Full text of "Dursley and its neighbourhood; being historical memorials of Dursley, Beverston, Cam, and Uley"

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Blunt, (John Henry). Dursley,

oucestcrshire) and its neighbourhood;

i-ding, (W. L.). Story of Bristol: 2

i., both illustrated, post, 8vo., cloth,

1877 and 1906.

CHAPTERS

PAROCHIAL HISTORY.

DUB8LEY :
J. WHITMOBB, STEAM PBINTEB, STAMP OrFICB.

CHAPTERS OF PAROCHIAL HISTORY.

D U R S L E Y

AKTD

ITS 1ST El GUIBO U R EC O O 33 ;

BEING HISTORICAL MEMORIALS OF

DURSLEY, BEVERSTON, CAM,
AND ULEY.

JOHN HENRY BLUNT, M.A., F.S.A.,

Rector of Beverston,

AUTHOR OF "TBWKBSBUBY ABBEY AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS,"

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1877.

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PREFACE.

THERE are few parishes of which there is not something-
interesting to be recorded, and few of which the records are
satisfactorily dealt with in County histories. Of the four
parishes which are dealt with in this little volume, each how-
ever has a special interest of its own, one being the site of a
burial place belonging to the earliest times of our national
existence, and of a Roman Camp ; a second containing the
interesting remains of a Castle that was inhabited by a great
branch of the Berkeley family for several centuries ; and the
two others possessing parish books which illustrate, in a
remarkable manner, the parochial life of the district from the
time of Queen Elizabeth downward.

vi PREFACE.

The author felt it to he a duty, when he became Rector
of Beverston, to gather what information he could about the
history of his parish, and to place it upon record. A wish
was expressed by his friends that the memorials so gathered
should be put into print ; and a suggestion was added by the
publisher that it should be accompanied by notices of Dursley
and some of the adjoining parishes. Thus the volume grew
into its present form, and would have included several
other parishes but that the author has been obliged to take
up work which has occupied all his time, and has thus been
prevented from carrying his local enquiries further. He has
not been able, for the same reason, to lay before the reader
quite such full accounts even of these four parishes as he had
originally intended: but those who are interested in them
may be glad to possess a more detailed account of each than
has hitherto been in print, and antiquaries may find a fresh
illustration here and there of English country life in former
times.

The reader is indebted to Mr. Falconer Madan, Fellow of
Brasenose College, Oxford, for the description and panoramic
sketch of the view from Stinchcombe Hill. The author begs
also to express his obligation to Mr. Yizard, of Ferney Hill,

PREFACE. vii

Dursley, for the loan of valuable printed books and manu-
scripts ; and to Mr. "W. P. W. Phillimore, of Queen's College,
Oxford, for many manuscript notes that have much facilitated
his enquiries respecting Cam and Uley. The two views of
Beverston Castle are Heliotype copies of Photographs by
Mr. Keene, of Derby, the woodcut of the TJley Cairn is
copied by permission from the Archseologia [vol. xlii. p. 213.]
of the Royal Society of Antiquaries, and the plan of Uley
Bury is from an earlier volume [xix. page 161.] of the same
invaluable collection.

BEVERSTOX, JANUARY, 1877.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Dr/RSLEY 1

BEVERSTON 97

CAM 165

STINCHCOMBE HILL 204

ULEY 213

HEIGHTS ON THE COTSWOLDS 238

INDEX 239

ILLUSTRATIONS.

"View of Dursley from the Hill Frontispiece

Long Street and Town Hall, Dursley 16

Exterior of Dursley Church 64

Interior of Dursley Church 72

Great Tower of Beverston Castle 97

Plan of one of the Chapels in Beverston Castle . . 118

Barbican of Beverston Castle 140

Outline plan of View from Stinchcombe Hill . . . . 205

Entrance of Uley Tumulus 228

Plan of Interior of Uley Tumulus 230

Plan of Roman Camp of Uley Bury 233

DURSLEY.

The picturesque little town of Dursley nestles down -in a
Cotswold bottom which forms the end of a valley that opens
out northward on to the vale of Gloucester, fifteen miles
south of that City, just where the Severn begins to broaden
into an estuary, with the Forest of Dean on its further bank,
and beyond that the border hills across the Wye. All around
the town the hummocky Cotswolds have been tumbled up in
quaint mounds that look too large to be the work of pre-
historic Titans, and too small to be the work of geological
epochs ; while the town itself seems to lie at the bottom of a
creek whose waters were drained off into the Severn a few
thousand years ago. On the southern shore of this creek the
slopes are clothed with lovely hanging woods of beech, while
northward they are chiefly pasture lands, dotted here and
there on their sides with cottages and " break-neck " farms,
bearing clumps of trees on their summits, and marked by the
enduring footsteps of the Roman Legions.

The town has a railway all to itself, one of the shortest
lines in England, yet effectually connecting it with the life and
vigour and bustle of the busy world ; for it starts off, two
and a half miles away, from the Gloucester and Bristol branch
of the Midland line which runs through the Vale, and creep-
ing along the bottom runs till it can run no further because
of the ten or twelve miles of high land that lie between its
terminus and the vale of Malmesbury. Some generations ago

THE NAME OF DURSLEY.

this branch railway would have turned Dursley into a busy
manufacturing town after the modern pattern ; for there was
a time when it was famous for its cloth and blankets, and
when other towns came to it for woolcards wherewith to
turn tangled wool into fibres fit for the spinners and weavers.

But the manufacturing days of Dursley belonged to the
ages when spinners and weavers worked at home, when steam
engines had not been heard of, and when water power was
the only force in use to supplement the power of strong arms
and skilful hands: when manufactures did not bring
desolation to lovely landscapes, and when the Cotswolds were
a great pasture ground like the downs of Wiltshire. !Xow,
Stroudwater turns the mill wheels of many a large factory,
and scantly watered Dursley has subsided into a market for
agricultural produce gathered off the arable land into which
so many Cotswold pastures have been broken up, though hill
and vale still send good mutton to market, as well as many
a dairyful of " single " and " double Glos'ter." l

In the old English days of which it is the custom to speak
as "Anglo-Saxon," Dursley was known as "Dersilege" or
" Dureslega ; " and though no injustice is done to it when
the town is called scantly watered as regards manufacturing
power, yet its name is explained as being derived from "Dwr"
and "ley" or "lege," which are very old English for water
and pasture. If such be really its derivation Dursley gives
a happy illustration even in its name of the way in which
the Ancient Briton and the Saxon mingled together to form

1 There is an old proverb about the Cotswold grain of ancient days
on which Fuller discourses in his usual quaint style, " • It is long
coming as Cotswold Barley.' It is applied to such things as are slow
"but sure. The Corn in this cold Country on the "Woulds, exposed to
the winds, bleak and shelterless, is very backwards at the first ; but
afterwards overtakes the forwardest in the country, if not in the
Barn, in the Bushel, both for the quantity and goodness thereof."
[fuller's Worthies Glouc. 377]

THE NAME OF DUftSLEY. S

the great nation of mixed blood: for "ley" is undoubtedly
" Anglo-Saxon," and it is equally certain that our brethren
across the border would claim " Dwr " for " Welsh ." That
the town should derive its name from water is also probable
from the circumstance that it seems to have originally
gathered around the cluster of springs called the Broadwell.1
These springs, which rise vertically over a space about 15 feet
square on the south side of the Church, maintain a constant
head of pure water of that size and two feet deep, a life-giving
supply for a rising town, and which might well supply a
name to it also among primitive settlers on the land around.
The overflow of the Broadwell forms a brook called the Ewelme
from very ancient times, and this brook runs on to join the
Cam river, the united waters flowing into the Gloucester
and Berkeley Canal near Slimbridge. The Broadwell itself
seems once to have gone by the name of Ewelme, and this
was also once corrupted into K"ew Elme ; both which names
are familiar as those of a village near Wallingford where a
similar cluster of springs may be seen as a distinctive feature
of the place bubbling out of the hill on which the Church
and Hospital stand.2

1 There is a frequent charge of " xijd " in the early Church-
wardens accounts for "riding the Broadwell," that is ridding it of
rubbish. Later it runs " for cleansinge of ye broadwell."

2 In ancient deeds of the Hospital the Berkshire Ewelme is called
Aquelme, which seems to connect the syllable " Ew " with the
Norman " Eau." The spring or brook which bounds King's College,
Cambridge, on the west, and runs into the Cam is described in the
Statutes as "aqua vulgariter l'ee nuncupata." So E-ton is the town.
of water. Perhaps the second syllable may be explained by a
quotation from Chaucer,

" In world is none so clere of hewe
The water is ever fresh and new,
That whelmeth up with waves bright
The mountenance of two fingers height "
Ewell in Surrey is another village of springs.

[Quoted in Lye's Junius' Etymokgicon 1743]

B 2

4 THE OLD BERKELEYS OF DURSLEY.

As the Roman Legions bivouacked on the hills near Dursley
so some of them built villas in the valley, the remains of
one sucl* villa, at least, having been discovered a few years
ago under Stinchcombe Hill.1 But the earliest historical
notice \ve have' of the town is in connection with its ancient
Lords, the Berkeleys of Dursley, who had their home on
large estates here long before the Fitz Hardings had set their
feet in England. They were of the Royal blood of England,
Roger de Berkeley, Lord of Dursley immediately before the
Conquest, being a cousin (of what degree is not on record) of
Edward the Confessor. A large part of what is now the
great Manor of Berkeley had become Crown property on the
death of Earl Godwin and the exile of his son, Earl Sweyn : 2
but Roger de Berkeley possessed a manor at Dursley when
Doomsday Book was compiled, and thus seems to have
escaped spoliation from the hands of the Godwins as well as
confiscation at the Conquest. He also possessed lands at
Cobberley, Siston, and Doddington, but the ancient residence
of his family was Dursley, where they had built a Castle ;
which existed as such when Berkeley was a Nunnery, as it
was until it came into the hands of the Godwins first and
then of the Crown.

But the Conquest brought an accession of property to the
Lord of Dursley, for Doomsday records that he not only had
his old inheritance there, one hide (or 120 acres) of land, on
which 'his Castle stood, and three hides (or 360 acres more)
held on lease of the Crown, but that William I. granted to
him the whole of the hundred of Berkeley and Berkeley
Hernesse in fee farm at the yearly rent of £500. 17s. 2d.
which was a mere bagatelle, though representing £8,000 or

1 The site of it was on the StancomLe Estate, in the adjoining
parish of North Nihley, and is now grown over with trees. The curi-
osities dug up were sold in London.

8 See the account of Beverston, page 101.

THE OLD BERKELEYS OF DUESLEY. 5

£10,000 of our money, considering the large extent of
country comprehended in the grant.

This Roger de Berkeley, the earliest 'of the family known,
founded the Benedictine Priory of Stanley St. Leonard's, four
miles from his Castle at Dursley, hut on the property of his
hrother Ralph. Being wifeless and childless he retired to
this monastery in his latter years, and died there some time
after 1091. His brother Ralph had died before him, and the
estates of both went to William son of Ralph, and nephew
of the Lord of Dursley. William also became the founder
of a Monastery, that of Kingswood near Wotton under-Edge,
which was one of the earliest of the Cistercian Order in
England, being founded in 1139, eleven years after the
importation of that Order. Bishop Hooper, whose monument
stands near the Palace at Gloucester, was a Cistercian Monk,
and may, from his associations, have belonged to this Mon-
astery.

But although the English Lords of Dursley had got on
well with the Norman Sovereigns from the Conqueror to
Henry I., the death of the latter unsettled them, and event-
ually brought ruin on their estate. Henry's nephew,
Stephen, obtained possession of the crown, but all his
antecedents were foreign, his only association with England
being that he was a grandson of the Conqueror. Henry's
daughter, Matilda, the ancestress of all the Plantagenets,
was an Englishwoman born, and when she fought with
Stephen for her father's crown many Englishmen sided with
her. But a woman on the throne would have been an
intolerable novelty to others, and, notwithstanding their
sympathies, the Berkeleys, that is William the founder of
Kingswood and his son Roger, took the side of Stephen.
The father was taken prisoner at a time when the forces of
Matilda and her illegitimate brother, the great Earl of
Gloucester, were triumphant, and he died in prison. The son,

€ THE OLD BERKELEYS OF DURSLEY.

Roger, escaped for a time, but at the accession, in 1154, of
Matilda's son, Henry II. as the successor of Stephen, the
Lord of Dursley lost all his great estates, and they were
granted by the King to Robert Fitz Harding, the founder of
the family which afterwards took the name of Berkeley from
them.1

Thus for a short time Dursley Castle and Manor passed
into the hands of the Fitz Hardings. But eventually inter-
marriages were brought about between the sons and daughters
of the gainer and the loser. Roger de Berkeley's daughter,
Alice, was married to Robert Fitz Harding' s son Maurice,
and Robert de Berkeley, son of the former was married to
Helena Fitz Harding, daughter of the latter. These friendly
marriages are said to have been brought about by the young
King himself, and he made it a condition that Dursley Castle
should be restored to Roger de Berkeley and his successors,
a new Castle being built at Berkeley for the Fitz Hardings.

By this compromise, therefore, Dursley reverted to the
ancient English family which had so long held it, and it
afterwards descended from father to son in regular suc-
cession until the year 1382, when the last son of the line
died without children. Upon his death the Castle and Manor
passed to his sister Maud, who was married to Roger de
Cantelupe. From her, by several generations of daughters
it descended to a representative of the old Berkeleys who
was married to Thomas Wyke, and then for about a century
it passed by male heirs to Robert Wyke, who sold it in 1567.

The descendants of these old English Berkeleys of Dursley
down to Maud de Cantelupe are shewn by the pedigree on the
next page. The descent of the Wykes is also shewn, but
the connecting link between them and Maud de Cantelupe is
not certainly established.

1 See account of Beverston, page 102.

Descent of the BERKELEY* of DUBSLEY
and the WYKES.

ROGER DE BERKELEY [temp. Edw. Conf.]

William [founder of Kingswood Priory]

Roger = Ha wise [temp. Stephen]

Maurice = Alice
son of Robert
Fitz Harding
[Seep. 105.]

ARMS

Arg. a fess between
three martlets, sa.

Robert = Helena, dau. of

| Robert Fitz Harding

Roger =Hawise

Henry = Agnes

John = Sybil
I

Henry = Joan

—1287 |

"William
d. s. p.
1272—

John
d. s. p.

Henry=

John = Ha wise

Cicely =Nicholas Maud = Robert de Cantelupe
d. s. p. 1

izabeth=

Eliza

Richard Chedder

Thomas Wyke=

* —1474 I

JohnWyke=

« —14 . . I

Edmund Wyke=

* —151 . |

Nicholas Wyke=

* —1554

Wyke=

John Wyke
» —1550

ROBERT WYKE.

8 LAST OF THE FAMILY AND THE CASTLE.

By the time that the Castle and Manor were thus alienated
from their ancient possessors, the Wykes, their lineal repre-
sentatives, seem to have fallen into poverty. " I have divers
times, within twenty-six years past," writes Smyth the
historian of the Berkeleys, about 1620, "beheld Mr. Wikes
(the heire of this ancient lyne,) then not more old than
poore, in Chancery Lane and in Fleet Streete, London,
picking up the shreds of rags cast into the streets from
the sweepings of taylers' and seamsters' shopps, to get
thereby a farthing token for his sustenance : somewhat harsh
to be written by one, when myself, and others then in my
company, knowing his honourable descent, and seeing his
present condition, have given him sixpence or twelvepence
from amongst us, concealing ourselves and eke our know-
ledge of him: howbeit, conscious of his ancestors and
discent (and of the mount from whence hee was tumbled
down,) hee would never begg of any, for ought I could ever
see or learne." * Of the old castle of this ancient family
nothing now remains. Rudder says that in his time the ruins
of the foundations were still visible in a garden which formed
part of " Castle Fields" about a quarter of a mile north-
west of the town, these fields being on the right hand of the
road, immediately opposite the Rectory : and the inequalities
of the ground shew that the foundation walls still, probably,
remain there. Leland says that it was built of " Towfe
Stone," and that it had a moat around it, but that it had
fallen into decay, and when he visited the town, about
1530, it was clean taken down. It had, in fact, been taken
down by Edmund Wyke for the sake of the materials, which
he had removed to Dodington for the purpose of building the
Manor House there. Smyth wrote in the middle of the
seventeenth century that the ruins which still remained were
" fruitfull with Barley and Woode there growinge."

1 Quoted from Smyth's MS. Lives of the Berkeleys p. 92, in
Fosbrooke's Gloucest. i. 428.

MEDLZEVAL DTJRSLEY. 9

It may be doubted whether Dursley was ever a town of
its present size in mediaeval times ; and while it was thus
the residence of the old Berkeleys its feudal connection with
that family was probably the life of the place. But it is
spoken of in the reign of Edward I. [A.D. 1281] as one of the
five ancient boroughs of Gloucestershire, and was therefore a
place of some dignity though not of much size. It was
made a market town by a charter of Edward TV., granted
in the year 1471 at the petition of the Marquess Berkeley,
or at least no earlier charter is known.1 About the same
time the Church was being enlarged and the ecclesiastical
position of the town made independent of the monastery of
Gloucester, to which it had formerly belonged ; and this con-
junction of circumstances seems to indicate that Dursley was
undergoing some change which was raising the number of its
population and making it a place of more importance. Pro-
bably this was the time when Dursley began to take its share
in the revived and almost newly-created Cloth manufacture
for which England, especially in Gloucestershire and York-
shire, was afterwards to become so famous. Fifty or sixty
years later, when Leland collected materials for his Itinerary,
he calls it " a pretty clothing town," and the change in its
fortunes is indicated not long afterwards by the change in the
name of its leading man, Wyke the representative of the
old feudal interest giving way to Webb the representative of
the new manufacturing interest which was then beginning to
grow strong.

Mr. Webb's name appears in the Churchwarden's Register
as early as 1566, about which time a Robert Webb received
a patent from Queen Elizabeth privileging him to farm for

1 This is the date given by Bigland from Archdeacon Parsons'
MSS. But Leland says the town was " privileged at nine years since
with a Market." This grant by Henry VIII. may have been a
renewal of the old privilege. It was again renewed in 1612.

10 RISE OF THE CLOTH MANUFACTURE.

31 years the taxes on all woollen cloth that was sold in
Gloucester and Bristol. But the "Webbs were already an old
clothing family, for according to Fuller the founder of their
family was a Flemish cloth maker invited over to England by
Edward III. and dubbed by the King with an English name
appropriate to his calling. One of the family seems to have
built a Mansion in Dursley so early as the reign of Henry
VIII., an old house bearing outside the date 1520, and on
a beam within the Cypher E. W. and date 1539. Descend-
ants of these elder "Webbs were still clothiers at Nails worth
so lately as the beginning of this century, the family being
thus engaged in the trade for nearly 500 years.

But the mention of Fuller's name is a reminder that he
put into his Church History of Britain a charmingly quaint
account of the re-establishment of this staple industry in
England which will amuse the reader and perhaps give some
information not very generally possessed on the subject.

" The King and state " says Fuller " began now to grow sensible
of the great gain the Netherlands got by our English wool ; in
memory whereof the duke of Burgundy, not long after, instituted
the Order of the Golden Fleece ; wherein, indeed, the fleece was ours,
the golden theirs, — so vast their emolument by the trade of clothing.
Our King therefore resolved, if possible, to reduce the trade to his own
country, who as yet were ignorant of that art, as knowing no more
what to do with their wool than the sheep that wear it, as to any
artificial and curious drapery ; their best clothes then being no better
than friezes, such their coarseness for want of skill in their making.
But soon after followed a great alteration, and we shall enlarge
ourselves in the manner thereof.

The intercourse now being great betwixt the English and the
Netherlands, (increased of late, since king Edward married the
daughter of the earl of Hainault,) unsuspected emissaries were em-
ployed by our king into those countries, who wrought themselves
into familiarity with such Dutchmen as were absolute masters of their
trade, but not masters of themselves, as either journeymen or
apprentices. These bemoaned the slavishness of these poor servants,
whom their masters used rather like Heathens than Christians, yea,

RISE OF THE CLOTH MANUFACTURE. 11

rather like horses than men ! Early up and late in bed, and all day
hard work and harder fare, (a few herrings and mouldy cheese,) and
all to enrich the churls their masters without any profit unto
themselves.

But 0 how happy should they he if they would but come over into
England, bringing their mystery with them, which would provide
their welcome in all places ! Here they should feed on fat beef and
mutton, till nothing but their fulness should stint their stomachs : yea,
they should feed on the labours of their own hands, enjoying a
proportionable profit of their pains to themselves ; their beds should
be good, and their bed-fellows better, seeing the richest yeomen in
England would not disdain to marry their daughters unto them ; and
such the English beauties, that the most envious foreigners could not
but commend them.

Liberty is a lesson quickly conned by heart ; men having a principle
within themselves to prompt them, in case they forget it. Persuaded
with the premisses, many Dutch servants leave their masters and
make over for England. Their departure thence (being picked here
and there) made no sensible vacuity; but their meeting here all
together amounted to a considerable fulness. With themselves,
they brought over their trade and their tools ; namely, such which
could not as yet be so conveniently made in England.

Happy the yeoman's house into which one of these Dutchmen did
enter, bringing industry and wealth along with them. Such who came
in strangers within their doors, soon after went out bridegrooms, and
returned son-in laws, having married the daughters of their landlords
•who first entertained them. Yea, those yeomen in whose houses they
harboured soon proceeded gentlemen, gaining great estates to them-
selves, arms l and worship to their estates.

The king having gotten this treasury of foreigners, thought not fit
to continue them all in one place, lest on discontent they might
embrace a general resolution to return ; but bestowed them through
all the parts of the land, that clothing thereby might be the better
dispersed. Here I say nothing of the colony of old Dutch, who
frighted out of their own country with an inundation, about the reign
of king Henry I. possibly before that nation had attained the cunning
of cloth-making, were seated only in Pembrokeshire. This new
generation of Dutch was now sprinkled everywhere, so that England

1 This assumption of arms by the old clothing families of Dursley, Cam, and
TJley is very conspicuous on their monuments.

12 RISE OF THE CLOTH MANUFACTURE.

(in relation, I mean, to her own counties) may bespeak these inmates
in the language of the Poet : — Qua regio in terris vcstri non plena
{aborts ? Though generally, where left to their own choice, they
preferred a maritime habitation.

EAST. — 1. Norfolk, Norwich Fustians; 2. Suffolk, Sudbury Baize;
3. Essex, Colchester Sayes and Serges; 4. Kent, Kentish Broad
Cloths.

WEST. — .1. Devonshire, Kerseys ; 2. Gloucestershire, Cloth ;
3. Worcestershire, Cloth ; 4. Wales, Welsh Friezes.

NORTH. — 1. Westmoreland, Kendal Cloth; 2. Lancashire, Man-
chester Cotton ; 3. Yorkshire, Halifax Cloths.

SOUTH. — 1. Somersetshire, Taunton Serges ; 2. Hampshire, Cloth;
3. Berkshire, Cloth; 4. Sussex, Cloth.

I am informed that a prime Dutch cloth-maker in Gloucestershire
had the surname of WEB given him by king Edward there ; a family
still famous for their manufacture. Observe we here, that Mid-
England, — Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, and Cambridge, having
most of wool, have least of clothing therein.

Here the Dutchmen found fullers' earth, a precious treasure ; whereof
England hath, if not more, better than all Christendom besides : a
great commodity of the quorum to the making of good cloth, so that
nature may seem to point out our land for the staple of drapery, if the
idleness of her inhabitants be not the only hinderance thereof.
This fullers' earth is clean contrary to our Jesuits, who are needless
drugs, yet still staying here, though daily commanded to depart ;
whilst fullers' earth, a precious ware, is daily scoured hence, though
by law forbidden to be transported.

And now was the English wool improved to the highest profit,
passing through so many hands, every one having a fleece of the
fleece, — sorters, combers, carders, spinsters, weavers, fullers, dyers,
pressers, packers : and these manufactures have been heightened to
a higher perfection since the cruelty of the Duke de Alva drove over
more Dutch into England. But enough of this subject : which let
none condemn for a deviation from Church History : First. Because
it would not grieve one to go a little out of the way, if the way be
good, as this disgression is, for the credit and profit of our country.
Secondly. It reductively belongeth to the Church History, seeing
many poor people, both young and old, formerly charging the parishes,
(as appeared by the account of the church-officers,) were hereby
enabled to maintain themselves." [Fuller's Church Hut. vol. i. pp. 418-
420. ed. 1837.]

DURSLEY "CUTENESS." 13

The connection of Dursley with spinning and weaving is
indicated not only by the name of Webb. In the Parish
Eegister there are frequent entries in which the person is
designated as Clothier, Shearman, Millman, "Weaver, Broad-
weaver, Silkweaver, Matmaker, Drawer, Scribbler, and
Card-maker.1 Mr. Webb is also sometimes called " alias
Woolworth," and the name of " Woolwright" occurs early in
the register of the neighbouring parish of Cam.

But it is to be feared that there is also another trace of the
old Dursley manufacture in a certain proverb of wide accep-
tance, " You are a man of Dursley." Fuller says, " It is taken
for one that breaks his word and faileth in performance of his
promises, parallel to 'Fides Grreca,' or 'Fides Punica.' "
De Foe, in his " Tour through Great Britain," says that
Dursley is " a good clothing and market-town governed by a
bailiff and four constables, and has been formerly noted for
sharp, over-reaching people ; from whence arose a proverbial
saying of a tricking man, ' He is a man of Dursley.' " There
must have been something damaging to reputations in the
cloth trade, for has not the world been accustomed to use the
same sort of language of a " Yorkshireman ? " But then
there really were complaints to Parliament in early days
[A.D. 1399.] that Gloucestershire — not to say Dursley-men —

1 " Scribbling " is the process by which the dressed wool is tortured
by scrubbing brushes of brass into the form of a continuous sheet or
"lap." The process of "carding" is of a similar kind, but it con-
verts the "lap" into small rolls about half an inch in diameter,
which are afterwards twisted by the " slubbing-billy " and the
" spinning-mule " into yarn fit for spinning.

The " cards " which were formerly and are still made in Dursley are
now turned out in a state of great perfection by machinery. They may
be described as scrubbing brushes in which the bristles are represented
by wire and the wooden backs by thick leather. After having served
their time with the spinners they are very useful to Church restorers
for scrubbing off churchwardens' whitewash.

14 GLOUCESTERSHIRE SHODDY.

" tacked and folded together " their lengths of cloth in such
a manner, that though they looked sound enough on the
outside of the roll they were bad in colour and narrow in
width, and wrought of diverse wool (was it ' shoddy ' ?) in
the part within. And when this was cured by one Act of
Parliament another was required enacting that cloths were
not to be overstrained to give them a false appearance of
length and breadth,1 not to have starch or chalk put in to
increase whiteness or weight, nor to be mixed with inferior
wools such as flocks and pell wool.

Could it have been Dursley that the Bishop of the Diocese —
that very plain-spoken preacher old Latimer — had in his mind
when he preached as follows about certain loud " professors of
the Gospel ? " "I hear say " he preached " there is a certain
cunning come up in the mixing of wares. How say you :
* were it not a wonder to hear that the cloth- workers should
become 'poticaries ? ' Yea and 1 hear say in such a place,
whereas they have professed the Gospel and the word of God
most earnestly of a long time, ' See now busy the devil is to
slander the word of God.' Thus the poor Gospel goeth to
wrack. ... If his cloth be seventeen yards long he will set
him on the rack and stretch him out with ropes, and rack
him till the sinews shrink again while he hath brought him
to eighteen yards. When they hath brought him to that
perfection they have a pretty feat to thick him again. He
makes me a powder for it, and plays the 'poticary : they call
it flock powder — they were wont to make beds of flocks, and
it was a good bed too, now they have turned the flocks to
powder, and play the false thieves with it. Oh ! wicked

1 In the old days when Shrewsbury still had a market hall for
Welsh flannels there was an old buyer who won for himself the name
of "Tarn o' th' broad thumb," for the dexterity with which he added
the width of his thumb, liberally taken, to every yard of cloth as
he measured it before paying the Welshmen.

PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY OF DURSLEY. 15

devil, what can he not invent to blaspheme God's word!
Woe worth that these flocks should slander the word of God !
As he said to the Jews, 'thy wine is mingled with water,' so
might he have said to us of this land, ' thy cloth is mingled
with flock powder.' "

But those were old times. Bishop Latimer preached
against racking cloth and filling it up with " devil's dust,"
just fifteen years before Mr. Thomas Thackham began to keep
the Churchwarden's book which has told us so much of the
history of Dursley in the following pages. In the next
century an equally plain spoken old Churchman who has been
previously quoted so largely seemed to think better of
Dursley spinners. " Dursley is a market and clothing town
in this county," says Fuller, " the inhabitants whereof will
endeavour to confute and disprove this proverb ; to make it
false now, whatever it was at the first original thereof.
Besides, the worst places, in the midst of epidemical vicious-
ness, have afforded some exception from the wicked rule
therein. " The Cretians are always lyars," was the observa-
tion of a Poet, and application of the Apostle ; yet we find
some Cretians whom the Holy Spirit alloweth for ' devout
men.' Thus sure I am, there was a man of Duresley, who was a
man of men, Edward Fox by name, a right godly and gracious
Prelate, of whom hereafter. However the men of Duresley
have no cause to be offended with my inserting this proverb ;
which if false, let them be angry with the Author, the first
man that made it; if true, let them be angry with the
Subject, even themselves who deserve it." And let us hope
that the men of Dursley took the old Church Historian's
advice a long while ago, and that the proverb " You are a
man of Dursley " lost its sting many generations gone by.

But Proverbial Philosophy has dealt rather harshly with
the town of Dursley. A century or so ago it was known to
its enemies as " Drunken Dursley," a name which there is

16 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY OF DURSLEY.

no reason to think that it ever deserved, and which it
evidently owes to the terribly tempting trick of alliteration.
Another hard reflection on the character of Dursley folk took
the form of rhyme : —

" Dursley baboons
Who 'yet their pap a'thout any spoons."

Now " pap " was the " hasty-pudding " or " parritch "
which formed the evening meal of Gloucestershire labourers,
and doubtless of Gloucestershire artizans also, before the
invention of tea and potatoes. They concocted it of wheat
flour, though in hard times of barley-meal and butter-milk ;
and well-to-do-people used to add a little treacle to make it
more tastey. In Lancashire the forefathers of the manu-
facturers who now " eat off1 silver plate " were accustomed to
eat a similar porridge of oatmeal, and they ate it out of great
wooden trenchers. The master and his apprentices sat to-
gether around a table, in the centre of which was placed the
bowl of " pap," and each with his wooden spoon took his dip
of the savoury supper till the porringer was empty. No
doubt Dursley manufacturers once did the same : but the
statement that they fed like monkeys, and that they dispensed
with the use of spoons, need hardly be taken as historical.
Perhaps such allegations were malicious slanders of some
envious rivals the name of whose town history has charitably
left unrecorded.

That such was the case is a conjecture confirmed by the
imputations cast upon the cookery of Dursley, and especially
of its porridge, by a Yorkshireman named John Jackson,
who wrote " A Diary of a Journey to Glastonbury Thorn,"
from "Woodkirk in his own county, a journey made in the
Autumn of the year 1755. In this Diary, which has been
recently printed in the " Reliquary," he relates that on his
return home he spent the night of January 4th, 1756, in
Dursley, and thus spitefully he records his experiences of the
town: —

PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY OF DURSLEY. 17

" At morn I left Philip Jones [at Berkeley] and went and
took leave of my very good friend Mr. William Jenkins, and
both found and left him sewing Sail Cloth, and I tarry'd a
good while and we discoursed very freely, and I was very
civilly entertained and had some copper coin given at my
coming away. And so I set off for Dursley, and lodged at
Robert Goodwins, ye Sign of the White-Hart in Dursley,
and in Dursley is a neat beautiful Market House, and in this
town I saw 2 swine lay killed and burnt as black as a
toad, and one lay on a table and ye other ith' mucky miiy
way, ye ugliest object I thought yt ever my eyes beheld,
and that and more of their cookery is more proper for dogs
and swine than men. Their toad-back bacon l and Cabbage-
kettle stinking porrage like Traynoyl or like the stink of
ye Hog Sty." Mr. Jackson then quotes, with other verses,
these : —

" God sends good meat, the Deel sends Cooks

To spile and marr the same ;
With sulky, saucy, simpering looks,

Maid, Mrs., and Mad Dame."

Woodkirk is now better known as Ardsley West, and being
near Wakefield in the West Riding has a good deal to do
with coal and woollen cloth. But it may be safely asserted
that no Dursley clothier ever wrote of it, or of its Maids and
Madams, in such uncomplimentary terms as John Jackson
did of his Gloucestershire entertainers.

1 " Toad-back-bacon " is a term known in Gloucestershire for bacon
that has been smoked in the chimney until it is black on the outside,
and hard within. North country people seldom smoke their hams or
bacon, and the Yorkshireman's palate was evidently not yet trained
to the more luxurious bacon-curing habits of the West of England.
The " Cabbage-kettle indicates a time when Cabbages were the staple
vegetable of a poor man's household, the " potatoe-pot " being a
novelty introduced about the end of the last century.

18 THE CORPORATION OF DURSLEY.

When this visit was paid to the town its clothing trade
was in full vigour. Rudder writes of it, in the middle of
the last centuiy, as having enriched many of its inhabitants,
and as being still, with card-making, their chief support.
Rudge, writing about 1803, says that it was at that time
carried on by means of the best machinery by John and
Edward "Wellington, "William Phelps, and Mr. Tippets. In
the present day not a yard of cloth, and not much card,
owes its origin to Dursley manufacture : but some of the old
Dursley clothing families have become large landowners and
county people, and have doubtless become so through per-
severing adherence in prosperous times to a proverb said to
be indigenous to the neighbourhood, " Saving must equal
Having:."

THE CORPORATION AND COURT LEET.

Dursley has never been incorporated by Royal Charter,
but it is a Borough by prescription ; and it was called one of
the five "ancient," or prescriptive, boroughs of Gloucester-
shire so long as 600 years ago. Its municipal head has the
title of Bailiff, and those who have served the office of
Bailiff receive the honourable title of Aldermen. The officers
under the Bailiff are

Two Constables.

Two Carnals, or Meat Inspectors, now called Cardinals.

Two Ale Conners or Tasters.

One Hayward.

One Crier.

One Leather sealer, not appointed lately.
The Bailiff represents the ancient English "Reve" or gov-
ernor elected to preside over themselves by the inhabitants
of a Borough, and hence called the Borough -reve, or in port

ORIGIN OF BAILIFFS. 19

towns and cities, as in London, the Port-reve. A similar
officer was elected by the freeholders of a county and was
called the Shire-re ve : and as " Sheriff" is the shortened form
of Shire-reve so possibly " Bailiff" (though usually said to be
of Norman origin) is a corrupted form of Bailiwick-reve, the
tendency of popular pronunciation being always in the
direction of making hard words easy. But whether the
present title of this head municipal officer is Norman or
" Anglo-Saxon " it is certain that his office existed under the
title of Borough-reve, either by Royal grant or by custom,
long before the Norman Conquest, and that the un-chartered
Corporation of Dursley represents the most ancient form of
English municipal institutions.

Until the time of the Norman Conquest both towns and
counties had the privilege of electing all their officers except
the County " eorlderman " or Earl, and as he was, officially,
much what the modern Lord Lieutenant is, so among the
ranks of the nobility he represented the Continental " Count"
or " Consul; " the same Latin word " comes" being used for
both. But when the out-at-elbows Normans got possession
of England, through the too easy hospitality which we
always show to foreigners, the principal object of the new
comers was to enrich themselves at the expense of the
English, and hence William the Conqueror's government was
almost entirely one in which the Chancellor of the Exchequer
was Prime Minister : a government for the collection of taxes.
Moved by these Whig principles the Conqueror substituted
Crown officers in every direction for the old officers who had
been elected by the people themselves : so that instead of the
old Shire-re ves there came Viscounts [ Vice-comites], and
instead of the old Borough-reves there came Provosts
[Prcepositi], both kinds of officers being neither more nor less
than publicans and sinners whose duty was to extort the utmost
possible amount of revenue from the conquered people.

c 2

20 ORIGIN OF BAILIFFS.

Thus instead of its ancient domestic system of local govern-
ment by a Borough-reve or home elected Bailiff, Dursley had
thrust upon it a stranger appointed by the Crown, a Crown
Bailiff, whose only orders in respect of government were to
get all the money he could out of the oppressed inhabitants
of the town.

But although the Normans got the better of the old English
people for a generation or two, time worked its revenges,
the conquerors were absorbed into the ancient nationality,
and the cry for a restoration of " the laws of Edward the Con-
fessor," which was so often heard at the court of our Norman
Kings, was only an indication of the persistent determination
with which Dursley (and the rest of England) " harked
back " upon old national institutions. At length, in the
thirteenth century, when Kings of England began to speak
English again, and even the titled nobility were getting less
Frenchified, the obnoxious Crown Bailiffs were turned out of
the house, and the old system of municipal Government was,
to a great extent, restored. The larger towns were permitted
to revive their Borough-reves, under the new title of Mayors,
and subject to such regulations as were laid down in the
Royal Charters by which the privilege was conceded to them.
In the smaller towns, or those to which Charters were not
granted, such as Dursley, Westminster, and Southwark, the
ancient system was revived without any other change than
the alteration of the head officers' title from " Borough-reve "
to" " Bailiff ; " if, indeed, even that was a change. In later
times, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the borough of
"Westminster, not long before made a city by the appointment
of a Bishop, had its ancient government modified and then
stereotyped by Act of Parliament. Dursley and Southwark
were left untouched, but the latter being less fortunate than
the former possessed an overwhelming neighbour, and the
City of London has so absorbed the Borough of Southwark
that scarcely more than the title of Bailiff is left to indicate

THE BAILIFF'S ELECTION AND OATH. 21

its ancient independence ; the Alderman of the " Bridge "Ward
"Without," and the Magistrates of the County of Surrey,,
usurping nearly the whole of his jurisdiction.

The original mode of electing the Bailiff of Dursley would
be by the vote of all the people of the town at an open-air
court or " hustings," the last representative of which was the
hustings court for the nomination (and election if there was
no opposition requiring a poll) of Members of Parliament.
But election at the hustings court of the borough at large
has long been superseded by election at the Court Leet,
which is the borough by representation in the form of a jury
presided over by the Steward of the Manor of Dursley.
Perhaps it was found that the introduction of cloth manu-
facturing roughened the edge of Dursley manners ; and that
the courteous system of " give-and-take " with which elections
used anciently to be carried on in the borough, was sup-
planted by strong party-spirit and disorderly tumults. So
the lovers of order fled to the ancient institution of the Court
Leet and its Jury, and looking on the latter as a fair repre-
sentation of the Inhabitants, established the system of
submitting to it the names of three persons, any one of
whom is accepted by the town as its Bailiff when so chosen
by a majority of the Jury.1

1 The following is the oath taken by the Bailiff: —
" You shall well and truly serve our Sovereign Lord the King and
the Lord of this Leet in the Office of Bailiff within the Burrough
Town of Dursley until you shall be thereof Discharged according to
due course of Law : During which time you shall carefully see to
the preservation of the King's Peace and to the good Government of
this Burrough ; to the suppressing of Riots and unlawful assemblies
and the punishment of offenders. You shall also see to the Weights
and Measures that the sam e be according to the Standard and orders
of this Kingdom ; You are likewise to look to Forestallers, Ingrossers,
and Regrators of the Market and all other things appertaining to
your office and which have accustomarily been used to be done for

22 THE BAILIFF'S INSTALLATION.

This election of the Bailiff of Dursley takes place at the
sitting of the Court Leet on some day during the month of
October : but the person elected does not enter upon his duties
practically until New Year's Day, when his year of office is
inaugurated by ecclesiastical solemnities and municipal
festivities.

After entertaining all the Aldermen at breakfast the
Bailiff walks in procession with them to the Parish Church,
accompanied by the Steward of the Manor, and attended
by the officers of the Corporation : the Bailiff being clad
in an official robe of scarlet bound with fur, and the Alder-
men in gowns of a tawney colour.1 Thus another good old

the good Government of this Burrough you shall well and truly do
and execute to the utmost of your knowledge and understanding,

So help you God."

1 In the reign of Edward the Sixth when the Privy Council gravely
decided that the use. of black in mourning was a relic of idolatry, the
official robes of Mayors and Aldermen began to be disused. Some
towns made a stand against the innovation, and a little later the town
books of Leicester contain an order that " from hensforthe all and
•every person that shall be elect and chosen to execute the office of the
mayoraltye within the said town of Leycester, at every principal
feast and other times accustomed shall wear for the honour of the
King and Queen's Majesty and their successors, and for the worship
of the said town, scarlet, as of ancient time it hath been accustomed ;
upon pain of every person so chosen to the said office of mayoralty
refusing the wearing of the said scarlet during his said time of
mayoralty to forfeit and pay to the chamber of the town of Leycester
five pounds."

An improvement on this order graces the municipal records of
Canterbury : for there, about the same time "Mr. Mayor is ordered
to provide his wife the Mayoress with a scarlet gown and a bonnet of
velvet upon the pain of forfeiting £10." [N $ Q. III. iij. 514., II. v.
263.] Mistress Mayoress must have had a large following in the
Town CounciJ. when this order was made : but silver cradles are still
habitually provided for the ladies of municipal heads on certain
interesting occasions.

THE BAILIFF'S INSTALLATION. 23

tradition is kept up, that of asking a blessing upon the
exercise of civil authority by associating its assumption with
a celebration of Divine Service. May the State in all its
degrees long continue to value the blessings which it derives
from association with the Church, and may the Church always-
have reason to value its official recognition by the State.1

Nor must it be left unrecorded by the .pen of histoiy that
the good old traditions of " civic hospitality " have been
retained in Dursley as well as elsewhere. The very Church-
wardens' Register bears traces of these traditions, for it
records the expenditure of thirteen shillings in the year 1688
on " six bottles of wine and a pound of Biskey that ye Bayley
sent for to treat the Lord Bearkley : " and in 1704 a similar
entry declares that £3. 10s. Od. was spent " For treating the
Deacon," who was probably Archdeacon Parsons. These
were exceptional cases of hospitality, and appearing where
they do, may perhaps be ranked by the reader with the
famous record that

" Mr. Jones, of his great bounty,
Built this bridge at the expense of the County."
But the day on which the Bailiff enters on his office is always-
celebrated by really hospitable entertainments, provided not
out of the Church Rate or at the expense of the County, but
from his own liberality. These entertainments are not exactly
turtle-feasts or Mansion House balls, but they are such
respectable equivalents for these as a small country town
appreciates ; and although there is no salary attached to the
office of Bailiff of Dursley, while the Lord Mayor of London

1 In the Churchwardens' accounts for 1569 there is an entry
" It. gathered on New Yeare's Eve vjs. iiid. spent of ye same xvjd."
This seems to have some association with the Bailiff's admission to
office on the following morning. But New Year's Day in England
•was at that time March 25th, and remained so until September, 1752,
when the New Style was adopted. [See " Hoggling Money."]

•24 THE ALDERMEN OF DURSLEY.

gets his £10,000 for his year of office, it is not on record
that the one any more than the other ever flinches from the
courteous hospitalities customary on his inauguration. Nor
are such hospitable customs without a certain real constitu-
tional value. The course of legislation ignores the office of
Bailiff and shunts him aside when he could well perform
many of the duties assigned to newly-invented officials : and
it is well to keep up these honourable traditions, for they
may prove to be a foot-hold by which he may some day
regain a firmly established place among our borough insti-
tutions.

The Aldermen of Dursley are also the representatives of a
most ancient municipal tradition. It seems as if the little
town hidden among the shadows of the Cotswolds had been
overlooked by the ruthless eye of " Reform " both in the old
days when municipal reform meant the renewal of privileges,
with or without reconstruction, by means of Charters bought
at a great price from the Crown ; and in more recent times,
also, when it mostly meant the destruction of everything that
the reformers did not like or did not understand.1 For a
Corporation of Aldermen, as the term, is received in towns
which have Charters, was unknown until the thirteenth or
fourteenth centuries ; the borough eorlder-men of more
ancient days being those who had been distinguished by
having had some position of trust or honour assigned to them
by their fellow-townsmen, and being thus ranked, ever after-
wards, as honourable " elders " of the town. But the
Borough-reve or chief magistrate was alone responsible for
the government of the town, and whatever the aldermen did,
they did either as his assessors and councillors, or as deputies

1 Birmingham was the first borough to sell its ancient regalia after
the passing of the Reform Bill. It was also one of the first to
repudiate Vandalism as a part of Reform by having a new set manu-
factured, after a Mediaeval design, a few years ago.

THE COURT LEET. 25

acting under his authority. Little is known from records
respecting the position and office before it was denned by
Charters, but traditions in these matters are kept up with
great exactness, and thus a later generation fairly represents
one of a much earlier date solely from the custom of each
generation doing as its predecessor had done. It may be,
therefore, that the ancient office of Alderman was chiefly
honorary as it seems always to have been within memory in
Dursley.

The COURT LEET is the most ancient criminal court known
to our constitution, although now superseded as regards the
greater part of its jurisdiction, by the wide-spread net-work
of the County magistracy. It consists of a jury presided over
by the Steward of the Manor, as deputy to the Lord of the
Manor; the Lord himself being, in the first instance, the
representative of the jurisdiction of the Crown within the
boundaries of his Manor.

It is an institution which originated in the constitutional
principle that every man should have at his door an authority
for the redress of wrongs, the preservation of the sovereign's
peace, and the enforcement of justice : thus answering, in
a borough, to the Sheriff's " tourn " or periodical tour through
his county. The Court Leet was empowered to take cog-
nizance of all such criminal matters as are now carried to the
Quarter-Sessions, or the Assizes, with the exception of those
crimes that are punished with death. Knavish bakers and
brewers it sent to the pillory, drunkards it set in the stocks,
common scolds it placed on the ducking-stool or temporarily
silenced with the gossips' bridle : and it inflicted fines where
a pecuniary composition was considered a sufficient satis-
faction of justice. And not one of its least merits is thus
stated by a panegyrist : " The proceedings in the leet are
without expense, the suitor pays no fees, and advocates or
attorneys of course never enter it." \_RiUorfs Court Leet.
2nded. 1809.]

BAILIFFS OF DURSLEY.

This list is taken from the Bailiff's Book ; the earlier part,
from 1566 to 1758, having been carefully extracted for that
book from the Churchwardens' Register, and preserving the
original spelling of the names : —

A.D.

1566 John Small wodd

1567 James Smallwodd

1568 Roger Pytt

1569 Christoph. Webbo

1570 William Berry

1571 Richard Berry

1572 William Webbe
1573

1574
1575
1576
1577
1578

1579 Richard Marton

1580 William Tratman
1581

1582 Alexander Biztoy

1583 Thomas Tratman

1584 Thomas Carvar

1585 John Tiler

1586 Richard Maxtone

1587 William Purnell

1588 Thomas Tratman

1589 John Plomer

1590 Thomas Austen

1591 Richard Marten

1592 Richard Brownynge
1593

1594
1595
1596
1597

A.D.

1598

1599

1600

1601

1602

1603 John Plomer

1604

1605

1606

1607

1608

1609

1610

1611 Maurice Tyler

1612 Arthur Vizar

1613 Richard Tippetts

1614 John Martin
1615

1616 William Hardinge

1617 Isaac Smyth
1618

1619
1620

1621 Richard Tippetts

1622 Henry Trotman
1623

1624 William Harding

1625 Thomas Hyett

1626 Thomas Smyth

1627 Richard Merick

1628 Philip Biggs

1629 Richard Browninge

BAILIFFS OF DTJRSLEY.

A.n.

1630 Issac Smith

1631 Richard Oliver

1632 John Tyler

1633 William Purnell

1634 Nicholas Danger-field

1635 George Grace

1636 Isaac Smythe

1637 John Browninge

1638 Samuel Harding

1639 William Hill

1640 Henry Smith

1641 John Tucker

1642 Nicholas Danger-field

1643 Nicholas Dangerfield

1644 William Pitt

1645 John Hodges
1646

1647 John Philips

1648 Augustin Phillipps

1649 George Martaine

1650 William Tippetts

1651 Henry Adye

1652 John Arundel

1653 Isaac Smith

1654 John Purnell

1655 Obadiah Webb

1656 William Purnell

1657 John Watkins

1658 Josias Arundell

1659 John Oliver

1660 John TiU-Adams

1661 William Partridge

1662 Edmond Perrett

1663 John Tucker

1664 William Tippetts

1665 Thomas Everett

1666 Henry Smith

1667 Samuel Symonds

1668 John Arundell

1669 William Smith

A.n.

1670 William Lytton

1671 John Purnell

1672 Arthur Crew

1673 William Purnell

1674 John Watkina

1675 John Oliver

1676 William Merrick

1677 William Partridge

1678 Daniel Knight

1679 Thomas King

1680 Thomas King
1C81 William Tippetts

1682 Samuel King

1683 Richard Tippetts

1684 Walter Maye

1685 Jacob Wallington

1686 John Williams

1687 Isaac Smyth

1688 William Lytton

1689 Thomas Purnell

1690 John Partridge

1691 John Purnell

1692 Benjamin Symonds

1693 Samuel Clarke

1694 John Webb

1695 Robert Whateley

1696 Richard Merrick

1697 Thomas King

1698 Joseph Pulley

1699 Maurice Philips

1700 Samuel King

1701 Richard Tippetts

1702 James Bayley

1703 William Purnell

1704 Jacob Wallington

1705 Isaac Smyth

1706 Isaac Smyth

1707 John Philips, jun.

1708 Maurice Smith
1709

BAILIFFS OF DURSLEY.

A.D. A.D.

1710 1751

1711 1752

1712 Roger Whateley 1753

1713 William Symonds 1754

1714 Josiah Arundell 1755

1715 1756

1716 1757

1717 1758

1718 1759

1719 1760

1720 1761

1721 1762

1722 1763

1723 1764

1724 1765

1725 1766

1726 1767

1727 1768

1728 1769

1729 1770

1730 James Selwyn • 1771

1731 Giles Hodges 1772

1732 John Purnell 1773

1733 Richard Oliver 1774

1734 James Nicholas 1775

1735 Samuel Wallington 1776

1736 Thomas Morse 1777

1737 Timothy Wallington 1778

1738 Samuel Clarke 1779

1739 Richard Cooper 1780

1740 Jacob Stiff 1781

1741 Thomas Purnell 1782

1742 Josias Clarke 1783

1743 Thomas Wallington 1784

1744 William Browning 1785

1745 John Moody 1786

1746 John Gethern 1787

1747 George Faithorne 1788

1748 Nathaniel Lawson 1789

1749 Joseph Till- Adam 1790

1750 Richard Tippetts 1791

Maurice Smith
John Plomer
Lewis Hoskins
William Long
Joseph Faithorne
William Heaven
John King
William Plomer
William Blake
Samuel Lewton
Thomas Cam
Josiah Tippetts
Samuel Phillimore
Morgan Pully
Hugh Everett, senior
Thomas Morse, junior
Thomas Tippetts
Benjamin Smith
Samuel Wallington
Benjamin Millard
Richard Williams
Isaac Danford
Isaac Jones
John Ball
William Roach
William Drew
Samuel Griffin
William King
Thomas Lewton
Benjamin Millard, junior
Daniel Dimory
William Jackson
John Wallington
James Wheeler
Nathaniel Blackwell
Richard Williams, jun.
Jonathan Hitchins
Thomas Moore
John Long

BAILIFFS OF DURSLEY.

29-

A.D.

1792

1833

1793

1834

1794

1835

1795

1836

1796 William Troughton
1797 Edward Wallington
1798 William Smith

1837
1838
1839

1799 James Player

1840

1800 John Harding
1801 Thomas Richards

1841
1842

1802 James Danford

1843

1803 John Millard

1844

1804 Samuel Trotman

1845

1805 John Wood

1846

1806 William Harris

1847

1807 George Harris
1808 Samuel Champion
1809 Harry Dimery
1810 Richard Roe

1848
1849
1850
1851

1811 John Cart wright
1812 Thomas Clarke

1852
1853

1813 Thomas Williams

1854

1814 Thomas Williams

1855

1815 John Trotman

1856

1816 Thomas Morse

1857

1817 Edward Bloxsome

1858

1818 Henry Vizard
1819 Henry Vizard
1820 Henry Vizard
1821 Charles Vizard

1859
1860
1861
1862

1822 Edward Wallington
1823 William Fry
1824 James Young
1825 Charles Frederick

1863
1864
1865
1866

Richards

1867

1826 William Cox Buchanan

1868

1827 Baptist William Hicks
1828 John Williams

1869
1870

1829 Robert John Puraell

1871

1830 Edward West

1872

1831 John Wallington
1832 John Wallington,

1873
1874

George Vizard

James Harding

Joseph Player

Robert Rowles White

Edward Bloxsome

James Hammet Howard

Thomas Williams Richards

John Tilton

John Vizard

Henry Bishop

William Richards

John Hurndall

Charles King

Joseph Shellard

William Champion

Edward Goodwin

Charles Hamilton

George Leonard

Edward Augustus Freeman

Edward Gazard

Thomas Woods

John Hurndall, junior

Richard Godwin

John Davis

William Philip Want

George Wintle

Frederick Vizard

Henry Moore

Daniel Crump

Charles Workman

Henry Owen

George Ayliffe

Richard Gam

George Wenden

John Morse

Thomas Trewren Vizard

James Lang

James Whitmore

William Henry Hancock

John Benjamin Champion

ECCLESIASTICAL DUKSLEY.

The earliest authentic history of England is its Church
History, and so it eventually proves in the case of every town
or parish. But the ancient history of a place is often written
"by the light of modern discovery, and much local observation
and research is required before the necessary materials for
such history, if they exist, can he pieced together. Such
research and observation in respect to Dursley has been
unfortunately neglected, and if the details of its early history
are ever recorded it will be by some other writer.

THE ANCIENT CHURCH.

But when they are brought to light it will probably be
found that Anglo British Dursley became a Christian town as
soon as most places in Gloucestershire. Perhaps earlier than
some, for the last homes of British heathenism appear to
have been on the breezy plains and downs, while Dursley
lies in a quiet valley such as early Christian missionaries,
whose energies were not of a combative kind, loved to visit
and settle down in. Moreover, the Roman armies were one
means by which the world was Christianized, many a cen-
turion and many a soldier having learned the faith from the
lips and life of Apostolic men ; and Pudens, the .Gloucester-
shire friend of St. Paul, being very probably at some time of
his military life, quartered in the Roman Aldershott on Uley
Bury. It may be reasonably concluded, therefore, that the
proverb " God is in Gloucestershire " was true of those early
days when the Lichfield martyrs, and St. Alban, and the
first Christian Emperor, Constantine, bore witness by their

EARLY CHRISTIANITY OF DURSLEY. 31

lives and deaths to the Christianity of our then land of the
far- west ; and that long before the fifth century the Chris-
tianity which had become almost universal among the Romans
had become so among their British subjects, the camp at Uley
Bury bringing the standard of the Cross as well as the
Imperial eagles to the knowledge of Dursley people.

When, however, the heathen Germans seized upon the
county which the Romans had first disarmed and then left
unprotected, they came upon the Christian Britons as the
Philistines came upon the Israelites in the days of Deborah
and Barak : " was there a sword or a spear found in all the
coasts of Israel ? " While they were making their swords
and their spears they were driven step by step out of the
southern counties until all who were left free had taken
refuge among their Christian brethren in the Welsh valleys.
It was some time before peaceful relations between the con-
querors and the conquered were sufficiently established to
permit of any Christian Britons coming eastward to evan-
gelize the Saxons of the new kingdom of Mercia, of which
Gloucestershire formed part, but Theocus the hermit l from
whom Tewkesbury took its name was doubtless one among
many who eventually did so : and in the seventh century the
district around Dursley was comprehended within a great
Christian trilateral of which the Abbeys of Gloucester
[A.D. 680], Bath [A.D. 676], and Malmesbury [A.D. 673],
formed the protecting fortresses.

Thus we may well suppose the Church of Dursley to date
from the days of early British Christianity, and if it was
driven out of the quiet valley among the western Cotswolds
by the Saxon invasion, its restoration would certainly take

1 There was a hermitage on the high lands to the south-west of the
town of Dursley, but whether it was an early one or only mediaeval
there is nothing to shew. All we know is, that the last hermit was
falsely accused of having stolen a horse in the year 1517.

32 TRACES OF MONASTIC HOUSE.

place when the Saxons themselves became English and
Christian, and when the Monks of Gloucester as they explored
the Vale passed up the streams of the Cam and the Ewelme
until they found the end of the valley and the town that
nestled there.

It is almost a proverb in Gloucestershire that the Berkeleys
"have always been great supporters of the Church, and there
can be no doubt that the Church of Dursley prospered when
it was under the protection of Dursley Castle. There seems,
indeed, to have been an extensive range of Ecclesiastical
buildings in the town near to the Church itself, a fine pointed
arch near the , Broadwell having evidently belonged to some
important structure, perhaps to the " Priory." Yet the only
documentary evidence bearing on the subject is that which
records that a grant of land was made in Woodmancote to
the Nuns of Clerkenwell by Maurice de Gaunt of Beverston
\_Dugdale* s Mbn. j. 432. old ed.~] ; and that in which is a refer-
ence to the " Prioress of Dursley," which is contained in the
Inquisition taken after the death of Thomas Lord Berkeley
in the year 1417.

But about the same time that the place began to rise in
importance by becoming a clothing town, some considerable
additions were made to the fabric of the Church, and the parish
began to occupy a distinguished position as the Benefice and
Cure of Souls of the Archdeacons of Gloucester.

In Mediaeval times Dursley was one of the livings belong-
ing to the Abbey of Gloucester, that Monastic corporation
being Rector, and serving the Cure either by a permanent
Ticar or by a clerical monk acting as Curate in sole charge,
and liable to be at any time recalled and replaced by one of
his brethren of the Abbey. This latter was the more common
plan adopted by the Monasteries, and it occasionally
happened, as at Tewkesbury, that there was a standing
contention on the subject between the Monastery and the

THE ARCHIDIACONAL RECTORS. 33

Bishop, the latter wishing to appoint a Vicar so that there
might be a particular person always responsible for the care
of the parish, and the other arrangement being more con-
venient to the monks. But the Bishops had little or no
authority in Monasteries, and many abuses arose in their
dioceses from this interference with their jurisdiction. An
opportunity arrived, however, which enabled the Bishop of
Worcester — the county of Gloucester being then part of
his diocese — to place Dursley on a better ecclesiastical footing.
The Archdeacons of Gloucester had, in Mediaeval days,.
a very large jurisdiction, extending over all the district
which now forms the two dioceses of Gloucester and Bristol.
They lived in Gloucester in an official residence, and it is-
extremely probable that there was a standing rivalry between
the semi-Episcopal Archdeacons and their near neighbours
the semi-Episcopal Abbots. For this, or for some other
reason, it was agreed between Alcock, Bishop of Worcester,
and the Abbey of Gloucester, in the year 1475, that the
Archdeacon should give up his residence in Gloucester, and
that the house in which he had resided should become the
property of the Abbey. As compensation for this advantage
the Abbey made over to the Bishop all its rights in the parish
of Dursley : and these the Kishop annexed to the Arch-
deaconry. As the appointment to the Archdeaconry rested
with the Bishop he thus became Patron of the Benefice of
Dursley ; the Archdeacons becoming ex-officio Rectors of
Dursley. This arrangement lasted for all but 400 years,
namely, from 1475 until 1865. But it does not seem to have
worked any better for the Parish than the old one, for the
Archdeacons of Gloucester rarely resided in Dursley, and
they mostly held other preferments. The list of them
printed further on will shew that during the first sixty-five
years after the change was made as many as five out of the
eight Eectors of Dursley became Bishops. Since the Refor-
mation only one has risen to the Episcopal Bench, namely

34 THE MEDIAEVAL FABRIC.

Bishop Hurd, who became Bishop of Lichfield nearly 300
years after 1475 : but the Rectors still continued to be
pluralists, seldom lived on the spot, and often appointed as
their Curates men of inferior position and abilities who were
not competent to take the lead in so important a Parish.

The ancient Church of the town was not originally so
large as it is at present. It consisted only of the Nave,
with a much lower roof, a Chancel which was probably much
smaller than the present one, and a western tower sur-
mounted by a spire, both of which were destroyed in 1699.
There may also have been small aisles on either side of the
Nave, but if so they were replaced by the larger ones now
existing at a period not very long before the Reformation,1

These two larger aisles were built in connection with
Chantry Chapels which occupied their eastern ends, the one
in the North Aisle — hence called St. Mary's Aisle — being
dedicated in the name of the Blessed Virgin, and that in the
South Aisle in the name of the Holy Trinity. Nothing is
known respecting the foundation of St. Mary's Chantry, but
that of the Holy Trinity is traditionally known as the found-
ation of Thomas Tanner, a merchant who lived in the middle
of the fifteenth century, and whose effigy in the form of a
stone cadaver has always stood at the east end of it That
portion of the aisle is also called the " Tanner Chapel " in the
Churchwarden's accounts of the following century, and has
always been known by that name in recent times.

Chantries were built, during the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries, for the purpose of containing Altars at which the
Holy Communion might be specially celebrated for the de-
parted souls of the persons who built them and of their
relatives. Lady Chapels — such as St. Mary's Aisle seems to
have been — were of earlier date and were used for the daily
celebration of the Holy Communion as the daily service of

1 A description of the Church will be found in the section on
" Dursley as it is."

THE CHANTRIES. 35

the Church, independently of the special celebrations for
departed persons which also took place there, and from which
they too acquired the name of Chantries in later times. The
Chantries were thus specially endowed by their founders, and
Clergymen were presented to them by the Patrons who were
not otherwise associated with the Church in which they were
situated, and who were called " Chantry Priests." The
special office of these extra-parochial clergy was abolished by
Act of Parliament [1 Edw. VI. ch. 14.] in the reign of
Edward VI., and their endowments were confiscated by the
Crown.

In the year 1546 Henry VIII. issued a commission of
enquiry respecting all Colleges of Priests and Chantries
throughout the country, as also did Edward VI., a second
time, in the year 1548, and the returns made by these Com-
missions being preserved in the form of " Certificates " among
the Records of the Court of Augmentations, some particulars
are still to be found respecting their original endowment and
their final dissolution. The Certificate Rolls for the County
and City of Gloucester and the City of Bristol contain the
report of the Commissioners respecting the Dursley Chantries.1

From these reports it appears that " Our Lady's Service"
was founded by persons whose names were not then known,
and that it was endowed with lands and tenements by divers
persons and the same put in feoffment with the rents and
profits. Out of these endowments part had been used for
the maintenance of a Priest to sing service at our Lady's
Altar for the souls of the Founders and for all Christian souls ;
and part had been distributed yearly among the poor. The
lands were of the yearly value of £7. 19s. 8d. : the priest's
salary being fixed at £6. 13s. 4d., the Poor receiving yearly
13s. 4d., and rent amounting to 14s. having been " with-

1 Abstracts were made by Benjamin W. Greenfield, Esq., in 1866,
and have been used for this work by the kindness of John Vizard,
Esq., of Ferney Hill, Dursley.

D 2

36 THE CHANTRIES.

drawn by Nicholas "Wykes these 14 years past." l The value
of the Ornaments of the Chapel was reckoned at 23s. 4d. in
1546 and at 6s. 8d. in 1548 : but at the latter date there is
reported, in addition, Plate and Jewels, weighing 23 ounces
and worth £5. 7s. 4d. The Incumbent of the Lady Chapel
in 1548 was Richard Berye, aged 58 years, and he had also
a stipend of £2. 8s. Od. a year as Chantry Priest of Tokynton
Chapel in the parish of Olweston.

The " Trinity Service " was founded by divers persons not
then known, and the lands put on feoffment for the maintain-
ance of a Priest to sing at the Altar of the Holy Trinity in
the said Parish Church, praying for the Souls of the
Founders and Benefactors thereof and all Christian souls.
The profits of the land and tenements belonging to this
Chantry amounted to the yearly value of £7. 4s. 2d. ; the
Ornaments were valued at £2. 13s. 4d. in 1546, and 13s. 4d.
only in 1548, but in the latter year there are also entered
Plate and Jewels weighing 17 ounces and worth £3. 10s. lOd.
The yearly stipend of the Chantry Priest was £6. 13s. 4d.,
and the Incumbent in 1548 was Sir John Coderynton, who
•was eighty years of age and had no other living.2

It appears also from the report of 1546 that there was a
third Chantiy in the Church of Dursley, which is called the
" Service of Jesus " by the Commissioners. This was en-
dowed with lands of the annual value of £5. 9s. 4d. " of
whiche landes dyverse of them ar evicted and takyn away.
That is to sey one parcell of grounde callid Whitchester
worth by yere xvj s by one of Sir Willm Kyngstons servaunts
aboute xij yeres last past ; and ij other parcells takyn away
by one Nicholas Wykes Esquyer about ij yeres last past, by
yere liijs- iiijd- And so ther remanyth nowe in the said
ffeoffes hands xls wch they occupy to ther owne use."

Where there were many Chantry Priests in a parish, or

1 To bring these sums to modern money multiply by twelve.

2 The title "Sir" was formerly given to the Clergy as that of
•" Reverend " is now given.

THE CHANTEIES. 37

perhaps in the neighbourhood of a central parish, they were
accustomed to live together in a " College," such a College
still standing at Higham Ferrers in Northamptonshire.
"Where the number was few, as at Dursley, their house of
residence was called the " Chantry," and the house on the
Church side of Long Street now known by that name is
doubtless the one occupied by the Chantry Priests. From a
taxation roll in the Worcester Register for 1513 it appears
that there were then four Chantry Priests residing in Dursley,
namely William Eogers, Richard Berye, Thomas a Powell,
and Richard Salmon ; all four being called " chaplains."

When the Crown had taken possession of the endowments
and valuables belonging to the Chantries it interfered with
them no further. The buildings themselves were sometimes
retained by the representatives of the Founders as burial
places and pews ; and in other cases, as at Dursley, they
were incorporated with the Church of which they had formed
a part ; the screens which alone divided them from the Church
being mostly removed.

These slight records respecting the dissolution of the two
Chantries are unfortunately all that can be given with refer-
ence to the early progress of the Reformation in Dursley, the
eighteen stirring years between 1548 and 1566 being quite a
blank. From the documents above quoted, however, one
interesting particular is obtained, namely that in the end
of Henry the Eighth's reign the parish numbered 500
" houselling people " or communicants.

THE MODERN CHURCH.

For the parochial history of Dursley after the Reformation
there is more material than for that of the preceding ages,
for it was the good custom of the Churchwardens to keep
their accounts and other memoranda in a thick folio volume
which possesses a bulky dignity that has conduced to its pre-
servation. This volume is called a Register, the name being

38 THE CHURCHWARDENS' REGISTER.

taken from the books which were used for recording the Annals
of Monasteries, and those which are still used as the official
Journals of Bishops. It begins in 1566, and ends in 1758.

§ The Chit rcJt teat-dens' Register.

The title of this valuable volume was thus written on its
first page by Thomas Thacham the senior Churchwarden in
1566 :—

fi^f* A Book or Bigester prouyded to be a Ligear in the
Storehouse to the vse of the p'ishe of Dursleye as well SOT
the yearlie Accompts to be made by the Churchwardens
as for the safe keaping in memorie of all those things that of
right belongeth to the said p'ishe : wherein also anye mann
yt will may haue his Testament or last will rege'sterid. &c.
Dated the ffyrst day of April : in the yeare of the Lorde.
1566°. And in the Eight yeare of the Reigne of our
Soueraigne Ladye Elizabeth by the grace of god Queene
of England of frannce and Ireland Defender of the ffaithe. &c.

Ecclesiastic. 42. Be not thou affraid if thou gyve any
thing by nomber and weight to put all in wryting bothe that
whiche is gyven owt and that which is receauyd againe.

Si deus nobiscum quis contra nos : sed si Dominus contra
nos quis nobiscum. Igitur in domino confido et non erubescam.
Per me Thomam Thacham
$3- Anno Dni 1566. £%

On the back of the title page Mr. Thacham has also written
the following inscription : *

This Book cotayneth xj Quires of paper.

Wryte true and spare not. If thou blott yet spare not.

Let wryting remayn : from cutting refrayne.

1 A Thomas Thacham is mentioned by Foxe and Strype the
•Church Historians, who was a Grammar schoolmaster in Reading in
1556, who received an appointment as a schoolmaster in Gloucester-
shire, and who was a clergyman at Northampton in 1572. The
Dursley Thacham knew more Latin than one would expect from an
ordinary Churchwarden : was he this Schoolmaster ? See page 153.

BRIEFS. 39-

Too keepe your consience
poure and there so may
you be churchman another yere l

In the accounts for the year is the enty " It. to Samuel
Byrton for this register book iiijs. " The volume was rebound
a hundred and twenty years afterwards, in handsome stamped
leather with brass clasps, on the one cover being also stamped
in gold letters " W.L. 1686 CHVRCH " and on the other
" I.G. 1686 WARDENS," these initials standing for William
Litton and John Grace. The initials "IS." are also stamped
irregularly upon tlfe front cover, standing for Isaac Smyth
who was Bailiff in that year.

A search through this volume not only gives the reader
some insight into the Ecclesiastical affairs of the parish of
Dursley for two centuries, but also furnishes some curious
illustrations of parochial matters that are now obsolete and
forgotten. These latter may be noticed first. •

BRLEFS.

These were a relic of "rank Popery," being licenses to
collect money in Churches, which were originally issued by
the Pope, but when the Pope's authority in England was
abrogated were issued by the Crown. In later times they
were called " King's Letters " or " Queen's Letters," being
in the form of " Letters Patent " but sealed with the Privy
Seal instead of the Great Seal.

1 This wise counsel may be supplemented by some parochial poetry
which appears in one of the Overseer's account books of Dursley,
about two centuries later, in the year 177o : —

" Epitaph on the late Overseer J. H." [i.e. John Hurlstone.]
" Here lies one J . . n H . . 1 . . . ne that pinching Old Dog
Why should he lie here, and so much like an Hog ?
When on Earth not a Soul of him could speak well,
The Cries of the Poor now reach him in Hell.
He got up in the world by practicing Evil '
Then fulfilled the proverb and rode to the Devil."

40 BEIEFS.

Briefs were granted at the pleasure of the Crown to those
who petitioned for them in due form, and were addressed to
all Archbishops, Bishops, Clergy, and Churchwardens, en-
joining them to assist the petitioners in collecting money
within their respective jurisdictions for the purposes specified
in them. They were then read out in Church after the
Nicene Creed, according to the ruhric still extant in the
Prayer Book, and the collection made in Church. The pur-
poses for which briefs were granted were very various, as may
be seen by the following receipts given by the official collector
to the Churchwardens, and either written on a page of the
Register or on small printed forms which the Churchwardens
have occasionally preserved by pinning them in. Some of
earlier date are noticed under " Poor Relief " further on,

"March ye 15th 1660.1

" Reed of ye Churchwardens of Dursley ye summe of foure
shillings and seaven pence gathered there by a briefe for John
Davis of Hereford, by me James Draper."

" Reed of ye Churchwardens ye sume of five shillings and
nine pence gathered at Dursley by a briefe for ye inhabitants
of Esthagborne in barksheere

by me Moris Lewis "

" Collected for the Inhabitants of flimster the sume of ten
shillings ten pence halfe peney "

" Reed eight shillings and eight pence wh was gathered
ye 26th of May 1661 for ye repairing of a Key or peare in
Watchet in ye County of Somersett, and also five shillings
and seauen pence halfepeny wh was gathered ye 2 day of

1 Briefs appear by the following entry to have been issued by
Cromwell during the time of the Commonwealth, " Anno Dom : 1653,
August 1 . Collected in the pish of Durslye in comm* Glouster towards
the releife of the Inhabitants of Maryborough the summe of ffourteene
pound eight shillings and seauenpence. wee say 141. 8s. 0"d. When
they had greate losse by fyar.

Ob.** Webb."

BRIEFS. 41

June 1661 towards repairing of ye Church of Condover in
ye County of Salope

Pr me Maurice Lewis for Jos Eglington
High Constable."

Other receipts entered in a similar manner are as follows :
1661 Great Drayton, Salop, for loss

by fire 6s 3d

1661 Jan. 16. Elianor Davis, for house burned 4s Od

1661 March 12. For Bridgnorth, Salop .. .. 4s 9d
1661 March 13. Elmsley Castle, Worcester, for

'afire 11s lOd

1661 August 7. Henry Harrison, Mariner . . 7s Id
1661 August 20 For A fire in London . . . 6s 5d
1661 October 26 For the City of Oxford .. .. 5s 6d
1661-2 February 19 For Several persons burned out

at Quatt, Salop 3s 7d

1661-2 March 12 For building Church of Bling-

brooke, Lincolnsh 4s 3d

1661-2 March 12 For "the prodisture Churches
in the Dukedom of Lithu-
ania " 27s 3d

1664 August 16 For " Grantom " Lincolnsh. . . 6s Id
1664 July 30 For repairing Church of Lyd-

ney, Gloc 3s 8d

1664 December 5 For Henry Lyster, of Gis-

borough, Yorks . . . . 6s 8d

1664 December 12 For repair of Basing Church,

Southhamptonsh 3s Id

1665 May 12 For fire at Broughyn, Herts 3s 9d
1665 May 12 For repair of Witheham Church,

Sufi0. 3s Od

1667 Feb 23 For redeeming " Captives out

of Algerie and Salley and
other parts of the turks
dominions" . 12s 4d

42 BRIEFS.

1669 Feb 20 For fire at Tiberton, Salop .. 6s 4d

1670 April 24 For fire at Cotton end in

the parish of Hardington,

Northauts 8s Id

1671-2 March 11 For fire at Oxford 18s l£d

1672 May 19 For fire at "ligrane in the

County of Bedford." . . . . 8s 2f d

1676 September 10 For repairing Oswestry Church 4s 7^-

1676 October 15 For fire at Eton 7s Od

For fire in Southwark . . . . 62s 4d
For fire at Cottenham, Cambs. 11s 8d

1677 Feb. 23 For fire at Wem, Salop .. .. 26s 8d

For fire at Combe in the parish

of Wotton 7s Id

1978 May 17 For fire at Towcester, North-
ants 6s 3d

1678 May 17 For fire at Blandford, Dorset 4s ll£d

1682 May 19 For building Church at Kid-

welly Carmarthen . . . . 6s 4d

1683 July 6. " For Westminster Brief " . . 8s 10£d.
1683 Oct. 1. For fire at Wapping .. £5. 2s 8d
1683 Oct. 25 For fire at Newmarket £1 19s 2£d
1683 Oct. 25 For fire at Bradwinth, Devon 6. 9Jd
1686 May 29 " Collected in ye p'ish of Dursley

by a Briefe fro House to House towards

ye reliefe of ye French Protestants" . . 211 0

1686 Oct. 1 " Collected in ye p'ish of Dursley

by a briefe fro House to House for White
Chappell" 17 11

1687 Dec. 5. " Collected in ye p'ish of Dursley

briefe from House to House for Stanly

St Leonards" 450

1687 December 15 « Stanley's Briefe " .. . . 85s Od
1692 June 22 " for ye reliefe of Mr. Clopton 10s 6d

BRIEFS. 43

1692 June 22 For fire at Hedon, Yorks. . . 4s 6d

do do 3s 6d

1692 November 17 For fire at Chagford .. ..31s Od
For fire at " Drutige " . . . . 7s Od
For fire at Elseworth . . . . 4s 8d
For fire at Havant . . . . 6s 8d

1694 January 8 For fire at York 18s 2d

1694 January 22 For Nether Haven .. .. 11s lOd
1694 April 2 For fire in Warwick .. ..81s 7d

1694 July For£res at Gillingham, Wrock-

wardine, Towyn, and Gran-

chester 23s l£d

1694 Septr 1 Wooller brief 5s lOd

1694 Septr 1 Yalding brief 4s 3d

" Sep. j 1684 Receiv'd of the Minister and Church-
wardens of the Parish of Dursley in the County of Gloucester
the sum of one pound seventeen shillings sevenpence farthing
being collected on their Majesties Letters Patent, for the
Relief of the Poor French Protestants, bearing Date the
31st of March, 1694. I say Receiv'd by me Tho : Burgis."
After this date there are no notices of Briefs until we come
to one which was granted for Dursley itself, of which
particulars are given further on. Had Dursley ceased to
contribute towards repairing the misfortunes of its neigh-
bours ? And is it in retaliation for such want of charity that
the parish books of Ormsby St. Margaret, near Yarmouth,
have the following entry in the year 1707 ?

"November 16. Collected to ye rebuilding of Dursley
Church and steeple fallen downe in ye County of Gloucester,
one peny." l

But the system of collecting by Briefs was full of abuse r

1 See a list of about one hundred Briefs that were collected during
thirty-three years in Onnshy Parish, printed in Notes $ Queries 2nd
Series, ij, 222.

44 CHURCHWARDENS AND POOR RELIEF.

sometimes the briefs were farmed, at the least about half of
what was collected throughout the country was paid to officials,
and the remainder was also subject to robbery. In 1704,
therefore, an Act of Parliament was passed [4 Anne ch. 14],
which stated that " many inconveniences arose and frauds were
committed in the common method of collecting charity money
upon briefs," and regulated their use with the purpose of
preventing them from becoming financial speculations, and of
making them honestly efficient for the purpose intended. Still
the abuses grew up again, and at last, in 1834, the Act of
Queen Anne was repealed by a new Act [9 Geo. IV. ch. 28],
which reserved to the Crown the power of granting Briefs
for Incorporated Church Societies alone. When Lord Palmer-
ston was Prime Minister he declined to advise the Crown to
issue any Briefs or Queen's letters even to these Societies,
and thus they have now fallen into disuse.

POOR RELIEF.

Very frequent entries occur in the Church accounts of
Dursley during the seventeenth century, of money being
given by the Churchwardens out of the Church Hate for the
relief of poor travellers, wounded soldiers and sailors, and
especially of many Irish people.

The earliest of such payments of any amount is in 1588
when there is " Item, pd to the poore for xiiij weekes
xvj s iiijd." In general separate entries are made for such
payments, as in 1592, a poor man 2s. 6d. ; in 1603, A Captain
maimed in Ireland 2s. 6d. ; in 1615, To a man of Uppom
which came with license, 6d. ; in 1617, to a poor man with
Letters Patent — that is a Brief — 2s. 6d. ; in 1621, to a man
and his wife travelling out of Ireland unto York, 6d. ; in
1622, unto one that came with the broad seal, 6d. ; in 1624,
to a traveller that came with a brief, Is.; to a poor woman
that her husband was taken prisoner by the Turk, 6d. ; to 3
poor people that came with a pass, 6d. In 1630, there are

CHURCHWARDENS AND POOR RELIEF. 45

as many as fifteen such entries, five being of Soldiers, two
of " a Minister" — a not unfrequent subject of this charitable
relief, — and several of Irish men and women. In following
years many similar ones appear, but only one " Scottish man "
is on record as receiving charity : he, however, receiving two
shillings, which was considerably more than the usual sum,
a fact that will be interpreted by the reader's ideas as to
the canny people of the North. In 1673 " Maimed soldiers
and seamen in their distress " received as much as £7. 6s. 10d.,
and in 1678, £2. 18s. 10/1. These were probably wounded
men who had served under the Duke of Monmouth in the
battles fought between the armies of Louis XIV. and the
Prince of Orange ; and Chelsea Hospital was not ready for
soldiers until 1690, nor Greenwich Hospital for sailors until
1704.

But the County authorities found it necessary to bring down
the hand of the law with weighty severity upon " travellers "
of this kind in the year 1678, and four closely-written pages
of the folio Register are occupied with the copy of an order
made on the subject in a General Quarter Session. This
begins by reciting how " the Grand Inquest hath informed
this Court the dayly concourse and great increase off Rouges,
Vagabonds, and Sturdy Beggars, is a greate Grievance and
annoyance to the inhabitants of this County, and through the
negligence or ignorance of those officers who have been in-
trusted in this Concerne they are now grown soe insolent and
presumptious that they have oft by threates and menaces
extorted money and victualls from those who live in houses
ffar remote ffrom neighbours .... And have putt the people
in A general Consternation or ffeare that they will filer their
house or steale theyr goodes, .... Whereffore this Courte
.... doe order and commande all Chiefe Constables, petty
Constables, Headboroughs, Tythenmen, and all other officers
herein concerned that they doe fforthwith cause all the lawes

46 CHURCHWARDENS AND POOR RELIEF.

and Statutes heretofore mad against Rouges, Vagabonds, and
Sturdy Beggars, wandering and idle persons, to be putt in
execution, and to that end itt is here ordered." Then follow
a series of orders compiled from Acts passed in the reigns of
Elizabeth, James, and Charles I. The Officers were to search
every suspected place for beggars during the night once a
week or oftener ; and also to apprehend " all such Rouges
&c. who trauell with fforged and counterfeited passes in the
day time : " and when they have duly apprehended them by
night or day " the Constable, Headborough, or Thythenman,
being assisted with the minister [!!] and some other of the
p'ish shall cause them to be stripped naked ffrom their middle
upward, and to be openly whipped untill theyr Bodyes be
Bloody." Then the minister, or high constable, was to add to
this work of charity a certificate that the man had been duly
whipped, and direct him to pass by the nearest road to his
native parish within ten days. The other orders provide for
carrying out this principal one, and for the fine or other
punishment of those who obstruct the officers in their duty.
But there are some humane provisions for the assistance of
soldiers and mariners lawfully passing on their way home
which offer a happy contrast to the severity of those made
for the benefit of " sturdy beggars."

It may be naturally supposed that this stringent execution
of the laws in force diminished the number of those who
came to the Churchwardens of Dursley for relief, and cer-
tainly there are very few entries of relief in following years
compared with those of preceding ones. They occasionally
make their appearance, however, until at last the Parish took
the matter into its own hands as is shewn by the following
entry. " Sept. 24. 1738. It is agreed at a publick Yestry
that no Churchwarden or Overseer shall be allowed to give
anything to Travellers on ye Parish Account. Saml- Clarke,
Thomas Gethen, Churchwardens ; Jno Phelps, Jno Purnell,
Sam. Wallington."

CHURCHWARDENS AND VERMIN. 47

Probably this order did not interfere with such domestic
charity as is indicated by the items " Paid Dr. Berks for
setting Edward Curtaise's child's bone, Is Od" and " Pd
Mary May for Powltissinge of Gilles Davis his legg." Nor
did this Parochial sternness prevent the Churchwardens who
paid the ringers eleven shillings for celebrating the proclama-
tion of peace in 1749 from adding afterwards " pd for drink
the same day £2. 10. 0."

VERMIN.

In the neighbouring parish of Cam vigorous efforts were
made by the Churchwardens to exterminate their fellow
parishioners the sparrows. Those of Dursley waged war
chiefly against foxes, pole cats, and hedge hogs : and their
Register contains the following curious record of old legis-
lation on the subject, which appears to have been written
about the end of the sixteenth century : —

" According to a statute made the 8 yeare of Quene
Elizabeth chap 15 and continued 13 of Elizabeth chapter the
25 : and after 14 Elizabeth chap 1 1 there ought to be chosen
yearely on ester monday or tuesday by the Churchwardens
and six other persons to be Required by the Churchwardens
of the same parish to tax and assesse every farmer propriator
and euery person and every other person haiueing the possess-
ion of any land or tythes to pay such soms of money as they
shall thinke meete acording to the proportion of their lands
or tythes and upon denyall or in default of payment shall
forfeit 5s to be leuied by distress and sale of the offenders
goods and the sums of money soo taxed and leuied to be

delliuered to honest substantiall men of every

parish which shall be elected and apoynted by the Church-
wardens to hand the yearely distribution thereof and these
persons soe nominated and apoynted shall be called the
distributors of the provision for the destruction of noysom
foule and vermine and the said distributors shall giue and pay

48 CHURCHWARDENS AND VERMIN.

the same money soc to them delliuered to each person or

persons that shall bring to them the heads of such

shall give account to the Churchwardens."

In handwriting of the same date there is also a tariff of
the prices to be paid for the " noysom foule and vermine "
which should be destroyed under the provisions of this
statute ; and the presence of wild cats, pole cats, and cormo-
rants, shews that the neighbouring woods were not very
different in Queen Elizabeth's reign from what they were in
that of Henry III., when that king licensed " William
Berkeley of Dursley for term of life to hunt the fox, wolf,
hare, wild-cat, and badger," there.

" The heads of ould crowes choughs pyes or Rokes taken
within the limits of the parish, for the heads of every three
of them one penny.

and for the heads of six of them young, or for six of their
eggs unbroken taken as aforesaid one peny
for 1 2 stares l heads one peny

for the head of a hawke. merton.2 buzard. king tayle. mold
kite : seag. cormorant, two pence,
for every two eggs of them a peney
for the head of every Joy rauen kyte wood owle 1*?
for a bull finch or kings fisher one peney
for a fox or Gray 3 one shilling

for a falchen : polecatt weasell slow faire badger [?] or wild
catt a peney for a otter or hedghog 2* •

for 3: Ratts or 12: mice If for euery. want4 one halfpeny."

In the accounts for 1579 entry is made of a payment " to
ffrenshe for a foxe's heade xijd," but there is no further
mention of such payments until 1622. After that date there
are frequent entries such as "pd. for hedghoggs 3s. 2d,"
"hedgocks 2s. 6d.," "Joyes, viijd" "jaye's heads, 2s. 6d,"
"pd for birds and other varments 0. 4. 7.," 48 dozen of

1 Starlings. a Marten. 3 Badger. 4 Mole.

CHURCHWARDENS AND VERMIN. 49

Sparrows at a penny a dozen, "Paid" in 1690 " for foxes,
grays, and other varmant herds, 1. 4. 9 J " "pi for birdes
and vermintes, 1. 6. 10.," " Pi for varments of all sorts to
severall people, 2. 11. 3." In 1702 sixteen foxes "by
order" cost the parish as many shillings ; in 1704 there is a
charge of eight pence for two pole cats, and of twenty-four
shillings for as many foxes In 1705 the sum of 5s 4d was
paid for 72 jays, 2s for woodpeckers, and 3s 4d for 230 torn
tits. But the highest charge 6f all was in 1708, when as
much as £5. 1. 3. appears under this head, including thirty
shillings for thirty foxes brought in under "justice's
warrant." A regular "sparrow-catcher" was appointed in
1658 to whom was paid yearly the not extravagant stipend
of four shillings ; yet promiscuous warfare was still carried
on against hedgehogs, joyes, titmice, and foxes, especially
the last. But the revival of fox-hunting probably brought
the war to a close, the following entry being nearly the last
on the subject. " March 4th 1722 at a Publick Meeting of
ye Parish it's this day ordered that no Church warden for the
time to come shall be allowed to pay for Foxes or any other
Yermin without a Lawfull order from a Justice of the
Peace," .The "Signatories" to this treaty of justice and
peace with the unsportsman-like-persecuted foxes are Thos.
Purnell, Isaac Smyth, Tho. Phelps, John Partridge, Henry
Adey, John Tippetts, Jacob Stiff, Joseph Phelps, Nich.
Neale, and Maurice Phillips.

Some miscellaneous entries.

HOGGLING MOXEY. — The Churchwardens regularly received
a small sum yearly towards the expenses of the Church under
the name of " Hoggling Money." The entry occurs in 18
years out of the 47 years following and including 1579, the
smallest sum being 5s. lid., the largest £l. 6. 0. In
162] the entry is " when wee went a boggling," £1. 3 7.:

50 GOING A HOGGLING.

in 1622 "in going a hoglen" 16. 3.: and in 1626 "for
hogling" 19. 5.1 In several years there are entries of
sums " receaved upon newe yeares day " or on " New year's
eve," the sums heing of similar amounts to the hoggling
money and the latter being never entered in the same year.
" Hogling " is a well known term for a lamb, as " Hog " is
for a young sheep : and as New Tear's Day was the twenty-
fifth of March in the sixteenth and seventeenth century it is not
altogether unlikely that Hoggling money was a tax upon the
early lambs, those which had made their appearance before the
Bailiff inauguration into his office, which was on New Year's
Day. On the other hand the ancient New Year's Eve custom
of " mumming," which is still known in the north by the
name of " Hogmany," may once have been an official business
gravely supervised by the Churchwardens. There were also
two " Hoke-days," on the first of which the men placed
ropes across the street and taxed all the passers by, the
women doing the same on the second day. At Hock-tide, as
at Christmas, plays were performed : and the two days seem
to have been the Monday and Tuesday after Low Sunday.

This is the sort of thing they used to sing as their
" Hagmena Song " in Yorkshire : —

" To-night it is the New Year's night, to-morrow is the day,
And we are come for our right and for our ray,
As we used to do in old King Henry's Day :
Sing fellows, sing hag-man, ha !

1 But the same entry is found in the Churchwardens' accounts of
Cheddar in Somersetshire ; and the amount received there in 1631 was
£10. 3. 4. [JV. $ Q. Ill, iij. 423.] Another name for it appears to
have been " Hoghall Money." Thus in N. $ Q. VI. ij. 275, the
following is printed as having been found " on the margin of an old
folio ; " " Mrs. Wright indebted to Eichard Basset for keeping a
mare four weeks for work, 5s 6d., by the Hoghall money, Is 6d.
1784."

PAROCHIAL DISCIPLINE. 51

If you go to the bacon-flick cut me a good bit
Cut, cut it low, beware of your maw.
Cut, cut it round, beware of your thumb,
That me and my merry men may have some.
Sing fellows, sing hag-man, ha !

If you go to the black ark, bring me ten marks,
Ten marks ten pound, throw it down upon the ground,
That me and my merry men may have some.
Sing fellows, sing hag-man, ha ! " 1

Whether the Churchwardens of Dursley went about the
town singing such songs as part of their Ecclesiastical duties
when they " went a hoggling " is not on record.

FlNES FOE SWEAKING, AND TIPPLING ON SUNDAYS are not

unfrequently noticed in the Churchwardens' accounts. Thus
in 1702 the Churchwardens add to their accounts, "Hecev'd
more P the Justices' Order for Swearing, and selling Beere
on the Sabath Day, and Drunkennes of those under —

s d

John Morgan for Swearing . . 06 = 00
Tho Clift for Selling Beare . . 10 = 00
Edwf Jobbins for Ditto . . . . 10 = 00
Dan" Wyman being Drunk . . 05 = 00
Tho Archard for Sweareing . . 01 = 00
Edwf Jobbins for Ditto . . . . 01 = 00
Jonathan Dallimore Ditto . . . . 01 = 00

Tho Heath Ditto 01 = 00

Jn<? Vizard Ditto 01 = 00

Robert Hancok Ditto . 01 = 00

£02 : 06 : 00

1 Brand's Popular Antiquities, j. 461. Sohn's ed.

E 2

62 PAROCHIAL DISCIPLINE.

This money was distributed among 27 persons, and in the
list appear « Tho Cliffs Child . . 05 = 00," " Edw Jobbins's
Apprentice . . 05 = 00," " Tho Heath . . 01 = 00," "Dan1!
"Wiman's Children . . 04 = 00 : " from which it is evident
that the fines were not allowed to bear very heavily upon the
culprits. But the most conspicuous year was 1 757, and the
most conspicuous offender Thomas Roe. Three times in that
year a Justice of the Peace paid over the cost which Roe had
to pay for his profane luxury of swearing. On June 10th
he was fined twelve shillings, on June 1 8th two pounds, and
on August 8th thirty shillings. There are long lists of the
names of the poor people among whom these fines were divided,
the 82 shillings being distributed among 120 people. The
integrity of the last distribution is here also rather blown upon
by the entry of Thomas Roe himself as the receiver from the
Churchwardens of fifteen shillings out of the thirty which he
had been obliged to pay to the magistrate !

BOYS. — The Dursley boys of the seventeenth century were
not so perfect in their behaviour at Divine Service that they
could be judiciously left to themselves. So in 1657 the
Churchwardens paid to " John Stockwell Master Corrector of
the boyes" six shillings: in 1658 "To "Walter Jenkins for
keeping the boyes" two shillings and sixpence : and in 1694
"To John Mills for beateinge ye boyes" three shillings.
Let us hope that what an old woman once called this " cate-
chizing " may have been serviceable to the boys in after
years.

Elizabethan Churchmanship in Dursley.

The Churchwardens' Register begins, unfortunately, just
thirty years too late to give us any information respecting the
progress of the Reformation in the Church during the reigns
of Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Queen Maiy, its earliest
entries being made in 1566, when Queen Elizabeth had been

ELIZABETHAN CHURCHMANSHIP. 53

seated on the throne for about eight years. But it is probable
that the purchase and use of the Register indicate the begin-
ning of a new order of things, it having taken some year*
entirely to displace that which had been brought about by
the re-action of Queen Mary's reign, and to introduce that
which was established by law not earlier than the third year
of Queen Elizabeth's reign.

Of this we find indications in the first pages of the Church-
wardens' accounts, where there are payments entered for
work done in the Church which must have been of an im-
portant and extensive character.

It is curious to see that the very first entry of a pay-
ment is " To a man of Sadburie for xiij Sacks of Lyme
to whyt lyme the Church iiijs viijd. " In the same year
12 more sacks were procured from "the Lyme brener of"
Sadburie " " at xiijd a sack." The cheapness of lime accounts
perhaps for the profuseness with which it was used on the
interior of our Churches in those times : but it must also be
remembered that the walls thus whitewashed had almost
invariably been covered with colour decoration and paintings,
and that the whitewash was laid on thickly to obliterate
these. In the same way the entries for " glassing " and the
" plomer " and lead, are often of so large an amount that
they can only be explained on the ground that the painted
glass windows had been smashed to pieces and white glass ones
substituted. Taste for art, and especially for Christian art,
was at the lowest possible ebb during the Reformation period.
In books and pictures of the time we may see coarse nude
figures of heathen deities, satyrs, &c., which were supposed
to be characteristic of the revival of pagan learning, and to
be far more beautiful than the finely painted Scripture
subjects, or the gorgeously robed angels and saints, with
which books had formerly been adorned. This decline of"
taste was also accompanied by an outcry of the Puritans-

54 ELIZABETHAN CHURCHMANSHIP.

against paintings on the walls and in the windows of Churches
as superstitious: and although the outcry was often much
more superstitious than the condemned paintings, it set on
the uneducated classes to destroy those works of art which
the educated classes despised too much to take the trouble of
preserving.

Hence, no doubt, the twenty-five sacks of lime which the
Churchwardens of Dursley used in 1566 were for covering up
the painting of the Last Judgement over the Chancel Arch,
of our Lord in Divine Majesty over the East Window, of
St. Christopher, the type of Christ-bearers, on the North-
wall of the Nave, and of many a Scripture subject elsewhere
throughout the Church. But perhaps this was a kind of work
which was more acceptable to the Churchwardens than to
the parishioners at large. For when Thomas Thacham comes
to make up the accounts he makes the following note : —

" Summa totalis xijli xs jd ob.
Of this we receavid xjli

so that we haue laid out more of oure own charge xxxs jd ob
whereof do acquytt the p'ishe by these p'sents.
Give god the glorye."

But this is still more conspicuous in the case of alterations
which Thacham made in the Chancel. For there are two
pages of accounts " ffor the Sieges about the Comm'on Table."
These were seats or pews around the east, north, and south
walls of the Chancel, such as are still to be seen in the Chancel
of Deerhurst Church near Tewkesbury. On these workmen
were employed by Thacham for nine weeks during November,
December, and January, in 1566 and 1567, and from the
accounts of their wages it appears that they were sawyers,
joiners, and carvers, engaged on "frames," "panels," "wains-
cotting," and " ledges ; " a small amount of wages being set
down also for masons who repaired the " wall by the

ELIZABETHAN CHURCHMANSHIP. 65

Chappell" and the pavement.1 The cost of these works
was £9. 6s. ll^d. an amount which represented, perhaps,
£100 of our own money. To defray this a subscription was
collected from the parishioners, but their sparing contributions
amounted only to £2. 11s. 0£d., only one-fourth of the sum
expended. Hence the zealous Churchwarden makes another
entry in which he says,

" So that I have laid owt of my own charge more than I
rec. as by iust Accompts it doth appear vjli xvs xjd. ob. only
for the Sieges besyde the Church Accompts in the former
Summe."

The next piece of historical evidence furnished by the
Churchwardens is their Inventory of the Church goods, the
first of many that appear during the next hundred years. It
is as follows : —

" The Inventorie of all the Church goods ; and other
thynges belonging to the p'ishe. [A.D. 1566.]
In pmis A Cupp for the Communion, doble gylt with A Case
for the same.2 Itm. j Table clothe of lynnen for the Com-
wunion Table of holland in length iij yards and di wth an
A & F at one end and T & C. at the other end marked wth
blewe thrydd.3 It. ij bybles : It. the paraphrase of Erasmus
upon the Epistles. It. A Book of Commune prayer of the ordere

1 It is interesting to see the wages and prices paid in this year.
Joiners . . lOd a day Laths . . 4d a bundle

Sawyers . . 9| 850 Nails 2s. 6d.

Carvers .. lOd Lead .. 14s 4d a cwt.

Tilers .. lOd Candles.. 3d a pound.

There is a frequent payment also for "mosse" at a penny a sack.
This may have been dried ferns for strewing on the floor instead of
rushes. Ferns abound near Dursley, but rushes are scarce.

2 A Cover was provided for "the Communion Cupp " in 1583 at a
cost of 22s.

3 The length of these and of the Linen Cloths in the •' Store
House," shews that the Altar was at least 6 feet long by 3 feet high.

.58 ELIZABETHAN CHURCHMANSHIP.

of the church of England. It. A nother book containing the

same ordere of commune p'yer : and the psalmes as they are

appointed to be read : l with the psalmes in metre appointed

to be song / and the first book of homelies appointed to be

read in the church : and all these iiij cowtayned in one volume

It. A psalter book. It. the Iniunctions sett foorthe by the

Queenes maiestie Elizabeth our Sovreign Lady the first year

of her grace's reign. Ao 1559.

It. A Regester book of ij quiers of paper : for the order of

baptismes, marieing, and burieing.2

It A book of prayer against the the Invasion of the Turk.

It. A book of the form of Prayer to be sayd twise A week,

wth an homilie of gods Justice annexed thereto.

It. A paper book of a Quier ffor the Accompte of the proctors

for the poore.3

It. the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the 4 Gospels, xs-

It. A book of ij Tomes of homelies wth the commun p'yer in

one. viijs.

It. there is belonging to the Church an Acre of Arable land

It. A faire house callid the Church house. It. A Almes

house, wth

It. the Churchyard.

It. in the Church A Gofer for the books : It. A Cheast with
iij Locks and iij Keayes.

It. in the Storehouse 4 A Gofer for the pewter. It. another
cheast bound wth yron : having iij locks and iij Keayes.

1 In early Prayer Books the Psalter was printed with a separate
Title page, and from these two entries it appears that it was not
always bound up in the same volume with the Prayer Book.

2 This Register Book is not now among the Church goods.

3 Overseers for the poor were first appointed thirty-five years later,
under the first Poor Law, 43 Eliz. ch. 2. A.D. 1601.

4 It seems as if this was the Vestry.

ELIZABETHAN CHURCHMANSHIP. 57

It. ij Table cloathes. j of iiij and iij qvarters and the other

of iiij yards and A qvarter. It. ij shortt cloathes of ij yards

and a qter a peece.

Itm. in the Church house : A Crock of brasse weying

It. A sqvare kettle of Coper weying

It. j paire of potthooks weying

It. ij hangings weying ["to hange pottes in " 1591]

It. ij brothes [?] weying

It. j payre of Beaths [?"] weying

It. an yron barre in the halle chimney

It. A bucket wth ij yron hoopes. It. A lade payle and A

stoupe.

It. iiij vates cowtayning :

It. xiij stondes cowtayning :

It. xix Trendies cowtayning :

It. xj platters, vj potingers. iiij aaltt cellers and vj spoons."

One item in the preceding Inventory is worth further
notice, namely, the " book of the Form of prayer to be said
twice a week " &c. This was " A Form to be used in
Common Prayer twice a week, and also an order of public
fast to be used every Wednesday in the week during the time
of mortality and other afflictions wherewith the Realm at the
present is visited. Set forth by the Queen's Majesty's special
commandment, expressed in her letters hereafter following in
the next page, xxx July 1563." Archbishop Parker, writing
to Cecil, describes the country as " molested universallie by
warre, and particularlie at London by pestilence, and partlie
here at Canterburie by famyn." There was in fact a terrible
outbreak of the plague in 1563, which destroyed 20,000
people, about a fifth of the number who died in that of 1665.

The Form of Prayer has a Preface directing the " Curates
and Pastors to exhort their Parishioners to endeavour them-
selves to come unto the Church .... not only on Sundays
and holy days but also on Wednesdays and Fridays. It then

58 ELIZABETHAN CHURCHMANSHIP.

appoints that Morning Prayer shall be said, with Special
Lessons. After that a pause of a quarter of an hour and
more is to be made, during which the people are exhorted to
give themselves to their private prayers and meditations.
Then the Litany is to be read in the midst of the People,
with the addition of a penitental psalm made up from various
parts of Holy Scripture and a very long Confession of sins.
On "Wednesdays the Holy Communion was to be celebrated.
Then, both on Wednesdays and Fridays, followed a long
" Homily concerning the Justice of God " which had been
written for the occasion by Nowell, Dean of St. Paul's.

Such a Form of Prayer indicates that in Queen Elizabeth's
reign people went to Church very generally on week days, at
least when such special occasions for Prayer arose ; that the
celebration of the Holy Communion was the central part of
such special national supplications; that habits of silent
meditation and prayer in Church were encouraged and
enjoined ; and that very long services were the custom of the
times It may also be added that on these days the Puritans
fasted until two or three o'clock in the afternoon, the ordi-
nary dinner hour being eleven or twelve.

Another point that may be noticed in this Inventory is
that it contains no notice of Church vestments of any kind,
although subsequent ones always, till the time of the
Commonwealth, include the Surplice. But in 1574 there
are entries that the Churchwardens " pd for a surplus cloathe
ixs vjd, " and also that they " pd for ye makinge of ye same
ijs iiijd. " In 1578 it is entered in the Inventory in com-
pany with the " porringers and saltcellars " of the Church
House, from which it would appear to have been disused in
the Church.

The Puritans in Dursley Church.

Puritan influences were evidently now gaining ground in
Dursley. The Church seems to have been first pewed about

THE PURITANS. 59

1579, when payments for seats began to be received by the
Churchwardens. The first entry of this kind is " It. of
Alexander Byrton for a seate place wth Edmond Wettmothe
in ye seate belonginge to ye lowr Inn xijd " About twenty
more such entries immediately follow, most of them adding
to the person's name " for a place for his wiffe ; " and in later
times there are a great number of them. In 1591 "A carpet
for the commn table," " a holland cloth for the same," " three
books of Comon Prayar," and " one of Epistles and Gospels "
seem to point out that there had been some strange neglect
connected with the necessary furniture of the Church, al-
though indeed there are entries of "It, for a byble of
ye Largeste volume, xxxs" in 1579 (the old one being sold
for five shillings), and of " pd for A communion booke iiijs"
in 1583. When we find Samuel Hallowes as Minister, with
"William Trotman and Richard Merick as Churchwardens
witnessing that on September 26th, 1618, there was "An
new table horde geuen to the church by Margerie Morse
Widowe, alias called Mrs. Fullie," it seems almost certain
that a novel " table horde " of Puritan fashion was substi-
tuted for the old Altar table for which the long linen cloths
of fifty years earlier date had been provided.

It was the Puritan custom to place their " table hordes," —
which were often literally " boards " placed on trestles, — in the
body of the Church that the Communicants might sit around
them as round a " horde" of Christian hospitality and fellow-
ship, instead of placing them at the East end and kneeling in
front of them as before the Table of the Lord. To break up
this custom Archbishop Laud and his " High Church " coad-
jutors enjoined that the table should be uniformly placed at
the East end of the Chancel, and rails set up in front of it
which would prevent its removal into the body of the Church
and would offer a support for kneeling Communicants. This
was done in Dursley Church in the year 1636, and the Church-

60 THE PURITANS.

wardens enter in their accounts " It. paid for 2 posts and
settings up the Eayle at the Communion Table," £3. 6. 0.
and It. for a payre of Jemells " [hinges] " for the Raile
Doore that goethe before the Communion Table " £1. 0. 8.

At the same time " the way into the pulpitte " was turned
at a cost of ten shillings, a pulpett door was provided for two
shillings and sixpence, and an iron to hold the hour glass for
four shillings. These entries may shew that while there was
a party in the parish which supported the principles of the
Reformation in the High Church sense which looked towards
the altar as the centre of Divine worship, there was also a
Puritan party which set great store hy preaching, and loved
those preachers best who after an hour's discourse would say
" let us have another glass " and turn the full side of their
time keeper upwards to run out its sands again as they
themselves ran out their yard long periods.

The full flow of the tide of Puritanism is indicated in the
Churchwardens' Register by the disappearance from the
Inventories in 1643 and the following years of the Surplice,
the Book of Common Prayer, and the double gilt Communion
Cup, with its cover and case. Instead of the Prayer Book
there then appears the Scottish Presbyterian " Directory for
Public Worship ; " instead of the silver gilt chalice appear
two pewter platters, one pewter salver, and two pewter
" Comunion boules," which cost 3s. 4d., the " scouring of the
pewter " becoming also a regular item in the accounts.1 Two

1 The double gilt silver chalice was stolen by the " pure " supplanters
of the Church and its customs. The pewter substitute was used till
1687, when it was sold for seven shillings and Plate bought for
£2. 18. 0. A hundred years after the Pewter Age there appears the
following entry in the Churchwardens' Register. " 1748. January
the 10. Given by Mr. N. Neale a Silver Patin for Bread and a
Silver Cupp for Sacrament Wine for the Use of the Church of Dursley
in the County of Gloucester.

( George Faithorn
Churchwardens Tippette..

THE PURITANS. 61

and sixpence was also paid in 1 648 " to James Attwood for
settinge upp a thinge to houlde a bassone," and one shilling
on " a screw for the fonte," which looks as if the latter was-
screwed up to prevent it from being used for baptisms and the
former substituted. As much as £11. 5. 8. was paid for
" glassing the Church windows," to replace with plain the
stained glass which had survived : the Communion rails lately
set up were now destroyed, and the altar again turned into a
" table board " in the nave.

What treatment the Clergy received may be judged of by
the treatment of the learned, and not High Church, Arch-
deacon Robinson the then Rector of Dursley, who was
" seized at his living of Dursley, set on horseback with his
face to the horse's tail, and thence hurried away to Gloucester
prison." l

So Dursley took its part in the great Puritan revolution
which seemed for a time as if it had exterminated the ancient
Church of the land. In this retired valley among the
Cotswolds as well as elsewhere the use of the Prayer Book
was prohibited from 1645 until 1660 under pain of £5 fine
for the first offence, £10 for the second, and for the third a
year's imprisonment : the Clergy were turned out of the
Churches, driven from house and home and deprived of their
incomes. Some were sent to prison like the Rector of
Dursley, some transported to the "West Indies, and most of
them left in great poverty, as it is not easy for an elderly
clergyman to earn his bread in any other profession than that
which he has been brought up to and engaged in all his life.
Thus the face of all things parochial was altered for fifteen
years. Instead of their old Rectors and Curates the Dursley
people had to receive as a pseudo pastor, some ignorant
layman (for educated laymen were above such work) who
dubbed himself a minister and got into the old clerical nest

1 Walker's Suff. of Clergy, ij. 33.

62 RINGING IN CHURCH AND KING AGAIN.

by the help of the few leading Puritans of the neighbour-
hood : and who dealt out to them in Church one long winded
homily as a prayer and another as a sermon, each being
chiefly conspicuous for bad taste, red hot politics, and male-
dictory theology,

Then the tide again turned. English people had hardly
tasted the true flavour of unadulterated Puritanism before
they found out that it was not at all to their liking ; and
although they could not get rid of it while Cromwell ruled
the land with his Ironsides, the Church bells rang out merrily
for its expulsion almost as soon as he was gone, and parochial
life flowed back again into its old channels. In 1661 the
Churchwardens record that they paid £6. 0. 0. " for the
Kings Armes," 1 a shilling " for sending a letter to ye Arch-
deacon, five shillings " to ye Ringers at ye Coronation day ; "
and early in the following year fourteen pence " to the paritor
for bringing of a booke set foorth by the King and his
Counsell to be read on the 30 Day of Janu : by the minister."
Then " a new Common Prayer Book " appears in the In-
ventory, for which the parish paid seven and sixpence, and
" the booke of ye Directory " in a previous Inventory is
crossed through with an indignant dash of the Church-
warden's pen, he having evidently had enough of it.2 A little
later there is an entry of payment for " 9 ells holand at 5s.
to make the Surples, £2. 5. 0." and for making it ten
shillings more. Then a cover for the font is provided shewing
that it was again brought into use. A few years afterwards,
in 1684, rails were again set up before the Lord's Table at a

1 Such was the penitent loyalty of the parish that in 1665 £4. 10. 0.
was again paid "for painten the Church Dyall and florishing the
Kings Armes " and in 1733 £5. 10. 0, again for the Kings Arms.

* Those who wrote or spoke against the Directory during the time
of the Commonwealth were liable to a fine of from £5 to £50, at the
discretion of the magistrates.

LOYALTY LOOKING TWO WAYS. 63

cost of £4. 13. 4., and in 1687, there was an expenditure
of £2. 18. 0. upon "pleat for the communion," seven
shillings being " Reed for the ould peuter for the com-
munion " which had been bought in the place of the " double
gilt communion Cupp " of Queen's Elizabeth's time.

Nor was it with a grudging mind that Dursley people
received Episcopacy back again, for in 1663 when the Bishop
came on his Visitation the parishioners " Paid for Sack for my
Lord that we presented to him " Six shillings and two pence :
which being the price of four quarts at that time, it is to be
hoped that his Lordship passed round the hospitable tankard
to his Chancellor and Archdeacon.

The changes which were brought about by our next Revolu-
tion— happily our last — in 1688 are slightly but significantly
recorded in these financial annals of Ecclesiastical Dursley.
In that year the Churchwardens " pd to Paritor for two books
of thanksgiving for the Prince of Wales," one shilling and
sixpence. Shortly afterwards a shilling is paid to the same
person for King James the Second's " Declaration for Liberty
of Conscience," which so many of the Clergy refused to read
out in their Churches because it was considered as nothing
but a declaration for the Liberty of Popery. Then a shilling
was paid for " a proclamation to pray for the Prince of
Wales" — afterwards known as the Old Pretender. This is
followed by the payment of sixpence for " a proclamation to
pray for the Prince of Orange " and a shilling for " a Common
prayer book to pray for the prince," but which prince is not
stated. The ebbing and flowing of the tide is, however,
clearly shewn in the next entries, of which the first is a
shilling " for a prayer booke against invasion," the second,
another shilling " for a Booke for thankes Given for the
prince of orang " the invader, and the third of a third shilling
" for a booke to Alter the prayers for King William." The
times were full of change, opinions were strong on both sides,

04 FALL OF THE TOWER AND SPIRE.

and doubtless in Dursley as elsewhere you might hear the
bells ling out one day " God bless King James the Second,"
and the next day " God bless King "William the Third."
Happy that long generation which has been able to ring out a
constant and happy peal of " God bless good Queen Victoria,"
without one serious thought of revolution either in Church
or State.

The Fall and Rebuilding of the Steeple.

"When Defoe wrote his Tour through Great Britain in the
latter half of the seventeenth century he recorded that the
Church of Dursley had " two ailes and an handsome spire."
In the second edition of Sir Robert Atkyns' History of
Gloucestershire, published about 1712, it is also stated that
Dursley " had an handsome Spire at the West End, but now
fallen down." A century earlier the Churchwardens' accounts
contain charges, in 1570, "It. for lyme to ye use of ye toure
and steple vijs vjd.," and " It. for pointing the steple vli- "
The latter item is repeated in 1656, and is indeed one that
frequently occurs.

In the year 1688 there seems to have been some appre-
hension that the tower was unsafe, for there is an item in the
accounts, " Pd Edward Wicks for his Advise about ye tower
2s 6d.," and the result of the advice seems to have been
some trumpery contrivance for propping up the tower inside
as is shewn pretty clearly by the entry immediately following,
" Pd to Jonathan Danford for A peece of timber, and drawing
it up into the tower loft £1. 10 0." This temporizing with
•danger gave a sense of security and in 1694 the old entry
comes again " Paid Richard Lathern for pointing the Tower
and Steeple £10. 10. 0."

In 1699 some extensive repairs were being carried on upon
the roof. Old lead weighing 46 cwt. 2 q. 24 Ibs. was sold at
a penny a pound, bringing in £21. 16. 0., and new lead was

FALL OF THE TOWER AND SPIRE. 65

bought of James Brown the plumber, weighing 52 cwt., and
costing £37. 17. 0. ; nine loads of tiles at £4. 10. 0. being
also bought. If it was a wooden spire the lead was probably
used for re-covering it, and wooden spires were very common
in those times : but the " pointing " of the " steple " and the
mention of " ye toure and steple " seem to shew that it was of
stone. However that may have been, it was in the same
year in which these repairs of the roof were effected that the
tower and spire were destroyed, the day of their fall being
January 7th, 1698-9.

Bigland, writing in 1791, says that the Spire fell while
the bells were ringing, and that several persons lost their
lives by the accident. As January 7th was not a Sunday in
that year, and is not a ringing day ordinarily, it is probable
that the bells were being rung to celebrate the completion of
the repairs. Whether it was so or not, the entries respecting
the repairs are just followed by one recording the purchase
of a new Prayer Book when there succeeds the melancholy
record " Pd for pulling down the Ruins of the tower to the
Church, £3. 1. 0."

Such calamities take place so suddenly that it is no wonder
the details of them escape observation and record. A mag-
nificent spire, probably twice as large and high as that of
Dursley, fell down at St. Chad's, Shrewsbury, on July 9th,
1788, and only one person, walking in the meadows at some
distance, saw the dreadful occurrence. They who crowded
to the Churchyard beheld only a confused heap of ruins, the
tall spire having fallen on the roof of the nave, and mingled
in one hopeless wreck the stones, the timbers, the bells, the
organ, and the monuments, of what had a few minutes
before been one of our most glorious Collegiate Churches.
The wreck at Dursley was not so bad, for the spire seems to
have fallen outwards and not towards the nave ; and thus
although the tower tore down a portion of the west end of

€6 EXPENSIVE PAROCHIAL COUNCILS.

the Church in its fall the ruin was kept within bounds and
left the mediaeval fabric of the nave substantially uninjured.

The cost of rebuilding the tower and spire seems to have
been at once considered as far beyond the means of the town,
although at this time it must have been a prosperous manu-
facturing place, with several wealthy cloth-making families
as well as the landholders. The loss was estimated at
£2,000, — though only about £500 was expended in repairing
it, — but in recent times the sum of nearly £6,000 has been
collected, much of it from the inhabitants of Dursley, for
the restoration of the same Church to which this calamity
had happened. But in 1699 it was at once determined to
obtain a Brief, so that the expense of rebuilding the fallen
tower and spire might fall on strangers and not on the
parishioners.

The consultations that were held over this matter cost the
parishioners, however, a good deal of money. It was
evidently dry work, as if the dust of the ruins had got into
the throats of the Vestrymen, and the Church Rate was
saddled with the items " Pd at the Session when mr Georg :
Smijth and mr Elliott and the Churchwardens delivered at
the Sessions the Loos by the fall of the tower and Steple
£6. 12. 2. Pd the workmen that went to the Sessions
that vallued the Loos £1. 4. 0. Pd at Nibley for beere when
the p'ish went to mr George Smith for Advise. Pd to John
Mills for beere when the p'ish there mett severall times and
for beere for the Laborers £6. 17. 8. Pd at the Bell Inn in
Dursley when mr George Smijth went to Sessions 7s. Od.
John Mills for Drinke at the p'ish meeting and to workmen
£2. 0. 11." This liberal expenditure of £ 17. 1. 9. on beer
resulted in the presentation of a Petition to the Crown for a
Brief, and in the determination to effect only such repairs as
were absolutely necessary to make the Church useable, while
that was being collected.

PETITION FOR A BRIEF.

The following is a copy of the Petition, the original of
which was formerly in the possession of Mr. Linton of
Dursley : —

" Dursley in To the King's most excellent Majestie

Com. Gloucr The humble petition of the Inhabitants

29o Martii 1699 of yor Towne of Dursley in ye County

of Gloucr-

Shewing unto your Matie That on Satterday the Seaventh
day of January last past the Tower and Spire Steeple of
the parish Church of Dursley aforesaid with the Ring of
Bells therein by casualty and great Mischance fell downe,
and also broke part of the West end of the said Church,
The Damage whereof and Charge of Rebuilding the said
Tower and repairing the said Church is estimated by work-
men to amount unto One Thousand Nyne Hundred Ninety
ffive pounds at the least, And yor petitions shew unto
yor Matie that the said Towne and parish is very small
the whole yearly Vallue of all the lands of the said Parish
not exceedinge Six Hundred pounds by Estimation, and
that greatly burthened with numbers of poore which takes
up a ffourth at least of the yearly vallue of the said
Parish, whereby yor petition^ are unable to beare the
Charge aforesaid of rebuilding the said Tower and re-
pairinge the Church without some Charitable assistance.

Maurice Phillips, Baylif
John Arundel
John Tippetts
Thomas King
Isaac Smyth
John Parbeedge
Abrah Stiff
Will. Danford
Ob Baker

Wherefore yor petition^ humbly
beseech yor Matie to grant to yr
petitrs your Gracious letters patents
to aske gather and receive the
Charitable benevolence of yor
Maties Loving Subjects towards the
great Charge and pious worke
aforesd

And yr petitions as in duty

F 2

68 TEMPORARY REPAIRS.

John Wood bound shall ever pray.

Saml Kingg Thomas Purnell

John Webb Nicholas Neale

Jno Arundell Jur James Harding

Samll Clarke Richard Tippetts

Jooseph Dallemore John Purnell "

Morris Phillips Sen.

Tho Fryer

William Litton

Joseph Pulley

Thomas Phelps

This petition was not granted probably for some years. An
extract previously given from the accounts of Orrnsby St.
Margaret shews that it was being collected at the end' of
1707, when that not too liberal Parish contributed one penny
towards "the great Charge and pious worke." In the
Dursley accounts for the same year there are also the two
entries "1707

lit. at the first meeting for ye Brief 10s Od.

Itt. wn you met to put yr hands to the Brief 9s Od "
Perhaps the petition of 1699 had not been granted at all,
and another was sent up in 1707 which met with better
success.

Meanwhile the repairs decided upon were set in hand soon
^fter the accident had occurred. The sum of £24. 5. 5.
was paid " for building the piller in the Church and the
Butreses against the Church walls," £1. 9. 4. "forquaryen
and hailing for the Church Bartlements." £12. 2. 11. for
" carpenter's work about the Church." £8. 9. 5. for " laborers
for Removing the Stone of the tower and steple and the
Rubish in the Churchyard," and other work. £2. 6. 0. to
" the free Mason for 23 dayes work about Carving and Seting
up the New bartlements on the Church."

At the same time new roofs were put to " the three lies "

TEMPORARY WOODEN TOWER. 69

the new timber for which cost £22. 16. 6. the tiles and lead
£16. 4. 6: the tiles being 18,650 in number at Us. a
thousand, including carriage from the tile pits ; and the tilers'
labour £7. 16. 0., being 24 " pearch at 6s 6d Pr pearch."

In the Inventory for November 2d 1699, there is an entry
of " five bells which did belong to the tower and the Clock,"
and " the stem of the weather cock " is added on Oct. 4,
1700, the clock being entered as "a ould Iron Clock."
There were also received 3s. 6d. for " 3 Cannons broke at the
faU of the Bells, 7 Ibs. at 6d," and for 106 pounds of " ould
Iron" and "ould Cramps" 14s. Id. These bells, or some
of them, still remained useable, however, and a temporary
wooden tower was erected to hold them, probably at the
Church House. The labour for this cost £18 7. 9. ; Timber
cost £11. 12. 6. ; Iron work and nails cost £2. 18. 11£. ;
and 3^9 " foote of Board for the wooden Tower, with 9 days
work at it" cost £3. 15. 6. In 1701 there is still " Pd to
John Mills for beere for workmen £1. 17. 6." and £6. 4. 7.
for boards and lime. In 1702 there is a charge of three
shillings paid to Henry Collier " for making a scaffold for
him, and mending the tower and bell frame," which looks
like work connected with the temporary re-hanging of the
bells : but there is no other entry that throws light upon the
matter, and no money was as yet entered for payments to
ringers. In 1703, however, "a Rope"- — a very familiar
charge — again appears in the accounts at the usual price of
six shillings : and payment of 4s. 6d. " att Gunpowder
treason," and five shillings " at Thanksgiving day " in that
year, together with four shillings " to the Ringers at Visita-
tion, " shew that the bells had now again come into use,
though only in their temporary wooden tower.

As soon as the Brief had been collected the work of re-
building commenced. This was in 1708, when the Church-
wardens begin their account of much beer at the Bell and the

70 COST OF THE NEW TOWER.

Lamb with the entry of 5s 3d spent " Att ye Bell wn y*
tower builders came first." There are very few details
recorded respecting the work, and it appears to have been
done by contract. The Brief had yielded only one fourth of
the sum asked for and so all thought of rebuilding the Spire
was abandoned. The first entry about actual work is " For
cleaning ye rubish from ye old Tower, £1. 05. 00," in 1708;
and the work appears to have occupied about two years, for
the date of 1709 is inscribed on the tower under the clock,
while in 1710 the Churchwardens paid £3. 1. 9. "for
timber for the Ringing loft ; " and then, for a wind up of the
whole, £3. 0. 0. " ffor 2 Diners for the men yt bild ye
tower."

The Petition for the Brief shews that the sum asked for
was only £5 short of £2,000, the small diminution probably
bringing it within a smaller scale of duty : but the final
accounts shew how much short of this sum was contributed,
or — what is more probable — how much stuck to the fingers of
lawyers, officials, and other necessary evils, on the way.

" An Account of the p'duce of Dursley Breife [A.D. 1711].

1st Receipt 400

2d Receipt 80

3d Receipt 48. 6. 2

4th Receipt 21. 9. 11

5th Receipt 19. 17. 8

totall p'duce £569. 13. 9

Disbursement of the Breife Money.

£ s d

paid Bawler and Samsion for Building the Tower 500. 0. 0

pd Rudhall for a Treble Bell 36. 10. 0

COST OF THE NEW TOWER. 71

£ s d

pd Tho. Steight of painshaw for Clock and
Chymes and Carridge from Berkeley )

569. 8. 0
pd John Phillipps and Nathaniel Webb

p'sent Churchwardens the Ballance being 5. 9

569. 13. 9"

It is curious to observe that the parishioners of Dursley of
that day did not think it necessary to contribute a penny — as
even Ormsby St. Margaret's parish near Yarmouth did —
towards the rebuilding of their Church Tower, and that when
all was told they were richer by just five shillings and
ninepence than they would have been if the disaster had not
happened. Times are changed, and changed for the better.
But whether they obtained the money from home or abroad it is
certain that they who rebuilt the Tower did it in a manner
deserving of very high commendation ; and among the very
few Church Towers of its date that of Dursley may claim to
be one of the best, from being so closely in accordance with
the ecclesiastical architecture of earlier date. Probably the
builders were prudent enough to take the older Tower for
their pattern as far as it could be remembered, and they may
have used the old materials as far as was possible, though
they do not seem to have been used to any great extent.1
Not long ago it was nearly covered with ivy, but this was
considered to be so injurious to the walls that it has been
removed.

1 In the year 1874 some alterations were made at the old Eectory
house, now superseded by a new one, which brought to light some
fragments of old ecclesiastical building of early fifteenth century date,
which had been inserted into a wall, on the plaster of which was
scratched the date 1709. These fragments are probably portions of
the old Church Tower, and consist of portions of a large arch which
may have been a doorway, together with some window mullions>

72 MODERN RESTORATION.

About thirty years after the rebuilding of the Tower,
probably in 1738, the ancient Chancel of the Church was
taken down and replaced by a smaller one at the cost of the
then Rector, Archdeacon Geekie, but no record of this
remains in the parish, and the rebuilt Chancel has itself
disappeared before its present noble successor.

The recent Restoration.

The Church of Dursley had fallen into such a state of
decay, however, in the middle of the present century that it
was found necessary to carry out some very important repairs,
and the opportunity was used for making several improve-
ments.

In the year 1866, an Architect, who had been directed to
examine the fabric, reported that it was in a most unsatis-
factory condition. Owing to the failure of the foundations
nearly all the north and south walls had fallen out of the
perpendicular, and the pillars and arches of the Nave had
followed suite, the north wall leaned over to the extent of
fourteen inches, and the corresponding arcade as much as
nine and a half inches. The western part of the South
Arcade had been so twisted that one half leaned northward,
and the other half southward : while the adjoining fine Porch
with the parvise above it was crumbling to the dust as the
tower had done. The modern low-pitched roofs were also of
very inferior quality and character, galleries blocked up the

portions of pillars, and what looks like a piscina but may have been
a holy water stoup. They are in the outer wall of the house, facing
the road.

In the interior of the same house is a very fine stone fire place,
which had been entirely concealed. This is about ten feet broad and
five and a half feet high, with mouldings of a bold character, and
some curious corner niches. In an upper room a smaller stone fire
place was found, but this was of simpler character, and probably of
later date. The larger one may belong to the fourteenth century.

MODEEN EESTORATION. 73

windows, and high pews held possession of the floor. If ever
there was a fair case for the real restoration of a Church that
of Dursley was one.

During the next two years this restoration of the fahric
was effectually carried out, the Church being at the same time
enlarged. The walls and arcades having been partly rebuilt a
Clerestory was added to the Nave which has given a noble
heighth to the interior and supplied it with abundance of
light. The Chancel was rebuilt on a larger scale, being ex-
tended twenty-five feet eastward, and a considerable space
was thus added to the Nave. A new Yestry and Organ
Chamber were built on the South Side of the Chancel, and
the division between the latter and the Nave has been marked
by a fine arch with elaborately carved mouldings.

In effecting these repairs and alterations very great care
was properly taken to make the work one of restoration as far
as could possibly be done, and to avoid the destruction of
anything which could possibly be preserved. To prevent the
Church from falling into ruins it was necessary to take down
tottering walls and pillars, but stones were carefully numbered
as they were removed, and replaced in the same situation which
they had previously occupied : and when each column was
set up again on its new foundation of concrete two yards deep,
it was, in fact, the column which the builders of the fifteenth
century had erected restored rather than renovated, and made
good for centuries as they would have wished to see done had
they risen to look on their half-ruined work.

Church restorations are not effected without much expendi-
ture of money, and the expenditure on that at Dursley
amounted to £5,624. 13s. Od., of which one fifth was pro-
vided by the Eector, and the remainder by freely-given con-
tributions of the parishioners and their friends.

The Church is now a goodly structure of size proportioned
to the requirement of its position, and with a Chancel

THE CHURCH AS IT IS.

suitable for the dignified performance of Divine Service
according to those good old principles of the Book of Common
Prayer, which are now so much better understood than they
were in the last century.

It consists of a Nave with North and South Aisles which
take in the small eastern chapels that were formerly screened
off from their eastern end, of a Chancel with a Vestry and
Organ Chamber on the South Side, a Western tower, and a
fine South porch. The dimensions of the building are as
follows : —

Interior.

Exterior.

Ft. In.

Length of Nave

101 8

106 0

„ North Aisle

83 8

89 4

„ South Aisle

70 4

76 0

„ Tanner Chapel

25 0

„ Chancel

33 0

Breadth of Nave and Aisles

60 0

65 8

„ Tanner Chapel

12 8

„ Chancel

19 4

Total length of Church

134 8

140 0

The oldest portion of the Church dates from the fourteenth
century, but this consists only of a single window and a small
part of the wall ; and it may be called a late fifteenth century
Church with an eighteenth century tower, and a Clerestory
and Chancel of recent date. The outer walls are built of the
peculiar "puff" or "tuff" stone which is found in Dursley,
and which was also used for filling in the groined roof of
Gloucester Cathedral and for building the Castle at Berkeley^

1 This peculiar stone is very similar in appearance to the volcanic
" tufa" of the Catacomhs near Rome, but is in reality a crystalline
lime stone of aqueous origin similar to stalactite. It is said to exist
only in two other places, one in Devonshire and the other in Germany-

THE CHURCH AS IT IS. 75

There are no relics of the more ancient Church, with the
exception of a slab of stone lying at the foot of the newell
staircase which leads up to the room over the porch. This is
a portion of a coffin cover on which is incised the head of a
cross, similar to those which are built into the north wall of
the nave at Beverston [page 113]: and it may have formed
part of the floor of the Church in the thirteenth century.

The principal objects of antiquarian interest in the Church
are the three fine sedilia in the north wall of St. Mary's
Aisle, the roof of the Tanner chapel, and the memorial
figure of the founder of that chapel. The monument of
Tanner originally consisted of a table tomb, surmounted by a
canopy of four arches under which lay one of those ghastly
stone corpses which were so commonly used as memorials in
the fifteenth and the earlier half of the sixteenth century.
Similar ones may be seen at Tewkesbury Abbey, Bristol
Cathedral, Winchester, Exeter, and many other churches.
That of Tanner is now headless, the canopy has gone, and
what remains has been built into the sill of the window.
But a leaden plate is let into the stone above the place where
the head has lain, and the inscription upon it shews that the
remains of the generous Pounder whom it commemorates have
been treated with more respect than his monument.

^ -§ This Vault (in which the remains of

•§ iS S TANNEB founder of this Chappie were

i-, ^H t~.

^ CM "^ deposited) was opened & his bones

to a -2 collected & preserved in this place by
1|| W. F. Shrapnell Surgeon

^ "S ANNO 1789.

Notwithstanding the cavities in its substance the Tuff" stone is exceed-
ingly strong and durable ; for though it is softer when taken from the
quarry than ordinary stone, it becomes extremely hard by exposure to
the air.

76 THE SAINTS BELL.

THE BELLS.

Such history of the bells as there is, and it is very little,
belongs to this period. It begins with the payment of
£3. 19. 6. in the year 1639 "for the Sante Bell," and of
Is. 6d. for " bringing the Sante bell." The original purpose
of the Sancte, Sanctus, or Sainte, bell, was that of warning
persons outside the Church that the most solemn part of the
Communion Service was commencing, that which is called
"the Canon," or the portion associated with the Consecration.1
This part of the Service was introduced by the Preface and
the Ter Sanctus, and thus the Latin word for our " Holy,
Holy, Holy," which is Sanctus, became the Christian name of
this member of the Bell family : the English form of it being
" Saints Bell," meaning not any personal Saints but the
Three Saints or Sancts of the Seraphic Hymn. But when
the Sante Bell was put up in its turret or " cote " at the east
end of the South Aisle of Dursley Church in 1639, it was
probably intended to be used for ringing in the " two or
three " who " gathered together " to the daily services.
This purpose is illustrated by the familiar passage in Barnabas
Oley's Life of George Herbert, who died in 1633, six years
before, that " he brought most of his parishioners and many
gentlemen in the Neighbourhood constantly to make a part of
his congregation twice a day : and some of the meaner sort
of his Parish did so love and reverence Mr. Herbert that they
would let their plough rest when Mr. Herbert's Saint's bell
rang out to prayers, that they might also offer their devotions
to God with him ; and would then return back to their

1 The " Sacring Bell " was a small hand bell kept on one of the
Altar steps and rung at the time of the actual consecration, the words
of " sacring," or consecration, being said in so low a voice that
without this warning the congregation would not have known when
it took place. At Brokenborough in Wiltshire, not more than 12
miles from Dursley, there was a little peal of eighteen bells rung by
one wheel for this purpose.

THE SAINTS BELL. 77

plough." It was also used as a "Sermon bell" in the
afternoon when Sermons were not common at that time of the
day, or for the young people to come to the • Catechizing : a
large bell being first rung or tolled for some time and then
the "ting-tang" for five or ten minutes.1 This use of such
a bell is curiously mentioned in the Life of John Bold, who
was Vicar of Stoney Stanton in Leicestershire, for the first
half of the eighteenth century. "I have often" said an old
man to his biographer " at the ringing of the bell on Saturday
afternoon, left my plough for half an hour for instruction,
and afterwards returned to it again." And another said,
" Ah, Sir, that was a fine team I drove when I was young :
but, Sir, whenever the Church bell rang at three o'clock on
Saturday afternoon I always left my team when at plough to
come to Mr. Bold to be catechized, and then went back again
to plough."

It was probably the use of the bell for daily service by
Archdeacon Robinson which led to its removal from the beli-
cote when Puritan influence gained the ascendancy in
Dursley ; for in 1646 it is found in the Parish Chest and
entered as "on saynts bell" in the Inventories until 1694.
It was pawned for £l. 5. 9. in 1647 under the following
order of the Vestry. " It is orderede by the p'ish that Jo.
Tilladame and Edmond Perett to keepe the Saints bell till
they be payd on pound and five shillings and 9d : wch they

1 So a contemporary writer describes the use of a Sermon bell at
Durham before the Reformation. " Every Sonnday in the yere there
•was a sermon preched in the Galleley [of the Cathedral] at afternonne
from one on the clocke till iij ; and at xij of the clock the great bell
of the Galleley was toulled, every Sonndaie iij quarters of an houre,
and roung the forth quarter till one of the clock, that all the people
of the towne might have warnyng to come and here the worde of God
preched." [Rites of Durham, Surtees Soc. ed. p. 33.]

The "ting- tang" between the Nave and Chancel is always rung
for the last five minutes before Service begins at Over near
Cambridge.

78 CASTING NEW BELLS.

have layd oute in theire office of Churchwardens betwix this
and $$l Mychell the Archangell." In 1694 we come to the
end of its history in the entry " Recevid for ye Saints Bell "
£2. 2. 6.

In the same year in which the Sancte Bell was put up,
1639, a new ring of bells was cast out of the old ones and
new metal : and curiously enough the casting seems to have
taken place on the spot and not at a hell-foundry.

The first notice of this is the entry of a sum of 7s. Id.
" Paid for mr Purdie's expenses when he was sent for about
the bells." The bell doctor seems at first to have tried an
inexpensive cure for a cracked bell, for this is a subsequent
entry, " It. pd to Pardy for cutting the peece out of the bell,
0. 0. 6 : " but a sixpenny remedy was not one likely to prove
satisfactory, and so on the next page begins the record of " a
Rate of Thirty four months pay for and towards the settinge
up of the bells and other necessary reparations of the Church."
This "rate" was a noble parochial assessment towards the
new ring of bells, for out of £129 collected, about £120
was used (with other money) for that purpose alone. The
highest amount given by one person was £7. 18. 8., the sum
which stands against the name of " Ann Purnell widd. : "
the lowest amount was five shillings. In addition to the
legal assessment thus agreed upon, and for which 76 names
are down, there is also another account of " More received
of those yt paid of ffree gifte towards ye settinge upp
of or bells." This additional subscription amounted to
£15. 7. 10, being made by 45 persons, among whom are
" my lord Bishop " and " Doer Robinson " the Archdeacon
and Rector.

The greater part of the sum thus collected was placed at
once in the hands of the bell founder, the first entry in respect

1 The Puritans objected to calling any one " Saints " but them-
selves. For themselves they used the name constantly.

COST OF CASTING THE BELLS. 79

to money " Disbursed and laide out towards the settinge up
of ye bells and otber things thereunto belonginge," l being
" Paid unto Roger Purdy and unto Mr. Knowles for the use
of Purdy for mettell and for castinge and for frames
13611 Os Od

The next entry shews that the belfry was used as the local
and temporary bell foundry, the Churchwardens having
" Paid unto Edward Harrell for the p'tition betwixt ye Church
and bellfree 0. 16. 0." Then this financial "Song of the
Bell" has a few stanzas which indicate the progress made
though unfortunately without any indication of dates beyond
that of the year, and Gunpowder Treason day, when doubt-
less the bellfounders held high festival.

li s d

gave to ye bellfounders at the running of ye bells 036
paid for carryinge the mettell unto ye pitt . . . . 0 3 0
paid at ye bringinge downe of ye bells . . . . 0 2 0

Spent when the bells were weighed 0 5 0

Spent uppon the 5th of November 010 8

paid for massons worke 0 6 6

paid for bell ropes 0 8 9

paid for a Corde 0 0 3

paid to Morris Leauis for makings Cleane the

% Bellfree when the bells were to be rung ..010
laid out for breade and beare and horsemeate uppon

nir Knowles when he reed his last money ..014
gave to the bellfounders at ye making ye moulds 006
Paide to James Prince for ye lock and Jemells for

ye p'tition doore between ye Church and

bellfree and for nayles 0 0 6

Paide for Nayles for ye Clockhowse 0 0 6

Paide to Richard Oliver for mendinge the Clocke

and other Iron worke about ye bells . . . . 4 0 0

1 But these " disbursements " include the customary expenses
entered in the annual accounts.

80 RINGING FOR VICTORIES.

li s d
Paidc to Edwarde Harrell for ye Alterringe of ye

Clockhowse 0 5 0

Item paid for five bell ropes and for cariage of them

from Dorchester 010 8

Strange to say, although hefore this re-casting of the hells
there are regular entries of payments for ringing them, no
such payments appear from that time until the Restoration.
Here and there are charges for a hell rope and for repairing
the wheel of the great hell, hut it seems as if the trade of
the ringers was gone and the hells were silenced for nearly
twenty years, during the reign of Puritanism. Then comes
an entry in 1661 of an event that set the heart of England
heating with joy like the heart of a man who finds that he
has come to his right mind after twenty years' madness, " pd
to the Ringers at ye Coronation day. .0. 5. 0."

A few more entries may be noticed as referring to events
of national interest. In 1689 the Churchwardens paid one
shilling and sixpence on beer for the ringers when the Seven
Bishops were liberated from the Tower of London: three
shillings on Thanksgiving day for the Prince of Orange : and
seven shillings when he was proclaimed King in the place of
James II. In 1707 there is an entry of five shillings paid
for ringing at the Duke of Marlborough's victory of Ramillies,
and in 17.08 a similar payment was made at the Thanksgiving
for the victory of Oudenarde ; and another " for the victory in
Flanders."

The last entries of special interest which are connected
with the bells are those which record that in 1716 the parish
" Pd to the ringers for routing the rebells " four shillings,
" when the Pretender fled from Scotland " six shillings, and
half-a-crown for "some good news" which the Churchwardens
do not seem to have been able more accurately to define.

The bells now in the tower are eight in number. They are
all inscribed " T. Mears of London fecit 1824." and on the
tenor is the further inscription "Edward "Wellington and
James Young Churchwardens."

EECTOES OF DURSLEY. 81

THE RECTORS OF DURSLEY.

Robert Morton 1482 — 6. A nephew of Cardinal Morton.
Prebendary of Lincoln. Archdeacon of Win-
chester and York as well as of Gloucester.
Became Bishop of Worcester in 1487, died in
1497, and was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral.

John Dunmow 1487 — 8.

Simon Clement 1488 — 9. Was also Archdeacon of Worcester.

John de Gyglis 1489 — 97. An Italian who, with his brother
and successor at Worcester, received the profits
of English preferments and lived at Rome.
He was also Archdeacon of London. Became
Bishop of Worcester in 1497, and died at Rome
in 1498.

Geoffrey Blythe 1497—1503. Was also Dean of York.
Provost of King's College, Cambridge, Pre-
bendary of St. Paul's, and Archdeacon of
Salisbury. He became Bishop of Lichfield in
1503, and dying in 1530 was buried in his
Cathedral.

Thomas Ruthal 1503 — 1509. Was also Dean of Salisbury,
and became Bishop of Durham in 1509. He
was buried at Westminster with the title
" Secretary to Henry VII." on his tomb.
Ruthal was a Cirencester man, and the grand
Parish Church there was built at his expense.
But there is no record that he ever did any-
thing for Dursley, though he was a" great
builder, and though he was worth the enormous
.. sum of £100,000 — to be multiplied by at least
twelve for our money — shortly before his death.

Peter Carmelian 1511 — 18. He was a man of considerable
importance ; being Latin Secretary to Henry

82 RECTORS OF DURSLEY.

the Seventh, and having matters of state en-
trusted to his management. He was also Poet
Laureate, and some of his poems are among
the very earliest works printed in England by
Rood, Caxton, and Pynson. He was unlike
most other authors in being very rich ; having
been able in 1522 to contribute £333. 6. 8.
towards the expenses of the King in France,
a sum not far off £4,000 of modern money.

John Bell 1518 — 39. He succeeded Latimer in the Bishopric
of Worcester in 1539, and d)ing in 1543 was
buried in Clerkenwell Church.

Nicholas Wotton 1540 — 44. Was also Dean of Canterbury
and York, being the only person who ever held
these two Metropolitical Deaneries together.
He was constantly employed in affairs of state
by Henry VIII., Edward VI., Queen Mary,
and Queen Elizabeth : and was said to have
refused the Archbishopric of Canterbury.

Guy Eaton 1544 — 54. Left England on accession of Queen
Mary.

John Williams 1554 — 58. Was also Chancellor and Pre-
bendary of Gloucester.

Guy Eaton 1559 — 75. Returned on accession of Queen
Elizabeth.

George Savage 1575 — 1602. Was also a member of the High
Court of Commission, and in 1580 was ap-
pointed Commissary for his Metropolitical
Visitation by Archbishop Whitgift.

Robert Hill 1602—1607. Was also Rector of Tedington.

Samuel Burton 1607 — 34. Was also Rector of Dry Marston
for 36 years : and lies there in the Chancel with
an inscription which states that he was Arch-
deacon to five Bishops of Gloucester.

EECTOES OF DUESLEY. 83

Hugh Robinson 1634 — 45. "Was turned out by the Puritans
and made to ride from Dursley to Gloucester
with his face to the horse's tail. He was
buried in St. Giles in the Fields.

Yacant 1645 — 60. Jos : Woodward appears as Minister for
part of the time. Henry Stubbs was his
assistant, and succeeded him. Stubbs was per-
mitted to hold the benefice of Horsley, though
not in holy orders, until 1678, and dying in
London in that year was buried in Bunhill
Fields. His funeral sermon was preached by
his friend and "unworthy fellow- servant,
Richard Baxter," and is in print.

John Middleton 1660—62. "Was also Rector of Hamnell
where he was buried.

Edward Pope 1662—71. Was also Rector of Walton on the
Hill, Surrey, where he lies buried.

John Gregory 1671 — 78. Was also Rector of Hempsted,
where he lies buried.

Thomas Hyde 1679—1703. Was also Professor of Hebrew
at Oxford, and was buried at Handborough.

Robert Parsons 1703 — 1714. Was also Rector of Oddington,
where he lies buried.

Nathaniel Lye 1714 — 37. Was also Prebendary of Gloucester
and of Bristol, and Rector of Kemerton. Was
buried in St. Michael's, Gloucester, in the 90th
year of his age.

William Geekie 1738 — 67. Was also Prebendary of Canter-
bury and of St. Paul's.

Richard Hurd 1767 — 74. Became Bishop of Lichfield and
afterwards of Worcester.

James Webster 1774 — 1804. He was also Vicar of Much
Cowarne in Herefordshire, and Perpetual Curate
of Stroud. His wife was a niece of Bishop
Warburton ; and Warburton's much loved

G 2

84 RECTORS AND CURATES OF DURSLEY.

sister, Frances, lived at the Rectory after her
brother's insanity had become hopeless until
her death in 1780 There seems to have been
much affectionate intercourse between the
Bishop and the Archdeacon, although War-
burton held one of his fiercest of all fierce
controversies with the Archdeacon's father.
Archdeacon Webster, with his wife, two
daughters, and Miss Warburton, was buried
in the Chancel of the Church, and their monu-
ment is now on the South wall of the Nave.

Timothy Stonehouse Viger 1804—1814.

Thomas Budge 1814—25.

John Timbrill 1825—65 Was also Vicar of Beckford. He
was the last Archdeacon of Gloucester who
was Rector of Dursley.

George Madan 1865 —

CREATES IN ACTUAL PASTORAL CHARGE OF DtJBSLEY.

1618 Samuel Hallo wes.

1653 Jos. Underwood [Puritan minister].

1662 Henry Stubbs [Puritan minister].

1662 — 70 James Whiting.

1670 — 84 Edward Towgood [ — Edwards, — ffortune

1686 — 1703 John Elliott. — Hanley, Lecturers

1703—1705 William Evans with Mr. Towgood].

1705—1709 Richard Millechamp [Rector of Rudford].

1709 — 1710 John Jackson.

1710 — 1715 Edward Turner, Vicar of Cam, called on his

Cam monument " sometime Vicar of Dursley."
1715 — 1737 Daniel Capel, buried in Dursley Church.
1737 — 1764 Charles Wallington, also Vicar of Frampton,

buried in Dursley Church.
1764 — 1775 Thomas Gregory.

CHURCHWARDENS OF DURSLEY.

CHURCHWARDENS OF THE PARISH CHURCH FROM THE
YEAR 1841.

William Cox Buchanan 1841 — 2

Charles King 1841—2

John Vizard 1842—7

William Champion 1842—3

John Tilton 1843—4

William Harris 1844—5

Eobert Blandford 1845—6

Joseph Cooper Player 1846 — 7

Edward Bloxsome, jun. 1847 — 8

Charles Hamilton 1847 — 8

George Vizard 1848—9

Joseph Shellard 1848—51

Robert John Purnell 1849—51

Henry Bishop 1851—4

William Tyrrell 1851—3

John Owen 1853 — 4

Edward Parker Shute 1854 — 6

Isaac Gardner 1854 — 6

William John Phelps 1856—7

Thomas Blackney 1856—9

William Philip Want 1857—9

Thomas Morse 1859 — 61

Frederick Vizard 1859 — 61

Fitzherbert White 1861—2

Eichard Gam 1861 — 3

Isaac Gardner 1862 — 3

Henry Owen 1863 — 6

Daniel Crump 1863—6

John Vizard 1866—70

James Whitmore 1866 — 68

William Richards 1868—71

George Leonard 1870 — 2

George Ayliffe 1871—3

Thomas Trewren Vizard 1872 — 6

George Wenden 1873 — 6

86 D.URSLEY CHARITIES.

DURSLEY CHARITIES.

The following Notes on the Charity Endowments of
Dursley are abstracted from the Tables in the Church, from
the Charity Commissioners' Report of 1827, and from the
Churchwardens' Register.

A.D. 1 450. MB. SPILLMAN of Spillman's Court, Gloucester-
shire, and others, about the year 1450, gave an estate
called Oxlease, in Standish, then valued at £50 a year,
for the benefit of the poor. This was reduced to £4 a
year, after a suit in Chancery, the decree of the Court
being in issue in 1624. [See Ch. Com. Rep. 328.]
Traces of this charity are to be found in the Church-
wardens' Register under the name of " the Oxlidge
money."

A.D. 1495. RICHARD YATE and THOMAS WHITHYFOHD gave
the "Church House" and the "Torch Acre" to the
parishioners of Dursley, and in 1654 the proceeds were
applied to the repair of the Church ; a chief rent being
paid to the Lord of the Manor. In the Report of the
Charity Commissioners this benefaction is described as
" a burgage or tenement, now known by the name of the
Church House, with the gardens and grounds thereto
adjoining, within the borough town of Dursley next the
highway there, leading towards Woodmancote, on the
south side, and to the churchyard of Dursley on the
north side." — It is " now used as the parish poor-house."
The Report further states that it was- the gift of RICHARD
FYNNIMORE and THOMAS HEVEN for the repairs of the
Church. The original Deed of this benefaction was lost
in the seventeenth century, but a new Deed of Charles
the Second's reign is among the papers in the Parish
Chest.

DURSLEY CHARITIES. 87

A.D. 1603. "Mr. Atwel's

Letts Jesus

The towne of Dursley

" I geive to dursley thirtie three shillings and iiijd for ever
to keepe the poore at worke the gaine the poores to be
disposed by the master and officers of the town and
p'ishe or els such as they shall thinke fitt, for the true
disposition thereof. Yor friende and wellwisher Hughe
Atwell p'son of St Kewe in cornwell In times past
p'son of Camberlye in Devonshire.

I pray returne yor letts wth sume of yor names and
seale of the truthe for the true receivinge therof."
[From the Churchwardens' Register. ,]

A.D. 1617. The "Almshouses" are said to have been given
to the Parish at this date. But entries of a chief rent
paid for them to Mr. Webb are extant as early as 1566
in the Churchwardens' Register.

A.D. 1637. HUGH SMITH of Dursley, mason, gave three
tenements, part of the Broadwell House, to the poor,
and 40s. as stock, the use of it for the Church.

" The Coppy of the Contents of the Last Will and

Testament of Hugh Smith of Dursley deceased

bearinge date the first daye of January 1637.

Concerninge his gift by his said will to the use of

the Church and poor of the p'ish of Dursley.

Item. I give and bequeath to the use of the poore

Inhabitants of the towne and p'ish of Dursley for ever a

parte of the Broadwell house that is the three Tenements

that John Roac Thomas Adeane and Agnes Gilles nowe

dwell in payeinge yearelye four pounds rente to Richard

Smith and his heires and the rents and proffitts of these

three Tennements from tyme to tyme to be att the

disposeinge of the Churchwardens and Overseers and to

88 DURSLEY CHARITIES.

be bestowed on such poore people as they in theire
discretion shall see most fitt to have it.
It, I give fforty shillings to bee keepte by the Church-
wardens from tyme to tyme as a stocke the use of it to
bee bestowed on the Church and alsoe I give Twenty
Shillings to the poore to be bestowed presentlye."
[From the Churchwardens' Register. .]

A.D. 1642. The rent of certain houses in Tetbury was
given by SIR THOMAS ESTCOTJET, 40s. for a lecture to be
delivered four times a year at Tetbury, and the rest for
the poor of Tetbury and Dursley equally. The amount
for Dursley was fixed by a Chancery decree at £10 a
year. In 1857 the Lord of the Manor offered to give
up all his Manorial rights in the town of Dursley to the
inhabitants if they would obtain a Charter of Incor-
poration. They wished first to be released from this
Eent Charge, and this not being done the proposal fell
through.

A.D. 1663. THMOGMORTON TROTMAN of London, gave to
the Haberdashers' Company £2000 to produce £100 a
year, £15 of which was for giving a lecture "on the
market days or some other day " at Dursley, and if
that be not allowed, to the poor there.

A.D. 1678. HENRY STTJBBS gave ten shillings yearly,
chargeable on land in Horsley, for the purchase of Bibles
and Primers. This Benefaction is entered in the Church-
wardens' Register for many years, but is now lost.

A.D. 1703. JOHN ARTJNDELL, Clothier, gave an acre " lying
upon Breakneck " in Cam, the rent to be applied to
buying books to teach poor children of Dursley to read
English.

A.D. 1769. JACOB STIFF, Cardmaker, gave £30, the
interest to be laid out at Christmas in bread, for widows
and other poor people in Dursley.

DURSLEY CHARITIES. 89

A.D. 1781. In accordance with a previous will of MES.
ANN PTJBNELL, a piece of pasture land called " New
Invention" in Cam, was charged, after a deduction of
£3. 4. 6. yearly, with the annual sums of 10s. to the
minister for a sermon on New Year's Day, 30s. to forty
widows, 10s. to the minister for a sermon on Good
Friday afternoon, and the rest to the same purposes as
Stubbs' Charity.

A.D. 1781. In accordance with the previous will of NATHL.
LAWSON, clothier, a piece of pasture land in Cam, called
" Martha Nelmes's leaze," about two acres, was given
to provide bread at Christmas for the poor of Dursley.

A.D. 1791. SAMUEL ADET gave £100 to the Gloucester
Infirmary, on condition that it should receive two in-
patients from Dursley annually, and £100, the interest
to be distributed in bread four times a year to the poor
of Dursley who regularly attend Divine Service.

A.D. 1798. SAMUEL PHILLIMOEE gave £150 to be invested
in real property, one-third of the rent of which was to
be given in bread at Easter to the poor.

A.D. 1811. RICHARD JONES of Dursley gave —

1. £250 consols to the Gloucester Infirmary, on con-

dition that it receive one in-patient and two out-
patients annually from Dursley.

2. A similar sum to the Bath Hospital, on the same

conditions.

3. £450 consols to repew the Church, which was done

in 1825.

4. £300 stock for the Boys' Sunday School.

5. £300 stock for the Girls' ditto.

6. Other sums (amounting to £700 stock, Char. Comm.

Report,) for four friendly societies of Dursley.
A.D. 1836. JOHN HAEVEY OLLNET of Cheltenham, Lieut.-
Col., gave £300 to be invested, for coals and blankets
for the poor of Dursley at Christmas.

90 DURSLEY CHARITIES.

A.D. 1837. THOMAS GREGORY, apothecary of Dursley, gave

£50 to be invested, for bread on St. Stephen's day.
A.D. 1863. The EEV. R. JERMYN COOPER, Rector of West
Chiltington, Sussex, gave £100 consols, for soup to be
given away in January and February.
A.D. 1854. GEORGE VIZARD of Dursley, banker, gave £200,
the interest to be expended in bedding and clothing for
the poor of Dursley.
A.D. 1834. HENRY VIZARD gave the National School house

and ground, and the Master's residence.
2 In 1843, he gave four cottages and a building in
Bower's Court for establishing and supporting an
Infant School, and endowed it with £1000

3. In 1853, he gave six cottages and gardens for alms-

houses for three men and three women, and £2000
as an endowment, to be spent in repairs, payment
of taxes, and allowance to the inmates.

4. In 1855, he gave £200 to the Gloucester Infirmary,

on condition that it should admit one in-patient
and one out-patient annually from Dursley.

5. In 1856, he gave £500, for blankets and clothing

for the poor on St. Stephen's day.

WOODMANCOTE.

The town of Dursley extends itself eastward in a long
suburb which is supposed to have been originally called
Wodemancote from being the residence of the officer who
had charge of the vast woods which formerly grew in this
district.

This Manor has always been separate from that of Dursley,
and was for some time part of the great possessions of the
Berkeley s of Beverston. It does not appear in Domesday
Book, nor among the estates of the Berkeleys of Berkeley,
and its history before the thirteenth century is unknown.
About 1220 it was in the possession of the De Gaunts of
Beverston, Maurice de Gaunt having then made a grant of
land in the township to the Nuns of Clerkenwell. [See p. 32.]
That Lord of Beverston forfeited many of his Manors to the
Crown, and probably Woodmancote was one of them, for in
1325 it was held by Robert de Swineburne. It was pur-
chased again for the Berkeley family by Thomas, Lord
Berkeley, who also purchased Beverston from the Ap Adams.
It was held by his son, Sir John Berkeley of Beverston, and
by the descendants of that Knight, until 1557, when Sir John
Berkeley sold it to Henry Lambert, a merchant of London.
It continued for a century in the Lambert family, but they
parted with it in 1670 to John Arundel, whose descendants
again sold it, in 1736, to John de la Field Phelps, the head

92 CHAPELWARDENS OF ST. MARK'S.

of a Dursley family, some particulars of which are given in
the genealogical table below *

In 1847 St. Mark's Chapel of Ease was built on land
given by Mr. Henry Vizard, whose liberality also was largely
shewn in its endowment : but it has no special features
of archaeological interest that need description. It is part of
the Rectory of Dursley, but has wardens of its own, of
whom the following is a list : —

George Vizard 1847—8 John Hurndall, sen. 1851—8

Edward Bloxsome, jun, 1847 — 8 John Chas. Bengough 1858—9
Henry Vizard 1848—61 William Philip Want 1859—61

Henry Bishop 1848—9 Edward Wallington 1861—76

Edward A. Freeman 1849—50 John Vizard 1861—72

John Rotton 1840—1 William Cornock 1872—76

1 PHELPS of Dudley.

Thomas Phelps= Marianne
buried at Dursley I
U Feb., 1647. |

Thomas = Elizabeth "Williams
buried 20 Mar., I
1701. |

Thomas = Abigail Mayo
buried 12 April, I
1718. |

Thomas = Mary Arundcll
buried 29 April, I
1735.

John = Elizabeth Fowler
J.P. County of I
Gloucester,
buried 1755. |

John Delafleld Phelps=Esther Gully
High Sheriff in 1761 and J.P. |

John Delafleld Phelps, J.P. Rev. James Phelps= Marianne Blagden Hale
d. s. p. Dec. 19, 1842. buried April, 1829. |

William John

of Chestal, Dursley,

J.P. High Sheriff in 1860.

ARMS — Quarterly First Per Pale Or and Arg. a Wolf salient Az.
between semee of Cross-Crosslets fitchy gu., for PHELPS. Second
the coat of FOWLER. Third the coat of FIELD. Fourth Arg. three
pales gu. a Chief Peau, for GULLY.

CREST — On a wreath a Wolf's head Az. langued and erased gu.
collared Or. thereon a Marblet sa.

MOTTO — Frangas non fiectas.

DURSLEY AND SHAKESPEARE. 93

DURSLEY AND SHAKESPEARE.

There is some reason for thinking that the great poet of
England was once a resident in the town of Dursley, and that
members of his family lived there down to recent times.

" Some passages in his writings shew an intimate acquaint-
ance with Dursley, and the names of its inhabitants. In
the Second Part of Henry IV., act v. sc. 1, ' Gloucestershire,'
Davy says to Justice Shallow — ' I beseech you, Sir, to counte-
nance William Visor of Woncot, against Clement Perkes on
the Hill.' This Woncot, as Mr. Stevens, the commentator,
supposes in a note to another passage in the same play (act v.,
sc. 3) is Woodmancot, still pronounced by the common people
" Womcot," a township in the parish of Dursley. This
Township lies at the foot of Stinchcombe Hill, still emphati-
cally called " The Hill " in that neighbourhood on account of
the magnificent panorama which it commands ; and of which
a correct idea may be formed from the sketch map given at the
beginning of this volume. On Stinchcombe Hill there is the
site of a house wherein a family named " Purchase," or
" Perkis," once lived : and it is reasonable to conclude that
Perkis of Stinchcombe Hill is identical with " Clement
Perkes of the Hill." The family of Visor were also un-
doubted ancestors of the Dursley family known in more
recent times by the name of Vizard.1 (See next page.)

In addition to these coincidences, we must mention the fact
that a family named Shakespeare formerly resided in Dursley
and the neighbourhood. James Shakespeare was buried at
Bisley on March 13th, 1570. Edward, son of John and
Margery Shakespurre was baptized at Beverston on September
19th, 1619 [See p. 136]. The parish register of Dursley
records that Thomas Shakespeare, weaver, was married to
Joan Turner on March 3rd, 1677-8, and that they had
children baptized by the name of Edward on July 1st, 1681,

94 DURSLEY AND SHAKESPEARE.

Mary on August 28th, 1682, Thomas on March 1st, 1685,
and Mary on December 27th, 1691. The Churchwardens'
Register also shews that there was a mason in Dursley named
John Shakespeare in 1704, and down to 1739, that Thomas
Shakespeare had a "seat-place" assigned to him in 1739,
and that Betty Shakespeare received poors' money from 1747
to 1754. Some of this family " still exist as small free-
holders, in the adjoining parish of Newington Bagpath, and
claim kindred with the poet."

To this it may he added that a pathway in the woods near
the town is traditionally known as " Shakespeare's walk ; "
and that Shakespeare's description of " a wild prospect in
Gloucestershire," which takes in a view of Berkeley Castle

1 VIZARD of Dursley.

Arthur Vizard = Joan
Gent., Bailiff of I
Dursley in 1612. |

Jerome = Mary
ob. Jan., 1670. |

Jerome = Mary Mynett
ob. Dec., 1711. |

John = Hannah Hughes
ob. Ap., 1731. I

John = Isabella Cornock
of Stancombe, I
ob. Ap., 1752. I

William = Ann Phelps
ob. 14 Feb., 1807. |

John = Anna Maria Weight
ob. 22 Jan., 1814. |

John = Mary Leigh Scott

Mary =Eev. O. A.M. Litle Thomas Trewren Frances Alice Arthur

and
Maria Cordelia

ARMS — Per fesse argent and gules a fesse ingrailed per fesse azure
and or between three Esquire's helmets proper in the centre chief
point a cross crosslet of the second.

CREST — On a wreath of the colours issuant out of Palisadoes or., a
demi-Hind regardant vulned in the neck and holding between the
pawa an arrow the point downwards.

MOTTO — Cassis tutissima Virtus.

DURSLEY FAIRS AND MARKETS. 95

exactly answers to the view on which the eye still rests
when the spectator is standing on Stinchcombe Hill, although
cultivation has made it somewhat less " wild " than in
Elizabethan or Jacobean days.

" How far is it, my lord, to Berkeley, now ?
North. — I am a stranger here in Gloucestershire ;

These high wild hills and rough uneven ways
Draw out our miles, and make them wearisome."
"But I bethink me, what a weary way
From Ravenspurg to Cotswold will be found
In Ross and Willoughby wanting your company," &c.
Enter to them Harry Percy, whom Northumberland
addresses : —

" How far is it to Berkeley ? And what stir
Keeps good old York there, with his men of war ?
Hotspur. — There stands the castle by yon tuft of trees."

[Rich. II. ij. 3.]

From these scraps of evidence — which are chiefly taken
from a Note at page 21 of the Rev. Richard Webster
Huntley's "Glossary of the Cotswold Dialect" — it is not
unreasonable to conclude that Shakespeare may have lived
among his friends in or near Dursley during the unaccounted-
for interval between his removal from Warwickshire and his
appearance in London.

Addition to foot note at page 9.

The Market Tolls were granted to Nicholas Wykes and his heirs
by Letters Patent of Henry VIII., dated November 12th, 1528, and
to Sir Thomas Estcourt in 1612. Both the Market House and Tolls
were purchased in 1840 of Thomas Grimston Bucknall Estcourt, Esq.,
the then Lord of the Manor, by Mr. Henry Vizard, who by Deed of
Gift dated Dec. 6, 1841, and enrolled in Chancery on April 11, 1842,
conveyed the same to seven Trustees for the benefit of the town, but

96 DTTRSLEY FAIRS AND MARKETS.

on Dec. 28th. 1849, the Markets and Fairs held in Dursley were
declared free from Toll, by a resolution passed at a special meeting
of the Bailiff and Aldermen.

The Market day is Thursday in every week. The Fairs were
anciently held on St. Mark's Day, April 25th, and St. Clement's Day,
November 23rd, but in recent times they have been held on May 6th
and December 4th.

Addition to Berkeley pedigree at page 1.
ARMS — Arg. a fess between three martlets sa.

BEYERSTON.

THE little village of Beverston lies on the south-western
decline of the high lands dignified with the name of
the Cotswold Hills, a few miles from the point where their
last slope dies away in the vale of Malmesbury. There runs
through it an old turnpike-road from South "Wales and the
Stroudwater manufacturing district to Tetbury, Malmesbury,
and Cirencester, but this has long been superseded by a
railway which passes along the valleys from Gloucester
to Swindon, so that Beverston is now unknown except to
those who are familiar with the out-of-the-way places of
that part of Gloucestershire. The village itself consists at the
present time of twenty-eight houses, including the Rectory
and two farm-houses, but it was once of considerable size,
large enough to have a market of its own ; and, according to
local tradition, nearly as large as the neighbouring town of
Tetbury. "What little importance it formerly possessed has
entirely passed away, but the source of that importance is
still to be observed in the ivy-clad ruins of a fine old Castle
standing on the north side of the high road, and tempting
enquiry as to its history from the passer-by.

That history begins more than eight hundred years ago ;
in the days before the Normans, those great builders of
castles, had gained any footing in England except as friends
and guests. The name indicates that the place originally
belonged to some gentleman or nobleman who owned the
name of Bever, for Bever's Ton is simply the township or

98 BEVERSTON.

manor of Bever.1 Who the owner of the name was, whether
English (so-called "Anglo-Saxon") or Norman, is a fact
yet to be drawn out of darkness of the pre-historic ages.
The name is still known in Gloucestershire, and is familiar
to the readers of Early English history as that of a chronicler
of the 13th century, Bever "of Westminster" or "of
London." The probability is, that the original Bever was
a Norman gentleman who had settled in England during the
twenty years or so which preceded the Conquest, when many
such gentry came over to better themselves under the pro-
tection of Emma, the Norman queen successively of Ethelred
and Canute, and subsequently under that of her son Edward
the Confessor. For it was the custom of these immigrant
gentry to build castles on the lands granted to them, and their
castles were not unfrequently called after their names.
\_Ang. Sax Chron. A.B. 1052.] The settlement of Normans
in the district previously to the Conquest is easily accounted
for by the fact that Gloucester was a favourite residence of
Edward the Confessor.

1 The name of Bever appears, oddly enough, as the name of a
witness to the signatures of the Squire and the Rector in the Tithe
award of the Parish, which is dated in 1804.

Leland, and those who have copied him, supposed the name of
" Beverstone," as they wrote it, to be derived from certain " great
blue stones " which tradition states to have been once quarried in the
parish. No trace now exists of such stones, but a field called " Broad
Stones " is situated about a quarter of a mile west of the Castle.
Another explanation of the name is that it was simply Burestan, or
" Stone Tower," and this is the way in which it is spelt in Doomsday.
The final " e " was seldom used until the latter half of the seventeenth
century. It is not used in the Episcopal records, and it is omitted on
several tombstones.

A learned Gloucestershire archaeologist, Canon Lysons, suggests to
me that Beuer, according to the Promptorium Parvulorum means a
drinking, and that thus Beurestan may mean a place for the growth
of beer, that is of Barley. It is said by old labourers that there used
formerly to be a " terrible lot " of barley grown on the Manor.

BEVERSTON. 99

During the reign of Edward the Confessor Beverston is
associated with the names of Earl Godwin and his sons by the
medieval chroniclers. It probably passed into the possession
of Sweyn, Earl of Gloucester, on the outlawry of the Normans
from England in A.D. 1052. \_-Ang. Sax. Chron. adann. 1052.]
He was the most bitter of all the Godwins in his antipathy
to the " Frenchmen " [Frencisc men], and is said by the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to have been restored by Edward to
estates of which they had gained possession, of which Bever-
ston may have been one.

In the national movement which that great Englishman,
Earl Godwin, organized against the dangerous Norman
favourites of Edward, three armies marched from the respec-
tive Earldoms of himself and his two sons l to a rendezvous at
Beverston, where they met early in September, 105 1.2 It

1 Godwin was Earl of Wessex, Sussex, and Kent ; Sweyn his
eldest son was Earl of Gloucester, Hereford, Somerset, Oxford, and
Berkshire ; Harold his younger son was Earl of East Anglia, Hunt-
ingdon, and Middlesex.

2 " Then came Godwin the Earl, and Swegen the Earl and Harold
the Earl, to Beverston, and many men with them, in order that they
might go to their royal lord. [Ang. Sax. Chron. ad ann. 1048.]

" Godwin and his sons alone, who knew that they were suspected,
not deeming it prudent to be present unarmed, halted with a strong
force at Beverston, giving out that he had assembled an army to
restrain the Welsh .... and a rumour prevailed that the King's army
would attack them in that very place." \_WilliamofMalm. § 198.]

"Godwin and his sons, and their respective armies, came to
Gloucestershire after the feast of St. Mary's Nativity" [Sept. 8th],
" encamped at a place called Langtree, and sent ambassadors to the
King at Gloucester, threatening war unless he gave up Earl Eustace
and his companions, and also the Normans and Bolognese who held a
Castle in Dovercliff. . . . The King's army was so excited that if he
would have permitted they would immediately have attacked Earl
Godwin's army." [Florence of Wore, ad ann. lOol.]

The account given by Florence of Worcester is reproduced by
Simeon of Durham, with the same date.

H 2

100 BEVERSTON.

appears from the nearly comtemporary chroniclers and from
tradition that the armies united at some place near to Bever-
ston and then formed an encampment at TJley Bury, the
Castle at Beverston being occupied as the head quarters of
the Earls. TJley Bury is a strong Roman encampment about
five miles west of Beverston on the road to Gloucester ; and
is in the hundred of Longtree (of which Tetbury is the
principal town) although Beverston itself is in the hundred
of Berkeley. Rudder says that "some accounts expressly
say that they seized upon the Castle of Beverston " but he
gives no authority.

The policy of Edward and his advisers, and the for-
bearance of Godwin, led to the rapid dispersion of the army
of the latter, and to the retirement of himself and his sons
from England. He was pardoned and restored to his estates
in the following year, but died immediately after his return
to England. Sweyn was permanently outlawed, and was
murdered by a band of Saracens on his return from a pil-
grimage to Jerusalem. By the outlawry his estates were, of
course, confiscated to the Crown, and thus Beverston is
entered as Crown property in Doomsday book, which was
compiled in 1086, forty years after the three Earls had
assembled their forces there to menace the Normanized Court
at Gloucester.

This entry credits Edward the Confessor and "William the
Conqueror with ten hides of land in the parish. — " In Bure-
stane x hid" — a quantity amounting to about 1200 acres.
The present area of the parish is 2139, of which 1715
are arable land. It is probably of the same extent as in
ancient times, but a large quantity of waste land has since
been enclosed which was not estimated in the acreage of the
Manor in the Doomsday Survey.

Beverston, however, formed only the eastern extremity of
the great Manor, which was co-extensive with the Hundred
of Berkeley ; and not only this portion of that extensive Manor

BE VERSION. 101

but the whole of it had been forfeited to the Crown by the
outlawry of the Earl of Gloucester. It seems originally to
have belonged to a House of Nuns which occupied the site on
which Berkeley Castle now stands, and it is not clear how it
came into the possession of the Earl of Gloucester.1 But the
whole Manor being Crown land at the Conquest was after-
wards granted by William I. to " Rogerus senior de Berkele."
the representative of the ancient Lords of Dursley.2 At his
death, some time after A.B. 1091, the Manor descended to his
nephew William, who was succeeded by his son Roger.
The civil war, however, between King Stephen and the
Empress Matilda involved both William and Roger de
Berkeley in trouble, the father being imprisoned and the son
deprived of his lands and of the old family Castle of Dursley.

On the accession of Henry II. [A.D. 1154], the whole of
the lands of Berkeley were granted by the King to Robert
Fitzharding, from whom descended both the families of
Berkeley, of whom the elder branch was settled at Berkeley
Castle and the younger at Beverston Castle.

This Robert Fitzharding was the son of a Danish prince
who is said to have been the second son of a King of Den-
mark, contemporary with William the Conqueror. The old
Chronicler, Wallingford, who wrote about 1214, alleges that
it was an ancient custom of Denmark, before the Kings became
Christians, to send all the younger sons of the reigning
Sovereign out of the country, so as to avoid all disputes
about the succession to the crown : that in consequence of

1 The character of Sweyn, and a crime attributed to him, offers
some confirmation of the story fathered on Earl Godwin himself
(perhaps from a much earlier tradition) hy Walter Mapes. [See
jltkyns, Rudder, §c.~\

2 The title " de Berkele " occurs twenty years after the Conquest,
in 1091. The seal of Eoger at that date exhibits the figure of a
Knight on foot, fighting with a leopard or lion which is grasping the
Knight's shield with claws and teeth.

102 BEVERSTON.

this rule Harding came to England and settled at Bristol on
lands given him hy the Conqueror in the year 1069. He-re,
in Baldwin Street, Robert Fitzharding was horn, towards the
end of the Conqueror's reign, that is about 1085. When he
succeeded to his father's estate, in 1115, he removed his resi-
dence from Baldwin Street to a large stone house which he
built upon the Frome, but he is known to tradition as a burgess
of Bristol and not as a noble. It is a tradition of Bristol,
one backed by the historian Stowe, that the same street in
which Harding resided was also the residence of Prince
Henry, afterwards Henry II., during the years of his boy-
hood, and that he lived there under the charge of a tutor
named Matthews.

"When the young Henry II. was nine years old, in the
year 1142, Robert Fitzharding founded the Abbey of St.
Augustine, which has been for nearly three centuries and a
half the Cathedral of Bristol. It was consecrated on Easter
Day, 1148, and the Founder with his wife Eva1 were both
buried within its walls, between the Abbot's and the Prior's
Stalls, that is, in the middle of the western end of the Choir ;
Fitzharding himself and his wife both dying in 1170.2

Robert Fitzharding had five sons and two daughters. The
eldest of the former, Maurice, became the ancestor of the
Berkeleys of Berkeley; the second son, Nicholas, was the
ancestor of the Fitz-Nicholls, now represented by the Poyntz
family ; Robert, the third son, was the ancestor of the Gour-
nays and Ap Adams of Beverston ; Thomas, the fourth son,

1 Eva is said to have been the niece of William the Conqueror;
"being the daughter of "Sir Estmond" and Godiva the Conqueror's

sister.

a Robert Fitzharding' s seal bears a curious figure of an animal
•with body and legs like a horse, occupying the whole field. The head
is inverted between the fore feet, a very long tongue projecting
upward and a horn downward. [See figure in Lysons' Glouc.]

BEVERSTON. 103

was Archdeacon of Worcester ; and Henry, the fifth son, was,
among many other henefices, Rector of Beverston.1

The old Berkeleys of Dursley Castle never recovered from
their fall, but intermarriages in some degree remedied the
injuries which the family suffered. Roger de Berkeley had a
daughter, Alice, who was by the persuasion of Henry II. in
later years married to Maurice the eldest son of Fitz-Harding,
the Manor of Dursley being at the same time restored to De
Berkeley, from whom it was inherited by his son Robert, who
married a daughter of Fitz-Harding, and whose descendants
held it until 1567. On the death of Robert Fitz-Harding,
his son Maurice took the name of Berkeley, the great Castle
of Berkeley having in the meanwhile been built by Henry II.
(as a substitute for that of Dursley) on the site of the ancient
Nunnery of Berkeley.

At the death of Robert Fitzharding, however, in the year
1170 that large portion of the great Manor and Hundred of
Berkeley which lay round Beverston Castle, and which was
probably held long before as a separate Manor, was entailed
upon Robert, his third son ; together with the Manors of
Kingsweston, Aylberton, Over, Radewyke, and Northwicke ;
and also those of Berewe, Ingliscombe, and Weare, in the
County of Somerset. From the last of these, which lay to
the south of the Mendip Hills, near the town of Axbridge,

1 Seven hundred years afterwards, the author became Rector of
Beverston, whose family derive their origin — to be modest as to
dates — from Gormo I., who was King of Denmark in A.I). 699.
Gormo is reputed to be a descendant of Dan who founded the monarchy
of Denmark about B.C. 1038, when David was King of Israel. But
Sir Alexander Croke the historian of the Blunts, allows that "there is
an unfortunate chasm " between the years of our Lord 401 and 699,
so the present writer will not go beyond King Gormo, and con-
tents himself with noticing the odd coincidence that two rectors of
this little parish at an interval of seven centuries should each claim
descent from the old royal house of Denmark. [See Croke' s Genealog.
Hist, of Le Blounts. vol. i. p. 17.]

104 BEVERSTON.

this first Lord of Beverston, as an independent property,
took the name of Robert de Weare.1 His wife was Alice de
Gaunt, great great grandaughter of the Conqueror's sister
Maud, and daughter of Robert de Gaunt and his wife. Alice
Paganell or Pownall.2 The husband and the wife were each
of them, consequently, descended from a daughter of the house
of Rollo.

Robert de "Weare is the first, therefore, of the Lords of the
Manor of Beverston to whom it can be distinctly traced ; and
he may be regarded as the founder, in 1170, of the family
to which it afterwards belonged until the year 1331, when it
was brought back by purchase into the elder branch of the
Fitzharding Berkeleys. The estate thus founded was very
large, and Robert is said to have lived in great splendour,
attended by many knights and other retainers of good family,
keeping up a baronial grandeur and magnificence similar
to that of his elder brother the Baron of Berkeley. As his
father had founded the Priory of St. Augustine at Bristol,
so, on the opposite side of the Green, the Lord of Beverston
founded the Hospital of St. Mark at Billeswick, for 100
poor men, otherwise known afterwards as the Hospital of
St. Augustine, from the Augustinian Canons by whom it
was partly occupied and its services maintained.3 De Weare
died before much progress had been made with his founda-
tion, and it was completed by his heirs. But he was
probably buried in its Chapel, and one of the cross-legged
knights in stone who still lie in "the Mayor's Chapel," as
it is now called, may be his memorial.

Robert de "Weare left a son named Maurice, and a daughter
who bore her grandmother's name of Eva. Maurice assumed
the name De Gaunt from his mother4 and married Matilda,

3 A long account of Gaunt' s Hospital is to be found in Barretfs
History of Bristol, pp. 354-379. It was the foundation on which the
famous Colston charities were built up.

4 The Manor from which this name was taken seems to have been
that of Gaunts, near Wimborne, in Dorsetshire.

BEVERSTOK

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BEVERSTOX. 107

the daughter and heiress of Henry D'Oilly, of Hookneston,
in Yorkshire. She was a ward of the Crown, and permission
to marry was only obtainable on condition that her husband
should bring twenty knights to the king in time of war.
Maurice de Gaunt was, however, one of the Barons who so
long and so bitterly opposed King John; and who, in the
selfish support of their order brought the King and the
country to ruin. His estates were confiscated and granted
to Philip d'AIbini in the year 1215; and he so entirely
forsook the national side in this quarrel that even after the
death of King John he fought under the standard of Louis
the French King (to whom the Pope had pretended to give
the Crown of England), against the young King Henry III.
At the battle of May 20th, 1217, which was afterwards
named "The Pair of Lincoln," when the French army was
gloriously defeated, Maurice de Gaunt was taken prisoner
by the Earl of Chester, and it was only after a year's
imprisonment that he was ransomed at the price of two
of his wife's Yorkshire manors, those of Leeds and Bingley.
When the kingdom was once more secure his lands were
restored to him, but so much suspicion of disloyalty hung
about him that when fresh troubles arose between the Crown
and the Barons about the custody of the Castles he was
again in danger of confiscation. Maurice appears at this
time, A.D. 1225, to have been rebuilding the Castle of
Beverston, and it was alleged that he was doing so without
license from the Crown. On giving satisfaction to the king
his estates were, however, confirmed to him by a deed dated
two years later, in the llth year of Henry III. The lower
parts of the Castle are all of this date, massive Norman
piers and groining still remaining in a perfect condition,
with external walls many feet in thickness.

About this time the lately founded Dominican Order, the
Black Friars, or Preaching Friars, were rapidly establishing
themselves in the principal towns of England, and Maurice

108 BEVERSTON.

de Gaunt who had carried on to completion the foundation
established by his father at Billeswick, in Bristol, now
engaged in a similar great work on his own account, the
foundation of a Monastery for the Dominicans in the same
city. This building was erected on the Weir, northward
of the Castle, and a portion of the quadrangle (though of
later date) still stands to mark the spot, part (perhaps of
the original erection) being known as the "Bakers' Hall,"
and part being occupied as a Quakers' • School. The Founder
died, while following Henry III. on his unsuccessful expe-
dition to France, on April 30th, 1230, and was buried
(according to the Annals of Tewkesbury) in the Chapel of
the Monastery :l but not a vestige of the Chapel remains,
the site being occupied by a Quakers' Meeting House.
Although apparently twice married he left no children
behind him, and his Manors of Weston, Northwicke, Over,
Albricton, Radwicke, and Beverston, were devised by him to
his nephew, the three hundreds of Portbury, Bedminster, and
Harclive being left to Thomas, Lord Berkeley, his distant
cousin.

The nephew was Robert, son of Eva, the only sister of
Maurice, who died long before her brother, about the year
1216, at the end of King John's reign. She had married

1 In the Itinerary of William of Worcester there are some extracts
from the Martiloge of this Priory. They seem to be in confusion as to
date, as Robert de Gournay and Anselm de Gournay who both died in
the 13th century are entered between deaths which are dated 1422 and
1429. Immediately following the entry which is dated 1422 there is
the entry, " Dominus Mauricius de Berkle, et domina Johanna uxor
ejus . . . jacet in choro in sinistra altaris, die primo octobris." \Itin.
W. de Wore. ed. Nasmyth. p. 233.] This may refer to Maurice de
Gaunt and his second wife, yet it is improbable that he should have
been called de Berkeley, the Beverston descendants of Robert Fitz-
harding having no reason for assuming that name.

BE VERSION. 109

Thomas de Harp tree,1 by whom she had two sons, Robert
and Hugh, the former of whom took the name of De
Gournay, and the latter of De Gaunt. Robert De Gournay
seems to have died very shortly after his succession to his
uncle's estates, in the same year 1230, if indeed he lived to
inherit them. Possibly they passed to the Crown as guardian
of his son Anselm, a minor The Martiloge of the Dominican
Friars has an entry which seems to shew that he died abroad :
" Cor domini Roberti de Gornay jacet in ista ecclesia, qui
obiit die 20 novembris." His widow, Avice de Longchamp,
died in 1268.

Anselm de Gournay has left as little record behind him.
as his father. The Register of Gloucester Abbey shews
that he gave to St. Peter's a small gift of land and the
advowson of Beverston Rectory. " Anselmus de Gorney
dedit Deo et Sancto Petro Gloucestrie quinque solidatas"

1 Of Harptree and Barew Gournay in Somersetshire. Some of
their Manors were held by the Berkeleys of Beverston as late as 1417.
[Hutch. Dorset, iij. 346.]

Descent of the G-OURNAYS and AP ADAMS.
[See also p. 105. n. 1.]

Robert Fitzharding=Eva

| [See p. 106. n. 2.]

Robert de Weare=Alice de Gaunt

Marg. de Somery Maurice de Gaunt Eva=Thomas de Harptree

d. a. p. 1223. d. s. p. 1230. _ j _

_ _

Robert de Gournay = Avice de Longchamp Hugh
d. 1230. | d. 1268.

Anselm de Gournay = Sybil
— 1286. |

John de Gournay =Oliva
1248-1291. I

John de Gournay Elizabeth de Gournay = John Ap Adam
d. early. | d. 1312.

Thomas Ap Adam = Margaret

1304—
[Sold Beverston in 1331.]

110 BEVERSTON.

[_1J acre] "terrae in Beverstone, cum advocatione ecclesige
ejusclem villa?, tempore Johannis Gamages abbatis." [Hist.
Man. S. Patri Glouc. i. 65. Record Off. tW.] The grant
of land was disputed by his son, but confirmed by Edward I.
in the year 1287. [Ibid. iii. 20.] The advowson of the
Rectory remained with the Monastery until the latter was
merged in the Bishopric, when it went to the Crown, which
has ever since presented to the living.

Contemporary with Anselm at Beverston was Maurice the
fifth Lord at Berkeley. It is recorded that Lord Maurice
•was sixteen times in the field at the head of his followers
and that he had the luxury of forty law suits.1 He seems
to have waged legal war for a long time with his Beverston
cousin on the subject of weights and measures. The Grand
Jury presented his Lordship for, among other social mis-
doings, distraining " Anselm de Gournay on the King's
highway, and in Manors held in capite, because the latter
would not take his measures of assize from his standard,
whereas he ought to receive them from the King's Marshal."
But in the year 1256 the King, Henry III., paid a visit to
Berkeley Castle on his return from spending four days with
the Prince Edward at Bristol: and on this occasion he
pardoned Lord Berkeley " and his tenants their breaches of
assize in merchandize and measure belonging to the King
as supreme Clerk of the Market," and so probably the feud
ended. Anselm' s grandson obtained the grant of a market
for Beverston from the Crown, a fact which suggests that
Berkeley had exercised an authority over Beverston to which
the inhabitants of the latter objected. Perhaps a relic of

1 " This Lord, with a milk-white head in this irksome old age of
seventy years, in winter termes and frosty seasons, with a buckrame
bagge stuffed with lawe cases, in early mornings and late evenings,
walked with his eldest sonne betweene the fower Innes of Court and
Westminster Hall, following his lawe-suites in his owne old person,
not for himself, but for his posterity " \_Smy th~\. His pugnacity was
not without excuse, for he was endeavouring to recover what his
brother the Marquess had squandered away.

BEVERSTON. Ill

the grievance still exists in the custom which requires the
Constable of Beverston to go on his knees in the Court Leet
of Berkeley and in that posture take his corporal oath that
he will seek the welfare and prosperity of the Lord of the
Manor and Hundred of Berkeley : a ceremony performed
amidst much laughter and not without reluctance on the part
of Beverston.

Anselm de Gournay died in November 1286, and was
buried in the Dominican Priory, the Martiloge recording
" Dominus Ancelinus de Gurnay, qui jacet in choro, die 15
novembris." Of his wife nothing more is known than that
her name was Sybil.

John de Gournay, son of Anselm and Sybil, was born in
the year 1248, and lived to possess the estates after his father
only five years. He married Oliva, daughter of Henry, Lord
Lovel of Castle Carey, by whom he had a son, John, and a
daughter, Elizabeth. The son died early, and thus on the
death of her father in the year 1291, the lands passed once
more to the female side. In the same year that she inherited
this great property Elizabeth de Gournay was married to
John, Lord Ap Adam of Gorste and Battesley within Tiden-
ham, two. Gloucestershire estates being thus united.1

Lord Ap Adam put an end to the disputes with Berkeley
respecting market rights by obtaining a charter for a market
to be held in Beverston on Mondays. The rich barons of the
Middle Ages attracted so large a number of retainers and
followers around them that it was not uncommon for them to
obtain such a privilege. But it is plain that there must at
this time have been a considerable number of inhabitants, or
a market could not have been maintained. At the same time
the privilege was granted of holding an annual fair on the
Eve, Feast, and Morrow, of the Assumption, that is on
August 14th, 15th, and 16th; and the continuance of a fair
for three days is also evidence that Beverston was much more

1 " Thomas de Avening persona eccl. de Beverstan," 1292. [Prynne's
Records, in. 592.]

112 BEVERSTOK

than a road side village in those distant days. Lord Ap
Adam and his wife appear to have lived without children for
many years,- hut a son, Thomas, was born to them in the
year 1304. He himself died in 1312, and if his wife sur-
vived him it was hut for a short time. He sat in the House
of Lords by summons from 1296 to 1309.

Thomas Lord Ap Adam, his young son, thus came to his
inheritance at eight years of age. He was either very unfor-
tunate or very improvident, for his great estates began to
pass away from him as soon as he had reached the age when
they would be under his control. Before he had attained
his twenty-sixth year Beverston was almost his only manor.
~NoT could his domestic relations within the bounds of his
narrowed property have been felicitous, for it is recorded that
he had a wife named Margaret, and that in 1332 he found it
necessary to bring a suit in Chancery against Thomas, son
and heir of Hugh de Gournay, for stealing the lady away
from Beverston, together with divers goods and chattels.
About the same time that he thus lost his lady Sir Thomas
Ap Adam also lost the last of his patrimonial Manors, for he
sold Beverston to Thomas, eighth Baron Berkeley ; having
thus wrecked a noble inheritance before he had reached the
thirtieth year of his age, and being forced to retire to a small
estate which yet remained to him in Monmouthshire.1

1 The descendants of Sir Thomas, last Baron Ap Adam (whether
by the runaway wife or another is not stated) are said to be as
follows : [Burke' s Ext. Peer. ; and Record of House of Gurney.']
Thomas Ap Adam=

Robert Hamund John a daughter =Thomlyn

d. B. p. d. s. p. d. s. p. | Huntley

| ~ ApPhilpot

John Huntley Ap Thomlyn= Johanna
succeeded to Robert's I
estate at Tidenham. |

Margaret = Edmund Ap Gwylym Mary = Thomas Parker

Ap Hopkyn | of Monmouthshire,

from •whom the Powells

of Llanllowel,
near Uske, Monm.

TKACES OF THE GAUNTS AND AP ADAMS. 113

By this sale of Beverston Castle and Manor they became
again merged, for a few years, in the vast estate of the
Berkeleys of Berkeley. This change also brought back to
Beverston the blood of the old Saxon Berkeleys of Dursley,
for Lord Berkeley was descended from them on the female
side as well as from the Fitzhardings on the paternal side.
Since Robert Fitzharding's time, hitherto, Beverston had been
in the possession of those of his descendants who were not
inheritors of the old Berkeley blood. The mixed line of
Fitzharding and Berkeley was now represented, there for 265
years, from the beginning of the reign of Edward the Third
until nearly the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

Few traces remain of the earlier owners of Beverston, or
their time. The substructures of the Castle "have already
been mentioned as being probably the work of Maurice de
Gaunt in the early half of the twelfth century. The arcade
of transitional Norman pillars which divides the Nave of the
Church from the aisle, the doorway under the Porch, and a
figure of our Lord with the resurrection banner in his hand,
which has been inserted into the south wall of the Tower,
are also of the same age. Of a rather later date are some
stone coffin covers, incised with crosses, which have been
built up (probably in the fourteenth century) into the south
wall .of the Nave, and the west wall of the Berkeley Chapel.
The base of a circular tower of solid rubble masonry, 24 feet
in diameter, was also discovered in 1873 in the Rectory
Kitchen Garden, opposite to the west face of the great Tower
of the Castle, and 37 yards distant from it. This seems to be
a relic of the more ancient Castle, and shews that at some
time the buildings extended much further than they do at
present. Some large chamfered stones were also found under
the Rectory lawn, and their position seemed to indicate the
presence of a gate of a similar age.1

1 The present Rectory has upon it the date 1729, and a much older
house which was called the Rectory used formerly — forty or fifty
years ago — to stand nearly where the School-house now stands.

114 BEVERSTON.

Thomas, eighth Lord Berkeley, and third of the name of
Thomas, was directly descended from Maurice the son of
Robert Fitzhardinge, and Alice the daughter of the last
Berkeley Lord of Dursley, being thus the representative of
the elder branch of the Fitzhardings and also of the ancient
Berkeley s.1

All the Berkeley s had, at this time, joined the party of
the Queen and Mortimer against Edward II. Maurice, the
seventh Lord Berkeley, had been taken prisoner by the King's
army, and died a prisoner in Wallingford Castle, in the year
1326. His son and successor, Thomas, the purchaser of
Beverston, had also been imprisoned by the King at Berk-
hampstead, in the Tower, and at Pevensey Castle, for five
years before his father's death ; but the latter event occuring
about the same time that the Queen's power had reached its
ascendant, he and other rebels of distinction had been released
and restored to their estates. On the capture of the King the
unfortunate Sovereign was committed to the custody of Lord
Berkeley, Sir Thomas de Gournay, and Sir John Maltravers ;

1 Descent of LORD BERKELEY.
Robert Fitzharding Roger de Berkeley

Maurice = Alice

Robert,
d. s. p.
1219.

Thomas = Joan
I

1 1 1

Maurice = Isabel
d. 1281. |

1
Thomas = Joan

Maurice = Eva
d. 1326. |

Margaret = Thomas = Katharine

i d. 1361. |

from •whom from whom
the Berkeleys the Berkeleys
of Berkeley, of Beverston.

BERKELEY OF BERKELEY AT BEVERSTON. 115

and after having been imprisoned for some time at Kenilworth
and Corfe Castles, he was brought to Berkeley Castle on April
15th, 1327. Lord Berkeley's treatment of his prisoner not
being sufficiently severe for the purpose which the wretched
Queen and her paramour Mortimer had in view, he was re-
lieved of his office of gaoler, and then retired to his house at
"Wotton-under-Edge, where he was residing, or is said to
have been so, at the time of Edward llnd's barbarous mur-
der, on September 21st, 1327. In the reign of Edward III.
Lord Berkeley was put upon his trial for the King's murder,
and he was not finally acquitted until 1338.

Meanwhile he was improving his estates, farming on a
very large scale,1 making enclosures, buying and exchanging
lands. He was also a great fox hunter, remaining out four
nights and days together hunting foxes with nets and dogs.

Among his purchases of land were Lord Ap Adam's
Manors of Over2 and Beverston, the latter in 1331. The

1 It is noticed of him that he used to frequent the fairs at Gloucester
and Tetbury, buying seeds for his farms and transacting the ordinary
business of a large farmer. In 1334 he sheared 5775 sheep in Bever-
ston for the Stroudwater woollen manufactories ; and he reared vast
numbers of pigeons, part of one of his great pigeon houses still stand-
ing near the Barbican of the Castle.

z Over had been in the possession of the Gournays and Ap Adams
as long as Beverston, and was purchased by Lord Berkeley in 1330 in
the name of himself and his wife Margaret. In 1361 it was in the
possession of his widow Catharine, but it went regularly with the
Beverston estate until Sir William Berkeley was attainted in the first
Parliament of Richard III., 1483. It was then granted to Thomas
Brian by whom it was conveyed to John Poyntz. His son, Robert,
had a daughter Alice who married Sir Edward Berkeley, and thus
carried Over back again.

John Poyntz =

Eobert=
| I

Alice = Sir Edward Berkeley

The last of the Berkeleys of Beverston sold Over to John Daniel of
Bristol.

11G BEVERSTON.

reign of Edward III. was an age of building, and among
other work of his very active life Lord Berkeley rebuilt the
Castle and the Church of Beverston, not destroying, however,
the whole of the work of his predecessors in either building.
Leland, writing about two centuries afterwards, says that he
had been told by " olde Sir William " (who was the great
great grandson of Lord Berkeley), that this rebuilding of the
Castle was paid for by means of the ransoms which his
ancestor obtained for the prisoners taken by him at the battle
of Poic tiers, which took place in 1356.1 This story is -not
quite consistent with the fact that his eldest son, Maurice,
being taken prisoner at Poictiers remained a prisoner in France
until his father's death in 1361, because the 6000 nobles re-
quired for his ransom could not be raised.2 But no doubt the
greater part of the existing fabrics, both of the Church and
Castle, are of the date thus assigned to them. Bigland says
that in his time the arms of Lord Berkeley were to be seen in
the East Window of the Chancel. The walls of the Church
were also decorated with paintings of the Resurrection and
Last Judgment, the Mass of St. Gregory, and St. Christopher,
which were discovered and destroyed at the " restoration " of
the fabric, when the interior face of the walls was entirely
covered with a thick coating of Roman Cement.

The reconstruction of the Castle by Lord Berkeley left it
a fine quadrangular structure, with — so tradition states —
four Towers (though only two now remain) a Barbican, a
large Banqueting Hall on the site now occupied by the
dwelling house of the Castle Farm, and a Moat immediately
under the walls of the Towers and Curtains. Perhaps also

1 Leland's Itin. yj. 68. Leland tells a precisely similar story re-
specting Farley Castle, Somersetshire, which, he says, was built " by
the prey of the Duke of Orleans, whom one of the Hungerfords had
taken prisoner." [Itin. ij. 32, 33.]

1 Cooke's Berkekys, p. 24.

THE EDWARDIAN CASTLE. 117

the circular Tower discovered in the Rectory Kitchen Garden
was one of several by which an enclosing wall was guarded
which would take in many external buildings, such as the
barns, of which two still existing are handsome specimens
of fourteenth century work. The western face of this
Edwardian Castle still remains, consisting of a large square
tower 34 ft. by 30 ft., at the southern end, a smaller one
24 ft. square set angularly at the northern end, and a curtain
between them containing roomy galleries, the whole side
extending to 123 feet. The distance from the outside of this
face to the outside of the Barbican is 1 65 feet ; the whole
area of the Castle within the Moat may thus be reckoned at
2255 square yards, and the court yard must have been of
small dimensions.

The great tower at the southern end of the west side con-
sists of three storeys, and is 60 feet in height. The lower
storey formed an entry and a guard room, the latter being
lighted by a beautiful ogee headed window which remains
extremely perfect, as may be seen from the bank of the Moat.
The ascent from the entry is by a newell staircase in an
octagonal turret, which seems to have been added on to the
main tower in a very insecure manner. The large chamber
above the guard room and entry was probably appropriated
originally to domestic use, but turned into a Chapel early in
the fifteenth century ; two sedilia and a piscina having been
added, which are elaborately carved in a shallow and rather
debased style of art. Another large chamber occupies the
tower above this, forming the third storey : and northward of
this is the more ancient Chapel, which is situated in the
curtain, and beyond which is another chamber nearly as
large as that in the tower. There are double slits or squints
on both sides of this Chapel, so that although it is not large
enough to hold a dozen persons more than a hundred could
be accommodated in the chambers on either side, most of

118 BEVERSTON.

whom could obtain a view of the altar through these squints,
and aU could distinctly hear the service which was going on
there.

Chamber

Chamber
fa - - m

Great Tower I Screen Curtain

Squints [ Chapel | Squints

The only trace of the Great Hall is the mark of the
weather tahle on the inner wall of the Curtain adjoining the
great Tower. Below this is the roof of the present dwelling-
house, which was built at the end of the seventeenth century.
There is reason to think that the dwelling-house which pre-
ceded this, and which was burned down, was the Great Hall
itself divided by floors and partitions. Half of the great
Dormitory Hall at Durham was in a similar way occupied as
a Canon's residence for several* generations, and until 20
years ago, when the whole was added to the Library.

A noble gallery which, with the narrow passage between
its western wall and the exterior wall of the Castle, occupied
the second storey of the curtain is now roughly divided and
used as store rooms for farm produce. A handsome stone
chimney piece of 18th century workmanship shews how
recently it was used. Beneath it on the level of the court-
yard are vaulted offices, which are now used as dairy and
brewhouse. Lower still is the only underground portion of

THE EDWAKDIAN CASTLE. 119

the Castle, a gloomy "dungeon" -which lies immediately
under the west end of the upper Chapel. This vault, what-
ever its use may really have been, is entered by a door near
the guard room.

The northern or angular Tower has nothing remaining of
its interior divisions except the vaulting of the floor chamber
which is used as a coal cellar. Above this vaulting the tower
is gutted to the roof, which itself is modern. If there was
ever a curtain on this northern side of the Castle not a trace
of it remains, nor is there any of the other two towers which
are said to have completed the square of the fortress. Such
as they are, however, the remains of Beverston Castle are
a noble memorial of the great Castle building age of the
Edwards ; and they shew that Lord Berkeley was a man of
large resources and liberal taste.

Lord Berkeley was twice married; first to Margaret,
daughter of Roger, Lord Mortimer, and mother of the ninth
Lord Berkeley. She died in 1337, and was buried in a
Chantry founded for the purpose in St. Augustine's Abbey,
Bristol, and which is now k'nown as the Berkeley Chapel,
in the Cathedral Ten years afterwards, in 1347, Lord
Berkeley married for his second wife Catharine, daughter of
Sir John Clyvedon, and widow of Sir Peter le Veel. Of
four sons by the first wife, only one, Maurice, survived his
father : and of four sons by his second wife only the
youngest, John. Maurice became Lord Berkeley in suc-
cession to his father, while John was settled down in a
younger son's inheritance at Beverston, becoming to a race
of Berkeleys there what Robert de Weare had been to the
Fitzharding branches represented by the De Gaunts, De
Gournays, and Ap Adams The father of both these Berke-
leys, who may be fairly called the great Lord Berkeley, died
on October 27th, 1361, and lies buried in the Parish Church
at Berkeley. His widow acted as guardian to her son and

120 BEVERSTON.

manager of his Beverston Manor during his minority. She
afterwards married a third husband, Sir John de Thorp, and
seems to have survived him also, for dying at Wotton-under-
Edge in 1385, she was carried to Berkeley and buried there
by the side of her second husband, Lord Berkeley.

The young son of Lord Berkeley, therefore, afterwards Sir
John Berkeley, inherited the Beverston estate as once more
independent of the Berkeley estate, and the two have never
again been united. He was born on January 21st, 1352, and
was baptized on the second day after his birth, the Prior of
Bath and Sir John Tracy being his godfathers, while the Lady
Joan, wife of Sir Thomas le Boteler was his godmother. He
was thus under ten years of age at his father's death. During
the lifetime of his mother he remained unmarried, but after
her death, when he was about thirty- three years of age he
found a wife of seventeen in the daughter and heiress of Sir
John Bettisthorne, of Bettisthorne or Bistherne, in the parish
of Bingwood, Hants, on the south-western edge of the Xew
Forest. By this marriage the large property of the Berkeleys
of Beverston became still larger, and it is said to have then
exceeded in extent that of the elder branch. Sir John
Bettesthorne,1 of Bettesthorne, Chadwick, and Gillingham,

1 His wife is called Lady Goda by Smyth. He was knighted in the
y ear 1386, when he must have been over fifty years of age. The
brass on his tomb at Mere is engraved in Hoare's Wilts/lire, Mere,
pi. III. 12; and in BoutelFs Brasses; as also in Kite, p. 22. The
Bettesthornes are not traceable beyond John, the father [d. 1380] of
Sir John ; who came in for large estates at Shaftesbury and elsewhere
through failure in the male line of the De Grimstead family. In 1404
Sir John Berkeley claimed in right of his wife the Manors of Plait-
ford, Alberstone, More, Alwardbury, Farley, the moiety of East and
West Grimstead, and the advowson of the Church of More. At the
same time he also held the Crown Moiety of the Manor of Shaftes-
bury, the other being held by the Abbess. [Hoards Wilts., Frustjield,
49., Hutchinson's Dorset., ij. 400.] Sir Maurice his son held the same
Manors at his death in 1460. In 1641 and until 1650 " Sir Edward
Berkeley's land called Benjafield " in the parish of Gillingham was
sequestered. This seems to have been Sir Edward of Pille.

SIR JOHN BERKELEY. 121

died on February 1st, 1399, and was buried on February 6th,
at Mere in a Chantry Chapel belonging to his estate of
Chadwick, afterwards known till the Dissolution as the
Berkeley Chantry. The jurors on the inquisitio post mortem
found that Elizabeth, wife of Sir John Berkeley of Beverston
was his daughter and nearest heir, and was then aged thirty
years or more. She thus brought Bistherne and all the other
manors belonging to her father to her husband, and Sir John
Berkeley did homage for these lands as hers in 1389 \_Esch.
22, Rich. II., Ko. 6. Hot, Fin. ib m. 11]. It is curious
that among the waste land in the Manor of Bistherne there is-
a portion named " Berkele," although there does not appear
to have been any connection between the families previously.

Sir John Berkeley occupied an important position both in
Hampshire and Gloucestershire, and also in Wiltshire. He
was at one time or another returned to Parliament for each
of these counties, and was also Sheriff for one or other of
them no less than nine times. For his native County he was
Sheriff in the years 1393, 1398, and 1413. In 1396 he
received a general pardon for having joined the rebellion of
the Duke of Gloucester and the Earl of Arundel.

By Lady Elizabeth of Bettesthorne Sir John Berkeley had
a son named Maurice and a daughter named Anne.1 Their

1 This daughter Anne is named in a grant of livery of his lands to
Sir William Berkeley by Henry VIII., dated August 21st, 1522. Sir
William is there said to be " kinsman and heir of John Berkeley and
his daughter Anne." Another daughter was Eleanor, whose first
husband was John Fitz-Alan, Lord Maltravers [d. 1423]. They had
a son who was created Lord Arundel of Wardour (and was nominally
12th Earl of Arundel) and Eleanor received the courtesy title of
Countess Dowager of Arundel. Her third husband was Sir Walter
Hungerford of Heytesbury, by whom she had no children. [ Hoare's
Wilts., Heytsb. 91, 221.] Hoare calls her daughter and co-heir of
Sir John Berkeley. She married for a second husband Sir Richard
Poynyngs. A third daughter, Elizabeth, was married first to Edward

122 BEVERSTON.

mother appears to have died early, as Sir John married for a
second wife Elinor, daughter of Sir Kobert de Ashton, and
for a third Margaret, widow of Sir Thomas Braose of Tetbury.
Smyth says that he had fourteen sons and two daughters,
"but it does not appear that any more survived him than
Maurice and Anne. He died in the year 1427, his last wife
surviving him until 1444.

Sir Maurice Berkeley, the son and successor of Sir John,
was knighted during his father's lifetime, and at the death
of the latter was about thirty years of age. He married
Laura the fourth daughter of Henry, third Lord Fitzhugh,
and of Alice Neville, and sister to Robert Fitzhugh who was
Bishop of London from 1431 until 1436. The mother of
Lady Berkeley was daughter to the great Earl of Salisbury
who was taken prisoner and beheaded at the battle of Wake-
field, and sister to the still greater Earl of "Warwick the
" King-maker," the last of those wealthy and powerful
Norman nobles whose arrogance sometimes aimed at enslaving
the Crown itself. Her father, Lord Fitzhugh, appears in
history under a gentler aspect. He held high office at court
in the reigns of Henry IV. and Henry V., was entrusted with
the care of Princess Philippa when she was sent to Denmark
to become the wife of Eric XIII. of Sweden and VII. of
Denmark, under whom the three Scandinavian Crowns were
united ; and was Constable of England during the Coronation
of Henry V. While in Denmark and Sweden in the year

Charlton, Lord Fowls, and secondly to John Sutton, K.G., 4th Lord
Dudley. Their grandson was the Edmund Dudley, executed with
Empson by Henry "VlLL. : their great grandson, the Duke of North-
umberland who acted as Regent in the minority of Edward VI. ; their
great great grandson the Lord Guildford Dudley who was the husband
of Lady Jane Grey. The arms of Dudley and Berkeley of Beverston
were formerly in a window of the Church of Deritend, a suburb of
Birmingham. [Dugdale's Warw. 882.]

BEVERSTON AND SIGN. 12S

1406) Fitzhugh became acquainted with some Nuns of the
Order founded not long before by a noble Swedish lady since
known as St. Bridget, and on his return to England he made
arrangements for carrying out an engagement he had entered
into with them, to establish a branch of their Order in Eng-
land, on his property at Hinton near Cambridge.1 Eventually,
however, they were established as one of the two latest
Monasteries founded in England, those which Henry V. set
up in 1415 in memory of his father at Sheen (now Richmond)
and Isleworth. The latter, the Brigittine establishment, was
the famous Nunnery of Sion, which was transferred after the
Reformation to Portugal and still maintains itself as a com-
munity of English ladies ; the name of the old Nunnery being
retained for the Duke of Northumberland's house which
stands upon its site Sion was endowed with many of the-
manors belonging to the Alien Priories, which were dissolved
by Henry V. at the beginning of that war which ended at
Agincourt : and among these were Avening, Nailsworth,
Minchinhampton, and others near Beverston ; together with
Cheltenham, which was held of the Nuns of Sion on lease by
Sir Maurice Berkeley the son of Laura Fitzhugh in 1464.2

Succeeding his father Sir John in 1427 Sir Maurice
Berkeley became Sheriff of Gloucestershire in the years 1429,
1434, and 1435. He and his wife Laura had two sons,.

1 The Manor of Hinton eventually passed into the hands of Mow-
bray the first Duke of Norfolk. His daughter Isabel inherited it with
many other Manors as her moiety of her father's lands. From her it
passed to her son, the Marquess of Berkeley, and it was sold by
Thomas Lord Berkeley, early in the reign of Henry VIII., to Eobert
Fewrother, Goldsmith (and Usurer) of London, for 800 marks, being
then stated to be worth £32 a year. [Smyth.~\

2 For fuller particulars respecting Sion see the present writer's
Introduction to his edition of " Oure Ladye's Myroure," a devotional
work written for the Nuns of Sion about 1450 : and now printed
among the Early English Text Society's Works.

124 BEVERSTON.

Maurice and Edward, both of whom survived him, and both
•of whom eventually succeeded to the great estates left by
their grandfather Sir John in Gloucestershire, Hampshire,
-and Wiltshire.

Sir Maurice Berkeley resided much at Bistherne, which
was probably a much pleasanter abode than his grim Castle
on the bleak Cotteswolds.1 A singular tradition still lingers
at Bistherne respecting the slaughter of a Dragon, which is
connected with the name of this Sir Maurice by a document
preserved in the Evidence room at Berkeley Castle. The
local tradition is to the effect that a Dragon had his den at
Burley Beacon, about five miles from Bistherne, in a part of
Burley known as Bistherne Closes. Thence the creature
" flew " every morning to Bistherne for a supply of milk.
Here a valiant man built himself a hut, and with two dogs
lay in wait for the Dragon, keeping the dogs out of his sight
also. The innocent creature came as usual one morning for
his milk, when the hut door was opened, the dogs let fly at
him, and while he was thus engaged with them, he was
4t shot " by the man. The dogs were killed on the spot,
apparently under the idea that they had become dangerous
through being bitten by the Dragon.2 The Dragon slayer him-
self, says another version of the tradition (which seems to

1 In 1455 " Mauricius Berkeley Miles " is one of the Commissioners
for Southamptonshire for raising money for the defence of Calais.
[Acts of Privy Council, vj. 240.]

On Ap. 16, year uncertain, " Mauricius Berkeley de Beverstone
Miles " is summoned as a Privy Councillor for May 21st. [Ibid. 341.]

2 One of Lord Durham's ancestors slew a " Worm of Lambton,"
and was directed beforehand by a wise woman to cover his armour
with knife blades. He also slew his favourite hound immediately
afterwards, though the legend does not represent the latter as taking
any part in the encounter.

A great serpent is also heard of in the parish of Coberley in Glouces-
tershire, a parish in which a younger branch of the old Saxon
JBerkeleys had their home until the fifteenth century.

THE BISTHERNE DEAGON. 125

come from nearer the fifteenth century), only succeeded in
overcoming his foe by covering his armour with glass. The
locality of the fight still goes by the name of " Dragon
Fields."

The documentary version of this tradition is contained in
the margin of a pedigree roll written previously to 1618, and
preserved, as already said, in the Evidence room at Berkeley
Castle. It is as follows : —

" S? Moris Barkley the sonne of Sr John Barkley, of
Beverston, beinge a man of great strength and courage, in his
tyme there was bread in Hampshire neere Bistherne a devour-
ing Dragon, who doing much mischief upon men and cattell
and could not be 'destroyed but spoiled many in attempting
it, making his den neere unto a Beacon. This Sr Moris
Barkley armed himself and encountered with it and at length
overcam and killed it but died himself soone after. This is
the common saying even to this day in those parts of Hamp-
shire, and the better to approve the same his children and
posterity even to this present do beare for their creast a
Dragon standing before a burning beacon. "Wch seemeth the
rather more credible because S? Morice Barkley did beare the
Miter with this authentick scale of his armes as is heare
underneath one of his own deedes exprest bearing date ye 10
of Henry 6. An Dni 1431."

This singular legend, the latest of the kind perhaps, is not
without archaBological memorial. It has already been men-
tioned that the " Dragon Fields " are still pointed out as the
scene of the encounter. The village Inn of Bistherne
(suppressed in 1873), likewise rejoiced in the sign of the
" Green Dragon," green being the colour assigned to the
dragon of the crest in a MS. at Berkeley on which the later
bearing of Berkeley of Beverston is pourtrayed. The Beacon
and Dragon both occur in a carving which remains on the
front of Bistherne House, above the arms of Berkeley and

126 BEVERSTON.

Bettisthorne, and with the date 1652. But a much older,
and almost contemporary memorial of the Crest is preserved
in the East Window of the adjoining Church of Sopley,
between Ringwood and Christ Church, where there are two
fragments of stained glass, the one containing the arms of
Sir Edward Berkeley, the younger son of this Sir Maurice,
and the other a representation of a burning Beacon, with
the motto "So have I cause." The motto without the
beacon is carved on a stone at Avon, in Sopley parish, the
stone being built into a smithy which represents that at
which Sir Walter Tyrrell shot his horse during his flight
from the New Forest after shooting William Rufus. Both
Beacon and motto appear also on a brass of a kneeling knight
and lady which is said to have been brought from Netley
Abbey to Romsey Abbey, and to be of sixteenth century
date. \_Archceologia xv. 302.] The Beacon is, further, the
Crest of the Marquess of Northampton, who is descended
from Werburga, the great grand-daughter of Sir Maurice
Berkeley, and the supporters of the Northampton arms are
dragons.

Upon the whole it seems likely that this Dragon legend is
founded on some fact. It may have been some wild beast
not now known in England which was encountered on the
borders of the Forest by Sir Maurice Berkeley. Or perhaps
it was some huge serpent against whose coils broken glass
was used as a protection, and a local correspondent suggests
that the Forest adder would probably grow to a very large
size if it ever had a chance of living for a few years. Or
" Dragon" may be the form which some mad animal took in
popular legend, the danger of whose bite is indicated by the
slaughter of the dogs and the rapidly following death of the
knight himself.

To come from misty legend to clear historical fact, it is
known that Sir Maurice Berkeley died in the year 1460.

THE BISTHEENE DRAGON. 127

He is supposed to have been buried in the chapel of the
Dominican Priory at Bristol, of which the Register, as
quoted by William of Worcester, contains an entry " Dominus
Mauricius Berkley, miles, obiit 26 die novembris." In the
nineteenth century a gentleman who had slain a Dragon
would be a national celebrity, and we should certainly
provide posterity with full particulars respecting him. The
fifteenth century, at least in 1460, had no printing presses,
and was much more sparing than we are in the use of the
pen. Yet men who slay Dragons of any kind are so useful
to their country, that one cannot but wish history had told
us more clearly the particulars both of the noxious Dragons
and of the brave knights who slew them.

The next Berkeley of Beverston was also a Maurice, son
to the dragon slayer and Laura Fitzhugh. He was bom in
in the year 1434, and was married in very early life to Anne
daughter of Reginald West, Lord de la Warr. Sir Maurice
served as Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1463 and 1471, and
was Knight of the Shire for the same county in the Par-
liament of 1469.1 In the year following he was joined with
Lord Berkeley in a Commission for raising troops in Glouces-
tershire on behalf of Edward IV. in the contest which ended

1 Lord Stourton, Sir Maurice Berkeley "Knight of our body" and
Sir John Cheyney " Esquire of our body," were appointed Com-
missioners by King Edward IV. to arrange a dispute between the
Corporation and the Bishop of Salisbury respecting an oath which
the former were accustomed to take to the latter. In the end the
Commissioners decided that the Episcopal claim was a just one,
but the Crown smoothed over the difficulty by apppointing the Bishop
a Commissioner to receive the oath on behalf of its august Self:
this final decision being dated December 19th, 1461. [Hutchinson' s
Dorsetshire, ij, 400]

As will be seen, there was a close connection between the Stourtona
and the Berkeleys of Beverston, and their arms stand side by side in
the chancel screen of Mere Church. [Hoare's Wiltsh. Mere, 10]

128 . • BEVERSTON.

with the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury. He died at the
age of forty in 1474, but yet appears to have survived his
wife. Both of them were buried in the Lady Chapel of
Christ Church, Hampshire, that Chapel having been founded
by Sir Thomas West, ancestor of Lady Berkeley. This
second Sir Maurice, left, as his father had done before him,
a son and a daughter, the one being named William and the
other Katharine.

Katharine Berkeley was married, in the first instance, to
John, Lord Stourton, by whom she had no children. Her
second husband was Sir John Brereton, to whom she gave an
only daughter Werberga or Warborough, who became the
ancestress of the Marquesses of Northampton.

Sir William Berkeley, born in 1451, was Sheriff of Hamp-
shire in the years 1476 and 1480 ; and also of Somersetshire
and Dorsetshire in 1477. He was Esquire of the body to
Edward VI., and is said to have held other and greater em-
ployments at Court. His wife was Lady Katharine Grey,
daughter of Lord Stourton, his sister and he thus marrying
brother and sister. Sir William Berkeley was mixed up
with the rebellion of the Duke of Buckingham against
Richard III., and on the discomfiture of the party fled to
the Earl of Richmond in Brittany. \_Polydore Vergil, 200.]
He was among those who were attainted in the first Parlia-
ment of Richard III. [Rot. Parl. vj. 245], and doubtless
remained abroad during the whole of that reign. In 1485
the Earl of Richmond secured the Crown as Henry VII.,
and restored Sir William Berkeley of Beverston to his estates,
but he did not live to return to them, dying of sweating
sickness about the same time that Henry settled himself on
the throne .* He died without children, and probably abroad,
his wife surviving him.

1 A cousin of the same name, Sir William Berkeley of Stoke Gifford,
but mostly called of Weley Castle, Worcestershire, took the oppo-

THE BERKELEYS AND COMPTONS. 129

The younger son of Laura and Sir Maurice, and uncle of
the Sir William just spoken of, had held the Hampshire
estates during the life of his elder brother Maurice, and of
his nephew; and was Sheriff of Hampshire in the year 1471,
and member for the County in 1468. On the death of his
nephew in 1485 Sir Edward Berkeley succeeded to Beverston
and the other Gloucestershire estates, but those in Hampshire
passed away to his niece Katharine, the wife of Sir John
Brereton. Their daughter Werburgh was first married to
Sir Francis Cheyney, by whom she had no children, and
secondly to Sir William Compton, Groom of the Bedchamber
to Henry VIII., by whom she was the ancestress of the
Northampton family.1 The Bistherne estates were thus
separated from those of Beverston, and in 1634 were settled
on Sir Henry Compton, younger son of Lord Compton and
first cousin of the first Lord Northampton, from whom they
passed to the husband of his female descendant, who took the
name of Compton.

Sir Edward Berkeley thus migrated from Bistherne to
Beverston, where doubtless he had been born, and in 1493

site side, and after a prosperous career during the short reign of
Richard III. was attainted by the Parliament of that King's successor
in 1485. All his estates were granted in tail male on March 2, 1486,
to Jasper, Duke of Bedford, the uncle of Henry VII. but with
remainder to Sir William ; and as the Duke of Bedford died childless
the proper owner soon regained them. [Record Off. Materials illustr.
reign of Henry VII. 335.]

Camdea states that there was a custom peculiar to Gloucestershire
that when the estates of condemned persons were forfeited to the
Crown it was only for a year and a day, after which they were
restored to the proper heir. Bishop Gibson remarks on this that the
custom was lost by desuetude in his time. [Gibson's Camden's Brit-
annia. 231, 246.]

1 The pedigree of her descendants down to Henry Compton of

Bistherne [ob. s. p. 1724,] and his wife Willis of Ringwood, is

given in Scare's Wiltshire, Frustfield, 49.

130 BEVERSTON.

he became Sheriff of Gloucestershire.1 His first wife was
Christian Holt, daughter and heir of Richard Holt, Esquire,

of . They had an only daughter to whom the name

of her Fitzhugh grandmother, Laura, was given, and who
was eventually married to Sir John Blunt, afterwards third
Lord Mountj oy and Governor of Guisnes.2 The second wife
of Sir Edward Berkeley was Alice daughter of Sir John
Poyntz ; by whom he had three sons, Thomas, Maurice, and
William. He is said by Smyth to have been employed in
great offices of trust, but what these were is not stated. He
died in the year 1505, and his widow Alice in 1509, two
of his three sons ultimately succeeding to Beverston.

The eldest of these three sons, Sir Thomas Berkeley, mar-
ried into the great Durham family of Neville, his wife being
Elizabeth daughter of the second Lord Abergavenney. Her
arms are impaled with those of Berkeley of Beverston in a
fragment of coloured glass that remains opposite to the Beacon
crest in the East window of Sopley Church, perhaps marking
some benefaction to the Church or the foundation of a

1 On September 12th, 1485, Sir Edward Berkeley's name is in the
list of Sheriffs for Southamptonshire. On December 5th of that
year there is an indication that he was leaving Bistherne, Thomas
Westbury receiving a grant for life of the office of Bailiff or Forester
[Verderer] of Burley in the New Forest " with wages, &c., such as
Edward Berkeley had in the same office." [Materials illustrative of
reign of H. VII. Rec. Of. p. 195.] Yet on Dec. llth, 1485, there is
a similar grant to Edward Berkeley, Esq., with wages of 6 pence a
day out of the issues of the County. [Ibid. 212.]

a Her descendants were as follows : —

Laura Berkeley = John Blunt, 3rd Lord Mountjoy

"William Rowland Laura Sir Thomas Tyrrell =Constantia

4th Lord d. s. p. d. 1480.

Mountjoy. 1509. from whom the Tyrrells of Heron, Essex.

[This is the Sir Thomas Tyrrell of whom
Sir Thomas More says, that being Master
of the Horse to Richard HI. he was sent
to murder the two Princes in the Tower.]

OLD SIR WILLIAM. 131

Chantry there, or perhaps as one of the alliances of the Lady
Werburgh Compton who was then in possession of Bistherne
in the neighbouring parish of Ringwood. Lady Elizabeth
died in the year 1500 leaving no children. Her arms are,
however, impaled with a coat, which is not that of Berkeley,
in an old window now in the hall at Chavenage, and probably
removed there from Beverston Castle. Sir Thomas was living
in 1521, when he was Sheriif of Gloucestershire, and at his
death he left behind him three married daughters, and a son
aged six years, who became the King's ward, but who died in
his youth.

Maurice, the second of Sir Edward's three sons, had died
without children on September 9th, 1513. On the death of
the young John' Berkeley, therefore, the Manors of Beverston,
Over, &c., went to William the third son of Sir Edward.
Livery of his lands was granted to Sir William Berkeley by
the Crown on August 21st, 1522, in which there is a clause
stating that it is granted notwithstanding a false Inquisition
which had been made at Gloucester in 1509. This refers,
perhaps, to some transaction connected with the death of his
mother, Alice, the widow of Sir Edward, who died in that
year. Sir William Berkeley married Margaret, daughter of
the great William Paulett, Marquis of Winchester and Lord
High Treasurer to Edward VI. and the Queens Mary and
Elizabeth. He died in the year 1552, leaving two sons, John
and Edward, and several other children.

The sedilia in the lower chapel of the Castle appear to be
of the date of Sir William Berkeley, and he is the "old
Sir William " named by Leland as giving him the informa-
tion that his ancestor Lord Berkeley had repaired the Castle
of Beverston with the ransom of his Poictiers prisoners.

Sir John Berkeley, the son and successor of " old Sir
William," married Frances, daughter of Sir Nicholas Poyntz
of Iron Acton, by whom he had one son and three daughters.

132 BE VERSION.

He was one of the Knights of the Bath who were created at
the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth on January 13th, 1558-59.
His wife, Frances, died at Beverston, the Parish Register
containing the entry, " 1576. ffrances Barkeley the wife and
ladie of Sir John Barkeley, Knight, and lord of Beverston,
was buried the xxvijth day of August 1576, A.R.R Eliza-
beth. 180."1 He married again, but Smyth says of the
second wife that she had no children and that her ungoverned
life made her unworthy of a memorial in the few pages which
he has dedicated to the Beverston branch of the Berkeleys.
This second wife of Sir John Berkeley seems to be the lady
referred to in a Domestic State Paper dated December 3rd,
1623. This is an answer put in by Dame Elizabeth, widow of
Sir Michael Hicks and her son Sir William Hicks to a petition
presented by Dame Alice, widow of Sir John Berkeley of
Beverston. In this petition Lady Berkeley set forth a claim
to an annuity of £20 a year from the Manor of Beverston,
and the answer denies that the Manor was ever subject to
such a payment ; adding that if ever there was such a charge
Dame Alice had made it void by her own act and bond.
[St. Pap. Dom. James I.] Although Sir John was a man of
ability and respectability he succeeded in ruining his property,

1 His name occurs in the Parish. Register in the year 1573, in the
following entry. "John Brewer y« sonne of William Brewer was
baptized y6 xxijth of November. Godfathers Sir John Barkeley,
Knight, and Richard Marloe." In a later year 1575, there is an
entry stating that William Bartlett, servant to Sir John Berkeley,
Knight, was married to Arm Bristol on May 1 9th. Also nine months
later [o.s.] 1575 "firances Bartlett ye daughter of William Bartlett
was baptized ye xth of March. Godfather Jo: Pierce. Godmothers
y* Ladie flrances Barkley and Isabel White."

1580 Mr. Edward Barkley was Godfather to Edward Bartlett on
Aug. 10th, Mr. John Barkley to John Collman on Oct. 5th, as he
had been to Agnes Brewer on Oct. 26th, 1579.

A BEVERSTON ABBESS. 133

by what means is not known. He died in 1581, but there
is no record of his burial in the Parish Register.

Of his three daughters Joan the eldest became a Benedic-
tine Nun of St. Peter's, Rheims, at the age of twenty-five,
in the year 1581. She was very instrumental in establishing
the first English Nunnery abroad, one that was founded at
Brussels, but removed to Winchester at the French Revolu-
tion. Of this Belgian Nunnery Joan Berkeley became Abbess
on November 4th, 1599, and she died in ofiice on August 2nd,
1616, at the age of sixty-one. Of the second daughter the
Parish Register gives us one glance — " 1 595. Tho. Simmons
clericus and Katharine Barkeley gentlewoman were joyned
together in marriage ye xxviijth day of Aprill 1595." A
similar glance is also obtained of the third daughter, — " Jasper
Merrick mr of artes and minister and Margaret Barkeley
gentlewoman were coupled together in matrimonie ye xxist of
August anno predicto," that is in 1595. Mr. Simmons was
Rector of Cowley, Glouc , and had a son Thomas to inherit the
blood of the Berkeleys. Mr. Merrick was Rector of Great
Barrington, and had a daughter named Sybil. But the for-
tunes of this once wealthy family had fallen very low when
two daughters of the house, in such days as those of Eliza-
beth, were permitted to marry two country Rectors, men
who held positions of no wealth or distinction in their
profession, and appear never to have risen higher.

The only son of Sir John, who was also named John,
married Mary,1 -the daughter of John Snell, Esq. In the

1 "Marie Berkeley, gentlewoman," was godmother, to Marie
Bartlett in 1586, and to Marie Turner in 1591. "Mistress Katha-
rine Barkeley," was godmother to Sara Pope in 1583. Margaret
Barkeley, gentlewoman, was godmother to John Nicolas in 1590.
It seems to have been a kindly habit for members of the family
to become Sponsors for the children of their married servants ; there
being as many as eleven entries of their names in such a capacity
between 1573 and 1591.

134 THE LAST BEVERSTON BERKELEY.

year 1597, after sixteen years' possession of Beverston lie sold
the Castle and Manor, the last of his family's lands and
possessions,1 to Sir John Poyntz. Twenty-three years after-
wards, in 1620, Sir John Berkeley l went to Virginia, per-
haps at the invitation of Lord Delawarr the Governor, and
with the object of retrieving his fortunes in a new country
of "which Englishmen had already great hopes. But the
Berkeleys of Beverston had got on the ebb tide of fortune,
and Sir John had only been in Virginia a few months when,
he formed one of a party who were massacred in one of those
encounters with the Indians which led to the loss of so many
among the early settlers there.

This last of Berkeleys who ever possessed Beverston Castle
had five sons and four daughters. The eldest son, Maurice,
married Barbara, daughter of Sir Walter Long, and had a
son named Edward, with other children. One of the daugh-
ters was named Frances, and her baptism led to the last local
record of the association between her family and their old
Castle, the entry in the Parish Register being that in 1596
" {Frances Barkeley the daughter of John Barkeley jof Bever-
ston, Esquier, was baptized ye xxixth daye of Auguste.
Godfather Jasper Merrick, gent. Godmothers Erne Estcourt
of Shipton, gent., Elizabeth miles of Elmestree, gent." 2
But no further trace has, at present, been discovered of the
descendants of this great family since they left their ancient
home at Beverston.

1 The Berkeleys of Beverston are said to have possessed 22 Manors
in Gloucestershire. Beverston, Over, Cam, Woodmancote, King's
Weston, Cromhall, Ailberton, Bentham, Charfield, Compton Green-
fiat, are among those which are attributed to them.

2 He is spoken of by Smyth as "Sir" John, but as late as Aug.
29th, 1596, when his daughter Frances was baptized, he is called
" John Barkeley of Beverston, Esquier," in the Parish Register. In
three cases where he stood Godfather he is called Mr. John Berkeley,
these being in 1578, 1579, and 1591.

135

13G HICKS OF BEVERSTON.

From the hands of Sir John Poyntz ! the Beverston estate
soon passed into those of Henry Fleetwood, Master of
the Court of Wards, and a great estate monger, who got
into trouble, however, for deficiency in his accounts."
\_Foslrooke1 s Glouc. i. 412.] He was no doubt a money-
lender and mortgager who got hold of lands cheaply by fore-
closing on embarrassed borrowers. He is set down in a
subsidy of 1608 as "of Beverston." After holding it for a
short time Mr. Fleetwood sold the estate to Sir Thomas
Earstfield, but he bought it back again and then sold it once
more to Sir Michael Hicks, Knight, a barrister, and Secretary
to Lord Burleigh ; whose eldest son became Sir "William
Hicks, Baronet, of Beverston, in 1619, and lived until 1680.
His descendants held the Estate until the year 1842 when it
was sold to R. J. Holford, Esq., of Weston Birt, and are now
represented by Sir Michael Hicks Beach, whose Baronetcy is
still styled " of Beverston." During the earlier half of the
seventeenth century the Castle of Beverston was still the
residence of its owners, Smyth saying that in his time —
about 1630-40 — it was kept in good repair and was "often
inhabited by the Lord thereof."

Of the residence of Sir William Hicks at the Castle there
is, however, no local memorial, unless some entries of
baptisms belonging to families unconnected with Beverston
may be considered as those of children of visitors to him.
The most remarkable of these is the baptism of a Shakes-
peare about four years after the death of William Shakes-
peare. This is as follows, the year being 1619 : —

" Edward Shakespurre the sunne of John Shakespurre and
Margery his wife was baptized the 1 7th day of September.

( Edward Eastcourt
Godfathers \ -p . a

i ±rancis Savage

Godmother j Mary Eastcourt"

1 On October 21st, 1600, " Anne Poyntz, gentlewoman," was god-
mother to Tobie Nicolas. [Par. Reg.']

BE VERSION CASTLE BECOMES A FARM-HOUSE. 137

Francis Savage and Mary Estcourt were married to each
other in 1621 ; but Mr. Sotheron Estcourt, who is well
acquainted with the history of his family, is unable to trace
any connection with jJIShakespurre." J

Twenty years afte^ards, the name of Estcourt again
appears in the Register, for "Nathaniel the sonne of Mr.
John Estcotte and Elizabeth his wife was baptized June 29th
being St. Peter's Day, 1641." Walker, in his " Sufferings

of the Clergy, " gives the name of " Escourt D.D." as the

ejected Rector of Beverston cum Kingscote : [ Walker's Suff.
Clergy. 237.] but Richard Hall the younger was Rector from
1638 until 1684, and his signature is appended to a docu-
ment in the Register which is dated 1653-4. Hall was,
however, Yicar of Coaley, and his three parishes may have
necessitated the assistance of Dr. Estcourt at Beverston,
though the latter could not have been Rector.

One other name of a distinguished family appears also as
that of a probable visitor at the Castle, "Thomas the sonne
of Thomas Hyde, Esq., and Bridget his wife " being
baptized on January 24th, 1632. This was probably one of
the great Lord Clarendon's family who were connected with
Wootton Bassett about 14 miles distant from Beverston.

But the Castle had become the residence of farmers at least
as early as 1640, for " Nicolas Shipway farmer, of the Castle,
was buried August 27° 1640" while "John Shipway of the
Castle and Elizabeth Webbe the daughter of Daniel Webbe
the elder both of this parish were marryed September
21° 1640 " not having allowed the shadow of the cypress long
to hinder the budding of the orange blossoms.

Soon however the sweet perfume of orange blossoms was
to be replaced by the grim odour of gunpowder, and the

1 It is curious that Hathaway, the maiden name of William Shakes-
peare's wife, is a not uncommon name in the Beverston register, and
is still borne by several farmers at Kingscote and elsewhere in the
neighbourhood. [See also DURSLEY.]

138 "SIEGE" OF BEVEESTON CA.STLE.

peaceful pursuits of Fanner Shipway and his household to
give way to those of a military garrison. "When Gloucester-
shire came to take so large a share in thie miserable rebellion
against Charles I., the King took possession of Beverston
Castle as a commanding post on the edge of the disaffected
manufacturing district which lay in the cloth weaving valleys
between it and Gloucester.1 Malmesbury, Tetbury, and
Wotton-under-Edge, were also fortified posts, but Beverston
seems to have been the only isolated Castle then existing in
the district. How early in the Civil wars the Castle was
thus taken possession of by the Crown is not known, but
the Parish Register records that " Daniel Backhouse, a
souldier of the Castle was buryed the 23rd of Novemb:
1643;" that "Thomas Prichard a souldier of the Castle
was buried the 15th of Decemb : 1643;" that "John Eires
of Horsley a souldier of the Castle was buryed the 19th day of
February 1643" (or 1644 New Style); that "Kichard
Austen, a souldier of the Castle was biiryed the 1 1th of Nov-
ember 1644;" and that " Thomas Manwayring, Mareschall
of the Castle was buryed the 16th of December 1644." A
very great mortality had fallen upon Beverston in 1643 and
1644, the usual average of annual burials being 3, and the
number rising to 22 in 1643 and 11 in 1644; among the
thirty-three being 15 women, 5 infants, and several old
persons.2 It may have been, therefore, that the five deaths

1 The King passed through Tetbury on his way from Bristol to
Gloucester, on August 8th, 1643, and dined there : hut the route he
took was by Cirencester and Painswick. \Iter. Carol. Gutch's Collect.
ij. 431.]

2 One of the women, " Agnes the wife of William Wright was
miserably burnt to death in her home April 8th, and was buryed that
same night following. 1644." [Par. Reg.~] She had been married in
1639.

There is a tradition in the village of a terrible visitation of small
pox, and a field near Charlton is still known as the Small Pox field

"SIEOE" OF BEVERSTOX CASTLE. 139

thus recorded among the garrison of the Castle were part of
this mortality, and that they do not indicate fighting hefore
its walls.

Beverston Castle took no unimportant part, however, in the
actual warfare of those terrible times, and its ruined condition
is to he dated from them. As the war went on, the northern
parts of Gloucestershire fell more and more into the hands of
the rebels, and as Beverston " commanding the rich clothiers
of Stroud water," hindered the southward carriage of the
manufactures by which these disloyal clothiers became rich,
it was a great object to get it out of the hands of the King.
Early in 1644, therefore, Colonel Massey, the rebel com-
mander at Gloucester, marched thence to Beverston with a
party of 300 foot and 80 horsemen. The horse soldiers were
sent on to Tetbury, where Horatio Gary the governor, with
his whole regiment, were put to flight by them, with the loss
of fourteen men slain or taken prisoners. Beverston was not,
however, so easily managed.

" Colonel Massey " — says an old Puritan Minister who
wrote an account of the rebel doings in Gloucestershire —
" brought up his men and two sakers against Beverston Castle,
where, having surrounded it, he planted his guns within
pistol shot of the gate, and gave fire several times. Fifty
musketeers ran up to the gate at noon-day and fixed a petard,
which nevertheless failed in execution." Doubtless the
drawbridge was duly drawn up against the stone rabbet
which is still to be seen in the walls of the Barbican, and
the petard could only be lodged near the gate by throw-
ing it across the Moat. But besides this the defenders

from a hospital having been erected there near to a ready supply of
water. Such a visitation occured in Tetbury in 1711. But John
Ludlow, sexton for about twenty years preceding 1875, says that
there are indications of a great mortality in the shape of " many
corpses heaped together " at the western side of the Church Tower.

140 "SIEGE" OF BEVERSTON CASTLE.

in the upper part of the Barbican were well prepared for the
assault. " Those from within threw grenades amongst our
men but hurt none, who although thereby forced from the
gate, yet they ran up the second time, being open to the full
shoot of a secure enemy and brought off the petard with much
gallantry." It does not seem as if such fighting was veiy
dangerous work when out of fifty men in front of the gate
none could be hit by the garrison. But it is gratifying to
find that the defence was effective enough at this time to
drive away the assailants. " The design was not feasible
for a quick despatch ; for the gate was barricaded within,"
having a formidable portcullis,1 the groves for working which
up and down still remain. Then " the night came on, and
those remote parts did promise no security to so small a
party: likewise the state of the city required them nearer
home ; wherefore after twelve hours the party was drawn
off" retreating towards Wotton-under-Edge. \_Corlefs Hist.
Milit. Gorernm. Glouc. p. 61. ed. 1647.]

The Governor of Beverston Castle at this time was Colonel
Oglethorpe. Corbet says that he had made himself " odious
to the country by strange oppressions and tyranny," the
Puritan way, no doubt, of recording that he had done his
duty faithfully as an officer of the Crown, and did not let the
Dissenting republicans have everything their own way among
" the rich clothiers of Stroudwater." But discord arose
within the Castle through the appointment of Sir Baynham

1 This portcullis remained until about 70 years ago, and the draw-
bridge until a later date : but the Moat in front of the Barbican, and
westward as far as the northern Tower is now filled up, probably
with the stones of the curtain wall on that side. About half of the
Barbican has disappeared, including the upper chambers and the
vaulting between the portcullis and the drawbridge. Cocks and hens
still find a roosting place, however, in the northern guard-room.

"SIEGE" OF BEVERSTON CASTLE. HI

Throckmorton 2 to supersede Oglethorpe in the command ;
and it seems to have been considered that the latter was
treated unfairly by his removal from the post which he had
so effectually defended. The King was often ill advised by
those about him in such matters, and this was not the only
case in which the Royal and National cause lost ground that
might have been kept through similar want of tact. In the
middle of May Throckmorton was on his way to take the
command of Beverston, when an unfortunate event happened
which was cleverly made use of by Massey as a means of
getting the Castle into his hands. While he was engaged in -
securing Herefordshire to the rebels who called themselves
the Parliament, but had no constitutional claim to the title,
Massey " received advertisement that seven of his soldiers
had taken Colonel Oglethorpe, the governor of Beverston
Castle and six other of his troopers, and brought them to
Gloucester." \_Staveley1 s Eben-Ezer, a full and exact account
of . . . . Colonel Massey' s victories. Published June 4, 1644.
p. 330 of Washbourn's reprintJ] Corbet says that Oglethorpe
was in "a private house courting his mistress," but the
contemporary account just quoted does not refer to any such
circumstance. However that may really have been Massey
evidently considered that he had made a very important
capture, for " coming to Gloucester May 21" [1644] " in the

2 Sir Baynham Throckmorton was connected with the Berkeley's
thus : —

Maurice Lord Berkeley =Isabel
1425—1506 |

Anne = Sir William Dennis

Sir John Berkeley=Isabel
of Stoke Gifford |

Sir Eichard Berkeley=Elizabeth

Henry Elizabeth = Sir Thomas Throckmorton

Berkeley [ of Tortworth, Bart.
Sir William = Cicely, daughter of Sir Thomas Baynham

Sir Baynham Throckmorton

142 "SIEGE" OF BEVERSTOX CASTLE.

evening" he " despatched the business he came about, and
then finding, by examination of some of the said prisoners,
that there were some distractions happened upon taking the
governor of Beverston Castle touching the government
thereof, and the rather because the King had granted the
same unto Sir Baynham Throckmorton while the said
Oglethorpe was governor, the said noble governor of Glouces-
ter resolved to take the opportunity to perform some worthy
exploits." \_lbid.~\ He could not at once make up his mind,
however ; for to take Beverston he would have to give up a
very important work in Herefordshire, and Corbet's account of
Massey's doubts shews how very important a position Bever-
ston Castle occupied from a military point of view. He speaks
revilingly of Oglethorpe (which leads a just mind to think the
Royalist Colonel had something more of excellence than usual
in his character), and says, that " when once taken he was
not so high and stern before but now as vile and abject. By
which means the Governor" Massey " was made sensible of the
weakness of the Castle, but much divided in his own thoughts
whether to leave the country that came on so fairly to a self-
engagement, and neglect the contribution already levied " —
that is in Herefordshire — " but not yet paid in, or desert the
hopes of a gallant service : till at last, considering the great
command of the Castle, that the gaining of it would free the
Clothiers of Stroudwater from the bondage and terror of that
government, and might prove a great detriment and annoy-
ance to the enemy in stopping or disturbing their passage
from Oxford to Bristol, he turned his thoughts to the busi-
ness, put on and resolved to try for it." \_Corbefs History,
Sfc., 91.] A.t two o'clock the same night, therefore, this
prompt general posted off to Ross, and commanded his foot
over Severn at Newnham Passage, whilst the horse marched
through Gloucester. By a forced march occupying the night
and day he rendezvoused within three miles of Beverston on

"SIEGE" OF BEVEESTON CASTLE. 143

Thursday the 23rd. Prom this halting place he quickly
inarched on to Beverston. The garrison were taken com-
pletely by surprise, and heing deceived hy some plausible
messages sent in to them by Massey, the officer in command
during Oglethorpe's absence surrendered before midnight.
\_Staveley' s Eben-Ezer, 330.] The same garrison which under
Oglethorpe had made so effective a resistance was now induced
to give up the Castle at once to Massey, " upon condition
that both officers and common soldiers, leaving their arms,
ammunition, bag and baggage " — the arms and ammu-
nition, according to Staveley, amounting to 50 muskets and
four barrels of powder — they " should freely pass to whatso-
ever garrison of the King's themselves desired, only four
officers had the privilege to take each man his horse. So
that" adds Corbet " without lessor danger we were possessed
of Beverston Castle, to the great content and satisfaction of
the country roundabout." [Corbet's Hist., fyc., 91.] The fact
seems to have been that a panic had seized the garrison
through their loss of Colonel Oglethorpe, and that the state of
affairs was so misrepresented by Massey (who was notorious
for this kind of stratagem) as to lead those in command to
consider it useless to make any attempt at retaining possession
of the Castle for the Crown. Corbet, however, asserts that
" it was lost unworthily on the enemy's part, who might have
held it with ease. Of so great simplicity was he conscious
that commanded the garrison, as to ask the place whither our
forces intended the next march, expressing his doubts of
Malmesbury, and fear of being taken the second time.
Nevertheless they required a conduct thitherward and were
guarded by two troops of horse, and that very day our forces
fell before it." [lbid.~\ Captain Reid " a faithful man in the
service of the Parliament " \Elen-Ezer\ was left as Governor
of Beverston whilst Massey and his troops marched the same
night to Malmesbury. After some sharp fighting and a good

144 "SIEGE" OF BEVEESTON CASTLE.

deal of bloodshed (the marks of the cannon balls are still
visible on the west front of the Abbey) Malmesbury was, in
two or three days, taken ; and among the prisoners were those
who had retreated thither from Beverston.

A week after this gallant surprise of both places, on May
31st, 1644, the House of Commons " Ordered, That the town
of Malmesbury, and the Castle of Beverston, as to the
government of. them, shall be left wholly to the disposal of
Colonel Massey." [Eben-Ezer, 336.] Colonel Henry Stephens
was the Governor of Beverston appointed by Massey under
this authority, and was doubtless a relative of Nathaniel
Stephens the then owner of Chavenage House, a mile east-
ward of the Castle. Tradition connects this Elizabethan
Hall with the names of Cromwell, Lord Essex, and Ireton,
three upper rooms having those names affixed to their doors
as memorials that they were once occupied by the three
Republican Generals. Another tradition also brings Charles
I. in royal robes, but headless, with a black coach drawn
by black horses, to fetch the departing soul of each Lord of
Chavenage at his death, as a punishment for the treason
of Nathaniel Stephens during his life.1

Shortly after his appointment Colonel Stephens left Bever-
ston without orders, for the purpose of leading three troops
of his own regiment and some from Malmesbury to the relief

1 At a sale of the contents of Chavenage in 1870 " Cromwell's hat "
was one of the curiosities offered hy the auctioneer. The house is an
interesting old mansion, with a large Hall, the windows of which are
filled with a curious mixture of mediaeval glass (probably brought
from a neighbouring Priory and from Beverston) and Dutch glass of
a much later date which contains several Merchants' marks. At one
end of the Hall is an Organ gallery, and from thence there are com-
munications with several bed-rooms which are hung with tapestry.
A chapel outside the house contains some quaint kneeling figures of
Elizabethan or Jacobean Stephenses ; and the spread eagle, the
Stephens' crest, appears as a finial on two gables of the Mansion.

"SIEGE" OF BEVERSTON CASTLE. 145

of Rowden House, between Devizes and Malmesbury. By
his imprudence he was turned from besieger to besieged, a
force of 400 horse and foot being cooped up in Rowden
House, by a bold dash of the Royalists. Beverston was thus
placed in danger of recapture but was relieved by a party of
horse soldiers from Gloucester. \_Corlefs Hist. 8fc., 125, 127.]
The Castle does not seem to have borne any part in the further
troubles of the time, Gloucestershire falling almost entirely
into the hands of the rebels. Yet on July 14th, a Sunday,
in 1644, Charles I. marched by the Castle at the head of
7000 troops, horse and foot, on the road from Gloucester to
Bath and thence westward to Cornwall, resting on the night
of the 13th at Saperton House, Sir Henry Pool's, and on
that of the 14th at Badminton, then Lord Herbert's of
Ragland. \_Iter. Carol. Gutch's Collect. Curios, ij. 434.
Symonds1 Diary, 30.]

The traditions of the village assert that the time of the
" siege " was a very terrible one for Beverston people : point
to fields which were occupied by the besiegers ; and declare
that many of the garrison as well as of the assailants were
slain. But it seems to have been rather a rapid surprise than
a siege, and it is more than likely that every one on both
sides escaped from its dangers scot free. Peace seems at
least to have returned to Beverston within a very few months,
for " Mary Chambers the daughter of Mr. William Chambers
of the Castle, and Elizabeth his wife, was baptized on
October 7th, 1644," within less than half a year after it had
been taken by the Roundheads.1

1 The two succeeding entries, on November 16th and December
19th, are of the baptisms of " Anne the natural daughter of Mary
Neeme" and " Sarah the natural daughter of Constance Myll: " and
they are, perhaps, a memorial of garrison times in Beverston.

There were no christenings entered between December 27th, 1644,
and August 14th, 1646. This may arise from the irregularities of the
" Parish Register " whose appointment is thus entered.

146 RUIN OF BEVERSTOX CASTLE.

Bigland says that the Castle was burnt down " soon after
the siege," and that a large dwelling-house which was huilt
within its walls was hurnt down about 1691, being replaced
by the present Farm House. \JBiglantfs Glow. j. 177.]
There may have been two such destructive fires within half
a century where there is no record of any in 500 years
before ; but fire would not have destroyed the massive walls
which must have stood on the Northern and Eastern sides.
It is more likely that some kind of dismantling process went
on at Beverston as at Berkeley when Castles were no longer
permitted to be fortified, after the Restoration. Perhaps the
old Hall, fitted with floors and turned into Mr. Shipway's
Farm-house, was really burnt down in 1601 : and then large
quantities of the squared stones from the remaining walls
would naturally be used in building the existing house. The
interior rubble of such walls gradually crumbles down, and
nas doubtless been used to fill up the Moat on the North and

" Wee the Parishioners of Beverston whose names are hereunto
subscribed doe certifie that we have made choice of Peter Wood to
be our Parish Register according to the Act of Parliament
Ric: Hall Minister
Daniel Webbe
Timothy Webb ) Churche
Edmond Allen / wardens
Anto Kingscote / John Shipway

William Ivons | Overseers
Joseph Webb j of the poor

John Brown | n . , , „
T> i v XT- V, i ( Constables
Ralph Nicholas >

This document is undated, but Anthony Kingscote died in Aug., 1654.
Richard Hall, minister, was doubtless one who, from the repose of a
good Benefice, could see good on both sides, for he reigned during
the whole time of the Presbyterian system as well as during that of
the Church ; being Rector from 1638 to 1684. His father, Richard
Hall also, was Rector from 1617 until 1638, and both lie side by side
•within the altar rails.

RUIN OF BEVERSTON CASTLE.

147

East sides and for other purposes about the Castle and the
Tillage. It is evident that no care has heen taken to pre-
serve any part of the Castle except what was useful for the
domestic purposes of a farm house ; and hence it is more
surprising that so much has been preserved than that so much
has disappeared.

The earliest view of the Castle which is known to the
writer is one among Buck's large collection of engravings of
the Churches, Castles, Monasteries, &c., of England, and
which is dated on the plate itself, in the year 1732. It is not
at all accurate, but shews the Moat full of water all round
the Castle ; and a portion of the north wall not now existing.
The next view is one engraved in Groses Antiquities, [vol. v.,
or Suppt. vol. i.] 1785. In this the Western side is shewn,
much as it is now, but with unblocked windows and without
its surroundings of trees. A view from the Barbican side also
forms No. IV in Hearne's Antiquities of Great Britain, pub-
lished in 1807. A view of the Church, with the Castle
beyond, is to be found in Bigland's Gloucestershire, i. 175,
published in 1791. Buck's view is engraved on a smaller
scale in the " History of the House of Gurney."

ECCLESIASTICAL BEVERSTON.

There is no reason to think that the parish of Beverston
is otherwise than contemporary with the Manor of Beverston :
but the earliest notice of it with which the writer is ac-
quainted dates about the year 1170, when Henry, the fifth
son of Robert Fitz-harding, was Rector. He was one of the
great pluralists of the feudal times, being Archdeacon of
Exeter and Rector of all the churches within the honour of
Berkeley. Such an array of responsibilities was not enough,
however, to satisfy the spiritual cravings of ambitious minds
among the Norman clergy, and the Venerable Henry Fitz-
harding was also Treasurer of Normandy. \_Smyth.~] He
could thus have very little time to spare for his parish-
ioners at Beverston ; but as he was unable, probably, to speak
a word of their language, this circumstance may not have
been of much consequence to them. No doubt the Norman
clergyman did as so many of his successors in the parish did
in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, spent nine-tenths
of his Tithes at a distance, and paid a resident Curate who
could talk to the people in their own tongue, with the
remaining tenth.

About the year 1280 Anselm de Gournay made over the
Patronage of the Rectory to the Abbey of St. Peter at
Gloucester, together with an acre and a quarter of land,
just enough to give them a footing in the parish. \_Hist. Mon.
Glocest. Rec. Off. ed.] Probably all succeeding rectors were
Monks of Gloucester.

AN ELIZABETHAN RECTOR. 149

In 1292 THOMAS BE ATEUING was Rector, but whether
(like a recent successor) he was also Rector of Avening. does
not appear. \_Pr •ynne's Records, iij. 592.]

There is a grave stone just outside the Chancel on which
is incised a heautiful Calvary Cross, and which may he the
memorial of a mediaeval Rector. All that can be made out of
the inscription is "... Holcombe qui Obiit . . deo . . Decembris
Anno dni millimo mcccclxiiij cujus anime . . amen."

At the suppression of St. Peter's Monastery in 1540, the
Advowson of Beverston was transferred to the Crown, and
was not restored to the Church of Gloucester when it was
converted into a Cathedral Church in 1541. Previously to
the latter date the parish of Beverston had been in the
Diocese of "Worcester.

WILLIAM JENNINGS was Rector in 1554, having been pre-
sented by Queen Mary. [BiglanoFs Gloucl\

THOMAS PUKIE became Rector in 1563, and continued so for
the long period of 54 years. In 1571 he was made Prebendary
of Gloucester, and remained so for forty years, resigning in
1610. He was of a Gloucester family well known in that
city during the sixteenth century. Walter Purie, his grand-
father, was a benefactor to the Church of St. Mary le Crypt :
his father, Thomas, was Sheriff in 1541, Mayor in 1550,
1560, and perhaps in 1580. On August 24th, 1564, this
"Thomas Purie the elder, of Gloucester," was godfather to
" Thomas, the son of Thomas Purie, Clerk," as appears by
the second entry in the Parish Register of Beverston. He is
buried in St. Mary le Crypt. A later Thomas was Member
for Gloucester in 1666, and his son Thomas, born on July
16th, 1619, was Mayor during its siege by the forces of
Charles I.

Purie was contemporary with Sir William, Sir John, and
Mr. John Berkeley, and also with Sir Michael Hicks the first
of that family who was called " of Beverston." He had a
family of seven children ; and, after an incumbency of more

160 AN ELIZABETHAN RECTOR.

than half a century, one of his last acts was to baptize a
grandchild. Among the godfathers and godmothers of his
children (never residents of Beverston) were William, Henry,
Tobie, and Mary Sandford of Stonehouse, and Winifred
Pointz of Alderley.

His eldest daughter, Susanna, married Richard Woodruffe,
Vicar of Elmstree and afterwards of Arthington (?), on May
31st, 1591. His second daughter, Alice, when she was only
seventeen years old, married Robert "Wiere of Beverston,
on October 2nd, 1589, his former wife, Joan Wiere, having
died on June llth, 1588. They continued to live in Bever-
ston as late as 1613, when their daughter Katharine Wiere
was married to Robert Downe alias Buckler. The third
daughter, Margaret, born in 1579, married two clergymen in
succession, her first husband, married on April 20th, 1604,
being William Blewett, " mr of artes and minister of the
worde of Gode at Long Newton ; " her second, " Richard
Allen, mr of artes and pastor of the parish of ......

Diocese of Wells," whom she married on May 4th, 1613.
Mr. Blewett was living on October 7th, 1610, when he was
godfather to Elizabeth, daughter of John and Margaret
Purie, so that his wife did not long continue in her widow's
weeds.

Katharine Purie, the wife of the Rector of Beverston,
whose name often appears in the Register in the kindly office
of godmother to the children of parishioners, died on December
1st, 1604. A handsome slab, evidently copied from the
Holcombe stone, but without the cross, covers her grave on
the north side of the Chancel, the following inscription being
carved around its margin in black letter : — " Here lieth the
bodye of Katharine Purye the wife of Thomas Purye minister
of the worde in this place, who dyed the 1 day of Decemb :
in the yeare of the Lorde 1604, and of her life the 67."

Above, on the north wall of the Chancel is a more lengthy

AN ELIZABETHAN RECTORESS. 151

and curious inscription of the true Elizabethan character ;
as follows : —

Ao 1604.

Dece. lo ^tat 67<>
Epicediu l Katharinae Pury
Quae defuncta iacet saxo tumulata sub illo,

Bis cathara, haud ficto nomine, dicta fuit.
Nomen utrumque sonat mundam, puram, piamqe :

Et vere, nomen quod referebat, erat,
Nam puram puro degebat pectore vitam ;
Pura fuit mundo, nunc mage pura Deo.
TldvTix, KOL^tx-pa, rolf xa&ctpoif
Omnia pura puns.
Tit: i: ver: 15:

1 This rather rare word means Funeral Dirge as distinguished from
monumental Epitaph. It was probably used to distinguish the verses
from the actual Epitaph on the slab below. The verses may be
translated thus : —

She whom, deceased, this stone doth now o'erlay
Was twice named Cathara in no feigned way.
Each name Pure, Pious, Clean-lived, signifies
And she was truly what each name implies :
For with pure heart pure ways of life she trod,

Pure was she here, now far more pure with God.
The following particulars of the Purie family (except the name of
"Walter) are taken from the Register.
Walter Purie =

Thomas =

Thomas = Katharine
—1617 | 1537—1604

Thos. Susanna=Rich. Daniel Alice=Rob. "Wm.=Margt.=Rich. John=Margt.
1564— 1567— | Woodruffe 1569- 1572- | Wiere Blewett Allen |

John Thomas III III

— 1567 1591 — Timothy Anne Katharine =Robt. Elizabeth Maria Anna

—1610 —1610 Downe 1610— 1614— 1617—

152 A FIFTY-FOUR YEARS' INCUMBENCY.

Purie (so he writes the name himself) kept the Parish
Register with the greatest exactness and neatness during the
whole time of his Incumbency, his very plain writing not
being changed in character during the whole fifty-four years.1
For more than fifty years he entered the names of all
godfathers and godmothers of the children he baptized, a
practice not long continued after his death. On August 30th,
1617, he entered the baptism of his grandchild Anna in his
usual firm and clear hand as far as the word godmothers and
then stopped. " Marye Halle and Marye Myles " are written
in another hand, perhaps that of " John Smith, minister,"
who had lived in the parish for several years and seems to
have acted as Purie' s assistant.2 It looks as if the hand of
the old Rector had suddenly stopped through illness, for
although on the day but one after, September 1st, 1617, he
entered the burial of John Wright, the following entry is
that of his own burial, on October 5th, 1617, five weeks later.
He must then have been about 80 years of age, or perhaps
more ; for the 54 years of his Incumbency were not likely to
have begun until he had been several years ordained.
Strange to say there is no inscription to his memory.

The pages of the Register bring one into contact with the

1 There are no particulars of additional interest recorded, such as
are met with in some registers. But Purie always mentions Holy
Days when the date of the entry coincides with any. Thus in 1580.
" Mdm That there was a crisome child of Nicolas Barnes buried ye
xijth day of May, being Ascension Day 1580." A "chrisom child"
is an infant who dies within a month after christening, while the
anointing of its Baptism is still fresh upon it. Near the porch of
Durham Cathedral there is a beautiful little tombstone of one who
died a few years ago. Another was buried at Beverston in 1586.
" They are without fault before the throne of God."

a Probably Smith was a Puritan clergyman who would not hold a
cure. He is buried under one of the high tombs in the Churchyard.

PUEY AND THE BOOK OF MARTYRS. 153

handwriting of this Elizabethan Rector of Beverston, and
with a scrap or two of his personal history during the fifty
years that he was so : the pages of Foxe the Martyrologist
give us one of his letters, and a glance at his early history.

A hot-brained youth named Julius Palmer, fellow of Mag-
dalen College, Oxford, was expelled from that college at the
age of twenty, in the latter part of Edward the Sixth's reign,
for insulting Dr. Haddon the President, and for what Foxe
calls " other Popish pranks." For a short time he became a
tutor in the family of Sir Francis Knollys, but on the
accession of Queen Mary he succeeded, " waiting as a dog for
a bone," in obtaining restoration to his fellowship. This
had the effect of changing his mind to such an extent, that
although " If he could have suppressed the word of God in
King Edward's days, such was his malicious zeal, he would
sure have done it ; " the kindness of Queen Mary's Papist
Commissioners made him rebound from one extreme to the
other, and " in the end he became of an obstinate papist, an
earnest and zealous gospeller." As he had been expelled by
the Protestants in 1552 so in 1555 he was in danger of being
expelled by the Papists, and he therefore left the College
voluntarily, obtaining a grammar school mastership at Read-
ing. Here some dispute arose between him and one Thomas
Thackam respecting a similar appointment in Gloucestershire ;
and when Palmer was at length apprehended, and eventually
burned (at twenty-three years of age) at Newbury on July
6th, 1556, Thackam was bitterly charged by him with having
contrived his death because he had, at his earnest request,
taken a seditious letter, (of the contents of which he knew
nothing,) to the Mayor of Reading! Foxe recorded this
charge in his "Acts and Monuments" in 1570, and Thackam,
then a clergyman at Northampton, wrote " an An s were to "
the " Slaunder," consisting of thirty- three folio pages, \Hwrl.
MSS. 425, 10] in which he indignantly repudiated it, as

154 PURY AND THE BOOK OF MARTYRS.

he also did at a personal interview with Foxe, and among
other things declared that he had given Palmer money to
keep him from starvation. In a later edition the martyrologist
half withdrew what he had said about him. But he only half
withdrew it, because in the meanwhile he had sent Thackam's
" Answere " to Beverston with a request that Pury would
peruse it. The following is the Rector of Beverston's
reply : —

" Right reverend and beloved in the Lord,
" I have received your letters, together with Thackam's
answer, which I perceive you have well perused, and do
understand his crafty and ungodly dealing therein, that I
may not say, fond and foolish. For he doth not deny the
substance of the story, but only seeketh to take advantage by
some circumstances of the time and place ; wherein yet may be
ther was an oversight, for lack of perfect instructions, or good
remembrance at the begynning. He confesseth that he de-
livered a letter of Palmer's own hand to the maior of Reading,
which was the occasion of his imprisonment and death ; only
he excuseth himself by transferring the crime a seipso ad
martyr em. Briefly, his whole end and 'purpose is to give the
world to understand that the martyr was guilty, as well of
incontinency, as also of wilful casting away of himself. 0
impudent man ! The wise and godly reader may easily smell
his stinking heart. He careth not, though he outface the
godly martyr, and the whole volume of martyrs to save
(as he thinks) his own honesty and good name. Howbeit I
cannot, but God will, confound him to his utter shame, and
reveal his cloked hypocrisy to the defence of his blessed
martyrs, and the whole story. Though many of them be
dead that gave instructions in times past, and now could have
boure witness, yet, thanks be to God, ther want not alyve,
that can and wyl testify the truath herein to his confusion.
No dylygence shall be spared in the matter, as shortly, I

FURY AND THE BOOK OF MARTYRS. 155

trust, you shall understand. In the mean while Thackam
nede not be importunate for an answer. He reporteth him-
self to the whole towne of Reading ; therefore he must geve
us some space. The God of truth defend you, and all other
that maintain his truth, from the venomous poyson of lyars.
Vale in Christo, qui Ecclesia sues te diu servet incolumen.
Prom Beverston in Glocestershire, May vi.
Yours in the Lord

Thomas Purye, minister.

" To the right reverend in God. mr John Fox, preacher
of the gospel in London, be these dd. at Mr Daies
the printer, dwelling over Aldersgate, beneath S
Martins." 1

The information obtained by Pury for Foxe was con-
tained in a letter from "John Moyer, Minister," dated
from " Crosly this 18. of May" and addressed "To his
assured Friend and Brother in Christ, Mr. Purey Preacher
at Beverston," and is printed in Foxe's " Appendix of such
Notes and Matters as either have been in this History
omitted, or newly inserted," 2 but it contains nothing that
throws more light on the matter in controversy, or that
is of interest in these pages. There is also a " Reply to an
indiscreete Answer made by Thomas Thackam sometime of
Reading against the stoiy of Julius Palmer, martyr," which
may have been written by Pury, consisting of sixty-four folio
pages. [Harl. MSS. 425. 11.] This may have been written
by Pury, the handwriting being like his, but it is full of
petty accusations and abusive language, and adds nothing to
the story.

It is of more interest to observe that Foxe appends to his
original account of Palmer some Latin verses which play
upon his name in a manner precisely like that of Pury in his

1 Strype's Memorials Eccl. III. i. p. 584. ed. 1822.
8 Foxe's Acts and Monuments, viii. 721. ed. 1849.

156 PURY AND THE BOOK OF MARTYRS.

Epicedium on his wife. Palmer himself had written an
" Epicedium," Foxe says, on Bishop Gardner.

" De Hartyrio Palmeri, hexasticon
Palmerus flammas Christi pro dogmate passus,

Impositum pondus, ceu bona palma, tulit.
Non retrocessit, sed, contra, audientior ivit,

Illsesam retinens fortis in igne fidem.
Propterea in coelum nunc Palmifer iste receptus
Justitise Palmam non pereuntis habit.

Justus ut Palma florebit." 1

This play of words, — to the effect that Palmer suffering
for the faith of Christ bore the weight of his sufferings like a
good Palm tree, and thus as a good Palm bearer received the
victor's Palm branch — seems to mark the pen of the good
man who made so much out of his wife's name : — and so
also does the Scripture quotation at the end, " the Righteous
shall flourish as the Palm Tree." "We shall not be far wrong,
probably, if we conclude that Pury was responsible for the
whole narrative given by Foxe, and that he was one of
Palmer's friends when they were all sowing their wild oats
at Magdalen College. As will be seen in the account of
Dursley, we are indebted to a Thomas Thackam who
flourished there in 1566 for much of what we know re-
specting its early Elizabethan history. Was the next door
neighbour of Thomas Pury the Thackam of whom he wrote,
or his father ?

The next Rector was RICHAED HALL [1617-1638]. His
signature appears at the foot of the Register, and his wife's
name, Elizabeth, now and then stands as godmother to a
parishioner's infant. The Register also records two of his
gifts to the Church and Parish. " 1636. The pulpit cloth and
cushion, and altar cloth of green cloth with green silk fringe

1 Foxe's Acts and Monuments, viii. 219. ed. 1849.

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY RECTORS. 157

were given by Mr. Richard Hall, Rector of Beverston, at his
own charges." " 1638. There was given to the use of the
poor of the parish of Beverston three pounds by Elizabeth
Hall the widow of the said Richard, to be employed from
year to year by the Rector and Churchwardens successively
for ever on Friday before Whit-sunday." The altar cloth,
pulpit cloth and cushion, probably disappeared at the time
when Puritanism was in the ascendant and their ecclesiastical
colour would be odious to those in power. The poor money
has also disappeared, being odious, doubtless, to those charged
with its payment.

Richard Hall died on June 30th, 1638 and was buried on
July 1st, in front of the Altar, where lies a stone with the
inscription " Sub hoc saxo jacet corpvs mri Rich. Hall Rectoris
istius ecclesiaB. obiit 30o Junii 1638."

Another RICHARD HALL, son of his predecessor, succeeded
[1638-1684] of whose family history the following parti-
culars may be gleaned from the Register.1

Mrs. Hall (Hester) was buried on June 29th, 1655. Her
husband survived her 29 years, dying on August 2nd, 1684,
and being buried on August 3rd on the south side of his
father's grave. The inscription on his grave-stone is as
follows, but is nearly effaced by the foot of the priests his
successors passing to the Altar : " Svb hoc saxo reqviescit
corpvs Richardi Hall hvjvs ecclesiee Rectoris qvi postqvam
in hacce triginto octoqve annos honeste ac fideliter mvnere
sacerdotali perfvnctus esset mortalitatem deposvit vicesimo
die Augusti, Anno Dom. 1684, .ZEtatis sva? 73. " Purie and

1 Richard Hall = Elizabeth
—1638 I —165

Richard = Hester
1613—1684 | —1655

Nathaniel Hester Solomon
1646—1672 1648-1658 1651-

Etizabeth
1652—

158 SEVENTEENTH CENTURY RECTORS.

the Halls held the Rectory among them for no less a time
than 121 years. The younger Hall remained at his post
during the Rebellion, but whether or not he conformed to the
Presbyterianism then established there is nothing to shew.
But the phrase " munere sacerdotali " on his grave-stone,
does not look as if he was a Puritan.1

The Halls, father and son, were succeeded by ANDREW
NEKDHAK [1684-1711], of whose family the Register records
as follows : —

Andrew Needham=Ann
1642—1711 I

"William Mary Sibilla=Rev. James Cornelius

1687—1692 —1703 —Nov. 30, 1700 |

James
Nov. 23, 1700—

Mr. Needham failed in health some time before his death,
and his place in Church was supplied by a Curate named
Daniel Capel, who was afterwards Curate of Cam and Dursley
for many years, and is buried in Dursley Church. Mr.
Needham died on August 6th, 171 1-, and was buried in front
of the Altar to the south of the Halls on August 9th. The
inscription over his grave is as follows : " In Spe Beata3
Resurrectionis Positae sunt hie Reliquiae Yiri admodum
Reverendi Andreas Needham, A.M. Hujus Ecclesise necnon
adjacentis Capellae de Kingscote per Annos ter-novem Pastoris.
Qui satur Dierum et maturum Ccelo huic Mundo placide, non
invitus, Valedixit, sexto Die Aug :

. ( Salutis Nostrae MDCC[XI]
Suae T.XTX "

1 His signature stands at the head of those affixed to the appoint-
ment of a parochial registrar of which a copy is given at page 146,
note 1. In the year preceding his death is a curious entry of the
name of a child transformed from Hester to Easter on account of her
baptism taking place on Easter Tuesday. " 1683 Easter Wickes,
daughter of William Wickes and Hester his wife was baptized the
1 1th day of April being Easter Tewsday. Godfathers, John Shipway,
sen., of this Parish, and John Sandford of Stanley St. Leonards,
Godmothers, Elizabeth Bridges of this Parish, and Ann Browning
of Elmstree.

NON-RESIDENT RECTORS. 159

Mrs. Needham survived until January 6th, 1726, when, at
the age of 86, she was laid beside her husband. Their two
daughters and a son lie under three separate stones southward
of Mrs. Pury's ; Sibilla, Mrs. Cornelius, having died in child-
birth. No Rectors of Beverston, or any of the members of
their families, have since that time been buried in the parish.

For a long series of eight non-resident Rectors began with
JOHN SWINFEN [1711-1728], the successor of Mr. Needham.
He was also Rector of Avening, where he was buried.
During his Incumbency eight marriages are registered in
which both men and women resided at Avening. This may
indicate that he sometimes lived at Beverston and required
his Avening parishioners to come over to him when they
wanted his services on week days : but the marriages of
strangers abound in the registers until quite recent days.
From 1696 until the end of the century only 4 out of 12
persons married at Beverston belonged to the parish ; and in
the preceding 4 years all were strangers.1

THOMAS SAVAGE was the next Rector [1728-17. .J. Of his
appointment there is this record in a newspaper of the time.
" His Majesty has been pleased to grant to the Rev. Mr.
Savage the Rectory of Beverston with the Chapel of Kingscot
in the Diocese of Gloucester, void by the death of the Rev.
Mr. Andrew Needham" [London Evening Post. May 7-9.
1728], This is curious, for it altogether passes over the
incumbency of Mr. Swinfen, as if Mr. Needham, whose death
had occurred seventeen years before, was the last Rector
named in the omcial list of Crown appointments.

1 " Ould Thomas Groom" of the Castle was buried on September
24th, 1716: but his "sperrit" used to haunt the Castle and its
precincts. He "walked" through having removed a neighbour's
landmark ; and his " sperrit used to go rowlling and rattling about as
big as a 'oolpack." It was seen of that size by an old woman who told
the story in John Ludlow's hearing when he was a boy, early in the
nineteenth century. At last the spirit was laid under the old yew
tree not far from the bridge over the moat.

160 NON-RESIDENT RECTORS.

Mr. Savage was one of the Tetbury Savages. He probably
forsook the old Rectory House which stood on the site of the
present School House, and substituted for it another house
nearer the Castle which had been occupied by some of those
" well-to-do " families whose names occur in the early Regis-
ters. That house, the present Rectory, bears traces of
considerable antiquity, but over the garden door of it are the
initials of Mr. Savage TJT^i ,M9Q indicating that some con-
siderable alterations _ "__ were made by him. He
himself is believed to have resided in the house at Tetbury
belonging to the late Mr. Josiah Paul.1

The next six Rectors were appointed through political
interest : and all " farmed " the Parish, placing a Curate in
Charge, and residing on other benefices.

. The Hon. Allen Bathurst [ -1767] was Rector of

Saperton, and was appointed to Beverston by the interest of
Lord Bathurst. He was son of the first Earl Bathurst, and
brother of the great Lord Chancellor of the name, who is
also known as the friend of Pope. Mr. Bathurst was born in
1729, and died at the age of 38 in August, 1767, being
buried in Saperton Church, where there is a tablet to his
memory.

CHAKLES JASPEB. SELWYN [1767-1794] was presented through
the interest of a relative who was Member for Gloucester.
He was Rector also of Blockley in Worcestershire [1761-
1794]. His family was of Maston and has since given the
distinguished Bishop of New Zealand and Lichfield to the
Church, as well as Lord Justice Selwyn and the Canon "of
Ely of the same name ; all of them being his great-nephews.2

1 The two Bells were put up during the Incumbency of Mr. Savage.
They are by Rudhall of Gloucester, the large one being dated 1737,
and the smaller one having the inscription " COME AWAY MAKE
NO DELAY."

2 Mr. Selwyn's great grandson, Captain Selwyn, R.N., is the
pr.esent head of the family. [See Cam} He was buried at Batsford,

NON-RESIDENT RECTORS. 161

•

Augustus Thomas Hupsman [1794-1796] the next Rector
was also Vicar of Berkeley and was nominated to Beverston
by the interest of the Earl of Berkeley. He was buried at
Cranford.

During the Incumbency of these last four Rectors the
Parish had been in the charge of the Rev. Thomas Hornidge
who was also Vicar of Coaley and of Norton in Wiltshire.
He held the Curacy for exactly the same time 'as Mr. Pury
had held the Rectory, 54 years ; and seems to have been
regarded with much affection by the parishioners. The
following particulars of his family are all that can be gathered
from the Register : —

Thomas Hornidge = Sarah
1720—1796 | 1721—1795

John Thomas Sarah = John Green William Anne

1749—1815 1751— 1753—1788 1756— 1758—

Mrs. Hornidge died on January 17th, 1795, and her
husband on June 25th, 1796. A large slab with their initials
and those of their son John, covers their grave on the North
side of the Chancel floor ; and above it on the North wall is
a marble tablet with the following inscription. " Below this

two miles from Blockley, but in the county of Gloucester, and on the
northern slope of the Cotswolds. The following is the inscription
on his grave : —

Beneath this stone

are deposited

the remains

The Reverend

Charles Jasper Selwyn,

33 years Vicar of Blockley

in the County and Diocese of Worcester,

Rector of Beverston and Kingscote

in the County of Gloucester,

and Prebendary of Sarum,

who died the 10th day of Sept., 1794,

in the 67th year of his age.

162 NON-RESIDENT RECTORS.

monument in the same grave are deposited the remains of the
Rev. Thomas Hornidge, Clerk, B. A., Vicar of Coaley, in this
County, and of Norton, in the County of Wilts, and also
resident Curate of this Parish from the time of his ordination
in the year 1742 to the time of his death : And of Sarah his
wife. The latter died on the 17th January, 1795, aged 74,
and the former on the 21st June, 1796, aged 76."

JOHN SAVAGE [1796-1803] was also Rector of Weston
Birt and was appointed to Beverston hy the interest of Earl
Camden. He lies buried at Tethury, where there is a marble
slab to his memory on the south wall by the Altar. His
Curate was the Rev. George Hayward, of whom only this is
recorded in the Register : —

George Hayward = Charlotte Elizabeth

George Christopher [Afterwards Rector John St. John

born Oct. 30, 1797 of Nymphsfield.] bapt. Jan., 1801

THOIIAS PKTTAT succeeded Mr. John Savage [1 803-1839].
He was Rector of Hatherop. An old man, a regular Church
goer, who lived through most of that time, says that he
never saw Mr. Pettat in Beverston, and never heard of
any one who ever saw him there.

During his Incumbency an Enclosure Act [43 Geo. III.
ch. 144] was obtained for re-adjusting the lands of the
Parish and for commuting the Tithes in kind to a Rent
Charge. The subsequent Award is dated June 30th, 1 804.

The Curate during the whole time of Mr. Pettat's Incum-
bency was the Rev. "William Scott Panting, who was also,
during part of his 36 years residence at Beverston, Curate of
Lasburough and who kept a school for boys at the Rectory.1

1 For many years Sir. Panting oscillated every Sunday between
Beverston and Kingscote, holding a service in each Church alternately
in the Morning and the Afternoon. When the Beverston service was
in the Morning a reminder was given to the Parishioners hy the
ringing of the Church Bell at 8 o'clock. Those who wished to go to
Church twice a day walked over to Chavenage ! This with a double

NON-RESIDENT RECTORS. 163

ALAN GARDNER CORNWALL was the last of the eight non-
resident Rectors. [1839-^wy 5th. 1872] He was appointed
by the interest of Lord Dude, and was Chaplain in Ordinary
to the Queen: also Rector of Newington-Bagpath with
Owlpen.

During Mr. Cornwall's Incumbency he and Sir Michael
Hicks Beach built the School (most of the stone for which
came from an old house which stood on the Glebe opposite
to its site) and the present Lord of the Manor built the
School House. The Church was restored a generation ago
in a very liberal spirit by the Lord of the Manor, but
unfortunately the Architect employed knew but little of
Church architecture, and so he destroyed old mouldings,
chiselled over carvings, removed a beautiful screen from the
Chancel Arch, stuccoed over the interior of the Church with
plaster and crowned his work with a roof of wonderful design
bounded by a deep moulding of Plaster of Paris, painted to
imitate wood, at the wall plate. His bench ends are orna-
mented with carvings in putty, placed in circles which
convey a distant idea of " poppy heads : " and cast-iron is
used for the tracery of seat mouldings in the Chancel.

During Mr. Cornwall's Incumbency the following Curates
succeeded Mr. Panting at Beverston.

Frederick Ford 1 840- 1841

Thomas H. Vyvyan -1841

Henry Wybrow 1842-1843

Thomas J". Lingwood 1843-1848

H. Knowles )

T, j n n 1849-1850

Rawdon G. Green j

James Hamilton 1851-1854

Edward Me Lorg 1855-1865
Richard Hibbs 1865-1867

W. H. Kemm Aug. 1869-Mar. 1873.

Parish from which the non-resident Rector received at least £600
a year. The Curate received £40 a year.

164

CHURCHWARDENS AND CLERKS.

JOHN HENRY BLTTNT [1872- ] was the first resident Rector
for about a century and a half. Although known as a
Conservative he was nominated to the Crown by Mr.
Gladstone at the time the latter was head of a Liberal
Ministry. Before Mr. Blunt was instituted the Chapelry of
Kingscote was formed into a separate Parish under an Order
of Council issued some twenty years before.
CHURCHWARDENS SINCE 1743.

William Tugwell

1743—1751

William Robins

1803—1814

Lewen Tugwell

1743—1778

Jacoh Hayward

1815—1853

John Powell

1751—1781

William Kilmister

1853—1854

William Tugwell

1778—1788

Robert Long

1854—1864

John Simpkins

1781—1785

Robert Kilmister

1864—1866

Jonathan Wickes

1785—1799

Charles Long

1866—1874

John Hayward

1788—1790

James Garlick

1873—

Lewen Tugwell

1790—1793

William Warner

1875—

John Hayward

1793—1805

PARISH

CLERKS.

John Philpott

—1728

Jonathan Wickes

—1799 also Churchwarden from 1785 to 1799

John Stockwell

—1803

Giles Long

1803—1810

John Frape

1810—1838

John Ludlow

1838—

CAM.

This ancient clothing village stretches along in a curve
from the foot of the Long Down westward and northward for
nearly two miles, dividing into Upper Cam and Lower Cam
at the Railway Station, and standing, for a good part of the
distance, on the Cam brook or " river." The parish was once
of considerable importance as a place for the manufacture of
cloth : a manufacture recently revived on an extensive scale,
and with modern machinery instead of the ancient hand-
looms. Some eight or ten generations ago Smyth wrote of
Cam with such glowing enthusiasm that he must have re-
garded it as a sort of Happy Valley of the Cotswolds. It
was " a Township soe evenlie partaking of Hill and Vale,
with an wholesome Aire to both, and so equally furnished of
Timber and Wood for Buildinge, Fire, and all Bootes in
Husbandrie ; with Arable, Meadow, and Pasture Grounde,
for the Feed and Breed of all Sorts of Cattell ; with Fish,
Fowle, Perry, Cyder, and the like, that it would abundantly
suffice for the Maintenance and Well-beinge of its own
Inhabitants without Supply from any other, in any needful
Thing which the Hart of Man would moderately desire."
Who would not wish to have lived in Cam in those days !
The neighbourhood bore so high a character for fertility that
" As for pasturage," says Fuller, " I have heard it reported
from credible persons that such is the fruitfulness of the land
nigh Slimbridge, that in spring time let it be bit bare to the
roots, a wand laid along therein over night will be covered
with new grown grass by the next morning" [Fuller's
Worthies, 349.]. The canny King James capped this asser-

166 THE NAME OF CAM.

tion by declaring that he knew a field in Scotland where, if a
horse was turned in on a Sunday it would be in vain even to
look for him on the Monday !

Why this favoured village was called Cam is obvious to all
•who believe that Gloucestershire names are akin to those of
Wales. The stream which passes through the midst of it is
a crooked stream, the roads of the parish are crooked roads,
the heights around are crooked in their sky-line, and " Cam."
in Welsh means nothing more nor less than " crooked " itself.
If Mr. Planche had seen the valley and its curving stream
before he had dipped his pen into the Cornish Camel would he
not rather have written of our little Cam than of it
" Who can wonder crooked river,
Once that thou hast found thy way in
Thou shouldst use thy best endeavour
Such a paradise to stay in."

But a little lower down the Cam river than the village of
Cam the name " Cambridge " is found, and as Slimbridge is
the name of the adjoining parish it is not unlikely that
Cambridge was originally the full name and Cam an abbrevi-
ation. Now the name of Cambridge is to be traced as far back
as a thousand years ago, when it is mentioned in association
with the Danes ; and it appears to have been at the time of
the Danish occupation of East Anglia that " Grantabricg "
began to be known as Cambridge, and the Granta as the
Cam. " There is a river at Macedon and there is also,
moreover, a river at Monmouth " said Fluellen " 't is so like
as my fingers is to my fingers, and there is salmons in both :''
and though there are no " salmons " in either Cam at this day
the names of the two rivers are " so like as my fingers is to
my fingers," and in each case seem to point to a Danish
rather than a British origin. " Upthorpe," the name of an
ancient manor in the Gloucestershire parish, has also a ring
of the East Anglian tongue about it ; while " The Thing,"

THE BATTLE OF CAM-BEIDGE. 167

which was the old name of a house lately destroyed at Cam
Green seems to carry us as directly back to a Scandinavian.
Council chamber as " The Mote " of Downton near Salisbury
carries us back to the Witenagemote.

The earliest historical trace of the locality is in connection
with a defeat sustained there by the Danes in the year 903.
Ethelward, the early English chronicler, says that in that
year " the tempestuous hosts of the barbarians " laid waste the
•lands of the Mercians " as far as the river Avon," which then
as now formed "the boundary between the West Angles "
of Somersetshire "and the Mercians" of Gloucestershire.
" They passed thence towards the west of the river Severn and
obtained no small booty by their ravages. Afterwards they
returned homewards, rejoicing in the riches of their spoils,
and crossed in regular order over a bridge on the eastern bank
of the Severn which is commonly called Cambridge.1 Here
the troops of the Mercians and West Angles suddenly met
them in battle array, an engagement immediately followed
and the English obtained the palm of victory on the plain of
Wodensfeld, the Danish army being driven to flight by the
darts of the English These events are recorded as occurring
on the fifth day. of August" [A.D. 903], "and their three
Kings, named Halfdene, Eowyls, and Igwar, fell in that
tumultuous fight." Where the plain of Wodens-field may
•have been there is nothing to show, but as it is probable that
many names of places which begin with the syllable " Wood "
were originally names beginning with the name of the god
"Woden, it is a not unreasonable conjecture that Woodchester
Park, about two miles east, is the ancient battle-ground of
Woden' s-field, having also been previously the " castra" of a
Roman detachment from the adjacent camp on Uley Bury.

1 The battle of Quatbridge near Bridgenorth, with, which that of
Cambridge has been confused, was fought some time before the
death of King Alfred, in the year 896.

2 N

168 THE HARDINGS OF CAM.

When Cam appears in history as a parish it is as part of the
original, or great, Manor of Berkeley, and the representative
of Fitz-Harding is therefore Lord of the Manor. But lands
were held in Cam for at least three centuries by a family of
Hardings of whom there is no record in the Fitz-Harding
genealogies given by Smyth. The descent of the heirs and
heiresses of this family was as follows : —

HARDING of Cam.

Ralph de Cam, died 16 Edw. I. A.D. 1287.
Henry

Lucia = John Hay-ward

William

Joan = John Oswater of Alkerton
!

Margaret = Thomas Harding

"William, died 37 Henry YHI. A.D, 1545.
Richard, died I. Eliz. A.D. 1558.
George, of Hall Place and Draycotts in A.D. 1604.

Hall Place was sold by George Harding," whose principal
Manor was then at Coaley, to a Herefordshire family of the
name of Hopton. In 1689 William Hopton, Gentleman,
appears as selling the " Vennings," more recently called the
" Manor House," to John Phillimore ; the sale being men-
tioned in the marriage settlement of John Phillimore the
younger. A later member of the family, Mrs. Frances
Hopton, gave her Draycott Estate for the support of a school
for the parish, and her other lands in Cam to a relative
named Hadley. Most of the parish is now the property of
Lord Fitzhardinge.

ECCLESIASTICAL CAM.

The Benefice of Cam belonged in the twelfth century to the
Abbey of Reading, having being granted to it by Matilda the
queen of Henry I. But the Abbey of Gloucester had a prior
claim which the monks maintained successfully against those
of Reading, and it remained in their possession until the
Dissolution of the Monastery, when it was transferred to the
See of Gloucester. The patronage still belongs to the Bishop
of the Diocese, but the great tithes, which constitute the
Rectory of the Parish, are in private hands.

The earliest record of the Church is that it was enlarged
by Thomas Horton, the 18th Abbot of Gloucester. It was re-
built by Thomas Lord Berkeley, the rebuilder of Beverston
Castle and Church, about the year 1340. In that year Lord
Berkeley is also said by Smyth to have founded chantries in
the Chapels of Newport, Wortley, and Cambridge in Glouces-
tershire, making special arrangements for the masses and
prayers there to be said, and for the regulation of the lives
and conduct of the Chaplains ; forbidding them to take money
of any or to be servant to any but God in spiritual matters
and to himself in temporal concerns : enjoining them to live
chastely and honestly, and not to come to markets, alehouses, or
taverns, nor frequent plays or unlawful games : and " all this,"
adds the historian of the Berkeleys, writing in 1618, "he did
in so devout and holy a manner, that unless he had been a dis-
ciple of Wickliff who now lived, he could not have come nearer
to the doctrine of the Church of England in these days."

The Church is said to have been originally dedicated in the
name of St. George, and a story is told by Atkyns of a
clothier who stole a statue of the saint from the porch and

170 THE CHURCH.

carried it in his waggon to Colebrook where it was set up as
the sign of an inn. The present dedication is that of St.
Mary, but in the modern restoration of the Church a very
good sculptured boss of St. George and the Dragon has been
placed in the stone vaulting of the porch to commemorate
the old tradition.

As it now stands the Church consists of a Nave and Aisles
of work dating principally from the fifteenth century, but
with modern roofs ; of a very fine Tower belonging to the
same date ; and of a modern Chancel, in the decoration of the
interior of which colour has been judiciously used on the
ceiling. The Chancel arch is supported on corbels and three
short columns, and a wooden screen no doubt occupied the
opening. But as the latter is much narrower than the
Chancel itself the wall on either side has been pierced with
lights, or " squints," for the purpose of giving the congre-
gation in the Nave and Aisles a more complete view of the
service going on at the Altar. Before the restoration of the
Church there were two such lights on either side, but a third
has been added on the south side, and has increased the
screen-like effect of the whole. The Font is a circular bowl
of early date, ornamented with a beautiful string-moulding
of nail heads, and standing on a modern base of five columns.
The pulpit and altar- table are interesting specimens, of late
Jacobean work. On the walls of the Church, and in its floor,
are many costly marble monuments, which show the former
prosperity of the local manufacture.

Among the monuments on the south wall there is one on
which were formerly the arms of Selwyn : — Argent, on a bend
cottised Sable three annulets Or. An inscription remains
" In memory of three Children, viz. : — "William William and
Sarah (of Jasper Selwyn of this Parish Gent : and Eleanor
his wife) whose Remains were in this Isle deposited : of the
1st on the 18th September 1726, The Second the 1st of July
1727, And ye third the 22nd of Dec. 1730." Two other

THE CHURCH. 171

sons, both named John, were baptized on April 30th, 1735,
and July 27th, 1736, but there are no further entries. The
name has become famous in Church and State in modern
times, in the persons of Sir Charles Jasper Selwyn, the Lord
Justice of Appeal, the venerable Bishop of New Zealand and of
Lichfield, and the learned Canon of Ely. [See also p. 160.]

The most notable features in the exterior of the Church are
the parapet of the Nave roof, which is similar to that around
the choir of Tewkesbury Abbey, and the beautiful Tower,
which, although small, is equal in proportion and general
character, to the famous towers of Somersetshire. At the
foot of the south east buttress of the tower is an admirably
carved dragon, almost " as large as life," a ram's head and a
bull's head occupying similar positions on the western but-
tresses. The heads of a king and bishop are no doubt in-
tended to represent the contemporary monarch, perhaps
Edward III., and the then Bishop of Worcester, perhaps
John Thoresby. Two well-carved gurgoyles may also be
observed, the one a horse's head, and the other a demon
playing on a pipe. The spandrils of the arch surmounting
the western door contain shields bearing the cross of St.
George and the arms of the Berkeleys.

One of the steps which lead to the belfry of the tower is
formed of a portion of an early fifteenth century grave stone,
on which are still to be traced the floriated arms of a cross
and the fragmentary inscription

This was probably a memorial placed above the grave of one
of the Harding ladies whose Christian name was Amice.

In the churchyard there are many tombs of the Phillimore
family of which some account is given further on. Near to
these at the east end of the Church there is also a table tomb

172 THE CHURCH.

of considerable archaeological interest. Its date is 1685 and
it is supposed to stand over the grave of one Perrott who
died in that year, and the manner of whose death is com-
memorated by a sculpture on the side of the monument.
This sculpture represents a man driving a plough, the costume
of the man and the form of the plough being carved with a
force and detail which make them valuable as contemporary
illustrations. The chain by which the horses were drawing
the plough has suddenly snapped and part of it is flying back
above the plough towards the head of the ploughman : there
being also a single link of the chain close behind his head.
On the sides of this panel are two other panels containing the
usual skull, hour-glass, and cross bones of the period. The
tradition connected with this sculpture is that it represents
the death of a farmer who was ploughing on a Sunday, and
who was killed by a part of the plough chain thus striking
his head: the accident being regarded as a judgement upon
him for breaking the fourth Commandment.

On the north-west side of the Church is a tombstone
bearing the following inscription, " In memory of Joseph
White of this parish, Thatcher, who died the 1 2th of June
1837 aged 103 yrs. This stone is erected by the Right
Honourable Lord Segrave to perpetuate so remarkable an
instance of longevity." The baptism of Joseph White is not
traceable in the Parish Register.

There was once a Hospital for a Master and several brethren
at Cam, an institution 'similar to the Charter House in
London, or St. Cross at Winchester, but on a smaller scale.
It was founded by Robert Lord Berkeley at the end of the
twelfth century, and was given to Gloucester Abbey by
Thomas Lord Berkeley in the year 1224. At the Dissolution
of the Monasteries the endowment and buildings of this
benevolent institution were made over to some nobody named
Hodges, a public charity being thus confiscated to private use.

THE VICARS OF CAM. 173

THE VICARS OF CAM.
RICHARD SMITH 1569 — 1581

HUGH PARSONS 1582—1598, buried at Cam on May

16th, 1598.

JOHN CHURCHMAN June 19th, 1598. — June 19th, 1614.
JOHN PHILLIPS 1615 — 1618.

WILLIAM SMITH 1618—1629.
FRANCIS HATHWAY 1630 — 1633.
DOSITHEUS WYER 1633— June, 1635.
JOHN KNIGHTON 1635 — 1636.
THOMAS DAVIS 1636—1640.

OBADIAH HIGGINS 1640 — 1648.
TOBIAS HIGGINS, Jan. 1st, 1638 — 1652, buried at Cam on

December 2nd, 1652.

WILLIAM HARDINGE, 1653 — 1664. The Parish Register re-
cords that on March 2nd, 1663 — 1664 there " was
buried that painfull and faithful Pastor and servant
of Jesus Christ mr William Hardinge the ablest
gospell preacher that ever Cam parish enioyed."
There was also formerly the following inscription
engraved on a brass plate, and placed on the North
wall of the Chancel : —

" Hie jacet in occiduo cinere

GULIELMUS HARDINGE

In Artibus Magister, Theologus tarn Doctrina

Quam pietate eximius, concionator felicissimus,

Pastor fidelis, maritus amantissimus, parens

indulgens : post varia studia, quibus fideliter

nee infeliciter incubuit, instinctu et impulsu

Spiritus Sancti, monitu et hortatu amicorum,

ordines sacros amplexus, et cura pastorali

hujus Ecclesiae Camae indutus anno sui Jesu

1654, Decanatumque Durslaei Ruralis Decanus :

vitae officiis et omnibus curis,

174 THE VICARS OF CAM.

Morte exutus die Dominico
Mane ultimo Februarii, Anno

Domini 1663, retat. 39.

In Memoriam hujus Reverendi Viri,

Chara pariter et pia uxor Dorothea

Hoc posuit Monumentum.

His widow, ten years younger than himself, was laid by his
side at the age of 68 in 1702."
JOHN BARNSDALE, August llth, 1664 — 1680-1. Was buried

at Cam on February 9th.

THOMAS STEATFOBD, April 16th, 1681 — 1707-8. Was buried
at Cam on March 3rd. His monument is against a
pillar with the inscription, " Before this Place lies
the Body of Thomas Stratford, Vicar of this Parish
25 years. He died March 1, Anno Dom. 1707,
aetatis sure 64."

EDWARD TURNER, 1708 — 1718. The following inscription to
his memory was formerly against the South Wall of
the Chancel : —

" Near this Place lieth the Body of EDWARD TURNER,
Vicar of Cam, and also sometime Vicar of Dursley. In both
these Places, among other good deeds for which his Zeal was
eminent, he procured a Charity School. ' He died Feb. 1 3,
1717, aged 44 years, leaving a mournful widow and nine
young children to the all sufficient care of Providence.
Hester his Daughter died March 19, 1717,

aged 3 years 10 months.

DANIEL CAPEL, 1718 — May 1st, 1737. He was also Curate
of Dursley, in the Church of which Parish he lies
buried ; there being a monument to his memory on
the East End of the North Aisle, surmounted by
the Capel arms, and stating that he died at 50 years
of age.
PETER SENHOUSE May, 1737 — 1763.

PARISH REGISTER. 175

BENJAMIN WEBB 1763 —

WILLIAM FKYEE 1801 — 1835.

WILLIAM CHAKLES HOLDEE 1835 — Nov. 6th, 1837. His
monument is on the wall of the North Aisle and
is surmounted by a model of the School in white
marble.

GEOBGE MADAN 1838—1852.

B. F. CAELYLE 1852—1862.

EDWAED CORNFOEP 1862 — 1874

F. T. PENLEY 1875—

CHURCHWARDENS SINCE 1835.

Samuel Pearce 183.5—6 John Harris 1841—61

Thomas Gabb 1835 Samuel Long 1861—6

J. T. Cam 1836—8 John Harris , 1861—8

Samuel Gabb . 1836 James Till Barton 1867—8

Stephen Robinson 1837—40 A. B. Winterbotham 1869—71

Thomas Morse 1839 George Harris 1869—75

Henry Dartnell 1840 Ignatius Dark 1872

Thomas Gabb 1841—61

The Parish Register.

It is often found that Clergymen and Parish Clerks have
registered other things than Births, Deaths, and Marriages,
in the very important volume or volumes in which these are
recorded. Sometimes the Clergyman has had an historical
mind and has given curt notices here and there of public
events; or he has attached personal memoranda to the names
registered, and in both cases he has probably rendered a
service to posterity. The Parish Clerk's memoranda have
usually been of a personal character, recording that such an
one was " a vagrant," another " a sectary," or " presbriterian,"
and a third " a igorant man." There is not much of this in
the Cam Eegister, but there are yet some peculiarities which
are of interest.

The Eegister is all written in contemporary hands, but the
present title, in a beautiful Church text reads as follows : —

o 2

176 PARISH REGISTER.

" A register of all chrisnings weddings and burialls which
have bene in the parish of Cam since the yeare of our
Lord 1569. Renewed by Maurice Trotman and Henry Alye
churchwardens for the yeare of or Lord 1621." l

It is quite certain that the renewal here spoken of was not
that of copying into the present book the records of an older
register ; but it may possibly mean that the book was re-
bound in 1621. The register is undoubtedly an original one,
and few are found of an earlier date.

The earlier entries, for twelve years, were all made by
Richard Smith, the first Vicar after the Reformation.
Having a taste for epigram he headed each of the three
portions of the Register with a Latin couplet The first of
these is an exhortation to each one who is baptized in Christ
to put on Christ, lest original or wilful sin should burden
and press down the soul.

" Christenings

" Indue te christum qui baptizaris in ipsum :
Ni proprio premeris crimine, seu patrio."

The second seems to be a commentary on the wise man's
saying that " a virtuous woman is a crown to her husband,"
and his exclamation " give me any wickedness but the
wickedness of a woman." There is nothing better, it de-
clares, than a good woman, nothing worse than a bad one :
the one excels in every thing that is good, the other in every
thing that is evil.

" Weddings

" Nil melius muliere bona, nil est mala peius :
Omnibus ista bonis praestat, et ilia malis."

The third is a sententious declaration that death destroys
all distinctions among men, dragging those who are the most

1 In the Christenings part of the Register, p. 19, "Mr. John Try "
is written over an erasure as the Churchwarden's name in 1621. In
the Wedding part, at p. 77, Henry Alye signs his own name.

PARISH REGISTER. 177

dissimilar into one common condition, making the master
equal with the servant, and levelling the sceptres of Kings
with the mattocks of labourers.

" Burialls

" Mors dominum servo, mors sceptra ligonibus sequat :
Disimiles simili conditione trahens."

Five pages of the Register, pages 63-68, are occupied
with a list of Parish Officers ; namely, Churchwardens from
1599, Overseers from 1614, Tithingmen and Constables from
1639, Surveyors of Highways from 1646, all going on to
1685. The list is continued in the first twenty-six pages of
the Churchwardens' account book down to 1739.

At page 84 of the Eegister there is also a carefully com-
piled Table giving a summary of the Baptisms, Weddings,
and Burials registered from 1569 to 1679. Opposite the years
1641 — 1648 is the memorandum, " No Weddings registered
all these eight yeares. Few Christenings or Burials regis-
tered all these eight yeares in the heate of the warre. And
in the yeares 4 1 , 45, 46, no Burials at all Registered. Part
of the time of the Civil warre which was not quite ended
till 1660." This is in John Barnsdale's writing, who began
every year from 1665 with the entry of the year of Charles
II. reign and ended it with a summary of the Baptisms,
Marriages, and Burials, repeated in each register.

A similar Table to the above, but of Burials alone, occu-
pies page 124. It reaches from 1570 to 1668 : and as there
was some room to spare it is filled up with the following
verses : —

" Est homo flos, gramen, cinis, umbraq., pulvis et aura :

Somnus, bulla, vapor, ventus, inane, nihil.

Cursus Fortune rotatur imagine Luna3 :

Crescit, decrescit, constans consistere nescit.

Man is a Flour, a Shade, Grasse, Ashes, Dust, and Aire ;

A Bubble, Vapour, Sleepe, Wind, Toy, Nought,

though now so fair.

178 PARISH REGISTER.

Much like ye Moone, so rolleth Fortune's "Wheele :
It waxeth, wanes, unconstant doth it reele."

About this time one of the four Lecturers of Dursley was
named Fortune, and there were also Fortunes of North
Nibley who intermarried with the Phillimores of Cam.
Whether the poetical Vicar had them in view when he wrote
the second of these couplets is not on record. Nor has the
pen of scandal recorded whether any further meaning than
appears underlay the following entry in 1697. "Moses a
poor childe left by an unknown party at Lower Cam was
"baptized Aug. 7th, and being casually found was named
Fortune." Of the fortunes of poor Moses Fortune in later
life no trace is to be found in the Register. But Moses
Fortune was not the first unfortunate child thus treated in
Cam; for in 1680 is this long entry: " Ignotus a poore
child left by an unknown party at Lower Cam, on a Leaping
Stone before Thomas Pope his gate in the Streete was bap-
tized at Cam Nov. 21st, and from that stone surnamed Stone,
but since found to be the son of Hannah the daughter of
James Clerk Baker in Berkeley." Had she brought the child
all the way from Berkeley to lay it at " Thomas Pope his
gate." ? At any rate the poor little waif was sent back
again, for a memorandum is inserted among the burials that
" Ignotus Leapingstone who had been baptized at Cam on
Nov. 21st, had been buried at Berkeley on Dec. loth, next
ensuing."

The year 1668 was remarkable for the number of deaths
which occurred in the Parish. The average number for 85
years only amounted to 12, though it occasionally rose above
20 : but in 1668 as many as 41 deaths are recorded. A note
is appended saying, " This hath been the greatest yeare of
mortality so far, of any these last Hundred yeares," but no
reason is assigned, nor is there any accumulation of numbers
at any particular time of the year, to indicate an epidemic.

PARISH REGISTER.

179

In a later volume of the Register the most remarkable
entry is that which records that six young people of one
family were all baptised together on March 24th, 1779,
namely " James, Robert, John, Esther, Sarah, and Hannah,
sons and daughters of Henry and Dorcas Hill."

The Scripture names used in this family may remind us
before parting with the Register of Cam to notice the very
common use of Scriptural Christian Names during the middle
part of the last century. Before the Great Rebellion they
were not more frequently used than at the present day ; nor
afterwards until after the first third of the eighteenth century
had passed. About the middle of the century thirty are
found at one opening of the Register in which the whole
number of entries only amounts to sixty; including the
burials of persons christened at a much earlier date : and
the following are found within a space of about one gener-
ation : —

Michael
Gabriel
Abel

Joseph
Benjamin
Dinah

Samuel
Jesse
Abner

Josiah
Daniel
Mordecai

Seth

Tamar

Jonathan

Esther

Enoch

Moses

David

Shadrach

Noah
Abraham

Aaron
Job

Abigail
Bathsheba

Meshach
Susannah

Sarah

Keziah

Nathan

Judith

Isaac

Jemima

Solomon

Tobias

Rebekah
Jacob

Joshua
Deborah

Agur
Uriah

Nehemiah
Simon

Israel

Boaz

Obadiah

John

Rachel
Zilpah
Reuben
Simeon

Ruth
Jephtha
Samson
Eli

Elijah
Elisha
Jonah

Zachariah

Nathaniel
Peter
Philip
Bartholomew

Levi

Hannah

Hezekiah

Matthew

180 PARISH REGISTER.

Andrew Stephen Aquila Phoebe

Lazarus Nicholas Priscilla Eunice

Mary Cornelius Epaphroditus Khoda

Martha Paul Dorcas Lois (9 times).

Joanna Luke Lydia

Matthias Timothy Tabitha

This general adoption of Scripture Names seems to have
been influenced by Methodism. In one family there occur
within the space of one generation those of Seth, Isaac,
Joseph, Hannah, Samuel, Bathsheba, Solomon, Nathan,
Daniel, and Susannah : and another branch of the same family
may be taken separately for the purpose of illustrating the
point more particularly in the form of a genealogical table.

Josiah = Elizabeth
I

John Mary Rachel Shadrach Ann Meshach Noah Elizabeth Lydia

1737 1739 1742 1744 1747 1749 > , ' 1754

[This is 1751
repeated in
1764, 1802, 1804]

In this case the Methodist influence is clearly shown,
"Whitfield and John Wesley being in their glory in Gloucester-
shire from Rachel's birth to that of Lydia.

Some other peculiar names to be found during the same
period are Julian, Marmaduke, Leander, Guy, Benedict,
Philadelphia, Mirandah, Battah, Purina, Celia, Robertiana,
Christian, Grace, Patience, and Prudence.

The writer can add out of many within his own experience
that of a labourer's child whom he had to christen " Calliopeia
Rosa Selina:" and of another baby respecting which the
answer given by the mother when he said " Name this Child "
was, " Aint he a dear little lump, Sir ! "

181

BURIAL IN WOOLLEN.

Legislation in matters connected with the Church has often
taken an odd turn since it got so much into the hands of
Parliament. The wisdom of the House of Commons once
provided that Lent should be .carefully observed throughout
the land for the encouragement — not of piety but — of the
fisheries. It levied a heavy duty on the marriages of Bishops
and Archbishops. It imposed a duty — the stamp is still
to be seen with its rose and crown and " III PENCE" in
some of our Parish Registers — on the registration of every
Baptism, Marriage, or Burial, under a penalty of £5, the
Clergy being privileged to receive two shillings in the pound
for collecting the tax ! [23 Geo. III. ch. 67.] But perhaps
no such odd legislation was ever so enduring and vexatious
as that which required the burial of man, woman, and child
in Woollen for the encouragement of the woollen and paper
trades. The Parish Register of Cam contains unusually full
material for illustrating the operation of this vexatious law ;
and as it has been nearly forgotten, except by antiquaries,
though it was in force until within a few months of the
Battle of Waterloo, the reader may be interested in an
account of it.

The first law on the subject [18 Car. II. ch. 4], was
passed in the year of the Great Fire of London, 1666, but
as the Legislature had neglected to provide efficient means
for putting it in force it was never obeyed. Eleven years
later, therefore, another Act was passed. [30 Car. II. ch.
3.] repealing the former, imposing a penalty, and encou-
raging informers by the offer of an ample reward. The
preamble of this Act states that its predecessor "was in-
tended for lessening the importation of linen from beyond
the seas, and for the encouragement of the woollen and
paper manufactures of this kingdom, had the same been
observed." But "in respect there was not a sufficient

182 BURIAL IN WOOLLEN.

remedy thereby given for the discovering and prosecution of
offences against the said Act," it had become necessary to
replace it by one of a more stringent character. This second
Act was further amended by another of two years later date,
entitled " An Additional Act for burying in woollen "
[32 Car. II. ch. 1.].

The law, as thus settled in 1677 and 1680, enacted that
no dead body should be buried in any material that was not
made from sheeps' wool, under a penalty of £5. It required
that, within eight days after burial, if it had not been done
earlier, an affidavit should be " sworn and sealed " before a
Justice of the Peace declaring that the person buried " was
not put in, wrapped or wound up, or buried, in any shirt,
shift, sheet, or shroud made or mingled with flax, hemp, silk,
hair, gold, or silver, or other than what is made of sheeps'
wool only ; nor in any coffin lined or faced with any cloth,
stuff, or any other thing whatsoever made or mingled with
flax, hemp, silk, hair, gold, or silver, or other material than
what is made of sheeps' wool only." If this affidavit was
delivered to the Clergyman he had to make an entry to that
effect in the registration of the burial. If it was not de-
livered to him within eight days after burial the Clergyman
was required to inform the Churchwardens and Overseers of
the Parish, who forthwith were to take out a warrant for the
recovery of £5 penalty from the responsible survivors ; the
money to be obtained by distress if it was not paid at once,
and to be divided between the informer and the poor of the
parish.

For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of the Act
in Dursley and in its neighbourhood some directions were
given by John Smyth, Esq., a local Magistrate, who was
probably the son of Mr. Smyth the Historian of the Berkeley
family; and a copy of these is written on page 143 of the
Cam Register. They are as follow : —

BURIAL IN WOOLLEN. 183

" Directions given by John Smyth Esqr &c. to the Town
of Dursley.

The Title of the Register Book mentioned in the Act to be

made anew in every parish for burying in woollen only.
A Register of the Parish of Dursley in the County of Glouc.
of such as have bin Buried in woollen, pursuant to the Act
of Parlmt.

The Certificate to the Minister within 8 dayes.
A. B. Buried in woollen only the day of Aug. 1678,

as appeareth by the Affidavit of C. D. E. ff. sworn before
John Smyth Esqr. one of his Maties Justices of the Peace
&c : the day of Aug : aforesaid.

To follow this Certificate, enter this Burial thus in the

J. S. daughter of G. L. yeoman, Buried in woollen, prout
Lex postulat, the day of Aug: 1678, as by the

Affidavit of E. ff. G. H. appeareth sworn before John Smyth
Esqr. &c: the day of 1678.

The Ministers Certificate to the Churchwds and Overseers

of the Poore, when no such Affidavit is brought to him

within 8 dayes.

I Edward Towgood Minister of Dursley do hereby certify
to the Churchwds and Overseers of the Poore of Dursley
aforesd that Marrian the wife of Willm Chamberlain of
Dursley aforesayd Clotheworker was Interred in the Church
yard of Dursley aforesayd the 7th day of this Instant August ;
but no Certificate thereof that it was done in woollen only
pursuant to the Act of Parlmt hath been brought unto me
within dayes 8 of the sayd Interment. In witnesse whereof
I have hereunto sett my Hand the day of 1678."

These authoritative directions of one of his Majesty's
Justices of the Peace had no sooner reached Cam than they
were put in practice by the Vicar of Cam of that day, John
Barnsdale, a man of great exactness as the Register shows,

184 BURIAL IN WOOLLEX.

and one ready to show a good example of obedience to the
law — as most of us are when the law is to our advantage.

Travelling back to page 129 of the Parish Register we
find John Barnsdale carefully putting a new Title to his
register, but it is amusing to see the three sceptical words
with which he ends it, and which show that he expected
the law would be disobeyed.

" Here followeth the Register of such as have been Buried
at Cam in the County of Glouc. in woollen, pursuant to
ye late Act of Parliamfr, Caroli Ildi Tricesimo : or should so."
Perhaps he and one of his principal parishioners bad been
talking the matter over, and he knew what to expect : for
certain it is that the very first entry discloses a law abiding
Vicar and a law resisting parishioner. Antiquaries may be
grateful to both, for this is probably the most circumstantial
account on record of the practical operation of the Act.

"William, ye son of Willm and Jane Phinimore of Cam
was buried in the Church-yard of Cam aforesaid, the
sixteenth day of August, 1678. But no certificate thereof
that it was done in woollen only, pursuant to the Act
of Parlmt was brought unto the Vicar officiating in the
sayd Parish, within 8 dayes of the sayd Intermt, with the
Affidavit of two credible witnesses.

Whereupon Aug : 24th instant the sayd Vicar gave
notice thereof in writing under his hand to ye Chchwdns
and Overseeres of ye Poore of Cam, who, Aug : 26th
instant had a warrant granted them by John Smyth Esqr.
one of his Maties Justices of ye Peace &c : for Levying
the {forfeiture of ffive Pounds on the Goodes and Chattels
of Willm Phinimore before mentioned.

Whose Goodes were accordingly endeavoured to be dis-
trained upon : but without distresse made he payd ye same,
viz one moiety to ye use and benefit of the Poore of Cam :
namely to Mary Hitchins wid., Sarah Sawby wid., John

BURIAL IN WOOLLEN. 185

Perrot's wife, Daniel Dowsell's wife : Thomas Wood's wife,
10s. apiece. And the other moiety thereof was on the
same day, viz Sept 6th, payd to ye use of John Barnsdale
Vicar of Cam, who informed."

One may hope that no uncomfortable feelings disturbed the
future intercourse between Mr. Phinnimore and his Vicar.
The very next burial entered is that of Daniel Phillimore
Senior, late of the parish of Berkeley ; and John Phillimore
of Cam, sen. yeoman, aged 91, was buried in 1680 : but it
does not appear that Mr. William Phinnimore required any
further service of the kind for his immediate family before
the time came when this entiy also had to be made, " Mr.
John Barnsdale, late Minister of Came, was buried in the
Chancell in the Parish Church of Came aforesaid in sheep
wooll only february the 9. 1680, as appeareth by the Affi-
davit of William Comock of Cam aforesaid, broad- weaver and
Joan Killemister of the same singell wooman sworne before
John Smyth Esqre ye 9th Instant 1680." On Aug. 10th
1684 Robert son of William Phillimore " was buried in
woollen only in witness whereof Mary Lacy and Jane
Phillimore sware and sealed Aug. 17. 1684."

But the law was, in fact, so vexatious that many persons
preferred to disobey it first, if they were allowed, and pay
the fine of £5 afterwards : though it is said that constables
would sometimes enter a house and require the linen shroud
- to be removed from a corpse prepared for burial ; and that at
the end of the Burial Service the parish clerk would call out
" who makes affidavit ? " and that such unseemly interference
with people at the saddest time of their lives took place
quite up to the close of the last century. There were,
however, doctrinnaires even in those days ; and one of them
wrote, so late as 1800, that it was an excellent law which
saved 200,000 Ibs. annually " from untimely corruption in

186 BURIAL IN WOOLLEN.

the grave " and passed them " to the hands of the manufac-
turers of paper." [Monthly Mag. 1800.] But the law
gradually fell into desuetude in many places and bore so
unfairly upon those on whom it was still enforced that in
1814 it was repealed [54 Geo. Ill ch. 108]; penalties
already incurred, but not paid, being remitted.

Meanwhile those who disliked being put to rest in the
grave like ordinary mortals had somehow contrived to drive
through the Act of Parliament boldly.

" ' Odious ! in Woollen ! t'would a saint provoke ! '
Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke
' No, let a charming chintz, and Brussels lace,
Wrap my cold limbs, and shade my lifeless face :
One would not, sure, be frightful when one's dead —
And — Betty — give this cheek a little red.' "
The lady of whom Pope wrote these caustic lines [Moral Ess.
Ep. j.] was a famous actress named Oldfield, who was buried
in Westminster Abbey, in the year 1731, in " a Brussels lace
head-dress, a Holland shift with tucker and double ruffles of
the same lace, and a pair of new kid gloves."

On the other hand there are parts of the country, as the
North of England, where there is a prejudice against using
any other material than woollen for burial ; and new flannel
shrouds ornamented with black ribbons are there almost
universal. Whether this feeling springs from the custom
originated by Act of Parliament, or whether it has a more
ancient origin, is worth enquiry.

The Churchwardens' Book.

This is not of so much interest as the Parish Register,
nor so valuable for its historical memorials as the Church-
wardens' book of the adjoining Parish of Dursley.

It begins with the date April 21st, 1726, and ends on
May 10th, 1842 : and the first entry consists of the following

CHURCHWARDENS' BOOK. 187

piece of parochial poetry ; the first four lines being on the
front, and the rest on the back of the Title page.

" Vain world ! Thou nought but frequent changes rings

Time wears out Registers of Men and Things.

The old grows useless, and neglected lie

Its fate consigns it to obscurity."

" Man's gay and active days does soon decline

His meridian sun has but a short shine

Cyphers may almost sum up his short span

So vain and fleeting is the life of man

His time does hasten with rapidity

To be absorbed in Eternity."

Following the title page there is a valuable " register of
Officers in ye parish of Cam from 1690 to 1739" which
occupies twenty-six pages. Here are registered the names of
the Churchwardens, Overseers, Supervisors (or Highway Sur-
veyors), Constables, and Tythingmen. A still earlier list is
written at the end of the earliest register of Christenings,
which carries back the list of Parish Officers to the year
1599 : and perhaps there are few parishes which can boast of
such a list for so long a period as two and three quarter
centuries. In the list of these officers the names of Tyndale
and Huchens frequently occur as they do in the Parish
Register of the adjoining parish of Stinchcombe ; and, as is
well known William Tyndale, the translator of the New
Testament into English in the reign of Henry VIII., used
the name of Hutchens as an alias, a fact which seems to
confirm the tradition that he was connected with this district
of Gloucestershire.

There are not many entries of interest in the Church-
wardens' accounts, but the following may be thought worth
record in type.

1725 "For goeing to Gloucester to stop process when
presented by Nathll Pope. 3s 6d

183 CHURCHWARDENS' BOOK.

1727 "Mary Terret shall have a Shift and a Horse load
Coal."

1730 "For setting stones at ye Tower to prevent playing

att Balles. 2s. 6d.
"forapillpot Candelstick £1. 1.0.

1731 \J. Parker's] " Part of the expense in going apro-

cessioning £1. 2. 0.
[Nath. Pope's] Part do do £.1. 0. 0.
In 1737 there is a similar entry of " Expenses for procession-
ing £1. 4. 0."

1732 "The Accompt of Jno Phillimore and Wm Roach

Churchwardens of the Parish of Cam for Our
Fathers for the Year 1732."
" Paid for a support in the Middle He of the Church

for two boxes for briffs 4s."

From this it appears that Briefs were sometimes responded
to by the people putting their money, or not putting it, into
boxes similar to alms boxes. This may have been the way
in which the penny was gathered from the parishioners of
Ormsby for the rebuilding of Dursley steeple [see page 43].

1734 " For a Shift for Edith Spencer 3s. 4d.

1735 "For A Bed and Wool for Oaty's Son and Dafter

7s 6d.

1736 " Saml Harding's Money for the Expence of Tho'

Oaty Familly with the Small pox. £10. 2s.

" Paid for a new Bible £3. 6. 0."

" pd for Six foxes 3s 6d." In 1738 four foxes were
paid for, in 1740 four more, in 1741 six, — but the
price reduced to 3s Od. — and in 1744, shocking to
relate, there is an entry " To Cash pd Mr Gyde's
Huntsman for a Fox Is. Od." !! In 1745 four
more are entered, not it is to be hoped to the Hunts-
man, at 2s Od, and four "polecats" at Is 4d.
These latter entries are curiously mixed up with payments

CHURCHWARDENS' BOOK. 189

for "2 Bottles of Wine1 and one loaf 5s Od," and a new

Prayer Book for the clerk, 15s 0.

1750 " Pd Wm Davis for 3 Tabels for the Benny Facktions

£1. 5. 0"

" Pd fer for drawing and gilding the frames
£4. 13. 10."

1765 April 8th, "Mary Phillimore of Upthrop " was ap-
pointed Churchwarden for Upper Cam, with
William Keen, but Samuel Phillimore seems to
have acted.

1768 April 4th, Mrs Mary Randolph was appointed Over-
seer for Lower Cam.
So advanced was the question of " women's rights" in Cam

even a century ago.

1782 New dial for clock £4. 9. 8

Painting ditto 3. 10. 0

Mending and cleaning ditto 11. 0

1809 New face to clock and making

altarpiece 12. 14. 2£

1808 Painting the Dial 5. 15. 6

1813 Mending the Clock 6. 0. 0

1817 "Paid Mr Daw's Bill for

the King's Arms and Dial " 15. 9. 0
The Clock dial was evidently a serious charge upon the

Church Rates.

1813 Oct 12. Paid at Citation for prayer for Wellington's

Victory. 4s Od.

1814 7 loads of Stone from Hampton Common £17. 3. 4
Hauling ditto £10. 10. 0
This was for the repair of the Church Tower,

the whole cost being £31. 19. 1.

1 It is observable that " Taint " and " Tent " Wine are entered at
an even earlier date than this, showing that the use of this Wine for
the Holy Sacrament is an old custom.

190 CHURCHWARDENS' BOOK.

1823 The Church was new pewed at a cost of £269,

subscribed by 30 persons, the Vicar's subscription
being £21.
Taint Wine £7. 11. 0

1824 " Rd Miles fetching the D: Bass from Nicholls " Is Od.
3 Strings to the Double Bass £1. 4. 0

1825 Mending the Double Bass £l. 0. 0

1826 Expenses with the double bas 5s. 0
1828 Tuning and repairing the organ lls. 0

At the end of the book is the following entry, which it is a
pleasure to put upon permanent record. A similar gift was
made to Cowley near Oxford about the same time by Bishop
Coleridge.

" June 10th in the Year of our Lord 1823
On which day the Revel "Win. Fryer, Vicar of the Parish of
Cam, presented to the Parish a Sacramental Cup and Cover
or Salver, to be used for private Communion, by the Vicar,
as occasion may require for the time being for ever. And on
the Decease of any and every such Vicar, the Churchwardens
of the said Parish of Cam will be and are hereby empowered
to demand of the Heirs, Executors, or Administrators of
every such Vicar the aforementioned Cup &c. And on the
appointment of a new Vicar shall present the same to him,
to be used, as previously noticed, and on no other occasion,
unless they might be particularly wanted when the holy
Sacrament of the Lord's Supper shall be administered in
publick.

"Wm Fryer Vicar
Thos Morse

T t Churchwardens

Long

Thos Gabb Overseer

Benj. Drew

Thos Hadley

Stepn Robinson

Chas Whittard Junr Vestry Clerk "

CHURCHWARDENS' BOOK. 191

SPARROWS AND CHURCHWARDENS.

In the days when the present writer was sowing his
ecclesiastical wild oats in a Fen Curacy, the archaeological
zeal which time has long tempered led him up a very long
ladder (during restoration work) to a beam which crossed the
Nave of the Church some fifty feet above the floor. There
he found the old oak timber pitted with largish holes, and from
out of the holes he extracted some lumps of lead. He wa»
making a collection of all curiosities found in the Church, —
and not a few real ones had been found, — for preservation at
the Vicarage, — and these lumps of lead were placed in a pill
box duly labelled, according to received tradition, " slugs from,
the guns of Cromwell's soldiers, shot at the Royal Arms."
Not long afterwards on inspecting the recently discovered
treasures he found the inscription corrected by his commanding-
officer to " shots from old John Wilkins' gun when slaughter-
ing the sparrows." Whether the old sexton was a bad shot
and fired much lead ineffectually at each sparrow, or whether
sparrows abounded inside the Church and attached them-
selves fondly to that special beam is not recorded : but it
is certain that the anti-sentimental Wilkins theory is.
supported by general evidence of the hostility to sparrows-
which was formerly borne by Church officers.

And in these days when Acts of Parliament are called for
to protect small birds, and handbills setting forth the penalties
to be paid for disobeying the law are posted up in every
Church School, it is worth while to show what is on record
respecting small birds and their treatment a generation or so
ago in the parish of Cam.

The sparrows lived as peacefully in Cam until 1819 — so far
as the Churchwardens' accounts show — as if they had been
birds of Paradise : but for the eleven years that followed
they had a hard time of it, and if they attempted to pick up
a living anywhere within the parish boundaries, it must

p 2

192

CHURCHWARDENS' BOOK.

have been under the influence either of great ignorance as to
the principles of Cam boys and Cam Churchwardens, or of
such courage as makes brave sparrows like brave men march
to the mouth of a gun in the course of duty.

Here is the account of their treatment, as it may be gathered
from the Churchwardens' book.

Years.

No of Sparrows heads.

Money paid.

1819

532

£1 2 2 •

1820

1859

3 17 l£

1821

1822

1432

2 19 8

1823

640

1 5 10

1824

1543

344

1825

1411

2 18 10

1826

224

9 4

1827

1520

334

1828

3571

7 8 9£

1829

3842

5 15 3£

1830

3345

3 6 9£

1831-7

2701

2 18 0£

Total

22,620

£37 9 6J

In those days a sparrow was considered to be worth a
halfpenny: or rather perhaps his "room being" thought
" better than his company," that was the sum which a
Churchwarden thought good to pay out of the Church Rates
to get rid of him. But in 1829 when the Reform Bill was
looming in the distance the value of the sparrow suddenly
fell to a farthing. As soon as it was certain that it would
pass the Cam farmers felt that they would want their money
for other purposes than sparrows' heads, and so in 1831, the

CHURCHWARDENS' BOOK. 193

payments nearly ceased. From that time until the accession
of Queen Victoria only about one-tenth of the number of
birds were paid for compared with preceding years : and
when our Lady Sovereign raised all virtues to the throne
that of humanity towards small birds began to prevail, so
that the price of a sparrow has never since appeared in the
Church accounts of Cam.

It was not nice for them to appear in Church accounts at
all. One would rather the birds should find themselves a
•house of refuge in the Church than that it should be associ-
ated with their destruction.

And while the farmers were thus expending the Church.
Rate the grubs must have laughed from the furrow into the
faces of their ploughmen : and the wireworms must have
sung merrily .as they bored into the very hearts of their
turnips.

THE BELLS.

If a family of Church Bells could chime out to us their
recollections, what stories they might tell even in a country
parish like Cam, that has never been remarkable for great
events.

Sometimes, it is true, they would tell us, they have had
duty to do on great occasions. They never failed to ring out
on the Fifth of November, so long as there was a general
belief that

" There can be no reason

Why Gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot."

They were once as regular also in commemorating the 29th
of May. But they had scarcely rang out their harmonies on
that day in 1763, before discord arose on the subject among
the Parishioners. A Vestry Meeting was called on June 1st
at which' " it was agreed not to pay anything for the future

194 CHURCHWARDENS' BOOK.

for ringing on the 29th Day of May, and it was likewise
agreed that what was paid to the ringers ye 29 of May last
shall not be allowed." But this temporary discord soon
passed away, for the ringers were paid their usual five
shillings for the day in 1764, and in nearly if not all succeed-
ing years. Much less persistent was the memory of that
battle at Culloden in 1746, which extinguished all the hopes
of the Stuarts, for although the bells rang " in remem-
brance" of it in 1747 and 1748, it seems afterwards to have
been quite forgotten, at least in the Belfry. Later on the
Cam family rang their part in the national bell-harmony of
joy for the great victories of Wellington. Coronation days
were not forgotten by them : sad national tolling days set
the deepest toned among them to send forth his solemn wail
once a minute that it might mingle in the great chorus of
sorrow: and when England's Princess came home with her
husband wonderful indeed would it have been if any bells
had been unwilling to join in the universal marriage peal.

But the ordinary associations connected with the Church
Bells of a village are chiefly of a domestic character. Our
Bell-family would tell us stories of generations who listened
to their summoning voice as they chimed the hour of prayer
year after year and age after age ; of those whose childish
hands had clapped together with laughing joy as they heard
the merry chimes ; who had walked sunnily forth from the
Porch when mature years had made the wedding-peal theirs ;
who — later still — had followed their elders to the same Porch
as the great tenor tolled out the last peal for them ; and who
themselves in time came to their last peal also and heard the
sound of Bells no more, unless bells make part of the sweet
music of Paradise.

" From the Church tower where they dwell,

Tolls to prayer the passing bell,

When, with dull and solemn tread,

Mourners bear to Church their dead,

CHURCHWARDENS' BOOK. 19/>

Muffled voices sad and low

From those bells sob out their woe.

Merry marriage chimes are ringing,

Mirth on all sides round them flinging ;

From the Church door softly glide

Happy bridegroom, blooming bride,

Young and old around them press,

Kindly gaze, and fondly bless.

By those chimings gently shaken

Hope and memory awaken ;

Youth hath bright and blissful gleamings

Of such joy in future dreamings ;

While the oldest in the train,

Think that they are young again.

Happy bells! the heart rejoices
In their dear familiar voices,
Loved for all their tender sadness,
And their full out-spoken gladness ;
Nor the less beloved when they
Call us on the Holy Day,
Or at other week-day times
Bid to prayer with cheerful chimes."

But the Bell family of Cam is not one of very ancient date,
for they only came into existence five human generations ago,
which is nothing in the family history of Bells, — one at
Claughton in Lancashire being dated 1296, and many as old
existing. There are five of them now, but the bell cage was
intended to hold six when it was put up — as an inscription on
it states — by " Thomas Church and John Milsom Church-
wardens, 1679," and so, probably, their ancient predecessors
were really six in number, but were replaced by five only
when the present ring was cast in 1710. Tradition has it
that the sixth bell was translated to Stinchcombe, and per-
haps tradition may say true.

196 CHURCHWARDENS' BOOK.

Like a very large number of Gloucestershire bells those of
Cam owe their parentage to the Rudhalls, bell founders of
Gloucester, who continued to supply Churches with excellent
bells until 1826, when the old and famous name gave place
to one now almost as famous in belfries, that of Mears.

The inscription on each of the five bells tells the story of
its own birth as follows :

1] JOHN HALLING ABRA : EVDHALL BELL FOVNDER 1710

[Diam. 3ft.]

2] ABRA: RVDHAXL CAST vs ALL 1710 [Diam. 3ft. 2in.]
3] A : R : 1 709. PROSPERITY TO OUR BENEFACTORS AND RINGERS

[Diam. 3ft. 3in.]

4] A: R: 1710. LET vs RING FOR PEACE [Diam. 3ft. 3in.]
5 Tenor] COLONEL HOPTON BENEFACTOR A:R: 1710

EDWARD TURNER MINISTER.
PEACE AND GOOD NEIGHBOURHOOD. [Diam. 3ft. 6in.]

In addition to which inscription each bell bears an orna-
mental border, of a design found not uncommonly on other
bells, as well as those of the Rudhalls.

In older days the inscriptions upon bells were almost
invariably of a religious character. So near to the time of
the above as 1681 some of the bells of York Cathedral were
inscribed with " Jubilate Domino," " Exultate Deo," " Gloria
in Excelsis Deo : " while a little earlier, in 1 627, is found
on another bell of the same Church : —

" Sweetly tolling men we call
To taste on food to feed the soul."
and in 1599, —

" I will sound and resound to Thy people, Lord,
With my sweet voice to call them to Thy word."
When Cam bells come to be re-cast again, here are five
hints for those who shall have to think about inscriptions
for them.

CHURCHWARDENS' BOOK. 197

Eighteenth Century Orthodoxy.

At the end of the Churchwardens' book there is a con-
temporary copy of a bequest in which the Vicars of Cam
have an interest, and which is worth reprinting here * as an
illustration of Churchmanship in the middle of the last
century.

" Richard Tyler, late of the city of Bristol, Gent., pursuant
to the will of his brother John Tyler, Gent, (both Natives of
Berkeley), in the year 1749, gave an Estate, situate in the
Tything of Hinton, for the following uses, as appears by a
deed enrolled in Chancery in the year 1750: viz. Thirty
Shillings to be equally divided between the Clerk and Sexton
of the Parish Church of Berkeley, for ringing the Bell and
attending Divine Service as hereinafter directed. The re-
maining part of the yearly profits to be divided between the
Ministers of Berkeley, Cam. Wotton-under-edge, Cromhall,
Tortworth, 'Dursley, and Thornbury, for reading Morning
Prayer, and preaching seventeen sermons annuallyin Berkeley
Church on the following Days, and during Lent, on the
following Subjects: —

1. The Lent Fast.

2. Against Atheism and Infidelity.

3. The Catholic Church.

4. Excellency of the Church of England.

5. The Defence of the Divinity of our Saviour.

6. Baptism.

7. Confirmation.

8. Confession and Absolution.

9. Errors of the Church of Rome.

10. Against Enthusiasm and Superstition.

1 1 . Restitution.

12. Attending Public Worship.

13. Frequenting the Holy Communion.

14. Repentance.

1 It is to be found in Bigland's Collections, 157, and in Fosbroke's
Berkeley Manuscripts, 66.

198 THE PHILLIMORE FAMILY.

Sermons on the first seven subjects to be preached in the
first year, beginning on Ash- Wednesday, 1750, and on the
remaining other seven in the following year, and so alter-
nately and successively for ever. One of the said Sermons to
be preached by each of the above named Ministers on every
"Wednesday in Lent, Four of other Ten by the Minister of
Berkeley, and the remaining Six by the respective Ministers
of the other parishes aforesaid, on the first Wednesday in
every succeeding month, within the compass of the year."
THE PHILLIMOEE FAMILY.

An ancient family whose name has become historical, that
of Phillimore, was long settled at Cam, where many of their
tombstones are to seen in the Church and Churchyard, and
where their name appears in the Parish Register about 250
times between 1571 and 1825.

The earliest trace of them in Cam or its immediate neigh-
bourhood is found in the Records of the Manor of Stinchcombe.
In 1522 John Fynamore received from the Crown a Lease of
a Water Corn Mill called Corriett's Mill, —afterwards joined
with a Gigge Mill and a Fulling Mill under the same roof, —
to hold for his life and that of his wife Alice (lately the wife
of John Tyndale), John and Thomas Fynamore his sons by
Agnes his former wife, and William Fynamore his son by
Alice his present wife. John Fynamore himself died in 1532,
Alice his widow in 1535. The next trace of the family is
found in a Will which is preserved in the Probate Office at
Gloucester * This is the will of William ffyllymore of Coaley
(the next parish to Cam) which was proved on Aug. 12thi

1 Foxe the Church Historian records the story of Henry Finmore,
Filmer, or Finnemore, — for he spells the name in each way — who
was Churchwarden of Windsor, and a friend of Marbecke the famous
adapter of the old Church song to the Book of Common Prayer-
Finnemore was burned to death under the Act of the Six Articles on
July 3rd, 1543. [Foxe's Acts § Hon., v. pp. 488, 993. ed. 1846.]

THE PHILLIMORE FAMILY. 199

1558, and by which his personal property is left in part to
Thomas and Jane ffylymore his father and mother. This
Jane was probably the Joan Phinnimore, widow, whose burial
is entered in the Register on Oct. 31st 1575. Between
1571 and 1604 there are many entries of sons and daughters
born to George, Richard, and John Phinnimore, who appear
to have been three brothers, clothiers, from whom the subse-
quent members of the family were descended. In the Stinch-
combe deeds the name is spelt Fynamore, Fynymore,
Fynemore, Phinnymore, Fyllimore, and Fylymore. It is
first spelt " Phillimore " in 1640, and from that time both
forms of the name occur during thirty or forty years, the
later one alone being used after about 1680 in the Cam regis-
ters, though the early one is still common in Gloucestershire
and elsewhere. President Fillmore traced his American
ancestry back to a John Phillmore who was living about the
year 1710, and thought that John Phillmore was derived
from an English family named Phillemore : so that Cam has
probably given a President to the United States.

The principal residence of the family appears to have been
a house which stood on the site now occupied by the Chapel
of St. Bartholomew, and which in its later years was converted
into an Inn under the sign of the Berkeley Arms. Here, it
is said, were many portraits of the Phillimores which had
been left in the house as fixtures, but which were destroyed
by the rough frequenters of the Inn when they were in their
cups. Another of their houses was Nash Hall now a farm-
house known as The Knapp.1 In this house there still
remains as one of the fixtures a fine picture of sixteenth

1 " Mr. Samuel Phillimore of the Knapp " is mentioned in the
Churchwardens' accounts for 1777. There is a grim tradition at the
Knapp that a body lies buried under the stone steps which lead down
from the hall to the cellar, and that the spirit of the deceased rises
whenever grass grows on the steps. Boiling water used to be poured
upon the steps to prevent the grass from growing.

200

THE PHILLIMORE FAMILY.

century date which is said to be one of the family portraits.
It represents a naval officer's half-length left profile, with
cravat and ruffles of the Caroline period : and in the back-
ground on his right is a three masted ship, with Spanish
colours, which seems to represent some famous capture
made by him. The picture is in its original frame of black
and gold, and appears to be the work of a superior artist
of the school of Lely. Another house of the family was
The Vennings, called more recently The Manor House.
This was bought of William Hopton by John Phillimore in
1689, and left by him in 1611 to his second son John. This
house, — which was given to an old servant in the early part
of the present century, — retains two memorials of its former
occupants, the one a merchant's mark of John Phillimore, with
the date 1706: | : 1 the other, the

I7O <!

initials of John Phillimore and his wife Mary on the head of
the porch, with the date 1712. This John Phillimore was

17 12

the eldest representative of Richard the second of the three
brothers above named, and is now represented by ~W.
Phillimore Stiff Phillimore, Esqre., of Snenton near Notting-
ham, and of Wresden in TJley.

THE PHILLIMORE FAMILY. 201

A younger brother of the preceding John Phillimore was
named Joseph, and migrated to London, where his son
Robert became established on property at Kensington, and, by
marriage with Elizabeth Jephson an heiress, on an estate at
Kendalls in Hertfordshire. From him were descended the
Phillimores of Kendalls, the eminent ecclesiastical Judges,
Dr. Joseph Phillimore and his son Sir Robert Joseph
Phillimore, and Sir John Phillimore a naval officer of high
repute in the last generation l

The last of the Phillimores who remained in their old
locality were Mr. John Phillimore of Symond's Hall, TTley,
and the Knapp, Cam, and his sister, Mrs. Purnell of
Kingshill, Dursley. Mr. Phillimore died in 1825 and Mrs.
Purnell in 1826, when the Cam Estate and £14,000 were
left to John Phillimore Hicks, Esqre., the lands at Uley and
Owlpen, with £15,000 to Robert Kingscote, Esqre., a near
neighbour of ancient family, and some £40,000 to other
legatees.

The following table gives a correct view, it is believed, of
the connection between the Cam Phillimores and those whose
names have been mentioned above as distinguished members
of the family in modern times.2

In addition to the alliances indicated in the table the
Phillimores of Cam have intermarried with Gloucestershire
families of Fowler, Dorney, Hicks, Wallington, Purnell,
Holbrow, Small, Austin, Stiff, and Jenner.

1 It is worth mentioning that the Gloucestershire village which is
so honourably associated with the great law names of Selwyn and
Phillimore was also the native place of an industrious author of some
note, Edward Trotman, who wrote an abridgement of Sir Edward
Coke's eleven volumes of Reports, and was buried in the Temple
Church on May 29th, 1643.

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STINCHCOMBE HILL.

This is the name given to a broad T-shaped peninsula of
high ground running out westward at right angles from the
line of the Cots wolds, near Dursley and Cam. The length of
this projection is about three miles, and though the ridge
which forms it is at first only thirty yards across and fringed
with trees, it expands at last into a fine open down, the
"Hill" proper, with Drakestone Point (the highest part,
750 feet above the sea) as an offshoot to the South.

The view, though perhaps not finer than some others in
Gloucestershire, has features of peculiar interest. The Hill
is not so high as Broadway or even as Nibley Knoll (within
two miles), nor does it give so wild a prospect as May Hill
or Stanton Hill. But for three-fifths of the circle the horizon
is not less than twenty miles distant, while the nearer land-
scape is full of beauty and variety. And what is more
important, at every point of the distance the eye rests on some-
thing which is worthy of attention. Perhaps the point which
distinguishes this view most strongly from others in Glouces-
tershire is the long and broad course of the Severn across it,
which can be traced from a few miles below Gloucester till it
is merged in the Bristol Channel. Without it the valley
would be comparatively colourless : its presence adds a beauty
to the scene which need only be beheld to be appreciated.

The rough Outline-view which accompanies these pages will
perhaps serve to direct attention to what is best worth seeing.
The point from which it is taken is a small cup-like hollow
about a dozen yards south-west of the flagstaff" on Drakestone
Point. It should be clearly understood that where the outline

STINCHCOMBE HILL. 205

of the Hill is denoted by a dotted line, the Hill is supposed
to be transparent for the sake of introducing objects which
can be seen from other parts of the Down. It will be best to
follow the view from south to westward, starting from the
conspicuous monument on Nibley Knoll, marked 1 on the
map.

The Monument (1) was erected a few years ago to com-
memorate "William Tyndale (1483—1536), the English
Reformer and Translator of the Bible, who was probably born
at North Nibley (3), the village at the foot of the Knoll,
the Church of which can be seen to the right. Just over the
foot of the Knoll can be seen part of Kingswood (2), the site
of a once-famous monastery, now a small village under the
shadow of Wotton-under-Edge, a town similar in size and
position to Dursley, but as completely separated from its
sister-town as three miles and a half of hilly country can
make it. It lies out of sight to the left of Kingswood.

The horizon now begins to recede, bounded by the Cots-
wolds, on which the camps of Horton and Sodbury may be
distinguished by those who know the country. The line is
next broken by the Lansdowne Monument (5) above Bath,
beyond which the Cots wolds reach their southern extremity.
Just above where they fail, on the slope of a far distant hill
may be seen in fine weather another monument (6) which
seems to be Alfred's Tower near Taunton. [At this point the
end of Drakestone Point (7) obstructs much of the view,
unless a move be made to the extreme edge.]

Bristol (8) is the next conspicuous object, of which little
but smoke and tall chimneys can usually be distinguished,
the high ground between Horfield and Stapleton hiding
most of the city. But in Clifton (10) can be seen Christ
Church and the Observatory, possibly even the piers of the
Suspension Bridge. Immediately above Clifton stands the
Tower of Dundry Church (9), a well-known beacon about

206 STINCHCOMBE HILL.

four miles from Bristol, behind and above which appear the
Quantock Hills. The valley of the Avon may be traced
until Portishead (13) is seen over the ships in Kings-Road,
jutting out into the Bristol Channel, while off the point, ten
miles further distant, are the Steep and Flat Holmes, the
former distinguished by its high round outline, the latter by
a lighthouse. Much nearer, a little to the right, is Denny
Island. In ordinary weather all beyond these objects seems
open sea, but occasionally the line of the Somersetshire coast
by Weston, Clevedon, Watchet, and even parts of Exmoor
to the border of Devonshire bound the view, stretching com-
pletely across till they meet the Glamorganshire shore.
Below this last the bold outline of Aust Cliff (15), Trajectus
Augusti, strikes the eye, which with St. Tecla's Isle (16) at
the mouth of the Wye, marks the point where the Bristol
Channel ends and the Severn begins.

Turning attention to the nearer view, the eye rests upon
the line of the Midland Railway. Immediately below
Clifton is Tort worth Tower (11), in the churchyard of
which to the left of the Church is the old tree that has been
a landmark since the days of King John. To the right, just
above the trees, can be discerned the top of Tortworth Court,
Lord Ducie's seat. The large wood nearer the spectator to
the right is Michaelwood Chase (12), once part of the Forest
of Kingswood: above the northern extremity of it, about
four miles from Aust Cliff, is Thornbury (14), with its
richly-decorated tower.

Beyond the river and above the mouth of the Wye are
the Glamorganshire Hills, in the shadow of which is Cardiff,
hardly discernible. Tracing the course of the Wye we see
Chepstow (17) and, less easy to find, the Windcliff (18),
900 feet high and well wooded at the top. There is then
little to notice till we reach the Brecknock Beacons (20) and
the Sugar Loaf (21). The latter is unmistakable in fairly

STINCHCOMBE HILL. 207

clear weather from its shape ; the former requires good sight
at any time, to make out its three pinnacles rising above the
nearer range. Abergavenny is out of sight at the foot of the
Sugar Loaf, but the ridge of the Skirrid is visible a little to
the right below the peak, and further still, just beneath a
round tree-covered knoll, is Stanton Hill, above Monmouth.
The long line above and behind these objects, terminating in a
bold bluff, is the so-called Black Forest. Next comes the
nearer tract of undulating woodland called the Forest of
Dean (24), now unfortunately. easily recognised by the smoke
which overhangs it night and day from iron works.

Returning now to the Gloucestershire side of the Severn,
Berkeley (19) though not easily found by the eye, may usually
be traced by the blue smoke of the town and the walls of the
Castle on the left " by yon tuft of trees " \_Shakespeare. Rich.
II. 2, 3, 53]. Where the river disappears behind Sharpness
Point, may be seen the outlet of the Gloucester and Berkeley
Canal (22), while glimpses of the Canal itself appear at
intervals most of the way to Gloucester, and, sometimes
ships' masts moving among the trees. The Church Spire (23)
between us and the Point, just beneath our Hill belongs to
the pretty village of Stinchcombe, where Isaac Williams
lived, and from which the Hill takes its name. Following
the course of the Severn we come to the Horse Shoe, a large
bend of the river, beginning near Frampton Church (31) and
winding round Barrow Hill (28) by Fretherne, and on the
further side by Newnham (25) and Westbury-on-Severn (27).
Above the last is May Hill (26) with its clump of trees, and,
due north of us, the Malvern Hills (29), of which the highest
peak is the Worcestershire Beacon, the next the North Hill,
and the hill fortified with earthworks to the left the Hereford-
shire Beacon. In the broad valley to the right there is
nothing to notice except Highnam Church (32).

ft 2

208 STINCHCOMBE HILL.

Gloucester Cathedral (34) next comes into sight, every
detail of which can be made out with good glasses. Tewkes-
bury Abbey Tower is just above to the left, and on very
exceptional days the Lickey Hills between Bromsgrove and
Birmingham may be seen above all. At the Monument on
Bredon Hill (35) beyond Cheltenham (which is itself hidden
behind Robin Hood Hill to the right of Gloucester) the
horizon begins to contract, the prospect being limited by the
Cotswolds above Haresfield and Stonehouse (39) (where the
line is broken by the Stroud Valley, affording a glimpse of
the hills by Painswick), and nearer still by Frocester
HiU (41).

Frocester Church (36) at some distance from the Hill is just
visible, but to see Coaley (38), Lower Cam (37), and Upper
Cam (40), a move must be made to the northern part of the
Down.

To the right of Frocester Hill a small clump of trees
marks the top of the beautiful Woodchester Valley which
runs eastward towards Stroud, and a little further on is the
celebrated chambered Tumulus near Uley (42), and the great
Camp on TJley Bury (45). Beneath these last objects are the
curious detached hills which characterize the Uley Valley
(48). First is Cam Peak (44), a small conical hill hardly
separated from the curved ridge of Long Down (43) ; next,
more in the valley, Downham (46), with its trees and ruined
fever-house on the summit. These with the spurs of Uley
Bury form the northern wall of the valley, the narrow neck
joining Stinchcombe Hill to the Cotswolds being the southern.
Both ends of the valley are hidden from our view, for while
at the village of Uley beneath the Bury small " combes "
begin to ramify among the hills as far as to the source of the
Cam, to Owlpen House (47) and to Nymphsfield, Dursley at
the mouth of the valley is wholly concealed by its own
down.

STINCHCOMBE HILL. 209

Little now remains to be noticed except the Ridge (49),
and Stancombe House which lies in beautiful grounds at our
feet, not far from the site of a Roman Villa, now covered
up.1 Above some trees to the right is the Hawkesbury
Monument (50), near Badminton, close to which in appear-
ance though not in reality is Tyndale's Monument, from
which we began our description.

It may be worth while to remark that the Cotswolds from
near Bristol to Bredon Hill — the whole of which line is
visible from Stinchcombe Hill — were considered by the
Romans so important a line of defence as to be protected by
no less than twenty-five camps.

Having thus done our best to describe in humble prose the
notable points of the prospect from Stinchcombe Hill, it may
be interesting to the reader to see what a poet had to say on
the subject a hundred and thirty years ago. The verses
which we reprint, form a small folio pamphlet of twelve
pages, and are entitled " Stinchcomb-Hill, a Poem : or, The
Prospect. By the Reverend Mr Edward Pickering Rich, of
North-Cerney, Gloucestershire. " But it would be unjust to
the Author not to prefix his dedication, and so, we reproduce
his work in its completeness.

" To the TEFL* VIRTUOUS Mrs. A. CHAMBERS.
" MADAM,

" THE following Rhymes were wrote under Your immediate
Influence, for, if You remember, my Table was Your Knee ;
we had no sooner viewed the delightful Prospect of Stinchcomb-
Hill, in Gloucestershire, but You, with an agreeable Smile,
commanded me to write something on it, which I immediately
comply 'd with, and wrote the following Piece ; in which, if there
is any Thing that can please a Lady of Your nice distinguishing
Taste, ascribe it all to Your all-inspiring Beauty ; and, when

1 An account of some Antiquities found on excavating this villa
will te found in the Archaeological Association's Journal.

210 STINCHCOMBE HILL.

I flag, kindly believe I was spent in Gazing on the too dazzling
Glory of Your bright Sun-like Beauty. The kind Appro-
bation it met with from You and a few other Ladies of the
highest Distinction and Fortune, makes it appear in public.
Therefore, I will make no Apology, since You are pleased to
like it ; You, that I was always glad to please, smile on my well-
meant Essay, and accept the Poetical Endeavours of Your
"Sincere Inamorato, and Most Obedient Servant,

"EDWARD PICKERING RICH.

" IF you, ye virtuous Fair, will fire my Breast,
And patronize my Muse, by Love distress'd ;
Henceforth I will commence a Priest of Fame,
And never tremble at a Critic's Name.

Fair Amaryllis, we'll a While retire,

From the low Villa, where the Hills aspire ;

Where the high Mountains emulate the Sky,

And Prospects wide and various charm the Eye.

Not Alpine Hills such glorious Scenes can show,

Tho' Rome and all its Splendor lay below :

Tho' boasted Tyber drew its wat'ry Store,

With mazy Error thro' that classic Shore :

Nor old Olympus, sung so oft in Lays,

Can justly merit so sincere a Praise,

As StinchcomV s tow'ing Height, that soaring Hill,

That does with Wonder all Spectators fill.

Observe, bright Maid, and ope your glorious Eyes,

And see the Prospects regularly rise.

First ken yon Mountains eminently high,

Which scorn the lower World, and mount the Sky ;

Where the old Britons, as they proudly go,

Look down with Trembling at the Deep below.

There, with a dismal melancholy Roar,

The raging Waters lash the sounding Shore ;

STINCHCOMBE HILL. 211

Severn 'tis called by all Historic Fame,
From drowned Sabrine it deriv'd its Name :
Here Berkley's antiquated Dome ascends,
And worn with Age most venerably bends ;
There erst a King as Chronicles relate,
Met with his cruel melancholy Fate.

Look where the Sun his glorious Beams displays,

And scatters gloriously his glittering Rays,

O'er yonder Tow'rs and Pinnacles that rise,

Brightly refulgent to the neighb'ring Skies ;

In that fair Vale the lovely City stands,

At once our Wonder and our Praise commands,

Gloucester eclypt.

A College there magnificently grand,

Built by some wond'rous Artist's wond'rous Hand ;

Where if two Lovers lend an amorous ear,

Widely divided, whisper and yet hear.

Leave now the City, and then turn your Eyes,

Where Sylvan Scenes and Rural Prospects rise ;

Promiscuous Villa's scatter'd here and there,

In artless Beauty innocently fair ;

Their pleasant Meadows in a cheerful Green

Delight the Eyes and drive away the Spleen.

But that's not all, that we do much out-do

All other Countries, for a length'ning View ;

That we the World in Prospect will excel,

And high above the rest car' off the Bell :

But then our Bells are so exceeding bright,

That all around they cast a glorious Light ;

They're unaffected with their pretty Meins

Of Innocence and Beauty, Rural Queens.

Tho' now in general I have sung the Fair,

Yet one above the rest my choicest care ; .

212 STINCHCOMBE HILL.

So in a charming starry glittering Night,

When every Star then glitters in our Sight,

Yet all agree the Moon's the softer Light.

So Amaryllis, so, my brighter Maid,

When you appear, all other Beauties fade ;

Fain would I strive your wond'rous Charms to paint,

But Words can't speak 'em and Description's faint :

A Goddess' Form let Gods alone express,

For who are fit to draw it, who are less ?

Oh ! that I'd Nylton's Style, that Heav'nly Song,
To you bright Maid such Verses do belong !
Then would I give the World a glimmering View
Of wond'rous Virtues center 'd all in you.
My Muse, sweet Maid, bids us the Hill descend,
And warns me for to hasten to the end :
Therefore, accept my careful Conduct down,
From the high Summit to your humbler Town :
So the first Pair were forc'd to leave behind
Their dear lost Eden, with reluctant Mind."

ULEY.

This pleasant and prettily situated village was once of
considerable importance as a seat of the West of England
cloth manufacture, and in the height of its prosperity must
have rivalled in size the neighbouring town of Dursley. It
is situated in a hollow of the Cotswolds, about two and a half
miles north-east of Dursley, and is shut in by hills on all
sides but the west. Many springs take their rise in these
hills, and flowing down into the valley form the little stream,
called the Ewelme ; which, running on to Dursley, is aug-
mented by the waters of the Broadwell, and afterwards
becomes the Cam.

But Uley became a clothing village not much earlier than
the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and it had nestled down in its
quiet valley for many ages before that time. When men first
built their homes here and gave them a name is hard to say,1
but it seems to have been in those early days when their
language designated as " Wl ley" what we should now call a
" wool valley," and as " Wl pen " what we should now call a
" wool down or hill : " and thus the primitive inhabitants
were no doubt as great in the growth of long wool as their
descendants were in the manufacture of it into broad-cloth.
Later on, perhaps, when Norman gentry came to live among
the primitive shepherds of the place, people bethought them
of another characteristic of the locality, and especially of the

1 Canon Lysons considers that the name of Uley may be traced to
the Hebrew " Olah " a " burnt offering " or " a high place, a place of
whole burnt offerings, a place of lifting up of sacrifice, and the voice
in prayer." [Lysons' Our British Ancestors, p. 146.]

214 PRIMITIVE ULEY.

Tillage itself, and so they called it " Eau ley " because of the
many springs, which are visible in the village street and
under every hedge in the parish, in the shape of gushing
fountains or of crystal wells.

But long before any peaceful village grew up in the valley,
men of war had taken possession of the hill. There, once,
were ancient Britons who dyed themselves with the wood
which their descendants used for dyeing their broad-cloth
coats ; l and they have left their mark in the well-known
Cairn with its interior cluster of walled graves. After them
came the Romans, who maintained a considerable force in the
district, and obliterating most of the marks of their pre-
decessors, have left their own in the shape of the camp earth-
works which are still conspicuous on TJley Bury. Probably
those earth-works were not unfrequently occupied in the ages
of Avar which followed the departure of the Romans, and it
was in the midst of them, no doubt, that the three Godwins
encamped their armies when they marched from their three
counties to their Castle at Beverston, and thence to over awe
the last of the old English Kings by displaying their force
within sight of his court at Gloucester. [See page 100.]

And when the Godwins encamped at TJley they encamped
on their own ground, for the parish was part of the great
Manor of Berkeley in their time and in the time of Robert
Fitzhardinge, the next subject who possessed it. Later on it
went to the Berkeleys of Stoke Giffard, who lived at their
Manor House of " White Court," with its two deer parks, a
house which has long vanished, but the name of which still
lingers in a little hamlet that has grown up near its site.
But the parish was broken up into several freeholds even in
the days of the Plantagenets, and beside White Court there

1 Dyer's woad was grown in Uley fields within the memory of
persons still living, but it is now superseded by Indigo, which in its
turn is being superseded by Aniline, manufactured from gas tar.

GEEAT HOUSES IN ULEY. 215

were separate estates and houses named Basset's Court,
Bencombe, Stout's Hill, Wresden, Angeston, and Rockstowes.
Of these and of the families associated with them, however,
there is not much known.

White Court was evidently the principal place of the
parish, and is called the Manor of Uley in ancient records.
The house was situated where the hamlet of the name now
stands, and probably covered a good deal of land, for it was
surrounded by two deer parks, or by one large park divided
by the high road It was made into an estate for a junior
branch of the Fitz-hardinges, the Berkeleys of Stoke Giffard,
and was broken up into small holdings and farms by Sir
Richard Berkeley, in A.r>. 1565.

Basset's Court was made over by Thomas Lord Berkeley,
about A.D. 1216, to Margaret his daughter, who was the wife
of Anselm Basset, and continued in that family until the
eighteenth century, when it also was broken up by
Elizabeth, — daughter of Sir William Basset, of Claverton, the
last male heir, — who was married to William Westcombe.

Bencombe, in the thirteenth century, gave its name to a
family of whom one member, Robert de Bencombe, is on
record. In the sixteenth century it belonged to John Poyntz,
and from him it descended to the Dornays, of whom the last
representative in the male line died in 1 845 and lies in Uley
Church, with the following inscription to commemorate her,
and her arms, on a lozenge gules a chevron between three
crescents or. " -^ Near this Spot Lieth the Body of Eliz-
abeth Dorney of Bencomb, who died April 6th 1846, Aged
90 years, The last Descendant in the Male line of an Ancient
Family. A faithful and pious Churchwoman. A gentle and
liberal Neighbour. She forgot not to do good and to
distribute And walk humbly with her God. •£• This Monu-
ment is erected by her Grateful and Affectionate Kinsman the
Revd- John Harding." This nephew was Rector of Coity

R 2

216 ROGER RUDDER, THE VEGETARIAN.

and Coychurch in Glamorganshire, and his son was Sir John
Dorney Harding, a distinguished Ecclesiastical Judge.

Stout's Hill is the name of a house situated on high
ground to the south of the village of Uley, built in the
style which, in the last century, was intended for Gothic,
but which may be more exactly defined as the Strawberry
Hill style. In a house of earlier date lived the father of
Samuel Rudder, the laborious compiler of the folio History of
Gloucestershire. He lies in the churchyard of TJley on the
south side of the Chancel, and his grave stone has a brass
plate inserted in it which records a very remarkable fact in
the following words : — " Underneath lie the remains of Roger
Rutter alias Rudder, Eldest Son of John Rutter of Uley,
who was buried August 30, 1771 aged 84 years, having
never eaten Flesh, Fish, or Fowl, during the course of his
long life." Tradition says that this strict vegetarian lived
mainly on "Dump" in various toothsome forms. Usually
he ate " plain Dump " made of flour and suet : when he grew
tired of Plain dump he changed his diet to " Hard Dump : "
and when he was in a special state of exhilaration he added
the variety of " Apple Dump " to his very moderate fare.
The writer is reminded of a hospitable squire of his acquaint-
ance— Consule Planco — who took pride in the eels and pike
which flourished in the stream that ran through his estate.
On Monday he would help you, with much bonhommie, to a
plate of eels, on Tuesday to a plate of pike, on Wednesday
to a plate of eels and pike reposing side by side in genial
companionship : and on Thursday you began again.

Samuel Rudder, the son of the above vegetarian, was the
second great historian of the County of Gloucester ; — second
to Sir Robert Atkyns in time but hardly second in industry,
accuracy, and research. He was a printer and bookseller in
Cirencester, where he published his large folio work, and
where he died at the aged of 75 in the year 1801. In de-

THE LLOYD-BAKER FAMILY. 217

scribing Stout's Hill he says, " This is also the place of the
writer's nativity, where he collected his first ideas, and for
which he still indulges a natural partiality."

The present house has an interesting association also with
the family of Lloyd Baker ; the present representative of the
families of Lloyd and Baker, Thomas Barwick Lloyd Baker,
Esqre, of Hardwicke Court near Gloucester, being the de-
scendant, by a double line, of William Lloyd, Bishop of
Norwich, who was one of the Seven Bishops committed to
the Tower for Protestantism by the Popish James II., and
deprived of their sees for Popery by the Presbyterian
William III. The Bishop's great grand-daughter, Mary,
who died in 1819, and was buried in Uley Church, was the
wife of Mr. William Lloyd Baker who died in 1830, and
whose mother, Mary, was grand-daughter of the Bishop.1
The present Mr. Lloyd-Baker is a well-known writer on the
Condition of the Labouring Classes, on the Poor Laws, and
on Prison Management.

Early in this century the hospitality of Stout's Hill was
offered to the poet Bloomfield, at a time when he was re-
covering from a severe illness. He spent a fortnight in the
house in 1807, and during the course of his visit a pleasant
driving party was made for an excursion through South
Wales, which led to the composition of the poem entitled

1 LLOYD-BAKER of Stout's Hill and of Hardwicke Court.

William Lloyd =
Bishop of Norwich |

William = Bakers of

Chancellor of I Waresley,

Worcester | Wore.

John= Mary = Thomas
Hector of
Ryton, Durh. |

1
Mary = William

Thomas John Lloyd Baker
Thomas Barwick Lloyd Baker.

218 BLOOMF1ELD, THE POET.

" The Banks of Wye." Bloomfield mentions the occasion of
his writing the poem in his preface, and dedicates it to his
hospitable entertainers in the following terms : — " To Thomas
John Lloyd Baker, Esqre., of Stout's Hill, TJley, and his
excellent lady : and Robert Bransby Cooper, Esqre., of Ferney
Hill, Dursley, in the County of Gloucester, and all the
members of his family : this journal is dedicated, with
sentiments of high esteem and a lively recollection of past
pleasures."

The poet celebrates his arrival at Stout's Hill with the
pretty lines ; —

" Soon the deep dell appeared and the clear brow

Of TJley Bury smiled o'er all below

O'er mansion, flock, and circling woods that hung

Round the sweet pastures where the skylark sung,"
and after invoking the muse in the received style of pastoral
poetry, he describes the start of the party on the "ten
day's leisure " which " ten day's joy shall prove."
" One August morn, with spirits high,

Sound health, bright hopes, and cloudless sky,

A cheerful group their farewell bade

To Dursley tower, to TJley' s shade ;

And where bold Stinchcombe's greenwood side

Heaves in the van of highland pride,

Scour'd the broad vale of Severn ; where

The foes of verse shall never dare

Genius to scorn, or hound its power,

There blood-stained Berkeley's turrets low'r

A name that cannot pass away,

Till time forgets 'the Bard' of Gray."

The smooth but not very exciting verses flow on through
about two thousand lines of such descriptions of scenery as
our grandfathers delighted in, and then once more TJley and
Dursley come to the front ; —

KEBLE'S ASSOCIATION WITH ULEY. 219

" The setting sun, on Dursley tower,
Welcomed us home, and forward bade,
To Uley valley's peaceful shade."

Bloomfield was a poet whose writings charmed a large
circle of readers in the generation which preceded Words-
worth ; and his poems are as conspicuous as those of his great
successor for their single heartedness and purity.

Uley can also boast of an association even more direct with
that saintly poet John Keble. His grandfather, John Keble
of Fairford, died in 1780, leaving several daughters and an
only son, also named John, who became Vicar of Coin St.
Aldwyn's near Fairford, in 1782. There being at that time
no suitable residence in his parish, Mr. Keble lived in his own
house in Fairford, and there he took home, in 1785, the mother
of his two sons, one of whom was the John Keble so dear to the
hearts of the millions who have read the Christian Year ;
and whose memory has also been perpetuated by the noble
College at Oxford which bears his name. Mrs. Keble, born
Sarah Maule, was one of a family of that name which was
well known among the principal residents of Uley.

Uley Broad-Cloth,

This parish was once specially famous for the manufacture
of that blue " Kerseymere " cloth which our grandfathers
used to wear in the form of long-tailed coats freely adorned
behind and before with buttons of gilded brass.

Of " Cloathing " says Fuller " as good as any in England for
fineness and colour is wrought in this county, where the
Cloathiers have a double advantage, First, plenty of the best
Wooll growing therein on Cotwold hills : so that whereas
Cloathiers in some Counties fetch their wool far off, with
great cost, it is here but the removing of it from the Backs
of the Sheep into their Worke Houses. Secondly they have
the benefit of an Water for colouring their Cloath, being the

220 ULEY KERSEYMERE.

sweet Rivulet of Strowd, which arising about Branfield,
runneth across this Shire into the Severn.

" Now no rational man will deny Occult qualities of per-
fection in some above other waters (whereby Spanish Steele
non natura sed tinctura becomes more tough than ours in
England) as the best Reds (a colour which always carried
somewhat of Magistracy therein) are died in Stroud water.
Hence it is that this Shire hath afforded many wealthy
Cloathiers, whereof some may seem in their Loomes to have
interwoven their own names into their Cloaths, (called Webs-
cloath and Clutterbucks) after the names of the first makers
of them, for many years after."

The blue cloth of TTley was as famous as the scarlet of
Stroud. For this fame no doubt it was indebted to the
" Occult qualities " of the " sweet Rivulet " of Ewelme,
flowing through the fields of Woad, and brightening the
texture of the fabrics which came from the looms, so that
when they were drawn out of the dyeing vats they shone a
resplendent true-blue, such as would gladden the heart of the
Tory Squire for his Sunday duties, even as the scarlet of
Stroudwater gladdened it on Monday for the duties of the
field. The first to manufacture that particular kind of cloth,
at least in TJley, was one John Eyles, of "Wresden,1 whose
monument in the Church still bears testimony to the achieve-

1 Wresden is an ancient homestead in the Parish which was sold
by Sir Richard Berkeley, of Stoke Giffard, to Giles Browning, in
1566, and which belonged to the Eyles family not long afterwards.
Mr. John Phillimore, of Cheshunt and New Broa/1 Street, London,
came into possession of it afterwards, and made a gift of it and of
The Thing on Cam Green to his brother Robert ; from whom it has
descended to the present owner W. Stiff Phillimore, Esqre., of Snenton,
Nottingham. The house is an interesting specimen of a seventeenth
century middle-class residence; and in one of the bed-rooms is a fine
old Jacobean bedstead which was once, no doubt, occupied by John
Eyles himself.

ULEY KERSEYMERE.

221

ment by the following inscription with John Eyles' trade-
mark in the place of arms : —

Behind this Wall lyes the Body of

John Eyles aged 91 years and y
first that ever made Spanish Cloath

in y psh To whose gratefull memory
this Monument was erected by M.
Bayly Gent of "Wresden.

1 731

But famous as the blue broad-cloth of Uley once was, its
fame could not save the manufacturing industry of the parish
from the influence of an age in which so many landmarks
have been changed. Within the memory of those still living
the village was more than double its present size, many looms

222 TJLEY KERSEYMERE.

"being at work in it, and also fulling mills and dyeing houses ;
"but steam and Yorkshire energy began to underbid the Uley
clothiers about half a century ago, and strikes for wages which
would leave no profits to the manufacturers finished what
^Northern rivalry had begun. This destruction of the local
clothing trade led to a time of terrible poverty among those
who had been the working population of the place ; and Mr.
Xloyd-Baker, who was at that time resident in the parish,
states that in 1830 the Poor's rate stood as high as eighteen
shillings in the pound on the real value of the land, although
the poor received as little as it was thought possible for them
to live on. From that time the manufacturing industry of
Uley has passed away, and when the present writer recently
made enquiries on the spot, he found two looms alone
remaining at work in the hands of an ancient weaver and
weaveress to testify to the former prosperous trade which
was carried on here.

ECCLESIASTICAL ULEY.

The Parish Church of Uley is an entirely modern structure,
erected on the site of the old one in the year 1858 at a cost
of £3,000. It is a structure in the Early English style of a
late period, and was designed by M>. S. Teulon, Architect, of
London. The stained glass windows are of some local
interest, but not of high artistic character. The tower is
lofty and handsome and contains a fine-toned tenor bell,
which was taken from the ancient Church.

The old Church, dedicated like its successor to St. Giles,
was an unpretending structure which had been much pulled
to pieces for the addition of pews and galleries. On the
south side alone there were three exterior stair-cases leading
to the latter. The tower was supposed to be of great
antiquity, but no records remain respecting it. The whole
Church was in such a condition that restoration was found to
be impossible, and it was entirely removed at the above
date.

The parochial records of Uley are not of any great interest,
although the Register begins as early as the year 1668.1

But there are some entries respecting excommunication
which show that the discipline of the Church was exercised
at a later date than is sometimes supposed.

1 It may however be mentioned that the trade of " Rugger " or
" Rug- weaver " seems to have heen a common one before the intro -
duction of Broad cloth weaving.

And the following names may be added to the list printed at page
179:—

Dionisia Unis Temperance Modesty

Baersheba Germanicus Lucina Tryphena daug. of

Archilaus Troilus Paphroditus Rich, and Lohurama

224 ECCLESIASTICAL ULEY.

On February 5th, 1697 the following occurs : —
" By virtue of an Order directed to me by Richard Parsones
Doctr of the Laws I did denounce and declare the marriage
of William Manninge of Uley and Elizabeth Manninge
ye late wife of John Manninge his deceased brother to be
void and null to all intents and purposes : witnesse my Hand
William Heart."

The next entry of the kind indicates the nature of the
spiritual offence for which these excommunications were pro-
bably issued.

" Eliz : ye base born child of Eliz : Tilly buried February
ye 8th Annoqu. Dom : 17 If. Ye reputed father of this
childe was John Cook who afterward married her and after
marriage were both denounced excommunicated in our parish
church of Uley "

The next shows that it was not the poor alone who were
subjected to the censures of the Church.

" April 26th 1778. Mr. Edward Dorney of this Parish was
excommunicated John Gregory Rector."
The sentence of excommunication not having been revoked
at the death of this gentleman in 1795 he was buried at
midnight without the usual Service.

"April 3rd 1785. Sarah Talboys of this Parish was excom-
municated. John Gregory : Rector." This entry is followed
by another, undated, " Sarah Talboys's sentence of excom-
munication was revoked by me Ralph Lockey Curate ; " so
that it may be hoped that she at any rate was penitent for
her misdeeds, whatever they were.

It may be well to add that sentences of excommunication
were not issued by the parochial clergyman who had to read
them in Church (according to the rubric after the Nicene
Creed) at his own will, but by formal process in the Bishop's
or Archdeacon's Court, after " presentation " by the Clergy-
man or Churchwardens.

RECTORS AND CHURCHWARDENS OF ULEY. 225

THE RECTORS OF ULEY.
THOMAS MAINWARLNG
JAMES DALTON 1611

HERBERT CROFTS

WILLIAM HEART 1667

JOHN JACKSON
RICE WILLIAMS

THOMAS GREGORY 1748

JOHN GREGORY 1778

THOMAS ESBTJRY PARTRIDGE 1793
MARLOW WATTS WILKINSON 1823
CHARLES CHAPMAN BROWNE 1867

CHURCHWARDENS SINCE 1807.

Rice Williams 1807 James Kathxo 1842

Samuel Went 1807 William Hurcombe 1846

William Hill 1811 John Legge Clarke 1847

Reuben Ho well 1812 Thomas Legge Clarke 1848

Joseph Jeens 1814 Edward Bloxsome, Jun. 1850

Thomas Went 1814 Robert Arthur Fitzhardinge ) ._,_

William Hinton 1818 Kingscote j 18

George Adey 1824 John George Rowley 1855

Samuel Price 1825 Charles Price 1860

John Feribee 1825 William Hurcombe 1860

George Blackwell 1827 John George Rowley 1868

James Haile 1830 Charles Norris 1868

John Norris 1832 Cornelius Harris Holloway 1869

David Bailey 1834 A. E. Burmester, C.B. 1870

John Norris 1837 William Hill 1870

Joseph Powell 1838 Thomas Clarke 1871

Henry Moreland Jeens 1840 John Hamlyn Borrer 1875

Thomas Stiff 1841

ULEY CHARITIES.

On a Monument upon the Wall of the Church is the
following record : —

" Near this place lyeth enterred the body of HENRY PEGLEK
of this Parish Gent, who dyed the 12th day of August

226 TTLEY CHARITIES.

1695, aged 85. He gave a parcel of land and 10 Pounds

in Money to the Use of the poor of this Parish for

ever."

On the Tahles of Benefactions in the Church Tower.

ME. PARSLOW gave ten shillings per annum, to he paid out of
"the Fancis in Uley, to be given away in Bread to the
poor on St. John's Day.

CAPT. PEGLER gave ten shillings per annum, to be paid out of
Broadstone field in Uley, five shillings to be given away
in Bread to the poor, and five shillings to the Minister
for a Sermon on the 17th day of February.

ME. HOLLINS gave five shillings per annum, to be paid by
the Overseer of Uley, being interest of Five Pounds put
in his hands, to be given away in Bread to the poor on
the 1 7th day of February.

MES. ANX WENT, by her Will dated 7th January, 1825, gave
One Hundred Pounds to the Parish, to be placed out at
interest on Government Security in the names of the
Minister and Churchwardens for the time being, two
fifth parts of such interest to be distributed amongst the
poor by the said Minister and Churchwardens at Christ-
mas Annually, and the remaining three fifth parts
thereof, to be paid towards the support of the Church
Sunday School established in this Parish.

ME. THOMAS GREGORY of Dursley, by his Will dated May,
1837, gave Eighty Pounds to the Parish, to be placed
out at interest in Government Security in the names of
the Minister and Churchwardens, the interest arising
therefrom to be distributed amongst the poor in Bread
on St. Stephen's Day.

MK. TETHKRS gave forty shillings per annum, to be paid out
of the Estate called Oldminster, in the Parish of
Berkeley, thirty shillings to be given away in Bread to
the poor, and ten to the Minister for a Sermon on St.
John's Day.

THE ULEY TUMULUS. 227

MR. RICHARD HOPKIXS gave twenty-five shillings per annum,
to be paid out of the House formerly called, The Bell
and Apple Tree Inn in Dursley, to be given away in
Bread to the poor on Easter Tuesday.

MRS. CATHE. "Wo BLOCK gave forty-three shillings and four-
pence, the interest of Eighty Pounds in the funds, to be
given away by the Minister and Churchwardens to the
poor Widows that are Housekeepers on St. John's Day.

The Tumulus, or Grave-mound.

Just outside the village of Uley, about an hundred yards
to the left of the road leading to Nymphsfield, there is an
artificial hillock about ten feet high, the construction of which
is thought by antiquaries to date from a period some hundreds
of years before the Christian era, perhaps as far back as the
reign of King David ; though, to judge by its local name,
" Hetty Pegler's Tump," a much more recent date has been
assigned to it by those who live in its immediate neighbour-
hood.1 It is a great heart-shaped heap of stones, 120 feet
long by 85 feet wide in its broadest part, which has been piled
over an ancient sepulchre constructed of large "plank"
stones, and over which a layer of earth and turf has accu-
mulated. In former times it presented simply the appearance
of a hillock on a rising ground which leads towards the Roman
Camp and overlooks a most beautiful view of the Severn
valley and of the hills of South and Mid Wales, but the
approach to its interior being now left open its artificial
character is at once apparent.

1 This name appears to be associated with the wife of Henry
Pegler, whose benefaction to the poor of Uley is recorded at page 225.
After the inscription commemorating him there follows " Also the
body of Hester his wife, who died the 26th day of Nov. 1694, aged
69." Perhaps Mrs. Pegler had some explorations made in the
*' tump " and so gave her name to it.

228

THE ULEY TUMULUS.

This Grave-mound is one of a class which antiquaries have
named the " Chambered Long Barrow " type, to distinguish
them from other forms, such as the round, disc-shaped, and
unchambered, barrows : and it is one of the finest of all that
are known.

The construction of such grave-mounds is not simply that
of a stone chamber over which stones and earth have been
piled up. The dry stone-wall on either side of the entrance

ENTRANCE OF TTJMUITJS.

is part of a heart-shaped wall which runs round the whole
of the mound as a kind of support by which its original form
is preserved. At the broad end, or entrance, which points
towards sunrise, a second wall of a similar kind occurs at
a distance of several feet behind the one which is visible, so
as to form a double breast- work in front of the stone-chambers
beyond : and at the smaller end one longitudinal, and two
transverse walls exist ; all these walls being buried under the
superincumbent stones and earth, except where the entrance
has been laid open in modern times.

THE TJLEY TUMULUS. 229

These structural walls end at the entrance to the chambered
part of the barrow and their place is taken by plank stones-
set up on edge, the stones not having been tooled in any way
but being put together just as they were lifted out of the bed,
the interstices between the irregular edges being filled in with
smaller stones of the same description. The plank stone
walls which thus continue the rubble walls of the entrance
run parallel to each other for a distance of 22 feet, being 4£
feet apart and 5 feet in height ; and the passage thus formed
is roofed over with similar stones. In the sides of thi*
square tunnel there were four polygonal chambers made in
exactly the same way, which were the sepulchral vaults of
those for whom, this burial mound was constructed : but only
the two on the left hand remain in a perfect condition. It i»
probable that the chambers and the passage to them were
first built up, that the heart-shaped walls were then erected
to regulate the size and form of the mound, and that the
whole was afterwards buried under the rubble and earth of
which the substance of the hillock is composed.

The Uley barrow was accidentally broken into in 1820,
and the chambers on the north side were destroyed by the
labourers. In the following year it was carefully opened in
the presence of antiquaries, and after being thoroughly
examined it was closed again until 1854, when it was once
more opened and explored under the direction of the late
Dr. Thurnam, the greatest authority in England on the
subject of grave-mounds. Since that time the tumulus has
not again been closed except by a small wooden door.1

The entrance to the interior of this barrow is under the
lower edge of a massive stone eight feet long which is set

1 Some notes of the examination made in 1821 were taken by T. J.
Lloyd Baker, Esq., F.S.A., of Stouts Hill, and these were incor-
porated by Dr. Thurnam with a paper on the examination of 1854
which he contributed to the Archaeological Journal, vol. xi. 315.

230 THE ULEY TUMULUS.

upright and supported by two side stones at the height of
about two-and-a-half feet from the ground. Creeping through
this low doorway the explorer finds himself in the long
passage described above, and on his left hand are the two
sepulchral chambers which remain perfect. The passage is
partly divided into two by the projection into it of the great
stones which form the divisions between each pair of chambers,
and the easternmost half of it is again divided off in a
similar manner about a yard from the entrance. The end of
the passage is blocked by a large slab of the same kind as
those which form the sides and roof. The ground plan of
the whole thus takes the form of a cross, and this is so
frequently found in pre-Christian days, and among heathen
nations, that there can be little doubt it had some meaning,
thouh what meaning is not now evident.

f SepiA/

r ctral \

Long Passage

Cha J mbers

PLAN OF INTERIOR.

The sepulchral chambers are entered by narrow doorways,
"but these were each closed up with a wall as the chambers
"became the resting places of the bodies for which they were
constructed, and the one furthest from the entrance was so

THE TJLEY TUMULUS. 231

found when the mound was explored in 1821. The roofs
also were originally formed in rude domes by making courses
of plank stones overlap each other in succession until the
whole of the chamber was covered ; but these are not now
in their original condition.

When the mound was examined in 1821 the central
passage and the side chambers were found to be filled with
soil and rubble, part of which had no doubt accumulated by
infiltration, and part from the rough and incomplete explor-
ations of those who had searched there for treasures in some
far distant day. • In the central passage there were uncovered
the remains of as many as six skeletons, and two others lay
between the rubble walls in front of the entrance. In the
chamber nearest the entrance on the left hand were the
remains of four other skeletons, the bones of which were so-
irregularly placed as to show that the chamber had been
previously explored and the skeletons displaced from their
original position. In the soil and rubble with which they
were covered there were some fragments of pottery, and one
small vessel which is described as being shaped like a
lachrymatory. In the further chamber there were also a few
human bones with some fragments of pottery and charcoal.
There were also, besides these human remains, the lower
jaws, teeth, and tusks, of several wild boars, as well as a
few bones and the teeth of some ruminant animal.

Thirty-four years afterwards, as has been said, the sepulchre
was again explored, and a heap of these bones were then
found piled together at the furthest end of the passage.
They included fragments of eight or nine skulls, but only
two perfect ones, these being of the type called by the very
learned name of " dolichocephalic " which means " long-
headed." A singular peculiarity was discovered in the spines
of some of the skeletons, the two upper dorsal vertebra,
that is, two of the joints of the spine between the " shoulder-

s 2

232 THE TJLEY TUMULUS.

blades," being cemented into one or " anchylosed," so that
some at least of these long-headed Britons must have been
very stiff about the back. The bones are preserved in the
Museum of Guy's Hospital, where also are some fragments
of flint arrow-heads which were discovered near them.1

In the upper part of the mound, close to the surface and
therefore high above the roofs of the ancient sepulchral
chambers below, another skeleton was discovered, and the
date of this later grave was fixed by the fact that near the
remains of its occupant there were found three coins of the
sons of Constantine the Great, belonging to the middle of
the fourth century. Fifteen hundred years ago, therefore,
this grave-mound was an ancient structure ; and those whose
bodies were laid in its chambers may have looked out from
TJley Bury on the Valley of the Severn in times when the
world was yet young, and when the name Roman had not
yet been heard. Perhaps the bones which have now been so
recklessly scattered were those of warriors belonging to a
race of Britons contemporary with the earlier days of the
Hebrew monarchy ; and the " very great heap of stones "
which they laid over the body of Absalom in the wood of
Ephraim [2 Sam. xviii. 17] may have been a grave-mound of
the same period as that at Uley.

1 Since the account of Beverston was printed the writer had occasion
to excavate a portion of a field in front of his house for the purpose of
making a new approach to the latter : when the labourers cams across
many fragments of pottery bearing the mark of fire, much charcoal
of apple tree wood, some of it only partially burnt, many bones,
some human and some the bones of animals, a flint arrow-head, a flint
core, a very thin disc of yellow metal four inches in diameter made
of three pieces rivetted together, a single white stone, and a hair
bodkin of bone, four inches long. The fragments of pottery were
•without ornament, and belonged to eight or ten urns. All these
relics lay within about eighteen inches of the turf, and the grave had
no doubt been often disturbed before by the plough.

PL A N

uf flif (wthnuljmi'ttf tff

ULEY BURY.

a -"

£aadb> - ,.U-

ca — ' ,. '•..

uunly

THE CAMP ON ULEY BURY.

233

The Roman Camp.

All along the Valley of the Severn for forty miles, that is
from Clifton Down and Bath at one extremity to Bredon
Hill at the other, the ridges which form its boundary on the
south-western side and the hilly places in the valley itself are
crowned with Roman encampments. That of TJley Bury is
the fifteenth, reckoning from the one on Clifton Down, and
that on Bredon Hill is the twenty-fifth.1 But the Uley Bury
Camp is the largest and finest of them all, and was probably
considered to be the key to the position which was occupied
by these extensive lines of earthworks.

The Roman armies never halted, even for a single night,
without throwing up earthworks in the form of a regular
entrenchment, which should be large enough in area to enclose
the whole body of fighting men and their transport corps.
So important was the construction of such protecting lines
considered, that even, when a military force was actually

1 These are enumerated and their positions indicated in a paper
giving " An Account of a Chain of Ancient Fortresses extending
through the South Western part of Gloucestershire ; By Thomas John
Lloyd Baker Esqre F.S.A., with a map reduced from Taylor and a
plan of the entrenchment at TJley Bury," in the Archaeologia of the
Royal Society of Antiquaries, vol xix. 161. They are as follows : —
Clifton Down Dyrham Churchdown

Kings Weston Hill Old Sodbury High Brotheridge

Blaize Castle Horton Whitcombe

Knoll Westridge Crickley Hill

Elberton Drakestone Leckhampton Hill

Oldbury ULEY BURY Cleeve Hill

The Abbey Broadridge Green Nottingham Hill

Bloody Acre Painswick Beacon Bredon Hill

Bury Hill

These were all so placed that they could communicate with each other
by signals ; and they doubtless had roads also in communication. It
is said that this chain of permanent camps can be still further traced,
through Warwickshire and Northamptonshire, as far as the Ely fens.

234 THE CAMP ON ULEY BURY.

engaged with the enemy, parties of the soldiers were told off
to lay out the camp for shelter and rest, and to pitch the
tents on a regular and well-understood plan, so that every
corps might he able to march at once to its own quarters.

But encampments of a more permanent kind were some-
times necessary, where an army could be quartered, perhaps
for years, in a position that would command a hostile country,
and then the earthworks were made of a more solid and
durable character, while the men were quartered not in tents
hut in huts of turf, wood, or even stone. Uley Bury Camp
was one of this kind, and being placed in so favourable a
position upon a spur of the Cotswolds, it overlooked an exten-
sive range of country in the Vale of Severn, and was a very
important part of the frontier fortifications by which the
Romans compelled the Britons to keep within the hill country
of Wales, to which they had retired before the conquering
forces of the invaders.

The Uley Bury Camp was probably a fortified city of the
Britons long before it was occupied by the Romans, and the
grave-mound adjacent may be only one of many in which the
more distinguished of its inhabitants were interred. The
Romans are thought to have brought it into its present form
in the time of Caractacus, about the middle of the first
century of the Christian era. At this time Publius Ostorius
Scapula held the chief command of the Roman forces in
Britain, his command lasting from A.D. 47 to A.D. 5 1.1 The
Roman historian Tacitus records of Ostorius that he con-

1 His predecessor was Aulus Plautius ; whose wife Pomponia
Graecina was accused of being a Christian on her return to Rome in
A.D. 47. Doubtless some of those who were quartered within the
entrenched lines on the Cotswold hills during the latter half of the
first century had been among the number of those whom Paul
"received" in " his own hired house" at Rome, and had heard him
"preaching the kingdom of God" . . no man forbidding him"
[Acte xxviii. 30, 31].

THE CAMP ON ULEY BURY. 235

structed a series of camps along the lines of the Avon
and the Severn [Tacitus' Annals xij. 31], having had very
hard work to drive Caructacus and his army out of Gloucester-
shire, and endeavouring by means of these garrisoned posts
to secure the country he had won from the British King.

The hill on which the Camp is situated is 823 feet in
perpendicular altitude, and has a deep slope on all four of its
sides, being entirely detached from the neighbouring heights,
except at the northern corner where a narrow isthmus con-
nects it with Crawley Hill, and with the road to the Severn
on the west and to Gloucester on the north. The top of the
hill is a level parallelogram from 560 to 600 yards long by
about 250 yards wide, and at each of the two comers on the
south-east side there are projecting buttresses of nature's own
construction, the tops of which are about 30 feet lower than
the area of the hill itself.

The camp occupied the whole of the level surface and was
thus about thirty-two acres in extent. It was defended by
two banks and ditches which ran all round, and large portions
of which still remain. The highest of the defences was
formed by digging a trench on the edge of the hill six or
eight feet below the level of the area, and forming a bank of
the earth which was thrown up on the outside of it, this
bank been surmounted by a further defence of stakes. The
lower trench and bank were made in the same manner about
five and twenty feet further down the hill. When there was
danger of attack these trenches were occupied by the garrison,
and under cover of the walls the defenders could effectively
hurl their missiles down on their assailants, while the latter
would have little chance of doing them any damage except
by achieving the very difficult task of storming the trenches
in the midst of their opponents' fire.

The principal entrance to the camp was by a fortified
gateway at the north corner, where the ridge which forms the

236 THE CAMP ON ULEY BURY.

isthmus is only about fifty yards across. This gateway was
protected by three trenches and banks which ran across the
ridge, and by mounds corresponding to the towers of a castle
barbican, each of which would be provided with a rampart of
earth or stone. On this side the camp is overlooked by
higher ground, and there were probably outlying defences
beyond the entrance which are not now to be traced.

Two smaller entrances to the camp were provided on the
two buttresses of the hill, and these were protected by mounds
on either side. The roads which led to them were hollow
ways descending round the buttresses and communicating
with the road which ran across the valley and up the opposite
hill towards Beverston and Tetbury.

This general plan of the Uley Bury Camp will be under-
stood by the annexed engraving, which is copied from the
paper in the Archasologia referred to in a note on page 233.
How it was laid out cannot now be traced from any remains,
but may be inferred from the ordinary practice of the
Romans.

Around the rampart were placed engines for throwing darts
and arrows, and for slinging stones, engines which were
originally invented by the Jews [2 Chron. xxvi. 15], but
were adopted by the Assyrians, as their sculptures in the
British Museum show, and by their successors in empire the
Greeks and the Romans. Behind these engines there was a wide
space of forty or fifty yards which was used as parade ground
and for the safe keeping of cattle and other booty. Down the
centre of the enclosure was a principal street an hundred feet
wide, and on either side were as many others, fifty feet wide, as
the space would contain. The huts of the soldiers and officers
were built up on either side of these streets, the huts being
so arranged that every company of an hundred soldiers was
quartered together around its own centurion, and the com-
panies of each division in close proximity to each other ready

THE CAMP ON ULEY BURY. 237

to fall in to their ranks immediately without confusion in the
wide street of the camp, and to march out of it in the order
in which they were to take their places on the field of battle.
" In the midst of all," says Josephus the Jewish historian,
who wrote about the time when Uley Bury was first occupied
by the Romans, " is the general's own tent, built like a
temple ; and the whole camp looks like a city suddenly
springing into existence, with its market place, and a quarter
for handicraft trades, and places for the superior and sub-
ordinate officers where they can hear and determine causes if
any differences arise." [Josephus' Wars of the Jews. III. v.]
The morning parade, the daily drill and exercise, the posting
of sentries, and the giving of orders and the watch-word, the
historian describes in such a manner as to show that a modern
Aldershott inherits the traditions of a Roman Uley Bury ; and
that, where modern artillery has not necessitated changes,
military mankind of the first century were not very different
in their habits from those of the nineteenth.

The Roman Camp on Uley Bury was probably used by
later armies, taken and re-taken by Dane, Saxon, and Briton,
and sometimes occupied even down to the time of the
Conquest : but like many others it has been a place for the
grazing of peaceful sheep now for many a generation. But
some Roman Aldershotts became the centres of large popu-
lations and ultimately the sites of medieval cities ; and there
is usually a trace, of their origin in the regular arrangement
of their principal streets, and in the name "castra" which
still clings to them in the English form of " cester " or
u Chester."

238

HEIGHTS ON THE COTSWOLDS.

It may be convenient to the reader of the preceding pages
to know the altitudes of the principal hills in the Cotswold
district, and of some of the places that have been named.
Those which follow are most of them taken from a paper by
Mr. Hyett in the first volume of the papers of the Cotswold
.Naturalists' Club : —

Feet above the

Sea Level.
Ordnance Bench Mark /f\ on the north side of j

Dursley Church Tower f

Beverston Castle 600

Stinchcombe Hill 725

TJley Bury 823

Symond's Hall Down 802

Finger Post on top of Frocester Hill 780

Eobiu's Wood Hill 652

Standish Hill 715

Oxenton Hill 733

Painswick Beacon 929

Birdlip Hill 969

Leckhampton Hill 978

Base of Bredon Hill Tower 979

Broadway Beacon 1000

Cleeve Hill . 1081

239

INDEX.

Angeston 215

Ap Adam, descendants of last

Baron 112, John 111, Thomas

112
Arms of Berkeley of Beverston

135, Gully 92, Phelps 92,

Phillimore 202, Vizard 94
Arundel of Woodmancote 91
Avening, Tho. de, Rector of

Beverston 149

BailiSs of Dursley 19, List of
their names 26

Baker, see Lloyd-Baker 217

Barnsdale John, Vicar of Cam
174, and Burial in Woollen 184

Bassett family 215

Basset's Court 215

Bathurst, Allen, Rector of Bever-
ston 160

Battle of Cambridge 167

Bayly, M. 221

Bellfounders 196

Bells of Beverston Church 160,
Cam 193, Dursley 76

Bencombe 215

Berkeley and Throckmorton fami-
lies 141

Berkeley, Laura, Descendants of
130, Joan, Abbess of Brussels
133, of Berkeley 113, of Bever-
ston Pedigree of 135, of
Dursley Pedigree of 7, of Stoke
Giflbrd 128, 214, of Uley 215,
" Old Sir William" 131, Roger
de 4-5, Sir Edward 129, Sir
John 120, Sir Maurice 122,
Sir Maurice 127, Sir Thomas
130, Sir William 128, Thomas,
"Great" Lord 119, Thomas,
Lord 169

Beverston 97, and the Blunts
103, and Sion house 133,
Church Bells 160, Church-
wardens 164, Colston Charities
sprung from 104, Curates 161,
162, 163, Derivation of name
97, Discovery at 232, Market
110, Mortality at 138, Parish
Clerks 164, Rectors of 148

Beverston Castle 116, Destruc-
tion of 146, Early remains at
113, Old views of~147, rebuilt
107, Siege of 138

Bistherne Dragon 134

Black Friars of Bristol 107

Bloomfield's Poem on Uley and
Dursley 218

Blunt, J. H., Rector of Beverston,
164

Blunt, Lord Mountjoy 130

Blythe, G., Rector of Dursley 81

Boys, Beating the 52

Briefs 39, Form of Petition for
67

Britons at Uley 234

Broadwell, Dursley 3, 32, 213

Bristol and the Fitzhardings 102,
Black Friars of 107

Burial in Woollen 181

Broadcloth of Uley 219

Cam 165, and James I. 164,
Benefice of 169, Church Bells
193, Church, Dedication of 169,
Church rebuilt 169, Church-
wardens 175, Hospital 172,
Origin of name 165, pedigree
168, Parish Officers 177, Parish
Register 175, Smyth's descrip-
tion of 165, -Vicars of 173,
Women's Rights at 189

240

INDEX.

Cambridge 165, Battle at 167

Camp on Uley Bury 233

Capel, Daniel, Vicar of (Jam 174

"Girds" 13

Carmelian, Rector of Dursley 81

Castle Field, Dursley 8

Centenarian at Cam 172

Chambers, Mrs. A. Poem dedi-
cated to 209

Chantries 31

Chapel of Ease, Woodmancote 92

Charities, Colston and Beverston
104, of Uley 225, of Dursley 86

Chavenage, 144

Church Goods at Dursley in 1568
55

Christian names at Cam 179

Churchwardens' Book, Cam 186,
Dursley 38

Churchwardens of Beverston 165,
of Cam 175, of Dursley from
1845, 85, of Uley 225

Chapelwardens of Woodmancote
92

Clothmaking of Dursley 9

Clutterbucks 9

Coberley, Dragon at 124

Colebrook and Cam 170

Colston Charities originated from
Beverston 104

Communion plate, Private 190

Cornwall, A. G., Rector of Bever-
ston 163

Corporation of Dursley 18

Cotswolds, Heights on the 238

Court Leet of Dursley 18, 25

Curates of Beverston 163

Curates in Charge of Dursley 84

Dedication of Cam Church 169
Doomsday Beverston 100
Dorney, Elizabeth, monument of

215

Dorney, Mr. Edward, excommu-
nicated 224
Dragon at Bistherne 124, at

Coberley 124, Fields 125
Draycott 168

Dursley 1, Charities 86, Church
37, Church Bells 77, Deriva-
tion of the name 2, Market
Tolls 95, Medieval 9, Rectors
of 81

Edward II. and the Berkeleys 114
Elizabethan Churchmanship of

Dursley 52

Epigrams in Cam Register 176
Estcourt 137
Ewelme 3, 213

Excommunication at Uley 224
Eyles, John 220

Fillmore, President 199

Fines for Swearing, &c. 51

Finnemore, Henry, a Martyr 198

Fitzhardings 4

Fitzharding and the Abbey at
Bristol 102

Fitzharding, Rector of Bever-
ston 101

Fleetwood of Beverston 136

Fortune, Moses 178

Fox, Bishop 15

Fuller on the Clothiers 9

Fynamore, see Phillimore 199

Gaunt, Alice de, Descent of 106,
and the Bristol Dominicans 107
Gaunts and Woodmancote 91
Gloucestershire fortresses 233
Godwin, Earl, and Beverston 99
Godwins, The, at Uley 214
Gourney, Anselm de 109, John

de 111, Robert de 108
Gravestone, Early, at Cam 171
Gravemound, see Tumulus, 227
Gytho, Italian Rector of Dursley
81

Hadley 168

Hall, Richard, Rector of Bever-
ston 156, Richard, jun., Rector
of Beverston 157

Hall Place, Cam 168

Hard Dumps diet 216

INDEX.

241

Harding, Sir J. D. 116
Hardinge, William, Vicar of Cam

173

Hathaway 137
Hermitage at Dursley 31
Hetty Peglers Tump 227
Hinton, Cambs. 123
Hicks, J. P. 201
Hicks of Beverston 136
Hoggling Money 49
Holder, W. C., Vicar of Cam 175
Hopton of Cam 168
Hornidge, Thomas 161
Hospital at Cam 172
Huntley's Cotswold Dialect 95
Hurd, Bishop 34
Hyde, at Beverston 137

Jackson, John, at Dursley 16
James I. and Cam 164

Keble, John, and Uley 219
Kingscote, Anthony 146 Robert

201
Knapp, Tradition at the 199

Lamberts of Woodmancote 91
Lambton, Worm of 1 24
Latimer, Bishop, on the Clothiers

14
Lawsuits of Maurice, 5th Lord

Berkeley 107

Leapingstone, Ignotus 178
Lloyd-Baker family 217
Lloyd, Bishop of Norwich 217

Market at Beverston 110
Market Tolls of Dursley 95
Marriage annulled at Uley 224
Massey, Col., at Beverston 139
Maule, of Uley 219
Maurice, Lord Berkeley, Law-
suits of 107, 5th Lord Berke-
ley 110, 7th Lord Berkeley 114
Merchant's mark 200
Mortality at Beverston 138, at

Cam 178

Morton, Rector of Dursley 81
" Moss " for Dursley Church 55

Needham, Andrew, Rector of
Beverston 158

Oglethorpe, Goodman, of Bever-
ston Castle 840

Oldfield, Pope's epigram on Mra.
186

Orthodoxy in Eighteenth
Century 197

Palmer and Thackam 153, Verses
on name of 156

Panting, W. S. 162

Parish Clerks of Beverston 164,
Officers at Cam 177, Register
of Uley 223, of Cam 175

"Pap" 16

Parish Discipline 51

Pedigree of Ap Adams 109,
Berkeley 7, De Cam 168,
Gournay 109, Hall 157,
Harding 168, Lloyd-Baker
217, Needham 158, Phelps 92,
Phillimore 202, Poyntz 116,
Purie 151, Vizard 94, Wyke 7

Perkes of the Hill 93

Perrott's Tomb, Cam 172

Pettit, Thomas, Rector of Bever-
ston 162

Phelps of Dursley 91

Phillimore, see Finnemore 198
Arms of 202, family 198, John
168, Portraits of family 199,
pedigree 202, Sir John 201,
Sir Robert 201, various
spellings of 199, W. S. 220

Phillimores of Kendalls 201

Phinimore, W ., and burial in
•woollen 184

Phinnimore, see Phillimore 199

Poyntz, John 215, of Beverston
136

Poem on Stinchcombe Hill 210,
on Uley 218

Poor, Relief of 44

Proverbial Philosophy of Dursley
15

Puff Stone 74

Purie monument 151

242

INDEX.

Purie, Thomas, Rector of Bever-
ston 149, letter to John Fox
154

Puritans and Saints 78, at
Dursley 58

Puritan Rectors of Dursley 83

Purnell, Mrs. 201

Railway, Dursley 1

Rectors of Beverston 148, of
Dursley (nonresident) 81, of
Uley 225

Rectory House, Dursley old 71

Restoration of Dursley Church, 72

Rockstowes 215

Robinson, Rector of Dursley 82

Romans at Uley 233

Roman Villa, Stancomb 4

Rudder family 216, The His-
torian 216

Ruggers 223

Rug weavers 222

Ruthal, Rector of Dursley 81

Rutter, see Rudder 216

Saints' Bell at Dursley 76
Savage, John, Rector of Bever-
ston 162, Thomas, Rector of
Beverston 159
Scribbling 13

Sedilia, in Dursley Church 75
Selwyn, C. J., Rector of Bever-
ston 160, family 160, 172
Serpent, Great, at Coberley 124
Shakespeare and Dursley 93
Shakespurre at Beverston 136
Shakespeare of Newington Bag-
path 94

Shakespeare's Walk 94
Siege of Beverston Castle 138
Sion house and Beverston 123
Skeleton Effigy 75
Smallpox field 138
Smyth, John 182
Sparrows and Churchwardens
191

Squints, Beverston Castle 118
Stanley, St. Leonard's, Priory 6
Steeple of Dursley Church 64,
Its Fall 65, Brief for Rebuild-
ing 67

Stephens of Chavenage 144
Stephen, Wars of his Reign 5
St. George, Image of, at Cam 170
Stinchcombe Hill, The View

from 204
Stout's Hill 216
Shatford, Thomas, Vicar of Cam

174

Surplice at Dursley 58
Swinburne and Woodmancote 91
Swinfen, John, Rector of Bever-
eton 159

Tanner, Thomas 75, Monument

75 Chapel 34, 75
Tingtang 77

Thackham, Thomas 15, 38
Thackham and Palmer 153
Thing, The Cam 165
Thomas, 7th Lord Berkeley,

Descent of 114, 8th Lord

Berkeley 114
Throckmorton and Berkeley

families 141
Throckmorton, Governor of

Beverston Castle 141
Toadback bacon 17
Trotman, Edw. 201
Tuff Stone 74
Tumulus at Uley 227
Turner, Edward, Vicar of Cam

174

Uley 213, and John Keble 219
and Bloomfleld 218, Broad
Cloth 219, Bury, Camp on 233,
Church 223, Church, Dedica-
tion of 223, Churchwardens
225, Decay of weaving at 221,
Origin of name 213, Parish
Register 223, Rectors 325,
Tumulus 227, Entrance to 228,
opened 229

INDEX.

243

Upthorpe 165

Vennings, The 168

Vermin at Dursley 47

Vicars of Cam 173

Visor family and Shakespeare, 93

Visor of Woncot 93

Vizard of Dursley 93

Warhurton family 83
Weare of Beverston 104
Weaving, Decay of, at Uley 221
Webh alias Wool worth 13
Webb, Old Clothing Family of 9
Webscloath 220

White, A Cam Centenarian 172
White Court 214, 215
Whitewashing Dursley Church 53
Woad at Uley 214
" Women's Eights" at Cam 189
Woodchester 167
Woodkirk, Yorkshire 17
Woodmancote Chapel of Ease 92,
Chapel wardens 92, Manor of 91
Woollen, Burial in 181
Woolwright of Cam 13
Worm of Lambton 124
Wresden 220
Wyke of Dursley 7

WHITMORE, STEAM PRINTER, STAMP OFFICE, DURSLEY.

Also, price Five Shillings.

TEWKESBURY ABBEY

AND

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JOHN HENRY BLUNT, M.A., F.S.A.,

RECTOR op BEVEKSTON, GLOIC.

With 17 Illustrations.

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TEWKESBURY: W. NORTH.

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Dursley and its Neighbourhood, being Historical

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EEEATA.

Page 100, line 7- Uley Bury is in the Hundred of Berkeley,

not of Longtree.
126, line 11. "shot his horse." The compositor's view

of this sequel to the shooting of William Rufus is

unhistorical, and the reader will kindly substitute

a " d " for the "t."

199, line 3 from bottom, for "Hair1 read "Court."
202. For "Lower Stanley" read "Leonard Stanley."

Joseph and Josiah were sons of John and Eleanor,

not of Samuel and Elizabeth.

For "Gr«\*ille" read " Greville."

DA Blunt, John Henry

670 Dursley and its

D93B58 neighbourhood

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