© ee = RRR RE ee cn cnet Soars = pagl cenmesurapauicnaldeaenemeeeiedaemaieee ied = — i Hii Deer et ee < yi { roreeee tian te Ae atk tq 2! a i, ihe al a libtetvidadeaieeg in| i i! il eee ee re - eee Mea | TST REPRERSEET abil HOA CTE esti Hilf He a t yy site sthe HEU UL TTL eet atid tee ti Hak SHASTRA A i | Hi } fe] i | i Hat aS pe oeepe rEg ts ME at eee ae eer ae nr ? % 7. Mire f weal voonee espe tyel ge nithls 4 EN ee OER TU a Tee TT aa i = = z =— = Sl ——— te A SS ( ae At 1 x 2 a a a) if rar it = _ = S| H meee X TRACTS FROM VARIOUS AUTHORS RELATING ROLTAIGHT STONED, CHIPPING NORTON: G. B. SMITH, MACHINE PRINTER, MARKET-PLACH. In the year 1882 the proprietor of Little Rollright ea hs replaced all the fallen Stones in their original foun= stheR ri dation, which gives the circle more the appearance as | & WE Pe shown in the accompanying I llustration. The Monument has lately been placed under the Act for tha Protection of Ancient Monuments. « 2 2 ROLLRIGHT STONES, FROM CAMDEN’S ‘“BRITANNIA.” Brow Einsham, the Evenlode, a small rivulet, runs into the Isis, which flowing from the Cotteswold, in the utmost borders of this county (c), leaves nigh its own banks a great Monument of Antiquity, a number of vastly great stones placed in a circular figure, which the country-people call ‘‘ Rolle-rich Stones,” and have a fond tradition, that they were once men thus turned “into stone. The figure of them, however, rudely drawn, I shall here represent to the reader’s eye. They are irregular, and of unequal height, and by the decays of time are grown ragged and very much impair’d. The highest of them all, which lyes out of the ring toward the east, they call ‘The King,” because they fancy he should have been King of England if he could have seen Long Compton, a village within view at three or four steps further: five larger stones which upon one side of the circle touch one another, they pretend were Knights or Horsmen; and the other, common Soldiers. But see the draught. I should think this monument to have been rais’d in memory of some victory here obtain’d, perhaps by 4 Rollright Stones. Rollo, the Dane, who afterward possest himself of Normandy. For at the same time when he with his Danes and Normans infested England with depreda- tions, we read that the Danes and Saxons had a fight at Hokenorton, and another engagement at Scierstane, in Huiccia, which I should take for that great bound- ary stone which stands hard by, and divides four Counties or Shires: for so the Saxon word Scierstane does plainly intimate (d). As to Hochnorton, the in- habitants were formerly such clowns and churls, that it past into a proverb for a rude and ill-bred fellow, “To be born at Hogs-Norton.”’ Notes to former Extract. (c) Our next guide is the river Evenlode, not far from which, near Chastleton, is a Fortification, which the learned Dr. Plot imagines might be cast up about the year 1016, when Edmund Ironside met Canute, the Dane; but if that conjecture be built purely upon its being near the Four-shire-stone (which generally goes tor the old Scierstane, where the battle was fought), the place of the battle being (as it probably ought) removed from this place, that opinion is de- stroyed. (d) More to the north is the Monument of Roll-rich, a single circle of stones without Epistyles or Archi- traves, and of no very regular figure. Except one or two the rest of them are not above four foot and a half high. What the occasion of this monument might be is not hinted to by any inscription upon the stones, or Roilright Stones. D by any marks about them, which seems to make it probable, at least, that it was not erected in memory of any persons that were bury’d there. For, if so, we might hope (as in other places of this kingdom) to meet with a Cross or something of that kind, imply- ing the design, if Christian; but if Pagan, one would expect to find barrows at some small distance. Beside, that curious Antiquary, Ralph Sheldon, Esq., mak- ing a diligent search in the middle, after anything that might lead us to the first design of it, and particu- ~ larly bones, found himself disappointed. Though if we may take an estimate of this from another of the hke nature, the bones, if there are any, may more probably be met with without the circle, as they were some years ago at a little distance from that at Kynet, in Wiltshire, and have been formerly at the famous Stonehenge. How true soever our Author’s opinion of its being erected in memory of some victory may be, in the main, yet the relation he makes it have to Rollo, the Dane, will not agree with the engagement either at Hoke- norton or Sceorstane. For the Saxon Anna/s tell us that it was in 876 this Rollo made inroads into Nor- mandy, and that was after he had been in England ; whereas the battle of Hokenorton was in 917, and that of Sceorstane a hundred years after this. Nor does that passage of Walsingham, telling us of the assistance which Rollo sent to king Athelstan, and insisted upon by a later Author, clearly take away the difficulty ; unless we can suppose (what is hardly to be imagin’d) ee: Rollright Stones. that Rollo could be of age to plunder England in the year 875, to make incursions into Normandy in 876, and the same Rollo live to assist king Athelstan, who came not to the crown till the year 925. But if this rub did not lay in the way, and the matter of fact were suppos’d to be true, yet unless it appear’d at the same time that the supposed defeat was in those parts, there is nothing to support the conjecture beside the bare affinity of names. What our Author observes of the common story about the King and his Army, though it be upon the whole ridiculous enough, yet may it (as we very often find in such traditiona] tales) have something of truth at the bottom. For why may not that large stone, at a little distance, which they call the King, be the Kongstolen belonging to the circle of stones rais’d usually for the Coronation of the Northern Kings (as Wormuus informs us) ; especially since the learned Dr. Plot has observ’d from the same Wormius, that this Kongstolen, though ordinarily in the middle, was yet sometimes at a distance from the circle ? FROM MAURICE’S “INDIAN ANTIQUITIES.” ROLLDRICH, MEANING THE DRUIDS’ WHEEL OR CIRCLE, A SOLAR TEMPLE: THE WHEEL A SACRED EMBLEM IN INDIA, AND ALLUDING TO THE ROTA SOLIS. Tue circular temple next in fame and magnitude to Stonehenge is called Rolldrich, near Chipping Norton, in Oxfordshire. It is described by Stukely, in his Abury, as an open temple of a circular form, made of stones, set upright in the ground. ‘The columns that compose the circle of this temple, like those of Stone- henge, are rough and unhewn, and the whole bears even stronger marks of age and decay than that vener- able pile; for they appeared to our author to resemble worm-eaten wood, rather than stone. The very name of this ancient work, which is in the most ancient British dialect, indisputably proves it to be of Druid original. Camden calls this circle Rollerich Stones, and it is remarkable that in a book reposited in the Exchequer (supposed by Dr. Stukeley to be Doomsday Book) the name of the adjacent town is stated to be Rolleudrich. Now the term Rollendrich, if rightly spelled according to the ancient orthography, the Doctor contends should be written Rholdrwyg, which means the Druids’ wheel or circle. Dr. Stukeley farther infers this to have been a Druid temple from the measure on which it is erected. operas Rollright Stones. In a letter which he received from Mr. Gale, dated Worcester, Aug. 19th, 1719, after that gentleman had visited the antiquity at his request, he acquaints him that the diameter of the circle was thirty-five yards. The Bishop of London also wrote him word that the distance at Stonehenge from the entrance of the area to the temple itself was thirty-five yards, and that the diameter of Stonehenge itself was thirty-five yards. He supposes this admeasurement not to have been made with mathematical exactness; but observes when we look into comparative scale of English feet and cubits we discern sixty cubits of the Druids is the measure sought for. ‘The diameter of the outer circle of Stone- henge, and this circle at Rolldrich is exactly equal. The circle itself 1s composed of stones of various shapes and dimensions, set pretty near together. They are flattish, about sixteen inches thick. Originally there seems to have been sixty in number; at present there are twenty-two standing, few exceeding four foot in height ; but one in the very north points much higher than the rest—seven foot high and five-and-a-half broad. There was an entrance to it from the north- east, as is the case at Stonehenge. To this acconnt of Stukeley I have only to add, from Camden, that the country-people in the neighbourhood have a tradition that these stones were once men, thus transformed ; that in the number of stones composing this circle we find again the sexagenary cycle of the Asiatics, and that a wheel was equally a sacred sym- bol in India as with the Druids; the figure of a very Roliright Stones. 9 large wheel being cut deep on the rock in the very front of the Elephanta pagoda. The wheel was prob- ably an ancient emblem of astronomical cycles; or, rather, as a very ingenius friend of mine—Mr. Frere, one of the authors of that extraordinary production of juvenile genius, Zhe Eton Microcosm — judiciously intimated to me, on mentioning the singular circum- stance of a wheel occurring so often in the antiquities both of India and Britain, it was the rota solis to which their peculiar superstition led these infatuated idola- ters continually to allude. In truth, by that expression the Latin writers meant the orb of the sun—rota pro solis orbe usurpatur, says Stephanus; as the Greeks used the word éuwxkos, THe ANCIENT SERPENT Worsuip. It is impossible to say in what country the worship of serpents first originated. The serpent was probably a symbol of the caxoéaypwv or evil genius: and those whose fears led them to adore by way of pacifying the evil demon, erected to the ser- pent the first altar. In succeeding periods its annual renewing of its skin, added to the great age to which it sometimes arrived, induced the primitive race to make it the symbol of immortality. Serpents biting their tails, or interwoven in rings, were thenceforwards their favourite symbols of vast astronomical cycles of the zodiac, and sometimes of eternity itself. In this usage of the symbol we see it infolding all the statutes of gods and deified rajahs in the sacred caverns of Salsette and Elephanta. Symbols also being the 10 Rollright Stones. arbitrary sensible signs of intellectual ideas in moral philosophy, the serpent, doubtless, from what they themselves observed of it, and from the Musaic tradi- tion concerning its being more subtle than any other animal, became the emblem of wisdom. In the ancient hieroglyphical alphabet it forms the figure 8. It was therefore mythology and philosophy that, in my opini- on, though I know that opinion is contrary to the judgment of Dr. Stukeley, which I shall hereafter give at large, on this curious and interesting subject that first exalted the serpent from being considered as an evil demon and a symbol of evil, to the rank of a good demon, and to be regarded as the symbol of a benign and perfect numen. An ancient Phcenician fragment, preserved for pos- terity in the Cidipus Adgyptiacus fully explains the notion which the Egyptians and other pagan nations entertained of this compound hieroglyphic, the GLosg, Wines and SERPENT, which decorated the portals of their proudest temples. Jupiter, says the fragment, is an imagined sphere: from that sphere is produced a serpent. The sphere shews the divine nature to be without beginning or end; the serpent his Word, which animates the world and makes it prolific; his wings the spirit of God that by its motion gives life to the whole mundane system. This is farther confirmed by Stukeley, in the Faia ing passage in his Adury:—We learn repeatedly from Sanchoniathon, Porphyry and other ancient authors quoted by Eusebius in the Preparatio Evangelica that Rollright Stones. 11 the first sages of the world had just and true notions of the nature of the Deity, conformable to those of the Christians; that in their hieroglyphic way of writing they designed the Deity and his mysterious nature by the sacred figure of the circle, serpent and wings. Of these the circle meant the Fountain of all Being; for, this being the most perfect and comprehensive of all geometrical figures, they designed it for the symbol of the First and Supreme Being, whose resemblance we cannot find, whose centre is everywhere, and whose circumference is nowhere. The serpent symbolized the Son, or first Divine Emanation from the Supreme. This they called by the name of Ptha, which is derived from the Hebrew meaning the Word. The wings symbolized that divine Person emanating from the former, commonly called Anima Mundi, but the Egyp- tians called him Kneph, which in Hebrew signifies winged. | FROM BREWER’S “BEAUTIES OF ENGLAND AND WALES,” 1813. Tue Rollrich or Rouldrich Stones which form the most curious memorial of antiquity in the county, are three miles north-west from Chipping Norton, on an eminence, from which there are extensive views over long and interesting ranges of hills on every side ex- cept Long Compton, which village with its attendant plateaux of tall and far spread elevations, is hidden from view by an abrupt brow of land. When the sur- rounding scenery consisted of intermingled heath and wood, the situation must have been impressively solemn and mysterious, but the busy hands of increased popu- lation have denuded most of the elevations and softened the gloom of each wide expanse. Yet the monument stands in solitary grandeur, and seems so profound and immeasureable to the eye that it inspires a species of melancholy even while enriched by the verdure of cul- tivation. They form a ring which is not completely circular—diameter from N. to S., 35 yards, and E. to W., 33 yards. The original number appears to have been 60, but every age has assisted in the work-of mu- tilation and removal. There are now only 24 that are more than one foot above the earth, nor are any more than five feet, except one at the N. point, which is 7ft. 4in., and of unequal but considerable breadth. The thickness of the others are, usually, 13 or 14 inches. At a distance of 84 yards N.E. stands the King Stone, Rollright Stones. 13 about 9 feet high, and on the E. side the Five Knights. These are believed by Stukely to have formed a Kista- vean. ‘The whole appear to have been taken from a contiguous quarry, and to have been placed here in a rude and unornamented state. Those in the ring were apparently so near together as to have formed a wall, the entrance of which was on the N.E., in a line with the King Stone. There are no marks of a trench nor of any avenue of approach, as at Stonehenge and Ave- bury. Stukeley mentions barrows in the vicinity, but he appears to have meant a long and uneven bank, probably formed of the rubbish from the quarry in removing the stones. In the 17th century Ralph Shelden, Esq., caused the ground to be dug to a con- siderable extent, but no indication of sepulture or hint concerning the origin were discovered. From an account of the dimensions it will be seen that this erection 1s trivial compared with the Wiltshire relics, yet Bede does not scruple to call this the second wonder of the kingdom. All erections by hands which have mouldered to dust afford fertile subject to writers fond of hypothesis—Rollrich, accordingly, has given rise to various conjectures. | The populace, as usual, settle the question in a very succient manner. With these traditionary historians the whole assemblage is a petrified court. The person converted into the King Stone would have been king of England if he could but have perceived Long Compton. The stones called the five Knights were the attendants on his Majesty, and the rest common soldiers. Cam- 14 Rollright Stones. den was the first who treated Rollrich with serious attention, and he thought it possibly was erected by Rollo, the Dane, to commemorate a victory. He says Rollo ravaged England with Danes and Normans. The Saxons engaged the Danes hard by Hokenorton, and afterwards at Scierstane in ‘ Huccia,” which I suppose was the adjoining boundary stone of the four counties, viz:—the Fourshire Stone, six miles from Chipping Norton, N.W. They now give names to two villages called, in Doomsday, Rollendri—now Great and Little Rollwright. According to a record in the Exchequer one of these was held by Furotin, le Dispenser, by sergeantry of being King’s Steward. ROLLRIGHT STONKS. On an eminence in the parish of Little Rollright, at the extreme end of the county, on the borders of War- wickshire, are the remains of a Druidical temple, now called Rollrich Stones. These are, perhaps, the most interesting remains of the ancient Britons in the cen- tral district of the kingdom. RRollrich Stones form a circle, the diameter of which from north to south is 107 feet, and that from east to west 104 feet. The area is now planted with fir trees. The original num- ber of stones in this circle appears to have been about 60, but many of them are now almost levelled with the ground. There are at present only 28 which rise more than one foot above the soil; and of these only ten exceed four feet in height. Ata distance of 84 yards, N.F., from the circle stands what is termed the King Stone. This is about 83 feet in height, and 51 feet in breadth. The thickness of the stones is generally not more than 15 inches. On the east are the remains of the five Whispering Knights. These are believed by Dr. Stukeley to have formed a kistavon. These five stones stand together, leaning towards each other, with an opening from the west. The tallest of these is now 10 -. a | i he * <7 16 Rollright Stones. feet 10 inches in height. They are, most probably, the remains of a cromlech, or altar, for the idolatrous sacrifices, but the upper or table-stone has fallen or been removed. Dr. Stukeley derives the name of Rollrich from Rholdrwyg, the Wheel or Circle of the Druids ; or from Roilig, in the old Irish, signifying the Church of the Druids. The views from this circle are very oe extensive, and it imparts a name to this and a neigh- | bouring parish. The village is situate about 2} miles N.W., from Chipping Norton. | FROM “THE BANBURY GUARDIAN.” A VISIT TO THE CIRCLE. Mr. T. B. Gunn writes :—There are but few inhabit- ants of Banbury who have not heard of the Druidical stones at Rollright, anciently called Roollrich; and many have seen them. It is a charming drive thither through a beautiful country, replete with interesting historical associations, and to a most picturesque locality. The stones form one of the oldest religious monuments in Britain. One cannot do better, at the out-set, than borrow Mr. Beesley’s description of them. “These stones,” he says, ‘‘ are eleven miles south- west from Banbury, on the top of the range of hills which marks the boundary between the table land of these parts of Oxfordshire and the great Vale of War- wickshire, and formed the extreme frentier of the territory of the Dobumi towards that of the Carnabii ” —ancient British tribes. ‘The principal stones form a circle, the diameter of which, from north to south is 107 feet, and that from east to west 104 feet. The area is now planted with fir trees. The original num- ber of stones in this circle appears to have been about sixty. This very nearly corresponds with the present number, but from mutilations and the effects of time many of the stones are now almost levelled with the ground. There are at present only twenty-eight which rise more than one foot above the soil; and of these 18 Rollright Stones. only ten exceed four feet in height. The highest stone stands 23 degrees west of the north point of the area, and is seven feet four inches in height and three feet two inches in breadth. The thickness of the stones is generally not more than fifteen inches. Opposite to the highest stone, at the part of the circle between south and south-east, are the remains of some large stones which were originally set together in that part just within the circle. The entrance seems to have been on the north-east, nearly in the direction of the King’s Stone. This stone is 83 yards distant from the outer edge of the circle, and is now (after considerable mutilations) eight feet six inches in height, and five feet three inches in breadth. About 390 yards due east of the circle are five large stones called the Five Whispering Knights, which stand together, leaning towards each other, with an opening from the west. The tallest of these is now ten feet ten inches in height.” The above description was given to the world in 1841. Thirty-four years—an inappreciable space when contrasted with the age of this temple—has yet had a very perceptible effect upon it. If Stukeley, writing in 1712, could, with as much eloquence as truth, say that the Rollright stones were ‘ corroded like worm- eaten wood, by the harsh jaws of Time, and that much more than Stonehenge,” what words shall I use to do justice to their dilapidation now? They are honey- combed with age, scooped and scalloped into intricate holes, such as the “‘ teredo”’ marks in submerged tim- ber; channelled and chamfered into crevices containing Rollright Stones. 19 mould, moss, grass, weeds, and, at the time of my visit, _ water ; corrugated, gnarled, seamed, stained, worn and wrinkled beyond description. They stand awry, askew, and aslant, imbedded in high grass, weeds, thistles, nettles, poppies, and fern; or tottering to their fall ; or lie under foot, almost buried in the soil and scarcely distinguishable. It seems, indeed, as though another hundred years or so must level them with the earth, perhaps entomb them in it; if, as now, no care be taken to preserve such a notable relic of antiquity. The rain has rained on them, the sun shone, the winds have blown, the snow has fallen, the hail beat upon their rugged surfaces ; all the forces of Nature in their never- ending, still beginning, perpetually-renewed course, have exerted their influences upon them for at least two thousand years! In moist and showery England, so destructive to all monuments in the open air, the work of decay has been so complete upon these old stones that they look far more ancient than many other memorials of even remoter date, under a drier atmos- phere—say the Pyramids. ‘There are Egyptian and Assyrian antiquities a thousand years older in the British Museum in comparatively good preservation. On that elevated plateau, under the sunny but fickle July sky (which, two hours later, was overeast by a magnificent rain and thunder sterm), with the Vale of Warwickshire and the villages of Long Compton and distant Whichford looming in the north, Hook Norton away to the east, and pretty Chipping Norton almost due south, on the opposite declivity, with the 20 Rollright Stones. wind soughing and sighing among these weird stones and through the bare-looking fir-trees planted within the circle, as if fraught with some melancholy secret which could not be divulged, or singing the dirge of the past, I found Rollrich singularly impressive. It bettered my expectations. From the engraving in Mr. Beesley’s history I had fancied the temple as situate in an open plain, or on broad barren downs, like Stone- henge—a kind of realization of those fine lines by Keats : ‘*__a dismal cirque Of Druid stones ‘upon a forlorn moor’ When the chill rain begins at shut of eve, In dull November, and their chancel vault, The dull heaven itself is blinded throughout the night.”’ I found it in a wheat field, a few yards from a low stone fence and theroad. All round the circle the corn grew luxuriantly, increasing the embedded effect. The stones look even scantier than in the wood-cut: the score or so of fir trees are appropriately ragged, and there are two or three wild hawthorn-bushes. As I and my companion went wading through the rank vegetation, which rose to mid-leg, exploring the sunken stones, it became obvious enough why they could not be counted with any very accurate result; nor was there any need of resorting to a supernatural explanation. Like the otber stories about them, it evidently had its origin in the superstitious awe with which they were once regarded. Certainly the heathen priests who selected this spot for the site of a temple devoted to their wild worship Rollright Stones. 21 had an eye to the picturesque. The view is magnifi- cent now, and must have been savagely sylvan then. Let us try to imagine what it must have looked like. According to the best authorities, whatever may have been the partial civilization of the south Britons, the interior of the island was wholly barbarous. The entire face of the country was covered with primeval forest, except where it was interspersed with open pas- tures, resembling our commons, only far rougher. There were no fields, for the midland and northern Britons planted no corn, living on flesh and milk. The very word field, spelt by old English writers ‘feld,”’ is Saxon, and means a place where all the trees have been felled or cut down : a feat out of the question with our aboriginal ancestors. Their woods, too, though green and beautiful in the summer months, must have appeared very grim and savage during the greater part of the year. A primeval forest is, in general, very dreary. ‘There are but few flowers; the sunshine can- not penetrate the thick over-shadowing leaves and branches, so that even the grass will not grow, and the interminable trees stand, as it were, knee-deep in their own moist refuse, or amid impenetrable brambles and thickets. When a tree dies, perhaps hundreds of years old, there it stands and decays, until it crashes down, echoing through the woods with a sound like thunder. _ Everything in a northern forest is wild, wet, and sombre. “There never in the mid-day heat Is the warm sunbeam seen, So sheltered is the close retreat, That scarcely can a rain-storm beat Into its leafy screen.”’ eae Roliright Stones. The vegetation, too, of primitive Britain was very hmited, for almost all the flowers, herbs and fruits that grow in our gardens are of foreign extraction. Our aboriginal woods consisted chiefly of the oak, elm, ash, thorn, nut, and crab-tree. Could you have ascended to any elevation, such as that marking the boundary of northern Oxfordshire, you would have beheld an apparently unbroken wilderness, stretching far and wide in every direction—and too often a howling wilderness, for it harboured innumerable wild animals. The rivers and streams had not been trained by artificial means to flow between clean-cut banks asnow, but asan American would say, “slopped over” after their slovenly, rudi- mentary fashion, forming large bogs and fens—especially in the north and east, where the country was little better than a vast and desolate morass. Such towns as there were—clusters of miserable conical-shaped huts, with ditches and walls of mud or logs surrounding them— must have been invisible in the thick woods, except when the curling smoke of the fires kindled by the inhabitants (who probably cooked their meat) betrayed their vicinity; so that from the range of hills overlooking the vale of Warwickshire and great mid- land plain of England, one would have seen little more than trees, extending from the Malvern hills on the borders of Herefordshire to those of Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire. Trees, trees, nothing but trees! living and dead !— for, as already intimated, the latter form a conspicuous feature in primeval woods. From their summits, or Rollright Stones. 20 any other natural elevation, the temple at Rollrich may have been visible for a long distance in every direction ; if it stood on a bare spot, as is commonly the case with such structures. Especially would it have been seen when lighted up by the grisly sacrificial fires in which the Druids used to burn both human and brute victims. What an awe must have fallen upon the spectators, far and near, when these grim rites were celebrating ! what a terror on the part of the former, if the victims included some of their relations and friends ! One could realize something of this barbarous religion when looking at the King’s Stone, in the field on the other side of the road. That is the most un- canny object that ever [ witnessed. Age and exposure to the weather have worn it into the shape of a great eagle, in profile (of course flat), with one leg and talons advanced, and head aloft, as if meditating a flight skywards. It only wants a curve of the bill to be perfect. Like the stones of the circle, it is all seamed and scarred by Time. One could easily imagine it either to have served for a pedestal for some hideous image, or as itself the object of idolatrous worship. To be sure my friend, an Americanized Briton of thirty years’ transatlantic experience, hailed it as the national eagle of his adopted country, and would have it that those patent wizards, the Druids, had a mystic fore-knowledge of that mighty bird, and reared his archetypal image as a sort of stone prophecy of the future. He (my friend) had gone about the circle, cigar in mouth, battering the stones with a smaller one, in 24 Rollright Stones. order to obtain a bit, asacuriosity. This conduct was not in keeping with his remark, but no bad illustration ~ of the past and present, and how one is commonly regarded by the other. Mr. H. also insisted on our shaking hands through one of the Five Whispering Knights (on the temple side of the road, in an adjacent field), which is com- pletely perforated. These stones, indeed, appear to have all tumbled together since Mr. Cox took their por- traits for Mr. Beesley’s “History of Banbury.” They reminded me of the cromlech called Kit’s Coty House, on Bluebell Hill, near Maidstone, in Kent, said to mark the grave of Catigern, brother of Vortigern, only the stones constituting this monument are but three, and much less worn than the Five Knights. I may add that the local tradition mentioned by the Rev. Mr. Crake, in his interesting “First Chronicle of Aliscendune,”’ of the transformation of an army into the Rollright stones is, like other stories related of them, common to such antiquities. The peasants of Brittany tell the same legend—with the substitution of St. Cornelius for the enchanter who effected the miracle— about their stupendous Druidical remains at Carnac, certainly the greatest in the world. THE DRUIDICAL RELIGION AND TEMPLES. What was the religion of the Druids? and why did they rear these primeval, open-air temples, always of the same peculiar construction ? We know the rudi- mentary stories about them, smacking of Pinnock and the amiable Goldsmith—how they lived in sacred Rollright Stones. 25 groves, pretended to magic, venerated the oak and mistletoe, &c., and tyrannized over their savage coun- trymen. We have a hazy notion that their worship was an ugly sort of heathenism, comprehending human sacrifices, but meaning nothing in particular, and cer- tainly not at.all akin to our own. The truth under- lying these commonplaces and crude suppositions is highly significant. There can be no doubt that the Druid religion was a remote branch of a stupendous system of priestcraft and superstition which originated in Asia, in the earliest of historical ages. Its seat is assigned to Assyria, and its date to 1800 years before Christ. Its theology presents so close a resemblance to that of Christianity, and especially of the form of it known as Roman Catholicism, that Protestant writers account for the similarity by the theory of apostacy and perversion from the original divine revelation. It offered as the objects of worship, a Trinity in Unity, mcluding a Supreme Father, an incarnate Mother or Queen of Heaven, and a Son, who was the Messiah or Deliverer. It believed in an Atonement, Baptismal Regeneration, the Sacrifice of the Mass, Extreme Unction, Purgatory, and Prayers for the Dead. It kept festivals analagous to Christmas and Lady-day, Easter, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, and the Assumption. It had its idolatrous processions, relic-worship, priests, monks and nuns; and used incense, holy water, lamps, wax-candles and the sign of the cross. It was, in short, in every essential particular, the great original and precursor, of what 26 Rollright Stones. we are accustomed to stigmatize as popery, and to re- — gard as a corruption of Christianity. From Assyria this creed spread throughout the world. “It can be proved,” writes the Rev. A. Hislop (of the Scotch Church) “ that the idolatry of the whole earth is one; that the sacred language of all nations is radically Chaldean; that the great gods of every country and clime are called by Babylonian names. The system, first concocted in Babylon, and thence conveyed to the ends of the earth, has been modified and diluted in different ages and countries. But yet amid all the seeming variety, there is an astonishing oneness and identity.” A fact susceptible of quite other deductions than those drawn from it by the erudite author of “The Two Babylons.” This religion was brought to Britain by the Pheeni- cians, who sailed hither more than a thousand years before the Christian era. Their priests were learned in all the wisdom of the Assyrians, especially theology and astronomy (then closely connected, if not identical); and had a magnificent temple at Sidon consecrated to this worship and served by three hundred attendants. They introduced it in this island and were the first Druids, the etymology of which corrupted Chaldee word, according to Mr. Hislop, signified “ priests of the the woman’s promised seed’’—the woman being the first deified Babylonian queen, known to history as Semiramis. It was her worship, and that of her son or husband, together with a system of polytheism and symbolism growing out of it, too complicated for des- Rollright Stones. ey, cription, but was accepted by our barbarous ancestors. Their chief divinity appears to have been identical with the scriptural Baal (whence the Scotch term, Beltane, for the first of May—one of his festivals), the Sun-god, Pagan Messiah and Moloch—for he combined these and other characters. He was worshipped as “ the Lord” (which is the real meaning of the word), and the great source of light and heat—the oldest and most excusable form of idolatry. Fire naturally became his earthly representative ; hence his rites were celebrated with blazing bonfires. ‘These midsummer fires and sacrifices,” says Toland, in his account of the Druids, “were intended to obtain a blessing on the fruits of the earth now becoming ready for gathering, as those of the first of May that they might prosperously grow, and those of the last of October were a thanksgiving for finishing the harvest.” Again, speaking of the Druidical rites on the 24th of June, he adds: “ It was customary for the lord of the place, or his son, to take the entrails of the sacrificed animals in his hands, and walking barefoot over the coals thrice, after the flames had ceased, to carry them straight to the Druid, who waited in a whole skin at the altar.” The practice was strictly classic and is described in Pliny, Strabo, and Virgil. ‘Traces of it, and of still grimmer obser- vances are yet extant in Scotland ; and but a few years ago a paragraph went the round of our newspapers about an English farmer who had lighted a bonfire in acknowledgment of a good harvest. The Druids offered human sacrifices to their gods, 28 Rollright Stones. in the belief that “ without the shedding of blood there . is no remission of sins,’”’ common to all ancient religions. When such deities were to be propitiated, or their anger averted, they must be bribed, like human tyrants ; and it followed as a matter of course that the more precious the gift, the greater the merit. See Tennyson’s poem of “The Victim” for a striking illustration of this logic. All the nations of antiquity seem, at some period, to have been liable to this charge. ‘“ The Phoenicians,” says Eusebius, “every year sacrificed their beloved and only-begotten children to Kronos and Saturn, and the Rhodians often did the same.” Diodorus Siculus relates how the Carthaginians, when besieged by the Sicilians, publicly immolated “ two hundred of the noblest of their children ” to this god. They undoubtedly carried these practices into Britain. Mr. Hislop, before quoted, thinks that the Druids also ate of the victims, and offers curious orthographical evidence in support of that grim assertion. ‘“ When ‘the fruit of the body’ was thus offered,” he writes, “it was ‘for the sin of the soul.’ Now it was a prin- ciple of the Mosaic law that the priest must partake of whatever was offered as a sin offering (Numbers xvii. 9, 10). Hence the priests of Baal were necessarily required to eat of the human sacrifices; and thus it has come to pass that ‘ Cahna-Bal,’ the ‘Priest of Baal’ is the established word (cannibal) for devourer of ~ human flesh.’’ It is impossible, in the space of a newspaper article, to give more than a cursory glance at the Druidical Rollright Stones. 29 religion: for-details I must refer the curious to the works of Toland, and Davies. Still, a few suggestive facts may be instanced. The white clover leaf was held in high estimation among the Druids as an emblem of their triune God—another Babylonianism, They were accustomed, says Maurice, ‘‘to select the most beautiful and stately tree in their groves as an emblem of the Deity, and having cut the side branches they affixed two of the largest of them to the highest part of the trunk, in such a manner that those branches extended on each side, like the arms of a man, and together with the body presented the appearance of a huge cross, and on the bark, in several places, was inscribed the letter “Thau”’—a sacred symbol, because the recognized emblem and initial of the Babylonian Tammuz, one of the many aliases of the primeval Messiah. He was also known as the mistletoe: branch, or All-heal among the Britons; which seems to have had the same esoteric meaning as Virgil’s “Golden Branch.” “It was,” says Hislop, ‘a representation of the Messiah, the man the branch. The mistletoe was regarded as a divine branch—a branch that came from heaven, and grew upon a tree that sprung out of the earth. - Thus, by the engrafting of the celestial branch into the earthly tree, heaven and earth, that sin had severed, were joined together, and thus the mistletoe-bough became the token of divine reconciliation to man, the kiss being the well-known token of pardon and reconciliation.” Hence the origin of a delightful practice still kept up at Christmas, albeit those who indulge in it are 30 Rollright Stones. generally ignorant of its recondite meaning. But about the Druidical Temples. These are all built astronomically on the same plan. ‘The Druids,” says Emerson, in his interesting account of his visit to Stonehenge, “had the magnet; laid their courses by it; their cardinal points in Stonehenge, Ambresbury, and elsewhere, which vary a little from true east and west, followed the variations of the compass.”’ All of these temples have entrances exactly north-east, like the old cavern temples, once devoted to sun worship in India. They have also two remarkable upright stones, over the top of one of which the sun rises at the summer solstice, and sets on the other at the winter solstice. (The stones at Rollright are so decayed and awry that this is indistinguishable.) | Some of the temples have likewise sacrificial stones—horizontal ones. That at Stonehenge ‘‘is the only one in all the blocks that can resist the action of the fire; and must have been brought 150 miles.” The oldest Druidical temple in the world is at Ave- bury in Wiltshire— unless that at Rollmght might dispute the title; as it may, on Stukeley’s authority, claim to be older than Stonehenge, to which he assigns the date of 406 years before Christ. (Our Oxfordshire monument is also rather wider in diameter.) At Avebury there are twenty-eight acres, covered with Celtic graves and immense Druidical stones. In 1749 {wo avenues, cach two miles in length, led to the central circle at Avebury, which inclosed two more double concentric circles. Many theories have been started by —Rollright Stones. bl antiquaries to account for the position of these stones. The most ingenious is that started by Mr. Duke, which may be condensed as follows :— Wiltshire was treated by the Druids as the ground plan of a vast planetarium, or astronomical map. They laid out the whole range of downs into planetary re. gions, in which the sun and planets were represented in a meridional line from north to south—a position from which the ancients believed the planets had started at the beginning, and would return at the end of the world, when they had run their course. The earth itself was represented by Silbury Hill; the sun and moon by the great circles of Avebury (that name being a Pheenician word for ‘The mighty ones’’), the ecliptic by the avenues or the Serpent; Venus by a stone circle at Winterbourne Basset; Mercury by Walker’s Hill; Mars by an earthwork at Marden, in the vale of Pewsey ; Jupiter by Casterley Camp, on the edge of Salisbury plain; and Saturn by the great blocks at Stonehenge. The Druids also represented numerical and astronomical cycles by these Avebury stones. These numerical cycles were compounds of the mystic number four, sacred as an emblem of the four letters by which the name of the Supreme Being was expressed in the early languages. The one hundred stones of the outer ring were four, twenty-five times repeated ; and the four hundred of the avenue one hundred, four times repeated; whilst the thirty of the outer ring of each double circle represented the lunar cycle, or days of the month; and the twelve of the inner, the months fossil almanack, and the priests, aareciniaeiae | country before the days of old Moore and Zadki i could know and -reckon the proper days for observing ; religious festivals. | FROM “HOUSEHOLD WORDS.” A LEGEND OF MOTHER SHIPTON. On a high ridge which separates the southern extremity of Warwickshire from the county of Oxford, and distant about four miles from the picturesque market town of Chipping Norton, are still to be seen the remains of a very interesting monument, undoubtedly of Druidical origin, although ascribed by local tradition to the agency of Mother Shipton. Archeologists know this monument by the name of Rollrich Stones, but the inhabitants of the adjacent villages of Great and Little Rollewright give the separate parts various designations illustrative of their own belief. The principal feature of these remains is a group of stones forming a ring which is not completely circular, the longest diameter, from north to south, being nearly thirty-six yards, and the shortest not quite thirty-five, Originally they all stood upright, but not more than seven-and-twenty of the number, which is stated to have been sixty-five, remain in that position, the rest lying prone on the earth, half hidden by the soil and long waving grass. Owing to this circumstance it is very difficult to count them correctly, and the peasants say, with an air of mystery, that it is not possible to do so, no two persons agreeing in the tale, nor the same number being arrived at by a repetition of the experi- ment. I found this true in my own instance, and the 34 Rollright Stones. number I reckoned certainly differed considerably from the result of an attempt made by another person. As we had not time to verify our separate statements or correct our own mistakes, the magical difficulty was left unsolved. None of the stones in this circle are more than five feet high, and some of them are barely twelve inches above the ground; but at a distance of eighty or ninety yards to the eastward, stand five others, of considerable height—the tallest being nearly eleven’ feet—which, as they lean towards each other, with an opening from the west, are called the Five Whispering Knights. Nor are these all that remain, for at about the same distance from the circle, to the north-east, and in a field by itself, divided by the road which separates the counties, stands one large stone in solitary majesty, popularly known as the King’s Stone. It is upwards of five feet broad, and between eight and nine feet high, and from its twisted shape and rough-grained surface (as it may well present, after a buffet with the weather of a couple of thousand years) is the most remarkable of the series. ‘The learned Camden and, after him, Dr. Plot, the author of the Natural History of Oxfordshire, pronounced the monument to be a memorial erected by Rollo the Dane, who won a great victory somewhere about the beginning of the tenth century, but their speculations were set at rest by Dr. Stukeley, who with greater reason, declared the remains Druidical, the circle having been a temple, the five detached stones a cistvaen or cromlech, and the solitary one a cardinal point. Independently of Rollright Stones. oT) the form of the larger group, Dr. Stukeley relied upon its etymology, deriving Rollrich, not from Rollo the Dane, but from Rholdrwyg, the wheel or circle of the Druids; and this, without doubt, is the true interpre- tation. Now for the popular opinion of the monument. The stones, according to universal acceptation amongst the peasantry, are neither more nor less than a petrified camp or army. Never look for chronology in these matters, but take the legend as you find it. If you believe that men have once been turned into stone, it is not worth your while to question who performed the feat, or to ask when it happened, so the story runs as follows :— A certain ambitious warrior, being minded to reduce the whole of England beneath his sway, set out one day (from what place is not stated) with a train of five knights and a well-appointed band of sixty fine, hardy soldiers, to effect his meditated conquest. Advancing from the south in his progress towards the borders of Warwickshire, as it had been darkly foretold him, was to be determined, the King halted his little army for the night on the edge of Whichwood Forest, not far from the spot where now stands the little village of Shipton-under-Whichwood. His reason for pausing there is alleged to have been his desire to confer with the wise woman, who dwelt at Shipton at that time, and who afterwards bequeathed her name to the place. The King’s Council was composed of the knights already mentioned; but on this occasion seeking advice 36 Rollright Stones. from none, he left the camp alone—though not un- observed by the five, who followed at a distance—and proceeded to the dwelling of Mother Shipton. He was seen to enter her hut, but what took place within has been only imperfectly guessed at, none of the knights having courage enough to venture sufficiently near to hear exactly what passed between their leader and the dreaded witch. It is believed, however, that in order to obtain her assistance, the warrior proposed a certain compact; but the conditions which Mother Shipton strove to exact must have been too hard, for high words arose between the two—so much was ascertained by the listeners before they discreetly withdrew—and her harsh voice was heard to threaten the warrior, who came forth in great wrath from the hut and strode back to his tent. How he spent the remainder of the night is not on record, but at break of day he was in the ‘saddle, marshalling his men; and, long before the sun had gilded the tops of the forest trees, he led them across Lyneham Heath, and skirting Knolberry Banks, left the old Saxon mart of Ceapen-Northtown. behind, and plunged into the woody glades that yet interposed between him and the object of his desires. After a toilsome march of five hours, he came to a steep ascent, where the corn grows now, but which then was a desert’ waste. Laboriously his followers climbed the hill, nor rested until the crest of the mdge was nearly gained. Here they paused, and the five knights stood some distance apart, while their eager leader spurred towards a slight eminence, which from that point, was all that - Rollright Stones. ov impeded the view into the broad valley beyond—the haven of his expectations. Suddenly, a female figure appeared on the rising summit of the knoll, and in the clear morning light, the five knights, who watched the motions of their chief, recognized the unearthly linea- ments of Ursula Shipton. The events of the previous night came back to their memories, and they whispered among each other. For aninstant the bold adventurer was lost to their view, but presently he reappeared ; and, as he breasted the last ascent, they heard his voice: “Out of my way, Hag!” he cried— ‘*Tf Long Compton I may see, ‘*Then King of England I shall be!”’ But another voice—the voice of Ursula Shipton— exclaimed— | ‘*Rise up, hill! Stand fast, stone! ** King of England thou shalt be none!’’ She waved her arm as she spoke; the earth swelled; and the ambitious chief, the five Whispering Knights, and the whole of the warrior’s mesnie, were at once transformed to stone! Six paces further, and the village of Long Compton had been distinctly seen; but where the King’s Stone buries its base in the ground, nothing is visible but the hill side. There is yet another tradition connected with Rollrich Stones :— A certain man of wealth, the Lord of the Manor of Little Rollewright, Humphrey Boffin by name, resolved to remove the King’s Stone to the court-yard of his own dwelling, about a mile distant, at the foot of the hull. The country people dissuaded him from making the 38 Rollright Stones. attempt, telling him that no good would come of it; but he, being an intemperate, violent man, would not be thwarted of his headstrong will, and commenced the attempt. He thought to accomplish his purpose with a wagon and four horses, but though the latter were of a famous breed, and remarkably strong, they could not stir the stone a single inch. He then yoked other four to the team, but still without success; again and ~ again he made the same addition, nor was it until four- and-twenty horses had been attached to the load that he was able to effectitsremoval. Atlength Humphrey Boffin triumphed, and the King’s Stone stood in the centre of his own court-yard. But his triumph was of short-lived duration, for no sooner had the shades of night appeared than an indescribable tumult appeared to surround the house, waxing louder and fiercer as the night drew on; nothing was heard but groans and shrieks, the clash of weapons, and the direful din of battle, which noises lasted till the morning, when all again was still. Humphrey Boffin was greatly frightened; but, for all that, his heart was not changed, and in spite of omens he swore he would keep the stone. The second night was worse than the first; on the third the uproar of the two were combined, and then Humphrey Boffin gave in. Adopting his wife’s counsel (for she, clever woman, saw at once where the shoe pinched), he agreed to restore the King’s Stone. to the place where Mother Shipton had commanded it to stand. But the difficulty was how to accomplish the task. It had taken four-and-twenty horses to drag the stone ——— Rollright Stones. 39 down hill; how many must there be to carry it up again P A single pair settled the question; they were no sooner in the shafts than they drew the wagon with perfect ease: nor did they stop to breathe nor did they turn a hair on their up-hill journey! The country people, however, were right. The attempt did Humphrey Boffin “no good:” the civil war breaking out shortly afterwards, his homestead was burnt and his house ransacked by Cromwell’s troopers, and he himself endeavouring to escape—without Mrs. Bofin— tumbled into a well and was drowned. The lady, it is added, eventually consoled herself by marrying the captain of the troop, who when the wars were over, became a thriving farmer, and leader of the conventicle at Banbury. Strangers in search of Rollrich Stones may find them more quickly than I did by directing their steps to a clump of lofty fir trees, which, grown within the arena of the Druid temple, form a land-mark for several miles round. CHIPPING NORTON e BRIEF MEMORIALS OF Che Carly History of Chipprng Horton. BRIEF MEMORIALS THE EARLY HISTORY OF CHIPPING NORTON, ANTIQUITIES IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD. BY CHARLES KIRTLAND, Secretary to the British and Irish Mission, LONDON. ‘Describe the Borough,”—though our curious tribe May love description, can we so describe That you shall fairly streets and buildings trace, And all that gives distinction to a place ? This cannot be; yet moved by your request, A part I paint, let fancy form the rest.” WITH AN APPENDIX CONTAINING NOTICES OF REMARKABLE CRABBE, rey sac Gi" ea ms Ns CHIPPING NORTON, OXON. : LStl: G. B. SMITH, PRINTER, CHIPPING NORTON, CHAP. I. II. III. IV. Vv. VL: VII. VIII. IX. CONTENTS.’ PAGE. PRIDE OF ANTIQUITY—CLAIMS OF HOME ......000085 = 1 DomESDAY OO R--TLORTONE. os oe cle cw eeacesceceee 3 Otp Worps—Firzattans oF CLuN—EARLS OF ARUNDEL—CHARTER FOR F'AtR— MEMBERS TO PARLIAMENT E06 6) |G! (0) 6 (626, (0) 0).6) ¢ 000 06.6 O's 6 1E 80 e One eG 6.8 8 6 Tur Monastery—ANcieENT ARrcH AND CELLAR— Monastic Lire eeoereveeerereeesceere ee ee eee eee ee eee Stone Cross—Common Lanps—AERIAL BATTLES—ELM TREE—OLD CorPoRATION—GRAMMAR ScHOOL .. Tur Cuourcu—Gop’s AcRE—ALTAR TomBs—VICARAGE Pumep—EPiItTaPnHs @eoereersc ee ee eee eereee ee ee eee eee BENEFACTORS AND CHARITIES .......ccccscccccccces Tue CastteE—THE VINEYARDS, ANTIQUITY OF ...... A Contrast—Past and Present—Mopern Trang, GrRowTH OF eoeseeveeoeveveeeoeoeeveeeoereeeeeveeve ee ee ee 10 18 22 31 41 46 51 APPENDIX.—Brvern ABBEY—CHADLINGTON—CHASTLETON— CHURCHILL AND. SarspEN—Cotp Nortron—Great Trw—Hoox Norton anp TapMArton—Ro.urieut Sronss, &c., &c. INTRODUCTION. On Wednesday Evening, the 29th of March last, I delivered a Lecture on “Chipping Norton and the Neighbourhood in the Olden Time,” in the Town Hall. The conviction that I brought no special qualifications to a work such as that, made me hesitate to occupy the position of a public teacher on the occasion. My occupation leaves me but slender opportunities for literary pursuits: but having had—for some years past—a wish that the inhabi- tants of my native town should hear what could be said about its early history, I have devoted— during the last three years—such fragments of time as I could spare, to inquiries which related to the subject. I have simply been a collector and com- piler of materials that are buried in rare old books, and spread over a period of seven or eight centuries. These materials I first threw into the form of a lecture, and the lecture has now grown into a small book, which I respectfully dedicate to ALL CLASSES IN THE Town anp NricgHpourHoop oF Curippinc Norton. CHAPTER I. Pride of Antiquity. Claims of Home. Amonce the different forms of pride of which human nature is the subject, the pride of antiquity is not the least prominent. “‘ We have Abraham to our father” is a Jewish boast, but it embodies a universal senti- ment. A peasant farmer, who lived in a mud cabin, and probably shared’ his bed-room with his pigs and poultry, once boasted to me that he could trace back his pedigree—not quite so far as the Deluge, but to a remote period. We are prouder of O/d England than of Great Britain. The order of precedence at Court pageants and ceremonials is determined by the date of the patent of nobility. A scion of a great ducal house has immortalized himself in a well-known couplet— “Let laws and learning, trade, and commerce die; But give us back our old nobility!” How we worship old castles, abbeys, cathedrals, and old ruins. What an authority in all local matters is that venerable and half mythical personage, “the oldest inhabitant!” The subject possesses additional interest from the fact that it relates to home. This word exercises a fascination over the mind which belongs to no other in the language. Our holiest memories, our deepest sympathies, our strongest affec- tions, and our pleasantest associations all centre in B hue Pride of Antiquity. Claims of Home. — home. Knowledge should begin at the centre, and extend, in ever widening circles, to the cireumference. Multitudes have a fair acquaintance with universal history, with the single exception of the place where they were born and brought up. The words of the - Psalmist, “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning!” are as much the utterance of a common instinct of our nature, as of a deep religious feeling. I know of nothing more touching and beauti- ful in the realms of poetry than the reply of the Hebrew octogenarian to the proposal of King David that he should reside at the royal city. He was four- score years old, and Court life had no longer any at- tractions for him. His loyalty was deep—‘ Thy servant will go a little way over Jordan with the ” But the craving for home was deeper—‘“ Let thy servant turn back again, that I may die in mine own city, and be buried by the grave of my father and of my mother.” (II. Sam., xix., 36, 37.) I never knew the power which an English newspaper exercised over me, till I was far away in the north of Europe last summer. Whether in Berlin, St. Petersburgh, or Moscow; at Helingsfors in Finland, Stockholm, Copen- hagen, or Hamburg, the first enquiry on entering the hotel was, ‘ Where’s the Times ?” in plain English, for that came uppermost. The author of that sweet lyric, ‘‘ Home, sweet Home!” was a wanderer.in a foreign land. I must now ask the reader to accompany me back to a remote period in English history. king. OH ArP A ER « LL. Domesday Book. ‘In his chamber, weak and dying, Was the Norman baron lying; Loud, without, the tempest thundered, And the castle turret shook. In his fight was death the gainer, Spite of vassal and retainer, And the lands his sires had plundered, Written in the Domesday book.” Tur Norman Conquest is one of the great landmarks in English history. After a prolonged and obstinate resistance, our Saxon ancestors bowed their neck to the yoke of the Conqueror. At that time, the popu- lation of England was under three’ millions; that of Oxfordshire, but 6,775. Forests and moors of vast ex- ‘tent stretched across the country. A very small portion of the land was under cultivation, There were very few great towns, and scarcely any roads, except those which the Romans had left. Bands of robbers and outlaws of the “bold Robin Hood” type roamed over the country, committing depredations, and spreading terror wherever they went. There was little or no security either for property or persons. Wild beasts infested the woods and open country. The grossest ignorance, and the darkest superstition reigned every- Biz 4 Domesday Book. where. All the popular sports were of the most brutal kind. England was one great hunting-ground for the king, and his Norman barons. The forest laws were rigidly enforced, and the killing of a deer was punished by the loss of one of the offender’s eyes. Castles and fortresses bristled on every hill. The estates of the Saxon earls were confiscated, and given to the Norman favorites of William. Such was England at the time when the royal inquisitors made a survey of Chipping Norton. That astute monarch, in imitation of Alfred the Great, issued the royal commands for a “ Register to be prepared, from which judgment was to be given upon the tenure and services of lands therein des- eribed.” We are further informed that “the Inquisi- tors, upon the oaths of the sheriffs, the lords of each manor, the presbyters of every church, the reves of every hundred, the bailiffs, and six villans of every village, were to inquire into the name of the place: who held it in the time of King Edward (the Con- fessor) ; who is the present possessor ; how many hides (of land) in the manor ; how many carrucates im each demesne ; how many homagers; how many villans ; how many servi; what freemen; what quantity of wood; how much meadow and pasture; what mills and fishponds; how much added or taken away ; what was the gross value in Edward’s time; what the present value; and how much each freeman had, or has. All this was to be triply estimated—first as the estate was held:in the time of the Confessor; then as it was bestowed by William ; and third, as its value Domesday Book. 5 stood at the time of the Survey. Moreover, the jurors were to ascertain whether any advance could be made in the valuation.”” (Domesday Book, Vol. III., Intro- duction, p. vu.) The writer of the Saxon Chronicle, in a tone of not unnatural severity, says that “not a hyde, or yard-land, not an ox, cow, or hog, were omitted in the census.”’ The results of this immense undertaking were written out in red and black ink, on vellum “of singular fineness and beauty,” and the in- formation thus collected was called Domrspay Book. Other names were given to it—l, Scriptura Thesari Regis ; 2, Liber Regis; 3, Liber Wintonia. It is not certain what the name was intended to convey. Some think it has reference to the day of final doom, and that its decisions were as righteous, as fixed, and as irrevocable as those of the Great Day of account. Stow, in his annals (p. 118, fol. London, 1631), tells us that “the Booke of Bermondsey saith this Booke was laid up in the King’s treasurie (which was in the Church of Westminster, or Winchester), in a place called Domus Dei, or God’s House, and so the name of the Booke was therefore called Domus Dei, andsince, shortly, Domesday.” The date of the Survey is volved in some obscurity. Matthew of Paris, Robert of Glo’ster, the Annals of Waverley, and the Chronicle of Bermond- sey give the year 1083 as the date of the record. Henry of Huntingdon places it a year later, and the Saxon Chronicle in 1085. The difference is immaterial. The common opinion is that it was completed about 1086, shortly before the death of the ‘‘ Conqueror,” 6 Domesday Book. which took place Sept. 9, 1087. Before quoting from Domesday, 1t will be necessary to notice a few words that are frequently used in the book. | “‘ Thanes is the name sometimes given to Arch- bishops, Bishops, and Abbats, as well as to the great Barons.” (Introduction Vol. III., p. xiv.) It is not easy to ascertain the distinction which existed in those ancient times between the different classes of servants and dependents that are mentioned in the Survey. The Mites included soldiers, or mili- tary servants ; but the word was sometimes applied to persons of higher distinction. We often meet with references to Bordarii, Servi, and Villani. In Domes- day, servi and villani are kept distinct, but the learned Bishop Kennett, in his Parochial Antiquities (Glos- sary), and other writers, maintain that no author has fixed the exact distinction between them. “ Servi might be the pure villanes, and villanes in gros, who, without any determined tenure of land, were at the arbitrary pleasure of the lord. The others were of a superior degree, and called villani, because they held some cottages and lands, for which they were burdened with such stated servile works as their lord had an- nexed to them.” (Introduction to Domesaay, Vol. III.) In reference to the Bordarii, several interpretations have been given of the word. According to Lord Coke, they were “boors holding a little house, with some land of husbandry, bigger than a cottage.” Kennett considers they were of a superior grade to both serfs and villains, holding cottages and lands on the condi- Domesday Book. 7 tion that they supplied their lord’s table with poultry, | eggs, and other provisions for his board and entertain- ment. A few words in reference to some of the ancient divisions of land may not be out of place. Terra denotes arable land in general. A Hide of land—from the Saxon word Hydan, to cover, varied in quantity in different counties, Kennett says, “ A hide of land is not, as Polydore Vergil fancies, from the hide of a beast, as if an English hide of land were like the ex- tent of Carthage ; but from the Saxon hyd, a house or habitation, from hydan to cover. The word is some- times put for a house, as we still preserve hut—a cover— for cottage. And what Bede calls Familias (which familia seems to have been a circuit of ground sufficient for the maintenance of a family*) his Saxon interpreter, King Alfred, calls a “‘ Hydelander.” The quantity is not expressly determined. In some parts, it was 100 acres, in others, 96, and even less. Vergatam terra, a yard-land, from the Saxon, a rod, or yard, and to girt. Hence, a yard, a close, a garden. A girt- land, or yard-land, was originally no more than a certain extent or compass of ground, surrounded with such limits. The quantity varied from 15 to 40 acres, according to local custom. Carucata is the word used for plough-land, and includes as much arable land as could be managed with one plough, and a beast belong- ing thereto in a year, having meadow, pastures, and houses for the householders, and cattle belonging to it. This also, was not a fixed quantity, but was determined * 4.¢., to cover its wants. Si) - Domesday Book. F by custom, and the nature of the soil. Quarentina was the forty-long, or furlong, from the French, quarenti, 40. It was a measure of 40 perches.* NortTone. Such is the name given in the Domesday Survey to the locality on which the town of Chipping Norton now stands. Of the identity of the two places there cannot be a doubt. The following quotation has been taken from Domesday Book, Vol. I., folios 158, 160. «“ XXIX. Tue Lanp or Rocer pv’ Ivey.” “‘Fulco holds of Roger, 14 hides, and one vergate of land and a half, in NortTonz. The land there [is} 12 carucates. Now, he has in demesne, 5 hides of land belonging to villanes. And [there are] there, 5 ploughs, with one Knight, his own. [There are] there, 8 serfs and 1° villans, with 17 bordars, and 23 acres of meadow-land. One copse [or grove] a quarentine long, and half a quarentine broad. It was worth nine pounds. Now—13 pounds. This land fourteen thanes held.” “XL. Tur Lanp or ErRnNvuLF or HESDING.’’ “The same Ernulf holds Norrons. [There are] there, 15 hides, and one vergate of land. The land is xxi carucates, now in demesne, 10 ploughs; and 15 serfs, and 22 villanes, with 16 bordars, have 11 ploughs. [There are] there, 3 mills of 62 pence [per annum], and 20 acres of meadow. It was worth, and is worth, 4 pounds [per annum. | Turgot held it free.” * For further information on these matters, the reader is referred to the Introduction to Domesday, Vol. III., and Kennett’s Parochial Antiquities, Glossary at the end. Domesday Book. at LVIII. Tue Lanp or RicHArRD, AND OF OTHER SERVANTS OF THE Kina. “'Theoderii the Goldsmith holds of the King one hide in Norronz. The land is one carucate: this he has in demesne. It was worth 10s., now 20s.” * Thus, on the authority of a book whose testimony no one will impugn, the Town of Chipping Norton was im existence some 800 years ago. The inhabitants may have been few, and their habitations comparatively rude; but they had gathered into a community, and constituted the germ of the population which has since been collected on the same spot. * T am indebted for the above translation from the old Saxon to that accomplished Archeologist, James Parker, Esq., of Oxford, to whom I hereby express my grateful acknowledgments. I am also under obligations to the same gentleman for sundry hints and references to reliable authorities, with which he has kindly fur- nished me. CHAPTER ITE Old Words. “The cheping brenning with the blake smoke.” (a town on fire.) CHAUCER. THERE are few things to which nations cling so tenaciously, and so long, as to their mother tongue. It is enshrined in their literature, sanctified by their devotions, and bound up in the intercourse and tran- sactions of social and domestic life. A nation may pass from a state of semi-barbarism to the highest civilization; its old forms of government may be changed, and its political institutions revolutionized ; foreign invaders may over-run the land, oppress the people, stamp out their liberties, and try to supersede the ancient vernacular language by an unknown tongue ; but nothing can uproot the old words. After the Conquest, Norman-French was taught in schools, and used in courts of law; but the Saxon language survived these innovations, and flourished amid the ruins of the Saxon monarchy, as the ivy is green while the walls to which it clings are sinking to decay. I remember two words, which I have never heard east of Oxfordshire. It was once common—perhaps it _ is now—to speak of putting out a candle, or a fire, as Old Words. 11 douting it. Now, I find from “ Halliwell’s dictionary of Archaic and obsolete words,” that the meaning of dout is to extinguish, 7.e., do out, and comes from the same root as doubt. To dout a light is to make dark- ness; to doubt a statement implies darkness of mind. I see no reason why the word should be discon- tinued. It is better than extinguish. , Shakespeare uses the word twice, once in Hamlet, and once in King Henry V., Act IV., Scene 2 :— ‘‘Mount then, and make incision in their hides, That their hot blood may spin in Erglish eyes; And dout them with superfluous courage.” Another illustration is supplied by Sylvester, an English poet who lived during the J/atter half of the sixteenth century :— ‘‘ First in the intellect it dowts the light.” The other word may be familiar to the reader. In my boyhood, the old people, when speaking of a very lonely or solitary place, called it very “ wnked,”—spelt unkard. Now, the derivation of this word is mterest- ing. A goat that has lost her kid is said to be un- kidded—lonely—hence our word unkard, or unked. Now for the affix, “Chipping,” which is derived from the Saxon Ceapen: to cheapen, to buy. In a secondary sense, it signifies a market place. In Wick- liffe’s Bible, chepynge is used for market place;—— ‘‘ And he gone about the thridde hour, say other stondynge yidil in the chepying.” (Matt. xx.,3.) ‘They ben lijk to children sittynge in chepying.”’* (Luke vii., 32.) * Wickliffe’s translation is about 500 years old. 12 Old Words. Chaucer employs it for market town— “The cheping brenning* with the blake smoke.” In Collier’s Old Ballads, a seller is called “a cheper.” Kennett, in his Parochial Antiquities, calls the town Cheping Norton. I suppose the word came to signify a market, from the notion that, where people brought goods for sale, competition was provoked, and prices fell, or became cheap. From this word comes chap- man—a merchant, or seller. Chap-money, or chepe- money, is that which was given back by the seller, which cheapened the article. It is very interesting to trace the history and note the application of these ancient words. This Saxon word, then, proves that a market was held in this town at a very early date. Some read “‘ The market of the Northmen.” Now let me call other witnesses. As early as the reign of Edward I., a.v. 1293, mention is made of one Ric. de Gloucester, parson of the Church of Cheping Norton. The words relate to a citation before the Court of Arches in London, in which William de Cherington, and Ric. de Gloucester, “narson of the Church of Cheping Norton,” are con- cerned. The exact words are, “Rico de Glocestre, parsone eccl’i¢ de Cheping Norton.” (Kennett’s Paro- chial Antiquities, 4to., Oxford Clarendon Press, 1818. Vol. I., p. 456). Further, the same authority (Vol. II., p. 405) says that in the 88th year of the reign of Henry VI., in the year 1460, one “ John Pashell, * From the Saxon word Brenne, to burn. a The Fitzallans, and the Charter. 13 Esquire, passed a fine in the Court of King’s Bench to enable him to convey the third part of the Manor of Cheping Norton, Oxon, to John Glyn, gent.” Thus, in 1293, and again in 1460, we have undoubted evidence that the town was called by its present name, with this difference, that the Saxon form of the affix was then in use. But we can go still further back than the earlier of these dates. Immediately after the Conquest, the manor of Chipping Norton became the property of the Fitzallans of Clun, and it remained in their possession till the accession of Edward III. Edmund, Earl of Arundel, son of Rich. Fitzallan, was beheaded at Hereford on account of his attachment to Edward II., his estates were seized, October, a.p. 1826, and given to his bitter enemy, Roger de Mortimer, Earl of March. This nobleman afterwards lost the king’s favor, and with it, his estates and his life. After passing through various hands, the manor was granted to the De Vere family ; and subsequently to the attainder of John, Earl of Oxford, who supported the Lancastrian title to the Crown, the manor of Chipping Norton was given by Edward IV., after the battle in Barnet field, to his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester. About the year 1200—in the reign of King John—Wilham Fitzallan, third lord of the manor, obtained a charter for a yearly fair. More than a century later, this charter was con- firmed through the influence of the royal favorite, Roger de Mortimer. Now, the selection of Chipping Norton for an annual fair shows that, six and a half 14 Local Government. centuries ago, it was the chief place in the neighbour- hood—the common, recognized centre to which the villagers who were intent on profit or pleasure, or both, were attracted year by year. A gentleman has favored me with the following brief description of Chipping Norton, copied from a work published two centuries ago :—‘‘ Chipping Norton—scituate dry, on the side of a hill, and near a small rivulet. A large, but straggling town, yet well compacted about the market place. It is a town corporate, governed by two Bailiffs and other sub-officers ; keeps courts for all actions under £4, and hath a good market on Wednesdays for corn, cattle, and provisions.” Such was Chipping Norton in 1673. The market day has not been changed, but the dual government by two Bailiffs has been superseded by a Mayor and Town Council. About forty years earlier than this date—in 1634, a “Visitation” appears to have been made, and an in- teresting document was drawn up, which is now in the Corporation chest, entitled Toe HeEravutp’s ALLOWANCE. At the top is a fac-simile of the borough seal, with the Castle ; and in addition to the two towers—as in the present seal—there is a third in the rear of the build- ing, midway between those in the front. The Town Clerk has favored me with the following copy of this document, which contains the names of the Bailiffs and the principal Burgesses. Two of the names are still represented in the town, but I am not able to say whether there is any family connexion between them. Corporation Secrets. . 16 “The Towne and Borough of Chipping Norton, in comit. Oxon, Incorporated by a Charter dated XX VII th of February, the fourth yeare of King James, by the name of the Bailiffs and Burgesses* of Chipping Norton. They elect yearly two Bailiffs and twelve principall Burgesses. The Bailiffs are Justices of the Peace, and Quorum. And they have libertie to use and change their Comon Seale. The forme of what they use now is here observed at the tyme of this Visitation, Thomas Hyett and Charles Hill were Bailiffs, Henry Cornish, Walter Thomas, Thomas Hyett, Thomas Fowler, Marke Preston, John Higgens, John Davis, Wm. Averell, John Trowt, Wm. Diston, Thomas Berry, and Edward Hynd were principall Burgesses—1634.” JO. PHILIPOTT SOMERSETT. WM. RYLEY BLEWMANTLE. Many years ago, the old Corporation passed a singular bye-law for the more effectual keeping of civic secrets. It was enacted, “That if any member, or members of this Corporation do, or shall at any time hereafter, disclose, or make publique out of the Common Council any debate, vote, or other matter touching fellowship, rule, or government of this town or Corporation, which was, is, or shall be done in Common Council, without special leave or direction, such member, or members so offending, is, are, and shall be deemed unfit and incapable to act as member, or members of this Corporation; and being thereof accused, and convicted in Common Council by a * The Corporation seems to have had some jurisdiction over the Grammar School at Stow-on-the-Wold. In the Domestic Series of the Calendar of State Papers (James I., A.D. 1611— 1618, p. 158), there is the following entry :—‘‘ Grant of foundation of an Alms- house and Grammar School at Stowe-on-the- Wold, Co. Gloucester, endowed by the late Rich. Shepham; the Corporation of Chipping Norton, Co. Oxford, to be the Governors.” 16 Burgesses sent to Parliament. majority, the party so offending being first heard, shall, for such offence be expelled, and spewed out of the Corporation.” I think it was the late Daniel O’Connell who said that no Act of Parliament was ever made through which a coach and four might not be driven ; but the keen-eyed agitator himself would have been puzzled to find a loophole in this strictly-worded resolu- tion through which any Common Councilman who was guilty of “telling tales out of school”? might have made his escape. The “close Corporation” tried to constitute itself a ‘‘Secret Society,” but I have never heard whether the threatened operation of ‘“‘ spewing” (I beg the reader’s pardon for not saying “ ejecting’’) prevented Corporation secrets from oozing out. It may be mentioned that in the 30th of the reign of Edward I., and in the 32nd and 88rd of Edward III., the town sent Burgesses to Parliament, but the inhabitants, either from not being able to appreciate the honor, or from an inability or unwillingness to bear the expense, were exonerated on their own petition from this responsibility. Happily for itself, Chipping Norton has never been re-enfranchised. Blessed is the borough that never makes the acquaintance of a Speaker’s writ, and is never corrupted by a contested election. Chipping Norton supplied the City of London with a Lord Mayor, in the person of Sir Thomas Pargitor. In a work entitled “Some Account of the Citizens of London and their Rulers, from 1060 to 1867,” by B. B. Orridge, F.G.S., we are informed that, “in 1530, Sir Thomas Pargitor. 17 Sir Thomas Pargitor, a native of Chipping Norton, was Lord Mayor of London ;” that he belonged to the Salter’s Company, and was an Alderman of Bishops- gate. In Stow’s Survey of the City of London (Vol. II., p. 180), there are the armorial bearings of Sir Thomas, which consist of a shield, with an azure ground, a fesse, or bar, crossing it in a zigzag shape, and three hawks—two at the top, and one at the bottom. Above the shield is the following :— fe cALD. 1530, WILLIAM DAUNTSEY. g ; 22nd Henry Bair ie niga ee CHAMPION. Underneath the coat of arms is written— _ “Maior, Sir Thomas Pargitor, Silter, son to John Pargitor, of Chipping Norton, in Oxfordshire.” Sir Thomas filled the civic chair the year after the fall of Cardinal Wolsey. The terrible Tudor—Henry VIITI.—was then in the zenith of his power. Liberty lay prostrate and bleeding at his feet. All men spake with ‘“‘Bated breath and whispering humbleness.” The City of London preserved, at least, the semblance of freedom; but*what were the relations of the civic monarch to the bluff Harry, we have no means of knowing. He died, as a matter of course, and was buried in the Church of All-Hallows, in Bread Street. I went down to this Church, hoping to find some monument to my distinguished townsman, but although the sexton rendered me every assistance in his power, not a trace of the name of Pargitor could be found within those ancient walls. CHAPTER IV. The Monastery. “Many have told of the monks of old, What a saintly race they were; But ’tis equally true, that a merrier crew Could scarce be found elsewhere!” Ir is not my intention to discuss the advantages or disadvantages of monasticism. It occupies a prominent place in the ecclesiastical life of England, and has left its mark on the religious history of our country. There is hardly a nook or corner in Old England, in which traees are not to be found of that desire for separation from the world which acquired, during several centuries, the force cf a passion among multi- tudes who were either of a devout, or an indolent habit _of mind. There is pretty conclusive evidence that a . large monastic establishment once flourished in Chip- ping Norton. Speed, the historian, mentions it, but makes no reference either to the foundation, dedication, or benefactors. It was valued at £7 14s. There are two relics of this institution, to which considerable interest attaches. One is Mr. Keck’s cellar, in the High Street. This is a square room, with a fine ceiling of groined stone, in the Norman style, springing The Monastery. 19 from four cornices. The wall contains two small re- cesses, and fronting the street, on a level with the floor, there is a doorway, and on each side of the door, a small gothic window, divided by broad stone mullions into two lights. There was once a spiral staircase, and a wall seven feet in thickness. When the present row of houses was built, the road was raised several feet, hence, the room is considerably below its original level. In the opinion of some archeologists, this was one of the Chapels attached to the Monastery. A short dis- tance from this chamber—in Goddard’s Lane, just below the Blue Boar—are the remains of an ancient archway, but it has been so completely built in, that it can no longer be seen from the lane. On entering a shed from the yard, the visitor finds a fragment of a wall three feet in thickness, with pointed doorway, receding bands of moulding, and a small window. This, with the cellar in the High Street, formed portions of one establishment, which probably occupied three sides of a square, 7.e., part of the High Street, the old Town Hall, and a portion of Goddard’s Lane. These are very interesting remnants of a past age; and it shewed a sad lack of appreciation with the memorials of a remote antiquity, to have allowed this fine archway to be built up, and excluded from public view. Itis respectfully suggested that steps be taken— with the consent of the owner and occupier—to remove the wall in front, and to secure the old arch by a neat railing. I sincerely hope some one will take the matter up, and carry it out. With respect to the 62 | | | | 20 The Monastery. cellar, the public-spirited Mayor—Mr. Keck—will, no doubt, on public grounds, keep it from going to decay. The public is not always thankful to its benefactors, but I am sure he will recerve—as he will merit—the thanks of his fellow-townsmen. It is commonly believed that on the site of the British Schools another monastery formerly stood, the walls of which were five feet thick, when taken down to build the Schools; and old Mr. Hall, who died about 20 years ago at a very great age, was heard to say that his father stated he recollected seeing the monks sitting at the narrow lancet windows writing. A subterranean passage from this building either to the Castle or Church, was accidentally discovered on the site of Finsbury Place. It is also said that a subterranean passage ran from Mr. Keck’s cellar to the nunnery below the Blue Boar, to the old Castle. Any one curious to know what Chipping Norton looked like 100 or 150 years ago, may see an old painting of the town hanging up in the Reading Room, under the Town Hall. The picture was sent by W. Bliss, Esq. Sundry reflections—not much akin to each other— crowd upon the mind as it studies these instructive relics of antiquity. Bare-footed or sandaled monks, with shaven crowns and ample hoods, passed in and out of this old doorway. Here the beggars crowded to receive their dole of bread. The tables of the dining- hall were furnished with venison from the forest of Wychwood, and poultry from the neighbouring farms ; eestor ee The Monastery. 21 while “nut brown ale” and wines of the finest vintage, were freely dispensed. ‘And the Abbott so meek, With his form so sleek, Was the heartiest of them all: And would take his place With a smiling face, When the refection bell would call!” In the Chapel, Vespers were chanted, and masses said for the repose of the souls of the departed; and as you’ stand under the groined ceiling, you may fancy you hear the echoes of some ancient chorale, or the plaintive and monotonous tones of a penitential Psalm. CHAPTER V. Stone Cross; Common Lands; Aerial Battles; Elm Tree ; The Old Corporation. ‘‘As when, to warn proud cities war appears Waged in the troubled sky, and armies rush To battle in the clouds, before each van Prick forth the aery knights, and couch their spears Till thickest regions close; with feats of arms From either end of heaven the welkin burns.” THERE used to be—not many years ago—another of those links that connect these modern times with a remote antiquity. I refer to the old stone cross which stood from time immemorial under the shadow of the venerable Elm Tree. When that famous tree fell, and preparations were made for erecting the new Town Hall, the stone cross was carted away and pitched un- ceremoniously down at the angle of the roads that lead to Chapel House and Over Norton. We read of stones erying out; and I almost wonder this ancient cross did not protest against the indignity that was offered to it, in being removed from the centre of the town to one of its outskirts. There is an old legend, that a farmer once took one of the ‘ Whispering Knights” belonging to the “ Rollrich Stones,” and Stone Cross. 23 laid it across a stream that ran through his farm, for a bridge; but his remorse of conscience was so keen, that he had no rest till the stone was taken back. Five horses were necessary to draw it away, but two were sufficient to restore it to its place. Now, I should have been glad if those who removed the old stone-cross had been similarly troubled in mind, till they had brought it back to its original home. And certainly, less horse-power would be required for the restoration, than the removal. Seriously, I think that either the old stone—or a new one made after the old pattern— - should be honored with a place in the centre of the town. Such things are not only memorials of an ancient faith, they are landmarks in our national and local history, and as such, should be carefully preserved. No sketch of the early history of Chipping Norton would be complete without a reference to the common lands which it has held for so many generations. So long since as the first year of Richard I. (Regis - Ricardi primi primo), “ Rich., Earl of Arundel (a descendant of Fitzallan of Clun), gave to the village of Chipping (Cheping) Norton several parcels or pieces of land—the Great Common below the town; Over Norton; Vernehill (by the side of the cartway leading from Over Norton to Salford) ; and the heath, South- combe.” In the Corporation chest there is an old book which contains a copy of Lord Arundel’s grant, of which the following is a transcript :— 24 Common Lands. Copy of Lord Arundel’s Grant of the Common to the Town of Chipping Norton. Town oF Curprpinc Norton. ‘“‘ Be it known to all men by these presents, that I, Richard, Earl of Arundel, and Lord of the Demesne of Chipping Norton, in the County of Oxford, in the first year of the reign of King Richard the first, Have given and granted to my Village of Chipping Norton, freely and quietly, from me and my heirs for ever, the fol- lowing parcels of land, namely :—Smith Mead, the Sidelings of the Primedowns as set out by Meerstones, the Vernhill of the north side of the Primedowns, the Brue, and Southcomb, To have and to hold to my said Village of C. Norton, from me and my heirs freely and quietly for ever, and therefore I have hereunto put my seal, Dated in the year of our Lord, 1189.” The Great Common—150 acres—was hained, or shut up, from Candlemas to May-day. Heath—150 acres, was open for great cattle and sheep, with some exceptions, all the year round. Southcombe—150 acres, never hained, or shut up. Vernehill was “broke,” or opened on Whitsun-eve annually. There are other particulars in connection with these common lands, which we have not space to notice. About a century since, a bill was presented to Parliament for enclosing all the said fields, except the Great Common. At that time, the town contained about 300 houses, and on the 22nd of June, 1768—103 years since—a meeting was held at the White Hart, to consider the heads of this bill. Another meeting was convened in October, at which time the Great Common appears to have been threatened, when it was agreed to present a petition to Parliament against the measure. The petition was Common Lands. 25 signed by the Bailiffs and Burgesses of the town, and 200 inhabitants, being parishioners. The result of this opposition was, that the Great Common was left un- touched. In Southcombe, 74 acres were given to owners and occupiers of messuages in Chipping Norton, and 20 to the Bailiffs and Burgesses, for the poor of the town. Such was the settlement, a hundred . years ago. Whcther the Great Common has ever been of any great pecuniary benefit to the bulk of the in- habitants, I do not know; but it is hoped that a large portion will be preserved for recreation grounds, and a place of general resort for the inhabitants. The Wool Trade.—Pilot, the historian, writing in 1677, says, “ Chipping Norton was a town of note in Saxon days.” The wool-trade flourished here at an early period, and merchants of position occupied the fine houses in the centre of the town. I shall have occasion, when speaking of the Church, to refer to one of these wool merchants. | In the archives of the town, which I have been per- mitted, by the courtesy of G. H. Saunders, Esq., to consult, mention is made of a Wocl-way. This began at Great Rollright, from whence it turned off on the other side of the village, down to the Walk-farm lane. From thence it crossed the Banbury road on the other side of the toll-gate, and passed the back of Chapel House, into Swing S:cang* lane. Then, crossing the * Swing-Swang.—This is a singular and very unusual phrase. - Swing—as we are all aware—denotes free, unobstructed motion, 26 Aerial Battles. London Road, it ran down to Chalford, and took the direction of Spelsbury and Charlbury. *« Strange and Wonderful News from Chipping Norton, in the County of Oxon.’’—Such is the title of a rare old pamphlet which I found in the British | Museum; the contents of which furnish a vivid illustra- tion of the credulity of the people 260 years ago. The 7 “strange and wonderful news” consisted of a magnilo- quent description of ‘‘ certain dreadful apparitions seen in the air on the 28th of July, from nine o’clock till eleven, in which time were seen appearances of flaming swords, strange motions of superior orbs, and universal sparkling of stars.” 7 “‘There issued great sheets of flame, or glances of lightning, without thunder. There were strange alter- ations in the motions of the stars. In the western part of the heavens, the skies opened, and a perfect full scope, plenty of room. To have full swing is to follow one’s own inclinations, without hindrance. Hall, in Henry VII., says— “‘ And then, for a certayne space loytred and lurked with Sir Thomas Broughton, Knyght, which in those quarters bare great swynge, and was there in great authoritie.” Swang signifies a bog, oc swamp. Does the phrase express liberty to cross the green- sward, or swang? Or is swang simply the preterite of swing ? ‘“‘ He swang about his head, and cut the winds.” —Shakespeare. * Sir Walter Scott, in his Antiquary, 3rd Chap., when referring to the lines of Milton which are quoted at the head of this chapter, says—‘ Such phenomena have been frequently reported; never 80 amusingly as in ‘Strange and Wonderful News from Chipping Norton, in the County of Oxon,’ of certain dreadful apparitions which were seen in the air on the 28th of July, 1610, from about nine o'clock a.m., till eleven, &c.”’ a a a eee Aerial Battles. 27 flaming sword pointed to the east. It was of prodigious size, and twirled round and round. The golden stars seemed all in clusters, as if set in battel array. Hot flashes descended and ran along the ground. The skies unfolded, and another sword, in appearance five yards long, and of a bloody color, appeared, the stars swiftly shooting round about it in an unwonted manner.” The narrative states that “this dreadful phenomenon was attested by Thomas Brown, Ann Greenaway, and Ann Gutteridge, who were spectators of these dreadful apparitions. It was communicated to one Mr. Thos. Colley, in West Smithfield ; and persons wishing to be satisfied of the truth of the appearances, were invited to repair to Mr. Nightingale, of the Bear Inn, West Smithfield.” When we remember the alarm created by the star-shower, in 1866, we need not be surprised at the terror and consternation produced on ignorant and unreflecting people in the early part of the 17th century. The Old Elm Tree.—Before taking leave of the town, I must say a few words about one of its ancient features, which used to attract general attention. Joseph Higgins,* a very “old inhabitant,” published a * Mr. Higgins was a man of extremely singular, if not of eccen- tric habits. He would never suffer a female to enter his room. Wn. Bliss, Esq.. in a letter which I have received from him, says —“ By stay-making, he managed to save 2000 or 3000 pounds, which he invested in the purchase of Primsdown Farm, where he built the Hermitage Rock, which now exists. But he was ruined by his farm.” The latter part of his life was spent in London, where he lived in great obscurity. Shortly before his death, he 28 The Old Elm Tree. 4 “monody,” in which he refers to this famous historic tree— ‘‘An Elm of growth sublime, its age unknown, Shades and adorns the centre of the town. Vast is its trunk, and large its spreading arms, High rise its branches, and its foliage charms. High on its top, a congregated throng Of rooks assembling, yearly rear their young. Time immemorial justifies their claim By right prescriptive, a protected game. Oft have the traveller and the stranger guest Their admiration of the scene exprest ; A circumstance, elsewhere perhaps unknown, A copious rookery in a market town.” In our poet’s time, there was some talk of hewing down the tree, and he represents three rooks, Cornicis, Nigris, and Corvus, sitting in council about a conver- sation which they had overheard two road commissioners holding, in reference to the demolition of the tree. Cornicis urges instant flight, and concludes with a word of consolation— ‘“Where’er your flight, still keep this trust in view, That he who cares for sparrows cares for you.’”’* sent for Mr. Bliss, who was then residing in the metropolis, and obtained from him a promise that his body should be taken to his native town and buried in the Churchyard. ‘‘1 found him,” says Mr. Bliss, ‘living in a small, dirty room, in Sparrow Court, Minories, looking like a skeleton, stretched on a bed, Pulling out his skeleton arm from under the bedclothes, he shewed me a coffin, which he had kept for seven years.” Mr. H. was buried in Chipping Norton Churchyard, and his tomb-stone stands on the left end of the path leading from the South door to Church Street. He died Oct. 2, 1832. * Mr. G. B. Smith has a Cheffioneer which was made from this tree. The wood is finely grained, and perfectly sound. Rude Justice. 299°) Joseph describes in heroic verse the yearly ceremony of electing the Bailiffs, by the Burgesses :— _ “Empowered as justices of peace to act, Search out and punish every guilty fact; And by their Town Clerk, learned in the law, Protect the good, and keep the bad in awe.” I have heard of an instance of rude justice that was practised in the town above 50 years ago. A man was convicted of having stolen some hurdles. They were found under his bed, and as there were circumstances which greatly aggravated his crime, he was sentenced to be tied to a cart’s tail, and flogged» on his bare back, by old Richard Boscott, the parish beadle. _ It is the general opinion that the most ancient part of the town is that which is known as “ Tite End;” and further, that this name is derived from the springs of water that rise to the surface in that locality. I am happy to be able to confirm this opinion. “Tite” is another obsolete word which was used chiefly in Ox- fordshire, and according to Halliwell—the great authority on such matters—it signifies springs of water. The old Grammar School demands a passing notice. From a certificate of Commissioners under Statutes and Chantries, Ist Ed. VI., Cap. 14, there was in this town and parish at the date of this certificate, a guild, called “The Trinity Guild,” to which certain lands and tenements had been given by persons unknown, - to find “‘a morrow mass priest,” a school-master, and for alms-deeds; and that a school was then kept here upon the foundation of the said guild, by Sir Hamlet 30 The Grammar School. Malban, one of the guild priests, a man well learned in grammar, who had for his stipend £6 yearly.”* This is thought to have been the origin of the Gram- mar School. The stipend continued to be paid out of the Salt Office. Mrs. Francis Barnes left, in 1762, the sum of £300, which was placed in the Funds, for the use of the Master. * It seems the Master did not always get his six pounds quite as punctually as was desirable. On one occasion, when the authorities were in arrear, a representation to this effect was made, which was formally entered on the state papers in the following terms :— “Extract from the books of the Exchequer, certified by Sir Edmund Sawyer, that there was due to John Norgrove, Master of the Grammar School at Chipping Norton, £6 for one year’s stipend.’’—(Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, Charles I., A.D. 1634, p. 288.) CHAPTER VI. The Church. God's Acre—Altar Tombs—The Vicarage Pump—Epitaphs. “ Beautiful for situation.”’ “‘T like that ancient Saxon phrase which calls The burial ground ‘God’s acre!’ It is just. It consecrates each grave within its walls, And breathes a benison o’er the sleeping dusi.”’ A superficial observer will at once sce that this venerable Church belongs to a remote age. It is des- eribed as a “handsome gothic structure, with embattled tower, is dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin,” and is divided into a nave, chancel, and two aisles. The nave is 42 feet high, but from a memorandum on an old beam, the roof appears to have been considerably lowered in 1612. The length of the edifice is 98 feet, and its width, 87 feet. It is decorated in the old florid, gothic style, but has been greatly defaced. The east window of the nave is adorned with projecting tracery, and the east window of the south aisle is ornamented with equal, if not greater taste and beauty. The sexangular porch leading to the south aisle, with its fine groined roof, is greatly admired. Skelton has a _ 32 Altar Tombs. good picture of the Church, with its old tower, which was taken down in 1828. The new one is of the same elevation, but is dissimilar in some of its details. The fine altar tombs of Thos. Richards and his wife—300 years old—in the south aisle, and Richard and Agnes Croft, 70 years earlier, at the east end of the north aisle, are too well known to require any des- cription. The elaborately-executed plated armour of Richard, and the stiff ruffles, and antique dress of Agnes, are familiar to most of us. Leland says that Croft was once lord of the manor of Chipping Norton. The tomb was repaired by Richard Croft, of Warwick, in 1788. When I was a lad, I used to sit in an old square pew next to this tomb; and I well recollect the strange fascination which those grim, alabaster, pray- ing figures used to exercise over me. An immense pillar shut out the pulpit from our view, and the parson’s voice from our ears; and not being able to hear a sermon from the pulpit, the next best thing to do was to gaze on these cold, hard, and silent marble figures, and study ‘“‘Sermons in Stones,” or recall the beautiful lines of Henry Kirke White— “Lay me in the Gothic tomb, In whose solemn fretted gloom I may lie in mouldering state, With all the grandeur of the great: Over me, magnificent, Carve a stately monument, Then thereon my statue lay, With hands in attitude to pray, And angels serve to hold my head, Weeping o’er the marble dead.” Se Monumental Brasses. 30 Hard by this interesting tomb, and also within the enclosed space belonging to the mausoleum of the Dawxtns family, there are beautiful monu- mental brasses of considerable historical value. The Rey. H. Haines, M.A., in his ‘“ Manual of Monumental Brasses” (J. H. Parker, and James Parker, Oxford, 1861), gives the following list of brasses which the Church once contained :— “T. John Stokes, mercer, and wife Alice, about 1450, with merchant’s marks, worn, small.” “TT, John Yonge, wolman, 1451, wife Isabell, large.” “TIT. A Civilian, about 1460; feet of wife, and inscription, lost. Perhaps Wm. Acylton, gent., 1457, and wife Alice.”’ “TV. John Pergett, ironmonger, 1484, and wife Agnes, with 5 sons and 7 daughters ; merchant’s marks.” “V. A Lady, about 1500, probably Agnes Tanner, 1503.” “VI. John Ashefyeld, Esq., 1507 (effigy lost), and wife Mar- garet, with 4 sons, 1 daughter, and Holy Trinity.” ‘VII. Richard Tante, 1530, and wife Elizabeth, all lost but feminine effigy.” “VIII. W. Lyverche, John Tanner, Thomas Benet, 1531, and their wife Anne: effigies lost: 6 sons and 8 daugh- ters.” “Nos. L., IT., III., V.,.VII., VIII., which 15 years ago* were loose in the Churchwarden’s house, are relaid in the north aisle, and all misplaced, except No. I. Nos. IV. and VI. are at the west end of the Over Norton aisle. The inscriptions to No. VII., Thos. Grene (A.D. 1465) and wife, and Isabella Stokes (A.D. 1458), have disappeared.””—(Manual, Part II., p. 168.) In Part I., p. 260, Mr. Haines gives the names of twenty churches, including Chipping Norton, : from which brasses were either lost, or mutilated. * As the book was published in 1861, it is now 25 years. D 34 Inscriptions. The following inscriptions are copied from rubbings of brasses now in Chipping Norton Church, and for which I am indebted to the kindness of the Rey. Dr. Colles :— OS your charity pray for the souls of William Jiyverche, John Tanner, Thos. Benet, and Anne, the wife of them (p. 83, No. VIII), which Thomas deceased 20th day of February, in the year of our Lord God, 1531. On whose souls Jesu have mercy, Amen,” The dates of the decease of the two first husbands a are not given. II. “‘ By the grace of God, here lyeth John Yonge, some tyme Wolman of this towne, whiche dyed in the year of our Lord 1451. And Isabel, wyfe, and their children. On whose souls God have mercy.” > III. “ Here lyeth John Stokes, formerly mercer of this town (?), | and sit his Speke for whose souls may God be propitiated, Amen.’ Haines (Part II., p. 247) has two inscriptions that were formerly in the Church, but which have been lost :-— I. “Here lies Isabella, formerly wife of Robert Stokys, who died the 8th day of March, A.D. 1400. On whose soul may God have mercy.” II. “Here lies Thomas Grene, merchant, who died May 7th, 1465, and Margaret his wife. On whose souls, &c.” The reader is aware that in the fine brass effigy of John Yonge, he is represented as standing on a wool-. pack. Trade-symbols are of great antiquity. In the Lapidarian gallery of the Vatican (at Rome), there are many fine specimens that were taken out of the catacombs, which were used as burial places by the ~ early Christians. On one of the slabs there is the Trade Symbols. 30 figure of a sarcophagus, or stone coffin, with men en- gaged at work on it; while to the left is an effigy of a - male figure in a praying attitude, with the following inscription :—‘“ The holy worshipper of God, Eutropius, in peace.’ The sarcophagus represents the calling of EKutropius, as the woolpack does that of John Yonge. The dress of Mr. Yonge represents the fashion which prevailed in the middle of the 15th century, among gentlemen of his quality. Fashions did not change so rapidly as now, still, they were not by any means stationary. There was a marked change as compared. with the dress of the earlier part of the century. The tunic became shorter, sleeves less full; hose and shoes of one piece, with very pointed toes. Hair cropped short across the forehead, and round the head. After 1480, it was worn long. (Haines, Part I., p. 202). The merchants of those days had also their trade- marks, which were distinct from symbols. That of John Pergett, ironmonger (No. IV. in list of brasses), represents a shield with triple cross. Streamers are attached to the perpendicular line, and the initials of Mr. Pergett—J. A. P. (Manual, &c., Part I, p. 131.) It is a cause for regret that greater care was not taken in former years of these rare old art-treasures. Some of them disappeared about the year 1841, and were afterwards found broken to pieces, and put away in an old chest. Such a wanton destruction of memo- rials that cannot be replaced, is almost unpardonable. There were other antiquities that were removed about the same time, such as the ancient screen; but D2 36 | Squint Window and Rood-Loft. | every body in the town knows where that now stands. Think of the exquisite taste of removing an ecclesias- tical relic of a bygone age, from a place of worship, and putting it down at the entrance to a garden! Such acts of desecration cannot be too severely censured. The “ restoration of the Church,” in 1841—as it is called—was anything but what it professed to be; and must have been carried out by persons who were either profoundly ignorant of medieval art, or had no sym- pathy with it. Mention may be made im passing, of the sqguint-window, looking into the communion, where transgressors were wont to be placed. There was a rood- loft, but it has been destroyed. In the north-aisle, just underneath the memorial plate to the son of Henry Cornish, the doorway and part of the spiral staircase leading to the rood-loft may still be seen. Its summit was on a level with the top of the screen; and there is - still visible on each side, a pedestal of dissimilar workman- ship, and surmounted by a canopy. Originally, part of the Church Service was performed in the rood-loft. Here the Deacon read the Gospels, attended by a sub- deacon holding a book, and two clerks holding candles. The brass memorial plate to the son of Henry Cornish—the generous donor of the Alms Houses in Church Street—has been there nearly 250 years. He is described as “a child of rare understanding and learning,” and was removed by death at the age of ten years. The epitaph concludes with the following lines: ‘‘Such was thy life, yet livest thou ever; Death has his due, but diest thou never!” The Vicarage Pump. OV Many years since—how many I am almost afraid to think—I heard of an incident which took place in the old Church, which IJ will here relate. It was. at the close of a Sunday afternoon service, that a stranger lingered behind the congregation to look over the Church, which he greatly admired. He was also loud in his praise of the sermon that he had just heard. The sexton, who was a good type of his order, owed the Vicar a grudge, because he had recently walled in the pump in the Vicarage yard. This official told his grievance, and the visitor retired in sadness from the church. A “chiel” was within hearing, “ takin’ notes,” and shortly afterwards the following lines were found posted on the Vicarage pump :— “The sermon was ended, the pastoral sentence Of pardon and blessing pronounced on repentance, When a stranger, who stopped just to look at the building, The monuments, altar-piece, carving, and gilding, Remarked to the Sexton, his guide and conductor, ‘How light, yet, how neat is this elegant structure. And then, such a Minister! surely kind heaven This man to the town for a blessing has given ; How mild he advises each dear Christian brother, When smitten on one cheek, to offer the other; To show every mark of benevolence toward Not only the gentle, but also the froward. What infinite good must result from his preaching, Whose life is a comment, no doubt, on his teaching.’ ‘Ah! pardon me, Sir!’ said the Sexton, ‘ conclusions When hastily drawn, are too often delusions. We grant him his fame as a preacher and writer ; But instead of submitting his face to the smiter, Should one of his dear Christian brethren offend him, In a sermon full charged such a volley he’d send him; 38 Epitaphs. No art could protect him, no covering could shield, He must throw down his arms, and abandon the field. I have lived in the street, Sir, the whole of my life ; In my youth with my parents, and since with my wife; And I never before knew the neighbours debarred The use of the pump in the Vicarage yard: But, this man of benevolence built up a wall, Enclosing the pump, and excluding us all. "Twas in vain to remonstrate, he vowed he’d enclose it, Though the king or the d—1 stood by to oppose it. Replete though his fountain, no water he'll spare; So his dear Christian brethren must seek it elsewhere.’ The stranger looked thoughtful, but made no reply, Gave the Sexton his fee, and went out with a sigh!” This effusion has generally been ascribed to Joseph Higgins, but I have the impression that it was written by the late Samuel Leigh, who was a man of great and varied learning, and gifted with considerable wit and humour. He had attended Church that afternoon as a hearer, and had listened to the conversation * between the Sexton and the Stranger. The Churchyard is not rich in Epitaphs ; but there are two or three noticeable ones :— “Puitis, wife of Joan Humpureys, rat-catcher, Who has lodged in many a town, And travelled far and near, By age and death is now struck down To her last lodgings here.” 1768. ‘‘ ELIZABETH, wife of TxHos. EpinspurcH. 1720. * Behold, you that by my grave pass by, As you are now, so once was I, As I am now, so you must be, Therefore prepare to follow me.” Epitaphs. 39 _ I hope the members of the legal profession will not think there is any reflection on their calling in the next :-— “Wa. Eaton, gent., A learned and an honest lawyer.” 1721. On the left hand side of the path leading from Diston’s Lane to the south entrance to the Church, there is an elegy which used to attract a good deal of attention, but it 1s now hardly legible. Many years since, when Forest-fair was in its glory, a postilion named Thomas Boscott took a party to the great an- nual gathering on the fine slope beyond Cornbury Park.