Sji
PROCEEDINGS
BATH NATURAL HISTORY
ANTIQUARIAN FIELD CLUE.
VOL. TV. NO. I.
1878.
PRICE HALF-A-CROWN.
BATH :
PBINTEl* ( FOR THE CLUB ) AT "THE BATH HERALD" OFHCB, 12, NORTH GATE.
1878.
PROCEEDINGS
BATH NATURAL HISTORY
ANTIQUARIAN FIELD CLUR
VOL. IV.
ISSl.
BATH:
PRINTED (FOB THE CLUB) AT " THE BATH HERALD" OFFICE, NORTH GATE.
1881.
TABLE OF COISTENTS.
Vol. IV., No. 1.
1. — On the Poor, and some Attempts to Lower the Price of
Corn in Somerset, 1548 — 1638, by Emanuel Green
2. — Some Account of the Skirmish at Claverton during the
Civil Wars, July, 1643, by H. D. Skrine
3._Grales of Wind, by the Kev. Leonard Blomefield
M.A., F.L.S., &c
4. — Notes on an Oolitic Quarry at Bathford, by Eev. H. H
WiNWOOD, M.A., F.G.S.
5. — Summary of Proceedings for the Year 1877-8
49
58
82
87
No. 2.
1. — Did Queen Elizabeth visit Bath in the years 1574 and
1592? by Emanuel Green ... ... ... 105
2. — Further Gleanings in the Mendips, by the Rev. Pre-
bendary Scarth, M. A. ... ... ... 120
3. — An Enquiry concerning Fortified Hills near Bath, by
the Rev. J. Wright, B.A. ... ... ... 129
4.— The Old Walls of the City of Bath, by Harold
Lewis, B.A.
5. — Summary of the Proceedings for the Year 1878-9 ... 150
No. 3.
1. — On Some of the Fungi found in the Bath District, by
C. E. Broome, M.A., F.L.S. ... ... ... 181
2. — The Winter of 1878-9 in Bath, and Seasons following,
by the Rev. Leonard Blomefield, M.A., F.L.S.,
F.G.S., &c 209
3. — The Prehistoric Races of Man in Somersetshire and the
Adjoining Counties, by Henry Bird, M.D. ... 239
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE.
4. — On the Restoration of the Roofs to the North Aisle and
Hungerford Chape»l, T^'ellow Church, by Thomas
Browne, A.R.I.B. A.... ... ... ... 244
5. — The Hedgemead LandsHp, by Charles Moore, F.G.S. 249
6. — Summary of Proceedings for the year 1879-80, by the
Secretary... ... ... ... ... 258
7. — List of Excursions and Walks since the First Formation
of the Club ... ... ... ... 289
No. 4.
1.— Pen Pits, by the Rev. H. H. WiNWOOD, M.A., F.G.S. 299
2. — On Local Names in the Neighbourhood of Bath, by
H. Bird, M.D. ... ... ... ... 305
3. — Had King Alfred a Residence at Wedmore ? with some
Notes on the Manors of Mudsley and Wedmore, by
Emanuel Green ... ... ... ... 323
4. — Notes on a Roman Road at Radstock, by J. McMurtrie,
F.G.S. ... ... ... ... ... 344
5. — Summary of Proceedings for the year 1880-1. ... 353
6.— List of Members for the Year 1881. ... ... 386
1
On the Poor, and some AUempts to Lower the Price oj Con;, in
Somerset, 1 548—1 638. By Emanuel Green.
(Eead November 2lst, 1877. j
The following notes drawn largely from official MSS. are neces-
sarily very much compressed, yet, extending through an import-
ant period of our history, they show fairly the condition of
the so-called poor, i.e., the labourers in husbandry, a name so
applied peculiar to England alone, whose present movement to
better their condition has been generally both a surprise and a
novelty.
In the earlier times the best laud only was cultivated and that
carelessly. When not held by the lord or owner, it was let in
small holdings, and worked with but little hired labour, no more
being used as earable than would suffice for immediate local wants.
Wheat was grown chiefly or entirely for the nobility and gentry.
There was in consequence usually but little corn in store to meet
emergencies, and years of scarcity seem to have conle as often as
years of plenty.
On this subject, the Venetian Ambassador, writing from Eng-
land in 1551, makes some curious remarks. In some places, he
says, grain abounds, and there would be more did not the natives
shun fatigue, but they satisfy their wants and nothing else.*
Another Venetian Ambassador, writing in 1554, reported that
the soil produced wheat, oats and barley in such plenty tliat there
was usually enough for general use, but " were they to work
more dUigeutly and with gTeater skiU, and bring the soil into
higher cultivation, there might be grain for exportation, but they
do not attend to this, so they need sometimes assistance from
Flanders and Denmark, and occasionally France."t
Live stock Avas kept only by the help of the common lands,
* Baibaro to the Senate, Venetian Papers, p. 354.
t Soranzo's Report, Venetian Papers, p. 547.
Vol. IV., No. 1.
upon which all cattlo owned in a parish were turned out together
during a portion of the year. Even with this help much meat
was salted on the approach of winter. Of this common land
there were large tracts, enabling the poor, the very poorest, to
live roughly, often as squatters, sometimes to become freeholders,
if left too long unmolested. The older customs, especially those
relating to the smaller tenants, were interfered with by the dis-
solution of the monasteries. The extensive estates of these
bodies, largely obtained without cost, had been let at low rentals,
and, as usual with corporation real estate, without much super-
vision. On their being re-distributed, the new proprietors threw
together the smaller holdings, enclosed much of the common
lands, and converted others into pasture or park for their own use.
This was done, as besides that wool growing was more profitable
than corn, the lands could the more easily be retained in hand.
Under this process, many who had been small holders and so
fairly independent, were compelled to become labourers, or, fall-
ing into extreme poverty, were driven into new districts far from
their old associations. Districts previously having a dozen
ploughs, and a population of a hundred or more, were left with
but three or four inhabitants, these being the master and
his shepherds. Another consequence Avas, that whilst the
production of corn remained in the poor man's hands, whose
necessities obliged him to sell and so keep the early markets
cheap and Avell supplied, the breeding of cattle fell into the hands
of the rich, the holders of pasture, and as these could sell or not
as they chose, such stock became very dear. All poultry and
eggs rose to a remarkable jirice, these being then as now, as a
profitable stock, entirely the produce of the small holder.
These alterations however were not the immediate result of the
Reformation, they had been in progress long before. Leland,
writing of Thornbury, says, the Duke of Buckingham, in 1511,
made a " fayre park by the Castle and tooke much fayre ground
in it very frutcfull of come, now ftiyre launds for coursynge.
The inhabitants cursvfl tlic Duke for thes lands so inclosyd."*
There was also the debased currency, a large quantity of which
was turned out at Bristol, and which had become so bad that
Edward, hoping to correct it, ordered the sliilling to pass for
ninepence, and the groat for threepence. As then every twenty
shillings paid for land would produce only fifteen, the landlords
rose their rents to meet the reduction, as did the dealers the price
of every commodity. But against this the Avages of the labourer
remained fixed, at a rate ordered by the Justices in Quarter
Sessions, and which was very seldom varied. With these changes
there happened one of the ever-recurring periods of scarcity, and
a consequent loud outcry from the " poorer" sort. In 1547, the
plenty had been such that corn could be exported ; yet, in 1548,
the deficiency was so great that much suffering and trouble ensued.
The poor, obliged to feed upon peas and oats, " like beasts," con-
ceived a wonderful hatred against the gentry, considering them
all as enemies, who fleeced them for their private benefit, and
"flayed" them by public services and customs. t |
This general discontent was seized upon, as a good opportunity,
by "divers unlearned and undiscreete preachers and other
priestes, of a develishe mynd and intent," to lay all the blame
upon the Reformed religion, and to incite the people to
disobedience, and " stubbornesse against the King's godly
proceedings," to his majes.ty's " no little grief." § The plan was
fairly successful, as the use of the " newe" religion was " not yet
prynted in the stomacks of eleven of twelve partes," in the realm,
although outwardly they conformed. ||
To meet the emergency the Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector,
* Itinerary, Vol. vii., pt. 2, p. 95. 2nd Edition.-
t Duke of Somerset to Sir Philip Hody. Harleian MSS. 523.
t Sir Jno. Hay ward's History of Edward VI. Harleian MSS. 6021.
§ Proclamation, Edward VI., 24th April, 1548.
II State papers, Edward VI., Vol. viii , fol. 64. Sir William Paget to Duke
of Somerset.
who was "as j't wore a Kynge," during tlie King's "j-oung age,"
and who, by his " softnes and opinion to be good to tlic pore "
caused " evell men lyste to prate," that he had some greater
ontei'prise in his head, issued a proclamation, in May, in the
name of the King, as " ever careful for the contentment and
prosperity of the people," forbidding the enclosures, and appointing
a day by which they were again to be thrown open. The land-
lords however chose to disobey this order, and the peasantry,
" having confidence in their preachers," who now told them they
would soon have to pay a tax on their sheep and cattle, and an
excise for everything they ate or drank, were seduced into
insurrection and rebellion, and considering themselves supported
by the Protector's proclamation, resolved to redress their
grievances by force.*
The movement first began in Wilts says one account,t in
Somerset, says another, where the people rose, and having chosen
leaders,:}: " supposing a Commonwealth could not stand without
commons," broke down the park enclosures of Sir "William
Herbert and Lord Stourton, levelled the ditches and laid the
fields open.§ The " Comyns ys become a Kinge," reported Sir
William Paget to Somerset. || Sir William Herbert sent off
quickly to London and getting the King's Commission for the
purpose, gathered a well armed and ordered company and setting
sharply upon the I'ioters, some Avere reduced by fear, some of the
more forward ■w^cre slain, whilst others, being taken prisoners,
were executed as rebellious people.^
Horse and foot were also raised under the the Earl of Pembroke,
Sir John Paulet and Sir Hugh Speake, but by the influence and
• Proclamation 2, Edward "VI. Hollinshed's Chronicle, p. 100.3.
t Carte, p. 234, Vol. iii. i Cox's History of Somerset.
§ Harl MS.S., 0021.
II State Papers, 1.549, 7th July, Vol. viii., fol. 4.
H IloUinshed. Cox's History of Somerset. Earl MSS., 002] ,
authority of the county gentlemen, who asscmljled for the purpose,
the trouble gradually disappeared.
For riding post " to and fro the commotion!? in Somersetshire,"
Sir William Herbert's messenger was paid £3, by Avarrant on Sir
John Williams.*
As the " Gospellers" also declared against the enclosures, the
Lord Protector, having failed in his first attempt, found it
necessary to appoint a Commission to consider the question, and
it was hoped that " maugre the devil, private profit, self love and
money," to settle it, without one having too much and a gi-eat
many nothing. But the Commissioners proceeding too confidently
in their work and in an absohite and arbitraiy manner, found
themselves opposed by the landowners, as " invading the rights
of property, without the aid of a Court of Law," and so again
the attempt was frustrated, f
As the disaffection had now spread into Devon, Avhere the in-
surrection commenced on Whitsunday, the 9th June, Lord Russell,
Lord Privy Seal, was sent off for the government of Somerset and
the neighbouring counties, and soon arrived at Taunton with a small
force. It being known that the popish party at home and abroad
thought this a good time to attack England, his instructions were
to reside for a time in the west, as well for its governance, as for its
better defence against invasion by a foreign enemy. Next, calling
to him the Justices of the Peace and such others as he should think
fit, he was to learn the cause of any " onquietness," if he found
the people " out of frame " or disobedient, and to endeavour by
all ways and means possible, to bring them with "gentilnes," to a
proper conformity. But, if by such gentle persuasions they
would not come to a knowledge of their duties, he was to assemble
the power of the shire and repress the obstinate and wilful, as
examples to others who may attempt the "lyk."J The rebellion
• State Papers, Docquets, Edward VI,, Vol. i.
t Burnet. J State Papers, 1549, Vol. vil., fol. 40.
6
being checked in Devon and Cornwall many fled from those paiis
to Bridgewater, and there endeavoured to renew the struggle, but
found their efforts speedUy stopped.*
Enquiries seem to have been made, perhaps privately, as to this
" unyversall dearthe of vytells" and a report is preserved naming
tlu'ee chief causes. 1st. The lack of breading and rearyng of
cattell and poultrie ware ; for it is not possible to have that good
cheape, that is not. Secondly, Kegrating; when most part of
vytells be gathered into few men's hands, who may defer to sell
but Avhen they see the most profit. Thii'dly, the Kynges pro-
visions ; when vytels is taken from the poore people that be the
breaders, against their will, and have neither ready money for
theu' wares nor yet so much as it is worth. Which discourageth
the people to breade and causeth the prices of all things, because
there is not plenty of them, to be increased, t +
To remedy this " excessyve pryce," directions were issued to the
Justices, to take means to have the markets well supplied. They
were to view and " trie out," what quantity and sorts of grain
every person had, and to order all that could be spared to be sent
to market by weekly portions, under the heavy penalty of £10,
or three months' imprisonment. The names of all farmers, with
the quantities expected weekly from each, were to be returned to
the clerk of every market,§ and one at least of the J.P.'s was to
be " alwaies, from tyme to tyme jjersonally present" in every
* Harl. MSS., No. 6021. + State Papers, 1518, Vol. v., folio 20.
X On this question of the King's Purveyors, differences had already occurred
in Somerset ; and when in 1537 certain Commissioners went into the county
to take up corn, the people rose against them, but by the exertions of the
Paulets the commotion was suppressed. The leaders with about sixty others
were condemned, and of these fourteen were hanged and quartered. This
episode is not more fully noticed, as the papers relating to it, if any, are not at
present available.
Mus. Brit. England, Edward VI., p. 1386.
market, " searching and examining" as to whether their orders
were carried out.*
These instructions were either very coolly received or entirely
disobeyed, as the Protector on the 30th Oct. by letter, rebuked
the slackness of his subordinates, and called upon them to be
more earnest in the service of his Majesty and their country.+
By proclamation, "reasonable" prices were set on all kinds of
victual, and from the Feast of all Saints, any who had gi-ain,
butter or cheese were to sell only at these prices, or under,
but not above. Wheat varied from the " best sorte, cleane
and swete" at 13s. 4d. the quarter, to 8s. for the meanest, not
clean, nor tailed ; " accompting eight bushelles" to the quarter,
eight gallons to every bushel " lande measure." Barley was 9s.
and 7s., Rye 7s. and 6s., Beans 5s. to 3s. 8d., Oats 4s. per quarter,
Sweet Butter, one oh. (i.e. oholns), one halfpenny the pound.
Any person selling above these prices was to forfeit 13/4 for
every bushell of corn sold, and 2s. for every pound of butter or
cheese ; one moiety to go to the ICing and the other to the informer.
The sheriff was to proclaim these regulations, as being for the
" wealthe and commoditie" of the realm, and the J.P.'s in their
respective hundreds, three or at least two of them together, were
to repair to all " barns, stacks, gamers, cellars, soUers, loftes,
wikes, daries, granades, and other houses," and there to " view,
searche out, and trie," what quantity every person could spare,
and order the same to be taken to market and sold at the prices
fixed. Sufficient could be reserved for household use, or neigh-
bours could be supplied instead of the market. No bagger, or
carrier was to have more than twenty quarters at one time.:}:
The price of cattle too was fixed, but altered according to the
season. From Midsummer to Hallowmas, an ox varied, from the
* State Papers, 20 Nov., 1549, Vol. ix, foL 55.
t State Papers, 1550, Vol. x., fols. 40, 43.
X Proclamation 1, Edward VI., 20 Oct., 1550.
8
*' meaner sorte" at 27s. to the fat at 45s. From Hallovnnas to
Christmas the price was 39s. 8d. to 46s. 8cl. From Claristmas to
Shrovetide 41s. 4d. to 48s. 4d. Sheep, from shearing time to
Christmas ranged at 2s. 4d. for the meaner sort to 43. for the fat.
From Michaelmas to Shrovetide from 2s. 4d. to 4s. 4d. The
penalty for disobedience was £5 for every ox sold and 10s. for
every sheep. The profit to be allowed to the butcher was also
fixed, and it was further ordered that a sufficient supply of
animals should be sent to market.*
Notwithstanding this " dred commandment," the fanners, sup-
ported by the continued slackness of the magistrates in enforcing
it, resisted a compulsory sale, and in " their gredie and insaciable
avaryce" refused to supply the markets at the " reasonable" j^rices
named for them. Consequently the King, " not mynded to suffer
such lewde, insolent, and very strange behaviour," on the 17th
November, cancelled all his former letters to the J.P.'s, and
placing the matter in the hands of the sheriff, appointed a Com-
tnission to assist him, with power if need be, as " the insolency
and wilfulness of many was so great," to assemble the force of the
shire. The Commissioners were to " cause" the Justices to see
the markets supplied in a " quiet manner," and if any farmer
refused to produce the quantity ordered, it was to be taken from
him, and removed to the market by the constable of his parish,
and the disobedient party sent up to be dealt with by the Council
for his contempt. t By orders of the 18th Nov., carried into
Somerset by Lord Russell, the Commissioners were to allow the
baggers, or carriers from one covmty to another, to add a fair
profit for their trouble to the prices fixed.J
This effort also proved a failure, and the Council, obliged to
give way, pretended to discover, by the "judgement of men of
• Proclamation 3 Edward VI., 2 July, 1550.
t State Papers, 1550, Vol. x., folio 5.
% State Papers, 1550, Vol. xi., fols. ti and 7.
good experience," that, " altliough godly meant," from the
scarcity being greater than had been anticipated, the limit was
" not of so good effect as was looked for."
It was therefore revoked on the 6th December, and the piices
were left "to be none other than the byars and sellers could
agree upon ;" but the Justices were still charged, " by their
wysedomes, dylygences and good dexteryties, eftsones," to see
the markets well and sprightly kept, and that they wanted not
theu' reasonable furniture from "tyme to tyme.'"'"
The scarcity continuing and with it the discontent of the poor,
the blame was next laid upon the "malice and naughty nature"
of the engrossers, " a certain kinde of people that live onely for
themselves as it seemeth," and who " eate and devoure as
well the estate of the nobility as the lower sort." As by such
" deuelishe malice " the King's " counsaill " was utterly per-
verted, he determined, though "not in ire or passion," that
such " lewde " persons, if they ceased not their " gredy and
umiatural " practices, shoidd not remain unpunished to their
own " dampnations."t
All these orders and threats Avere still without effect, either
from the temper of the farmers or the Justices, neither perhaps
liking the constant interference with their properties, and the
latter, remembermg the arbitrary conduct of the Enclosure Com-
mission. The discontent amongst the Commoners consequently
continued, riots ensued, and the King, whilst promising punishment
for the engrossers, was now obliged to warn the " lower sorte,"
who had lately " lacked all manner of reason, and beyng like to
sicke madmen, that either will have no physic or else will be
their own physitions ; had presumpteously taken upon them the
office of his majesty, both in reprehending theu* superiors and
attempting redres of thinges, after their own phantasies, with
• State Papers, 1550, Vol. xi., fol. 15.
t Froclamatioa against Engrossers, 1551, 11 May.
10
force;" that if they continued in that mood he would not fail
to minister to them the sharp terror of his " swearde and laws."*
His early death, however, not without suspicion of poison, here
stopped these, and perhaps many other good intentions.
During the succeeding reign of Mary, there was a recurrence
of this " great penury and lack." In 1555, the poverty and
misery of the multitude were extreme. So great was the scarcity
that the scholars at Oxford were dismissed to their homes " till
such time that bread corn " was more plentiful.t Under these
circumstances the rioting continued, and fresh enclosures being
made, many were brought before the Star Chamber for destroying
them,J but there seems to have been no endeavour to alleviate
the distress.
Coming now to the time of Elizabeth, by 1563 a remarkable
change had occurred. In this year there was a gi-eat jjlenty,
and the prices of corn fell accordingly. In Somerset, wheat
was quoted at 16/-, rye 14/-, malt, barley, peas and beans, 12/-
the quarter.§ This plenty continued through '64 and '65, and
there being a scarcity in Flanders, a country then as noAV in
close alliance Avith England, the Queen was asked to send a
supply there, in return for similar favours given to England
when in the same difficulty. This request her Majesty granted,
but only, after enquiries had given her the expectation, that it
could be, done without much enhancing the prices at home.
Not to disturb the usual course of trade, instead of allowing
the purchases to be made by strangers, whose travelling through
the country would excite alarm, and cause the prices to rise,
a secret plan was adopted, and government agents were sent into
each county to purchase quietly, under pretence of buying for
* Proclamation, 11 May, 1551.
t Proclamation of Vice-Chancellor.
X Burn's Star Chamber.
§ State Papers, ISeS, Vol. xxviii., fol. 10.
11
the garrisons on the "frontures." The quantity thus bought in
Somerset by the Lord Treasurer, Wilhani Kussell, was three-
hundred quarters of beans only. No other corn is mentioned.*
No sooner, hoAvever, did it become known that hirge purchases
were being made, tlian some " ill disposed persons, partly to
move the misliking of the common and meaner sort of people,"
and partly to enhance the values, spread abroad, also secretly,
that prices were rising and that the buying was on behalf of
some favoured ones, to whom the Queen intended to grant
licenses for export.t By this means the original scheme was
frustrated, as prices rose so I'apidly that a real dearth was
threatened by the general withholding. Compared with the
prices of 1563, those now ruling differed greatly. Delivered "in
port" wheat was 60/- a quarter, rye 33/4, barley 20/-, malt 19/-,
oats 13/4, and peas 15/:]: The purchases were consequently
stopped, a promise publicly made that no licenses for export
should be granted, and the corn already bought was again
distributed. The onus of the great rise was as usual laid upon
the " engrossers and forestallers," and all such, by Proclamation,
were " strayghtly" commanded to be committed to pri8on.§
A few years later the question of a regular supply again cropped
up, and special Commissioners were sent into each county to
make enquiries and see the markets well and properly supplied;
also the Judges on Circuit were ordered to explain the " true
intention" of the various statutes bearing on the subject. This
was done in Somerset and duly reported to the Council by
Serjeant John Jeflfrys on the 27th July, 1572. Enclosed was a
certificate from the Justices as to the prices and the ability of the
county to export. The i^rice of wheat was marked — best 28s.,
seconds 17s 4d., rye 16s., barley 8s. 8d., oats 5s. 4d., and
* State Papers, 1565, Vol. xxxviii., fol. 38.
t State Papers, 1565, Vol. xxxix.,fol. 15.
X State Papers, 1565, Vol. xxxviii. , fol. 40.
§ State Papers, 1566, 20 Janaary, Vol. xxxix., fol. 16.
12
peas 8s. the quarter. '• The wich beiuge as abovesaid, oui- countrj'^e
populos, our tillage scarcely convenyent to serve ourselves,
Devonshire adiojiiynge unto us beynge barreyne of wheate and
ayded thereof by us, from whence vre have diverse other
necessary p'vycons. We thinke wo maye not convenyentlye
spare any grayne." *
This was signed by fifteen J.P.'s, viz. : — •
Thomas Poult.
John Stawell.
John Horner.
Henry Portman.
John Baynes.
Wyllya:m Hyll.
John Clyfton.
Edward Popham.
Eichard Warr
John Wadhji.
HUMFRY WaLROND.
Edward Barer,
John Bullor.
John Brett.
Rycharde Watkins.
At the same time, reports were fonvarded from other counties
adjoining, and the diiferences in local prices are clearly seen.
In Dorset, with "grain plenty," wheat was 16s. the quarter for
best, seconds 13s. id., rye 10s., barley 6s., oats 4s., beans
8s., and peas 6s. 8d. In Devonshire, best wheat was 26s. 8d.,
seconds 24s., rye 21s. 4d., barley Ks., oats 8s. In Cornwall
there was yet a greater difference, wheat was 48s. for best, and
44s. for seconds, rye 32s., barley 26s. 8d., and oats 10s. the
quarter,t Winchester measure.
These enquu-ies quickly aroused a suspicion that, as corn was
again dear in foreign parts, some Court favourites were to have
licenses for export. The growers as before at once withheld their
produce and waited for the higher prices. As soon as the con-
sequent rise began, a Commission was issued, directed against
these " covetous, greedie, and evill disposed farmours, and others,"
who, "myndyng" theii- own lucre, made a "great scarcitie."
• State Papers, 1572, 2nd July, Vol. Ixxxviii., fol. 52, No. 2.
t State Papers, 1572, Vol. Ixxxviii., fol. 52.
3
^^^
(:
13
The Comtnissioners for Somerset, by appoiutiuent of 21st Oct.,
1573, Avere Lord Thomas Poulett, Sir Morice Barklio, Sir John
Honier, Sir George Rogers, Sii* John Clifton, George Sydenham,
Esq., Edward Popham, Esq., and John Coles, Esq.* These
were to search or examine rigorously, such persons as were
vehemently suspected to be offenders ;t to order them to bring
their corn to market and sell it at a reasonable price, or suffer
imprisonment until the Queen's pleasure should be known ; and
further to be bound to appear " presenthe" " and forthwith"
befol-e the Privy Council to answer their contempt. At the
same time it was ordered that no grain should be exported,
but only carried from port to port, to relieve the scarcity at
home "in those parts tliat lacketh."
Either because the Justices were still slack, or as an extra
assistance for them, licenses, with powers to enforce the various
regulations, were granted to individuals as infomiers. These
licenses lasted for twenty-one years, and the profit to them
arose from throe-fourths of all fines or forfeitures. J As in the
other cases, this constant interference produced what it was
intended to correct. It so discouraged production, that com
next became dear from a real scarcity, so that in the following
year, 1574, it was found necessary to consider some means for
the maintenance of tillage. To tliis end a limited export was
suggested, the quantity to be fixed annually by the Justices,
with a duty of 2s. 6d. per quarter on wheat, and 12d. on barley,
beans and peas.§
This plan of raising money by an export duty was attempted
a few years later for the reparation of Dover Harbour, for
* State Papers, 1573, Vol. xcii., fol. 41,
+ Commission for providing markets.
I State Papers, 1572, Vol. xc, fol. 36.
§ State Papers, 1574, Vol. xeix., fol. -54. A Decree for the maintenance
of Tillage.
u
which purpose it was determined to export 40,000 quarters.*
The Council, hy letters dated 25th Nov., 1581, required the
Somerset Commissioners to certify what grain could be spared
towards serving such a license, and they, having assembled and
considered the question, replied from Bridgewater on the 16th
December, that the price of wheat was 3s. 4d. the bushel, and
in many markets 3s. 8d. to 4s. ; and barley, 2s. As the " times
of tillage" had been unseasonable, the last harvest bad, and no
store reserved for the past five years, they thought prices must
rise, and so concluded that none could be spared.t The report
is signed by George Rogers, George Sydenham, Edward Popham,
John Colles, Thomas Poult, John Hornei-, and Arthur Hopton.
Any exportation except under the royal license and supervision
was jealously guarded against, but was as constantly practised
where possible. In May, 1585, a minute was sent to the Lords
Lieutenant and Commissioners, that on account of the scarcity and
unseasonableness of the year they were carefully to prevent this,
which was being done under pretence of moving corn fi'oni port
to port. J The Somerset Commissioners were — Lord Thomas
Pawlett, Sir John Horner, Sir Geo. Rogers, Sir Jo. Clifton, Sir
Jo. Stowell, Sir Geo. Sydenham, Sir Hen. Barkley, Edward
Popham, Arthur Hopton and Jo. Coles.
With this continued scarcity, the prices of all necessaries per-
sistently rose ; a cap usually sold for 1 4d. was now 2s. 6d. ; a pair
of shoes 12d., instead of 6d. ; shoeing a horse lOd. for 6d. The
tenants laid all the l^lame upon their landlords, for raising the
rents ; these replied that what they did was in self-defence, for
once they could buy the best pig or goose for 4d., for which then
the tenant charged 12d. ; a good capon for 3d. or 4d., a chicken
Id., a hen 2d., all of which were now doubled or trebled in value.
* State Papers, 1581, Vol. cl., fol. 88.
t State Papers, 1581, Vol. el., fol. 84.
X State Papers, May, 1585, Vol. clxxviii., fol. 82.
15
Amongst the Ashmoleaii MSS. there arc some miscollaneous
memoranda made by one Dr. Simon Forraan, of Salisbury, an
astrologer, and a man well-known in his day, which happen to
refer to this time. For the quarter from 1.3th December, 1585, to
the 11th March, 1586, by calculation, he found aries in 12th
ascension with the sun and venus in her detriment, from which
lie concludes, that a great dearth of several sorts of cattle is
signified, and amongst them, of " cows in Somersetshire."
Accordingly, during the winter and lent follomng, the " dearth of
kine" was so great that butter in Somerset was 6d. a lb. instead of
the usual 3d. ; cheese 3d. instead of from 2d. to 2|d., and
" swine and cattle did die in abundance." Wheat was 4s., barley
2s. 6d., and "had not the justices made the farmers thresh out
their corn, it would have been 7s. or 8s." the bushel. Even at
the lower prices there was a great famine amongst the poor.
In one place they went to the barns and threshed out the
corn "whether the farmers would or no," and many "uproars
were like to be, for want of corn, yet there was enough in the
realm if it had been brought forth, but men would not bring it
forth, till they were compelled." To meet the emergency rye was
brought into Bristol from Dantzic and sold at ten groats the
bushel, yet at Midsummer many of the poor were likely to starve
and made "uproars," Avhilst some "hanged themselves from
want." At this time cothed {i.e. starved) sheep were £5 a
hundred, " rother beasts" very dear, eggs four a penny, some-
times seven for twopence. In 1588 best beef was a penny per lb.*
In 1591 again, extra precautions for relief seem to have been
necessary and some curious briefs or licenses to collect charity,
were issued under the hands and certificates of the local justices.
On the 27th November a " Protection," for the poor house of
Langport Westover, in the county of Somerset, was granted to
Sir Richard Pepyn, " guider " (? master) there, to " gather " in the
» Ashmolean MSS., No. 0866, Bodlean. Walter Yonge's Diary,
16
counties of Somerset and Wilts. It is certified by Sii' John Clyfton
and Tlios. Phellipps. A similar " Protection " was given for the
house of Plymjiton St. Mary, co. Devon, granted to Robert
Chyvers, " guider " there, to " gather " in the counties of Devon
and Somerset, and certified by Sir Thomas Southcote and Thomas
Eidgeway. There was another on the 29th November, for the
poor house of St. Leonards, alias Gilmerton in Cornwall, granted
to John Ewyns, " guider " there, to " gather " in Somerset and
Dorset. This is certified by Peter Edgecombe and George
Grenville.* A fourth differs someAvhat, and is a " Protection "
for " burninge," granted to Oliver Palmer, of Whitchurch, Devon,
on testimonial of Wm., Earl of Bath, Sir John St. Leger and other
justices, to "gather " in cos. Devon and Somerset.t This was for
personal losses by fire. Each license cost two shillings.
It will be observed that whilst these named counties are
suffering at the same time, Somerset collects in Somerset and
Devon ; Devon in Devon and Somerset ; Cornwall in Somerset and
Dorset ; and Devon again in Devon and Somerset. Why each
should not have collected at home for its own wants, does not
appear.
Notwithstanding the attempts to check it, the enclosing of
commons continued. With this the price of corn rose, and the
discontent between the gentry and commonalty widened, and
grew almost to petty rebellion. Although there is no account
from Somerset, there was a rising in Oxfordshire in 1597, chiefly
of the young unmarried men, on behalf as they said, of their poor
married neighbours, who lived in misery and could hardly find
bread and water for their -vnves and children. Their determina-
tion was to destroy the hedges round the new enclosures, cut off
the gentlemen's heads, pull the corn out of the rich men's houses
and so live merrily awhile. With these intentions they assembled
* State Papers, 1591, Vol. ccxl, 29th November,
t Docquets, Domestic, 1591, Elizabeth, Vol. ii., fols. 93-98,
ir
with pikes and swords, and sonic being taken prisoners wove sent
to London on horseback, with tlieir legs tied under the liorses'
belUes, but stubbornly declaring, they Avould rather rise than
starve.*
Wliat is to be done wth the oflfenders, wrote Lord Norris to
Sir Wm. KnoUys, and Avhat about the enclosures that the poor
may live.t
When James succeeded Elizabeth the ill-feeling still strongly
existed. It is recorded that one day whilst hunting, the king saw
a man in the stocks, and asking the squire of the parish why he
was there, was told it was for stealing a goose from the common.
The prisoner hearing the conversation cried out and enquired of
the king, which was the gi'cater thief, he who stole the goose from
the common, or he who stole the common from the goose.^'; This
has been since put into verse as,
The law condemns the man and woman
Who steal the goose from off the common
But does not punish what's far worse
To steal the common from the goose.
A dearth occurring in 1608, the King found it necessary to
issue Directions, to be " straightly" observed, for easing the
pressure. It Avas ordered that no large purchase should be made
until two hours after any market began, that the poor might thus
be first served. The quantities to be sold in half-quarters, two
bushels, one bushel, or less. The bakers to bake rye, barley,
peas and beans, for the use of the poor. Neither peas nor beans
to be used for feedmg sheep, because " the same may serve the
poorer sort to make bread." No corn to be used for feeding
dogs, nor to be spent in making " stuff called starch." No miller
was to be a buyer of corn, but to attend to the gTinding for
others only, and to use a " measurable" toll.
* State Papers, 1597, Vol. cclxii., fol. 4.
t State Papers 1597, Vol cclxi., fol. 10.
X Walter Yonge's Diary, p. 65
18
From the scant cultivation and uncertain supply there was con-
stantly a great and wide range in prices. Immediately after harvest
and during the winter the markets were generally well supplied,
but many stores being exhausted by Lady Day, the prices then
rose and would continue to rise until the new harvest. Therefore
those who could afford to hold the whole or part of their stocks
would wisely do so and wait the highest price. This was the
plan objected to as "greedie and uncharitable." These corn-
holders were called traitors to nature, cormorants and enemies of
the Commonwealth, and vexers, scourgers and torturers of the
store of the year. The labourer, it was asserted, with his groat or
threepence a day and a house " full of small children," could not
obtain from them a peck of barley, but found it harder labour to
get corn for his money, than money wherewith to buy the corn.
He could earn half a bushel whilst running over the parish to buy
a peck.*
In 1621 the price of corn fell so very low that wheat was sold
at 2s. to 2s. 8d. the bushel, and rye Is. 3d. to Is. 4d., when the
poor, formerly glad with rye-bread, now searched the markets for
the finest wheats. At these prices the value of land fell, from
twenty, to sixteen or seventeen years' purchase. The next
year, 1622, wheat was 6s. 8d. to 8s., barley 3s. 8d. to 5s. 4d.
the bushel, and the poor as usual " quickly and sharply"
complained.t Eiots again occurred in Somerset and corn was
taken by violence. The Council sent down enquiries, but
by the 20th May the Under-Sheriff, Matt. Jenings, was able
to reply, that " the riotous assemblies in Somerset aboute the
takinge away of corn from people travaylinge to the markett,"
were repressed and " pacyfied," and the " countreys is now
quiett, and hath binn ever since, for ony yt I know or can
understande.":}:
* Curse of Cornholders, C. Fitz-Geofirey.
t Diary of Walter Yonge, pp. 17, 42,55.
j State Papers, 1622, Vol. cxxx., fol. 99.
19
In 1623 the dearth contimicd, ami again letters of enquiry were
sent out with orders, that means should be taken to have the
prices moderated. On the 8th May, Sheriff Edward Popham
made his report and transmitted with it the various certificates of the
Justices as returned to him.* Henry Berkeley, Matt. Ewens and
Ja. Farewell, replied on the 10th Feb. for the hundreds of Catsash,
Horethorne, Bruton and Norton Fens. After allowing a " com-
petente pporcon of breade corn and malt for their o-\vn expend-
inge," there would remain in bushels in
Whest.
Meslin
Barley.
Beans.
Peas
Oats.
Kye.
Catsash
1991
964
456
759
138
100
74
Horethorne ...
2222
573
542
181
111
308
164
Bruton
574
963
114
—
108
196
—
Norton Feris...
485
—
384
36
111
310
68
All badgers of corn and engrossers were "restrayned ;" bakers
there were none of note, and "for ought" they could find, there
was " not any corn master within those four hundreds but without
constraint fully purposeth to sell betweene this and the next
harvest all the corne he can possibly spare."t
On the 19th Feb. Rice Davies and Eich, Cole sent in a cer-
tificate of their enquiries of the corn masters in Portbury, taken
at Fawland Cross. There were in store and to spare, of wheat,
rye, and barley, 2,427 bushels, which would " hardly serve for
the provision of the other inhabitants of the hundred." There
were no "broggers", nor "badgers," and the hundred being
without a market town, the corn was earned to Bristol and
Wrington, where the price of wheat was 5s. and barley 3s. 4d. J
* State Papers, 1623, Vol. cxliv., fol. 24,
t 1623, Vol. cxliv., fol. 24, No. 1.
X 1623, Vol. cxliv., fol, 24, No. 2.
20
Sir Robert Phellips and Sir Edward Hext, on the 28tli Feb.,
certified as having in bushels in the hundreds of
^Vheat.
Rye.
Barley.
Beans.
Peas.
Oats.
Martock
3857
—
—
1731
—
—
Hounsboro
1559
210
680
266
140
—
TyntenhuU
1519
—
160
1015
—
—
Stone
1266
—
180
375
518
—
Coker
380
130
270
60
100
180
Barmck
270
60
80
150
—
—
Somerton
3825
—
1546
554
260
445*
Pytney
850
—
594
446
—
—
Total of all soi
•ts 23,676
bushel
s. Bac
o-ers an
d bakers they
were " careful to prevent" and although prices were higher, the
" poor did not yet much complain, "t From Bridge water, 28 Feb.,
George Gray, mayor, Hum. Blake and AVilliam Hill, aldermen,
reported that the few corn sellers within the borough, sold in the
open market, but the quantity to be spared was small. The
county round was well stored, and with the consent of the
magistrates and Customs, 600 bushels of beans and 119 of peas,
had been passed by water to Bristol, Barnstaple, Cardiff and
Carlion. Small quantities had also been allowed to certain
Irishmen for their own provision. The prices were somewhat
higher but the poor had "no great cause to complain." Badgers
and bakers were watched, to prevent the " inconveniences which
they were accustomed to cause. "J
# Oats and dredge. f 1623, Vol. cxliv., fol. 21, No. 3.
X 1623, Vol. cxliv., fol. 2i. No. 4.
21
For Chew, CIieA\ton and Keinshaui, Fras. BaLer aud William
Capell, under date 3rd March, found the quantities to be spared
were, in quarters,
Wheat.
Rye.
Teas.
Bar.'ey.
Oats.
Dredge.
Malt.
Chew
60
50
41
16
16
—
—
Chewton ...
—
IGO
U
62
120
16
—
Keinsham...
61
190
160
25
—
159
Overseers had been appointed in the two market towns of
Keinsham and Pensford. The markets were well supplied and
the prices were for wheat 6/- to 6/8, rye 4/- to 4/8, peas 3/- to 3/4,
beans 3/4, barley 3/- to 3/4, and oats 1/6 the bushel. From
want of money to " imploy" them the poor were hardly able to
pay these prices, but the overseers of parishes endeavoured by
all possible means to relieve them.*
On the 9th March, Jno. Symes and Thomas Brereton, certified
that they could spare in bushels from —
Taunton & Taunton
Dean
North Curry
1976
1397
Eye. Barley.
559
2100
740
461 , 599
513 i 555
1010
Total, 9,910 bushels. The market was " plentifully fumished.'
Badgers and bakers were looked after, and although prices ruled
higher the poor did not " much " complain.t
• State Papers, 1C23, Vol. cxliv , fol. 24, No. 5.
t State Papers, 1623, Vol. cxliv., fol. 24, No. 6.
22
On the 20th March, John Wj^ndham, George Luttrell, and
Thomas Windham, for Williton, Freemanors and Carhampton,
I'eported that they had met and called before them " divers of
the honest inhabitants " who had searched the barns, granaries
and lofts of every one having corn, and had taken course to
have the markets well supplied. They thought and " verilie
beleeved" from the information gained, that there Avas corn sufficient
to serve until harvest. There were neither badgers, broggers nor
carriers of corn. Eogues and vagabonds were taken up and
punished or sent off by passes. Care was taken to have the poor
set to -work, the impotent relieved, and the childi-en bound
apprentice. Prices were, wheat 44/-, rye 30 -, barley, beans,
and peas 24/-, and oats 12/- the quarter.*
Dating from Longaishton, 23 March, Hugh Smyth and E.
Tynte, for the " little " hundred of Hartcliffe and Bedminster,
considered they could spare 770 bushels of Avheat, rye and barley,
and 130 bushels of oats. There were in the hundred six badgers,
as being necessary for the provision of Bristol, but they were
allowed to buy only small quantities. The markets were well
served and the prices lately " rather somewhat " abated. "VMieat
6/-, rye 4/'4, barley 4/-, beans and peas 3/-, and oats, 1/G
the bushel.t
The next certificate, for Milverton and the tithings of Kings-
bury, is dated the 27th March and signed Edward Lancaster, a new
name, and which belonged apparently to a new broom. The
J. P.'s of the county having assembled for a conference, lie, with
Sir Henry Hawley, called before them in January, several of the
inhabitants of their district and gave orders for them to
" present," liy the last day of February. They appointed also
overseers of the markets. In the meantime Sir Henry went to
London and ilid not return, so tlie report falls into the first
* State Papers, 1623, Vol. exliv., fol. 24, No. 7.
t State Papers, 1G2.3, Vol. cxliv., fol. 24, No, 8.
23
person. He had himself atteiidorl and hovn present in the
markets to see the orders duly performed ; had >veighted the
bread brought thither to be sold, and any not weight was
disposed of to the poor at under value. He repaired also to
many mills and examined the measures used for the toll, and had
appointed " certain honest persons " to attend to this weekly,
with orders to •' inform themselves of the poorer sort " how they
were used in their grinding and toll, and to speedily present
the defaulters " to me." No badgers, or carriers of corn, butter or
cheese, were allowed. Those having corn in store were ordered
to carry it weekly to market. The quantity to be spared was
4,-379 bushels, sufficient for the inhabitants until harvest, and
the prices had somewhat fallen. Wheat 5 '4, 5 8, 6'-; rye, 5/-
.5/4 ; barley, 4/-, 3/6 ; oats, 20d.*
John Maje (May), Nathaniell Still and Wm. Capell, on the
31st March reported they could spare from AVinterstoke 6,048,
Bempstone 4,482, and Brent 2,093 bushels. Total, 22,623. Their
two market towns were Axbridge and Wrington, where officers
were appointed and the markets well served. Wheat 6/, 6/S,
rye 4/, 4/8, beans and peas ?>', 3 4, barley 3', 3/8, oats 20d.
and 22d.t
Edwd. Rogers and llobt. Cuff notified that AVhitleigh and
Cannington had a great store and much to spare. Huntspill,
Andersfield, and Xorth Petherton, Avere also sufficiently stored,
and " the inhabitants and owners, do, are, and will be
ready " to supply the markets. The prices not very high and
the poor " as yet do not much complain." Badgers were
suppressed. |
The last certificate on this enquiry dated 16th April, is from
Sir John Horner, Eobt. Hopton and James Bysse, for Frome,
* State Papers, 1623, Vol. cxliv., fol. 24, No. 9.
t State Papers, 1623, Vol. cxliv., fol. 24, No, 10.
X State Papers, 1623, Vol. cxliv., fol. 24, No. 11.
24
Bathforum, Wellow, Kilmerstou and the Liberties of the same.
From enquiries made hefore them at Frome they found there were
very few cornmasters, the country in great part being forest or
woodland, and the rest very barren for corn. Their supply came
from Wiltshii-e. One of them attended weekly, in turn, to see
the market well served and that the people were fairly dealt with.
As to badgers and carriers of corn, many resorted to Frome, that
being the only market, vriih corn to sell. They found them
useful, " therefore we toUerate some of them, othervvyse the people
would not be able to have corn in our market for their money."
The great increase in the number of people engaged in the trade
of clothmaking, was one reason of the scarcity Anth them,
also for some years last past the earth had not yielded a good
increase, and further, the " great neglect of tillage upon many
great farms."*
Passing over four years, an example occurs of hoAv ^nde the
prices could be in a short time. At Lady-day, 1628, Avheat was
2.3/- per quarter. At Lady-day, 1629, it Avas .32;- and at the
same time in 1630 it was 37/11. The weather being then
unseasonable there Avas again a great scarcity and prices rose by
Michaelmas to 54/6, and to 64/- at Lady-day, 1631.
With this gi'eat rise, there came the usual difficulty with the
poor, which threatened more than the usual trouble, as with it
now, there Avas a strong and Avide-spread pohtical discontent,
against the tendencies and proceedings of the new King, Charles I.
Extra care Avas taken to meet the emergency. Circumstances
make this business of no small importance, wrote Sir Thomas
Barrington to Lord Dorchester.t So great AA'as the anxiety at
headquarters, that the following doggerel AA-hich AA'as nailed on a
church door in Kent, Avas thought Avorthy by the Sheriff of being
sent to the Council.
* .State Papers, 1623, Vol. cxliv., fol. 24, No. 12.
t State Papers, 1630, Vol. clxxxvii., fol. .^1,
25
The come is so deare
I clout raanie will starve this yeare.
If you see not to this
Som of you will speed amiss.
Our souls they are dear
For our bodyes have some ceare.
Before we arise
Less will sufise.
The pore there is more
Than goes from dore to dore.*
Directions were consequently issued to the constables, on the
18th November, 1630, not to allow the people to assemble, and to
the churchwardens and overseers, to double the tax for the relief
of the poor.t As the dearth was likely to continue through 1631,
the King " having a watchful eye for the publique good always
kept open," confirmed all fomier orders for keeping the assize of
bread ; for suppressing abuses by traders in corn, and for seeing
the poor " first supplied.''^
Fresh regulations also were issued, in which the constables
were ordered to look after " those that goe in good clothes, and
fare well, and none knows whereof they live ; builders of cottages
and takers in of inmates." To see the law for ordering of wages
was not " deluded," before coming to the Statute, and that the
common fashion of "essoyning" {i.e., excusing) many absent, be
not allowed. To present those who were relievers of Rogues and
Beggars, and to get from all such, wandering wdth women and
children, where they were married and their children christened,
" for these people neither marry, nor christen, nor bury, which
licentious liberty makes so many delight to be Rogues and
Vagabonds."
With the new King and his marriage with a papist, had come
• State Papers, 1630, Vol. clxxv., fol. 81.
t State Papers, 1630, Vol. clxxv., fol. H.
X State Papers, 1631, Vol. clxxiii.
26
fresh hopes to the popisli party, and various little evidences are
traceable througli these papers. Under pretence of easing the
demand for corn, fish days were oixlered to be observed with
abstinence from suppers on Fridays and the eves of Feasts. The
usual dinners of the City Companies were to be foreborno and
half the cost given to the poor. Badgers were to be overlooked
Avith a " strict eye," and these unfortunate men, often getting
their corn taken fi-om them, found their trade a most difficult
one.^^ Besides these older orders, new and additional precautions
were taken. A store of corn was laid up in every town, so that
when the dearth punished them the most, the poor could have it
at 18d. or 2/- under market price. By this means the prices
were lowered, as the buyers being supplied at home, the market
demand became so much the less.t
It was at this time that bread was first adulterated ; turnips,
when boiled and squeezed, being used mth their weight in meal.
The novelty caused much talk in London at the time, but as
there Avas always a slight taste and smell with this mixture,
potatoes were next tried, j and these have successfully held their
place for the purpose to the present day.
Next came out a Proclamation for preventing and remedying
this dearth of victuals. Orders Avere sent to Sir Francis Dod-
dington, Sheriff of Somerset, to direct the Justices of the Peace
to take account of the prices, and AA'hat corn every grower had
in his barns ; hoAv many acres there Avere to be sown ; and,
that the probable buyers and consumers might be known, a
census of how many there Avere in a family.§ Enquiry was
also to be made into gifts for charitable uses ; the Avell-ordering
* State Papers, 1630, Vol. clxxvii., fol. 50, December 27.
t State Papers, 1630, Vol. clxxvii., fol. 31.
+ Phil. Trans. Abridged, Vol. ii., p. 630. No. 90, p. 5H2,
§ State Papers, 16.30, Doddington to the Council, Vol. clxxxii,, fol. 80.
Vol. clxxvii., fol. 32,
27
and training of youth in trades ; the reformation of disorders
and disorderly persons ; repairing the highways ; keeping watch
and ward for the punishment of rogues and vagabonds, and for
the relief of the poor and setting them to work. In some places
the poor-rate was doubled or trebled, and the magistrates at
Wrington taxed parishes of "more worth" to help the poorer
ones in relieving their poor * But whilst the " poor" were thus
cared for, masterless servants or such as lived out of service
were sent to gaol, there to work for their living. Consequently,
" all betook themselves to masters," and rogues and vagabonds
were so severely punished, that in some districts not a wandering
person was to be found.
Of the returns or certificates made by the Justices of the
Peace in respect to this order and forwarded to the sheriff, some
ai-e more full than others, and some enlarge on one, some on
another, of the questions submitted.
The plan they adopted was to meet together, and then call
before them the constables of hundreds, the churchwardens and
overseers, and a jury, from the various parishes, giving theiai
directions to bring in their presentments by a certain date and
to continue them monthly.
The first report is dated from Wellington, 3rd December, and
came from William Francis and William Every, for the hundreds
of Milverton and the four Western Tythings of Kingsbury, and
certified that there was there sufiicient corn of all sorts. The
prices — best wheat 7s., rye 5s., barley 4s. 4d., beans 4s., peas
3s. 8d., and oats 2s. the Winchester bushel.t
On the 7th December, J. Wyndham, Thos. Luttrell and Thos.
Windham, from Watchett, replied for the hundreds of Williton,
Freemanors and Carhampton that they had sufficient of all sorts.
• State Papers, 1631, Vol. cxciv., fol. 28.
t State Papers, 1630, Vol, clxxvi., fol. 18.
28
The prices, per Winchester bushel — best wheat 7s. Grl. rye 5s.
6d., barley 5s., beans 4s. 4cl., peas 5s. 5cl., oats 2s.*
Under the same date is a fuller return from Sir Ro. PheUpps,
Kt., Thos. Lyte and John Harbin, for the following hundreds : —
Wheat.
Eye.
Barley.
Beans.
Oats.
Peas. Dredge.
Martock
6543
—
8635
—
_ _
TintinhuU ...
4318
—
240
2322
—
480
—
Hounsboro . . .
2540
1286
1946
2135
195
560
—
Barwick
700
100
180
202
—
—
—
Coker
1581
649
1103
66
370
106
—
Somerton . . .
4951
—
1531
385
170
311
248
Pitney
871
—
424
354
—
38 10
1
Stone
4916
—
3886t
— ■
—
__ : _
The total being 26,220 bushels of wheat, 2,035 of rye, and
24,897 of Lent com. The pices — wheat 8s., rye 7s., beans
5s., barley 5s., oats 3s., peas 5s. The poor were relieved, by
setting them to work and raising " the books of collection upon
" the abler sort." Thus, although the number was very gi-eat, it
was hoped to " keep them in some good order and obedience."
Salt and oatmeal, " with which the poor were wont at an eaisy
" rate to relieve themselves," were grown to very high prices.
The cause assigned was that " the merchants monopolise the salt
" and the clothier in making his mingled cloths consumed an
"infinite quantity of oats." Badgers, bakers and millers were
Stale Papers, 1630, Vol. clxxvi., fol. 39.
t Lent Corn.
29
watched, and vogues and vagabonds so severely punished that
but few passed that Avay, except Irish only, by whom, notwith-
standing "heavy punishment," that part was "abundantly
" pestered," wliich proved a " great oppression," as well in
relieving them as in the charge for "sending them back to
Ireland." To remedy this, they suggested that an order
should be sent to Ireland " to prevent them coming forth from
thence."*
For the hundreds of Andersfield, North Petherton, Cannington,
Whitleigh, Huntspill and Puriton, on the 20th Dec. E. Poidett,
Robt. Cuff, Abraham Burrell, Wm. Bull, and Wm. Hill, mayor of
Bridgewater, certified their due diligence in executing the orders
sent them, and that after "vaew of the store, they found there was
a sufficient and plentiful supply and to spare, but the prices held
up somewhat dear, on account of the multitude of buyers and the
populousness of the district. Wheat was 8s., rye 5s. 6d., barley
6s., beans 4s. 2d., oats 2s. 6d. and peas 4s. the bushel. t
From South Petherton, WilHam Walrond and Ja. Piosse, wrote
on the 23rd Dec, that there could be spared of all kinds of grain
from the hundreds of, Abdick 3,153 bushels, Bulstone 3,174, Kings-
bury 4,425, South Petherton 10,011, and Crewkerne 6,188, but
that these quantities would be consumed by the inhabitants before
next harvest. They had ordered a reasonable proportion to be
taken for sale every market day, and they usually attended per-
sonally to see this duly performed. The prices were wheat
8s., and thereabouts, barley, beans and peas 4s. 6d. and
oats 2s. 6d. X
Next comes a minute report from He. Berkeley and James
Farewell, which notes not only the quantity of corn but the
number of " buyers" in each parish, in their hundreds.
* State Papers, 1630, fol. clxxvi., fol. 55.
t State Papers, 1630, Vol. clxxvii., fol. 29.
: State Papers, 1630, Vol. clxxvii., fol. 40.
30
In the hundred of Catsash could be spared in bushels, from —
AVheat.
Barley.
Beans.
Peas,
Meslin.
Buyers.
North Cadbury...
1283
170
62
—
340
Sparkford
268
—
95
—
_
172
Weston & Sutton
471
235
—
93
Maperton
90
210
—
—
88
Babcary
325
30
~
—
—
120
Lovington
64
—
20
—
—
90
Kineton
76
—
—
—
—
32
Barton David ...
106
—
18
—
—
34
Kingweston
80
20
—
—
—
33
WestLydford ...
186
—
—
—
—
150
BaiTow, North ...
20
—
—
—
—
48
Bari'ow, South ...
Alford
126
—
100
—
^ wheat &
< meslin
( 150
64
26
Castle Gary
of all sorts
of grai
i812bi
ishels
—
461
Total of all sorts 5,012 bushels, and « buyers" for it 1,741.
31
The hundred of Horethorne could spare from —
Wheat.
Barley.
Beans.
Teas.
Oats.
Meslin. Bujers.
Horsington
123
80
4
—
20
—
175
Chewton
—
—
—
—
80
—
100
Charlton Horethorne
—
296
—
8
—
392
113
Gorton Denham . . .
225
255
80
30
—
135
97
Trent ...
130
—
—
—
—
110
144
Coombe ...
152
—
—
—
—
—
108
Stowell
22 —
—
—
—
—
76
Mareton...
250
—
20
—
—
—
132
Sampford
170
40
—
20
—
20
113
Pointington
150
200
—
—
—
10
31
Horsington
240
264
16
—
—
—
139
MilbomPort
—
180
—
20
60
150*
214
Kmgsbiuy Kegis . .
—
128
—
—
438
303
Total 4,518 bushels, and buyers 1,745.
* Meslin and Wheat
32
The hundred of Brutoii could sell from —
Eedlyiich
wheat
... 4
bushel
s, buyers
125
Weeke
of all sorts
... 140
36
Bruham
)>
... 120
407
Milton Clevedon
>)
... 80
84
Upton
J)
... 44
146
Yarlmgton
„
... 372
11
Bruton
Wheat
and
Meslin 168
1156
Pitcomhe
})
... 450,
barley
160,,
90
Total of all sorts 15,388 bushels, buyers 2,055.
From the bundled of Norton Ferris, from —
Shepton Montague
Norton Feris and Kil-
minston
Charlton Musgrave
Stoke, Cucklington and
Bayford
Wincanton Borough
Wiucanton Tithing
Pen Selwood ...
of all sorts 770 bushels
180
Wlieat and
Melslin 32
142
Wheat.
Barley.
Oats.
Peas.
Dredge.
116
78
8
12
554
420
248
42
28
8
16
102
other c
orn28
buyers 148
Buyers.
664
408
80
Total 2,784 bushels, buyers 1,300.
The piices were, best wheat 8/6, seconds 7/8, lye 7/, barley 5/,
beans 5/4, peas 6/, oats 3/, dredge 3/4.'^
During the fomier reigns the bishops had not interfered or
been called upon to act in these proceedings, but in accordance
with some ecclesiastical notions at this time pressed into promi-
• State Papers, 1631, Vol. clxixvii., fol. 51.
33
nencc they now ^>]>^^r. Walt, Bath and Wells, with Gerrard
Wood, reported from Wells on the 6th January, 1631, that in the
hundreds of Whitestono, Glaston, and the 12 hundreds, there
was a sufficient supply. That overseers had been appointed for
every market day to apprehend badgers, forestallers or engrossers,
and that some bakers had been suppressed, whilst others had
been " restrained " as to the quantity of corn they should bake.
They had ordered every " corn-master" to bring to market as
much as he could spare, and some of every Tithing had been
appointed to see this done. Wheat, 7s. 6d. ; barley, 4s. 6d. or
thereabouts, which was a " high rate." *
From Fayland, on the 31st January, Eobert, Bishop of Bristol,
Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Kt., Rice Davies, and Richard Cole, for
Portbury, Bedminster and HartcUffe, found from the constables
and from twenty or thirty others who assembled before them
that there were 8,387 bushels of corn to ])e spared. This they
ordered to be sent to market by weekly instahnents, and the
names were recorded of all badgers, bakers or millers who
offended the laws.t
For Frome, Kilmersdon, Bathford and Wellow, and the
Liberties of Hampton, Claverton, PhiUips Norton, Henton,
Witham Friary, East Cranmore, Mells, Leigh and Hill-House, Sir
John Horner,'Knt., Robert Hopton, and John Harrington certi-
fied " as near as they could." The hundred of Frome, with its
fifteen parishes near the forest of Selwood, and a great and
populous market town full of cottages, was reported very poor,
with 6,506 inhabitants, mostly clothiers, weavers and spinners.
Of wheat and rye, there were in store not more than 250 quarters,
barely enough to serve the inhabitants a fortnight. Of barley,
oats, beans and peas there were 241 quarters, aU of which would
not seed a third of the acreage to be sown. As the other
* State Papers, 1631, Vol. clxxxii., fol. 17.
t State Papers, 1631, Vol. clxxxiii., fol. 49.
34
hundreds and liliortics were well stocked, the Justices of the
Peace had ordered a supply to be brought in to the markets of
Bath and Frome.*
This finished the first report, but the Justices continued
their meetings once a month to make enquiries and see their
various orders executed. Every three mouths they were to make
a report to the Sheriff, who made his to the Judges, and the
Judges theirs to the Privy CounciLf
Accordingly, E. Poulett, Eobt. Cuff, Abraham Burrell and Wm.
Bull made a second certificate that they had done their best to
supply the markets ; but, nevertheless, on account of the popu-
lousness of their district, corn remained at a dear rate, being,
in Bridgewater — wheat 8s. a bushel, r3^e 8s., barley 6s.,
beans 6s., and oats .3s. 4d.:i:
William Walrond and Ja. Kosse, from Barrington, wrote that
they had carefully ordered that all who had com should
serve the market weekly, and had taken account thereof every
month. Yet the prices were somewhat higher — wheat, 9s. ;
barley, beans and peas, 6s. ; oats, 3s. §
The sheriff, Sir Francis Doddington, now made his return to
Sir Thomas Eichardson and Sir John Denham, Judges of Assize,
Dating from Combe Sydenham, the 10th May, he enclosed with
the last certificate, that for Frome, and was daily expecting
others, which he promised should be " suddenly presented to their
Lordships. "I I
The price of corn seems to have abated somewhat, and the
certificates now refer more largely to the poor, the well
ordering and training of youths in trades and the reformation of
* State Papers, 1631, Vol. clxxxv., fol. 40. 21st February,
t State Papers, 1631, Vol. clxxxiii., fol. 60. 5th January.
{ State Papers, 1631, Vol. clxxxii., fol. 50.
§ State Papers, 1631, Vol. clxxxvii., fol. 36. 25th March.
II State Papers, 1631, Vol. cxc, fol. 69.
35
disorderly persons. Thus E. Poulett, Abraham Biirrcll, Robert
Cuff and William Bull, for North Petherton, Cannington, Anders-
field, Huntspill, and Puriton, state that they had made enquiry
concerning gifts for charitable uses and intended a reform. That
they had provided for the poor and impotent. All others were
placed out at service or maintained themselves by their labour
and they had bound out a great number of apprentices. The
market at Bridgewater was plentifully supplied, the prices being
wheat 8s., barley 5s., oats 3s.* For the hundreds of Chew,
Chewton and Keynsham, Fras. Baber reported that all the orders
were carefully executed, that overseers of the markets were
appointed " to see the poor sort of people first served," and that
all the corn brought weekly to market was openly sold and not
engrossed by " badgers." The markets were well supplied, there
was sufficient and to spare before next harvest, and the prices
had moderated. Masterless persons were ordered to " covenant
service" and the refractory sent to gaol, there to remain until they
should willingly obey, and course was taken for repairing " divers
great bridges" then in decay, t
The monthly meetings of Pa. Godwyn, Thos. Lyte, Sir Robert
Phillips and Mr. Harbin were kept at Ilchester, Yeovil, Somerton
and Langport, and when they found by their officers any neglect
of their orders, the parties were fined ; the money, subject to a
reward to the informer, being given to the poor. Any persons
refusing to take apprentices were bound over to the assizes to
answer their contempt. The rates for wages, as ordered and set
down at the Sessions, were delivered to the high constables and
l>y them published in every tithing, that masters and servants
may know them. They had taken extraordinary care by appoint-
ing " Inquisitors" and " Viewers" of every man's store of grain,
and by " constraining" the cornmasters, to have the markets well
• State Papers, 1631, Vol. cxcii., Fol. 48, 26th May.
t State Papers, 1631, Vol. cxcii., Fol. 49, 26th May.
36
supplied. By going themselves to see tliis done and getting
offenders punislied, tlie scarcity was turned into plenty and the
prices had fallen to near one-half of what they were.*
Walt. Bath and Wells and Eob. Barlow found, that in Wells
there was no money given to " pious uses," but what there was,
" was bestowed according to the intentions of the donors." Others
differed apparently on this last conclusion, and the enquiry seems
to have stirred up a nice little squabble. Thomas Baron, the
mayor, and Henry Foster, one of the " Masters" of the City,
certified that the churchwardens of St. Cuthbert's had relieved
theu' poor, the rates being raised one-half more, and with their
" condiscents," had bound out fifteen apprentices, thirty others
being ready when money was raised to clothe them. Several
sums of money amounting to five hundred pounds, had been given
to charitable uses, for the maintenance of the magistrates and to
be lent to burgesses who were tradesmen in the city. Part of this
was found to be employed according to the will of the donors, and
other part thereof was " misemployed," which they intended to
correct by putting " in suite" those who had the money in their
hands. There was one almshouse founded for the maintenance of
thu'ty poor people, men and women, and there were then thirty
such therein. Johii Wookey, an innkeeper of Wells, and John
Aborne, a maltster of Bruton, had been bound over to appear at
the next Sessions ; Wookey for receiving corn into his house and
so forestalling the market, and Aborne for bringing it for sale
otherwise than through the market.f A few days later John
Baber, Recorder of Wells, wrote to the Sheriff that he had given
orders to the " verderors" to survey the poor and they had pre-
sented a list of four hundred. The overseers had asked for £20
from the city revenue, to clothe those apprentices who were "placed"
but had not fit clothes, and a hundred pounds more to set the poor
* State Papers, 1631, Vol. cxcii., fol. 50, 26th May.
+ State Papers, 1G31, City of Wells to Sheriff, Vol. cxciii, fol. 75, 12tb June,
37
to work, wishing to avoid a further rate, and ease the inhabitants,
who now murmured at the weekly tax. This request he considered
reasonable, but the Mayor and Masters were " cold therein" and
refused it. He found that great sums of money were given to the
burgesses, some of which were rightly employed, some detained
in private hands and not employed, and some " misemployed."
A sum of five hundred and sixty pounds, to be lent without
interest, was in the hands of the " Masters" of the city and not
employed for the support of the poor burgesses in their trades.
Weak excuses were urged to justify these doings, but he con-
sidered it should not be spent in superfluous feasts or privately
*' eloyned," and he intended to take a Commission of Charitable
uses to effectively rectify it. About Michaelmas he had sent to
Mr. Cox for a note of the various sums given and how they were
employed, but got no information in reply ; only under the
new orders and directions, and then with great difficulty, could
any knowledge be obtained. Strict proceedings against forestallers
and others had freed the city from trouble with them ; the
magistrates personally inspected the markets, being very
careful to see all corn brought into it and not retained in
private places.*
From Tickenham, under the same date, Rice Davis and Richard
Cole reported that in the hundreds of Portbury and Hartcliffe
cum Bedminster, corn had fallen twelvepence in the bushel, and
there was enough to serve until the next harvest. They had
used every means to suppress badgers, bakers, millers, and carriers
of corn, that the markets at Bristol and Wrington might be well
supplied, t
Sir Edward Rodney, Kt., and Wm. Capell for Winterstock,
Brent and Bempstone, gave the prices at Wrington, wheat 7s. 6d.
to 6s., rye 58., beans and barley 4s. 8d., oats 2s. 6d.|
• State Papers, 1631, Vol. cxciv., fol. 19, 16th June.
t State Papers, 1631, Vol. cxciv., fol 20.
t State Papers, 1631, Vol. cxciv., fol. 26, 17th June.
38
From Taunton, Jo. Symes and Thos. Brereton found, that the
cornmasters having obeyed the orders given them, and brought
to market what they could spare, the prices had abated, wheat
being 7s. 6d., rye 6s., barley 5s. 4d., beans 5s. 8d., peas 5s., oats
2s. 4d.*
From Wliitelackington, George Speke, Wm. Wahond, and Ja.
Rosse, certified that the constables and churchwardens of every
parish being "precepted" to come before them once a month,
some offenders had by their information been fined and others
sent to gaol for the next assizes.t
But notwithstanding that prices were generally lower, the Privy
CouncU chose to be dissatisfied and issued a second letter on the
19th October, asking the cause of the continued extreme rates and
requesting a closer enquiiy as to any hoarding, combinations, or
secret transportations.
The first reply is by Geo. Speke and Wm. Walrond, from
Ilminster, who advertised theu- " L'pps" that they had foimd no
man in their division with above five or six bushels of old corn at
the time of the last reaping, and but very few even that. There
was however one exception in Master Atkins, of Winsham, who
was presented by the viewers of his parish on the 23rd Nov., the
day the letter is dated, as having threescore bushels remaining,
although he had been oftentimes commanded to bring it forth.
To which Atkins replied that he had kept it for his own use, as he
had grown none that year. They found that prices were not kept
up by any combinations or indirect practices, or any othc^r cause
than bad harvests, the yield being last year less by half than
usual, in some places not above a third, and the old crop " clean
spent." They woiUd do all they could to keep down prices.
Wheat was 5s. a bushel and other corn proportionate. J
• State Papers, 1631, Vol, cxcvL, fol. 4, 1st July.
+ State Papers, 1631, Vol. cxcvii., fol. 58, 30 July.
} State Papers, 163], Vol. cciii,, fol. 65, 23 Nov.
39
From Milverton, Willia. Frauncis and Willia. Every, after strict
enquiry in that hundred, and the four western titliings of East
Kingsbury, could find neither hoarding nor combination, nor
secret transportation. The cause they conceived of the continued
high prices was, that last year's store was " weU nigh altogether
spent," before the new harvest, which was not so plentiful as
expected. The market was sufficiently furnished and they would
do their utmost to abate prices.*
Most of these returns mention a good supply or store, but the
next certificate, from Jo. Wyndham and Tho. Luttrell, for the
lumdreds of WUliton, Freemanors, and Carhampton,. speaks no
doubt with great truth as to the cause of the scarcity. They
state that they had taken an "exact view" of every man's store,
but their common experience had taught them, " that viewing and
searching for corn had ever caused the countrymen and corn-
masters to suspect an imminent dearness, and thereupon, as much
as possible to conceal theii* corn, so causing a dearth without a
scarcity." The crop of last harvest being exliausted their district
had been suppHed from Wales, and many " good husbandman " to
" relieve theii- own wants did resort to their own corn fields,
before the same was thoroughly ripe." The other causes of
scarcity were, they supposed, the too free export to Ireland two
years together when somewhat plentiful, and "under cover
thereof," it was thought, into foreign countries also. At the then
harvest the corn had a good " kerniuge " and prices had fallen,
wheat from 10/- to 6/-, rye from 8/- to 5/-, barley 7/- to 5/-, peas
and beans 6/- to 4/-, and would fall yet as more corn was threshed.
There was much suspicion of secret transportation but it could
not be detected, t
Kelating to this last paragraph a case did presently come to
their notice. By information from the customs one Sylvester
Bickham, of Watchett, was charged before them with ingrossing,
* State Papers, 1631, Vol. cciii., fol. 88, 28 Nov.
t State Papers, 1631, Vol. cciii., fol. i8, 17th November.
40
and conveying certain peas into a bark at Watchett. After a
full investigation Bickham acknowledged, that about a fortnight
before Michaelmas he had bought in a private house at
Wiveliscombe " of persons whose names he knew not," twenty-
four bushels and a half of peas at 4/8, which were brought to him
at Watchett by one Cole and another, name imknown. The same
peas he delivered to Mr. Johnstone for Mr. Witheridge, of
Barnstaple, for whom they were bought, and they were put on
board a bark at the " Key." There were also about ten pecks
more in his house, and which his sei-vants had bought in the
Tuesday's market at Wiveliscombe for Thomas Stevens and
AValter Burston, two masters of "Pynisses" then at the quay.
This being all Bickham could say, the deposition of Richard
Luccas, of Watchett, yeoman, was taken on the 20th November,
who, it seemed, being deputed by Mr. Norris, the " customer," to
see what was brought in or taken out of the harbour, learned from
Bickham that twenty bushels of peas would be caiTied on board
the boat of Mr. Stevens, of Barnstaple, and that they were
intended for victualling Mr, Witheridge's sliip there. Without
" any more speeches" and seeing Bicldiam's man the same evening
carry something m sacks upon a horse, towards the harbour, he
repaired to Stevens's boat and demanded whether he had taken in
twenty-four bushels of peas, and then "purposing to view"
whether he had any greater quantity, he went on board, but found
that the cargo was laid deep in the hold and covered mth gi'eat
stones, so that he could not see it. Departing, he intended next
day " to have farther speech " with Stevens, but the wind and
tide serving, that astute skipper secretly sailed in the night,
without any " lett passe or cockett."*
All this was forwarded to the Council, but other information
being obtained, Sir John Wyndham writing from Orchard, after-
wards " tendered " the examination of John Coles, of Wivelia-
' Stale Papers, 1631, Vol. ceiii., fol. 48, articles 1 and 2.
41
combe, miller, taken on the 30tli November, who stated that on
the 14th September, being fair-day at Wiveliscombe, Bickliam
came to his house and asked him to buy for him forty bushels of
peas, which he intended for a merchant to whom he Avas indebted
for salt, and he bought four bushels for him, at 3/4, of Margaret,
wife of Davy Westbrooke, and delivered them at Bickham's house,
and Bickham was " earnest " with him to bring in forty bushels
more which he had bought, but of whom " he knew not."*
After a good harvest the prices noAV dropped, wheat going to 5s.
a bushel, and these reports seem to have been gradually discon-
tinued. On the 1st Dec. Gr. Poulett, Eob. Cuff. Abraham BuitcU
and Wm. Bull wrote, that strict enquiry had been made in the five
hundreds about Bridgewater, but no hoarding, combination, or
secret transportation could be heard of, and had there been any,
the "jealous eyes of the watchfull poore" would by some means
have discovered it. As to the cause which kept up the price
they could only attribute it, by conjecture, to the late exportation
to Ireland, as since then the harvests had not allowed any " sur-
plaidge."t
The last in the list, as before, is from Sir John Horner
and Ro. Hopton, who having summoned the constables of their
hundreds to appear at Frome on the 14th Nov., by their
presentments made on the 24th, found that there was
very little or no old corn left, not sufficient to serve a
quarter of a year, the inhabitants being all " buyers."
There were no ingrossers, and all corn was sold openly in the
market or to poor neighbours. The reasons adjudged for the
dearness were the failure of the crops three years before; the
great quantities exported from Bristol, and that " much of the
arable land was being converted into pasture."^
• State Papers, 163], Vol. cciv., fol. 35, ]3th December.
t State Papers, 1631, Vol. cciv., fol. 4.
: State Papers, 1631, Vol. cciv., fol. 112, Dec.
42
This report of newly-made pasture was quickly noticed, and
brought out a commission in 1632, for Somerset and some other
counties, to enquire touching any depopulation and conversion of
arable into pasture since the 10th Elizabeth. For Somerset the
Commissioners were Sir Ealph Hopton, K.B., Sir John Homer
and Sir John Hippisley, Knts., Charles Harbord, Esq., H.M.
Sui'veyor General, Thos. Wynn, Esq., one of H.M. Auditors,
Edward Kirton and Thomas Hughes, Esqrs., or any two or more
of them,* but no account of their proceedings seems to have been
preserved.
From this time there is only an occasional certificate and these
are very much shortened. Thus John Wyndham and Thomas
Windham, "lovinge kinsmen and ffriends," notified to sheriiF
Thomas Luttrell that they had endeavoured to relieve the poor in
their hundreds and had " quickened" the constables in aU things
recommended in their " Instructions, "t Willia. Frauncis and
Willia. Every, on the 26th June, also declared that they had done
their best, J and Roger Hill, mayor of Taunton, and Hugh Pitcher,
J.P. for the borough, writing to William Walrond, sheriff, on 4th
of March, 1633, gave the prices there, as wheat 4s. 8d., rye 3s.,
barley 2s. 8d., beans 2s. 6d., peas 3s., oats Is. 4d.§
Three returns only are found in 1634. On the 1st August,
Thos. Windham and Thos. Luttrell for Williton, Freemanors,
and Carhampton, certified to Sii- John Carew, sheriff, that wheat
was 6s. 8d. the busheLJI In September there was one certificate,
" a very good one," from Geo. Speke, Wm. Walrond, Eo.
Hanley and James Rosse,11 and on the 1st Oct. was the last, from
* State Papers, 1632, Vol. ccxxix., fol. 112.
+ State Papers, 1632, Vol. ccxxx., fol. 55.
t State Papers, 1632, Vol. ccxix., fol. 27.
§ State Papers, 1633, Vol. ccxxxiii., fol. 26.
II 163i, p. 444, Vol. cclxxiii., No. 5.
IT 1634, Robt. Reade to Secy Windebank.
43
Taunton, to the same effect, and that William Roberts had been
fined twenty shillings for travelling with liis packs on the
Sunday.* With these troubles about the poor there were still
difficulties -with the currency, and the Mayor of Taunton, Philip
Lissant, with Koger Hill, Justice ; John Trowbridge, William
Lechlande, Hugh Godsall, Hugh Pytcher, Jasper Chaplin, and
Henry Godsall, of Taunton, were obliged to complain to the Privy
Council under date the 19th May, that " of late" such extraordinary
quantities of fartliings " of several sorts" were brought into
Somerset, and their town especially, that the poor weavers and
labourers were obliged to receive their wages in farthings. The
great supply aroused suspicions and caused a rumour, that the
" greatest part" of these coins would not be acknowledged, " being
suspected to be brought into the kingdom by some indirect means."
The traders of aU sorts refused to take them, so that the labourers,
not being able to buy their necessaries, made a great timiult on
the market days, and " were like to perish unless some speedy
course" were taken for their relief f
The interference in this, as well as other matters, wliich
continued to increase, was presently met by an outspoken pre-
sentment of the Grand Inquest at the Assizes held in Bath on
2nd Jidy, 1638. With other things not pertinent, it was then
presented, that the excessive rates for com and other provisions
was occasioned not so much by scarcity, as by the great and
heavy taxations by new invented ways, which laid so heavy a
burden upon the fanners that they were obliged to sell their
grain at high prices to support it. Consequently their labourers
were not able to get sufficient sustenance for their families, and
so committed many thefts and felonies. Further, as "a great
grievance," agriculture had been much interfered with by
several "commissions" from the Secretary of State, for taking
• 1634, p. 445, Vol. cclxxv., No. 7.
t State Papers, 1634, p. 32, Vol. cckviii., No. 32.
u
up such a number of horses within eight miles of the post-
houses, as the post-masters at their discretion thought fit. Under
this warrant they took into their stables ten or twelve at a
time, and kept them two days and two nights, and then took
up so many more fresh horses from others. If they found
employment in the king's service for any of them, they paid
the post price; if otherwise, they made the owners pay for
their keep and dressing, just what they pleased. Some parties
were favoured and omitted from this impost, which made it
the heavier for the rest to bear.*
With this growl from Bath, the records relating to these
enquiiies cease.
In conclusion, several subjects of interest are suggested by
the replies, but which, in the limit of a paper, can be barely
more than mentioned. Besides the condition of the poor, their
food and their wages, and the difference in prices, there are
other questions such as, what acreage and population may
have produced the quantities named, and what proportion the
wages and rental of land may have borne to the value or
purchasing powers of money.
The returns of 1630 afford some guide for a census. f As
to the rental, the manor of Lamyat in 1644 was worth £220 per
annum, but the acreage is not named. The same authority, an
officer marching v.'ith the King's army, says of Mells, "the
Horners have lived here three or four descents. He is in
rebellion, his estates sequestered, ,£1,000 per annum.":}: This pro-
perty has probably not altered much, and so would afford a
fair guide. In 1621, land is seen to be a five per cent, invest-
ment, being usually bought at twenty years' purchase.
As to the price of corn, the badgers or dealers, if left alone,
* State Papers, 1638, Vol. cccxcv., fol. 9.
t In 1554 the population of London was estimated at 180,000.
; Symond's Diary, Harl. MSS.
45
would have quickly equalised it, by carrying siipplies from the
cheap to the dear country. Compared mth other articles it
was excessive, as, whilst in the reign of Charles, it is about that
of our own day the bupng power of money must have been
nearly ten times what it is now. That is, whilst wages have
greatly increased, the price of corn, which should have increased
in like ratio, remains the same. Concerning the food, barley
alone in some places is mentioned as used for bread, and this
com seems also to have been more consumed in other forms than in
our time. The " divine Williams" writes of the English, " Can
sodden water, a drench for sur-reined jades, their barley broth,
decoct their cold blood to a valiant heat 1" (Henry V.,
Sc. 5, Act 3.) In 1584, on the 29th October, Sir Christopher
Hatton wi'iting to Lord Burghley, remarks of the Queen
[Elizabeth] about whom there was always the greatest solicitude,
that " Hir mat since yor going hence hathe byn troubelyd wt
muche disease in hir stomak. The cause thereof as bothe hir
selfe thinkithe, and we all doo judgge, was the takynge in the
mornynge yesterdaye a confection of barley sodden with suger
and water, and made exceedynge thycke with bread. This break-
fast loste hir bothe hir supper and dinner, and suerlye the
better haulffe of hir slepe."* Bread from barley, or from the
coarser flours in which the bran remained, called panis canicarius,
as being more fit for dogs than men, was made only in times of
scarcity, but formed a "very bad excremental nourishment."
Rye, the next in price to wheat, was largely in use either alone
or mixed. Meslin, which was wheat, rye and barley mingled,
was also in general use, and from it was probably made the
household bread of the time, the panis de omiie hlado, of the
old books. The price of meslin is not given, perhaps because it
was not made \xp for sale. As the labourer was often paid in
• State Papers, 158, Vol. clxxiii., fol. 94.
46
kind, when he had wheat at all, it was most likely in this form.
Bread with oatmeal and salt formed his staple food.
From the earliest times there has always been some law regu-
lating the assize or quality and price of bread. Amongst the
Romans the trade was kept as a close mystery, and any man who
married the daughter of a baker was obliged to join the craft.
Judging from the following incident, which is a very early
notice of its visitors and customs, it may be supposed that the
business was of some importance in Bath. By a letter, dated the
12th April, 1602, from Thomas Power, Mayor, Edward Horton,
John Chapman, Willia. Heath and William Sherston to Dr.
Csesar, master of the Court of Eequests, it appears that John
Sachfield, a baker by his trade, and one of the Aldermen of the
city, had been served mth a " process of Privie Scale," to appear
in the Court, in quindena Pascoe, within a fortnight after Easter,
at the suit of one Richard Bye, but, " for matter as yet unknown
to him or them." Alderman Sachfield clearly disliked this
" process," and consequently his friends petitioned, that, as
besides being a Commissioner for the subsidies, he was well-known
as the " most sufficient mann to make provision of breade in the
said cittie, not onlie for noblemen, but also for mauie others then
present soiourninge and abydinge for dyvers respective causes, he
could hardly be spared, without great prejudice to Her Majesty's
Service, and the greate hindrance of the Cittie and Inhabitants
there lykewyse." The subscribers therefore thought "fytt" thus
to become suitors, that his answer might be taken at Bath.*
At this time there were several trading, self-constituted, Guilds
in Bath, of them the bakers being one. They walked in pro-
cession annually, and endeavoured to prevent non-members from
trading within the city. This claim being opposed, was set aside
by a Court of Law in 1765, and the Guilds then ceased.
Forty -seven years later the trade was still a prominent one, as
* State Papers, 1602, Vol. cclxxxiii., fol. 76.
47
may be gathered from an adventure of comical John Taylor the
Water poet. Being as he describes himself a youth of three score
and ten, with only a leg and a half, he set out from London on the
21st June, 1649, for a walk to see the wonders of the west, and
on the 28th, came to the "famous, renowned, ancient, little,
pritty city of Bathe." " I lodged," he continues, "in the mayor's
house, but his worship was as ignorant as myselfe, for he being a
baker had let halfe his house to a victualler, so he sold bread
without and I bought drinke within. The next day, I had
notice where I was, wherefore I went to his stall, or shop window,
and told him what I was, and that I was he who came nine years
agoe from London to that City, with a small sculler's boate. Mr.
Mayor was pleased to entertain me most kindely (with both hands
in his pockets), and like a man of few words forebore to say
Welcome to towne. So parting dryly (the dryness was evidently
not to John's taste), I left him in his shop, Lord Baron of the
Browne Loaves and Master of the Rolls. But there is no doubt
but the man may live to a faire age and dye in his bed, if he
escape the unfortunate destiny of Pharoah's baker."*
Noting one more incident in the order of time, in 1673 the
prices of corn were again at famine rates, and rose from 10s. and
lis. to 12s. the bushel, when the poor suflPered so much they
were " fain" to make bread of peas and beans. The material
thus produced was so hard a hatchet was necessary to chop it to
pieces, " yet it went down as sweet as honey." But the trial was
too much for them, they rose, went into the markets, seized the
farmers' sacks, cut them open, and filled their pockets mth grain.
Such suffering, attributed to the "wretched covetousness" of
those who would not bring then* corn to market, so struck the
heart of a farmer of Welling, three miles from Wells, that he
sold out his own store at 6s. the bushel, or half the market price.
For this he was derided by his neighbours, as acting foolishly and
* Wanderings to see the West.
48
not making the most of his. own ; but to this he answered, that he
thought it his duty to relieve the distress of the poor. The result
proved the rectitude of his conduct, for the next year, having
sown a ten acre piece, the blades came up very thick, and
presently several ears upon each strand, on some seven, on some
eight and on some thirteen. Every stalk, one with another, was
reckoned to produce an average of ten ears apiece. There was
as much wheat in that ten acres as upon ten times the quantity
elsewhere. Tliis story was published in a little pamphlet, and
some of the ears Avere to be " seen in coffee houses in London,
lest scofiers may render the story a lie," for, continues the writer,
" some be more like Jews than Christians," and will believe
nothing " but what their eyes do see." *
With a most troublesome persistence the prices of all provisions
continued to rise faster than the money wages, so that in 1794
the labourers were still " brooding over their miseries in sulky
silence." They were now accused of " luxurious excess in
drinking tea," and being over nice in the use of potatoes."t At
this time the wages in Somerset, at Holwell, were 5s. in winter
and 6s. a week in summer, the house rent being paid by the
parish. Fuel was got from cow dung, or by breaking their
neighbours' hedges. In addition there was the labour of the
woman and children, but altogether not sufficient for bare
necessities.
Innumerable were the pamphlets published about and just after
this time on this subject, suggesting all sorts of remedies ; many
as of old blaming the dealers. Locally, besides others, there were
the single sheets of Miss Hannah More, such as The Eiot ; or,
Half a loaf is better than no bread. In a dialogue between
Jack Anvil and Tom Hod, to the tune of " The Cobbler there
was," &c. Says Tom —
* The Charitable Farmer of Somersetshire.
+ The case of the labourers ia husbandry stated, &c., by D. Davies, 4to.
Bath, 1795.
49
Come, neighbours, no longer be patient and quiet,
Come, let us go kick up a bit of a riot,
I'm hungry, my lads, but I've little to eat,
So we'll pull down the mills and seize all the meat ;
I'll give you good sport, bojs, as ever you saw,
So a fig for the justice, a fig for the law.
Derry down, &.c.
Jack, however, demonstrates, or suggests, that to destroy the
mills will not cheapen flour, or to abuse the butchers will not
produce more meat, &c.
Quoth Tom, thou art right, if I rise I'm a Turk,
So he threw down his pitchfork and went to his work.
But the problem as to the corn, so diflicult for so many centuries,
was solved in our own time, when some thirty years ago it was
determined that all interference with the trade was wrong, and,
to use the words of Edward 6th in 1550, as nearly as possible
three centuries before, the prices were left, to be none other than
the buyers and sellers could agree upon. Whilst this determina-
tion has enabled the manufacturers to accumulate fortunes from
cheap labour, the consequence of cheap food, its eff'ect upon the
land and its labour is only now beginning to be felt.
I
Some Account of the Skirmish at Claverton during the Civil Wars,
July, 1643. By H. D. Skrine.
(Read November 2lst, 1878.J
At the request of our Secretary I have undertaken to give the
Field Club some account of an incident of the Civil Wars between
Charles I. and the Parliament, which occurred in this neighbour-
hood and on part of the estate I now own. I have called it
" The Skii-mish of Claverton," though in my own opinion it was
of much more importance than readers of the history of those
times may imagine.
50
There is incleecl very little trustworthy contemporary history
of those times accessible to the ordinary reader. This is, I
believe, the case with the Bath Archives ; Inter arma silent leges et
imisce. Men wrote -svith caution and spoke A\'ith bated breath
when they knew not what the morrow would bring forth, or
which party was to rule in ere while " merrie" England. Until
a few days ago I was not aware of any source of information
beyond the notice in Clarendon and in CoUinson's "History
of Somerset." A friend, however, having suggested a reference
to the Eushworth collection of Papers, I was fortunate enough
to Uglit ou a passage which made the imperfect notices of the
action Avith Avliich I was acquainted more clearly intelligible.
If we look at some of the old maps of Somerset we shall see
on a part of the map adjoining the Avon at Claverton the mark
of crossed swords, indicating the spot Avliere a battle was fought.
This is at the ferry and ford Avhich connects the opposite sides of
the valley.
CoUinson thus describes Avhat took place : — " In the Civil Wai's
ftem}}. Car. 1.) while Sir William Basset, Sir Edward Hungerford
and other gentlemen were dining in this house (Claverton Manor)
a cannon ball diiected from the hill opposite pierced through the
outer waU of the house, and passing over the table at which they
sat, lodged in the breast wall of the chimney, without doing any
further mischief." *
An old print of the house in my possession, dated 1734, marks
the spot where the ball struck the walls and an inscription states
that the house was at that date in possession of — Skrine, Esq.,
and that Charles I. was in the house at the time the shot was
fired !
The cannon-ball is still preserved, set in a table in the posses-
sion of Colonel Vivian, whose father lately owned the property,
* The authority for this story is supposed to be Woods "History of Bath,"
vol. i.,p. 92. (Claverton.)
51
and another is known to have been found neav the house.* The
statement about Charles I. naust he only derived from an obscure
tradition utterly contrary to the facts, as the King was at that
time at Oxford, and how Sii" Edward Hungerford hapjDened to be
there at the time the house was occupied by a detachment of the
Royalists is very strange, as he was about the same time harrying
the King's friends near Swindon, as Commander of the Parlia-
mentary forces in Wilts !
Anyone reading this account, unaccompanied as it is by any
reference to the fight, might conclude that it was only a mis-
chievous shot fired to annoy or to frighten some Eoyalist gentle-
man who was entertauiing his personal friends. But farther
on, when he is describing the Church and churchyard, CoUinson
states : "In the parish register is the following : — ' Upon the
30th day of June (old style?), 1643, there were buried under the
west wall in the churchyard three soldiers killed of the Parlia-
mentary party, and one of the Eoyal party in an unhappy civil
war (meaning skirmish or battle), at the river side in the plain
meadow at Claverton."t
* la an old poem entitled "Bath and its Environs" is a curious version of
t he Bombardment of Claverton : —
As Basset, Cla'erton's lord, at his fire sat,
Safe (as he thought) from harm in friendly chat,
Old Noll a cannon-ball fired from this place, %
Which whizzed around his head and pierced ye chimney piece.
The chimney piece e'en now this mark retains
Of Heaven's protection and of War's remains.
t In ye old register of Claverton in the handwriting of Richard Graves is
the following. N. B. — The skeletons of these men were digged up when the
ground was dug for Mr. Allen's Mausoleum. N.B. — The battle on Lansdown
in which .Sir Beville Granville was slain was on July the 5th, 1643, and Lord
Clarendon (in the own life> mentions a party of the King's forces that marched
from Bradford and passed the ford at Claverton, probably with intent to join
the Marquis of Hertford.
{ jy.B.— iarleighUill.
52
What was tlie nature of this skirmish, and who were the
contending parties 1
Let ns first turn to the " History of the Rebellion" by
Clarendon, and see what he says pertinent to the matter. After
stating that the Cornish Eoyalists had gained a great victory over
the Parliamentary troops in Devon, at Stratton Down, which had
decided the King to send the Marquis of Hertford and Prince
Maurice with as many troops as they could collect in Dorset and
Somerset to join the Cornish ai'my — a movement which was
effected at Chard — and that the united forces having taken
without opposition Taunton and Bridgwater, and Dunster Castle,
which was surrendered to them by its owner, had marched to
Wells, near which place on the Mendip Waller's advance guard
of cavalry encountered for the first time the Royalist party, with
a somewhat indecisive result. The victory indeed remained with
Prince Maurice, and Waller's men retreated to Bath, but the
Prince was wounded and at one time the force was in a critical
position. After staying seven or eight days in Wells to cure
the Prince's wounds and rest the army. Clarendon says, " The
Prince and the Marquis advanced to Frome, and thence to
Bradford, within fovr miles of Bath. And now no day passed
■without action and very sharp skirmishes. Sir* William Waller
having received from London a fresh regiment of 500 horse,
under the command of Sir Ai'thur Haslerig, which were so com-
pletely armed that they were called by the other side the
" Eegimont of Lobsters," because of the bright iron shells with
which they were covered, being perfect Cuirassiers, and were the
first that made any impression upon the King's horse, who being
unarmed {i.e. with body armour) were not able to bear a shock
with them, besides which they (the Cuirassiers) were secure from
hurts of sword, which were the only weapons the others were
furnished with. The contention was hitherto with parties in
which the successes Avere various, and almost with equal losses,
for Sii- William Waller on the first advance from Wells beat up a
53
regiment of horse and dragoons* of Sir James Hamilton's and
dispersed them; so within two days the King's forces beat a
party of his from a pass near Bath, where the enemy lost tAvo
field-pieces and near a hundred men."
That this last fight was " The Skirmish at Claverton" there can
be hardly any doubt when we compare this account with that
given of the same event in the Rushworth collection of Historical
Papers. Rushworth says (Vol. v., p. 284, under June, 1643,)
" the Marquis of Hertford, and Prince Maurice and Sir Ralph
Hopton had their head-quarters at Wells : and Sir William
Waller being at Bath sent out Major Dowet to beat up one of
their quarters, where Sir James Hamilton's regiment of horse lay,
whom they dispersed and took Lieut. -Colonel Carr, Major Blunt,
two captains, four cornets, ninety-seven troopers, one hundred and
forty horses and sixty cases of pistols. This provoked his Majesty's
forces, so that the next day being the 3rd of July (old style 1)
they advanced in a body toimrds Waller, and being come ivithin tv:o
miles of Fourd Hill the said Major Dowet was commanded forth
with three hundred horse and foot to secure the Pass at Fmird
Bridge but he was beat oif — ten of his men were killed and two
hammerpiecest taken." " On the 4th Waller having dra-Roi his
forces out of Bath lay all night on Lansdowii, and on the 5th
July Captain Butler under command of Sir Arthur Haslerig and
Major DoAvet with 200 horse seconded by 200 more under Colonel
Carrl gave a warm charge but were so gallantly received that
they were forced to retreat though yet they kept in order till they
were relieved by Colonel Burghill." This was the commencement
of the Battle of Lansdown and we need not follow the chronicler
farther — but the dates are given to show the close connection in
point of time between the skirmish at the Pass near Fourd
Bridge and the battle of LansdoAvn.
• Mounted infantry.
f Hammerpicces — cannon with flint locks probably.
X Had Colonel Carr changed sides— he was taken at Wells two days before?
54
The flistanco of Clavorton from tlio point of Fouvfl Hill if3
about two miles, and this was the best point to defend the Pass
(as the whole of the valley of the Avon near "Warleigh and
Claverton may fairly be called). The Warleigh Lane was the
only direct road from Bradford to Bath at that time and meets
the Ford road from Claverton exactly opposite Claverton \'illage
and Old Manor House. The cannon were posted on the wooded
hill above the ferry so as to command the lane as well as the
opposite side of the river.* It might have been done by dragging
them over the fields from Bathford — there was then no Bradford
Road there — or straight up from Warleigh Lane. The valley of
the Avon at this spot is about half a mile broad and the hills
rise abruptly almost from the water's edge on each side, the
higher slopes of the hUls being thickly covered with timber and
brushwood. Almost the only level space in the valley at this
point is the Ham meadow — an island then as now — over which
the road from Claverton to the Ford passes, and here the skirmish
was fought. The road is an ancient pack-horse road probably
dating from early British times, and on the Warleigh side is sunk
deeplj'' between high banks the sides of which are walled, higher
up it was also much hidden by the banks covered with brushwood
and hedges. Down this hollow road the troopers of the Par-
liament must have descended to the Ford without much observa-
tion, and in all probability Avere massed there before the cannon
was fired and then immediately advanced through the Ford to
gain the field on the opposite side and make the attack on the
Manor House,t It was part of Waller's tactics, to draw on the
♦ Near this spot on the hill — whence tradition states the shots were fired —
the Bathford revels were usually hold, and the common people used to say it
was in memory of a battle, and that human bones were frequently turned up
when quarrying was going on.
f How they fared in the Ham meadow, or whether the Royalist horse
allowed them to form up before they charged them, or whether only the head
of the column had emerged from the river when the enemy was upon them
must be matter of conjecture — but probably as there are some cavalry officers
present they may be able to throw light on the subject.
i
55
Cavaliers to an ongagcmont at a disadvantage and he probably
thought that onlj^ a small niunbor of men werp, anived at
Claverton, but in this he was mistaken and the Parliamentary
horse must have received " a warmer charge" than they exijected
and were driven in some confusion across the river. Instead of
rallying to defend the cannon and fall back on the support of the
infantry — tradition says these gallant warriors galloped as fast as
they could back to Waller aloug the Warleigh meadows bringing
word to him of their discomfiture. Did the Koyalists pursue
them or ride up at once to capture those cannon that had so
insolently assailed them 1 We only know that the cannon was
taken, but if conjecture is allowable, I would suggest as a probable
solution of the matter, that the main body of the army of the
Marquis was not far behind and on the same side of the river as
Warleigh, marching from Bradford through Turlej', Winsley and
Conkwell — a part of the cavalry only being sent forward along the
lanes on the Claverton side from Bradford, guided perhaps by the
Major-General of the Cornish Infantry, Colonel Thomas Basset,
who was doubtless a relative of Sir William Basset of Claverton.
It was found necessary at the battle of LansdoA^ni to wing the
cavalry with the Cornish musketeers — whose fire was so rapid and
delivered with so true an aim that they made great impression on
the enemy's horse and routed them on the slopes of Lansdown, and
these were the very men too who caUed out on that day '"'for
leave to fetch oft' those cannon," so that if there was a small force
of infantry as well as the cavalry at Claverton they might have
taken the cannon and the men who guarded them prisoners, and
thus the loss might well have been in killed, wounded and
prisoners one hundred men as stated in Clarendon, although only
four were buried in Claverton churchyard. The number of killed
in the Rushworth account is ten — and seeing tliis discrepancy in
the numbers I asked my neighbour, Mr. Tooke, the Eector of
Monkton Farleigh if his register could throw any light on the
subject as the register of Batliford is not older than the eighteenth
56
centmy. The communication I received was ciuious, 1)iit gave no
hope of a discovery of burials there. This is the extract from the
Registrar of Monkton Farleigh : —
Memoranduvi. — John Allanhrigge, Inducted Jan. 30th, 1641.
That at the time of my induction, John Butler the elder being then
(and many years after in the times of troubles) Churchwarden, kept
in papers a register of Christenings, Burials and Weddings, the parch-
ment book being full ; which papers since his death cannot yet be
found. I therefore (noe Churchwarden taking care or notice*) beginne
from the said Butler's death. What is past, ego nescio, nee ego euro-
It being ever the Churchwarden's office.
J. A.
Part of ye year 1650 (John Butler died March 13th.)
In support of the conjecture that the main body of the
Royalist army was already on this side of the river, I Avould urge
the fact that they had got to Bradford, where there was a bridge,
and their direct road to Bath would be over that bridge and
along the lane which passes through the Warleigh Valley ;
whereas the other way would be placing themselves on the
wrong side of the river, which could only be passed by fords and
ferry boats, and the country was close and the roads circuitous.
If this was the case, and, as Clarendon says, they were only two
miles from Fourd Hill, the sound of the cannon would soon bring
the vanguard out on Warleigh Hill, with only a smooth green
sloping down between them and the battery on the ridgway
stretching for miles towards the Oxford Road, and a little Avood
(called Dead man wood to this day) closely adjoining the battery
would have concealed their advance till they were close upon the
guns. However this may be, the guns Avere taken and the
Parliamentarians who were not killed or taken prisoners retreated
to Bath and left the Bridge of Fourd (or Bathford) open to the
* "Noe Churchwarden." By Act of Parliament at that time the custody
of Parish Registers was given to the local civil authority and withdrawn from
ye clergy.
i
57
Royal army— which now marched on to Marshfiekl, about five
mCes to the East of Bath, and a little out of the direct line to
Oxford, which was their main object.
No sooner had Waller ascertained the direction of their march,
than he drew out his forces on Lansdown, where he raised breast-
works and planted his cannon, and sent his cavalry to beat up
their quarters again and provoke the Royalist General to attack
him on the battle-field he had chosen.
The importance of the battle at Claverton and Warleigh con-
sisted in its opening the passage of the Bridge of Ford to the
Royalists, who might have placed themselves some miles on the
road to Oxford. It also gave great encouragement to their cavalry,
which had been lately rather shamefully handled by the Regi-
ment of Lobsters or Ironsides, and in a corresponding degree it
depressed the spirit both of Waller and his army. Sir William
Waller had, by his brilliant successes in the early part of this
year, and notably in Wilts and Gloucester, been hailed in the
Parliament as " William the Conqueror." He had received noAV
a severe check, and gave up the idea of barring the retreat of
the Royalists to Oxford, and was determined to secure a good
defensive position, trusting that the necessities of the Royalist
army — which was short of provisions and ammunition, and in a
disafi'ected district — would compel them to hurry on an engage-
ment. This last circumstance explains the conduct of the
Royalist General in not pressing on towards Oxford. He felt
that it was of great importance to win a battle in this neighbour-
hood, and time was precious. And Clarendon states that the
army had a somewhat unreasonable contempt for the military
skill of their opponents, and then threw away a great chance by
attacking Waller in a very strong position, when they might have
given him battle greatly to his disadvantage among the stone-
walls and fences of an enclosed country.*
* We have it in Waller's own words in his " Vindication of his Conduct,"
published after his death, that he very much disliked fighting " in an
58
And this was proved shortly aftei*, when the valiant Cornish
Infantry, under Sir Nicholas Slanning, kept so well the rear-
guard of the King's forces on the march to Devizes, and after-
wards for three days kept that comparatively open town from the
persistent attacks of Waller, who assailed them on all sides with
superior force.
The Cavalry of Charles's Army were at once its great strength
and a source of peril. The rash undisciplined valour of the
Cavaliers could seldom be kept witliin safe bounds, and they
too often threAV away the factory they had won. On the
occasion of this skirmish however it would seem that they shewed
no less discretion than valour, and thus made this small victory
sure and useful to the Eoyal arms.
Gales of JFind. Bi/ the Rev. Leonard Blomefield, M.A.,
F.L.S., &c.
(Read Jamiary, IQth, 1878.^
In the following paper on " Gales of Wind," 1 have no idea of
bringing under the notice of the Bath Field Club anytliing that
is new on the subject or of stating more than what every one may
glean for himself who refers to the same sources of information
that I have consulted. I simply thought that (there being pro-
bably many who would not do this) it might be of interest, and
help to fill up one of our evening meetings, if I put together a
few notes in connection with the furious gale that occurred in
Bath and in most other parts of Great Britain on the night of
October 14th-15th last year (1877). I do not mean notes relating
exclusively to that particidar storm, which was described in such
enclosed country, which Somerset was, where every field was as good as a
fortification and every lane disputable as a pass,'* to which service he had been
condemned by the order.s of Parliament.
59
detail, with its destructive effects on trees, buildings, &c., in The
Bath Chronicle of October 18tb, as well as in the London papers,
for any further account of it is hardly necessary. But I mean
notes relating to former gales, of which after a few years there is
generally but an imperfect recollection in men's minds, if they are
not altogether forgotten ; and for this reason it may be that when
a "ale occurs, or indeed any meteorological phenomenon of such
a marked character as to force itself on the notice of all, or when
there prevails any unusual state of weather whatever, it is often
thought to be quite unprecedented. We hear the remark, " Did
you ever know such extraordinary weather as we are having just
now ?" " Sixrely last summer must be the hottest on record 1 or
last Avinter the most severe T as the case may be ; or, " the rain-
fall or the drought has been excessive beyond all experience," and
so forth. In like manner gales of -nand are not unfrequently
magnified into the most a^vful hurricanes imaginable while they
are raging, less and less however remaining in our recollection for
comparison with gales that may occur hereafter as they recede
gradually into the past.
This subject may be treated both historically and scientifically.
"We may first chronicle the most noteworthy storms that have
occurred in back years, and then, secondly, investigate the laws
of storms in general, their nature and characteristic features, and
the probability or otherwise of our being ever able to predict
their approach with anything like certainty.
There are ample materials at hand for the first of these
inquiries, in the Meteorological Registers of the Bath Literary
Institution, the Lockey Registers preserved in the Jenyns
Library, and in my own Registers of Weather Phenomena, which
together date back over a period of nearly 60 years from the pre-
sent time. For earlier periods than this, a work published some
years ago by Mr. Lowe, of Nottingham, entitled " Natural
Phenomena and Chronology of the Seasons," may be consulted
with great advantage. Of course to enumerate all the gales and
60
storms that have occurred in these Islands within the records of
history would take up far too much of our time at present. I
shall content myself therefore wdth a very general statement
I'especting them, particularising only in a few special cases, or
where there is direct reference to Bath and its neighbourhood,
I may first observe, looking over the above Registers, that very
few years occur in which there are not one or more gales more or
less violent and causing more or less damage. In the entry of
these gales there is often appended a remark of this kind, " most
tempestuous," "perfect hurricane," "terrific hurricane," "storm
of wind and rain almost unprecedented in Bath." In one instance
the gale is said to have been " described by old sailors as one of
the most fearful they had ever witnessed."
These expressions tell plainly in what light and with what
feelings the gales were regarded by those who Avitnessed their
effects, and when we connect such remarks ^vith long paragraphs
extracted from the papers of the day that often accompany them, in
which the violence of the storm is dwelt on at great length, Avith
full details of the damage it had done in different parts of the
country, one can hardly think there is much difference on the
whole between the gales of one term of years and those of another
term of years. At the same time it is undoubtedly true that
some years are more exempt from gales than others, probably
from causes that will be spoken of further on. Thus it has been
stated that " few gales of remarkable force and duration occurred
during 1870, whereas those that occurred between 1871 and 1875-6
were very numerous and destructive."
It may be remarked further that the same gale is often much
more violent and destructive in some places than in others.
This was the case with the gale of October last, which appears to
have been more violent further west than at Bath. At Torquay,
houses were unroofed and plate-glass windows broken in. At
Haverford West "a neAV roof just slated and firmly nailed doAvn,
was forcibly lifted entire and carried fifty yards, and it came
61
clown without injury flat on the ground." It is also remarkable
that wliile in the eastern counties of England this gale was not
accomi^anied by a drop of rain, in the north-west of Scotland the
rainfall was very large, amounting at Portree, Skye, to nearly
five inches. At this last place the force of the wind and rain
together seems to have been tremendous, doing the most
lamentable damage. "Fields" are said to have been "left
unfitted for cultivation in all time to come ; or, along with bridges
and roads, swept into the sea. At Uig, the whole biuial gi'ound,
except six graves, was carried completely away ; coffins were put
ashore by the sea ten and twenty miles distant. The mansion
house, garden, and all the plantations were also swept away,
with the estate manager, who was the only one in the house at
the time ; not a vestige remains."
Among the gales noted down in the " Lockey Registers" are
several that have occurred in Bath, but which appear to have
been less severely felt here than in Bristol, and in other parts of
Somerset. A reason may be suggested why as a rule we might
expect this to be the case Avith storms in this neighbourhood ; the
hills which surround Bath acting as a barrier to check their violence
below, and tending in some measure to divert them from the
course they would have othermse taken. A few instances in
point may be adduced, extracted from the above registers : —
1866, Nov. 22.— Very disastrous gale (called a hirricane) especially
severe at Bristol, with great damage to the shipping in the
Channel. Less so at Bath.
1863, Dec. 3.— Terrible storm throughout England ; raged especially
in the Bristol Channel, doing much damage to shipping, and
several vessels lost, — but not particularly severe in Bath.
1861, Feb. 20,— Fearfully destructive storm in Bristol, doing an
immense deal of damage in that town and neighbourhood, but
its effects much less severe in Bath. This gale blew down the
spire of Chichester Cathedral, with its tower and supporting
arches.
62
1859, Oct. 25.— The " Ro>jal Charter gale/' so called from the name of
the unfortunate vessel that was wrecked this day on the coast
of Anglesea, does not appear to have been seriously felt in
Bath. The gale lasted two days and caused the loss of 343
ships.
1856, Sept. 22. — Destructive storm at Glastonbury and other places
in Somerset. "Chimnies dislocated, sashes driven into the
chambers, roofs totally uncovered, tiles flying in the air like
autumn leaves, ajid a pair of massive gates whirled some
distance away." Mr. Lockey in his register speaks of the
damage at Glastonbury, but says nothing of the eflfects of this
storm at Bath, simply noting the day as " squally."
1853, Aug. 26. — A destructive "hurricane or whirlwind poured up
the Bristol Channel from S.S.W., spending its chief fury in the
neighbourhood of Bristol and doing immense damage. Less
violent in Bath, but left its effects there."
Other storms may be mentioned in which Bath suifered more
severely, though in the following instance to a less extent than
Bristol.
1851, Jan. 8. — Tremendous gale of wind in the West of England,
raging especially at Bristol. "Tradesmen were compelled to
put up their shutters, to prevent their windows being blown in.
A large furniture van in crossing Durdham Down was blown
over three times, and at last could proceed no further. In
Bath many houses were stripped of their tiles, and several
walls blown down in the neighbourhood."
1842, Jan. 26.— Dreadful hurricane in the "West of England and
South Wales. " In Bath did most extensive mischief to chimney
stacks and roofs throughout the city." Great loss of ships on
the coast.
1841, Sept. 28.— Tremendous gale in Bath from S.W. " The tempest
roared with the loudness of a blast furnace, and the houses in
every direction shaken," and much damage done.
In 1859, on December 30th, there occurred in Wiltshire, in the
vicinity of Calne, an " extraordinary tornado," as it was called, or
63
one of those fearful storms which occasionally take place devastat-
ing a very nan-ow track of land, tln'ough which the storm cuts a
Avay for itself, levelling trees and all other obstacles that oppose
its progress, while the country on either side is left undisturbed,
In this instance the length of country traversed was about six
miles, the breadth being only 100 to 160 yards. The mighty
rush of wind and all the consequent destruction occupied not more
than five minutes. Amongst other effects " a heavy four-wheeled
wagon was taken up and carried completely over a high hedge,
and straw and wheat ricks were borne completely away and
distributed over the field never to be collected again." It is said.
" hundreds of persons came hundreds of miles to visit the district
over which the storm had passed."
I find record of a whirlwind, very similar to the one above
described, wliich occurred at Cerne-Abbas, Dorset, on the 30th of
October, 173L In this instance the storm, which had a track
only 200 yards wide, trees being uprooted and houses unroofed,
only lasted two minutes.
In the same Chronicle* two other gales are mentioned in con-
nection with Bath, that happened during the last century. One
was on the 4th of January, 1739, described as "violent at Bath
and Bristol, with thunder, lightning, hail and rain, whereby great
numbers of trees were torn up by the roots, and many others
twisted off at theii- trunks. At Bath the flood was so gi-eat that
the boats came up the streets." The other was a severe thunder-
storm at Bath, January 4, 1738, "with a sudden violent wind,
which destroyed Walcott Church."
The above are merely a few selected cases of gales that have
occurred in the Bath neighbourhood, or in the adjoining counties
in former times, and they can hardly fail to impress us with the
belief that the storms of back yeai-s were quite as severe as those
of the present day, some indeed much more severe.
* " Lowe's Natural Phenomena.'
64
It is observable that nearly all the storms above alluded to
took place in the winter half of the year, in one of the last three
or one of the first thi-ee months ; more rarely such gales occur
in September and April, and still more rarely in August. One
destructive "hurricane" in this last month is dated at 1853.
And I may mention another that came under my own observation
on the last two days of August, 1833, when a storm of wind and
rain took place, almost unparalleled, at that period of the year,
for its ^Hiolence and the length of time it lasted. It was a furious
gale from the N.N.W., with a continued rain for forty-eight hours,
doing immense damage to trees and buildings. Birds were beaten
down in numbers where they could not obtain shelter, and in some
cases the cattle in the fens were actually blown into the dykes
and killed. " The accounts from the coast were appalling, fifty-
nine vessels were reported at Lloyd's : in this fearful gale the
Aniphitrife, convict-ship, Avas lost, and all on board perished."
But, after all, none of the storms hitherto noticed can be
compared for a moment -with " The Great Storm," as it has been
emphatically called, which occurred on the night of the 26tli-27th
of November, 1703, a stoi-m never exceeded in its destmctive
eff'ects, and which calls for a much longer account to be given of
it. We may form some idea of the violence of this storm from
the cu'cumstance of several books having been •written about it at
the time, one of the earlier volumes of the " Philosophical Tran-
sactions " being also full of it. The best known of these books
is that by Daniel De Foe, the author of " Robinson Crusoe,"
published in London in 1704, the year after the storm. A copy
of this book, which is rather scarce, is in the Jenyns Library in
the Bath Literary Institution.* In it De Foe, who was himself in
London during the whole time the storm lasted, has brought
together all the particulars he could collect from difi"erent parts of
the country, as well as from abroad, to add to what fell under his
* It is from De Foe's book that I have chiefly borrowed, in the account here
. given uf this storm.
65
own obsel'vation. He .si)eaks of this storm as " Tho greatest,
the longest in duration, the widest in extent, of all the tempests
and storms that History gives any account of since the beginning
of time." It is said to have been — not merely a short and sudden
burst of tempest lasting a few hours, bat a fierce and tremendous
hurricane of a Aveek's duration, which attained its utmost violence
on the night above-mentioned. It had blown exceeding hard
for about fourteen days previous, so as to be accounted terrible
weather, and many sad accidents had occurred, but the nearer it
came to the fatal 26th of November, the tempestuousuess of the
weather mcreased.
There had been a great deal of wet during the spring and
summer of that year, and in the early part of the autumn. Much
i-ain fell in places at the commencement of the storm, the wind
being S. and South-westerly, veering to W. and N.W., toward g
the end of it. As already stated, DeFoe was in London at the
time, and he details in the first instance what took place there.
He says it did not blow so hard till 12 o'clock at night, but that
most families Avent to bed, though many of them not without
some concern for their safety. But about 1 or 2 o'clock on the
morning of Saturday the 27th, it Avas supposed few people that
were capable of any sense of danger, were so hardy as to lie in
bed ; and the fury of the tempest increased to such a degree that
most people expected the fall of their houses.
Yet in this general apprehension, nobody durst quit their
tottering habitations ; for whatever the danger was in-doors, it
was worse without. The bricks, tiles, and stones from the tops of
the houses flew Avith such force, and so thick in the streets, that no
one thought fit to venture out, though their houses Avere nearly
demolished Avithin. They were forced to take shelter in cellars
and the lowermost rooms. From two o'clock the storm continued
and increased till five in the morning, and from five to half-past
six it bleAV Avith the greatest violence ; the fury of it during that
particular hour and a half being so exceeding great, that had it
6
66
not abated as it did, nothing could have ■withstood its ^^olence
much longer.
It was just at this time that the greatest part of the damage was
done. Shortly afterwards, about sunrise, the storm abated for
awhile; but in the afternoon it increased again, "-^nth sudden
gusts as violent as at any time of the night." Then followed a
storm of rain Avhich reduced the force of the gale for another
interval. " Ere long however the huracane recommenced vnth
gi'eat fury, and in the course of the Sunday and Monday attained
such a height, that on Tuesday night few persons dared go to bed.
Continuing till noon on Wednesday the storm then gradually
decreased till four in the afternoon, when it terminated in a dead
calm, at the very hour of its commencement on the same day of
the preceding week."
This terrible storm, it is said, " shook all Europe ;" — our island
being the first to receive the shock, whence it continued its course
over France, Germany and other parts of the continent. When
at its greatest height on the morning of the 27th, " many thought
that the end of the world had arrived : horror and confusion had
seized upon all ; no pen can describe it, no tongue can express, no
thought conceive it, except some of those who were in the
extremity of it."
And a strange spectacle presented itself when, about eight
o'clock in the morning, on the lull of the storm, the affrighted
inhabitants of London first ventured "to peep out of doors."
" The streets lay so covered with tiles and slates, stones, lead,
timber and all kinds of rubbish, that the c[uantity was incredible.
The houses looked like skeletons, and were so universally stript,
that all the tiles in fifty miles round would be able to repair but a
small part of it." All business was laid aside for a time. Horror
sat on the countenances of the people. " Everybody's first work
was to visit and inquire after friends and relations." " The next
day or two was almost entirely spent in the curiosity of the
people, in viewing the havoc the storm had made. When this
G7
■was satisfied, they were generally intent upon getting help to
repau" their habitations."
The extent of the destruction was so great that the price of tiles
rose several pounds per thousand j bricklayer's labour also rose,
and many of the householders were obliged " to patch up their
dwellings with boards, tarpaulins, old sails and straw ; regular
repairs being in many instances, at the time, wholly impossible."
De Foe says that " an incredible number of houses remained all
the winter exposed to all the inconveniences of wet and cold,"
and, at the time of his writing this, he thought " they were like
to continue so, perhaps a year or two longer, for want of tiles."
In tnith, the damage done by tliis storm in all ways — the loss
of life — the loss of sliijiping — and the money value of the property
destroyed — was awful in the extreme.
" Above 2,000 stacks of chimnies were supposed to have been
blown down in and about London, besides gable ends of houses,
some whole roofs, and sixteen or twenty whole houses in the out-
parts." Many were the Hves lost from these accidents, the stacks
of chinmies in some cases falling tlu'ough all the floors to the
bottom of the buildings.
" The fall of brick-walls, by the fury of tliis tempest, in and
about London," De Foe says, " woidd make a little book of itself."
The public edifices of the city, also, were terribly shattered and
knocked about. "A part of her Majesty's palace, with a
stack of cliimnies in the centre of the new buildings, then not
quite finished, fell with such a terrible noise as very much
alarmed the whole household. The lead on the tops of the
churches and other buildings was in many places rolled up like a
roll of parchment, and in some instances blown clear off" from the
buildings as at Westminster Abbey" — and elsewhere. Other
churches lost turrets, spires and pinnacles, all carried away by the
force of the wind.
The number of trees and buildings thrown down in different
parts of the country were incalculable. De Fue himself,
68
in a circuit tluough Kent, counted 17,000 trees uprooted, and
then left off, tired of reckoning, without having, as he believed,
noted one-half the quantity. In the same county 1,107 houses
and barns were destroyed. He speaks of " whole parks ruined,
fine walks defaced, and orchards laid flat," especially in the great
cyder-making counties of Devon, Worcester, Gloucester and
Hereford, where, for several miles together, there were very few
trees left. In some parts of the country so many trees were every-
where blowii across the roads as to render them for a time
impassable.
Great also was the damage done to shipping. From the tem-
pestuous state of the weather for many days previous to the night
in which the storm rose to such a dreadful hurricane, a vast num-
ber of foreign vessels in addition to our own had collected for
safety in our ports, and the destruction would have been pro-
bably much greater but for this circumstance. Yet, notwithstanding,
the loss among them was very terrible.
Sir Cloudesley Shovel had just arrived from the Mediterranean
with the Eoyal Navy. The Admiral and part of his ships
anchored at the Gun-Fleet and rode out the gale, " though in
great extremity, expecting death every minute." But of the
vessels lying in the Downs few escaped. " Three ships of 70
guns, one of 64, two of 56, one of 46, and several other smaller
vessels were totally destroyed, with a loss of 1,500 officers and
men."
There was also a great destruction of property and loss of life
on the river Thames. The night was unusually dark, and a liigh
tide was up at the time when the storm blew with the greatest
violence. Above 500 watermen's wherries were lost, most being
not sunk only but dashed to pieces one against another, or
against the shores and sliips where they lay. Ship-boats were
driven about in every corner sunk and staved, and 300 of them
destroyed. Above 60 barges and lighters were driven foul of
the Bridge, and as many more were sunk or staved between the
69
Bridge and Hammersmith. London Bridge was blocked up •with
wrecks, and the high tide caused tlie water to flow a great height
into Westminster Hall.
In the floods occasioned by the storm on the rivers Severn
and Thames and coast of Holland, 8,000 persons lost their
lives. In one place 15,000 sheep were drowned. At Bristol
the storm blew down a church, and the tide was so high in the
streets that they were forced to pass about in boats, and many
hogsheads of tobacco and other goods were floating about in the
streets, the damage amounting to £1.50,000.
No estimate at all approaching the truth could be made of the
total damage occasioned by this storm in diff'erent parts of the
country. De Foe considered the damage sustained in London
alone as £2,000,000, and far exceeding the damage done by the
Great Fire in 1666. The total number of lives lost were
suj^posed to be 8,000.
Among the effects of this terrible storm were two disastrous
occurrences wliich have especially made it memorable in history.
One was the circumstance of the Bishop of Bath and WeUs and
his ■wife being killed at the same moment in the palace at
Wells ; the other was the destruction of the first Eddystone
Lighthouse. The first of these calamitous events is noticed in
the " Life of Bishop Ken." Ken was not Bishop of Bath and
Wells at that time. He had resigned the See, and it was his
successor Bishop Kidder who met with this sad fate. But Ken
himself had a narrow escape. He was staying with liis nephew,
Isaac Walton, Junior, at Poulshot. Writing to Bishop Lloyd,
of Norwich, he thus describes his danger, in a letter dated
Nov. 27 th, 1703 : — "I have no news to return but that last night
there was here the most violent ^vind that ever I knew ; the
house shaked all the night, we all rose and called the family to
prayers, and by the goodness of God we were safe amidst the
storm. It has done a great deal of hurt in the neighbourhood
and all about, which we cannot yet hear of ; but I fear it has
70
been very terrible at sea, and that we shall hear of many wrecks
there. Blessed be Ciod who preserved us."
Then in another letter he says : — " I think I omitted to tell
you the full of my deliverance in the late storm, for, the house
being searched the day following, the tcorkmen found thai the beam
which supported the roof over my head was shaken out to that degree,
that it had hut half-an-inch hold, so that it was a wonder it could
hold together ; for which signal and pai'ticular preservation God's
holy name be ever praised."
Two days after, Ken \mtes again to Bishop Lloyd, this time in
reference to Kidder's melancholy end. He says. " The storm on
Friday night Avhich was the most violent, I mentioned in my last,
but I then did not knoAV what happened at Wells, which was
much shattered, and that part of the palace where Bishop Kidder
and his wife lay, was blown down in the night and they were both
killed and buried in the ruins, and dug out towards morning. It
happened on the very day of the Cloth fair, when all the country
M^ere spectators of the deplorable calamity, and soon spread
the sad story."
One of De Foe's correspondents gives more particulars. He
says, " The dismal accident of our late Bishop and Lady was most
remarkable ; Avho were killed by the fall of two chimney-stacks,
which fell on the roof and drove it in upon my Lord's l)ed, forced
it quite tlirough the next floor down into the hall and buried
them both in the rubbish, and 'tis supposed my Lord was getting
up, for he was found some distance from my Lady, who was found
in her bed ; but my Lord had his morning gown on, so that 'tis
supposed he was coming from the bed just as it fell."
The second calamitous event connected mth this memorable
storm was the destruction of the first Eddystone lighthouse.
This lighthouse had been built four years previously by a gen-
tleman of Essex, of the name of Winstanley, wealthy and an
ingenious mechanic, but too little of an engineer to design and
construct an edifice strong enough to resist the fury of the elements
n
amid the dangerous rocks collected together in that part of the
channel. He was warned and remonstrated with by men who
Icnew from experience the force of sea-waves in stormy weather,
but he took no heed. He declared, indeed, " that he was so well
assured of the strength of the building, that he would lilte to be
in it during the greatest storm that ever blew under the face of
Heaven." His Arish was gratified. Wliilst engaged in some
repairs that were being made under his inspection, the terrible
hurricane during the night of November 26th, 1703, came on and
swept away the entire building. He and his workmen, five in
number, perished, and in the morning not a vestige of the light-
house was to be seen " except some iron stancheons and a chain."
De Foe, who mentions the destruction of this lighthouse,
thought it " very doubtful whether it Avould be ever attempted
again." He little contemplated the erection of such a structure
as was destmed one day to take its place — not immediately, for
there was a lighthouse after that of Winstanley's, which was des-
troyed by fire — but a lighthouse which having been commenced
in 1756, and rapidly completed, has stood firm to the present day,
a period of more than 120 years, a lasting monument of the
engineering skill of the celebrated Smeaton.
It is now time to turn from the historical to the scientific con-
sideration of storms, to inquire into their movements and character,
as also to inquire how ftir prediction of their approach is jiossible,
or likely to be so in times to come. On the present occasion
however we can only deal with this part of the subject in a very
general way.
" Storms are violent commotions of the atmosphere, occurring
in all climates, and diflfering from other atmospheric disturbances
in their destructive power and the extent over wliich they spread."
They — and indeed all winds whatever, from the lightest breeze
to the fiercest hurricane — are occasioned primarily by the sun's
unequal influence on difterent parts of the earth's sm-face, in con-
nection mth the earth's daily rotation on its axis. Heated por-
72
tions of the atmosphere rise ; colder portions flow in to take their
place. Atmospheric disturbances of this kind are constantly
occurring everywhere ; but they are of a more marked character
in tropical regions, where the storms too are on a larger scale and
more violent in their effects. It may be added that, irrespective
of latitude, there are everywhere also local influences at work to
complicate the movements of the air set in action in this way.
From these causes combined, along with others that might be
mentioned, the problems in meteorology are rendered extremely
intricate, and it must be A'ery long before we can expect thoroughlj'
to understand the subject.
Most of the storms which visit these islands come to us across
the Atlantic from America, though after their first rise they ai'c
liable to have their direction as well as form much altered from
various circumstances as they travel onwards. They are almost
all cyclones or partial cyclones, this name being given to them
from the disturbed portion of the atmosphere revolving round a
centre, where there is an area of more or less deep depression
and where there is a calm. " The depression however is of small
vertical depth compared with the superficial area over which the
storm reaches. Sometimes while the branches of trees and the
fragments of the wreck of buildings are being carried by the
wind for miles, the clouds above do not indicate the slightest
signs of disturbance. The superficial area, on the other hand,
which the storm .spreads over is " seldom less than 600 miles in
diameter," and occasionally " two or three times that amount."
The rate at which these storms revolve is very great though
variable. " In Europe it frequently amounts to sixty or seventy
miles an hour continuously for some time." In the " Eoyal
Charter " gale in 1859, above alluded to. Admiral Fitzroy states
that the velocity of the wind in spiral eddyings was "from sixty
to 100 miles, at a distance twenty to fifty miles from the central
depression, where there was a comparatively quiet space.* In the
* " Weather Book," p. 300.
73
instance of a storm that occurred at Liverpool on February 1st,
1868, Mr. Buchau records that " there were short intervals when
the velocity of the wind was at the rate of from 100 to 120 miles
an hour."* It is upon this velocity of the wind, " as it blows
round and in upon the centre of the storm, combined with the
onward movement," that the violence of a storm depends, and of
course its damaging effects. The onward movement itself, or the
rate at which the storm is impelled forward from place to place, is
very much less, varying from fifteen to thirty miles an hour,
though on rare occasions amounting to forty-five or more. It is,
moreover, "greatly retarded by friction against the earth's
surface."
During the gale of October 14th-16th, 1877, the total
horizontal motion of the wind in twenty-four hours, as estimated
by the anemometer at Greenwich, amounted on the 16 th to very
nearly 600 miles. The maximum velocity was forty-four miles
per hour between 2 and 3 a.m. on the 15th. In some places it
was stated to have been much greater than this.t
From the ckcular movement of these storms round a central
depression— the whole assuming more or less of a funnel-shaped
character — it follows that the revolving strata of air will be
successively at increased altitudes as the whorls recede from the
bottom towards the top of the funnel ; and the ascent from the
bottom will be more or less steep in proportion to the diameter of
the whole area occupied by the storm. It is important to know
the degree of this steepness, or to determine the gradients, as they
are called in the weather charts in the Times, the same being
ascertained by contemporaneous barometric observations at fixed
stations. The curved lines in those charts, dra-wn through
stations having the same barometric pressure, are called isobars'
and the gradients are more or less steep, according as those lines
* " Handy Book of Meteorology," p. 259.
t " Symon's Met. Mag.," Nov. 1877, p. 147.
74
are close to or further apart from each other. "Where the
isobars crowd together the violence of the storm is greatest, and
where they are far apart the ^ands are light or moderate." In a
general way, it may be stated that " the occurrence of a storm of
wind is determined by the simultaneous occurrence of great
differences of pressure between places not far distant from each
other." Mr. Scott remarks that " no storm of any serious extent
is ever felt over the United Kingdom unless there be an absolute
difference in barometrical readings exceeding half-an-inch of
mercury between two of om- stations."*
In all cases of cyclonic disturbances, at least in the northern
hemisphere (for in the southern hemisphere the law is reversed),
the wind sweeps round the central area of depression against
icafch hands. This is just the contrary to what is the case in
anti-cyclones, or areas of high pressiu'e characterised by more settled
weather, in which the isobars are much further apart, besides other
marked differences that present themselves. Of anti-cyclones,
however, we are not called upon to speak just now. To an
observer at a fixed station the -wind in a cyclone ■noil be different,
according to how he is situated with reference to the centre, and
anywhere the ■wind will change from time to time as the storm
advances. Sometimes these changes are very sudden. Scott has
remarked that " one of the most striking characteristics of a
cyclonic storm is a sudden shift of wind which takes place between
S.W. and N.W., accompanied frequently by a heavy squall and a
shower, together \n\h an almost instantaneous fall of temperature. "t
I have recorded elsewhere some remarkable cases of these squalls
noticed in Cambridgeshire;:!: the s])lashes of rain accompanying
* "Weather Charts and Storm Warnings," p. 43, from which book, as also
from ''Buchan's Handy Book of Meteorology," much assistance has been
derived in this part of the subject.
t ''Weather Charts," p. 60.
+ " Observations in Meteorology," pp. 251—253.
i
75
them being so thick and heavy during the few minutes the shift
was taking place as to render objects out of doors almost inAosible.
In one case the temperature also, which previous to the shift had
been as high as 81?, fell soon after to 65°, and later in the day
to 56°5.
The usual direction of the storms that reach the British Islands
is from S.W. to X.E., or, speaking more exactly, from anj' point of
the compass Ijetween S.W. and X.W. to any point in the quadrant
between N.E. and S.E. They do not, however, as already
observed, always keep to the same direction throughout their
course ; nor to the same form. On first setting out they occupy
an area of a form approaching more or less that of a circle or
ellipse, but from various circumstances this form is liable to
become very irregular while crossing the Atlantic, In some cases
" the storm parts into two, or more rarely, three distinct storms,
which remain separate for some time, and afterwards reunite ; or
they continue separate and diverge, one taking one direction, the
other a different." Or two storms, distinct in origin, may come
into collision and disturb each other's movements ; or several
storms may become so mixed up together as to have not merely
their form altered, but their violence lessened or increased as the
case may \je. Sometimes storms die out altogether before reach-
ing our shores. There is record of a ship having left the shores
of America in perfectly fair weather, and after going a very
moderate distance, encountering a most Wolent storm for two or
three days, which again settled down into a calm before reaching
Europe, These several circumstances render the predictions,
which we every now and then receive by cable from America, as
to storms having left that side of the Atlantic and being calculated
to arrive here on a particular day, very uncertain. They may
not arrive the exact day they were expected, or their fury may be
much abated before they get to us, or they may not come at alL
And here we are brought to the last part of our subject, the
question whether we are ever likely to be able to predict these
storms mth more success than at present.
Our weather knowledge is confessedly very imperfect. It is
something to know the general character of these storms ; the
atmospheric conditions which seem to favour their occurrence, the
laws of their movements, and the path by which they travel to
this country. It is, further, a most important step to have had
organised the several meteorological stations which now exist in
different parts of this country, as well as on the continent, due in
the first instance to Le Verrier, the late Director of the Paris
Observatory — afterwards taken up by the late Admiral Fitzroy,
who definitely established the system here in the beginning of
1862 — and still doing good work, though under somewhat altered
arrangements. From these stations daily weather reports are
forwarded by electric telegraph to the chief office in London,
which, according to the intelligence brought, determine the issue
or not, to the principal ports on our coast, of storm warnings.
Yet admirable as this system is, it does not tell us all we want
to know. Thoroughly to warrant the issue of these warnings and
to insure success, we requu-e to know the conditions of storms,
their rate of progress, and what changes of form and direction
they may be undergoing, while yet on their road to this country, and
before they arrive. We have no stations on the Atlantic to
transmit to us this information, and consequently storms are often
almost at our doors before we know of their existence.
Still the warnings have their value if we look to results. Many
may be Avrong, but a larger number are right, and the number of
successful warnings would seem to be increasing. In 1874 the
percentage of warnings sent to our own coasts and justified by
subsequent gales or strong winds was 78.2 ;* in 1876 the per-
centage of the same had got up to 82.
And there is further hope for Meteorology in another direction.
There are grounds for believing that a connection exists between
the meteorological phenomena that take place on our earth and
* " Scott's Storm Warnings," p. 137.
77
sun-spot phenomena. This connection has been traced as yet
with success in but a limited number of instances, and the whole
subject calls for closer investigation before 'speaking positively
about it. But it seems to open up so promising a field for
research, that one of our eminent men of science accounts it as
the quarter to which we must look for " The Future of Meteor-
ology." I can only state very briefly what is fitting to be said
here relating to it.
We know that the energies of the sun are not always constant,
as shown by the varying character of the spots which are often
seen upon its surface. Sometimes these spots are numerous ;
certain of them, also, of such an enormous size as to be visible to
the naked eye. At other times no spots whatever can be detected
anywhere. "At times again, glowing vapours rush up from its
bowels with such persistence that the careful observer is sure to
catch a sight of their eruptions whenever he looks for them. At
other times they are invisible for months together." In addition
to the spots, may be mentioned "the solar prominences or red
flames," never seen till of late years, except during an eclipse,
Avhich occasionally appear very many at once round the edge of
the sun, some of them 100,000 miles high — then settling down
again into a quiescent state so that they shall be scarcely visible.
Further, it is observable that these spots and prominences vary
together, the greatest number of spots being accompanied by the
greatest number of prominences, and vice versa.
Now there being such fluctuations in the condition of the sun's
surface and in the energy it displays, it can hardly be thought but
that these fluctuations must have some influence on the
meteorological phenomena of our earth. The mere existence,
however, of such fluctuations is not all that has been established
by modern science. It has been ascertained further that they
are not of ii'regular occurrence, but that they observe a
periodicity, recuning in number and development according to a
fixed cycle.
78
It was Schwabe iii 1826 who first made an enumeration of sun-
spots, carefully Avatcliing the sun's sui-fjice from day to day.
Similar observations by others have been carried on from that
time to this, the result of the Avhole being the determination of a
period of rather more than eleven years as the cycle mthin which
the sun-spot variations, or the change from maximum to minimum
and then the change back to maximum again, take place. It
should be stated, however, that these two changes do not occupy
exactly equal times, " the period of increase from the minimum
to the maximum year in the sun-spot cycle being almost ahvays
shorter thau the period of decrease from the maximum to the
minimum."
A connection between the variations of solar activity and
terrestrial magnetism has been well established for a long time back,
but it is only of recent years that a similar connection has been
thought to be traced between sun-spots and terrestrial meteorology.
It is due to Mr. Meldrum, Government Astronomer at Mauritius, to
have first drawn the attention of observers to this subject, as
bearing especially upon that particular class of phenomena which
we have been considering above. It is well known that the
Indian Ai-chipelago is the site of those fearfully destructive
cyclones which occur from time to time in the southern hemis-
phere, as the "West India Islands mark the region whence emanate
the tremendous hurricanes in the northern hemisphere, many of
which last crossing the Atlantic find their way to this country,
though generally losing much of their force before reaching our
shores.
It is to these cyclones in the Indian Ocean that Mr. Mel-
drum has directed his attention in connection with the sun-spot
cycle. Noting down -with, great exactness the number and
intensity, as well as the times of occurrence, of all the cyclones
that took place there during a period of more than twenty years,
and then marking ^vith equal exactness the number and intensity
of the spots on the sun during the same period, he found there
79
was a close correspondence betAveon them. The results behig
tabulated in two parallel columns, it Avas at once seen that they
varied strictly together, the years in which occurred the great-
est number of cyclones being also those of the greatest number
of sun-spots, and the years of fewest cyclones those of fewest
sun-spots. The intensity and violence of the cyclones seemed in
like manner to coincide with the intensity of those great fiery
outbreaks occasionally observed m the largest spots. There can
scarcely indeed be a doubt of the connection that exists between
these two classes of phenomena ; and it is remarkable that a
long time back an opinion was expressed by the late Sir John
Herschel, that those great disturbances on the surface of the
sun which lead to the formation of spots were analogous to those
great storms on the surface of our own planet to which the name
of cyclone has been applied.
Nor is it siu'prising that, since the publication of Mr. Meldrum's
observations, many should have been led to inquire whether
there might not be discovered a similar coniaection between
sim-spots and other meteorological phenomena besides cyclones.
Mr. Meldiiim himself indeed has extended it to the rainfall at
the Mauritius, but has hardly at present brought out any results
on this head that have met with general acceptance. Nor are
his conclusions in agreement Avith those of some other observers,
who have carefully examined rainfall registers kept in various
parts of the world. We might add that the sun-spot theory
has also been applied to solar radiation and temperature, and to
hot and cold seasons, as well as to Avet and dry. But here too
the CAddence is rather conflicting, and even less satisfactory than
that winch connects the rainfall AAdth sun-spots ; Avhich is not to
be wondered at, the question being a very complicated one, and
several distinct agencies, not thoroughly understood, haAing to be
taken into account. In truth, these inquiries, though there is
much probability in the theory to Avhich they pomt, call for more
extended investigation before Ave are likely to arrive at any
80
results that can be regarded as conclusive. The number of
stations must be multiplied, as well as the number of observers,
and the observations continued over a long term of years, so as
to include several sun-spot cycles, which may not all yield results
of the same value. The heating and other energies of the sun,
however they may vary, must affect our earth as a whole, and only
comparative observations, made contemporaneously in as many
diflferent parts of the earth as possible, can help us to determine
Avhat the sun's influence in respect of these spots really is. At
the same time it must be borne in mind that every place we fix
upon has its own climatal peculiarities, and that if there be such
a law as we are led to suspect and look for — a law, viz., of
common periodicity in sun-spot activity and the meteorological
conditions of our earth — it is but a general law which will be
subjected to, and sometimes over-ruled hy, the local surroundings.
But we must not stop longer on this part of our subject. As
regards cyclones, it is satisfactory to think that sun-spot influence
has been more successfully traced here than in the case of any
other terrestrial phenomena affected by fluctuations of solar
activity, except those relating to magnetism and electricity. It
leads us to hope that a day may come when we may be able to
predict not merely the near approach of a storm, but the par-
ticular years and seasons in which they are most likely to occur.
And the importance of any addition to our knowledge of these
destructive agencies cannot be over-estimated. In an article in
The Times of October 20th, 1877, headed "A Year's Wrecks," tho
number reported for the year 1875-6 was set at 3,757, being 167
in excess of previous years. The average number — between 2,000
and 3,000 — was said of late years to have increased. This may
arise in part from increased ocean transit, and the multiplied
number of vessels engaged in trade and commerce at the present
day. Nor of course were all these wrecks occasioned by gales —
many may have been due to other causes. Yet it is a remark-
able circumstance that the marine casualties themselves have
81
been found to " discloso a cycle closely corresponding mth the
sun-spot period." This striking confirmation of the sun-spot
theory, as regards wind disturbances, was the result of an exam-
ination of " the returns of marine casualties posted on Lloyd's
Loss-book, from 1855 to 1876," being two periods of eleven years
each ; from which it would ajspear that the percentage of casualties
was decidedly greater in the years of maximum sun-spot than in
the years of minimum sun-spot. It is allowed, however, " that
the two periods of eleven years for which the returns of marine
casualties are available, form a very narrow basis for a statistical
induction."*
And some may be disposed still to ask the question — whether
gales are more frequent, or more violent, no^v than formerly 1 To
Avhich it may l)e answered, there is no evidence to show that,
taken on an average of years, they differ either "in frequency or
violence from what they have always been. The great storm of
1 703, of which so much has been said above, might seem, indeed,
to point the other way. It might be thought that no storm like
that had ever occurred since ; and perhaps not, at least in this
country. That storm was an exceptional one. The late Admiral
Fitzroy, whose experience as a sailor, and knowledge of what the
power of wind is in a violent tempest, renders him a competent
judge, says that De Foe's account of it " will bear criticism." He
seems to consider it as probably not exaggerated. Yet in reference
to the above question, after speaking of that particular storm, he
gives it as his opinion that " the greatest storms on record do not
appear to exceed those occasionally witnessed now," In another
part of his " Weather Book," in relation to our own country, he
says — "No year passes in which the British Islands are not
* See an Article in ''The Nineteenth Century," No. 9, for November, 1877,
p. 583, in which will be found an account of the present state of our knowledge
respecting the sun-spot theory, in connection with meteorology, and frona
which the above statement is taken, along with a few other particulars relating
to this subject.
6
82
visited by storms, varj'ing in degree of force, from what is usually
called a gale, to a hurricane almost irresistible in violence."*
With this knowledge of what we may expect from year to year,
derived from so high an authority, we must take warning, and
watch, and wait patiently till science is ready to reveal to us what
is still wanting to enable us to predict these storms -snth certainty.
Were such a storm as that of 1703 to burst upon us again, we
should not, perhaps, suffer to the same extent our forefathers did.
We liave, as Admiral Fitzroy remarks, " better buildings, better
ships, and more precautions ;" we " understand the laws of
storms" better. But wo can never hope to disarm the tempest
itself. And therefore it is that we must look to science to fore-
Avarn us of its approach. Nor, it is believed, shall we look in
vain. The future is full of promise. Each j-ear science is widen-
ing its field of research, and adding to its possessions. It knows
no limit to further advances but what is imposed by physical
impossibility.
Notes on an Oolitk Quarry at Bathfonl. By Eev. H. H. WiNWOOD,
M.A., F.G.S.
(Read January 16, 1878.^
The object of my short communication this evening is to call
your attention to the singiUar position of a mass of rolled flints in
one of the Oolitic quarries in oxu' neighbourhood. During a very
pleasant visit paid to Bathford in the early part of last year Capt.
Sainsbury called our attention to these flints in a cpiarry on the
left-hand side of the road leading from Monkton Farley to
Bathford, and just below the plantation of fir trees fringing
Farley Down. At the first glance anyone not quite an fait with
the singular freaks of Geology would bo struck with the apparently
extraordinary fact of a layer of flints interstratified between two
beds of Oolite ; such indeed might well be the first impression.
'■■ " ^yeather Book," pp. 173 k 298.
83
But putting this notion aside at once, what will account for the
unusual position of these flints 1 In the first plaoe, however,
let me give a description of the quarry.
It consists of some 21ft. Sin. of broken-up beds of the Great
Oolite, and is worked for the purpose of rough walls and road
metal ; the blocks not being of sufficient size and their nature
being otherwise unsuitable for ashlar. The height of the Down
above the level of the Avon is 629 feet and that of the quarry
about 100 feet lower.
Beginning from the top downwards avo have : —
Ft. In.
Humus, &c. ... ... ... 11
Oolitic debris ... ... ... 1 11
3. Solid bed of Oolite ... ... ... 10
— 4. Flint pebbles ..." ... ... 1 6
beds "
6. Broken-up beds of Oolite fissured and
dipping: into lull ... ... 13 4
resting on yellow Clay, probably the Fuller's earth, down to which
the beds are worked.
The face of the quarry runs nearly North and South. The
mass of flints attains at the South end its greatest thickness
some five feet more or less, and gradually thins out to a few
inches at the North end, filling up the joints and fissures of the^
Oolite bed on which it rests. The size of the flints varies from
pebbles 4|in. long and Sin. broad (the largest measured) to little
rounded pellets of about the size of No. 6 shot. A mass of
reddish loam holds them together at the thickest part ; this,
when looked at closely through a lens, is seen to consist of minute
grains of quartz with little black and white chips of flint. The flints
■s-ary in colour from M'hite to black, yellow, bluish-white and red
84
Some of them are merely spotted with dendritic markings ; others
arc completely covered vdth those spots which coalescing form a
coating of black. Most of the larger ones are rounded, some of
the smaller are quite sharp and angular, whilst others are sub-
angular and appear to have had but little wear. One yellow
pebble which I fractured presented the appearance of calcined
flint ; the interior was porcellanous white, with an outer coating
of an ochreous colour extending inwards from a depth of 1-18 to
2-18 of an inch, the result of infiltration from the surrounding
matrix. The most careful searching failed to detect any other
pebbles than those of flint, and here and there some white and
yellow quartz.
I may here state that this is by no means the only deposit of
flint gravel to be found on our downs. During some of the walks
of the Club I have frequently called attention to the occurrence
of this gravel. Higher up than the quarry in question I observed
a pocket of flints cut through by the roadway leading to one of
the quarries. Then again, somewhat lower down, I found a
quantity of flints cemented together by a percolation of carbonate
of lime, forming a recent breccia. But there is a noteworthy
feature in these flints; whilst they are to be found more or less
plentifully scattered over the fields all the way from the Chalk
DoAvns to the South of the Box Valley, yet so soon as you cross
over to the North side they become very rare indeed, and if
found at all generally show traces of ha-vdng been fractured and
flaked by the hand of man ; consequently brought there by
human agency, and not coming Avithiu the scope of these notes.
There is a great distinction between this flint gravel on the
higher ground and the ordinary gravel found in the valleys.
Wliilst the former consists almost entirely of flint, the latter is made
up of almost every rock in the neighbourhood,* from Mountain
* These gravels ia which MammaliaQ remains have been found, and hence
termed ''Mammal drift," have been described by Mr. Moore in Vol. II.,
No. 1, of our Proceedings
85
Limestone toMUstoueGrit.Lias audOolite. Whilst theformer there-
fore must owe its formation to pre-existing beds of chalk, whence
the flints have been washed out, the latter is derived from the
rocks over which the ancient river Avon and its tributaries flowed.
What then is the inference to be derived from this fact ? Why,
that the same stream which cut its way through the old beds
bringing along .vith it specimens of the rocks over which it once
flowed to be found now not many feet above its present level,
did not deposit the gravels which in so many places rest at so
much higher a level on our downs. If, however, these gravels
were not deposited by the ancient Avon-which though much
increased in volume and flomng with far greater velocity m those
days yet maintained the same main line of drainage as now-how
were they deposited] We have a certain guide in fixmg the
date of the river bed gravels in the MammaHan remams
and shells of freshwater or terrestrial origin winch are
found in the intercalated beds of mari ; but I have been
entu-ely unsuccessful in finding a trace of an organism to fix the
date of these higher gravels. Neither are there .any foreign
pebbles in them which would enable one to correlate them ^ath
the Northern drift, which occurs further North and Eastwards
on the opposite side of Severn valley, so as to assign then-
deposition to the agency of the gi-eat ice age. Nothing of the
sort; neither are there any ice-scratched pebbles, the gravels
consist entirely of flint and small grams of quartz, which would
indicate that they came from the great Chalk range existmg to
the South. That they were transported by water in some form
is evident, for nothing but water would have moved them into
their present position, and distributed them between two hori-
zontal beds of OoUte in the way they are seen to be in this quarry.
I must confess at present I do not see my way to a clear solution
of the difficulty, but am inclined to attribute their presence to a
period when a portion of our table lands, after ha^nng been sub-
merged by the sea and denuded of the Chalk with flints and
86
Green-sand wlucli once covered it, began slowly to rise again
to the surface and become dry land ; and as the waters gradually
receded and carried with them away to the West the debris in
their rush, these gravels were left behind in the pockets and
fissures of the Oolitic rocks, then the old sea bed. Thus the
direction of the current in this case would be the reverse of that
which deposited or re-aSsorted the Northern drift j whilst the
latter came from the North and North-west, the flints seem to
have come from the South in accordance with the configuration
of the land — from the Chalk hills, that is, towards the lower
plateau and valleys North of the Chalk. As to the age of those
deposits, we may, I think, place them any time between the
elevation of the Clialk hills, and the glacial period ; somewhere
that is before the final disappearance of tlie Tertiary period, and
the setting in of the glacial period. So that those deposits on
our hills would be, according to this view, considerably older
than the gravels in the river valleys, and were probably laid
down before the valleys had assumed their present shape ; the
object of these few and imperfect notes will be gained if I have
succeeded in exciting an interest in our local geological phenomena
second to none in variety, and a study of which will repay any
who pursue it both in body and mind — adding vigour to the one
and enlarging the scope of the other.
During the progress of these notes, whilst looking up the
literature of the subject, I found an abstract of a paper read
before the Geological Society of London, and printed in the
Sixth Vol. of their Journal (1850), by the late Mr. C. H. Weston,
of Ensleigh, in which he describes the finding of these flint
gravels on the table-lands around Bath, and gives an account of
their existence in a trough of the Oolite on Kingsdown. Having
Avorked without any previous knowledge of his paper I am pleased
to find that our facts agree, as do the main deductions therefrom.
The subject of these deposits had not created such an interest
then as no\v ; it therefore serves to increase my admiration for a
S7
man who, in addition to liis other eminent scientific attainments,
added this one, that he had carefully worked out the superficial
deposits of his neighbourhood and supplied another name to our
by no means msignificant list of local geologists ; men now, alas !
almost passed away, but Avho have left behind them lasting records
of their researches into the secrets of the hills and valleys of their
immediate neighbourhood.
Sammcmj of Proceedings foi' the year 1877-8.
Mr. President and Gentlemen,
Would that yoiur Secretary had a greater mass of material
whence to draw his summary for the past year ! Scanty have
been the doings of the Club, scanty will therefore be the year's
record. In the first place the usual dinner did not conclude the
day of the anniversary meeting of the members, owing to the
small number of names sent in. In the second place, though the
Committee resolved that there should be only two evening
meetings instead of the usual number, thinking thereby to secure
a good attendance of members, yet the interest shown in the
subjects brought forward was even less marked than formerly, as
gauged at least by the very small numbers of those who were
present.
The first of the Evening Meetings took place on Wednesday,
November 21st, Mr. Skiine in the chair when Mr. Emmanuel
Green read a paper on " The Poor, and some attempts to lower
the price of corn in Somerset 1548-1638." (Videj). 1).
An interesting conversation followed, and Mr. Green was asked
and answered several questions in connection "vvith points raised
in his very admirable paper ; the meaning of some curious and
interesting old words quoted in the course of his paper, the effect
of free trade upou the prices of land in the present day, and the
value of money at that time as compared with the present.
The secretary then took the chair while Mr. Skrine read
a paper on "The Skirmish at Claverton in 164:3," (mde j}- 49^
which raised several interesting points of discussion as to
what portion of the Royal forces was there engaged ; what
was the object of attack, and further whether there was a
cavalry skirmish at the ford. Mr. Skrine showed, among other
maps and views, a print of old Claverton Manor-house with
the place where the cannon ball fired during the skirmish
entered (as tradition says) when King Charles was in the room.
A lengthened conversation followed, in the course of which
Mr. Green remarked, that if Claverton House were ever struck by
either cannon ball or bullet, it must have been in July, 1643,
when the royalist forces, coming from Frome, passed by Claverton
and over the river towards Batheaston, their opponents retii-ing,
but fighting them closely up to this point. This he had sketched
in a paper on the battle of Lansdown, printed in the Club's
Proceedings. The ford over the river, still so called, close by
Claverton, was defended on the Batheaston side and consequently
facing Claverton, by an earthwork or battery, with, cannon. In
the general fighting here or during the melee when this battery
was taken and the ford secured, it is possible that Claverton
House might have been struck. If it were not done then, it was
never done, as no fighting occurred there afterAvards. But the
King certainly was not there. It was in July, 1644, that coming
through Gloucestershire, he passed by Marshfield and over
Lansdown, to view the battle-field of the year before, and
descending the hill, was met towards the bottom by Sir Thomas
Bridges, the governor of the garrison, and conducted into Bath.
He stayed one clear day to rest, and then marched on to MeUs.
That he went to Claverton is entirely supposition, unsupported by
any evidence ; and to imagine that he did so is to forget his-
fatigue and suppose that he had nothing else to do. He was at
89
Batli again a few months later, when, after his defeat at Newbury,
he fled there in all haste. He made no stay, but under the
protection of Prince Rupert's horse, went ofi" at once to Oxford.
With regard to " the regiment of lobsters" spoken of in the battle of
Lansdown, it Avas remarked that the red uniform; now so general
in the British army, was ordered by the Parliament in January,
1645. Mr. Green added that at Agincourt the English wore red.
Captain Wedgwood Yeeles said he should be sorry to attempt to
deploy a troop of cavalry in the Ham meadow at Claverton, and
Mr. H. M. Skrine said they could only be used as he had used
them in drills there ■ndth the Bath troop of the North Somerset
Yeomanry Cavalry — ^by dismounting half the men and leaving the
rest to guard the horses. He thought cavalry might have dashed
across the ford in pursuit, but there could not have been a cavalry
skirmish. Some discussion followed, in which Cromwell was
defended from the responsibility of the proceediiigs of the
Parliament and its army previous to the declaration of the
Commonwealth.
The second evening meeting of the session was held at the
Eoyal Institution on Wednesday, Jan. 16th, Mr. H. B. Acton
in the chair, when a paper on " Gales of Wind," vide p. 58,
by the Rev. L. Blomefield, was read by the secretary. The writer
gave some notes of gales previous to those of October last, and
pointed out that as meteorological phenomena are imperfectly
recollected, there is a tendency to think every fresh phenomena
unprecedented. In tracing the historical part of the subject he
refen'ed to the information aflbrded by the registers of the
Institution, the Lockey registers datuig from 1859, deposited in
the Jenyns Library, and Mr. Blomefield's own. Several storms
were mentioned, none equal to the great gale of the 26th and
27th November, 1703, about which several books had been
written, including one by Daniel Defoe, of which there was a
copy in the Jenyns Liorary. It killed Bishop Kidder at Wells
and blew down Eddystone Lighthouse. From the scientific point
90
of view it was stated that most of our storms come from America
and are cyclonic. They extend sometimes over an area of 600
miles, and are two or three miles in depth • their velocity in
rotation is 60 or 70 miles an hour, their onwai-d movement from
15 to 30 miles, being variously retarded by the friction of the
earth's surface. The percentage of successful warnings from
America seem to be on the increase ; in 1874 it was 78-2, in
1876 it rose to 82. There is believed to be a connection between
atmospheric disturbances and sun-spot phenomena, and an eminent
scientific man has said that we must look here for the fixture of
meteorology. The writer believed that in the time to come it
would not only be possible to predict the near approach of storms
but the years and seasons at which they are most likely
to occur. The chairman, Mr. Bankart, and the secretary
joined in the conversation on the paper. The latter regretted
that failing health prevented Mr. Blomefield from being present
himself and joining in the discussion. The Rev. H. H. Win wood
then made a communication regarding a curious infilling of flint
gravel between two beds of Oolite in a quarry at Bathford. The
third paper on the list, " Report on Roman Diggings at Bathford,"
was not read, owing to the illness of Mr. Charles Moore.
Excursions.
Pen Pits. — The first excursion took place on Tuesday, April
17th, when the spots visited were the Pen Hts and Stavordalc
Priory, both which places are in the neighbourhood of Win-
canton. The Club mustered to the number of 15 persons,
including visitors, and took the picturesque line of railway along
the Midford Valley to Wellow, and by Radstock, Shepton Mallet
and Evercreech to Wincanton. The mornmg was very fine but
cold, and occasional flakes of snow whitened the tints of early
green which seemed everywhere to be struggling to escape from
the grasp of winter. The hedge banks were yelloAV with primroses
and pui-ple Avith early violets, and abundance of daflfodils might
91'
be seen in the Ioav meadows as the train sped on its way through
a district rich in geological interest and in the variety of its form-
ations.
Arrived at Wincanton, the party started on foot to the Pen Pits,
under the guidance of a gentleman who kindly undei*took to lead
the party, and placed his carriage at the disposal of any members
who did not relish the fatigue of Avalking. The Pen Pits have
long been known as the "Crux of Antiquaries;" they have
attracted the attention of writers from the time of Sir K. C. Hoarc,
who has treated of them in his "Ancient Wiltshire," and of
Collinson and Phelps in their "Histories of Somerset," and arc
noticed in the " Proceedhigs " of the Somerset and of the Wiltshire
Archaeological Societies, but no satisfactory solution of their purpose
and origin has been arrived at by any of these writers. More
recently a very elaborate and carefully written dissertation has
appeai'ed in the form of an octavo pamphlet by Mr. Kerslake, of
Bristol, who has collected all the notices given by previous writers,
and has, by the aid of these ancient chroniclers, endeavoured to
show that the Pen Pits are the site of "A Primasval British
Metropolis. "
Tliis learned and ingenious attempt to settle the site of a lost
city, the " Cair Pensauelcoit," of Nenuius, and identify it with
Penselwood, or the Pen Pits, has called forth an article in the
Saturday Beview, which speaks in no unfavourable terms of Mr.
Kerslake's pamphlet. The circular excavations called the Pen Pits
occupy a large plateau of table-land, part of which is mcluded in
the park at Stourhead, from whence the site of the pits is not far
distant, and they once extended over an area of 700 acres.*
Much of this land is now brought under cultivation, and thousands
of these pits have been destroyed, and are still being filled up, but
enough are left to give an idea of their nature and the extent of the
* Vide Hoare's ' ' Ancient Wilts, and Journal of Somerset Arch, and Nat.
Hi»t. Soc," Vol. vil p. 51.
92
whole area. It is earnestly to be hoped that a sufficient number
will be preserved for the examination of future antiquaries and that
every record of tliis very remarkable relict of a bygone population
may not be entirely effaced. The party proceeded to the examin.
ation of the portion which remains not far distant from the village
of Pen, the modern representative of what may have been the
settlement of a large population in prehistoric times. On a cursory
glance over the heath where these indentations are found, the
visitor would be inclined to believe that he was looking simply into
old quarry holes, and such indeed is their first appearance, but closer
inspection leads to the belief that there is more form and regularity >
and more appearance of design, than in ordinary workings for
stone or mineral produce. Many of these pits are perfect circles
or elliptical, with a bank surrounding them, some divided into two,
some into three compartments, and the bank is not formed of rude
masses thrown together at random, but appear to have been
regularly formed. If anyone will take the trouble to examine the
ancient Eoman lead workings on the Mendip Hills, or the more
recent excavations in search of Lapis Calaminaris, h« will find a
marked difference between these and the Pen Pits. Very little
attention seems to have been given to the contents of these pits
during the progi'ess of their destruction, though querns have been
found within them, and also torques, and the stones found within
the hollows bear marks of fire. They have therefore been regarded
as holes made in the process of obtaining stones for querns or
hand-mills, as the geological formation yields the kind of stone
suited for such a purpose though soft. This may have been the
case, but the regularity of formation forbids the idea that they are
simply the remains of quarries rather than of primitive dwellings.*
It is quite possible that old quarryings may have subsequently been
adapted to the purpose of dwellings, and this would account for
the regularity of form in many instances. If the same care had
• These notes have been kindly furnished by Mr. Scartb, and he alone is
responsible for the view herein adopted.— i?c^.
93
1)een taken to ascertain their contents that has been taken in the
examination of similar circles on the Worle Hill, near Weston-super-
Mare, much more light would have been thrown upon their origin,
and it is not too late to hope that this may be done. The absence
of coarse pottery and flint implements may appear at first to militate
against the idea of their having been inhabited, but such remains
have not hitherto, as fai- as we can ascertain, been very carefidly
looked for, or preserved when discovered. It is necessary to
observe that the projections of this vast plateau are fortified at
particular points, as if to defend the whole area. Having lingered
for some time on this interestmg gi-ound, which may be classed
with the region of barrows, cromlechs and megalithic circles, and
is involved in the same mist and obscurity, the party walked on
to examine another monument, but of a different date, and the
history of which is by no means doubtful. This was Stavordale
Priory, tlu-ee miles from Wincanton, but not on the direct road
from the Pen Pits. The situation of this Priory is very pic-
turesque, but it is Uttle visited, though the remains are full of
interest and the history well known. It is a Priory Church and
chantry, converted into a dwelling-house immediately after the
suppression of the religious houses in the time of Henry VIII. It
is now a farm-house, and tlirough the courtesy of the tenant the
members of the Club were allowed to inspect it tliroughout. The
plan and arrangement can easily be seen, although the chancel of
the Church and the chantry are all divided into living rooms, and
the lower portion into a kitchen, dairy and parlour. The corbels
have coats of arms with the quarterings of Zouche, S. Maur and
Lovel families, by whom the Priory was built and endowed. An
account of it will be found in " Phelps' Somerset," and a further
notice in the "Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological Society,"
vol. viL, p. 17 (1856 7), where the seal of the Priory is engraved.
A full notice is also given in " Sweetman's Illustrated Journal,"
for June, 1874. The Priory was founded in the reign of Henry
III. by Richard Lovel, Baron of Carey, who planted there a Prior
94
and Canons of the Order of Saint Angustine, about a.d. 1263.
The Church Avas afterwards rebuilt by Jolm Stourton, and dedi-
cated to S, James, about 1 443. The present remains are of this
date. In 1533 the Priory was attached to the monastery at
Taunton, but was suppressed altogether A.D. 1544, when it was
granted to the Earl of Oxford, and has by purchase passed into
the Hoare family: The plan and arrangements of the Priory, as
well as the adjacent traces of the orchard and fishponds, and the
field Anth the remnant of the cross Avhere once the fair was held,
having l)een investigated, the party returned to Wincanton, Had
time allowed they would have A'isited the ancient (British) fort,
called KenncAA^ilkin's Castle, situated in Cock-road Avood, near
at hand, but as the party desu-ed to return by the afternoon train
to Bath, and the walk had been of sufficient duration, this
interesting object has been reserAxd for another excursion. The
closing CA^ening found the party again at their starting point, after
, a very successful excursion, the only draAvback being that tAvo of
the members, one Avell versed in geology and the other in mediffiA'al
history, Avere prevented attending.
Chenion 3Iendip and Priddy. — A most perfect day for the
j\Iendip Hills failed to bring out more than ele\-en busy bees on
Tuesday, May loth,' the remaining portion of the hiA^e may fairly
be classed under the category of drones, Avho preferred their ease
at home to the laborious pleasure of gathering honied instruction
from the breezy hill-tops fragrant AA'ith the scents of spring.
Having thus unburdened a little pent-up indignation at a seeming
indifterence of a number of men to those very pursuits for which
they have formed themselves into a Club, let us proceed to
chronicle the day's doings. After an early start at 9 a.m. in one
of Mr. Stuckey's comfortable breaks, Chewton Mendip Avas
reached about 11. Hero in spite of the repeated exhortations of
the Secretary, too much delay at so early an hour took place over
refreshments ; fancy Avants however Avere at last satisfied, and after
A'arious Avindings along dcA'ious AA'ays Priddy Avas reached at 12.30.
-95.
The Vice-President, as usual at his post when Archeology is in
question, received a hearty welcome as he appeared over a Avail
with a neighbouring friend, and at once went in medlas res.
Standing on the top of a mound in the middle of the churchyard,
supposed to be one of the ancient barrows which had wandered
from its fellows to be seen dotting the north-east horizon with their
humpy backs, Mr. Scarth called attention to the Church tower
which was of the Decorated or Early Perpendicular style, and had
an external stau"-tiu'ret brought out on its north side. The south
porch contained an arch of Early Pointed date, but the structure
of the masonry courses corresponded with that of the tower, and
was in striking contrast with that of the walls of the nave which
are of later date. Entering through the porch which formerly
contained a jjarvise chamber — the interior of the Church, with its
open wagon roof and string of corbels beneath, from which an
earlier roof evidently sprang, its Early Enghsh piers apparently
built on Norman bases, its Norman font, ancient stone pulpit, so
constructed that there was only just room to stand up and deliver
from, evidently intended for a preacher of somewhat sparer habit
than that of a corpulent member of the Club who attempted an
entrance — contained features of interest Avhich were as unexpected
as agreeable. A light wooden Perpendicular screen ran across
the chancel, and the two aisles were continued up the east end on
either side. Thus, small as it was, this Church, formerly a
chapelry of Westbury, near Wells, and dedicated to St. Lawrence,
contained much of historical interest, and is capable at some
future day, Avhen the bleak an- of this elevated region is warmed
by a little more ecclesiastical zeal, of becoming quite a little gem.
The green mould on the walls and the dreariness of the interior
were too much even for the most simple-minded Protestant.
After Mr. Scarth had said his say about the Church, " Over the
walls to the barrows" was the word, and then the fun began.
This part of the Mendips is chequered by loosely built walls,
with so few gates that the cattle are seemingly first put in and
96
then tlie walls built up around tliem ; when bipeds however
attempt to scale them they usually come down Avith a run. On
this occasion two of this class had a peculiar facility of just
mounting the wall and quietly subsiding on the other side along
with the debris, in fact they might be described as good at stone
walls like the Celtic hunter ; a gap thus conveniently made (no
uncommon sight to the bucolic mind here), the rest soon followed
through and the barrows were mounted. Here the Vice-president
was again at home, and from the top of the central barrow,
learnedly descanted on barro \vs in general and these in particular.
" They Avere," he said, " all on the top of the Mendips and not on
the sides. Some enthusiastic antiquaries saw the serpentine
form in their arrangement, but he failed to make this clear to
his own mind after careful examination ; though he certainly
thought that an earthwork (of which more on some future
occasion) lately discovered by himself on the Mendips assumed
that form. This led him to think that possibly Mr. Phene's
idea might be correct. Mr. Skinner, of Camerton, had examined
and described all these barrows for Sir Richard Colt Hoare, and
from his investigations it appeared that all the interments were
by cremation ; urns, bronze implements and drinking cups were
dug up, and a record of the finds was contributed by himself
(Mr. Scarth) to the xvi. vol. of the ' Som. Arch, and Nat. Hist. Soc.
Journal.' They consisted of two sets, as it were, close together,
called respectively, ' Priddy nine-barrows' and ' Priddy eight-
barrows.'" After inhaling the pure air and enjoying the fine vieAV,
embracing Glastonbury Tor on one side and the Welsh mountains
and the " Severn sea" on the other, a long ramble was made over
common gorse land riddled with " old men's" diggings for calamine
and ochre, in search of some circles called " castles ; " at length they
were found to the north of the barrows, five or six in number,
and of considerable diameter, some 500 feet. Were they small
Stonehenges and Aveburys without the stones, or merely cattle
enclosures] Who shall tell? The antiquaries had their field
97
day, and the turn now came for the geologists. The " Castle of
Comfort," however, was too attractive for the same class of mind
that called a halt at Chewton Mendij), and in vain did the stone
walls, abounding in fossils, entice them away. Suffice it to say
that those to whom geological phenomena were of paramount
importance saw no more of their friends until they met them
again at Chewton Mendip and described to listless ears how they
had seen some Liassic beds so altered that their nearest friends
would not recognise their fades ; how all the beds resting on the
limestones at this part were much changed and metamorphosed
into siliceous and cherty beds ; how Millstone grit blocks were
found scattered here and there over the fields ; how in fact the
whole geology of this portion of the hills was a puzzle, and
required to be worked out by the busy bees of the geological
hive ; but a quarter of lamb had to satisfy the want of eleven
members, now increased to fourteen ; — but perhaps the least said
about this the better. Sufficient energy was, however, left to
thank Mr. Scarth for his guidance and to mount the break for
Bath. Pleasant are the recollections of Priddy !
Llanihony Albei/. — Llanthony Abbey was the object of the
third Excursion of the Club ; and on Tuesday, June 19th, a
party of eight members and two \dsitors found themselves after
an uneventful journey by rail, via Portskewett and Newport,
someAvhat too tightly packed in a conveyance at the Abergavenny
station. After shaking down gradually into their places as this
ancient town, which gives its title to the Neville family, was
traversed, the Hereford road skirting the western sides of the
Skirrid-Fawr was followed for about four miles as far as the
village of Llanvihangel. Here a turn to the left was taken, and
the pretty valley of the Honddu ascended in its sinuous course
for about seven miles. The rounded hills on either hand began
to close in, and every turn in the road seemed to promise a view
of the ruins ; the Spanish chestnuts grew thicker and thicker,
and at last through a wooded grove of these trees a grey mass
7
08
was seen, find in a few minntes the members wore landed on the
well-kept green sward, in the midst of the ruins. A more
secluded spot than this could scarcely be found. Encircled by
the Black Mountains which rise up on either side, the situation,
as Giraldus Cambrensis writes, Avas " truly calculated for religion
and more adapted for canonical discipline than all the monasteries
of the British isle." The remains of the conventual Church,
founded by William de Lacy, Earl of Hereford, soon after 1108
for the Black Canons of the Order of St. Augustine, are remark-
able for the simplicity of their architectural details, but cannot
be compared in extent or beauty with those of Tintern. The
roof has entirely disappeared and with it a great part of the
eastern and southern Avails. The west front is the most perfect
portion and is a beautiful sjjecimen of the Early Pointed style.
The greater part of its two flanking toAvers remain, as also do the
piers and arches on the north of the nave. Two lofty pointed
arches support all that exists of the great central tower, and a
large ill proportioned circular arch Avith Early English corbels
opens from the transept into the south aisle of the choir, of wliicli
but little now remains, the site being utilised as a flower and
vegetable garden. After enjoying pretty little peeps of the dis-
tant hills, framed to east and Avest by pointed arch and ruined
AvindoAV, a visit Avas paid to the small building on the south
called the Church of Cwmyoy Upper. A more dank and deso-
late church and churchyard it is perhaps difficult to find even in
Wales. Ha\'ing obtained the keys from the schoolmaster of the
village, the fcAV points of interest Avere quickly mastered, and
may be summed up, as a font on probably an ancient pedestal, a
timbered roof lately cleared of a ceiling Avhich concealed it, per-
haps of 15th century work, two or three deeply splayed Avindows
on south of chancel possibly Norman, several 17th century
monuments of slate, and a general odour of dampness and decay
which accounted for the Sunday morning congregation consisting
of about seven faithful Avorshippers. Refreshments at the small
95
holsteiy which provides bed and board for travellers in the centre
of the ruins were grateful after the heat and fatigues of the day,
and the members again shook down into the break (which from
its form and narrow dimensions some vnt said must have once
been used to convey paupers to their last home), and returned in
what ought to have been the cool of the evening to the Angel
Hotel at Abergavenny. After some little confusion and a little
pertness from one of the young ladies connected with the hotel,
the ci-\dl and obliging landlord settled the party comfortably into
their night's quarters, gave them an excellent dinner and a break-
fast to correspond the next morning, and finally sent them away
happy and contented to Itaglan Castle. The Secretary, howeA'er,
and another member, who feared not the fierce rays of a glowing
sun, were anxious to examine the geological structure of the
neighbourhood, and for this purpose left the main body and
started for the Sugarloaf. After driving so far as practicable, the
carriage was left on the slopes of the Berri, and foUoAving a clear-
ing through the woods, they soon emerged on to the sloping sides
of the Sugarloaf. After about an hour's steady walk through
larch and stunted oak, over ling and bright green whortleberry
bushes and a final burst up the steep sides of the " loaf," they
reached the top (1,852 feet) to find not a conical peak as they
expected but a ridge some 300 yards in length, extending N.W.
and S.E. A very fine view of the surrounding country was
obtained, the vale of Usk with Abergavenny in the centre ; the
fine range of the Blorenge with the smoke of Blaenavon appear-
ing over its shoulders ; the valley extending up to Crickliowell,
the range of the Black Mountains to the N., and the Holy
Mountain or Skirrid F&wv to the E. The N.E. point terminates
in a wall of yellow mottled sandstones (the upper beds of the
Old Red) broken up and fissured ; and suppljang by the loosen-
ing and denuding action of winter frosts and rain and summer
sun, a mass of tumbled blocks forming a talus on each side,
reminding one very much of the Stiperstoues in Slu-upshiro. As
100
there Avas no audience to listen to the geological notes prepared
by the Secretary, he contented himself vnth a quiet chat with his
companion on the evidence of denudation which abounded on all
sides, how the vast mass of Old Eed, estimated as 10,000 feet
thick, had here and there disappeared through the agency of
rain, rivers and frost. In one place the softer beds of the
formation had yielded easily and rounded hills and wide valleys
been the result ; in another a capping of harder beds, as was the
case with the Sugarloaf on which they were standing, had pro-
tected the underlying beds from destruction and formed a lofty
hill. After an enjoyable rest and an easy descent Abergavenny
was reached (the whole ascent having taken three hours) and
the train entered for Newport. At Pontyi>ool road the rest of the
party appeared, having spent a few hours pleasantly at Eaglan
amid archery, ruins and refreshments.
Swindon Quarries. — A fresh autumn morning brought out the
members of the Club in full force on Tuesday, October 9th, and
caused a great run upon the return-tickets for Swindon, by the
9.15 train; the object of this the last excursion of the season
being to examine the geology of the Swindon district, and, if time
allowed, to visit the vast locomotive department of the Great
Western Eailway, which is so rapidly developing at that place.
Mr. Chas. Moore at once took the initiative so soon as the
members had collected together at Swindon and led them to a
brick pit immediately to the south of the Wilts and Berkshire
canal. The material which is worked here for the bricks belongs
to the upper beds of the Kimmeridge clay and is known in the
scientific world for the discovery of the remains of large reptiles
of the lizard tribe to one of which the name of Omosaurus armatus
has been given by Professor Owen. Mr. Moore, eager for the
fray, at once launched into a description of the interesting geology
of the district, and after speaking of the great development of this
clay in the ueighbourliood of Kimmeridge (whence its name) said
that probably the thickness of the deposit here did not equal that
101
at Netlierfield, iu Sussex, where the boiiugs head reached a depth
of more than 600 feet, a fact which would give some idea of the
vast time this deep sea deposit had taken in forming. Never-
theless the thickness here was very considerable. The fauna was
of great importance, for in addition to the moUusca found (a proof
of their abundance was at that moment given in the spit turned
up by one of the workmen which gUttered with the iridescent
shells oi Astarte, Ammonites, &c.), this was the great Saiuianhome
— a paddle alone of a Pliosaurus from Kimmeridge measuring
8ft. in length. From the clay before them several bones had
been dug at a depth of some 15ft. from the surface, e.g., those
of Bothrijosi)ondylus stiffosus, Plioscmms hrachjdeinis and the
celebrated Omosaurus, all described and figured by Professor Owen
in the publications of the Paloeontographical Society. Mr. Bowly,
one of the managers of the works, evidently quite aUve to the
importance of watching excavations of a like character in the
interests of science, stated that he was present when Mr. Davis,
of the British Museum, took away the pelvis of the latter Saurian
to London, together with the bones of other reptiles, and corro-
borated Mr. Moore's remark with regard to the depth of the clay,
by stating that the thickness in one portion of the pit had been
proved by sinking to 400 feet. Pieces of fossil wood assuming the
appearance of jet were picked up by some of the members, indi-
cating that an ancient tree had in past ages been stranded here
and had probably grown on or near the same place frequented by
these huge reptiles. A heap of Se^jtaria, rejectamenta from the
clay owing to the lime which they contained, attracted attention,
but nothing of any importance was found in them ; and the next
halt was called at the end of a cutting iu the north face of the
lill, where a good section of the topmost beds of the Kimmeridge
clay was pointed out at a level of about 70ft. above the brick pit
.and at a distance of about a quarter of a mile. The top beds here
consist of large rounded concretionary and apparently bouldered
rimuBses of sandstone, upon which the Portland sands rest, but the
102
junction owing to the natiu'e of the overlying beds is difficult to
make out. A steep scramble up the sandy slope having been with
difficulty in some instances overcome, the town of Old Swindon
was traversed and the chief object of the day attained, as the mem-
bers threaded their way through debris and building stones to the
sunny corner of a large quarry on the top of the hill, whence the
chief building stone of the neighbourhood is obtained. Whilst
Mr. Moore was collecting his treasures around him the Secretary
took the opportunity of alluding to some of the physical characters
of the country which they had traversed since leaving Bath ; " how
they had crossed over in an ascending order the east edge of the
Somersetshu'e Coal basin from the Liassic valley of Bath, over the
succeeding members of the Lower, Middle, and Upper Oolites, how
the three great limestone escarpments of Inferior Oolite, Corallian,
and Portlandian beds were successively boimded at then- base by
the Lias, Oxford, and Kimmeridge clays, and how they now stood
on the topmost beds of the Jurassic series wliich Mr. Moore had
so carefully studied and was now about to describe." By this time
Mr. Moore was quite ready to resume his subject, and from a
rostrum of Portland sand, Avith the fine section of Portland and
Purbeck beds in front, described each bed one by one. The base,
he said, consisted of a bed full of Trigmias, Perna and Cardium
some 2ft. thick ; to this succeeded some 30 feet of concretionary
sandstones or impui'e gritty limestones between beds of sand,
these latter prevailed more at the base of the quarry. On the
top of these beds which contained marine organisms came some
10 feet of chalky looking limestones, which represented the Pur-
beck beds, so remarkable for the fresh water fauna which they
contain. Some darkish bands near the top of the quarry were
pointed out as similar to the " dirt beds " of the coast, and as
containing a most cxirious series of marine and fresh water
organisms. From those beds Mr. Moore had been sufficiently
fortunate to make an addition of 80 species to the small number
liitherto obtained, and amongst these eight or ten species of
103
mammals, and eight different forms of sauroid remains, and last
but not least the vertel)rre and other bones of a frog, the oldest
known true frog that lias been found. The bones of this
patriarchal frog and a series of teeth, seeds and shells were handed
round for inspection, and testified to the patient work which had
been expended in their collection. After a few more remarks as
to the dark pipes which extended from the surface soil into the
Purbeck beds, and were filled Avith remaniS Greensand, the members
separated, having thanked Mr. Moore for his instructive remarks,
some to the Smndon locomotive works, others remained in the
quarry and enjoyed a rich treat among the casts of Ammonites
giganteus, and Uplex, Cardmm dissimile, Trigonia gihhosa, Cij-
Iherea rugosa, and Cerithium Portlandicum, which abounded in
the two-foot bed at the base. A large party proceeded to the
railway works, and under the guidance of three or four courteous
and well informed members of the staff there employed, two hours
slipped very rapidly away in examining the various and complex
machines which are there in use. It was stated that 6,000 men
are engaged at these works.
A very pleasant bye Excursion is worthy of record, on Jnly
10th to Britford Church, about two miles from Salisbury. Mr.
Charles Talbot, having met the members en route, kindly acted as
theu" guide throughout the day. The Cathedral was first visited
and a very instructive hour was spent there in examining the
tombs and architectural features of the chaste interior ; it must,
hoAvever, be mentioned that criticisms by no means favourable
were passed upon the obtrusive way in which the pipes of the
new organ were stuck about, interfering sadly with the harmony
of the chancel and side aisles. A short walk across the fields to
the south soon brought the party to the little Church which was
the chief object of the day. The great curiosity consists in
certain arches, wholly or partly Saxon. The most remarkable
are in the walls of the nave opposite each other ; on the south
occurs a tile arch, pronounced by Mr. Roach Smith to be Roman
104
work of the best character in situ, the jambs being enveloped in
later work. On the north side he assumes that the Roman arch
exists hidden away behind later casing. Mr. Talbot's theory is
that no such hidden work exists in either case, but that the
so-called Roman arch was bodily removed by the Saxon builders
from its original situation and placed in jambs of their own
building, and that the north aisle is entirely Saxon work rather
later than the other. There is a third arch of stone altered into
a doorway near the porch. The work Mr. Talbot considers to be
amongst some of the most remarkable in England. A visit was
afterwards paid to the Blackmore Museum, where the members
were gratified by an inspection of that marvellous series of stone
implements under the personal guidance of the founder himself,
Mr. Blackmore, for whose unwearied exertions in the cause of
pre-historic science not only Sarum but the whole of England
ought to be grateful.
With regard to the Tuesday walks there is nothing to chronicle.
They have been maintained with more or less spirit throughout
the year, but your Secretary has not been favoured with any
notes from the members who specially join in them. Are the
objects of interest in the Natural History and Archaeology of the
neighbourhood exhausted 1 Is it not rather that they teem around
us, but that the members' eyes are closed and their senses dull to
see them ? How can we galvanize them into life 1
H. H. wmwooD,
Hon. Sec.
CONTENTS.
Page.
1. — On the Poor, and some Attejipts to Lower the
Price of Corn in Somerset, 1548—1638, by
Emanuel Green ... ... ... ... l
2. — Some Account of the Skirmish at Claverton
DURING THE CmL Wars, Jult, 1643, BY H. D.
Serine ... ... ... ... ... 49
3.— Gales of Wind, by the Rev. Leonard
Blomefield, M.A., F.L.S., &c. ... ... 58
4. — Notes on an Oolitic Quarry at Bathford, by
Eev. H. H. WimvooD, M.A., F.G.S. ... ... 82
5. — Summary of Proceedings for the Year 1877-8 ... 87
ev. No. 1.
PROCEEDINGS
BATH NATURAL HISTORY
ANTIQUARIAN FIELD CLUR
VOL. rv. NO. II.
1879.
PRICE HALF-ACEOWN.
BATH :
rRl^TllD (KORTHE OLDB) at "TUE bath herald" office, 12, NORTH OATH.
1879.
105
Did Queen Elizabeth visit Bath in the Years 1574 and 1592. By
Emanuel Green.
(Bead January 15th, 1879.J
From some entries lately found in the Churchwardens'
accounts of St. Michael's parish, now being published by the
Somerset Archaeological Society,* the question was suggested
that Queen Elizabeth must have been in Bath in 1574, and this
I was able to answer from some notes I then had by me.f
Whilst much has been said of a visit in 1591 or 1592, nothing
was previously known of that of 1574, and I now hope, by
tracing her Majesty throughout her journeys, by using original
contemporary documents, to settle all doubt as to her where,
abouts in those years.
Under the name of a Progress, it was the custom of the Court
to make a short annual tour or excursion through different, not
too distant, parts of the country, and, as may be supposed, these
took place during the summer months. In July then, 1574, the
Queen, being melancholy and much depressed about State
matters, suddenly, with a promptitude we may imagine somewhat
characteristic, determined to start on her Progress, barely
allowing time for the usual preparations. Quoting now a roU
of the Lord Chamberlain's, entitled an account for " Appareling
and making Keadye of the Q Mats Howses with others in Prograsse
tyme," the route taken can be traced day by day. Starting
from Greemvich her Majesty dined at Mr. Lovell's at Merton
Abbey, passed on to Richmond, and then by Stanewell and
Colebrook reached Windsor. Leaving Windsor on the 11th
of July, she passed by Bynfelde to Beading, then to Mr.
Treasurer's house, and so on the 22nd reached Ewelme, From
Ewelme a Yeoman was sent off in all haste to Mr. Brown's house
(at Halton) and then on to Woodstock, "to see those houses
furnished, with full expedition, by reason of her Highness
* By C. B. Pearson, M.A. f The Bath Herald, 9th & 16th March, 1878.
Vol. IV., No. 2.
106
sudden remove." This sudden haste had already much per-
plexed the officials, and a Yeoman of the " Garderobbe of Beddes"
had been sent with a man and two horses to London, to the
Master of the Great Wardrobe there, for certain " Stools,
Quisshinges, and other stuflF," to serve her Highness this Progress.
He was also sent to Greenwich to the standing wardrobe there,
for a chair of cloth of gold to serve her Highness for a dining
chair, and this he took by water to the Court at Reading.*
Passing on from Woodstock, Sir Edward Umpton was visited at
Langley, then Mr. Dutton at Sherborne, and so Sewedly was
reached. Here the " old " Lady Chandowes gave the Queen a
Jewell : "a fawconne or parrot, the body christall, the head, tayle,
leggs and brest of golde ; fully garnished with sparcks of rubyes
and emerauldes, hanging by a very short and smale chayne of
golde. "t After Sudely, Mr. Denne was visited at Boddington,
and on the 8th August Gloucester was reached. Next Mr.
Huntley was honoured, at Froster, then Berkley Heme on the
11th, and then Sir Nicholas Ponitz at Acton. During the
stay at Berkeley, twenty-seven stags were slain " in the toyles "
in one day, a destruction which led to some unpleasantness
between the Queen and Lord Berkeley. The opportunity of the
royal presence was used by Lady Berkeley to prefer a petition for
a pardon, to which the Queen answered, No, No, my Lady Berkeley,
we know you will never love us for the death of your brother,
i.e., the Duke of Norfolk, who was beheaded for treason in 1572.
Yet, notwithstanding this coolness, her Majesty stood Godmother,
in 1575, to Lord Berkeley's son and heir.J Preparations, occu-
pying ten days, were now made for the arrival in Bristol.
Always particular about the royal dignity her Majesty had also,
strongly marked, the feminine weakness for dress; thus a
Yeoman of the Eobes with his man and two horses had been
• Chamber Treasurer's Accts., 16 Eliz., 1574.
t Sloane MSS., No. 814.
J Nichol'g Progresses. Vol i. p. 392, quoting the Berkley MSS.
lor
sent to London from Woodstock, for a " gowne and two
hatts," being so occupied six days, and from Gloucester the
same party was occupied six days in going from Gloucester
to London, for a gown of " whyte satten," embroidered, and a
hat, ^vith which he returned to the Court at Bristol. On the
15th August her Majesty arrived in that city, and what took
place there is learned from a very rare little pamphlet by one
Thomas Churchyard, entitled " The firste parte of Churchyarde's
Chippes." In this is found " The whole order howe our Soueraigne
Ladye Queen Elizabeth, was receyved into the Citie of Bristow,
and the speaches spoken before her presens, at her entry, with
the residue of versis and matter that might not be spoken (for
distance of the place), but sent in a boek ouer the Waetter"
(i.e. Wales). At the " hie Crosse, in a disgised manner stood
Faem, very orderly set forth," and represented by an "excelent"
boy, who recited a poem, and after the recitation " tlang up a
great garland, to the reioysing of the beholders." At the next
gate, near her lodging, the Queen heard speeches from three boys,
representing Salutation, Gratulation, and Obedient Goodwill ;
then tliree hundred soldiers, well appointed, "wayted on her
Highness to her lodgyng, and thear she being settled, they shot
of thear peeces in passyng good order ; at which warnyng the
great artillery went of, a hundred and xxx cast pieces ; and so
the watche charged, and a hundreth shot appoynted for her
gard, Her Highnes rested that night, where she lay all the
season, at Mr. John Yong's house," in St. Augustine's Back.
Every day during the stay there was some similar entertainment,
the speeches being discussions between Dissension, Peace, Feeble
Policy, or Persuasion. On her arrival in Bristol, the Queen
composed the following prayer, which is here taken from a
contemporary manuscript. *
I render unto Thee (O merciful & Heavenly Father) most humble
& hearty thanks, for thy manifold mercies so abundantly bestowed
* State Papers, 1575,
108
upon me ; as well for my creation, preservation, regeneration & all
other thy benefits & great mercies exhibited in Christ Jesus ; but
especially for thy mightie protection & defence over me, in preserving
me in this long & dangerous journy, as also from the beginning of
my life unto this present bower, from all such perils as I should
most justly have fallen into for mine offences, haddest Thou not,
Lord God, of thy great goodness & mercy preserved and kept me.
Continue this thy favorable goodness toward me I beseech Thee, that
1 may still likewise be defended from all adversity both bodily and
Ghostly, but Specially Lord keep me in ye soundness of thy faith
fear, and loue, yt I never fall away from thee, but continue in thy
Service all the dales of my life. Stretch forth O Lord most Mightie
thy right hand over me, & defend me from mine enemys, that they
never prevaile against me. Give me O Lord ye assistance of thy
Spiritt, and comfort of thy Grace, truly to know thee, intirely to
loue Thee, and assuredly to trust in Thee. And yt as I do acknow-
ledg to have received ye Governmt of this Church and Kingdome at
thy hand, and to hold the same of Thee, so graunt me grace O Lord
yt in the end I may render up and present ye same unto Thee a
peaceable, quiett and well ordered State and Kingdome, as also a per-
fect reformed church to ye furtherance of thy Glory, ^nd to my
Subjects, O Lord God, graunt I beseech ye faithfuU and obedient
hearts willingly to submit themselves to the obedience of thy Word
and Commandments, that we altogether being thankfull unto Thee
for thy benefits received, may laud and magnifie thy holy Name, world
without end. Grant this O merciful Father for Jesus Christ's sake
our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.
Mr. John Young presented his guest with a "jewel conteyning
diuers rubyes and dyamondes wherein was a phenex and a
salamanndre of agathe."* Her Majesty was fond of jewelry,
and in thankfulness for her reception generally, she bestowed on
her host the honour of Knighthood. Marvellously well pleased
with what she had seen, she left Bristol on the 21st August, being
detained on the " confines of the towns liberties," to hear recited
• Sloane MSS., No. 814.
109
a poem, entitled " The Dolfull A Due," in which the Bristolians
stated that, —
Their joy was joyned with grevous groens, their triumphe tomed to
tears,
The brantch whose blosoms gladnes broght, a bitter berry bears.
In house and street whear mirth was herd, is moen and mourning
noies ;
The summer day is dim'd with clouds, eclypsed are our joyes.
• • » • •
As loeth to taek our heavy leave, as leave our lives indeed.
A due dear Lady of this Land. The living Lord thee speed.
A gentleman usher in advance now made ready for her Majesty
at St. Lawrence, and arranged also for her dining at Keynsham,
being so occupied four days, for which he was paid 78s. 8d.
Following this is a charge of 13s. 4d. for two days' labour,
paid for making ready at Morecroft (? Stoke's Croft) for her
Majesty to " shifte her." This entry seems out of place, and
coming in with that of St. Lawrence, alludes perhaps to some
accommodation for robing before her entry into Bristol, as the
stoppage at St. Lawrence on leaving, might have been for the
opposite purpose of resuming her travelling costume.
On the Queen's known approach to Bath, preparations had to
be made there, but unfortunately there seems to have been no
Thomas Churchyard to chronicle the events, no Member of a
Field Club to help make a little history for posterity. Some
information however is gained from a roll in the Churchwarden's
accounts of St. Michael, called the " Accompte of the Chamber-
laine of the Cittie of Bath, made and delivered before the Mayor
and Aldermen and Common Council of the said City, on the 10th
January, 17 Eliz." From this it is learned that " against the
queen's coming," the walls were kept clean at a cost of 2s., and
that John More, a freemason, was paid 5s. 5d. for a ring at the
West Gate. There was, no doubt, as in other places, a considerable
brush up. In some towns every householder was ordered to clean
110
and beautify the front of his house ; in others the Mayor, and all
who had been Mayor, got new gowns, but in Bath this seems to
have been necessary only for the Bellman, who received a new coat
of " 4| yards of black frise," at 20d. a yard. "With these prepara-
tions came Symond Bowyer, one of the Gentlemen Ushers of the
Queen's Chamber, with one Yeoman Usher, three Yeomen of the
Chamber, two Grooms of the Chamber, two Grooms of the
Wardrobe and one Groom Porter, to make all things ready, for
which work he was duly paid £7 17s. 4d. So important a
personage demanded a civility and entertainment, and 12s. 8d.
were paid to the " tapster of the Harte for the Gentleman Usher
and hys company's dynner." Throughout the Progress there was
also riding in advance, Mr. Charles Smyth, a page, vnth his two
men, " to make ready the office of the Robes."* Unfortunately
the official papers, as with Bristol, make no mention as to where
her Majesty stayed in Bath ; the expenses only are recorded.
Thus on the day of her arrival, the first entry is for her first
expense — her supper. Cenam (supper), .£12 Is. 6d.; Butteria,
£46 2s. 4d.; Garderoba, £19 5s.; Coquina (kitchen), £68 4s. 4d.
PuUetria, £16 8s. 9d.; Scuttleria, £4; Salseria (sauces), 18b. 2d.
Aula (hall), 117s.; Stabulum, £9 Is. md.; Vadia (wages) £10
Elemosyna (alms), 4s.; Summa, £192 2s. 5|d. The 4s. for alms
is a daily charge throughout the account. Her Majesty never
travelled on a Sunday, hence, as she would remain in Bath that
day, the churches necessarily were smartened up. Four shillings
and fourpence were paid for glazing the windows of Stalles
Church, and the mndows of St. Michael's received the same
attention. Usually some special accommodation was provided, a
stall or covered seat being erected, and the aisles strewed with
rushes and flowers. During her Sunday in Bristol the Queen
went to the College to "hear a Sarmond, whear thear was a
speech to be sayd and an Imme to be songe." The hymn was
sung by a very " fien boye." Something similar would seem to
* The Trsaaurer of the Chamber.
Ill
have taken place at Bath, as, at a cost of 10s, the " Queresteres"
of Wells were brought over for the occasion.* The expenses for
this day, the 22nd August, were, Sundries, £12 3s.; Butteria,
£48 4s. 9d.; Garde roba, £27 14s. 9d.; Coquina, £43 15s. 4d.;
Pulletria, £20 4s. lOd. ; Scuttleria, 105s. 4d.; Salseria, 20s. 2d.;
Aula, 44s.; Stabulum, £10 17s. 4|id.; Vadia, £10 ; Elemosyna,
4s.; total, £181 13s. B^d-t This expenditure, which seems heavy
when the relative value of money is considered, is regularly
recorded, as weU at private houses as otherwise, from which it
would seem that the host was not taxed to meet an outlay for
food for so many, but rather applied himself to the matter of a
welcome and a pleasing entertainment.
Before the Court left Windsor, Warrants were issued to compel
the furnishing of horses along the route, and the Knight Marshal
was ordered to punish any who were remiss in their obedience.
This matter of the posts, with that of the purveyors, was, for long
before and long after, a very sore and troublesome subject with
the people. Through these the Crown was entitled to take and
buy up all necessaries required, this being done at prices
sometimes fixed by the Clerk ot^ the Market, but generally at
not more than half their value, and often at less than that.
From the account of the " Master of the Postes," through William
Dodington, Esq., " Auditor of her Maties Imprestes of her Mati«s
Postes," some at least of the horsing from Bristol was done by
Thomas Hopkins, who " entered postes " at Bristol, for serving
ten days from the 23rd August, and was paid twenty shillings,
whilst John and Phihp Alsope, of Marshfield, served for five days
at the same rate of two shillings per day. How many horses
were found, or what service was rendered, is not mentioned.
So along the whole route the same plan was repeated, chiefly for
cartage or conveyance of the impedimenta : thus in advance of
the company, two others from Chipnam, entered to serve ten
* St. Michael's Accounts, by C. B. Pearson, M.A.
t Wardrobe Accouutt, 16 Etis.
112
days from the 18th August, as did two others from Marlboro w,
for eighteen days from the same date.*
Leaving Bath on Monday, 23rd August, her Majesty rested at
Haslebury, and then went on to Lacock, where the preparations,
including "two several standings in the Forest," had occupied
ten days, at a charge of £9 16s. 8d. On the 28th Mr. Brouncker's
house at Stoke was reached, the preparations, including a standing
" in Vize Park," having occupied eight days, at a charge of £7
17s. 4d. The next place, arriving on the 31st, was Mr. Hawker's
house at Hatchbury, prepared in six days at a charge of £5 18s.
Here I think is a nut for the Wiltshire man, as Sir Richard Hoare
makes no mention of the family of Hawker at Heytesbury.t Now a
Gentleman Usher, with two Grooms of the Chamber, two Grooms of
the Wardrobe and one Groom Porter, made ready " a dining house
at Longlete," Sir John Thynne's house, being so occupied two days,
at a cost of 39s. 4d. In acknowledging the honour done him
Sir John presented the Queen with a Jewell, — " a faulconne
preying upon a fowle, with a great emeralde in her breste, and a
perle pendaunte, with dyvers sparcks of dyamonds and rubyes
upon the wings and brest."| This occasion is noticed under date
2nd September, 1574, in an old account book found at Longleat
by Canon Jackson, by the entry of a payment of £50 to John
Bridge and Nich Webbe of Kingswood, in part of £140, paid by
them to Henry Pope, of London, for "one jewele, called a Phenex
sett with one great emerald and 50 other dyamonds and rubies with
an appendant Perell, wliich Sir John Thynne gave to her Majestie
being at Longleat." From Heytesbury, on the 4th Sept., her Majesty
passed on to WUton, where preparations were made on a grand
scale, including a banqueting house, a dining house in the park,
and two standings, ten days being occupied in preparing them.
Also some extra " stuffe " was sent from Westminster, apparently
a good load, as it required the Keeper of the Palace at Westminster,
• State Papers. Domestic. f P Sir Walter Hungerford, the hawker.
JSloane MSS., No. 814.
113
his two men and their horses, the hire of a wagon, and "oftentimes"
the hire of other horses to draw the same. Jewelry was again
presented, the Earl of Pembroke giving "an eagle of golde
enamuled greene, garnished with dyvers dyamondes and rubyes,
hanging at three short cheynes of golde, garnished with smale
sparcks of dyamondes, and three dyamondes pendaunte." The
Countess of Pembroke, " the younger," gave " a mermayde of
golde, having a mayde upon her backe, garnished with sparcks of
dyamonda and rubyes, with a dyamonde pendaunte, and little
raged perles also."* The Queen visited, and dined at Lady
Mervynne's, and seems to have intended a trip to Amesbury, as
the usual preparation was made there, " where her highness was
appointed to dine." She however went first to the palace at
Salisbury on the 6th of September, and from there dined at
Amesbury, then passing on she went to Motson and Winterslow,
at both of which places dining-houses seem to have been prepared,
then to Mr. Gefforde's house at Somburrie, and on the 1 1th of
September to Winchester. She visited Heryott and Aberstan,
was at Odiham on the 14th September, Farnham on the 16th,
Bagshot on the 24th, and then by Oatlands on the 25th, she
arrived safely at Hampton Court, t "in good health and great liking
for her entertainment in the West Partes."
This Progress of 1574 has thus been traced day by day, not with
the idea of saying all that could be said about it, especially relating
to places distant from us, but because, as it has never been so
done before, the subject may have a local interest beyond our imme-
diate district ; and also, that by following the same plan, similar
evidence may be taken in considering the other question, as to a
like honour having been paid to Bath in the year 1592. Such
a visit has been so often asserted, that sometimes it is mentioned
as "the well-known one during the year 1591, or according to
Nichols in his Progresses, in 1592." Yet absolutely nothing
• Sloane MSS., No. 814.
t Treasurer of Chamber, Series i., Mem 163-164.
lU
whatever is known about it. Again, it is sometimes stated that
the Queen was in Bath in 1592, "when she granted the Corpo-
ration a Charter." A moment's thought will show this argument
to be of no value, as the Queen may have granted a Charter with-
out being present. Further, a peep into Warner will discover
the Charter set out in full, but dated 4th September, 1590, and
a reference to the original patent shows this date to be correctly
given.* So that if the Queen were in Bath when the Charter
was granted it was neither in 1591 nor 1592. The only other
authority that I am aware of is CoUtnson, in the History of
Somerset. In Vol. I., page 128, under Kelweston, he gives a
short account of the Harington Family, and concludes the para-
graph by saying, " The old house at Kelweston, buUt by John
and finished by his son, Sir John, was constructed as a proper
reception for Queen Elizabeth during her summer's excursion, who
visited her godson in her way to Oxford, 1591." For this two
references are apparently given, ■vdz., " Dugdale's Baronetage"
(Baronage he means), and " Wright's (James") Rutlandshii-e," and
the impression conveyed is, that these are the authorities for the
statements in that paragraph, yet in neither is there any allusion
to anything in it. Both are simply pedigree notes, in no way
connected with Somerset, and in Dugdale there is no mention
even of any Elizabethan Harington. The assertion, too, that the
house was constructed in 1587, purposely to receive a royal visit
promised for 1591, is rather strong, and this Warner seems to
have felt when recording the same event. After noting the grant
of the Charter in 1590, he says, — "The year after, i.e., 1591, the
Queen fulfilled a promise to visit Sir John Harington at
Kelweston, and to give her a proper reception he fitted up his
house in a stile of elegance and magnificence suitable to the
taste of the age." No reference is given for this, and it is
aimply Collinson's " construction" theory, modified and elaborated.
* Pat. 33 Eliz., P&rt A. RoU. 1342, Mem. 24,
115
Continuing, he adds — " The Queen kept her word and arrived at
Sir John's house in her way to Oxford, A.D., 1591, and dined
right royally under the fountain which played in the Court." To
this, after allowing the mind to read and perceive a fact, there
is added the foot note — " Such is tradition." Now this being so,
why was not the word tradition inserted in the text and the
impression of fact avoided ? The next paragraph says — " The
Queen took the opportunity to visit Bath," this being conveyed
as a fact, and " tradition says that she slept at Barton House in
St. John Street, the residence of Mr. Mayor Sherston, the first
Mayor of Bath." Here again, as tradition only is quoted for the
visit to Kelston,. tradition is the only authority for the visit to
Bath, as it is also for the sleeping at Mr. Mayor's. The only
reference given 'is CoUinson, with his two, Dugdale and Wright,
both already noted as useless. Collinson in his account of Bath
makes no mention of any such visit. Where the Queen reaUy
was in 1590, 1591 and 1592, may now be settled and the evidence
concluded.
In 1590, writing on the 1st August, Thomas Phelippes says —
" The Queen is strong and well, she is gone a Progress into
Surrey, which will end in three weeks at Windsor."* Again, in
July, 1591, Thos. Phelippes writes — " The Queen is going to Ports-
mouth with the Earl."t This was the Earl of Essex, then on his
way to France. On the 31st August, Phelippes again writes, " The
Queen is at Portsmouth, having been at Chichester, whither she
came from Lord Montague's at Cowdray, where she and the whole
Court were magnificently entertained." If any further fact were
necessary there exists in a rare little pamphlet, an account of " The
Honorable Entertainment gieven to the Queene's Maiestie in
Progresse, at Eluetham in Hampshire, by the Right Honorable
the Earle of Hertford, 1591." In December, 1591, the Court being
• State Papers, 1590. Vol. 31, 154.
t SUU Papart, 1601. Vol. 239, 93.
116
at Richmond, removed as usual to Whitehall for the winter, when
all the Richmond carpets and " window piers" in the " Presence
Chamber and other Russhie Chambers," were at once taken down
and "made cleane and sweete, otherwise," says the careful
chronicler, " the stuflfe wiU not be in cast to serve her Matie
again."
Nichols, in the Progresses, is the sole cause of the visit to Bath
being dated 1592, and this he has done entirely by guess work
and without any authority for it. Evidently knowing nothing
whatever about it, he simply quotes and refers to Warner, and
quotes him wrongly, as Warner gives the date 1591. It may be
assumed that, knowing from documentary evidence to the
contrary that the Queen was not in Bath in 1591, he intended to
correct this date, judging it possible she might have been there in
1592, as she took a westward route in that year. A line of
explanation, however, would have been better than a false
quotation. Adopting the previous plan, the daily route for 1592
shall now be traced.
The usual preparations being made, and the " gestes" or resting
places determined on, the Court left Nonsuch in August, 1592,
the Grooms and Ushers in advance, making ready at Moul-
say, at Hanworth, at Eastridge in Colebrooke, and then at
Eton College. A dinner house was prepared at "ye Lyon at
Maydenhead," and so the cavalcade arrived at Lady Russell's
house at Bissham. Here, as her Majesty came to the top of the
hill going into Bissham, cornets sounded in the woods and then a
wild man came forth and made a speech. At the middle of the
bill sat Pan, and two Virgins keeping sheep, and sewing their
samplers, and there her Majesty stayed to hear their dialogue.
Next there was a dining house at Mr. John Haynes's, and a stay
at " ye Sheriff of Berks his house at Hurst," where some speeches,
and entertainments were offered. At Reading the Queen stayed
at Mr. Davies' house, dined next day at Mr. Ployden's, and then
rested at Sir Humphrey Foster's at Aldermaston. Next, after
117
dining at Mr. Fowler's, no place being named, the rest was made
at Mr. Dolman's at Shawe, near Newbury, a standing for speeches,
&c., being erected in Donnington Park. Next was prepared Mr.
Parries' house, no place being named, then Mr. Chalke's, and so
the Lord Pembroke's house was reached at Kamsbury. Every
day's movement is now of importance for the present purpose, as,
if the cortege intended for Bath, now would be the time for its
approach. Instead of taking that direction, however, it went to
" Maister" Steven's house at Burdrope, then to Sir John St. John's
at Lidiard, and then to Mr. Hungerford's at Downannaye. From
Downannaye to Sir John Danvers' house at Ciceter, then to Sir
Richard Berkle's at Runcombe, and then after dining at Mr.
Cotton's at Whittington, to Sudeley Castle, where a standing was
erected to receive the usual speeches and addresses. On leaving
Sudeley a dining house was prepared at Norlacke, and the rest
made at Mr. Button's house at Sherborn, the direction now being
homeward and away from Bath. Then a dinner at Mr. Tanfield's,
at Burforde, then to Mr. Yatte's, at Whitney, and so Woodstock
was reached, where some stay was made. Thomas Churchyard,
who has told all that is known about the visit to Bristol in 1574,
has also left us a httle pamphlet, which he calls, " A Handeful of
Gladsome Verses, giuen to the Queene's Maiesty at Woodstocke
this Prograce, 1592." Amongst these there is one from which a
few lines are here extracted, as they serve to explain the often
presence of the Phoenix and Eagle, in the pattern of the jewelry
presented to the Queen in 1574. The poem is headed— " Verse
of Variety to all those that honors the onely Phoenix of the
World," &c.
As Eagle mounting skies
Doth daunt each bird that flies.
So Phoenix in her guies.
Doth dazell clearest eies.
And strikes base people blinde,
Who beares no noble minde.
118
But one, in our dales,
Deserues immortall praise.
And she a Queene, now note it well,
That doth in worthy Britaine dwell.
Other poems of this time have the same allusions. One in
Churchyard's " Challenge," 1592, entitled "A few plaine verses
of Truth against the fiaterie of Time," &c., says, —
Sith silent Poets all, that praise your Ladies so,
My Phoenix makes their plumes to fall, that would like peacockes goe.
Your ladies also doe decline, like stars in darksome night,
When Phoenix doth like Phcebus shine, and leands the world great
light.
My Phoenix needs not any art, of Poet's painting quil ;
She is herselfe in euerie part, so shapte by kindly skil,
That nature cannot wel amend, and to that shape most rare.
The God's such speciall grace doth send, that is without compare.
Passing on there was next a dinner house at Mr. Henry Leye's
at Dytchley, and a charge for " making readye a Standinge
for ye Hearinge of an Oration." There was a dinner house at
Sir WUliam Spencer's, and then came the preparations at Christ
Church College, the Hall of Christ Church, the Cathedral, and
St. Mary's, at Oxford. From Oxford Mr. Brown was again
honoured at Halton, and then the Lord Norris at Ricott Park.
Here there was a speech by an old gentleman who had been a
soldier, and her Majesty on leaving was presented with " a daisy
of golde set with rubies." So Windsor was reached and the
Progress ended.
Besides the documents already quoted, many others have been
searched, in the hope of finding something new or pertinent.
Especially was attention directed to the name of the first Mayor,
but the only thing found is a grant on the 10th August, 25 Eliz ,
1583, confirmed 13th March, 1584, to William Sherston, clothier,
and John Satchfield, baker, of several pieces of land, and several
cottages in Lyncombe, Dunkerton, &c., all described with tiresome
minuteness, and also a " carbon decaisat," which the scribe kindly
119
teUs UBwasa " decayed cole myne," and le Ston Delfe with appur-
tenances in Tockell's in the town of Lyvesaye, commonly called
Wenshead, in the County of Lancaster, formerly belonging to the
Chantry of Leeland.* This grant, made on the petition, &c., of
Sir James Croft, Comptroller of the Household, appears to be
quite free, and without either purpose or reason assigned.
There is yet one other point to be noticed, one other party to
be consulted. Sir John Harington, who is supposed to have
played an important part in this visit of 1592, was a writer and
a poet, and has left us some gossip about himself. The question
readily arises, has he any where noted this honour paid hun ? He
was a Godson of the Queen, and spent much time in endeavouring
through royal favour, to get taken from others, some land, which
he was advised did not belong to him by any right, or, as he puts
it, " he was always turninge his poor wittes towardes his suite
fOT his landes in the north." Once the Queen read some lines
which he had written and on this he made his Epigram No. 12,
concluding with the ever present strain :—
Let ray poore muse your paines thus far importune,
To leave to read my verse and read my fortune.
In his " Brief Notes and Remembrances " he records, " 1 heare
that I am marked out for the nexte year's sherrife for the Countie
of Somersette," and he is found being sworn in to that office on
the 25th November, 1591, before Dr. Carew, Master in Chancery.t
In the " Nugce Antique," Vol. I., p. 167, writing about 1594,
he notes that the Queen " strode up and bade me reache forthe
my arme to reste her thereon. Oh what swete burden to my
next songe ! Petrarcke shall eke out good matter for this
busmesse." Yet this " courtlie minion," with this gossiping,
scribbling tendency, and the fact that he was Sheriff of Somerset
through 1592, makes no poem, no epigram, no mention anywhere
ot any royal visit to him in that or any other year.
* 27 Eliz., part 17. Charter and Pat. Rolls. Roll. 1270. Vol. 38. Mem. 24.
t Stete Papers, 1591, v. 140.
120
It would seem then that the date of this royal visit, heretofore
unremembered, has got mixed up with the more recent and more
easily marked event, the granting of the Charter in 1690, and
muddled also, with the shrievalty of Sir John Harington in
1591-2 ; but it was in 1574 and not in 1592, that Queen EHzabeth
visited Bath.
Further Gleanings in the Mendips. By the Rev. Prebendary
SCARTH, M.A.
(Read January \bth, 1879.^
One of the objects which belong to a Field Club is to observe
and to chi'onicle any facts of local interest, as well as to record
any discovery that may come within the notice of its members —
ancient deeds and charters which may be brought to light, and
which have been hidden away for generations in private libraries,
or found their way into individual hands that have been ignorant
of their value; gems, or pictures, or ancient pottery — all have
their value when they can be brought to throw light upon ages
past, but especially inscribed stones, recording ancient names or
marking the boundaries of land.
It was during the meeting of the Somersetshire Archaeological and
Natural History Society, held at Bniton in the autumn of the past
year, that a volume of the ancient Terrier of Glastonbury Abbey was
brought by permission for exhibition by Canon Jackson, who had
found it in the library of the Marquis of Ailesbury, at Tottenham
House, near Marlborough. This ancient rent roU of the possessions
of the Abbey contains the names of tenants on the estates, as well
as describes the lands and houses belonging to the Abbot. The
date is A.D. 1514, in the time of Abbot Beer. In it I found a
full detailed account of aU the holdings of the Abbot in the parish
of Wrington, the patronage of the church being in the gift
of the Abbey. By the help of Canon Jackson and Mr,
121
Batten I was enabled to coi^y out what appeared to be of most
value, and I now place it before the members of the Club. If it
shall seem to be of little interest to any one but myself, I can
only say such discoveries very largely contribute to accurate
parochial history, and without such history our county histories
would be worthless, and our national history be confined to public
events alone.
By means of this record I have been able to identify the ancient
names of the woods, rivers, fields, and tenants, and to ascertain
what changes have taken place in three centuries and a half,
and therefore have found no little help in working out a complete
history of the parish, which, if life be spared, I hope in time to
accomplish.
I need not however trouble the members by reading over the
names, but append the extracts to this paper, as they may render
our proceedings more valuable. I need hardly say that the
original is in Latin, and I understand that another volume of this
interesting book is in the British Museum.
Another document of more ancient date, for which I am
indebted to the kindness of a friend, contains the ancient
boundaries of Wrington parish. This is taken from the Bath
and Glastonbury Register, p. 341, now in the library of the
Marquis of Bath, at Longleat.
Wrington.
From the " Rental of Glastonbury Abbey,'" now in the Library of the
Earl of Aylesbury, at Tottenham Rouse, and called " Abbot Beer's
Terrier," A.D. 1514, p. 197.
Wrington Church is dedicated to All Saints, an account of the Church
HotLse, once stinnding at the east entrance, near the Lych Gate, is given
at p. 234. Also an account of the Mill, which .stood outside the Kectory
garden where the stream of water is carried under the road. The mill
power was in the Rectory garden, and is now used as a rubbish pit
(see p. 234).
2
122
Names of Fields : — Hayes, Whiteley, Pitacre, Buckhorn Way,
(1) On Morgan's Fann, Brodemead (1), Pyniphill, Bottenham,
near Lye Cross. , a T->i. /•i.irr^
Long Acre, rrestover-foot, Water-
(2) Now called Shilhorn, g'ippe, Shillon (2), Behind Orchard,
"Ts) 151 Man .r m'ap. Whitley Combe (3), Wringbridge,
(4) Now Branche's Cross, Brauncis Cross. (4)
at the junction of the four
roads to the east of Wring-
ton Village.
The Book is entitled
Terrarium Ommium Terrarum et Tenentium una cum finibus
redditibus et heriditibus ejusdem manerii factum ibidem mense Feb.
8, Hen. VIII., et anno Domini Eic. Beere abbat : Vicess : quarto,
coram Fratre Thos : Sutton cellario forensico per Sacramentum et
fidelamentem, Job : Bekys I'rioris Pre; ositi, ibidem .Toh : Laverance
Sen : John Curtis, John Hobbis, Will. Truebody, Will. Crudenhalb
John Gierke, John Lovell, Will. Maris, John Daye, John Lautrie,
Thos. Young, Ceterumque tenentium ibidem ad idem Terrarium
Vocatorura et distincte examinator : preter Specialem perambu-
lationem* et meusurationem factum ibidem atque probatum.
Manor House. — Large hall with spacious chambers on each side.
Promptuarium, cellars, kitchen, larder,
aud stable in the inner court, together
with walls erected high with battlements
in the eastern circumference, and with
deep ditches dug in the western cir-
cumference, which contains with the
lower court, one acre.
The outer barton, with Grange
Oxhouse and Pinfold, contain half
an acre.
There is also there a house outside
the great outer gate, called Gogbury,
rented by W. Truebody for 4d. per year.
* This perambulation is not given in " Abbot Beer's Terrier," two or three
pages are left blank as if for the insertion of it. This is the case with all the
other Manors in the volume, exeept Glastonbury 12 Hides, where the
perambulatioD is given.
133
The Abbott's Sheepfold at Bradefield
Down with two cluses annexed, also
at Ferlockeshey, 6 acres and a perch
<%c., &c.
Wood.—Semsore contains 49 acres (1) : —
Woodfield, 16^ acres (2)
Wolgcrshall, 7j acres. (3)
Little Bargli Wood, 12 acres.
Hordages Wood, 12 acres.
Private woods of the Ahhot.
(1) Wood above Wrington
village.
(2) Between Biitt's Batch
and sewage field
(.S) Between Corporation
wood and the Grove
(4) Corporation wood
Congresbury Parish.
(5) Woods above Wrington
village.
(6) From Stepstone's farm
to Langford and Burrington.
beyond Redhill along Bristol
road
Woods in common.— In Kingswood Common, 41 acres :— (4)
Cold Cliffe, 6 acres.
Langrewe, on Bradfield Down, about
20 acres.
Prestover and Littleover, 20 acres. (5)
Blackmore, 57 acres. (6)
Werne Shawe, 27 acres.
Cat every 16th year.
Common on Bradefield Down (7) contains 2,025 acres. Four-hundred
(7) Same name continues sheep may be fed saving the rights
of the commoners and of the Lord's
Tenants.
Prestover and Littleover contain 122 acres :—
John Kenn, esq., holds 6 acres.
W, Jones, W. Ford, J. Hobbes, Isa-
bella Ballard, and Richard Hort, 1 acre,
and the Rector of the Church of
Wrington, every alternate year.
The pasturage on the hill between
Burrington and Ellick contains 253
acres. (8)
Quarry of Freestone held by John
Mustard, of Bradefield (9).
esq., and Nicholas Newton, son of Sir
John Newton, Knight, pays per annum
in Peter's pence 7jd.
Giles Cabbell (10) Knt. holds .land,
formerly John Cheddar's.
(8) Bvurington Ham.
(9) Downside.
Freeiiolders. — John Brent
(10) Is this the same name
as Caple to whom the Wring-
ton property afterwards be-
longed ?
124
I wish I could feel the same confidence in the accuracy of the
following record that I can in the other, but I have been unable
hitherto to identify the names of the places, except in a few cases,
and it is to be feared, if some of these are not invented, or the
perambulation spurious, yet the scribes in copying may have
mistaken the names and spelling, but time will probably unravel
the mystery. In the meanwhile I must accept the document as
genuine.
Boundaries of Wkington.
Taken from the Bath and Glastonbury Register, p. 341. In the
Marquis of Bath's Library, at Longleat.
Erest on preosteselwe, of preostselwyn on Wrythwey, of Wryth-
weye on Wryoborne, of Wryoborne on Egelescombe, of Egelescombe
on Ethecome, of Ethecombe on Wulfcome, Enlanges Wulfcomb mide-
wardes than on Styfecleye, northward of than legh on Wynteracres
est ward, thanen on Swynhage thanen thur acclegh to Farnhamme, of
Farnhamme on histlyngdene estward, than on thaneBerg, of thane-
Berg to likelan, of likelan on Credelinghales, of Credelinghale on
Suwardyuglegh estward to Whetelegh Broke, and Enlanges Broke to
Merewellen, of Merewellen on Estmedewen, of Estmedewen on
Welbikanbull, of Welbikanhulle on the hegh rewe bi Southen Suddoun
of there heghrewe on Mererige, of Mererigge on Hagenmedewe, of
of Hagenmedewe enlang Stremes on Wryng to Wyrdford, of Wyrtford
on the hegh rewe est to Schirebourun elne, of than elme on to Eastie (?)
on tlia hegh rewe est enlang than heghrewe on Wythescomb, of than
Combe on brokenanbrugg, of thanbrugg to Stanbrugg, of Stanbnigg
^0 Weemedewen, of Weemedewen to Watercomb, of Watercomb to
Ethecomb, of Etliecombe to Elkanlegh, on Hylisbroke, on thanen
helm thanne endlanges these brokes est in on Wryng thanen enlang
Wryng est on the mede westward thanen on preostwellwe.
In the proceedings of the Som. Archaeol. and N. H. Soc. for
1877, appears a paper upon the Banwell charters by Mr. F. H.
Dickinson. These charters go back to the 12th Century and
earlier, and contain a statement of the boundaries of the parish
of Banwell. The places mentioned in this are equally difficult to
126
identify, but the style of this document is similar to the peram-
bulation of "Wrington, and the River Wrinn is mentioned, which
must be the Yeo, as at present named. It is called in the state-
ment of the Boundaries of Wrington the Wring also, and the
same name is given to the Eiver in the Terrier of Abbot Beer,
so that the fact is proved beyond doubt that the River now-
called the Yeo was then called the Wring, and that the village
of Wrington preserves the original name of the River.
The origin of the name " Wrington" has been often disputed,
but these documents settle the question, and it appears as if the
name Yeo is simply Eau, i.e., the " Water."
From the account of BanweU boundaries we learn that " Crook
peak," visited by the Club during the past summer, was formerly
called " Ridges Tor," a very descriptive name, and we also find
that the boimdary line follows the line of the ancient Roman road
leading from the mines at Charterhouse to the old Roman Port at
the mouth of the Axe.*
It is a matter of great importance that early Saxon charters and
Monastic documents of the Middle Ages should be well studied,
for great Kght is thrown by them upon local history, as well as
upon the manners and customs of ages gone by, and the tenure
of property, as well as the condition of the people.
A work published in the past year by Mr. Coote, and called
the " Romans of Britain," by reference to Kemble's " Codex
Diplomaticus," and to sources of information but little known, has
thrown much light upon the condition of the population of this
Island after the departure of the Romans, and before the Saxon
invasion, and also the Ages which follow after, to the coming of
the Norman. By an examination of references in charters,
as well as of existing customs in towns and rural districts, he has
shown that a Romano-British population continued to exist in
this island, paying tribute to their conquerors, but enjoying their
* "Acman Street," between Bath and Cirencester, is the boundary for
many miles between the counties of Somerset and Wills.
126
ancient privileges, and holding their lands as tributaries. We are
therefore compelled to take with some quahfication the statements
of writers like Gildas, who speak of something like a general
expatriation of the Eomano-British population. The subject is
worthy of very careful investigation, and I think it will be
possible to show that even when Britain fell under Saxon rule,
the cities and towns stiU preserved their corporate independence,
and much of the Eoman laws and customs existed to very recent
times, and their influence is felt even to the present day.
I must now refer to Charterhouse on Mendip, formerly visited
by the Club. Nothing of importance has lately been found there,
but I had hoped to bring before the Club a notice of the engraved
stones that have been discovered in the lead workings, sometimes
set in rings, and sometimes found alone. The Rev. S. S. Lewis,
of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, has exhibited and described
some of the more perfect of them to the Cambridge Antiquarian
Society, and drawings have been made of them. These I should
have placed before you had I received them, but I conclude they
have not yet been completed.*
The ancient borough of Axbridge, situated under the Mendip
on the southern slope, is well known, and its ancient charters
have been published in the proceedings of the Somersetshire
Archaeological Society.
The Church, which is a fine specimen of 15th Century work,
but which had been allowed to get into a very dilapidated
condition, is now undergoing restoration, and in this process
certain portions of mural paintings have been brought to light.
The pUlars and arches of the nave are ornamented with a very
elegant pattern, consisting of vine leaves running up the columns,
and flowers at intervals. There are also fresco paintings in the
spandrels of the side arches leading from the aisles into the choir,
On the north side is apparently the martyrdom of St. Katharine,
* Now engraved in the Report of the Caubridge Antiquarian Society for
May 27, 1878.
I
127
but the painting is much defaced, and on the opposite arch of the
south aisle a figure rising from the tomb, and a female saint.
These are on the sides as you enter from the aisles into the nave.
These remnants of ancient wall decoration were common to all
the Somersetshire Churches, and good specimens have been found
at WeUow, at Ditteridge, and at Claverton, all of which in former
years were visited and examined by the Club.
The most interesting discovery, however, which has been made of
late, is at Wedmore. This, though not properly in the district of
Mendip, is but a very short distance out of it, being only four
miles distant from Cheddar, across the Marsh. It was formerly
an island lying in the direction of Glastonbury, and eight miles
west of Wells.
It will be remembered that in August last year the Millenary
of the " Peace of Wedmore" was kept there, under the auspices
of the Bishop of the Diocese, and his son, who is the Vicar. A
large gathering took place, which was attended by a distinguished
member of our Club. An account of this interesting gathering
appeared in the local papers at the time, and has since been
collected and published at Wells, at the office of the Journal.
Our member. Professor Earle, has moreover improved the occasion,
and thrown additional interest into the subject, by deliveriog a
lecture at Oxford in November last on " The Peace of Wedmore
(A.D. 878) and how it touches the English language." He observes
" that the original dialect of Wessex may still be heard in the
western counties, and perhaps nowhere better than in Somerset.
. . . and " the living language of rustic Somersetshire, when
combined with our Anglo-Saxon texts into one testimony, form no
inconsiderable body of evidence as to what that Sotithern language
was," which he supposes to have been the antithesis of the Dano-
Anglian, and the foundation of the English language."
But more has resulted from keeping the Millenary at Wedmore.
The site of King Alfred's palace had been traditionally preserved,
and is known to have been situated at Mudgeley, within two
* See " Rambles About Bath," p. 436.
128
miles of Wedmore village. A spirit of inquiry has been stirred
up to ascertain if any remains of the buUding could be found, and
these efforts have not been unrewarded. Excavations have been
undertaken by the Vicar, who has had the field opened, and the
excavations have revealed the foundation walls of the palace and
an arched chamber,* as well as a system of small rooms,
resembling the arrangement of a Roman bath. In the course of
excavating much pottery and many hexagonal tiles have been
found. The hexagonal tiles are cut upon the Roman plan, but
are not so large and wide as the Roman. The pottery is of
various kinds — much common black ware, which seems to have
been in use from a very early to a comparatively late period, and
glazed pottery of different periods. No articles of value have yet
been found — only iron keys, nails, and a knife ; nor is this very
surprising, as the palace was no doubt inhabited long after Alfred's
time, and then probably occupied as a grange, until it gradually
fell into disuse, and in the end became a quarry.
The site is very striking, well suited for a royal residence,
looking across the lowland, formerly a lake, and having Glaston-
bury within sight about eight miles distant, and the ridge of
the Polden hills, and the Quantock hills bordering on the Channel.
There is little doubt that if these excavations can be continued,
the entire plan of the palace may be made out, and probably some
objects of interest discovered.
Mr. Earle seems to think he has discovered the ancient Saxon
font at Aller at which Guthrum was baptised. Certain it is that
his visit there twenty years ago has rescued from neglect and
oblivion an interesting memorial of early times, which may have
served the holy purpose at the solemn service, when King
Alfred and his nobles were present. The font is now restored to
its proper use, and will remain an interesting relic of a bygone age.
• This chamber is 8 feet below the surface, the walls are at present 4 feet
high, and two steps lead into it. One of these walls is 5 feet 10 inches thick.
Some of tlie wall plaster remains.
I may here not improperly mention that many years ago, in
paying a visit at Dolton Rectory in North Devon, I found a
curious square, or rather four -sided Saxon font, in use in the
church. This was covered -with figures and intertwining knots,
carved upon the base and shaft of the font, as well as upon the
basin; upon more close examination I found that an ancient
Saxon gravestone, composed of three portions, and having
subjects carved on each, had been in after times converted to the
purpose of a font. The lowest portion of the stone, which tapered
upwards, forming the base of the font, the topmost portion the
shaft, and the middle portion was hollowed out for the basin.
The stones, having fulfilled their purpose as a Saxon memorial
Stone, afterwards — probably in Norman or mediaeval times —
were made to fulfil another and more holy duty, and remain to
the present day a record of no little interest.
I trust, should the excavations at Wedmore be continued, as I
hope they may, that in the course of the present year the Club
may be disposed to do due honour to the memory of King Alfred
the Great by visiting the site of his palace, and viewing also the
noble Church at Wedmore, which is alone worthy of a visit. The
journey would not be difficult from Bath; Cheddar may be
reached by rail, and from thence conveyances may be had to
Wedmore. In the meantime everything should be done to
encourage the Vicar in his efforts to recover the traces of a grand
and noble era in our national history.
An Enquiry concerning Fortified Hills near Bath. By the
Rev. J. Wright, B.A.
(Read February \2th, 1879.J
It is with considerable diffidence that I offer a Paper to the
notice of the members of this Society, feeling conscious that my
archseological experience is scarcely sufficient to qualify me for the
130
task. I count however on the indulgence which those who have
long studied such subjects are always ready to extend to a tiro
who is attempting, at a humble distance, to follow in their steps.
When I came to reside in Bath, five or six years ago, I had but a
slight acquaintance with archaeology, and did not feel any deep
interest in the study. But under the influence of the genius loci
I have been gradually led to pay attention to such researches ;
and, as is generally the case in all studies, the more knowledge I
have gained the more interest I have felt, with at the same time
an increasing impression of the magnitude of the field of enquiry,
and the difficulty of arriving at conclusions in all respects satis-
factory and such as may be considered final. My present paper
will be in full accordance with its title — an enquiry rather than a
dogmatic statement of results, and I shall feel thankful for cor-
rections and instructions from those who have long and success-
fully investigated local antiquities ; if I cannot hope to add any-
thing to their knowledge, I may at least elicit from them some
information that will be interesting and useful to others as well
as to myself I have endeavoured to prepare for my task, first
by observing carefully as opportunity offered, and secondly by
reading all I have been able to meet with bearing on the subject.
The principal fortified hills near Bath are four, namely, Little
Solsbury or Sulisbury, Hampton Down, Lansdown and Pen Hill-
Concerning these, three questions may be asked. 1st. What are
the characteristic peculiarities of each 1 2nd. What indications
are there of the age at which, and the people by whom, the several
fortifications were raised ? 3rd. What is their mutual relation,
and how far have they had connection and communication with
each other %
No detailed description of these places is necessary, as the
members are probably all familiar with them. I will only very
briefly remind you of their principal features.
On Solsbury the fortifications enclose the whole summit of the
eminence, an area of about 30 acres. The isolated character of
131
the hill and its steepness on almost all its sides -would seem to
render artificial fortifications the less necessary ; nevertheless the
present remains, though much stone-work has been removed for
road-mending, testify to the care and industry with which nature
was supplemented by art. This is particularly observable at the
western entrance. The other entrance, on the south-east, appears
to have owed its position to the neighbourhood of a well, and to
the necessity of gaining access to a trackway leading to the river.
But of the roads about this camp I shall speak presently.
The camp on Hampton Down is in close proximity to the
Wansdyke. A. plan of it is given in " Phelps' History of Somer-
setshire •" but if this was accurate at the time it was made, several
changes in the remains presented to view must have since taken
place. We may obtain from this plan some knowledge of the
indications of ancient works, which existed when Mr. Phelps wrote
and have now disappeared, such as the camp he speaks of, near
Cottage Crescent, and the eaithworks he places on Sion Hill. Of
the Hampton Down camp Mr. Scarth says (Somersetshire Arch, and
Nat. Hist. Soc. Proceedings, vol. v., p. 106j : — "It consists of a
bold projecting promontory, cut off from the adjoining portion of
I the hill by a deep trench and mound. The circuit enclosed is 30
racres. The northern entrance and the road or trackway leading
it is very perfect. The point towards Bath has been scarped,
fwhile traces of a rampart are still visible. The divisions into
which the settlement has been formed are very distinctly marked.
[Each family or clan seems to have had its allotted space, which
[was enclosed by a mound, and no doubt either on or in front of
[that mound was a palisade. There are also remains of hut circles,
[several barrows, and there seems to have existed an avenue of
kBtones." Mr. Scarth concludes that here was a spot for religious
[worship, and also a place for the administration of justice ; 200
[or 300 yards from the fosse there seems to have been a small
[Boman camp.
Lansdown presents not one fortification, but several. The
132
principal one is the British camp overlooking Northstoke. On
two sides the spur of the hill descends steeply, and has been in
some places scarped. On the other sides the defences were
formed by a mound and ditch, extending in a curved line for
nearly 1,000 yards, the ditch having been excavated down to the
rock. These nm from side to side of the spur, thus separating
the camp from the rest of the hill. A curious feature is that a
bank without a ditch, running through the centre of the camp,
divides it into two nearly equal portions. The area of the
camp is about 12 acres.
There are also on Lansdown many barrows, and traces of
British works of less importance. Phelps speaks of an earthwork
on the south-east of the hill. I think I have found indications of
it near St. Elpheage's well, but I do not feel certain whether these
are anything more than a natural formation of the ground. The
two Roman camps on this hiU appear to have been only temporary
ones. The peculiar appearances on the north-west brow of Lans-
down are generally said to be the works thrown up by Sii-
William Waller previous to the battle in 1643. They are how-
ever scarcely what we should expect to find as raised for such a
purpose, and there have in consequence been various conjectures
hazarded about them. It has been mentioned as a confirmation
of the statement that they are the remains of Waller's works,
that it is recorded that, on the Sunday after the battle, the
Marquis of Hartford sent to Waller a taunting message, hoping
that they should meet where they " might fight no more in
holes, but in the campane." But this is compatible with the
supposition that Waller's troops, besides throwing up a breast-
work, availed themselves of holes they found already existing.
If so, we may have here the remains of a British town, mutilated
and confused by the earthworks raised by the troops in 1643.
Of Pen Hill I have seen no notice in any archaeological work.
The British name would lead one to expect to find some marks
of Keltic occupation. Ascending on the Eastern side we come to
133
a plainly marked earthwork, with an entrance at the corner
towards the south. It curves round at the other extremity, and
can be traced all along the north side, and appears to have been
stronger as it approaches the high land which connects Pen Hill
with Kelston Round-hill. I can find no trace of fortification across
this high ground where it might be expected. On the south side
there are few if any traces of the mound ; this is to be accounted
for by the ease with which it would disappear in the course of
centuries, where the declivity is somewhat steep. Wherever the
rampart can be seen it is not near the brow of the hill, in fact
only half-way up, thus sacrificing the greatest defensive strength
for the sake of enclosing a large extent of surface. The remains
as a whole are less important than those on the other hUls of
which I have spoken, indicating that the defences were less
elaborate and substantial.
It is not difficult to perceive what are, in each case, the several
peculiarities distinguishing and characterising these four fortified
hills.
Solsbury was essentially a fortress, fitted for this purpose by
its natural features. There are no marks in the interior to show
to what extent it was also a permanent residence, the small
ridges that cross it being, I suppose, the work of modern
agriculturists. The fact that flint implements have been found
here, principally small arrow-heads and flint-cores, is of much
importance.
The camp on Hampton Down was evidently a permanent
settlement and place of residence. This is shown by the hut
circles, the barrows, the lines of division between separate clans,
and the marks of a place for religious ceremonies. Its close
connection with the Wansdyke also stamps a peculiar character
upon it.
The British camp on Lansdown seems to have been the castle
of refuge for a people who had their residences, and buried then-
dead, in other portions of the hill. The purpose of the bank that
134
divides it into two parts may have been to mark the positions
allotted to different portions of the people, when they took
refuge in it. Its small size, compared with the two previous
ones, indicates that it was a fortress rather than a permanent
dwelling-place.
Pen Hill was less strongly fortified than the others. The
purpose of its earthworks was probably to defend the cattle from
sudden attack, perhaps also from wolves. I find it stated that
cattle-stations of this kind are frequent in Ireland, and that they
have been found necessary for protection from wolves in historic
times. The Rev. F. Warre (Somersetshire Arch, and Nat. Hist.
Soe. Proceedings, vol. ix.. p. 142 seq.) points out that such British
summer camps or cattle-stations are common in the neighbourhood
of Glastonbury. He says they are characterised by " the great
size of their external inclosures, the absence of any very important
or complex military works, and of any considerable provision for
permanent residence." All these features are met with in
Pen Hill.
The same writer (Somersetshire Arch, and Nat. Hist. Soc. Proceed-
ings, vol. via., p. 65) divides British camps into two classes, the one
simply fortresses, such as Cadbury, the other fortified towns like
VVorle Hill. If we adopt this classification, we may say that
Lansdown Camp belongs to the former and Hampton to the
latter class, while Solsbury partakes to some extent of the
characteristics of both, and is in some of its features std generis.
The question that remains, as to the age and people to which
we shall refer these various fortifications, is beset with difficulties.
Professor Boyd Dawkins, in a lecture recently delivered here,
used words which gave the impression that he considered such
camps generally as the work of a pre-Keltic population, which he
calls Iberic. But he told me in conversation afterwards, that he
meant the remark to apply only to those cases in which the
weapons and implements of the neolithic age are found in
connection with a camp. The mere existence of hut-circles,
135
unaccompanied with such implements, is no indication of a
pre-Keltic settlement, since the use of these huts prevailed among
the Kelts themselves. I am not aware that remains of the stone
age have been found in any of the camps now imder consideration,
except Solsbury. As to the age of this fortification a remarkable
difference of opinion has existed. In Gough's edition of Camden's
Britannia, it is said to be of Saxon origin. Others have supposed
it was a Danish camp, basing the theory on the neighbouring
name of Swainswick, as derived from Sweyn, King of Denmark.
Again it has been considered as the first of a chain of Koman
forts, and Mr. Scarth says, " it seems to have been occupied by
that people." (Somersetshire Arch, and Nat. Hist., Proceedings,
vol. vi.,p. 121.) Mr. Earle, in his " Bath, Ancient and Modern,"
considers it to have been the site of a well-inhabited and populous
British city, and that Bath was colonised by a migration from
it. The discovery of flint implements carries us back yet further,
and places the first occupation of this hill in the neolithic
age, if not earlier. But it does not follow that the fortifica-
tions of which we see the remains were contemporary with
its first occupation, as a place of residence or of refuge.
The natural advantages of Solsbury as a post of defence
(especially when much of the country which is now dry land was
under water, the tide coming up beyond Saltford, and marshes
and floods extending the waters of the river), would immediately
attract the attention of any dwellers in the district, and would be
made available by successive populations. If there was here an
Iberic town, this was probably succeeded by a Keltic one ; the
remains now existing have all the character of Keltic fortifications
and whatever previous defences existed, the Kelts probably so
extended and improved them as to render it a very strong place.
The Romans might afterwards occupy it as a fort, though its
position on the top of a hiU, and the absence of any Eoman coins
or inscribed stones and of rectangular fortifications, show that it
was not one of their permanent stations. It is remarkable that,
136
while on Hampton Down and Lansdown Roman camps are found
near the British ones, as though to check or perhaps to attack
them, there is none such near Solsbury. Does this indicate that
the Romans took possession of this commanding height, instead
of simply watching it 1
All archaeologists are agreed that the camp on Hampton Down
is a Belgic fort, one of the series intended to defend their frontier,
of which Stantonbury Camp, Maes Knoll and Cadbury Camp,
lying, like the Hampton Down Camp, on the course of the Wans-
dyke, are other examples. But it was evidently a residence as
well as a fort. It was probably therefore a Keltic town before
the Belgae conquered the district and raised the Wansdyke, and
the latter people took possession of it and strengthened it to
render it one of their military stations. It would be interesting,
but is scarcely possible, to distinguish what parts of the remains
we now see are due to the Belg«, and what portions were in
existence before their occupation.
The Lansdown Camp is outside the Belgic boundary, and appears
to have been intended as a place of refuge for the earlier Keltic
people from Belgic attacks. If the Avon was the ancient^bound-
ary between the Hoedui and the Boduni, before the Belgic con-
quest, Hampton may have been a frontier-post of the former and
Solsbury and Lanadown similar posts of the latter ; and the two
last-named would continue to serve the same purpose for the
Boduni against the Belgse. The same people who held the Lans-
down Camp employed Pen Hill as a summer camp or cattle-feeding
station.
Supplementary to the subject of the camps is that of the roads
connected with them. Mr. Earle says (" Bath, Ancient and
Modern," p. 9) : — " In estimating the importance of an ancient
site, the archaeologist will always glance at the adjacent roads, not
at the modern highways of communication and traffic, but at those
sequestered byways, where if anywhere the fairies frolic still.
These are mostly of high antiquity, and they often point silently
I
137
to spots once frequented and celebrated, now deserted and silent.
The old road at Bathford, the ferry at Bathampton, and the roads
leading to it, may possibly contain a tacit allusion to the ancient
greatness of Solsbury."
The importance of this suggestion is confirmed by observation
of the field-path leading to Solsbury, from above the Swainswick
hi<^h road. It seems to lead no ./here but to the hill and the
fields around it, so that there can never have been much trafiic
along it in modern times ; the gates are all fast locked, I know
not whether by right or not ; it seems very little used. Never-
theless it is marked by the remains of pavement, some of the
stones being of considerable size. I can see no sufficient purpose
for paving such a path in recent times, and I therefore conclude
that the road is ancient. The stones would no doubt easily be
obtained from the rampart of Solsbury, but there seems no
motive for laying them on a little-used field path, while there
would be good reason for a well-made approach to an important
military post. This road leads up to the western and apparently
the principal entrance to Solsbury. To the right of this path as
you ascend, in the next field is a slightly raised bank, with a
broad flat top like a road. I wish some geologist would decide
whether this elevation is natural or artificial. I ask for a similar
decision as to a steep and very regular bank somewhat lower, and
• only a short distance above the high road.
The old roads about Lansdown have been in many places
obliterated. The steep narrow lane leading from Weston to the
top of Pen Hill may be a British trackway. When we reach the
top of this lane we find a remarkable road leading from Pen Hill
to Kelston Round-hill. I see this round hill spoken of by Phelps
as Kelweston Beacon. If it was the site of an ancient beacon
there would be good reason for a road being made to it. Some
traces of the road however continue nearly to the Via Julia,
to which it is at right angles. May this have been the com-
munication between the cattle station and the principal camp 1 It
3
138
has however none of the characteristics of a trackway. Sometimes
one might imagine it to have been made on the remains of a
rampart that once ran along the edge of the high ground con-
necting the hills. In other places it might be taken for a Roman
vicinal road, if there were any reason for expecting to find one in
this locality. I think these traces deserve further investigation.
In conclusion I must acknowledge the great help I have
received in the preparation of this paper from the many sources
of information to which I have had access. I am especially
indebted to several papers in the Proceedings of the Somersetshire
Archaeological and Natural History Society, by the Rev. Preb.
Scarth, and to a MS,, containing the substance of a " Memoir on
Lansdown, read to the Literary and Philosophical Society in
1858," by the late Mr. Jeffery.
Tht Old Walls of the City of Bath. By Harold Lewis, B.A.
(Read February Uth, 1879.;
Bath has not maintained her Borough Walls — like York — as a
well-prized historical monument; nor has she preserved their
memory — like some Continental cities — by levelling the site and
laying it out for public walks. Yet, though we have destroyed
them, we cannot forget them, and their history is of interest to us
on more than one ground. In the first place it is necessary to
explain several of our street names — and the prospect of
elucidating local names would be to me at all times a sufficient
reason for inquiry. But also as a link connecting together the suc-
cessive cities which have existed here, and giving continuity to the
story of human habitation on this spot, the walls are .-econd only
to the springs themselves. If it be true that the Roman walls were
b.uilt on the foundations of those of the British city, it is certain
that the medijEval walls followed on nearly the same lines and
gave the same limits to Bath as to Aquse Solis. Though the
landmarks which had survived unnumbered years were swept
away in the last century, they left traces on the map of Bath
which will not be obliterated while the present city lasts, and so
a study of local topography must necessarily begin with the walls.
The earliest record of the form of the city dates from mediaeval
times,* but in the absence of evidence to the contrary it is
concluded that the Roman city was of the same shape. If so it
was pentagonal, instead of the set square described by Polybius.
From this fact Sir R. C. Hoare concludes that " we are still
enabled to trace the irregular form of the British town ; " and this
view is admitted by an investigator for whose opinion I have the
highest respect — Mr. J. T. Irvine, t Still it seems to me that
there are so many circumstances here which might induce a
modification of plan, that I think further evidence of the inflexi-
bility of the Polybian rule is required before we are altogether
justified in making this deduction.
Collinson describes the wall of the Roman city with detail of
its material, gates and towers, and gives the dimensions of the
city in feet. J It must be understood however that he is only
arguing from analogy, and helpful as this may be it is always
desirable to distinguish it from positive fact. Dr. Stukeley's
vivid imagination saw in the Roman sculptures which stood in the
walls in 1724 mere reparation of the actual Roman work, || but
the fragments of wall that stiU survive for calmer and more criti-
cal examination are distinctly modern. Governor Pownall, who
got down to the foundations of the wall during some excavations
on the Borough Walls opposite the Hospital, in 1795, pronounced
the masonry undoubtedly Roman.§ Mr. Irvine however does
not accept his evidence, and holds that we have not traced the
• Dr. Jones's map, publiNhed 1572.
t The Bath Herald, 17 Oct., 1874.
J History of Somerset, 1,8.
II liin. Cur., p. 138.
§."A Particular Description," p, 27..
140
Roman -wall anywhere. The Romans nevertheless built well and
lastingly, and in rebuilding houses on the limits of the old
borough we shall some day come upon what we want. It is the
duty of a Club like this to be on the alert, and to see that some
competent person makes a careful and reliable record of what is
discovered. Mr. John Bellows's discoveries respecting the walls
of Glevum (Gloucester) show how much can be worked out in this
way by patient research.* A newspaper paragraph may here be
quoted as mentioning an opportunity of the kind I mean which
arose in 1803.t
In digging the foundation of some houses that are to be rebuilt on
the Borough walls, near the place where the old north gate formerly
stood, the workmen have come to the foundation of the ancient city
wall, composed of immense pieces of ashlar in a sound and perfect
state and of considerable value to the builders, amongst which they
have found fragments of columns that are apparently Roman and
probably the remains of some noble structure, demolished when this
wall was erected.
In this connection I may remark that the testimony of the
walls would be of great value in settling the desolation theory
put forward by Professor Earle and supported by Mr. Charles
Moore.
Passing now to the mediaeval wall I have laid before you
a plan of the city of about 1650, the original of which, taken very
carefully by a French gentleman, is now in the British Museum.
The maps of Bath are numerous, and Mr. C. P. Russell has made
and edited a collection of them of the highest possible value, which I
should like to see secured as public property, and deposited in the
Institution. Of two or three maps which would suit my present
purpose I have selected the one before you as least known, and as
suggesting the drawings which accompany it, of which more anon.
^ " Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society,"
1876, p. 153.
t The Bath Herald, 7th May, 1803.
141
Starting from the North Gate you will see that the wall followed
the line of the Upper Borough Walls and Gascoigne place,
and at the angle you will observe that there is what appears to be
a tower. It was in fact only a part of the wall raised higher than
the rest, though named Gascoigne's Tower. Nothing is known
of its origin beyond what is stated in the following sentence from
Leland ; but as he writes of the occurrence as within living
memory his statement must be taken as reliable. He says* —
One Gascoyne, an inhabitante of the Toune in hominum memoria,
made a little Peace of the Walle that was in Decay, as for a fine for a
faught that he had committed in the Cite ; whereof one part as at a
Corner risith higher then the Residew ol the Walle, whereby it is
communely caullid Gascoyne-Tower.
The wall then turned down by the Theatre to the West Gate,
at the bottom of Westgate Street, passed along New Westgate
Buildings into the Lower Borough Walls to the top of Southgate
Street, where stood the South Gate.
It thence passed by two angles to the Abbey Gate, at the
bottom of Abbey Gate Street, and thence in a straight line to
about the site of the Institution, whence it ran parallel to the river
past the East Gate to the bottom of Slippery Lane, where it
turned away again from the river to meet the North Gate. The
corner near the Orange Grove is the only point where it is sus-
pected that the wall has departed from the Roman line, this being
to make room for the chancel of the old Cathedral. From the
angle of the wall on the west side, near the site of the Royal
United Hospital, a wall and a ditch was carried down to the
river to add to the security of the city. Leland bears the following
testimony to the appearance of these wall in the 1 6th century : —
The Towne Waulle within the Toune is of no great Eighth to the
yes ; but without it is d fundamentis of a reasonable Highth and it
Btondeth almost alle, lakking but a peace about Gascoyn's Tower.
• Itin. II. 34.
142
It is manifest however that his account of the difference of
height within and without only applies to a part of the wall ; there
was nothing of the kind on the north side, though we can still
see it on the east.
The city was confined within these limits, and on the coming of
Nash in the beginning of the last century the upper town was laid
out without any regard to the lines of thoroughfare within the
borough, and hence the waste of splendid opportunities for grand
vistas of streets, such as might have been obtained for instance
in Stall Street, Union Street, Burton Street and Milsom Street.
When about the middle of the last century the walls were swept
away the streets were already built.
With regard to the gates it is to be remarked that as at Bristol
churches of very ancient foundation existed over the gates ; over
the North Gate S. Mary, and over the South Gate S. James.
The North Gate stood at the top of High Street and I have here
representations of it and the other three gates enlarged from
the map with such details as we possess. I have borrowed this
series of drawings from my father's extensive collection of books
and views, &c., relating to Bath. The South Gate stood, as I
have said, at the top of Southgate Street, with S. James's church
close to it. It was 10ft. 9in. broad and 14ft. 6in. high. On the
outer side the statue of King Edward III. sitting was placed in a
niche over the gate, with the figure of the Bishop as Abbot on
one side and of the Prior on the other.* The North Gate
probably occupied the same position as the Roman Gate, but
the South Gate of the Roman city was to the east of the present
church, and therefore to the east of the gate of which I am speaking.
The West Gate, at the bottom of Westgate Street, and looking
out towards Bristol must have been in later times the most imposing
gate of all, and according to tradition was the lodging place of royal
and distinguished persons when they visited Bath. " The standard
* Wood, "Essay on Bath," p. 325.
143
colours upon the Port Royal," that is to say the West Gate, are
specially named among the booty of Fairfax's men in taking the
city for the Parliament in August, 1 645.*
The East Gate was a little postern towards the river ; it still
exists, 'and may be seen in Boatstall Lane, with a small portion
of tlie wall extending away to the south, though houses are now
built upon it. The piece of castellated wall which we all know
opposite the Mineral Water Hospital is another remnant of the
wall, though it has been repaired in recent years. Mr. Scartht
telle us that " at the back of the circular school building attached
to Weymouth House, now the Abbey and S. James's Parochial
Schools, it is to be traced, although it has unhappily been cased
with modern masonry. It is however traceable between the
Weymouth House School and the old school belonging to the
Roman Catholics."
The name Abbey Gate Street, close to Weymouth House,
marks the position of the Monks' way through the wall of the
city. John Wood, writing about 1749, says that this gate was
built in the form of a triumphal arch, and that "the middle
aperture and north postern were taken down a few years ago. "J
In the wall of the baker's shop at the corner of this street a staple
still remains, and fixes the position of the Abbey Gate, called
also the Ham Gate, because it led out upon the Ham meadow.
I said at the oittset that our by-gone walls had a permanent
influence on the form of the city. Professor Earle remarks, " As
a Town Gate is a point towards which there is a necessary
conflux ot the population, it follows that streets on the inside are
apt to converge toward a gate, and likewise roads outside radiate
jfrom it. "I I You will see how Walcot Street and Broad Street
* A Fuller Relation of the taking of Bath, by Sir Thomas Fairfax, bis
forces, published by Authority, 1645.
t Aquse Solis, p. 9.
J John Wood, "Essay on Bath," p. 325.
II Ancient and Modern Bath, p. 103.
144
come together to enter the North Gate and lead direct into High
Street, while the Upper Borough Walls and Gascoigne Place
represent the street which followed round the line of the wall
on the inside. Again on the site of the West Gate the line of
Westgate Street and Westgate Buildings intersect, and Monmouth
Street and other ways converge upon the same point. Southgate
Street is the avenue leading from the South Gate to the river,
and the Lower Borough Walls again the thoroughfare inside the
wall.
As traffic increased it became necessary, as we know, to remove
the gates. Some detail of the demolition may prove interesting.
A newspaper paragraph of the date July 27th, 1754,* says : —
We hear that the north and south gates of this city will be pulled
down to make the streets more commodious, and the Corporation are
also causing the Bridge to be made wider for the better passing of
carriages, &c.
This was the Old Bridge ; so long ago as that a source of
trouble and anxiety to the city authorities.
The same writer states under the date March 3rd, 1755 : —
Last week the North Gate of the city was pulled down, as well as
the Houses on each side, in order to make that avenue more commo-
dious, which before was very narrow.
Then comes the following sentence, which seems to show that
the Town Council was much better thought of then than now : —
The late useful and great alterations made in the widening the
Bridge, the making the avenues leading to the city more convenient
for passengers, &c., &c., must redound to the honour of the present
members of the Corporation to latest posterity.
The West Gate was not removed till twenty years later. Under
date of Wednesday, Jan. 31st, 1776, we readt : —
• Bath Journal.
t Bath Chronicle.
146
Many respectable inhabitants of this city beg leave to express
their thanks to Mr, Clutterbuck for generously giving up his property
in Westgate House on such moderate terms for the advantage of the
City : — but would esteem it an addition to the obligation, if he would
direct it to be pulled down as soon as possible, as it becomes every
day not only more and more inconvenient but even dangerous.
I have spoken of royal visitors lodging in apartments over this
gate, and the existence of such accommodation is evident from the
view. Hence the structure came to be called Westgate House.
Again, on February 7th, we read —
The Printer has Mr. Clutterbuck's authority to assure the Citizens
(in answer to a paragraph inserted in his last paper) that the pulling
down of Westgate House will be immediately set about, that nothing
but the impossibility of doing any kind of business during the late
very inclement season has prevented so great a nuisance being before
removed.
We have a note of the progress of the demolition in the follow-
ing paragraph dated June 12th : —
On Saturday last a stone was dug out of the foundation of West-
gate House, 2ft. Sin. long, with the following inscription on it, an
explanation of which is requested : —
A E S V V
E " C A N
I E N
D M
In the same paper, strangely enough, is recorded the death of
Mr. Clutterbuck, Town Clerk.
Leland and Guidott and Camden describe in detail, and in some
cases illustrate, the Latin inscriptions and sculptures which had
been built into the walls in their times These were in time
gradually removed or effaced, when there was no Eoyal Institution
to give them shelter, and I believe that not one of the stones
described by these writers is now known to exist.
I have however come across a description of the walls written
At a much later date, and it may be interesting as showing their
H6
condition just on the eve of their destruction. I take it from the
fifth number of the Bath. Advertiser, a newspaper which had a
brief existence" in the middle of the last century. The first num-
ber was published on 18th October, 1755, and 264 numbers in all
were issued. What I am going to read is headed " Letter V.," and
evidently forms one of a series describing the city, but all
endeavours to find any more of the early numbers of the paper
have failed, and I must therefore be content to read you what I
have. The letter is addressed to Julian Alberti. at Florence, and
is dated Bath, July 2nd, 1753, two years before the removal of
the North Gate, which took place in the year the letter was
published in the newspaper. It says : —
LETTER V.
To JuuAN Alberti, at Florence.
Bath, July 2, 1753.
Dear Sir,
Before I proceed to give you a farther Clironological History
of this Place it will be necessary to give some Idea of the Shape and
Size of the Town at the Time of tlie Reformation, and a Description of
the Buildings as they were then and what Alterations they have sutFered
since, as far as I can collect from a Plan of the City taken about that
Time, which a Friend of mine has now in bis Possession, and this will
take in describing several letters : The Spot of Ground that Alfred's
Wall surrounds is an irregular Polygon of Six sides, some of which are
straight, others very much curved, especially to the West, and all
unequal. The straightest and longest Side is that to the North, wliich
is exactly 940 Feet long ; at the East-endi of this Wall stood a Tower,
call'd Counter'' s-Tower, which is now destroy'd, (though 'twas in
Being in the Memory of an old Mason of this City) ; and at the West-
End is a Tower called Gascogn's Tower : About One Hundred and
Seventy Feet from the ^cwi-End is the North-gate, the principal
entrance into this City and there was then no other Opening in the
North Wall but this Gate ; but in the Begiiming of this Century there
was another made near the TF(^s^End, and a Bridge made over the
Ditch on the Out side of the W-all, to be a Communication tea new
147
Street built by one Trim, and call'd after his Name.* The City is just
1,100 Feet long from the North-WsW to the South-^iAe, where is the
South-gate, and on the West is another Gate, from which to the East-
gate, that is diametrically opposite, is exactly 1,100. Also, the Length
of the whole Wall is about 3,200 Feet ; and the whole Area of the City is
about 25 Acres. As soon as you enter the North-gate, on the Left
Hand stood a Church, dedicated to St. Mary, which is now converted,
one Part into a School, and the other Jr'art with the Tower into a Gaol.
The North-Gate was then a Superb Building, corapos'd of three
Arches, and the Whole supporting a high and grand Tower, which has
long since been destroy'd.f The Center Arch is 10 Feet wide and 15
high, and the Posterns on each Side 5ft. 6in. broad and lift. Sin. high,
but these Posterns are now filled up to the great Damage of the Chief
Way into the Body of the City. The Front of this Gate has been
ornamented from the remotest Ages with the Statue of King Bladud.
The Image that existed in the Beginning of the present Century being
the Work of some bungling Country Stone-cutter, the Corporation
neglected to repair it when they beautified the other public Works of
the City, which Occasioned one Mr. Frond, who was Deputy Town
Clerk, to write the following Satire, intitled : —
KING BLADUD'S GHOST.:
Darkness had now her sable Pinions spread.
And all Men were or should have been in Bed ;
For 'twas the Hour that Goblins haunt the Night,
And Folks with fancied Ghosts themselves affright ;
When screaming Cats their am'rous Revels keep,
And howling Curs disturb the Joys of Sleep :
From Groves below King Bladud's royal Shade
A Visit to his antient City made ;
And glaring on the Place wherein there stands
His statue, carved by some vile Bungler's Hands ;
* We know where this street is, and must be familiar with the archway under
the houses which marks the other side of the ditch,
t Leland writing under date 1542, says " In the Walles aft this tyme be no
Tourres saving over the Towne Qate. "
X These verses are aUo in Wood's Essay on Bath, p. 3i23.
148
Seeing the Image Dust and Filth disgrace,
Tis said fantastic Tears bedewed Lis Face :
Nay, thinking Tears too weak to tell his Pain,
The Pensive Ghost did thus in Words complain :
Unhappy King, whose Glory thus depends,
Precarious on the Pleasure of false Friends !
Ungrateful City ! whose unworthy Care
Cannot afford King Bladud Cloaths to wear !
Two upstart Princes of a modern Race,
That scarce in History deserve a Place,
Our ent'ring Street with dazling Splendor grace,
One in Imperial Eobes of Scarlet Hue,
Extends his Sceptre to the public View :
The other dress'd in shining Armour stands.
And with drawn Sword the Market Place commands
Whilst I, who first these wondrous Waters found,
And was by Fame with gilded Laurels crown'd,
Must now in vile Oblivion pass my Days,
My Brows with Cobwebs wreath'd instead of Bays.
No Robes of State my naked Limbs adorn,
Unflourish'd, unregarded, and forlorn,
I stand expos'd to be the vulgar Scorn :
There's not a Rascal passes through the Gate,
But grins to see me share so mean a Rate ;
And sneering Cries, Faith, 'tis a Dev'lish Thing
That they should make a Porter of a King.
Is this the Thanks ? Is this the Homage due I
That I expected should be paid by you 1
Did I for this with such assiduous Pain
The Knowledge of mysterious Nature gain ?
From them you borrow Health, and Life, and Fame,
Sure some Regard for me the Waters claim.
They and their Virtues had been still conceal'd
If by my Care they had not been reveal'd ;
My Art and Fortune did so well agree,
That what you owe the Springs you owe to me.
And I you know have been full often bound
149
When no Security before was found.
But now [ look so scandalous and poor
The Neighbours swear they'll take my Word no more.
In vain you may my further Aifl invoke,
I am so mean that all Men think I'm broke
For Shame, ungrateful Town, thy Crimes bewail,
And Jet these iSighs, these sad Complaints prevail.
Let every Couns'lor, Alderman and May'r,
Relent with Pity to a restless Prayer ;
Discharge the Debt of Honour so long due,
That I may shine as well as t'other Two.
This said the waking Cocks began to Crow
And warn'd the Spirit back to Shades below.
The two Upstart Princes mention'd in the POEM are Cobx and Edgar,
whose Images are in the Front of the Guildhall. Soon after the publica-
tion of this Satire the Corporation set up a Statue not much better than
the former, which looks more like a Scold in a Ducking-Stool than a
Prince on a Throne. But I am inform'd that the whole Gate is soon
to be pulled down ; and that there is a Subscription on Foot among the
Inhabitants to have a Marble Statue of the Founder of the Baths made
by an eminent Statuary of this City, from whose Works that I have
seen and studied there is great Prospect of having a Statue by an
English sculptor not inferior to any in the Florentine Gallery. The
other three gates are so mean that they can hardly be called Gates,
and therefore shall not describe them but conclude myself,
Dear Sir,
Your faithful Servant,
Like many interesting things in the present day, he thus breaks
off wherf we are most anxious to hear more, with the tantalising
words " to be continued," and as I have not been able to find
that continuation, he brings to an abrupt conclusion what I have
to say about the Old City Walls.
liSOr
Summary of Proceedings for the Year 1878-9.
Mr. President and Gentlemen,
The Anniversary Meeting for the transaction of the usual
business was held at the Royal Literary and Scientific Institution
on the morning of the 18th of February, and in the evening of
the same day the dinner took place at the Pump Room Hotel
under the presidency of Mr. Skrine ; the Vice-President, the
Rev. Preb. Scarth being absent from England.
The Chairman, in proposing " Success to the Club," after the
usual loyal toasts, discussed the problem how to make the
members more active and useful in promoting the object for
which the Club was formed, and with that view made some
valuable suggestions. One was that in the election of members
their choice should be made of those only who sympathised with
and were likely to assist the work the Club undertook ; ornamental
members were not needed, only useful ones. In the second place,
with the view of avoiding over-fatigue by including too many
things in their day's excursion, they should not attempt too much
in one day, but simply select one object of interest, spend some
time over it, and falling into groups explore it, and perchance
discover other details about it than those main ones already in
print. They had a valuable series of " Proceedings," and he
was sure there was still a great deal to be done in local archa3ology
as well as in natural science. If they did not take an interest
in geology and natural history, he thought they must all be
interested in local history, and in that subject there were still
many details to be elucidated. In the third place, he would
suggest that if such gatherings as that about which he was
speaking could be made more frequent it would be of advantage
to the Club. The feeling of sociability would be then cultivated,
as it was of great importance to know that they were workers
in a common cause and felt sympathy in one another's aims and
aspirations. They might also find some plan of improving the
attendance at their evening meetings, because when members
had taken some trouble in preparing a paper it was not very
encouraging to find about four members present. In proposing
the toast, he coupled with it the name of an absent friend, their
President, the Rev. L. Blomefield, whose weak health prevented
his being with them that evening. The Secretary's health
having been proposed, gave him an opportunity whilst returning
his thanks to express his great pleasure at the compliment which
had been paid to their President. Might his health be indeed
preserved for many years to come, to enable him to watch over
the interests of the Club ! Mr. Blomefield often regretted his
inability to take a more active part in his duties as President,
but though obliged on account of his health to abstain from
being with the members in person, yet he (the Secretary) assured
them that he was with them in spirit, and from his study was
constantly planning something for the advancement of the Club,
and watching anxiously after its interests. As to his own ohare
in the work of the Club, he would always work heartily for them
if the members would stand by him ; but he must say that
some of them seemed very indifferent to the objects for which
the Club was founded. In conclusion, he asked them to drink
the health of their treasurer, Col. St. Aubyn, for by his excellent
management the Club had a balance in hand, and the arrange-
ments of the dinner had also been undertaken by him. This
having been duly honoured, the rest of a pleasant evening was
spent in conversation, and no doubt every member determined
to work with all his might for the Club.
T)ie Committee having considered the question of the small
attendance of members at the Evening Meetings, determined
to try an alteration of the time, and accordingly reverted to the
old plan adopted some years ago, of holding the meetings for
papers, exhibition of specimens, &c., in the afternoon. This has'
proved decidedly a success, and the audience during the past
162
session though not perhaps in the proportion one might expect
to the members on the list, yet was fairly satisfactory and
encouraging.
The first meeting was accordingly held in the Committee Room
of the Literary and Scientific Institution in the afternoon of Wed-
nesday, Dec. 18th, the Eev. H. N. EUacombe in the chair, the sub-
ject of the paper being " Subterranean Bath," by the Rev. Preb.
Earle, of which the following is the summary : — Mr. Earle supposed
thatif they could uncover Bath to a depth of 15ft. or 16ft. they would
find a great deal of the traces and monuments of history. In the
first place they would come in many parts to Roman remains, as
they knew from such instances as the Mineral Water Hospital
where they had a fine Roman pavement. So in many other places
Mr. Davis had come down upon Roman Bath, and as that gentle-
man was present he would no doubt tell them something of what
he had seen. There were three distinct levels at which obser-
vations had been made, leaving out of course the natural level
from which aU started. There was first the Roman level, and
second that of a period of desolation after the Roman departure.
That seemed to have lasted for some time ; Mr. Moore called
attention to it many years ago when excavations were being made
upon the site of the Wliite Hart, and said he observed vegetable
debris, wliich meant that the place had been so long desolate that
a growth of vegetation had taken place ; on the other hand, though
in a stone country like this the Romans built in part with stone,
the upper part of their houses were mostly of wood, and in time
that would decay and produce exactly the effect which Mr. Moore
spoke of. But the period in question interested him from another
point of view in this day of comparative studies. Bath lay desolate
for 100 years at least — bethought 200. The Saxons who invaded
this country came from the most northern of the Gothic peoples,
they were the least civilised, and very destructive and ferocious.
The first city known to have been taken by them was
Andredesceaster — in Latin, Anderida — a town on the borders of
153
the Weald of Kent. Henry of Huntingdon gave an account of
the siege, which did not look like rhetorical flourish, and which
Mr. Freeman thought must have been drawn from ballads. After
quoting the chronicler, Mr. Earle said that the spot was identified
by Mr. Freeman vidth the remains of a desolate city near Pevensey.
The Saxons appeared when they had taken a Roman-British city
not to have lived in it but to have avoided it. In this instance
there were very old Saxon settlements on either side, at Pevensey
and at Westham. In their own day at Silchester, the wall of
which had long stood above ground, streets had been laid open
and a large city shown. At Wroxeter he understood that the
whole city had been laid out like Pompeii, though when he saw
it years ago it was a turnip field. That was the general course,
when the Saxons took a city they destroyed it and left it desolate.
With regard to Chester they had a remarkable historical state-
ment in the chronicles of the Danish wars of Alfred. In a passage
which was remarkably contemporary, it was stated that the course
of the war went in that direction, and that a party of the Danes
went into a waste Chester (or castra) and held it. This was the
modern Chester, and hence the old name of Westchester, mean-
ing Waste-chester, though Gibson and other antiquaries of the
18th century had erroneously interpreted Westchester as the
Chester in the West. Layamon's "Brut," whose date was 1205,
and which was well known to be drawn from much older sources,
said that Leicester was founded by Lear (the Lear of Shakes-
peare), and was a very rich city, and then described how it was
destroyed and the people put to the sword. They thus had
instances of cities at that moment lying waste as Anderida and
Silchester ; and of cities now inhabited respecting which they had
evidence of their having once been waste, as Chester, respecting
which they had historical evidence of the first order; and
Leicester, respecting which they had evidence of the poetical order.
He had no doubt that Bath also lay waste, as he said in a paper
read to the Club some years ago upon a poem from the Codex
4
164
Exoniensis, a MS. given to Exeter Cathedral by its first bishop,
Leofric, in the beginning of the eleventh century, which had lain
in the Chapter library ever since. The volume contained a collec-
tion of pieces and poems ; this one, called by modern editors
" Ruin," described a noble city lying waste — ruined temples,
broken paintings, a place where proud men had once walked
abroad, where there were baths of natural hot water, which
gushed forth in streams, and the poem concluded with the words
" that is a king-like thing." He had for years believed and he
still believed that it was exceedingly probable that the occasion
of this poem was the ruined city of Bath. He would not confine
the poet to this country, but he did not know where in civilised
Europe they would find another city answering to that description.
The}' had the statement in the Chronicles that in 577 the Saxons took
Cirencestei", Gloucester and Akemanceaster, and drove the British
further west. That was the presumed date for the beginning of
the desolation. They were passing through an obscure period
of history, and he was liable to appear as disagreeing from others ;
he would therefore say that they might be right, but in such
matters considerable liberty must be allowed to eveiy attempt at
clearing up the difiiculties, each one must be allowed to form his
theory, and the theory itself must be judged by its fitness to
supply a reasonable interpretation of the facts. The next appear-
ance of Bath in the documents was that on the sixth of November,
676. Osric, king of the Hwiccas, founded a monastery here.
Tliey had now come down to historical times ; our first historian,
Bede, was then young, and Osric was a perfectly historical per-
sonage — he was king, he might say, of Worcestershire and
Gloucestershire, and the word Hwiccas stUl remained in the first
syllable of Worcester, Avhich was Hwiccraceaster. About one
hundred years later Off'a founded the Abbey here. He felt com-
pelled to doubt, Mr. Earle went on to say, the fact ot Osric's
foundation. What Livy said of nations was true of monasteries —
they tried to push their origin back as far as possible. He had
155
read over the documents purporting to be Osric's time after
time, and he could not convince himself that they were
genuine or had traces of a genuine origin. The period during
which he thought Bath had lain vacant was about 200 years, till
the time of Offa, in fact, and then it had been peopled gradually.
Then as to the name ; that there had intervened a great blank
in the history of Bath the change of name seemed to bear witness.
In the great chronicle from which all the local chronicles are
derived the name is Bathanceaster. That was so strange, hybrid
and unheard of, that he had no more doubt than if he looked over
the man's shoulder, that the copyist in the reign of Alfred had
altered the first syllable, Akeman, to make the name as he thought
more intelligible. Ace was Aquae, the old Latin name of Bath ;
the same word appeared in Aix la Chapelle, rendered Achen by
the Germans, and in Aix, a town of Provence, and Dax, a town
in the Pyrenees. Man was the British word for place, and Ace-
man was what the British made of the name Aquae Solis. The
Saxons when they took it up added Chester. That was the name
before the period of desolation, but when the city reappeared it
was called Bath, from " JEt Bathum," the dative plural, or in full,
" ^t tham hatum Bathum." Akemanceaster lingered locally, as
such words do, and in the poetry of the ninth and tenth centuries
they found mention of " Bath, which old wi-iters called Akeman-
ceaster." The mediaeval Latin writers took Akeman to be a person,
and called it Akemanni Civitas. Mr. Earle continued — in these
days of an organised central authority it is easy to force a change
of name, and the Post Office can alter Twerton to Twerton-on-
Avon, but in those old times nothing was more difficult than to
alter the name of a place continuously inhabited, and the change
in the name of the city was a strong proof that it lay desolate and
uninhabited. The third period he would name was the 12th
century. When the late Eector (Mr. Kemble) opened the ground
in Orange Grove, to make a coal cellar for the Abbey, he came
upon a beautiful tesselated floor, which was of the 13th century,
156
and in which Mr. Davis found reason to believe that he had traces
of the arms of Richard, King of the Romans. This was interesting
as the remains of ecclesiastical work wliich had entirely dis-
appeared ; they had solid remains of the Church of John de
Villula, but they had lost all trace of the work done from his time
down to the present Church. That discovery showed there had
been intermediate work in the choir, which, if it was all of the
same character as the floor, must have been very elaborate and
beautiful.
Mr. C. E. Davis followed at the invitation of the Chairman.
He said he had only very little to add, because he hoped to make
a paper respecting what he had seen in the course of the work
now going on. He felt certain from the excavations that Bath
must have been desolate, as Mr. Earle had said, and he thought
the time must have been 200 years or more — certainly more than
100. But he should be sorry to give up Osric's monastery, and
he thought that, if a small house, it might have been founded
without stopping the work of desolation, and without leading to
an inhabitation of the city. In his opinion Bath was likely to be
chosen for such a purpose, because it was a naturally strong
position, occupying a cliff as it were in the centre of the valley ;
the river washing two sides, with the advantage of a marsh where
the Ham Gardens now are, or rather were ; and if the weir at
what is called Monk's Mill had not been broken down, the Roman
ditch beneath the walls would be flooded on the north and east of
the ruined city, extending as far as the East Gate. He thought
there was little doubt that the weir was Roman work and was placed
for the double purpose — a mill, and a dam to throw the water at
a high level as a fortification. Leland mentioned a mill worked
by warm water, and s'ome years ago a water-wheel was found in
Swallow Street, confirming his statement, but the water that
turned it was not solely hot water, but the outflow of the diverted
water of the city he had just explained. He had found a number
of large stones from Roman buildings ; some were already in
157
the garden of the Institution, and others were to follow. Among
these was a piece of wood, apparently withy, reduced to its
present form by pressure, which seemed to show that trees had
taken root among the ruins. On the immense stones which he
had found there were remnants of moss on the top face, showing
that they stood plain, without any cornice — the mere pillars of
roofless temples and buildings. All the metal cramps wliich
joined the stones were gone. In part of the ruin there was a
mark of the level of the hot water, higher than the Roman level
but lower than the present level. He found the old Roman
drains in some places as high as 1 1ft. most complete ; but until
he opened them in the greater part stopped up, although in
mediaeval times they had evidently been partly used, as there
was evidence of frequent repair. These drains appeared to have
surrounded the whole grand system of baths, which occupied an
area more than twice as large as all the present establishments of
the Baths put together. He exhibited a flagon of metal found in
the drains, as also a mask of pure tin, which might have come from
the coffin of one of the nuns of Osric's house. He had read a
paper on it to the Society of Antiquaries, which had been pub-
lished in The Bath Herald.
After a remark from the Secretary on the importance of record-
ing the association in which any relic was found, Mr. Da\'is added
that in his examination of the Old Bridge, about which there had
been so much jDrofitless talk, he had found that the southern arch
was Roman work and no doubt carried a tower. So that before
the Prior of Bath began the present bridge there must have been
the ruins of a Roman one, the superstructure of which was of
timber.
Mr. Moore confirmed what had been said of the White Hart
site, produced some fresh water shells found there, and expressed
his belief that the vaUey was covered with water during the time
of desolation.
The Rev. Preb. Earle, in repljdng, said he was not satisfied as
158
to the origin of the name of Stall Street. He believed it was
ancient, and gave its name to the church, and that S. Mary ad
Stabula was only the mediaeval translation of the Old English
name. He believed that Stall was the burgh-stall — the same
place as the piazza of an Italian city, La Place of a French one.
Mr. Moore regretted that he was unable to read his promised
report on the excavations at Bathampton.
The second afternoon meeting of the session was held in the
Committee-room of the Royal Institution on Wednesday, January
15th, 1879, when there was a large attendance of members,
Mr. Skrine in the chair. Mr. E. Green read a paper on the
questions — "Did Queen Elizabeth visit Bath in the years 1574
and 1592 1" (Published in full, p. 105.) The Chairman having
expressed the thanks of the Club to Mr, Green for liis important
contribution, the Rev. Preb. Earle remarked that there was no
tradition of two visits, and it appeared that Mr. Green had
shown them that the date they previously believed in was
wrong. He added that it would be interesting to trace the
tradition higher than Collinson.
Mr. Green expressed liis regret that he could not find any
record of where the Queen stayed, either in Bath or Bristol.
The Rev. Preb. Scarth then read a paper on " Further
Gleanings in the Mendip." (Fide page 120.)
The third afternoon meeting was held at the Institution
on Wednesday, February 12, when there was also a good
attendance. Mr. Chas. Moore presided, and the Rev. J. AVright
read an interesting paper entitled "An Enquiry concerning
Fortified Hills near Bath." (Vide p. 129.) The Chairman said
that Waller's Pits on Lansdown were only the rubbish heaps
of quarrymen who had worked there. The Rev. W. S. Shaw
then described the crest over Fielding's house at Twerton, and
exhibited a photograph of the house and a drawing of the crest
— a Phoenix rising out of a mural crown — and asked if anyone
could account for it, so as to test the accuracy of Colliuson's story
159
that Fielding lived in the house 1 The following is a summary :—
" The object of the paper which I have to read this afternoon
is only to point out and not solve two questions in relation
to our Parochial History in Twerton. Most parishes in England
are connected in some way or other with a person of more than
local fame. With Twerton is connected that of Henry Fielding,
the noveUst. There he is said to have lived some portion of his
roving life and still more there he is said to have written his
celebrated " Tom Jones," a book especially interesting to all
dwellers in Bath, Squire AUworthy being without much doubt a
sketch of Ralph Allen. We have therefore in Twerton a house
called Fielding's Lodge in past days, evidently of some pre-
tensions, to which carved stone vases and other work bear
witness. Some years ago it stood in its own acre-and-a-half of
ground, but now it is surrounded by humbler and more recent
dwelHngs ; these, as if in respect for their neighbour even in its
reduced circumstances, are styled Fielding's Buildings. But I
should be glad to know of some more certain authority than
CoUinson s statement that it was here Fielding lived and Avrote his
novels. Why should he live here when his sister lived in Bath 1
he had no special employment here and at Prior Park there was a
certain welcome. On the door of this house there is a large slab
on which is placed a stone crest, consisting of what appears to be
a Phoenix rising out of a mural coronet. It is somewhat hollow,
the wings of the Phoenix are only represented by stumps ; the
beak has apparently formed a target for an only too skilful stone-
throwing lad ; and in the cracks and crannies formed by time are
now growing miniature wall-flowers. But what does it mean 1 —
what family does it represent? Were they the owner's of the
house, had they any connection with Fielding? One thought
of course that it would form a key to some past history of the
family, but alas, I have failed altogether to connect it with any
family, and in my search I have not run alone. Mr. God-vvin,
Librarian to the Marquis of Bath, most kindly interested himself
160
in the matter, and fairly puzzled himself, he consulted Mr. Gough,
author of " The Glossary of Heraldry," who writes that he regrets
he is not able to identify the crest. Mr. Godwin kindly obtained
for me "Fairbairn's Crests of Great Britain and Ireland," but a
careful search through that valuable and exhaustive work failed
to clear the matter. If it were an eagle rising out of a mural
coronet it might belong to a family named Strong and some
others ; or if it were a Phoenix out of a ducal coronet, to that of
Seymour, but it provokingly is neither one or the other but a
mixture of both. I hoped to have been able to find some clue
from the t. tie-deeds of the house, but though every facility has
been most kindly accorded me by the owner I have not so far been
successful. A story in the village that it was placed there by a
lady who once dwelt there as a memorial to a much beloved but
deceased parrot wUl not, I fear, aid us much. But now I leave it
in the hands of the members of our Club."
The Chairman thanked Mr. Shaw, and expressed a hope that
some information would be elicited.
Mr. Davis said the device might be no crest at all.
Mr. Harold Lewis remarked, touching the question of Fielding's
connection with Bath, that his sister, Sarah, was buried at
Charlcombe. He shared Mr. Shaw's anxiety to obtain proof of
CoUinson's statement, for at the last meeting Mr. Green exposed
the credulity of that historian with regard to village legends.
No conclusion was arrived at regarding the crest.
Mr. Harold Lewis read a paper on " The Old City Walls,"
( Vide 138) describing their position and bringing forward from some
old newspapers a description of their condition in the last century,
and of the removal of the gates. He exhibited a copy ©f a plan
of the city made about 1650 by a French gentleman, and now in
the British Museum, as well as views of the four gates.
Mr. C. E. Davis supplemented the paper with interesting infor-
mation. The wall, he said, came from the river up Slippery Lane,
and the North Gate stood across North Gate Street at the top of the
161
lane. The wall then went on up Barton Court and by an irregular
course got into the line of the piece they knew opposite the
Mineral Water Hospital. His great grandfather pulled down the
West Gate, and he had seen papers relating to a public meeting
which was held in connection with the event, and at which a vote
of thanks was passed to his ancestor for the improvement effected.
S. Peter's Gate, leading from the Orange Grove in the direction of
the Parades, existed till about tO years ago. It suppor : ed a wooden
house and there was a difficulty in getting the people who held this
to quit. The arrangement of the city used to be very different
from what it is now. The Market House stood out in the
Marketplace, part of Messrs. Tugwell's premises covered the vaults
of the buildings, and the Market Place went as far over as Union
Passage. The houses there were built upon the foundations of
the Market stalls and were an encroachment. Possibly as all
bargains had to be made in the open market these buildings were
desirable, because they were still regarded as part of the market,
and business could be carried on in them. The name of Cheap
Street would thus be explained ; it was one side of the market.
He also referred to the ancient Inn signs ; the Bear, which they
knew stood at the top of Stall Street, was the badge of the
Neville's (Marquis of Abergavenny) who lived at Newton. At
Devizes, and at other places on the great roads leading to Bath
they would find a Bear Inn — aU radiating from this one. Then
the Angel, the Lamb with the flag, a well-known sign which used
to be where Theobald's shop is, and the Cross Keys, an ancient
house, were the Inns frequented by Pilgrims. The White Lion,
the first Inn on coming into the city, and the Wliite Hart would
represent a Yorkist party in the city, and must date from the time
of Edward IV. The Greyhound opposite the Lion was Lan-
castrian, the sign being a badge of I f enry VII.
Excursions.
- MalfMshwry Abbey and Charlton Park, — The excursion life of the
162
Club awoke in new vigour on April 29th, 1878, after its wintry
sleep, and a goodly party of forty, fourteen of which were invited
guests, turned out of the Dauntsey and Malmesbury train about
11 a.m., en route for the Abbey and Charlton Park. Perhaps from
no point of view is the grand old building seen to better advantage
than from the station on the north side, and notwithstanding some
depreciatory remarks, made at the first by those whose expec-
tations had been too highly raised as to the extent of the structure,
before the day was over all admitted the very high position
claimed by this Abbey amongst our ecclesiastical buildings, as
point by point was dwelt upon by those who were familiar with
the architectural details.
After a preliminary stroll into the town the members passed by
the Market Cross, one of the finest perpendicular crosses in England,
to the grand old south porch of the Abbey.
Here Mr. Charles E. Davis met them, and from a suitable posi-
tion in the nave at once entered into its architectural history.
The arrangement, he said, was similar to that of most monasteries,
and consisted of the main church with its domestic buildings ; the
peculiarity in the present instance consisted however in the
domestic buildings being situated on the north side and enclosed in
a comparatively small space between the church and the river.
This, however, he thought might be accounted for by the necessity
of defence, as all monasteries were more or less fortified ; the
proximity of the Church to the cliflf and the river on the north,
the castle closing it on the east, would render its protection more
easy. The position reminded him very much of Durham, which
was similarly almost surrounded by a river. The Church origi-
nally consisted of a nave with central tower, north and south
transepts, with apsidal chapels, presbj^ery and choir ; the usual
plan of all great minsters, i.e., cruciform. As to the date of the
present building Mr. Freeman had stated that it was begun by
Bishop Eoger of Sarum about the year 1135, but in his (Mr.
Davis's) opinion it was some forty or fifty years later. The nave
163
originally consisted of nine bays, six of which only now remain,
counting from the east end, and form the Parish Church, the
walled-up arch of the central tower forming the east end. All of
these are Norman, the piers of the usual type, vast and round,
with round cushion capitals supporting pointed arches with the
usual mouldings, indicative of the Transition period. The triforiura
above is Norman, four small arches within a larger arch, with
chevrons, the capitals plain. Over this is a lofty clerestory, remark-
able for its height, as Mr. Freeman had pointed out. But a change
now takes place in the style ; all traces of the Norman work have
disappeared from the inside, and the whole upper part, including
roof, is Decorated and of the time of Edward III., a great simi-
larity existing between this and Tewkesbury. Of the west front
only a portion remains. There was an entrance and also a west
tower similar to the one at Ely. Traces of this now remain, as
also of the west window, which was Perpendicular. The cloisters
ran along the north wall, and the chapter-house probably existed
to the east of the cloisters.
Mr. Davis having thus given an admirable resurrU of all that
was known respecting the structural arrangements of the interior^
Mr. Talbot supplemented his remarks by stating in the first place
that the position of the domestic buildings was sometimes on the
north and sometimes on the south side of churches, varying
according to the exigency of circumstances. In the present caser
the conveyance of the water for domestic use probably determined
their situation. With regard to Mr. Freeman's idea that the
Norman work was of the time of Bishop Roger, he must confess
that he saw no good evidence to substantiate it. The Church of
S. John at Devizes was of that date, and what particular simi-
larity was there between the two works ? At Mahnesbury and at
Devizes the central tower was oblong like the tower of the Bath
Abbey. At Malmesbury the difficulty of the narrower opening
north or south had been met by retaining the semi-circular form
and stilting the arch ; at Devizes, if it was the work of Bishop
164
Eoger, he had met the same difficulty by putting pointed arches
in connection with the large semi-circular arches east and west.
Nay, moreover, there is evidence that he was at feud with the
monks of Malmesbury, and was not likely to assist in beautifying
their church. The pointed arches he thought were probably
later than the time of Stephen, and might be that of Henry II.
This he considered a remarkable example of a church with a
general Norman effect and pointed arches, and called attention to
the curious "Greek fret" ornament running along under the hori-
zontal string-course above the arches, and how it had been muti-
lated in various places. Agreeing with Mr. Davis as to the
Decorated work of clerestory windows and vaulting being one
work, temp. Edward III., he demurred to accept Mr. Freeman's
term for the tracery in the windows when he calls them imperfect
" spherical triangles," and would rather adopt the term " segmental
triangles." Exeter Cathedral had a somewhat similar tracery in its
windows; indeed the whole north aisle of Corsham Church contains
work so similar as to make it probable that it was the work of the
same architect. To this he had formerly called the attention of the
Club. As to the curious square projection on the south wall, he
said it was certainly not a minstrel gallery, but was probably used
for watching some of the altars in the church from, and was of
Perpendicular date. Some of the old grisaille glass still existed
in the windows of the aisle, which were of remarkable shape.
Before going outside a pilgrimage was made to the reputed shrine
of King Athelstan, near the south wall of the east end, and though
the present figure is certainly of much later date, yet it is thought
probable by Messrs. Freeman, Davis and Talbot, that it might
really mark, if not the site, yet the fact of the burial of the King
in this church. In the vestry some tiling of Decorated period
was inspected, and the dedicatory brass and monument of Stump,
the clothier. On the former was the following : —
THE 0I7T as THOMAS STtTUF, OF MALMESBUBY ABBEV, QiSSI., 1689.
165
On the latter —
NEAR THIS PLACE LYETH THE BODY OF THOMAS STITIIP, GENT., WHO
DEPAETED THIS LIFE THE 6 DAY OF APRIL, ANNO DOM. 1698.
O Death how cruel ia thy dart,
To strike this Captain to ye Heart,
For good He was here to remaine,
Jehovah took him for to traine,
In Grave His Body to remaine
Till Christ himself doth come againe.
Having collected the members at the most suitable point of
view on the outside, Mr. Davis called attention to the pyramidal-
pinnacles connected with the flying buttresses, and to the excel-
lence of the masonry, the size of the stones agreeing with that of
Glastonbury Abbey. The magnificent south porch had a Decorated
addition, and the arrangement of the angels over the Apostles on
the north and south sides facing the figure of the Deity over the
inner door he thought might throw some light on those similar
pieces of sculpture found at Bradford, if indeed they were not of
the same date, i.e., temp. Bishop Aldhelm. Mr. Talbot was
unwilling to admit this ; at the same time he considered that the
carving round the soffits of the deeply recessed arch might have
been executed at a subsequent period to that of the interior of
the porch. Neither was he prepared to admit that the figure of
Sagittarius, carved on a capital at the west-end, was an unfailing
proof that the work was executed in King Stephen's time. Many
other structural pecuUarities were pointed out ; the Norman
medallions, on the outside of the clerestory, clearly showing where
the old Norman windows, of unusual height, formerly existed ;
the ingenious arrangement whereby the water from the roof was
conducted along the flying buttresses, the subsequent addition of
a buttress at tlie west-end over the more ancient one to support
the tower, the remains of the central tower and transept arches ;
in fact it is needless to add that under the guidance of two such
able masters of the masonic art as Messrs. Davis and Talbot,
^166
detail after detail of the structure was admirably elucidated and
a most instructive hour was passed.
All things, however, come to an end ; it was found necessary to
leave the Abbey for Charlton Park, a visit being first of all paid
to the so-called remains of the Hospitium ; which were after all
nothing but the west door of some chapel, with the arcading from
another building inserted over it.
A walk of two miles brought the members through the pretty
little village of Charlton to Charlton Park, and by the courteous
permission of the Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire, a pleasant hour
was spent amid the chef d'ceuvres of some of the old masters.
The day terminated with a cold dinner at the George Inn, which
was much appreciated, and notwithstanding a tedious delay at the
Dauntsey station, the members reached Bath gratified by their
day's excursion.
Symorid's Yat. — On May 28, 1878, the members left by an early
train for Bristol, crossed the Severn to Portskewitt and took the
train for Chepstow and Monmouth. On emerging from the
tunnel near the first station from Chepstow a very fine view of
the Wye winding at the base of perpendicular rocks with the
grand old Abbey of Tintern burst upon their view. The trees
in all the freshness of their early summer green clothing the hill-
sides added to the beauty of the scene. Driving from Monmouth
close to the river all the way to Symond's Yat, the hill was
ascended, and a very extensive view obtained from the top over
the rich and cultivated valley to the north, with the towns of
Ross and Hereford in the distance. Descending after a while the
members seemed to have enjoyed the fine view of the winding
river and the opposite crags from a verandah commodiously
arranged for that purpose. The refreshments so much needed
after their day's work added somewhat to the enjoyment of the
scene. The Secretary is indebted to Mr. Herdman for notes of
the day's excursion, and to Mr. Broome for the following list of
the plants of interest that he found. With the exception of one
167
or two, the species seem to be the same as are common in our own
neighbourhood : —
Cardamine impatiens-L
•Geranium sanguineum-L
Rubia peregrina-L
Cl'lora perfoliata-L
Epipactis ensifolia-L
Habenaria chlorantha-L
Carex digitata-L
Melica nutans-L
Polypodium calcareum
Aspidium acuIeatum-Sw.
Of the above plants Melica nuta7is and Epipactis ensifolia are
the only ones which do not occur in our own or the Bristol
district ; tliey grew in tolerable plenty on a steep grassy bank ;
the Epipactis sending out long fibrous roots among the stones
and moss.
Haresfield Beacon and Court. — A saloon carriage, well-filled with
the members, left the Midland station at 10.45 on Tuesday,
June 24tli, for their third excursion of the season. An invitation
from Mr. Niblett, the well-known antiquary of Haresfield Court,
to visit the antiquities of his neighbourhood, and spend a day on
the Beacon, being the attraction. At the Haresfield station they
were joined by their Vice-President and some members of the
Cotteswold Club, who had been invited to meet their brother
naturaUsts. After the usual thirst had been allayed at the " Hares-
field Beacon," the hill was breasted, and the amicus et hospes of the
day was welcomed, as his well-known figure stood clearly out on the
vallum of the Roman camp engaged in hospitable preparations. An
introduction of the Club to the hon. member was hardly needed, and
without any more delay than was necessary to allow the stragglers
to close up their ranks, Mr. Niblett, plan-armed and enthusiastic,
proceeded to guide the party across the camp to the farthest
* This was not in blossom, but the foliage and habit were sufficient to identify it.
168
point called the Bulwarks. A friendly birch tree, stunted and
wind-worn, served the admirable purpose of a peg whereon to
hang a diagram, the result of the united labours of Mr. Niblett
and Mr. Moore, architect of Gloucester ; and with this excellent
plan of the earthworks before him, the former read a paper on
Haresfield Beacon and its entrenchments, of which the following
is a summary.
" The line of the Cotteswolds was defended by a series of earth-
works running parallel with the course of the Severn, these were
considered to be the camps expressly named by Tacitus as having
been constructed by Ostorius Scapula. The party were now
standing at the east end of one of these camps, on the vallum
known as the Bulwarks, thrown up as a defence against a hostile
force advancing along the plain of Brodbro green from the east.
The north and south sides being sufficiently precipitous, appear
to have been undefended by any earthworks. This was the
British or pre-Roman portion of the camp, and was about thirty-
three acres in extent. The westernmost portion, at the Beacon
end, was subsequently fortified by the Romans, and was of
smaller extent, about ten acres only ; this was attributed to the
fact that the Romans always required a smaller space than the
British, being unhampered by impediments in the shape of wives
and cattle ; whereas the latter had their wives and children with
them, and in time of war drove up their cattle fi'om the rich
vales below for protection. At the Roman end there were the
usual strong earthworks, and the four gates corresponding to the
points of the compass. The tent which they passed on the way
was situated at the north gate, as it leads directly to a never-
failing well or spring, the head of the village brook. Just below
where they were standing was another spring, feeder of another
brook, with a distinct cattle path leading to it from the British
camp. At the south entrance to the Roman camp and inside, a
crock was founil {1837j, containing from two to three thousand
Assaria or brass Roman coins, of the time of the Constautines,
169
Mr. Niblett described and exhibited these coins, together with a
■Roman horse-shoe, which he had found near the spot on which he
was standing, about 1870 ; it was remarkable for the smallness of
its size and had the usual three nail holes on each side. At the
west end was the original Koman road forming the boundary
of the parish."
After this general idea of the camps, the magnificent view
from this the highest point of the hill, 800 feet high by recent
survey, was pointed out. On the south-east were seen the
jutting wooded headlands of Selsley, Frocester, Cam Long
Down and Stinchcombe, with Standish Park in the immediate
foreground to the south. To the south-west could be distinguished
in the haze the promontories of Aust Cliff jind Sharpness ; then
across the Severn appeared the Forest of Dean with the Welsh
Mountains, a gloomy and indistinguishable mass in the far
distance ; May Hill and the Malvern Range jagged and misty ;
Tewkesbury Abbey left to the imagination, and the vale and
city of Gloucester just below ; the lias hill of Robin's Wood, in the
foreground to the north-east ; altogether a view rarely surpassed,
and which was seen under more favourable conditions than might
have been the case considering the recent unfavourable weather.
A rather speedy return was made along the north brow of the
hill to the friendly tent, and members were seen swarming down
the broken ground with alarming intrepidity; the more staid
portion of the members arriving at the tent somewhat late, found
the more youthful and energetic already seated around the table
fully occupied and hungrily intent.
After the Vice-President in a few appropriate words had
thanked Mr. and Mrs. Niblett for their kind consideration in
supplying the hungry with so bountiful a repast, Mr. Scarth drew
attention to the admirable plans which Mr. Niblett had made of
the camps, one of which served to enclose a side of the tent in its
ample folds, and spoke of the advantage to archaeology when
' landed proprietors like Mr. Niblett not only cared for and
5
170
scrupulously respected ancient remains like these, but accurately
planned and described as he had just done the earthworks around.
As to the present camps on Haresfield Beacon, he said it was not
unusual to iind Eoman camps within earlier works, and instanced
those of Clifton and Ham Hill ; then giving a short history of
these fortified posts, he said that a line of camps extended from
the junction of the Severn with the Somersetshire Avon, and were
the original fortresses of the Dobimi, but afterwards occupied by
the Romans all along the edge of the Cotteswolds. Tracing the
progress of the Romans north and west, he said that after they
had worked out the minerals of Somersetshire they cast longing
eyes across the Severn sea to the riches of Wales, and with this
end in view, after gradually subduing the various tribes who
opposed them, made their conquests secure bj'- fortifying the south
line of the Severn before crossing over and attacking the Sihures.
The antiquaries now gave place to the naturalists, who, headed
by Mr. Whitchell, of Stroud, had something of interest also to see
and talk about. Crossing the Roman camp to the south, and
turning round by the earthworks at Ring Hill, they halted at a
section on the north sidel Here Mr. Whitchell pointed out the
geological features of the hill. On their walk up from the station
the party had he said passed over successively beds of the Lower
•Lias, Marlstone, and Upper Lias — ^the Roman spring at the north
gate was at the junction of the Upper Lias and the Sands, This
junction could be traced all round the hill by the appearance of
springs and wet ground. The spot they were then standing on
was the horizon of the Cephalopoda bed, and the upper boundary of
the Sands. Of course, for the honour of the Cotteswold Club, of
which he waS a member, these Sands, some' 60 or 70 feet thick,
must be called Lias Sands, though he was aware that some con-
sidered them to be Oolitic. Capping these Sands, which were
concretionary at the top, came the Cephalopoda Bed, full oi Ammonites
and Behmnites ; ' then came a small band of reddish marl, with
Bhynconellaci/ndcephd,l(tj' followed by othei* feiruginous and marly
i • [
174-
beds, and capped by the ; freestones of the Inferior Oolite — the
beds which were worked for building purposes in this neighbour-
hood as those of the Great Oolite -w^ere at Bath. The term Lias
Sands gave an opportunity to the Secretary of the Bath Field
Club to suggest tha.t the term used by Professor Phillips should
be adopted for this debatable ground, as the horizon was an
intermediate one, in which the dying out of the old fauna and the
coming in of a new were the conditions. He thought both Liassic
and Oolitic partisans, might acknowledge it a neutral territory by
the name of Midford Sands, a name also used by, and one recaUing
the labours of, WUliain Smith. A diligent search in the adjoining
beds only revealed; a Rhynconella -cynocephala or two, a Gervillia
proelonga, Tereh-atuJf, punctata, and majij Belemnites, the sections
here being poor in fossils compared with those of Frocester Hill,
&c., Mr. Lycett in his Memoirs on the Cotteswolds gives the
Haresfield section thus in descending order : —
FT. IN.
Freestone forming summit
Ferruginous concretionary marl . ... ... ... 1 6
Do. brown hard sandstone ... ... 8
Oolitic ferruginous bed ... ... ... ••• 2 6
Brown ferruginous bed with a few Belemnites and
Terebratulae... ... ... ... ... 1 o
Cynocephala layei^of red marl ... ... •• 2
Ammonitebed- .•.'. ' - ... - - - ..: '- i-v.. - 1 2
Sands concretionary at top -ii q.Ij.^.'j .^li&fil.ir,u-ii ^.... J;
From this spot the hUl was crossed to a remarkable section on
the north-east slope, where below the Sands a gravel pit has been
worked in the slope oif the hill to the depth of about twenty feet.
The gravel consists of fine subangular and rounded .Qolitig dAkri^,
evidently deposited in its present. positiojt by gome watery agencjj
as it is banded by alternate horizontal fine and coarse; bands gif
gravel, the coarser bands being much less thick than the finer
i)ed%;. thougL nearly horizontal, here and there a tendenpy to.dip
tos^ards the hill may be observed. The height above sea-level is
172
600 feet. How was this deposited 1 By sea, pluvial, ice, or
estuarine action 1 Mr. Lycett has his theory, Mr. Whitchell his,
Mr. Lucy his, our Secretary his. How fruitful a source of interest
is geology ! The botanists had now a word to say on the plants.
The first and chief object which attracted the attention of
Messrs. EUacombe and Broome was a smooth and small-leaved
variety of the Pyrus communis, the wild pear discovered just
below the north entrance of the camp ; this, as Mr. EUacombe
remarked, is a rare tree, and when found is generally near
Roman works, thus indicating the source of its introduction
into this country. Besides the Anacamptis pyramidalis (Richard),
very abundant, Avena puhescens, on the camps, &c.; Bromus ereetus
(Huds), forming the greater part of the grass on the hills;
Epipadis latifolia, on the upper part of the hills ; Orchis prjramidalis
and maculata (abundant) ; Ophrys apifera, scattered in considerable
abundance on different parts of the hill ; Listera ovata, tway-blade ;
Atropa belladonna, abundant on slopes of hiU facing north ; Poly-
podium calcareum (abundant), on the loose ddbris on N. slope, and
Vicia angustifolia (Smith), there was not anything of particular
importance found, according to Mr. Broome. An approaching
thunderstorm from S.W., giving timely warning by the indraft of
cold air from the N.E., caused the members to make a rather
hasty descent to Haresfield Court, where a genial welcome from
the lady of the house and a refreshing cup of tea awaited them.
The rain came down in good earnest, but the day was nearly
finished, and what mattered the rain to those who were busy with
the inspection of the archaeological treasures of Haresfield Court,
under the guidance of its genial host ?
After a pleasant hour the parting word and grateful thanks
were uttered for a most pleasant and instructive day on the
Cotteswolds, and the members returned to Bath well satisfied
with their excursion.
Excursion to Kingston Lacy and Wimborne, Sept. 2nd. — The
tedious railway journey and the announcement that Kingston
173
Lacy House was undergoing repairs, and the pictures consequently
invisible, seems to have damped the ardour of members for
Wimborne. As only two or three signified their wish to join, it
was thought advisable to postpone this excursion for another
time.
Bye-Excursions, May Wth. — The recent excavation at Monkton
Farley having attracted the attention of the Club, a bye-excursion
was arranged at very short notice, and a small party, at the
invitation of Sir Charles Hobhouse, walked over there on
Tuesday, May 11th. After a very pleasant stroll through Captain
Sainsbury's fields and over the down, they were met by Sir
Charles, and at once shown several of the encaustic tiles which
have lately been found on the site of the ancient buildings.
Some of them, in addition to the letters A, B, and C within a T,
bore a similar design to the cognisance on the shield of the cross-
legged knight discovered in 1841, and attributed to the Dunstan-
villes. Proceeding to the shrubbery on the north of the lawn,
there was evidence that some veiy good excavating work had
been done, for at about three feet below the surface, lay the
pavement in situ, only recently cleared of its superincumbent rub-
bish. The general direction of the floored space on the south side
was east and west, and another smaller floor on the north seemed
to run north and south. Foundations of walls had been laid
bare, but it required more time than could be then allowed to
make out the plan of the sub-structures. Several very good
pieces of Transition work, in capital and moulding carved out of
the native oolite, had been dug up, and one blue slab with a cross
upon it. The oohte appears to have come from the Box quarries,
and not the Farley, according to the statement of a quarryman
accustomed to work that stone ; the blue slab was probably
Purbeck stone. Great credit is due to Sir Charles Hobhouse for
the careful way in which he is working out bit by bit the plan of
the old Priory, and it is hoped that he will soon be enabled by
further scientific use of the spade to lay bare the plan of the old
174
conventual church, and that our local history will be enriched
soon with a more detailed account of the ancient Priory of the
Bohuns from his own peij. Two good lancet windows with a
bold moulding were shown to the members in a building, now
used as a carpenter's shop ; then the monk's spring, with its iine
pointed stone roof, was taken on the return walk, and finally they
found themselves at a well-known summer house, just below
Farley Tower, where in the midst of lovely spring foliage and
crowing cock pheasants the thoughtful hospitality of . Captain
Sainsbury had spread out a welcome lunch.
Another pleasant bye-excursion took place on Tuesday, July
27th. At the suggestion of the Vice-President it was to be a, day
on the Mendips ; accordingly a saloon carriage, placed at the;
disposal of the members through the civility of the station-master
of the Great Western EaUway, punctually drew up at its desti-'
nation (the Winscombe station, on the Cheddar-valley line) whenco
issued a goodly stream of archaeologists, naturalists, &c,, bent
on high pursuit — the ascent of Crook's Peak. The church of
Winscombe was to be visited on the way. After a short walk
through the village, with its neat cottages and small garden plots
luxuriant in flower growth, the fine tower was seen standing well
out against the background of green foliage on the north,. slope of
the hiU, and Mr. Scarth, and the Vicar of the parish, the Kev. R
F, Follett,, were found ready prepared as guides, philosophers, and
friends. The Vicar at once pointed out the architectural features
of the church — a fine specimen of Somersetshire Perpendicular,
consisting of nave, chancel, north and south aisles , From the
Vicar's remarks it. would seem that the date of the middle . ctf the
15th century/ origi»ally given to the present structure must bei
modified, and ; that according to tjie more recent view, of :.th^
learned in. these matters the building must be attributed to the
latter part of the 1 4th century — temp. Bishop Ralph de Salopia
about, 13-40, The great attraction in the inside is the beautiful *
painted glass, of 15th and 16th centuries, which is universally i
176
admired. The finest example is that in the four-light window at
the east-end of the north aisle in which the crucifixion is repre-
sented with the usual accessories. The treatment of the chief
figure, however, is unusual, and caused an interesting discussion,
for instead of being central, as is generally the case, owing to the
window being divided into four compartments it necessarily is out
of the centre, the arrangement being the following ; the left hand
(north) figure represents S. Anthony and his pig, with the bell on
the tau cross which he holds in his left hand ; next in succession
on the right or (south) comes the Virgin Mary, then our Lord on
the cross, the last, or fourth figure on the south being S. John.
The head and face of our Lord is bent and turned to the right,
facing the two figures of the Virgin and S. Anthony which face to
the left, the fourth figure faces to the right. This position
naturally suggested the idea that the glass was originally taken
from a five-light window, and that one figure was missing, i.e„ the
6ne on the south which would follow next to S. John and balance
the figure of S. Anthony on the north. This idea was partly
Strengthened by Mr. Scarth's remark that it was well-known that
painted windows were brought from foreign churches formerly and
inserted in our own native ones. However, the general view
seemed to be that the glass was originally made for the church,
and the peculiar treatment of the subject was due to the form of
the window tracery. The head-lights were fiUed with angels
bearing shields, on which were figured the coat, dice, nails and
other emblems of the Passion. A window adjoining in the north
\vaM of the north aisle contained glass of the same date, one of the
two figures being S. James the Less, to whom the church was
dedicated. In a north window of the chancel was some 16th
century glass, on which were represented three figures — S. John,
S. Peter and S. Benedict, the right hand ' of the latter holding an
aspergillum. The figure of S. Benedict, with surplice and alb,
called forth an allusion to the mooted question of the present day,
whether after all the short surplice was the most ancient -of the
176
two shapes; those who preferred long surplices seeing in S.
Benedict's dress an argument on their side, those who clung to the
short ones seeing depicted therein an exactly coincident shape and
an argument on the other side. Truly archaeology is an inter-
esting study ! On one window must be noticed the easternmost
window in the south aisle, a fine specimen of richly-coloured glass
representing two Archbishops with crosier and pastoral staff, S.
James the Less in the centre. Mr, Follett very aptly reminded
the members of Mr. Parker's remark respecting coloured glass,
that it should not be so opaque as to exclude the light in our
climate where so much is required, and justly called attention to
the translucent nature of the glass in his church, which though so
rich in colour admitted ample light for the worshippers. The
Early English font, of Ham-hill stono., under the lofty arch of the
tower at the west end, indicated that there had been an earlier
building before the existing nave; this was confirmed by the
traces of 13th century work in the chancel which, taking for
granted that the architect who rebuUt it had preserved the form
of the old chancel in a truly conservative spirit, had a Norman
window on the north wall close to the pulpit, and a 13th century
single-light window on the south. This, from the rare plate-
tracery of its head, must have been modelled on an old pattern.
Leaving the church by the north porch, the magnificent yew-tree
in the churchyard created especial interest, both from the fine
growth of its head, the circumference of its trunk (15ft. 9in.), and
from the refreshing jug of lemonade, (fee, which the kindly
forethought of the Vicar had placed under its ample shade. The
beauties of the tower were dwelt upon by the Vicar, and justly so,
as it carries out Mr. Freeman's idea of perfection ; the lower parts
plain and massive, the upper stages gradually increasing in
lightness and decoration. The turret staircase is carried all the
way up on the outside, and finished on the top by a graceful
pinnacle, the proportion of which is somewhat interfered with by
the pinnacle of the buttress being carried up alongside. On the
177
western front of the tower are two canopied niches, and in the
mied-in window between them is carved a jug with the usual
emblematic lily. So much time was devoted to the church that
it was necessary to hasten on somewhat rapidly ; a pretty walk
along the flanks of the down, under the guidance of Mr. FoUett, a
steady ascent to the left, a hasty scramble through fern and gorse,
and there, on a short bit of turf, was spread out on the whitest of
tablecloths a cold lunch which the hostess of Woodborough Inn
had provided— flowers too were not wanting and other graceful
and needful accessories.
A short halt sufficed to satisfy the hungry, upwards and onwards
was still the order, and finaUy Crook's Peak was surmounted at
3 p.m. A finer view can hardly be seen than from these hills.
Away to the south-east and south stretched the rich plains around
Wells and Glastonbury, with the Tor in the distance— out of
them rose Brent KnoUj away beyond gHttered the Severn sea;
Brean Down closed the view to the west ; away to the north and
north-west frowned the blackest of black clouds, looking venomous
and angry, and deluging the country, shutting out distant views
in that direction; down below, bathed in sunshine, Christon and
Loxton nestled. The scene was too fine to leave ; however the
troublesome Secretary was obliged by the force of circumstances to
hurry the members on, and to break in upon their weU-earned
repose on the peak by some remarks on the physical geology of
the hills and the neighbouring coal basin. The Vice-president
also shortly aUuded to the Eoman occupation of the country— how
Brean Down, the ancient "ad Axium" was formerly a Eoman
port, whence a line of camps supported a Roman road over the
Mendips ; how Brent KnoU, though a fortified camp, was not
occupied by the Romans ; many other interesting points were
omitted, for time was on the wing and a somewhat indefinite
distance had to be traversed before the train was caught at
Uphill. A steep scramble alongside the strike of the limestone
beds sorely tried some of the walkers; the gorse bushes tried
178
others. In spite, however, of falls and other troubles the level
road was reached, and after a hot and rapid walk a slight halt was
called at Bleadon to enable those so disposed to visit the church, a
Perpendicular structure, with tower at west end, sculpture of
crucifixion in south porch, nave without side aisles, an early-
English font, ceiled wagon-roof after Mr. Freeman's heart, and
nothing else in particular save a church hitherto saved from the
hands of the despoiling restorer, and capable of great things. .
This rather hasty view of a fine church was all that could be given
for the Uphill station was only just reached in time for the 5.27
to Bath.
The Tuesday walks were continued more or less spasmodically
in the early part of the year, but the Secretary has not received
the much wished for notes from any of the members who joined
them. In conclusion, one point must come prominently into
view whilst reading the account of our year's Proceedings, i.e., the
disproportionate attention paid to Antiquarian and Archaeological
subjects as shown especially by the absence of any contribution on
Geology or any branch of Natural History during our Afternoon
Meetings. This ought not to be. The Club was originally
formed, now more than twenty years ago, by a band of Naturalists
for the special object of investigating the Natural History and
Geology of the neighbourhood. Capt. Hewitt, one of these,
formerly Treasurer and Secretary of the Club, has but just passed
away from our midst, a man we may safely say who has nobly
served his God and his Queen. Only four of the original
members now remain. The subject of Archaeology was certainly
included as one of the objects to be investigated, but it was never
contemplated by the original founders that it was to monopolise
the entire attention of the members ; there is, however, a great
danger of this being the case. The Natural History section wants
strengthening. The best way then to do this would be for the
Committee or those who are particularly interested in Natural
History, to seek out candidates for Membership amongst those
179
who are likely to forward the study of this branch of science.
Surely Bath is not behind all other places in this respect. Whilst
the study of Natural History in all its branches is claiming
increased attention everywhere, Bath is surely not an exception.
H. H. WIN WOOD,
Hon. Sec.
m
COJS^TENTS.
Paue.
1.— Did Qulen Elizabeth Visit Bath in the Years
1574 AND 1592? BY Emanuel Green .. ... 105
2. — Further Gleanings in the Mendips, by the Rev.
Prebendary Scarth, M.A. ... ... ... 120
.3— An Enquiry concerning Fortified Hills near
Bath, by the Rev. J Wright, BA. ... ... 129
4.— The Old Walls of the City of Bath, by Harold
Lewis, B A. ... ... ... ... 138
5. — Summary of Proceedings for the Year 1878-9... 150
Vol. IV. No, 2.
PROCEEDINGS
BATH NATURAL HISTORY
ANTIQUARIAN FIELD CLUB.
VOL. IV., No. 3.
1880.
PRICE HALF-A-CROWN.
BATH:
PRINTED (FOR THE CLIB) AT " THE BATH HERALD" OFnCE, NORTH GATE.
1880.
181
On some of the Fungi f on ml in the Bath District. By C. E. Broome,
M.A., F.L.S.
(I^ead Uth March, 1879.;
1 propose to continue the remarks on the fungi of the neigh-
bourhood of Bath, made before the Field Chib on previous
occasions, by giving some account of the Family of Hyphomycetes.
The Hyphomycetes arc characterised by a filamentous structure
which creeps over the substance on which it grows, and from
whose threads erect, fertile stems are produced. These plants
are known ftxmiliarly as Moulds, and present themselves to us in
every form and situation. Their importance in nature is very
great ; in some cases acting as scourges, in others as benefactors
to the human race. It is considered by those who have studied
the subject that the ferments of beer, wine, and other fluids are
' caused by the growth of Penicillium belonging to this Family, and
of other allied fungi.
Penicillium glaucum, which is said to cause the ferment of beer,
mdi has been named Saccharorayces cerevisioe, from cerevisia an
ancient name for beer, may be charged not only with the evils
arising from the abuse of this favourite drink by its indirect action,
but is, in its direct effects, one of the plagues of man. Taking its
origin from very minute spores (conidia) which are carried about
by the air, and which seem to be present in every place, and
always ready to grow, it attacks our proiasions, our fruits, our
dried plants, our meat raw or cooked, nor does it scruple to attack
our persons, having been found in the ears and other cavities of
the human body. * Appearing at fii'st as delicate, branched
♦ In his address to a medical class, at King's College, London, in October,
1877, Professor Lister says, treating of fermentation — " The large class of
diseases termed zymotic f derive their name from the hypothesis that their
essential nature is fermentative," and "the most frequent evil in operations
and the most pernicious in its effects, both upon the wounded part and upon
the constitution, is putrefactive fermentation." And again, "Blood drawn
t Zymotiu, from zamoo, to feiment by leaven.
Vol. IV., No. 3.
182
threads which spread through the fluid, or creep on the surface of
the substratum on which it grows, it soon sends up erect stalks
which branch at tlieir summit, and produce there a mass ot
very minute pale blue spores ; these soon ripen, and drop
off and are carried far and wide by the aii- to infect other
substances, so that no place is free from them. Brefeld terms
Penicillium glaucum '•' the lord and ruler among its brethren,"
and says, when we speak of mouldiness it is of this species that
it is said par excellence. I have often experienced the vegetative
power of this Mould to my annoyance when endeavouring to grow
rare species of Moulds on boiled rice or paste. Before the plant
in cultivation has had time to establish itself Penicillium glaucum
has made its appearance, and so quickly has it taken possession
of the paste that the desired species has been completely stifled
and destroyed.
Although Brefeld fjxiled to make yeast-globules produce the
Penicillium by cultivation, he is nevertheless of opinion that
certain moulds (mucorinei) do produce fermentation in saccharine
solutions ; he states that the presence of sugar is necessary to
their thus operating.
For this reason barley is made to undergo the process of
malting, which consists in causing the grain to germinate by the
application of heat and moisture : in germinating, the starch con-
tained in the corn is converted into sugar to serve in the natural
course as food for the young plant ; at this stage germination is
checked, and the sugar is thus preserved. When placed in sweet-
wort the yeast-globules, or the mycelia of moulds, have the
property of decomposing the sugar and converting it into carbonic
from veins immediately into glass vessels does not putrefy when proper precau-
tions have been taken to exclude extraneous spores, or germs ; but if a morsel
of putrefied blood were applied to it the putrefaction would speedily spread
through the whole mass." Further on he intimates that moulds, such as
Torula, &c., are the cause of the fermentation alluded to. It takes possession
of the ink we write with, and even of poisonous solutions, as sulphuric acid.
183
acid and alkohol ; this continues till the sugar is oxhaustod. when
the yeast-globules, or mycelia, cease to vegetate in the normal
way and jn'oduce fruit. Moulds cannot produce fruit while
immersed in fluid, but they raise themselves by aid of the air-
bubbles caused by fermentation to the surfiice of the fluid and
there develop their peculiar fruit. Mayer tells us that " the active
power of yeast arises from the force developed in the decompo-
sition of sugar, and that this force is used in the production of
new cells, while the alkohol developed causes the intoxicating
power in fermented liquors."
As there is considerable difference of opinion among botanists
as to the efl'ect of Pcnicillium and other moulds, in causing
fermentation, and of their connection with yeast-globules, it will
perhaps be of interest to give a short account of some of the
experiments instituted in substantiation of their views. One of
the most conclusive of these is the series of observations made by
the Eev. M. J. Berkeley in 18.51, and detailed in Morton's
Cyclopaedia of Agriculture under the article Yeast. After alluding
to a paper by M. Tiirpin, published in the Memoirs of the French
Academy in 1840, in which that author figured the yeast plant in
its various stages of gi'owth, tending to show that it is really a
state of some Pcnicillium, but where actual proof Avas wanting, as
he did not isolate the individual spores and trace them through
their various phases, and therefore could not assert positively that
such was the case, because the Penicillium might have arisen from
spores mixed with the reproductive bodies of the yeast ; Mr.
Berkeley proceeds to remedy this defect in Turpin's observations,
and to examine the mode of growth of isolated spores. The
account he gives is this : *' We prepared a cpantity of slips of
glass so that small squares of microscopic glass could be readily
luted in their centre over a drop of fluid with a composition of
white wax, such as would not crack, the microscopic glass was
sufficiently large to leave, when the drop of fluid was compressed,
ft little film of air all round, so that anything germinating in the
184
fluid might be able to send out fructifying branches into the sur-
rounding air. An extremelj* small quantity of yeast was then
placed in each drop of fluid, so that each drop of fluid should con-
tain such a number of spores only as could be readily counted,
and their positions reccgnised. Yeast of several kinds was
examined, as that from porter, beer, patent and German yeast."
It will suffice to give account of one kmd, that from porter
bottom. The granules of this were by no means uniform ; among
the more ordinary forms of yeast-globules there were many more
minute bodies, and these nearly globular ; others were much
curved, and of smaller diameter than ordinary yeast cells : both
the oblong and elliptic bodies germinated, but the former more
readily, and in 12 hours two additional globules had been formed
on one of the single bodies. Besides the more common mode of
germination and increase, it was observed that many of the
globules associated in pairs. These, and for the most part these
only, sent out long mucedinous filaments, which soon branched ;
but after the fourth or fifth day no further development took
place in some of the preparations. In another, however, mounted
in water, some were ultimately more successful. Some of the
threads extended into the surrounding air, acquired a flask-like
dilatation at their apex, and then a necklace of subglobose spores
exhibiting the true characters of Penicillium.
After this account it is manifestly unfair on the part of other
botanists to deny, as we presently find has been done, and that on
the strength of mere negative results, the fact here recorded, and
to affirm, that no one has ever seen the mycelia of moulds originate
from the spores or globules of yeast.
To follow in order of time the experiments of other botanists,
we find that Keess, in 1870, published at Leipzig a treatise
on Yeasts or Ferments.
He states that he cultivated the spores of yeast with great care,
taking all precautions to exclude those of various fungi from
mixing themselves with the yeast-globules. He describes oval
185
cells arising from the ordinary yeast-globules, in which subglobose
bodies were produced by free cell-formation, and which he there-
fore regards as sporidia, and the cells in which they appear as
asci. The sporidia, Avhen set free from the asci, again gave origin
to ordinary yeast cells ; but in no case did mycelium threads,
similar to those of the moulds, proceed from the yeast cells, or
the sporidia. The results were therefore only negative, which
might arise from a faulty mode of cultivation ; nor could he fairly
assume that Penicillium had no connection with yeast, and that
tlie facts recorded by more successful observers were unworthy of
credit.
Brefeld has, on the other hand, traced the growth of Penicillium
glaucum to a higher stage ; and if his observations are correct,
has shown it to possess a second and sexual form of reproduction.
I shall endeavour in few words to explain his views.
He considers that the bodies observed by Rees were not true
asci, as they did not proceed from any process of conjugation.
His experiments are important, as they tend to modify the theory
of polymorphism, which has been carried to a great length by
various writers, as Hallier and Hoffman among Germans, and
Trecul and others among the French. As, in most such cases, the
theorj- is doubtless true to some extent, but has been carried too
far, and without sufficient proof, in others.
Polymorphism supposes that several forms, generally considered
to constitute distinct species, and even genera, are in reality only
phases in the development of a single individual. This has been
affirmed to a great extent of Penicillium glaucum ; and in order
to test its truth, Brefeld isolated some of its conidia, and carefully
secluding them from the access of the air, which might convey
the spores of other species, subjected them to a long course of
cultivation. He sowed them on various substances, and in different
solutions ; but obtained the most satisfactory results from spores
sown on coarse, unfermented bread (Entwicklungsgeshichte, p.
52). After 14 days he found a dense, creeping mycelium had
186
arisen from the spores, on whose threads numerous, minute,
yellowish bodies were visible ; a section of one, highly magnified,
showed a cellular structure similar to that of sclerotia (1. c, 58).
I may mention here that sclerotia are merely forms which the
mycelia of many fungi assume when in a state of rest, the Ergot
of Rye is a well-known example. Brefeld cultivated these
sclerotia, and after the lapse of some months he observed cells, of
an elongate and tortuous shape, ai'ise in the midst of their
substance. These cells continued to increase in dimension
apparently at the expense of the surrounding tissue, for eventually
hollow spaces were observed in the sclerotia near them. He
compares this process with the growth of the embryo in the
embryo-sac of flowering plants (1. c, 60, 61). Next there appeared
cells of a difi'erent form arising from the elongate cells, which
again gave origin to others of a subglobose shape, and in these
eight ovate sporidia wei'e gradually produced by free cell-formation.
Brefeld considers the subglobose cells as true asci, inasmuch as
they are the result of the conjugation of the filaments within the
sclerotia. The cells which give origin to the asci he names
ascogones. All this time the outer coat of the sclerotia had been
groAving harder till a dense rind was formed ; and by absorption
of the surrounding tissue the ascogones and asci were set free
Avithin this covering : at last the asci were ruptured, and the
sporidia floated freely in the hollow sclerotia, where they remained
till the outer bark was dissolved. The time from the sowing of
the conidia to the maturity of the sporidia was from six to eight
months (p. 71). Brefeld gives a figure of the process of
conjugation which he observed in the elongate cells described
above, similar to what Tulasne and others have witnessed in some
species of Peziza, and which may be easily seen in various algoe.
(Vancheria and Bulbochoete). To dispel all doubt as to the
correctness of his observation, Brefeld placed the sporidia he had
obtained from the asci in the juices of fruits carefully filtered ;
after from 18 to 24 hours germination commenced by protrusion
187
of threads which spread tliroiigh tlie fluid, and from the threads
erect stems arose, bearing at their tips the well-known blue
conidia of Penicillium glaucuni. Thus the cycle of its growth
was completed, first by the formation of a sclerotium derived
from the conidia in wliich a process of conjugation Avas observed,
the result being the formation of ascogones, or ascigerous tubes
bearing asci and sporidia ; and next by the reproduction of the
mould, or conidia bearing threads, from these sporidia. This
experiment was repeated several times ; but in no case did any
other form of fungi occur to give sanction to the theory of
polymorphism. The result was here also negative, as regards the
I'onuection of yeast cells with Penicillium ; and the same
observation holds as in the case of Eeess's experiments ; nor can
the positive evidence derived from Mr. Berkeley's accourit be
discredited by the iailures of Reess and Brefeld.
Notwithstanding the negative results of Brefeld's experiments
with Penicillium glaucum, so far as regards its supposed
polymorphism, the truth of the theory has been demonstrated in
numerous cases by Tulasne and others ; it may therefore be of
interest to give instances presenting positive evidence of the
correctness of their views.
The Genus Isaria will furnish us with a case in point : — Isaria
farinosa (Fr.) consists of a floccose body from a quarter to one
inch in height, branched at the summit, and there clothed with
a coat of white spores, termed conidia ; it grows on the gi'ound in
woods, and, if dug up with care, it is found to proceed from a
chrysalis, or caterpillar buried in the soil ; it was long considered,
and was described by Fries as an autonomous species, i.e., as a
plant complete in itself. Tulasne traced its develojjment, and
found it to be merely an early stage of a much more complex
species, Sphceria militaris of the Flora Danica. In the summer it
appears in its conidiiferous state, but as the Avinter comes on small
prominences appear on the upper part of the branches, one of
which tlien swells out and assumes a club shape ; the
188
prominences are found to be the mouths of the ijerithecia.
Avhich are immersed in the flesh, and within which sporidia
are formed in little sacs termed asci, the sporidia being
very similar in form and size to the conidia, or summer
fruit. In consequence of this discovery, Isaria farinosa has
been removed from the Hyphomycetes and placed among the
ascigerous fungi. A similar history is presented by another plant
formerly regarded as autonomous, Trichoderma viride ; ic consists
of small, green spots, or patches, very common on rotten sticks,
and like the former has been traced by Tulasne to an ascigerous
condition, and is now placed in the Sphoeriaceous Genus Hypocrea,
under the name of H. Rufa. The list of Hyphomycetes has been
further curtailed by the reduction of Stilbum aurantiacum to a
genus called Sphoerostilbe, by Tulasne, the stems of the former
becoming, at a later period, clothed at the base with ascigerous
conceptacles common to the Sphoeriacei. Another instance of
polymorphism may be seen on dead sticks which are frequently
covered Avith red spots about the size of the heads of large pins ;
these spots are quite smooth at first, and were described as a
fungus under the name of Tubercularia. Further observation,
however, showed that these spots became at a later period rough
with little prominent bodies, which, on being submitted to the
microscope, were found to be filled Avith fruit contained in asci.
The plant was thus turned over to the Sphoeriacei, and it i.s
probable that the other species of Tubercularia will share the
same fate.
The facts mentioned are enough to show that a vast number
of fungi, especially among the Hyphomycetes, once considered as
complete in themselves, are merely early phases of more highly
developed species, and that the total numbers recorded in
descriptive works are far in excess of the truth ; but it requires
the patience and acumen of men like Tulasne to connect the sus-
pected plants with their later and more perfect conditions.
It now remains only to allude to the characters which die-
tinguish the Family Hyphomycetes.
189
FAMILY IV. HYPHOMYCETES.
Filamentous fungi, the threads, generally free, are sometimes
agglutinated together so as to form a compact stem ; fertile
stems rarely wanting, arise from the vegetative threads, bearing
minute spores (conidia) at their tips
In the first order, Isariacei, we find a stem more or less
compacted, and thus assuming the forms of higher fungi. The
typical Genus Isaria is, for the most part, composed of conidiiferous
phases of Sphoeriacei. Ceratium is subgelatinous, dissolving
away in water ; its stems are clothed with fertile flocci ; the
spores arc seated each upon a separate reticulation.
In the second order, Stilbacei, the receptacle is subglobose,
often stipitate, clothed with minute, diffluent, subgelatinous
spores.
The third order in our present Family is the Dematiei. Here
the threads are generally free, seldom collected into stem-like
bundles, and more or less carbonized, as are often the simple or
septate spores. Arthrobotryum atrum gives an example of a
species possessing a distinct and compound stem. It is very
common on old, dead stems of nettles, and is a pretty microscopic
object. It shares its habitat frequently with 12 or 14 other
species of fungi, so that the rotting stems of the nettle will give a
day or two's work to the cryptogamist.
In Corda's figure of Helmisporium stemphylioides in his Pracht-
Flora we may surely see the simple form of Arthrobotryum atrum,
at least the spores are so much alike as fairly to warrant us in
coming to that conclusion. The Mucedines constitute our fourth
order. Their threads are never coated with a distinct membrane
as in Dematiei, and are mostly white, or coloured, rarely dingy.
The Genera are very numerous. Penicillium glaucum will serve
to represent the order. Our last order, Sepedoniei, possesses a
floccose mycelium ; the fertile flocci are obscure, and, in conse-
quence, the spores rest upon the matrix. Tlie spores in this
order arc the principal element, which thus approaches the
190
Coniomycetes. Wo have seen that nearly all the orders belonging
to the Family Hyphomycetes present instances of polymorphism,
and it seems probable that all the species will be found eventually
to be mere phases of higher tribes. But the history of many
among them has not been yet sufficiently studied to warrant the
omission of the family from the list of autonomous fungi. Thej^
must therefore be considered at present as in a state of transition.
r.VMILY IV. HYPHOMYCETES. ■''
Filamentous. Fertile threads naked, mostly free, especially
above, or loosely compacted, simple or branched, bearing the
spores at their apices, rarely more closely packed, so as to form a
distinct common stem.
ORDER 17. ISARIACEl.t
GENUS 178. ISARI.A.. /////.
Receptacle elongated, floccose, without any distinct heads. Tips
of heads only free.
1.— Isaria farinosa Fr., common in woods, Han ham, Leigh Woods.
Tulasne considers this species as merely an early state of
Cordyceps militaris.
2. — I intricata Fr. on decaying fungi, Lucknam, Wilts,
October.
Seven species are recorded in Cooke's Handbook.
GENUS 179. ANTHlNA.ij: Ff.
Receptacle elongated, vertical, confluent with the stem, dilated
above. Tips of threads only free.
1. — Anthinaflammea Fr., Leigh Woods. The only British species,
December.
* From uphe a webb, and muke a fungus.
t From isos equal.
i From anthos a flower
191
GENUS 180. Ceratium* A. & S.
Receptacle branched, cylindrical, membranous, reticulated,
subgelatinous, clothed with short, fertile tlocci, one in the centre
of each reticulation.
1. — Ceratium hydnoides A & S, Batheaston, April.
GENUS 181. PACHNOCYBE t Berk.
Stem solid, filiform below, clavate above, dusted with the
minute spores.
1. — Pachnocybe ferruginea Berk Eng. Flo. Vol. v. 331:, on old
boards, Batheaston. There are four British species recorded
in Cooke's H. B.
ORDER 18. STILBACEI.
Recejitacle subglobose, often stipitate, clothed with mostly
minute, diffluent, subgelatinous spores.
GENUS 182. STILBUM.J Tode.
Stem firm, elongated. Head nearly globose. Spores minute
or elongated, involved in gluten.
1. — Stilbum tomentosum Schr. mid D. St. Catherine's, Bath-
easton.
2. — S aurantiacum Berk. Elmhurst, Batheaston, on Elm.
3. — S fimetarium B. and Br. Batheaston, on dung. Ann.
Nat. Hist., ii. v. 465.
4. — S erythroceplialum Ditm. Batheaston, on wood.
5. — S rigidum P. Bathford, on wood.
6. — S turbiuatum Tode. Batliiiaston, on wood.
7. — S bicolor P. Langridge, on wood, March.
8. — S cuneiferum B. and Br. Ann. Nat. Hist., January,
1875, No. 1451, Batheaston, on rotten cabbage stalks, cum
icone.
* From keras a horn.
t From pachnc hoar frost, and kube a head.
X From stilbos shining.
192
9.— S melleum B. and Br. Ann. of Nat. Hist., No. 1609,
February, 1876, Congresbnry. Somerset, Miss M. Plues, cum
icone.
10. — S > vulgare Todc Bo^rood, Wilts.
GENUS 183. GEAPHIUM.* Cda.
Stem erect, compound, head penicillate ; flocci continuous,
separating above into simple spores which are at first glued
together, at lengtli diffluent.
1. — Graphium stilboideum Cda. Icones II., p. 16 t. xi. fig. 69.
Batheaston, April, on rotten cabbage stalks.
GENUS 184. ATRACTIUM.t Fr.
Stem finn. Head subglobose. Spores fusiform, elongated. No
specimen of this genus has occurred in our district.
GENUS 185. VOLUTELLA.ii: Tode.
Receptacle fringed or studded with long, hyaline bristles.
Spores diffluent, gelatinous.
1. — Volutella ciliata Fr. Psilonia rosea Berk. Spye Park.
Batheaston, on carices, &c.
2. — V melaloma B. and Br. Ann. Nat. Hist. Ser. II.
v., No. 465, 496, cum icone. Batheaston, on carices.
3. — y Buxci B. and Br. I.e. S2)3'e Park and Batheaston, on
Box, It is considered that the two last and the following
Genus are merely states of ascigerous fungi.
GENUS 186. TUBERCULAKIA.§ Tode.
Receptacle verrucoeform, innate, clothed with a dense stratum
of gelatinous, minute spores attached to the sides and apices of
the threads.
* From graphion, a painter's pencil.
t From atractos, a spindle on account of the shape of the spores.
:;: From volutus, a twisting ; or turning about.
§ From the tuberculate form of the species.
I
193
1. — Tubercularia vulgaris Tode. Common, the early state of
Nectria cinnabarina Fr.
GENUS 187. FUSAKIUM.* Lk.
Keceptacle discoid, innato-orurapent, immarginate, clotlied with
diffluent, subgelatinous spores.
1. — Fusariura lateritium Neeii. Batheaston. common on various
decaying vegetables.
2. — F •■ tremelloides Grcv. Batheaston, the early state of
Peziza fusarioides.
3. — F heteronema B. and Br. Ann. Nat. Hist., April and
May, 1865, No. 1G51 cum icone. Batheaston, on rotten pears.
GENUS 188. MYROTiraciUM.t Tode.
>
Receptacle at length marginate. Spores diffluent, oblong,
forming a flat, or slightly convex, dark green stratum.
1. — MyTo thecium roridum roc?e. St. Catherine's, Batheaston, on
decaying plants.
GENUS 189. EPIGOCCUM.; Lk.
Receptacle subglobose, vesicular, studded with large, sometimes
stipitate spores.
1. — Epicoccum neglectum Desm. A. S. N., 1842, XVIL, p. 95.
Spy Park, "Wilts, on Potamogeton. February.
GENUS 190. ILLOSPORIUM.§ MART.
Receptacle obscure, spores irregular, falling away like meal.
1. — Illosporium carneum Fr. on Lichens, common.
GENUS 191. ^GERITA.II P.
Receptacle obscure, spores irregular, disposed in short,
* From fusus, a spindle.
t From muro, to flow, and theke, a receptacle.
t From epi upon, and kokkos a berry.
§ From illo to involve, and spores seed.
II From aigeiros a poplar.
194
moniliform threads at the apices of flexuous, branched, radiating,
compacted peduncles.
1. — ^gerita Candida P, on wood, Batheaston. Warleigh,
ORDER 10. DEMATIEI.
Threads free, rarely connected into stipitiform bundles, more
or less corticated and carbonised, as are frequently the simple or
septate spores.
GENUS 192. ARTHROBOTRYUM.* Cesati.
Common stem composed of jointed threads ; spores large
radiating so as to form a little head, dark, septate.
1. — Arthrobotryum atrum B. and Br. Ann. Nat. His., No, 822,
May, 1859, t 9, fig. 6. On dead nettle .stems, Batheaston.
^. — A stilboideum C'e.«, in Hedwigia t 4, fig. 1. Batheaston,
on dead wood, April.
GENUS 193. DENDRYPHIUM.t fJda.
Threads free, jointed, simple below, branched above ; branches
often monilioid ; spores septate, seated on the tips of the branches,
concatenated.
1. — Dendryphium comosum, Wallc On dead nettles, Batheaston,
December.
2. — D curtum B. and Br. Ann. Nat. Hist., Ser. H., vii.,
176. No. 538 cum icone. On dead nettles, Batheaston.
3. — D laxum B. and Br., 1. c, cum icone. No. 539, cum
icone. Batheaston, on rotten cabbage stalks.
4. — D griseum B. and Br., 1. c, No. 540, cum icone. On
nettle stems, Batheaston.
GENUS 194. PERICONIA.J Cda.
Stem composed of fasciculate, compacted threads ; heads globose ;
spores fixed to the free apices of the threads.
* From arthron a. joint, and botrys a bunch of grapes.
t From dendron a tree, and phue form or habit.
% From peri around, and konis, dust.
195
1.— Peiieonia bvassicoecola B. and Br. Ann. Nat. Hist... 187")
No. 1452. On rotten cal>bage stalks, Batheaston, Mavcli.
GENUS lOo. CRDOCEPHALUM,* I'n'HffS.
Hyphasma creeping, septate, stem erect, septate, simple, ending
in a vesicular head which bea.rs the spores ; spores simple,
sub-radiating. Pj'euss in Sturm's Deutschlands Flora, vi. p. 121.
I. — CEdocephalum loeticolor B. and Br. Ann. Nat. Hist.. 1865,
No. 1056, t 14, fig. 12. On sheep's dung, Batheaston,
October.
GENUS 196. SPONDYLOCLADIUM.f PreuSS. L.C.
Sterile flocci (hyphasma) creeping, septate, fertile threads erect,
simple, or slightlj' branched ; spores septate, attached laterally or
whorled.
1. — Spondylocladium fumosam Preuss, 1. c. No. 35, t 53, 1862.
Batheaston, March, on rotten sticks.
GENUS 197, SPOROCYBE.i Fr.
Flocci septate, free ; heads globose, studded with spores.
1. — Sporocybe byssoides Fr. On petioles of Robinia pseudacacia,
Batheaston, January.
2. — S nigrella Berk. Ann. Nat. Hist., Series I., vi., 433,
No. 226, cum icone, Ser. I., vol. vi., p. 433. Batheaston, on
carex paniculata, June.
3.— S alternata Berk, 1. c. 434, No. 227, p. 434. Bath-
easton, on damp paper.
GENUS 198. STACHYBOTRYS.§ Cda. ICONES I. f. 278.
Floci septate, free ; branches bearing short, verticillate ramuli
at their apices, forming a little head, and each terminated by a
spore.
* From oidos, a swelling, and kephalos a head.
t From spondylos a vertebra, and klados, a branch.
t From sporos, seed, and kube, a head.
§ From stachys, a spike, and botrys, a raceme.
196
Stachybotrys atra Cda. 1. c. On millboard, Batheaston.
S lobulata Berk. Ann. ISiat. Hist., No. 228, I , vi., 4.34.
Leigh "Woods, on damp linen. May.
S albipes B. and Br. MSS. Batheaston, on rotten wood.
This species is probably a state of Sphceria poraiformis P.
GENUS 19ft. HAPLOGRAPHIU.M.* B. ami Br.
Flocci septate. Spores concatinate, hyaline.
1. — Haplographium delicatum B. and Br. Ann. Nat. Hist., No.
318, May, 1859. Bowood, Wilts, November, on dead wood.
GENUS 200. MONOTOSPORA.t Cda.
Flocci septate, free, black, bearing one, or rarely two, (by
division), large, l)lack, subglobose spores at their apex.
1. — Monotospora .sphoerocephala B. and Br., No 819. On dead
stumps, Batheaston. Ann. N^at. Hist., III.. .361,
GENUS 201. CEPHALOTRICHUM.:;: Lh.
Flocci free, septate, branched at the apex, and forming there a
little tuft of hairs, on which are seated the spherical spores. This
genus has not occurred in our district.
GENUS 202. (EDEMIUM.§ Fr.
Flocci free, dark, flexuous. Spores seated on sporangiiform
bodies towards their base. It has not occurred in this district.
GENUS 203. ILELMINTHOSPORIUM.il Lk.
Flocci irregular, simple or slightlj' branched, Ijearing here and
there multiseptate spores.
1, — Helminthosporium Smithii B. and Br. Ann. Nat. Hist.,
Ser. II., vii., 97. No. 507, cum icone. Batheaston, on
wych elm.
* From aplos, simple, and graphe, a writing.
t Fom monos, one, and sporos, a seed.
t From kephalos, a head, and thrix, a hair.
§ From oldema, a tumour. |{ From elmius, a worm, and sporos, a seed.
197
2.— H apicale B. atxJ Br., 1. c, 1861. No. 947. Bath-
easton, on rotten oak.
:]. — H pyrorum Desni. On pear leaves, Batheaston, May.
4. — H foUiculatum Cda. Batheaston, on dead wood.
5.— H .sticticum B. and Br. Ann. Xat. Hist., 1854, No.
758, cum icone. On grass, Batheaston, March.
6. — H Clavariarum Desm. On Clavaria, Hanham, October.
Many other species of this genus have occurred in the district
but have not been identified from a want of authentic specimen,
for comparison. They are probably mere states of ascigerous fungi.
GENUS 204. CHffiTOSTROMA.* Cda.
Stroma wart-shaped or stalked, rarely cup-shaped, erect, covered
on all sides with a sporiferous stratum, fleshy, cellular, generally
supported by a floccose stratum ; hymenium waxy, thin, pene*
trated by long, rigid hairs ; spores simple, fusiform or ovate.
1. — Choetostroma stipitatum Cda. On rotten elder, Batheaston,
March.
GENUS 205. MACROSPORIUM.t Fr.
Flocci obscure or delicate, spores erect, basal, padicellate, with
at length transverse and delicate septa.
I. — Macrosporium Cheiranthi Fr. Batheaston, on rotten stems, &c.
GENUS 206. TRIPOSPORIUM.i Cda.
Flocci erect, jointed, bearing at their apices triradiate, articulated
spores.
1. — Triposporium elegans Cda. Common on deal wood.
GENUS 207. HELICOMA.§ Cda.
Elocci erect, dark, jointed, bearing on their sides pale, flat,
* From chaite, a hair, and stroma, a receptacle or stratum.
+ From macros, loDg, and sporos, seed.
X From tris, thrice, and sporos.
$ From helix, a spiral, and coma, the hair of the head.
B
198
spiral spores. Heliconia Miilleri Cda. Forming pink patches on
dead wood and cut stumps, Bathoaston.
GEXUS 208. CL.4D0TRICHUM.* C'lia.
Flocci erect, thick, branched : upper joints cup-shaped or
inflated ; spores largo, septate. There is no record of the
existence here of any species.
GENUS 209. — IIELICOCOPvYXE.t Cda.
Flocci erect, septate, simple ; spores lateral, clavate, 4-5 septate,
attenuated below, at first sjiirally involved, or revolute, ulti-
mately incurved.
1. — Helicocoryhe viridis Cda. Corda, Icones vi., p 9. On dead
wood, St. Catherine's, Batheaston.
GENUS 210. ARTimiNIUM.J Kl/e.
Flocci erect, septate, dark and slightly thickened at the septa ;
spores straight, swollen in the middle and pointed at either end.
i. — Arthrinium spoi'ophleum, Ki/e. On carices, Spye Park and
Batheaston.
GENUS 211. GONATOSPORIU.M.§ Cda.
Flocci erect, septate, thickened at the septa ; spores angular,
attached in whorls.
1. — Gonatosporium puceinioidos, Cda. On carices, Spye Park
and Batheaston.
GENUS 212. CAMPTOUM-II Lk.
Flocci as in the last genus, black ; spores curved, dark, fixed
in clusters at the apices.
1. — Camptoura curvatum, Lk. On scirpus sylvaticus, Rudlow.
• From klados, a branch, and thrix, a hair.
+ From helix, a spiral, and koryne, a club.
J From arthroD, a joint.
§ From gopes, an angle and spores seed. || From kampto, to bend.
199
CKNUS 213. SPORODrM.* Cda.
Flocci ert'ct, septate : threads of inarticulate spores moniliform,
seated towards their base. On dead grasses, very common.
1. — Sporodum conopleoides, Cda. Very common, on dead grasses.
GENUS 314. ACROTHECIUM.+ Cda.
Flocci creeping or erect, septate, simple or branched, branches
ascending ; spores clustered at the apex, or solitary at the tips
of the branches ; septate,
1. — Acrothecium simplex B. and Br. Ann. Nat. Hist., 1861.
No. 950, t IG, fig. 16. On nettle stems, Batheaston.
2.— A delicatulum B. and Br., 1. c, 1865, No. 1055, t 14,
fig. 16. On dead wood, Batheaston.
GENX'S 215. SEPTOSPOP.IU.M.J Cda.
Flocci erect, sej^tate : spores cellular, pedicellate ; pedicels
septate.
1. — Septosporium atrura Cdo. On dead herbaceous stems.
2. — S brassicoecola B. and Br. MSS. On dead
cabbage stalks, Batheaston. March.
GENUS 216. POLYTHRINCIUiI.§ Kze.
Flocci moniliform ; spores springing from the midst of the
flocci ; didymous. Pol.ythrincium trifolii Kze. On living clover
leaves. Common.
GENUS 217. CL.VDOSPORIUM.il Lk.
Flocci flexuous, more or less branched, jointed, flexible : spores
short, uniseptate, springing from the sides or terminal.
1. — Cladosporium herbarum Lk. Very common. On decaying
plants.
* From sporos, sowing (?)
t From akros, a summit and theke, a receptacle.
J From septun, a partition, and sporos seed.
§ From polus many, and thringkos, a divisioD.
II From klados, a branch, and sporos seed.
B 2
200
2. — C nodulosum Cda. On dead herbaceous stems.
Wraxall. Somerset.
ORDER 20. MUCEDINES.
Threads never coated with a distinct membrane, mostly white,
or coloured, rarely dingy.
GENUS 218. ASPERGILLUS.* Mkh.
Threads erect, articulate, crowned Avith a globose head, pro-
ducing necklaces of spores.
1. — Aspergillus glaucus Lk. On various decaying substances.
GENUS 219. NEMATOGONUM.t Desm.
Threads clavate at the apices, bearing necklaces of spores, on
distinct, scattered spicules.
1. — ^Nematogonum aurantiacum. On decaying wood, Batheaston.
2. — N aureum Berh. Aspergillus aureus, Eng., FL,
on wood, Batheaston.
GENUS 220. RHINOTRICHUM.J. Cda.
Threads erect, sometimes prostrate, clavate above, bearing
spores attached to spicules.
1.— Rhinotrichum Thwaitesii B. and Br. Ann. Nat. Hist., Ser.
II., vii., 177, No. 542, t G, fig. 12. On the ground. Leigh
Woods. August.
2. — R repens Preuss in Sturm's Deutschlands FL, V.,
XXV., t 22, Bathford, on decaying poles. April.
GENUS 221. BOTRT?TIS.§ Mkh.
Threads septate, irregularly branched, hyaline or coloured ;
spores terminal.
1. — Botrytis Tilletii Desm, on dead leaves, Batheaston.
• From Aspergillus, the brush used to sprinkle holy water.
t From nema, a thread and gonos, au offspring.
X From rinos leather (?* and thrir a hair or thread.
§ From botrys, a bunch of grapes.
201
GENUS 222. PERONOSPORA.* Cda.
Parasitic threads mostly inarticulate ; spores of two kinds, first
on the tips of the branches ; second large, globose, on the creeping
mycelium.
1. — Peronospora parasitica Cda. on cruciferous plants, Eudlow.
2. — P infestans Oxsp on potatoes, producing the dreaded
potato disease
3. — P ganglioniformis B. on lettuces, Elmhurst.
4. — P vicice B. on peas, Elmhurst.
5. — P urticoj Casp on nettles, Elmhurst.
9. — P — macrospora Uxger on umbelliferae, Elmhurst.
GENUS 223. VERTlCILLIUM.t Lk.
Flocci septate, hyaline or coloured ; branches verticillate ;
spores apical.
1. — Vcrticiliium apicale B.and Br. on fallen oak branches. Ann.
Nat. Hist., Ser. II. vii. 101, No. 531 icon, Langley, Wilts,
and Batheaston.
2. — V epimyces B. and Br. 1. c. II. vii. 102, on
Elaphomyces, Bo wood, Wilts.
GENUS 224. HAPLARIA.t Lk.
Flocci simple or forked, jointed ; spores scattered over the tips
of the threads.
GENUS 225. POLYACTIS.§ Lk.
Flocci septate, brownish, branched above ; spores hyaline, in
terminal clusters.
1. — Polyactis cinerea ^t/i-. Botrytis cinerea Eng. Fl. On decaying
herbs, very common.
* From perone, a buckle or brooch (?) and sporos seed.
t From verticillum, a whorl.
% From aploos simple.
S From polus many, and aktia, a spoke of a wheel.
202
GENUS 226. PENICILLIUM.* Lh
Flocci divided above in a fasciculate manner, septate, as well as
the branches, which are terminated bj- necklaces of spores collected
into tassel-like heads.
1- — Penicillium crustaceum, on rabbit's dung, Bathford, and on
various decaying substances, common.
2.— P— roseum Lk. on box leaves, Batheaston.
GENUS 227. OlIDlUM.t Lk.
Flocci very short, producing a moniliform string of spores by
tomiparous divisions.
1- — Oiidium aureum Lk., Batheaston, on dead wood.
2. — fuh^im Lh., Batheastom, on dead wood.
3. — fructigenum Schrad, Batheaston, on rotting fruit.
4.— concentricum B. and Br. Ann. Nat. Hist., Ser. II.
vii. 178, No. 547. Common on various growing plants.
5. — microspermum B. and Br. Ann. Nat. Hist., May,
1873, No. 1387, Batheaston, on Scotch Fir, November.
6.— Balsamii Mont. MSS. See Ann. Nat. Hist., No.
763, on verbascum nigrum, Batheaston.
Several species of this Genus have been shown to be only early
states of species of Erisyphe.
GENUS 228. .MONILI.\ HILL.+
Flocci erect, jointed ; head none ; bearing fasciculate necklaces
of spores at their apices.
1. — Monilia fasciculata Cda. Common on dead grasses.
GENUS 229, DACTYLIUM.§ Nees.
Flocci erect, jointed, branched, bearing at the tips of the
branchlets, either scattered or in tufts, septate spores.
* From penicillum, a painting brush,
t Fron OOD, an tgg, and eidos, a resemblance.
X From monile, a necklace. g From dactylos, a finger.
203
1. — Dactyliuin macrosjjomm Fr. Common on dead leaves, kc.
2. — D obovatum Berk. Ann. Nat. Hist, Ser. I. vi. 437,
No. 242. Cum icone, on wood, Batheaston.
3. — D roseum Berk. Tricotheciun roseura Fr. On rotting
plants ; Common.
GENUS 230. FUSIDIUM.* Lk.
Flocci coloured, very delicate, evanescent : spores straight,
filiform.
1. — Fusidium griseum Lk. Very common on dead leaves.
2, — F flavo-vii'ens /''/■. Very common on dead leaves.
GENUS 231. Sl'OROTRICHUM.t Lk.
Flocci ascending, tufted, septate ; spores simple, scattered, at
first concealed.
1. — Sporotriclium sulpluireum Grev. On old boards, &c., Bath-
easton.
2. — S torulosuin Bon. St. Catherine's, Batheaston, on dead
wood.
GENUS 232. ZYGODESMUS.J Cda.
Flocci short, erect, springing from the creeping, sterile threads ;
joints here and there cut half way through with a semi-circular
swelling above the division. Spores rough.
Zygodesmus fuscus Cda. Common on decayed wood.
GENUS 233. COCCOTRICHUM § Lk.
Flocci branched, septate, coloured ; spores simple, opaque, at
first collected into a globule at the tips of the threads, at length
scattered over the flocci.
1. — Coccotrichum brevius B. and Br. MSS. Staining the water
in which it is immersed of a bright vinous colour. Leigh
woods, on old rotten stumps, October.
* From fusus, a spindle.
t From sporos, seed, and thrix, a hair.
X From zugos, a yoke, and desmos, a chain.
i From coccos, a berry, and tbrix, a hair.
204
GENUS 234. VIRGAEIA.* Nees.
Flocci erect, dichotomous, virgate, black, septate : spores
minute, scattered over the Ijranches. The Genus has not occurred
in the district.
GENUS 235. BOLACOTRICHA.f B. and Br.
Flocci simple, jointed, curled at the top ; spores large, globose,
shortly pedicillate, conglomerated towards the base of the flocci.
Bolacotricha grisea B. and Br. Ann. Nat. Hist., Ser. II., vii., 97.
No. 506 cum icone. On rotten cabbage stalks, Batheaston.
GENUS 236. MYXOTRICHUM.J Kze.
Flocci branched, bearing to^yards their base little, conglomerated
masses of spores.
1. — Myxotrichum chartarum Kze. On damp paper, Batheaston.
2.— M deflexum Berh. Ann Nat. Hist., Ser. I., i., 260.
No. 122, cum icone, Batheaston. On damp paper.
S. — M ochraceum B. and Br. Ann. Nat. Hist., 1875,
No. 1475, Jan., 187-5. On wood shavings, St. Catherine's,
Batheaston.
GENUS 237. GONYTKICHUM.§ Nees.
Flocci branched, here and there bearing knots, from which
spring the verticillate, fertile, septate threads, crowned at their
tips with a globose mass of spores.
1. — Gonytrichum coesium Nee^. On dead wood, Batheaston.
2. — G fuscum Cdn. On dead wood, Batheaston.
GENUS 238. MENISPORA.il P.
Flocci erect, jointed ; spores heterogeneous, seated at the tips
• From virga, a twig or rod.
t From bolax, a clod, and thrix, a hair.
X From rayxa, gluten, and thrix, a hair.
§ From gonos, an offspring, and thrix, a hair.
II From mene, the moon, and sporos, seed, from the form of the spores (P)
205
of the threads, fiisiibrm or cylinth-ical, curved, at first joined
together in bundles, then scattered over the flocci.
Menispora ciliata Cda. Common on dead wood in the woods,
Batheaston, &c.
GENUS 239. CHCETOPSis.* Grev.
Flocci erect, jointed, subulate, below branched and verticillate,
above simple and flagelliform ; spores cylindrical, springing from
the tips of the branchlets.
Choetopsis Wauchii Grev. On dead wood, Batheaston.
GENUS 240. ACKEMOXIUM.t Lk.
Flocci creeping, jointed, beset with shoit, patent branches, each
of which bears a spore.
1. — Acremonium verticillatum Lk. Common on dead wood.
2. — A ranigenum B. and B. Ann. Nat. Hist., 1870 and,
1871, No. 1319. On dead frogs, Bathford.
GENUS 241. GONATOBOTRYS..^ Cdil.
Threads erect, jointed ; articulations swollen in the middle,
bearing obovate spores on little spicules.
Gonatobotrys simplex Cda.. Pracht Flora, t -5. On fruit of
Tamnus niger, Eudlow.
GENUS 242. CLONOSTACHYS.§ Cda.
Flocci jointed above ; branches and branchlets quaternate, sub-
capitate, clothed with spores, forming distinct spikes, not occurring
in this district.
GENUS 243. BOTRYOSPORlDM.il Cda.
Flocci slightly branched, bearing patent branchlets, each of
* From chaite, a hair, and opsis appearance.
t From acremOn, a branch.
X From gonos, an offspring, and botrys, a bunch of grapes.
§ From klonos confusion, and stachys, a spike or ear (?)
II From botrys, a bunch of grapes, and sporos seed.
206
which is surmounted by a few spicules, bearing a head of spores,
not occurring liere.
GENUS 244. PAPuL.4.SP0U.\..'' Preuss.
Flocci decumbent, jointed, producing short, erect branches, from
each of which a ceUuhir head arises studded with erect spores,
the encloclirome of which is bipartite or quadripartite.
1. — Papulaspora sepedonioides Preuss. On fruit and boiled rice.
Batheaston.
GENUS 245. i:hopalomyces.+ Cdo,.
Flocci free, septate, swelling at the tip into an areolate head,
each cell of which bears a spicule surmounted by a spore, not
occurring in this district.
GENUS 246. ACROSPEIRA.J B.andJ>'r.
Flocci decumbent, fertile erect, branched above, apex of the
branchlets somewhat quadriarticulate, spirallj'- convolute ; spores
subglobose, granulated, arising from one or other of tlie articu-
lations.
1. — Acrospeira mirabilis B. and Br. Ann. of Nat. Hist., 1861,
No. 952. On sweet chestnuts, Bath Market.
GENUS 247. BLASTOTKlCHUiV.§ Cda. Tcones II., p. 10, t ix..
fig. 50.
Flocci not septate, much branclied. ascending, or floating ■
branches surmounted by solitary, not septate, globose, or obovate
transversely-sej)tate, spores.
1. — Blastotrichum confervoides Cda., 1. c. On rotten fungi,
Warleigh.
GENUS 248. ENDODESMIA.il B. ami Br.
Little masses, or heaps concealed by smooth, continuous, shining
* From papula, a pustule and sporos seed.
t From ropalon, a club, and mukes, a mushroom.
X From akros, the summit, and speira, a curve.
§ From blastos, a bud, and thrix, a hair.
II From entlos within, and desmos, a bond or chain.
207
flocci ; spores coucatiuate, uniaeptate, elliptic, minutely appendicii-
late at each cud, soon free.
].— Endodesraia glauca B. and Br. Ann. Xat, Hist., 1870, 1871,
No. 1318 : December, 1870, and June, 1871, cum icone.
Perhaps identical with Torula glauca. Freuss, in Sturm's
Deutschlands Flora, part III.
ORDER 21. SEPEDONIEI.
Mycelium tloccose ; fertile tlocci obscure, and in consequence
the spores rest upon the matrix.
GENUS 249. SEPEDONIUM.* LL
Spores large, simple and globose, or appendiculate.
1. — Sepedonium chrysospermum Lk. Common on decaying
Boleti.
2. — S roseum Ft: On decaying fungi, Bowood, Wilts.
GENUS 250. FUSISPORIUxM. t LL
Spores elongated, fusiform, curved, at length septate, forming a
gelatinous mass.
1. — Fusisporium roseolum Stejjh. Batheaston, on decayed potatoes.
2. — F bacilligerum B. and Br. Batheaston, on leaves
of alaternus. Ann. Nat. Hist., No. 5i8, Ser. II., vii., 178.
3. — F— — fceni. On hay, Batheaston. B. and B. Ann,
Nat. Hist., Ser. II., vii., 179.
4. — F udum Berk (]) Batheaston, on trees. Ann.
Nat. Hist., Ser. I., vi., 438, No. 245.
GENUS 251. EPOCHNIUM.:}: LL
Sterile flocci creeping, fertile obsolete ; spores septate, attached
apparently to the matrix. This has not occurred in the district.
Epochnium fungorum Fr. Sporidesmium fungonim Berk.
• From sepedon putrescence.
^ From fusus, a spindle, and sporos seed.
I From epi upon, and ongknea, a wild pear tree.
208
GENUS 252. PSILONIA * Fr.
Flocci pc Tsistcnt, joined into an erumpent mass, at first covering
the simple spores.
1.— Psilonia gilva Fr. On dead herbaceous stems. Common.
2-— P discoidea B. and Fr. Ann. Nat. Hist., No. 1150.
August 1866, cum icone. Batheaston and Langley. on
stumps and old rails.
ORDER 22. TRICHODERMACEI. +
Flocci covering the spores, and forming a kind of peridium,
which at length vanishes in the centre.
GENCS 253. PILACRE.J Fr.
Stem solid, cylindrical; head globose, composed of flexuous,
branched, radiating threads ; spores produced near the tips,
forming a dusty mass.
1. — Pilacre faginea B and Br. Spye Park, Wilts, on beecii sticks.
Ann. Nat. Hist., Ser. II. v. 365, No. 380 icon.
3. — P Petersii Berk and Curlis fungi carolii. exsicci. Ann.
Nat. Hist., Not. 824, Ser. III. iii. 362. Leigh "Woods, C.
Bucknall, Esq. This species retains its powerful odour in
the herbarium for many years,
GEN as 254. INSTITALE.§ Fr.
Stemless ; common mass containing many cavities filled with
spores.
This Genus has not occurred in our district.
GENUS 255. ARTHRODERMA.II Currey.
Peridium spurious, indeterminate, roundish, composed of
* From psilos, a spot
t From thris, a hair, and derma, the skin.
X From pila, a round mass (?)
§ From instita, a fringe on a garment (?)
11 From artbron, a joint, and derma, a skin.
209
interwoven, strongly constricted, jointed flocci : spores collected
in the centre.
1. — Arthroderina Cnrreyi Berk. Mic. Jl. II. p. 240 cum icone.
GENUS 256. BLOXAMIA.* B. and Br.
Peridium, very delicate, hyaline and evanescent above, persistent
l)3lo\v, at length cxcipuliform ; spores quadrate produced in
narrow tubes.
1. — Bloxamia truncata B. and Br. Ann. Nat. Hist., Xo. 783.
May and June, 1854. This species seems to have been
omitted hitherto, it is therefore inserted here, although its
true position seems doubtful.
Common on dead elm limbs and cut surfaces. Batheaston.
Tlie IVinter of 1878-9 in Bath, and Seasons following. By the Rev.
Leonard Blomefield, M.A., F.L.S., F.G.S., &c.
(Read December Zrd, 1879.^
The Winter of 1878-9 and the seasons that followed 'tvill ever
hold a place in the meteorological annals of this country, though
the winter itself was not so remarkable for its severity as for its
long continuance. After four months of true winter weather, in
every sense of the word, two — we might almost say three — months
followed, in which, though the cold had of course moderated,
there were few really warm days, and but very slow advances
towards Spring as ordinarily conceived of. Then came the three
months of June, July, and August, quit« as little deserving the
name of Summer,
Details in connection wth this whole subject have been so
• A name given in honour of the Rev. A. Bloxam, a well-known British
cryptogamist.
210
prominently brought before the public from time to time in the
ilaily papers and other periodicals, that it is quite unnecessary to
give them here at length. The heavy falls of snow during the
M-iiiter, with impeded traffic, trains being often immovably fixed in
deep drifts, — the storms and incessant wet that prevailed through-
out the entire spring and sunmier, — the floods thereby occasioned
in so many parts of England, commencing with that terrible
inundation of Norwich in Novemb(!r 1878, in which several miles
of streets were submerged, — the abnormally low temperature of
the above two seasons, the days so rarely warm and the skies so
rarely free from cloud, — the backwardness of all vegetation even
to the extent of three weeks or a month, — the damaged crops of
hay and corn, utterly spoilt in many cases, — harvest prospects
at the worst, — gloom and despondency in all quarters as to the
future of agriculture in this country, in connection with the
general depression of the times, — these matters have been topics
of conversation everywhere. The chief of what seems called for
in the present paper is to put on record the abnormal seasons of
this year, meteorologically considered, as experienced here in
Bath. At the same time it is of interest to look into the con-
ditions of jirevious seasons, in order to ascertain how far tha
weather of this year is really, or not, without precedent. I shall,
also, before concluding, venture a few remarks as to the possible
causes of such weather, or rather refer to the causes which have
been suggested by some observers.
The question of temperature is the first matter for consideration.
With respect to last winter, it has been already stated that severity
was not its chief feature. The cold was at no tim« so extreme as
on some former occasions ; though no doubt there were many
places in England where it was more severe than in Bath. The
Thames at London was not so frozen over as entirely to stop
navigation, steamers being able (as I was informed) to cut their
way through the ice ; — and', perhaps, the condition of the Thames
in long frosts affords no bad criterion of the degree of sererity of
211
the cold ill different winters. I have been at some pains to ascer-
tain what there is on record on this subject to afford ground for
comparison ; — and judging from tlie sources of information 1
have had access to, it seems to me a question — whether the
Thames was not more frequently frozen, or more thoroughly
frozen over, and, consequently, very many of the winters more
severe, formerly than now. I refer particularly to the 17th and
18th centuries as compared with the 19th century, though it must
be remembered of course that this last has still 20 years more to
run.*
In the 17 th century I find that the Thames was frozen over in
six instances at least, viz., in 1607-8, 16-1:9, 168.34 and 1685 (two
winters in succession), in 1688, 1694-5. There are other years in
which, from what is recorded of the intense cold, we might almost
assume that the Thames must have been frozen over, though not
mentioned. Thus, in 1622, " all the rivers of Europe were frozen,
and also the Zuyder Zee." The winter of 1657-8 is said by
Evelyn to have been " the severest that anj' man alive had known
in England." " In 1 662, the river Thames was partially frozen over
towards the end of November," according to Pepys. The winters
of 1670, 1696-7, 1698-9, are all likewise spoken of as very severe,
" the frost most intense ; " the temperature in London, in the
winters of 1670 and 1696, falling to 9° below zero. The above
together would make twelve severe winters during the 1 7th century.
In the 18th century there is mention of the Thames being
frozen over in the winters of 1708-9, 1715-16, 1739-40, 1776,t
1783-4, 1789, being six instances, while there are other winters
which must have been very severe. There was a " great froi^t in
• The chief authorities consulted on this subject are — the Annual Register,
Evelyn's ^Memoirs, Gentleman's Magazine, Notes and Queries, Chambers'
Book of Days, Natural Phenomena and Chronology of the Season, MS.
Meteorological Registers in the "Jenyns Library," and Cuttings from old
Newspapers in the same Library.
t See " White's Selborne " (Bell's Ed. ), Vol. i., p. 266.
212
London" in 1719, a "severe winter'" spoken of in 1728-9;
"great frost and gi'eat snows" in 1731, with "the temperature
in London C^ F." There was also "intense frost " in 1736, "so
severe that in 24 hours after it began persons were walking on
the lake." In 1742 there was a frost in London that " lasted for
three weeks ; much ice in the river Thames." In 1753 "severe
frost in London, continuing till the middle of February, with
snow." In June, 1795, " ice was seen that had been taken from
the Thames piled up unmelted round the Monument, Fish Street
Hill." These together would make thirteen severe Avinters.
In the present century the Thames was frozen over in 1814,
and in January, 1838 ; in 1829-30 the navigation was stopped for
a time, but the ice was not passable on foot. During the severe
winter of 1860-61, when the tempei'ature at Nottingham fell to
8"^ below zero, the Thames was nearly covered with floating
masses of ice, but the navigation was not entirely stopped. The
winters of 1819-20, 1829-30, 1838, 1840-41, 1844-45, and 1846-47,
1855, 1864-65, 1870-71, were all severe, some very severe, but I
can find no record as to the state of the Thames in connection
with any of them
But it is not merely the fact of the Thames Ijeing frozen in a
cextain number of instances, but the dcfjree to which it and other
rivers were frozen during severe winters, that tells most of the
greater severity of the Aveather in past times. By far the severest
winter we have had this century was that of 1813-14, when there
was a fair and booths upon the Thames, with thousands of persons
on the ice togethex", fires burning, sheep roasted, &c. No such
occurrence as this has happened since. In the 18th century,
however, there were no less than four " frost fairs," as they were
called, on the Thames, viz., in 1715-16, a frost that "lasted from
November 24th till February 9th, during the whole of which time
the Thames was frozen over, and in January strongly frozen ;"
again in 1740, a frost of nine weeks' duration, when "carriages
were driven on the Thames;" again in 1784, when there were
213
" booths and shops of all sorts on the ice, horse and coach races, and
amusements" ; and again in 1788-9, when " all manner of diver
sions, and the various amusements of Bartholomew Fair " took
place on the ice.
I have already mentioned the twelve severe winters during the
17th century. I do not find records of actual fairs upon the
Thames in connection with all of them, but other circumstances
are spoken of to show their severity. Thus, in 1607, there were
" fires and diversions on the ice on the river Thames " as early as
"the first week in December." The frost of 1G83-4 was "the
longest on record, and the ice on the river Thames eleA^en inches
thick " ; Evelyn says, " there were whole streets of booths and
shops on the river Thames till February, and about 40 coaches
plied for liire on the river daily." It is also "said that ice
between Dover and Calais joined together within about a league."
The frost, too, of 1694-5 was of seven weeks' duration, and " so
intense that many forest trees and oaks were split by the frost."
Records on this subject of earlier date than the 17th century
are scanty, and perhaps not entirely to be depended upon. It
may be remarked, however, that mention is made of frosts in
the 15 th and 16tli centuries which, for their severity and long
continuance, can hardly be paralleled by any in modern times.
There was a frost, for instance, in 1407-8 which is said to have
lasted for 15 weeks, when even " the Danube was frozen over,
and the sea in several places, and in France the vineyards and
orchards were destroyed."
But it is time to pass from this digression to the subject of
temperature, in connection with, our last winter of 1878-9 and the
spring that followed, as experienced in Bath. For this puqiose
I have put into a tabular form, first, the mean temperature of
each of the seven months from November 1878 to May 1879
inclusive, and secondly, the extreme temperatures, of each of the
same months, the whole being compared with averages obtained
from 14 years' meteorological observations in the gardens of the
Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution.
iU
I. Mean Temperatures.
Mean Temp.
1878-9.
Average Mean
of 14 years.
Difftrence.
November ...
40-3
43-7
-3-4
December ...
34-S
40-9
-6-1
January
33-9
41-3
-7-4
February
40-6
42-4
-1-8
March
42-5
43-1
-0-6
April
45-1
49-0
-3-9
May
49-7
52-8
-3-1
Means of the 7 Months.
40-7
44-7
-4-0
II. Mean of Daily Maxima and Minima.
Mean of Jtax.
1878-9.
Average of
14 years.
Diflerence.
Mean of Mm.
1878-9
Ave/age of
14 years.
Difference.
Nov. ...
44-9
49-4
-4-5
35-4
38-0
-2-6
Dec.
39-3
45-4
-6-1
28-8
35.5
-6-7
Jan.
37-3
45-5
-8-2
28-9
36-0
-7-1
Feb. ...
44-8
47-4
-2-6
35-5
37-7
— 2'2
March . . .
49-6
49-3
+ 0-3
36-2
37-0
-0-8
April
51-3
57-0
-5-7
38-3
41-5
-3-2
May
58-2
Gl-6
-3-4
43-6
44-5
-0-9
aeans:
46-5
50-8
-4-3
35-2
38-6
-3-4
215
Inspecting, first, the table of mean temperatures, it will be seen
that the mean of every one of the above months is l^elow the
average mean, the difference between them, however, being much
greater in some months than in others. The monthly mean,
beginning with November 1878, declined gradually till January,
1879, when it was at its lowest, 33°, 9, and 7°. 4 below the average
of H years. There was a considerable rise in February, when
the difference between it and the average was reduced to 1°.8 ;
and this difference was further reduced in March, when it also
was at its lowest and only 0°.6. There is not much difference,
on an average of 14 years, between the mean temperature of
Februaiy and that of March ; but passing to the next month
April, it will be seen that while the average mean advances in this
month nearly 6 degrees, the mean of April 1879 advanced
scarcely more than 2^ degrees beyond that of March ; while the
mean temperature of May, though rather more than 4| degrees in
advance of April, was still below the average mean for May by at
least 3 degrees. This acounts in part for the extreme backward-
ness of the two months of April and May, 1879, both usually
considered as spring months.
Taking the whole seven months together, November to
May inclusive, the mean temperature of the same in 1878-9
appears in the table as 40"^. 7. The mean temperature of
the same seven months together, on an average of 14 years, is
seen to be 44°. 7, or four degrees more. This is a considerable
difference in the mean temperature of a period exceeding half
a year.
Taking together what are ordinarily considered as the three
teinter months, December, January, and February, the mean
temperature is found to be 5° below the average winter mean.
Including November, the mean of the fonr months is found to be
still 4®. 6 below the average.
. Taking together the three spring months, as usually considered,
March, April, and May, the mean temperature is 2^.5 below ^'he
c 2
216
average spring mean. Tlie above averages are all based upon 14
years' observations.
Thus looked at in every way we see how abnormally low the
mean temperature was from November 1878 to May 1879, both
these months being included. Let us turn now to the second
table showing the extreme temperatures for the same period.
In this table the mean of all the daily maxima is shown to vary
much in the same Avay as the monthly mean. The difference
between it and the average (14 years as before) being greatest in
January, least in March, running up again in April, and still con-
siderable in May as compared with March and February. The
mean of the daily minima varies not very differently from that of
the daily maxima, except that in May it is not so much below the
average as the latter. It will also be seen that, considered as a
whole (for December and March are exceptional months in this
respect), the mejin maxima are more depressed hclow the average than
the mean minima.
With regard to the alsohte maximum and minimum of each
month (not given in the table) the maximum here too is remark-
able for its greater depression below the average than the minimum.
Looking to back registers I find that, taldng the same average of
fourteen years, the absolute maximum in each of the above months,
November — May, in 1878-0, was beloic the average except March,
when the maximum rose to 63°, being above the average by 4°-l.
This high temj^erature was attained on the 19th, there being no
other day in that month on which the thermometer rose even to
60°. That it was an exceptional day is shown by there being
very little difference between the mean of the daily maxima for
March 1879 and the average as shown in the second of the tables
given above.
The difference between the absolute maximum and the average
in the other months ranged from 1°8 in December and February
to 10° -9 in April, and 5° -2 in May. These two last months appear
to have been decidedlv those in which the maximum extreme was
217
most kept down below tlic averagi', and it accords with the lagging
behind of the viean temperature also of these same months as
before shown.
November was also remarkable for its low absolute maximum,
being 54", or 4*'-6 below the average. During the whole 14 years
it had never been so low as this before, or nearly so low except in
1871, when it fell to 54°-6. In three of the years it rose to 60°
and upwards.
The absolute maximum in February 1879 was .54-5. During
tlie 14 years it twice rose to 60" in that month. The absolute
maximum in April 1879 was above 50° on 22 days, but did not
rise any day ijuite to 60°, the highest being 59°.
The absolute maximum in May 1 879 was above 60° on 12 days,
but did not rise any day to 70°, and on the 1st day of the month
was not higher than 46°-5. It may be noted that in April 1868
(the year of the hot summer), the absolute maximum attained to
60° or upwards on nine days, and in May to 70° or upwards on
nine days also.
Passing now to the absolute minimum, it is found to have been
below the average in each of the seven months, November — May,
1878-9, except in March, when it was above the average by 2°-7,
and in April, when it was the same as the average. The difference
between the two was greatest in December and January, the
absolute minimum in December being 17°-6; or 5°-2 beloAV the
average, and in January 14°-4, or 7°-4 below the average. But
these low temperatures have been exceeded in Bath — in one
instance greatly exceeded — in former years.
In December, 1860, the night temperature in Darlington Place
fell to 11°. On January 4th, 1867, in the Institution Gardens it
fell to 8°-5. On December 31st, 1870, it fell to 12°-6.
The result of this comparison of the maxima and minima
temperatures of the late winter and spring Avith the averages of 14
years is a clear showing that, during the cold period from
November 1878 to May 1879 inclusive, the depression of the
218
maxima temperatures was greater, or more below the averages,
than the depression of the minima temperatures. And this was
a marked feature of the winter. It explains, in part, the long
continuance of cold, without any such extremely low temperatures
as have occurred in some previous long winters ; perhaps, also, it
accounts for the circumstance of the Thames not having been
more completely frozen over.
The number of flights, during the winter and early spring, on
which the thermometer, at four feet above the ground, fell to or
below 32° Avas very considerable, being 10 nights in November,
23 in December, 25 in January, 8 in February, 7 in March, and 4
in April ; total, 77. This number does not include frosts from
terrestrial radiation, which would not be indicated by a thermometer
placed as above, and which would much increase the total if brought
iato the account. In December the thermometer fell below freezing
pointon 23 consecutive nights (4th to the 26th inclusive) ; on eight of
these nights it fell to some point between 20" and 25° ; on the
24th it fell to 17°-6, and on the 25th to 18° 4. After this the
cold somewhat moderated, and on the last five days in the month
the thermometer did not descend to freezing point at all.
In January, on eight of the 25 nights of frost, the thermometer
fell to between 20? and 25° ; on three nights it fell below 20°,
the lowest temperature being 14° "4 on'the 12th, — the coldest
night in the whole season.
Having thus considered tlie late winter and spring in respect
of temperature, it will now be fitting to speak of the Rainfall.
This was not so large during the above two seasons, as it was
afterwards during the three summer months of June, July, and
August, when the excess of rain was such as to give the year a
character for wet quite as much as for cold. Before coming to
any details on this head the following table is given, showing the
rainfall, and its difference from the average, of every month from
November, 1878, to October, 1879, inclusive.
219
III. Rainfall.
RainfaU
1878-9.
Average
of 14 Years.
Difference.
1878.
Inc.
Inc.
Inc.
November
3-155
2-636
+ 0-519
December ...
1-839
2-728
-0-889
1879.
January
3-678
3-767
-0-089
February
4-069
2-449
+ 1-620
March
0-830
2-029
-1-199
April
2-858
2-122
+ 0-736
May
2-809
2-238
+ 0-571
June
6-668
2-146
+ 4-522
July
3-693
2-422
+ 1-271
August
5-222
2-885
+ 2-337
September ...
3-018
3-608
-0-590
October
1-114
3-036
-1-922
In the above table the rainfall of November, 1878, is seen to bf
above the average by more than half an inch. The rains were
frequent, and there was k high flood on the 11th, the river Avon
rising more than ten feet. Great floods occurred also in some
other parts of England, where there was more rain than at Bath,
especially at Norwich, as alluded to at the beginning of this paper.
The rainfalls of December, January, and March were all below the
averages of 14 years. Those of February, April, and May, were
220
all above the same averages ; February to the amount of more
than an inch and a half, but April not much more than half an
inch, and May rather less than April. It was, as above stated, in
the three summer months of June, July, and August, that the
great excess of rainfall took place. The average fall for those
three months at Bath, or the average summer rainfall as it may
be called, (from 14 years' measurement), is 7 '45 3 inches. The fall
for the same three months in 1879 amounted to no less than
15-583 inches, or more than double. This exceptionally large
amount swelled up the whole rainfall, from the beginning of the
year to the end of August, to 29-827 inches, being 9-769 inches
above the average for the first eight months of the year.
There is no June in the back years of the Bath Literary Insti-
tution Registers, since their commencement in 1865, -with so large
a rainfall as June, 1879. The nearest approach to it is June of
the previous year, 1878 (likewise a very wet year), when the
rainfall was 4-150 inches; but this was more than two and a half
inches below the fall in June of the present year.
It may be added, in further illustration of the subject we are
considering, that the total number of days on which rain or snow
fell to the amount of 001 inc. or more, during the ten months'
from Xovember, 1878, to August, 1879, inclusive, amounted to
169 ; exceeding by six days the avei'age number for the ii:h.oh
year, as deduced from the 13 years previous, there being, too,
during those 13 years only three, viz., 1866, 1872, and 1877, in
which the sum total of rainy days exceeded the number during
the above ten months.
This excessive wet left its mark behind it in the damage done
to the crops and hay fields. Serious floods occurred in many
places. Travelling from Norwich to London on the 23rd of July
after one of those atmospheric depressions which had been so
frequent for many weeks previous, attended by a down-pour of
rain that continued more or less for three days and nights, it was
sad to witness the condition of the land. Whole fields here and
221
there submerged ; trees, haystacks, and crops of different kinds,
standing in the water ; hay that had been mown but not carried
floating upon the surface ; splash pools, if nothing more, in
almost all the meadows ; rivers running over even to the edges of
the line, and in a few instances crossing the rails ; — such was the
scene, most unusual for the time of year, which repeated itself at
intervals along the "whole distance till within a mile or two of the
suburbs of London itself, the flooded districts being most observable
in the neighbourhoods of Norwich, Ely, and Cambridge.
August was a still wetter month in Bath than July, though not
so wet as June. As seen in the above table, it had a rainfall of
more than two inches above the average. Floods, consequently,
were as general in that month as in the month previous. The
worst of these, perhaps, was the bursting of the river bank at
Lakenheath, whereby, according to a recent statement in the
Cambridge Chronicle, " 2,500 acres of fen land were laid under
water for the space of two months." Here in Bath, during the
third week of August, the Avon overflowed its banks, both above
and below the town, doing much damage to the crops of hay.
The summer, too, in addition to its wet, was equally remarkable
as the spring for its low temperature. The mean temperature of
June was two and a half degrees below the average of 14 years ;
the thermometer at its highest never rising to 70°, and on three
days during the first week not getting up to 60".
The mean temperature of July was four and a half degrees
below the average, being lower than that of any previous July
since the commencement of the Literary Institution observations
in 1865. Only on six days in this month did the thermometer
rise to 70° or above, four of those days being the last four in
the month, and it never got up to 80?.
The mean temperature of August was higher than that of
July, but still two degrees beloAv the average. The maximum
only rose to 70° or above on seven days, and never got higher
than 77°-7.
222
The mean temperature of the above three months together,
constituting the summer of 1879, was 58°'l, being exactly three
degrees below the average of 1 4 years.
The effects of this low temperature, combined with the wet,
were most disastrous to agriculture. The crops, which had
already had to struggle through a cold Avinter and spring, now
sustained further injury.
In many places they Averc laid by the heavy storms and became
mildewed, or turned yelloAv, and were everpvhere " choked with
weeds." In very few parts of England had the harvest commenced
by the end of August. The Mark Lane Express of that date
remarked that, owing to the excessive wet, the crops were even
then (the last day of August) " more backward than they were
in the spring, considering the average time at which harvest
commences."
Prospects improA'ed but little in September. The rainfall was
much less — a little helow the average instead of above it — but there
were few days entirely without rain, and there was very little
sun. The corn never ripened properly ; the harvest in consequence
was very late and long protracted. * What corn was cut before
October was said to have been carted and stacked under most
unfavourable conditions, and for some time afterwards not fit for
threshing, the yield, when at last threshed, proving deficient in
every way, " small in quantity and poor in quality." Mudi corn,
indeed, was still standing when October came; and even "hay-
making was not finished in North Wilts in mid-September."
Altogether, it was stated in one of the daily journals to have been
" one of the worst harvests the country had ever known."
In respect of weather, however, October revealed an improved
state of things. There seemed to be a gradual passing away of
those atmospheric conditions, which had been the cause of so pro-
• A correspondent, writing to the AfjrkuUural Gazette respecting the
harvest prospects in North Wilts (September 25tii), says :— " I have seen
seventy summers, but never remember so late a harvest as the present one."
223
tracted a period of wet and cold. The rainfall was only MUin.—
neariy two inches less than the average for the month, and the
smallest rainfall for October that had occurred since the commence-
ment of the Institution Registers in 1865. Northerly winds pre-
vailed ; and the days on which any rain fell did not exceed twelve.
The mean temperature was slightly above the average, and there
was only one night on which the thermometer fell to freezing
point. Fine settled weather occurred during the first half of the
month and the last week, proving favourable for farmers v/ho had
not got in all their harvest, as also favourable for preparing the
land for next year's crops. Some days were very mild, though
fog and haze were prevalent.
It was stated above, that one notable feature in the winter and
spring months, during the cold period, was the greater depression of
the daily maxima below the average than the depression of the
daily minima below the average. The same circumstance was
observable in the three summer months of June, July, and
August.
In June, the mean of the daily maxima was 4°. 5 heloiv the
average, the mean of the daily minima being the same as the
average.
In July, the mean of the daily maxima was no less than 6°. 4
below the average, while the mean of the daily minima was only
O**.? below the average.
In August, the mean of the daily maxima was 3°. 3 below the
average, the mean of the daily minima being nearly half a degree
above the average.
And it is worth remark that this condition of temperature,
which had prevailed over ten months, was not changed till
September, in which month the ratio was reversed ; the mean
maximum being 2°.5 above the average, while the mean minimum
was 1° below the average.
This circumstance seems to have marked the conclusion of what
may be especially called the cold period, commencing Avith
224
November 1878 and terminating the end of August, 1879, or only
extending in part into September; the depression of the maximum
temperature beyond that of the minimum, while it lasted, being
due no doubt to the excess of rain and cloud,* which would serve
equally to lower the day temperatures and to raise the night tem-
peratures, shutting Qut the sun's raj^s in the former case, and
checking terrestrial radiation, which is the great promoter of night
cold, in the latter.
There has been, of course, speculation as to the cause of such
abnormal weather, continued, too, over so many months. No
satisfactory explanation of it, however, has yet been given, and
the science of meteorology is hardly in a sufficiently advanced
state to give one. Persistent wet, whether in the form of snow or
rain, would naturally be attended by a low temperature, and there
might be frequent interaction between these two conditions of
weather ; a low temperature causing an increased condensation of
atmospheric vapoui-, the evaporation, on the other hand, that
takes place after much rain, having a tendency to depress or keep
down the temperature. Of these two, if we suppose cold to have
been the first agency at work, wc naturally ask what has occasioned
the cold 1 But before saying anything on this head, it may be
remarked that lengthened periods of cold and wet, similar to Avhat
Ave have experienced in 1879, are not so entirely without precedent
as some might be inclined to think. A writer in one of our
periodicals,+ sometime back, made mention of several instances
during the last hundred years or more, obtained from an old
register, in which there had been like periods of cold, of longer or
• Sunshine at Greenwich.—" In the first half of the year 1S79— the 26 weeks
ending with Saturday, the 28th of June— there were only 471 hours of sunshine
registered there. In the corresponding period in last year there were 643
ho.'.rs of snnshine. The deficiency in 1879 occurred in the second quarter of
the year." {Times ; July, 1870.)
+ Or in a Newspaper, I cannot say which, for I have unfortunately lost the
reference, and can only speak of the matter in a general way.
225
shorter contimianco ; ono or two of them reacliing to tho extent of
ten months, tho Bamo time for wliich the cold, or a marked
depression of the mean temperature, has lasted this present year.
Notice of a similar statement by Mr. Glaisher appeared in a recent
number of " Nature,"* in which it is said " that five colder periods
than that of the present year occurred" during the two last
decades of the last century." Mr. Glaisher remarks also on '-the
more frequent occurrence of a higher temperature during the
colder half of the year in recent years as compared with what pre-
vailed in the end of last century." This seems to be in keeping,
with the remark made in a former part of this paper as to the
apparent less frequency of very severe printers this century than
formerly.
One instance of a wet and cold season, similar in many respects
to that we have recently passed through, may occur to the recol-
lection of some, viz., that of the year 1860. In the Lockey
Registers, in the Bath Literary Institution, under the date of
June 30 of tliat year, there is a Newspaper cutting containing a
statement by Mr. Glaisher, of the Royal Greenwich Observatory,
as to the chief characteristics of that untoward season. Tho
previous winter had commenced in October 1859, severe cold
setting in suddenly on October 21st, attended by heavy storms
and furious gales of wind, such as had rarely been experienced
before in the London district. This unsettled stormy weather
prevailed not only through the winter, but durmg April, May and
June, the cold like^vise prevailing. "The temperature was
deficient in every month from November to June, with the
exception of that of January and May, when it was slightly in
excess." The fall of rain up to the end of June was 15 inches and
a half, being 4f inches in excess of the average for the first six
months of the year. The fall in June was most in excess, being
"three times greater than the average fall" for that month. In
* Vol. 21, p. 48.
.'26
Jul}' the weather improved and became more setth'd, Mr. Glaisher
ending with the remai-k " that there is no instance on record of a
wet June being followed by a wet July." The present year, there-
fore, 1879, in which tlie excessive wet of June prevailed, though
to a less degree, through the months of both July and August,
stands out markedly as perhaps the most exceptional of any, of
which we have reliable accounts, in this country.
It is probable, however, that extreme seasons, such as are above
spoken of, have recurred in all times at intervals, though we may
have very slight details on record by which we can clearly mark
them down. Previous to those mentioned by Mr. Glaisher.
towards the end of last century, there are short notices to be
found of several summers which, from what is said of them, must
have been quite of an abnormal character. Thus, the summer oi'
1750 is described as having been "exceedingly cold, and scarcely a
day without rain."'" In June of the previous year, 1749, there
was " ice in London in large pieces ; at Stockport, ice on the
river strong enough to bear a dog, and snow two inches deep."
There had been a great snow storm in Scotland the month
previous (May) in which " 800 or 900 black cattle perished." t
The summer of 1735 was "remarkably cold and wet, like
winter." % -A- curious extract from the " Parish Register of
Whitstable and Seasalter, in Kent," Avas sent to the Times in
September last, respecting the summer of 1 725, which is spoken
of as having been " the most dreadful for continual rains, cold,
and tempests that ever any history mentions. Not a day from
May to October mthout rain." If we go back to the 17th century,
we find Evelyn recording in his " Diary," under the date of 1692,
July 25th, " This" whole summer was exceeding wet and rainy ;
the like had not been known since 1648." And this fact is
confirmed by another statement on record of the same summer as
" cold, and a great deluge of rain till reaping time." § Pepys, in
• Chroaology of the Seasons, p. 61. t Id., p. 58. : Id., p. 47.
§ Chronology of the Seasons, p. 34.
like manner, speaks in his ■' Diary " of the wet summer of 1G03 ;
on the 8th of July, lie says, " we have had hut two fair days these
many months," and he does not know what will become of the
corn, t
The above notices are sufficient to show that, bad as our last
summer has been, it is by no means without precedent. In fact,
periodical alternations of wet and dry, — sometimes weeks or
months only, at other times years — intervening between the
changes, would seem to be the rule in various countries on both
sides of the equator. And if we ask the reason, it would be, I
suppose, impossible to assign any cause that would apply to all
cases alUce.
In a late number of " Xature " ; there is a statement respecting
" the terrible famine now prevailing in Cashmere, the immediate
cause of which " is referred to " the long continued drought" in
that country. Tliis drought is said to have " followed upon a
snow fall in the winter and spring of 1877-78, in magnitude and
duration unprecedented in Cashmere, orprobably any other countrj"."
From early in October, 1877, up to May, 1878, the snow fall in
the higher mountains and valleys " seems to have been almost
incessant ; indeed, in places it frequently snowed -without inter-
mission for upwards of ten days at a time." Some of the ravines
were still choked with snow in the months of August and
September, to the depth of 150 feet or more, which are ordinarily
clear from snow some time in June.
We are well aware, too, of the Indian famines generally, about
which so much has been said and written, as well as of those in
Cliina. These have all been attributed to droughts, which seem
to recur periodically, the famines following in the rear. Is there,
then, any fixed cycle of years within which the alternations of
wet and dry take place 1 Some would answer this question in
the affirmative, and be inclined, moreover, to consider the sunspot
+ Tlm-s, July 23, 1879. J No. 517, Sept. 25, 1879.
228
cycle, consisting of about eleven years, as coincident with the
above period. Xo doubt were any such coincidence thoroughly
established, it would afford an important clue to the explanation
of a large class of meteorological phenomena, but at present it can
hardly be taken into the account, whatever further research may
determine upon the subject. The evidence, too, of different
observers is conflicting. Dr. Meldrum, of the Mauritius, who first
started the hypothesis as regards the rainfall, expressed his belief,
based on many years' observations, that the wet periods coincided
Avith years of maximum sunspots, and dry periods with years of
minimum sunspots, and others have arrived at the same conclusion.
Yet there are some who would set it just the reverse, and it is
clear such a question, though each observer may be right, or think
himself right, in regard to his own locality, could not be generally
settled without a very close comparison of registers kept at
different stations and in different countries, and for long periods
of time. It niight even lie necessary first to ascertain whether
the rainfall of the whole earth is a constant or variable quantity
from year to j'eaz*, however extreme may be the differences of
rainfall in different parts of the earth. It need hardly be said
that this is what Ave can scarcely hope ever to determine with any
approach to accuracy.
The necessity of taking a broader view of things than can be
got in a few limited localities, for right consideration of a question
of this kind, ^Yil\ at once appear if we look to the weather
circumstances of other countries, and not to our own exclusively,
during this last summer. Here in England we have had a cold,
wet, miserable summer from beginning to end. It has been the
same in some parts of France, as Avell as in some other countries
on the Continent. But has it been universal over Europe ? Not,
according to statements in the public papers. Prior to about the
middle of September, the weather is said to have been " fine, dry,
and warm over the southern parts and the Mediterranean : at
Scutari four months of drought came to an end on the 16th of
229
September." * This last statement is confirmed by a correspondent
of Messrs. Carter and Co., High Holborn, at Constantinople, who
•writes : — '■ Our season here has been simply deplorable ; no rain
from April till the month of September." t The same drought
was also experienced in other parts of Eastern Europe higher in
latitude. There are likewise some singular facts recorded on the
subject of " American weather " last November, as contrasted
with our own winter here, more especially the high temperature
at Manitoba, in the same latitude as London, the mean temperature
of November having been there " 25° "73 higher than the average of
the month jor the 'past seven years." The comment ends with saying
that — " it has been remarked that when the winters in the Old
World are very cold, they are very moderate in America." %
But, perhaps, the most remarkable case in point is that of
Iceland, whose very name is suggestive of the idea that, however
bad a season we may have in these islands, it must surely be
intensified in an island nearly 10 degrees higher in N. latitude
than Edinburgh. Yet in a communication from an observer in
the North West of Iceland, to the Scottish Meteorological Society,
it is stated " that the spring there (1879) was stormy and cold,
but that in direct contrast to what has prevailed in the British
islands, the summer had been very fine and warm up to the date
of Avriting (September 23), and the rainfall very small during
June, July and August. Pastures had, in consequence, suffered
much, and the hay crop turned out to be generally a very poor
one. This has, however, been to some extent conterbalanced by
the admirable state in which the hay harvest has been secured, so
that most can look forward to the coming \\inter without
uneasiness, even though it should prove severe." §
Let us next regard the subject of sun-spot influence, in connection
with wet and dry periods, from another point of view. Confining
• Times Weather Report, October 13, 1879. t Times. October 16, 1879.
X See "Nature" (Vol. xir , p. 266). § " Nature," Vol. xxi , p. 48.
. D
230
ourselves now to our ovm. country, how has the matter stood in
previous years of an extreme character 1 In England, the three
last years, 1877, 1878 and 1879, have all been wet; and it is
noticeable that these wet years have been coincident with a
prolonged period of minimum sun-spots. But we must not be
hasty in drawing any inference from such coincidence. For if we
look back to the weather of former years we shall find that this
coincidence does not always hold good. The very wet seasons of
1829, 1848, and 1860, all occurred at a time of maximum sun-spots ;
while 1844, a very dry year, was coincident with minimum sun-spots.
In 1821 there was a very cold wet summer, and the next year,
1822, a very hot and dry summer ; neither of these being
coincident with years of either maximum or minimum sun-spots.
Again, 1823 was a year of minimum sun-spot, and not that but
the next year, 1824, was very wet. Then, lastly, followed three
consecutive hot and dry summers, 1825, 1826, and 1827, the three
together being about equidistant from a minimum sun-spot period
on one side and a maximum sun-spot period on the other side.
The above facts, in connection with what was before remarked,
as to the different states of weather, in different countries at the
same periods of time, clearly point to the existence of other factors
than sun-spot agency that must be brought in to explain the
variability of our seasons. Neither, as it has been remarked,
must we consider the British islands as capable of " expressing
the condition of the whole globe under a cosmical influence from
space without." The sun, no doubt,, is the primary cause of all
atmospheric changes, but there are many subordinate agencies at
work, varying in every country and in almost every locality, which,
from being nearer at hand, may have more effect than the sun,
and, within certain limits, counteract the sun's influence, and
introduce more or less of irregularity to disturb the normal course
of things.
We might well, too, expect that any changes in the sun, such
as are indicated by the sun-spot cycle, would affect our earth's
231
surface very differently in some places from others, so as to cause
here and there completely opposite states of weather.* For if
■we suppose a tropical or sub-tropical region to be overheated
through an increase of the sun's activity, the immediate effect
would be a more exhausting evaporation of the moisture in the
soil ; and an increased quantity of vajjour would consequently be
taken up by the atmosphere, to be carried by winds far elsewhere,
where the sun's influence is less, and there condensed into rain.
But to all this inquiry as to sun-spot influence there is a previous
question, which has hitherto, I believe, received no decided answer.
Does the actual amount of heat and light radiated out from the sun
to our earth vary from year to year 1 On putting this question to
a distinguished Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge, ■with whom
I had conversation on the subject last summer, he replied that he
knew of no evidence to show that it did vary. Of course such
evidence may be forthcoming hereafter, but if it be unfavourable,
the hypothesis of sun-spot influence on our seasons falls to the
ground.
Setting aside, then, for the present, all further consideration of
this matter, I pass on to other causes which have been adduced as
aff"ording an explanation of our long protracted cold weather. One
of these is a suggested deviation of the gulf stream from its usual
course, some imsuspected agency taking it away further from our
shores, and thereby depriving us of its accustomed ameliorating
• See an article on "The Weather and the Sun" in "Nature," vol. 20, p.
626. See also another article on " Sun-spots and the Rainfall of Paris," which
has appeared in " Nature " (vol. 21, p. 166), since the reading of this paper,
giving full details on the subject, and leading to the belief that a connection
will eventually be found to exist between sun-spots and rainfall generally^
though not capable of proof from the observations of a single locality. The Author
thinks that "the general rainfall cycle for the whole globe might be conceived
to be made up of a number of local cycles differing more or less among them-
selves land from the general cycle, according to local conditions, and in soma
places the general cycle might be reversed,'^
D 2
232
influence on our climate. Our present knowledge of the move-
ments of this stream is insufficient for determining whether this
circumstance may or may not have co-operated with other agencies
in occasioning the cold.*
A second cause assigned for it is the possible occurrence of ice-
bergs in the Atlantic. No doubt icebergs, breaking away from
the great mass of ice within the Arctic circle, do some seasons, in
their passage southward, have a decided influence on our spring
and summer months, chilling the atmosphere to immense dis-
tances, and, by their large condensation of vapour, bringing both
wet and cold to our shores, t But such bergs would not ordinarily
be detached earlier than the first setting in of the warm season,
when the melting process would begin. Consequently, though
they miglit aff'ect our spring and summer, we should not have
expected the severity of the previous winter to be due to such
cause. Our knowledge, however, here is very imperfect ; and it
was stated in the Times of the 18th of last August that intelligence
had been received at New York of the " United States Revenue
vessel Richard Rush having passed through Behring's Straits
within 75 miles of East Cape ; her captain reporting that the sea
northward of that point was clear of ice ; as also that last winter
had been unusually warm and the ice broke uj} earlier than usual."
Nor should the testimony of "an old whale-fisher" on this
subject, recorded in another Times paper, be passed over. " He
• Since the reading of this paper, an article has appeared in " Nature " (vol.
21, p. 130), on the subject of the Gulf Stream, and the great want of increased
observation and record with respect to its temperature and variations of course
in its movement northwards from the tropics. It is suggested that the abnormal
weather of last year may have been due to the heaping up of its waters at its
source in consequence of " an unusual prevalence of Arctic winds and unusual
cold in these latitudes;" whereby " a counter action or retarding influence"
would be exerted on " the volume and velocity of the tropical waters which
usually flow towards our coast," and mitigate the severity of our winters.
t See further on this subject " Proceedings of Bath Field Club," Vol. 1,,
No. 3., p. 65.
233
says that during the thirty years he had been in that business he
had found that in Greenland there was one fine summer in ten
years, a fact which had, moreover, been long recognised by the
Greenlanders. Now his theory was that whenever there was a
hot summer in Greenland, there was of necessity a wet one here,
and fo^ tl;^s reason : the heat in Greenland acted on the ice-
fields ^Uji"' set free a large number of bergs, which in their way
southwards became gradually melted, a large portion of their
moisture ascending in the form of vapour," which being condensed,
and " driven by the north-west winds, deluges us ■vnth rain."
This and the previous statement together would lead us to
infer that both winter and summer in high Polar latitudes had
been unusually warm this last year, and if so, they must have in
part been instrumental in bringing about our protracted period of
wet and cold.
We may hope to learn more about the conditions and move-
ments of the Polar ice, as affected by the severity or mildness of
the winter in those high latitudes in difierent years, if the scheme
proposed " for establishing stations within the Arctic circle at
which meteorological phenomena may be observed for twelve
months" is found capable of being carried into effect.*
Manifestly, however, the dispersion of the great fields of ice in
high latitudes must have some connection with the course of the
v> inds ; the long prevalence of particular winds having the eflFect
of keeping the fields compact, or breaking them up and causing
them to drift southwards, as the case may be, — irrespective of the
ice itself being more accumulated some years than others. Here
again we may before long look for some light from the co-operation
of those now engaged in publishing the " International Weather
Charts " of the Northern Hemisphere based on simultaneous
observations. Originating in the United States, this plan of
charting has become widely extended, and been taken up by the
• See Athenceum, Sept. 13, 1879, p. 343.
234
meteorologists of various other countries, the first issue of results
appearing in a chart annexed to No. 512 of " Nature," where wUl
be found an article on the subject and on the objects kept in view.*
The chart in question, " condensed from 30 of these charts — one
for each day of the month — shows for one month, the lines of
mean pressure, mean temperature, and average wind direction on
land and sea, within the limits of civilisation, on the Northern
Hemisphere." Great hope is entertained that, as this work pro-
gresses and improves, and the reports of observations become more
and more carefully elaborated, it may be found possible to arrive
at generalisations "permitting the announcement of meteoric
changes for periods longer in advance than have been hitherto
practicable."
Whether this is likely or not, these charts cannot but help us
to a better knowledge of the conditions ujaon which our weather
changes depend, far beyond anything attainable by isolated
observers working independently of each other. They may help
us to determine the law by which particular winds prevail at
particular seasons, as, on the other hand, the causes, which occa-
sion an interruption of those winds when they are irregular ; all
our states of weather being directly due to the influence of par-
ticular winds, as all our changes of weather are due to changes
of wind.
The easterly, or speaking more jjroperly north easterly, winds
in this country, usually so constant in spring, and attaining their
maximum in April or Maj', are too well known to call for any
remark. But I have elsewhere stated t as the result of close
observation of these winds over a long term of years, that though,
normally, they prevail in the spring season far more than at other
times, this is not always the case ; and I have adduced instances
* See "Nature," No. 512, Vol. 20, p. 381 ; Aug. 21, 1879.
t See "Observations in Meteorology," p. 113. See also "Proceedings of
Bath Field Club," Vol. 1., No. 3, p. 45.
235
in which it has been very much otherwise. I have shown that the
character of the seasons very much depends upon the way in which
the easterly winds are distributed through the year. The easterly,
or the whole class of winds from N. to E. inclusive, being for the
most part dry, and the opposite winds, or south-Avesterly, wet,
" a great prevalence of either of these classes of winds during any
one year, or any one season, in particular, may quite alter its
usual character, and render it colder or hotter, wetter or dri«r, as
it may happen." When the easterly winds are much in excess
during the summer half-year, the summer is generally very hot
and dry, as in 1842 and 1846. When the same winds are at a
maximum, but prevail mostly in the winter and spring months, as
in 1840, when there were none in June and July, these winds
being generally succeeded by the south westerly varying to N,W.,
both summer and autumn are changeable, with rain at intervals.
In 1841, the eas.terly winds were at a minimum, occurring chiefly
in February and April, and the summer and autumn of that year
were the wettest of any recorded in my Cambridgeshire Registers.
How has it been, now, with the winds of last year 1 Of
course I speak only of the winds as they have been at Bath. If
we inspect the Institution Registers we shall find that the pre-
vailing winds have not often been direct east, but, taking a broad
comprehensive view, rather northerly, i.e., from some point in the
northern hemisphere. Such winds seldom remain long perfectly
stationary, excepting in very settled weather, but keep shifting
at times Avestward or eastward, when they become mixed up with
other currents, from the west or south-west on the one hand, or
from the east and south-east on the other hand. These changes,
which are attended by an unsteady barometer, naturally lead to
unsettled weather, with frequent rain or snow, according to cir-
cumstances, and the time of year.
Going back, then, to the commencement of the winter, towards
the end of October, 1878, during which month the winds were
chiefly northerly, we find in November, when the winter had fairly
236
set in, northerly winds still largely prevailing ; the same winds
being in excess in December also, with only a feAv days of south-
westerly winds near the close of the year. The first five months
of the new year, January to May inclusive, were all in like manner
characterised by a great prevalence of northerly winds ; in
January, nearly all the southerly winds (or those from some point
in the southern hemisphere), — and during the three following
months of February, March and April, nearly half of them, — ^being
from S.E. and not from S.W. In June, however, the tables were
turned. The south-westerly winds then largely increased; and
these winds, veering at times to north-westerly, continued through
July and Augiist. During the period from November to May,
inclusive, the northerly winds, in the aggregate, were to the south-
westerly in the ratio of nearly three to one. During the three
months of June, July and August, the south-westerly, in the aggre-
gate, were to the northerly in a ratio of almost four to one. The
prevalence of these south-westerly winds, in connection with the
continued cold of so many months pi'evious, will quite
account for the dismal wet summer we all know so well.
It is interesting, now, to compare the weather of this year Avith
that of 1868, a year remarkable for its very high temperature,
particularly its hot dry summer, and a complete contrast in every
respect to the summer of 1879. In that year the winds were
nearly the reverse of what they have been this last season. In
January, from the 12th to the end of that month, they Avere
chiefly S.W. and westerly. In February, westerly winds prevailed
nearly the whole month. In March, likewise, they were chiefly
westerly ; with a temperature already more than 3" above the
mean. In April, northerly winds were more frequent, and the
mean temperature about the average, the maximum, however,
rising very nearly to 70°. In May, the winds were chiefly S., S.W.,
and westerly ; a hot and dry month, the mean temperature nearly
4'' above the average, the maximum rising very nearly to 80°.
The rainfall was inconsiderable, and there had been a deficiency
237
of rain for several months previous. In June, W. to X. winds took
the precedence, passing into N. and nortli-easterly in July, both
these months being extremely hot and dry, with a mean tempera-
ture above the average, in July several degrees above it, and the
maximum rising in July to 90" and upwards. In not one of the
three months of May, June and July, did the rainfall much exceed
half an inch.
In August, the winds were mostly W. and N.W., with the
temperature high at the beginning of the month, afterwards
moderate with much rain. In SejDtember, north-easterly winds
again prevailed, with high temperature, and no rain whatever
fell till the 17th, after which date the rainfall was large and the
winds variable. It may be added that the above hot season was
followed by a very mild December, the thermometer on one
occasion rising nearly to 60", and not once falling at night to
freezing point.
The above comparison of the two years, 1868 and 1879, is given
as a good example of two seasons of an entirely opposite
character being respectively'' regulated, as ib would seem, by a
succession of winds of equally opposite character. * We must
remember, however, that Avhile tracing such connection between
winds and seasons, we are led no further back than to the
proMmati cause of the great diversity that appears in the seasons
* Since the above was written, and this paper read, an article has appeared
in " Nature " (Vol xxi, p. 131), headed " The Climate of England," in which
the author rightly calls public attention to the importance of determining " he
prevalent set of the aerial currents" before attempting anything "like a
forecast of winter or summer weather." He says — " If we ask why the four
or five winters preceding the last severe one were so exceptionally mild, the
proximate answer is that during the months when the sun's power continued
low, we enjoyed a succession of south-westerly winds which tempered ' winter's
flaw.' Last year, on the contrary, the wind kept early and persistently to the
northerly and easterly quarters; and were proper tables available, I believe
that an abnormal prevalence of those Polar currents would be shown to have
marked the late seasons of this most exceptional year."
238
of different years. The remote cause of this difference has still to
be ascertained ; and, when detected, will probably be found to
originate in cosmical and terrestrial influences combined, the
latter more or less determined, in north temperate latitudes, by
the conditions of the ice in the Polar regions.
And till the science of meteorology is sufficiently advanced to
give us an understanding on this subject, all prognostications of
weather to come, beyond a few days in advance, must be very
uncertain. We may form some idea of what is likely to occur,
from the comparison of a particular season with the seasons of
former years ; but any inferences drawn from their similarity or
dissimilarity as regards antecedent conditions of weather, can
assure us of nothing beyond what is probable. The end may not
justify our expectations. We know not what concealed agencies
may be at work to disturb all our calculations, however thought-
fully conceived, and to falsify our predictions, however confident
we may feel of their trustworthiness.
■ In truth, we have a signal instance of such rash prophecying in
Mr. Lowe, the distinguished Nottingham observer in the joint
sciences of astronomy and meteorology, who hazarded a prediction,
in a letter to the editor of the Times, in May last, * that " a
period of drought was then apparently at hand, and that the
summer of 1879 might be expected to be very similar to that of
1868;" the late summer having, as every one knows, proved to
be one of the coldest and wettest on record. May we not, in
conclusion, gather wisdom from this specimen of wwwisdom in one
whom we might have accounted as among the best able to give
an opinion in such matters.
• Headed, "The Cycle of the Seasons."
i
239
The Pre-historic Races of Men, in Somersetshire and the adjoining
Counties. By Henry Bird, M.D.)
(Read 7th January, 18S0. J
Conquerors, emigrants, and explorers, in ancient and modern
times, have found every continent and island (producing food for
man and beast) to be inhabited by aborigines, who lived by
hunting and fisliing, and possessed few domestic animals. They
did not cultivate the soil, and the only traces they have left are
the rude burial places, and the flint, stone, and bone implements.
Such indications may be found in this and the adjoining counties ;
but the earliest signs of the presence of man are the earth-tumuli,
or " tump " burial places. These contain the remains of a small
race of men, with narrow long heads ; they are placed upon their
sides, in a doubled-up position ; and their only implements are
rude flint flakes, and occasionally round balls of sun-dried clay.
The Eskimo of the present day bear a close resemblance to ' this
race, both in stature and in the formation of the skull.
Such burial places are said to have belonged to the lower
classes, and not to have been for kings. But the earlier occupants
of such graves can be readily distinguished by their narrow long
heads, and the shape of their thigh-bones, from the later races.
Such a tumulus was discovered, some years ago, in the parish of
Cubberly, near Cheltenham. (Greenwell and Rolleston, pp. 112,
113, 675.)
Stone-tumuli, with a central cist, its sides formed of flat unhewn
stones placed edgeways, or of rough stone walling, and covered
with flat stones, and of a size sufficiently large to contain many
skeletons of a tall athletic race, with narrow long heads, and thick
skull bones, are the next structures. They may be considered to
belong to the same early period, as they only difier from the earth-
240
tumuli in the size of the skeletons they contain. These tumuli
are formed of surfoce stones, heaped up a few feet above the cist,
and covered with a foot of earth. The flint flakes are of rude
shape ; human and animal bones are occasionally on the surface
of the ground around, but not in the cist. Sometimes traces of
fire may be discerned, but not those of cremation.
The increased stature of this race, as compared with the former,
may be attributed to better food, and more efficient protection
from the inclemency of the seasons. Several of their tumuli
existed some years ago, near Cheltenham, at " Waste ;" there
were not any traces of domesticated animals discovered, nor any of
the cultivation of the soil. A race of such habits may be classed as
belonging to the "Paloeozoic strata of humanity." (Farrar's
".Families of Speech," p^*. 156, &c.)
The long heart-shaped barrows, of superior design and work-
manship, with chambers, and those with passages, and constructed
of unhewn stone, may be classed next in order of time. * The
chambers are formed of large flat stones, placed edgeways, the
spaces between being filled up with neat stone walling ; and they
are covered with flat stones, overlapping each other, so as to
throw off wet and rain. There are many bodies in some of the
chambers, of a mixed race, varying slightly in stature from five
feet two inches to five feet eight inches, and not diff"cring much
from the present race of men. The flint articles are often
beautifully worked, and are named by Dr. Thurnam " flint leaf
flakes." In the small end of these tumuli a cist is often found,
containing the bones of the larger preceding race : and occasionally
beneath the large stones at the greater end of the barrow, the
jaw and thigh bones, with numerous jaw and frontal bones of
• Uley-bury, and Wellow {or Stoney Littletont barrow, both Gaelic names
ai-e thus derived ; viz., Uley-bury from the Gaelic, Uiainn — a charnel house,
and bhuraich— to form a mound. Wellow is probably from the Gaelic, Uaigh
—a grave. Abury seems derived from the Gaelic, lobair (pronounced Ebber)
to sacrifice See M'Alpine's Dictionary.
241
children, of the larger race, (See the account of Belv!s Nap by
Mr. L. Winterhotham.) *
In many of these long barrows there are no traces of fire, or
cremation ; and most of the animal bones belong to domesticated
species ; and signs of cultivation are said to have been observed.
It may be inferred from the foregoing facts that the date of
these mounds is that of the earliest migration of the Arj'an race ;
they were the work of Gaels, speaking Gaelic, a race Avho named
such of our rivers as, the Severn, Avon, Colne, Cam, &c., and
such places as Malvern, &c , and every place beginning with Aber.
From the large unhewn stones placed in the barrows, it may
further be inferred that it is to this same race we owe Abury,
Stanton Drew, Treleck, and all the Cromlechs, and unhewn stone
works.
Not far from the large stones at Treleck there is an earth-
mound, like that at Abury, but not nearly so large.
In the Nymphsfield long barrow the skulls and long bones show
no signs of cremation ; but some small oblong cists were found
containing burnt human bones. One of the skulls from this
barrow was forwarded to Mr. Owen, at that time curator of
Hunter's Museum ; in return he stated that it was a fine specimen
of a skull of the Caucasian variety of man. No metals have been
found in the above described burial places.
Inhumation being the primeval and most natural way of
disposing of the dead, few traces of cremation would be found in
these earlier mounds, though the Aryan races soon began to
practise it. Vitrified and calcareous forts may be attributed to
this race.
The next race constructed round stone, and large earthen
tumuli, possessed metals, and generally adopted cremation. The
• Belu's Knapp (as the correct spelling is) is a Qaelic name, and therefore a
Btrong proof that the Gaels constructed the long-chambered barrows. (See
M'Alpine^s Gaelic Dictionary, published by Maclachlan, Edinburgh, 1866.)
242
cists in their burial-mounds are constructed of hewn stone neatly
placed together, and covered with flat worked stone ; and though
large enough to contain one or more bodies, we often find in
them an urn of burnt bones only, as at Chedworth.
Stonehenge, and the dressed stone monoliths, may be due to
this race ; as also many earth-works ; and the Bell, Saucer, Twin,
with other tumuli on the Wiltshire downs. Dr. Thurnam states
that they are a short-headed race ; and that the chippings of the
stone, and bronze implements used in rearing Stonehenge have
been discovered in the earth-works around it. The race is
supposed to have been Kymric ; and the Welsh names of places
seem due to them.
Gaelic was the earliest known language of Western Europe.
Manx, Irish, and Highland Scotch, all belong to it ; while the
Armorican, Bas Breton, and Welsh, belong to the Kymric. The
Rev. Thos. Price, in his work on the inhabitants of Britain, states
that the migrations to the British Isles, pre\dous to the Eoman
invasion, were Welsh-speaking.
The migration to these islands of the Belgse, a Welsh-speaking
people, is said to have occurred a few centuries — four or five —
before the Roman invasion. They used bronze and iron tools ;
and in common with other Aryan races, they cultivated the land,
had domestic animals, and were able to reduce Iron ore to
malleable Iron. There are no certain traces of the use of mortar
in the construction of their buildings, or of the existence of sheep
in these islands, until after the Roman invasion.
The examination of Belu's Nap proves conclusively that there
were two distinct races existing in that neighbourhood at the
time ; the large jaw and thigh bones, and the infant frontal bones
without any trace of sagittal suture, belonged to a narrow long-
headed race, which may have occupied other districts also previous
to the introduction of the use of metals by the Kymric short-
headed race.
The skeletons of the early "tump" barrows may be easily
243
distinguished from those of the later ones by the long narrow
head, the want of obliquity in the neck of the thigh bone, and
flatness of that bone beneath the trochanters.
The stone forts above Weston-super-Mare may be concluded to
belong to the stone age, or Gaelic period, from the dry stone walls
constructed to support the loose stones (as is often the case in
long barrows), and from the pits contained within the inclosure
having seats round them, a little beneath the surface of the soil,
like the seat in the stone cots, or shepherd-houses, near the long
barrows on the Cotteswolds. Some years ago there was a very
perfect one near Bibury.
Thus there are traces of four distinct races of men occupying
these districts before the Romans : —
1. The small narrow long-headed race of the earth-tumuli ;
2. The tall and narrow long-headed race of the early stone-
tumuli ;
3. The mixed race of the long barrows ;
4. The short-headed race of the bi'onze period, mixed in many
instances with a longer-headed race.
The Romans are a small race with square high- vaulted skulls.
The names of many places and objects may be brought forward
to prove (as fiir as possible) the prevalent languages in this far
distant period, and the races by whom these pre-historic works
were constructed.
I
2U
On the Restoration of the Roofs to the North Aisle and Hungerford
Chapel, fFellow Church. By Thomas Browne, A.K.I.B.A.
(Read January 7th, 1880J
In compliance with a request from your Secretary for a short
paper on some subject of antiquarian interest, I have thought
that a few remarks on the restoration of the roofs of the north
aisle and Hungerford Chapel at Wellow Church, recently com-
pleted by my partner and myself, might not be unsuitable for a
meeting of our Club.
In November, 1878, I was requested by the Vicar and Church-
wardens to examine the roofs, and report upon their condition
and what work should be done. The Church, which is one of
the finest village churches in the county, is remarkable for the
very good oak roofs of the Perpendicular period. The nave roof
of steep pitch, with richly-carved trusses and bracket pieces and
moulded ribs ; the aisle with flat span roofs, that on the south
side panelled throughout, and on the north panelled only at the
east end. The beams are all of ver}' solid and massive character
with deep mouldings and well cut bosses, and brackets against
the walls supported on carved stone corbels.
The north aisle roof, at my inspection, was found to be in a
very insecure state, the ends of the beams rotted away and the
boarding on top so decayed that it was dangerous to walk upon
in some place.
One length of wall plate had been removed some years ago
and replaced by stone, and near the north east corner several of
the ribs were supported by iron struts.
The plans and drawings will show the arrangement and con-
struction of the roof There are four bays with principal timbers,
14in. by 9in., cut to a flat span from out of the solid, and similar
timbers at each end against the walls. The ridge piece, lOin. by
6in., is notched into the principals, and in the middle of each
me
SCALE <
R&T
HvnGERFORU (hapel-Wellow (eivrch-
Platk 1
Cde&T.
SCALE OF retT
R&T
MORTH
^ -Plan of Roof lookikg up-
245
bay is aa intermediate principal, 9in. by 6Jin., notched into the
ridge piece. The side timbers or puriins are tenoned into the
principals.
Above these are oak rafters, 5^in. by 3in., laid flatwise and
covered with boarding. The east bay is divided up into panels
by the insertion of additional ribs, and these are covered by oak
slabs about 2^in. thick, forming the backs of the panels, and each
slab extends over two or three panels.
The roof of the Hungerford Chapel was framed and panelled
in much the same way, but with more mouldings and carving;
while the eastern half was very richly coloured and gilt. The
timbers of this roof were in a very defective condition, rotted
away at the ends and sunk in several places, while some of the
panels were crumbling to powder.
Some few years ago an attempt had been made to repair part
of this roof, but in a very imperfect manner, as I found thin
pieces of deal tacked on to the panels, and a great many of the
carvings had been replaced with yellow pine instead of oak.
Both of the roofs, I may observe, although span shaped inside,
were made lean-to outside by putting timbers and boarding from
the centre up to the clerestory wall.
Previously to my being called in, it had been a matter of
serious consideration in the parish whether it was possible to
repair the old roofs, or whether entirely new ones must be formed.
I stated in my report that — " In answering these questions it is
" clear to my mind that as regards patching or repairs to the
" present roof the cost would be money thrown away, as probably
" in a few years the question would again have to be considered.
" On the other hand I can see no reason for requiring an entirely
" new roof. However well it might be constructed, and however
" carefully the details of carving or moulding are copied, there
" would be the loss of all that interest to the parishioners and of
" those who appreciate the good old work about the Church
*^ which the present roof possesses ; and as an architect I have
246
" too much regard for our old churches to recommend the wanton
" destruction of such work wherever I think that with care and
" attention it might be preserved. There are many instances
" doubtless where timber and stone become so much decayed as
" to be not only useless but unsafe, and in these it is clearly a
" duty to replace them with sound, new materials, restoring the
" details as nearly as possible to match the old work.
" In the case of this aisle roof, the course which I recommend
" the parish to adopt, and which I think will be practicable and
" economical at the same time, is to take down the roof entirely,
" to remove all badly decayed timbers, replacing them with new,
" sound oak, and to reframe the roof on the old lines, reusing all
" those timbers whicti are sound and fit for the purpose. I should
" strongly wish to preserve the old principals, and would en-
" deavour to do so by cutting off the decayed portions and
" scarfing on new pieces of oak, putting over all some strong deal
* or iron beams to take the principal weight, and bolting these on
" to the old oak."
The work has been carried out in accordance with these recom-
mendations by Mr. Bladwell, builder, and I think that the care
taken to reuse every available piece of old timber and refix it in
the place that it came from would almost satisfy the Society for
the Preservation of Ancient Buildings.
By the large contract sections you will see what parts of the
old timbers were to be replaced with new, and with the method
adopted of bolting together the old and new work a strong con-
struction was secured, and the old beams (which otherwise would
have been useless) were thus refixed in their former positions.
Above the old roof (which I may observe was only dealt with
by two bays at a time) we have constructed a strong deal outer
roof covered with lead, and over each of the oak principals we
have a double 9in. by 4in. deal truss with iron bolts going down
through the oak beams.
The specimen of wood is from one of the panels of the Hunger-
247
ford Chapel, and there is also a fragment of a wall plate which
show the extent of decay that had taken place.
Wherever the wood was as bad as these we have replaced with
English oak all the decayed portions, but those beams and panels
which were only decayed to a moderate extent have been backed
up with other wood-work and refixed.
A large amount of the oak used in reparing the old roof, came
from the old belfry beams of Colerne Church, and the colour and
age are thus very nearly equal to the original roof timbers.
As regards surface treatment the only thing done has been
to brush off the dirt and coat the old and new timber with
linseed oil.
I should like now to direct your attention to the drawing of the
roof of the Hungerford Chapel which is ^-th of full size. The
Eastern half you will see is very richly coloured and the carved
bosses gilt. It had not been intended by us at first to attempt
making good the colours and gilding on the new work owing to
want of funds, but thanks to a liberal gift from the Rev. Mr.
Horton the Vicar, and the personal labour of my partner Mr,
Gill, we have been able to do so.
The greatest possible care was taken to preserve the old
colouring untouched, and it was only where the new oak was
inserted that the colouring was continued out to correspond with
tlie old. You will notice that there are four shields of arms
supposed to belong to branches of the Hungerford family or their
connections. Canon Jackson writes under date of 15 th of
November 1879, to the effect that the Hungerford's at Wellow
were a junior branch of the principal family at Farley, and that
the dexter side of the central shield were of the Hungerford's,
those on the sinister side he could not find what family they
belonged to. At Farleigh Castle there is a shield with the 2nd
and 3rd quarters argent, 3 lozenges vert,* the shields " azure a
• At Wellow the lozenges are " Or" on a ground which has been obliterated
and only now shows a yellowish tint, probably only a preparatory coat of paint.
E 2
248
bend Or and (blank) between 3 scollop shells or," which Canon
Jackson cannot identify with any family allied to the Hungerford's.
The shield with 2 yokes show the " device" of an old Wiltshire
family, the Tropenells, who had property at Hassage, which is in
Wellow parish. A similar device was also at Clialfield House or
Church, which belonged to the Tropnells and on a great
monument at Corsham Church the margin is covered with yokes.
The history of the Hungerford Chapel is somewhat uncertain.
Judging from the architecture it would be rather late 15th
century work and is probably somewhat later in date than the
North Aisle and Nave. The present representative of the
Founder's family, W. S. Gore Langton Esq., has, with Lord
Hylton and the Vicar, contributed largely to the cost of the
restoration of the Aisle and Chapel roofs and the parishioners have
contributed the rest of the cost.
There are several monuments to members of the Hungerford
family of 1 7th century date, on some of which the coat of arms
displays the crescent as a difference, marking the 2nd son or
junior bi-anch of the family.
On the East wall are some curious fresco paintings, representing
figures facing North and South and probably meant for prophets
or apostles, but they are not sufficiently clear for identification.
In the centre, close under the roof is a painting of a small figure
in the act of benediction. The figures have been covered with
several coats of yellow wash, some of which has been removed.
No doubt with great care and labour more of the paintings might
be uncovered, but it involves great risk of the yellow wash and
painting coming off together, as I found on trying it myself in
several places.
I cannot conclude without directing your attention to a curious
thing in the colouring of the timbers of the Hungerford Chapel,
where you will see by the drawing that a part of the pattern
on the transverse ribs was painted only on the West side, and
OHiitted on the East. Whether there is any special meaning or
fLATE £
HVMCERFORD (tlAPUL - WeLLOW (hvBCH
Plate E
SCRUt OF 1" " il " I ■-
Sec-riori-sHewme IrtTERMEDiATE.
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-J- I I F&e:t
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249
significance in this I cannot say, but it naturally recalls to ones
mind the paintings on the West side of the nave piers at S.
Alban's Abbey, and which are not repeated on the East side.
I have also brought two specimens of some old oak panelling,
which were found supporting the lead flat near the junction of
chapel roof and chancel. Some other larger pieces were also
found and are preserved at the church. These I think, from the
remains of early painting on them, had originally formed part of
a screen, (either a rood screen, or between the chapel and the
aisle or chancel) and after the destruction of the screen had been
used for repairing the boarding of the chapel roof. The painted
surface we found on the underside the lead resting on the side
which you see is so much decayed. I doubt if they originally
formed part of the present chancel screen, but were more probably
a part of the screens which were usually erected in the archways
separating a side chapel from the isle and chancel.
It is certainly an interesting subject of speculation at what date
the woodwork was used for repairing the chapel roof.
DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS.
Plate 1. — A plan of the roof of the flungerford Chapel looking
upwards.
Plate 2. — Sections of the roof showing th^ principal timbers and
purlins, with part of the longitudinal section. The sections
also show the new trussed girders which hare been put in
to carry the oJd timbers.
The Hedgemead Landslip. By Charles Moorb, F.G.S.
(Read February ith, 1880.^
In the early days of Geology as a science, which even now
are not so far back, and most of its veteran leaders having one by
250
one only lately passed away, Bath was considered a celebrated
locality, especially for oolitic deposits, and Bathonian was a term
adopted by continental geologists to include them all. It does
not seem a gracious thing to depreciate the scientific interest of
your own surroundings, but nevertheless it is true that the Bath
district would in the present day compare unfavourably both in
its geology and palaeontology with localities and sections which
were then unknown, possibly because there were no workers in
them to aid in their development. How meagre, for example,
would be the fauna of the Great Oolite of Bath as compared with
that at Minchinhampton ; or its thirty feet of ragged Inferior
Oolite here, with little but casts of shells, with its grand develop-
ment of 150 feet and its large fauna on the Cotteswolds ; or its
Upper and Middle Lias, then unknown, with their representatives
on the Yorkshire coast ; or the thin beds comparatively of the
Lower Lias with its great thickness in mid-Somerset or the
Dorsetshire coast. Still, we ought to be thankful to Walcott
for his " Bath Fossils," to Smith, Lonsdale, and others for the
impetus they gave to the study of geology in their day, and
more especially so perhaps since it is found with our increased
knowledge they did not quite exhaust the field, but left some
developments to work out for others who came after them.
Although the Bath beds, as already suggested, cannot be con-
sidered typical, they still present considerable variety, but the
difficulty in their study arises chiefly from the fact that clear,
well-defined sections, except on the table land of the great oolite,
are seldom to be seen. The centre of the valley has been
denuded down to the Lower Lias, but excavations therein do not
usually pass below the accretions of Eoman times, so that even
there it is seldom seen, and less likely are the beds on the slopes of
the hills which are nearly everywhere covered with material from
the higher ground. Generally it will be found that the most
interesting physical scenery occurs along the lines of outcrop of
the several geological formations, as may be evidenced by the
251
variety presented by the Cotteswold Hills in a journey by rail-
way into Gloucestershire, and the Bath beds being a southern
continuation of the Cotteswolds the same features present them-
selves everywhere around Bath. Similar, also, are the pretty
combes of tlie Gloucestershire Hills with those around Bath.
But it must be manifest, since there can be but little doubt that
the various beds were originally on the same horizon and contain
generally the same traces of organic life, that they were deposited
contemporaneously, and, from the thin laminse of some of the
clays, which at times no more than equal the thickness of a sheet
of paper, very slowly and perhaps periodically.
Accepting, then, as a geological fact that there was a time
when the Bath basin and its valley prolongations did not exist,
how are we to account for their presence 1 when formed and by
what agencies 1 Answers to the first and the last are easy, viz.,
by denudation. But much that is difficult lies behind this.
If we could, to use a humorous expression of Sedgwick's, " strip
oft' Dame Nature's petticoats," much might be revealed to us ;
but I suspect it would require a vigorous geological intellect to
explain the twisted, turned up and contorted palaeozoic beds
beneath our feet. Remembering the tapping of the source of
the Bath waters in 1838, I suspect we are better as we are. It
was not known till 1864 that a great line of dislocation passed
under Bath, when it was pointed out by me to Sir Charles LyeU,
who introduced it into his British Association address as bearing
upon the presence of the Bath waters. The fault is 200ft. in
thickness, and the depression on the south side or the elevation
of that on the north to that extent must have exercised an im-
portant bearing in facilitating the subsequent denudations, as
valleys with their rivers usually indicate weak lines of stratifica-
tion. Carboniferous beds are found two miles west of Bath at
Tvrerton, and again at Batheaston two miles to the east. There
appear to have been two periods of disturbance which have
affected the beds, one which was contemporary with the uplift
252
of the Mendips, the date of which could be fixed almost to a
certainty, from the fact that all the beds above them have not
been affected thereby, and are laid down horizontally, which is
the case with all the secondary beds around Bath. Then at a
much later period came the second disturbance affecting each side
of the valley I have already indicated, and lastly, and it is this
which concerns us most, the excavations of the valleys themselves,
which must have occuri'ed when post-pliocene man lived here
with his now extinct contemporary mammals. He is a worthy we
all desire to become much better acquainted with ; and something
more will, I hope, another day be known of him.
Anyone who walk across our oolitic table land with an eye to
geology, cannot I think fail to observe that they have been
subjected to much fluviatile action, the fissures in the rock itself
shew the continu.ous action of large bodies of water, which is
remarkably confirmed by the presence of derived material in them,
so that hundreds of feet above our present rivers there existed
others filling the valleys to at least the height of the highest
gravels. Climatic conditions alone appear equal to account for
these remarkable phenomena which however were not common
to our district alone.
There were then as now varying degrees of temperature, and if
we had then in our district crept past the true glacial period there
might stUl be winter glaciation of our hills and valleys, or
enormous accumulations of snow drifts, which in their periodic
summer meltings would produce the same effects as glaciers. We
were then still part of the European continent, and Professor
Dawkins F.K.S., has suggested that the reindeer, the musk sheep
and other now northern forms of mammalia migrated each season
to suitable climes, leaving as we know enormous numbers of their
bones washed into our caverns and into our valley drifts. Every-
where around it may be seen that large bodies of water occupied
much higher elevations than they do at present, our comparatively
puny rivers and streams, and deposits of gravel along the higher
253
levels of the valleys to some extent present landmarks for
comparison.
The waters of these early times in their periodic meltings had
their exit by these valleys, and not only so but the grounded ice
as in glacical districts of the present day moved more or less slowly
down their sides, carrying or pushing before it the disintegrated
material of the beds over whose edges it passed, and which is
now represented by maris, clays, drifts and gravels in the lower
levels.
The hill-side modifications since then have been very little, and
where present, may be attributed to local springs or to general
atmospheric influences. The beds cut through by the denuding
actioas indicated, have been the Great Oolite, the Fuller's Earth,
the Fuller's Earth Rock, the Inferior Oolite, the Yellow Sands and
Sandstones at their base, the Upper Lias, the Middle Lias, and the
upper portion of the Lower Lias, having a thickness of about
600 feet.
It is only to the Inferior Oolite and the Upper Lias that I need
now refer in connection with the unfortunate landslip on Hedge-
mead. When in remote times the chief denuding and atmospheric
influences had subsided, there was left exposed a clifiF section, the
face of which has an inclination of from 3 to 5 horizontal to
vertical, this face be it remembered being composed of the friable
surface edges of the lias with very few layers of stone to give it
support.
The Hedgemead hill-side is encumbered immediately below the
surface with talus composed of great blocks of Oolite and gravgl
and with sands and maris derived from the high grounds above,
which are probably accumulated in farrows and depressions of
varying depths and directions and serve to hold back the surface
rainfall of the district.
The inferior Oolite is well shown in the Jacob's Ladder road
immediately above Camden Crescent, where it is much disturbed
and large blocks seem ready to be dislodged to travel through
254
Hedgemead into the valley. The Sands and Sandstones below
are seen dipping at an angle of 30°. These in their more regular
positions are the collecting beds of the water thrown out by the
Upper Lias clays immediately below and all along the hill-side
above Hedgemead.
In the last century before Bath had emerged from the valleys
and had not even extended itself beyond the area occupied by the
Eomans, Hedgemead had no system of drainage and no roads,
and was chiefly occupied by gardeners who lived in little shanties
on their separate holdings, all the water from above finding its
way downwards under the accretions which covered up the edges
of the disintegrated marls of the lias.
It was when this state of things still existed, Sir William
Chambers struck with the magnificent prospect from above the
Hedgemead proposed the erection of the present fine pile of
buildings, the Camden Ci'escent. It was commenced in 1790.
Immediately behind it are beds of inferior Oolite succeeded by the
sands, and the cellars and foundations of the houses were in the
Upper Lias. Ifc was soon observed that the foundations were
treacherous, and piling operations were resorted to to give solidity,
which appears to have been so far successful, but the entire
crescent was never completed.
Three houses at the eastern end which appear in old prints were
left in skeleton and were subsequently removed. Many small
houses in streets and terraces, suitable to residences for the
artizan and mechanic classes were afterwards built, some of
which almost from the first showed signs of movement, and of
late houses of a still better class, which unfortunately only
add weight to an insecure surface and help on the creeping move-
ment of all thereon towards the valley. It has inflicted a great
hardship on many a working man whose savings have been
expended in the purchase of his cottage, which has had to be
condemned.
It is due to the civic authorities to say that though not legally
255
responsible, as the whole difficulty arises from natural causes, they
have expended considerable sums of money in endeavouring to
find a remedy.
Before concluding this part of the subject I will give you an
example, though perhaps an exceptional one, of the character of
the material on Avhich some houses are standing. Mr. Bolwell put
down a boring on his premises in Somerset Buildings, opposite
Walcot Church, and passed through 30 to 40 feet of greasy sandy
marls, and blocks of sandstone derived from the Yellow Sand
above Camden Crescent, and mixed with it a considerable quantity
of iron pyrites, brought away by water in its passage over the
edges of the upper Lias.
Paleontology of the Hedgemead Landslip.
In my notices of the ancient natural history of the Hedgemead
beds I shall confine myself entirely to those of the Upper Lias,
which first show themselves in a little patch behind Camden
Crescent ; the beds below to the top of the Surveyor's shaft not
having been touched are necessarily unknown. This well, com-
menced in about the middle of the series, was carried down 65
feet, where the Upper Lias terminated, resting, as it does in
other places, on a somewhat irregularly stratified bouldered series
of Marlstone beds of a greyish colour, the thickness of which is
uncertain, as the sinking was not continued further. In other
districts these Middle Lias upper rocks vary from two to twelve
feet. It is precisely the same bed given by myself in a section
p. 16 of my paper " On the Middle and Upper Lias of the West
of England."
In my conversations with the Surveyor it was especially im-
pressed upon him that his object being to cure the source of evil,
which I believed to be from superficial water, the moment his
sinking proved itself to be in regularly stratified beds of Marl,
which were usually quite impervious to water, the workings
256
might at once be stopped. Still as these beds had never been
opened up in this district, I felt only too glad to have an oppor-
tunity for their examination. Considering what remarkable
remains they had yielded elsewhere, as these beds had evidently
been deposited under less favourable conditions, I did not expect
them to be so rich as those of the same age in the West of
England, which though only of an aggregate thickness of twenty
feet had yielded me the wonderful series of six hundred species,
including the reptiles, fish, Crustacea, insects and moUusca in my
museum at the Institution. Some of these I felt sure in a denp
well sinking would be disentombed. I was to be informed when
the work commenced, and to have samples of the beds preserved
for me. Some months' delay arose before the work commenced,
when, alas ! I learnt that, without any intimation to me, the
sinking was going on, and at my first visit had been carried
down forty-five feet, so that it was impossible for me to give the
beds the close critical examination I had desired.
The well was in the Upper Hedgemead road, not far below the
western end of Camden Crescent. The first twenty feet were in
detritus, or material taken from the excavation of the cellars
above, with occasional pieces of dressed freestone, supposed to
have been pushed down the slope from the giving way of the
arches supporting the roadway in front of the houses, which had
several times to be renewed, soon after their erection. This
detritus rested on unmistakeable Upper Lias Clay, thinly but
densely laminated, coming out in thick blocks, and continuing
till near the base, when layers of somewhat irregular blue stone
succeeded with intermediate beds of clay. The Marlstone or top
bed of the Middle Lias, having organic remains difi"ering from
those in the beds above, was the last reached, at a depth of 65
feet, but its thickness was not proved. I did not expect water
would be found in these beds, but at the junction at the top,
under the twenty feet of debris, a considerable quantity showed
itself, which should at once have been turned into the nearest
257
drain, instead of which it was allowed to pass behind the timber-
ing to the bottom of the well, to be brought up again in the
bucket, whilst week by week the men were working in a slimy-
bottom under the idea that the water was coming from the
bedding passed through, and the result to my own examinations
unfortunately was that owing to the muddy surfaces of all the
blocks many of the smaller or more delicate forms of life were
unrecognisable.
Under any circumstances it was a pleasure to me to recognise
the faces of my West of England Upper Lias forms in Bath.
But on the whole nature has not been generous to many of them,
for before they were finally covered up they were so tossed
about as to be in a very dilapidated condition. A list of species
will be given below, all of which are already in my museum.
Belemnites are most plentiful, and in best preservation. Am-
monites are always imperfect, and usually flattened ; all their
outer shells, except in the case of Ammonites Bechei, have
perished, but in this case the outer epidermis has been left in
such a condition as to enable me to remove it, and even to bottle
samples for microscopical study.
Three genera of fish come from the well, Hybodus, Lepidotus
and Leptolepis — of the latter I found a very perfect example and
several detatched heads— this fish is very plentiful in the upper
lias fish bed and there are numerous examples in my museum.
Next there are traces of shrimps and lobsters, though not well
preserved — scarcely more than impressions on the marl. One of
the latter is the Eryon Moorei, named after myself, from the
upper lias of Ilminster. In addition to the above, Lima punctata,
Pecten, Inoceramus, Pentacrinites, &c., are not uncommon. The
tests of most of them are converted into iron pjTites. The
Brachiopoda yield the genera Terebratula, Rhynchonella, and
many examples of the little Discina Moorei, Dav., but the latter
shell being very thin, is always crushed. Considering the dis-
advantages under which these gleanings were made there is no
258
doubt if the beds were worked in the district for brickmaking or
other purposes they would yield an interesting series of remains.
List of Organic Remains from Hedgemead.
Leptolepis— new sp.
Lepidotus.
Hybodus.
Eryon Moorei — Wood.
„ Barrovensis.
Eryma sp.
Ammonites annulatus.
„ Bechei.
„ bifrons.
„ falcifer.
„ spinatus.
Belemnites compressus.
,, paxillosus.
„ laevis
„ striolatus.
acuminatus.
Discina Moorei.
Rhynchonella furcillata.
Terebratula punctata.
Trochus sp.
Avicula insequivalvis.
Inoceramus dubius.
liima punctata.
Ostrea, sp.
Pecten, sp.
Plicatula spinosa.
Nucula ovum.
Serpula capitata.
Pentacrinus gracilis.
Cristellaria cultrata.
Dentalina.
Summaij of Proceedings for the Year 1879-80.
Mr. President and Gentlemen,
We have now been in existence a quarter of a century, and
may mutually congratulate ourselves on the extremely healthy
and vigorous state of our constitution. Twenty-five years is a
Ion*'' time for such a club as ours to exist, for the field of obser-
vation in the natural history, geology and antiquities of the
neighbourhood of Bath must naturally in course of time be very
259
much narrowed, and the chance of anything new occurring
worthy of observation or remark much lessened with the advance of
each year. The constantly fresh addition of new members, how-
ever, and the satisfactory state of our finances indicate that the
local interest in the objects for which the Club was started is
unabated; and the original founders, who met together in 1855,
a band of naturalist brothers numbering about twelve, now, alas,
as the asterisks against the names in our " List of Members"
shows, reduced to four, must feel a certain amount of satisfaction
at their progressive increase.
In summarising then our proceedings for the past year, we
begin with the anniversary meeting held at the Eoyal Literary
and Scientific Institution for the transaction of the i;sual business,
followed by the annual dinner at the Pump Eoom Hotel.
Mr. Skrine, who presided, having, after the customary loyal
toasts, proposed " Success to the Bath Natural History and
Antiquarian Field Club," said that their President at the outset
declared the objects of the Club to be twofold, first, to explore
the neighbourhood thoroughly, and second to bring together men
of like minds. This was a comprehensive undertaking ; had they
been a working club or a mere cUlhtante society, having the name
but nothing of the reality 1 He thought they had reason to be
satisfied with what the Club had done in the past. Eeferring to
the walking parties, the Secretary said last year that they were
well supported, but expressed a wish that more notes were taken.
" How shall we," he exclaimed, " galvanise them into action 1"
They would do well to take notes, and he was sure that if the
members would jot down their observations and the remarks
of those who were acquainted with natural history, geology,
mineralogy and antiquity, they would collect a valuable mass of
information. They wanted an officer who had not been thought
of in the Club, an histriographer who could enter these observa-
tions and bring them forward or give them to the Secretary for
his " Summary." He advised them in their walks to keep their
260
eyes and ears open. Their ears because there was much to he
learned from the talk of the peasantry. The names of places,
fields, rivers and boundaries were also of interest. They were
things out of which might some day, though not in their time, be
built not only a county history but a history of England. As to
natural history, he was one of those who was glad to hear what
others had to tell about it, and to be taught how to look at nature.
As they required to be instructed to look at pictures with an
artist's eye, so they required to be taught to see what was to be
seen in natural objects, and if those who knew the subject would
not only notice what interested them in the course of a walk,
but also show it to the rest, they would make the enjoyment
general and so work out the object laid down by their President.
The second object was also important and was greatly assisted
by such gatherings as that, which he should wish to see more
frequent. In conclusion he congratulated the Club on having
stuck to its guns for twenty-four years, and said it must not rest
now. In addition to what he had said, he would remind them
that Dr. Hunter once remarked, " Those also serve who only
stand and wait," and members were valuable who had a thorough
sympathy with the objects in view, even if they were only
listeners. He coupled with the toast the name of the President,
whose health he regretted to say prevented his being present,
and of the Vice-President, whom they were all glad to see
opposite him, for they all knew what an active interest he took
in the Club, He felt he must also add the name of their in-
valuable secretary, the Rev. H. H. Winwood, and express their
regret at the unfortunate indisposition which confined him to his
house on that occasion.
The Vice-President, referring to the Chairman's allusion to
himself, said that though not an original member he was the
oldest member present, and he looked back with pleasure to
twenty-five years' connection with the Club. Those whose duties
had kept them mostly in this country were able to meet in its
361
ranks gentlemen who had travelled in all parts of the world, and
while on the one hand they were able to delight the travellers
with home antiquities they had on the other hand the advantage
of their observations upon what was to be seen in distant lands.
He only regretted that they had not kept more records of what
they saw and heard. Field Clubs were of the highest value, and
had been springing up in different parts of England, but he
thought their " Proceedings" would bear favourable comparison
with those of any other club he knew, because in Somersetshire
they had a very large field to work in. He remarked he had that
day been down to the level of the Eoman city, and had walked
in its streets and seen the gutters and the steps as the Romans
had left them. He was able to produce a rubbing of an inscrip-
tion which had been found ; it was not the monument to Pompey
the Great, but to a member of his family, who had been attacked
with rheumatism perhaps while serving in our humid climate,
and coming to Bath for the v/aters had died here. Unfortunately
no more than the name was preserved, but from the shape it was
a funereal stone. [The rubbing was then handed round, and
bore the following words : —
Q. POMPEIUS
A N I C E T U .S
GUI . . . ]
From the character of the letters its date was shortly after the
death of Vespasian. This made the seventh inscription with the
name of Pompey which had been found in Britain. Referring to
the work of Dr. Hubner, he said the interest the Germans took
in our antiquities ought to stir up everyone to write down what
he knew. In conclusion he invited the Club to make an excursion
to AVedmore to see the ruins of King Alfred's palace.
The health of Mr. Harold Lewis, the Assistant Hon. Secretary,
having been been proposed in complimentary terms, the latter
congratulated the Club on the marked success which had attended
F
262
the afternoon meetings. The excureions also were on the whole
successful, but the walks had been neglected lately, partly perhaps
on account of the weather. They ought not however to forget
places in their immediate neighbourhood ; and where discoveries
had been made, as recently of Norman work at Englishcombe
Church, it was very desirable for the Club to take note of it, and
its opinion and advice would be valued. In years gone by the
Club had taken some very interesting walks, and if some of the
older members of whom the Vice-president had spoken would lead
them over the same ground it would be found that it was new to
the majority of the members. He thought that if a definite
object were suggested for a walk and notice put up at the Institu-
tion, some would be sure to go, and the walk would be well
attended. The country members were often deterred from coming
in because they did not know what direction the wallc would
take.
The Chairman approved of the suggestion to give notice of the
walks, and of Mr. Burrell's suggestion also that once a month
— on the first or last Tuesday — there should be a walk for a
particular object.
The Vice-President said that one toast remained which would
need no recommendation to the Club, the health of the Chairman.
He was glad of the opportunity to express his sense of the excel-
lent services of Mr. Skrine, not only to the Club but to every
useful movement in Bath, and he felt that in electing him as
Chairman of the Club, they had gained a great accession of strength.
The Chairman briefly acknowledged the compliment and
hoped the Club would one day walk over to see him at Warley
and study the scene of the skirmish in the Ham meadow which
was not yet rightly understood.
The party shortly after broke up.
Afternoon Meetings.
The alteration of the time of the meetings for i-eading papers
263
has proved a decided success, and they continue to be well
attended by members ; indeed the room which has been granted
for the purpose by the authorities of the Eoyal Literary and
Scientific Institution is found to be too small, as it is generally
rather uncomfortably crowded. The concluding meeting of last
session was held on March 12th, under the Presidency of Mr.
Charles Moore and was devoted to Natural History and Geology.
Mr. D. Williams led off with a very interesting paper on
" Sea Weeds." He said that the bed of the sea was covered just
as the earth was with plants and trees, only, owing to the density
of the water, the stems of the seaweeds were much more slender.
He described the general characteristic of the algae and said that
about 370 species were found on our coasts. He particularised
several of these, and among them that which yields the laver or
slcke sold by fishmongers, and the common kelp from which
iodine is derived, and described the process employed in the
manufacture of iodine, and particularised the cutting of the seaweed
in seaside places. Mr. Williams also exhibited a very valuable
collection of English seaweeds. The conversation turned upon
the length to which some seaweeds grow, in which the chairman
and Sir H. Freeling took part.
This was followed by a very interesting verbal communication
from the Rev. H. N. Ellacombe, regarding
THE KAVAGES OF THE PAST WINTER.
He thought it would be of interest to the Club to know the observa-
tions he had made in his own garden this winter. The President
always warned them against the mistake of people who said whenever
there was any severe weather that it was the most extraordinary that
had ever been heard of, whereas the weather tables showed it was no
worse than they might expect. Still the winter they had passed
thiough had been extraordinary. From the 1st of November to the
end of February the mean average temperature had been 33'^ F. — one
degree that was above freezing point. This was taken 4 feet from
the ground, and on the ground it would be much colder, so that Uieir
F 2
264
plants had been living for that period below freezing poiut, at least they
had not been living they had been dying by hundreds. The previous
severe winter was in 1861, and this had not been so fatal ; then the
lauristinuses looked as if they had been through the fire, the bays were
cut down, and the magnolias much injured. It was not so now, and
that was becaure the severest weather was in January, when they had
no sun. The alteration of frost and sunshine was fatal te plants ; it had
just the efifect of bringing a frost-bitten foot to the fire. Most of the
herbaceous plants had not suffered much. Those which had suffered
most were those which had come to them from a higher temperature
and a low level, as for instance from the Mediterranean. Those which
had come from a higher temperature and a high level, as from the
Himalayas, Japan, and China, had stood very well. People often said
that they could acclimatise plants, but botanists knew that it was
nonsense to imagine they could make tender plants hardy. Still they
continually indulged the hope, and this wiuter had served to shew them
their error. New Zealand plants had gone in all directions, and the
scarlet geranium, which had been introduced two hundred yeai-s, was
another instance of a plant which could not be made hardy, though
every expedient had been tried. Geography also was a false guide, for
while some plants from the tropics stood well, there were some arctic
plants which they could not grow. Still there was one very pretty
New Zealand shrub, Veronica traversi, called by the gardeners
Devoniensis, which had stood very well. All who attempted to grow a
mixed collection would know that the great enemies to success were the
gardeners and the ladies. In their anxiety for tidiness they dug up the
ground just before winter and exposed the roots to the cold, and they
cleared away the leaves, though there could be no better protection than
the natural thatch which fell down upon a plant, and he proved this
from an instance in his garden of a little shrub which had been very
much bitten, except where the leaves of the New Zealand flax had
fallen upon it, and there it was all right. In conclusion he exhibited
some sprays of shrubs which had stood the winter well (as the Club
could see), and which he recommended to them— Choisyia ternata,
Nandina domestica, Bamhusa metake, Veronica traversi. The camellias
had also stood very well — he was looking at them at Kew only a few
days before.
265
Captain Lysag^^t said the Chinese medlar in the Park had stood
better than the common laurel.
Mr. Ekin thought the maturing of the wood had a good deal to
do Avith the hardiness of a plant. In Cornwall the frost had
played great havoc, especially with the magnolias ; further east,
where they stood better, the atmosphere was probably drier and
the wood matured more before winter.
Mr. Broome then read a paper in continuation of his previous
valuable contributions on " The Mycology of the Neighbourhood."
The family of Hyphomycetes was described on this occasion
(vide p. 181).
The meetmg -was brought to a conclusion by a verbal communi-
cation from the Secretary, the Eev. H. H. WiNWOOD, on
" BITTON sawyers" — A PETROLOGICAL PROBLEM.
These were very hard siliceous pebbles found in the gravel jjits in
the neighbourhood of Bitton, and called by the inhabitants " Bitten
Sawyers." Whence the name, he asked, and whence their origin ?
As to the name, it seems to be connected with the muscular power of
a travelling conjuror who in the memory of by no means the youngest
inhabitant was wont to try his fists successfully upon these pebbles,
and by a series of measured blows break them in pieces. When the
extreme difficulty of making an impression upon these very tough
pebbles even with a hammer is considered, the blow of this man was
well worthy of note. As to their origin ; this to a geologist was not
quite so difficult to find out as the meaning of the name, for tracing
the course of the small stream called the Boyd northwards it would be
seen from the geological map that it flowed past some exposures of
Coal Measure Sandstone and Millstone Grit at the Wick Bocks. Carry
your imagination back to the time when the Boyd, at this day a mere
rivulet, flowed an imijetuous torrent, and deposited the gravels now at
some considerable distance from its bed, and you have at once an agent
sufficient for the purpose. Another source may even be found some-
what closer at hand, for the Kingswood anticlinal has many bands of
Coal Measure Sandstone cropping up to the surface very similar in
texture to the Millstone Grit, and in a hand specimen scarcely dis-
266
tinguishable from it ; hence may have come these " Sawyers," which
are lithologically identical. Iq conclusion the Secretary stated that he
had examined microscopically the Kingswood Sandstone, the Wick
Millstone Grit, and the "Bittou Sawyers," and found them roughly
speaking almost identical in their characteristics. As regards the term
Pennant Sandstone used locally for that great division of the Coal
Measure Sandstones dividing the upper series of coal beds from the
lower, he asked for information as to its origin.
The session of 1879-80 opened on the Srd of December with a
most valuable paper from our President "On the Winter of
1878-9 in Bath and Seasons following" (vide p. 209).
At the second meeting on January 7th, Mr. Skrine in the
chair. Dr. Bird read a paper on " The Prehistoric Races of
Somersetshire and the adjoining Counties" (vide p. 239), and
exhibited the skull of a skeleton found in a sitting position
during the excavations at the Charlcombe Water Works.
This was followed by a paper from Mr. T. Browne on " The
Restoration of the Roofs of the North Aisle and Hungerford
Chapel, of Wellow Church," upon which he was consulted in
November, 1878, and which he had just finished (vide p. 244),
The interest of the paper was increased by the exhibition of some
very carefully drawn plans, drawings and sections of the roof,
and of some specimens of the decayed timbers. The Rev. H. N.
EllACOMBK said that very little reliance was to be placed on the
colouring of the shields ; they had evidently been tampered with
by the village painter. They could only be sure when they had
the colouring in stained glass, or when shown in sculpture. The
Assistant Hon. Sec. (Mr. Harold Lewis) said that as the
Club would not hesitate to find fault when a work of this kind
was -wrongly done, they were obliged to Mr. Browne for coming
there and telling them what he had done, and enabling them to
express their pleasure at the manner in which he had done it.
The Vice-President was glad that the work had fallen into such
good- hands ; he referred to the general restoration of the church
267
some years ago, and stated that he had endeavoured without
success to make out the frescoes on the east wall of the chapel.
The third afternoon meeting of the session was held on
Wednesday, Feb. 4th, the Vice-President (the Eev. Preb. Scarth)
in the chair. In the absence through illness of Mr. Charles
Moore, the Secretary read for him his paper on " The Hedge-
mead Landslip" (vide p. 249). Much interesting information had
been gleaned through the trial shaft sunk by the City Surveyor,
which bored some 60 feet into the ground and enabled Mr. Moore
to establish the fact that the Upper Lias is much thicker in the
neighbourhood of Bath than was hitherto supposed. The paper,
which ended somewhat abruptly through interruption by the
writer's illness, was listened to with marked attention and
produced a lively discussion. Mr. HAROLD Lewis declared that
the builders of Camden crescent knew a great deal more of
geology than those who have built on the hill-side since. Mr.
McMurtrie spoke of a similar slij) which had occurred at Radstock,
where a hill-side a quarter of a mile in length has been shifted.
Such slips were by no means uncommon in this neighbourhood
and deserved more attention from geologists than they had
hitherto obtained. Captain Lysaght drew attention to a
remarkable landslip in an open field near Woolley, between
Charlcombe grove and Soper's farm. Mr. Skrine stated that
Claverton was supposed to be on the move down into the valley,
and that Warley was not without occasional slips. The Eev. H.
H. WiNWOOD then made a communication on a sinking for coal
near Ebbor rocks, in which he maintained that the rock the
workers came upon was not Old Eed Sandstone, as Messrs.
Bi'istovve and Woodward had declared, but Coal-measure Sand-
atone, and described his observation of the dip of the strata in the
valley as justifying the attempt to find coal there. Mr. McMuRTRlE
was opposed to Mr. Winwood's view as to the character of the
Sandstone, though he wished he could agree with him, for the
discovery of true coal in the shales on the south side of the
268
Mendips would throw a flood of light on the geology of the
district. ]\Ir. E. AVethered explained his views and suggested
that a microscopical examination of the specimens might alter
Mr. McMurtrie's opinion. He said it was impossible to judge of
Sandstones from lithological characteristics alone, without
microscopical and chemical analysis.
Excursions.
It now only remains to give an account of the excursions and
walks. The former have been satisfactorily attended and the
weather very favourable considering the general wetness of the
summer.
Bradenstoke Priory was visited on the 29th April, when there
was a large gathering of the members at the G.W.E. station for
the 9.15 train to Dauntsey. The weather was particularly
favourable for the first excursion, and the freshness and clearness
of the air was a foretaste of the long expected spring. Leaving
the Dauntsey station and crossing the bridge the hill was
ascended to the village of Clack, consisting of a long street of
houses, with some slight pretension to antiquity about them in
their overhanging upper storeys and carved /asc/a. Opposite the
church, which is modern, is a stone cross, the base and steps of
which seem original, the pointed shaft erected on them being
evidently a later addition. Turning off the main road to the
right, and through a gate into a meadow, the members investigated
some earthworks, which appeared to be the foundations of a
building of probably mediaeval times. A square platform, the
four sides of which measured some 246 paces in extent, is
surrounded by a ditch. In the centre of the platform is a mound,
which has been used as a beacon. A ditch runs along the
east side. From the top of the "beacon" a very extensive view
of the undulating plateau to the north and north-west was
enjoyed. The remains of Bradenstoke Priory to the west were
269
close at hand. It was a house of Eegular Canons of S. Augustine
or Black Canons, dedicated to the blessed Virgin Mary, founded
13th April, 1142, by Walter D'Eureux of Salisbury, and Sibil
Chatworth his wife. He was descended from Edward of Salisbury
and was grandfather of Ela, the foundress of Lacock Abbey.
Permission having been olitained from the occupants to see the
interior, which now forms an extensive fannhouse, the members
entered at the east porch and rambled throughout the interior,
some coats of arms on the string course over the porch having first
of all attracted the attention of the heralds.
These are stated to have been taken from an old Perpendicular
window, and are thus described in Jackson's Aubrey : —
1. A calvary cross-staff withiu two wreaths perhaps for Fitz Jocelyn,
Bishop of Bath and Wells, 1174-1191, who gave to the Priory the
church of Chilcompton. 2. On a cross five roses. 3. France and
England. 4. Checkj'. 5. Three ostrich feathers in pale. 6. A
monogram "W.S." AViHiam Snow the last prior. 7. Three lions
passant, gardant (Plantagenet). 8. An oile. 9. Paly of six arg. and
vair on a chief a lion. Langford (peihaps for Stephen de Laugford who
gave to the Priory Chitterue and Langforu). 10. A capital T, quere
for Toddenham one of the Priors ?
Having examined the extensive undercroft, the groining of
which was in excellent preservation and indicated the early
Perpendicular period, and is now portioned off into compartments
for the vai'ious iises of the farm house, the members ascended an
eighteenth century staircase to the upper rooms, immediately
under the fine Decorated roof, with its carved ball floAvers and
elegant king post. Having walked round the exterior and
assembled together on the western side, the Secretary read a
letter which he had received from Mr. Talbot, in which he states
that " the remains consist chiefly of the undercroft, or sub-
structure of the refectory, and the refectory itself. The latter
is divided into rooms, and the upper part cut oif by a floor, but
the roof remains ornamented with the •' ball flower' on the
270
principal timbers. At the north end of the refectory, adjoining
it, and all forming one block, are two storeys of rooms, of which
I could not determine the use. There is some A^ariation from
the usual monastic arrangement, I think, in their occurrence
there. The undercroft extends under the whole block of build-
ing. The whole is very fine 'Flowing Decorated' work of the
time of Edward III, and so closely resembles the excellent south
aisle of Christian Malford Church as to make me think it the
work of the same architect or set of masons, particularly as they
are not far apart. The cloister must have adjoined this block of
buildings on the east side— on the west side there is the steep
slope of the hill. There are no remains of the church which
must have been on the east side of the cloister nor of the other
conventual buildings."
Mr. Davis supplemented this excellent description of Mr.
Talbot, than whom few were better acf][uainted with mediaeval
domestic buildings, by saying that he would give a somewhat
earlier date to the building than Mr. Talbot by some 50 or 60
years, and as to the block of these stories at the northern end he
thought it partook more of the character of a domestic hall with
its solar, &c., than that of a refectory. Might it not have
formed the Hospitium 1 There were many indications of con-
tinuous additions and alterations, even down to the time of the
early Georges, of which date was the internal wooden staircase.
On the exterior was a portion of a terminal or finial, buUt into a
stopped up window. As to the round arches inserted between
the bold buttresses that were partly original and partly built
subsequently to the Decorated buildings, he felt certain two if
not the three were Norman work, removed from some other
portion of the ruins and placed here for preservation. They
were moulded and worked precisely as the vaulting ribs of
the crypt of Joseph of Arimathea's Chapel at Glastonbury. The
Secretary and the Rev. H. N. Ellacombe combatted this view,
suggesting that they were more like the imitation of an old style
executed more probably in the 16th or 17th century.
271
Mr. Browne in addition to Mr. Davis's remarks, said that
the three southernmost bays appeared to be of earlier date than
the northern bay, as evidenced by the tracery and mouldings of
the windows. The roof also in its design was confirmatory of
this opinion, for the main trusses and principals over these three
bays were richly carved with the "ball flower" ornament so
characteristic of the Decorated period, whilst the roof truss of
the northernmost bay, where the very elegant king post and
braces were placed over the collar beam, was more nearly of
Perpendicular date. From these facts he thought that the
original refectory consisted of only the three southern bays, and
that the northern bay had been added at a later period. There
was also evidence that beyond the north bay, and where the two-
storied domestic windows were now visible in the west wall,
there had been other buildings extending as far as the stair turret
and covering the space to the north and east of the present north
and west walls.
The square stone channels for the water from the roof and a
few other details were pointed out, and the similarity of the work
at the basement of the buttresses to that at Hinton Abbey.
After a look at the fine yew hedge and the sloping orchard to the
west, the fine old barn was next inspected, and its truly magnifi-
cent roof of fine oak timbers spanning a space of some 110 yards
by 24. .
The members now retraced their steps through Clack, some
visited the ancient hostelry of the Jolly Trooper, others somewhat
alarmed at the long walk which had been planned for them
returned the way they came by an early train to the city they had
so recently left. The remainder, some sixteen in number, braced
themselves up for a long detour through Lyneham to Dauntsey.
Following the edge of the elevated plateau they had many
opportunities of seeing the outcrop of the Coralline Oolite, which
forms the cap of the higher ground and crops up under the
subsoil in numerous honeycombed highly fossiliferous blocks.
272
Arrived at Lyneham green they made a slight detour to the church,
consisting of a nave with north aisle, chancel and tower, and
having a late Perpendicular screen between nave and chancel and
a Jacobean screen under the west tov^'er. With these exceptions,
the orderly state of the interior, -and the well kept church-yard
there was nothing particularly worthy of attention. The timbre of
the bells having been tested by an enthusiastic bell-ringer and
divine of the party a cross-country traverse was made for Dauntsey
Church. After leaving the higher lands of the Coralline Oolite
and Calcareous Grit the members dropped down on to the beds
of Oxford clay which form the lower levels for a considerable
distance. The presence of this clay was soon made known by the
ill-drained and wet ground, and the indications of brick pits
around. The elm trees seemed especially to luxuriate in this clay
as they were remarkable for their size and growth.
By dint of perseverance the members overcame the two miles
which persistently lay between them and Dauntsey Church which
Avas very courteously shown to them by one of the churchwardens.
It consists of a tower, nave with aisles and chancel, though there
is no vestige of a chancel arch. The tower was rebuilt about 1630 ;
there is much late Avork about the church and only a portion of
the panelled oak roof is visible, the rest being covered with
plaster. Both north and south doorways are Norman with
segmental heads and cushion capitals with pearl ornament. The
arcades are of Decorated work with double chamfered arches.
Some of the AvindoAvs present the very curious appearance of
Early English character in the main lines and proportions but
finished AA'ith debased Perj^endicular cuspings &c., and it was
suggested that these AvindoAvs were Avorked about 1630, (the date
of ToAA'er) in attempting to copy some older AvindoAvs and for
which these Avere to be substituted. There is a good Perpendicular
chancel screen, and in one corner of the church are the portions
of a Doom picture AA'hich used to surmount it and Avhich is worthy
of careful preservation. The churchwardens said that a restoration
273
was imminent, and there was much speculation as to what the
architect would do with the pews which are good Jacobean work
and probably date from the earliest days of the system. The
general feeling was that he ought to preserve them. In the
chancel are some remains of stained glass of the same period as
that in the Chapel of S. Katherine, Batheaston ; the figures
made out were the Virgin Mary, S. Anna, S. John the Evangelist,
and S. Margaret, with the legend, " Please God so be it ;" there
were also several coats of arms, and under one the date 1525.
On several of the brasses the lettering was of much earlier character
than the actual dates recorded. The last Earl of Peterborough
and Monmouth was buried in the chancel in 1814, and in a
chapel on the north side is a white marble tomb to Henry Earl of
Danby, second son to Sir John Danvers, died ] G43. He was the
patron of George Herbert, who married his daughter. In the
same place is a thirteenth century stone coffin found in the church-
yard. The paths are paved with old grave-stones. Having been
reminded that the stream close by was the everwinding Bath
Avon, the members walked back to Dauntsey, so as to reach
home at 6 o'clock, and had just gained the shelter of the station
when the first storm of the day came down.
JLA.ESBURY AND EBBOR ROCKS.
The Secretary's programme for Tuesday, May 20th, apparently
at first sight not a very attractive one, promised well, however,
to those who knew the beauties of the Mendips : and they were
not disappointed. A geological and botanical walk from Maes-
bury to Ebbor rocks perhaps to the general run of members
seemed uninteresting ; but those who turned out at the Maesbury
station from the 9.5 train from Bath were evidently scientifically
minded, and duly braced up for a long walk with little to eat —
and this they experienced before the day was finished. The
camp on the top, to the east of the station, could not be passed
over by the most enthusiastic naturalist, and accordingly an
.274
ascent was made at once through the entrance at the west end,
the vallum circuited, and a halt called at the north point, where
the Secretary claimed the ear of the members, whilst he said a
few words descriptive of the camp and the geology of the district.
The camp was evidently pre-Roman, and, like most others
of the same character, followed the general contour of the hill.
It was surrounded by a deep ditch with two aggers, had probably
an entrance at the west and also at the east end, and held a very
commanding position in the surrounding country. Whether the
Romans had subsequentlj- occupied it he was not prepared to say^
as he was not aware of anything of a Roman date having been
found here, though as the members well knew the Romans had
been there, as traces of them existed all around, e.g., in the names
of places, as Stratton-on-the-Fosse ; in their mining operations, as
at Charterhouse ; and in the Roman road, which the members
would shortly follow. "Whether the long-headed or round-headed
people had made this camp he would leave to those who were
better acquainted with that subject. A venerable doctor near
him might perhaps enlighten them on that point. From archse
ology to geology was the next step, and however obscure might
be the history of the camp that of the formation of the hill
was evident. The blocks around them indicated that they were
standing on the Old Red Sandstone, that Palaeozoic formation
which constituted the central axis of the Mendips. The members
had passed in their morning's ride from the eastern edge of the
Bristol coal basin, from the Liassic valleys at Bath over the
Inferior Oolite across the Radstock coal basin, and by a gradual
ascent over rocks in a descending order until they had crossed
the Lower Limestone Shales resting against the axis of the Old
Red, which formed as it were the base of the triangular coal
field whose apex was Tortworth. From the geological map which
was spread out on the gorse they would see that the axis of
disturbance ran in a general way from west to east, extending
from Ireland on the one hand right away throughout England,
275
probably crossing the channel and reaching to the Ardennes in
Belgium. The Secondary rocks covered this axis to the south-east,
but there was not much doubt that it existed beneath these beds,
indeed recent borings at Meux's brewery and at Ware had proved
this, for during the last few days a boring at Ware had touched
the Wenlock shale at a depth of about 800ft. As they knew
that coal existed to the north of the axis of disturbance the
question was, did it exists to the south? Boring hitherto had
failed to prove this. The members would at the end of their
walk to-day see one of these trials for coal at Ebbor. After
these few remarks the members, having enjoyed the magnificent
panorama, now turned their faces westward and striking down
the north face of the camp made for the Roman Eoad. This
they followed to Green ore. Nothing particularly worthy of
remark occurred, save that from the pai'apet of the railway bridge
the Secretary called the attention of the members to the peculiarly
worn surface of the limestone blocks beneath the 6 or 7 foot head
of debris which masked them. When this latter was removed the
faces of the blocks presented an appearance as having been much
worn either by water or atmospheric action, the fossils standing
out sharply defined on their faces. At Green-ore a turn to the
left brought the party to the foot of Penn hill, a ploughed field on
its north face contained some very good flint-chips, and one of the
members found a well-worked arrow-head. From the top of Penn
hill a grand view of Wells, Glastonbury Tor, the distant Quaiitocks
and the intervening plain was seen, the Severn ,«ea glimmering in
the distance.
A few minutes for necessary luncheon was demanded here
before the walk was resumed along the ridge. Dr. Bird, who has
a keen eye for tumps, called attention to a long Barrow forty
paces by twelve with a circular one at its end on the west side of
the wall under which the members had rested for lunch, and then
in a field about a mile distant he was seen energectically popping
in and out of some rough ground, now lost to the view at the
276
bottom of a hole, now appearing in the sky-line on the outer edge.
Something was evidently to he seen here — an ancient British
village could it he 1 possibly — the Doctor thought. Excavations
for ore or stone made by the ancient folks ; possibly too, thought
others. It might he both one and the other, thought a third. A
long green lane stretching away as straight as an arrow Avas now
followed, on either hand an old Avail rich in ferns — the rare
Cijstopteris fragilis, Ceterach officinalis, Oj)heogIossum vulgatum,
Alchemilla vulgaris, Orchis maculata, Pedicularis ( louseAVort), Adoxa
moschatellina, Carex nanus — were found by the botanists. Before
reaching the end of this lane a traverse was made across walls and
hedges for the head of the ravine leading down to the rocks.
Some drivings for iron ore had here turned out a rich mass of
Hematite from the fissures of the Mountain Limestone. Through
a Avood, down a gully thickly strewn Avith masses of fallen lime-
stone rendering locomotion rather difficult, through another copse
and the narrow and tortuous fissure leading doAvn into the bottom,
and the ravine Avas reached. Threading this in single file, what
remained of the mutilated body (noAV reduced from 22 members to
12, the others haAdng sought an early return to Bath) rested
awhile on one of the numerous screes which abound on all sides
and greatly admired the mixture of rock, wood and sunshine
before them. Having reached the bottom of the ravine they
turned to the right hand, foIloAved a stream up to its source,
passed a circle of stones supposed by Dr. Bird to be the foundation
of the hut of an ancient Briton (if so he must have had a lovely
view before him and Avell selected his site), and finally reached one
of the objects of the day's excursion in the trial shaft . for coal,
made some years ago. The Secretary here once more had some-
thing to say about the geology of the district. He ventured to
differ from those authorities who had stated that the Sandstone
before them brought up from the trial-shaft Avas Old Red, and felt
almost certain that it Avas either Coal Measure Sandstone or Mill-
stone Grit, probably the latter. However he would possibly have
277
more to say about this hereafter. The top of the hill was at last
reached and a rapid descent made to Lodge hill over the southera
slope of the Mendips. Here there was time for a short rest waiting
for the train, which some used by inspecting the village cross and
the church, with its northern Norman doorway intersected by
a late Perpendicular buttress. Time did not allow of visiting the
interior, but it seemed to have very old-fashioned arrangements.
By means of the Cheddar Valley and Midland Railways Bath was
reached by half-joast eight.
The following notes upon Maesbury and the tumps and ex-
cavations passed in the day's ramble have been sent in by Dr.
Bird to the Secretary.
Maesbury camp seems to be a very ancient one, probably constructed
by the same race of people as those that buried their dead in long
Barrows, and as the constructors of the unhewn stone circles, such as
those of Abury and Stanton Drew at a time when only flint stone and
wooden implements were used. In its construction it must have
occupied for some time large numbers of people only possessing such
rude implements. Passing from that spot to Pen Hill a round
Tumulus was observed in a field on the left hand side of the road, and
upon this hill there were several traces of ancient earth works or
ditches. The hill was crossed by a stone wall and on the east side of
the wall from which a good view of Wells Cathedral was obtained,
there were two Tumuli, one a round one about sixteen yards across and
almost adjoining it a long one of about forty yards long by twelve yards
wide, both undisturbed ; a rabbit had made a hole in the east end of
the long one, a fair proof that its centre contained hollows. Long
Barrows vary greatly in their structure, this one differed from the
heart-shaped, horned barrows, common on the Cotteswolds around
Cheltenham, being narrower and not varying in width or height, and
having no lai-ge stones upon it, or anything like stone walling. On
passing over the common from this point to the south-east we came
upon some pits, like the remains of old pit residences, on the outcrop of
Old Eed Sandstone ; and in crossing the road, the adjoining field on
the Limestone formation was rendered uneven by such pits. Many
together in threes, fours and more. In some places they looked like old
G
•278
quarries or mining places, and covered several acres. Cot residences
iiear the heart shaped long Barrows are formed of stone walling like a
great part of the Barrows ; a circle about fourteen feet wide and four
feet deep is made in the earth, and around the circle about two feet
high a seat is formed covered with rough flat stones except at the
entrance, which is made of large rough stones like the entrance to the
chambers of the long Barrows about four feet high and three feet wide,
around the rest of the circle a dry wall of the same height is raised and
then the walling is gradually drawn in towards the centre and capped
with a large stone, and lastly the whole building is covered with about
two feet of earth ; those that remain are called " shepherd's cots." Near
the long Barrow at Bibarry, examined by the late Canon Lysous some
years ago, there was such a cot nearly perfect and an old man stated
that some yeai-s before they were not uncommon and that the workmen
had removed the stone from the centre to let the smoke out when they
lit a fire in it. The shape was that of a bee-hive and would hold several
persons. There were neat recesses in the upright wall for putting things
in about fourteen inches by eighteen and nine inches deep. The pits
above Weston are circular varying in size from four to six and eight feet
across, and in one the circular seat is still remaining, running around
the pit about four feet from the surface of the earth. Such pits seem
not to have been finished with stone, but perhaps surrounded with
wattle and covered with wood, branches, or thatched with rushes, &c.
The entrance to such residences may have been in the side between the
wattle or timbers. The pits seen on this field may have all been the
remains of ancient cots. Maesbury may be derived from Gaelic, Magh ;
Cymric, Maes, an open region, and Anglo Saxon afiix beorg, beorh—
a hill or place of safety ; the. place of safety of the open plain. Pen
hill— Cymric, Pen head, and Saxon affix hill. Pen hill ; Gaelic, Beum
or Ben, a bill, and Saxon affix. Ebber rocks— the Gaelic Aher and
Saxon affix, meeting of the rocks.
DORCHESTER AND MAIDEN CASTLE.
Dorchester and its great earthwork. Maiden Castle, were the
objects of the thml excursion of the season on Tuesday June 24th,
and despite the early hour appointed for the start there was a fair
muster at the Great Western Raihv.ay station. Additions were
279
made to the number in the course of a somewhat tedious journey,
and on arrival at Dorchester the party was met by the Mayor (Mr.
Alfred Pope), himself an archaeologist, who with great kindness
had at very short notice placed himself at the service of the
visitors. Ho immediately conducted them to Mambury Ring, a
very fine earthwork in the form of an amphitheatre, which latter
name has been given to it of late years. Hsre at the request of
the Assistant Secretary of the Club his Worship read some notes
which he had prepared respecting it. He said that though close
to Dorchester they were standing in the parish of Fordington S.
George as Dorchester did not extend beyond its own walls, which
enclosed about 80 acres. That work seemed to have been the place
of amusement for the Roman inhabitants of Durnovaria and
according to custom was placed outside the walls. It was probably
a work of the time of Agricola, who encouraged the Britons in
such works in order, to soften their natures by luxury. For the
discovery of this work as a monument of antiquity they were in-
debted to Sir Christopher Wren who noticed it during his frequent
journeys to the Island of Portland while S. Paul's Cathedral was
in building. Before this discovery it was called, and is still called
by the common people, Mambury or Mambury Eing. Hutchins
explains the first syllible as from Malm, or "mame," a kind of
earthy chalk. Mr. Warne in his " Antient Dorset" traces it to
" maen," a great stone, and preserves a tradition of a huge stone
which stood in the entrance, and was buried because it was in the
way of cultivating the soil and was too big to be removed. The
work was set in a plain declining to the north-east, of solid chalk,
on a level Avith the ground with no fosse round it. Up till 1 767
all public executions took place there and part of the terrace had
been injured by the trampling of men and horses. It was said
that when Mary Channings was executed there in I70f), 10,000
people assembled. The following dimensions were taken from
Hutchins : Greatest perpendicular height of the rampart above the
area 30ft., external longest diameter 343ft. 6in., external shortest
G 2
280
339ft. 6in., internal longest diameter 218ft., internal shortest
diameter 163ft., frojii first ascent to the greatest curve height 30ft.
The only coin found on.the spot was a silver one of the time of
Philip Augustus, 240 A.D., ■which was in the possession of Mr.
Pownall of Lincoln. His Worshij) added that he had had the
entrance dug in search of the great stone, but without finding it.
They found however that the soil there had been disturbed to the
depth of ten feet, as there had been vaults there. Dr. Bird would
not accept the work as Roman at all ; they might have made use
of it, but they were too practical to expend the labour which the
construction of that place would require. It was a prehistoric
w:ork belonging to the unhewn stone period, and its very name
was Gaelic — meaning the fort of the big stone. After thanking the
Mayor for his information the party walked on a mile and a half
to Maiden Castle, a magnificent earthwork measuring about 1,000
yards from E. to AV. ?ind 500 from N. to S., covering altogether
about 115 acres. It is surrounded with two, and sometimes three,
ramparts, 60ft. high and remarkably steep. An extensive view
was enjoyed from these, though a strong south-west breeze made
walking on them a very uncomfortable proceeding. There are
four gates, with elaborate defences in the shape of outworks. A
large number of barrows are to be seen in the immediate neigh-
bourhood. Diligent search failed to find any flint flakes, and Mr.
Broome reported nothing remarkable in the flora of the neigh-
bourhood. After a pleasant walk back into Dorchester a halt was
made at the King's Arms Hotel, where the party was joined by
the Mayor at luncheon. His Worship afterwards led the way to
S. Peter's Church, and pointed out the Norman transition south
porch, which was considered locally to have been brought from an
ancient friary which stood about a hundred yards away. On the
other hand it had been suggested that it was a fragment of an
older church. The Assistant-Secretary concurred in the latter
opinion. The mediaeval builders might spare part of an old
building if it suited their purpose, but they would not bring it to
281
a building of their own, because they would think they could do
something much better themselves. Two crossed-legged figures
are now pushed into window sills in a very awkward position.
There is a large monument at the west end to Denzel Hollis — one
of the five members. It is therefore of historical interest at least,
and regret was expressed that a pew should be placed close
against it, and the space between be the receptacle for brushes,
&c., of the church. A visit was next paid to the county museum,
where a valuable collection is crowded into a small and old-fashioned
house. The Mayor then led the way to the west walk, where he
pointed out a patch of the old Eoman wall, and explained the
excavations that had been made to find out if it had been faced
with masonry. They found it was ten feet ^vide at the base, and
at a depth of six feet below the present soil they found a pitched
pathway. A piece of pottery had also been dug out with the
motto of the 19th legion, " utere felix."
The new 1)arracks were next looked at, and after calling at the
Mayor's residence, whei-e some refreshments were offered, the
party proceeded to the church of S. George, Fordington, which
has a curious sculpture over the porch, representing the vision ot
S.. George before the battle of Antioch. The church has a good
toAver of the Somersetshire type ; it was originally a cruciform
church, Norman trausition, but has been much mutilated. It has
a stone pulpit, dated 1572, entered from the rood steps, and a
curious holy water stoup, very much like a font, in a recess in
the south wall. In the churchyard is a curious inscription,
dated 1636—
Eemember that death tarryeth not aud that the covenant of the
grave is not shewed unto thee. For I was as thou art, and thou shalt
be as I am.
The town has a very pretty appearance, as the line of the old
moat is planted with a grove of trees, the space between which
forms a pleasant promenade. As five o'clock was approaching a
282
move was now made to the station, and after heartily thanking the
Mayor for his kindness in giving up so much of his time to assist
and inform the members of the Chib, the return journey was
commenced. The weather had been fine all day, but when the
train got as far as Bruton traces were found of the hail and
thunder which had passed over all the district between that
and Bath.
WEDMOKE AND KING ALFRED'S PALACE.
A large number of members and several friends mustered on
Tuesday morning Sept. 2nd, for the last excursion of the season,
and despite various inconveniences consequent on travelling by the
G.W.R. reached Cheddar in safety, and were there joined by the
Vice-President (the Rev. Preb. Scarth). The object of the
excursion was to examine the excavations at Mudgley on the
supposed site of King Alfred's palace. The drive from Cheddar
through Wedmore to this place through the rich Somersetshire
country was very pleasant.
When the party had reached the ground where the excavations
at Mudgley are being carried out, on the supposed site of the
Villa Regia of King Alfred the Great, they were met by the Rev.
Sydenham Hervey, the Vicar of "Wedmore, who had kindly under-
taken to conduct the party over them. The Vice-President having
gathered the members together, made a short statement of the
circumstances which led to the excavations. They had been
undertaken in consequence of the meeting held at Wedmore in the
autumn of last year to commemorate the millenary of the Peace of
Wedmore, which was concluded between Alfred and Guthrum,
the Dane, A.D. 878, when Guthrum was baptised at Allei-, and his
chrism loosing, which took place at Wedmore, is thus entered in
the Saxon chronicle : — " Cujus Chrismatis solutio oc!avo die in
Villa Regia, quae dicitur Wsedmor fuit." The fact then of Alfred
the Great having a villa at Wedmore is undoubted, and the entry
in the Saxon chronicle is repeated and confirmed by Asser in his
283
Life of Alfred, who was resident at his court, and by Florence of
Worcester, by GeofFry Guimar, and also in the chronicle of
Ethelward. The only doubt was as to the position of this villa.
A tradition has been handed down tliat it was situated at Mudgley,
1^ miles from Wedraore, whei'e ancient walls were known to exist
under the surfoce. Theseiiave been opi^ned under the care and
superintendence of ]\Ir. Hervey, and have revealed very extensive
buildings, apparently of different dates and different construction.
They have occupied a space of above two acres, and the walls are
of unusual thickness. The situation is very fine, the view is
extensive, and in ancient times the approach must have been
difficult and dangerous to any not knowing the nature of the
country, Wedmore appearing once to have been surrounded
almost, if not entirely by marshes. In the process of excavation
not only had the walls been traced, but an arched chamber laid
open, and the well which supplied the residence with water.
The members of the club would now have every opportunity of
examining these and forming their own opinions as to the date.
They could also afterwards inspect the pottery and coins found in
the process of digging, now at the Vicarage. The pottery appeared
to be of different dates, from early to comparatively late times, and
the coins were of the Edwardian period. This led to the belief
that the villa had been inhabited to a late period, and after ceasing
to be used as a residence became a quarry for building material.
The Vice-President observed in conclusion that we must be
prepared to accept this as the site of Alfred's villa, until such times
as another locality could be pointed out wliich should produce
more satisfactary evidence of regal occupation.
The excavations were carefully examined by the members, and
there was but one opinion as to the energy and jjublic spirit of
the Vicar, who had at his own expense uncovered the site and
pursued these investigations. The accumulation of earth above
the ancient roadway which he had uncovered some four feet below
the present surface attracted particular attention, but a desire was
284
exi^ressed for further evidence, as it seemed safe only to saj'' that
the remains were post-Eoman.
Eeturning to Wedmore the Vicar's museum of things found on
the site was examined and some glazed roofing tiles much admired.
The members were by this time ready for luncheon, which was
excellently provided by Mrs. Henderson at the George Hotel.
After luncheon the picturesque and interesting church of Wedmore
was examined. It is mainly Perpendicular in character, but Mr.
Browne pointed out how in the details of the Avindows the
methods of the Decorated period had lingered on in the new style.
There is a remarkable painted ceiling in the north chapel, a curious
old brass of about 1583, and a fine pulpit and reading desk. A
return was then made to Cheddar Church, another handsome
building, remarkable for some old glass and the sculptured figure
of a bishop which escaped the iconoclasts. Some adventurous
spirits ascended the tower and examined the bells and the view
from the top. They were sorry to see the floor of the clock
chamber repaired with tombstones, some of which Avere cut up and
some bored with holes to let the bell ropes through. One was as
late as the year 1803. Other members strolled up the cliffs and
admired the ravine or entered the cave. The party returned to
Bath at SAO.
WALKS.
The good suggestion made at the anniversary dinner, that in
addition to the customary weekly walks a monthly walk should
be arranged and due notice of its object posted up beforehand in
the usual place, was carried out during the months of March and
April. — Owing to the regular excursions commencing at this period
the suggestion seem? to have been held in abeyance during the
summer months, and the great and long continued severity of the
succeeding winter apparently put a stop to the walks altogether,
but it is to be hoped that with the retm-n of more genial weather
they will be resumed. The first was taken to Engliahcombe
285
on the 18th of March, and the following notes were sent in
by the Assistant Secretary and Mr. Skrine, the Historiographers
of the walk.
Walk to Engushcombe.
About twelve members and two friends walked to Enjilishcombe on
the 18th of March. At Catbraia Farm Mr. Browne called attention to
a Koman Coffin used as a driukiug trough ; a second had disappeared.
Passing " Englishcombe Barrow," called by the natives Twerton Eound
Hill, the members proceeded to the Church, through which they were
courteously conducted by the Vicar (the Eev. J. Smart). The Assistant
Secretary said that Professor Earle regarded this Church as a model of
the Roman Cathedral of Bath, and pointed out the Arches under the
Tower, the Piscina, and the Window which had just been uncovered in
the Chancel. Mr. Browne drew attention to the Bambino above the
Chancel Arch, and to the somewhat French character of the work. A
thorough examination was made, and much that was of interest seen.
A move was then made to the field across which the Wansdyke runs,
and note taken that it still remains in its usual condition. The fine old
Eectorial Barn was visited, and the construction of its roof much
admired. The double Yew behind it was not forgotten, one member
claiming for it a greater age than that of the Barn.
The Mounds which mark the site of the De Gournay Castle were
visited, and Mr. Skrine read some notes of what CoUinson says
about it. Among the facts mentioned was a customary service of
presenting a sheaf of arrows annually, which explained the appearance
of a bow and a quiverful of arrows on tithing shields, in company with
the arms of the Priory of Bath round the west window of the Church,
and with the Emblems of the Passion in the Window of the De
Gournay Chapel.
At the meeting of the lane just above the steep leading down to the
Vicarage, Mr. Browne pointed out some Cottages, and said the
authorities of the Duchy of Cornwall, despite many remonstrances,
had pulled down an interesting old Manor House, in capital
preservation in order to build them. The Vicar having said that a
Roman Villa had been uncovered at Inglesbatch, the Club thought it
their duty to walk over there. On inquiring, however, of Mr. Wason,
286
the reputed discoverer, tbey found that he had only said he should like
to dig in " Parson's Patch/' a piece of turf iu the middle of plough
lands, where in a very dry summer he had seen, he thought, the outline
of buildings, and he feH sure if they dug there they would find
something.
Englishcombe is prettily situated, the village being spi-ead up and
down on a ridge above a narrow valley, knolls rising out of it, and a
little stream at the bottom. On one side it is crowned by Barrow
Hill — a scarped summit, the shape of a barrow, but really uatui-al rock.
In the background tower the hills of Lansdown and Kelston Round Hill.
The Church is near the top of the ridge, on a sort of plateau, a shelf above
the valley. It is partly Norman, partly Early English, with Perpendicu-
lar Windows in the Nave. The Tower in an unusual position between
the Nave and Chancel — with a good Norman Arch on one side-
continued partly through the nave as if there was once an aisle on that
side. A '• Bambino" is sculptered over the west arch of the Chancel,
and there is a Niche for a figure on the North wall, and a Piscina and
Cupboard in the wall, vei-y perfect and of good de'sign. The roof of
the Chancel is modern, and covered with lead. The outside string
course was re-corbelled when the roof was lowered, with heads quaintly
carved, and at the same time it would seem the ball flower moulding
now round the basement was placed there, having been originally
part of the string course ornament. • There is some curious old glass of
the ISth Century on the south side of the Nave over the Chapel, where
the organ is now placed. A Hagioscope is in the side of the Porch
looking into this Chapel, supposed to be for the use of lepers, the old
entrance not having been on that side, and the Porch being probably also
of later date. There is an ancient door (now closed) upon the opposite
side of the Nave. The Buttresses at the West end appear to have been
cut off at the top, and to be of Norman work. The Bells which we
inspected have a crown impressed upon them, but the date is not known,
There are five bells and they are rung by ropes behind the reading-
desk which has an odd effect. There is an ancient copestone or coffin-
lid, part of the tomb of a priest which lies mouldering and mossy on
the north side of the church and is deserving of better treatment.
From the churchyard are seen plainly the earthworks which surround
the castle of the Gournays — a deep ditch and vallum. This was after-
287
wards inspected. The situation was strong for mediaeval times, and
would contain a considerable building. Higher up than the church on
the road towards Bath is an old barn Avith a fine high pitched roof of
the 15th century, said to have been built out of the stones of the ancient
castellated mansion of the Gournays, after the attainder of the last
proprietor, Sir Thomas Gournay, who was implicated in the murder of
Edward II. The old Eectory adjoins the Barn, as if the church had
succeeded to the practical headship of the parish, forming perhaps the
land of the Duke of Cornwall to whom it belonged. There is a curious
old yew tree with an arch between its double stem, caused no doubt by
two trees having been fastened together at a certain height from the
ground when young and having grown to one tree in that way. The
effect looting down into and across the ravine below is curious. The
Rev, J. Smart, the clergyman, kindly showed the Club round and ex-
plained a good deal. He has restored the Chancel and removed the
whitewash so as to show even the marks of the Norman chisel.
Altogether the visit to Englishcombe was most interesting and enjoy-
able. The Prince of Wales is building a new model farmhouse a short
distance from the church, but on higher ground and close to the remains
of the Wansdyke, in fact on part of it. It is to be hoped this ancient
landmark of history willl be preserved from destruction in the carrying
out all the surrounding improvements.
In the month of April the members walked to Pen hill, Kelston
Knoll and over the racecourse home to Bath, the object being
to verify some of the points touched upon in a paper read before
the Club by the Rev. J. Wright on " Fortified Hills, near Bath."
Ascending the eastern flank of the hill a plainly marked ridge is
crossed. Is this one of the outworks defending a camp on the
top, or is it merely the remains of a hedge 1 The large elm
growing on it seems to indicate the latter, but evidently a cutting
right through can alone decide this question. It is difficult for
the most enthusiastic antiquary to discover traces of any
fortifications on the top ; the steep slope to the S.E. is nothing
more than the natural escarpment of the hill. Whilst crossing the
inclined ground between Pen and Kelston hills on the southern
288
slope the Secre+.ary picked up some flint chips, a slight indication
of former occupation, but the external appearance of the Round
Hill itself equally with Pen Hill fails to corroborate the idea of
any fortifications having been made then ; though the trees seem
certainly to have been planted on an artificially raised mound.
Its rounded form is probably due like that of the so-called
" Englishcombe barrow" to the fact of a capping of hard rock
preserving it from that extreme denudation which in former
geological times cut out of the high plateau our picturesque valleys
and combes.
Appended to this summary is a list of the excursions and walks
taken by the Club since its foundation in 1855.
In conclusion the attention of the members is drawn to the
valuable publications received from various Societies in exchange
for our own proceedings, especially to that magnificent series of
memoirs from the '•' U.S. Geological Survey of the Territories"
distributed so lavishly to all those Societies claiming any pretention
to be scientific, a liberality with which the niggardly dealings of
our Government in the issue of their scientific results contrast so
unfavourable. Shelves have been set apart for all these
publications in the bookcase opposite the Jenyn's library, any
books from which can be obtained on application to the librarian.
H. H. WINWOOD.
LIST OF EXCURSIONS AND WALKS
Since the First Formation of the Club.
1855.
Freshford, to see Railway Catting, whence Mr, Chas. Moore
obtained the tusk of Elephas Primigenius ... ... Feb. 8
Bradford and Kingston House ... ... ... j? 15
S. Katherine's Valley, Charmy Down to Swainswick, by
Gloucester Road ... ... ... ... ?, 22
Swainswick and over Charmy Down, by Hartley Farm, to
Cold Ashton Manor Hous?, returned by Hanwells and
Tadwick ... ... .., ... ... March 8
Monkton Combe and Combe Down, to see site of Roman
Villa, recently discovered, and Stone Coffin containing
human remains ... ... ... ... April 12
Train to Box, walked to Ditterldge Church, Cheney Court,
thence to Atford and S. Wraxhall Manor House, return-
ing by Monkton Farley, Warley and Claverton ... » 19
South Stoke and Combe Hay Woods to Dunkerton, and
home by South Stoke ... ... ... » 26
Englishcombe and Stantoubury Camp ... ... May 3
Train to Keynshara, walked to Maes Knoll ... ... „ 10
Train to Frome, walked to Longleat and Warminster,
train to Bath ... ... ... ... June 28
Train to Box, walked to Ciistle Combe ... ... Aug. 30
Wellow and Stoney Littleton ... ... ... Nov. 15
1856.
Battlesbury Camp, near Warminster ... ... March 13
Train to Bristol >botanising walk to Westbury and Henbury,
in search of Draba muralis, in Musgrove Paddock . . , April 24
290
Combe Down, to search for Botrychuim lunaria iu grounds
of Prior Park, thence to the Friary Woods, near Freshford,
thence to Bathampton ... ... ... June 26
From Bristol down banks of Avon to its mouth ... July 10
Clavertou and Warleigh Ferry to Bathford ... ... Nov. 6
Over Lansdown to see earthwork on top of Freezing Hill
between Ashton Lodge, Hans well, and Tracey Park ... Nov. 20
1857
Bury Wood Camp ; Daphne Mezereon found in flower in
South Ditch ... ... ... ... March 5
Bitton Church, Roman Camp near Paper Mill, and barrow
in field north of church, returned by Via Julia ... April 30
Mells ... ... ... ... ... May 22
Spy Park for tio?a paZusim (found) ... ... » 28
Great Chalfield ... ... ... ... June 3
Warminster and Battlesbury Camp, orchis ustiilata found
on the Downs ... ... ... ... >> 12
Berkeley Castle ... ... ... ... „ 25
Frome, Chippenham, walked thence to Hardenhuish Church July 4
Frome, walked thence to Stour Head by Alfred's Tower ... „ 9
Malmesbury Abbey ... ... ... ... Aug. 27
1858
Orchardleigh Park and Lullington Church (the new house at
Orchardleigh in course of erectioir) ... ... May 8
BradfordandKing8tonHou.se ... ... ... » 27
Nunney Castle and Cloford ... ... ... June 10
Bleadon Hill and Banwell ... ... ... July 8
Bowood and Calne ... ... ... ... Sep. 9
Bristol and seven Chm-ches ... ... ... » 16
1859
Train to Bristol, walked thence to Dundry ... ... March 1
Monkton Farley Church, House and Monk's Spring ... „ 24
291
Bradford, Kingston House and Saxon Church ...
Wick Eocks, Cromlech near Cold Harbour Farm, two
stones remaining
Train to Yeovil, walked by Over Cumptou, Trent, Lower
Compton to Sherborne, drive of three miles and walk
through Gorton Denham to Cadbury Camp and Sparkf ord
Bowood
Bratton Camp
Leigh Dalamere Church
Avebury and Silbury, by Devizes ...
Cirencester
Thornbui-y Castle ...
Farley Castle
The notes cease to be in the hand writing of Captain Hewitt,
and the Eev. H. M. Scarth takes up the pen.
April
16
May
6
»>
12
5)
26
June
9
Sep.
22
>»
29
Oct.
22
Nov.
3
j>
17
1860.
Kelston and Sal tf ord Churches .. ... ... March 1
Norton vSt. Phillip's Old Inn (15th century) and Church ... „ 8
Castle Combe and Eoman Villa, N.WraxaU ... ... April 26
Bristol ... ... ... ... ... May 3
Train to Frome, walked to Chauntry and Eoman Villa at
Whately ... ... ... ... „ 10
Train to Westbury, walked to Bratten Camp and Westbury
Church ... ... ... ... . ... „ 24
Eoman pavement at Whately, near Frome .... ... „ 19
Bratton Camp and White Horse ... ... ... „ 24
1861.
The Eev. Dr. Steele now writes the notes.
Claverton Church and vicinity ... ... ... March 7
Kelston Church and Saltford ... ... ... „ 21
Bristol Cathedral and various Churches ... ... April 11
Englishcombe and Priston ... ... ... „ 18
Charlecombe Church ... ... ... ... „ 26
Limpley Stoke Eefoi-matory ... ... .. Sep. 6
292
Clifton ... ... ... ... ... Sept. 19
Keynsham by rail, walked to Stanton Drew ... ... Nov. 19
1862.
Fosseway and Shire stones on Banner Down ...
Along the Via Julia to "Roman Camp, on race course
Wellow and Stoney Littleton, chambered barrow, restored
since last visit
Camerton by Englishcome, home by Canal and Wells Road
Newton St. Loe, by Englishcombe
Kelston Church and Park
"Wilton Church
Maes Knoll
Frome, Chauntry and Mells
Weston-Super-Mare, to meet the Cotteswold Field Club,
drove to Banwell Bone Caves, and Cheddar Cliffs
Berkeley Castle and Church
Wellington, to meet the members of the Somersetshire
Ai-cheological and Natural History Society ... ... Aug. 20
Dorchester Camp, Maiden Castle, and Eoman Camp at
Pouudbury ; slept at Dorchester, next day visited
Museum, train to Weymouth, visited Breakwater, and
Fortifications at Portland ... ... ... Oct. 30 31
Roman remains at Mr. Cruickshank's quarry. Combe Down Nov. 8
Wick Rocks ... ... ... •• » 15
Bristol Museum .. .. ... ••. » 29
1863.
The Rev. H. H. Winwood elected Secretary.
Weston Park, excavations for new houses, (crustacean,
glypkoea, just found in Lower Lias), Locksbrook cemetery
to see stone coffin ... ... ... ••. Feb. 20
Wellow and Stoney Littleton, thick beds of Inferior Oolite
near canal ; exterior wall of chambered tumulus falling
down in two places, South Stoke and Cross Keys ... „ 21
Feb.
13
»>
20
>'
27
March 13
April
3
»
16
May
23
June
7
J'
9
)>
18
July
28
293
Train to Keynsham, walked to Dundry by Whitchurch and
Maes Knoll, Dundry Church and Quarries, returned by
Bristol ... ... ... ,.. ... March 26
Avebury, by Devizes ... ... ... April 16
Keynsham and neighbourhood, Hanham Abbots and
Bitten Church ... .., ... ... Aug. 18
CardiflF, by Portskewit, Landaff Cathedral ... ... Nov. 10, 11
Cardiff and Caerphilly Castles (two days) .,. ... „
Bitton, by Lansdown, and Upton home by Kelston ... „ 17
1864.
Wellow and Stoney Littleton, by South Stoke, Twining or
Twinhoe, returned by Combe Hay
Frome and ValHs
Tintern and Eaglau Castle, by Monmouth, Cromlin Viaduct,
(two days)
Burrington Combe and Cheddar Cliffs, by rail to Yatton
Bristol and Clifton
1865.
Train to Keynsham, walked to Publow Church and Pens-
ford, home by Compton Dando .. . ... ... Feb. 28
Westbury by train, walked to Church and Bratton Camp,
Eddington Abbey Church, and Trowbridge, by Bood
Ashton House
Bury wood Camp and Colerne
Ditteridge, Box and Box Quarries ...
Berkeley Church and Castle
Wantage and the Berkshire White Horse, Wayland Smith's
Forge, returning to Uffington Station
South Wraxall Manor House, by Monkton Farley
Corston and Gypsey Lane, near Burnett
Keynsham and remains of Old Abbey
Dyrham Park (Ladies' Day)
Southerndown, by Bridgend, taking Bute Docks en route
Mwyndy Iron Mine, near Uantrisant, Ewenny Priory,
and Dunraven Castle (two days) ...
H
Feb. 18
April
7
June 1 & 2
Aug.
11
Oct.
6
March
7
»
14
»
21
April
4
»
25
May
2
t>
9
t>
23
June
1
13,14
294
Montacute and Stoke-sub-Hamdon and Ham Hill Quarries
Roman Villa, near Cold Harbour Farm
Cold Ash ton and Marshfield
Keynsham and ExcavatioDS east of Church, near site of
Chandos House
Train to Keynsham, walk to Whitchurch, Maes Knoll, and
Norton Make ward ...
Oct. 10
„ 13
„ 31
Nov. 7
,. 14
1866.
Camerton Church and Park
Swaiuswick and Langridge
Keynsham, to see Monumental Slabs lately found
Eadstock and Ludlow Pit
Caer fluent, Caldecot Castle, and Sudbrook Camp
Avebury, Savernake Forest, and Marlboro, by Calne,
Cherhill, and Oldbury Camps (two days) ...
Farley Castle
Silchister by Reading and Mortimer
Box Tunnel and Freshford, to meet members of Cotteswold
Naturalists Club
Weston, Via Julia, Prospect Stile, and Roman Encampment
Limpley Stoke Church
Corston, Compton Dando Church, and Queen Charlton ...
Kelston Park
1867.
Stothert and Pitt's Iron Foundry and Twerton, traced the
Wansdyko through Beachwood to Burnt House Gate . . .
HansweU House, by Lansdown
Shockerwick House and Ditteridge Church ...
Uffington and the Seven Barrows ...
Corsham Court and Castle Combe
Cirencester and Chedworth, to meet members of Cotteswold
Field Club (two days) ... ... ... May 22, 23
Stourhead and Witham Church ... ... ... June 14
Salisbury and Stonehenge, Amesbury and Sunrise at Stone-
henge (two days) ... ... ... ... 24,25
June 23
Feb.
13
»
27
March
6
April 17
June 21,
22
Sep.
18
Oct.
9
July
18
Nov.
6
j>
20
»
27
Dec.
11
April 2
Feb. 20
April 9
May 2
.. 9
295
Bowood and Laycock Abbey
Longleat
The Rocks ..,
Engliahcombe
Wellow
Westwood Church and Manor House, by train to Fresh ford
Charniy Down and Solisbury Hill
1868.
Batheaston Chalybeate Spring
Bathford to Monkton Farley
Englishcombe
Clifton
Through Railway Cutting at Kelston to Bitton and Man-
gotsfield
Marlborough and Savernake (two days)
Queen Camel and Cadbury Camp ...
Bromhanf and Spy Park, to Corsham
Thornbury Castle and Aust Cliff ...
1869.
Coombe Hay Churchyard, to see Poet Carriugton's tomb . . .
Englishcombe and Twerton Coal Pit
Newton St. Loe, to see Roman remains recently found in
Lias Quarry
Stanton Prior and Priston
Faulkland, by Freshford and Philips Norton ...
Sherborne Minster, Castle and Park
Fairford, Daglingworth, and Birdlip, by train to Swindon
and Cirencester (two days excursion)
Weymouth, Portland, Chisel Beach, and Abbotsbury
Tortworth, by Charfield and Damory Bridge ...
Radstock, and descent into Tyning Pit
Bradford, and Saxon Chapel
Tewkesbury, Deerhurst, Wainlode Cliff (two days)
To trace Wansdyke between Bathford and Warley Manor
Excavations under Redcliffe Hill, Bristol, Bowerwall's Camp
Westwood
Sep,
,17
Oct.
, 9
Nov.
5
»
7
»
19
>-•
26
Dec.
31
March
3
3»
16
j>
24
»
31
April
22
28,
29
May
28
June
8
Sep.
22
Feb.
16
March 30
AprU
13
»
27
}>
29
May
4
„25,
26
June 22
July
13
>»
20
Sep.
28
Oct. 5
,6
Oct 12
Nov.
10
Nov.
12
296
1870.
Combe Down, and Quarry near Dundas Aqueduct
Swanswick, and landslip on Gloucester Boad
Pucklechurch and Siston
Evesham Abbey and Gloucester Cathedral
High Clere and Newbury (two days)
May Hill and Garden Cliif (two days)
Uleybury and Dursley
Heytesbury
Monks Wood Springs, over Swainswick Down
Batheaston, by Bathampton New Bridge
Lansdown Monument
Kelston Round HiU
Keynsham ...
1871.
Neston Park and the "Wansdyke ...
Midford Castle
Frocester Hill and Nympsfield Tumulua
Avon Gorge to Avonmouth
Malmesbury
1872.
Freshford to Farley Castle
Brockley Combe and Wrington
Wardour Castle and FonthiU
West Harptree and the Mendips ...
Lullington, Nunney Castle, and the Vallis
Shortwood. Brickworks
Shirestones, " Pope's Walk," and Batheaston ...
Bathampton Mill
1873.
Monkswood Springs and Marshfield
Tracy Park and Wick Rocks
Farley Castle and Church
Wellow and Stoney Littleton ... ...
Wardour Castle ... ... ...
Feb.
22
March 15
»
22
May
3
June 1
,2
„21,
22
Aug.
2
»
16
Oct.
11
)>
18
Nov.
8
»
15
Dec. 29
April 27
May
23
June
6
j>
27
Oct.
3
April
9
May
7
»
28
June 25
Oct.
1
»
15
»
22
Nov.
3
March 25
April
1
>i
22
>»
29
June 30
29T
Goblin Combe, Trap Bosses, Batcombe, and Nempnet
Tumulus ... ... ... ... May 13
"Wells and Wookey Hole .,, ... ... June 10
Eddington and Cherhill White Horse ... ... Sep. 30
Eadstock, the " Bulwarks," and " Fairy Slatts " ... Nov. 21
1874.
Nempnett, Burrington, and Sandford ... ... April 21
Cleredon and Walton Castle ... ... ... June 2
Woodspring Priory ... ... ... ... July 22
Wookey Hole and Ebbor Rocks ... ... ... Sep. 15
Maesbury ... ... ... ... ... Oct. 6
Englishcombe and Twerton Coal Pit ... ... Nov. 24
1875
Sodbury Camp, Old Sodbury, and Chipping Sodbury ... April 28
Burrington Combe, Charterhouse Mines, and Cheddar Cliffs May 25
Caerphilly Castle and Castell Coch ... ... June 22
Badminton and Horton ... ... ... July 5
Avebury and Silbury Hill, by Calne ... ... Sep. 7
Worcester Cathedral ... ... ... ... » 28
Bradford, Claverton Down, and Brassknocker Hill ... Nov. 9
1876
Congresbury Church, Dolebury Camp, Rowberrow Church,
Shipham, Banwell Church, and Sandford ... ... May 16
Abbotsbury ... ... ... ... June 20
DuDster, Cleeve Abbey, aad Blue Anchor ... ... July 18
Forest of Dean, Longhope, Mitcheldean, Stanton, Coleford,
and Speech House ... ... ... ... Sep. 19
1877
Bathford and Ashley Wood ... ... ... Jan. 16
Pen Pits and Starordale Priory ... ... ... April 17
Chewton, Mendip, and Priddy's Barrows ... ... May 15
Llanthony Abbey and the Sugar Loaf (two days) ... June 10, 11
Britford Church, near Salisbury ... ... ... July 10
Swindon Quarries ... ... ... ... OeL 9
298
1878
Malmesbury Abbey and Charlton Park ... ... April 29
Monkton Farley, remains of Ancient Priory, Monks' Spring,
and Farley Tower ... ... ... ... May 11
Symond's Yat ... ... ... ... » 21
Haresfi eld Beacon and Court ... ... ... June 24
Winscombe Church, Crook's Peak, Bleadon Church, and
Uphill ... ... ... ... ... July 27
1879
Englishcombe ... ... ... ... March 18
Pen Hill and Kelston Knoll ... ... ... AprU 6
Bradenstoke Priory ... ... ... ... » 29
Maesbury Camp and EbborEocks ... ... ... May 20
Dorchester and Maiden Castle ... ... ... June 24
Wedmore and "King Alfred's Palace" ... ... Sep. 2
WitUAM Lewis, "The Hebald"' Office, 12, North Gate, Bath.
The Authors of the respective Papers are
alone responsible for the opinions expressed
in them.
ifi:^v^'r^x'^X^;^\%-//'. y-
CONTENTS.
:0:-
1. — On Some of the Fungi found in the Bath
District, by C. E, Broojie, M.A., F.L.S. ... 181
2.— The Winter of 1878-9 in Bath and Seasons
FOLLOWING, BY THE ReV. LEONARD BlOMEFIELD,
M.A., F.L.S., F.G.S., (fee. ... ... ... 209
3. — The Prehistoric Kaces of Man in Somersetshire
AND THE Adjoining Counties, by Henry Bird, M.D. 239
4,— On the Restoration of the Roofs to the North
Aisle and Hungerford Chapel, Wellow Church,
BY Thomas Browne, A.R.I.B.A. -... ... 244
0.— The Hedgemead Landslip, by Charles Moore,F.G.S. 249
6.— Summary of Proceedings for the Year 1879-80,
BY the Secretary ... ... ... ... 258
7. — List of Excursions and Walks since the First
Formation of the Club ... ... ... 289
Vol. IV. No. 3.
PROCEEDINGS
BATH NATURAL HISTORY
ANTIQUARIAN FIELD CLUB.
VOL. IV. No. 4
1881.
PRICE HALF-A-CROWN.
BATH :
PRINTED (FOR THE CLI'B) AT " THE BATH HERALD" OFFICE, NORTH GATE.
1881.
299
Fen Pits. By H. H. Winwood, M.A., F.G.S.
(Bead Jan. 12ih, 1881J.
Some members present this afternoon may remember an
excursion made in the spring of 1877 to certain excavations on
the table hind about three miles from Wincanton, called Pen Pits.
The nature and origin of these pits were discussed at the time by
our Vice-President, and allusion was made to the many theories
respecting them, which have occupied the attention of antiquaries
from the time of Sir Eichard Colt Hoare up to the recent learned
and ingenious attempt of Mr. Kerslake to prove that in these
pits we see the remains of a " Primaeval British Metropolis," the
long-lost but famous ancient city of " Cair Pensauelcoit." The
subject was again discussed during a visit of the Somerset
ArchiBological and Natural History Society in the summer of the
foUo^ving year, 1878, but no further advance was made in the
way of clearing up the doubts which surround the question. It was
felt however absolutely necessary that steps should be taken to
get at the secret which lay at the bottom of these pits, if possible.
For tliis purpose a representative Committee was formed of
members of the latter Society, strengthened by the addition of
the names of General Lane Fox (now Pitt-Eivers), Professor
KoUeston, and Professor Boyd Dawkins. After a preliminary
report sent in by the latter as to the geological character of the
ground, the Committee actively set to work in the autumn of
1879, under the guidance of General Lane Fox, and did what
ought to have been done long before, i.e., made, so far as they went,
an accurate and scientific investigation of a portion of these pits.
It is the result of these excavations and the conclusions arrived
at by the Committee, with the exception of one or two
dissentients, which I purpose laying before you this afternoon.
In the first place, however, let me describe the physical features
of the ground. . About three miles from Wincanton, on the road
to Mere, is an elevated ridge of the Greensand formation running
Vol. IV., No. 4.
300
away to the North in the direction of Alfred's Tower. At the
Southern edge of this ridge nestles the little village and ancient
Church of Penselwood; and below to the East and North-East are
seen the richlj^-wooded valley and grounds of Stourhead, whence
are the sources of the little stream called the Stour. Several
promontories reach out into the valley from the rising ground on
each side, and on almost all of these and wherever indeed the
Greensand formation exists, the ground has been riddled with
excavations. Several, many thousand perhaps, have already
been levelled and partly obliterated by the exigencies of
civilisation. Especially is this the case in the neighbourhood of
Penselwood and that of Zeals on the opposite rising ground to
the East of the Stour. To give an idea of the great extent of
these pits, Sir H. Colt Hoare in his " Ancient Wilts" considers
that they once covered an area of 700 acres. It is only, however,
with a portion of them that we are at present concerned, i.e.,
with tliose that are situated to the East and North-East of the
Church of Penselwood, and are to be found on a narrow spur of
Greensand running in a half-moon shape towards the Stour, called
" Caspar Pits." The end of this spur as it approaches the stream
has been fortified, and now bears the name of the " Castle."
Roughly speaking, these earthAvorks consist of an outer mound
immediately overlooking the stream, separated from the more
lofty and dominant " keep" by the modern path leading from a
small hamlet on the South called " Castle Orchard." This " keep"
is of an oval form, separated from an oblong outer " bailey" by a
deep ditch. This again is cut off from the main spur by another
ditch, and away to the right are seen traces of earthworks
extending towards the stream on the East, Well, as I said, the
whole of this spur has been literally honeycoombed with pits ;
so tliickly scattered are they, that in some cases there is scarcely
standing room between them. They are mostly of an inverted
cone shape and of very irregular size, some quite shallow and
small, others large and deep ; others again running one into the
301
other, so that their oval shape becomes obliterated. It was then
on this spur that it was deemed advisable to commence operations.
In the first place the age of the earthworks had to be settled,
i.e., the question of their age relatively to the pits, were the
latter prior to or subsequent to the former 1 — a most important
question — and one which was clearly ascertained before the work
was suspended. Excavations were made both in the " keep," the
outer " bailey," and the westernmost rampart, the details of which
it is not in my province to give you here, but they may be found
in the printed but not yet published report of the Committee in
the Somerset Archseological and Natural History Society's Vol.
for 1879; but I may say this, as to the general result, that in
every case the earthworks were proved by indisputable evidence
to be of a more recent date than the pits on the West. The
rampart, for instance, was found to have been erected right across
and over an older excavation, and the ditch to have cut into a
portion of another. So far for that point. Now comes the
question as to the date of the earthworks. From the pottery and
other articles found, all of which have been placed in the Taunton
Museum, I may, without a breach of confidence, state that the
conclusion of one well acquainted with the subject is that they
are to be assigned to a time subsequent to the Koman tenure of
these parts. Many objects of interest were found, and there was
every indication of continued occupation. But when the ditch was
crossed and the excavations continued on the other side in the
rough and bramble- entangled ground to the West, the most
careful research failed to bring to light any object of former
occupation. The top soil, consisting of more or less peaty turf,
was carefully investigated at every turn of the spade, the
succeeding layer of broken fragments of chert diligently looked
over to ascertain the trace of a fracture that might be attributed
to the hand of man, by the keen eye of a connoisseur, or of a more
distinctly formed chert implement, which the eye of anyone might
detect as evidence of human workmanship ; but all in vain. It
302
is said that the eye can see what it wants to see, but all I can
say is that there were a great many eyes looking on during
the diggings very anxious to see traces of man's (if not of
monkey's) handy work, but failed to see what they were so
eager to see ; indeed the shivery nature of the chert would not
well admit of any good implements being formed ; as I found on
frequent trials that it had a peculiar will of its own, and split off
into fragments the very reverse of what the operator desired.
Next in descending order after the cherty layer, came the loose
uncompacted Greensand proper, quite destitute of any traces of
man's work, save in one solitary instance, when about one foot or
so down a piece of fused modern glass was picked up under
circumstances however somewhat suspicious. After this incoherent
sand was passed through, a layer of hard indurated coarse
Greensandstone was reached, locally called " Pen Stone." Here
then we came to the object of these excavations. It was evidently
for the purpose of winning these " Pen Stones" that the people
who formerly worked here had riddled these hills. In every
instance we found these beds at the bottom of the excavations.
In some cases large blocks had been removed, where a joint or
fracture had rendered their removal easy ; in others the blocks
had been only partially taken away from their bed ; whilst in
others they remained iv, situ quite undisturbed, to be dug out by
the hand of some modern rustic in search of material for his
cottage-pigstie, or the boundary wall of his garden. Having
ascertained that these blocks of hard stone rested on undisturbed
ground, of course it was useless to proceed further, the object
being to ascertain whether any traces could be found of former
occupation in the disturbed ground on the top. One shallow
depression, well situated to the South on the sunny slope of the
spur, the very spot an ancient Britain would have chosen to sun
himself in, looked very promising. The brambles were cleared
out, the levels taken, and a trench cut right in from the original
surface of the ground on the South side to the centre of the
303
depression, and afterwards the interior was carefully turned out
and every spadeful examined without any result. Here it was
that the piece of fused modern glass was picked up at a depth of
about 21in. from the surface lying on the sand, but nothing of
the nature of pottery or charcoal. There was no trace of fire,
and the sand was of the usual colour. At a depth of 5ft. the
undisturbed and original ground was reached, on which blocks
of " Pen stone" were lying. Some had been detached from their
bed ; others had apparently been rounded off at one end, and
being found useless for the purpose for which the workmen had
intended them, were thrown aside. One large block, 4ft. 7in.
long, 2ft. 3in. wide, and 1ft. 5in. thick, lying at the bottom of
the disturbed ground, caused some little excitement one evening ;
and it will not be out of place to mention here that we found a
curious tradition afloat amongst the villagers anent the burial-
place of King Alfred. They supposed that he was concealed
somewhere in the neighbourhood in a golden coffin. The Zeals
people claimed him on their aide of the river, the Pen on theirs,
and we had been frequently asked whether we had found the
gold coffin yet. One garrulous delightful old Pen man ti)ld us
that he had found the " chimbley" leading to the coffin, and that
he had gone down it and heard and seen such things as he didn't
like to talk about. Well, the news had been sjoread by this same
old gossip, probably that we had found something at last. It was
not difficult to hint that this large block of " Pen stone" might be
the cover to the golden coffin ; the hint was taken, and towards
the evening, just as we had cleared away the surrounding sand
and left the block standing out in relief at the bottom of the pit,
a bevy of village damsels was seen approaching the place where
we were at work. A timid sort of shrinking advance to look over
the mound of earth concealing the bottom of the pit attracted
my attention, and on asking the reason, a rosy-faced girl, somewhat
more courageous than the rest, said they had heard we had foimd
the gold coffin and had come to see it. In fact, the natives could
304
not be induced to believe that our explorations were for any other
purpose than that of finding this buried treasure.
Time will not allow of my going more into the details of out
work. Suffice it to say that two other pits Avere opened out at
Pen proper with the like results, traces of human occupation
singularly absent, but indications of quarrying for " Pen stone"
present in every instance. One charming bit of evidence may
be brought forward. After the pit, which was called the
" Counterscarp Pit," had been dug down to the natural ground,
two members of the Committee visited it again a few days
afterAvards, and in the presence of a local mason carefully burrowed
into the North side of it, Avhich was found to be entirely made up
of disturbed ground, and extracted therefrom several blocks of
" Pen stone" with distinct marks of tooling upon their seemingly
freshly broken faces in the form of irregular longitudinal markings,
extending from the outside into the interior, showing how the
workman had split the fragment off from the larger block in the
process of manufacturing the article which he wanted. It was
necessary to be very careful in extracting these fragments, lest the
freshly-broken surface should be in any way stained or discoloured
by its surrounding matrix and the tool markings obliterated.
Several of these blocks were preserved, and are now in the Taunton
Museum. Now comes the question how these markings were
made ? with what instrument ? The mason who was present at
the time unhesitatingly recognised them as the marks left by a
mason's " kevil" or " kevel," which had a pointed tail at one end
and a round head at the other, a tool I believe long since disused.
These broken fragments Avere the only traces found throughout
the diggings outside the more modern eaitliAvorks, Avhich gave one
a hint, however slight, as to the objects and the tools of the men
Avho sunk these pits. You Avill, after this brief sketch of the
explorations, be prepared to hear that the conclusions forced on
the Committee (with tAvo exceptions) by the evidence afforded by
the diggings at Caspar and Pen Pits were : — 1. That these pits
305
were made for the purpose of quariying " Pen stone." 2. That
from the absence of charcoal, pottery, orboi^es, they were not used
as habitations. 3. That they were of a date prior to that of the
earthworks and most probably of the iron age.
As to the purpose for which the " Pen stone" was used, abundant
evidence was forthcoming on all sides that it was made into
millstones, for which the rough character of the stone was
eminently adapted. Many stones of this description are now
being turned up from time to time as the levelling process goes
on. One good specimen has been sent to the Taunton Museum,
and several others have had their dimensions taken, and are to be
seen in the gardens in the neighbourhood. As to the circular or
oval form of the pits, this is due to time and the natural effects of
the weather. One quarry, whence chert had been extracted for
road-metal, was in the process of being formed into this oval
shape, the sides falling in gradually and sloping down to the
bottom of the quarry, until the angle of repose being reached;
vegetation is covering the slope, and the circular shape is being
quickly assumed.
We claim therefore, so far as our explorations have gone, to
have settled the long agitated question indisputably, and to have
solved, so far «s careful diggings can do so, the crux of antiquaries.
On Local Names in the Neighbourhood of Bath. By H. Bird, M.D.
(Read Januari/ Vlth, 1881. J
Much interesting information may be gained from the study of
the etymology of the names of places in any particular district.
For these names often give in brief the physical character, the
historical connection, the ethnology, and the religious worship
of tlie place. They indicate the successive races of men which
have inhabited a district ; and we are thus enabled, in the case
of our own islands, to point out in chronological order signs of
306
Gaelic and Kymric occupation ; of Roman conquest ; and lastly,
of Anglo-Saxon, Danish and Norman invasions and settlements.
Bath being situated near where three counties meet, viz.,
Gloucestershire, Somersetshire and Wiltshire, I will first consider
the meaning and etymology of the names of the counties them-
selves, and after that the derivation of the names of the places in
them. But in order to avoid repetition, I shall give the meanings
of some of the common prefixes and suifixes to be met with, and
make my remarks on this head preliminary to my account of the
names.
It will be assumed in this paper that the modern Gaelic and
Kymric of to-day are practically the same as the Gaelic and
Kymric of more than two thousand years ago. Nor is there
anytliing essentially incredible in this assumption ; for the Arabic
of to-day is said by Dr. Pusey, in his " Lectures on Daniel," to be
precisely the same as the Arabic of the Koran written twelve
hundred years ago. And if this is set down to the proverbial
unchangeableness of the East, yet Greek has changed almost as
little, if we may believe Farrar, in his " Families of Speech." For
Farrar writes, " Place side by side a page of Herodotus, a page of
Plutarch, a page of Anna Comnena, and a page of Trikupi, and
any clever schoolboy would be able to construe any one of them
with equal facility."
Now these Greek writers, all equally intelligible to a clever
boy, embrace a period extending from 450 B.C. to 1860 A.D.,
twenty-three centuries.
Whatever changes therefore the Gaelic and Kymric languages
may have undergone in the course of two millenniums, it is never-
theless reasonably certain, not to say undeniable, that Gaelic
names of places have changed very little indeed.
Without further preface, we come to the consideration of the
word Gloucestershire. It is so called from its capital — Gloucester
—which originally bore the name of " Caer Gloui," or the " Fair
City."
307
Near it — at Kingsholm — the Romans formed their camp ; and
" Glou" became Latinised into " Glevum."
The place was called " Gleawanceaster" by the Saxons, a name
made up of the ancient " Glou" and the Saxonised Latin word
" ceaster."
Professor Earle in his " Philology of the English Tongue" gives
a translation of part of " Layamon's Brut," bearing on the origin
of the name of Gloucester.
We have in Gloucestershire accordingly a combination of three
elements, namely : —
GLOU,
Gaelic " Gloir," pronounced " Gloer," or Kymric " Gloew,'*
meaning " bright," " fair."
CESTER,
i.e., the Latin " castra." This in Gaelic is " Cathair," pronounced
" Kahyar ;" and in Kymric it is " Caer." The Gaelic, Kymric
and Latin words mean much the same, viz., a fort, a camp, a city.
Perhaps " Caer" is only a corruption of " Castra." " Caerleon" is
" Castra Legionis."
SHIRE.
This is from an Anglo-Saxon word "Scir," which means a
division, whether of land or of anything else. Hence a county.
Somersetshire in the Saxon Chronicles (and the last year
chronicled in Saxon is 1154 A.D.) is spelt " Sumersetescir," and it
derives its name from its early inhabitants the " Sumersaetas."
" Saetas" means " settlers ;" but what " Sumer" means is not so
certain. It is commonly however connected with " summer," the
warm season of the year, and with the supposed summer-like
climate of the county.
Somerset lies along the Bristol Channel, and is therefore
" super-mare," " sur-mer ;" and perhaps in German we might
speak of it as extending " Zu Meere" or " Zum Meer." I will
not however hazard the conjecture that " Somer" is derived from
these, or any one of these phrases.
308
The syllable " set" in this county, and in Dorset, scarcely needs
further remark. It is the English word '' seat," connected with
the Latin " scdes," the Greek eSor the Gaelic " suidh :" in this last
word however the letter " d" is not now pronounced.
The Saxon form of this " set," as mentioned above, was " Saeta,"
e.g., " Dorset" was " Dorsaeta," and meant the settlement or
settlers by the water.
Wiltshire in the Saxon Chronicles is " Wiltunsir," and in
Doomsday, " Wiltescire."
As Doomsday will be often named, it may be well to give some
very good remarks on it in the Cornhill Magazine for December,
1880, where we read : " Doomsday, priceless as it is, often fails
to give us a trustworthy form of the early place-names. For
William's Norman Commissioners sometimes Latinized native
English names under the most astoundingly garbled disguises."
But however this be, Wiltshire at any rate derives its name
through the town of Wilton, from the Wilsaetas, the West-Saxon
tribe, who made it their home.
As Wilton means the town on the river Wily, so the Wilsaetas
means the settlers on that river. Wilton is between two rivers,
the Wily and the Nadder, The former was anciently the
Gwillow and got the name from the Kymric " Gwilli," which
means full of turns. The Nadder means the gliding serpentine
stream. Nadder, in fact, is the original form of adder ; a nadder
having become an adder. Similarly a napron became an apron ;
and an eft is the same as a newt.
I may observe in passing that the Belgse occupied this district
as well as that of Somerset.
The next subject for consideration is the meaning of the
Prefixes and Suffixes to the names of places near Bath. And for
facility of reference these Prefixes, &c., shall be arranged in
alphabetical order.
BURN.
English, burn or bourne, signifies a spring of water, or running
309
stream; and as such streams are often taken as the divisions
between adjoining properties, bourne came to mean a boundary
or limit. In French this is the only meaning of Borne.
In Gaelic, burn means fresh water. It is probably connected
with the German Brunnen.
BURY,
This suffix assumes many forms, e.g., Burgh, Borough, &c.
The same root appears in Burrow, meaning a rabbit's hole, and in
Burial meaning Interment ; perhaps also in Berg (ice-berg),
meaning a hill, a fastness.
In Anglo-Saxon, " Beorgan " is to protect ; In German
" Bergen " is to conceal. The original root doubtless meant at
first, only to conceal ; then, to conceal in the earth, i.e., to bury ;
next, to conceal for safety, i.e., to protect.
Burgh or Borough therefore would mean a jjrotected town, a
place of safety.
Lastly, it would come to mean a stronghold, a mountain fast-
ness, a hill fort, or a hill simply, as in the modern German
word Berg, a relic of which we have in our Iceberg.
The Greek word mifrfoi is to be referred to the same root as
Burgh. It may be added that in Gaelic "Buraich," where the
"c" is not pronounced, is to bury, i.e., to inter; and that
" bhuraih," where bh=:v, is a rabbit warren.
COMBE.
This in Welsh is Cwm, a Kymric word denoting a depression
in the hills, with a narrow valley leading out of it, and a stream
flowing through.
DOWN.
In Gaelic this is " dun ;" and it is also found in Anglo-Saxon
as " diin ;" and in German as " diine." In Welsh it appears
as " dinas." It is probably connected with the Greek root
ray, or tii», in Tayi5«, tei'vw, denoting extent, expanse, &c. As forming
part of English place-names, it means an open plain either on high
land or on low.
310
FIELD.
In English, an open level country, or piece of ground for tillage
or pasture. In Anglo-Saxon and German it is " Feld ;" in Dutch,
" Veld ;" in Danish, " Falle ;" in Scotch, " Fale," " Feal."
FORD.
In English, a place where water may be crossed on foot. The
Anglo-Saxon " faran" means " to go ;" the German " fahren," "to
go in some conveyance." The root is the same as that of the
Greek ^^-fr and irsfau, and of the English words " fare," &c., in
" thoroughfare." It is curious that from this root the Germans
get their word for "danger;" "fahren" being "to travel;"
" gefahr" is " danger."
The Welsh is " Ffordd," and has the same meaning. In Gaelic
" Faodhail" (where the " d" is not pronounced) means a " river
through which one may wade."
HAJvr.
Peile, in his " Greek and Latin Etymology," derives " ham"
from an Indo-European root KI, denoting " quietness." In
Sanscrit this root appears as GI. In Greek it is kei, and crops
up in the words >ci7fjiai, I lie down, and xolm, a bed. In Latin the
root appears as QUI — , in quies, and also as CI — , in civis,
civitas.
Initial K, or hard, in Indo-European, Greek, &c., becomes H
in Gothic and German. Hence this root turns up in Gothic as
"Haims;" in German as " Heim ;" and in English as "Home"
and " Ham ;" .whence " Hamlet," a small cluster of cottages.
There is another word " Ham" in English, which has nothing
to do with the one just discussed, but is derived from a different
root, and has a different meaning. " Ham," part of the leg, is to
be traced up to the same original as the Greek verb >ciy.-nru, which
means " I bend." In German it is " Hamma," the " bent knee-
joint."
There is also a word " Hamm" in German denoting a bog or
marsh. And it is possible that some of the places round us may
311
derive their syllable " ham" from the same root as this German
word, as having been once on a time boggy or marshy localities.
LAN, OR LLAN,
Means an enclosure, a level open si:)ace. In Gaelic it is " Lann ;"
in Kymric " Llan," without any difierence of meaning.
LEYS.
"Ley" or "Lea" means land laid up in grass, grass-land,
pasturage. In Anglo-Saxon, " Leag" or " Leah ;" in Dutch,
"Ledig," "Lag," i.e., empty, fallow. "Leys" are forest-pastures
for horses, open forest glades. The word is probably connected
with the German " Lage," in the sense of a couch, or lair, or bed.
" LcEsu" is Anglo-Saxon for pasture, and " leaseowes" is a name
for a pasture in some parts of England. Whether " Lea" is
connected with the same root as the Greek xil^u, which means to
trickle like water, or with ^t/^iiy, a water-meadow, may be
uncertain.
STOKE.
English, " stock ;" Anglo-Saxon, " Stoc," a stick, and " stician"
to stick, or stick in. In German, "stock" means a stick ; so also
it does in the Scandinavian, whence " Stockholm," i.e., the holm
defended by a stockade from attacks by sea. The " stokes" around
Bath seem to mean hills standing up, e.g., Northstoke, Southstoke,
&c. And in Gaelic, " Stuaic" is a little hill. In- German,
" steigen" is to climb, to step up ; and it is doubtless connected
with the Greek <rr«/x"», and the Sanscrit " stigh ;" also with the
Latin fastigium, ve-stig-ium, &c.
TON.
This syllable supplies a sort of test, enabling us to distinguish
Anglo-Saxon settlements. " Tynan" is the Anglo-Saxon for to
" enclose ;" and " Ton" originally meant an enclosure, a farmhouse,
the nucleus of a village. The word is found in many cognate
languages, e.g., Icelandic, Frisian, &c. From the idea of enclosing,
or hedging in, comes the Gaelic meaning of bushes, thickets, hedges,
in the substantives "torn," " tuim."
312
THORP, OR THROP.
This also is a test-word, being the Norse form of the German
"Dorf," a village.
WORTH.
This has the same meaning as "garth," viz., a warded, or
protected, place. A weir wards off the water of a river. In
Sanscrit " Vri" is to protect. In Zend " Vara" is a place hedged
round.
WELL.
A spring or fountain. In Anglo-Saxon "WuUian," in Dutch
" Wellen," to boil or bubble.
WICK.
This is a very ancient word. In Caithness there is a small
river called Wick, with a town of the same name at its mouth.
There is another small stream called Wick in .the county of
Haddington, and it falls into the sea at Innerwick. A third
stream with this same name of Wick is in Glenlyon, and is a
tributary of the river Lyon.
It is probable therefore that these streams derive their name
from the Gaelic word " Bhiuc," which is pronounced " Vuic," and
means a stream.
It must however be borne in mind that this place-name of
Wick is identical in many instances with the Latin word " Vicus,"
it being in that case derived from the same root as the Latin
" Vicinus," the Greek olxos, the Sanscrit " Vegas," and the Gothic
" Veiks •" all these meaning an abode, a village.
In Norse " Wic" means a creek on the sea coast, and there are
many places ending in " Wick" on the coast of Essex.
Some of the places named Wick, or ending in Wick, have been
supposed to be connected with the Anglo-Saxon substantive
"Vic" which means a marsh, a soft, swampy spot. This Anglo-
Saxon " Vic" is connected with the German adjective " Welch,"
which means soft.
This brings us to the end of our Preiixes and Suffixes. It
a^S'
remains now to consider the names themselves of places in the
neighbourhood. And this will form the subject of the concluding
portion of this paper.
GLOUCESTERSHIRE NAMES.
D.D.B. — Domesday Booh.
* In F. Davis's Derbi/shire Place-Names.
BURY.
* Thornbury — D.D.B. Thornebury. Xorse Viking Thomi-
K. Draen, a bush, or thorn — Thornbury.
DOWN.
Charmy Down — G. Car, curved, mur, wall — curved wall down.
A circle of stones once existed on that down, but only one now
remains erect upon the earth circles.
FIELD.
Marshfield — D.D.B. Maresfield. G. marc, a horse or charger.
K. march, a horse, the boundary or line of march.
Mangotsfield — G. manas, a farm. Sgot (pronounced Skot), a
small farm or village. K. man, a place. Cwt, a cot. The place
of a cot, or the farm of the small village.
HAj\r.
* Durham — K. dwi- or dwfr, water. The ham being sur-
rounded with two brooks, the Fel and Dur.
* Hanham — K. Han, out of, or Hen, ancient. G. Hen in old
Gaelic names are frequently derived from water or from hill ; as
an or en water, or au or an, a hill ; as Henly on the Thames,
Hennock, Devonshire, Hanham green, Hanham house, and West
Hanham. D.D.B. Avonham.
Felham — G. Feith (pronounced Fa), a fen, a bog, a moras, or
Foil-an — slow stream.
LEY.
Nailey-^G. ni (pronounced nye), cattle — cattle field.
Warmley— K. Gwern, a swamp, an open marsh — marshy field.
3U
Wolley — K. ul, damp. K. Gwyddle, a woody place or woody
opening. A.S. a wood. Ger, wald, wood.
STOKE.
* North Stoke— G. Stuaic, a little hill. *
TON.
Abston — D.D.B. Abbots-town. Gaelic abh (pronounced avf),
water. The town on the water, as the Felham brook.
* Ashton— D.D.B. Estune, Estone. A.S. ^se, ashtree. G. ais
(pronounced ash), back, or ard, high — Ashtown, Easttown, or
high tov.-n. The name is common, and most of the places are
situated upon eminences.
* Ashton Lo.
Bitton — D.D.B. Betune, Boj^ntune. The meeting of the Avon
and the Boyd, Aberton. Sir Thos. de Bitton resided there in the
13th century. G. Bot, a house or bank of a river. Boinna, a
drop. Burn, fresh Avater — or Buinne, the meeting of the water of
the Avon and the Boyd — the town where the waters meet.
* Upton — D.D.B. Uvton. K. urvch, high — Higher town or
A.S. Upton.
Codrington — D.D.B. Cortitone. K. Cwyddn, sheltered town or
spring.
Doyntou — D.D.B. Boynetone. K. Dwfn, deep. Town on the
flat, down, or on the Boyd.
Siston — G. Sios (pronounced shess), Botton — Bottom Town.
Little Town, A.S,
Hinton — ^D.D.B. Hantone. K. Hen, ancient — old town.
WELL.
Hamswell — K. Hem, border — border well.
WICK.
Wick rocks and village, bordering upon a small stream,
the Boyd.
Becks Mills— A.S. A small stream. G. Burn. Norae beck.
Danish bak, a brook.
316
Cadbum — K. Cad, battle. Bwr, an entrenchment — Battle
entrenchments, or Battle Barn.
Frisnal Hill — K. Fris, raised up, Cnwc, a knoll or hill ; also
called Frizen Hill. The farm in the valley below is called
Knoll Leayes.
Pixon House — K. Pegwn, a cone, a beacon, a house on a hill,
or from Pixie, a fairy. Pixen may be the plural of Pixie, as
chicken is the plural of chick. Pixen, a house guarded by
good fairies.
Pucklechurch— D.D.B. Pulchercirk, Pulchricurh — Fair church
or G. Boc, Bocan, a goblin. K. Pvvea, a fiend — a church erected
on the spot of the ancient pagan worship, as many churches were.
Rocks— A.S. Fr. Eoc, Roche; It. Rocca. K. Rhug, a rock, a
jjrojection.
Slad — G. Sleabh (pronounced Sleav), the face of a hill.
Sherrel — G. Sgeir, a rock, a cliff, Soilleir, clear — clean fountain,
formed like Sherborne and Sherwell, means clear fountain or well.
Toghill — G. Tog, to build. K. Togi, to extend — an extended or
elongated hill.
Tylands — K. Tyle, an ascent, or Ty, a house— house lands or
steep lands.
* Swine-ford and Swine-head — May be derived from the A.S.
Swine, or Gaelic Suaineach, a Swede, or from Sweyns, a proper
name, or K. Swyd — what extends over, dread — dreadford.
* Hays — A.S. an enclosure.
Wolestor — K. Uwch, high, twr, a tower — high tower.
Aber Rocks — K. Aber, a confluence, Rhych, ridge — ^meeting of
the ridges.
Wedmore — K. Gwaed, blood, Mawr, great — great slaughter oi
blood.
Ockey— K. Ogof, a cave ; Ty, a house or dwelling (Ty and By,
synonym ; See Taylor, on Words).
316
SOMERSETSHIRE.
THE NAMES OF PLACES IN AND AROUND BATH.
Avon — G. Abhuinn (pronounced av'enn), a river. Abh, water,
Inne, a channel.
* Bath — Few places have received so many changes in the form
of its name as Bath. The most ancient is Gaelic Bath (pro-
nounced Ba), and suil (pronounced sul), genitive sulis, the opening
or fountain of warm waters. The altars are erected to the god
Sul, and the goddess Sulis minerva. Kymric, Badd, a place of
bathing. Latin, Bath-an-easter. A.S. Acke manceaster, invalid's
city. Aqua Solis is not found on any of the altars or ancient
monuments in Bath, but Sul and Sulis. The legend of Bladud and
his pigs is very ancient. K. Blleddian, a wolf; also a proper
name. Lud, K. Lludw, ashes, ciuders, the remains of anything
burnt. The saxeos globos, globules of sand, present in the
waters of Bath, are observed in springs of cold water from sand
formations, as the millstone grit, thus the origin of King Lud.
The shield in the museum may represent the victory of the Roman
gods and goddesses over the Druids. For the Roman Senate
about that date passed several decrees against the Druids, in
consequence of their offering in sacrifice human victims.
* Burnett — G. Biirnach, watery, marshy — a wet spot.
Baggeridge— G. Braigh, a top. K. Bugail, a shepherd — a
shepherd's, or high, ridge.
* Barrow hill — A.S. a raised mound or hill.
Bailbrook — G. Bail, town. K. Bala, where a brook discharges
itself, as into the Avon — town brook, or discharge brook.
Chew River — G. Car, ciu-ved, Cuilc, a reed, or Soilleir, clear —
curved reed or clear brook. Char in Dorset, Chor in Lancashire,
Ker Middlesex.
* Chelwood— D.D.B. Celewood and Celewort. G. SgaU, shelter
— shelter wood.
Cocker Hill— K. Coch, red— red hill.
"317
* Dunkirk — G. Dun, a hill, Cille (pronounced Cill), church —
hill church.
* Langridge — A..S. long ridge. Also called Langerric. K.
Rhych, a ridge — ridge of the open plain.
* Walcott — K. Gwal, a rampert. Coed, a Avood — a wooded
ridge, rampart, or bank.
Wellow — K. Wylo, to weep — burial place, or of wailing.
BURY.
Farmbury — (J. Fearn, alder tree — alder bury.
* Marksbury — G. Marbh (pronounced marv), slaughter ; or K.
March — slaughter, or bury on the line of march.
Sulisbury — G. Suil, genitive Sulis — the bury of the Sulivse, a
small tribe who once occupied the Bath district.
* Stantonbury — G. Staing, a barrier — the town on the barrier,
or A.S. stone. Ger. Steen, stone — stone town.
Timsbury — G. Tuim, bushes — Bushbury.
* Woodbury — K. Gwydd, wood.
COSIBE,
* Combe Hay — A.S. Hage, Haga, a hedge — enclosed combe ;
or G. ard, high — High combe.
* Chalcombe — G. Car, curved. K. Clais, clay or marl — clay
or curved combe.
Holcombe — K. Hwhw, hooting of the owl. G. Alia (pronounced
all-al), wild — mid or owl's combe.
Llyncombe — Llyn, a pool or lake — the pool combe.
Shoscombe — G. Sios, bottom — bottom combe.
Widcombe — K. Gwyddeli, bushes, or Dwfu, deep, or Pitw, little
— woody, deep, or little combe.
DOWN.
Bannerdown — G. Ban, white. K. Ban, higli — high, white, or
holy down.
Charmy Down — G. Car, curved, Mur, wall — curved wall down.
A circle of stones once existed on this down, but only one
remains.
il8
Clandown — K. Gkn, clear, holy, pure — clear down.
* Lansdown — G. Lann, an enclosure. K. Llan, an area, yard,
church — an open enclosed plain surrounded with ridges.
Odd Down — G. Odhar (pronounced ohur), grey. K. yd, corn
— grey or corn down. K. wd, what is spread out — extensive
down.
Pendown — K. Pen, a hill — hill down.
FORD.
Bathford. See ford.
* Midford — K. Medd, a pool — ford of the pool.
* Pensford — K. Pen head — head or upper ford.
* Eadford — I^. Rhuar, red — red ford.
Saltford — G. Sail, salt, Lat, saUn, a willow. In the Eoman
period the tide ascended to this spot.
* Swinford — Cywyn, swelling, rising — rising ford. G. Bien, a
mountain. Rising ground exists on each side of the river Avon,
or ford at the head of the tide,
Telisford— G. Till, return. K. Twyll, dangerous — return or
dangerous ford.
Coalford — K. Cal, a peak or summit. Ffordd, a way — high
road.
HAM.
Kynsham — D.D.B. Kainsham. K. Caint, a plain, or Cefn, a
ridge — the ham of the plain or ridge.
LEYS.
Chatley — Cattle Ley, or proper name, the Tell Ley.
* Farleigh — G. Feur (pronounced Ferr), grass or pasture ley.
Limpley Stoke — K. Llempley, smooth — Stoke hUl.
Mudley — K. Moryd, inlet of sea water — Ley on the inlet of sea
water ; or K. Mwyd, soaked — Ley.
STOKE.
- • South Stoke — Projecting hill on the south.
TON.
* Bathamton — The town of Bath on the ham.
3ld
* Batheaston — East Bath.
Camerton — K. Camus, a walk, Earn, crooked — town on the
walk or curved border.
* Chalton — K. Clai, clay — clay town. G. Ceil (pronounced
Kal) shelter.
Chewton— G. Sruth (pronounced srhu), a stream — town on
the stream.
Claverton — K. Claerda, Ghawdd, brightness and clear — town
on the sunny border. Also Claddfa, a place where fish spawn.
G. Klaba, a mill clapper. (See Paper by Kev. Earle, in the
transactions of the Bath Naturalists' Society.)
Glutton — K. Chvch, a crag, Cly dwr, a shelter — sheltered
town, or town on a crag.
* Compton — K. Cwm, a dingle — town in the hollow. Compton
Dando — D.D.B., Corton, Dinham, a personal name. The castle
was called Dinant, castle on the water ; or Dinas, a castle.
Corston — K. Cors, a fen — town on the fen.
* Dunkerton— G. Dun, a hill. Gill, a kerk or cell — church on
the border of the hill.
* Hemmington — K. Hem, border, Min, brink, edge — town on
the brink of the hill, or the town of the descendants of Hem.
* Hardington — K. Hardd, cously ; or A.S. the town of the sons
of Hard.
* Hinton — D.D.B. Hantone. K. Hen, ancient — old town.
* Kelston — K. Gelli, a grove — grove town, or cadells ton.
* Kelverston — K. Gelli, a grove or green— the towii of the
green grove.
Laverton — K. Llafur, a village — village town.
* Lullington — D.D.B. LuUetone. A.S. ing, descendants, tin
plural of ing, ingos — descendants of Lulla.
* Newton St. Lo^A-Saxon, a proper name, or opening in
a wood.
* Norton — K. Nar, dwafs — Little ; or A.S. North town.
3^a
* Priston— K. Pryo, a covert — "Wood town ; or A.S, Priest's
Town.
Poulton — K. Pwll, a poul — Town upon a pool.
"* Stanton — A.S. Stone town; or G. Stain, a barrier — Town on
a barrier.
* Tiverton or Twerton — K. Twyn, a headland; Twrn, a turn —
Town on a headland, or on the turn of the river.
* Welton — G. Uisge, water, or K. Gwy, water — Town on a
stream or water.
AVrithlington — K. Gwrychel, a thicket — Town m a wood, or
the town of the descendants of Writhl.
* Weston — G. Uisge, Avater. K. Gwy, water — Town on a
stream ; or A.S. West town.
Woolverton — K. Gwyllt, a wilderness. Fr. fresh, a green — ■
Town of the green wood.
WICK.
Swains Wick — K. Swyno, to charm ; sacred village, or a proper
name, Swyanes — village.
Tabwick — K. Tab, scattered — scattered village.
WILTSHIRE.
NAMES AROUND BATH.
Barry Wood — K. Bar, a summit — High wood.
Box — G. Bog, moist, or Bogha, a bend — a moist or winding
brook.
Berris — K. Byrr, short ; Rhiw, ascent — short ascent.
• Burnett — G. Burnach, watery.
Colern — G. Coille, a wood. K. CoUen, a Hazel tree, twig ; or
A.S. Ceald, to be cold, past-port ; Colian, to be cold. There is a
place of the same name in North Wales.
• Cutts — K. Cwt, curved ; Cwt, a cottage.
• Cottles Bottom — K. Cwt, a cottage.
Cocker HiU— K. Coch, red— red hill.
S2i
Drewn Mill — G. Pruclhag, a small stream — ^Mill on a small
stream.
Detteridge — G. Dig, a dike, A.S. Dig — dike on the ridge.
Frith — G. Fridh (pronounced Freyh), a forest.
Hens — K. Hen, old.
Hats — G. Aite, a place.
Holt — A.S. A copse or small wood.
Hallatrow — K. Hallol, whole, Frum ridge — whole ridge.
Guvers — K. Gwj'ddeli, bushes,
* Leapyal— G. Leabh, a lie ; Peal (pronounced Pyal), a horse, a
horse lie or pasture — a space in a wood.
Lucknam Grove — K. Llych, flat, nant, brook, or ravin — Grove.
* Marsh — A.S., or from G. Marc, a charger — line of march.
Morval — K. Mawr, great ; Gwal, ditch —great ditch.
Publow — K. Pybyr, strong. A.S. low, a mound — strong mound.
* Kudlow— K. Rhudd, red, low hHl— Red hill.
Sleigh — G. Sleabh (pronounced Sleav), side of a hill.
Stroud Farm — K. Ffraul, a small stream — Farm on a small
stream.
Troul— K. Tro, Turn.
Twinehoe — K. Twyn, a bush ; Uch, higher — High bushes.
Wraxhall — K, Gwragy, curves — Hall on the curves, or Rhos,
the highland.
Wallmead — K. G walla, a bank. A.S. Mead, a bank, meadow.
WooUard — K. Gwylt, a wilderness, GavuII, blossom —
wilderness hUl,
Wansdyke — K. Gwaham, Dig, to divide — a separation between
places.
Uridge — K. Uchel, high, Rych, ridge — high ridge,
BURY,
Hastlebury— G. AU, pleasant ; or A,S, Hazelbury.
COMBE.
Alcombe — K. Awel, wind — windy combe.
322
FIELD.
Berfield — K. Byrr, short — short field.
Chalfield— K. Car, curved— curved field ; or A.S. Charles field.
Winkfield — K. Gwinc, a chafiinch — chaffinch field.
FORD.
Bradford — K. Brad, deceitful, dangerous — dangerous ford.
Freshford — K. Frewo, to flow — a stream ford ; or A.S. new ford.
HAM.
Corsham — K. Corsag, bogg — Boggy ham.
Hartham — A.S. a forest border, or ham.
LEYS.
Ashley — G. Ard, high ; or A.S. Aes — high, or ash ley.
Farley Wick — G. Feur, pasture — village on the pasture ley.
Henley — K. Hen, ancient — old ley.
• Linleys — K. Llyn, a pool or water — water ley.
Hartley — A.S. Forest ley.
Studley — G. Stuic (pronounced Stucy) — a steep ley.
Winsley — K. Bryn, a hill ; Gwyn, fair — a hill ley or fair ley.
Walley — K. Gwal, a wall or ridge — the ridge ley.
TON.
* Broughton — G. Beorgan, to shelter — sheltered town.
Credlington — Town of the descendants of Cerdis.
Islington — Also a proper name — Town of descendants of Isl.
Staverton — G. Stabhach (pronounced stav-ach), scattered —
straggling town.
WORTH.
Atwort — K. Athwr, a mound.
WELL.
ComberweU — K. Cwm, a dingle or green — Well of the green
dingle.
Conkwell — G. Cona, moss; Mossy well. K. Con, a peak —
Well on a peak
323
WICK.
Sliockerwick— G. Sgot, a village, oir, border, Wick stream —
The village on the border of the stream.
* Wadswick — K. Gward, a Guard, or proper name — Waddys
wick.
Had King Alfred a Residence at Wedmoi-e ? with some Notes on the
Manors of Mudsley and JVedmore. By Emanuel Green.
(Read 12th January, 1881 J
There is extant an early manuscript recording events of
Saxon times, and known to us as the " Saxon Chronicle." The
earliest of seven copies and consequently the most authentic is
that now in Corpus College, Cambridge, the first part of which,
in one handwriting ends with the year 891, but of course it does
not follow that it was written in that year. It is however a very
early document.
There is another Chronicle, supposed to be also contemporary,
called " The Annals of King Alfred." It is attributed to one
Asser, a bishop of the time, but doubts have been expressed on
this point, as it bears internal evidence of having been written at
a later date.*
There are other Chronicles, which will be noticed, but for the
present purpose a few lines only from either are pertinent.
Under date A.D. 878, it is recorded that Gutlirum, a Danish
King, coming suddenly from Gloucester in midwinter, after
twelfth night, was terribly victorious at Chippenham over Alfred
our Saxon King. The people in panic fled ; Alfred also fled, and
was lost even to his friends. After a wandering, uncertain, and
restless life in the woods of Somerset,t he came unexpectedly
to the Isle of Athelney, a place described as in the extreme
* Wright. Biographia Literaria. Archseologia Vol. 29.
t Book of Hyde,
324
boundary of England, surrounded on all sides with marshes, but
with an agreeable plain further in. Here he " solaced the
distress of his vagrancy " by hunting and occasional pillage, and
after a time gathered a few followers who helped him to build a
fort strong enough for defence. Thus protected he must have
remained here for a whole year, a circumstance usually overlooked.
During this time he gradually collected a force east of Selwood,
and then, seven weeks after Easter, in 879, marched towards
the Danes, who still lay at Chippenham, | and, passing by Iglea,
perhaps Clay Hill, near "Warminster, encountered his enemies at
the successful battle of Ethauduue. Having driven them back to
the shelter of their fortress, a walled town, unnamed, but why not
Chippenham, he sat down before it for fourteen days, when terms
were concluded, hostages delivered, a division of territory agreed
to, or, as it is put in the Chronicle, the Danes with many oaths
swore they would leave the Kingdom, i.e., the Kingdom of
Wessex. They also agreed that their King should embrace
Christianity. Keeping this promise, Guthrum went to Alfred
seven weeks afterwards, or three weeks according to the Chronicle,
and was baptized at Aller, close to Athelney. On the eighth day
after, his " chrism loosing was at Wedmore." Having entertained
him for twelve days altogether, Alfred sent him off with handsome
presents ;J bountifully gave him many excellent dwellings, says
Asser ; or, as Ingulph, another chronicler, more clearly puts it,
he " out of his royal munificence presented him with East Anglia
to dwell in."§ Now Alfred really had nothing to give, and
* Tumor Hist, of ADglo-Saxons. Cottonian MSS. Claudius A 5
Wallingford's Chronicle.
t Ethelwerd's Chronicle. X Saxon Chronicle.
§ A manuscript in the Bodleian says the baptism was at Westminster and
the entertainment in London. The document however is not an early one, and
can be of no value. There is no heading, but it purports to be a Chronicle of
England from Brute to the Conquest. As it was a long and tedious work
finding it, the exact reference is here given for the benefit of others. Digby
MSS., No. 196, fol. 108, line 23.
32S
looked at carefully, this mimificence simply means a judicious
policy of conciliation, and that the agreement for division of
the country was duly carried out. The entertainment over, the
Danes left Chippenham in 879, a year after their coming, and
■went to Ciceter.*
It may be pointed out here how the chroniclers, usually monks
or ecclesiastics of some sort, make out the times for these events.
They tell us that Guthrum was entertained twelve days, that he
wore the chrism for full seven days, that he came for baptism
seven weeks, or three weeks after the battle, which itself was
fought seven weeks after Easter. Accepting these dates, as Easter
in 879 was on the 12th April, the fight would occur about
the 31st May, and if Guthrum came for baptism seven weeks, or
even three weeks after, he would come at a season when but very
little, a temporary shelter only, would be necessary.
The coming of the year 1878, except that it Avas a year too
soon, it seems to me, was well used to celebrate at "Wedmore, in
August, the one-thousandth anniversary of this event. The
occasion " put it into the heads" of some to suppose, nay to
assert, that Alfred had a permanent residence there, the suppo-
sition being assisted by the fact, that somewhat extensive
foundations of an ancient building were known to exist in the
parish.
There were assembled, to quote the words of an early poem on
the subject,
Two bishops and many learned men,
Wise Earles and awful Knights.
There was Earle Alfrich very learned in the law.f
But Christianity was not strong enough to allow both bishops
to attend the thanksgiving ser-sdce, so the one present preached.
The sermon begins by mentioning the baptism of Guthrum at
Aller, " where it seems Alfred's camp was pitched." Then
• Asser, Ethelwerd. t Cott. MSS.
326
continuing, it says, Ethelred the " Archbishop of Canterbury was
doubtless there, and we may presume officiated at the baptism."
Having thus got him there in imagination and put him to work
by presumption, a little further on he is there in fact. " Here,"
cries the preacher, "was Alfred the King, and Ethelred the Arch-
bishop, and Ethelnoth, the Alderman or Duke of Somerset," and
so, with but little effort, the scene becomes a thrilling moment.
Now no mention is made anywhere of a camp at Aller. Aller
being " very near" to Athelney, which even three hundred years
later consisted of only two acres of dry land, there Guthrum was
taken. No archbishop or priest is mentioned, but one chronicler
does say, that Guthrum was purified by Aethelnoth, Duke of the
Somersetun.* The other bishop, at a meeting held later in the
day, speaking of Wedmore said, " at this time there was a resi-
dence here of some kind belonging to King Alfred ;" the " Saxon
Chronicle says it was a royal residence." Here again the Saxon
Chronicle says nothing of the sort, it simply says of Guthrum,
that " his chrism loosing was at Wedmore." Asser, in his Annals
says that the chrism loosing was — in villa regia quce dicitur TFaedmor.
This is a,lways translated — at a royal town called Wedmor ; or,
as an early translator puts it, more literally for us, " the lewsinge
of whose christian was the 8 day aftar in the Kinge's towne or
manor called Waedmor."t In the hands of our modern translator
an attempt is made to improve this into, " his chrysom-leasing
took place at the i-oyal villa called Wedmore. "J Here chrysom-
leasing, which conveys no meaning and cannot be understood, is
substituted for chrism loosing which can be understood, and by a
forced meaning never before imagined the town, or manor,
becomes a " villa" called Wedmore. Thus we get the desired
result, the modem idea of a " villa," but no township or manor.
• Ethel werd.
+ Harleian MSS. No. 563, fol. 61.
i Somst. Arch. Proceediogs, xxi, ii. 24.
32T
It may be well here to note by quotation what the Chronicles
do say :— •
Fabius Ethehverd says — " Guthrum submitted to the rite of
baptism, and King Alfred as sponsor, received him from the laver
in the marshy isle of Alney. Duke Aethelnoth likewise purified
him after his baptism, at a place called Wedmor, and there King
Alfred loaded him with magnificent honours."
Gaimar says — "Guthrum was baptized at Aire, it was very
near Edelingee. At Wetmore was the chrism loosing, and they
stayed 12 days with the courteous King (Alfred) who entertained
them with honour."
Asser says — " After seven Aveeks, Guthrum came to King
Alfred at a place near Athelney, named Aire, where Alfred raised
him from the sacred font of baptism ; and the chrism loosing took
place on the eighth day afterwards at a royal town called Wedmor.
After his baptism he remained twelve nights with the King, who
with all his nobles bountifully gave him many excellent dwellings."
The Saxon Chronicle says — " Three weeks after Guthrum came
to AUer which is near Athelney : and the King was his godfather
at baptism : and his chrism loosing was at Wedmore : and he
was twelve days with the King : and he greatly honoured him
with gifts."
John of Wallingford says — " Alfred, after his triumph (at
Ethandune) returned to Athelney and there built a strong castle,
where Guthrum came to him and was baptized."
Ingulph, after noticing the baptism, says — " Meantime, while
King Alfred was still sojourning in Athelney, the pagans were
returning into Mercia. Alfred transformed his fortress, in memory
of his sojourn, into a monastery for monks."
It is clear enough that the baptism was at AUer as being " very
near" Athelney, and also that Guthrum was entertained twelve
days afterwards, that is twelve days after the baptism, but not
twelve days at Wedmore, not twelve days after the chrism loosing.
It is not until the eighth day that he is found at Wedmore, as
328
perhaps a part of that " agreeable plain further in," as a place
better suited for what was evidently made the chief show and
ceremony, and the occasion of parting munificen^'e and honour.
Another speaker at this meeting alludes to a " treaty which
was signed on the occasion," and sees Guthrum and Alfred,
Christians ahke, " sit down, one at each side of the table," and
draw out a treaty of peace, which now becomes the Peace of
Wedmore. Again here there is no authority for these statements,
they are imaginary. The peace was made and settled before the
unnamed fortress or walled town, into which the Danes fled, was
completed with the " many oaths " there enacted, and acted upon
first by the baptism at Aller. The treaty, as can be seen,* is of
five paragraphs only, is between Alfred and Guthrum, and is
chiefly occupied in defining the boundaries of the two kingdoms.
There is no mention as to where it was made, and there is no
evidence of its having been written at the time. Still, as the
Peace was concluded, or rather cemented by the visit and final
ceremony there, it may well and fairly be known as the Peace of
Wedmore.
Another carelessness may be noted from Collinson, who, under
Wedmore.f makes no mention whatever of Alfred, but under
Aller, J he notices the baptism of Gutlu'um, and adds, — the Danes
stayed twelve days after at Aller with the king, and were then
dismissed with large presents of money. For this he refers to the
Saxon Chronicle, which certainly does not say so.
If a conjecture may be hazarded, it would be that, before the
victory of Ethandune, Alfred had no private ownership in the
land, either at Athelney or at Wedmore, for the Saxon King was
not like his Norman successor, in theory lord of all land. After
Ethandune, Alfred settled himself M^ith so much more power as a
* Wilkins's "Leges Saxonicse."
t Histo)^ of Somerset vol. i. , p. 189.
1 Vol. iii.
329
King, and with a personal influence so greatly increased, that he
may ■well have desired and easily have obtained a grant of the
district from the Witan or governing assembly, in remembrance
of the great escapes and successes through which he had passed
therein. It was, too, during this time of prosperity and power
that the rather ex parte Chronicles must have been Avritten.
These thoughts arise from the especial devise made of these places
in his supposed will, which has been more than once printed. In
this document Wedmore is bequeathed as land, and not as a ham
or town. He leaves to his son the land at Heortingtune
{1 Hartington), the land at Carumtune (Carhampton), and Burn-
ham, and the land at Wedmore. He mentions also his lands at
Ceodre (Cheddar), and at Ciwtune (Chewton). To his daughters
he bequeaths properties, each property being called a " ham " or
town, a dwelling place. To one he gives the ham of Chippenham,
and to his wife the ham of Ethandune.*
Looking at this evidence the inference points to a stay of a
few days only at Wedmore, and that, in the height of summer
and for a special purpose. The early chroniclers certainly imply
no more than this.
Alfred died in 901, and Wedmore remained a part of the
royal demesne until the time of Eadward the Confessor. In
the Registers at Wells of Bishop Drokensford, who died in
1329, there is a document in Saxon purporting to be a Charter
of Eadward granting Wedmore to Bishop Giso ; and there is also
in the same Register another grant as from Edith, his widow,
addressed to the Hundred of Wedmore, giving lands in Mark to
the Bishop.t Eadward died in 1066, and this brings us to the
specially marked starting point in our history, the Norman
Conquest, and then to the Domesday Book of 1086. In this
survey Wedmore is found held by the Bishop, as it had been
* Alfred's Will, 1728 and 1828.
t Harl. MSS., No. 6,968, p. 6. Dugdale Monasticon, voL ii., p. 287.
530
under Eadward. Under Eadward it was worth £20, but was then
returned worth £17 only, a depreciation, the consequence probably
of the ravages of the Normans.* It remained so held until the
time of Bishop Eobert, who died in 1166, and by whom, according
to a document in Bishop Drokensford's Registers, already quoted,
it was given with Mudsley and Mark, and lands in Biddesham,
to endow the new Deanery of Wells, founded about 1150.t
The earliest mention of the name in the Eecords is in 1227
(12 Henry III.), when the Bishop of Bath appoints as his agent
or attorney. Will de WeUes, to deal with Eustace de Hamgden
and Adam de Wedmor his " native tenants," but for what purpose
this appointment was made is not mentioned. J These may have
been tenants at Wells, as if they were tenants at Wedmore, the
manor must have been then owned by the Bishop. The next
mention is in 1255 (39 Henry TIL), and now the manor has
clearly passed to the Dean. On the 18th May in that year, at
Clareodon, the King granted to Giles de Bridport, Dean of
Wells, the right to have one market at Wedmore on the Tuesday
in every week, and one fair every year, on the vigil, the day, and
the morrow of the Blessed Mary Magdalene, except that such
market or fair should interfere with neighbouring markets or
fairs. § The property thus settled and improved for the deanery,
there arose a dispute in 1327 (1 Edward III.) between the Dean,
John de Godeleigh, and Adam de Sodbury, Abbot of Glaston, on
a question of trespass by the latter from his manor of Mere on
the Dean's manor of Mudsley. The boundaries being eventually
settled, it was agreed that certain stone crosses should mark their
respective limits, and that the Dean should enjoy Mudsley and
the Abbot, Mere. Perhaps it was for some such cause that Dean
• Bennett J. E., vol. xxv. Som. Arch. Proceedings.
t Harl. MSS., No. 6,964, p. 6. Dugdale Monasticon, vol. ii., p. 293.
t Close Rolls, No. 3, 7d.
§. Charter Rolls, Membrane, 4,
331
Walter rle London in 1337 (11 Edward III.), by an Inspeximus, for
a fine of 10s., obtained a confirmation of his rights ;* and again
in 1340 (24th April, 14 Edward IIT.), the King gave, and by
another charter confirmed, to his beloved Walter de London, Dean
of Wells, free warren in all his demesne lands of Wedmore,
Modesleye, Chircheland, Merk, and More ; all trespassers mthout
his license to be mulcted in the very heavy fine of £10.t
In 1449 (27 Hen. VI), by authority of the King and Parliament,
and on payment of £11 lis., there was founded the Fraternity or
Guild of the Blessed Mary of Wedmore. The grant was made to
John, Archbishop of Canterbury, Nich Carant Dean of Wells,
Walter Chalcroft and John Prior, two parishioners, three, two or
one of them, or their assigns, to found, " to the honour of God
and the Blessed Virgin Mary," a Fraternity or Guild perpetual of
such brothers and sisters of the parish who may wish to join or
be willing to give for its support, with power to augment the
number, and every year at the Feast of the Conception to elect a
master and two wardens. The Guild was to be a body corporate
with a common seal, and to hold property the statute of mortmain
notwithstanding. The chaplain, whose stipend was twelve marks
per annum, was '• to celebrate for our salubrious state here, and
of Margaret our Consort whilst we live, and for the good of our
souls when we migrate from this, as also for the souls of the
brothers and sisters while they live, and for the faithful deceased,
at the altar of the Blessed Anne in the north part of the church
aforesaid."! The dedication here should be noticed, as it is one
of but few such including God as well as the Virgin, the Goddess
usually getting the sole honour.
The Dean apparently enjoyed his property until the inquiry
into matters ecclesiastical and the value of church property by
• Charter Rolls, Part i , Nos. 44, 76.
t Charter Rolls, No. 35, part i.
: Patent Rolls, 27 Hen. VI., Part 2, Membrane S.
332
Henry VIIl. in 1535. The Deanery was then found possessed of
the manors of Mark, Modesley, Wedmore, and More, and the
Hundred of Bempston. From Modesley came :—
Eents of assize from customary tenants ... £16 5 8 J
Demesne farm lands ... ... ••• 13 2 4J
Fee from Ths. Purnell (bailiff) ... ... 11 3
Perquisites of Court and other casualties, with
sale of wood ... ... ... ••• ^ 1" *J
Fines from land ... ... ... ... 10
Total
From Wedmore manor, were received : —
Kents from tenants
Demesne farm lands
Pasture from the park
Fee from John Bailliff (bailiff there)
Perquisites of Court and casualties . . .
Fines ...
Total
In the return this is totalled £55 8s. 5-id.*
The death of Henry threw the responsibility of further Eeform
upon his successor, Edward VI. In 1547, the first year of his
reign, there is a prettily written and very interesting document,
the surrender of the deanery and its property belonging. On the
16th March, Dean William Fitzwilliam announced, to all the
faithful in Christ to whom that writing should come, that for
cause and consideration him specially moving he had given and
granted and by that writing confirmed, to the King, F.D., and on
earth of the Church of England and Ireland Supreme Head, all
the Deanery of Wells, with the office and dignity of Dean, and all
. £31
3
H
.. £30
4
0|
.. 7
3
2
.. 2
10
..
10
H
.. 5
81
.. 6
.. £51
8
H
* Valor Ecclesiasticus.
333
the lordships and manors of Mark, Modesley, Wedmore and
More, and the Hundred of Brymspton, and the rectory of Mark
and More, the prebend and cha^oel of Byddysham, with the
advowson and privileges of the vicarage of Mark and More, with
all messuages, lands, mills, fisheries, woods, courts and free
warren, and all emoluments whatsoever. This is underwritten,
in English, provided that it apply only to the deanery and be
not prejudicial to the Chapter or its possessions.* A few months
later the redistribution began. On the 9th July, the King, in
memory of the worthy fame of his dearest father, gave and
granted for his faithful services, to " our cousin" Edward, Earl
of Hertford and Duke of Somerset, all the Deanery of Wells, and
the dignity of Dean, and all our manors of Mark, Modesley,
Wedmore and More, and the Hundred of Bempston, with all
privileges, &c., belonging, to be held in ca^pite at the 40tli part of
a Knight's fee.t The next day, 10th July, by patent, with much
other property in other counties, the Duke received all that
the dignity of Archdeacon of Wells, with all the manors,
messuages and emoluments ; also the Deanery and the dignity of
Dean, with the lordships and manors of Mark, Modesley,
Wedmore and More, &c., formerly belonging to the Deanery. J
Again, on the 4th June, 1550, he had another grant of
property, chiefly belonging to Glastonbury, in which, with
a determination to have it confirmed, or perhaps from some
verbal omissions in the former grant, were included the manor
of Wedmore and the Hundred of Bempston and AYedmore,
with all the forests, parks, and liberties belonging. § By the
attainder of the Duke and his execution in 1551, this pro-
perty came again to the Crown, when Wedmore with other
* Deeds of Purchase and Exchange, Box F., No. 3.
t Deeds of Purchase and Exchange, Box F., No. 42b.
X Patent Rolls, EoU 805, part vii., mem. 44.
§ Patent Rolls, 4 Edward VI., part viii., mem. 39.
334
land was granted 1st Aug., 1552, to the "Bushopp."* The
" Bashopp" quickly bargained and exchanged it for his oAvn palace
at Wells, and so once more it fell into the hands of the King.f
During some one of these holdings destruction had commenced ;
the park at least was destroyed. On the 1st June, 1554 (1 Mary),
the park of Wedmore, " disparked," was surveyed for sale to
Henry Eussell, esq., of Little Malvern. It was found to be held
subject to a lease, granted 1 Edward VI., to one Arundell for 21
years, at a rental of 70s. 8d. ; and to an annuity of 53s. 4d.,
granted 35 Henry VIII. to Geo. Pigott, gent., leaving clear
17s. 4d. per annum. The purchase-money for the "disparked
park" at 24 years' purchase was £84 16s., and for Pigott's fee at
12 years' purchase £41 12s., together £126 8s., to be paid in
hand. Eussell then received a grant 26th Sept., 1554, of the
disparked park with its belongings, subject to the lease and the
annuity, the term to be in soccage.J The manor was surveyed
28th July, 1557, for sale to Sir Henry Jernegan, Kt., Vice
Chamberlain to the Queen, the clear annual value being declared,
from tenants and perquisites £44 Is. 10^|-d., which included the
farm and capital messuage of the same valued at 17s, 4d., the
park belonging being " already sold away." The value at 20 years'
purchase was £880 17s. lid., which was to be paid down before
the 10th August. § For some reason unexplained, Jernegan did
not complete his purchase, as on the 21st Sept., a month later
only, the Queen granted all that our manor of Wedmore, with its
belongings, formerly of the possession of the Duke of Somerset of
felony attaint, to John Elyott, citizen of London, the annual
value being declared the same as for Jernegan.|| In 1559, 8th
• Patent Rolls, No. 1850, 6 Edward VI., part ix., mem. 44.
t Strype's Memorials.
J Augmentation Office, Particulars for Grants, 1 Mary. Patent Kolls,
1 and 2 Phil, and M., Roll 890, part x., mem. 32.
§ Harleian MSS., No. 607, fol. 74.
II Patent, 4 and 5 Phil, and M., Roll 927, mem. 30.
335
January (1 Eliz.), Elyott, on payment of a fine of 20 marks,
received a license to sell to Thomas Gresham, esq., better known
as Sir Thomas Gresham, Kt., a great accumulator of wealth in
his day, all the manor of Wedmore, with belongings, 150
messuages, 50 tofts, 10 mills, 10 dovecotes, 200 gardens,
2,000 acres of land, 3,000 acres of meadow, 2,000 acres of pasture,
200 acres of wood, 1,000 acres gorse, and £8 rents, in Wedmore,
held in capite.*
On the 1st October, 1577, for a fine of 8s. Id., Sir Thomas was
licensed to sell to John Durbaw, 40 acres land and 100 acres
jampnor et bruer, gorse and heath, in Mark and other places, with
common of pasture in the moors adjoining. t On the same day,
with consent of Anne his wife, he was licensed to alienate 35
acres of land, in Wedmore, to Thomas Baylie, clerk, and Elizabeth
his wife, a daughter of Fullcoms Eton, defunct. J In August, 28
Eliz., Nicholas Baylie conveyed this property, described as situate
in Burgo Fill : Campis de Wedmore, to Elizabeth Eton, alias Baylie,
Avidow, but without obtaining the Eoyal License, and this being
discovered two years later, in May, 1588, the Queen of her
special grace was induced to pardon the transgression, and in
consideration of a payment or fine of 20s., confirmed the transfer.
On the same day also, on payment of a license fee of 13s. 4d.,
Gresham alienated to Thomas Hodges, the capital messuage of
the manor of Wedmore, with some cottages, and three orchards,
70 acres land, 3 acres of wood, 100 acres furze and heath with
belongings in Wedmore, Marke and other places, the whole
valued at 40s. per annum, the fine £6 4s. l5d.§ On the 20th
December, 1577, he sold to Wm. Satchell, alias Martyn, besides a
* Patent, 1 Eliz., Roll 94, mem. 11.
t Patent, 18 Eliz., part ii., Roll 1133, mem. 17.
t Patent, 19, Eliz., partxi., Roll 1161, mem. 6.
§ Patent, 18 Eliz., part ix., Roll 1145, mem. 46. Alienation Licenses,
fol. 53, License cxxxi., 19. Eliz.
336
cottage and gardens, 4 pomaria, and 124 acres of land, in Wedmore,
Mark More and other Mores.* On the same day he was licensed
to alienate to John Connell and others, 37 acres of land, in
Stoughton, Wedmore and Marke, with turbary in the various
moors belonging.f In December, 1578, he sold to John Lacheham,
72 acres of land, with belongings and right of turbary in the
various moors.;
Having so done he died, full of wealth, and by inquisition taken
at Norwich, 11th July, 1581, he was found possessed, besides
other numerous properties in other counties, of the manor of
Wedmore, valued at per annum £10, and held in capite at the
40tli part of a Knight's Fee. The jury further declared that his
heir was Henry Nevill, jun., aged 16 years, 11 months and 10
days, son and heir of Elizabeth, widow of Sir Henry Nevill, Kt.,
daughter and heir of Sir John Gresham, Kt., deceased, brother of
Sir Thomas. §
There Avere some other small holdings. In August, 1548,
Edward VI. granted lands in Pidmede More, north of the
Campis de Wedmore, called Kedlynche and Medelond, formerly
held by the Dean, but in the King's hands by virtue of an Act of
Parliament of the 1st of his reign, to Richard Randall of London,
gentleman. II
In July, 1578, William Stone, with Peter Pawlin and John
Llin, received with other lands the free chapel of Blackford for
21 years, Avith all rights of housebote, hedgebote, firebote, plough-
bote and cartebote, that is a necessary allowance from the lord's
lands of timber for repairs.^ Later, in 21 Eliz. (1576), Thomas
Stone purchased of Sir Thomas Gresham, but without the usual
* Patent, 20 Eliz., part v., Roll 1168, mem. 28.
t Patent, 20 Eliz., part v., Roll 1168, mems. 18, la
t Patent, 21 Eliz., Roll 1175, mem. 28.
§ Inquisitions, Post Mortem, 23 Eliz. No. 11.
II Patent, 2 Edward VI., part v, Roll 812. Membrane 56.
IT Patent, 20 Eliz., part 'J, Roll 1172. Membrane 41.
337
license from the Crown, the pasture called Barrowsham with the
fishing, and 20 acres and other pieces in the north Campis de
Wedmore, with the windmill and lands in which it stood, being
part of the Chantry lands. This imlicensed transfer being
discovered, on the 20th November, 1586, Stone was fined 10s.
and pardoned.* There were also some early small holdings. In
1413 (1 Hen. V.), Sir Walter Rodenay, Kt., held i messuages, 4
carucates of land and 40 acres of meadow in Congresbury and
Wedmore. t In 1388, Sir Thomas Broke, Kt. and Johanna, his
wife, were plaintiffs to recover from Ralph Perceval and Henry
Bokrel, some lands in Wedmore and other places in Somerset. J
From an inquisition in 1437, Johanna, " who had been " the wife
of Sir Thomas Broke, Kt., died possessed of 17 messuages, 5
cariicates of land, 60 acres of meadow, and 80 acres of pasture in
Clywere and Wedmore. § This seems to have passed to Thomas
Cheddar, Esq.,|l who died in 1443, his inquisition being taken at
Yevelchester, and then, following the course of many another
property, it is found, by an inquisition taken at Axbridge, as
owned by John Viscount Lysle, in right of his wife Johanna, f
Besides the principal manor of Wedmore, there were in the
parish other smaller manors, as Blackford, Bagley, Panhorough,
Clewer, and also the manor of Mudsley or Mudgeley as it is now
called.
After the execution of the Duke of Somerset, Sir WiUiam
Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, "grew great," and made many
purchases of land. By patent, 9th April, 1553, for a sum paid,
he was granted, with other properties ,all that the manor of
Muddesley, parcel of the possessions of the Duke of Somerset,
* Patent 29, Eliz., part 13, Roll 1298, Membrane 41.
t Inquisition Post Mortem, 1 Hen. V. No. -51,
J Pedes Finium. Divers Counties, bundle 3. No. 177.
§ Inquisition Post Mortem, Chancery, 15 Hen. VI. No. 62.
II Inquisition Post Mortem, Chancery, 21 Hen. III. No. 5S.
IT Inquisition Post Mortem, Chancery, 32 Hen. VI, No, 38.
338
I
with free warren, free chase, &c., paying a quit rent for Mudsley
of 9s. 6d. per annum." The Earl on the 20th May, little more
than a month afterwards, sold it privately, with the advowson of
Cheddar, to Thomas Lodge, of London, citizen and grocer.t By
patent, 6th January, 1555, Thomas Lodge received a license to
alienate it to Humfrey Coles, of Barton, J and this being done,
Coles, with William Clyfton,brought their action asplaintiffs against
Thomas Lodge, citizen and alderman of London, as defendant,
to prove their title, the decision as usual being in their favour.§
Four proclamations of these purchases were required by law,
ViSually made in the market or most pubUc place. But here it is
remarkable that sixteen such proclamations were made, viz , on
the 5th and 7th Feb., the 10th, 12th, 15th and 18th May, and so
continuing the sixteenth was made on the 28th November.
Humfrey Coles died in 1571, but by Inquisition taken at
Taunton, 1st April, Mudsley was not a part of his property. ||
The sale or transfer to Wm. Clyfton is not found, but on his
death in 1564, Mudsley is scheduled to him. Hr; begins his will
with the then usual little morality : " Forasmuche as all men ar
mortall accordinge to gode providens and the hower of death is
uncertaine yt is meet that all men sholde provide in tyme of
healthe, yt in the tyme of sicknes theye shoulde not be trobled
with worldlie affaires." He then declares himself sole seized in
fee simple of and in the manors of Muddesley, Barrington and
Cheddon Fitzpaine and other properties, and leaves £800 to the
Merchant Taylors to be lent to sixteen needy young men free of
interest for five years. By Inquisition, taken on his death, he
was so found seized of the manor of Mudsley, with the free water
course and gania cignorum, swan stews, in and on the water of
Mere called Glastonbury, and John Clyfton was declared his
• Patent, 7 Edw. VI., part viii., Roll 858. Membrane 23,
t Close Rolls, 7 Edw. VI., part ii.. Roll 487. Membrane 7.
X Patent 2 and 3, Phil, and Mary, Roll 900. Membrane 11.
§ Pedes Finium, 2 and 3, Phil, and Mary. Hillary. Somerset.
Inquisition Post Mortem Chancery, 13 Eliz., part ii., mem. 42.
8S9
heir.* John died in 1593, and by Inquisition, taken at Ilmyster
6th October, he was declared oAvner of Mudsley manor, held in
capite at the 20th part of a Knights Fee, the value per annum
£10.t He was succeeded by his son, Sir Jervoisor Gervais, who,
with the consent of Katherine his wife, sold the manor, 19 th
Feb., 1597, to Edward Cottington.J On the 9th Feb. a portion,
consisting of 150 acres of land, with common of pasture in
Wedmore, Mark More and Godney More, was sold by Sir Jervois
to John Langworth, Dr. in Theology, the value £6, the fine 40s.§
In 1 600, 2nd Sept. Cottington sold the manor to Richard Bridges,
of Scampton, Lincolnshire, the fine, the value and the belongings
being the same as in his own purchase. || For some reason
Bridges got this sale confirmed by patent, 3rd Dec, 1609, a
document which is one long constant reiteration and repetition,
and especially securing to him all the manor of Mudsley, to be
held in the same full manner as the Earl of Pembroke, the Duke
of Somerset, or as the Dean of Wells held it.lT
Besides these manors and lands, there were the Chantry endow-
ments which came also to the Crown, and which suggest the con-
stant absorption of the small holder by the ever watchful big dry
sponge. In 1587, 28th Sept., Charles Bagehott and Barth
Yardley, of London, gentlemen, received the lands of the Chantry
called the West Chantry, some seventeen small parcels, of two,
three and four acres each, and the two acres (arable) in the close
called King's Close in Wedmore, and all that little house of ours
called Le Weste Chantrye House with belongings, adjoining the
church cemetery there to the North. A small quit rent of a few
pence was reserved on each lot. ft
* Inquisition Post Mortem, 6 Eliz. , No. 158.
t Inquisition Post Mortem, 35 Eliz., part ii.. No. 133.
J Alienation Licenses, 39 Eliz., fol. 196.
§ Alienation Licenses, 39 Eliz., fol. 195.
II Alienation Licenses, 42 Eliz., fol 211.
T Patent, 7 Jas. I., part xxxiii , Roll 1821, mem. 31.
ft Patent, 29 Eliz., part iii., Roll 1288, mems. 23, 24.
340
On the SOth March, 1592, Wm. Tipper and Robert Da-we, of
London, received all that four acres arable in Campis de Stoughton,
formerly belonging to the West Chantry, and all the tenths from
the West Chantry lands, which included le old wood alias le old
parke adjoining le Sande, and the parcel of land called Court
Hayes, adjoining Mudglowe.* There were also the Chantry lands
gathered for the Guild or Fraternity. These — returned as worth
£8 17s. 6d. per annum, from which a rent of 28s. lid. was pay-
able to the Dean and Chapter of Wells ; for the Chantry house
3d. ; and for a piece of land called Suckeland 6d., leaving nett
£7 7s. lOd.— wera sold to Wm. Smythe, 22nd June, 1563, the
purchase-money at 30 years' purchase being X221 15s., half of
which was to be paid down, and the other half in fourteen days.t
Smyth apparently did not complete his purchase, as on 24th Aug.
in the same year this property, with other land in Dewstone or
Dowstone in Cornwall formerly belonging to the Priory or
Hospital of St. John in Bridgwater, was granted to Wm. Lovett
and Thomas Bright ; and in 1564, Wm. Revett received the rent
of two shillings for Jesus Masse, arising from land called
Chaterlye.i
The tithes and advowscn did not pass with the manors. In
5 Edward VI., 8th May, Thomas Clarke, John Mawdley, and
Walter Cretyng, with whom was Alex. Popham, Avere appointed
Commissioners to enquire into the profits of the Deanery, erected
in 1 Edward VI., and they found that it was charged, after the
death of Polidorus Vii'gilius, Archdeacon, " wyche is yett lyving
and enjoyethe all the p'fitts," with the payment yearly to the
four Prebends, called les Wedmores, of ,£4 each, to the Vicars of
the stalls each 20s , to the Vicar of the Prebend of Huish 40s.,
to the Vicar-Choral of the Dean's stall 54s. 5d., together
• Patent, 34 Eliz., part iv., Roll, 1,382, mems. 36, 45, 46.
t Augmentation Office, Particulars for Grants, 5 Eliz.
X Augmentation Office, Particulars for Grants, 6 Eliz.
341
£24 13s. 4(1.* Another Commission, taken at Wells, Oct. 20th,
16 Eliz., found that Wedmore belonged to the Dean, by virtue of
the Queen's letters patent, 8th May, 5th of her reign, of
which Wm. Turner, defunct, was formerly Dean.t The rectory
(Richard Wulman, Dean, Rector) was worth £70, the vicarage
with Mark £20 8s. 5d., and the Chantry £6, from which lOths
were to be deducted. ■}: On the settlement of the Cathedral
establishment and the prebends and advowson of Wedmore,
25th Nov., 1591, a long roll of fifty-four skins, the Vicars-Choral
of Wells were granted the hamlets of Theale and Chamblens, the
rents from which the " said Vicars had received for the past
twenty years. "§
On this question of tithes there are two episodes recorded
which will convey in a few words an idea of the squabbles and
quarrels occurring all over England before the commutation. On
the 10th June, 30 Charles II., the Vicar brought his action, and
set out that he was entitled to the profits of his glebe, with
tithes of calves, honey, wax, geese, white pigs, orchards, and other
small tithes and offerings. That in the parish there had been a
custom, " time out of mind," that every parishioner who had
calves fall to the number of seven, eight, nine or ten in any
one year, should pay the Vicar one calf for his tithe. If the
number were under seven, then nothing was paid that year,
but by the benefit of the custom, the Vicar could " drive" or
carry forward these odd ones, until, by adding them to future
births, the parishioner had seven, eight, nine or ten born, when
the Vicar took one ; and so in the same way he claimed to
carry on any odd ones above ten and under seventeen. But John
Tutton, Nathaniel Cooke and Richard Browne, who during the
years 1673, '74, '75, '76, '77, had several calves born, "by
* Valor Ecclesiasticus, p. 124.
t Pat 5 Eliz., Pt. 6, KoU 992, Mem. 21.
X Valor Ecclesiasticus, pp. 130, 131.
§ Patent, 34 Eliz , part iii., Roll 1,381, Mems. 3, 21.
342
combination among themselves," refused to pay or to account,
so that the Vicar knew not " what to demand." The defendants
answered, acknowledging the tithe as due on seven, eight, nine
or ten calves; but, denying the other claim of the Vicar to "drive"
or carry forward the odd ones, they asserted on the contrary
that for all under the number seven they paid a halfpenny for each
calf weaned, the tenth jjenny of the price received for every calf
sold, and if a calf were killed then the Vicar had the left shoulder,
or fourpence, at his choice, and this they had always done. Issue
being joined, witnesses were called, and old books examined,
when the Court being satisfied that the Vicar was right decreed
accordingly, and " ratyfyed the ancient custom held tyme out of
mynde."*
In 1704, several landowners again opposed the Vicar on this
claim, but introduced some speculative customs not mentioned
in the former trial. They set out that " time out of mind" tithes
of lambs, calves, colts and other yoimg cattle were payable yearly
in kind or customary payments, and that where the number did
not reach seven, the lowest number tithable in kind, the Vicar
received a customary payment at Easter, " upon reasonable
request from himself, his farmer, or deputy," and could not keep
them in " drift or expect." That for every number of seven,
eight or nine calves the Vicar had one at seven weeks old, but
for every exact ten and not more the parishioner or owner
received one calf at seven weeks old, and the Vicar at the
time of giving such calf at the same time gave l|d. ; when
the number was eight he gave a penny ; and when it was nine he
received ^d., and so in proportion if above ten and under
seventeen, and every parishioner paid a penny for a colt. The
parishioners again failed to prove their case or the customs
pleaded, and their bill was dismissed with costs, t
t Book of Decrees, Exchequer, 15th May, 3 Anne, fol. 423b.
* Decree Books, Chanpery, Trinity, 30 Charles II. , fol. 69b.
S4d
In 1599, 41 Eliz., 26th April, there was another trial regard-
ing the tithe from a piece of waste ground called Durn, alias
Thurmore, claimed by the plaintiffs as farmers of the vicarage of
Mark or Lyng, but claimed by the defendants as farmers to the
Dean of Wells, owner of the parsonage of Wedmore with the
chapel of Mark. The doubt was whether there was a parsonage
of Mark, and whether the said waste was in Mark, both being
denied by the defendants, who asserted that there was no rectory
of Mark but that it was only a chapel belonging to Wedmore,
that the waste was in Wedmore and that the tithes belonged to
Wedmore. The Court refused to decide the question, and
ordered that it should be tried by a jury at Common Law at the
next Somerset Assizes.*
There is also record of a trial, about 1555, as between John
Fisher and John Chalcrost, for the possession of Barrowsham.t
By an Act of 1774, and two others in 1781, several of the moors
were divided, allotted and enclosed, and so the common rights on
them must have ceased.
Want of space forbids a more extended notice of this large
parish, but so far it can be seen in what direction search has been
made, for the smallest heli) towards an answer to the title
query.
Returning then to this more immediate purpose the evidences
can now be finally considered, especially in connection with
the foundations existing. The occurrence of the thousandth
anniversary meeting was used as an opportunity for uncover-
ing these, as searching for some vestiges of Alfred's supposed
house. The result was the exposure of a long building of one
room, 95ft. by 39ft, and which apparently stood by itself; "it
may have been a bam, it may have been a hall." A little
removed from this are other foundations, one underground
• Queen's Remembraacer, Orders and Decrees, Easter, 41 Eliz., No. 25.
i Chancery Proceedings, Bill and Answer, Miscellaneous, Series 3, part II.
344
room being 20ft. by 16ft., which seems to have been arched
and to have been the middle of a quadrangle of which three
walls are seen, one on the north being 165ft. long, another on the
west being 120ft. long. These foundations give no sign
of a Saxon origin ; they are in a field called Court Garden,
that is the garden of the Court House ; the next field being
King's Close, a name in no way implying a residence but
easily accounted for, as the story of Alfred and Guthrum
would be well known in the 13th or 14th centuries from
the documents we now possess and from which we
also get it. Much more clearly does the name Mudsley or
Modesley mark the Mote-ley or meeting field, the open ground
on which the Saxon gathering took place. The finds were
same silver pennies, some coarse unglazed pottery, a spur, an
arrow head, a horse shoe, a curb chain and a pair of compasses.
The most important perhaps were a chimney top of the per-
pendicular style of ai'chitecture, and a piece of slate tile
having a few bars of sacred music scratched upon it.* Whilst
the chimney top points to the existence of say a 14th century
house, the music in particular, and the evidence here gathered
generally, marks this as the capital messuage of the manor of
Wedmore, disparked in 1535, and which then, sharing the fate
of similar structures, was sold away in 1577 with but 70 acres of
good land only, but which originally was simply the country
house or grange of the early Deans of Wells.
Notts on a Roman Eoo.d at Radstock. By J. MoMurtrie, F.G.S.
(Read 2nd February, 1881.;
At. one of the excursions of this Society in the autumn of last
year, I had the pleasure of conducting the members to that
portion of the great Roman road, leading from Bath to Ilchester,
* Somerset Arcbseological Proceedings, vol. xxxr.
SECTION OF
ROMAN ROAD AT RADSTOCK.
(scale, ~j
REFERENCES
f 6. Metallino of later da-
5. SuMMuM Dorsum, or Sun
I 4. Nucleus.
"I 3. RUDUS.
2. Stammen, or Statumen.
I 1. Pavimentum.
$45
which passes through the parish of Radstock. In bringing it under
their notice, I felt that it could in no degree be invested with the
interest of a new discovery, for its existence had been well known
from the earliest times, but it turned out to be entirely new to
those who took part in that day's excursion, and a section which
had been excavated for their inspection exhibited so perfect an
example of the structure of Fosse roads generally that it was
considered desirable to embody a drawing of it, with descriptive
notes in the proceedings of this Society. In accordance with this
wish the following notes have been prepared the writer making
no pretence to special kaowledge on the subject, but merely seek-
ing to describe a road Avhich on the occasion referred to was
probably cut through for the first time for scientific purposes.
COURSE OF THE FOSSE ROAD SOUTH OF BATH.
The general course of the road to the south of Bath is clearly
shewn on the Ordnance and Saunders's maps, and is probably
well known to most of you. Collinson speaks of "the great
Fosse road, running through the city from north to south,"
entering it by the " Porta Decumana or north gate," and leaving it
by the " Porta Flumentana or south gate," leading to the river. By
what means the river was passed does not appear, but the road
extended onwards by HoUoway and Devonshire Place to Odd
Down, which it crossed very much in the line of the present
turnpike. It here intersected the ancient course of the Wansdyke,
which extended westward towards Englishcombe. On reaching
the edge of the hill overlooking the vUlage of Dunkerton, where
the old turnpike gate formerly stood, the present highway
diverges to the right, but the Fosse road keeps a perfectly straight
course to the Swan Inn, at Dunkerton, where it again rejoins the
main road. It was this locality no doubt which Collinson had in
view when he wrote that " the Eoman Fosse is here seen in its
original perfect form ; being raised very high, mth a deep fosse
or ditch on either side, imparting the name to this venerable
346
relick of antiquity," and it may be noted that this is probably the
nearest point to Bath where the road can be examined with
advantage.
It would be interesting to ascertain whether any branch road
led from here to Wellow, where it will be remembered the
remains of important Eoman Villas were discovered many years
ago, but of this probably nothing is known.
After passing the brook at Dunkerton, there is another slight
divergence where the turnpike has been turned aside to find an
easier gradient, but with this exception, the present highway has
been constructed on the site of the old Roman road, all the way
from Dunkerton by way of Camerton and Woodbarrow, until it
enters the parish of Radstock, at Round Hill. Near this point,
about 220 yards to the south of the road, there is a very fine
barrow, believed to have been opened by Mr. Skir.ner, and close
by he is said to have discovered an extensive group of villas, on
which he founded the important theory, that these were the
veritable remains of the Roman city of Camulodunum, previously
associated with Colchester. CoUinson speaking of this spot, says
" large foundations of buildings have been seen," and that " near
the Fosse were heretofore found some large bones and part of a
tessellated pavement." The Ordnance map also shows Roman
remains of considerable extent on both sides of the road at this
point, but the plough has been busy since those days, and not a
vestige of all this is now to be seen, save only the magnificent
.barrow already spoken of, which it is to be hoped will be handed
down to future generations.
After passing this spot, and on reaching the brow of the hill near
Smallcombe, the turnpike road and the Fosse again part company,
the former \a inding circuitously through the village of Radstock,
while the Fosse keeps a perfectly straight course from Smallcombe
to the Great Elm at Westfield, about a mile to the westward,
where it again rejoins the turnpike road leading to Shepton and
Wells. In descending through the hamlet of Smallcombe the
ut
ancient structure of the road has been lost, but after passine;
the Smallcombe brook it ascends the opposite side of the valley
by a gradient so steep as to be impassable to modern traffic, and
being entirely distinct from the existing highways it has come
down to us with little alteration from the days of the Roman
occupation. This is especially true of the elevated ridge of table
land which had to be crossed between the Smallcombe and
Midsomer Norton brooks where, according to CoUinson, " this
" road for about a quarter of a mile is visible almost in its original
" state, being raised high above the side-dikes, about six feet
" broad, having a convex surface, and may possibly remain a
" monument of antiquity for many ages to come." It was this
part of the Fosse which was visited by the Club on the excursion
referred to, of which more will be said presently.
It is to be remarked that here, and indeed throughout a con-
siderable part of its course, the Fosse forms the boundary between
many of the adjacent parishes and manors, which may be regarded
as an evidence of its great antiquity.
In continuing southward from Eadstock the Eoman road passes
through the village of Stratton-on-the-Fosse, to which it gives its
name, and thence by way of Oakhill and Shepton IMallet towards
Ilchester, but for the most part the more ancient road has been
incorporated with the modern highwaj'- and its structure lost.
I would here notice what appears to be an important error in
a book lately published by Thomas Wright, Esq., on "The Celt,
the Eoman, and the Saxon," in which, at page 168, chapter 5, as
well as in a map of ' ' Britain under the Romans" by which the
work is illustrated, the course of the road we are considering is
said to have been from Aquae Solis or Bath to Ad Aquae or Wells
where it separated into two branches, one of which proceeded by
Ad Uxellum or Bridgwater to Isca or Exeter, while the other led
by Ischalis or Ilchester to Maredunum on the southern coast.
The author may possibly be correct in stating that the road from
Bath southwards afterwards branched off in the two directions
D
348
described, but the place where they divided cannot have been
Wells, for the Koman road from Bath to Ilchester passes to the
east of Shepton Mallet and never enters "Wells at all. I would
offer it as a suggestion only, whether the Exeter road may not
have left the Ilchester road about Oakhill, its course being over
the Old Sarum road as far as Maesbury and thence to Wells.
DESCRIPTION OF THE FOSSE ROAD AS SEEN AT RADSTOCK,
AND GENERAL STRUCTURE OF ROIVIAN ROADS.
Tlip general appearance of the Fosse Eoad at Eadstock is very
striking, and to those who did not accompany the excursion of
last year it will well repay a visit, but after several attempts
I have failed in obtaining a photograph giving a good general
view to accompany these notes. The land on each side being
perfectly level for some distance, the road rises boldly above it in
a prominent ridge flanked by a deep ditch on either side, the
whole being bounded by hedgeroAvs of by no means recent date,
although modern probably compared with the ancient structure
which they enclose.
The most interesting feature presented is the fonnation of the
road itself as exposed in the section excavated on the day of the
Society's visit, showing an extraordinary amount of care and
skill. It may be useful in the first instance however to notice
the general structure of Roman roads, and I have been indebted
to Mr. Allan GreenweU, of Marlborough, for the following
information chiefly derived from Vitruvius : —
" The Eomans began the construction of roads by making two parallel
furrows the intended width of the road, and then removed all the
loose earth between them till they came to the hard, solid ground, and
they filled in this excavation with fine earth, hard beaten in. This
first layer was called the pavimentum. Upon it was laid the first bed
of the road, consisting of small square stones, nicely ranged on the
ground, which was sometimes left dry, but often a large quantity of
fresh mortar was poured into it. This layer was called statumen. The
34§
next was called 7'udiis or rudtrutio, and consisted of a mass of small
stones broken to pieces, and mixed with lime in the proportion of one
part of broken stones to two of lime. The third layer or bed, which
was termed michxis, was formed of a mixture of lime, chalk, and
pounded or broken tiles or earth, beaten together ; or of gravel, or
sand and lime mixed with clay. Upon this was laid the surface or
pavement of the road, which was called technically summum dorsum ov
summa crusta. It was comjDosed sometimes of stones, set like the
paving-stones in our streets, and sometimes of flag-stoues, cut square or
polygonally, and probably more often of a firm bed of gravel or lime.
The roads were thus raised higher than the surrounding grounds, and
on this account the mass was termed agger. These Roman roads are
extraordinarily straight, rarely turning out of their way to avoid hills
or other obstacles — excavations, bridges, and even tunnels of consider-
able length, being made in preference. There were regular stations
for the entertainment of man and beast at the end of each mille
passuum (4,834 English feet), or Roman mile, at which columns or
milestones were erected, called milliaria. These are now very rare. I
am told there is one in the museum at Leicester. The Eoman roads as
a rule consist of one carriage-way, but sometimes are made of two
carriage-ways, divided by a footpath. A Roman road runs over the
top of one of the Westmoreland mountains, 2,000 feet above the level
of the sea. It is, on this account, named High Street."
Similar information, with slight variations, appears in the
works of other vvTiters, and in cutting through the Fosse road at
Eadstock I was curious to ascertain how far it would be found
to agree. I was much gratified to find that this local section
exactly confirmed the description given by Vitrnvius, layer
corresponding with layer throughout the entire structure.
In order to show its formation with greater exactness, I have
had two sections prepared, to which attention is directed.
Figure 1 gives a general view of the road, and of its elevation
above the adjacent land ; while Figure 2 shows the structure of
the road on an enlarged scale. It Avill be observed from the
former of these sections that after cutting through the Roman
work the original soil was met with at a level corresponding as
350
nearly as possible with the surface of the adjacent fields, the whole
formation of the road having been raised above that level. The
ditches on each side are little, if at all, below the level of the
soil, the hedge-rows having been thrown up, so that they also rise
above the adjoining land. These hedge-rows are necessarily shown
in the section, but they may be dismissed entirely from our minds
in considering this beautiful example of Eoman work. The road
was doubtless constructed originally through a country only
partially cleared, and many centuries may probably have elapsed
before the lands were enclosed, and fences became necessary for the
purposes of cultivation. Section 2, therefore, in which the hedge-
rows have been omitted, may be taken to show the road as it left
the hands of the Eoman engineers.
Taking the section in ascending order, I would observe that
although we have in the bed of soil reached the true representa-
tive of the Pavimentum described by Vitruvius, there is nothing
in its appearance to show that it was fine earth pounded and
beaten in, in the manner described.
Upon its surface we find a layer of rubble stones exactly cor-
responding with the Statumen of Vitruvius, and in this instance
no lime appears to have been used. This course, which is 5 inches
thick in the centre, thins off on each side, and each bed in ascend-
ing order becomes more convex in form.
Next in order is a bed of concrete of a very distinctive character
about 1 foot 3 inches in thickness, agreeing with the layer which
Vitruvius terms Eudus. It is for the most part exactly what he
describes it, " a mass of broken stones mixed with lime," the
greater part of the material being of a yellow colour, and evidently
derived from the Lias or Oolite formations of the locality. Near
the middle of the bed, however, there is a thin layer of red marl
and pebbles, entirely different from the other material, although
amalgamated with it. Nothing exactly like it occurs near the
spot, and I imagine it must have been derived from the Dolomitic
Conglomerate in the neighbourhood of Stratton-on-rthe-Fosse, which
351
it most resembles. Specimens of these road materials are sub-
mitted for your inspection.
Resting on the bed I have described is another layer of finer
material consisting apparently of Inferior Oolite or Lias pounded
very fine, mixed with lime and well rammed, which we can have
little difficulty in identifying with the Nucleus bed of Vitruvius.
It is m inches deep in the centre but thinner at the sides, its
upper surface being rounded off very symmetrically.
On this was laid a course of paving stones which evidently
formed the ancient surface of the Eoman road. It is from four to
five inches in thickness, and consists of the thinner beds of the
Lias, common in the neighbourhood. According to Vitruvius
this course termed Summum dorsum, was composed sometimes
of stones set like the paving stones in our streets, and some-
times of flag stones cut square, but in the Fosse road, at
Radstock, it consists of stones of all sizes and shapes put
together as random work, the lime having probably been poured
in afterwards. In this way the whole surface of the road was
so firmly cemented together, that in removing it during the
recent excavations, the stones more frequently split through
the solid than separated at a joint.
On the day of the Society's \dsit, only 18in. or so in length of
this pavement had been laid bare, and oeyond the smoothness of
its upper surface, there was no apparent evidence of the purposes
to which the roads had been applied. Feeling assured, however,
that a close examination of a larger surface area could not fail to
throw lighb on this part of the subject, I afterwards had the
ancient surface laid bare for three or four yards in length, and I
was more than gratified to find two clearly defined ruts, worn in
the stone by the Avheels of chariots or other carriages, which it is
fair to assume must have passed over it during the Roman
occupation. These wheel tracks are two feet nine inches apart, or
about three feet from centre to centre, so that although the
352
surface of the road was only about six feet in -rndth, it was
sufficient for the passage of the narrow vehicles then apparently
in use. Not having met with any account of the general width
of Eoman chariots, I am unable to say how far the widths here
given agree with what has been proved elsewhere, but probably
some other member may be able to throw additional light on the
subject. The rut on the northern side of the road is deeper and
more sharply defined than the other, being about two inches wide
and two or three inches deep, while that on the opposite side is
wider, shallower and less distinct. I have preserved a specimen
of the former for the inspection of the members, and I have also
been fortunate in obtaining a photograph in which these wheel
tracks are cleiarly visible, although not so strikingly so as in the
original. Their appearance thus laid bare, after the lapse of
1500 years, was most impressive, calling up forcibly to the
imagination the Eoman legions which must have passed along this
road in ages long since passed away.
The ancient surface of the road has in later times been covered
by a coating of broken stones and earth as shewn in the section.
This may probably have been done to widen the surface of the
road and admit of the more convenient passage of stock from one
field to another, which is the only purpose it at present serv^es ;
but of the time and circumstances under which this surface layer
was added nothing is known.
A question having been asked on the daj' of the excursion as to
the probable object of raising the road so high above the adjacent
land, I find Dr. Wright (in the book already referred to) remarks
that " when they came upon higher ground, the Eomans were not
" in the habit of entrenching, but they often raised the embank,
"ment higher even than in the plain, probably as a measure of
"precaution."
In his account of Bath Easton, CoUinson also states that " the
" general method of the Eomans was to raise all their roads in
"Britain as. high as. possible above the common, level, in order
35S
" that tliey might be enabled to overlook the country through
" which they passed, and guard against the ambuscades of the
" Britons lurking in the woods," and this may probably account
for a feature which, from an engineering point of view, might
appear to bo unnecessary.
I would only add, in conclusion, that although careful watch
was kept in the course of these excavations no coin, implement, or
pottery was found, nor anything to fix definitely the age of this
interesting example of Roman work.
Summary of Proceedings for the Year 1880-81.
Mr. President and Gentlemen,
In recalling the doings of the Club for the past year for the
purpose of preparing the usual summary, although our reputation
as a scientific body may not have been very greatly advanced by
any discovery either in the Geology, Natural History or
Antiquities of our immediate neighbourhood, yet nevertheless we
may fairly assert that some good work has been done, and that
our "Proceedings " are not entirely barren of interest.
In the first place, our numerical and financial condition is very
satisfactory, the excursions during the year have been well
attended, the papers at our afternoon meetings have maintained
their usual character, and though perhaps the number of members,
who came to hear and take part in the discussion that followed,
may not have been quite so great as on former occasions, yet the
attendance has been fairly good.
The season, as usual, commenced with the anniversarj^ meeting
at the Literary and Scientific Institution, lor the transaction of
business, the election of officers, and the arranging the days and
places for the excursions ; this was followed by the annual dinner
354
of the Club, held at the Pump-Eoom Hotel, when 26 members
and friends sat down under the presidency of the Rev. H. N.
EUacombe. After the customary loyal toasts, the Chairman
proposed " Success to the Bath Field Club," and in doing so made
a few happy remarks on the position and the future of the Club.
It ought, he said, to be the recognised centre of information
respecting natural history and antiquities in and around Bath, so
that if any gentleman came to the city interested in a special
subject the Secretaries should be able to refer him to a member
who could tell him all he wanted to know. They had a list of the
fungi of the neighbourhood, which Mr. Broome had made, and
their President had corrected and enlarged Babington's flora of
Bath, which however was not yet complete, for in one walk he
had been fortunate enough to find near Mangotsfield station three
plants not included in the flora of Bath or Bristol. They ought
also to have lists of the butterflies, moths and beetles of the
district, of the birds and the fossils, and he believed there were
ffentlemen in the Club capable of doing the Avork. So with
regard to antiquities, they had visited every church and interesting
house in the neighbourhood of the city, but they had not gone, as
their Secretary wished them, note book in hand, and so the
"Proceedings" did not present an adequate record of what they
had done. In conclusion, he cautioned the members against the
common notion that because they belonged to a society they did
the work for which the society was organised.
The Secretary (the Eev. H. H. Winwood), whose name was
coupled with the toast, expressed his thanks, and congratulated
the Club on having had a fairly successful year, and particularly
remarked the good attendance at the afternoon meetings for the
reading of papers. He hoped the monthly walks would be kept
up, and invited some member to come forward and take charge
of them. He also acknowledged the services of the Treasurer
(Col. St. Aubyn) and the Assistant-Secretary (Mr. Harold Lewis),
and conveyed an intimation of the regret which the chairman of
355
the Club, Mr. H. D. Skrine, felt at his enforced absence through
the departure of a member of his family for Ceylon.
After the health of the President (the Rev. L. Blomefield) had
been given and received, the Chairman gave " The Visitors," and
expressed the pleasure which the Club derived from their presence.
The Rev. R. Hayes Robinson replied and expressed a hope that
in the work which the Chairman had sketched out the houses of
the city and neighbourhood would not be forgotten, as they would
be of interest to the general public.
Mr. Harold Lewis proposed the health of the Chairman and
thanked him for his address ; and at the same time bespoke his
aid in carrying out the work which he had sketched for the Club.
The Chairman acknowledged the compliment, and the pro-
ceedings ended soon afterwards.
.(LFTERNGON MEETINGS.
The afternoon of March 10th was devoted to short communica-
tions from Messrs Ekin, EUacombe and Davis. Mr. Skrine being
in the chair. The first was from Mr. C. Ekin on the opening and
fall of the leaf The reader said that he had adopted a suggestion
made by Mr. Wallace in Nature, and kept a register of the dates
of the opening and fall of the leaves of different trees in the
neighbourhood of Bath, and he believed that such observations
would afford important evidence as to climate. The Rev. H. N.
Ellacombe asked if an early rise produced an early fall of the
leaf, or a late rise a late fall. The Vice-President (the Rev.
Preb. Scarth), Mr. Broome, the Chairman, Mr. Moore, Dr. Bird,
the Rev. J. E. Sandys and the Rev. H. H. Winwood, also took
part in the conversation, to wliich Mr. Ekin replied.
The Rev. H. N. Ellacombe then made a communication on
leaves, and described what they taught the botanist respecting
the trees and plants, and what theii' uses were, aesthetic and
economic, and also presented some natural puzzles afforded by
some of them.
356
Leaves, he said, are useful to the botanist as marking the broad
difference between the two great divisions of flowering plants, mono-
cotyledons and dicotyledons, the one having netted and the other
parallel veins in the leaves. Besides this the botanist finds constant
pleasant puzzles in the forms of the leaves, as was shown by the
leaves of Begonia, which are always lop-sided ; by the leaves of
Echeveria, which work on a quasi-hinge, and by the leaves of Bomarea
in which the apparent upper side is really the under side, each leaf
having a complete twist in the pedicel. The leaf of the Rubus
australis was also shown together with the leaf of the Rubus arcticus,
the one being the most northern, and the other the most southern
Bramble known. In the northern form the leaves were entire and the
ribs prominently marked ; in the southern form the leaves were com-
pletely attenuated, so that only the raid-rib remains with a very slight
leafy termination, and the ribs are reduced to the form of short thorns.
Leaves are good weather-prophets. In a drought leaves will often
remain unaffected for a long time, but on the approach of rain they
flag ; showing thait they are as sensitive to tlie pressure of the atmos-
phere as the quicksilver in the barometer.
This same sensitiveness is of help to the practical gardener ; as the
leaves give the earliest indication of any sickness in the plant. In
some few cases the sickness may be in the leaves themselves, as in the
case of the curled leaves of the peach and other trees, which arises
from the choking of the breathing pores iu the leaves after cold.
The ofiicinal and commercial uses of leaves were shortly pointed out
in the instances of cabbages, and other domestic vegetables, especially
of tea ; also in the manufacture of scents and medicines.
Lastly attention was drawn to the ornamental uses of foliage to
the gardener. This was shown in the cultivation of ferns and
variegated plants ; which are growu solely for the beauty of their
foliage ; and in the growth of our common fossil trees which, with the
one exception of the Horse-chestnut, have no conspicuous beauty in
their flowers. Attention was then drawn to the growth of trees for
their beauty in autumn, and special reference to the recommendation
to grow trees with this one object. Mr. EUacombe pointed out that
this would frequently be a failuie, as the beauty of autumnal foliage
depended so entirely on the season, and the whole beauty was often at
1
.357
once stopped by one night' s frost. He however recommended two
trees that might be grown with this particular object, the Maiden-hair
tree (Salisburia adiantifolia), from China and Japan, which in the
autumn is of the brightest golden colour, and the Parrotia persica,
from northern Persia and the Caucasus, whose leaves in autumn are a
splendid mixture of gold and scarlet.
EXCAVATIONS AT THE BATHS.
Mr. C. E. Davis said he had promised to do his best to explain what
they bad been doing at the baths, but he had not put his remarks into
the form of a paper, because he feared that the paper would be too
long for the patience of the meeting. He would take up the subject
from what he said last year. He then mentioned that they were
clearing out the Roman drain with a view to cut off all possible
connection between the hot springs and whatever was impure. Last
. year they were at work under the Public Library when they found a
quantity of hot water which did not come into the King's Bath. The
exact spot could be seen on the undiscovered part of the plan of the
Koman baths in Mr. Scarth's " Aqufe Soils," which he believed, as far
aa it went, was tolerably correct, but it wanted identification, as
nothing was shown on it to fix any positions with reference to existing
buildings on the surface. He had traced the Roman drain still
further, until beneath Mr. Davies' house in the Churchyard it ran
towards the north, where it was turned through block stone cut into
semi-circular channels of 13 inches diameter, with a similar stone at
the top at some points. It then turned westward underneath the
Pump Room, where it formed a surface drain in a paving still existing
:iit. below the floor of the King's Bath. They were only working with
the money of the Corporation, and therefore could not go north to
ascertain the width of this gallery, wiiether it was an internal hall, an
atrium, or colonnade. They also found some steps, much worn, which
led up into a bath ] he concluded that the bath was drained by its
means. At the west end of the Pump Room the drain turned at right
angles to the south, enclosing the present King's Bath, soon after it
turned again to the west, but he could not follow it farther. His
object was to throw the hot water drainage into the Roman sewer, and
supply its place where deficient under the central vestibule of the
358 -
King's Bath to the houses in York Street. The Roman drain from the
Institution beneath York Street, as they were aware, was a very fine
work, large enough for them to stand up in. It left York Street at an
obtuse angle and came across Kingston Buildiugs ; then it went west-
ward under the Public Library as far as Mr. Davies' library, then it
turned as he had previously described. Eeturning to the leakage of
which he had spoken, going still westward and then south he found
the partly discovered apse shown on Mr. Scarth's plan, and a few feet
east of the niches in tlie King's Bath a veiy fine Roman arch, and as
the volume of hot water increased as they went farther, the Baths
Committee authorised him to drive a shaft in the direction of the
King's Bath. He did so and found some splendid masonry, which he
at first thought was an octagon enclosing a Roman Bath beneath the
King's Bath, but proceeding farther it proved to be an enclosure of
octagonal form roughly measured at 50ft. ; a chamber built by the
Romans to protect the springs from any contamination, its irregular
form was rendered necessary to enclose all the sources of the Hot'
Water. Cut in this masonry was an overflow channel filled with a
piece of oak, and lower down another outlet also plugged with oak,
and still lower a third. The Romans seemed to have found that this
latter outlet was liable to be flooded when the river rises very high,
and so they had blocked it up and tiled above it a margin to the well.
This plug of oak was lift, below the level of the King's Bath. The
builders of the Grand Pump Room were unaware of the existence of
the masonry he had come upon, for they had put in baulks of timber
to support their wall, and though the wall of separation of the King's
and Queen's Baths was actually upon the line of the Roman enclosure,
the builders knew nothing of it, for there was a layer of earth inter-
vening between the two except at one point. In fact it was impossible
that this work could be found before, for until the water was drained
off as they were now doing, it was impossible to excavate the spot.
He considered that the enclosure was the first work of the Romans,
preliminary to the forming of baths. The walls were encased in lead
half-an-inch thick, and although its upper edges had in part been re-
moved, our needy mediaeval ancestors had failed to discover the wealth
beneath. When he found the octagonal form departed from he con-
cluded that the object was to include some spring which rose near the
spot, and so he found it. The fact was there were springs bubbling up
359
all over the space enclosed in the well. Lucas, writing abont 120
years ago, stated that water rose through the stones all over the King's
Bath. In 1811 a well was sunk to enable the water to collect together
and to rise in the centre, and this was to a great extent successful.
He exhibited a number of things found in the course of the work.
The first was a vase, he supposed of tin, found some 100ft. distant
from the bath in the drain. He had taken it to London to ascertain
a date, but neither the Society of Antiquaries nor the British Museum
had anything of the precise shape, but he afterwards found beneath
the King's Bath another of the same make, as well as a flat dish or
paten, a smaller one, and a small vessel and a cover, which proved
apart from the evidence of form that they were Eoman. He found by
measurement that these vases contained about a pint and a half, or a
sextarius. All those things had been cast and turned. He also found
near Bath Street an earthenware vessel holding the tenth part of an
amphora or three times one of the sextarii. He had also found a few
copper coins, only two of tlieni lioman. What had been found had
been only by accident, for they were working for the Corporation, and
the men were not allowed to spend any time in searching what they
turned up witli their spades. He had found stones worked by the
Romans, pottery, and a column of worked stone covered with iron
pyrites which Mr. Ekin assured him was very remarkable. He also
found a well stone covered witli iron pyrites, and there was a similar
deposit of a very beautiful character on the upper oak plug, which he
exhibited. In the course of the work he found numerous proofs that
the Roman baths were from the first built below the natural surface of
the soil so as to fill them by gravitation, instead of the costly plan of
pumping which the wise councillors of a later age had adopted. The
ruins of the. Roman city filled them up, and the new batlis were built
upon their site in ignorance of their very existence, so that by
excavating it would be possible to discover their whole form. He was
satisfied that whenever this was done it would be found that the
system of baths was much more extensive than had been imagined,
and that the plan in " Aquas Soils " did not represent their full extent,
even to the eastward. The well was largely filled up by sand and
decayed vegetable matter, nuts, sticks, and so on. These were
occasionally brought up by the water, and hence the theoiy that had
been propounded that the waters came through a geological forest and
§60
brought up tliese remains from thence. It was nothing of the sort,
and he hoped now he had got so far that he should be permitted to
clear away the whole of this debris, which though not dangerous was
undesirable. He hoped that one result of the work would be that he
should bring the King's Bath back to its old heat. Dr. Falconer
stated that the amount of water was 135 gallons a minute. He did
not know where the statement was obtained, but taking the contents
of the bath and seeing in how many hours it filled, he found in 1863
that the yield was 111 gallons a minute. By what he had already
done, in saving leakage, he had brought the supply up to 152 gallons,
and he hoped to considerably increase it.
The Vice-President congratulated not only the Club on
having so intelligent a member, but also the city on having a city
architect so able and so admirably qualified to carry out the work
entrusted to him. He had been much interested by what he had
heard. The vessels exhibited were undoubtedly Eoman, of a very
rare form. He was quite familiar with them, as they were to be
seen sculjjtured on altars and were evidently sacrificial. The vase
was a simpulum and the dish a lanx or vessel in which the entrails
were placed for offering. He hoped that Mr. Davis would keep a
very car.eful record of all he found and communicate it not only
to the Society of Antiquaries but also to the Club.
Mr. Ekin called attention to a deposit of iron pyrites at
Bourbon les Bains similar to that spoken of by Mr. Davis and to
the importance of the phenomenon as illustrating the deposit of
metaiiferous veins.
Mr. MoORE expressed his opinion that the idea of getting rid of
the sand was hopeless, and pointed out how what Mr. Davis had
found supported the theory that Bath was a deserted spot after
the departure of the Eomans,
The Session of 1880-81 opened on December 8th at the
Literary and Scientific Institution with a good attendance of
members, to hear Sir Henry Freeling give the result of his
exploration in South Australia.
361
Prefacing his paper with some remarks as to the discovery of South
Australia, a country less known than either New South Wales or
Victoria, he alluded to the researches of Captain Flinders, R.N., who
in 1801-2 discovered the coast of that country and Kangaroo Island,
and the large gulfs of Spencer and St. Vincent, the whole of which he
carefully surveyed, giving hi§ name to the Flinders' Fiange, at the head
of Spencer's Gulf, a rauge which culminates in Mount Brown, 4,000ft,
ahove the sea level ; and who, on putting in on his way home to the
Island of Mauritids, then in French occupation, was basely imprisoned
by the French authorities, who seized his charts, and then pirated and
published them, giving French names to English discoveries ; and to
the exploring expedition of Captain Sturt, who in 1828 discovered the
Murray River, the only large river in Australia, and from thence
penetrated westward across the Mount Lofty Ranges to the fertile
Adelaide plains, now thickly occupied by thriving agriculturists,
■whilst northwards extends a large extent of territory swarming with
the sheep and cattle of enterprising settlers.
The more immediate object of his communication was an expedition
made by himself when Surveyor-General of South Australia, to
ascertain the truth or otherwise of the statement that a large inland
lake existed in the far north, a report that caused great excitement in
Adelaide in 1857. The expedition was fitted out under Sir Henry's
superintendence, and after first crossing the Flinders' Range and
encountering various diliiculties by the way iu its progress northwards
from the absence of water, bad tracks aod the hindrances caused by
the transport of a boat with which to navigate the inland waters, at
last after a journey of some 550 miles came in sight of the long-looked-
for sheet of water. The spirits of the expedition caused by the first
view of this seemingly large lake rose to the boiling point, but soon
fell to zero, for after wading into it some five miles they ascertained
that it was only a few inches deep, and that it was merely a gathering
of surface water caused by an exceptionally wet season, soon to be
entirely absorbed by the tropical heat of an Australian summer.
Sir Henry Freeling's paper was followed by one from the
Secretary, the Eev. H. H. Win WOOD, giving the general results of
the explorations at Pen pits, during the autumn of last year of the
Committee appointed by the Somerset Arch, and Nat. Hist. Soc.
362
for the purpose of ascertaining for what object the pits had been
made. They claimed to have settled so far as their diggings went
this crux of antiquaries. The report of their work is to be found
in the printed but not yet published volume of the " Proceedings
of the Society for 1880." {Vide p. 299.)
The second afternoon meeting, under the presidency of Eev.
Preb. Scarth, was held on Wednesday, January 1 2th, to hear Dr.
Bird read an interesting paper on the names of places in the
neighbourhood of Bath. He took first of all the names of the
three combes near the junction of which Bath stands ; he then
discussed the common prefixes and affixes, such as "bury," "ham"
and the like, and then treated the different names in detail. He
traced most of them to a Gallic source.
Professor Earle agreed with him that there was a considerable
mixture of a Gallic element in our place names, but he should
rather put forward the influence of the later ethnological wave,
the Saxon. Gallic was, so to say, underground. The word " dun,"
of which Dr. Bird had spoken, and which appeared in the names
of London, and Leyden, was undoubted Celtic, but in
England it became Saxon ; that is, it was naturalised into the
language, and our ancestors used it without being aware that they
were employing a foreign term, and as a Saxon word it went into
the greater number of the place names in which it now appears.
"Dun" became the common word for hill 3 we have it still in "down"
and in the adverb " down," which is contracted from off duna.
The Saxon expression for " hill and dale " was " dune and dale."
The Professor also discussed the words "ham" and "ley," and
expressed his opinion that Woolley was simply Wood-ley. He
should be glad of information regarding the real meaning of
" stoke." With regard to the fact quoted by Dr. Bird that " lake "
in Devon and Dorset means running water, he pointed out that
this was the ancient meaning of the word, and that our use of it
is simply an adoption of the Latin lacv^. He added that he put
forward many years ago the suggestion that akeman, in the word
363
Akemanceasfcer, was simply the place of tlie aquae or springs, and
he had since heard nothing to alter his opinion.
Mr. Emanuel Green then read a paper on the manors of
Mudsley and Wedmore, the purpose being to trace out the con-
nection of King Alfred with Wedmore, and with especial reference
to some foundations in the parish, which it has been supposed
were those of that King's palace or residence (vide jj. 323 j.
Professor Earle remarked that the essence of Mr. Green's
paper amounted to this, that Wedmore did not belong to King
Alfred till after the events recorded in the " Saxon Chronicle,"
and may have come to him in recognition of his achievements.
This suggestion had come to his mind in reading King Alfred's
will, because the places therein bequeathed were those connected
with his victories, and it seemed as if they had been given as land
was bestowed upon the Duke of Wellington. With regard to the
treaty, the Professor expressed a strong opinion as to its genuine-
ness, and said that though it was true that Guthrum died before
Alfred, it did not follow that the treaty was not genuine. He
believed there was a second Guthrum, and the treaty itself was
good enough to make them believe that on its evidence.
The Chairman having thanked the readers for their papers the
meeting ended.
The afternoon of Feb. 2nd was given up to Mr. McMurtrie for
his notes on the Harptree Caves, and on the Roman road near
Eadstock. Colonel Cockell took the chair. The first paper was
a description of the caves at East Harptree visited by the Club
during the summer, and was illustrated by very carefully drawn
plans and sections from the hand of Mr. Ward, jun., of Eadstock.
(Fide p. 344.;
Nowhere in this country, he said, could the histoiy of caves be better
studied than in the. Mendip Hills. Those of Wookey, Cheddar and
Banwell had a world-wide reputation. In the montli of June last how-
ever an important discovery was made ab Harptree of a series of
caverns, which are new to the present generation at least. Situated at
£
364
the head of one of those romantic combes running southwards into the
main valley which carries off the drainage from the northern slopes of
the Mendips, is a spot called Lamb's Bottom, where these caves have
been discovered. Nothing on the surface indicates their presence, but
marks of past human industry abound in the trace of old miners'
workings with which the surface is honey-combed. The history of this
hill country, Mr. Mc^NIurtrie said, was well worthy of attention. In
illustration of the geological features of the district an Ordnance
section, running from Compton Martin through the Mountain Lime-
stone of Lamb's Bottom to the level country around Wells, was
exhibited, and it was shown that these caves occupy the same position
on the north side of the hills that the Cheddar Pass and caves do on
the South. The earliest record of these caves dates back to " The
Philosophical Transactions and Collections to the end of the year
1700" (p. 369), where a Mr. Beaumont is said to have visited them in
1660. No subsequent mention has been made of them since then, and
their re-discovery was due, as was their first discovery, to the recent
revival of mining enterprise in those parts. Diagrams, prepared from
an actual survey, with a ground plan and vertical section, were
exhibited ; and by aid of these Mr. McMurtrie gave a graphic descrip-
tion of the difficulties attending his underground researches, differing
little from those described so graphically by Beaumont 200 years ago.
Tn conclusion the probable origin of these caverns was discussed.
Quotations from Sir Charles Lyell's " Principles and Elements of
Geology" were given as a summary of the various theories of their
formation, and the writer ventured to suggest a theory of his own. It
was very common in all anticliuals to find V shaped fissures — was it
not possible that in synclinals, such as those drawn in the section
before them, the same thing may exist in a reversed form, the fissures
assuming the form of a V turned upside down (thus a), the openings
being wider beneath and thinning out upwards — may not caves be
accounted for in this way ?
Mr. NichoUs, the captain of the mines in those parts, and to
whose perseverance the re-discovery of these caves was mainly
due, contributed to the discussion which followed, and exhibited a
section made in the passage leading from the Beeliive to the Great
Cavern. From this it appeared that the stalagmitic floor was one
365
foot thick, succeeded by a bed of clay of the same thickness con-
taining stalactites broken off and washed into their present position
at the same time as the clay. Under this clay was another bed
of stalagmite thinning out towards the Great Cavern, but thicken-
ing and even joining the upper bed as it approaches the Beehive
Cavern. Below this, and to as yet an unknown depth, the fissure
is filled Avith large blocks of reddish colored spar and clay, with
an occasional piece of limestone. This fissure extended the whole
length of the caverns, in Mr. Nicholls's opinion, and also widened
in depth ; hence the caverns, he thought, were at a very recent
period probably more than twice their present size. Researches
so far as at present carried out had failed to open up any Ijones
or other remains.
The second contribution was a description of the Roman Road
near Radstock, also recently A^isited by the Club. A most careful
examination had been carried out under the direction of the
writer of these notes, and tallied exactly with the rules of road-
making laid down by Yitruvius. The wheel marks which had
been discovered on some of the stones were pecnharly interest-
ing. Specimens of these had been carefully taken up and Avere
exhibited. These Mr. McMurtrie kindly presented to the
Institution.
EXCURSION TO LEIGH COURT AND AVOXMOUTII.
The first excursion of the year took place on Tuesday, April
27th, and was Avell attended, some thirty members with their
friends finally mustering on the Somersetshire side of the Clifton
Suspension Bridge after various attempts at finding the shortest
way from CUfton DoAvn Station. The N.E. wind Avas bloAving too
keenly through the open iron work of the bridge to allow of the
Secretary detaining the members thereon to enjoy the someAvhat
giddy A'ieAV, and listen to him describe the geological features of
the rocks, the fine exposure of the Mountain Limestone, the faults
and dislocations, and the disputed origin of the gorge. A shelter
366
from the dust and wind "was sought under the lee of the Somerset-
shh-e buttress, bearing overhead the motto " Suspensa vix via fit."
"Whilst he briefly explained the programme of the day, and
"directed the members' attention to the Bower or Borough-walls
camp which they were going to see, the construction, and destruc-
tion of which owing to the necessities of modern civilisation, the
Vice-President, Mr. Scarth, had made familiar to many of them
during fowner visits. An attempt was then made to trace the
remains of this camp amid the villas and gardens which have been
recently erected here, but the only trace apparently now remaining
seems to be the outer agger of the three which formerly defended
the most easily accessible part of the hill ; this now is under the
process of demolition, its centre core, which is not calcined, serving
as a convenient quarry for the builder's purpose. Turning to the
right, a path was followed winding round the head of Nightingale
Valley to the opposite spur, which also has been fortified and
turned into a place of refuge by the old people, and is now known
as Stokeleigh camp. Crossing the outer defences consisting of
two ditches and three ramparts enclosing a space of about eight
acres, and walking to the extreme end affording a beautiful view
up and down the Avon, our venerable friend and member, Dr.
Bird, made a few remarks on camps in general, and these in
particular. He considered that the two recently visited were
constructed originally before the advent of the Eomans, and were
used by the ancient inhabitants as places of refuge for their cattle
and herds which were driven into them during times of danger.
The natural features of the ground, precipitous on all sides but
one, rendered any artificial defences on those sides unnecessary.
Although he was of the opinion that they existed before the
Romans, yet he would not for a moment dispute the fact that they
had subsequently been modified and inhabited by the Eomans.
As to the name Bower or Borough, it was synonymous with lurgh
or hury, a Gaelic word signifying place of security, and recognised in
Cadbury and even in " rabbit burrow." Circling round the N. edge
367
of the camp and passing out through the defences at the north-
west corner, the members found themselves wandering tlirough the
well-trodden paths of Leigh Wood, vainly endeavouring to find
a short cut to Abbots Leigh. Their steps however had to be
retraced to the main road which was reached after a little
scrambling through brushwood and over walls. A good section
of the lower beds of the Mountain Limestone is exposed on the
roadside just before reaching Abbots Leigh, and a dip in the-
road here evidently marks the junction of the softer Lower Lime-
stone shales, with the Old Red Sandstone ridge, on which the
village is situated. The party here divided, some remaining for
luncheon at the George Inn, in view of the fine elm, called
Charles II.'s elm, whilst the rest walked on to Leigh Court,
Through the courtesy of Sir Philip Miles, especial permission to
view the pictures had been given to the members on this day,
Thursday being generally the only day on which the public is
admitted. It is hardly necessary to add that all were highly
gratified with them. The special feature in this collection being
that the Avorks of the great masters Eubens, Titian, Domenichino,
Velasquez, Claude and Poussin, could be leisurely enjoyed
by themselves, as the eye was not distracted by the collocation of
the works of any inferior artists. The giants in the art were seen
standing out alone. A few favoured individuals had the oppor-
tunity of walking through the gardens bright with Ehododendrons
and admiring the magnificently grown Camellia trees some 50
years old. The botanists of the party were especially pleased
with a sight of the female plant of Garya eliptica, a Japanese
shrub almost unique in England. A short cut through the fields
was taken to the laudanum drinking village of Pill, the ferry
crossed to Lamplighters' Hall, and the train taken at Shirehampton
for Avonmouth Docks. The few members who remained to carry
out the day's programme inspected the capacious floating-harboiu"
already bordered with the usual mushroom growth of houses, and
indicating the future growth of what might become a flourishing
368
suburb of Bristol ; looked at the fine dock gates, and returned in
time for the 4 p.m. train to Clifton. The usual exigencies of
lunch interfered somewhat with the unity of the jmrty, otherwise
the day's excursion was a fair success.
EXCURSION TO LYDNEY PARK.
The excursion to examine the Eoman remains in the Park
of Mr. Bathurst took place on 25th May. The Assistant-
Secretary having made an arrangement with the Midland
Railway Company a new saloon carriage was engaged, in which
the party, eighteen in number, travelled very comfortably.
The run through West Gloucestershire showed a familiar country,
bright with the fresh hues of spring. After Berkeley road
everyone was striving to obtain the first glimpse of the new
iron bridge across the Severn, and as the train ran down to
Sharpness Point it came into view. Passing slowly over, it was
possible to see the massiveness of the bridge and its apparently
very careful construction, while sixty feet below the yellow waters
of the Severn rolled and glistened in the sun. On arriving at
Lydney Station it was found that Mr. Bathurst, the owner of
Lydney park, had sent a carriage to meet the members, and from
that moment till they returned to their train his attention,
courtesy and liberal hospitality knew no ceasing. Some made
use of the carriage, the others walked up to the house, a recently-
built mansion in the Elizabethan style, most charmingly placed,
looking on one side down a beautiful and well-wooded country,
and on the other facing a long reach of the Severn. Here they
found the Vice-President, and were introduced by him to Mr.
Bathurst. After jjartaking of some refreshment an adjournment
was made to the library, where an interesting paper on " The
Villa, and on the Temple of Nodens or Nodon" was read by the
Vice-President, before the site of the villa was explored.
The Park at Lydney, he said, is one of the most picturesque in the
county of Gloucester, or of any other county. Situated on the high
369
ground above the Severn it commands a most beautiful view of that
river, near its junction with the Wye, and retains much of the character
of ancient forest scenery. The park is well supplied with deer, and the
house is a newly erected mansion on a higher elevation than the old
one, which is situated a little below it and is of the time of James the
First. The ground is broken and undulated. There are the remains
of two camps, one is on a small hill just above the new mansion, the
summit of which is enclosed by an earthwork and ditch compassing an
area of about 180 yards in circumference. Where easiest of access there
is a second rampart and also indications of a third. A few ciins have
been found and fragments of pottery, also some building stones, and
the capital of a column. The interior of this camp has, it is believed,
never been carefully examined. It is not improbable that it was an
early British fortress before the coming of the Eomans, and occupied
by them after the original inhabitants had vacated it. It commands
one of the passages across the Severn, which formerly flowed much
nearer to it. The other hill, separated from it by a deep valley about
30 yards in width at the bottom, through which runs a clear stream
of water, contains a much larger area ; this is also sun'ounded by an
earthen rampart and ditch, which is doubled at the north-eastern
end where it is most accessible, as it is there united to the table-land
which gradually slopes upward.
Within this fortified enclosure are the remains of the ancient Roman
villa, which has also been surrounded by a wall on the south side.
In 1 723 the walls were standing three feet above the ground. The
site and remains found have been described by the late owner, the
Eev. W. Hiley Bathurst, in a posthumous work, lately edited (1879)
by C. W. King, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, which
contains a plan of the buildings, and drawings of the remains dis-
covered, as well as descriptions of them, and is a very valuable
contribution to archteological science. It also contains a catalogue of
the coins found on the site, drawn up some years ago by Miss
Bathurst, a member of the family. The coins date from the reign of
Augustus to that of Honorius, and are preserved in a cabinet with the
other remains found on the spot.
The building consists of three portions, which cover an area of 850
feet by 370. The ancient road may be traced leading into it on the
370
southern side from the valley below. The largest building marked
(A) on ]Mr. Bathurst's plan is the principal portion, and marks the
residence of a Roman of distinction. It consists, as is usual in a
Roman house, of a central court surrounded on three sides by a
portico, and chambers beyond, many of which, as well as the portico
itself, have tesselated floors. Through the kindness of Mr. Bathurst
some of them had been uncovered for inspection.
Leaving the principal building you come to a second (marked B
on the plan) which contained a complete system of baths, with hypo-
caust and prcefurnium, and many chambers of different sizes. These
stand on the verge of the hill looking north, and to the east are the
remains of what appear to have been a reservoir for supplying the
baths with water.
The third portion contains the remains of a temple dedicated to the
god Nodon, in the middle space of which is a tesselated floor con-
taining an inscription. There are also two side chambers which have
tesselated floors. The length of this building is 93 feet, the breadth 76.
These portions were successively examined and described by the aid
of a large plan, made when the remains were first uncovered, and
accurate measurements and drawings taken. The interest of these
remains is much increased by the metal tablets and other objects
found in the process of uncovering, all of which have been carefully
preserved and placed under glass cases. The inscriptions have
attracted considerable notice. They have been recorded not only by
Mr. Bathurst and Mr. King, but also by Mr. Ormrod, the historian of
the county of Cheshire, in his " Strigulensia," and by Dr. McCaul, late
President of the University College, Toronto, and lastly by Professor
Hiibner, of Berlin, in a paper entitled " Das Heiligthum des Nodon."
The Professor however falls into an error in supposing that the site
of the Temple and Villa was not fortified. He has evidently not seen
the spot. His pamphlet however does ample justice to the interests of
the remains at Lydney, and his interpretation of the inscription on
the pavement in the Temple, though it differs from that of Mr. King
shows the importance of the place, and the rank of the person who
adorned the Temple.
After hearing Mr. Scarth's paper the members, in company
with Mr. Bathurst and Sir John Macleaue, walked to the site of
371
the discoveries. These are two hills, separated by a deep combe.
The lesser hill the Vice-President believed was the ancient British
camp, probably occupied by Eoman soldiers, though no trace of
their presence had yet been found. The precipitous slope of this
and the other hill Avas pointed out by the military members
present. Crossing the valley, through which ran a pretty
bubbling stream, an ascent of the greater hill was made by a
modern footpath, and the ancient entrance to the enclosure having
been passed on the way, the site was reached. The buildings
appear to have been in three blocks. The first was a dwelling
place, consisting of a central court surrounded by small chambers.
The second contained rooms with suspended floors, and the
heating arrangements have been traced out. A small tank and a
channel for conveying water to the baths in this building still
remain. The third building is a temple discovered by inscrip-
tions to be dedicated to a local god Xodon or Nodens,
The outline of the temple could be very clearly traced. Mr.
Bathurst had very kindly caused several of the remains of mosaic
pavements to be uncovered, so that the members could examine
and admire them. Two busts on pedestals which had been found
on the site attracted some attention. One of them was undoubt-
edly a figure of Bacchus, carved with considerable spirit ; the other,
a female figure, was very inferior, and Mr. C. E. Davis suggested
that the head was a modern substitution. The naturalists of the
Club drew attention to some fine limes which were growing on the
camp, and the summons to move on interrupted a very animated
lecture on a banquet of snails given by a veteran member.
Keturning to the house the collection of Koman remains which
had been laid out in the hall, were carefully examined— bones,
pottery, lead, &c., while Mr. Bathurst showed a very large collec-
tion of coins, arranged by a lady of the family. The visitors
were then entertained at luncheon by Mr. and Mrs. Bathurst, a
noble Severn salmon being one of the ornaments of the board.
Before the party broke up the Vice-President proposed the health
372
of Mr. Batliurst thanking him for the attention he had given
the Club and the advantages he had afforded them for
studying the Eoman remains of Lydney, and also Mrs.
Bathurst for the hospitality they had received. In reply Mr.
Bathurst said his late father had entertained two learned
societies at Lydney, and so far as he was aware this was the
third that had visited them, and it had afforded him great
pleasure to receive them. He proposed the health of the Vice-
President, thanking him for the pains he had taken in explaining
all that they had visited.
The Club then bidding farewell to the Vice-President, under
the charge of Mr. Bathurst Avalked down through the park and
examined the large number of beautiful and remarkable trees
which it contains. A cork tree indicated the mildness of the
climate ; a beech near it was a curious sight, its lower branches
were of the fern-leaf variety, while above it had reverted to the
common type. A Spanish chestnut measured 19ft. Sin. in
girth, 5ft. from the ground. The gardens were also interesting,
and some lead waterpiping, dated 1692 on the old house, caused
some discussion ; it bore a shield which was thus made out ; — a
fess ermine impaling quarterly, first and fourth between four
cinquefoils a saltier, second and third cheque ; crest, out of a
ducal coronet a hand holding a plume ; monogram, CC facing.
Taking leave of their kind entertainer, the Club hastened to the
station, a small section of archaeologists, under the guidance of
Mr. C. Davis, examining the good and well kept church on the
way. The rain, which everyone but the excursionists wished for,
did not come to mar the day's enjoyment, and Bath was reached
in good time amid general expressions of satisfaction.
EXCURSION TO CORFE CASTLE AND WIMBORNE MINSTER.
Of this excursion, on 22nd June, the Secretary, who was unable
to be present, has not received the promised notes.
373
EXCURSION TO RADSTOCK, KILMERSDON AND VOBSTER.
The last excursion of tlie season took place on Tuesday, Sept.
28th, to Radstock, Kilmersdon and Vobster. The first part of
the day was given up to archaeology, and the lately enlarged and
restored church at Eadstock (which does great credit to all
concerned in the work) was visited under the guidance of the
Eector. Many bits of antiquity have been recently brought to
light there, and have been judiciously preserved. The members
received an addition here to their numbers in the person of Mr.
McMurtrie and several others ; the former acted as guide through
the rest of the day, and has kindly contributed tlie following
notes on the church : —
It is believed a Norman church originally existed here, but if so, no
trace of the original work remains except an ancient Norman font with
cable moulding, which after lying neglected in the churchyard for
many years has again been restored to its sacred use. The present
church, which is dedicated to St. Nicholas, originally consisted of a
western tower, nave and chancel, and it does not appear to have com-
mended itself to CoUinson, who dismissed it witli the single remark
that it was " a small plain structure" containing " nothing remarkable."
If small and plain however there was probably nothing in it at variance
with correct architectural taste, until some 40 years ago when the
Churchwardens and the Church Building Society carried out an
enlargement which entirely destroyed the original character of the
edifice. Tlie north wall of the nave was removed and the width of an
aisle added ; instead of an arcade a trussed beam was made to support
the double roof and a gallery was introduced rendering it one of the
most unsightly churches in this part of the county.
Under the guidance of Mr. Wiilcox, architect of Bath, however, all
this has now been changed. The trussed roof, unsightly galleries and
high pews have all been swept away. An arcade of goodly propor-
tions now divides the church into a nave and north aisle, the budding
has been extended eastward to double its former length, and a new
chancel and organ chamber have been added. In carrying out the
work the architect had before him in the original church two distinct
374
styles, viz., the Early Decorated and the Perpendicular, and lie has
adopted the former with considerable success.
In carrying out the work several antiquities were discovered, and in
every instance these have been carefully preserved. The removal of
the old plaster brought to light a piscina, together with an arched
doorway and flight of steps leading to the old rood loft, while the
clearing away of the gallery exposed to view the tower arch, which
had been entirely hidden for many years. The old chancel arch had
to be removed to make way for the eastern extension of the nave and
has been carefully re-erected in the new chancel, where it forms the
entrance to the organ chamber, so that everything really worth
keeping has been preserved.
The tower will not compare with other Somersetshire towers, but
the south porch, one of the most interesting features in the church
will well deserve careful restoration hereafter.
In tlie churchyard the remains of an ancient cross were pointed out,
but of its history and architecture nothing is known.
Kilmersdon Church was the next point reached, some cutting
across the fields on foot, others going round the road in the
break. The Rector of Babington and some ladies here joined the
party, and pointed out the Norman remains, both on the outside
and inside. The fine perpendicular tower was especially admired,
and after some time given to the details (curious gargoyles,
Norman corbel tables, and scallop mouldings) a further advance
was made past Ammerdown to the Tor Rocks, a mass of Mountain
Limestone picturesquely situated overlooking Mells Park. Here
Mr. McMurtrie unfolded some admii-ably drawn diagi'ams and
sections, illustrating the extraordinary geology of tliis district,
and gave a clear and succinct account of his own researches both
above and under ground, which had gone far to clear up many
points hitherto doubtful, and to confute the erroneous notions of
the geological survey who had attempted by faults which had
really no existence to explain the position of the Mountain Lime-
stone masses overlying the Coal Measures. The botanists having
searched, and not without success, for plants worthy of their
375
vasculum, Mr. Batey, the manager of the Vohster and Luckington
pits, kindly placed his time and the results of his researches at
the disposal of the members, and conducted them first of all to
the second mass of Limestone at Upper Vohster. A drift had
been carried here through some Coal Measure shales in the face
of the quarry, and exposed a very good section, and some
interesting facts were pointed out and attention called to the
great disturbance in the beds dipping in various directions.
Whilst the rest of the members, grown rather impatient for lunch.
had gone off to seek it at the Anchor Inn, Coleford, the geologists
during their traverse to the third mass of Limestone at Luckington
made a discovery of some interesting facts which will tend to
throw additional light upon the geological puzzle of the neigh-
bourhood ; the results will probably appear hereafter. After an
excellent lunch provided by mine host of the Anchor Inn, at
which the old proverb was verified, that the earliest bird gets the
largest worm, the return journey was made through pretty
scenery to Radstock. Here Mr. McMurtrie had in the morning
caused a section of the Fosse road to be made under the
superintendence of a very intelligent workman, and a most
admirable illustration was given of the skilful manner in which
the Romans constructed their roads. After partaking of the hos-
pitality lavishly provided at the Rectory, the members drove
back to Bath, having derived much pleasure and instruction from
their day's work, the result mainly of Mr. McMurtrie's exertions
and admirable management.
The by-excursion to Oxford, arranged for 20th and 21st July,
was attended by very few members, who having reached Oxford
at 11 a.m., and secured a guide, seem to have spent six profitable
and pleasant hours in visiting the coUeges and the Bodleian Library,
with its priceless manuscripts and its interesting old portraits.
After dinner a boat was hired, and a pleasant moonlight row on
the Isis concluded the first day.
Next morning, after a most agreeable drive of eight miles,
376
Blenheim was visited. After tl-ree bad agricultural years it was
refreshing to see the magnificent crops of Avheat and barley, peas,
beans and potatoes. The latter, with their long stalks and their
flowers, looked as they used to do fortj^ years ago.
Having inspected the fine Rubens' and Paul Veroneses' in the
Palace, a noble building worthy of the half million of money that
Queen Anne's Parliament gave for the erection, the three hundred
acres of garden however seemed to have been the great attraction ;
oaks of the age of Canute, cedars of Lebanon eight yards in
circumference, tulip trees, catalpas, grand spreading beeches,
afforded so much admiration, that the lunch at the " Bear,"
in Woodstock, had barely sufficient attractions to draw the
party away. After a pleasant drive back Oxford was left
at 5 p.m.
By-Excursion to East Harptree and Lamb Cavern, ISih July. —
A rather exciting description of the discovery of some caverns
near one of the Harptrees appearing in the local papers about a
month ago, induced the members of the Field Club at their last
quarterly meeting to arrange an excursion in that direction.
Tuesday last being the day fixed a small party only, owing pro-
bably to the threatening appearance of the weather, met at the
place of rendezvous, the corner of Queen Square, at 10 a.m.
After a pleasant drive through country looking green and richly
luxuriant from the recent rains, and by the villages of Corston,
Marksbury, the pretty hamlet of Chelwood, Sutton Court and
West Harptree, the wagonette drew up at the Waldegrave
Arms, East Harptree, at 12.15. Here Mr. McMurtrie, of Radstock,
and Mr. Nicholls, the captain of the mines in these parts,
joined the party, and a few minutes' conversation with these
experienced masters of underground arcana revealed the fact that
some dirty and difficult work was to be gone through by those
who wished to go below ground. After a slight refreshment, pro-
vided by mine host, the party at once set out for the hills.
Unfortunately a heavy thunderstorm coming on made the walk
377
somewhat unpleasant and rather si>oilt the pleasure otherwise
obtainable from the pretty peeps up and down the ravines.
Halting under a hedge for a space Mr. Nicholls gave a short
account of the discovery of these caverns, from which the following
facts were gleaned. It seems that they were well knoivn to the
old people, for the " Philosoi^hical Transactions " in the year 1700
contain a description of them, by a Captain Beaumont, under the
name of " Lamb Lear," of which the following is an extract : —
The most considerable of these vaults I have known on Mendip bills
is on the most northerly part of them, iu a hill called Lamb, lyiug
above the parish of Harptree. Much ore has been formerly raised on
this hill ; and being told some years since tbat a very great vault was
there discovered, I took six miners with me and went to see it. First
we descended a perpendicular shaft about 10 fathoms; then we came
into a leading vault, which extends itself in length about 40 fathoms ;
it runs not upon a level, but descending, so that when you come to the
end of it you are 23 fathoms deep, by a perpendicular line. The floor
of it is full of loose rocks ; its roof is finely vaulted with limestone
rocks, having flowers of all colours hanging from them, which present
a most beautifid object to the eye, being always kept moist by the
distilling waters. In some parts the roof is about 5 fiithoms in height,
in others so low that a man has much ado to pass by creeping. The
wideness of it for the most part is about 3 fathoms. This cavern
crosses many veins of ore in its running, and much ore has been thence
raised. About the middle of this cavern on the east side lies a narrow
passage into another cavern, which runs between 40 and 50 fathoms in
length. At the end of the first cavern a vast cavern opens itself. I
fastened a cord about me and ordered the miners to let me down, and
upon the descent of 12 or 14 fathoms I came to the bottom. This
cavern is about 60 fathoms in circumference, above 20 fathoms in
height, and about 15 in length ; it runs along after the raikes, and not
crossing them as the leading vault does. I afterwards caused miners
to drive forward in the breast of this cavern, which terminates at the
west ; and after they had driven about 10 fathoms, they happened into
another cavern, whose roof is about 8 fathoms, and in some parts about
12 in height, and runs in length about 100 fathoms.
378
Ever since the time this description was _ written the exact
entrance to these caverns has been unknown, and their re-
discovery is due mainly to the untiring energy and preseverance
of Mr. NichoUs. It seems that Mr. Moreing, a civil engineer,
having during the autumn of last year visited these parts, and
being familiar with the above description, determined to find out
the entrance, but after some fruitless researches, and not liking
to give it up altogether, it was agreed that a reward of £2 should
be oflFered, and a sum at the rate of 3s. per day for the work done
should be given to the discoverer. Stimulated by this two elderly
men, one of whom luckily had a grandfather living (or at least
had a lively remembrance of a grandfather that once had lived)
who remembered something about these caverns and directed
them to the spot, set to work to unearth the buried secrets.
Three weeks had been fully taken up in fruitless endeavours,
and they were about to abandon their search when just at the
last moment, encouraged by the presence of Mr. NichoUs,
they luckily hit upon the entrance, and once again light was
admitted to "Lamb Lear." Somewhat excited by a recital
of these facts the party found themselves on the top of Gibbet
Brow, a hill to the north of Lamb bottom, having passed
in their walk over the Dolomitic Conglomerate on to the Moun-
tain Limestone. The slopes and brow of this hill were riddled
with depressions which an enthusiastic antiquary might con-
sider to be hut circles, but even the venerable " tump " hunter
and earthwork inspector of the club shook his head when appealed
to here, and considered the traces of mining too evident to admit
of a doubt in favour of old folks' habitations. The friendly
shelter of some miners' huts on the most exposed part of the brow
was taken advantage of during the thunderstorm which now came
up viciously black from Wells, and those who determined to go
underground prepared themselves by a suitable change of clothes.
Some freshly broken ground just to the east of the road leading to
Wells, on which a windlass had been erected, indicated the
379
entrance to the caverns. Around this the party gathered, and on
first inspection the dark shaft looked anything but inviting.
However Mr. NichoUs led the way down the perpendicular shaft,
against the side of which a ladder had been fixed, quickly followed
by Mr. McMurtrie, but the Secretary was ordered to go down in the
bucket ; so with one leg in and one leg out, in true miner fashion
(the latter used like the fender of a ship to keep the bucket from
banging against the side or hitching on the projecting rocks)
down went the third and last of those who were rash enough to
leave terra firma for the unknown regions beloAV, the rest being
content to wait above and hear the result. A descent of 55 feet
perpendicular landed the bucket and its occupant on ground again.
A tortuous drift more or less on the level in a north-west direction,
a very tight squeeze between two faces of rock, and the top of a
ten-runged ladder was reached, leading to a lower level. A quick
and sharp descent after tliis over blocks of Limestone which had
fallen from the roof and were more or less covered with stalagmite,
led down to the first cavern proper, a dome-shaped hollow with a
very fine boss of rock in the centre, coated thickly with stalag-
mite. The roof presented the appearance of having been gradually
hollowed out by swirls of water which at some former time eddied
round here. A narrow entrance on the right hand led away in
an easterly direction. Down this Mr. NichoUs disappeared on his
stomach, feet foremost, there being just space enough to wriggle
through, and the rest followed. After passing the throat of this
the passage became a little wider, and led into a small chamber in
wliich it was possible to stand upright. More wriggles through
more naiTow passages and another chamber was reached, and
finally a third, the last and largest of the thi-ee. It was evident
that this last cavern had been tested in several places for ore, and
there were traces in the floor of the passages that at some former
time excavation had been carried on here. The same rather
exhausting process was repeated on the backward journey to the
cavern with the fine boss, which might well be called the dome of
380
the rock. A descent was then made round either side of the
boss, still further downwards, over a particularly rough and
uneven floor ; two more Caudine forks had to be passed in a
prone and wriggling manner, and then the final cavern of all was
dimly seen by its darkness (if one may use the expression)
apparently barring all further progress. However the dim light
of some caudles showed that preparations had been made for a
further descent ; two bars of wood round one of which a rope was
passed, another in the dim distance over which one end of the
rope was run through a pulley, and five stalwart men at the brink
of the darkness, indicated the nature of the further method of
proceeding. First of all a board on which was stuck some five or
six candles was let down by a string to the bottom, and quickly
passed out of sight ; then when all was ready and the coils of
rope arranged for lowering, Mr. NichoUs was slung into the end
of it, and slowly lowered down a steepish slope of ten feet
of stalagmite to the brink, gradually his feet disappeared, then
his head, and at last that was lost to view, but occasionally was
heard echoing up from the darkness "hold on," "lower away,"
until the final "slack out" announced that he had reached the
bottom, and that 13 fathoms of rope had been paid out. This
process was repeated in Mr. McMurtrie's case ; but the writer of
this account not being to the manner born, and not liking to spin
round in mid-air like a leg of mutton at the fire, and moreover
tliinking of the little pledges he had left at home, came to the
conclusion that he would stay further progress, and remain behind
to chronicle events, and watch the strands of rope widen out as
the strain increased, and finally part asunder (which latter event
happily he has not to record). The descent was particularly
unpleasant, as after passing over the lips of stalagmite the side
sloped away suddenly inwards so that there was nothing whereby
to steady oneself in the descent. This final chamber and its
method of approach by rope reminded the writer forcibly of
Professor Boyd Dawkins's account of his descent into Heln Pot in
381
Yorkshire, to wlxich this bore a striking resemblance, minus the
water ■which pours into the latter. Before he was hauled back
again Mr. NichoUs ht up the cavern Tvith a Bengal light, which
brought out its roughly circular form plainly, and its more or less
dome-shaped character. Various side drifts were seen leading
away in different directions to other caverns, and the whole top
and sides coated with a sheet of stalactite, looking very beautiful
in the play of light ; the floor was a mass of tumbled blocks —
probably the result of falls from the roof or brought down the
side passages by water. The party haA'ing come above ground
again safely after a highly interesting and instructive scramble, it
now remains but to make a few remarks as to these caverns which
have been re-discovered after the lapse of probably more than a
hundred years. In the first place, some idea of the rate of
progress of the formation of stalactite may be arrived at, by the
very slight film merely which has been formed over the broken
ends since they were fractured by the former explorers. Then
these caverns give one a good idea of the wearing-away power of
water chemically or mechanically, for their history seems to be
this ; water once finding its way from the surface down the
swallet holes which abound in Mountain Limestone districts,
gradually eating out and enlarging the joints and fissures down
which it percolates until it finally disappears into some cavern or
hollow which it continues to wear away and enlarge, until at
some future time the drainage of the district changing and the
water finding another means of exit, the passages and chambers
are left dry. The gradual percolation of water, charged with
carbonate of lime, lines the roof with stalactites and the floor
with stalagmites, and man and beast at length find their way in,
the latter in the form of teeth and bones, the former in the
persons of miners and other curious folk. As regards the
remains of the latter nothing has been at present found, though
the stalagmitic floor has been broken up in several places ; neither
does it seem likely that any wiU be found owing to the steep
382
character of the passages and the consequent difficulty of any
lodgment taking place in the floor before it was sealed up by
stalagmite. The only trace of the presence of man consisted of a
broken tobacco pipe and the markings in the clay of corduroy
trousers, which Mr. NichoUs noticed on his first entrance, and
which he considers must have been there for a hundred years at
least. The members were much indebted to Mr. NichoUs for the
preparation he had made for the underground descent and for the
information he readily gave them on local topics of interest.
Another by-excursion was arranged on Tuesday, October 19th,
to visit some discoveries at Temple Cloud, lately made by Mr.
Henry E. Hippisley in the Coal Measures wliich crop up in that
locality. The train was taken to Clutton, by way of Bristol, and
after a pleasant walk of about three-quarters of a mile, some dozen
members found themselves at the mouth of a steep incline leading
down into the workings they were about to enter. Mr. Hippisley,
at whose invitation they had assembled there, had prepared every-
thing for the occasion ; a good supply of candles having been pro-
vided the descent was commenced in Indian file down a very steep
and slippery tramway, following the dip of the Coal Measures,
about 25" N.E. at this spot. At one portion of the descent the
impression of a tree was seen in the roof of Coal Measure sand-
stone, a bed of coal having been worked out below. After a
descent of about 100 yards a drift to the south was followed some
40 feet, and the object of the day's excursion was seen, an
unusually fine specimen of a fossil tree standing upright in the
underclay, measuring about five feet and a half in height, and
about six feet in circumference. Although the fluted surface of
the trunk bore apparently no traces of the markings left by the
leaf stalks, so characteristic of Sigillaria stems, yet there was not
much doubt that it belonged to that genus. The chief peculiarity
about this specimen consists in its standing erect ; usually these
stems are found lying prostrate on the underclay, through which
their rootlets run in all directions, but in this case the trunk is
383
erect with underclay all round it and without any traces of its
root or Stigmaria attached. How then is this to be accounted
for ? Has the trunk sunk through the surrounding underclay when
it was in a moist m udy condition 1 Such was Mr. Hippisley's
opinion. After an inspection of the method of woiking out the
clays and coal seams, the members returned to the upper air, not
a few extremely glad that they had come safe to ground without
damage to aught save their hosen and their hats. After this a
traverse across some fields was made to a Coal Measure Sandstone
quarry, called Bromwitch, to see where a fine lode of iron ore runs
in a north and south direction through a fissure or joint in the
beds. Candles were again required, and a curious-looking figure,
crowned with what a learned doctor of the party considered to be
a fac-simile of the Neanderthal skull, was seen sitting half hidden
in a hole, prepared to act as a guide to the lower regions. Down
this hole three of the members went by the aid of a perpendicular
ladder, to the first landing stage ; then again still farther down
till the depth of 80 feet had been reached, then they found them-
selves on terra firma, and following a drift to the north, traced the
course of the lode to the farthest extremity of the lowest workings
carried on up to the present time, and were enabled here and
there to knock off some portion of the ore which had been left
behind on the walls of the fissure. When the three members
returned to the surface the usual incredulity was shown by those
who remained behind as to whether the explorers had enlarged
their knowledge by going below — an incredulity always difficult
to meet satisfactorily. The report of lunch somewhere in the
distance was a spur to further progress, and retracing their steps
to the brick-yard, where Mr. Hippisley explained the process
whereby the Coal Measure clays which they had visited in the
morning were utilised for brick and tile making, they found
themselves comfortably settled round a welcome lunch, most
hospitably prepared for them at Temple Cloud by that gentleman.
After an hour's halt here some of the members started for Bath,
384
the others under the guidance of their host for Eadstock. Having
returned their thanks to their host for a very pleasant day they
parted with him near Hallatrow, and after various adventures
rather trying to some of the party they ended a very agreeable
day by a most unpleasant detention of three-quarters of an hour
at the Radstock Station waiting for the train to Bath, passing
their time in idle threats and equally idle wishes that they had
trusted to their own locomotive powers rather than to those of the
Somerset and Dorset Railway Company.
WALKS.
The first walk after the anniversary meeting was to Wick
Rocks on 30th March, the weather being too wet for those fixed
for the 2nd and 9th of that month. From AVarmley, which was
reached by train from Bath, the members walked to the Rocks,
examinino- on the way the sections of Millstone Grit in the ravine
and the earthworks near Rock House. A fine female viper was
seen sunning herself on the bank near the east end of the Rocks,
but unfortunately glided away into the dry leaves of the bank
before Dr. Bird, who was one of the party, could catch and bottle
her for scientific investigation. On their return to Bath the
members looked in at Battle Fields, Avhere its hospitable owner
showed them over his house and walked with them through his
picturesque grounds to the twin tumuli, which appear to have
been formerly opened, passing on the way a fine spring of water
issuing from the top of the Fuller's Earth — here a yellow clay.
After admiring the fine wych elm said to be 800 years old, the
party returned home across the Down. The pedometre gave
eleven miles as the distance walked.
Another walk was taken on 6th April to Charmy Down.
Ascending the S.W. end opposite Sulisbury Hill some earth-
works near the plantation on the top of the hill were pointed out,
and a solitary erect stone was supposed by an enthusiastic
385
antiquary present to be the only remaining stone of a circle
formerly existing here. It was ascertained to be a block of Great
Oolite, the same formation as that composing the capping of the
hill. The fine tumulus distant two or three fields in a IS. direction
was inspected, and a return made to Bath.
One more pleasant walk remains to be recorded, on 13th Apiil,
to Blaize Castle. The 10.45 train was taken to Bristol, thence
the tramway to Redland, and a short walk across Durdham Down
to the entrance lodge. Owing to the presence of the Eev. E. J.
Harford, who accompanied the members, ready admittance was
gained to the grounds, and a very pleasant walk led through the
picturesque ravine to "Lover's Leap," a spur of Mountain Lime-
stone facing " Griant Goram's" Chair. Here spread out on the
short turf luncheon was discussed in the bright sunshine. The
castellated look-out was mounted, and the Severn and all the
surrounding country seen to the greatest advantage in the clear
air. The fine earthworks adjoining were perambulated and
considered by those present as having originally been formed in
a pre-Roman period. The Salisburia in the private gardens
attracted much attention, and the grounds were left by way of
the Henbury cottages. Before however the members had gone
far a very heavy storm of rain overtook them at "Westbury, and
somewhat dispersed the party for shelter in various directions.
It now only remains to conclude this, the fourth and last
number of our fourth volume of Proceedings by a statement of
the financial condition of the Club. The total receipts for the
past year, including a balance from the last account of £29 10s. 7d.,
have been £76 16s. 7d., and the expenditure £47 Is. Id., thus
leaving a balance of £29 15s. 6d. in the Treasurer's hands.
H. H. WINWOOD,
Em. Sec.
386
lath ||a<ui|al j|i|iorig and Mfiquatiian pM mulj.
INSTITUTED FEB. 18th, 1855.
LIST OF MEMBERS FOR THE YEAR ISSl.
•REV. LEONAED BLOMEFIELD, M.A., F.L.S., F.G.S , 19, Belmont.
*REV. PREBENDARY SCARTH, M.A., F.S.A., Rectory, Wrington
dj&airman,
SKRINE H. D., Esq., Claverton Manor, Claverton.
^ecretatte^.
REV. H. H. WINWOOD, M.A., F.G.S,, 11, Cavendish Crescent.
HAROLD LEWIS, B.A., 12, North Gate.
IZTteaSurct.
LIEUT. -COL. E. P. ST. AUBYN, 11, Great Bedford Street
*BROOME C. E., Esq., M.A., F.L.S., Elmhurst, Batheaston
*MOORE C, Esq., F.G.S., 6, Cambridge Place
DOBSON W.. Esq., Oakwood, Bathwick Hill
ELLACOMBE Rev. H. N, M.A., Vicarage, Bitton
JOHNSTON J., Esq., 9, Park Street
EKIN Mr. Charles, F.C.S., 8, Argyle Stree';
LONG W , Esq , West Hay, Wrington
MEADE Rev. D'Courcy, M.A., Tockingham Rectory, Wootton Bassett
MARCH ANT J. Le, Esq., 14, St. .James's Square
FREEMAN Lieut -Col. Wickham, 3, Johnstone ttreet
SHAW Rev. W. S , M.A.. The Vicarage, Twerton-on-Avon
BOND Rev. Prebendary. M.A , Vicarage, Weston
LYSAGHT Captain, R.N., 3, Sion Row
BAKER Rev. C, Telisford Rectory, near Bath
BEAN Major J. H , 8, Sydney Place
GREEN Emanuel, Esq., Junior Athenasum Club, London
ROGERS Rev. T. P., Vicarage, Batheaston
BANKART A., Esq., 27, Green Park
COCKELL Colonel W., 5, Queen's Parade
DAVIS C. E , Esq., 55, Pulteney Street
McMURTRIE J., Esq , F.G.S., Radstock
YEELES J. Wedgwood, Esq., Bathford
INMAN H. B., Esq., Batheaston
INMAN T. F., Esq., F.L.S., Apsey House, Batheaston
TIMINS C, Esq., 12, Somerset Place
TAYLOR Col. R L , C.B., Sunnyside, Weston Road
BRAIKENRIDGE Rev. G. W,, M.A., F.L.S., F.S.A. , Scot., Winash,
Brislington
SAINSBURY Capt , Bathford
MENARS Major H., 12, Bathwick Street
HERDMAN J , Esq., Park Cottage, Victoria Park
HARPER C., Esq., Manor House, Batheaston
• Original Members.
387
FALCONER R. W., Esq., MD., D.C.L., F.R C.P., 22, Bennett Street
WATTS J. Onslow, Esq., VVarleigh Lodge, Bathford
PLOWMAN T H., Esq , 8, RusseU street
SHUM Fred., Esq., F S.A., Belcombe House, Bradford-on-Avon
WARD Rev. H. N., Radstock Rt-ctory
BIGGS Robert, Esq., 16, Green Park
CLARKE W., Esq.. 12, Bennett Street
WALKER F J., Esq , The Priory, Bathwick
CHURCHILL J., Esq., 18, Brock Street
HOW Kev. A. G., H.D., Rectory, Doyiiton
BURRELL C. E, Esq., Magdala Villa, Bathwick
TAGART W. H., Esq.. Park Field, Paik Garden.s
WILLIAMS D., Esq., F.L.S., Cleveland Cottage, Sydney Gardens
TALBOT C. H., Esq., Lacock Abbey, Chippenham
THOMPSON Col., 9, Grosvenor Place
MULCASTER Lieut.-Gen., 3 Portland Place
WILSON Spencer, Esq , 5, Kensington Place
BLATHWAYT Rev. Wynter T., Rectory, Dyrham
EVANS Major J. LI. Beaufort House, Kensington
HUNT R Elton, Esq , IS, M arlborough Buildings
HENDERSON H., Esq., 9, Royal Crescent
HARVEY Kerrison, Esq., 62, Pulteney street
MUNDY Gen. Fitzroy, 38, St. James's Square
BOND Rev. F., St. George's Hill, Bathampton
EVERITT Rev. C. W., St. Cuthbert's, SpringBeld Place
BROOKE Major-Gen J. C, The Priory, Weston
MAC KILLOP C. W., Esq , 14, Royal Crescent
FREELING Major-Gen. Sir H , Bart., R.E., Hampton Villa, Bathampton
BLACK Col. G. A., 1, Bennett Street
t^KRINE H. Mills, Esq . Avonhill, Midford
BROWNE T., Esq . 1 Fountain Buildings •
SANDYS Rev. J. E., Babington Rectory
BIRD H., Esq., MD, 2 Bennett Street
FOXCROFT E. T. D.-, Esq., Widcombe House
MURRAY Major-Gen A. M., RA, 28, Marlborough Buildings
DUCKWORTH Russell, Esq , The Cloisters
CARLINGFORD Right Hon. Lord, The Priory, Chewton Mendip
GILL Wallace, Esq., 7, Mount Beacon
MAISTER Major-Geu. G., 7, Lansdown Place, E.
GAINE Charles, Esq.. Weston Lea, Weston Park
WRIGHT Major A. F. Bingham, Priston Manor
RAWLINS Col. SA.. RusseU House, Russell Street
WANOSTROCHT Vincent, Esq , Ormonde House, Sion Hill
SHUM F. Ernest, Esq., 4, Union Street
HOPKINS H. Culliford, Esq., 4, Gay Street
PHILP Captain Francis Lamb, Pendogget, Timsbury
PESTER Major-Gen. H. L , Fern Lodge, Weston Road
BYTHESEA Col. H. F., 20, Grosvenor
?Don. iKcmberg.
DAWKINS Professor W. Boyd, F.R.S., F.G.S., &c., Owens College,
NIBLETl' J. T. D., Esq., Haresfield Court, near Gloucester
CARPENTER W. LANT, B.A., b.Sc
EARLE Rev. Prebendary, M.A,, Swanswick Rectory, Bath
.^upevnumctars Sist.
HEEIOT Cftpt. Mackay
The Authors of the respective Papers are
alone responsible for the opinions expressed
in them.
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