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THE

WILTSHIRE

Arrhealagieal ond Hatural Aistory
MAGAZINE,

Published under the Birection of the Saciety

FORMED IN THAT COUNTY A.D. 1853.

VOT

DEVIZES:

Henry Boz, Sarr Jomun Srreer.

LONDON :
G. Bex1, 186, Freer Streer; J. R. Suirn, 36, Sono Square,

1854.

DEVIZES:
PRINTED BY HENRY BULL,
SAINT JOHN STREET.

CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

IEA TETONOTS Gh clog diet yO OOO RRORI SK ETC aCe: MRA RRInIRRe Raia aT
MAIO SUBSCREE LION) “ont tle state ietoels Pere attics Settee neatiels oq 4s
eee SVOR DTM 9 OGLE Lclveiuin cigs raves slearterstiees tyercteveues: Rieieltete Micas. ns
PEEL OP ORRICHRS 12 ak a eitied cheicll dette onion SHE hee Seen waren vers
PE ILO MOV MUBERS): ie lcteiceetc eral a iti asiaiaters se etsinlave i alsea lel see arg ais. cicis vse
ComMeEMoRATIVE Latin Inscription: By Rev. F. Kitvert ........
GENERAL ACCOUNT OF THE INAUGURAL MEETING, viz. :—
Report of the Provisional Committee .............. cece eee eee
IyavevRrat Appress of the President, G. P. Scropn, Esq., M.P.
GENERAL ADDRESS, by the Rev. J. E. JACKSON................
On the OrnirHoLoey or Witts. No.1. By the Rev. A. C, Smite
ADDEMSS SOY} J « DRLETON, HMSQi:t gets siaste cee «1sigte aiskdtorn » skevelst eaters
ire relating to the Archeology, Topography, and Natural History
CEA GLUT OS Se An COMn ee one Ere Coane COME OO ComencoT Rmrr an
The Musrum—List of Articles exhibited ........ 0.0.0... cc eee ee
ane THLE T OS: WAN TOO y a) ate savant oth tele leapel- roche, ant jee diols iste as
On CreRTAIN WILTSHIRE Customs: By F. A. Carrineton, Esq. :—
1. The Wootton-Basset Cucking Stool...............-..000 cee
A MPNVELTATNOES precvey sbyo9 > ACH. yacahinrctays chotejaneajetel dole eye to) 2 «Sick Soe apavat
Pe ATVORtHEOMoy. st hts sat ¥.eseteociane, vet csteuettue eave sleet ahs iat elena
Bee UM GW OOSCUI Spe «ays sheds te eet tate neyols: sho) ate Yoresata bs 0: Bice a heya ctevaye
DPR OR ATAPPCLS tara ais ef -is¢s. 4 ij tive) ootelors ds ailertrst sd fsene 4 «oho < Hts
Witrssire Cuurcn Goons seized 1553: By F. A. Carrineton, Esq.
On WittsHirE Entomotocy: By Rey. W. C. Luxis .......... ...

fo. Uf.

Manvscriet CoLLecTIoNs FoR WILTSHIRE, in the Library of Sir Thos.
Phillipps, Bart.: By the Rev. J. E. JAcKSON................05..
On OrnitHoLtocy. No.2. The Classification of Birds: By the Rev.
ARC, Sxore...... SR OO OE Ee cette Ee SU ODE ODS COC EIS ah ice
On Way ten’s History or MArtBoroven: By G. P. Scropr, Esq. ..
Letann’s JouURNEY THROUGH WILTSHIRE, A.D. 1540-42. With a
Memoir and Notes: By the Rey. J. E. JacKSoN ...............-.
[Cricklade, 135. ftetsiasy. 137. Corsham, Haselbury, South
Wraxhall, 142, Bradford, 148, Trowbridge, 150. Farley Castle,
152. Bath, 155. Salisbury, 157. Old Sarum, 161. Burials in
Salisbury Cathedral, 164-71. Fisherton Delamere, 173. Stone-
henge, 175. Ramsbury, Bedwyn, and Marlborough, 176. Silbury
Hill and Avebury, 179. Ludgershall, 179. Devizes, 180, Steeple
Ashton, 182. Brooke Hall, near Westbury, 182. Edington,
185. Westbury to Trowbridge and Bath, 190. Marshfield to
Trowbridge and Frome, 191. Bradford, 191. Selwood Forest,
192, Maiden Bradley, 193. Stourton, 193.]
Anoio-Saxon Cemetery At Harnuam Hrrt, near Salisbury: By the
RAV sue pp MORMON cs icidatsis sidacos SHAM a BAL biota iitete ciale'e v5
Wits Titres’ Reaisrration: By J. WAYLEN, Esq. ............4.
Matmessury AnpEy—Corrody at: By J. WaYLEN, Esq. .... .....

97-104

105-115
116-131

132-195

CONTENTS—NO. 11. (continued.)

PAGE
ROMERHSTON > Max plAITlOd 2)a.o <q 0.075 wie afew Siew sel mien mu, “6 5.0 are elaaietate 131.
Naturat Histrory—Rare specimens occurring in Wilts: By Mr. W.

CUNNINGTON.

Icthyosaurus Campylodon (Fossil) .......- 0-0. ee cece eee eens 214
Westacellus Waurels 6 sc. gone oj emcee “no accel ible aa elena 215
Snake Fly, and Chalcis Aptera..........-- 0... ee sees eee ees 215
Wuzts Notes anp Querres—Calne, 131. Dog-whippers, 212. Stone-
henge (a Pastoral), 212. Rev. W. Harte, 212. Queen Anne at
Whetham, 212. e Princess Wilbrahama, 213. Penates found
at Devizes, 214.
ConTRIBUTIONS to Museum and Library............--+e sees eeeees 216
No. EEL.
Tue Eart or Hertrorp’s CoRRESPONDENCE, relating to Co, Wilts:

Temp. Jas. I.: By J. Wayen, Esq. (To be continued.).......... 217-232
Boyton CuurcH. No.1: By the Rev. A. Fane. ...:......... .. 233-2388
On OrnitHotocy. No. 3. The Structure and Faculties of Birds:

By the Rev. A.C. Searn 4.02 chia ee a eee 239-249
Matmessury ABBEY. License for its conversion into a Parish Church :

By the Rev. Epw. WILTON .....6. 2... 0020-02 e eect eee eens 249
Mavup Hearn’s Causey: By the Rey. J. E. JacKson........... .. 251-264
Kiyeston Hovsr, Braprorp: By the Rey. J. E. JACKSON.......... 265-302

[The House, 265-270. Family of Hall of Bradford, 270. Of
Baynton, 273. Of the Dukes of Kingston, 274. Pedigree showing
the Descent to Lord Manvers, 275. Miss Chudleigh, Duchess of
Kingston, 274-8. House restored by Mr. Moulton, 278}.
Scuepute No. 1.—Ancient Deeds discovered at Se ee House.. 279-295

Scuepute No, 2.—Extracts from other Papers found there...... 296
Ditto relating to the Manvers estate at Bath .. 299
Sivpury Hitz. Lines on the Excavation: By Miss E. FISHER...... 302

WrnterpourNe Monkton. Tumulus found at: By Mr. W. Hittrer 303-304
Mvurper or Henry Lone, Es@., a.D. 1594: By the Rev. J. E. Jackson 305-321
Tue ANCIENT STYLES AND DEsIGNATIONS OF Persons: By F. A. Car-
RINGTON, ESQii es ase:s:tine «do see ieee cae Ra Pele Geis Mae eds 322-349
Wits Nores and QuERtes—Salmon Fishing in Wilts, 350. Rebecca
Riots, 350, Steeple-Flying, 351. A Peep at the Wiltshire As-

sizes, 352. “he.
Donations to the Museum and Library .......... -e eee eee eee eeeee 352
Ellustrations,
PAGE

Cucking Stool at Wootton Basset...............000 eee 68
Ditto. hedesWorthany ian . S33/s522 woe ses vio WE
TheKudre Cup west... ARK Jsesaneee th) 20k kaa ieiGes dee 118
Plan of Castle Ghia at Marlborough, 4.D. 1723.......... 128
Harley, Castlommn a.Ds1645::!4.. Sais ees Ne sankey eee 152
Old Stourton House, destroyed A.D. 1720.................. 194
Anglo-Saxon Relics at Harnham......................45. 200
Boyton Church : Windows in Lambert Chapel ............ 236
Ditto Sir Alex. Giffard’s Effigy .............. Meee ete are 237
Kingston House, Bradford ..............0..seeeeeeeeee 265

Ditto)~ Wood carving of Atms..40. 22.06 )ct6) ede 268

THE

WILTSHIRE

Archenlageal and Botueal Wistory
MAGAZINE,

No. I. MARCH, 1854. Vor. I.
Contents.
PAGE PAGE
ALOUD: Oe aS eee li The Museum.—List of Articles
Terms of Subscription.......... Vv exhibited! wise catdavir-tsye v- 55-57
Rules of the Society............ vi Etymologies wanted .......... 67
LG 0S xi
hist Members... 6. .00..655.. xii On Certain ANCIENT WILTSHIRE
Customs: BY F. A.CARRINGTON,
GENERAL ACCOUNT OF THE INAU- Esq@., viz. :—
GURAL MEETING, VIZ. :— 1. The Wootton Basset Cucking
Report of the Provisional Com- Stool, (with two lithographs) 68
A 8 wrote cals 5 ch aren 3 1 ape NUEININOER, tet nas aes 79
Inaugural Address of the Presi- 3. Harvest Home . 86
dent, G. P. Scropr, Esq., M.P. 8 4-H ee VOOR) ois\5js04 ac-curcleoets 88
General Address, by the Rey. 6.) Dog-rappers’ 22.5.5... 50505 89

Peet DAOKBOM so 5-- 5/16 = 0 a/¢)atare 25
On the Ornithology of Wilts, by

Wiltshire Church Goods seized

the Rev.A.C.SmirH ........ 41 TERRE poe LOOM ONO ee UEC, ce 91
Address by J. Brirron, Esq.. 45 On Wiltshire Entomology, by the
Rev. W. C. Luxis.. 95
Queries, relating to the Arche- Commemorative Latin Inscription
ology, Topography, and Natural by the Rey. F. Kinverr .... 97
History of Wi ilts Bae. ata 49
DEVIZES:

Henry Butt,

Sart JoHn STREET.

LONDON :

G. Bern, 186, Freer Srreer;

J. R. Surra,

36, Somo SQuarn.

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Pee iyot re tire w io es lsat,

PREFACE.

In laying before the public, under the present form, an Account
of the Inaugural Meeting of the Wilts Archeological and Natural
History Society, an opportunity is offered of explaining the character .
of the Publication which the Society now proposes to put forth.

Tt will be seen in the Rules, that a General Meeting is to be

held once in every year, at some time and place to be fixed by
the Committee, for the purpose of receiving an Annual Report,
transacting business, and reading such Papers as may have been
prepared for the occasion. These, with the Proceedings of each
Meeting, will of course appear in print.
But it has been thought advisable not to confine the Society’s
efforts to an Annual Report. In the hope of sustaining a more
lively interest in the objects for which it has been established, it
is proposed to commence, as a medium of intercourse, a series of
publications, of which the present is the First, relating to the
general History and Antiquities of the County of Wilts. To those
who reside in the more remote parts of it, such a means of commu-
nication, will be, it is presumed, particularly acceptable.

In order to place it within the reach of readers of every class, it
will require to be of a more inexpensive kind than is common in
Archeological and Topographical works: so that illustrations in
engraving or lithograph, cannot frequently be introduced, unless

iv PREFACE.

the correspondents, or others, may have the liberality to contribute
them gratuitously, as it is hoped may not unfrequently be the
case.

Such a form of publication presents the advantage of being open
not only to original and finished Articles, as the History of an
entire Parish or Manor, a series of Historical Papers, or an account
of the Geology, and Botany, &c., of the County at large; but also
to communications of a less original and elaborate character: as
for example, extracts from, or abstracts of, rare and expensive

, Books already published upon Wiltshire; casual notices and de-
scriptions, however brief, of Antiquities or objects of Natural
History; accounts of local customs, etymologies of names, or other
miscellaneous notices upon any of the various subjects embraced
within the Title of the Society: even to queries on obscure points,
such as may elicit an answer in some following number. Attention
is particularly requested to the Rule which forbids the introduction
of political, or religious discussions. It is hoped that such a work
may not only be a means of providing popular amusement and
instruction, but may also serve as a valuable assistant to those who
may hereafter undertake the more serious task of finishing the
History of the County.

The present number will, therefore, be succeeded by others, in
the same form, and at a low price to the public. The Members
of the Society will receive their copies gratuitously. The publica-
tion will be continued, whenever by contributions or correspondence,
material of sufficient amount and interest shall have accumulated
to justify the issue. In the infancy of the Society it is impossible
to give any pledge for its fixed and periodical appearance. But

it is hoped that communications will flow in abundantly: and

PREFACE. v
we would invite the Members, and others, whether resident in, or
only connected with the County, to further this object in any way
that may be most suitable to their own convenience.

It is respectfully suggested that, in order to assist this experiment
most effectually, those who take an interest in the History and
Antiquities of Wiltshire, natural or archeological, will support
the Society by becoming Members.

TERMS:
Ee iS. <d.
Annual Subscribers: for the First Year - 110
For succeeding years - - - - : -: 10 6
Life Members - - - :- -:- -:- + +: 1010 0

Persons desirous of joining the Society are requested to write to
that effect, inclosing a Posy OFFICE ORDER for the amount, to Mr.

Wim Cunnineton, Devizes.

Articles of correspondence intended for insertion, may be addressed
to the Rev. W. C. Luxis, Great Bedwyn; or to the Rev. J. E.
Jackson, Leigh Delamere, Chippenham.

Orders for the “WiitsH1rRE Macazine,” to be sent through the
County Booksellers, to Mr. Henry Buu, Saint John Street, Devizes.

RULES OF THE SOCIETY.

I. Tus Society shall be called “ The Wiltshire Archeological and

Natural History Society.” Its object shall be
1. To collect and publish information—

On the Antiquities of Wiltshire; including Ancient Monuments,
Architecture, Manorial History, Ecclesiastical History and En-
dowments, Records; and all other matters usually comprised under
the name of Archeology.

On the Natural History of the County: its Geology, Botany,
Ornithology, &c.

2. To preserve, by the formation of a Library and Museum,
illustrations of its History: viz., published works, manuscripts,

drawings, models, and specimens, &c.

II. The society shall consist of a Patron; a President, elected for
three years; Vice-Presidents; general and district or local Secre-
taries ; and a Treasurer elected at each anniversary meeting: with
a Committee of twelve, six of whom shall go out annually by
rotation, but may be re-elected. No person shall be elected on the
committee until he shall have been six months a member of the

society.

RULES OF THE SOCIETY. Vil

III. Anniversary general meetings shall be held for the purpose
of electing the officers, of receiving the report of the committee for
the past year, of reading papers and reports, and of transacting all
other necessary business, at such time and place as the committee
shall appoint, of which meeting a fortnight’s notice shall be given to

the members.

IV. All members shall have the privilege of introducing one

friend to the anniversary and general meetings.

V. The committee is empowered to call special general meetings
of the society, upon receiving a requisition signed by ten members.
Three weeks’ notice of such special meeting, and its object, shall be

given to each member.

VI. The property of the society shall be deposited at Devizes,
and shall be vested in thirteen trustees, in trust, for the purposes of
the society; and shall not be disposed of or made applicable for any
other purpose, except with the consent of five-sixths of the sub-
seribers; and shall not be disposed of or severed, so long as any
society exists in the county, having in view objects similar to those
of this society; and whenever the number of the trustees shall be

reduced to five, the vacancies shall be supplied at a general meeting.

VII. The affairs of the society shall be directed by the committee
(of which the officers shall be ex-officio members), who shall have
the management and application of the funds of the society; and
meetings of the committee, shall be held monthly, or quarterly, as
may be found expedient, for receiving reports from the secre-

taries and sub-committees, and for transacting other necessary

see *
vu RULES OF THE SOCIETY.

business: three of the committee shall be a quorum; members
may attend the committee meetings after the official business has

been transacted.

VIII. The chairman at meetings of the society shall have a

casting vote, in addition to his vote as a member.

IX. One (at least) of the secretaries shall attend each meeting,
and shall keep a record of its proceedings. All manuscripts, and
communications, and the other property of the society, shall be

under the charge of the secretaries.

X. Candidates for admission as members, shall be proposed by
two members at any of the general or committee meetings, and the
election shall be determined by ballot at the next committee or
general meeting; three-fourths of the members present, balloting,
shall elect. The Rules of the Society shall be subscribed by every

person becoming a member.

XI. Ladies shall be eligible as members of the society, without
ballot, being proposed by two members, and approved by the

majority of the meeting.

XII. Each member shall pay ten shillings and sixpence on
admission to the society; and ten shillings and sixpence as an annual
subscription; which shall become due on the first of January in each

year, and shall be paid in advance.

XIII. Donors of ten guineas, or upwards, shall be members
for life.

RULES OF THE SOCIETY. 1x

XIV. At general meetings of the society, the committee may
recommend persons eminent for their literary, or scientific acquire-

ments, to be balloted for as honorary, or corresponding members.

XV. When any office shall become vacant, or any appointment
shall be requisite, the committee shall have power to fill up the same;
such appointments shall remain in force only to the next general

meeting, when they shall be either confirmed or annulled.

XVI. The treasurer shall receive all subscriptions and donations
made to the society, and shall pay all accounts passed by the com-
mittee: he shall keep a book of receipts and payments, which he
shall produce whenever the committee shall require it: the accounts
shall be audited previously to the anniversary meeting, by two
members of the committee chosen for that purpose, and an abstract

of them shall be read at the meeting.

XVII. No change shall be made in the laws of the society, except
at a general, or special meeting, at which twelve members, at least,
shall be present. Of the proposed change a month’s notice shall be
given to the secretaries; who shall communicate the same to each

member three weeks before the meeting.

XVIII. Papers read at meetings of the society, and considered by
the committee of sufficient interest for publication, will be printed,
(with the author’s consent) in such manner as shall be determined
by the committee to be the best for the purpose, for gratuitous
distribution, or otherwise, to the members of the society; and for
such price to the public as may be agreed upon.

x RULES OF THE SOCIETY.

XIX. No religious or political discussions shall be permitted at
meetings of the society; nor any topics of a similar nature admitted

into the society’s publications.

XX. That any person contributing books, or specimens, to the
Museum, shall be at liberty to resume possession of them, in
the event of the property of the society ever being sold, or trans-
ferred, otherwise than to any similar society in the county. Also
persons shall have liberty to deposit books, or specimens, for a

specific time only.

LIST OF OFFICERS. xi

The following Officers of the Society were elected at the
Inaugural Meeting:

Watron.—Tue Mosr Honste. roe Marquis or Lanspowns, K.G.
(Lord Lieutenant of the County.)

¥restvent.—Grorce Pourerr Scrorr, Esa., M.P.

Ctce=Presidents,

Tue Ricut Rey. tHe LORD BISHOP or Satispury.
Sm J. W. AWDRY.
JOHN BRITTON, Esa.
Eart BRUCE.
H. M. CLARKE, Esa.
Carr. J. N. GLADSTONE, R.N., M.P.
G. H. W. HENEAGE, Esa., M.P.
Toe Riegut Hon. SIDNEY HERBERT, M.P.
WALTER LONG, Ese., M.P.
JOSEPH NEELD, Esea., M.P.
R. PARRY NISBET, Esa.
Lizvr-Cot. H. 8. OLIVIER.
W. W. SALMON, Esa.
T. H. S. SOTHERON, Ese. M.P.

Treasurer.—Lievt.-Co. H. S. Oxrvier, Devizes.

General Secretaries.

Tue Rev. W. C. LUKIS, Great Bedwyn.
Tue Rev. J. E. JACKSON, Leigh-Delamere, Chippenham.

District, or Hocal Secretartes.

Tue Rev. JAMES BLISS, Ogbourne, Marlborough.
Mr. E. BRADBURY, Chippenham.

Mr. W. CUNNINGTON, Devizes.

Tue Rey. ARTHUR FANE, Warminster.

N. JARVIS HIGHMORE, Esa., M.D., Bradford.
Mr. KENRICK, Melksham.

Mr. J. N. LADD, Calne.

Tue Rey. F. LEAR, Bishopstone, Salisbury.
Tue Rey. E. MEYRICK, Chisledon.

Mr. W. OSMOND, Jun., Salisbury.

Mr. J. P. PRANGLEY, Heytesbury.

Tue Rey. A. C. SMITH, Yatesbury.

Mr. N. V. SQUAREY, Salisbury.

Mr. R. E. VARDY, Warminster.

Committee,
ARCHDEACON MACDONALD, Mr. FALKNER,
Mr. THOMAS B. ANSTIE, | Mr. H. A. MEREWETHER,
Mr. H. BUTCHER, Dr. SEAGRAM,
Mr. H. M. CLARKE, Dr. THURNAM,
Mr. W. CUNNINGTON, Mr. WAYLEN,
Tue Rey. B. C. DOWDING, Mr. WITTEY.

Wilts Trchealagical & atural Wistary Society.

LIST OF MEMBERS.
[Those marked (*) are Life Members. |

Alexander, Dr., Hammersmith, Lond.
Astley, Sir F. D. Bart., Everley
Anstie, G. W., Devizes.

Anstie, T. B., ditto

Anstie, E. B., ditto

Anstie, F. E., ditto

Attwood, F., the Close, Salisbury
Attwood, Mrs., ditto
*Awdry, Sir J. W., Notton-House
Awdry, Justly, Melksham
Awdry, Rey. E. C., Grittleton

Badger, T., Devizes
Bathurst, Sir F. T. H., Bart., Claren-
don Park
Beach, Sir M. H. H., (M.P.) Bart.,
Netherayon

Biggs, R., Devizes

Biggs, Dr. R. W., ditto

Blackwell, T. E., Clifton

Bliss, Rey. J., Ogbourne

Brabant, Dr. R. H., Bath
Bradbury, E., Chippenham
Bradford, T., Swindon

Biscoe, Rev. W., Combe Bisset
Broughton, Rt. Hon. Lord, ErleStoke
Brown, Rev. M., Nonsuch

Brown, W., Winterbourne Monkton
Brown, W., Broad Hinton

Brown, G., Aveb
*Bruce, Earl, Tottenham

Brunton, Rey. W., Warminster
Buckertield, Rey. F. H., Lit. Bedwyn
Bull, H., Devizes

Burne, Rev. W. W., Grittleton
Burrows, W., Devizes

Burt, J., ditto

Butcher, H. jun., ditto

Carrington, F. A., Ogbourne Saint
George
Champ, J., Devizes
Christie, Rey. R. C., Castle Combe
Clark, T. jun., Trowbridge
*Clarke, H. M., Devizes
Cleather, Rey. G. E., Chirton

Cleather, Rev. G. P., Aldbourne
Clutterbuck, E. L., Hardenhuish
Cotton, Rev. G. L., Marlborough
Cosens, Rey. W. R., Warminster
Crawley, Rey. R., Steeple Ashton
Crook, Rey. H. 8. C., Upavon
Crook, Mrs., ditto

Cunnington, W., Devizes
Cunnington, H., ditto
Cunnington, E., ditto

Dodd, 8., Kentish Town, London
Domville, Rev. C. C., Nettleton
Dowding, Rev. B. C.

Drury, Rey. H., Bremhill
DuBoulay, Rey. F. H., Heddington
*Duke, Rey. E., Lake House

Earle, Rey. Francis, Wootton Rivers
Edmonds, E. jun., Trowbridge
Ellen, J., Devizes

Esmeade, G. M. M., Chippenham
Esteourt, Lieut-Col., Eaton-place
Evans, M., Devizes

Everett, Dr. W. G., ditto

Falkner, R., Devizes
Falkner, T. A., Weymouth
Falkner, G., Devizes

Fane, Rey. A., Warminster
Farley, Rev. G., Cherhill
Fellowes, T. A., Chippenham

Gabriel, Miss, Rowde
*Gladstone,Capt.,(M.P.)Bowden Park

Goddard, Rey. F., Alderton

Goddard, Rev.G. Ashe,ClyffePypard

Goddard, H. N., ditto

Goodwin, J., Salisbury

Gore, A., Melksham

Grantham, H., Heytesbury

Grant, J., Manningford

Grooby, Rey. J., Swindon

Guthrie, Rey. J., Calne

Harris, Rev. E., Devizes Green

LIST OF MEMBERS.

Hayward, J., Devizes

Hayward, Johnson, Etchilhampton

Hayward, W. P., Wilsford
*Heneage, G. H. W., (M.P.) Compton
*Herbert, Rt. Hon. Sidney, M.P.,

Wilton

Hillier, W., Monckton

Highmore, Dr. N. J., Bradford

Holland, A.P., Wilts County Asylum
Howell, J., Rutland Gate, London
Howse, T., 19, St.Paul’s Churchyard

Hughes, Miss, Bath

Hulbert, H. H., Devizes

Jackson, Rey. J. E., Leigh Delamere
Jacob, J. H., the Close, Salisbury
Jones, Rey. W. H., Bradford
Joyner, R., Brompton, London

Kemm, T., Avebury

Kent, 8. Savill, Baynton House
Kenrick, G. C., Melksham

Killick, Rev. R., Urchfont

Kingsbury, Rey. T. L., Marlborough
Kingsland, Rev. W., Devizes
Kingsley, Rey. H., Tottenham Park

Ladd, J. N., Calne

*Lansdowne, The most Honble. the

Marquis of, Bowood

Leach, R. V., Briton Ferry
Lear, Rey. F., Bishopstone
Littlewood, Rey. 8., Edington
Locke, F. A. 8., Rowdeford

*Long, Walter, (M.P.) Rood Ashton
Lukis, Rev. W. C., Great Bedwyn
Lukis, F. C., (F.S.A.) Guernsey

Macdonald, the Ven. Archdeacon
Maskelyne, E. 8S., South Street,
Grosvenor Square
Mackrell, H., Devizes
Matcham, G., New House, Salisbury
Markland, #. H., (D.C.L.,) Bath
Maysmor, R., Devizes
Medlicott, Rev. J., Potterne
Meredith, Capt. Bromham
Merriman, W. C., Marlborough
Merriman, T. B., ditto
Meek, A., Devizes
Meyrick, Rey. E., Chisledon
*Merewether, H. A., Bowden Hill
Miles, J., Wexcombe, Great Bedwyn
Morgell, Rey. Crosbie, Knoyle
Morrice, Kev. W., Longbridge-
Deverell

Montgomrey, R., Devizes
Morgan, Rev. D., Ham
Moulton, 8., Bradford

Mullings, R., (M.P.,) Cirencester

Neale, H., Foxhangers
*Neeld, J., (M.P.) Grittleton
*Nisbet, R.P., Devizes

Noyes, J., Chippenham

*Olivier, Lieut-Col., Potterne
Osmond, W., jun., Salisbury

Palairet, 8. H., Woolley, near
Bradford

Picton, Rev. J. O., Rowde

Pigou, H. M., Devizes

Phipps, Rey. E. J., Stansfield

Plater, Rev. H., Marlborough

Player, J., Devizes

Prangley, J. P., Heytesbury

Popham, F. L., Littlecote

Popham, Rey. J. L., Chilton

Proctor, W. Stapleton, Bristol

Proctor, T., Bristol

Prower, Rey. Canon, Purton

Fae Rt. Hon. the Earl of, Coles-
Randle, N. B., Devizes

*Salisbury, The Lord Bishop of
Salisbury, The very Rev. the Dean of
*Salmon, W. W., London
Saunders, T. Bush, ditto
Seagram, Dr. W. B., Devizes
*Selfe, H. Martin, Great Bedwyn
Seymour, Capt., Ramsbur
*Serope, G. Poulett, (M.P.) Castle
Combe
Shuter, James, Chilton
Simpson, G., Devizes
Skipper, Rey. J. B., Marden
Sloper, G. E., Devizes
Sloper, G.E., jun., ditto
Sloper, 8. E., ditto
Smith, Rev. A., ditto
Smith, Rev. A. C., Yatesbury
Smith, R., Shaw House
*Sotheron, T, H. S., (M.P.) Estcourt
House, Tetbury
Spencer, J., Bowood
Strickland, Rey. E., Warminster
Suffolk, Rt. Hon. the Earl, Charlton
Squarey, N. V., Salisbury
Stanton, Rev. T'., Burbage

XiV LIST. OF MEMBERS.

Tanner, J., Mudeford House, Christ-
church

Taylor, 8S. Watson, Urchfont

Tayler, C., Trowbridge

Thurnam, Dr., (F.S.A.) Co. Asylum.

Tinker, W., Conock
Tuffnell, Rev. E. W., Beechingstoke
Tugwell, W. E., Devizes

Vardy, R. E., Warminster
Vicary, G., ditto

Wansey, W., Bognor
Ward, Rev. J., Wath, Ripon

Warren, Rev. E. B., Marlborough
Waylen, James, Etchilhampton
Waylen, R., Devizes

Wayte, W., Highlands, Calne
Wilkinson, Rev. Dr., Lavington
Wilkinson, Rev.J., BroughtonGifford
Wilton, Rev. E., Lavington
Wittey, 8., Devizes

Wood, Rey. P. A. L., ditto
Woodman, H.

Wyatt, T.H., 77, Gt. Russell Street
Wylde, Rev. W. T., Woodborough
Wyndham, E., Blandford Square

Wilts Archealogical K Matural Wistory Society.

NEW MEMBERS,
ELECTED SEPT. 12th.
[Those marked (*) are Life Members].

Antrobus, Sir E. Bart., Amesbury
Alexander, G. Westrip House,
Highworth

Barrow, Rey. J., Upton Scudamore

Buckley, Major General, (M.P.) New
Hall, Sarum

Brodie, E. W., Salisbury

Brown, J., Salisbury

Bennett, Mrs. J., Salisbury

Baker, Colonel, Salisbury

Blackmore, H., Salisbury

Bennett, J,, Salisbury

Brown, J., Aldbourne

Bailey, E., Cirencester

Bailward, J., Horsington

Bleek, C., Warminster

Cooper, Rey. 8. Lovick Astley,
Buckland Newton

Carey, Rev. Tupper, Longbridge
Deverell

Chaplin, W. J., (M.P.)

Colborne, W., (M.D.) Chippenham

Clutton, H., Charles Street, Regent
Street, London

Crowdy, A. Swindon

Dyson, Rey. F., Tidworth
Dunn, A. E., Trowbridge
Dowding, W., Fisherton, Sarum

Eyre, the Rey. Subdean, Salisbury
Everett, Rev. E., Wilsford

Ewart, W., (M.P.) Broadleaze
Edwards, J., Amesbury

Fisher, F. R., Salisbury
Fowler, Dr., Salisbury
Farrant, R., Salisbury

Hodgson, Rev. J. D., East Grafton

Huntley, Rev. R. W., Boxwell

Hony, the Ven. Archdeacon, Baver-
stock, Salisbury —

_ *Hoare, Sir H. R., Bart., Stourhead

Hetley, R., Close, Salisbury

Hinxman, E., Jun., Little Durnford
House, Sarum

Hulse, E., Breamore

Hussey, J., Salisbury

Hodding, M. T. Salisbury

King, Rev. C., Stratford
Kitcat, Rev. D., Wilton

Light, Rev. H., Wroughton
Lawrence, W.
Lambert, J., Salisbury

Mc. Niven, Rev. C., Patney
Mayow, Rev. M. W., Market Lay-
ington

Male, Rey. A., Titherton

Nelson, Rt. Hon. the Earl, Trafalgar

Noyes, J. W. Finch, Laverstock

Noyes, James, Chippenham

Noyes, John, Southampton

Nichols, J. B., F.S.A., Parliament
Street, London

Nightingale, J. E., Wilton

Phillipps, Sir Thos., Bart., F.S.A., &c.
Parsons, J., London
*Penruddocke, C., Compton Park
Phelps, H., Bowood

Pain, T., Salisbury

Price, R. E., Marlborough

Peill, Rev. J. N., Newton Toney

Radcliffe, Rev. G., Salisbury
Renaud, Rev. W., Salisbury
Richards, Rev. W. J., Salisbury
Reith, J., Salisbury

Ravenhill, J., Ashton

°
*Salisbury, The Rt. Rev. Walter Kerr,
Lord Bishop of

Smart, Rey. Newton, Alderbury
Simms, Rey. E., Wilton

Seymour, A., Knoyle House
Swayne, J. Wilton

Swayne, H. J. F., Stratford
Southby, A., M.D., Bulford

Tiffin, T. W., Salisbury
Tylor, A., London

Wayte, Rev. W., Eton

Winzar, J., Salisbury

Warwick, J. Laverstock, Salisbury
Wickens, Miss, Salisbury

White, W. M., Lansdown, Bath

AGENTS

FOR THE SALE OF THE

WILTSHIRE MAGAZINE.

Bath «...6. S. Haywarp, Abbey Church. Yard.
.. Pracu & Co., Bridge Street. —
Bristol; 5...» T. Kersiakg, 3, Park Street.

H. Oxpiann, 28, Corn Street.
Bradford .... J. Day, Old Market Place.

Calne ..4+4. H. 8. & A. Hearn, High Street.
Chippenham, . J. & G. Noyes, High Street.
Cirencester .. E. Batty, Market Place.

Devizes, ....+s H. Butt, St. John Street.

N. B. Ranprz, Market Place.
Malmesbury... Mary W. ALexanner, High Street.
Marlborough. . W. W. Lucy, High Street.

W. Emsertiy, High Street.
Melksham. ... 3. Cocurane, Bank Street.

Oxford, ..... J. H. Parxer, Broad Street.
Salisbury .... Brown & Co., Canal. ~

F. A. Brake, Blue Boar Row.

K. Crarrerton, Katharine Street. ~-
Swindon .... ApBot Dore, Victoria Street.
Trowbridge .. J. Dretock, Fore Street.
Warminster... R. E. Varpy, Market Place.

H. BULL, PRINTER, DEVIZES.

NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.

—

The Second Annual Meeting will be held at Chippenham, on the
11th and 12th of September next, when a Temporary Museum will
be formed at the Town-Hall, the use of which has been kindly granted
Jor the oceasion by Joseph Neeld, Esq.

The loan of Articles illustrative of the Archeology or Natural
History of the County is particularly requested.

Gentlemen who have prepared Papers, or who wish to bring forward
any subject at the Meeting, are requested to communicate with the
Secretaries as early as possible.

N.B. A List of Contributions to the Museum and Library is omitted
in the present Number for want of space.

NEW MEMBERS.

[Those marked (*) are Life Members).

Cattey, Masor, Burderop Park.
CHAMBERLAINE, Rey. G. T., Keevil.

Cowarp, R., Roundway.

Du Boutay, J. T., Exeter College, Oxford.
Everett, Rev. T., Biddesden.

Fowrz, W., Market avington.

Frower, T. Bruces, Rivers Street, Bath.
Havrenvitir, Rev. R. W., Yatton Keynell.
Moorg, Rev. P. H., Devizes.

Pooks, Rev. W. H., Keevil.

Srrarron, R., Broadhinton.

Saquarey, Coarp, Salisbury.

Wuinrierp, Rev. E. T., Woodleigh, Bradford.
*Wetixsiey, Rr. Hon. Viscount, Draycot Park.

AGENTS

FOR THE SALE OF THE

WILTSHIRE MAGAZINE.

v
Bath 5 a oo S. Haywarp, Abbey Church Yard.
Pracu & Co., Bridge Street.
Bristol ...... T. Kerstakg, 3, Park Street.

H. Oxpianp, 28, Corn Street.
Bradford .... 5. Day, Old Market Place.
CARBO ns 555 0 H. 8. & A. Hearn, High Street.
Chippenham. . J. & G. Noyzs, High Street.
Cirencester .. E. Batty, Market Place.
Devizses...... H. Butt, St. John Street.

N. B. Ranpiez, Market Place.
Malmesbury .. Mary W. ALExanver, High Street.
Marlborough. . W. W. Lucy, High Street.

W. Emperuin, High Street.
Melksham. ...I3. Cocurane, Bank Street.
Oxford. ..... J. H. Parxer, Broad Street.
Salisbury. ... Brown & Co., Canal.

F. A. Brake, Blue Boar Row.

K. Crarrerton, Katharine Street.
Swindon .... Assor Dors, Victoria Street.
Trowbridge .. J. Dretock, Fore Street.
Warminster... R. E. Varpy, Market Place.

;

H. BULL, PRINTER, DEVIZES.

WILTSHIRE MAGAZINE.

““MULTORUM MANIBUS GRANDE LEVATUR ONUS.’’---OVID.

GENERAL ACCOUNT OF THE INAUGURAL MEETING.

Tue first Meeting of this Society was held at the Town-Hall,
Devizes, on Wednesday, October 12th, 1853. It was very well
attended; from two to three hundred persons, including many of
the neighbouring Gentry and Clergy, being present in the morning;
and about two-thirds of that number, at the Conversazione in the
evening: the Dinner which intervened, having been attended by
upwards of fifty gentlemen.

At Twelve o’clock the company began to assemble; and after
a short examination of the Museum, temporarily formed in an
adjoining apartment, they proceeded to the Assembly Room; when
on the motion of Mr. Sorneron, M.P., the Most Honourable the
Marquis of LanspowNnr was called to the Chair. His Lordship
offered a few words in accepting the post, and then called upon
the Rev. W. C. Luxts to read the Report of the Provisional
Committee, which he did as follows :—

“ Before proceeding to the further business of this day, it is the
duty of the Provisional Committee of the Wilts Archeological and
Natural History Society to state to the meeting the steps by which
they have attained to their present position, and to request the
sanction of the Members of the Society to the measures which up to
this time they have undertaken on their own responsibility.

“The first impulse to the present movement, was a proposal
made by Mr. Britton in the early part of the year 1852 to dispose
of his collection of Books, Drawings, &c., relating to Wiltshire, either
tosome gentleman connected with the County, or to a public Society
established at some one of its principal towns. Mr. W. Cunnington,
to whom we must all confess ourselves deeply indebted, lost no
time in communicating with some of the principal nobility and
gentry, and was successful in organizing a Provisional Committee,
and in obtaining the sum of £100 for this special purpose.
Negotiations were immediately opened with Mr. Britton, and the
whole of the Collection alluded to passed into the hands of the
Provisional Committee for the sum of £150; the terms of pur-

VOL, I.—NO. I. B

2 General Account of Inaugural Meeting.

chase being arranged by Mr. John Taylor, of Gower Street, a
gentleman well acquainted with the value of literary property. It
consists of a large number of original drawings of Salisbury
Cathedral, and other ecclesiastical edifices in the county (some of
which are now destroyed); of illustrated copies of Mr. Britton’s
own works relating to Wiltshire; and of large gatherings of extracts
from newspapers, &c., made by him through a long series of years.
In addition to these may be mentioned the unique Celtic cabinet
containing models of Stonehenge and Avebury, together with a
considerable number of Books, MSS., &c., relating both to those
remarkable monuments, and to others of a like kind in different
parts of the world.

“Tt is hoped that a Collection so useful to the Antiquary and the
Topographer, may serve as the nucleus of a Repository, into which
may flow by degrees, a much larger number of curious and in-
teresting objects, illustrative both of the Natural History and
Archeology of the County.

“The next step of the Provisional Committee was taken on Nov.
oth, in last year. It was then ‘resolved, that having secured
Mr. Britton’s Collection, an endeavour be made to form a Society
for the purpose of establishing a Museum and Library, and for
the promotion of all objects connected with the elucidation and
study of the general Topography of the County of Wilts.’

“Tn pursuance of this object a request was preferred to the
Mayor and Corporation of Devizes for the use of a portion of the
Town-Hall for the purposes of the Society, and for the deposit of
the collection. This permission was most readily conceded; and
the Committee proceeded accordingly to invite a meeting of the prin-
cipal gentry of the County, which was held on the 4th of January
last; when it was resolved that the Provisional Committee should
have power to add to their number ; that they should make the ne-
cessary arrangements for the formation of the Wilts Archeological
and Natural History Society, and that a meeting of gentlemen inter-
ested in the subject should be held about, or soon after, the following
Easter.’

“Tt is unnecessary to enter at any length into the subsequent
proceedings of the Provisional Committee. It may be sufficient to
appeal to the favorable results which have hitherto attended their
efforts. Many unforeseen hinderances have occurred which have
delayed the Inaugural Meeting till the present time. Many
objections had to be combated relating to the locality of the
Museum and Collection; but there has been evinced on the whole
an earnest desire in every part of the county to co-operate in the
design; and up to this time 140 persons have enrolled themselves
members of the Society which it is proposed this day to inaugurate.

“Having now laid before the meeting a summary of their
proceedings, it only remains for the Provisional Committee to

General Account of Inaugural Meeting. 3

retire from the duties assigned to them. But before doing so, they
venture to offer a word of suggestion with respect to the future
course and prospects of the Society.

“Tt may first be desirable to point out more specifically its two-
fold objects: to promote the study both of Antiquities and
Natural History. These two may seem at first sight incompatible :
but the success which has attended their union in the case of the
Somersetshire Society, leads us to believe that both pursuits can
be carried on under the same auspices: and even independently of
this instance of success, it was considered advisable to adopt this
course as being likely to increase the success of our Institution,
and to make the contents of our Museum and Library as various
and as interesting as possible to a larger number of our members.
Besides which, as one of our chief purposes is to collect materials
for a County History, it is obvious that so interesting a subject
as its Natural History could not with propriety be omitted.

“The success then of our Society under these two great heads,
obviously depends not on the attendance at one or two large
meetings, but on constant and earnest application to our work. In
the department of Antiquities, how large a sphere of operations is
open to us! Remains of almost every era are lying before us,
presenting an unexampled field for research. The traces of British,
Roman, and Saxon occupation require to be carefully studied and
illustrated. The period prior to the Conquest has greater and
more interesting remains in Wiltshire than in almost any other
county. The theories which have been advocated respecting
Avebury and Stonehenge demand investigation. And passing on
to a later period, every parish has its own object of interest in its
Church or baronial Castle, its domestic Mansion, its Traditions, its
peculiar Superstitions, its family History, its Registers, and the
very Monumental Inscriptions which, especially in our churchyards,
are gradually crumbling to decay. We want a sufficient body of
active coadjutors to observe and describe all these. And we may
venture to hope that from the resident gentry and the parochial
clergy we shall receive ready and valuable assistance. We would
especially point out that great service may be conferred upon us
by those who will contribute to our Portfolios any drawings of
either present or previously existing buildings.

“Tn the department of Natural History we may hope, also, that
the Geologists of our county will assist not merely by communicating
new facts, but by adding to the stores of our Museum. The
Ornithologist, the Microscopist, the Entomologist, and the Botanist,
may each in like manner furnish their stock of information. The
smallest contributions, though in themselves of little value, acquire
a higher importance when added to those of others.

“To those who are residing in the neighbourhood of this town,
the Museum will of course be more particularly useful; and it is

B 2

4 General Account of Inaugural Meeting.

hoped that no unworthy jealousy of this, or that locality, will
preclude our friends in every part of Wiltshire, from adding to the
Collection which will be gathered within these walls.

“But in a county in which intercommunication is, from various
causes, by no means easy, it appears desirable that the interest of our
members should be kept up by some cheap periodical publication.
“The Naturalist,” and “Notes and Queries” will furnish an example
of what we would suggest. Almost every day is adding to the
stock of local information, which if contributed and embodied in a
permanent form, might thus become useful to others.

“Tt may seem to be urging what would be only of special use to
the neighbourhood of Devizes, but which we yet trust may not be
without its value to the county at large, if we lay stress on the
formation of a Library, in connection with our Museum. It is plain
that such an addition is necessary to the completeness of our plan.
Topographical, Antiquarian, and scientific pursuits require above all
others very expensive books for their prosecution. County Histories
and works on Natural History are notoriously of the most costly
kind. And many persons are checked at their very first entrance
on these branches of study, by being unable to purchase the books
requisite for carrying them on successfully. In this case, also, we
may venture to hope for contributions from our friends. Many a
volume is now lying comparatively useless on the shelves of the
owner, which would become of general utility if merely deposited in
our Library, without being permanently presented to it. It may
be added, in confirmation of this remark, that this system was
adopted with respect to some of the most valuable works in the
Library of the Bath Institution.

“It need hardly be pressed on your notice, that, for the
prosecution of your designs, some subdivision of labour is impera-
tively required. It is suggested, therefore, that sub-committees
should be formed in each respective department, Antiquarian,
Scientific, and Literary. And with the view of obtaining definite
local information, we would propose the circulation of a series of
questions according to a form to be laid before the meeting, subject,
of course, to such additions and corrections as may appear desirable.

“Tn setting forth this plan for the future proceedings of the
Society, we must apologise for its brevity and defects, and express
an earnest hope that what is now but faintly delineated may be
more boldly drawn out by those who will be deputed in our stead
to carry on the design which we have begun. The Provisional
Committee here terminate their labours. They have felt many
anxieties in carrying on their work to the present point: they hope
the meeting will pardon the imperfect manner in which they have
fulfilled this trust, and they commend the future welfare of the
Society to the good feeling of the county at large.”

General Account of Inaugural Meeting. 5

Sir J. W. Awory, Knight, then proposed that the above Report
should be adopted.

Mr. Nisser seconded the proposition, which was unanimously
adopted.

The RecorpER oF Devizes (Mr. H. Merewether) moved the next
resolution,—

“That a Society be formed, to be called the Wiltshire Archeological and

Natural History asa and that its ae shall be to cultivate and collect
information on Archeology and Natural History in their various branches, and
to form a Library and Museum, illustrating the History, natural, civil, and
ecclesiastic, of the County of Wilts.”

—He expressed great pleasure in assisting, according to his humble
ability, in the formation of a Society which would not only be of great
local interest, but which would also be instrumental in preserving
traditions beyond the limits of the county.

Colonel Oxtvrer seconded the motion, and added a few observa-
tions on the success which had attended the progress of the
proceedings hitherto. The Museum which had already been formed
had succeeded beyond expectation, and there was every prospect of
its enlargement and establishment.

Rey. J. E. Jackson, Rector of Leigh-Delamere, then read a code
of Rules and Regulations which had been approved of by the
Provisional Committee, the adoption of which, for the future guidance
of the Society, he then moved.

Mr. H. Burcuer seconded the motion, and the noble Chairman
having put it to the meeting, it was unanimously adopted.

Rey. A. C. Smrru, Rector of Yatesbury, in proposing the next
resolution, said that a very few words from him would be sufficient
to commend it to their acceptance. They had already heard, by
the report of the Provisional Committee, how very valuable was
the collection of books made by that distinguished antiquary, Mr.
Britton—how intrinsically valuable, and also of what additional
interest they were to the Society, inasmuch as they particularly
related to the antiquities of Wilts. They had also had an
opportunity of seeing them in the room adjoining, and it would
therefore require no further preface from him in proposing “that
this collection of books, &c., should become the property of the
Society.” (Cheers.)

Dr. Tuurnam seconded the motion, which was adopted.

The Ven. Arcupracon Macponatp said—You all know the
eminent services which the Marquis of Lansdowne has rendered to
this country ; and are aware of the high position he occupies in
your county, and the great interest he takes in everything
concerning it. I have therefore the greatest confidence, as well as
the greatest pleasure, in proposing “that his Lordship be requested
to become the Patron of this Society.”’ (Cheers.)

6 General Account of Inaugural Meeting.

Mr. Heneacr, M.P.—I am sure, in his Lordship’s presence, I
shall best consult his feelings, and also the feelings of all the
persons present, by simply saying that his Lordship, from his
position in this county, and from his talents and acquirements, is
the fittest person we could select to preside over this Society.

The Marquis of Lanspowne—This is a motion which I can
hardly put to the meeting. I may say, however, that I am
extremely happy to accept the office which your kindness disposes
you to confer on me, notwithstanding that it is one of which I
consider myself unworthy, having but little knowledge of those
pursuits, which it is the object of this Society to follow out. At the
same time I feel equally flattered by the distinction you propose to
confer upon me by electing me as its Patron, although I feel that the
office must, in a great measure, be a nominal one. You all know
that in these times the real patron of any Society like this, must be
the public. If it is well supported by the public it will flourish ;
and if not, the influence of no individual can give it permanency.
(Cheers.) Tam glad to be here this day, to see the very general
disposition to support the Society on the part of the public, repre-
sented as it is by the gentlemen present, and also, I am happy to
say, by the ladies, in whose hands the research into subjects of
antiquity may be as well prosecuted as in the hands of gentlemen,
and who may therefore contribute to the welfare of a Society
established now, for the first time, in this county—a county which
undoubtedly does afford as much invitation for such an establishment
as any county in England, inasmuch as we all know there is
not a barrow opened that does not tell its own tale, nor an excavation
made which does not reward the industry and enterprise of its
conductors. The question that I conceive to be of the greatest
importance to you now is, not who shall be the Patron, but who
shall be the President ; and I do hope you will very shortly place
that presidency into the best hands. (Cheers.)

Mr. Sorneron, M.P.—I have been requested to propose a
resolution, upon which, perhaps more than on any other, I think the
efficiency of this Society will depend, and I hope in doing so I shall
justify your reasonable expectations. I wish I had time, or ability,
to express the universal sense of all, who take an interest in this
Society, of the peculiar and eminent qualifications of Mr. Scrope for
the office of President. (Loud applause.) I might remind you of
what Mr. Scrope has written and done. I might mention that, of
which most indeed must be aware, namely, that there is hardly any
department of the science of Archeology with which he is not
perfectly acquainted, and that in many branches of Natural History
he holds, not only in this county, but thr oughout the country, a high
and distinguished position. I might also state that there is scarcely
any social “question —whether the parties concerned in it be rich or
poor—to which Mr. Scrope has not contributed useful suggestions

General Account of Inaugural Meeting. v

of various kinds and in various forms—suggestions sometimes
designed to meet the requirements of the moment, and sometimes of
amore permanent nature. I might also add of my own personal
knowledge, that which is a very great qualification to a President of
a Society like this, namely, that amongst the many gentlemen of
whose old acquaintance I can boast, as dating back to the days when
we were schoolfellows together at Harrow, I know of no one more
than Mr. Scrope possessing the qualifications of urbanity, kindness,
readiness of eloquence, and other excellent qualities, rendering him
peculiarly fitted to preside over such a Society as we have to-day
instituted. Without further preface, therefore—regretting that I
cannot do it better, but doing it with all my heart—I beg to propose
that George Poulett Scrope, Esq., be requested to accept the office
of first President of the Society. (Cheers.)

Mr. H. M. Crarxz, in a few words, seconded the proposition, which
was put and carried with acclamation.

Mr. Scrore said—in obeying your command to take the chair as
the first President of the Society which you have now established,
I feel myself wholly overwhelmed by the unexpected compliment
paid me—not in respect of such appointment, for that I was led to
expect—but in the far too flatterimg and favourable terms in which
my friend, Mr. Sotheron, has spoken of my qualifications for the
office. I regret these encomiums the more, because I feel myself
inadequate either to do justice to the duties of the office, or to
satisfy my own views in that matter. I can only say, in accepting
it—upon the ground merely of the strong interest I feel, and have
always felt, in the study of those pursuits which it is the main
object of this Society to propagate and encourage—that I must trust
to your indulgence to overlook the manifest deficiencies which will
show themselves very shortly ; and at the same time to request you
to be kind enough to allow me one further indulgence before I
address myself, at greater length, to the business of the day—namely
to permit me to propose a resolution to the meeting for this purpose:
—Weare honoured to-day with the presence of the Lord Lieutenant
of the county: his time is not his own,—it belongs to the public,
and is most valuable; and I do not think it is desirable he should be
detained during the time which I shall probably consume in reading
a very dull paper. At the same time you would not wish him to
withdraw, without having the opportunity of thanking him for
being so good as to take the office upon him, which you have now
requested him to fill. Before I proceed to what has been advertized,
rather too prominently, as an “Inaugural Address,” I therefore’
venture to ask you to allow me to propose the thanks of the meeting
to his Lordship for his kindness in permitting himself to be nominated
as Patron of this Society. (Cheers).

Mr. Joun Brirron said—It is with very singular gratification I
second the motion Mr. Scrope has proposed to you. I have had the

8 General Account of Inaugural Meeting.

pleasure of knowing his Lordship, I think for about fifty-six years,
when he was a little boy, and I was grown up tolerably well to
what is called manhood. I remember, at that early period, his
activity at Bowood, his devotedness to study, and particularly to
the improvement of Bowood, which at that time was a very different
place to what it is now. Itis now not only an honour to the county,
but to all England—(cheers)—and its noble and magnanimous
possessor is not only entitled to gratitude for his past services in
connection with this county, but additionally for what he has
done to benefit this glorious country. (Cheers.) God bless his
Lordship! may he live to my own age, and be as happy as I am
at the age of eighty-two, and for many years may he come before
you, or your successors, to celebrate the establishment of this
Society, which will, and must redound to the honour of Wiltshire,
and to the advancement of topographical and archzeological pursuits
in general. (Cheers.)

The resolution having been carried by acclamation, the noble
Marautis said—I hope you will allow me to return my most sincere
thanks for the unexpected honour you have conferred upon me just
now, in addition to that paid me before, when you requested me to
become your Patron. I can only say the Society has my most
sincere good wishes, as I trust it will have the good wishes of every
gentleman in the county, for its success. And if I have the good
fortune to live as long as my friend Mr. Britton has stated that
he has lived, doing good all the time, and exerting himself for the
benefit of his native county, I hope I shall be in as good condition
at the wholesome age of eighty-two as he appears to be in now.
(Cheers. )

(His Lordship then resumed his seat, but did not leave the
meeting until the conclusion of Mr. Scrope’s address.)

Mr. Scrore then rose and delivered the following

ADDRESS.

My Lord, ladies and gentlemen,—In obeying your command
that I should take the chair as President of the Society, which we
meet to day to inaugurate, I feel that I am undertaking duties
which I shall be unable to fulfil with the efficiency necessary to
justify your confidence. I can only plead in apology the interest
I take in the studies which it is the object of the Society to encourage,
and my desire to do anything within my power to promote their more

eneral cultivation.

The title of our Association sufficiently indicates the purposes it
has in view. And the means by which it is proposed to carry them
out have been already explained to you in detail.

It may, however, be not inappropriate for me, on the occasion of
this our first meeting, to make a few general remarks upon the

Mr. Poulett Scrope’s Address. 9

advantages that we may reasonably expect to gather from the
Institution of which we are to-day laying the foundation.

It is scarcely necessary for me to state that Archeology, the
pursuit of which we are uniting to promote, is the study of antiqui-
ties, not for the gratification of an unreasoning curiosity, but with
the view of bringing them to bear upon and illustrate history—and.
especially /oca/ history, or topography ; which indeed, may be said
to be included in the term. The investigation of the ancient
monuments of a country, of its buildings, military, civil, and
ecclesiastical, of the weapons, implements, furniture, dress, and
ornaments of its inhabitants, from the earliest period to the present
day, is as indispensable towards the due comprehension of its history
as the examination of its written records, which are, in part, them-
selves, likewise, the subjects of archeological research. So under-
stood (and in these days it is always so understood) Archeology
remains no longer open to the good humoured ridicule which has so
often been levelled against antiquaries—the Jonathan Oldbucks of
other times—as a sort of learned triflers over things of no real value
or interest—

*Nought but a world of old nick-nackets,
Of rusty swords and fusty jackets.”

On the contrary, this pursuit has assumed a position of honour and
respect in popular estimation, and has been elevated to the rank of
a science.

Such researches, indeed, could only have been undervalued, at
any time, by those who shut their eyes to the remarkable influence
exercised over the human mind by every object that can claim an
association with interesting characters, or important events. There
is an eager desire, of which all mankind, perhaps, are sensible, to
attain some tangible, or visible memorial of the great men of other
days, to visit the spots which they frequented, to linger in the ruins
of their habitations, the scenes in which their great deeds were
performed, the tombs in which their ashes repose. Proofs of the
universality of this feeling pervade all ages, and are obvious to all
eyes. It is seen most conspicuously perhaps, in the “ Pilgrimages ”’
of ancient and modern days, or still more in the contests carried on
between entire nations, and through centuries, even up to the

resent hour, for the possession of what are called the “Holy

laces” of Judea—that is to say, of the material objects most closely
associated with what to every Christian must always be the most
intensely interesting event and personage in history.

This feeling, like all other powerful instincts of our nature, is
liable to abuse, and apt to run into extravagance, as witness the
absurdities of relic-worship. And some may consider it beneath
the dignity of history to avail herself of it. But no sentiment so
universal, and so powerful in its influence, can be wisely disregarded

10 General Account of Inaugural Meeting.

or contemned. The true course to pursue is to direct it into whole-
some and legitimate, in lieu of morbid and unworthy channels; and
this is the province of Archzology rightly understood.

No doubt some antiquarian, and even historical relics, are of a
trivial character, and some as apocryphal as any monkish reliquary ;
yet a real dignity, and a true interest attaches to objects which are
authentically associated with noble characters, and deeds of high
emprise. Who could view without a thrill of imterest—in the
armoury lately formed in Windsor Castle—the identical weapons
worn and used in their heroic encounters by Charlemagne, Edward
the Black Prince, Cromwell, and Napoleon? Who can look
unmoved upon the original copy of Magna Charta in the British
Museum? or raise his eyes to the window in Whitehall where the
Royal Charles was beheaded? or tread the pavement of West-
minster Hall, the scene of so many stately pageants of the middle
ages? or of the adjacent Abbey, where lie so many of the illustrious
dead? or who can walk unconcerned over the field of Flodden, or
of Waterloo ?

It is, then, to this universal sentiment, this yearning after some
material evidences of the great facts of history, that the archeologist
appeals when he points, with almost reverential regard, to the
camps, the battle-fields, the castles, the monuments, that witnessed
the occurrence of splendid actions or important events, or when he
offers to the curious eye medals impressed with the likeness of some
heroic sovereign, the armour of a Roman warrior, or the ornaments
of an Egyptian beauty. A collection of antiquities 7s, indeed,
history itself made palpable to the senses, It is by these means
that the personages, places, and facts with which history deals are
brought, as it were, bodily before us, to illustrate what otherwise
would be but a dry narrative and nomenclature. Archeology
presents, moreover, to us, in vivid forms and colors, the actual life
and manners of our ancestors, and the scenes and memorials of
their less distinguished actions—affixing the stamp of reality to
what would else be scarcely distinguishable from the fictions of
romance.

Nor is the study of the works of former generations less impor-
tant, as affording lessons in Art, of the highest practical utility.
It is well known that the most perfect examples of the beautiful, in
almost every department of art, in architecture, sculpture, and design,
are derived from antiquity. And, even in this utilitarian age, the
quality of beauty is found to possess an intrinsic mercantile value,
and its study to be indispensable to the prosperity of a commercial,
and manufacturing nation, wholly beyond, and besides, the genuine
pleasure it is calculated to afford, and its elevating and civilizing
influence on our tastes and habits.

I may give as one instance the great development that has taken
place of late years in the ceramic art, entirely through the attention

Mr. Poulett Scrope’s Address. Il

paid to the beautiful forms and ornaments of Greek, Roman, and
Etruscan pottery preserved in our Archeological Museums. Buta
yet more striking example may be noted in the improvement
observable on all sides in our ecclesiastical edifices, owmg to the
increased study of the medizeval models. It is not much more than
half a century back since Gothic Architecture was still regarded by
the many as the rude work of barbarians devoid of taste. Now we
have the gratification of seeing those stately and magnificent piles,
upon which the piety of our ancestors lavished untold wealth, and
their architects the resources of unexampled skill, taste, and genius,
preserved, or restored, with a judgment and devotion parallel to that
by which they were originally raised. We see, too, new churches,
of almost equal beauty and grandeur, rising to meet the wants of
an increasing population—some of them fully comparable to the
work of the best ages, such as that superb Basilica which the
munificence of one of our county members has reared in the town
from which the county derives its name. All this improvement in
the style of our sacred buildings is the result, be it remembered, of
the greater attention now paid to Archeological pursuits, and the
judicious investigation of the works of antiquity.

It is possible that some persons may fail at first sight to discern
the connection between the two studies which are conjoined in the
title of our Society—Archeology and Natural History. But,
as has been said by others, “The student of nature is a student of
antiquities, quite as truly as the explorer of ancient art.” An
inquirer into God’s works is as much an antiquary and historian as
he who examines the early works of man. The rocks and minerals
of a country are the materials of its construction, and the monu-
ments of the vicissitudes through which its surface has passed, both
before and since its occupation by man. Fossils have been aptly
termed the “medals of creation,” and the geologist, indeed, like the
coin collector, learns from them to distinguish the successive ages
of the earth’s history. Ethnology is as much a natural science as
a branch of history, to which Archeology supplies the means of
comparing the various races of mankind. In truth, to complete the
history of a country, there is required a thorough knowledge of
its physical geography, its mineral structure, and of the plants
and animals, no less than of the human beings, which from first
to last have inhabited it.

So much (too much I fear you will think) in vindication of the
saya character and aim of societies such as this which you are to-

ne with your approval.

ut we have a further and special purpose in view, to which I

must now ask your attention. It is suggested in the words of the

printed circular proposing the formation of the Society; namely

“the collecting and concentrating information on the Natural and

Civil History, Topography and Antiquities of owr county” inparticular.
o2

12 General Account of Inaugural Meeting.

Societies have been formed for a similar end in several other
counties—for example, in Somerset, Sussex, and Northamptonshire,
and they have proved eminently successful, and popular. It is,
indeed, obviously desirable that some such means should be employed
for bringing into union and codperation those among the inhabitants
of a provincial district who are already engaged, or are willing to
engage, in the prosecution of these researches; and who, for want
of encouragement and sympathy from others, may either wholly
desist from them, or waste their powers in imperfect efforts, which
often terminate without leaving a trace behind for the assistance or
instruction of others.

No doubt it may be said that there exist already several National
Societies of the kind to which they may resort. But the place of
meeting of these, generally in the metropolis, is probably distant
from their residences. And the interest felt by each person in
researches, extended over so wide a field as the whole island, is
proportionably diluted. Just as the history of England is a matter
of deeper interest to Englishmen than the history of Europe, or of
the world, so to a Wiltshireman the antiquities and history of his
own County, and especially of his immediate neighbourhood, must
offer an object of much stronger regard than those of remote places.
Few persons, perhaps, are to be found insensible to the former, while
it requires the peculiar constitution of a professed antiquary to feel
much zeal in the pursuit of the latter.

Mr. Hunter in the preface to his admirable work on the Deanery
of Doncaster, puts this generally prevailing sentiment in a strong
light. ‘What person,” he asks, “of taste and feeling, or of a
cultivated mind—or, even, who is not utterly devoid of a natural
curiosity, but feels the difference between living in a district which
has been well described by topographers, and one which is a blank
in these respects? In the former there is not an edifice of any
antiquity, a church, a castle, a manor-house, a cross, or a fragment
of ruin, in his neighbourhood, that is not connected with some
incident or character that makes it a matter of interest.” ‘“Topo-
graphy,” he goes on to say, “calls up the spirits of past generations.
We see them gliding among the trees planted by them, or through
the ruins of the buildings they inhabited. We see them in their
proper apparel, and with all the rank and port that belonged to
them. Where there is no written recovery of the past, we can live
only in the present generation. In the ages that are gone by all
is indistinctness; and the want of knowledge of the events that
formerly occurred around us, in the spots that we frequent, deprives
us of a source of great intellectual enjoyment, and of information
often of much practical value.”

It is this Joca/ interest and attachment that has occasioned the
compilation and publication of many county histories—a matter in
respect to which Wiltshire is unfortunately much in arrear of

Mr. Poulett Scrope’s Address. 13

others. Indeed there is scarcely any district of England whose
local history has been, till very lately, so much neglected, or where
so much, even now, remains to be accomplished.

And yet how rich it is in matters of commanding interest to the
historian, and the antiquary! In the uncertainty which rests on
the early annals of the island, through the want of written records,
or the fabulous contradictions of such as we possess, history turns
for information to the monuments of antiquity which its primitive
inhabitants have left upon its surface. And where are to be found
remains of this class in any degree comparable to the wonderful
Celtic temples, and tumuli, and earthworks, with which our county
abounds? Stonehenge and Avebury are to Britain what the Pyra-
mids are to Egypt—the colossal and mysterious relics of an other-
wise unrecorded age, and people! Passing on to a period, the
darkness of which is penetrated by some faint gleams of historical
light—that of the Roman occupation of the island—we find the
vestiges of these military propagators of civilization and art—their
roads, camps, stations, villas, thickly strewn over the soil of our county,
and attesting their lengthened residence here. In a still later age,
Wiltshire is known to have been one of the chief theatres of the
sanguinary and protracted warfare waged by the invading Danes
and Saxons with the aboriginal Britons, and with one another.
Within its limits the heroic Arthur, and still more illustrious
Alfred, contended at different periods for the liberties of their
country, and won their most celebrated victories. Again, when the
Normans had in turn conquered the isle, and imposed their feudal
system on the self-governed Saxons, this district was the chief battle-
field in that memorable contest, between rival sovereigns and their
mailed Barons; the issue of which determined not only the ruling
dynasty, but also the constitutional character of the realm. And
the dwarfed remains of the Baronial strongholds of Sarum, of Lud-
gershall, of Devizes, Malmesbury, and Marlborough, are invested
with a halo of interest from their connection with the fierce and
desolating struggles of that stormy period. At a much later epoch
of civil warfare, that of the Great Rebellion, and again in the
Revolution of 1688, this county was likewise the scene of important
events, deeply interesting to the Constitutional historian.

It may, therefore, be safely asserted that the history of no part of
the kingdom is more deserving of close examination and study:
while it is too certain that few counties have profited less from the
labours of the local historian. It is true that considerable attention
has been paid to the ancient and mysterious monuments of our
Downs; and some rather startling theories have been broached in
explanation of them; though I am far from intending to depreciate
such speculations, for which there is ample ground in the singular
character of these remains. The work on Ancient Wiltshire of
Sir Richard Hoare is, indeed, a splendid contribution to the early

14 General Account of Inaugural Meeting.

history of the county; whose inhabitants can never be too grateful
for the munificence exhibited in its publication, and the persevering
labours which it records—labours in which a near relative of our
valued honorary Secretary, Mr. W. Cunnington, bore a prominent
part. Still, after all that has been effected by their spirited efforts,
there is ample room remaining for further research and discovery
in the direction of our ante-Norman history.

It is true, again, that to the liberality of the same generous indi-
vidual, Sir Richard Hoare, and the industry and ability of his able
coadjutors, the South of the county is indebted for descriptive
histories of its several Hundreds inferior to few, if to any, topogra-
phical publications. In this respect it stands proudly distinguished
and exempt from the reproach which rests upon the Northern
section. And hence, together with the honoured memory of Sir
Richard Hoare, will always be associated in the regard of every
cultivated Wiltshireman, the names of Offer, Matcham, Bowles,
Cunnington, Wansey, Harris, Black, Nichols, Benson, and Hatcher.

Indeed, even in the North, the Abbey of Lacock and some single
manors have been examined and described. But these monographs
are merely exceptions proving the rule, and it is still a sad truth
that the history of more than one-half of the county remains
inadequately investigated, and unwritten. Of its twenty-nine
hundreds, fifteen have been described in the handsome (but rather
costly) folios published under the title of Sir Richard Hoare’s
“Modern Wiltshire.” But they are, speaking generally, neither
the most extensive, nor the most important. The undescribed
fourteen hundreds comprehend by far the largest moiety of the
shire, and contain some of the most interesting subjects.

The magnificent and early Monastery of Malmesbury, second
only to Glastonbury in the whole West of England; those of
Edyngton, Bradenstoke, Kington St. Michael, Bradfield, and
Monkton Farleigh; the important town in which we are now
assembled, with its castle of the 12th century; Marlborough,
which also figured largely in the baronial wars of that period ;
Corsham, the palatial residence of our Saxon kings; Chippenham,
still retaining its pure Saxon name, the station of Alfred’s court
and army for years, both before and after his decisive victory over
the Danes in the neighbourhood; Calne, Cricklade, Highworth,
Wootton Basset, Ludgershall, towns whose early possession of the
elective franchise attests their ancient importance; Trowbridge,
Bradford, and Melksham, for centuries past the flourishing seats of
the staple manufacture of the county, and the cradles of some of
our wealthiest proprietary families; the venerable and handsome
churches which abound in the north of the county, as, to mention
only a few examples, Bishop’s Cannings, Great Bedwyn, Steeple
Ashton, Seend, Sherston, Lydiard, Purton, and Kington;—all
this, and much more, remains, as yet, undescribed, or nearly so,

Mr. Poulett Scrope’s Address. 15

and its history a blank. The same must be said of many of the
seats of the ancient nobility and gentry of the county—Tottenham,
with its guasi-Royal Forest, so long the residence of the Seymours
and the Bruces; Littlecot, one of the most interesting and best
preserved manorial houses of the kingdom; Charlton, the northern
rival of Longleat; Corsham, sometime the residence of the Hun-
gerfords; Bowood, the favourite retreat of more than one generation
of great statesmen, the hospitable resort of wit, poetry, and philo-
sophy, literature and high art; Draycot, for centuries the chosen
seat of the elder stock of the Longs; Rood Ashton, that of another
branch of the same ancient and well-regarded family; Bromham the
seat of the Bayntuns, Dauntsey of the Danverses, Alderton of the
Gores, Swindon of the Goddards, Burderop of the Calleys, Lydiard of
the St. Johns, with many others of which the entire catalogue would
exhaust your patience—all remain, not unknown, of course, but as
yet undescribed in a manner worthy of the interest which justly
attaches to them. No doubt some useful topographical notices of
North Wilts have been published by our worthy and venerable
friend, John Britton—to whom, for this and other of his life-long
labours in the cause of topography, the county stands, in the estima-
tion, I am sure, of us all, deeply indebted. But he himself would
I know, be the first to admit that his volumes contain only very
cursory, and inadequate, sketches of their subjects. And the proof
of this is that, no one has been more active and zealous in his
endeavours to obtain the coédperation of the friends of topograph-
ical research throughout the county, in the task of collecting
materials for, and ultimately publishmg, some satisfactory history
of this northern portion, in which he was born, and which appears
to be the object of his affectionate regard. (Cheers.)
__One evil consequence of the neglect with which so large a portion
of the county has been hitherto treated is, that every year’s delay
adds to the difficulty of gathering the information necessary for
compiling its history. Decay is everywhere at work on our ancient
records of every class. Manuscripts are lost or destroyed: buildings
and monuments, such as churches, priories, chapels, manor-houses,
crosses, tombs, are pulled down or suffered to fall: libraries and
collections of drawings are dispersed: sculptures, paintings, stained
lass,monumental stones or brasses, and other relics, are removed or
troyed. Much, no doubt, that might have been preserved, or at
least imperishably recorded by full descriptions, measurements, and
drawings, only half a century back, is now irrecoverably gone.
Much that we may now save by fitting exertion in the present day
will, otherwise, in another half century—nay, in another ten or
twenty years perhaps—such is the rapidity of modern improvements,
by which old lumber of this kind (as some consider it) is swept
away—be irretrievable. Who is not grateful to the antiquaries of
former times, the Hearnes, the Lelands, the Camdens, the Dugdales,

16 General Account of Inaugural Meeting.

and the Groses, for the information they have preserved to us, how-
ever imperfect, on matters of local interest, which, without their
labours, would have been now beyond our reach? Who does not
regret that more was not done in those days when so much remained
within reach, which time, accident, or the march of improvement, have
since annihilated? Towards the close of the seventeenth century,
some of the gentlemen of the north of this county, who felt an
interest in its history, seem to have entertained an intention of
combining to undertake the task; John Aubrey, Thomas Gore, and
Bishop Tanner, men fully competent to the work, were the origin-
ators of the design, and made some progress in the collection of the
necessary materials. The chief of Aubrey’s MSS. happily remain
in some of our public libraries. Those of Gore and Tanner have
disappeared. But who does not regret that this project fell to the
ground unaccomplished? How much would have been then pre-
served which is hopelessly lost at present?

But, at least, ct is in our own power to prevent further losses of
this deplorable character. We may rescue from oblivion, and per-
petuate, for the gratification and instruction of our successors, much
for which they cannot be but grateful to us. Buildings and monu-
ments of great interest still remain to be described, correct admea-
surements and drawings taken of them, and their history explored
and committed to writing. Some it may be possible to preserve from
further decay or destruction by the joint exertions of such societies
as this. Collections of MSS. no doubt exist in the private archives
of many a noble or ancient family, or among the title-deeds of the
landed proprietors of the county, from which a large amount of
local history of great interest might be extracted, were access allowed
to them for trustworthy and experienced persons. If we can only
excite a general spirit of inquiry into our local history and antiquities,
much cannot fail to be discovered, which has been hitherto concealed
or supposed to be lost. Individual searchers, each working within
his own limited sphere, will be able to do what no one or two indi-
viduals can do for the county at large. Surely we may hope that a
society supported (as this promises to be from the meeting of to-day)
by such influential patronage, and composed of so numerous and
respectable a body of members, by encouraging such researches, and
giving publicity to their results, may be expected both to throw a
new light on the history of those parts of the county which have
been already described, and to retrieve the annals of its neglected
portions from the obscurity that at present envelopes them. We
may then hope, many of us at least, to live to see a complete County
History of Wiltshire, worthy of the title—worthy of this most
important part of England—in which so many interesting historical
events have occurred—with which so many remarkable historical
characters have been connected. (Cheers.)

In the meantime, the printing and circulation of papers on the

Mr. Poulett Scrope’s Address. 17

history of separate localities or antiquarian remains, will make this
task the easier, by preparing some of the requisite materials.

That work will likewise be further aided by another of the
intended objects of our Society, to which already your attention has
been called, namely, the formation of a Central County Museum of
Antiquities and Specimens of Natural History.

This, indeed, is as important an element as any, in the proposals
submitted to-day to your consideration.

How many valuable objects are almost daily lost or dispersed,
from want of some such means of preservation. Looking to anti-
quities alone, there is perhaps scarcely a parish in the county in
which some coins, ornaments, sculptured or inscribed stones, vessels,
and similar relics, are not from time to time found, and after a
very brief interval again lost; or, if not lost, so treated, at least,
that their local interest, and with it their historical value, is de-
stroyed! How many such cases must have occurred within the
knowledge of every one of us. These articles, or the greater propor-
tion of them, if a Central County Museum had existed, would in all
probability have found their way there, accompanied by explanatory
statements from which students of the County History could not
fail to gather much valuable information. Even entire collections
of local antiquities formed by the zeal of individuals, are not unfre-
quently, after their decease, dispersed or rendered unavailable for
any useful purpose, which the owners would willingly have be-
queathed or presented to a County Museum, had any such been in
existence. And all that I have here said applies with equal force
to specimens illustrative of Natural History.

I have been rejoiced to hear it announced to-day that the nucleus
of such a treasury has been already formed, and placed at the dis-
posal of the Association, by a committee of gentlemen who subscribed
recently for the purchase of the Wiltshire Collections of Mr. Britton.
These consist chiefly of models, drawings, and works relating to
the Celtic monuments of the County, of which they form, unquestion-
ably, the most complete collection extant. To these will, we may
hope, be added before long, contributions from many of our members,
who will perhaps feel to how much better a purpose they may thus
apply objects of the kind, which they may possess, or may come into
possession of, than by allowing them to gather dust on their
chimney-pieces, or within rarely opened drawers or cabinets. Al-
ready several such contributions have been sent in, at least for
temporary inspection during the present meeting, and it is not
improbable that on the condition of their being returned in case
the County Museum is ever broken up, many of those which possess
a local interest may be permitted permanently to occupy our shelves.

It was one of the most useful results of the despotic sway of the
Emperor Napoleon, that he established such local museums in the
chief town of every department of France, under the superintendence

18 General Account of Inaugural Meeting.

of the municipality. Every one who has travelled much through
that country must have been made sensible of the great advantages
offered by these local collections of antiquities, discovered in the
surrounding districts, as well as of its minerals and fossils, its
botanical and zoological productions, arranged by the side of a
library of works of local interest. And if these collections are full
of attraction to a stranger, how much more valuable must they be
to an inhabitant? In this country, steps have recently been taken
by the legislature to enable the municipalities of the corporate towns
to establish similar museums and libraries at the cost of local funds.
But the genius of our people tends rather to the attainment of such
objects by voluntary associations than by executive authorities; and
we hope consequently, to some extent, to secure this most desirable
benefit for our county by means of the Society we are now
organising. »

I have hitherto confined my remarks almost entirely to our local
desiderata in reference to Archeology. But the department of
Natural History affords an opening of, at least, equal utility to our
aim. Without pretending to assert for this county any preéminent
claims as a field for the researches of the naturalist, I am yet
justified in saying, that it offers advantages in this respect not
inferior to any other. The Geology of Wiltshire is indeed not
very elaborate, extending only from the London clay to the old red
sandstone, but the paleontology of this limited range is peculiarly
rich. The fossils of our green sand beds have an European reputa-
tion, chiefly owing to two remarkable collections—one formed by a
lady of this neighbourhood, Miss Benett; the other by our respected
honorary secretary, Mr. Cunnington. The coral rag is nowhere
more abundant in zoophytes, and nowhere assumes more strikingly
its true character of an ancient coral reef, than in the hill range
running northwards from this town through Bowood and Bremhill.
Our Oxford clays are peculiarly rich in cephalopoda. The Kelloways
rock is known to all geologists for its rare molluscs. Our corn-brash
and forest marble beds, are little else than masses of organic remains.
The laminated tilestones of this formation, in their ripple-marked
surfaces strewed over with fragments of coral and water-worn shells,
and impressed with the footprints of crustacea, really present the
exact appearance of a sandy shore just left by the retiring tide;
though we know that countless ages must have elapsed since the
waves of the ocean broke upon them. The oolitic limestone of
Bradford has given its name to a rare and curious variety of encri-
nite. The great oolite of our Cotswolds, is a storehouse of organic
matter, including reptiles and fishes. And the lower oolites abound
in molluscs. In fact few counties offer a more fertile field for
study to the paleontologist. And a closer examination would very
probably discover many new or rare species of extinct animals, still
further to enrich the Fauna of our Wiltshire strata.

Mr. Poulett Scrope’s Address. 19

It is possible, however, that some who hear me may have been
startled by the number and variety of the strange sea-monsters,
whom I have already alluded to as the former inhabitants of our now
orderly inland county. If so, let them take heart, and with the aid
which this Society will, I trust, soon afford, apply themselves to the
study of geology. They will then speedily become familiar with yet
greater marvels. They will learn that all our seemingly solid and
immovable continents have been—and still are—continually under-
going changes of place and structure, amounting in the lapse of
ages to absolute revolution—at one time raised above, at another
depressed beneath the level of the ocean, ground down by the
action of water, baked by subterranean heat, and broken up by
earthquakes and volcanoes—aboye all, that the rocks and strata
which compose them are almost wholly made up of the remains of
countless myriads of organized beings, once enjoying light and life,
like ourselves,—that, in the words of Bryon,

‘The dust we tread upon was once alive!”

_ And the deeper insight they may obtain, by these or other con-

genial inquiries, into the exhaustless wonders of Creation, the more
impressed they will become with reverential awe and gratitude
towards the Almighty Creator—

‘““Who sits above the Heavens,
To us invisible, yet dimly seen
In these His glorious works!”

For this, after all, is the most gratifying result of such inquiries.
They lead the mind “from Nature up to Nature’s God’”’—and in-
spire a devotional feeling in those who pursue them, which favour-
ably influences their religious and moral character. (Cheers.)

I possess too little acquaintance with the kindred sciences of
Botany and Zoology to be able to give an opinion worth anything
on the degree to which the county may afford employment to the
student of living genera and species. But it cannot be otherwise
than desirable that local observers of these fields, likewise, of
scientific research, should be put in communication with each other,
and a Museum formed in which our existing Fauna and Flora, no
less than those of our Ancient History, may be studied and
appreciated.

As some encouragement to provincial students of Natural History,
I may remind them that the greatest philosopher of the day, Sir

_ John Herschel, in his admirable “Discourse on the Study of Natural

Philosophy,” speaks of the advantages possessed by local residents

for acquiring and communicating correct information, as infinitely

superior to those of observers of a more general character. ‘Those

alone,” he says, “who reside upon the spot, where the phenomena

occur, can make such a continued series of regular observations as
D2

20 General Account of Inaugural Meeting.

is necessary for their complete proof. They alone can mark all the
details of geological structure, and refer each stratum by a careful
and long-considered observation of its fossil contents, to its true
epoch, can alone note the habits of the animals of each country, and
the limits of its vegetation, or obtain a satisfactory knowledge of its
universal contents; with a thousand other particulars essential to a
complete acquaintance with our globe as a whole.” And it is to
the increased number of such local cultivators of science enjoying
these peculiar opportunities, that he ascribes the immense progress
made of late years in the physical sciences—a progress which in its
advance cannot but entail, as Herschel goes on to remark, incalcu-
lable benefits upon mankind.

Fortified with this high authority, I will ventnre in conclusion
to urge upon all who now favour me with their attention, to avail
themselves of the advantages of this nature which their position
enables them to enjoy, to take a share in labours, which, by extend-
ing the boundaries of human knowledge, hold out the promise of
such vast results; and not merely to lend their names and pecuniary
aid to our Society—though this of course is essential to its vitality
—but to contribute likewise their personal exertions in the fur- ‘
therance of its objects. | Supported, as it appears likely to be from
this day’s proceedings, it will be in the power of the Society, in
its collective capacity, to centralize the operations of scattered
workers; to advise, encourage, and report their useful labours. But it
is by the energy of individuals that all real success is to be gained.
Let me say to one and all of you, “Try to raise the reputation of
our county to a level with that of the most cultivated!’ (Applause.)
“« Spartam nactus es, hane exorna!’—Let every Wiltshireman strive
to win credit for Wiltshire, by doing his best towards the illus-
tration of her ancient annals, the preservation of her historic
monuments, the instruction and mental elevation of her inhabitants.
Such objects afford a worthy and a common aim to the highest as
well as the least among us. Let all whose pulses beat with a love
for their country, and a sense of national pride—all who feel in
themselves, or desire to encourage in others, noble aspirations
and a preference for intellectual over sensual enjoyments, assist
in the good work of which we are laying the foundation to-day;
and, by all the means in their power, strive to advance the objects
of the Wiltshire Archeological and Natural History Society. »

The address haying been concluded, amidst loud applause,

The Noble Marquis said—I may be allowed to give momentary .
expression to the great delight which, indeed, every one present
must feel, at the address we have just now heard; so well designed
to promote the objects of the Society, and to perpetuate the spirit
upon which it must depend for support. You must all wish,
instantaneously and unanimously, without waiting for the close

General Account of Inaugural Meeting. 21

of the meeting, to return your most cordial thanks to Mr. Scrope,
for the address he has now delivered. (Loud cheers.)

Here the Noble Marquis left the meeting amidst hearty cheering
from the company, and the Chair was taken by the President
elect.

Rey. A. Fane, Vicar of Warminster, next rose to propose a
list of Vice-Presidents. He said there was one point which he
was glad of an opportunity of laying before the President and the
Committee. The striking peculiarity of this county was that it
was divided into parts, by its physical conformation, more effectively
and completely than were the different Ridings of Yorkshire. And
it was a strange thing to say that in that room, with the exception
of himself and a kind friend and neighbour who had accompanied
him, there was not a single gentleman present from the Southern
part of the county. The list of names that had been given him to

ropose, contained those of two gentlemen only from the South of
ilts, and he frankly warned them, that it would require great
caution on their part to avoid a separation between the two
divisions of the county, as far as the present Society was concerned.
Although the Southern part had been better cared for by Sir R. C.
Hoare, they must not think there was nothing to be done there.
There were many antiquities, many seats, and many churches,
with the lordly mistress of all the churches, the Cathedral at Salis-
bury—in the Southern Division. It gave him great pleasure in
saying that the first name on the list was that of one who took
si interest in the restoration of the churches in the neighbour-
ood—the Lord Bishop of the diocese—(cheers.) The second
mame was that of one who belonged to the North, but, with a
strange admixture, happened to hold the office of Chairman to the
Sessions in the parish of which he (Mr. Fane) happened to be the
Vicar; he spoke of Sir John Awdry. The third belonged to the
public—John Britton. The next was a gentleman from the
North—Mr. H. M. Clarke. The next was also from the North—
Capt, Gladstone. The next was Mr. Heneage, the member for the
Northern town in which they were then met. Then they really
had one from the South, for the committee could not well leave out
the name of the builder of Wilton Church. Next came the names
of seven gentlemen, all residing in the Northern division, and some
of them in its most extreme parts—Mr. Fane then referred in
complimentary terms to the admirable address by the President,
and said that many parts of it really and truly struck home to
him. While listening to it, he had put his hand into his pocket,
and taken out a valuable ring, which any lady might covet, and
which had recently been found under the hearthstone of a cottage
in the neighbourhood of Warminster. It had belonged to a man
who was beheaded in the reign of Henry the Second. Just outside
the door of the room in which they were then assembled was a fine

22 General Account of Inaugural Meeting.

collection of flint fossils. These had been obtained from land be-
longing to himself, by an ingenious geologist, who had asked leave
to go over it for the purpose of searching for such remains, and
who had found a perfect treasure of fossils—so extensive and yalu-
able that he (Mr. Fane) had been almost inclined to charge him a
per centage upon what he might afterwards find. (Laughter.)
He did trust that there would be the greatest care taken to avoid
all jealousy between the North and South of the county. He
trusted they would give them an opportunity of meeting m the
South. He had been told in a whisper that the next meeting
might be held at Salisbury. He hoped it might be so. Their
object should be to unite the two parts of the county divided by
Salisbury Plain. Everywhere in the county, South as well as
North, there were valuable remains. Fossils were to be found
under their feet, and ladies might find rings under hearthstones.
(Laughter.) He concluded by proposing that the followimg gen-
tlemen should be the Vice-Presidents,—viz., The Lord Bishop of
Salisbury, Sir J.W. Awdry, John Britton, Esq., H. M. Clarke, Esq.,
Capt. J. N. Gladstone, M.P., G. H. W. Heneage, Esq., M.P., The
Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, M.P., Walter Long, Esq., M.P.,
Joseph Neeld, Esq., M.P., R. P. Nisbet, Esq., Lieut-Col. H. 8.
Olivier, W. W. Salmon, Esq., T. H. 8. Sotheron, Esq., M.P., and
Earl Bruce. ;

~ Rey. Jas. Briss of Ogbourne, seconded the resolution. With
reference to the observations of Mr. Fane, he said the Committee
had been most anxious that no difference should exist between the
North and South of the county. Mr. Fane was the only person
from the South who had condescended to accept the office of Local
Secretary. Invitations had been extensively sent out, but declined,
he hoped, not through jealousy on the part of the Southern division
of the county. (“No, no.”) The Committee were not to blame;
it was the fault of the gentlemen who had been communicated with,
but had refused to jom with them. He trusted, however, that |
they would yet have, in a very few weeks, a large accession from
that part of the county, that was yet comparatively unrepresented.

Mr. Cunnryctoy—The circulars were sent rather more generally
into the South than into the North. I felt, from the beginning,
that it was most important such a course should be adopted. Mr.
Bliss made a mistake in saying there was only one local Secretary
in the South. Besides Mr. Fane, there are two secretaries at
Salisbury, and one at Bishopstone; and there are eight or ten
members from that division of the county.

Tue PrestpeNt—I am sure Mr. Fane will allow that in his good-
humoured observations, there was something rather taunting to
the gentlemen who got up the Society; and he must not be sur-
prised at the degree of warmth displayed by Mr. Bliss, in repelling
those taunts. It appears, however, that they consulted the South

General Account of Inaugural Meeting. 23

as well as the North of the county; and if the gentlemen from the
South will now come forth and wnite with the others, I am sure
their accession will be hailed with gratitude.

Str J. Awpry—Being one of those whom they had just hon-
oured, by naming them as Vice-Presidents, thanked them for the
honour conferred upon him. Mr. Fane had adverted to the fact
that he (Sir J. Awdry) had the honour of presiding over his
brother justices—himself a North Wiltshireman, but called to
that position by the kindness, and certainly the absence of local
jealousy, of a South Wiltshire bench. (Cheers.) In the next
place their attention had been called to the physical conformation
of the county, by which a natural division was effected between the
parts. That had been aggravated by the civil separation carried
out—he did not say improperly, but the effect had been that the
local civil business had been separated, instead of being concen-
trated. The fact was, they did associate less than he could wish,
or under other circumstances would have done. But he, for one,
had no jealousy towards the South, and he believed he might say
the same for the entire Northern part of the county. He onl
hoped that the excellent local Secretary, who had addressed them
on the subject, would shortly obtain such an adhesion of members,
from the South, as would remove what certainly had the appearance
of jealousy on its part, although he believed it was only the ap-
pearance, and not reality.

Mr. Wirrey then proposed that the Rey. W. C. Lukis and the
Rey. J. E. Jackson should be appointed as General Secretaries,
and he also suggested that Mr. Cunnington should be appointed to
the same office.

Rey. Mr. Luxis expressed a wish to retire from the Secretary-
ship, pleading his incompetency, and the distance at which he lived
from Devizes, the head quarters of the Society. (This was met by
cries of “No, no.”’)

Mr. Cunnineton said he should be quite willing to act as a local
Secretary, but must beg to decline to serve in the more general
capacity.

he motion, as it originally stood, was seconded by the Rev. B.
©. Downrne, and adopted.

The Presipenr said it was really to the labours of these gentlemen,
who went by the comparatively unostentatious title of “secretaries,”
that they look for the efficient management of the Society. All the
hard work fell to them, and the general body of the members could not
feel too much indebted to those gentlemen, who had accepted those
more important offices, which at the same time passed under less
gem names than some others in the Society.

r. Kenrick, of Melksham, next proposed the names of several
tlemen as the Committee for the year ensuing.

Mr. Joun Brrrron seconded the nomination. He said he per-

24 Conversazione.

suaded himself they would follow up the example the temporary
committee had set them in the establishment of the Society. He
hoped at the next anniversary meeting of the Society, those gentlemen
would be able to report that the greatest unanimity had prevailed
between the two parts of the county in an eminent degree.

Rey. G. Gopparp next proposed the appointment of the local
Secretaries.

Mr. Fatkner seconded the motion, which was carried.

Mr. SorHeron proposed the thanks of the meeting to the Mayor
and the authorities for the use of the Hall; and also to the President
for the manner in which he had conducted the business of the day.
He could not but hope, from the meeting of that day, and the
admirable manner in which the President had acquitted himself on
that his first appearance, that the Society would meet with much
prosperity. And long might they have the good fortune to have a
President, who could state to them the objects of the Society in as
eloquent a manner as they had heard that day. (Cheers.)

The Mayor of Devizes acknowledged the vote on behalf of the
municipal authorities, and assured them that the council would
always feel much pleasure in placing the Hall at the disposal of the
Society.

Ms, Gratien then proposed and Mr. Mrerewrruer seconded the
appointment of Lieut.-Col. Olivier as Treasurer, which appointment
was duly affirmed and accepted.

THE DINNER.

At half-past four o’clock, about fifty members of the Society, (all
of whom were present at the meeting in the morning) sat down to
a sumptuous dinner at the Bear Hotel, under the presidency of
Mr. Sotheron. Immediately afterwards the company left the dinner
table, and proceeded to the

“CONVERSAZIONE” AT THE HALL,

which, as at the meeting in the morning, was graced by the
presence of many ladies; and the respectability of the company
evinced the great interest taken, by the more educated classes, in
the object of the Society.

Mr. Povurerr Scropr occupied the chair, and after a few

preliminary remarks:

Rev. J. E. Jackson’s Address. 25

The Rev. J. E. Jackson, Rector of Leigh-Delamere, proceeded
to deliver the following address :—

Wishing to assist, to the best of my power, in setting this Society
on foot, I have thought that perhaps it might be useful to lay
before you, a simple statement of the purpose for which it has been
formed.

Its object is to promote a taste for those pursuits which are
included under the general names of Natural History and Arch-
eology; and the principle by which the Society proposes to effect
this is, by bringing together occasionally, for conference and
mutual*information, both those who have already followed such
pursuits, and the converts whom they hope to make.

By Natural History is meant the history of the productions and
contents of the earth—the works of nature, as they are called.

hese, I need hardly say, are numerous beyond reckoning. They
include all the varieties of animals—“ beasts and fowl, and creeping
things and fishes;” all the varieties of trees and plants, “from the
cedar of Lebanus to the hyssop that springeth out of the wall;
and all the lifeless substances of which the solid earth itself is made.
The common way of classing all these is, into the animal, vegetable,
and mineral kingdoms. Together they form Natural History.

But by the name of Archzeology, as it is used in the title of this
Society, and of others like this, is meant something of a different
kind. It means the history, not of any of the works of Nature,
but of some of the works of mankind themselves: more particularly
such as remain to us from former times, showing what was the
taste, or skill, or way of life, of those who lived before us.

If, then, there should be, as we hope there is, or soon will be, a
number of persons who spend some of their time in the study of
these things, each in his own way, and with such opportunities as
they may privately have, which are sometimes not very great; does
it not seem reasonable that some means should be contrived, for
enabling them to meet together, to compare and communicate,
“pro bono publico,” what they have learned? Mutual inquiries
and explanations are very useful: we save one another trouble by
them; we correct one another’s errors; we give information, and
take it,—and such information, moreover, as is very often not to
be got from books. Of course the difficulty is to bring people together
from a distance, as inconvenience sometimes attends it. But they
don’t mind distance for other things; some of which, without in
any way setting up as censors of our neighbours’ ways and pursuits,
we may fairly say, are, at any rate, not more rational, not more
useful, than this. T/is is an effort to collect the intelligence and
strength of the county, not for any political purpose, nor for mere
pleasure, but with the view of seeing what may be done towards
making better known what there is in Wiltshire, on its surface,

26 Conversazione.

under its soil, or in its past history, worthy of being described and
illustrated.

I sincerely trust that this effort may prosper, because if it does so
in any ordinary degree, one may see new openings, made by it, to in-
formation of an interesting kind. What will make that information
interesting is, that it will concern, not distant countries which we
have never seen, and perhaps may never see; but the researches
and collections of a “Wiltshire Socicty,”’ will relate to our own
homes and neighbourhood—to the homes and neighbourhood of our
friends. The Natural History which we wish to learn more about
is that of the country which we can see out of our own windows,
or from the tops of our own hills; the antiquities are those which
are familiar to our eyes and by name, but are by no means fully
understood as to their origin and history.

It may not be the largest or most important county in England,
it may not be the most picturesque, it may not be able to boast the
driest climate, nor the most elegant and harmonious language.
Never mind: “ with all her faults, we love her still.”’ Whether
we are strangers or born in the land, it is ours, whilst we live in it,
“for better or for worse.” And those who have set this Society
on foot desire to live in Wiltshire “ for better,” and not “for worse.”
They desire to exert themselves on its behalf, by rescuing from local
oblivion what deserves to be rescued, by bringing more forward
whatever is less known, and by leaving behind them, when it is
their turn to depart, more information upon these subjects than they
found. There is much in the county to invite those who live in it
to pay some attention to these things. It is as liberal in its natural
productions as most of the other parts of England. With respect
to marks and memorials of former ages and former men, it can show
some things that are almost peculiar to it—things which speak with
silent eloquence to cultivated minds, asking only for a little curi-
osity and care; and when that is bestowed they reward us richly.

Some perhaps may think that we do already know all that is to
be known about the county, both naturally and archzeologically.

It is clear that those who have formed this Society are not of
that opinion. There may be, no doubt, individuals well informed
upon all such points; but in the first place, such persons are not
very common; and in the next, they do not live for ever. ‘“ Wise
men die and perish together, as well as the ignorant and foolish,
and leave their riches for others:” that is, they leave not only what
they may happen to have had of the good things of life, but also
what they have learned—the riches of the mind as well as of the
pocket—the store of information which such wise men had collected
by industry and inquiry. But there is this difference between the
two sorts of riches, and the fates which await them ;—the wealth of
the pocket is sure enough to be looked after; there is no fear of
that being lost. But, unfortunately, it is not always so easy to

Rev. J. EB. Fackson’s Address. 27

secure and to perpetuate the wealth of a man’s mind. If he has
not done that himself, before he dies; if he has not put his own
thoughts and knowledge into shape; into such a shape that his
successors may make use of it; then all his acquisitions will be for
ever lost.

It is, therefore, a point in the intentions of this Socicty, to secure,
if possible, the fruits of the labour of those who may have turned
their attention to the subjects which it would encourage ; to invite
them to make, for general information, a contribution from their
private store of knowledge. In case of their death, it would be
glad to secure such papers upon these subjects as they may have
left, and which on those occasions are often overlooked and. lost.
It is for want of some system of collecting and preserving, that the
same ground has so often to be trodden over and over again. One
generation follows in the track of another ; makes the same inquiries ;
reaches the same point; leaves nothing for the next to start with ;
and so no progress is made. No doubt amongst the many genera-
tions of men who have lived and died in this county before ourselves,
there have been those who knew, and could have told us, all about
it. I only wish they had. I wish they had only been so provident
as to form a Society for handing down to their successors the con-
quests they had made. If they had done so, we might have turned
our attention to something else.

I do not therefore think that we already know all that may
be known about our county. Take one branch only of Natural
History, the science of Geology ; by which is meant, in its widest
sense, the history of the structure of the earth, but which, as the
word is commonly used, means only the history of the fossils and
minerals which it contains. Those who have never turned their
attention to this particular subject have very little notion of the.
wonderful discoveries that have been made even during the last ten

ears. At the beginning of the present century, the most ridicu-
ous ideas prevailed about fossils. Those curious stones which are
_ now so well understood to be the remains of ancient animals and
plants successively entombed in the crust of the earth, were looked
upon as monstrosities, /usus nature: and the most childish interpre-
tations, as they now seem, were put upon them by men otherwise
not wanting in knowledge. There is nothing in the history of the

owth of science more remarkable than the rapid progress of

eology. Even those who at first opposed it as hostile to Scriptural
truth, have found that it is more of an auxiliary than an enemy.
The very structure of the earth, (i.c., of the crust of it,) so beauti-
fully arranged as it is to provide us who move on the surface, with
every variety of material, every variety of useful produce ; this
circumstance, as well as the marks of order and adaptation to their
a found in the animals and plants whose remains occur in a
ossil stute—all this bespeaks, as strongly as any example that

E 2

28 Conversazione.

Paley has used—the hand of a beneficent and wise designing Pro-
vidence, acting from the first.

Geology has a special claim to the attention of Wiltshiremen. I
speak within hearing of some who may easily contradict me; but
without fear of any such interruption I say, that in no part of
England did the science receive an earlier or stronger impulse than
in this very neighbourhood. Your own neighbourhood supplied
the men who first detected its true principles. The district between
Warminster, Bath, and Pewsey, included the residences of three
men, whose names have been mentioned in connection with this
particular point at metropolitan associations; and who should not
be forgotten by a Society formed on the very spot near which they
lived. Those three men were the late Mr. Wm. Smith, engineer
of the Kennet and Avon Canal; the Rev. Mr. Richardson, Rector
of Farleigh; and the Rev. Mr. Townsend, of Pewsey. To their
industry and power of original observation, more especially to those
of Mr. Smith, we owe the first table of regular stratification, and
the first geological map of England. Stratification, 7.e., the succes-
sion of the different layers of rock and earth, in a certain uniform
order, is one of the great principles of Geology : and it was arrived
at in the right way,—by experiment. It is the foundation on
which a great deal has no doubt since been laid by others, but that
was the foundation, and those were the men who laid it.

Their observations and experiments were carried on very much
in the district I have described; nor could you easily find a better
for the purpose. The reason is this:—The different layers or coats
of which the earth is formed, and which follow one another like the
leaves of a book, do not lie exactly flat one upon the other, as flat
as when the book lies on the table, but they lie edgewise ; so that
the edges, first of one, and then of another, appear in succession
upon the surface of the earth. It is over these that we travel when we
pass from chalk to green sand, green sand to freestone, and so on.
They have a considerable breadth, sometimes extending for many
miles. Now it so happens that in this part of England they are
narrower than elsewhere, and consequently they approach nearer to
one another—something like the ends of the leaves of a lady’s fan.
You have therefore more of them brought together within easy
reach. Within ten or twelve miles north-east or south-west of
Bradford, you may see almost every variety of the fossil-bearing
strata of England. In Somersetshire the varieties of rock are still
greater; and I have often heard Dr. Buckland say that he knew no
better school for beginners in Geology than that county.

But we must not meddle with Somerset, for they have a “ Natural
History and Archeological Society” of their own; who will be
jealous if we poach upon their manor. However we do not covet it,
for there is plenty of game at home. In proof of this—that is, to
show the richness of fossiliferous Wiltshire—I cannot here forbear

Rev. J. E. Jackson’s Address. 29

to mention a collection of fossils formed chiefly in the neighbourhood
of Bradford by the late Mr. Channing Pearce, a surgeon of that
town. I have had many opportunities of seeing it, having lived for
several years at no great distance from that place: and a more
beautiful private collection I never did see. Mr. Pearce died some
years ago, and his museum was removed to Bath, where, I believe,
it still remains entire. We are in Somerset again; but we have
full right to go there this time, for the collection I speak of was
undoubtedly formed in this county.

But you who live at Devizes need not follow Mr Pearce’s fossils
to Bath; for you have in your own town, a private museum, which,
so far as it goes, may challenge competition with any other. I speak
of that which is, of course, well known as formed by Mr. Wm.
Cunnington; and which is one instance more of the abundance and
variety of the illustrations which your own neighbourhood presents,
to tempt you to the study of this branch of Natural History.
Though it is one of the latest that has been brought forward in this
country, and is therefore in that sense very young; yet in another,
Geology is extremely old; for it deals with things that are of immense
antiquity. Compared with fossil organic remains, those which we
commonly call Antiquities are absolutely modern. As for Nineveh
it is a history of yesterday. This will not I hope deter you from
approaching with respect, the Archeology of Wiltshire, i.e., the
study of those monuments which owe their origin to the art and
labour of mankind.

Standing as we do within a few miles of British earthworks,
temples and camps; of Roman ways and stations; of cathedrals and
churches built in Saxon and Norman times; of the remains of
castles, religious houses, and residences of ancient gentry, all more
or less connected with past English History; it is needless to say
that those who are curious in such matters have surely plenty here
to inquire into; and those who are not curious have plenty to tempt
them to become so.

It is a little strange that such places are, so often as they are,
allowed to crumble to pieces and disappear, without its being ascer-
tained when they were built, who lived in them, and how they were
destroyed. It is remarkable that standing as they have done for so
many years, their history has not long since been fixed with accuracy,
and placed within easy reach of all who wish to know it. I believe
that people even of the commonest sort, who have no leisure or means
of attending to such studies themselves, still like to hear what others
are able to tell them about objects of antiquity, with the sight of
which they are familiar. No places are more in favour with holiday-
folk than a picturesque old monastery, or castle yard. There is a
sort of charm about ivy-covered towers and mouldering arches;
where great people once lived, though who they were nobody knows;
and where great deeds were done, though what they were nobody

30 Conversazione.

can tell. About such places there is very often nothing to be learnt
upon the spot by the visitor but some trumpery story—some exag-
gerated or distorted tradition. Indeed this is sometimes the case,
I am sorry to say, even with buildings whose history has been
written; but so long as books are published in so costly a style that
none but the wealthiest can afford to buy them, small people are
likely to remain ignorant.

I remember once visiting Glastonbury Abbey, a place whose
history has been pretty well ascertained in fine folio volumes, and
I was informed by the enlightened individual who conducted me
over the ruins (and to whom of course I was obliged to make, for
his information, a valuable return), that the Abbey had been built,
“as he’d heer’d tell,” by Oliver Cromwell. “Then” said I, “who
do they say pulled it down?” He “warn’t quite sure, but did
believe it war William Norman.” Now that the county of Somerset
has its Archxologieal Society, we may presume that no such dis-
tressing confusion of national history may ever occur again, to shock
the nerves of visitors. I mention this absurdity not so much for
its own sake, as because it leads one to think whether one of the uses
of such a Society as the present may not perhaps be that of making
local information better known; and putting it within reach of
many who can’t afford to pay much for it. It is (as I have already
said) not only literary and educated people who like to know about
their own neighbourhood, but I do believe that speculations upon
old castle and abbey stories often furnish evening talk for cottage
firesides. In almost every parish you have somebody or other to
play the part of “Old Mortality,” who picks up fragments of tra-
dition, and is the oracle of past times: who takes pride in “mindin
an old house;” or “a deal more stained glass im the church
windows, than there is now;” or who has, perhaps, got some
wonderful treasure of an old writing, coins that have been dug up,
and the like. One meets with such people very often.

And so again, when newspapers contain, as they sometimes do,
articles about some matter of local curiosity, you will find that such
articles are read with interest by the people of the place to which
they relate. All this shows that the desire to know something
about their homes and neighbourhood is popular enough; and that
all such persons want is only some cheap publication, to furnish
them with the rational amusement. Newspapers are, no doubt,
useful in this way, as they now-a-days fall into everybody’s hands.
But being too cumbrous in size for common preservation, they are
read and thrown aside.

Many articles again, and notices of county history and antiquities,
find their way to magazines and other periodicals. Perhaps some
means might be devised by which such communications might
appear not in remote, but in local publications. If all that is seat-
tered here or there were collected and embodied, so that any one

Rev. J. E. Jackson's Address. 31

might lay his hand upon it when he wanted it; and if, besides folio
volumes, costing their tens and twenties of guineas, for the grati-
fication of the wealthy, there were Wiltshire History of a cheaper
sort; many more would be gratified by this kind of literature than
can possibly be now; and so another rational object of the Society
would be answered. This leads me, with your permission, to enter
a little more upon the Topography of the County.

By Topography is meant a description of any district, its towns
and villages. This includes a great many things—the history of
memorable places, persons, and events; the descent of manors and
lands through successive families; the history of buildings, eccle-
siastical, military, and civil; the charitable foundations, ancient
usages, language, coinage, &c. In the mirror of such description
the reader sees the reflection of past times; an epitome of the changes
which have raised his country from what it was centuries ago, to
what it is now.

It is the business of a Topographer to drag, as it were, the pool
of Lethe; to recover facts and events that have fallen into that
melancholy receptacle of things forgotten. He has not merely, like
the gazetteer, to give the names of parishes, the number of acres,
and the distance from a post town, but to search, far and near, for
names and circumstances, form these into some orderly outline, then
fill it up with such connecting narrative, that the reader’s mind shall
see, as n a picture, the history of the place from beginning to end.
Every parish in England has some history belonging to it; and
almost every one contains some peculiar relic or fragment; some
curious church or cross; some battle field, old mound, or the like.
In new countries, like America, English people have no ancient
local recollegtions of that kind. They have noble scenery, greater
novelty in animals, plants, and minerals; a fine field for Natural
History, but a very barren one for Archeology. In England, in
the old country, every village has some story to tell. It is certainly
so in Wiltshire.

Well, then, what has been done for the Topography of this
county? We have, first of all, the history of the lower part of it,
snp in the splendid volumes of the late Sir R. C. Hoare, of

urhead. Of the merits of that work it scarcely becomes me to
speak. Of course in so large and laborious an undertaking, imper-
fections must be expected. But speaking of it as a whole, it is an
important and valuable history. It is however got up in a style
unnecessarily expensive; the effect being that few can afford to buy
it, and those who do, soon discover that by ordinary compression
and a different arrangement, it might have been easily presented
to the public in a more manageable size and for much less money.

Still this, as well as another work, called “ Ancient Wiltshire,’
to the preparation of which, the late Mr. Cunnington contributed
s0 much, reflect the highest credit upon the patriotic gentleman

32 Conversazione.

whose name they bear. I only regret that the information which
they contain is not a/so placed within reach of the more ordinary
purchaser. With reference to this Society and any project which
it may by-and-by entertain of finishing the History of the County,
it is to be hoped that the gentlemen of Southern Wiltshire will not
altogether abandon us of the North, and rub their hands with com-
placency because their History is written. The privilege of enjoying,
as they do, light and knowledge, ought rather to inspire them with
an active compassion for us who are sitting in darkness.

Yet not in tofa/ darkness ; for a few rays of topographical light
have from time to time broken out to illuminate even our Northern
hemisphere. We have the labours of Mr. Britton, in the “ Beauties
of England and Wales,” and the “ Beauties of Wilts :’ The History
of Lacock, by Nichols and Bowles: The Histories of Bremhill and
of Malmesbury. Devizes has its annalist in Mr. James Waylen,
who, (as I believe I may say, having seen it advertised,) is about
to confer the same service upon Marlborough and its district. To
these we may add the History of a place, which enjoys the (now
very unusual) distinction of having belonged to one and the
same family for 500 years: a family which has given to England
two Earls, and I know not how many Barons, one Chancellor, four
Treasurers, two Chief Justices, one Archbishop, two Bishops, five
Knights of the Garter, and numerous Bannerets. Such a Wiltshire
parish deserved a separate volume from an accomplished historian :
and Castle Combe has found one—in Mr. Poulett Scrope.

Several publications have issued from the private press of Sir
Thomas Phillipps, Bart.: but they have been limited to so few
copies that it is now very difficult to meet with them. One of these
is of great utility,—viz., the ‘“ Wiltshire Institutions,” as it is
called,—being the Ecclesiastical Register of Salisbury transferred
to print. The permission to make such an use of that record was
most creditable to Bishop Fisher, and Mr. Davies, the late Registrar.
It is of great assistance to any one interested in our Topography,
as it supplies an important key to Manorial history.

Of another book printed by Sir Thomas Phillipps I must now
speak more at length, as it relates especially to the Northern part
of the county. It also enables me to introduce to your notice
a worthy of former days, who ever deserves kind mention by all
Wiltshiremen—John Aubrey, of Easton Piers.

It is impossible to refer to the subject of Wiltshire history with-
out mentioning Aubrey; and it would be ungrateful to omit him, for
no man was more attached to his native county, or laboured more
diligently, though in an odd way of his own, on its behalf.

He was born in 1626, on the site of what is now the farm-house
of Lower Easton Piers, in the parish of Kington St. Michael, three
miles north of Chippenham. Though by position and education, a
gentleman, he was from an early period of his life so involved in

lt a ee

2 ee

Rev. J. E. Jackson’s Address. 33

litigation and trouble that he was never independent and never at
rest. He was a barrister, without anything to do; so spent his time
in riding to and fro from Easton Piers to another property which
he had near Salisbury, and in the enjoyment of visits and conver-
sation at the houses of the gentry. He was an accomplished man,
a good classical scholar, knew French and Heraldry, could draw,
and had a quaint way of expressing himself which makes his de-
scriptions amusing enough. He was a quick observer of things, but
very often in such a hurry to make them his own, that he did not
stop to observe them quite accurately. He was unmarried, but had,
as he tells us, several hairbreadth escapes from matrimony. The
history of these little adventures is not preserved to us, but they
seem to have been the cause to him of infinite trouble. Being at
length reduced to poverty, he spent the latter years of life no one
could tell how; finding shelter, in adversity, under the roof of the
Earl of Abingdon at Lavington, or of the Longs at Draycote.

He left behind him a miscellaneous collection in manuscript,
which he bequeathed to the Ashmolean Library, then newly formed,
at Oxford. There they are still preserved, and I lately had occa-
sion to pay them a visit. The manuscript room is not one of those
parts of the Institution which are usually shown to the public, but
haying expressed a wish to go down into it, to see our friend’s
remains, I was immediately and politely permitted to do so. The
descent is down a dark and crooked staircase lined with dingy old
volumes on astrology and magic; and after passing through one or
two gloomy apartments, also full of the same valuable lore, I came
to the den in which he is confined. It is a small wooden cupboard,
about two foot square. Against the door of it hangs a miniature, of
which, by the courtesy of Mr. Duncan the Principal Keeper of the
Museum, I was allowed to take a Daguerreotype. That likeness I
have now in my hand, and it is a valuable memorial, being the only
one that has ever been made. Inside the little cupboard are the
relics of the toil of our Wiltshire antiquary, and a strange medley they
are. In quire, or on scraps of paper, bound and unbound, legible and
illegible, you see at once the man in his memoranda. He could
write, when he pleased, a very fine, strong, clear hand; but this he
did not always please to do,—writing, for the most part, as people
will who write a great deal and in a hurry, i.e., very badly. The
particular manuscript which I was most curious to see was that to
which he gave the name of “An Essay towards the History of
North Wilts.” Aubrey made at different times a great many
curious memoranda about the Natural History of Wilts, (extracts
from which were published a few years ago;) but he was also anxious
to preserve the Archeology and Topography of the county, and for
this purpose he had at an earlier period of his life, made a sort of
attempt to form a company on the principle of division of labour,
as we hope we are doing now. What is still more to the purpose,

e ¥

34 Conversazione.

he set it on foot in this very town; but how long it lasted, and how
it ended, you shall hear in his own words. He says, in the preface
to the “Collections” —‘At a meeting of gentlemen at the Devises
for choosing of Knights of the Shire, in March 1659 “(just 200 years
ago,)” it was wished by some, that this county, wherein are many
observable antiquities, should be surveyed in imitation of Mr.
Dugdale’s Illustrations of Warwickshire. But it being too great a
task for one man, Mr. Wm. Yorke, Councellor at Lawe, and a lover
of this kind of learning, advised to have the labour divided. He
himselfe would undertake the Middle Division. I would undertake
the North. Thos. Gore, Esq., Jeffery Daniel, Esq., and Sir John
Erneley would be assistants. Judge Nicholas was the greatest
antiquary as to Evidences that this county hath had in memory of
man, and had taken notes of all the ancient deeds that came to his
hands. Mr. Yorke had taken some memorandums in this kind too.
Both now dead. ’Tis pitie that those papers should fall into the
merciless hands of women and be put under pies. But this good
design vanished over their pipes, and was never thought of since.”

Though Aubrey’s smoking friends deserted him, he went on by
himself with his design, so far as regarded the Northern part of
Wilts; and the collections which he made form the manuscript
which led me to introduce the mention of him here. It consists of
one folio volume, marked A. Another, to which he constantly
refers as “ Liber B,” has been lost for many years. There are two
parts in the one that is left; both of which have been printed by
Sir T. Phillipps. The way in which Aubrey made his collections
seems to have been this:—He took a commonplace book; entered
at the head of separate pages the names of the different parishes in
the district, and then jotted down from time to time any notice or
memorandum that he happened to meet with about any of those
places. Of no one of them is there anything at all approaching to
a regular account. Sometimes his memoranda are merely inscrip-
tions in the church, sometimes a Latin deed, sometimes a bit of
village gossip; in fact, a miscellaneous gathering which he never
digested or finished, and which he never himself regarded as any-
thing more than a mere accumulation of occasional notes. In one

oint the manuscript is very valuable. Aubrey drew and coloured
with his own hand, all the armorial bearings and figures that he
found in the churches ; and with these are intermingled a few rough
outline sketches of old houses of the gentry that have now long
since disappeared.

In Sir Thomas Phillipps’s edition (which indeed is the only one
ever printed,) these curious illustrations, nearly 700 in number,
are almost wholly omitted, though descriptions of most of them, in
words, are inserted: but the very use of Heraldric blazonry being,
to speak to the mind through the eye, the omission of the figured
illustrations themselves, is, so far, a great deduction from the value

Rev. J. E. Fackson’s Address. 35

of the book. As to the original memorials which Aubrey saw in
the windows of churches and houses, they have nearly all been
destroyed long ago; so that his collections, if properly put forth,
would be a curious and interesting volume. I have lately taken
the trouble to make at Oxford, a correct copy both of the manu-
script itself, and of all the illustrations; and they form the contents
of the portfolio which I have here. I merely mention and exhibit
them now, as we are talking about Wiltshire Topography, and are
wishing to know what we have got upon that subject.

The company will be so kind as to pardon me, if I take this
opportunity of saying a few words on another matter, much con-
nected with Wiltshire history, which has occupied my attention for a
considerable time. When I first came into this part of England, I
happened to settle at Farleigh Castle, a place well known as having
been formerly the property of the celebrated family of the Hunger-
fords. They and their history were at that time totally new to
me; but having under my immediate notice the interesting chapel
and monuments there, we very soon became better acquainted. In
following up the acquaintance, I found relics of them—of their
name and connexion—scattered all over this county, and very
common in others adjoining.

As to Wiltshire, it is no exaggeration to say that there is hardly
a corner of it, with which, at some period or other, or in some way
or other, they were not associated. A good deal about them, their
pedigree, and family history, has been printed in a little work of
Sir R. C. Hoare’s; but it is not accurate: and of their estates his
notices are most inadequate. It was this point which rather took
my fancy ; and I set to work to find out, if I could, all that they
had really had, and where. A rent-roll of the reign of James I., I
found in the library of Col. Houlton; another still older, of the
reign of Elizabeth, I discovered at the bottom of an old box full of
rubbish at Farleigh; but a more perfect and valuable register was
kindly lent to me by the Right Hon. Henry Hobhouse, of Hadspen,
near Bruton; who, upon my case being properly stated to him,
with the greatest courtesy placed the volume in my hands to use
and consult at convenience. I am induced to mention this circum
stance more emphatically, because one of the greatest difficulties
that persons engaged in such researches have to contend against, is
that of obtaining access to documents in private hands. It is, of
course, and ought to be, a delicate matter, to ask for a sight of
family documents. ‘Title-deeds are dangerous things to meddle
with. In most cases, however, that have fallen under my own
notice, the documents that are of most value to an antiquary, are
those which, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, are of very little
importance to the owners of estates, so far as regards their title.
Antiquaries do not deal much in modernities. Their fancy lies
rather towards those venerable stores of parchment which have been

ro«

36 Conversaszione.

reposing for centuries in dust and cobwebs, or have been supply-
ing dinner after dinner to successive generations of rats and mice.
Still, it it impossible always to know where to draw the line between
those deeds that are of importance to a title, and those that are
not; and as the possessors of the documents cannot be expected to
know where the line should be drawn, there is of course on the one
hand, a natural hesitation in showing ancient documents; and
there ought to be, on the other, a delicacy in asking for them. In
a case like the one I am speaking of, the fear of any risk is cer-
tainly very slight, where a family has disappeared a long time ago,
and where the evidences refer so far back as to the Wars of the
Roses. Still, the permission to see such a thing is a favour which
those to whom it is allowed, are bound to acknowledge with grati-
tude ; more especially when, as in this instance, it is made greater
by the permission to carry the volume off and use it at leisure. For
I need hardly say that, without such permission, the privilege
granted would, in some cases, be no privilege at all. No person
can possibly make much, in a few hours, of a large pile of illegible
writing. He may take hasty extracts of names, and dates ; but with-
out leisure for examination, he cannot give accurate statements,
and without accurate statements, what is topography worth ?

In the Register of which I am speaking, there were nearly
1,300 deeds, some of very great length and curiosity, almost all in
Latin and Norman-French, and engrossed in those crabbed and
tortuous characters under which it has always been thought neces-
sary to disguise the already mysterious meaning of legal documents.
They related entirely to the estates of the Hungerford family.

From the sources, then, which I have mentioned, by personal
visits to many places, by collecting in the usual way from public
records, wills, registers, and other similarly dark receptacles, which
people of this peculiar taste are compelled to dive into, I have, I
believe, succeeded in accumulating, pretty nearly, an account of the
scattered estates, both in this and other counties, that, first and
last, belonged to this family. The subject is one so much connected
with Wiltshire, that I have no doubt, there are many gentlemen in
this county, who must possess deeds and papers that would correct
points of imperfection. I have brought my collections with me
upon this occasion, partly for the purpose of enlisting public inter-
est in my own favour, so far as to say that if any gentleman should
hereafter meet with any documents relating to the Hungerford
family, or any memorial of them, he may now know where such
information will be acceptable; and I have also thought that
on a matter which so thoroughly belongs to the history of the
county, it was right to take this opportunity of making known
what has been done, in order to save others the trouble of doing it
again.

"Of one thing I hope we shall all be convinced, after what I have

Rev. J. E. Jackson's Address. 37

taken the liberty now of saying to you, which is this: If we desire
to see the History of Wiltshire finished, the best, though I will not
say the only way to do it, is by such a codperation as that which this
Society contemplates. I do not mean that all its members are to turn
writers and antiquaries, and to involve themselves in wearisome
researches, any more than that all its members are to turn geologists
and beat Mr. Wm. Cunnington’s collection. Neither do I mean to
say that I allude to pecuniary assistance from funds of this Society,
as likely to be of such amount as would be sufficient to bring out
any work of magnitude, were any such forthcoming. The funds of
the Society will probably be, for some time, only enough for its
ordinary expenses, or to be laid out in purchasing objects of local
interest, as books or collections which it may be desirable to rescue
from destruction. To meet any publication of magnitude, such as
the additional volume or volumes which would be necessary to com-
plete the history of Wilts in the style of Sir R. C. Hoare’s work, or
even in one much less costly, we must hope that other means will
be forthcoming, when they are wanted. And therefore in alluding
to the subject of aid to be expected from this Society, it is not so
much pecuniary assistance that I mean, as help of another kind. I
mean that help and encouragement which may be derived from a
concurrence of persons of similar pursuits; by exciting general
interest; by making local history and antiquities popular; by
making them better known in their details; by stirring up the spirit
and the good will of the many, to favour the labours of the few.

It is in the power of the landed gentry who may join us, to assist,
by communicating (of course under necessary restrictions and when
properly applied to) any curious information that may be lying on
the shelves of their muniment rooms. It is in the power of gentle-
men of the profession of the law to assist, by their local knowledge
of property, and by the preservation of ancient documents that fall
into their hands. It is in the power of the Clergy to render con-
siderable aid; and they will, I am sure, permit me to suggest one
mode of doing it.

The church is always a building of importance, and very often
the only one, in a parish. It is a repository of parish history. Its
monuments and memorials, of whatever kind, often very interesting
’ in themselves as works of art, guide us by the inscriptions, the
names, dates, and events, which they mention, and still more fre-

uently perhaps by the heraldic emblems which they contain, to
the facts and truth of the remote past.

With respect to the ancient heraldry on church windows, and
other devices in wood and stone that may be found about the build-
ing, these are not generally intelligible, except to persons who have
made county genealogy part of their study. When this has been
done, it is curious how slight an indication is required to put an
antiquary on the right scent. If he has a quick eye and knows

388 Conversazione.

how to use it, a glance round the church will show him what ground
he is upon, and what families he is at liberty to connect with the
place. High up in the tracery of some window, or far back in some
neglected corner, he will spy a bit of coloured glass, half covered
with whitewash, turned inside-out or topsy-turvy by some un-arch-
eological glazier, a fragment which nobody perhaps had thought
of noticing before; he asks the clerk for a ladder, which when that
astonished functionary has produced, your antiquary creeps up, puts
on his spectacles, scrapes off the whitewash, detects some faded
mark of ancient chivalry, something which tells him, as plainly as
if he were reading it in a book, that he is within an old dominion
of Seymour, or Hungerford, or Scrope.

Our parish churches are therefore places that require very close
examination ; but the labour of visiting so many, of copying inscrip-
tions, and of describing architecture,—of doing all this, perhaps, in
unfortunate weather, or under pressure of time, is a great tax upon
the patience of a single individual; who after all can only have
one pair of hands and one pair of eyes. It is, therefore, in the
power of the resident clergy, either by themselves, or some one
under their direction, to be well acquainted with all the history
and contents of their own churches. They are on the spot; know
the local history ; can easily get drawings and copies of memorials.
It would be no very great trouble to put these things down, on
rainy days, in a book kept for the purpose, and marked “ parochial,
—not to be removed or destroyed.” If this had been done years
ago, and if every parish chest contained, besides the official regis-
ters, some such archeological volume, in which successive incum-
bents had only entered the several changes and events—(and few
enough they often are that would require to be noted) ; still, if this
had been done, or even were now to be done, you may easily con-
ceive how useful and welcome a mass of materials would be ready,
whenever the general dealer in literature of this kind should go
his round, with the intention of embodying the collections in one
systematic history. Nobody but those who have tried it can tell
how much trouble it takes to prepare, correctly and properly, the
materials for the memoir even of one parish. What then must it
be where there are hundreds to be described? And how greatly
is that difficulty increased when centuries have passed away ; when
family after family has died out, when their very names have been
lost from the list of living county gentry, and the site of their once
hospitable castle or mansion has become a pasture for flocks; leav-
ing only tradition to tell the tale.

Certainly, an imaginative mind may fill up blanks, and supply
the want of regular history. Some writer of works of fancy may
visit our ancient monuments, strike his magic wand upon them,
and conjure up for our delight the forms and sights of ancient
days. Imagination may do anything; and to digress for one mo-

Rev. J. E. Jackson's Address. 39

ment, whilst the word is on my lips, I cannot help expressing my
surprise that it has not done something for Wiltshire. We have,
or rather I am ashamed to say we /ad, one of the most singular
monuments of remote history that the whole world could exhibit.
The Temple that once stood at Avebury was, perhaps unique. It
was a most extraordinary structure, connected probably with the
earliest inhabitants of our native land. And when any person
contrasts in his mind the wonderful transformation that has passed
over England; the changes that this little island now presents,
teeming as it does with civilization and wealth—commanding as it
does, the commerce and luxury of the world; I say that is almost
impossible, without the help of a strong imagination, to carry one-
self back to the days of Avebury. We want some author of Ivan-
hoe to bring those days back before our eyes. Of the destruction
of that temple I am ashamed to speak. It was an act of barbarism :
a national disgrace.

But in wandering to Avebury we are getting upon a subject and
upon times too remote to be enlightened by historical researches.
No illustrations of that dark period have come down to us, and the
topographer is not at liberty to invent them. He must keep to
facts, and produce evidence for his statements. I was saying that
it was very hard and very weary work, when the enquiry extends
over a large district, to recover evidence and materials for history.
It is so even with respect to times comparatively modern: for the
memory of persons and things soon passes away. With the cir-
cumstances of our own neighbourhoods as they now are—with the
parishes, the places, the events—we are all of us familiar enough.
But it is this very familiarity which blinds us. In a few years, a
very few, much fewer than we are apt to think of, all that we now
know of local events and persons will have faded into oblivion,
unless some one records it. The changes that are daily taking
place, and that seem to us to be mere matters of course, following
one another as naturally as wave follows wave, amount in the course
even of half a century, almost to obliteration—to an effacement
almost as complete as that which those waves make upon the sand.
of the sea-shore. A new order of things soon grows up, and of the
former one nothing but fragments can be recovered. Some Aubrey
jots down a few passing memoranda of his own times—things which
those about him would hardly take notice of, knowing them so well
as they do, and supposing that they will always be as well known
as they are; but let a couple of hundred years go by, and what was
common. and notorious has grown to be antique and curious.

{ have addressed you now at an unpardonable length upon the
articular subject of Wiltshire Topography, having been, as it is
y this time too late to explain, rather given to pursuits of that

kind myself. It is with pleasure that I join this Society, hoping
that it may soon number amongst the other rational objects which

40 Conversazione.

it proposes, that of some effort to complete the History of the
County. The use that it may be of in this respect, I have endea-
voured to describe. It is, m a word, that of effecting, by the
codperation of many, a task which you will not easily find one person
fit to undertake alone. Not that such a task is beyond the strength
of one person, if he had life before him, and certainty of health and
encouragement. The wndescribed part of Wiltshire is not so fright-
fully large. But it needs no oracle to tell you, that many are
better than one, when hard work is to be done. One able-bodied man,
or a man and a boy, might make your branch railway from Devizes
to Melksham; but I think none of us would live to ride upon it.
And so a single person may write the history of the hundred-and-
fifty or more of parishes that remain to be described in this part of
the county. But some of us, at all events, would not live to read it.
It is a task which requires a number of opportunities and qualifi-
cations which are more likely to be found in several persons than
in any one. And even if any one possessed them, yet time and
health and eyesight are perishable things. The very fondness for
such studies will itself also sometimes wear off; and if in addition to
these infirmities the writer is also liable to be chilled by the indif-
ference of those whom his labours chiefly concern, no wonder that
he retires from the task, even if he does not sink under it. Several
have attempted large undertakings single-handed, and have sunk
under them; and that perhaps may explain to us how it comes to

pass that so many of our county histories are still incomplete. AIL

this seems to warn us that the best way is, to try what union of
industry, and union of accomplishments may do; to collect the
scattered elements of strength, and to set several to work instead of
one. That is what I believe to be the principle and object of the
present Society.”

On sitting down, a vote of thanks was moved to the Rev. gentle-
man by the Recorder of Devizes, which the Chairman pronounced
carried by acclamation, and expressed his belief that the general
Archeological History of the County, which Mr. Jackson hoped
would result from the combined labours of the Society, would be
accomplished at no very distant period. He then called on any
lady or gentleman who wished to make any remark on Mr. Jackson’s
address to do so; and no one responding to the call, he requested
the Rey. A. Fanr to address the meeting, which he did, to the great
gratification of the company—illustrating, in the course of his re-
marks, the manner in which country clergymen might assist in
the work Mr. Jackson had suggested, by a short but vivid descrip-
tion of Boyton Church, built by one of the Giffards, whose tomb,
with the effigy of the cross-legged knight and the mastiff, afforded
a theme for a glowing account of his gallant deeds in the Holy
Land, and the unfortunate fate of his nephew, who, being in re-
bellion with other Barons against his Sovereign, was taken and

—

On the Ornithology of Wits. 41

beheaded at Gloucester. This was coupled with such a humorous
account of the village tradition connected with the effigies, as to
make his hearers look with anxiety for the more full and elaborate
account of the structure in question, which the Rev. gentleman has
promised. In conclusion, the manner was shown in which his own
Arechzological investigation afforded a clue to the origin of this tra-
dition, which these villagers believed with an almost religious per-
tinacity ; and the way in which such a Society as the Archeological
was calculated to sweep away these dim legends, and leave the
mind more open for the reception of a higher and holier belief.

Tea was provided in an ante-room for such of the company as
required this refreshment, and at ten o’clock thanks were given to
the Chairman, and the company separated.

ON THE ORNITHOLOGY OF WILTS.

By the Rey. A. C, Smiru, Local Secretary.

If Wiltshire is preéminent among other counties for its Archeeo-
logical Remains (as it undoubtedly is), presenting to the antiquary
such numerous and highly interesting relics of by-gone ages, so I
think it cannot be disputed that it offers to the natural historian
no less an ample field for his researches, to whatever branch of
Natural History he may devote his attention.

Now it is an undisputed fact in Zoology—as I may say, in Natu-
ral History generally—that those districts afford the greatest
variety of species which comprise the greatest variety of scenery ;
for as some kinds of creatures prefer an open plain, others a
sequestered valley, as some delight in the recesses of deep woods,
others court the margin of streams, and all these are usually to
be found in their own peculiar locality; the Zoologist in search
of particular species will devote his attention to the country
suited to the habits of the animal of which he is in search ; thus to
confine myself to Ornithology (to which I am now anxious more
particularly to direct your attention) and to take an example which
must be familiar to everyone, who would think of beating a thick
wood for snipe ; or of wading through a marsh for partridges? It
is the same with every species of bird, as well as with all quadru-
_ reptiles, insects and other inferior tribes in the animal kingdom.

e Almighty Creator has peopled with the living creatures which
He has made, no less the wild dreary plain, than the sunny smiling
valley, no less the bleak open down, than the sheltered sequestered
nook. I myself have found specimens of animal life far above
vegetation amongst the eternal snows of the Swiss Alps, 9000 feet

42 On the Ornithology of Wilts,

above the sea, and on the immense deserts of rock and snow, com-
posing the Norwegian “fjelds.”” Even more than this, that inde-
fatigable naturalist, De Saussure, who first surmounted the avalanches
and glaciers, which presented, till then, an impassable barrier to
the ascent of Mont Blane, discovered on the very top of that glorious
mountain several minute insects, revelling in the cold and rarified
air of that exalted spot, upwards of 15,000 feet above the sea. Now
if there are living creatures to be found in every kind of country,
in remote, inhospitable, and almost inaccessible rocks and snows,
as well as in more genial and milder regions, and if each creature,
of whatever class and however minute, is still most wonderfully
formed and fitted for the particular locality assigned to it, we may
assert again, without fear of contradiction, that the distriet which
comprises the greatest variety of scenery, will also be found to afford
the greatest variety of species. I have been induced to digress a
little on this point, because I would clearly show that an opinion
which I have heard frequently expressed with regard to this county
is not tenable, viz., that whereas the greater part of it is composed
of bleak open downs, therefore it is impossible there should be a
good field of research for the naturalist. Now I contend that
Wiltshire is especially rich in Ornithological productions; and for
the same reason I doubt not in the productions of other branches of
Zoology, because of that great diversity of scenery, which manifestly
belongs to it. It is scarcely necessary for’ me standing in the very
midst of the county, to call attention to this fact. We have, it is true,
our broad expanding downs: (and what native of Wiltshire does not
glory in them?) but we have at the same time our richly-timbered
enclosed vales: if we have hill we have also dale; if we have open
plains we have also large woods and thick forests. From this very
variety, then, of scenery, we should expect to find a variety of
species of birds, and such is certainly the result of our inquiries.
Taking into consideration that this is an inland district, and there-
fore cannot be expected to abound in birds whose habitat is the
sea and sea-shore, I maintain that Wiltshire yields to no other in
the number and variety of the species of birds to be found there,
and I now proceed to prove this more in detail.

Of the five orders into which birds are commonly divided, three
compose that large class called the “Land Birds,” and two the
“Water Birds.” Now the work which is at this present day
almost universally accepted by Ornithologists as their manual and
book of reference (I mean Yarrell’s British Birds,) contains in the
last edition, published and revised up to 1845, a list of 171 land
birds. This list contains the names not only of every bird which
inhabits this country throughout the year, or which being migra-
tory is a periodical sojourner here during the summer or winter,
or an occasional visitant, passing us on its way to northern or
southern latitudes, but also of every bird which has ever been seen
in this country. If an accidental straggler from Africa or America

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 43

happening to fall in with a storm of wind should be hurried out of
its course, and carried to our shores, that one single occurrence
suffices at the present day to place its name on our British list.
I remark not now on the benefit or disadvantage to science of such
a method; I only state that this is the method adopted by our
British Ornithologists, and that by this means three or four new
species are annually added to our list. And yet notwithstanding
this modern method of swelling the list of British birds, and that
with such additions to it from year to year, the last edition of our
chief Ornithological work contains but 171 land birds, I have been
enabled without difficulty and somewhat hurriedly to verify the
existence of above 100 species in this county: doubtless by more
extended inquiry this Wiltshire list might be still very much
enlarged; but the fact of above 100 land birds being known to
exist in the county is quite enough to prove the object of this paper
—that Wiltshire presents a very good field for Ornithology.

Of the two orders composing the other class of birds, I mean the
“water birds,” it cannot be expected, as I before said, that this,
as an inland district, should present a very large supply. Still even
of these, there are some families (as the Plovers) which affect our
open downs to a great degree, and there are others of essentially
sea birds (as the Gulls and Terns) which are very frequent visitors.
Besides this we have an occasional visit from many other varieties
of water birds continually occurring; so that, again, the diligent
Ornithologist, though he confine his observations to his own county,
will not unfrequently meet with specimens of birds whose more
peculiar domain is the sea and the sea shore.

Another and a strong proof of the favourable retreat afforded by
this district of England to certain species of birds, and one which
by no means must be omitted in speaking of its Ornithology is, that
for a great number of years our downs were the resort of that
glorious bird, the Great Bustard, and though of late years it has
most unhappily become extinct in Great. Britain, in consequence of
the draining, enclosing, and cultivating of our waste lands; yet
the downs of Wilts deserve honourable mention as one of its last
strongholds.

Now with all these facts before us, it is hardly necessary for me
to remark again, that Wiltshire does offer a very large field to the
inquiring Ornithologist. In great measure, too, it is an open and
an untrodden field; for though in speaking of its Ornithology, one
may not be silent of him, who, at the close of the last century, in
an adjoining shire, was the great promoter and scientific observer
of Natural History and Antiquities, and whose inquiries extended
into Wiltshire; (I mean Gilbert White, the author of the charm-
ing Natural History of Selborne:) and though here we may
recollect with pleasure that the zealous naturalist and talented
author of the Ornithological dictionary published in the early part
of the present century—Col. Montagu—was a native as well as an

G «é

44 On the Ornithology of Wilts.

inhabitant of Wiltshire ; yet since their time, in the rapid strides
made of late in every branch of Natural History, and in none more
than in the one of which I am speaking, partly owing to the exer-
tions of these industrious and accurate observers, there have been
but few in this county who have given much attention to this
branch of science.

If, then, the county abounds in Ornithological riches, and the
field of research for these riches has been of late but little trodden,
I would earnestly hope that the Inauguration of this Society may
prove the beginning of better things, and stir up some amongst us
to more diligent inquiry. I am convinced that Ornithology is a
most fascinating and interesting study, carrying its votaries along
the most pleasant paths, and adding tenfold interest to every walk.
The unobservant passer-by may think that all birds are alike, ex-
cept in size and colour; the casual observer may imagine that in
this pursuit there can be little to learn; but the truth is, that in all
pursuits of this kind, and certainly not the least so, m the one
before us, the farther he advances, the more he sees to admire, the
more he sees how little he knows. Let him examine the plumage
of a bird, let him take a single feather, and see its wonderful growth,
its mysterious colouring, its perfect adaptation to the end for which
it was made; what an admirable defence against cold and heat,
how light and buoyant! Let him examine the different methods
of nidification adopted by the different species, how every species
adopts a method peculiar to itself, yet one which is exactly followed
by all the members comprising that species. What consummate
skill and ingenuity are displayed in the construction of their nests ;
how beautiful and curious and varied are their eggs! Or to take
a hurried glance at the five great orders or divisions, into which
birds are commonly divided. Is the first order composed of those
birds which live by prey? Mark how powerful and compact their
bodies, how strong and hooked their bill, how muscular their limbs,
how curved their claws, how keen their vision, how rapid their
flight! Is the second division that extensive one, comprising all
the smaller birds which perch? See how their anatomical con-
struction is in every point adapted to their habits; hard bills to
the seed-eating, soft bills to the insect-eating tribes: how their
_ feet are adapted to perching and grasping. Does the third order
consist of ground birds? Mark the shortness of the wing, for
they need not extensive flight; their deficiency in the faculty
of grasping with their feet, for they rarely perch; but see
their swiftness and endurance in running, their strong powerful
muscles, their short toes. Does the fourth order comprise the
waders? Mark the length of leg and bill, which usually charac-
terizes this order, and is so adapted to their habits. And is the
fifth order that which embraces all the swimmers? See the struc-
ture of their feet, the shape of their bodies, and how well they are
formed for swimming and diving !

Mr. J. Britton’s Address. 45

These and a thousand other such things, unnoticed by many,
but discovered at every turn by the student in Ornithology, point
out how perfect are the works of God, how varied and beautiful,
how suited to their several positions are the creatures of His hand.
The contemplation of them not only fills the heart with pleasure,
but lifts it up in praise and adoration to the great and bountiful
Creator, whose least work so far surpasses the greatest triumph of
the most scientific men.

In coneluding this paper, I may perhaps be allowed to express
a hope, that the Inauguration of this and other kindred Associa-
tions may be the dawn of a happier era of kindness towards the
whole animal creation; that the system of wanton persecution of
God’s creatures, hitherto unhappily so much practised in this
country, and especially among the uneducated classes, may now at
length receive a timely check from the remonstrances of those who
compose this Society. The persecution of which I complain is in
many cases prompted by ignorance of the true habits of the animal
persecuted ; in more cases by superstitious fears, in most, by a sheer
love of cruelty ; but I trust that this Society, as it advances, will
kindle in its members so true an appreciation of the whole animal
creation, that it may be a means of putting an effectual check to
this barbarity, as well as of dispelling the many erroneous and
absurd fictions respecting the furred and feathered tribes, now, alas
for their safety, so generally rife.

ADDRESS BY JOHN BRITTON,

For the Inaugural Meeting of the Wiltshire Archzeological and Natural
History Society, October 12th, 1853,

It is usually thought and asserted, that in o/d age all the physical
and mental powers of man become torpid and insensible. What-
ever may be the case in other instances, I can venture to assert that
in my 83rd year, my nervous and bodily system are as susceptible
of pain, whilst my mental sensibilities are as acute, as they were in
days of youth. Hence all the beauties of nature—the countless
wonders of the world—the finer works of art—the numerous but
better productions of literary talent, are sources of never-tiring
enjoyment ; whilst the company and confidential intercourse with
men of congenial minds and pursuits, continue to excite the tripartite

leasures of “imagination,” of “memory,” and of “ friendship.”
lence time never seems to flag—days are too short for the duties
and gratifications which every succeeding morning presents—and

46 Myr. J. Britton’s Address.

ennui is unknown in my personal vocabulary. I venture to say
thus much of self, retrospectively, as a prelude to what I have to
remark on the origin, prospects, and probable results of the Society
we are now met to inaugurate.

Wiltshire is a fine, a remarkable, a truly interesting county. Its
geographical, geological, and other branches of Natural History
abound with matter and materials calculated to exercise and reward
the lovers of those branches of science. Its Topography and
Antiquities are replete with objects of moment, and therefore can-
not fail to furnish endless food for the mental appetite. In Celtic
Antiquities there is not a district of our iskand—or even in the world
—which contains such an amount of the tangible records of the
history and customs of the aboriginal and primeval inhabitants.
Its castrametations and other earthworks are numerous, various, and
remarkable; whilst the evidences of Roman population, with the
customs of those invaders, are apparent in the military roads, castra,
and stations of the county.

Of Architectural Antiquities, Wiltshire presents many important
and interesting specimens; in the unique and beautiful Cathedral
Church of Salisbury, in the fine fragment of Malmesbury Abbey
Church, and in several parish churches. Though it cannot boast
much of castellated architecture, we find some remains at Ludger-
shall and Wardour, and also in the lofty keep mounds at Marl-
borough and at Devizes.

In ancient Domestic Architecture, we recognize interesting and
curious specimens in Lacock Abbey, Bradenstoke Priory, Longford
Castle, Longleat, Wilton House, Charlton Park, Littlecote, South
Wraxhall, Great Chaldfield, and Kingston House at Bradford.

It is true that John Aubrey, Bishop Tanner, Thomas Gore of
Alderton, Henry Penruddocke Wyndham, Thomas Davies, and a
few others, had made collections, and produced certain volumes on
the county, generally; whilst the Rev. Mr. Cooke, Dr. Stukeley,
Dr. Wm. Smith, Twining, Kennedy, Price, Richardson, Wood, &c.,
had written and published treatises on particular objects and places.
Mr. Wyndham of Salisbury translated the Domesday survey, in
the preface to which he strongly urged the nobility and gentry of
the county to assist in, and promote a Topographical History.
His appeal and advocacy were unheeded, and when I first visited
Salisbury, in 1796, he received me with much courtesy and kindness.
Tt should be borne in mind that he had previously manifested both
partiality and qualifications for Archeology and Local History, by
two volumes, on South Wales, and on the Isle of Wight. The
advice and patronage of such a gentleman were of importance, and
I profited by them for the first year of my topographical novitiate ;
but on a subsequent visit to Salisbury, having met with some
officers stationed there with the Wiltshire Militia, who invited me
to join them occasionally, at the mess-dinners, I was induced, at
their instigation to perform in a farce with Mr. Stratford’s theatrical

Mr. J. Britton’s Address. 47

company then in the city. I made my appearance on the stage,
but was thenceforward estranged from Mr. Wyndham. It was
some time before I was made conscious of the offence, and longer
before I was favoured with his renewed correspondence and
advice.

In the “Beauties of Wiltshire” I have related the history of
that publication, which led to a general connection and intercourse
with the county. That work gave origin to the “Architectural
Antiquities,” ““The Cathedral Antiquities,” and lastly, though not
the least in my estimation, the “ Wiltshire Archeological and
Natural History Society.” This association, I do most ardently
hope, may prosper, progressively advancing in popularity and use-

ess, and thereby becoming an honour to the county, and also
to its founders and patrons.

In the Auto-biography which I am now writing and printing,
will be found other notices of this Society, and of my personal
connection with many public persons, and of distinguished places
in the county of my birth.

In July 1849, I printed copies of the following address to be
circulated at the congress of the “Archeological Institute” at
Salisbury, and now repeat it to show what was then said and done,
though ineffectually, towards establishing a Society similar to that
which we this day meet to inaugurate :—

“The British Association for the Advancement of Science has
long been, and continues to be, not only popular, but eminently
interesting and useful in its working and results. Archxologiéal
Societies have followed in its wake, and imitated some of its principles
and regulations; and they have given a new impulse and direction to
that department of Topography which relates to local antiquities.
It is only eight years since the British Archeological Association
commenced its ambulatory course, by visiting the metropolitan city
of Canterbury, where by exploring, lecturing, and conversing on
the antiquities of the place and its vicinity, as well as by publishing
subsequent accounts, it produced a powerful effect on many old
inhabitants of the city, and on several old and young antiquaries,
in the British metropolis, and different parts of the country. Other
Societies, in imitation of the parent, have since been established;
and though principally limited to a single county, some of them
have enrolled numerous members, realised large subscriptions, and
published several useful and valuable works.

“Following such examples, and: profiting by experience, it is
thought advisable to convert the Wiltshire Topographical Society,
into a Wiltshire Archeological and Natural History Institute, with
the hope of rendering it more popular, and consequently more use-
ful than the former had been.

“The history of the Wiltshire Topographical Socicty and the
nature of its publications, shew that there are few persons, either
duly qualified or willing to write a comprehensive history of a

48 Mr. J. Britton’s Address.

county, of a hundred, or even a parish; whilst the experience of
the Societies above referred to proves that there are many persons
who are at once capable and ready to prepare short essays on the
history, the architecture, and the characteristics of an ancient castle,
a mansion, a monastery, a church, or some other single subject, and
thereby contribute essential matter towards a County History.

“The counties of Gloucester, Somerset, Kent, Northampton,
Hertford, Northumberland, York, Sussex, and Norfolk, as well as
the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, already possess their
respective Archeological and Architectural Societies; and when
the many remarkable and important objects of antiquity which
belong to Wiltshire are considered, it must at once be acknowledged
that the Historian, the Topographer, and the Archzologist will find
within its limits ample subjects for study and for elucidation.”

The Congress of the Archeological Institute at Salisbury, as
above stated, constituted a memorable epoch, not only for the city,
but for the county; and exhibited to the inhabitants of both, the
spirit, the zeal, the varied knowledge which the members possess,
and have successively displayed, in Canterbury, Winchester, York,
Norwich, Gloucester, Bristol, and Lincoln. The results of their
visits to those interesting cities, have been partially exhibited to
the world by the publications they have produced ; but the seeds
sown in the minds of many who attended their meetings, cannot
yet be known, though they must germinate, and eventually pro-
duce abundant crops. Had such a Society met in Salisbury at the
end of the last century, it would have experienced a cordial and
cheering reception from the antiquaries of that city, and others in
the county ; and the Topographer and Archeologist of the present
age would have seen very different works on “ Ancient Wiltshire,”
“South Wiltshire,” “Beauties of Wiltshire,” or on “Salisbury
Cathedral,” than the volumes which have been published with
those titles.

To this appeal there were not replies enough to justify a public
meeting ; and until the commencement of 1853, nothing more was
done on the subject. Having amassed a large collection of books,
manuscripts, drawings, sketches, models, &c., relating to Wiltshire,
I printed a catalogue of the whole, and distributed a few copies
amongst my friends in the county. Mr. Scrope and Mr. Cunning-
ton immediately saw and felt the desirableness of securing such a
mass of Topographical and Archzological materials within the
area of the shire to which they referred. The latter, in the true spirit
and zeal of his revered and amiable grandfather, to whom the
county and Archeology are essentially indebted for the contents of
the two splendid volumes on “ Ancient Wiltshire,” now before the
public, after some entreaty amongst his friends at Devizes, formed a
committee in that town, appealed to several gentlemen in the county,
and raised a subscription to purchase my collection. One hun-
dred and fifty pounds have been raised and paid to me, the whole

1
+
<
x
¥

Queries relating to Parochial History. 49

of my Wiltshire collection so purchased, has been transmitted to its
new home at Devizes, near the centre of the county, the Mayor and
Corporation have kindly and judiciously given it safe and respectable
shelter, and the large and influential assembly, which met there on
the 12th instant to inaugurate the Society, cannot fail to gladden
my heart, and render the event, the time, the place, and the flatter-
ing expressions used, the most memorable in the life of their old
friend and well-wisher.

Some thirty years ago, I had correspondence with Sir Richard
Colt Hoare, about forming a Wiltshire Topographical Museum and
Library in the county; I offered to present my collection, if he
would do the same. He, however, declined, as he intended to pre-
serve them in his own mansion. Family considerations have re-
strained me from giving the whole of the materials and objects I
had amassed relating to my native county; but as a Society is now
formed, and has “a local habitation and a name,” and as it has
paid me the sum above specified, for the articles I had enumerated
in the printed catalogue above mentioned, it is my intention to
present additional models, busts, drawings, books and manuscripts
to the value of fifty pounds, and trust that this example will be
followed by other gentlemen, and even ladies, before the anniver-
sary meeting of next year.

QUERIES

RELATING TO

Che Archoalagy oud Batural Bistory of Wilts.

PAROCHIAL HISTORY.

1. What was its ancient name and supposed derivation?

2. Are there any ancient or modern accounts of it; by whom
written; whether in MS. or in print?

3. What historical events have occurred ?

4. What circumstances worthy of note have taken place within
the memory of man?

5. Are there any letters, papers, or other documents of interest
in possession of any of the resident individuals, or supposed

to exist elsewhere?
I

10.
: he

Queries relating to Ancient Buildings, §c.

Are there any remarkable pictures in the possession of in-
dividuals, tending to illustrate its biography, history,
antiquities, &c. ?

Have any celebrated characters been born in it, or connected
themselves with its history?

What manors are there in it; and who are the lords?

Is any part tithe free; are there any peculiar manorial rights,
customs, privileges, tenures, or courts of judicature?

What is the date of the earliest entry in the parish registers?

Are there any entries calculated to afford interesting infor-
mation on the ancient customs, habits, &c., of the parish?

ANCIENT BUILDINGS, MONUMENTS,
ANTIQUITIES, &c.

Name the most ancient buildings, with, their dates, pecu-
liarities of structure, forms, &c.

Have any been injured or destroyed within the memory of
man?

Are any remarkable circumstances connected with their
history?

Are there any crosses, market or wayside, or monuments of
antiquity; add the present state, traditional particulars, &c.,
connected with each?

Are there any heraldic sculptures, dates, or inscriptions, either
in or attached to particular houses, or insulated?

Are any ancient carved oak chests, or other articles of fur-
niture existing in the parish?

Are there any barrows? Have they been opened and what
discovered ?

Are there any rocks or stones which are objects either of
tradition, or popular superstition, and what name do they
bear?

Are they adherent to the soil, or placed there by the hand of
man? How arranged?

10.
14:
12.

13.

14.
15.

16.

Queries relating to Idiom, Dialect, §c. 51

Of what nature (geologically considered) are they?

Is there any camp, and by what name known?

Are there any ancient roads or track-ways, boundaries, dykes,
&e.; and what are their direction and name?

Have any coins, glass vessels, tessellated pavements, seals, stone
or metal hatchets, pottery, bone pins, rings, beads, collars,
arrow heads of bone or flint, bronze and iron articles,
spears, swords, or other weapons been discovered; where,
and under what circumstances, and by whom possessed ?

Is there a site of a British village?

Are there any traces other than the above mentioned, of
supposed Celtic, Roman, Saxon, or Danish occupation?

Are there any trees of superstitious or traditional interest?

TRADITIONS, CUSTOMS, &c.

Are there any traditions referring to historical or local
events?

Are there any customs, festivities, &c., occurring on certain
days in the year, such as wakes, perambulations, &c.?

Are there any fairs of ancient date existing, or any discon-
tinued ?

Are any superstitious practices still observed?

Are any peculiar customs observed at funerals?

IDIOM, DIALECT, &c.
Are any words or phrases peculiar to the people of the
district ?
Any proverbs ?
What is the characteristic of the common dialect ?
H 2

Queries relating to Churches and Churchyards.

THE CHURCH.

Of what form is the church; about what period built, and in
what style? Is the founder of any part known ?

Of what materials; and whence procured ?

Are there any arms, inscriptions and dates ecoeyal with its
structure, or with any part?

Are there any low side windows in the chancel ?

Are there any monuments, inscriptions, or other antiquities,
in the church worthy of notice ?

Any remains of wood or stone screen work ?

Is there any ancient stained glass? What are the subjects,
inscriptions, &e.?

Are there any brasses ?

What number of bells, with their date and inscriptions ?

Is there any church library ? When formed?

To whom is the church dedicated ?

Is the communion plate ancient ; and does it bear any inscrip-
tion, date, and armorial bearings ?

Are there any ancient embroidered hangings or altar cover-
ings?

Is there any early churchwarden’s account book? What is
the date of first entry? Does it contain early inventories
of church goods, copies of injunctions, &c.

CHURCHYARD.

Is there any covered gate?

Any churchyard cross ?

Are there any curious monuments, or epitaphs and dates ?

Is there any remarkable tree; and any tradition connected
with it ?

Has anything worthy of observation occurred in opening old
graves ?

Questions on Ornithology Entomology, Sc. 53

6. Have any coins, ancient coffins, weapons, or other antiquities
been discovered in making graves ?

QUESTIONS ON ORNITHOLOGY, ENTOMOLOGY, &c.

1. Has any rare bird appeared in your neighbourhood, whose
occurrence has not been recorded ?

If so, at what date, (as near as possible) was it seen ?

During what kind of weather, and from what quarter was the
wind blowing at the time?

In what locality ; and under what circumstances was it ob-
served ?

Was it captured ? If so, with what particulars of time and
place ?

Did the wing and tail feathers and general plumage bear
marks of the bird having lived in confinement? Was the
bird in mature or immature plumage; and was the sex
ascertained ?

2. Has any remarkable nest been observed ?

If so, in what position, and of what size was it?

Of what materials, externally and internally, was it constructed ?

What was the date of its discovery ?

Did it contain eggs? If so, what was their number, shape,
size and colour ?

Did it contain young birds? If so, what was the date of their
hatching and leaving the nest P

8. Are the commoner birds in your neighbourhood designated
by any peculiar provincial names ?

4. Are there any superstitious notions prevalent amongst the
peasantry, with regard to the fortune or misfortune por-
tended by the appearance of certain birds ?

5. Has any unusual occurrence of our migratory birds come
under your notice, either as making a very carly appearance,
or prolonging their stay to a very late day ?

10.

12.

Questions on Ornithology, Entomology, &c.

Have you remarked any peculiarity in the plumage, nidifi-
cation, song, or general habits of any of our British birds
in a wild state ?

Can you record any remarkable instances of instinct as dis-
played by the feathered race ?

Does any Heronry exist in your neighbourbood? If so, how
long has it been there? Whence are the Herons sup-
posed to have come in the first instance; what number of
nests does it now contain? On what kind of trees; and in
what locality is it placed ?

Does any single nest (or more) as a detachment from a neigh-
bouring Heronry occur? If so, how long has it existed? Is
it still occupied ; and of what Heronry is it an offshoot ?

Are there any records or traditions of an extinct Heronry in
your neighbourhood ? Ifso, in what locality ? Of what size ?
When did it flourish ? How long since it was last colonized?
Whither did the Herons migrate? Was it wantonly de-
stroyed? or what were the circumstances of its decay ?

Can you glean any particulars of the now extinct Bustard,
from old inhabitants of the Plain, shepherds, labourers,
farmers, and others, who have been eye-witnesses of the
bird in a wild state ?

N.B.—The most trivial information on this point (if well authenticated)

is very valuable, as in a few years, no one who has seen the bird
wild in this county can exist.

Has any rare insect come under your notice? If so, at
what date; and at what hour of the day or night was it
seen ?

Was it in the air, on the ground, or on what species of tree,
shrub, or plant?

Was more than one specimen of the same species observed ?

Was it seen in the ‘larva’ or caterpillar state? In the ‘ pupa’
or chrysalis? Or the ‘image’ a perfect insect form ?

Have you observed any peculiarity in the instinct, feeding,
metamorphosis, reproduction, or habits of the insect world ?

The Museum. 55

13. Can you state anything of interest with reference to the
remaining branches of the animal kingdom; as fishes,
reptiles, worms, zoophytes, molluscs, &c.; their nature,
peculiarities, food, retreats, general or individual habits, &c. ?

GEOLOGY:

1. Have any remains of shells or other organic bodies been found
in the Sarsen Stones ?

2. What remains of mammalia have been found in the superficial

drift of Wiltshire ?

What is the extent of the lower green sand in this county ?

Does it occur in the Vale of Wardour ?

5. Do beds similar to those at Seend (described in the Journal of
the Geological Society, vol. VI.) occur in any other parts of
the county? If so, what are their physical characters, and
what fossils have been found in them?

N.B.—As these beds are at the present time attracting the attention of
some of the principal Geologists of this country, it will be very desi-

rable if any information can be given on the subject, and as early as
possible.

= 2

6. Have any meteoric stones or aérolites fallen in Wiltshire, and
what particulars are known respecting them ?

THE MUSEUM.

The temporary Museum, collected upon a short notice, and
arranged under circumstances which prove the zeal and assiduity
of the gentlemen to whose care this very important portion of the
day’s entertainment was consigned, attracted much attention, and
was highly creditable to the readiness with which its contents were
contributed for exhibition by various parties whose deep interest in
the Archeological Socicty has been thus pledged ; exceeded only

56 The Museum.

by the liberality of those who have patronized the undertaking
from its commencement, by actually presenting many articles of
value, and of special reference to the antiquities of Wiltshire.

The fossil productions of the county were represented by exqui-
site specimens from the rich cabinet of our respected townsman,
Mr. Cunnington, to whose ability and untiring effort the Society
owes a debt of deepest obligation, and who, like his worthy ances-
tor, rejoices in the success of services for which his modest worth
will scarcely endure to receive its due meed of praise. The exhibi-
tion also of Roman and Saxon remains was unusually fine, and the
several private collections of the neighbourhood—so far as their
contents have come under our personal observation—were made to
contribute whatever could add to the extent and interest of the
Museum, with a liberal-readiness most gratifying to the Committee,
and encouraging the confident hope that the Archeological Society
will not fail for want of support. Very numerous and inter-
esting were the spoils of barrows, and other carefully hoarded
memorials of early days, placed in juxta-position on this occasion.
Roman pottery and coins in large number—Anglo-Saxon fibule,
and instruments in great variety—conventual and ecclesiastical
seals, (presented to the Society by the Reverend John Ward, Rector
of Wath, Yorkshire)—ancient documents of considerable importance
—warlike weapons of early date—urns of beautiful form, and frag-
ments of British pottery ;—in short, ample materials for a philo-
sophic comparison of all that was with all that now is, were
supplied to a contemplative mind in passing from case to case through
this pleasing exhibition. Small in extent and hastily collected
together, still it was of no common character either as regarded the
value of the articles themselves, or the care with which they had
been preserved. By their ascertained existence within a few miles
of the proposed Museum, a pledge seemed to be afforded that, as
years pass on, and their possessors drop off, Wiltshire may not be
deprived of these memorials of her ancient inhabitants ; but that
the Archeological Society may afford a safe repository for many
a trifle, little valued till its worth becomes apparent when filling
an appropriate place in the cabinets of such an Institution as this.

The Museum. 57

@ List of Articles Exhibited

IN THE

TEMPORARY MUSEUM AT THE TOWN-HALL, DEVIZES,

October 12th, 1853.

Those marked with an Asterisk have been presented to the Society.

By G. Pourerr Scrorr, Ese., Castle Combe.-—Head in Terra
Cotta. Roman Lamps in Terra Cotta, found within tombs opened
at Cume, in 1821. Unguentaria or Lachrymatories in glass, from
Cumz. Portion of the Decorated Plaster of a room in a Roman
Villa, from Cumz, near Naples. Roman Circular Mirror. Obsi-
dian, or Volcanic Glass of Peru, used for knives, arrow-heads, &c.
Fossil Fish, from Monte Bolca, in Northern Italy. Schist, from
the Pic-du-Midi, in the Pyrenees. Pebble, exemplifying the
appearance and character of a fault in stratification, from the
Pyrenees. Portion of the Aérolite which fell June 15th, 1821, at
the village of Croz-du-Libonnez, Commune d’ Antraigues, Dept.
Ardeche, weighing 220lbs French. MS. Copy of the Castle Combe
Cartulary, chiefly in the handwriting of William of Worcester,
circa 1460. MS. Copy of Knight’s Fees of the Barony of Castle
Combe, in the name of Richard Scrope, Esq., with Seal of Edward
Sixth.

By Lievr.-Cotonen Oxtvier, Potterne.—*102 Specimens of Fos-
sils, from the Upper Green Sand of Potterne, &c. *Impression of an
ancient seal, found at Potterne. *Sword, ploughed up in Potterne
field, in 1836. *Ancient Ring, found at Potterne, in 1800.
*Small object of Bronze, from under the foundation of a house pulled
down in Potterne street.

58 The Museum.

By Rey. W. C. Luxis, Great Bedwyn.—* Ancient Pax, found at
East Grafton. *Large number of Engravings, Lithographs, Draw-
ings, &c., (many of which are by the donor.) *Eight Rubbings,
from Monumental Brasses, viz.:—Eleanor de Bohun, Duchess of
Gloucester, 1399, in Westminster Abbey. Robert de Waldesby,
Archbishop of York, in Westminster Abbey, 1897. John Estney,
Abbot, from ditto. Sir Wm. Calthorpe, 1420, Burnham Thorpe,
Norfolk. Robert Baynard, Esq. and Wife, 1501, Lacock, Wilts.
Nicholas Aumberdene, c. 1350, Taplow, Bucks. Thomas Chichele,
1400, Higham Ferrars, Northamptonshire. John Brown and Wife,
All Saints’, Stamford, 1480.

By Rev. J. E. Jackson, Leigh Delamere.—Painting of Farleigh
Castle, when entire, 1645. Old Manor House at Norton, near
Malmesbury. Leigh Delamere Old Church, taken down in 1846.
*Silver Coin, &c.

By Mr. Cunnineton, Devizes—Roman Urn, found at Rushall,
(restored.) Silver Model of a Romano-British Urn, from Stonehenge.
*Ancient British Sepulchral Urn, found at Beckhampton. *Frag-
ments of ditto, found at ditto. *Bellarmine, or Long Beard, found
at Devizes Castle. Mazer, in Maple wood, with silver rim and foot :
—legend round the rim—

“Thy blessing O Lord, grante mee and mine,
Thatt in life and death, Wee maye be thine.”

Septarium, from the Oxford clay, Trowbridge, (diameter about
three feet.) Fossil Jaw of Crocodile, from the Oxford clay, Chip-
penham. Ammonites Lewesiensis, chalk marl, near Calne. Ditto
Calcareous grit, Seend. Ammonites Giganteus, Portland Oolite,
Tisbury. Ammonites rostratus, Upper Green sand, Devizes, (large
specimen.) Ditto, Upper Green sand, Devizes. Ammonites rus-
ticus, chalk, Roundway.. Ammonites biplex, Kimmeridge clay,
Potterne, (very large specimen.) Ammonites perarmatus, Calcareous
grit, Seend, (two specimens.) Ditto, Portland Oolite, Swindon,
mouth perfect.) Ammonites Gualteri, Oxford clay, Trowbridge.
Ammonites Kénigi, Oxford clay, Chippenham, (large specimen.)
Ammonites rostratus, (mouth perfect.) | Humerus of Saurian,

The Museum. 59

Kimmeridge clay, Wootton Bassett. Vertebra of Saurian, Kim-
meridge clay, Wootton Bassett. Ditto, Foxhangers, near Devizes.
Nautilus elegans, chalk marl, near Calne, (two specimens.) Iron
Pyrites, Baydon, Wilts. Turrilites tuberculatus, chalk marl, near
Calne. Inoceramus involutus, chalk flint, Baydon. Ditto, Boyton.
Glass Case containing 108 specimens of Fossil Sponges from the
Upper Green sand, and 380 from the chalk flint of Wiltshire.
Belemnoteuthis Antiquus, Oxford clay, Chippenham. Fossil Tooth
of Rhinoceros tichorinus, Bulford. Ditto, Bradford, (four speci-
mens.) Case containing 55 specimens of Ventriculites, from the
chalk flint of Wiltshire. Case containing 17 specimens of Choa-
nites Konigi, (a species of Sponge.) Two Drawings, shewing
enlarged exterior view and sections of ditto, with spiral vessel.
Case containing 22 specimens of Fossils, from the Oxford clay,
Chippenham. Case containing 108 specimens of Fossil Terebratulz,
from the Upper Green sand of Wiltshire——Volume, published by
the Palzontographical Society, in which some of these specimens
are engraved. Drawing of Stonehenge, by Cattermole. Ditto,
Devizes Market Cross, &c., by Bartlett. Minute Photograph of
Stonehenge. View of Stourhead Gardens, Wilts. Engraving of
St. James’s Church, Devizes, by Pye, (artist’s proof.) North East
_ View of St. John’s Church, Devizes, drawn and engraved by James
Waylen, Esq. St. John’s Church, Deyizes, East View, original
drawing, by John Britton, Esq., 1805. Engraving from the above,
by J. C. Smith, for Britton’s “ Beauties of Wiltshire.” Bronze
Celt, from Abury. Model of an Ancient British Necklace, found
at Upton, Wilts, by the late Mr. Cunnington, of Heytesbury.
Asbestos Cloth, found in a barrow at Upton, Wilts, by the late
Mr. Cunnington, of Heytesbury. British Stone Celt, from Man-
ningford. Weapon, formed of Jade, from the South Sea Islands.
Two large Flint Spear Heads, from North America. One fine
Stone Celt, from North America. Three small Arrow Heads, one
large ditto. Plaster cast of Stonehenge. Medallion of Ray.
Ditto (brass,) found at Wardour.

By Joun Bnrrrron, Esa., F.8.A., Burton Street, London.—*Bust
of himself, modelled by Scouler. Portrait of Robert Elliot,

60 The Museum.

of Chippenham, painted by Provis. Views of two Cromlechs in
Cornwall. British Urn, from near Silbury Hill. Three Views of
Salisbury Cathedral. Models of North Porch, St. Mary Redcliffe,
Bristol. Chapter House, Salisbury. Fonts in Winchester Cathe-
dral, and Wrington Church. Bronze Celts, from Ireland, &c.,

By tHe Rey. A. Fane, Warminster —*Twenty-six specimens of
Wiltshire Ventriculites and Sponges, from Boyton.

By tue Rev. A. C. Smirn, Yatesbury—*Two Roman Sepul-
chral Urns, (one containing human bones,) found near Bromham.

By tHe Rev. J. Witxinson, Broughton Gifford—*Model of
a Skew Bridge, at Broughton Gifford. British and Roman Coins.

By tue Rey. G. Srattarp, Marlborough.—*Engravings, Mace
of the Corporation, and View of St. Mary’s Church, Marl-
borough ; five Wiltshire Fonts; Cromlech at Clatford, &c.

By Mr. A. Srrarron, Rushall—*A large collection of Bronze,
and other Roman Antiquities. Fibule, Rude Quern, Stone Celts,
Anglo-Saxon Weapons, Implements, &c., in iron and bronze.

By Mr. G. Farxner, Devizes—*Five Rubbings from Monu-
mental Brasses.—Sir Edward Baynton and Family, 1578, Bromham,
Wilts. Elizabeth St. Amand, c. 1490, Bromham, Wilts. John
Baynton, Esq., 1516, Bromham, Wilts. William Chaucey and
Wife, 1524, Charlton, Wilts. John Kent, Esq. and Wife, 1630,
St. John, Devizes, Wilts. Rubbing from a Carving on the wall
in Bromham Church.

By W. Tinker, Ese., Conock.—*Small Iron Spear Head,
found near Ellbarrow. *An Instrument for working wax on
Tablets, from Ellbarrow. *Rude Iron Weapon, (supposed to have
been used at the time of Monmouth’s rebellion) found in a house at
Imber, after a fire. *Bronze Fibula.

By Mr. W. P. Haywarp, Wiilsford—Ancient British Arrow
Heads, (four specimens.) Celts, (supposed British, three specimens.)
*Pair of Querns, found on the Down, near Wilsford. Sling Stones,
(four specimens.) Bronze Ring. Small Iron Spear Heads, (three
specimens.) Long Iron Spear Head, from Rushall Down. Long
Bronze ditto, from Wilsford Down, (in fine preservation.) Card
of 14 Articles,—Five Fibule. Bronze Key. Two Bone Pins.

The Musewn. 61

Small Silver Medallion. Twisted Ring. Two Armlets. Frag-
ment of ditto. Small object of Bronze. Horse Shoe, and six
Implements of Iron, probably of the Anglo-Saxon period. Eagle’s
Head of Bronze, and Bone Pin. Fragments of an Ancient Earthen
Strainer. A large Collection of Gold, Silver, and Copper Coins,
of Roman and other periods. Rude British Urn. Case of Egyptian
Antiquities. Four American Arrow Heads, of Flint.

By G. E. Stopsr, Esa., Devizes—Eleven Wiltshire Tradesmen’s
Tokens.

By Mr. G. E. Storr, Jun., Devizes—Five Cases of Coleopterous
Insects. Three ditto Lepidopterous ditto.

By Mr. Farxyer, Devizes.—Specimens of the Stones of Stone-
henge. Bones, found in the area of Stonehenge. Shells from the
centre of Silbury Hill. Four specimens of Druid Sandstone, or
Sarsen Stone, from Abury. Ground Plan of the Druidical Temple
at Abury, (drawing.) *Ditto ditto in Plaster. Two Drawings of
large stones, at Abury. Two Views of Stonehenge. Bones, from
the excavation at Silbury Hill. Ground Plan and Sections of
Silbury Hill, (two sheets.) Slice from the excavation at Silbury
Hill, showing the natural ground, and the artificial portion of the
hill. Compressed Turf and Moss, from the centre of Silbury Hill.
Globular and Pear-shaped Flints, from Tan Hill. Four Plates of
Forameniferous Shells of the chalk flint, with a description by
D’ Orbigny. Part of a Leaden Coffin, found at Roundway, Wilts,
(supposed to be a Roman interment,) also some of the substance
found lying on the floor of it. *Roman Coins, found on Salisbury
Plain. Sixteen Numbers of the Archzxological Journal, and
Evelyn’s Sylva. Concrete, from the base of one of the stones at
Stonehenge. A Case, containing a large number of Fossils from
the chalk, chiefly Foramenifera, Terebratula, and Spicules of
Sponge. Another Case, containing numerous minute Corallines.
A small Case, containing numerous minute Corallines. Another
Case of Corallines and Terebratulz. Five smaller Cases. Fossil
Jaw of a Fish from the chalk, one-eighth of an inch long, contain-
ing twelve teeth. *Drawing of a Cromlech.

By Mr. R. Srrarron, Broad Hinton —*Two Bellarmines, or
Long Beards, found at Broad Hinton.

62 The Museum.

By Mr. Prynicer, Beckhampton—aAncient British Urn, found
at Beckhampton. Ancient Iron Lock and two Keys. Ancient
Iron Horse Shoe. Ancient Iron Spear Head.

By Mr. B. Haywarp, Easterton—Small Ancient Shield of
Bronze. Fibula, (with perfect spring.)

By tHe Rey. E. Winton, West Lavington.—Fossil Wood, with
Teredo, (new species,) Upper Green sand, West Lavington.
Tobacco Stopper, temp. James Ist., found at West Lavington.
Five Cards of Fibule, Armlet, &c., from ditto. Two Impressions
of Ancient Seals in Gutta Percha. Bronze Figure of Minerva.
Bronze Key. Bronze Celt, from Lavington Downs. One Leaf of
a Diptych, found at Market Lavington. Five Ancient Documents
relating to the Castle of Devizes. Fourteen Wiltshire Tradesmen’s
Tokens. *Medals dug up at West Lavington.

By Miss Hucues, Brock Street, Bath.—*Seventy-two Ancient
Deeds, chiefly relating to the Westley family.

By tHe Rev. J. Warp, Wath, Yorkshire-—*¥ifty Casts and
Impressions of Seals, anciently used by monastic and other bodies,
in the county of Wilts.

By F. A. S. Locke, Ese., Rowde Ford—*Roman: and — other
Coins, found in the neighbourhood of Devizes.

By W. E. Tuawett, Ese., Devizes—*Roman and other Coins.

By tHe Rey. E. J. Purprs, Stansfield, Suffolk.—*“ The Booke
of Constitutions of the Fraternity of the Mercers of the Boroughe
of Devizes.” *Impressions of Ancient Seals, Ancient Deeds, &c.

By Dr. Tournuam, Wilts County Asylum.—*Impressions of
Ancient Seal. Eight Stone Implements and Weapons, from Den-
mark.. Two Stone Spear Heads, from North America. Two Sling
Stones, from Worle Hill. Eleven small Flint objects, Arrow
Heads, &c. Two Bronze Celts, from Yorkshire. Bronze Armilla,
(Roman) found at Farndale, North Riding of Yorkshire.—(See
Archeological Journal, vol. 8.) Large Flat Ring, of Bronze,
(Roman.) Circular Cup of Bronze, with Bone Pin, (Roman) from
the Rhine. Circular Anglo-Saxon Fibula, from Bedfordshire.
Large Oval Bronze Fibula, from Norway. Small Oard of Bronze,
and other objects, from tumuli, in Norway. Small Card of Bronze
and other objects, from tumuli in Livonia. Iron Sword, from

The Museum. 63

tumulus, near Christiana. Board, with Axe, Boss of Shield, and
other Weapons, from tumuli in Norway. Ancient Spur, with
Rowel, from near Scarborough. Medieval Bronze Buckle,
from York. Fragments of Flint, illustrative of formation of
weapons, found near Drew’s Pond, Devizes. Seven small Arrow
Heads, &c., of Flint. Five Glass Beads, from a British tumulus at
Arras, East Riding of Yorkshire. Five Amber ditto, from an
Anglo-Saxon tumulus, Driffield, East Riding of Yorkshire. Beads
of shell, and two conical objects of baked clay, from Halle. Earthen
Pot, made by peasants of Jutland. Specimen of Limoges Enamel.
Three Skulls—1. Ancient British, from Arras, East Riding of
Yorkshire. 2. Anglo-Saxon, from Fairford, Gloucestershire. 3.
Scandinavian, from Danes’ Graves, Kilham, East Riding of York-
shire. Heron, in glass case. Fungus, from Birch tree, New
Lanark, New Brunswick. Four Fossils, from Mamhead, Devon.

By A. Meex, Esa., Devizes—*The Booke of Constitutions of
the Boroughe of Devizes,” written and illuminated by John Kent,
Esq., Town Clerk and Mayor, 1628. *‘‘ The Booke of Constitutions.
of the Fraternity of the Drapers of the Boroughe of Devizes.”

By Dr. Bices, Devizes.—Model of Devizes Market Cross.

By Mrs. Cunnineton, Devizes.—Book, containing 58 pages of
Original Drawings (by Cocker) of Antiquities found in the County
of Wilts, and in the Collection of the late Mr. eo of
Heytesbury. Synopsis of Ditto.

By Miss Merepiru, Bromham.—Sixty-eight Fasciculi of British.
Plants. Tea Cup and Saucer, which accompanied Captain Cook on
his voyage round the world. Rubbing from the Monumental
Brass of Sir Roger de Trumpington, 1289, in Trumpington Church,,
Cambridgeshire. Rubbing from the Monumental Brass of Eleanor’
de Bohun, Duchess of Gloucester, 1399, in Westminster Abbey.

By Mr. R. V. Leacu, Vernon House, near Neath.—Gilt Spur..
Part of a Bronze Handle. An Egg-shaped Stone. Several Bullets
and Keys. Piece of Chain, all found in the ruins of Devizes Castle.

By rae Devizes Liverary anp Screntiric Instrrurion.—Stone:
Celt, mounted as an Adze. Canadian Goose, in glass case.

By Mr. T. B. Anstm, Devizes—Stone Celt, mounted as a
battle-axe, from Samoa, South Sea Islands.

64 The Museum.

By Mr. James WaytLen, Etchelhampton.—*A large number of
Wiltshire Tradesmens’ Tokens, &c.

By Mr. R. Wayten, Devizes.—Thick Folio Book, containing
Patterns of Waistcoatings, &c., manufactured in Devizes.

By Miss Cunnineron, Devizes—Large Case of British land and
fresh water Shells, mostly found in Wiltshire. Vase, ornamented
with Skeleton Leaves. Case of Skeleton Leaves.

By H. Burcuer, Jun., Esa., Devizes—Models of Stonehenge.
Fuchsias, &e.

By Mr. A. P. Hoxtann, Wilts County Asylum.—Twenty-six
Rubbings from Monumental Brasses, viz.:—Sir John Lisle,
Thruxton, Hants, 1407. Sir John Bettesthorne, Mere Church,
Wilts, 1898. Fragment of Figure in Plate Armour, from ditto.
Elizabeth Rowdon, Deerhurst, Gloucestershire, 1625. A Priest, c.
1500, Dowdeswell, Gloucestershire, (2 copies.) Elizabeth Askew and
Husbands, c. 1530, Edmonton, Middlesex. Nicholas Boone and
Wife, 1530, Edmonton, Middlesex. Edward Nowell and Wife,
1600, Edmonton, Middlesex. John Dauntesey, Esq., 1559, West
Lavington, Wilts. Elizabeth Burrough and Husband, 1616,
Tottenham, Middlesex. Lady Margaret Irby, Tottenham, Middle-
sex, 1640. Two Female Figures, Mitcheldean, Gloucestershire. John
Baynton, Esq., 1516, Bromham, Wilts. John Seysell, 14938,
Tormarton, Gloucestershire. Richard Coton, Esq. and Wife,
1556—60. William Henshawe (Bellfounder) and Wives, 1519,
St. Michael’s, Gloucester. Edmund Geste, Bishop of Salisbury,
1578, Salisbury Cathedral. William Heathcot, Aylestone, Lei-
cestershire. John Bailey, Esq. and Wife, 1518, Preshute, Wilts.
Sir Edward Cerne and Lady, ec. 1400, Draycot Cerne, Wilts.
Eleanor de Bohun, Duchess of Gloucester, 1399, Westminster
Abbey. Sir Morys Russel and Wife, 1401, Dyrham, Glouces-
tershire. Thomas Lord Berkeley and Lady, Wootton-under-Edge,
Gloucestershire, 1392. Sir John Cassy and Lady, Deerhurst,
Gloucestershire, 1400. John Jay and Wife, 1480, St. Mary,
Redcliffe, Bristol. *Robert Wyvill, Bishop of Salisbury, 1375,
Salisbury Cathedral. TwoSwords. Map of the city of Gloucester.
Portfolio of Drawings; Little Cloister, Gloucester Cathedral ;
Booth Hall, Gloucester. Corbel Heads, St. John’s College, Cam-

The Museum. 65

bridge. Piers, Llanthony Priory. Mouldings, Tinterne Abbey.
Incised Slabs, Brasses, &c. *Ancient Silver and Copper Coins, &c.

By Mr. W. Browne, Winterbourne Monkton—Two Cases of
Lepidopterous Insects, chiefly from the neighbourhood of Winter-
bourne Monkton. Preserved head of Shetland Sheep.

By Mr. W. Hiri1er.—Stone Curlew, in glass case. Ditto, in ditto.

By Mr. S. IL. Surre, Broad Hinton.—Bronze Celt, found on
Broad Ilinton Downs.

By Mr. G. Brown, Avebury.—Preserved Head of the old
Wiltshire Horned Sheep, bred by the late Mr. John Nalder, of
Berwick Basset.

By Mr. H. Butt, Devizes—Iron Spur, found on the site of
Devizes Castle. Carter’s Illustrations of Wiltshire Churches.

By Mr. E. Krre, Devises.—Fifteen Rubbings from Monumental
Brasses, viz.:—Anne Longe, 1601, Bradford, Wilts. Thomas
Horton and Wife, 15—, Bradford, Wilts. Sir Edward Baynton
and Family, 1578, Bromham, Wilts. John Baynton, Esq., 1516,
Bromham, Wilts. Elizabeth St. Amand, ec. 1490, Bromham,
Wilts. William Chaucey and Wife, 1524, Charlton, Wilts.
John Kent, Esq. and Wife, 1630, St. John’s Church, Devizes,
Wilts. Sir Edward Cerne and Lady, c. 1400, Draycot Cerne,
Wilts. Knight (probably of the Quintin family) c. 1380, Cliffe
Pypard, Wilts. John Stokys and Wife, 1498, Seend, Wilts.
William Bayly, (demi-figure) 1427, Berwick Basset, Wilts.
John Dauntesey, 1559, West Lavington, Wilts. Agnes Button,
1528, Alton Priors, Wilts. Robert Baynard, Esq. and Wife,
1501, Lacock, Wilts. William Moor, Priest, 1456, Tatter-
shall, Lincolnshire. Etching of a Fresco Painting, formerly on the
wall of the Hungerford Chapel, in Salisbury Cathedral. Etching of
the Monumental Brass of Bishop Wyvill, in Salisbury Cathedral.

By Mr. Ayroy, Devizes.—Bronze Celt, found at Roundway.

By Mr. N. B. Ranpiez, Devizes—A large number of Photo-
graphs by Mr. Russell Sedgefield, viz. :—Salisbury Cathedral. St.
Thomas’s Church, Salisbury. St. Edmund’s Church, Salisbury.
Poultry Cross, Salisbury. Stonchenge. St. John’s Church, Devizes.
St. Mary’s Church, Devizes. Old Town Hall, Devizes, &c.

66 The Museum.

By Mr. J. Goopwiy, Salishury.—(Articles belonging to Mrs.
Sanger.) —Alabaster ornament, representing the Head of St. John
the Baptist in a charger; from the Cathedral Church of Old
Sarum. Nine Bronze Celts, from tumuli, near Salisbury. Antique
Lock, from King Manor, the occasional residence of King John, at
Clarendon. Fragments of Armour, and curious Thumb-piece,
from ditto. Curious Key, large iron Arrow-head, and three-sided
weapon, resembling a dagger, from Old Sarum. Medieval Seals,
found at Harnham, consisting of—1. The Sacred Monogram, sur-
mounted by an ecclesiastical corona. 2. Curious merchant’s mark.
3. Seal of John Hertwell, Lord of Preston, Northamptonshire.
4. Monastic Seal, of early date.

By Mr. Baxer, Warminster—Hundred and fifty Specimens of
Flint Fossils, from Boyton.

By Mr. E. Guy, Devizes.—*Impressions of Ancient Seals. Roman
Coin.

By Mr. Patmsr, Welksham.—*Stone Celt, from the Shannon.

In concluding the “List of Articles” exhibited at Devizes, we
have two or three words to say to our readers :—

1.—They would greatly assist the purpose of this Publication,
if they would kindly communicate drawings or wood-engravings of
a suitable size, illustrative either of any of the Antiquities above de-
scribed, or of any others that may be met with relating to. this
county.

The kindness would be vastly increased, if they would lend to our
printer the blocks of any wood-engravings that may have been
made.

It may not perhaps be generally known, that there is a very
cheap process of illustration of which advantage may easily be taken,
in Cowell’s Anastatic Press, Ipswich. The drawing having been
first made with a particular ink, (to be obtained from that house,)
copies may be multiplied to any extent.

The Museum. 67

2.—It is hoped that the success which attended the exhi-
bition of Wiltshire Antiquities at Devizes, formed, as it really was,
at a very short notice, will be an encouragement to the inhabitants
of the county, to collect and preserve such things with an in-
creasing attention. The spade and plough are continually bringing
to light objects of curiosity, which, for want of any body to refer to,
to explain what they are, are mislaid or thrown away. Such things
will, in future, always find a welcome reception at the Devizes
Museum, where they may either be deposited as a gift, or as a loan,
according to the wishes of the owner.

3.—One more request we have to make of members of the Society
and of all who take an interest in the Archeology, &c., of their
respective locality ; which is, that they will be so good as to further
the objects which the Society has in view, by returning answers,
so far as they can, to the questions printed a few pages back. The
Clergy of the county, especially, have it in their power to supply a
great deal of valuable information, and it is hoped, that they will
not consider time wasted and labour misapplied which is given to
the collection of materials for the History of their County. They
may at least be able to furnish information respecting their
Churches and Churchyards, and the Traditions and Customs of
their parishes.

All communications may be forwarded through the general and
local Secretaries.

ETYMOLOGIES INVITED.

1. “The Garsroy.”—This word is of very frequent occurrence
in Wilts, as the name of a field, generally near a town. It is vari-
ously spelt and pronounced: sometimes “The Gaston,” or “The
Gaston-ground ;” sometimes “The Garsen.”

2. “Exsrus.”—One of the names of the “ragged” Hundred of
Elstub and Everley.

3. “Srapie’”—One of the names of the Hundred of Staple and
Highworth.

K 2

68 Ancient Wiltshire Customs.

On Certain Ancient Wiltshire Customs.

1—THE CUCKING STOOL,

WOOTTON BASSET.

This by-gone terror of the unruly-tongued fair one, remained in
good preservation, till within these forty years, at Wootton Basset,
and the pair of wheels on which the machine ran, with the arm
chair in which the scolds received their immersions, are still to be
seen in a loft, over the Town Hall of that place.

The machine when complete consisted of a chair, a pair of wheels,
two long poles for shafts, and a rope attached to each shaft, at about
a foot from the end of it.

The person to be ducked was tied into the chair and the machine
pushed into a pond, called the Weir-pond, (which is now filled up,)
and the shafts being let go, the scold was tipped backwards into
the water, the shafts flying up, and being recovered again by means
of the ropes attached to them. The chair is an oak arm chair with
the date 1668 carved on the back of it, and the wheels are similar
to those of a small cart, and are three fect three inches in diameter.

When I was at Wootton Basset some ten years ago, I was in-
troduced to a lady named Cripps, whose brother had been mayor
of the town, and who remembered the different parts of the Cuck-
ing Stool in a perfect state, and by her I was favoured with the
drawing of the Cucking Stool at Wootton Basset, which I send
herewith.

With respect to the law on the subject of scolds :—Sir William
Russell in his work on Crimes and Misdemeanors, one of the best
text-books on our criminal law, says (in the last edition by Mr.

Greaves, Q. C., published in 1848, vol. 1. p. 327,) “A common scold,

Tol mut eI ory 7

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aN 2 See

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3 Se ire es Ps ee Po Cucd© S t eh bee"

MCL. lth. 1953, 5 wees at ao FEO” 4 Ate

The Cucking Stool. 69

communis rizatriz, for the law confines it to the feminine gender,
is a public nuisance to her neighbourhood, and may be indicted
for the offence, and upon conviction, punished by being placed
in a certain engine of correction, called the trebuchet, or cucking
stool.”

In the case of Regina v. Houston, in the Court of Queen’s Bench,
in Trinity Term, 6. Anne, (1707) reported in Blackerby’s cases,
(Tit. Scolding p. 285,) the Court (the celebrated Lord Holt, then
being at the head of it,) said that “to make this a crime indictable,
there must be several repeated instances before they can be indicted
for common scolds ;” and in the case of Janson v. Stuart, reported
in the first volume of Durnford and East’s Reports, p.754, Mr. Justice
Buller, said, “In the case of a common scold, it is not necessary to
prove the particular expressions used; it is sufficient to prove
generally, that she is always scolding.”

Upon these authorities, it is as clear, that by the laws of England,
scolds, if convicted, are still punishable by the Cucking Stool, as
that drunkards are to be punished by the stocks.

In the case of Steverton against Scrogs, in Michaelmas Term,
41 Elizabeth, (1599,) reported by Sir George Croke, in his Reports
temp. Elizabeth, p. 698, it appeared that at the Court Leet of the
Manor of Renold, of which Oliver Scrogs was the lord, it had been
presented by the jury, that there was not within the Vill any
pillory or tumbrel to punish offenders, and therefore the Vill was
amerced 20s. ; but it was held by Lord Chief Justice Popham, Mr.
Justice Gawdy, and Mr. Justice Fenner, that the pillory and tum-
brel ought to be provided by the Lord of the Liberty and not by the
Vill, unless there be a prescription to the contrary, which ought
to be specially alleged.

Lord Chief Baron Comyns, in his “ Digest of the Laws of Eng-
land,” a work of high legal authority, says (Tit. Tumbrel A.) “The
tumbrel or trebuchet is an instrument for the punishment of
women that scold or are unquiet, now called a Cucking Stool,”
“and a man may have a pillory, tumbrel, furcas, &c., by grant or
prescription, and every Lord of a Leet ought to have them, and for
default, the liberty may be seized, or the lord of the liberty shall be
fined to the king for a neglect in his time.”

70 Ancient Wiltshire Customs.

Lord Chief Baron Comyns died in the year 1740, and he founds
his last observation on a dictum of Lord Chief Justice Scrope,
reported in Keilway’s Reports, page 148, where among the cases
tried on an Iter in the time of Edward the third, there is a case of
quo warranto, in which the defendant claimed to have the punish-
ment of offenders who broke the assize of bread and beer, and it
was found by the jury “que n’avoit pillor ne tumbrell,” and Lord
Chief Justice Scrope “agard que il enjoyara son franchise, mes il
serra en le grace le Roi, pur ceo que il n’avoit pillorie & tumbrell.”

The jury found that the defendant had neither pillory nor tum-
brel, and the Lord Chief Justice Scrope “awards that he shall enjoy
his franchise, but he shall be in the grace of the king,” (i. e. at the
king’s mercy) “for this, that he had not pillory and tumbrel.”

There is no precise date to the Iter, so that whether this is Hen-
ricus le Scrope, or Galfridus le Scrope, is uncertain, as both were
Lord Chief Justices of the Court of King’s Bench, in different parts
of the reign of Edward the third.

It is worthy of remark, that Lord Chief Baron Comyns speaks of
the tumbrel, ov trebuchet. Now although both were Cucking
Stools, they were different instruments; the tumbrel being move-
able, and upon wheels, the trebuchet being permanently fixed on a
short post at the side of the village pond; and in proof of this, it
may be observed, that the ammunition waggon used in the French
war, which ended in 1814, was called a tumbrel. The trebuchet
being a name for an implement of war, which worked on an axis,
for the throwing of stones into besieged towns, and is described by
Captain Grose in his Military Antiquities, vol. 1. p. 882, and by
Sir Samuel Meyrick, in his work on Armour, vol. 8. Glossary Tit.
Trebuchet.

The Rev. Daniel Lysons, F.A.S., in his Environs of London,
vol. 1, p. 233, printed in 1792, gives the following extract from
the Chamberlain’s accounts of Kingston-upon-Thames :—

“¢1572,—The making of the Cucking Stool .......... 0 8 0
7 Tron work for the same .........0.....05. 0-80
an Mimbar for the;same:~ 25, ar. Jeiya.s = vey fo 0 7.6

- Three brasses for the same, and three wheels 0 4 10”
To this the Rev. D. Lysons appends this note :—‘‘ The Cucking

The Cucking Stool. 71

Stool was an instrument of punishment for scolds, and unquiet
women ; it seems to have been much in use formerly, as there are
frequent entries of money paid for its repairs: this arbitrary
attempt at laying an embargo upon the female tongue, has long
been laid aside.” This Cucking Stool must have been a tumbrel
like that at Wootton Basset, except in its having three wheels instead
of two.

The books of the Corporation of Gravesend, (quoted by Mr.
Cruden, in his History of Gravesend, p. 268,) contain the following
entries on the subject of Cucking Stools :—

1628, Novem. 9.—Paid unto Mildman for mending the

EASES UA) AS RES Re Re SEN SOO OPN Gon OF 0 7 0
1629, Sept. 4.—Paid unto the Wheeler for timber for

mendine the CuckimeiSwoln oc. \e vocals sees ase e 03 4
1635, Oct. 23.—Paid for two Wheeles and Yeekes

for tae Wrckine SOON sae Weel states care cole 0 3 6
1636, January 7.—Paid the Porters for ducking of Good-

Byitos- CATIONS estes Sere sole ae oe f.c, oi taca A 0 2 0
1646, June 12.—Paid two Porters for laying up the

ID} rTA she 931001) REAR B IEA SOE aE Ba: ace ee Neste 0 0 8
1653, —Paid John Powell for mending the

AHOkINE BU: Hori tee cee eee fechas os 0 6 0
1680, —Paid Gattet for a proclamation, and

for carrying the Ducking Stoole in market .......... 0, 1. 6”

Mr. Cruden adds (Id. p. 270) this—“ the Ducking Stool or Cuck-
ing Stool was placed upon wheels, and by the ministration of the
Fellowship of Porters, was plunged with the occupant into the
river, at an inclined plane called the Horse Wash, at the Town
Quay, there being no other place so suitable for the operation within
the town; and farther it appears that the porters were not only recom-
pensed for giving the ducking, but also for restoring the machine to
its place in the market.” This also must have been a tumbrel.

Messrs. Manning and Bray, in their History of Surrey, vol. 1.
p. 343, printed in 1804, in treating of Kingston-upon-Thames, say
—‘“‘a new Cucking Stool was made in 1572, at the expense of
£1. 3s. 4d. This machine was frequent in former times, but is now
so wholly disused that it may require some explanation. It would
seem that heretofore there were women who made so much use of

72 Ancient Wiltshire Customs.

their tongues as to disturb their neighbours, as well as their own
families; to check this, the instrument here mentioned was in-
‘vented. It is generally called a Cucking Stool, or chair, bnt the
true name probably is a Ducking Stool, or chair. If there was a
pond in the parish, a post was set up in it; across this post was
placed a transverse beam turning on a swivel, with a chair at one
end of it, in which, when the culprit was properly placed, that end
was turned to the pond, and let down into the water. This
was repeated as often as the virulence of the distemper required.
This disorder, like the leprosy, being no longer known here, the
Cucking Stool is probably not now to be found.”

It should here be remarked, that Messrs. Manning and Bray, in
their work, describe a trebuchet, although it is clear that the
Cucking Stool to which they are referring, viz., that at Kingston-
upon-Thames, was a tumbrel, as is manifest from its having
wheels, as stated in the account for its construction, published by
the Rey. D. Lysons.

That Cucking Stools of the trebuchet kind must have been com-
mon in the time of the poet Gay, is evidenced by the fact, that in his
Pastorals called “the Shepherds’ week,” in the pastoral of Thursday,
or “The Dumps,” Sparabilla, the heroine, who thinks of committing
suicide, says—

‘‘T’1l speed me to the pond, where the high stool
On the long plank, hangs o’er the muddy pool ;
That stood the dread of ev’ry scolding quean ;
Yet sure a lover should not die so mean.”

In the Gentleman’s Magazine of December, 1803, (page 1104,)
is a letter from Mr. James Neild to Dr. Lettsom, the celebrated
physician, dated from Liverpool, October 16, giving an account of
the prisons at Liverpool, and in it Mr. Neild says, “ The House of
Correction built in 1776, is much improved since my former visit ;
the wanton severity of the Ducking Stool used upon a woman’s
first admission, is now discontinued; (it was formerly the punish-
ment in almost every country town in Cheshire and Lancashire,
for scolds and brawling women,) but the whipping-post for females
is the pump in the men’s court, and this discipline still continues,

The Cucking Stool. 73

though not inflicted weekly. The prison is kept very clean by the
matron, Jane Widdowes ; salary £63.”

To this passage Mr. Neild has appended the following note :—
“What I have called a Ducking Stool, is in Cheshire called a
Choaking Stool. It is a standard fixed at the entrance of a pond,
to this is attached a long pole, at the extremity of which is fastened
a chair. In this the woman is placed, and undergoes a thorough
ducking thrice repeated. Such an one, within the memory of per-
sons now living, was in the great reservoir in the Green Park.”

That the scold was, at least in some instances, subjected to three
immersions, further appears from the following passage in the Poems
of Benjamin West, of Weedon Beck, printed in 1780, (p. 84.)—

‘Down in the deep the stool descends,
But here at first we miss our ends ;
She mounts again, and rages more
Than ever vixen did before.

So throwing water on the fire

Will make it burn up still the higher ;
If so, my friends, pray let her take

A second turn into the lake ;

And rather than your patient lose,
Thrice, and again, repeat the dose.

No brawling wives, no furious wenches,
No fire so hot, but water quenches.”

Mr. Beesley, in his History of Banbury, published in 1841,
(p. 223, n. 21.) says—“< The Cucking Stool existed till within these
fifty years at a horse-pool, at the lower end of the Market-place
(at Banbury.) The pillory stood near it.”

Mr. Curwood, the eminent barrister, who died at an advanced
age, in the year 1847, recollected to have seen a Cucking Stool of
the trebuchet kind, in a perfect state, at the edge of a pond, in a
village green, near Worthing. He said, that a short post was let
into the ground at the edge of the pond, and that a transverse
beam at the top of it, had a rude seat at one end. He stated, that
this beam could be moved horizontally, so as to bring the seat to
the edge of the pond; and that when the beam was moved back,
so as to place the seat, and the person in it, over the pond, the

74. Ancient Wiltshire Customs.

beam was worked up and down, like a see-saw, and so the person
in the seat was ducked. When the machine was not in use, the
end of the beam which came on land was secured to a stump in the
ground, by a padlock, to prevent the village children from ducking
each other in sport, and perhaps drowning each other.

Mr. Curwood favoured me with a drawing of this Cucking Stool,
of which he said he had a most distinct recollection, and I now send
it herewith.

I afterwards showed this drawing to Mr. Bellamy, who was
for many years Clerk of Assize on the Oxford Circuit, and had
filled several very important legal offices, and had travelled the
circuit for more than sixty years. He said that he had never
seen a Cucking Stool with the seat still attached to it, but he had
seen several with the transverse beam still fixed at the top of the
post, and that the post without the beam was still remaining at the
edges of village ponds, in many places in the midland counties,
when he first went the circuit. Mr. Bellamy died in the year
1846.

It is therefore pretty clear, that about one hundred, or one
hundred-and-fifty years ago, Cucking Stools were as common on
village greens as the stocks are now.

In the early part of the reign of Queen Anne, Mrs. Hannah
Saxby, the wife of Mr. Joseph Saxby, a mercer at Westerham in
Kent, [but whose name in all the law books is printed Foxby, | had
been convicted upon an indictment for being a common scold; and
it appears from her case, in the 6th volume of Modern Reports,
(n. 11,) that the Court of Queen’s Bench, in Michaelmas Term,
2 Anne, (1702,) held the indictment bad, in arrest of judgment,
because the indictment charged her with being Communis Calum-
niatriz, instead of Rixatrix ; and the report adds “ the punishment
of a scold is ducking ;” and Lord Holt said “ it were better ducking
in a Trinity than in a Michaelmas Term.”

This prosecution having thus failed, Mrs. Saxby must have been
again indicted, as Mr. Sergeant Salkeld, in his Reports, (vol. 1, p.
266,) under the date of Trinity Term, 3 Anne (1704) states, in the
case which he styles Regina v. Foxby, that “the defendant was

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The Cucking Stool. 75

convicted at the Sessions for a scold, and adjudged to be ducked.”
She brought a writ of error, and in another Report of the same
transaction, in Trinity Term, 3 Anne (6 Mod. Rep. p. 178,) it is
said that she was convicted by the Justices of the Peace, at the
Quarter Sessions at Maidstone, upon an indictment for being a
common scold, and judgment given, that she should be ducked.
Whereupon she brought a writ of error (Id. p. 213,) and on a sub-
sequent day, an application was made to dispense with her personal
attendance in the Court of Queen’s Bench, to assign error, as she
was so ill, that without danger to her life, she could not come up
out of Kent, where she lived. The Court say, “Scolding once or
twice is no great matter, for scolding alone is not the offence, but
the frequent repetition of it, to the disturbance of the neighbour-
hood, makes it a nuisance, and as such it always has been punish-
able in the Leet and ideo indictable,” and here they enlarged the
time till next term, to see how she would behave herself in the
mean time. And Lord Holt said, “ducking would rather harden
than cure her, and if she were once ducked, she would scold on all
the days of her life.” In Michaelmas Term, (1704,) her husband
and she came into court that they might assign error, which
they did, and on a subsequent day in this same Michaelmas Term
(Id. 239,) the judgment of the Quarter Sessions at Maidstone, was
reversed by the Court of Queen’s Bench, “the indictment being
for that she was Communis Riva instead of Rixatriz.”’

The Record of Mrs. Saxby’s second case still remains among the
Records of the Court of Queen’s Bench, of Michaelmas Term, 3
Anne, (1703.) It states an indictment found at the Kent Quarter
Sessions, at Maidstone, “die Martis in prima septimané post festum
sci. Michis. Arch’, scil: quinto die Octobris, 2 Anne;” “against
Hanna uxor: Joseph Saxby de Westerham in com. pred. Mercer,”
which charged her with being “Communis Riva.” It then states
her plea of not guilty at the same Sessions, and that the Jury found
her guilty, and the judgment against her is in the following form:
“Tdeo considerat’ est p. Cur. hic qd. pd. Hanna p. transgy’ offens’ et
malegestur’ pd. apud poch de Westerham pd. in com. pd. die
mercurii tcio die May px’ futur’ in quoddam Sedile ligneum [anglicé.

Li 2

76 Ancient Wiltshire Customs.

a Cucking stool] supra aquas situat’ ponatur et in eddem sede in
aquas sit semel immersa [anglicé. ducked] et exinde immediate
desumpta et interea capiatur, &c.”” The judgment against Hannah
the wife of Joseph Saxby, of Westerham, Mercer, therefore is—
“Therefore it is considered by the Court here, that the aforesaid
Hannah, for the trespass, offence, and misbehaviour aforesaid, at the
parish of Westerham aforesaid, in the county aforesaid, on Wednes-
day, the third day of May next ensuing, be put into a certain wooden
seat, [anglicé a Cucking Stool, | situate above waters, and in the same
seat, in the waters may be once immersed, [anglicé ducked, | and
thereof immediately taken out, and in the mean time be taken, &c.”
The record then states the proceedings on the writ of error, and
concludes with the judgment for the defendant, in the usual form,
“quod eat inde sine die” [7.c. that she should go thereof without day. ]

From this record it appears that persons who were punished by
the Cucking Stool had not always three immersions, as stated by
Mr. Neild to be the practice, at the House of Correction, at
Liverpool.

This is further confirmed by M. Misson, a distinguished French
lawyer, who travelled in this country, and died in 1721, and who
in his Memoirs and Observations in his Travels in England, (p.40)
thus describes the Cucking Stool, and its application.
“‘Chaise—La maniére de punir les femmes querelleuses est assez
plaisante en Angleterre.”

“On attache une chaise a bras a l’extrémité de deux espéces de
solives longues de douze ou quinze pieds, et dans un éloignement
paralléle, en sorte que ces deux piéces de bois embrassent par leur

a M. Misson must have travelled in England in the reign of King William
the third, as he appears to have been present at the coronation of King William
the third, and Queen Mary, on the 11th of April, 1689. He also mentions
Princess Anne of Denmark, by that title, (she having been afterwards Queen
Anne,) and that he was present when King James the second received a letter
on the 30th of October, 1688, announcing the dispersion of the Prince of Orange’s
fleet, when that monarch said to M. Barrillon, ‘‘at last then the wind has
declared itself a papist.”

The Cucking Stool. Ts

deux bouts voisins la chaise qui est entre eux, et qui y est attachée
par le céte comme avec un essieu, de telle maniére qu’elle a du jeu
et qu’elle demeure toujours dans l'état naturel et horizontal auquel
une chaise doit étre, afin qu’on puisse s’asseoir dessus, soit qu’on
Péléve, soit qu’on l’abaisse. On dresse un poteau sur le bord d’un
etang ou dune riviére, et sur ce poteau on pose presque en équilibre
la double piéce de bois, 4 une des extrémités de laquelle la chaise
se trouve au dessus de l’eau. On met la femme dans cette chaise,
et on la plonge ainsi autant de fois qu’ il a été ordonné pour rafraicher
un peu sa chaleur immoderée”

Mr. Ozell, in his translation of this work printed in 1715, thus
translates this passage :—“‘Cucking Stool—the way of punishing
scolding women is pleasant enough. They fasten an arm chair to
the end of two beams, twelve or fifteen foot long, and parallel to
each other, so that these two pieces of wood with their two ends
embrace the chair which hangs between them on a sort of axle, by
which means it plays freely, and always remains in the natural
horizontal position in which a chair should be that a person may
sit conveniently in it, whether you raise it or let it down. They
set up a post, upon the bank of a pond or river, and over this post
they lay almost in equilibrio the two pieces of wood, at one end of
which the chair hangs just over the water ; they place the woman
in this chair, and so plunge her into the water, as often as the
sentence directs, in order to cool her immoderate heat.’’

It would seem that a punishment nearly or quite the same as
that of the Cucking Stool was applied at Chester, as early as the
reign of Edward the Confessor, to persons making bad beer, as in
the Domesday Survey Div. Chester, (p. 262, of the printed copy of
that work) is the following entry :—

«'T. R. E. Viv sive mulier falsam mensuram in civitate faciens
deprehensus iiij solid. emendabat: similiter malam cervisiam faciens
aut in cathedra ponebatur stercoris aut 11ij°* solid. dabat prepositis,”’
which may be thus translated—“In the time of King Edward,
a man or woman taken making false measure in the city, was fined
4s.; likewise, one making bad beer, was either put in the chair of ,
muck, or gave 4s. to the stewards.”

78 Ancient Wiltshire Customs.

The parish of Liverpool also had its chair of correction for regu-
lating the temperament of the ungentle portion of the gentle sex of
that place. The date of its introduction there is not recorded, neither
is it known when, by the improvement in female manners, it was
no longer found to be necessary ; but that it was in request, (and
probably from its condition had been frequently so,) so late as the
year 1695, may be inferred from an item in the parochial expen-
diture of that year, when “ Edward Accres was paid for mending
the Cuck Stool, fifteen shillings.”

Neither does its use in Lancashire appear to have been confined
to the ladies. In the Book of Customs of the Manor of Preston, in
that county,? it is written that fraudulent tradespeople and insolvent
burgesses, occasionally underwent the cooling operation. No 26,
of the Customs (which are in Latin,) runs thus :—“ Also if a bur-
gess shall be in mercy for bread and ale, the first, second, or third
time, he shall be in mercy 12d; but the fourth time he shall go to
the Cuck Stool.” (‘“Ibit at Cuckestolam.”) Some fields in that
parish are still called “‘ Cuck Stool Pit Fields :” and not more than
forty-five years ago, a Cuck Stool complete, stood over a pit by the
turnpike road on the way from Preston to Liverpool.

In the county of York also there was punishment for scolds.
The author of the History of Morley, in the West Riding, men-
tions that the villagers in old times, were very particular in this
good usage: that for some reason or other, the Puritans had
been very anxious to preserve it: that he had often observed these
instruments near churches: and he is of opinion that if with the
stocks for brawlers of the other sex, they were more in use, it would
be no worse for society.»

In one of the books of the Exchequer for Cornwall we are told
by Borlase¢ that the following curious entry may be found :—

“Manor of Cotford Farlo, temp. Hen. I1I..—Whereas, by reason
of brawling women, many evils are introduced into the Manor, and
quarrels, fighting, scandal, and other disturbances arise through

a See Baines’s History of Lancashire, vol. iv. pp. 83 and 300.
Scatcherd’s Morley, [1830.] p. 192. ¢ Borlase’s Cornwall, i. 303.

The Mummers. 79

their hue and ery; therefore our custom with respect to them is,
that when they be taken, they undergo the punishment of the
‘Coking Stole :” and there stand barefoot, and their hair down
their backs, so as to be seen by all passers by, as long as our bailiff
shall determine.” It was called by the Saxons the “ Scealfing
Stole,” or “Scolding Stool.”

I have been thus particular in describing the two species of
Cucking Stools, viz. :—the tumbrels at Wootton Basset, Kingston
upon Thames, and Gravesend, and the trebuchets at Liverpool, the
Green Park, Banbury, near Worthing, and also those mentioned
by Messrs. Manning and Bray, and Mr. Bellamy, and referred to
in the poems of Gay and West, and by M. Misson in his travels,
as entries will no doubt be found as to Wiltshire Cucking Stools,
some of which would hardly be intelligible without this ex-
planation.

2.—THE MUMMERS.

In several parts of Wiltshire, groups of persons grotesquely
dressed go round from house to house on the morning of Christmas
Day, and act a sort of drama, founded on a legend of St. George.
There were a few years ago and probably are still, Mummers at
Wootton Rivers, and on Christmas Day, 1852, a party of Mummers
came from Avebury, and after performing there, came round to
the neighbouring villages, when going from house to house they
acted their Drama and after it sung a Hymn.

The verses repeated by the Mummers of the different places are
all founded on the same origin, but as they are not committed to
writing they vary in a trifling degree, and have in some instances
considerable interpolations.

About fifteen years ago one of my friends applied to different sets
of Mummers, and wrote down their verses from their dictation. The
interpolations were of course not the same with different sets of
Mummers, but the original verses were so—indeed some of the

Ancient Wiltshire Customs.

interpolations had reference to Napoleon, and the French war which

ended in 1814, and were easily separated from the original text.

The Characters in the Drama as performed in Wiltshire are :—

OLp Farner CHRISTMAS.

Mince Pre.

A TurkisH (evidently a Saracen) Kytenr.
Sr. GEoRGE.

An JTranran Doctor.

A character called Litrte Jack:

And the verses they repeat, divested of modern extrancous matter,
were as follows;—

Enter Own Fatuer CuristMas, eith a long beard.

Oh! here come I old Father Christmas, welcome, or welcome not,
I hope old Father Christmas will never be forgot.

Make room! room! I say!

That I may lead Mince Pie this way.

Walk in Mince Pie, and aet thy part,

And show the gentles thy valiant heart.
Enter Mince Pir.

Room! room! you gallant souls give me room to rhyme,
I'll show you some festivity this Christmas time.

Enter a Turxisn Kyicur, with a wooden sword.

T am a valiant Turkish Knight,
And dare with any man to fight ;
Bring me the man that bids me stand,

Who says he’ll cut me down with audacious hand,

T’ll cut him and hew him as small as a fly,

And send him to Satan to make mince pie.

Enter Sv. GrorcEe with a wooden sword.

Oh! in come I, St. George, the man of courage bold,

With my sword and buckler I’ve won three crowns of gold ;
I fought the fiery dragon and brought him to the slaughter ;
I won a beauteous Queen—a King of Egypt’s daughter :

The Mummers. 8&1

If thy mind is high, my mind is bold,
If thy blood is hot, I will make it cold.

[Sr. GrorcE anp THE TurKisH Knyicur fight—the latter falls.]

Turkish Knight. Oh! St. George spare my life!
Father Christmas. Is no Doctor to be found
To cure this man who’s bleeding on the ground.

Enter the Docror.

Yes! an Italian Doctor’s to be found
To cure the Knight who’s bleeding on the ground:
I cure the sick of ev’ry pain,
And raise the dead to life again.
Father Christmas. Doctor, what is thy fee ?
The Doctor. Ten pounds is my fee,
But fifteen I must take of thee
Before I set this gallant free.
Father Christmas. Work thy will, doctor.
The Doctor. I have a little bottle by my side
The fame*of which spreads far and wide,
I drop a drop on this poor man’s nose.

[ The Docror touches the TurkisH Kyicut’s nose, and he instantly
springs on his feet quite recovered. |

Enter Lirttz Jack, a Dwarf, with several dolls strapped at his back.

i Oh! in come I, little saucy Jack,
With all my family at my back.
Christmas comes but once a year,
And when it comes it brings good cheer :
Roast beef, plum pudding, and mince pie,
Who likes that any better than I?
Christmas ale makes us dance and sing ;
Money in purse is a very fine thing.
Ladies and gentlemen give us what you please.

The acting of this Drama, more or less modified, is not confined
to Wiltshire, as the Right Hon. Davies Gilbert, M.P., mentions it
in the county of Cornwall, and Mr. Hone, at Whitehaven, in the

82 Ancient Wiltshire Customs.

county of Cumberland ; indeed, it will be seen from the extracts
given hereafter, that the play is the same, though in these versions
of it some of the characters are omitted.

Mr. Davies Gilbert, in his Work on Ancient Christmas Carols,
published in 18238, (preface p. 4,) says—‘‘ Two of the sports most
used in Cornwall were, the one, a metrical play exhibiting the
successful prowess of St. George exerted against a Mohammedan
adversary ; the other, a less dignified representation of some trans-
actions at a market or fair.

[In the first, Sr. GEORGE enters accoutred in complete armour and
exclaims—

“ Here come I, St. George,
The valiant Champion bold,
And with my sword and spear
I’ve won three crowns of gold.
I slew the Dragon he,
And brought him to the slaughter ;
By which I gained fair Sabra,
The King of Egypt’s daughter.”

The PaGan enters.
“Here come I, the Turkish Knight,
Come from the Turkish land to fight
; : , bold
And if your blood is hot
I soon will make it cold.”

[ They fight : the Turwisu Knicur falls; and rising on one knee—

“Oh pardon me St. George!
Oh pardon me I crave!
Oh give me but my life
And I will be thy slave!”

[Sarnt GEorGE however again strikes him down; but immediately
relenting, calls out—

The Mummers. 83

“Ts there no doctor to be found
To cure a deep and deadly wound ?”

[A Docror enters, declaring that he has a small phial jilled with
the juice of some particular plant capable of recalling any one to life ;
he tries however, and fails, when Sr. GrorcE kills him, enraged by his
want of success. Soon after this, the Turxisn Kyicur appears per-
Jectly well, and having been fully convinced of his errors by the strength
of St. Guorce’s arm, he becomes a Christian, and the scene closes. |

The Fair, or Market, usually followed as a farce. ‘ Several per-
sons arranged on benches were supposed to sell corn, and one
applying to each seller in his turn, enquired the price, using a set
form of words to be answered in a corresponding manner. If any
error were committed, a grave personage was introduced, with much
ceremony, grotesquely attired, and provided with a large stick,
who, after stipulating for some ludicrous reward, such as a gallon
of moonlight, proceeded to shoe the untamed colt, by striking the
persons in error on the sole of the foot.”

This is the whole of the account given by Mr. D. Gilbert of
these Cornish Dramas.

Mr. Hone, in his Every Day Book, (vol. 2, p. 1646,) under the
date of Christmas Day, gives extracts from a Mumming acted at
Whitehaven. The title page of it is “ Alexander and the King of
Egypt, as it is acted by the Mummers every Christmas :—White-
haven: printed by T. Wilson, King-street ;” (eight pages, 8vo.)
It appears also from Baker’s Biographia Dramatica (Tit: Alex-
ander,) that this Drama was printed in 4to. at Newcastle, in 1788.
The characters are :—

Tue Kine or Eeypr.

Prince GeorGE, his son.

ALEXANDER.

A Doctor.

And Acrors who were to be a sort of Chorus.
The Actors say at the beginning (inter alia)

“Room! room! brave gallants, give us room to sport,

For in this room we wish for to resort ;

M 2

84 Ancient Wiltshire Customs.

Resort, and to repeat our merry rhyme,
For remember, good sirs, this is Christmas time.”

Prince George says :—

“JT am Prince George, a Champion brave and bold,
For with my spear I’ve won three crowns of gold:
"Twas I that brought the Dragon to the slaughter,
And I that gained the Egyptian monarch’s daughter.”

And Alexander says {inter alia)—

“Tis I that will hash thee, and slash thee, as small as flies,
And send thee to Satan to make mince pies.”

[Prince GrorGE and ALEXANDER fight, and Prince Grorce Sails. |
The King of Egypt says :—

“Ts there never a doctor to he found,
That can cure my son of his deadly wound ?”

The Doctor says :—

“Yes there is a Doctor to be found
That can cure your son of his deadly wound.”

All the other verses are quite different from those of the Wilt-
shire Mumming, but the almost identical phrases in these appear
to shew that both must have had one common origin.

In the Penny Magazine, (vol. vi. p. 339,) published in 1837, by
Mr. Charles Knight, to whom we are greatly indebted for the pre-
servation of much Antiquarian lore, the verses of the Mummers
are given; but in that version of them, the character of the Saracen
Knight does not occur, and it is Mince Pie who fights with, and is
vanquished by S¢. George; but the drama is in substance identically
the same as that enacted in Wiltshire.

Sir Walter Scott (in the notes to the 6th Canto of Marmion,) gives
the characters in one of the Masques of Ben Jonson for the Court
and their Costumes. The characters are Christmas and his ten
children ; one of whom is Minced Pie, but the other characters are
wholly unlike those in the Mummings which I have referred to,

The Mummers. 85

At Christmas, 1853, a party of Mummers performed at Pains-
wick in Gloucestershire ; the interlocutors were—Futher Christmas ;
A Turkish Knight ; A Doctor and his Man; and Beelsebub.

The following is a specimen of their verses :—
Enter Oty FatHer CurisrMas.

“In come I, old Father Christmas,
Welcome, or welcome not,
Old Father Christmas must not be forgot.”

Enter Turxisu Knieur.

“In comes I a Turkish knight,
I came from a Turkish land to fight,
And fight I will till I am slain,
For my blood is good in ev’ry vein.”

[Farner Curisrmas and the Turis Kyieur fight; the latter falls.]

Father Christmas. “ Five pound, ten pound, fifteen pound,
If there’s a doctor to be found
To raise this dead man from the ground.”

[| The Docror is introduced after some laudatory verses from his man,
and performs the cure. |

BEELZEBUB then enters and says :—

“Tn comes I, old Beelzebub,
On my back I carry a lump,
In my hand an empty can,
And don’t you think I’m a jolly old man.”

This is evidently the same character who is called Little Jack, in
the Mummings at some other places, and affords a clue to the
explanation of who Little Jack originally was.

86 Ancient Wiltshire Customs.

3.—THE HARVEST HOME.

At a Harvest home, which in Wiltshire is called a Home harvest,
care is taken that the last load shall be a light one; and when
loaded it is drawn home by the best team, (with their bells on) a
little boy, with a shirt decorated with ribbons worn over his other
clothes, riding the fore horse. On the top of the load the rakes,
&e., are placed; and as many as possible of the work people, male
and female, ride on the load, the rest of the party walking on each
side. As they proceed homewards, they chant in a sort of monotone
the following verse :—

‘‘ Ploughed well, sown well ;*
Reaped well, mown well ;
Carried well, housed well ;

Nur’a load overdrowd:
Harvest home !”

On a subsequent evening, or as it sometimes occurs, on the same
evening, all the work people are regaled by their master with a
hot supper, at which the head carter takes the head of the table, as
the head shepherd does at the sheep-shearing supper.

At the Harvest home supper the following song is sung :—

‘‘Here’s a health unto our Master the founder of the feast,
I hope to God with all my heart his soul in heaven may rest ;
That all his works may prosper that ever he takes in hand,
For we are all his servants, and all at his command;

i el ea eS ee

* In Mr. Hone’s Every Day Book (vol. ii. p. 1164,) another version of ‘‘Sown
well, grown well,” is mentioned as being repeated at the Harvest homes in
Gloucestershire; and the song ‘‘Here’s a health unto our Master,” with some
alterations, and an ungallant omission of the Mistress is given (Id. p. 1168,) as
sung at the Harvest homes in Norfolk.

The Harvest Home. 87

Then drink boys drink, and see that you do not spill,
For if you do, you shall drink too, with a hearty free good will.
Chorus—Drink boys drink, &e.

And now we’ve drunk our Master’s health our Missis shan’t go free,

For I hope and trust her soul will rest in heaven as well as he:

That all she’s works may prosper, that ever she takes in hand,

For we are all she’s servants, and all at she’s command ;

Then drink boys drink, and see that you do not spill,

For if you do, you shall drink too, with a hearty free good will.
‘Chorus—Then drink boys drink, &c.”

I was once describing the first Harvest home supper at which I
was present, to an old Wiltshire lady near ninety years ofage. She
asked me if any one was “booted.” I asked what this was. She
told me that if, during the harvest, a load was thrown down, the
person through whose fault this happened was “booted” at the
Harvest home supper; that is, after the cloth was removed, he is
taken and laid on the table with his face downwards, when the head
carter having procured one of the master’s boots, takes hold of it
by the foot end, and gives the delinquent three blows with the top
end of it, in a manner more calculated to injure his honour than his
bones.

This punishment is referred to in Dr. Graves’s novel, “ The
Spiritual Quixote,’ where it is stated, that Jerry Tugwell, the
attendant upon Mr. Wildgoose the hero of the story, having made
himself drunk and ridiculous, is subjected, amongst other indig-
nities, to the ancient discipline of the “boot.” (Book x. chap. 29.)

Where a master gives no Harvest home supper, the chant is
sung in derision by the workmen of those masters who give suppers,
as follows :—

‘** The bread’s not baked,
The beer’s not brewed,
The table’s not spread,
Devil take all such,
Harvest home.”

Till very recently at the Harvest homes at Ogbourn St. Andrew,
a very ancient anthem or hymn was sung. It appears to have

88 Ancient Wiltshire Customs.

had no reference to the harvest, and was evidently of a religious
character. I have not the words, but I believe that they are in
the possession of the Rev. J. Biss, the vicar of that place.

4.—_THE WOOSET.

In the villages near Marlborough, this is a mock procession got
up by the village lads, when conjugal infidelity is imputed to any
of their neighbours.

At a little before dusk, a blowing of sheeps’ horns and a sound-
ing of cracked sheep bells may be heard about the village, and
soon afterwards the procession is formed. I saw two of these
Woosets; one in the year 1835, at Burbage, the other about five
years after at Ogbourn St. George. The procession was in each
instance headed by what is called “a rough band,” which in the
latter instance was numerous. Some beat old frying pans, others
shook up old kettles with stones in them; some blew sheeps’ horns,
others rang cracked sheep bells, and one of the performers was
trying to extort music from a superannuated fish kettle, by beating
its bottom with a marrow bone. Four more carried turnips on
long sticks, each turnip being hollowed out very thin, and the
features of a face cut thinner still on it, and a lighted candle put
in the inside. These were followed by a person bearing a cross of
wood of slight make, and seven feet high; on the arms of which
was placed a chemise, and on the head of it a horse’s scull, to the
sides of which were fixed a pair of deer’s horns, as if they grew
there; and to the lower part of the horse’s scull the under jaw
bones were so affixed, that by pulling a string, the jaws knocked
together as if the scull was champing the bit; and this was done
to make a snapping noise during pauses in the music.

This procession is repeated on three nights following, when it
goes past the houses of the supposed guilty parties ; it is then dis-
continued for three nights; resumed for three nights more—dis-

Dog-rappers. 89

continued for another three nights, and then resumed again for
three other nights, and then it concludes.

This is a different procession from that called the “Skimming-
_ ton,” which takes place when a woman beats her husband.

When I was quite a boy I saw a Skimmington in Gloucester-
shire; the principal group in the procession being a stuffed figure
of a man placed on horseback, behind whom rode a man in
woman’s clothes, who, as the procession went on, kept beating the
stuffed figure about the head with a wooden ladle.

I believe that a Skimmington is represented in one of the illustra-
tions to Hudibras, and is described in part ii. canto 2, of that work.

The Wiltshire people called the Wooset procession a “oset,’’ as
they never pronounce w before o, calling wood ‘‘ood,” and the like.

5.—DOG-RAPPERS.

In the reign of King Charles the first, there was one of these
now obsolete and almost forgotten officers of the church at Ogbourn
St. George.

In an old churchwarden’s account book of that parish, (which
has been mislaid within these last few years,) there are the follow-
ing entries :—

“©1632. To Looker for whipinge the doggs out of the

Church for one quarter .........,...,.. xijd,
1633. To Looker for keepinge out doggs a whole yeare _ itijs.
1639. To Looker for keepinge the doggs &c......... ijs-
Payde to Looker for keepinge the doggs out of the
QUMCOM rite ceathens mb emtteate ee oh ce meee ee ijs.””

Payments of 4s. a year to Looker occur in other years, but the
entries do not state for what service those payments were made.

When I first saw these entries, I did not quite understand their
meaning, but on my mentioning them to Mr. Gray, the magistrate

90 Ancient Wiltshire Customs.

at Newbury, he told me that there are two ancient officers attached
to the great church there, who are paid 4s. a year each; their
present duty is to walk up and down the church, each bearing a
black wand, and show the inhabitants to their pews; they are now
generally called vergers, but when he was a boy they were called
Dog-rappers. They still receive the ancient salary of 4s. a year as
Dog-rappers, though they also make a collection at Christmas for
their present services as vergers.

I was also informed by the Rev. W. Heslop, the vicar of East
Witton in Yorkshire, that in his parish there was a person ap-
pointed at a salary of 8s. a year, who had a whip hung up in his
pew in the church, and was called the Dog-whipper. Probably one
person at 8s. a year, instead of two at the usual salary of 4s. each.

It also appears from the church books of St. Mary’s parish at
Reading, (cited in Man’s History of Reading, p. 301,) that in the
year 1571, Mr. John Marshall was chosen clerk and sexton of that
parish ; and the entry goes on to state that “for the more orderly
discharge of Divine service, it was agreed by all the parishioners
present that from henceforth, John Marshall now being admitted
clerk and sexton, shall have thirteen shillings and fourpence per
annum; in consideration thereof he shall, from time to time, see
the church clean kept, the seats swept, and clean made; the mats
beaten, the dogs driven out of the church, the windows made clean,
and all other things done that shall be necessary to be done for the
good and cleanly keeping of the church, and the quiet of Divine
service.”

At the time when Dog-rappers were required, the state of the
canine race must have been very different from what it is at present ;
however, Captain Grose in his Olio, in an essay entitled “ Sketch
of worn-out Characters,” says, “The country squire was an inde-
pendent gentleman of £300 a year, [worth eight or nine hundred
now, | who commonly appeared in a plain drab or plush coat, large
silver buttons, and a jockey cap, and rarely without boots. He
was commonly followed by a couple of greyhounds and a pointer, and -
announced his arrival at a neighbour’s house by smacking his whip,
or giving the view halloo.” This was the squire of about 1745;

Church Goods. 91

and if several of these gentlemen attended by their dogs came to a
church, Dog-rappers might be needed. But I have heard from
old persons, that an immense reduction in the number of dogs
occurred in 1796, when the dog tax was first imposed.

The sexton’s whip had a small bell fixed to the end of the handle,
which he rang when dogs came into the church, in order to frighten
them away.

In the churchwarden’s account book, of the parish of Banwell,
county of Somerset, is the following entry :

faloi2.. Paidtor-a bell*for the whipe ¥r2%'.:. fess sce. os ja.
1568. Paid for Korde for the whipe .................. Wee

F. A. Carrineton.

Chury Ganda.

The Book of Church Goods in Wiltshire, seized by the Crown
under a Commission dated March 3, 1553, which is signed by two
of the Commissioners,

“ Antony Hungerford,
Wyllya’ Wroughton.”
contains the following entries, which show the extent of the church
plate, and the number of bells at that time :—

The Hundred of Kyunwarston.

Ovncis Bellis
West bedwyne. Deliuered to Will™ davnce
and to William Vince won Cuppe or Chal.
by Indenture of xiiij ovnce & vbell —. _—-xiiij ovne bells v
In plate to the King’s vse. é xlij ovne

East bedwyne. deliuered to John Ddaseibe
and to Nicholas Rawlings wone Cuppe or
Chals by Indentuer of xj ovnce & iiij bells xj ovne _ bells iiij
In plate to the Kings vse : . i ovne & di

N 2

92 Church Goods.

Easione. deliuered to mighell busshell and
to James Myste won cuppe or Challis
by Indentuer of vij ovne di & iij bells

In plate to the Kings vse

Milton. deliuered to John bovncke ma to
John Smythe wone cupe or challs by
Indentue of viij ovne and iij bells

In plate to the Kings vse

Ovncis Bellis

xj ovne di

viij ovne bells iij
ij ovne

The hunderde of Selkleigh.

Alborne. deliuerede to Thomas hatte and
to Will™ Sexton won Cuppe or Challis
by Indenture of viij ovne di & inj
bells

Winterborn Basset. deliuerede to John

Brown and to John Webbe won cupe or
Challis by Indenture of vj ovne & Uj
bells ; ;
In plate to the King vse
Ocbourne Sci Georgii. Deliuered vnto 2 tin
Potter and Will Potter by Indenture
of iiij great bells .
Itm to the Kinge no plate
Brodehenton. deliuered to John Eteardicgaie
and John Marchaunte won cuppe or
chalis by Indenture of xj ovne & ij bells
Presshatte. deliuered to Robert Hodges
and Thomas Hiscocks won Cuppe or
challis by Indentuer of xj ovne & iij
bells ; ;
In plate to the Kings vse : ;
Ockbourne Seynt Andrewe. deliuered to
Raffe Cole and Will: Blake won Cuppe
or Challis by Indenture of xj ovne & iiij
bells
In plate to the Boge vse

bells iij
viij ovne di and a
sanctus bell

vj ovne bells ij

ij ovne di

bells iij

xj ovne ij bells

xj ovne bells iij
pee ovne

xj ovne iiij bells
x ovne

Church Goods.

Aberye. deliuered to John Sherocker and to
Jone Truslowe won cuppe or Chalis by
Indentuer of xj ovne and iij bells

In plate to the Kings vse : :

Marlbroughe seyncte peter. deliuered to
Will™ Andrewes and to Rycharde
Chaynye wone cuppe or chalis by Inden-
tuer of xij ovne & v bells

In plate to the King ‘ : ;

Marlbroughe seynct maris. deliuered to John
Younge & to Robert Oary won cupp or
chalis by Indenture of xvij ovne & v
bells. é 4

In plate to the Kings vse

93
Ovncis Bellis
xj ovne ij bells
ij ovne di

xij ovne bells v
XVj ovne

xvij ounc bells v
XX ovnce

The Hundred of Ramisbury.

Ramysburie. deliuered to Roger bouncke
and Will™ deane won cuppe or challis
by Indenture of in ovne and iijj
bells .

In plate to the Kings vse

luddington. deliuered to Robert Walron
and to henrye Taylor j cuppe or challis
by Indentur of vj ovne iij bells .

Swyndon. deliuered to Rob“ heathe and to
George Carleys j cupp or chalis by In-

In plate to the Kings vse

dreycott ffoliat. deliuered to Thomas Weke
and to Thomas Weke j cuppe or challis
by Indentur of xiiij ovnc & ij belles

Wanboroughe. deliuered to Nycholas escroupe
and to John heringe j cuppe or chalis
by Indentu of vij ovne and iiij bells

In plate to the Kings vse

x] ovne
iij ovne

bells iiij

yj ovne ij bells

lvij ovne

xiiij ovne bells ij
bells iiij

vij ovne

and a saunctus bell

Xvij ovne

94 Church Goods.

Ovncis Bellis
Cheasledeane. deliuered to Robert hoskines bells ij
and Thomas Newse j cvpp or chalis by xij ovne anda
Indentur of xij ovyne iij bells. , saunctus bell
In plate to the Kings vse E ; . Xij ovne

This book contains entries as to, nearly or quite, all the parishes
of Wiltshire ; but of the Indentures very few remain; the following
which relate to Wanborough and Liddington, will show the form
of them.

Wiltes >

hund. de Kinbrige Thenventorye Indented made the xxij"- of
in com Wiltes maye in the seventh yere of the reyne of
Wanbrough. o® sowayne lorde Kinge Edward the vj ™

of all bells and Chalices deliued by St An-
thonye Hungerforde, Wyllm Sherington, & Wyllm Wroughton,
Knyght, unto the custodye of John heyringe nycolas ristrope of the
same pysh sauflye to be kept to thuse of o* sayd sowaugne lord the
Kyng as hereafter more playnlye may Appere

Inprimis A Challis of Silver weinge vij ounc
Item iiij belles w" a saun* bell.

Hundr. de Kingbridge The Inventory Indented made the
loodington xxiij of maye in the vij yere of the
rayne of our sowaygne lord Kinge
Edwarde the vj of all the belles Challis of the parishe of Looding-
ton delyued by St Antony hung’ford S* Willm Sherington And
S* Wilm Wroughton Knyghtes Comyssoners the Custodie of
Robert Walk & hary taylo of the same parishe to thuse of our said
sowaigne lord the Kinge as herafter Apereth

Imp’mis A Challis of Silver weyinge vy] oune
i iij belles w a sauncs belle
F. A. Carrineton.

Wiltshire Entomology. 95

A few words to Wiltshire Eutomalagists,

It is very desirable that lists of specimens which have been taken
in the county should be supplied by those who have given their
attention to Entomology; they are invited to do so.

There are no doubt many Entomological collections in Wiltshire,
which are of little or no practical use, beyond the interest and
pleasure which they confer on the individual collectors. These
collections may now become more generally useful, by their cata-
logues being brought together and compared.

But a caution must be given here, for perhaps no class of collectors
are so careless as Entomologists, in the manner of keeping their
cabinets and Catalogues. They do not mark their specimens
with sufficient care; and it frequently happens that after a year or
so, and even after a few months, they are unable to remember the
exact localities where they were taken. It is not an uncommon
occurrence in works upon the subject, as well as in cabinets both
private and public, to meet with specimens whose localities are
unknown, merely from a want of system when classifying them.
In such instances the value of such specimens, especially if they
are rare species, is greatly diminished. What is required are chiefly
lists of specimens which are known to belong to the county.

And now one word on the subject of obtaining a complete cat-
alogue of Wiltshire specimens. It may be asked of what possible
use can it be? Its chief utility will consist in its supplying the
very kind of information that the Naturalist requires. He wants
facts to aid him in elucidating the distribution of insect life. The
following very excellent remarks, by John Gray, Esq., upon this
subject, appeared in “the Naturalist,” (Vol. ii. p. 261-2.) “The first
and indeed the great use of investigating local fauna, consists in

96 Wiltshire Entomology.

giving the student of nature a knowledge of the range of species, and
what we may know of their positions of locality. A fundamental
error with the majority of local faunists, consists in their limiting
their observations within the capricious boundaries of counties or
nations. This would be so far well, if it were intended merely as a
step towards the elucidation of the entire natural range; but how
seldom is this the case; how rarely do we find their interest in the
subject extended to Nature’s own boundaries. Let the unprejudiced
naturalist take a glance at those entomological cabinets devoted ex-
clusively to British species, and he will quickly discover what a
precious jumble is there made in geographical distribution. In
such collections he will find two, if not three, distinct ranges of dis-
tribution, illustrated by species taken within the British Isles, form-
ing an arrangement to the entire exclusion of such as occur in the
remaining portions of the same sphere of natural habitats. The
only interest to the naturalist, in such collections, would consist in
their elucidation of geographical character: this they do not possess;
whilst as a systematic arrangement, the defects are still more
apparent; thus leaving an impression on the mind, that such
arrangements could only have been dictated by the most capricious
absurdity. If such entomologists must have an arrangement of local
fauna, let them study Nature’s geography and act accordingly.

Another use in the investigation of local fauna, consists in the
facility thus afforded, of noticing the peculiarities, and oft-times
anomalies, which species exhibit in the selection of their habitats.
This can only be attained by a patient tracing of the habits of the
species, as shown in various localities. Thus it will be seen that
local notes in the natural history of animal life, have their distinct
sphere of usefulness, when viewed as a link or step towards a proper
understanding of the economy of nature; but when looked upon as
a topic of exclusive interest, far better would it have been had they
never been perused.

With this view let local investigators in this county go to work;
contributing duplicates to the Society’s Museum, as well as fur-
uishing catalogues of their Wiltshire specimens.

W. C. Luxis.

COMMEMORATIVE LATIN INSCRIPTION. XV

THE FOLLOWINC INSCRIPTION
COMMEMORATIVE OF THE FORMATION OF THE SOGIETY
IS FROM THE PEN OF
THE REV. F. KILVERT, OF BATH.

Bee 7S
FELIX . FAVSTVMQVE . ESTO
WILTONIENSIBVS
QvVI . SERO . LICET
STVDIIS . NVMMISQVE
ANTIQVAE . MATRIS . EXQVIRENDAE . ERGO
COLLATIS
ID . OPERAE . SEDVLO . DATVRI . SVNT
VT . SVPERIORIS . AEVI . MONVMENTA
QVIBVS . PLVRIMIS . AC . PRETIOSISSIMIS
WILTONIA . GLORIATVR
IGNORANTIVM . ET . MALEFICORVM
QVIN . ET . IPSIVS . TEMPORIS
INJVRUS . EREPTA
CVRA . DEBITA . CONSERVENTYR
PICTVRAE . AC . SCRIPTVRAE . OPE
AD . VERYM . DESCRIBANTVR
QVARVM . AVXILIO
PRAESENTIA . CVM . PRAETERITIS . TEMPORIBVS . CONJYNGI
ET . VTRORVMQVE
MORES . HABITVS . VSVSQVE . VITAE
INTER . SE . COMPARART
QVEANT
VNDE . SVBEAT
GRATVS . ERGA . DEVM . OPT . MAX . ANIMVS
QVI . VERAE . RELIGIONIS . LVCEM
ET . OMNIGENAE . SCIENTIAE . VTILITATEM
HODIERNO . SAECVLO
AFFVDERIT,

TRANSLATION,

May success and prosperity attend the inhabitants of the County of Wilts,
who, though late, having contributed their efforts and their means towards the
investigation of their ancient Mother, are about diligently to exert themselves *
for the rescue of the numerous and valuable relics of antiquity with which
Wiltshire abounds, from the injuries of the ignorant and mischievous, and espe-
cially of Time, the great destroyer, and for their preservation to future ages by
literary and pictorial description ; by the aid of ssa the Present may be con-
nected with the Past, and the manners, habits and usages of both compared
cel whence may result gratitude to that All-good and Almighty Being,
who has shed the light of true Religion, and the advantages of various science,
upon the present age.

moertul vit Ui Womans a.
ep Sea Ure Fly Wiis rer ahs se ie ene
aay oh wi parey oie aircaigs at

[ann Ys ieee patria eran aya NagoAn
va Fallin a an Peet bate an i Fern! .
Lee aa nye ‘ enya, a v " 2NT A
| Vs ‘iu -e wn a ; sal . hay : y wali
Rin We re ae th a :
. Hat bo Nk on 4 Wsary: eae oT gas }

oie hibee ben ARN cole aera lt org

% F ; yh oe le ee iy ae
Hy tie Madly da Vasivaee ©, aitin
wa’ a. ‘ “gui VAR yf iit ae
: ia Ae tetas ih, i ie i
are rie ee pi MO a AMIE «5
] 7“ iat auld |; Pkt wie ret i Be le vik onentyd Ashe at We: 2
wy a! Ue pieruy tin i he AT Et ee t dying!” ts he
. ay te PY OATORD 47 AMR OMTIVE ti he a a
sy dame MODI IIAM ue MMP gl) ier eyie AO a0,
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(ae me van eit ne CALS an nk hes ; i
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bili rn ee vn” As SKA <1Av0
i las Se eee mvargy gen ele . oe
he ae ae "eurte: wen. avitlei” «aro,
bi Nts =} PR CRO OAR, hey “eRe
me iy ee gen Bayt ‘an or
by » AVA a pale + Pee ts eit. ;
reaper as ‘waves, Fon anigpsatsic PE wa
ao ee WENT OEY oe A
wer f My oF ur UA ATOM,
~~ me oi ire Athy
Ye) eee ae he Ai Yue oy Mes

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| a par
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ley ) , rer a UY if » (ens r ryek| w wi
| tie ery ai f att Med fi i
. © Ae are ui Tow Beas Avera gal
"| ¥ OuV oR ’ q ny Ninh a 4 ay) A A mihe "
bg Se th : ae id dy ult ap te a
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4 ee im "at i aah ee

THE

WILTSHIRE
Archwalogeal and Batwral Wratary

MAGAZINE,

No; TL

MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS FOR
Wittsuire, in the Library

JUNE, 1854. Vot. I.
Contents.
PAGE PAGE

Wilts Titles’ Registration.... 208
Corrody at Malmesbury Abbey 210
131

of Sir Thos. Phillipps, Bart. 97-104 “Garston” explained ......
On OrnitHoLoey. No. 2. The Natural History. Rare speci-
Classification of Birds .... 105-115 mens occurring in Wilts:—
Wayten’s History or Mart- a Orbe Campylodon,
BoROoUGH, Reviewed ...... 116-131 (EE OEBEE) i Pies vier 214
LELAND’s JOURNEY THROUGH Testacellus Maugei........ 215
WILTSHIRE, A.D. 1540-42. Snake Fly ee 215
With a Memoir and Notes. 132-195 Chalcis aptera nee
[Cricklade,135. Malmsbury, Wits Notrss & QuERtIEs:—
137. Corsham, Haselb CaING AEE So. Scere heat ote 131
South Wraxhall, 142. Brad- Dog-Whippers .......... 212
ford, 148. Trowbridge, 150. Stonehenge (a Pastoral).... 212
Farley Castle, 152. Salis- Rey. Wi Harte” 00/6. 5... 212
bury, 157. Old Sarum, 161. Queen Anne at Whetham.. 212
Burials in Sal. Cath.164, 171. The Princess Wilbrahama.. 213
Stonehenge, 175. Ramsbury, Penates found at Devizes .. 214
Bedwyn, Marlborough, 176.
Silbury, 179. Devizes, 180. ILLUSTRATIONS.
Steeple Ashton, 182. Brooke The Rudge Cup ............ 118
Hall, 182. Edington, 185. Castle Grounds at Marlborough 128
Trowbridge, Bradford, Mai- Farley Castle in a.D. 1645 .. 152
den Bradley, Stourton, 193] Old Stourton House, dented
ANGLO-SAxoN CEMETERY AT AD MAO! | arctetaisreis Gite ere's
Harnuam Hit, near Saris- Anglo-Saxon Relies ........ 200
SIRES. AM einige: « iidhas 20) 4:00 196-208
DEVIZES:
Henry Burt, Sart Jonn Srreer,
LONDON:

G, Berri, 186, Firerr Srreet; J. R. Smiru, 36, Sono Square.

DEVIZES:
PRINTED BY MENRY BULL,
SAINT JOHN STREET.

WILTSHIRE MAGAZINE

‘‘MULTORUM MANIBUS GRANDE LEVATUR ONUS.’’—OVID.

Manuscript Callections for Wiltshire,

THE POSSESSION OF Srr Tuomas Puiturprs, Bart., or Mmppie-
Hitt, NEAR Broapway, WorcESTERSHIRE. (EXTRACTED FROM

THE

PRIVATELY PRINTED CATALOGUE, Parr hy OF THE

“BIBLIOTHECA PHILLIPPSIANA,” OF WHICH THERE IS A COPY IN
THE British Museum Lisrary. Press Mark, 577, 1. 12.)

162

Wilts Visitation, 1565, copied by Hensley; fol. ch.

Chartulary of Bradenstoke Abbey, (Transcript by Careless) ;
fol. ch.

Ditto of Malmesbury Abbey, (Transcript by Hensley) ; 4to.,
ch., s. xix.

Ditto of Wilton Abbey, (ditto) 18mo.

Ditto of College de Vaux at Salisbury; 2 vols., Fol.

Drawings of Brasses ;—Wilts and Oxon; 4to.

Testa de Nevil, Co. Wilts, in Tables; by Thos. Phillipps;
fol.

Lords of Manors, Co. Wilts; 2 vols., fol. ch., by T. P.

Glastonbury Abbey Terrier, for Co. Wilts; fol. ch.

Wilts Inquis. p. M.; fol. ch.

Ditto Deeds; fol. ch.

Ditto Collectanea; 4 vols., fol. ch., s. xix.

Ditto Pedigrees; fol. ch.

North Wilts Collectanea; fol. ch., s. xix.

Wilts Monumental Inscriptions; 4to. ch., s. xix.

Wanborough Court Rolls; 2 vols., fol. ch., s. xix. (Trans-
cript).

Marriages of Wiltshire Wards; fol. ch., s. xix.

Wilts Inquisitions; fol. ch.

VOL. I.—NO. II. 8)

4254

4741

4742

4743

4744

4745

Manuscript Collections for Wiltshire.

Sarum Cathedral Library Catalogue; fol. ch., s. xix.

Chartulary of the Tropenell Family, (Extracts) ; fol. ch.

North Wilts, Church Notes; small oblong 4to., red leather.

Pedigrees and Wills, &c.; 12mo.

Extracts from the Registers of the Bishops of Salisbury;
fol. ch.

Charters of Stanley Abbey, (near Chippenham).

Durnford Parish Registers; (Transcript).

Wilts Visitation, 1565; 4to.

Arms of Wilts Gentry; 18mo.

Wilts Inscriptions; 6 copies, 8vo., with MSS. notes.

Ditto Pedigrees.

Names of places in Co. Wilts; 4to.

Parish Register Extracts for the Family of “Long” of
Wilts; 4to.

Osborne’s Letters from Wilts; 4to.

Wilts Monumental Inscriptions; 7 vols., 4to., by Thos.
Phillipps.

Litelton Court Rolls, Wilts.

Scudamore Papers.

Deed of Confirmation of the Foundation of the Priory of
Eston, (near Pewsey), in Co. Wilts. Date: xvi century.

Genealogy of the Family of Grove, of Ferne, in Wilts. By
Robert Grove, Bishop of Chichester, (1691).

Will of John Bignell of Wilton, Co. Wilts.

Deeds about Wilts.

Collections from Wilts Pedigrees of Long and Goddard, &c;
Query, if these are part of the Collections of Gore of
Alderton, Wilts ?

Names of places where it is necessary to search for Wilts
descents.

Pedigrees from Inq. p. M.

Sarum Chartulary; 12mo.

Wilts Extracts from the Court of Wards and Liveries in
the Chapter House, Westminster; 12mo.

Wilts Inquis., p. M.;

Ditto Fines;
MSS. in the College of Arms; 12mo.

Wilts Church Monuments;

Parish Register Extracts; 12mo.

NO.
4746

4747
4748
4749
4750

4751

Manuscript Collections for Wiltshire. 99

Deeds in Chapter House, Westminster ;
Wilts Deeds in Augmentation Office;
Ditto Pedigrees, from Inq. p. M.;
Ditto Index to Fines;
Pedigrees from Dodsworth;
Ditto from Glastonbury Chartulary ;
Ditto from Malmesbury Chartulary in the Exchequer ;
Ditto fromthe Feodary of Beauchamp of Hache; 12mo.
Pedigrees from Sir Harris Nicolas, I. p. M.;
Ditto from Malmesbury Chartulary ;
Wilts Fines, Edw. IV.; 12mo.
Index to Deeds relating to Co. Wilts in the Harleian Col-
lection of Charters.
Lands held by Monasteries in Wilts.
1. Extracts from Deeds about Swindon.
2. Wilts Pedigrees from Inquis. p. M.
3. Coats of Arms.
Rectors and Vicars of N. Wilts;
Enford Church Notes;
Coat in Sevenhampton Windows, Col. Warnford’s; 12mo.
Inquisition of the Forest of Braden; I. p. M., co. Wilts;
List of Knights’ Wills;
Pedigree of Berkeley,
Darell Chartulary, Extracts from; 18mo.
References to North Wilts Documents;
Malmesbury Chartulary Extracts;
Edyngton ditto; thin 12mo.
Sarum Cathedral Chartulary; 18mo.
Wilts Ing. p. M., temp. H. III.;
Pedigrees from Close Rolls; 18mo.
Hungerford Family Chartulary Extracts; 18mo.
Copies of Ancient Charters at Longleat, Wilts, in 1717.
(Rev. George Harbin).
Extracts from Glastonbury Chartulary at ditto; 7 parts, 4to.
Ditto; from Register of Maiden Bradley Priory. (The
Register belonged to Thos. Lord Foley, in 17386.)
Thos. Spenser of Wilton.—Genealogical Collections of his
own descent from Burnell.
Tenants of the Crown in Chief, in Co. Wilts, 28, KX. I.
Collections for Wilts, &c.
Ditto for North Wilts.

100
NO.
6492

6493

6494

6496
6497
6499
6501
6502

6503
6506
6508
6513
6517
6543
6623
6627

6628
6644

6803
6804
6857
6872
7109
7428
8142

8144
8515

Manuscript Collections for Wiltshire.

Wilts Extracts from Originalia in the Exchequer.

Ditto from Duchy of Lancaster Office.

Wilts Pipe Rolls, Extracts;

Ditto Fines; 12mo.

Index to Wilts Wills, from 1559; 12mo.

Ditto ditto 1648.

Philipps Descents.

Monuments, Co. Wilts, and Collections for Bendry Family.

Pedigrees from Wills, Co. Wilts, &e.; 12mo.

Wilts Domesday; 4to.

Wilts Collectanea, beginning with Roman Pavement at
Deane.

Stratton St. Margaret, Wilts, Collections for; 4to.

Wilts Collectanea, begins “Records of Wanberwe;” Fol.

Wanborough Parish Register, 1582—1652; long Fol.

Extracts from Matriculation Books, Oxon, for Co. Wilts.

Pedigrees of Wilts Yeomen matched with Wilts Gentry.

Biographical Memoirs of Bishops of Sarum; 2 vols., 4to.

Wilts Documents.

Index of Pedes Finium, for Co. Wilts, from A.D. 1558 to
1602; Fol.

Ditto, from 1602 to 1624.

Views in Wilts, drawn for Watson Taylor, Esq. of Erle-
stoke; Fol.

Extracts from Lydiard Milicent Court Rolls, Wilts, 5 Eliz.

Pension of the Vicar of Chippenham, Wilts.

Extract from the “‘Nonarum” Rolls about Rodbourne, Wilts.

Church Surveys at the Rolls Office, for Wilts, (amongst
other counties).

Extracts about Chippenham, from Torre’s MSS.

Sherfield’s Case, at Salisbury.

Institutions of North Wilts Clergy, in order of Parishes ;
(in the hand writing of Edwin Offer).

Papers found in the library of Ferdinando Gorges of
Ashley, Wilts; Fol.

Visitation of Wilts, 1565.

Gilpin’s Description of Salisbury, Wilton, &c.

Hobbes’s Memorable Sayings.

Deeds; Edmund Hinton of Ashton Keynes to Mary Tomes
of ditto, lease 1714.

Ditto; to Stephen West of ditto, 1702.

NO,
8537

8690
9405
9601

9734

9742
10387

10388
10394

10414
10423

10459
10473
10475

10476
10477
10479
10484
10486
10487

10489

10490
10491
10492
10493
10494

Manuscript Collections for Wiltshire. 101

Edyngdon Priory, Transcript of Chartulary, copied from
Lansd. MSS., 442, 2 vols., Fol.

Sotheron Pedigree.

Extracts from Aubrey’s Lives, chiefly about Wilts persons.

Arms of Peers, emblazoned; thick small 4to., formerly

belonged to Thomas Gore of Alderton, Co. Wilts.

A Copy of Thos. Gore’s (of Alderton) Arms of Wiltshire
Families, beautifully emblazoned. He was High Sheriff
of Wilts. 1680.

Arms in Wilts.

North Wilts Musters, in the Chapter House, Westminster,
copied by Fred. Devon.

Sir Thos. Phillipps’s Collections for Wilts, &c.; 4to.

Thos. Gore’s “Spicilegia Heraldica,” 1662. His arms and
quarterings before the title, and his own coat on the
cover, viz., “3 bull’s heads cabossed.”’

Rental of the Manor of Calne, Wilts, I. H. 8., (1509) 8vo.

Orders and Regulations of Corsham Almshouses, founded
by Margaret (Halliday) Lady Hungerford.—Autograph
of Sir R. Hoare.

Papers relating to the Election for Calne, Wilts.

Valuation taken at Box; (from the library of G. Jackson).

North Wilts Clergy Institutions, in Alphabetical Order
of Parishes.

Collectanea Wiltoniensia; begins “Pipe Rolls, Dorset and
Wilts,” 5 Steph., (1139).

Wilts Collections; begins “Aldbourne Vicarage.”

Ditto begins “John Herrimg—Martha, d. of.”

Ditto begins “Inter Recorda,” &c.

Pedigrees of Ancient Wilts Gentry before the Visitations.

Wilts Barons.

Wilts Visitations, 1565 and 1623 continued; and modern
Families since 1623.

Aubrey’s Natural History of Wilts; 2 vols. Fol. Copied
from the original in the Royal Society.

Aubrey’s Antiquities of Wilts.

Fines in Co. Wilts; 4, Jas. I., (printed for Sir T. Phillipps).

Wilts “Pedes Finium,” 1 to 9, James I.

Ditto Institutions, (by R. Careless).

Ditto Pipe Rolls; 31. H. 1., 2. H. 2., 11. H. 2., 20. H. 2.,
28. H. 2., 30. H. 2., 1. R. 1., 1. John, 3. John, 8. J.,
9.J.,2.H.3. 10. H. 3., 20. H. 3., 30 & 40. H. 3,

Manuscript Collections for Wiltshire.

Clyve Pypard Register, 1597 to 1679.

Wanborough Court Rolls; 2 vols.

Arms in Churches in Malmesbury Hundred, tricked by
W. #., (Wm. Harvey ?)

Forest Charters for Co. Wilts.

Wilts Collections; and Charters of Compton Basset.

Wills of Phillipps of Wilts.

(Rev. John Offer’s Collection, given by Sir R. C. Hoare, Bart).

Pedigrees of South Wilts.

. References to Wilts in Originalia; and remenre
. Pedigrees for South Wilts ;

Collections for Branch and Dole Hundred, &c.

. Extracts from Public Documents, Chartularies, &c.
. Collections for Heytesbury; 4to.
. Lands belonging to Churches, Religious Houses,

Hospitals, &c., Co. Wilts; 4to.

. Extracts from the Registers of the Diocese of

Sarum, viz., “St. Osmund,” “Wm. de Wanda,”
“Simon de Gandavo,” “ Mortival,” &e.

. Extracts from Dean Chaundler’s Register; begin-

ning A.D. 1404.

. Ing. p. M. for South Wilts, 1. R. 2.

. Notes from Longleat Evidences.

. Wilts Notes from Hutchins’s Dorset.

. Ditto from Public Records, Chronicles, &e.

. Ditto from Public Records, for Heytesbury, Branch

and Dole, Warminster and Westbury; vol 3.
The other 2 were not sent to me by Sir R. C. H.
(See below, No. 11662).

Offer’s Church Notes in South Wilts, for Kingston
Deverell, with plans of churches.

Wilts Collections; begins with a Pedigree of “Brynd.”

begins “Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery.”

Wilts Rotuli Chartarum.

Ditto Ing. ad. q. Damnum.

Ditto Abbrev. Placit.

Ditto Abbreviatio. Placit.

Ditto Matriculations at Oxford.

Ditto Barons’ Pedigrees.

Salisbury Cathedral Register Extracts.

Ing. p. M. for Co. Wilts, H. 3., E. 1., E. 2.

102
NO.
10495
10496
10497
10498
10499
10500
10501 Vol. 1.
10502 — 2
10503 — 3
10504 — 4
10505 — 65
10506 — 6
10507 — 7
10508 — 8
10509 — 9
10510 — 10
10511 — ll
10512 — 12
10513 — 138
10514 — 14.
10537
10538 Ditto
10542
10548
10544
10548
10549

NO.
10551

10555,

10556

10560
10564
10565
10574
10639

10644
10646

10710
10821
10997

10998
10999
11182

11183

11184
11431
11433

11437
11438
11441
11455
11456
11461
11462
11499
11513

Manuscript Collections for Wiltshire. 108

Stratton St. Margaret Register Extracts.

History of Farley Castle; (? by Wansey), 4to.

Osborn’s Church Notes for Highworth and Kingsbridge
Hundreds, Co. Wilts.

Hensley’s Wilts Fonts and Arches.

North Wilts Manors and Lands, by T. Phillipps.

Wilts Visitations, 1623; 3 vols., thin 4to.

Epitaphs in Swindon, Co. Wilts; 2 thin vols.

Wilts Ing. p. M., temp. Eliz.;

Ditto Visitation,—autograph of T. P.;
Miscellaneous Wilts Pedigrees; given by Charles Bowles,
Esq.

Collections for Genealogy of Phillipps.

Wilts Visitations, 1565; begins with two printed sheets of
‘Wiltshire Articles, in Harl. MSS.”

Britton’s Beauties of Wilts; 2 vols., interleaved, with some
MS. notes of his own.

Knights made by K. James I., at Salisbury and Wilton,
22nd Sept., 1603.

Autograph Letters of Bp. Tanner and John Aubrey, (with
others).

Collectanea, by Sir Thos. Phillipps.

Ditto by Sir R. C. Hoare and others.

Wilts Visitation, 1565, with some additions to 1650. For-
merly belonging to Sylvan Morgan, with his monogram
on the back.

Wilts ditto, 1565, copied by Longmate.

Le Neve’s Notes for Crudwell, Wilts.

Will of Nicholas Daniel, of Sutton Benger, 1714.

Wilts Visitation, 1565, part only.

Ditto Fines, temp. Phil. and Mary.

References to Parish Registers for Wilts Gentry; vols. 1 & 2.

Wilts Ing. p. M., E. TTI.

Extracts from Close Rolls, 1. E. 3., ex libro “Grafton.”
The History and Praises of Milicent Scrope.

Extracts from the Chancellor’s Pipe Rolls for Wilts.
Extracts from Deeds relating to Savernake.

Pedigrees from Wills at Sarum.

Miscellanea; containing “Benet of Sarum.”

Dates of Parish Registers in Wilts.

Bounds of the Forest of Selwood.

104
NO.
11652

11653
11654

11655
11656
11657

11662
11663
11664

11665

11666

11667

11668

11669

11769

11820

11842
11958

Manuscript Collections for Wiltshire.

(MSS. given by Rev. Wm. C. Lukis, all Autograph).
Burials in Bradford, Wilts, 1579—91. ’
Marriages in ditto, 1580—1644.

Baptisms and Burials at Steeple Ashton, 1559—80.
Ditto at Great Chaldfield, 1549—1685.

Ditto at Keevil, 1559—1664.

Ditto at Bradford, 1579—1623.

Ditto ditto 1623—1681.

Semington Baptisms, 1586—1706.

Ditto Burials, 1588—1729.

(Rev. J. Offer’s MSS., all in his Autograph).

Rev. J. Offer’s Records for Heytesbury, &c.

These are the 2 vols. which are by mistake said to be
missing 10513.

Ditto Notes from Visitations, Pole’s Devon, &c.

Ditto Pedigrees of Wilts Barons; ending with Church
Notes in Great Wishford.

Ditto Extracts from the Deeds of Master Darell of Littlecote.

Ditto from Visitations; Chartulary of Bradenstoke Abbey;
Queen’s Coll. (Oxon) MSS.; Hussey Pedigree; Dods-
worth; Vincent’s Ing. p. M.; Wards and Marriages;
Pedes Finium, &c.; vol. 1, with the motto, “Sic vos
non vobis.”

Ditto Extracts from MSS. in British Museum.

Ditto from MSS. Phillipps, (see No. 95), vol. 2., dated
London, Aug. 1822.

Ditto from the Chapter House, Westminster; Cole’s Es-
cheats; Augmentation Office; Visitation of Wilts;
&e.; vol 3.

Ditto from Augmentation Office, Chantry Rolls, &e.

Ditto from the Register of Deeds of the Hungerford Family ;
12mo.

Star Chamber Proceedings against Henry Sherfield for
breaking the window in St. Edmund’s Salisbury, 1632.

Charters, &c. of Castlecombe.

Wilts Visitations, 1623.

Ditto Collections; viz., Memoranda, Originalia, Pleadings
in Duchy of Lane.; Lans. MSS.; Quo warranto; Patent
Rolls; Inq. p. M.

J. E. Jd.

On the Ornithology of Wilts. 105

On the Ornitholagy of Wilts.

No. 2. ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS.

Having in a former paper briefly introduced the subject of the
Ornithology of Wilts, I propose in a series of papers, to lay before
the readers of this Magazine, a succinct account of the various
species of birds which occur amongst us: but before I proceed to do
so, it will be necessary, for the better understanding of those who
have devoted little attention to the subject, and also for the assist-
ance of those who are beginning to investigate it, and would know
something more of the habits of the feathered race around them, to
devote a few papers to the general subject of the classification, the
structure, and the faculties of birds, without which previous know-
ledge I fear it would be impossible to convey to any one more than
a confused idea of the admirable, and indeed perfect organization,
of this most interesting class of creatures. With this view, and to
start from the very beginning, or, as in speaking of birds I may
say, “ab ovo,” I devote this paper to the somewhat dry but impor-
tant subject of classification, giving a general outline of the rules
by which birds are classed, and the divisions and subdivisions now
usually accepted.

The student in Ornithology desirous to attain to a comprehensive
knowledge of birds, must not expect to gain even a superficial
acquaintance with them, or to grasp in his mind any definite and
precise idea of the positions they severally occupy, without a certain
amount of labour. The school boy in his research after knowledge
must toil through many a weary and irksome task; the linguist in
acquiring a new language, must pause over dry rules of grammar;
the eminent statesman, the victorious general, the brilliant orator,
gained not their proud positions, without industry and diligence:

106 On the Ornithology of Wits.

and so to compare smaller things with great, before we proceed to
investigate the several properties, peculiarities, and habits of indi-
vidual birds, it will be necessary first to understand thoroughly the
relative positions they occupy: and in order to do this we must
devote a little attention, which will be amply repaid by the result.
In Ornithology, as in other sciences, we must not attempt to run,
before we can walk: we must not rush headlong “in medias res:”
step by step we must be contented to advance: but our way will
not be weary, if we give attention to surmount the little obstacles
which at first sight seem to oppose us: our journey will not be
irksome, if we pause to smooth away the little inequalities of the
path; and the more we advance, the easier becomes the way, the
smoother the road, till at length we find ourselves unincumbered
by hinderances, and surrounded by all the sweets and pleasures of
this most fascinating study.

Now one of the very first requirements in every branch of
Natural History, is method; one of the most indispensible is order:
without this it will be impossible to progress, and Ornithology, like
a skein of silk, which if handled with due order is easily unwound,
deprived of method, soon becomes a tangled mass of knots, which
defy the skill of the extricator to unravel them. The very first
lesson then that we must learn, and one which we must never
forget, if we would know anything of Ornithology, is a little insight
into the classification of birds, whereby what before seemed hope-
less confusion, becomes by the touch of this magic wand, the very
perfection of order. There seems at first sight to be a wide differ-
ence between the gigantic ostrich and the diminutive creeper,
between the glorious eagle and the insignificant sparrow, between
the noble bustard and the tiny wren; but by methodical arrange-
ment, we see how, link succeeding link, and species being connected
by the strongest affinity with species, these are all integral parts of
the same great chain; united by many intermediate bands, but
still component parts of the same great whole: nay, not only so,
but by the help of classification, we can not only assign to each
bird, quadruped, insect, fish, or reptile their own appropriate

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 107

place, but beginning with the noblest of God’s creatures, with man,
we can pass gradually through all the animal kingdom, stopping to
admire with what excellent method, and by what almost insensible
degrees, the race of quadrupeds merges into that of birds; how the
race of birds is intimately connected with fishes; fishes with rep-
tiles; reptiles with insects; insects with animals of inferior order,
and these again with the vegetable, and (as some affirm) even the
mineral kingdom. These are surely wondrous facts and of ex-
ceeding interest: to follow up and pursue this chain requires time
indeed, and skill, and opportunities, such as few can command: but
to gain an insight into this beautiful order and arrangement is
within the reach of all, and the more we investigate it, the more
we shall learn how true it is of the Almighty Creator, that “God
is not the author of confusion, but of peace.”

Before I proceed to examine in detail the modern method of
classifying birds, as generally adopted at the present day, it will
be well briefly to observe the several stages by which it has arrived
at its present excellence. Among ancient writers on Natural
History, there are but two, viz. Aristotle and Pliny, who have
professed to give any general description of birds; and interesting,
and in some cases instructive, as their treatises in many respects
certainly are, they are mixed up with such a mass of absurdity and
fable as very much to mar their intrinsic value. In that early stage
of Ornithological knowledge, of course anything approximating to
systematic arrangement was not to be expected. But to come
down to more modern times, the first approach to order is traced to
Belon and the French naturalists, who in the middle of the six-
teenth century began to classify after a certain system: As the
ground work of their scheme was however derived from the habitat
and food of birds, it was necessarily in many respects very incorrect.
In the next century, Gesner at Zurich, and Aldrovandus at Bologna,
struck out a plan in the right direction, by dividing the whole
class into /and and water birds; but then, as if satisfied with this
good beginning, they deduced their subordinate divisions from the
nature of the aliment. It was reserved for our own countryman,

pQ2

108 On the Ornithology of Wiits.

Willoughby, at the latter end of the seventeenth century, to lay
the foundation of a more accurate arrangement; for, accepting the
grand divisions already laid down, of terrestrial and aquatic, he
made his subdivisions from enquiries into the general form and
structure, and especially from the distinctive characters of the beak
and feet: still he seems to have been unable to shake off completely
the prejudices of his time, for he allows varieties in size, the different
kinds of food, and such trivial things to bias him in his arrangement.
Ray and Pennant followed up the course so well begun by
Willoughby, and the close of the last century saw this systematic
arrangement from the anatomical structure of birds, very generally
established. Since that time all the numerous systems of classifi-
cation have proceeded from the same principle of structure; various
indeed have they been, adopted by Ornithologists of this and other
countries; some fanciful, as the “Quinary System,” or “series of
circles,” established by Vigors: others complicated and puzzling
from their needless minuteness: others positively erroneous, as from
a farther acquaintance with birds is shown: but the method which I
here set forth, adopted by modern Ornithologists, and more parti-
cularly by those of this country, has this great advantage over all
that have preceeded it, in addition to its superior accuracy, that it
is simple and plain, as well as comprehensive; neither from over
minuteness burdening the memory unnecessarily, nor from an
opposite extreme of indefiniteness leaving any deficiency or doubt.
This moreover is the system adopted by Yarrell, Hewitson, and the
principal British Ornithologists of the present day.*

To proceed then with the classification of birds, I must repeat
what I touched on in my former paper, that birds are commonly
placed in two grand divisions, viz: ‘‘LAND BrRDs,” or those whose
habitat is the land: and “waTeR BriRps,”’ or those which principally

* I should add that though I now confine my observations to birds of this
country, yet the same arrangement applies equally to birds generally throughout
the globe,

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ORDER.

(perchers)

*BIRDS..—
3. Rasores
__ (ground birds)

| 4. Grallatores
(waders)

| WATER....—

5. Natatores
(swimmers)

2. Insessores —

TRIBE.

mel Raptorescres ere ctercatcieas eras
(birds of prey)

~~ Dentirostres. .

(tooth-billed.)

Conirostres .
(cone-billed.)

Scansores....
(climbers.)

Fissirostres . .

|__ (wide-billed.)

ee eee were eee

FAMILY.

LATIN NAME. ENGLISH NAME.

/ Vulturidee Vultures
Falconide Falcons

|__ Strigide Owls

~~ Laniadee Butcher birds
Muscicapidee Fy-catchers
Merulidee Thrushes
Sylviadee Warblers
Paridee Titmice
Ampelidee Waawings
Motacillide Wagtails

__ Anthidee Pipits

~ Alaudidee Larks
Emberizide Buntings
Fringillide Finches
Sturnidee Starlings

_ Coryidee Crows

! Picides Woodpeckers
Certhiadee Creepers

| _Cuculidee Cuckoos

—Meropide _Bee-eaters
Haleyonidee Kingfishers
Hirundinide Swallows

Columbidee
Phasianidse
Tetraonidee

_Struthionide

| Charadriide
Gruidee
Ardeidze
Scolopacidee
Rallidee

__ Lobipedidee

~~ Anatidee
Colymbidee
Alcadze
Pelecanidse

|__Laride

|_ Caprimulgidee Groatsuckers

Pigeons
Pheasants
Grousterctis
Bustards

Plovers
Cranes
Herons
Snipes
Rails
Coots

Ducks
Divers
Auks
Oormorants
Gulls

GENUS.

Each family is
still farther di-
vided into cer-
tain Sets called
GENERA, par-
taking of the
same family
character, but
with ‘generic’
differences, for
example :—

| Tetrao
(true Grous)
Lagopus
(Ptarmigan)
iRerdisxryepeterers
(Partridge)

SPECIES.

Each genus is

again subdi-
vided into se-
veral closely
allied species,

partaking of
the same gene-
ric character,
but with speci-
fic differences,
Jor exumple :—

-_ Cinerea
(Common)
Rufa
(red-legged)
Petrosa
(Barbary)

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 109

court the water, as their names respectively imply. These are two
great classes, separating our British birds into two nearly equal
parts; the number of land birds amounting to about 171, the water
birds to about 166 species.

The first great division of these two classes is, into the five
“orDERS;” the members of which are of somewhat similar habits
and formation, and partake of the same general characteristics.

Of these five, the first is the “Raptorial” order, composed of
those birds usually known as ‘birds of prey;’ and, as their natural
habit is the destruction of the feebler tribes and the smaller
animals, they have been most mercilessly persecuted by man in all
countries: this continual persecution will easily account for their
rarity and their habitual shyness, seldom venturing near the
habitation of man, and always taking flight at the distant approach
of their great enemy : still sometimes in our great woods or thick
enclosures, and often on our open downs, the most unobservant
must have seen the hawk hovering with expanded wings high in
the air, or dashing in pursuit after a luckless bird, or pouncing
with unerring aim on some unfortunate mouse: the most careless
must have occasionally heard the wild hooting or the unearthly
shriekings of the owl, as it has hurried past in search of prey in
the shades of evening. The principal characteristics of this order
are the long and curved claws, the hooked and powerful bill, the
muscular limbs, the great strength, the predatory habits, the love
of animal food: these are traits so marked and peculiar, that it
will require but little discrimination to distinguish birds belonging
to this order from all the others.

The second embraces those innumerable small birds which are so
familiar to all of us; and contains a much larger number of species
than either of the other four orders. These are the ‘ Insessores’ or
‘perching birds,’ which fill our woods and gardens, abound in our
fields, and may be met with at every turn in our daily walks: they
possess far more intelligence than birds of any other class, are
remarkable for the vocal powers with which some of them are
endowed: but especially derive their name from the perfect form

110 On the Ornithology af Wiits.

of the foot, which is so admirably adapted for perching or grasping,
and in which the hind toe is always present. When we come to
examine the subdivisions of this order, we shall find that the
‘Insessores’ comprise birds varying greatly from one another in
habits and general appearance; yet, all belonging to this division
partake of the grand distinguishing features, which I have shewn
to be characteristic of it.

The third order contains the ‘ Rasores’ or ‘ ground birds,’ com-
prehending all such as being land birds, and yet not being birds of
prey, and not having feet perfectly adapted to perching, obtain the
principal part of their food upon the ground; their wings in
general are short, and they are not capable of such extended flight
as belongs to members of the two preceding orders; but in lieu of
this they are provided with very strong limbs and powerful
muscles, and with short toes, enabling them to run with great
swiftness. This division does not contain any great number of
species, and yet as many of them are sought for by the epicure,
and others still more by the sportsman ; there is, perhaps, no class
of birds, the habits and general nature of which are so generally
known as this. When I mention that the ‘rasores’ include not
only all the gallinaceous birds, as our barn-door fowls, but also
partridges, pheasants, and grous, the truth of this statement will
be at once seen. As all the members of this order are extremely
good for food, a beneficent Providence has caused them to be very
productive, and the number of eggs to a nest is usually very
considerable.

The fourth order begins the other great division, viz., the ‘Water
birds,’ and comprises those numerous aquatic birds, which, not
having webbed feet, and so not being perfectly framed for swimming
and diving, nevertheless, are formed for living partly in the water,
and generally procure their food from wet and marshy places, if
not from rivers, lakes, and the sea shore. These are the ‘Grallatores’
or ‘waders, and are distinguished from the land birds by their
habits, as well as by the length of leg and neck so fitted for their
aquatic ways, also by the formation of their feet, so admirably

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 111

adapted for wading on soft mud, for running lightly over water
plants, and enabling them to move easily in their accustomed
haunts. The herons, snipes, and plovers may serve as examples of
this class.

The fifth and last order contains the true water birds, whose
domain is essentially the sea, or the inland lake and large river:
these are bona fide inhabitants of the water, passing nearly all
their time there, retiring far away from land as day approaches,
feeding in the sea, sleeping on the sea, and only occasionally
visiting the shore. These are the ‘ Natatores’ or ‘swimmers’ whose
boat-shaped bodies and webbed feet attest their remarkable powers
of swimming and diving, and render it impossible to mistake them
as belonging to any other order. From the position and extent of
the British islands, the birds which comprise this division are very
numerous on our coasts, as any one will at once acknowledge who
has seen the clouds of ducks, gulls, &c., darkening the sea shore in
the autumn.

Now, such being a sketch of the five great orders of birds, and
such the characteristics of each, the lines of demarcation between
them seem so broad, and well-defined, that one might almost be
inclined to doubt the possibility of confusing them: yet, (as I
before remarked) in nature there seem to be no sudden transitions :
no rapid jumps from one kind to another: no gaps between them :
all is done gradually and with becoming method: we are led almost
insensibly from one order to another, so much does the last species
of one assimilate to the first species of the next. Thus, for instance,
when passing from the first to the second, from the birds of prey
to the perchers, see the connecting link between the two, so ably
sustained by the shrikes or butcher-birds: perchers indeed they
are, with feet as perfect for grasping as any in the class; at the
same time, how like to the birds of prey in their habits, in their
cruel method of seizing, impaling on a thorn and devouring their
prey. Again, in passing from the perchers to the ground birds,
mark the pigeons, what a connecting link between the two orders
do they form; some partaking of the character of true ‘Insessores,’

112 On the Ornithology of Wiits.

others approximating in every respect to the ‘rasores ;’ or again, in
passing from the third to the fourth, from the ground birds to the
waders, how slight is the boundary, how gentle the transition from
the bustards to the plovers: compare the smaller bustard, the last
of one order, and the great plover, the first of the next, and how
much do they resemble each other, how little the difference to
mark the two divisions, how similar in their appearance, their
shape, their habits, the locality they affect. And once more,
though the webbed feet of the last order may seem at first sight so
plain and distinguishing a characteristic, as to leave little room for
gradual transition here, between the waders and swimmers, yet it
is not so: observe the well-known coot and the phalaropes, mark
their peculiar feet, furnished with membranes, though not wholly
webbed, their decidedly aquatic habits, their powers of swimming
and diving, and by their intervention see how easily we pass from
the true waders to the true swimmers. Thus we are led on from
order to order, not suddenly or unconnectedly, but gradually and
almost insensibly, proving to us the perfect harmony of all the
works of nature, while at the same time we can trace sufficient
marks of distinction to prevent any real confusion.

Having detailed somewhat at length the method pursued in this
first great subdivision of the land and water birds, I now proceed
to show more concisely in what the other subdivisions consist. At
present we may be able to define the order to which any given
bird may belong, but we are still very far from placing it in that
particular position which alone it is entitled to hold.

The next great subdivision of birds is into ‘TriBEs,’ which
will not occupy us long; for of the five orders, it is usual to pass
by four, as not needing this subdivision, and to apply it only to
that very large one, ‘Insessores’ or perchers. These birds being so
numerous and withal so similar in some of their habits, have
nevertheless certain marked characteristics, distinguishing at one
glance the ‘tribe’ to which they belong, and thus very much sim-
plifying their classification. The perchers then are divided into
four tribes; the first of which is the ‘Dentirostres’ or ‘ tooth-

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 113

billed,’ so called from the distinct tooth or notch near the extremity
of the bill, enabling the bird to hold securely whatever it may
seize: it is chiefly composed of insect-eating birds, and of these
the redbreast is an example. The second is the ‘Conirostres’ or
‘ cone-billed, so called from the conical form, as well as immense
strength of the beak; these birds are principally consumers of
grain, as an instance of which we may name the common house-
sparrow. The third comprises the ‘Scansores’ or ‘ climbers,’ the
members of which are remarkable for their power of climbing, and
to this end they are furnished with toes arranged in pairs, with
stiff bristling tail to serve as a support, with tongues capable of
great elongation and extension, whereby they may transfix the
insects they find in the trees they are ascending; of this the wood-
peckers are examples. The fourth and last tribe is composed of
the ‘ Fissirostres’ or ‘ wide-billed,’ so called from their enormous
width of gape: these have usually very small feet, and take their
food principally on the wing: every one will readily perceive how
well the swallows answer to this description.

Having now reached the point at which the four tribes of perchers
are on an equality with the remaining four entire orders, we come
to subdivide these several classes into ‘rammixs.’. The word
“families” describes itself at once: these, it will clearly be per-
ceived, are groups of birds belonging to the same order and tribe,
and having still nearer affinities one to another, not shared by
members of another family, though belonging to the same order
and tribe. Thus, for example, the tribe ‘ tooth-billed’ is composed
of a number of families, the thrushes, the warblers, the titmice,
&e., all resembling one another in the formation of their beak,
and other characteristics of the tribe: but each family containing
distinctive marks, separating them from the remaining families,
and uniting them in a closer alliance to one another.

When we have mastered the classification of birds up to this
point, we have attained no slight knowledge of their arrangement ;
but again we must pursue our enquiries a little farther, and sub-
divide these families into Genera. Of these each family contains

114 On the Ornithology of Wilts.

a certain number, some more, some less, the members of each genus
having still farther points of resemblance between them, than with
those of other genera, though of the same family. Thus, to take
for example, the warblers, ‘ sylviade ’: in this family there is the
genus ‘curruca,’ containing the whitethroats, the genus ‘ regulus,’
containing the golden-crested wrens, the genus ‘saxicola,’ containing
the chats. Thus again of the family of grous, there is the genus
‘tetrao,’ containing the real grous, the genus ‘lagopus,’ containing
the ptarmigans, the genus ‘perdix,’ containing the partridges.

And so again in like manner, to come to the last subdivision,
which concludes the arrangement of birds according to scientific
classification; every genus contains certain spxciEs, differing
from one another in some respects, the points of difference being
sometimes marked and clear, at others times slight, and hardily
perceptible. Thus, as the family of grous contains among others
the genus partridge, so the genus partridge in its turn comprises
these several species, the common partridge, the red-legged par-
tridge, and the Barbary partridge. Again, as the family of
warblers contains among others the genus chat, so the genus chat
contains the whinchat, the stonechat, and the wheatear.

It will be needless to pursue this explanation any farther,
though it may be useful to subjoin the accompanying table,* recapi-
tulating the above method of classification, and enumerating the
members of the three large subdivisions, some individuals of
almost all of which are very generally known.

Such, then, is a general outline of modern classification as com-
monly adopted in this country. I am quite aware that the above
description of it is far from perfect, and some of the subdivisions
may to the experienced seem defective: to enter into farther detail
would have occupied too much time, and have produced obscurity
and confusion: and, perhaps, for practical purposes, what I have
said will be amply sufficient. Volumes and treatises without num-
ber have been written on the subject, and our best Ornithologists
have employed a vast deal of time and learning to bring it to per-
fection: the above is but a short epitome of the result of their

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 115

labours. To those who care not for the pursuit of Ornithology,
I fear the repetition of so many hard names may seem irksome ;
but to those who would learn something of birds, I am certain it
is no loss of time to gain an insight into their classification ; for
an acquaintance with this will pave the way to their future studies,
simplifying what would otherwise be abstruse, laying bare what
would otherwise be hidden, and unravelling what must otherwise
be complicated: for (as I observed at the beginning, now I repeat
in conclusion) order and method are the very foundation stones of
natural history: we can never arrive at any advanced knowledge
of birds without them: we may be able, indeed, to detect some
species on the ground, on the wing, or by their notes; we may
have some acquaintance with their respective habits and peculiari-
ties, but till we can place them in their own positions, classify them
with something of order, arrange them in reference to their
congeners with something of method, our knowledge and observa-
tions will be of small avail in teaching us the secrets of Ornithology ;
and we shall fall short in understanding the beautiful balance held
by nature; the general connection between birds of the same order
and tribe; the more intimate connection between those of the
same family; the close union between those of the same genus;
and the almost insensible degrees by which they pass from one
to another, all of which are subjects of exceeding interest to the
careful observer; and our Ornithological knowledge instead of
being comprehensive, will be desultory; instead of being valuable,
will be defective; instead of being useful, will be productive of
neither instruction nor pleasure.
ALFRED CHARLES SMITH.
Yatesbury Rectory, March, 1854.

Q 2

116 Review of Waylen’s History of Marlborough.

Review of Pew Publications.

HISTORY OF MARLBOROUGH.*

All who take an interest in the history of our county will readily
acknowledge their obligations to Mr. Waylen for the valuable con-
tribution to that subject with which he has presented us in this
very handsome volume. We hail it as one indication among many
of the spirit of research having been at length awakened into our
ancient annals, and of the zeal with which independent writers,
unaided by our Association, are already setting to work to fill up
those great gaps in our county history that are at once a discredit
and a disappointment to us. The work offers, moreover, a striking
example of the abundant matter which such researches will be
found to disclose in reference to those many towns and extensive
districts of Wiltshire, which as yet are unexamined, or, at all events,
undescribed by any local historian. Few persons, probably, would
suppose, a priori, that the history of the comparatively petty coun-
try town of Marlborough, could afford materials for a thick octavo
volume of a most readable and agreeable character. Yet, we can
truly say, that having once taken up Mr. Waylen’s work, we found
it very difficult to lay it down again until we reached the last page.

*A\ Hisrory, Mrrrrary AnD Municrpat, or THE Town oF MARLBOROUGH,
AND MORE GENERALLY OF THE ENTIRE HUNDRED oF SELKLEY. By James
Wayren. Swirn, 36, Sono SQuaRE.

Review of Waylen’s History of Marlborough. 117

And to those who reside in the town itself, or the hundred of Selkley,
it must be doubly welcome and valuable.

The amount of general historical interest to which we here find
the town of Marlborough fairly entitled, (in spite of the fact that
at no period has it been very extensive, wealthy, or populous),
arises from its geographical position. It occupies the very centre
of that area of Wiltshire which is most thickly studded with the
remains of the primitive inhabitants of the island, almost within
sight of all the three great monuments of unknown antiquity—
Stonehenge, Avebury, and Silbury Hill—at the intersection of
several first-class Roman roads—and on the chief line of com-
munication between London and the metropolis of the west, till
of late the second city of the kingdom, Bristol. So placed, it
could not fail to play a part in many of the most important events
in the history of Britain.

The evidence of the occupation of the actual site of the town of
Marlborough by the aboriginal Britons is confined to the Castle
Mound, which, though inferior in size to its colossal neighbour,
Silbury, is so similar to it in character, as to leave little doubt of
an identity in origin. Mildenhall, a suburb of the town, and the
adjoining hill called Folly Farm, unquestionably formed the Roman
military station of Cunetio, which derived its name from the river
Cunnet or Kennet by which it is intersected. This latter sound is
so closely allied to that of the ‘Kynetes’ of Herodotus, and the
‘Kynt’ of the British bard Aneurin, that Mr. Waylen perhaps is
justified in supposing we may trace in this spot the establishment
of some of the earliest migratory inhabitants of the west of
Europe.

Sir Richard Hoare divides the station Cunetio into two, the
upper and the lower. We must refer to his great work on Ancient
Wiltshire, from which Mr. Waylen judiciously quotes the principal
passages, for an account of the numerous vestiges of Roman works,
still, or lately, existing here, and the objects of antiquity that have
been at various times dug up on its site. Among the last is “ the

118 Review of Waylen’s History of Marlborough.

Marlborough Bucket” preserved in the British Museum, and the
Rudge Cup, engraved in Gough’s Camden, and represented below
in the size of original. (Query, where is this preserved at present ?)

=
=
=
=
—t
=

The name of Marlborough, written in the most ancient charters
Merlberg, or Mierleberg, is supposed to be derived from Merlin
Ambrosius the Briton, a seer and writer, who flourished towards
the close of the fifth century, and is said by Bale to have been
buried here, haying in his life-time erected Stonehenge. ALI this
is, of course, somewhat apocryphal. Not so the well authenticated
fact that at the time of the conquest a castle existed here in which
the Conqueror imprisoned several of the Saxon ecclesiastics (among
others Aigelricus, Bishop of Southsax) who had exhibited impatience
of his usurpation. It is remarkable that Domesday Book contains
no survey of the town or manor, although one of the wealthiest
landholders in the county bore the name of Alured de Merlebergh,
and was therefore most probably its lord. The Conqueror is
said to have established a mint here, several coins of his epoch
existing with the name of the town impressed on them. That the
castle continued in the hands of the Sovereign seems proved by
Henry I. having held a court here during Easter in the year 1110.

Review of Waylen’s History of Marlborough. 119

In the succeeding reign, Wiltshire, it is well known, formed the
central battle-field of the prolonged contest for the Crown, which
was carried on between Stephen, of Blois, and the partisans of the
Empress Matilda, Henry’s daughter, and possessing at that time an
extraordinary number of flourishing towns, religious houses, and
feudal fortresses, it was proportionably exposed to the alternate
ravages of both parties. The castle of Marlborough was held
during the greater part of this period for the Empress by her half-
brother Robert, Earl of Gloucester, and his castellain John Fitz-
Gilbert. The latter seems by a want of due respect for monastic
property to have incurred the special wrath of the monkish
historians of the day, one of whom, William of Malmesbury, speaks
of him in the following terms :—“ A very firebrand of wickedness
was this John of Marlborough, who appeared to rule in that castle
for no other purpose than to scourge the realm with his ceaseless
injuries. By means of outlying fortalices skilfully contrived to
communicate with himself, he brought within his power the lands
and possessions not of civilians only, but of religious houses of what
order soever ; and though often excommunicated, this only added
to his fury; for, compelling the heads of the monasteries to assemble
at his castle on stated days, he practised the unparalleled effrontery
of assuming in his own person the episcopal function of levying
contributions either in the form of ready money or compulsory
services.” The extreme indignation here shewn at the assumption
by a lay baron of episcopal privileges of taxation, is amusing at a
period when so many bishops were in that very neighbourhood in
arms, and playing the part of baronial warriors—the Bishop of
Salisbury holding Malmesbury and Devizes, the latter built by
himself, and considered the strongest fortress in the realm—the
Bishop of Ely acting as his lieutenant—while the Bishop of
Lincoln fortified and manfully defended Castle Howard, and the
Bishop of Winchester the chief fortress of his see. Mr. Waylen
recounts several of the events of which Wiltshire was the theatre
during this intestine struggle, and we cannot but express a hope
that either he or some other equally competent writer will before

120 Review of Waylen’s History of Marlborough.

long favour us with a special and detailed history of the important
part which our county played in the history of the baronial wars
of the 12th and 13th century. Henry II., soon after his accession,
granted the castle of Marlborough to his son John, Earl of Mor-
tagne, afterwards King John, whose marriage with the heiress of
the Earl of Gloucester was celebrated here in the year 1189. John
appears to have been throughout his life attached to the spot, as a
place of occasional residence and a repository. for much of his
treasure. He conferred many charters also upon the burgesses
of the adjoining town. Numerous contemporary documents attest
these facts, of which Mr. Waylen gives several interesting extracts.
In the great contest of this unhappy monarch with his barons, the
castle of Marlborough slipped from his grasp, being delivered up
by its warden, Hugh de Neville, to Prince Louis of France, who
had been called in by the disaffected barons to head their forces,
and laid claim to the Crown. By him it was made over to William
Mareschal, the younger, son of the great Earl of Pembroke, of
the same name. The former, however, shortly after withdrew his
support from Louis, and Marlborough Castle re-opened its gates to
the friends of Prince Henry who had been proclaimed King under
the title of Henry III. by the elder Mareschal, and crowned at
Gloucester in presence of the Pope’s legate and the loyal barons.
Henry was often at Marlborough. And it was during his illness
there in the year 1126 that the gallant William Longespee,
who had visited the King, his uncle, to remonstrate against the
attempts of the favourite Hubert de Burgh to obtain possession of
his birthright by marriage with his mother, the Countess EJa of
Sarum, was struck (through poison as some suppose) by a sudden
sickness which proved speedily mortal. Marlborough continued to
be a favourite residence of Henry III., probably owing to the
opportunities for sport afforded by the neighbouring royal forests
of Savernake and Albourn Chase. The Liberate Rolls contain many
directions to the constable of the castle for its improvement and
repairs, with interesting particulars of the accommodation provided

in it for both the King and the Queen, of which Mr. Waylen

Review of Waylen’s History of Marlborough. 121

gives copious examples. On the death of Henry III. Marlborough
Castle became part of the dowry of his widow Queen Eleanor,
who resided in the neighbouring nunnery of Amesbury, and on
her death was conferred by Edward I. on his own Queen. On the
accession of Edward II., he deprived his mother of it, and bestowed
it, together with other vast estates, on the all-powerful favourite
Hugh le Despencer, in the year 1308. On the fall of the
Despencers, Queen Isabel obtained it, and, inthe reign of Edward IIL.,
it was held likewise for the Queen Joanna (of Scotland, Edward’s
sister), by a succession of wardens. Richard II. granted it to his
faithful follower Sir William Scrope, K.G., created at the same
time Earl of Wiltshire, on whose execution in 1399, it reverted
again to the Crown. In the time of Henry V. Sir Walter Hun-
gerford, of Farleigh Castle, received the profits of the town and
castle, which in the subsequent reign were held by Humphrey,
Duke of Gloucester, known as the good Duke. By this time it
seems probable that the castle had been dismantled, being no longer
mentioned as a fortress, although still used as a principal residence
by the Seymours, into whose hands it ultimately passed by grant
from the Crown to the Duke of Somerset, temp. Edw. VI. In that
family it descended by inheritance, together with the Barony of
Seymour of Trowbridge, until, in the year 1779, it was purchased by
its present noble owner the Marquis of Ailesbury, who was already
possessed of the rangership of the adjoining forest of Savernak, and
the estates of Tottenham, Wolfhall, &c., by inheritance from
Elizabeth sister and heir of the third Duke.

The Borough of Marlborough existed, no doubt, as a self-governed
municipality from the Saxon, or indeed, probably, the Roman
period. But its earliest written charter was granted by John. It
possessed the usual Court Leet, Mayor’s Court, and other municipal
privileges, with a special court, called Morrow Speech Court, held
four times in the year, at which the mayors and burgesses were
chosen. The first charter of incorporation was granted by Queen
Elizabeth. It seems to have returned two members to Parliament
from the earliest period ; at all events from the time of Henry IIT.

122 Review of Waylen’s History of Marlborough.

who held there in 1267 the Parliament at which the celebrated
“Statutes of Marlborough” were enacted. Like many other
boroughs, if not all, its Constitution was at first, and for a long
period, of a liberal character, the entire body of the inhabitants,
paying scot and lot, having the rights and privileges of burgesses.
But by degrees the governing body became, as in so many other
instances, narrowed to a small exclusive self-elected body, till
“yeduced at last to some half-dozen individuals, they invited by
their insignificance the hand of reform.” The history of these
various changes is given in an interesting narrative by Mr.
Waylen, but we have not space, of course, to follow him through it.

The Seymour family, who possessed the castle of Marlborough,
with the lordship called the “ Barton,” and the forests of Savernak
and Albourn Chase, as also many large adjoining estates, mostly
inherited from the Esturmys of Wolfhall, who had held lands in
this neighbourhood from the time of the Conqueror, naturally
exercised great influence over the borough. The Karl of Hertford,
son of ths Protector, inhabited the mansion of Amesbury, and
oceasionally resided at Tottenham. It was his grandson, Sir
Francis Seymour, younger brother of the then Earl, who built for
his residence the large house on the ‘site of the old castle, long
known to many.yet living as the Castle Inn, and now the nucleus
of the Marlborough College. He was returned to the long Par-
liament as one of the members for Marlborough, his colleague being
John Franklyn, and both at first opponents of the extravagant
pretensions of the prerogative. Sir Francis, however, when the
crisis approached, sided with the King, who raised him to the
peerage under the title of Baron Trowbridge, while his colleague,
Franklyn, and his successor, Philip Smith, remained firm to the
popular cause, and the former played a very prominent part in the
ensuing incidents of the great rebellion.

Wiltshire was full of non-conformists, and the inhabitants of
Marlborough especially were in Clarendon’s estimation “ notoriously
disaffected.”” This was shewn in 1642 by their liberal contributions
to the parliamentary loans, and their voluntary enrolment in large

Review of Waylen’s History of Marlborough. 123

numbers in the militia then forming under the Earl of Pembroke
in defence of the parliamentary cause, and in opposition to the
commission of array of which among others the Marquis of Hert-
ford and his brother, the Lord Seymour, were charged with the
execution, Nor was it long before the town of Marlborough
defended only by this hastily raised militia was exposed to actual
assault from the royalist forces detached for the purpose from
- Oxford, under Lord Digby, in November, 1642. The first attack
seems to have been easily foiled. But in the beginning of the
next month, a body of 6,000 infantry with several troops of horse,
under Lords Grandison and Wentworth, in conjunction with Lord
Digby, attaeked the town on several sides with great energy, and
having forced its defenders under Sir Neville Poole to retreat for
safety to the Lord Seymour’s house, and the Castle Mound, sacked,
and, to a great extent, burnt and ruined the unfortunate town. A
few days later succour arrived from Lord Essex, the Commander-
in-Chief of the parliamentary forces, and the royalists retreated on
Oxford ; but the mischief had been done, and it took some time for
the unlucky inhabitants of Marlborough to recover their losses.
Moreover, John Franklyn, the popular member, and some hundred
of the inhabitants were taken prisoners, carried to Oxford, and
confined there for a long period under circumstances of great hard-
ship and cruelty. In the series of contests that subsequently took
place between the royalist and parliamentarian forces, in the county
of Wilts, and the adjoining counties of Berks, Oxford, and Hamp-
shire, the town of Marlborough bore a prominent part, as lying on
the great high road from London to the West of England. But
we must refer to Mr. Waylen’s book for the interesting details of
these events, especially recommending to our readers the amusing
narrative of the gallant but somewhat marauding exploits of Major
Dowett, commander of the Devizes troopers, who seems to have
considered Marlborough a neyer failing subject for attack and
depredation. In the end, however, the cause of the Parliament
triumphing, Marlborough rose again from its ruins, and recovered
a fair amount of prosperity. The Lord Seymour compounded with
R 2

124 Review of Waylen’s History of Marlborough.

the Parliament for his ‘ delinquencies ;’
residence at the castle ; and so rapidly were all traces of the recent
struggles obliterated, that in 1648, our old gossip and friend, John
Aubrey, spent the Christmas there, happily hare hunting on the
downs with Mr. Charles Seymour’s beagles and Sir W. Button’s

settled quietly in his

greyhounds, and investigating the interesting relics of Avebury
which he seems to have been the first to discover, at least to make
known to the world.

The disorders incident to a state of war were now at an end,
and the only military spectacle of which the town was at this
period the scene, was in July 1649, six months after the King’s
death, on occasion of Cromwell’s passing through it on his way to
Bristol, at the head of a large force destined for the conquest of
Ireland. The general was himself with his officers entertained at
a grand feast given by the Earl of Pembroke at his manor-house
of Ramsbury, the army being quartered principally in Marl-
borough. A few years later, in 1653, the town was in great part
destroyed by a terrible conflagration arising from accident ; and
this calamity being contemporaneous with the accession of the
Lord Protector to supreme power, was spoken of by some of the
loyalist scribes of the day as “an ominous commencement of this
incendiary’s usurpation, whose red and fiery nose has been the
burden of many a cavalier’s song.” By this calamity the town
hall, market-house, the church of St. Mary, the principal inns,
and between two and three hundred houses were burnt to the
ground. The loss was estimated in the petition for aid sent up on
the occasion to the council of state from the mayor and other
inhabitants, at “three score and ten thousand pounds at the least.”
A committee was thereupon appointed by the council to sit at
Sadler’s Hall, London, for managing and ordering collections to be
made through special letters of the council, addressed to all parts
of thekingdom. The amount raised by this collection is not stated ;
but that the town rose rapidly again from its ashes is clear from a
passage in Evelyn’s memoirs, recording his visit to it the year after

the conflagration,

Review of Waylen’s History of Marlborough. 125

“ 9th June, 1654. Set out in a coach and six to visit my wife’s
relations in Wiltshire. Dined at Marlborough, which having been
lately fired, was now new-built. At one end of the town we saw
Lord Seymour’s house, but nothing observable except the mount,
to which we ascended by windings for near half a mile. It seems
to have been cast up by hand.”

The trade of the town seems at this time to have flourished
greatly. The Marlborough cheese market in particular was cele-
brated, and supplied the metropolis with a thin kind of cheese in
great favour with consumers. Cloths and serges were likewise
manufactured there, and cutlery and tanning were among the staple
trades of the place. The population engaged in the clothing trade
must have been considerable, as a petition of the date of 1697 to
the Commons House states that “many thousands of poor people
had been employed for several years past in the clothing trade
hereabouts, besides 700 yearly in the workhouse.” Workhouses
were evidently more deserving of their title at that period, than
they are at present. ‘

Cromwell granted a new charter to the borough, in which his
partisans were numerous. But the royalist party had many sup-
porters there likewise, and even Lord Hertford and his brother
Lord Seymour were suspected of readiness to join in any
movement for the restoration of the legitimate Sovereign. The
rash and unfortunate rising of Mr. Penruddock was intended to
have broken out by seizure of this town, and taking unawares the
troop of Cromwell’s horse stationed in it. The cavalry, however,
were too well on their guard. The outbreak exploded at Salisbury
instead. And the Seymours remaining quiet were rewarded by
Cromwell with a considerable exemption from the threatened
assessment on them of the commissioners.

Mr. Waylen gives some amusing passages extracted from
pamphlets of the day, relative to the intrigues and contests of the
rival partisans in the borough at this period, especially the story
of the sufferings of ‘“ William Houlbrook, the Marlborough black-
smith,” «a royalist, and the treacheries of ‘Cornet Joyce, an old

126 Review of Waylen’s History of Marlborough.

soldier and agent of the ‘Rump,’ the same person who conducted
the late King from Holmby. Houlbrook was suspected of being
an agent of Prynne’s who had turned royalist at this time, and
had been certainly in communication with the loyal blacksmith
while passing through Marlborough. This was about the time of
Sir G. Booth’s rising in Cheshire in 1659, when a few royalists did
appear in arms near Malmesbury, but were speedily crushed.

The shrewd smith seems by his own account to have been too
eunning for his examiners, when, upon being arrested and taken to
London, he was questioned before the council consisting of Brad-
shaw, Disbrowe, and Sir Henry Vane. At all events he was dis-
missed unpunished, and a few months later the monarchy being
restored, he became the hero of his locality, and ends his exulting
and triumphant narrative by the boast that

‘‘ Now he lives in Marlborough town,
And is a man of some renown,”

In 1663 King Charles IL. was sumptuously entertained at Marl-
borough by Lord Seymour, while on a western progress, accompanied
by his Queen and his brother, the Duke of York. It was during
this visit that Aubrey was summoned to the presence of royalty,
and had the honour and gratification of playing cicerone to the
Sovereign among the local antiquities of Avebury and Stonehenge.
The King according to Aubrey’s relation, walked up to the top of
Silbury Hill with the Duke of York, Dr. Charlton and Aubrey
himself acting as their guides.

Mr. Waylen takes the occasion of his narrative, having reached
the period of the restoration, to give biographical sketches of
several of the ejected Divines among the Wiltshire clergy, who,
by the Act of Uniformity, were deprived of their preferment.

The Wiltshire Commissioners for enforcing the execution of the
act sat chiefly at Marlborough, and one of them was the famous
Adoniram Byfield for some time Rector of Collingbourn Ducis,
This portion of the work will offer matter of great interest to many
readers. But we have not space here to dwell upon it further than
by mentioning, as one among this ‘army of martyrs,’ the well-

Review of Waylen’s History of Marlborough. 127

known Dr. Daniel Burgess, and also that the noted Dr. Henry
Sacheverell, the leader at a later day of the dominant church
faction, was a native of Marlborough, the son of the Rey. Joshua
Sacheverell, minister of St. Peter’s Church in that town, and
received his early education at the borough school.

The third Lord Seymour, of Trowbridge, succeeded to the Duke-
dom of Somerset in 1675, on the failure of issue by his cousin
John, the fourth Duke. He was then a minor, and living at the
castle of Marlborough with his mother. He died at the age of
twenty-one, being killed in an unlucky squabble while travelling in
Italy. And the title descended to his brother Charles then eighteen
years of age, the sixth Duke of Somerset, who relinquished Marl-
borough Castle asa residence to his eldest son Algernon. In the year
1676 the bulk of the Wiltshire estates of the Duke of Somerset had
been conveyed to the second Earl of Ailesbury by his marriage with
Elizabeth, sister and heir of the third Duke. But the castle of
Marlborough remained for some generations the property of the
Dukes of Somerset, and became famous at a subsequent period as
the residence of the talented Countess of Hertford, then wife of
Algernon, who was afterwards the seventh and last Duke.

At the epoch of the revolution of 1688, the borough of Marl-
borough recovered its charter, which had been seized and suspended.
by James, with that of so many other boroughs. The town was
garrisoned at this time by a battalion of Dragoons, under Sir John
Fenwick. And as the neighbouring town of Hungerford was the
scene of the conference between William of Orange and the Com-
missioners of James deputed to treat with him on the retreat of
the King, Marlborough was, no doubt, also filled with Dutch
troops. At the ensuing election there occurred a double return
of members for the borough, giving rise to the case well-known
in the books of Election-Law called the Marlborough case of 1689.

In the early part of the eighteenth century, as has been already
noticed, Marlborough acquired some celebrity as the residence of
the Countess of Hertford, whose interesting correspondence with
her intimate friend Lady Pomfret is chiefly dated from the castle.

Review of Waylen’s History of Marlborough.

128

The poetic tastes and friendships of this lady are well known.

Mrs. Rowe is traditionally said to have composed some of her lines

And Thomson, the author of

in the ‘grotto under the mound.’

GF GFOS

SS er

665

Sled |

- >=
wey. SO
ae

1
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1723.

PLAN OF THE CASTLE GRouNDS, MARLBOROUGH.

Review of Waylen’s History of Marlborough. 129

the Seasons, was among her invited guests. Her energetic inter-
ference at court in behalf of Richard Savage, when convicted of
murder, is well known through the medium of Johnson’s Lives of
the Poets. Dr. Watts was one of her constant correspondents,
and Alexander Pope; her Apollo. The gardens of the castle were
much improved by her, and she makes frequent mention of their
beauties in her correspondence. On her decease in 1754, however,
the mansion was converted into an inn, which continued to be its
destination up to a very recent date. It is singular that Lady
Hertford’s bosom friend, Lady Pomfret, died in 1761 at this inn,
where perhaps the memory of her beloved friend had led her to
take up her residence in her last illness.

Among the eminent natives and inhabitants of Marlborough in
this age, may be honourably mentioned Sir Michael Foster, one of
the judges of the King’s Bench, noted for his integrity and
independence. The latter character he had an opportunity of con-
spicuously exhibiting when presiding at the celebrated trial at the
Surrey Assizes, in 1758, the result of which secured a right of way
for the public through Richmond Park. Mr. Waylen quotes the
well known letter written by Mr., afterwards Lord Chancellor,
Thurlow on this occasion to Mr. Ewen, nephew of Mr. Justice
Foster, in which the behaviour of the presiding judge at the trial
is related with its due meed of approval. “It gave me,” concludes
the writer, ‘who am a stranger to him, great pleasure to find that
we have one English judge whom nothing can tempt or frighten,
ready and able to uphold the laws of his country as a great shield
of the rights of the people.” In these days it would be difficult
to imagine any judge acting otherwise, but it was not so in the
middle of the last century, when the claims of the prerogative
were occasionally put forward (as on this occasion) in a manner
which made resistance to them almost as perilous as it would be
at the present time in many of the other states of Europe.

We have no space left to follow Mr. Waylen in his amusing
narrative of still more recent events connected with Marl-
borough and its neighbourhood—how Lord Bruce formed and

130 Review of Waylen’s History of Marlborough.

admirably drilled his regiment of militia in 1759—equipping them
in scarlet coats with blue facings, white gaiters, hair powdered,
and hats well-cocked up, ordering “the men not to let down the
cocks of their hats on any account, and also to keep the skirts of
their coats constantly hooked up’—how Gibbon, the historian,
served in the militia of the neighbouring county, Hants, and was
quartered occasionally in this part of Wilts—(we should like to
have seen his rotund figure marching in the above-mentioned
accoutrements)—how again in 1794, and the subsequent years, this
part of Wiltshire was conspicuous for the ready and loyal zeal in
which both militia and yeomanry forces volunteered to form
themselves for the defence of the country. At the time of the
invasion panic in 1798, Marlborough had its ‘“ armed association,”
in addition to the other military preparations. In all these
patriotic proceedings it is needless to say that the noble family of
Bruce were then as now foremost in encouragement, example, and
command.

The changes effected in Marlborough by the Parliamentary and
Municipal Reform Bills, by the transmutation of the venerable
Castle Inn into an admirable Collegiate School, the proceedings in
respect to the hitherto abortive scheme for connecting Marlborough
with the line of the Great Western Railway, and the proposed
change of destination of the County Gaol situated in the town, are
all matters of too recent a date to require any notice in this brief
abstract. But in Mr. Waylen’s narrative they find their appro-
priate place, and fit record. We must not pass over in silence,
however, among the objects of interest at Marlborough, its endowed
Grammar School, founded by King Edward VI., which has the
honour of counting among the scholars educated there, the names
of Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury, Mr. Glanville, Sir James Long,
Henry Sacheverell, Sir Michael Foster, Lieutenant-General Picton,
Walter Harte, and Dr. Mapleton, late Chancellor of the Diocese of
Hereford.

Mr. Waylen gives several details, both biographical and historical,
respecting other characters or families of note connected with the

Etymology of Garston. 131

hundred of Selkley, for which we must refer to the work itself.
And we will end as we began by thanking the author for the
agreeable contribution which he has afforded in it to the history of
our county. If we have anything to regret in its perusal, it is a
want of sufficient references to the sources of the writer’s informa-
tion, and perhaps something of imperfect arrangement in the
structure of the volume. On the whole, however, it is a most
entertaining work, much more so than the ordinary class of topo-
graphies, and cannot fail to interest every Wiltshire reader into
whose hands it may come. PUES

GARSTON. [p. 67].

The word (as rightly explained by two correspondents, E. W.
and F. A. C.) means “ grass enclosure :” “ gaers’”’ being Saxon for
grass, and “tun” enclosure. It is common in Surrey and Sussex,
as well as in the West of England; generally, for an enclosed
grass field near a village (as at Charlton, in the Pewsey Vale), but
sometimes also for arable fields (as at Bratton and Malmsbury),
which have been grass but are now broken up. The provincial
pronunciation of the word in Wilts is, perhaps most frequently,
“ Garesen,” or “Gaasen,” and as the way in which the name of the
parish of Garsden, near Malmsbury, is pronounced, is also with the
a lengthened, Garesden: it is most likely that from the “ gaers-
denes”’ or grass valleys, by which that place is surrounded, its name
has been derived. It is much to be wished that some Anglo-Saxon
scholar would favour us, at once with the true etymology of our
Wiltshire names: at least, of such as are of Anglo-Saxon origin.

CALNE.
The proper spelling and derivation of this name? R. J.

s 2

132 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

Lelous Souruey theaugh Wiltshire:

A. D. 1540-42.
WITH NOTES BY THE REV. J. E. JACKSON,

Joun Lry.ANnD (commonly spelled Leland) was born in London;
the parish and year unknown; but about the beginning of the
16th century. He was educated under W. Lilly, the grammarian,
then went to Cambridge, and was afterwards of All Souls College,
Oxford. Thence he proceeded to study at Paris: and on his return
took holy orders, and became chaplain to King Henry VIII., who
gave him a benefice in the Marches of Calais. He seems to have been
an accomplished man; was acquainted, itissaid, with eight languages,
and wrote Latin with facility and elegance. On being appointed
library keeper to the King, he left his rectory abroad, and received
in 1533 a royal commission under the great seal to travel over
England in search of antiquities, with power to inspect the libraries
of cathedrals, abbies, and other depositories of historical records.
It was in this year that the monasteries were visited, previously to
their impending dissolution. Fuller! enumerates this royal com-
mission to Leland amongst the “commendable deeds’’ done by the
King, upon the fall of the religious houses. ‘‘ He would have the
buildings destroyed, but the memorables therein recorded, the
builders preserved, and their memories transmitted to posterity.
This task Leland performed with great pains, to his great praise ;
on the King’s purse, who exhibited most bountifully unto him.”

Leland is connected with Wiltshire by one of these “exhibitions :”
viz., the Prebend of North Newnton (or Newton, 4 miles west of
Pewsey) to which was annexed Knoyle Odierne, (Little or West

1 Church Hist. B. vi. sect. iv. 8. 9.

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 133

Knoyle), near Hindon. To this he was presented in 1534,
nominally, by Cicely Bodenham, the last Abbess of Wilton, in
whose patronage it lay, but, no doubt, really by the Crown.! In
the Valor Ecclesiasticus? taken that year, “John Laylond, Pre-
bendary of Newnton,” returns the annual value of the prebend at
£5 5s. net.

Though Leland had received his commission in 1533, before the
actual dissolution of the religious houses, (which took place .p.
1535), he does not appear to have begun his “ perambulation”
until two or three years after that event; viz., about a.p. 1588.
It oceupied him for several years. He then retired to the Rectory
of St. Michel’s in le Querne in London, with the intention of
producing from the notes and collections which he had made upon
his travels, a grand work on English antiquities. But this he was
not permitted to accomplish. His reason became affected, though
from what particular cause is not exactly known. Fuller’s account
is: “This Leland, after the death of his bountiful patron King
Henry VIII., [January, 1548], fell distracted and so died:
uncertain, whether his brain was broken with weight of work, or
want of wages: the latter more likely, because after the death of
K. Henry, his endeavours met not with proportionable encourage-
ment.” There seems to be but little foundation for this. It is
more probable that the real cause was the one assigned by other
writers, viz., over excitement of the intellect under the prospect of
the herculean task before him. Upon his derangement being made
known to King Edward VI., letters patent? were issued in 1550,
granting the custody of his person, as ‘ John Leyland, junior,”
to his brother “ John Leyland, senior ;” and confirming to him for
his maintenance all his ecclesiastical preferment, as well as an
annuity of £26 13s. 4d., which was, perhaps, the salary that had

1 Wilts Institutions, p. 204. 2V. E. for Wilts, p. 131.

%In the lengthy and precise Latin document issued upon this occasion, of
which there is a copy in the introduction to Leland’s Collectamea, vol. 1. p. XLVIII.,
the unfortunate antiquary is described with an extravagant variety of legal
epithets, as “‘demens, insanus, lunaticus, furiosus, phreneticus.”

134 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

been allowed him by the late King. He was at this time still
rector of the benefice abroad (Poperingues near Ypres) ; and of
Haseley in Co. Oxon: so that with the Wiltshire prebend, there
does not seem altogether to have been any “lack of wages.”

His death took place in April 1552: upon which event Edward
VI. ordered his manuscripts to be brought into the care of Sir
John Cheke, the royal tutor and secretary. ‘‘ Here” (says Fuller)
“ our great antiquary” (Camden) “ got a sight, and made a good use
thereof; it being most true, Si Lelandus non labordsset, Camdenus
non triumphasset.”’1 Sir John Cheke’s son, Henry, after his father’s
death, gave four volumes in folio, of Leland’s ‘“ Collectanea,”
(being miscellaneous extracts from the monastic libraries), to
Humphrey Purefoy, of Leicestershire, by whom they were given
to Mr. Burton, the historian of that county. Burton afterwards
obtained eight other volumes called the “Itinerary,” written like
the former ones in Leland’s own hand ; and deposited the whole in
the Bodleian Library, at Oxford. The original manuscript of the
Itinerary had been previously much damaged by damp and neglect,
but Burton had made a copy of it in 1621. Bishop Tanner had a
design of publishing it, but was prevented: and the task fell into
the hands of Thomas Hearne, the antiquary. A second edition
appeared in 1745: a third, and the last, in 1770. The work is
now scarce and expensive, and a new edition, which should be
accompanied by notes to explain obscurities and correct errors, is
desirable.

The reader will bear in mind then, that Leland’s Itinerary con-
sists only of the original brief, and, often probably hasty, notes
taken by himself upon a tour. They are not the “ secunde cure,”
the revised production, of his literary leisure: but such observa-
tions as he made “inter equitandum,”’ during the stages of his
journey ; gathered from the conversation of his hosts, the squires
and the clergy, or culled from such documents and authorities as
they laid before him. Memoranda so taken, would, of course,

1 “ Tf Leland had not worked, Camden would not have triumphed.”

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 135

contain much that required further correction and confirmation :
much also that would have been omitted in the process of expan-
sion into careful history. Still, the Itinerary is a very curidus
book, and though it includes many things that are trivial, it has
preserved to us a great deal of local information, which it would
now be impossible to obtain from any other source. Towards a
new edition of the work, great assistance might be rendered by the
various Archeological Societies of England, if they would publish
in their respective Proceedings such portions of it as relate to their
own counties, with notes by those of their members who may have
turned their attention to local history.

LELAND’S JOURNEY THROUGH WILTSHIRE!

[He entered it the first time at the N. E. corner of the county,
coming from Lechlade in Gloucestershire ].

From Lechelade to Eiton Castle in Whileshire, where great ruines
of a building in Wyleshir, as in ulteriori ripa (on the farther bank)
remayne yet, a 2 miles upper on the Jsis.

From Liton Castelle to Nunne-Eiton, a mile. To Grekelade or
rather Crikelade,2 a 2 miles.

Eiton,® the Lord Zouche’s castle. Mount-penson (Mompesson), of
Wileshire, married one of the Lord Zouche’s daughters, that is now.
(vi. 14). Nuwnne-Eaton belonged to Godstow. Crekelade is on the

1 Itinerary, vol. ii. p. 48.

2 “Or rather Cricklade.” The fable of Greek philosophers having ‘‘flourished’’
at this place, and of its having been an university before the foundation of
learning at Oxford, is evidently too ridiculous for Leland, who, however, in his
life of Alfred, as well as in other passages of his works, alludes to it without
any apparent disbelief. There were, probably, never more Greek philosophers
at Cricklade than there are at present, whatever that number may be. The
name of the place is derived from two Saxon words, signifying ‘‘ brook” and
“to empty: a derivation which is abundantly sustained by the number of
small streams that in this neighbourhood fall into the Isis.”

3 “*Kiton:” now Castle Eaton. The older name was Eaton Meysey: from a
family to whom it belonged temp. Henry III.

136 Leland’’s Journey throuyh Wiltshire.

farther ripe! of Jsis, and stondeth in Wileshire. Loke here where
Braden water comming out of Wileshire doeth go into Isis.

I noted a little beyond Pulton? village Pulton priorie, wher
was a prior and 2 or 3 blake canons with hym.

I saw yn the walles where the presbyterie was, 3 or 4 arches,
wher ther were tumbes of gentilmen. I think that ther was byried
sum of the Sainct-Maurs. Andof surety one St. Mawr, founder of
it, was buried there.

As I passed out of Pulton village, I went over the bek* of Pulton
rising not far above. Pulton bek, about a mile beneth Pu/ton,
goith at a mill a little above Downumney into Amney streame.

From Pulton toward Amney villag I passed over Amney water,
and so to Amney village, leving it on the right hand.

Amney brook risith a little above Ammney toune by north out of
a rok; and goith a 3 miles of, or more, to Doune-amney, wher
Syr Antony Hungreford hath a fair house of stone, on the farther
bank.

Amney goith into Isis a mile beneth Downamney, againe Nunne-
Eiton in Wilshire.

From Pulton to Citrencestre a 4 miles. Serlo, first abbate of
Cirencestre, made his brother prior of Bradene-stoke. Tetbyri is vii
miles from Walmesbyri, and is a praty market town. Tetbyri lyeth
a 2 miles on the left hand of from Fosse,5 as men ryde to Sodbyri.

1 “ Farther ripe :” (bank). This would be the case to a person coming from
Lechlade.

2‘¢ Pulton :”” commonly called Poulton, lies within Gloucestershire, but belongs
to Wilts.

3‘ Founder.” Sir Thomas St. Maur founded Poulton Priory, 24 Edw. III.
A. D. 1360. [Tanner’s Monast.] He died without issue. His brother’s
descendant in the 4th generation, Alice St. Maur, a sole heiress, married Wm.
Lord Zouche. Hence the Zouches at Castle Eaton just mentioned.

4 Bek.” Brook.

5‘ Fosse.” Five Roman roads went out of Cirencester, one of which was
the Fosse: but Leland seems here to have mistaken the course of it. That
which is now called ‘‘ The Fosse” does not go over any ‘‘ manifest great crest”
by Sodbury to Bristol, but by Easton Grey and North Wraxhall to Bath.
Leland himself afterwards left Cirencester by the latter road for a short distance :
then turned off to Crudwell, and entered Malmesbury over Holloway Bridge on
the Charlton Road.

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 137

The head of Jsis in Coteswalde risith about a mile a this side
Tetbyri.

The Fosse way goith oute at Cirencestre, and so streatchith by a
manifeste great creste to Sodbyri market, and so to Bristow.

[Jsis riseth a iij myles from Cirencestre not far from a village
called Kemble within half a myle of the Fosse way, betwixt Ciren-
cestre and Bath. Thens it runneth to Latinelad, (Latton), and so
to Grekelad (Cricklade) about a myle lower, soon after receyving
Churn. Wheras [when] the very head of Isis is in a great somer
drought, apperith very little or no water; yet is the stream servid
with many ofsprings resorting to one bottom. v. 63].

From Cirencestre to Malmsbyri viii miles.

First I roode about a mile on Fosse. Then I turnid on the lifte
hand, and cam al by champayne grounde, fruteful of corne and
grasse, but very litle wood.

I passid over a stone bridg, wher Newton water as I take it,
rennith in the very botom by the towne: and so enterid the
toune by th’ este gate.

MALMSBURY. [1I. 51.]

The toune of Malmesbyri stondith on the very toppe of a greate
slaty rok, and ys wonderfully defendid by nature: for Newton water
cummith a 2 miles from north to the toun: and Avon water
cummith by weste of the toun from Lokington a 4 miles of, and
meete about a bridge at south est parte of the toun, and so goith
Avon by south a while, and then turneth flat west toward Bristow.

The conducte that cam to Malmesbyri abbey was fette from
Newton.

Newton water and Avon ren so nere togither in the botom of the
west suburbe at Malmesbyri, that there within a burbolt! shot the
toun is peninsulatid. In the toun be 4 gates by the names of Est,
West, North, and South, ruinus al.2

1“ Burbolt.”” Between the Avon on the south side of the town, and the
Newnton stream on the north, the interval at the narrowest place through
Westport, would require for Leland’s birdbolt a flight of about 700 yards,

2 Ruinus al.” All now quite destroyed. The name of the Westgate still
survives in the suburb of ‘‘ Westport.”

138 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

The walles in many places stond ful up; but now very feble.
Nature hath diked the toun strongely.

It was sum tyme a castelle of greate fame, wher yn the toun
hath syns ben buildid; for in the beginning of the Saxons reign,
as far as I can lerne, Malmesbyri was no toun.

This castle was namid of the Britons, Cair-Bladun.

The Savons first caullid it Ingelburne.

And after, of one Maildulphus a Scotte that taught good letters
there and after procurid an abbay ther to be made, it was
Maidulphesbyri : i. e., Matldulphi curia.

The King of the West-Sarons and a Bishop of Winchestre were
founders of this abbay.

Aldeimus was then after Maildulph abbate there, and after Bishop
of Shirburn.

This S. Aldelme is patrone of this place.

The toune hath a great privileg of a fair about the fest of Sainct
Aldelme ; at the which tyme the toune kepith a band of harnesid
men to se peace kept: and this one of the bragges of the toun,
and therby they be furnishid with harneys.

Ther were in th abbay chirch yard 3 chirches.!_ Th abbay chirch
a right magnificent thing, wher were 2 steples, one that had a
mightie high pyramis, and felle daungerusly in hominum memoria,
and sins was not re-edified.

It stode in the midle of the transeptum of the chirch, and was a

1 “3 Churches.” He cannot mean that there were 3 churches besides the
abbey church, but inclusive of it? There are now only the remains of one,
St. Paul’s: of which he afterwards says that the body had been taken down at
the time of his visit, the east end was in use as a Town Hall, and the tower at
the west end as a dwelling-house. Of this, which was the old parish church of
Malmsbury, the tower, surmounted by a spire, still remains, at the S.W. corner
of the abbey yard, and continues to be used for the induction of the vicars of
Malmsbury. The east end ceased to be used asa ‘‘ Town Hall” about 1623:
and having been since that time in a state of desecration was finally taken down
in June, 1852, and the site added to the church yard. It did not appear to be
quite in a straight line with the tower ; but stood rather south of that line. In
it were some remains of window mullions and perpendicular tracery, a niche, &e.
Of the 3rd church which probably was a chapel attached to the south transept
of the abbey, there is no trace.

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 139

marke to al the countrie about. The other yet standith, a greate
square toure, at the west ende of the chirch.

The tounes men a late bought this chirch of the King, and hath
made it their paroche chirch.

The body of the olde paroch chirch, standing in the west (eha of
the chirch yarde is clene taken down. The est end is converted in
aulam civicam (a Town Hall).

The fair square tour in the west ende’ is kept for a dwelling-
house.

Ther was a litle chirch joining to the south side of the transeptum
of th abbay chirch, wher sum say Joannes Scottus,1 the great clerk,
was slayne, about the tyme of A/frede, King of West-Sazons, of
his own disciples thrusting and strikking hym with their table
pointelles.?

Wevers hath now lomes in this litle chirch, but it stondeth and
is a very old pece of work.

Ther was an image set up yn th abbay chirch yn honour of this
John Scotte.

This is John Scotte that translatid Dionysius out of Greke into
Latine.

Malmesbyri hath a good quik market kept every Saturday.

There is a right fair and costely peace of worke in the Market-
place made al of stone, and curiously voultid for poore market
folkes to stande dry when rayne cummith.

Ther be 8 great pillers and 8 open arches: and the work is 8
square :3 one great piller in the midle berith up the voulte. The
men of the toune made this peace of work in hominum memorid.

The hole logginges of th abbay be now longging to one Stwmpe,
an exceeding riche clothiar that boute them of the King.

1“ John Scot.” There were 3 learned ecclesiastics of this name; two of
them contemporary. John, a Saxon monk, surnamed Scotus, made abbot of
Athelney a.p. 887: and John Scot Erigena. The former of these two was the
translator of Dionysius, ‘the Areopagite.” The third John Scot, commonly
called Duns Scotus, died at Cologne, long after the reign of Alfred; viz., in
A.D. 1308.

2“ Pointelle :” a steel pen or pencil for writing.

38 Square: octagonal.

140 Leland’s Journey throuyh Wiltshire.

This Stwmpe’s sunne hath married Sir Edward Baynton’s
daughter.!

This Stwmpe was the chef causer and contributer to have th abbay
chirch made a paroch chirch.

At this present tyme every corner of the vaste offices that
belonged to th abbay be fulle of lumbes (/ooms) to weve clooth yn,
and this Stwmpe entendith to make a stret or 2 for clothiers in the
bak vacant ground of the abbay that is withyn the toune walles.

There be made now every yere in the toune a 3,000 clothes.

{From the state in which Leland found Malmsbury Abbey, Mr. Stumpe’s looms
being in full play in the small church annexed to the south transept, and in the
abbey offices, it is clear that his visit must have been after Dec. 15, 1539, the day
on which Abbot Frampton, alias Selwin, signed the deed of surrender. The monks
were probably dispersed, and their library plundered. This may account for the
very scanty collection of manuscripts which Leland found, unless we may suppose
that he noted down the names only of those which were most rare or valuable.
The following is his list, from which the reader may form an idea of the general
character and composition of abbey libraries :—]2

MANUSCRIPTS FOUND BY LELAND IN MALMSBURY ABBEY.3

Juvencus. [4d Spanish Christian Poet s.pD. 330, who translated the 4
Gospels into Latin verse. His works are printed. |

Works of Fortunatus, written in verse.

Life of Paternus, in prose, by Fortunatus.

Wm. of Malmesbury (the Librarian of the Abbey). The Four Evangelists
in different kinds of verse—16 books.

Do. on the Lamentations of Jeremiah, beginning ‘‘ Thou hast often
admonished,” &e.

Do. the Life of Aldhelm.

1 ‘Baynton.”? Two shields in stone bearing severally the arms of Stumpe and Baynton,
the latter a bend lozengy between two demilions, an unusual addition to the Baynton
shield, are still to be seen over the garden door at the abbey church.

2 “ A curious account is given by Aubrey Nat. Hist. of Wilts, p. 79, of the way in which numbers
of the finely illuminated manuscripts belonging to the abbey libraries, were wantonly destroyed by the
tasteless owners into whose hands they fell. Those of Malmsbury were used, he says, for covering
boy’s copy-books, for stopping the bung holes of barrels of ale, scouring guns, and the like. Bale
“ knew a merchant-man who bought the contents of two noble libraries for xu shillings a piece, a
shame it is tobe spoken, This stuff hath he occupied in the stead of gray paper by the space of more
than these x years, and yet he hath store enough for as many years tocome. A prodigious example is
this, and to be abhorred of all men which love their nation as they should do.’’ In another place he
says that the choicest manuscripts were often torn to pieces in the houses of the persons who bought
the monasteries of the King, or were sold by them to grocers and soapdealers to wrap up their goods.
Others were sent over sea to be used by the bookbinders, “not in small number, but at times whole
ships full, to the wondering of the foreign nations.’’ A church book belonging to the parish of Chip-
penham, dated 1620, is still in existence, covered in this way with a fine fragment of monastic parchment
jlluminated in red, black, and gold,

3 ‘* Collecta, 114. 357,

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 141

The Life of Aldhelm, by Faritius, Abbot of Abingdon, a Tuscan by birth,
according to Wm. of Malms. (See Collect. 2, p, 253),

Bede: on the song of Habakkuk.

Do. Allegorical Exposition of Leviticus and Tobit.

Claudius: 3 books on 8S. Matthew.

The Sentences of Xystus, translated by Rufinus, who maintains that this
Xystus was the Pope of that name,

Questions of Albinus upon Genesis: a little book.

Dionysius (the Areopagite), translated by John Scot.

Cassiodorus: on the Soul.

Hexameron of Basil.

Gregory Nicenus: on the Condition of Man.

Robert of Cricklade (R. Canutus), Prior of St. Frideswide (Oxon), 4 books
called ‘‘ The Mirror of Faith, beginning ‘ Hear, O Israel.”

Albinus, on Ecclesiastes.

Grossolanus, Archb. of Milan: on the Procession of the Holy Spirit,
addressed to the Emperor Alexius.

Junilius to Pope Primasius.

Apuleius—a book on Interpretation.

Grammar of Eutyches.

Tertullian.

Letters of Albinus.

Chronicle of Malms. Abbey. [Leland gives extracts, Collect. 1. 301).

Another chronicle called ‘‘ The Praise of History,” written at the request
of the Abbot of Malmsbury, A.D. 1361, by a monk of the abbey, name
unknown. [L£ztracts from this, with a long account of Maidulph and
Aldhelm are given in the Collectanea, 1. 302 & 11. 395}.

[From a book of “‘ the Antiquitiesof Malmsbury,” he extracted several particulars,
which have been used by most of those who have written the history of the town
and abbey. For these, see Collectanea. 1.65, 241, 301. 11. 319, 325, 401].

Sum hold opinion that ther was sum tyme a nunnery wher the
hermitage! now stondith in the dike of the toune at the west ende
of the old paroche chirch.

Sum say that ther was another nunnery toward the park a litle
without the toune longging to th abbate in the way to Chippenham.”

1 “Hermitage.” He probably means anold building called ‘‘the chapel house”
long used as a dwelling for paupers, and formerly a chapel, in the part of the
town called ‘ Burnevale”’; (the valley in which the “bourne” or brook of
the Avon runs, on the south side of Malmsbury). It was destroyed some years
ago.

2‘ Another Nunnery.” Burton Hill Chapel, mentioned again in the third
following paragraph. It is now destroyed. There is no account of any endowed
nunnery either here or at Burnevale just spoken of.

142 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

And I have redde that there was another nunnery wher now is
a poore hospitale,! about the south bridge without the toun the way
to Chippenham.

Going out of Malmesbyri by the south gate I turnid on the lifte
hond, and so passid over Avon by a fair bridg of stone having 3
arches.

And then conscending an hillet, even ther by left, a chapelle2 or
paroch chirch hard on the lift hand; and then leaving the park
and the late abbates maner place? on the lift hond, I came to a
village about a mile of, caullid Fosse, wher was a bridge and a
good streame renning undre it.

Thens to Chippenham a vi. miles.

FROM MALMSBURY, BY CORSHAM, HASELBURY, AND SOUTH WRAXHALL,
TO BRADFORD. [u1. 54. ]

Riding between Malmesbyri and Chippenham al the ground on
that side of the ryver was chaumpain, fruteful of corne and grasse,
but litle wood.

Thus rydyng, I lefte Avon streme aboute a 2 miles on the lifte
hand. I markid 2 places betwene Malmesbyri and Chippenham
notable. Draicote, wher Sir Henrye Long hath a fair manor place
and a park, about a mile from Avon streame. Draicot is a 5 miles
from Malmesbyri, and a 2 miles from Chippenham.6

1 “ Hospital.” Of St. John of Jerusalem, near the south bridge, on the
way to Chippenham : now used asan almshouse. An early pointed arch formerly
the doorway, but now blocked up, still remains.

2 “Chapelle.” Burton Hill chapel alluded to above.

3 “ Park and Maner-place.” Then called Cowfold Park. It was part of the
abbot’s own demesne, and the name is spelled in this way in the oldest docu-
ments. It was afterwards corrupted into Cufold Park, then into Cold-park,
and finally into Cole-park ; by which it is now known as the property of Audley
Lovell, Esq.

4 Leland’s ear deceived him. The name of the village is Corston.
5 ‘2 Miles.” The reader will often observe a considerable difference between
Leland’s measurement and the actual distances. As he appears to have used

figures and not words, it is possible that the injured state of the manuscript,
already alluded to, may have misled the copyist in many instances

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 143

On the other side of the Avon river I saw Bradenestoke priory
ruines on the toppe of an hille, a mile and an half from Avon
ryver. [Gualter, Erle of Sarum, and Sibylle, his wyfe, founders of
Bradenestoke, a priory of black chanons. vim. 107.]

Bradenestoke is about a 4 miles from Malmesbyri.

Al the quarters of the foreste of Braden be welle wooddid, even
along from Malmesbyri to Chippenham ward.

Mr. Pye dwelleth at .......... a litle from Chippenham, but in
Chippenham paroche.

One told me that ther was no notable bridge on Avon between
Malmesbyri and Chippenham. I passid over two bekkes betwixt
Malmesbyri and Chippenham.

[ur. 135. There is a place in Wyleshir caullid Combe Castelle,
a 4 miles towards est from Chippenham: and to this place Jonge
diverse knightes services and libertees. And this lordship now
longgith to one Scrope. |

[ Stanlege abbey. St. Mary. White monks. vu. 65].

I left Chippenham a mile on the lifte hand, and so went to
Alington' village about a mile of, and thens 3 miles to Cosham, a
good uplandish toun, wher be ruines of an old maner place: and
therby a park wont to be yn dowage to the Quenes of Englande.
Mr. Baynton, yn Quene Anne’s? dayes, pullid down by licens
a peace of this house sumwhat to help his buildinges at Bromeham.

Old Mr. Bonhome told me that Coseham apperteinid to the erldom
of Cornwalle, and that Cosham was a mansion place longging to it
wher sumtyme they lay.

Al the menne of this tounlet were bond: so that apon a tyme
one of the Erles of Cornewalle hering them secretely to lament their

1“ Allington.” Leland had thus far kept the high road from Malmsbury to
Chippenham. He now turns off at the foot of Hardenhuish Hill on the north
side, and follows an old lane that leads from Langley Burrell to Allington,
and crosses the high road at that point.

2 “Queen Anne.” As the Bayntons, of Fallersdon (in Bishopstone, hun-
dred of Dounton), did not succeed to the Bromham estate until A.p. 1508.
Leland must mean Anne Boleyn, who was executed A.p. 1536: about 4 years
before his visit.

144 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

state manumittid them for mony, and gave them the lordship of
Cosham in copiehold to paie a chiefe rente.

From Coseham to Haselbyri about a 2 miles.

I left on the lift hand on the toppe of a litle hille an heremitage!
withyn a litle as I turnid doun to Hasilbyri.

The manor place of Haselbyry stondith in a litle vale, and was a
thing of a simple building afore that old Mr. Bonehom father did
build there. The Bonehomes® afore that tyme dwellid by Lacok
upon Avon.

[Plumber’s lands (a manor in Lidlinch, hund. of Sherborn, co.
Dorset? ) be com unto the Bonhomes of Hasilbyri. v1. 50].

[Of the Blwets and their successors the Baynards, of Lackham
near Lacock, Leland says:— vol. vi., p. 53}.

Silchester lordship (in Hants) after the conquest came to one
Blueth, and then one of the Blueths leavyng no sons, the land not

Generale
entaylid to the heire ma[/e] came by mariage to one Peter de

Cusance, Knight, and after to one Edmunde Baynard, cumming out

1 ‘‘Heremitage.” The building called ‘‘Chapel Plaster”: by tradition, a way-
side chapel for pilgrims travelling from Malmsbury to Glastonbury. Aubrey
calls it ‘‘the Chapel of Playsters.” The meaning of the name is uncertain;
but it has nothing to do with the material of plaster; being built of stone. It
may either have been built by some one of the name of Plaister: or playster
may be an old word for pilgrim: or it may mean the chapel built on the
‘Plegstow,” play place or village green: as the ‘‘ Plestor Oak” in White’s
Selborne.

2‘ Bonhome.” Bonham. The principal Wiltshire family of this name lived
at Great Wishford, hund. of Branch and Dole, a.p. 1315-1637.

Haselbury is in the parish of Box. It is now a farm-house with very spacious
premises, the remains of its former importance. It had a church, of which
there is no trace: but there is still a payment by the lord of the manor of £10
a-year toa rector. Out of the freestone quarries of Haselbury, which belonged
to the Prior of Bradenstoke, Malmsbury Abbey is said to have been built. The
vicarage of Box had belonged to the priory of Monkton Farley: John Bonham,
of Haselbury, Leland’s host, was patron in 1541. The Haselbury estate
belonged about 1660 to a branch of the family of Speke (Bart., extinct 1682), of
Whitelackington, co, Som.: and the house, which the Bonhams appear to have
built, was probably enlarged by the Spekes. The coat of arms of Speke is still
to be seen on the pillars at the garden entrance. It now belongs to the Northey
family.

3 See Hutchins’ Dorset, 1. 357.

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 145

of the house of the Baynards, of Essex, whose name is now ther
obscured. The lands of the Blweths entaylid to heyre male of that
name yet remayning in Devonshere. Leccham (Lackham) longgid
NED a ack e t0 Gf <piin ag ns «0, 0 arde as his principale how...... 1

Ther is a feld by Zacok wher men find much Romaine mony: it
is called “ Silverfeeld.’’2

From Haselbyri to Monkton-Farley a mile dim. where by the
village there was a priore stonding on a litle hille, sumtyme having
blak monkes, a prior, and a convent of 12.

Monketon-Farley among other thynges was a late gyven to
th Erle of Hertford.3 '

From Haselbyri to Monkton the countre beginnith to wax woddy ;
and so forth lyke to Bradeford about a 2 miles from Munketon-
Farley; and also to part into hilles and valeys.

Sir Henry Long hath a litle maner about a mile from Monketon-
Farley at Wrexley.4

The original setting up of the house of the Zonges cam, as I
lernid of Mr. Bonehom, by this means:

One Long Thomas, a stoute felow, was sette up by one of the olde
Lordes Hungrefordes. And after by cause this Thomas was

1 The defective words probably were that Lackham was used by Baynarde as
his principal house.

2 The Roman Road from Bath to Marlborough ran about a mile south of
Lacock. Near it is a place called Wick, at which traces of a Roman Villa have
been found.

3 “Hertford.” The Protector Somerset. The Manor was afterwards trans-
ferred to the Bishopric of Salisbury. Between 1647 and 1651, in the days of
confiscation, it was sold to Wm. and Nath. Brooke, and F. Bridges, for £2,499
11s. 6d. It has since been held under the See of Salisbury by (amongst others)
the families of Webb, Long, and now, Wade Browne. The editors of the new
Monasticon mention that no seal of the priory had been met with. In 1841 a
circular silver seal, of about the size of a sovereign, was found by the late Mr.
Wade Browne in clearing part of the site of the priory. On it is the head of
St. Mary Magdalene, exceedingly well cut; with the Legend ‘‘} Carur Marre
Maeparene.” At the same time was discovered an effigy of a Dunstanville of
Castle Combe.

4° Wrexley.” South Wraxhall: which at this time had not been severed
from the Draycote property, but belonged to one and the same owner, Sir Henry
Long, above-mentioned. Of this interesting old manor-house, now the property
of Walter Long, Esq., M.P. of Rood-Ashton, the greater part is still left. In
Aubrey’s MS, Collections for North Wilts in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford,
drawings are preserved of the numerous armorial shields in stained glass, which

146 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

caullid Long Thomas, Long after was usurpid for the name of the
family.!

were once in the windows, but have now entirely perished. Its history and antiquities
have been described in a volume upon the subject by Mr. Thos, Larkins Walker; with
views of the exterior, and of the principal apartment upstairs, containing a very fine
chimney piece and ornamented ceiling, together with details of the architecture, and
of various devices sculptured in stone. The oldest parts are the Hall and Porch. The
original builder is not particularly known, but some additions were made by Sir Robert
Long, about 1566. There is a carefully-written Memoir both of the House and
Church in the Gent. Maa., June 1835.

1 “‘Long.’* There certainly is a tradition appurtenant to the ancient family of Long
of Wraxhall, that, at some remote period which their Pedigree does not fully elucidate,
the name was Prevx. To this some countenance is given by a resemblance in the
arms of Long to those of Preux, and by the use of the motte “‘ Preux quoique pieux.”
But Mr. Bonham’s story of the first introduction of the name of Long by a Lord
Hungerford, does not appear very consistent either with fact or probability; for the
name of Long occurs in the lists of Wiltshire landowners, before that of Hungerford.
The connexion of the Hungerfords with Wiltshire, as a recognized family, does not date
earlier than 1350: and the first of them who became a Baron, lived a.p. 1440—1449.
The public records of the county, on the other hand (See the Inquisitions P.M. and Wilts
Fines), show Longs as landowners in several places at a much earlier period: as at Alton,:
and Ablington, near Figheldean, in 1258; at Coulston near Lavington, in 1267; at
Bratton and Westbury, in 1279. Being then an already appropriated name, it is not
likely that a stranger would adopt it, unless he had some substantial right to do so,
either by a marriage or other intelligible process.

The next part of the story (viz; as to the advancement of some earlier member of this
family by one of the Hungerfords) perhaps contains more, though it is now difficult to
say how much, of truth.

The first Long who appears in the authenticated account of the family as owner of
Wraxhall, is Robert, a.p. 1400—1440. His son John Long married Margaret Wayte,
and by that marriage obtained the Draycote estate. Wraxhall therefore, of the two,
came first into the Long family: but in what way Robert had obtained it, whether by
marriage, purchase, or inheritance,is unknown. The names of his wives have been given
in the pedigrees with some variety, as Bradley, Popham, or Hering, but none of these
alliances throws any light upon the acquisition of South Wraxhall. It is, in fact, not
exactly known whose property it was immediately before the Longs. In the Beauties of
Wilts (11. 226.) the Hungerfords are named: but no authority for this is given, nor do
the evidences of that family (very ample at this period) allude to the manor as theirs.
There is some reason for believing that it may have been part of the estate of the St.
Maurs, who had property near Bradford; that from St. Maur it passed to Berkeley, and
from Berkeley, by marriage, either to the father of Robert Long, or, perhaps to Robert
Long himself: and that this alliance may have been in some way promoted by the first Lord
Hungerford, who had himself married, for a second wife, a Berkeley of Beverstone. In
the church of South Wraxhall there is a monument which from the peculiarity of its
character and situation seems to favour this suggestion. At any rate it testifies to. an

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 147

This Zong Thomas master had sum lande by -Hungreforde’s
procuration.

Then succedid hym Robert and Henry.

Then cam one Thomas Long descending of a younger brother,
and could skille of the law, and had the inheritances of the afore-
said Longes. Syr Henry and Sir Richard Long were sonnes to this
Thomas.

important marriage, the exact particulars of which have, however, never been fully
explained. Upon it is the effigy of a lady only: and on the side of it is the shield of
the Longs (as still borne by them) impaling, of course as the lady’s shield, what
appears to be the coat of Berkeley quarterly with Seymour. There is in the pedigree
of Long no authenticated proof of any match with a Berkeley at this period: yet,
here, in the Longs’ chapel at South Wraxhall, is still in existence the undeniable
testimony of this monument that such a marriage did take place. Camden says [in his
« Remains’’], though without producing any authority, that the first of the Longs was
“preferred to a good marriage by Lord Hungerford.’ Possibly this may haye been
the marriage of which the Wraxhall tomb is evidence: and if so, then the Longs were,
indeed, so far under obligation to him, as to be indebted for an introduction to some
well endowed bride. But after all, this rests only upon Master Camden’s hearsay.

There certainly was an intimacy of friendship between Robert Long, of Wraxhall,
1430, and Lord Hungerford: and as the latter was one of the most important persons
of the day, filling the great office of Lord High Treasurer of England, such
acquaintance may not have been in any way to Robert’s disadvantage. His name
constantly occurs in Lord Hungerford’s Title Deeds, as one of the feoffees, or trustees,
to purchases of land made by that nobleman; but as it is always in connexion with the
names of the principal gentlemen of this part of Wiltshire, and as moreover Robert
Long was himself M.P. for the county in A.D, 1433, it becomes upon the whole more
probable than otherwise, that though he may be the first from whom the Longs can
trace with certainty, he was neither the first substantial person in the family, nor was
he ‘‘set up” by Lord Hungerford.

With respect to that part of ‘old Mr. Bonhome’s” story, which states that ‘they had
some land by Lord Hungerford’s procuration;”’ the only circumstance bearing upon
this point, that the writer of this note has ever met with, after a somewhat minute
inspection into the history of the property of the Hungerfords, is, that Robert Long in
A.D. 1421, held for 3 years a lease under Lord Hungerford, of the manor of Highchurch,
in the parish of Hemington, co. Somerset. With this trifling exception, there is no
evidence from Hungerford documents, that the Longs were in any way indebted to them
for any part of their estates; and as to the name of the family, that, as we have
already seen, may be pronounced to be a joke of neighbour Bonham’s.

u 2

148 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

BRADFORD.

The toune self of Bradeford stondith on the clining of a slaty!
rokke, and hath a meetely good market ons a weeke. The toune
is made al of stone and standith, as I cam to it, on the hither ripe
of Avon.

Ther is a chapelle? on the highest place of the toune as I enterid.
The fair larg paroche chirch standith bynethe the bridge on Avon
ripe. The vicarage is at the west ende of the chirch.

The personage is L. poundes by the yere, and was impropriate
to Shaftesbyri abbay.

Haulle dwellith in a pratie stone house? at the este ende of the
toune on the right bank of Avon.

Haule alias De la Sale, a man of £100, landes by the yere.

There is a very fair house of the building of one Horton,‘ a riche
clothier, at the north est part by the chirch. This Horton’s wife
yet lyvith. This Horton buildid a goodly large chirch house? ex
lapide quadrato at the est end of the chirch yard, without it.

1 “ Slaty rock.” He means, not what is commonly called slate: but a kind
of thin grey stone-tile, one of the subordinate beds of ‘‘ forest marble,” over-
lying the great oolite of which the high grounds about Bradford principally
consist.

2 ‘‘ Chapelle.” Leland enters Bradford from Wraxhall. There is no known
vestige or tradition of any chapel, at or near the entrance of the town by any
road upon which it is entered now upon that side. The roads have probably
been altered: and he may have approached the town by Bearfield, down some
part of the steep hill called Tory. Here, upon nearly the highest part of it, was
once a small chapel, of which a fragment called Tory chapel was a few years
ago rescued from total destruction by Capt. S. Palairet, of Woolley Grange.
It was built over an abundant spring that flows out of the rock and supplies
the town. The name of Tory, by which that part of Bradford is called, has
been ingeniously interpreted to be a corruption of the word ‘ oratory.”

3 ‘‘ House.” Now called ‘‘The Duke’s” or ‘‘ Kingston House.” It was
built by the Halls, whose arms on stone are still in one of the apartments ; and
has lately been restored by the present owner Mr. Moulton.

4 ‘* Horton.” Edward Horton, of Westwood manor house, near Bradford,
married Alice May, of Broughton Giffard, and died without issue. His eldest
brother, William, lived at Iford. For his descendants, see Wilts Visit., 1565.

5 ‘Church House.” Notices of a building called ‘‘ The Church House” are
often met with in old parochial papers. It was the house at which, before the
days*of rating, meetings were held for raising funds to maintain church repairs,

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 149

This Horton made divers fair houses of stone in Through-bridge
toun.
One Lucas, a clothier, now dwellith in Horton’s house in
Bradeford.
Horton left no children.
Al the toun of Bradeford stondith by clooth making.
Bradeford Bridge hath 9 fair arches of stone. .
These be the names of the notable stone bridges apon Avon
betwixt Malmesbyri and Bradeford :—
Malmesbyri Bridge.
Christine Maleford Bridge about a 5 miles lower.
Caisway (Kelloway’s) Bridge aboute a 2 miles lower.
Chippenham, a right fair bridge, about a mile lower.
Chippenham toun is on the farther ripe towards London, and
cumming from London men cum to it not passing over the bridge.
- Khe Bridge (at Lacock) about a mile and an half lower.
About a 4 miles lower is
Staverton Bridge, wher is the confluence of Thrugh-bridge
water with Avon.
Bradeford Bridge a 2 miles lower.
Bath Bridge of V. fair arches, a V. miles lower.
Bristow Bridge a 10 miles lower.
A 2 miles above Bristow was a commune Trajectus by Bote, wher
was a chapelle of 8S. Anne on the same side of Avon that Bath
stondith on, and heere was great pilgrimage to S. Anne.1

the poor, &c. These parish gatherings, for the provocation of a livelier charity,
were conducted with certain festivities. The parish kept at this house a regular
cookery establishment, stores of malt, and other appropriate materials, The
malt was brewed, and the liquor consumed ‘ pro bono publico.” The greater
the consumption, the more profit to the public purse. This continued for days
or weeks; accompanied by ‘‘diversions,” such as bull-baiting, fighting,
dancing, &e.

1 “St. Anne.” Near Brislington: founded by one of the Lords Delawarr.
The site of this chapel, long since a ruin, is in a nook of the county Somerset,
opposite Crew’s Hole in the parish of St. George’s in Gloucestershire, from
which it is divided by the Avon. It is on the /eft bank of the river. Bath,
in Leland’s time, was on the other.

150 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

There is a litle streate over Bradford Bridge, and at the ende of
that is an hospitale! of the Kinges of Englandes fundation.

As I turnid up at this streat end toward Through-bridg, ther
was a quarre? of fair stone on the right hand in a felde.

TROWBRIDGE. [Itin. m1. 57].

From Bradeforde to Thorough-bridge about a 2 miles by good
corne, pasture, and wood.

I enterid into the toune by a stone bridge of a 3 arches.

The toune standith on a rokky hill, and is very welle buildid of
stone, and flourishith by drapery.

Of later tymes one James Terwmber, a very rich clothier, buildid
a notable fair house in this toune, and gave it at his deth with other
landes to the finding of 2 cantuarie prestes yn Through-bridg
Chirch.

This Terumber made also a litle almose house by Through-bridge
Chirch,? and yn it be a 6 poore folkes having a 3 pence a peace by
the week toward their finding.

1 “ Hospital.” At the point of the two roads, where Leland turned off to
Trowbridge, there is still a hospital; but this was founded by will of John
Hall, Esq., who died 1708. The hospital which he describes as near this point,
was one which used to be called the ‘‘ Old Poor House.” It stood on the right
hand side of the road going out of Bradford, just beyond where the Great
Western Railway now crosses that road. The company purchased the ground,
and destroyed the buildings. There is another almshouse still farther on near
the bridge over the canal, called ‘‘ The Women’s Poor House,” still standing :
but the one which Leland meant was that which stood ‘at the end of the street
where he turned off to Trowbridge.”

2‘¢Quarre.” This ‘‘ quarre’’ is still open, and is one of those in which are
found specimens (but not the best, which come from Bearfield, on the top of the
hill) of one of the rarest and most beautiful of our English fossils, called par
excellence the ‘‘ Bradford encrinite.”

3 ‘*Terumbers,” or ‘‘ The Old Almshouse,” had six small rooms below and
six above, and adjoined the north east side of the church yard. In 1483
(1 Rich. 11) the founder conveyed to feoffees certain lands in Trowbridge,
Studley, Broughton-Giffard, and Bradford, in Wilts, and Beckington, in
Somerset, for its maintenance, and for other purposes, The annual payment
having been lost since 1777, the house being in ruins was taken down by public
consent of the parishioners, 21st April, 1811. [See report 28, of Charity
Commissioners : page 354].

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 151

Horton, a clothiar, of Bradeforde, builded of late dayes dyvers
fair houses in this toun.!

Old Bayllie2 buildid also of late yn this toun, he was a rich
clothiar. Bailie’s son now drapeth yn the toun, and also a 2 miles
out of it at a place? yn the way to Furley-Castel, one Alexandre is
now a great clothier yn the toun.

The church of Through-bridge is lightsum and fair.

One Molines is parson ther, a man well lernid.4

The castelle stoode on the south side of the toune. It is now
clene down. Ther was in it a 7 gret toures, whereof peaces of 2
yet stande. f

The river rennith hard by the castelle.é

This brooke risith about a mile and an half from Warminster
by south-east ; and so cummith to Through-bridge toune, and thens
about a mile to S(t)averton an hemlet belonging to Through-bridg,
and there metith with Avon river: and at this confluence there is
a stone bridge over Avon.

S(t)averton stondith on the same side of the brooke that
Through-bridg dothe.

1 A John Horton was Rector of Trowbridge, 1441.

2 “ Bayllie.” The arms of this family (3 horses heads) are over the door of
the principal house in Hilperton, close to Trowbridge. The same coat was also,
a few years ago, on the ceiling of Philip’s Norton Church, about 6 miles off.
The Bayleys intermarried with the Hortons above mentioned. Sce Wilts
Visit., 1565.

3 Stowford Mill, in Winkfield ; where till within these 4 or 5 years, men con-
tinued to ‘‘ drape.” It has lately been turned into a flour mill. Some Bayleys
are buried in Winkfield Church.

4 Thomas Molyns, appointed Rector of Trowbridge in 1528, seems to have
resigned in 1541.

5 “‘Castelle.” The site of the Castle, called ‘‘Courthill,”’ has long since
been covered with factories. An old painting on panel, sufficiently corresponding
with Leland’s description, was found some years ago within a wall in the house
of the late Mr. Samuel Salter. It has been engraved as Trowbridge Castle, in
a book called ‘“‘ The Church Restored,” by the Rev. J. D. Hastings, Rector of
Trowbridge, published 1848. Some part of the towers appear to have remained
till 1670. The principal street of Trowbridge forms a curve, which it is said to
have taken from following the line of the wall round the ancient castle.

152 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

There is a fair standing place! for market men to stond yn, in
the hart of the toune, and this is made viij square, and a piller in
the midle, as there is one made in Malmesbyri far fairer than this.

The Erles of Sarwm were Lordes of Through-bridg: then the
Duke of Lancaster ; now th Erle of Hertford.?

FARLEY CASTLE. [Itin. 1. 58].

From Through-bridge to Castelle-Farley about a 3 miles by good
corne, pasture, and nere Furley self plenty of wood. Or I cam to
the castelle I passid over Frome water, passing by there yn a rokky
valey and botom, where the water brekith into armelettes and
makith Islettes, but soon meting agayn with the principale streame,
wherby there be in the causey divers smaul bridges.

This water rennith hard under the botom of this castelle, and
there driveth a mylle. The castelle is set on a rokky hill.?

1 ‘Standing place’—a Market Cross, resembling that of Salisbury. It was
opposite the George Inn, and was taken down about 1784.

2 The lordship of Trowbridge belonged, a.p. 1100, to Edward D’eureux,
commonly called ‘‘ Edward of Sarisburie.” [His daughter, Matilda, married
Humphrey de Bohun, whose family had some interest in it]. By marriage of
Ela, heiress of D’eureux, it passed to Longespee, Earlof Sarum. By Margaret,
heiress of Longespee, to Lacy, Earl of Lincoln (Edw. 1). By Alice de Lacy
(1311) to Thos. Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster and Leicester, who presented to
Trowbridge Rectory, 1313, and was beheaded at Pontefract, 1321. On his
death it wads granted, for their lives, to John de Warren (Plantagenet) last Earl
of Surrey, and Joan de Bars his wife, (who presented 1317-1348); with reversion
to William de Montacute, Earl of Sarum (who was patron 1362). Afterwards
the manor came to John of Gaunt (patron 1378); and by King Henry VIII.
was granted to Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, his brother-in-law (after-
wards the Protector Duke of Somerset), who is named as patron in 1561,

3 Farleigh Castle ctse/f is in Somersetshire, and when Leland crossed the river
Frome, at the little mill shown in the annexed woodcut, he entered that county.
But a large part of the parish of Farleigh (including all the foreground in the
view) is in Wilts : and its owners, the Hungerfords, were much more connected
with Wilts, than they were even with Somerset. The castle consisted of 2
courts: the inner one, or dwelling house, was a quadrangle, formed by the four
towers: the outer court, which L. calls the ‘‘ utter ward,” lay between the gate-
house and the 2 towers nearest it. The gable of the chapel is just visible in the
print over the priest’s (now the castle farm) house. The ‘‘ new chapel annexed
to it” of which Leland speaks, is a smaller chantry or mausoleum on the north
side.

|
Wee

AT SAS
| WL

. ies
aad
s
ee
*
.
_

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 153

There be diverse praty towres in the utter warde of the castelle.

And in this utter warde ys an auncient chapelle, and a new
chapelle annexid unto it.

Under the arch of this chapelle lyith, but sumwhat more to the
old chapelle warde, one of the Hungerfordes! with his wife, having
these epitaphies upon 2 schochins of plate of brasse :—

“ Hic jacet THomas HuncerrorpD, Chevallier, Dnus de Farley,
Welew and Heitesbyri: qui obiit 3 die Decembris 4° p. 1398.
Cujus anime propitietur Deus. Amen.”

“Hic jacet Domina Joanna Uxor ejusdem Toomm Huncer-
ForD, filia Di Edmundi Hysrr Militis: que obiit primo die Mensis
Martii a° p. 1412.”

These thinges that here folow were written in a table (on a tablet)
in the chapelle :—?

[I].

1. Tuomas Hunererorp, Knight.

2. Dame Joanna, his Wife. (Hussey).

3. Sm Guaurer HuncEerrorp, Lorp Huncrrrorp, Knight
of the Garter, and High Treasurer of England; son and
heir to THos. and JoHAn.

4, CararineE ; heire to PEVEREL, and wife to Syr Guarer.

5. Syr Rosert, Lorp Hunererorp: son and heire to WALTER.

6. Marcaret, heire to BorrEaux.

7. Rosert, Erte Huncerrorp, son to Robert.

8. Exeanor Motynes; heire to Mortnes, and wife to Erle

Robert.
I heard say that this Erle Robert and Eleanor were buried
in the Chirch of Sarum.3

1 The Purchaser of Farleigh.

2 See also Itin. : vol. mr. 116.

3 There was never any Lar] Hungerford. This Robert was 3rd Baron Hun-
gerford; and in right of his wife, Baron Molyns. He was beheaded at
Newcastle, but is said to have been buried at Sarum. She re-married, and was
buried at Stoke Poges, Bucks. He left 2 sons—1, Sir Thomas, executed at
Sarum, 1469, who left a daughter Mary, the great heiress: and 2, Sir Walter,
who succeeded on the execution of his brother Sir Thomas: and stands the first
in Leland’s Table II.

154 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.
[IT].
The line of the late Lord Hungerford.!

1. Guatrer Hunererorp, Kt.
. Joanna (Builstrode), wife to WALTER.

. Epwarp, son to WALTER.
. JANE (Zouch), his wife.

Syr Guatrer, Lord HuncEerrorp.
. Susan, doughter to Danvers, of }
Dauntesey, by Bradenstoke,

Da Fo ww

in Wilts. ;
7. Auics, the Lord Sanpzs’s s Wares te Guatrer, late
Lord HyncErForD.
doughter.
8. Exizazetru, the Lord Huszr’s
doughter. J

9. GUALTER, hi
10. Enwarp, ASSEONE:

Ther longgid 2 chauntre prestes to this chapelle ; and they had
a praty mansion at the very est end of it.

The gate-house of the inner court of the castelle is fair, and
ther be the armes of the Hungrefordes richely made yn stone.

The haule and 3 chambers withyn the second court be stately.

There is a commune saying that one of the Hungrefordes buildid
this part of the castelle by the prey of the Duke of Orleaunce whom
he had taken prisoner.

Farley standith yn Somersetshire. Frome ryver ther partith (and
so doun to the mouth) Wileshir from Somersetshir. The mouth of
it wher it goith ynto Avon is about a mile and a half lower? than
Farley, and by estimation Bradeford is a 2 good miles upper on
Avon.

1 ‘Late Lord Hungerford.” This shows the date of Leland’s visit to Farley.
Sir Walter (Table 11. No. 5.) created a Baron, was afterwards beheaded by
King Henry VIII., 28th July, 1540.

2 At Freshford.

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 155

Ther is a parke by Farley Castelle. Ther is also a litle above
the castelle a village.

From a book of antiquities in Tewkesbury Monastery :—

“Tsabella Neville” (one of the daughters and coheiresses of
Richard Neville Earl of Warwick) “married George Duke of
Clarence, son of Richard Duke of York, and brother of Edward
IY. King of England; by whom she gaye birth to Margaret
(Countess of Salisbury! ) at the Castle of Ferley, 14th August
A.D, 1473.” [Itin, vi. 87].

FARLEY CASTLE TO BATH. [1 60].

From Furley I ridde a mile off by wooddy ground to a graunge
greate and well builded that longid to Henton-Priorie of Ohartu-
sians. This priory standith not far off from this graunge on the
brow of an hille about a quarter of a mile from the farther ripe of
Frome, and not far from this place Frome goith ynto Avon.

I rodde by the space of a mile or more by woods and mountain
ground to a place, where I saw a rude stone waulle hard on the
right hand by a great length as it had been a park waulle. One -
since told me that Henton Priory first stode there. If it be so, it
is the lordship of Hethorpe that was gyven to them for their first
habitation. And about a mile farther I cam to a village, and passid
over a ston bridge wher ranne a litle broke there they caullid
Mitford-water. This brooke risith in the rootes of Mendip-hills a
7 miles or more by west-south-west from this bridge, and goith
about a mile lower into Avon.

From this bridge to Bath 2 good miles al by mountayne ground
and quarre, and litle wood in syte.?

1 The Mother of Cardinal Pole: beheaded at the Tower in a barbarous way,
on a charge of treason, in A.p, 1541.

2 At Farley Castle, Leland crossed from Wilts on the eastern bank of the river
Frome to Somerseton the western. Hinton Abbey, which henext mentions, isalsoon
the western side; but, as he seems to describe its situation on the brow of a
hill, as if he had seen it from the Wiltshire side, it has been stated in a note to
the History of Lacock (p. 174), that on leaving Farley he took the lower road
to Freshford. If so, then he must haye gone over into Wilts again at Iford,

156 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

[Leland then continued his tour through Somerset, Devonshire,
and Cornwall. Of the Scilly islands he says :—]

“One Davers, a gentilman of Wilshir, whose chief house is at
Dauntsey, and Whittington, a gentilman of Giocestershire, be owners
of Seylley,! but they have scant 40 markes by yere of rentes and
commodities of it.” [1 19].

“« Botreaux, or Boscastle, near Launceston. The Lord Botreaux
was lord of this toun, a man of an old Cornish lineage and had a
maner place, a thing, as far as I could heare, of small reputation
as it is now, far unworthe the name of a castle. The people ther
caulle it The Courte. One of the Hungrefordes? married with one
of the heires general of Botreaux: and so Boscastle came to Hun-
gerford. Then came Boscastle by an heir general of the Hunger-
fords unto the Lord Hastings. Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon,

and so along the Wilts bank to Freshford Bridge. But this can hardly have
been his course: for he distinctly says that ‘‘from Farley he rid to Henton
Grange,” and thence to Midford Bridge. Henton Grange (now Hinton House,
the residence of the Hon. Mrs. Jones), as well as all the road from Farley to
Midford, is in the county Somerset.

The park wall which he speaks of as about a mile beyond Hinton and on his
right hand, could be no other than the south-west boundary of Hinton Abbey
grounds. It is clear that he was not very well acquainted with the history of
the Carthusian House here, as he conjectures the said wall to have been the
enclosure of the manor of Hatherop, the place originally given to them by
William Longespee Earl of Salisbury, and afterwards, by his widow Ela,
exchanged for Hinton; but Hatherop is near Fairford in Gloucestershire.

At Midford Bridge he would once more touch the county Wilts for a few
yards, and then immediately enter Somerset again.

1 “Seilly.” In the 15th century the Scilly islands were held under the
Crown by the family of Coleshill, of Dulo, Cornwall, at the rent of 50 puffins,
or 6s. 8d. per annum. In 1484 the islands were returned as worth, in peace-
able times, 40 shillings; in war, nothing. The heiress of the Coleshills,
temp. H. ViI., married Sir Renfrew Arundell, of Lambourn, Knight: at which
time Scilly was considered to be at its lowest value. The heiress of the
Arundells married, first, Whittington, and, secondly, Sir Edward Stradling,
then owner of Dauntsey, in North Wilts. Their granddaughter, Anne
Stradling, brought the Dauntsey estate, with Scilly and the puffins, to Sir John
Danvers by marriage: and their grandson Silvester Danvers, who died 1552,
was probably the ‘‘ Davers” mentioned by Leland.

2 Robert, second Lord Hungerford, died a.p, 1459.

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 157

and the late Lord Hungerford! had this lordship, called “the
Park” in partition.” [1. m1].

“ Kenton-parsonage (county setae impropriate to Saresbyri
Chirch.” [m1. 63].

[Leland returned through Dorsetshire ].

“ Sherburn. There is a chapelle in St. Marye chirch yard. One
Dogget, a chanon of Saresbyri is lord of the toun of Shirebourne.
Roger le Poore, Bishop of Saresbyri in Henry I. time, builded this
castle: and cast a great dike without it; and made a false mure
without the dike. [1. 78].

[He entered Wiltshire, the second time, from the South, by—]

CRANBOURN TO SALISBURY.

“ Dameron. (Damerham? ) a mene maner place a vii myles
W.S.W. from Saresbyri. [11. 121].

[ur. 87]. Thens a 6 miles by champayn ground to Honington
(Homington below Salisbury) a good village.

In the botom of this toun goith a great water, and ther I passid
over a bridg of a 3 arches, and so to Saresbyri al champayn ground
a 2 miles.

This water or river is called Chalkbowrn.® It riseth a 6 miles from
Shaftesbyri in the way betwixt Saresbyri and it, (¢. e., Shaftsbury)
a mile from the highway in a botom on the left hond (riding from
Saresbyri to Shaftesbyri), and thens to Honington cummith this
ryver, that is about a xii. miles from the hed of Cha/kbourn water,
and a 2 miles dim (3) byneth Honington it goith into Avon about a
mile byneth Harnham Bridge.

1 Walter Lord Hungerford of Heytesbury, executed a.p, 1540.

2*Tameron,.” South Damerham, part of the estates of the abbey of
Glastonbury. There was a manor house and demesne here, It now belongs to
the See of Sarum.

3 ‘Chalk Bourn,” since called ‘‘ Ebele’s Bourn; now ‘ Ebbesbourne.”’

158 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

And, as I remembre, Mr. Baynton! hath a place on this water,
where his father was wont to dwelle.

SALISBURY. [11. 88].

The toun of New-Saresbyri with the suburbes of Harnham Bridge
and Fisschertoun, is 2 good miles in cumpace.

vr. great arches in Harnham Bridge on the principale arme of
Avon. iiij. litle arches in the bridge at Harnham over the lesser
arme. [11. 135].

Ther be many fair streates in the Cite Saresbyri, and especially
the High Streate, and the Castel Streate, so caullid because it lyith
as a way to the castelle of Old Saresbyry. Al the streates, in a
maner, of New Saresbyri hath litle streamelettes and armes derivyd
out of Avon that rennith thorough them.

The site of the very toun of Saresbyri and much ground therabout
is playne and low, and as a pan or receyver of most parte of the
water of Wyleshire.2

The Market-place in Saresbyri is fair and large, and welle waterid
with a renning stremelet ; in a corner of it is domus civica, no very
curious pece of work, but strongly builded of stone.

The market of Saresbyri is well servid of flesch ; but far better
of fisch; for a great part of the principal fisch that is taken from
Tamar to Hampton (Southampton) resortith to this toun.

1 ‘‘Baynton.” Fallardestone, vulgo Falstone, now a farm house, formerly a
noble old-fashioned house with moat, drawbridge, and high embattled walls, built
of layers of stone and flint. It belonged in Edw. II. to Le Tablier; then, by
an heiress, to Thomas de Benton. As stated in a former note, the Bayntons
left it for Bromham near Devizes, which had fallen to them as representatives
of Roche, upon the death of Richard Beauchamp, Lord St. Amand.

2 The Salisbury ‘‘ Pan” receives water enough, without being reservoir to
quite so large a district as Leland represents it. The drainage of the lower half
of the county, certainly not more, comes to a point here. Bishop Douglas used
to say, ‘‘ Salisbury is the sink of the Plain: the Close the sink of Salisbury :
the Palace the sink of the Close.” Measures are in progress to correct this.

3 Leland’s ‘‘ Domus Civica” must be the old Guildhall, of which there is a
view in Hall’s Picturesque Mem. of Salisbury, woodcut 26, The old ‘ Council
Chamber” (plate xxvii. in that work) was built chiefly of timber, and of
the date of 1573, 30 years after his visit.

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 159

Ther be but two paroche chirches in the Cyte of Saresbyri,
whereof the one ys by the Market-place as in the hart of the toun,
and is dedicate to St. Thomas.

The other is of S. Hdmunde,' and is a Collegiate Chirch of the
foundation of De la Wyle, Bishop of Saresbyry. He erected the
college of St. Edmund. Nicolaus de St. Quintino was first Provost
of 8. Edmunde’s, and lyith buried there. [1v. 30]. St. Hdmunde’s
Church at the north west ende of the toun hard by the toun dich.

A charter of Hen. III. for a fair at St. Edmunde’s. [1v. 177].

This diche was made of the tounes men as such tyme as Simon,?
Bishop of Suaresbyri, gave licence to the burgeses to strengthen the
toun with an embattled waulle.

This diche was thoroughly caste for the defence of the toun, so
far as it was not sufficiently defendid by the mayn streame of
Avon. But the waulle was never begon; yet, as I remembre, I
saw one stone gate or 2 in the toun.?

Harnham Bridge* was a village long afore the erection of New
Saresbyri; and there was a church of S. Martine longging to it.

There standith now of the remain of the old chirch of 8.
Martin, a barne®> in a very low medow on the north side of S.

1 “St, Edmund’s.” Of Bishop Wyle’s Church not a stone is left. It fell
down June 1653, and was then entirely rebuilt. The seal of St. Edmund’s
College is engraved in Leland’s Collect. v1. 283. On it are 2 shields—1, Three
suns[Sunning. Query ; any reference to the place in Berks so called?] and 2,
a cheyron between 3 towers. (Wyle). The site of the college was purchased.
in 1660 by the Wyndhams, to whom it now belongs.

Simon of Ghent, died 1315.

3 Two gates in the Close.

4“Warnham Bridge.” In a paragraph farther on, he mentions this again,
as the “‘ hamlet or village of Harnham.” The burial ground of an Anglo-
Saxon community, prior to their conversion to Christianity, discovered in ‘‘ The
Low Field” (the field of ¢wmul’) at Harnham Hill, not far from this place,
Noy. 1853, has just been described by Mr. J. Y. Akerman, in the “‘ Archwologia.”

5 “Barn.” The desecrated barn pointed out to Leland as the remains of old
St. Martin’s Church has caused some perplexity to the local antiquaries. Hall
(Pict. Memor. of Sal., plate 111., and notes at end of vol.) is of opinion that
the residence of the master of St. Nicholas’s Hospital (1834) was the barn in
question : but Leland appears to have been misinformed in his account of the

Church.

160 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

Nicolas Hospital. The cause of the relinquisching of it was the
moysteness of the ground often overflowen. For this chirch was
ther a new, dedicate to 8S. Martine, in a nother place that yet
standith.

Licens was get of the King by a Bishop of Saresbyri to turn the
Kingges Highway to New Saresbyri, and to make a mayn bridge
of right passage over Avon at Harnham.

[A grant by Henry III. for building bridges and changing
roads. tv. 177].

The chaunging of this way was the totale cause! of the ruine of
Old-Saresbyri and Wiltoun. For afore this, Wiltoun had a 12
paroch chirches? or more, and was the hedde toun of Wileshir.

[ Egidius [Giles of Bridport, Bishop of Sarum, 1257-1262], as
sum say, builded the fair stone bridge called Harnham at Saresbyri,
and so was the Highway westward made that way, and Wilton
way lefte, to the ruine of that town. rv. 29].

[ur 89]. Ther was a village at Fisherton, over Avon, or ever
New-Saresbyri was builded, and had a paroche chirche there, as it
hath yet.

In this Fisherton, now a suburb to New-Saresbyri, was, since the
erection of the new toun, an house of Blake-Fréres builded not far
from Fisherton Bridge.?

Ther was also an house of Gray-Freres withyn the toun of
Saresbyri of the fundation of ...... Bishop of Saresbyri. [King
Henry III. gave them a sitet: but one Richard Swde, a citizen,

1 There were other causes ; as the establishment of a market at New Sarum,
and the growing influence of that town.

2 This statement has often been disputed, but is vindicated in the history of
Branch and Dole, p. 74. One or two may not haye been parish churches.

3 *‘Fisherton.’”’ See Hall’s Pic. Mem. of 8., plate x1. The Dominican House
of Black Friars stood on the spot afterwards occupied by the Sun Inn (West
Street). In the library of this house, Leland appears to have found only 3
books worth noticing :—

‘The Quodlibets of Nicholas Trivet:
Pope Leo, on the conflict of Virtues and Vices :
A History of Britain, in indifferent verse.” [Collect. Iv. 67].

4 The ground could hardly have been granted by the Crown, as it belonged to
the Church. [Hatcher].

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 161

built the church. They were afterwards brought by the citizens
into the toun where they now are. ! |

OLD saRuM. [ul. 89. ]|

The Cite of Old-Saresbyri standing on an hille is distant from
the New a mile by north-weste, and is in cumpace half a mile and
more. This thing hath bene auncient and exceeding strong: but
syns the building of New-Saresbyri it went totally to ruine.

Sum think that lak of water caussid the inhabitantes to relin-
quish the place; yet were ther many welles of swete water.

Sum say, that after that in tyme of civil warres that castles and
waullid towns were kept, that the castellanes of Old-Saresbyri and
the chanons could not agree, insomuch that the castellanes upon
a time prohibited them coming home from Procession and Rogation
to re-entre the toun. Whereupon the bishop and they consulting
together, at the last began a chirch on his oun proper soyle; and
then the people resorted strait to New-Saresbyri and buildid ther :
and then in continuance were a great number of the houses of
Old-Saresbyri pulled down and set up at Mew-Saresbyri.

Osmund Erle of Dorchestre and after Bishop of Saresbyri erectid
his Cathedrale? Chirch ther (i. e., in Old-Saresbyri) in the west part
of the town; and also his palace, whereof now no token is but
only a chapel of our Lady yet standing and mainteynid.

[a. p. 1092. At Saresbyri the roof of the tower of the cathe-
dral was entirely thrown down by lightning the day after it had
been dedicated by Osmund Bishop of Sarum, and Remigius Bishop
of Lincoln. Jtin. vu. 49].

1 Lel. Collectanea, 1. 342, upon the authority of Thomas Eccleston, a Fran-
cisean. The name of the citizen was first written in Leland’s manuseript
Pude: but was corrected to Sude, with a mark under the vw. Tanner (from
Stevens and St. Clare) calls him Pende. ‘The original site was perhaps at Old
Sarum.

2“ Cathedral.’ In a dry summer the outlines of the foundation of this
church may still be perceived. Mr, Hatcher in 1834 made a sketch of it,
according to which, if correct, it was about 240 feet long. It is engraved in
Nichols and Bowles’s Lacock, p. 363: andin Hatcher and Benson’s Salisbury,
p- 49.

162 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

(Osmund founded canons in it: and endowed them largely. His
grant was dated a.p. 1091. [4 W. I]

He ordained in the Church of Sarum 4 principal persons: the
Dean, Preecentor, Chancellor and Treasurer: and 32 Prebends.
He also deputed 4 Archdeacons, a Subdean, and a Subchanter: to
all of whom he gave possessions out of the demesne which he had
when he was Earl of Dorsetshire. He did not disdain to write,
bind, and illuminate books. Jtin. rv. 176).

Ther was a paroch! of the Holy Rode beside in Old-Saresbyri:
and an other over the est gate whereof yet some tokens remayne.

I do not perceyve that ther wer any mo gates in Old-Saresbyri
than 2: one by est, and an other by west. Withoute eche of
these gates was a fair suburbe. And in the est suburbe was a
paroch chirch? of S. John: and ther yet is a chapelle standinge.

The ryver is a good quarter of a myle from Old-Saresbyri and
more, where it is nerest onto it, and that is at Stratford village
south from it.

There hath bene houses in tyme of mind inhabited in the est
suburbe of Old-Saresbyri: but now ther is not one house neither
within Old-Saresbyri, nor without it, inhabited.

Ther was a right fair and strong castelle within Old-Saresbyri
longging to the Erles of Saresbyri, especially the Longespees.*

I read that one Gualterust was the first Erle after the conquest,
of it. Much notable ruinus building of this castelle yet there
remayneth. The diche that environed the old toun was a very
deepe and strong thynge.

1 Queere Porch ?

2 “* Paroch Chirch.” The presentations in the Salisbury registers are to ‘‘ St.
Peter's, Old Sarum.”’ The last Rector was William Colville presented a.p, 1412.
There was one presentation by the Crown in 1381 to the Free Chapel in the
castle of Sarum.

3 “Especially the Longespees.” The titleof Earlof Sarum had been borne before
Leland’s time by several different families: viz., 1. D’Eureux. 2. Longespee.
3. Montacute. 4. Nevill. 5. Plantagenet.

4 **Gualterus.” Walter D’Eureux, son of Edward ‘‘the Sheriff,’ and
founder of Bradenstoke Priory near Chippenham.

Leland’s Journey through Wiiltshire. 163

‘HE COURSE OF AVON RIVER. [11. 91].

Avon river risith by north est not far from Wolphe-Haul! yn
Wyleshir. The first notable bridg that it cummith to is at
Uphaven.

Thens a 4 miles to Ambrosbyri, and there is a bridge.

Thens to Woddeford village a 4 miles, standing on the right
ripe, and Newton? village on the lift ripe.

The Bishopes of Saresbyri had a proper maner place at Wodford.
Bishop Shakeston? pullid it down bycause it was sumwhat yn
ruine.

Thens to Fisherton Bridge of v1. stone arches, a 3 miles.

Thens a very little lower to Crane Bridget of a vi. arches of
stone.

Thens a forowghe lengthed lower to Harneham Bridge of vi.
gret arches of stone, a mayne and stately thing.

Here is at the west ende of this bridge (only a litle islet distante
betwixt) another bridg of 4 praty arches, and under this rennith
a good streme as I take it of Avon water as an arme breaking out
a little above and soon rejoyning; or els that Wilton water hath
ther his entery into Avon.

From Harnham Bridge to Dunton (Downton) a fair bridge of
stone, a 4 miles.

Thens to Fordingbridge of stone a 4 miles.

Thens to Ringwodde Bridge a 5 miles.

And so a 5 miles to Christes-Chirch Twinham, and strait to
the se.

Christe-Chirch xviij miles from Saresbyri.

THE COURSE OF WYLE RIVER. [11. 91. ]

Wyle visith a 3 miles or more above Wermistre (Warminster),

1 « Wolf-Hall.” The Salisbury Avon has, not one, but several sources, two
of which are near this place, under the high ground of Savernake Forest.

2 **Newton.” In the parish of Great Durnford.

3 ‘‘Shakeston.” Nicholas Shaxton Bishop of Salisbury resigned 1539,

4 ‘Crane. At the end of a street so called in Salisbury.

5 “« Forowghe lengthe ? length of a furrow: (unde furlong °)

¥2

164 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

and so cummith a x miles doun to Hanging Langforde standing, as
the descent is, on the right hand of it. (Hanging Langforde was
Popham’s, and came in partition to Fostar). [Itin. v1. 38}.

Thens a 3 miles to Stapleford village on the same hand.

Here cummith into Wyle from N. W. Winterborne water.

Thens cummith Wyle a 2 miles, and rennith thorough the toun
of Wilton divided into armes.

And here cummith into Wyle a river called MNadder, alias
Fovington water, bycause it risith about Fovington (Fovant) village
5 miles by west from Wilton.

From Wilton to Saresbyri 2 miles.

Here about Harnham Bridge is the confluence of Wyle and
Avon.

LADY CHAPEL. SAL. CATH. ([i11. 92].

From a tablet in the chapel of St. Mary :—1

« Pray for the soulof Ricuarp Pours, formerly BisHor or Sarum,
who caused this Church to be commenced, in a certain ground where tt
now stands anciently called “Miryrreip,” in honour of the B. V.
Mary, 29 April,? being the feast of S. Vitalis, the Martyr, a.pv. 1219,
in the Reign of King Richard I. And this Church was 40 years in
building, during the reigns of 3 Kings, viz., Richard I., John, and
Henry IV., and it was finished 25 March a.p. 1260. The said
Bishop founded a Mass of the B. V. Mary to be solemnized daily
within this chapel, and appropriated for the maintenance of the said
Mass the Rectory of Laverstoke. He was afterwards translated to the
Bishoprick of Durham; and founded a Monastery at Terraunt? in

1 This and some of the following inscriptions, here printed in italics, are
given by Leland in the original Latin. The reader will bear in mind that the
arrangement of the monuments and gravestones in Salisbury Cathedral under-
went great alterations about the year 1790.

2 «© 3 Cal. Maii” in the original; which would be May 29. But the feast of
8. Vitalis was May 28.
3 Terraunt.” A house of Cistercian or White Nuns, called originally

«« The Charnel,” at Tarent Crayford, county Dorset. (See Hutchins 11. 43, and
Lel. Collect. mr, 345).

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 165

county Dorset, where he was born. And there his heart is interred,
but his body at Durham. And he died 15 April a.p, Mccxxxvu.”
PAR a ee

[Then follow the contents of a book called ‘‘ The Philobiblon! of Richard of Durham”
(Richard de Bury, alias Aungerville, Bishop of Durham) of which, though it bore that
Bishop’s name, Leland says that the real author was one Robert Holcot of the friars
preachers (? of Sarum). See Itin. rv. 176].

HVNGERFORD CHAPEL.

Robert Lord Hungerford dyed xviij of May a.p. 1459. Robert
is buried on the N. side of the altare of our Lady Chapelle in a
chapelle of his own foundation.?

Margaret wife to Robert and doughter to William Lord Botreaux
is buried in the middle of the same chapelle in an high tumbe.

LADY CHAPEL.

“ Under this slab of marble, incised on the surface, is interred the
body of the Reverend Father Nicotas LoneEsrn, formerly Bishop of
Sarum, who greatly enriched this Church, and died 18 May a.p. 1291.3
On the south side of it lieth Ropertr Wicuamroné : on the north side
Henry Branpessurn.”’?

Ther lyith under an arche on the N. side of our lady, 2 noble-
men of the Longespee.

1 See Chalmers’s Biog. Dict. ‘‘ Aungervyle:” where the name of the real
author is not alluded to. The full title of the book was ‘‘ Philobiblon: seu de
Amore Librorum et Institutione Bibliothece.” (The Book Amateur, on the
formation of a Library) printed at Oxon 1599. 4to.

2 This chapel was entirely destroyed in 1790. See views of it in Gough’s
Sepulch. Monuments.

3 He was consecrated 1291, died 1297,

4 Bishop Robert Wykehampton died a.p. 1284. The monument so often
called his, cannot possibly refer to him. The architecture is of perpendicular
style, and the arms and devices clearly indicate another person, viz., William
Wilton, Chancellor of Sarum, 1506-1523. On the cornice are 3 shields—1. The
device of Henry VIII. and Catherine of Arragon, a rose and pomegranate.
2. The arms of Bishop Edmund Audley (W. Wilton’s patron) who died 1524.
3. Abingdon Abbey: perhaps the place of his education. On other shields is
the rebus, Wi on a label, and a barrel for run. ‘There is an engraving of this
tomb in Gough’s Sep. Mon, vol. 1. It is inconceivable how it could have been
assigned to a Bishop who died a.p. 1284. Wilton was Custos of St. Nicholas’s
Hospital in 1510. [Wilts Inst. ]

5 Bishop Henry de Braundston died 1288,

166 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

BEAUCHAMP CHAPEL.

Ther lyith in a chapelle! on the south side of our Ladies
Chapelle altare, Richard Beauchamp Bishop of Sarum, in the midle
of the chapel in a playn marble tumbe.

Bishop Beauchamp’s father and mother ly also there in marble
tumbes.

Syr John Cheney, late Knight of the Garter, lyith also in this
chapel.

LADY CHAPEL.

Bishop Beauchamp had made afore a riche tumbe and a chapel
over it at the west end of our Lady Chapelle, but one John Blith
Bishop of Sarum was after buried under it. (He dyed 23 August,
1499).

It is said that Beauchampe axid ons a sister of ...... how she
likid this tumbe.

S. Osmunde’s first tumbe, on the south side of our lady whil the
shrine was a makyng.

: IN THE PRESBYTERY,2 N. SIDE.
Epmunp AvpeEtery, Bishop of Sarwm. [He died a.v. 1524].
RocEer Morryvau.z, Bishop of Sarum, who largely endowed
this church. Died 14 March a.p. 1302.3
DO. SOUTH SIDE.
Stwon DE Ganpavo (of Ghent), Bishop Sarum: died a.p.
1297, 2 April.4
DO. IN CENTRE.
Rosert Wvyvit1ez, Bishop Saruwm.®

1 The ‘‘ Beauchamp Chapel,” destroyed 1790. See Gough.

2 ‘‘ Presbytery.” An intermediate space between the Lady Chapel and the
choir: or, where that is wanting, the choir itself.

3 He was consecrated 1315, died 1330.

4 Leland is strangely incorrect in these dates. Simon de Ghent was consecrated
1297, died 1315.

5 Died A.p, 1375. He had a long dispute with the then Earl of Salisbury,
about the castle of Sherborne, which the Bishop recovered. On his brass which
is large and curious, is an etching of a castle with a Bishop in pontiticals at the
entrance. This is published in Carter’s ‘‘ Specimens of Ancient Sculpture and
Painting.”

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 167

DO. SOUTH AISLE.
Gites DE Brrpport, Bishop Sarwm.1
Ricuarp ve Meprorp, Bishop Sarum.?
DO. NORTH AISLE.
Wyre. (Walter de la Wyle) Bishop Sarwm, with an effigy
of bronze gilt.3
IN THE NAVE OF THE CHURCH.

JoHN CHAUNDELAR, Bishop Sarum, first, Treasurer and then
Dean of this Church died a.p. 1426.

Another Bishop buried here.

IN THE NORTH AISLE OF THE NAVE.

Graves of two Bishops, of (as is believed) Old Sarum.
INSCRIPTION UPON ANOTHER GRAVE.

“ Adfer opem, devenies in idem.” [Help; (with thy prayers)

thou too wilt come to this.’’]4

“Guautrerus Huncerrorp Murrs.”

“Qui fuit captus a Gallis et a suis redemptus.”

[Watrer Huncrrrorp, Kt., who was made prisoner in France and
ransomed by his family.’ }5
Ther is also a sepulchre with an image of 4 fote in length, of a
Bishop.
There be auncient tumbes on the south side, wherof one hath a
image of marble of a man of warre.

1 Died A.p. 1262.

2 Died a.p. 1407.

3 Died a.p. 1270.

4 Supposed to belong to the monument of Bishop Roger (d. 1139), and to have
been brought from Old Sarum Church.

5 Walter H., eldest son of Walter Lord H., the High Treasurer, temp. H. VI.,
and brother of Robert 2nd Lord H. mentioned above. He died before a.p.
1438 ; it is said, in Provence,

6 The ‘ Boy or Chorister Bishop” like the ‘“ Barne Bishop” of Yorke and
Beverley.

168 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

There is a Bishop buried by the side of the waulle of the south
isle again the high altare without as in a cemitery, wherein the
vergers ly; and in one of the mayne butteres of the chirch ther is
hard by an inscription...... Latin sumwhat defaced.

THINGS EXCERPTED OUT OF THE Mtartprologe Book,! av saRespyRi.

Jan. 5. Obit of Walter Walrond who gave land at Est Deona
to the Corporation of this church.?
,» 30. Serlo, Dean of Sarum and afterwards Abbot of

Cirencester.
‘ Walter, first, Dean of Sarum: [ Scammel? Bishop 1284. |
i Arestaldus the Priest, uncle of 8. Osmund.
= Helias of Derham, Canon of Sarum, Superintendent

(“ Rector”)? of the new church of Sarum for 25
years from its first foundation.

” Henry of Winterborne gave to the Corporation of the
church of Sarum the tithes of his demesne of
‘Winterburne.

April 28. Robert Wykehampton, Bishop of Sarum.
May 9. Hubert de Burgh, Justiciary of England.
», 18. Nicholas Longespee, Bishop of Sarum.

PA Godfrey “ Dispensator,”’+ a nobleman.

) Ernulph the Falconer, gave two praebends to the church
of Sarum.

5 Hubert Bishop of Sarum, afterwards Archbishop of
Canterbury.

= Harding, the First Treasurer of the Church of Sarum.®

1 The Calendar of obits, or days on which special commemoration was made of
founders and benefactors.

2 Land at East Dean and Lokerley ; on the borders of Hants.
3 ‘* Rector,” the Director of the Building.
4 Le Despencer: or the Steward of the Royal Household.

5 The first Treasurer in Dodsworth’s list (p. 236) is Jordan, A Thomas
Harding was Treasurer in 1555-59.

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 169

May 18. Berbertus de Percy gave the prebend of Cerdestoke! to
the church of Sarum.

33 Henry Cessun,? Canon of Sarum, obtained the removal of
the church of Sarum.

mf Robert ‘“Cementarius,”? Superintendent (“revit”) for
25 years.

3 Alice Bruert gave all the marble’ to this church for 12
years.

Sept. 20. Walter Scammel, Treasurer, Dean, and afterwards
Bishop of Sarum (d. 1286).
ft Walter de la Wyle, Bishop of Sarum, who founded the
Collegiate Church of S. Edmund, and was buried in
it by the Altar. [1271].
$5 The new Church of Sarum was dedicated a.p. 1258 by
Boniface Archbishop of Canterbury, in the presence
of the King and Queen, in the time of Bishop Giles.
Oct. 11. Robert Wyville Bishop of 8. (d. 1375).

1 Chardstoke, county Dorset, which continues to be a prebend of Sarum. In
Itin. vol. rv. 177, Leland calls this benefactor Gilbert de Percy, and so does the
charter of Hen. II. (Mon. No. V.): Hutchins (Dors. 1. 259) calls him ‘‘ Berbertus,
Berberus, or Gilbert.” In the great Perey pedigree there is no Gilbert. The person
meant by Berbertus is most probably Godfrey Duke of Brabant and Count of
Lovaine, surnamed Barbatus, who died 1140. His son J ocelyn de Lovaine
married Agnes de Percy the great heiress, and adopted the family name: which
may in this instance have been given ‘‘ex post facto” to the father.

2 “Cessun,” called Henry de Teissun in Wanda’s list.

3 “ Cementarius;” literally, the ‘* Mortar-man.” Perhaps it means the head
contractor for the works ; (‘‘ cementa demittit redemptor.” Hor.)

4“ Bruer.” Briwere (‘at the Heath’) or Brewer, was the name of a very

important baronial family in Devon, Wilts, and Somerset : in the reigns of John,
Rich. 1., and H. 1, William Brewer was governor of Devizes Castle: and
had land at Norrington and elsewhere in Wilts. He died 1232, without issue
male, leaving 4 coheiresses, one of whom, Alice, married Sir Reginald de
Mohun.

5 “ Marmor ;” probably means stone of every kind ; thoughif it meant literally
marble only, it would have been no inconsiderable gift, Purbeck marble being
the material of the greater part of the pillars and shafts.

170 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

Noy. 3. Rob de Bingham Bp. of 8S. died a.p. 1246.
- And that unconquered commander, Thomas de Mon-
tacute! Earl of Sarum.
» 18. Jocelyn Bp. of Sarum [de Bailol, d. 1184].
Dec. 13. Giles Bp. of Sarum. [ Giles of Bridport: d. 1262].
Richard Earl of Cornwall and King of the Romans
gave a garden ...... to the Church.

[1v. 176]. Henry III.2 gave much land and many benefices and
liberties to Sarwm Church.

Agnes wife of Hubert de Rid, or Rea, and Henry her son gave
the manor of Horton? in the time of Richard Poore, Bp. of 8.

Crocus, the Huntsman, at the same time gave some lands which
Alward and Fitzadulphus held in the borough of Sarwn and
Wilton.

SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. [ti1. 96].

Ther be 10 archis in eche isle of the body of Saresbyri chirch
exceeding richely wrought in marble.

There be in eche side of the first transeptum by north and south
of the west ende of the quier 3 archis.

The west side of the first transeptum hath no archis but a strait
upright flatte waul.

Ther be in eche isle on the quier taking the presbyteri with it 7
arches.

Ther be in eche part of the second transeptum that standeth as a
lighte and division betwixt the quier and the presbyteri, 2 arches.

1 ‘Thomas de Montacute,” the last Earl of Salisbury, of that house: his
daughter and heiress married Richard Neville. ‘‘ He was concerned in so many
military exploits that to give an account of them all would be to write a history
of the reign of Hen, VY.” (Banks). He was mortally wounded at Orleans A.p.
1428.

2 Henry I. gave the lands to Old Sarum Church. [Dodsworth’s Sal. Cath. 102.]
Henry II. confirmed the gift. Henry III. ratified the translation of the church to
New Sarum,

8 Dodsworth [Sal. Cath. p. 133] calls her ‘the wife of Ralph de Bello Fago”’
(Beaufoe). Horton Manor (co. Gloucester) is returned in the Val. Ecce. as a
prebend worth £64 13s, 9d. [V. E. Wilts, p. 74].

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 171

Ther be in the great and fair chapelle of our Lady at the est
ende of the high altare 3 pillers of marble on eche side.

The vestibulum on the north side of the body of the chirch.

The tourre of stone, and the high pyramis of stone on it, is a
noble and a memorable peace of work.

The chapitre house large and fair, and ys made 8 square, mae a
piller in the middle.

The cloistre on the south side of the chirch is one of the largest
and most magnificentist of England.

A notable and strong square tower for great belles and a pyramis
‘on it on the north side of the cathedrale chirch in the cemiterie.!

The bishop’s palace on the south east side of the cemiterie.

Bishop Beauchamp made the great haulle, parler, and chaumbre
of the palace.

The great and large embatelid waulle of the palace having 3
gates to entre it, thus namyd. The close gate, as principale, by
north into the toun. Sainct Ann’s gate, by est: and Harnham
gate, by south, toward Harnham Bridge. The close waulle was
never ful finishid, as in one place evidently apperith. I redde that
in Bishop Roger’s dayes, as I remembre, a convention was betwixt
hym and the canons of Suaresbyri concerning the wall of the close.
The vicars of Saresbyri hath a praty college and house for their
logginges. Eyidius (Giles) Bishop of Saresbyri, caullid Britport,
because he was borne at Britport in Dorsetshir.

This Eyidius kyverid the new cathedrale chirch of Saresbyri
thoroughout with leade. [And was a great helper to performing
of the church, tv. 29].

This Eyidius made the college de Vaulx for scholers, betwixt the
palace wall, and Harnam Bridge. Part of these scolers remaine
in the college at Saresbyri, and have 2 chapeleyns to serve the
chirch ther beynge dedicate to 8. Nicolas. The residew study at
Oxford. The scholars of Vaulz be bounde to celebrate the anni-

1 The old campanile in the cathedral yard, taken down A.D, 1790. There is
an engraving of it in Gent. Mag, 1819, part 1. p. 305, Also in Hatcher and
Benson’s History of Salisbury.

172 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

versarie of Giles their founder at the paroch chirch of Britport
wher he was born.!

Richard Poure, Bp. of Sarisbyri and first erector of the cathedral
chirch of Mew-Saresbyri, founded the hospitale of S. Wicolas? hard
by Harnham Bridge, instituting a master, viij pore wimen, and 4
pore men in it, endowing the house with lands. On the southside
of this hospitale is a chapelle of S...... standing in an isle.

3[ And on the north side of this hospitale is an old barne, wher
in tymes past was a paroch chirch of S. Martine.

The cause of the translation was bycause it stood exceeding low
‘and cold, and the river at rages cam into it.

This church of S. Martine and the hammelet or village of
Harnham stood or ever any part of New Saresbyri was builded. |

The Duke of Buckingham was beheaded at Saresbyri.4 [vu 10].

1 In 1238 upon an interdict to the university of Oxford by Otho the Pope’s
legate, some of the scholars withdrew thence and settled here. In 1260 Bishop
Bridport established a perpetual foundation for one custos, 2 chaplains, and 20
‘* poor respectable studious scholars.” Some of them continued to have pensions
so late as A.D. 1555, There is a view of the building in Hall’s Pict. Mem. of
Salisbury, plate xvm. In Aubrey’s time there was very little of it left.
‘‘ Without the Close of Salisbury as one comes to the toun from Harnham
Bridge, opposite the hospital is a hop yard with a fair high stone wall about it ;
and the ruins of an old pidgeon-house. I doe remember 1642 (and since) more
ruines there. This was Collegium de Valle Scholarum (College de Vaux). It
took its name from Vaux a family. Here was likewise a Magister Scholarum :
and it was in the nature of an university. It was never an endowed college.
[From Seth Ward Bp. of Sarum).” [N. Hist. of Wilts, 95]. This statement
as to a non-endowment must be incorrect. The house had considerable estates,
which are enumerated in the Valor Eccles. Wilts, p. 89. Neither was the name,
Vaux, derived from a family; but is only an English corruption of ‘“ Vallis
Scholz.” The building is now entirely destroyed. ‘‘Jacobusde Valle Scholarium”
is mentioned as an author in Harl. MSS. 3930.

2 See small woodcut, No. 23. Hall.

3 Thesubstance of the three following sentences has been already given: see p.159.

4 Henry Stafford Duke of Buckingham. ‘ The first to raise Richard (III) to
the throne, the last to feel his tyranny ;” was executed in 1483 on a Sunday
morning, in the court yard of the Blue Boar Inn which stood in the Market-
place [see Hall], and was buried at the Grey Friars in Salisbury. There is a
monument to him in the neighbouring church of Britford. The celebrated line
‘© Off with his head; so much for Buckingham,” pronounced with such effect
by our stage Richards, is not in Shakspeare, and is believed to have been one of
Colley Cibber’s innovations.

Leland’s Journey through Wiitshire. 173
FISHERTON DELAMERE. [Itin. vi. 36].

Peter Delamar, a man of about 1,200 marks of land by the yere,
died without issue male in Edwarde 3 dayes; but he had 3
doughters maryed to these gentilmen; S. John (Pawlet); St.
Amande; and William de la Roche; the which 3 divided the landes
of Delamare. The castelle of Nunney Delamar in Somersetshire,
and the lordship of Fisherton in Wyleshire cam to St. John, in
partition. St. Amande had...... William de la Roche had......
But Mr. Bainton told me that there were but 2 that divided
Delamay’s landes, and that St. Amand had by heire generale of
William De la Roche such lands as the said Roche had by Delamare:
and that land is now cum to Mr. Bainton. Syr Edward Baynton’s
father had to wife the last Lord St. Amande’s sister, and heire;
because he (that is, Lord St. Amande) had no legitime child.!

[Leland also mentions, m1. 98].

Clarington park and maner place about a mile by S. Est from
Saresbyri. The parke is a very large thyng and hath many kepers
in it.

Ther was at Clarington a priory called Ivy Chirch.

Popham Dene, 3 wiles from Clarendon and 3 miles from Mot-
tisham, as in the middle way betwene, was sometyme the chief
lordship or maner place of the Pophams. [v1. 38].

From Saresbyri to Thomas Beket’s Bridge? of 2 stone arches, a
mile al by champayn. Under this bridge rennith a praty broke

1 There is so much difficulty in adjusting the pedigree of Delamere, Roche,
Beauchamp, and Baynton, that Leland’s conflicting statements as to the number
of the coheiresses of Delamere must be for the present passed over. The
attempt to reconcile them would require genealogical details too minute to be
interesting to the general reader. The case appears to be that Beauchamp and
Baynton married the coheiresses of one branch of Delamere, which two proper-
ties ultimately merged in the Baynton family: and that Pawlet married the
heiress of another line, by which Fisherton Delamere and Nunney came to the
family of the Duke of Bolton.

2 “St. Thomas Becket’s Bridge.’ Two miles on the old London road, beyond
Bishop’s Down: generally called St. Thomas’s Bridge.

174 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

rising a 3 miles above it by north est. This broke goith into Avon
about a mile beneth Harnham Bridge. [ut. 98].

Wm. Talebot Lord of the 100 of Alwarbyri. [1v. 177]

Slape; a prebend in the paroch of Netherbyri. (do).

Stratford: a preebend on the bank of Avon, not far from the
old city of Sarum. (do).

Dean of Sarum Rector of Sunninge. (do).

Heitredesbury, a Collegiate Church impropriate to the deanery
of Sarum, has the gift of 4 praebends.! (do.)

Longalata (Longleat) priory, where the church is dedicated
to S. Radegund. John Vernon, Kt., first founder of this
place. (do.)

[The relics of 8. Melorus, son of Melian Duke of Cornwall,
were deposited at Amesbury. vu. 54).

[ Isabelle, the 4th daughter of Henry Duke of Lancaster and Maude
daughter to the Duke of York, was prioress of Ambresbyri (1202).
vi. 42].8

1 Heytesbury Church was made collegiate about A.D, 1165, chiefly through
the agency of Roger Archdeacon of Wilts, or Ramsbury. The four prebends
are—l. Tytherington, given by the Empress Maud: 2. Horningsham, by
Humphrey de Bohun, and Margaret, his mother: 3. Hill-Deverill, by Elias
Giffard of Brymsfield: and 4. Swallowcliffe, by Gerard Giffard of the Fonthill
branch. The Archdeacon was at first head of this Collegiate Church, but it
was afterwards annexed to the deanery of Sarum. The Dean nowacts as Ordinary
within it, and has the patronage of the four prebends.

2‘ Tongalata.” This derivation is adopted by Sir R. C. Hoare [Heyts. p. 69],
as applicable to the dong and broad valley, at the end of which (coming from
Horningsham) stood the priory, and now stands the mansion of Longleat. But
the name is also anciently written Longaleta, and Langlete: and the true
derivation would rather seem to be from ‘‘ Leat,” an aqueduct or watercourse.
There were formerly mills, on or near the site before the priory was built, sup-
plied by a long conduit. The Leat at Plymouth, a celebrated piece of engineer-
ing in its day, was constructed to supply that town with water, by Sir Francis
Drake. There is also the Leate at Truro conveying water to the town.

3 Henry Earl of Lancaster, second son of Edmund Crouchback, and grandson
of H. IIJ., married Maud, daughter, not of the Duke of York, but of Str
Patrick Chaworth.

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 175
[From the Latin}.

“ Hubert, (Walter, Dean, afterwards Bp. of Sarisburi (Rich. I.)
and afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury) attracted universal admira-
tion at Acre, even from King Richard, by his noble military
appearance. He was tall, of great foresight in counsel, and highly
gifted, though not with eloquence. Together with Ranulph de
Glanville who acted under his advice, he, in a manner, was King of
England. He was a violent opponent of Girald Bishop of St.
Dayid’s, in the efforts which that prelate was making at Rome to
have the archiepiscopal pall restored to his see.” [Itin. vu. 84].

STONEHENGE.

[It is remarkable that though so close to Stonehenge (which, no
doubt, he,saw) Leland has left no description either of that place
or of Avebury. So that we may make of him the same complaint
which he makes of a still older writer of ancient English history. |
“And Stoneheng, so notable a thing erect by the Britons, is
nothing spoken of by Bede, and a great many things beside.”
[ Collect. I. 511].

[From Geoffrey of Monmouth he gives the following extract
relating to the neighbourhood of Stonehenge, if not to the place
itself :— |

“Hengist, upon hearing of Vortimer’s death, took with him a
large army and returned into Britain. (Having invited the Britons
to a friendly conference he concerted an attack upon them).
When the proper moment for his treachery arrived, Hengist gave
the word “Out with your swords,” and thereupon he seized
Vortigern, and held him back by his robe. The Saxons on hearing
the signal drew their swords, and falling upon the assembled chiefs
utterly unprepared for any such assault, slew about 460 barons
and officers, to whose bodies the blessed Eldad gave Christian burial not
far from Caer-caradoc, now called Salesbiri, in a cemetery near
Amesbury Monastery. The Pagans, however, did not commit
this atrocity with impunity: for many of them were slain, whilst
compassing the death of others. For the Britons caught up from

176 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

the ground stones and clubs, and attacked their assailants, &c.
[ Collect. 11. 29.]}

{Another ancient chronicle? directly asserts that Stonehenge
was built by Vortigern as a lasting memorial of this massacre : and
that Merlin recommended fetching certain great stones from
Ireland: to which the King replied that “he thought he had as
hard stones in England as they had in Ireland.” Upon this story
Leland observes— ]?

“ About the fetching of them from Ireland, it is all fabulous.
For every person even of common information must know that
these stones, so large as not even to be moved by any mechanism
in our unscientific days, were brought by Merlin with marvellous
skill and the help of ingenious machinery from some neighbouring
quarry to the place where they are now the admiration of
travellers. It would, indeed, have puzzled him to bring them by
sea to Amesbury, for there is no sea coast within 20 miles of it.”4

RAMSBURY, BEDWYN, AND MARLBOROUGH. [vu 83].

From Zamburne {co. Berks) on to Ramsbury toune about a 5
miles, firste by champayne grounde fruteful of corne, then by hills
fruteful of wood and corne. Kenet toucheth the toun with his left
ripe suopinge in a low botom. There is a fayre and large olde
chirche in the toune. The Bishope of Saresbyri hath a faire olde
place halfe a mile upper upon the left ripe of Kenet, that a litle
above the place in the medow maketh out an arme, and a litle
benethe the place resorting to the hed streme maketh the medows
on the south side of the place a Mediamunis or isle. There is a right
faire and large parke hangynge upon the clyffe of an high hille
well wooded over Kenet, hard on the south side of the place.
Litlecote the Darell’s chief house is a mile from Ramesbyri.

From Ramesbyri to Saresbyri good 20 miles.

1 See Antiquarian Repertory. 11. 262.

2 Quoted in Hoare’s Hist. of Amesbury, p. 199.

3 See the Latin in Collectanea. 1. 31.

4 The old fable was, that Merlin conjured them by magic out of Ireland, and
brought them aloft in the skies. ‘‘ What, in Charles’s Wain?” asks Fuller.

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 177

From Ramesbyri on to Great Bedwine a 3 miles, moste parte
throwghe the forest of Sawernake.

The toune is prevelyged with a Burges at the Parliament; yet
it is but a poore thinge to sight. There lieth in the churche, in
the south isle one Adam Stoke a famose man, and another of that
line by him under a flatte stone. The Stokes were lords of Stoke
Haule! ther by. The lands of whom descendyd on to the Lords
Hungarfords ; but whereas I harde ons that there was a castelle or
forteres at Greate Bedwine; [the ruines and plot whereof is yet
seene, vi. 71.] I could there heere nothinge of it.

_ [Thens a 2 miles by wooddy ground to Little Bedwine, wherby I
passed over Great Bedwine brooke. v1. 71}.

Little Bedwine a mile lower: whither cummith the streame that
passinge by Great Bedwine levith it on the right ripe. This
water goeth toward Kenet. And Hungerford is a 3 miles from
Greate Bedwine.

From Bedwine a good mile to Chauburne village.2 [Going out
of Chalburne I passed over a litle stream called Chauburn water.
vi. 71.] The trew name wherof as I gesse should be Chaulkeburne
for it risithe and rennith in chalky ground. It riseth a litle above
the village, and levith it on the right ripe, and so going about a 2
miles lower resortith either into Bedwine water, or els by itself
goeth into Kenet river.

The house of the Choks was firste greatly advaunsyd by Choke,
Chief Judge of England, that attayned lands to the sum of 600

1 Now Stock Farm in the parish of Great Bedwyn. Gena or Geva, widow of
Sir Adam de Stoke of Rushall, married Sir Robert de Hungerford, and died
A.D.1335. In 1431, Thomas Stokke conveyed to Sir Walter Hungerford (the High
Treasurer, great nephew of Sir Robert) the manor of Stoke and lands elsewhere
in Wilts. [Close Rolls}. It was afterwards for many years a residence of the
Hungerfords, some of whom were Members of Parliament for Great Bedwyn.
The second monument mentioned by Leland is believed to have been that of Sir
Roger Stoke, son of Sir Adam. Both are still preserved.

2A “good” two miles to (now called) Shalborne.

3 It resorteth into Bedwyn water.

178 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

marks by the yere, and kept his chefe house at Longe Ashton by
Bristow, having great furniture of silver.!

From Chauburn to Hungerford a 3 miles. Thens a 2 (read 4)
miles to Ramesbiri by meetly woodded ground.

From Ramesbyri onto Marlebyri a 8 miles (read 6) by hilly
grounde, fruteful of corn and wood. About half a mile or I cam
into Marlebyri, I passid ovar a broke that cam down north west
from the hills, and so ran by south-east into the streme of Kenet
about half a mile bynethe Marlebyri.

The toune of Marlebyri standith in lengthe from the toppe of an
hill flat east to a valley lyinge flat weste.?

The chiefe paroch church of the toune standythe at the very
weste end of it, beynge dedicate onto Seint Peter. By it there is
a ruine of a great castelle, harde at the west end of the toun,
whereof the doungeon towre partly (half) yet stondith. There
lay Kynge Edward the...... at a Parliament tyme.3 There is a
chappel of S¢. Martynet (at the entre) at the est ende of the toune.
There is a paroche churche of our ladie (S¢. Marie’s) in the mydle
of the toune ; (by the Market-place). The body of this churche
is an auncient peace of worke. Sum fable (without authority)
that S. Marie’s was a nunerye. There was a priorye of white
chanons caullyd S. Margaret’s a little (half a quarter of a mile)

1Sir Richard Choke, of Stanton Drew, co. Somerset, a Judge in 1474,
(14 E. IV.) purchased Long Ashton, then called Ashton Lyons, in 1454. His
grandson sold it in 1606. [Collins on Som. 1. 291, 454]. One of the Judge’s
sons settled at Avington in Berkshire, not far from the neighbourhood which
Leland is describing. At a later period (James I.) a Sir Alexander was M.P.
for Ludgershall, and Chief Justice in Ireland.

2 See also Itin. vr. 71.

3 He probably alludes to King Henry III. who held here his last Parliament,
at which was passed the code of laws called ‘‘ The Statutes of Marlborough.”

4 North of the road leading to Mildenhall between Blow Horn Street and Cold
Harbour. [Waylen’s Marl. p. 494.]

5 A Sempringham Priory, as old as King John, and of royal foundation. The
site was granted to Stringer at the dissolution: but must have soon changed
hands, as a branch of the Daniells, of Daresbury, Cheshire, settled here in
H. VIIl.

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 179

by southe out of the towne, over Kenet (on the right hand), where
now dwellythe one Mastar Danie//. There was a house of friers in
the south syde of the toune.! [A market house new made. v1. 71. ]
Kenet ryver cummethe doun by the weste end of the toune from
the northe, and so by the botom of the toune and vale lyinge
sowthe, leving it on the left ripe, and so reneth thens by flatte est.

SILBURY HILL AND AVEBURY. [vil 85].

Kenet risithe north north-west at Se/biri hille botom,? wherby
hath ben camps and sepultures of men of warre, as at Aibyri3 a
myle of, and in dyvers places of the playne. This Se/byri hille is
about a 5 myles from Marlebyri.

LUDGERSHALL. [Vu. It].

Inggershaull sumtyme’a castle in Wileshire 10 miles from
Marleborow, and a 4 miles from Andover almoste in the waye
betwixt. The castell stoode in a parke, now clene doune. There
is of late times a pratie lodge made by the ruines of it, and
longgithe to the King.

MARLBOROUGH TO DEVIZES. [vuI. 85].

From Varlebyri over Kenet, and so into Sauernake (the swete oke)
forest, and a 4 myles or more to Peusey a good village, and there

1 Tanner (p. 610) quotes Leland in this passage for ‘‘ Wiute,” as against
another author’s ‘‘ Grey,” friars in Marlborough. Leland has just said that
‘St. Margaret’s’” was a house of White Canons, but he does not mention any
particular colour for these friars. The Friary was founded by John Goodwinand
William Remesbesch, merchants, A.D. 1316, and was granted, 34 H. VIII., to
John Pye and Robert Brown.

2 There is certainly near Silbury a source called ‘‘ Swallow Head Spring :”
but Kennet is fed by ‘‘The Bourn” which riseth near Winterbourne Basset and
Ufcote.

3 Such is Leland’s solitary notice of this once remarkable place. It is elear
what Ais opinion of Avebury was (and probably also of Stonehenge—from the
story of the massacre given above), viz., that they were not temples, but
cemeteries of ‘‘men of warre.”

2a 2

180 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

I passed over Avon river, and so by a village caullid Manifordes,! by
the which Avon rennythe; and so to Newton? village a 2 myles
and more from Peusey, where also Avon rennythe leeving it on his
lefte rype; and thens 2 myles of, passyd by Uphaven, a good
village 2 myles lower. There comythe a little broke into Avon
from northe west at the est ende of Newton churche. The course
of it is latly changed to the great comoditie of the village lyinge
lowe, and afore sore troubled with water in wynter.

From Newton to Hilcote an hamlet of the same paroche halfe a
myle.

Thence a 7 miles to The Vyes? by champayne ground. I passyd,
or I came nere The Vyes,by a broke the whiche goythe in to Avon
ryver by Uphavon village.

DEVIZES. [vit. 85].

The toune of Vies standithe on a ground sumwhat clyvinge,
and most occupied by clothiars.

The beauty of it is all in one streete.

The market is very celebrate.

There is a castell on the southe west syde of the toune stately
avauncyd upon an highe ground, defendyd partly by nature, and
partly with dykes, the yeret wherof is cast up a slope, and that of a
greate height to defence of the waulle.

1 There are 3 hamlets close together, Manningford Abbot’s, Manningford Braose
(now called Bruce), and Manningford Bohun.

2 North Newnton or Newton; the prebend which (as mentioned above in the
preface 1o Leland’s journey) he held at this time.

3 “The Vies.” A well known corruption of “ Devizes.” Towards determining the
real origin of the name of this town, the following testimony, drawn from other
counties, may be useful. “Thence he (Sir Thomas Fairfax) passed to Thorne
(in Yorkshire), and then across the devises of Hatfield to Crowle.” This,” says
Mr. Hunter, “is the single instance in which I have found the word devises applied
to these lands. It means no more than border lands, and is, in fact, the Latin
word “ Divisas” with an English form given to it.”” [South Yorkshire, I. 174.]
In the book of the priory of Bath [Linc. Inn Library, No. xuiv., Art. 4] is
mention of lands between the “ divisas de Corston” (near Bath) “ and Wansdyke.”

4“Yere.” The Wiltshire way of pronouncing eare, or earth. To ear, * to
plough.” “There shall be neither earing nor harvest.” [Gen. 45, 6.]

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 181

This castle was made in Henry the first dayes by one Roger!
Byshope of Salisbyrye, Chauncelar and Treasurer to the Kynge.
Such a pece of castle worke so costly and strongly was never afore
nor sence set up by any Byshope of England. The kepe or dungeon
of it set upon an hille cast by hand, is a peace of worke of an
incredible coste. There appere in the gate? of it, 6 or 7 places for
porte colacis, and muche goodly buyldying was in it. It is nowin
ruine, and parte of the front of the towres of the gate of the kepe
and the chapell in it were caried, full unprofitably, onto the
buyldynge of Master Buinton’s place at Bromeham scant 3
myles of.3

There remayne dyvers goodly towres yet in the utter walle of
the castle, but all goynge to ruine.

The principall gate that ledithe in to the toune is yet of a great
strengthe, and hathe places for 7 or 8 porte colices.

Ther is a fayre parke by the castle.

The forest of Blake-more lyethe in a botom toward northe west,
not far from the toune.

1 Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, one of the most powerful opponents, in the West
of England, of the claim of Stephen to the Crown. He built, wholly or in part,
castles at Sherbourn (Dorset), Malmsbury, Devizes, and Sarum.

2 Gate.” Mr. Waylen, in his description of Devizes Castle, is of opinion
that by the “ gate,” leading into the town, and having places for several port-
cullises, is meant not merely the portal, but a long protected passage leading from
the castle keep to the main entrance of what is now the Bear Inn yard. (See
Hist. of Dev. p. 121, and plan at p. 129).

3 Andrew Baynton had already carried off part of an old manor-house at
Corsham. (See above p. 143): and, according to Aubrey, he also appropriated to
the same object part of Bradenstoke Priory. Bromham House stood on or near
the site of the present Bromham farm-house: between Rowdeford and Wans-
house (on the right hand going from Devizes to Chippenham); and near the Old
London Road to Bath. It was a garrison for the Royalists in the civil wars, and
was burned down in 1645. Sir Edward Baynton, the owner at that time, would
not rebuild it, but chose a new site at Spye Park. Some of the materials having
escaped the conflagration were again turned to account, and there is still a tra-
dition that one of the lodges of Spye Park came from Devizes Castle.

182 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

I saw as I went out of the toune, Bromeham Haul lyenge in a
botom about a 3 myles of.

STEEPLE ASHTON. [vu 86. ]

From The Vies to Steple Assheton a 6 myles, by champaine but
frutefull grounde, and good wood plenty in some places. It isa
praty little market toune, and hath praty buyldinge, “

It standith muche by clothiars.

There is in it a very fayre churche, buylded in the mynd of men
now lyvinge.

The spired steple! of stone is very fayre and highe, and of that
it is cawllyd Steple Assheton. Robart Longe, clothyar, buyldyd
the northe isle, Waltar Lucas, clothiar, buildyd the sowth isle, of
theyr proper costes. The abbey of Ramesey in Hamptonshire had
bothe personage impropriate and the hole lordshipe.

Syr Thomas Semar? hathe it now of the Kyng almoste with the
hole hundred of Horwelle alias Wharwelldown, with muche fayre
woods.

BROOKE HALL, NEAR WESTBURY. [vu. 86].

From Steple Assheton to Brooke Haule about a 2 myle by woody
ground. Ther was of very auncient tyme an olde maner place
wher Brooke Hail is now, and parte of it yet appearithe. But the
new buyldynge that is there is of the erectinge of the Lorde
Steward unto King Henry the vij. The windowes be full of rud-

1 This spire, 93 feet high above the tower, having been seriously injured by
lightning in July, 1670, the parishioners proceeded to repair it, but when it was
almost finished, in October the same year, a second storm threw it down, with
part of the tower and the body of the church. The spire has never been restored.
The church was built 1480-1500.

2 Sir Thomas Seymour, the Protector’s brother, Lord Sudeley and Lord High
Admiral, executed 1549. The manor of Steeple Ashton (besides Imber, Eding-
ton, and other estates) was granted to him at the dissolution of monasteries ; and
on his death reverted to the Crown. The author of the Hist. of Mere (p. 122)
overlooked this when he said that Sir Thomas had “ no connexion with our county.”

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 183

ders. Peradventure it was his badge or token of the Admiraltye.
Ther is a fayre parke, but no great large thynge. In it be a great
nombar of very fayre and fine-greynyd okes apt to sele houses.!

1“ Brooke Halle.” This house stood on or near the site of Brook House
Farm (not Brook Farm, which is another ancient house, still in existence at a
little distance from it) between Hawkeridge and Coteridge about 3 miles N.W. of
Westbury. The estate originally belonged to the Crown. From Henry III. to
Edw. III. a.p. 1361, it was the residence and property of the family of Paveley,
lords of the hundred of Westbury. Between the two coheiresses of Paveley
there was a division of lands. The younger sister married Sir Ralph Cheney.
Her grandson, Sir Edmund Cheney, married Alice, daughter of Sir Humphrey
Stafford, and died A.D. 1430 leaving two daughters coheiresses, of whom Anne
was the wife of Sir John Willoughby. Sir John’s son, Robert, was created in
A.D. 1492 Lord Willoughby de Broke, taking his title from this place. He was
Steward of the Household to King Henry VII. His two granddaughters were
married—1. Elizabeth, to John Paulet (son of Lord St. John of Basing),
2nd Marquis of Winchester; and 2. Anne, to Charles Blount 5th Baron Mount-
joy, who died a.p. 1544. Brooke came by the latter match to Lord Mountjoy,
and was sold by his grandson the 8th Baron, about A.D. 1599, to Sir Edward
Hungerford of Farley Castle, who died a.p. 1607. It remained in that family
till A.D. 1684, when it was sold by the extravagant Sir Edward Hungerford to
Sir Stephen Fox. For its subsequent history, see Sir R. C. Hoare’s Westbury,
p. 30.

Aubrey describes it, about A.D. 1650 as being still “avery great and stately
house :” and he has preserved in his collections for North Wilts, 4 minute
description of the emblazoned windows. ‘The device of a ship’s rudder which he
says was “everywhere,” he considers, [as Leland, with a “peradventure,’ had
done before him], to have been the badge of office of the first Lord Willoughby de
Broke, as Admiral to Henry VII. But “Mr. Wadman,” says Aubrey, “ would
persuade me that this rudder belonged to Paveley who was lord of this place.”
“ Mr. Wadman” was perhaps right: as it is not quite certain to whom it did
belong ; but one point (suggested by the Rev. E. Wilton, of Lavington) does
seem certain ; viz., that it did not belong to the Willoughbys. For it is found in
the neighbouring church of Edington upon the tomb of Sir Ralph Cheney, who
married the coheiress of Paveley, a hundred years before the first Willoughby had
acquired Brooke Hall by marriage with the coheiress of Cheney. It is also found
on the west porch of Westbury church in juxtaposition with Stafford, also before
Willoughby’s time. As representative of Cheney and Paveley, Lord Willoughby
may have used the rudder for an ornament to his windows in reference to one or
other of those two families, but not as any device relating to his own office in the
admiralty. As /is representatives, the Paulet family, still use it.

The rudder is also found on the parapet of Seend Church, north aisle: where it
is probably only the memorial of a pecuniary contribution towards the building
of that part of the church, by some Willoughby who used the badge at that time
as an hereditary device.

184 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

The broke that renithe by Brooke is properly caulyd Bisse, and
riseth at a place called Bis-mouth! a 2 myles above Brooke village
an hamlet longynge to Westbury paroche. Thens it cummithe
onto Brooke village; and so a myle lower on to Brooke Haule,
levinge it hard on the right ripe, and about a 2 miles lower it
orth FO... a. jape0?

[Humfrey Stafford of Hoke, with the Silver Hand,’ that maried

Sir Robert Willoughby (afterwards 1st Lord Broke) with many other Wiltshire
gentlemen, Sir Thomas Delamere, Sir Roger Tocotes, Sir Richard Beauchamp,
Walter Hungerford, John Cheney, &c., joined the Duke of Buckingham in his
resistance to King Richard III. Their lands were seized, and the manors of
Brooke and Southwick were bestowed by Richard upon his favourite Edward
Ratcliffe. 15 Dee. 1R. III. [See Harl. MS. No. 433, art. 1621.]

1 “Bisse.” The stream rises near Upton Scudamore under a hill called in
the maps ‘‘ Beersmeer Hill,” which looks like a corruption of Bissemouth Hill.
But the mouth of a stream is generally the name of the place where it issues
into some other water, not of that where it first rises.

2 North Bradley and Trowbridge. By Brook village, Leland probably
means Brook farm and mill.

3 ‘Silver Hand.” The meaning of this singular distinction is not known
with certainty. That the person to whom it was given should have literally
replaced the loss of a natural hand by a metallic substitute, wholly or in
part, is possible, but not very likely. The epithet was more probably applied to
him as a figurative compliment to his liberality. The eloquent Chrysostom was
(as the word signifies) ‘‘ Golden-mouthed”: and we have had in our own
days, the more familiar instance of an ‘‘Zron Duke.” There were two
individuals of the noble family of the Staffords to whom this periphrasis of the
‘‘ Silver Hand” has been ascribed ; Sir Humphrey, sen., and Sir Humphrey,
jun., father and son, But if Leland is to be trusted, the point is settled : as he
distinctly says that ‘‘ the Silver Hand” married the heiress of Maltravers, by
which match he obtained the property at Hooke, county Dorset. This was
undoubtedly Sir Humphrey, the son. [Hutchins, in his note upon the subject
(Dorset, 1, 292, first edit.) seems to have misinterpreted Leland’s statement].
The rest of the paragraph in the text is partly imperfect, and partly incorrect :
and may be thus rectified. ‘‘This Alice (Stafford, daughter of the ‘Silver Hand”)
was married first to (Sir Edmund) Cheney (as mentioned in a former note),
and had two daughters, Anne and Elizabeth. Elizabeth (not Anne) was
married to Coleshill and had no issue. Anne was married to (St John)
Willoughby (not Lord W. de Broke), and had issue. Alice (Lady Cheney)

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 185

the daughter and heire of Matravers, a Knight, had 3 or 4 sons.
He had also a doughter called Alice by his wife, Matravers’ heire.
This Alice was maried first to Cheyni, a Knight, and had 2 doughters,
Anne and Elizabeth, by him. Anne was maried to Coleshill and
had no issue. Elisabeth was married to Willoughby Lord
WOME acim oA had issue Alice.... wasma.... oys .... Eleanor
a doughter by him, whom Strangwais....maried, and so cam
Humfre Stafforde’s landes to Willoughby and Strangwaies. (v1. 13.]

Much of the Lord Zouche’s lands was gyven by Henry VII. to
Willoughby Lord Broke. [v1. 14].

Wermister, a principall market for corne, is 4 miles from Brooke-
haull; amyle to Westbyry, and so 3 myles forthe. [vu. 86.]

EDINGTON. [Iv. 25. ]

[ Hedington village and priorie aboute a 2 (at least 5) myles from
Brooke Haul. vu. 87).

Hedington of auncient tyme was a prebende longging to Rumsey
an abbay of nunnes in Hampshire [to whom it was given by King

was remarried, to Walter Talboys and had Eleanor a daughter by him, whom
Thomas Strangways married, and so &c.”

Sir Humphrey Stafford, jun., ‘‘of the Silver Hand,” was elder brother of
John Stafford, Bishop of Bath and Wells, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury,
who died a.p, 1452. Their mother Emma, second wife of Sir Humphrey
Stafford, sen., was buried in the neighbouring church of North Bradley, within a
beautiful little Mortuary Chapel appurtenant to Southwick in that parish, a
manor house which formerly belonged to the Staffords, and from them (probably
by the marriage of Alice Stafford above mentioned) came to Cheney and thence
to Willoughby. The inscription on the tomb of the Archbishop’s mother still
remains, and it removes a difficulty in the Stafford pedigree which has been
hitherto unsolved. See it stated in a note by Sir Harris Nicolas, Testamenta
Vetusta, p. 166.

1 Ela, coheiress of the Paveleys, and sister of Joan Lady Cheney (see note on
Brooke Hall) married St. Loe. Their daughter married Sir Richard St. Maur.
Their granddaughter, Alice St. Maur, married Lord Zouche. Lord Zouche’s
grandson being attainted A.p, 1485, his portion of the Westbury property was
granted to Lord Willoughby de Broke who already possessed the share which
had descended to him through the Cheney family from Joan the other coheiress
of Paveley.

186 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

John. Collectanea 1, 68]. Hedington prebend was an hunderith
markes by the yere and more. Hedington Bp. of Winchester! was
born at this Hedington, being cheef rular of England, while King
Edw. 8 and Edward the .... (Black Prince ?) did war in France. He
buildid a fair new chirch at Hedington, and there made a college
[for canons regular. Coll. 1, 66.] with a Deane and xii Ministers,
wherof parte were prebendaries. He caussid the prebende of
Hedington to be removed from the title of Rumsey, and to be
impropriated to this college. He procured besides a 200 marks of
landes by yere to this college. And this was done about the time
that King Edward wan Calays.

Prince Edward, caullid the Blak Prince, had a great favor to the
Bones-Homes beyond these. Wherapon cumming home he hartely
besought Bishop Hedington to chaunge the Ministers of his college
into Bones-Homes. [Boni Homines. Collect.1,66]. -Hedington at

1 Leland’s notes upon Edington are valuable, and form the staple of the brief
account that is given of this house both by Tanner and in the New Monasticon.

One interesting circumstance connected with the Founder (for which the
writer is indebted to the Rev. Edward Wilton) appears to have escaped the
notice of all who have touched upon the subject. He is generally called William
of Edington, and is commonly said to have been born in the parish: which is
very probable, as in a deed printed in the New Monasticon (miscalled the
‘* Foundation Deed,” being merely the Preamble to the Code of Statutes appointed
to be observed in the House), it is stated that the Reverend Father derived his
origin from that village (‘‘ de qua villa idem pater traxit originem”): but his
JSamily name has never been particularly identified. He appears to have been a
Cheney : no doubt connected with the Cheneys of Brooke Hall, mentioned above.
The authority for this statement is the Cartulary of Edington ; according to
extracts alleged to be taken from it, and preserved in the Ashmol. Museum,
Oxon. [Ashm. M. Dugd. 39, 142.] His father’s name was Walter de Cheney,
or ‘* Walterus de Querew” (‘‘ of the Oak ;” in French, ‘‘Chéne.’’) In another
deed, also given at length in the same extracts, and dated 35 Edw. III.
(A.D. 1361), the Bishop is described as ‘‘ Guardian of the heiresses of Sir John
Pavely.” This throws some light upon the marriage mentioned in a former
note, of Sir Ralph Cheney to one of the heiresses, Joan Pavely, by which the
estate of Brooke passed to the family of Cheney.

The last of the Paveleys probably assisted Bp. (Cheney) of Edington to a
large extent, in building Edington Church: as the tower windows seem to
contain a singular architectural allusion to that family. The tracery is arranged
in the form of a cross; the Payeley arms being a cross flory.

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 187

his desire entreatid his collegians to take that ordre. And so they
did all, saving the Deane. Hedington sent for ij of the Bones-Homes
of Asscherugge! to rule the other xij of his college. The elder of
the ij that cam from Asscherugge was caullid John Ailesbyri, and he
was the first Rector (7. e., Prior of the House) at Hedington.

Hedington gave greate substance of mony and plate onto his
college.

One Blubyri, a prebendary of Saresbyri and executor of the
wille of Hedington, caussid a great benefice of the patronage of
Sceaftesbyri Monastery to be impropriate to Hedington. Blubyri,?
as I hard, was buried at Hedington.

Sir Richard Penley, a Knight, gave the lordship of I/desle (West
Iisley) in Barkshire, a 2 miles from Wantage, a market toune.
This Penley? lay long at Hedington and ther died and was biried.

Rouse, a Knight, gave to Hedington his fair lordship of Bainton,
aboute half a mile from Hedington. Rouse* is buried at Hedington,

[ BENEFACTORS. |

[Penley and Rowse: Knights. Jerberd and Bultington.5 Collec.
1, 66].

1 Ashridge, the only other ‘‘ Bons Hommes” House in England, is in the
parish of Pitstone, co. Bucks. It was afterwards the Earl of Bridgwater’s.

2 John Bleobury, clerk, was one of the feoffees of Sir Thomas Hungerford in
the purchase of Farley Castle from the Burghersh family in a.p. 1369. An
obit was kept for him at Edington.

3 “Penley.” There is an estate and residence still called Penleigh House
near Westbury.

4 Sir John Rous, of Imber, in 1414 (I Hen. V.) settled the manor and
patronage of the chapel of Baynton (near Earlstoke) on his son ‘‘ John Rous, of
Beynton, jun.” William Rous (son of the latter) in 1437 sold part of Imber to
Lord Hungerford: the other part he gave in 1444 to Edington Priory, Thomas
Elme being then Rector. His brother John Rous, a great supporter of the
Lollards and a troublesome disturber of Churchmen of the day, is supposed to
have made his peace with them by granting his manor of Baynton to the
Convent, in 1443, [See Hoare’s Heytesbury, p. 162.]

5 “ Bultington.” This is, without the slightest doubt, a mistake for Bulk-
ington. There is a village so called (a tything of Keevil a few miles from
Edington), which gave its name to some family of importance in those days.

2B2

188 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

John Willoughby that cam out of Lincolnshire and maried an
heire generale of the Lord Broke,! and after was Lord Brooke hym-
self, lyith buried at Hedington, and was a benefactor to that house.
As I remember, the son of this Lord Broke was Steward of King

Peter de Bulkington and Michael de Bulkington are named in the Wiltshire
Fines, 38 H. II. The manor afterwards belonged tothe religious house atKdington,
of the gift probably of Thomas Bulkington, the benefactor mentioned by Leland.
Obits at Edington to Penley, Rous, Gereberd, and Thomas Bukyngton are
mentioned in the Valor Kecles. [Wilts, p. 142.] Edington Church still retains
a memorial of Thomas Bulkington: for to him there can be little doubt that a
monument really refers, which has often been attributed to an unauthorized
and unknown Thomas Baynton. This monument which is highly finished, and
clearly refers to some person of consequence connected with the convent, is at
the end of the south transept, and bears the effigy of an Augustine Canon; his
feet resting on a tun. On one shield are the letters T.B.: and on another the
device of a tun with a tree growing out of it. The not dissimilar device of a
bay tree growing out of a tun, appropriate to (and perhaps sometimes used by)
the Wiltshire family of Baynton, has, for want of any better conjecture, caused
this monument to be constantly assigned to some one of that name. But the
monument is of a date long prior to any connexion which the Bayntons may
have had with Edington. The name Bulkington is still commonly pronounced
Bukington, or Bookington. As the word ‘‘ Boc”’ signifies a beech treee,
Boc-in-tun, supported by the fact of a known ecclesiastical benefactor
Thomas Bulkington, seems to establish his claim to the monument, in preference
to that of an ¢maginary Thomas Baynton.

1 Perhaps Leland means that John Willoughby married an heir general of
the Lord of the Manor of Broke, Otherwise his statement is full of confusion.
Sir John Willoughby ‘‘that came out of Lincolnshire” did not marry any heir
general of any person who had borne the title of Lord Broke: (for it was his
own son to whom that title was first granted) but a coheiress of Sir Edmund
Cheney, of Brooke Hall. Neither was Sir John himself, as Leland says, after-
wards Lord Broke himself; nor was his grandson the 3rd Lord Broke. Sir
John’s son (as just stated), Robert, was the tirst Lord Willoughby de Broke,
created A.D. 1492. Robert’s son, also Robert, was the second Lord Broke
A.D. 1503. And there was no third Lord, at that time, of that title. For
Edward Willoughby, son of Robert 2nd Lord by his first wife Elizabeth
Beauchamp, died in his father’s life time, leaving two daughters, of whom one,
Elizabeth, married Sir Fulke Greville, and the other, Blanche, married Sir
Francis Dawtrey. Robert, the second Lord Broke, had by another wife
Dorothy Grey, two sons who died childless, and two daughters, Elizabeth,
married to John Paulet Marquis of Winchester, and Anne, married to Charles
Blount Lord Mountjoy.

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 189
Henry VII. house: and his son was the 3rd Lord Brooke of that....

EPs Ly at sere ......name. And he had a son by his first if
bec that son had 2 doaehters married to Daltery and Graville. He
had by another wife sons and daughters. The sons towards young
men died of the sweating sickness. The Lord Mountjoye now
living’ married one of the Pollette daughters: (Pawlet) son and
heire to the Lord St. John maried the other.

One Aschue alias Aschgogh, Bishop of Saresbyri in Henry 6
tyme, was beheddid in a rage of the Commons for asking a tax of
money, as sum say, on an hill hard by Hedington; wher at this
tyme is a chapelle and a hermitage. The body of him was buried
in the house of Bonhoms at Hedington. This Aschue was a Master
of Arts. [Itin. mz. 98].

From a certain Latin book of Edindon Monastery :— _ [Itin. v1.,
p- 48].

“3 July a.p. 1352: was laid the first stone of the Monastery
of Edindon.

1 William Ayscough Bishop of Salisbury, Clerk of the Privy Council, had been
accused by the Commons of having been instrumental, together with the Duke
of Suffolk and Lord Say, in delivering up the provinces of Maine and Anjou.
The other two had already fallen victims to popular excitement. The Bishop’s
enemies, taking advantage of the disturbed state of the country, attacked him in
his palace at Salisbury. He fled for refuge to Edington Convent, was robbed on
the way of 10,000 marks, and the next day was dragged by the mob, headed by
a Salisbury brewer, from the High Altar at Edington Church whilst saying Mass,
to the top of a neighbouring hill, where he was murdered, on the feast of St. Peter
and St. Paul, 29th June, 1450.

The beautiful tomb at Salisbury, which Gough calls Bp. Ayscough’s, and on
which he supposes the action of the Bishop’s murder to be represented in relief,
is of a style of architecture 200 years older than Ayscough’s time. There is an
engraving of it, with a different account of the figures in relief, in Britton’s
Salisbury Cathedral, p. 95: where it ‘is properly described as Bp. Bridport’s, but
in the accompanying plate, by a misprint, is called Bp. Bingham’s.

Of the chapel and hermitage mentioned by Leland as having been erected on
the spot where Ayscough was murdered, nothing seems to be now known: Of
the priory of Edington there is an engraving in Gent. Mag. 1846, p. 257.

190 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

Sept. 16 a.p. 1358: was the first tonsure of the brethren.!

A.D. 1361. The Conventual Church of E. was dedicated by
Robert Weyvile, B. of Sarum, to the honour of St. James
the Apostle, 8. Katharine, and All Saints. 2

Oct. 8 a.v. 1866. Wm. of Edyndone, Bp. of Winchester,
Founder of the Monastery aforesaid, died.”

WESTBURY TO TROWBRIDGE AND BATH. [vul. 87].

From Brooke Haulle unto Wesbyri by low ground having wood,
pasture and corne, a myle and a halfe. It is the hedd toune of the
hundrede to whome it giveth name. In it is kepte ons a week a
smale market. Ther is a large churche. The toune stondithe
moste by clothiers.

Ther risythe 2 springs by Westbyri, one by sowthe, and another
as by southe west, and sone meetinge together go abowte Bradeley
village a mile and a half lower into Bisse broke that rennithe by
Brook Haule and so to Trougbridge, and then into Avon.

Bradeford, the praty clothinge toun on Avon, is a 2 miles of.

From Trowghbridge onto Bathe by very hilly ground a 7 miles,
levinge the woods and Furley parke and castle on the lyfte hand.3

1 Bishop Wm. (Cheney) of Edington had found at this place a college of
secular priests; i. e., parochially officiating ministers with cure of souls. He
converted it into an establishment of Monks Regular, to live “secundum regulam”
without cure of souls. Their new monastery was six years in building; and on
its completion, the brethren commenced as Regulars, adopting the shaven crown
and monkish habit.

2 The common seal of the Brethren of the monastic house of Edington (which
may perhaps have had a different patronage from that of the church) bears the
figures of St. Peter and St. Paul.

3 There were two roads by which he may have gone: either by Stowford, and
from that place to Iford, by a now nearly disused lane, which immediately skirted
the wall of the then park of Farley Castle; and so from Iford, along the valley
to Freshford Bridge: Or, by Westwood village, and along the high ground at the
back of Iford, to the same point. From Freshford he evidently followed an old
road above Limpley Stoke, down by Waterhouses, where, “at the very pitch at
the bottom of a very steep hill,’ he would cross the Midford Brook ; ascend
either Monkton Combe Hill by the large quarries, or Brass Knocker Hill, and
over Claverton Down, into Bath.

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 191

And by the way I rode over Fresheford Bridge of 2 or 3 faire new
arches of stone, and this was a 3 miles from Throughbridge; and a
2 myles beyonde that in the very piche of the botom of a very
stepe hill I passyd a wylde brooket rennynge on stones. Thens a
mile of in the way was a notable quarrey, and thens a playne, and
then by a stepe botom onto Bathe about a myle.

MARSHFIELD TO TROWBRIDGE AND FROME. [vir. 98].

{Leland went on to Bristol and Gloucestershire : and returned
“by playne ground unto Maschefeld, a lordship that belonged unto
the Canons of Cainesham.”}

Thens a 4 miles farther I passyd by hilly ground, and went
over a stone bridge, under the whiche ran a broke that a litle
lower went in sight into Avon ryver by the right ripe of it.?

Thens by hilly, stony, and wooddy ground a 3 miles unto
Bradeford on the right ripe of Avon. Thens on to Throughbridge.
Thens on to Broke by wooddy ground.

From Broke onto Frome Celwood in Somersetshire a 4 miles,
muche by woody ground and pasture on tyll I cam within a myle
of it, wher it is champaine. Thence to Vunney Delamere, and back
to Frome. Thens onto Philippe’s Northetoune, where is a meane
market kepte in a small toune, most mayntayned by clothyng).

From Northeton to Farley Castle a 2 miles.

Thens to Bradeford 2 miles.

BRADFORD. [vu. 100].

The lordshipe was gyven with the personage by Kyng thelred
onto the nunry of Shaftesbyri for a recompence of the murderinge

1 The Abbey of Black Canons at Keynsham (co. Som.) between Bath and
Bristol, founded a.p. 1170, by Wm. 2nd Earl of Gloucester (grandson, illegiti-
mately, of King Henry I.) who endowed it with (inter alia) the Manor Farm of
Marshfield.

2 He passed from Marshfield to Bathford, where he crossed the Box brook just
at its junction with the Avon: and so on to Bradford.

192 Leland’s Journey through Wiitshire.

of 8. Edward his brother.1_ One De la Sale, alias Hawle,a auncient
gentilman syns the tyme of Edwarde the I. dwellith at the......
end of Bradeford.

From Bradeford to Bathe.

[He continued his ride through Gloucestershire ; to Thornbury,
Berkeley, and back to Somersetshire ; and crossed by Mells to |

SELWOOD FOREST. [vit. 106. ]

The foreste of Sewood? is in one parte a 3 miles from Welles.
In this forest is a chapelle, and theryn be buried the bones of S.
Algar® of late tymes superstitiously sought of the folische commune
people.

The foreste of Selwood, as it is now, is a 30 miles in compace,
andstreatchith one way almoste onto Werminstre, and another way
onto the quarters of Shaftesbyri by estimation a 10 miles.

1 Edward the Martyr was murdered in A.D. 978, being 16 years of age, at Corfe
Castle, by order of his stepmother Elfrida. The Benedictine Nunnery of
Shaftesbury had been founded, according to most of our historians, by Alfred,
and was at first dedicated to St. Mary. It lost that name on the translation
thither of the body of St. Edward the Martyr. His brother and successor
AMthelred “the Unready,” by charter dated a.D. 1001, gave to the Church of St.
Edward the Monastery and Vill of Bradford, to be always subject to it, that the
nuns might have a safe refuge against the insults of the Danes, and, on the
restoring of peace, return to their ancient place, but still some of them to remain
at Bradford, if it should be thought fit by the prioress. King John confirmed to
the abbess of Shaftesbury the whole hundred of the manor of Bradford for ever
A.D. 1205. They had also the Rectory impropriate. [See Monast. and Hutchins. ]

2 “ Selwood Forest.” Partly in Somerset, partly in Wilts. By a survey of the
bounds of this large forest, taken in Edw. I., it appears that its ¢-we northern
boundary was considered to be a line drawn (speaking in general terms) from
Penselwood beyond Stourton, to South Brewham : thence by the river Frome to
Rodden near Frome; and that a large tract to the north of that line, then also
forest and including part of Wanstrow, Cloford, Trudoxhill, Marston-Bigot,
Cayford, &c., had been converted into forest by King Henry II., and ought to be
disafforested. A copy of this survey is printed in Collinson’s Somerset, vol. 11.,
p. 56; but, owing to the change of names, it is diflicult to follow the limits
described.

3 “St, Algar’s,” in co. Somerset: on the road from Frome to Maiden-Bradley
about 3 miles from the latter ; and now part of West Woodlands.

Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire. 193

From Welles to Nunney Delamere, a 2 miles partely by hilly and
enclosed ground.

Thens aboute a mile by like soyle unto Tut... .1 a longe village,
where the paroch chirche is unto Nunney Delamere.

Then half a mile farther, and so into the mayne foreste of
Selwood. And so passing half a mile farther I lefte on the righte
hand Witham the late priorie of Cartusians, not in the forest but
joining hard on the edge of it.

MAIDEN BRADLEY. [IVv. part 2, p. 105].

[ Kidderminster town in tymes past longid to the Bisetts, ancient
gentlemen. After, it came to the 3 heires generall of Bisett,
wherof one beinge a Lazar (leper) builded an hospitall at Maiden
Bradley in Wilts, to a priory of chanons. She gave her part here
in pios usus, and the Personage of Kidderminster was impropriate to
Maiden-Bradley |.

Thence (i. e., from Witham Friary) partly by forest ground and
partly by champayne a 4 miles unto

stourton. [vu. 107.]

The village of Stourton stondith in the bottom of an hille on the
left ripe of Stur.
The Lord Stowrton’s? place stondith on a meane hille, the soyle

1“Tut.... .’ The name which Leland vainly attempted to remember, or
his Editor Hearne to copy, was ‘‘ Truttokeshull,” now called Truddoxhill, a
hamlet between Nunney and Witham Friary, in the parish of Nunney, county
Somerset. The church or chapel alluded to has long been destroyed.

2 “Stourton.” There cannot be a stronger instance of the long neglect of
Wiltshire topography than the confession of the author of the History of the
Hundred of Mere [p. 42] that of this mansion, which for many centuries had
belonged to one of the most ancient families formerly in this county, there was
no published account whatever, except these passing notes by Leland. After
the publication of the volume which contains Mere, some further description of
Old Stourton House, with a very rude pen and ink drawing of it, taken about

194 Leland’s Journey through Wiltshire.

therof being stony. This maner place hath 2 courtes. The fronte
of the inner courte is magnificent, and high embatelid, castle
lyke.

[The goodly gate howse and fronte of the Lorde Stowrton’s howse
in Stourton was buyldyd ex spoliis Gallorum: (with French prize
money). vr. 100.]!

Ther is a parke among hills joining on the maner place.

The ryver of Stowre risith ther, of 6 fountaines or springes,
wherof 3 be on the north side of the parke hard within the pale.

A.D, 1650, was discovered in Aubrey’s MSS. at Oxford. Sir R. C. Hoare has since
given this in the appendix to History of Frustfield [p. 7.] We now present for the
first time a more developed view of it, founded upon Aubrey’s rough sketch.

Old Stourton House stood upon a site immediately in front of the present
mansion of Stourhead, between that house and the public road leading to
Maiden Bradley. The site is still to be recognized by an inequality of ground,
a few old Spanish chestnut trees, and some subterranean vaults. A relic of the
building is, or lately was, preserved in a house at Shaftesbury formerly the
‘* King’s Arms ;” a carved chimney piece, bearing the shield of Stourton
between those of Chidiock and Berkeley. [See a plate, in Gent. Mag. 1826,
p- 497.] The house covered a great deal of ground, and retained all the
internal arrangement of old baronial days. There was a large open-roofed
hall, and an open-roofed kitchen of extraordinary size. In the buttery was
kept a huge bone, attributed by tradition to one of the Anakim of the house of
Stourton, but which was no doubt a geological relic of some different species of
animal of much greater antiquity. There was a chapel, paved with tiles
bearing the Stourton shield, and the rebus, ‘‘ W.S.,” a tower and a tun. In
the civil wars the house was garrisoned for the King. In Sept. 1644 Ludlow
marched thither one night, and summoned it to surrender. His summons not
being attended to, his men piled faggots against one of the gates and set it on
fire. The inmates escaped by a back way into the park; upon which the
General entered, and having rendered it untenable passed on to Witham. The
Stourton family was of great eminence and antiquity in Wiltshire. It is said
that at a house of their’s here, William the Conqueror received the submission
of the English in the West. When the estate was purchased by Henry Hoare,
Esq., of London, in 1720 [or 1727, for Sir R. C. H. has both dates, Mere,
p. 56 and 63], the house of which we give the view was taken down.

1 The builder of this part was Sir John Stourton who, for his services to the
Henries in their French wars, was created the First Baron in a.p, 1448. He
had the Duke of Orleans in his custody at Stourton House for 10 months, for
which he was allowed 13s, 4d, a day,

OLD STOVURTON HOUSE
DESTROYED A.D.1720

> _ CPC RECOVERED FROM AN IMPERFECT SKETCH BY JOHN AUBREY A.D. Id 70.7

——

Leland’’s Journey through Wiltshire. 195

The other 3 be north also, but without the parke.! The Lorde
Stourton giveth these 6 fountaynes in his Armes.

The name of the Stowrtons be very aunciente in those parties.

Ther be 4 campes that servid menne of warre about Stourton :
one towarde the north weste part within the park, double dichid.
I conjecte that here stode a maner place or castelle. My Lord
Stourton sayith nay.

Ther is another campe a mile dim. of Stowreton, doble dichid, in
the toppe of an high hill. This is called communely Whiteshete

Hill.

The other 2 campes be abrode in the lordshipe.

There i is on an hill a litle without Stowrton a grove, and in it is
a very praty place called Bonhomes,? builded of late by my Lorde
Stourton. Bonhome of Wileshire, of the auncienter house of the
Bonehomes there, is lorde of it.

MERE. [vitt. 100.]

The diches and the plotte where the castle of Mere? stood, appere
not far from the chirche of Mere the market toune.

1 This spot is still called ‘‘ The Six Wells,” but they are not all now above

ground, some of those without the old park wall having been stopped up. Three
were in Wilts, and three in Somerset. The park paling or wall that divided
them was pulled down by Sir R. C. Hoare. A rough delineation of the six
fountains, also by Aubrey’s pen, represents them exactly as described by
Leland. '

2 This place is still known as the tything of Bonham, south of Stourton. By
Leland’s account a house had been built here by Lord Stourton before 1540,
but Sir R. C. Hoare quotes an indenture according to which the property was
sold to the Stourtons by Walter Bonham, of Great Wishford (between Deptford
and Salisbury) in the year 1665, [Mere 90.] A younger branch of the Bonhams
has already been mentioned as of Haselbury near Corsham. [See p. 144].

% Mere Castle was built a.p, 1253, by Richard Karl of Cornwall, brother to
King Henry LI.

20%

196 Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Harnham.

Mngla-Soron Cemetery ot Barnham,

NEAR SALISBURY.

It is well understood that much of what is called the History of
the Anglo-Saxon Settlement in Britain is only traditional, and
built upon the fictions of poetry and romance. Some of the chief
movements are no doubt accurately reported to us; whilst others
are disguised, and many are false: the oldest of ourchroniclers having
lived very long after the events which they describe. On matters
of detail, particularly the real habits and civilization of that people,
those writers are still less to be depended on: for to such points
they only allude incidentally. But we may, to a certain extent,
judge of the Saxon, as the Romans did of Hercules; by measuring his
footmarks.

Of the antiquities of the early Anglo-Saxon period, we are assured
by those who have given much attention to the subject, that our
information is derived entirely from one source; their graves.!

1 We recommend those of our readers who take, or think that they are likely
to take, an interest in English antiquities, to provide themselves with the very
useful and inexpensive little book from which we borrow this remark, called
‘‘ The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon,” by Thos. Wright, Esq., F.S.A. It is
exactly the sort of Manual upon these subjects that has been long wanted :
being clear, systematic, and illustrated by a great many woodcuts. With such
a guide as this to refer to, the discoveries that are now constantly made of
sepulchral relics become much more intelligible and interesting than they other-
wise would be. There will be no longer that vague guessing of character and
age, which leaves rational curiosity unsatisfied, and is also the cause of the
relics themselves being often unduly depreciated. Such articles may indeed possess
very little intrinsic value, but when their proper place in English antiquities is
accurately known, and they are compared with others of the class and period to
which they belong, they are of great use in leading to general conclusions, and
in elucidating ancient history more accurately. For those who wish to place on
the Anglo-Saxon shelf of their library a volume of more stately bulk and
appearance, there is Douglas’s ‘‘ Nenia,” a valuable work published 1798, Mr.

Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Harnham. 197

Fortunately for that study it happens that the contents of Anglo-
Saxon graves are particularly abundant and interesting, and that
we are enabled from the various articles found in them, to form a
tolerable estimate of the civilization of our ancestors.
Anglo-Saxon graves occur generally in extensive groups and on
high ground. They are found thickly scattered over the downs of
Kent, Sussex, and the Isle of Wight. Extensive cemeteries have
also been found in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, as well as in
the counties of Leicester, Derby, Nottingham, Northampton,
Lincoln, Cambridge, York, Suffolk and Norfolk. Collections of
Anglo-Saxon antiquities, taken from Kentish barrows, have been
formed by Lord Londesborough, Dr. Faussett, and Dr. Rolfe.
Wiltshire is one of those counties which have contributed largely
to our stock of knowledge derived from subterranean depositories.
The late Sir R. C. Hoare and Mr. Cunnington carried on for many
years, as is well known, a very vigorous attack upon the barrows
and tumuli with which the surface of a large part of the county is
covered. The collection formed out of their contents, and now
deposited at Stourhead House, is a considerable Museum of itself.
But the greater part of it relates to ante-Saxon times. Anglo-
Saxon interments have been occasionally laid open;! but we are

W. M. Wylie’s book on the Cemeteries in Gloucestershire, called ‘‘ Fairford
Graves,” Mr. Roach Smith’s ‘‘ Collectanea,” and the ‘‘ Archeologia,” also
contain extensive materials for the illustration of this period. For the general
reader, however, who may not have the opportunity of purchasing or consulting
expensive publications, the little book above referred to, will be found to contain
a sufficient compendium of information.

1 In a tumulus on Roundway Down, near Devizes, a curious interment of a
lady of the VI. or VII. century was brought to light, about 1843, on the pro-
perty of Mr. Colston. The corpse lay north and south, in a wooden chest bound
with iron. Near the neck were several ornaments composing a necklace ;
garnets set in gold, in the fashion of the Roman bulla, seemed to have been
arranged alternately with barrel shaped beads of gold wire. There were, also,
two gold pins, set with garnets, united by a chain, in the centre of which was
a circular ornament bearing a cruciform device engraved upon the setting. At
the feet lay the remains of a bronze bound box or cabinet. It fell to pieces on
the admission of the air, and the remains consisted of carved plates of thin

198 Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Harnham.

not aware that of a Cemetery of that period we have had any
instance in Wiltshire before that which Mr. J. Y. Akerman, the
Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries, has lately brought to light
at Harnham, near Salisbury.

Harnham is so close to Salisbury that it is almost a suburb of
the city. There is a tradition (mentioned in 1540 by Leland)
that a village stood there long before Salisbury itself: but we have
not been able to meet with any mention of the name in any record
of those early days to which such tradition would carry us. On
the south side of Harnham rises a high chalk hill, and at the foot
of this hill near the village is a field known by the name of
“The Low Field.” It is so called not from the lowness of its
situation, but from having been once covered with small conical
sepulchral mounds that have now long disappeared under the
plough. The word “Low” is a corruption of the Saxon “ hloew”
or “helow,” a tumulus: an etymology which it may be useful to
recollect, as the word often occurs in the composition of English
names of places, particularly of elevated sites; by which apparent
contradiction, some perplexity is caused to the uninitiated. This
is frequently the case in Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and elsewhere ;
as Caldon Low, a high hill near Cheadle, &. Wherever the word
is found, there is reason to suspect the vicinity of some ancient
burial place.1

bronze which had formed the hoops, and about 20 triangular plates, which
appeared to have been attached by rivets over one of the hoops, forming a
‘* Vandyked” ornament. These thin plates were ornamented with rows of dots,
hammered up in the metal. Some minor objects of bronze were also noticed,
apparently parts of a fastening or padlock; and remains of two earthen cups.
The box had probably been the receptacle of the lady’s ornaments. [See
Archeol. Journal, July 1851, p. 176).

1 It may be observed in passing, that the derivation of the name EJlows in
Staffordshire is explained by Mr. G. W. Collen in his Britannia Saxonica, p. 12,
to be from ‘‘ Lew,” a place of meeting for the men of contiguous hundreds for
purposes of appeal and settlement of causes. Whether such derivation applies
to the present instance or not, it is at all events a curious coincidence, that the
ancient village of Harnham would be conveniently situated in that respect,
being nearly at the very point of contact of three, if not of four, Wiltshire
hundreds.

Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Harnham. 199

To this “Low Field” at Harnham, Mr. Akerman’s attention
was called last year by Robert Wallan, whom we must introduce
to our readers (to those at least whoare agriculturally ignorant of such
an officer), as the ‘‘ Drowner,” or manager of the water-meadows, on
a farm occupied by Mr. Fawcett, under Viscount Folkestone. He
had observed the head of a spear protruding from the ground, and
upon further search discovered the iron boss of a shield, with por-
tions of a skeleton. Some other indications having been also noticed,
Mr. Akerman was induced to commence operations on a larger
scale, which he carried on until he had sueceeded in laying open
no less than sixty-two graves containing the remains of men,
women, and children, of various ages. Upon this extensive dis-
interment he gave a lecture at Salisbury ; and he has also published
in the Archzologia a minute and interesting description of it,
with some beautiful illustrations. From this we extract some of
the most remarkable particulars :—

Skeleton No. 4. A female; comb on the right side of the

head.
a 5. The legs crossed.
“4 7. A knife under the left arm.
: 9. A male child. A- knife on the right side: and

a small spear on the right of the head.

7 10. A plain metal ring on the finger of the left hand.

z 11. A bronze circular fibula (a kind of ornamental
buckle for fastening a cloak or robe) on each
shoulder: knife by the side.

rf 12. Apparently an aged woman: the thigh bone
measuring 183 inches. On the wrist of the
left arm, which lay in the lap, eight blue
glass beads. The right arm extended by the
side, and on the wrist eleven similar beads.
Tron buckleand bronze tweezers at the waist. A
cup-shaped bronze fibula on each shoulder,
which had imparted a beautiful blue tinge to
the collar bones.

200 Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Harnham.

Skeleton No. 18. A woman: under the left arm a knife. Between
the knees a very small child with a pair of
small fibule bronze gilt (see Fig. 1) on its
shoulders.

x 14. Aspear on the right side of the head (Fig. 2): the
blade being made in a peculiar way to cause the
weapon to whirl round in its flight (Fig. 3).

S 21. An infant. <A fibula of late Roman form.

23. Skeleton lying on its right side: the knees
doubled, and hands near the face. On one
of the wrists a bronze armlet.

Fe 24. Legs crossed at the ankles. On the right
shoulder a diamond-shaped plate of bronze,
which appeared to have been fastened by
nails to the staff of the spear, the iron of
which was on the right of the head.

ss 25. An infant: near the left arm two beads, one of
red paste, the other, a double one, of blue
glass.

5 28. Female: 5 foot long. Teeth very perfect:

skull unusually thick. Body lying on its

back. <A spiral ring on finger of right hand.

At the waist a belt ornament of bronze

gilt (Fig. 4). Near the left arm, blue glass

and amber beads. Near the left hand the
knuckle bone of a sheep, a small brass Roman
coin, a small flat square of bone or ivory with
marks like those on dice (Fig. 5). On the
left breast a small bronze ring, on which
are strung two toothpicks and an ear-scoop.

29. Some fastenings of bronze near the left side of

the head.

53 36. Grave four feet deep. Silver spiral ring on
middle finger of right hand (Fig. 6). Long
strip of bronze near right hip. On the
shoulders two bronze fibule, beads of various

”

Singlo-Saxon ftelics found at Harnham.
3

SOOTY iL
i eng om |
fb ed

AK
‘pean
nate

iy ny
ue

Anglo-Saxon Silver Fork found at Sevington.

7 j J
pew shir &
Edw * Kite Devi ges del?

Anglo-Saxon. Cemetery at Harnham. 201

colours, and others of amber, on the lap. A
single amber bead at the neck.

Skeleton No. 40. An adult. At the feet a bone spindle socket

”

which had evidently been turned in a lathe.
On the breast two small cup-shaped bronze
fibulee (Fig.7) (like, but of better workmanship
than, two figured in the Winchester Vol. of
the Brit. Archzol. Assoc., pl. 3, fig. 2).
Amongst the bones of the fingers of the left
hand a silver ring of solid form: another of
spiral form, and a plain gold ring. In the
lap, a bronze fibula of later Roman form,
(Fig. 8) beads, a comb, and iron knife.

42. On each shoulder a bronze gilt fibula, with blue
glass beads in the centre: a bronze pin on
right side.

48. A young person, 5 feet 7 inches. Under the
right shoulder, a knife of the usual form,
a fork (Fig. 9) with handle of deer’s horn,
a pin of deer’s horn, pair of bronze tweezers,
and a steel for striking a light.

52. Legs crossed at the ankles. A latten clasp at
the waist.

53. Old person, lying on the right side, knees
doubled. Knife under fore arm. A nearly
circular fibula on the first rib. Bronze buckle
at waist. Bronze ring on left hand, which
lay in the lap. Amber beads on the breast.
Another fibula on the shoulder.

54. An adult, 5 feet 7 inches long. Skull of very
peculiar form. A bronze ring (Fig. 10) and
a broad iron buckle, at the waist. Fibula at
the collar bones, with other relics.

Two things appear to Mr. Akerman to be peculiar to the inter-
ments at Harnham Hill. Ist. The very obvious regularity and order

in which the bodies had been laid. With few exceptions (and

202 Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Harnham.

some of these appeared to be accidental) the skeletons lay due East
and West (the heads to the west). One body was found doubled
up lying north and south; but this may have been owing to some
unintentional dislocation after burial. 2ndly. It seems to have
been the practice at this cemetery to excavate the alluvial soil down
to the chalk bed on which the body was then laid. This mode
differs from that which is usual in the Anglo-Saxon graves of Kent
and Sussex, where a cist (or grave) is formed in the chalk below
the base of the tumulus.

No trace of a coffin was discovered. The greater part of the
bodies were protected by large flint stones, placed in coffin-like
frames, and among the earth in more immediate contact with the
remains, were found fragments of pottery of an earlier age. Some
of these fragments were clearly of Roman or of Romano-British
fabric. They were not the broken remains of earthenware vessels
that had been deposited entire in the graves, but merely fragments
thrown over it to fill up. In illustration of this custom, as one
derived from times antecedent to Christian burial, the passage in
Shakespeare’s play of Hamlet is referred to, in which the Priest,
in spite of “Crowner’s quest law,’ expresses his own belief that
Ophelia had committed “ felo de se,’ and ought to have been
buried like a Pagan.

‘« Her death was doubtful :
And, but that great command o’ersways the order,
She should in ground unsanctified have lodg’d,
Till the last trumpet. For charitable prayers,
Shards, flints, and pebbles should be thrown on her.”
Act, V., Se. 1.

It may have been the case in England that such a mark of
reproach accompanied the burial of those who, in the gravedigger’s
words, had “wilfully sought their own salvation;” but the passage
applies in the first instance to Denmark, where Ophelia was
buried.

In some of the skeletons the jaws were found perfectly closed.
In many this office appeared to have been neglected.

Mr. Akerman also observes that several of the skeletons were
unaccompanied by the common Anglo-Saxon characteristic, the

Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Harnham. 203

knife; and in fact by any relic whatsoever. Neither was there a
single example of the sword, so generally met with in Anglo-Saxon
interments, nor, excepting the beads, any glass. A gold ring
exactly resembling a modern wedding ring, found on No. 40, is
stated to be unique in a burial of this period.

The fork (Fig. 9) placed with the knife under the arm of skeleton
No. 48 is of very rare occurrence. The only other instance of the
discovery of one that from its size may be supposed to have been
used for eating with, was in the year 1837, at the small hamlet of
Sevington in the parish of Leigh-Delamere, in North Wilts (Fig. 11).
An account, with an engraving of it, was published in the Arch-
eologia. Some labourers making a drain at the back of Mr.
Gough’s farm house discovered at the depth of two or three feet
the decayed remains of a box, in which had been deposited seventy
Saxon pennies of a.p. 806-890, with various relics all of Saxon
manufacture, and amongst them a silver two-pronged fork and
spoon, both of one style of workmanship; the spoon having traces
of Runic work upon it, which were not seen in the fork. The
genuineness of an Anglo-Saxon silver fork was naturally at first
disputed, but all the other objects being unquestionably of that
period, there is no reason for denying the same antiquity to the
fork. We have now another specimen in the Harnham excava-
tions: but this is of iron with a buckhorn handle, much less
elegant in its shape than the Sevington curiosity.1

1 How the world contrived until comparatively a late period to get through
its dinners, especially its hot ones, without the help of so useful, and to us essential,
an instrument as a fork, is a matter of astonishment. But such appears to have
been the case. If an expression used by Horace is to be understood as of
general application, we must infer that in the Augustan age, and even at the
very Augustan dinner table itself, he achieved his repasts ‘‘manibus unctis,”’
with greasy fingers. Still, specimens of ancient Roman forks have occasionally
been met with in Italy, and the modern use seems to have been adopted by us
from that country. ‘Tom Coryate, the odd traveller of A.p. 1600, was one of the
first who introduced it. He says that ‘‘he observed a custom in all those Italian
cities and towns through which he passed, that was not used in any other coun-
try that he saw in his travels, neither did he think that any other nation of

204 Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Harnham.

The finding of buckles, rings, beads, &c., upon the several parts
of the skeleton to which, when it was clothed with flesh, they had

Christendom used it, but only Italy. ‘‘The Italian” (he says) ‘‘and also
most strangers that are commorant in Italy, doe alwaies at their meales use a
little forke when they cut the meate: for while with their knife, which they
hold with one hand, they cut the meat out of the dish, they fasten the fork which
they hold in their other hand upon the same dish, so that whatsoever he be that
sitteth in the company of others at meate, if he should unadvisedly touch the dish
of meate with his fingers, from which all at the table do cut, he will give occasion
of offence unto the company, as having transgressed the laws of good manners.
This forme of feeding, I understand, is generally used in all places of Italy,
their forks being for the most part made of iron or steel, and some of silver,
but those are used only by gentlemen. The reason of this their curiosity is,
because the Italian cannot by any means endure to have his dish touched by
fingers, seeing all men’s fingers are not alike clean. Hereupon I myself thought
good to imitate the Italian fashion by this forked cutting of meat, not only
when I was in Italy, but also in Germany, and oftentimes in England since I
came home: being once quipped for that frequent using of my fork, by a certain
learned gentleman, a familiar friend of mine, one Mr. Laurence Whitaker, who
in his merry humour doubted not to call me Furcifer, only for using a fork at
feeding, but for no other cause.” (The word was equivocal, and signified also
a ROGUE.) It is therefore clear that in Coryate’s time, forks were not used in
England. Indeed Heylin (Cosmography, Bk. 111.) speaks in 1652 of silver
forks ‘‘having been taken up of late by some of our spruce gallants from
Italy.” But King Edward I. had been the happy owner of one, of which special
mention is made in the inventory of his plate chest. Piers Gaveston, the
favourite of the next reign, could boast of four: which, we are particularly
told, were for ‘‘eating of pears.” John Duke of Brittany also had one,
of silver, ‘‘to pick up sops from his pottage mayhap.” Before the days of
forks a round-ended knife assisted the proverbial fingers of the eater.- The
carver of a smoking joint seems to have had nothing for it but to manage
as he could, with his left hand. Our cooks still send up their haunch of
mutton or their ham, with an inviting handle of ornamented paper round
the bone, as if they still expected us to lay hold of it ‘‘ more majorum.” In an
ancient ‘‘ Book of Carving,” the operator is directed so to do, but with a cer-
tain delicacy. ‘‘ Never set on fish, flesh, beast, nor fowl more than two fingers
and a thumb!” A joint was sometimes brought to table still on the spit.

Harnham and Seyington therefore bear witness to the occasional use of the fork
at a much earlier period than is commonly supposed.

For the interment of such rare property, we can really suggest only one reason.
As it was a custom amongst Anglo-Saxons to deposit in the grave articles to
the use of which the owner had been partial during his lifetime, it is a fair
inference that the individual at the former place who took his knife and fork
away with him was one who had found a special gratification in the use of
those instruments when above ground, He would also seem to have been

Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Harnham. 205

been attached, is of course easily explained by the circumstance
that the Anglo-Saxons were buried not in grave-clothes, but “in
their habit as they lived: the man with his arms and accoutre-
ments, especially the long sword and shield; the woman with her
finery (not her best we would hope), and the articles of her toilette.

The girdle ornament (Fig. 4), found with skeleton No. 28, is a
novelty. It appeared to have been stamped from a die: and when
first brought to light, the gilding was as bright as when it was
new. Another kind of fastening for a belt was similar to one
recently adopted in France for parasols and umbrellas.

The steel for striking a light has been found in gravesin Lapland
and Germany : and is accounted for by a superstitious belief, that the
presence of fire would keep away evil spirits. The sheep’s knuckle-
bone had probably been an equally efficient preservative against
the convulsions to which the unhappy proprietor of the bones
No. 28 had been subject.1

With respect to the date of these interments, Mr. Akerman is of
opinion that it is to be fixed at some point between the latter part
of the fifth century (the first settlement of the Saxons in this
district) : and the middle of the seventh; (when they. were con-
verted to Christianity).

prematurely interrupted in his favourite exercise: for upon the anatomical
examination of the skeleton by whose side the knife and fork were found, the
molar teeth appeared to be ‘rather less worn” than those of many of his
companions.

1 In Anglo-Saxon interments, a single bucket-shaped wooden vessel has been
occasionally discovered of which we find no instance hitherto at Harnham. At
first it was supposed to be the remains of a headpiece or crown: but further
examinations have rather shown it to be a substitute for the Roman urn. In
the neighbourhood of Marlborough one of these was found, as recorded by Sir
R. C. Hoare. [‘‘ Ancient Wilts,” vol. 11., p. 34, pl. v1.] It was made of sub-
stantial oak, plated with thin brass, ribbed with iron hoops, had two iron
handles, one at each side, and a hollow bar of iron placed across the mouth,
and affixed to two pieces projecting above the upper rim of the vessel. The
surface was curiously ornamented with grotesque human heads, animals, &c.,
embossed in the metal plating. The dimensions were, height 21 inches,
diameter 24 inches. It contained a deposit of burned human bones. [See Arch,
Journal, 1851, p. 176).

206 Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Harnham.

In order to elucidate the matter a little, it may be useful to
refresh the reader’s memory by a slight sketch of the earliest
introduction of the Saxons, particularly into this part of Britain.
During the later years of the Roman occupation of the country,
a number of Angles and Saxons had gradually found their way
over to the Eastern and South-eastern coasts, and probably into
other more central parts. Upon the Romans finally abandoning
the island, these settlers were followed by organized bodies of their
fellow-countrymen from the banks of the Rhine and the Elbe.
About the year 450 the Jutes had formed the kingdom of Kent:
in 473 the Angles had similarly established themselves in the
middle and northern district : and between the years 493 and 519,
the Saxons, led by Cerdic and Cynric, had founded the kingdoms
of Essex, Middlesex, and Wessex. Of Wessex, Winchester was
the capital. Oynric by degrees extended his dominion westward:
defeating the Britons in a.p. 552 at Old Sarum, then called Searo-
byrig, and by another victory at Dyrham near Bath, his son
Ceawlin obtained possession of the three great Roman towns
Glevum (Gloucester), Corinium (Cirencester), and Aquz Solis
(Bath). The Christianity of the ancient British Church, long since
fallen into a state of degradation, had been almost annihilated by
the Heathenism of the Anglo-Saxon invaders. In a.p. 590 it was
restored by the arrival of Augustine, and in course of time the
whole country was once more converted. In a.p. 635 the West
Saxons, under Cynegils, accepted the revived faith. He died a.p.
643. On his death his son Cenwealh apostatized, and lost his
kingdom: but was restored both to the church and his throne
in A.D. 646, and died a.p. 672.

“ There is, therefore,” as Mr. Akerman observes, “every reason
to suppose that sometime in the reign of Cynegils, the Pagan
mode of interment amongst his subjects ceased.” And though it
is probable that Pagan customs would still linger amongst them,
still he is of opinion that the Harnham graves exhibit too many
traces of Heathen usage, to allow the supposition that the persons
buried there could have been converted to the true faith.

This view of the matter is confirmed by the further circumstance,
that a very large grant of land chiefly to the south of Salisbury, and

Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Harnham. 207

including Harnham, was made to the church of Winchester by
Cenwealh, probably as an atonement for his apostacy. When this
district had thus been placed under the immediate influence of the
church, Pagan usages would of course be less and less tolerated,
even if they were not thenceforth wholly forbidden. The inference
therefore seems to be that with so many traces of Paganism in the
mode of the interments as Harnham exhibits, it must have been
a burial place of Anglo-Saxons of Wessex prior to their conversion
to Christianity.

Mr. Akerman’s authority upon these subjects is so high, that we
most willingly adopt his view of the subject; making only the
passing observation, that the total absence of any signs of the
Pagan custom of burning the body, as well as the almost uniform
position of these skeletons facing the East, are a very close approxi-
mation to Christian custom. The situation also of the cemetery,
no longer upon the elevated ground which the early Anglo-Saxon
loved, as well as the generally peaceable character of the interments,
wholly without sword, and with spear rarely, seem to point to the
very latest days of Saxon Paganism; perhaps to the transition
period between Paganism and Christianity, during which the
ancient prejudices would be allowed a harmless indulgence, until
they finally disappeared. There is at all events a mixture of Pagan
and Christian customs in this cemetery, which it does not seem easy
otherwise to account for.

Mr. Akerman’s memoir is illustrated by an excellent map of the
neighbourhood, showing as far as the identification of names will
allow, the limits of the grant of land by Cenwealh to the church of
Winchester. He also supplies the derivation of some of our
modern South Wiltshire local names.!

1 We do not quite concur with the remark, that the authors of Sir R. 0.
Hoare’s history were wrong in their explanation of the name of Stoke-Verdon,
They say it is so called from the Lords Verdon. Mr. Akerman is for the correct-
ness of the popular pronunciation Stoke-Farthing, which he identifies with
“ Fyrdynge’s Lew” of the Saxon Charter. This is very likely the case. But,
if the authorities given in Sir R. C. Hoare’s book are faithful, which is not
disputed, that place, at a later period, certainly belonged to the Lords Verdon.
So that both derivations are right.

208 Wiltshire Titles’ Registration.

We understand that this interesting excavation is to be continued:
and, in concluding the present notice of what has been already
done, we cannot offer to our readers a more satisfactory apology for
meddling with dead men’s bones, than that which has been made
by Mr. Akerman himself. “Let it not be said that a spirit of idle
curiosity has urged us to disturb the ground where the primitive
inhabitants of a forgotten lineage have slept undisturbed for twelve
centuries. Their weapons, their decorations are valueless to the
idle observer, but to the archeologist they are of great price. They
afford to him a retrospect of an age that has long since passed away :
they furnish fragmental evidence of what we once were: and con-
tribute notes for a yet unwritten chapter of our history.

Wiltabire Citlew’ “Registration, 1709.

On the subject of the public registration of bargains and sales,
now felt to be a question of national importance, the County of
Wilts, viewed as a community, took the initiative nearly a century
and a half ago. It is true that Sir Matthew Hale had previously
delivered his views on the point, in a pamphlet of 26 pages,
published in 1694, eighteen years after his death, but there appears
(so far as we are aware) no trace of the county movement de-
veloped in the following document having been preceded by any
similar expression in other parts of the kingdom.

On the 8th of December, in the 8th year of Queen Anne; a
petition of the High Sheriff of Wilts, Her Majesty’s Justices of
the Peace, and gentlemen of the Grand Jury, assembled at the
quarter sessions of the peace, held at Marlborough, 4th October,
1709, and of several of the Justices of the Peace, and other gen-
tlemen and freeholders of the same county, was presented to the
House and read; setting forth “That the lands in the said county

Wiltshire Titles’ Registration. 209

are generally freehold, and may be and sometimes are so secretly
conveyed by ill-disposed persons, that several who have purchased
lands or lent money thereon, have been undone by prior and secret
conveyances and incumbrances: And praying that leave may be
given to bring in a bill for the public registering of all deeds,
wills, conveyances, and other incumbrances, that shall be made of
any honours, manors, lands, tenements, or hereditaments, within
the said county of Wilts, and also for the enrolment of all bargains
and sales thereof.” “Ordered: That leave be given to bring in
a bill in accordance, &c.: And that Sir Richard Howe, Sir Charles
Hedges, Mr. Montague, and Mr. Diston, do prepare and bring
in a bill.”

The only other references to the affair are, a second reading on
the 19th of December; the gentlemen serving for Dorsetshire
added to the committee in January; those for Surrey and Hunt-
ingdon added in February; and finally, instructions conveyed to
the committee on the following day, “That no attorney at law
should be Registrar”; after which it disappears from the pages of
the Commons’ Journal.

This petition clearly enough exhibits the opinion entertained by
~ men of property at the early part of the 18th century respecting
the conveyances then in use for landed property: but the chief
objection to them appears to be that they were not safe as against
“prior and secret conveyances.” The Act proposed was never
passed, but the decision of the Courts of Equity have since that
period formed a good protection against the fraudulent and secret
practices complained of. The care which during the last and
present century has been bestowed on the documentary proof of
titles has greatly contributed to discourage and frustrate secret
conveyances. Indeed the commission of such a fraud is now a

very unusual circumstance; the grievance felt at the present day

being one of a different kind, consisting in fact of the element of

expensiveness, as the result of that elaborate investigation, and

cumbrous verbosity which are deemed requisite for the due pro-

tection of a purchaser or party accepting a security in freehold

land. It is chiefly for remedying this, that a Commission has been
25

210 Malmesbury Abbey.

appointed by Her present Majesty’s Government, who are now
preparing a Report which will shortly be laid before Parliament.

It is somewhat remarkable that amongst the country gentlemen
who appear to have interested themselves in this matter (those of
Dorsetshire, Huntingdon, and Surrey for instance) no mention
should be made of the gentlemen of Gloucestershire or the members
for that county; and yet it is well known that Sir Matthew Hale,
whose treatise “‘On the Inrolling and Registering of Conyeyances”’
has been already referred to, lived in Gloucestershire and would
probably have made communications on the subject to the members
of his own district. Almost the whole case is discussed in that
work, and the opinion announced by this eminent lawyer was
decidedly in favour of a general register. The book it is true does
not bear his name, being merely attributed to ‘a person of great
learning and judgment,” but is well known to have been his
production. In our own day the counties of York and Middlesex
have obtained Acts for local registers, but as before observed,
the gentry of Wiltshire were the first in the field.

Malmesbury Abbey.

The following petition has, I believe, been unnoticed by any
local topographer. It is an application made in the 10th year of
Henry VI. for the appointment to a vacant ‘‘ Corrody” (in medizeval
Latin, “‘ Corrodium”’) or Allowance charged upon a Monastery for
maintaining a seryant to the King, and providing him with meat,
drink, and other necessaries.

“Au Roy nostre souveraign Sieur. Supplie tres humblement
yostre humble liege serviteur Thomas Hill varlet du celier de
nostre souyeraigne Dame la Regne; Que de vostre benigne grace,
il vous plais lui granter et ottroyer une corrodie estant en |’Abbaye
de Malmesbury, a present vacante en vostre main par la mort et

Malmesbury Abbey. 211

decease de un nommé Robert Lake, pour y celle l’avoir et tenir le
dit suppliant, avec les droits, peruffiz, et emolumens quelconques
et y appurtentes, durant le terme de sa vie. Et il priera Dieu
pour vous, que par sa sainte grace vous doient bonne vie et longue.
13 September, 1431.”

[endorsed] “R. H. We have granted this bill.”

The French of the above, being antiquated, may need a trans-
lation.

“To our sovereign lord the King :—Your humble liege servant
Thomas Hill, valet of the cellar to our sovereign lady the Queen,
humbly prays you, of your benign grace, to give and grant to him
a corrody in the Abbey of Malmesbury, now vacant, in your hands,
by the death of a person named Robert Lake, to hold the same
unto your said suppliant, with all rights, profits, and emoluments
whatsoever thereunto appertaining, during the term of his life.
And he will pray that, by the Heavenly grace, you may be en-
dowed with a long and prosperous life.”

The Corrody or alimony above alluded to, “within the Monastery
of Malmesbury,” was granted by K. Richard ITI. to John Morice
otherwise Turke [Har/. MS. 433]. It is, no doubt, the same
which, amongst the liabilities recited in the valuation of this
Abbey, made in the time of Henry VIII., reappears as a perquisite
claimed by the Longs of Draycote under the following form: “To
Sir Henry Long, Knight, and his heirs for ever, a corrody of seven
white loaves and seven conventual flagons of beer, to be allowed
out of the Abbey of Malmesbury every week; estimated at the
annual value of 60 shillings.” [ Vad. Ecel. Wilt. p. 122}.

There were other “Sustentations” of similar kind, in the gift of
the Crown, at Glastonbury, Eynsham, Spalding, &e.

J. WAYLEN.

212 Wilts Notes and Queries.

Wilts Motes and Queries.

Wurts. Mac. No. 1. Pacr 89. Doc Wurerers.—In illustration
of Mr. Carrington’s remarks on this ancient office, the following
occurs in an old play, “ The return from Parnassus,” acted by the
students of St. John’s College, Cambridge, in 1606. Sir Raderick
in the character of patron, examining the qualifications of Signior
Immerito, says,

‘These shall suffice for the parts of his learning:—now it remains to try
whether you be aman of good utterance, that is, whether you can ask for the

strayed heifer with the white face, as also chide the boys in the belfry, and bid
the sexton whip out the dogs. Let me hear your voice.”

STONEHENGE, A Pastorat.—John Speed the historian, constructed
a pastoral entitled Stonehenge, which, according to Anthony a
Wood, was performed before the president and fellows of St John’s
College, Oxford, 1635. Was it ever printed ? or, in what collection
is it preserved P

Tue Rev. Watrer Harre.—This nonjuring divine, who re-
linquished the vicarage of St. Mary Magdalen at Taunton, rather
than take the oaths to William III. is stated to have retired to
Kintbury in Berkshire: but does not the fact that his son, of the
same name (the historian of Gustavus Adolphus), was born and
educated at Marlborough, afford presumptive evidence that it was
at this latter place that he spent the evening of his very protracted
days? He died at the age of 95.

QureEN ANNE AT WuetrHam.—In the autumn of 1703, Queen
Anne visited the family residence of John Kyrle Ernle, at Whetham,
and remained there one or more nights. Was it accident brought
the Queen to Whetham on this oceasion? And if not, then what
was the inducement thus to signalize the family of Ernle ?

Wilts Notes and Queries. 213

Tue Princess WirpraHAMa.—In 1767 was published a work
bearing the following title, “A Plain Narrative of Facts, relating
to the Person who lately passed under the assumed name of the
Princess Wilbrahama, lately detected at The Devizes; containing
her whole history, from her first elopement from the Hon. Mrs.
Se t’s till her discovery and commitment to Devizes Bridewell:
together with the extraordinary circumstances attending that dis-
covery, and the Report of a Jury of Matrons summoned on that
occasion.” In asubsequent notice ‘“ Wilbrahama” is spelt ‘“ Wil-
helmina”’; whether by mistake or as a correction, is uncertain.
Salis. and Winch. Journal. Can any of the readers of this Maga-
zine throw any light on this affair? The work has long been

unsuccessfully sought. J. W.

[She was a clever swindler who, between 1765 and 1768, travelled through
all parts of the kingdom, styling herself Princess of Mecklenburgh, Countess
of Normandy, Lady Viscountess Wilbrahamon, &c. and under one or other of
such names, by promising to use her influence in providing for people, per-
suaded them to trust their money with her, giving notes in return. Sometimes
she imposed even upon persons of distinction, passing herself off as of high
foreign connexion, but in misfortune: and varying her story to suit cireum-
stances. At Hadleigh in Hampshire, by her genteel manners and insinuating
address, she induced a wealthy farmer named Boxall, to marry his son to her,
and to advance a large sum of money upon the occasion. She then took up her
residence in London, living in great style till it was all gone, when she left the
disconsolate husband in the lurch. She was committed under the Vagrant Act
at Devizes, as Sarah Boxall, in October 1767; when she confessed that her
maiden name was Sarah Wilson. In January 1768, she was convicted at West-
minster of the following fraud. Two years before she had gone into a shop kept
by a Mrs. Davenport in the Haymarket, and told a piteous tale of having been
bred a gentlewoman, forced by her relatives to marry a foreign Count against her
consent, and of her being abandoned by him, with a single hundred pounds,
for which she shewed a check upon Child’s bank. She wished to present it at
the bank, but her present appearance was so much beneath her birth and
dignity, that she was ashamed to appear before Mr. Child. Mrs. Davenport’s
niece compassionately took her into the house, equipped her decently, and went
with her in a coach to the bank. Being told that Mr. Child was at his house
in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, they proceeded thither. She then made some excuse
for asking to see one of the servants, and pretending that she wanted to call in
Clare Market, slipped out at a back entrance, and escaped. The young person
in the coach, after waiting nearly an hour, ventured at last to enquire after
‘the Countess”; and so the trick was discovered. Being a notorious impostor
she was sentenced to be transported. Alderman Hewitt, of Coventry, in 1778
published ‘“‘ Memoirs” of her Ladyship: but does not notice the pamphlet
enquired for above; so that it is doubtful if it was ever issued.] (See Notes
and (Queries, vol. iv. p. 8.)

214 Geological Notices.

THe PenatEs round at Devizes, in 1714.—A gardener by the
name of Cadby discovered in a field near Devizes (supposed to be
at Southbroom) a Roman urn, containing some coins, and nineteen
bronze images or Penates, varying in height from two to six and
a half inches, some of them of very good design. As Roman
antiquities were not so well known in this country at that time as
they have been since, they were esteemed great curiosities and as
such they were exhibited in various parts of the county. Eight
only of them can now be found, and these are in the British
Museum. Can any readers of the Wilts Magazine inform the
society where the remainder of them now are? Those in the
British Museum are Jupiter, Pallas, two of Bacchus, two of
Mereury, Hercules and Neptune. W.C.

FOSSIL JAW OF ICTHYOSAURUS CAMPYLODON.

A fine specimen of the right ramus of the lower jaw of this animal
has just been discovered in the Upper Green Sand of the neigh-
bourhood of Warminster, and is now in the collection of Mr.
Cunnington, of Devizes. It is three feet in length, and probably
belonged to an individual some 25 feet long.

The only remains of this animal hitherto found in the Upper
Green Sand are detached teeth; but a few bones have occurred
in the Chalk of Kent and Cambridgeshire.

The species Campylodon is the last survivor of the genus
Icthyosaurus. The occurrence of this specimen is interesting, as
exhibiting a good example of the extraordinary pre-Adamite
inhabitants of Wiltshire.

For a full description of this reptile see Professor Owen’s
Monograph of the reptiles of the Chalk, in the volume of the
Palzontographical Society for 1851.

Entomological Notices. 215

THE OCCURRENCE OF TESTACELLUS MAUGEI
IN WILTSHIRE.

This animal, which is a native of Teneriffe, and has not hitherto
been found naturalized in this country, occurs in considerable
numbers in a market garden near Devizes, where it is frequently
dug up among the potatoes and carrots. The Testacellus is a species
of slug about 33 inches in length, but differing from the common
slugs of our fields and gardens in being carnivorous, Its colour is
grey, marbled with darker veins, and the under side is of a bright
orange hue. It may easily be distinguished by having on its tail
a small ear-shaped shell about half an inch long.

This shell is doubtless an excellent protection to the creature
when engaged in its predatory excursions among the earthworms,
which constitute its principal food.

RARE INSECTS.

Among the donations to the Society, are two very rare insects,
which have lately been found in the county. One is the Raphidia
ophiopsis, or Snake Fly. A small but very remarkable looking
insect, with a long neck and viper like head. It might be popu-
larly described as a compound of snake and fly. It was found at
Great Bedwyn by Miss Sheppard, and by her presented to the
Society.

The other is the Chalcis aptera, an insect which forms under-
ground galls on the roots of the oak; being one of the multitude
of insects with which the oak above every other tree of the forest
or garden is infested. It is an example of the Apterous Hymen-
optera, closely resembling the Ant, but having a much larger and
almost globular abdomen. Specimens have been presented to the
Society, and to the British Museum, where it has not hitherto been

known. W. C.

216 The Museum.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO MUSEUM AND LIBRARY.

The committee feel great pleasure in acknowledging the receipt
of the following articles which have lately been presented to the
Society :—

By Rey. W. C. Luxis, Great Bedwyn.—Relics found in a Roman
villa, at Great Bedwyn. Fine stuffed specimen of Mergus Serrator
{bay breasted Merganser), shot at Great Bedwyn.

By F. A. 8. Locks, Esa., Rowde Ford.—A. large number of
Roman and other Coins.

By Mrs. SHepprarp, Great Bedwyn.—Ancient Brass Seal, found
in a garden at Alton Barnes.

By Miss J. Suepparp, Great Bedwyn.—Specimen of Raphidia
ophiopsis (Snake fly), caught at Great Bedwyn.

By Joun Brirron, Ese., Burton Street, London.—Five Bronze
Celts from Ireland.

By Dr. Tuurnam, Wilts County Asylum.—Copy of a paper
on “Sepulchral Remains at Fairford,” by Mr. C. Roach Smith.

By Rey. A. Fanz, Warminster.—Two specimens of Iron Pyrites,
found at Boyton. Bronze Fibula, found in a pond at Boyton.
Several fragments of Flowered Quarries, from the east window of
Boyton Church.

By Mr. W. P. Haywarp, Wilsford.—Playfair’s “ British Family
Antiquity,” 9 vols.

By Rev. E. B. Warren, Darlborough—Roman and other
Coins, found in the neighbourhood of Marlborough.

By Rey. E. Meyrick.—Basket-hilted Rapier.

By F. C. Luxis, Ese., M.D., F.S.A.—“< Remarks on Ate Celtic
Monuments of the Channel Islands.

By Mr. Joun Gopwin, Oxzford.—A Grant of land to the Abbess
and Convent of Lacock, dated 12. R. 1.

Tait Buu, Printer, Saint John Street, Devizes.

eth. ft

WILTSHIRE
Archwalogeal ond Batural AWistory

MAGAZINE.

No. II. NOVEMBER, 1854. Voz. I;
Contents,
PAGE
Tue Eart or Herrrorp’s CorRESPONDENCE, relating to Co. Wilts:

Temp. Jas. I.: By J. Wayten, Esq. (To be continued.).......... 217-232
Boyton CuurcH. No.1: By the Rev. A. Fann. ............. .. 233-238
On OnntrHotocy. No. 3. The Structure and Faculties of Birds:

Beye thee Bey, ea. (Ci SMiuree inst jo.5 telarset ss -1c, selebetotarole svete ave veactel hate 239-249
Matmespury Appey. License for its conversion into a Parish Church :

Eeyaunonbvove EID Wr sWeLLTONG =/0¢-ylercumsatetey waivers spiabere! avs erola siohe0 a eyarv sue 249
Mavup Hezarn’s Causey: By the Rev. J. E. JACKSON........... .. 251-264
Kayeston House, Braprorp: By the Rev. J. E. JACKSON.......... 265-302

[The House, 265-270. Family of Hall of Bradford, 270. Of
Baynton, 273. Of the Dukes of Kingston, 274. Pedigree showing
the Descent to Lord Manyers, 275. Miss.Chudleigh, Duchess of
Kingston, 274-8. House restored by Mr. Moulton, 278].
ScuepuLtEe No. 1.—Ancient Deeds discovered at Kingston House.. 279-295

ScHEDULE No. 2.—Extracts from other Papers found there...... 296
Ditto relating to the Manvers estate at Bath .. 299
Srrsury Hitz. Lines on the Excavation: By Miss E. FIsHER...... 302

WINTERBOURNE Monkton. Tumulus found at: By Mr. W. Hitrrer 303-304

Murper or Henry Lone, Esa., a.p. 1594: By the Rey. J. E. Jackson 305-321
Tue ANCIENT STYLEs and Destenations oF Persons: By F. A. Car-

Ree CUNO BUNS its cuca yi Stet ay Shenae yx chshegtc tease eae vatenatars theker ase) kings oiere 322-349
Wirrs Norrs anp Quertes—Salmon Fishing in Wilts, 350. Rebecca
Riots, 350. Steeple-Flying, 351. A Peep at the Wiltshire As-

sizes, 352.

Donations to the Museum and Library .......... ...eceeeceeecee 352
ILLUSTRATIONS,
PAGE
Boyton Church : Windows in Lambert Chapel ............ 236
wate Ge Alex (Gifard’s PRG y ics seve oe cence s daa 237
MAD BTONIMIONGH, “DOLAOLOTC.: Hiei utac ats innate lsc 14 one ee 265
Dom COO CARVANeTOL AMINE rite nitiisiswic we sey ale oder 268

DEVIZES :
Henry Bor, Sart JoHN STREET.

LONDON:
G, Bert, 186, Freer Srreer; J. R. Smrrn, 36, Sono Square.

DEVIZES:
PRINTED BY HENRY BULL,
SAINT JOHN STREET.

WILTSHIRE MAGAZINE.

‘‘MULTORUM MANIBUS GRANDE LEVATUR ONUS.’’—OVID.

Che Aertfark Carrespandenre,

CONSISTING OF LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS PASSING BEFWEEN THE
Eart or Herrrorp, wis Depury-LizureNaNnts, AND OTHER
DISTINGUISHED PERSONS, ON VARIOUS MATTERS CONNECTED WITH
THE County oF Wits; Temp. JAMES J., WITH PRELIMINARY
REMARKS.

Few persons are aware how completely the centralising power of
Government in London has, in modern days, absorbed the cabalistic
exclusiveness, or, to use a milder term,the individuality of interest,
which characterised the various provinces of England during the
middle ages: a process unavoidable no doubt, and symptomatic of
the present times, which, while it has in great part vitiated the in-
tegrity of that imperium in imperio which each county presented
before “the age of great cities’ began, has led the gentry by slow
degrees to look upon the public service of the State as offering a
fairer and wider field for renown than could possibly be realised by
the defences of their paternal acres, at the head of a stationary
force of Militia.

This change was not completely brought about till during the
late long war; the jealousy felt by the local gentry, whenever the
Government seemed disposed to encroach on their old Militia land-
marks, being apparent down to acomparatively recent period. Re-
cruiting parties from regiments of the line were long looked upon
in much the same light as press-gangs ; while the annoyance they
not unfrequently gave to the rural Magistracy was sympathised in
by the municipal functionaries of the boroughs, who affected to

VOL. I.—NO. III. 2F

218 The Hertford Correspondence.

resent as an affront the presence of men not amenable to their ter-
ritorial sway. It is no illiberality to conjecture that the spirited
opposition to the establishment of James II’s standing army which
attached so much parliamentary celebrity to the name of John
Wyndham the member for Salisbury (himself a Militia Colonel)
was mainly prompted by the same sentiment ; and a further illus-
tration of the absence of a good understanding between the two
services is to be found in the unfortunate duel which only a few
weeks previously had occurred between Sherrington Talbot and an
artillery officer, arising out of a dispute as to the respective merits
of their men during the Duke of Monmouth’s rebellion, and which
proved fatal to the heir of Lacock. But as the object of the above
remarks has been rather to exhibit the more recent manifestation of
this feeling, let us refer to a few memoranda belonging to the mid-
dle and close of the last century. And first, as to the system of
inducing men to quit the Militia for the regular army. This prac-
tice, when clandestinely carried on, has of course lost none of its
illegality, yet it is now one of constant occurrence; the recently
issued Government circulars to the Militia Captains to facilitate
such transfers being only an expression of the altered views of
society on the subject. Seventy years ago it was looked at in a
very different light. The following advertisement betrays an ani-
mus of which the like expression would, at the present day be re-
garded, to say the least, as ungraceful.

‘“‘ Devizes, 21 Sept., 1787.

‘« Whereas a Sergeant on the recruiting service has this day been convicted
before two of His Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for the County of Wilts in
the penalty of £20 for having enlisted a man enrolled to serve in the Militia of
the said County : the Colonel and Officers of the said regiment of Militia, in
consideration of the said Sergeant’s submission, and assurance that he had been
led into the said offence by an opinion that men enrolled for three years only
might be enlisted, have remitted the said penalty ; but they hereby caution all
recruiting Sergeants and others against taking any man enrolled to serve in the
Militia before his full time of service shall be expired; as they are determined
to prosecute all persons offending with the utmost rigour of the law.”

N. HONE,
Adjutant, Wilts Militia.”

At a somewhat earlier date, viz. in 1770, great displeasure was

expressed on one occasion by certain parties in Devizes at the offen-

The Hertford Correspondence. 219

sive manner in which it was supposed some of the regulars stationed
in the town sought to signify their contempt of the County Justices.
The affair was reported as follows :—Sir Edward Baynton while, in
company with his brother Magistrates, conducting the business of
the Quarter Sessions in the Town Hall, was greatly disturbed by
parties of the 5th, 38th, 50th, and 56th foot, who persisted in
patrolling the streets with drums and fifes, and in defiance of a
custom which had hitherto exempted the period of the Sessions
from this sort of exhibition, continued their exercise immediately
in front of the Court. Sir Edward Baynton having submitted to
the nuisance for a considerable time, sent out his Constables to
request their withdrawal. This appeal was unheeded, and the writer
of the account closes with the remark that “in his humble opinion,
if the Court had offered to punish them for disobeying the order of
all the Magistrates, we might have had another Boston affair in the
Town of the Devizes.” It is true that this charge of insubordina-
tion was indignantly repelled by subsequent writers in the public
Journals both of Salisbury and London, but the whole tenour of
the correspondence, even if it mitigate in some measure the impres-
sion that an affront was designed, by no means disturbs the fact,
that annoyance was felt.

On the other hand, the local Militia did not always set an
example of decorous citizenship. A signal instance of the defiant
front which they would occasionally venture to assume, in order to
show their independence of the Government, is the fact that in 1771
nearly all the officers of the Wilts regiment resigned their com-
missions, for no other purpose than to express their “disgust at a
late promotion.” What the promotion was, is not stated. It may
possibly have been that of the Earl of Suffolk, of Charlton, who
during that year, sueceeded Lord Halifax as keeper of the privy
seal.

lt is worth mentioning in this place, that even Wolfe the
conqueror of Quebec, when recruiting his regiment in Devizes,
during his early career, is traditionally reported to have found no
better quarters than could be furnished by an obscure Inn at the
back of the Town Hall, known by the sign of the “ The Seribbling

220 The Hertford Correspondence.

Horse.” (an engine used in the manufacture of cloth). Meanwhile,
the fashionable posting house of The Black Bear, where the Wilt-
shire Militia Captains were feasting, would have scorned to harbour
the representative of the royal forces, while engaged, as in truth
he was, in fishing for the dregs of society. The reason of all this
is plain enough. Local troops had existed long before a standing
army rose into ascendency ; and as these medieval levies were
always equipped and supported by the district which produced them,
it took a long time to dispossess the minds of the leaders, whether
in Towns or Counties, of the idea of a proprietary right which it
was supposed they could claim in the services of their pet battalions :
hence their preference. This feeling has now gone by. While
the County forces have lost none of their importance, the army has
risen in respectability. The modern Militia, in place of being its
rival, has come to be its feeder. During the late war with France
the Wilts regiment alone recruited the line with more than 2,000.
men, and many who fought with credit at Waterloo had received no
other training.

One of the greatest blows levelled by the Government against
the institution of the Militia (viewed as a weapon in the hands of
a subject) was the expulsion in 1780 of the Earl of Pembroke from
the Lord-Lieutenancy of this County, a post which his family had
held for nearly 200 years: simultaneously with which, the Marquis
of Carmarthen was discharged from the like office in the East
Riding of Yorkshire. This mode of procedure led, as is well
known, to the resolute gathering at Devizes on the 28th of March,
of the gentry, clergy, and freeholders of Wilts, when the Hon.
Charles James Fox recommended the adoption of those “corres-
ponding associations” throughout the realm, which afterwards
proved so troublesome to the ruling powers. The meeting was in
fact one of those declarations which at the period in question were
common in all the principal Counties, avowedly directed against the
Crown, whose encroachments, real or supposed, were becoming an
object of daily increasing alarm to the landed aristocracy. But the
circumstance which principally gave eclat to the proceedings was
the Earl of Shelburne’s recent quarrel with Mr. Fullarton, arising

The Hertford Correspondence. 221

out of the very question we are discussing, his Lordship having
applied to that gentleman the appellation of “clerk,” though
recently elevated by the Government to the Colonelship of a regi-
ment of the line, a position for which Mr. Fullarton’s previous
habits by no means qualified him, and which was designed (or
supposed at least) to place him in invidious rivalry with certain
gentlemen of fortune in the country. Lord Shelburne, though
unable to attend the aforesaid meeting at Devizes, owing to a wound
received in the duel, addressed a long letter to the chairman, in
which the following reference to the Militia occurs :—

“‘ Though no one,” observes his Lordship, ‘‘ feels with more concern the abuses
which have taken place in the Militia, and particularly the departure from the
ancient, true, fundamental, and till of late years, invariable, Militia-principles
of keeping them within their Counties, except in case of actual invasion, (their
present distant and unnecessary removals serving only to assimilate them to the
standing army, in principle and in habit, not in discipline,) I still have that
confidence in our army as well as Militia, as at present constituted, that I hope
neither are yet so estranged from a love of the constitution as to give any just
apprehension of danger.”

An expression occurring in one of the following letters may seem
at first sight to impute a national character to the service of which
it treats. Mr. Duckett in Letter IX is urged by Lord Hertford.
to the prompt acceptance of his office on the ground of obedience
to the King and the public good of his country: but it is well
known by those conversant with the phraseology of the 17th cen-
tury, that the term country when thus employed had reference
simply to aman’s particular district or province. A member of
Parliament, for instance, is frequently spoken of as “repairing to
his country,” that is, to his country-seat or constituency. Lord
Hertford’s expostulation with Mr. Duckett, therefore, in behalf of
his country, is just nothing more than an appeal to his local
prejudices. Of course it would be absurd to represent that any
thing like a rivalry existed, at the time Hertford wrote, between the
County forces and those of the State, for before the period of the
Civil wars of Charles I. there was no such thing as a standing
army in England. All that is designed to shew is that the safety of
the realm was formerly based on the practice of the self-government
of boroughs and provinces, in contradistinction to the modern

222 The Hertford Correspondence.

principle of confiding it to one vast homogeneous engine wielded by
the central authority.

It now remains to take a brief notice of the distinguished per-
sonage whose name appears at the head of this article. (The
subordinate characters will be noticed in the sequel).

Sir Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, Lord Lieutenant of Wilts
and Somerset during the reign of James I, was the eldest son of
the Protector Somerset, by the second wife Anne Stanhope, and
the grandfather of the loyal Marquis of Hertford, who won the
battle of Roundway. In early life he had got into trouble with
Queen Elizabeth, by presuming to marry without royal licence the
sister of Lady Jane Grey. For this he languished in the Tower for
eight or nine years, and paid a fine of £15,000, still further aton-
ing for the rash act of his youth by a long life of devoted allegiance
practised at a distance from the Court. At the date of the follow-
ing letters he was in his 70th year, Jiving at Amesbury, and
occasionally at Netley, having married his third wife, the widow
of a London vintner, though herself of gentle blood, (a Howard)
and the heiress of an immense estate. This was the lady for whose
sake Sir George Rodney, having sighed in vain, repaired to Ames-
bury after her marriage with the Earl, and writing his last
message to her in his own blood, destroyed himself at the public
Inn. The Earl died 1621, and was buried under a gorgeous monu-
ment in Salisbury Cathedral, at the east end of the south aisle.

Among the facts illustrated by the ensuing correspondence may
be mentioned, the distinctiveness of the muster in large towns from _
that in the counties, the liabilities of the clergy to be separately
assessed for the support of arms, the royal system of tax gathering
under the name of loans, and an approximation to the value of the
frecholders’ estates as proved by their respective contributions.
The documents, it should be added, are only a selection from the
original packet in the British Museum Library, with one or two

others added from a different source.
J. WAYLEN.

The Hertford Correspondence. 223

LETTER I.

Sir Thomas Thynne of Longleate to the Earl of Hertford, declining
the Colonelship on the ground of his appointment to the Shrievalty.

Ricut HonovraBLz,

Understanding that there is a muster appointed shortly by your lordship,
whereat the charge of Colonelship given me by your honour requires my personal
attendance, which by reason of my now office of Sheriffwick, and some other
important occasions, I cannot so conveniently perform as is fitting, or as willingly
I desire, had not this office happened unto me ;—and therefore I humbly beseech
your lordship, as it pleased you out of your love and favour to bestow the place
on me, so now in respect of my other office, the service whereof I must of
necessity attend, that you will be likewise pleased to give the same charge unto
some other. For which, as for other former favours, I shall rest in all dutiful

office at your lordships service.
THOMAS THYNNE,

Brought to Amesbury by a man of
Sir James Mervin’s, 1st Aug., 1608.

LETTER II.

Lord Hertford to the Bishop of Sarum concerning the Clergy’s
Jinding of arms.

My Very Goon Lorp,

Whereas I have received letters from my lords of his Majesty’s Privy
Council concerning a special view to be taken, as may appear to your lordship
by the copy herewith sent, wherein, amongst other things, their lordships have
given directions for taking in such of the clergy as are fit to be charged with
either horse or foot, to appear at the musters, and to be trained with the trained-
bands of the country ;—I do suppose that the sufficiency [peculiar ability] of
such clergymen are best known unto your lordship: I do therefore entreat your
lordship that, as conveniently as you may, you acquaint me with all such persons
as have heretofore served in the like service, and what persons are now of ability
to serve more than heretofore have served, for the better executing of His
Majesty’s service, which is very shortly to be observed. I thank your lordship
very heartily for your good pains here at Amesbury, and the good sermon you
preached at the church. So not doubting your lordship’s assistance in the pre-
mises, with my loving commendations, I commit you to the heavenly protection.
From my house at Amesbury the 6th of August, 1608, Your lordship’s loving

friend.
HERTFORD,

Sent by John Barlot,
the 12th of August,

1 Henry Cotton.

224 The Hertford Correspondence.
LETTER III.

The Bishop of Salisbury in answer to Lord Hertford concerning
the viewing of the Clergy.

My Very Goop Lorp,

With humble thanks for your lordship’s honourable and kind entertain-
ment of me at my late being with you, I received your lordship’s letters touching
the shewing of the clergy armour at the next general muster within Wilts. And
lest my answer might be mistaken (which I gave to your lordship’s servant) by
report, I thought good in writing to deliver the same, that according to your
lordship’s letters I will send abroad to my clergy to be ready against those days
that shall be appointed. And when I have fully settled the manner of their
armour, and number, I will send your lordship a certificate of the same—There
shall be nothing done to your lordship’s mislike, but with readiness and willing-
ness, as appertaineth. And whereas I made mention of my Lord of Canterbury
to your said servant, it was in no other respect than this, that my lord that last
was, in all musters of the clergy that were in my time in her Majesty’s reign,
[Elizabeth’s] did always concur with his letter monitory to the Bishops of his
province, to provide and be ready accordingly, which I thought also his Grace
would do the like in short time ; which whether he do or no, according to your
lordship’s directions I will give them admonition to be provided at the days
appointed. And even so I do heartily commend your lordship with my special
good lady to Almighty God. Sarum, this 11th of August, 1608. Your lord-
ship’s assured loving friend to be commanded in the Lord.

HENRY SARUM.

Brought to Amesbury by Mr. Thomas
Sadler, the 12th of the same.

LETTER IV.

Sir Walter Long to his Lordship, excusing his not meeting the rest
of the Deputy Lieutenants at Amesbury.

RieHt HoNoURABLE,

According to your lordship’s commandments I did purpose to haye
attended you at Amesbury, at your lordship’s house, on Thursday next, and to
that end I went unto Sir William Eyre! on Monday last, and being there late in
the evening, I received a message from my lord Chamberlain to come unto his
lordship’s house at Charlton the next day, being almost twenty miles off. The
business was to confer with me about some land that his lordship is to purchase

1 Of Chalfield House, near Bradford.

The Hertford Correspondence. 225

of me in that place, to the value of about three thousand pounds. And for that
my lord is suddenly to depart out of the country, I cannot possibly be with your
lordship at the time appointed, but I shall endanger my estate by reason of a
purchase which I have lately entered into, and know no means to satisfy it but
the sale of this land. My humble suit unto your lordship is that you will not be
offended with me at not coming, in regard this business doth so much concern
me. Your lordship doth know that I have been ever ready at all commands,
when others have been absent, as well for the King’s service as your own private
business ; and when your lordship has determined what shall be done concerning
this service, I will not fail to be at the execution of the same. Even so desiring
your lordship’s pardon herein once more; and rest ever, by your honour to be

commanded.
WALTER LONG.
Draycott, this 24th of August, 1608.

Brought to Amesbury by his man George
Bullard, the 25th of the same.

THE AGREEMENT

That was made amongst the Deputy Lieutenants and Justices of the
Peace, for the appointing of the Musters.

It is agreed on at the Devizes the Tenth day of August, A.D. 1608, by Sir
Thomas Gorges, Sir James Mervin, Sir Walter Long, and Sir William Eyre,
Knights, and other Justices of the Peace, whose names are subscribed, upon
receipt of letters from the Lord Lieutenant of this County, together with copies
of letters written unto his lordship from the lords of his Majesty’s most honour-
able Privy Council as followeth, viz :—

It is first agreed that Sir Thomas Gorges and Sir James Mervin shall take a
view at Hindon, the 23rd and 24th of September, of all the trained men with
their armour and furniture, within Sir James Mervin’s division, except the
hundred of Horwelsdown. .

Item, The said Sir Thomas Gorges and Sir James Mervin shall take a view at
Sarum the 26th and 27th of September, of all the trained men with their armour
and furniture, within the Earl of Pembroke’s division, except the tything of
Bushton and the tything of Westwood, within the hundred of Elstub and
Everley.

Item, that the said Sir Thomas Gorges and Sir James Mervin shall take a view
at Marlborough the 6th and 7th of October, of all the trained men within the
late Lord Chief Justice’s division ; together with the trained men and furniture
in the hundred of Kinwardstone, being part of the Lord-Lieutenant’s division,

Item, it is agreed that Sir Walter Long and Sir William Eyre shall take a view
at the Devizes the 23rd and 24th of September, of all the trained men with their

226 The Hertford Correspondence.

armour and furniture, within the Lord Lieutenant’s division, except the hundred
of Kinwardstone.

Item, that Sir Walter Long and Sir William Eyre shall take a yiew at Chip-
penham the 26th and 27th of September, of all the trained men with their
armour and furniture within Sir Walter Long’s division.

Item, that the said Sir Walter Long and Sir William Eyre shall take a view
at Trowbridge the 10th and 11th day of October, of all the trained men with
their armour and furniture within Sir William Eyre’s division; together with
the trained men, armour, and furniture, within the hundred of Horwelsdown,
being part of Sir James Mervin’s division, and the tything of Westwood within
the hundred of Elstub and Everley, part of the Earl of Pembroke’s division.

Item, it is further agreed that the Justices of Peace shall be present with their
muster books, when the said trained men shall be viewed as aforesaid within
their several divisions.

Item, it is agreed that the Colonels and Captains, or one of them at the least,
shall be likewise present with their muster rolls, when the trained men under
their several charge shall be viewed and mustered as aforesaid.

Item, it is agreed that the Justices of Peace shall consider and examine
whether the store of match and powder be kept serviceable and in perfect readiness
in every town and place within the several divisions, according to an order set
down and agreed on the 13th of February 1601 ; and to certify the defaults
thereof at our next meeting.

Item, it is further agreed that Sir John Ernley, Knight, Captain of 50 light
horse, shall call before him at the Devizes the 24th of September, all the light
horse, with men, armour, and furniture, under his charge, there to be viewed
before the said Captain and Sir Walter Long and Sir William Eyre, Knights,
and the rest of the Justices of Peace of that division.

Item, it is agreed that Sir Walter Vaughan, Knight, Captain of 50 light horse,
shall call before him at Sarum the 27th of September, all the light horse, with
men, armour, and furniture, under his charge, there to be viewed in the presence
of the said Captain, Sir Thomas Gorges, and Sir James Mervin, Knights, and
the rest of the Justices of Peace of that division.

Item, that Sir Thomas Snell, Knight, Captain of the Lancers, shall call before
him at Marlborough, the 7th of October, all the lances, men, armour, and fur-
niture, under his charge, there to be viewed before the said Captain in the
presence of Sir Thomas Gorges and Sir James Mervin, Knights, and the
Justices of Peace of that division.

Item, it is agreed that presently after the rolls or muster-books sent touching
the clergy, that precepts be made for them to be viewed in every division and in
the same manner as the other forces are appointed to be viewed.

THOMAS GORGES, EDWARD PENRUDDOCK,
JAMES MERVIN, WALTER VAUGHAN,
WILLIAM EYRE, JOHN ERNLEY,

HENRY BAYNTON, GEORGE IVIE.

The Hertford Correspondence. 227
LETTER V.

Sir Thomas Gorges (of Longford Castle) to his lordship beseeching to
, have the muster books.

My HonovrasiLe Goop Lorn,

The desire that I have to do this service imposed upon me (by and in your
lordship’s love) with good effect and orderly means, [yet] being altogether here-
tofore unacquainted with the like, makes me the more inquisitive and bold to
attain the courses thereof, which I hope shall be shewn in the perfectness of the
business. I humbly desire your lordship, as you at my last being with you
seemed willing, to let me have the copy of your lordship’s muster books, whereby
I may thoroughly instruct myself before the view, and the better satisfy your
desire in our certificates unto your lordship. And thus craving pardon for my
boldness, ready to do your lordship any service, I humbly take my leave: Your
lordship’s ever to be commanded.

THOMAS GORGES.
Lanford, this 29th
of August, 1608.

Postscript. My good lord, I understand by some gentlemen of the North
parts of Wilts that Sir John Ernley one of the Captains of the light horse is
unable to serve in the place, because he is broken, and that he will be a suitor
unto your lordship to be released ; which, if it happen, (and I have enquired)
that no man is thereabouts more fit in my poor opinion than Sir George Ivie ;
but the choice I will refer unto your lordship.

Received at Amesbury, the 29th of
August, by Roger Thursby.

LETTER VI.

Lord Hertford to his very loving friends the Deputy Lieutenants,
prompting their vigilance.

After my hearty commendations; albeit I nothing doubt of your wisdoms, care,
and forwardness, for the accomplishment of his Majesty’s will and pleasure lately
signified unto me by letters from the lords of his Majesty’s Highness’ Privy
Council, whereof I sent you the copy touching a general view and muster to be
had and taken of all the trained bands, both horse and foot, within this County
of Wilts, and whereof we lately had conference, yet considering with myself the
necessity of the service, in regard of the manifold defects that I fear to be both
in men and arms; adding also thereto the backwardness to the vulgar, for the
most part, in such services as out of their want of judgment they hold chargeable

2a2

228 The Hertford Correspondence.

[oppressive] unto them, I cannot but, in regard of my place and service to his
Majesty and my country, again recommend the special care thereof unto your
wisdoms and diligence. And therefore pray you, and in his Majesty’s name by
virtue of his Highness’ commission of Lieutenaney for this County, earnestly
require and charge you and eyery of you that with as much conyenient speed
as you may you give forth directions unto all the Colonels both of horse and foot
within this County, Captains and Officers of private companies of horse, as well
such as continue their places as those also which are lately nominated and chosen,
and all other whose service and attendance may further the business, to be present
and ready at the days, times, and places, prefixed and agreed upon for taking
the aforesaid musters, with the muster-books, rolls, and all other supplements con-
cerning the same, to do and execute all such offices and services as to their places
respectively shall appertain. And that also precepts be made and directed to all
Mayors, Constables of hundreds and liberties, and all other Officers and Ministers
to whom it shall appertain that they have ready at the days, times, and places,
all the trained bands and companies both horse and foot, men and arms, well
and sufficiently furnished, completely repaired and supplied in the defects thereof,
as they and every of them do tender his Majesty’s displeasure, and will
answer to the contrary at their peril ; remembering withal the supply of powder
and match in such sort as in their lordships’ letters is touched, that a true rela-
tion of all the premises being made unto me by you, I may certify his Majesty
thereof, and recommend unto his Highness your care and diligence for the
advancement of his Majesty’s service and the public safety and tranquillity of
your country. And eyen so resting assured of your care and readiness therein,
I bid you right heartily farewell. From my house at Amesbury this last of
August, 1608, Your loving friend.

HERTFORD.

Sent by Thomas Harron, his lordship’s
gentleman of his horse, to Sir Thomas
Gorges, 2nd of September, 1608,

LETTER VII.

The Earl of Hertford to the Bishop of Salisbury concerning a
Captain over the Clergy.

My Goon Lorn,

Upon my late conference here at Amesbury on Thursday last with the
Deputy Lieutenants and Justices concerning the muster of horse and foot within
this County, I was pleased in love towards your lordship and your clergy, to

The Hertford Correspondence. 229

grant that yourself should nominate a Captain and commander of the horse-
troop of the clergy of this country, so as he were a man fit for the service ; and
the same to be signified by Sir Edward Penruddock. Since which time I have,
neither from you nor him, received your lordship’s mind therein. And for that
the time appointed for the muster draweth on, and that both the Captain and
horse, with the arms thereto pertaining, might be answerable to his Majesty’s
expectation, I desire your lordship’s speedy resolution, that, thereupon I may
determine accordingly. And even so with my very hearty commendations I
commit you to the heavenly protection. From my house at Amesbury, the last
of August, 1608. Your Lordship’s very loving friend,

HERTFORD.
Sent by Thomas Harron his lordship’s

servant, the 2nd of September, 1608.

[ By the Bishop’s letter next following, dated on the same day as
the above, it will be seen that he had not been remiss, having already
fulfilled his required task of drawing out a schedule of the names
of such of his clergy as he deemed chargeable with military
contribution. |

LETTER VIII.
The Bishop to the Earl, concerning such of the Clergy as do find arms.

My Very HonovrastE Goop Lorp,

According to your lordship’s desire and my promise I have sent by this
bearer, my Register [Registrar ?], a true note and abstract of such of my clergy
within this County of Wilts as, either heretofore or now, have been or are thought
fit to be charged with any warlike furniture both of horse and foot. Your lord-
ship may find herein some alteration from the former, but the reason thereof is
by means of the change of the Ministers themselves by death and otherwise.
Howbeit the number both of horse and foot, especially those of the horse, is
rather increased than diminished. I have taken some extraordinary pains myself
in the due ordering and disposing of this business ; and having had sufficient means
to acquaint myself thoroughly with their state and ability within my own diocese,
I have upon good consideration and advice, dealt herein without partiality, as
becometh me. My request unto your lordship on their behalf at this present is,
that they may be with all kindness and favour at their hands to whom the
managing of these occurrences under your lordship shall be committed, as well
in respect of their function and calling as also in regard of their poor estate and
condition. And even so with many thanks for my good entertainment, in all

230 The Hertford Correspondence.

true affection, I commend your honourable good lordship both now and ever to
the heavenly protection. From my palace at Sarum, this 31st of August, 1608.
Your lordship’s very assured friend at commandment.

HENRY SARUM.

Sent with a note of the clergy’s names,
[missing] and brought to his lordship
at Amesbury, by Thomas Sadler.

LETTER IX.

The Earl of Hertford to Mr. John Duckett, shewing the form of his
lordship’s warrant unto the new chosen Captains.

Having been informed of your quality, fitness, and sufficiency, I let you
hereby understand that by virtue of the King’s Majesty’s commission of Lieu-
tenancy within this County of Wilts to me directed, I have appointed and chosen
you to be Captain and commander of the company and arms of one hundred
foot, whereof Richard Burnley, gent. deceased, was late Captain and commander,
under the regiment of Sir Henry Baynton, Knight, Colonel of 600 foot within
the aforesaid County ; giving you warrant and authority by these to command and
direct according to your good discretion, both officers, men, and arms, of the same
company, in as large and ample a manner as any Captain and commander of the
said company have heretofore used to do, and as to the office and place of a Captain
and commander of foot appertaineth. And therefore I require you that, all
excuses set apart, you be ready in person at the day and place appointed for
taking the muster of the said regiment, to receive the muster-roll of your said
company, and to undertake the charge thereof, and also to do and execute all
other offices and services that to the place of a Captain and commander of foot
appertaineth for the honour and service of his Majesty and the public good of
your country. Whereof fail you not as you tender his Highness’ service, and
will answer to the contrary at your peril. And even so not doubting of your
readiness and diligence herein, I bid you heartily farewell. From my house at
Amesbury, the last of August, 1608. Your loving friend.

HERTFORD.

Memorandum: That this form of his lordship’s letters were sent unto such
gentlemen as his lordship made Captains, as followeth, viz :—

In Sir Edward Penruddock’s regiment.

Giles Mompesson in Sir Thomas Penruddock’s place.

Philip Poore in Mr. Stockman’s place.

Tobias Horton in Mr. Francis Harding’s place.

Alexander Thistlethwayte in Sir Robert Penruddock’s place.
Thomas Sadler, over the Clergy.

The Hertford Correspondence. 231

Str Henry Baynton’s regiment.
John Duckett in Richard Burley’s place.
Sir William Button’s regiment,

Thomas Hynton in Richard Young’s place.
Richard Hunton in [ blank ]

Sir Thomas Thynne’s regiment.

John Price in Mr. Thomas South’s place.
John Lamb in Edmund Lambert’s place.

LETTER X.

The Mayor and his brethren of Salisbury to Lord Hertford, claiming
the muster of their own private company of 100 foot.

Ricut HonovRaB_e,

We lately received a warrant directed to the Mayor and chief Officers of
this City, from Sir Thomas Gorges and Sir James Mervin, Knights, two of your
lordship’s Deputy Lieutenants of this County of Wilts, for the summoning of
all the trained men within this City, to appear before them with their armour
and furniture the 26th day of this instant month of September ; and that if any of
the trained men be dead or removed since the last musters, that then two of the
sufficientest men both of person and ability within this City should be warned to
appear before them, and that we should present unto them the names of the
ablest in the City to supply the armour wanting, and that the Mayor should be
present to attend that service : all which they required by virtue of your lord-
ship’s letter. Upon receipt thereof, we have as heretofore, we and others in our
places, by special letters from your lordship and other your lordship’s predecessors
in the office of Lieutenancy of this County, entered into consideration of the
men and armour that were used at the last muster and to supply the defect, but
finding that we have not that authority from your lordship by your special letters
as heretofore hath been used, before we further proceed therein, we thought it our
duties to inform your lordship hereof, and what hath been used heretofore both
by your lordship and your lordship’s predecessors, that is, that you have been
pleased to employ and commit the trust of this service unto the Mayor and
Justices of this City, both for the supply of men and armour, and not to leave
it to the direction of any other, otherwise than upon shew thereof either to the
Lord-Lieutenant or to any other by his lordship’s special appointment; and if
any defaults should be found, then the same to be reformed, either upon notice
given by them appointed, or by your Lordship-Lieutenant’s letter. This having

232 The Hertford Correspondence.

been our ancient use heretofore, we do hope your lordship will be pleased to con-
tinue the same ; whereunto we the rather are induced for that, having experience
of your lordship’s love towards this City many ways besides, we were heretofore
relieved upon our suit to your lordship for continuance of our ancient custom
touching the using of the colours of this City and not the Captain’s, at muster-
ing; at which time your lordship was pleased by your lordship’s letters, and
otherwise, so far to favour this City as that thereby we are assured your lordship
will not suffer any breach of our ancient customs or any disgrace to the City to
be offered. Hereof we are bold to inform your lordship, humbly leaving the
same to your lordship’s wisdom and good consideration. And even so with the
remembrance of our duties to your lordship in all humbleness take our leaves.
Sarum, this 8th of September, 1608. Your Honour’s to be commanded.

RICHARD PAINE, Mayor,
THOMAS HYDE. RALPH PICKANER, WILLIAM WILKINSON,

G. TOOKER, WILLIAM BLACKER, RICHARD GAUNTLETT, .

F. RODES, RICHARD GODFREY.

Brought to Easton the 9th of the
same, by James Newman.

[Lord Hertford immediately granted their request, and having
written a reply to the Mayor, dispatched the following to Sir Thomas
Gorges ].

LETTER XI.

Goop Str Tomas GorcEs,

I received lately a letter from the Mayor of Salisbury, the copy whereof
LT have sent you. Their desire is, that according to the old custom, the band of
one hundred foot within that City may be mustered apart from the forces of the
County, because it hath been their custom, as well in my predecessor’s time the
Earl of Pembroke, as mine, and always allowed by me, and that the City is a
corporation of good regard, they ever carrying themselves respectively [respectfully ]
in the service of his Majesty and tractably and lovingly to me, I have granted
their desire, and have thought good to give you knowledge thereof, that you may
be satisfied of the reason wherefore it is altered. Thus with my very loving
commendations to yourself and your good lady, I rest your loving friend.

. HERTFORD.
Sent from Easton the 13th of the same, with
the Mayor’s letter, by Robert Atkins.

(To be concluded in the next.)

Boyton Chureh. 233

Boyton Chueh, in the Dale wt Wylye.

(Six Miles from Warminster, Sixteen from Salisbury).

One primary object of the Wilts Archeological Society was
declared at their inaugural meeting, to be, the notice of Parochial
Churches, the history or architecture of which, might illustrate either
our national or local history, or provide subjects for the researches of
the student or amateur of Ecclesiastical Architecture. The Parish
Church of Boyton seems to afford considerable data for both these
laudable purposes; and the following memoir, partly gleaned from
the labours of others, and partly the fruit of personal knowledge
and observation, is submitted to the Society, with the hope that
it may be followed by papers of deeper research, and more engross-
ing interest.

In a quiet and retired corner of the Vale of Wylye stands the
ancient Church of St. Mary, Boyton.

It shows in the clearest characters the riches and nobility of the
former owners of the soil and Patrons of the Church, as well as the
miserable neglect and wretched taste of the later days of the
English Church.

The dimensions of the Church are as follows :—

Chancel .... 38 feet 6 inches by 19 feet.
NANG. docs es 49 ,, 0 re 22 5,
North Chapel 13 ,, 0 45 ifs) Fp
South Chapel 26 ,, 0 a [ores
Tower...... 10 5 eh6 p TG 5

The general plan is a Latin Cross, the two side Chapels forming
the arms.

The entrance is somewhat singular, being through the Tower
which is placed on the North side, with an ancient Vestry forming
a lean-to on the West side of the Tower.

The materials of which the Church is generally built, consists of
stone and flints in rough courses, and no better testimony can be
given to the stability of such construction, than the fact that the

234 Boyton Church.

Tower facing due North, and of considerable height, has remained
from the reign of Henry III. to the present time as perfect as on
the first day of its dedication.

The entrance under the Tower is through a remarkably fine
Early English doorway. It has a sharp pointed Segmental Arch,
without any drip-stone. The archway itself is composed of three
orders.

The first consists of a plain chamfered continuous Impost.

The architrave is of the second order, and has a hollow between
two rounds, with dog-tooth moulding in the hollow; the Impost
is banded with a plain chamfer below.

The Arch of the third order has the architrave square.

The inner walls of the Tower are of extremely perfect: flint
masonry, without a sympton of crack or decay, and demonstrate
the admirable settings, which to this day retain such small masses
as the flints without any crumblings of the wall.

A very ancient ladder of the rudest materials leads to the Belfry,
which is situated in the upper part of the Tower, and is of con-
siderably later date than the lower stages of the Tower.

On the right hand an ancient Vestry or Priest’s chamber is
situated against the West wall, and contains a small aumbrye,
probably for relics, and a fire-place of Early English stamp; two
small lancet windows seem also to mark this singular chamber as
of Early English construction.

Passing into the Nave our attention is arrested by the richness
of the work of past generations, and the neglect or want of taste
of more recent times.—Thus we observe the massive effigy of a
Crusader, and the once richly adorned chantry erected by his
descendants, for the benefit of the souls of the departed; whilst the
eye is painfully impressed with a flat plaster ceiling, unseemly for
a meeting house—much more for the Parish Church of the lordly
Giffards: a hideous gallery shuts out the West window, or rather
the remains of what once was a handsome perpendicular window,
but now gapes without mullion or tracery in naked ugliness. The
Nave once was of ample proportion both in height and width. The
West end. contained (as we have observed) a handsome perpen-

Boyton Church. 235

dicular window, under which a square-headed doorway still ex-
isting, by its Lioncels, attests the dignity of the Baronial Family
to which the Parish and the patronage of the Church belonged.
At the West end of the Church the ancient Norman Pilaster
Buttresses may be observed, which, doubtless belonged to the
original Church which was restored in Early English times.

The roof of the Nave seems to press upon the head of the
visitant, and with its broad plain of whitewash, and hideous uni-
formity to tell of the days which Bishop Butler witnessed when he
wrote as follows :—“Unless the good spirit of building, repairing,
and adorning Churches prevails a great deal more amongst us, and
be more encouraged, an hundred years will bring a huge number
of these sacred fabrics to the ground.”

The Chancel Arch is cut off by this roof, and the whole propor-
tions of the Nave are utterly disfigured. The Pews of decayed
materials—of various heights and shapes, all tell the same tale of
bad taste, and penury towards God, which we trust ere long will
be remedied, and that under these better days for the Church, this
ancient Temple of God will be made somewhat worthy of its holy
purpose.

Projecting from the Nave North and South are two Chapels.
That to the South is replete with objects of interest to the his-
torian and the architect. Two small Early English Arches open
into this Chantry, which from its foundation has belonged to the
Lords of the Manor of Boyton.

The Archways consist of two orders of pointed Segmental
Arches. The Arch of the first order has on the Chantry side a
plain chamfered edge ; that of the second order consists of a hollow
round and a quarter round, with a square edged soffit. These Arches
spring from a simple pier and two responds. The capitals are well
shaped and very bold in character, exactly similar to several
specimens in Salisbury Cathedral ; the responds are finished with two
engaged half columns, answering in size and proportion to the
clear columns of the Pier; the Bases consist of two rolls, and a roll
faced with a fillet on a circular plinth.

In the wall is to be observed the remains of the roodloft staircase
and passage—the staples for the hinges yet remaining in the wall.

2H 2

236 Boyton Church.

The Chapel into which we have now entered is by far the most
interesting part of this ancient Church. The features of the
building remarkably illustrate the transition from Early English
to Decorated Architecture ; and the monumental remains exactly
confirm by the probable history of the dead, the dates to which the
building is to be attributed. The distinguishing points of the build-
ing into which we have now entered may be described as consisting
of two windows of very striking and original construction, three
sedilia and two tombs, one containing an effigy in very good
preservation, the other being a coffin tomb of small size but of
great richness.

We will describe first the windows.

That to the East consists of a three-light window, in which we
see the marks of Early English Architecture departing, and Decor-
ated entering into the architect’s mind; the head of the window is
composed of circles in compartments, which partake far more of
the Decorated style, whilst the mullions and arches of the windows
are of Early English formation. The centre light is higher than the
side openings; the width of the centre is 2ft., that of the side
light 1ft. 8in. each. The foliage of the capitals is very rich, and
is of completely Segmental English character; so is the profile of
the Bases which have the vertical hollow distinctive of that style.
At the further, or West end of this Chapel the corresponding win-
dow is of singular construction, size, and beauty. It is completely
round, and the same struggle between the two styles of Early
English, and Decorated, is to be observed here.

The window is 12ft. in diameter. The mouldings and mullions
make up three Segmental triangles, with three intermediate com-
partments. Each of these triangles contains a circle, and the
foliation of this circle appears to be formed by piercing circles
which break into each other. The four circular apertures surround
a centre, which cuts into them, all forming a complete quatrefoil.
The only two instances recorded of an exactly similar construction
are in Lausanne and Modena Cathedrals. The compartments between
the triangles also contain circles in threes; a plain outer band con-
taining the three rings as it were within alarger ring. This window

cl ocazacere
QQLYY

KAKX
Seater
KER

“SLIIM*HOAUNHO NOLAOP

= Ee

ee eee :
BOYTON CHURCH. Zfizy of StrMerancler Gypard cir: (260.

Boyton Church. 237

contains a few broken remains of Early English quarried glass, and
seems to invite restoration by its noble proportions and massive yet
symmetrical arrangement.

Beneath the Easternmost of the Arches dividing the Chapel from
the Nave is an altar tomb, the one side being composed of slightly
pointed Arches, the other of a series of triangles; upon the tomb
reposes the effigy of a Knight clad in chain armour, the legs crossed,
and the feet resting upon an animal, which, may be eithera wild
cat or a lion.—Upon his left arm is the triangular shield of the
13th century; his right arm extending across his breast grasps the
long straight sword, which doubtless in its reality had cloven many
an infidel’s crest. The figure is of a man in full vigour, of ordinary
size, and good proportion. His shield carries the arms of Giffard,
gules, three-lions. passant or; in chief, a label of five points azure;
upon each point, two Fleur-de-lis of the second. This beyond all
doubt is the effigy of Alexander Giffard, the Crusader mentioned
in Matthew Paris, as we shall hereafter show.

In the centre of the Chapel there stands a small altar tomb of
later and richer work than any portion of the Chapel.—It appears
to have contained the body of a female, or child of high rank—the
tomb is hollowed to form a coffin, 4ft. 1lin. in length.

The tomb would appear to be of the date of Edward III. and
may very probably have contained the body of the last of the
lordly Giffards, the Lady Margaret, whose death would coincide
with the style of this tomb. The sides of this tomb are adorned
with canopied niches, from which the figures, probably of alabaster,
have been removed.

In the Chapel remain three sedilia and a piscina, still presenting
the same mixture of Early English and Decorated Architecture,
which pervades this part of the Church.

Returning into the body of the Church—we have to mention a
North Chapel of Decorated structure, the North window is of three
lights, with purely Decorated tracery above ; there is asmall niche
in the Eastern side of the Arch which separates the Chapel from
the Nave. A very magnificent slab of Purbeck Marble formed part
of the floor of this Chapel, and contained the matrix of a very

238 Boyton Church.

superb brass, which seems to have been of a warrior, and from the
canopy work the probable date would be of the reign of Edward II.,
or a little later. On removing this stone in the summer of 1853,
for some repairs, a stone coffin was found, formed not of single but
of several stones, and a skeleton nearly perfect, with the skull placed
on one side of the body, as though the body had been decapitated.

It is hardly a rash conjecture that this Chapel was erected for the
interment of the last male Giffard, who joining in the rebellion of
Thomas Earl of Lancaster, in the reign of Edward IJ. was beheaded
at Gloucester, and that the decapitated skeleton was that of the
unfortunate Baron himself.

We now finish our survey with the Chancel.

This part of the Church partakes of the Early English style in
its older portions, and of Perpendicular in the later features.

Three sections of the South side of the Altar are of Early English
work, and in good preservation ; the side windows are three small
and very simple lancet windows on the North, and two on the
South side.

In the window nearest the Altar are the arms of Giffard, in very
ancient glass, and very perfect.

The East window is of Perpendicular construction, presenting no
very remarkable features, but yet of good shape, and with graceful
tracery in the upper part.

Two orifices in the Eastern wall were discovered by an ingenious
antiquary, to whom the writer is largely indebted for information,

- the Rev. G. Southwell, Vicar of Yetminster.

The Southern orifice formed an aumbrye, the other probably the
Credence Table.

Such is a general outline of a Church once singularly rich and
beautiful in its arrangements and general outline; but which from

many combined causes has been allowed either to fall into decay, .

or when repaired, has been handled in a manner that makes the
bystanders almost regret the reparation, but which we trust ere
long will be restored to its former completeness and beauty.

ArTHUR FANE.

On the Ornithology of Wilts. 239

On the Ornithalagy of Wilts.

No. 3.—ON THE STRUCTURE AND FACULTIES OF BIRDS.

In beginning this paper on the structure of birds, it will be well
to premise that I am not going to enter into any learned disquisition
on their internal economy ; or start any new theory regarding their
shape or their functions. I propose merely to give a plain state-
ment of their formation, whereby such persons as are either
commencing this delightful study, or are not very proficient in it,
may gain some insight into the subject. But before we examine
their general structure, let us for one moment consider the position
which birds were formed to hold in animated nature, and the
element they were fitted to people: then, when we proceed to con-
sider their formation, we shall notice how admirably it is adapted
to that end, how exactly suited to that purpose. We are told in
the history of their creation, that they were formed out of the
water, and that they were made “to fly above the earth in the open
firmament of heaven.”—That then is their own proper sphere, that
the domain allotted to them to occupy. It is true that we find some
continually remaining in the element from which they first derived
their origin, passing almost all their time in the water; others
again there are which seldom leave the surface of the earth,
and are neither formed for swimming nor for flight; but the
great majority of species are essentially denizens of the air;
soaring high above our heads, skimming here and there, floating
with expanded wings, “cleaving with rapid pinions the vast aerial
expanse.” Now it is clear that to enable them to do this, the
general formation of their bodies must be extremely different from
that of the Mammalia, though to a certain extent there are strong
resemblances and analogies between them and their respective orders :
as there are carnivorous quadrupeds, so there are rapacious birds,

240 On the Ornithology of Wits.

and both are equally fierce, sullen, unsociable and solitary in their
habits, possessed of great strength, and often of considerable
courage: as there are herbivorous quadrupeds, so there are grani-
yorous birds, and both of these are gentle and gregarious in their
habits, a mild and tractable race, and easily domesticated. There
are also birds as well as beasts of an amphibious nature, having
organs suited to their habits, and these live chiefly in the water, and
feed on aquatic productions: and there are many similar re-
semblances. Like the quadrupeds too, they are warm-blooded and
vertebrate; but unlike them, they are oviparous; and instead of
fur, are usually clothed almost entirely with feathers ; while instead
of fore-feet, they are furnished with wings: and we shall presently
see that there are many other striking points of difference in struc-
ture between them. Unlike the heavy bodies of the Mammalia,
which are formed to live on the surface of the earth, the bodies of
the birds are light and buoyant. They each possess externally head,
neck, body, tail, legs and feet; but instead of the large head, the
heavy neck, the deep chest, the wide shoulder, and the sinewy legs
of the quadrupeds, the observant Bewick bids us note “the pointed
beak, the long and pliant neck, the gently swelling shoulder, the
expansive wings, the tapering tail, the light and bony feet of birds:”
every one of these seem formed to combine, as far as possible, the
least weight with the greatest strength: there is no superfluous
bulk in the structure of a bird: compared with its dimensions, and
the width of its expanded wings, how trifling and insignificant a
proportion does the body seem to occupy: how every part seems to
conduce towards lightness and buoyancy. The plumage too with
which they are clothed is soft and delicate, and yet so close and
thick as to form an admirable protection against the intense cold of
the atmosphere through which they wing their way, and to which
their swift movements must necessarily expose them: the feathers
which compose it are attached to the skin, somewhat after the
manner of hair, and are periodically moulted or changed, and
nothing can exceed the beauty, and often brilliancy of their colouring,
as nothing can be conceived more adapted to combine the two objects
of extreme warmth and excessive lightness. With such an airy

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 241

framework, and clothed with a plumage in specific gravity but little
exceeding the air itself, we are at no loss to understand the ease
with which birds mount from the earth and soar among the clouds;
but to enable them to pass quickly through the air, to progress
rapidly and without fatigue, no instruments could be desired more
excellent than the wings with which they are provided; so light
and yet so vigorous; furnished with such strong muscles; so spacious
when extended in flight, and yet so compact when closed in rest.
By the help of these oars or sails they can strike the air so forcibly,
and with such a succession of rapid and powerful strokes, as to
impel forward their bodies with wonderful velocity: the greater
the extent of the wings, in proportion to the size of the bird, the
greater is the facility with which it can sustain itself in the air, and
the greater the rapidity of its flight: as an example of this,
compare the stretch of wing and the proportionate speed of the
common swift and the common sparrow. Almost all species can
fly with exceeding swiftness, but the progress of some is so very
rapid, as rather to rival the velocity of the arrow from the bow, than
the movements of any other creature: yet, with such amazing power,
what can be lighter than the materials of which the wings are
formed? the bones hollow and filled with air, the muscles strong
and unincumbered by flesh: the feathers large like sails, and of
exceeding buoyancy. Then again in like manner, what can be more
perfect than their tails? these too are only composed of feathers, but
they serve as rudders, enabling them to steer their course through the
air at pleasure with the greatest ease and with the greatest accuracy.

Thus when we look at the external formation of a bird, we can
but admire its symmetry and elegance, the buoyancy and lightness
of its frame, so admirably adapted for flight: but not less perfect
nor less calculated to excite our admiration in its internal structure.
Is a bird furnished with bones and muscles so absolutely necessary
to its aerial evolutions? but mark how thin and light are the
bones, how delicate the muscles, those only excepted which are
adapted for moving the wings. Then again observe the lungs:
small indeed they are, but so placed, and the air so introduced into
them from the windpipe, that in passing it is conveyed into certain

242 On the Ornithology of Wilts.

cells or membranous sacs disposed for this purpose over the body:
these sacs are situated in the chest, and among the muscles, and
between the muscles and the skin; and in some birds are continued
down to the wings, and extend even to the pinions, thigh bones,
and other parts of the body: for the same purpose the feathers and
especially the wing feathers also contain a large quantity of air.
Now all these cavities and others not enumerated, such as the
hollows of the bones, can be filled and distended with air at the will
of the bird: by this means the strength and bulk of the bird is
increased, without adding to its weight: and such a general diffusion
of air throughout the body must be of infinite service in enabling
it to fly, to poise itself in the air, and to skim far above the surface
of the earth. Nor is that the only use of this wonderful provision
of nature; I again quote Bewick, who says “it is likewise eminently
useful in preventing its respiration from being stopped or interrupted
by the rapidity of its motion through a resisting medium: were
it possible for man to move with the swiftness of the swallow, the
actual resistance of the air, as he is not provided with internal
reservoirs similar to those of birds, would soon suffocate him.’
Another very remarkable peculiarity in the internal economy of
birds, is their mode of digestion: the bill, is scarcely if ever, used
for mastication, but solely as an instrument of prehension: it is the
gizzard whose amazing strength and powers can scarcely be over-
rated, that grinds down the grain and other food, and renders it fit
for digestion. Experiments have been made, by which it has been
incontrovertibly proved, that glass, nails, and the hardest substances
have in a few hours been filed down by the action of the gizzard,
without any injury accruing to it thereby: asa help to this digestive
power small stones are often swallowed by birds, which are eminently
useful in assisting this grinding process, thus rendering the food
more amenable to the gastric juices.

Now after this rapid glance at the general structure of birds, can
we conceive anything more adapted for buoyancy and for rapid
motion through the air, than their external and internal formation ?
We cannot but be struck with their wonderful adaptation to the
position which they were created to fill. Let us now push our

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 243

enquiries a little farther; and still bearing in mind that they are
denizens of the air, and roam at vast distances above our heads, and
all around us, examine into the senses and faculties with which
they are endowed.

In the first place we shall find them fnrnished with unusual
powers of sight, hearing, and smell, and to this end they are
supplied with three double organs of sense, viz: eyes, ears, and
nasal cavities.

The sight of some, and particularly of the rapacious birds, is so
acute and piercing, as to enable them to see their prey from an
enormous height in the air, whence they dash down with astonishing
swiftness and unerring aim. The vulture sailing in circles at an
immense altitude can distinguish his prey on the ground, without
the aid of any other faculty than his eyes, as has been clearly proved
by experiment: the lordly eagle soaring amid the clouds seems to
prefer that elevated station, whence to seek some victim on the
earth, and his wonderful power of vision seldom fails to discover
the desired object far below: the kestrel hawk, with which all are
familiar, balances himself in the air at a considerable height, while
his piercing eyes search the ground below for the mice which
constitute his food: these are all diurnal birds of prey, and are
especially noted for the keenness of their vision: but not less
extraordinary is the eye of the owl, which seeks its prey by twilight,
and cannot endure the full glare of day: should any accident
expose him to the light of the sun, he either closes his eyes entirely,
or defends them with a curtain or blind, which is an internal eyelid,
and which he can close in an instant. At such times he presents
but a grotesque and foolish appearance, but see him as he emerges
from his hollow tree, or the ivy clad ruin in the deepening twilight:
watch him as he regularly beats the field, and quarters it like a
pointer; see him suddenly drop upon the unfortunate mouse that
was hurrying through the grass, and judge what acuteness of vision
must be there. In the nocturnal species the eyes are usually directed
forwards, and are brighter, larger, and clearer than those of the
diurnal birds, and thus from their size, position, and construction
are admirably calculated for concentrating the dim rays of twilight.

212

244 On the Ornithology of Wiits.

In the other Orders we do not expect to find such wonderful powers
of sight, for their habits do not require it; yet here too we shall
often find considerable quickness and extent of vision. The fly-
catcher will sit perched on a twig, and suddenly dart upon an
insect passing often at a considerable distance, which we are wholly
unable to perceive. The bold and sagacious raven and the
destructive carrion crow have been famed for their far seeing
propensities: the rook too has the same property, for which cause
we may constantly see the dull-eyed starlings attaching themselves
to their society, and relying on these excellent sentinels, feeding in
greater security. The swift careeringthrough the airon rapid wing
and dashing past like a meteor, not only can see to steer his way
clear of all obstacles, but can discern the passing insect, which it
catches in its mouth as it rushes by. The pigeons mounting high
into the air, can perceive the grain which they are seeking from an
almost incredible distance. The redstart will avoid the shot, by
rising on seeing the flash from the cap; and many of the ducks and
especially the divers, disappear under water the moment the
trigger is pulled, seeing the flash and diving almost instantaneously,
and so escaping the death intended for them. These are a few
instances of the extraordinary powers of vision belonging to the
feathered race. An eminent French naturalist has calculated it to
be about nine times more extensive than that of man; and
anatomists, after dissecting the eye of the golden eagle, or one of
that family, whose sight is considered the keenest of all, declare
that nothing can be conceived more perfect than the structure.
The eye of the falcon which feeds by day, will differ from that of
the owl which feeds by night: both will differ from that of the
swan, which has to procure its food under water: but all are exactly
adapted to their own peculiar spheres of action, all are capable of
very astonishing sight.

Again, the hearing of some is so subtle that they can detect their
prey when hidden from view by this sense alone, and by the same
power are ever on the alert for the approach of anenemy. As the
eagle is the most renowned for powers of vision, so we may without
hesitation pronounce the owls to possess a more acutesense of hearing

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 245

than any other family: it seems that this faculty is given them in
common with other nocturnal and crepuscular animals; as, for
example the bats, to enable them to guide themselves in their flight
on the darkest nights, and to direct them to their prey: the organs
with which they are furnished to secure this endare of a very re-
markable construction, and developed to an extraordinary extent:
the auditory opening, or ear-couch, is sometimes extremely large,
and is then furnished with an operculum or cover, which they can
open and close at will: but in those species where the aperture is
smaller, such an addition is not provided. Another peculiarity in
the nocturnal birds of prey is that the two ears are not alike: the
one being so formed as to hear sounds from below, the other from
above: this though an old discovery, is not very generally known;
though it is doubtless an admirable help to catch the faintest sound
proceeding from every direction; and with such organs the owls
are enabled to detect in an instant the slightest rustling of their
prey. Next to the owl, perhaps the night-jar (or goat-sucker, as it
is commonly though erroneously called) possesses the most acute
sense of hearing: this bird is also crepuscular, and seldom hunts
for moths till the shades of evening; and, as in the owl, its ears
are of very large size. But there are many other birds gifted with
remarkably acute powers of hearing: see the song-thrush descend
on the lawn on a damp morning; watch how he inclines his ear on
one side, then hops forwards, and again listens, till at length he draws
forth the worm which his fine ear had told him was there, and which
alarmed at his hops and peckings had hurried to the surface, sup-
posing they were occasioned by his dreaded enemy, the mole: or
visit some fine old heronry, and try to penetrate near their chosen
nursery without your presence being detected: these nocturnal birds
are not particularly keen of sight during the day, but long ere you
can approach them, however cautiously, their keen sense of hearing
has told them youarenear. Another bird remarkable for possessing
this faculty in an eminent degree, is the curlew: of all the shore
birds there is not one so difficult of approach as this: his organs of
hearing are so sensitive, that it is almost impossible to come near
him: and again, the Swedish ornithologist, Professor Nilsson,

246 On the Ornithology of Wiits.

speaks of the black cock as being most acute both in hearing and
in sight. Such are some of the instances one might collect of
another sense being possessed by the feathered tribes in extra-
ordinary perfection: that some birds hear more quickly than others
is an undisputed fact: but we shall always find, if we examine into
it, that to those the most subtle sense of hearing is given, whose
habits cause them to require it most; while from those which would
not be benefited by it, it is in a measure witheld.

I have spoken of the powers of sight and hearing so conspicuous
in birds, I come now to the other sense with which they are pro-
vided, that of sme//. This too we shall find to be peculiarly delicate
in some families, though perhaps generally itis but little required,
and therefore but little developed: and we shall for the most part
find that those birds whose nostrils are the most conspicuous and
open, will possess this sense in the highest degree, while those
whose nostrils are concealed and almost impervious will share in it
but little. The bird which is certainly most remarkable for this
faculty, though of late years it has been gainsayed by certain
American naturalists, is the vulture: blessed as I have already
remarked, with a keen sense of sight, the vulture soaring through
the air, and above the dark forests, is also directed to his prey by
the extraordinary perfection of his organs of smell: his food is
always putrid, and the effluvium arising therefrom is necessarily most
rank: but yet when we read in the accounts of ornithologists, who
have seen them in their own tropical countries, the wonderful
manner in which these birds will congregate at a putrid carcase,
hidden though it may be in a pit or a thick forest, and how first
appearing as a speck in the distant heavens, then gradually
increasing in size as they come nearer, they arrive singly from all
quarters, whereas till then not a single individual was to be seen,
we can form some idea of the great powers of smell which these
birds must possess. Mr. Waterton who has seen them in Guiana,
Demerara, and other parts of Southern America; and Mr. Gosse,
who more recently has seen them in the West Indian islands, have
published in their respective most interesting little volumes such
strong and conclusive evidence of the amazing extent of this sense

By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 247

in the vulture, as to silence all dispute on the subject. The family
of the crows also claims our attention as possessing very great
powers of scent: it is this which so often directs them to their food
from great distances in such a mysterious manner, as to cause the
wonder and incredulity of man: some observers who have seen
troops of ravens hurrying along, to the banquet of some fallen
animal, where not a bird till then could be seen, have attributed
their discovery of the feast, not to the true cause, their keen sense
of seeing and smelling, but to some unknown faculty, thinking it
impossible that scent could be carried so far, and having little
conception of the superior acuteness of some of the senses of birds:
again the rook discovers the grubs hidden in the earth by the same
wonderful sense: the carrion crow scents the tempting morsel from
a distance: the magpie is not behind hand in the same perception.
Some of the water birds too seem to have this faculty very highly
developed: the curlew will take wing when you are at a great
distance, if you approach them down the wind: the hungry wood-
cock will discover by the smell, where it will be profitable to probe
the mud with his beak: most of the ducks are so sensitive, that the
man who works a decoy, knows full well that he has no chance of
success, unless he keeps to leeward of the flock; and, as an
additional precaution burns a piece of turf and holds it smoking in
his hand, to prevent their scenting him. Thus we see the faculty
of scent no less conspicuous in birds than in other animals: the
well known properties of the pointer and the foxhound will not
surpass the exquisite sense of smell of some of the birds, and even
the notorious bloodhound will scarcely outdo the vulture in the
same faculty.

Bnt besides these three powers of seeing, hearing, and smelling,
with which we have seen them to be remarkably endowed, we find
the feathered tribe gifted with the power of feeling or handling (if
Il may apply such a term to the beak) not usually allotted to the
inferior races of the animal kingdom. Their beaks serve them
for hands, as well as for lips and teeth, and wonderfully are they
adapted to a variety of purposes; but as in addition to their
exceeding interest and variety of form and use, the beaks are

248 On the Ornithology of Wilts.

principal characteristics whereby to distinguish the position birds are
entitled to hold, and their habits, I propose to consider this subject
separately, in a future paper, so for the present pass it by.

Again they are furnished with tongues, which are not only
organs of taste, but partly also of prehension: these too differ
exceedingly in form, according to their requirements, being some-
times short, rounded, and thick; sometimes long, thin, and pointed;
and some tribes make considerable use of these members in securing
their prey, as we shall hereafter see.

Their organs of voice too are very various; some most melodious,
charming man by their continual, and often exquisite song: others
harsh and unmusical: notes they have of alarm, whereby they
signify to one another that danger is at hand; notes of distress,
whereby they proclaim the pain or terror they feel; notes of love,
whereby they show their affection; notes of communication, whereby
they signify their intentions to each other, and act in concert, and
so continue their migrations on the darkest night without danger
of parting company. The notes of the different species too are as
various as are their forms; some are able to imitate those of others,
but seldom do they step beyond their own limits: for each is content
to communicate with his congeners in the language peculiar to its
own species.

Such then is an outline of the structure of birds, and such are
some of their faculties and characteristics. The subject is one
which might be pursued to an unlimited extent, until such a
knowledge of the anatomy of birds was gained, that like Buffon
and Cuvier of late time, and the present Dean of Westminster and
Professor Owen of the College of Surgeons of our day, from seeing
one single bone we might be able to describe accurately the whole
bird to which it belonged, and its habits; though of a species never
hitherto seen. To such an intimate acquaintance however with the
structure of birds we shall not probably aspire. The present
communication possesses only a general consideration of their for-
mation and faculties, but we have seen enough to prove to us how
admirably birds are formed for the position they hold in the scale
of Zoology. Their bodies light and buoyant, furnished with wings

License to convert Malmsbury Abbey into a Parish Church. 249

enabling them to pass rapidly through the air; provided with air-
cells, as an additional assistance to them: endowed with astonishing
powers of sight, hearing, and smell: possessed of organs of voice
as varied as they are remarkable; and with many other faculties
not inferior to these, the feathered tribes claim a high position in
the scale of created beings. We see in their formation the hand of
a bountiful Creator; in their endowments the wisdom and goodness
of Providence displayed. A knowledge of their structure, and an
insight into the wonderful organs with which they are supplied,
cannot but raise them in our eyes, as worthy of deeper investigation
and closer attention than they usually receive; and raise us, at the
same time, as should be the case after all our researches into the
page of nature, ‘from nature’s works up to nature’s God.’

‘Thus the men
Whom nature’s works can charm, with God himself
Hold converse: grow familiar day by day
With His conceptions; act upon His plan,
And form to His the relish of their souls.”

ALFRED CHARLES SMITH.
Yatesbury Rectory, July, 1854.

Malmsbury.

ArcupisHop CRANMER’s LicENSE TO CONVERT THE NAVE OF
Matmssury Asspey Cuurcy into A Pariso Cuurcu.!

Thomas, by Divine Mercy Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of
all England and Metropolitan, being hereunto lawfully authorised
by the Parliament of England: To all the parishioners of the
parish church of St. Paul of the town of Malmsbury, in the diocese
of Sarum, health, grace, and benediction. We willingly regard
and assist with opportune marks of our favour, those things which
respect the increase of divine worship, and the convenience of the
faithful. Whereas you have represented to us that the worthy

! Copied from the original document by the late William Hughes, Esq., of
Devizes. [A translation, we presume, from the original document which would
of course be in Latin].

250 License to convert Malmsbury Abbey into a Parish Church.

Master William Stumpe, Esq.,! who by gift and grant of the King’s
Majesty, and of full right possesses all the site, circuit, and precinct,
of the late Monastery of the town of Malmsbury aforesaid, and
also all the Nave of the Conventual Church, late of the same
Monastery, in respect that the aforesaid parish church of St. Paul
of Malmsbury is fallen even unto the ground, and is not fit to
receive the people for divine service, Hath granted all the said Nave
of the late Conventual Church to be perpetually converted to the
use of divine services; We favourably granting your petition in this
respect, by the authority of the aforesaid Parliament of England,
which in this behalf we enjoy, by tenor of these presents indulge
you that ye freely and lawfully may hear divine offices, and parti-
cipate in sacraments, and all and singular sacramental rites, within
the aforesaid Nave, so that the consent of those who have interest
in the premises be thereunto had, and the right of all others be
saved, any ordination to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding.
Dated in our Manor of Lambeth, under our seal for Faculties on the
20th day of the month of August, in the year of our Lord 1541,
and in the 9th year of our consecration.

Jo. Hueues, Doctor of Laws.

Nicuotas Worron, SrepHen VaucuHan, Clerk of
Commissary.2 the Faculties of the King’s
Majesty.
EK. W.

1 For some account of Master William Stumpe who turned Malmsbury Abbey
and its offices into a Cloth Factory, see page 140. He was also the pur-
chaser, from the Crown, of Charlton and other Estates of the Monastery. He
died 1563: and his grand-daughter Elizabeth, being an only child and heiress,
carried them by marriage into the family of Knyvett.

2 Of this Nicholas Wotton, Izaak Walton thus makes honourable mention in
his Life of Sir Henry Wotton. ‘‘He was Doctor of Law, and sometime Dean
both of York and Canterbury; a man whom God did not only bless with a long
life, but with great abilities of mind, and an inclination to employ them in the
service of his country: as is testified by his several employments, having
been sent nine times ambassador unto foreign princes, and by his being a Privy
Counsellor to King Henry VIII., to Edward VI., to Queen Mary, and Queen
Elizabeth. He was also by the Will of King Henry VIII. made one of his
Executors, and chief Secretary of State to his son Edward VI. Concerning
which Nicholas Wotton I shall say but this little more: that he refused (bein g
offered it by Queen Elizabeth) to be Archbishop of Canterbury, and that he
died not rich, though he lived in that time of dissolution of Abbeys.”

Maud Heath's Causey. 251

Haud Weath’s Causey.

To have a walk that shall be dry and available in all weathers,
a real walk, not the mere distance for a turn or two on a garden
terrace, but a good constitutional stretch, away into the country,
nine miles there and back; to have this always firm and free from
mud—non cuivis homini contingit—does not fall to every man’s share.
Still more rare is it to find such a privilege free from the cost of
maintenance to those who do enjoy it. But these united comforts
have fallen to the lot of four contiguous and favoured parishes
in North Wilts: Chippenham, Langley Burrell, Tytherton-Kella-
ways, and Bremhill: for which they may thank the foresight and
public spirit of “that worthy benefactress Maup Hearn.”

Thomas Fuller the witty does not indeed mention her amongst
the “ Worthies of Wilts”; but well did she, and well did any one
deserve that name, who in days when roads were “founderous,”
rivers had to be forded, and footpaths were none at all, did so much
pro bono publico as to make a bridge, a road, or a causey.! These
are in more senses than one essentially amongst the first steps
towards the civilization of a country. Without them, there is no
comfortable communication, no encouragement to the interchange
of society, of capital, or of traffic.

A curious illustration of the great importance anciently attached
to the duty of providing safe and easy public thoroughfares, is
supplied to us in the history of names. Amongst other titles borne
by the Pope, is that of “Pontifex Maximus” which in its original
sense means literally neither more nor less than the Head Bridge-
Builder. And the way in which, according to received authorities,
this title has descended to the Pope is this. In the earliest days of
heathen Rome the duty of controlling the arrangement for public

1 Thus the word is always spelled in old writers: and perhaps correctly: being
nearer than ‘‘cause-way” to the French ‘“chaussée,” (a pitched road), from
which it is derived,

2u2

252 Maud Heath's Causey.

passages, more especially that of constructing bridges, fell upon the
priests, being at that time the persons of most varied education,
and probably best qualified by engineering talent to undertake it.
There was one bridge more particularly, the celebrated wooden one
called the ‘“Sublician,” connecting, and being then the only one
that did connect, the opposite sides of the Tiber. This means of
communication, so precious both as a passage and a defence, was
placed under the special care of the Priests who took, as it is said,
from this charge their name of Pontifices. When Christianity
succeeded Heathenism, it was thought politic to retain in many
instances existing names: and so it has come to pass that the Chief
Bishop of Christian Rome, still continuing after 24 centuries to
use the Title of Ponrrrr, represents in fact the Trustees of the very
bridge of our old school friend Horatius Cocles! The Title sur-
vives, but the Trust has expired. For after long assault and
frequent reparation, yellow Tiber washed the bridge bodily away a
1000 years ago, and it has never been rebuilt.

How, and under what authority, in our own. country, road and
bridge making was conducted in early times, would be a curious
subject of inquiry. Acts of Parliament, turnpike trusts, highway
rates, and the like, are of course, comparatively modern inventions.
Royal commissions in times past may have controlled the king’s
highways: but the original making, even of many of them, certainly
of many of the passages and causeys which are found upon them,
was no doubt owing in great measure to the efforts of individuals.
Now and then a great person would be drowned or nearly so, and then
there would be improvement. In 1252, a Queen of England who had
suffered a cold bath in crossing the Warwickshire Avon at Stratford,
as soon as ever she had escaped from the water, hastened to assign
a meadow for the perpetual sustentation of a bridge. This was
perhaps the same that was afterwards improved by Hugh Clopton,
Mayor of London, ‘‘who made (says Leland) a sumptious bridge
and causey there. There had been but a poor one of timber and
no causey to come to it; whereby many poor folks and others,
refused to come to Stratford when Avon was up, or coming thither
stood in jeopardy of life.”

Maud Heath’s Causey. 253

The great causey and arched bridges that divide Barnstaple from
Plympton, in Devon, owe their origin to a similar accident. “A
merchant of London called Stawford chanced to be at Barnstaple
to buy cloth, and saw a woman riding to come over by the low
salte marsh from Plympton towards Berstaple, and the tide came
so sore in, that she could not pass: and crying for help, no man
durst come to her; and so she was drown’d. Then Stawford took
the prior of Berstaple a certain sum of money to begin this causey,
and the bridges, and after paid for the performing it.’’1

There is, or used to be, hanging up in the hall of St. Helen’s
Hospital at Abingdon, a long ditty in praise of the builder of Culham
Bridge, near that town: one verse in modern phrase ran thus :—

King Harry the fifth in his fow-erth year
Hath found for his folk a bridge in Berk-shire;

For carriage and cart to come and go clear,
That, winters before, were soused in the mire.

And some from their saddles flopped down to the ground,
Or into the water, wist no man where.

Private convenience again, would set some to work. Across
the moors of Glastonbury is a causeway a mile long, called Gray-
lake’s Foss, made by the abbots, chiefly for communicating with their
own estates. It was no doubt through clerical influence under other
circumstances, that amongst deeds of charity to which the dying
were often urged, we find bequests of money by will, for making or
repairing highways or causeys. No bad use to put it to either:
when it is remembered how many centuries it takes before any
country is really provided with decent roads; and how difficult it is
to keep them in tolerable order when they are made. Amongst
right thinking persons of this kind, was Joan Lady Bergavenny,
who in 1434 devised “to the making and mending of feeble bridges
and foul ways, £100.”2 Still greater was the zeal of Edmund
Brudenell Esq., who in 1457 ordered by his will, even his gold
cup, silver basins, a great piece of gilt plate with the cover, and
three silver candlesticks, to be sent to the Tower of London to be
melted down: to mend the highway across the heavy clay between

1 Leland Itin: IL, 105, 2 Test. Vetusta, p. 226,

254 Maud Heath’s Causey.

Aylesbury’ and Wendover. Praiseworthy too was the act of
Walter Lord Hungerford who'a little earlier, “for the health of the
soul of the Lady Katherine his wife,” first’made a safe footing over
Standerwick Marsh between Beckington and Warminster. Nor
let Sir Ralph Verney, Knight, be forgotten, who gave £10 by
will; to amend “noyous and ruinous ways,” in that same rich but
dirty vale of Aylesbury aforesaid.

Instances of perpetual endowments for the repair of roads or
footpaths are by no means common. In Wilts there are only one
or two. Cricklade has its “Wayland Estates,” given in the reign
of Queen Elizabeth, for the repair of highways about that town, and
for no other purpose: These are of considerable value; consisting
of about 30 houses, and 50 acres of land, worth together, in 1833,
about £95 a year. And at Devizes, so late as a.p. 1641, as appears
by a memorandum in a council book, John Pierce, gentleman, a
chief burgess, paid £50 into the borough purse, the use thereof to
be bestowed yearly at the discretion of the Mayor and Recorder,
on the maintenance of the causeways.

The benefaction of Maud Heath was earlier than these, and if
the tradition about her is true, its history is a curious one. She is
said by common report to have been a market woman, who having
long felt by sad experience the inconvenience of a swampy walk,
especially in the conveyance of such perishable ware as butter and
eggs, devoted the savings of her life to the laudable purpose of
providing a good footing for her successors in all time to come.
She made no will: (at least we have not been able to hear of one
either in the registers at Salisbury or in London) but during her life
time, about the year 1474, in the reign of K. Edw. IV., she gave to
certain trustees, some houses and land in and near Chippenham to
carry out her intentions, How much, if any, of the causey was
finished before her death, or whether it was begun at all, we have
no account.

It commences about 44 miles from Chippenham, on the eastern
side of the town, at the top of Bremhill Wick Hill. The hill itself
is a high and pleasant ridge capped with dry iron sand, but im-
mediately at the foot of it, upon the northern side, lies a low and flat

Maud Heath's Causey. 255

tract of heavy clay land, made heavier by occasional inundation
of the North Wilts Avon which runs through it. There can
be no doubt that to ensure safe passage for the old wives and
their baskets across this plashy level, was a main point with the
considerate Maud Heath. Here no doubt she had often herself
had a battle with the mud: had lost many a fine fresh egg, -
and disappointed many a Chippenham breakfast table, during the
wars of the Roses. Over this her battle ground she was resolved
to triumph, and she fas triumphed. The stone-pitched path
that has so long borne and will yet probably so much longer bear
her name, continues down Wick Hill, (where indeed it does not
seem to be much wanted) through the pretty village of Tytherton,
(surnamed from a former owner) Kellaways, then across the perilous
flats just mentioned, over a canal and then over the Avon by bridges,
and so through the parish of Langley Burrell, till it lands the
Bremhill adventurer safe at the town of Chippenham. Between
Langley Common and Chippenham, on account of insufficient
breadth of road, or for some other reason, there was until lately
a considerable distance without any causey; but it is now completed
the whole way.

Maud Heath being thus represented by so useful and enduring a
work, might very well say, as Sir Christopher Wren is made to say
within St. Pauls, “If you want to see my monwment—look around
you:” and perhaps from the peculiar cireumstances of this case and
the tradition belonging to it, it was not very likely that her name
at all events would be forgotten, however obscure the rest of her
history might become. Still, as the public memory is sometimes
treacherous even towards those who have deserved more nobly of
their country than Maud Heath, it was not an unwise precaution,
on the part of those who took it, to set up at intervals by the way-
side substantial mementos of the good deed and the worthy doer.

The verses inscribed upon these memorials are not indeed amongst
the highest efforts of the muse; but they have the merit of being
adapted to the purpose of being easily remembered by the common
people.

The path is always described in the old documents relating to it,

256 Maud Heath's Causey.

as starting from Wick Hill, not from Chippenham. And so in
the poetry. On a large stone at the commencement of it, near
Bremhill, are these lines.
“From this Wick Hitt begins the praise
Of Maup Hearn’s gift to these highways.”

At the other end, next to Chippenham, just at the point of junction
of the two turnpike roads from Malmsbury and Draycote, is a second
stone with this couplet :—

‘‘Hither extendeth Maup HxEaty’s gift;
For where I stand is Chippenham clift.” 1

Midway, at the bridge over the Avon, there is a third commem-
orative stone: a pillar about 12 feet high, erected by the feoffees
in 1698, which enters more into particulars.

“To the Memory of the worthy Maup Hearn of Langley Burrell, Spinster:
who in the year of grace, 1474, for the good of travellers, did in charity bestow

in land and houses about eight pounds a year, for ever, to be laid out on the
highway and causey, leading from Wick Hill to Chippenham Clift.”

CHIPPENHAM Injure me not. Wick Hitt.
CLIFT.

On the several faces of the pillar are short Latin sentences,
intended to be applicable both to the journey to Chippenham, and to
the longer one of human life. To these, however intelligible to the
pontifices of Langley or Bremhill, and the other learned guardians
of this modern “Sublician,” the late vicar of Bremhill, the Rev.
W. L. Bowles, obtained leave to attach for the use of less accom-
plished travellers, an interpetration in the vulgar tongue.

1 It is to be presumed that this stone, being a public authority, speaks the
truth; and therefore when it says ‘‘this 7s Chippenham Cif,” as Chippenham
Cliff we must regard it. But the word is scarcely applicable to a locality almost
flat. There is indeed all the way to the railway arch, a gentle slope down
which a cannon ball might, or might not, roll: but there is not upon the spot,
anything approaching to the abruptness of a cliff. The stone is just upon the
limit of the parish of Langley Burrell, and probably has always been where it is;
but had the causey been carried on to the left (still keeping within the same
parish), so as to follow the old road towards the town, it would presently have
arrived at something much more like a cliff—the steep rugged bank which
overhangs the river, hear the entrance to Mr. Esmeade’s grounds at Monkton.
And there it would have been a more intelligible stone.

Maud Heath’s Causey. 257

There are three Dials. On the side facing Mornin, or the rising

sun, “ VOLAT TEMPUS,” is thus paraphrased :—
‘Oh early passenger look up, be wise:
And think how, night and day, time TIME onward FLIES.”

On the side opposite to Noon or mid-day sun, is the scriptural
advice “Whilst we have time, to do good.”

“QVUM TEMPUS HABEMUS, OPEREMUR BONUM.”’
‘Life steals away— this hour, oh man, is lent thee
Patient to work the work of him that sent thee.”

The words, on the side towards EVENING, or the setting sun, though
appropriate when rightly applied, seem to fit less happily the case
of the ordinary passer to and fro.

““REDIBO. TU NUNQUAM.”
‘“‘Haste traveller! The sun is sinking low,
He shall return again—but NEVER THOU.”

With respect to Maud Heath’s real station in life, though we
have so far let the current story pass, which assigns to her a rank
not more exalted than that of a market woman, it is only fair to
observe, that we are not aware that there is the slightest evidence
or real foundation for it. Mr. Bowles repeats the tale as it was
told to him; but neither he nor any one else appears to have made
enquiry either for confirmation or disproof of it. Aubrey made a
“Mem.” to investigate the matter; but he never did so: at least
he has not left us any result of his researches. In the inscription
on the pillar set up at Kellaway’s Bridge in 1698, and in the recital
of old deeds relating to the Gift, she is described as “of Langley
Burrell:” and there is no reason whatever for doubting that such
was the case, so far as to its being her place of residence, probably
also that of her death. But there is considerable reason for
doubting the traditional story told by the parish clerk of Langley,
as to a certain gravestone there, which he shows as the memorial
of Maud Heath and her sister.

The alleged memorial is thus described by Aubrey, about
A.D. 1670. “In the churchyard on the south side of the church,
lye two sisters in a freestone monument. ‘There was a canopy over

them not long since taken away. These two sisters were benefactors
2 1

258 Maud Heath's Causey.

to the repairing the causeway towards Keilway’s Bridge.” Such
is still the belief. The overlying slab, which is all that is left of
the monument, is now reared up against the west wall of the tower
close by the entrance at the south porch. It is a massive piece of
freestone, about 74 feet in height. In the upper part of it are cut
two small trefoiled and pointed niches, within each of which is a
head, now much defaced by time and weather. On the surface of
the slab below each head there have been at one time floriated
crosses. Part of one only is now to be seen. ‘There is no trace of
inscription. 1

As to its being a monument of Maud, and her sister, joint bene-
factors to the causey, this is quite contrary to all evidence: for none
of the deeds or recitals of deeds make the slightest allusion to any
sister being partner in the gift, but they invariably speak of Maud,
and Maud only. In the next place we are rather inclined to think
that the heads are those not of two females, but of a man and his
wife, which, if it is the case, puts an end to all claim of Maud to
this memorial; as “the worthy benefactress” was a spinster. The
heads, it is true, are much defaced: but a very close inspection will
show under the chin of the face on the sinister (¢.e. the right as
you look at it), or wife’s side, the distinct remnant of female dress,
of which there is no trace in the other. Finally, the gravestone is
of a style generally considered to be at least 100 years older than
the time of Maud Heath. For these three reasons it is doubtful
whether it can possibly refer to her. But be that as it may, there
is no reason for doubting that she lived and probably died in tlie
parish of Langley Burrell.

Mr. Bowles admits this, but he afterwards says that “her own
parish was Bremhill.” His authority for this statement he does

1 Single incised slabs of this kind, having a head introduced over the Cross,
may be seen in the Churchyard of Limpley Stoke, between Freshford and Bath.
Also at Monkton Farley. These particular examples are drawn in the Rey. E.
Cutts’s pretty and very cheap book, called ‘‘Manual of Sepulchral Slabs and
Crosses of the Middle Ages.” In that Volume, at Plate Lxx., there is a tombstone
of the double pattern (which is much more rare), very nearly resembling that
at Langley Burrell.

Maud Heath's Causey. 259

not give: which, if he had any, is to be regretted, because it might
perhaps have assisted in clearing up the darkness of her history, or
might have led to something else that would have done so. But
that Bremhill was her own proper parish we are certainly inclined
to believe, and for these reasons. She must have had some interest
in or connexion with that parish, (probably it was at Bremhill
Wick), or why be at the pains to begin her causey so far within
the bounds of it? In the next place, we have record of the name
of Heath at Bremhill a few years after her death. Edward Heath
was a Trustee of the causey in 1537;! and in the Wilts Musters of
1538, the second person in the Bremhill list of “able men” is
William Heath. This perhaps does not imply that William was of
higher worldly rank than that respectable, yet now not so very com-
mon one, of independent yeoman freeholder. Still, supposing Maud to
have been related to these persons, this would raise her above
the mere market-woman rank of the common belief. But we
venture with all modesty to aspire yet a little higher on her behalf;
and however loath to disturb a plausible and popular story,
presume to take the liberty of expressing a very strong suspicion
(for a reason to be given) that perhaps the worthy benefactress
belonged after all to the class of gentlefolk. The reason is this.
There is a casual note amongst Aubrey’s (sometimes very use-
ful) memoranda, which seems to have escaped observation hithérto.
It is in his description of the interior of Bremhill Church as it
was to be seen in his own time, 1650-70. Mr. Bowles does not
appear to have known of Aubrey’s notes. At least he makes no
allusion whatever to them. The windows of the aisles, says
Aubrey, had once been filled with good old stained glass. Part of
this was stillremaining. In the north aisle the five works of mercy,
as Burial of the Dead, &c., &c.; with coats of arms, amongst
which those of a Robertus Russell. In the south aisle, all the
windows of which had been very good, there were still left “12
lights, containing the 12 apostles, each with his symbol of the
creed, and cognizance: and at the top of the eastern window of

1 See p, 261. Note.

260 Maud Heath's Causey.

this aisle, the figure of a man drawn in green, kneeling, like
Judge Littleton, and a woman drawn by him; with the words
“Orate pro anima Johannis Hurts.” A coat of arms was scattered
about these windows, ‘Or, a lion rampant, double tailed, sable”’:
and in the margin of his manuscript Aubrey writes the name
Hethe asif it referred to this coat; though we have not been able
hitherto to identify it as the shield of any family of that name.!
There can be no doubt that this south aisle had been thus liberally
embellished by the Johannes Heath, whose figure, drawn in green,
occupied so prominent a place at the eastern end of it. And it is
only a fair inference that he must have been a gentleman land-
owner of the Parish of Bremhill. Therefore with this fact before
us, of a family being settled there of the higher class of life, it is
at any rate quite as likely that the benefactress to the causey
belonged to that class, as that she was only in the more humble
position, to which, in the absence of any bona fide evidence,
popular gossip has consigned her.?

But this our suggestion to the contrary notwithstanding, the
story of her being an old goody market-woman, or at the highest,
a farm-housekeeper, is the favourite one, and is now likely to be
perpetuated. For within these few years the tradition has been
most substantially personified, in a bodily form and of a material
that are likely to endure, as long as the causey itself shall last.

A few minutes after leaving the Chippenham Station in the
Train towards London, the passenger may observe on the right
hand, upon the top of a high ridge, (above-mentioned as Bremhill
Wick Hill), a column standing clear against the horizon. The
distance is too great to distinguish a figure at the summit; but a

1 Aubrey’s Collections for N. Wilts. Part 11, p, 4, Sir T. Phillipps’ edition.

2 If Maud had left a Will, which we fear she did not, it would have perhaps
told us more of her history. The name does not occur very often at that period.
All that in such a case can be done is to collect and compare such meagre notices
as do occur. One thing often leads to the solution of another in a very unex-
pected way. There was a John Heath, Prebendary of Sarum, who died 1464,
and a Richard Heath, Vicar of Chiseldon (about 15 miles from Bremhill) who
died in 1474, the very year of Maud’s gift. But there is at present nothing to
identify either of them as relatives of hers.

Maud Heath's Causey. 261

figure there isof Maud Heath herself in the full egg-and-butter
uniform, or what is presumed to be such, of temp. Edw. IV.; upon
her head a heavy coiffure, in her hand a staff, and by her side a basket.
And there she sits, composedly surveying the well wooded and
verdant lowlands before her, from the point where “her praise
begins” even to that at which it ends; and a great deal more
besides. The column is of freestone, about forty feet high, octan-
gular, upon asquare pedestal: and an inscription underneath states
that it was erected by Henry Marquis of Lansdowne, and William
Lisle Bowles, Vicar of Bremhill, two of the Trustees. Then follow
some lines by W. L. B.
‘‘Thou who dost pause on this aerial height,

Where Mavp Hearn’s Pathway winds, in shade or light,

Christian wayfarer in a world of strife,

Be still—and ponder on the path of life.”

And here, having conducted the reader along her causey, to the
base of Maud Heath’s Statua, we leave him, if he is weary of us,
to do homage to that worthy benefactress, whilst we add a short
notice of

THE BENEFACTION.

Of the original document by which Maud Heath in 1474 gave
the estate, since belonging to the Trust, we have not seen any copy.
But from recitals in subsequent deeds it appears that she enfeoffed
certain parties, who as they became reduced in number, appointed
others. Such continues to be the practice. The Trustees have
been usually chosen from the gentry and clergy connected with
the Four parishes, or their immediate neighbourhood. Of the
Trustees first named by herself, three seem to have been surviving in
1537, William Woodland, Edward Heath,' and Thomas J efferye.

On 12th May in that year, these three appoint new Trustees:
viz., Edmund Stokes (of Tytherton Kellaways), Leonard Woodland,

1 No doubt a relative of the benefactress. The Woodlands here named
were a Chippenham family, who lived in what the Muster Roll of 1538 calls
“The Tything of Vogan in Chippenham,” by which is most probably meant the
part of the town now called ‘‘ Foghamshire;” Lord Hungerford’s Rent Roll
mentions Woodland as a Freeholder in ‘‘ Foggamsheare.” Jeffery was a name
both at Bremhill and Langley Burrell. (Walter J. was Rector of Langley
1505—1532). Norborne was also in both Parishes.

262 Maud Heath's Causey.

Edward and John Wastfield, John Bond, Benedict Long (he
was younger brother to Sir Robert Long of Draycote and South
Wraxhall), John Gale (of Langley Burrell), John Knapp, Richard
Wastfield (of Christian Malford), Richard Godwin, Sen., John
Harris, William Harris, and Matthew King.

On 24th -July, 1573, the seven last mentioned being dead,
Edmund Stokes and the rest appoint Walter Long, Esq. (eldest
son and heir of Sir Robert, and nephew of Benedict Long), Hugh
Barrett, gentleman, (of Tytherton Lucas), William Norborne,
Christopher Stokes, John Beryman, Jun., Henry Stafford, John
Wastfield (of Langley), Walter Gale, Andrew Norborne, Henry
Fernwell, Henry Newman, John Newman, William Watts alias
Heath (of Bremhill), John Olif, Sen., William Harris, Humphrey
Olif, Anthony Wastfield, and John Wastfield, Jun.

In 1611 the number had fallen to eight, among whom were
Hugh Barrett, and William Watts alias Heath.

In 1711 the Estate had become vested in Sir George Hungerford,
of Cadenham, and three others then only survivors. By a deed
dated 9th October in that year, Sir James Long, of Draycote, and
fifteen others were named.

The property at that time is described as consisting of—

1, A Rent-charge of 14s. for ever, arising out of two closes, called
Horsecroft, situate near Wood-lane in the Parish of Chippenham.

2. A yearly Rent-charge of 9s. 4d., issuing out of a close adjoining
Rowden Down Lane in the same Parish.

3. A burgage house, tenement, malthouse, garden and orchard, situate
in Cook Street in Chippenham, subject to a subsisting lease,
dated 1644.

4, A burgage house, tenement, and garden, situate in Cook Street,
subject to a lease for 99 years, dated 14th April, 1662.

5. A burgage house, tenement, and garden in Chippenham, near the
bridge, subject to a lease dated 1667.
6. A burgage house, tenement, and garden, in Mary’s Street, in Chip-

penham, subject to a lease for 70 years, dated 15th April, 33
Charles II.

7. A burgage house, tenement, and garden, in St. Mary’s Street in
Chippenham, subject to a lease for 40 years, from 1706.

By the deed of 1711, the Trustees, or the survivors of them,

being not less than three, are empowered to convey the premises to
new Trustees.

Maud Heath's Causey. 263

At the time of the Charity Commissioners’ inquiry, about 1834,
the surviving Trustees (under the latest previous conveyance,
dated 5th August 1825) were Henry, Marquis of Lansdowne;
Samuel Viveash, of Calne; Dr. Starkie, of Spy Park; The Rey.
William Lisle Bowles, Vicar of Bremhill; The Rev. Robert Ashe,
of Langley Burrell; Robert Humphries, of Ivy House, Chippen-
ham; John Merewether, of Blackland, near Calne; Oriel Viveash,
of Calne; Thomas Clutterbuck, of Hardenhuish; Walter Coleman,
of Langley Fitzurse; and John Edward Andrews Starkie, of Spy
Park.

The annual value of the real and personal property belonging
to the charity was then as follows:

Leising
1. Rent-charge on Horse Croft,! now called ‘‘ The Pad-
docks,” belonging to W. H. Awdry, Esq., of Chip-
Penh amy ERIS LAOS. RH a ND. Fae 0 14 0
2. Rent-charge on a close in Rowden Down Lane;
Representatives of John Singer.................. 0 9 4
3. Burgage house, in Embry,? John Provis; under lease
for 21 years, from 6th April, 1832. Dwelling-house,
two cottages, carpenter’s shop, timber yard, and two
IVIGSSUA SOS oevarcraieie ciabatta Mee Tsue Arexgtoreie ike cig os cca aoe ys 55 0 O
4. Burgage house, in Cook Street .................. 185> 0) FC
5. Two burgage cottages, in Mary’s Street, [Clifford and
Gem. -soarlyatenanitail i decd sete «cai = oleae osyr an Toe One
6. Burgage houses, near the bridge.................. Toe OmnG
107 3 4

1 This rent-charge on Nos. 1 and 2 dates from 1611. In that year a dispute had
arisen between the Feoffees and John Scott, The Feoffees claimed a moiety of each of
the three parcels of ground, as having been given by Maud Heath. Scott maintained
that they had been part of the inheritance of one Barnes, from whom they had passed
to Tyndall, by whom they were sold to John Gale. Forty years before (viz. 1571) Gale
died, leaving two daughters who divided his estate. Scott married one of them and
had these lands for his share. Further he shewed that the Crown having claimed them
as assart lands of Chippenham Forest, he had compounded for them and taken a mesne
conveyance from his Majesty. To settle the dispute a commission issued from the
Court of Chancery. Sir Henry Baynton, Sir Henry Poole and others met at Malmsbury,
and finding that the claim of the Feoffees was doubtful, an order was made that upon a
release being given to Scott, he and his heirs, &c., should pay out of the closes in question
a rent-charge of 23s. 4d. per annum to the said charitable use for ever.

2 A small street in Chippenham. The name is pronounced ‘‘Amary,” and is no
doubt a corruption of Ave-Mary : as in London Ave Maria Lane,

264 Maud Heath’s Causey.

The Trustees also had five Exchequer Bills of £100 each, a
balance in the hands of the Treasurer of £130 3s. 9d., and there
were arrears of rent £72 5s. 8d., making a total of £702 9s. 5d.

The property was the same as that described in 1711, except
that one of the houses described in 1711 as in Cook Street is in
the conveyance of 1825 described asin Embry. Embry (Ave-Mary)
closely adjoins Cook Street.

The money in the hands of the Trustees had arisen from savings,
the excellent state of the causey requiring little to keep them
in repair. About 1811 the Trustees, finding that they had sufficient
funds for the purpose, raised a footway, on a chain of about 60
arches over the river Avon and meadows adjoining, to allow persons
on foot and horseback to pass during the highest winter or summer
floods, conceiving this to be strictly within both the letter and
spirit of the charity at the time it was established. An earlier set
of Trustees had widened Kellaways Bridge, and lowered and im-
proved the road at Wick Hill. A salary of £5 a year was allowed
to a Surveyor for taking care of the causey.

The property of the Trust is likely to increase in value. In the
years 1852 and 1853, the Trustees completed that part of the
causey which had never been made, at Pew Hill, and also built
a new stone bridge with iron balustrades, and a footpath on one
side, over the Avon. This bridge was opened December 9th, 1853.
Mr. Henry Law, the Civil Engineer; Messrs. Rigby, Contractors.

The present Trustees are The Marquis of Lansdowne; The Earl
of Shelburn; Viscount Wellesley; Rev. Robert Ashe, of Langley
Burrell; Rev. Robert Martyn Ashe, ditto: Rev. Charles Grey Cotes,
Stanton St. Quintin; Rev. Robert Vanbrugh Law, Rector of
Christian Malford; Rev. George Thomas Marsh, Vicar of Sutton
Benger; Rey. Walter Long, Rector of Tytherton Kellaways; Rev.
Henry Drury, Vicar of Bremhill; Rev. Robert Kilvert, Rector of
Hardenhuish; Edmund Lewis Clutterbuck, Esq., of Hardenhuish ;
and Walter Coleman, Esq., of Kington Langley.

J E. J.
July, 1854.

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Kingston House, Bradford. 265

Kingston Wonse, Bradford.

Every student of Wiltshire Archzology is supposed to be
acquainted with the “Halle of John Halle,” on the New Canal in
the city of Salisbury. Such is the name which the late Rev.
Edward Duke in his book called ‘‘ Prolusiones Historicze,” (published
in 1837), has conferred upon a fine old room now restored and used
as a china-shop, but formerly the refectory of a wealthy citizen and
woolstapler of the reign of Edward IV. It is less generally known
that North Wilts is also able to boast of another Hall, we believe
we may add of a second John Hall. For if houses (amongst other
things) were always called by their right names, this in all pro-
bability should be the proper title of the beautiful old mansion at
Bradford, of which a view is given in the plate annexed: although
for reasons which will appear, it is more commonly known as “The
Duke’s” or “ Kingston House.”

Of the time at which it was built, the style of architecture
employed scarcely leaves a doubt. It partakes of the character of
Longleat; but still more strikingly resembles a portion of Kirby,
the seat of Lord Winchilsea, in Northamptonshire. The date of
Longleat House is well known. It was built between the years
1567 and 1579, and according to a received tradition, by John of
Padua, the “ Devizor of public Buildings” patronized by Henry VIII.,
Edward VI., and the Protector Somerset: an architect, who is
supposed by some to have been John Thorpe, an Englishman, under
the disguise of an Italian name. Kirby House was built between
the years 1572 and 1638. There is therefore little difficulty in
assigning Kingston House to the commencement of the 17th century.
There was at an earlier period and no doubt upon the same site, a
house belonging to the Halls of Bradford, which Leland saw when
he travelled that way in 1540. He says! “Halle alias De la Sale

1 See above, pages 148 and 192,

266 Kingston House, Bradford.

dwellith in a pretty stone house at the east end of the town on
the right bank of Avon: aman of £100 lands by the year: an
ancient gentleman since the time of Edward I.” The peculiar
notice of a “pretty stone house” exactly in the same situation,
would almost for a moment suggest the question, could the present
house by any probability be the one that Leland saw? But this is
not at all likely, as 1540 is certainly too early for the style of
Kingston House.

If Aubrey is to be trusted (which as he sometimes wrote from
memory is not always the case) the house, as it now appears, is
only the central portion of the original building. For according
to his description of it in 1670 it had, when complete, two wings.
In his chapter upon “Echos”! he says: “After the Echos I would
have the draught of the house of John Hall of Bradford, Esq.,
which is the best built house for the quality of a gentleman in Wiits.
It was of the best architecture that was ¢ommonly used in King
James the First’s reigne. It is built all of freestone, full of win-
dowes, hath two wings: the top of the house adorned with railes and
baristers. There are two if not three elevations or ascents to it: the
uppermost is adorned with terrasses, on which are railes and baris-
ters of freestone. It faceth the river Avon, which lies south of it,
about two furlongs distant :2 on the north sideisa high hill. Now,
a priori, I doe conclude, that if one were on the south side of the
river opposite to this elegant house, there must of necessity be a
good echo returned from the house; and probably if one stand
east or west from the house at a due distance, the wings will afford
a double echo.”

Whether wings would have been any improvement to the house
is a question of taste: but whether there really ever were any is a
matter of considerable doubt. Aubrey’s description is evidently
from recollection ; for if it had been made on the spot he could not
have expressed himself, as he does, with uncertainty as to the
number of terraces. Neither does the echo experiment appear to

1 Natural History of Wilts, p. 19.
2 The actual distance is about 200 yards.

Kingston House, Bradford. 267

have been one that he had actually tried, but merely one that
probably would have produced a particular effect, if tried. A recent
examination of the masonry and general structure leads us to the
conclusion that Aubrey must have been mistaken. There is not
the slightest appearance against the sides of the house of its ever
having had any appendages of the kind. The facade on the western
side (as seen in the print) is perfectly regular, is built of ashlar,
and has a large doorway in the centre. On the eastern side indeed
the masonry is rough and the elevation irregular; but still there
is no trace of any projection. The mistake may perhaps be ac-
counted for in this way. ~There was formerly a range of offices
and stables behind and longer than the house. This seen from a
distance may have presented the appearance of wings.

“The principal front to the south was divided into two stories
with attics in the gables, and was occupied by large windows with
stone mullions. These were formed by three projections, the
central one coming forward square, and the two side ones with
semicircular bows. In the centre was a large sculptured doorway
to a porch, and the summit of the window bays was adorned with
open parapets.’

The “ Duke’s House” is noticed in a work called “Observations on
the Architecture of England, during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth
and King James I.,” by Mr. C. J. Richardson, who has introduced
four illustrations of it. 1. The externalview. 2. A fireplace and stone
mantelpiece in the entrance hall. 3. A mantelpiece of oak on the
upstairs floor; and 4. A ceiling. The same plates, with two others
of details, appear also in a volume of “Illustrations of Claverton
and the Duke’s House,” published by George Vivian, Esq., of the
former place.

In these works it is described as being of the transition style
between the old Tudor or perpendicular, and the new or Palladian.
Many of the enrichments peculiar to it are of German invention;
artists of that nation having been then much in vogue. ‘The excess
of window light, characteristic of houses of that style, and so

268 Kingston House, Bradford.

remarkable in the instance before us, gave occasion to Lord Bacon’s
observation, that “such houses are sometimes so full of glass that
one cannot tell where to become, to be out of the way of the sun
or the cold.”

One of the terraces with open balustrades of stone, the orchard
and the garden, are all that remain out of doors. The offices, gate-
houses and every other appendage that it may have had of suitable
character, as fountains and bowling green, &c., have disappeared.

Over the chimney piece of a panelled room upstairs, (being the
third of the plates above referred to) are still to be seen two shields
carved in oak, each bearing the following quarterings.

1. Hatt. Sable. 3 poleaxes argent. (This coat with the crest of Hall,
‘“‘an arm embowed in armour, proper, garnished or, holding a

Kingston House, Bradford. 269

poleaxe argent,’”’ is upon a shield in stone over Hall’s almhouse
in the town of Bradford).

2. Arrorp. Three cylindrical open-barred spindles or reels, apparently for
winding yarn. (Or are they eel-traps, called in heraldry, weels ?)
The device is very rare and uncertain: but it is evidently some
kind of mill apparatus. -dt-ford was the name of an heiress who
married one of the early Halls of Bradford: and in an old Herald’s
note book in the Harleian collection of MSS. (4199. p. 91.) the
word Atford is, just perceptibly, written against this quartering in
a rough sketch of the arms of Gore of Alderton.

Giles Gore, Esq., of that place (the purchaser, from the Crown, of
the Glastonbury Abbey estate at Grittleton in 1561) married Edith,
daughter and heiress of a Julian Hall of Bradford (a younger branch
of this family). Edith was buried in Alderton church, where a
gravestone, in the south aisle, still preserves her initials ‘‘E. G.
1560” without further inscription. Thomas Gore, the writer on
heraldry, used the quarterings 1 and 2 (Hall and Atford) in his
book-plates: and the same arms were also to be seen in Aubrey’s
time on stained glass in the windows of old Alderton house now
destroyed.

3.———? A bend between 3 leopards or lions heads erased. [The Wilts
Visitation of 1565, gives in the drawing of Hall’s coat, 3 etoiles on
the bend].

4,.—_——?_ Aneagle sable, preying on a fish azure. [This was also found on
a seal attached to one of the old deeds lately discovered in Kingston
House].

5. Berstrz. Argent, 3 torteauxes, two and one.

G. "THAT, As No. 1,

As this shield contains none of the later quarterings of Hall, it
is not unlikely that it may have come from the older house formerly
upon this site.

Over the mantelpiece of the entrance hall (the second of the
plates alluded to above) was a painted coat of arms, of sixteen quar-
terings, upon a stone shield sunk within a carved oval frame, that
again being contained withina carved square frame. Mr.Richardson’s

270 Kingston House, Bradford.

drawing of this coat is so minute that some of the quarterings
cannot be distinguished, and the painting itself is now destroyed.
Besides those which are represented in the woodcut above, it in-
cluded Tropnell, Bower, (a cross pattée), and Seymour, (a pair of
wings conjoined), and other intermediate quarterings brought in
by heiresses, probably Besill and Rogers. At the corners were the
crests of Hall, Seymour, (a pheenix), and another, a lion rampant.
Over the larger shield upon the edge of the frame, was a smaller
one of THYNNE: viz, Quarterly, 1 and 4, barry of ten or and sable
(Boteville); 2 and 3, argent a lion rampant. There can be no doubt
that this painted shield referred to the last owner John Hall, who
died 1711: whose mother was a Seymour and whose wife was a
Thynne, as will be seen in the pedigree below. He probably embel-
lished or finished the house, which we are inclined to consider
must have been built by his grandfather, of the same name.

Famity oF Hatt or Braprorp.

It is not likely that there was any connection between the two
families of this name at Salisbury and Bradford. The arms used
by the former, “Argent, on a chevron between three columbines
azure, a mullet of six points,” being wholly different from those of
Hall of Bradford, “Sable, 3 poleaxes argent.” Hall of Bradford
was of considerable antiquity. The name is often met with in very
early deeds, as “De Aula” or “De la Sale” (sad/e being French for
hall). William de Aula de Bradford is often mentioned amongst
other Wiltshire gentlemen, as a witness to documents of the reign
of Edward I. (1273—1807). The family certainly belonged to the
class of wealthy gentry, though the name does not occur in the
list of Sheriffs of the county, until in the person of the last of the
race,in 1670. They married into families of wealth and quality, as
will be seen by the following extract from their pedigree, which

Kingston House, Bradford. 271

only refers to the elder branch, successively owners of the Bradford
house, and is taken principally from the Visitation Book of 1565.

THomAs Hatz or De la Sale, = Atrcr, d. and h. of Thomas Atford; and h, of
of Bradford, Wilts. Nicholas Langridge, of Bradford.

REGINALD ape HAEL, ==

Nicunoras Hatt, living 39 H. VI. = Maregarer, d. and coh. of William
] Besyll, of Bradford.

Tuomas Haxx, = Axice, d. of William Bower, of Wilton.

Witrram Hatz, = Erianern, d. of Christopher Tropnell,
| of Chalfield.
|

1 THomas Hatt, of Bradford, = Exizazetn, d. of John Mervyn, of
living 1558. Fonthill, by Elizabeth Greene.

2 Str Jonn Hatt, Kt., = Dororny, d. and h. of Anthony Rogers,
of Bradford. | of Bradford.

3 Jonn Hatt, Esq. = Evizanern, d. of Het Brune,

] of Athelhampton, Co. Dorset.

‘Sm THomas Hatt, Kt., of Bradford. = Karwarqne, d. of Sir Edward Seymour,

Died 1663, aged 62. of Berry Pomeroy, gt. grandson of the
| Protector.

Joun Hatz, Esq., of Bradford. = Elizabeth Thynne.
Sheriff of Wilts, 1670. Died 1711.

1 The late Mr. Beckford in his gorgeous, and rather ostentatious, display of heraldry upon the frieze
of St. Michwl’s gallery at Fonthill, in illustration of his own descent from Mervyn and Seymour, intro-
duced several of the alliances made by Hall of Bradford, See Gent. Mag., 1822, part 2, p. 203—318.
That of Thomas Hall and Elizabeth Mervyn his wife was, Hall: impaling 1 and 4, Mervyn, 2. Greene.
3. Latimer, See Nichols’s Fonthill, p. 35.

2 His shield was also at Fonthill. Hall: and, on an escocheon of pretence Rogers, argent, a cheyron
between 3 bucks trippant sable, attired or, quartering Besill. (See woodcut page 268).

3 Also at Fonthill. Hall, impaling Brune, Azure, a cross cercelee or, quartering Rokele, lozengy
ermine and gules,

4 Also at Fonthill. Hallimpaling Seymour; viz., 1. The Royal Augmentation, or, semee of fleurs-
de-lis azure, on a pile gules the 3 lions of England. 2, Gules two wings conjoined in lure or,

272 Kingston House, Bradford.

This pedigree includes, it will be observed, two or three heiresses
by whom accessions of property were made. The first, Alice Atford,
brought in the lands of two families, Atford and Langridge.
Margaret Besill (a coheiress) contributed a moiety of lands, temp.
Henry VI. The next heiress was that of the ancient family of
Rogers of Bradford, the founder of which, Anthony Rogers, serjeant
at law in 1478, had married the other coheiress of Besill. The Rogers
family lived in the house called in later times Methuen House, at.
the top of Peput Street; in which Aubrey saw “many old
escutcheons.”! Dorothy the heiress of Rogers accordingly brought
to the Halls not only her own patrimony, (part of which lay at
Holt), but the other moiety also of the Besill estate. Rogers of
Cannington was a junior branch of this family.

There is a fine old barn still standing at the west side of Bradford,
well known for its Early English roof, framed from the ground so
as to be independent of the walls. Aubrey’s passing observation,
that in 1670 it had upon the point of one of the gables a hand
holding a battleaxe, (the crest of Hall), warrants the supposition
that it was built by one of this family.

Sir Thomas Hall, last but one in the pedigree given above,
married Katharine? daughter of Sir Edward Seymour, (of the
elder house), who died 1659, by Dorothy Killigrew. Sir Thomas
was a royalist, temp. Charles I.: one of the Wiltshire gentlemen
who were obliged to compound for their estates. He was fined £660.

John Hall of Bradford (the last male of the family) added to his
father’s large estates, the Storridge Pastures, part of the Brooke House
estate near Westbury, which he purchased in 1665 of Sir Edward
Hungerford of Farley Castle. He was also probably the purchaser
of Great Chalfield manor, as he presented to the rectory in 1678.
His wife was Elizabeth, second daughter of SirThomasThynne, (who

1 The arms of Rogers (argent, a chevron between 3 bucks sable) are still to be
seen in the top of the east window of Bradford church. The piece of glass is
very small and has been turned upside down by the glazier.

2 In the History of Mere (p. 134) Lady Hall is called Anne Seymour, widow
of Dr. Stourton, Edmondson and others contradict this.

Kingston House, Bradford. 273

died 1670), and sister of Thomas Thynne, Esq., (Tom of Ten
Thousand) who was murdered by Count Koningsmark in the streets
of London, in February 1682. The monument to Mr. Thynne in
Westminster Abbey was erected by Mr. John Hall his brother-in-
law and executor.

John Hall at his death in 1711 left one daughter Elizabeth,! who
became the wife of Thomas Baynton Esq. of Chalfield, second son
of Sir Edward Baynton of Bromham. The only child of Mr. and
Mrs. Baynton was Rachel Baynton, who appears to have been un-
married at the time of her grandfather John Hall’s death. By
his will dated 10th September, 1708, he devised all his lands in
Wilts, Somerset, and elsewhere, to Denzill Onslow, Esq., Edward
Lisle, Esq., Francis Goddard, Esq., and Robert Eyre, Esq., trustees;
upon trust after the marriage of Rachel daughter of Thomas
Baynton, then of Bradford, Wilts, (the testator’s granddaughter), for
the said Rachel Baynton during her life: after her death to her
heirs male successively: remainder to Edward Seymour, son of
Sir Edward Seymour, Bart., for his life: remainder to his heirs
male: remainder to William Pearce grandson of the testator’s sister,
Mrs. Coward. By a codicil dated February 1710, he preferred the
said William Pearce and his heirs male, before Edward Seymour
and his heirs male.

Mr. Hall also by his will charged his farm called Paxcroft farm
in Steeple Ashton, lately purchased from Matthew Burges, (now the
property of Walter Long, Esq.), with a clear sum of £40 per
annum, for the maintenance of four poor men in the almshouse he
had lately erected in Bradford.

Attached to the south side of the nave of Bradford church is a
small chapel known by the name of ‘The Kingston Aisle,” which
is kept in repair by the owner of Kingston House. What may be
concealed under the seats or boarded floor of this chapel the writer
cannot say, but he has not been able to discover in any visible part
of Bradford church the slightest trace of monument, device, in-
scription, or other memorial whatsoever to the Hall family. On a
wooden screen which parted this chapel from the South Aisle there
was a few years ago, the Coat of Hall.

1 See the following Pedigree, page 2765.

vo
Z

274 Kingston House, Bradford.

Tue DuxKes or Kinesron.

Rachel Baynton, granddaughter and by the death of her only
brother Henry Baynton, sole heiress, of John Hall, married the
Hon. Wm. Pierrepoint, only son and heir of Evelyn Pierrepoint
then Marquis of Dorchester, afterwards first Duke of Kingston.
Mr. Wm. Pierrepoint died in 1713 at the age of 21, during his
father’s lifetime. Rachel his wife died in 1722. The first Duke
of Kingston (her father-in-law) died in 1726, and was succeeded
by his grandson Evelyn, (only son of Wm. Pierrepoint and Rachel
Baynton,) the second and last Duke of Kingston, who died 1773.
This nobleman, as representative of the Halls, had large estates in
Bradford and the neighbouring parishes: viz., Great Chalfield
manor and advowson, the constableship of Trowbridge, the manor
of Trowbridge, Monkton near Broughton Giffard, Storridge Pastures
in Brooke, the manors and lordships of Bradford, Great Trowle,
Little Trowle, Leigh and Woolley, Paxcroft farm in the parish of
Steeple Ashton; with lands, &c., in Atford, Hilperton, Trowbridge,
Studley, Staverton, Westbury, Melksham, Holt, Steeple Ashton,
North Bradley, and Winkfield.

The name of Evelyn was adopted as a christian name in the
Duke of Kingston’s family from the Evelyns of West Deane, in the
Hundred of Alderbury in South Wilts. Robert Pierrepoint (who
died about 1670), Father of the second Ear/ of Kingston, had mar-
ried Elizabeth, daughter and coheiress of Sir John Evelyn of that
place, and obtained the estate.

The second and last Duke of Kingston, in making his selection
of a partner for life, either had never read or had forgotten, or at
all events took no manner of heed to, that celebrated sentence on
female character, which the great historian of Greece enunciates
by the mouth of Pericles: viz., that her reputation is the best, with
which fewest tongues are busy amongst the other sex, either for
praise or blame. For he fixed his choice on one with whom during
a great part of the last century all tongues were busy; not all in-
deed for blame, but certainly not all for praise. The lady rejoiced
in a plurality of names, being known.first as Elizabeth Chudleigh,

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276 Kingston House, Bradford.

alias the Honble. Miss Chudleigh; alias Mrs. Harvey, alias
Countess of Bristol, alias finally Duchess of Kingston. Her father
was Col. Chudleigh, of Chelsea, a younger brother of Sir George
Chudleigh, Bart., of Ashton, in Devonshire. She was born in
1720, and through the influence of Mr. Pulteney, afterwards Earl
of Bath, was appointed at an early age Maid of Honour to the
Princess of Wales, mother of King George III. Upon a very
slight acquaintance and under a mistaken pique against another
person, she privately married at Lainstone, in Hampshire, on 4th
August, 1744, the Honble. Augustus John Hervey, a young
lieutenant in the Royal Navy, who in the following year succeeded
his brother as Earl of Bristol. “From her husband she very soon
separated, and after 25 years, still maintaining her situation at
court, and her husband being still alive, she married the Duke of
Kingston publicly at St. George’s, Hanover Square, March 8th,
1769. This union was dissolved by the death of the Duke at Bath,
23rd September, 1773. He bequeathed to her every acre of his
great estates for her life, and every guinea of his personal property
absolutely. Under this disappointment, his heirs sought for and
succeeded in obtaining proof of her first marriage, and the con-
sequence was, that for the offence of bigamy she was impeached.
before the house of Lords. The trial lasted five days, commencing
April 15th, 1776. This event excited, as is well known, the utmost
sensation in the fashionable world, and the scene was converted by
the caprice of public taste into a complete holiday spectacle. Ladies
attended in full court dress, and soldiers were placed at the doors
to regulate the entrance of the crowds that pressed in. The
appearance of the Duchess herself is thus described by an eye-
witness Mrs. Hannah More. ‘Garrick would have me take his
ticket to go to the trial, a sight which for beauty and magnificence
exceeded anything that those who were neyer present at a coronation
or a trial by peers can imagine. Mr. Garrick and I were in full-
dress by seven. You will imagine the bustle of 5000 people getting
into one hall. Yet in all the hurry we walked in tranquilly.
When they were all seated, and the King at Arms had commanded
silence on pain of imprisonment, (which however was very ill

Kingston House, Bradford. 277

observed), the Usher of the Black Rod was commanded to bring
in his prisoner. Elizabeth: calling herself Duchess Dowager of
Kingston walked in led by Black Rod and Mr. La Roche, curtseying
profoundly to her Judges. The Peers made her aslight bow. The
prisoner was dressed in deep mourning, a black hood on her head,
her hair modestly dressed and powdered, a black silk sacque with
erape trimmings, black gauze deep ruffles, and black gloves. The
Counsel spoke about an hour and a quarter each. Dunning’s
manner was insufferably bad, coughing and spitting at every three
words, but his sense and expression pointed to the last degree. He
made her Grace shed bitter tears. The fair victim had four Virgins
in white behind the Bar. She imitated her great predecessor Mrs.
Rudd, and affected to write very often; though I plainly perceived
that she only wrote as they do their love epistles on the stage,
without forming a letter. The Duchess has but small remains of
that beauty of which Kings and Princes were once so enamoured.
She is large and ill-shaped. There was nothing white but her face;
and had it not been for that she would have looked like a bale of
bombazeen.”’

Lord Chancellor Apsley presided as High Steward. The charge
was fully proved, and the marriage with the Duke declared illegal.
The Lady read her own defence, and by her tears, cleverness, im-
pudence, and eccentricity, so wrought upon the Honourable House,
that they avoided the enactment of any penalties, amongst which
would have been, as the law seems then to have stood, the very
unpleasant one of being branded in the hand. The prosecutors
however failed in their great object, the restitution of the property.
The Duke had so worded his bequest that it was inalienably her’s
under any one of her many titles.

The Duchess’s whole life had been one of adventure, display, and
indelicate publicity. She had great means at command, and upon
her trial incidentally alluded to a balance of £70,000, in her banker’s
hands. She built Ennismore House, at Kensington. At one of
her fétes, Horace Walpole says, that on all the sideboards and even
on the chairs were pyramids and troughs of strawberries and
cherries. ‘You would have thought her the protegée of Vertumnus
himself.”

278 Kingston House, Bradford.

After her trial she went to Russia, “en princesse,” in a ship of
her own; was received graciously by the Empress, purchased for
£12,000 an estate near St. Petersburgh, and proposed to erect
works on it for the distillation of brandy. Soon afterwards she
returned to France, where also she had an estate: and died rather
suddenly at Paris, 26th August, 1788, aged 68.

She resided occasionally at Kingston House, and no doubt by her
fantastic performances infused a little vivacity into the orderly ideas
of the townsfolk of Bradford. Old people there still tell traditional
tales of her ladyship’s peculiarities. Upon her decease, in con-
sequence of the Duke having died without issue, the landed estates
which she enjoyed for her life, passed to his sister’s son Charles
Meadows, who assumed by sign manual the surname and arms of
Pierrepoint, and was created Earl Manvers in 1806. <A very large
part of the property still belongs to his family, but Kingston House
with about nine acres of ground, was sold in 1802, to Mr. Thomas
Divett, who erected a woollen mill upon the premises. The house
fell into the occupation of inferior tenants and was rapidly sinking
to decay, when it was fortunately again sold by Mr. Divett’s re-
presentatives in 1848, to the present owner Mr. Stephen Moulton.
Mr. Moulton’s first act—one for which he deserves the thanks of
all admirers of architectural elegance, was to put into complete
restoration all that remained of the North Wiltshire Hall of John
Hall.

There is some slight reason for believing that the Duke of
Monmouth lodged here, during one of his progresses amongst the
gentlemen of the west of England; but no specific notice of this
circumstance has yet been met with. Upon taking up the floor of
one of the apartments in 1851, a curious discovery was made of a
beautiful court sword of Spanish steel, which Mr. Moulton gave to
the late Captain Palairet, of Woolley Grange, near Bradford.
Along with it were found some fragments of horse equipage,
holsters, &c.; and a quantity of ancient deeds and papers, chiefly
relating to the Hall family and their property, in and near Bradford.
As a sequel to the history of Kingston House, we introduce the
substance of them in the two following schedules. Number 17 in

Documents found at Kingston House. 279

Schedule 2, will be found contain evidence that the property in
Bath, now belonging to Earl Manvers, was derived to his family
from the same source as Kingston House, the Hatts of Bradford.

Schedule I.

Assrracr oF LATIN AND EnciisH DEEDS RELATING CHIEFLY TO
Lanps or Hatt and RoGERS, FOUND UNDER A GARRET FLOOR, IN
REPAIRING Krneston House, 1851.

1. Charter of Agnes de Bunewoode granting to William de Forde
son of John de Forde, Clerk, (sic), all her right in Schortcrofte
near Forde, and all her land in the town of Forde, near the
land of John and Nicholas de Forde, for the annual payment
of Twopence and a 1lb of pepper. Witnesses, Reginald de
Buteler, John de Bosco, Richard de Ba, William France, John
his son, Robert de Linton, Roger de Bunewode, and others.
[No date, but probably Hen. III.—Seal destroyed}.

2. Charter of Margaret de Bunewode granting to John Clerk as
a marriage portion with her Daughter Juliana half of her lands
in Forde with messuage, &c., and a croft on the south side of
Horncroft, at the annual rent of a pair of gloves, and one
farthing, and to the Lord of the Fee a lb. of pepper. Witn.,
Sir Walter! of Chaldefeld, Martin then Parson of Chaldfelde,
Walter then Parson of the other Chaldefeld, Robert? de Chald-
feld, Clerk, Henry de Mochesam, William de Mugeworth, (?)
Wm. his son, William de Porta, and others. [No date or seal;
but probably Hen. III. or Ed. I. Endorsed “ Deed of Margaret
de Bowoop”’ }.

1 Walter of Chalfield is mentioned as Patron of the Rectory 1308-9 (2. Edw. IT.)
(Wilts Institutions).

2 Robert of Broughton was Rector of Gt, Chalfield in 1308. (Wilts. Inst.)

280 Documents found at Kingston House.

«8. Charter of William Glerk of Walton, (Co. Somerset) confirming
to-Henry Peche and Margaret his wife, a half acre of meadow
and appurts; in. Porteshevede (Portishead) lately bought. of
John de Vele and Isabel his wife. [ Zemp. Edw. II. but no,
date or seal}.

4. penis of Thomas Devedaunz confirming to William “de

ula” (Hall) and Katharine his wife and Thomas their son an
acre of arable land in the South Field of Bradford, for the
rent of one farthing. -Witn., Adam Vicar of Bradford, John
Basset, Nicholas the Dyer, Gilbert the Smith,! Wm. Pyle.
[No date or seal—But temp. Edw. II.}

5. Indented charter of John Carpenter of Bradewey confirming
to Thos. Gramary of Marleberge all his land without
Marlborough, which he had of Edward son of Richard Clerk,
opposite the King’s garden. Rd. Walkeby on N. and Thos.
Clerk of Clatford on 8. To pay 3lb. of cummin at Michzelmas.
and 6d. annually at the Mass of the B. V. M. in the Church
of St. Peter of M. Wit., Stephen Fromund, then Constable
of the Castle of Marlborough, Nicholas de Hamper, Sampson
de Berewyke, Peter the Parchment-maker, - and other
Parishioners. . [ Temp. Edw. I. Seal gone}.

1 The two following Deeds (part of the Westley Collection lately given to the
Society) relating to Bradford, evidently belong to this period.

1. Omnibus, &e., Robert de Wylmydon, Clerk, grants to Agnes daughter of
Beatrix daughter of William Sullene a Messuage &e., at the head of
Bradford Bridge, with a curtilage adjacent, and extending from the said
Bridge to the wall of my new Chamber, of the Burgage which formerly
belonged to Robert of Wylmyndon my Father, &e. Witnesses, Sir John
de Holte. William de la Sale, John Basset, Gilbert le Smith, Nicholas the
Dyer, and others. [Vo date, but Probably Edw. II. Seal torn off }.

2. Know all men that I John de Holte Kt. have given &c. to Robert de
Wylmyndon for 100s. a messuage &c. in Bradeford lying between the
tenement of James Carpenter and that which Reginald D’ozilot holds of
the Abbess of Shaftesbury. Also a tenement between that of Reginald,
and that of Hugh Potel. Witnesses, John de Comerwell Kt., John de
Bradeford, John de Hainault, William de Aula (Hall), Walter de
Chaudefeld .( Chalfield), Stephen de la Slade, John Basset, John de
Murtlegh, John de Wolvelegh ( Woolley), and others. [No date but pro-
bably Edw. II. Seal in black wax perfect. On a Shield, seemée of fleurs
de lys 3 lions rampant. On the legend ‘‘JoHANNES DE HottE”’].

Documents found at Kingston House. 281

6. Indented Charter of Walter Fayrchild of Wroxhall, (South

10.

Wrarhail), granting to Alice la Loche for 40s., a house in W.
which was his grange; and a curtilage called Wytherhey, and
a croft which he had of John de Comerwelle (Cumberwell
near Bradford). Also Clifcroft, and Bradecroft, and a croft
above Hanecleye between the land of Roger de Berleye and
Rogere le Gredere. paying 13d. per ann. to the Lord Prior
and Convent of Farleye, viz., at Hockeday 12d. and at
Michelmas 1d. To John de Forde 1 zd. and to said Walter 1d.
Witn., Sir John de Comerwelle, Kt., Rogere de Berleye, John
de Bedel, Roger Alwyne and others. [ Temp. Edw. I. Seal
gone |.

. Charter of Robert Gerneys of Buddebury, confirming to Wm.

de Aula (Hall) of Bradford, and Katharine his wife, for 20s.,
a piece of land in Berefeld, called Garston, bet. the land of
John de Asselegh and John de Bradford, and nigh Buddebury
Wood. Wit., Sir John de Holte, Sir John de Comerwelle, Kt.,
Walter de Chaldfeld, John Basset, &e. [ The date and seal gone :
but temp. Edw. I).

- (1315). Quitclaim of Robert le Knyzt and Matilda his wife to

Wm. de Bradford and Katharine his wife, of land held of W.
de B. in Portisheued, with Fisheries. Dated Bristol. “Tuesday
after Feast of St. Augustine First Bishop of England.” [8 and
9 Ed. II. Endorsed “The Fischynge at Bristol <4 8

. (1816). Judgment of Recovery at Sarum to Thos. son of Warin

Mauduit and Robert Seal in the sum of 20s. from John Waspail,
10. Edw. II.

(1324). Charter of Reginald de la Sale of Bradford, confirming
to Roger le Wolmanger and Matilda his wife a messuage, &c.,
near “le Provendere” (the market ?) 3 acres in Woolflege field
(Woolley), 1 in Kingsfield bet. the land of the Rector of Brad-
ford, and Mowat’s, 1 acre on west side of the Moor, near Wm.
le Vignur’s land. For the rent of a rose. Reversion to Sir
Thomas my Brother, Rector of Porteshead. Witn., John de
Bradley, John Basset, John de Mugworthley and others. Dated
Bradford, 18. Edw. IT. [Impression of seal of white wax gone |.

282

Documents found at Kingston House.

11. (1325). John Waspail of Smalebrook confirms to Adam le

Threscher of Bishopstrow an acre in le Mersche, for his service
during life. Rent, 12 silver pence. Dated Bishopstrow,
19 Edw. II. Wit., Robert Swaynge, Osbert Gostelyn, Ad.
Goscelin, Atte Mulle, Wm. Wyneband, &c. [Seal of white
wax, but impression gone |.

12. (1274). Quitclaim from Isabella widow of Roger Kentisse, dau.

of Wm. Walwayn of Tral (Zrowle), to Peter de Tral son of
Rich. Walwayn her brother, of her right in a messuage, &c.,
wh. Walter the Miller held in Tral. For rent of 12d. and
20s. paid. This quitclaim was made in the Church of Trow-
bridge, before all the Parishioners: Sunday aft. Ascension, 3.
Edw. I. Witn., Thomas de Tuderigge, Walter the Miller,
Wm. of the Well “(A¢-well)” of Monkton Farley, &e. [Seal
gone |.

18. (1328). Indented Charter of Reginald, son and heir of Wm.

de Bradeford, confirming to Margaret who was wife of Thos.
Frankeleyn of Batwell, all the messuage wh. Walter le Way
held in Porteshead. Wit., Wm, de Capenore, Peter Tilly,
Bryan le Frye, Philip of Bradford, John de Capella, &e.
Dated Portishead, 1. Edw. III. “The sd. Margaret not to
marry without consent: if she does the premises to be for-
feited.”’

14. (1329). Indented Charter of Reginald de la Sale of Bradford:

granting to Thomas his Brother, a messuage &c., late Elizabeth
la Bret’s in Porteshead. 60s. Rent. Also 24s. Rent yearly
in Bradford, 2. E. III.

15. (1829). Indented Charter of Reginald de Bradford confirming

to Richard Caphaw (or Caphode) and Joan his wife and Isabella
their dau., a tenement, &c., in Frogmerestreet, late held of him
by Henry de Baa. Dated at Bradford, 2. E. III. [The house
is described as lying between that of Thomas Mey, and the
way which leads from the Church of St. Olave towards the
Mill: the land called “Reveland” and in “ Kingfield”’].
Witn., John Basset, John Gibbes, Richard Poyntz, Wm. Pylke,
Nicholas the Dyer, &c. [Seal gone].

16.

* ie

18.

19.

20.

Documents found at Kingston House. 283

(1330). Indented Charter of John le Semple of Marleberge
and Elena his wife granting to Margaret late wife of John de
Stanborne of M. a tenement in M., with a curtilage “as far as
the Ditch.” Dated at M., 4 E. III. Witn., Wm. de Ram-
meshalle, then Constable of the Castle of Marlb., Richard de
Brai, then Mayor, Walter Gives, Henry le Denere, then Pre-
fects of the Town, Wm. Atweld, &e.

(1333). The same parties grant to Matilda, formerly wife of
Roger Hogeby of Marlborough a Tent. in M. “opposite the
steps of the Cemetery of St. Peter’s Ch.” Witn., as above, and
Robert Kathecate, Edmund le Man, wardens of the said town.
Dated at M., 7 Edw. III.

(1335). Indented quitclaim of Laurence de Montfort, son and
heir of Alexander de M., to James de Trowbrigge, for his
life, 50s. of ann. rent, wh. James holds in Okebourn Meysi.
Wit., Thos. Delamere, John de Montfort, John Delamere,
Robert de Nony, Henry son of John de M., Robert Admotes,
&e. Dated at Nony (Nunney) on Feast of St. George the
Martyr, 9 Edw. III. (April 23). [On a@ seal of white waa—
a Bend, Ermine}.

(1336). Joan dau. of John de Buddebury quitclaims to John
de la Slade a Tenement wh. Peter Fouke held of Stephen de
la Slade and Joan his dau. in Bradford. Wit., John de Bradley,
George de Percy, John Basset, John Gylbys, Rich. Poyntz, &e.
Dated Bradford, Friday before St. Aldelm, 10 Edw. ITI.
[Seal gone}. .

(1320). James Walwayn of Trol quitclaims to Richard his son
all his right to lands in Trol and Holte, and in the Bailiwick
of the Bedelry of the Court of Farleigh.’ Wit., John of
Bradleghe, Nicholas de Wyke, &c. Dated at Trol, 14 Edw. IT.
[A small seal of red wax, on which a device; a cross and

flower |.

284
2l.

22.

23.

24.

20.

26.

27.

Documents found at Kingston House.

(1341). Deed of obligation by which John Corp, of Turlinge
(Turley, near Bradford) and Isolda his wife are bound to. John
Basset of Bradford in £5 sterling, to be paid in the Church of the
Holy Trinity at Bradford. Datedat B.,15 Edw. III. [Seal gone}.
(1842). Quitclaim from Wm. Iwen of Thanestone (Thoulston,
near Warminster?) to John Wyther of La Penne of a croft of
land near Golden grove at Chaldecotte. Witn., Richard
Danesy, Nicholas Fitzwarren, Wm. de Grimsted, Walter de
Sherenton, John le Gol. Dated at La Penne, 16 E. III.
(1351). Warrant of Attorney from James Norris: appointing
Thos. Harald of Stodeleigh (near Trowbridge) and Wm. Daunte-
seye of Trowbridge his Atts. to place Wm. Stodeleigh his
kinsman in possn. of tenements at Okebourne Meysi. Dated
Trowbridge, 25 E. III.

(1351). Warrant of Attorney from Margaret Abbess of Shaftes-
bury and the Convent there, to Rob. Dychford: to place Thos.
Skathloke and Edith dau. of Roger le Porter in possn. of a
messuage in Lygh (Bradford-Leigh) and Wroxhale within
their Manor of Bradford. Dated Shaftsbury, 25 E. III.
[Seal of the Benedictine Nunnery of Shaftesbury, Co. Dorset.
Dedicated first to the B. V. Mary, and afterwards to St. Edmund,
King and Martyr. Part of the legend is left. “... LBA MARIS
TU NOBIS AUX......... CII EDWARDI REGIS ET MARTYRIS” |.
(1850). Indenture between Philip Pilk and Agnes his wife,
and Nicholas le Webbe and Christina his wife, whereby to the
latter are granted a messuage and appurts. in Bradford. Wit.,
Thos. Atte Halle, Nicholas Gibbes, Thos. Pilk, Thos. Ledbeter,
&e. Dated Bradford, Xtmas Eve, 30 E..ITI. [Seal gone].
(1356). Indented Charter of Nicholas Atte Slade and Joan
his wife, confirming to Wm. Perham and Katharine his wife
an acre, &c. in Bradford, lying in Kingsfield. 4d. Rent. Wit.,
Thos. Atte Halle, John Besyles, Geo. Vincent, Nich. Gibbes,
John de Ashlegh. Dated Bradford, 80 E. III. [Seal gone].
(1360). Same Parties confirm to Thos. Middleton and Matilda
his wife another piece in Kingsfield. 1d. Rent. Dated at
B., 34 E. IL. [Same witnesses}.

Documents found at Kingston House. 285

28. (1363). Conrt Roll of Wm. Waspayl, held at Smalebrooke,
37 E. II. [The left side of the original eaten by rats].

29. (1366). Release from John Folevyle and Margery his wife, to
Thos. Harald of Stodleye (near Trowbridge) relating to a
Tenement late Wm. Atte Fenne’s formerly husband to Mar-
gery in Fontel Episcopi, Co. Wilts. Witn., Robert Delamere,
John de Edyndone, Philip Fitzwaryn, Kts., John Mareys,
Wm. Atte Clyve, Thos. Gore, &e. Dated Edyndon, 10 April,
40 E. III. [Fragments of 2 seals on a single tie appended: on
the upper one, (probably the arms of Folevyle) per fess, ermine
and or: a cross].

30. (1871). Charter of John Solne, son and heir of Stephen Solne,
confirming to Sir John Gyle, Vicar of Bradford,’ and Sir
John de Mydylton, Chaplain, an acre of arable land in Brad-
ford, bet. the land of John Walwayne and Ralph Atte Watte.
Wit., Sir Philip Fitzwaryn, Kt., Thomas Hungerford, Thos.
Gore, John Waschley, and Thos. Atte Forde. Dated Brad-
ford, Sunday, Feast of St. Margaret the Virgin, 45 Edw. ITI.

31. Indented Charter of John de Freshforde, Lord of Freshforde,
granting to Philip de Frye and Alice his wife lands, late held
by Elyas de Noreys, 2 acres being next the Park wall of
Henton,’ 1 upon Riggeley, and $ an acrein Putlonde, $ an acre
against land of the Rectory of Freshford, 1 bet. Rector’s land
and Robert Parsone’s, also against Brockholes and Chysemeade.
Alice, Margaret, and Philip, children of P. Frye. Wit.,
Richard Atte Bridge, John Peyt. [Probably Rich. II: but
the Deed much mutilated |.

32. (1380). Deed of Attorney, Alice de Wilde appoints Walter de
Forde, and John Godman of Farleigh her Attornies to put
Walter Moloyter (?) and Margaret his wife in possn. of land
in Wroxale. Dated at Farley (Monkton F.), 4 R. IL. [Seal
gone |.

1 John Gill, V. of Bradford, 1349. (Wilts Inst.)
2 Henton Charterhouse Abbey. )

286
33.

34.

30.

36.

37.

Documents found at Kingston House.

(1381). Indented Charter of John, Lord of Freshforde, son
and h. of Reginald de F. granting to Thos. Burgeis and
Agatha his wife and John their son a messuage called Wode-
place in F., and a road in Templewood, leading to his house,
for driving his cattle to field, lately held by Hugh Mason.
Rent 5s. and 2 capons at Michmas. Excepting Regal Service
at his Court at Freshford. Witn., John Crompe, John Atte
Halle, John Rengoe, John Bateman, Rich. Atte Brigge.
Dated Freshforde, 29 June, 5 R. II. [Seal gone}.

(1381). Charter of Thomas Atte Forde, granting to John
Aldeburgh, Rector of Combe Hawey, and John Videln a
Mess. and 26 acres, late John le Eyr and Alice his wife, in la
Forde, in the Tithing of la Lye. Wit., John Ashley, John
Percy, Rob. de Barton, Nicholas Atte Slade. Dated Bradford,
5 Rich. II. [Seal of St. Nicholas performing the miracle on
the children in the Tub}.

(1381). Charter of Nicholas Slade conceding to Adam Atte
Welle, John Midilton, Chaplains, Nicholas Boteler,and Richard
Myson, a Cottage, &c. late Gregory Vele’s, in Slade. Witn.,
Thos. Atte Halle, John Ashlegh, &c. Dated at Bradford,
5 R. IT.

(1389). Quitclaim from Cicely Barbure, to Adam Smyth and
Alice his wife of a Tenement at Marlborough, between the
Gildehall and Baker’s. Sealed with the common seal of Marl.
Witn., Wm. Hasthrope, Kt., then Constable of the Castle
of M.; Robert Warner, Mayor; Rd. Pottone, Peter Baldry,
John Norewyn, and Henry Broysebois, Overseers (“preepositis’’)
of the said Town, 20 April, 12 R. II. [Portion of the seal
of the Town of Marlborough left—a castle and “-1G11L..c.”
(1390). Quitclaim from John Videln to Thos. Atte Forde: of
24 acres in La Lyghe in Parish of Bradford: which J. V. and
John Aldeburgh late Parson of Combe Hawey had of the
gift of Thos. Wit., Thos. Atte Halle, John Percy, &c.
Dated Bradford, Friday before Feast of St. Nicholas, 14 R. II.
[On a seal *1*].

38.

39.

40.

41.

42.

43.

Documents found at Kingston House. 287

(1408). Indented charter: John Freshford grants to Robert
Haseldene and Agnes his wife a messuage at Freshford for 6
years. Wit., John Atte Brigge, Wm. Keys, &c. Dat. Fresh-
ford, 10 H. IV. [Seal gone].

(1410). Quitclaim of Thos. Stokes, Rector of St. Andrew’s,
Winefeld! (Winkfield) to Thos. Donne, of all actions, &c.
Dated at Lewes, 12 H. IV. [Wo seal left].

(1414). Wm. Botyler and John Mascall, Clerk, and John
Waache to Richard Slade of Legh nr. Bradford, Co. Wilts,
and Edith his wife, an annual Rent of 6s. 8d. from lands of
John and Margaret Shepherd in Farleyghswyke. Witn.,
Walter Hungerford, Wm. Chayny, Kts., Wm. Besile, Reginald
Halle, &e. Dated Leyghe, 15 January, 1 H. V.

(1418). Indenture at Marlborough, 6 H. V. bet. Reginald Halle
of Bradforde and Robert Longe on one part, and Agnes
Walwey late wife of John W. respecting a cottage and 2 acres
in the Fields of Okebourne Moysy. Reversion to heir of
R. and R. [Part of a seal, with “T.” |

(1424). Charter of (Dominus) Sir Wm. Mery and John Waker
of Aldryngton, granting to Walter Lycham and Emma his
wife of Aldyngton, all the lands, &c. which they lately held
of gift of W. Lycham. Wit., John Hert, Wm. Bovetone,
John Tanner, Nicholas —ody, John Proche. Dat. Aldryng-
tone, F. of St. Edmond K. and M., Noy. 22, 3 Henry VI.
(1425). Indented charter of Wm. Besyle son and heir of
W. B. of Bradford: granting to Roger Trewbody, lands, late
Rich. Walwayn’s in Troll, or elsewhere, in Hundred of Melk-
sham and Bradford. Dat. Troll, 20 June, 3H. VI. [On sead,

a rose above a heart).

. (1433). Charter of Wm. Beauchamp, Kt. and Elizabeth his

wife, relating to Alice Dent and her heirs, a meadow called
Le Parrok, in the common meadow of Bastledene, between
Sener’s and Craas’s, 12 H. VI. [Two seals: on the first—A

1 Thomas Stokes appointed to Rectory of W.—1403. (Wilts Inst.)

288

45.

46.

47.

48.

49.

50.

51.

Documents found at Kingston House.

Fess bet. 6 martlets. Supporters 2 Swans. Crest, a Swan’s head
couped at the neck issuing out of a ducal coronet-—BxraAucHAMP.
On the second—s dice dotted |.

(1437). Indented charter of Wm. Seyntgeorge Esq. and Joan
his wife, granting to Thos. Hulberd and Edith his wife,
Bynehayes in Trol, between a close of the Abbess of Shaftes-
bury and John Wilshote’s. Wit., Thos. Hall, Wm. Besile,
Nicholas Hall, &e. Dated Feast of St. Richard, (Ap. 3)
15 H. 6.

(1439). Indenture at Southbrome, Co. Wilts, 18 H. VI. bet.
John Fyton Esq. and Thos. Norton of 8., about lease of lands
at Sherborne, Co. Dorset, and at Lavington, Mershetone,
Poterne, Vysewyke, Sterte, Eston, Canynges Episcopi.

(1453). Receipt of One Penny from John Gawen at a Court at
Bradford, 32 H. VI. in 13th year of the Lady Edith Bonham,
Abbess in the time of Wm. Carente, Steward, for a garden.
[ Tenement of Henry Longge mentioned |.

(1454). Indenture bet. John Gale of Westbury, Wilts, and
Wn. Smyth of Bradford and Edith his wife and John their
son, 2 Tenements in B., 1 in Sleny Street, between the Ten.
of Henry Longe Esq. and Wm. Pylks. The other in same
St. bet. the Ten. of Rob. Lord Hungerford, and Thos. Halls’s
Esq. Witn., Wm. Touker, N. Halle, 33 H. VI.

(1460). Power of Atty. by John Stringer to John Baskett to
put Nich. Hall and Thos. Roger in possn. of a tenement called
Dauntesey, in the parish of Twynyho and Wellowe, 39 H. VI.
[Also Bradley in Wellow}.

(1462). Bond of John Lynne of Wilton, nr. New Sarum,
lynnewever, to Thos. Norton in 100s., 2 EH. IV.

(1472). Indented Charter. Nich. Halle Esq. to Wm. and
Eliz. Coscombe of Marlborough his granary in M. Witnesses,
John Mermyn, Mayor; Rd. Austin and JohnSpicer, Constables;
John Ferna and Thos. Awent, Bailiffs; Rich. Ady John Syl-
vester, Under-Bailiffs; Rob. Somerfyld, &c., 12 Edw. IV.
[On seal “I. H. 8.” with a crown over it}.

Documents found at Kingston House. 289

52. (1485). Power of Atty. by Wm. Rogers, Esq. of Bradford, to
Henry Whitington and John Jordane to enter on lands in B.
and Troll and deliver possn. to John Horton and Wm. Kente.—
1 March, 2 R. III.

53. (Hen. VII). Bond of John Fripp and Robert Sturmy, keepers
of the Goods of of Bradford, and Walter Frydy, in
£100. [Very illegible].

53.2 (1502). Royal Pardon and Revocation of Outlawry, for Thomas
Hall in the Fleet Prison, 18. H. VII. (trans. from Latin) :—
“Henry, &c. To all Bailiffs, &c. Know that since John
Turberville, Kt., in our court before Thos. Wode, Kt., and
other Justices of the Bench, by our writ impleaded Thomas
Hall, lately of Bradford, Co. Wilts, gentleman, of a debt of
£100: And the said Thomas in that he came not to answer
the demand, &c., was placed in our court of Outlawry in
London, and was then fully outlawed as fully appeareth by the
tenor of a Record and Process of Outlawry which we caused
to come before us in our Chancelry: And now the said
Thomas has surrendered himself at our Prison the Fleet before
our present Justices aforesaid, and remains in the said Prison,
as our beloved Thos. Frowyk our Chief Justice in the same
Bench has certified to us at our Command in our aforesaid
Chancelry: We moved by pity have Pardoned to the sd.
Thomas the Outlawry aforesd. and grant our peace to him for
the same. So that nevertheless he may appear in our Court,
if the aforesaid John shall desire to speak with him touching
the debt above mentioned. In Testimony, &c., we have caused
these our Letters to be made patent. Teste meipso at West-
minster, 15 October. [A fine impression of the Great Seal of
England in white wax, but legend gone}.

54. (1513). Warrant from John West, one of the Justices of Peace
of Co. Wilts to Constables, &c., for apprehension of John
Nores of Bradford; John James, weaver, and Margaret his wife,
having exhibited Articles of the peace against him; and to be
taken to Fisherton Anger gaol, “danger permitting,’ 5 H.
VIII. [Seal gone, and no signature).

290

55.

56.

60.

61.

62.

63.

64.

65.

66.

Documents found at Kingston House.

(1514). Bond of John Hoone of Lacock, “bowchere,” to Wm.
Kyngton, of Atford, husbandman, in £20, 6 H, VIII.
(1523). Indenture (English) Wm. Bayley of the Ley in Par.
of Bradford, leases to Wm. (Dunwyn or) Gunwyn of Wynsley
a house called the oo house. Witn., Wm. Rogers, John
Steynwode, &c. 10 Sep., 15 H. VIII.

. (1528). Mem. John Halse appeared at a Court, 20 H. VIIL,

and recd. late Foxe’s Tenement,

. (1544). Memd. at Court of Anthony Rogers, Esq. and Anne

his wife, held at Holte, 36 H. VIII. Rd. Chapman recd. land
in Holt. {

. (1545). Indenture (English) Anthony Rogers, Esq. of Bradford

leases to Rd. Drewis of Holte, the Park, Lowsley, Holes, in
Holt, and a Tent. in Little Holt. To sue at Roger’s court at
Holte, 37 H. VIII. [On seal I1* R*].

(1545). Memd. at Court of Anthony Rogers, Esq. held at
Bradford, 37 H. VIII. Edw. Kyng, recd. tenement in Tollene
St. for life.

(1546). Indenture (English) between Anthony Rogers of
Bradford, and Robert Graunt, Yeoman, granting a close in B.,
23 Oct., 38 H. VIII.

(1551). Indenture (English) Anthony Rogers of B. Esq., lets to
Walter Graunt his land in Comberwell. 10s. Rent. 5 Edw. VI.
(1553). Indented Deed witnessing that Bryan Lyle son of
Lancelot Lyle late of Kympton (near Ludgershall) Co. South-
amp. Esq., is bound apprentice to Wm. Blanke, Citizen and
Haberdasher of London for the learning of his art for 9 years,
I Mary. [On seal a merchant's mark}.

(1555). Anthony Rogers of B. Esq., bound in £10 to Nicholas
Radiche of West Lockeridge, Co. Berks, 24 April, 1 and 2
Phil. and Mary.

(1555-6). At Court of A. Rogers and Anne, of Brad. and
Holt. (2 and 3 Phil. and M). Nicholas, son of Wm. Webbe
of B. appeared, to retain 2 tenements.

(1556). Indenture 22 July, 2 and 3 Phil. and Mary: Anth.
Rogers, Esq., and John Druce of Ashley, in the Hund. of
Bradford, abt. a close. Signed “by me Anthony Rogers.”

67.
68.

69.

70.

71.
72.

73.

74.

75.

76.

78.

Documents found at Kingston House. 291

Mem. of Court of A. Rogers and Anne, abt. a Tenement.
(1558). Thos. Hall of Bradford, bound in £100 to John
Dauntesey of West Lavington, 12 Sept., 5 and 6 Phil. and M.
John Dauntesey, Esq. held by demise from Wm. Hall, Esq.,
*Folleys,” ‘‘Chancellors,” “Deacons,” and “Stanford,” closes
in West Lavington). Signed “by me Thos. Halle.”

(1562). Bond of Thos. Hall, in £1000, to Anthony Rogers,

Esq., 17 June, 4 Eliz.

(1563). Anthony Rogers, Esq., bound in £20 to Wm. Chapman
of Frome Selwood, 17 April, 5 Eliz.

Duplicate.

(1562). Indenture (English) John Basset of Apse Wytham in

Parish of Newchurch Wytham, Isle of Wight, about a £100
in which Anthony Rogers, Esq., is bound to him, 10 Dec.,
5 Eliz. [Seal gone].

(1564). Anthony Rogers, of B. bound to John Horton of

Westwood Co. Wilts, gent., in £40, 6 Oct. 6 Eliz. [ These
deeds are cut through in several places, as a mark of being can-
celled. And to the repayment endorsed, there are 10 witnesses].
(1568). Indenture between Walter Bush of Bradley, Wilts,
gent., and Wm. Horton of Iforde, gent., on Ist part; Anthony
Rogers, Esq., of 2nd; about a debt of £80 13s. 4d., 26 March,
11 Eliz.

(1572). John Hall of B. bound in £200 to Thomas Yerbury of

B. clothier, 21 Nov., 15 Eliz. (£100 to be paid to Antony
Piccaring of Troll).

(1579). Do. to Thos. Walleys of Frome, Som: Clothier, in
£10, 21 April, 21 Eliz., “to be paid in the South Porch of the

Parish Church of Trowbridge.”

(1592). Indenture bet. Andrew Colthurst of Stony Littleton,

Co. Som. Esq., and Thos. Abyam of Bath, Innholder, lease of
Broadmead in Witcombe, 21 Dec., 35 Eliz.

(1618). John Hall of Bradford. Bond of £200 to Rob.

Fry of Bath, 19 Oct., 16 Jas. Wit., by Michael Stokes.!

1 Michel Stokes, Rector of Farleigh-Hungerford, 1599-1641.
2P2

292 Documents found at Kingston House.

79. (1614). Edw. Wainford of Trowbridge, tipler, Martin Wimpye
of do., taylor, and Anthony Rundell, of do. weaver; bound in
£100 to the King; not to dress or suffer to be dressed any
Flesh in E. Ws. house during the time of Lent, 9 March, 11
Jas. I.

80. (1617). Indenture (English) John Hall, Esq. of Bradford, lets
to John Charnbury of Southstoke: Odwood Down, 50 acres,
in Witcombe; also Beechlawn as it hath been accustomed to
be enjoyed in the winter for the Hogge Flocke of Lyncombe.
(Elizabeth, wife of John Hall), 10 March, 14 Jas. I.

Amongst some loose seals also found, were a goat’s head erased
holding a thistle in his mouth, and an eagle displayed preying upon
a fish, legend illegible.

InpDEX OF PLACES REFERRED TO IN THE DEEDS ABOVE GIVEN.

en Dea
Aldryngton, . .. . 42 hyghyi.. oi PS SRR Se
Berfield in Bradford, . 7 Marlborough, 16,17, 36, 41, 51
Bradford, Co. Wilts, 4, 10, Melksham, ; . 43
15, 19, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30, Mershton, Cn ee or
37, 43, 47, 48, 52, 53, 60, Ogbourn Moysy, or Meysy, 18,
65, 66, 67 23, 41
Canynges Episcopi, . . 46 Portishead, . 3, 8, 13, 14
Comberwell, Wilts, . . 62 Sarum, New, . .. . 9
Dauntesey, in West Lav- Slade; (tier te GRE MSS
ington, . Sawin ao Sherborne, Donsst, 2 eae
Farleigh Wick, iy shy ie bP Smallbrgok,;;, .) 40.9%, 28
Farleigh, shark pty Da 4980 Southbroom, Wilts,. . 46
Freshford, . . . 33, 38 Sterte Eston, a te ie
Fontel nt te Baie bea eee Stony Littleton, . . . 77
Ford, "..% ye age Rs | Templewood, ; 33
“Garmton, “2 2: T Trol, or Tral, 12, 20, 43, 45,52
Goldengrove, . . . . 22 Vysewyke, . ha ee
Holte,«.! 020,615! 65) 67 Widcombe, Co. Som, 80, 77
Holte Parva, adie) 3) *59 Wroxhall (South) 6, 24, 32

Lavington. jis). ss". AG

Documents found at Kingston House. 293

InpEx or NAMES OF PERSONS, MENTIONED IN THE DEEDS
ABOVE GIVEN.

se
Abyam, Bath, é 77
Adam, Bishopstrow,- 11
Aldeburgh, Rector of
Combhay, .. . 384, 37
Atte Fenne, ar Sb x ie
Atte Forde, . . . 34,37
tte Slade: von ott BOs 2
Atte Well, (Chapn.) . 35
cota, Wit, de. 6 ar. eg
Barbure, 36
Bascat, of Apse Wytham, 72
Baskette, : 49
Basset, of Bedford. 21
Bayly, of Legh, «ap
Beauchamp, Wm., Kt.,. 44
Besyle, Wm., . ce Ee
Blanke, y 63
Bonham, ae Edith,
Abbess of sini 47
Boteler, , 35
Botyler, 40
Bourton, . . 47
Bradford, ethene 47
Reginald “a 15, 13
Wm. # : 8
Bret, 14
Budbury, 19
Bunewood, Agnes, 1
Maria, 2
Burges, Agatha, 33
John, 33
vi 33
Bushe, of Bradley, 74
Caphaw, Joan, 15
Tsabella, 15
Richard, 15

aa
Carpenter, John,. . .

Chalfield, Walter of, . 2
Martin, Parson

of ditto. . 2

Chapman, Frome, 61, 70, 71

Charnbury, ... . 80

Pletk dwiwrs «int « 5

DOM. rye cy « , 2

Wm., of Walia, 3
Colthurst, Aude ie Ok
Corp, of Turling, . . 21

Coscombe, Eliz., rf.. OF
Wa cuy *. «nn
Cuttler, oe 67
Dauntesey, of W. Hoes Ee
John.» sc’ 68
Wm. of Trowb., 23
Delamere, Witness, s 2&8
Dent, Alice, .; ......\.,.\.44
Devedaunt, Thos., . . 4
Donne, Thos., ree are)
Drewys, Rd., a ae
Druce, John, . . . . 66
Mit) ALiGG.) dae in| bee i ot
John le, eee ee

Farleigh, Prior of, . . 6
Fayrchild, of Wroxhall, 6
Freshford, John, Lordof, 31,33

Reginald de, 33

Folevyle, John, . . . 29
Margery, . . 29

Ford, Wm.de, .-. .. 1
Walt., + tn toae
Fouke, Peter, os ee
FOZ, JODD, vac.undl lanrcllt

Foxle, John de, . . . 9

294

Frankelyn, Marg.,
Freshford, John de, .
Fry, of Bath,

Frydy, Walt.,

Fyton, John, Esq.,
Gawen, John,
Gayle, John, -

John, of Wathuy,
Godman, of Farleigh,
Gorneys, Budbury,

Gramary, of Marlborough,

Graunt, R., Bradford,
Walter,
Gunwyn, Winsley, .

Gyle, John, Vicar of Brad.,

No. of
Deed

Hall, of Bradford, 75,76,78, 80

Nicholas, do., . 49, 51
emma, = Al
Thomas, 533, 68, 69
Halse, John, . Dab iis
Harald, Studley, 23, 29
Hasildene, Agnes, 38
Robert, te ee
Hasthorpe, Wm., Constable
of Marlborough Castle, 36
Hogely, of Marlb., Les
Hoone, John, Lacock 58
Horton, Edw., Westwood, 73
John, : 52
Wm., of ford, ; 74
Hulberd, Edith, 45
Thos., “S: 3a
Hungerford, 30, 48
Ivel, Rob., 9
Twen, Wm.,of rnsdiadettaa 22
James, Margaret) 54
John, 54

Documents found at Kingston House.

Deck
Jordane, John, 52
Kendall, John, 52
Kente, Wm., . 52
Kentisse, Tnabella 12
Knyght, Matilda, 8
Robert, 8
Kyng, Edw., : 60
Kyngton, Wm., een 55
Langge, Henry, 47
Loche, Alice le, 6
Longe, Robert, 41
Lycham, Emma, . . 42

Walter, of Ald-
rington, 42
Lyle, Brian, of Kympton, 63
Lyme, John, of Wilton, 53
Maxall, John, Clerk, 40

Mauduit, Thos, son of
Warm: 7: 9
Midelton, John., Chapl., 30
Mery, Sir Wm., ae
Thos., : 27
Middelton, Matilda, : 27
Thea," ese Vee

Midyltone, John, re
of Brad., : 30
Moloyter, ?, th 32
Margaret, 32
Walter, 32
Montfort, Laurence, 18
Myson, Rd., 30
Nony, James, 23
Nores, John, 54
Noreys, Eliz., 5 EE
Norton, Thos., 46, 50
Olleye, John, or ae
Peche, Hen., 3
Margar., 3
Perham, Kath., 28

Index to Names of Persons.

Perham, Wm.,
Pilk, Philip,
Agnes,
Porter, Edith,
Radiche, Nich.,
Roger, Thos.,
Wm., ?
Rogers, of Brad.,
Anne,

. 58, 65,
Anthony, 61, 59,

62, 64, 67, 69, 70

72, 74
Rundell, Anthony,

Sale, Reginald de, . 10, 14

OG ie:
Sclade, John,
Steph., :
Seyntgeorge, Wm., .

Joan,

Shaftsbury, Abbess, . 24, 45

Shepperd, Agnes, 40

John, Re ate:

Semple, Elena, . . 16, 17

Ponty 62 02) 60, Le

Skatheloke, Thos., saree

Slade, Edith, 40

Nich., 35

Rich., 40

Smyth, Adam, 36

Alice, 36

Edith, 48

John, 48

Wnm., 48

Solne, John, ; 30

Stanbourne, Marg., . 16

Stodelegh, Wm., ete 1 ¥28
Stokes, Thos., Rector of

Winkfield, 39

295
No. of
Deed
Stokes, Mich., Rector of
Farley, s fol Re
Stranger, John, 49
Tral, Peter de, 12
Trewbody, Roger, 43
Troubrigge, Jas. de 18
Turbervyle, Sir John 53*
Vele, Gregory, pee
Videlon, John, 04, 37
Wacche, John, 40
Wainford, Edw., i 79
Waker, of Aldrington, 42
Walewayn, James, 20
Rena. “y- 12; 20
Wn., 12
Wallewayne, aut 4a
Wallys, Thos., Bowie, 76
Warner, of Marlb., 36
Waspail, 9, 11
MEM isl aus 28
Webb, Christina, 25
Nicholas, 25
Richd., 65
Wm., New Sarum
Mayor of, 72
Wilshote, John, 45
West, John, J. P., 54
Whityngton, H., 52
Wilde, (?) Alice le, 32
Wimpye, ; Zz
Wolmangre, Matilda, 10
Ric., 10
Roger, 10
Walwey, Agnes, 41
Wychford, Rob. de, 24
Wyther, John, unr 22
Yerbury, of Bradford,
Thos., . i) ine

296

Documents found at Kingston House.

Schedule I.

Besides the deeds halve given there were also found several loose

and

mutilated papers from which the following are extracts.

(About 1456). Indenture between Cicely widow of John
Barnard, Henry Bradley and Joan his wife (one of the daus.
and heirs of John and Cicely) and Wm. Gore jun., and Cicely
his wife, (another of the daus. and heirs), relating to lands in
Lavington and Fiddington late belonging the said John and
Cicely Barnard. [No date}.

. (1465). A Latin Deed relating to the Monastery of St. Saviour

and St. Bridget at Sion in the parish of Isleworth, Co. Midd.,
dated 5 and 6 Edw. IV., and witnessed by George Nevill,
Bishop of Exeter and Chancellor of England; Thomas Bour-
chier, Archbishop of Canterbury ; George, Duke of Clarence ;
Richard, Duke of Gloucester; Sir Walter Blount, Treasurer,
and others; Elizabeth being Abbess.

. (1517). A release to James Horton, Clerk, and others, by John

Eyre of Hullavington, of lands &c., in Bremhill and Foxham
late belonging to John Goldney, 7 July, 9 Henry 8.

. (1537). Receipt signed by Christopher Willoughby of £4 10s.

received by the hands of Osmond Hall, “forling of dew to
Alice my wyffe on Phelippys day and Jakobbe last past.”

. (1559). An Agreement about the Tithes of the Parsonage of

Holt, between John Eyre (Chalficld) and Thomas Hall, Esq.

. (1572). A receipt of 6 shillings Chief Rent paid by Mr. Hall

of Bradford to the Liberty of the Duchy of Lancaster.

. Another of 8 shillings, paid by Mr. Thomas Hall as four years

rent for lands in Trowle: signed by Wm. Longe, Deputy
Receiver of the Duchy; and John Lydiard, General Treasurer.

. (1574). A Letter from Robert Davis of High Holborn, London,

to his Brother in Law John Hall, Esq.

10.

iL.

12.

Documents found at Kingston House. 297

(Elizabeth). A fragment containing notes of sales of land
chiefly by the Colthursts (who had been great purchasers of
Bath Abbey Estates at the Dissolution), viz.:—

7. Eliz. Edmund Colthurst to Edw. Wynter, lands at Claverton
near Bath.
8. Eliz. Thomas Ludlow to John Clement, tenements at Lyn-
combe.
8. Eliz. Vicary to Jenings, the manor of Widcombe.
15. Eliz. Edmund Colthurst, tenements in Bath, to the Mayor
and Citizens.
Do. to Franklyn, in do.
19. Eliz. Edmund Colthurst, tenements at Charterhouse Hinton,
to Walter Hungerford.
27. Eliz. Do., tenements at Combe and Widcombe, to Richard Iles.
Do., to Langford.
30. Eliz. Edmund Colthurst to Edward Hungerford, lands at
Claverton near Bath.
31. Eliz. Do., Walcot Barton to Alex. Staples.

(1607). A Letter, dated Dublin, 23 Sept., to John Hall, Esq.,
from James Ley, (afterwards Earl of Marlborough) then Chief
Justice of the King’s Bench in Ireland, to John Hall of
Bradford, Esq.: warning him and his brother magistrates
to enforce the law against drunkards, especially in the town
of Westbury, (for which he was sometime M.P.)

“Our town of Westbury hath need of you, to see to the corruption that
useth to grow in such places. I pray you take some care of our drinkers;
and since the King hath made some good laws against that vice, I hope
that you that be magistrates will not suffer it to encrease more than when
there were no laws against it.” [He then rallies him about some ne-
glected commission]. ‘‘ Because men break their promises ordinarily at
home, it is no marvel if faith be broken abroad, and with those that are
divided both by sea and land.”

(1615). A letter from John Yewe to his “ Right worshipful and
very good Landlord Mr. John Hall, Esq., in Bradford.”
(1617). A letter to Sir James Ley of Westbury, from Mrs.
Melior Bampfield, widow of John Bampfield of Hardington,
Co. Som. Esq., commenced against her by Mr. Hall of Brad-
ford, for the recovery of £100, lent by him to her late
husband. [Mr. Hall had called her a “most unconscionable
woman’”’ }.

298 Documents found at Kingston House.

13. (1621-1641). Letters of administration before Marmaduke
Lymne in the court of John, Bishop of Salisbury, taken out
by Elizabeth, (Brune) widow of John Hall, Esq.

14. (1627). A warrant addressed to Henry Longe and others,
signed by James Ley, William Poulett, and John Hall; to
meet them at Trowbridge to hear the contents of certain letters
received from the Lords of the Council. Dated 27 August.

15. (1668). A small pamphlet in black letter printed by Clarke,
Smithfield, called,

‘«The Bloody Apprentice executed, being an account of a murder com-
mitted by Thomas Savage, a vintner’s apprentice in Ratcliffe, upon a fellow
maid servant: and how having been hanged and cut down, he revived and
and was hanged the second time, Oct. 28, 1668.”

16. From some old Rate papers relating to Parishes in the neigh-
bourhood of Bradford, we may collect the names of the
principal landowners in those places at that time.

1605. Wesrsury...... Thomas Bennet, gent., (and in 1608,
Mrs. Margaret Bennet).
Sir James Ley, Kt.
Jeffery Whitaker, (chief paymaster
in 1806).
John Lambe, Esq.
Nicholas Phipps.
Jeremy Horton, Gent.
Brooxe........ Wm. Jones, Esq., (Sir Edward Hun-
gerford, 1608, Sir Jasper More, Kt.,
and W. Jones).

Prnizy........ Mrs. Bridget Earnley.

Diuron ........ Anthony Selfe.

CHAPSMANSLADE Sir James Ley.

Bratron ...... Sherston Bromwich, (Ann Bromwich,
1608).

1607. Broventon ann Edward Long.
Monkton Mr. Bold.
Mr. Horton.
Nicholas Gore.
Sournh WraxHat Sir Walter Long, Kt.
Edward Graves.
ArwortH ...... John Yerbury.

Documents found at Kingston House. 299

Boro’ or Braprorp John Hall, Esq.
John Yewe, Gent.
Thos. Reed, Vicar.
Richard Horne.
Thomas Yerbury.
John Houlton.
John Druce, the tithes.
Nicholas Snell.
Irorp & Westwoop Tobias Horton.
George Compton.
Winstry ........ John Raynold.
Drew Druce.
21 Re beeeteenents John Shute.
UBOWIM Col. ces Christopher Morris and John Powell.
Lxetcn & Woortey Robert Browne, the tithes.
John Roger, ditto.

Horr .......... John Grant, Thos. Chapman, and
John Erle.
WHADDON ..,.., Edward Long, Gent.
William Buckle, Clerk.
PovulsHoT ...... Edward Long.

Ambrose Earnley.

Tue Manvers Property 1n Bats.

17. The next extracts throw some light upon a point in the
topography of the City of Bath. It is well known that upon
the ground south of the Abbey Church once stood the Priory
of St. Peter and St. Paul, whose property included all the space
between the Church and the River, round to Southgate Street ;
extending beyond the River to Prior Park, Lyncomb, and
Widcombe. The Priory was “voluntarily” surrendered by
Wm. Hollwey the last Prior, on 27 January, 1539. A
principal purchaser was one Matthew Colthurst. All that
Collinson then says of it, (Som.1.58.) is that Colthurst “sold
to Morley, from whom it descended to the Duke of Kingston.”
This of course refers to the well known extensive property in
Bath now belonging to Earl Manvers, the present repre-
sentative of the Duke.

2a 2

300

Documents found at Kingston House.

But from some remnants of old law papers rescued, amongst
others, from the mice of Kingston House, it is clear that part
at least, and probably the whole, of the Manvers property at
Bath, had belonged to the Hails of Bradford; and that it passed
from the Halls to the Dukes of Kingston and thence to Lord
Manvers, exactly in the same way as Kingston House and the
other large property at Bradford.

In the following letter (written somewhat sentimentally for
a matter of bargain and sale), one Patrick Sanders, M.D.,
applies to John Hall, Esq. of Bradford, for part of the Abbey
House and Orchard, then in his possession.

“9, October, 1619.

‘‘The life of man which wanders through the body of earth until she
hath finished her peregrinations, doth at last retire to the heart, that
‘primum vivens” and ‘‘ultimum moriens” (that liveth soonest and dieth
latest). And so I toward the end of my days do desire to retire toward
the same place where first I drew my breath. Having heard that some
things there are in your possession which might happily fit me, I was the
rather moved as well by reason of the situation as also in regard to that
worth which I have heard often to be in yourself, from whom I am con-
fident to receive all worthy and good conditions. Briefly, I have heard
that the Abbey and the Abbey Orchard is to be sold, and some other things
near the City in your power to grant. Because of my profession I desire
to be in the house or part thereof, while Dr. Sherwood lives.”

To this touching appeal Mr. Hall appears to have consented,
but in proceeding to gratify the medical gentleman with the
coveted domicile near Dr. Sherwood, he found himself suddenly
entangled in the intricacies of the law. For the next fragment
(dated the following year) reveals a dispute about a certain
way leading into the Abbey Orchard of St. Peter and St. Paul
at Bath. The result of the dispute does not appear, and it is
immaterial: enough remaining to show that Mr. Hall was
possessor of part of the Abbey property. But as the papers
contain some notices of the site of the Abbey, which may be
interesting to those who know Bath, it is worth the while to
preserve their substance.

(1620). The dispute in the first instance lay between the Mayor
and Corporation, Plaintiffs; and John Biggs, Defendant. The

Documents found at Kingston House. 301

claim on the part of the City was, that by Letters Patent dated
12 July, 6 Edw. VI. 1552, they had, upon petition, obtained
for the purpose of founding a Grammar School, a grant from
the Crown of all the lands in the City and Suburbs, lately
belonging to the Priory, including the contested way into the
Orchard.

The case of the other party was, that long before the grant
made to the Mayor and Corporation, Henry VIII., by Letters
Patent dated 16 March 1543, had granted to Humfrey Coles
for the sum of £962 17s. 9d., the site of the said Priory, with
every thing within the circuit of the said Priory. That
Humfrey Coles on 18 March in the same year, 1543, sold the
Orchard to Matthew Colthurst and his heirs: that it descended
to Edmund Colthurst, who 41 years afterwards, 1584, quietly
enjoyed it as part of the Priory House. Edmund Colthurst
mortgaged it to Sherston for £330, and John Hall, Esq.,
redeemed it and had a conveyance. In 1611 Edmund Colthurst
and Henry his son sold it to John Hall and his heirs. That
the Prior had no other Orchard, and that this way was always
accounted part of his house, the windows of which opened
intoit. This part of the house was pulled down by Colthurst,
and the ground thrown into the Orchard. The foundations
were still to be seen within it. ‘The prior did use to sit there
and view all the Orchard.” A door opened from the Priory

into it, and the way in was by a terrace made with arches of
stone, 40 foot long. That the Orchard was bounded on the
North side by the ancient wall of the Priory, 20 foot high and
160 paces long, reaching to the Avon: on the South, by a
great ditch betwixt the meadows called “The Ham,” and the
Orchard, and on the East by the River. That the Prior and
the Patterches (the Monks) and ever since their time the
Colthursts, have enjoyed the fishing and cut down the trees
these 80 years. That the Priory is situate within the Cor-
poration of St. Peter and St. Paul, and is a privileged place of
itself, not within the Corporation of the City of Bath: and
when the Mayor of Bath came into the Priory, the Maces were

802 Documents found at Kingston House.

put down and not carried before him, An exception was taken
to the plaintiff’s witnesses that they were Almsmen maintained
by the Alms of the City.

Part of the Priory lay within the adjoining Parish of “St.
James and Stall,” which Colthurst had mortgaged in 1589 to
Alexander Staples of Yate, Co. Gloucester.

Then follows another document showing how John Hail, of
Bradford, wasinvolved in a suit at law with the family of Staples.

These extracts, we conceive, indicate very plainly, that the
present property of Lord Manyers round the Abbey Church
of Bath, must have been derived from the same source and
through the same channels, as Kingston House, viz., the

Halls of Bradford. J. EH, J.

LINES,

Suggested by the opening made in Silbury Hill, by the Archeological Institute
of Great Britain and Ireland, August 8rd, 1849.

Bones of our wild forefathers, O forgive,

If now we pierce the chambers of your rest,

And open your dark pillows to the eye

Of the irreverent day! Hark, as we move,

Runs no stern whisper down the narrow vault?

Flickers no shape across our torch-light pale,

With backward beckoning arm? No, all is still.

O that it were not! O that sound or sign,

Vision or legend, or the eagle glance

Of science, could call back thy history lost,

Green pyramid of the plains, from far-ebbed time!

O that the winds, which kiss thy flowery sward

Could tell of thee! Could say how once they fanned

The jealous savage, as he paused awhile,

Drew deep his chest, pushed back his raven hair,

And scanned the growing hill with reverent eye.

Or haply, how they gave their fitful pipe

To join the chaunt prolonged o’er warriors cold—

Or how the Druids mystic robe they swelled;

Or from thy blackened brow on wailing wing

The solemn sacrificial ashes bore,

To strew them where now smiles the yellow corn,

Or where the peasant treads the churchward path.
EMMELINE FISHER.

Tumulus at Winterbourne-Monkton. 303

Discovery of an Ancient Cumulus,

AT WINTERBOURNE-MONKTON,

A curious, and possibly important discovery, exhibiting one of
the ancient modes of sepulture in this country, has recently been
made at Winterbourne-Monkton, about three hundred yards west
of ‘‘ Mill-barrow,” and a mile and-a-half north of Avebury.

For many years a large flat Sarsen stone (partially seen above the
surface of the ground) had been the cause of many ungentle male-
dictions from the various clod-hoppers, who, from time to time, have
followed the plough’s-tail in this particular locality. Forbearance
being worn out, Mr. Eyles, the present occupier of the land, by
whose kindness and assistance we have been allowed to investigate
the spot, sent several men to dig a large hole on one side of it,—in
fact to bury it. Indoing this they found the soil beneath the stone
to be of a different quality from the natural subsoil ; which is here
chalk marl. They consequently excavated part of the earth and
found several human bones, when night put an end to their opera-
tions. This discovery led to a more minute investigation, the
results of which are as follows :—

The stone is lying flat, and is of considerable size, measuring
nine feet four or five inches, each way, and varying from two feet
six inches, to nearly four feet in thickness. By removing the soil
beneath the stone we discovered a chamber dug in the natural chalk
about seven or eight feet in diameter, somewhat circular in shape,
and four feet in depth measuring from the under surface of the
stone. This chamber was paved at the bottom with small irregularly
shaped Sarsen stones, placed so closely that a ‘pick’ could with
difficulty be inserted between them. On this pavement were four
or five human skeletons, in a most confused state, covered with
Sarsen stones, weighing from ten pounds to a half a ewt. each, and
about twenty or thirty in number—over these again was a layer of
mould up to the top stone which covered all. The skeletons did
not seem to have been deposited in any particular direction. The
skulls, thigh-bones, &c., were in such close proximity that one

304 Tumulus at Winterbourne-Monkton.

would suppose they were originally placed in a sitting posture,
when the weight of stones and earth would naturally force them
into the apparently confused state in which we found them. The
jaw bones were in excellent preservation, as were also the teeth.
One jaw evidently belonged to a child, as the second teeth are not
cut, but remain still in the jaw.

The skulls are at present in the possession of Dr. Thurnam, of
Devizes, who has taken considerable pains to join the different
portions together, and whose researches may at some future day
throw light on the date of these “old world’s children.” It is re-
markable that there is no trace of any barrow on the spot. The soil
around the stone is of the same depth as in other parts of the field.

The stone was placed wpon the bodies, earth, &c. This is plainly
shown by its resting upon the soi/ itse/f with which the cavity was
filled and not on the regular stratum of chalk around it, as would
have been the case had the excavation been originally made under
the stone and afterwards filled in,—and what further tends to con-
firm this opinion is the fact that the hole was originally dug slightly
too large for the stone to cover it in one particular place, on the
north-east side, which was filled up with Sarsen stones to the levelof _
the surface of the ground. In the soil above the bodies, were solid
masses of a black unctuous kind of earth, very soft when first
brought out, but becoming almost as hard as brick when exposed to
the air for a day or two, and containing small pieces of flint and
charcoal, but with these exceptions it yielded to the knife like soap,
which it also very much resembled to the touch.

The only conjecture that can be formed of the age of these
remains, is derived from the much worn surfaces of the teeth, in-
dicating that the food of the individuals must have consisted mainly
of grain and roots. This implies a very early though probably not
a primeval antiquity.

No pottery, burnt or otherwise, nor any implements of war have
been found to stamp the precise date of this extraordinary sepulchre,
and it therefore remains, together with other numerous relics of the
strange customs of our ancestors in this perplexing neighbourhood,
to baffle the researches of the ablest archeologists.

Witiiam Hiiier.

Murder of Henry Long, Esq. 305

Marder of Weary Long, Exy.

A. D. 1594.

It has been the fate of one or two Wiltshire gentlemen to be
handed down to the notice of posterity, by the very unfortunate
distinction of being concerned, actively or passively, in assassination.
A story of the former kind belongs to the house of Stourton: one
of the latter to that of Thynne. The particulars of the murder
of Mr. Hartgill, by Charles Lord Stourton, 1555; and those of
Mr. Thomas Thynne by Count Koningsmark in the streets of
London, in 1582, are well known and are to be found in Sir R. C.
Hoare’s History of Modern Wilts.! But of the violent proceeding
to which the present memoir refers, scarcely the whisper of a
tradition is left in the county where it took place. The family of
the chief perpetrators, Danvers of Dauntesey, disappeared many
years ago from the list of provincial gentry; whilst in that of the
Longs which still holds an honoured place amongst us, nothing
whatever is known upon the subject.

One slight allusion to it, and one only, does indeed remain amongst
the odd gatherings of our industrious acquaintance John Aubrey.
The incarceration for two centuries of that worthy’s miscellaneous
Wiltshire notes, within a deal cupboard in the lower regions of
Ashmole’s Library at,Oxford, has perhaps been the reason why this
and similar hints for research have so long escaped attention.
Many other events of local interest are in the like cursory way
glanced at in that collection, which are now, it is to be feared,
irrecoverably lost.

In his scanty notes of the parish of Great Somerford near
Malmsbury, Aubrey says, “The assassination of Harry Long was

1 Lord Stourton’s: Mere, p. 153, Mr. Thynne’s: Heytesbury, p. 65.
2k

306 Murder of Henry Long, Esq.

contrived in the parlour of the parsonage here. Mr. Atwood was
then parson. He was drowned coming home.”!

On the first reading of this sentence, which is the whole of what
Aubrey says upon the subject, it is not quite clear which of the
two was drowned—Harry Long or Mr. Atwood. But, by the
discovery of some documents which will be subjoined, the point is
quite set at rest. The watery grave was Mr. Atwood’s ; Harry
Long’s fate was of a very different kind. This is quite certain
from the evidence to be produced: but though the papers referred
to give us full particulars of time, place, and other circumstances of
the murder, they throw no light whatever on the actual motive
which led to it. This still remains, and is likely to remain, a
mystery.

The chief Dramatis Persone were two Wiltshire gentlemen of
good connexion and rank in the county, who afterwards became,
in different ways, still more memorable. These were Sir Charles
and Sir Henry Danvers of Dauntesey, a parish which adjoins that
of Great Somerford, the residence of their alleged accomplice
before the fact, Mr. Atwood. A few notes of Dauntesey history
are necessary to introduce these gentlemen properly to the reader.

The Manor of Dauntesey had belonged as early as Henry II., to
a family of the same name. Joan Dauntesey, an heiress, who died
1455, brought it in marriage to Sir John Stradling. According
to a strange story, also preserved by Aubrey, the whole family of
Stradling were murdered at their house at Dauntesey, with the
exception of one daughter, Anne, who happened to be in London
at the time. Sir John Danvers of Culworth (near Banbury),
married her and obtained the property. They were both buried in
Dauntesey Church; he in 1514, she in 1539. Their grandson,
Sir John Danvers, made a great alliance: marrying Elizabeth 4th
daughter and coheiress of Nevill Lord Latimer by Lady Lucy
Somerset. This Sir John died at Dauntesey, 19th Dec., 1593;

1 Richard Atwood was Rector of Great Somerford from 1578 to 1605. ( Wilts
Instit.) The Parish Registers, which might by chance have contained some
memorandum relating to this transaction, in consideration of one of its rectors
having been concerned in it (if such really was the case) are not forthcoming.
They perished in a fire some years ago.

Murder of Henry Long, Esq. 307

his Lady survived till 1630. They had ten children, of whom
three were sons, Sir Charles, the eldest; Sir Henry, the second ;
and Sir John, (afterwards the Regicide), the youngest. Sir Charles
and Sir Henry (the murderers of Mr. Long) were never married.
Sir John was thrice married: his first wife being Magdalen, widow
of Richard Herbert and mother of the celebrated George Herbert
of Bemerton.

Upon the death of his father (Dec. 1593), Sir Charles succeeded
as head of the family, to the patrimonial estates. Those which his
mother as coheiress of Lord Latimer had brought in marriage,
appear to have continued in her own possession for life. The
murder took place about one year after the father’s death; at
which time Sir Charles was about 23 years of age.

Sir Henry the principal actor was then in his 22nd year, having
been born 28th June, 1573. He had entered active life at a very
early period, and was probably present at one of the interesting scenes
of English History, the death of Sir Philip Sidney. Sir Philip,
as will be remembered, was brother of Mary, Countess of Pembroke
(3rd wife of Henry the 2nd Earl): and whilst visiting his sister
at Wilton and Ivychurch had written his Pastorals, and all that he
did write of the Arcadia. Henry Danvers became his page, and
in that capacity attended him into the Low Countries upon the
expedition sent by Queen Elizabeth to the assistance of the Dutch
Protestants against Philip II. of Spain.

Sir Philip Sidney being killed at Zutphen in Sept. 1586, Henry
Danvers must have been then in his 14th year. He continued to serve
in the Low Countries in defence of the Reformed religion, under
Maurice Prince of Nassau, afterwards Prince of Orange. In 1590
he joined one of the expeditions (probably that commanded by the
Earl of Essex) sent by the Queen to the succour of Henry IV. of
France, soon after his accession to the throne. Public affairs in
that country becoming more pacific upon Henry’s abjuration of
Protestantism and his coronation in 1594, it is most likely that
Sir Henry Danvers took that opportunity of returning to England.
For it was in the October of that year that he appears in this
Wiltshire tragedy.

ZRe2

308 Murder of Henry Long, Esq.

From the first of the documents following it will be seen that a
few days before the murder of Mr. Long, Sir Henry Danvers was
at Tichfield House,! below Southampton, then the seat of Henry
Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton; and that after the event
he and his brother fled thither for refuge. Their reason for so
doing is partly explained by the fact that Lord Southampton was
an intimate friend of Sir Charles’s: being afterwards one of his
accomplices in the Essex Plot against Queen Elizabeth. Of the
design against Long he could therefore scarcely be ignorant, but
there is no information to show that he was in any way involved
in the quarrel.

Henry Long, the victim, was one of the younger brothers of Sir
Walter Long, the last owner of the united estates of South Wrax-
hall and Draycote-Cerne. He appears to have been unmarried. But
of the nature of the provocation which he had given, whether public
or private, a personal insult or family feud, jealousy or revenge, as
indeed of every circumstance connected with the cause of the
outrage, nothing whatever is known.

The murder was*committed at Corsham; in the house of one
Chamberlayne, about 12 o’clock in the day, at dinner time. The
company present, were his brother Sir Walter, Mr. Anthony
Mildmay, Thos. Snell (afterwards Sir Thomas Snell of Kington St.

1 Tichfield House, near the town of that name, between Southampton and
Portsmouth, was about three miles from the shore of Southampton water. It
stood upon the site of a Premonstratensian Abbey, which had been granted
at the Dissolution to Thomas Wriothesley, Secretary to Henry VIIL., afterwards
the celebrated Earl of Southampton, and Lord Chancellor. ‘‘ Here he built” says
Leland, ‘‘a right stately house embattled, having a goodly gate, and a conduit
castelled in the midst of the court of it.” On the extinction of the male descen-
dants of the Lords Southampton in 1667, it came by a daughter to the Earl of
Gainsborough: by his daughter to the Duke of Beaufort, by whom it was sold
to the ancestor of the present owner Mr. Delmé. The only remnant is the
central gateway with its octagonal turrets, six ornamental brick chimneys, some
fine old casements, &c. Part of what was the base court serves for a modern
residence, Adjoining the house (now called ‘‘ Place House”), on the western
side, was a noble pile of stabling, of which very little is left. To this
house Charles I. repaired on his flight from Hampton Court in November 1647,
and hence he was conducted by Colonel Hammond to the Isle of Wight. At the
time of Mr. Long’s murder, it was the property of the Chancellor’s grandson,
the 3rd Earl of Southampton, the friend and liberal patron of Shakespeare.

Murder of Henry Long, Esq. 309

Michel, who married Ann Long, Henry’s only sister) and Henry
Smyth, Esq.,! with several other gentlemen. Who Chamberlayne .
was or in what house he lived, has not been ascertained. There is
no mention of ladies being present. From which circumstance, as
well as from the earliness of the hour and the apparent liberty of
entrance, it is most likely to have been a meeting of gentlemen of
the neighbourhood for business at some tavern. Sir Henry Danvers,
followed by his brother and a number of their tenants and re-
tainers,? burst into the room and without more ado shot Mr. Long
dead upon the spot. The brothers then fled on horseback to
Tichfield House, as already stated, and succeeded after some days
concealment in making their escape out of the country in a boat from
Cawshot Castle, a fort on the opposite side of Southampton water.
A coroner’s inquisition was held, upon which they were outlawed.
But no indictment seems to have been preferred either by the gov-
ernment or the family of the deceased. From the document No. 3

1 That this Henry Smyth, Esq., was at that time the owner of the principal
house and estate at Corsham there is the following evidence. The orginal
Manor House at Corsham was pulled down (according to Leland) before 1536.
[See above, p. 143, Note 2.] And Aubrey (born 1625) distinctly says that ‘‘ the
Great House at Corsham” (of his day) ‘‘ had been built by Customer Smyth.”
This must have been the older portion of the present house, the south front of
which bears the date of 1582. Thomas Smyth (an ancestor of Lord Strangford)
was a wealthy contractor for the Customs (from which vocation he obtained the
name of ‘‘ Customer’’) in the reigns of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth. On marrying
the heiress of Judd, Lord Mayor of London, he acquired the estate of Osterhanger
in Kent. He died 1591. His eldest son succeeded him in the latter estate; but
his second son Henry Smyth had Corsham for his portion. There can be very
little doubt that he was the person mentioned above as being present at Mr.
Long’s murder in 1594. Others of the family are mentioned as of Corsham so
late as 1623. (See A. Wood’s MSS., Ashm. Mus. Oxon., and Wilts Visit. 1623).

2 The circumstance of Sir Henry being attended by so many followers, makes
it not improbable that the quarrel between Danvers and Long, was one of those
Montague and Capulet family hostilities, of which we have frequent notice,
especially about this very period. Strype the historian particularly mentions
that in Queen Elizabeth’s reign, Micenses from the Crown were often granted to
Lords and gentlemen to have twenty or more retainers. ‘They were ‘‘servants,”
not menial, but only wearing their Lord’s livery, and occasionally waiting upon
him. ‘These licenses were given for the purpose of maintaining quarrels: and
by means of them many murders were committed and feuds kept up. (See
Strype Memor. LI. I. 61).

310 Murder of Henry Long, Esq.

subjoined, it would appear that a few years afterwards, by some
quibbling objection raised to the inquisition, they contrived to
obtain a reversal of the outlawry, which indeed had been of so
little inconvenience that Sir Henry was actually made a Peer
whilst the outlawry was in force against him. There must therefore
have been either high influence at work to hush up the crime, or
some extenuating circumstances, as violent provocation, which
caused the murder of Mr. Long to be passed over without entailing
on the perpetrators the usual penalties of a violent outrage. Neither
Sir Henry nor Sir Charles appears to have suffered any damage
whatever from it.

But Pharoah’s butler and baker did not come to more widely
different ends than did these two brothers. Sir Charles took a
leading part in the insurrection of the Earl of Essex against Eliza-
beth: for which he was attainted and beheaded in 1600-1.1 On
the authority of Viscountess Purbeck (Elizabeth Danvers, niece of
Sir Charles) Aubrey says, that “Sir Charles Danvers advised the
Earl of Essex to make his escape through the gate of Essex house,
and hasten away to Highgate, and so to Northumberland, (the
Earl of Northumberland had married his sister) and from thence
to the King of Scots: and there they might make their peace.
Tf not, the Queen was old and might not live long. But Essex
followed not his advice: and so they both lost their heads on
Tower Hill.’’?

The Lord Southampton above mentioned was tried, but his life
was spared, and he was restored to his title by King James I.

Sir Henry Danvers does not appear to have been concerned with
his brother in the Essex plot; and his subsequent career was one
of success and distinction. He was created Baron Danvers of
Dauntesey, 27th July, 1603. By his brother’s death he had be-
come heir to the father’s estates, but being unable to trace his
title to them through his elder brother without a reversal of Sir

1 His trial, under the name of Sir Charles Davers, (a variety of spelling which
the family sometimes used), is in the State Trials, Vol. I. (Svo. Edit.) p. 1410.
His examination and confession, ditto, p. 1345.

2 Aubrey’s Lives, Vol. Il. p. 344.

Murder of Henry Long, Esq. 311

Charles’s attainder, he obtained a private Act of Parliament for
that purpose in 1605, (3 James I.) In 1626 he was created by
King Charles I. Earl of Danby. In 1630, upon the death of his
mother who had remarried Sir Edmund Cary, he succeeded to her
estates. Besides this he was Lord President of Munster, Governor
of Guernsey, and a Knight of the Garter. “Full of honour,
wounds, and days” (so says the inscription on the large monument
under which he lies in the north aisle of Dauntesey church), he
died at Cornbury, Co. Oxford, in 16438, zt. 71, leaving an estate of
£11,000 a year to his favourite sister Lady Gargrave, and Henry
his nephew, son of Sir John (the Regicide) his younger brother whom
he passed over. Lord Danby was the founder of the Botanic Garden
at Oxford, and built the entrance facing High Street, called the
Danby Gateway. There is a portrait of him at Dauntesey Rectory.

No. I.

AccouNT OF THE EscaPE oF Srr CHARLES AND Str Henry
Danvers. (Lansd. MSS., No. 827).

“A lamentable discourse taken out of sundry examinations con-
cerning the wilful escape of Sir Charles and Sir Henry Danvers,
Knights, and their followers, after the murder committed in Wilte-
shire, upon Henry Longe, Gentleman, as followeth.

The said wilful murder executed upon Henry Longe, Gentleman,
sitting at his dinner in the company of Sir Walter Longe, Knight,
his brother; Anthony Mildmay, Thomas Snell, Henry Smyth,
Esquires, Justices of her Majesty’s Peace for the said County of
Wilts; and divers other Gents., at one Chamberlayne’s house in
Corsham, within the same County, by Sir Charles and Sir Henry
Danvers, Knights, and their followers to the number of seventeen
or eighteen. persons, in most riotous manner appointed for that
most foul fact, on Friday 4th October, 1594.

After which wilful murder committed, the parties flying, Sir
Charles and Sir Henry Danvers, with one John their servant or

312 Murder of Henry Long, Esq.

follower, came unto Whitley Lodge,! near Tichfield, in one of the
Earl of Southampton’s Parks, where Thomas Dymmocke, Gent., is
keeper, on Saturday, 5th October last, about eight or nine o’clock
in the morning, and there ‘continued all that day and night, until
it was Tuesday morning following; during which time of their
abode at the said lodge, one John, a cook of the Earl of South-
ampton’s dressed their meat; and that on Monday, the 7th October,
at night, the said Karl with some seven or eight followers came
unto the said lodge, and stopped with the said Knights, and tarried
there all that night; and on the Tuesday morning, the 8th October,
about two hours before day the said Earl departed from thence
with the said Knights and company to the number of six or seven
horse, whereof Thomas Dymmocke was one, unto Burselden Ferry,
where the boat of Henry and William Reedes, of Burselden afore-
said, was prepared in a readiness, being sent unto for that purpose
the night before, by one Robert Gee, servant to the said Dymmocke,
and by his commandment.

And immediately upon their coming to the said Ferry, the said
Earl requested the two Reedes to take into their boat the said
company, and presently passed, the same Tuesday morning, into
Cawshot Castle, but the company would not then go on shore;
but there they found Mr. Hunnings, the Earl of Southampton’s
Steward, with others to the number of four or five persons, which
said Hunnings had been on shore, and had talked with the deputy
touching the landing of the said Knights and company there,
whom the said Reedes took into their boat all but the said Hun-
nings, and so put off from shore and did ride between Cawshot
and St. Andrew’s Castle the Tuesday all day until it was Wed-
nesday in the evening, and that immediately after they had put off

1 Whitley (pronounced Whiteley) Lodge lies about three miles N.W. of
Tichfield or Place House, on a hill surrounded by deep clay land and woods.
It is now a farm-house, with a space round it cleared for agriculture. There
are remains of a moat, and some indications of a house of quality. It formerly
lay within the Park belonging to the Great House, with which it was connected
by a path through the woods called ‘‘ My Lady’s Walk.” In its original state
it must have been a very secluded spot.

Murder of Henry Long, Esq. 313

from Cawshot castle the said Tuesday, Thomas Dymmocke passed
to Hampton in one Mossell’s boat of Ware’s ash, and there talked
with Captain Perkinson and desired of him that the two Danverses,
Sir Charles and Sir Henry, might come unto Cawshot Castle
to rest them there two or three days, and that their intent was
to go from thence into Brittany for service, which the said
Perkinson said they should do so, and sent word presently to his
deputy by Roger Fynche, his servant; and then the said Dymmocke
returned back that evening unto the said Reede’s boat, then riding
at an anchor; and the said Wednesday, 9th October, in the evening,
they all put on shore at Cawshot castle. Afore whose arrival there,
about 2 o’clock in the afternoon of the said Wednesday, one John
Dalamor the water-serjeant of Hamble, had been at the said castle
with hue and cry to apprehend the suspected persons for the murder,
that were in the boat then in sight, and wished the master-gunner
to bend their ordnance upon them if they should offer to be gone,
whereupon so soon as the said Knights and company were landed,
who came in voluntary of themselves that evening, William Kitche
the master-gunner disarmed them, and put them into the deputy’s
chamber as prisoners, and caused the castle to be guarded and kept
with such soldiers as were then in the castle, being in number but
four persons besides help of the country, as Hancocke, Locke, and
others, and certain fishermen which the said Kitche had commanded
in for this service, as Thomas Moorley, John Wilkins, and others.
Until Nicholas Caplyn the deputy of the said castle came to his
charge that night, who immediately understanding by the said
Kitche what had been done, and likewise by the said Hancocke,
Locke, and the rest, who told the said deputy that ‘‘ they thought
them to be the persons suspected for the murder, for whom the
hue and cry came unto them,” then the said deputy partly confessed
that “they were the men, but the captain’s friends,” and desired them
to depart, giving his word and promise to the said Hancocke, Locke,
and the rest, that they should be forthcoming and safe. Also the
said Wednesday being the 9th October last, Mr. Francis Robinson,
gentleman of the Earl of Southampton’s horses, willed Thomas Dredge
an attendant in the said Earl’s stables at Tichfield, to go unto one

314 Murder of Henry Long, Esq.

Austine, Mr. Thomas Arundell’s cook, (who then with his ladie
were with the Earl of Southampton in Tichfield House), for a
basket of victuals, which the said Dredge with one Humphrey a
Welsh boy of the same house, did fetch from Tichfield kitchen
and carried the same unto Ware’s ashe, and delivered the said
basket of victuals unto Mr. Dymmocke and one Gilbert, a Scot,
and servant unto the said knights, which was carried unto the said
knights and their company, then at anchor in Reede’s boat, by the
said Gilbert in one Mossell’s boat.

The said knights with their company, and the said Dymmocke,
continued in Cawshot Castle from the said Wednesday in the
evening until it was Friday following late in the evening, being the
11th of the same October, during which time there were many
messages and some letters that passed between the said knights and
the said Perkinson, and great meanes made to get passage into
France if it had been possible. But in the end, on the same Friday
in the evening, the said Gilbert, who was hastened and sent by
Payne, one of the Earl of Southampton’s servants, upon the said
Perkinson’s private message, sent unto him to one Day’s house, an
ordinary in Hampton, by one Heywood his servant, that if the said
Payne did wish well unto the said Danvers and their company, and
did regard their safety, he should in all haste use some speedy
means to give them warning presently to depart from Cawshot
Castle, for that the said Perkinson had received letters from Sir
Thomas West, Knight, the same Friday about 10 of the clock in
the aforenoon for the apprehending of them ; and again farther, by
a second message from the said Perkinson, that the said Payne was
wished to ride presently home towards Tichfield to see if he could
find any means to send them word presently to depart, who imme-
diately travailed in the said business, and came to Hamble the same
Friday in the afternoon with one Gilbert, a Scot, and sent him unto
the said knights and company in one Johnson’s boate of Hamble
with the said message; besides one Roger Fynche, the captain’s
servant, that was then sent with the like message from his master
also. Whereupon, so soon as the said Gilbert had delivered his
message unto the knights and company at Cawshot Castle about

Murder of Henry Long, Esq. 315

4 o’clock in the afternoon of the same day, the said knights and
company to the number of thirteen or fourteen persons, whereof
Mr. Thos. Dymmocke was one, came hastily shouldering one another
into the said Johnson’s boat, all but the said Gilbert, who was fain
to pass away overland by reason the said boat was almost overladen,
being not above the burden of one ton; and so the said Johnson
did set the said knights and their company ashore at a place called
Bald Head, over against Cawshot Castle, and within one mile and a
half of Tichfield. Then one of the said company asked the said
Dymmocke if he did know the way to Tichfield, who answered “he
did know the way if it were at midnight ;” and the said Johnson
had for his pains two shillings and sixpence. Farther, on the same
Friday 11th Oct. late at night, certain strange men to the number
of seven or eight persons, came into the kitchen at Whitley Lodge,
and there supped with such cold meat as was then in the house,
and immediately after they had supped Thos. Dymmocke com-
manded his servants Joan Lawrence, Dorothy Bell, and one Richard,
his boy, to go into Fatting Leaze in the Park with them to help
take up their horses, which being done, they presently rode away
that night, but some others that then came to Whitley Lodge went
to the chamber and staid there all night, and had for their supper
a mess of milk boiled, and the next morning early they went away
on foot, and Thos. Dymmocke with them, and as it was supposed
to Tichfield House. And on Saturday, 12th of said October, Wm.
Heywood returning from Cawshot Castle, who carried letters the
night before from his master, Capt. Perkinson, to the deputy for
the apprehending of the said knights and their company, he found
in his master’s chamber three or four of the Earl of Southampton’s
gentlemen talking with his master, Perkinson, whereof one as he
thinketh was Mr. Bruen, and heard his said master say unto them
that “he thought he should lose his office for the knights being in the
castle,” whereunto the said Earl’s gentlemen replied, “it was great
pity it should be so.” Then the said Heywood told his master they
were all gone before he came, whereupon the said Perkinson said
that “he was very glad thereof, whatsoever it cost him.”

After which wilful escape of the said knights and their company
22

~ ~

316 Murder of Henry Long, Esq.

from Cawshot Castle, as before set down, on Monday 14th Oct.
about 8 o’clock at night, one Mr. Robinson, gentleman of the Earl of
Southampton’s horses, came unto Thomas Dredge at the said Earl’s
stables at Tichfield, and commanded him and others to saddle seven
horses that were then in the said stable; which being done, and
leaving the said horses so saddled when he went to bed in his house
at Tichfield, the said horses were carried away that night about
12 o’clock by one Mr. Brumfield, one of the said Earl’s servants, as
it was reported by one Robert a groom of the said Earl’s stable ;
which said Brumfield brought back four of the said seven horses
unto Tichfield stable again on Thursday morning the 17th Oct.
following, about the break of day, which horses the said Mr. Robinson
commanded Dredge to give them as many oats as they would eat,
for that they were to go then presently towards London with the
said Earl of Southampton his master.

Other special notes upon sundry examinations concerning the said
cause :-—

On Saturday or Sunday the 5th or 6th Oct., 1594, the Hue and
Cry came unto Tichfield for the murder done in Wiltes.

The same Saturday 5th Oct., 1594, in the afternoon, it was reported
by Richard Nash, the Earl of Southampton’s Baylie, and others
in Tichfield House, that there were ten or eleven strange horses
put into a certain enclosed ground in the great Park of Tichfield,
called Fatting Leaze, and there staid till the Monday night following,
at which time the same maidenhair-coloured velvet saddle that Sir
Henry Danvers rode on at Tichfield four or five days before the
murder committed, was then also seen at Tichfield all bloody ; for
which saddle Dymmocke and Robinson did strive.

On Sunday the 6th Oct., 1594, the said knights, the Danverses,
being then in Whitley Lodge, one John, their servant, brought 2
shirts to be washed unto Joan Lawrence, then servant unto Thomas
Dymmocke, whereof one of them was bloody.

On Wednesday, the 9th of October, 1594, Lawrence Grose, the
sheriff of the town of Southampton, being at Hamble about his own
affairs, understanding by one Fry, the constable there, and others,

Murder of Henry Long, Esq. 317

that the company suspected of the murder done in Wiltshire were
in one Reed’s boats, then riding at an anchor at the mouth of the
same river, was by them required to give notice thereof unto the
Mayor of Southampton, for the apprehending of them, who speedily
did effect the same: whereupon the said Grose, passing over Itching
Ferry with his wife the Saturday following, one Floria, an Italian,
and one Humphrey Drewell, the said Earl of Southampton’s servant,
being in the said passage-boat, threatened to cast him, the said
Grose, overboard ; and said “they would teach him to meddle with
his fellows,” with many other threatening words.

On Thursday, the 17th of October, 1594, two hours after Arthur
Brumfield brought back the four horses to Tichfield stable, the
Earl of Southampton’s barber came unto Thomas Dredge and
demanded of him “who told him that Sir Henry Danvers was at
Whitley Lodge?” whereunto the said Dredge answered that “ Mr.
Dymmocke’s man that brought Mr. Drewell’s horse from Whitley
Lodge to Tichfield stable, the Saturday after the murder com-
mitted, told him thereof ;” whereupon the said barber sware deeply
“by God’s wounds,” and charged him, “ upon pain of his life, not
to speake any more of it, for that it was his Lord’s will and
pleasure that the said Sir Henry Danvers should be there at
Whitley Lodge.” And farther, the said Gilbert the Scot remained
at Tichfield House nine or ten days after the murder was com-
mitted (the Earl of Southampton being then there), during which
time the said Gilbert rode twice to London and came back again,
and carried letters secretly within the linings of his hat; and
whilst he staid at Tichfield (which he had often so done before
when he hath been examined), he never dined or supped openly in
the hall, but some where else, secretly as it was supposed, and was
much conversant with Mr. Hunnings and Robinson. Also, two
letters of Perkinson’s own hand writing, sent unto Nicholas Caplyn
his deputy, after the said knight and their followers were escaped
and gone from Cawshot Castle, yet extant.

The names of principal men servants, followers, and attendants upon
the Earl of Southampton not yet examined, but very necessary they

318 Murder of Henry Long, Esq.
should be, being discovered by the confessions of the parties already
examined :—

1. Hunning, his steward, and the man that was at Cawshot to
prepare the way for the knight coming thither.

2. Payne, keeper of his wardrobe, that sent Gilbert to Cawshot
Castle to warn them to fly.

3. Francis Robinson, gentleman of his horse, for sending victuals
and preparing of horses to carry them away.

4, Arthur Brumfield, one of his gentleman, that carried away the
seven horses prepared by Robinson at twelve of the clock at night,
and brought four of them back again. (Sent inté the country.)

5. A barber, attendant upon the Earl, that commanded Dredge,
with oaths and threatening words, not to speak of the knight being
in Whitley Lodge. (Dwelling in Southwark, near the Hawk’s Cage.)

6. Humphrey Drewell, one of his followers, that threatened
Grose, the Sheriff of Southampton (who gave notice unto the Mayor
of the same town for the apprehending of them), to cast him, the
said Grose, overboard at Itching Ferry.

7. Signor Floria, an Italian, that did the like.

8. Richard Nash, the Earl’s baylie at Tichfield, that found many
strange horses put into a ground called Fatting Lease, immediately
after the murder.

9. John Fielder, a log carrier to the chambers at Tichfield, who
is likely to know much concerning their being in Tichfield House.

10. Robert, a groom of the Karl’s stables, who did know that
Brumfield carried away the twelve horses at twelve of the clock in
the night. (Gone to Royston.)

11. Brewen, one of the Earl’s gentlemen, whom Heywood confessed.
to be in his master Perkinson’s company when he returned from
Cawshot, to advertise him that the two knights and their company
were gone. (No such.)

12. Ralph Tucke Dymmocke, under keeper in Whitley Parke,
that may confess of their being in Whitley Lodge; also, John, the
Earl’s cook, that dressed the said knight’s meat at Whitley Lodge.

Murder of Henry Long, Esq. 319

No. II.
Writ To THE SHERIFF OF WILTs;

[ Concerning the Reversal of the Outlawry of Sir Henry, then Lord
Danvers.| 13th Feb. 1604.

“ James, &c.; to the Sheriff of Wilts, greeting. Because in the
Record and Process, and also in the Proclamation of Outlawry
against Henry Danvers, late of Cirencester, in co. Glouc., Knight,
now Lord Danvers, for a certain supposed felony and murder, on
4th October, 36 Eliz., whereof judgement is in your county, and
before us returned, manifest error occurreth, to the grievous damage
of the said Sir Henry, as by the inspection of the Record and
Process aforesaid to us evidently appears, we, willing that the error,
if any, in due manner may be corrected, and to the said Henry full
and speedy justice may be done in this behalf, command you that
you omit not by reason of any liberty in your Bailiwick, to summon
as well the tenants of the lands and tenements which were the said
Henry’s, on the said 4th Oct. or at any time afterwards, as the
Lords of whom the said lands and tenements mediately or imme-
diately are held, to be before us within 15 days after Easter,
wherever we shall be in England, to hear the Record and Process
aforesaid if they will; And further do and receive what our Court
shall consider in this behalf : and have those by whom you so caused
them to be summoned, and this Writ.

Witness, J. PopHam. At Westminster, 13 Feb., 1 Jac. I.”

RETURN BY THE SHERIFF.

“ Jasper Moore, Sheriff, To our Lord the King at the day and place within
contained. I certify that there are no tenants which were of the within named
Lord Danvers on the 4th Oct., 36 Eliz., or at any time afterwards, nor any Lords
of whom the said lands were held, &c., whom I am able to summon as within to
me is commanded.”

1 Translated from the Latin Record in the Carlton Ride: Controlment Roll
of the Court of King’s Bench: Easter Term, 2 Jac. I. m. 38.

320 Murder of Henry Long, Esq.

No. III.
Lone’s Casz. [Coke's Reports. |

The only other document that has hitherto been met with relating
to this affair is Sir Edward Coke’s Report of the Exceptions taken
to the wording of the presentment under the Coroner’s Inquisi-
tion. Being partly written in old French, and containing a
number of obsolete legal phrases, it is not very easy to be understood
in the old edition of Coke from which this is extracted. We
therefore present only the substance of it.

The argument upon the Writ of Error was heard before Chief
Justice Sir John Popham, and Justices Gaudy, Yelverton, and
Williams.

“ Michaelmas Term, 2 James (1604).

Wiiltes. An Inquisition held at Cossam 5th Oct. 36 Eliz.
Puditement. (1594), before Wm. Snelling, Coroner of our Lady
the Queen, within the liberty of her town of Cossam, on view of
the body of Henry Long, Esq., there lying dead, on the oath of 12
men presented, that a certain H. D., late of C. [Henry Danvers, late
of Cirencester], in co. E. [Quere, G? Gloucester], Kt., C. D.
[ Charles Danvers] late of C. in said county of E., Kt., G. L., late of
Colkidge,? in co. W., yeoman, and R. P., late of L., in said co. W.,
yeoman, not having the fear of God before their eyes, did on 4th
Oct., 36 Eliz., between the hours of eleven and twelve of the same
day, at Cossam, with force and arms, viz., swords, &c. (“ pugionibus
armacudiis et tormentis”’), assault the aforesaid H. Long; and the
aforesaid H. D. voluntarily, feloniously, and of malice prepense, did
discharge in and upon the said H. Longa certain engine calledadagge*
worth 6s. 8d., charged with powder and bullet of lead, which H. D.
had in his right hand ; and inflict a mortal wound upon the upper
part of the body of H. L., “ subter sinistram mamillam,” (wnder the

1 Sir Edw. Coke’s Reports. Folio, 1671. Part V.p. 121.

2 We cannot identify G. L. and R. P. But ‘‘Colkidge, co. Wilts,” is without
much doubt Cowage, alias Bremelham, near Malmsbury, then the property of
the Danvers family.

3 A dagge was a kind of pistol. In 1579, a proclamation had been issued by
Queen Elizabeth ‘‘ against carrying pocket pistols, called dags, handguns,” &e.
(Strype, Mem. II. pt. 2, p. 295.)

Murder of Henry Long, Esq. 321

left breast,) of which wound he instantly died. And that imme-
diately after the felony they all fled.”

On which the said H. Danvers having been outlawed, he sued out
a Writ of Error, assigning various exceptions, viz.—

1. ‘That whereas the inquest was described as haviug been held within the
Liberty of our Lady the Queen, of her town of Cossam, it had not been alleged
how far the Liberty extends, or whether any and what part of the town was in
the Liberty ; so that it did not appear whether the Coroner had jurisdiction in
the place where the murder was committed and the inquest holden. As, there-
fore, it was not stated whether the town of Cossam was in the Liberty of Cossam,
the indictment was uncertain.”

Sir John Popham, C.J., overruled this exception, on the ground ‘of too great
nicety.” It was to be understood, he said, that the Liberty of Cossam must
include the town of Cossam. Perhaps the Liberty might contain more than the
town; but that the town itself should be supposed to be out of the Liberty of
the town, was a strained interpretation which the law does allow (‘‘ que le ley
ne allow.” )

2. “‘That the Latin word for breast, spelled ‘‘ Mamiilla,” was no Latin at all ;
for that the proper word for breast was Mammiila [with a double m]: and that
bad Latin quashed indictments.” A case was cited where burglariter had
been spelled burgalriter, and the exception had been admitted.

The Court: ‘Bad Latin is not to quash indictments” (‘‘ Faux Latin ne
quashera inditement”). ‘If by the mis-spelling a different meaning had been
introduced, that was another case ; but where the sense remained the same,
every body knew what was meant. And besides, mamilla with one m was as
good Latin as mammiilla with two.’’!

3. ‘That vulnus was a wrong word for a wound: that plaga was the word
commonly used in indictments.” The whole Court said that plaga and vulnus
are synonymous.

4, “That the dimensions of the wound were not stated.” Also overruled.
‘Dimensions of a wound are only alleged in order to prove it to be mortal.
Here it had gone through the whole body, and was sufficiently proved mortal.

5. “That it was not the wound which penetrated the body, as stated in the
indictment, but the bullet.” ! The Court thought the sense plain enough.

6. ‘‘The word “‘ percussit” (he struck) was omitted.” There were, says Coke,
many precedents of cases where the wound had been inflicted by a bullet from a
gun, in all of which, nevertheless, the word had been used.

After much splitting of hairs, the last exception was held to be
fatal. The coroner’s indictment was accordingly found bad; the
outlawry was reversed; and Sir Henry (then Lord) Danvers was
discharged. J. E. J.

1 Not only as good but better. So at least thought Juvenal.
“Scilicet arguitur quod leva in parte mamille,” &e. (vii, 159.)
er

322 The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons.

Che Ancient Styles and Desiquations of Persons.

These vary a good deal from such as are used at present. I shall
therefore give a few examples, for the most part derived from
Wiltshire, with an explanation where the ancient style or designa-
tion has so far passed into desuetude as to require it.

SIRE.

This style was used to their late Majesties Kings George the 3rd,
George the 4th, and William the 4th, when either of these sove-
reigns was addressed in writing ; when addressed orally each was
styled “Sir.” The style “Sire” was anciently not restricted to
Kings ; as in the Roll of Arms of the Knights Bannerets, temp.
Edw. 2, edited by Sir Harris Nicolas, there are 33 Bannerets men-
tioned as of Wilts and Hants, every one of whom has “Sire”
prefixed to his name; as “Sire Alesandre Cheyeroyl,” “Sire Adam
de la Forde,” &c.: whilst the King is designated “Le Roy de
Engleterre,” and each Earl has “ Le Counte”’ prefixed to his title,
as “Le Count de Gloucestre,” and the like. In this Roll one
Bishop only occurs, “Le Evesque Antoyn de Dureem e Patark ;”
and no other title but those above-mentioned occurs.

PRINCE.

A Latin letter addressed by the Vice-President and Fellows of
Magdalene College, Oxford, to Cardinal Wolsey, on the subject of
his digging stone from their quarries,’ is addressed :—

‘‘Magnificentissimo Principi Do Thome Dei Optimi Max: benignitate
Archiepiscopo Eboracensi, Sacro-sanctee Romane Ecclesie Presbytero, Cardinali
Apostolic Sedis et a latere Legato, Anglie Primato & Cancellario summo
dentur he Liters.”

Which may be thus translated :—

“To the Most Magnificent Prince, Thomas, by the mercy of God Best and
Greatest, Lord Archbishop of York, Priest of the Holy Roman Church, Cardinal
of the Apostolic See, Legate a latere, Primate of England, and most High Chan-
cellor, these letters be given.”

1 Sir H. Ellis’s Letters relating to English History, vol. v. p. 13.

The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons. 323

In the Cathedral at Salisbury is a monumental inscription :—

““M. 8. Edwardo Hertfordize Comiti Baroni de Belcampo illustrissimi Principis
Edwardi Ducis Somersetencis, &c.” (enumerating the titles of the Protector
Somerset), ‘‘ Filio et Heeredi.”

This inscription is given at length in the History of Salisbury
Cathedral, printed in 1723 ; and may be translated :—

“Sacred to the Memory of Edward, Earl of Hertford, Baron Beauchamp, son
and heir of the most illustrious Prince Edward, Duke of Somerset,” &e.

At this day at the funeral of a Duke, if it is attended by the
Heralds, &c., Garter King of Arms, if present, pronounces over the
vault the titles of the deceased, whom he designates as ‘“‘ The most
high and puissant Prince, John, Duke of,” &c.

Der Gratta.

This style is now used in this country by the Sovereign only.
It was used by Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, who died in
the year 1160, and who was the immediate predecessor of Thomas
4 Becket in that See. ;

In Madox’s Formulare Anglicanum (at p. 40, title “ Confirma-
tion”), is a deed of Archbishop Theobald, confirming a feoffment
of a mill made by the Bishop of Coventry, which commences “ T.
Dei Gratia Cantuariensis Archiepiscopus,” &c.

It was frequently used by Bishops and Abbots. “ Reginaldus
Dei gracié Episcopus Bathoniensis,” &e. ; a.v. 1174. [Dugd: Mon:
Glaston Charters No. xv.| “Robertus Dei yracid Bathon: et Wellens :
Episcopus, &c;” a.p. 1283. [Do. No. civ.] “Adam Dei gracid
Abbas Glaston : &c.” [Do. ev.] “ Walterus Dei gracia Abbas de
Kingswood, &c. ;” a.p. 1402. [Aubrey’s N. Wilts. “ Aldrington.”’]

Nose Impr.

The style Imp was applied in the reign of Queen Elizabeth to
young noblemen as a term of respect. I have given two instances,
one relating to the only son of the celebrated Earl of Leicester,
whose monument is in the great church at Warwick ; the other
being a dedication to the son of Lord Buckhurst, who was Lord
Treasurer during the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

272

324 The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons.

The inscription on the Earl of Leicester’s son begins as follows :—

‘“‘ Heere resteth the bodie of the noble impe, Robert of Duddeley, Baron of
Denbigh, sonne of Robert Earl of Leicester, nephew and heire vnto Ambrose
Earle of Warwick,” &c.

The other instance is taken from a translation of “‘ The Thirteene
Bookes of Aeneidos,” the first to the tenth book by “Thomas
Phaer, Esq.,” the residue finished by “Thomas Twyne, Doctor in
Phisicke,” printed in 1607, which has a dedication addressed :—

“To the right worshipful Maister Robert Sackvill, Esquire, most worthy
sonne and heire apparant to the Right Honourable Sir Thomas Sackvill, Knight,
Lord Buckhurst.”

After alluding to the house of Sackville, the writer then adds :—

“So that in honouring them I must needs love you, and loving them so honour
you as the rare hope and onely expected Imp of so noble a roote, and heire of
so auncient a familie.”

This dedication is dated—
‘“‘ At my house in Lewis, this first day of January, 1584 :”
—and concludes—
_ “Your worship’s most bounden and willing, Tuomas TwYne.”

Norr.—This translation, with the Dedication, is in the Library of the British
Museum.

Mosr NosrE anp Mosr HonoraBte.

These styles are applied to Marquesses. In all my earlier time,
as far as I know, Marquesses were addressed as “ The Most Noble;”’
and I do not recollect to have seen a Marquis addressed as ‘“ The
Most Honourable” till within the last twenty or thirty years; but
I was lately informed by Mr. Courthope, Somerset Herald at the
Herald’s College, that Marquesses have been long since styled “ The
Most Honorable.” Two of the most recent instances of the style,
“The Most Noble,” being applied to Marquesses are in the adver-
tisements in the Salisbury Journal of June 24, 1854, where a list of
subscribers is headed, ‘The Most Noble the Marquis of Lansdowne,”
“The Most Noble the Marquis of Bath ;’’ while the traveller by
the Great Western Railway will frequently see hampers from
Tottenham House, with printed directions on them, ‘The Most
Honorable the Marquis of Ailesbury.” In the Magazine of our own

The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons. 325

Society, and in the paper announcing its first annual meeting, our
noble President has “ The Most Honorable” prefixed to his title ;
and yet in Gwillim’s Heraldry (Honor Civil, chap. 5, page 102 of
the Ed. of 1724) there is “the effigies of the Most Noble Charles
Marquess of Winchester.”

The uncertainty in this respect no doubt arises from these being
Styles of Courtesy as contradistinguished from Titles of Dignity.
Even in the cases of our Sovereigns their styles have been changed
from time to time. In the reigns of the Sovereigns of the House
of Tudor, they were styled “ The King’s Grace ;” after that, ‘“ His
Highness ;” and finally the style of Majesty was assumed.

In Gwillim’s Heraldry (Honor Civil, before cited, page 2) it is
said that “a Duke hath the title of Grace,” and being written unto
is styled “‘Most High, Potent, and Noble Prince ;”’ and Dukes of
the royal blood are styled “Most High, Most Mighty, and Illus-
trious Princes.” And of a Marquis he says, “ He hath the title of
Most Noble and Puissant Prince.” And he further states that
“ An Earl had formerly the title of Prince, but now is ‘ Most Noble
and Puissant Lord;’ as also, ‘The Right Honourable and truly
Noble’.” And of a Viscount he says, “ He hath the title of ‘The
Most Noble, Potent, and Honorable’.”’

But it is worthy of observation that the Sovereign, in letters
patent, commissions, charters, or grants, never addresses a Peer as
“His Grace,” “Most Honorable,” “Right Honorable,” &c.; but
addresses a Duke as

“Our right trusty and right entirely beloved cousin,! John Duke of — ;”

a Marquis as

“Our right trusty and entirely beloved cousin,! Charles Marquis of — ;”
an Earl as

“Our right trusty and right well beloved cousin,! Henry Earl of — ;”

a Viscount or Baron as

“Our right trusty and well beloved,? James Viscount [or Baron] —.”

1 If the person addressed be a Privy Councillor, the words ‘and councillor”
are here inserted.

2 “ And councillor,” if the person addressed be a member of the Privy Council.

326 The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons.

The style of “cousin,” as applied by the Sovereign to Earls and
to Peers of a higher title, was introduced by King Henry the 7th,
who was either himself or through his Queen related to a large
portion of the then Earls, which induced him to apply this style
to the whole of them, and this has been continued ever since.

So that it is evident that even at this day the precise style proper
for a Marquis is not exactly settled, and that neither of these can
be considered as inappropriate or wrong.

JUSTICE, AND Mr. Justice.
In the books of the Privy Council, under the date of 28th June,
1570, is an entry of—

‘“‘A Letter to Justice Southcote, to cause one Thomas Andrewes, presently
prysoner in the Marshalsey to be brought to the Tower, and offered the torture
of the racke; and to be examined by such as shall be appointed thereunto by
Justice Weston.1

John Southcote was one of the Judges of the Court of Queen’s
Bench, and Richard Weston was one of the Judges of the Court of
Common Pleas, at this date.

In Shakespere’s play of “‘ The Merry Wives of Windsor,” Shallow
is styled “ Justice Shallow,” he being a Justice of the Peace. This
would now be considered quite incorrect : the style “Justice” and
“ Mr. Justice” belonging properly in this country to the Judges of
England only. Ona trial before Mr. Justice Allan Park, at Stafford,
Mr. (the present Lord) Campbell, referring to the decision of a
magistrate, named Smith, said ‘‘ such was the decision of Mr. Justice
Smith.” Upon this, the learned Judge (Park) observed, “this gentle-
mau has no right to be called Mr. Justice Smith ; the style of ‘ Mr.
Justice’ in this counry belongs only to the Judges of England.”

In the year 1831, by the statute 1st and 2nd of William the 4th,
chap. 56, “the Court of Bankruptcy” was established ; and by it
the King was to appoint “a chief Judge” and three other persons
“to be Judges of the said Court.” The Judges of this Court were

1 In Mr. Jardine’s ‘‘ Reading on the use of Torture in England.” App. No.
13, p. 77.

The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons. 327

styled, “Sir John Cross,” “Sir Albert Pell,” and “Sir George
Rose ;” and not Mr. Justice Cross, Mr. Justice Pell, and Mr. Justice
Rose: but when the Chief Judge of the Bankruptcy Court, the
Hon. Thomas Erskine, in addition to that dignity, was appointed a
Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, he was styled “Mr Justice
Erskine.”

Very REVEREND.

This style is now I believe applied to Deans only. In the follow-
ing instance it occurs on the Monument of a Canon residentiary of
Salisbury, as given in the History of Salisbury Cathedral before
cited. The inscription is—

“Hoe est sacrum depositum Reverendi admodum Magistri Hill in Collegio
Christi inter! Athenas Oxonienses Studentis, de Knoyle in comitatu Wilts Rec-

toris, et deinde hujus Ecclesie Canonici Residentiarii, &c. 20 Martii, a..
1694-5, obiit & expiravit.”

which is—
“To the Memory of the very Reverend Master Richard Hill,” &c.

Ricutr WorsHIPFUL AND REVEREND Lorp.
A letter to James Lord Berkeley (who died 22nd Oct. 38 Edw.IV.),
sent to him by his wife, is addressed—
“To my right worshipful and reverend lord and husband be these ae ie
and her ladyship commences her letter—
“Right worshipful and reverend Lord and husband ;”’
and concludes—

‘Written at London the Wednesday next afore Whitsunday.
Your wife the Lady of Berkeley.”
This letter is printed by the Rey. T. D. Fosbroke in his edition
of Smyth’s Lives of the Berkeley Family, p. 153.

WorsuHIpruL AND Worsuip.
The Rey. T. D. Fosbroke, in his edition of the Berkeley MSS.
(p. 153), says that the “title of Worship and Worshipful” was

1 Sic orig.

328 The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons.

applied to the Archbishop of Canterbury ; and he ‘cites Pat. 23
Hen. VI., part 2, m. 16; and in Bishop Burnet’s History of the
Reformation (vol. 6, Appendix of Records, No. 16), is a letter
addressed by Dr. Buckmaster on the subject of King Henry the
8th’s divorce, “To the right worshipful master doctor Edmonds,
Vicar of Alborne, Witshire.”

So, a letter of Steven Vaughan to Thomas, afterwards Lord
Cromwell, dated June 19, 1537,! is addressed—

‘To his right worshipful Mr. Maister Thomas Crumwell, besides the Fryers
Augustyne in London;”

and another letter from the same to the same,” is addressed—
“To his right worshipfull Master Crumwell, Secy. to the Kyng’s Highness.”

From the letters it would seem that Vaughan was Cromwell’s
confidential correspondent at Antwerp.

The style of “ Worshipful” and ‘‘ Worship” seems to have been
very variously applied. Mayors and Magistrates are even at this day,
by the common people, often called “ Your Worship.” In the
bidding prayer before the Assize Sermon, at Stafford, at the last
Assizes, we were told to pray for “The venerable and learned the
Judges of Assize and the right worshipful the High Sheriff, the
worshipful the Mayor and the Aldermen of this Borough,” and at
Hereford Cathedral, for the “ Worshipful the Mayor.” Dispatches
to the Court of Directors of the East India Company from their
officers both civil and military, commence “ Worshipful Sirs ;” and
if a member of the Hon. Society of Lincoln’s Inn wishes to take his
name off the books of that Society, to become a member of another
Inn of Court, he addresses a petition “To the Worshipful the Masters
of the Bench,” and “ prays your Worships” to remove the name.

In the paper announcing our first annual meeting, the Mayor
of Salisbury is styled “The Worshipful.”

FLORENTISSIMUS.
The Rev. H. J. Todd, in his edition of Johnson’s Dictionary,
says, [Tit. ‘‘ Bachelor,” ] “They” [the Bachelors of Arts] are often

1 Sir H. Ellis: Letters relating to Eng. Hist. 2nd series, vol 2, p. 208.
2 Id. p. 216.

The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons. 329

addressed at Oxford as “ Florentissimi,” literally “ most flowering,”
but probably meaning “ most flourishing.”

Srr.

This title was anciently prefixed to the names of Baronets,
Knights, and Clergymen. Of the latter I shall give two instances,
one in the reign of Richard the Third, the other in the reign of
James the First. The former is a note in the handwriting of
Richard the Third,! of which I was favoured with a sight by Mr.
Duffus Hardy, the Keeper of the Records in the Tower. It is
verbatim et literatim as follows :—

‘* My lorde Chanceler we pray you in All hast to sende to us A p.don? under
our Gret seale to S: herry Wode prest? &e.; and yis shal be yor warante
“RicaRpus Rex,”

Under this the Lord Chancellor [John Russell, Bishop of Lin-
coln| has written—

“Mr. Skipton spede this forthwith. P. me Jo: Lincoty.”

The second instance is a tablet in the parish church of Broad-
Hinton, Wilts, which has on it—

“A.D. 1614. Sir John Sheston, some time Minister of this Parish, gave
certain goods to the intent that the churchwardens should pay ds. in bread to
the Poor upon Mid-lent Sunday for ever.”

In the works of Shakespere four instances occur of clergymen
having the word “Sir” prefixed to their names, viz.—

Sir Hugh Evans, “a Welsh parson,” in “The Merry Wives of
Windsor.”

Sir Oliver Martext, “a vicar,” in “ As you like it.”’

Sir Nathaniel, “a curate,”’ in “‘ Love’s Labour’s Lost.”

And Sir Topas, “the curate,” mentioned in the 4th Act and 2nd
scene of “ Twelfth Night.”

Mr. Charles Knight, in his admirable edition of Shakespere, in
note 1 to the play of “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” after
adverting to the fact that in Shakespere four priests are each styled
“Sir,” cites the following authorities.

! Roy: Autog: in the Tower of London.
2 This is evidently ‘Sir Harry Wode Priest.”
8 This means ‘a pardon.”

330 The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons.

‘Tn a curious treatise quoted by Todd, entitled ‘ A Decacordon of Ten Quod-
libetical questions concerning Religion and State, &c.,’ newly imprinted 1602,
we have the following magniloquent explanation of the matter: ;

‘“‘ By the laws armorial civil and of arms, a Priest in his place in civil con-
versation is always before any Esquire as being a Knight's fellow by his Holy
orders, and the third of the three Sirs, which only were in request of old (no
Baron, Viscount, Earl, nor Marquis being then in use), to wit, Sir King, Sir
Knight, and Sir Priest: the word Dominus, in Latin, being a noun substantive
common to them all—Dominus meus Rex, Dominus meus Joab, Dominus
Sacerdos, and afterwards when honours began to take their subordination, one
under another, and titles of princely dignity to be hereditary to succeeding
posterity, which happened upon the fall of the Roman empire, then Dominus
was in Latin applied to all noble and generous hearts, even from the King to the
meanest Priest or temporal person of gentle blood, coat-armour perfect, and
ancestry: but Sir in England was restrained to these four, Si Knight, Sir
Priest, Str Graduate, and in common speech Sv Esquire ; so as always since
distinction of titles were, Sir Priest was ever the second.

‘Fuller in his Church History gives us a more homely version of the title. After
saying that anciently there were in England more Sirs than Knights, he adds,
‘Such Priests as bore the additional Sir before their Christian name, were men not
graduated in the university, but being in orders though not in degrees, whilst
others entitled Masters had commenced in the Arts.’

In a note in Smith’s Antiquities of Westminster, Mr. John Sidney Hawkins
gives us the following explanation of the passage in Fuller :—

“Tt was probably only a translation of the Latin Dominus, which in strict-
ness means, when applied to persons under the degree of Knighthood, nothing
more than master, or as it is now written, Mr. In the university persons would
rank according to their academical degrees only, and there was consequently no
danger of confusion between baronets and knights and those of the clergy ; but
to preserve the distinction which Fuller points out, it seems to have been thought
necessary to translate Dominus in this case by the appellative Sir; for had
Magister been used instead of Dominus, or had Dominus been rendered Master,
non-graduates to whom it had been applied would have been mistaken for
magistri artium, masters of arts.”

In the year 1841, I was told by the Rev. William Cooke, the
Rector of Bromyard, that “Sir” prefixed to the name of a clergy-
man denoted that he was a Bachelor of Arts. He stated that in
the act books of the College of Vici:2s at Hereford Cathedral, a
corporate body distinct from the Dean and Chapter, incorporated
by Richard the Second in the year 1396, every Vicar who was a
Master of Arts was styled “Mr,” and every Vicar who was a
Bachelor of Arts had “ Sir” prefixed to his Christian and surname ;
and that when either of those who had been styled “Sir” after-
wards obtained his degree of Master of Arts, his style was altered
to “ Mr.”

The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons. 331

Mr. Cooke further remarked that at all the colleges at Oxford,
Masters of Arts are styled “ Mr.” ; Bachelors of Arts, ‘‘ Dominus,”
and under-graduates the name only, without any prefix ; and I was
informed by Mr. Henry Simonds, one of the Fellows of King’s
College, Cambridge, that down to the present time at Cambridge,
Masters of Arts are styled “Mr.” for Magister, and Bachelors of
Arts “ Ds.” for Dominus ; and in the register of the books borrowed
by members of Christ Church College, Oxford, to read at their
rooms, which now lies on the table, there I found books borrowed
by “ Mr. Baker” and “ Ds. Price,” the former being a Master, the
latter a Bachelor of Arts.

It would therefore seem that in strict correctness, “ Sir,” or the
Latin “ Dominus,” would denote that the person was a Bachelor of
Arts, and that “ Mr.,” “ Master,” or “ Magister,” would denote a
Master of Arts ; but I was informed by Mr. Duffus Hardy that from
the time of Edward the Fourth to the time of James the First,
“Sir” was prefixed to the names of clergymen without any strict
regard to their university degrees, and with this accord the obser-
vations of Fuller before cited, and he must have been a good
authority, as he was a Doctor in Divinity at Cambridge, and
chaplain to Charles the Second. It should however be observed
that the author of the ‘ Decacordon” is incorrect in saying that
“by the laws armorial civil and of Arms, a Priest is always before
any Esquire, as being a Knight’s Fellow by his Holy Orders,” as
in the Commission of the Peace for the county of Wilts and every
county in England, so far from the Priests being placed with the
Knights, the persons placed in the commissions next to the Knights
are the Doctors in Divinity, Physic, and Law; then come the
Esquires, and last of all the Clergy, who are there styled “ Clerks;”
but Mr. Hardy’s observation is further confirmed by the fact that
nearly or quite all the Incumbents of Chantries in the county of
Gloucester, whose names are in the Commissioner’s certificate,
2 Edw. 6, have “ Sir” prefixed to their names, although it is very
improbable that they should all have been Bachelors of Arts.

Before concluding this part of my subject, I may mention that I
find an instance of ‘“ Sir” prefixed to the name of a Hermit. Henry

202

352 The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons.

Algernon, sixth Earl of Northumberland, granted the Hermitage
of Warkworth, in Northumberland, to the last Hermit, in the reign
of Henry the 8th.

The grant is given at length in the appendix to Dr. Percy’s
Ballad, “The Hermit of Warkworth.” The following is an
extract :—

“TJ have geven and graunted and by these presentes do gyve and graunt unto

the said Sir George Lancastre myn armitage belded in a rocke of stone within my
parke of Warkworthe in the county of Northumberland in the honour of the blessed
Trynete with a yerly stipende of twenty merks by yer from the feest of Seint
Michell th’archangell last past affore the date hereof yerly during the natu-
rall lyve of the said Sir George: and also I the said Erle have geven and
graunted to the said Sir George Lancastre the occupation of one little gras
ground of myn nygh adjoining the said armytage onely to his owne use and
profit wynter and somer durynge the said terme, the garden and orteyarde
belonging to the said armytage, the gate and pasture of twelf kyne and a bull
with their calves suking, and two horses going and beying within my said parke
wynter and somer, one draught of fysshe every Sondaie in the yere to be drawn
fornenst the said armytage, and twenty lods of fyrewode to be taken of my wodds
called Shilbottel wode duryng the said term.”

Dominus.

This means either “ Lord” or “Sir,” whether the latter denotes
a Baronet, a Knight, or a Clergyman.

Where the word “ Dominus” occurs after the Christian name,
it usually means “ Lord,” but where it occurs before the Christian
name it denotes “Sir.” Thus, in Salisbury Cathedral, we find
this inscription :—

“‘ Edwardus Dominus Gorges Baro de Dundalk pientissimus filius hoe Dormi-
torium corporibus charissimorum Parentum erexit Anno Domini 1635.”

[‘‘Edward Lord Gorges, Baron of Dundalk, a most pious son, erected this
Dormitory for the bodies of his most dear Parents. A.D. 1635.” ]

On a brass in the Church of Aldbourne, Wilts, is the following
inscription :—

‘‘ Orate pro aia dni Henrici Frekylton quoda Capellani istius cantarie qi obiit
xo die men : Septebr Ao dni mille cecceviij? Cuj: Aia propitietur Deus. Amen,”

[‘‘ Pray for the soul of Sir Henry Frekylton, formerly chaplain of this Chantry,
who died on the 10th of the month of September, a.p. 1508, on whose soul may
God have mercy. Amen.”’]

I find an instance of “Dominus” being used for “Lord” and
“Sir” in one and the same document. In 36 Eliz., Sir Henry

The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons. 333

Danvers, Knight, was outlawed for not surrendering to take his trial
on a coroner’s inquisition for the murder of Mr. Henry Long. In
the beginning of the reign of James the First he was created Lord
Danvers, and after that sued out a writ of error to reverse the out-
lawry. The case will be found in Lord Coke’s Reports, vol. 5, fol. 120;
but on the Controlment Roll of Easter Term, 2 Jac. I. m. 38, is an
entry of a writ to the Sheriff of Wilts to summon those in possession
of Sir Henry Danvers’s estates to appear on the writ of error. In
this writ (which is dated Feb. 13, 1 Jac.) he is styled ‘“ Henry
Danvers mil. modo dom: Danvers [Henry Danvers, Knight, now
Lord Danvers |.!

MaisTRE.

This in the reign of King Henry the Sixth was the style of the
Judges of the Court of Common Pleas (with the exception of the
Lord Chief Justice) and of the Chancellor of the University of
Oxford, although he was a Doctor in Divinity.

In the Year Book for Hilary Term, 8 Henry 6, p. 18, plac. 6, is a case of an
action of trespass brought in the Court of Common Pleas against Maistre Thomas
Chase of Oxenford, and others, for taking goods. The others, by Serjeant Rolf
their counsel, pleaded a custom for every one who lived in the High Street at
Oxford to pave the pavement before his house to the channel when it was out of
repair, and that if he did not do it the Chancellor should warn him, and if it
was not then done, the Chancellor should do it at his own cost, and distrain on
him who ought to have done it, and that this had been done in the present
instance.

“Thomas Chase, Chancellor d’ Oxenford,” pleaded no plea, but by Serjeant
Newton his counsel, claimed the right of trying his own cause, by reason of his
being Chancellor of the University of Oxford. The case was very elaborately
argued, and Serjeant Rolf referred to a precedent, as follows :—‘‘ At one time
there was a Pope, and he had done a great offence, and the Cardinals came to
him and said to him, ‘ Peccasti’ [thou hast sinned]; and he said, ‘ Judica me’
{Judge me]; and they said, ‘Non possumus quia caput es Ecclesiw ; judica
teipsum’ [we cannot, because thou art head of the Church ; judge thyself] ;
and the Apostolic said, ‘ Judico me cremari’ [I judge myself to be burnt], and
he was burnt. In this case he was his own judge, and afterwards was a saint.”

The Court of Common Pleas decided against the claim of ‘‘ Maistre Thomas
Chase, Chancellor d’Oxenford,” to try his own cause ; but in addressing and
speaking of the different Judges, Sergeant Rolf styles the Lord Chief Justice
Babington ‘‘ Monseigneur,” and the other Judges ‘‘ Mon maistre Cottesmore,”
and ‘‘Mon maistre Martin,” and he addresses the latter as “ Sir.”

1 See above, p. 319.

334 The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons.

Master Docror or Mr. Docror.

In Mr. Jardine’s “ Reading on the use of Torture in England,”
are instances of this style. In the Books of the Privy Council,
under the date of May 18, 1558, is a letter to (among others) “ Mr.
Doctor Marten,” to torture French, a prisoner in the Tower.! And
under the date of July 30, 1581, is a letter to (among others) Dr.
Hammond, to torture Campion, a Jesuit. In the postscript he is
styled ‘“ Mr. Doctor Hammond,” and in the next letter from the
Privy Council to the Dr. and the others, thanking them “ for their
paines”’ as to Campion, he is styled “ Mr. D. Hammond.’”

In a dinner bill in the Ashmolean Library at Oxford [Wood MS.,
No. 8489. 3], for the dinner of the Earl of Leicester, when Chan-
cellor of that University, which is headed—

“The charges of my Lord of Leicester his dinner the vth day of September
1570”—
is this item—

“To Mr. Doctor Kennalde? for iij q. of coles and for fagotes which were spent
in the kychen and in the pastrie 1ijs viija

Mr. anp Esquire.

These two applied to the same person at the same time would
now be considered very improper and only the result of extreme
ignorance ; it was formerly otherwise.

A letter from Sir John Popham to William Darell, Esq., dated
March 8rd, 1582, relating to the cutting down of timber and trees
at Axford (near Marlborough), a copy of which is still extant in
the Tower of London, is addressed on the outside “To the Wo" my
very loving ffrend Mr. Will Darrell esger geve thys at lytlecot.”

In Mr. Jardine’s work before cited, in the extracts given from
the Books of the Privy Council in the Appendix, will be found a
letter,t dated Oct. 27, 1591, to “Mr. Attorney” [General] and
“Mr. Solycitor” [General] as to the torturing of Thomas Clinton,

IRE Os 2 Id. pp. 87, 88.
3 This gentleman was John Kennall, LL.D., Canon of Christ Church, Canon
of Exeter, Chancellor of Rochester, and Archdeacon of Oxford.
a Ps95;

The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons. 335

in which they are directed to send for “ Mr. Topcliff and Mr. Yonge,
Esquiers ;” and there is also the entry of a letter! to ‘“‘ Her Majesties
Sollicitor General and Wr. William Wade, Esquier,” authorizing
the torture of Gabriel Colford.

Master.

One of the earliest instances of this designation occurs in the
case of Regina vy. Lady Tutton,? where a writ of Privy Seal,
20 Edw. 3, was produced from the Tower. It ran, “ Edward by
the grace of God, &c. ; To our dear clerk Master John of Offard,
Dean of Lincoln, our Chancellor, greeting.” It related to the
Bridge of Kelm, near Newark. And in the Chronica Series in
Dugdale’s Origines Judiciales, in the list of Lord Chancellors under
the date of 13846 (19 Edw. 3), isan entry, “ Magister Joh. de Offard
constitutus Cancellarius cui Magnum Sigillum 26th Oct. inde
liberatum fuit.’’

[“ Master John de Offard constituted Chancellor, to whom the
Great Seal was delivered 26th Oct. 1346.’ ]

On a handsome alabaster tomb in the chancel of Aldbourne
Church, Wilts, surrounding an incised figure of a Priest in
Eucharistic robes, is the following inscription :—

** Hic jacet Magister Johannes Stone quondam . . . . arie qui quidem

Johannes obiit die mensis Anno dui Mil™° eeecce primo
ppicietur Deus Amen,”

The corner of the stone, which has had on it the word ‘ Hic,” has been broken
off and restored in wood by the town carpenter. The words denoted by dots are
obliterated, but the day and month of his death have never been inserted, and
all that appears is to the following effect :—‘‘ Here lies Mr. John Stone formerly
fees chantry which said John died day of month A.D. 1501

may God have mercy Amen.”

One of the latest instances of a person (not a child) being styled
“ Master,” is in the Mercurius Politicus of July 10, 1656, cited by

Sir Henry Ellis,‘ relating to the capture and release of Lucy Walters,

1 P, 96,
2 Adolphus and Ellis’s Reports in the Q. Bench, vol. 8, p. 520.
3 Pat. 19 Edw. 3, p. 2, m. 7.
4 Letters 2nd ser. vol. 3, p. 352.

336 The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons.

mother of the Duke of Monmouth, where it is stated that when
apprehended she had “ one Master Howard in her company.”

In Shakespere’s play of the ‘‘ Merry Wives of Windsor,” Shallow,
who is a magistrate, is called Master Shallow, and his nephew
Slender is called Master Slender ; and in Leland’s Itinerary in the
reign of Henry the 8th, the ancestor of Jeffrey Daniel (who was
M.P. for Marlborough in the reign of Charles the 2nd) is styled
“ Mastar Daniell.’”!

Holinshed, in his Chronicles, vol. 1, p. 273 of the 4to ed. says—

‘‘ Moreover as the King dooth dubbe Knights and createth Barons and higher
degrees so gentlemen whose ancestors are not knowen to come in with William
Duke of Normandie (for of the Saxon races yet remaining we now make none
accompt much lesse of the British issue) doo take their beginning in England
after this maner in our times—who soever studieth the lawes of the realme or
professeth physicke and the liberall sciences or beside his service in the roome of
a captaine in the warres or good counsell given at home whereby his common-
wealth is benefited can live without manuell labour and thereto is able and will
beare the port charge and countenance of a gentleman he shall for monie have a
cote and armes bestowed upon him by heralds (who in the charter of the same
do of custome pretend antiquitie and service and manie gaie things) and there-
ynto being made so good cheape be called master which is the title that men give
to esquiers and gentlemen and reputed for a gentleman ever after.”

Holinshed is considered to be an important authority in English
history. He died in the year 1580.

In a MS. in the handwriting of King Edward the 6th, bound in
the same volume with his Autograph Journal in the British
Museum,” his Majesty says—

‘“‘ The grasier, the fermour, the merchaunt become landed men and call them-
self gentlemen though they be churles.”

[Norr.—The style Master prefixed to a person’s name was usual at the latter
part of the reign of King Charles the 1st, as in the order addressed to Commissary
General Ireton and 19 others, to consider the case of the army in 1647, six of
them have the style ‘‘ Master” prefixed to their names [ Rush. Coll. vol, 7, p.849];
and in the impeachment against Bishop Wren in 1641, no less than ten ‘‘ godly
painful preaching Ministers” are similarly styled [Id. vol. 4, p. 353]. In 1626,
the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge was styled ‘‘ Master Vice-Chancellor” by the
Duke of Buckingham; and Mr. Rushworth, who was Secretary to the Lord
General Fairfax, designates the speech of the Speaker Finch as ‘‘ Master Speaker’s
speech.” —Id. vol. 1, pp. 373 & 540. ]

1 See above, page 179. 2 Cotton MS. Nero C. x. p, 107-110.

The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons. 307

Mister.

‘On the third Bell at Broad-Hinton, Wilts, is inscribed “ Mister
Richard Midwinter, Mister Robert Alcocke, William Purdue,!
1664 ;” and on the fifth Bell, ‘Come when I call to serve God all.
William Purdue! 1664. Mister Thomas Alcocke Minister and
Sara his wife.” In the nave of Broad-Hinton church is a gravestone
with the following inscription: ‘Here lyeth the body of Mr.
Thomas Alcock Minister of this Parish from 1629 who departed
this life the 23 of November 1664.”’

THE Rev. Mr.

This was the style used to clergymen till within the last thirty
years. Before that time our Secretaries, if then in Holy orders,
would have been addressed as ‘The Rev. Mr. Jackson” and “ The
Rev. Mr. Lukis,” instead of as now, “The Rev. J. E. Jackson,”
and “The Rev. W. C. Lukis.”’

Mr.

This is a contraction for Magister, Master, and Mister. In Sir
Henry Ellis’s Letters Illustrative of English History, “ Mr.”
occurs as early as the reign of Henry the 8th, probably a contrac-
tion of “ Master,” and this is the more probable as in a letter of
Queen Elizabeth to Sir William Cecil he is styled “Mr. of our
Court of Wards and Liveries.”

It is also worthy of remark that even at the present day “ Mr.”
is in some instances prefixed to a name of office although the
person addressed may be a knight. Thus the Right Honorable Sir
Charles Manners Sutton, K. G. C. B., while Speaker of the House
of Commons, was addressed as “ Mr. Speaker,” although he was a
Knight Grand Cross of the Bath; and the present Attorney and
Solicitor General are styled “Mr. Attorney General” and “Mr.
Solicitor General,” although the one is Sir Alexander Cockburn
and the other Sir Richard Bethel.

On the tombs of clergymen “ Mr.” is sometimes put before the
name.

! William Purdue was a bell-founder at Salisbury,

338 The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons.

It is so in the instance of “ Mr. Thomas Alcock” before cited ;
and in the chancel at Cobberly, near Cheltenham, there is on a
gravestone the following inscription :— 2

“« Mr. Lewis Jones Rector Buried July 20 1651 Aged 105 Years.”

Mace.

This is a style still used by the lower classes in North Wiltshire
to tradesmen and sons of farmers. Thus at Ogbourne St. George,
a brickmaker, whose name is Davis, is called ‘‘ Mace Davis,” and
sons of farmers are called ‘“‘ Mace John” or ‘‘ Mace Thomas,” the
surname being sometimes added and sometimes not.

BACHELOR.

This appears in ancient times to have been a term of very wide
signification. Sir Thomas Edlyne Tomlins in his Law Dictionary
(Tit: Bachelor), says that ‘Those were called Bachelors of the
Companies in London whom we should call Freemen of the Com-
pany, the Company consisting of the Master, Wardens, Assistants,
Liverymen, and Bachelors ; which in some companies are called the
Yeomanry of the Company.”

The name of Bachelor (he says) was also applied to that species
of Esquire ten of whom were retained by each Knight Banneret on
his creation ; and (he adds) that there is a petition in the Tower of
London which commences, “A nostre Seigneur le Roy monstrent
votre simple bachelor Johan de Bures,” &c. [To our Lord the King
showeth your simple bachelor John de Bures, &c.|; and that the
term Bachelor was anciently applied to the High Admiral of
England if he were under the degree of a Baron.

Those who have the honour of Knighthood but are not Knights
of any Order, are called Knights Bachelors.

At our Universities there are Bachelors of Arts, which is the
first degree taken there, and Bachelors of Arts are considered as
still in a state of pupilage, although they have taken this degree ;
and by the 305th section of the Act of Parliament for making a
railway from the Great Western Railway to the City of Oxford
(6 & 7 Vict., chap. 10), it is enacted—

That if the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, the Proctors, Proproctors, Heads of

The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons. 339

Houses, or University Marshal, shall notify to the proper officer of the Railway
Company that any person about to travel by the Railway ‘‘is a member of the
University, not having taken the degree of Master of Arts or Bachelor in Civil
Law,” and require such officer to decline to take such member of the University
as a passenger by the Railway, the officer of the Company shall refuse to convey
such member on the Railway, notwithstanding he may have paid his fare, and
the fare is to be returned.

With respect to Bachelors of Divinity, Medicine, Civil Law, and
Music, I can give no particular information.

The Bachelors at Oxford were often addressed as “Florentissimi”
as has been already stated.

The term Bachelor as applied to men who have never married,
is familiar to us all; and in the year 1808, an Act of Parliament
passed (48 Geo. 3, chap. 55, sched. C. No. 1) compelling these
bachelors to pay certain taxes on servants at a higher rate than
was paid by married men and widowers, and they also had to write
the letter B after their names in their tax returns.

But it is not generally known, as stated by the Rey. H. J. Todd
in his edition of Johnson’s Dictionary, that the term “ Bachelor”
is applied by Ben Jonson to an unmarried woman, and he cites—
“ We do not trust your uncle he would keep you a bachelor still by
keeping of your portion, and keep you not alone without a husband
but in sickness.—Magnetick Lady.”

GoopMAN AND YEOMAN.

In the old Churchwarden’s account book of Ogbourne St. George
(which commenced in the year 1617 and has been recently mislaid),
under the date of 1674, is the following entry :—

“They received of Goodman Ayres & Mr. Buckerfield, chosen

churchwardens for ye year 1674, VECO feted ne oe POL BP
and in the same book in a list of subscribers for the sufferers by a
great fire at Northampton, there are entries “ Goodman N orris,
£0. 0s. 3d.,” and “ Goodman Cox, £0. 0s. 6d.” From a letter dated
January 10, 1675, now among the archives of the Corporation of
Marlborough, which was addressed to this body by the Corporation
of Northampton, it appears that the fire occurred in 1675.

wr OD
a AA

340 The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons.

In the dinner bill of the Earl of Leicester in 1570, before cited,
are the following items :—

‘« To iiij doz of waferne bread for the bottoms of the marche to Goodman

Ricksone . : . xyjt
For iij Pewetes [Pewits] to Goodman Cortyse of Staddoine ; anxs
For v Quayles which Goodman Welles gatte of one besides Fostell . 1j8
For xviij lb and a 4 of Sugere to Goodmande Rowe at xiij4 the pounde xix*
For Goodman Richardsone’s paynes of St. Thomas Parrish to go to

Garvarde to Goodman Aldrege for partreges and such lyke . xijd
For James Stevenes paynes of St. Peters of the Baylye to go to Staddome
to Goodman Curtyss for phesantes or the lyke . = ayy

In St. Matthew xxiv, 43; “Ifthe good man of the house had
known in what hour the thief would come,” &c., the word good-man is
now commonly printed in two words, as if the first was an adjective
and the second a substantive. But in the Greek there is but one
word signifying the “ master of the house.” And in Proverbs vii. 19,
“The goodman is not at home, he is gone,” &c., the original is
but a single word, signifying “my husband.”

Holinshed in his Chronicle (vol 1. p. 276, 4to ed.) says— °

‘The third and last sort is named the yeomanrie of whom and their sequele
the labourers and artificers, I have said somewhat even now. Whereto I ad
that they be not called Masters and Gentlemen but Goodmen, as Goodman
Smith, Goodman Coot, Goodman Cornell, Goodman Maseall, & in matters of law
these and the like are called thus, Giles Iewd, yeoman, Edward Mountford,
yeoman, Iames Cocke, yeoman, Henry Butcher, yeoman, &c.”

Lord Coke! says, “Yeoman or Yemen. This is a Saxon word
‘gemen,’ the G being turned in common speech, as is usual in like
cases, intoa Y. In legal understanding a yeoman is a freeholder
that may dispend 40s., anciently 5 nobles, per annum, and he is
called probus et legalis homo” [ good and lawful man ].

But the question what legally constituted a yeoman was consi-
dered by the Judges of Ireland in the year 1795.

In the case of James Weldon, who was tried in Dublin for High Treason
under a Special Commission, on the 21st and 22nd of December, 1795, before
Baron George, Mr. Justice Chamberlain, and Mr. Justice Finucane,? the
prisoner was described as ‘‘ James Weldon of the city of Dublin, Yeoman,” he
pleaded in abatement (a mode of objecting to the form of the indictment) “ that

1 2 Institutes, p. 668.
2 State Trials, vol 26, p. 225.

The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons. d41

he is not a yeoman but a soldier in his Majesty’s seventh regiment of Dragoons.”
The Attorney-General Wolfe (afterwards Lord Kilwarden) put in a replication
that the prisoner ‘‘is a yeoman,” and to try this question a Jury was empanelled.
Evidence was given by Mr. Gregg, the Governor of Newgate (in Dublin), that
in a conversation with Weldon, ‘‘he said he was a breeches maker from the
county of Meath, but that he had been a soldier for two years; that he was a
soldier in the Black Horse, and was taken in Cork.’

Mr. Curran, his counsel, contended that he was not a yeoman, and relied on
a passage in Mr. Justice Blackstone’s Commentaries,! who says ‘‘ a yeoman is he
that hath free land of forty shillings a year.”

Baron George said, ‘‘ Shakespere seems to have considered a soldier synoymous
with yeoman, and Dr. Johnson, in his second definition of the word, says, ‘It
seems to have been anciently a kind of ceremonious title given to soldiers, whence
we still have yeomen of the guard.

“Tall yeomen seem’d they and of great might,
And were enranged ready still for fight.”
SPENCER.
“You good yeomen
Whose limbs were made in England, show us here
The mettle of your pasture.”
SHAKESPERE, Hen. 5.

Mr. Justice Chamberlain, in charging the Jury, said, ‘‘ The issue you are to
decide upon is whether the prisoner is a yeoman according to the strict legal
definition of the word. Upon the authority of Judge Blackstone, who is cer-
tainly a very high authority in the law, the prisoner does not appear to be a
yeoman ; but according to the best writers in the English language he is a
yeoman. It seems to have been anciently a ceremonious title given to soldiers,
and we have still yeomen of the guard. All society is divided into peers,
baronets, knights, esquires, gentlemen, yeomen, tradesmen, and artificers. At
the time of finding this indictment the prisoner was not an artificer ; he had
been a breeches maker, but two years before he had given up that and become
a soldier, so that at the time of finding the bill he could not be entitled a trades-
man or artificer, nor a gentleman, nor an esquire, therefore, under the common
acceptation of the word, I think him sufficiently described ; and I am strongly
fortified by this circumstance that no precedent is produced where a man is
deseribed as a “ soldier” in an indictment. Upon the best English authorities
yeoman is a title of courtesy. If we are wrong in this opinion, we shall be set
right by the Judges who will be summoned this evening.”

The Jury retired, and after some deliberation brought in a verdict that the
prisoner is a yeoman.

On the next day (Dec. 22, 1795), Mr. Justice Chamberlain said, ‘‘ We are to
inform the prisoner and his counsel that nine of the Judges [of Ireland] met at
Lord Clonmell’s, and they were unanimously of opinion that the direction given
to the Jury was right.”

The prisoner then pleaded not guilty, was found guilty, condemned, and
executed,”

1 Vol. 1, p. 106.
2 State Trials, vol. 26, p. 292.

342 The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons.

GAFFER.

Dr. Bosworth, in his Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, gives the word
“ Gefera” as meaning “a companion,” and Todd, in his edition of
Johnson’s Dictionary, Tit. “Gaffer,” says that Dr. Johnson, from
Junius, gives this as the derivation, and adds “ others consider it a
contraction of good father, the sense of which word came to be
extended to every man of some age.”’ Todd refers to Elstob, in the
Saxon Homily of St. Gregory (p. 20), and he explains the term
Gaffer as “a word of respect now obsolete, or applied only to a mean
person,” and gives the following quotation :—

‘“A few honest gaffers with their elect pastor’—Bp. Gauden Ecc. Angl.
Susp. (1659), p. 585; and,
“For Gaffer Treadwell told us by the bye
Excessive sorrow is exceeding dry.”
Gay’s PasTORALS.

I am informed by a lady who has passed a life of between 70 and
80 years in the county of Wilts, that about 65 or 70 years ago the
cottagers about Liddiard Tregoz and Liddiard Millicent were many
of them called Gaffer and Gammer, as “‘ Gaffer Jones,” ‘“‘ Gammer
Smith,” &c.

GRANDFER AND GRANDFATHER.

This is a style still used to old men in North Wilts. A very
old man at Ogbourne St. George, named Doling, is called “ Granfer
Doling ;” and Iam told by Mrs. Charlotte Mills of that place, who
is between 80 and 90 years old, that her mother often talked of
an eccentric old farmer there whose real name was Creech, but who
was always called “ Grandfather Screech.” She also told me that
in the year 1745, “ Grandfather Screech” and three others passed
the night in Barbury Camp to be on the look-out for the army of
Prince Charles Edward, and that in the course of the night one of
the party took away and hid the shoes of “ Grandfather Screech.”
It would seem that Grandfather Screech was so called merely from
being an old man, as he never had any children.

Dame.
In the chancel at Broad-Hinton, Wilts, is this inscription :—

‘“‘Here lyethe Syr William Wroughton Knight whoe dyed in the 50 yere of
his age in Anno Domini 1559 and lefte yssve of his bodie by dame Elinor his

The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons. 343

wiffe doughter of Edwarde Leuknor Esqvier, fovre sonnes and thre doughters
and bylded the hovse at Brodhinton Ao Di 1540.”

Dame is the proper style of the wife of a Baronet or Knight;
but it was within the last thirty years often applied in North Wilts
to the old women in the cottages, as “Dame Cox,” “ Dame
Eagle,” &c. And the village schools for little children kept by
such old women were called Dame Schools, and are so called in the
Parliamentary Reports on Education. And down to the present
time, elderly ladies at Eton who keep boarding and lodging houses
for the Etonians are called ‘‘ Dames.”

Mapa.

This style was applied to Ladies, frequently to the wives of the
gentry and clergy, from the time of Charles the Second till nearly
the present time.

Under the engraving of Miss (or as she was called Mrs.) Davis,
an actress who was a mistress of Charles the Second, is engraved,
*«« Madam Davis.”

The late Rev. W. Slatter, Vicar of Cumnor, told me, in the year
1848, that the father of the parish clerk of that place, a very old
man, related to him the village tradition of the tragic conclusion
of Sir Walter Scott’s novel of Kenilworth, in the following words,
long before the publication of that novel :—

‘‘A many years ago Madam Dudley [for the title of Leicester and the name
of Robsart were wholly unknown at Cumnor] was murdered at the Hall, and her
ghost walked in the Park for a long time, till nine parsons came from Oxford
and laid her, and they laid her in a pond which is now called Madam Dudley’s
pond.”!

In the old Ogbourne St. George Churchwarden’s account book
(before referred to), in a list of subscriptions in 1680, “ towards
the Redemption of the Poor Christian Slaves which were lately
taken by the Turkish pyrates,”’ there is an entry “ Madam Hart,
£0. 2s. 6d.” The sister of the two Baronets, Sir Michael and Sir

Edward Ernle, who was known as the beautiful Miss Ernle, and

1 The Park is now a field adjoining Cumnor Churchyard, Madam Dudley’s
pond, which was in the Park, is now filled up, but a spring that was in it still
denotes the spot.

344 The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons.

afterwards called Mrs. Ernle, was styled by all the neighbouring
cottagers “‘ Madam Ernle.” She died about the year 1793. Her
and their residence was Brimslade House, near Marlborough Forest.

Mrs. Jenner of Burbage, Wilts, who was the widow of the Rey.
Henry Jenner, Vicar of Great Bedwyn, Rector of Rockhampton
and Domestic Chaplain to Thomas Earl of Ailesbury, was
always called Madam Jenner by the old people of Burbage down
to the time of her death in the year 1826. And in the Gloucester
Journal of July 26, 1845, in an account of the meeting of the
Longhope Friendly Society, it is said that “after Divine service
the Society paraded through the village calling at the residence of
Madam Probyn,” as that lady was no doubt still called by the
villagers. She was the widow of the Dean of Landaff. And at a
trial at Gloucester before Baron Alderson, on the 20th of July, 1854,
of the case of Lyner v. Potter, an action for a nuisance, the plaintiff,
an old farmer who lived at Walmisley, near Bristol, stated that his
landlady was “ Madam Toghill,” the grandmother of Mr. Peterson,
his attorney, who had brought the action for him.

GENEROSA.

Lord Coke says,! ‘“Generosus and Generosa [Gentleman and
Gentlewoman | are good additions, and if a gentlewoman be named
spinster in any originall writ, &c., appeale or inditement, she may
abate and quash the same; for she hath as good right to that addi-
tion as Baronesse, Viscountesse, Marchionesse, or Dutchesse have
to theirs.”

MistREss.
This was anciently written ‘“ Maistresse,”’ as we find in Chaucer’s
Doctour’s Tale,”

‘‘ This maid of which I tell my tale expresse,
She kept herself, her needed no maistresse.”

Todd, in his edition of Johnson’s Dictionary ['Tit. “ Miss’’], says,
“ Mistress was at the beginning of the last century the style of

1 2nd Institute, p. 665.
2 Vel 1, p. 92, in Chalmers’s English Poets.

The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons. 345

grown up unmarried ladies, though the mother was living, and for
a considerable part of the century maintained its ground against
the infantine term of “ Miss.”

At the Sun Fire Office, which was established in the year 1710,
all ladies were in their policies of insurance styled ‘“ Mrs.” without
any regard to their being married or single, but within the last
three years the single ladies are in their policies styled ‘“ Miss,” as
they do not like to be called “Mrs.” A hundred years ago they
would have been offended at being called Miss, as that was then a
term of contempt if not of reproach.

In a work called “The Lover,” edited by Sir Richard Steele
(p. 18), under the date of Feb. 27, 1714, is the following note
in the edition printed in 1789 by Mr. J. Nichols, “That
young women were at this time usually styled ‘ Mrs,’ has been
repeatedly shown by the Zutler. It may be new to observe that
it appears from the Register Book of St. Bride’s, London, that
early in the last century children were so denominated when their
names were recorded in baptism.”

Miss.

Dr. Johnson, in his Dictionary, [Tit. “ Miss,’’] defines this to be
“the term of honour to a young girl ;” and Todd, in his edition of
the Dictionary, adds, “ Miss, at the beginning of the last century,
was appropriated to the daughters of gentlemen under the age of
ten, or given opprobriously to young gentlewomen reproachable
for the giddiness or irregularity of their conduct :” and he cites
the notes to Steele’s Epist: Corres:, vol. 1, p.92. Todd also cites the
following passage from Dean Swift : “ When there are little masters
and misses in a house, they are great impediments to the diversions

’ which shows that a little girl in his time was

of the servants ;’
styled “ Miss.”

In Galt’s Lives of the Players,! it is said that “the epithet Miss
in the 17th century was a term of reproach. Miss Cross, who is
particularly noticed in Hayne’s Epilogue to Farquhar’s “ Love and
a Bottle,” about 1702, was the first actress announced as Miss.”

LVOls Ly Par aon

346 The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons.

Ma’am.

This style was till very recently, and probably is still, applied
to old women who keep schools for little children in North Wilts
similar to those called Dame Schools. These schools are called
“‘Ma’am Schools,” and the persons who keep them have “ Ma’am”’
prefixed to their names. This is, I believe, not peculiar to Wilt-
shire; for when I was a little boy, I remember a school of this
sort at Berkeley in Gloucestershire, which was kept by Mrs. Parslow,
who was always called ‘“ Ia am Parsley.”

GoopwoMAN AND GooDWIFE.

In the Ogbourne Churchwardens’ Book, before cited, there is in
the subscription list for the Northampton Fire, “ Goodwoman
Potter £0. 0s. 4d.,” and in a subscription list for ‘‘ the Redemption
of all English Slaves which were lately taken by y* Turkish
pyratts,”’ we find “ Goodwife Coleman £0. 0s. 6d.” and ‘ Goodw.
Sheepreve £0. Os. 6d.”

We must not, however, infer that a person thus designated was
really good, or even supposed to be so, for in the books of the
Corporation of Gravesend! is an entry of 2s. paid the porters for
ducking of Goodwife Campion, who was probably not thought good
for much.

Mr. Aubrey, in his “ Collections for Wilts” (part 2, p. 12), under
Tit. “‘ Yatton Keynell,” says—

“* Note.—A tenant of my father’s here, one Goodwife Miller did dentire
[t. e. had young teeth] in the eighty fifth yeare of her age or more.”

And in the dinner bill of the Earl of Leicester in 1570, before
cited, are many instances of the same kind, as:

“For x lb of butter at iijd ob. the Ib. to Goodwife Segwekes _. ijs xj

For iiij lb. of butter to Goodwife Rowe at iij4 the pounde . xij
For iij lb of butter to Goodwife Essexe at iij4 ob the lb. . . xd ob”
Winow.

This appellation was often applied in the 17th and 18th centuries
to the widows of persons in the middle and lower classes. This is

1 See above, p. 71.

The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons. 347

shown by the trifling sums given in the Ogbourne subscription
lists before cited: as ‘“ Widow Potter” 6d., in 1680, and “ Widow
Goddard” 3d., in 1685, “ Wid. Hal” 64d., &e.

GAMMER.

Dr. Johnson’s Dictionary, Tit. ““Gammer,” says, “ of uncertain
etymology, perhaps from grandmere, and therefore commonly used
to old women ;” but Todd, in his edition of the Dictionary, adds,
“ From good-mother [Ray]. From god-mother, perhaps from the
Saxon ‘Gemather,’ like the contraction of Gaffer from Godfather,
or from the Gothic ‘Gumma,’ a woman; and he explains the word
Gammer to mean “the compellation of a woman, corresponding to
Gaffer, as ‘Gammer Gurton’s Needle,’ the name of an old play.”

I have already mentioned that the style ‘‘Gammer”’ was used at
Liddiard Tregoz and Liddiard Millicent between 65 and 70 years
ago.

GRAMMER.

At Burbage, Wilts, there was a very old cottager who died about

20 years ago, who was always called “ Grammer Barnet.”

GopMER.

At Burbage, about 25 years ago, a woman died at a very advanced
age. She offered some mushrooms to a lady as a present, and on
the lady asking her name, she exclaimed in astonishment, “ Lord
a massy upon me, why don’t you know old Godmer Davis.”

GoNnMER.

At Berkeley, in Gloucestershire, about 45 years ago, a very old
woman, whose husband was the owner of asloop which carried coals
on the Severn, was always called “ Gonmer Cook.”

It would seem that ‘Granmer” was a contraction of grandmother,
and “Godmer” and “Gonmer” contractions of godmother, the
latter, perhaps, being more uncertain as to whether it might not
have had its origin from grandmother.

Gossip.
Todd, in his edition of Johnson’s Dictionary, gives one meaning
of the word “ Gossip,” to be one who answers for a child in baptism,

2Y2

348 The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons.

and adds, “It is now commonly understood of the godmother.
Chaucer uses it for godfather ;” and he gives the following quota-
tions :—

‘‘Our Christian ancestors understanding a spiritual affinity to grow between
the parents and such as undertooke for the child at baptisme called each other
by the name of Godstb, which is as much as to say that they were s¢b together,
that is, of Aim together through God, and the child in like manner called such
his godfathers and godmothers.”—Verstegan Rest : of Dec : Intell :

‘At the christening of George Duke of Clarence, who was born in the Castle
of Dublin, he made both the Earl of Kildare and the Earl of Ormond his
Gossips.” —Davies on Ireland.

A joint letter of Prince Charles, afterwards Charles the First,
and George Villiers, then Marquis and afterwards Duke of Buck-
ingham,! written from Madrid, when they were on their tour
to France and Spain in disguise, in 1623, still remains in the
Bodleian Library at Oxford.? It is directed on the back, “ from
his heighnes and my lo: marques to his matie

ffrome madred the 21 mar. 1623.”

““Dere Dad and Gossope
This is to aduertise your Majesty that Mihill Androse is now dispached to
Rome with a direction to send the nearest way to you so sone as anie resolution
is taken. he caries with him allso a letter from the Conde de Olivares to the
Pope’s nephew which wee hope if there be neede will much hasten the business
—Sir hetherto wee have not receaued a letter from you but to oure greate
comfort wee here that my Lord of Andeuer’ who will be here to morow hath
some for uu—We haue receaued so much comfort at the verie news of it, that
wee must giue you thankes before the receate of them—Wee haue no more to
trouble you with at this time onelie wee beseech you in the absence of your tow
boys to make much of oure best dade without whose helth and blessings wee
desier not to live.
Your Majestys Humble and obedient sone & servant
CHARLES.
Your Majestys humble slaue and doge
STEENIE.4
Madrill the 21 of Mar. 1623.
Be cheerfull goodman of Balangith for wee warrant you all shall goe well for
wee less repent our jurnei euerie day than other.”

1 He was created Marquess of Buckingham on the Ist of January, 1618, and
Duke of Buckingham on the 18th of May, 1623.

2 Orig. Tan. Lxxiii.

3 Theophilus Viscount Andover, who became 2nd Earl of Suffolk on the death
of Thomas the 1st Earl in 1626.

4 King James the First used to call his son Charles and this Royal favorite
‘‘Baby Charles” and ‘‘Steenie.” (See Hume’s Hist. of Engl. under date of 1623.)

The Ancient Styles and Designations of Persons. 349

The following letter from King James the First to Prince Charles,
while still on his tour, is also in the Bodleian Library! :—

‘* For the Prencis.

My sweete Babie

Since the ending of my last letris unto you, I haue ressauid a lettre of youres
from the Lorde Keeper? quhiche tells me the first newis of a parliament (and
that in a strainge forme) euer I hearde of since youre pairting from me. By
suche intelligence both ye and my sweete Steenie Gossepp maye juge of thaire
worth that make thaim unto you and ye maye reste assured that I neuer meant
to undertake anie suche bussienesse in youre absence if it hadde bene propowndit
unto me as in goode faith I neuer hearde of it—And so with God’s blessing to
you both I praye God that after a happie conclusion thaire ye maye both make
a comfortable and happie returne in the armes of youre deare dade.

Greenwiche, the 11 of Maye. JAMES R.”

The whole of the first of these letters is in the handwriting of
the Duke of Buckingham, with the exception of the words—

“Your Majesty’s Humble & obedient sone and servant
CHARLES.”
which are in the handwriting of Prince Charles.

The second letter is entirely in the handwriting of King James
the First.’

The word “ Gossip” also occurs in an old Wiltshire song, which
begins thus—

“Good morrow, Gossip Joan,
Where have you been a walking ;
I wanted you to see,
I’ve a budget full of talking,
Gossip Joan.”

This song must have been well known in the reign of George the
First, as the music of it was introduced into the Beggar’s Opera in
1727. It was sung in Wiltshire at Harvest Homes, Christenings,
and Christmas parties at the middle of the last century.

In the foregoing paper thirty-five of the instances I have referred
to are taken from the county of Wilts.

I hope that some of our Wiltshire friends will furnish others,
and fayour us with further illustrations of the subject.

F, A. Carrreton,

1 Orig. Hol. Tan. Lxxiii. fol. 326.
2 John Williams, Bishop of Loncoln.

8 For the perusal of these letters and for permission to take copies of them, I
am indebted to the kindness of the Rey. Dr. Bandinel, the principal Librarian
of the Bodleian Library. The former of the two letters has been lithographed
by Mr, Nethercliff in his ‘‘ Autographs of Royal and Illustrious Personages.”

350 Wilts Notes and Queries.

Wilts Motes and Queries.

Satmon Fisurne in Wints.—Aubrey, in his chapter on “ Fishes,”
makes the following statement: ‘Salmons are sometimes taken in
the upper Avon, rarely, at Harnham bridge juxta Sarum.” (Wat.
Hist. of Wilts, p. 63.) To this Britton appends, by way of a note,
a quotation from Hatcher: “ On the authority of this passage, Dr.
Maton includes the salmon among the Wiltshire fish ; but he adds,
I know no person now living who has ascertained its having
ascended the Avon so far as Salisbury.” (Hatcher’s Hist. of Salis.
p. 689.)

In explanation of this apparent contradiction, it may be stated
that so recently as 1715 at least, the pages of the Commons’
Journals furnish evidence that the salmon of this county was
considered worth legislative protection. In the 4th and 5th of
Queen Anne, an Act had been obtained “for the increase and
better preservation of the salmon and other fish in the rivers in the
counties of Southamptou and Wilts”: and in the Ist George I., a
clause was inserted in the said Bill enlarging the time of salmon-
fishing in the said counties from the last day of June to the first of
August following. (Commons’ Journals, vol. xviii. p. 177.)

Resecca Riors.—The midnight demolition of turnpikes, com-
monly designated as the acts of Rebecca, which recently occurred
in Wales and other western counties, indicated but the revival of
an old prejudice which had from time to time found expression in
similar acts a hundred years ago. The dwellers in the Chippenham
district especially signalised themselves in the year 1728, by their
unrelenting opposition to an act which was then endeavoured to be
put in operation for a road from Studley through Chippenham to
Toghill ; till at last the trustees were compelled to apply to Parlia-
ment for protection and advice. The rioters on this occasion appear
to have attempted no disguise, assembling by day as well as night.
In our own days, the turnpike nuisance in another part of Wilts
having exceeded all endurable limits, was crushed by the moral

Wilts Notes and Queries. 351

agency of a single individual. This gentleman was the late Amram
Saunders of Lavington, to whom the farmers and gentry of the
neighbourhood presented, in 1827, an elaborate service of plate, for
having accomplished the removal of eleven gates within a distance
of three or four miles.

SreepLe-Friyinc.—This exploit, accomplished by means of a
rope, was performed in the year 1735 from the top of Bromham
church steeple. It had long been a favourite exhibition in London,
where it usually took place from the summit of Old St. Paul’s Church.
In 1731, a seaman descended from Hackney steeple with a streamer in
each hand.

The following extract from an old letter relative to this trick,
records

HOW THE MEN OF BROMHAM PULLED THEIR OWN CHURCH SPIRE DOWN.

“ Mankind, not satisfied with travelling on the elements of earth

and water, have attempted to invade the air, from the days of
‘Daedalus downwards. ‘Pennis non homini datis,’ (‘ with wings not
given to man,’) they have hitherto essayed, unsuccessfully, the Art
of Flying: notwithstanding Bishop Wilkins’s prediction that the
time would come when a man setting out on a journey would ring
for his wings, as heretofore for his boots.

About 100 years ago, an adventurer of this kind travelled the
country, making for money at different places the exhibition of a
flight from towers and steeples. His method was to have a rope
fixed to the top of the place from which he was to descend, and
strained to a convenient place where he was to alight. A board,
with a groove to receive the cord, was fixed to the breast of the
‘aeronaut,’ and by this he was to descend headforemost to the point
of alighting. Amongst other places he visited Bromham, and
having solicited permission to ‘fly’ from the steeple, some idle
people of the place, without consulting the clergyman, who was
indisposed, gave him leave to perform. A time was appointed, the
apparatus was fixed, and a mob assembled. The flyer ascended the
steeple, made his plunge, and was half way down the rope, when
some persons employed to strain it pulled it too hard. The top of
the spire gave way, and came down. The aeronaut, luckily for
himself, fell into a tree in the churchyard, and received but little

352 Donations to the Museum and Library.

hurt. Had he fallen to the ground he would have been dashed to
pieces. This event probably put an end to steeple-flying; but as
the inhabitants of a country are often ridiculed for the foolish acts
of their neighbours, the story of pulling down their own steeple
was for a long time a standing joke against the people of Bromham.
It was repaired ; but some years afterwards was struck by lightning,
and shivered near the same point where it had been broken before.’

A Prep at THE WixtsHireE Assizes.—A poem in several cantos.
Who was the author? A copy is in the library at Devizes.
de ANy.:

DONATIONS TO THE MUSEUM AND LIBRARY.

By the Most Noble the Marauis or Lanspownr, Bowood.—
Divers works of Early Masters in Christian Decoration. Weale.
2 vols. folio.

By Eart Bruce, Tottenham.—Gold ring found in a Roman villa
at Great Bedwyn.

By Ven. ArcupEacon Macponap, Bishops Cannings.—Sir R. C.
Hoare’s Ancient Wiltshire. Part 1.

By F. C. Luxts, Esa., F.S.A., Guernsey —Eight Hand Bricks
and Plaster Cast of a Guernsey Stone Celt. Type, Anglo-Norman.

By Joun Brown Wuits, Esq., Little Bedwyn—Nine Roman
Coins found in the parish of Little Bedwyn.

By T. E. Brackwett, Esa., Clifton—Ordnance Map of North
and South Wilts (with Roman Stations, &c. coloured).

By Rey. A. Fane, Warminster—Seven Roman Coins (copper
and silver).

By Rev. A. Me Ewen, Dumfries.—Impression of Chapter Seal of
Melrose Abbey.

By J. Y. Axerman, Eso.—A Fine between Robert de Hakeney,
Parson of Aldyngton, and Robert Atte Hull: of land at Ramsbury.
[About a.p. 1312. ]

gi dein,

END OF VOL I.

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