually considered more severe. I claim no more for Topography than it deserves if I say that the taste for minute local inquiries has affected the whole tone of the modern English historians. Such homely touches as are obtained from Topography give the charm to Macaulay, and perhaps in a less degree, to Froude. It is the acknowledged fault of many lofty historians and accurate chroniclers that they tell the history of kings, courts and armies, and leave the mass of the nation, the national life as it really was, to oblivion or imagination. The body of our country, through its insular form has been for many centuries homogeneous or nearly so as regards its laws of succession to property and presentation to the church, and consequently if we examine the descent of one sample manor we shall obtain a history which is, in its outline, the history of almost every manor in the land, and we shall thus gain a truer view of England in the past than if we fix our eyes with undue singleness of attention on the court at Windsor, the army on the frontier or the dungeon in the Tower. I am not forgetting that we may put too high a power on our microscope ; that there always were millions of a labouring population, for the most part small farmers, whose names are never to be recovered, whose lives were but those of satellites to their lord, and of whom probably little or nothing is worth recovery. It is well understood that the numerous villains of early times were slaves, saleable with, though not without, the land they lived on. No event in the history of a parish could claim to rival in importance the change which converted the ancient villain first into the small yeoman in whom England used to glory, and since into the modern farmer and his servants. You can, however, rarely name a century even in which the emancipation was made. It was gradual in its method and in its localities. The King often wished to play off the workman ‘against the baronage, and he occasionally succeeded. Thus, from the twelfth to the seventeenth or nineteenth centuries, the rural workmen were continually gaining rights here and there, few of 47 which they have ever lost. I have elsewhere ventured the opinion that the reign of George II. was the golden age of the rural population, but this was on the ground of the general plenty which turnip husbandry had brought us; as to the law, it has been reserved to our own days to see a complete freedom of labour from parish settlement, which term in its fact meant estate settlement. You have little chance of fixing a year and a certain lord for any great step in the process of liberation, except in a corporate or quasi-corporate town, where an early charter has been granted to or purchased by the inhabitants, and my present idea in addressing a Field Club is the Topography of a village or country district. Between these extremes, the king on his throne and the serf in the fields ; in the families of the lords large and small, and in the great adoptive families of a celibate clergy we find the domain of true Topography. To say nothing of Wales and Scotland, the most of which countries are as yet unreclaimed by the Topographer, the student has in England a vast field as yet imperfectly tilled by his predecessors. While I could count some English shires, such as Cheshire, Durham, Surrey and parts of Yorkshire, (not meaning, however, to exclude the works of Hasted, Blomefield, Hutchins, Nash and others,) to which noble monumental folios have been erected ; there are other counties such as Hampshire, Devonshire, Suffolk and Herefordshire, and perhaps nearer to home, where no worthy topographical effort has as yet been completed. Let the vast collections to be found in manuscript in the public libraries be evidences that the deficiencies of Topography are not altogether due to the apathy of her own disciples. These monu- mental folios require either a patron or a public, and it is not every county that can boast a Sir Richard Hoare, or can raise such repeated subscription lists as Dorsetshire. The Topographer, who in the present day undertakes a district hitherto imperfectly described, has a great advantage over his predecessors, through the recent cataloguing and making public 48 of our vast national records—a collection quite without a rival in the world ; and it is upon the uses to which he may put such collections, whether those belonging to the nation or to be found in the great libraries, on the resources from which he may reasonably expect material, and on his best method of distributing the subject that I proposed to say a few words to suggest deeper inquiries than can be dwelt on in such an address as this. The first necessaries of the Topographer are a heart to love his district and an eye to see it ; he should be a resident, he must be a frequent and diligent visitor. Fortunately for him he may now reside in a remote part and yet be able to use the treasures of Oxford and London. Having acquired through travelling, reading and the use of maps a general knowledge of England, he must bring that knowledge to the valuation of whatever seems to him remarkable in his own district. He must have sufficient architectural knowledge to be able to verify history by his inspection of the details of the ancient buildings which adorn his district. He must have such philology as shall save him from the trippings of nomenclature. He must bring to the service a power of decyphering old deeds, coins and inscriptions, which may be best obtained at the great museums. He must possess himself for easy reference of such standard books as Camden, Dugdale or Collins, and the works of his own local predecessors, if he has any. Unless the Topographer’s country contains some great abbey of early foundation or some seat of royal power, he will have little to do with the speculative history of times before the eleventh century. It will be a mistake if he draws the scene of a battle of the Heptarchic crows and kites, or of the Danish invasion within his boundaries, only to swell his volume with the great deeds of a king. It is only when there are remains to be described that the events of national history may be introduced into Topography for their elucidation. Such events belong to the wider field, and a reference to them is sufficient. On the same principle the fact that a single parish or small manor belonged (perhaps with scores 49 of others) to some. great Norman house, will not entitle the Topographer to introduce baronial biographies, and nothing beyond a mere skeleton pedigree of such a family as Lacy, Courtenay or Warren is ever admissible. With a few remarkable exceptions of rare interest pure Topography must be content to make its beginning with the reign of the Confessor. Roads, barrows or fortresses of earlier date may exist, but of them we commonly know no local history. We either know nothing of them but what we see, or else what we know is national history. Interesting conjectures such as those which take the Club in pilgrimage to Eddington, the probable site of Alfred’s most critical victory ; to Dyrham, where, perhaps, the battle passed after which Bath lay in dust so many years ; to Camerton, where the late ingenious Mr. Skinner. re-erected the towers of the Cunobelins; or to Marshfield, one of the alleged scenes of the martyrdom of the holy Oswald ; such speculations may adorn your book as being professedly digressions, but between them and the recorded facts of Topography there is a chasm which is not bridged over in half a dozen places in England if we except a few of the royal castles and older abbeys. Has it not struck you how rarely the inscribed Roman stones have served any topographical purpose? At Bath nota word is found about the hot waters ; at Colchester not a mention of Camulodunum; on the Wall but little of the Wall; at Highcross no monument of the Roman geographical centre of England ; and nowhere any record of Albanus, of Aaron, or of Julian. The inscribed lead is, perhaps, the best thing the Roman antiquaries have to show ; the coins illustrate Roman history, but rarely or never British topography. In a few rare instances the History of Beda, or Saxon Chronicle, names a village which has, perhaps, been recognised and identified, but is as probably erroneously so. For an instance, the Saxon Chronicle records an earthquake at “ Wick.” How glad would field club geologists be to know where Wick stood! We are at liberty to hypothesise that the D 50 place mentioned is our Wick-with-Abson, or any other Wick ; but then this entry in the Chronicle stands by itself, and bears no relation to any subsequent mention of Wick, there is no con- tinuous history, and therefore Topography cannot here make her beginning even if she is persuaded of the identity of the site. We may guess that as a part of the lands of Glastonbury Wick is the more likely to gain notice in the Chronicle, but we do not know where stands this Wick of the Chronicle, we do not even know where Ethandune stands, disguised as it is to us in its early English spelling. It is not given to every hamlet to enjoy the lucky confirmation of its historical claims which the finding of King Alfred’s jewel gave to Athelney farm, the cradle of that inspired system of law and language which now rules a fourth of the globe. The club topographer must exorcise such Wills 0’ the wisp, he must be content to begin with the Confessor, and consign to a foot note, or better to a waste basket, all such speculations, while as to the Wansdyke, Avebury or Stonehenge, topographical facts as they undoubtedly are, they have long been the subject almost of a separate science, and so he had best leave them. As years pass on affairs in English Britain settle down, historians increase in number and perhaps in merit, charters to religious houses are made, and being preserved or quoted some true topographical information turns up early here and there. The parishes had grown up in number, nearly every hamlet had received a name, and the land seemed ready for the exact description or survey which was made in the eleventh century. This wonderful work, so well known as Domesday Book, is the very beginning of ewistence to nearly all the English manors and of history to the parishes. Here begins Topography, and from the account of the land given in Domesday is in most instances deducible a more or less complete local history to the present day. This noble record is now a common printed book. The five western counties have, in addition, the special advantage of the “ TInquisitio Gheldi,” now in Exeter Cathedral, which is a sort of second edition of Domesday, and resembles it in arrangement, but contains many names not found elsewhere. It is probably known to you that Domesday schedules in each village the name of the owner and his tenure, his tenants and their class or description, his land, its extent and its nature of cultivation, and (where such things existed) the castle, the mill and other public buildings. The book is very difficult to'read, and antiquaries are far from agreement upon its meaning. The spelling is so degraded that one fails to recognise many of the names of places, and some of the technical latin words remain unexplained. Still the book is the true fount of topographic knowledge ; it is here that the Topographer must begin ; and it is hence all his story must be traced. Domesday tells us who were the earliest Norman owners, and frequently also to what great English chiefs they succeeded. Thus it is that William is known to have deprived Aluric of Bathwick and to have granted it to Geoffry, Bishop of Coutances. In many instances Domesday does more, for it records the fact that the king’s immediate grantee had parted with his land in parcels almost as soon as he got it, and that as he had no power to sell, he had sublet, or as it is technically called subinfeuded. Two hundred years afterwards records of a similar kind were made; the intervening centuries are times of darkness and difficulty to the Topographer, who with the chain of evidences in his hand, has to take a sort of leap in the dark from off the rock of Domesday, hoping to alight in safety upon the Red and Black Books of the Exchequer. I will here quote from the preface to the “‘South Yorkshire,” that it is too well known to all who have attended to inquiries such as these, that the reigns of the sons, grandson and great grandson of the Conqueror are ages of obscurity, and that it is not till the reign of Henry III. that we have much direct and regular information respecting the descent of properties however great. In the dark period before that reign we are obliged to collect our information 52 in the best manner we can from the records or the charters of the religious houses, most of which were founded during that period and had most of the lords of the subsidiary fees amongst their benefactors ; or from pleadings exhibited in later times, when it was necessary to set forth a title from an early period ; or from solitary and casual notices in record, chronicle or charter, under which head may be placed the occasional notices in the Pipe Rolls of the Exchequer. Records from which the Topographer may hope to glean notices of the lords of his district now come in considerable numbers. I may mention the “Testa de Nevill,” an inquisition of lands held of the crown by Knights’ service, which was made by one of the judges itinerant of Henry III. ; “ Kirkby’s Inquest” of the fifth of Edward I. ; the “‘ Nomina Villarum ” of the ninth of Edward Il. ; and the very valuable “ Inquisitiones Post-mortem,” which begin with Henry III. and are continued to the seventeenth century. These Inquisitions are best got at in a manuscript in the British Museum, called Cole’s Escheats. The grantees of the Conqueror often preferring a foreign residence, and sometimes holding lands in diverse counties at once, their subinfeudations became the foundation of the resident territorial ownership of England. A bonus was probably paid upon the grant from the King’s immediate tenant, and afterwards feudal services or rents were yielded to him ; but as these became by degrees of less and less value relatively to the land, and as they lapsed out, the new families of sub-tenants have become the absolute owners of the fee, paying service to the crown only, and so they now remain, some old families being able to trace their estates to those subinfeudations, while rarely, if ever, has anyone of William’s tenants-in-chief handed down his land to an heir now in possession. The intending Topographer must not, however, think that all is now plain sailing, for attainders, resumptions by the crown and alienations to the church await the manor in subsequent times ; but still as an experienced writer has observed, 53 “the fiefs themselves remained entire, capable of distinct con- sideration, so that this distribution made at the Conquest has been substantially maintained from that time to the present, and is in fact the origin of rights to land, rents and franchises as they exist at the present day.” Just as the great fees had passed away, the sub-fees, through division, were in many instances obscured and seemed to pass away also, until in succeeding generations we get down to what are now understood as manors, and sub-division has nominally gone no farther. It is, nevertheless, true that although these manots became independent units of lawyers and historians, although the great lord who had been known as the owner of a certain great fee, came to regard himself as the owner of a bundle of contiguous manors, it has never been forgotten by antiquaries that these manors still compose the great fee, and that the change is one of name more than of fact. There doubtless was utility in the change of form, and manors have sometimes been severed from their brethren in the great fee ; still the manors themselves have not been subject to sub-division, and our modern freeholders, free as they are, must be constitutionally regarded as holding of the manor. Having written the history of the great fee, or ascertained that it has been written by Dugdale or other of his classics, the topographer must now commence to write a history of each manor from its first development from out of the fee down to the present time. The manor is still one and indivisible, its owner wears the crown in the little succession, and although politician after politician, enthusiast after enthusiast, ‘sad lozel” after “sad lozel” forfeited or sold the fields until the manor is but a skeleton yielding no juicy income to its lord, the lord, known or unknown, remains, perhaps, a journeyman or perhaps a golddigger, but as true a sovereign within his limited right, and by the same law, as any of the large family who may now dine together at the ordinary at Venice. It was this little prince, 54 whether of wide fee or small manor, who built the church, the mill, the bridge ; his sign manual still authorises the village fair ; he imposed the rents ; he liberated from feudal service ; he raised his tenants for the Red or White Rose, and it was he who brought the jealous neighbour or offended King down in ven- geance upen his faithful followers. There he lies on an altar tomb, his wife by his side and his dog at his feet. If the topographer is fortunate he will find some small charitable endowment, a hospital for lepers ora scholarship at the University in the village of our idea. This may be the work of the lord, but it is not less frequently the work of one of humble birth, citizen, goldsmith and Lord Mayor, or perhaps Chaplain, Bishop and Lord Chancellor who has remembered the remote village which gave him birth; and I know not how an old man can more wisely lay down “ the staff of age which youth doth travail for.” I recollect two or three instances in which bishops have built sumptuous tombs to their obscure but honoured parents. The topographer will, however, be usually disappointed of such pleasant discoveries, and will hear no more of the state of the peasantry than may be afforded by an old book of local husbandry. Such, then, is the civil history of rural England until the Puritans swept away the feudal idea with fire and sword. The restoration of the King restored much, but not the manorial tenures in their singular character, and the statute of Charles II. commuted nearly all feudal services into a money payment. From that time the freeholder (as we call him) and even the copyholder rose into practical independence of the manorial lord. From what I have said it will be infered that in proposing a topographical work it will be best to choose the area of one of these great secondary fees. The tenancies in chief rarely lie compacted together, the subinfeudations more usually do, and in tracing the history of such a tract of land, say a twentieth part of a county, we have a chain of events and we have within the boundary a development of life quite independent of our neigh- 55 bours. Such a topography is as the history of an island, and the advantage of this mode of treatment is so obvious that you may be surprised to hear that any other should be in use. Yet so it is: Rudders’ edition of Atkyns’s Gloucestershire, for instance, is an alphabetical list of parishes. Under this system it is difficult and always unsatisfying to deal with lordships which embrace several parishes. There must be either perpetual references or repetitions. I feel, in examining such a book, as one of your naturalists might feel with regard to an alphabetical account of plants and animals compiled quite irrespectively of genera and species. Other topographers have attempted a political subdivision into Hundreds and Townships, and this is the plan adapted by Hoare, Blomefield, Hutchins, Collinson and Phelps. These divisions are of very early date, but they bear, as I believe, no relation to the history of a place or the succession of lords. A Hundred has been for centuries a mere geographical expression, except in matters connected with the constabulary and the militia ; some of the Hundreds are lost and the boundaries of many are changed, and above all is the objection that the Town- ship is no development from out of the Hundred but the Hundred rather a subsequent compound of Townships. Again a large proportion of our topographers have been from among the resident clergy, and they have naturally sometimes attempted an ecclesias- tical subdivision into Rural Deaneries, Parishes and Chapelries, and to this there is less objection, as a certain expansion from the great mother churches can sometimes, though rarely, be traced. Still, the history of the local development of the church is not the history of the country ; the remarkable actions were those not of the curate but of the lord, and the ecclesiastical history of the village, beyond a mere list of incumbents and patrons, has (except, perhaps, the first alienation of the tithe) no salient events and is best related as part of the history of the diocese or great abbey to which the church belonged. In nine cases out of ten where there was a lay patron he was also the lord, and when in 56 later times lay rectors became common they had usually the right to nominate the vicar. By a feudal distribution of your subject you are enabled to open your volume with an account of the King’s tenant, his descendants and his caput baroniw. This once done, repetitions are rendered needless. You proceed with the first great fees, the genera, and you go on with the atomic manor, or the species. Except in a few striking instances, such as the Castle at Rochester, the primary tenants of the King have left few or no traces of their life here: it is the great subinfeuded tenant or mesne lord who built the castles or religious houses of which you represent the ruins, and it is the smaller manorial lord who has built the Tudor hall of which you are so justly proud. Probably the mesne lord’s family has passed away, or possibly a cadet branch may remain seated upon one of its ancestors’ many manors, and genealogical investigation will be among your most laborious services. It has been justly remarked that though the deduction of families necessarily forms a part of topographical books, pedigrees should only find a place there as they serve to exhibit the descent of properties. The history of a family is only subsidiary to the history of the manor. The early history of a family is not to be drawn in because in later times it acquired a manor in your district, unless you have something original to tell which may be told without a washy dilution from printed matter ; nor need you attempt to trace the heir after you have seen the family safely off the premises. Such pedigrees as are necessary should by all means be put in a tabular form ; these diagrams catch the eye and are apprehended at a glance. There are counties of more early civilisation than others: in these the fees are comminuted to such an extent that one small parish is sometimes found to be in two manorial holdings. The general rule of Jater times is, however, one parish, one manor; one unit ; and this, the reason for which is the assignment of a certain tithe, is a great additional convenience to the topographer: 57 I have told you that the Topographer’s worst troubles begin when he first cuts loose from Domesday ; then is the time to try his mettle, and labour he must if he will show for the first time the line of lords of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Charters, records and grants must be searched everywhere and always, and the Fates’ rewards will come quite capriciously and irrespectively of the labour bestowed in the search. What the Topographer’s resources are I may now shortly detail from a communication on the subject by a well-known antiquary which was read to the members assembled in this Institution well nigh fifty years ago. “Tf there is something which cannot be known, there is very much also that is open to everyone in the written records of the past, and very much also that is open to him in an easier manner, the original records having been scrutinized by the laborious antiquaries of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and made to yield what they contain concerning the more eminent persons of our nation, all of whom stood in the relation of lord to one or more of these feudal supremacies. In fact the lines of those who were tenants in capite, those who held the great feudalities immediately of the crown, as hereditary dignities usually inhered in them, have been the subject of research by those who have written on the descent of the hereditary dignities of the realm, and in the main the results have been so complete and successful that little remains for the Topographer but to adopt what has been prepared for him, and happy is he if he can sometimes correct a date or supply a new name. Thus much with respect to the higher order of feudal lords; and what is said of the sources of information respecting them, may, in a qualified manner be said of those who held of them large tracts and divers vills in the position of mesne lords ; for these, the men of the second layer of the population of England, often became the possessors of hereditary dignities, and, like the chief lords, the subjects of research to the writers whose subject was professedly genealogical. But the case is different when we descend to the owners of single 58 manors, or to families among different branches of whom a single manor was divided. We have then a class of persons who may or may not have been the subject of enquiry to anyone before us, and of whom the Topographer is perhaps the first to bring their names from out of the obscurity which rests upon them. In these cases he must apply himself resolutely to his work. If he has collections for his county made by some former collector, and preserved in manuscript, he is fortunate, for they will serve at least as guides to his authorities, and sometimes may be allowed to supply the place of his own research. If the heralds have preceded him, he may find the sequences of the lords as they have recorded them; but in respect of races of whom no authentic account has previously been given, it is his duty to search for himself, and to gather for himself from the remains of past ages who they were, how they followed each other, and what was done by each. And for this purpose he has first the great Norman Survey, in which the name of the founder of these smaller feuds is sometimes to be read. He has his chance of meeting with him again in the Chartularies which contain the deeds of the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, either his own, or of persons who claim him as their ancestor. He may even be so fortunate as to find deeds themselves. He may search the early proceedings in the courts of justice, where we have sometimes titles traced to the conquest. He may find a transaction or two in one of the earlier of the Pipe Rolls. When we approach the time when what the law calls ‘the memory of man’ begins, he may, and probably would find transactions in the Fines which would show - who in those early times had stepped into the place of the original mesne lord, how the tenancy had become divided, and possibly even the record of a transfer from one family to another. He has also the Red Book and the Black Book of the Exchequer, rich in matter of the greatest importance to him, as showing in whom the fees were vested at particular periods ; and in the Testa de Nevil he may be so fortunate as to meet with notices 59 which carry him far back into the dark periods before the date of that mysterious compilation. We have then the results of the enquiries which were made concerning feudal rights, and, I may add, feudal usurpations, in the reigns of Henry III., Edward L,, and less remarkably, Edward II., contained in the Hundred Rolls, the Quo Warranto Rolls, Kirkby’s Inquest for the counties for which it exists, and the Nomina Villarum. Much matter also remains of record not incorporated in any of these, the grander records of the realm, in the accounts of the collections of feudal aids. But when we reach the reign of Henry III. we are within scope of a class of record evidence which is of all the most important for the particular purpose now under consideration. I mean the inquisition taken before the escheators on the deaths of persons all or most of whom were of the class of persons we are speaking of, either tenants in chief of the crown, or tenants of those who held of the crown, or tenants again of those tenants. The inquisitions show us distinctly who at a particular time held a particular property, with some circumstances of that property. But they show more, they show when an actual possessor died, who succeeded him, and of what age the successors were, and often transactions respecting the property. But they bear for the purposes of Topography information scarcely less important thau this. They show the tenures ; that is, the person dying held such a manor of such a person, thus giving us not the mesne lord only, but the chief lord also, and presenting us evidence of subinfeudations of which no contemporary record exists, and possibly where no written evidence was ever prepared. Those inquisitions are of unspeakable importance. Where the series is entire they present an authentic contemporary account of the transmission of feudal rights from the reign of Henry III. to that of Charles I., a noble stream of evidence, which it is to be lamented was ever allowed to be dammed up. Accompanying these are many other series of national records which might be consulted for the chances of what might be found in them were not the 60 task too great to be undertaken by any person, however resolute, with the purpose of going through with it; and beside these there has been a constant accumulation of private deeds, in which transactions between private parties have been recorded, either still in the hands of possessors of the manor, or dispersed among the collectors of curiosities such as these. Many also which have found their way into the Record Offices, or such places of deposit as the British Museum. For later times, when the Topographer loses the benefit of the inquisitions, his best resource for establishing the series of feudal chiefs is, undoubtedly the records of the College of Arms. It is to be regretted that the visitations ceased soon after the inquisi- tions ceased, because in them there was something approaching to a systematic attempt to keep a registry of the families in whom was vested the chief property of the country. When the visitations ceased the information placed on record in the heralds’ books has been but anecdotical, with the exception of that which respects the transmission of dignities. But it is copious, valuable, and (such is the care taken) most authentic. Where these fail him the topographer must spell his way for the last two centuries as well as he can by the aid of wills, parish registers, private infor- mation of persons cognizant of the facts, monumental inscriptions, the printed obituaries, the London gazettes, together with such information as is allowed to escape from family archives.” Wills have been used to be kept in the muniment rooms of a large number of ecclesiastical courts throughout the country. Extracts from wills as well as records of sales may sometimes be found among the records of manor courts. Both are of great value to the Topographer, who must usually however hunt till he finds them. The wills in the greatest receptacle, the Prerogative Court, London, extend over nearly five centuries and are catalogued. The records of the Church are of course a great power in topography, and the bishops’ lists of presentations will sometimes, 61 when more exact information fails, tell us the succession of lords, for the patronage was most usually united to the lordship. From the knowledge of the early patrons moreover we are guided to a reasonable conjecture as to the founder, for the right of present- ation followed the founding, the bishop consenting to the good old rule that when a lord built a sufficient church, the tithe of his manor should be devoted to its support. In a great deal too many of the parishes of England (fully one-half) the tithe of the rector was diverted to a monastery, often distant and sometimes foreign. The rectorial office disappeared and a priest was supplied by the monastery, and was called a vicar, who was to serve the church and subsist on a stipend aided by tithes on small produce. For a record of this transaction, certainly one of the greatest events in the history of a parish, diocesan registers must be searched. The consent of the bishop was necessary and the conditions are usually recorded. Besides these diocesan records references to MSS. authorities on this part of topography are to be found in the great Monasticon and other similar works. Another great event in the church history of a parish was the foundation of a chantry, an act of zeal sometimes intended as monumental of a person or event, and sometimes as a means of edification by preaching or the exhibition of pictures. Chantries were often the work of clubs or guilds whose existence is a curious phenomenon by no means to be neglected in a good local history. The practice of assigning the tithe of a manor to a new church, or in other words the creation of new parishes ceased about the reign of Henry I.; subsequent buildings were called chapels ; and although districts called chapelrics were assigned to them they had no tithe. Of these the bishops’ records give but a scanty account. Beside the records of the dioceses and charters of the abbeys we possess a few lists or returns, as we should now say, of the value of livings, of which Pope Nicholas’ Taxation of 1291 and King Henry’s Valor of 1535 are the most important, and being printed are easy of access, 62 In addressing the Topographers of a Field Club one has not in contemplation the writing the history of a monastic institution, this is not a matter of common Topography, and if you are so fortunate as to have such a foundation in the district you deem to be put in your charge you will find the work almost done for you. The annals and the catalogues of charters which were made by the religious afforded to the compilers of the large works on English Ecclesiastical History copious information of these places. Of their end and the immediate succession to their property the public accounts are fortunately abundant. There is more still to do to conclude our proposals for a Topography of a group of villages: the few post-reformation foundations, the grammar schools, almshouses, colleges, must all be examined and historically described. Lives of interesting persons hitherto unknown in print, records of visitations of the plague, the puritan conventicle, the rise and fall of manufactures, the drainage of great marshes, the mines, the changes of the means of intercommunication, the building of the church and manor house, the trees, woods and wells of ascertained date, the bells, the parish registers and churchwardens’ accounts, all these are usually matters which well bear comment. In all, printed matter, unless very rare, should be referred to and not reprinted, and let the difficulty which even the most ex- perienced feel in ascertaining whether an event is of interest, ephemeral or permanent, warn the tyro against attempts to “bring down,” as it is called, “the history to the latest dates,” And lastly I wish to say that the creation of a great Topographical volume must be the work of one mind, in which the natural propensity or taste is strongly developed. The work of our Field Club, as a club, is to collect, collect, collect, and when the due season brings to our noble county a worthy Topographer, he will bless and commemorate us. If slow collection seems a humble task, hasty generalisation is truly a vain one ; for appreciation the topographical collector must wait, in time he will get it. 63 On some of the Fungi found in the Bath District. By C. E. Broome. (Read February 11th, 1874. ) ORDER 10. MYXOGASTERS.* Myxogasters derive their name from their early condition, in which they resemble a creamy mass spreading over rotten wood, dead leaves, &c. Following the arrangement adopted by Mr. Berkeley in ‘‘ The Outlines of British Fungology,” they constitute the 10th Order of Fungi, it is chiefly in their early, or creamy state that they differ from other members of the family, and it is only when mature that they resemble their nearest allies the Trichogasters. When mature they consist of variously shaped, stipitate, or sessile peridia of a horny or membranous substance, containing generally a mass of threads called a capillitium, mixed with a quantity of dusty spores ; on the peridia breaking up the spores are dispersed. De Bary, Professor of Botany at Freiburg, observed that when the spores were sown on damp, rotten wood, or in a drop of water on a slip of glass, they did not produce threads like other Fungi, but gave origin to minute, gelatinous bodies endowed with a movement similar to that of certain animals of a low type, viz., Rhizopods, that they produced cilia, and moving about the surface of the glass by their aid, at length became stationary, that they then lost their cilia, and after a con- siderable increase in bulk or prolongation into branched or reticulate masses, they produced clusters of the peridia at the expence of their mucous contents ; the peridia gradually became invested with a distinct membrane from which processes of a horny or filamentous character arose, filling up more or less the interior, the interspaces being filled with dusty spores. From the similarity of this mode of development to that of some of the lower animals, De Bary concluded that the Myxogasters belonged properly to the animal and not to the vegetable kingdom, and he * Myxogasters from the Greek muxa a mucus, and gaster a stomach. 64 wished to give them the name of Mycetozoa, as combining the characters of animals and Fungi. Other botanists have not been convinced by his arguments, relying more on the general accord- ance of the bodies we are discussing when mature, than on their early state. Several facts seem to corroborate the more general opinion ; for instance, De Bary has himself published observations on some undoubted Fungi whose spores germinate by means of zoospores, such as Cystopus and Peronospora.* and not by threads. Again, the taking in and assimilating solid food is generally regarded as a proof of an animal nature ; this fact may be easily seen in many of the lower animals, but it has never been distinctly seen in the motive bodies of Myxogasters. Although the spores of the latter sometimes germinate by means of zoos- pores, yet such is not always the case ; Mr. Currey has seen the spores of Cribraria germinating by threads. We may, therefore, safely follow the more general notion, and include Myxogasters amongst true Fungi. The Genera in this Order are founded on the nature of the peridia and the contained threads which mostly resemble those of the Trichogasters, the spores are very similar throughout the Order. The spores are globose measuring from — the 3-1,000 to the 3-500 of an inch in diameter, composed of a simple membrane, smooth or slightly rough or warty, they have a thin spot on one side where the zoospore makes its exit, they contain a mass of protoplasm with one or two nuclei sometimes mixed with oil-globules. GENUS 75. LYCOGALA.t MICH. Peridium double, papyraceous, externally warty or chaffy, bursting at the apex. Flocci delicate, rough at the margin, flattish. 1.—Lycogala epidendrum fr. Sow.t52. Grow.t38. Common on rotten wood. This plant is of a fine red colour in its * Annales des Sciences Naturelles. Ser. iv., vol. x. p. 236. + Lycogala from lukos a wolf, and gala milk, 65 early stage, the contents of the peridia often oozing out like drops of blood. A small, flat variety occurs on rotten sticks of Rubus fruticosus at Batheaston, but it seems identical in structure. L. parietinum Fr. grows on damp paper, &c., but it has not occurred in our district. GENUS 76. RETICULARIA.* BULL. Peridium indeterminate, simple, thin, bursting irregularly, fugitive. Flocci attached to the peridium, flat, branched or somewhat reticulate. : 1.—Reticularia umbrina Fr. Sow. t 272. Bt8. Leigh Woods, Bristol, on stumps. The three other species recorded as British have not occurred in our locality. GENUS 77. ZTHALIUM. ft LK. Peridium indeterminate, covered with a floccose evanescent bark, cellulur within from the interwoven flocci. 1.—ABthalium septicum Fr. on rotten wood at Freshford, this species is common in most localities but has not been much observed here. Aithalium vaporarium Fr. grows on tan in stoves but has not occurred to me in our district. . GENUS 78. SPUMARIA.{ FR. Peridium indeterminate, simple, crustaceous, cellular, spores surrounded by membranaceous, sinuous folds. 1—Spumaria alba Dc. common on living grass. The only species, GENUS 79. PTYCHOGASTER.§ CORDA. Peridium thick, fleshy, slightly stalked or sessile, cellular within, the strata of cells irregular, fertile and sterile mixed ; spores * Reticularia from reticulum a little net. + ABthalium from aithale soot, owing to the black mass of spores covering surrounding bodies. + Spumaria from spuma foam, it resembles froth in its early stage. § Ptychogaster from ptuchos a fold, and gaster a stomach, E 66 simple, growing on the threads. The only species P. albus, has not occurred here, it is found on stumps of fir trees. The affinities of the Genus are very doubtful. I have followed Mr. Cooke in his Handbook in placing it here. It is not creamy in its early stage and thus does not answer to the character of the Order. Corda Icones ii. f. 90. GENUS 80. DIDERMA.* Pp. Peridium double, the outer one distinct, crustaceous, smooth ; the inner one delicate, evanescent, attached to the flocci, with or without a columella. 1.—Diderma vernicosum P. Sow. t 136. Grev. t 111, the only species that has occurred within our district out of 13 British is very common on dead twigs, &c., in the woods. GENUS 81. DIDYMIUM.t Peridium double, the outer one breaking up into little scales, the inner membranaceous, delicate. 1.—Didymium melanopus /’r Bischoff t 3669. On rotten wood, Langridge. 2.—Didymium hemisphericum Fr. Sow. t 12, not uncommon on dead leaves, &c. 3.—Didymium squamulosum 4 & St 4f.5. On dead leaves common. 4,—Didymium leucopus /’r. On dead wood, &c., Batheaston. 5.—Didymium lobatum Nees f. 104 on moss, &c., Rudlow. 6.—Didymium Cirereum Fry. Batsch f 169 on decaying stems, 7.—Didymium serpula 7. Batheaston on rotting plane leaves. This species seems rare, as it has occurred here only once, and was then new to Britain, it occurred in Scotland the same year. We can only claim 7 out of 17 species recorded as British, it * Diderma from dis double, and derma the skin. + Didymium from didumos double. 67 is probable that several other species exist in our district but from want of good figures and authentic specimens there is considerable difficulty in determining them. GENUS 82. PHYSARUM.* P. Peridium simple, membranaceous, naked, smooth, bursting irre- gularly, columella none. 1.—Physarum nutans v aureum. P. Grey. t 124. On rotten sticks of Rubus fruticosus, Batheaston. 2.—Physarum metallicum. B. Mag. of Zooly. and Boty., No. 29. t. 3,£8. Inthe same localities as the last. This species is iridescent and resembles Lycogala in the pink colour of its spores. 3.—Physarum album Fr. rev. t 40. on decaying herbaceous stems, Batheaston. Out of 7 British species we can only claim 3 as yet, probably from want of more accurate figures. GENUS 83. ANGIORIDIUM.¢+ GREV. Peridium Membranaceous, opening by a longitudinal fissure ; flocci adherent to the peridium on all sides, reticulate, flat, ending above in an inner peridium. 1.—Angioridium sinuosum. Grev. t 310. Sow. t 6, near Bristol, on Pteris asquilina. The only species. Fries combines it with Physarum in his Systema. GENUS 84. BADHAMIA.[ B. Peridium naked or furfuraceous, spores in groups enclosed at first in hyalline sacs. Berk. Linn Trans. XXI. 153. 1.—Badhamia hyalina. B. Linn. Trans. XXI.t 19. f 3. the only Sees EERE * Physarum from phusa a bladder. + Angioridium from aggeion a vessel. + Badhamia named after Dr. Badham, the author of Esculent Fungusses of England. 68 species occurring here out of six described in the Linnean Transactions. Batheaston on rotting stumps. The very delicate sacs which enclose the spores at first soon collapse and disappear, the spores are often rough on one (the outer) side of each when they are grouped together. GENUS 85. CRATERIUM. * Peridium simple, papyraceous, rigid, persistent, closed at first by an operculum. Flocci congested, erect. 1.—Craterium pedunculatum Trent. Nees fig 120, on small sticks, dead leaves, &c., Batheaston. 2.—Craterium lencocephalum Ditmar in similar situations, out of 5 recorded as British we can only claim two. GENUS 86. DIACHEA.t 7. Peridium very delicate, simple, falling off in fragments. Capillitium subreticulate, springing from a grumous, pallid columella. 1.—-Diachea elegans Fr. Bull t 502f2. Corda, Icones V. f 38. The only species, a specimen was sent me by Mr. Stephens from the neighbourhood of Bristol some years ago. GENUS 87. STEMONITIS.{ Gled. Peridium very delicate, simple, evanescent. Capillitium reticulate, springing from the dark, penetrating stem. 1.-—-Stemonitis fusca Roth. Grev.t 170. Leigh Woods, Bristol 2.—Stemonitis obtusata Fr. common on dead wood. 3.—Stemonitis violacea Fr. on moss, Rudlow. 4,—Stemonitis arcyrioides Somm. Batheaston. This plant is very beautiful, it is iridescent and resembles little gems upon * Oraterium from crater a goblet. + Diachea from the Greek diacheo, I diffuse, or pour out, from the rapid way in which the plant spreads in its creamy state. j ~£ Stemonitis from Stemon a stamen., 69 the dead leaves, &c. We only have 4 out of 9 British recorded in our district. GENUS 88. ENERTHENEMA.* BOWM. LINN. TRANS. Peridium very delicate, simple, evanescent, except at the apex where it is adnate with the dilated top of the penetrating, dark stem. Capillitium dependent, attached to the dilated disk. Spores surrounded by a cyst. 1.—Enerthenema elegans, Bowm. Linn. Tranns XVI. t 16 (plate 1, fig 6c), on rotting boards. Batheaston. The only species. GENUS 89. DICTYDIUM. fT SCHRAD. Peridium simple, very Sarat reticulated or veined from the innate capillitium. 1.—Dictydium umbilicatum Schrad. Grev. t 153. Rudlow. The only British species. GENUS 90. CRIBRARIA. + SCHRAD. Peridium simple, persistent below, vanishing above. Flocci innate, forming a free network in the upper half of the peridium. Out of 4 species recorded as British in Cooke’s handbook none has occurred here, they grow chiefly on fir stumps which do not abound here. GENUS 91. ARCYRIA.§ HILL. Peridium simple, upper part very fugacious. Capillitium elastic. Flocci, not spiral. 1.—Arcyria punicea. P, Sow. t 49. Grey.t 130. Very common on rotten wood. 2a.—Arcyria incarnata P. Observ. I. t 5, fig. 4, 5. Common. 34.—Arcyria cinerea Schum. Burl t 477, f. 3. Common. * Enerthenema from enerthe below, and nema a thread. + Dictydium from dictyon a net, and eidos a resemblance. +t Cribraria from cribrum a sieve. § Arcyria, from Arcus, a net, 70 4a4.—Arcyria nutans Fr. Fertili Baccho minimum Falernis Invidet uvis. After much needed refreshment at the Swan, and the ‘passing of a cordial vote of thanks to Mr. Irvine for his admirable ‘notes on the Cathedral, an adjournment was made'to the'Parish Church of St. Cuthbert, where the Vicar, the Rev. J. Beresford, kindly ‘met the Members. The present Church dated from the thirteenth ‘century, and was probably built by Bishop Jocelin in 1240, -though traces of an earlier Norman Church existed, Many altera- G 98 tions had been, however, made ranging from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century ; and Mr. Irvine pointed out where the North pillars of the nave had been raised in Perpendicular times, and where the old stone work had been used over again ; the original height of the nave was shown where the gable line still exists on the West face of the East wall of the Tower ; and the ancient masonic marks were very numerous in the old stone work. The famous Jesse altar, the work of the latter part of the fifteenth century, with its once beautiful sculptures defaced ; the curious bosses in the South porch ; the seventeenth century pulpit with its grotesque carvings of Jacob wrestling with the Angel, Sampson and the lion, David and Goliath, Jonah vomited forth from the whale’s mouth, Daniel in the lion’s den with its heathenish and semi-classical surroundings, having been duly noted, together with an old Prayer Book dated 1751 (containing prayer for the Dowager of Wales, the Duke and the Princesses), with the following writing on the inside cover :— The gift of Mrs, Lloyd to Susannah Lovell, 1801. The last place visited was the Vicar’s Close, unique in its way, with its hall at one end, chapel at the other, and its range of houses with elegant chimneys on either side; originally the work of Ralph of Shrewsbury, 1329-1363, but recast and almost rebuilt by Bishop Beckington’s three executors, Richard Swan, Hugh ‘Sugar and John Pope, so that Bishop Beckington may be called its second founder, 1443-1465. The rain being too persevering to admit of much enjoyment of the surrounding scenery; the walk to Wookey Hole Hyena Den was deferred to a more fitting time, and the members now began to beat a hasty retreat to the Swan, and returned to Bath, some by rail and some by road. Sept. 30.—The last excursion was to Edington and the Cherhill White Horse. Captain Sainsbury, one of the directors, having obtained permission for the Members to view the Westbury iron works, took command of the party consisting of some twenty- wd 99. eight members, and introduced them to the manager, Mr. Anderson, under whose guidance the various processes of tipping, mixing, and smelting the ore were inspected ; then, passing the large heaps of chalk brought from the neighbouring downs for the purpose of being used as a flux (nineteen hundredweight of chalk to three tons of ore), and peeping in through the openings in the blast furnaces at the rainbow tints of the incandescent gases, and admiring the fertility of mechanical skill which has utilised so mighty an agent for industrial purposes, by some extraordinary attraction the party found itself in the manager’s room admiring a rich collection of Roman coins in silver and copper, Roman pottery and pottery moulds, and a curious iron implement which at the time much puzzled the antiquaries as to its date and use. A native, however, in the course of the morning’s walk, near Bratton Church, threw a flood of light on the subject, as he was seen bearing on his shoulders a polished specimen of the same instrument wherewith he had been digging potatos. It may be described as a spade with the solid centre cut out, somewhat similar to a garden hoe, leaving only sufficient material at the bottom to raise the potatos by. This form seems peculiar to this district. Various large Saurian vertebre and other remains from the Kimmeridge clay were collected in this little museum, which boasted likewise of some good champagne and sherry provided by the kind forethought of the directors, who, with Mr. Anderson, were duly thanked for their hospitality. With some little difficulty a start was again affected, and the next points of interest were the section whence the ore was being dug out; the ‘pockets’ or depressions about two or three feet below the surface, where the principal Roman remains occurred; and a curious section of Kimmeridge clay, with reddish brown irony sands below inter- calated with greenish blue bands ; and then the Members breasted the hill in good earnest for the White Horse and Bratton Castle. Mr. Skrine was already at his post, just above the tip of the White 100 Horse’s ear, about 680 feet above sea level, and armed with a goodly basket of sandwiches and a map of the country, discoursed pleasantly on the battle of Ethandun, which he considers to have been fought in these parts (vide p. 34). Mr. Skrine having been thanked for his paper, the Secretary then called the attention of the Members seated on the edge of the Chalk escarpment, with an extensive range of rich woodland spread out before them, to the strata over which they had passed since leaving Bath ; how they had crossed in ascending order from the older to the more recent beds, and that they were now standing on one of the most marked features in our English landscapes, a portion of the great Chalk escarpment. The origin of escarpments was then discussed, and the importance of the Chalk districts as.a great water-bearing formation, the length of time taken for the rain falling on the surface to pass downwards to the deep-seated springs, so that the heavy rainfall in the winter is not felt in these springs.until the summer (vide Prestwich’s Address, Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. Vol. XXVIII), and some other points of geological interest. Time, however, did not admit of a longer delay at this point, and the Members pressed rapidly onwards across Bratton Camp down into the hollow where nestles the little church of Bratton, which a native of the place (evidently ‘the oldest inhabi- tant of the village’) called the ‘ Mother Church of England,’ and as he furthur informed us, ‘was built so strong that they could not beat her down in the civil wars: so far for the strength and antiquity of the church! Whilst waiting here for the key, Mr. Skrine gave a short account of the history of Edington Priory, and then the Members passed on, some to their dinner at the Duke of Wellington, at Bratton, others to visit the fine old church at Edington. Finding the doors open they were fortunate in meeting with the venerable Vicar of the parish, who, notwithstanding the fact that he had just been showing a party of ladies round the church, most courteously pointed out the chief objects of interest to the Members. 101: As the train was to be met at Westbury, a return to: Bratton was necessary. ‘And after a short delay for the needful. refresh- ment: at the ‘ Duke,’ the Members walked back at the foot of the escarpment along which they had walked in the morning. At the request of the Vice-President a by-eacursion was arranged for the purpose of following the Roman road along the crest.of the hills from Uphill to Banwell ; and, with that. object in view, on 29th May Mr. Scarth met the Members at the Uphill Station and conducted them over Bleadon: Hill along the ridge of the Mendips. After mounting the hill from the Station, two or three earthworks were crossed running right over the crest of the ridge from north to south, and apparently thrown up for the purpose of defence ; owing, however, to: the progress of cultivation many traces of ancient occupation have. evidently been obliterated. On the way some irregularities on the surface indicated the spots whence ore» had been excavated. Notwith- standing the fine views reaching away on either: hand, some of the Members felt much distressed at the frequent necessity of surmounting various obstacles to their. easy progress in the shape of walls and hedges, and expressed much anxiety as: to the dis- tance to be traversed before reaching Banwell. This was.at length accomplished, and a satisfactory termination ensued: to the day’s excursion. One other by-excwrsion deserves especial record. On Tuesday the 21st twelve of the Members accepted an. invitation from Mr. MeMurtrie, of Radstock, to visit some interesting geological sections in his neighbourhood. The day was. most unfavourable for the hammer, as, with the exception of five minutes,’ the rain was incessant the whole of the day. Instead, therefore, of driving, ashad been proposed to Old Down, and walking back through the railway sections to Radstock, an alteration in the day’s pro- gramme was necessitated, and a visit paid to some very fine earthworks called the ‘ Bulwarks,’ which are apparently little known ; though. Collinson.writes..of them.as: Roman, this.seems - 102 rather doubtful, as the reason he gives is not by any mears convincing. A rampart of semi-lunar form cuts off a neck of land with a deep valley on either hand. The scenery, so far as the rain admitted of its being seen, was very picturesque, but a mere hasty walk along the vallum was all that could be accom- plished, and a more careful inspection was left for finer weather. A curious fissure in the rocks adjoining, called the ‘ Fairy Slatts,’ was the next point visited. These ‘Fairy Slatts,’ occurring in the Dolomitic Conglomerate, were most probably the remains of some mineral ‘drivings’ of the ancient people. Mr. Niblett, of Glou- cestershire, here informed the members that the term ‘Slatts’ was a provincial name for slates, and that ‘Slatter’ was an old patronymic derived from the manufacture of that article. He further added that ‘Scowles,’ (derived from the Welsh word ‘Ceuawl,’) a cave, was a term given to passages into or through the hill-sides in the Forest of Dean, said to have been the delvings of the ancient inhabitants, Romans or Celts, in search of iron. Passing onwards to Broadway lane the last stoppage occurred at the point where the Somerset and Dorset line crosses the road. A very remarkable section of Lower Lias and Rheetic beds lying in a trough against the Dolomitic Conglomerate is exposed here. The more enthusiastic of the party descended amidst mire and clay to have a look at it ; the rest remained in the ‘break,’ content with their day’s wetting and somewhat damped in their ardour. A most hospitable lunch, provided by Mr. and Mrs McMurtrie, however, restored their spirits, and sent them home refreshed and gratified. Before leaving an opportunity was given for the ex- amination of Mr. McMurtrie’s fine collection of coal ferns and other fossils, together with his admirable sections. Amongst the fossils especially worthy of notice was a Limulus found in the Camerton pit. The usual Tuesday walks have been well sustained, though any novelty in them can hardly now be expected. The sinking a new shaft at the Twerton Colliery, which has reached a depth of some 103 60 feet in the Lower Lias clays, has formed an interesting object for two or three walks in that direction. It now only remains to state that additions to the number of Members still continue, so that the limit of one hundred will speedily be reached at the present rate of increase; and to remind the Members that an Album has been provided for the purpose of receiving photographs of objects of Archeological, Antiquarian and Scientific interest from the immediate neighbour- hood ; and your Secretary hopes it will receive many additions, CONTENTS. 4 Page ee 1.—A BrocrapnicaL, Novice or Sam. Crooxg, RecroR == OF Wrineton, A.D. 1602-1649, By He GREEN Ses od | 2.—WiILL or Topas VENNER, M. D., CommunicaTED BY: 35.5 Dr. HUNTER | a 3 bere hi Il. vee , 3. Copy OF A LETTER FROM Mr. St uPHENG or CAMERTON, = NEAR BATH, To Mr. Davis, OF LONGLEAT, ON. THE | SUBJECT OF ‘DISEASES OF WHEAT, DATED AUGUST — 22ND, 1800... WirH REMARKS BY THE REV. LEONARD. . - BLOMEFIELD, M.A‘, F.LiS:,B. GS &C., PRESIDENT f pe Pownros AT NEMPNETT, NOW DESTROYED, BY THE RE. PREB. SCARTH 5.—A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF _BUTCOMBE, WITH | SOME PARTICULARS RESPECTING THE CHURCH AND — PARISH, BY THE Rev. W. H. Carrwricut, i “> Reoror OF THE PARISH 6,—-ETHANDUN (A NARRATIVE), BY H. D. SKRINE, MA... 7.—TuHE CHAIRMAN’S ADDRESS ON Topocnaray, py Dr. ’ HUNTER 8.—On SOME OF THE FUNGI FOUND IN THE BATH Districr, By ©. E. Broome, M.A., PLS. 9.—Nore ON THE-OCGURRENCE OF THE LAND PLANARIA © (PLANARIA TERRESTRIS) IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF — BATH, BY THE PRESIDENT 10; SAN OF PRocubInes FOR THE i YEAR 18734, BY THE SECRETARY Vou. IIL, No. 1 PROCEEDINGS “NATURAL HISTORY VOL. Ill. No.2: PRICE HALF-A-CROWN Bia A ACE iD ida, SE EDR 9, ho :D (FOR THE CLUB) AT THE ‘‘ EXPRESS AND HERALD” OFFICE, NORTHGATS ST. 7 Aiba Seach ae LD TEED pe ts 2 - 105 On some Excommunications and Public Penances in Somerset, (Temp Archhishop Laud.) By B. GREEN. (Read December 11th, 1874.) After passing by a somewhat easy promotion through nearly every subordinate office, William Laud, D.D., became Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 1633. From his conduct towards the Church, and also his great favour with the King and Queen, the former doubtfully Protestant, the latter an active Papist, he was considered as being not unfavourable to the re-establishment of Popery as the National Religion; and as President of the High Commission Court, a Court then existing for the punishment of ecclesiastical offences, he soon obtained an excessive authority and power, which he at all times used without the slightest feeling of mercy, against any who differed from him or who opposed his _ novel proceedings. By his “ sole order and without any warrant of Law” innova- tions were introduced into the discipline of the Church, and in particular he endeavoured to revive the ancient judicial independence of the Bishops which had been specially abolished at the time of the Reformation ; or, using the words of the Charge against him, “to set them up above the Law as supreme judges of all matters in their respective Sees, so usurping a Papal and tyrannical power to the derogation of the King’s supremacy.”* For this purpose the decision of local, and often trivial, questious or offences were referred to them and through them to the Archbishop, by whom the offenders were reduced to obedience, either by heavy fine, or corporal punishment, or by ecclesiastical censure ; or by penance and deprivation if they happened to be known as “ learned pious and orthodox” Divines. The following examples, taken from the original documents and MSS., are selected partly for their local interest, and, in part, as * Articles against Laud, Vou. IIL, No. 2, 106 showing how these proceedings were met and resented in our county. The interference of the Bishops in cases of adultery and its allied misdemeanours caused especial and great annoyance. Somewhat in point is the case of David Biffin, of Cannington, labourer ; who, on the 6th Nov., 1637, sets forth that, about a year and a half previously, one Richard Grave, alias Hooke, of Enmore, blacksmith, and a man of “ good abilitie,” had moved him, the said David, to be a suitor in marriage to Jane Cole, his wife’s sister who lived in his house; and that he was there accordingly “enterteyned” and presently “‘marryed to her by his procurement, but never had the use of her hody before marriage.” All hopes of domestic happiness must soon have disappeared, for about six months after the marriage a daughter was born living and the mother being at her delivery in great danger of her life “confessed that Richard Grave was the father thereof.” This becoming known, the churchwardens made a presentment of the case to the Archdeacon of Taunton, in whose Court the woman and Richard Grave were enjoined a penance “as a purgation.” The former at once performed hers in several churches, but Grave failed to obey, and consequently was “ enjoined” a second and again a third time, and still failing, was then excommunicated for his continued contempt. But this man of “ good abilitie,” not to be subdued without a fight, at once appealed to the Arches Court, made Biffin and his wife parties to the suit, and as they were unable to go to London, he got them both excommunicated for non-appearance, “to their utter undoing, beinge very poore and not able to paye the charges, or to stand in suite of Law.” Biffin, therefore, petitioned direct to the Archbishop and begged he would vouchsafe his ‘‘ commisseration to the distressed estate” of himself and his wife ; and give order for their absolution and the discharge of the suit, for which he “would ever pray for his Grace’s long life here and eternal blessedness hereafter.” The result is not recorded, but probably it was soon settled as the ————— ll el CU 107 Archbishop had a means ever ready to stop such “ men of abilitie.’ The petition is subscribed in his own hand—I desire Sir John Lambe* to peruse this petition and give me an account of it, for if my Court of Arches be made a subterfuge for such persons I shall take another course with them by the High Commission. Nov. 6, 1637. W. CANT. There were formerly two degrees of excommunication, the greater and the lesser. By the first those under sentence were deprived of all the church services and the fellowship of their neighbours. They could sit at table with none but their own family, could not perform any legal act, were to be avoided in all daily life, and if they died unabsolved were treated as heathens and denied the usual burial. Any persons corresponding with one excommunicate were liable to the lesser sentence which barred them from the church services only. Besides, if within forty days the offenders did not submit, the Bishop could certify their contempt to the Court of Chancery ; when there was issued to the Sheriff a writ, de excommunicato capiendo, by which they were sent to the county gaol until such time they were reconciled, or for not longer than six calendar months. But if any were excommunicated for a cause which they considered unjust there was a right of appeal to the Court of Arches. Unlike penance, a money payment could not be substituted for excommunication. Another case and a more interesting one is that of Roger Fort, Robert Fort, Edward Hebditch, Richard Hebditch, Francis Boyce and John Budgett, all of South Petherton,t It appears that Roger Fort, being churchwarden of South Petherton, gave orders that a coffin of lead, lying in a vault in the church there, “covered with a blew stone and neare a faire monument of an Earl of Bridgewater and his Countess,” should * Dean of the Arches Court, + State Papers. Domestic 1637. Vol. ccclxxxiii. Art. 31, 108 be dug up, that the lead might be melted and put to other uses ; he persuading William Reynier, his brother churchwarden, that by so doing they would save the parish charges. Acting upon this order, Robert Fort, the Beadman of the parish, “in an afternoone, towards night, the church doares being locked, and hee quiet in the church, and again on the next morninge, because he could not end that night, about fower or five of the clocke, the church doares then likewise kept faste, he digged the said grave or vaut ; and Richard Hebditch, parrishe Clark, and Edward Hebditch, his sonne, beinge p’sent and consentinge thereunto, the said Richard Hebditch went down into the grave or vaut with a candle, searching not onelie there but alsoe in the said coffin, after itt was ripped upp, for jewells or some other thinge of value, and seeing as itt seemed haire in the said coffin of a yellow colour, he went to take some of itt in his hand and itt fell to dust.” Robert Fort, Edward Hebditch, Francis Boyce and John Budgett then lifted and drew the coffin out of the vault, and Robert Fort laid the bones that were in it into the grave again and filled it up and made the surface plain. Boyce and Budgett, being plumbers, then took the lead and melted it. Through ill-feeling on the part of one James Beale, as wishing to “ malign” Robert Fort, the affair became known. Information was sent to the Bishop, and after investigation it was found to be true, partly from Beale’s story and also by the frank acknowledgment of those engaged in it. The Bishop took a serious view of the case, and considering it a very barbarous and sacriligious violation of the grave of a noble personage on the 24th of February, 1637, “ certified my Lords Grace” of all the particulars, with a copy of the depo- sitions under his Registrar’s hand. He reported that the country “ranged” of it, all who heard of it detested it, and people feared that if the accused escaped without heavy censure, they in turn would not be allowed to rest in their graves, The Archbishop at first had a mind to have the parties 109 called before him in the High Commission Court, but on learning that “they were very poor men and worth nothing, save Fort,” and considering the great distance of the place from London, he chose rather to leave the settlement with the Bishop, giving directions that if the charge were proved the offenders should all be severely punished, as an example to deter others from any similar conduct. The Bishop then, in the presence and by and with the advice of his Chancellor, the Right Worshipful Arthur _ Duck, Doctor of Law, on the 28th of March, 1637, “ enjoined” Roger Fort and the others to do penance in the cathedral at Wells, and in the parish churches of South Petherton and Taunton, having white ‘“wannes” in their hands, and on their heads papers bearing text letters declaring the nature of their offence. Robert Fort, Richard Hebditch and Edward Hebditch, performed their penance at once in every particular, as did after- wards, but reluctantly, Francis Boyce and John Budgett ; but Roger Fort, considering the sentence “ too sharp and excessive,” stoutly refused to do it, and was therefore excommunicated for his contumacy. It is curious to observe here how the mere labourers, being “very poore men,” obey without visible protest ; how the plumbers, Boyce and Budgett, are half inclined, but hardly dare, to risk the cost of disobedience ; and how Roger Fort, because of his somewhat better social position, boldly rebels and goes to the fight to assert his independence. The Bishop being at Croydon in September, 1637, used the opportunity to have “some speech” with the Archbishop about this case, and asked him if, supposing Fort would give “a good commutation” for his penance to St. Paul’s, which he had heard __ privately he was inclined to do, whether he should accept it, and __ the Archbishop said he “liked that course very well.”* At various times Fort went to the Bishop, at one time saying * §.P,, Bishop Pierce to Sir Jno, Lambe, Vol. ccclxxxiii. ‘ 110 he would do his penance, at another that he would commute ; and early in November he seemed inclined to settle by giving a hundred marks to St. Paul’s,* but a fortnight later he suddenly went to London, and on the 19th November, 1637, appealed to the Arches Court and there delivered in his own account of the whole business. In this he states that the sexton of his parish had, whilst making a grave in the aisle of the church, “ digged up” a certain sheet of lead, but entirely without inscription, or any ground stone over or near it, and wherein a corpse, then all consumed to dust, had been, by conjecture, buried some two or three hundred years before. The leads of the church being in great need of repair, he, being a “ plaine and inexperienced” man, with the consent of his brother churchwarden, the minister and all the chief parishioners, caused the lead to be employed in such necessary repairs, “not converting any part to his own or any other use.” He therefore prayed that his cause might either be heard or referred to others, and relief granted if his “innocent simplicitie” should be justly proved.t The document is under- written,—“ I desire Sir John Lambe to peruse this petition and to give me an account of ye particulars here suggested.” Nov. 19, 1637. . W.. Cac This Sir John did accordingly, and eventually the matter was sent back to the Bishop for further consideration. As Fort had offered to substitute a payment of ten pounds, Sir John seems to have considered him as hardly used, and gave him a letter, dated 20th Dec., to carry down to Wells, in which he suggests that he should be absolved by Christmas. On his return Fort went to James Huishe, the Registrar, and offered * The King had granted to Laud all such fines towards the completion of the then St. Paul’s, and this gave rise to the saying that St. Paul’s was built with the sins of the people. + S.P., Vol, ccclxxii., 4. a 111 twenty pounds to St. Paul’s, stating that if that were not accepted he “ would take out his orders,” and do his penance. He appeared again on the 11th of January, 1638, which must have been close upon the last-named interview, this time before the Bishop and the Registrar, and delivered Sir John Lambe’s letter, perhaps fearing to do so earlier; and clearly not knowing its contents was induced to give up the benefit of his appeal, saying “ I do renounce all appeals in this business by me formerly made, and I will never appeal more, I will rather do my penance.” Sir John Lambe, getting no answer in due course to his letter of the 20th Dec., 1637, wrote again on the 12th February, 1638, stating that Fort had offered ten pounds to St. Paul’s for a commutation and would add ten pounds more, which he thought to be enough, as he had been already kept so many months excommunicated and had sought absolution with so much “travail and cost,” a hard case he considered “for any Christian.” In concluding he requested the Bishop to make an end of the matter, otherwise he could not deny the petitioner an “ Inhibition to make trial of the truth of his cause.” Nothing coming as usual of Fort’s promise, the Bishop now sent his Registrar to him, when he again expressed his intention to give up his appeal, and under the continued pressure, being ignorant of the Dean’s inclination towards him, he offered thirty pounds to St. Paul’s, and promised to go to the Bishop in a fortnight to know his decision, asserting as before that if that money were not accepted he would do his penance. Although thus gradually squeezed he chose to forget this promise also, and the Bishop, in answer to the Dean’s letter, wrote that as his Chancellor was present when the penance was enjoined, he could not consider it too sharp or excessive, and as Fort had never offered to submit, ‘‘indeed he will do nothing and is an idle fickle minded fellow,” he hoped the Dean would not have him absolved without submission or satisfaction. He concludes by “heseeching” the Dean to present his humble duty to “my Lord’s Grace,” whose commands he had fulfilled in this affair, and to 112 acquaint his Grace with what he had written, “only he would like to know, if Fort offers thirty pounds to St. Paul’s, whether it should be accepted,” and as to the Inhibition, if, writes the bishop, “you think fit to grant it after he has renounced his appeal, I cannot help it, only I will justify what I have done to be just and right.” From the favour of the Dean of the Arches and the hesitation of the Bishop, it almost seemed that this “idle fickle minded fellow” would be allowed to gain his cause, and he may be said to have partially done so, for after having offered thirty pounds he eventually cleared himself by a payment of twenty only, and this sum the bishop was afterwards charged with extorting from him “ against the law and for his own private lucre.”* Besides innovations in the discipline, Archbishop Laud also introduced “many Popish and superstitious ceremonies” into the services of the Church,t and the act of this now troubled time, which caused the greatest consternation, and which was afterwards brought forward prominently against him, was the alteration he made in the position of the Communion table. From the beginning of the Reformation, ‘“ even to his coming to be Archbishop,” it had stood within the chancel, table-wise, some distance from the wall, without any rail about it, and with the ends east and west. It was now by his orders to be placed altar- wise against the east wall, with the ends north and south, and “hedged in” with a costly rail. Uponthis “ altar,” asit was then to be called, was placed much “ Romish furniture never used iu his predecessors’ days, viz., two great silver candlesticks with tapers in them, besides basons, and other silver vessels;’ and in his own chapel at Lambeth was a picture of Christ receiving His Last Supper with His Disciples, in a piece of arras hanging just behind the midst of the Altar, and a Crucifix in the window * Articles against Bishop Pierce. + Articles against Laud. 113 directly over it, all which was shown to be copied from the Romish Ceremonial,* This alteration was first designedly made in the Archbishop’s own chapel and afterwards in the Cathedrals there to be pointed to as what the parish churches were expected todo, In 1633 Dr. William Pierce, Bishop of Bath and Wells, in his Visitation Articles, not only ordered this offensive change, but being “a great creature of the Archbishop’s” at once appointed Commissioners in every division of his Diocese to see it executed, or to certify to him any defaulters. Whilst the obedient clergy, comparatively few in number, were to present disobedient churchwardens, the latter in turn were forced on oath to present the clergy and all others who would not submit. The order was forcibly opposed throughout the county, and _ especially by the parish of Beckington. As in other churches the Communion Table at Beckington had for seventy years and more stood in the midst of the chancel, enclosed with a very decent wainscot border and a door, with seats round about it for the communicants to receive in. The churchwardens, backed up by their neighbours and the Lord of the Manor, Mr. John Ashe, of Freshford, who all agreed to bear their share of any charges which might be incurred, refused to obey the Bishop’s injunctions, and would have their chancel arranged and the Table there’placed “as they thought fit.”* The Bishop’s Commissioners on viewing the church certified that there was not a decent Communion Table, neither was it placed under the east window, nor railed in otherwise than with a border about it where the communicants knelt, and that there were seats above the Table. The Bishop on this certificate commanded James Wheeler and John Fry, the churchwardens, to execute his orders, and to return an answer under their hands before Ascension Day, 1634, and afterwards, by _ “word of mouth” he “enjoined” them to do it. But they, conceiving it to be against the Rubric, Queen Elizabeth’s injunctions, * Canterbury’s Doom. 114 and the 82nd Canon, stoutly refused. They were consequently on the 9th of June, 1635, cited into the Bishop’s Court at Wells, before William Hunt, the Bishop’s Surrogate, and Dr. Duck, his Chancellor, “‘for that the Communion Table in the chancel at Beckington was not placed under the east window of the chancel, nor railed in otherwise than with a border about it, and that there were seats above the Table.” They were here again admonished to repair these defects, to place the Table north and south as in the Cathedral, and to certify that they had so done by the 6th of October following. Continuing disobedient, they were next excommunicated in open Court by the Bishop himself.* Safely supported by their fellow parishioners as to the expenses, which eventually amounted to £1,800, they now went to London, appealed to the Arches Court for relief, and gave in the following fourteen Reasons for their refusal to remove the Table from where it had stood since the Reformation :— 1.—We have noe Injunction from his Royall Maiestie. 2.—Noe statute confirmed by Act of Parliament. 3.—Noe Canon at all for ye altering of ye Table. 4,—Noe articles to which we are sworne. 5,.—Wee expect noe change of Religion, (blessed be God). 6.—We are to continue ye year of ye Church. 7.—As we should hereafter be questioned in Parliament we know not how to answer it. 8.—Nor dare we call in question ye manner or forme of Religion soe longe hapily established. 9.—We have nothing to doe to place things in ye chancell. 10.—We be sworne to have God before our eyes, and not man, and to looke to ye suppression of vice and maintenance of vertue, and we know noe vice in ye antient standing of ye table, nor vertue in ye innovatinge it to a high altar. 11.—It is prohibited in ye table of degrees, in ye last date of it. * Articles against Bishop Pierce, EEE 115 12.—All ye orthodox Bishops, governours of ye church upon reformation in King Edward’s time of blessed memorye, have either written or preached against altering ye table. 13.—Divers of ye Bishops and the eminent Divines in Queen Marie’s time have sealed the same with their blood. 14.—All ye modern Bishops, governours of ye church since ye established reformation in Queen Elizabeth’s Raigne, Kinge James, and King Charles, for almost 80 years have not altered ye aritient standing of ye Communion Table, nor hath beene attempted until this 2 or 3 years.* These “ Reasons” are endorsed—“ This I thinke is ye answer which is soe much taulked of to Dr. Heylin, and all ye answer for other I can neither see nor beleeve yet what do they not bragg of.” This opposition and the reasons given necessarily attracted much attention, and brought the Beckington people into prominent notice in the Diocese, where every parish anxiously watched the result of their appeal. After much waiting in the Arches Court, the petitioners got from Sir John Lambe, the Dean, a letter to their Bishop requesting him to absolve them for atime. This he accordingly did for twenty-seven days, admonishing them then to submit. But in reply to the Dean’s letter, and clearly not liking too much interference from him, the Bishop wrote on the 2nd January, 1636 :—“ If these men have their wills the example will do a great deal of harm, and then many of the parishes which have already conformed will fall back, and others will never come on to this conformity who are now at a stand to see what will be done at Beckington. Therefore I feel assured you will do nothing herein but that which shall be for the good of the Church and preservation of authority in all things just and lawful.” The twenty-seven days passed, and as there was still no sign of obedience, Wheeler and Fry were again excommunicated in open Court on the 13th January, 1636 ; and further, at the Lent Assizes * From Sommersetsheer, S,P., Vol. ecelxxv., 84, 116 the Bishop caused them to be inditted as for a Riot—probably from some scuffle whilst hindering the alteration. They now appealed a second time to the Arches Court, and also sent to the Archbishop the following petition signed by about a hundred of their fellow parishioners :—We the inhabitants and parishioners of Beckington do humbly:certify that the Communion Table of our Church hath and doth stand in the midst of the chancel, being the most convenientest place (time out of mind), and beyond the remembrance of any of our parishioners now living. And that near threescore years since the pavement of the said chancel upon which the Communion Table standeth was new made, and in the new making thereof raised about a foot above the rest of the ground, and then also compassed about with a fair wainscot border in which there is only one wainscot door to come into the said Table, which door is kept fast and none doth enter thereat but the Minister and such as he doth require, which said Communion Table doth at the day of the date hereof stand so conveniently and decently as aforesaid. And we the said parishioners, with a unanimous consent do humbly pray, That it may so continue freed from all innovation, and so do humbly take our leaves.— Dated this 19th Dec., 1635. Here it may be noticed the usual form “and your petitioners will ever pray for your long life, &c., &c.,” is omitted, and a much shorter finish substituted. The Archbishop, in reply, refused to admit their appeal, threatened them all with the High Commission Court, and to “Jay by the heels” their solicitors, Mr. Wm. Long and Mr. George Long, and finally commanded them at once to obey their Diocesan. Determined still to hold out they now appealed directly to the King, pointing out as before that all former Archbishops and Bishops had approved of the table being where it was. To this Laud, by his influence, prevented any reply. Being thus destitute of all relief, the churchwardens continued, as the Bishop called it, “in a most contemptuous manner” excommunicated for about a : | 117 whole year, when they were arrested upon a Capias Excominuni- _catum and imprisoned in the county gaol, from which they were released only on their “earnest request and submission,” and sentenced to the following penance. Omitting the usual white sheet and the papers for the head, in consideration of their submission whilst in gaol, it was ordered that on Sunday, the 26th day of June, 1637, being in their ordinary apparel, they should stand forth in the middle aisle of the Parish church of Beckington, and there immediately after the reading of the Gospel, “openlie and penitentlie,” with an audible voice make this acknowledgment following, repeating the same after the Minister, viz..—We James Wheller and John Frie doe here before this Congregation assembled acknowledge and confesse that we have grievouslie offended the Divine Maiestie of Almighty God and the laws ecclesiasticall of this Realme of England, in that we have in Contemptuous manner refused to remove the Communion table in the Chancel of the parish Church of Becking- ton and to place it close under the East wall of the said Chancell in the same manner and forme as the Communion Table standeth in the Cathedrall Churche in Wells, and to remove the seates placed above the said table; being hereunto lawfully and Judiciallye monished and warned by the Right reverend father in God, the Lord Byshop of Bathe and Wells. And, in that, for our contempt and disobedience in not performing the said lawfull command of the said reverend father, wee have suffered ourselves to be lawfully excommunicated and so to stand for the space of one whole year last past or thereabouts, not fearing nor regarding the dreadful Censure of the Church. And in like manner have suffered our- selves to be lawfullye aggravated and signified according to the laudable lawes and statutes of this Realme, thereby in a loyall manner to compell us to our due obedience to the lawfull command of the Churche, and wee doe hereby protest that we are right heartily sorry for the same. And we doe faithfullie promise never from henceforth to offend in the like again, but to demeane our- 118 selves as shall become good Christians and dutiful subjects. And we do ask God forgiveness for this our synne and offence, and you all here present for our evill example. And we doe desire youall to pray for us and with us to Almighty God that it may please him of his infinite goodness to forgive us of this our offence. Then ‘“‘humblie and penitentlie” kneeling down, they were to repeat the Lord’s Prayer. _ The completion of the penance was to be certified to Wells, under the hands of the churchwardens and minister of Beckington, on Tuesday, the 27th of June, and was so done accordingly by ALEX. HUISHE, Rect. ib’dem. The mark x of RICHD. BURT, ALEXANDER WEBB, A similar penance was performed on the following Sunday, the 2nd of July, in the parish church of Frome Selwood before the pulpit or minister's seat there, and its performance was duly certified on Tuesday the 4th of July, under the hands of JOHN BEAUMONT, Curat. ib’dem. ee \ Clharehinatieee JOHN NORFOLK, : WILLYAM COOK. It was also done on Sunday, the 9th of July, in the parish church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Bath, and was so duly certified on Tuesday 11th of July by THEOPH. WEBBE, Rect. ib’dem. . RICHD. DUNCE, THOMAS PARKER, HENRY GAYE. These certificates were examined and passed by THOMAS ILES, JOHN BAILLYE, WILLIAM WEBB, GEO. LONG. So resulted this unusual fight, extending over four years. Never- \ Churchwardens. \ Churchwardens, 119 theless the parish continued disturbed, and the churchwardens and parishioners opposed and hindered Mr. Huish, the minister, in every possible way from raising a new ‘“ Mount” at the east end of the church, which brought upon them further notice from the Bishop. The shame of this ignominious penance so affected both the actors in it that they never recovered from it and were never the same men again. James Wheeler fell into a consumption, and dying professed on his deathbed that this compulsory submission made so much against his conscience had broken his heart, and was the only cause of his sickness and death.* During the time these events were passing, and for now nearly eleven years, there had been no Parliament. The King governed by Proclamation, and the Archbishop, through the High Commission and Star-‘Chamber Courts, did pretty much what he would without control. A Parliament being at last necessary, one was called in November, 1640, and these matters now noticed were severely passed in review. The House of Commons proved to be equally obstinate, but so much stronger than the people of Beckington, that, on the 1st of March, 1641, it sent the Archbishop, amidst the jeers of the populace, a prisoner to the Tower, there to await his trial, condemnation and death, as a traitor to the Religion of his country. Mr. John Ashe, of Freshford, a wealthy clothier, a member of the Parliament, and, as already noticed, Lord of the Manor of Beckington, got access to the prisoner in the Tower, and questioned him about this “most severe, barbarous, and illegal prosecu- tion” of the Beckington people, when the Archbishop frankly acknowledged that Bishop Pierce had acted entirely under his orders. A few months later the indignant people in London mobbed and very roughly handled several of the bishops as they were leaving the House of Lords. They consequeritly ceased to attend, * Articles against Bishop Pierce, 120 complained to the King, and protested that all Acts passed during their absence should be null and void. This protest brought them into contact with the House of Commons, which being at the moment in no mood to bear with what it chose to consider an arrogant interference with its special duties, sent the thirteen protesting bishops prisoners to the Tower under a charge of high treason against that Honourable Assembly. Amongst them was Dr. William Pierce, Bishop of Bath and Wells. A Committee of the House was next named to receive evidence against him, and, as may be supposed, the earliest witnesses were the people of Beckington. But the Bishop always asserted that he had done nothing in that matter but by direction of the Archbishop, and had acted only as an obedient Diocesan to the orders of his Metropolitan* This determined conduct of the Parliament produced first an Act, passed reluctantly by the King, which deprived the bishops of their seats in the House of Lords, and so practically disestablished the English Church ; and afterwards in the heat and anger of actual war, in hatred of the “ Lordly Prelates” who held the office, caused the utter abolition of Episcopacy “ Root and Branch.” * Canterbury’s Doom. a = 121 Tragical Adventure of the Viscount du Barri at Bath. (Communicated by Ropert Biaas, March 18th, 1874.) The following paper was found among those which came into my hands, three or four years since, as Executor to the late Mr. Charles Meyler, formerly proprietor of the Bath Herald. It appears to have been sent to him for publication at a time when some allusion to, or account of, the transaction had been recently published. It does not appear from the inquiries I have made that he ever printed it (probably from its occupying too much space in a weekly paper), and as it carries with it an air of vraisemblance I thought it might be worth the notice of the Club. Rambles about Bath. TO THE EDITOR OF THE BATH HERALD. Str,—Observing there have been in the Bath Journal different accounts of the duel between Viscount du Barri and Count de Rice, I forward you the only true version of the affair, and, which never having appeared in any of the Bath Annals, I hope you will find sufficiently interesting to insert. The author was chaplain to the late Duke of Nor tena’ and an intimate friend of both the duellists, and it will be seen from his version of the affair that he was the only person likely to give a correct detail. In those days the Duke was in the habit of wintering in Bath, and was one of its ereat supporters. From him “ Northumberland Buildings” took its name, and the late proprietor of Marchant’s Court changed its name to “ Northum- berland Place,” as a token of his gratitude to him: I observe in the Bath Jowrnal a statement as to a grandfather telling his son about its locality. There is better evidence ; I know a gentleman whose father was, in 1778, living at Combe Down, and was present and saw by the directions of his father 2 122 two large stones placed precisely on the spot where the antagonists stood ; and which were so placed before the Viscount was buried ; and that he can now point out the two spots. The surgeon who attended for the parties, as narrated by the author, was Mr. Cadby, who then practised in this city. Ifthe duel, as stated in the Bath Journal, -had taken place on Claverton Down, the inquest would have been held in Claverton parish, and in all probability he would have been buried there. On reference to the Memoirs of Madame du Barri, written in 1791 by herself, it is certain that she, who was the mistress of Louis XV., and the Viscountess du Barri were different persons. These memoirs do not even show her real maiden name from some hidden cause. It, however, appears that she assumed the name of L’ange, a bishop of that name being her godfather. Mainwaring’s Annals ought not to have been quoted as an authority. Your obedient servant, October 12th. J. JONES. “The season for the Duke of Northumberland to go and drink the waters of Bath having arrived, he proposed to me, as usual, to go thither with him. Bath is a most agreeable place ; it is the Spa of England, but more convenient and more magnificent. I was very fond of passing some weeks there in the winter ; par- ticularly with the Duke of Northumberland who saw a great deal of company. I therefore accepted the offer and went. We found there a French family, the Viscount and Viscountess du Barri, whom Mrs. Damer had known at Spa and had prevailed upon to come and try the waters of Bath. I became acquainted with them, and was witness to the catastrophe which happened to them and which I am going to relate. The Viscount du Barri was the son of the celebrated Count du Barri, called le Loud. In the time of the great favour of Madame 123 du Barri with Louis XV., he married the daughter of the Count — de Tournou ; of an illustrious family, and a branch of the house of the famous Cardinal of that name. The Prince de Soubise (their kinsman and a near relation of the lady) took her from a convent to effect this marriage ; and I was witness to the indigna- tion of the French nobility against an alliance so degrading to her. The Viscountess du Barri was of a charming figure, and of dazzling beauty ; she had a noble air and much sweetness, joined to great ease and dignity of manners. Her conduct was irre- proachable. . . . . The Viscount was called to Court. He was cornet in the light horse ; the king admitted him to his private parties, and bestowed many caresses upon lim. He conducted himself with so much prudence and modesty that he did not participate in the hatred which was attached to his name. He was, however, overwhelmed in the disgrace of his family upon the death of the king; for after the accession of Louis XVI. he appeared no more at Court. In 1778 he wasat Spa fvith his wife and _ sister-in-law, Mademoiselle de Tournou; who was about fifteen years old, handsome; full of grace, and particularly excelled in dancing of which she was passionately fond. They earnestly pressed the Count de Rice, an Irish gentleman, to come with them. Count de Rice was a nephew of Marshal Lascy ; had lived much abroad where he had mixed in the best companies ; and for eight years had been very intimate with the Viscount du Barri. They were likewise accompanied by Mr. Toole, an Irish gentleman in the French service. Upon their arrival in Bath they took a handsome house. Mrs. Damer came to visit them and introduced them to her friends. They kept open house, had parties and suppers, lived at a great expense, and, it was said, had great resources. In reality, besides a considerable credit which the Viscount had upon a banker in London, he was fortunate at play, particularly at favo; which, though it was prohibited in England, was sometimes played at his house. . . . T was then at Bath. I was introduced at Madame du Barri’s ; and I found her house so agreeable that I scarcely passed a day without going thither. . . . . One night, when Madame du Barri had a large company, I observed that she seemed very uneasy ; I asked her the reason of it, and she complained of having a head-ache. The Viscount did not appear. I inquired after him ; it was said he was indisposed and Count de Rice was keeping him company. She went twenty times out of the room under pretence of taking the air, and at last did not return, leaving Mademoiselle de Tournou to do the honours of the house. The next day, at nine in the morning, I was told that the Viscount du Barri had fought with Count de Rice ; that he had been killed in the rencontre, and that the Count was dangerously wounded. The situation of the Viscountess at once presented itself to my mind in all its perplexity. Deprived, in a moment, of her husband and of her friends (for Mr. Toole had been one of the seconds) ; young, a foreigner, without experience, without a knowledge of the language of the country, and surrounded with foreign servants ; everything concurred to increase her distress, I ran to her house to offer her my services, and asked to speak to her valet-de-chambre. His mistress as yet knew nothing of the matter ; the two friends had gone out at two o’clock in the morning in spite of her efforts and tears. Under pretence of going down with her into the dining-room, they had hastily got into the street ; she ran after them calling out as loud as she could ; they ran faster still, and the darkness soon concealed them from her sight. Let anyone imagine this charming young woman alone, at two o’clock in the morning wandering about Bath, without a guide and abandoned to despair. Her valet-de-chambre, who was looking for her, found her leaning against a wall almost senseless, and brought her back to her house. . . . Persons were sent everywhere without being able to hear anything of the Viscount du Barri or the Count de Rice. . The servants had heard the general report of the duel, but 125 nothing certain was known ; I therefore did not think it yet time to ask to see the Viscountess. It was said that Count de Rice had been carried to a furnished lodging. I went thither ; he was very glad to see me, and related the subject of their quarrel. The origin of it was not important ; but the manner in which it had been conducted, he said, rendered it so. He had made some representations to the Viscount relative to some offensive imprecations which frequently escaped him ; the latter had taken offence at the remonstrance, and, in the heat of dispute, had given him the lie. The Viscount, who was extremely irritable, could not support the coolness of his friend, and grew more warm ; at last things came to such a height that both parties agreed to fight with sword and pistol till one or the other should fall. It has been said that this was only a pretext, and that Viscount du Barri had begun to hate Count de Rice, who had himself expressed some uneasiness upon this subject to a lady of Bath. But I have reason to think that this opinion was without foundation. They had sent for Mr. Toole, and a Mr. Rogers an Irish gentleman, to be their seconds upon the occasion, and, taking a surgeon with them, had all set off together out of town. They waited four hours till day-break in a carriage which they had taken at Bath, and during that interval settled the conditions of the duel. The Viscount, who was impatient to fight, left the carriage at day-break, and the ground having been taken, he fired the first shot and wounded Count de Rice in the thigh. The Count then fired, and the ball, penetrating the Viscount’s breast, severed the grand artery and he fell, the blood flowing copiously from the wound. Count de Rice advanced towards him with his sword in his hand ; when the Viscount, feeling himself weakened, begged his life. “TI give it you,” replied his adversary ; but as he said these words he saw him roll upon the ground, vomit blood, and a moment after expire. Count de Rice, no longer able to stand, seated himself upon the ground, and the surgeon dressed his wound. The ball had penetrated the upper part of the thigh 126 to the bone ; the wound was not unlikely to prove mortal, and he was carried with much difficulty to Bath. In the meantime the Viscountess had sent everywhere. A report of the death of the Viscount had got abroad, but her servants did not venture to acquaint her with it. As I was leaving Count de Rice’s, I met her house-steward who was looking for me. He came to inform me that his mistress was in the greatest uneasiness ; that she was absolutely resolved to go out to inquire for her husband, and that he no longer knew what pretext to make use of to prevent her. I ran immediately to Mrs. Macartney, one of the ladies of Bath in whom she had the most confidence, and begged her to go with me to the Viscountess. She went to her first ; she told her that I had brought intelligence of her husband having fought with Count de Rice and being mortally wounded. I went in a quarter of an hour afterwards and found her in such affliction as may be more easily imagined than described. I concluded by increasing it to the utmost, on informing her by degrees, of the fatal event of the duel ; she gave way to an excess of grief which appeared to me profound and real, notwithstanding the cruel attempts of the most atrocious calumny, which dared to attack her under circumstances so entitled to compassion. It was pretended that Count de Rice had excited the jealousy of the Viscount, and that the Viscountess had been the first cause of their quarrel. She now wrote to him ; but as he was not in a state to answer in writing, I offered to carry the note and to bring back a verbal answer. As she did not acquaint me with the subject of the letter, I mentioned this to the Count when I delivered it, and advised him to give me an answer in general terms, which could only be comprehended by the Viscountess. He requested me to say that he had already given orders for what she desired, and he begged me to send the Viscountess’s valet-de-chambre to him as he had something to communicate to him. He wrote to her, however, by this valet- de-chambre, and everybody was astonished at seeing a correspon- 127 dence promptly established between two persons who, it was thought, ought to have had so little communication together. I spent the whole day in consoling the Viscountess. An express was sent off to London to Mrs. Damer, who had left Bath fifteen days before, begging her to come down, as soon as possible, to her friends; and I was employed in making preparations for her departure the moment when Mrs. Damer should arrive. I went from time to time to see the Count to obtain some explanations relative to the Viscount’s affairs. I learnt from him that the letter of the Viscountess and his answer were concerning the state of these. The Viscount had provided for everything and had adj usted his accounts. He expected a remittance from his banker of 400 guineas, which he had appropriated to the payment of his debts. He had drawn a draft for 200 guineas which he had put into the hands of his house-steward, and it was said that he had 200 guineas in his pocket book, and 150 in his purse which his second had taken charge of before he quitted him. But Mr. Toole was not to be found. He feared the pursuit of justice, if the coroner’s verdict which was about to be brought in, should not be favourable to Count de Rice. He had reason to apprehend that it would not, for it appeared that the seconds had concurred in agreeing that one of them must fall. They had marked out a distance of five-and-twenty yards and had agreed to advance upon each other as they might see fit. Each had a pair of pistols and his sword. It was stipulated besides that the conqueror might without quarter despatch his antagonist even when he was upon the ground. It would be very difficult according to the laws of England to have this construed otherwise than as wilful murder. Twenty-four hours after the departure of the courier Mrs. Damer arrived at Bath. I gave her to understand that Count de Rice desired to see her, but advised her not to countenance a proceeding which might justify the injurious suspicions entertained by the public relative to the Viscountess. She therefore merely sent to tell him that unless he had something to communicate to her 128 essential to the interests of the Viscountess, she could not see him ; and she required that he should give her his word of honour that he would not request her to come but upon that condition. He answered that he would not commit the Viscountess and that he hoped in a short time to be able to write. Everything being arranged, I urged Mrs. Damer to take the Viscountess from Bath ; assuring them that I would undertake to superintend the funeral of the Viscount and to arrange her affairs. They accordingly set out accompanied by Mademoiselle Tournou and the whole equipage. The next day the coroner’s jury sat, and declared in their verdict that the death of the Viscount was a homicide occasioned by a quarrel in the heat of passion. The consequences were no longer to be feared by Count de Rice, nor by the seconds. I saw the former several times, and he acquainted me with every- thing which it was necessary for the Viscountess to know. I set out for London, and arrived there time enough to inform her of them before her departure for France, whither Mrs. Damer ré-conducted her. Some days after this I saw Mr. Toole, who had restored to the Viscountess the pocket book and purse of her husband before she left Bath. He informed me of some particulars relative to the quarrel between the two friends. When they sent for him things had gone so far between them that no possibility remained of reconciling their differences. They did not acquaint him, however, with the cause of their quarrel, but he did not doubt that it took its origin in the jealousy which the Viscount had conceived of his friend, though he was very far from imputing to the Viscountess or having ever given the least occasion for it. Since that time I have had frequent opportunities of conversing with Count de Rice upon the subject of this unfortunate affair. He assured me that the true reason of their quarrel was a discovery which he had that morning made of a design to poison him formed by the Viscount; upon which I represented to him that he had better be silent relative to that reason, for in the impossibility there was of bringing proof of such . SS <= << SecTIonN at #. END OF JUNNEL UNDER PEvon- SHIRE BUILDINGS—TAKEN BY Hl. HH, W., SEPT. 27TH, 1873. N. Sive. St.in. eae oolitie gravel é and clay. Greenish yellow mica~ ceous bands with very d dense calcareo-siliceous < monites, Annelide tubes and fragments of shells, Bhynconella (spinosa)? DAREN SEX fi. becoming highly ferru- ginous at base and rest- ing on Cephalopoda bed. Calcareo-siliceons band about 4ft. 10in. * €, above Cephslopoda bed similar to top €. 32.0, ch band containing Belemnites. Cephalopoda bed, Upper Lias rock very ferruginous containing iron stone no- 3 b. dules, Amm;: serpentinus, communis, fc : Terebratula Lycetii, Rhynconella Moorie, and numerous Beiemnites ; and resting on @, Tight blue clay. ee hin. = Lt. nodules containing Am- SECTION AT E. END OF Junner— Y — 4 apy ths [eS 7 ee Bee 26TH, 1873. | SIDE. — —. P — _— i oie im r md Sia \ Micaceous sands resting lh. aie | on highly ferruginous t colic craven ase con- inipg ir - Bion |) ) A. Gales,” Amm :serpen- tinus, and communis; Belemnites,Terebratuls, Rhynconeils, ae. a = ——— &+ Grayish coloured clay. ———————— ———S—S——————— { z I. 0.4. { | t a H Se Buff coloured stone. 20.3) 2, Buff coloured clay: et C heh) d. 0. 3. , { += Ly 7 d, Butf coloured stone. é t Se “4 = 7 c& 0.4. C. Foxy coloured Clay. : > =~ P = = } ae - 4 — = = P 2 — — Concretionary _ferrugi- =_ — pous bed stained reddish b 0.7. = ~~ —- |} b. gues enh = 1m > Ss 4 } > sf = Buff coloured clay reste a Oe a. tnx onlight blue a ScALE 12.= ft. 129 an attempt he would have reason to fear that the accusation would be considered as a calumny against a man who could no longer defend himself.” Notes on sone Railway Sections near Bath. By Rev. H. H. Winwoop, M.A., F.G.S. (Lead March 18th, 1874.) In few places have railways done more for Geology than in the neighbourhood of Bath. Formerly Geologists had to be contented with quarries and wayside cuttings, which afforded but imperfect glimpses into the underlying strata. For often the material to obtain which these excavations were made consisted of some one particular bed, admirably adapted for its purpose, but frequently destitute of fossils, the master keys to unlock the history of the various formations. Those sections, too, whence our forefathers of the hammer have derived their knowledge, are frequently so covered with the overgrowth and accumulated talus of past years that it is next to impossible to recognise even their localities. Hence we are particularly grateful to that iron necessity which ruthlessly pushes its way through hill and dale without let or hindrance, opening up many a rock surface, and exposing many a passage bed hitherto hidden. It is more especially in this opening up of passage beds, where one formation dovetails into another, or passes from one condition gradually into another— from deep to shallow water sediment, from clays to sand or shingle—that the railroads in our neighbourhood have done us such good service. I will then this evening take you with me in a geological walk along the Bath and Evercreech line, from the point where the line diverges from the Great Western Railway, so far as Midford, resuming our further progress on some other occasion. 130 The first point then where we pause, shall be on a knoll of rising turf not far from Twerton Gaol, and at the distance of about half-a-mile from the river Avon. Standing here at an elevation of some 89ft. above the level of the present river, we should hardly expect to meet with gravel, but on looking into the cutting we see men at work in a fine bed of that material ; in fact the whole of this rising ground is made up of a gravel deposit. How and whence then did this gravel come so far above the present bed of the stream? The Avon, as Sir Roderick Murchison said, is now the “ mud-collecting Avon ;’ can- this gravel then be water-born? If so, the features of the landscape must have been far different to what they are now ; and indeed, great changes, both in the climate and the outlines of the surface, have taken place since then. This is evident from two facts which a little investigation discloses. We look more closely at this gravel and see that it consists ofa mixture of the débris of the various formations in our immediate neighbourhood, with here and there remains of rocks which are to be sought for at a considerable distance. We find for instance rolled pebbles of Oolite and Lias; the débris of our surrounding hills and valleys ; lower down are rolled and sub-angular flints, with occasionally a small rolled pebble of chalk, for these we must look to the more distant Chalk hills as the source ; still lower down we come upon rounded and sub-angular pebbles of Mountain limestone and reddish sandstone, for these we must go to our Mendips and the Coal Measures ; and finally, at the base of all, resting slightly buried in the mottled clays (about 5ft. thick), are sub-angular masses of a hard quartzose greenish sandstone, and large boulders of Inferior Oolite. One of these measured during a Tuesday’s walk was 2ft. 5in. long, 2ft. 4in. broad, and 1ft. thick, containing rather more than 53 cubic feet, and weighing about 73 ewt. (reckoning 156lbs. to a cubic foot). Now what do we argue from these facts? First, that this thick bed of gravel, if deposited by water, indicates that the “ _ Light blue clay, with bands of iron stone i3l streams or rivers to which it is due must have flowed down from their sources with greatly intensified velocity to what they do at present ; and secondly, that the agency which transported these large Inferior Oolite boulders was most probably ice. We have long been desirous of tracing, if possible, evidences of ice action in our neighbourhood. Mr. Charles Moore has already before this Club stated his opinion that the evidence of ice action may be traced in the deep grooves and channels which exist on the surface of the stiff Liassic clays on which these gravels rest. Hitherto I have not been sufficiently fortunate to meet with these traces, but the association of these partly-rounded Oolitic boulders with blocks of Green-sand, and their position at the base of the gravels resting on the Liassic clays may be accounted for by the carrying power of ice, and thus support Mr. Moore’s view. I have attempted to answer the “how” and the “whence” of the gravel beds; we must not forget to speak of their fossil contents. Recently, from the section now under consideration, have been brought to our museum several portions of Mammalian remains, one perfect molar of Elephas primigenius, and a portion of a second, the astragalus and molar of a bos (prob. primigenius), together with portions of other bones undeterminable. During a recent visit I was fortunate in securing a piece of deer’s horn. These remains were found in a band of yellowish arenaceous clay about midway in the section. Szction MoorFiELD CurTING. Bath and Everereech Railway. Ft. in Humus and Oolitic wash...