NEALOGY COLLECTION

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY

3 1833 01745 1607

GENEALOGY
942.3101
W714M
1881-1882

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in 2014

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THE

WILTSHIRE

Irrjiipiilngirnl unit Mural liutonj

MAGAZINE,

PutiltstjrU un&cr ttjc HBurcttou at tije Society

FORMED IN THAT COUNTY, A.D. 1853.

VOL. XX.

DEVIZES :
H. F. BULL, 4, Saint John Steeet.

1882.

The Editor of tlie Wiltshire Magazine desires that it should
be distinctly understood that neither he nor the Committee of the
Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society hold themselves
in any way answerable for any statements or opinions expressed
in the Magazine ; for all of which the Authors of the several
papers and communications are alone responsible.

CONTENTS OF VOL. XX.

No. lviii. 686572

PAGE

Account of the Twenty-Seventh Annual Meeting, at Bradford-on-Avon 1
The Ethnology of Wiltshire, as illustrated in the Place-Names : By J.

Picton, Esq., F.S.A 16

" The Eminent Ladies of Wiltshire History " : By the Eev. Canon J. E.

Jackson, F.S.A 26

Notes on Wiltshire Geology and Palaeontology : By Chaeles Moore,

F.G.S 45

Some Notes on Gainsborough and his connection with Bradford : By

Frederick Shum, F.S.A 55

Some Account of the Parish of Monkton Farleigh : By Sir Charles

Hobhouse, Bart 66

The Rising in the West, A.D. 1655 : By W. W. Ravenhill, Esq 106

No. LIX.

Some Early Features of Stockton Church, Wilts : By the Rev. J. Baron,

D.D., F.S.A., Rector of Upton Scudamore, Wilts 107

On the Church of St. Peter, Manningford Bruce, Wiltshire : By the

Rev. J. Baron, D.D., F.S.A., Rector of Upton Scudamore, Wilts 122

" Sculptured Stone at Codford St. Peter, and Heraldic Stone at War-
minster: By the Rev. J. Baron, D.D., F.S.A., Rector of Upton
Scudamore, Wilts 138

" Early Heraldry in Boyton Church, Wilts : Recovery of a Missing
Link" : By the Rev. J. Baron, D.D., F.S.A., Rector of Upton Scuda-
more, Wilts 145

On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds in the Neigh-
bourhood of Salisbury ( Continued) : By the Rev. Arthur P. Moeres,
Vicar of Britford 154

Some Account of the Parish of Monkton Farleigh ( Continued) : By
Sir Charles Hobhouse, Bart 185

IV CONTENTS Or VOL. XX.

No. LX.

" Letter from the Author of ' Nenia Britannica ' to Archdeacon Coxe,
on the Original Design of Stonehenge and the Neighbouring Barrows":
Communicated by H. J. F. Swayne, Esq

Edingdon Monastery : By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A

A Stroll through Bradford-on-Avon : By Canon W. H. Jones, M.A.,
F.S.A., Yicar

Extracts from the Records of the Wiltshire Quarter Sessions : Communi-
cated by R. W. Merriman, Clerk of the Peace

Description of a Barrow recently opened on Overton Hill : By C, Ponting,
Esq

The Opening of a Barrow on Overton Hill

Extracts from the Register in Christian Malford Church

Illustrations*

Monkton Farleigh Priory, Fragment of the Priory, 73. Monkton Farleigh
Priory, Plan of a Portion of the Site, 74.

Interior of Stockton Church, Wilts, 107. Ground-plan of St. Peter's Church,
Manningford Bruce, Wilts, 123. Ground-plan of St. Edmund's Church,
Fritton, Suffolk, 125. Ground-plan of Church of St. Mellon, Rouen, 127.
Ground-plan of Kilpeck Church, Herefordshire, 129. South doorway and
chancel arch, Manningford Bruce Church, Wilts, 130. Sculptured Stone in
Codford St. Peter Church, Wilts, 138. Sculptured Stone, Warminster Athenae-
um, Wilts, 140,

Edingdon Church, Wilts (south side), 241. Edingdon Church, Wilts (west end),
295. Facsimile of an entry by the Clerk of the Peace, 1579, 340.

No. LVIII.

DECEMBER, 1881.

Vol. XX.

THE

WILTSHIEE

ItrjjMilogiral anil Hataral lisfntq

MAGAZINE,

pufclij^rtr tmter tfje ©focttan

OF THE

SOCIETY FORMED IN THAT COUNTY,
A.D. 1853.

DEVIZES :

Printed and Sold foe the Society by H. F. Bull, Saint John Street.

NOTICE TO MEMBERS.

Members who have not paid their Subscriptions to the Society for
the current year, are requested to remit the same forthwith to
the Financial Secretary, Mr. William Nott, 15, High Street,
Devizes, to whom also all communications as to the supply
of Magazines should be addressed, and of whom most of the
back Numbers may be had.

The Numbers of this Magazine will not be delivered, as issued,
to Members who are in arrear of their Annual Subscriptions,
and who on being applied to for payment of such arrears, have
taken no notice of the application.

All other communications to be addressed to the Honorary Secre-
taries: the Rev. A. C. Smith, Yatesbury Rectory, Calne;
and H. E. Medlicott, Esq., Sandfield, Potterne, Devizes.

The Rev. A, 0. Smith will be much obliged to observers of birds
in all parts of the county, to forward to him notices of rare
occurrences, early arrivals of migrants, or any remarkable facts
connected with birds, which may come under their notice.

THE

WILTSHIRE

IrrtiuBlngiral anil Jhtttral listen;

MAGAZINE.

No. LVIII. DECEMBER, 1881. Vol. XX.

Contents*

PAGE

Account of the Twenty-Seventh Annual Meeting, at Bbad-
ford-on-avon 1

The Ethnology of Wiltshire, as illustrated in the Place-
Names : By J. Picton, Esq., F.S.A 16

" The Eminent Ladies of Wiltshire History " : By the Rev.

Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A 26

Notes on Wiltshire Geology and Paleontology : By Charles

Moore, F.G.S. 45

Some Notes on Gainsborough and his connection with Brad-
ford : By Frederick Shum, F.S.A 55

Some Account of the Parish of Monkton Farleigh : By Sir

Charles Hobhouse, Bart 66

The Eising in the West, A.D. 1655 : By W. W. Ravenhill, Esq. 106

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Monkton Farleigh Priory, Fragment of the Priory ... 73
Monkton Farleigh Priory, Plan of a Portion of the Site 74

DEVIZES :
II. F. Bull, 4, Saint John Street.

THE

WILTSHIRE MAGAZINE.

"multobum manibus geande levatue onus." — Ovid.

THE TWENTY- SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING

OF THE

BEtltsjjtre Srcljarologtcal & Natural Hfetorg Soctetg,

HELD AT BRADFORD-ON-AYON,
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, August Wi, \§th, and WtJi,

1881.

PBESIDENT of the meeting,

Sir Charles Hobhouse, Bart.

fg^UHE Annual Meeting1 of the Society was this year held at
$S|jf Bradford-on-Avon, an interval of twenty-four years having
elapsed since its last visit to that town. The meeting was eminently
successful, and the welcome and hospitality shown by the inhabitants
of Bradford and its neighbourhood left nothing in that respect to
be desired.

The proceedings were opened at the Town Hall, at twelve o'clock,
by the Secretary, Rev. A. C. Smith, who regretted to say that
the President of the Society was not able to be with them as he
had intended, owing to circumstances which had not been foreseen
when the time for holding the meeting was fixed. The Irish Land
Bill — they were aware — was to be considered by the House of
Commons on its return from the Upper House, that very afternoon ;
and, owing to the very active part which he had taken in the
discussion of that measure, it was impossible for Lord Edmond
Fitzmaurice to be absent from his place : he was therefore re-
luctantly compelled to forego the pleasure of presiding over the
Society at Bradford. Mr. Smith read a letter from Lord Edmond

1 In preparing the following account of the Bradford Meeting the Editor
desires to acknowledge the assistance he has derived from the columns of the
Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette, The Trowbridge Chronicle, and the Wiltshire
Times and Trowbridge Advertiser.

VOL. XX. — NO. LVJII. B

2 The Twenty -Seventh Annual Meeting.

\

explaining* these circumstances, and added that though disappointed |i
at the absence of the President of the Society, they had been happy I
in finding an excellent substitute as President of the Meeting in I
Sir Charles Ilobhouse. No sooner was the dilemma in which the 1
Society found itself explained to Sir Charles, when he at once —
though at very short notice indeed — most kindly acceded to their
request, and consented to occupy the chair and deliver an address :
and consequently they were all very deeply indebted to him.

Sir Charles Hobhouse then took the chair, and at once called
upon the Secretary to read the Report for the past year.

EE PORT,

" The Committee of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural
History Society, in presenting a brief report of last year's pro-
ceedings, desires again to congratulate the Members on the continued
prosperity of the Society, and on the general interest evinced
throughout the county in its work.

" The Committee at the same time regrets to add that the past
twelvemonth has been a year of heavy loss in old and valued Members
of the Society. Of original Members we have to deplore the deaths
of Mr. John Noyes, of Chippenham, who was a most constant at-
tendant at our annual gatherings, and always took a lively interest
in the proceedings; of Mr. John Spencer, of Buckhill, who was
also an active supporter, and a contributor to the pages of the
Magazine; of Mr. Stephen Moulton, the owner of the beautiful
Kingston House, in this town; and very recently, of Mr. George
Brown, of Abury, who has from the first shown a warm interest
in the work of the Society, and in accordance with a promise to
that effect which he made to the Dean of Hereford in 1849, has
had a watchful eye for the preservation of the remaining stones in
the great circle at Abury.1 Of other old, though not original
Members, whose loss within the past twelvemonths we regret, special
mention should be made of Mr. Brack stone, of Bath, Mr. Joseph
Parry, of Allington, Mr. Charles Phipps, of Chalcot, and the Rev.

1 See Proceedings of the Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain, Salis-
bury, 1849.

Report.

3

Henry Ward, all of whom joined the Society above twenty years
ago; and there are other honoured names of some who have more
recently been enrolled among our Subscribers. New Members have,
however, been elected to supply the place of those we have lost, so
that the number on our books is very nearly the same as last year,
namely 387.

" As regards the financial position of the Society, our balance in
hand is slig-htly increased during the last year, from £133 145. 9d>
at its commencement to £176 5s. 4<d. at its close, as will be seen
by the balance-sheet just published, and placed in the hands of the
members in the course of the last few days.

,f Of the Magazine, two numbers have been published during the
past year, of whose merits the Committee leaves the Society to judge.
The last number, just now issued, completes the nineteenth volume.

" The Museum and Library have been slightly increased by the
contributions of various donors ; the museum more especially con-
tinues to be enriched by further additions of: Roman-British pottery,
and metal vases and implements dug out at Westbury, and secured
to the Society by the exertions of the obliging manager, Mr.
Anderson.

" The attention of the Committee has been especially directed
during the past year to the state of Stonehenge ; and in conjunction
with the Secretary of the British Archaeological Association a repre-
sentation has been made to the Society of Antiquaries and the
Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain, calling their im-
mediate attention to the insecure condition of certain stones in the
outer circle, and their imminent danger of falling, in the opinion of
several of the officers of this Society, unless steps are speedily taken
to re-adjust them. At the same time the question of re-erecting
the great trilithon which fell in 1797, which has been so often ad-
vocated by archaeologists, was again pressed upon the consideration
of the parent Societies. The result has been that the Society of
Antiquaries appointed a Committee, consisting of H. S. Milman,
Esq. (Director of that Society), G. T. Clark, Esq., J. T. Mickle-
thwaite, Esq., Sir John Lubbock, Bart., and the Rev. W. C. Lukis,
who visited Stonehenge during last month, and carefully examined

b a

•1.

The Twenty -Seventh Annual Meeting*

the stones to which their attention had been directed ; and though
their report has not yet been presented to the Society, and therefore
cannot now be made public, the fact has been communicated to the
Wiltshire Archaeological Society that the whole question is to be
submitted to a general meeting of the Society of Antiquaries in
November next, with a view to such action as may then be deter-
mined on. Your Committee earnestly hope that immediate steps
will then be taken both to secure such stones as are now in danger
of falling, and to raise the great trilithon which fell almost within
the memory of living man, and whose original position can be
exactly determined. Should such a course be pronounced advisable,
it will then remain to approach the owner of Stonehenge, with the
view of obtaining his sanction to carry out the work recommended
in such a manner as to meet his wishes, and to obtain such help and
the loan of such appliances from the dockyards or elsewhere as may
be deemed most advisable.

"In conclusion, the Committee repeats the exhortation it has
frequently addressed to its members scattered over the length and
breadth of the county, and earnestly invites the co-operation of all
who take any interest in the Antiquities or the Natural History of
the County of Wilts, as by such co-operation alone can its best
interests be promoted/''

The Rev. W. C. Lukis moved the adoption of the report, and
said he did so with great pleasure, because two statements which it
contained were very satisfactory, viz. , that the financial position of
the society remained good, and that the Members did not diminish.
In some further remarks, Mr. Lukis alluded to the leaning stones
at Stonehenge and the fallen trilithon mentioned in the report.
The attention of the Committee of the Society of Antiquaries, of
which he was a member, had been directed to two of the leaning
stones of the outer circle, but they did not think they were
sufficiently out of the perpendicular to make their position insecure.
The trilithon had fallen, and could not fall further, and might there-
fore be considered in a secure position, but the point to which the
attention of the Committee was directed was the leaning stone,
which was a remarkable feature in that monument. It was leaning

The Inaugural Address.

5

at a considerable angle, 60 degrees he thought, and was evidently-
moving. If some effectual measure was not adopted to make it
secure, it would fall and damage the building very much.

Mr. T. B. Saunders said he had great pleasure in seconding
the adoption of the report. He gathered from it that it was in-
tended to do something at Stonehenge : but he ventured to express
a hope that a complete restoration to its original condition was not
in contemplation.

The report having been adopted, the President proposed the re-
election of the officers of the Society, but said he was sorry to have
to announce that amongst them they should not in future be able
to reckon Mr. Charles Talbot as one of their General Secretaries ;
for that gentleman had felt compelled from ill-health to resign the
office he had so efficiently held. He need scarcely remind them of
the great services which Mr. Talbot had rendered to the Society,
more especially on the subject of architecture. His place would be
very difficult to fill ; but he had great satisfaction in proposing as
his successor Mr. Henry Medlicott, a name well known and honoured
in the county.

This motion having been unanimously agreed to, the President
proceeded to deliver

THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

He remarked that though, owing to Lord Edmond's absence,
which they very much regretted, he had consented to make an
address, he hoped it would not be said of him that " fools rushed in
where angels feared to tread/'' or rather, where angels were not able
to tread. Yet he was bound to say he had had extreme difficulty
in accepting the responsible position of Chairman in Lord Edniond's
place. In the first place it was necessary for the Chairman to give
an inaugural address. Well, to his innocent and unsophisticated,
and perhaps ignorant mind, an inaugural address seemed a very
solemn thing, and he must say, when, on the previous morning he
sat down to the work he hardly knew where to begin, though he
need hardly say he had no difficulty as to where he ought to end, for
that came very soon indeed. However he had no doubt that having

6

The Twenty-Seventh Annual Meeting.

accepted a post which he admitted could have been so much more
worthily filled, and having done so with very short notice, they
would be kind enough to extend to him that indulgence which he
believed was usually extended on such occasions. Another special
reason for asking1 their indulgence was because, as a matter of fact,
he was almost an absolute tyro in archaeology. He had spent the
greater part of his life in India, and had come home only a few
years ago, but had he not come into that neighbournood and come
across such men as Canon Jones, Mr. Powell, formerly a Curate of
Monkton Farleigh, Canon Jackson and others, he should never
have had the hardihood to stand before them at that time. Having
had many agreeable communications with those gentlemen the result
was that he took it into his head that he would endeavour to find
out something at all events of the archaeology of his own particular
parish and neighbourhood. The first thing, Sir Charles went on,
after I have been poring over the parish registers or some old
terriers of the days of Elizabeth, or the Monasticon or what not, I
ask myself, and I am asked by others, Cui bono, what is the good
of it all ? Well, I suppose I need not argue that question before
an assembly such as this, but still it seems to me that if the enemies
of the study of archaeology will consider a little, they will find out
that, unconsciously, they themselves live a great part of their ex-
istence in the midst of that very study which they affect to despise.
Our life is obviously passed in three different worlds, as it were —
the past, the present, and the future, and every hour that we spend
in so much of the past as is not personal, especially in the more
distant past, in history, biography, and the like, is, in fact, an hour
spent in the study of archaeology. How necessary also this study
is to the daily wants of life we do not perhaps sufficiently consider.
I will not suppose that any of us desire to build a house, because, as
the saying is, " Fools build houses that wise men may live in them"
but at least we all desire to have houses to live in. Of course if we
live in a town we take the house that is most commodious, the least
expensive, the best situated for our purposes, and have done with it.
But if we live in the suburbs of a town or in the country, and
have any choice of our own, we don't choose the modern style of

The Inaugural Address.

7

house to dwell in. Let anyone go to Norwood, or Anerley, or
Wimbledon, or Richmond, and inspect the modern style of house
there and see what he will find. A square door in the centre, two
square windows on either side of the door, and three square windows
above, and, by way of ornamentation, a sort of curvature of different
colored bricks, giving1 the outside of the house very much the ap-
pearance of a man's face, the nose quite flat and spectacles on the
eyes. If you have any choice you don't elect a house of this kind ;
you rather go to the study of archaeology for your model, and whilst
you will have all the appliances of modern warmth and comfort in-
side, you will go, say, to the days of the Tudors, or the earlier
Hanoverians, for your outside building and architecture. So it is
not to modern times, but to the times of comparative antiquity, that
you resort for your domestic architecture, and it is the same in
the matter of Church architecture, and it is, or ought to be,
the same in the matter of public buildings. Put any average parish
Church side by side with any average meeting-house of fifty years
ago, and you see at once why, in the better development of public
taste, there is (I do not mean to speak profanely) at least one worship
in common between the meeting-house of to-day and the Church of
England — the worship, namely, of archeology. Or compare some
of our public buildings with similar buildings, the produce, it may
be, of very remote antiquity, and see if we have not even yet very
much to learn from the Ancients. Some years ago, when I was
travelling in the South of India and in Ceylon, I was very much
struck with the enormous stone tanks used for the storage of lar°:e
bodies 6f water. In one place in particular I found that the sides
of these tanks were made up of huge blocks of stone, laid one on
the top of the other, without cement and without clamps. No
repairs, I was informed, were ever needed. Yet these tanks had
received into their bosoms for centuries floods of water such as we
do not dream of in England, and had retained the rain for the
necessities of large populations, dependent upon them for health
and cleanliness and food — their very life in short. We constantly
hear — I read only the other day, of the disastrous failure of modern
reservoirs, and of the vast destruction of life and property which

8 The Twenty -Seventh Annual Meeting.

accompanies such failure. Why is it that we do not in such con-
structions profit more thoroughly by the lessons of antiquity ? And
who that has visited the Pont du Gard would not take that as his
ideal of what a conduit should be ? Again, in India I visited the
Mausoleum of the Taj Mahal at Agra, the Kutb Column and the
Mosque at Delhi, some of the rock-cut temples of Western India,
and the site of the great Akbar's Camp at Futtehpore-Sikri. The
impressions made by these marvellous buildings are as fresh now as
if I saw them before me. You approach the Taj through a garden
with groves of trees on either side, and marble fountains running
down its centre, and suddenly there break upon you the marble
terraces, the white marble dome inlaid with precious stones, and set
as it were in its turrets of red sandstone. It is by the way a debated
point whether the design and the details of this mausoleum are of
European or of native manufacture. There are in the Christian
graveyard at Agra the tombstones of many Italians who lived and
died at Akbar's court, but my impression is that the whole is the
work of native talent, a talent which has still numbers of living
representatives. Then see what could be more emblematic of royalty
than Akbar's Camp at Futtehpore-Sikri ? Windsor Castle indeed is
a noble building, royally and proudly conspicuous, but it stands alone,
whereas at Akbar's Camp there were the whole paraphernalia of a
king's residence ; the palace in which he himself dwelt, the hall in
which he gave public audience, the place of private business, the
Mosque in which he prayed, the minor palaces of his greater
ministers, his gardens, his baths and his promenades. All these,
thanks to a wonderful climate, are almost in as good preservation
now as when Akbar dwelt in them, and although I do not say that
we need in our day to imitate them, yet at least they give us
lessons, not only in the science of architecture, but in that of good
government also. Consider again the subject of some of the rock-
cut temples of Western India — take that of Karli in the neighbour-
hood of Bombay. The rocks there run north and south, and the
temple, or crypt as you may call it, cut out of the solid rock, runs
east and west, the entrance being at the west and the shrine at the
east end. The interior is of great length and height, and is made

The Inaugural Address.

9

up of a nave and two aisles. The sole light is by an aperture con-
cealed from the spectator without, and high up at the west end. It
is not of any great size, but it is so constructed as, on the day I
visited it at least, to light up the whole interior without the aid of
any artificial means. This temple is supposed to have been in ex-
istence many years before the Christian era, and though we do not
in these peaceful times in quiet England need a crypt for our temple,
nor one inaccessible and outwardly invisible light for such crypt,
yet these are examples, if and when they are needed, and the ex-
istence of crypts in our own churches shows that such needs there
have been. I have ventured to dwell on these far distant structures
because, after all, the consideration of them does, I think, appertain
properly to my subject, and because, if you will allow me to say so,
I find it easier to myself to dwell on matters which have formed
the subjects of personal travel and inspection, rather than on such
as are subjects of mere speculation to me. But I turn to things
that are probably more familiar to us all, and I will dwell for a
moment upon that very familiar thing, our roadways. They are
serious matters to some of us, and especially to those of us who dwell
in this immediate neighbourhood. We are blessed with a traffic in
freestone which is profitable to a few outsiders, which gives an ex-
cellent finish say to law courts some hundred miles away from us,
but which, so far from being of any benefit to us, is the cause at
once of a very heavy taxation, of very bad roads, and of much
rough and expensive journeying. In the parish of Monkton
Farleigh, in the very direction in which this traffic is principally
carried on, there are still to be seen the traces of a Roman
road. This was laid down some sixteen hundred years ago, and
this, in spite of ^ind and weather, plough and neglect, is still in
some parts almost perfect. The materials are slabs of stone and
concrete. Is there no lesson to be learnt from the use of such
materials which have, under adverse circumstances, endured so long,
when the modern system of Macadam has proved such a complete
failure ? I pass on to a more speculative topic, and I will speak
briefly of the archaeology, call it the history, of any one of our rural
parishes ; and I think I can show how, from its earliest traceable

LO

The Twenty 'Seventh Annual Meeting.

period, it is in miniature a history of the progress of the whole
country. I have been ferretting out, with the aid of far more
skilful workmen than I am myself, the history of my own parish,
and I give it because it is the only such history I am acquainted
with, and because I have no doubt it is in its way typieal of other
such histories. I find that we had neither a local habitation nor a
name until the time of Domesday, A.D. 1086. Then we were the
property of a King's Thane, a Saxon nobleman, and we had a popu-
lation made up of so many servi, bordarii, and villani, perhaps
seventy souls in all, reckoning five to each family. I suppose that
at this time the whole community was practically in a state of
personal servitude to the lord, but still there were elements of
freedom in the status of the villani and the bordarii, who held their
lands and tenements subject only to certain customary services.
Our Saxon nobleman, however, soon fell a victim to what we may
now call the land-hunger of certain of the Conqueror's barons and
our lands passed to the trusted family of the Bohuns, and they, for
the repose of their only too rapacious souls, transferred them to the
Priory of St. Pancras at Lewes, who founded upon them the
Clugniac Priory, which was long established amongst us. Then
some two hundred years later, or in the year 1294, we hear once
more of our progress, and under the evidently gentle and industrious
rule of the Priory we have materially thriven. The Servi, or actual
Slave element, have entirely disappeared, their places are now oc-
cupied by families of libere tenentes, the villains are still flourishing,
the population is about the same, but the number of acres under
cultivation has greatly increased, especially in the matter of pasture
lands. In 1535, or some two hundred and forty years later still,
we hear of ourselves again, and there is happily the same tale of
progress in freedom and prosperity. We have a chief house and
curtilage, a garden and a pigeonry ; we have an addition of no less
than twenty-one coterelli or cottagers to our population, and our
Priory is possessed, in a home farm, of herds of cattle and flocks of
sheep, of horses, mules, pigs, wheat, barley, oats, hay, and other
dead stock in the shape of agricultural implements. But our very
progress rang the knell of our master's ruin. By the returns of

The Inaugural Address.

11

their prosperity they signed their own death-warrant, and the family
of the Somersets, the universal land-hungerers of this part of the
country, ate us up, as the Zulus say. We were, before the Somersets
devoured us, a community of customary tenants holding* under one
landlord, the Priory. We afterwards passed to the See of Salisbury,
and were lorded over by a succession of tenants of that see, until
about ten years ago, when our lands were converted into the freehold
tenure on which they are now held. The customary tenants lingered
on until quite recent times, and there is still just a trace of them ;
but, speaking generally, the lands are all freehold and the cottagers
tenants at will. This is shortly the history of eight hundred years
of the existence of one particular parish, and surely there may be
traced in it the history of all England. The comparative indepen-
dence of the Saxon Thane, paying only his geld and his personal
service — the rapacity, mixed with a certain religious superstition, of
the followers of the Conqueror, taking without scruple on the one
hand from the Saxon proprietor and giving without stint on the
other hand to the Church for the benefit of their souls. The mild
and industrious rule of the monks, turning the waste lands to profit,
rearing flocks and herds, creating new industries, and gradually
emancipating the agricultural tenant from a state of servitude to one
of freedom and of even more substantiality than he enjoys at present.
The spoliation of the industrious community of the monks, which
in our case at least, had not even the allegation of corruption to
justify it, and the absorption of their lands and goods for purposes
of family and personal greed and aggrandisement. And finally the
creation of the class of great landholders, absolutely free of their
properties so long only as they are faithful subjects of the State.
Surely here by the study of the archaeology of one parish you find
a type of the history of the country. Ladies and gentlemen, I
have finished, and I trust that you will not have found the remarks
I have made either inappropriate or too long. I have felt, I can
assure you, throughout, very much in the position in which the
celebrated Dr. Dodd once found himself. One day, at one of the
universities, when he was innocently taking* his walks abroad, he
found himself pursued by a troop of undergraduates, who, to phrase

12

The Twenty -Seventh Annual Meeting,

it mildly, had been dining. He sought refuge up a tree, and from i
i hence he was compelled, before he was released, to deliver a sermon. 1
That, ladies and gentlemen, has been exactly my case. I was an
innocent man, coming to day to enjoy, as we all shall shortly, the I
fruits of others' learning, when I was captured by our Secretary here
and others, was driven up this tree, and was compelled, as a condition
of release, to deliver this address. The subject, if I may modestly
so say has been some of the uses of antiquity, and, whatever you
may think of my address, I am sure you will say with me, as has I
been said of adversity, that sweet are those uses.

The Rev. Canon Jackson did not think Sir Charles was such a |
tyro in archeology as he professed to be. On the contrary, he had
given them a very good specimen of his ability, and he hoped he
would in future years pursue it and give them some more of the
results on another occasion. He hoped, should he ever go back to
India, that he would take particular notice of the monuments which
they were told existed, but which they never found anyone able to
give them any information about. Some said those monuments I
were connected with that at Stonehenge. As to Stonehenge, if I
anybody proposed to meddle with any of the stones, except just to
lift them up — if anybody attempted to restore it, as some people
had restored parish Churches, he would be the first to take a
hammer and knock him on the head. There was a great difference
between restoring and merely hoisting up a stone and setting it
where they knew it really ought to stand. He had great pleasure
in moving a vote of thanks to Sir Charles Hobhouse for his able
address.

The Rev. Canon Jones then proceeded to give a descriptive
account of the principal objects of interest to be seen in the town
of Bradford, and subsequently conducted a large party through the
town, pointing out all that was most worthy of notice, beginning
with the Parish Church ; then the Saxon Church ; Church House ;
the Shambles; the Old Market Place; the site of St. Olave's
Chapel ; Kingston House ; Chapel on the Town Bridge ; Chapel
and Almshouses of St. Katharine ; Tithe Barn ; St. Mary Chapel,
Tory ; and ending with Christ Church ; all of which we pass over

The Dinner.

13

now without farther comment, as we hope to print Canon Jones'
short description of each of them at a future page of this Magazine,

THE DINNER

took place at the Swan Hotel, the President of the Meeting in the
chair; when the usual loyal and complimentary toasts were given.

The Rev. Canon Jones, in returning thanks for the Bishop and
Clergy, observed that it was twenty-four years ago since he first
took part in the work of the Society, on the occasion of its first visit
to Bradford, and he hoped he had contributed to its advancement
ever since ; he trusted, moreover, that those who came after the
archaeologists of the present day would continue to carry on the
study and promote the work of the Society.

The Rev. A. C. Smith, in returning thanks for the General
Secretaries, expressed his sincere regret that his colleague — Mr.
Charles Talbot, had felt compelled from ill-health to resign office.
All those who had taken part in our Annual Meetings of late years
would recollect how much Mr. Talbot had contributed by his
architectural and archaeological knowledge to the edification of the
Members, more especially by his judicious remarks on the various
Churches they visited. Mr. Talbot had also been a contributor to
the pages of the Magazine, and had taken an active part in the
working of the Society. It was a source of satisfaction, however,
to be assured (and Mr. Talbot had written to him to that effect)
that he would still continue to take a warm interest in the work of
the Society, and would gladly do all in his power to aid it. The
Society was happy, too, in securing as Mr. Talbot's successor a
gentleman so highly esteemed throughout the county as Mr.
Medlicott, one who had long been an active member of the Com-
mittee, and for many years had evinced a keen interest in the
antiquities of Wiltshire.

The Local Secretary, Dr. Highmore, and his colleagues, Rev. F.
Whitehead and Rev. W. N. C. Wheeler, were duly thanked for
their indefatigable exertions in making preparations for the Meeting;
and the toast of The Ladies was not forgotten by the President, a
toast to which Sin John Hannah replied in graceful terms.

14

The Twenty -Seventh Annual Meeting.

THE CONVERSAZIONE

was held at the Town Hall, the President of the Meeting in the
chair: when Mr. Charles Moore, F.G.S., gave a very able ad-
dress, entitled " Notes on Wiltshire Pala3ontology " ; and then
Canon Jackson, F.S.A., in his happiest vein, read an excellent
paper on " The Eminent Ladies of Wiltshire History/' As both
these papers will appear in the Magazine, no farther mention need
be here made of them, but to add that at their conclusion a vote of
thanks was moved from the chair, and heartily responded to by the
audience.

SECOND DAY, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10th.

The archaeologists, under the guidance of Canon Jones, left
Bradford at ten o'clock in a long line of carriages, and first drove
to Westwood Church and Manor House ; then to Stowford Manor
House, and then to Beckington Church, at all of which places Canon. S
Jones pointed out the most noticeable features, and gave short
epitomes of their respective histories, as will be seen in his notes
farther on. At this point of the programme the Society was I
hospitably entertained by the Local Committee at a luncheon spread I
in the School-room. At its conclusion the Chairman (Sir C.
Hobhouse) proposed the health of the Rev. S. L. Sainsbury, the
Rector of Beckington, and congratulated him on the very happy I?
restoration of his Church, lately completed. The Be v. A. C. Smith,
on behalf of the Society, offered his best thanks to the Local Com-
mittee of Bradford for the hospitable entertainment given them
that day. The Society had been very kindly received in many parts
of the county, but in no place had they met with a warmer re-
ception or a truer welcome than at Bradford. Dr. Highmore 1
having suitably responded, the company left the School-room, and
turned their attention to the many interesting old houses of which
Beckington seems full, more especially to the charming old buildings
known as Beckington Castle, and the Grange. Thence to Seymour's
Court, Road Church, and North Bradley Church ; all of which are
merely enumerated here, as they will be severally described in Canon
0 ones' notes, mentioned above.

Third Day, Thursday, August, Will.

15

THE CONVERSAZIONE

took place at the Town Hall, at 8 o'clock, at which Sir Charles
Hobtiouse ag^ain presided. The first paper was by the President,
entitled " Some account of Monkton Farleigh." At its conclusion
a vote of thanks to the author was moved by the Secretary, and
carried by acclamation. Then Mr. Frederick Shum, F.S.A., read
a paper, " On Some notes of Gainsborough and his connection with
Bradford/' for which the President tendered him the thanks of the
audience. Both of these interesting papers will appear in the
Magazine in due course.

As this was the last occasion of the assembling of the Society at
Bradford during its present Meeting, the Rev. A. C. Smith begged
to express, on the part of the Society, towards the close of a most
happy and successful Meeting, cordial thanks, first to the town and
neighbourhood of Bradford for the hearty welcome given to it : then
to the Local Secretaries for the labour they had undergone in its
behalf, and the arrangements they had so happily made : and last,
though not least, to Sir Charles Hobhouse, who so kindly and so
admirably discharged the duties of President of the Meeting at
almost a moment's notice. Sir Charles, in reply, proposed a vote
of thanks to Canon Jones for the large amount of information he
had conveyed to them, and for the pains he had taken in pointing
out all that was best worth notice.

THIRD DAY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 11th.

The excursionists assembled at the Town Hall, at ten o'clock, and
again under the able guidance of Canon Jones, first visited Holt
Church ; then Monkton Manor House ; then Broughton Gifford
Church. From hence they drove to Great Chalfield Manor House,
which, of all the many excellent specimens inspected during the
three days' meeting, was incomparably the finest domestic building
they had seen : and here they wandered up and down, inside and
outside the house, never tired of admiring this splendid specimen of
fifteenth century work. Then, by invitation of Mr. and Mrs.
Fuller, the archaeologists — by this time numbering about one hun-
dred and twenty-five — were most hospitably entertained at luncheon

16

The Tic eniy -Seventh Annual Meeting.

in a large marquee. At its conclusion the President expressed the
hearty thanks of the Society to Mr. and Mrs. Fuller for the mag-
nificent way in which they had entertained them ; while Mr. Fuller,
in reply, cordially welcomed the Society to Chalfield, and assured the
company that he had been delighted so to receive them. Thence a
drive to the old house at Wraxall ; then to the Manor House and
Chapel of St. Audoen : then to Chapel Plaister ; and then to
Monkton Farleigh, where tea and coffee were hospitably provided by
the President, closed the excursion, and with it one of the most
successful meetings which the Society has ever held.

Ojc .Ctjtwlffjjg of WiMjiw, a$ tetrad

By J. Picton, Esq., F.S.A.
(Read before the British. Archaeological Association, at Devizes, August, 1880.)

J^^J^jT the Congress of the British Archaeological Association at
'M Yarmouth and Norwich last year I read a paper on u Place
Names in Norfolk/"* which has since been published in the Journal.

The subject is full of interest both to the antiquary and the
philologist. Each county has its own peculiarities as to the origin
and application of its local nomenclature, and I propose in the few
following pages to enquire, as far as the brief space will permit,
what light can be thrown by the study of the place-names in
Wiltshire on the condition of the district, and the races by whom it
has been successively occupied.

These inquiries have always been attractive, but down to a very
recent period they have been pursued in a very empirical fashion,

By J. Picton, Esq., F.&.4. 17

calculated rather to throw ridicule on the study, than to lead to any
satisfactory conclusions. Chronology, race, and language have been
set at nought, and the most astounding guesses have been indulged
in to bring together from any source, names and words between
which there appeared any likeness, however superficial. Thus the
common Anglo-Saxon name of Brimham has been derived frorq.
Hebrew Beth-Rlmmon ; and the Saxon Barroiv or Bury from Hebrew
Barruo, pit of lamentation. It is only of very recent years that the
subject has been taken up with any regard to the principles of
systematic or scientific inquiry.

Camden published his " Remaines concerning Britaine " in 1614.
Verstegan's (t Restitution of Decayed Intelligence 33 was issued in
1628. Both of these contain information of a very judicious
character on English names. During the interval of more than
two centuries, almost to the present day, little or nothing was added
to our information, but more recently attention has been called to
the subject by the publication of such works as " Taylor's Names
and Places" (1864) ; Edmunds's "Traces of History in the Names
of Places" (1869) ; Fergusson's "Teutonic Name System" (1864);
Joyce's "Origin and History of Irish Names of Places" (1869) ;
besides the works of Mr. Lower and Miss Young on Christian and
Surnames indirectly bearing on the same subject. These works are
of a general kind, and do not attempt to illustrate any particular
district. There are also difficulties, to which I will presently allude,
connected with the inquiry, which are hardly, if at all, noticed by
the writers in question.

The names of places scattered over the surface of our country may
be compared to the geological stratification of the same surface, one
layer overlying another until we arrive at the primitive formation;
and the prevalence of one or other of these gives its character to the
name system in the one case as to the physical aspect in the other.
Thus in Leicestershire, Derbyshire, and Lincolnshire, a large pro-
portion of the place-names are derived from a Danish source; in
Durham and Cumberland a Scandinavian clement is found, but most
probably of Norwegian origin. In Cornwall the main element is
formed by the Celtic of the old Cornish stock. In Wales and

VOL. XX. — NO. LVJIL C

18 The Ethnology of Wiltshire, as illustrated in the Place* Names.

the counties bordering thereon the basis of the place-names may-
be expected to be Cymric, whilst in many, probably the most of
the others, the Celtic and Norse elements almost entirely disappear,
and are replaced by nearly pure Anglo-Saxon. Amongst these
latter Wiltshire stands conspicuous.

Of course a large proportion of the place-names in every county
are of comparatively modern origin, and present no difficulty. With
these I do not propose to deal. My present subject is the names i
which are found in Domesday Book or a century or two later.

If we take even a cursory glance at a map of the county, we find i
most of the names composed of a prefix and suffix, such as Salis-bury, ,
Winter-bourne, Brad -ford, &c. Now these suffixes, which constitute :
the substance of the names, qualified by the prefix, are in the great
majority of cases perfectly intelligible in modern English. Ton,
Ford, Burn or Bourne, Cot, Ham (home), Bridge, Brook, Sfc., are
part and. parcel of our daily speech. Many others which are now I
somewhat obsolete are easily explicable from the old forms of our }
Language. Such are Holt, Hurst, Shaw, Don, Bury, Worth, &c. [
The qualifying portion of the name is the prefix. Many of these
prefixes are pure Saxon and easy to understand, such as Nor-lon,
Faston, Sutton, or south town, taken from their relative position.
Some from the surroundings, such as Hazle-bury , Alder-bury , Wood'
borough, Hill-ma.rton, Mil-ton, and others from various circumstances f
to which I shall presently refer. When every allowance is made I
for these, there remain a large number which cannot be thus resolved,
and the question is, where are we to look for the solution ? Some
of the writers on the subject — and there are not many who have
entered upon it at all — make very short work of it. If there is
any difficulty they have only to invent a personal name, and the
thing is done. Thus Chat-ham and Chat-moss are supposed to be
derived from a person bearing the name of Chat. Frensham from
one Fren or Frene. In other cases circumstances of the most un-
likely character are assumed if the name happens to fit. Thus
Keele, in Staffordshire — nearly in the centre of England — has been
held to be so called from Keel a north-country word for a barge or
ship, with which the place could not have the slightest connexion.

By J. Piclon, Esq., F.S.A.

19

Parfney is said to be from pera-tun-ey , pear town by the water. It
is scarcely worth while to waste time in examining* absurdities of
this kind. Where we cannot discover a clear and definite meaning
within our reach, the best mode of solving the enigma is to confess
our ignorance and seek for means of better information.

There cannot be much doubt that a large number of the prefixes
in English place-names are of Celtic origin, most probably of the
Cymric variety; but the language from which they are derived has
greatly changed in the course of ages, and is only very imperfectly
represented by the modern Welsh. It is very unlikely and would
be contrary to all history to suppose that when the Saxons conquered
England by degrees and effected the settlement of the country they
exterminated all the inhabitants. Such a circumstance has hardly
happened in the history of the world. There Was no break of con-*
tinuity. The conquerors in taking possession would naturally adopt
the native appellations, modifying them to suit their own purposes.
This is precisely what the Ho mans had done before them. Venta
Belgarum and Sorbidunum are simply Cymric names with Latin
suffixes. Nay, we may go further back than this- What took
place both at the Roman and Saxon conquests would equally occur
at the previous Celtic invasion. We are not to suppose that those
we call the ancient Britons were the aboriginal inhabitants of this
island. The Belgae and Atrebates, who occupied the present Wiltshire
and Hampshire, were immigrants of no long standing. Both Caesar
and Tacitus bear testimony to this. Caesar says, u Britanniae pars
interior ab iis incolitur quos natos in insula memoria proditum est.
Maritima pars ab iis, qui prsedae ac belli inferendi causa, ex Belgis
transierant." (De Bell. (Jail., Lib. v.) 1

Tacitus states " Britanniam qui mortales initio coluerunt indigence
an advecti, parum compertum; in universum tamen estimanti, Gallos
vicinum solum occupasse, credibile est." (Vit Agricol.) ?

1 The interior of Britain is inhabited by native races as it is handed down by
tradition ; the maritime parts by those who have passed over from Belgium for
the sake of plunder or war.

2 Whether the people who first inhabited Britain were indigenous or immigrants,
it is hard to ascertain, but it is generally believed that the Gauls occupied \ho
nearest coasts.

C 2

20 The Ethnology of Wiltshire, as illustrated in the Place-Names.

M. Littre, the great French philologist, speaking of the Celtic
invasion of "Western Europe, says " parmi ces noms celtiques, il en 1
est sans doute, qui n' appartiennent pas a la langue des Celtes.
Leur etablisscment dans la Gaule, si ancien a un point de vue, est §
moderne a un autre ; ils y trouverent des populations d'un developp-
ment inferieur, et Yon peut croire qu} ils n'en expulserent ni tous
les hommes, ni tous les noms/'' 1

Modern investigation has pretty clearly established the fact that :
long preceding the Celtic immigration, the west of Europe was in- 1
habited by a race of inferior development, probably of Euskarian I
or Esquimo affinity. The name of Britain, which is certainly not I
Celtic, has been traced to this source, and many names of places in
Spain and the south of France bear testimony to the existence of a
race which has, long ages ago, entirely passed away as a separate
people. Let us now endeavour to apply these principles to the an-
tiquities and nomenclature of Wiltshire. No county in the kingdom I
is richer, if so abundant, in prehistoric remains. They are dis-
tributed over the surface, of all classes and periods, from the earliest
rude attempts at habitations at Pen Pits, near Stourton, on the
borders of Somerset, through the various descriptions of barrows, I
tumuli, ditches, and earthworks up to the noble relics of Avebury
and Silbury and the magnificent structure of Stonehenge. The |
earliest pits and earthworks bear all the marks of an extremely rude
and primitive people ; that these people were conquered and driven
westwards by the advancing Celtse has every confirmation short of
written records. Even at the present day the pits, the remains of
primitive habitations which are found in abundance in Wales, bear |
traditionally the name of " Cyttiau Gwyddelod/' the huts of the
wild men or savages.

The description of the Fenni given to us by Tacitus exactly
describes a people of this class, and the name Fenni may without

much violence be applied to the occupants of the Pen Pits. He ;

. .

1 " Amongst these Celtic names, without doubt there are some which do not 1
belong to the Celtic language. Their establishment in Gaul, so ancient from one
point of view, is modern from another. They found there a population of an i
inferior development, and it may be believed that they neither exterminated all
the people nor all the names."

By J. Picton, Esq., F.S.A.

21

says " Fennis mira f eritas, f aeda paupertas ; non arma, non equi,
non penates ; victui herba, vestitui pelles, cubile humus ; sola in
sagittis spes, quas inopia ferri, ossibus asperant."

" Nothing1 can equal the ferocity of the Fenni, nor is there any
thing so disgusting as their filth and poverty. Without arms,
without horses, and without a fixed place of abode, they lead a
vagrant life ; their food the common herbage, the skins of beasts
their only clothing; and the bare earth their resting-place. For
their chief support they depend on their arrows ; to which for want
of iron, they prefix a pointed bone."

This is an exact description of all savages of the stone age, whose
relics are continually fouud under tumuli of the earliest construc-
tion.

Now what I maintain is this : that taking all analogy and history
for our guide, it is scarcely possible that there should not be some
remains of the language of this primitive people embedded in the
nomenclature of the country. This is a question which has attracted
some notice, and future investigation may throw some light upon
it.

The names of the prominent features of a country, the hills,
valleys and rivers are usually the most ancient. We find most of
them in Wiltshire may be referred to a Cymric origin. There are
no high hills demanding to be specially noticed in the nomenclature.
Ingpen, near the junction of the three counties of Wiltshire, Hamp-
shire and Berkshire, 1011 feet high, is the most prominent. Its
name in Cymric — the head of the narrow valley " — is sufficiently
explanatory. Hack Pen Hill may also be traced to a Celtic source.
Combe, Cym, Gwm (a hollow), is the suffix to many place-names,
Hall-combe, Hippens-combe, Stitch-combe, &c. Some of the rivers
bear Cymric names: the Churn (swift), the two Avons (flowing
water), the Frome (fuming), the Wiley, probably from Qwy (water).
Some are Anglo-Saxon, such as the Bourne, Og-bourne Aid-bourne,
Flagham Brook, Swill Brook. There are others of which the origin
is at present insoluble, as Key, Cole, Kennet, or Cheuete, Nadder,
Stour. There are some names unmistakeably Celtic, such as Pen,
Penridge, Penglewood, Calne (anciently Cauna), Cym. Cawn (reeds);

22 The Ethnology of Wiltshire, as illustrated in the Place-Names.

JIuisk (Domesday Iliwi), Cyra. Iiwch (swine) ; Chiltem (Domesday
Cheltre), Cym. Cel-tre (a place of refuge).

To the Celts, whether Cymry or Belgaa, succeeded the Romans,
who have left their marks unmistakably on the surface of the land.
That they conquered and colonized the district is certain, but they
have not left behind them the magnificent works constructed in
other quarters. There are no grand castfa such as Pevensevj in
Sussex, Richborough, in Kent, and Burgh Castle, in Suffolk. The
camps of Vespasian and Constantius Chlorus are merely earthen
entrenchments. The Romans appear to have utilised the earthworks
they found in the country, of which they were many, the land having
been very populous before their arrival. The names they gave their
stations were Cymric with Latin terminations Corinium (now Ciren-
cester), probably from its circular form eor\ Sorhioduuum, Sarum,or
Salisbury (Saresbury), Cym. siriaw-din, the pleasant hill ; Dumovaria
(Dorchester), Cym. Dwr^novion, the flowing water.

There were six Roman roads crossing the county. 1st, a road
from Bath (Aquae Solis), along the western side to Cirencester
(Corinium), forming part of the great Fossway extending across
the island from the English Channel to the German Ocean ; 2nd, a
road from Salisbury westward, to Wells (ad Aquas) ; 3rd, a road
called Julian Street, running due east from Bath, passing the base
of Silbury Hill, and continuing by Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum)
by what is called the Devil's Causeway, to the passage over the
Thames at Staines ; 4th, two roads running eastward from Salisbury,
one N.E, to Silchester, the other S.W. to Winchester (Venta
Belgarum), Cym. Caer-gwerit ; 5th, a road S.W. from Salisbury to
Porchester; 6th, Ermin Street, running from Cirencester, S.E. to
Spinse (Speen) and Silchester.

The Roman roads (strata) were called by the Saxons streets from
the fact of their being paved, and thus they can usually be traced
by the names of the towns on their lines. In Wiltshire, several of
the roads besides those mentioned have preserved the name of street,
as Long Street, Short Street, Broad Street, High Street, &c. There
are several Strat-ford, Strat-ton, and several Stantons, but except the
stations already mentioned the Roman camps seem to have been

By J. Piclnn, Esq., F.S.A.

23

mere earthworks. Old Sarum, which was no doubt occupied and
strengthened by the Romans, was originally a British stronghold,
as its formation indicates.

To the Romans in their influence on the nomenclature succeeded
the Saxons. They arrived in Wiltshire about fifty years after the
first landing in Kent, and founded the kingdom of the West Saxons
by the victory of Cerdic, A.D. 508. Under his successors, Cynriq
and Ceawlin, this kingdom was greatly extended. Wiltshire is
honoured by having been the scene of the struggles of the great
Alfred and of his final victory over the Danish invaders at Edington.
The Danes never obtained a settlement in Wiltshire. There is an
almost utter absence of Danish names. The termination^, so very
numerous in Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and wherever
the Danes obtained a permanent footing, is here altogether
wanting.

There are no tofts, t/iorpes, nesses, thwaites, hoes. The basis of the
names is almost entirely Saxon. There is also another difference
from the nomenclature of the eastern counties. When the Saxons
first invaded England they came in tribes and families, headed by
their patriarchal leaders. Each tribe was called by their leader's
name with the termination ing, signifying family ; and where they
settled they gave their patriarchal name to the mark or central point
round which they clustered, frequently adding the suffix ton, or
town. Hence the prevalence of such names as Billinge, Billington,
Wellington, Darlington, Allington, &c. Now this class of names
is not entirely wanting in Wiltshire, but it prevails only to a limited
extent ; the reason I apprehend is this, that during the time which
had elapsed before they crossed the country and reached Wiltshire,
the tribal organisation had been to a great extent lost.

One feature which would strike the invaders is the numerous
earthworks which are scattered in such profusion over the surface of
the county. These were very freely made use of and occupied for
purposes of defence. The Saxon term burh was applied generally
to any earthen entrenchments. Many of these had been thrown
up previously, either by the Britons or their predecessors. Some
had been constructed or adopted and improved by the Romans.

24 The 'Ethnology of Wiltshire, as illustrated in the P lace-Names.

Some were no doubt formed by the Saxons themselves, but they ,
Wefe all included under the general term of Ikiry, of which the
examples are very numerous as suffixes to the place-names. The
prefixes are sometimes proper names not always of a prehistoric
character* Malms-bury is said to take its name either from a British
king- Malmutius, or the Scottish monk Maidulph, who founded the
monastic community afterwards developed into the celebrated abbey.
Amesbury is supposed, with considerable show of reason, to have been I
the head-quarters of Ambre or Ambrosius, a British king who dis-
played considerable gallantry in resisting the Saxon invaders. In
Domesday Book it is called Ambresberie. Wan-borough and Wans-
dyke are no doubt connected with the traditions of the hero Woden,
or Odin, so celebrated in the Saxon and Norse legends. His name
is connected with many localities in various parts of the kingdom,
such as Wednesbury, Wednesfield, Wensley, &c.

The most frequent suffix in the place-names of Wiltshire is ton,
indicating the thoroughly Saxon predominance in the county. Ton j
originally meant a simple enclosure, and in this sense it is still used ,
dialectically in Scotland. It was then extended to a cluster of
houses, and finally to a town in the modern sense. The Saxon towns
usually stood at the intersection of cross-roads, or at the fork formed
by the junction of three. The tons in Wiltshire are very numerous,
with all sorts of prefixes, some Saxon, some Cymric, some of which
the meaning is not obvious, some descriptive, others patronymic.

Ham is another Saxon suffix, common in the county, though not ,
so numerous as the tons. The Saxon Ham, corresponding with
Ger. Helm, primarily meant the homestead, the cluster of buildings
constituting the farm and is the origin of the endearing associations
connected with the English home. The prefixes are, of course,
various. Chippenham (in Domesday Chepeham) indicates that it was
a market or trade-mart. Melksham has been explained to mean the
milk or dairy farm, but it is more likely to have been adopted from 1
a personal name.

The number of streams which water the county, sufficiently ex- ,:
plain the frequency of the suffixes Bourne and Ford. There were
several Winter-bournes ; small streams, dry in summer, but forming

By J. Picton, Esq., F.S.A.

25

torrents by the winter rains. Swill-Brook, the main source of the
Thames, takes its name from the abundance of its waters.

Don, which forms the termination of a few place-names, means an
undulating surface, in modern English, Doivns. The suffix cot, in
such names as Hilcot, Wilcot, Westcott, &c„ scarcely needs any
explanation.

There are a few names terminating in Low, such as Winterslow,
Cliedglow. This termination is very common in the Northern
Mercian counties, and signifies a tumulus or Saxon barrow, usually
thrown up on a low hill, but seeing that these lows are given in
Domesday as lei or ley, it does not appear that the word was ever
so applied in Wiltshire.

Lade, an artificial watercourse, is found in Cricklade and Lechladej
the latter on the edge of Gloucestershire.

Worth, in Anglo-Saxon has several meanings, but is generally
applied to a farm or land fronting a public way. The number of
these in Wiltshire is small, Winkworth, Chelworth, Brinkworth,
and one or two others.

Wick, as a village, is common in some counties, but is very sparse
in Wiltshire. Barwick, Wadswick, and Berwick are almost the
only instances.

There are many other Saxon terms used which are still quite
familiar, such as Field, Mere, Hill, Head, Cliff, Ridge, Wood, Bridge,
Brook, Edge, Well ; and others, equally good English, but now
somewhat obsolete, as Stead, still preserved in home-stead; Holt, a
wood; Shaw, a grove; Stock, a wooden structure ; Hurst, another
term for a wood ; Cock, a diminutive — little.

There a few place-names which are somewhat Danish in their
aspect, such as Nesiori, Costoe, Keynes, but these are not in Domes-
day, and are of comparatively modern introduction. Near Cricklade
there is a stream called Dance or Danes Brookj and a locality near
is called Godby Stalls. These may possibly have some traditional
connection with the irruptions of the Danes.

The termination ey is attached to many names. It might have
been the Danish ey, for island, or the Saxon ea, water, but scarcely
any of them are found in Domesday, and are not of very ancient date.

26

The "Eminent Ladles of Wiltshire History,

The Norman conquest effected little in the introduction of new
place-names, but it added further suffixes, in many cases derived
from the Norman lords of the soil, such as Wootton Basset, Compton
Basset, Ship ton Moyne, Easton Grey, Yatton Keynell, Compton
Chamberlain, Upton Scudamore. Devices is supposed to have de*
rived its name Devisse from a supposed division of the manor between
the Crown and the Bishop of Salisbury, but history does not bear
out this statement. The first charter was granted by the Empress
Matilda about 1136, under the name of " De Divisis/" at a time
when certainly no division had or could have taken place. It is
called in ancient records, Divisis, Divisse, De Vies. Leland calls it
The Vies. The true solution appears to be the fact that the castle
Was built at the exact point of division between the three manors
of Rowde, Cannings, and Pottern. Hence the appellations Castrum
de Divisis, or ad Divisis, or simply Divisse.

The above short notes may serve to direct attention to a subject
connected with the history of our country which will probably im-
part additional interest to the topographical notices of the county
and of the places visited.

%\t Ctmtratt Jitbics of Wlxittyxu ptstotjn

By the Eev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A *

B. Thomas Fuller, the Church Historian, in one of his works
called " England's Worthies/* has preserved short memoirs
of the most remarkable individuals, or those whom he considered
to be such, in English history generally. These are arranged under

* This paper was prepared for, and read at, an Evening Conversazione of the Wiltshire Archaeo-
logical Society, at Bradford-on-Avon, 9th of August, 1881.

By the Tier. Canon J. K Jachon, F.S.A. 27

the different counties. In most of the counties by far the greater
number of his " Worthies i3 are men : and in Wiltshire he appears
to have been able to find only three ladies deserving1 of being-
noticed in his book. It was published in 166:2. Time has made
some additions to that very small number : and there are also a few
names belonging to earlier periods which he might have mentioned,
but did not.

There are several works that record the history of English ladies.
We have Mrs. Green's " Lives of the most distinguished in rank,
the Queens and Princesses/' There is also " Ballard's Memoirs of
Learned Ladies'"; also plenty of memoirs of, or by, others who
have been conspicuous in Society. But the names selected for
notice in the present paper will only be those of Wiltshire ladies
who either were born in the county, or belonged to it by lifelong
residence and connexion. Also, only those whose names are to be
found here and there in different printed works relating to Wiltshire,
and are therefore, so far as that goes, historical.

Of course there must have been at all times ladies who were
ornaments to Society, clever, witty, and otherwise eminent in their
day. But that is quite a different thing from being eminent after
their day. If you wish to be, I will not say, eminent, but even
named at all in time to come, you must bequeath to posterity some*
thing more than merely your name. There is a story somewhere of
a gentleman who was going on his travels to the East, whose friends
loaded him with all sorts of commissions. For one he was to get
this; for another that. Some supplied him with money for the
purpose ; others forgot to do so. As he was steaming along the
Mediterranean, and near the end of his voyage, he began to thinly
it time to put his commissions in order, and, if possible, reduce the
number of them. So one day he took out all the papers and laid
them in a row on the taffrail of the ship. On those papers that
had come to him with money enclosed he laid the money ; but the
unprepaid commissions, having nothing to keep them down, were
blown away by the first breeze. That is very much the case with
ourselves and our chances of future reputation. We may fill our
part in life very creditably, be clever, popular, perhaps famous, in

28 The Eminent Ladies of Wiltshire History.

our day ; but if we have done nothing" that shall, as it were, fasten
our name and provide for its enduring*; in short, if we are not
weighted, we shall be, like those light papers, mereilessly and un-
ceremoniously puffed away into oblivion.

Hamlet allows but a very short time even for a great man to be
remembered ; and, even then, not without a certain expense on his
own part. " O heavens ! dead two months and not forgotten yet !
Then there's hope a great man's memory may outlive his life half-a-
year. But, by our lady, he must build churches then ; or else he
shall suffer not thinking on/'' So true it is that people whose names
are in everybody's mouth one year almost cease to be talked of in
the next. " The present eye praises the present object/'' " After
one well-graced actor leaves the stage, all eyes are bent on him that
enters next." The ladies must please to observe that this applies
to them as well as to men, because " All the world's a stage, and
all the men — and women — merely players."

But now about this eminence we are speaking of, How is it to
be obtained by the ladies ? One of the Roman historians, commonly
read at schools, tells us that eminence is to be acquired in two ways,
either in Peace or in War. Two courses open to the ladies. Among
those who have done us the honour of attending here this evening,
there may possibly be some resolute and ambitious spirits who ad-
rnire, and not only admire, but would like to take part in the pride,
pomp, and circumstance of glorious war. It is more likely that
most of them would be quite satisfied to bind their brow with the
olive of peace rather than the laurel of battle. But there have been
times and may be again, when ladies have had to face great personal
danger, and how they acquitted themselves in this county you shall
near in the course of my story.

Among the ways of Peace, none in former times helped more to
bring ladies into an enduring celebrity, than works of Piety and
Religion ; not merely by their leading such lives themselves, but
by providing Institutions for the maintenance of Religion for (as
they fondly hoped) all time to come. Of this we have several cases
in Wiltshire.

The Monastery of Wilton, for an Abbess and nuns, was founded

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A.

29

through the influence of a lady, Alfrida, Dowager Queen of the
Anglo-Saxon King Edgar.

The Monastery for ladies at Ambresbury was founded and en-
dowed by another Royal lady, Alburga, sister of King Egbert.

The Monastery of Lacock, for an Abbess and nuns, was founded
by Ela, Countess Dowager of Salisbury, who also founded another
at Hinton Charterhouse. There were other Nunneries at Maiden
Bradley and St. Mary's, Kington St. Michael.

Now let me call attention to this. Wilton House and most of the
lands there formerly the property of the Abbess, now belong to the
Earl of Pembroke ; Ambresbury to Sir E. Antrobus \ Lacock to Mr.
Talbot. Whatever territorial influence now attaches to those gentle*
men, attached in former times to the lady owners. These lady-heads
of Religious Houses were landowners of many thousand acres. At this
very place at which we are meeting, the Manor of Bradford, with a
good deal of land, and the appointment to six or seven neighbouring
Churches then included in it, belonged to the Abbess of Shaftesbury-
But consider the true character of these places. These famous
monasteries were not merely the abodes of a few contemplative nuns,
as is often supposed, but they were first-class places of education, to
which were sent, not only from the immediate neighbourhood, but
from all parts, young ladies of the very first families, even of the
Blood Royal. It is on record that Mary, sixth daughter of Edward
I., Isabella of Lancaster, and others were brought up at Ambresbury )
Matilda, Queen of Henry L, at Wilton. The lists that remain to
us show that most truly " Kings' daughters were among their
honourable women." There they and hundreds of young persons of
good family were trained up to learn not merely female accomplish-
ments, but various useful domestic arts, solid practical work. They
were taught what so many young persons now-a-days, when their
education is called finished, begin to learn for themselves, medicine,
surgery, confectionery, cookery, the general management of house-
holds, and the duties of the rich to the poor ; all this under the
orderly superintendence of piety and religion. Now when it is recol-
lected that this training was undergone, not at a boarding-school in a
town, but at the very houses of the richest and largest land-owners,

30 The "Eminent Ladies qf Wiltshire History.

we must come to this conclusion : that these Lady Abbesses, I
being Mistresses of the soil, and having" the control over the young I
female mind, were largely responsible for giving the right tone to
the female character, and consequently for the result and effect upon
English society, which depends so much upon that character. We I
have, fairly preserved, if not quite complete, lists of the names of
the influential and important ladies who ruled these establishments,
but whether their names had come down to us or not, speaking of
them in a general way and as an order or class, I hold that it was |
one of real eminence, and well deserving not only the notice but the I
emphatic commendation of history.

Of one only among them, a few words. The Earldom of [
Salisbury {i.e., not of the present city, but the older Salisbury, Old
Sarum) was a title held by two or three families in succession ; the i
first being that of Devereux, in the reign of King Stephen. There I
had been two Earls, when the title fell to an only daughter, Ela.
She married William Longespee, who in her right became Earl.
TJpon his death she reigned alone in her castle of Old Sarum ; and
in fact ruled the county, for she filled the office of High Sheriff for
seven or eight years. At last, being weary of feudal dignity and I
its burdens, she retired to one of the monasteries she had built, and 3
became Abbess of Lacock, where she died, as it is said, at nearly 9
100 years of age. Of Wilton and Ambresbury monasteries no part |
even of the building remains; but Lacock Abbey still stands a |
witness to the memory and good deeds of this eminent lady of |
Wiltshire history.

So much of the land, so many of the parishes, having belonged !
to these ladies, we are no doubt indebted to them for some of our 1
parish Churches ; those, for instance, that stand on the estates for-
merly theirs. That spirit is by no means yet extinct. We have in
our own day ladies still living who at their own sole cost have built 1
or re-built Churches; and it is but just and fair to the ladies in \l
general to say that in all good works of that kind they are almost ||
always found to take the greatest interest and an active part.

Under the head of Religious Foundations we must include Alms-
houses, places of refuge for the worn out and feeble. In the village

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A

31

of Heytesbury, just beyond Warminster, there still stands, occupied
and flourishing, a fine old house founded and very richly endowed in
the reign of King Edward IV., by Margaret Lady Hungerford
and Botreaux, widow of Robert, second Lord Hungerford, of Farley
Castle, near this town. She was the wealthy heiress of the old Cornish
family, the Lords Botreaux. Her husband and son being, during
the Wars of the Roses, on the Lancastrian, that is the losing side, her
life was full of trouble. There is a great deal about her in Hoare's
History of South Wilts ; and among other curious documents is one
attached to her will, in which she very sorrowfully recapitulates all
the " expense and loss with the causes and occasions of the same
which she had borne in this great season of adversities which have
befallen in this land to herself, her children and her friends; especially
in ransoming those who had been taken prisoners, and in redeeming
estates that had been forfeited. Also when she had been sent for
safety by order of the King to the Abbey of Ambresbury, all her
costly goods and furniture were destroyed by a fire/'' In short a
very lamentable story . She left considerable estates for the endow-
ment of the Hospital, which it has enjoyed for above five hundred years.

At Corsham there is another fine old Almshouse, close to the gates
of Lord Methuen's park, founded by another Margaret Lady Hun-
gerford, three hundred years later than the first. She was by birth
daughter and co-heiress of William Halliday, a wealthy Alderman
of London, and Corsham estate was part of her share. Her husband
was a Sir Edward Hungerford, also of Farley Castle,

To another lady this county is indebted for a much larger and more
general gift, the almshouse at Froxfield, near Marlborough, for fifty
widows ; twenty of them being widows of clergymen, and thirty, of
laymen. The foundress was Sarah, Duchess op Somerset, widow
of John, 4th Duke, who died 1675. His family at that time were
owners of Tottenham and Savernake. The Duchess's own name
had been Alston. She died in 1692, and was buried in Westminster
Abbey. She also founded another charity called the " Broad Town
Charity"; under which a certain number of Wiltshire boj^s are ap-
prenticed to trades. There is a very fine full-length portrait of her
in the dining-hall of Brasenose College, Oxford.

82

The Eminent Ladies of Wiltshire History.

I had the curiosity, for the purpose of this paper, to go through
a volume of Wiltshire charities, and it appears that beside these
larger foundations just mentioned, there are about one hundred and
forty charitable bequests, of various amounts, all made by ladies.

The next case to be mentioned is one which cannot be placed
under any particular head, because it is of a peculiar kind, and in
this county certainly unique. It is a charity very well known in the
neighbourhood of Chippenham and Calne ; a charity on a very good
foundation, and known by the name of " Maud Heath's Causeway.'' 1
In the reign of King Edward IV. one Mrs. Matilda or Maud
Heath, said by tradition to have begun life as a market-woman,
being sore hindered from getting her eggs to market, left certain
houses and lands, the rents of which were to make and maintain a
pitched causeway across what was then a very swampy district, for
about four miles, from Chippenham to Wick Hill, near Bremhill.
A column on that hill was erected some years ago, by the Marquis
of Lansdowne and Mr. Bowles, the poet, in memory of this usefully
benevolent old dame. For surely this is a most useful and rational
sort of benevolence. May it not be called a defect in our highway
system, that, whilst the roads are maintained, as they are, in excellent
condition for the more pleasant travelling of those who keep carriages
and horses, footpaths are very much forgotten, and the poor market-
wives of the present day are left, in bad winter weather, to struggle \
along through the mud as they best can ? So far at least as North
Wilts is concerned, where sometimes the soil is very wet and sticky,
it is what the people call " desperate bad travelling " for humble I
folk who use their own legs for the purpose. And so, as in my
winter's walks I often sigh for Maud Heath's Causeway, I take this
opportunity of reckoning her among the eminent ladies in Wiltshire
history; which indeed, in one sense, she certainly is ; for there she I
sits, a figure in stone, as large as life, with her basket on her lap,
and in the costume of her period, 56 feet up in the air, on the top
of the column alluded to.

Of the ladies next to be named, as having earned eminence in

See Wilts Archceological Magazine, vol. i., p. 251.

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A. 33

the ways of Peace, some have been conspicuous by the accident of
high birth and position, some by their literary merit, some for the
rather romantic incidents of their career. It is most convenient to
name them in chronological order ; and please to bear in mind that
we are speaking only of those who belong to our county. We begin
at the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

Eveiybody has heard those celebrated verses (written, not by Ben
Jonson, but by William Browne, author of the Pastorals) 1 upon
Mary Sidney, sister of Sir Philip Sidney, and by marriage Countess
of Pembroke, and mother of the Earl of Pembroke of that day : — ?

" Underneath this sable herse
Lies the subject of all verse,
Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother :
Death, ere thou hast slain another
Learn'd and wise and fair as she,
Time will throw a dart at thee.

Marble piles let no man raise
To her name ; for, after days,
Some kind woman, born as she,
Beading this, like Niobe,
Shall turn marble, and become
Both her mourner and her tomb."

This lady is spoken of by contemporaries (by the poet Spenser
among others) as a model of excellence, resembling in form and
spirit her brother Philip ; but as to her learning, it turns out that
she was rather a patroness of poets and scholars than much of a
performer herself in that line. She is said to have assisted her
brother Philip in his Arcadia, a long wearisome kind of novel, such
as novels then were, but nevertheless written in good wholesome
sterling old English, and containing many beautiful ideas and
passages. Some of the verses in it are said to have been written by
her. If so, there is no particular reason for regretting that she did
not write more. The epitaph just recited is very pretty, but without
wishing to detract in the least from merit justly due, it may be
observed that one rather mistrusts praise extravagantly bestowed ;

1 The epitaph is found in the MS. volume of poems by W. Browne iu the
Lansdowne MS., No. 777.

VOL. XX. — NO. LVIII. D

34 The Eminent Ladies of Wiltshire History.

and that this famous epitaph when sifted does seem rnther extrava-
gant, for the plain English of it is, that so long as the world shall
Inst the like of her shall never again be seen, and that there was no
occasion to erect a stone memorial to her, because some other lady-
would, reading those lines, like Niobe, be so very accommodating
as to turn into stone and so provide one.1 The world has probably
produced since this amiable Countess's time many as " learned and
fair and wise as she/'' but the memory of them has perished for
want of a few pretty lines.

Queen Jane Seymour was born at Wulfhall, an old manor
house (of which a portion still remains near the Savernake Station),
the home of her father, Sir John Seymour. There you may also
still see a very long and curious old barn in which the people danced
at her wedding. The hooks from which the tapestry was hung
are still in the walls. She was sister of the Protector Somerset.

The Protector's second wife is next to be named, the Lady Anne
Stanhope, not a native, but am adopted lady of the county, mistress
for the time of the Seymour house at Savernake and Wulfhall. This
lady was the cause of great domestic trouble and partly of her
husband's downfall. The Protector had a younger brother Thomas,
Lord Sudeley, who married Katherine Parr, the Dowager Queen of
Henry VIII. Here arose a difficulty. Anne Stanhope was wife of
the elder brother, who was virtually King of England, and she
refused to carry the train of the Queen Dowager, wife of the younger
brother. So from the ladies' quarrel as to which should walk out
first, the schism spread to the two husbands. Jealousies and dislike
ensued ; and Thomas was sent to the block. In a very little time
the Protector followed him : so, (as Dr. Fuller in his quaint way says)
" what with this jostling for precedence, and what between the train
of the Queen and the long gown of the Duchess, they raised so
much dust at the Court, as at last to put out the eyes of both
husbands. Women's brawls men's thralls."

Wulfhall supplies us with another lady who was rather remarkable.

1 It is fair to add (what the writer was not aware of at the time of reading this
paper) that Gifford the critic had pronounced the second stanza to be a " paltry
addition." See Notes and Queries, 6th S., iv., 258.

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A.

35

After the Protector's death his son, the Earl of Hertford, married
for his first wife poor Lady Catharine Grey, sister of Lady Jane
Grey. The marriage displeased Queen Elizabeth, who sent them to
the Tower, where Lady Catharine very soon died. The Earl then
married a widow, Frances Howard, of the Bindon Branch of that
old aristocratic family.

The history of Frances Howard, before the Earl of Hertford met
with her, is curious. Notwithstanding her fine pedigree, she had
married first a vintner or wine seller's son, one Mr. Prannell. This
gentleman had been so awe-struck at marrying so grand a lady,
that he actually wrote a letter to Secretary Walsingham, apologising
for his own audacity. However this first husband died very early,
and left her all his money. She then listened to the addresses of
Sir George Rodney, of Somersetshire ; but before anything came of
that, she had met with the Earl of Hertford, just a widower, where-
upon she left Sir George Rodney out in the cold. Sir George was
really in love with her : and not being able to bear up against his
disappointment, he went to Ambresbury, where the Earl and Countess
of Hertford then lived, stopped at the village inn, wrote to her a
paper of verses in his own blood, and then ran himself through with
his sword. Ii)9|£^*>0

During her married life with the Earl of Hertford, Frances
Howard used often to indulge in discourse about her own family,
and talk in a rather ostentatious way about her two grandfathers,
the Duke of Norfolk and the Duke of Buckingham ; how the one
had done this and the other that. Sometimes when she was in this
humour, the Earl, her husband, would stop her with something of
this kind — " Ah, Frances, Frances, but how long is it since thou
didst marry the vintner's son ? " The Earl died, leaving her a large
jointure of £5,000 a year. She then married again, and, mounting
a step higher in the world, became the wife of the Duke of Richmond
and Lenox. He also died before her, when she determined to fly at
still higher game. King James I. was then a widower, and she
gave out in society, in order that it might reach the King's ears,
that she had made up her mind never to eat again at the table of a
subject. But this bait did not catch the old King, so that she

d 2

36

The Imminent Ladies of Wiltshire History.

missed her aim ; but she nevertheless kept her word, and observed
her vow to the last. There is a fine portrait of this singularly
eminent Duchess of Richmond, late Hertford, late Prannell, at
Longleat — a full-length, in black dress with a starched ruff, and a
long staff in her hand. Her air is somewhat domineering and
imperious, quite corresponding with her biography.

Next, in our show, comes a very different personage, a native, I
believe, of Fonthill, Lady Eleanor Audley, wife of Sir John Da vies,
of Tisbury. She was simply a half-crazy enthusiast, who followed
the dangerous business of prophesying. Her rank and connexion
made her notorious, and her denunciations against men in power in
the days of the Commonwealth created some confusion and brought
her into trouble. The title of the first of her two printed books is,
"Eleanor Audley's Prophesies. Amend, Amend, Amend. Mene,
Tekel, Upharsin." This is in verse and an extraordinary rhapsody.
The other book is called " Strange and Wonderful Prophecies by the
Lady Eleanor Audley, who is yet alive and lodgeth in Whitehall :
which she prophesied 16 years ago, for which she was confined in
the Tower and Bedlam : with Notes on the prophecies and how far
they are fulfilled concerning the late King's Government, armies
and people of England. 1649/'' She suffered a rigorous imprison-
ment, and died in 1652. 1

She is followed, after a long interval of one hundred years, by
another literary lady, but of a better stamp — the Countess of
Hertford, known by three volumes of correspondence with the
Countess of Pomfret. *Sho was by birth a Thynne of Longleat,
granddaughter of Thomas, first Viscount Weymouth, and wife of
Algernon Seymour, Earl of Hertford, who in 1748 became (the
seventh) Duke of Somerset. They lived at the Castle at Marl-
borough, afterwards the Inn, now the College. She patronized
Thomson of the Seasons, and Shenstone, and is mentioned under
certain fictitious names in the works of Dr. Watts and Mrs. Rowe.

1 The following letter to this lady, lately discovered, presents a rather ungentle
portrait of her, by some aggrieved contemporary : —

" 1626. May. Brooke to Lady Eleanor Davies. Reproaches her for abuse of his wife and inno-
cent child. Declares she has abandoned all goodness and modesty, is mad, ugly, blinded with pride
of birth, &c. Threatens to scratch a mince-pie out of her, and wishes her, as the most horrible of
curses, to remain just what she is," — {Domestic Calendar. State Papers, James I.)

By tlie Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A. 37

It was through this Countess of Hertford's influence with Queen
Caroline, that the Poet Savage was saved from the gallows for having
killed a man. Southey, in his book called "The Doctor/' has an
interesting chapter upon this amiable lady, who died in 1754.

Another literary lady lived about the same time, Miss Jane
Collier. She was one of the daughters of the Rev. Arthur Collier,
Rector of Langford, near Salisbury, a clergyman of much celebrity
in his day, whose life has been written in a separate volume. Miss
Jane was a quick-witted observant young lady, and a good Latin
and Greek scholar; and the use to which she turned her scholarship
and shrewdness was to write a satirical little book called " The Art
of ingeniously Tormenting"; containing " (1) Rules for the Husband,
&c. ; (2) Rules for the wife, &c. ; and (3) General Rules, for
plaguing all your acquaintance/''

In 1777 died a lady of much celebrity in her day, the Duchess of
Queensberry. She was, by birth, Lady Catharine Hyde, second
daughter of Henry, Earl of Clarendon, and was born at their family
place, Purton, near Swindon. Her husband, the Duke of Queens-
berry, was at that time owner of, and lived at, Ambresbury. Her
beauty and wit are mentioned by some of the poets of the day,
especially Gay and Prior, the latter of whom wrote a rather famous
ballad about her, beginning " Fair Kitty, beautiful and young."
She corresponded with Horace Walpole and Dean Swift, and judging
from some of her letters, she appears to have been rather an original.
Gay passed much of his time at Ambresbury, before the Duchess of
Queensberry was acquainted with Swift ; but the Duchess wishing
to know him desired Gay to write from her house an invitation to
Swift, which Gay did. To this she added a postscript : — " I would
fain have you come to Ambresbury. I can't say you'll be welcome,
for I don't know, and perhaps shall not like you ; but if I do not,
you shall know my thoughts as soon as I do myself."" Swift did
not make his appearance, so Gay writes a more pressing invitation,
in which he says : — " I think her so often in the right that you will
have great difficulty in persuading me that she is in the wrong.
The lady of the house is not given to show civility to those she does
not like. She speaks her mind and loves truth. But I say no

38 The Eminent Ladies of Wiltshire History.

more, till I know whether her Grace will fill up the rest of the
paper." Her Grace did fill it up, and in this way : — " Write I must,
particularly now I have an opportunity to indulge my predominant
spirit of contradiction. I do in the first place contradict most things
Mr. Gay says of me to deter you from coming here ; which if you
do, I hereby assure you that unless I like my way better, you shall
have yours, and in all disputes you shall convince me, if you can.
Pray come, that I may find out something wrong, for I, and I
believe most women, have an inconceivable pleasure in finding out
any fault, except their own.-" It does not appear that Dean Swift
ever ventured to encounter this lively antagonist. There is an
engraved portrait of the Duchess of Queensberry in Sir Richard
Hoare's Modern Wilts/'' which seems to have been taken when she
fully deserved the description with which Prior's ballad begins,
"Fair Kitty, beautiful and young." She died in 1787.

In the following year, 1788, died another lady, a native of
of Devonshire, but by her marriage connected with this town
of Bradford. This was the famous Miss Chudleigh, whose career
was a very extraordinary one, and the talk of the whole country.
I do not exactly reckon her among the Worthies of Wilts, but she
was certainly eminent in one sense. She had a place at Court as
Maid of Honour to the then Princess of Wales, and when very
young she married privately a Mr. Hervey, brother of the Earl of
Bristol. From him she separated very soon, and after twenty-five
years, still remaining at Court, and Mr. Hervey being still alive, she
married the Duke of Kingston, from whom the fine old house in
this town takes its name. The Duke dying, left her all his estates
for her life; but all his money absolutely for her own. The relatives
of the Duke of course did not like this, and contested it. They
procured proof of her first marriage with Mr. Hervey, which had
never been legally dissolved, and then brought against her an action
for bigamy, intending to shew that she could not lawfully be the
wife of the Duke, and so to defeat the will. The trial took place
before the House of Lords, and for five days was the great sight in
London, being attended by enormous crowds in-doors and out. She
had been very beautiful, but by this time there was not much of

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A. 39

that left. She came dressed in deep mourning, attended by four
young ladies in white, as maids of honour. The end of it was that
she was found guilty ; but it so happened that, after all, this had
no effect upon her fortune, for it was found that the Duke's will had
been so carefully worded that they could not disturb it. The
magazines of the day record many of her doings, which do not at
all appear to have been of a vicious kind, but rather those of a very
wealthy lady, who was at the same time very eccentric and very
fond of publicity.

The village of Box, about the end of the last century, was the
home of the Bowdler family. Thomas Bowdler, the father, was
the editor of a work now out of print, but one that ought to be re-
printed, "The Family Shakespeare," in which the vulgar rubbish
stuffed in by the players or even by the author himself, to please
" the ears of the groundlings/' is cut out, and the work rendered
more capable of beiDg read out aloud in families. Mr. Bowdler
had two daughters, Jane and Henrietta Maria, both of a literary
turn. One of them wrote "Poems," which reached a sixteenth
edition, the other some religious works and biography.

About the same time lived a lady of popular reputation, Mrs.
Delany, born at Coulston, near Earlstoke. She was of the family
of Granville, Lord Lansdown, and married Mr. Delany, an Irish
clergyman. She was literary and accomplished, corresponded with
Dean Swift, and was an intimate friend of Margaret Cavendish
Harley, Duchess of Portland (celebrated by Prior as " my noble,
lovely little Peggy ") . Being left in very reduced circumstances,
her case was mentioned to King George III. and Queen Charlotte,
who not only invited her to reside near them at Windsor, but allowed
her a pension of £300 a year. She was skilful in painting, em-
broidery, and shell-work, but what she was most remarkable for was
an invention called " Paper Mosaic," a mode of imitating the forms
and colours of plants and flowers by means of variously-tinted papers.
The description of the process is too long to be given now.1 There
is a good deal about this lady in the Memoirs of the Granville

1 See Britton's Beauties of Wilts, vol. in., p. 320.

40

Tlie Eminent Ladies of Wiltshire History.

Family , published a few years ago ; partieularly her letters, in which
she gives an interesting" description of the domestic ways of Windsor
Castle in the time of George III. She died in 1788, at a great age
and blind. There is a portrait of her in the collection at Hampton
Court.

I come now to our own times in naming a scientific lady of this
neighbourhood, who did good service in — a cause which ladies do
not often undertake — the Science of Geology. I mean the late Mjss
Etheleed Benet, of Norton Bavent, near Warminster. She studied
Geology in its very early days, before it had been taken up and
had reached the very important position which it occupies now. She
formed a very large and fine collection of the fossil organic remains
of that neighbourhood, especially of what is called the Green Sand
formation, a complete list of which is printed in Sir R. C. Hoare's
M History of the Hundred of Warminster.'''' I believe her collection
has been disposed of since her death. I used, when a student at
Oxford, to attend the lectures of the well-known Dr. Buckland,
who brought that science so prominently into notice, and I recollect
very well his speaking most highly of this geological lady, and how
her merits met with rather a curious reward. She had sent a set of
Wiltshire fossils as a present to the Museum at St. Petersburg.
The Emperor of Russia, wishing to acknowledge the gift by an
Imperial compliment, supposing from the Anglo-Saxon name of
Ethelred that the donor must be a gentleman, caused to be sent to
her a very grand diploma, conferring on Miss Ethelred the Honorary
Degree of Doctor of Civil Law in the University of St. Petersburg.

There are a few other notices of ladies belonging to this county
in modern times, who have indulged in the luxury of writing books;
but I must quit these peaceful associations and pass to that other
mode of obtaining eminence which is open to ladies — the Art of
War.

What Heroines have we in Wiltshire history ? If under this head
we may include a case not precisely of military valour, but of
courageous spirit in very horrible and tragic circumstances, it will
enable me to mention a noble old lady, who lived some centuries ago
indeed, but was born within three miles of Bradford, at Farley

By the Bev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A. 41

Castle, I had occasion to mention before, that during" the Wars of
the Roses, the Hungerfords of that place being on the losing* side,
forfeited their estates. When King Edward IV. came to the throne
he granted Farley Castle to his brother George, Duke of Clarence,
of Malmesey butt celebrity. The Duke of Clarence had an only
daughter, Margaret Plantagenet, created Countess of Salisbury.
She lived to old age, and became the last representative of the White
Rose or Yorkist party. When Henry VIII was king, he was led
to suspect that the White Rose party was hatching a conspiracy to
renew a contest for the Succession to the throne. A charge, which
she declared to be totally unfounded, was got up against her, and
she was sentenced to be beheaded for treason. Being ordered to lie
down and lay her head upon the block, the proud old lady declared
that she was no traitor, and would never submit to prostrate herself
as one ; and that if the executioner wanted her head, he might fetch
it off as he could. It is stated in the history that the man laid hold
of her grey hairs and pursued her round the scaffold, till, by dint of
chopping and mangling, he succeeded in despatching her.

But we come now to a real heroine in actual warfare, Blanche
Somerset, Lady Arundell, the gallant defender of Wardour Castle
against the Parliament army in 1643. Wardour is in South Wilts,
near Fonthill. The old Castle is still to be seen in its battered state,
and being surrounded by fine cedar trees is a very picturesque object
well worth visiting. Wardour House, where the present Arundell
family live, is a modern building about a mile from it.

Blanche Somerset was a daughter of the Earl of Worcester, an
ancestor of the Duke of Beaufort. She married Thomas, second
Lord Arundell of Wardour. In 1643, Lord Arundell had left his
castle in order to attend King" Charles I. at Oxford. During his
absence a body of thirteen hundred men, under command of two
Parliamentary officers, Sir Edward Hungerford and Colonel Strode,
came up to the castle with orders to seize it for the Parliament.
The garrison consisted only of Blanche, Lady Arundell, and her
children, another lady, some maid-servants, and twenty-five men.
The enemy, thirteen hundred men and artillery, summoned her to
surrender. It is for you, ladies, to imagine yourselves in that very

42 The Eminent Ladies of Wiltshire History.

disagreeable situation, and to determine what you would have done.
You would have had various similar examples to enable you to come
to some conclusion. There was Blechington House, in Oxfordshire,
commanded by Colonel Windebank, the governor, attacked by
Cromwell. The governor's wife, a young and beautiful bride, per-
suaded her husband to give up at once without a blow, which he
did : for which afterwards a council of war condemned him to lose
his head. On the other hand, there was Corfe Castle, in Dorsetshire,
defended by Lady Bankes for several weeks successfully. There
was Lathom House, in Lancashire, defended by the Countess op
Derby, who sent back by the summoner this intrepid reply, " I'll
neither give it up nor desert it. I'll set fire to it first and burn it
and myself in it." Then there is for further encouragement to the
valiant, that fine old French General, who was besieged in the Castle
of Vincennes, close to Paris, and who had lost a leg in the siege.
One more chance was offered him, but his answer was, " Je vous
rendrai le fort, quand vous me rendrez ma jambe." [I'll give you
up the castle when you give me back my leg.] Well, our Wiltshire
heroine's reply, when summoned to give up Wardour, was this : —
" I have a command from my husband to keep it, and I shall obey
his command." She stood out for five days most bravely ; but
having so few people, the very maid-servants being obliged to help in
loading the guns, a great part of the castle having been blown up
by a mine, and another mine being ready to blow up the rest, it
was hopeless to continue the struggle, but she still refused to sur-
render, unless upon written conditions, that all lives should be
spared, and no damage done. The original document so written is
still preserved at Wardour. The first condition was observed, but
not the second. Lady Arundell was 60 years of age at the time of
this event. There is a portrait of her at the Duke of Beaufort's
house at Badminton.

We have in this county a partial claim to another heroine, who
has earned undying memory in the history of England, the lady
who, as Miss Jane Lane, risked her life in assisting King Charles
II. in his escape from Boscobel, after the battle of Worcester. The
king, in disguise as her servant, rode on horseback with Miss Jane

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.d. 43

sitting' behind him on a pillion, after the style of those days, all the
way from Staffordshire to Lyme Regis in Dorsetshire. They had
many very narrow escapes. She afterwards married Mr. Edward
Nicholas, one of a very old Wilts family, and lived and died at
Manningford Braose, beyond Devizes, where there is in that Church
a monument with an inscription recording this event.

Akin to female bravery is female audacity ; and of this there are
two or three cases on record, relating, as might be expected, to
persons of a lower class of life than those which have been mentioned.
But the spirit is the same ; though the circumstances less dignified.

In military history there are several instances of women having
contrived to pass themselves as men and serve as soldiers in the
army. About one hundred years ago, a young Wiltshire woman,
having dressed herself in man's clothes, was taken by a press-gang
at Salisbury to serve in the fleet, at the beginning of the American
War. She remained in the service till August, 1780, when she was
taken up for a street row as one of the principals in a pugilistic
combat, and discovered. She had assumed the name of John Davis,
alias something else. Now all this is low enough, but had this
woman been born under a more fortunate star, Nature had qualified
her to be a Joan of Arc.

About the same date, one Mary Abraham, alias Mary Sandall,
of Baverstock, near Salisbury, actually assumed the dress and equip-
ment of a mounted highwayman. She practised the " stand and
deliver " business in that neighbourhood once too often, and was
tried at the assizes in 1779. What rendered her daring the more
remarkable was, that she took up the calling of a highway-woman
just after the execution of the notorious Thomas Boulter, of Poulshot,
who had been the terror of the county, and whose exploits are not
quite forgotten yet.

A third instance of female audacity — or rather, this time, of
impudence — is that of Anne Simms, of Studley Green, near Bremhill.
She was a most noted poacher, and till past the age of a hundred
years often used to boast of having sold at gentlemen's kitchen-
doors fish taken out of their own ponds. Almost to the last she
would walk to and from Bo wood, about three miles from Studley

44 The Eminent Ladies of Wiltshire History,

Green. Her coffin and shroud she had kept in her apartment for
more than twenty years.

To these instances of audacity is to be added one of eccentricity.

In 1776 died Julian Pobjoy. She was born at Warminster, or
the neighbourhood, and used to boast that she was related to the
Beckfords of Fon thill. She was a woman of " strong1 mind," and,
in the days of Beau Nash mingled in the fashionable and dissipated
society of Bath. In later life she returned to Warminster, and
lived — with a little dog — in a hollow tree ! How that was managed,
and how a lady who had moved in Bath drawing-rooms contrived
to lodge in such a place, she only could tell. One would say it was
a case of eminent insanity j but it does not appear to have been so.
She was always scrupulously clean and neatly dressed, and never
went abroad without her dog under her arm. She got her livelihood
as general errand -bearer, and used to walk many miles a day col-
lecting herbs for the apothecaries. She was the chief medium of
communication between Longleat and Warminster.

Glancing back over the list of names that have been mentioned, I
can only say that these are really all I have been able to meet with
in books about Wiltshire; so that we have some eminent for their
piety, some for their valour, and some — for their oddity.

You naturally say — Surely there must have been many more?
About that there can be no doubt ; but if you would know the
reason why we do not hear of them, you shall have it in the words
of the author of " Curiosities of Literature/'' Mr. Isaac Disraeli,
father of the late Lord Beacon sfield : —

" The nation has lost many a noble example of men and women
acting a great part on great occasions ; and we may be confident
that many a name has not been inscribed on the roll of national
glory, only from wanting a few drops of ink. Such domestic annals
may yet be viewed in the family records at Appleby Castle, in
Westmoreland. Anne, Countess of Pembroke" (a Wiltshire lady
for a short time by residence) u was a glorious woman, the descendant
of two potent northern families, the Veteriponts and the Cliffords.
She lived in a state of regal magnificence and independence, in-
habiting five or seven castles ; yet though her magnificent spirit

Notes on Wiltshire Geology and P alaontolgy , 45

poured itself out in her extended charities, and though her indepen-
dence equalled that of monarchs, yet she herself, in her domestic
habits, lived as a hermit in her own castles. Though only acquainted
with her native language, she had cultivated her mind in many parts
of learning j and as Dr. Donne, in his way, observes, she knew how
to converse of every thing \ from predestination down to slea-silk.
Her favourite design was to have materials collected for the history
of those two potent northern families to whom she was allied ; and
at a considerable expense she employed learned persons to make
collections for this purpose from the records in the Tower, the Rolls
and other depositories of manuscripts. She had three large volumes
fairly transcribed. Anecdotes of a great variety of characters, who
had exerted themselves on very important occasions, compose these
family records, and induce one to wish that the public were in pos-
session of such annals of the domestic life of heroes and of sages
who have only failed in obtaining an historian."

jtotes m Mliltsjmt Ifeolagg raft Ipakoittalogg.

By Charles Mogee, F.G.S.

HAVE selected the above as a suitable title for my address
to you at this meeting, not that I am a Wiltshire geologist,
or that my experience of the district is sufficient to make me master
of the subject ; but now that there is such a multiplicity of kindred
societies, papers should, as far as possible, have a local bearing upon
their respective areas. But if anyone may be permitted to break
through this reservation it may be allowed to the geologist, as he
has a wide field of observation ; and physical conditions but feebly
represented in one locality may necessitate references to similar
phenomena in which they may be more devoloped in others Jby which
it is surrounded.

46 Notes on Wiltshire Geology and Paleontology.

I have had more than forty years' experience in my native county
of Somerset, and still doubt if another lifetime would exhaust the
marvellous history which, when minutely studied, is to be read
within its borders ; for, with few exceptions, there are to be found
the representatives of almost every geological formation. Occasional
rambles across its borders into Wiltshire have, however, enabled me
to refer to a few points that may be of interest.

Meeting your Society in the town of Bradford -on- Avon, I ought
not to forget making a reference to a former townsman, the late
Mr. Channing Pearce. He was one who as a geologist was far in
advance of his time, and blessed as he was, in addition to acute
geological observation, with ample means to forward his tastes, had
assembled before his death one of the most interesting geological
collections out of London ; and, had he lived, would probably have
been the historian of Wiltshire geology and palaeontology. He was
my first geological friend, and for some time we corresponded
without having had a meeting. When it came it was a curious one.
The little town of Ilminster — where I lived — before the advent of
railways, was the high road for travellers into the West of England.
Without any notice or introduction an individual, throwing open
the doors of the room where I was sitting, rushed in, out of breath
and bespattered with mud, asking hurriedly, " Are you Charles
Moore ? " My first conviction was that he was an escaped lunatic,
but the explanation came that he was Channing Pearce, of Bradford,
who, whilst the coach-horses were being changed, had found his
way to me, but had lost his equilibrium in turning a corner on the
way.

The great variety found in Somersetshire geology, and many of
its peculiar physical characters are chiefly due to the uplift of the
Mendip range. There is no doubt that the palaeozoic rocks of
which these hills are composed where they disappear, near Frome,
pass beneath the secondary beds of Wiltshire, and continuing under
London, where their presence has been proved by a boring of 1050
feet, come again to the surface on the other side of the channel ; the
carboniferous limestone and the coal measures being found in the
Boulonnais, and there is, therefore, every reason to believe that the

By Charles Moore, F.G.S.

47

rocks forming the eastern edge of the Somersetshire coal basin in
its passage to the north lie under the secondary rocks of this district.
The basement limestone beds, but without any superimposed coal,
were found in a sinking at Batheaston, and they reach the surface
in a small uplift, under Lansdowne, and at Wick, clearly indicating
the eastern outline of the basin ; it is therefore quite possible that
in the foldings of these beds, the coal measures may be somewhere
present under Wiltshire. Within my recollection several ill-advised
and abortive attempts to find coal have been made. In two instances
shafts were commenced in the Oxford Clay, one of the upper beds
of the oolites, and were all the beds between it and the carboniferous
series present in their normal thicknesses, it is probable several
thousand feet would have to be passed through before the latter
could have been reached. The experimental boring put down at
Netherfield, near Battle, Sussex, proved that at that spot the
Oxford and Kimmeridge Clays were nearly 2000 feet in thickness,
though this was probably an exceptional thickness. At Kimmeridge
the latter are about 600 feet thick.

The palaeozoic rocks under Wiltshire are hidden by a wide-spread
development of secondary formations, which, in ascending order,
include the following : —

Upper Lias
Inferior Oolite
Fuller's Earth
Stonesfield Slate?
Great Oolite
Bradford Clay
Forest Marble
Cornbrash
Oxford Clay
Coral Rag

Kimmeridge Clay
Portland Oolite
Purbeck Beds
Lower Green Sand
Gault

Upper Green Sand
Chalk

Tertiary Beds
Post Pliocene Drifts and
Brick Earth.

Some of these, especially the Bradford Clay, the Cornbrash, and
Forest Marble, are but thin and local, and though useful as divisions,
do not exercise the same influence on the general physical characters
of the county as the bold escarpments of the chalk, or the level
plains of the Oxford and Kimmeridge Clays. This may be said

48 Notes on Wiltshire Geology and Palaeontology.

also of the Inferior Oolite and the Upper Lias, which, in this part
of the county, are only seen at Limpley Stoke and Freshford.

For this reason, although the latter are, when well exposed,
crowded with organic remains, some of them of much interest, no
reference is needed to them here, and the same may be said of the
Fuller's Earth.

The Great Oolite above has the first claim to our attention, more
especially as its freestone forms one of the staple trades of Bradford
and its neighbourhood. Its beds are composed either of minute
calcareous egg-like non-organic concretions, or of comminuted shells,
reunited by a calcareous paste ; included in which are various forms
of contemporary mollusca, occasional teeth of fishes, whose carti-
lagenous skeletons have altogether perished, with a mixture of corals,
bryozoa, &c Although these remains are repeatedly to be observed
in the beds of this district, they are not to be compared in richness
with those of the Gloucestershire Cotteswolds, which have yielded
more than four hundred species. But the palseontological character
of the Great Oolite at Bradford is redeemed by one most interesting
organism, the Apioerinus rotundus, or Pear Encrinite. Whilst the
Great Oolite was being deposited, or rather at a period of rest after
deposition, there lived at Bradford a colony of these interesting
creatures. They are chiefly confined to the upper surface of the
beds, to which they were attached by a broad or sucker-like base ;
from this sprang a stem composed of a number of disc-like plates, on
which the pear-shaped body was superimposed, and in the centre of
which the mouth of the animal was placed. On its outer edge a
series of flexible many -jointed arms was arranged, ever ready to
seize and convey to its mouth any unwary creatures that came
within their reach. This colony of gracefully-waving organisms
would have been an interesting one, when living, for a naturalist to
have looked down upon, especially as very few of the family now
exist. After living as I have described, a change came and they
were all destroyed by an irruption of mud into the sea, the deposit
being geologically known as the Bradford Clay. It is very local,
and scarcely to be recognized elsewhere, even at Hampton Down,
near Bath, although a few scattered encrinital plates are found, the

By Charles Moore, F.G.8.

clay deposit is wanting, and in its stead succeed the Great Oolite
raggy beds, composed almost entirely of corals and sponges, whilst
clustering amongst them were many interesting forms of Oolitic
Brachiopoda. These are to be met with — though not so abundantly
— at Box, and in the quarry openings at Monkton Farleigh and
elsewhere. They have yielded to myself a rich harvest, including
many forms new to science. This important family has in past
geological time yielded in the aggregate many thousand species,
whilst in the present seas only about one hundred species are known.
Some of them contain in their interiors a wonderfully delicate spire
or loop, which served during the life of the animal to support its
softer parts. All genera have their special animal forms and the
processes differing internally in each genus — though in the same
species they are usually alike. A curious variation from this law,
however, occurs in the Terebratella BucJcmani. In dissecting this
shell, which occurs in the Great Oolite of this district, for its in-
ternal structure, I found that the calcareous processes differed
materially, apparently altering in form, during its several stages of
growth, a fact not hitherto noticed in any other member of this
family. Another of this group — the Thecidium — was a few years
back only represented by two species, one in the Green Sand, and
another in the chalk, whilst only one species was known in our
recent seas — recently, however, increased to two or three. It had
its largest life development in the secondary deposits of which I am.
speaking, and I have been fortunate enough to obtain from our
Oolitic beds alone as many as twelve new species.

The Forest Marble, which succeeds the Bradford Clay, was for-
merly raised at Wormwood and Atford for roofing tiles, but has
since been almost superseded by lighter material. For palasonto-
logical reasons this seems a pity, for they yielded the enamelled teeth
of many fishes whose cartilagenous skeletons have perished, and
with them occasionally the teeth of reptilia, including Teleosaurus
and Megalosaurus.

The Cornbrash is usually a persistent rock-bed in succession, and has
its characteristic fossils. It is found atCorsham and nearMalmesbury.
The Kelloway Rock, which follows, occurs at the village of that name.

VOL. XX. — NO. LVIII. E

50 Notes on Wiltshire Geology and Paleontology.

The Oxford Clay, next in order, is continuous from the Dorsetshire
coast all the way to Scarborough ; and extended through Wiltshire
as a level belt, occasionally five or six miles broad, and having a thick-
ness of about 600 feet. It consists chiefly of thinly laminated
marls, which are seldom opened up, except in pits for brick -making.
Owing to this much is lost to the palaeontologist, as the beds are
crowded with organic remains, many of which are of high interest,
and include Ichthyosaurus, Pliosatmis, and Steneosaurus, many of
large size. But the harvest times as regarded this formation were
in the days of my friend Pearce, for then the Great Western Railway
was in course of construction, and on either side of the line between
Chippenham and Wootton Bassett pits may be seen — now mostly
filled with water — from which the laminated marls were extracted be-
low a covering of mammal drift gravels. These marls were crowded
with Ammonites, the shells of which still possessed their perfect
terminations, a feature rarely seen in other formations. Belemnites
—•the internal shells of an animal allied to the cuttle fish — abounded,
and the cuttle fish also, so perfect that its cuttle bone remains, its
original fluid ink is preserved, and on its extended arms are still
arrayed the horny hooks and suckers used in capturing its prey.
Another unique specimen, from Christian Malford, was a colony of
barnacles, that still remained attached to its stalk. Crustaceaa of
peculiar form and fish were also plentiful. Had I been a landowner
on the Oxford Clay I should long since have been tempted to open
some pits for the ancient natural history they would have revealed.

In most of the beds containing Ammonites a curious triangular
bivalve body is found called Trigonellites. It occurs in the Oxford
Clay, but more plentifully in the Kimmeridge beds. They are more
often found free, but occasionally in the outer chamber of the Am-
monite itself. No organism, probably, has been a greater puzzle to
palaeontologists. By some authors they have been supposed to be
bivalve shells, and named Aptychus, Munsteria} and Cirripedes — by
others the gizzards of the Ammonite, or the operculum of that
shell, the last view being that now generally adopted, though I have
some reasons for believing that eventually this will not be found
correct.

By Charles Moore, F.G.S.

51

Between the Oxford and the Kimmeridge Clays there are inter-
posed beds of lower and upper calcareous grits, separated by a deposit
known as the Coral Hag, typical examples of which are to be found
near Farring^don, and at Lyneham, Wootton Bassett, and Steeple
Ash ton. The lat ter represents a true coral reef of the secondary
period. Some of the corals are in beautiful preservation. At Steeple
Ashton good collecting ground may be found in the arable fields,
the plough sometimes touching the surface of the reef, and thereby
bringing' the corals to light. Calne, which is on this formation,
was formerly a celebrated locality for Echini. It is not usual for
the long spines of this family to be still found in a fossil state
attached to their shells, but this used to be the case at Calne, and
indicated that they had a very quiet entombment. Examples in
this condition are now more rarely found. Lyneham has been to
myself an interesting locality, as I have found there three species of
Thecididse, the T. omatum, Moore, and the T. pygmmum, Moore,
being hitherto confined to that locality. There are also examples
of the minute but exceedingly beautiful shells of Foraminifera, one
of which, an Invohdina, is probably a new species. Carpenteria,
another of the family, is worth notice. Until lately it was only
known as a recent marine organism. I have recently found it in
the Green Sand brought up from the Meux well boring, 1000 feet
under London, and since then at Lyneham, but its life-history has
yet to be traced through intervening deposits to the present time.
Like others of this family it obtained its food by means of minute
openings in its shell, through which its pseudopodia were projected,
which appear to have seized everything within their reach. In
some recent specimens minute silicious spines, which must have
proved very indigestible morsels, have been found in their chambers.

The Kimmeridge Clays which follow are interesting in connection
with Wiltshire geology. They extend throughout the county to
the hamlet of Kimmeridge, on the Dorsetshire coast, whence they
take their name. I have before remarked on their great thickness
in the Sussex boring. Some beds are so mineralized and bituminous
as to be used by the villagers on the coast for fuel. They contain
large quantities of oil, which it has been hoped might eventually be

E %

52 Notes on Wiltshire Geology and Palaeontology.

extracted, and more than one company has been formed for utilizing-
it for gas manufacture and for paraffine. Hitherto one difficulty is
insuperable, arising1 from the fetid odour it emits when heated.
Ship-loads of it were sent to some London gas works, and to France,
the stench soon made itself perceptible in the neighbourhood of the
works, and the proprietors were compelled to cease using it and
would have been only too glad to have paid return freights to have
got rid of the material. Could this difficulty be overcome its
commercial value may be seen when it is stated that whilst New-
castle coal gives 8,000 feet of gas per ton, with an illuminating
power equal to twelve candles, Kimmeridge Shale gives 12,000
cubic feet of gas per ton, with an illuminating power of eighteen
candles. At Swindon these clays are used for brick-making. They
contain an abundance of organic remains, though of but few species
and those usually much crushed and distorted. The shells of the
Ammonites still retain all the nacreous colours of the rainbow. The
liassic period has usually been called the " age of reptiles/'' but if
the Kimmeridge Clays were as extensively worked they would vie
with it for this designation. Some of the genera living at the
period must have been formidable creatures. Not long since remains
of a new genus, named by Professor Owen, Omosaurus armatus were
found at Swindon. Great care was exercised in the removal of the
septarian-like stone in which they lay and in their after development.
It contained the pelvic portion of the animal with limb bones and
some of its vertebrse, and so far as it goes it is a grand specimen, the
femur alone is 3J feet in length. The lower jaw of another genus,
Pliosaurus, was for a long time stowed away undeveloped at the
Swindon works, until stumbled upon by Mr. Cunnington. I have
found part of a jaw near Melksham, and the genus is found also at
Kimmeridge. A tooth of this creature has been found a foot long.
Bothriospondylus, Cetiosaurus3 Ichthyosaurus, Plesiosaurus, Teleo-
saurus, and Steneosaurus also occur in this formation.

The Poitland and Purbeck beds, which overlie the Kimmeridge
Clay, are the upper members of the Oolitic series, and present a re-
markable contrast with the latter. The physical conditions under
which they were deposited must have been very different, for the

By Charles' Moore, F.G.S.

53

Kimmeridge Clay is almost entirely argillaceous, whilst the Portland
Sands are as distinctly arenaceous. These pass into the limestones
of the series, and all are marine. But the Purbeck beds above are
either brackish or have been deposited by fresh water. The con-
sequence of this has been an almost entire change in organic life,
which could only have been brought about by a great lapse of time
in their formation. They have but small development in Wiltshire,
occurring as outliers at Bourton and Swindon, and again at Chicks-
grove and Tisbury. At Portland, and on the coast at Swanage, they
have their chief development, the Purbeck beds alone — which at
Swindon are but about 10 feet thick — being there estimated at 300
feet. These beds, including those of the Wealden above, with
which they are intimately associated, have in their full development
a thickness of 2500 feet, and Professor Ramsay suggests that they
are the lagoon or delta of an immense river then continuous through
a continent as large as Asia, rivalling in size the Ganges or the
Mississippi. That it was bounded by dry land, which now seems
to have entirely disappeared, is evidenced by the fact that its in-
significant representative at Swindon has yielded to me the remains
of terrestrial marsupial mammals, reptiles, insects, and vegetation,
that were caught up and re-deposited by its waters. On the
Dorsetshire coasts the Purbeck beds have yielded not less than ten
genera and and twenty-five species of land animals. How interesting
it would be if we could go back and stand upon the banks of this
mighty river and realize all the physical changes it would indicate !

I need scarcely say that crowded as are the Chalk beds of this
country with organic remains, there is still good work to be done
with them. Warminster and its neighbourhood has always repaid
examination. As I have not worked in these beds I must pass on
and shall only refer to conditions immediately preceding or contem-
poraneous with the dawn of our own era. At this time, though no
doubt there have been some modifications in the outlines of our hills
and valleys, their forms were generally what they now present. But
their climatic conditions were altogether different; periods of ex-
treme cold, with alternating intervals of higher temperature. These
are included in the Glacial Period, within which were deposited our

54 Notes on Wiltshire Geology and Paleontology.

river gravels, and cave earths, and the brick clays and loams, in all
of which are found abundantly the remains of mammalia, now ex-
tinct. Within a mile-and-a-half of Bradford I have found in the
gravels near the railway Elep7ias primigenim, Ovibos mosc/iatus, now
known only within the Arctic circle, Rhinoceros, &c, whilst in the
illustrative Blackmore Museum, at Salisbury, Reindeer, Marmot,
Lemming, and other Arctic genera may be seen. The works of man
indicate his advent at this period, but we still desire a fuller know-
ledge of early man himself. This will, without doubt, come. But
I have detained you too long, and will conclude by saying that the
Oolitic table-lands of this district indicate the very latest periods of
intense cold which this county experienced. Fresh water deposits oc-
cupied the summits of the hills around. This is only to be accounted
for by periodic accumulations of frozen snow in the long winters.
As these melted the water passed down through the numerous fissures
to be found in the great Oolite, filling them, as is often the case, with
an ochreous muddy deposit, carrying with it the bones of animals of
a more recent period than those previously referred to, whilst large
glaciers were also detached from the sides of the valleys to melt in
the lower levels, carrying with them moraine materials derived from
the higher grounds. The fissures referred to often contain the bones
of animals of this later period. Thus at least £00 feet above our
present rivers I have repeatedly found Arvicola or Water Rat. At
Monkton Farleigh at one spot I found about half a cart-load of the
dismembered bones of Frogs. At Combe Down I found the entire
skeleton of two horses, and at Box, 60 feet below the surface, the
limb bones and vertebrae of Bison, which, though now extinct, lived
on to these later times.

55

By Feedeeick Shum, F.S.A.

was not until the year 1829, in the city of Rome, that the
first archaeological institute was formed. Since then nearly
every country in Europe has followed suit, and in England almost
every county has a society, the main object of which is the study of
antiquity in connection with local researches.

These provincial associations have directly and indirectly accom-
plished much good, not only in giving a zest to archaeological
pursuits, and in promoting topographical inquiries, but by recording
the relics of the past in accurate memoirs and faithful drawings, as
well as by affording pecuniary assistance to preserve these relics
from material decay, and in some instances offering friendly remon-
strances to save them from ruthless destruction.

Foremost among these is the Wiltshire Archaeological Society.
This county is rich in the possession of antiquarian objects of pre-
eminent interest, and is equally celebrated for a succession of
distinguished antiquaries, who, since the days of Aubrey, have been
connected with it. Many localities in England, formerly unnoticed,
and apparently devoid of interest, have become famous, and, in not
a few of them, remains of great value have been discovered, and
secured for the interest and instruction of future generations.

The stimulus thus given may, in some cases, have been abused ;
the zealous archaeologist is sometimes wont to invest his own par-
ticular neighbourhood with fictitious interest and exaggerated im-
portance. Visitors' guides and strangers' handbooks afford abundant
evidence of what I mean — to read them is often a trial of great
patience ; what little interest there may be in the natural history,
geology, or antiquity of the place is so magnified, and the reference
to any historical incidents or personages connected with it so far-
fetched, as to excite only ridicule and contempt. Fortunately, there

56 Some Notes on Gainsborough and Ms connection with Bradford.

is no visitors' guide-book to Bradford-on-Avon, and so long- as Canon
J ones remains the vicar it will be unnecessary ; every stranger may
find in him, not only a safe and accurate guide, but one always
ready to impart information relating to objects of interest in this
quaint and picturesque town.

It may, however, be objected that in occupying your time and
attention with a paper on recollections of Gainsborough in Bradford,
I am myself guilty of claiming for this locality an interest in the
great modern artist to which it is not entitled. The question
may be asked, "What connection is there between Bradford and
Gainsborough,a man of mark, who was neither born nor buried here ? "
The few notes now submitted will be my answer, and if it can be
shown that there resided in Bradford a man whose force of character
and remarkable physiognomy attracted the notice and secured the
friendship of Gainsborough, and that in this place he executed a
work that has ever since been regarded as an example of the highest
style of portraiture, and is still considered by the best judges to be
Gainsborough's masterpiece— if, moreover, it is found that the
singular beauty of this valley brought Gainsborough from time to
time to Bradford, to make sketches for some of his most charming
landscapes, I think this town may not unfairly claim some connection
with the great master — a connection more noteworthy than the
circumstance, even if it could be affirmed, that he was either born
or buried here.

The memoirs of Gainsborough are full of interest, on account of
his residence in Bath when that city was in the heyday of its
prosperity, and from the fact that he was — apart from his works —
a notable character, a musician as well as an artist, possessing many
admirable qualities with not a few eccentricities. But it is not my
present purpose to give a recital of his life, only to refer you to a
few passages in his history.

It will be in your recollection that Gainsborough was a native of
Sudbury, in Suffolk, a town about the size of Bradford-on-Avon,
and somewhat similar in character ; memorable for its antiquity and
early ecclesiastical remains, rich in picturesque old buildings, and
surrounded by scenery of more than ordinary beauty. Both places

By Frederick Shum, F.S.A.

57

were celebrated for the manufacture of woollen cloth, before its in-
troduction into other parts of England; Sudbury, however, has
ceased to be a manufacturing town, while Bradford maintains, to
some extent, its wonted reputation.

He was born in 1727, thirty years after Hogarth, who is entitled
to rank as the first great English artist ; for — unlike his predecessors
and contemporaries — Hogarth ignored and despised the convention-
alities of foreign art ; thoroughly original and independent, he was
free from all trammells, and, in theory and practice, he persistently
resisted a servile imitation of the " Black Masters." In the
characters of these two distinguished masters there was little in
common, still less in their works. Englishmen were only just be-
ginning to know something about art and to appreciate its value.
Hogarth and Gainsborough were both pioneers in the struggle for
the emancipation of art from the thraldom of an artificial and debased
foreign style. Their one aim and endeavour was to depict objects
as they really appear, and to portray Nature simply and truthfully.

Strange to say, the lapse of one hundred and fifty years has brought
us to the opposite extreme ; and just as Foote, in his comedy of
" Taste," performed at Drury Lane in 1752, ridiculed the affected
mannerism and artificialities of art then prevalent ; so now, at the
present time, the play-writers of the day, Burnand and Gilbert, are
satirising, with merciless severity, the aestheticism now in fashion,
which treats the simplest object in Nature as almost divine and
worthy of devout admiration ; introducing into the very dress and
conversation of everyday life, a style and jargon that every manly
intellect cannot but despise as repugnant alike to common sense and
good taste. It is a source of consolation, however, that there is
this difference between the past and the present. In the former,
all the patrons and professors of art were under the baneful influence;
whereas, now that the knowledge and culture of art is so widely ex-
tended, the number of those who render themselves and their works
grotesque, by caricaturing the simplicity of Nature, is limited to a
few morbid and conceited artists, who, hankering after notoriety, are
bringing true art into contempt, by apeing simplicity and distorting
truth, under the pretence of realism. Of course they have their

58 Some Notes on Gainsborough and Ids connection with Bradford.

following — young men about town, assuming the function of art-
critics — strong minded ladies, with ample courage to pose in very
little or in any, even the most fantastic costume, who " soulfully
intense, " converse in words and phrases too " unutterably utter " to
describe ; and last, although not the least important, the newly-
created professors of the nineteenth century — the art decorators.

Early in life Gainsborough manifested a genius for drawing, and
of him, as of many other precocious painters, well-known anecdotes
are current. Perhaps the most characteristic, and the only one I
need repeat, is connected with his school-life, showing, that his love
of Nature at an early age was stronger than his reverence for truth.
When a boy he loved to sketch from Nature, and one bright morning
his anxiety to go sketching tempted him to forge a note from his
father, in the customary form, to his school-master, " Please give
Tom a holiday." The request was granted, and young Gainsborough,
rejoicing in the glorious sunshine, fled to the fields and lanes with
his drawing-book, but, on returning, found that his father having
required his services at home had sent for him, when the forgery
was detected. His father angrily exclaimed, " Tom will one day
be hanged," but no sooner had his mother exhibited the clever
sketches of her truant son than old Gainsborough, with mollified
tone, declared that " Tom would one day be a genius."

In his fifteenth year he was sent to London, and we learn from
his biographer, in the Gentleman's Magazine, that he received in-
structions from Gravelot, the engraver, who procured his admission
to the academy in St. Martin's Lane. He afterwards studied under
Hayman, and at the end of three years ventured upon a studio for
himself, in Hatton Garden, where he painted landscapes and portraits
for the dealers. The deplorable state of art in the schools at that
period exercised its pernicious influence upon him, and his earliest
works showed little genius or skill. Fortunately for his future
reputation the London studio was not a success. After twelve
months' trial he returned to his native county, and for fifteen years
carefully, conscientiously, and devotedly, studied Nature amid the
pleasant scenery of Suffolk, under every possible variety of aspect ;
realising a moderate income without gaining more than a provincial

By Frederick Shum, F.S.A.

50

reputation. Shortly after his return from London, in 1745, at the
early age of eighteen, he married a young lady scarcely sixteen.

Allan Cunningham, in his pleasant stories of the English painters,,
gives a romantic account of their first acquaintance, which Fulcher,
in his biography, cruelly mars by a prosaic explanation. After
careful inquiries, I believe the more poetical version to be equally
accurate. However, the union was a happy one. Miss Margaret
Burr, iu addition to her beauty and £200* a year, possessed many
estimable qualities, and among them caution, forbearance, and judg-
ment : characteristics of inestimable value in after life, for Gains-
borough lacked them all. She was of Scottish extraction, and is
generally believed to have been the natural daughter of an English
prince ; this was admitted by Mrs. Gainsborough, after her husband
had attained fame and position.

An enthusiastic lover of Nature, a clever musician, warm-hearted
and impulsive, full of wit and humour, with intelligence and con-
siderable conversational powers, handsome presence, genial manners
and unaffected simplicity, he was welcomed in all circles. He became
a general favourite with his fellow -townsmen in Ipswich, as well as
with the neighbouring gentry. But he was a student and a lover
of his art ; conscious of his power and determined to excel, for he
had much to learn and not a little of his London art to unlearn.

Towards the close of his residence in Ipswich he made the ac-
quaintance of an extraordinary character, Ralph Thicknesse, Governor
of Landguard Fort, who, on the title-page of his singular production
styled himself late Lieutenant-Governor of Landguard Fort, " un-
fortunately," father of George Touchet, Baron Audley. During
the winter season Thicknesse resided in Bath at St. Catherine's
Hermitage, in a picturesque dell, facetiously named by his friend,
Lord Thurlow, Gully Hall. Here in his garden, where Saxon and
Roman remains have been found, he erected a monument in memory
of Chatterton, and beneath it interred the remains of his own
daughter ; hard by, with strange incongruity, he placed the body
of his old travelling carriage, in which he had traversed the continent
of Europe. There it remained many years, a curious memento
of his vagaries and eccentricity. He was a man of great notoriety

(50 Some Notes on Gainsborough and Ids connection with Bradford.

in his day ; descended from an ancient family, and with high con-
nections, he had a wide circle of acquaintances in every part of
England, to a great number of whom he introduced his friend and
protege, Gainsborough. With much of the Napier eccentricity he
lacked the Napier ability; in his slandering propensities he resembled
Walter Savage Landor in his dotage, but compared with him in
intellect he was an ignorant coxcomb. He was a great traveller
but a scurrilous author; cacoethes scribendi his besetting weak-
ness. He toadied to the rich and patronised the poor. He was
insufferably egotistical, vain, ambitious, poor and proud, affected,
fussy, and quarrelsome ; with a commanding presence and good
natural abilities, he was cursed with so evil a temper, that, bereft of
friends, beloved by none, and detested by not a few, he died a
miserable and disappointed man.

This was the singular character under whose early auspices
Gainsborough became celebrated. Enough has been said of Gains-
borough's history to show, not only that he had appreciative friends,
but that he had confidence in his own powers ; having thrown aside
the conventional ideas and practice of his contemporaries, he painted
in a style peculiarly his own. So far his life had not been un-
successful, and although he had not realised high prices for his
works, he had secured a fair income and made great proficiency in
his drawing, color, and execution. Thicknesse, however, gave him
good advice when he recommended him to migrate to the " Queen
of the West/'' and Gainsborough's acquiescence was wise and politic.
If he had declined, and contented himself with the position of an
artist in a quiet country town, the name of Gainsborough would
never have ranked as one of the great modern painters.

His landscapes would undoubtedly have secured for him the
reputation of a true English artist, but he would never have produced
those marvellous portraits that worthily compare with the greatest
works of Sir Joshua Reynolds. In 1760 Gainsborough arrived in
Bath, where he spent the next fourteen years of his life. During
this period the celebrity of Bath reached its acme. Rank and
fashion, wealth and royalty assembled there as in no other place,
except the metropolis, and since those days no other fashionable resort

By Frederick Shum, F.S.A.

61

has ever acquired such a monoply of distinguished and aristocratic
visitors.

Through the introduction of Thicknesse, Gainsborough soon ob-
tained commissions,, and the comparatively unknown Suffolk painter
at once became famous ; his studio was the centre of attraction ;
there, might be seen dukes, generals, philosophers, and statesmen*
He had more than he could do, and rapidly advanced his prices from
five guineas to a hundred guineas.

In an account of Gainsborough, recently published in the series
of " Small Books on the Great Artists," written by Mr. Brock-
Arnold in an appreciative spirit, with great judgment and discrimi-
nation, it is stated that on his arrival in Bath he rented a house in
the Circus. This, however, is incorrect ; his first residence was in
the centre of the city, afterwards he lived in Ainslie's Belvedere,
where he had a studio commanding a beautiful view of Hampton
Bocks, and subsequently he occupied a house in the Circus, not
many doors from the Earl of Chatham ; here his rooms were crowded
with unsold landscapes, which the fashionable visitors at Bath could
not appreciate. Numerous are the anecdotes recorded of Gains-
borough in Bath — of the rebuffs he administered to the vain and
wealthy people who came to him for their portraits, and desired to
be decked out in all their finery ; of his quarrels with the irascible
Governor of Landguard Fort, of his friendship and association with
the actors and musical celebrities, of his passion for music, and of
his versatile genius in playing all sorts of musical instruments.
Bath at that time was noted for its love of music, and its patronage
of the stage. The first musicians of the day were constantly there,
and as Gainsborough loved music no less'passionately than paintings
he invited them to his house, painted their portraits, and treated
them with the most genial hospitality. Among them was Fischer,
the hautboy player, who married his daughter, and whose portrait
is in Hampton Court ; Mrs. Siddons, whose portrait is now in the
National Gallery ; Abel, Miss Linley, Quin, and Garrick, who
again and again refused to sit until one morning Mr. Wiltshire
beguiled him into his house at Bath, and there held guard over him
while Gainsborough commenced a sketch for that noble picture,

62 Some Notes on Gainsborough and his connection with Bradford.

which is generally admitted to be superior to Reynolds' far-famed
portrait of the inimitable mimic and actor.

Of all the portraits Gainsborough painted, whether in Bath or
elsewhere, there is not one of greater power and excellence than
that of Orpen, the parish clerk of Bradford ; and lest I should detain
you too long, I must quit the gay scenes at Bath. Notwithstanding
his popularity in the artistic circles of Bath, and the extraordinary
number of commissions for portraits pressed on him by wealthy
visitors, landscape painting was his delight ; his passion for Nature
revived, and the varied scenery of hill and dale around Bath and
Bradford became as familiar to him as the Suffolk woods.

I just now mentioned that his house in Ainslie's Belvedere com- I
manded a view of Hampton Rocks, which are situated at the
entrance of the beautiful valley down which the Avon winds its I
sluggish course from Bradford, flowing through the charming 1
meadows lying at the base of the Hampton Cliff. This valley had
a rare fascination for Gainsborough. On the heights above he was I
often seen sketching, and one of the crags yet bears the name of I
et Gainsborough's Pallett." From the opposite side of the valley he I
could see the mansion of his friend, Mr. Wiltshire, the great London I
carrier to the West of England, whose name will always be remem-
bered in connection with Gainsborough, who spent many pleasant
days at his beautiful country seat, and often walked from thence I
with his drawing materials to Bradford, or rode the grey pony Mr.
Wiltshire had given him, through the interesting village of Monkton
Farleigh to Bradford.

Wiltshire's appreciation of his painting, and regard for the man,
would not allow him to receive payment for the carriage of his
pictures to and from the London exhibitions. Gainsborough,
handsomely reciprocated his friend's kindness by presenting him
with examples of his finest works, now of inestimable value. The }
one best known, from its being the property of the nation, and
placed in the National Gallery, is the portrait of " The Parish Clerk." I
This picture was the result of Gainsborough's pilgrimages to the \
picturesque and flourishing little town of Bradford, whither he
wandered after leaving his sketching ground on Hampton Down,

By Frederick S/ium, F.S.A.

63

or when lie rode over from Mr. Wiltshire's seat at Shockerwick.

Weary of the excitement of Bath Society, and impatient of the
jealous and exacting patronage of Thicknesse, he was only too glad
of an excuse to come to Bradford ; whether it was to have a chat
and another sitting from Orpen, or to sketch the romantic dells at
Belcombe and Farleigh, mattered little. In Orpen, he had a capital
study ; intelligence, reverence, and simplicity were there, and nobly
has he depicted these qualities. It was a labour of love, he reckoned
not on the prestige or the pecuniary reward that he derived when
painting the portraits of statesmen, or country squires, at Bath.
Upon this old man's head he bestowed as much labour and care as
on the Lord Chancellor or Royalty itself. It is exquisitely and
carefully painted, the color perfect, the light and shade equal to
Rembrandt, while the force and character in the features and ex-
pression is not excelled in any of Velasquez's charming portraits. No
one can look upon this admirable likeness without the conviction
that the subject was a man of singular ability ; but he was more
than this, he was a man of generous instincts, for although by no
means rich, he bequeathed his house in perpetuity to his successors
in office. The family of Orpen was humble but respectable, and in
an old map, now extant, is represented a row of cottages that stood
near the centre of the town, called after their name, showing that
they were here in the sixteenth century ; they were also owners of
some land in the neighbourhood of Farley Castle.

Within a stone's throw of that interesting and unique relic of
Saxon architecture, of which Bradford is not a little proud, may be
seen this house in which Orpen lived, and where Gainsborough
painted his portrait ; although small, it has some architectural
pretension. It was built by Orpen, but has been somewhat increased
in size by the present Vicar ; a singular feature marks the front wall
of the cottage; two nearly square lights of glass, about 12 inches
by 13, are to be seen on either side of the centre window in the
first story. What can be the meaning of them ? Canon Jones not
infrequently puzzles his visitors with this riddle, but they invariably
" give it up/' and wait for his solution. It will be remembered
that in the early part of the present century, when England's

64 Some Notes on Gainsborough and his connection with Bradford.

necessities had well-nigh exhausted the ingenuity of the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, William Pitt, a grievous tax was laid on our
windows. Now, as there were all sorts and sizes of window-lights,
disputes arose as to what a window really was ; finally it was decided
that all lights at a certain distance from each other were liable to
be taxed as separate windows. Orpen was equal to the occasion,
and by placing these two small loop-hole lights on either side of the
centre window, thus reducing the distance, he was rated for one
window instead of three ; in reality having five lights and paying
for one. The cottage overlooks the parish churchyard, and immedi-
ately in front of it, underneath a plain stone slab, lie the remains of
him whose memory has been long cherished for his intelligence,
generosity,and moral worth,and who will still be remembered formany
generations yet to come, through the genius and skill of his friend,
who has left to posterity so true a likeness of his manly features.

In the National Gallery this picture is named " The Parish Clerk."
Now, as there are parish clerks and parish clerks, I must take ex-
ception to this slight on Orpen, which ignores his identity, and I
would suggest a friendly remonstrance be tendered to the trustees
from this Association, with a request that Gainsbor oughts portrait
may be catalogued " Orpen, the Parish Clerk."

For one moment I must call your attention to another picture,
presented by Gainsborough to Mr. Wiltshire, and said to have been
painted from a sketch made in this neighbourhood. Of this painting
Gainsborough said, that " it pleased him more than any he had ever
executed." It is called " The Return from Harvest," and represents
a picturesque-looking waggon, with its driver, returning home at
the close of the day. Two of the figures are portraits of his
daughters, and one of the horses is a drawing of the grey pony
given to the artist by Mr. Wiltshire. This picture is a charming
bit of Nature, beautiful in color, and one of Gainsborough's most
characteristic works. At the death of Mr. Wiltshire's grandson,
about twenty years ago, it was purchased for Her Majesty at £3500.

The circumstances, however, that led to the purchase are not
generally known. The Queen, when visiting Bath as Princess
Victoria, on the occasion of her opening the Royal Victoria Park in

By Frederick S7ium, F.8.A.

65

that city, was taken by her mother, the Duchess of Kent, to view
the pictures at Shockerwick. Here it was Her Majesty first saw
the picture now in her possession. In recording this fact I am only
paying a just tribute to the Queen's good taste and discrimination,
in selecting for purchase a work of so much excellence, seen by her
when only a girl many years before.

Necessarily imperfect and fragmentary as these notes have proved,
for the reasons, first, that the information sought has been difficult
to obtain ; secondly, because I considered it undesirable to reproduce
— however interesting — incidents concerning Gainsborough, which
it is presumed you are familiar with, especially, those details of his
later life — of his successful career at Schomberg House, Pall Mall,
whither he removed from Bath in 1774, of the singular and melan-
choly premonition of his decease, and of that last touching scene,
when, anxious to die at peace with all, he sent for Reynolds, with
whom he had quarrelled, and who generously came, and beading
over him listened to his last whispers, " We are all going to Heaven
and Vandyck is one of the party " ; nevertheless, it has also been
my aim to gather a few local remembrances of a notable man in
humble life, the subject of one of our finest national portraits, as
well as to claim for the painter the position of an English artist,
second to none of his predecessors or contemporaries, either in
portrait or landscape painting, while in the practice of both he was
unequalled. In support of this view let me cite two or three sen-
tences from the writings of the greatest art-critic of ancient or
modern times : — u Gainsborough's power of colour is capable of
taking rank beside that of Rubens, he is the purest colourist, Sir
J oshua Reynolds not excepted, of the whole English school ; with
him, in fact, the art of painting did in great part die, and exists not
now in Europe. ... I hesitate not to say that in the management
and quality of single and particular tints, in the purely technical
part of painting, Turner is a child to Gainsborough. Gainsborough's
hand is light as the sweep of a cloud — as swift as the flash of a
sunbeam. Gainsborough's masses are as broad as the first division in
heaven of light from darkness. Gainsborough's forms are grand,
simple, and ideal. In a word Gainsborough is an immortal painter."
vol. xx. — NO. lviii. j?

66

By Sie Chaeles Hobhouse, Bart.
CHAPTER I.

Situation — Climate — Productions.

f^HE parish is situated on the extreme north-western bend of
an isolated chain of hills. At the one end of this is the
town of Bradford and at the other that of Chippenham. The ground
on which the village stands is from 6 to 700 feet in heigh t, the
tower on the down being, at its summit, 733 feet above the level ofl
the sea.

The village is six miles from Bath, four from Bradford, seven!
from Melksham, ten from Chippenham, and two-and-a-half from!
Box; and, standing on Farleigh Down, the landmarks are as
follows : — east, the Church tower at Derry Hill, Lord Lansdowne'sl
tower and the White Horse above Calne, Roundway Down, Devizes,!
and Etchilhampton Hill ; south, Salisbury Plain, Stourton Tower J
and the Mendip range by Cranmore and Mells ; west, Beckf ord'sj
Tower, on Lansdowne, and the hills that descend to the Bristol
Channel by Bristol, Clevedon, and Weston- Super-Mare ; north, the
high ground towards Malmesbury.

The River Avon and the Box Brook, or Weaver, encircle the hills,
at one end of which our village stands, and probably in all Wiltshire:
there is no place where the combination of scenery — hill and valley, j
wood and stream, distance and home views — is more varied audi
beautiful.

" Perhaps the most striking feature of Monkton Farleigh," says
Canon Jackson, "is its geological situation — standing on the down
and looking round, the view on all sides is not only beautiful but

Some Account of the Parish of Monhton Farleigh. 67

curious. From the south [east?] the whole country slopes gradually
upwards from the level of the Avon at Melksham, forming one side
of the basin, along the bottom of which that river flows through
North Wilts. Here the rising ground stops, checked by two deep
valleys, one on the north, the other on the west. Beyond are other
deep valleys, all radiating from one centre — the city of Bath.

" When the steep sides of the different hills, through which these
valleys have been excavated, are examined, their construction and
the succession of their strata are found to be the same in all. Just
as if you were to scoop out several grooves in a sage cheese, each
would shew the same alternations of green and white and the same
rind at the top.

" From this conformity there is but one conclusion to be drawn,
namely that time was when these valleys did not exist ; when the
hills, now detached and known by the several names of Farleigh
Down, Bathampton Down, Lansdown, Little Solsbury, and Banner-
down,1 presented one continuous surface. By what process, or at
what period of the earth's history, these enormous cavities were
made upon its face, the earth's own record can best explain, for
these were changes that took place before quills and fingers were
invented. Some vast subterranean furnace, still continuing to
supply Bath with its hot springs, probably raised and cracked the
whole of this district, and the waters of the sea, under which it lay,2
widened the cracks and formed the valleys.

" The result, so far as Monk ton Farleigh is concerned, is that it
stands upon the extreme edge of the upper side of the basin of the
Avon, on a ridge of high ground, from one side of which springs
flow into the Box stream, from the other backwards towards the
Avon at Melksham. That ridge or ledge of the basin may be traced
for many miles, and between the feeders of the Box stream and the

1 The scene of the battle of Badon Hill, where Alfred defeated the Saxons.
Camden, v. i., p. 62.

2 I have found many fine specimens of fossilized sea-shells and other fossils of
a flinty substance and circular form, such as Britton (p. 61, Wiltshire) describes
as found at Swindon and Grittleton, and Mr. Moore, of Bath, has, I understand,
made a rich geological harvest out of our soil.

F %

68 Some Account of the Parish of Monklon Farleigh.

Avon a person may ride from Littleton Drew by Yatton Keynell,
Biddeston, Hartham, Rudlow, Chappel-Plaster, Kingsdown, Far-
leigh-Beeches, Conk well, and Winsley, to Bradford, without crossing
a brook." ,

The rainfall in our parish is considerable, and this and the short
distance — not twenty miles as the crow flies — from the sea give a
softness to the atmosphere and, occasionally, some days together of
thick mist and piercing wind, but there is ever a fresh breeze even
in the hottest weather, and usually the climate is bracing and not
too cold.

We have sand and clay in the parish, but speaking generally the
soil is, I believe, what is known as the stone-brash, and the quarries
of freestone are a peculiar feature in the substrata in the upper or
west end of the parish.

The earliest mention of these quarries that I know of occurs in
the year 1439, when the following entry in regard to them appears
in the account No. 26 of the parish of St. Michael, without the
north gate, Bath : — " et de vijd pro cariagio lapidum ad predietam I
domum et de iiijd in expensas apud Farley pro meremio." 1 But
the quarries must have been in work long before that period. Mr,
Newman, an experienced builder of Bathford, has examined care- 1
fully the foundation and the interior stone- work of the Priory, which
date from the early part of the thirteenth century, and pronounces |
the whole to be of Farleigh Down stone, quarried out of the now I
disused quarries.

There are at present no less than ten different quarries at work in
the parish, and the outcome of marketable stone is very considerable, f
This stone has not now, although in earlier days there was an upper
stratum which had, the durability of the Box stone, but it is easy to
work and is very valuable for use in the interior of buildings. It
is sometimes used for exteriors also, but is apt to yield to the frost. 1

1 Mr. Tooke kindly furnished the above extract from the late Mr. Pearson's
accounts of the parish of St. Michael, Bath, page 48, and Mr. Pearson, he says, 1
explains that under the word " meremium " was comprehended stone fetched
from Farley and other quarries for building purposes.

By Sir Charles Hobhouse, Bart,

69

CHAPTER II.

Antiquities.

I shall begin with the days of the Romans, and there is undoubted
evidence that our parish was known to and frequented by them.

We abut upon Kingsdown Common, and are only one mile from
Bathford, two from Box, and four from Bath, as the crow flies.

That the Romans occupied Bath is, of course, well known, but it
may not be so well remembered that a Roman camp existed on
Kingsdown, and that Roman villas have been discovered at Bath-
ford and Box.1

Thsse facts would lead us to expect to find Roman remains in our
parish, and accordingly at the north west angle of it and forming
the boundary-line between it and Box parish, are traces of the
Roman road from Bath to Marlborough.

" Across the parish," says Canon Jackson, u a little northward of
the manor house, runs from west to east a certain line which many
of our antiquarians consider to have been part of a celebrated boun-
dary, called the Wansdyke. Its traces are not very distinct here,
but in those places in which it has never been disturbed by the
plough, and where it may still be seen (as on the Marlborough
Down) in its original perfection, the Wansdyke consists of a high
earthen bank with a deep trench running below it on the northern
side.

' c The name appears to have been of Saxon origin ; Wodensdyke,
the ditch of Woden, the Saxon name for Mercury, a deity whom
there is also no doubt our Saxon forefathers held in the first honor.
The name of Wodensdyke is found applied to this ancient line in
numerous Saxon charters, so that, so far as the name goes, it would
seem to be a work of that nation and therefore not older than A.D.
450, the earliest date of the arrival in this country of any wor-
shipper of Woden. "

The learned Canon then enters into a discussion as to the antiquity
of the Wansdyke, and as to the purposes for which it was made, and
concludes that, whether the work traceable in our parish be a part

Skrine's Bathford, p. 23. Aubroy, p. 55.

70

Some Account of the Parish oj Monhton Farleigh.

of the Wansdyke or no, yet "as a Roman road we may safely ac-
knowledge it and as such Sir Richard Iloare has carefully described it.

"In 1819 he employed a party of antiquaries and surveyors to
examine, field by field, the Roman road from Bath to Marlborough.
It is well known that there were two Roman roads from Bath on
the eastern side — one to Cirencester, the other to Marlborough.
The former, to Cirencester, came along the present turnpike road to
Batheaston, and then continued on by the Foss Lane, as it is still
called, to Colerne. But it is not known whether the lower road, to
Marlborough, issued from Bath distinctly by itself, or whether for
the first two miles one and the same road did not serve for both and
forked off at Batheaston.

(i If the Roman road to Marlborough issued from Bath distinctly
by itself, then it must have come by Sydney Gardens to Bathford,
where it must have crossed the Avon by a ford or bridge. The first
object of Sir Richard's exploring party, accordingly, was to try and
find any trace of the Marlborough road near the Avon at Bathford.
But they found none, nor any signs of Roman road up the side of
Bathford Hill, until they came to the top of Ashley Wood, from
which point they got upon the scent of their game.1

" Here, says their report, its elevated ridge becomes visible, having
a stone quarry on each side of it,2 and forming a boundary between
the parishes of Box and Monkton Farleigh. Above this wood the
line continues apparent, having an ash tree growing upon it, and a

1 Whether the Roman road and the Wansdyke are one and the same work I
do not pretend to say, but a portion of the Wansdyke can still, Mr. Skrine says, |
be traced in the [Bathford ?] meadows " as the landmark of Warleigh manor
against Forde in a field called Ash- Hayes," and although Mr. Skrine would, I
am sure, he the last person to pit his authority against that of an authority such I
as Sir Richard Hoare, yet as a resident on the spot and as a gentleman of re- j
search he is entitled to be heard, and he says " I believe that the old road to I
Marlborough went straight up the hill, along Court Lane, and through Captain
Pickwick's fields, to the foot of the Common, thence winding up the Farleigh
Down. I remember having seen the old road myself, many feet below the path-
way and so dangerous to foot passengers that it was filled up by the late Major
Pickwick." Bathford, pages 7 and 10.

2 One of these is called " The Shamble Pits," and never could have formed j
any part of a stone quarry. — [C. P. H.]

By Sir Charles Hobhouse, Bart. 71

wall upon a gentle rise, forming the north boundary of some arable
fields for nearly half-a-mile, in the last of which we perceived a
barrow, not elevated high above the surface, but of a considerable
circumference; it is situated in Charclose" [Chalklease, or Charclays,
No. 112, M. F. Tythe Map] "to the south of the road, and distant
from it about fifty yards. A stone stile, where heretofore a gateway
to Monkton Farleigh House was placed, now stands at the bottom
of this field and on the line of road, also some recent plantations "
[No. 140, Tythe Map], "which continue on the ridge for about
one hundred yards. The rise is nearly lost as we entered a large
arable field beyond the plantations " [Box parish, piece No. 75H,
Tythe Map], "it having been lowered by the plough, but still not
totally destroyed, and the line corresponding with its ascent to Spye
Park at a distance. The road shortly afterwards crosses the present
approach to Farley House (Link Lane), near a clump of oak and
ash trees " [now gone, but No. 750, Tythe Map], "and enters
another large arable field " [Mary's croft, No. 144, Tythe Map],
" leaving Wraxall Copse about fifty yards to the right, but it is
scarcely discernible, the ridge having been much levelled by the
plough. At a short distance beyond this field it traverses the turn-
pike road between Bath and South Wraxall and the swell of road
is very evident. Having passed the turnpike road it enters the
narrow part of a small enclosure 33 [Hancock's piece, No. 145, Tythe
Map], "now planted with camomile, and is clearly to be traced at
the north end of Wraxhall Copse, the ridge being nearly twelve
feet high and having a wall upon it. There was a tradition amongst
the country people that the Roman causeway was passable through
the fields, and admitted loads of corn to have been carried upon
it."

So far Sir Richard Hoare. Canon Jackson goes on: — "It then
continues along a hollow, known by the name of Bulcot Lane, and
is now beyond the parish of Monkton Farleigh. The Roman roads
near Bath have been found to have been constructed, first by a layer
of large flat stones, then a foot-and-a-half of earth and rubble, and
afterwards a course of small stones, with pavement or pitching stones
upon the surface."

72 Some Account of the Parish of Monhton Farleigh.

I have followed the line of this road in accordance with the des-
cription above given of it, and I find that it is still traceable,
especially in Chalkleaze and at Wraxall Copse (now called Chalk-
lands) . The pavement or pitching-stones that may have formed the
surface of the road are not now perceptible, but the flat-stones that
must have formed the foundation are to be traced plentifully, and
above them was not simply " earth and rubble 33 but a thick layer
of good concrete, the mortar as fresh and the concrete in some
places as hard as ever.

It is not only here, however, in the extreme north of the parish,
that traces of Roman occupation are to be found, but at the extreme
south of the parish have been found other traces not less unmis-
takeable.

Here, in the hamlet of Farley Wick, is a plantation called In-
woods. This is situated on a high clifT, on the road to the hamlet
of Conkwell, overhanging the valley of the Avon and commanding
a view of Bath. Here are still to be seen large blocks of hewn-
stone, the remains evidently of buildings, and here were dug up
some Roman coins of the time of the Antonines1 — A.D. 142 — 52.

Canon Jones is of opinion that it was not until eighty or ninety
years after the subjugation of Britain by Claudius that the Romans
began to visit this part of it. This conjecture, curiously enough,
would bring them here exactly in the time of those Antonines whose
coins were here discovered.

I may, perhaps, mention that it was circa 1826 that the coins
were discovered, and that my informant's father, who found them,
described them as of brass, in an earthen jar, which was broken in
the finding, and about " a peck's weight/''

So the Romans lived and travelled and camped in our midst.

There is a tradition, also, supported by a certain non-natural
formation of the ground, which would indicate the site of a British
settlement. ?

East of Link Lane, and commencing in an orchard called j
Stallard's Close, is a deep diagonal indentation in the ground.

Mr. Powell had some of these in his possession.

MONKTON FAR LEI CH. FRACM ENT OF THE PR/ ORY.

'', ; jj hi.. .'!'•'. ,,illllli)r j

External Elevation

By Sir Charles Hobhouse, Bart.

73

This stops at a long mound, which meets it at an acute angle in a
field called Lower Park Mead. This mound runs east and west; at
right angles to it is another mound running north and souths and
inside is a hollow of distinct shape and regularity. At the north-
east angle of the two mounds are two large upright stones, facing
one another, and with eyelets in them as if for the insertion of posts.
Corresponding to these stones are exactly similar ones in the ad-
joining field called Shepherd's Leaze.

I state facts, and I venture no comment. It may be a case of
tc Praetorian here, Praetorian there" as old Edie Ochiltree has it, but
at least there is no one in the parish who, like the said Edie, " minds
the bigging o't."

Although the term antiquity cannot in strict propriety be applied
to the events of the twelfth century, yet this seems to me the most
suitable place in which to dwell on certain architectural remains in
our parish that appertain to that and to the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries.

In his History of the Priory of Monkton Farleigh, published at
Devizes, in 1857, Canon Jackson has dealt, I need hardly say in a
most exhaustive manner, with so much of the annals of our parish
as are made up of the history of the Priory, and for that history I
refer my readers to the learned canon's book.

But I shall venture to add a few words to his description of " the
Remains of the Priory."" He speaks of a wall which contains " two-
very good lancet windows with bold mouldings/''

Of this wall, Mr. Talbot says that "it is of the very earliest
pointed work, certainly older than any part of Salisbury Cathedral."
The outer part of it now forms the inner wall of a carpenter's shop,
and I have traced to some extent the foundation of what must have
been the interior of the building, of which this wall was a part.
From the width and length of these foundations, and from the
height of the wall, the building must have been of considerable size.
From its position in relation to the manor house and to the ruins of
the ecclesiastical part of the priory, I am persuaded it formed a part
of the domestic buildings of the priory — was it the hostelry ?

West of this wall, perhaps a quarter-of-a-mile from it, and in a

74 Some Account of the Paris/i of Monkton Farleigh.

field on a level with the top of the manor house, called Conduit
Piece (No. 125 in the Tythc Map) is the stone building called by
Canon Jackson "the Monks' Conduit/'' "From its general ap-
pearance, and the great steepness of the roof/' Mr. Talbot's im-
pression of this is, " that it is a fourteenth century building, with
the roof re-constructed." 1

This covered, no doubt, as Canon J ackson says, " the spring which
supplied the convent " of former days, and this still covers the spring
which supplies the manor house.

North and east of the manor house I have lately uncovered some
foundations and pavements, of which I give a brief account for the
purpose of record — Drawing F.

There is first of all a. pavement, made partly of encaustic and
partly of freestone tiles, which runs east and west. This is bounded
on the west and south, and partly perhaps on the north by walls and
on the east is discontinued, having been apparently there broken up.
This pavement is 7 feet broad, and up to the point at which it now
ends is 45 feet long.

Towards the east end and on the north side of this pavement is
a space as if for a doorway, and therein is a similar pavement of
the same width and 25 feet long. Foundation walls close in this
pavement on all sides save at a very narrow space at the south-east
corner.

At this corner there was apparently an entrance which led into a
chamber 25 feet long and 21-8 feet broad. In this chamber there
were no signs of pavement within the space marked a to h on the
plan, but north and south of it were foundation stones of a semi-
circular form, attached to stone platforms; and at the south-west
corner, about 2 feet above the foundation walls, were sills of blue
stone returned in the angle. One of the semicircular stones had
holes drilled into or through it, as if there had been some fixture on it.

From out the excavations generally were dug the frames of a door
and window ; some stained or painted glass ; many loose tiles, of
various patterns ; interior mouldings of the twelfth to the fifteenth

1 A witness to a Kingston House document of date 1274 signs himself
"William deputeo de Farlege " — William of the Well.

218

PLAN OF A PORTION OF SITE

Wbitem an &B ass , litko Lon don

By Sir Charles Iiobhouse, Bart.

75

centuries in date ; and slabs, one with part of an inscription on it,
as of tombstones or screens.

It is well known that certain excavations were made round and
about the manor house by Lord Webb Seymour in 1744, and certain
others by Mr. Wade Browne in IS I I, but I have ascertained, from
persons present in I S 1- \ , that the excavations then made were on a
different site to those I have described, and neither do these latter
at all correspond with those made in 1744.

But there can, I think, be no sort of doubt that the foundations
now uncovered appertained to some one part or other of the ecclesi-
astical buildings of the Priory. It was, wre know, by the monks of
St. Paneras, Lewes, that our Priory was built. It is reasonable,
therefore, to conclude, that in building they would follow the lines
of their mother Priory. It is, I believe the fact, that the various
orders of monks usually built on plans peculiar to the particular
order. I have a plan of the Lewes buildings, and I find that the
ecclesiastical buildings stood to the north, that directly east of these
was the churchyard and that west and at a right angle to them
stood the domestic buildings.

I have explained in another part of my paper by what means I
have discovered the exact sites of the churchyard and of the domestic
buildings of the Priory and, these sites ascertained, I should have
expected to find the ecclesiastical buildings exactly where the ex-
cavations now open would shew them to be. My judgment is that
the foundations I have uncovered are cloisters, leading either to the
chapter house, of which Layton, in his letter to Cromwell, speaks,
or to a mortuary chapel, but I hardly like to venture on any con-
jecture, and I submit the various plans which Mr. Adye has kindly
drawn of the excavations, and his note thereon, for the consideration
of persons better able to judge.

CHAPTER III.

The History of our Manor.

Our first appearance as a manor is in Domesday,1 where I find
the following entries : —

Jones's Domesday for Wiltshire p. 231.

76

Some Account of the Parish of MonJcton Farleigh.

" Terra Odonis et aliorum Tainorum Regis."
(Land of Odo and other of the King's Thanes.)
Brictric tenet Farlege et frater Brictric holds Farlege and his
ejus de eo. Tempore Hegi Ed- brother holds it of him- In the
wardi geldabat pro 5 hidis. time of King Edward it paid
Terra est 4 carucatse. In do- geld for 5 hides. The land is 4
minio est 1 carucata et 4 servi ; carucates. In demesne is one
et 5 villani, et 3 bordarii cum 3 carucate and 4 serfs, and there
carucatis. Ibi 20 acrse pasturae are 5 villans and 3 bordars and
et 3 acrse silvse. Valet 70 solidos. 3 carucates. There are 20 acres

of pasture and 3 acres of wood.
It is worth 70 shillings.

The first recorded ancestor of Brictric was one Alyward, or
Aylward Mere, or Meau, a Saxon nobleman of royal lineage, who
founded the monastery of Cranbourne in Dorset. To him succeeded
iElfghar, or Algar, who completed the foundation and Brictric is
mentioned as his grandson and a benefactor.1

According to Domesday Brictric' s father held upwards of five
thousand acres of land in Wiltshire only, whilst Brictric himself
held upwards of six thousand eight hundred acres under the Con-
queror besides some five thousand three hundred acres more, which
he had held under Edward the Confessor. He is said to have had
manors also in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucester, and Worces-
ter.

He was one of the king's thanes, i.e., he served the king in some
place ' ' of eminency either in the Court or Commonwealth/' 2 and
was a possessor of land in this capacity, and for these services.

He was so far, however, more fortunate than his co-temporary
thanes in that he had his " Vates sacer."

According to this authority, he was sent by Edward the Confessor
to the Court of Baldwin, Count of Flanders, in the matter of Earl
Godwin. Here he had the misfortune to please the eye of Matilda,

1 Jones's Domesday, p. 41.

2 Jones's Domesday, p. 4.

By Sir Charles Hohhouse, Bart.

77

Baldwin's daughter, and the following quaint ballad thus records
the disastrous result of the lady's wooing : —

" A lui la pucele envela messager
Pur sa amur a lui procurer ;
Meis Brictrich Maude refusa,
Dunt elle mult se coruca ;
Hastivement mer passa
E a William Bastard se maria."

So Matilda woo'd and was refused, and thereafter, when she
became Queen of England, smarting, no doubt, under the " spretse
injuria forms/' she is said to have appropriated Brictric's possessions,
and to have thrown him into prison.1

One of his possessions, still called after him, Brixton (or Bricticis-
ton)-Deverel, passed undoubtedly to Matilda, but inasmuch as she
died before Domesday was compiled, and inasmuch as we still find
him, according to Domesday, described as a king's thane, in pos-
session of the largest part at least of the Wiltshire manors which
he had held before the Conquest, it cannot be true that Matilda
absolutely despoiled him or that she deprived him permanently of
either his liberty or his position.

What were the further fortunes of Brictric and his family I do
not know, but I imagine that he and they were eaten up, as the
Zulus say, by that great land-hungerer — Edward of Salisbury,
Certainly this individual, whether in his capacity of sheriff of the
county, or by private purchase, had in A.D. 1100 — or only fourteen
years after the record in Domesday — 'eaten up Brictric's manor of
Trowbridge and Staverton,2 and as certainly, in the year 1125, our
manor had passed first into the hands of Humphrey Bohun the
second, and from him into those of Humphrey Bohun the third,
and had by them been conveyed to the Priory of St. Pancras,
Lewes, for the purpose of founding a daughter Cluniac priory in
our parish.3

1 Sussex Archaeological Coll., v. 28, p. 121. Jones's Annals of Trowbridge,
pp. 5, 6.

2 Jones's Annals of Trowbridge, pp. 6, 7.
3 Monasticon. Jones's Annals of Trowbridge, p. 7. Jackson's History of tlio
Priory and Wiltshire Domesday, p. 64.

78 Some Account of the Parish of Monition Farleigh.

Now the first Humphrey Bohun married Matilda, sole daughter
of Edward of Salisbury, and she, on her father's death, shared his I
estates with her only brother. Thereafter the manors of Trowbridge
and Stavcrton, as well as that of Farley, pass through her to the
priory. It is only, therefore, reasonable to conjeeture that they all I
passed from Brictric to Edward of Salisbury, and so to our I
Priory.

There has been a difference of opinion as to whether it was the |
second or the third Humphrey Bohun who founded our Priory, but I
my judgment is that the first commenced and the second concluded
the foundation.

The charter is styled " Carta Humfridi de Bohun, Regis Dapi- f
feri, de fundatione Prioratus de Farleighe."" This is evidently the
third Humphry Bohun, for the second was never " Regis Dapifer/'
but the charter goes on, sometimes absolutely to give and sometimes
only to confirm, the gift of properties, and in the case of our parish
the gift is only confirmed ; confirmed therefore, I conclude, as the
previous gift of the father, Humphrey the second.

There is something very characteristic of the times in this charter,
a terseness, brevity and precision, appropriate to the military life of I
the grantor, and in marked contrast to our manorial deeds of later
date and quieter times.

Humphrey and his wife (Margaret, daughter of Milo of Gloucester, I
Earl of Hereford), with consent of their barons and men, give,
concede, and confirm (donamus et concedimus et confirmamus) to
God and the Holy Mary Magdalen and the monks at Monkton
Farleigh, certain properties, for the saltation of their souls and o£
the souls of those belonging to them. Then follows a concise enu-
meration, as thus in the case of our parish : — <c The whole manor of
Farley with the Park and every other thing belonging to the same I
village [villam], save one hide of land which William de File
holds/' (This hide, by the way, was conveyed in a subsequent I
charter.)

Contrast this with the conveyance of messuages, hereditaments,
tenements, and so on, which I shall have to refer to later on, as 1
made some four hundred years afterwards, and we shall have to

By Sir Charles Hobhouse, Bart.

79

conclude that the advantage, except to the scribe ! is not with the
more modern deed.

Our manor, thus conveyed to the monks, remained in their
possession until the dissolution of the Priory, in 1535 — a period of
four hundred years.

The first spelling of the name is Farlege, then Farley, Farleigh,
Monke ton-Farley (Leland, 1538), and (valuation of Henry VIII.)
Farleigh- Monachorium, a name still given to it in the parish
register of October, 5th, 1679.

'The affix of Monkton was, no doubt, given by the monks, partly
perhaps to distinguish it from the neighbouring parish of Farley-
Hungerford, and from that other Farley in Wiltshire, near Salisbury,
but principally, no doubt, to mark their proprietorship — as at
Monketon in Broughton-Gifford, Chippenham, and other places.

Our monks were large farmers, and our manor was their home
farm. There they kept a goodly stock of cattle, sheep, pigs, mules,
asses, horses, pigeons, carts, ploughs, wheat, barley, oats, hay, &c,
and were served by a considerable number of cottagers, free and
customary tenants, and so on.

I have the means of comparing the state of our manor at four
distinct periods, viz., in 1086, 1294, 1535, and at the present time,
respectively, and I think that such comparison is not without its
lessons.

In 1086 the manor is assessed at five hides, and these, at 160
acres 1 to the hide, I will take at 800 acres.
To these are to be added, wood 3 „
and pasture 20 „

In all 823 „

The valuation was seventy solidi, equivalent in weight to about
two hundred and ten shillings of our standard.

Attached to these lands were four servi, five villani, and three
bordarii, or twelve families in addition to that of the lord, making

Canon Jackson's estimate, Aubrey.

80 Some Account of the Parish of Monkton Farleigh.

up, at five to each family of tenants, and ten to the lord, a popu-
lation of perhaps seventy souls.

The servi, or serfs, were little, if at all, better than slaves, towards
whom the lord's only obligation was to provide food.

The villani were customary tenants, of the nature of copyholders,
paying rent for their lands, but also supplying the Lord with a
certain amount of food and labor.

The bordarii were cottagers, whose cottages, furniture, and im-
plements were found by the lord, and were resumable on the tenant's
death, and who held a certain quantity of land of the lord, paying
rent in kind, in the shape of food for his table.1

Our community, therefore, in A.D. 1086 was made up of the
lord, as sole proprietor, paying a geld or quit rent to the king ; of
certain families absolutely slaves to the lord, and of certain other
families practically dependent upon him but with a leaven of freedom
in the villani, who held subject only to certain customary services.

The second period of which I have any record is the twenty-second
Edward I. — A.D, 1294 — when I find the following detailed descrip-

tion of the manor, viz. : —

Jardino et Columbas, valued at 20/-

6 Liberi tenentes [freehold] 64/4

3 Villani, who pay per annum, 8/-
and whose labor, festivals

excluded, is worth 13/-
7724 acres of arable land at 3d 9.13. 1.

36J of meadow-prati at 2/- 73/-

384 j) of woodlands valued at 40/-

Total 847 acres and the above items valued at £20 . 11 . 5.

This valuation was made when Edward I. was casting about for
money, and when he was absorbing alien Priories, such as our own,
on the pretext of their paying substantial allegiance to foreign
houses in countries with which he was at war.

1 Jones's Domesday, introduction, p. lxi.

By Sir Charles Hob7iouse} Bart,

81

It was the king's commissioners who made the valuation, and on
this account and from its approximation in many respects to the
valuation of Domesday, it was most probably sufficiently accurate.

It is remarkable that, after a lapse of over two hundred years,
there should have been so little variation in the arable cultivation
and in the population of the manor and parish.

The arable land is somewhere about twenty-eight acres less in
extent than it was. The number of families is three less, but as a
community of thirteen monks would probably be within itself a
larger family than that of the lord of a manor, the population would
still be about equal to the seventy souls of 1086.

On the other hand the pasture land has risen from three to thirty-
six acres, and the woodlands from twenty to thirty-eight acres,
whilst the status of the population has materially altered for the
better.

The servi have entirely disappeared, absorbed perhaps in the
domestic servants of the priory ; and the bordarii and villani have
become, probably under the peculiarly beneficent rule of the monks,
practically freeholders, paying rent in money or in labor for the
lands and tenements they hold.

Of any oppressive feudal tenure there is no sign, and on the con-
trary there is every sign of industry and progress in the improved
social position of the population, and in the addition, in so compara-
tively short an interval, of a considerable acreage of land to the
cultivated area.

The third period is A.D. 1535, when a return of assets and out-
goings was made by the last Prior, just before and in order to the
dissolution, and we can imagine the feelings of the worthy com-
munity, for worthy they had proved to be, when made to sign, as
it were, their own death-warrant.
The following are the particulars : —

Curia, with garden, pigeonry, and curtilage,

valued at £1 . 0 . 0.
6 Libere tenentium ,, 3.4.4.

21 Coterelli. „ 4.8.2.

3 Villani and their labor, festivals excluded 1.0.0.

VOL. XX. — NO. LVIII. G

82

Some Account of the Parish of Monkton Far lei (/h.

762 acres o£ arable land at 3d an acre
36J ,, of pasture ,, at 2/ „
38 33 oi woodland valued at

9 .10 . 6.
3 .13 . 0.
2.0.0.

Total 8364 acres of land and the above is £24 .16 . 0.

Here the interval is two hundred and forty years, and the fol-
lowing changes are to be remarked, viz., a small decrease in the
area of cultivated land, a small increase in the value of the income,
and a very large increase in the population and in the nature of it,
the twenty-one coterelli, or cottagers, being a new element.

I imagine that in 1294 the limits of cultivable lands in the manor
had been reached, and I conjecture that the ten acres less of arable
land in 1535 had been swallowed up in the gardens and cottages of
the twenty-one coterelli. The creation of this new and considerable
body of villagers was due principally to these facts, that our manor,
together with the (then) hamlet of Wraxhall (two hundred and
twelve acres), was the home farm of the Priory, and that the monks
had become large proprietors of live and dead stock.1

1 It is appropriate to our parish history, and it may interest some to know
something of the number, the value, and the kind of stock that was in use upon
a farm of about 1049 acres in those days — two hundred and fifty years ago — and
I therefore append a tabular statement of it : —

Description. Number or Quantity. Value of each. £ s. d. & s. d.

Yearlings
Calves
Mules
Asses
Ewes
Lambs
Porkers
Pigs
^Horses

Oxen
Cows
Bulls

69
17
1
11

9
9
5

100

24
36
30
4

6/8
5/-
5/-
3/-

1/-
5/-
2/-
/6

/e

1/-

23 6
4 5

0 5

1 13
0 9

2 5
0 10

2 10
0 12

0 18

1 10

3 8

8
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
4

315
1
6

41 12 0

Carts

Ploughs

Wheat

Barley

Oats

60 quarters
59

100 „

3/-
6/8
5/-
3/-
1/4

0 3 0

2 0 0

17 5 0

8 17 0

6 13 4

By Sir Charles Hobhouse, Bart. 83

Assuming the community at the Priory to be perhaps twenty
souls in all, and the thirty families in the village to be made up of
about five souls to each family , I take the population in 1535 to
have been about two hundred and seventy souls, and the cottages
to have been about thirty in number, or one to each family.

We now make another leap of two hundred and fifty years and
find ourselves in the present day.

The parish is now made up as follows :—

Sir Charles Parry Hobhouse, the manor house, &c

A.

685

R.

3

p.
21

Henry Spackman, Esq., lands and quarries

602

1

26

Henry Hancock, Esq., lands

549

1

26

Glebe of the Rector (The Rev, T. H. Tooke)

22

0

8

H. D. Skrine, Esq. (Warleigh, Somerset)

6

0

22

H. Batten, Esq.

4

3

24

Messrs. Antrobus, & Co., brewers

3

0

29

Mr. James Cottle, yeoman, of Farley Wick

2

3

27

Mrs. Whyatt Cottle, widow of Whyatt

0

1

15

Life-renters under H. Hancock, Esq.

0

2

26

Total acreage

1877

3

24

Whether the lands which in 1535 were situated in (the then hamlet
of) South Wraxall became permanently attached to that or to our
own parish respectively, I do not know ; but it is noteworthy, that,
whereas in 1535 there were one thousand and forty-nine acres which
were in dominio (in demesne) of the Priory in that year, there is

Hay 3 7 8

38 6 0

Total valuation of " Bonis et Catallis " £79 18 0

£ s. d.

•Chestnut ] 10 0

Bay 1 0 0

Black 0 13 4

White 0 5 0

N.B. — The mark was Gs. 8d„ and was evidently the standard of valuation in large transactions,

I imagine that the novices, at least, and some of the monks, and all the villagers,
assisted in the manual labor, and the total number of laborers would therefore bo
about forty.

G 2

84 Some Account of the Parish of Monhton Farleigh.

still very nearly that acreage computed as in demesne or tithe-free. 1

This is, as briefly as possible, the history of our parish, extending }
over a period of eight hundred years, and this it seems to me is very a
much the history of many such parishes in England. j

The comparative independence of the Saxon thane, paying only j
his geld and his personal services to the sovereign ; the state of
servitude, almost amounting to slavery, of the villagers, with yet
some elements of freedom to be worked out in the future.

The rapacity, mixed with a certain religious superstition, of the j
followers of the Conqueror, taking without scruple, on the one hand,
from the Saxon proprietor, and giving without stint, on the other I
hand, to the Church, for the benefit of the souls, that, even to their I
perverted consciences, seemed so urgently to require some expiation.

The mild and industrious rule of the monks, turning the waste I
lands to profit, rearing flocks and herds, creating new industries, I
promoting learning and charitable deeds, and gradually emancipating I
the agricultural laborer from his state of servitude and ignorance to I
a state of freedom and comparative knowledge.

The spoliation of the industrious community of the monks, with-

out sometimes — as in our case — even the allegation of corruption to I

justify it, and the absorption of their lands and goods for purposes j

of family and personal greed and aggrandisement.3

1 I am unable to account for the difference plus, but I am bound to remark I
that, this acreage does not correspond with that made for the purpose of the I
tithe-rent charge commutation on the 26th January, 1842. According, to this {
computation the total acreage was as follows : — j
Demesne lands (tithe free) 1034 1 25

Glebe (tithe free if in hand) 25 3 10

Subject to tithes 750 1 25

Total 1810 2 20

2 I think it would be useful, as evidence of the motives which led to the
dissolution of the monasteries,! if enquiry were to be made, perhaps it has been
made, into the number of charitable trusts that were absorbed and discontinued
when the monasteries were dissolved. The following is the list in our own
case : —

Distributed to the poor on the anniversary of

Humphrey de la Bound £2 0 0

Distributed to the poor, four days in the year,
on the foundation and gift of Barthei Bygote,
per annum 0 13 4

Not an insignificant sum 350 years ago.

Total 2 13 4

By Sir Charles Hobhouse, Bart.

85

And, finally, the disappearance not only of the small freeholder
but oven of the customary tenant, and the creation of the class of
great landowners, absolutely free of their properties, subject only to
the burdens deemed requisite for the maintenance of the general
commonwealth.

Before quitting this subject of the comparative status of the
manor at the various periods mentioned, I cannot pass over one most
remarkable fact, viz., the great increase in the acreage of pasture as
compared with arable lands. I take it that the eight hundred and
thirty- six acres of land that composed the home farm in 1535 in
our parish, were all within a ring-fence of the Priory, very much as
are now the lands which are attached to the manor house.

Yet in 1535, notwithstanding that the monks had a goodly stock
of beasts, sheep, and pigs, the pasture lands were in proportion of
only thirty-eight to seven hundred and sixty-two acres of arable.

At the present time, in the manor house division of six hundred
and eighty-six acres, the proportion is two hundred and forty-one
acres of pasture to two hundred and eighty-seven acres of arable land.

I presume that the small quantity of hay and the few acres of
pasture were kept for the use of the monks' horses, mules, &c, and
that the rest of their live-stock was maintained upon the produce of
the arable land.

But as labor became dearer, and arable produce of more value>
this must have been found to be an extravagant practice ; and when
to this was added the obvious fact, that the capriciousness of the
climate rendered it more suitable to the profitable culture of pasture
rather than of arable lands, the process of conversion from arable
into pasture must have proceeded in an ever increasing ratio.

That this process should at this moment be proceeding more
rapidly than ever is natural enough, a decrease in the value of cereals
having been superadded to the other motive causes above-mentioned,
but it seems to me to be obvious that it is mainly to the capricious-
ness of the climate, rather than to any outside competition for prices,
that we owe the so great conversion of arable into pasture land.

To return to the year 1535-6. It was in this year that the
dissolution of our Priory was brought about. The monks were

86 Some Account of the Parish of Monkton Farlcigh.

dispersed, their ecclesiastical buildings were pulled down, their
manor, their farmsteads, and probably their domestic buildings,
were made over to the Earl of Hertford, afterwards the Protector
Somerset.

The history of the manor thereafter merges into that of the manor
house, and this will form the subject of my next chapter.

In appendices A. to F. will be found some further details of the
manor and its people in Clugniac times which perhaps may be of
interest.

CHAPTER IV.
The Manor House.
Our manor house, like most other buildings of equal antiquity,
bears, upon the face of it, the signs of various ages and many
changes, but I am persuaded that it stands upon the exact site and
to some extent upon the very foundations of the domestic buildings
of the Priory.

The stone of which it is built was brought, I have ascertained,
out of the now disused quarries on Farlcigh Down, and corresponds
in that respect with the stone of which the Priory was built. Fur-
thermore the position of the house relatively to what was the position
of the ecclesiastical buildings of the Priory, places it, as I have
elsewhere explained, exactly where the domestic buildings of the
Priory might be expected to be.

And, again, the west side of the main body of the house belongs,
according to Mr. Talbot, undoubtedly to the Elizabethan period.

These facts would not, of course, be at all conclusive, nor would
they take us necessarily to the Priory times, but, through the kind-
ness of Mr. Henry Hancock, I have had access to the records of
the manor, and amongst them is a lease of A.D. 1638, which recites
in detail a previous lease of the year 1547-48.

By this deed the then Bishop of Salisbury leased our manor house
to one Henry Breton, styling it " the house, sight, circuit, premises
and grounds of the late dissolved monastery of Monkton Farleigh."

Now it was in 1535-36 that the bill for the dissolution of the
lesser monasteries, i.e., of monasteries where " the congregation of
relygyous persones is under the number of xij," and where the

By Sir Charles Hobhouse, Bart. 87

properties are not above the clere yerely value of two hundredth
poundes," passed the Houses of Parliament, and that the properties
of the said monasteries were " gy ven to the King's Highnes, his
heires and successores." 1

And it was not until St. Bartholomew's Bay, 1535, that Dr.
Layton, Cromwell's Commissary, held his enquiry at our Priory.
Therefore at that time the Priory and all its buildings were still
standing in their integrity. But five years later Leland speaks of
it in the past tense. Here, he says, " by the village there was a
priorie, standinge on a little hille, sumtyme having blak monkes,
a prior and a convent of 12," and further on he adds that " Monke-
ton Farley was a late gyven to the Erie of Hertford." 2

So the Priory and all its buildings were in existence in the latter
end of the year 1535, but in 1540 the Priory itself was gone.

It does not follow, however, that all its buildings, secular as well
as ecclesiastical, were gone, for the custom of the king's commission-
ers was only to destroy the ecclesiastical or so-called useless buildings,
and to sell or give away the estates with the secular part of the
buildings intact.

Thus, in the case of the mother Priory of St. Pancras, John
Portinari writes to Cromwell, 24th March, 1537, describing how he
took with him from London no less than thirty-four artizans of
various trades, and in a few days utterly pulled down and destroyed
all the ecclesiastical buildings, leaving the secular buildings standing.3

Obviously too, the objects being on the one hand ostensibly the
suppression of useless and corrupt religious bodies, and on the other
hand lust of property, the ecclesiastical buildings would go, as no
longer wanted, and the secular buildings would stand to maintain
the value of the secular property.

Thus, amongst the records " of the manner of suppressing the
monasteries after they were surrendered," I find in the list of
" Houses and Buildings assigned to remain undefaced," " the abbots

1 27, Henry VIII., cap. 28. The clear value of our Priory was £153, and the
number of monks twelve and a prior. — Monastican and Leland.

2 Lcland's Itinerary. Jackson, p. 14.
3 Letters relating to the Suppression of the Monasteries. Camden Society, 1843.

88 Some Account of the Parish of MonMon Farleigh.

lodgings with buttery, pantry, cellar, latching, larder and pantry
thereto attached/' also " the hostelry, the great gate entering into
the court with the lodging over the same, the abbot's stable, bake-
house, brew-house, and slaughter-house, the almry, barn, dairy-
house, the great barn, the malting-house, the ox-house, the barton-
gate." •

And, on the other hand, amongst " buildings deemed to be super- |
fluous/' I find "the church, with chappels, cloister, chapter-house, \
misericord, the two dormitories, the infirmary, with chappells and I
lodgings within the same, the convent-kitching, the library, the old
hostelry, the chamberer's lodging, the^new hall, the old parlor, the
cellarer's lodging, the poultry-house, and all other houses not re- j
served/' i

So, whatever other buildings might or might not be reserved, all
ecclesiastical buildings were at least condemned to destruction.

Following "this manner of suppression " our ecclesiastical buil- j
dings would be, and were, I think, totally uprooted, whilst the j
secular buildings were retained and, judging by the description in the
lease of 1548, they must have been numerous, and, in the case o£
the house, of considerable size.

The manor was, as we have seen, bestowed in the first instance
upon the Earl of Hertford, afterwards the Protector Somerset, but
it would seem that he very soon found other manors, those of Rams-
bury, Baydon, &c, more to his liking, and so, not without some
degree of gentle violence it would seem, he gave our manor house
and property in exchange to John Salcot, alias Capon, then Bishop
of Salisbury.8

I have already quoted so much of the deed of A. D. 1638, as was
material for establishing the site of the manor house, but there are
other parts of the deed which are worthy of preservation, because
they shew the size of the house, and the exact properties of which
within ten years of the dissolution the manor was made up, and are
curious as evidence of the monkish verbiage, which had taken the

1 Burnet's Kecords, No. 5, Pt. I, Book III., p. lxvii..
2 Fasti Ecclesise Sarisberiensis. — Jones, p. 107.

By Sir Charles Hob/wuse, Bart.

89

place of Humphrey de Bohun's terseness and brevity, since the first
conveyance in A.D. 1125.

The recital of the lease of 1 548 is to be found in a subsequent
lease " of the last day of December, 1638," and runs thus : Whereas
i( John sumtyme Bishop of Sarum did deinyse, grant and to farm
lett to Henry Breton of Monkton-ffiarleigh in the county of Wiltes,
gent, all that his mannor or lordship of Monkton-fFarleigh and
Comerwell with the appurtenances within the said county and all
and singular messuages, lands, tenements, buildings, barns, stables,
heaths, marishes, woods, underwoods, rents, reversions, services,
views of frankpledge, waistes, strayes, warrens, and other the rights,
jurisdictions, privileges, liberties, profits, commodities, emoluments
and hereditaments whatsoever to the manner aforesaid appertaining
to have and to hold to the said Henry Breton his heirs, adminis-
trators and assigns, from the Feast of Saint Michael the Archangel
then last past [1547] unto the end and term of fourscore and nine-
teen years [ninety-nine] then next ensueing and under the yerely
rent of £38 16*. Zd. payable at the Feast of the Annunciation of
Our Blessed Lady St. Mary the Virgin and of St. Michael."

Therefore, the indenture goes on to say, by reason of the surrender
of the said lease, and also in consideration of a certain sum of money
paid, the then bishop (Davenant) leases to Thomas Cornwallis, of
Wandsworth, in the county of Surrey, and William Lynsey, the
above manors, &c, " from the Feast Day of our Lord God last past
[Christmas Day, 1638] to the full end and time of one and t wen tie
years yielding the yerely rent of four and forty pounds."

And then follows this curious condition, that " if the Bishop or
any of his successors shall be willing to live and abide in the said
house of Monkton-Farleigh for the space of three months together
during the said tenure hereby demysed, he and his suite shall have
within the said house one hall or parlor, one buttery, one pantry,
one cellar, one kitchen, one larder, one stable and ten convenient
lodging chambers,', and " may also fell, cut down, take and carry
away yerely so many trees or wood as are or may be growing upon
any of the said premises as the said Lord Bishop or his successors
shall or may conveniently expend in fuel in three months in any

;Mi Some Account of the Parish of Monk! on Farleigh.

one year when any of them may be abiding' in the said house." The
house which in 1547 could provide so great accommodation, suitable
to the bishop of the diocese, in addition to the accommodation re-
quired by the family of the lessee, must have been a considerable
and large house, and this particular condition is not only curious
but it is probably unique in the annals of episcopacy, and it explains
how it was that Bishop Jewel, in 1570, when taken ill at Lacock,
did not there remain, but came to our manor house and there died,
as is in his life recorded.

The Bretons, and after them the Cornwallises, had, by the con-
ditions of their respective leases, the presentation to the rectory,
which vests now, as from 1548, in the Bishops of Salisbury, but,
from the time of William Watson (1661), at least, the bishops re-
served to themselves " the donation, advowson and patronage of the
rectory and parsonage. "

At first, also, the bishops were acquitted by the leases, cc from all
quitt rents, pensions, portions and other charges leviable for the said
premises/'' " the tenths and subsidies only excepted 33 ; but as time
rolled on they relieved their tenants of " all leases, grants, rents,
rent-charges, annuities, fees, tithes, troubles, and incumbrances
whatever made or done by them/' and further agreed to leave
" sufficient timber trees standing or growing for the necessary repairs
of the premises," and for (i Fire-boot, Hedge-boot, Plough-boot,
and Cart-boot, according to the custom of the country." 1

On the other hand the rent was raised from £38 16s. 2d., in 1548,
to £44, in 1638, and to £50, in 1697, in which was included a sum
of £10 "as an augmentation to the parsonage of Monkton Farleigh";
" the customary tenants " were to be allowed by the lessee sufficient
timber for the reparation and maintenance of their customary tene-
ments," the same to be growing on their premises. The bishops
were to have the right of " cutting down and carrying away such
timber trees as according to the custom of the country were fit to

1 Fire-boot, wood for house-firing ; Plough- and Cart-boot, wood for repairing
implements of husbandry ; Hedge-boot, wood for hedge and fence repairs. —
Stephens' Commentaries, v. L, p. 254, Ed. viii. Boot or bote, synonymous with
"estovers" from estoffier to furnish. — Jones's Domesday Introduction.

By Sir Charles Hobhouse, Hart.

91

be cut and felled (pollard trees excepted) " [1792] ; the lessees were
prohibited from making any assignment of the premises, " otherwise
than by mortgage, or marriage settlement, or will/' and even then
previous intimation was to be given to the bishops (1805) and the
leases, though ostensibly made to run for twenty-one years, were
practically renewed, on considerations made, every seven years.
The lessees of the manor house were : —
The Bretons, 1547 to 1638 — with sub-tenants in William

Bromfield, d. 1582, and the Cornwallises.
The Cornwallises and William Whitwell 1638—1654.
William Watson 1654—1695.
Daniel Webb 1695—1731.
John Thresher 1731—1737.
Sir Edward Seymour, 8th Duke of Somerset 1737—1757.
Lord Webb Seymour, 10th Duke of Somerset 1758—1792.
Anna Maria, Dowager Duchess of Somerset

and her heirs 1799—] 804.

William Cass, of the Poultry, London 1805—1812.
John Long, the Elder 1812—1833.
John Long, the Younger

The Rev. Walter Long, Kelloes House C 1835 1842.

Catherine Elizabeth Mary Long J
Wade Browne and his heirs 1842 — 57.

Mrs. Wade Browne and her lessees — Edward
Pennefather and the Rev. E. R. Eardly
Wilmot 1857—1863.
H. B. Caldwell, Esq. 1864—1870.
It is probable that the Bretons, or Brittons, were connected with
the manor before they came to reside here, for I find a certain
William Britton recorded as auditor to the Priory, in the return of
the temporalia in 1535, on a yearly fee of 40<s.

Thereafter in 1570 (twelfth of Elizabeth), a Henry Britten,
probably the lessee of 1547 — 48, pays a quit rent of 46s. Hd. to the
crown for the manor, and presents to the rectory ; and in 1576 — 77,
respectively, are baptized Henry and George, the sons of George
Britton.

93 Some Account of the Parish of MonMon Farleigh.

In 1595 Henry Brittaine again presents to the rectory, but in
1606 the Lady Catharine Cornwallis so presents, by permission of
Henry Brittaine and by assignment of George Brittaine, grandsons
of the first Henry.

The family perhaps originally had a settlement in the parish of
Batheaston, or else migrated there.

There was a strip of land called " Briton's land under Banner-
down," in 1605 ; one Thomas Britton is recorded as customary
tenant of thirty- three acres in Bathford Manor in the same year ;
one George Britton, temp. Elizabeth, sued W. Cavel for surrender
of part of the manors of Shockerwick and Batheaston, and Collinson
records that the manor of Shockerwick descended to the Briens
(Brittons ?) , and that they were also lords of Batheaston.

If u William Bromfeld, late of Lewisham, in the county of Kent,
Esquire, who deceased — as his tablet in the chancel of our Church
records — "the twentie day of November, 158&," was their sub-
tenant, they must have left the manor house before that date, and
perhaps it was because the Cornwallises had succeeded Bromfeld as
sub-tenants that they, presented to the living in 1606.

The next lessee of whom I have any record is " Mr. William
Watson, Esquire," and the following is the account of the family,
as given in the parish registers : —

William Watson, d. 1695.

Mr. Bowland,=Mrs. Elizabeth, Francis,
b. 1654. I d. 27 Feb., 1700. b. 1656.

William, b. 1682.

The tenancy died out with William, the Elder, and Mrs. Elizabeth,
his son's wife, died at Whitcomb, in Somerset.

To him succeeded Daniel Webb, described as of Seend, in the
county of Wilts, gentleman. He it was who is said to have planted
the manor generally, and especially that avenue in front of the house,
a mile-and-a-quarter in length, which is the chief beauty of the
place.

By Sir Charles Hobhouse, Bart,

93

The name, at least, was of some consequence in the neighbour-
hood. There was a Webb, a freeholder, holding (curiously enough)
under Sir Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, at Great Sherston,
in 15S5. Thomas Webbe, of Clyford, Beckington, Somerset,
bought the manor of St. Maur from that family in 1604 — 5.
(Hoare's Wilts, p. 39.) A Webb of Ashwick, near Marshfield,
who presented to Box rectory in 1613, and another who presented to
Rudlow, in Box parish, in 1720. The parish register would appear
to assign the death of our Webb to the year 1731, but the entry is
torn and interpolated, and for 1731 I would read 1730, as the year
in which the manor was transferred to the Threshers.

The John Thresher who was our lessee from 1730 to 1737 was,
perhaps, that John who is entered on the pedigree of the Long
family in Walker's History of the manor house at South Wraxall.

If so, the following is his pedigree : —

Edward. =Dyonisia, second daughter of Richard Long, of
J Collingboume, c. 1680.

John.=Ellen d. of Henry Long, of Melksham,
died at Bradford, 1741, set. 52.

If it was by the exercise of violence that the Seymour family rid
themselves of our manor in 1547, there was a Nemesis in the fact
of their returning to live here, in the inferior position of tenants
only, from 1737 to 1805.

In the year 1716 Edward Seymour, of Maiden Bradley, Esquire,
is recorded as marrying Mrs. Mary Webb, sole child and heiress of
our Daniel Webb. Burke gives an incomplete pedigree, and is, I
think, in error when he states that this Seymour succeeded to our
manor in right of his wife.

When Daniel Webb's lease was up, in 1730, the see of Salisbury
was quite at liberty to seek, and did seek and obtain, a tenant outside
the Webb family, and when the Seymours took the lease in 1737
they must have done so out of love, either for the place, or for the
profits of it.

The family pedigree, as it appears partly in Burke and partly in
our registers, is as follows : —

94 Some Account of the Parish of Monk/on Farleigh.

Edward Seymour, of Maiden Bradlcy,=Mrs. Mary Webb, 1716.
(eighth Duke of Somerset, d. 1757.) I

Webb, second son,=Anna Maria, d. and sole heiress of
b. 1718 ; d.1793. John Bennell, Esq., of Stanton
Tenth Duke. Harcourt, Oxford, d. August

6th, 1802.

Edward, b.

Webb, b.
1772; d.
1774.

Edward Adolphus.
Eleventh Duke,
b. 1775 ; d. 1793.

Webb John,
b. 1777.

1771 ; d.
1774.

Edward Adolphus.
Twelfth and pre-
sent Duke, b.
1804.

The marriage of the eighth duke, the births of all the tenth
duke's sons, and the burial of the Duchess Anna Maria, are all re-
corded in our registers, and so, no doubt, the family of the tenth ft'
duke resided here permanently, but as his own death is not so recorded
I suppose, that, on his succession to the title in 1792, he left us.

The initials W.S., and the date, 1764, would seem to shew that I
it was he who in that year added to the house at its extreme southern r
end. If so it was probably he also who re-faced the whole front of
the house. The work is evidently of one and the same date, and is
of the style of the Georges. It was, probably, he too who built
the tower which, up to 1873, stood in the southern angle of the
house-front. This went by the name of ec the Duke's Tower/' and j
it was here that tradition has it the Duke, who is handed down as a
precise and hard man, collected his rents to the last farthing.

The dowager duchess, Anna Maria, certainly resided here from at 1 1
least 1799 to her death, in 1802. It is known that she was buried
exactly 20 feet each way from the extreme south-east corner of the
churchyard, and 15 feet deep in the earth. ( By her own directions ll
no monument was put up to her memory, she having lived in I I
mortal fear that the French should invade England and disturb the 1 1
bones of the dead. But the exact spot in which she was buried was m
marked by Rector Cozens (1824) by shrubs.

Service, it is said, was never commenced in the parish Church I

By Sir Charles Hobhonse, Bart.

05

until she arrived, and at its conclusion all stood up in their places
until she had left the Church. She planted the clump of trees still
known as " The Duchess's Clump/'' and the villagers paid a humble
tribute to her sway by christening their children Anna Maria after
her — a name which then appears for the first time on the register.

To the duchess succeeded as lessee Mr. William Cass, of the
Poultry, London, but beyond the lease from 1805 to 1812 I can find
no record of this family.

To them succeeded Mr. John Long, the elder, and the following
is, I believe, a correct pedigree, so far as it relates to our manor •

Kichard Long, Esq., of Eood Ashton.

John Long, the elder, =Lucy Anne Warneford.
second son, b. 1768 ;
d. 20th October, 1833.

John Long, the younger,:
b.1793; d. April 30th,
1849.

Mary, d. of Edward Daniel,
Barrister, d. May 22nd,
1861.

John, Walter Charles Daniel Catharine Edward Two daughters,
b.1822; Henry ,b. Daniel,b. Edwm,b. Eugenia,b. Morton,b. Francis Stan-
d.1840. 1823 ;d. &d.l825. 1827 ; d. & d. 1830. 1833; d. hope,b.l835.
1857. 1830. 1835.

There is some confusion amongst the elders of the parish as to
the residence of the Longs. Old Thomas Sweetland (b. 1801) says
that Mr. John Long, the elder, did not remain here uninterruptedly.
He came from 1812 to 1818, or thereabouts. There was then an
interim during which Mr. Daniel J ones afterwards called Mr. Jones
Long, hailing from Farley Castle, in Somerset, lived here. He died
in 1824, and was buried at Whaddon. Then Mr. John Long, the
elder, returned, and he and his descendants resided here until 1842?

It was one of the Longs who planted what is now known as the
"Kingsdown Plantation" (described by Sir Richard Hoare in 1819
as newly-planted), and the Yew or Primrose Walk, to the south of
and parallel with the Monks' Walk. In their time the lawn sloped
away from the east front of the house, to the hedge which divides

96 Some Account of tlie Paris/i of Monhton Farleigh,

the Italian Garden from the Conigree. The carriage-drive from
Kingsdown in those days entered just below Ford's Farm from the
Bath and Melksham road. It then passed by the stone stile above
the Kingsdown Plantation, along the present drive, through the
gates by the gardener's cottage, turned thence to the left, and passed
round to the front of the house by the Rockery, the Italian Garden
and the Wilderness. The fountain stood under the group of trees
south of the house and north of the orchard.

The Long family, like that of the Seymours, were connected with
our manor centuries before they came to live here. South Wraxall,
where the family originally set up, was, we have seen, originally a
hamlet of our parish, and up to the dissolution of the Priory was a
part of its home farm.

The first Sir Henry Long, 1st May, 1490, bequeathed certain
money legacies to our prior and each priest and novice of the Priory.
The second Sir Henry, 1520, presented Ludovick Brecknock, Prior
of Farleigh, to the living of Biddeston St. Peter's, " per concess'
Prioris de Farleigh " (an awkward-looking transaction), and this
same Sir Henry is recorded as senior steward of the Priory in 1535,
at a fee of 40$. a year,

To the Longs succeeded the late Mr. Wade Browne. The family
was originally of Chapel Allerton, Co. York, and Mr. Wade Browne
was grandson of John Browne by the heiress of Wade of Moor Town,
and son of Wade Browne by Rhoda, daughter and sole heiress of
Jacob Smith, of Horsington, Co. Worcester.

The tablet to him in the aisle, for once in a way truthful, des-
cribes his life as one " of active benevolence and conscientious dis-
charge of Christian duty.""

He improved the parish roads, making especially the straight
road by Farley Wick Green to the villa. He utilized for the
villagers the bountiful supply of spring water, which, issuing out
of Ash Well, above the King's Arms inn, is conducted by pipes to
the village pump, and thence from one end of the street to the
other. He built (1848) the observatory on Farleigh Down. He
established a school and left, under conditions which have since un-
fortunaely lapsed, an endowment for it. He presented in 1841 to

By Sir Charles Hobhouse, Bart.

97

the Church the barrel-organ, which now (1881), however, stands
neglected and useless in the gallery.

He also beautified and planted the house and grounds. He level-
led the slope in front into the present lawn. He placed the fountain
on its present site, and he laid out the French, now called the Italian
Garden.

It was in laying out this garden that, as the -villagers say, "a
terrible sight " of human bones was carted away and buried in the
churchyard. It was no doubt, as the situation of two stone coffins,
lately unearthed, shows, .somewhere in this direction that the Priory
churchyard was situated, but from the great quantity of bones un-
covered, and from the way in which they were found heaped to-
gether, it was conjectured at the time that they were the remains,
not of ordinary churchyard burial, but of human bodies heaped
together, as after some great fight or pestilence.

Mr. Wade Browne married first, Ann, daughter of the Rt. Hon.
Edward Pennefather,Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. She died in 1837,
and Mr. Browne married secondly, Selina Matilda Caroline, daughter
of Sir John Eardley Wilmot, of Berkswell Hall, Co. Warwick.

On Mr. Wade Browne's death, in 1851, his widow continued to
live on in the house. She is now Mrs. Abbott, of Wrentham
Rectory, Wangford, Suffolk, and has been good enough to give me
many particulars of the place, of which I now make use.

The slips (or cupboards as they now are) , in the older part of
house are supposed to have been servants' bed-rooms. They are
vile holes, and Mrs. Wade Browne worthily supplied their places by
building the upper bed-rooms over the east front.

The pigeon house, by the side of the Monks' Walk, used to pro-
duce in former days a rent in kind of so many pigeons to the manor
house. This was, no doubt, a remnant of the old Columbaria of
the Priory.

The sun-dial in the Italian Garden was erected in memory of a
younger brother of Mr. Wade Browne, who was killed in the CafFre
War. The inscription runs thus : —

" Io vado et vengo ogni giorno
Ma tu andrai senza ritorno."
VOL. XX. — NO. LV1II. II

98 Some Account of the Parish of MonMon Farleigh.

After Mr. Wade Browne left, first Mr. Hume and afterwards Mr. <
Smith occupied the house, and it then fell in hand to Bishop
Hamilton, who let it to Mr. H. B. Caldwell. Thereafter the Ec-
clesiastical Commissioners made a freehold of the whole manor, and
on Mr. Caldwell's death, in 1873, that part which was attached to \
the manor house and the house itself passed to the present proprietor,
Sir Charles Parry Hobhouse.

He has made many alterations in the old house, one, alas ! the '
removal of the Duke's tower, made under a misconception, and an
irreparable loss.

What are now a passage, the master's room, and the lower
school-room, were before the kitchens and the housekeeper's room.
The present kitchen was part of a stable and coal cellar. The offices
adjoining are new. The back staircase was opened out after so
many years of seclusion that its very existence was unknown. The
present library was the dining room. The present dining room was I
created out of the old library and a part of the chief staircase, and |
so the dressing room overhead. The front corridor was raised, and
the staircase and upper landing are new. The billiard room was
made up partly of an entrance hall and partly of what was formerly
the master's room— part of the cellars being lowered.

The parish is now pretty equally divided between Sir Charles
Hobhouse and Henry Hancock and Henry Spackman, Esquires.

The names of Hancock and Spackman are not new to the parish.

There is a Hancock first mentioned in 1777, and there is still in
the parish a piece of land called " Hancock's Piece." A curious
token of the family was also found by me in a garden, where was
once a cottage, immediately opposite the lodge gates. It is a copper
coin of date A.D. 1610. On one side is a hand out-spread, and the
words "in Westbury 1610" — on the other is a cock exultant, and
the name " Thomas Handcock." It is very well cut.

The name of Spackman is associated with the parish at a still
earlier period, John Spakeman, senior and junior, being mentioned
as churchwardens in 1372,

Of the family of Hobhouse it does not beseem me to make any
record beyond what may be said to be already public property.

By Sir Charles Hobhouse, Bart,

99

They came originally from either Devon or Somerset, and there
are at Drewsteighntou, near Exeter, two hamlets or farms which still
bear their name. They were settled at Minehead, in Somerset, aud
a lease of A.D. 1706, given by the Luttrells, of Dunster Castle, is
still called Hobhouse's Lease. It is for land with wharfage, and
was perhaps taken up with the view to engaging in the Irish fishery
business, which was then a stirring trade.

From Minehead the family migrated to Bristol, and there set up
as merchants on a more extensive and general scale, purchasing and
for some time residing at Westbury Cottage, Westbury-on-Trym,
and afterwards at Redlands.

Thereafter the family divided, and one branch settled at Hadspen
House, Castle Carey, Somerset, where it has been ever since, and is
still worthily represented by a succession of Henrys of the name.

The other branch shot out in the person of Sir Benjamin, created
first baronet in 1812. His first marriage was with a daughter of
Mr. Cam, a clothier of Bradford-on-Avon, in Wiltshire, and through
her he succeeded to Chantry House, Barton Farm, and other farms
and lands near that town, whilst in 1777 he purchased the manor
and certain lands in Broughton Gifford.

He never, however, acquired a local habitation of his own, but
lived at Hartham Park and Cottles, in this neighbourhood, and at
Whitton Park, near Hounslow (since pulled down), renting at the
same time a house in London.

He was a friend of the then Lord Sidmouth, was Under Secretary
of State at the India House, and obtained his baronetcy for services
rendered in the settlement of the debts of the Nawab of Arcot.
He was president of the first friendly society that was established
in Wiltshire, and life-president of the Bath and West of England
Agricultural Society, in whose rooms at Bath an admirable bust of
him, by Chantry, may still be seen.

His eldest son was Sir John Cam Hobhouse, Baron Broughton
de Gyfford. It was he who was imprisoned in the Fleet for words
spoken against the Constitution, which perhaps in these days might
be watchwords of Toryism.

Thereafter he was for the rest of his life a member of one or other

H %

100 Some Account of the Parish of Monkton Far high.

House of Parliament, and for many years a Cabinet Minister under
the Whig party.

But, if remembered at all by posterity, it will probably be rather
in connection with literature than with politics, as the friend and
fellow-traveller of the poet Byron, and the spirited annotator of
that poet's best work.

To him in the baronetcy succeeded (1869) Sir Charles Parry
Hobhouse, the present proprietor of our manor house and lands.
He was for twenty -six years in the Civil Service, first of the East
India Company, and then of the Crown in India, and after holding-
various offices of some importance there — the last as a judge of Her
Majesty's High Court of Judicature at Calcutta, he devotes such
leisure and health as he has left to the ordinary duties of a country
gentleman and magistrate.

CHAPTER V.
Parish Notables.

Here terminates the history of the manor house and of the families
connected therewith, but we have had other notable families in the
parish, and I proceed to give some account of the most remarkable
amongst them.

I begin with the Cottles, and although I cannot attempt to con-
nect our parish with the early founders of the family yet I shall
put together, for the benefit of any future writer, something like an
historical account of them.

The first mention that I find is of one Beranger Cotel, who, ac-
cording to the Exon Domesday (c. 1086), held one hide of land at
Fontel, now Fonthill Gifford, in Dunworth Hundred.

Then appears a certain Sir Richard Cotell, who (c. 1100) is
settled by the then Abbot of Glastonbury on a manor at Camerton,
in Somerset.

This manor, on Sir Richard's death (c. 1120), reverted to Glaston-
bury, and a series of Cottels remained in tenancy, viz., Richard (c.
1166); after him, Sir William; and after him, Sir Elias, orElleys.
He, A.D. 1289, seventeenth Edward I., is entered in the list of
" Chevaliers et Homme du Mark," in Co. Somerset, and in 1336 he
presented to the living of Camerton.

By Sir Charles Ilobhouse, Bart.

101

Then the scene changes to Wiltshire-, and a member of the same
family, I would presume, because still under the segis of the Abbot
of Glastonbury, one Jordan Cotele (c. 1251 — 61) is found to be
Rector of Kington St. Michael, covenanting with the abbot and
convent of Glastonbury, that certain lands in that parish are feud
of the abbey and that therefore neither he nor his heirs will ever
part with an acre of them. ;

Thereafter, c. 1275, a Sir Roger de Cotele, Knight,, is named in
an inquisition held at Melksham.

The transition to Atworth is easy, and one Richard Cotell is found
to be Lord of Cotels -Atworth. His daughter, Isande (1267 — 80)
married Philip, son of Henry Tropenell of Chalfield. He is probably
that Cotell mentioned by Aubrey as having had an estate at Biddes-
ton St. Peter, for this estate passed to the Tropenells, and through
them, it may be mentioned, to our Priory. These Cotels continued
to present to Atworth Chapel, until A.D. 1309, when the presentation
passed to the Selymans.

There are notices too of a Richard Cotel, his wife Isabel and
children, 1307 ; of a William Cotel, owner of fifty acres of land in
Chel worth, 1327 ; of a family of Cotel dying out at Frampton Cot-
terel (or Cotel), about the same period; of a Stephen Cotele, Rector
of Castle Combe, 1397 ; and lastly of a Mark Cottell who (c. 1500)
built a house at North Tawton, Devon ; of a Cottle, of Samford
Peverell, who registered the same arms as Sir Elias in 1580; and of
a Cottle, of Cricklade, registering arms, 1623.

From the above facts it is clear that the Cottle family was one of
very ancient descent and weight in the counties of Wilts and
Somerset, but that they passed away from our neighbourhood at
Atworth, as persons of eminence, many centuries back (perhaps
in 1309) is clear from Aubrey's statement, that " Atworth called
Cotels Atward or Coteles Atworth antiently belonged to Coteles
who had great possessions in these parts but now there are only
some few people left of this name in the county."

This statement was made circa 1660, but Atworth is only two
miles from us, and the William Cottle who was born in our parish
in 1659 is described as "Gentleman," and so was a descendant,

102 Some Account of the Parish of Monhton Farleigh.

Jeremiah, in 1785, and the family tree shews that this title has, in
fact, never left the family, and still abides in it.

The passage from gentleman to yeoman carries with it no degra-
dation, and the representative of the family, James Jeremiah Cottle,
still in the parish, is a fitting type of the straightforward independent
yeoman of the period, cultivating and living upon his own freehold
at Farley- Wick. Curiously enough his wife was a Selman, perhaps
a descendant of those very Selymans who succeeded the Cotels at
Atworth.

The manor house at Cottles- Atworth is still called after the family.

Next in order of date is the family of the Grants. They were
yeomen, and from the Christian names and the proximity of the
place I think they must have come from Bradford. There in 15 85^
1596, and 1600 were certain Daniel, Walter and Francis Grants,
who were considerable copyholders and freeholders.

The following is the family tree, as appearing in our own registers.
There were apparently three families, and several offshoots :—

Family I.
John.= Joan, who d. a widow, 1639.
George, b. 1577.

I

Walter, Ann, George, Francis, Catharine, Edmund,
b. b. b. b. b. b. 1619

1610. 1613. 1616. 1616. 1617. d. 1644.

Cybill, Ann Baker, Joan, d.

d. 1622. 1640. widow, 1669.

Henry, d. 1665. Joan,=Mr. William Edmund, George,

Richmond, of Prior of Bradford, d.

Stanton, 1651. b. 1641. 1726.

Family II.
George, = Amy, d. 1609.

Walter, b. 1586. William, b. 1609.
Joan, b. 1628.

By Sir Charles Hohhouse, Bart,

103

Family III.
John, yeoman, d. 1662.

George, b. 1653. John, b. 1662.

j j Hannah, d. 1701.

George, b. 1686. Ellinor, d. 1688.

Ellinor,=George Fry, 1611.
Mary, of Bradford Liegh, d. 1680.

Mr. Edward, of Trowbridge, clothier, =Mrs. John Randell, of Beckington, 1698.

Martha, of Bath,=Kichard Thomas, yeoman, 1699.

Mrs. Deborah, of Trowbridge, = Mr. Abel, of Bristol, 1709.

Frances, = James Poyner, both of Hinton Charterhouse, 1744.

Mrs. Sara Grant, the heroine of the family, is not recorded in
the registers, but a tablet to her memory is still to be found in the
chancel of our parish Church. It runs thus :—

" Here lieth buried the body of Sara Grant deceased xxvii. die Novembris
Anno Domini 1602.

Five pounds she gave unto the poore
William King gave so much more
Imploy the increase keep stocke in store."

This tablet was, of cource, not put up until after the death of
William King, and the Latinity, terseness, and general ring of it,
point to some clerkly person as the author of it — probably the rector .

There was a William King in the parish who, in 1611, is recorded
as of sufficient substance to have lent £20 to King James by way
of Privy Seal. He died in 1650, and I take this to be the date of
the tablet, and Parson Allambrigge, perhaps, to have been the author
of it.

A gentleman learned in the law once affirmed in my hearing that
the inscription contained the most complete legal bequest in the
fewest lines that were possible, directing, of course, the £10 of
capital to be funded and the interest accruing thereon to be paid to
the poor.

The benefaction, however, has entirely disappeared, but it is re-
membered that some sixty years ago, in the days of Clerk Tutton,

104 Some Account of the Parish of Honkton Farlcigh.

broad was distributed from the chancel to the poor at Easter, " the
people being always thankful to the good lady who gave it."

The family of the Kings stood probably upon about the same
footing as that of the Grants and the following is the parish record
of them : —

William, d. 1650,=Ann, d. 1667.

!

II I III

Sarah, Arnold, Mr. Robert, George, Mr. John, Francis,
b. 1621. b. 1624 ; b. 1626. b. 1627. b. 1627. b. 1629 ;

d. 1697. I i d. 1670.

. . I

[ Mary, Harmond,

George, b. 1651. Joan, b. 1656. Elizabeth, b. 1652 ; b. 1662.

d. 1669. d. 1684

The name, at least, was still perpetuated in the parish up to 1880
in the person of Mr. John King, of " The Villa/-'

The Butler family may next be mentioned. The name was, per-
haps, at one time a badge of servitude at- the Priory. Tempore
Edward I. (1272 — 1307), one John le Botyler is witness to a deed
securing certain privileges to the said Prior and convent of Farley.
Then (1372) a William le Boteler appears as churchwarden, taking
oath to the yearly value of the rectory. Later on, first Henry V.
(1413), William Botyler (the article dropped) figures as a clerk in
holy orders, confirming to one Biehard Slade certain rents in land
in Farley ghes-Wyke (called in Ed. II., 1321, the Bailliage of the
Bedeley Court of Farleigh), and thereafter we have a succession of
John Butlers, churchwardens in the parish, till the family dies out
in the person of Thomas Butler, yeoman (1713).

The name is still in the parish in the person of Mr. Hancock's
bailiff.

Boger Huggitt was also, Mr. Powell considers, one of our notables.
A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine, August, 4th, 1800, signing
himself A. S. (absit omen !) mentions that he copied the following
inscription from a square stone in the aisle of the parish Church of
Farley in Wiltshire : —

Eogerus Huggitt.
Qui eximo statu ad summos honores emergens.
Natus Pastor-Miles obiit. Mt

By Sir Charles Hobhouse, Bart.

105

Hie situsest Huggitt qui nuinquarn praelia fugit.
Hunc agris natuin, perduxit in atria fatuni.
Linquens pastores inagnos acquirit honores.
Iinpavidus miles solitus conteinnere viles
Multa manu sorti dedit acer copia decrat
Quern miseris dando Salvatorernque precando
Ut careat avo vivebat purus in aevo
Dives, Honoratus, magna cum stirpe beatus
Humilis in pectus tandem est per sidera vectus.

a The above leonine verses/' says the writer, " are written in old
English characters, and were made ont with some difficulty, owing
to the ravages of time. It is remarkable that it was not possible
by any trace that is left to form the slightest conjecture as to the
antiquity of the monument.'"

Mr. Powell ascertained that the monument did not belong to the
other Wiltshire Farley, and old Mrs. Moore, of the " Dry Arch
Cottage," since dead, informed him (and old Thomas Sweetland
confirms this) that she remembered the monument, and thought
that it had either been destroyed or else placed in a vault under the
Church with other monuments at the re-building of the Church.
Mr. Powell adds, on the authority of the Edinburgh Review, April,
1861, p. 400, that about the year 1750 there was a Roger Huggit,
Chaplain or Conduct of the College at Eton, an antiquarian whose
collections, in nine vols., were in 1769 bequeathed to the British
Museum.

The Blinman family must not be forgotten. Joseph, the first of
the name, is mentioned in the tablet in the chancel as " Gentleman
of this parish." He died in 1811, aged eighty-four. Joseph, the
younger, also " of this parish, gentleman/'' died 24th June, 1843,
aged seventy-two. He it was who, as recorded on the tablet over
the Church doorway, left two sums of £300 and £250 respectively
for the benefit of the poor. These sums are now invested in consols,
in the name of the Charity Commissioners, and the dividends are
paid every year to the parish churchwardens at the Capital and
Counties Bank, Bradford-on-Avon. They remain at interest in de-
posit until St. Thomas's Day, and then the dividend on £300 is
expended on coal for distribution amongst the deserving poor of the

106

The Rising in the West, A.D. 1G55.

parish generally, and that on £250 is distributed in cash amongst
forty of the deserving poor.

It is remarkable that all that is remembered of this family is that
they lived at what is now Mr. Sydney Hancock's farm, at Farley-
Wick, and that the younger kept a pack of beagles.

It has to be admitted that, although we have been connected with
the Bohuns, the De Y Isles, the Dunstanvilles, the Seymours, the
Longs, and others, yet, unless it be the mysterious Roger Huggitt,
we have not produced persons of any other than of village note ; on
the other hand we present a remarkable instance of a purely village
community, unchanging and little affected by the times, the names
and families still abiding amongst us being those that have so abided
from the earliest recorded times.

[To be continued.']

%\t Bising k iht Wtst, 1655.

To the Editor of the Wiltshire Archceological Magazine.
Dear Sir,

To-day, for the first time, my attention has been directed to a paper by
Sir George Duckett, in the 55th Number of the Wilts Archceological Magazine,
on the Eising in the West, A.D. 1655. Whilst thanking him for his, I fear,
too complimentary observations, I would beg to observe that he is in error in
assuming that I omitted to notice the informations (excipe Eichard Eowe) which
he gives in detail.

If reference be made to Wiltshire Archceological Magazine, vol. xiii., pp.
173, 178, and 186, it will be found that substantially they are utilised.

As I mentioned in Wiltshire Archceological Magazine, vol. xv. p. 236, Mr.
Birch's edition of the Thurloe Papers was constantly with me ; and there all the
papers mentioned by Sir George Duckett will be found. Eowe's and Batchelor's
information, vol. 3, p. 630 ; Carter's p. 634 ; Hely's, p. 655, and the rest, p. 648
of the same volume.

I am,

Your's faithfully,

W. W, EAVENHILL.

The Temple, London, E.C.,
August 15th, 1881.

H. F, BULL, Priuter and Publisher, 4, Saint John Street, Devizes.

TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE SUMMER OF 1882.

MAP OF A HUNDRED SQUARE
MILES ROUND ABURT :

With a Key to the British and Roman Antiquities
occurring there.

BY THE EET. A. 0. SMITH.

Rector of Yateshitry, and Hon. Secretary of the Wiltshire Archaeological
and Natural History Society.

THIS work, the materials of which have been accumulating for twenty-five
years, is the result of innumerable rides and rambles over the Downs of
North Wilts ; and deals with one of the most important archaeological Districts
in Europe. It will be published and issued to subscribers by the Marlborough
College Natural History Society, and it will consist of two parts : —

First. — The Great Map — 78 inches by 48 inches, on the scale of 6 linear
inches, or 36 square inches, to the mile ; it comprises 100 square miles round
Abury, and includes the great plateau of the Downs of North Wilts, extending
from Oliver's Camp, on Roundway Hill, on the west, to Mildenhall on the east ;
and from Broad Hinton on the north, to the Pewsey Vale on the south. The
district thus mapped measures 13 miles from west to east, and 8 miles from north
to south. Every square mile, marked off with faint lines, lettered with a capital
letter and numbered, will show the Barrows, Camps, Roads, Dykes, Enclosures,
Cromlechs, Circles, and other British and Roman Stone- and Earth-works of that
district ; every such relic, being lettered with a small letter in its own square, is
readily found and easily referred to. The Map will be printed in six colours,
viz., the Antiquities in red, the Roads in brown, the Lanes and Down Tracks in
green, the Sarsen Stones in yellow, and the Streams and Ponds in blue.

Second. — The Key to the Great Map, — which is by far the most important
part of the work and will form a general " Guide to the British and Roman An-
tiquities of North Wilts," — will be a volume of large quarto size, and will contain
the whole of the large Map in fifteen sections, measuring 18 inches by 12, and
four supplementary sections, each measuring 6 inches by 12. The Letterpress
will contain some account of each of the Antiquities, with references to and
extracts from the best authorities, as well as figures of various Urns and other
objects found in the Barrows, views of the Cromlechs, plans of the Camps, o^c.
An Index Map, on the scale of 1 inch to the mile, coloured, numbered, lettered,
and divided like the Great Map, will accompany the volume ; and the whole will
be a general account of the Antiquities of North Wilts, inasmuch as the district
thus delineated embraces nearly all the remains of earliest times which exist in
the northern portion of the County.

Subscribers' names and addresses (a list of which will bo published with the
Index) will be received by the Rev. T. A. Preston, The Greet, Marlborough
The cost of the Large Map and Key complete will be, to Subscribers, One Guinea.
Any copies which remain (after all the Subscribers have Von served) will be
offered to the public at an advanced price, viz., for the sho< ls of the Great &Iap

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JUNE, 1882.

Vol. XX.

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NOTICE TO MEMBERS.
THE ANNUAL MEETING for 1882 will be held at Malmesbury,
on August Ind, 3rd, and Uh. Lord Edmund Fitzmaurice,
M.P., President.

Members who have not paid their Subscriptions to the Society for
the current year, are requested to remit the same forthwith to
the Financial Secretary, Mr. William Nott, 1 5, High Street,
Devizes, to whom also all communications as to the supply
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The Numbers of this Magazine will not be delivered, as issued,
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All other communications to be addressed to the Honorary Secre-
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The Rev. A. C. Smith will be much obliged to observers of birds
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connected with birds, which may come under their notice.

To he published by the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History
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THE FLORA OF "WILTS.

BY THE REV. T. A. PRESTOS", M.A.

t&gBT Farther 'particulars will shortly be sent by circular to Members of

the Society.

The Author will be glad if any who could assist him with a list of plants
iu their several localities would kindly communicate with him. As the Flo^o,
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ticularly desired. Address— Rev. T. A. Peeston, The Green, Marlborough.

THE

WILTSHIRE

Irrjupnlngiral anit Hotel listen}
MAGAZINE.

No. LIX. JUNE, 1882. Vol. XX.

Contents*

PAGE

Some Early Features of Stockton Church, Wilts : By the Eev.

J. Baron, D.D., F.S.A., Rector of Upton Scudainore, Wilts 107

Ox the Church of St. Peter, Manningford Bruce, Wiltshire :

By the Eev. J. Baron, D.D., F.S.A., Rector of Upton Scudamore, Wilts 122
" Sculptured Stone at Codford St. Peter, and Heraldic Stone

at Warminster " : By the Rev. J. Baron, D.D., F.S.A., Rector of

Upton Scudamore, Wilts 138

" Early Heraldry in Boyton Church, Wilts : Recovery of a

Missing Link " : By the Rev. J. Baron, D.D., F.S.A., Rector of

Upton Scudamore, Wilts 145

On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds

in the Neighbourhood of Salisbury ( Continued) : By the Rev.

Arthur P. Morres, Yicar of Britford 154

Some Account of the Parish of Monkton Farleigh (Continued):

By Sir Charles Hobhouse, Bart 185

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Interior of Stockton Church, Wilts 107

Ground-plan of St. Peter's Church, Manning-ford Bruce,

Wilts 123

Ground-plan of St. Edmund's Church, Fritton, Suffolk 125

Ground-plan of Church of St. Mellon, Rouen 127

Ground-plan of Kilpeck Church, Herefordshire 129

South doorway and chancel arch, Manningford Bruce

Church, Wilts 130

Sculptured Stone in Codford St. Peter Church, Wilts ... 138

Sculptured Stone, Wacininster Athenaeum, Wilts 140

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THE

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"MULT0RUM MANIBUS GRANDE LEVATUE ONUS." — Ovid.

clonic falg <f rata ri$k$wx %te%IIEii

By the Rev. J. Babon, D.D., F.S.A.,

Rector of Upton Scudamore, Wilts.

%THE very name of restoration is a sound of alarm to the
grj antiquary, as being often another word for meddlesome
change, fanciful improvement, or even reckless and ruthless destruc-
tion. Nevertheless, even destructions and demolitions are sometimes
imperatively demanded by altered circumstances and true progress,
and some restorations are necessary, and, if carried out in a con-
servative spirit, praiseworthy, while to many we owe the revelation
or illustration of interesting features which would otherwise have
remained hidden or unobserved. Among necessary conservative
and instructive restorations I trust may be reckoned that of the
parish Church of the little secluded village of Stockton, Wilts,
completed in 1880.

The first feature to be noted is what has been called, for want of
a better name, a " horizontal vesica piscis," over the middle and
tallest of the three lancet lights of the east window.

This is, alas, only a shadow of the past : for the window was
restored in 1840, but we have a trustworthy record that the new
window was intended to be a careful reproduction of the old one.
The very peculiarity of this feature nearly caused its destruction at
the beginning of the recent restoration of the Church. " Who ever
heard of such a thing as ' a horizontal vesica piscis * ? " " It could
not be original.'" I pointed out, in the Benedictional of St. Ethel-
wold, a " vesica piscis leaning to the right,1 although usually re-
presented vertical in the same tenth century MS.,2 and pleaded that

1 Archaeologia, vol. xxiv., pp. 53, 02.
2 Ibid, pp. 57, 80, 85, 86, 87.
VOL. XX. — NO. LIX. I

108 Some Early Features of Stockton Church, Wilts,

if the oval pointed figure called by Albert Durer " vesica piscis,"
has any relation to the early Christian symbol a fish , it was

only natural that this rude outline of a fish, as some assert it to be,
should occasionally be shown in a horizontal — the usual swimming
— position. All this might have been in vain if I had not been
enabled by the suggestion of a kind and valued friend, the Rev.
G. F. ISaxby, to refer to a passage in Archseologia Cantiana, where a
" horizontal vesica piscis/' in combination with round arches, is figured
and described as unique.1 This settled the question as to a horizontal
" vesica piscis " being a genuine feature of Early English architecture,
but I should be much interested by hearing of other examples.

On the south side of the little chancel are two lancets. The
westernmost of them is brought down lower than the other, but the
sill is, nevertheless, 5ft. 6in. above the floor of the chancel. The
height of this window is 6ft. 3in., and the width 1ft. Tin. It is
fitted at the lower end with a casement not very recent. The upper
part of this window has a groove on each side in the stone-work, as
if a shutter or compartment of the window sliding upwards like a
sash, had preceded the casement, or co-existed with it, for the pur-
pose of distributing doles to lepers or other applicants from without.
It is clear that this arrangement must have been made for some
special purpose, but what that may have been is a matter of specu-
lation.

The next feature I have to notice, the eastern wall of the nave,
appears to me of great interest as illustrating, when compared with
similar examples in England and with Greek and Latin Churches,
the whole history of chancels, choirs, and chancel screens, and shew-
ing the influence of Greek ritual and tradition in the far west at a
very early date.

In this remarkable east end of the nave there is a doorway with
folding gates, where we should have expected a chancel arch, and on
each side there is a hagioscope, having the base 3ft. 7in. above the
floor. These hagioscopes have pointed arches, converge accurately

1 Vol. vii., p. 82, 83 ; London, printed for Kent Arch. Soc, by Taylor & Co.,
1868.

By the Rev. J. Baron, B.B , F.S.A.

109

towards the altar, and measure at the base 2ft. 5in., from base to
apex, 2ft. llin.

At the beginning of the recent restoration, many said, " How
strange and inconvenient \ " "A good chancel arch ought to be
substituted/'

Fortunately I was able to remember and look up a paper by Mr.
John Henry Parker, in the Archaeological Journal for December,
ISM, " On some Perforations in the Walls of Churches/' In illus-
tration of the said paper two similar examples are engraved, one at
Ashley Church, Hampshire, as rude as that at Stockton, but with
round arches, the other in the old Church of Otterbourne, Hamp-
shire, with pointed arches and distinct thirteenth-century ornament.
These two examples were sufficient to prove that such an arrange-
ment as the east wall of the nave of Stockton Church prevailed,
more or less, in the south-west of England from about the time o£
the Conquest, or much earlier, till the thirteenth century. It is
worthy of note that Ashley and Otterbourne are both in the diocese
of Winchester. The manor of Stockton was given to the monks of
St. Swithun at Winchester, i.e., to the Cathedral there, before the
Conquest, and is so recorded in Domesday Survey. The patronage
of the Hectory of Stockton remained with the Bishop of Winchester
till our own time, and has only recently been transferred to the
Bishop of Oxford.

The little Saxon Church at Bradford-on-Avon, Wilts, has not a
chancel arch, in the usual sense of the term, but a doorway instead.
Possibly such a doorway, with or without a perforation on each side,
may have been common elsewhere, though now obliterated by chancel
arch and restoration, as at Yatesbury, Wilts.

The Rector of that Church, in the Wilts Archaeological Magazine
for November, 1879, says: "When the Church was restored in
1854, it was found necessary to pull down and re-build the chancel
arch, which was effected by shoring up the whole of the east end of
the nave roof by means of props from below. Though the chancel
arch was so small and narrow as to be inconvenient for service, and
showed such signs of settlement as to necessitate its removal, it was
not without considerable regret that it was taken down ; as it was

T 8

1 oJ

110 Some Early Features of Stockton Church, Wilts.

unmistakably of a peculiar horse- shoe form, contracted at the base,
and bulging' out in the centre ; and that regret was not diminished
when, on removing" the adjoining walls on either side, there were
found, though concealed by the plaster, on the north side a rude
hagioscope or squint, and on the south side what appeared to be the
remains of an ambry, though some supposed this too to be a hagio-
scope."

This statement of Rev. A. C. Smith enables us to see that the
Yatesbury arrangement resembled that at Stockton. It also sug-
gests the sad inference that what was done at Yatesbury has been
done elsewhere by less sympathising hands, and with no antiquary
near to remonstrate or record.

"When a high and wide chancel arch was introduced in early times
a screen became almost a necessity, according to the notions then
prevailing. In the Church of Upton Scudamore, Wilts, which was
restored in 1859 under the care of Mr. Street, there is reason to
believe that a great part of a massive wall at the east end of the
nave was knocked out in the fifteenth century to make way for a
chancel arch and screen.

In order to shew how the massive east wall of the nave in some
early churches in England, pierced by a doorway into the chancel,
with or without a perforation on each side, illustrates the whole
question of chancels, choirs, and chancel screens, let us take two
simple intelligible and typical Churches, one of the Greek and the
other of the Latin communion. Let the Greek example be St.
Theodore, at Athens, of which a ground-plan and exterior are given
by Dr. Neale in his Holy Eastern Church, vol. i., p. 171.1

We see in this plan that, however complicated a large Church or
Cathedral may be in the East or in the West, the essential divisions
are few and intelligible, viz., four : — i. the bema or sanctuary ; ii.
the choros or choir, for clergy and singers ; iii. the naos or nave, for
faithful worshippers ; iv. the narthex, for catechumens and penitents.

On the bema stands the dyta rpdire^a, or Holy Table, with the
prothesis, or place of preparing the bread and wine, on the north,

1 Also Ibid, p. 271. The plan is also given in Translations of Primitive
Liturgies by Neale, introd., p. xiv. ; London, Hayes, 1859.

By the Bev. J. Baron, D.B., F.S.A. Ill

and the diaconicon, or vestry, on the south. But the chief detail
on which we have to dwell, for our present purpose, is the iconostasis
or screen with three openings, at the top of the steps of the bema.
This screen is commonly called iconostasis, because upon it are placed
the icons or sacred pictures, but the earlier and more proper name
is KdjKeXa. Ducange, in his Greek Glossary, gives Kdy/ce\os pi.
Kdy/ceXoL, and KdyrceXov, pi. KdjKeXa. For convenience I adhere
to the neuter plural Kdy/ceXa, which is the form most commonly
used by Greeks in the present day to designate an open fence of
iron or wood, in Church or elsewhere.

It is curious that Du Cange, with his stupendous learning in
Eastern as well as Western lore, after giving an admirable historical
account of this screen under the word Kay/eeXo?, or K.dy/ceXop, in
his Greek Glossary, gives a faltering and puzzled account under
ic/covoardcTtov, apparently because, drawing his knowledge chiefly
from books and documents, he was not aware that eacovoa-Tacn^ is
merely a later name, which has come into use to mean the same
thing as Kay/ceXa, which also dates back to a time when probably
there were no icons or pictures on the screen, which was in early
times a mere lattice or network of wood, as Eusebius calls it in
describing the splendid Church built by Bishop Paulinus at Tyre,
A.D. 315.1

We were told, many years ago, in Mr. Parker's Glossary and else-
where, that our English word chancel is derived from the Latin
word <( cancelli," a lattice, but this is only part of the. truth.

The word was used in good classic Latin to mean lattice, or
generally a fence, in the days of Cicero, who uses these words, " Me
facile vestra existimatione revocabitis si extra hos cancellos egredi
conabor quos mihi ipse circumdedi.'"' 2 But the rudiments of the word
were in Greek four hundred years before Cicero. Kcy/cXcSes is used
in the Knights and Wasps of Aristophanes to mean the lattice gates

1 '~Ecp' cmaai re to tcov ciylcov ayiov Svo-iao-rrjpLov ev peo~co Sels, avQis Kat
raSe cos civ etrj rots ttoXXois a^ara, tols and £v\ov ire pucpparre 8lktvols els
aKpov ivrixvov Xenrovpyias e£r)o~Kr]p,evoLs, cos ^avp,do-Lov tols opcotri Tvap£x*lv tt)V
Seav. Euseb., X. 4, vol. i., p. 474, ed. Reading, Cambridge, 1720. Cf. Bingham,
Antiq. Chr., Bk. viii., Ch. vi., Sect. 6.

2 Pro. P. Quinctio.

112 Some Early Features of StocJetvn Church, Wilts.

in a court of justice, and the scholiast explains it by JLdytceXov.1
Without pausing to determine whether the word belongs more truly
to the Greek or the Latin language in the classic period, we may
note that it is used so frequently by early ecclesiastic writers in
Greek, before the introduction of pictures, to mean the screen on
the western edge of the bema that it is unnecessary to specify any
of the quotations. A goodly number are given in Du Cange's
Greek Glossary, and in Suicer's Thesaurus of Greek Fathers.

Upon comparing the very early Latin Church of San Clemente,
at Rome, we see exactly how the original Greek idea of a Church was
developed and adapted to Italian circumstances and requirements.

Plans and views are given by Gaily Knight2 and Dr. Rock.3
But these plans require correction by the further researches of Father
Mullooly and others 4

In the Greek Church the %o/5o? for clergy and singers was placed
immediately west of the steps of the bema, without any separation
from the nave. In the much larger Italian Churches it was found
convenient to fence off a space for clergy and singers in the nave by
a low screen, described as no higher than for a person to lean upon.5

This space, so fenced off, was not called " cancelli 3X or " cancellus,"
but "chorus cantorum."

But the high screen on the edge of the bema having disappeared
as not convenient for the Latin rite, what provision was made for
the seclusion and dignity of the sacred mystery? The answer is,
the canopy with costly curtains placed on the bema or sanctuary

1 Cf . Liddell & Scott, Lex., KdyneXos, KiyicXls. N.B. — The latter form is
frequently used as a synonym for the screen. Cf. Bingham, ut supra.

2 Ecclesiastical Architecture of Italy from the time of Constantine to the
fifteenth century, by Henry Gaily Knight, Esq., F.R.S. F.S.A., vol. i., plates
1 and 2 ; Bohn, London, 1842.

3 Ch. of our Fathers, by Daniel Rock, D.D., vol. i., p. 193 ; Dolman, London,
1849.

4 See comparative ground-plan in Basilica of S. Clement, Mullooly ; Rome,
Barbera, 1873.

5 In primitiva Ecclesia peribolus, id est, paries, qui circuit chorum, non eleva-
batur, nisi usque ad appodiationem, quod adhuc in quibusdam Ecclesiis observatur,
quod ideo fiebat, ut populus videns clerum psallentem, inde bonum sumeret ex-
emplum. Durandus, Rationale, Lib. i., cap. iii., n. 35, Lugd. 1672.

By Me ficr. J. Baron, D.D., F.S.A.

113

over the altar, and called in Greek KiGcoqlov, in Tjatin umbraculum,
and in Italian, baldacchino, became the substitute for the Greek
Kdr/K€ka, with its doors and curtains.

This canopy was used before A.D. 500 in Eastern Churches, being-
found depicted in the mosaics in the dome of St. George of Thessa-
lonica.1 The primary meaning* of the Greek word JLl£o)qlov is the
cup-like seed-vessel of the Egyptian water-lily.2 The name and
thing were, therefore, probably in secular use in Egypt long before
the Christian era. It is curious that our word canopy is derived
from ^covcoiretov, the canopied bed, with curtains, used in Egypt to
keep off Kco^&)7re9, mosquitos.s A common synonym at this day
in the East for KiGtaqiov, in the ecclesiastical sense, is Kovftov/cXiov,
a canopy, apparently akin to the Latin cubiculum. Dr. Rock sup-
poses the Anglosaxon Churches to have followed the type of San
Clemente. This, surely, could only be true of some of the largest
and grandest Churches. A good example of this type, adapted to
the services of the Church of England, is St. Barnabas, at Oxford,
built in the middle of the present century, for a dense population,
where it is very successful. The baldacchino looks very well, but
is destitute of the curtains which gave it its Italian name and were
originally its chief raison cV etre as in some measure a substitute
for the Greek screen. .But although the San Clemente type, with
its baldacchino, chorus cantorum, and other details was unsuitable
in any fulness for small villages and missionary stations in England,
it may be observed in confirmation of Dr. Rock's view that its in-
fluence may be traced in many of our small Churches which have
an apse. Such Churches are known to have existed in the West
seven hundred years before the Norman Conquest of England. The
Church of St. Gervais, at Rouen, where William the Conqueror
went to die, is a bright new restoration, in Transition Norman style,
but through a trap-door in the floor is reached a crypt, where there

1 Cf . Texier, Byzantine Architecture, plate 33 ; London, Day & Son, 1864.

2 Cf. Student's Ecclesiastical History, by Philip Smith, p. 426, note 4, and
engraving, p. 427.

3 Cf. Herodotus, ii., 95. Trommius, Concord, iu Sept., art. Koavoairiiov et
Kcovanrtov. Also Liddell and Scott, Lex. Ki^ooptov ; Kcovconhov,

114 Some Earl?/ Features of Stockton C/mrcJi, Wilts.

is a very small Church, admitted to be as old as the third century.
It is said to be the oldest Church in France, and a tradition of the
Greek rite. It has a semi-circular apse, and the remains of a hook
are shown at each side of the apse, about 10ft. high, which is said
to have been used for a curtain which could be drawn or undrawn
or lowered as required. The winch and pulley for such a curtain,
in the Presbytery of Salisbury Cathedral, remain to this day.

By comparing these two Churches of St. Theodore, at Athens,
and San Clemente, at Borne, with the ordinary type of the simplest
and smallest village Churches of England, in early times, we shall
see how this latter type was developed by blending the architecture
of Greek and Latin Churches, and how natural it was that some of
our Anglosaxon clergy, who were conversant with the East, and
were accomplished Greek scholars as well as Church builders, should
make the east wall of the nave, before the introduction of high and
wide chancel arches, subserve the purpose of the Greek Kdy/ceXa, so
far as was consistent with the Latin rite.

In St. Theodore the choir is screened off from the bema or sanctu-
ary and blended with the naos or nave.

In San Clemente the choir is fenced off from the nave and blended
with the sanctuary.

In course of time it was found convenient in the West to improve
further upon the plan of San Clemente by a further blending of the
two types, and, instead of screening off a part of the nave for a
chorus cantorum, to make room for the choir on the other side of
the Kay/ce\a, by forming what we call a chancel. For this ar-
rangement it was necessary to make the screen more open than in
Greek Churches. In present English, choir and chancel are used
as almost synonymous. The usual distinction in the last generation
was to use choir when speaking of a Cathedral with regular choristers
and trained singers, and chancel when speaking of a smaller Church
where the singing was of a different character, often in a west
gallery; but it will be clear, upon reflection, that a chancel, except
those that are very small, contains two divisions, viz., the sanctuary
— on which stands the holy table, usually fenced off by altar rails,
and west of these the space properly called a choir, for clergy and

By Hie Rev, J. Baron, D.D., F.S.A.

115

official singers. Some chancels are so very small, as at Stockton,
that they can hardly be said to have any choir space at all. Cer-
tainly no singers, however well trained, could sing to good effect
through a massive wall, with a mere doorway and two small per-
forations. In such small villages it seems highly probable that our
forefathers were recurring to the Greek type, like St. Theodore, as
more suitable for a sparse population in those times than the San
Clemente and Basilican type, which, doubtless, for grand Churches,
has had great influence throughout the world, and in some degree
for small ones.

It seems probable that in these small chancels the intention was
to provide room merely for the altar, credence, vestry, the officiating
priests with his assistants, and perhaps for the communion of the
faithful. The singers, if any, would be placed outside the screen,
north and south, so as to give antiphonal effect, as in the Greek
Church ; not, as indicated by Dr. Neale, under the centre of the
dome.

The blending of the Latin rite with Greek Churches was abun-
dantly exemplified in Italy itself long before the Norman Conquest
of England. Very notably in St. Mark's, Venice, which was built
from designs of the best architects of Constantinople, A.D. 9765
and took about one hundred years for its completion. The present
screen, which divides the sanctuary of St. Marias from the body of
the Church, was constructed in 1394 by two brothers, who were
natives of Venice. An excellent view is given by Gaily Knight.
It is very instructive as showing how the JLdy/ceXa of the Greek
Church was modified to suit the Latin rite. It consists of twelve
pillars, each surmounted by the statue of an apostle, with curtains
that can be drawn or undrawn between the pillars. On the north
side is a pulpit, pleasingly combined with the screen, and on the
south side an ambon or reading desk. It is curious that " Kanzel "
in German means a ptdpit, and a rood-loft was called in French
"jube," from the " jube domne benedieere," or solemn asking for
blessing at the reading of the holy gospel therefrom.

In the Pontifical celebration of the liturgy by the Archbishop of
Corfu, at the consecration of the Orthodox Greek Church of St.

116 Some Marly Features of Stockton Church, Wilts.

Sophia, Bayswater, London, 5th February, 1882, the evangelist, or
gospeller, after receiving benediction, as in the Latin Church, ascen-
ded the lofty pulpit and read therefrom most beautifully and dis-
tinctly in Greek the holy Gospel for the Sunday, the Parable of the
Prodigal Son.

On the east wall of the nave of Stockton Church one poor corbel
remains on the north side of the doorway, in the place of an impost.
It is clear that there was another corbel on the south side of the
doorway, but it was cut away in a former generation, for the fixing
of a pulpit. A third corbel is remembered on the north side of the
north hagioscope, but it was inadvertently removed during the
recent restoration. Of course there was a fourth corbel on the
south side of the south hagioscope.

The term rood screen is misleading, because it seems to imply
that a chancel screen is necessarily connected with a rood.

The Greek screen is usually surmounted by a cross, on which are
painted or incised, but not sculptured in relief, the figures, Our Lord
on the cross, the Blessed Virgin standing on one side and St. John
the Evangelist on the other. In the West these figures were
sculptured, and came to be called the rood. A distinct rood beam
was sometimes added, to carry these figures. Rood lofts were some-
times connected with chancel screens, but were not introduced till
about the fourteenth century.

We have some mediaeval chancel screens so light and open that
they only veil the altar and east window, without obscuring thein,
as the rood screen at Mere, Wilts. Many beautiful screens of the
same character have been constructed of late years for the Cathedrals
of Ely, Hereford, Salisbury, and for many smaller Churches.

The gates of the Salisbury screen are made to open westward into
the nave, as do those at Stockton, which are shown in the drawing
annexed.

No one in the Church of England is likely to re-produce the
Stockton arrangement, except, perhaps, for missionary purposes.
We are greatly indebted to the Rector, Squire, and Churchwardens
of the parish; I must add, also to the architects, Mr. Benjamin
Ferrey, F.S.A., and Mr. Edmund Benjamin Ferrey, for preserving,

By the Rev. J. Baron, D.D., F.S.A. 117

in spite of much obloquy, so precious an historical monument, or
r< lamp of memory," to use a Ruskin phrase. I am also told that
the Marquis of Bath, F.S.A., visited the Church and expressed a
strong opinion in favour of preserving the very peculiar features of
the east end of the nave.

In the case of a small Church or chancel the arrangement is not
so inconvenient as might be supposed for the services of the Church of
England. In the communion service at Stockton the clergyman's
voice is well heard throughout the building. Nor is it necessarily un-
sightly. Before the recent restoration the large space of wall over the
doorway and hagioscopes was encrusted with eighteenth and nine-
teenth century monuments. These have been moved to more suitable
situations, but the wall in the meantime is left blank. It is to be
hoped that, in due course of time, by study of archaeological and
artistic lore, some subjects will be chosen to decorate this space, so
that this historic east wall — without detriment to its archaic features
— may become an iconostasis as well as JLdy/ceXa. There can be no
doubt that it was so decorated in olden time, in conformity with
both Greek and Latin examples.1

In order to appreciate the great wisdom of the Stockton arrange-
ment in very early times, it is desirable to ascertain approximately
when it was devised. I am not aware of any known examples which
are older than the Norman Conquest, if so old, but the arrangement
was probably devised long before.2

The most Greek period in England before the conquest dates from
A.D. 668, when Theodore of Tarsus became Archbishop of Canter-
bury. He was very energetic in his duties and occupied the see
twenty-two years. He deceased A.D. 690. His primacy naturally
gave a great stimulus to the study of Greek, and intercourse with
the Greek Church.3 At this time there was no actual schism be-
tween East and West.

1 Cf . Texier, Byzantine Architecture, and the sculptured angels at Bradford-
on-Avon.

2 Cf . Church of Eeculvers, Arch. Cant., vol. xii.
3 Cf. Dr. Hook, Lives of Archbishops, vol. i., pp. 145, 164.

118 Some Early Features of Stockton Church, Wilts.

In A.D. 705 Aldhelm became Bishop of Sherborn, and remained
in that see till his decease in 709. Although the manor of Stockton
belonged to the Cathedral of Winchester, and the Bishop of that
see was patron of the rectory, the Church and parish were in the
bishopric or diocese of Sherborn, as now of Salisbury.

Bishop Aldhelm had studied much at Canterbury, under Adrian,
a follower of Archbishop Theodore. He had travelled much in the
East, and was an accomplished Greek as well as Hebrew scholar.
During the four years of his episcopate, although about seventy years
old, he was very diligent in the discharge of his duties, travelling
about his diocese mostly on foot. He built a Church at Bradford-
on- Avon, Wilts, and another at Frome Selwood ; the latter dedicated
to St. John the Baptist, the same dedication as Stockton, which
was most appropriate for these places, which were, at that time, in
regard to Christianity, out-posts in the wilderness. It is expressly
recorded that he came and preached at Bishopstrow, about seven
miles from Stockton, and the Church built there, after his visit, is
dedicated to him. He laboured much for the union of Christendom
in his day, and was very successful in reconciling Britons and Saxons.
He was then, in all respects, the man to introduce such a Greekish
arrangement as that at Stockton, and through his influence, it may
reasonably be supposed, to have spread into the parent and very
friendly diocese of Winchester, and elsewhere. But there were other
students of Greek among the Anglosaxon clergy who might have
devised this arrangement, or, being so very suitable for missionary
stations, it may have been expressly authorised from Rome, as was
the appointment of Theodore of Tarsus to be Archbishop of Canter-
bury. There is a prevailing learned error that little or no Greek
was known in this country till the taking of Constantinople by the
Turks in 1 454 ; this is at variance with facts. Greek was always
known at Rome, and there is abundant evidence that Greek — both
sacred and secular — was studied during the Anglosaxon period both
in England and France, and, moreover, that it was pronounced as
the Greeks of to-day pronounce it.

Dr. Hicks gives extracts from a Frank MS. of this period, pre-
served at the Public Library at Cambridge, which has the Lord's

By Vie Rev. J. Baron, L.D., F.S.A.

119

Prayer, Gloria in Excelsis, and Nicene Creed, all in Greek, but
transliterated into the Frank character of that date.

He also gives, from a MS. in the Bodleian Library at Oxford,
extracts from the Septuagint of passages from Genesis and Isaiah
in Greek, but transliterated into the Anglosaxon character. By-
reference to Wanley's catalogue we find that there is a mine of such
documents yet unexplored. Mr. Cockayne, in his Saxon Leechdoms,
edited for the Master of the Rolls, shows that the Anglosaxons were
acquainted with Greek medical treatises.

So much for the learned error.

There is also a popular error very prevalent, which interferes with
the due appreciation of the wisdom of the Stockton arrangement
for missionary stations in early times. It seems to be supposed that
a great part of the worship of early times consisted in gazing at
the officiating priest and his assistants while performing the liturgy,
and that all, whether faithful, catechumens, penitents, or unbelievers,
were invited to gaze. This is contrary to the whole spirit and
practice, both of East and West, in early ages. That spirit is set
forth with much learning in Tract 90 of the Oxford Tracts, " On
Reserve in Communicating Religious Knowledge." I have, in this
paper, nothing to do with the writer's deductions, applications, or
religious reflexions, but with the question of an intentional reserve,
except to the initiated, and prepared, which is the key to many of
the arrangements of early Church architecture, in the East and West.
This is recognised in the Eastern liturgy by the dismissal of the
catechumens, and the ejaculation, Ta ayta tols ayLots.1 It is
pointedly expressed by a mediaeval poet : —

" Infra Cancellum Laicos compelle morari,
Ne videant vinum cum sacro Pane sacrari."

Poeta MS. aevi injimi : wpud Du Cange,
Gloss. Lat., art Cancellus.

Those who are interested by parallels will find them in the Jewish
religion, and in the Eleusinian and other heathen mysteries diffusely
treated by Bishop Warburton.2

1 'Evxohoyiov, pp. 55, 09 ; Venice, 18G2.
2 Divine Legation.

120 Some Early Features of Stockton Church, Wilts.

In the Greek Church a most elaborate ritual of the preparation,
&c, is performed out of sight of the assembly of worshippers, many
prayers are said by the priest behind the screen, some of them in-
deed €K(pG)VG)s aloud, but many fivaTiKoys in silence, without the
utterance of a sound, and the Latin Church has also secreta.

Why then are the doors ever opened, and the curtains undrawn,
and why were the hagioscopes made ?

The answer is, for the faithful, but not necessarily for all at one
time. Gazing was not a matter of religious, still less of legal
obligation. Those of the faithful were invited to look who were
inclined to do so and felt the looking to be a help to their devotion.

This is well expressed in Elfric's canons, which — speaking of the
fraction and elevation of the host — say, " Loca hwa wille,"" "Look
who will" 1 The easternmost arch, on each side of the nave of
Stockton Church, filled up with masonry to the height of 2ft. lOin.
above the floor, seems to have been intended for a backing to the
misereres or singers'' stalls, placed immediately westward of the
lLd<y/ce\a, north and south, for antiphonal singing, as in Greek
Churches, at this day. Possibly each of these arches may have
been occupied and ornamented by a recumbent effigy, in the attitude
of prayer, respecting the altar through the adjacent hagioscope, a
usage exemplified by an effigy still remaining in the south aisle.

In the early services I find some resemblances to the Greek ser-
vices, particularly in the Anglosaxon ceremonial for the Dedication
o£ Churches published in the Archaeologia,2 but probably they are
not more Greek than the services of the Latin Church elsewhere at
that date.

Any indications of the use of the Greek rite in the Anglosaxon
Church I have not found. In very early times, the See of Rome,
after the example of Pope Gregory the Great, was very tolerant of
small variations of ritual. I note two subordinate variations of the
Anglosaxon Church, in an eastward direction, from the general

1 See Elfric's Canons, A.D. 957, c. 37, in Johnson's Ecclesiastical Laws, Canons,
&c, Editor's corrections and quotations in note *, vol. i., p. 404 ; Oxford, J. H.
Parker, 1850.

2 Vol. xxv.

By the Rev. J. Baron, E.D., F.S.A.

121

practice of the Western Church of the present day : — i. a fuller and
more frequent use of incense ; ii. the distribution of blessed-bread
at the close of the liturgy.

In the parish books of St. Stephen's, Coleman Street, exhibited by
Edwin Freshfield, Esq., F.S.A.,at an ordinary meeting of the Society
of Antiquaries, Burlington House, London, in 1879, one item of
some accounts, A.D. 1382, was, " Salt and cutting the Holy Loaf."
This was certainly not bread for the sacrament — which was always
in this country, before the Reformation, of wafer form, and needed
no cutting — but Blessed Bread, a tradition of the avrlScoqop, still
distributed in the Greek Church, and identical with the Fain, Beni
distributed at the end of mass in the Churches of France.1

There is one other early feature. It is a beautiful but sadly-
mutilated effigy, in the south aisle, of a lady, supposed to be a
benefactress. It reminds me in its costume and elegance of the
effigy of Eleanor, Queen of King Edward I., in Westminster Abbey,
but possibly it may be much later. The peculiarity is that the lady
is represented recumbent on the left side, and in the attitude of
prayer, apparently respecting the altar in the same south aisle.
Tradition says that it formerly occupied a position about the middle
of the south wall of the same aisle, under a recess which was des-
troyed to make way for a glaring monument, and that being found
out of place in the restoration of 1840, a new recess was made for
it where it now lies.

I trust I have now fairly illustrated these points, which appear to
me as facts : —

1. That the chancel and nave arrangement of our Churches has
arisen from an amalgamation of Eastern and Western types.

2. That our English word chancel is derived from TLdytceXa, the
original name of the Greek screen, through Latin.

3. That some of our smallest chancels were not intended to ac-
commodate a choir, much less an organ.

1 Cf . Laws of K. Ethelred, as quoted below, p. 132, in a paper on the Church
of St. Peter, Manningford.

122 On the Church of St. Peter, Manning ford Bruce, Wiltshire.

4. That chancel screens are in accordance with both Eastern and
"Western usage, and are not necessarily connected with roods, rood
beams, or rood lofts.

5. That the influence of Greek ritual, theology, language, and
Church arrangement was considerable in this country in the Anglo-
saxon period.

6. That the Stockton arrangement, though not likely to find
favour in this country, since the introduction of chancel arches and
light open screens, is, nevertheless, worthy of consideration for
missionary stations, for the seclusion and security of chancels.

7. The importance of having any restoration or demolition watched,
if possible, by some experienced antiquary.

[N.B. — Part of the foregoing paper was read by the author before an ordinary
meeting of the Society of Antiquaries, London, 15th January, 1880, and an
abstract is printed in the Proceedings, N.S., vol. viii., No. iii., p. 230. About
the same time, in restoring and re- fixing an interesting Perpendicular rood screen
in Poltimore Church, near Exeter, it was discovered that the central part of the
east wall of the nave had been cut away, apparently in the fifteenth century, from
floor to roof, leaving an opening about 7ft. wide, and a hagioscope was found on
each side, filled up with masonry, and plastered over.]

§mcc, Wiltsljirc :

llitlj Pttstratiottu torn ot\tx fertg Cljtird]^.

By the Eev. J. Baron, D.D., F.S.A.,

Rector of Upton Scudamore, Wilts.

|^pr|HE parish is called Manningford St. Peter in the Taxation of
Pope Nicholas, A.D. 1291, and received its later surname
from the family of Braose, or Brewes, who were lords of the manor
in the fourteenth century.

By the Rev. J. Baron, B.J)., F.S.A. 123

The early features of this little Romanesque Church may be con-
veniently ranged under the following heads :—
1. The ground-plan.

The herring-bone arrangement of the flints of the external
masonry, with very coarse joints.

3. The great height of the wall and doors in proportion to the

smallness of the building.

4. The smallness of the original round-headed windows, and

the height at which they are placed above the floor-level.
Of these three remain fairly perfect, with indications of a
fourth on the south side of the nave.

5. The absence of ornament.

6. The space at the east end devoid of windows, but lighted by

a window on each side, apparently arranged for a painting
of the Majesty, or some other devotional subject.

7. Three consecration crosses at the east end.

8. Some slight remains of a painting over the north door, ap-

parently similar in style to some of the pictures in the
Utrecht Psalter.

1. The ground-plan. The walls are about 3ft. 6in. thick, without
buttresses or aisles. The Church has three well-defined portions,
which may be conveniently designated by the Greek names, bema,
choros, and naos ; or we may apply English names which are more
familiar, but less definite, e.g., sanctuary, presbytery or choir, and nave.

Popularly the Church would be described as consisting of apse,
chancel, and nave ; or simply of chancel and nave, the apse being
looked upon as an exceptional termination. And there is great
danger that when an apsidal Church is being pulled about and
altered in the process of what is called restoration it may have its
three-fold partition more or less obliterated, and be conformed to
the modern notion of chancel and nave.

The inexactness of the above English descriptions will appear if we
consider how vague and still fluctuating are some of the terms used.

Choir is often used as a sort of synonym for chancel, though it
properly means a place for clergy and singers.

VOL. XX. NO. LIX. K

124 On the Church of St. Peter, Manning ford Bruce, Wiltshire.

Presbytery is an expressive word, but not much used except in
our English Cathedrals to denote the space between the sanctuary,
or altar-place, and the choir proper.1

Chancel, as I have shewn in a paper which I had the honour of
reading* before the Society of Antiquaries, 15th January, 1880,2
though popularly used to denote the part of a Church eastward o£
the nave, is a Greek word which was originally the name of the
screen, called in later times iconostasis, which has always stood at
the top of the three steps on the western side of the bema. There-
fore historically, the apse might be reasonably called the chancel or
place screened off for liturgical rites. In this paper desiring to
speak with exactness, without being pedantically archaic, I will
either use the Greek names, bema, choros and naos; or the English
words apse, chancel and nave. One of the most striking peculiarities
of this Church which may be considered under the head of ground-
plan is that there is no east window. Of course there is an outcry
among some Church restorers that " a good east window of suitable
character " ought to be inserted. I am glad to think that there is
no intention of such an alteration being here made. To my mind
the absence of an east window is a very persuasive argument for the
early date of this Church.

About the year 1845 I was permitted, in company with Mr.
Joseph Clarke, now a much-valued Fellow of the Society of Anti-
quaries, to examine archseologically the little apsidal Church of
Swyncumbe in Oxfordshire. The apse in that case had no east
window apparent. We set to work to shell off carefully with thin
old table knives the whitewash, and we made the curious discovery
of a large archaic painting of a figure of Our Lord between two
angels, with a liberal supply on their wings of eyes like those on a

1 The name presbytery, like basilica, to be mentioned below, though of Greek
derivation, did not prevail in the East, but in the West. The usual name for
the seats for Bishop and clergy round the inside of the apse of an Eastern Church
is Synthronon. Dr. J. M. Neale makes the word masculine, apparently through
inadvertence, or for the sake of uniformity with the uncompounded word. Cf.
Bulgari, Catechesis Hiera, p. 56 ; Corfu, 1852. Eompotes, Liturg. p. 43 ; Athens,
1869. Also Ducange, Greek Glossary.

2 An abstract is published in the Proceedings, vol. viii., No. iii., Second Series,
pp. 233—7. Cf above, p. 111.

By the Rev. J. Baron, D.D., F.S.A.

125

peacock's tail.1 This painting- had been cut into and partly des-
troyed by the insertion of three little round-headed windows, after-
wards plastered over. We therefore came to the conclusion that at
Swyncumbe the apse and the archaic painting were much older than
the Conquest and the so-called Norman Period. Westward of the
apse at Swyncumbe was a chancel with thirteenth-century details.
A reference to the little apsidal Church of Fritton, Suffolk, seems to
shew that an east window was thought necessary in the so-called
Norman Period. In that case there was one very small round-
headed east window, with chevron moulding ; and restorers, in the
present century, have added a similar window on each side of it, as
may be seen by comparing a photograph of the present interior of
the Church with the ground-plan, perspective view, and interior, in
Suckling's History , of Suffolk.2 It is a noteworthy fact that
the original Church dedicated to St. Aldhelm, at Bishopstrow^ Wilts,
a place which he is recorded to have visited as a missionary bishop,
was apsidal, and — like Manningford Bruce — had no east window ;
but the eastern part of the apse was an unbroken space of wall with
a window on each side. This space, doubtless occupied by a de-
votional picture in early times, was utilized by the rector and parishi-
oners in the last century as an advantageous position in respect of
light and acoustic effect for the pulpit. A ground-plan of the
original Church of S. Aldhelm, Bishopstrow, is given by Sir It. C.
Hoare,3 showing the position of the pulpit as it existed in his day,
and the two windows of the the apse placed N.E. and S.E., instead
of due N. and S, as in the Church of St. Peter, Manningford Bruce,
where the easternmost part of the apse was seized upon as a com-
manding position, not for a pulpit, but for a monument to Mary
Lane, wife of Edward Nicholas, lord of the manor of Manningford

1 In the Anglosaxon MS. of Caedmon, tenth century, the seraphs attendant on
Deity are represented with eyes on their wings. See Archaeologia, vol. xxiv.,
p. 340, plates lii., liv., lxxxix. For a figure of Our Lord between two angels,
see Utrecht Psalter, ps. xix., (xviii. Vulgate).

2 History of Suffolk, by Rev. A. Suckling, L.L.B., vol. i., p.p. 357 — 8 ; London,
1846.

3 History of Modern Wilts, Hundred of Warminster, p. 74.

K %

120 On the Church of St. Peter, Manningford Bruce, Wiltshire.

Bruce, and sister o£ June Lane, who assisted in the escape of King
Charles II. after the Battle of Worcester. This monument is now
removed and placed on the north wall of the chancel.

The original chancel of the Church of St. Aldhelm, Bishopstrow,
was demolished at the beginning of this century 3 and a square-ended
chancel substituted. In the course of a re- construction of the
Church, about six years ago, the foundations of the apsidal chancel
were discovered, but the designs for a square-ended chancel were
adhered to. As a ground-work on which to rest the illustration of
early Romanesque apsidal Churches, I must beg to quote some re-
markable words of Dean Milman in his Latin Christianity : — " For
some considerable (it cannot but be an indefinable) part of the three
first centuries, the Church of Rome, and most if not all the Churches
of the West, were, if we may so speak, Greek religious colonies ;
their language was Greek, their organisation Greek, their writers
Greek, their Scriptures Greek, and many vestiges and traditions
show that their ritual, their liturgy, was Greek." 1 In the great
work of Gaily Knight, on the early Churches of Italy, depicting
grand dromical Churches, with a rowTof pillars on each side, and an apse
at one or both ends, the resemblance of these to Basilicas or Halls of
Justice may seem complete. But we have now pushed our researches
further and deeper than Gaily Knight. We have since his day
brought more fully into view Byzantine and Eastern Church archi-
tecture, and have dug down beneath his " primitive Church," San
Clemente, at Rome, till we have discovered a more primitive Church,
which is fully described by Father Mullooly in his work on the
recent discoveries by excavation under San Clemente. 3

The study of the ground-plans of primitive Churches is very
instructive for the illustration of early Romanesque Churches in
England as shewing that there was a traditional type of Church,
antecedent to the ambries and piscinas of the middle ages, and
coeval with Basilicas or Halls of Justice, rather than derived from

1 Milman's Latin Christianity, b. i., ch. i., vol. i., p. 27, quoted in Scudamore's
Notitia Eucharistica, ch. vi., part ii., p. 207, note 5 ; Rivington, London, 1872.

2 See ground-plan of Subterranean Basilica, in S. Clement P. & M., and his
Basilica in Rome, by Joseph Mullooly, O.P.,facing page 167 ; Rome, Barbara, 1873.

PARTICULARS OF CHURCH OF ST M ELLON, AD. 250, 1 N CRYPT OF STGERVAIS,ROUEN,
OBTAINED BY PERSONAL SURVEY OF REV. J . BARON , D. D.,F. S .A-, 22 SEP. 1881.

i. Seat, for Bishop ortNortk Side. D. Tomb of&Wilon BArchbishop of Rouen.

d. da. for assistants S. Side. EJoTifbof&Avtiiis/lfArcfibislw}).

a. Medieval altar slab modern legs. C. Charted 8. '2"xt6'. 8".

c.c. Iron croolts W.ZTughfronvfluor N.Ndve 19'. 9 *17.G:

£3. Large square recesses.^ C. Present staurs,& entrance.

mdthj'6" height Z.IKaZeptfiZ'JO" h. Stone, seatrmaung romwLN.S.ScW.sid&s.

By the Rev, J. Baron, D.D., F.S.A.

127

them. In Bingham's Antiquities is the " Plan of an Ancient Church
as described by Eusebius and other writers/'' Here we have not a
triple apse, as in later times for grand Churches both in the east and
west, but a single apse, with mere recesses on the north and south,
as at Manningford Bruce, for prothesis and diaconicon, with
KdyfceXa or KvyKXiSe? subtending the bema or apse.1

It is clear from the comparative ground-plan given by Father
Mullooly, and from plans and explanations kindly communicated
to me by John Henry Parker, Esq., C.B., F.S.A., that although the
modern Church of San Clemente has a triple apse, the really primi-
tive Church had a single apse.

The triplication of the apse, which began early in the east as well
as in the west, prevailed more generally afterwards, in large Churches,
and is indicated in historical ground-plans of Canterbury, York,2
and other English Churches, clearly arose from a desire to do honour
to the prothesis and diaconicon in subordination to the holy table,
or the high altar, as it came to be called in the West. For con-
venience I use north to indicate the gospel side, and south the epistle
side, not forgetting the variations as to orientation.

In the Church of St. George, at Thessalonica, which is known to
be as old as A.D. 500, and believed to be much older, the apse is
single with a mere recess on the north and south sides for prothesis
and diaconicon.3

But to come much nearer home, to a Church even older than that of
St. George, of Thessalonica, and smaller than that of St. Peter,
Manningford Bruce. In the crypt under the restored Church of
St. Gervais, in Rouen, is the Church of St. Mellon, believed by
French antiquaries to be about A.D. 250, and allowed by Gaily
Knight on a personal inspection to be of about that date.4 I visited

1 Compare Bingham's Antiquities, Bk. viii., ch. hi., sec. 3 and 1, vol. ii., pp.
400 and 396 ; London, Straker, 1843.

2 See Professor Willis on Canterbury Cathedral, p. 39 ; London, Long-mans,
1845. Also Proceedings of Archaeological Institute, York volume, plate giving,
five historical block plans of York Cathedral ; Oxford, J. H. Parker, 1848.

3 Texier, Byzantine Architecture.
4 Tour in Normandy, Gaily Knight, pp. 32, 33 ; Loudon, Murray, 1836.

128 On the Church of St. Peter, Manning ford Bruce, Wiltshire.

this Church some years ago, and mentioned it in my Paper, on
Stockton Church, read before the Society of Antiquaries, London, 15th
January, 1880. I re-visited it on the 22nd of September, 18S1,
and made careful measurements and observations from which I have
had drawn out a plan which is a remarkable illustration of Man-
ningford Bruce, and other small apsidal Churches of early date.
Here the bema, choros, and naos are well defined. The bema or
apse is semi-circular, the diameter being 10ft. At present the floor
of the bema is 1ft. higher than the floor of choros and naos. At
the height of 10ft. 2in. on each side is an iron crook, said to have
been used for the suspension of a curtain in those early times, in the
place of Ka<yn€ha or eiKovoa-raai^. On the north side is a seat for
the Bishop, and on the south side a seat for his assistants. It is
possible that these seats were continued round the apse, and cut
away to make room for the mediaeval stone mensa with five crosses,
which is now fixed against the east wall, and supported on modern
legs of the epoch of Louis XIV., or later. Just outside the apse,
in what may be called the choros or chancel, in the modern sense of
chancel, is on each side a large square deep recess, clearly corres-
ponding to the prothesis and diaconicon of early and simple Churches
in the East.

The dimensions of the square recess on the north side are, width,
3ft. 6in. ; height, 2ft. llin. ; depth, 2ft. 10in.; and of that on the
south side the same. The dimensions of the round arched recess on
the north side of Manningford Bruce chancel, for prothesis or credence
are, curiously, 21in. throughout, for width, height from base to
apex, and depth. It almost seems as if there were some intentional
reference to the multiples 3 and 7. There is no rebate or mark of
its ever having had a door. The dimensions are the same of the
round arched recess on the south side for diaconicon, skeuophylakion,
or locker, for the safe keeping of the sacred vessels, &c, and this
recess has a rebate of 2in. width, and the marks of a bolt for folding
doors.

The only further features of the ground-plan of St. Mellon to be
mentioned are the architectural definition of the choros or chancel
by a massive pier on each side ; the stone seat running round the

By the Rev. J. Baron, D.D., F.S.A,

12.9

Church, as at Salisbury Cathedral and in many other English
Churches j and the recesses towards the west end for the tombs of
St. Mellon, the first Bishop of Rouen, and of St. Avitus, his suc-
cessor.

The small apsidal Norman Church of Kilpeck, in Herefordshire,
presents an interesting variety of arrangements for prothesis and
diaconicon, as may be seen on the plan.1

This arrangement in the Church of St. Mellon, Rouen, St. Peter,
Manningford Bruce, and Kilpeck, is not strictly Greek, because the
recesses are outside the bema, but it registers an early variation of
the Latin Church from the Greek usage which prevailed throughout
the West till some way on in the third century.2 If we could be
assured that a screen or curtain was used westward of the recesses,
so as to include in the sanctuary what now appears to be choros,
these Churches would be in close conformity with Greek usage.3

Before leaving the consideration of the ground-plan, it should be
noted that the piers of the chancel arch in Manningford Bruce
Church are similar in massiveness to those in the crypt Church of
St. Mellon, but much more lofty, the height from the nave floor to
the top of the abacus being 9ft. 7in. The chancel at Manningford
is defined on the west by these massive piers and on the east by
ashlar irregular quoins, internally and externally, at the springing
of the curve of the apse. It is difficult to assign a date to the
Manningford chancel arch, which is semi-circular, the diameter
being 12ft., and formed on the west side by dressed stones like
bricks, with gable-shaped ends, curiously fitted together. On the
east side the joints are laid in the ordinary way.

2. The herring-bone arrangement of the flints of the external
masonry, with very coarse joints, is remarkable. Taken alone it

1 See plan and description, Gents' Mag,, 1833, part i., p. 393. See plan and
perspective view in Fosbroke's Encyclopaedia of Antiquities. Compare plan of
Peterchurch, Herefordshire, Gents Mag., 1829, part ii., p. 496.

2 See Milman's Latin Christianity, Bk. i., ch. i., quoted above, p. 126.

3 Durandus, Bishop of Mende, in France, A.D. 1286, mentions three veils.
"Notandum est, quod triplex genus veli suspenditur in ecclesia, videlicet, quod
sacra operit, quod sacrarium a clero dividit, et quod clerum a populo secernit.
Durandi Eationale, Lib. L, cap. 3, p. 17 ; Lyons, 1672.

130 On the Church of St. Peter, Manning ford Bruce, Wiltshire.

cannot be relied upon as a proof of early date. It seems to indicate
a tradition of occasional herring-boning in Roman masonry, but it
is found to linger on in post-Conquestal Norman.1 An inspection
of the masonry, or a photograph of some part of it will be better
than description. It was, as well as the chancel arch, covered with
plaster, which has now been removed. It seems possible that this
herring-boning was done for constructional convenience, as explained
in Parker's Glossary, and not for ornament. It may, perhaps, have
been the intention of the original builders that it should be covered
with plaster, as a preservative #nd finish.

3. We now come to the third point, viz., the height of the walls
and doors in proportion to the smallness of the building.

The bema or apse is, as already stated, a semi-circle, the diameter
being 16ft. l^in. The choros or chancel is, including the piers of
the arch, 15ft. from west to east, and 16ft. 2|in. wide, at the arch or
western end. The nave is 33ft. 6in, x 18ft. 6in.

In combination with these dimensions the height of the doors
and walls is remarkable. The height of the south doorway, now
the only entrance to the Church, is 10ft. 2in. from the floor to the
constructional arch, and the width is 4ft. This opening is reduced
by plate arch and jambs to 8ft. 7in x 3ft. bin. The height of the
north door, now, is 10ft. 7in., and the width 4ft. lin.

Doubtless curtains were intended to be used with these tall doors,
as now in some places in England, and still more in foreign countries.
At Upton Scudamore Church, Wilts, there is a curious instance of a
high and wide north doorway, the main entrance, with chevron
mouldings, which has been reduced, in the fourteenth century, by
inserting a much smaller doorway, with mouldings and a niche over
it of the period.

The south door of Manningford Bruce Church looks tall and
narrow in comparison with other Church doors, and is singularly
like the door of a Church figured in a Saxon Pontifical, MS. 362,
Public Library, Rouen, and engraved for Mr. Gage's paper on the

Compare Parker's Glossary, article " Herring-bone Work."

Manningford Bruce Church

S o uth D o orway.

ct Inner Arcfv,

Chancel Arch.

Scale.

J.m>ars. £ith .Bn'sfr'

By the Rev. J. Baron, D.D., F.S.A. 131

Saxon ceremonial for the dedication of a Church, in Archseologia,
vol. xxv., p. 251.

The height of the walls is also remarkable. In the bema or apse
the height from floor to wall plate is 15ft. 5in. In the choros or
chancel, 15ft. Din. In the nave, 18ft. 7|in. Smallness and loftiness
are characteristics of many Eastern Churches of early date, and also
of the little Saxon Church at Bradford-on-Avon, Wilts, which has
external ornament resembling some Eastern Ch arches.

It should be noted that the square east end of the little Saxon
Church at Bradford is no proof of a later date, nor is the apsidal end
of Manningford Bruce in itself a proof of earlier date. Both types
co-existed from the earliest ages of Christianity.

Texier, in his Byzantine Church Architecture, points out that the
Christian Church formed out of the Temple of Rome and Augustus
at Ancyra, the capital of Galatia, in Asia Minor, is the earliest
known example of a square east end, and that this type was common
at a very early date in Britain and France, both which countries
had a special connection with Galatia, but not in Italy, where the
Basilican and apsidal type generally prevailed. The Churches de-
picted in the Utrecht Psalter have square east ends.

Texier's words are: "The usual custom in Greek Churches was
to make the apse circular on plan. Since the reign of Justinian
this rule had been departed from but little. This apse was generally
lighted by three windows, in honour of the Holy Trinity.1 Here,
however, the chancel has a square instead of a semi-circular termi-
nation, and this is the most ancient example known of the square
east end, of which it is difficult to cite a single example in Italy,
but which became common in Normandy and England in the
eleventh and twelfth centuries." 3

Paradoxical as the statement may seem, the small and lofty
Churches of Manningford Bruce, Bradford, and the East, were able
to accommodate as many worshippers as modern Churches of twice
their size, and for this reason, that the very early Churches were

1 Codimus. Description of Saint Sophia.
2 Texier, Byzantine Architecture, p. 91 ; London, Day & (Son, 1864.

132 On the Church of St. Peter, Manning ford Bruce > Wiltshire.

not encumbered with pues, and no space or accommodation was re- I
quired for sitting" or kneeling' in the full congregations of the Lord's 1
Day, because it was the custom in England, as in the east, to stand
during the liturgy and other prayers.

Dean Stanley, in his History of the Eastern Church, notes it as
remarkable that the Scotch agree with the East in standing to pray,
and in abhorring instruments for religious worship. This coinci-
dence is easily accounted for when we realise that the whole Western li
Church was Eastern and Greek before it was Latin. Of the custom I
of standing to pray in England I will allege a proof which I dis- I
covered for myself. In the laws of King Ethelred, A.D. 978 — 1016, I
is the following passage. I will give my own translation first, and I
then quote the Anglosaxon words : — ■

"27. Or with what thought can any man ever think in his mind I
that he inclines head to priests, and desires blessing, and stands |
during their masses in Church, and at going up for bread kisses 1
their hand, and soon afterwards should readily injure or revile them
by word or deed."

" XXVII. Oththon hwilcan gethance maeg aenig man aefre I
gethencan on his mode, thaet he to sacerdan heofod ahylde, and I
bletsinge gyrne, and heora maessan on circan gestande, and aet
hlaf gange heora hand cysse, and sona thaer-aefter hi hraedlice sith
than scyrde oththe scynde, mid worde oththe weorce." i

This passage has been misunderstood, both by Mr. Benjamin 1
Thorpe and by Dr. Reinhold Schmidt. They have both mistaken I
" hlaf gang" going up for the holy loaf — antidoron, eulogia, in
Greek, pain beni, in the G allican Church, for " huselgang/-' going
to Holy Communion.

4. The fourth point is the smallness of the original round-headed
windows, and the height at which they are placed above the floor
line.

The two original windows in the apse are externally 4ft. X 1ft. 9in.,

1 Ancient Laws and Institutes of England, ed. Thorpe, 8vo, vol. i., p. 334 ;
Eecord Commissioners, 1840. Compare die Gresetse der Angelsachsen, Dr.
Reinhold Schmid, p. 386, Anhang, iv., 27 ; Leipzig, 1858. Cf . N.B., p. 137.

By the Rev. J. Baron, D.D., FS.A.

133

and the sill is lift. 3in. above the floor line. Internally they are
deeply splayed, and the base of the splay of the one is Sft. above
the floor line, and of the other 8ft. 6in. The original window on
the north side of the nave is externally also 4ft. x 1ft. 9in., and
the height of the base of the splay above the floor internally is
10ft. I'm.

I remember having1 heard Mr. Street, about twenty-five years
ago, enunciate in conversation the maxim, that Church windows
ought to be well elevated, in order that the worshippers may
look heavenward rather than be distracted by terrestrial objects.
This practice has material as well as devotional advantages, e.g., in
diffusion of light, moderation of temperature, and economy of sound,
but the elevation of the original Norman windows in the Manning-
ford Bruce Church is greatly in excess of the usual mediaeval or
modern practice. These windows, in size, shape, and elevation,
singularly coincide with those depicted in the illustration of a
Church in course of consecration in the Saxon Pontifical referred
to above, p. 130, in Archseologia, vol. xxv., p. 251.

The windows were probably so placed partly for security, and to
lessen the effect of draught. It is evident that window is a Danish
word, meaning wind-eye: the Anglosaxon equivalent is " eh thirl/ 3
eyehole.1

5. The fifth early feature is the absence of ornament. In many
of the smallest village Churches of the so-called Norman period we
find, not only the chevron moulding, but a profusion of ornament,
as in Iffley Church, Oxfordshire. The term Norman, as applied to
round-headed windows and doors is misleading. The term Saxon is
not much better, because it is difficult to name any features which
are distinctively Saxon, unless the long and short quoins and the
baluster pillars, insisted on by Rickman and Parker, be such. I
therefore much prefer, at least for the earlier specimens of the round
arch style the term Romanesque, advocated long ago by Mr. Freeman.

1 Cf. Windauga, Clcasby's Icelandic Diet. Windue, Gen. xvi., C. Danish Bible,
Ehthirl, Gen. xvi., 6. Anglo-Saxon Tr. ed. Grein.

134 On the Church of St. Peter, Manningford Bruce, Wiltshire.

6. The sixth point, the space at the east end devoid of window J J
has been already treated under the head of ground-plan.

7. The three consecration crosses, discovered under whitewash, at
the east end, on the concave wall of the apse, about 7ft. 5in. aboveel
the floor, are very interesting. At Salisbury Cathedral, dedicated !
A.D. 1£25, and at Edington Church, dedicated A. D. 1361, there!
are remains of external consecration crosses on their east walls. (
These are formed by a cross pattee bounded by a circle and have j |
formerly been inlaid with metal.1

It would appear that in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries [
it was customary to make internal consecration crosses of the samel
form as those remaining on the outside of Salisbury Cathedral and I
other Churches. Mr. Street has described the finding of a painted
cross pattee enclosed within a circle on the inside of the east wall of j
the Church of St. Mary, Stowe, near Dartford. It was red on a I
white ground, and outlined with black.2

The internal crosses at Manningford Bruce are formed by strokes !
of red colour about 5in long, and of a uniform breadth of fin.,.:
crossing each other at right angles. These primitive-looking crosses
are inclosed, with a proportionate intervening space, by a quatrefoil j
bounded by a double circle. !

Quatrefoils, and circles, sometimes double, were used artistically
as pictorial decorations in the tenth century, as may be seen by a |
reference to the Benedictional of St. Ethelwold in the Archseologia, 3
and Professor Westwood's Facsimiles.4

They are also found in early Byzantine architecture.5

1 Also at Uffington Church, Berks, Pugin's Glossary, article " Consecration I
Crosses." Also at Potterne, Wilts, and Shoreham, Sussex.

2 Some account of the Church of St. Mary, Stowe, near Dartford, by George j
Edmund Street, F.S.A., Archseologia Cantiana, vol. iii., p. 126 ; London, J. E. il
Taylor, 1866.

3 For double circles with cross, see Archseologia, vol. xxiv., plate xxv., p. 102. '

4 Anglo-Saxon and Irish MSS., plate xv. ; London, Quaritch, 1868. For quatre-
foils with crosses, 'and for circles, see Palseographia sacra, Gospels of Canute, i
No. 23 ; London, Bohn, 1845.

5 Texier, plates xxv. and lxiii ; London, Day & Son, 1864.

By the Rev. J. Baron, D.D., F.S.A.

135

Notwithstanding these early examples I cannot venture to assume
that the remains of decorative painting" within the ap?e of Manning-
ford Bruce Church are so early as the tenth century or the shell of
the Church. It seems just possible that the primitive-looking red
crosses may be coeval with the consecration, marking the spots
touched with chrism hy the officiating bishop, and that the de-
corative quatrefoils, circles, &c, may have been added at a later date.

The consecration or dedication of Churches was a most elaborate
and prolonged process, even at a very early date, both in the Greek
and Latin branches of the Church, as may be seen in the Euchologion
and the Pontificals.

The Greek and Latin services are not identical, but there are
many points of similarity between them. Much information re-
specting this ceremony is given in Mr. Gage's paper on " The
Anglo-Saxon Ceremonial and Consecration of Churches illustrated
from a Pontifical in the Public Library at Rouen/' in the twenty-
fifth volume of Archseologia.

The MS. is numbered 362, and is believed to be of the tenth
century.

In the Greek service it is directed that one of the priests or arch-
priests shall make crosses with the ointment on each pillar and pier
of the Church,1 and in Byzantine architecture we find a cross
sculptured above the capital or abacus, apparently to receive this
unction and to be a memorial of it.2

In the Houen Pontifical is this rubric : ce Delude in circuity, ecclesia
per parieies a dextro et a sinistra faciens crucem cum pollice de ipso
crismate, dicens," &c. From the context it appears that these crosses,
made by the Bishop with his thumb dipped in chrism, were inside
the Church. From Durandus, writing in the fifteenth century, we
learn that the number of crosses was twelve. We may, therefore,
suppose that three crosses were made on the eastern wall, as at
Manningford Bruce; three on the north wall; three on the south
wall ; and three on the west wall.

1 Euchologion, p. 321 ; Venice, 1862. Cf. below, N.B., p. 137.
2 Cf . Texier, three plates of St. Demetrius, Thessalouica, following* p. 128.

130 On the Church, of St. Peter, Manning ford Bruce, Wiltshire.

The twenty-fifth volume of the Archa)ologia, already referred to \
contains in a letter from Sidney Smirke, Esq., F.S.A., to Sir Henry j
Ellis, secretary, as an appendage to Mr. Gage's dissertation, an
illustration from the Church of St. John, Syracuse, giving an
engraving of the interior of this ancient Church, showing conse-
cration crosses sculptured on the walls, In a note to this letter I
Mr. Smirke says : —

" Since the above was written Mr. Gage has done me the favour to refer me I

to a Pontifical printed at Rome in 1595, and now preserved in the British I

Museum, where the ceremony of consecrating a Church is set forth at length : j

the Bishop is enjoined to mark with his thumb dipped in the chrism, twelve J

crosses on the walls of the Church, and others on the door, altar, etc., etc. The |

prints embellishing this Pontifical show the Bishop so engaged, mounted on a 1

moveable stage six steps high, the rubric requiring that the said crosses shall be [
ten palms (7ft. 5in. English measure) above the floor." *

j

It is curious that this is the height of the consecration crosses at [
Manningford Bruce above the floor.

From the following words of Mr. Gage, and the text of the rubric I

on which he comments, it seems clear that the chancel veil, either 1

instead of a screen, as apparently in the Church of St. Mellon, or j

with a screen, as in the Greek Church, was used ordinarily in the I
Anglosaxon Church, and not only in Lent. " During the time the

Bishop was depositing the relics in the altar, the veil, out of reverence, I

was drawn, extenso veto inter eos et populum. The veil here spoken j
of was the curtain that anciently hung on the cancelli, or lattice of

the choir, and was drawn during the more solemn parts of the I
service/'' 1

8. Over the north door are some tantalising remains of an archaic
painting, apparently similar in style to some in the Utrecht Psalter.

Besides the wear and tear of time it has been ruthlessly pecked and I

indented in some former generation to receive a coat of plaster. I

* Archseologia, vol. xxv., p. 277,

1 Ibid, pp. 243, 272. See also Pontifical of Egbert, p. 45, Surtees Society.
Compare on veils, paper by Bev. J. Baron, D.D., F.S.A., on some early features t
of Stockton Church, Wilts, Proceedings of Soc. Antiq., Lond., Second Series,
vol. viii., No. m\, p. 236. Also above, p. 114, and p. 129, note 3.

By the Rev. J. Baron, B.D., F.S.A.

137

There seems to have been a group of figures on the left ; a nimbed
figure with seraphs in the upper part of the centre ; and a large
sitting- figure on the right.

I have thought the early features enumerated sufficient ground
for supposing that this Church was built before the Norman Con-
quest, but I have met with no proof that it is older than the tenth
century, although preserving the traditionary type of very primitive
Churches. In Wiltshire we are naturally inclined to try and connect
early Church work with the personal effort or influence of St.
Aldhelm, who died Bishop of Sherborne, A.J). 709, but there is no
mention in his diffuse biographies of any visit to Manningford. It
seems more reasonable to conjecture that the building of this Church
was owing to the influence of the Bishops of Ramsbury, twelve
miles distant, of whom three became Archbishops of Canterbury, viz.,
St. Odo, Siric, and Aelfric. St. Odo, the Dane, in particular, was a
proficient in Greek and Latin,1 became Bishop of Ramsbury A.D.
926, and Archbishop of Canterbury, A.D. 942, over which see he pre-
sided seventeen years.2 He is recorded, among other works, to have
raised the walls of his Cathedral at Canterbury,3 which shows that
he was an admirer of loftiness in Church building.

Attention has been attracted to the Church of St. Peter, Man-
ningford Bruce, by the restoration now in progress. The architect
is J. L. Pearson, Esq., B.A., F.S.A.

1 Osbernus de Vita Odonis Arch. Cant., Wharton Anglia Sacra, vol. i., p. 79 ;
London, 1691.

2 Cf. Fasti Eccl., Sarisb. W. H. Jones, M.A. F.S.A., part 1., pp. 36, 76 ;
Salisbury, Brown, 1879.

3 Canterbury Cathedral, Willis, p. 3 ; London, Longman, 1845.

[N.B. — At the close of the Pontifical celebration which followed the consecra-
tion of the Orthodox Greek Church of St. Sophia, London, 5th February, 1882,
the antidoron was distributed, with eulogia, by the Archbishop of Corfu, standing
in front of the throne, holding in his left hand a staff similar to the cainbutta of
a Saxon bishop, and each recipient kissed the right hand of the archbishop. Cf.
Laws of King Ethelred, quoted above, p. 132. In the consecration service the
chrism crosses were made at a great height by means of a long rod. Sec Illus-
trated London News, 11th February, 1882. Part of the foregoing paper was
read by the author at an ordinary meeting of the Society of Antiquaries, London,
8th December, 1881, and an abstract was supplied for the Proceedings.]

138

Sculpt uvc^i Mm lit Cobfotir j$t |Jetct;
sn& prralMc j§totte at Mirawinsttt/'

By the Eev. J. Baron, D.D., F.S.A *

■JSHIS stone, represented in an autotype plate annexed, was
||| found during the restoration of St. Peter's Church, Codford,
Wilts, in 1864, under the care of T. H. Wyatt, Esq., F.S.A., built
in as old material on the north and nave side of the fifteenth century
chancel arch, about 2ft. above the floor, and it is now fixed against
the north wall of the chancel for preservation.

The dimensions are as follows : — front elevation — height, 4ft. lin.;
width at base, 1ft. lin. ; width at top, 6in. Side elevation (i.e. pro-
jection from the face of the wall against which the stone is now
fixed) — at base, 5|in.; at top, 3Jin.

The subject has never been satisfactorily explained, and is still
open to investigation. Probably, if its date could be approximately |
fixed, it might by a comparison of contemporary documents be found
to be a conventional way of representing some religious incident,
e.g., Noah as the builder of the ark, and as a husbandman, or the
return of one of the spies from the promised land. In the front «
elevation is seen the figure of a man holding in his right hand, over |
his head, a branch of an apple or other fruit tree, and looking up at |j
it in a very awkward manner ; in his left hand he holds a mallet,
or it may be a wallet. His short smock and his slipper-shaped shoes |
agree with Anglosaxon costume. The bamboo-formed moulding or
leaning pillars with which the figure is enclosed appear also to belong |
to the same period, i.e., the tenth or eleventh century, say about
A.D. 1000. Compare Strutt's Horda, vol. i., pp. 37, 107, and plate
viii-, fig. 1; London, 1774; Westwood's Palaeographia Sacra, p.

* The Committee desires to express its cordial thanks to Dr. Baron for his kind presentation of
the two plates of remarkable sculptured stones at Codford and Warminster. They are autotypes
from careful drawings by Miss Baron and Miss A. Baron. [Ed.]

"Sculptured Stone at Codford St. Peter;' 8fc. 139

145; London, Bohn, 1845. Compare also the bamboo frame
on the organ depicted in the illustration of Psalm cxlviii. (149), in
the Utrecht Psalter, copied in Westwood's Facsimiles; London,
Quaritch, 1S6S. In the illustrations of the Bodleian MS. of Caed-
mon, as re-produced in Archseologia, vol. xxiv., there are no traces
of bamboo or baluster-form in the pillars, but in the illustrations of
the Benedictional of St. Ethelwold, reproduced in the same volume,
there is some resemblance to this form in plates xiv. and xvi. The
slipper-shaped shoe is well illustrated, Jbid, plates, xvi., xxviii.,
xxix., xxx. For bamboo form of pillars compare also the window
in tower, Earls' Barton Church, Northamptonshire, engraved in
Rickman's Architecture, App., p. xix. ; London, J. H. Parker, 1848.
In the side elevation the foliage ornament is carved with much skill
and freedom.

The foregoing notes are nearly the same as those which I read
when I exhibited full-sized drawings of the front and side elevations
at an ordinary meeting of the Society of Antiquaries, London, 20th
June, 1878. Those notes were printed in the Proceedings, 2nd S.,
vol. vii.. No. v., pp. 429, 430, but without any illustrative engraving.
I now submit a reduced autotype plate of the two elevations to the
Wilts Archaeological Society, in the hope that the subject of the
sculpture may yet be identified, sooner or later. The persistence
and wide-spread prevalence of certain treatments of religious subjects
in early times are remarkable. Moderns commonly ascribe this to
poverty of invention and want of drawing skill. The truth seems
to be that early Christian artists preferred to be orthodox and gene-
rally intelligible rather than original. About the year 1845 I was
permitted to copy some painted glass in the tracery of a fourteenth
century window in Great Milton Church, Oxfordshire, representing
two angels with a dead body wrapped in a cere-cloth, looking much
like a mummy, except that the place of the eyes and nose was
marked so as to form a cross. The subject was a great puzzle at
the time. It was conjectured to represent angels discoursing over
the body of Lazarus, &c. More than ten years afterwards, in pe-
rusing Mrs. Jameson's work, I discovered, from a small wood-cut there
given, that it was the conventional way of representing the Burial

VOL. XX. — NO. LIX. L

140 "Sculptured Stone at Coclford St. Peter,

of Moses, as in " Bible de Noailles," A.D. 1000.1 This picture, which
puzzled many industrious antiquaries in the nineteenth century, was
doubtless, from its conventionality, well understood in the fourteenth,
even by the unlearned worshipper and the catechumen. Apart from
all questions of originality or skill in the artist, it would be a token
and reminder that the doctrine of the resurrection was revealed to
Moses, and that the bodies as well as the spirits of the faithful are
in Divine keeping.

The treatment of the Majesty, which prevailed during the middle
ages, in manuscripts, in sculpture, and in painted glass, is found in
Anglosaxon manuscripts of the tenth century, and on Byzantine
coins of the ninth. Mr. Birch has shewn how a good idea in the
Utrecht Psalter has been successively re-produced in the Harleian
and Eadwine.2 If I am right in assigning the Codford sculpture
to A.D. 1000, the paucity of the remains of Anglosaxon art renders
it very precious, and it is possible that the design, which now appears
grotesque and unintelligible, may, in its own time, have been well
understood as the received and orthodox expression of some point in
Scriptural or legendary lore, and may have lived on in later times.

Although the sculpture has remained a puzzle in its own locality
during the eighteen years of its re-appearance, the solution may
yet be found in some Church, or manuscript, or in one of the many
archaeological publications of the present day.

Many of the quaint little sculptures round the inside of the
Chapter House at Salisbury, forming a sort of memoria tecknica of
Scripture History, would be inexplicable, but from their position in
the series. One of these represents Noah as a husbandman with a
vine, but does not bear any close resemblance to the Codfcrd sculpture.

The stone with heraldic devices, represented in the autotype plate
annexed, was found in the year 1857, in pulling down the London

1 Compare Guide to Architectural Antiquities, p. 306 ; Oxford, J. H. Parker,
1846 ; and Hist, of Our Lord, by Mrs. Jameson and Lady Eastlake, vol. i., p.
185, illustration, 74; London, Longman, 1864.

2 Hist., Ac, of Utrecht Psalter, by W. De Gray Birch, F.R.S.A., plates 1, 2, 3,
p. 211, 213, 214 ; London, Bagster & Sons, 1876.

and Heraldic Stone at Warminster"

141

Inn, Warminster, Wiltshire — not a very old building — to make
room for the Athenaeum which now occupies the same site. It was
in two pieces, built into the walls as old material in two different
places, the carved side being turned inwards. The two pieces were
fitted together and built into the wall of the court-yard of the
Athenaeum, Warminster, for preservation. The line of fracture may
easily be traced at the beginning of the third and central compart-
ment.

Attention was re-called to this stone by the meeting of the Wilt-
shire Archaeological Society at Warminster, in August, 1877, but
the heraldic bearings have not yet been satisfactorily identified. It
appears to be good work of the fourteenth century. The length is
6ft. 4in. ; the height, 2ft. My own attention was first drawn to
it during the said meeting, by C. H. Talbot, Esq., of Lacock Abbey,
Wilts, and I have also consulted respecting it the Rev. Canon
Jackson, F.S.A., who very kindly sent me his notes made upon in-
spection of the stone; and I have referred to John de Havilland,
Esq., F.S.A., York Herald, who, upon receipt of a photograph I
had had taken, expressed an opinion that the heraldry was the work
of a good herald, and gave me some valuable hints towards the
identification of the coats. The great difficulty is the absence of
tinctures.

The details of the compartments, beginning at the left of the
spectator, are as follows : —

No. 1. A tilting helmet, with drapery behind terminating in a
tassel, surmounted by a chapeau or cap of estate, and thereon a lion
statant gardant. The cross indicated in front is not merely
devotional, but constructional. Beneath is a small shield hung
obliquely, obliterated.

For the form of the tilting helmet and appendages compare the
illustration from the brass of Sir John Harsyck, Southacre Church,
Norfolk, A.D. 1384, given in Boutelfs Heraldry, plate i., facing
p. 16 (third edition). Compare also a beautiful coloured drawing of
the effigy of Giinther, of Schwarzburg, King of the Romans, 1349,
in Frankfort Cathedral, given in Hefner's Costume du Moyen Ago
Chretien, vol. ii., plate xxvii., p. 37. A reduced engraving of this

l2

142

" Sculptured Stone at Codford St. Peter,

drawing1 is given in the Archaeological Journal, vol, ii., p. 219. J

It is said that King Edward III. was the first who introduced
the crest of the lion statant gardant into the royal arms, and it is j
borne, so placed on a cap of estate, by himself, and by his sons
Edward the Black Prince and Thomas of Gloucester ; but the royal
crest lion is crowned. See Sandford's Genealogical History, pp. I
124, 125 ; and for the like crest, borne by Henry of Lancaster,
afterwards King Henry IV., see BoutelPs Heraldry, plate lxxix., j
facing p. 258.

No. 2. Party per pale, three lions, passant to sinister, two and
one, count erchanged. The charges on this coat appear to be turned
to the left, in order to look towards the central coat. Compare en-
gravings in Sandford's Genealogical History, pp. 122, 123, 124.
The vertical line in pale of this coat is fin. in breadth, and it ]
seems clearly to be the proper way of indicating, by sculpture,
Party per pale and counterchanged.

No. 3. On a chevron between three leopard's faces, three mullets.
This is probably the coat of the principal person commemorated by
the sculpture. In Papworth's Ordinary the following names are
given as belonging to coats with these charges, but with tinctures I
that vary : Pormort, Brickie ton, Davers, and Perell or Pearl e, Co.
Salop.

No. 4. A coat of which the blazon is not quite certain, but it
looks like a cross between four lions rampant. Many names might
be suggested for a cross between four lions rampant; but it seems )
worthy of note how closely this coat corresponds with that of Philippa
of Hainault, Queen of King Edward III. Boutell states that the coat
of Queen Philippa ought to be divided quarterly, 1st and 4th, Or,
a lion rampant sable, for Flanders, 2nd and 3rd, Or, a lion rampant
gules, for Holland. Vredius gives the following blazon : — " Hainau-
moderne ; d'or, a quatre lions cantonnez ; le premier et dernier de
sable, qui est de Flandres ; le 2 et 3 de gueulles, qui est de Hoi-
lande."

No. 5. A tilting helmet surmounted by a coronet, and a leopard's
face as crest, very similar to the faces on the central coat. Small
shield defaced, as in No. 1. Caps of estate and coronets were more

and Heraldic Stone at Warminster." 143

indicative of rank in the fourteenth century than in later times.
Lions are, as we all know, very frequent in coat-armour, but it
seems curious that all five compartments of this sculptured stone are
leonine in their heraldry. Lions were borne by the Kings of Eng-
land before King Edward III., and even before Richard Cceur de
Lion, but King Edward III. seems to have given a stimulus to
leonine bearings, not only from his natural character and exploits —
in allusion to which he is called " Invictus Pardus," on bis monument
in Westminster Abbey — but also from his intercourse with Flemings
and Germans, who greatly affected lions in their coat-armour.

Upon the reading of these notes (at an ordinary meeting of the
Society of Antiquaries, London), opinions were expressed to the
effect that, notwithstanding the similarity of bearing, the coats of
four lions could have no reference to Queen Philippa. A. W. Franks,
Esq., Director, remarked that, judging from the excellent drawing
exhibited, the sculpture must have formed an architectural decoration
at some elevation, the shields and bearings being too large for the
sides or front of a monument placed on the floor of a Church.

This conjecture has now been curiously verified. The wall into
which this sculptured stone was built for a rough kind of preserva-
tion in 1857, was pulled down on the 1st of March, 1879. It then
became clear, from the shaping of the back of the stone, and from
marks of smoke, that it had originally formed the front or lintel of
a chimney-piece, being probably the last vestige of a family mansion
which tradition assigns to the same site. Petit, one of the local
families, bore a chevron between three lions' faces. The stone is
now built into the wall over one of the main entrances of the Bleeck
Memorial Hall, at the Athenaeum, Warminster, Wilts.

The above notes were read when a full-size drawing was exhibited
at an ordinary meeting of the Society of Antiquaries, London, 23rd
January, 1879, and are reported as above in the Proceedings, but
without any illustrative engraving. The annexed reduced autotype
plate is here submitted to the readers of the Wiltshire Arc/Geological
Magazine, with a reprint of the notes, in the hope that the arms,
from some local source, may yet be more fully identified and illus-
trated by documentary evidence.

144

u Sculptured Stone at Codford St. Peter" 8fc.

It seems humiliating that three combined, well sculptured, four-
teenth century coats, even without tinctures, should remain enveloped
in the mists of conjecture.

I am informed by an old inhabitant of Warminster that the
London Inn was built about 1818, upon the site of a former small
inn called " Search Hope/'' which was burnt down and had been
insured in the Sun Fire Office. Under the heading "The Searce
hoop Inn/'' I find that a lease was granted by Sir Edward Hungerford
the 1st of June, 1678, to Jeffery, Eyton, of a messuage or tenement
on the north part of High Street, and a close of meadow or pasture
adjoining there, &c. This would appear to be a long time after the
disappearance of the above-mentioned mansion.

It is said that the stone was found when " The Searce hoop Inn "
was pulled down, that is, when the ruins were being removed after
the fire.1

It may be well to recapitulate the points which have now been
ascertained in the history of this heraldic stone : —

1. From the heraldic devices sculptured on the front, and the
shaping of the back, it is clear that in the fourteenth century it was
the lintel of a high chimney-piece in a lordly mansion.

£. In 1818 it is found in the debris of " The Searce Hoop Inn,"
and is built into the London Inn in two pieces as old material.

3. In 1857 it is found in pulling down the London Inn, and
built into the boundary wall of the Athenaeum for preservation.

4. In 1877 attention is called to it by the meeting of the Wilts
Archaeological Society at Warminster.

5. In 1879, upon the pulling down of the said boundary wall,
it is built into the wall over one of the main entrances of the Bleeck
Memorial Hall, then in the course of erection at the Warminster
Athenaeum.

I commend the name, " The Searce hoop Inn," to the students of
signs.

J. Baeon.

1 Cf . Hist, of Warminster, by Kev. J. J. Daniell, ch. xviii., p. 48 ; Warminster
Coates, 1879.

145

Carlg persflttjr in Jjogtw C|mt|, Milfe":

lecoberg of a UlissiitQ fink.

By the Rev. J. Baeon, D.D., F.S.A.

N the Church of Boyton, Wilts, are still preserved two in-
teresting coats of arms of about A.D. 1300, which, from
some general points of resemblance, have always been supposed to
be identical, but are, when inspected with heraldic caution, indis-
putably distinct, and the achievements of families very different in
name and lineage, although connected in history and the feudal
tenure of Boyton. One of these coats, displayed on the shield of
the effigy which reposes in the easternmost bay of the south or
Giffard Chapel, has always been rightly understood to be Giffard.
The three lions passant in pale, borne by that distinguished and
historic family, are sculptured in bold relief with much skill and
spirit on the large convex and well-pointed shield. A label of five
points, a mark of cadency usually distinguishing the eldest son, but
sometimes the elder house or branch of a family, is here rendered
very instructively, as noted long ago by Sir R. C. Hoare, indicating
the original method of wearing the label, which in this case was
evidently nothing more than a cord or string of silk tied round near
the upper part of the shield, and five ends of ribbon depending from
it. This feature has been very imperfectly shown in otherwise
pleasing and correct drawings which have been made of this re-
markable effigy. The string, or cord, or piece of rolled silk which
passes across the neck of the uppermost lion, and which is in the
sculpture about fin. thick, is in the drawings shown as a band about
lin. broad. The undulations of the sculpture intended to indicate
the five points or depending ends of ribbon probably presented
difficulties which could be only overcome by special skill in drawing,
and from a particular point of view. Sir R. C. Hoare thinks the
label may be the distinctive mark of the Giffards of Boyton, as

146 "Early Heraldry in Boyton ChurcJi, Wilts"

being the younger house, compared with the Giffards of Brimsfield,
Gloucestershire. Although this sculptured coat certainly belong!
to the Giffard family, for many generations lords of Boyton, there
has been much difficulty in ascertaining who of that family is the
particular individual commemorated by this effigy. Sir R. C. Hoare
timidly and tentatively suggests that it may be Sir Alexander
Giffard,1 fourth son of Hugh Giffard, Constable of the Tower of
London, brother of Walter Giffard, Archbishop of York, who died
lord of Boyton in 1279, and also brother of Godfrey Giffard, Bishop
of Worcester, who died lord of Boyton in 1301, holding it of John
Giffard, then a minor.

Mr. Fane has most persuasively elaborated the aforesaid suggestion
with references to contemporary documents, shewing that, " accor-
ding to the strict laws of feudal tenancy, Sir Alexander Giffard left
his native home at Boyton, and followed his liege lord, the gallant
Longespee, to the war." This was the crusade under St. Louis, of
France, A.D. 1250, and the chief scene of the exploits of lord and
vassal was the assault of Massoura, in Egypt.

When Longespee, hardly bested by the Saracens, scorned to fly,
and resolved to die fighting, he thus laid his commands as liege
lord upon Sir Alexander Giffard : " If you can escape, you, who
have the care of my goods, and are my knight, distribute my goods
among my people in this manner," etc. " Giffard instantly obeyed
his lord's command, and dashing with his unwounded war-horse
against the host of Saracens, he passed through, as Paris asserts,
graviter vulneratus, he swam the river, reached the coast, and re-
turning to England, probably died at Boyton in early manhood." 2

The arms still preserved in a lancet window on the north side of
the chancel are certainly not the coat of Giffard, but of Thomas
Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster, Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, and
Salisbury, who, from his consanguinity with the royal families of

1 Sir R. C. Hoare, Hundred of Heytesbury, Boyton, p. 198. In plate xi., ibid,
the label is not well shown, and the name is thus given at the bottom of the
engraving : — " Effigy of Elias Giffard in Boyton Church."

2 Of" Wilts Mag., No. iv., April, 1855, vol. ii., pp. 105-6.

By the Bev. J. Baron, D.D., F.S.A. 147

England and France, bore the royal arms of England differenced
with a label of France.

Any one visiting the Church can satisfy himself as to the differ-
ence of the two coats. On the sculptured stone shield of the effigy
the three lions are merely passant, that is, walking along looking
straight before them, following their noses ; the label is of five
points, which are waved, apparently in imitation of ribbon, but
bear no traces of fleurs de lis}

On the other hand the coat depicted in the painted glass of the
window has three lions passant gardant, i.e., walking along, but
looking towards the spectator, and of gold; the label of five points
is azure, and has two fleurs de lis of gold distinctly marked on each
point.2 The sculptured shield of the effigy bears, indeed, no marks
of colour, but the arms of Giffard, with or without a label, are
perfectly well known, and so also are those borne by Thomas Plan-
taganet, Earl of Lancaster from the decease of his father, Edmund
(Crouchback), A.D. 1296, till his own decease in 1322.

The blazons, or proper heraldic descriptions of the two coats in
question, are : —

Giffard. Gules, three lions passant Argent, with a label azure. 5
Thomas Plantaganet, Earl of Lancaster, &c. Gules, three lions,

1 Cf . Anastatic drawing of the Giffard effigy at Boyton, in Wilts Mag., vol. i.,.
facing p. 237. The label presented special difficulties, and is not successfully
shewn. Also seal of Thomas Giffard, showing label of three points, Ibid, vol, ii.?
p. 387.

2 Usually three fleurs de lis on each point,

3 The blazon, Gules, three lions passant Argent, is given for Giffard in Glover's
Ordinary, p. 22 ; and in Edmondson's Alphabet of Arms, art. Gifford, Gloucester-
shire, &c, both in Edmondson's Body of Heraldry.

The following blazons are of special value as being nearly contemporary : Sire
Johan Giffard, de goules, a iij lyons passaunz dargent, p. 3.

Oxsenfoedeschiee. Sir Johan Giffard le boef, de goules, a iij lions passanz
de argent, e un label de azure, p. 29.

Gloucestreschire. Sire Esmoun Giffard, de goulis, a iij lyonz passaunz
dargent, e un lable de sable [in another but apparently an early hand], p. 76.

A Eoll of Arms of the Reign of Edward the Second, ed. Sir N. H. Nicolas ;
London, Pickering, 1829. For Earl of Lancaster, cf. Ibid, p. 1.

148

" Earl// Heraldry in Boy ton Church, Wilts."

passant gardant Or, with a label of five points Azure, each charged
with three jleurs de lis Or.1

If it be asked, " How did the above-mentioned mistake creep
into a work of such authority and general accuracy as the History
of Modern Wilts?" we may reply in the words of Sir R. C. Hoare
himself, in the preface to the Hundred of Warminster : " The
Topographer, if advanced in age (as I am), cannot depend solely
upon his own exertions ; he cannot be hie et uhique, but must employ
several agents to complete his undertaking/''

If it be further asked, " How is it that this inadvertency is not
corrected in Mr. Fane's interesting and valuable papers on Boyton
Church/ and the family of Giffard?"3 it may be replied that, although
any one may appreciate the difference of the two coats when pointed
out, probably no ordinary observer, unacquainted with early heraldry,
and who was not already familiar with the coat of Thomas Plan-
tagenet, Earl of Lancaster/ would have thought of challenging the
statement of Sir R. C. Hoare.

If an apology for the oversight on the part of Mr. Fane be
needed, it may be given likewise in his own words : " I trust my
brother archaeologists will accept this my hastily-compiled memoir.
Your Secretary will tell you how unwillingly I undertook a task
that others could so much better have performed. I will hope
another year there will be no possible crevice of our archaeology to
be filled by the overtasked and very humble Vicar of a large parish." 5

It would be out of place here to enter upon any discussion as to
the merits or demerits of the said Earl, who was a conspicuous
figure in the history of England during a very troublous and critical

1 Compare Sandford's Genealogical History, pp. 102, 3, 7. The number of the
points of the label are varied from five to three, according to space.

2 Wilts Mag., vol. i., p.p. 237, 8. Mr. Fane not only adopts, unhesitatingly,
the confusion of the two coats, but boldly transfers the tinctures and Jleurs de
lis from the window to his description of the sculptured coat of the effigy.

3 Ibid, vol. ii., pp. 100-8.
4 The same coat is preserved, in painted glass of about A.D. 1300, at Dorchester,
Oxon. See engraving, fig. 6, and description, p. 46, Dorchester Abbey Church ;
Oxford, Parker, 1860.

5 Wilts Mag., vol. ii., p. 108.

By the Rev. J. Baron, D.D., F.S.A.

149

period,1 but it falls properly within the scope of the topographer
and antiquary to note some points of his special relation to Boy ton
and the Giffards, and the result of this will be to illustrate and
confirm some of the most interesting particulars supplied to the
Wilts Magazine, twenty-eight years ago, by Mr. Fane.

A.D. 1296. Upon the decease of Edmond, Earl of Lancaster,
Leicester, Derby, Steward of England, &c, surnamed Crouch- Back,
his eldest son Thomas succeeded him in all his honours and estate,
being then about twenty-one years of age, and having previously
betrothed or married Alice, daughter and eventually sole heiress of
Henry Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, who was also Earl of Salisbury in
right of his wife, Margaret, then deceased, heiress o£ William
Longespee, and granddaughter of William Longespee, Earl of
Salisbury.

A.D. 1300. Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, was with King Edward
the First, and the English army at the siege of Carlaverock, in
Scotland. He was then about twenty-five years old. It is related
that his arms were " those of England with a label of France, and
he did not wish to display any others."2 His brother Henry at the
same siege bore the arms of England, " with a blue baton, without
the label."

A.D. 1310. Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln and Salisbury,
being about sixty, dies, having solemnly charged his son-in-law,
Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, to stand up boldly in defence of the
Church and nation, and to take counsel with Guy, Earl of Warwick.

1 For a critical review of the character, position, and actions, of Thomas Earl
of Lancaster, see Constitutional History of England, by Professor Stubbs, vol. ii.,
pp. 322, 349 ; Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1875. One sentence may be quoted :
" The cause was better than the man or the principles on which he maintained it."

2 Siege of Carlaverock, p. 46. Cf. Sir N. H. Nicolas ; London. Nichols, 1828.
The words of the original French text of the contemporary poem are very re-
markable and full of meaning, which is somewhat missed in the above-quoted
translation : —

'* De Engleterre au label de France

Et ne veul plus mettre en souffrance."
" Souffrance " is here a word of heraldic and feudal import. These arms declared
his nearness to the English throne, and his affinity to the royal family of France.
This was his paternal coat, than which nothing could be more honourable, and ho
did not wish to obtain recognition for his many additional achievements.

150

"Early Heraldry in Boyton Church, Wilts''

Alice, the wife of the said Thomas, was certified at this time to he
of the age of twenty-eight years.1 The age of her hushand would
be about thirty-five. Thus the said Thomas came into the possession
of the earldoms of Lincoln and Salisbury, in addition to those of
Lancaster, Leicester, and Derby, inherited from his father.2

The parish of Boyton was included in the property of the earldom
of Salisbury, and we find at a very early period after the Conquest
that this estate was subinfeuded to the Giffards, who were already
tenants in capiie, of the adjoining parish of Sherrington/'' 3

It was, therefore most natural that the Giffards of Boyton should
insert in a window of their parish Church the arms of their superior
lord, to whom they were closely and devotedly attached by feudal
and social ties, and the preservation of this Plantaganet coat in
painted glass is a much more precious historical link and token than
a mere repetition of the Giffard arms would have been.

A.D. 1317. On the Monday before Ascension Day, Alice, wife
of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, at Caneford, in Dorsetshire, was
violently taken away by a certain knight of the family of John, Earl
of Warren, there being many in the conspiracy; and (as was said)
by the King's consent she was carried in triumph, and in contempt
of the Earl, her husband, to the Earl of Warren's Castle of Reigate.
In their passages among the hedges and woods between Haulton
and Farnham, those that conveyed her saw several banners and
streamers (the priests and people being then in a solemn procession
round the fields) , upon which they were struck with a sudden terror ;
thinking that the Earl or some of his retinue were come to rescue
the lady, and revenge the affront, they left her and fled away ; but
when sensible of their mistake, they returned, and with them a
person of a very mean stature, lame, and crook-backed, called Richard
de St. Martin, who, with wonderful impudence, challenged the
countess thus miserably insnared for his wife, openly alleging his

1 Bishop Kennett, sub an. 1310, Par. Ant., vol. i., pp. 515-6.

2 Cf. Chronicon Walteri De Hemingburgh, sub ann. 1311, p. 285. In note1
Chester, instead of Derby, is said to be one of the five earldoms. Eng. Hist.
Soc., London, 1849.

3 Family of Giffard, of Boyton, by Eev. A. Fane ; Wilts Mag., vol. ii., p. 101.

By the Rev. J. Baron, D.D., F.S.A.

151

intimacy with her before she was married to the said earl, which she
likewise freely acknowledged to be true : so as this lady, who, through
the whole course of her life, had been reputed chaste and honourable,
on a sudden change of fortune must be proclaimed through the
whole world for a lewd and infamous woman. The wretch who had
thus got possession of her grew so insolent as to presume, in his
pretended wife's name, to claim in the King's court the earldoms of
Lincoln and Salisbury, but with no effect.1 This occasioned the
divorce between the earl and his countess, which historians mention
to have been some time before his death.2

It is curious that in a previous generation John, Lord Giffard, of
Brimsfield, is said to have carried off, from her castle at Canford,
A-D. 1271, Matilda, the widow of the third Longespee, and that
the marriage was excused upon his paying the King 300 marks.3

A.D. 1322. Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, after being formally
pardoned for his share in the illegal putting to death of Piers de
Gaveston, being again in arms with associated barons against King
Edward II. and his favourites, was taken prisoner at Boroughbridge,
in Yorkshire, carried to Pontefract, his own castle, to the King and
the two Spencers ; and three days after was, in implacable haste,
condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered ; but in honour to
his great birth the sentence was mitigated into the loss of his head;
and on the 22nd of March " this noble patriot/' being carried to a
hill without the town on a lean white jade without a bridle, was
made there to kneel, and when he directed his face to the east was
compelled to turn toward Scotland, while a villain of London cut
off his head. Of the death of this great peer the King himself
did soon repent. Many miracles were reported to be done in the
place where he was buried, and a beautiful Church was there erected
to the honour of his memory.4

1 Cf . Walsingham, sub an., quoted in Bp. Kennett's Par. Ant., vol. i., p. 539 ;
Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1818.

2 Ibid, p. 540.
3 Wilts Mag., vol. ii., p. 102.
4 Bp. Kennett, who quotes Pakington, Walsingham, Dugdale, Barnes ; Par.
Ant., vol. i., pp. 55(5, 7.

152 "Early Heraldry in Boy ton Church, Wilts."

John Giffard, of Boyton, surnamed " The Rich," as inheriting"
also the Brimsfield estates, naturally and perhaps almost necessarily
followed the fortunes of his superior lord.1 The histories commonly
say that he was hanged at Gloucester, hut it seems possihle that,
from his local influence in that neighbourhood, decapitation may, in
this case also, have been substituted for the more ignominious death
ordered by the actual sentence.

Mr. Fane states that J ohn Giffard, of Boyton, surnamed le Rych,
was beheaded at Gloucester, and mentions that, having occasion, in
the course of repairs, during the year 1853, to move a very large
slab of Purbeck marble in the centre of the north chapel of Boyton
Church, he found beneath it, in a stone grave (not coffin), a skeleton
with the skull placed on the left side of the skeleton, as if on the
interment this position had been originally established.2

In the same year that Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, was beheaded,
Alice, who had been his wife, resigned to the King the manors
of Ambresbury, Winterbourn, Troubrigges, Wilts ; of Caneford,
Dorset ; and of Hengisterigge and Cherleton, Somerset, which were
of her inheritance.3

Each of the two husbands she afterwards married claimed to be
Earl of Lincoln, in her right, but no mention is made of the earldom
of Salisbury. She died in 1349, without issue.

Henry, the younger brother of Thomas, became Earl of Lancaster,
Leicester, and Derby, and died, leaving issue, in 1345 ; but in 1337
King Edward III. created William de Montacute Earl of Salisbury.

The painted glass in Boyton Church, depicting England with a
label of France, is very early, and the shape of the shield is very
pointed, in the style of the thirteenth rather than of the fourteenth
century, but Thomas, Earl of Lancaster from 1296 to 1321, is the
only one of his family who held the earldom of Salisbury, and so

1 In a former generation, A.D, 1250, "according to the ^strict laws of feudal
tenancy," a Giffard, of Boyton, had followed a Longespee in the Crusades. Wilts
Mag., vol. h\, p. 103.

2 Ibid, p. 107.

3 Dugdale, Bar. i., 782 ; Bp. Kennet, Par. Ant., sub anno.

By the Rev. J. Baron, D.D., F.S.A.

153

was brought into special connexion with Boyton and the Giffards.

It is quite time that a correction of the long standing mistake
respecting these two historical coats should be supplied, for I
observe that, in BoutelPs Heraldry, Historical and Popular, it is
stated that Sir Alexander Giffard, of Boyton, bears, gu., three lions
pass, in pale arg., a label of five points az., charged on each point
with two fiears de lis or. An engraving is given of this supposed
coat.1 These fieurs de Us never existed on the sculptured coat, except
in the imagination of those who, from want of due heraldic and
antiquarian caution, transferred to it the tinctures and details of the
painted coat. A smaller mistake has been current respecting the
animal at the feet of the knight. This has been otiosely described
as an animal which may be either a wild cat or a lion.2 It is cer-
tainly not a lion, or a cat, or a dog, either heraldic, conventional or
zoological, but anyone who will observe it attentively, particularly
the head, the flat-shaped beaver-like tail, and the wide-spreading
aquatic paws, must allow that it is a very realistic representation of
an otter. The river Wily flows through the village of Boyton, not
far from the Church, and its fisheries are important, even at this
day. In former days they were, doubtless, still more considerable.
Where fresh- water fish abound there is likely to be found the
poaching otter. The heraldic representation of the otter on the
monument may have been assumed by the Giffards from the fisheries
on their estate, but it also seems probable that the otter, in place of
the usual lion or dog, may have been specially represented at the
feet of Sir Alexander GifTard, in remembrance of his gallant swim-
ming through the river at Massoura, like an otter, not to escape
from the enemy, but to make his way to England, to execute the
dying commands of his liege lord, William Longespee.

1 Compare Boutell's Heraldry, p. 225, and No. 503 A., plate lxxx, facing p. 149,
3rd ed. ; London, Bentley, 1864.

2 Wilts Mag., No. iii., Nov. 1854, vol. i., p. 237. In a subsequent paper on
the Giffards of Boyton, the Rev. Arthur Fane describes the same*auhnal as " an
heraldic beast which has given rise to a strange locaHradition." Ibid, vol. ii.,
p. 106.

154 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds

The contemporary poem thus describes the exploit : — -

" Sir Alexander Giffard escaped with the gold and silver which was delivered
to him. He got the horses together and loaded them, and took the road towards
the city of Damont. He leaped into the long and wide river ; he wished to arrive
at Diote, as he had promised his liege lord, the good Longespee, for the purpose
of distributing his property according to his commands. As soon as they entered
the river, the perfidious Saracens observed them, and cast the Greek fire, which
was intensely hot, upon them ; but they would have been burnt to dust rather
than have moved back a foot." *

R. H. Collins, Esq., C.B., when at Boyton House, first called
my attention to the shield in the window as a curious old coat, said
to be Giffard. I easily identified it as appertaining to Thomas, Earl
of Lancaster, from having traced and illustrated the same arms in
Dorchester Church, Oxon.1 Mr. Collins, on the same occasion,
pointed out to me that the animal at the knight's feet is an otter.

J. Baron.

ON THE

fanxnm of same of % %mx §fytat$ tff
^xxh m % ^ig|kurIjaoir of ^afokrg*

By the Eev. Arthur P. Morres, Vicar of Britford.
(Continued from Vol. xviii., page 318.^

PART IV. — RASORES.

W p^SN resuming my papers on " The Rarer Species of Birds in
ml W& the Neighbourhood of Salisbury/'' I fear I shall justly lay
myself open to the charge of not keeping to the subject-matter in

* See text and translation of A Contemporary Poem describing the Assault on Massoura, in
February, 1250, pp. 80-1, lines 346—355. In an earlier part of the poem, line 136, is the expression
" la flume tot avalant," the all swallowing river. Excerpta Historica ; London, Bentley, 1831.

1 Compare Dorchester Abbey Church, xvi., plate following p. 44, fig. 6 ; and
pp. 45-6 ; Oxford, Parker, 1860.

In the Neighbourhood of Salisbury.

155

band, as I cannot find it in my heart to omit the mention of some
of our commonest ornithological friends, to whom the description
rarer certainly cannot be applied. Yet, kind reader, pardon me ;
for if of human beings this is true, so also is it of other bipeds, that
if we know the faults best of those we associate with the most, so
ought we also to be more intimately acquainted with their virtues — ■
and these may not be omitted, although such qualities, in bird as
well as in our human friends, are often wont to be overlooked, if
their existence be not altogether denied, owing to the blind un-
charitableness of our fallen nature.

Now of all our ornithological acquaintances, I am bold to say that
there are no truer friends to the human race than this oft -abused
trio, " the Rook, the Sparrow, and the Woodpigeon." Does not
the intuition of common sense tell us, that the commoner any bird
is, the greater function it must necessarily have to fulfil in this world
of ours ? For in creation nothing is too small or insignificant to
have escaped the minutest calculation and inscrutable wisdom of its
Almighty Creator, who orders all things in " measure and number
and weight " ; and woe be to the presumptuous hand which rashly
interferes with the finely ordered balance of Nature, and thinks to
better by its own short-sighted management the nicely adjusted
proportions of the Creator's handiwork. Doubtless that balance,
which once was perfect, has been rudely interfered with by the Fall
of Creation, through man's sin ; so that even as the ground has to
be tilled, ere it yields its perfect fruit, and cleared of thorn and
brier, so also in the animate races of creation, the good they were
originally formed to carry out, is counterbalanced by a certain pro-
portion of baneful influence as well, which has undesignedly (as far
as their original purpose in creation is concerned) crept in ; and this
has to be provided against by man's forethought and care. But yet
even as the ground is capable of administering, and does administer,
to man's blessing, under his careful tillage, and honest endeavour,
so may the irregularities of the bird-world be regulated and held in
check by the same qualities in creation's Lord and Master; so that
the evil they occasionally do may be largely counterbalanced by the
systematic good of which they are the source. At one time this

VOL. XX. — NO. LIX. M

156 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds

simple fact remained sadly unrealized ; though, fortunately long* ere
this, that most true regulator of an Englishman's actions, his pocket,
has caused the inveterate persecution to cease that was ruthlessly
waged against many of our commonest quadrupeds and birds.

An example of this I happily find in the first page of an old
parish account book, in which the following items appear for the
churchwardens' account of the year 1827 :■ —

s. d.

For 41 Hedgehogs 13 8

For 14 Crows 1 2

For 2 Stoats 1 0

For 141 dozen, and 9 sparrows 2 7 3

£3 3 1

making a total which might well have been applied to some far
nobler purpose ; but I am delighted to find my grandfather's name
appearing at the end of this first annual account, attached to a pro-
test against any further charge for Hedgehogs and Stoats (though
ceteris paribus, 1 really think he began at the wrong end of the
condemned list, as our little feathered friends are undoubtedly en-
titled to our truest sympathy) neither am I in a position to state,
from obvious reasons, whether it was true friendship for his four-
footed friends, or rather sound principles of economy, that moved
him to stand up in their defence. While in 1835 I find the still more
laudable protest of R. H. Hill, the Curate-in-charge, and my father-
in-law, against any further charge for Sparrows' heads; though the
eight years' delay between the abolition of the persecution of the
quadrupeds and the bipeds cost the Sparrow tribe the loss of no less
than eight thousand eight hundred and ninety -two of its members,
and the parish the sum of £12 5s. 3d. ; the fury of the persecution
ranging from seven dozen Sparrows, in 1832 (which partial cessation
is apparently accounted for by a change in the regime, as manifested
by a different handwriting appearing in the accounts), to as many
as one hundred and sixty dozen, one hundred and sixty-three dozen,
and one hundred and seventy-nine dozen respectively, in the three
succeeding years (when the old familiar handwriting re-appears) .
After this, as twenty-four out of thirty entries in the annual balance-
sheet were taken up with various items of Sparrow slaughter, the

In the Neighbourhood of Salisbury.

157

utilitarian mania would seem to have come to the rescue, and the
massacre ceases. And here let me remind my readers, that in some
districts where the persecution has raged with greater fury than
usual, man has found it necessary to re-import their much-maligned
friends, to do that for them which they could not do for themselves,
i.e., to reduce the number of that mighty army, " the palmer-worm,
the canker-worm, and the caterpillar/' which, in the absence of the
consumer, were quickly over-mastering their crops.

Another deeply-merited punishment, which often accrues from
man's avaricious temperament, and his undue interference with the
balance of Nature, may be seen in the oft-recurring paroxysms of
disease, which play as much havoc amongst the Grouse as the pesti-
lence amongst human beings. The cause is not far to seek. The
grouse-moor, over which the Peregrine, and at times the Moor Buz-
zard, and Harrier, were accustomed from time immemorial to exercise
their clerical right, then undisputed, and ungrudged, of taking tithe
in kind, no more resounds to their sharp shrill cry of delight, or
warning, as mate calling to mate, spake to each other of the coming
feast, or toyed around in ever ascending circles, over the scene of
some successful chase; and the Grouse, undisturbed by their aerial
and hereditary foes, increase in such undue proportion that the land
will not rightly bear them ; while the sickly produce of a late hatch,
or weakly parents, propagate their inherited maladies, till they spread
as a dire scourge over whole districts at a time. Whereas, had
there been, perhaps, a single pair of Peregrines to act as keepers
over the moor, not one of those weakly birds would have had a
chance of propagating the mischief, as they would have been the
first birds marked out for the Falcon's meal. " Why/'' do you ask?
For the same reason that you, good reader, would take hold of the
nearest tool to hand that answered your purpose, or the short cut
across the common, instead of going round by the road. For the
same reason that the cowardly bully at school intuitively picks out
the shrinking sensitive boy, on whom to work his baneful will,
avoiding the stronger pluckier mind, that would anyhow make a
fight for it, ere he gave in. Yes ! as in the school, as in the world
at large, so on the moor, "might is right," "the weaker goes to

M &

158 On the Occurrence of some of the Barer Species of Birds

the wall " ; and so, when the pack is sprung, it is the sickly one j
the weak one, the " lag-last/'' which, with a cry of impending and II
unavoidable fate, yields up its life to the unerring swoop of its re- I
lentless foe.

But I must hasten on to my mention of the first family of the j
Rasores (literally scratehers), or Ground Birds, which consists of
the Doves, of which there are four well-known species, indigenous
to our islands, all common, though some more local than others.

Of these the first to come to the front would naturally be Columha
Palumius, (i The Woodpigeon 33 : also called the King-Dove, Cushat,
Quest, Quisty, &e. This is a bird dear to every juvenile sportsman,
on whose memory will be indelibly impressed his first successful stalk
after so coveted a prize. I shall never forget the eager clutch I
made at a crippled specimen of the above, as he was shuffling as
fast as he could to the shelter of some friendly brambles, which he
reached just before I could overtake him ■ the result of which was
that he left his entire tail in my hand, spoiling altogether the ap- j
pearance of my prize, which, to my vexation, did not look afterwards j
half as big as it ought to have done.

This is one of our abused friends at times ; though, like a sensible I
bird as he is, «he does not take much notice of it, and goes on his I
way without giving heed to the calumnies heaped upon him. I
need not introduce him personally to the reader, as he is admitted |
into bird society generally, and, when got up in his best dress, is a j
well-to-do comely-looking bird; and though not showy, reads a
lesson to some of us in taste as to the pleasing effect of judiciously
blending- cognate colours, and avoiding1 strong contrasts. Our

(DO ' O O

friend's reiterated song (or that, rather, which he means for one)
need not be dwelt upon either, though here, again, his character has
been maligned, should the old tradition be indeed true, that it was
he who induced the Welshman to think that he might as well be
hung for a cow as a sheep, or rather steal two cows while he was
about it, instead of one, for which, perchance in punishment, he is
still constrained to utter the same refrain " Two cows Taffy-take, 33
laying the most unmistakable stress on the number to be appropri-
ated.

In the Neighbourhood of Salisbury.

159

This bird in winter at times assembles in vast flocks, and then is
the time that, if not watched, it is likely to do considerable damage,
though not so much, I think, as is generally supposed, It feeds at
such times voraciously on turnip-greens, though not on the turnips
themselves, unless they find perchance an unsound root, into which
they may be induced to insert their bill. But as an example of the
mischief they will at times do, I can quote an instance from my
own parish, in which a farmer having planted a field with very
promising young cabbage plants, which had cost him fifteen guineas,
had the pleasure one fine morning of finding that the entire plant
had disappeared ; a large flock of some thousand pigeons or more
having settled down upon them, and simply cleared away every
vestige of them. This was certainly rather provoking, but the
question is, knowing well, as he did, that this large flock was about,
ought he not to have kept a better look-out, until they had left the
neighbourhood ? Most certain it is, however, that although now
and then they do such mischief as this, or thresh considerably a
piece of laid corn, or lay a heavyish tax on an over-ripe field of peas,
yet they do incalculable good at other times of the year, from the
quantity of noxious seeds they consume, such as the charlock, dock,
and rag- weed. Thus Mr. Stevenson, in his (c Birds of Norfolk,"
mentions a quotation from Mr. St. John to this effect: — "Although,"
says he, " There is a great extent of new-sown wheat (Nov. 23rd)
in every direction, I shoot Wood Pigeons with their crops full of the
seed of the dock, and without a single grain of corn. They also
have in their crops a great deal of the rag-weed, and small potatoes
as large as marbles."

I remember once myself taking out of the crop of a Woodpigeon
I had just shot, twelve large acorns, each a good inch in length,
forming a veritable handful, which you would scarcely have thought
the bird's crop could have held, though from the pace the bird was
flying when I killed it you would not have gathered it was in any
way incommoded by its meal. Talking of the flight of this bird,
I once noticed a manoeuvre on their part I could not at the time
account for. In the autumn of 1876 I was standing talking to one
of my parishioners when we were both startled by hearing a sudden

160 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds

rushing sound over our head as of an engine blowing off steam.
On looking* up we found it proceeded from a large flock of some
seventy or eighty pigeons which were in the act of shooting down
perpendicularly from a high elevation in the air, with closed wings,
at a most unusual velocity, which made my friend exclaim, " They're
going at their best pace." At the time it gave me the idea that
they were avoiding the swoop of a falcon, or some bird of prey.
But this was evidently not the case, for on my way home I saw, and
heard, the same manoeuvre repeated by a smaller flock of some
twenty birds, which went through exactly the same evolution as
the others, descending in the shape of a wedge, the thin edge down-
wards, with no apparent cause whatever — and maintaining after-
wards the same rapid flight in a south-easterly direction, which I
had observed them taking before. There was certainly no hawk
near them, and I can only conjecture that they did it to avoid, per-
chance some adverse current of wind they were encountering in the
ligher regions of air where they were.

It is not often that any variation in colour takes place in this
species, but I remember coming across a pair of local specimens
which were of a light cream colour ; the light bars on the wings
and the patches round the neck being indistinctly visible through
he light-coloured plumage with which they were surrounded. There
is, fortunately, but little chance of the Woodpigeon ever decreasing
amongst us to any great extent. It is one of our most attractive
sylvan birds ; and no one can listen to its plaintive notes, or watch
in the breeding season soaring upwards in the air, rising with
loud clapping of the wings to a considerable elevation, and then
descending gracefully with out-stretched pinions to its former level,
without eye and ear being captivated by its motions, or yielding
one's self up to those thoughts of peace and contentment, to which
the actions of the bird itself seem so plainly to testify.

Columba JEnas. The next species that comes before our notice is
the C( Stock Dove/' which in this immediate neighbourhood is almost
as numerous as the preceding one, and is very similar to it in many
of its habits, though it can be at once distinguished from it by its
shorter tail, more compact shape, and the absence of the white ring

In the Neighbourhood of Salisbury.

161

on the neck and the white bar on the wing. It leaves us in the
depth of winter, returning early in the spring. One of these birds
was well nigh the origin of my present collection, for on shooting
one out of a large flock of a hundred or more, in the middle of
February, in our water meadows, the beautiful gloss on the neck so
captivated my fancy that I could not help having it preserved, and
I have gone on collecting ever since. I generally have two pairs of
these birds breeding annually in the vicarage garden, choosing for
their nesting place the thick ivy that covers some very large and
fine poplar stems. One of these pairs had certainly three, if not
four, broods during the same season, though from certain untoward
circumstances only two of the broods came to maturity. These
birds are often called, about here, Blue Rocks, which name is more
properly applied to their first cousin, the Rock Dove ; while their
general name Stock Dove is also more or less a misnomer, having
been given to them from a common but mistaken idea that they
were the original source from which our tame Pigeons were des-
cended ; whereas the Rock Dove is undoubtedly their progenitor ;
this species being a truly wild bird, and never mating with any
other kind than its own. Neither can you derive its name duly from
the kind of places it often chooses for nesting purposes, i.e., the
stocks, or bolls of trees, for where such resorts are not at hand, it is
in no way dependent on them, but commonly breeds in the mouths o£
deserted rabbit burrows, or under some thick furze bush on the ground.

It is a quick lively bird in its motions ; clapping its wings to-
gether smartly once or twice when it takes its flight, and doing the
same when it alights. This bird is a very close sitter, allowing
itself at times to be almost lifted from its eggs ; and uttering during
the breeding season a rumbling grunting kind of coo, quite different
from its congener, the Woodpigeon. Common as it is about here,
it would seem to be a bird much overlooked, and unnoticed by many
people.

Columba Livia. "The Rock Dove/'' This is the true parent of our
tame Pigeons, at once to be distinguished from the last-named species
by the patch of white on the upper tail coverts, and the two com-
pleted dark bars across the wing. I have never noticed this bird

1G2 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds

anywhere in our immediate neighbourhood, nor do I think it ever
occurs here; its natural home being more to the northward, where
it breeds in large numbers in the holes and crevices of the cliffs on
the coast. Its place, however, is well supplied by its descendants,
the semi-domesticated Pigeons that lead an Arab and nomad life,
owning no master, and building securely in some carefully-selected
spot that well represents its natural habitat, such as the more ancient
of our belfry towers, or loftier public buildings, where they rear
their young in safety year by year.

As a proof of the fecundity of the tame species, which are des-
cended from the Rock Dove, I remember once having a tame pigeon
of almost precisely the same plumage as the wild sort, which mated
with a carrier ; and these birds brought up thirteeen broods in one
year, the old birds all through the spring sitting on eggs and feeding
the former pair of nestlings at the same time with most laudable
energy, another nest being generally made close to the old one where
the nestlings were. I had various kinds of pigeons at the time,
Carriers, Almond Tumblers, Jacobins, Fantails, and other sorts ; but
this was the only pair that bred in this most extraordinary manner.

Cohimha Turtur. " The Turtle Dove." This is by far the most
beautiful and elegant variety of all our British Doves, with its softly
blended colouring, and delicate mottling on the back. From its
very appearance it declares itself a lover of fair and sunny climes,
only condescending to visit us for about four months in the year,
appearing generally about the beginning of May, seldom before, and
leaving us again at the end of August, or early in September. It
has a short and rapid flight, being of slender proportions, and having
much more pointed wings than any other of the Doves. This bird
is very generally, if not universally, held up as a pattern of conjugal
affection and faithfulness ; an idea which is doubtless strengthened
by its peculiarly plaintive, and soothing notes. Indeed there is no
note of any other bird that strikes one more forcibly with the idea
of loving and peaceful contentment than the voice of the Turtur.
But I have always heard, and very much fear, that this character
after all is but ill-deserved by it, for this species is said to differ
from all the other Pigeons in its attachment to its mate. " The

In the Neighbourhood of Salisbury.

163

males arriving some time before the females, and pairing* only for
the season/' (Meyer.) It is also said to be spiteful and quarrelsome
in the extreme when in captivity, ruling the roast over birds much
stronger or larger than itself, allowing them but little peace, pur-
suing and harrassing them incessantly. Let me, in conclusion,
advise no inexperienced bird-stuffer to select one of these birds on.
which to try his prentice hand, the skin being unusually tender,,
and the feathers loosening themselves from the skin with but little
handling.

Columba Migratoria. "The Passenger Pigeon/'' I am afraid I shall
be considered a bold speculator if I endeavour to claim this species
as having occurred in our more immediate neighbourhood. All I
can say is that Mr. King, of Waiminster, a knowing and experienced
stuffer, assured me that one of these birds was brought to him for
preservation about the year 1862-3. It was in the flesh, and had
no sign of captivity whatever about it. He told me he kept it for
some time without its being enquired after, and then he had sold it.
This must go for what it is worth. But there seems no reason why
it should not more frequently occur in this country than it does,
especially when we remember the amazing rapidity of its flight,
and the countless myriads that throng the American forests, which
would seem to be vast beyond conception, and which is so graphically
described in Wood's Natural History of Birds, from the descriptions
of Wilson and Audubon, pp. 577 — 580. He there records how this
species will fly hundreds of miles for its daily food, pigeons having
" been killed with rice still undigested in their crops, though the
nearest rice plantation was distant several hundred miles."" It is a
curious fact that this species never lays more than one egg ; a pro-
vidential ordering, by which their marvellous numbers are somewhat
held in check.

Phasianid^:.

Phasianus Colchicus. " The Pheasant." Of all birds not strictly
indigenous to our country the Pheasant is the one which may justly
claim to have acclimatised itself the most thoroughly. Uncertain!
as the period is when it was first introduced amongst us, it is now

164 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds

to be found in every corner of almost every county, and that not
simply in a semi-domesticated state, but oft-times in a state of
Nature, in which it is well able to look after itself; and though its
presence amongst us may not be the cause of un-mixed good, yet
most people surely will allow that the good it is the author of far
outweighs the evil. His plumage is pleasant to the eye. His flesh
pleases the palate. His rearing and preservation affords employment
to hundreds of people. His presence is the occasion of many a re-
union of friends. His slaughter, true recreation, and keen pleasure
to scores of sportsmen — not the pleasure, my sentimental friend, of
taking life, but that arising from the manly exercise of keen eye,
and true hand ; and that satisfaction, stigmatise it as you will, which
does accrue from the successful outwitting, through the use o£
reason and intelligence, of the keenly-developed instinct inherent
in the animal creation. Nor must we fail to add to the category of
good which this bird gives rise to, the true gratitude awakened in
the mind of the recipient, when an unexpected brace of Pheasants
is brought to his door, and the genuine' pleasure also experienced by
the unselfish donor. This is a long list of benefits to be mentioned
as accruing from the presence of this noble bird amongst us, and
are all these to be counterbalanced and outweighed by this one
drawback, i.e., that he is sometimes the innocent cause of illustrating
the truth of this homely couplet : —

" He that takes what isn't his'n,
When he's caught must go to prison."

I fail to see it ; and while I should be always a strong advocate for
dealing leniently with the ordinary poacher, from the remembrance
how deeply the innate love of sport is ingrained in the British con-
stitution, and that it is only the accident of birth or wealth that
enables one man lawfully to follow out the passion of his heart,
while the lack of it forbids the other to do so ; yet there can be no
excuse whatever for the organised midnight attack on the preserves,
where far more than the life of bird or animal is at stake, and which
arouses the direst passions of our human nature. A man might just
as well empty his neighbour's poultry yard, as his Pheasant preserve,

In the Neighbourhood of Salisbury.

165

neither of which can be maintained without much care and expendi-
ture, while of the two the Pheasant often costs more per head to
rear and bring" to hand than his more humble relation — and if the
Pheasant should be extirpated from amongst us, from overstrained
notions of philanthrophy, not only would a great delicacy, and
abundant supply of wholesome and nutritious food, be withdrawn,
but also acres upon acres of wood and waste land would be rendered
unprofitable to the owner, while a healthy and legitimate source of
recreation would be also put a stop to. And here, again, it is a common
thing to hear Pheasant shooting decried as a thing requiring but
little skill and practice. But never was there a greater mistake.
It must not be forgotten that, in one way, the larger the game is
that has to be brought to bag, the more accurate must be the
shooting", if you would kill and not merely hit — for you must not only
hit it, but hit it in the right spot — and few things can be more
vexing to the owner of a good cover than to see Pheasant after
Pheasant go off riddled with shot by an inexperienced hand, and yet
not stopped, or killed outright. No ! Let anyone who has never
tried it, be posted at some hot corner, where some score or so of
birds are constantly rising at once, with a noise that is simply
deafening, and if he does not, when placed in such a situation for
the first time, miss with both barrels, it will be very greatly to the
credit of his nerves. There are many combinations required to make
a good Pheasant shot — coolness of nerve, quickness of aim, decision
in at once picking your shot, accurate judging of distance, which
practice, and practice alone, can acquire ; whereas if any one, while
standing in the ride, can knock over some half dozen " Rocketers 33
in succession, going at their best pace, and aided, perchance, with
the wind in their favour, that man may justly claim to be able to
kill a Pheasant as he ought, but scarcely before.

But whether a person be an advocate or not of battue shooting and
big bags (and many a one, methinks, may be induced to speak
against such things partly on account of the sourness of the grapes
which he cannot reach, and partly, perchance, because he has
but little taste for sport, and therefore, if so, is an unqualified
judge of the matter), yet few will be found to deny the pleasure of

16G On the Occurrence of some of the Barer Species of Birds

circumventing some crafty old cock, who has wandered far from his
original domain, and knows full well how to use all the wits with
which Nature has so liberally endowed him. I shall never forget
the pleasure that such an occurrence gave me personally, when, in
the dead of winter, I was Snipe shooting in our water meadows. It
was on a keen cold day, the herbage affording but scant shelter for
any bird, when coming suddenly. to the edge of one of our "carriages "
(as the watercourses are called which " carry 33 the water into the
meadows from the main stream) , I surprised two fine old ring-necks
at their afternoon draught ; and which, separating in grand circles
to the right and left, returned to their mother earth, in a quicker
way than either of them had intended ; though I am bound to say
I missed a third cock bird directly after, from making too sure of
my prize, after my former unexpected luck.

The craft of an old cock Pheasant is really something surprising ;
and if you are unaware of his dodges, he will surely outwit you,
generally making such use of his legs that you find him yards from
the spot where you confidently expected to discover him ; or at other
times flattening himself against the ground in stubble or fallow, so
that you literally walk over him, although from a little distance off
you may have satisfied yourself that you have marked to an inch,
where he is. No ! long may Phasianus Colchicus and his allies, the
Ring-necked and other varieties, find a home in our preserves and
hedgerows, or at times be found paying an unexpected visit to our
farmyards and gardens — as, for example, on the Sunday before last,
when a fine old cock stalked out of my front gates, seeming to depend
on the security the Sunday gave him, and perhaps knowing that he
would have been safe in my domain even on a week-day.

Tetraonid^.

Tetrao Urogallus. " The Capercaillie." Although I cannot by any
ingenuity include this magnificent bird as even an occasional strag-
gler into our neighbourhood (though I see the Rev. A. C. Smith
mentions an instance as having occurred in the parish of Winter-
slow in 1841, which must have been a veritable straggler indeed),
yet I cannot help referring to it from an amusing incident that this

Li the Neighbourhood of Salisbury,

167

bird unwittingly g'ave rise to. I have a very fine old cock bird in
my collection, that came from Scotland about 1865. It weighed
between ten and eleven pounds, and was in its finest breeding
plumage, having' come to its untimely end in the middle of the
May month 9 when I discovered it in the flesh in a well-known bird
staffer's shop in London. There was an old man in my parish who
had spent all his life, and that a long one, in our water meadows,
and who had a keen eye for natural history specimens, always ob-
serving, and telling me of any uncommon bird that he came across.
But a specimen of the Capercaille he had never seen before. Now
my old parishioner had a son, of whom he was very proud, being
one of the first pupil teachers from this district who had entered the
training college at Winchester. His admiration for this pupil teacher
(or, as he called him in his own vernacular, " Bugle-Tatur ") knew
no bounds, and from him, during his vacation, spent under the
paternal roof, he picked up many a word, which was as new to him
as was Tetrao Urog alius himself. These words, of course, he was
accustomed to introduce into his conversation as frequently as pos-
sible, to show, doubtless, how subtil was the leaven of the training
college over all that it came in contact with. One of these words
was " apropos" One day he was looking over my collection, and
when he came before the Capercaillie he stopped in astonishment,
never having seen such a bird before ; and after being silent for
some time, during which be was taking in the bird's general ap-
pearance, and being evidently much struck with the strong curved
beak of the conifer cracker, he touched me on the shoulder, and
with that peculiar twinkle in the eye which tells that a man feels
he is treading on uncertain ground, he said a I should consider. Sir,
that that ere bird was h' apropos to a h' eagle " ; about as bad a shot
as any school-boy could make, who, putting a bold face upon it,
endeavours desperately to flounder through some passage of the
" Satires of Juvenal/' or "The Georgics," which he has never once
looked at, or, as we should say at Winchester, has taken up " ex-
trumps."" The poor old man has gone to his rest, but I never look
at the case without smiling at his mal-apropos suggestion.

Tetrao Tetrix. "The Black Grouse." This bird can far more justly

168 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds

claim a local habitation and a place amongst us than the last-named
species; though at the present time it only occurs as an occasional
visitor. They used to be met with on the downs around Ebbesborne
and Sutton, and also, I believe, on Teffbnt Common and elsewhere.
This is not surprising when we remember that in the adjacent
counties of Hants and Somerset, on either side of us, they are not
infrequent. I have sprung them several times in the New Forest,
round Rufus's stone ; and on one occasion near Verwood I noticed
a fine old cock bird on the bank of the railway, which in no way
showed any fear of the passing train, but held up his head as a bird
who was in no way ashamed of showing himself. On the other side
of us, in Somerset, they are numerous on some of the ranges of
hills. On the Quantocks, ranging from the district of Taunton to
St. Audries on the coast, they are found in considerable numbers.
I remember one day in the woods above Bagborough, when I was
anxious to obtain a good cock of my own shooting for my collection,
I sprung some eight or ten brace of grey hens, mostly single birds,
but only three cocks put in an appearance, and that at such a discreet
distance that I could not secure one, my only chance being at one
that got out of the lower branches of a thick spruce fir, and which
took me so by surprise that I was not quick enough for a snap shot
through the boughs. The old cocks get very cunning, and give
one the slip much in the same way as a cock Pheasant will. The
specimen I have was one out of eight cock birds that had congre-
gated together, as they will, in the early part of December. Mr.
Wyndham, of Dinton, has a good pair of local specimens in his
collection. The cock bird having been killed, to the best of his
belief, on December 15th, 1320, just where the parishes of Ebbes-
borne and Sutton* Mandeville meet; while the grey hen was killed
at Langford on December 5th, 1819. Even now they are oc-
casionally to be met with in their old haunts, as the Rev. T.
Wyndham informs me that a grey hen was killed by Robert
Way, one of his brother's gamekeepers, as recently as November
11th of last year (1880). This bird, no doubt, may have been
a straggler; but it is extraordinary how birds will continually
re-visit their old haunts, led by that unerring instinct which

In the Neighbourhood of Salisbury.

169

causes them to pitch upon the right spot, just as in a still more
extraordinary way the seed of some rare plant will often find out a
patch of soil suited to its growth, though it be severed by many an
intervening mile from the common habitat of its tribe. It is not
uncommon to see hybrids between this bird and the Pheasant, some
of them being handsome specimens. Mr. F. J. Strange, writing to
me on November 7th, 1881, from Fritham, mentions a peculiar
instance of this kind, saying, " There is in the village a bird, a cross
between (I should say) the Black Cock and a common fowl, a very
peculiar bird, and, if so, extraordinarily uncommon," but he does
not mention the peculiar features of this specimen. Occasionally
the hen bird will assume, in a lesser degree, the curved tail of the
cock, just as is similarly observed in mule Pheasants, when the hen
will don, and that sometimes in a very perfect degree, the more
gorgeous colouring of the cock bird.

Tetrao Scotictis. "The Red Grouse." We come now to a bird, the
Red Grouse, in whom every Briton should take a lively interest, in-
asmuch as he is a " Briton of the Britons/'' and has never been known
to wander from his native shores. It is a very noteworthy thing
that this bird is purely British, and is found nowhere else in the
world except within the range of our own islands. Truly he sets us
a good example of staying at home and minding our own business.
He practically reads us the same lesson as " Gaarge Ridler and his
Dog," as exemplified in the following verse of that old west-country
song, known well, doubtless, by all my readers, but which, however,
I will quote for the edification of anyone who may not have come
across it : —

"Droo' all the world, owld Gaarge would bwoast,
Commend me to merry owld England mwoast,
While vools gwoes scamblin' vur and nigh
We bides at whoam, my dog and I."

For, although " Tetrao Scotictis " favours Wales, Scotland, and
Ireland, as well as England, and so extends his peregrinations rather
beyond our above-named friends, yet he shows a wholesome appre-
ciation of his native shores, beyond which he takes no interest.
This species has just occurred often enough in Wilts to include it

170 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds

in our county list. Among- other instances, Mr. E. Baker, of Mere,
informs me that one of these birds was killed at West Knoyle, on a
farm in the occupation of Mr. J. Romsey. It was shot by a party
of sportsmen while out Partridge shooting, in 1848, and was sent
to Sir Hugh Hoare, at Stourton.

These birds, though infinitely more numerous "than the Black
Game, are, unlike it, monogamous, neither are they ever known to
perch or roost in trees, as the Black Grouse does. The numbers
that are annually killed are something enormous, and the prices
given for a Grouse moor become higher and higher as time goes on.
In fact the presence of this bird turns land which would be otherwise
utterly worthless into a substantial source of income. Now that all
vermin is so narrowly looked after, the way the Red Grouse increases
is truly marvellous, and though the price realised for a moor makes
it, perhaps, imperative that the owner should stock it as well as
possible, by keeping down all causes antagonistic to its increase, yet
one would fain see more of some of our birds of prey about than are
now visible, and which, as long as they were not allowed to get too
numerous, would do as much good as harm, by keeping* down the
weak and sickly birds. It has, indeed, been computed that " a
single nest of Peregrines would destroy, in a single season, nearly
three hundred brace of Grouse alone " — truly a startling number,
and one which would seem to justify the preserver in extirpating
it altogether from his moor; while the following extract, as quoted
by Mr. Wood, in his Natural History of Birds, p. 72, also testifies
to the game-destroying propensities of the Peregrine. "Mr. Sinclair/'
he says, "while exercising his dogs on the Belfast mountains, pre-
paratory to Grouse shooting, saw them point, and coming up,
startled a male Peregrine off a Grouse, just killed by him, and very
near the same place came upon the female bird, also upon a Grouse.
Although my friend lifted both the dead birds, the Hawks continued
flying about, and on the remainder of the pack, which lay near,
being sprung, either three or four more Grouse were struck down
by them — thus two-and-a-half or three brace were obtained by
means of these wild birds, being more than had ever been procured
out of a pack of Grouse by my friend's trained Falcons." This

In the Neighbourhood of Salisbury.

171

certainly shows the capabilities of the Peregrine, but still, if the old
mottoe, " Live and let live/' were more the order of the day, I don't
think airy very great or sensible diminution of the Grouse would be
apparent, and there would be a greater chance of seeing oftener
such a grand flight as that mentioned above.

This bird demands a very extensive range of heather for its home,
not remaining satisfied with a partial range, as is the Black Grouse.
It has been tried more than once to introduce them on the Quantock
Hills, in Somerset, but though the range is some miles long, it is
not broad or varied enough for the Red Grouse ; and when imported
there, they very soon re-crossed the Bristol Channel into some of the
Welsh mountains. I was surprised in turn to find that there are
no Black Game on the Welsh Hills round Crickhowell and Aber-
gavenny, where I was staying the past summer, as I should have
thought the situation well suited to their habits.

Syrrhaptes Paradoxus. Pallas's Sand Grouse. I cannot find any
other instance of this rare straggler to our county, except the
specimen mentioned by the Rev. A. C. Smith, which was shot in
the year of their irruption into Europe (1863) , by Mr. Joseph Dean,
of Imber. It was a most extraordinary migration, and the number
altogether killed in this country was something considerable. There
is a most interesting account in Mr. Stevenson's Birds of Norfolk
of their appearance in Norfolk and Suffolk in that year, which
would well repay any ornithologist's reading. Those were naturally
the counties wherein most might be expected to have been secured ;
and he records the total number of specimens obtained in those
counties as being in all seventy-five; thirty males and thirty females
in Norfolk, and eight males and seven females in Suffolk. The
first being picked up dead on Yarmouth beach on May 23rd, the
last, a male, said to have been shot near Lynn, in the last week of
November.

Ferdix Cinerea. " The Partridge." The hird, par excellence, of all
others in a sportsman's eye, as is proved in common sporting parlance
by the usual soubriquet of "Birds " being used to designate them,
instead of the proper name which distinguishes the species, for few
would talk of having bagged so many Partridges, but rather so

VOL. XX. — NO. LIX. N

172 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds

many " Brace of Birds." I am bold to say that this homely little
bird attracts more notice, and affords a more general topic of conver-
sation, year by year, than any other bird, I was going to say, almost
any other thing > in our islands. There is no need to speak at any
length of it, as every lover of Nature has his own store of anecdotes
and bird-lore connected with it, yet I cannot pass over my old
friend altogether without a recognition. This bird is not always
very careful as to the situation it selects for its nest; oftentimes
choosing a place where there is very little probability of its ever
hatching out its young in safety. An instance of this I cannot
help recording. I was once playing in a village cricket match in
the field just in front of the vicarage. Through this field a footpath
runs : and on this occasion it lay between the wickets and the post
usually called " Point/' which was not more than two or three yards
from the pathway. We had not been playing long when the at-
tention of the fieldsman at "Point''' was attracted to a tuft of
rather thicker and darker herbage than the rest (our village grounds,
dear reader, are not, as a rule, quite equal to " Lords 33 or " The
Oval"), and, on stooping down to examine it more closely, he ex-
claimed, " Why, here's a Partridge's nest with seven eggs." This
was latish in the summer, and yet there that nest had remained
undiscovered to that very moment, although then, of course, for a
long time deserted. No passer by had ever seen it, and it was close
by the Church path, constantly used. The mowers had mown over
it without noticing it; the haymakers had made hay over it, and
yet had neither seen nor trodden upon it ; and, more curious still, no
prying Jackdaw or Rook had found it out, or plundered it; and it
was reserved for my friend to discover it in this most unique way —
a way in which I much doubt whether Partridge's nest was ever
found before — i.e., by a fieldsman at " Point " in the midst of a
cricket match.

But though not always over careful about the situation of its
nest, this bird is a very close sitter, and will defend its eggs and
young to the last. Over and over again is the sitting bird killed
by the mowers in the long grass ; whereas, if it is near hatching,
it has often been known to remove its eggs, to the nearest hedge, or

In the Neighbour hood of Salisbury. 173

similar place of safety, in an incredibly short space of time; and if
the young are hatched will entice the intruder away by the most
cunningly practised devices. Most people, I dare say, have seen
an instance of this, and how the parent bird will shuffle and tumble
about upon the ground, as though it had not a leg to stand upon,
or rather a wing to fly with — a manoeuvre, however, which is com-
mon to many other birds, and one which I myself have seen practised
most craftily by the Plover, Wild Duck, Land Rail, and also by the
little black-headed or Heed Bunting, and that quite as cleverly as
by the Partridge. Indeed the lictle Bunting almost effected its
purpose. I was at the time hunting for its nest in an osier bed (as
my boys wanted some eggs of this species for their collection), when
out flew this little bird from the very osier stump over which I was
bending, and began to tumble about on the ground in such a comical
manner that I could not help following it for a yard or two, and had
much difficulty to find the nest again, which was so deeply embedded
in the stump that I never should have found it at all had it not been
for the antics that the bird played.

I had an interesting anecdote of the maternal instinct of the
Partridge related to me the other day. The Rev. R. S. Woodyates,
Vicar of Pembury, Tunbridge Wells, wrote to me thus : — (i An in-
cident of instinct in Partridges, I saw the other day. A brood was
caught in the mowing grass, and placed in a coop under a Bantam
hen, some distance from where they were found, and in a garden.
The old birds came fearlessly and took away each of the nine birds
in the brood, by laying down flat; the little one mounted the back,
and off flew the old bird. The young one must have dug its feet
into the plumage of the old one's back, and so got a hold.''

Though so bold when affection for their young demands it, these
birds would seem to be of a nervous temperament, and are at times
given over to a kind of panic, which seemingly destroys their powers
of self-preservation. A whole covey a little time ago settled in one
of the streets of the suburbs of Salisbury, and allowed themselves
to be caught one after another, being apparently paralysed by the
strangeness of their position ; and not long after I myself saw one
captured on the line, by the porters, in the middle of the Salisbury

N %

174 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds

Station. It bad nothing the matter with it, but ran right down I
the line into the middle of the station, as though it were impelled I
to its fate, never attempting to use its wings ; and so it continued
running backwards and forwards on the line just under the platform
until it was caught and pocketed. It is astonishing at times how
many of these birds are killed by the telegraph wires at the side of
our railways, especially when first newly-erected ; though in time
they seem to become aware of the danger, and avoid it. I was I
told by the late Mr. Norwood, one of the officials on the South 1 1
Western line, that a man who had charge of six miles of line be- J j
tween Porton and Grateley picked up no fewer than eighty-four I
Partridges killed in this way on his part of the line during the first I ]
year after the wires had been erected, though in succeeding years j
there were only one or two occasionally found. This seems a I
large number, but the narrator assured me he spoke from personal
knowledge of the facts, and I had no reason whatever to doubt his
assertion.

At times very rare birds are found killed in this way. Not long
ago a friend of mine brought me the wing of a bird he had picked
up on the line, which had evidently been thus severed by the bird
flying against the wires, and which he could not distinguish. It
proved to be the wing of a " Spotted Crake," which — although I j
expect commoner than is generally thought — is by no means of J
frequent occurrence amongst us. I once shot a very peculiarly- I
marked Partridge, which I have always regretted was not preserved, [ |
as I have never seen one like it since. The back was a very dark
mottled brown, not unlike the plumage of some Red Grouse, while
all the under parts were almost of a creamy white, affording a j
wonderfully strong contrast. It was a hen bird, without the horse-
shoe. Pied varieties of this bird, or white ones, are not infrequently
met with. i

Perdix Rtfa. " The French or Red-legged Partridge." If hand- j
some plumage and superior size were the chief qualities to be re- I
garded our friend "The Frenchman" would certainly take precedence j
of his English relative. But these things pale before the greater
and more essential qualities in a game bird of good flavour to the

✓

In the Neighbourhood of Salisbury. 175

palate, and sport in the field — our English Partridge must certainly
be awarded the prize in both the two last-named points ; and if one
of the two species had to be expatriated the French bird would
certainly be the one to be sent into exile. Indeed many a sportsman
has regretted its introduction from across the Channel, and has
done his best to exterminate them from off his property. The great
drawback in connection with this bird is its well-known habit of
running before the dogs or beaters, topping the further hedge of
the field almost as soon as you are in it yourself, and by its restless-
ness disturbing other birds as well. Notwithstanding, the plumage
of this species is so exceedingly pleasing, that one cannot help being
glad that it has become domesticated amongst us. They are in no
way numerous in this district ; in fact it is rather an unusual thing
to meet with them, though a pair crop up here and there in un-
expected places. There was a pair seen in the parish in 1876, one
of which was killed, but this is the only instance of its occurring
here, as far as I am aware of, for the last thirteen years since I have
been here. There was another killed during the same year in the
neighbourhood of Warminster ; though there also they are but little
known. A single bird was caught at Mere, in the yard of the Ship
Inn, by Mr. J. Coward, on April 11th, 1874, having apparently
taken refuge there from a Hawk ; but the cases of its occurrence-
round here seem isolated and infrequent. A year or two ago the
keepers were driving in the game into the Clarendon Woods, pre-
vious to a day's shooting, and a pair of these birds commenced
running before the beaters, as run they will, until they were run
down, and caught alive. It was a drenching day, and their plumage
apparently got so soaked that at last they lost the opportunity of
using their wings at all, one stretch of which might have landed
them in safety, thus affording an illustration of the old adage : — ■

" He that will not when he may,
When he will he shall have na}*","

for at last they could not rise, and are now perpetuated in the-
keeper's cottage. A curious incident connected with these birds-
occurred near Bath not long ago. A few years back my brother
was shooting at Holt, near Bradford, when he sprang an old cock

170 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds

bird by the side of some standing* barley, and killed it. This was
on September 9th, 1874. He saw no more of the kind for the next
five or six years, when on September 20th, 1880, he shot a hen — a
solitary bird — in the very same field where he had killed the cock
six years before. Should this have been a pair, (and from the cir-
cumstance of finding them in the very same field, and although
shooting over the same ground regularly year by year, from never
seeing or hearing of any other instances of the occurrence of the
species, it would certainly appear to have been the case,) it shows
how tenaciously at times birds will stick to the spot that they have
once chosen as their home, notwithstanding many an adverse cir-
cumstance. The eggs of these birds are considerably larger than
those of the common Partridge, and are freckled and mottled with a
dull red colour. They differ also from the English bird in their
arboreal habits, often flying up into trees, or perching occasionally
on the hedge-row, or the corn stack, in which latter place they
not infrequently make their nests.

Perdix Virginiana. " The Virginian Partridge," or " Colin."
This also is an imported species, but one which apparently cannot
hold its own amongst us as well as the last-named species, the " Red-
Leg," can, and when turned down is apt to wander far from its
intended home, and thus gets slaughtered inadvertently. In the
season of 1875-6 Mr. W. Hart informs me that he came across
sundry specimens of this bird in the neighbourhood of Christ-
church. There was a covey of fourteen of them, besides two or
three single birds. He killed three single birds whilst out Partridge
shooting, and has them now in his collection. I have not heard of
any others nearer home than that, and doubtless those mentioned
must have been turned down in the neighbourhood at some previous
period, though the covey bears testimony to their having bred in
the wild state, and that most successfully. Meyer mentions, I see,
that this bird differs from other cognate species by building a nest
for the receptiou of the eggs, in shape resembling that of a Willow
Wren with a hood to it, and that the eggs are ten or twelve in
number, which accurately corresponds with the number of the covey
above-mentioned.

In the Neighbourhood of Salisbury.

177

Perdiv Coturn'hv. " The Quail." This pretty little bird is not
anything like so numerous with us as it used to be some years back.
In fact it adds considerably to the excitement of a day's Partridge
shooting when a bevy of these little stragglers can be found. I
have shot them at New Farm, in the parish of Stratford Tony, near
here, and have also seen them at West Harnham, close to Salisbury ;
and 1 have no doubt that they are more frequent than is generally
supposed, as, owing to their skulking habits, they are very hard to
rise, and when risen are so small that some people might not notice
them. I have also killed them at Marshfield, just outside this
county on the borders of Gloucestershire, and have also met with
them at Holt, near Bradford, where my brother killed several when
I was out with him. On this occasion it was extraordinary the
difficulty we had in rising them. We knew that they were in a
certain stubble field, and that not a large one, and therefore tried it
very closely ; but we certainly should not have seen anything of
them on that day had we not known their whereabouts, and been
determined to find them. They are sometimes met with very late
in this country, and it would seem to be a question whether some
of them may not possibly stay with us now and then through the
winter. But more probably, perhaps, they are but hapless indi-
viduals, which may have been slightly wounded during the previous
season, or some that, having been hatched out later than usual, were
not strong enough at the normal time of migration to set forth on
their arduous journey. On one occasion, not long ago, in our parish,
Mr. F. M. E. Jervoise told me he had sprung a Quail in the middle
of the December month, while I have a note by me that another
was killed on Christmas Day, at Mere, by Mr. James Jesse, as
communicated to me by Mr. E. Baker, of that place. I have heard
also of several other instances of this bird having been observed in
this neighbourhood as late as December ; on one occasion several
being seen at the same time. This bird cannot but be surrounded
with unusual interest to all readers when they remember the inspired
testimony we have as to the enormous numbers in which they appeared
in the peninsula of Sinai in the time of the Israelites, " He rained
flesh upon them as thick as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand

178 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds

of the sea " — a testimony which, if it needed any corroboration,
could find it still in the inexhaustible multitudes which are seen at
times in the south of Europe and other places around the Mediterra-
nean coast. Their egg is very prettily mottled, and very similar
to that of the Spotted Crake, the latter only having* rather larger
splotches upon it, and not being quite so rounded at the upper end.

STRUTHIONIDiE.

Otis Tarda. " The Great Bustard/' Had I been writing this
paper but a few years previously to the present time, it must have
consisted only of past reminiscences and bygone memories, as far as
the Bustard was concerned, with an apparently useless regret that
our celebrated " Plain 99 was to know it no more, although once it had
been one of this noble bird's chief strongholds amongst us. But
more recently, as most of my readers will be aware, the Great
Bustard has once more re-visited its old haunts on Salisbury Plain,
and has also been procured during the winter of 1879-80 from no
less than seven different places within the range of our islands.

As is well known through tradition, Salisbury Plain was one o£
the strongholds of this bird in former years : the large, open
undulating reaches of down, varied with patches at that day, of
cultivated land, affording it exactly the kind of haunt necessary to
its existence ; the very grandeur of the appearance of the bird
declaring that it cannot brook to be "cribbed, cabined, and confined''''
within enclosures, however spacious, which, besides being distasteful
to it in themselves, afford that vantage ground to its enemies to
creep upon it unobserved, of which it would seem intuitively afraid.
Of late years, indeed by the present generation you may say, the
Bustard has been looked upon as an extinct local species, surviving
amongst us only by tradition — as exemplified, for instance, in the
sign of the inn, in the middle of the plain, which bore a Bustard
on its escutcheon, thus testifying to its quondam frequency amongst
us — or as having been seen by one or two octogenarians possibly
still living, who having had an ornithological taste early developed
within them, might by some remote chance have actually remembered,
as boys, having once themselves caught sight of the great bird,

In the Neighbourhood of Salisbury.

179

which, even then, was too notable a thing* to allow it to pass by
uncom mem orated. But even this source of testimony would very
soon (if it has not already) passed away, while in turn we should
have been dependent only on the memories of those who, not being*
eye-witnesses themselves, were still able to speak of the records of
the occurrence of the Bustard, as detailed to them by their fathers,
or fathers' fathers. Of such memories the following* instances would
have then been our only source of information. The Rev. T,
Wyndham, in a letter received on the 10th instant, says, "In an
entry in my grandfather's game book, dated 1801, he speaks of
seeing a hen Bustard for the first time on the wing*, whilst riding*
to Upavon. This my brother (W. Wyndham, Esq., of Dinton
House) thinks will be of interest to you." Again, Mr. John
Waters, of Salisbury, kindly writes me, "I well remember having*
heard my father say, on many occasions, that his elder brother, Mr.
John Waters, who, somewhere about 1803, 1804, was living* at and
renting* Normanton Farm, some two miles this [or, the Salisbury]
side of Amesbury, in the valley, killed from a cart the last of the
Bustards seen about at that date. I have also a recollection of
hearing that there were several killed about and previous to that
date." This bird was sent to the then owner of the Amesbury
estate — the Duke of Queensberry — who, it would appear, could
not have been a very ardent ornithologist, as the sender never
even received any thanks for it, and it must be left to the reader's
imagination to decide whether His Grace's memory or ornithological
taste was in fault. This would seem to have been, as far as I can
ascertain, the last Bustard recorded as having been seen on our
plain during that generation.

We must not, however, imagine that this was veritably the last
of the Mohicans that still found refuge in our inhospitable island.
Long after 1804, Norfolk and Suffolk were strongholds of the
Bustard. About the year 1812, as recorded by Mr. Stevenson, in
his " Birds of Norfolk," there was a fine drove of some forty birds
in that county, while for nearly two decades still further on there
were two recognised droves that frequented stated parts in the two
counties, consisting of eighteen or a score each, which manfully held

ISO On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds

their own for a considerable period ; though year by year growing
still beautifully less, until in 1832 the last specimen is recorded in
Suffolk, while in the sister county they lingered on certainly until
18-38 — while indistinct rumours asserted that one had been seen,
now in this place, and now in that, as late as the year 1813, or even
1845. In fact, in 1833 five egg's — two pairs and a single one — had
been taken on Massingham Heath, from the belief that they would
prove barren, as all the remaining birds in the drove had for some
time been observed to be females only. From that time, however
(1845), for a long stretch of years the list would seem to have been
as blank in Norfolk, as that referring to our own plain in Wilts.

After having premised thus much, therefore, imagine my surprise
on receiving a kind note from Mr. Henry Blackmore, late of this
city, during January, 1871, asking me to lunch with him on a
certain day, as he thought, being interested in birds, I should like
to say that I had partaken of a Salisbury Bustard; for that a female
bird had been killed on January 23rd, the skin of which had been
sent for preservation to King, of Warminster, while the body would
be sent up to table on the appointed day. I need not say I gladly
accepted the invitation, and am able to plume myself on having
done, what few of my cotemporaries have had a chance of doing,
i.e., dined off a Salisbury Bustard.

The capture of this bird was recorded thus in our local journal :
" A Great Bustard was shot on Monday last on the Maddington
Manor Farm, by a bird-keeper named Stephen Smith, in the em-
ployment of Mr. E. Lywood. The gun was loaded with a ' marble/
and the shot was a long one — 132 yards. The bird, which was in
company with two [?] others, had its wing broken, and fell in an
oblique direction with great violence to the ground a distance of
about 20 yards. One of the survivors shortly afterwards wheeled
round the spot, passing within 15 yards of Smith, evidently looking
for its companion. Mr. Lywood brought the bird to Salisbury
on Tuesday last, and very kindly presented it to the Salisbury and
South Wilts Museum; it is a female weighing seven- and-a-quarter
pounds only. The crop was quite empty, and the bird was not in
good condition, although in excellent plumage. It measures 31in.

In the fifeigkhourhood of Salisbury.

181

from the beak to the end of the tail, and 6£in. from tip to tip of
the wings.""

This bird would appear to have been one of a small drove of eight,
which had some weeks previously appeared in Devonshire, and which,
when it had arrived on our plain, had dwindled down to four. Two
out of the four that had thus previously disappeared had been shot
in the counties further west, and came into the possession of the
Rev. Murray Matthews, then Vicar of Bishop's Lydeard, and of Mr.
Cecil Smith, the squire of the same parish, both of whom have large
and very perfect collections of our British birds. There were now
three birds still remaining, one of which, for certain, was a cock
bird ; and this bird soon shared the same fate as its predecessors, as
on the Thursday following the slaughter of the hen, a cock bird was
killed with a bullet on Mr. Pinckney's ground at Berwick St James.
The birds were then exceedingly wary, and the only way by which
they could be approached was by forming four or five different
parties, and drawing in upon them simultaneously in a large circle.
This bird weighed fifteen pounds, and measured 7ft. 2in. in expanse
of wing, and 3ft. 4in. from beak to tail. This, again, was but a
little weight for a male Bustard, for sometimes under favourable
circumstances, they reach a very large size — the Rev. A. C. Smith,
of Yatesbury, for instance, having a remarkably fine specimen in
his collection, which came from Portugal, and which weighed no less
than thirty pounds and a-half.

The pair of birds which were thus eventually left out of this
persecuted drove were never shot ; and there was an effort made on
the part of some to respite them from the untimely end of their
comrades, as is evidenced by the following letter, which was ad-
dressed to the editor of our local journal, " A Plea for the Bustards."
" Sir — may I request your valuable assistance by inserting a plea for
the lives of the beautiful pair of Bustards which are still walking
over the lands of this and the parishes adjoining, as doubtless they,
would breed, the close time being so very near, and thus pleasantly
add to the unexpected novelty of their re- appearance in our gene-
ration." They soon, however, disappeared from amongst us, and as
far as I know were traced no further. There was a rumour of a

183 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds

pair of Bustards having1 been once more seen on the plain in 1877, a
declaration to that effect having appeared in the Field, and been copied
from thence into our local journal. But proof was wanting, I believe,
to substantiate the assertion, although of course there is no reason
why the report may not have been true. But as few lovers of birds,
perhaps, ever cross our plain without thinking of the Bustard,
and doubtless also longing to see them once more in their old haunts,
it is quite possible that the wish may at times become father to the
thought, and birds of lesser celebrity, as seen through the distorted
mirage of fond imagination, assume the more portly carriage and
proportions of this stately bird.

Since that date, however, there have been seven or eight undoubted
occurrences of the Great Bustard within the range of our own islands,
a list of which has been kindly forwarded to me by Mr. W. Hart.
On December 5th, 1879, one at Woodham Ferres, Essex; December
8th, two specimens at St. Clement, J ersey ; December — in the
same month, one in Bomney Marsh, Kent ; 1880, one at Great
Chard, near Ashford ; January 10th, one on Cranborne Downs,
Dorset; January — ■ in the same month one from Wye; February
6th, one at West Wickham, Cambridgeshire.

This finishes the notices I have been able to gather concerning
this, the grandest of all our British game birds. Would that there
was once more a chance of their staying and breeding with us. Of
this, however, there would seem to be but little hope, as the increase
of population and of agriculture leave them now but few spots where
such a thing would be practicable ; while their size renders their
escaping notice next to an impossibility. There are now two pairs
of these grand birds in our Salisbury and South Wilts Museum,
one pair coming from Yorkshire, killed in 1825, and the pair from
our own plain, procured as above-stated, in 1871.

Otis Tetrax. "The Little Bustard/'' This is quite a rare bird
amongst us, never having been known to breed with us as the last
species, and only appearing as a straggler late in the autumn or
during the winter months — a male in summer plumage never having
been killed, as I believe, in our islands. On coming to talk of local
occurrences of this bird in our neighbourhood, I have but little to

In the Neighbourhood of Salisbury.

183

communicate. The following notice, however, was kindly sent to
me from the local paper, and if it could have been duly substantiated
might have enabled us to claim it as a county visitor. The paragraph
referred to was the following, which I have still by me : — "Bustards
on Salisbury Plain/'' " Sir — riding on the old drift-way which leads
from Salisbury to Everleigh, when near the latter place, at the back
of Sidbuiy Hill, on the open down, I came suddenly on a pair of
Bustards. I know the birds perfectly, having seen them on the
plains near Casa Viechen, half way between Cadiz and Gibraltar, in
the South of Spain. There are two sorts, the Greater and Lesser.
It was a pair of the Lesser Bustards I saw this day. Meeting an
old man shortly after, I enquired if he had ever seen such a thing.
His answer was, ' I am seventy-two, and never have, but I have
heard my father speak of them as having been quite common in his
youth/ I hope no sportsman or naturalist will think it necessary
to shoot them, as they may breed. Yours, &c, Viator. April 4th^
1867/' I am much afraid, however, this account carries in itself
its own condemnation. First of all I cannot hear of any instance of
this bird occurring so late as April 4th in our islands, just before
the breeding time : almost all the specimens being procured between
the end of October and beginning of February. Though I have
noticed one mentioned as having been shot as late as March 4th.
But there is certainly a jumble made in " Viator's " account between
the Greater and Lesser varieties — or, if not in his own mind, most
certainly in the old man's, whom he is represented as interrogating.
This old man of seventy-two declares that he had heard his father
say that they "were common in his youth/' Undoubtedly the
Great Bustard was ; but the Little Bustard as certainly was not ;
and the old man's assertion clearly referred to Otis Tarda, and not to
Otis Telrax. " Viator 33 certainly, from his pronounced experience,
ought not to have been mistaken, but we cannot help remembering
the presence on the plain of the Stone Curlew, or Norfolk Plover,
a fine bird in itself, and something of the same tint in general
plumage as the Little Bustard, and which by an uninitiated eye, or ex-
citable imagination, might be mistaken occasionally for the rarer bird.
However the paragraph is too interesting to be omitted,, such as it is.

184 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds

On coming to authenticated instances Mr. W. Hart informs me
that a Little Bustard was killed some years ago at Heron Court, in
a turnip or swede field ; and that it is now in Lord Malmesbury's
collection — while there was another specimen procured from Fossie
Common, Winforth, in Dorsetshire, on December 26th, 1853. These
are the only two instances he knows of as having occurred anywhere
in our neighbourhood.

With this bird we come to an end of the Rasores, or Game Birds ;
and I must warn my kind readers that if their interest in ornithology
is sufficient to cause them to peruse another paper of this series,
they must be prepared to " wade " with me deeper into the waters of
ornithology, and associate themselves with the " Grallatores," which
come next in order. I must also ask the reader not to criticise this,
or any other of these papers, with too captious or scientific an eye,
inasmuch as the writer is neither a professor of ornithology nor a
scientific naturalist, but only one who takes a supreme interest in
the " Fowls of the air/' and to whom it is a real pleasure to turn
from severer studies, however tired he may be, and spend a half-hour
amongst his feathered friends. The object of these papers, therefore,
is not so much to describe accurately the bird itself, nor to dive too
deeply into its ways or habitat • but simply to jot down whatever
occurences can be discovered, that others also may keep their eyes
open, and their ears attentive, to ornithological news, of which there
is always so much more to be picked up than is generally thought,
if only a pertinent question is now and then put. And further, to
describe what has interested the writer himself, in the hopes that it
may possibly interest others also. And I may say in conclusion
that I shall be always grateful for any bird news that anyone may
be able to send me, and still more for any specimen out of the
common, which the possessor for the time being may not know what
to do with, and such as is often thrown away, from not knowing
what to do with it, or where to send it. If a rare bird is shot, and
generally it would be far better to leave it unharmed, it is a thousand
pities not to perpetuate it in some collection, and so let it tell its
own tale — whereas, to kill it first, and then throw it on one side, is
acting but like the thoughtless schoolboy, who, attracted by the

Some Account of the Parish of Monkton Farleigh. 185

g'orgeous colouring of the butterfly, eagerly pursues it, and when
caught, idty treads it under foot. Nay ! kind reader, although man
has doubtless been made lord of all God's works, and so is justified
in freely using the inferior creation in any way that may either
tend to his lawful profit, or minister harmlessly to his recreation, yet
all must feel there is a point at which his licence must stop, and that
point surely is the taking away, without due cause, the life he can
never restore.

Arthur P. Morres.

Britford Vicarage,
December 1st, 1881.

jiome Recount of % |1;msl] of |jMtott

By Sie Charles Hobhouse, Bart.
( Continued from page 106 .)

CHAPTER VI.
Ecclesiastical History.

^PpjSUR living is a rectory, and partly from a paper collated from
ggWa the Wilts Institutions, and partly from a careful search o£
the registers I have put together a list of our rectors and of the
patrons of the living. Appendix B. a.

Up to A.D. 133-1 there are no presentations recorded, although
the Church was certainly in existence in 1291, but practically from
that year to 1533 the patronage was with the Priors of Farleigh,
and thereafter with the see of Salisbury. There were interregnums
—viz., 1334 to 1348 and 1639 to 1(360— when the King, or (1660)
the Commonwealth, presented, but these were accidents. Circa-
1334, William Falshaw, the Prior of Farleigh, deserted his post,

186 Some Account of the ParisJi of MonMon Farleigh.

and then the King* — not unwillingly no doubt — presented. Again,
John Davenant, Bishop of Salisbury 1621 — 41, incurred the Court's
displeasure,1 and so, perhaps on that account, the King* again pre-
sented.

But practically the patronage has not varied and we were and are
a Church presentation. As little, too, has our glebe varied. In the
Taxatio Ecclesiastica of Pope Nicholas (A.D. 1291) Appendix C,
the assessment only is mentioned. That was £5, and the tenth was
10,?. But temp. Edward III., c. 1372, the jurors gave a more par-
ticular valuation. It runs thus : —

9th of corn, wool, and lambs of the ecclesiastical

parish, due to the King 53/3

And ditto ditto Prior de Farlega ditto 13/

Rector's messuage and garden 26/-

And 26 acres of land and pasture, valued at 26/8
Tenth of the milk, ferri, lini, canabis, casei lactis,

&C., valued at 20/-

Total £6 18 11

In the Valor Ecclesiasticus of Henry VIII. (1533) : —
John Davys, rector, the gross valuation was £8 12
Less annual pension to the Prior of Farle 1/-
Less archidiaconal dues 9/11=0 10 11

Net value £7 10 3

At the tithe commutation, 22nd February, 1847 : —

A. R. p.

The acreage of the parish is found to be 1810 2 20
Less demesne, exempted from tithes by pre-
scription, as held under the Bishop 1034 1 25

776 0 35

Less glebe, when in occupation of the Rector 25 3 10

And the acreage liable to tithes is 750 1 25

Jones, Fasti Ecclesise, p. 112.

By Sir Charles Ilohliouse, Bart.

187

So, though the lands themselves have, I believe, been chopped
about, yet the glebe acreage in 1881 is to a fraction what it was in
137:2, or five hundred years ago.

The tithe rent charge is assessed at £192 per annum, inclusive of
£7 assessed on the glebe, but receiving an addition of £10 per annum
from the occupant of the manor house and estate, and the usual
corn averages.

The land liable to tithe rent charge is :—

A. R. p.

Arable land 356 3 7

Homesteads, gardens, and orchards 23 1 6

Woodland 25 3 26

Pasture land 354 1 26

Acres 760 1 25

The Parish Registers.
They commence thus : — " The Book of Weddings and Baptisms
and Burials of ye Parish of Monkton Farley made in ye year of our
Lord God 1570 and day of August by John Williams Hector

eidem."

The following analysis represents their value and condition, but
not the omissions and losses, which must, I am convinced, have
been much more considerable than would appear : —

1570 — 1608. Well- written. One handwriting, perhaps Parson
Bragge, and partly at least copied in all at once.

1608 — 41. Generally ill- written, probably by the churchwardens,
John Butler and Walter Grant; with an entry, "Good reader,
pardon."

1641 — 53. Well- written by Parson Allambrigge.
1653—67. With difficulty deciphered.

1677 — 1788. Well-written and well kept as to baptisms and
weddings, but burials deficient. Parchment disused for a time
after 1699.

1780—81. Well kept and written.

There are various entries in these registers, not strictly proper to

VOL. XX. — NO. LIX. 0

188 Some Account of the Parish of Monkton Farleigh,

the subjects of them, which it may yet be interesting1 or amusing to
record : —

"Memorandum. In the year of our Lord 1626. John Walter and William
Baker, Churchwardens for the said year, did place in the second seat of the south
side of the Church of Mounkton-Farleigh the wife of the said John Walter and
gave sixpence to the Church. Item they placed in the said seat the wife of
Eobert Baker and she gave sixpence."

Then follow the solemn witness and signs of the two churchwardens.

Here evidently the two dames had had a quarrel for precedence,
and we can readily picture the stately manner in which on that
Sunday in 1626 it must have been solemnly adjusted.

Parsons Bridges, Allambrigge, Medlicott and Gunner record their

several inductions, and that by Allambrigge is as follows : —

" Memorandum. That at the time of my induction, John Butler the elder
being then (and many years after in the time of troubles) [he was inducted Jan.
30th. 1641] Churchwarden, kept on paper a register of Christenings, Burialls and
Weddings, the parchment book being full ; which papers since his death can not
yet be found ; I therefore (no Churchwarden taking care or notice) begin from
the said Butler's death ; what is lost ego nescio nec ego euro it being ever the
Churchwarden's office."

So up to this time it had been the Churchwarden's office to keep
up the registers, and it was only because no churchwarden cared to
prevent him that the parson undertook the duty.

He kept his registers well, too, but there must ever have been a
spice of the " non ego euro 39 in his disposition, for he could not
resist the following entry : —

"March 7th, 1656. Christopher Morris his Cocke was killed by John Allam-
brigge his Cocke."

Then occur some apparently charitable donations : —

" 1664. Given to the Breife for the City of Oxford 1/- and to the Inhabitants
of the Parish of St. Dunstanes, West London 6d, and to the Briefe
for Fordingbridge in the County of Southampton 1/2, and paid 1/-
to the Bailiff of the same Towne."

And, to come down to modern times, we have this entry, August
21st, 1830

" Eeceived by the hand of Thomas Gardiner one penny as a fine for permission
to pass through the Eectory field to the Churchyard, paid by Captain Long at
the funeral of his son, D. W. E. Long."

By Sir Charles Hobhouse, Bart. 189

I am at a loss to know why Captain Long should have desired to
pass through this field, but the fine was no doubt paid to save the
right of way whenever a funeral had passed unchallenged.

The first marriage by licence is that of Edward Seymour, in 1716,
and between that year and 1752 there are no less than twenty-seven
such marriages, and they then cease until quite recent times.

In 1724 begins a series of marriages by certificate. Between that
year and 1753 there are no less than twenty-nine such marriages,
and then they cease. They are always between non-parishioners.

From 1701 to 1710, and again from 1720 to 1736, there are a
great number of marriages between non-parishioners and from
neighbouring parishes. Is there any connection between this fact
and the tax on marriages imposed in 1695 ?

In 1592 I find a marriage thus curiously attested : —

" Witness. John Butler Ms hands and God's. Amen."

In the matter of deaths and burials there are only two deaths
recorded as the effects of accident. The age is seldom recorded
until quite in modern times. From the year 1813 to 1829 in one
out of every eight deaths the age exceeded eighty years. In 1795
as many as twenty deaths are mentioned, and amongst these the
deaths of no less than four of the children of R. Holland, curate.
In 1832 are recorded five deaths from Asiatic cholera. In 1697 is
mentioned the burial of one Bollen " amongst the Quakers." This
is the first note of dissent, and I am happy to be able to add that
it was also the last, for although there are evidences of the existence
of Quaker families amongst us, yet they did not remain, nor is there
any trace of any edifice of worship save the Parish Church. We
have a few Dissenters with us now, but they attend the Church
and send their children to the school.

During 1683-88-90-95-96 many persons are "buried in woolling."
This of course refers to the period (1677) when British woollens
were prohibited in France, and when, consequently (29th Charles
II., 1678) all persons were obliged to be buried in woollen under a
penalty of £50. So conservative is our retired community that the
custom still lingers in the burying in flannel of all persons in a
sufficiently good position.

o 2

190 Some Account of the Parish of Monition Farleigh.

There are only five adult and one private baptisms recorded. In
1786-87-88-91-92 baptismal entries marked with a cross are noted
as "exempt from the tax/' on the ground that the parents were
receiving1 relief from the parish. So we evidently passed through
that evil time when baptismal fees were the rule. The entries of
" Base-born, spurious or illegitimate'''' children commence in 1651
and close in 1831. They are fifty-four within the one hundred and
eighty years. The custom was apparently to baptise under any
circumstances, so I imagine that these figures fairly represent our
moral character in this respect, but I note that in one series of years,
when there was no resident rector, the evil was peculiarly rampant,
and thus much of our immorality had no doubt its root in the neglect
of spiritual oversight.

The analysis of Christian names is, in a small way, quite a history
in itself. The earliest names, both of men and women, are pure
Norman or Saxon: — Chrystopher, Edward, Giles, Henry, John,
Perigord, Robert, Richard, Thomas, William, Walter, or Alice, Agnes,
A vice, Bridget, Cybil, Gyllyan, Joan, Maude, Margaret, Marion, and
so on. Then certain names only come in with the Sovereigns, as
Charles (1656), and Elizabeth (1585), and Mary 1578). Then
comes a flood of old Scripture names with the Commonwealth : —
Abigail, Deborah, Dinah, Esther, Hannah, Judith, Kezia, Leah,
Miriam, Ruth, Rebecca, Rachel, or Abraham, Aaron, Benjamin,
David, Daniel, Ephraim, Enoch, Elisha, Jacob, Joshua, Joseph,
Jonathan, Joel, Jeremiah, Isaac, Mary, Mordecai, Obadiah, Solomon,
Samuel. Interspersed are the Quaker names of Timothy, Betty,
Joyce, Martha, Prudence, Pleasant, Patience, and so on. Later on
are the Charlottes and Georges of Hanover, and occasioaally are
names in honor of the manor house — as the Anna-Maria of the
Somersets.

The surnames over a period of three hundred years are compara-
tively few, and amongst them are many like those of the Bolwells,
the Deverells, the Ganes, and the Godwins, where the same family
is lineally traceable throughout, and there is scarcely one family in
the parish now which has not, in name at least, been in the parish
always. I give particulars in Appendix E.

By Sir Charles Hobhouse, Bart.

191

It is to be regretted that the occupations of our parishioners have
so seldom been recorded. From 1700 to 1713, and again from
1781 to the present day, there are such records. The community
in the earlier of these periods was made up principally of farm
laborers, but we had clothiers, weavers, masons, bakers, maltsters,
tailors, shoemakers, carpenters, blacksmiths, a shearer, grocers,
thatch ers, and even a fiddler resident. So we were a community in-
dependent of all the world. We made our own clothes, baked our
own bread, sheared our sheep, brewed our beer, built and thatched
our houses, and fiddled at our village festivals.

But in later times and at the present day it is with difficulty that
we preserve a baker, a carpenter and a blacksmith amongst us for
our most pressing daily necessities, and for every other want we have
to resort to the nearest town. The small trader must always have
a hard time of it, he therefore ends by throwing up or by migrating
to the next town. There the country villager must follow him, and
whilst good roads and cheap railways make it easy for him to do
so, the credit he can obtain by flitting from shop to shop is another
inducement. Here, it seems to me, is one of the reasons for the
marked decrease in the rural populations and the comparatively
marked increase in the populations of the towns.

But " revenons a nos moutons " and from our registers let me
pass to

"Our Church" and Churchyard.

Our Church was re-built under a faculty of date the 30th June,
1843.

The tower, the entrance porch, and the font are parts of the old
structure; the windows in the nave are five in number, and are
exact re-productions of three that before existed ; but the rest of the
building is new. Such ancient architecture as we have in it is
pronounced not later than John, 1199 — 1 21G ; but the doorway to
my mind is earlier, corresponding in its circular ornamentation, its
shafts and capitals with the fragments in existence of our Priory
Church.

The Church is dedicated to St. Peter, and a figure in the east

192 Some Account of the Parish of MonJdon Farleigh.

window, aud the historical old cock on the tower, preserve the
memory of this dedication.

The following was the approximate expenditure on the rebuilding,
viz. : —

£ s. d.

Outer walls and roof 300 0 0

Chancel, desk, and lectern 212 8 0

Seventy-five free seats at the west end 105 0 0

Cost of the faculty 9 9 0

Total £626 17 0

Of this sum the Rev. E. Brown, the Rector, gave £317 8*. 3d.,
and Rector Cozens £20.

In 1874 a series of high family pews still stood in unsightly
contrast with the seventy-five free seats ; the seats in the chancel
were ill-placed and rickety, and the pavement throughout the Church
was old and imperfect.

So a second faculty was obtained. The nave is now furnished
throughout with open seats of oak of an uniform pattern, and the
pavement is of encaustic tiles. The chancel was raised two feet and
the altar one foot higher still. The altar railing of oak, which existed
in 1843, was given away to do duty (as it still does) as staircase
railings in the house of Mr. James Cottle, of Farley- Wick, and was
replaced by an open stone railing. This in its turn was removed in
1874 to the top of the chancel steps.

Stalls of oak have been put up for the choir, and the reading desk
is in the chancel. The pulpit has every appearance of the age assigned
to it, and we may honestly believe in the tradition that Bishop
Jewel preached from it. The inscription is as follows : — u Blessed
are Thay yT heare yE word of God and Keepe it. — Luke, xi., 28."

The gallery was doomed to removal by the faculty, but was re-
prieved for want of means. It is, on the whole a disfigurement and
a nuisance. It takes away all light and air from a number of the
free seats ; it harbours disturbance ; it destroys the fair proportions
of the nave ; and it cuts off the tower as an effective part of the

By Sir Charles Hob7wuse, Bart.

193

Church. Were Bishop Burgess' school room, now used only as a
vestry, thrown into the Church, the gallery might, with every ad-
vantage, be removed.

The expense of the improvements in 1874 was £540, and whilst
Mr. Tooke, the Rector, met the expenditure on the chancel, the
principal parishioners found the balance required.

A board containing the twelve commandments, of date 1616, a
black letter bible, and many hatchments were in existence within
the memory of man, but, so far back as the time of Mr. Powell,
were " non inventi."

The material used throughout the building is the freestone of the
locality, and it is clear from the outward and inward appearance of
this, from the aspect of the ground outside, from what was uncovered
of the vaults in 1874, and from the details of expenditure in 1843,
that the site and foundations have ever been the same, and that the
material is the stone-work of the original Church.

There is a very large proportion of free seats ; and there is a rule,
under the authority of the vestry, that when the bell ceases to toll
all unoccupied seats are free. 1 myself should prefer to see every
seat free — save, it might be, out of courtesy to punctual Church-
goers, and to the necessities of age and infirmities — and I believe
the old adage would still preserve us from inconveniencies : —

" Cloth of gold, be not too nice,
Though thou be match'd with cloth of frieze ;
Cloth of frieze, be not too bold,
Though thou be matched with cloth of gold."

But the lower classes have their pride and their proprieties, and
there is still amongst us some of the leaven of our forefathers, whose
dames had their quarrels of precedence in 1626, as I have before
mentioned.

In times still recorded from hear-say the custom of our Church-
going was very much more dignified than it is now. Instead of
the slip-slop tumbling into and out of Church at any moment,
and without any order or respect, the practice was this : the people
assembled for Church service before and inside the porch ; then
came the rector in his robes, and his dame in her silk apron, and

194 Some Account of the Parish of Monhton Farleigh.

they entered the Church first ; the people made their reverencies
(alas ! the custom has, with the word, almost died out in these
days ! ) stood aside, and followed into the Church ; and so on coming
out.

The east window was put up in memory of the Rev. E. Brown,
rector, who died in 1863. The centre figure is that of St. Mary
Magdalene, and that on the left St. Edward the Confessor. The
origin of such a juxtaposition is said to have been entirely fanciful
and sentimental.

The tunes that used to he played on the barrel-organ are almost
a matter of bygone history, but they are worth recording if only for
the sake of keeping in memory the tunes that our forefathers loved.
They are : —

Barrel 1. Barrel 2.

1. Evening Hymn. 1. Easter Hymn.

2. Portugese, 89. 2. Luther, 139.

3. Somers, 106. 3. Harrow, 149.

4. Sheeland, 25. 4. Staines, 27.

5. Abingdon, 9. 5. Old Hundredth.

6. Sheldon, 13. 6. Sicilian, 43.

7. Devizes, 92. 7. Ashley, 5.

8. Morning Hymn. 8. Mount Ephraim, 67.

In 1553 the King's Commissioners, Sir Anthony Hungerforde,
William Sherrington, and William Wroughton, Knights, gave over
to the churchwardens " three belles for the use of the Church." Our
bells are still three in number, but only one of them (and that
cracked) is hung and is used. One bell bears date 1724, and the
names Daniel Webb, Esq,, and " John Tozier, re-fecit/'' The others
are inscribed 1783, Thomas Cottle and Daniel Taylor churchwardens,
and William Bilbie, Chewstoke, Somerset.

"One cup of viii. oz., and one chalice of viii. oz." were also made
over by the Commissioners in 1553, and I may as well here record
exactly what Church furniture we have now : —

In the Chancel.
Two curtains and rods against the east wall.
One communion table of oak.

By Sir Charles Hobhonse, Bart. 195

One green embroidered altar and super altar cloth.

One damask cloth for holy communion.

One embroidered cambric and two patten cloths.

Two oak alms boxes.

One organ stool.

Two altar stools, embroidered I.H.S.

Two oak chairs.

Four altar cushions.

One long and two small pede clothes.

One paten -\

Two cups [> Plated, and in a wainscot box.

One alms dish J

One brass lamp, suspended.

Two communion books.

Chants and hymnals.

In the Nave.
Twelve lamps on iron standards.
Ninety hymnals, " Ancient and Modern."
One folio bible.
Two oak benches.
Kneeling stools.
Curtain to the porch door.
One oak lectern.
One font.
One fald stool.
One iron chest for records.

In the chancel and in the nave respectively are still a number of
tablets, but old Thomas Sweetland confirms the information given
to Mr. Powell that there were " a terrible sight " of these before
Mr. Brown's restoration, so, some day or other, perhaps the vaults
in which they were all said to be heaped together may be discovered.

The Churchyard and Tombstones.
Mr. Powell suggests that so much of the churchyard as lies south
of the Church was an addition, and perhaps it was, but if so it must
have been at some time antecedent to the old duchess's burial in 1802.

] 96 Some Account of the Parish of Monkton Farleigh.

The north side is certainly more full of graves, and it was there,

too, that a " Butter Cross" stood within the memory of Thomas

Sweetland — born 1801. He used to hear of people coming* to

market there from Bath and Bradford, and he himself has played

on the steps, where the cross stood, which were flat at the top.

There is but one tombstone worthy of full record, and it is

that of Daniel Taylor, blacksmith and churchwarden, who died

April 17th, 1795. It runs thus :—

" My sledge and hammer lie declined,
My bellows they have lost their wind.
My fire's extinct — my forge decayed,
And in the dust my vice is laid.
My coal is spent — my irons gone,
My nails are driven, my work is done.
My fire-dried corpse lies here at rest,
My soul well smoked soars to be blessd."

There are epitaphs almost word for word similar to the first six
lines of these at East and Mid Lavant, near Chichester, and at
Hatfield, near Doncaster.

That at Hatfield is to John Seaton, of Stainforth, and is of date
1802. Those at the Lavants are to John Ewen and Richard Sanford
respectively, and are of date 1750 and 1825 respectively. Here the
families were related, and the Churches close together, but I can
trace no connection between them and that at Doncaster and our
own epitaph.

The Rectory.

The old rectory stood about 20 yards below the present house, on
the site of what is now partly lawn and partly stables. The present
house was built in 1844-6 by the Rev. Edward Brown, rector, at
his sole charge, and at an expense of £2120 3s. 6d. The architect
was Mr. Hicks, and the contractors, Messrs. Wilcox & Co., of Bristol.

The present rector, Mr. Tooke, has added very materially to the
accommodation and comfort, and has completed the design of the
house ; and, whether we consider its site, its proximity to the Church
and the parish, its accommodation, its present interior ornamentation
and arrangements, or its outward form and aspect, it would be diffi-
cult in all Wiltshire to find a more beautiful and suitable parsonage.

By Sir Charles Hob house, Bart.

197

Churchwardens.

The following is a list of churchwardens, very imperfect, no doubt,
but the best I can get : —

1372. William le Boteler. John Spakeman, senior.

John de Lewes. John Spakeman, junior.
1553. Anthony Woodward. John Walter.
1626. John Walter. William Baker.
1636. William May. Richard Batterbury.
1641. John Butler " ye elder."
1659. James Barrett. John Deverell.
1700. William Cottle.
1754. John Lee.

1783. Thomas Cottle. Daniel Taylor.
1798. William Cottle. Joseph Blinman.
1811. Joseph Blinman. Thomas Bull.
1829. Richard Clarke. John Crooke.
1850-1876. John Moon. Whyatt Cottle.
1877-1880. John Moon. Sir C. P. Hobhouse.
1881. Sir C. P. Hobhouse.

Church Rates, Collections, and Expenditure.

Taking an average (from 1836 to 1859) of twenty years, excluding
those years during which there was an extraordinary expenditure
for the re-building of the Church, I find that the usual Church rate
amounted to about %d. in the £, and produced as nearly as possible
£20 a year.

I give a summary of our Church expenditure for the year ending
Easter Day, 1881, and it will be seen from this, which is a good
average year, that our Church expenses are, as nearly as possible,
what they always were.

So also is the incidence of them ; for now, as before the abolition
of the compulsory Church rate, it is the principal ratepayers who
supply the funds. We are therefore practically, and I may add
cheerfully, exactly where we were in this parish, so far as this rate
only is concerned.

198

Some Account of the Parish of Monkton Farleigh.

But the summary below has another tale to tell. The rector
and the squire are the sole resident gentry. There are no other
residents of much substance, or surplus means. Therefore whatever
contributions there are in the summary, apart from the school, are
derived mainly from the pence of the laboring man, and it will be
seen that towards the Church and its necessities, whether in the
parish or at home or abroad, the laborers amongst us subscribe yearly
a sum of about £10. The gift in them is comparatively large, and
the habit of giving for Church purposes on a broad principle has
been engendered and as it is " Where we give there we love most/'
it may be hoped that the Church is here gaining strength every year.

Parish of Monkton Farley — Voluntary Church Rate.
Churchwarden's Receipts mid Expenditure, 1880-81.

EXPENDITURE, j

Balance due to Churchwar-
den, Easter, 1880 _ ...

Archdeacon and Apparitor's
Fees

Cleaning Church

Sexton

Insurance ofjnave jj Jjjjj ...
Warming Church
Repairs
Lighting

Washing surplices, com-
munion cloth, &c. ...
Sacramental wine
Register book for baptisms
Churchwarden's expenses
Balance in hand, Easter,
1881

>•

d.

3

10

4

0

18

0

3

0

3

2

12

0

1

0

0

3

11

5

1

6

9

2

14

0

0 12

0

1

4

0

0

13

0

0

2

6

1

8

lOf

£22 13 li

RECEIPTS. £ i

Subscriptions at 2d. in the £ — ■

d.

F. Dening, Esq. 2 8
H. Hancock, Esq. 3 11 8
Sir C. Hobhouse,

Bart. ...500
Mr. C. Kendall 2 13 0
H. Spackman, Esq. 5 4 0
The Rev. T. H.

Tooke ...2 0 0

0

Offertories for Church

expenses
Donations —

Mr. J J. Cottle 0 f

Mr. E. Doel ... 0 !

Mr. John SweetlandO i

20 16 8

0 19 11^

I 0
! 6

; o

0 12 6

Refund of error in sexton's

salary ... ... 0 4 0

£22 13 li

Blinman's Charity.

1880. £ 6«. d.

Received by churchwarden,

one year's dividends ... 17 17 2

1880. £ s d.
St. Thomas's Day. Dis-
tributed in coals ... 9 3 0
Ditto, distributed in cash 8 14 2

£17 17 2

£17 17 2

By Sir Charles Hob/wuse, Bart.

199

Summary of Sums Collected for various Charitable Purposes in the
Parish of Monkton Farley, for the Year ending Easter Day, 1881.

For the National School — ■ £ s. d. £ s. d.

Subscriptions ... ... 35 5 0

School pence ... ... 14 12 11

49 17 11

For Church expenses —

Voluntary Church rate ... 20 16 8

Donations ... ... 0 16 6

By offertories —

Church expenses ... ... 0 19 llf

Curates' Augmentation Fund
Poor Benefice Fund, in accordance with the
Bishop's letter, for the Diocesan Societies ...
The Bath United Hospital
The poor of the parish
National Society

Foreign Missions, S.P.G. ... 18 0

By subscriptions and donations to ditto 6 19 0

22

13

1^

1

7

3

1

6

4

1

12

0

11

19

10

1

7

0

8 7 0

£98 10 5f

I append a table of Church fees, from the Church board, May
31st, 1861 :—

Minister. Clerk.

£

s.

d.

£

s.

d.

Churching

... 0

0

0

0

0

0

Banns

... 0

2

6

0

2

0

„ certificate of

... 0

2

6

0

0

0

Marriage by licence

... 1

1

0

0

10

6

„ by banns

... 0

2

6

0

2

6

Vault in Church, two coffins width . . .

... 8

8

0

0

15

0

Opening such vault

... 1

1

0

0

7

6

Single brick grave in Church

... 5

5

0

0

12

6

Opening such grave

... 1

1

0

0

7

6

Tablet in Church, 7s. 6d. per foot ...

... 0

7

6

0

0

0

Marble or flag-stone

... 2

2

0

0

5

0

Hatchment

... 2

2

0

0

10

0

Vault in churchyard, two coffins width

... 6

6

0

0

10

6

Opening such

... 1

1

0

0

7

6

Single brick grave in churchyard ...

... 3

3

0

0

10

6

200 Some Account of the Parish of Monkton Farleigh.

£

s.

d.

£

s.

d.

Raised tomb over vault, with iron railings

3

3

0

0

5

0

,, ,, „ without

2

2

0

0

5

0

Tomb of small size, over single brick grave . . .

2

2

0

0

5

0

Head, foot, and body stones, for double grave...

2

2

0

0

5

0

„ „ „ „ single „ ...

1

1

0

0

2

6

Mural monument, outside Church, per foot ...

0

5

0

0

0

0

Breaking ground for burial of non-parishioner

1

1

0

0

0

0

„ „ „ parishioner

0

0

0

0

0

0

N.B. — For the opening of vaults, erecting of tablets, &c, &c, the previous
eonsent of the minister or churchwardens, or both, as the case
may be, must be obtained.

CHAPTER VII.

CiviL History. — Means of Education.

In 1829 Bishop Burgess built the room attached to the Church
" for the use of the Sunday School of this Parish/'' This is still
used to some extent for this purpose, but practically it has become
the vestry. In Rector Brown's time a night school was, during the
four winter months, held in this room, the average attendance being
from fifteen to twenty. The age of the scholars was from fourteen
to twenty-four, and each paid 2s. 6d. in advance for stationery,
firing, &c. The teachers were the curate and his wife and John
Bishop, the schoolmaster. There is, for the time, no longer any
night school in the parish. Up to the year 1835 the room was used
as a boy's day school, a dame's school being at the same time kept
by one Birt in the cottage opposite the Church gate. The Sunday
school hours were one hour before the morning and one before the
afternoon service, and the average attendance — 1853 to 1863 — was
fifty.

The teachers were the rector's wife, the curate and his wife, and
the schoolmaster and mistress. The Sunday school is now held in
the National school-house, and in the vestry. The hours are from
10 to a quarter to 11 in the morning, and the average attendance
is thirty.

In 1845-6 Mr. Wade Browne established a boys' and girls' school
with a master and mistress,, but the master died and Rector Brown

By Sir Charles Hobhouse, Bart.

tli on kept up the boys' school at his own expense. The average
daily attendance was twenty-five, and the ages four to eleven. Mr.
Wade Browne kept on the girls' school, giving the children a
distinctive dress, viz., red cloaks, blue gowns, and white aprons and
collars. The average daily attendance was thirty, and the ages four
to twelve. On Mr. Wade Browne's death this school was still kept
up by his widow by means of a bequest of £35 a year, which Mr«
Browne had made for that purpose. This bequest, however, was
conditional on the family's continuance in the manor, and when
they left it lapsed. The school was held in the cottages opposite
the Church Farm, and there it was mantained until the year 1870.

In that year the present National School was built at a cost of
£6£6 16s. 7 d., towards which each one of the principal landowners
subscribed the sum of £100. The site is on glebe land. There is
a master's cottage and garden attached, and the buildings are vested
in the rector and churchwardens for the time being.

The school is denominational, instruction in the Bible and in the
doctrines o£ the Church of England being given by the rector every
morning from 9 to 10 ; it is a school of boys and girls mixed, in
charge of a mistress, and is maintained partly by the Government
grant in aid, partly by school fees and partly by voluntary sub-
scriptions. The report of 1881 shews the general working of the
school, and the details of the several sums paid for its maintenance.

These details, when they are analysed, shew the very important
fact, viz., that there is scarcely one person in the parish who does
not, according to his ability, contribute towards the education of
the youth of the parish — the rector, the landowners, the quarry-
masters, and others, in the shape of voluntary contributions, and the
villagers in the shape of school pence.

MONKTON FAELEY NATIONAL SCHOOL.

Report made to the Education Department, for the Year ending
Zlst March, 1881.

N.B. — It is computed that the attendance of children in elementary schools
should be at the rate of one for every six of the population. In our case it ought

202 Some Account of the Parish of Monhton Farleigh.

to be 410 ~ (] = 69. The highest weekly average reached in the year was 87'2.

— The total number of children

on the register, 31st March, 1881, with their

resjiective ages,

is as follows : —

Boys.

Girls.

Total.

Over 3 and under 4

1

1

2

4

5) O ...

4

1

5

" 5

6

5

6

11

„ 6

7

7

3

10

„ 7

8

7

6

13

„ 8

9

... ... o

a

D

1 1

X I

„ 9

10

7

6

13

„ 10

„ 11

3

5

8

„ 11

„ 12

6

2

8

„ 12

„ 13

2

3

5

„ 13

14

0

4

4

Total ... 47

43

90

2. — Total number of attendances in the year : —
Boys

Girls

3. — Total number of times the school has been opened, 420

4. — The average daily attendance throughout the year : —

Between 3 and 7 ... 12"92 7'24

Above 7 23-29 24"30

3621 3154

15211

13253

28464

20-16
47-59

67-75

5. — Total number who have attended 250 or more times, and qualified themselves
for examination : — ■

Above 4 and under 7
Above 7

6. — Eates of payment per week
Number paying at each rate

20
53

73

1 Id.

6d.

1 81

1

7. — The Government grant for the year was as follows

Average attendance
Infants

Passes in E., W., and A.

Classes

Pupil teacher

68 @ 61-
20 @ 8/-
111 @ 3/-
48 @ 21-

£ s. d.

20 8 0

8 0 0

16 13 0

4 16 0

2 0 0

£51 17 0

By Sir Charles HobJionse, Bart.

203

Cash account of the Monition Farley National School, for the Year ending
3lst March, 1881.

1S80. RECEIVED. £

Mar. 31. Balance in hand 2
June. Government grant 50

Annual subscriptions-

Mr. James Cottle

0

5

0

F. Dening, Esq.

2

0

0

Gardener & Marsh,

Messrs.

1

1

0

H. Hancock, Esq.

7

0

0

Sir CP. Hobhouse,

Bart,

7

0

0

Mr. W. Hyatt . . .

1

0

0

Pictor & Son,

Messrs.

1

1

0

Eandell &Sa,unders,

Messrs.

1

1

0

H. D. Skrine, Esq.

2

0

0

H. Spackman, Esq.

7

0

0

Stone, Brothers ...

1

1

0

Mr. I Sumsion ...

1

1

0

Mr. J. Sweetland

0

5

0

Rev. T. H. Tooke

3

10

0

35 5

School pence —

Quarter endingMid-

summer, 1880... 3 1
Do.Michaelmas^do. 2 18
Do.Christmas, 'do. 3 11
Do. 31st Mar., 1881 5 1

14 12 11

£102 6 8

Payments. £

Salaries —

Mistress ... 55 0 0

Pupil teacher ... 10 0 0

Paid monitor ... 6 0 0

Stationery and books
Fuel and light
Eeplacement and repairs to

furniture, and cleaning
Rates, taxes, and insurance
Repairs to buildings
Balance in hand, 31st March,

1881

0
4
11

11

7
6

d.

14 4 9

£102 6 8

The Bishop's Inspector reports as to religious knowledge^ 2nd November,
1880 — "I really have no fault to find with this school ; the children are well
and carefully taught, and do full credit to those who have taken so much trouble
with them. It was a great pleasure to examine them."

The Government Inspector reports as to secular knoioledge, 7th May, 1881 —
" The children are thoroughly well disciplined, and the writing of the first
standard and geography of the third, are the only exceptions to the otherwise
good results of the examination. The improvement in arithmetic and grammar
is most marked ; and, in view of the difficulties of the past year, reflect the
greatest credit on the school staff."

CHAPTER VIII.

Buildings of Interest.

I have already spoken of the manor house and of the rectory, and
vol. xx. — no. lix. p

204 Some Account of the Parish of Monhton Farleigh.

besides these the only houses, that can properly be so called, of in-
terest are, that occupied by Mr. James Cottle, and that at present
used as an inn — the " Fox and Hounds " — at Farley- Wick. The
first, according* to Mr. Powell, dates back to the time of James I.,
and the other has a curious courtyard and entrance-pillars.

But some of the cottages in the parish have a history which
should not, I think, be overlooked.

There is one with the initials T.H., and the date 1689; another,
W.S., 1737; and a third, J.B., 1737. These initials represent
respectively Thomas Hooper, William Symes, and John Bigges, the
latter two being certainly, and the former probably, masons by trade.

These persons were undoubtedly the builders of the several cot-
tages, and the dates represent the building, and these facts point to
a class of persons and to a system, both of which have passed away
from us, viz., to the class of customary tenants and to the system
of letting lands for lives and on building leases.

The class of customary tenants is as old at least as Domesday, and
no doubt they always built their own cottages, such as they were,
but these cottages would come to an end from time to time, and the
population would and did, as we know, increase, and so more cottages
had to be built, and these too of a better description, and the question
arose who was to find the labor and the capital to build them.

The wood for building and repairs, as, indeed the leases stipulate,
was freely given from the manor; the stone, in our parish, at least,
was to be had almost for the hauling, and still came off the manor ;
and there were masons and carpenters to be found in the parish in
abundance ; so the land and the materials were the landlord's, the
labor was the tenant's, and hence, the bargain of leases for lives or
for long* tenure at small quit rents, the copyhold system, in short, in
that particular form of it.

The customary tenant of Domesday became thus merged into the
tenant for life or long tenure, and this tenant has now in his turn
succumbed altogether.

The causes are obvious. The builder, though usually skilful
enough to be his own architect, was not a wealthy man, and he
was building for a limited period. His heart was not, therefore,

By Sir diaries Hohhouse, Bart.

205

bent on perpetuity, and his means, materials, and workmanship
were never of the best, so the buildings were not made to last.

Then, if he ocenpied for his own life, ten to one but the cottage
passed to strangers on his death. Either he had no family, or too
large a family, to succeed him, and the object was not to inhabit as an
heirloom the cottage, but to let it to others. Then ensued a practise
of rack-renting on the one hand, and of no sufficient repair to the
tenement on the other, producing at once the two evils of high rents
and bad accommodation. There were no means or no inclination to
pay for fresh lives or prolonged tenures, and so at last the tenement
tumbled, in some cases literally, into the landlord's hands, a veritable
white elephant.

It has been, I believe, by some such process as this that in our
parish the number of life-renters, which, within the memory of
living man, was very considerable, is reduced to some three families
resident on what was " The Green/' at Farleigh-Wick. Happily,
the materials for our buildings were of stone, and so many of our
life cottages have been preserved, but even so it has been in some cases
almost at the cost of re-building ; and there are some yet standing
and inhabited which should properly speaking be pulled down and
replaced. The late Mr. Caldwell did very much in a very short
time to remedy this evil, and I hope we have not fallen off since his
time.

There is one other cottage which is deserving of mention, as
preserving the memory of another system, also gone by. The house
and shop now occupied by our baker was the parish poor-house. It
is remarkable outwardly for its stone doorway with its pointed arch.

Here old Sally Mizen, a veteran of the parish, was brought up,
and here her father, mother, and five or six children, and often as
many as three families besides, lived all together — no distinctions
made as to age or sex. " Figure to yourself,'" says Hannah Moore
(24th October, 1794) "from ten to thirty, forty, or fifty or more
ignorant creatures of both sexes and all ages crammed under one
roof — that roof so ragged as to admit the rain on such poor wretches
as were confined to their beds. Six or eight persons in one room
without regard to age or sex. Parents and children of all ages

p 2

206 Some Account of the Parish of MonJdon Farleigh.

sleeping together, this attended with some circumstances I can not
write. In one of our most decent parishes I am now visiting, two
women, on the point of lying-in, are terrified beyond expression at
the idea that men will sleep in their rooms at that time."

Look upon the picture thus presented, and then at that which our
Union Poor House at Avoncliffe now presents. An average of one
hundred persons of both sexes, representing the whole extreme
poverty of a population of 10645 persons. The sexes separated so
as to provide, as far as such means can, against impropriety or in-
decency. The class of persons represented — the sick, the very aged,
and the feeble only. Separate sick wards and ample and skilful
medical attendance for each sex. Cleanliness, order, and sanitary
arrangements fully provided for. The labor test enforced on va-
grants and the few able-bodied malingerers who still infest the house.
Admirable schools for the orphan or deserted or destitute children,
with out and in-door recreation and labor. Economy watched over
and the whole institution governed by a body of guardians, chosen
out of the locality, thoroughly acquainted with its wants, and, as a
rule, cheerfully and efficiently giving their unpaid labor, spared from
the gains of life, for the benefit of their poorer neighbours.

If it were possible, and it is found amongst other nations to be
possible, to have no poor relief, it would be better, and no doubt the
present system, especially in its out-door features, is very imperfect ;
but compare the in-door system with that which obtained within
the memory of a living generation, and surely it is one of the most
promising and beneficial changes of the age.

Peculiar Names of Places.

I append a list of our field-names, taken principally out of the
tithe apportionment papers. I do not profess to give the derivation
of the names, some are no doubt fanciful, as Pennsylvania and the
Mountains; some are probably corruptions, as Plaisterers and Starve-
all ; and some are directly historical, as Pound Piece and Mary's
Croft (the fish-pond and the croft of St. Mary's Priory) ; but the
majority have had their origin in the combined vanity and industry
of man. Men, as David says, " think that their houses shall

By Sir Charles Hobhouse, Bart.

207

continue for ever, and call the lands after their own name." But
whatever the origin of the names one thing1 is certain, that they
speak to the history of the parish, and that they are, and ever will
be, mixed up in that history. Therefore they demand a record.1

Our Occupations and Amusements.

We have very few manorial records, and I judge of our ancient
customs partly from the facts recorded in our parish registers and in
our manorial leases, and partly from analogous facts recorded of
neighbouring parishes.

I have elsewhere given some account of the population of our
parish up to the time of the dissolution of the monasteries, and I
find that after that time our society was made up of the gentry or
nobility at the manor house, the parson and the yeoman, and of
the hand-working classes. We had a succession of husbandmen,
blacksmiths, masons, bakers, tailors, shoemakers, grocers, carpenters,
and agricultural laborers, with now and then a clothier, a weaver,
a maltster, a shearing-man, and even a fiddler.

So I imagine that up to the beginning of this century our parish
was fairly self-contained and self-supporting, even down to our
amusements.

Fiddling was one of our amusements, evidently, and so was cock-
fighting; and we can well imagine the excitement in the parish
when, in 1656, Parson Allambrigge pitted his cock against Chris-
topher Morris', and afterwards iecorded his victory in the registers.
Probably, too, we had the game of " nyne holes/'' forbidden at one
time, but still surviving in " pitch penny/''

Our amusements now are perhaps more varied. Our squires, in
Mr. Blinman and Mr. Long's time, kept harriers and greyhounds,
but their kennels even are now removed and give protection to the
more profitable fowl-yard. Our nearest pack of hounds — the Duke's
— pays us an occasional visit, but our country is a terra ignota in this
respect to most sportsmen, and our squires resort to the more ignoble
pursuit of shooting. Rabbits to them are happily vermin, and hares
and partridges are scarce ; but tame birds are turned out to become

Appendix P.

208 Some Account of the Parish of Monhton Farleigh.

wild, if they will, and are shot in hot corners and in flocks like
fowls — proh pudor !

Lawn Tennis is another institution of the day, and as it does not
oust the more manly game of cricket, and on the other hand is a
game in which both sexes may indulge, and which promotes a
sensible sociality, replacing to some extent the dull and costly dinner
party, long may it flourish.

Our rustics play cricket and rounders, and have besides their
annual festivals : — one, the club feast, at which they dine and dance ;
another, the school feast, given by the Rector to the children ; and
two others, the village concert and the Christmas tree, given usually
in Christmas week and managed by the manor house. There is
also a reading room for males above 13 years of age, where news-
papers, a few books and periodicals, drafts, dominos, and bagatelle
are found. The subscription is Is. a quarter, and this includes the
above and fire, lights, and the room. The institution does not pay,
and the attendance is in summer next to nil, but in winter a con-
siderable proportion of the youth of the parish is attracted.

A curious custom still lingers in the parish, which has its uses.
When man and woman are taken "flagrante delictu " their effigies
are made up in straw and dressed in the nearest approach possible
to the usual costume of the delinquents. These effigies are then
placed on a hurdle and paraded three nights in succession throughout
the village. Halts are made and unparliamentary remarks passed
at the doors of the delinquents, and on the third night the effigies
are burnt with all honors. Justice, in the shape of the parish
policeman, is for once judiciously blind, and as no actual disturbance
of the peace takes place, the custom, as I have said, has its uses.

If our amusements were and are still, circumscribed, we were in
our occupations a busy community. We tilled the land, we built,
we carpentered, we tinkered, we wove, we tailored, we baked, and
in short we found ourselves in all our ordinary wants, and we had
our public duties also. We had our courts baron and leet, our views
of frankpledge, and our duties as jurors. We had our constables,
our tithingman, our hey wards, and no doubt our ale -tasters, and our
sheep- tellers. We adjudged copyholds, heriots, burglaries, evil

By Sir Charles Robhouse, Bart.

209

living, bad language, gossipping, gambling, tippling, breaking
bounds, stealing wood, forfeitures, neglecting Church, and so forth.
Perhaps, too, we had onr Sunday closing of ale-houses, and our
prohibitions of nuisances.

In fact we were very much a law unto ourselves, but the effect of
centralization has changed all this. We still till the soil ; we have*
in addition, the f c irritamenta malorum " in the dug-up treasures of
our stone quarries ; we have a parson, a carpenter, and a blacksmith,
but jurisdiction we have none left ; and for almost every want of
daily life we have to resort to the nearest town. And so, as a rule,
the population of our rural parishes is everywhere decreasing, and
that of our towns increasing. Perhaps, unless new industries or
new systems of old industries spring up, the time may come when
the parish may be represented by the manor house,, when all its
wants may be supplied entirely from the nearest town, and when
the parson and the squire may have the parish Church to them-
selves. Meantime I haste to record what remains of our population,
and I append to it a list of names of families gone and existing.
Appendix E.

Condition of our Villagers.

According to the return made in 1535, our village was then made
up of agricultural laborers only, .and it is not until the year 1700
that I find in our registers any specific mention of occupations or
trades of any kind, but inasmuch as in those days the son usually
followed the occupation of the father, no doubt we had other occu-
pations beside that of the agricultural laborer in vogue in our parish
long before the year 1700. This, indeed, would follow, ex necessitate
rei. (

But I imagine that the condition of a non-agricultural laborer in
a rural parish would not, in the first instance at least, be any better
than that of the agricultural laborer, and that so Harrison's des-
cription of the latter would apply equally to the former.

The agricultural laborer, he says, as he now is, first began to
appear towards the close of the sixteenth century, and this was his
then condition : — he had a daily wage of 4 d. (equal to 20<s. of our

210 Some Account of the Parish of Monhton Farleigh.

money a week), but besides this he had his fuel gratis, he had free
range for his pigs, his ducks, his geese, and his cow; he was, per-
haps, even — a small return given in kind or in labor — practically a
freeholder; and, if the statute of Elizabeth was ever in force, he
was a landowner of as much land as he could personally superin-
tend.

I cannot say whether this description of the agricultural laborer
of the sixteenth century is applicable to our laborer at that time,
but certainly their position here about the middle of that century
(1535), and even at an earlier period (1294), was very favorable,
for when they had paid a quit rent, either in money or in manual
labor, to the value of 10s., or at the most £1 a year, they would
seem to have been practically independent.

"'Twere hard to tell and sad to trace
Each step from grandeur to disgace,"

but certainly the laborer of 1863 in our parish, as described by Mr.
Powell, must have been in a sorry plight, and " quantum mutatus
ab illo 33 of the sixteenth century. The wages but 8s. to 10s. a
week ; the lodging indifferent and indecent ; the drainage bad ; the
will and the means for domestic comfort alike wanting ; and, I may
add, the privileges of land, pasture, fuel, and forage, entirely swept
away.

Happily, in the short interval of some seventeen or eighteen years,
we have a different story to tell. Nearly one half of our hand-
labouring population consists of quarry men. Their labor is for the
most part piece-work in the free-stone quarries, and their weekly
earnings are from 15s. to 25s. and even 30s. The agricultural
laborer, if his earnings are not so high in cash, is yet comparatively
weiroff. His wages are from 12s. to 15s. a week ; he has a cottage
rent-free ; at lambing or harvest time, or in hauling for other than
land work on the farm, he gets extra allowances; his potato-ground
is given to and ploughed for him. Thus, whilst his yearly income is
nearly equal to that of the ganger or head quarryman, his earnings
are more sure, and his work is neither so severe nor so dangerous
to life and limb, and is far more health-giving and maintaining. It

By Sir Charles Hobhouse, Bart.

211

mav be that bis life lacks something of the independence of the
quarrvman, but on the other hand it has far more of sound discipline,
quietude and order.

It is rare still to see butcher's meat amongst any class of our
hand-labourers, but the meal of bacon, potatoes, fresh vegetables,
tea and soup is usually plentiful, wholesome and cleanly cooked.

The cottage accommodation, though not sufficient for all those
who make a livelihood within the parish, is for the most part good
and cheap enough of its kind, and is certainly not perversive of life's
decencies. There is usually a good kitchen, a scullery, a larder, a
coal hole, and from two to three bedrooms. There is a vegetable
garden of from fifteen to twenty perch, and a plot for flowers,
and if more ground is wanted for potatoes, it can be obtained in
allotment land at about 9d. a perch per annnm. The average yearly
rent is £5, the landlord paying the taxes. The sanitary arrange-
ments are under the eye of the rural sanitary authority, and are
rarely a subject of real complaint.

Our cottager has also an excellent National School, under Govern-
ment control and direction, and the daily superintendence of the
Rector, where he can educate his children in all essentials at Id. a
week — or less than 4y. a year; and a Sunday school, where education
is given gratis. He has a Church, where, twice on Sundays and
once on week-days, and on the greater fasts and festivals, he can
always find a free seat, and which is warmed and lighted for him in
the winter. He has, further, the advantages of a fortnightly offer-
tory, administered by the Rector ; of a benefit club, and a clothing
club, maintained by his own subscriptions. The benefit club sub-
scriptions are funded under rules sanctioned by the Legislature, are
available in times of sickness, accident, or infirmity, and are dis-
tributed by a governing body elected from out the subscribers
themselves.

And, these resources failing, the cottager can at the worst fall
back upon the poor-law system. Unhappily this, as at present ad-
ministered, will assist him in needs which are the result of his own
improvidence or misconduct; but on its better side it will at least
rescue from actual want and starvation those who, from no fault of

212 Some Account of the Paris/i of Monkton Farleigh,

their own, would otherwise be reduced to such a state, and it will
minister to the sick and helpless.

As a matter of fact there is next to no pauperism in our parish,
and though there is occasionally some privation, it is rarely of that
degree that it cannot be relieved within the parish itself; and if, at
a moment's notice, inquisition were made into our cottage life, the
spirit of order, cleanliness, peace, and comparative comfort would
but in a very few instances be found wanting.

I do not, of course, mean to say that we have no shortcomings
and no vices even, or that we do not need reform in many matters
— the national beer drinking, for instance — but on the whole we are,
I think, an unusually sober, peaceful, and harmless community,
neither " alieni appetens" nor "suiprofusus."

Our Rates and Taxes.

I have found it quite impossible to ascertain in any sufficient
sequence the extent and the principles on which our parish was
taxed until the present time, but such traces as we have of taxation
had best be recorded.

At Domesday the geld we paid was 705. solidi, equivalent to about
200.9., or £10 of our money. But this was only paid for a very short
period, for when the Bohuns made a grant of the manor to the
priory there were no restrictions, not even as regards any feudal
service, so that so far as the King, i.e. the State, was concerned, the
priory would seem to have held the manor free of all State taxes.

Again, in the Taxation of Nicholas IV., A.D. 1291, although
the priory would seem to have paid its decimse or tenths for Churches
and chapels appertaining to the priory estates generally, yet no
mention is made of any tenths paid by our parish in any shape.

I should suppose, however, that whenever the monarch for the
time being required money for his wars or other exigencies he did
not spare our manor, and certainly in the year 1372, temp. Ed. III.,
both our parsonage and our manor, as I have shewn above, paid
their dues of corn, wool, lambs, milk, &c, to the then monarch.

So again in the time of Henry VIII., c. 1533, the tenth of the
yearly income of our manor, after deducting certain outgoings, was,

By Sir Charles Hohhouse, Bart.

213

together with the tenths of the priory estates generally, paid to the
King, and there were apparently certain special payments adjudged
against our manor, which more than swallowed up the whole profits
of it, viz : —

£ s. d.

To the Trustee of Eaton College hy feod " firm " 38 0 0
Annua Pencio Priori de Lewys 0 13 4

Distributed to the poor on the day of the CsensB
Domini et Paschenes on the anniversary of
Humphrey de la Bound Fundatur huj ' priorat " 2 0 0

Making a total of £40 13 4
After the Dissolution, first the Somersets, and after them the
Bretons, paid the above sum to Eton College, and a pension of
46s. Sd. to the Crown, in the tenth and twelfth of Elizabeth's reign;
but in the eighteenth Elizabeth the then Earl of Hertford paid a
sum down on account of this pension " due for the house and site
of the Priory of Farley in order that the said Earl eundem situm
clamavit in perpetuum " and thereafter I find no traces of these
payments, nor in fact of any State charges upon the manor at all,
except in a general way under the names of " quit rents, pensions,
portions, annuities, fees, tithes, troubles and incumbrances/'' some of
which were apparently due to the Crown.

But when we come down to present times we find ourselves in
the midst of a posse of rates and taxes, which I will as shortly as
possible put on record, premising that our present rateable valuation
is £3955, and that all these rates and taxes fall more or less directly
upon it.

1. Income tax, schedules A. and B., at 5d. and Z\d. in the pound
respectively. (

2. The poor rate, which now includes the sanitary and school
and the county main road rates, at an average of 2*. in the pound.

3. The highway rate, now a district rate, and falling on this
parish at from 9d. to Is. in the pound.

4. The tithe rent charge at perhaps 5 per cent, on about half the
total acreage of the parish.

214 Some Account of the Parish of Monkton Farleigh.

5. The inhabited house duty, at 9d. in the pound on the rateable
value of the house assessed.

And voluntary Church and school rates varying according to the
good will of the donors and the exigencies of the case.

Springs.

Of these we have a plentiful supply. The best known is that
which issues from the Monks' Well, in Conduit Close. The water
in this has been analysed and pronounced to be very pure. "Each
quart " is said to contain " only about 20 grains of solid matter, and
this is composed chiefly of lime in the condition of carbonate and
muriate, so that, in fact, chalk is the principal part of the 20 grains.' '
The water from this spring is conducted into a cistern within the
manor house garden, and thence supplies the house, the Conigree, the
fountain, and some troughs in the avenue.

There is another spring at Ashwell. This supplies first the King's
Arms Inn and the farm-yard opposite; and next Mr. Spackman's
bailiff's house. Thence it passes into a cistern by the village pump,
and thence by earthen pipes down the village street to a turncock
opposite the baker's house. It is public property, and the keys are
kept at the manor house.

A third spring proceeds from a well in the Lower Sands and
passes by iron pipes to the Upper Calcord and to cisterns in the
manor house grounds. These conduct to the manor farm and to
the Conigree, and thence to a fountain in Link Lane, and into the
avenue.

There are springs also in Park Wood and in Pond Mead. These
pass thence first into the Wraxhall and then into the Broughton
Brook, and this falls into the Avon at Monkton in Broughton Gilford.

Remarkable Occurrences.

Canon Jackson has recorded the death of one of our notorieties, a
Tropnell, who was strangled by his own dog- couples; but Mr.
Powell has found in the Gentleman's Magazine of September 8th,
1806, a more remarkable occurrence still, viz., the account of " a
man struck in a thunderstorm near Monkton Farleigh."

By Sir Charles HobJwuse, Bart.

215

" Some gentlemen shooting- in a wood near Kingsdown found a
man l}Tmg motionless. Finding some symptoms of life in him they
had him conveyed to an house. His name is John Lockyer, and he
is well known in Bath. Being on his way home on Tuesday evening,
the 19th of August, during the tremendous thunderstorm, he was
struck senseless by lightning. How long he remained in that state
he has no conception, but, on recovering his recollection, he was
incapable of standing.

" That a human being should exist 20 days without any sub-
sistence but the little rain water he was able to catch in his shaving
cup and by chewing the surrounding grass, will appear incredible,
but it is a fact, and will be clearly substantiated. His senses would
appear to have recovered much sooner than his power of speech or
the use of his limbs. He was conscious of his situation before he
had the ability to speak or move.

" The medical men who attend him expect he will recover the
partial use of his limbs. The following are the memoranda he
minuted on the slate leaves of a black letter case, and which book
is bent and cockled up, evidently appearing to have been soaked
through by the wet.

" 1 1 am just able to pencil this. I believe the fatal thunderstorm
(to me) was on the 18th of August. [It was on the 19th.] I
should not have known how the time went on only by hearing the
guns go off for the Partridge shooting Sept. 1st, and it is now the
4th I am pencilling this — from the above time until now I have
not had anything to put into my mouth/

" On another leaf he had written on the day he was found : — c As

I was going across the wood to Farleigh I was struck down

by a violent clap of thunder — where I lay senseless for God knows
how long. When ( I came to myself my hands and my feet were
swelled very much, so that I could not stand, nor have I eat or drank
any thing for three weeks past/ He has since undergone the am-
putation of one of his feet."

This is the account in the magazine, and to this I may add that
Tom Sweetland tells me that his father used often to talk of the
occurrence, that it happened in Ashley Wood, that he saw Lockyer

21 G Some Account of the Paris/i of MonJdon Farleigh.

directly after he was found, and described him as a perfect skeleton .
In further confirmation of the story I may add that a person coming
from Kingsdown to Monkton Farleigh would naturally skirt Ashley
Wood, and that a very slight, and yet, in the nutting season, a very
natural divergence, would place a traveller in a position where he
might not be found for weeks, and where yet he might naturally be
lighted upon after the commencement of the partridge season.

Conclusion.

The origin of this compilation — for it is nothing more, is simply
this. The late Mr. Wilkinson wrote a history of the neighbouring
parish of Broughton Gifiord, in which I have an interest. This
suggested to me that something similar might be done for our own
parish, and I then discovered that Canon Jackson had written a
history of our priory (see Wilis Arch. Magazine, vol. iv., pp. 267 —
284), and that Mr. Powell, when a curate amongst us, had collected
materials for a more complete account of the parish. This history
and these materials were placed unreservedly at my disposal, and
my principal work has been simply to verify the materials, as far as
I had the means of doing so, and to put them together.

To this end I have carefully examined and analysed the parish
registers, and I have consulted Domesday, Leland, Dugdale, Tanner,
Hoare, and other minor authorities, and, through the kindness of
Mr. Henry Hancock, I have had access to such of the manorial
papers as are still in existence.

I have thus been enabled to arrive at some new facts, and I have
ventured to introduce a few very obvious remarks and comparisons.

I have not the knowledge nor the materials that would have
enabled me to write a history of so complete a character as that of
Mr. Wilkinson's, and in speaking of persons or of events I have
endeavoured as a rule to speak of them only to the extent that they
were connected with our parish, and if at any time I have ventured
to introduce any extraneous matter, it has been because I thought
it had some more or less direct bearing upon the history of the
parish, or was a matter deducible from facts relating to it.

I do not suppose that more than half-a-dozen persons out of the

By Sir Charles Holhouse, Bart. 217

parish will care to read the greater part of the compilation, but
perhaps if some one person in every parish were to follow my ex-
ample, and were to put together facts and reflections connected with
it, there might be for some future Macaulay a collection of materials
which could be turned to more general account.

It only remains for me to thank, as I do most heartily, the Rev.
Canon Jackson ; Mr. Smith, of Yatesbury ; Mr. To well, of Buckland-
Filleigh ; Mr. Tooke, of Monkton Farleigh ; Mr. Henry Hancock,
of Bath; Mr. Adye, of Bradford-on-Avon ; and Mrs. Abbott, for-
merly Mrs. Wade-Browne, for their kindness in placing their labors
and papers and information at my disposal.

A.

The Order of Clugniacs.

"When the fact is considered that a community of Clugniac monks
actually dwelt in our parish for a period of four hundred years, it
cannot but be interesting to know something of the history, customs,
and daily life of such a community. According to Dogdale (Monas-
ticon), the founder of the order was one Benon, and Odo was the
perfector of it, and the first Abbot of Clugni, A.D. 912. The first
monastery was established in A.D. 895. at Clugni in Burgundy,
and the rules adopted were those of St. Benedict. It was William
de Warenne, who married the Conqueror's daughter Gundreda, who
first introduced the order into England; and thereafter, according
to Tanner, twenty-seven, but according to Dugdale, forty-two
priories and three cells were established in this country, the greater
part of them before the reign of Henry II., but the last A.D. 1222.

The cells were usually made up of a prior and twelve brethren, but in
the greater monasteries there were, besides the brethren, the following
ecclesiastical and lay officers : — An abbot, a great prior, deans, a
cloister prior, choristers, masters for the boys, a prcchaunter, a cup-
board-keeper of the Church books, a chamberlain in charge of the
clothing, a treasurer in charge of the Church treasure, a cellarer, a

218 Some Account of the Parish of Monhton Farleigh.

master of the guests, an almoner, an infirmary keeper and oblate
or lay monks to ring* the bells and sweep the Church and choir.

The Church services were numerous and carefully attended to.
Every day two solemn masses were sung, a monk of one of the
choirs offering two hosts at each. On common days, three monks;
on Sundays, five monks; on solemn festivals, the deacon and sub-
deacon; and on the three days before Easter all the monks com-
municated.

Bread for the sacrifice of the altar was thus prepared. The wheat
was selected grain by grain, was washed, was put into a bag set
apart for the purpose, was carried to the mill by a selected servant,
dressed in an alb, and with his face covered, all save the eyes, with
a veil, and was then ground between millstones, washed before-hand
and covered with curtains. Similar ceremonies were performed in
the preparation of the meal. The warden of the Church, two other
priests or deacons, and a lay brother, set apart specially, matins
ended, washed their faces and hands. The three first named then
put on albs, and whilst one washed the meal, the others baked the
hosts in iron moulds, and whatever remained uneaten was finished
by these four persons.

After November 13th in each year the elders stayed in the choir
after matins, while the younger brethren resorted to the chapter-
house to learn to sing. Psalms were recited whilst the brethren
were at work. After complin no eating was allowed.

After September 13th only one meal was allowed, except on
festivals of twelve lessons. Two meals were allowed within the
octaves of Christinas and Epiphany.

Silence was observed until the hour of prime, and this so strictly,
especially amongst the novices, that a series of elaborate and oc-
casionally very ludicrous signs was established to prevent the ne-
cessity of using the human voice.1

Each monk had in turn to be cook, and had to cleanse the pots
and pans. Each had to clean his own shoes, and make his own

1 Sussex Arch. Colls., V. iii„ and 28 ; Arch. Journal, V. 28 ; and Illustrated
London News, 8th November, 1845.

By Sir Charles HobJiouse, Bart. 219

bed, and especially was be required to comb his hair, and to wash
his face, hands and clothes, and lavatories, towels and troughs were
set apart for these purposes.

Children, including those of good families, were educated at the
monastery, serving as choristers, and wearing the habit of the order.
Charity to the poor, especially in Lent, was practised in profusion,
and the remains of the bread and wine served in the refectory were
given to poor travellers.

Such were the main rules of the order ; but if the Supplicatio
Cluniacensium, exhibited before Edward III. in Parliament at
"Winchester, was not — as it may, perhaps, have been — a document
made to order, these rules were at one time little observed.

The domus, the supplication set forth, was ill-governed, as well
in spiritualities as in temporalities. Where there should have been
thirty to forty monks there were not one-third of that number.
Goods, that should have gone to sustain the monks, were wasted or
exported. There were no Anglican archiepiscopal or episcopal visi-
tations. No elections were held, and persons were made pastors
who were at once unlearned and unthrifty. Any monk speaking of
order or religion was banished one hundred leagues away. Parlia-
ment had directed that the Prior of Lewes should receive professions
and determine complaints, but some never professed. The aliens were
preferred and spent everything, whilst the Anglicans wanted even
decencies, were made subject to the aliens, and were sometimes forty
years in the order before receiving any profits.

This supplicatio was thus endorsed : — " That Abbots and Priors
of the said Order under the patronage of the King in England, do
quickly reform these abuses at their peril lest the King visit them
in some severe manner."

I have given this gravamen in detail, lest any reader should com-
mit the uncommon error of believing any community of monks to
be perfect ; but it seems to me that the gist of the gravamen lay in
the last passage of it, and that it was not so much that the com-
munities were corrupt, as that the Anglicans were jealous of the
aliens, and had a shrewd suspicion that this jealousy, not un-
righteously, was shared by the monarch.

VOL. XX. — NO. LIX. Q

220 Some Account of the Parish of Monkton Farleigh.

As a matter of fact enquiries were made more than once by the
monarch as to the condition of our priory in relation to aliens, and
as no fault was to be found with us we were left in peace, and the
spectacle of the austerities, the charities, the hospitalities, the learn-
ing, and the industry of the monks, leavened the lump of civilization
of our parish for over four hundred years, much to our profit.

APPENDIX. — B.

Names of some of the Priors of Farley.

a.d.

1206

1247
1208

1281
1291
1313
1322

1334
1366
1409
1520

1525
1535

Elias de Turn

Henry, resigned
Main, in whose time there was

a convent seal
William, died
Stephen, resigned
John

John de Feschamps, Chamber-
lain of Lewes

William Galsham

Lawrence de Archenband

William Preston, died

Ludovic Brecknock, presented
to Biddeston St. Peter's by
Sir H. Long

John Stone

Lndovic Millen

APPENDIX. — Ba.
List of Rectors and Curates.

A.D.

Patron.

Rector.

N.B.— D.
Rector of Al-
dyngtonl348

1334

1338

1348

1385
1415

Dominus propter
inidonitatem
personse Prioris
de Farley

Rex pro Priore de
Farley
s)

Prior de Farley

Walterus de Hanekyneton

Robert de Hakeway de Al-

dyngton, p.m.
Robertas Bere de Notynham
Richard Honeymanger
Thomas Newshawe, jper mut.
John Horton, per resig. T.

Highawe

By Sir Charles Hohhouse, Bart.

221

1 A.D,

Patron.

Rector.

1417

Prior de Farley.

Galfrydus Lyncolne

1421

it

John Combe, per mut.

1424

Johannes de Yatte

—

"

TVilliani TVyse, 'per resig.

—

W^lliani Doke

1429

John Passelow vice YV . Doke

1437

Walterus Cove, per resig.
John Papelewe, died 1460

1442

1460

Nicholas Perigson

1466

5J

John Mower

Thomas Ley

1477

59

Richard Todgyb, per resig.

John Tyvel

1509

J>

Henry Goldeney, per mut.

1510

J>

Lawrence Balfront, per resig.

1533

?>

John Davis (22nd Rector)

August 10

1570

Henry Brittaine

John Williams

1597

John Bragge

1606

The LadyCatherine
Cornwallis widow
by consent of
Henry Brittaine,
and by assign-
ment of George
Brittaine

Ludovicus Jones

Oct. 8

1639

The King

Richard Bridges

Jan. 30

1641

John Allambrigge

1660

The Common-
wealth ?

John Adams

1674

Seth Ward, Bishop

J acob Harris, per resig.

of Salisbury

1676

jj «

David Jenner

Oct. 5

1679

Richard Medlicott

1695

Gilbert Burnet

Thomas Tattersal

1700

Thomas Sartaine, d. 1713
" mors lucrum "

1708

A. Ford

1713

Thomas Sherlock,,

Richard White, d. 1735, tablet

1735

Williani Cheyne

1736

Richard Ford, jper resig., d.
1756, tablet'

1756

John Gilbert ,,

W. Sparrow, d. 1780

May 27

1780

John Hume

Peter Gunniu°*

1784 (

ShuteBarrington,,

William Holland

8 August

1819

John Fisher „

M. Rowlandson, no Rector or

Curate resident

25th Oct.

1824

Thomas Burgess „

W. B. Cozens

24 Dec.

1842

Edward Denison „

Edward Brown, d. 1863, tablet

9 August
July 2

1863

W. Hamilton „

Alfred Earle

1865

Thomas Hammond Tooke

Q 2

Some Account of the Parish of Monhton Farleigh.

A.D,

Curate.

i Rector.

1 HOI

1781

1KT ill T* 1

MatthewPomphrey

Gunning

1783

John Elderton

1786

Thomas Meade

W. Holland

1787

George Cozens

55

1788

Thomas Hopkins

55

1789

Joshua ShawCrosse

55

1790

Anthony Jones and
Thomas Street

55

1795

t> tt n j

K. Holland

1798

John Skinner

55

1800

H. Monkhouse

55

1804

Richard iiudd

»

1 OA A

George Streete

55

1805

/~1 Oil _ i

George Streete

55

1806

A TT 'U A TT

A. Hamilton, A.H.

tt i *n j

Hemphill, and
Maurice James

1 — TT \

„ [House)

1807

R. C. Taunton

„ (lived at Cumberwell

1809

T 1 O

John Symons

55

1810-13

George Hicks

55

1814-16

Peter Gunning

55

Henry Marriott

55

»

TT T \ " 11

H. JJmneil

55

P. D. Grove

55

G. P. lie van

55

»

Id. Lowell

55

W. H. White

55

1817

T 1- Til 1 1

John Dietcner

55

55

hi. D. Slade

55

55

Frederick lorde

55

1820

Walter Long

M. Eowlandson

1821-6

C. S. Meech

W. B. Cozens

1826

E. Eowlandson

1835

G. E. Turner

55

1853

JohnRobert Powell,

E. Brown

to

M.A., of Jesus

1863

College, Oxford,
ordained to the
parish by Bishop
Denison, left it
on the death of
theRe v.E.Brown,
became Perpet-
ual Curate of St.
Peter's, Marland,
Great Torington,
Devon, and is
now Rector ot
Buckland-Pil-
leigh, Devon.

By Sir Charles Hobhouse, Bart.

223

APPENDIX. — C. 1.
Taxatio Nicholas IV., 1291.

Diocese.
Lincoln.
Saruni.

Wygorn.
Gloucester ?
Hereford.

Spiritual :

Pens : in eccl : de Wyvell 2£
Portio in Wyvelesford

„ in eccl : de Biscopestrewe
Ecclesia de Cosham 0 6 8

de Boxe 6 13 4

„ de Chippeham 13 6 8
de Slautreford 2 3 4
„ de Alynton 2 3 4
„ de Soppeworth 1 13 4
„ de Chippeham 1 10 0

de Slautreford 1 13 4 «
Porcione de Soppeworth 1 0

„ de Wockesley 1 0

„ in vicar : de Chippeham 1 6
Pencione de Edyngton, Avebury Deanery
Prior de Farley habet apud Holtby de
redd : assiss : res marc et dimid :
Habet apud Farle de redd : assis :

6 8
0 0

s

3^ o
o o n

Temporal :

Lincoln.

Prior de Farle

0 5 0

in decanat : de Graham et Framelund

13 12 0

Sarum.

Cheddentone

0 12 0

Farle

15 13 4

»

Wrockeshale

3 0 0

»

Broctone

5 14 10

it

Cortyngetone

3 0 0

if

Lye

4 8 0

if

Porcio in ecclesii de Cosham

0 13 4

•>

„ „ de Edinton

2 0 0

»

Clive Pypard

7 6 0

>}

Mershstone

5 13 4

))

apud Brome in Swyndone

10 0 0

5J

Slautreford

4 6 8

Sarum.

Alinton

4 6 8

»

Soppeworth

3 6 8

De Clive Pipard, Avebury Deanery

3 13 0

j>

Marshtone, Deanery Creek

2 16 8

}>

Swyndone

5 0 0

Total

2 0 0
5 6 8

29 10 0

3 6 8

10 0

2 6 8

0 5 0

13 17 0

83 17 10

11 9 8

152 19 8

[N.B. — In the Valor 26 Henry VIII. the gross revenue was taken at £217 Os.4j^.
and the net income at £153 14*. 2\d.~]

224 Some Account of the Parish of MonJcton Farleigh.

APPENDIX.— C. 2.
Valor Ecclesiasticus, temp. Henry VIII. Transcript of return

26 H. VIII. First Fruits Office.
Prioratus de Farlegh. Ludovico nunc Priore — ibidem val' — vizt p.a.
Temporalia

County. Parish.

annuse
penciones
Decimse

In redd
et firm'

Wiltes.

Chippenham

2

2

0

22 19 9

0

8

0

Box

Bydeston cum
Hartham

0

2

0

5>

Barley

JJ

Hedyngton

0

2

0

Pumbrye

»

Slaugtonford

18

6 Oh

o

6

o

Staverton

Wilsford and

Manyngeford 3

6

8

Bishoppestrewe

2

0

o

Hardnash

0

2

0

»

Soppworth

2

0

0

2

0 0

Okeley

2

0

0

JJ

Fayrlegh

0

1

0

27

7 2*

0

6

8

11

15

8

70 12 11|

1

o

8

Rectoria

Somerset.

Tymesbrugh

0 18

0

Wiltes.

ThornhiU

12

2 8

0

5

0

Marsheton

7

6 8

0

2

0

j>

Monketon

juxta Broughton

12

4 0

0

3

4

Wraxhail

3

8 0

9)

Lye juxta

Westbury

11

5 9

0

4

0

»

Corton

4

3 0

12 13

8

121

3 0|

1

15

0

Gloucester.

Haversham

7 16 11

0

3

1

lands of Holly

and Elm

Lincoln.

Navebye and
Wellby

8

8 8

Divers Places

8

0 0

12 13

8

145

s n

1

18

1

spirit

annuse
Inp^quis porcdecimar'
cur' recept in

dicis vilT
subsequens'
20 0 0
11 0 0

6 0 0

10 0

2 0 0

0 4 0

2 0 0

0 16 0

43 0 0

43 0 0

43 0 0

* Of this 14 2 2 in hand.

~By Sir Charles Hoh house, Bart.

225

Spiritualia annua? Porci' deciniar' 43

annua? Pensiones 12 11 8

Temporalia. Wiltes 161 6 8| = 217 0 4±-
De quibus in : to : deductions 63 6 2 *

Clear p.a. 153 14 2|
Inde per decima 15 7 5i
* De quibus Deduct' et Alloc' jux' forma Statuti inde edit' viz
Eeddit' Eesolut' For land in Sheldon p' a' viz to Walter
Hungerford Knight 17/ and to the Lord
of Oodford 6/8
To the Earl of Arundell for lands in Corton
To the Abbot of Keynsham for lands in

Ferneborough
To the Trustee of Eaton College by " feod'
firm' "

To the Viscount of Wiltes for cert' redd' p' a'
To the Abbess of Shafton' for lands in

Comerwell 6
Pens' Solut' Archdeacon of Wilts for the Church of

Chippenham

„ „ Boxe

„ „ Slaugtonford

„ „ Bideston

Annua Penc' Solut' Priori de Lewys
Elemos Distributed to the poor on the days of the

Csenae Domini et Paschenes on the anni-
versary of Humphrey de le Bound, fun-
dator huj' priorat'
Distributed to the poor 4 days in the year
on the foundation and gift of Barthei
Bygote p' a' 0 13 4

Feod' To Henry Long, Miles, the Chief Capitlis

of the said Priory senli 2 0 0

Thomas Moumford subsenli 2 0 0

William Burton, Auditor 2 0 0

Eichard son of Henry Eeceptor 16 8

John Parsons, Collector of the Dues of

Haversham,FerneburghandTymesbrugh 2 0 0
John Usher, Collector of the Dues of Lye,

Corton and Bishoppstrowe 2 0 0

Eichard, son of Henry, Bailly of the Liber-
ties of Farlegh 16 8
Thomas Wilkes, Collector Chippenham 16 8
Thomas Young, Collector of the Manors of

Marsheton, Brome and Thornhill 1 6 8=19 16 6

1

3

8

0

3

4

0

1

0

38

9

0

1

5

0

0

3

4f=4

0

5

0

5

0

5

9|

0

5

9|

0 13

4

2

0

0

Total 63 6 2
and so remains clear p' ann' 153 14 2^

Inde per decima 15 7 5£

226 Some Account of the Parish of Monkton Farleigh.

APPENDIX. — D. 1.

Priory Endowments.

Name of Manor.

Farley, Wilts.

Bishopstrowe, Wilts.

Wivelisford Wilts.
[Willesford].

Wocheseya, Wilts witli

Cherynton.
[Oaksey, Malmesbury"

Trowbridge.

Heddington, Calne,
Wilts.

Date of
Gift.

1125

1135

Name of Donor.

Humphrey Bo-
him II.

H. Bohun III
Dapifer in 5th
of Stephen.
Margery, his
wife, and Ma
tilda de Bohun,
his mother
The said H. de
B. styled Fun-
dator ejus loci'
in charter of
Henry III.

Humphrey Bo
hun III. and
Margery, his
wife.

Particulars of Gift.

The whole manor, with the
park and every other thing
belonging to the same
village, including after-
wards the then hamlet of
South Wraxhall. Brictric
held at Domesday.

The Church and all belong-
ing to it — one hide of land
in the village, pasturage
for one hundred cattle (the
same withdrawn 1137), and
a carucate of oxen. The
Prior presented to the
Church 1304 to 1532.
Edward of Salisbury held
at Domesday.

The Church of — afterwards
changed to a tenth of the
demesne here and in Man-
ningeford, which see.

The Church of, and a tenth
of the wild colts [Pullo-
rum], Cherynton with-
drawn 1 1 37. Brictric (and
his father before him) held
at Domesday,

10 solidi of the Church.
Brictric (and his father
before him) held Domes-
day. Edward of Salisbury
bequeathed it to his dau-
ghter Maud, or Matilda,
wife of Humphrey de Bo-
hun II.

The Church and the whole
tenth of the demesne as
well of fruits and cattle
and every other thing, with
the house and virgultus
which belonged to Simon
the Clerk. 14 H. VII.
Prior and convent sold
this. Edward of Salisbury
held at Domesday.

By Sir Charles Hobhouse,

Bart.

227

Name of Manor,

Date of
Gift.

Waleton. [Whaddon,
near Melksham,
Wilts ?]

Stavretone, Wilts
[Staverton.]

Strattone, Wilts [Strat-
ton St. Margaret,
Highworth.]

Bradeharu

Moriketon inBroughton.
Wilts.

Bera. [The Beries
Westbury, Wilts.]

Thornehill, near Chris^
tian Malford, Wilts

Hanum, [afterwards
called the Grange,]
Gloucester.

Tymbresberia, Somerset
[Tymsburgh].

Plumberea [Pomeroy],
Winkfield, Wilts.
Berlochestria.

Name of Donor,

1131

1141

and Ilbert de
Chaz.

and Osmund
Miles.

and Robert
Adeline.

Particulars of Gift.

styled now Earl
of Hereford &
Essex & Con-
stable of Eng-
land.

One half the Church belong-
ing to their Feud. Aluric
of Melksham held at
Domesday.

One tenth of the Demesne
with all things appertain-
ing. Brictric held at Do-
mesday, E. of Salisbury
bequeathed it to his daugh-
ter, Maud.

One tenth of the wild colts
[exchanged for Oaksey,
1137]. The mill which
Robert de Carentoem gave
and 3 solidata of land, the
gift of Humphrey deSancto
Yigore [witness to the
grant]. Nigel the Physi-
cia held at D.

One mark of silver.

The manor, free of all service
due to the Bohuns, but ex-
cepting service due to the
King. Saward held at
Domesday.

The land, free of all service
due to the Bohuns. Os-
mund the King's servant
held at Domesday.

The land, first of all free,
but afterwards subject to
service to King Henry and
the Bohuns. The donor a
witness to the grant.

The gift of the land, sold by
Hugode Chaldefelde and
Leolselina, his mother, to
the Priory, confirmed free
of everything save \ of a
feud of one soldier.

One tenth of. The gift of
Ganfridus Dapifer, witness
to the grant, confirmed and
the mill which William,
son of Ganfird, gave.

Osmund held at Domesday.

exchanged for Horning-
shani.

228

Some Account of the

Parish of Monhton Farleigh.

Name of Manor.

Dtitc of
Gift.

Name of Donor.

Particulars of Gift.

Cluttou, Somerset.

55

and Ilbert de
Chaz.

One tenth of. With one
man's service rendering
6 solidi and the Church of.

Frarnberga, Somerset
[Farnebrugh].

55

55

The Church of— after the
death of Harold Presbyter,
and 15 solidata of land, the
gift of William of Gran-
ville. Witness.

Hechesingtona, Wilts
[Echilhanrpton] .

55

55

10 solidi of land, the gift of
Ilbert, and 5 „ „ „ of
Simon the Clerk. Edward
of Salisbury held at Domes-
day.

Bydeston cumHartham,
Wilts.

55

and the
Dunstanvilles.

5 acres, the gift of Archard,
and •§ the 10th of, and the
Eectory of, held by H. de
l'lsle and from him passing
by marriage to the D's.

Duberche, Somerset.
Denelyke Wake juxta,
Bridge water

1141

55

The mill of. The gift of
Rudolf Wake. Confirmed.

Box, Wilts.

35

and Bartholo-
mew Bygot,
witness to
grant.

The mill which B. B. gave,
and the service of Hubert
de Wadeswick [now Wads-

TXT1 HIT fi To vtyi Qnri hie 1 q n ri
WIOK. _T djllilj dllU. Ills IdUU.

rendering 5 solidi. Con-
firmed H. III., A.D. 1227.
The tythes and advowson
of the Church? Edward
of S. held Domesday.

Elmore et Cerneia [El-
more and Cerney
Wike, Gloucester ?
Wilts?]

55

Humphrey Bo-
hun the III.

The land of, rendering half
a mark of silver.

Horningsham, Wilts.

55

55

One tenth of. In lieu of
Berloche stria and 1 virgate
of land, the gift of Adale-
lmus, son of Ganfridus,
Dapifer.

Nova Yilla.

55

»

The land of, and appurte-
nances, formerly held by

1)1, II,,. or\vi j \ V \* i\ AVr 1 Y> onH

JrUllip, son oi JjiUWin, diiti
given by Galf rid, son of
William.

La Gore, Manynford,
Wilts

5J

55

The land of in the Manor of
Maningford, in la. Wike.

By Sir Charles Hobhoase, Bart. 229

Name of Manor.

Date of
Gift.

Name of Donor.

Particulars of Gift.

Maningford, Wilts

j>

One tenth of the demesne
and its appurtenances —
save 30 solidi to the Hos-
pital of St. Nicholas of
Sarum to conclude the
composition between the
Dean and Chapter of Sa-
rum, the Brothers of the
Hospital, and the De
Bohuns.

Chippenham, Wilts

1227

Henry III.

The Church and tenths,
lands, meadows, chapelries,
pastures, and all appurte-
nances, a Pannagium or
larder, money for the keep
of pigs in the King's For-

nof QTiri Alio /ini4 Lull 1 \\~

col, ctLlU. Ulic Cdl U-lUdU. UJ.

dead wood every year from
the said forest.

Merston, Wilts [in
High worth].

Same as above, save the
Pannagium and dead wood,
described as part of Wurda.

Ruda [Rowde] Wilts.

}>

and Empress
Matilda.

1 hide of land called Foran-
gra [Foxhanger] given by
"Domina Imperatrix ma-
ter Henrici Regis avi nos-
tri."

Penlev and Westbury,
Wilts.

)>

»

§ a hide of land. Exchanged
for a water mill with Wal-
ter de Paveley, 7 and 14
Ed. II., 1314—21, and 40
acres of faggots [assartis]
in the forest, made in Hav-
edingull ?

Lya [Westbury Ley]
vv ins.

J)

and Radulf de
Lamvalley.

One half the village and a
mansion, i.e., at Plaistude.
Thereafter the vicarage
paid 13/4 a year to the
Prior and Convent.

Broc.

))

>>

The mill — just as Aibricus
left it.

Bratton, Wilts.

{ ))

)}

^ a hide which Roger Cocus
held.

Buthoria [or Birthona]

JJ

)>

1 virgate of land called
Purirland.

Gerva, Eedley, and Her-
linghame, Gloucester.

J)

j)

^ the fisheries, Arlingham,
near Futherne, on the Sev-
ern [Jackson], and King
John paid 22/- a year for
Gerva. Hardy's Calendar
of Close Rolls^ 1, 285.

Grosmunt, Gloucester.

The Hermitage.

230 Some Account of tJie Parish of Monhton Farleigh.

Name of Manor.

Havescumle
[Hayersham]

Lym, Lynley, juxta

Kowde, Wilts.
Chinctura [Gloucester?]
Pridi [Somerset ?]
Clifton, Gloucester.

Caver sfield, Bucks.
Cudford, Cornwall.
Melksham, Wilts.

Sopworth, „
[near Badminton].

Alinton, Box, Wilts.

Slaughterford, Wilts.

Brome, Swindon, Wilts
Welby[Willett]Lincoln
Navely [Namby] „
Monketon juxta Chip-
penham, Wilts.
North Wraxhall „
Leigh, Woolley, Holt,
and Winsley, Wilts.

Dulton [Wilts?]
Langley „

Date of
Gilt.

Name of Donor.

Tarticulars of Gift.

Uncertain Roger de Nunant.

1259
1255

1260

1276=82

1150

Uncertain.
Henry III.
H. de B.

Daughter of Sir
J. Tropenell, of
Chalfield.

Exchanged with
the nuns of
Martigny in
the Valois.

Matilda the Em-
press.

Uncertain Martin a Chap-
lain.

1401

Eichard de An-
asya[Dancey],

Simon Pater.

The Hermitage, two rustics,
Almetus and Alwardus,
and theirlands and 3 crofts,
the gifts of William, son of
J ohn de Tilli and his wife
Dyonisa.

1 hide of land which Geri
the Presbyter held.

■| a virgate of land.

Land and its pasture.

Lands. The gift of Richard,
son of Odon, confirmed.

Lands.

Lands in.

Two acres in the manor,
value 12d.

Court House and 180 acres
of land and advowson of
the living, to which the
Prior presented up to 1535
A.D.

Manor of. Given by Ste-
phen and others to the
nuns. Escheated 26 Ed.
I., 1293, and afterwards re-
stored to the Priory, and
by it held up to the Disso-
lution.

Manor, rectorial tithes, ad-
vowson and chapelries.
Manor.

The Church and tithes

Two hides and other lands,
the advowson of Berlegh
Chapel, lardar money, a
mounchiary, viz., one horse
with his harness and bridle,
originally held freely of
William de l'lsle by the
service of one whole
knight's fee and suite of
court and rent.

§ virgate of land.
Lands and tenements with
appurtenances.

von

Ulan

la bo

Nui

3d

3 CO

©

-(^
PI
©

-I 3

)0f

\ 1

and
its.

230

Havt

Lyra
Ec
Chin
Prid:
Clift

Cavei
Cudf
Melt

[n.

Alini

Slau£

Bron
Well
Nave
Monl

pei
Nort
Leigl

an

Dult
Lang

APPENDIX. — D. 2.

Farm Valuation of the Priory of Monkton Farleigh, tempore 22nd Edward I., A.D. 1294.

Name of the Manor.

Curia with

ripeonry
& Cm til-iyrc.

Libere Tenentium.

Pensio.

No.

£ s. a.

Acres

Value.

Value.

Number.

Church. 1 Value.

Kind.

Value.

Farleg Monachorum
Woxehall-Hamlet

SlSilrfoJd
Boxe

Alinton-Hamlet
Sopworth

Monketon in Brouton

Thornhull

Sol-Merston

1 0 0

1 2

5 0

1 2

2 2
1 2

6 8

8

7?
4?

3 4 4

1 8 0
3 13 0

4 0

2 5 0

1 2

762 at 3d
20"! ., 2d
124 „3d
208! „ 2d

45J 3d
178 „ 4d
124 ",2J

34 „ 6d
142! 6"
224 „6d

9 13 1
1 13 5

1 14 9

0 11 4

2 19 4

1 10 0

0 17 0

4 15 0
7 0 0

36! 2/

14 ije

3 1/6
14 1/6

9 2d
30 2"
35 1/

3 13 0

0 12 0

1 1 0

4 6
1 1 0

0 1 6
3 0 0

1 15 0

7
7

4?

le Coronton
3?

14

1 0 0

0 15 0

0 12 0

2 10 7

1 16 0
6 14 1

Hardenwyche

2 0

Fowl ld

1 8 0
2 4
2 4

8 7

1

2 0 4

26

10 14 4

2 4

2043

33 1 s

153! ' I' 80

47

16 19 1"

2 13 0 10

Name of the Manor.

Water-Hill.

Coterelli.

Ass : ibidem

Wood.

liber]

Church.

£ s. d

Messuages and

£ 6 d.

£ s. a.

£ e. a.

money or kind.

Farlegh Monachorum

Woxehall-Hamlet

Chippenham

Slaugterford

Robert de Waggon
1 0 0

21

38

2 0 0

Bromesfelde

30 0 0

Boxe. BartBygot?

„ Alinton
Sopworth

3 4

9

15 9

1 2 10

Bromesfelde

5 0 0

Lye Westbuiy
Monketon Broughton

2?

0 3 0

2?
IP

7 6
14

1

0

36?

18 0

2 0 0

Horspoles

Thornhill. Sybil's and 1
vil'gate & autumn work

10 3

Holding in
1 day's w
5

common &
ork each.
5 0

IP

1 10

0

32 6d

16 0

2 16 8

Brome. Swindon

2 tenants

for 1
carucate

10 0

0

1 13 7

35

5 8 11

1 2 10 1 40

2 3 0

5?

19 10 1

1 14 0

2

35 0 0

2 16 8

2 0 0

Name of Manor.

Croft.

Lye Westbury

1 14 10

0 1 0

Total valuation £151 15s. 10d.

nt and va

ue of lands.

Arable

33 1

8 2043

M'adow

11 8

0 153!

Wood

2 3

0 40

Pasture

1 14

0 68

,48 6

8=2304!

Total number and value of

Liberi

20 10 14 4

Yillani

47 16 19 10

Coterelli

Aids

5 19 10 1

113=52 13 2

N.B.: — The figures arc not always correct in the
original. The totals and some of the arrangement are
mine. The jurors at Monkton Farleigh were John de
Greenhull. William at Walte (Atworth), Stephen at
Slade (Sladcsbrook). Roger de Burlegh (?), John de
Morle, W. Paris, Walter Schiman. Hubert and Simon
le Jovene (Young). John de Wolvelo Hugo-Cock and
Henry le Frie— most of the names still known to
our registers and neighbourhood.

230

Hav
[1

Lym
Ec
Chin
Prid
Clift

Cavei
Cudf
Melt

Sopv

[n,

Alinl

Slau^

Bron
Well
Nave
Mon]

pei
Nort
Leigl

au

Dult

Lang

APPENDIX. — D. 3.

Valuation by the Jurors of the Income op the Priory op Monkton Farleigh, A.D. 1294,
and Return, 1535.

1535.

eai y len a

Manor

Tenths.

Pe

asioi

Feuds.

T tal
o a ,

£ s. i.

S e.

d.

— —

£

s.

d.

"• d"

]• arlegh )

27 13 10

0

1

0

— —

fa 8

29 1 6

W TTo,v,t C

u nxi'iiaii. nam >

9(11
of IK r

68 0 0

Thornhull J

\ o o

r' 16

63

6 2

76 2 10

Chippenham

2

2

0

0 8

3 2 8

qn « n

J:

J:

20 0 0

\ i'1' °

1 1 9

a il 9

12

-

9

20 12 0

Almton

i J in

„ Lcclesiam

c n [!

11 0 0

Sopworth

9 1<! in

2 0

0

2

0

0

4 0 0

Lye and Bromerfelde juxta Westbury

IS <t 10

11 9

9

2

0 0

13 9 9

Broughton Monk :

11 9 3

12 7

12 7 4

Merston

7 7

8

7 7 8

Droome

in n n

Certon

4

3

4 3

Haversharn. Holly and Kim, Gloucester

7 10

0

7 10 0

Navely and Welby Lincoln

8 8

Divers Places

8 0

0

8 0 0

Bydeston cum Hartham

6

0

0

2

6 2 0

1

0

0

1 0 0

Hedynton

2 0

0

1

2 10

Pumbrye

4

0 4 0

Staverton

16

16

Oaksey

2

0

0

2 0 0

Wilsford and Maningford

3

6

0 0

Bishopstrow

2

0

0

2 0 0

Hardenuish

2

0 2 0

Tyuiesbrugh with Hanham and Farnboro'

18

2

0 0

2 18 0

H. Long (Steward)

0 0

2 0 0

T. Mounford, under do.

2

0 0

2 0 0

W. Button, auditor

2

0 0

2 0 0

R. at Harnyngsham

1

6 8

1 6 8

£

158 7 1

186 10

2

41

1

0

12

8

78

0 2

318 3 0

Deduct Feuds

78 0 2

240 2 10

230

Hav
[1

Lym
E(
Chin
Prid
Clift

Cavei
Cudf
MelL-

[n,

Alint

Slau£

Bron
Welt
Nave
Monl

pei
Nort
Leigl

an

Dult
Lang

APPENDIX. — D. 4.

Computus Pkiouatus de Farlegh, temp., John Stone, Anno 17 Regis H. VIII. Abstract of Roll in the Augmentation Office. Reddit' et Servic' Manorium.

Name of the Manor.

Situs
£ 8. d.

Terris et
Tent'inenta.

£ s. a.

Prat-
Meadow.

£ ». a.

C'H^tUILl ll U

£ s. a.

Redd'.
£ 8. d.

£ 8. a.

Cert. Kcdd.
c-t '] vtbint;

£ s d.

DeTenenti-
£ b. d.

Diverse
Shopas.

£ s. a.

Water Mills
£ s. d.

Pde'vicar\1'
£ s. d.

Deciroar'.
£ 3. d.

Exitus dc
£ s. d.

Sale of
£ s. a.

wooaf
£ s. a.

£ b, a.

ToteHs

Wiltes Com :
Monketon in Broughton

Chippenham

Slaugterford

ThomhiU

Marsheton

Corton

Holly et Elmore
Wroxhalle
Lye, Westbury
Farlegh

Willet et Namby, Lincoln
Sopeworth
Hava, Gloucester
Bathe, Somerset
Foxanger. Eowde

Tymmebrough

Clutton
Farnebrough
Lynley, Rowde
Hedyngton
Lacock

Boxe et Eyddelow
Wadiswyke
Bishopstrowe
Wodeburgh

Denelickwyke Bridgwater

Hilprynton

Cheldynton

Hichilhampton

Freshiord

Dultyng

10 0 0
9 0 0

5 0 0
12 0 0

2 0 0
1 13 4

2 4 0

6 0 0

Tyngler
0 4 0

& Pasture
0 18 0
0 12 0
Brokers-
marsh
10 0
0 2 0
0 13 6
Horspole
10 0

de Eector
0 6 0
0 8 0

Chalmede
1 6 8

13 15 4

10 4 2

6 0 8
5 5 2

4 2 8

2 5 6

3 18 8

15 3 0

10 0
0 4 0

0 2 0

de Priori
de Hinton

0 0 3
de Eectore
deEdynton

0 13 4

0 8 0

Sir John
Bathon'
0 4 0

6 13 4

0 16 10
0 8 0

1 10

0

3 4

1 0 0

0 10 0
0 10 0

<]r( 'antarin
0 2 0
2 13 4

2 0 0

0 2 0

1 6 8

Krctoria.
20 0 0

Kwtoria
2 0 0

0 13 4

Eectoria
2 0 0

Eectoria
11 0 0

10 4 4

1 5 0

10 11 8

39 13 4
1 2 0

14 0 2
2 13 10

1 6 8

72 0 5
6 8

0 12 0
3 8 0

6 13 4

1 4 10

1 10 0

0

3 4

2 0 0
1 0 0

6 4 0 35 13 4
8 4 0 6 5 6

69 19 8

10 4 4 I 1 5 0

10 11 8

40 15 4

16 14 0

1 6 8

72 7 1 1 4 0 0

6 13 4 1 1 4 10

1 10 0 1 0

3 4

3 0 0

14 8 0 '41 18 10

69 19 8

10 4 4 1 1 5 0

296 2 1

APPENDIX.— D. 5.

Computus Ministrorum Domini Regis temp., Henry VIII. Abstract Roll 28, H. VIII.

Box

Wraxhall
Allingeton
Slaugterford
Marsheton
Corton

Holly and Elmor<

Lye.'Westbury

Westbury

Willet & Namby

Soppeworth

Bathe

Foxanger, Eowde
Tymmeburgb
Farneburgh
Hedyngton
Boxe & Bydelaw

Hilprynton

Litilcote

Kennet

Hniton St. George

Over Wroughton

Leygterton

Stanley

Wilsford, &c.

Chippenham

Hartham

Barford

Aston -Keynes

Melksham

Atteford

Staverton

Pumbrey Wyntefield
Hitr-h-ngnash
Wood'burgh
Stratton le Fosse
Upton

3 0 0
G 13 4
13 5 8

£ 8. i.

0 3 8

0 8 0

0 19 4

4 9 9

1 17 1

0 10 10
0 3 0

APPENDIX. — D.

List of Boxm et

Catalls

or Live and Deai

Stock o

F THE PfilOEY, AS VALUED BY THE JuRO

is, 22nd Edward I., or A.D. 1294.

Name of the Manor.

Oxen.

£ s. d.

Cow..

£ s. d.

Bulls.

£ s. d.

Yearlings.

£ 6. d.

Calves.

£ s. d.

Mules.

£ s. d.

Asses.

£ s. d.

£ s. d.

Lambs.

£ s. d.

Farlegh

Woxhall

Chippenham

Slaughterford

Box, Alynton Hamlet

Sopworth

Lye, Westbury

Monketon, Broughton

Thornhill

53 at 6/8

16

24

6

13 at 5/
9 at 6/8
17

25 at 9/

18 0 0
5 6 8
8 0 0
7 13 4

2 0 0

3 15 0
3 0 0
5 13 4

11 5 0

16 at 5/

1
11

1

4

1

2 at 10/
7 at 5/

4 0 0
0 5 0
2 15 0
0 5 0

0 5 0

1 0 0
1 15 0

1 at 5/
1

1 at 6/8

0 5 0
0 5 0

0 6 8

11 at 3/

6 at 5/

2 at 3/

7 at 2/6
4 at 3/

1 13 0
1 10 0

0 6 0
0 17 6
0 12 0

9 at 1/
9 at 1/

2 at 2/

7 at 10"
2 at 8d

0 9 0
0 9 0

0 4 0

0 5 10
0 14

7 at 5/
1 at 3/

1 at 4/

1 at 6/

2 at 9/

1 15 0
0 10 0
0 3 0

0 4 0
0 6 0
0 18 0

5 at 2/

0 10 0

100 at 6"
16 at 6d

2 10 0
0 8 0

40 at 6d
11 at 4d

1 0 0

186

64 13 4

43 1

11 5 0

0 16 8

30

4 18 6

29

1 9 2

14

3 16 0

5

0 10 0 1 116

2 18 0

51

Name of the Manor.

Porkers.

£ s. d.

Pigs.

£ s. d. ! Horses.

£ s. d.

Carts
Careeta.

Plough
Plaustra.

£ b. d.

Quarters

£ s. d.

Quarters.

£ a. d.

Oats
Quarters.

Quarters.

£ s. d.

Hay.

Farlegh

Wosehall-Hamlet
Chippenham
Slaughterford
Boxe

Alynton Hamlet
Sopworth

Lye, Westbury
Monketon, Broughton
Thornhill

36 at 6d
24 at 3"

0 18 0
0 6 0

30 at 1/
39 at 1/6

17 at 8d

1 10 0

2 18 6

0 9 11

4
2

3 8 4
1 10 0

1 at 3/
1 at 2/8
1 at 10d

1 at 3/

1 at 3/

2 at 10"

1 at 1/6

2 at 2/

0 3 0
0 2 8
0 0 10
0 3 0
0 4 8
0 5 6

6 at 6/8
2

1

2

2 0 0

0 12 0

0 3 0
0 3 0

0 8 0

69 at 5/
10

30
7

15 at 5/
50J at „
42 at 3/0 oi

70 acres

17 5 0

2 10 0
7 10 0
1 15 0

3 15 0
12 12 6
10 10 0

59 at 3/
7

20 2/8

6 2/8
17 at 3/
211 acres
at 4/

8 17 0

1 1 0

2 13 4
0 5 4

0 16 0
5 4 0

100 at 1/4
15
30
10

12 at 1/4
5 and 40

acres

6 13 4

1 0 0

2 0 0
0 13 4

0 17 0

3 0 0

15J

0 17 0

3 7 8

0 13 4
3 0 0

10 0

60

1 4 0 | 86

4 18 5

6

4 18 4

10

0 19 8

12

3 6 0

223

55 17 6

113

18 16 8

172

14 3 8

24

3 3 2

8 1 0

Total amount life stock 629

dead „ Carts 10
Ploughs 12
Wheat 223 •1uartrt-
Barley 113
Oats 172

Tenths and Vessels

value 102 1
19
3 6
„ 55 17
„ 18 16
„ 14 3

Name of Manor.

Baths, brass
pots, PotillEB
forks &c.

Tenths &c.

Chippenham
Slaughterford
Box and Alynton
Sopworth
Lye Westbury

Value 5 6 6
0 5 0
0 10
0 3 6
0 4 0

£6 0 0

Value 26 13 4
8 0 0

£34 13 4

N.B.— The Bona and
Catalla of Lye-Westbury
were "set forth by the
Cyrogiaphum who lives
near the Magistrate E.
de Abyndon."

23'

Ltinib s ,

s d

<6*
Lyi (
I J

2

10

0

40 at 6d

1

0 0

Chi (

Pri ■

Cli: !

Cav Qd
Cue-

0

8

0

11 at 4d

0

3 8

2

18

0

51

1

3 8

Sop-

» 6 13 4

Alii 10 0

12 0 0

0 13 4

Slai

)

Bro
We
"NaT
MoL
F

No:
Lei;
a

0 17 0
3 0 0

4 3 8

Beans
Quarters .

£ s, d.

15*

8i acres

24

2 6 2
0 17 0

3 3 2

Hay.

3 7 8

0 13 4

3 0 0

10 0

1 0

N.B.— The Bona and
Natalia of Lye-Westbury
rare " set forth by the
^yrographum who lives
tear the Magistrate R.
Le Abyndon."

Du

Lai

By Sir Charles Hob/wtise, Bart.

231

N.B. — My authorities for the above are, Dngdale's Monasticon
and Baronage, Joneses Domesday, Leland's Collectanea, Hoare's S.
Wilts, Tanner's Notitia Monastica, Abbreviatio Placitorum, Hundred
Roll of Wilts, 39 H. III., Jackson's Aubrey, p. 74 and 117.

APPENDIX. — E .

Population and Professions, 1881.

CO

Quarry men.

j Bakers.

Carpenters.

Blacksmiths.

Gardeners.

Gamekeepers.

Domestics.

Policemen.

Farm Laborers.

Life Holders.

Bailiffs.

Yeomen.

Tenant Farmers.

Innkeepers.

Gentry.

Clergy.

Cottagers and Famr

Farmsteads.

Manor House.

Parsonage.

Gentlemen Farmers.

20

1

2

1

3

5

30

i

28

4

2

2

2

1

1

71

7

1

1

3

Population.

1841.

1861.

1881.

435

358

412

Names.

Professions.

First appearance of
the Name in
the Parish.

Ball

Quarry man

Barnes

Tenant Farmer

Barter

Policeman

1652

Bolwell

Quarryman

1586

Bradfield

1740

Brooke

Day Laborer

1573

Butler

Farm Laborer

1797

Bucknill

Bailiff

Butler

i)

1372

Canning

Farm Laborer

1570

232 Some Account of ike Parish of Monkton Farleigh.

First appearance of

Names.

Professions.

the Name in
the Parish.

Collett

Carpenter !

16ol

Cottle

Yeoman

looo

Dening

Gentleman Farmer

Deverell

Life Holder

1575

Doel

Quarry man

Douding

Shepherd

Gane

Quarryman

1585

Gate

Farm Laborer

1811

Gibbs

Quarryman

1731

Giles

Farm Laborer

1586

Godwin

Baker, &c.

1579

Green

Coachman

Greenman

Farm Laborer

Goddard

Coachman

Hancock

Gentleman Farmer

1747

Hobbs

Farm Laborer

1630

Hobhouse

Squire

1873

Hole

Schoolmistress

Hozey
Hunt

Quarryman
Farm Laborer

1755

Hyatt

Blacksmith

Hull

Quarryman

Harford

Farm Laborer

Kendall

Tenant Farmer

Isaacs

Farm Laborer

Love

Quarryman

XO I X

Lyreton

Farm Laborer

Miles

Gamekeeper

In ■nlrpp'HPr

Maslen

Farm Laborer

Marks

May

Day Laborer

1579

By Sir Charles Hobhouse, Bart.

233

Names.

Professions.

First appearance of
the Name in
the Parish.

Mizen

Farm Laborer

1700

Moore

On the Club

Moxham

Quarry man

1804

Painter

1 orifl

lbuy

Parry

Farm Laborer

Parsons

Day Laborer

mo

Perry

Farm Laborer

Prickett

Groom

Reynolds

Butler

Rice

"Widow

Shell

Farm Laborer

I0U0

bpackman

Gentleman Farmer

1 Q70

lo / 4i

bparks

Gardener

10U /

Sumption

Quarryman

lOOY

Sweetland

Innkeeper, &c.

1622

CI J

bymmonds

Pensioner

1701

Stebbins

Farm Laborer

smith

)>

Tayler

33

i ivi ft

I7iy

X (JOKtJ

Rector

Tristo

Quarryman

Vaughan

Widow-

1809

Williams

Gamekeeper, &c.

1601

APPENDIX. — F.

Names of Places.

Names of Places.

Acre's Well
Angel Leaze

Tithe Map,

192
148

Explanation.

[1617.

A family of the name, 1586-—

234 Some Account of the Parish of Monition Burleigh.

Names of Places.

Tithe Map.

Explanation.

Baker's Tyning

202

A family, 1573 to 1756.

Bassett's Mead

264

A family, 1665 to 1681.

Bays

83

Broadstone Tyning

46

Cod Mead

257

Calcord, Upper and

136-7

Lower

Chalk Lease

114

Pecularity of soil.

Cold Harbour

190

Collett's Tyning

251

A family irom loo I to present

day.

Common, in little

206

Part of common lands.

Conigree, the

The Coney-acre, formerly rabbit

warren.

Cottles Down

101

A family, 1656 to the present day

Covin's Close

85

Cow Leaze, Lower

248

Cox's and Cox's Or-

273-5

Name occurs 1591.

chard

White Cross Mead

198

Culver Hay

200

Lulverhouse occurs 1600.

Dyer's Ground

88

Dapper's Ground and

92

Dapstone

Dry Leaze

147

Quality of soil.

Duchess Clump

Farley Clump, planted by Anna

Maria, Duchess ot Somerset,

c. 1799.

-r-i 1 f> TUT 1

Enclosure from Waste

124

iviaue in vv aoie jjiowne s Dime.

Follett's Wood

290

Grass Folletts

59

Upper Folletts

288

By Sir Charles Hobhouse, Bart. 235

Names of Places.

Tithe Map.

Explanation.

Green Meare

205

Gibbon's Piece

141

A family, 1701 to 1802.

Hancock's Piece

145

A life-holder in a cottage, 1777-

47.

Haye's Mead, Great

1 182

and Middle Hayes.

(• 222

Hay Corner

221

Holly Pits, Upper

r 238
1 251

Hooper's Close

158

Name occurs, 1615-^3 and 83.

Holly Hill Ground and

Holly Stone Tyning

90

Innox and In woods

48

King's Tyning, Piece,

37 and

A family, 1621-97.

and Little Mead.

193-6

Long s lyninge and

234,6 and

Several families, 1535 to 1842.

Border

268, 9.

Links, Upper and Lane

143

Mary's Croft

144

St. Mary Magdalene's Priory.

Mill Hill

103

Had we a mill ?

The Mountains

84

Ox's Tyning

211

Pennsylvania

259-60-2

Given by the Quakers amongst
us ?

Plaisterers

77

Plock Pile Wood

183

Pond Piece

120

Adjoins the Priory Fish-Pond.

Poor Tynings

210

Raven's Tyning and

47

A family, 1688-1789.

Lands

Rook's Closes

50 and 61

236 Some Account of tie Parish of HonMon FarleigJi.

Names of Places.

Tithe Map.

Explanation.

"212-13-

Rowley

14-19-

■

20-29-

^ 55-56.

Sands, Upper & Lower

118-19

Quality of the soil.

Shepherd's Leaze

150

A family, 1775 to 81, or because

a sheep slate.

Shamble Pits

By the side of the Roman Road.

S lade's Leazes

250

Stallard's Close

155

Name occurs, 1700.

Starveall

102

Stile Croft

89

Sweep's Coppice

295

Taylor's Grove and

286-91

Several families, 1719 to present

Closes

day.

Week's Horn

235

Willock's Wood

231

Willow Beds

186-7

Now quarries.

Wllsalls

294 & 96

Withy Bed

263

Is still a withy bed.

Errata.

p. 28, last line, for " Wilton " read " Ambresbury."
„ 29, line 3, for " Ambresbury " read " Wilton."
„ 38, line 15, for 1787 read 1777.

* The Committee desires to express its obligations to the Rev.
J. Bliss for the gift of the illustrations of the south doorway
and chancel arch, in Manningford Bruce Church, page 130.

H. F. BULL, Printer and Publisher, 4, Saint John Street, Devizes.

IN COURSE OF PUBLICATION*

MAP OF A HUNDRED SQUARE
MILES ROUND ABURT :

With a Key to the British and Roman Antiquities
occurring there.

BY THE EET. A. O. SMITH,

Rector of Yatesbury, and Hon. Secretary of the Wiltshire Archceological
and Natural History Society.

rpHIS work, the materials of which have been accumulating for twenty-five
r*- years, is the result of innumerable rides and rambles over the Downs of
North Wilts ; and deals with one of the most important archaeological Districts
in Europe. It will be published and issued to subscribers by the Marlborough
College Natural History Society, and it will consist of two parts :■— a

First. — The Great Map — 78 inches by 48 inches, on the scale of 6 linear
inches, or 36 square inches, to the mile ; it comprises 100 square miles round
Abury, and includes the great plateau of the Downs of North Wilts, extending
from Oliver's Camp, on Eoundway Hill, on the west, to Mildenhall on the east ;
and from Broad Hinton on the north, to the Pewse'y Vale on the south. The
district thus mapped measures 13 miles from west to east, and 8 miles from north
to south. Every square mile, marked off with faint lines, lettered with a capital
letter and numbered, will show the Barrows, Camps, Roads, Dykes, Enclosures,
Cromlechs, Circles, and other British and Roman Stone- and Earth-works of that
district ; every such relic, being lettered with a small letter in its own square, is
readily found and easily referred to. The Map will be printed in six colours,
viz., the Antiquities in red, the Roads in brown, the. Lanes and Down Tracks in
green, the Sarsen Stones in yellow, and the Streams and Ponds in blue.

Second. — The Key to the Great Map, — which is by far the most important
part of the work and will form a general " Guide to the British and Roman An-
tiquities of North Wilts," — will be a volume of large quarto size, and will contain
the whole of the large Map in fifteen sections, measuring 18 inches by 12, and
four supplementary sections, each measuring 6 inches by 12. The Letterpress
will contain some account of each of the Antiquities, with references to and
extracts from the best authorities, as well as figures of various Urns and other
objects found in the Barrows, views of the Cromlechs, plans of the Camps, Are.
An Index Map, on the scale of 1 inch to the mile, coloured, numbered, lettered,
and divided like the Great Map, will accompany the volume ; and the whole will
be a general account of the Antiquities of North Wilts, inasmuch as the district
thus delineated embraces nearly all the remains of earliest times which exist in
the northern portion of the County.

Subscribers' names and addresses (a list of which will be published with ihc
Index) will be received by the Rev. T. A. Preston, The Gf-rei ». Marlborough %
The cost of the Large Map and Key complete will be, to Subscribers, One Guinea,
Any copies which remain (after all the Subscribers have been served) will be

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No. LX. NOVEMBER, 1882. Vol. XX.

THE

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NOTICE TO MEMBERS.

Members who have not paid their Subscriptions to the Society for
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THE FLORA OF "WILTS.

BY THE REV. T. A. PRESTOS, M.A.

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is particularly desired. Address — Rev. T. A. Pkeston, The Greenl Marl-
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t

the

f WILTSHIRE

I Irrliwlngirnl mi Enteral listen;

f MAGAZINE.

No. LX. NOVEMBER, 1882. Vol. XX.

Contents*

PAGE

" Letter feom the Author of * Nenia Britannica ' to Arch-
deacon Coxe, on the Original Design op Stonehenge and
the Neighbouring Barrows " : Communicated by H. J. F.
Swayne, Esq 237

Edingdon Monastery: By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A. ... 241

A Stroll through Bradford-on-avon : By Canon W. H. Jones,
M.A., F.S.A., Yicar 306

Extracts from the Records of the Wiltshire Quarter Ses-
sions : Communicated by R. W. Merriman, Clerk of the Peace 322

Description of a Barrow recently Opened on Overton Hill :

By C. Pouting, Esq 342

The Opening of a Barrow on Overton Hill 345

Extracts from the Register in Christian Malford Church 347

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Facsimile of an entry by the Clerk of the Peace, 1579 340

DEVIZES :
H. F. Bull, 4, Saint John Street.

THE

WILTSHIRE MAGAZINE.

" MULT0ETT31 MANIBUS GEANDE LEVATUE ONUS." — Ovid.

**y«tter from % gutljor of ' Jleitk ^titatmia'
to grdiksttoit Coxc, on t|c Diigiititl Jmgtt of
jstoiicjjcwjc aitb % Neighbouring §arrote,"

Communicated by H. J. F. Swayne, Esq.

HE Rev. James Douglas, the author of the "NeniaBritannica/''
never seems to have given his ideas upon Stonehenge to the
world. The following copy of a letter of his to Archdeacon Coxe
may therefore be interesting. Mr. Douglas — though what people
in these days would call prsescientific — was the precursor of the
modern school of archaeology, which so wisely depends upon the
spade.

H. J. F. S.

" Martin, in his ' Religion des Gauls/ says that stone monuments are more
certain guides than historians, and he says right. I place this remark at the
head of your query. Josephus mentions the earliest stone pillars, as erected by
Seth, which he says were to be seen in the time of Vespasian ; but this is doubted
by Stillingfleet (Origines Sacrse, Lib. I., cap. 2). In I. Samuel, vi., 18, a stone is
mentioned by the name of Abel, but which, from the marginal reference of the
Bible, should be read Aben, a stone made a boundary for the country of the
Philistines, ' whereon they set down the ark of the Lord in the field of Joshua,'
which stone, according to Holy Writ, appears to have been the identical stone
which Joshua raised as a religious memorial, and to which he called the tribes
Sichem, in imitation of the one erected by Jacob at Bethel (Joshua, xxiv., 26).
These were the earliest stones we read of as simple though magnificent memorials
of the one and only true God ; but afterwards under various similitudes perverted
by Gentile superstition, and therefore forbidden by the law (Levit., xxvi., 1),
VOL. XX. NO. LX. R

238

Letter from the Author of " Nenia Britannic a"

called in the Hebrew a pillar, or by the Septuagint Mascoithim. Clemens of
Alexandria, Lib. I., says they were common to all the Eastern nations. The
Brahmins worshipped the Deity under this similitude (De la Wulf) ; Jupiter
Amnion under the similitude of a conic stone (Quintus Curtius) ; Apollo under
a stone like a pyramid (Pausanias, Lib. I.). The Jews erected stones on every high
hill and under every green tree (II. Kings, xvii., 10). It is certain that rude
stone worship prevailed over all Syria, Egypt, and Greece, and we must not
wonder that in Britain (where there can be no doubt an Eastern people resorted,
particularly the Phoenicians) that single stone worship was introduced. Prom
this previous consideration, I ventured to pronounce the single obeliscal conic
stone detached from the temple of Stonehenge as one of the similar order to
which both sacred and profane history refer, and were I permitted to hazard an
opinion in this delicate fastidious age, I should not scruple to assert by many
convincing analogies that Stonehenge was erected as a temple to the Deity per-
sonified or typified by this conic stone, which, by its form — not contaminated by
the tool — is in every respect absolutely dissimilar to any of those appropriated to
the temple. The pyramidal shape is another reason why it challenges the des-
cription which may justly incline me to believe it of secondary origin to the
single Bethel, and therefore applicable to the Canaanitic order, or worship of
fire, and more avowedly so, as it is placed to the east or sunrise in the front of the
adytum of the temple, unquestionably so proved by the five trilithons, which
form a parabola to the opening before the altar and exactly opening to the eastern
position of the stone. You cannot now be surprised that I should deem the
temple of Mithraic import, and of secondary origin to the Bethel, I mean of a
later period ; if Pellettier is right in his History of the Celts, making them
one and the same people with the Persians, Syrians, and Phoenicians, their
language, customs, and religion being similar. Though History has not justified
the fact, yet I think by the most convincing cognition we may be enabled to
trace the Eastern colouring into this island, to whom most of our open and un-
hewn stone temples or circles may be with the greatest colour of truth ascribed.
If the consequitive arrangement of this argument may have weight, then a clear
discrimination may be applied to the sepulchres surrounding the temple. Those
in which the entire skeletons are found may fairly be attributed to the Patri-
archal or first order of Bethel worship ; and those in which urns are found
with ashes to the Canaanitic or Mithraic order, the worshippers of fire, Bel, or
Baal. Thus, my dear Sir, by the favor of a quiet and calm inspection of Stone-
henge in your company, unprejudiced by any wishes on the subject, I have briefly
transcribed a few notes to justify my opinion on the history of your celebrated
Temple ; being happy to find that this extremely curious and most antient structure
has engaged the attention of gentlemen more able than myself to expand on the
subject, and who have a more ready access to those materials which I am not in
possession of. It is an absurd idea that Mithraic worship was always accompanied
with fire- sacrifice ; and if I am right this will account for the few vestiges of
Charb discovered on breaking the ground near the temple. I think it not
probable that the interior circle of single granatic stones was a subsequent
erection. Both our observations, I think, agreed on this particular. They were
used for the libations of oil, and chosen as a harder stone to prevent absorption.
They could not have been conveniently introduced through the trilithons if of

to Archdeacon Coxe.

239

Subsequent date. It is certainly a remarkable coincidence that the Phoenicians,
as a prototype of the sun, erected one stone, big at the bottom and the point conic,
like the single stone at our famous temple (Herodian, lib. 5). I cannot help
setting" off again. Some regard ought to to be paid to the incumbent stone within
the outward circle of the trench, which certainly has the appearance of an altar
stone originally so laid, but if once erect there can be no doubt of its having been
methodically and intentionally thrown down. It ought to be raised on the north
side, as the grouud is best fitting for it, and supported by two or three shores,
for the inspection of the ground under it, which might possibly attest a very
antient sepulchre ; a purpose for which several cogent reasons might be in-
ferred. Whatever Stukeley may say, there were never more than three stones
within the outward circle. I examined the ground minutely ; their intention is
manifest with a very trifling variation. ' The two that are standing point north
and south : consequently the eastern position was easily perceived where the
obeliscal stone was placed, and which are, of course, indicatory of the original
purpose of the temple, The fine large tumulus near the temple ought to be ex-
plored. I should like to be present : the apex seems to have been a little dug
into, but the primary interment, I am confident, has never been discovered. I
remarked two small flattish tumuli within the outward circle, one to the south,
the other north-east ; they seem to have been explored. I think there may be
some reason to call the trilithons the British Lechlawors (Giraldus Cambrensis,
Lib. II., 1). If Heraldus employed his whole army and many cattle to transport
one stone, was it not possible for the people who raised Stonehenge to do the
same ? But I confess that Wormius ought to be read with much caution and
doubt. These Northern writers have most of their knowledge from the Scaldic
bards of the tenth century, and they lied a little : say twelfth century also. Is
it possible the detached stones called the Grey Wethers or Sarsen stones could
have been transported to the spot where they now lay ? if so, is there any similar
stratum in the neighbourhood ? Is it also possible that these stones might have
once formed a Templar erection ? I have never seen them, and cannot therefore
form a judgment. Bethel was converted into a place of worship on account of
Jacob's Pillars. 'But prophecy not again any more at Bethel ; for it is the
King's Chapel, and it is the King's Court ' (Amos, vii., 13). Compare the strict
analogy of this place of worship with the obeliscal stone and temple of Stonehenge.
Also Gilgal, where Joshua erected pillars on his passage over Jordan (I. Sam.?
vii., 6) ; Gilead, Gallied, or Mizpah, the same (see Judges and Hosea). Affairs
of the nation were also transacted at these places, held sacred to all covenants.
Hence deemed places of convocation. My best compliments, and kind regards to
Mr. Kennington,* and tell him I consider the conic relic covered with gold, formed,
with the breast-plate, the Iodain Morain and other gold ornaments as sacred to
the memory of Mithras. It is the mystic Bajlizle mentioned by Sanchoniathon
consecrated to the sun, and used by the priest or priestess in the ceremonies o£
fire-worship, to Bel or Baal. The brass dagger with gold studds is exactly the
shape of the instrument on an entablature (if my memory serves me right) found
at Persepolis in the hand of a Mithraic priest offering the bull to Mithra. The

• Evidently phonetic spelling of the name of Mr. Cunningtou,

n a

#

240 Letter from the Author of " Nenia Britannica"

barrow where these relics were found being an urn-deposit, may fairly apply to
an almost coeval date with the temple, and I venture to say this reason by
analogy may be sanctioned by this remark, that in all the earliest specimens of
fire-worship no animal form whatever is seen on any relics of coeval date with
these very antient remains of Stonehenge. The ruins of Persepolis are of much
posterior antiquity ; and if any credit can be given to fair unprejudiced enquiry
into the very interesting monument of Stonehenge, I should not hesitate declaring,
in the face of that ridicule too often attached by levity to these abstruse
enquiries, that the gold relic in question may be honestly applied as the para-
phernalia of a priest or priestess of the Mithraic order. The names of
some of our British kings imply their connection with the priesthood.
Belinus, for example, and I believe Csesar or Dio, I forget where, speaks
of Deoratucus as one also ; and as the barrows surrounding Stonehenge must
have a reference or connection to that very antient and interesting pile, and which
can by no means be applied to promiscuous interment of a people, who have
perished by the common course of mortality, they ought, therefore, to be con-
sidered as of a peculiar and distinct order. I am still on the Mithraic gold relic.
It certainly belonged to a priestess or prophetess, to whom the study of future
events was allotted. ' Euphages vero scrutantes, seriem et sublimia naturae pandere
conabantur' (Ammianus Marcellinus). Also Diodorus Siculus mentions them.
Strabo also. See Tacitus on the Custom of the German Nations. Genana, a
Celtic virgin, was worshipped as a goddess next in rank or honour to their cele-
brated Yaleda. I should be obliged to Mr. Tinney for his reference from Diodorus
Siculus to the temple in the Western Islands. I have him not, though I once
had, as also Stukeley's Avebury and Stonehenge which I parted with to White,
thinking that I had no farther use for him, which I now lament, wishing to
compare notes. It was a great pity this antiquary, who had a famous mind for
research, did not confine himself more to analogy and the spade than excursions
of fancy. I think D'Hankeville ' Sur les Arts and les Sciences ' is the best book
to be consulted for the Mithraic Bull, where the coincidence will be found between
these types of creation in the antient mythology of all the nations of the East.
I cannot further expand for the present ; Maurice will also produce a good col-
lection on the subject. Does Sir Kichard Hoare mean to go farther than the
description of Stonehenge ? if not, I will take it up in a brochure with a few
engravings which I have ; had I visited the spot a few years ago, I should have
found great help for my ' Nsenia,' which I should have arranged in a different
manner."

241

' #

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A.

EVERAL short notices of Edingdon 1 have already, from
time to time, appeared in print, but the grand old Church,
so well known to architects as (C the earliest authenticated example
of the Transition from the Decorated to the Perpendicular Style,
and as such the more valuable from its date being known," 2 deserves
— what it has not yet obtained — a volume to itself, and one that
should be rich in illustration. In the meanwhile, the following1
paper pretends only to make a little contribution of some details re-
lating principally to the Monastic establishment connected with the
Church, which have not yet been published, and are culled chiefly
from the well-preserved register of Edingdon, forming Lansdowne
MS., No. 442, in the British Museum.3

The earliest fact in the history of this place is that when King
Edgar in A.D. 968 founded Romsey Abbey, in Hampshire, he be-
stowed " Edyngdon " upon " the Holy Church of God at Romesey
for the use of the Nuns dwelling there." It is not now quite clear

1 The name is spelled ~E&mgdon (or Edyngdon), almost invariably in the oldest
records, and not Edingfcw.

2 J. H. Parker.

3 The register is very fairly written on vellum, in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries, 458 pages, the rubric headings very bright. It contains a great number
of documents and title deeds of the various estates of the monastery, many of
which also relate to the Abbey of Romsey, Hants. An alphabetical list of the con-
tents is printed in Dugdale's New Monasticon, vol. vi., p. 535 : where also are
given all the references to be found in Tanner's Notitia Monastica, and to the
Public Records. In the Record Office are documents of the reigns from Edward
II. to Henry VIII. Of the latter, a rental of Edingdon and Tynhide, 3 Henry
VIII., of Coleshill, 11 Hen. VIII., fragments of steward's accounts of Coleshill, and
leaves from a manor court book of Edingdon, 1 to 8 Hen. VIII. Other general
descriptions of Edingdon are to be found in Britton's Beauties of Wilts, vol. iii.,
p. 363 : The Gentleman's Magazine, a paper by the late J. G. Nichols, with print of
the remains of the monastery : and another by the late Rev. Arthur Fane, Vicar
of Warminster, in Wilts Archceological Magazine, vol. iii., 1.

Mdingdon Monastery.

how much the gift exactly comprised. The parish includes Edington
proper and the tithings of Tynhide (vulgb Tinhead), Baynton, and
West Coulston. The King's gift probably carried almost the whole:
because in the Domesday Survey we find that, with the exception
of one small estate then held by one Hervey, of Wilton, under the
Crown, two-thirds of the rest of Edingdon stood in the Abbess's own
name, and the remaining one-third in the names of military men
who held under her. Some one now resident in that district, familiar
with local names, may perhaps be able to identify the extent of
Edgar's gift, from the " boundary marks of Edyndon," as specified
in the King's charter : —

" From Milbourne springs to the Ford : to Lechmere : to Cram-mere : to
Worseles-down : along Milbourne to Bodenditch : to Rendburne : to Herway :
to Moderan-cumbe : to Inman-dene [or dune] : to Rede-ston : to Bedelus-birge :
to Ageles-ham : to Lusthorn : to Hillyng-estrowe : to Hize-don : to Ruzebury :
to Pudetan-stone : and so back to Milbourn springs."

After the notice in the Domesday Survey, A.D. 1085, little or
nothing is met with, until the Nonarum Inquisitio, A.D. 1341,
In that return a principal land-owner under Romsey Abbey is a
" John de Edyngdon " : and the abbess is called " Rector."

The ancient ecclesiastical history of the place is three-fold.

1. A Rectory Prebend.

2. A Collegiate Church.

3. A Monastery.

1, — Edingdon, A Rectory Prebend oe Romsey Abbey.

For centuries the Abbess of Romsey had been patroness of the
living, a Rectory : but the Rector, instead of being a resident
parochial minister, was a Canon or " Prebendary of Edingdon/' in
the Church of Romsey, who left all local duties to be discharged by
a vicar. In 1 338 the abbess nominated to the prebendal rectory for
the last time : as, a few years afterwards, a great change in the
Church affairs of Edingdon took place, through the interest of an
eminent native of the place, William of Edingdon, appointed
Bishop of Winchester in 1345 (19 Ed. III.).

That he was born, about A.D. 1300, of a family who lived here

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson } F.S.A.

243

is distinctly stated in his great Foundation deed : " de qua villa
traxit originem (from which place he derived his birth).1 There
is a tradition that he beg*an life only as a poor boy, and that having
no surname, he adopted for one the name of his native parish. It
was a very common custom, especially in that century, for ecclesiastics
to be called after their birth-place. Oat of the first hundred names
in the <e Wiltshire Institutions 3> (which is a transcript from the
Diocesan registers of Salisbury), between the years 1297 — 1301, no
less than eighty are designated, chiefly after Wiltshire towns or
villages, as William de Laving\,jn, Adam de Cumbe, Richard de
Cannings, &c. It was also the case that established surnames were
sometimes capriciously relinquished in favour of names descriptive
of residence, as conveying a notion of greater importance.2 If
William of Edingdon really had been the "poor boy " of the tradition,
so much the more honour both to himself and the times in which he
lived : and if he was an anonymous poor boy, what better could he
do than borrow the name of his birth-place? But there is good
reason for believing the tradition of his very humble origin to be
inaccurate. One of the deeds in the Edingdon chartulary certainly
mentions without any surname both his father and mother, cc Roger
and A vise/' and "his brother John." But this brother John is
shewn by the evidence of documents (as will appear presently) to
have been a knight, and moreover, the very person mentioned
above as a large landowner holding under Romsey Abbey, in the
Manor of Edingdon. This knight was succeeded in 1361 by a
son of the same Christian name, also a knight, and nephew to
William, then Bishop. So that, instead of being a penniless
lad, the Bishop seems to have begun life as the younger son in a
good established family, whose name was the same as that of their
parish. Further, it will be shewn, by the aid of documents, that a
very large part of the estate with which, when Bishop, he endowed
the Monastery, was the identical land held by his brother, the elder

1 Dugdale, New Monasticon, vol. vi., 536. See infra, p. 252.
2 Frost (History of Kingston on Hull, Co. York, p. 16, note) mentions one
James, son of Adam and Agnes Helleward, who preferred to go through the
world as " James de Kingston."

244

Edingdon Monaster?/.

Sir John, under Romsey Abbey: which (by some arrangement)
the Bishop ultimately obtained for the perpetual maintenance of a
House of Religion.1

After education at Oxford, William de Edyndon became Rector
of Cottingham, and afterwards of Dallington, both in Co. North-
ampton. The latter he exchanged in 1322 for the Rectory of
Middleton Cheney, near Banbury.2 He was also Prebendary of
Leigh ton Manor, Dioc. Lincoln : Dean of Westbury-on-Trym, Co.
Gloucester : and (if it was not another person of the same name)
he was also appointed by Alicia la Rous to the Chapelry of St. Ed-
mund, Imber, and was a Prebendary of Netheravon, in the Church

1 We have also the names of others, no doubt his kindred. John de Edingdon,
Prebendary of Romsey, and of Faringdon, A.D. 1351, and Thomas de Edingdon,
Prebendary of Chute, A.D. 1350, both in the Church of " Sarisbury." (See Jones's
Fasti Sarisb.)

The armorial bearings attributed to the bishop do not assist much in identifying
any distinct family name : there being (according to Bedford's Blazon of Epis-
copacy) no less than three different coats among which to chuse : —

1. Lozengy [?] on a cross engrailed five cinquefoils. Seal, MS., Ashmole,
833.

2. Three bars wavy. Gatehouse at Esher palace, and MS., Brit. Mus.
Add., 12443.

3. Azure, two lioncels passant O., in a bordure A. Sari. MS. 6100, and
MS., Brit. Mus. Add. 12443, fol, 130.

Francis Thynne, the Herald, in a MS. at Longleat, draws this last coat, with
a border Gules, and the lioncels passant gardant : impaled with the See of Win-
chester.

The bishop's "secretum," or private seal, among the archives at Winchester,' is
said to exhibit " a cross engrailed with five mullets pierced."

In the Wilts Archaeological Magazine, vol. i., p. 186, Note, it was stated by
the present writer, in the notes upon Leland's Tour in Wilts, that there was some
reason for believing William of Edyngdon's family name to have been Cheney ;
principally on the authority of a manuscript in the Ashmolean Library : but
upon subsequent inspection of that document this appeared to be incorrect. Of
the coats of arms variously attributed to him (as just described) not one in any
way resembles those of Cheney of Co. Wilts, which were, " A Fess lozengy, each
charged with an escallop, as may be seen in Edingdon Church). But though not
of their blood, it is clear from many circumstances that the Cheney family is to
be reckoned among his principal coadjutors and patrons. They resided at Brook
House, in the parish of Westbury.

2 In 1329 (3 Ed. III.) John, son of Roger Enok sold to William of Edingdon
Rector of the Church of Middleton juxta Bannebiri all his tenement in North-
mead, and an acre lying by the road from Tenhide to Sweltenham (Edingdon
Chartulary).

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.8.A. 245

of Salisbury. His patron seems to have been Adam de Orleton,1
Bishop of Winchester, who in 1335 promoted him to the valuable
Rectory of Cheriton,2 in Hampshire (to which it was his own fortune
afterwards to present a relative — John de Edindon — in 1347). 3

On the death of Bishop Adam de Orleton (William Devenish
having" been at first named as his successor, but set aside by the
Pope), William de Edyngdon was, by Royal favour, nominated to the

1 Adam de Orleton, Bishop, first of Hereford, then of Worcester, finally of
Winchester, is supposed to have been, by a sermon preached at Oxford, instru-
mental in sealing the fate of King Ed^Wd II. He is also said to have been the
author of the ambiguous Latin sentence, " Edwardum occidere nolite timere
bonum est " : which, according to the way in which it is punctuated, either
recommends or forbids the murder of that king. Some one (probably Thomas
Fuller) translated it : —

To shed King Edward's blood
Refuse to fear I count it good."

A comma after " refuse," dissuades from the murder : after " fear," recommends
it.

A similar mis-punctuation may, by the way, be mentioned, occurring in
Yillani's Hist, of Italy. One Provenzano Salvani of Sienna was told by an
enigmatical spirit, before an engagement : — " Thou shalt go fight conquer not die
in the battle and thy head shall be highest in the camp." Putting a comma
after "conquer," he read it: — " Thou shalt go, fight, conquer, not die," &c. ; but
putting it after "not," he went, was killed, and his head cut off and carried
through the camp (Cary's Dante, II., Notes, canto xi.).

2 In 14 Ed. III., A.D. 1340, " Wm. de Edindon, Parson of the Church of
Cheryton purchased 4 messuages, 65 acres of arable and 29 of pasture in Westbury
and Muleborne from Thos. Bracton (Add. MS., 24831, f. 14, and Hoare's West-
bury, p. 79.)

3 This John of Edingdon is most likely the same who was Master of St. Cross
Hospital, near Winchester, 18th April, 1349, and Rector of Farnham, 1366, On
30th June, 1368, he was cited to appear in the Bishop's Court on a complaint
brought against him by the parishioners of Fernham, for having embezzled the
materials purchased by his predecessor, Archdeacon Inge, for re-building the
chancel of Fernham Chnrch. He was again cited (in March following, and once
more on 6th November, 1369), for neglecting to proceed with the repairs : being
charged also with having received from Bishop Edingdon the money bequeathed
by Archdeacon Inge for that purpose. A John of Edingdon was installed.
Prebendary of Chamberlain Wood, in the Church of St. Paul, 20th October, 1366,
and Rector of Woodham Ferrers, in Essex, 26th April, 1393. They were probably
all one and the same person, viz., the Archdeacon, who en^ed this dignity up-
wards of thirty years, and died at leugth in 1397. (Manning and Bray, Hist
of Surrey.)

216

Edingdon Monastery .

see of Winchester. The Papal bull confirming the appointment is
dated at Avignon, 9th December, 1345.1

On Friday in Easter Week following he appears as Lord Treasurer
of England amongst the grandees present in the Archbishop's
chamber at Lambeth, to receive the homage of Edward the Third's
son-in-law, John de Montford, Duke of Brittany.3 When the King
was projecting one of his expeditions to France, he appointed his
son Lionel to be guardian of the realm ; Bishop Edingdon and the
othet chief officers of State to be his advisers. The Treasurer's
principal business was to raise money for the enterprise : a difficult
operation, in which one of his predecessors — Archbishop Stratford —
had been very unsuccessful ; the King's extravagance baffling the
utmost exertions of his financiers. " During Bishop Edington's
management of that office," says Fuller,3 " he caused new coins,
unknown before, to be made, groats and half groats, both readier
for change and fitter for charity. But the worst was [" imminuto
nonnihil j?ondere"~\ the weight somewhat abated. If any say
that this was an unepiscopal act, know he did it not as Bishop but
as Lord Treasurer, the King, his master, having all the profit thereby.
Yea, succeeding Princes following this pattern have subdiminished
their coin ever since. Hence it is that our Nobility cannot maintain
the port of their ancestors with the same revenues ; because so many
pounds are not so many pounds, though the same in noise and
number, not the same in intrinsical valuation." The diminution of
weight whilst the value was increased was a plausible but dangerous
experiment, which is said to have deranged the price of commodities
for a long time afterwards.

Bishop Edingdon, like his successor, Wykeham, whom he or-
dained, was a great builder. An able judge in these matters pro-
nounced that the Church at Middleton Cheney was built in his
time, and a late rector of that parish, the Venerable Archdeacon
Churton, used to please himself with thinking that the beautiful
east window and curious porch of his Church were early specimens

1 Fcedera, p. 64.

2 Fcedera, p. 38.

3 Worthies of Wilts.

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A. &47

of the ingenuity and taste of Bishop Edingdon. The Chapel of St.
Stephen, Westminster, was re -built and made collegiate in 1347 by
King Edward III., who probably availed himself of the Bishop's
skill in constructing it, as he did so in framing a code of regulations
for that establishment ; Bishop Edingdon being named as " Conditor
Statutorum " (compiler of the statutes) in the register of St.
Stephen's, still extant.1

Contemporary with that Royal foundation in its renovated state,
and not unlike it in form, was the Institution, by which the Bishop
proceeded to connect his name a, d memory with his native village.

2. — Edingdon, a College or Chantey of Priests under a
Warden: for seven years, A.D. 1351 — 1358.

The Bishop carried his first plan into execution in A.D. 1351.
The parish being large and populous, and the Prebendary Rector
of Edyngdon being generally absent, the Bishop's object was
to make the property of the Church more directly and continually
available in future, for the immediate benefit of the parish. Three
priests were appointed to reside, and were endowed ; one, as Custos
or Warden, superior to the other two, who, as chaplains, were to
serve a chantry for the special good of the founder's soul, and as
curates, to minister generally to the parishioners. The number to
be increased as additional endowment should be obtained. To carry
out this plan the prebend was for the time filled up by a " Master
John of Edyngdon, Clerk " (probably some near relative), and then
(in 1351) leave was obtained from the Bishop of Sarum to appropriate
the Church and advowson of the prebend with the Chapel of North
Bradley annexed, and a messuage and 2 acres. Three more priests
were then added, making a total of six. The warden was to con-
tinue to hold the rank of Canon of Romsey. Master John of
Edingdon then resigned, and Walter Scarlett was inducted as first
Warden or Custos. The title adopted by the new establishment
was the same as that of the parish Church : "The B. V. Mary, St.
Katharine and All Saints."

1 Baker's Northampton shire, i., G53.

us

Edingdon Monastery.

The whole scheme is set forth in a deed preserved in the chartulary
of Edingdon. The Bishop of Winchester petitioned the Bishop of
Sarum, who in turn addresses the Pope. Innocent VI. confirms
the request, by a bull dated at Avignon, three years afterwards,
10th May, 1354.

After reciting the particulars just mentioned, the document goes
on to say that the founder was to present during his life : after his
death the Wardens were to be collated by the Bishop of Sarum,
within two months after a vacancy : or in case of lapse, the pre-
sentation to be by the Chapter of Sarum : in case of omission, by \
the Archbishop of Canterbury. Immediately after induction, the
Custos to take corporal oath that he would continually reside at
Edingdon and personally minister in the Church. Two chaplains
to dwell with him, and to be maintained out of the revenue of a
chantry to which they should be attached : each of them to have
40s. a year beside a robe at Christmas, or a mark of silver instead.
The Custos to have a stipend of 4 marks of silver and one robe, or
20s. An inventory of goods to be taken every year and laid before
the Founder during his life ; after his death, before the Diocesan.
The Custos and two chaplains to live in a house provided for them
in Edingdon. The rest of the priests in another, all within the same
manse ; and to eat together. The Custos to find a competent clerk
to wait upon the chaplains at mass and in their chambers : also to
provide them with good surplices and amices trimmed with dark
fur (" honesta superpellicia et almicias nigris pellibus foderatas ") ,
to be used in the Church at Edingdon during service. A former
Prebendary, Gilbert de Middleton, official of the Court of Canter-
bury, and Archdeacon of Northampton, to be prayed for. Then
follow long directions about the services, which were always to con-
clude with " Anima Willielmi Fundatoris nostri et anima Johannis
germani sui, et animse parentum et benefactorum eorum et nostrorum
et omnium fidelium defunctorum per Dei misericordiam requies-
cant in pace " (May the souls of William our Founder, and of John
his brother, of his parents, of all benefactors to them and us, and of
all the faithful deceased rest in peace). The same also to be said
daily after grace at table. The Custos and chaplains not to have a

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A.

249

common seal. No one but the Custos to introduce guests into the
house. Any one who did so to pay 2>cl. sterling for every dinner,
and 2d. for every other meal, the same to be stopped out of his
allowance. All, and particularly the priests, to avoid, excess in
eating and drinking. All taverns to be avoided : and no visits to
be made to any houses without leave of the Custos. The Bishop
of Sarum's Letters of Request to the Pope, containing these par-
ticulars were signed by himself, by the Bishop of Winchester,
John the Prior, and the Chapter of Winchester, the Abbess and
Convent of Romsey, John of Edyndon, Canon of Romsey and Pre-
bendary of Edyndon, and Walter Scarlett, Custos of Edyndon, and
were dated 28th October, 1351.

In the meantime, between this application to Rome and the
granting of the Pope's bull in 1354, the Bishop of Winchester con-
ceived another and larger design : that of converting his College or
Chantry into a Monastery, and building an entirely new Monastic
Church — the one still existing at Edingdon.

In this, as well as in his selection of a particular Order of Religious
men, he was chiefly encouraged, says Leland, by the Black Prince,
who, having just returned from the winning of Calais and other
exploits in France, had brought home with him pleasing recollections
of a certain order of friars whom he had met with, called Bonhommes,
or Boni- Homines. Of this order there was at that time only one house
in England, viz., at Ashridge, in Buckinghamshire, Edingdon
became the second : and besides these there never were any others.1

3. — The Monastery.

In 1352 (26 Ed. III.) the first stone of the Monastery of Augus-
tines called Bonhommes, was laid on the 3rd July.2 The building
being likely to occupy some years there was at present no change
in the chaplains; Bishop WTilliam meanwhile occupying himself

1 In the Journal of the Archaeological Association, vol. xxxvii., p. 73, it is
stated that there was a third on College Green, Bristol, now the Mayor's Chapel.
But there is no mention of this in Tanner's Notitia Monastica.

2 Leland's Itinerary, vi., p. 48, quoting a book which he saw in Edingdon
Monastery. See Wilts Arch. Mag., i., 189.

250

Edingdon Monastery.

in increasing' his means of endowment. For this he appears to
have made very great exertions : not only by large purchases of
his own, but by obtaining assistance from the piously-disposed in
the neighbourhood. The first step was to enlarge the site,, by
obtaining' out of the Abbess of Romsey's land an addition to the
churchyard. This deed is given in Madox's Eormulare, p. 165 : —

"July 1352 [26 Ed. III.].

" Indenture between the Abbess of Romseye of the one part, and Walter
Scarlet, "Warden of the Chantry in the Prebendal Church of Edyndon newly
founded by William of Edyndon, Bishop of Winchester, and the Chaplains of
the said Chantry, of the other part : Witnesseth that the Abbess hath given to the
said Warden, &c, half an acre and 10 perch of arable contiguous to the Church
of Edyndon ; and 1^ acre and 24 perch of meadow contiguous to the Manse or
Close of the Warden, for its enlargement, in Free Alms, in exchange for Half an
acre and 10 perch and 1^ acre and 24 perch of meadow in Edyndon. Dated at
Eomeseye in the Chapter House of the Abbess and Convent, Monday before the
Feast of St. Peter ad Vincula. 26 Edw. III."

The Rectory of Buckland, near Faringdon, with the Chapel of
Burcote, annexed. This was purchased by Bishop William of
Edingdon from Sir Thomas Besils, and then given to the house.1
Out of this the priory paid 40<s. a year to the crown on account of
the dissolved Priory of Wallingford. At the Dissolution it was
annexed to the see of Bristol. One of the Buckland deeds in Eding-
don chartulary, dated Southwerk, 18th June, 1353, states that "the
number of chaplains being originally three, the Bishop intended to
add three more as soon as the profits of the Church of Edingdon
should be received [this had been done] ; and three more as soon
as those of Buckland Church." It had now become nine.

1352. Coteridge. Here and at Southwick, 40s. in rent of land
that had belonged to the Cheney family, passed into the hands of
John de Edingdon, Kt., and through him to the bishop's foundation:
and at the same time the mills at Sweltenham (or Swetnam).

A. D. 1354. Edingdon Prebendal Rectory. The appropriation
of this, lately granted to the bishop for his chantry, was now con-
firmed to him for his monastery. He reserved to himself for life
the right of appointing the superior or Hector of the new priory, as

1 Dr. Kawlinson's Collections : quoted in Lysons's Berks, p. 253.

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A.

251

well as of nominating to any Churches or Chapels belonging to it.
After his death the patronage to be exercised by the Bonhommes
themselves. In 1365, after the Founder's death, the appropriation
and possession of Ediugdon Prebend was contested by one Thomas
Duncklent, clerk, Rector of Tredyngton, Cornwall : but ineffectually
(Eding. Cartulary) .

North Bradley. The Church of St. Nicholas of North Bradley
having been heretofore annexed to Edingdon Prebend, its land and
tithes became henceforth impropriate to the house of Bonhommes.
The Rector of Edingdon Bonhommes continued to present to the
Chapelry or Vicarage of North Bradley from about 1351 to 1543,
when the Crown became patron by seizure. In 1545 John Owen,
Esq., then lord of the manor of South wick (in North Bradley), was
patron, probably only for the turn. In 1552, and since., Winchester
College.1

Some years ago there was still to be seen on glass in the east
window of North Bradley Church, the arms, A cross charged with
five roses, for the coat of Edingdon Monastery : the same as appears
in stone on Bishop Edingdon's work in Winchester Cathedral. There
was also at Bradley the name of " Thomas Elme/' Rector of Eding-
don Monastery, 1433 — 1450, in one of the south aisle windows :
showing perhaps the date either of the re-building or embellishment
of that Church.

Some land at Ditchridge, near Box, was given, probably by the
bishop's patrons, the Cheney family.

1354. Steeple, i.e., Staple, or Market, or East Lavington.
About this time Bishop William impropriated the Advowson, with
the Chapel of Gore, dependent upon it, to his monastery, which
continued to present to it till the Dissolution. One of the deeds in
the chartulary states that in 1368 (42 Ed. III.) the Bonhommes of
Edingdon purchased the Manor from Robert Forestall. They held
it of the Crown in capite, charged with 20s. a year to Devizes Castle,

1 The Crown had taken North Bradley from the college, by exchange for Enf ord,
in 1544 : but by another exchange, in 1 Edward VI., it was again restored to
the college. North Bradley Church was charged with the payment of 12*. a year
to the Vicar of Steeple Ashton.

252

Edingdon Monastery.

bs. a year to the Prcceptory of Hospitallers at Ansty, in South
Wilts, and £9 6s. Sd. a year to the Chapel of St. Katharine, of
Wanborough, Co. Wilts, to which the monastery presented. After
the Dissolution the payment last mentioned was made to Magdalen
College, Oxford. The Bonhommes had the whole Rectory of Market
Lavington, including Easterton. After the Dissolution the Rectory
of Market Lavington proper and the presentation to the vicarage
were given to Christ Church College, Oxford. The Easterton tithes
were shared by many owners.

From the same Robert Forestall the bishop purchased some land
at Coulston and Seend (I. p. M., 41 Edw. III.).

1358. March 29th. The consent of the Bishop and Dean and
Chapter of Sarum to the Commutation into a Monastery is embodied
in a Latin charter of Foundation (printed in the New Monasticon>
vol. vi.), of which the following is a translation : —
" 1358. 29 March.

" To all, &c, Robert [Wyvill] by Divine permission, Bishop of Salisbury,
greeting in the Saviour of all.

"Under the holy sanction both of the law of the land and of the rules of the Church
Religious foundations, though in their origin wise and wholesome, and formed
after much wakeful consideration, have been sometimes changed with a view to
improvement. And whereas some years ago the Reverend Father in Christ,
William, by the grace of God, Bishop of Winchester, thoughtful of his own
salvation, and desirous to make a blessed exchange of things earthly and transitory
for things heavenly and eternal, founded in the Parish Church of Edingdon, in
the diocese of Sarum, the village whence he derived his birth, a perpetual chantry
of certain secular chaplains, for the health of his own soul, those of his parents
and others of the faith, for the praise and worship of God, and in honour of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Katharine and All Saints, under which title the said
Church had been dedicated : and did further endow the same sufficiently for
maintenance of the said chaplains and other things necessary for the said chantry.

"But afterwards carefully reflecting that though whilst leading a secular life,
men might, under Divine grace, very well discharge their duties, blot out sins
and render a good account of the talent entrusted to them ; still, they have more
undisturbed leisure for these duties, when, despising honours, and withdrawn
from those worldly distractions that disturb contemplation, they prefer to seek a
heavenly country by submitting their own will to the power of another, to live
according to the observances of holy rule and to serve the Lord continually. He
[the said William] has long since desired and still earnestly desires that the
chantry and secular society [" ecclesia "] united with it may be elevated into a
Religious House : wherein may be settled in (as it is hoped) the perpetual service
of God and his most blessed Virgin Mother, Brethren of the Order of St. Au-
gustine, commonly called Boni Homines, by whom as by vigilant husbandmen, a

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A.

253

garden of healthful plants may be watered and, by the help of the Lord, produce
rich and ripe fruits, flourishing in the House of God. We, therefore, approving
this pious intention, with cousent of our Chapter of Salisbury and all concerned,
decree that the said chantry and secular Church shall be elevated into a House of
Eeligion, &c."

135S (32 Ed. Til.) . 5th April. The Warden and secular chantry
priests still held their places, as in this year Walter of Sevenhampton
was appointed Warden by Bishop Edingdon. He was probably soon
pensioned off, or may have taken the office only pro temp., having
declared not to become a monk • for ten months afterwards the
bishop's arrangement for the new monastery was so far completed
as to admit of the

First Tonsure of the Brethren, 16th September, 1358. The
meaning of the ceremony was, that instead of being secular chap-
lains, unfettered by monastic rule and vow, they now became
subject to both.

The "Dean-" (says Leland, meaning the Warden), Walter of
Sevenhampton, was the only one who declined to become a Bon-
homme. The title of Warden was now dropped, and the superiors
of the new monastery became " Rectors/'' The first was John of
Ailesbury, a brother from the house at Ashridge, Co. Bucks. His
license to assume the Rectorship of Edingdon had been granted by
the Bishop of Lincoln in December, 1357. A second license was
necessary from the Rector and Convent of Ashridge to enable him
to leave that society. He was instituted to Edingdon Monastery by
deed of Robert Wyvill, Bishop of Sarum, dated Maiden Bradley,
12th April, and was inducted 14th April 1358.

Thomas Fuller has (as usual) some facetious remarks upon the
class of Augustines who were called by the peculiar name of Bon-
hommes. "The Bonshommes or Good-men, being also Eremites,
were brought over into England by Richard, Earl of Cornwall, in the
reign of King Henry III., his brother : so styled (not exclusively
of other orders) but eminently because of their signal goodness.
Otherwise the conceit of the epigrammatist [John Owen], admiring
that amongst so many Popes there should be but five Pious, lies
as strongly here; that amongst so many orders of Fryers there should
vol. xx. — no. lx. s

254

Edingdon Monastery.

be but one of Good-men These Bonshommes tho' begging

Fryars [the poorest of orders], and eremites, the most sequestered of
begging Fryars, had two (and I believe no more) convents inEngland,
absolutely the richest in all the land (monks only excepted), the one
at Ashridge in Bucks (now the mansion of the truly Honble. the
Earl of Bridgewater, where I am informed more of a monastery is
visible this day then in any other House of England. It was valued
at the Dissolution at £447 8s. §\d. The other at Edington in
Wiltshire (now [1662] known for the hospitality of the Lady
Beauchampe dwelling therein), valued when dissolved at £521 12s.
It seems that these Fryars tho' pretending to have nothing, nec in
propria nec in communi, would not cast their caps (I should say
their cowls) at rich revenues if bestowed upon them, but contentedly
(not to say cheerfully) embrace the same/'' 1

The Rector was by custom entitled to sit in the Convocation of
the Province of Canterbury.2

A deed in the chartulary, headed " Transmutatio Cantarise de
Edyndon," gives the full scheme of the Bishop's Foundation. The
following is the substance of the more important part. It runs in
the name of Robert (Wyvill), Bishop of Sarum, and is dated at
Salisbury, 29th March, 1358 : — The office to be said according to
the Use of Sarum, daily and nightly. The brethren to attend the
Chapter House every day ; thence to mass. Then follow details of
the services, striking (pulsatio) of bells, &c. All to attend, unless
occupied out of doors. During a vacancy of the Rector, the house
to be governed by a deputy called the Cor-rector. The qualifications
for becoming a brother of the house are that the candidate shall be

1 Fuller's Church Histoiy, Bk. vi., sect, i., art 24, 25. As the title of a sect
of grave religious men, this French name of course could not be intended to
convey the modern meaning of the French word, " easy good-natured men,"
but that of "doers of good works." There was an Oriental order of monks,
on Mount Sinai and elsewhere, called Caloyers, or Kalories, a name of similar
kind, which some have fancied to be derived from, and to be a corruption of,
the Greek KakXlepyoi, operum bonorum artifices (doers of good works). (See
Pegge's Anonymiana, cent, xii., 93).

In Todd's History of Ashridge is an account of the peculiarities of the Order of
Bonhommes.

2 Hody's Hist, of English Councils, 1701, p. 6.

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A.

255

of good character, competently learned, under no kind of bondage
of debt or service, unmarried, and suffering from no incurable malady.
When they desire admittance, and it has been granted, they are to
be introduced into the Chapter, and on being asked what their object
is (ff quid petant ? ") , they are to prostrate themselves on the ground
and reply " The mercy of God and truth." The Rector is then to
say, u Rise," and he is to explain to them the rigorous observances
required of Religious men. On answering that they are ready to
keep these, they are further to be asked, whether any of the im-
pediments before-mentioned exk'. ? If there is none, a year of
probation is to be assigned. They are to assume the dress : when
dressed to be taken into the choir, " Veni Creator " to be chanted,
they being prostrate before the altar. Then " Kyrie Eleison,"
" Salvos fac servos," " Dominus vobiscum," &c. When the year of
probation is over, they are to be asked whether they will live ac-
cording* to the rule of St. Augustine and the institutions of the
house? If so, their profession to be made in this manner : — I, A.B.,
vow and make profession, and promise obedience to God, the B. V.
Mary, and to thee, CD., Rector of Edyndon, according to the rule
of Augustine and the institutions of the Boni Homines of this place :
and I will be obedient to thee and thy successors, even to death/'
Whilst saying these words, the candidate is to hold his hands between
the Rector's. Then the dress, at least the tunic and scapular, to be
consecrated after the following form : " O God, who didst vouchsafe
to take upon Thee the garb of our mortal nature, grant we beseech
thee that these garments appointed for our use by our Holy Fathers
in token of holiness and innocence, may by our hands be so blessed,
that he who wears them may be meet to behold Thee, through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen." Twice a year the Rector to produce his ac-
counts before the four senior brethren. In theChurch during chanting,
in the dormitory during sleeping, and in the refectory during eating,
silence to be observed. The brethren to avoid disputation. At all
times, especially in conversing with the scholars,1 to use the language

JNo account has been met with of the "Scholars," but it would seem from the
phrase that young people of the parish, or perhaps boarders from a distance, did
come to the Monastery for instruction.

S 2

256

Edingdon Monaster?/.

of modesty. The Rector to be vigilant over the flock committed to his
care: the brethren not to be vagabond and idle, but diligently occupied
in good works. From Easter to the Feast of the Exaltation of the
Holy Cross (14 th Sept.), a short sleep to be allowed after dinner. After
the sleep, regular chanting, except on fast days. Then in chapter
everyone to confess any open irregularity and do voluntary penance.
If he neglect, the Cor-rector to punish him. After the punishment,
prayers for benefactors and the departed : then certain special prayers
for the founder, the King, the Bishop of Winchester, the Bishop of
Sarum, John de Edyndon, the founder's brother: also for Adam de
Orleton, late Bishop of Winchester, and Gilbert de Middleton,1
Archdeacon of Northampton. When a brother dies the chapter
bell to be struck (pulsetur) : the brethren to go to the infirmary and
minister to any sick : the body to be washed and wrapped in its
habit : then to be watched by half the quire before matins, and the
other half after matins. The funeral on the following day. When
the founder dies, his Obit and that of his father, mother, and brother
to be observed with all due solemnity.

The number of brethren, clerks, and priests in the house to be as
many as the revenues will support without difficulty. No corrodies
to be charged upon the monastery. All the brethren to wear grey
tunics (tunicas griseas) with scapulars of the same shorter than the
tunic, and with hoods of competent size. Also to have cloaks of
the same colour down to their feet. The Rector and brethren to
have decent large round capes of grey when they go any distance :

1 He had been Prebendary Rector before the change to Warden and Chantry.
The place from which he took his surname was probably Middleton Cheney, near
Banbury, Co. Oxon : with which the Westbury families of Paveley and Cheney
were connected. In the Calendar of Patent Rolls, is a notice of his being in
danger of deprivation of his estates as a rebel ; and he had a good deal to lose:
for in " Fasti Eccles. Sarisb. " Canon W. H. Jones says " Gilbert of Mid-
dleton was well endowed with prebends, holding them, at one and the same
time, at St. Paul's, Lincoln, Sarum, Chichester, and Hereford. In 1312 he was
' Firmarius ' of the Church of Bradford (on Avon), under the Abbess of Shaston.
In 1321 the King granted him that he should not be disturbed in any of his
benefices." Well-endowed Prebendaries not being generally of a turbulent or
rebellious temperament, one is curious to know something more of the disloyal
doings of this singular plural man.

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.8.A.

257

to wear linen next the body, except on the nether limbs : all to sleep
in garments of wool or hemp (lanea seu staminea). Besides the
number of brethren above-mentioned, to be two secular priests to
wait upon the parishioners of the Church in the nave and to look
after them in distributing* sacramentals, &c. u The founder's will
and mine " (the Bishop of Salisbury's) " is, that the Rector have a
confessor, a discreet and proper person to be approved by the con-
vent." The brethren to confess twice every year to the Rector.

Signed and sealed by the Bishop of Salisbury and the Bishop of
Winchester, the founder.

1359. 20th September. King Edward III. granted a charter1
confirming the privileges of the monastery. This document begins
by an acknowledgment of Bishop Edingdon' s long and indefatigable
labours, and his wisdom and faithfulness in administering the affairs
of the whole kingdom. It is dated at Leedes Castle, in Kent, and
witnessed by Simon (Islip), Archbishop of Canterbury, W. Wynton
(the founder), Chancellor, John (de Shepey), Bishop of Rochester,
Treasurer ; Henry, Duke of Lancaster, William de Bohun, Earl of
Northampton, Ralph Mortimer, Earl of March, Henry de Percy,
John de Grey de Codnore, and Guido de Bryan, Seneschal of the
Palace.

The same year was granted a license from the Crown to crenellate
(embattle) the manse of Edingdon Priory, and enclose it with a
wall of lime and mortar, on petition of the founder : also to enlarge
the house and cemetery : and to have a way between the house and
the church. An agreement about this, made between the Abbess
of Romsey and the Rector of Edingdon Monastery, is signed by
John de Edingdon, Sen., and John de Edingdon, Jun., the bishop's
brother and nephew.

1361. The Priory Church was finished, and consecrated by
Robert Wyvile, Bishop of Sarum. The day is not named. Leland
(referring to the b.ook he saw at Edingdon), says (but erroneously)
that the saints to whom it was dedicated were St. James the Apostle,
St. Katharine, and All Saints.

1 Harl. MS, 927, and Lans. MS. 442.

258

Edingdon Monastery.

The next purchases made by the founder were from Edmund de
la Beche, Archdeacon of Berks: viz., Alvercote manor, near Burford,
on which was a charge of 8s. a year to the Earl of Shrewsbury's
manor of Bampton : Alwaldesbury, from Sir William de Goatacre,
Kt. : and Westwell (one hundred acres) from John Laundells,
subject to 20<s. a year to the Prior of St. John of Quenington or
Queenhampton, a preceptory of Knights Hospitallers in Gloucester-
shire (Val. Eccl. II., 142).

1361. Sir John de Edingdon, Senior, (Knight) died. The Rector
and brethren by arrangement succeeded to the lands which he held
under Romsey Abbey, at Edingdon, Tynhide, Bratton, Coteridge,
Milbourne, Stoke, and Earlstoke. The Abbess, Isabel Camoys,
and the Convent of Romsey, granted license to Sir John de Eding-
don, J unior, Knight, to release them to the monastery, which he did
in this form : — " I John of Edyndon, Kt., at the request of William
Bishop of Winton, my uncle, and for the health of the soul of my
father, have given to John, Rector of Edyngdon, and the convent,
all my lands in Edyngdon [&c], to have and to hold for ever in free
alms.'"' Witnesses, William Fitzwaryn, Philip Fitzwaryn, Knights,
Nicholas Bonham, John de Roches, Thomas Gore, and others.
Dated at Edyngdon, 20th February, 36 Ed. III. (Ed. Regis-
ter).

The lands in Edingdon parish thus derived from the founder's
brother, and belonging thenceforth to the Rector and brethren, were
for a long time called Edingdon Rectory Lands, to distinguish them
from such portion of the parish as the Abbess of Romsey continued
to hold till the Dissolution, and which were called Edingdon Rom-
sey's. The monastery paid to the Abbess a chief rent of £3 6s. 8d.
per annum.

1361. Bishop Edingdon held for the monastery five virgates of
land at Btjckland and Caneield, and Coleshill Manor, all in
Berks : also lands at Bratton, Highworth, and Esthorp. Re-
mainder to himself (I. p. M.).

1361. A patent was granted for the manor and advowson of
Tormarton, Co. Gloucestershire, purchased by the founder from Sir
John Philibert, Kt., and for a rent of fourteen marks of silver out

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A.

259

of the manor of Kingston Deverel, Co. Wilts, given by John Husee,
brother and heir of Sir Roger Husee, Kt.1

Tormarton was subject to Zs. a year to the Prior of Eynsham.
In 6 H. IV. Sir Thomas Hungerford held some rents there, be-
longing to Edyndon (I. p. M.).

1361. John Laundels held for the Rector of Edingdon, Keny-
cote and Munster manors, in Oxon. Remainder to himself (I. p.
M.).

1361. Bishop Edingdon is nominated by the King guardian of
Joan, co-heiress of John Pavely lord of the manor of Westbury
and of the hamlet of Hefding-hill (Bratton).2 She afterwards
married Sir Ralph Cheney, whose name is given to the mortuary
chapel now standing between the nave and south aisle of Edingdon
Church.

A license from the Crown, dated Westminster, 6th May, was
granted to enable the monastery to conduct water to the Prior's
house from a rivulet in the middle of Edingdon village. The same
for the Abbess of Romsey to a house belonging to her.3

1362. 36 Ed. III. The Abbess of Romsey gave the Rector and
brethren two messuages and one virgate of land, &c, in Edingdon,
in exchange for others in the same vill (Inq. a.q.d.).

1362. West Ilsley. Co. Berks. Some land here called " Pen-
ley's'" held under the Duchy of Lancaster, was given to the monas-
tery by Sir Richard Penley, who was afterwards buried at Edingdon.4

1 Edingdon Register. The name of " Hussey Deverel " still survives for some
part of the parish of Kingston Deverel.

2 See this in R. C. Hoare's Hundred of Westbury, p. 59.

3 About a quarter-of-a-mile from the site of the Priory, and about one hundred
yards to the right of the road leading from Edington to Bratton, four springs
burst from the hill-side. From the largest is supplied a copious stream that
flows through the premises formerly of the Priory, and thence to join other streams
tributary to the Avon. Over the southernmost spring a stone fountain-cell (still
standing) was built, in the strong and finished style of William of Edyndon.
The roof is of stone supported by two pointed arches. The conduit-drain, which
had an arched roof, was destroyed some years ago, and the leaden pipes stolen
and sold.

4 Leland's Itin.

260

Edingdon Monastery.

He was the owner also of Penley's, now Penleaze, near Westbury,
where Hoke-wood was given to the monastery.

1363. 37 Ed. III. Some tenements at Conington and Shortes-
den, in Co. , were granted by patent.

Lands in Escote (Eastcott, in the parish of Urchfont) were,
purchased by Bishop Edingdon from Henry Rolweston, together
with the right of presentation to the chapel there. Out of this
estate, Edingdon Priory paid £3 7*. Sd. a year to Wilton Abbey
(Yal. Eecl.). There was formerly a chapel at Escote, to which Sir
Thomas de Ashton had presented down to the year 1322. Edington
Monastery presented from about 1358, in which year (though the
date is not given in the Wilts Institutions) one Thomas de Aylesbury,
probably a relative of John of Aylesbury, first Rector of the Bon-
hommes, was nominated. The Bonhommes presented 14-05, 1420
1426, 1428, 1449. The chapel stood near the high road from
Easterton to Urchfont : some remains of it are now attached to Mr.
Drax's farm-house. The Edington Priory estate at Escote was
purchased at the Dissolution by land-jobbers, Tutt and Hame
(Hoare's Warminster, p. 85).

1363. South Newenton (Newton Valence), Hants. Impro-
priation of the Church was granted to Edingdon Monastery by
patent.

1363. An Inq. p. m. of this year mentions as property of
Edingdon Priory, "The Hundred of Wherwellsdown 93 : and
services at the Court of Ashton Manor and Boxgree (?) (The manor
itself of Ashton never belonged either to the Bishop or his Monas-
tery, but always to the Abbess of Romsey.

Tynhide (now Tinhead) . The Abbess of Romsey had lands here,
distinguished 'afterwards as " Tynhead Romsey's : but there were
also some lands called Ten Hides, which had belonged to Sir Robert
Selyman and had been sold by his widow, Maud, to the founder's
brother, Sir John de Edingdon, Sen. He gave the reversion at his
death to the founder, for the Rector and Brethren of his Monastery,
allowing Matilda Selyman, the widow, to hold it during Sir John's
life. On his death this year (1363) it fell in. It was this portion
of Tinhead that was afterwards known as " Tinhead Rector's " : not

By the Rev. Canon /. E. Jackson, F.S.A. 261

because it was glebe of a parochial Rector : but because it belonged
to the Rector and brethren of the Monastery : and to distinguish it
from the Abbess of Roinsey's Tinhead, above-mentioned. A house
and seventeen acres of land in Tynhide was held by the Priory, of
the Crown in chief by service of a hatchet ; and was called " Hache-
davey's." The brethren paid to the Abbess, as lady of the manor,
£1 3*. per annum for their " Tynhide Rector's/'' As both Romsey
Tynhide and Edington Tynhide were, at the Dissolution, granted
to one and the same person, Sir Thomas Seymour, and have since
generally formed one estate, thv, distinction between " Tynhide
Romsey's " and " Tynhide Rector's M is lost.

Some part of Tynhide belonged in later times to Jeffery YVhitaker,
of a "Westbury family, originally of Lincolnshire (Hoare's YTestbury,
42). Tynhide Court, a fine old grange with grand ecclesiastical
barn, is now destroyed. It was some time the residence of the
Carpenter family (see Wilts Vis., 1623).

1363. Highworth. From Edingdon Cartulary (p. 147) it ap-
pears that Laurence de Coleshill grants (for the Monastery) to John
le Northerne, Yicar of Buckland, in the same county, and Robert
Gundewyne, a brother of Edington Priory, certain lands and tene-
ments in Highworth. These in temp. Edw. II., had belonged to
Matthew Picot ; in 1333 to one Adam the Fisherman (u Peckeur "),
of La Bataille ; then to Richard of Hanningdon, and then to the
said Laurence de Coleshill. The deed is dated London, and is wit-
nessed by Sir Thomas de Hungerford, and others. The name of
"Pecheur" indicates that this may have been at a place called
Freshdene (now Fresdon) which in the minister's accounts of Eding-
ton property is described as consisting of a " Firma barcarum," a
ferry.

Some lands at Esthrop, near Highworth, were given to the Priory
by Benedicta Mandeville (see " Bratton," below). The Abbess of
Godstow paid two shillings a year to Edingdon Monastery for some
land. at Esthrop (Yal. Eccl., II., 194). At Sevenhampton the
name of " Friar's Mills" probably refers to the house of Edingdon
(I P. XL).

Coleshill, Co. Berks. This was the largest estate belonging to

Edingdon Monastery.

Edingdon Monastery. It anciently belonged to a family of the
same name, to whom Claricia, Abbess of Wynton, had granted the
manor in fee farm at a rent of £10 a year for ever.1 In 1350
Thomas Coleshill sold it to Bishop Edingdon. The Bishop's feoffees,
Nicholas Carewent, Rector of Crondale, Hants ; John Bleobury,
Rector of Witney, Oxon ; Walter of Sevenbampton, Rector of
Alresford, Hants; John Corfe, Rector of Collingbourne Abbats,
Wilts; Walter Hey wood, Thomas Hungerford, and Michael Sky lling,
knights, assigned it over to Edingdon Monastery in 1366. Out of
it was paid to the Hundred of Shrivenham the price of six bushels'
of corn at eightpence a bushel, by the name of " King's corn " : and
two shillings a year to the Mandatory, or Prior, of St. John, of
Queenhampton (Quennington), Co. Glouc, chief lord of Burward's-
cot (Buscot). It was granted at the Dissolution to Sir Thomas
Seymour, Lord Sudeley.

Edingdon Monastery had also the rectory and patronage of Coles-
hill.2

They also had the Hundred of Shrivenham, and lands at
Larkeby, Caldecot, and Shellingkord, Co. Berks.

1364. Bratton. This was held of Devizes Castle, of the King
in chief, being certain lands late William de Mandevillc's, who died
in 1333. The donor appears to have been Benedicta, widow of Sir
John Mandeville, heir of Joan, the wife of Nicholas de Bosco att
Hooke (Hook- wood).

1365. 39 E. III. Hungerford's Obit founded. Sir Thomas
Hungerford, then of Heytesbury, afterwards of Farley Castle,
Bishop Edingdon's seneschal, and one his executors, by deed dated

1 Edingdon Eegister, p. 164.
2 Coleshill manor (through an heiress of Pleydell) is now the Earl of Radnor's.
The present house at Coleshill was built in 1650 by Inigo Jones for Sir Mark
Pleydell. A window in the Church of the Nativity, at Angiers, was purchased
by an Earl of Eadnor and placed in Coleshill Church (Walpole's Anecdotes of
Painting, II., 38).

In the Archaeological Journal, vol. xiv., 268, are some deeds relating to one
Nicholas de Tyngewick, Incumbent of Reculver in Kent, for whom, being
physician to King Edward I. in his last illness, the King applied to the Pope for
a dispensation to hold also the living of " Coleshull, in the Diocese of Sarum."

By the Rev. Canon J. K Jackson, F.S.A.

263

15th August, founded an Obit at Edingdon Monastery; to be kept
for himself and Eleanor (Strug) his first wife : his father, Walter,
and mother, Elizabeth (St. John) : and Sir Robert, his uncle ; on
the third day after the Feast of the Nativity of the B.V.M. (which
would be on the 11th September) ; with lessons, requiem, &c.
Every brother of the house to use a special collect upon the occasion.

His endowment consisted of his lands at Highworth, Easthrop,
Westhrop and Hampton Turville, Co. Wilts : part of which late
belonged to Edith, wife of Elias de ±v*"xndeville. The total value of
the lands at these places is stated in the minister's accounts at the
Dissolution, as £24 a year.

By a conveyance dated at Edington the same day, being Monday
after the Feast of the Assumption, Sir Thomas transferred the lands,
" except a shop called ' Sherer's shop/ " to Thomas Jordan, chaplain,
and Robert Gundewyne. Witnessed by Robert De la More and
others.1

1365. Lands in Urchfont, Charlton, and Compton appear to
have been purchased from Michael Skylling and William Werston
(or Wroughton) (I. p. M.).

And in Chalfield and Trowbridge, from Philip Fitzwarren and
Constance, his wife.2

Death of Bishop William of Edingdon, the Founder.

1366. In this year William Edingdon, Bishop of Winchester^
the founder of this Monastery, died, October 7th, and was buried in
Winchester Cathedral. Here we may continue and conclude the
notices we have of him.

In 1349, on the institution of the Order of the Garter, he had
been appointed the first Prelate or Chancellor, a dignity which con-
tinues appurtenant to the See of Winchester. His place was at
the King's right hand at the Feasts of St. George : and upon each
of these occasions he received the costly present of a set of robes.
For his mantle no less than six hundred ermine skins were required ;

1 From the Hungerford Cartulary.
2 Walker's Chalfield, p. 4. See also Inq., p. M., 40 Ed. III.

264

Edi n g do n Mo n aster?/.

for the cape, one hundred and forty.1 On the 19th February, 1357,
he was made Chancellor of England, on Archbishop Thoresby's
resignation. His signature stands first to the Treaty of Britanny,
by which the King resigned his pretensions to the throne of France.
In 1362 Edingdon carried through Parliament the statute by which
the English language was appointed to be used instead of French
in courts of law, and of Norman French in schools. On the death
of Simon Islip, Archbishop of Canterbury, he was elected to the
Metropolitan See, 10th May, 1366, but refused to accept the dignity,
giving (so runs the tale) as the reason of his refusal, that " Canter-
bury was the higher rack, but Winchester the better manger. 33 In
the Bishop's antecedent history, however, there is nothing to justify
the idea that any motive of that kind would have deterred him from
taking the one remaining step to the summit of ecclesiastical rank.
It is more consistent with his character to suppose that either in-
firmity or years had warned him against undertaking any novel
burden; and that this was the cause becomes more probable from
the fact that his death took place a few months after the offer had
been made.

Towards the latter part of his life he had commenced the re-
building of Winchester Cathedral. Milner, in his account of that
building, says, " It is incontestable, from his will, made and signed
in t}ie year of his decease, that he had actually begun and undertaken
to finish the re-building of the great nave of the Church, though,
he only lived to execute a small part of it. This consisted of the
two first windows from the great west window with the corresponding
buttresses and one pinnacle on the north side ; as likewise the first
window towards the west with the buttress and pinnacle on the
south side. The stalls of the choir are also said to be his work, and
his also was the mortuary chapel which bears his name. Within
the tenth arch, at the west end, adjoining to the steps leading to-
wards the choir [on the south side], is an ancient chantry, by no

1 See Anstis, Order of the Garter. In 1363 (37 Ed. III.) against the Feast of
St. George he was allowed for a dress, a cloth of scarlet, a mantel of four hundred
and fifty-four ermine skins, a "furrura," or pelisse, of two hundred and forty-
four do., another of two hundred and seventy do., and a " cajpucium" requiring
one hundred and fifty-four do. (Wardrobe Rolls).

By the Rev. Canon J. E. JacJcson, F.S.A. 265

1110:1ns to be compared with that of Wykeham, hut in the same style
of architecture. This contains the monument and the figure of his
predecessor, William of Edingdon, a prelate in his virtues and
talents only inferior to Wykeham himself/'' For a long time this
chantry chapel had been consigned to dust and oblivion, but from
the disgrace attached to such neglect the authorities are now free.

In " Britton's Winchester Cathedral" there is an engraving of
his effigy, and of his chantry.1 The effigy lies on an altar- tomb
" within a stone open screen. The statue is fine in proportion, and
has been carefully finished. Its mitre and episcopal costume are
ornamented with much taste and elegance. The head rests on two
pillows, supported by two angels having censers. The figure ap-
pears to have been painted. Round the ledge is a perfect inscription
with gilt letters on a blue enamelled ground. There is no appear-
ance of a crosier/''

The epitaph, in jingling leonine verse, and in old English char-
acter, runs thus : —

" Edyndon natus — Wilhelmus hie est tumulatus :
Prsesul praegratus — ; in Wintonia cathedratus.
Qui pertransitis — ,ejus memorare velitis.
Providus et mitis — ausit cum mille peritis :
Per vigil Anglo-rum — fuit adjutor populorum ;
Dulcis egenorum— pater et protector eorum.
M. C. tribus junctum — post L. X. V. sit I. punctum.
Octava sanctum — notat Octobris inunctum."

" Out of this bombast rhyme 2 we collect this good character,
that he was a vigilant Helper of the People, a Father and Protector
of the Poor, a Bishop well beloved, and a religious and devout man "
(Cox's Magna Brit.) , He is said by a contemporary writer to have
deserved the title bestowed on him in his epitaph, of father and
protector of the poor, having given chiefly to them in his lifetime
nearly all that he had.

He was Bishop of Winchester twenty-one years. His chantry

1 Plate xxv., Letter A., and page 117.
2 For the credit of Winchester Latinity, the reader must be reminded that as
Bishop William of Edyngdon was the predecessor of William of Wykeham, this
specimen of Latin verse must be considered as Prse-Wykehamite.

266

Edingdon Monastery.

there was maintained by the rents of Oxenbridge farm (Val. Eccl.).
Prayers for his soul were also appointed at Leslies Abbey, in Kent,
by the provisions of an Obit founded there for his own family by
Sir Thomas Hungerford in 1-377. Also at St. George's Chapel,
Windsor, every 8th of October; and in Abbotsbury Abbey, for the
maintenance of which the Bishop had granted to that convent two
acres of land and the advowson of S win ton Toller (or Toller Porco-
rum), a parish in which his friends and patrons, the Cheney family,
had the estate of Kentcomb.1 At Edingdon Priory his death was
of course duly commemorated. His chief monument at Edingdon
("si quseris, circumspice ") is, of course, the noble Church itself.
Smaller memorials there, are or were, a stone on the floor, near the
south door, bearing the arms of the See of Winchester encircled by
stars : and on one of the returns of the mouldings of the porch his
coat of arms, on a cross five cinquefoils, within the garter.

" Some/' says Fuller (quoting Speed's Catalogue of Religious
Houses in Wiltshire), " condemn Edington for robbing St. Peter
[to whom, with St. Swithin, Winchester Church was dedicated] to
pay All Saints collectively, to whom Edington Convent was conse-
crated, suffering his episcopal palaces to decay and drop down whilst
he raised up his new foundation/'' If this was the case, "he dearly
paid for it after his death by his successor Wrilliam Wickham [an
excellent architect, and therefore well knowing how to proportion his
charges for reparations] who recovered of his executors £1662 10.?., a
vast sum in that age, though paid in the lighter groats and half-
groats. Besides this, they were forced to make good the standing
stock of the bishopric, which in his time was impaired : viz. (ac-
cording to Bishop Lowth) 127 draught horses, 1556 oxen, 4117
wethers, 3521 ewes and as many lambs." Episcopal farming seems
to have been conducted on a very large scale in the reign of
Edward III.

His Will.

A copy of the Bishop's will is preserved in the Archiepiscopal
Library at Lambeth (Langham Register, p. 144). It is in Latin,

1 Hutchins's Dorset, I., 530 (old edit.).

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A. 26?

dated "at South Waltham in my f manerium' there situate/'' 11th
September, 1864 ; and the see being vacant, it was proved before
Commissaries " in the Chapel of the Palace or Castle Episcopal of
Wolves," 1 near Winchester, 20th October following. It neither
mentions any person as a relative or in any way connected with him,
nor gives any account of his estate : but after a great number of
bequests to various Religious houses, Churches, friends, and servants,
leaves whatever residue there may be to finish the work begun by
him at Winchester Cathedral, and to1'' elp his House or his Chantry
of Edyngdon, if in need of help. Among the legacies are : " To
Brother John, Rector of my House of Edynton, to celebrate, and to
pray for my soul, xxh and a cup of silver with a cover. To each
Religious Brother in the said House to celebrate and to pray for my
soul Cs To the Carthusians in Selwood2 Cs : and to Hen ton C s3
To the Church of Cheriton xx marks for the supply of a vestment
and x11 to the poor. The same to the Church of Middleton near
Bannebiri .4 To Thomas Hungerford my Steward, 50 marks and a
cup with cover.'"' The executors were Nicholas Kaerwent, Rector
of Crundale, John de Bleobiri, Rector of Wytteneye, Thomas Hun-
greford, my seneschal, Walter de Sevenhampton, Rector of Alresford,
and John de Corfe, Rector of Colly ngeborne Abbas. A marginal
note in a later hand states that the clear sum of money bequeathed
was £3000.

1366. 23rd January and February. Soon after the founder's
death the Priory exchanged its manor of Highway, near Bremhill,
for the manor of Bremelbigg, in Westbury parish. The following
is the substance of the Latin documents relating to this transaction,
printed in Sir R. C. Hoare's Westbury, p. 61.

A license from the Crown having been given (5th June, 1364,
38 Ed. III.) to Robert Gundewyne and William atte Chambre (two
of the brethren) who held the manor of Highwa}^ in fee farm under

1 Wolvesey, near Winchester. A view of part of the ruins is given in the
title-page of Milner's Hist, of Winchester, vol. I.

2 Witham Friary, near Frome : within the limits of ancient Selwood Forest.

3 Henton Charterhouse, south of Bath.
4 Middleton Cheney.

268

Tiding don ITonasfery.

the See of Salisbury at a rent of £10 a year/ to grant the said
manor to Edingdon; another license was given :23rd January, 1-367,
to Sir Philip Fitzwarin and Constance, his wife, to give to Edingdon,
in exchange for Highway, the manor of Bremelrigg, in Westbury,
and fifteen acres in Dilton, with the advowson of a chantry of Hey-
wood (in Westbury Church). The exchange was ratified by a deed
(in French) a few days afterwards, October 1363. Out of this
estate the Priory paid to the Prior of Moukton Farley 10s. 8d., to
Sir John Arundel, Kt., 6s., to Lord Stourton, 16s., and to the heirs
of St. Maur, lid., a year.

A.D. 1375. Imber. South Bibee was part of the estate of
Romsey Abbey. In 1183 (29 Henry II.) the Abbess had granted
a portion of it to Richard Rous in perpetuity, at a fixed rent of £10
a year. In 1375 this (one acre excepted) was conveyed, for the
Monastery of Edingdon to two brethren, Thomas Elmedon and John
Auncell, by Richard Rous. His descendant, William Rous, in 1435
(14 Hen. YI.) confirmed the gift. At the Dissolution it was
worth £17 Is. Sd., out of which Edingdon Monastery paid the £10
a year to Romsey. Another part of Imber (Great Farm) belonged
to the Paveleys of Brook Hall — from them it passed to Cheney —
thence to TVilloughby de Broke, who gave a rent of £3 6s. 8d.
arising1 from it to Edinofdon.

The Abbess of Romsey originally presented to Imber, but after a
dispute, Rous obtained it. 2

Imber is described in Bacon's Liber Regis as having been a " Pre-
bend of Edingdon Priory "

The See of Sarum being this year vacant by the death of Bishop
Wyvill, the Archbishop of Canterbury appointed John de Xorton,
LL.D., Chancellor of Sarum, to act as commissioner for the in-
spection of TTilts Monasteries. Lacock Abbey was exempt by

1 In the Archaeologia, vol. xlvii., p. 147, is an interesting account by Dr. Baron,
F.A.S... of Upton Scudamore, of the discovery at Bremridge of thirty-two gold
nobles in fine preservation, and some of considerable rarity. This snm being as
it happened, the precise sum of annual rent due from the tenant, the learned Dr.
suggests that it had been safely put away against the next rent day, but by some
misadventure had never reached the Bursar of Edingdon.

2 Hist of Heytesbury, p. 160, quoting Edingdon Chartulary.

By the Rev. Canon J. E.

F. S.A.

license of Pope Boniface. Edingdon Monastery was summoned to
show by what title it held its impropriate Churches of Coleshill,
Edingdon, Steeple Lavington, and BueklancL Thomas de Aylesbury,
Prebendary of Urchfont, appeared as Proctor for Edingdon, 12th
November : and having given satisfactory explanations was dis-
charged (Edingdon Cartulary, p. 27 b.).

1379—1380. Besides the lands, late William Mandeville's, at
Bratton, others at Diltox and Brattox, late Walter Daunsejr'3,
were conveyed to the Monastery bj^ John Mandeville, Ralph de
Norton, and Margaret, his wife, sister of William Dauntsey. Out
of Dilton there was an annual payment of 13-?. Ad. to the Priory of
Monkton Farley, near Bath.

Mode gj Elect:::-:- ± ~Sz~ Ri::::-..

1332. The following extract from one of the deeds in the Car-
tulary describes the course pursued in the election of a new Rector.
It also shows the number of the brethren in the house at this time.
"The Cor- rector and convent, eighteen in number, present with
sorrow to the Bishop of Sarum that John of Aylesbury, late Rector,
had gone the way of all flesh on the 25th March last. After de-
liberation the majority, consisting of Brothers William Hampton,
Adam Schenlegh, Nicolas Clerk, Robert Offington, William Brok-
weye, John Westbury, John Ambresbury, John Tenhyde, John
Stowe, Robert Tame, John Brehulle (Brill : these two last Bucking-
hams hire names, perhaps from the other house at Ash ridge), John
Winchester, Thomas Tame, Peter Edyndon, and William Hamme,
have nominated three brethren, John Buckland, Thomas Odyham,
and Henry Laving ton : and request the Diocesan to chuse one of the
three. Dated in the Chapter House of Edyndon, 1st April,
Odyham was chosen and immediately instituted : being at the same
time required to deliver in a statement of the Churches impropriated
to the Monastery.

1390. Cote ridge (now Cuttridge, near Westbury). Here cer-
tain lands, formerly granted in fee farm by the Abbess of Romsey
to Walter de Quercu (i.e.j Cheney) and afterwards sold by John

VOL. £5. — SO. Li. 7

270

Edingdon Monastery.

Cheney to the founder's brother, Sir John Edingdon, now belonged
to the House of Bonhommes.

An original Latin document (at Longleat) records a solemn pro-
ceeding of this date, relating probably to the manumission of a
* native/' or "neif" :—

" Brother Thomas [Odiham] Rector of Edyngdon and the Convent there,
authorize J ohn Gowayn their steward to summon a Jury in their manor of
Coteridge, and enquire upon oath whether John Sefare, son of John Sefare, of
Bradleigh, was or was not a " Native " belonging to the convent, and of servile
condition. The return to be registered. Dated at Edyngdon Chapter House,
Thursday after the Feast of St. Maurice the Abbot. 14 Eich. II."

1393. 17 Rich. II. Keevil. Impropriation of the Rectory of
" Kyveleigh." It is this of which Leland says : " One Blubyri, a
prebendary o£ Sarebyri and executor of the Wille of Hedington"
[Bishop William Edingdon] " caused a great benefice of the patron-
age of Sceaftesbyri Monastery to be impropriate to Hedington"
[i.e., the Monastery].1

The Church of Keevil had been given by Ernold de Hesding to
the Abbey of St. Edward, at Shaftesbury. The documents relating
to the transfer to Edingdon are preserved in the Cartulary. The
grant by the Abbess, Joan Formage, was witnessed by John, Lord
Lovel, Thomas Hungreford, and Balph Cheyne, Knights, John
Gawayne, Thomas Bonham, J ohn Auncell, Thomas Bulkington, and
others. The attorney to deliver possession was John Mareys, the
Abbess of Shaftesbury's bailiff for her Hundred of Bradford. An
annual rent of four marks was reserved to Shaftesbury Abbey.

That the transfer of ecclesiastical property in those days was not
an easy or inexpensive matter is evident not only from the various
petitions to the Crown, licenses, inquisitions, &c, that were necessary :.
but from the actual bill of costs which appears to have been so enor-
mous that the particulars in this case were thought deserving of
being recorded (u in terrorem " ?) in the Edingdon Cartulary. They
are as follows, taken from a

Public Instrument, dated 1395.
Paid to the Abbess and Convent of Shaftesbury, for the Advowson of

Keevil 133 6 8}
Expenses in London, settling the annual pension of y 182 18 7
4 marks 49 11 11 )

1 Leland, in Wilts Mag., and Hutch. Dorset, II., 513.

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A.

271

In costs of an Inq. ad. q. Damnum [i.e. to ascertain whether the"")

Crown would sustain any injury] 37 /2. To the Chancellor £80 ! 1 -, 9 ^ 9
To the Queen of England £8. John Chittern, £19 13 4. f ' •
Divers expenses 56/8 )
To John Waltham, Bp. of Sarum, for License of Appropriation")

£66 13 4. ^ Gifts to Robert Gawayn his servant, £13 6 8. > 86 4 2
Fees to various officials, £6 4 2 )
To the Chapter of Sarum £66 13 4. To the Archdeacon £6 13 4. \ n n
To Master W. Bradele, official 33/4 ) /D U U

To the Chancellor of the Bishop 60/- Expenses at Keevil 52/7 5 12 7

Expenses at Keevil, " pro Vicaria dotanda," &c 3 13 2

Thomas Lavington [a brother in Edingdon Priory] expenses in")

London £18 11 l\. Fees " servient bus " Selby and Pictes > 20 2 4£

31/3 y )

Gifts to Master Richard Pictes, Canon of Sarum, for supplicating 1 g 2 0

the endowment of the vicarage £7 2 0. His clerk 20/. y
Paid the Court of Eome, for confirmation under leaden seal 33 6 8

Qui facit 791 marks £527 6 8|

The Rectory of Keevil, one hundred years afterwards, was worth
only £22 13s. 4>d., less outgoings, £4 2s., net, £18 lis. 4>d. sl year.
The actual price of the advowson above was only £133 6s. 8d. The
rest represents fees and charges, £394, three times the mere purchase-
money.

The first presentation to Keevil Rectory by the Monastery was in
1400. At the Dissolution it was given to Winchester College, to
whom it now belongs.

John Bleobury is often mentioned in deeds of the Hungerford
family as a feoffee of their estates, as for iastance in the purchase of
Farley Castle in 1369. He had been a brother of the Priory of
Edyndon, where an Obit was kept for him as a benefactor (Leland,
and Val. Eccl.). An ecclesiastic of this name was buried at
Shillingford, in Berks, where, under the north window of the
chancel, is his monument, on it a brass effigy of a priest vested in
his habit, all within an arch of tabernacle work, curiously wrought.
On the brass verge of the marble this epitaph : " De terre fut
feat et forme Johan de Bleobury jadys nome et en terre fu retourne
Tan de grace bien accompte 1372 en mois de Maiz qui bien lesponde
le vint et vint et septisme jour pour qui Dien de s'alme eit pilie.
Amen." In a glass window over the monument was the picture of
John Bleobury in a red gown and purple hood kneeling, and under
this, " Pro anima J. Blebury, Pater noster." 1

1 Ashmole's Berks.

T 2

272

Edingdon Monaster?/.

Bulkingion ) a tything of Keevil. The monastery had here a
manor, a farm, customary rents and the rectorial tithe. The donor
or vendor is unknown ; but it was probably Thomas Bulkington,
who is mentioned as having had an obit at Edington, as a benefactor.
Out of the rents here the monastery paid, to the choristers of Sarum
9s. 4d. a year : to the Earl of Arundel £1 Is. 6d. : to Sir Walter
Hungerford, Is. 2d. : and to the heirs of John Buller, 5,?. (Val.Ecel.).

Bulkington is not named in the Index of Edingdon Register, but
is in the Val. Eccl. Perhaps in the former it is included under
Keevil. From 21 Rich. II. to 33 Hen. VI. the Fitzalans, Earls of
Arundel, had a manor here paying 20s. a year to Devizes Castle.
The Stourton family were also connected with it, in Henry V. and
Edw. IV. In 5 Hen. V. Richard Vere, Earl of Oxford : and in
1534, Thomas Barkesdale, were freeholders. In 5 E. III. Henry
Thomas held at Bulkington twenty acres for a certain chaplain of
some chapel not named (Inq. p. M.).

1405. 7 Hen. IV. Staple or Maeket Lavington, Lee, Brat-
ton, Westhobpe, and Fifhead. Tenements at these places were
given by John Elys, clerk (Inq. a. q. D. p. 355).

1409. 11 Hen. IV. Sohbotjene, Hants. When this Church was
appropriated to the Priory of Mottesfont, Hants, it was charged with
a pension of two marks of silver per annum to the House of Edingdon.
The cartulary of Edingdon contains a very long dispute about this,
which ended in a writ to the sheriff, W. Cheney, to compel J.
Brekenyle, Prior of Mottesfont and Rector of King's Somborne, to
pay Thomas Culmer, Rector of EdingdoD, twenty-four marks, arrears
of the annual payment.

1423. 2 Hen. VI. Westbeey and Beatton. Thirteen tene-
ments, obtained from John Frank and others (see H. of Westbury,
67). In do., p. 84, is an abstract of many deeds in Edingdon
register relating to this.

1427. 5 Hen. VI. West Beatton and Milbouene. 5th May.
By license from the Crown John Frank, clerk (probably Rector of
South Newton) (Wilts Institutions, 1425), Thomas Touke, of Horn-
ingsham, John Franklin, of Coulston, and J ohn Spendour, of Immer,
convey to the Monastery about three hundred and fifty acres, &c, in

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A. 273

West Bratton and Milbourne. Out of Bratton the Monastery paid
every year to the Crown by the hands of the Sheriff of Wilts,
£6ia*. 4rf. To the heirs of St. Maur, £1 Is. 9d. To John Arundell,
Kt., Is. U. To the Hundred of Westbury, 10s. &d. To the Castle
of Devizes, 20s. To the Sheriff, Wcl.

1113. 14 Hen. VI. Baynton, or Edington Baynton. This
belonged to the old family of Rous of Imber, who at an earlier date
— 1274 — held two carucates at Baynton under Romsey Abbey
(Hund. Rolls, I., 277). There is in Madox's Formulare, a deed of
the year 1313, from which it appears that the Rous family had
always claimed a right to place in Romsey Abbey two nuns, with a
" valectus " to wait upon them : with a right of distraining, for
their maintenance, upon Brawthorne and Baynton in the manor of
Edingdon ; on the plea that those places had been given to Rom-
sey by their ancestors. By this deed John Rous, Kt., having ex-
amined the Romsey evidences, renounces to Clementia, the Abbess
there, both his right to nominate the said nuns, and also all claims
upon those places or any others belonging to her in the manor of
Edingdon.

Another Sir John Rous, Kt., the last of the old Imber family, had
in 1413 settled his manor of Baynton upon his younger son, John,
who is called in the Edingdon Cartulary, John Rous of Baynton,
Jun. This John, says Sir R. C. Hoare (Heytesbury, p. 162), is
chiefly remarkable in the episcopal registers as a promoter of Loll-
ardism and heresy, and was accused in 1428 of instigating the
inhabitants of Edyngdon and Tinhead to enter into bonds not to
pay offerings to the Church for certain services : for which they
were frequently summoned to the Bishop's Court, and seem to have
been very troublesome to the ecclesiastical authorities : but though
John was pointed at as the chief instigator, no sentence appears to
have been pronounced against him. In 22 Hen. VI., however, he
granted his manor and advowson of Baynton to the Rector and
Convent of Edyngdon, and thus perhaps purchased the peace of the
Church (Eding. Chart.).

His gift, which included also tenements in Tyniude, Steeple
Ashton, and West Coulston, was this year confirmed by patent to

Edingdon Monastery.

feoffees for the Monastery, viz. John Conge, Prepositus of St.
Edmund's College, Sarum (Wilts Instit., 1443), John Cammell,
William Alysandre (patron of Winterbourne Cherbourg in 1424,
1443), and John Touke (I. p. M.) . An annual payment of 17s. lid.
was made to the Abbess o£ Romsey. After the Dissolution, "Ed-
ington's Baynton," and five acres at Orcheston St. George, were
sold by the Crown to Anselm Lambe (Harl. MS. 607, 25 b. Ar. 59).

Tithes of Baynton. The original " Prebendary Rector of Ed-
ingdon Church in Romsey Abbey" had always had a claim upon
the tithe of Baynton tything : it being within the parish of Eding-
don. This seems to have been a bone of contention, for there was
a chapel at Baynton, the chaplain of which claimed to be called Rector,
the Rous family being patrons. The Edingdon Cartulary contains
some deeds relating to these quarrels. One is headed " An acknow-
ledgment by the Rector of Baynton of having despoiled the Warden
of Edingdon Chantry of certain tithes : and of the restitution
thereof." On the 17th December, 1351, before the Bishops of Win-
ton and Sarum, and Master John de Ingham, Vicar of Warminster,
Thomas the clerk, calling himself Rector of Baynton Chapel within
the parish of the Prebendal Church of Edingdon, made a confession
in writing, " In Dei nomine, Amen. I Thomas, fee., have unjustly
taken great tithes of two acres upon Dunge-Hill, &c." In 1362 a
composition was made between the Rector and Convent of Edingdon
and the Patron and Rector of the Chapel of Baynton about the
tithes of corn and bay and mortuary fees : in which allusion is made
to a former dispute between Gilbert de Bruere (Prebendary Rector
of Edingdon) and John de Rous, Kt., the Rector and Patron of
Baynton Chapel. The last presentation to Baynton Chapel men-
tioned in the Wilts Institutions was in 1439. Edingdon Chartulary
supplies another name, William Chippenham, in Edw. IV. The
chapel itself has disappeared; but a field called Chapel Close, in
which it probably stood, lies in Edingdon parish, between Tynhide
and West Coulston, near the old mansion house of the Danvers
family (afterwards the Longs), and close to the high road.

In 1857 two leaden coffins were found in a field on " Blandford's
Farm," in Edingdon Baynton.

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A.

275

1449. Jaii. 5th. William of Westbury, Justice of Common
Pleas, leaves by will 4i0s. to Edingdon Priory (Hist, of Westbury, 18).

29th June, 1450. The Murder op William Ayscough, Bishop
op Salisbury, at Edingdon.

The following account of this event is taken from Fuller's Worthies
(under " Lincolnshire ") .

" He was descended of a worshipful and very ancient family now
living1 at Kelsey, in this county, the* ariation of a letter importing1
nothing to the contrary.1 I have seen at Salisbury his arms, with
allusion to the arms of that house and some episcopal addition.
Such likeness is with me a better evidence than the sameness, know-
ing that the clergy in that age delighted to disguise their coats
from their paternal bearing. He was bred Doctor of the Laws, a
very able man in his profession, became Bishop of Sarum, confessor
to King Henry the Sixth, and was the first (as T. Gascoigne re-
lateth)3 of Bishops who discharged that office, as then conceived
beneath the place. Some will say, If King Henry answered the
character commonly received of his sanctity, his Confessor had a very
easy performance. Not so, for always the most conscientious men are
the most scrupulous in the confession of their sins and the particular
enumeration of the circumstances thereof. It happened that J. Cade
with his cursed crew (many of them being the tenants of this

1 The prelate's name is variously written, Ayscough, Ascough, Aiscoth, and
Asku (the last being the proper way of pronouncing the name however spelt).
The family was of Yorkshire origin, where it was also called Aske.

2 T. Gascoigne's complaint was that whereas earlier kings were wont to chuse
for their confessors grave doctors of divinity who had no other cure of souls, or
if they. happened to be appointed to bishoprioks were dismissed to look after their
dioceses : but that in later times the dioceses were neglected by Bishops being
also confessors to the King, Chancellors or Treasurers. " The mob " [he says]
" when they set on Asku, Bishop of Sarum, to murder him, thus insulted and up-
braided him : ' That fellow always lived with the King, and was his confessor
and did not reside in his Diocese of Sarum with us, nor keep aw/ hospital if // :
therefore he shall not live.'' Not content with their revenge on the Bishop,
they likewise plundered several Rectors and Vicars in the same diocese near
Salisbury and about Hungerford, harassing the inferior clergy at a barbarous
rate " [though what the inferior clergy had to do with the King's conscience they
did not stop to enquire]. See Lewis's Life of Peoock, pp. 30 aud 135.

270

Edingdon Monastery.

Bishop) fell foul on this Prelate at Edingdon n [Bishop Ayscough
had no palace at Edingdon, but had merely fled thither for refuge] .
" Bishop Godwin could not tell why they should be so incensed
against him. But I conceive it was because he was learned, pious,
and rich, three capital crimes in a clergyman. They plundered his
carriages, taking 10,000 marks (a mine of money in that age) from
him, and then to secure their riot and felony by murder and high
treason dragged him, as he was officiating, from the high altar. And
although they regarded difference of place no more than a wolf is
concerned whether he killeth a lamb in the fold or field, yet they
brought him out of the Church to a hill hard by, and there bar-
barously murdered him, and tore his bloody shirt in pieces, and left
his stripped body stark naked in the place.

" Sic concussa cadit populari Mitea tumultu ;
Proteget optamus nunc Diadem a Deus.

[By people's fury Mitre thus cast down ;
We pray henceforward God preserve the Ceown.]

"This his massacre happened June 29th, 1450, when he had sate
almost twelve years in the See of Sarisbury.-" 1

Leland (1540) says "The body of him was buried in the house of
Bonhoms at Hedington, and on the spot where he was killed ther
is now a chapelle and hermitage/'' 2 Later " Jack Cades 33 have
left no trace either of these buildings or of any monument in the
Church of Edingdon, if there ever was one to his memory. The
one in Salisbury Cathedral called Bishop Ayscough 's by Gough is
of much older date. The villagers used to show, as the scene of the
murder, a spot where they pretended that the grass grew so rank
and strong that the cattle refused to eat it. An old survey of A.D.

, 1 There are very few Bishops of Sarum of whom history has so little to say as
Bishop Ayscough. See Cassan's Lives. Also Wilts Archceol. Mag., i., 189,
note : and the " Chronicle of Hen. VI. " (Camden Society), p. 64, which adds :
" These two Bishops [Adam Moleyns and Ayscough] were wonder covetous men
and evil beloved among the common people, and holde suspect of many defaults,
and were assentyng and willing to the death of the Duke of Gloucester, as it was
said."

2 Leland, Itin., III., 98. Wilts Magazine, I., 189.

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A.

277

1570 mentions a ground of five acres at " Bishop's Cross on the
Hill." An Obit was kept for Bishop Ayscough at St. George's
Chapel, Windsor.

14-62. According to a MS. in the Bodleian Library, quoted in
Rees's Cyclopaedia, art. " Church," a pilgrim deposited the following
articles at the Priory : —

A Chapel made to the likeness our Lord's Sepulchre at Jerusalem.
A variety of vestments with imitations in wood of the Chapel of Calvary : of the
Church at Bethlehem, the Mount OliveV, and the Valley of Jehosaphat.

1475. 15 Ed. IV. One John Prescote having purchased some
lands at Knojde, from Margaret, Lady Hungerford and Botreaux
(but probably not having the money ready), agrees that the eviden-
ces shall be " putte in safe keeping in a sure place within the Monas-
tery of Edington ; there to remain until such time as any nede
shall require them to be had and seen for the wele of the said lands :
and when they have been seen, there to be laid up in safe keeping
again."" 1

Very few are the incidents that have been met with connected
with Edingdon Monastery. One William Way, of Eton, an early
traveller in the East, settled at the House on his return.2 It is
also mentioned by Fox, the Martyrologist, 3 as the place where
King Henry the Eighth's commissioner examined a poor Wiltshire-
man, afterwards burnt at the stake, John Maundrell, son of Robert
Maundrell, a native of Rowde, near Devizes, but occupier of a farm
at Bulkington, near Keevil. " Then succeeded three men who were
burnt the same month at one fire in Salisbury, who in the like
quarrel with the others that went before them and led the dance,
spared not their bodies to bring their souls to celestial felicity . . .
Their names were John Spicer, freemason, William Coberley, tailor,
and John Maundrell, husbandman, son of Rob*. M. of Rowde~
dwelt at Bulkington. So it was in the days of King Henry 8, at

1 Hungerford Chartulary.
2 His travels to Jerusalem were printed by the late Beriah Botfield, Esq., for
the Roxburgh Club : with a preface by the.late Rev George Williams, Rector of
Ringwood, Hants.

3 Fox's Martyrs, Brewer's edit., 8vo, viii., 102.

278

E ding don Monastery.

what time Dr. Trigonion1 and Dr. Lee did visit Abbeys, the said
John Maundrell was brought before Dr. Trig-onion at an Abbey
called Edington within the county of Wilts, where he was accused
that he had spoken against the holy water and holy bread, and such
like ceremonies : and for the same did wear a white sheet bearing
a candle in his hand about the market in the Town of Devizes. In.
the days of Queen Mary he went into Gloucestershire and about
Kings wood, but coming back to the Vyes to a friend of his named
Antony Clee had talk with him of returning to his own house. On
the Sunday following they went to Keevil Church, where Maundrell
Spicer and Coberley seeing the people in the procession to worship
the idol there, advertised them to leave the same, speaking to one
Robert Barksdale head-man of the parish, but he took no regard to
their words. When the Yicar came into the pulpit Maundrell called
out f that was the Devil's pinfold.-' He was put into the stocks,
and taken to Sarum next day before Bishop Capon, W. Geffrey
being chancellor of the Diocese. After examination they were
condemned by the chancellor and burnt 24th March 1556, at a
place between Salisbury and Wilton where two posts were set/' 2

The Dissolution.

1534. 26 Hen. VIII. John Ryve was Rector of the Monas-
tery when it was seized by the Crown, by whom it was retained
seven years. A valuation was taken. The spiritualities amounted
to £128 3s. 6d. a year, of the money of the day, consisting of seven
impropriate rectories, viz., Edyngdon, Keevil, Steeple Lavington,
and North Bradley, in Wilts : Coleshill and Buckland in Berks,
and Newton Valence in Hampshire. The temporalities, consisting
of the lands and manors that have been mentioned (together with
some small things omitted) amounted to £393 8s. 11^. a year.
Wheat, according to the return, was then 5s. 4<d. a quarter.3

1 Meaning probably Dr. Tregonwell, employed by Hen. VIII. on various com-
missions. See Strype, index.

2 There used to be a gallows, called in Latin deeds the " Furcse de Bemerton."

3 In other valuations taken at the Dissolution, a few years only after this,
wheat is put at very nearly the same price as at Allington, near Chippenham, 5s.
a quarter in 1537. It was at 5s, at Monkton Farley so far back as 1294.

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A. 279

The seneschals or stewards of the estates were (in 1534), for
"Wilts, Henry Long, Kt., of Wraxal and Draycote, with a fee of
60s. : for Berks, Nicholas Willoughby, the same : for Oxfordshire,
John Briggs, Kt., 205. a year. The auditors, Walter Seymour and
John Macks, or Marks, £2 35. 4<d. a year each.

The Monastery was also charged, by bequests, with the perpetual
maintenance both of Obits and Chantries, for the following benefac-
tors : — Richard Penley, Kt., John Rous, Simon Best, Sir William
Culmer (formerly Rector of the Hu^se), Thomas Bulkington, and
Thomas Gereberd (probably of Odstock), John Waltham, Bishop o£
Sarum (d. 1395), John Bleobury, a brother, and William Godwyn
(formerly Rector). The principal bequest for this purpose was J.
Bleobury's £8 a year. Also with Obits only, involving a trifling
expense, for Nicholas Broke, Nicholas Grey, William Fitzwarren,
John Amesbury, John Daunsey (a former lord of part of Bratton
manor) and two persons of the name of John Botham. The
total amount of outgoings was £100 2<s. So1., and the net revenue
£321 9s. M., i.e., about £3600 present money. The Monastery
seems to have farmed largely on its own account ; a large part of
Edyndon, all Coleshill and part of Tynhide, Baynton and Bratton
being returned as " in hand/''

1538. 30 Hen. VIII. Thomas, Lord Cromwell, K.G., Keeper
of the Privy Seal, presents Paul Bush to be Rector of the Monas-
tery.1 This would be whilst it was in the King's hands ; between
the seizure and dissolution.

Paul Bush was born in 1490. About 1530 he became a student
at Oxford, and five years after took the degree of B.A., being then,
Wood says, numbered among the celebrated poets of the University.
He then became a brother of the Order of Bonhommes, and after
studying among the friars of St. Austin (now Wadham College)
was elected Rector (Wood calls him " Provincial ") of his Order at
Edingdon, and Canon Residentiary of Sarum. Here he remained
(not many, as Wood says, but) two years : when the King being
informed of his great knowledge in divinity and physic made him

1 Wilts Institutions, II., p. 207. Rymer's Foodera, XIV., 638.

2S0

E ding don Monastery.

his chaplain and advanced him to the newly-erected see of Bristol,
to which he was consecrated June 25th, 1542, at Hampton. On
this promotion he vacated the Vicarage of North Bradley.1 et Pits
very erroneously says/ he was made Bishop of Bristol by Edw. VI.,
partly with a design to draw him from the ancient religion, and
partly because they could not find among the reformers any other
person of sufficient erudition. This author, however, allows that he
denied the true faith by taking a wife, whom, as an excuse, Pits
turns into a concubine. In consequence of this connection he was,
on the accession of Queen Mary, deprived of his dignity, and spent
the remainder of his life in a private station at Bristol, where he
died in 1558. Pits, and after him a congenial lover of popery, the
late Mr. Cole, says that he dismissed her of his own accord ; but
that is improbable, as there could be no necessity for such dismission
till Queen Mary's accession, which happened in July, 1553, and the
Bishop's wife died in October following/''

Dr. Paul Bush wrote 1, " An Exhortation to Margaret Burges,
wife of John Burges, clothier of Kingswood, Co. Wilts/'' London,
printed in the reign of Edw. VI. ; 2, " Notes on the Psalms," Lon-
don, 1525; 3, "Treatise in praise of the Crosse'"; 4, " Answer to
certain queries concerning the abuses of the Mass," in Burnet's
History of the Reformation, Records, No. 25; 5, " Dialogues be-
tween Christ and the Virgin Mary " ; 6, " Treatise of salves and
curing Remedies'", 8vo, printed by Redman, no date; 7, "A little
Treatise in English, of which the title, is The Extirpation of Igno-
rancy, compyled by Sir Paul Bushe, Preeste and Bonhomme of
Edyndon'", printed by Pynson without a date. Astle 3 says that
the first instance in which he had seen round Roman letters (type)
was in a marginal quotation in pica, at the latter end of the second
part of Bush's book : but that Pynson had printed a book wholly
in Roman type in 1518. From this it would seem probable that
the "Extirpation of Ignorancy" had been printed before 1518,

1 Wiltshire Institutions, A0. 1543.

2 Chalmers's Biog. Diet.
3 Origin of Printing, fol., p. 223.

By Vie Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A. 281

when that type was more uncommon : and hence the conclusion that
Paul Bash was a brother of the Bonhommes at Edington before he
was twenty-eight years old.

There used to be, a few years ago, in the palace of the Bishop of
Gloucester and Bristol — then at Stapleton, near Bristol — a portrait
of Paul Bush, which had been given to Bishop Monk by the
Ven. Thomas Thorp, then Archdeacon of Bristol. The dress was a
coloured silk gown with some badge dependent from the neck : but
whether this was the official costume of the Rector of Bonhommes
or not, is uncertain.1

In " Dingley's History of Marble/' vol. I., p. lxv., there is a
sketch of Bush's tomb in Bristol Cathedral : of which Britton, in
his history of that Church, says, " At the east end of the north
aisle is a low altar-tomb, which supports an emaciated figure of
Bishop Bush, who died in 1558. The head rests on a mitre and by
his right side is a crozier. Over each of the pillars'''' [there are three,
in front, supporting the flat canopy] "is a shield bearing arms.
Round the base and cornice of the monument is an inscription."
This is given by Dingley: "hic jacet dns paulus bushe primus

HUJUS ECCLESL5] EPISCOPUS QUI OBIIT XImo DIE OCTOBRIS ANNO DOMINI
M.D.L.VIII. ^ITATTS SU^ LXVIII. CUJUS ANIM2E PB.OP1TIETUR DEUS
CHRISTUS. AMEN/''

" On a grave-stone below the altar-steps, is inscribed, ' Of your
charity pray for the soul of Eclithe Bushe, otherwise called Ashley,
who deceased the 8th day of Oct., A.D. 1553/ His marriage with
this lady caused Bush to be deprived of his bishoprick." 2

1539. 30 Hen. VIII. On the 31st March the monastery was
formally surrendered by Paul Bush. To the original deed in the
Augmentation Office an impression of their common seal is appen-
ded. It is on red wax, and represents the Apostles, Peter, in dexter,
and Paul, in sinister. Over them the Virgin Mary and Child; and

1 Archdeacon Thorp told the present writer that the portrait strongly resembled
some of the same name then living at Bristol.

2 Britton's Bristol Cathedral, p. 61. The reader will notice both in the Latin
and English epitaphs a late instance of the request to "pray for the soul."

282

E ding don Monastery,

within an arch below an ecclesiastic with a crozier. The legend is

u S. COMMUNE. RBOTORIS.1 CONVEJNTUS. DE .LDYNDON.'"

The surrender was signed by Bush and eleven brethren, whose
names and pensions allowed to them were these : — Paul Bush, £100
a year, and the houses he reserved from the farmer of Coleshill,
Berks. All these he resigned on being made Bishop of Bristol.
John Scott, £10; Dnus John Chaundler, £8; Richard Phyllips,
£6 VSs. U. j Thomas Yatte, £6 13s. 4^.; John Noble (novice), £2 ;
Dnus John Morgan (novice), £2; John Payne (ditto), £2; Thomas
Button (ditto), £2 ; Thomas Alyne, £6 ; William Wythers (ditto),
£2 ; Robert Hende, £6 1 3s. 4d. There remained in 1553 in charge,
£3 in fees, £17 6s. Sd. in annuities, and the above pensions.2

The following table exhibits the names of the chief ecclesiastics
of Edingdon, under their various titles, from A.D. 1286 to 1538 : —

Edingdon.

I. — The Church a Rectory, and Prebend in Romsey Abbey.

A.D.

1286

c.1294

1302
1312

Title.

Prebendary

EcclesiseEector,

Ditto
Eccl. Prebendar

Patron.

Abbess of
Eomsey

Ditto

Ditto
Ditto

Prebendary Rectors.

Vicars appointed by
the Prebendary

John de Berwick. Also
Prebendary of York, Lich-
field, and London : and
Dean of Wimborne-Min-
ster, where he was buried
(Hutch. Dorset, II. 78
John de Eomsey. Also1 1297. Edward de
Vicar of North Bradley. Overton

William de Eoni
sey

John de London.*
Gilbert de Middleton " Fir- 1317. John cle

marius de Bradford," 1312, Winchcombe

of Stanton, Oxon. Arch-

deacon of Northamptonf

1 This word is erroneously printed peioeis in the New Monasticon, vol. vi.,
p. 536. On the original seal the word eectoeis is perfectly legible,

2 See Willis's Mitred Abbies, II., 255, and Add. MSS. (B. Mus.) 24831, p. 250.

* In U. Wright's Hist, of Domus Dei at Portsmouth, " Sir Roger de Rarum, Warden of Domu3
Dei, is stated to have been presented 9th September, 1303, to the Rectory of Edingdon and to the
Rectory of Downton, Wilts, 1304, by John de Pontissera {Anglice Sawbridgej, Bishop of Winches-
ter. In the Wilts Institutions a " Robert de Harwedone " was presented to Downton, Wilts, 1303 —
but of his being made Rector of Edingdon no evidence has been met with.

t See supra, p. 248.

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A. 283

A.D.

Title

Patron.

Prebendary Rectors.

Vicars appointed by
the Prebendary.

133 4

1337
1338
1351

Prebendarius.

Ditto
Ditto
Ditto

Ditto

Ditto
Ditto
Ditto

Robert de Stratford

John St. Paul
Gilbert de Bruera
John de Edindon. Nephew
of the Bishop

1334. William de

Wylmcote
1334. William de

Stratford

1348. John de
Staunford, ap-
pointed by the
Bishop

II. — The Prebend united ivitli a Chantry of Secular Priests founded by
William of Edingdon, Bishop of Winton.

A D.

Title.

Patron.

Custodes or Wardens of the
College or Chantry.

1351
Oct. 30

1357-8

Warden of
Chantry

Ditto

The Bishop
of Winches-
ter.
Bishop of
Winton.

Walter Scarlet : resigned
for Houghton, in Hants

Walter de Sevenhampton,

III. — TJie same commuted into a Monastery of Augustines, called
Bonho mines.

A.D.

Title.

ration.

Hectors of the Monastery.

1358
12 Apr.
1382
lApr.
1414
1433
1450

1464

1494
1515
1538

Rector of Con-
vent
Ditto

Ditto
Ditto
Ecc. Conv. deE.

Mon. of Eding.
Ditto

Ed. Mon.
E. Priory

Bishop of
Winchester.
Ditto

Ditto

Ditto
Rector and
Convent of
Edingdon

Ditto

Ditto

Ditto

Ditto
Thos. Lord
Cromwell,
Keeper of
the Privy
Seal [i.e.,
the Crown"

John Aylesbury. Died 25th

March, 1382.
Thomas Odyham

Thomas Culmer
Thomas Elme v. T. C *
William Godwynp. m. T.E.

William Newton

William Hulle or Hill. R.
of Poulshot, 1491, d. 1494

John St. John p. m. W. H.

J ohn Rvye p. m. J. St. J.

Paul Bush p. m. J. R. Also
Vicar of North Bradley
which he resigned 1543
First Bishop of Bristol
16th June 1542. Resigned
that see, 1553. Died 11th
October, 1558, set. 68.

• Mentioned in " Parson of Edington's case, 19 Hen. VI," (Gouldsborough's Reports, 1C53, p, 11).

2S4

Edingclon Monastery.

The vultures were ready for the carcase. In the very year of its
surrender some of the estates were sold off by the Crown : and
among the earliest applicants for the lands at Dilton was John
Bush, probably a relative of the ex-Rector. Westwell and West
Usley were granted to William Berners ; Tormarton (only a small
property) to Michael Ashfield ; and the large estate at Coleshill to
the Duke of Somersets brother, Sir Thomas Seymour.

1540. 32 Hen. VIII. Of the bulk of the estates in the hands
of the Crown, the usual " Minister's/" or Crown bailiff's, account
was taken. It is printed in abstract, in the New Monasticon, vol.
VI., p. 536. The original document in the Augmentation Office
is very minute. The rectorial title of Hawkesley (Hants) which
does not appear elsewhere was probably comprised under Sutton
Valence in former accounts.

1541. 33 Hen. VIII. The site of the Priory and the lands in
the manor of Edyngdon and Tynhide, together with the rectory,
were this year granted by the Crown to Sir Thomas Seymour, just
mentioned as having obtained Coleshill. He had also a grant of
the Abbess of Romsey's adjoining manor of Steeple Ashton, and of
the Hundred of Whorwellsdown.1 In the following year, 13th April,

1 In some of the Hundreds of Co. Wilts small payments still continue to be
made to the lord of the Hundred by the occupiers of certain lands, the meaning
and origin of which nobody understands : and so they fall into disuse or are the
cause of dispute. If any such petty taxes (which scarcely pay the cost of col-
lection) should still linger in the Hundred of Whorwellsdown, under the names of
«' hundred silver," "certain silver," "white money," or the like, it may be useful
to know what places in it were liable at this period. A survey of the manor,
among the Longleat documents, says : — " The sayd hundred, in charge of Henry
Brounker, Esq. [acting for the lord], extendeth into these tythings which pay
certain silver, as follows, Batelsfield, nil, Kevell 5/-, Tylshead 3/4, Colston 6/6,
Tynhead 13/-, Edingdon 13/-, South wick 13/- Bradley 2/6, Semington 6/6, Lyt-
tleton 6/6, Henton 6/6, West Ashton 13/-. Also there be divers freeholders
which be suitors at the Three-weeken Court yearly following, viz., The heirs of
Lord Broke, by lands in Southwick, the heirs of the Lord Souche and Seymor,
by lands there, Henry Longe, Kt. by lands in West Ashton late Lord Stourton's,
Thomas Champnes for lands in Bradley and Southwick, Thomas Wyse, in Tyl-
shead, Eichard Kyrton for hys lands there late Morgan's, Heirs of Loveden's for
lands in West Ashton, Heirs of Hawkins in Semyngton, Leonard Willoughby in
Ashton, late Norfolk's ; Heirs of Dawntsey in Low Mead, Thomas Horton in Tyls-
head, William Bayly in Ashton late Tucker's, William Button for late Temys

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A. 285

Sir Thomas's first court was held. The original MS. of this, with
some leaves wanting*, but otherwise in good preservation, belongs to
Mr. Moore, of West Coker. Meric Ap-Rice,1 of Welsh family, was
tenant of the manor farm of Edingdon (Edingdon Romsey's) under
a lease for forty-five years granted Michaelmas, 1531, by Elizabeth
Ryperose, Abbess of Romsey. Her farmer is called her " husband,"
i.e., "husbandman/''

That the buildings of the Monastery had not been disturbed in
1549, appears from a survey (at Lmgleat) made just after the death
of Sir Thomas Seymour: —

" The site of the late Rectorye with the Isle of Wyght of Edyngdon with the
Lord's orchard two acres, the convent orchard one acre, and the selerer's [cellar-
er's] orchard one acre and one close of pasture.

"Mem. The late Monasterye or Rectorye of Edyngton is scituate under the
playne and not yet defaced : the Hall, with all houses, buyldings, barnes, stables
and other houses of offices all covered with tyle : the Frater and the Cloyster
covered with ledde.

"There is a small Fay re kept there yearly upon Releken Sunday [" Relic
Sunday," 12 July] the profit whereof goith to the Reve which ys not worth 4d.
by the yere."

1549. 3 Ed. VI. Sir Thomas Seymour (created Baron Seymour
of Sudeley, 16th February, 1547) was beheaded, under warrant of
his brother, the Protector. Edingdon and the rest of his estates,
reverted to the Crown.

1550. 1 Edw. VI. That part of Edingdon which had been the
Abbess of Romsey's till the Dissolution, was then sold to a great
nobleman, Sir William Paulet, Baron St. John and Earl of Wiltshire,
created this year Marquis of Winchester.2

[Rood Ashton], Richard Styleman in Ashton and Lowmede : Heirs of Packer in
Semington and Ashton, Gyles Gore in Ashton, John Palmer in do., Henry
Brunker for late Loveday's in do., Antony Passheton for lands in Henton and
Lyttleton late Gore's.

"The late Lord Admiral [i.e , Thomas Seymour, Lord Sudeley] was Lord
Royal of this Hundred by reason whereof he had all manner of waifs, strays, &c. :
within which Hundred the Sheriff shall not meddle to serve any process, but the
lord's officer only."

1 Mentioned in the Wilts Visitation of 1623 in the pedigree of Carpenter of
Tynhide.

2 Of this very remarkable man Strype gives the following description : " He is
celebrated as one of the greatest temporizers in English history. Lord Treasurer,
President of the Council and Great Master of the Household to Henry VIII,
VOL. XX. NO. LX. U

280 Edingdon Monastery.

1551. The house and lands called " Edingdon Rectors " being
in the hands of the Crown under the Act of 1 Edw. VI., concerning
chantries to be dissolved, were leased to Lady Isabella Bayntun 1
(born Leigh), the second wife and widow of Sir Edward Bayntun,
of Bromham, who had died 1544. During the Bayntun occupation,
Sir James Stumpe (son of the wealthy clothier who had bought
Malmesbury Abbey) had some interest here, for in his will dated
1563 2 he mentions " a lease of Edington." His first wife had been
Bridget, daughter of Sir Edward Bayntun.

In 1561 the reversion of the last-mentioned part of Edingdon
(subject to the Bayntun lease) was bought by the Marquis of Win-
chester of the Crown for the sum of £1005 16s. 2d., the annual
sum of £7 65. Sd., issuing out of it, being reserved for the stipend
of two chaplains serving the Church of Edingdon.

In the collection of papers at Longleat there is the following
letter from the first Marquis, relating to an insubordinate tenant : —

William, first Marquis of Winchester, to Sir John Tliynne.
"After my right hartie comendations. You and Sir James Stumpe and other
your felowes Justices of peace appointing Eobert Blackborough* my tenant in

One of the mourners at his funeral and one of his executors. Went along with
the Beformation and bought Church lands largely of the Crown. In the next
reign Lord Treasurer again. Master of the Wards and Liveries, Lord Lieutenant
for Southampton, visited by the King at Waltham (late belonging to the See of
Winchester) and at Basing. Appointed Seneschal for the trial of the Duke of
Somerset : with the Duke of Northumberland ruled the Court, he by his wit and
counsel, the Duke by his stout courage and proudness of stomach. The Marquis
of Winchester was a mourner at King Edward's funeral : signed and swore to
the Succession as limited by the King : was, however, one of Queen Jane's
counsellors, yet signed the order to the Duke of Northumberland to lay down
his arms. Was present at the proclaiming of Queen Mary ; continued Lord
Treasurer by her, prayed the Queen not to give away the Church lands without
his consent. Knight of the Garter. Lieut. -General south of Trent. One of
Queen Mary's Privy Council : mourner at her funeral : present at the proclaiming
of Queen Elizabeth, and Lord Treasurer again. When asked towards his death,
how he had contrived to keep his influence through so many religious and political
changes, he said, 1 By being horn of the willow and not of the oak.' " His
life and death were written by Eowland Broughton, 1572.

1 The lease was to Sir Edward Hastings, Kt., and Lady Isabella Bayntun.
No marriage between them being recorded, Hastings was, presumably, a trustee.
2 Collectanea Topog. et Geneal. (Nichols), vol. VII. , 84.

* Robert Blackborough. occurs in an old survey as copyholdor of a tenement called " The Hurst,"
part of "Edingdon Rectoris."

By the Eev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A. 287

Edington to serve your orders for the Queen, wherewith Oswald Burrall a ser-
vant of Sir James Stuinpe hath given much evil language to the said Kobert,
and not so content but hath hurte him also : Whereupon you have caused the
same Oswald to be bound to the peace which is well done but yet not enough for
so evill a ruled man, but thinke him worthie to be commytted to Warde and in-
dicted as a common barratter and disturber of the queen's peace : and thereupon
to put in sureties for his good a-bearing against all the queen's liege people ex-
cept he wolde better obey her Majtie's commandment then I fear he doth : praying
you to take order with Mr. Stumpe and other your f ellowes for ref ormacion of
this matter that men serving the queen by your commandment may serve in
peace and without hurte. Thus fare you well.

" Written the xviijrh of August 1562 a*

" Your lovinge frende
" To my loving frende, Sr. John <f Winchester."

Thynne Knight one of the

Justices of peace in the Countie

of Wiltes."

Seal: within the garter, an eagle volant.

The first Marquis of Winchester died in 1572. His son John,
second Marquis, married an heiress of the immediate neighbourhood,
Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Willoughby, Lord Broke, of Brook
House, Westbuiy. At Longleat are two letters from this nobleman,
relating to Ediugdon. The first is to request (in some case that
had arisen affecting his woods there), the assistance of Sir John
Thynne (the builder of Longleat) who had been in charge, on behalf
of the Crown, of the Monastery estates after confiscation : —

No. 1. — John, second Marquis of Winchester, to Sir John Thynne,
2nd May, 1574.

" Sr, by information into the Exchequer certen woodes of myne about Edington
be brought in question for Her Majtie and therein my Pattent verie hardlie
skanned to my prejudice, and the disadvantage of the most men's pattents in
England, yf it should take place : But for the better travaille of the matter, there
is a commissiou graunted to to the enformere to enquiere of the right thereof by
the voyses of the cuntrie. And it is allso graunted unto me to joyne certen
comyssioners in my behalf to enquiere & examyne wytnesses for my right.
Whereuppon I am so bould of your frindshipp as to name you, requesting you
to take the paynes in my behalf so far to extend your travail as to meet together
with the reste of the comyssioners, at the time and place appointed, whereunto I
am so hardlie pressed, as yf you faile to shewe me this curtesye yt will redound
to my great disadvantage which I trust your frindship will prevent. I have allso
sent you the interrogatories whereuppon I would have the wytnesses examyned.

u 2

2S8

Edingdon Monastery.

And even so We yon right hartelie well to fare. From my howse at Chelseye
this xvjtb of Maij 1574

" Your assured friend

" Wynchestee "

Postscript : —

" The Corny ssion is returnable the last returne of the next terme."
" To my loving frind S* John Thyne knight
geve theise."

No. 2. — The same to the same. Requesting friendly interference
to prevent law proceedings about a small piece of ground.

" I hartelie commend me. Where a servant of yours one Parrey hath through
information exhibited, made her Majtie a party against Bromwiche a tenant of
rnyne in Edington, surmising me to have intruded upon an acre of ground there,
termed Rack acre, & the cause prosecuted unto Trial (at this last assizes to have
been had) with more expedition and less indifference then in equitie appertayneths
giveth me to think yourself not privie thereof, as from whome I presume to have
been furst advertised of the interest pretended, before the same attempted in
manner as before [mentioned], especiallie the matter in demaunde being so small,
and myself not so well acquainted therewith as driven with great charge to
defend the same. And therefore requesting, if the matter (being no greater)
may be otherwise determined then by ordinarie proceedings in Law that I may
use your frindlie furtherance therein. And so bidd you use you hartelie farewell.
Hooke, this xxiiijth of September, 1578.

" Yr very loving frinde

" Winchester."

The lease by the Crown to the Bayntuns, in 1550, was for many
years, and had not yet expired. Lady Isabella dying, was succeeded
by her step-son, Andrew Bayntun, Esq. (son of the late Sir Edward
by his first wife, Elizabeth Sulyard). From the following letter1
(at Longleat) it appears that towards the end of his lease, he had
not only committed waste on the premises by well-nigh " plucking
down w the Monastery House, but had before his death taken upon
him to assign the lease over to his wife. William, third Marquis,2
(grandson of the original grantee) disputed Mr. BayntmVs right to
do so, and applied to the Court of Exchequer for a sequestration of

1 Harl. MS., 286, p. 213.
2 This William, third Marquis, was the author of a now scarce book, called
" The Lord Marques Idlenes, containing Manifold Matters of acceptable Devise,
or, Sage Sentences, Prudent Precepts, Morall examples, &c." Printed by Edmund
Bollifant, 1587.

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A.

289

the estate until a trial could take place. This was granted. Upon
this, Mrs. Bayntuu, the widow, following a not uncommon practice
of those times, made a private appeal to the Lord Keeper of the
Great Seal, Sir James Puckering, who thereupon wrote to the
Marquis. To this the Marquis replies, in the following letter : —

William, third Marquis of Winchester, to the Keeper of the Great
Seal, July 20th, 1593.

" My veryie good Lo. havinge receaved yor Lo: Ire o£ the xvth of the last
monetae the xxth of this instant Julie addressed att the instance of Mres Bainton,
whoe seraeth to have informed yor. Lo ^ -f my Receipte and deteyninge of the
Rents and profitts of the Mannor of Edington wh. shee pretendeth to apptaine
unto her. Whearin I finde greatlie to abuse yor. Lo: and wrong me as one de-
servinge to possesse nothinge injuriouslie. The cause dependeth in the Exchequer
Chamber, and is readie for hearinge and a daie given for the same this next
Tearme and the issues and profitts whearoff shee complaineth are by speciall
commission out of that Courte sequestered & there remaine in Deposito, untill
the hearinge of the said Cawse, so is it not in me to relieve her necessities,
neyther to helpe myself so muche as unto the Rentes due unto me out of the said
Manor : before the saied Cawse be determined. The reason which moved the
Courte to graunte the said Sequestration was in respecte of the great waste and
spoils done by her Husbande, whoe beinge my Tennte of that Mansion howse &
demaynes, & seeing his Tearme nighe expiered did courablie assigne over the
Demaynes to the use of his saied wiffe reserving the said howse, & thereupon
presently plucked downe the said howse, and hath so spoiled the same, as one
thousande ponndes will not reedifie it againe. Whearin the Courte of Exchequer
purposinge to give redresse as cawse shall requier, must submitt myselfe and the
cawse to the censure thereof. And even so doe leave yor good Lo. to the tuyton
of the Almightie. Aberstone this xxth of Julie 1593.

"Yor. Lo: to Commaunde

" Winchester."

Addressed : —
" To the Right honorable
my veraie good Lo. the Lo.
Keeper of the Create Seale of
Englande."

Endorsed : —
" July 20. 1593
" The Lo. Marques in answer to
yor Lo. for Mrs. Baynton."

It was, therefore, Andrew Bayntun, who died in 1579 and was
buried under a large altar-tomb in Chippenham Church, who pulled
the Priory at Edingdon to pieces. The small portion that remains

290

Edingdon Monastery.

of the original house, stripped of its gables and altered by the later
addition of two square castellated appendages, presents but little
that is architecturally interesting. There is an engraving of it as
it was in 1846, in the Gentleman's Magazine of that year, p. 257.

In 1587 a subsidy roll of Queen Elizabeth gives the name of
William Jones, of Edingdon, gent.,1 as the principal person in the
parish. It was he who in 1599 purchased Brook House of Lord
Mountjoy. A son, Sefton, married a daughter of John Still, Bishop
of Bath and Wells : a grandson, Sefton, married Hester, daughter
of Walter White of Grittleton, who left two daughters, co-heiresses,
Ann, wife of Peter Whatley, and Elizabeth, wife of Henry Long.

The long lease having expired, about the beginning of the seven-
teenth century Edingdon became the residence of Sir William
Paulet, Kt.,2 one of four natural sons of the third Marquis : of whom
Dugdale says that " they were all born of one mother, Mrs. Lambert
and provided for by their jfather with leases for 100 years, of little
less than £4000 a year, which to this day are called The Bastards'
Lands."

Sir William Pauleys second daughter, Elizabeth, was the second
wife of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, the Parliamentary general,
from whom he obtained a divorce in about four years ; on the ac-
cusation of intrigue with Mr Uvedale. She married for her second
husband Sir Thomas Higgons.3

Lewis.

The next lessee under the Paulets was Sir Edward Lewis of the
Van, near Caerphilly, Co. Glamorgan. He married Ann (Sackville),
widow of Sir Edward Seymour, Lord Beauchamp (who died 1619).

1 An old churchwarden's account book, in the parish chest, of A.D. 1588 to
1615, mentions in 1591, "Mr. Bainton in arrears to the parish £6 13*. 9d. In
1593 William Jones signs the account.

2 Sir William Powlett signs the Church book in 1603.

3 Sir Thomas Higgons was a valuable servant of the Crown as Ambassador to
Vienna : of whom there is a memoir in Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary. He
pronounced a funeral oration over his wife at her interment at Winchester in
1656, printed in London : in which her character was vindicated, and the true
causes of the Earl of Essex's conduct described. See Granger's Biographical
Dictionary and Peck's Desid. Curiosa, xii., 16.

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A.

291

Sir Edward Lewis was buried at Edingdon in 1630. On the south
side of the chancel there is a very large monument to his memory;
over it a shield of his arms impaling those of Sackville. Lady
Ann Beauchamp resided at Edingdon. Her hospitalities are alluded
to by Fuller, the Church historian (see p. 254 above), and by Aubrey,1
She was buried at Edingdon. In the Church is this inscription on
a brass plate : —

" Here lyeth the body of the Right Honble Anne Lady Beauchamp who deceased
the 25th of Septf A.D. 1664."

Richard Lewis, Esq., the son, was of Edingdon, 1670, and probably
lived there until about 1694, when he purchased the Corsham estate.
He was buried at Corsham in 1706.

Lewis of Edingdon.

[No pedigree in College of Arms.]
Eobert Sackville, =Lady Margaret Howard,
Earl of Dorset. | sole dau. of Thomas,
Earl of Norfolk.

2nd husband, Sir Edward:
Lewis, of the Van, Co.
Glam,Kt.,Gent of Privy
Chamber to Prince Henry
and King Charles I. Bur.
at Edingdon, 10th Oct.,
1630.

Rt. Hon. Ann Sackville.=lst husband, Sir Edward
Bur. at Edingdon, 25th Seymour, Kt., Lord
Sept., 1664. Beauchamp, from 1612

— 19 ; gr. grandson of
the Protector and elder
brother of the restored
Duke of Somerset. Died
1619.

I I I

Edward. William. Richard Lewis, Esq.,=
seven years old at
his father's death
(third son) of Eding-
don, M.P. for West-
bury, 1660—85—88
90. High Sheriff of
Wilts,1682. D.Oct.
7th, 1706, a3t. 83.
Purchased Corsham,
1694. Bur. at Cor-
sham in a vault, dis-
covered 1850, and
now used by the
Mcthucn Family.

Mary, dau.
of

I

Robert
Lewis.

Thomas Lewis, =Anna
Esq., of Cor- Mari

sham, eld. s

& h. (C. deeds).

I

James. Bur.
at Edingdon,
1680, 83t. 9
(M.I.).

I

Edward.
Bur.
1670.

Anna.
Bur.
1673,
set. 1.

. I

Elizabeth.
Bur.
1(576,

set. 1.

1 Aubrey, in N. H. of Wilts (MS.) Pfc. II., oh. v., says :— " The Lady Anne

292

Edingdon Monastery.

Other, third Earl of Plymouth, who died 1732, married Elizabeth,
daughter and heiress of Thomas Lewis, the ultimate heiress of
Lewis of the Yan. She died 9th November, 1733.

In 1689 the then owner of Edingdon, Charles Paulet, sixth
Marquis of Winchester, having been instrumental in settling the
Crown on the Prince and Princess of Orange, was created Duke of
Bolton. Edingdon passed through the hands of six dukes suc-
cessively.

Charles, the third Duke, earned a bad eminence by barbarous
treatment of his wife, Anne Vaughan, daughter of John, Earl of
Carbery, on whose death, in 1751, impatiently waited for, he married
Lavinia Fenton, sometimes called Lavinia Beswick, an actress often
painted as Polly Peachum of " The Beggars' Opera. 99 1

During the third Duke's life, his younger brother, Lord Harry
Paulet, was residing here. He afterwards became fourth Duke.
Charles, the sixth Duke, brought to an end the connexion of his
family with this property, which had now lasted two hundred and

Beauchamp (at Edington in this county) has a peculiar way of making excellent
mault, which gives a very good rellish to the Beer : scil : She hath a Kilne, to
dry Mault with Pittcoale : There is a large iron Plate over the fire, wh. being red
hott, drieth the mault wh. lieth three or four foot above it." When Edingdon
House was dismantled, the fixtures found their way into neighbouring houses.
A fire-back with Lady Ann's arms {i.e., Sackville) on it is (or lately was) to be
seen in the house formerly the Monastery, near the Church : another at East-town
farm house, and at Tinhead. The Sackville arms, almost obliterated, are also
over a doorway in the garden at Edingdon.

1 A writer in the Quarterly Keview, 1857, p. 466, speaking of Joseph Warton,
thus alludes to this subject : — " The low level to which public feeling had fallen
at the middle of the last century, and the little which was expected from the
guardians of public morals, may be seen in acts like that of Joseph Warton, who
travelled with the Duke of Bolton and his mistress upon the continent in 1751
that he might be at hand to marry them the moment they got intelligence of the
death of the Duchess, then sinking under a mortal disease. For some reason he
(J. W.) returned to -England before the poor deserted lady had breathed her last,
and the impatience of her husband and her successor not permitting them to wait
till Warton could rejoin them, he lost both the opportunity of performing the
ofiice, and the preferment which he expected would reward the service. . . .
Yet four years afterwards he was elected second master of Winchester School,
and nobody appeared to consider him less fitted to train up lads in the way they
should go because he had countenanced the Duke of Bolton's roving abroad with
a mistress while his wife was dying at home."

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A.

293

fourteen years. Of which long connection all that the place retains
is a tradition or two, passed on from one who was in his day the
"oldest inhabitant/' to somebody else who in course of time became
the same : that the Duke used to employ running footmen, who,
being trained to their long-winded duties on meat half raw, kept
a-head of his carriage, with a bell in one hand and pole in the other,
to assist His Grace out of difficulties by the way. Also that they
had, between Edingdon and Tynhide, in order to ascend to the plain,
a private road called " Coach Hollow.'-' An inn at Tynhide, now
pulled down, used to be called " Tbf Three Daggers/'' a popular
name for the Powlett arms, three swords in pile, which are still to be
seen on the north side of the farm-house part of the monks' dwelling.

In 1768, during the life of Harry, the sixth Duke, the manor,
4094 acres, was sold by the trustees of his late brother Charles, fifth
Duke, to Peter Delme (of Erlestoke), for £72,100, but no convey-
ance was made. In 1782 Joshua and Drummond Smith purchased
it out of Chancery : and in 1784 an Act of Parliament was found
necessary to complete the title.1

Joshua Smith, Esq., was M.P. for Devizes in 1788, 1796, 1802,
and 1806. He was owner also of Erlestoke. He left four daughters
no male heirs. Much of the old Monastery was taken down by
him, and the materials were used in building his house at Erlestoke.

1820. Mr. Joshua Smith's executor sold Edingdon, and with it
Erlestoke and Coulston, total eight thousand acres, to the executors
of Simon Taylor, Esq. : in settlement upon his niece, Mrs. Watson
Taylor, sole heiress to her uncle on the death of her brother, Sir
Simon R. B. Taylor, Bart., unmarried. The price 250,000 guineas.
These estates are now the property of Simon Watson Taylor, Esq.,
of Erlestoke.

1 Charles, the fifth Duke, by will, 1763, had charged his estate with payment
of his debts, and then assigned them to trustees to the use of his brother, Lord
Harry (sixth Duke) and his heirs male : remainder to Jean Mary (wife of Thomas
Orde, Esq.), in the will called Jane Mary Powlett Brown and her heirs in tail
male : then to the testator's right heirs. The testator died 1765. The mother
of Mrs. Orde had been Mary Banks Brown, the fifth Duke's housekeeper at
Edingdon. Since the purchase by Joshua and Drummond Smith, Mrs. Orde had
given birth to a son, and hence the necessity for an Act of Parliament.

Edingdon Monastery.

Smith of Edingdon.
John Smith, =Mary Ransom,

a merchant

of Lambeth.

in London.

Joshua Smith, = Sarah

of Edingdon
& Erlestoke.
M.P. for De-

Gil-
bert.

. I

Sir John
Smith
Burgess,
Bart.

Sir Drum
mond
Smith,Bt.,
= first,
Mary Cun-
liffe : and
second,Eliz
abeth, dau.
of Yis. Gal-
way. Ob.,
s.p., 1816.

Thomas
of Ja-

Elizabeth
=Jelfe.

Mary = Lord
Dun-
sa-
ney.

Charles:
Smith,
of Sut-
ton s,
Essex.

I

: Augusta,
third dau.
The baro-
netcy set-
tled on her
issue. See
Burke's

s Baronetcy.
CunlifEe
Smith, of
Tring Park
Co. Herts.

Mary,=Charles,
eld. Marq.
dau. of Nor-
thamp-
ton.

Elizabeth, = William
second Chute,
dau. of The

Vine,
Hants.

Emma, fourth
dau. Living
at Pear Tree
Green, Co.
Southamp.,
1856. Died
1859.

Watson Taylok.

Simon Taylor
Esq., of Lys-
sons Hall, Ja-
maica Died
14th April,
1813, set. 73.

Sir John Taylor. =Elizabeth-Gooden,

Cr. Bart, and d.
6th May, 1786.

Sir Simon Richard Brissett Taylor.
D. s. p., 18th May, 1815. Bur.
at Edingdon. Mon. by Chantrey
on N. side of chancel.

and h. of Philip
Houghton, Esq.

I

Anna Susanna. =George Watson, Esq.

Eldest of three
coheiresses. D.
8th Jan., 1852,
set. 72.

Assumed his wife's
surname. Of Erle-
stoke. M.P. for
Devizes. D. 1841.

Simon Watson Taylor, = Lady Hannah Charlotte Hay,

George
Simon
Arthur.

Esq. Eldest son.
Now of Erlestoke.

second dau. of the Marquis
of Tweeddale.

Arthur
Wellesley.

John
Arthur.

William
Arthur.

i I i i I I

Seven
daughters.

4

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jachon, F.S.A.

295

The Chujich.

" From a certain Latin book of Edindon Monastery : —
3 July, A.D. 1352 : was laid the first stone of the Monastery of Edindon.
A.D. 1361. The Conventual Church of Edindon was dedicated by Robert

Weyville, Bishop of Sarum to the honour of St James the Apostle, S. Katharine

and all Saints."

It is on the authority of the above extract, made by Leland on
the spot, that we are able to fix the date of Edingdon Church : for
though the memorandum copied by him mentions only the laying
of the first stone of the Monastery {'Jot necessarily the same thing
as the Church) , there can be no doubt that the entire establishment
is to be understood. " St. James the Apostle/'' as one of the saints
to whom the Church was dedicated, may have been an error of
Leland's in copying. In the foundation charter, printed in the New
Monasticon (vi., 536), the dedication is to the B. V. Mary, St.
Katharine and All Saints.

As Bishop William of Edingdon did not die till 1366, the whole
was finished in his lifetime. It was, therefore, entirely under his
superintendence and through his influence that the work was com-
pleted, and no doubt in great measure at his own expense, with aid
from such patrons and friends as the Abbess of Romsey and Sir
Ralph Cheney who had married the co-heiress of the Pavely family
of Brook House.

The Church is cruciform in plan, and consists of a clerestoried
nave of six bays with aisles corresponding, transepts, tower at the
intersection, large chancel, and south porch of three stories, one of
which is called the Priest's room. The use of little rooms in this
situation was various : sometimes they served, as at Fotheringhay
Church, Co. Northampton, where also there are two above the porch,
one for a chorister's vestry, the other for the sacristan or sexton :
sometimes for a church library.

The measurements are : — 1 Ft, in.

Nave length 75

breadth, including aisles
height

52 8
45

1 From the Rev. A. Fane's paper, Wilts Archccol. JI<*</., iii., 50.

296 Edingdon Monastery..

Ft In. Ft. In.

Transepts length 71 9

breadth 23 7

Chancel length 54

breadth 23 9

Square of tower 25 4 x £0 6

Mr. J. H. Parker's general description of the style already alluded
to (p. 241) is as follows : " It is all of uniform character, and that
character is neither Decorated nor Perpendicular, but a very re-
markable mixture of the two styles throughout : the tracery of the
windows looks at first sight like Decorated, but on looking more
closely, the introduction of Perpendicular features is very evident ;
the west doorway has the segmental arch, common in Decorated
work ; over this is the usual square label of the Perpendicular, and
under the arch is Perpendicular panelling over the heads of the two
doors ; the same curious mixture is observable in the mouldings,
and in all the details. This example is the more valuable, from the
circumstance that it was Bishop Edington who commenced the al-
teration of Winchester Cathedral into the Perpendicular style." 1

An embattled parapet is carried round the roof, including the
tower. Under the fine west window of eight lights is a central
doorway divided into two openings. The doors themselves remain,
but are never opened on account of the dangerous condition of the
stone-work above.

Nave.

The nave has a singular wooden ceiling of debased character with
plaster panels, a small west gallery, high pews, tablets on the piers,
whitewashed walls, and other tokens of ante- Restoration barbarism.
The date of churchwarden work is recorded by initials in some places
on the wall-plates : the full names being supplied by conjecture
from old parish account books of the period. In the south aisle,
above the Cheney monument, "I H [John Hart] 1615. S H
[Stephen Horle] R R [Robert Rogers] Also " I H 1674." In

1 Archseol. Instit. Journal, vol. vii., p. 206. See also in same Journal, vol. for
1850, p. 202, a wood-cut of the west front, and at p. 206 some remarks.

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A. 297

the north aisle, " I H 1658. W F [Ford]." The six pointed
arches on each side of the nave are all alike. The clerestory windows
were once filled with stained glass.

Chancel.

This is spacious, and has three lofty windows on each side, with
a large one at the east end. There is a series of eight canopied
niches with tabernacled heads : two holding headless figures. Over
six of the niches, as well as over two reclining figures in the north-
west and south-west corners, are stone corbels, which may have
supported a former roof. Over the altar, a late Jacobean wooden
reredos, which, judging by the central pilaster and keystone above,
appears to have formed at one time a chimney-piece in some old
house. The chancel is said to have been formerly ceiled with stone,
having the arms of BishopEdingdon on the bosses. The present ceiling
was substituted by Mr. Joshua Smith, of Erlestoke, about A.D. 1789.

Interments and Monuments.

There is a dearth of information about the burials in this Church.
Leland names that of Sir Richard Penley, a knight who gave West
Ilsley, in Berks : also, Sir John Rous, of Imber, who gave Baynton,
and a Willoughby. He had also u hard that one Blubyri, a preben-
dary of Saresbiri, executor of Bishop William Edington was buried
there." 1 Gereberd and Thomas Bulkington, benefactors, having
obits, would probably be also in the number. Perhaps Bishop
Ayscough : but of none of these is there now any memorial.

Before the levelling of the chancel pavement, there used to be,
on the south side, near the modern door, a large blue stone with
sockets of a figure and shields at the corners of which only one was
left, bearing " On a cross five cinquefoils in a semee, or circle of
mullets [Edingdon] " It was removed to the west end of the
Church, but is not now visible. There was also on the same floor,
near a blocked-up door, once opening into the cloister on the north

1 Bleobury's name does not appear as a Prebendary of Sarum in Canon W. H.
Jones's " Fasti," and he was probably buried at Shillingford, Berks, as mentioned
above, p. 271.

208

Bdingdon Monastery.

side, a stone to " John Allambrigge, clerk, sometime chaplain to
the Dowager Lady Beauchamp" 1 Some other large blue stones
with marks of brasses were likewise removed. On the south side is
a fine marble and alabaster monument to Sir Edward Lewis, of the
Van, Co. Glamorgan (see above, p. 290), with effigies of himself
and his wife, with children kneeling in front. Above is a cherub
hovering" over the recumbent figures with a crown of glory in his
hand. The lady, by whom it was erected, was by birth a Sackville,
married first Edward Seymour, Lord Peauchamp, an eldest son and
heir in the Seymour family (in the third generation from Protector
Somerset) who, had he not died young in the lifetime of his father
and grandfather, would have been the second Duke of Somerset,
restored.

Epitaph.

Heeee lye the bodyes of the eight wosl.l s* Edward
Lewys late of the Vane in the covntie of Glamargan
Knt one of the Gentlemen of the Peivie Chambee
to Peince Heney and aftee to King Chaeles : and

OF THE EIGHT HONB.L.E ANNE LADY BeAVCHAMPE HIS WIFE
THE WIDOWE OF EDWAED LoEDE BeAVCHAMPE DAVGHR*

of Robert Earle of Doeset, by the Lady Maegaeet
Howard, sole davghter of Thomas Duke of Norfolke
They had issve lyving Fower sonnes, Edward,
William, Richard, and Robert and one davghter
Anne Lewys,

He departed this life the 10th of October 1633. In

MEMORIE OF WHOME HIS MOVRNEFVLL LADY ERECTED
THIS MONVMENT FOR HIM AND HER SELFE WHOE
DECEASED THE 25 o[f] SEPTEMBER 1664.]

In one line along the slab, under the figures : —

Since Children are the living corner-stone,
Where Mariage bvilt on both sides meetes in one,
Whilst they survive, oue lives shall have extent,
ypon record in them ovr monvment.

The arms on the shield are Lewis impaling §ackvtlle, viz., Dexter,

Quarterly. 1. Sable a lion rampant Argent, Lewis. 2. Sable a

1 From 1641 to 1660 John Allambrigg was Rector of Monkton Farley. In
1662 one of this name resigned Whaddon (Wilts Institutions).

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A.

299

chevron between three fleurs de lys Argent, Colwyn ap Tango. 3.
Gules three chevronels Argent, Jestin ap Gargent. 4. Sable a
chevron between three spear-heads Argent tipped Gules, Caradoc
Yreichfar. Sinister, Quarterly, Or and Gules over all a bend vair
Sackvillb.

On the floor an inscription, ""Lady Anne Beauchamp died 25th
Sept. 1664/'' Four young children of Richard and Mary Lewis,
viz., Elizabeth, d. l]th February, 1676; Anne, 21st September,
1673; Edward, February, 1670. James, 1680, set. 9. Lady
Catharine Powlett, wife of Lord Harry Powlett (who was after-
wards fourth Duke of Bolton) 23rd 'April, 1744, get. 49. Rev.
Willtam Roots (Vicar) d. February 18th, 1830, set. 77. Mary
Alice, his wife, 3rd June, 1816, set. 59. And three daughters.

On the north side is a fine monument by Sir F. Chantrey, repre-
senting the death-bed of Sir Simon Richard Brissett Taylor,
Bart., d. 18th May, 1815, set. 32, erected by his sister, Martha,
who d. 26 Oct., 1817. Against the north wall " Simon Taylor,
Esq., of Lyssons Estate, Jamaica, d. 14th April, 1813, set. 73. His
brother, Sir John Taylor, Bart, 6th May, 1786, set. 41.

Arms of Watson Taylor. For Taylor (incorrectly given in
Burke's Extinct Baronets1), Quarterly. 1 and 4. Arg. a saltier
wavy Sable between a heart in chief and another in base Gules : and
a cinquefoil Vert in each flank. For Watson 2 and 3 Arg. a tree
proper, over it a fess Arg. charged with three mullets of five points
of the field. Crest. Issuing from a ducal coronet Or a hand and
arm proper holding a cross-crosslet fitchee in bend of the first. Over
the crest, " In hoc signo vinces.}> Supporters (granted by warrant,
1815), two leopards proper plain- collared and chained, the chains
reflected over the back, Or.

On an achievement in the chancel are the arms of Joshua Smith,
Esq., formerly owner of Edingdon. Smith impaling Gilbert.
Dexter, Quarterly. 1. Arg. a saltire azure between three crescents
Gules, and a dolphin hauriant in base Sable. 2. Argent, on the sea
a ship all proper. 3. Azure a wild cat sejant holding' up the dexter

1 The arms were differenced with a canton for the late Georg'e Watson Taylor.
Esq.

300

Edingdon Monastery.

paw. 4. Or, a crescent Gules. Smith, of Scotland and Stoke jj
Park. Sinister. Gules a leg couped at the thigh, in armour, be- 1
tween two broken spears proper. Gilbert.

In a vault in the Church is a brass coffin-plate with this inscrip-
tion, " The most Illustrious Lady Lavinia Dutchess of Bolton,
Dowager of the Most High Puissant and Noble Prince Charles
Powlett, late Duke of Bolton, Marquis of Winchester, Earl of 1
Wiltshire, &c. Died 24th January, 1760. Aged 49 years." The 1
arms of the lady (impaled with the Duke's), are, Gules three bezants
a fess in chief Or, Beswycke, quartering, on a bend engrailed three 1
wheatsheaves.

This lady was the " Polly Peachum " of the " Beggar's Opera," |
mentioned above, p. 292.

The chancel floor is 3 feet higher than that of the transept. J
Under the arch which divides them is an incongruous carved oak 1
screen, beautified with the Royal arms, the Commandments and 1
Creed, and the date 1788. A rood-loft above this. The steps leading
to this, now closed up, are in the corner of the North transept.

South Transept.

Against the south wall is a large altar- tomb, with an effigy of an
ecclesiastic under a canopy ornamented with tracery, mouldings,
shields, devices, &c, all coloured. All attempts to identify it satis-
factorily have hitherto failed. In a note on "Leland's Tour in
Wilts" (Wilts ArchcBol. Mag., i., 188), the present writer, being at
that time under the impression that the two letters on a principal
monogram were T. B., suggested, from reasons there given, that
they denoted Thomas Bulkington, a benefactor to the house. But
upon a later and closer inspection the first letter proved to be, not
T, but I. With I. B., however, we are not much nearer discovery
than before. That the figure represents some ecclesiastic of im-
portance connected with the Monastery seems most likely, yet
neither among the known names of the superiors, nor of the brethren
occasionally mentioned in documents relating to Edingdon, is there
a single one whose surname fits exactly the rebus over the cornice of
the tomb, which is a branch or sprig issuing from a ton. This would

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A.

301

not inappropriately match with the name of Bayntun (s.c., Bay-in-
tun) : and there was a leading comity family of that name, long
settled, first at Falstone, in South Wilts, afterwards at Bromham,
not far from Edingdon, but of their connexion with the Monastery
no evidence has been met with, Under the canopy against the wall
there is a blank space which may have been filled with an inscription.
In the quatrefoils below is the rebus just mentioned. In the mould-
ing above the quatrefoil is the same rebus, and another in which
the branch or sprig seems to spring out of some animal. On the
tun or barrel at the feet of the effigy > re, at one end LB.; at the
other a triangle. In small niches on each side are little figures : St.
Peter with a key in one ; St. Paul with a sword in the other. Some
lettering on the ledge appears to be only the scratching of idlers.
In the corner behind this tomb is a winding stair leading to the
belfry.

The North Transept
is thought to have been a Lady Chapel. In the west corner is a
closed-up doorway which once opened upon the cloister. That this
ran along the north side of the Church is shown by the space of
blank wall and the height of the windows from the ground, as at
Malmesbury Abbey. An altar, a piscina, niche, and some coloured
glass remain. There are memorials to " Mary, daughter of Martin
and Anamoriah Taylor, 13th September, 17(59." "S. P. [Sarah Price]
1794." « Bridgeat, wife of John Gardiner, gent., of Tinhead, 1689."

North Aisle.

Against the wall is a consecration cross, viz., a cross within a
I circle : the four quarters formed by the cross being painted blue and
! red alternately. There are ten of these crosses outside the Church,
j two north, three south, two west, and two on east wall inside.1
\ Some of the Longs of Baynton are interred in this aisle.3 Will-
: iam Long, 10 th June, 1807, set. 73. On an achievement the arms

i 1 For some account of these crosses see Dr. Baron's paper, Wilts Archatol.
' Mag., vol. xx., p. 134.

2 See Tab. IV. of the Pedigrees of Long, privately printed by William Long,
Esq., of Wrington.

I VOL. XX. NO. LX. X

30^ Edingdon Monastery.

of Long, impaling, Sable a chevron between three fleurs de lys Argent.
Emma, only child of William and Mary Long, 1796. Mary, widow,
11th January, 182&. Gules an escarbuncle Or. Onedert. (?)
Towards the west end is a mural tablet to a family of Taylor, where
the sculptor has introduced the novelty of a group of children,
kneeling, in modern yeoman dress. On the floor also, John Gardiner
1720. The glass in one or two of the clerestory windows has a
bordure of lions passant. This bordure of lions, enclosing a cross
flory forms the arms on the borough seal of Westbury, and is a
token of connexion with the Pavely family. (See Sir R. C. Hoard's
Westbury, p. 3.)

South Aisle.

On the floor near the entrance is an old stone with the " Cross
Keys 33 upon it. Also a very large Purbeck slab with sockets for
two brasses of man and wife, with shields at the corners, but all the
brasses have disappeared.

Under one of the arches dividing this aisle from the nave is a
pretty little oratory or mortuary chapel : consisting of an altar-tomb,
beneath a canopy of light stone-work with a side door, niches, tracery,
cornice and shields. On the Purbeck- stone surface of the tomb,
sockets for two figures, man and wife, but brasses and inscription
all lost. This tomb has been generally considered to be that of Sir
Ralph Cheney, who died c. 1401, having married Joan, one of the
co-heiresses of Sir John Pavely, of Brook House : but the following
arms, carved on the frieze of the canopy and panels of the tomb, if
intended to apply to such a match, are rather perplexing : —

On the canopy, side facing nave.
Cheney. Cheney. Cheney.

A fess lozen gy each. quartering a cross

charged with an moline.1
escallop.

1 The cross moline may possibly be for Pavely, to whom more than one variety
of cross is given in the armouries. But there is some difficulty in adapting the
heraldry on the stone-work to the match between Sir Ralph Cheney and Joan,
heiress of Pavely. In another shield, on the opposite side of the monument,

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A. 303

On the tomb, same side.
A Rudder.1 Cheney. Parti per pale four es-

(Badge of Pavely.) callops, two and two.2

On the canopy, side facing aisle.
Cheney. Pavely. Pavely.

impaling a cross moline. A cross flory.

On the tomb, same side.
A Rudder. Cheney. Parti per pale four es-

callops, two and two.
Over the doorway, 'Le rudder.
In the north-west corner is the font, octagonal, the basin of
Purbeck marble, the base of free-stone.

In the same corner is an oven -like projection concealing a passage
through the wall which once led into the cloister.
The bells are six in number : none older than 1640.

1. *fc Anno Domini 1640 I 4 L,

2. ^ Anno Domini 1 | L. 1654.

3 Richard Price, Churchwarden 1781. Willm. Bilbie, Chew-
stoke, Somersetshire, Founder.

4. James Wells, Aldbourn, Wilts, fecit, 1802. Jas. Newman

and E. M. Ellis, Churchwardens.

5. ^ Anno Domini 1647. C G : W.P : C.W. I 4 L.

6. I to the Church the living call

And to the grave do summon all. A £ R. 1723.

the cross moline is impaled with Cheney, denoting a wife, not usually an heiress :
but in this shield the cross is quartered with Cheney ; which, again, is a form
usually denoting the son of an heiress. It is true that (as exemplified in the
Garter Plate and seal of Neville, Earl of Fauconbridge) the arms of an heiress
were sometimes quartered with the husband's, instead of being set on an escutcheon
of pretence : still, why on this monument the cross appears differently on two
shields, impaled on the one, and quartered on the other, is not quite clear.

1 Camden says that Robert Willoughby (who, on account of his descent from
the Pavelys by the family of Cheney — both of Brook House — took the title of
Willoughby de Broke) bore a rudder, as Admiral of the Fleet. But the rudder
was seen on the windows of Broke House, by Lelaud, before Willoughby had
succeeded the older families. See a note in "Wiltshire Collections, Aubrey and
Jackson," p. 400.

2 This shield has not been identified. Of the coats of arms known to bo con-
nected with the Pavely family that of Erleigh comes nearest, viz., three escallops,
two and one.

X %

304<

Edingdon Monastery.

The chancel, outside, has undergone a scraping, which gives it
a newer appearance than the rest of the Church. Eight of the
pinnacles are gone. The present four are modern.

In the Churchyard, on the left of the south porch is a very
ancient altar-tomb called the " Dole-stone/'' on which certain loaves
are distributed. On the right is the base of a churchyard cross.
On the east side of the cemetery is a fine old yew tree, the girth at
3 feet from the ground about 21ft. 3in. On the churchyard wall
is an old tomb with panelled sides, but no inscription.

The tracery of the Tower window is worked in the pattern of a
cross moline. The west window of the south aisle has tracery of
the same pattern, but the cross is in saltire.

Remains of the Monastery.

Of these there is little left. As above mentioned, the cloister
ran along the north side of the Church. Part of the monks' dwell-
ing is now a farm house with gabled front, flanked by two embattled
square towers of later addition. Of this there is a wood-cut in the
Gentleman's Magazine of 1846: but the central gables there repre-
sented have been taken away. There is nothing remarkable in the
interior. One room, lined with oak, is called "The Chaplain's/'
but bears neither date nor ornament. Of the Monastery when
entire no plan is known to have been preserved. Its destruction by
Mr. Bayntun and Mr. Joshua Smith has been already mentioned.
There was, within living memory, a wall 7 feet high and £ feet
thick which led from the house to the Church, into which it was
built : and was strengthened by some singular semicircular buttresses
with conical caps.

The fish-ponds, which were turned into withy-beds when Mr.
Joshua Smith purchased the property, were restored to their original
use in 1856, by the present owner.

Fountain- Cell.

There are four springs of water near the site of the monastery :
and over the southernmost a stone building or fountain-cell, erected
by the monks, is in fair preservation. It is 8 feet high by 4 feet

By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A. 305

4 inches wide : the side-walls 7 feet 10 inches high, under a slanting
stone roof which is supported in the centre by two pointed arches.
Edingdon springs are much visited in summer, partly for water-
cresses, partly for the amusement of trying what truth there is in a
common saying about two within the monastery garden, viz., that
one yields hard and another soft water.

Vicars.

In the time of the Rectory Prebend and afterwards of the Monas-
tery the Church was served by a Vicar appointed by the Prebendary
and by the Rector of the house. The names of some of the Vicars
down to 1348 have been given above at page 282. After the Dis-
solution, the impropriator of the tithes or his lessee found a clerk
to do the duties, who used to be called Perpetual Curate. To the
Dukes of Bolton he also acted as chaplain, had £30 a year, a horse
and servant found, and table at the house. The preferment was
called, or miscalled, a donative. The title of Vicar has been restored.

The following names occur in old churchwardens' account books
from 1575, and from the parish register, which commences 1st
August, 1678 :—

A.D.

Patron,

Perpetual Curate, now Vicar.

1608
1615

1697-1741
1754, July 22nd
1766, May 8th
1768, Jan. 28th
1779, March 8th
1781, Nov. 15th
1782

1784

1786, October
1826, 4th Sept.
1880, 17th May

C Joshua Smith and~)
< Drummond Smith, >
(. Esqs. J

S. Watson Taylor, Esq.

[tor*?

Thomas Aisley " minis -
John Newman
David Thomas
William Thomas
Robert Haynes
William Tho mas [ag'ain]
Richard Sanderson
John Bailey ") probably
Darnel Lloyd) ^d

Thomas Marks, p.m. R.
Sanderson

William Roots
SamuelLittlewood,B.D.
Henry Cave-Browne-
Cave

306

A Stroll through Bradford-on-Avon.

In " Buckler's Anglo-Norman Antiquities " are views of the
interior of Edingdon Church, two monuments : also at page 122
the monument and effigy of Bishop William Edingdon at Winches-
ter. In the " Building News" of July 12th, 1872, are double-page
drawings of the exterior by the late Mr. F. C. Deshon.

J. E. J.

[The Committee desire gratefully to acknowledge their sense of Canon Jackson's
liberality in presenting the photographs which illustrate his paper on Edingdon.]

By Canon W. H. Jones, M.A., F.S.A., Vicar.

HEBE are two things which must strike every stranger, that
' has "eyes to see, or ears to hear," on his first visit to this
singularly interesting town, especially when he listens to the tales
of old folks about it — the first is its evident antiquity, — the second,
the ecclesiastical imprint that is to be discerned everywhere.

I. — As to its antiquity there can be no doubt. It is certainly
among the oldest of Wiltshire towns. The only others mentioned
in really ancient times are, as far as I know, Amesbury, Corsham,
Calne, Chippenham, Cricklade, Malmesbury, Ramsbury, Old Sarum,
and Wilton. As early as A.D. 652, we read of an important battle
having been fought at "Bradford-by-the-Avon" by Cenwalch, King
of the Wrest Saxons, which, followed up as it was by another con-
test six years later " against the Welsh at the Pens in which he
put them to flight as far as the Parret," led to important results as

1 This paper consists of short notices of objects of interest in the town o£
Bradford-onAvon which were given by the Vicar to the Members of the Wilts
Archaeological Society, as they " strolled " with him round it, on the occasion of
their visit, in August, 1881.

By the Rev. Canon W. E. Jones, F.S.A.

307

regards the large accession of territory in these parts of England
gained by the conquerors, and indirectly to the re-establishment of
Christianity here. For Cenwalch, who had abjured Christianity and
at the same time repudiated his wife, and had been in the year 64£
driven temporarily from his kingdom, no sooner regained it by the
battles at Bradford and at the Pens, than he returned from his
apostacy, and became not long afterwards the founder of a Church at
Winchester. And it is of no little interest to us to know, that
Aldhelm, whose name should be so well known and reverenced here
as the founder of our Saxon Church, that cradle of primitive Christi-
anity, was nephew of King Cenwaich.

II. — As to its ecclesiastical character ; — this seems impressed upon
us by the quaint and church-like look of so many of its buildings.
Each of the old limits of the town was at one time guarded as
though by an ancient chapel — those of St. Laurence, St. Olave, St.
Mary at Tory, St. Margaret, by the bridge, St. Catharine, near the
old almshouses — five ecclesiastical barbicans, two of them still re-
maining to us in good preservation, and the sites of all the rest being
well known. Nor is this ecclesiastical character surprising when
we recollect its history. Here, as early as A.D. 705 S. Aldhelm
founded his little Church, and what is called his " monastery/'' by
which is meant a Church and dwelling-house with three or four
missionaries, as we might say, attached to it. No doubt for
many years after this, Bradford-on-Avon, though otherwise as
regards its "monastery" and Church an independent foundation,
and certainly not supported by any means derived from Malmesbury,
owed allegiance to that religious house and to its Abbots from time
to time. But in the year A.D. 1001 we find the whole manor of
Bradford, together with its monastery — then called cmnobium — bes-
towed by King iEthelred on the Abbess of Shaftesbury, the specific
object of this gift being to " provide the nuns of Shaftesbury a safe
refuge (the exact words are impenetrabile confugium) from the attacks
of the Danes, and a hiding-place for the relics of the blessed King
Edward, then recently martyred, and the rest of the saints. And
for more than five hundred years, the manor of Bradford was in the
hands of the Abbesses of Shaftesbury for the time being. This may

308 A Stroll through Bradforcl-on-Avon.

well account for the ecclesiastical character of the whole place.

But we will stroll round the Town, and speak in turn of each of
the objects of interest.

1. We will start from the most interesting of all our treasures,
the Saxon Church of St. Laurence, which stands close by the north-
east end of the present parish Church. Both Churches no doubt origi-
nally stood in the same churchyard, the extent of which was at one
time much greater than at present. The story of the discovery and
gradual re-purchase and re-habilitation of this " little church " —
ecclesiola, it is called by William of Malmesbury — has often been
told, and therefore I need not here tell the tale again. Suffice it to
say that it consists of a Nave, a Chancel, and a Porch on the
north side ; that originally there was a similar annexe on the south
side, so that the building was cruciform ; that the Nave is about
twenty -five feet long by thirteen broad; the chancel thirteen feet long
by ten broad ; and the porch may roundly be described as about ten
feet square. The height of the building is very remarkable, in the
nave being rather slightly, and in the chancel considerably, greater
than the length, in either case. There are also two interesting stone
figures of angels above the chancel arch, which, if not quite coeval
with the building itself, can hardly in any case be later than the
tenth century, since in the Benedictional of St. iEthelwold which is
of the date 970 — 975, there are figures of angels which correspond
very closely with them. In any case there is now a general agree-
ment among all who are qualified to form an opinion, that we have
in this most interesting "little church,-" a building which was
founded by S. Aldhelm (who died in 709), and which is a solitary
perfect example of a Church of so early a date.

£. We now come to the Parish Church. This is dedicated to
the Holy Trinity. It consists of a Chancel, Nave, North Aisle, Tower,
and a mortuary Chapel, erected by one of the Hall family, on the
south side — the last being now used as an organ chamber. The north
aisle was built at intervals of some fifty years apart, the western
portion, extending to the eastern side of the fourth window, being the
earlier work, and having been a chantry chapel dedicated to St.
Nicholas — the reredos in the centre of which stood over a crucifix

By the Rev. Canon W. II. Jones, F.8.A.

309

still remaining as a structural portion of the wall — the eastern por-
tion having been a chantry chapel of the Blessed Virgin, founded by
one of the Horton family, whose brass, recording the last fact, is still
preserved. As is the case with all ancient Churches, there have
been alterations and additions made from time to time. Fragments
of an earlier Church have been found, and are to be seen still
treasured up in the porch of the Saxon Church. The present
structure no doubt originally consisted simply of a chancel about
two-thirds of its present length, and a nave, and there was a row
of Norman windows both above and below, the latter being* more
accurately described as clere-story windows. Two of the larger
Norman windows in the chancel have lately been re-opened. To-
wards the end of the thirteenth century the chancel would seem to
have been lengthened, and the two recessed tombs inserted, one on
the north and the other on the south side. Next followed the aisles,
originally, as has been said, two, but now joined in one. In the
beginning of the sixteenth century followed the tower ; and then
the mortuary chapel of which mention has been made.

The Church contains memorials of the families of Hall — the
maternal ancestors of Earl Manvers — of Methuen, Tidcomb, Stewart,
Thresher, Shrapnell, Clutterbuck, Tugwell, Cam — the maternal an-
cestor of the late Lord Broughton — and Bethel — a family ennobled
in the late Lord Chancellor Westbury.

3. Leaving the Church, and passing up the steps on the western
side of the tower, we stand before a house of some interest. It
belonged once to Edward Orpin,1 the parish clerk of Bradford, and
was probably built by some of his family. He was the "Parish
Clerk " whom Gainsborough, the artist — a frequent visitor to this
neighbourhood — painted. The portrait was given by him to Mr.
Wiltshire, and became the property of his descendant, who lived

1 Edward Orpin, the parish clerk, died in June, 1781. The name-" Orpen,"
or " Orpin," as the clerk himself always spelt it, occurs frequently in our registers
during the previous century-and-a-half, but after his time we lose traces oj. it
altogether, and he seems to have been one of the last — if not the last —of his
family. The stone lying just within the rails, opposite the house, is said to cover
his remains.

8 1 0

A Stroll through Bradford-un- Avon.

at Shockerwick. On the sale of his pictures after his decease the
one we are describing1 was purchased for the nation, at a cost of
some £800, and is now to be seen among" the paintings by English
artists in the national collection.

4, We pass on now till we come to the western entrance to the
churchyard, where on the north side of a modern building, dignified
by the name of Abbey House, are the remains of what Leland
speaks of as "Horton's House/'' The Horton family were well-to-do
wool merchants, and, as we have already seen, benefactors of the
Church. The mansion which one of them built was afterwards in part
used for shops for the weaving of cloth. And as the Flemish work-
men, introduced first of all into the town for the purpose of such
manufactures, were quartered, or at all events plied their craft here,
the yard was called till a very recent period the " Dutch Barton/''
There is a deed in existence by which, in 1659, Paul Methuen cove-
nanted with the parish officers, that a certain spinner, by name
Richard (otherwise) Derricke Johnson, whom, together with his wife
Hectrie, and several small children, he for his own proper gain and
benefit did fetch or bring out of Amsterdam, in Holland, should
never be chargeable to the parish. There is a similar deed in the
parish chest, dated 1674, endorsed, "Mr. William Brewer his bond
of £100 to save harmless the Parish of Bradford against certain
Dutchmen" whom he had brought over from Holland, or "Powland,"
for the purpose of promoting, as they did effectually, the manufac-
turing trade in cloth in Bradford.

5. Walking on down Church Street, and passing by a little
knoll called " Brace's Hill " — so termed from one Anthony Drucf
a Quaker, who built a house there in which he lived — we come t
a large and interesting building, mentioned by Leland in 1543 ant
called by him the " Church House/'' This, which is of the date
of the fifteenth century, was built by one of the Horton family, and
was the public place of assembly where people met for the purpose
of assessing themselves and their neighbours for the expenses of
Church repairs, the relief of the poor, &c. On the principle of
" business first and pleasure afterwards," as soon as they had at-
tended to the wants of others, they had a little care for their own,

By the Be v. Canon W. H. Jones, F.S.A.

311

and indulged in festivities known as Church- Ales, Whitsun-Ales,
and the like. It was purchased a few years ago by the trustees of
the Saxon Church, and given in exchange for the portion of that
building which had been used for the purposes of a free school. The
Free School was afterwards transferred to the Church-House, and is
still held there.

0. We now arrive at the Town Hall, a handsome building,
erected about thirty years ago on the site of some old gabled and
interesting houses, the removal of which took away one of the most
picturesque groups of buildings in the town. Opposite to the Town
Hall are what are called respectively Horse Street and the Shambles.
The former derives its name from an old inn called the " Scribbling
Horse" (a corruption of "Scribbling Herse") the last name denoting
timeframe on which the cloth when first made was stretched in order
that it might be scribbled (i.e., cleared by the teasel from all its
inequalities), an operation formerly done by the hand, but now by
machinery. The latter, now confined to a narrow paved passage
between shops, was termed the " Shambles " because of the butchers''
stalls which were there, or it may be in the Market Place immedi-
ately adjoining, in the lower portion of the Town Hall, of which we
shall make more particular mention presently,

7. We pass through the Shambles ; on our way we must notice
on the right the old barge-boards on the houses, and the fifteenth
century doorway of what is an inn now called the Royal Oak. We
pass a narrow lane on the left called Coppice Lane, an indication in
its name of the close proximity of the wood to the town at one
time, and enter Silver Street, called at different times Fox Street
and Gregory Street, presumably from the names of some old in-
habitants there, and stop for a moment before a small draper's shop,
now kept by Mr. Jennings. This house has some little interest
from the fact that here John Wesley, when he came at different
times to visit his community here, had his lodgings. One tradition-
ary tale is told concerning him. One morning, when he came down,
as was his wont, at an early hour, he congratulated his host on
owning a "truly English bed." "Why, Mr. Wesley?" was the
enquiry. " Because," was the answer, "it has no notion of giving out'*

312

A Stroll through Bradford-on-Avon.

8. Pursuing our onward course, we pass first of all Whitehead's
Lane — so called from one Manasseh Whitehead, a copyholder there
— and come to a narrow passage between houses, now called Cut-
Throat Lane, a corruption i imagine for the less alarming " Cut-
Through " Lane — a fair description enough of it — and so we arrive
at the corner of White Hill, the former portion of which is possibly
a corruption of a word signifying " wood," as in Wit-ley near Melk-
sham, and here we reach the site of one of the old chapels of which
I have spoken, namely that of St. Olave. All traces of the chapel
are now removed, but in documents of the last century we have the
street described as " vicus Sancti Olavi" otherwise " Tooley Street."
Just as Tooley Street, in Southwark, is so called from the Church
of St. Olave {e.g., St. Olaf, contracted into 'T Olaf, and so into
Tooley), so it was the case here. The street has now by a kind of
attraction assumed the name of the tithing to which it leads, namely
Woolley Street; originally, however, Woolley was " Ulf-lege/' and
so called from an owner of the name of Ulf, who is mentioned in
Domesday Book.

9. We now arrive at Kingston House, the most beautiful
specimen of domestic architecture in the town. It partakes much
of the character of Longleat, and was built probably between 1590
and 1620. It was commenced probably by John Hall, who was
married to Dorothy Rogers, and who died in 1597, and completed
by his son, bearing the same Christian name, who married Elizabeth
Brunne, of Athelhampton and who died in 1631. This house may
be described as of the transition style, between the old Tudor or Per-
pendicular and the new or Palladian. Its enrichments are of German
invention, and the excess of window light is characteristic of houses
of this date and style. It is of such that Lord Bacon said, " they
are so full of glass that one cannot tell where to become to be out
of the way of the sun or of the cold." The principal front is to
the south ; it is divided into two storeys with attics in the gables,
and has large windows with thick stone mullions. The whole
building may be divided into three portions, the central one coming
forward square, and the two side ones with semicircular bows. In
the centre is a large sculptured doorway to a porch, and the

By the Rev. Canon W. H. Jones, F.S.A. 313

summit of the window-bays is adorned with open parapets.

The last of the Hall family left all his property to Rachel Baynton,
of Chaldfield, who was married to Evelyn Pierrepont, son of the
Marquis of Dorchester, afterwards first Duke of Kingston. Their
only son, who became second and last Duke of Kingston, succeeded
in due course. It is from that noble family that this house came
to be called Kingston House. On the death of the second Duke
without issue, subject to a life interest to his Duchess, the property
descended to his sister, the wife of a son of Sir Philip Meadows,
the ancestor of the Manvers family. It remained the property of
the last-named family till 1806, wl'en it was sold to Messrs. Divett,
who turned it into a storehouse for wool, and allowed it to go to
sad decay. In 1848, happily for all who would fain preserve ancient
buildings, especially those of interest and beauty, it was sold to the
late Stephen Moulton, Esq ., and it was to his generous enterprise,
and exquisite taste, that a building equal to any in the county as a
specimen of domestic architecture is seen by us in its original form
and beauty.

10. We pass through the grounds of Kingston House and come
into a lane — now called Kingston Road, but formerly, as it would
appear, Frogmere Street — till we arrive at the Old Market Place.
It was at this spot that one Trapnell — a name familiar enough to
us in connection with Chaldfield — was burnt publicly for so-called
heresy, in denying the King's supremacy, in the year 1533. Against
the wall of what is now the Royal Oak stood the Old Market
House; the lines of the roof-gable may still be traced. I have
been favored by one whose early youth was spent in Bradford with
a description of this old building. He says, " The Old Market
House was originally of what might be termed three storeys. The
basement or cellar was on a level with the street opposite the shop
now occupied by Mr. Budget Jones, the entrance joining the Royal
Oak, and was used some sixty years ago as a crockery store, The
second storey was an open colonnade looking up Coppice Lane, and
was full of butchers' stalls — whence the name of ' The Shambles'
occupied by the country butchers. The entrance was on the level
of the Shambles, and the storey itself consisted of three plain round

A Stroll through Bradford- on- Avon.

columns, one at each angle, between them being wooden palisading,
and a central column ; to this last, the ne'er-do-wells who were sen-
tenced for some offence or other to have a whipping were bound,
when suffering the wholesome penalty for their misdeeds. The third
or upper storey consisted at one time of a room in which the courts
were held and the business of the manor transacted. But in my
time (1820) it was in ruin, and the staircase leading to it was gone.
I remember, however, that it had three quaint projecting windows
of a square-headed form, with thick deeply- moulded oak frames,
which were filled with small diamond panes of glass, and looked into
the Old Market Place. I remember the upper part falling down,
wdiilst the lower was still for some years afterwards used by the
butchers/''

I may as well add a few words as to the ultimate fate of the Old
Market House. For some years no repairs were done to it, and it
gradually became more and more dilapidated. Again and again
presentments had been made concerning it, as a place not only
"unfit but unsafe to transact the Lord's business in/" Once the
borough jury were bold enough to present the steward for not at-
tending to their presentments in this particular. But all was in
vain ; no attempt was made to sustain the tottering fabric, and one
night, it is alleged, the building fell. Whether its fall was the
result of accident or design — tales are afloat which favour the latter
supposition — men cared not too curiously to enquire. Till a recent
period, the man was living who carted away the materials of the
Old Town Hall, which he had previously purchased for the sum of
twenty shillings I

11. We now turn to the left and shortly find ourselves at the
foot of the Town Bridge, with its interesting Chapel on the eastern
side of it. The bridge itself, as an examination of it soon shews,
was at one time not only narrower in width, but shorter in length.
If you look underneath the arches from a lower level this fact is
soon apparent. In truth, the original centre of it is pretty well half
way between the chapel and the commencement of the bridge from
the Market Place. Originally it was used only for pack-horses and
foot-passengers, or at the most very light vehicles, the heavier

By the Rev. Canon W. 11. Jones, F.S.A.

315

waggons and other conveyance being taken over the ford, which was
at this point broad and shallow. The bridge was lengthened to-
wards the southern side, but the force of the current is still against
what were originally the central arches, between which is a strong
and not inelegant " cut-water." The construction of the old Chapel
is also worth examining-, at all events as regards its lower portion —
for the upper portion would seem to have been a construction of
later date — with its graduated corbelling and the elegantly-designed
shaft on which it is erected. What its object was originally is
more or less matter of conjecture, l anding as it did at the foot
of the bridge on the south side, some have thought that it was
simply a toll house, one of the places at which were collected dues
which were demanded from all who came into the town to sell their
various wares. Others have assigned to it a higher object, and
Aubrey says of it — "Here" [at Bradford] "is a strong and handsome
bridge, in the midst of which a little chapel as at Bath for masse."
So that possibly, as the Hospital of St. Margaret was close by, in
fact at the bridge-foot, it may have once contained the image of
the patron saint, and so have been a place for receiving at once the
devotions and alms of passers-by. Before the building of the present
Town Hall it was used as a temporary lock-up for offenders against
the laws. The vane at the top of this interesting chapel is " a fish,"
and it used to be a common saying among Bradford folk, as they saw
some culprit being " run in " to this strange lock-up, that " he wer'
a gwoing auver the water, but under the vish."

l'Z. All traces of the Hospital of St. Margaret, which was
standing in Leland's time, for he speaks of it as " of the Kinges of
England's foundation,'"' have disappeared. Its memorial is preserved
in the street which is still called St. Margaret Street, and in Mor-
gan's Hill, close by — pronounced by the old folk of Bradford Mar-
gin's Hill — and as lately as 17£4 called St. Margaret's Hill. It
must have been close to the bridge, and probably included amongst
other property that on which stands the house now owned and oc-
cupied by Mr. George Spencer, a house that derives some little
interest from the fact that there once lived in it Dr. Bethel, and his
distinguished son who became Lord Chancellor of England, and

A Stroll through Bradford- on- Avon.

was ennobled as Baron Westbury. Nor must we forget, as we pass
other houses close by, that one on the left-hand belonged once to
the family of Shrapnell, one of whom was the inventor of the once
famous " Shrapnell Shell "; and that in another, on the right-hand,
a well-known and deservedly esteemed Noncomformist minister, the
Rev. W. Jay, of Bath, found a retreat for his declining1 years. We
advance onwards a hundred yards or so, and we come to the Old
Men's Almshouse, founded A.D. 1700 by John Hall, Esq., for four
poor men. Over the Almshouse is a shield with the "battle axe"
carved on it, the crest of the Hall family, with an inscription under
it, " Deo et Pauperibus." The administration of this charity is now
in the hands of Earl Manvers, the lineal descendant of the founder.

13. From the old men's Almshouses we come appropriately
enough to those for old women. These are situated close by the
canal They are of Pre-Reformation date, a small payment from
the lord of the manor, due from time immemorial, forming part of
the endowment. There is still to be seen a small relic of the
Chapel of St. Catharine, to whom the " hospital " — using this term
in its original sense — was dedicated. Even till a recent period
Catherine-tide, or as the old folks call it Kattern-tide, was duly re-
membered, and many a one in Bradford reckoned their ages from it.
Thus an old woman once said to me, " V\\ be vower-score come
Kattern-tide." Till quite lately the really old-fashioned among us
used to send presents of small cakes, called " Rattem-Cakes," to
their friends, in memory of this festival.

The Almshouse, in which, until three years ago, there were but
three women maintained, came to be in a sadly ruinous state. A
legacy bequeathed for the purpose by the late Mr. Bubb enabled
the trustees to build three entirely new houses some twelve years
ago. Increase in the income of the charity, and a better system of
management, permitted of the erection of a fourth Almshouse some
three years ago, and the addition of another poor almswoman to the
recipients of the benefits of the charity.

14. But leaving the Almshouse of St. Catharine, and turning
down a lane on the left hand, and passing the " Pound," in which
stray cattle were once placed till their owner might claim them,

By the Rev. Cation W. H. Jones, F.S.A.

317

leaving on the right a field called Culver-Close, because there at one
time was the dove-cot or pigeon-house (from the Anglo-Saxon culfre
=dove, or pigeon), we come to what is called Barton Farm, the
homestead of the lady of the manor, or of the chief farmer, who
held it under her, and was called the Firmarius. Of the house
itself, as regards its ancient portions, hardly anything is left. A
small portion which seems parcel of a gateway, and a small apart-
ment annexed to it, is nearly all ; and the date of this would hardly
be earlier than the fifteenth century. But the glory of Barton
Farm is its magnificent Barn, which i^ like a long nave with double
transepts, being1 170 feet in length, and 20 feet in breadth — indeed,
including the transepts no less than 60 feet broad. The object of
so large a building was to house the crops from the farm itself, and
also the tithes which in early days were paid in kind, as well as to
provide shelter during winter and inclement weather for the flocks
and herds. It is generally called an Early English Barn, and the
older and more pointed arches of the tran septal entrances, into
which the more recent and depressed ones have been inserted, can
still be distinctly seen. The construction of its massive roof is not
only skillful — it was built in a time when men grudged as it would
seem neither labour nor materials — but ingenious. The roof-timbers
are all so framed from the ground as to be as far as possible inde-
pendent of the walls, and so to minimise the lateral thrust which
their great weight would otherwise exert on the building, to the
great detriment of the walls. On the surface of the. stones in the
interior can still be traced the various " marks " of the masons who
were employed in the original construction of the building. By
making a collection of them — for each master-mason had his dis-
tinctive mark, which he was obliged to leave on the surface of each
stone which he had worked, instead of as now on the side that is
embedded in the wall — it would not be difficult to make a rough
calculation as to the number of masons employed in the building.

The date of the barn may be put down at about c. 1300 — 1350.
It is strange that we know not at all who built it. Aubrey, when
he came to visit us, now two hundred years ago, thought that he saw
as one of the finials a " battle axe," the crest of the Hall family,
vol. xx. — no. lx. y

318

A Stroll through Bradford-on-Avjn.

and seems to intimate his belief that one of them built it. But
John Aubrey was certainly deceived, as he well might have been,
for he does not speak as though he had inspected the building, but as
only having seen it from a distance. There is no fmial at all like a
" battle axe/'' nor is it known that any of the Hall family, at any
rate at so early a period, had anything to do with the manor.

At the same time there was a man of note, who, at the very
period when, as we conjecture, the barn was first built, may have
been its bold designer. This was Gilbert de Middleton, who held the
Manor of Bradford under the Abbess of Shaftesbury at that precise
period, and was virtually Rector — for as such he appointed Richard
Kelveston to the Vicarage of Bradford in 1312 — and who could at
all events well afford to indulge his building tastes. For he held
prebends in the Cathedrals of St. Paul's, Chichester, Hereford,
Wells, and Sarum, besides being (in 1316), Archdeacon of North-
ampton, and Prebendal Rector of Edingdon. He was moreover,
we may conjecture, not unknown, or at least not without interest at
Court, for in 1321, we are told, "the King" (Edward II.) "granted
him that he should uot be disturbed in any of his benefices.'"
Though it is of course wholly conjecture, yet I sometimes think that
this same Gilbert de Middleton may have had a hand in building
the barn. If not assisted, like others similarly situated, by the
landlady in chief, the venerable Abbess of Shaftesbury, he may have
had a very beneficial lease granted to him of the Manor, by way of
recouping him in part for the necessarily large outlay.

15. But leaving the Barton Barn, and crossing the pretty little
ancient bridge, with its five arches and the piers each with its
elegant cut- water so arranged as to break as far as possible the force
of the stream in time of floods, we come to what is called Barton
Orchard, and so to a large house on the right-hand which is termed
Chantry House, a name also given to the field immediately adjoining
it. The site on which the present house stands, as well as the field
referred to, were at one time the endowments of the " Chantries "
which were founded in the parish Church ; and pcssibly also on the
same site there once stood a smaller dwelling, in which the Chantry
Priests lived. The present house has been from time to time added

By the Rev. Canon W. H. Jones, F.S.A.

319

to and altered, and looks as though its oldest parts may date from the
fifteenth, or at any rate the sixteenth century. It belonged, some
two hundred years ago, to the Thresher family, from whom it was
purchased, about 1744, by Mr. Samuel Cam, a leading clothier and
active magistrate of the town. One of Mr. Cam's daughters mar-
ried Sir Benjamin Hobhouse, and their eldest son, " John Cam"—
afterwards raised to the peerage under the title of Baron Broughton
de GifFord — inherited Chantry House. On his decease it descended
to his nephew, Sir Charles Parry Hobhouse, Bart., and by him was
sold a few years ago to its present posf 3ssor, the Rev. J. C. Turing.

16. We now visit the spot whence issues the water-supply,
which for so many centuries, has sufficed for the needs of the
town. This is called Lady- Well, perhaps because it belonged to
the Lady Abbess at Shaftesbury, or perhaps (and as we would fain
believe more probable) from the dedication of the little chapel at
the very top of the hill (the more so as the water all comes from
the hills behind it) , as though it were the well of " Our Lady," that
is, of the C( Blessed Virgin." Noted for its purity for centuries, the
sanitary diggings, and the engineering proclivities of modern times,
have contrived — though only temporarily we will hope — to damage
its fame, and even the supply provided for themselves by the poor
folk of Bradford at their own cost and trouble is pronounced impure.
We will hope, however, now in a very short time to have a pure
supply of water to our town, though an archaeologist may be forgiven
for expressing a passing wish that it had been found possible to
preserve a supply, about which there was at all events more than a
temporary interest, otherwise than by the rough-and-ready expedient
of closing it altogether.

17. We now climb a steep hill called Well-Path, and at the
top of it we find ourselves by the side of what is called Tory Chapel,
and also, by Leland, termed the Hermitage. The word Tory is no
doubt little else but the old word, common to Celtic and Teutonic
dialects (W. twr and A. S. tor), which signifies a high eminence; iu
fact our word tower is its modern equivalent; and the situation
verifies the name, for it is the very highest part of the town itself.
By "Hermitage" is not meant one of those primitive hermitages,

y 2

320 A Stroll through Bradford-on- Avon.

the simple purpose of which was to allow some recluse to live the
life of a devotee, but one of those useful single houses which were
stationed in various places to afford a traveller food and shelter.
There was a " chapel 33 here, which the wayfarer might use for his
devotions, a small hall in which he might have a simple meal, and
a spare room in which he might find a night's shelter. It was, in fact,
one of those " hospitals 33 — using the word in its primitive sense
— not unfrequent in these parts — (there was one at Chapel Plaister,
and another at St. Audoen's, Wraxall) — in which the pilgrim bent
on a religious errand, such as a visit to some holy place or shrine,
might at all events find food and shelter on his journey. The
"recluse 37 or u hermit" lived here, and received such guests from time
to time. It was an effort on the part of our forefathers in the middle
ages, to carry out the precept once given to God's ancient people,
"Love ye therefore the stranger; for ye were strangers in the land
of Egypt." (Deut., xi., 19.)

18. We pass along Tory, a name given to the terrace, so to
speak, that runs along the very top-rank of our town, and at the
end of it we see on the right a building, deprived of some of
its interest by having been made so bran-new and bereft of all its
luxuriant ivy tresses, which ought to have a passing notice. It
was one of the earliest non-conforming places of worship, and was
called the Grove Meeting House. It was built about A D. 1 698,
shortly after the passing of the Act of Uniformity, and the first
minister was one of the ejected clergy, who previously had been at
Calne.

19. Ascending the hill still, we go through what is called the
Conigre, a common name enough, and signifying a "rabbit-warren,"
and then turning to the right we arrive at last at Christ Church,
built now some 35 years ago in a style of rigid simplicity, but now,
by the addition of a chancel — almost the last work of the late gifted
architect, Sir Gilbert Scott — and the use of mural decorations, and
introduction of stained glass, a Church that is well worth a visit.
But we are strolling beyond the bounds of our town, and will content
ourselves with saying that the Church in question is a wonderful
example of the way in which genius and taste can transform an

By the Rev. Canon W. H. Jones, F.S.A.

321

unattractive building into one, which even the most critical can
hardly fail to admire, for the grand effect of its chancel, and the
chastened beauty of its mural painting.

20. We descend the hill — down what is called Mason's Lane
— and at perhaps its steepest part, we stand before a large dwelling-
house, which, till quite a recent period was called " Methuen's,"
but on which, some thirty years ago, was bestowed the fancy
name of " The Priory/' though no religious house ever existed there.
It is a house that has portions of it of the date, it may be, of Henry
VI., and the hall is especially worth seeing. There are still within
it some memorials of the Methuen family, to whom it belonged for
more than a century. It was built originally most probably by one
of the " Rogers " famii}', the first of whom, Thomas Rogers, des-
scribed as "serviens ad legem," I.e., " Serjeant at Law/' lived about
1478. The Rogers family settled afterwards at Cannington, in
Somerset. From Hugh Rogers, of Cannington, this house was
purchased by Paul Methuen, in 1657. Some hundred years after-
wards, in 1768, it became the property of the Tugwell family.
From them it was purchased, in 1811, by John Saunders, and it is
now the property, as well as the residence, of Thomas Bush Saunders,
Esq., the oldest of our county magistrates.

21. We come once more, after leaving this house, through
Pippet Street, to the front of the Town Hall — a point which we have
already visited on our stroll round Bradford. As to the meaning of
"Pippet Street" we have long been puzzled. A suggestion was
made, at the time of our ramble, that after all it might be simply a
corruption of the word " Pie-powder/' which is from the French pied-
poudreux (literally dusty-feet, whence its name in Latin, Curia pedis
pulverizati) a name given to a Court once held in fairs, to administer
ready justice to buyers and sellers, and to redress at once disorders
committed in them. Old spellings of the name, Peput and Pepud,
are by no means against such a theory as to its derivation. More-
over the one "fair" of the town, at Trinity-tide, has from time
immemorial been held here ; and no doubt in ancient times, as
in our own, prompt administration of justice, and summary recti-
fication of wrongs, must ever have been esteemed a boon.

322

extracts1 front % jjwwfoj of if* ISiltepra

Communicated by R. W. Meeeiman, Clerk of the Peace.

REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.

Table of Extracts and Notes.

I. Minute Books and Great
Rolls.

II. Court Towns and acting
Justices.

III. Badgers.

IV. Tippling-houses and Tav-

erns.

V. Unlawful Games.
VI. Trespass in Pursuit of
Game.

VII. Restraints on handicrafts.

VIII. Apprenticeship.
IX. Relief of the Poor.

X. Vagrancy.
XI. Gaols and Houses of Cor-
rection.

XII. County Rates.

XIII. Highways and Bridges.

XIV. [Dwellings of the Poor.
XV. Woods.

XV L Restitution.
XVII. Matters Imperial.
XVIII. Transactions of a single
Sessions.
XIX. References to Justices

out of Sessions.
XX. Criminal Jurisdiction.
XXI. Practice and Procedure.
XXII. Minor ^Transactions. —
Assizes.

Appendices.

I. — Minute Books and Great Rolls.

Not in many counties are there still extant records of proceedings
at quarter sessions in regular continuity from the end of the six-
teenth century to the present day. The rarity of such a possession
is no matter for surprise. While the archives of a city or college

1 These extracts are transcribed for publication under the express sanction of
The Earl of Kadnor, Custos Eotulorum of the county. They do not pretend to
deal adequately with the subject which they imperfectly illustrate : and have no
higher aim than to af£ ord examples of the sort of material which a reader might
expect to find to his hand in the records of the Wiltshire Quarter Sessions.

Extracts from the Records.

323

found sure asylum in civic chest or cloistered strong-room, the
muniments of a county were subject to change of domicile on every
appointment of a new clerk of the peace. In days, too, when piles
of old papers would have been regarded with little interest, the
retiring functionary, or the representatives of one deceased, might
possibly have considered that the exigencies of the occasion had
been amply satisfied when the incoming officer had received all
documents of immediate practical importance, and it is not difficult
to imagine that gradual ruin would overtake the remainder.

Whether by mere accident or (as one prefers to believe) by the
considerate prudence of successive clerks of the peace, it is happily
the fact that the transactions of the Wiltshire Quarter Sessions are
still to be read in a fairly continuous series of documents, having
their commencement in the sixteenth year of the reign of Queen
Elizabeth.

These records divide themselves into two chief classes — the minute
books, and the great rolls.

The minute books, through a part of their currency, are sub-
divided into separate series of " Orders " and " Entries/' between
which the rough distinction may be taken that the entries address
themselves to criminal and the orders to non -criminal business.

The great rolls (of which, in the Elizabethan minutes, mention
occurs under the homely title of the "Sessions Bundles") consist
of files of the several proceedings, the abridged notices of which
fill the minute books. The great rolls (one of which was made up
for each sessions) form the more interesting series of the two ; for
the reason that while the minute book may content itself with a
somewhat curt entry of any given magisterial act, the great roll
will probably contain the full text of the order, with the autograph
of the acting magistrate, and the depositions or information upon
which it proceeded. It must be confessed that a narrative of tran-
sactions relating to an agricultural, inland, and sparsely populated
shire, such as our own, cannot pretend to emulate in interest the
more eventful histories of counties having a sea-board, surrounding
some military centre or place of learning, or situate in the neigh-
bourhood of the seat of government.

Extracts from the Records of the

If in comparison with the records of Devonshire 1 and Essex, or
of such municipalities as those of Oxford and Liverpool, the rather
monotonous entries of Wiltshire sessions business seem trivial and
commonplace, an apology for their transcription may be found in
the recollection that in the pages of this Magazine a local audience
is addressed, who may be not indisposed to endure with good humour
a rehearsal of local occurrences and local allusions, devoid of in-
terest to the general reader.

Unfortunately the series of great rolls cannot be said to have a
satisfactory starting-point till the early years of the reign of King
James the First, so that, as to the quarter sessions of Elizabethan
times, it is from the minute books alone that the inquirer can dis-
cover for himself which were the places of assembly — who the at-
tending magistrates — and what the business transacted.

II.— Court Towns and Acting Justices.

The four towns which are at present dignified as the quarterly
seats of justice, enjoyed a like distinction during, certainly, the last
thirty years of Elizabeth's reign. Salisbury was generally visited
at the Christmas, Hilary, or Epiphany Sessions, Warminster at
Easter, Devizes at Trinity or Midsummer, and Marlborough at
Michaelmas ; but this order of rotation was by no means invariable,
nor was there, in this matter, an exclusive monoply. Calne, Chip-
penham, Hindon, and Trowbridge, were each of them upon occasion
selected as the sessions town, and such departures from the usual
routine seem to have occurred most frequently between the years
1575 and 1587, during which interval not a single sessions is entered
as having been held at Marlborough. Of the magistrates whose
names are inscribed as constituting the court a list is appended to
these extracts. During thirty years between eighty and ninety
names are so recorded, some of which recur, sessions after sessions,
with laudable regularity : the list includes the Earls of Pembroke,
and Hertford, two Bishops of Salisbury (John Piers and Henry
Cotton), Lords Audley and Stourton, and Chief Justice Popham.

1 It will be apparent that in the present notes the writer has been greatly in-
debted to Mr. Hamilton's work on the Devonshire records.

Wiltshire Quarter' Sessions.

325

In the appendix, too, is exhibited a list of some place-names
mentioned in the minutes between the year 1574 and the end of
the reign.

III. — Badgers.

If the scope of an enquiry into the nature of the transactions
' which occupied the attention of Her Majesty's justices in quarter
i sessions assembled were limited to the first score or so of pages of
1 the earliest extant minute book, the single word " Badgers " would
I suffice for an answer.

These dealers in victuals have not lacked recognition in the pages
I of this Magazine — they have been described by Mr. Carrington,1
Canon Jackson,2 and Mr, Rave nh ill/ the last-named of whom has
t transcribed at length a petition from the inhabitants of Bath for
I the grant to two persons therein named of licences to act as badgers.

Although the offences of " forestalling regrating, and ingrossing "
\ do not present themselves to the general reader as attractive subjects
; for study and discussion, yet it may be useful to recall the definition
j of a badger, given in old law dictionaries. " Badger/'' says the
\ English version of Les Termes de la Ley, <f is used with us for one
that is licensed to buy corn or other victuals in one place and carry
them to another — and such a one is exempted in the statute made
in the fifth and sixth of Edward VI., c. 14, from the punishment of
an Ingrosser within the statute/''

Under this Act of King Edward VI. it was within the com-
petence of any three justices of the peace to licence a badger —
but to all appearance this latitude was considered too large, for by
the Act, 5 Elizabeth, cap. 12, the power of licensing was restricted
| to the court of quarter sessions alone.

No applicant was eligible for a licence unless he were thirty years
of age, a householder, and married : the penalty for trading without
a licence was five pounds, a limit which seems practically to have
set the measure of the bail (entered indifferently as Wand c«?) which

1 Vol. vii., pp. 13, 14

a Vol. xiv., p. 215.
3 Vol. xviii., pp. 150-7.

826

Extracts from the Records of the

the justices almost invariably required for compliance with the terms
of the statute.

Not only were corn and grain within the prohibition of the Act,
but no drover of cattle or buyer or transporter of butter or cheese
could legally follow his calling without a licence, which ran for one f
year only.

Under such conditions it is not surprizing to find that licensees
were not always able to postpone the renewal of their licenses till (
the season came round when the court would be sitting at the town I
most accessible to them. John Tytcombe, of Compton Basset, [
Thomas Dawson, of Kemble, Richard Russell, of Rowde, John 1
Bristow, of Slaughterford, and Robert Butt, of Yattisbury, repaired {
to Salisbury to enter into their recognizances. To Warminster
came applicants from Amesbury, Ashton Keynes, Boxe, Cannings,
and Wedhampton ; while Devizes is visited by persons similarly in- f
tent from Corsley, Durrington, Mayden Bradley, and Wanborough. 1
These were exceptions ; for the most part the intending licensees ;j
resorted to the town least distant from them, and among such per- *
sons was Thomas Browne, of East Lavington, who at Devizes, in |l
April, 1587, is specially mentioned as licensed to trade " cum duobus
equis."

A loose slip of paper, dated "xiij January 1574," (singular for ;
its quotation of the year A.D., and in the use of Arabic numerals) j
contains the only instance, in the minute books, of the allotment of
several territories to the different dealers named in it as " allowed
by the justices/'' The allowances were, for the Hundred of Alder-
bury, one badger; Amesbury, two; Bradford "and the towne,"
three; Calne, two; Chippenham, three; Damerham, one; Dun-
worth, one ; Potterne, two ; the liberties — of Rowde, two ; and West-
bury, two ; and the parishes — of Broadchalk, two ; and Lavington, 1
no number stated. I

At the Trinity Sessions, 18th Elizabeth :— -

" It is ordered at this Court that no forenr or out dweller shall have eny corn j
in Warmr mrkett or eny other mvkett within Wiltes before xj of the clock in <
the forenoon of sayd mrkett day And that no forinr or eny other seller shall be
sufEeryd to ley in their corn in eny mans house but shall sell their corn in the

Wiltshire Quarter Sessions.

327

inrkett or els here it home again And that the poorer sort of the Towne and
I County shall first be sufferyd to buy before badgers and other strangers And
\ that no Badger shall house any corn in the Town of Warm'' or in eny other
I mrkett towne on the nirkett day within the county And that the Justices of peace
I within eny division or the Township of eny Mrkett Towne do appoint ij to vewe
j whether the prmisses be observyd on the mkett day yea or no."

In later years the enormities of regrating butter and cheese, and
j of buying corn in the fields were visited with appropriate penalties.

That the clerk of the peace regarded the licensing of badgers as
| no mere matter of form is clear from the memoranda which he
' entered for his own information and instruction.

He writes in October, 1576 : —

" Md. that I take order of the Badgers that they do name the places where the
j Badgers do use to badge before they resieve their lycens."

And again at the same date : —

" Md. to make pees [process] against all the Badgers that doe badge without
! licence."

Such faithful compliance with current legislation may not have
been wholly disinterested : the Act gave the clerk of the peace a
fee of one shilling for each licence, eightpence for each recognizance,
and fourpence for registering.

IV. — Tippling- Houses and Taverns.
This praiseworthy vigilance concerning the more substantial
articles of a Wiltshireman's diet was accompanied by an equal care-
fulness in the control and regulation, under the licensing law of the
j day, of breweries, malt-houses, ale-honses, and victualling-houses.
A few extracts will best illustrate this branch of magisterial action.

Epiphany, 18th Elizabeth : —

I " Md qd ad hanc Sess pacis concess : et concordat : fuit pr prfatos Justiciar
j adtunc et ibm existentes modo sequente videlt That where the said J ustices did
< well allowe that Anne Maple of Downton in the said County widowe shoulde
j contynewe her kepeing of her Inne in Downton aforesaid for that the said Court
I was enformed that shee was meete therfore in respect of her well useiug thereof
I And therfore it was comanded to all the rest that toke upon them to kepe eny
j Inne in Downton aforesaid That they and evry of them shoulde leve of and
' receave no more horses nor horsemen nor other persons thereafter uppon payne
to be grevouslye amerced if they did contrary to this order And that none do
reseive eny to lodge unles they be assigned by the OlTyccrs of the Towne."

Extracts from the Records of the

Trinity, 18th Elizabeth: —

[Translation.] " Tippling-house. — Bail for Nicholas Harris of Westbury
Lighe, viz., Robert Cogswell, of the same place, yeoman, and Thomas Saunders,
of Westbury-under-the-plain (JVestbury subtus le playne), clothier : each of the
sureties in 66s. 8d., and the principal in £5, under condition of keeping good rule
in his house according, &c."

Trinity, 19th Elizabeth:—

" Md that pees be made against Mathew Webb of Kingswall Shewmaker for
that he kepith an Alehouse whoute lycens by the credible reporte of Mr. Spenser
forman of the Grand Jury."

Easter, 21st Elizabeth : —

" It is ordered that Robert Spenser of Horningsham shal be disharged for
keping any farther Alehouse unles he can bring some of his neighbors to speake
for him, wch be of honest fame, to Sr John Thynne."

At the Trinity Sessions, 25th Elizabeth, occurs an entry that : —

" It is ordered by all the whole courte at the assize holden at Sar. xxij° die
Augusti anno xxvt0 E. Regine that Willm Askew shalbe from hence deposed and
put downe for [i.e from] keping any alehouse or Tipling from henceforth."

A similar sentence from the court of quarter sessions overtook
Robert Randell, Fisherton, not long afterwards, and William Sparks
was suspended " until such time as he bring a certificate from the
Aldermen of Malmesbury of his good behaviour/' These dignitaries
were clearly the recognized guarantors of respectability within their
municipality, for at a later date : —

" It is ordered that no Justice shall graunt any licence for selling ale in the
towne of Malmesbury unles the pties be comended under the hands of the Alder-
men Burgesses and Fermors of the said towne or the most part of them."

In the last year of the sixteenth century the condition of the
common victualling-house licence is stated to have been that the
keeper should " performe all such articles as are set downe in a
booke latlie sett forth by the Councell.'" What these articles were
may be gathered from a perusal of the transactions of the Michaelmas
Sessions in that same year, aniong which are entered eight clauses
expressly referred to at subsequent sessions as those which had been
issued by Royal mandate.

Wiltshire Quarter Sessions.

329

The purport of these clauses is as follows : —

" 1. First that noe Innkeeper or Typler that may convenience be served from
anie brewer do brewe in their houses but that they take from the brewers such
drincke onlie and at such reasonable sise as shalbe fytt for travelers and passen-
gers and as the Justices of the peace of that place or lymitt shall assigne or set
downe as f}rtt for that purpose."

2. Against the admission of " cardes dice or tables " into any tippling-house.

" 3. Itm that no Victuler &c shall dresse or suffer to be dressed or eaten within
his house ani fleshe upon anie forbydden dayes saving in case of necessitie of
sicknes &c. &c.

" 4. Itm that they suffer none to eate and typle or victual in their houses but
such as wayfaring men that shall take the same to refresh themselves in their
passage or iorny or such as shalbe appoynted to lodge or take dyett in their
houses but to deliver oute of their houses that quantitie of drink wch their neigh-
bours of the poorer sorte shall have need of to be druncke in their houses whoe
fetche or send for the same, and not elswhere.

5. No drunkenness to be permitted, " nor anie tipling at all on the Sabaoth
dayes or hollydayes in tyme of devyne service," nor after 8 p.m.

6. None to be entertained for longer than one day and one night " but such
as he [the victualler] will answer for."

7. Against buying goods of any wayfaring man.

" 8c Itm that evry Inkeeper and Typler allowed shall buy his drinke wthout
brewing, of anie of the brewer allowed to brewe drinke (if anie be) all of one
sorte And if eyther Typlers or Innkeepers refuse soe to doe evry of the Typlers
soe refusing to be forthwith dismissed to Typle any longer, and to be bound
over &c."

At the Epiphany Sessions, 19th Elizabeth, two innkeepers — one
of Hindon the other of Fisherton Anger — gave bail with sureties
conditioned, among1 other things, for the due observance of the third
of the foregoing articles.

The City of Salisbury seems to have been foremost in application
for licenses to " aquavitemen," while Devizes stands almost alone as
the place at which the inns are, in the minutes, named by their signs.

At the same Michaelmas Sessions held at Devizes as that at which
the above rules were promulgated, nine innkeepers at Devizes gave
bail, themselves in £10 with two sureties in £5 each — John Sawter,
in respect of " The Beare," the sign of which is mentioned as " de
novo apposit : " ; James Willis, for " The Lambc"; Nicholas Bar-
ret, for "The Crowne " ; Richard Maundrell, for " The Harte " j
John Pearce, for " The Swan w ; Stephen Godfrey, for " The Lyon " ;
and three other persons for houses which are not specially designated.

330

Extracts from the Records of the

East Laving ton contributed three publicans; Weeke two (for the
titles of whose houses the spaces on the page are left blank) ; Up-
avon two (of whom one was Maurice Oram, of " The Antelope, de
novo apposit : ") ; Allcannings one ; and Bromham one. From the
east of the county came, on a like errand, Thomas Waters, of Frox-
field ; while from the yet remoter borders of Charnham Street
journeyed three persons whose names are separately entered and
noted as " diversorii de antiquo allocati, sed non tenebantur coram
eisdem justic : sicut alteri."

Like security was taken from seven common brewers, of whom
Upavon sent one and Devizes the rest. Three of them are described
as " yeomen/' two as " gentlemen/'' one as a widow, and the seventh
passes undescribed. They undertook to " brewe and sell noe other
but good and wholesome ale and beare well sodden and well brewed
of wholesome grayne as it ought to be." A regular tariff is pre-
scribed for them, but unfortunately the measures of quantity only
are specified, while the spaces for the prices were never filled in.

A distinction between victualling and alehouse-keeping is marked
in the following order : —

" It is ordered that John Reele only shall keep an Alehouse in Great Bedwyn,
and that William Pierson shalbe permitted to kepe Vitlinge untill Easter next
without setting up any Alestake* but if he kepe any disorder then to be utterly
dismissed. All other to be removed."

V. — Unlawful Games.

The due conduct of a tippling-house included a discountenancing
of unlawful games, a term which, so far as the generality of the
population was concerned, included, temp. Eliz., a variety of amuse-
ments which would now-a-days be regarded as not only harmless
but commendable. The statute then in force on this subject had
been passed in the thirty-third year of the reign of King Henry
the Eighth, and was styled " The Bill for maintaining Artillery and
the debarring of unlawful games."" The connection between the
two ideas, not at first very obvious, is explained by a perusal of the
Act. The bowyers, fletchers, stringers, and arrow-head makers had

• Alestake: the post or pole, the sign of an alehouse.

Wiltshire Quarter [Sessions.

331

made complaint to the King that notwithstanding" " divers good
j and lawful statutes " made against unlawful games, yet that " many
1 subtil inventive and crafty persons intending to defraud the same
estatute, sithens the making thereof have found and daily find many
and sundry new and crafty games and plays as Logetting-in-the
Fields, Slide-thrift, otherwise called Shove-groat .... by
j reason whereof Archery is sore decayed/'' Paying a tribute to the
j past prowess of the English archers, these " daily orators " proceed
| to deplore that " yet nevertheless archery and shooting in Long

• Bows was little used but daily did minish decay and abate more and
\ more .... and also by means and occasions of custumable
I usage of Tennis play, Bowls, Cloysh, and other unlawful games . .
! . . great impoverishment hath ensued [i.e., folk could not find
I money to pay for long bows of yew] and many heinous Murders
I Robberies and Felonies were committed and done."

Whatever may have been the wisdom or folly of the reasoning
thus put forward by the " bow-and-arrow interest/' the Act did its
j best to encourage archery, and to stamp out idle gambling. It
j obliged every man to " have in his house for every man-child being
I of the age of seven years and above, till he shall come to the age of
j seventeen years, a bow and two shafts.'''' 1 This clause is followed
I by a variety of others, all favorable to bowyers, fletchers, and arrow-
j head men, which clauses are in their turn succeeded by stringent
! prohibitions of the reprehensible amusements specified above. No
j artificer or craftsman, &c. (ten synonyms are added), was permitted
| to play at the tables, tennis, dice, cards, bowls, clash, coyting, lo-

• gating, or other unlawful game, out of Christmas, under pain of
■ xxs. to be forfeit for every time ; and even at Christmas, indulgence

! 1 Such an obligation must have formed a doubtful contribution to the comfort
of the man-child's household. It recals the lament (from the pathetic pen of
' Mr. Slimmer of the Neio Castle Morning Argus) for Willie done to death by
I his purple monkey climbing on a yellow stick : —

" Oh ! no more he'll shoot bis sister with his little wooden gun."

j With his little bow and two shafts the Willie of the sixteenth century made
I himself felt, no doubt, as an appreciable nuisance ; the more so if (as possibly
! happened) he now and then laid precocious hands on tho four arrows statutorily
kept in store for his elder brethren's practice at„the butts.

Extracts from the Records of the

in these pastimes was permissible only "in their masters' houses or
in their masters' presence " — while, as for bowls, no manner of person
was at any time to disgrace himself by such wanton wickedness " in
open places out of his garden or orchard upon the pain for every
time .... to forfeit vis. vi'iid."

So commissioned and so empowered, a conscientious magistrate
must frequently have found himself face to face with the stern ne-
cessity of relegating to a righteous doom the irreclaimable quoit-
player and backsliding bowler. Such an one may Alfred Hawkins
have been, of Norton Bavant, who, at Trinity, 22nd Elizabeth, on
a charge of unlawful gaming (the full enormity of which is not
disclosed), stood in contempt of an indictment, which, howerer, ap-
pears to have been removed by Royal writ to the court above.

At Michaelmas in the following year : —

" Willm Wood of Fleet street of the Citie of London hat maker, Eobert Car-
penter of Oxfordsheer [admirable exactitude] carpenter & Edmond Carpenter of
Oxfordsheere hath confessed that they have used certaine games called Trole-
madame [Autolycus comes to mind] and ryffling of disshes & plattes in the
countie of Wiltes being unlawfull and cossyning games And therupon the said
pties are comitted to the Shreife untill they have founde suerties for their good
behaveour & to appear at the next quartr sessions."

Seend and Hilperton must have been incurably addicted to bowl-
ing, for at the Trinity Sessions, 29th Elizabeth : —

" William Wilkins and John Somner of Seen on a presentment for unlawful
games &c were fined iis. and iijd. to dischardge all Seen Sf Hilprton men for
bowling, vj of them by Mr. Brouncker pd to me 2s. therfore."

At the same sessions three other offenders were fined 2s. 6d. each,
and in a later year a misguided reveller who forgot himself to the
extent of unlawfully tippling before he unlawfully bowled, was con-
demned to forfeit xijd. for each of these forbidden pleasures.

Ralph Haggard fared better. He appeared in person at the
Easter Sessions, 44th Elizabeth, and in answer to a presentment
against him made at the preceding Warminster Sessions by James
Minterne (an active prosecutor, who is expressly stated to be suing
under the Act of Henry the Eighth) successfully pleaded a general
pardon.

Wiltshire Quarter Sessions.

333

VI. — Trespass in Pursuit of Game. Licence to Shoot.
Worse than such pastimes as slide-thrift, shove-groat, or logating-
in-the-fields, was lawless incursion into chase, park, or warren, to
the certain disturbance of the deer (exagitatio damarum) and the
| probable slaughter of rabbits (necatio cuniculorum) .

Trespass, not necessarily a part of the gamester's misdoing, was
inevitable with the poacher, and is laid as a separate charge in many
of the cases which came up for trial under the Game Laws.
The entries of these cases vary in particularity.
Sometimes the charge is stated simply as a pursuit of game
(venatio) , or breaking into a park (parous fr actus) .

Sometimes the landowner's name occurs, as when John Warner,
of Netherhampton, William Hookett, of Wilton, and George Poul-
ter, of Winterbome Dauntsey gave bail on a charge of hunting in
' the "warren of the Earl of Pembroke"; or John Ritchman "offered
voluntary upon his discharge that he will go to Sir Henry Knivet
and be bound in forty pounds not to disturb his game from hence-
forth. " The warren of John Mervin, too, is mentioned as having
I been forcibly entered by Roger Watkin, of Horningsham, whose
J enterprise was rewarded by fines of £10 for the trespass and £10 for
killing coneys.

But in the majority of instances the invaded territory is specified
by its own name.

The forest of Braydon received a sporting visit from Richard
Rutter, of Chelworth, Cricklade.

For hunting coneys at Hilthorp, Henry Barkshire, of Ramsbury,
was fined five shillings.

At the Epiphany Sessions, 18th Elizabeth, William Forty, of
"Mylenoll" (in £20), Thomas Heal, of " Weke," and Robert
| Brown, of " Rokeley" (in £10 each), gave bail for the appearance
: of the first-named at the next sessions, and immediately afterwards
i the same Robert Brown aud John Liddiard, of Rockley, became
I surety for Robert Liddiard, of " Prsult" under a similar obligation,
j So far only the official entry. But by a marginal note the clerk
I of the peace takes the reader into his confidence. " Md.," ho re-
marks, in reference to the first recognizances, " This Will Forti was
vol. xx. — no. lx. z

334

Extracts from the Records of the

Indyghted for hunting in Alborne chase by my L. of Pembroke":
opposite the second set of recognizances he adds, " This is lykewise
a hunt/'

At Michaelmas, 41st Elizabeth, at Marlborough, Thomas Pearce
was fined 13*. 4td., not only for hunting in Alborne Chase, but for
killing coneys there. Yet such an inveterate poacher was he that
at the next sessions he was " up " again for a like offence at the
same place, save that on this second charge the evidence seems to
have extended to " exagitation " only, and not to " necation.^ He
produced as sureties Ambrose Adlam, of West Harnham, and John
Eyles of New Sarum. But why this succour from a far country?
Can it be that the North Wilts coney addressed itself seductively to
the palate of the southern city, and was in brisk demand there ?
Such a supposition is at variance with inherent probabilities : the
woods of Clarendon and Grovely were at hand, and there was no
lack of enterprising commissaries. John Mann, of Pitton (with a
fine of 405.), collected supplies at Clarendon, and Richard Mundy
— though acquitted on the main charge of coney-killing at Grovely —
did not escape without a penalty of 20s. for disturbing the deer there.

Wardour Park was explored by Thomas Brett, of Tisbury, and
no doubt all three coverts by many more who have not attained the
distinction of a place in the sessions kalendar.

The Queen's warren at Watcombe, in the parish of Auston (Al-
vediston), and Her Majesty's warren and liberty at Mere, fared no
better than the preserves of her subjects. Trespass in one, and
hare-hunting in the other, are recorded with corresponding fines,
which, however, fall far short of the exemplary penalties inflicted
in some other instances.

Of the irregular sportsmen who directed their attention to fishing,
it may suffice to mention that certain of the inhabitants of Fisherton
Anger found it impossible to resist the attractions of the Earl of
Pembroke's waters ; and to chronicle the fortunes of Thomas Riddle,
and John Harrison, of " Ambrosbury/'' and William Wolfe, of
" Mildeston/' who entered into their own recognizances in £10 each
that they would not for the future fish in any water, save with lawful
nets, and not otherwise.

Wilts/iire Quarter Sessions.

335

Even to carry a sporting-piece was, for the unprivileged, an in-
dictable misdemeanour. At the Michaelmas Sessions, 26th Elizabeth,
Simon White was arraigned for the pursuit of game and for keeping
a crossbow (pro custodia arcubalistce) . At Michaelmas, 44th Elizabeth,
John Archard, of Malmesbury (acquitted), and Thomas Woodgate,
of Tockenliam (who traversed), were each indicted for shooting in a
hand gun (such was the technical phrase) charged with powder and
hail-shot (pro sagittatione in tormerito onerato pulvere et glandinibus
plumbeis).

What sort of thing a licence to shoot may have been may be ex-
emplified by the following specimen.

Easter, 44th Elizabeth :—

" To all Xren people to whorrie theise pnts doe appteyne greetinge. Whereas
I Sir Robert Dormer Knight as well by especiall comaundem1 from her matie as
by reason force and vertue of the tenure of certen landes tents and hereditaments
to me descended and come by from and after the decease of Sr. William Dormer
Knighte, my late father deceased am now intituled to have use exercise & enjoye
in by and throughe all pts & places within this realm of England as well by my
sufficient deputie or deputies by me in that behalfe to be appointed The office of
Marshall Master Overseer & Keeper ot her matits hawks wth all suche libties
priviledges & jurisdicons as to the same apperteyneth as by divers Ires patents
made to the said Sr William Dormer Knight my late father & unto me the saide
Sr William Dormer Knight and others by & from her matie & her most noble
progenitors more at large appeareth Nowe knowe yee that I the saide Sr Robert
Dormer by vertue & authoritie thereof to me given and for the necessary pvision
keepinge & feedinge of suche Hawkes as Jasper More of Haitesbury in the
Countie of Wiltes Esq or his servauntes have in his or there custodye of her maties
have licensed and authorised and by these pnts do licence and authorise for so
much as in me is, the said Jasper More or his servant or servants the bearer
hereof to shoote in Crosbowe Handgune or other piece wth anye kinde of shott at
Crowes Rookes Choughs Stockdoves Ringdoves or any other kinde of birde or
fowle birds or foules meet and fitt for foode for such Hawks as he or any of his
servants shall have in his or there [custody] of her maties. Provided allwaies
that the said Jasper More or any other by vertue hereof shall not shoote nere
any River or Plashes used for hawking at any fowle or at any foule or other
marke upon any Churche or Dovecote nor wthin three milet, of the Courte where-
soever the same shall happen to be Provided also this my pnte graunt & licence
shall noe longer have continuance or be of force then oncly duringe my will &
pleasure In witness whereof I the saide Sr Robert Dormer Knight have hereunto
set my hande and seale the xxth daie of November in the foure and fortieth yere
of the raigne of our Sov'aigne ladye Elizabeth by the Grace of God of England
France & Ireland Queue Defender of the faithc &c 1C01."

Z %

330

Extracts from the Becords of the

VII. — Restraints on Handicrafts.

But not to a man's hours of idleness alone did the legislature
take heed ; it directed and controlled him in the workshop and the
mill, in a spirit differing greatly from that of modern factory laws.
For the practice of almost every sort of handicraft some form of
licence, or certificate, or allowance, or at least bail, was needed — and
among the applicants for such licences, or defendants called to ac-
count for the want of them, are to be found bakers, wheelwrights,
dyers and weavers. It was upon these last and upon the clothiers
that the law pressed most heavily, even while its laudable aim
was the suppression of " scamped " workmanship.

Shoddy — ubiquitous, and unabashed, in the later nineteenth cen-
tury— encountered from the legislature of the sixteenth nothing
but uncompromising hostility.

Edward the Sixth's Acts 1 of Parliament gave it no quarter. They
denounced " the slight and subtile making of clothes and colours/'

1 The preambles of Edward's Acts breathe a spirit of such primitive simplicity ;
principles not always regarded in modern commerce are there advanced with an
air so serious, and in phrases so fresh and original, that their transcription more
at large may perhaps be forgiven : —

"Forasmuch as by the slight and subtile making of clothes and colours within divers parts of
this Realm, now of late practised and used, not only great infamies and slanders have grown to the
same Realm, but also the King' Majesty's faithful and true subjects have sustained great loss in the
use and wearing of the said clothes so slightly and subtilly made."

And :—

" Where heretofore divers and many goodly statutes have been made for the true making of cloth
within this Realm, which nevertheless forasmuche as clothiers, some for lack of knowledge and ex-
perience, and some of extreme covetousness, do daily more and more study rather to make many
than to make good clothes, having more respect to their private commodity and gain, than the ad-
vancement of truth and continuance of the commodity in estimation, according to the worthiness
thereof, have and do daily, instead of truth, practise falsehood, and instead of substantial
making of cloth, do practise sleight and slender making, some by mingling of yams of divers
spinnings in one cloth, some by mingling fell-wool and lambs-wool, or either of them, with
fleece-wool, some by putting too little stuff, some by taking them out of the mill before they
be full thicked, some by over stretching them upon the tenter, and then stopping with flocks
such bracks as shall be made by means thereof ; finally, by using so many subtle sleights and un.
truths, as when the clothes so made be put in the water to try them they rise out of the same
neither in length nor breadth as they oughtto do, and in some place narrower than some, beside such
cockeling, bandoning, and divers other great and notable faults, as almost cannot be thought to be,
true. . . . And yet nevertheless, neither fearing the laws in that case provided, nor regarding
the estimation of their country, do not only procure the Aulnager to set the King's seal to such false
untrue and faulty cloth, but do themselves weave into the same the likeness and similitude of the
King's Highness most noble and imperial crown, and also the first letter of his name, which should
be testimonies of truth, and not a defence of untruth, to the great slander of^the King our Sovereign
Lord, and the shame of this land, and to the utter destruction of so great and notable commodity,
as the like is not in any foreign nation."

Wiltshire Quarter Sessions.

337

and forbade the dyeing of any wool which had not been perfectly
woaded, boiled and maddered .... according to the ancient
" workmanship in time past used." Minute restrictions and pro-
hibitions were laid upon the clothiers, the due enforcement of which
was secured by the annual appointment of overseers in every town
or village in which cloth was manufactured. The detective energies
of these officers, and the critical faculties of the acting magistrate,
were simultaneously stimulated by an ingenious expedient. It was
provided that any piece of contraband cloth should be divided into
three parts : of these one was allotted to the King, a second to the
person presenting it, i.e., the informer, the remaining third part to
the person to whom it was presented, i.e., the magistrate by whom
it was condemned.

The manufacturers were evidently harassed and impeded by the
severity of these requiiements, and it probably fell out, as in the
preceding reign, that : —

" Upon these taxations
The clothiers all, not able to maintain
The many to them 'longing, have put off
The spinsters, carders, fullers, weavers, who
Unfit for other life, compelled by hunger
And lack of other means . . are all in uproar."

At all events an Act of Philip and Mary recites that <( divers
clothiers found themselves aggrieved alledging that it is un possible
for them to observe the same Act [of E. 6] in all points and have
. . prayed some mitigation thereof/'' which mitigation Parlia-
ment proceeded in some measure to administer.

Apart from this aspect of the matter, the Act of Philip and Mary
is interesting as containing an inventory of the only colours per-
missible in any cloths "put to sale within the realm of England."
These were, " scarlet, red, crimson, morrey, violet, pewke, brown-blue
[a remarkable shade], black, green, yellow, blue, orange, tawney,
russet, marble gray, sad new colour [a distinctly precious tint] ,
azure, watchet, sheeps colour, lion colour, motley, iron gray, fryer's
gray, crane colour, purple, and old medley colour."

Elizabeth carried on the legislation ; but her hand was heavier

338

Extracts from the Becords of the

than her brother's : he rewarded those who convicted, she fined those
who convicted not. By the "Act against the deceitful stretching
and tentering of northern cloth/'' any justice negligent concerning
the due execution of the statute was liable to a penalty of £5.

Two other Acts of the same reign were those in which Wiltshire-
men were chiefly concerned. The red and white cloths manufactured
in the shires of Wilts, Gloucester, and Somerset, had already, in
Edward's reign, been the subject of special enactment. Of these
materials the pieces were to measure, while wet, in length between
twenty-six and twenty-eight yards, and in breadth not less than
seven quarters of a yard between the lists. The prescribed weight
of such pieces being, of white cloths, sixty-four pounds ; of coloured
pieces, sixty pounds.

These quantities were reduced by Elizabeth. The length remained
at twenty-eight yards, but the width was drawn in to six-quarters-
and-a-half, "and the weight, for "broads/' to sixty-three pounds,
while ee narrows " were to stand at sixty-one pounds ; and the
penalties for transgression of these conditions were re-settled.

Such were the laws which the magistrates of the day found to
their hand; but their experience seems to have been, that, eschewing
all other colours, the Wiltshire manufacturer satisfied himself with
the steady production of his white cloth, broad or narrow listed
as the case might be. These at all events were the only colours
which found their way " into court/' and it was not until the passing
of the latest Act of Elizabeth, passed after the century had turned,
that the overseers seem to have initiated any systematic prosecutions
under its clauses.

At the Trinity Sessions in 1602 a score of offenders are presented
—some of them on a handful of separate charges. Fourteen of
these cases came on for trial at the next sessions : the accused in
every instance pleaded guilty, and were sentenced to the payment
of fines or the forfeiture of the defective cloth. Four shillings per
pound on the deficiency in weight was the measure of the fine where
such deficiency constituted the offence ; and forfeiture of the cloth
ensued where illegality of measure was the ground of complaint —
the forfeiture being commuted for a money payment of the value of

Wiltshire Quarter Sessions.

339

the cloth as appraised by the court. With two exceptions only the
fines were paid — in one of these the delinquent is noted as being* in
krrear, without further observation. A less fortunate offender from
Westbury (whose piece was deficient by 5 lbs.) was amerced in the
sum of 52^. Out of this sum 12s. (viz, 3 lbs. at 4*.) went to the
overseers ; for the remaining 21bs. the fine was 40s., half of which
went to the overseers and half to the poor of Westbury. The de-
fendant is noted as not paying the fine, and the entry closes with
the ominous words, " pro quibus committitur."

At the last sessions in Elizabeth's reign, the number of these
cases (either original or adjourned) fell scarcely short of one hundred.

Other offences under the Acts relating to woollen cloths also came
before the court. William Cooke, of Quemerford, was indicted for
using a tenter with seven lower bars (pro occupatione tenture cum
vij inferioribus trabibus) . Nicholas Parkyn, of Westbury, was
charged with refusing to allow an inspection by the overseers. John
Ussher, of the same place, " pro extensione, Anglice stretchinge " a
piece of cloth made for sale ; while among neighbouring places,
Westbury Leigh, Brook and Chapmanslade, Steeple Ashton, Hinton
and Pollesholt, all at one time or another contributed their quota to
such minor offences (presented nevertheless by the grand inquest) as
keeping a loom or practising the craft of a weaver not having been
thereunto duly apprenticed.

VIII. — Appkenticeship.

This last offence was not confined to the cloth trade ; it related
to all manual occupations. In the fifth year of Elizabeth's reign
was passed the statute of labourers, &c, which dealt exhaustively
with the employment of labour. Any man under thirty years of
age, unless already employed in some manner prescribed by the Act,
and even above that age if he were unmarried, was liable to be
marched off to service in a very summary fashion, and the juvenile
pauper, numbering at last sufficient years for manual occupation,
was handed over with eager alacrity to the first person who would
accept his services.

" Md." writes the clerk of the peace at the Trinity Sessions, 1579,

340

Extracts from the Records of the

in his own atrocious handwriting' 1 — contrasting most unfavorably
with the comparatively neat penmanship of his clerk : —

" Md. that by the commaundemte of John Eyres Esquier I was willed at this
Sessions to enroll that John Willms being now eight yeres of age and lefte by
some unknowen beggar within the prish of Braddford was appointed by the
prishioners to serve Robt Bronncker of Broughton Gilford Wever to serve him
according to the statute untyll he come to thage o/'xxij yeres "

At the Michaelmas Sessions, 1591 : —

" It is ordered that If Xrof er North be abled by law to be an apprentice that
then he shall serve the woman so long as she shall exercise the mistery of
weavinge or cause him to be instructed in the same bona fide during the yeares."

And at the preceding Easter Sessions the order for maintenance
of a boy is to run only until he shall be fit to be an apprentice
(auotisq^iie fuerit habilis essendi apprentlcms) .

One year was the shortest term for which a contract for labour
could be entered into, and the minimum was occasionally adopted.

At the Epiphany Sessions, 22nd Eliz., John Westbrooke, of
Alderbury, undertook to receive Thomas Grymsted into his service
and produce him at the Feast of Epiphany, in the year 1580.

Two similar undertakings were entered into at the Trinity Sessions,
32nd Eliz., when each of the intending employers gave bail in £5,
conditioned for the production of the servant at the end of the year.

Nor were such safeguards mere formal superfluities.

Among the employers of the period one at least formed an austere
estimate of a master's duty towards his apprentice.

At the Michaelmas Sessions, 1589: —

Order is lykewise taken by all the Justices that whereas one John Hewse
being the apprentice of one Morrys Henley of Wootton Bassett in the countie of
Wiltes Shomaker dyd upon dy vers abuses and threatenings whereby the said John
Hewse stode in dyspeyre of his life depted from his said niayster and where upon
complaynt and profe thereof made before certeyne of the same Justyces the said
Morrys Henley refused to become bounde that the said John Hewse should re-
mayne with hym in securytie and safetie of his lyfe that the said John Hewse
shalbe at lyberty to serve els where at his will and pleasure at all tymes hereafter
wthout any contradycion denyall or ympedynt of the said Morrys Henly unles

1 A specimen — being one of the numberless entries of bail to appear at the
next sessions, and meanwhile to keep the peace — is given in the accompanying
illustration.

Wiltshire Quarter Sessions. 341

the said Morriss willbeconie boutide by recognyasaunce before some justyce of
peace of the same sheire that the said John Hewse durying the tyme of his said
apprentyshippe shalbe remayne and contynewe in safety of his lyfe for any thing
used to be done or corny tted to the contrary by the said Morrys Henley his
mayster."

At the Trinity Sessions, 1592 : —

" It is ordered that Arthur Husband shall delivr John Crawley to his father
; before nine of the clocks of this next daye or to be comitted to gayle."
"Fiat [the entry concludes] capias versus eundem Husband."

By the end of the century the magisterial interest in apprentice
law would seem to have subsided (a condition of mind to which the
readers of these pages have, it is to be feared, by this time been
also reduced), for at the Michaelmas Sessions of 1600 : — -

" It is ordered that noe Informacons shalbe exhibited into this Courte against
anie pson for using or exercising anie misterie or manuell occupacon wherin he
hath not hen Apprentice unles the same be first made knowne to some Justice of
the Peace neare the place where the pson dwelleth against whome such informacon
is or shalbe exhibited and that the same Justice doe consent therunto And that
all informacons hertofore exhibited into this Courte against badgers of woollen
yarne shall cease and be noe further prsecuted until further order be taken."

The hundred juries may have considered that the hint was not for
them — as indeed perhaps it was not. Certainly the jury of the
Hundred of Westbury were moved at the Easter Sessions, 44th
Eliz., to present : —

Elizabeth Vooke, of Dilton for keeping a servant, anglice a jour-
neyman who has not served as an apprentice.

William Axford, of Bratton, for taking an apprentice to the art
of weaving, to which art he had not himself been apprenticed.

William Collier and John Swetland, each of Bratton, for keeping
apprentices who were sons of labourers in husbandry.

Among the persons indicted at an earlier sessions was Alice
Clifford, for exercising an art " in qua non fuit edueata."

(To be Continued.)

[The Committee desires to acknowledge the liberality of Mr. R. W, Mcrvinian
in presenting the plate which accompanies his paper.]

84»

jgwoigtiim of a §aitofe mmtty %*itrir <ra
dtotou Pill.

By C. Ponting, Esq.

J^ggjlf^NOTHER of these ancient tumuli having disappeared, and
Efjyll an opportunity having been afforded me of seeing it opened,
I venture to place on record some account of it. I could have wished
this duty had fallen into abler and more experienced hands, and I
regret that my effort to obtain the presence of our worthy Secretary
to witness the opening was defeated by the incessant downpour of
rain during the day on which it was necessary it should be done :
otherwise that gentleman had, in spite of his ill health at the time,
undertaken to be there.

The barrow was the second from the south along the range of
hills between West Kennett and Abury, on the estate of the trustees
of the late Mr. Tanner. The land around and over it being arable,
the barrow had become much flattened, and the cairn of sarsens
which it contained almost denuded of the covering of soil, by probably
centuries of cultivation. I may here remark that an interesting
contrast is shown, illustrative of the levelling effects of this process,
in the well-preserved barrows on the adjacent down land, northwards
of the arable, and which are planted over. The stones of the cairn
being found to interfere with the use of the plough, workmen were,
in February last, put to remove what they at first thought to be a
few stray sarsens.

I was made acquainted with this by one of the stone-cutters
bringing me a small earthen vessel, which he had found amongst
what he described as a heap of stones. " This vessel is of British
manufacture, rude and imperfectly burnt, 3J inches in diameter, and
the same in height, and is apparently a food-cup. With it a skeleton
evidently a secondary interment in the cairn of the barrow — was

Description of a Barrow recently Opened on Overton Hill. 343

|found, but this was destroyed by the workmen in removing the
stones. On visiting the place I found that this heap of stones was
the cairn of the barrow, and that it had been opened almost to the
natural level of the ground, so that I was too late to measure its
original height. The cairn was formed of sarsen stones roughly
piled up, and was about 24 feet in diameter. At a distance of
about 6 feet from the base of this was the very unusual peculiarity
of an outer circle, composed of very large specimens of similar stones
jin a double row; this circle was continuous. The whole was covered
in the usual manner with soil, but of a somewhat more clayey
nature than that surrounding the barrow. Owing to its flattened
jstate, however, it was impossible to ascertain the extreme diameter
of the barrow.

[ The cist containing the primary interment was in the centre of
the cairn, excavated out of the chalk %\ feet below the level of the
natural surface of the ground. It was in the form of an irregular
circle — the average interior diameter being about 3\ feet — partially
walled with sarsen boulders, the hard chalk having been left in
places without a lining of stones ; and it was covered, at the ground-
level with one large and two smaller flat sarsens. The cist was
filled with soil, and the removal of it without destroying the shape
and position of the skeleton was a work of some difficulty, and
although the skeleton was very perfect, the smaller bones were so
much decayed that it was impossible to remove them whole. The
body had been placed in the cist lying on its back, with the head
fco the north in the direction of Abury, but the legs had been turned
over, and the lower part of the spine so twisted as to give it the ap-
pearance of lying on the left side. The knees were drawn up to
j within fourteen inches of the chin ; the left hand placed against
'the head, and the right across the abdomen. On the east side, and
in front of the knees, where the cist was slightly elongated, were
iportions of the skull, jaw and other bones of an animal of about the
jsize of a rabbit, and also a large number of very minute but distinct
,bones under J of an inch in length. These last were in clusters of
Isome hundreds to each.1 The soil in the cist contained a singular
| 1 A sample of these minute bones, most of them reduced fco fragments) and

344 Description of a Barrow recently Opened on Overton Hill.

piece of wood in the form of a knife, and also many shaped flints,
but no pottery or ashes, although wood ashes were found on the J
ground under the lowest stones of the cairn.

Amongst the stones forming the cairn were also bones of some \
large animal — probably a horse — and portions of stags' antlers, j
These, together with the skull, earthen vessel, and the other things j
found in the barrow, have been deposited in the Museum, and the J
Secretary has obtained the professional report upon the skull which I
is given below.

The sarsens of which the cairn and outer circle were constructed I
were of an entirely different kind to those found on the adjoining
downs, and the workmen who cut them considered them exactly!
similar to those existing in large numbers by the Ken net t, east of I
Overton. As many of the stones were of immense size and several j
tons in weight, the work of getting them to the top of this hill — J
supposing them to have been taken from the Kennet valley — must I
have been one of no slight magnitude. >

Skull from Barrow on Overton Hill,
kindly described by Mr. Robertson, of the Museum, Oxford : —

" Skull possibly of a stout female, past the middle period of life, j
with complete dentition, the teeth much worn with hard food orJ
grit. Some of the upper teeth have been lost since the skull was i
removed from the barrow. The nasals and part of the nasal surface
of the maxillary, the zygomaic process of the right tembual bones
have been lost. Also the right condyle of the lower jaw. The
incisor teeth are small. The molars, particularly in the upper jaw,
much worn, but — as usual in barrow skulls — do not present any;
traces of decay.

" The mastoid processes are small, the palate short and deep, theil

all of them much broken, was submitted to the anatomical inspection of Mr I
Eobertson, at Oxford ; and that gentleman at once and unhesitatingly pronouncecir
them to be bones of frogs, This authoritative decision appeared at first somewha
staggering, as it seemed impossible to account for so large a collection of the bonei jj
of that batrachian on the top of a dry down at a considerable distance from water I
but as a matter of fact, during the opening of the adjoining barrow last autumn I
live frogs were observed in some numbers in that immediate locality. [Ed.]

The Opening of a Barrow on Overton Rill.

345

febraciliary ridges prominent, and most of the cranial sutures are
still visible. The chin is not prominent. The left parietal is shorter
than the right, with a considerable depression on the posterior sur-
face near the lamboid suture. This depression has caused a con-
siderable prominence of the supraoccipital region. The space
between the parietal and supraoccipital on the right side is filled up
by a number of small wormian bones.

" Height about 5 feet 4 inches.

" Measurements taken with Flower's craniometer .-—
Circumference, %% inches, or 56 metres.

Length

7.6

,, 19.3

Breadth-

5.9

„ 15

Height

5.9

„ 15

Cubic capacity, 1 1 1 cubic inches.

%\t <%Mtng of a §a:w>fo m (Bkxtow pill

^|P^N the 15th and 16th of September, 1882, Mr. Henry
Jfe§|§ Cunnington having made arrangements for opening the
barrow H. vi. b. (Rev. A. C. Smith's map), on Overton Down (West
Kennet), invited me to join him; and as the Rev. W. C. Lukis
was then paying an archaeological visit to the Rev. A. C. Smith,
these gentlemen favoured us with their presence on both days.

The account of the opening of the barrow H. vi. a. (in the same
map), by Mr. Ponting, which is described above, naturally raised
the expectation that this barrow, H. vi. b., situated so close to it,
and of the same size and shape, would prove to be of the same
period, and of the same general character. Such, however, was not
the case: on the contrary, they afford an interesting example of
the wide differences which existed in the modes of burial adopted
by the ancient inhabitants, even in adjoining sites.

310

The Opening of a Barrow on Overton Hill.

This barrow is circular, with an elevation, ;iiow; of 4 feet 4 it
inches above the natural level, but it has been much reduced in Ip
height by the plough, &c. It is at present upwards of 90 feet in ij Iv

It consists almost entirely of heavy clayey earth, apparently jlo
derived from the surface-soil around. We commenced on the south ill
edge of the barrow with a trench reaching to the chalk substratum, a:
and worked towards the centre, thence enlarging the opening east ill
and west. Towards the east, and about 18 inches from the present J
surface, we found a circular cavity, of about a foot in diameter, fi
formed in the soil, and carefully smoothed inside ; in this were t
the bones of an adult, completely burnt and mixed with the wood t
ashes. They apparently belonged to a person about thirty years
of age. There were no beads or other personal relics found with 1
the ashes. A long thin line of ashes extended over a distance J
of 6 or 8 feet in the soil above this interment, but quite distinct j
from it. :

At a depth of from 4 to 5 feet, traces of the ancient soil were
plainly shown by the fibrous remains of the former turf. This was
very generally covered with a layer of wood ashes, and on this level,
to the north-west of the centre, another interment of burnt bones ■■:
was discovered. These were placed in a cist similar to the last, but
less carefully formed. They apparently belonged to an adult person
of about the same age as in the other instance, but they had been
very irregularly burnt — some portions of the skull retaining much
animal matter. They were also mixed with a large quantity of .
wood ashes. j

In one spot near this interment as many as twenty or more flint 1
flakes were found, and amongst these a very well made flint scraper.
This, and one or two other rude implements had apparently been
made on the spot. Here, too, Mr. Lukis picked up a specimen of |
a saw-edged flint implement. It is rudely formed, but is distinctly i
and regularly serrated. Unfortunately it was somewhat damaged
by the spade.1

1 We believe this to be the first specimen of distinctly serrated flint implement

diameter.

Extracts from the Register in Christian Malford Church. 347

Scattered throughout the general mass of the barrow were nu-
ll merous bones— chiefly broken and splintered — of the usual domestic
animals, ox, deer, sheep, and hog. There were also fragments, of
an ancient British drinking cup, of an urn of about the same period,
and of a small bone needle or pin.

The barrow is of early date, and if the two incremated burials
are the only interments, its history is simple, indeed — but there is
some doubt whether the skill of four archaeologists, and the efforts
of five stout labourers were not after all baulked in the attempt to
find the original interment. The occurence of concentric layers of
| chalk-rubble near the centre, is in favour of the supposition that
there had been another — a primary — burial.

WlLLLIAM CtJNNINGTON.

11, Gauden Road, S.W.

€#tra(ts from % Hcabicr m €\pd\mx

HE following curious extracts from the register books of
Christian Malford Church, were made, by kind permission
j of the Rector, at the time of the Society's visit, in August, 1882 : —

" Memorandum y* on ye 27th of January 168f Thomas Persons (alias Seagar)
| Henry Prise, William Bovy, ye Widdow Ryley, Bridgeat Bernard & her two sons
George Bernard & John Bernard were y11 denouns'd exconiunicate by an order
I from ye Reverend Mr. Robert Woodward, Archdeacon of ye Archdeaconry of
i North Wilts for not repairing to their Psli Church by me

"James Cooke, Cur"

recorded as found in Wiltshire; though "flint saws" arc common elsewhere,
particularly in Yorkshire, where as many as fifteen fine examples have lately
been discovered in one barrow.

348 Extracts from the Register in Christian Mai ford Church.

" P they were denounced exconiunicatt again ye 8th of Novemb : 1685 "
" July 10, 1725

" Mem : That Jno. Bernard was absolvd from A sentence of This Excomunica-
tion by me

"John Itchenee Kector."

Also, in another place : —

" Memorandum y1 on ye 16th of August 1687 I granted a certificat for Susanna
ye daughter of William and Phrizweth * Scott to be toucht for ye Kings Evill,
John Selman and William Scott being Churchwardens

" Witness my hand

"James Cooke Curatt."

* This is not the only instance of the use of this strange name in this parish, for again in the
same register hook we meet with : —
" Mary the wife of Rich : Giles Bur. 10 Junij 1704
"Phriswith the wife of Wm Scot Bur. Sep 16 1704 "

[Note by Canon Jones, This is most probably intended for " Frideswide." People in olden days
often took the names of great folk, e.g., Frideswide, daughter of Sir John Rungerford, of Down
Ampney (no great way offj, was first wife to Sir Henry Longe, of Wraxall (c. 1540—60).]

END OF VOL. XX.

H. F, BULL, Printer and Publisher, 4, Saint John Street, Devizes.

WILTSHIRE

paralogical ana jfataral Pistorg j5«ietg.

NOVEMBER, 1882.

Patron :

The Most Honoueable the Maequis of Lansdowne

President :
Loed Edmond Fitzmatteice, M.P.

Vice-Presidents

The Most Hon. the Marquis of Bath

William Cunnington, Esq.

Sir Gabriel Goldney, Bart., M.P.

The Eight Hon. Lord Heytesbury

Sir Henry A. Hoare, Bart.

The Eev. Canon Jackson

M.P.

The Rev. Canon Jones
Sir John Lubbock, Bart .
Sir John Neeld, Bart.
The Right Hon. Earl Nelson
Charles Penruddocke, Esq.
C. H. Talbot, Esq.

Trustees ;

Sir Edmund Antrobus, Bart.

The Most Hon. the Marquis of Bath

The Right Hon. E. P. Bouverie

William Cunnington, Esq.

G. T. J. Sotheron Estcourt, Esq., M.P.

G. P. Fuller, Esq.

Sir Gabriel Goldney, Bart., M.P.

The Most Hon. The Marquis of

Lansdowne
Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M.P.
Sir John Neeld, Bart.
The Right Hon. Earl Nelson
Charles Penruddocke, Esq.
J. W. G. Spicer, Esq.

Committee :

T. B. Anstie, Esq., Devizes

The Rev. E. L. Barnwell, Melfcsham

The Rev. W. P. S. Bingham, Benoich

Bassett, Swindon
Henry Brown, Esq., Blachlands

Park, Calne
Robert Clark, Esq., Devizes
A. B. Fisher, Esq., Potterne

The Rev. E. H. Goddard, Hilmarton
W. Hillier, Esq., Tinhead, Westbury
The Rev. C. W. Hony, Bishops Can-
nings

Joseph Jackson, Esq., Devizes
Alexander Meek, Esq., Devizes
The Rev. A. B. Thynne, Seend

Honorary General Secretaries :
The Rev. A. C. Smith, Yatesbury Rectory, Calnc
H. E. Medlicott, Esq., Sandfield, Potterne.

Honorary General Curators :
The Rev. H. A. Olivier, Poulshot Rectory
Henry Cunnington, Esq., Devizes

Honorary Local

G. Alexander, Esq., Jlighworth

H. E. Astley, Esq., Hungerford
W. Forrester, Esq., Malmesbury
N. J. Highinore, Esq., M.D., Brad-

ford-on-Avon
H. Kinneir, Esq., Swindon
The Rev. G. S. Master, West Dean,

Salisbury
Alex Mackay, Esq., Trowbridge

Secretaries :

W. F. Morgan, Esq., Warminster
J. E. Nightingale, Esq., Wilton
The Rev. W. C. Plenderleath, Cher-

hill, Calne
The Rev. T. A. Preston, Marl-

borough
J. Farley Rutter, Esq., Mere
J. R. Shopland, Esq.. Purton
H. J. F. Swayne, Esq., Wilton

Treasurer :
F. A. S. Locke, Esq.

Financial Secretary :
Mr. William Nott, 15, Sigh Street, Devizes

LIST OF SOCIETIES, &C, IN UNION WITH THE

Wlte|ir* %xtywk$ml anir ifataal fistarg jtafcfe

For interchange of Publications, Sfc.

Society of Antiquaries of London.
Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.

Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland.
Kent Archseological Society.
Somersetshire Archaeological Society.
Oxford Architectural and Historical Society,
Belfast Naturalists' Field Club.
Essex Archseological Society.
Professor L. Jewitt.
Bath Antiquarian and Natural History Field Club.
- Dr. F. V. Hay den, United States Geologist.
Bristol Naturalists' Society.
Watford Natural History Society.

Powysland Club.
Bristol Natural History Society.
Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society.
Epping Forest and County of Essex Naturalists' Field Club.
Berks Archaeological and Architectural Society.

Mimt of Members*

Life

Bruce, Lord Charles, M.P., Wilton
House, Eaton Square, London, S.W.
Clarke, Henry M., 25, Mount St.,

Grosvenor Square, London, W.
Clutterbuck, Eev. Canon Henry,M.A.,

Buckland Dinham, Frome
Duke, Rev. Edward, Lake House,
Salisbury [Bath
Ellis, Eev. J. H., Stourton Rectory,
Fitzrnaurice, Lord E., M.P., Bowood
Grove, Sir Thomas Fraser, Bart.,
Ferne, Salisbury [head
Hoare, Sir Henry A., Bart., Stour-
Holford, R. S., Weston Birt, Tetbury
Jackson, Rev. Canon, Leigh Dela-

mere, Chippenham
Lansdowne, the Most Hon. the

Marquis of, Bowood, Calne
Lowndes, E. C, Castle Combe, Chip-
penham

Lubbock, Sir J. W., Bart., M.P., 15,
t Lombard Street, London, E.C.

Annual

Adderley Library, Librarian of, Marl-
borough College

A dye, Charles S., Bradford-on-Avon

Ailesbury, the Most Hon. the Mar-
quis of, Savernake, Marlborough

Alexander, G., Westrop House,
Highworth

Anketill,, Rev. H. K. F., Seagry
Vicarage, Chippenham

Anstice, Rev. J. B., the Vicarage,
Hungerford

Anstie, T. B., Devizes

Archer, Col. D., Fairford House,
Gloucestershire

Arundell of Wardour, the Rt. Hon.
Lord, Wardour Castle, Tisbury,
Salisbury [Club, London

Arney, Sir G. A., Hanover Square

Astley, H. E., Hungerford

Awdry, Rev. E. C., Kington St.
Michael, Chippenham

Awdry, Justly W, Melksham

Awdry, West, Monkton, Chippenham

Awdry, Rev. W. H., Ludgershall,
Andover

Members.

Lushington, Godfrey, 16, Great Queen

Street, Westminster, London, S.W.
Morrison, George, Hampworth Lodge,

Downton
Mullings, John, Cirencester
Neeld, Sir John, Bart., Grittleton,

Chippenham
Penruddocke, C, Compton Park,

Salisbury

Prior, Dr. R. C. A., 48, York Terrace,

Regent's Park, London, N.W.
Selfe, H., Marten, Great Bedwyn
Shaftesbury, the Rt. Hon. the Earl

of, St. Giles's, Cranbourne
Walmesley, Richard, Lucknam,

Chippenham
Wellesley, Lady Charles, Conholt

Park, Andover
Wyndham, the Hon. Percy, M.P.,

44, Belgrave Square, London, S.W.

Subscribers .

Baker, T. H„ Mere, Bath

Banks, Mrs. G. Linnaeus, 82, Green-
wood Road, Dalston, London, E.

Barnwell, Rev. E. L., Melksham

Barrett, S. B. C, Pewsey

Baron, Rev. J., D.D., F.S.A., The
Rectory, Upton Scudamore, War-
minster

Barrey, H. G., Devizes

Bateson, Sir T., Bart., M.P., 12,
Grosvenor Place, London, S.W.

Bath, the Most Hon. the Marquis of,
Longleat, Warminster

Batten, John, Aldon. Yeovil
* Bell, Rev. G. C, Marlborough College

Bennett, Rev. Canon F., Maddington,
Shrewton

Bennett, F.J.,M.D.,Wilton, Salisbury
Bennett, W. S., Castlefield, Calne
Bethell, S., The Green, Calne
Bingham, Rev. W. P. S., Berwick

Bassctt, Swindon
Blackmore, Dr. H. P., Salisbury
Blake, F. A., 39, Market Place

Salisbury

iv

LIST OF MEMBERS.

Bleeck, C. A., Warminster
Bouverie, Rev. the Hon. B. P., M.A.,

Pewsey

Bouverie, the Rt. Hon. E.P., Market

Lavington
Bowes, J. L, M.B., Wilts County

Asylum, Devizes
Bradburne, F. A., Lyhurn, Lyndhurst
Bramble, Jas. R., 2, Bristol Chambers,

Nicholas St., Bristol
Brewin, Robert, Cirencester
Brine, J. E., Rowlands, Wimborne
Britton, Mrs. Helen, 39, Croydon

Grove, West Croydon, Surrey
Brown, H., Blacklands Park, Calne
Brown, Henry, Salisbury
Brown, James, South View, London

Road, Salisbury
Browne, Rev. E. Kenworthy, Darley

Chine, Bournemouth
Brown, W., Browfort, Devizes
Brown, W. R., Highfield, Trowbridge
Bruges, H. Ludlow, Seend, Melksham
Bryant, George R., Queen wood, Calne
Buchanan, Ven. Arch., Potterne
Buckley, Alfred, New Hall, Salisbury
Buckley, Rev. Felix J., Stanton St.

Quintin, Chippenham
Buckley, Rev. J., Tormarton Rectory,

Chippenham
Bull, H. F., Devizes
Bullock, William H., Pewsey
Burges, Rev. J. Hart, D.D., The

Rectory, Devizes
Butt, Rev. W. A., Vicarage, Westbury

Caillard, C. F. D., Wingfield, Trow-
bridge

Carey, J., Steeple Ashton, Trowbridge
Carey, Rev. T., Fifield Bavant,

Salisbury
Carless, Dr. E. N., Devizes
Chamberlaine, Rev. W. H., Keevil
Chandler, Thomas, Devizes
Chandler, T. H., Rowde, Devizes
Chandler, W., Aldbourne,Hungerford
Cholmeley, Rev. C. Humphrey,

Dinton Rectory, Salisbury
Clark, Robert, Devizes
Clark, Major T., Trowbridge
Clarke, W. A.. Chippenham
Cleather, Rev. G. E., The Vicarage,

Cherrington, Devizes

Clifford, Hon. and Rt. Rev. Bishop,

Bishop's House, Clifton, Bristol
Colborne, Miss, Venetian House,

Clevedon
Colfox, Thomas, Rax, Bridport
Colston, C. E. H. A., Roundway Park,

Devizes
Colwell, J., Devizes
Coward, Richard, Roundway, Devizes
Cowley, the Rt. Hon. Earl, K.G.,

Draycot Park, Chippenham
Crawhall, Rev. S. J., Stratton St.

Margaret, Swindon
Crowdy, Rev. Anthony, Bankton,

Crawley Down, Crawley
Cunnington, H., Devizes
Cunnington William, 11, Gauden

Road, Clapham, London, S.W.
Cunnington, W., jun., 11, Gauden

Road, Clapham, London, S.W.
Curtis, C. W., Everley, Marlborough

Daniell, Rev. J. J., Langley Burrell,
Chippenham

Dear, George, Codford St. Peter, Bath

Dicks, W. B., The Limes, Trowbridge

Dixon, S. B., Pewsey

Dodd, Samuel, 27, Kentish Town
Road, London, N.W.

Dowding, Rev. W., Idmiston, Salis-
bury

Duckett, Sir George, Bart., Newing-
ton House, Wallingford

Eddrup, Rev. Prebendary E. P.,
Bremhill, Calne

Edgell, Rev. E. B., Bromham, Chip-
penham

Edmonds, R. S., Swindon

Edwards, Job, Amesbury

Errington, Most Rev. Archbishop,
Prior Park, Bath

Estcourt, G. T. J. Sotheron, M.P.,
Estcourt, Tetbury

Estcourt, Rev. W. J. B., Long
Newnton, Tetbury [botts

Everett, Rev. E., Manningford Ab-

Ewart, Miss, 3, Morpeth Terrace,
Victoria Street, London, S.W.

Ewart, Miss M., Broadleas, Devizes

Eyres, Edwin, Lacock, Chippenham

LIST OF MEMBERS.

V

Eyre, G. E., The Warrens, Brani-
shaw, Lyndhurst
• Eyre, G. E. Briscoe, 59, Lowudes
"Square, Loudon, S.W.

I Fisher, A. B., Court Hill, Potterne
I Fisher, Major C. Hawkins, The
Castle, Stroud
Flower, T. B., 9, Beaufort Buildings
West, Bath
J Forrester, William, Malmeshury
Fuleher, G. F., M.D., Burbage,

Marlborough
Fuller, G. P., Neston Park, Corsham

j Gabriel, C. W., Yale Lodge, Weston,
Bath

Goddard, Ambrose L., Swindon
Goddard, Rev. E. H., Hilmarton,
Calne

I Goddard, Rev. F., Hilmarton, Calne
Goddard, H. Nelson, Clyffe Pypard
Manor, Wootton Bassett
I Godwin, J. G., 76, Warwick Street,
I London, S.W.

| Goldney, F. H., Rowden Hill, Chip-
i penham

Goldney, Sir Gabriel, Bart., M.P.,
Beechfield, Chippenham

Gooch, Sir Daniel, Bart., M.P.,
Clewer Park, Windsor

Gore, Arthur, Melksham

Griffith, C. Darby, Padworth House,
j Reading

Grindle, Rev. H. A. L., Devizes

Grose, Samuel, M.D., Melksham
I Grove, Miss Chafyn, Zeals House,
j Bath

i Guise, Sir W., Bart., Elmore Court,
Gloucester

j Haden, Joseph P., Hill View, Trow-
bridge

I Hadow, Rev. G. R., Calstone Rectory,
Calne

j Halcomb, John, Chievely, Newbury

Hall, Capt. Marshall, New University
Club, St. James Street, London,S.W.

Hancock, H. G. B. B., Standen, Chute
Standen, Andover

Harris, Rev. H., Winterbourne Bas-
set, Swindon

Hart, C. F., Devizes

Hartley, Rev. Alfred Octavius,
Steeple Ashton, Trowbridge

Hawkins, Rev. C. F., East Grafton,
Marlborough

Hawkins, F. G., Hordley House,
Ramsgate

Haynes, Richard, 4, Maze Hill, St.
Leonards-on-Sea

Hay ward, Rev. S. C, Irvinestown,
Fermanagh, Ireland

Haywood, T. B., Woodhatch Lodge,
Reigate

Heard, _ Rev. T. J., The Rectory,
Sherrington, Codford, Bath

Henley, E. R., Calne

Heytesbury, The Right Hon. Lord,
Heytesbury

Highman, Frank, Salisbury

Highmore, Dr. N. J., Bradford-on-
Avon

Hillier, W., Tinhead, Westbury
Hitchcock, Dr. C, Fiddington,

Market Lavington
Hitchcock, C. K., M.D., M.A., Kings-
down House, Box
Hobhouse, Sir C. P., Bart., Monkton

Farley, Bradford-on-Avon
Hodgson, Rev. J. D., The Rectory,

Collingbourne Ducis, Marlborough
Hony, Rev. C. W., Bishops Cannings
Horsell, W. B. C, The Marsh,

Wootton Bassett
Hughes, Rev. J. H., 57, Euston

Square, London, N.W.
Hulbert, H. V., Great Cheverell
Hulse, Sir Edward, Bart., Breamore,

Hants

Humphries, A. R., Fernbank,Wootton
Bassett

Hussey, Mrs.H., The Close, Salisbury
Hutchings, Rev. Canon R. S., M.A.,

Alderbury, Salisbury
Huyshe, Wentworth, 6, Pelbam

Place, Brompton, Loudon, S.W.

Inman, Rev. E., Gillingham Reotory

vi LIST OF

Jackson, Joseph, Devizes

James, Hugh, 3, Stansted Villa,

Bnglesham Road, Balhain. London,

S.W.

Jennings, J. S. C, Abbey House,
Malmesbury

Jones, H. P., Portway House, War-
minster

Jones, Rev. Canon W. H., Bradford-

on-Avon
Jones, W. S., Malmesbury

Kemble, Mrs., Cowbridge House,

Malmesbury
Kenim, Thomas, Avebury
Kemm, W. C, Amesbury
Kenrick, Mrs., Seend Cottage, Seend,

Melksham
King, Rev. "Bryan, Avebury
Kingdon, The Right Rev. Bishop,

Fredericton
Kingsbury, Rev. T. L., Kingston

Deverill, Warminster
Kinneir, H., Redville, Swindon
Kinneir, R., M.D., Sherborne
Knight, Rev. J., Heytesbury, Bath

Lambert, Rev. R. U., Christchurch
Vicarage, Bradford-on-Avon

Lane, F. R., Honeystreet, Marl-
borough

Leach, R. V., Devizes Castle

Lewis, Harold, B.A., Herald Office,
Bath

Liardet, John E., Broomfield House,
Deptford

Linton, Rev. G., The Vicarage, Cor-
sham

Littlewood, Rev. S.,22, The Waldrons,
Croydon

Lloyd, Rev. John A., Broad Hinton

Vicarage, Swindon
Locke, F. A. S., Rowdeford, Devizes
Long, W. H., M.P., Rood Ashton,

Trowbridge
Long, Walter J., Preshaw House,

Bishops Waltham, Hants
Long, William, West Hay, Wrington,

Somerset

MEMBERS.

Ludlow, C. H., Baycliffe, Stoke Bis-

hop, Bristol
Lukis, Rev. W. C, Wath Rectory,

Ripon

Mackay, Alex., Trowbridge
Mackay, James, Trowbridge
Mackay, William, Trowbridge
Maclean, J. C, M.D., Swindon
Magrath, Col., Murhill, Bradford-on-
Avon

Malet, Sir A., Bart., K.C.B., 19,
Queensbury Road, London, S.W.

Manders, Neville, Marlborough

Mann, William J., Trowbridge

Marlborough College Nat. Hist.
Society, the President of

Maskelyne, E. Story, Hatt House,
Box, Wilts

Maskelyne, N. Story, F.R.S., M.P.,
112, Gloucester Terrace, Hyde
Park Gardens, London, W.

Master, Rev. G. S., West Dean,
Salisbury

Matcham, William E., New House,

Salisbury

Mayo, John H., India Office, London
McNiven, Rev. CM., Perrysfield,

Godstone, Surrey
Meade, Rev. de Courcy, Tockenham

Rectory, Swindon.
Meade, Rev. the Hon. S., Wylye, Bath
Medlicott, H. E., Sandfield, Potterne
Meek, A., Hillworth House, Devizes
Meek, A. Grant, The Ark, Devizes
Merriman, E. B., Marlborough
Merriman, R. W., Marlborough
Merriman, S., Glenthorne, Putney

Park Avenue, London, S.W.
Merriman, S. B., Philip Lane, Tot-
tenham, Middlesex
Methuen, Right Hon. Lord, Corsham
Court

Miles, Col. C. W., M.P., Burton Hill,

Malmesbury
Miles, J., Wexcombe, Great Bedwyn,

Marlborough
Mitchell, Arthur C, The Ridge,

Corsham

Morrice, Rev. Canon W. D., St.

Thomas's Vicarage, Salisbury
Morgan, W. F., Warminster

LIST OF MEMBERS.

Vll

Hffullings, Richard B., Devizes
Bffusselwhite, W., High Street, Marl-
borough

Nelson, Eight Hon. Earl, Trafalgar,

Salisbury
Nelson, Lady, Trafalgar, Salisbury
Nightingale, J. E., Wilton
Nornianton, the Right Hon. the Earl

of, 7, Prince's Garden, Prince's

Gate, London, S.W.
Nott, William, Devizes
Noyes, George, 11, Bassett Road,

Notting Hill, London, W.

Olivier, Rev. Canon Dacres, Wilton,
Salisbury

Olivier, Rev. H. A., Poulshot,
Devizes

Ottley, Rev. G. L., Luckington
Rectory, Chippenham

Palmer, George LI., Trowbridge
Parfitt, Rt. Rev. Dr., Midford House,

Midford, Bath
Parsons, W. F., Hunt's Mill, Wootton

Paul, A. H., The Close, Tetbury
Peacock, Rev. E., Rockfield House,

near Frome
Pearman, W. J., Devizes
Pembroke and Montgomery, the Rt.

Hon. Earl, Wilton House, Salisbury
Penruddocke, Rev. J. H., South

Newton Yicarage, Wilton
Perry Keene, Col. T., Minety House,

Malmesbury

Philipps, Rev. Canon Sir J. E., Bart.,

Warminster
Phillips, Jacob, Chippenham
Pinniger, Henry W., Westbury
Pinniger, T. L., Honeystreet, Marl-
borough

Piper, J. H., North Wilis Herald,
Swindon.

Pitt, W. J., Cowbridge, Malmesbury
Plenderleath, Rev. W. C, Cherhill

Rectory, Calne
Pouting, C. E., Lockeridge Cottage,

Overton, Marlborough
Poore, Major R., OkULodge, Newton

Toney, Salisbury
Porter, W. E. E., Frankleigh House,

Bradford-on-Avon
Powell, Mrs. M. E. Vere Booth,

Hurdcott House, Salisbury
Preston, Rev. T. A., Marlborough

College

Price, R. E., Broomfield Hall, Bridg-
water

Proctor, W., Elmhurst, Higher Erith

Road, Torquay
Prower, John Elton, Sissells, Purton

Radcliffe, C. H., Salisbury

Radcliffe, P. Delme, Newnton
Vicarage, Marlborough

Randell, J. A., Devizes

Ravenhill, W. W., 5, Fig Tree Court,
Temple, London, E.C.

Read, C. J., St. Thomas's Square,
Salisbury j

Rendell, W., Devizes

Richardson, H., Marlborough College

Richmond, George, R.A., Potterne

Rigden, R. H., Salisbury

Robbins, Mills, Bournemouth

Rodway, E. B., Adcroft House, Trow-
bridge

Rogers, Walter Lacy, Rainscombe,

Marlborough
Rolls, John Allan, M.P., The Hendro,

Monmouth
Humming, Thomas, Red House,

Amesbury
Rutter, J. F.. Mere, Bath
Butter, John K., Mere, Bath

Vlll LIST OP MEMBERS.

Sadler, S. C, Purton Court, Swindon
Sainsbury, Capt. 0. H. S., Bathford,
Bath

Salisbury, the Right Rev. The Lord

Bishop o£, The Palace, Salisbury
Saunders, T. Bush,Bradford-on-Avon
Schomberg, Arthur, Seend, Melksham
Seymour, A., Knoyle House, Hindon
Seymour, Rev. C. F., Winchfield

Rectory, Hants
Shum. F., Belcombe Brook, Bradford -
on-Avon

Shum, F. E., 3, Union Street, Bath
Shopland, James R., Purton, Swindon
Simpson, George, Devizes
Skrine, H. D., Claverton Manor, Bath
Sladen, Rev. E. H. M., The Gore,

Bournemouth
Sloper, Edwin, Taunton
Sloper, G. E., Devizes
Sloper, S. W., Devizes
Smith, Mrs., Old Park, Devizes
Smith, Rev. A. C, Yatesbury, Calne
Smith, J. A., Market Place, Devizes
Soames, Rev. C, Mildenhall, Marl-
borough

Southby, Dr. A., Bulford, Amesbury
Spicer, J. W. G., Spye Park, Chip-
penham

Stancomb, J. Perkins, The Prospect,
Trowbridge [terne
Stancomb, W., Blount's Court, Pot-
Staples, T. H., Belmont, Salisbury
Stevens, Joseph, Dorset Villa, Oxford
Road, Reading [penham
Stokes, D. J., Rowden Hill, Chip-
Stokes, Robert, Crane Lodge, Salisbury
Stratton, Alfred, Rushall
Stratton, William, Kingston Deverill,

Warminster
Strong, Rev. A., St. Paul's Rectory,

Chippenham
Sturton, Rev. J., Woodborough Rec-
tory, Marlborough
Swayne, H. J. F., The Island, Wilton

Tadman, E. T., 11, St. James's
Terrace, Regent's Park, London

Tait, E. S., 54, Highbury Park,
London, N.

Talbot, C. H., Lacock Abbey, Chip-
penham

Tanner, R. P., Ogbourne Maizey,
Marlborough

Taylor, G. C, M.D., Lovemead House,

Trowbridge
Taylor, S. W., Erlestoke Park,

Devizes

Thynne, Rev.A.B., Seend, Melksham
Toppin, Rev. G. Pilgrim, Broad Town

Vicarage, Wootton Bassett
Tordiffe, Rev. Stafford, Devizes
Tucker, Silas, Spencer House, Lark-
hall Rise, Clapham, London, S.W.
Tucker, Rev. G. Windsor, Burton Hill,
Malmesbury

Veysey, Rev. J., Purton, Swindon

Wad worth, H. A., Devizes
Wakeman, Herbert J., Warminster
Walker, Rev. R. Z., Boyton Rectory,

Bath [Newbury
Ward, Col. M. F., Greenham,
Warre, Rev. Canon F., Vicarage,

Melksham
Waylen, G. S. A., Devizes
Waylen, R. F., Devizes
Wayte, Rev. W., 6, Onslow Square,

London, S.W.
Weaver, Henry, Devizes
Weller, Mrs. T., 22, Tamworth Road,

Croydon, Surrey
Were, Rev. E. A., North Bradley

Vicarage, Trowbridge
Whinfield, Mrs. M. A., Woodleigh,

Bradf ord-on- Avon
Willis, F. M. The Cedars, Trowbridge
Wilson, J., M.A., Chippenham
Winterscale, Major J. F. M., Buck-

leigh, Westward Ho
Wyld, Rev. C. N., St. Martin's

Rectory, Salisbury
Wyld, Rev. Edwin G., Mere, Wilts
Wyndham, C. H.,Wans, Chippenham

Yockney, A., Pockeridge, Corsham

Zillwood, F. W., Salisbury

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1

IN COURSE OF PUBLICATION.

MAP OF A HUNDRED SQUARE
MILES ROUND ABURT :

With a Key to the British and Roman Antiquities
occurring there.

BY THE REV. A. C. SMITH,

Sector of Yatesbury, and Hon. Secretary of the Wiltshire Archceologic al
and Natural History Society.

THIS work, the materials of which have been accumulating for twenty-five
years, is the result of innumerable rides and rambles over the Downs of
North Wilts ; and deals with one of the most important archaeological Districts
in Europe. It will be published and issued to subscribers by the Marlborough
College Natural History Society, and it will consist of two parts : —

First. — The Great Map — 78 inches by 48 inches, on the scale of 6 linear
inches, or 36 square inches, to the mile ; it comprises 100 square miles round
Abury, and includes the great plateau of the Downs of North Wilts, extending
from Oliver's Camp, on Eoundway Hill, on the west, to Mildenhall on the east ;
and from Broad Hinton on the north, to the Pewsey Vale on the south. The
district thus mapped measures 13 miles from west to east, and 8 miles from north
to south. Every square mile, marked off with faint lines, lettered with a capital
letter and numbered, will show the Barrows, Camps, Roads, Dykes, Enclosures,
Cromlechs, Circles, and other British and Eoman Stone- and Earth-works of that
district ; every such relic, being lettered with a small letter in its own square, is
readily found and easily referred to. The Map will be printed in six colours
viz., the Antiquities in red, the Roads in brown, the Lanes and Down Tracks in
green, the Sarsen Stones in yellow, and the Streams and Ponds in blue.

Second. — The Key to the Great Map, — which is by far the most important
part of the work and will form a general " Guide to the British and Roman An-
tiquities of North Wilts," — will be a volume of large quarto size, and will contain
the whole of the large Map in fifteen sections, measuring 18 inches by 12, and
four supplementary sections, each measuring 6 inches by 12. The Letterpress
will contain some account of each of the Antiquities, with references to and
extracts from the best authorities, as well as figures of various Urns and other
objects found in the Barrows, views of the Cromlechs, plans of the Camps, &c.
An Index Map, on the scale of 1 inch to the mile, coloured, numbered, lettered,
and divided like the Great Map, will accompany the volume ; and the whole will
be a general account of the Antiquities of North Wilts, inasmuch as the district
thus delineated embraces nearly all the remains of earliest times which exist in
the northern portion of the County.

Subscribers' names and addresses (a list of which will be published with the
Index) will be received by the Rev. T. A. Pbeston, The Green, Marlborough,
The cost of the Large Map and Key complete will be, 1<> Subscribers, One Guinea.
Any copies which remain (after all the Subscribers have been served) will be
offered to the public at an advanced price, vi/,., for the sheets of the Great Map
only, 10s. ; for the Key only, 206'. ; or, for the whole) 28$.

AGENTS

FOR THE SALE OP THE

WILTSHffiE MAGAZINE.

Bath R. E. Peach, Bridge Street.

Bristol , James Fawn & Son., 18, Queen's Road.

„ C. T. Jefferies & Sons, Redcliffe Street.

Calne A. Heath & Son, Market Place.

Chippenham R. F. Houlston, High Street.

Cirencester Keyworth & Everard, Stamp Office.

Devizes H. F. Bull, St. John Street.

Marlborough E. & R. A. Lucy, Post Office.

Melhsham ... Cochrane & Maggs, Bank Street.

Oxford *. Jas. Parker & Co., Broad St.

Salisbury Brown & Co., Canal.

Warminster B. "W. Coates, Market Place.

H« F. BULL, PEINTER, DEVIZES.

V'