i i THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES ©KIWIS'; 'JiV^ ■r vj,,- ■■.,'; ' ,v •'-'A. ."'•i-.-fR.i-.fcv W' A- ANNALS OF SWAINSWICK r •» THE ANNALS OF THE Parish of Swainswick {NEAR THE CITY OF BATH) ABSTRACTS OF THE REGISTER, THE CHURCH ACCOUNTS AND THE OVERSEERS' BOOKS R. E. M. PEACH AUTHOR OF 'rambles ABOUT BATH:' 'HISTORIC HOUSES IN BATH: ' HISTORY OF THE HOSPITAL OF S. JOHN, BATH ;' 'BATH OLD AND NEW;' 'BATH ABBEY CHURCH,' ETC. XonOon : SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE & RIVINOTON, Limited ffiatb: CHARLES HALLETT BLADUD LIBRARY, BLADUD BUILDINGS, AND 8 BRIDGE STREET \'t'\0 One Hundred Copies only of this Edition have been printed. of which Fifty have been numbered and signed, for sale. THIS COPY IS NUMBERED! ®eOicatc& bg iPermfssion TO The Rev. JOHN EARLE, M.A. RECTOR OF THE PARISH, PREBENDARY OF WELLS, AND PROFESSOR OF ANGLO-SAXJN IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD By his very obedient Servant R. E. M. PEACH 658522 CONTENTS. Title .... Dedication ... Preface .... SWAIN.SWICK— Origin and Derivation of Name The Manor . The Village The Church Incumbents . Memorials and Inscriptions in the Church and Churchyard TATWICK ..... Genealogy of the Gunnings in Relation to their Tatwick Possessions WILLIAM PRYNNE . Part II. Part III. Will of Thomas Prynne Will of William Prynne The Register of Swainswick (1557-1627) The Hyde-Clarke Family The Register of Swainswick (1629-1S00) Extracts from Parochial Accounts . Churchwardens' List . Poor Rate Book Accounts Old Paths and Folk Lore Fauna Flora Pedigree of the Whittington Family {folded Sheet) Index PAGE III V IX I 6 10 12 IS 17 22 30 32 47 S3 S8 59 62 74 84 98 «3o 135 174 1 78 180 iSi list of illustrations. Sketch Plan of Road, Brook, etc. . Brass and Inscription .... Frontispiece opposite page 14 PREFACE. BOUT ten years ago the late Mrs. Henley Jervis placed in my hands a fair copy, which she had made with no little care, intelligence and industry, of the parochial documents relating to the parish of Swainswiclc, with full permission to use them in any way I might think proper. On carefully going through those jiapers and records, I thought they were very valuable as illustrating the manners, customs, and rural and business habits of this small but very interesting village community, dur- ing a period of nearly three centuries. The records, when brought into juxtaposition with present methods and present circumstances, show with tolerable clearness the great contrast between the past and the present. The "good old times" may be fairly estimated by what, with more or less accuracy, may be called this village diary ; and although, in many respects, the moral and material condition of the community was far superior to that of many neighbour- ing villages, they fall far below the ideal perfection which is sometimes ascribed to them. The Prynnes, the Clarices, the Whittingtons, and the Gunnings kept the affairs of the parish comparatively straight ; but the bulk of the farmers and those into whose hands fell the parochial business, could not sign even their names, and the best of them scarcely possessed the intelligence and the culture which a boy of twelve in the village school could now exhibit. It is not easy to tell how "the lower middle class " in the " good old times " obtained even the small amount X Preface. of rough information which enabled them to get through their business and to perform their parochial duties, for in these records the whole charge to the parish for " skooling " does not amount to ten shillings. The sons of the squires, as we know, could be, and were sent to the Bath Grammar School, and all below them perhaps got a knowledge of the "ABC " at a dame's school. Having, in connection with a previous work, obtained some know- ledge of the parish in relation to W. Piynne and certain historic incidents, I endeavoured, by degrees, to prosecute further researches into the historj' of this " village community," with the intention of combining the results with Mrs. Henley Jervis's previous labours. But, having done all that I could, so far as my individual efforts were concerned, material elements were still wanting, which it was desirable to obtain before proceeding with the work. The descent of the manor, the devolution of the leases, and other details so essential to the elucidation of minute circumstances — especially as regards persons — were wanting. These, with other valuable matter, have been most kindly and fully supplied by Mr. C. L. Shadwell of Oriel College, Oxford. Bath, in the past, naturally exercised much influence over the village communities by which she is surrounded, and it is interesting to trace the inter-relations which subsisted between them. But this is more especially the case socially as regards those villages in which the squire has taken a leading part and become a popular idol — as in the case, for instance, of Sir John Harington and many successors at Kelston, the Hungerfords, Bassetts, Holders, Ralph Allen, etc., at Claverton and Bathampton ; and the family of Bridges at Keynsham. 15ut, during the seventecth century, at least, the remarkable personality of Prynne, and to some extent the prestige he derived from his grand- father,' brought Swainswick into closer and more important relations with Bath than either of those referred to. 1 W. bherston. Preface. xi These relations it has been my ardent desire to make clear ; and, if in this, as in other portions of my labour, my efforts have not been commensurate either with that desire, or the demands of the subject, I shall still indulge the hope that they are not altogether a failure. The activity, the learning, and the zeal displayed by the iletropolitan as well as the various Provincial, Historical, and Archa;ological Societies, seconded b}' the enterprise and ability of private individuals, during the last forty years, have done a vast deal in the promotion of research and the elucidation of obscure and interesting features of local history, more especially in the city and neighbourhood of Bath. In this respect, we owe no little gratitude to antiquaries like the Rev. Professor Earle, Mr. Emanuel Green, the Rev. Y. J. Poynton, to each and all of whom I owe a special acknowledgment for their kind and courteous help in this work. Nor must I omit to mention the kind assistance, so cheer- fully and obligingly rendered me by the Rev. L. Blomekield, Mr. Charles Terry, Mr. C. W. Dymond, Mr. J. D. Bu.sii, Mr. C. C. Gill, Mr. B. H. Watts, and Mr. W. J. Willcox. R. E. M. PEACH. B.\TH, 1890. SWAINSWICK. ©rigin anb Derivation of IRame. [WAINSWICK has been the subject of some speculation as to its origin. The tradition is that it derives its name from the fact that Bladud, after leaving Keynsham, and safely crossing the Avon at Swineford, with his pigs, took up his abode at the village ; and hence its name, Siuains- wick or Sioineswick. Wood,^ the historian of Bath, believed the whole history of Bladud, and relates it, with all its amusing exaggerations and accretions, as if it admitted of no historic doubt. The story, which may have been known for centuries, is mentioned by Geoffrey of Monmouth. Warner,^ in reference to the legend of Bladud and the swine, says " it was firmly believed for some centuries, and is attested in the works of almost all our early historians;" but although he quotes Leland ^ and Jones'* in support of this assertion, neither of those authors alludes to the pigs. Leland knew little about the legend except what he got from Geoffrey of Monmouth, and it is very doubtful if it became thoroughly known until Wood amplified the tradition, and invested it with the dignity of historic truth, by according his own unhesitating belief in its veracity and authenticity. Dr. Peirce, so far as we can trace, is the first who ' "Description of Bath," vol. i. 1749. The legend probably has as much truth as the legends of Rome. It is a concrete tradition of the British idea of the connection Ijetween the Sun and Thermal Waters. The Britons dominated as to liath, and, ex]iclle(l by Sa.xons, lingered about it at Walcot and Keyns' Ham, and thus kept alive the tradition embodied in Bladud. Briefly put, this is Professor Sayce's view. 2 " History of Bath," iSoi. ' " Itinerary," vols. 9 and 10. ' Dr. Jones, a Welshman, in 1572, wrote a quaint little book on the Bath Waters, "The Bathes of Bathes Ayde," in which he affirmed his belief in the story of Bladud, and cites a few of the crudest and mo6t ludicrous theories. Since this work was begun a curious manuscript by Jones has fallen into our hands, entitled "Galen's Book of Temperaments, First out of Latin into English, with Annotations in ye epitomi, written by John Jones, M.D., Author of the Baths of B.athes Ayde," 1573, S8 pages. Annals of Swainsivick. seriously connects the story of the pigs with Bladud and Bath history.^ The legend of Bladud itself is interesting, and some historians, after Wood's time, accepted the story as an accurate account of the found- ing of the ancient British city of Caerbreit, with its fortress Kaerbadus^ at a period contemporaneous with King Solomon. John Wood, the architect by whom modern Bath was designed and built, was a singular admixture of practical abilit}- and genius, combined with a marvellous passion for archaeological extravagances and Pj'thagorean circles, with every other form of astronomical and astrological nonsense derived from the old chroniclers.^ His book on Bath is a strange com- pound of astonishing credulity and most valuable knowledge. Ralph Allen (the Squire Alhvorthy of Tom Jones) discovered his genius, and helped, by his liberal and judicious patronage, to develop it. For his worthy patron he built in Bath a house of unusual beauty, as well as the statel}' mansion of Prior Park, and b}^ his judicious method of working the Bath freestone on Allen's estate, he established public confidence in its durability and other valuable qualities, which, from that time until now has caused it to be used more than any other stone for building and facing purposes. The preface to the second volume of the second edition of Wood's work on Bath has been rendered immortal by Macaulay, who quotes it in his eloquent description of the city. This book will, notwithstanding its obscure style and "mountebank diction," ' The earliest writer to whom we can trace the pig stor)' is I'eirce in his Bath Memoirs, pp. 172, 174. It may lie given by some earlier writer, but we have in vain looked for it, We have seen it aitribi.ted to Jones and Turner and other earlier writers. The former gives the story of Bladud but not of the pigs, the latter of neither. Henry Chapman, a shrewd but unscrupulous citizen of Bath, was, in early life, an adherent of royally; for a time he seemed to waver in his lojalty, but at the Restoration he became a veliement supporter of the royalist cause. Chapman wrote a clever brochure, entitled Thermic A'ei/hizv ; at the end of whicli he quotes certain doggrel lines purporting to be written by Tom Coryat, Init which were, no doubt, his own production. In these lines the reference to the pigs is a joke and a caricature, and as such was intended by the writer. A quotation '-f eight lines will make it clear : — " Lud Hudibrass, a meazle voule, did zend his zun a graezing, Who vortuend hither for to cum, and geej his pigs sum peazun. Poor Bladud, he was manger grown, his dad, which zum call valher, Zet liladiid pig, and pig Bladud, and zo they ved together, I'hen Bladud did the pigs invect, who, grunting, ran away, And vound whot waters presemly, which made him fresh and gay. lHaduti was not so grote a vool, but zeeing what pig nid doe, He bealh'd and wasb'd, and rins'd and beath'd, from noddle down to toe," ■ Cacr .1 city, and Bren a king. The ancient British name for the Bath, or ihe central portion of the city containing the springs, was Caer Einiaiiit, i.e., the City of Ointment. Another name for the city at large was Caer yr /faint Twynin, i.e. , the City in the Warm Vale. Caer PallaJiir, Caer Badon, were also ancient British names, signifying the City of Pa'las's Water and the City of Bath respectively. ' The Bladud legend he gives really from Geoft'rey of Monmouth. Origin and Derivation of Naine. ever remain a mine of information to those who seek to know any- thing of ancient or modern Bath. The judicious reader will know how to separate the wheat from the chaff — to discriminate between the wild theories and the facts — facts carefully arrived at, if not expressed with literary skill. When Wood died in 1754 he was buried by his own desire in the churchyard of Swainswick, which village he believed to have been founded by Bladud, son of Hudibras, in the reign of Solomon, king of Israel. If, however, Swainswick cannot boast an origin so remote as that claimed for it by Wood, according to some writers it is entitled to a kingly origin,^ from the assumption that Sweyn "held his camp on the heights of Swainswick," in 1013. On what evidence this statement is supposed to rest it is not easy to guess. Professor Fi'eeman does not say so.'^ ' " To our right and a little behind us lies the village rustically called Swanswick, improiierly Swineswick, refinedly Swainswick. This place has now for years been connected with the great world by the innovation of the Gloucester turnpike road. Bui all the time that Bath was grow- ing so great, and even long after it had grown so, the w'hole valley between us and Lansdown seems to have been left to the natives like an undiscovered land. Few strange monuments are found in this valley : here you may see a country churchyard where, with an occasional squire and parson, " The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep." " Nestled in the opposite brow of Lansdown is Charlcombe, whose church is said by tradition to be the mother-church of Bath. This church, as well as the other two old churches in this valley, namely, Langridge and Swanswick, are Norman structures, all nearly on one identical model, but differing now a good deal in appearance by reason of subsequent modifications. Of these three, Langridge preserves most of its original type, and Swanswick least. Langridge Church, and all about it, is most interesting and lovely, and solemn and romantic." — Professor Earle's Guide to the Knowledge of Bath. - "With Edgar the glory of England sank, and the reign of his elder son, Edward, was short and troubled, an John Swayne (with others) was the collector of the poll tax in Bath. He lived in a street Annals of Swainsioick. It seems to be a mere conjecture. It is most improbable that, having regard to the character of S\ve}n, and the enterprise on which he was bent, that he would have turned three miles out of his wa)- from the city of Bath to an obscure village to perform a function which was intended to show his power, and to impress a due sense of it upon the western chiefs. Moreover, as Professor Earle says : — " In the history of this name it is first to be observed that it docs not occur in Domesday, and there- fore presumabl}^ did not exist in 1086. But if the name was derived called Snvter Street, in which there were ihirtyeiyht heads of families. There was a Thomas .Swayne also in the same street, and the return includes "John, servant to Thomas Swayne." On looking over the earlier Roll (1340) we find a large proportion of persons bearing the names of the respective villages from which they came, with the prefix de before them. In the later poll tax returns the same names occur without the dc, marking a stronger and more definite recognition of citizenship. The same principle is illustiated in the case of others, whose birthplaces either weie not known, or who preferred being designated by their several callings, wivh the prefix le ; for instance, in the earlier lists, the names of the Webbes, the Mareshals, the Taylours, the Fullers, etc., all appear with the le before them ; whilst in the later Roll they aie simply Webbes etc. In the deeds and documents earlier than the 1340 Roll the manor is called Swayneswyke, and the names of several persons as Swayne with the de. It is clear that although this does not go far to settle the derivation of the name, yet it proves that it is of little less an- tiquity than the Conquest, and much older in its present form than other manors as they are now known. For example, in the 1336 Roll, Bathwick is still called Wyke Abbatisse ; in St. Michael's Accounts, it is referred to as Barewyke, a form of Bathwick, later as Berewyke, and finally as Bathwick ; Bathampton as Hampton, and Batheaston as Eston, and Bathford as Ford. In 1502, in the same accounts, there is mention made of the letting, locacio, of the "King's Crown" in the town, at Swaynswick, and at Mersfylde, (so spelt), that is Marshfield. No trace can be found of any inn oi that name at .Swamswick, but there was, we believe, a "Crown" at Marsh- field. The inn at the latter place, called the White Hart, was formerly the manor-house, the residence of the (Runnings. With reference 10 streets there is little difficulty in tracing the localities of the ancient streets, notwithstanding the changes in the modern nomenclature. Broad Street, or Brade Street, and Walcot Street remain as they were centuries ago. Bymnbury Street, a very ancient street, still exists, leading from the Bymnbuiy Walls, between the Royal United and Bellott's Hospitals. Byebathe Street (name known to few) was on the site of what was called Bell-tree Lane and now Beau Street. Mr. Emanuel Green, in his interesting and valuable paper on the Poll Tax in Bath, temp. 2, Richard II., referring to Sowter Street, says no trace of it can be found. In the record of the persons taxed and the streets in which they lived, there is no locality given which answers to Cheap Street and High Street, and there is no doubt that Sowter Street, from the number and quality of the persons taxed, must have occupied those sites, which were the ancient piiiiiipia, whilst Norgate or Noryegate Street was, of course, the Viciis Borealis of the Roman city. In Mr. Green's later paperon " Bath Lay Subsidies, from Henry IV. to Henr)' VIII.," the soundness of this view is rendered still more clear. No Sowter Street is mentioned in 1524, whilst " Chcpe " Street appears for the first time, and the parish of St. Mary Within, which had no place in the Poll Tax Roll [the earliest Rector being appointed in 1415], now forms part of the City, including Sowter Street, to the beginning of Cheap Street. How long St. Mary Within continued to exist as a parish after 1545, when the latest reference to it is made in this paper, is not clear ; but it seems probable that it merged into the parish of S. Peter and S. Paul about the year 1546, or whenever that parish was constituted after the Reformation. The last Rector was William Clement, appointed in 1541, resigned in 1545. The Church, with the exception of the tower, was pulled down about the same time. The conduit of .St. Mary remained until 1755. Origin and Derivation of Name. from Sweyn, who came to Bath in lOi 3, it would have been well established by that time, nor was it likely ever to grow afterwards. " In Domesday this place is one among several Wicks, which have since, all but one, acquired a distinguishing prefix — as, Tatwick, Bathwick. I suppose, then, that the prefix grew in popular usage, and that it began in the need to discriminate between the Wicks, and that the original sense is the homely one of swineherd, for so sivaii meant in old English. Now this word died out of literature, being perhaps partly suppressed by a cognate form sivain, which was from the Danish settlements, and be- came literary. "When I came here in 1857, the two pronunciations, Swanswick and Swainswick, were distributed in such a manner that it was clearly town against country. Not a single genuine Swanswicker said Swainswick. " The Oriel usage is curious and illustrative. As a fellow of Oriel I never heard anything but Swanswick. This is the traditional pronuncia- tion in the College, and j'et their writings show the form as Swainswick. That is to say, their writings are the work of townsmen, but their pro- nunciation was due to intercourse with the people, and the tradition of the pronunciation was strong enough to live on in the face of that spelling, ' Swainswick.'" Yet another h)-pothesis may be worthy of consideration — S/wainswick or Swanswick — water village, from its close proximity to the river. There are Wansfords and Swanfords, Swanburn, etc. The Celtic root is ar} water, and the prefix in such words — arsis. As good old Edward Lhuyd, the Oxford antiquary says, " from the industrious alteration of words " (by the common people) " for the easier speaking of them. B/ath itself is an instance of this ; W/ath in Yorkshire is another : both are the Celtic Ath, or ford. Bath/ford has the modern word added, so Ath/lone, Water/ford, and many others."^ We quote a short passage from that quaint book, I'olydore Virgil's " English History," vol. i. page 254, published by the Camden Society. After speaking of Sweyn's discomfiture in his attack on London, 1013, he goes on — " The Danish prince, whilest he coveted to succoure his companie, and to maynetayne the victorie which he reckened to bee allreadie in his handdes was environed of his enemies, bothe on the right handc and on the lefte, not withoute greate occision of his menne, see that necessitee urged him to breake forthe in the middest of his enimies weapons, and bothe daye and nighte, for the space of two dayse hee tooke his journie toward Bathe. This certio was a singuler and notable fighte, wheerin ' See Rev. Isaac Taylor's " Words and Places," p. 144. - " A/h ; Erse; a ford, e.g., Athlone," Ibid., p. 331 B Aiinals of Swainswick. the Englishe people didd well specifie their manwhode and valiance, who havingc Etheldredus to their capetan, a mann of small corage and lesse wisdom, didd repell so mightie hostillitee from the assault of the citee. While Swene sojornied at Bathe hee was soe molested with penurie of come, that he was constrayned to suffer the Englishemen to redime of him the tribute wherwith the realme before was levied, after the which receipte of this monnie he retiercd into Denmarck mindinge with a great number in all speede to returne againe into this lande." This passage seems to forbid the probability of Sweyn deliberately wasting his time and resources in climbing a steep and rugged hill to reach this village without any ostensible purpose.^ William of Mahneslmry, in reference to the same event, says, "With his shattered army Sweyn retreated to Bath, when Ethelmer, governor of the western district, with his followers, submitted to him." Ube /IDanor. At least as early as the Thirteenth Century the Manor of Swains- wick was held by the familj- of Husse, or Hussey, perhaps descended from \^'altcr Hosatus, whose name occurs repeatedly in Domesday. From this family it passed to William de Iford, who purchased it in l6 Edw. III. It was again sold by his brother Nicholas to Henry Forde, 41 Edw. III., and continued apparently with his descendants, and their feoffees, until 1521, when it was bought by Dr. Richard Dudley, and by him gi\en to Oriel College, Oxford, the present lords. The following document exhibits the state of the Manor at the time of its acquisition by the Forde famil}- : — ROLL OF TENANTS OF THE MANOR, .\.D. 1369. 43 Edw. IIL (Copied from an original A/S. in Oriel College Aluninient Room). [This Roll is important, as supplying information elucidator)' of the history of the manor, and its Ircal distribution and occupation at an early period, of which no local historian, so far, has availed himself.] Curia Henrici de Forde &: supervidentium suorum ibidem tenta die Mercurii prox. ante festum Sancti Thome Apostoli, anno xliij"- Henry de Forde, son of John de Forde, purchased the manor and advowson of Swains- wick in this year, 1369. This was probably his first court, held for the purpose of putting on record the state of the manor under its new lord. (See note on page 14. ) ' It seems probable that at some earlier period the village tradition got mixed up with Swanwick, now corniptly called Swanage. The Saxon Chronicle (A.D. S77.), says that a Danish fleet was defeated at Swanawic, on the south cuast ; and it has been conjectured, with some probability, that a chief bearing the common Danish name of Sweyn may have been in command, from whom we derive the name of " Sweyn's Bay." Rev. Isaac Taylor's "Words and Places," p. 120. The Alaiior. Nicholas Fouke tenet in feodo unum mesuagium & cartas parcellas terre per redditum i lb. piperis ad festum Sancti Michaelis & quia ignoratur de certi- tudine terre &c. Ideo habet diem ad prox. & fecit fidelitatem. ^''"''rid iftoYhis Ja'je "'""'' "^ ^°"'''' °'"'"" *''''^^"'="">- in the Oriel deeds, both before Juliana Warvn tenet certas parcellas terre &c. per redditum xij" ad Gulam AugustL Non fecit fidelitatem. Johannes Tomlyns fecit fidelitatem & recognovit tenere quoddam tene- men urn voc Paketestonesmede per redditum xij'. Idem tenet unum toftum cum curtilagio juxta pontem de Lambrige, & venit ad levationem prati de Wanteham. L.-imbnge : Lambridge at Lower .Swainswick. Wanteham : Wandham mead in Swainswick. Johannes Torner de ^Volfryngton tenet in feodo unum mes' & unum ferdele terre per servicmm i'> ad festum Sancti Michaelis. Non fecit fidelitatem Ideo distnng . ■'°^"fHw"?t'''a^°!^'"^'m'/ °T °K)^f "^"'^ ^"'' l^'''"^'^ '^ ^ P^^'y '° 'l-^eds temp. . ;,. 4."°*" ^o'tl l^^nds to Richard Dudley in 1526, now part of the CoUeee ""uu ,^^°'f''>'"P°" 'V''"^ ^"'''•■"' "^"""^ ^°' Wolvenon.' It may be observed although John Torner, Torney or Turney, appears to have derived his name from }\olverton (Wolfryngton)— "John Tomer de Wolfryngton,"— yet, by the list of incumbents it seems he was the patron in 132S. Previous to that date, moveover he exercised the rights of " lord " or owner. Collinson, however, gives us no in- formation anterior to Edw. IV. He says :-In 19 of Edw. IV. " Walter Tumev d'u-M''4?'' °^ '.'"^ """°''' "'•^''^'^ ^"^ ''^'^ °'' Jo'i" Wadham, Esq., leavina issue Philip Turney, his son and heir. This family bore Argent, a chevron between three bulls passant sable, attired, or, they were lords also of Telsford. Bv an in- quisition taken at Norton,! July, 6 Hen. VIII., it was found that Philip the son of John Turney by Elizabeth his wife, died that year seized of the manors of \\oolverton, Weke, Telsford, Chatley, and Swanswick, and that John Turney was his brother and next heir, of the age of twelve years (Inq. post mort. Philip Thomas Rushude ut in rotulo. Distring'. Prior Bath, ut in rotulo. Johannes Dedemull tenet per scriptum unum mes' & unum molendinum aquaticiim & mull fulle [fulling mill] aquaticum & ferdele terre cum pertinentibus per redditum xx' &c. John Dedemull : This n.ame is to this day associated with the mills at Lower Swainswick. Ded Mills corniptly Dead Mills), from this John Dede ; a corruption probably of JJe le Mull. The derivation had been or seems to have been overlooked and dropped out of local records. With so obvious an origin it is singular that such an absurd derivation should have been ascribed by recent writers, namely, that many ot the slain and wounded at the battle of Lansdown were removed there and hence the name Dead Mills. If we look at its position, and the difficulty of access from the site of the battle at that time, and at the fact of its close proximity to nailers line of march, when he evacuated Bath and retreated to Devizes, the theory becomes ludicrous. The mills, until the beginning of the present century- were used in the manufacture of gunpowder. * Near Krome. 8 Annals of Swainswick. Idem tenet ij parcellas prati voc' Herstan per redditum vi' viij'', sectam curie & iij sallinas & i gallum de Churshete ad festum Sancti Martini & i" voc' Hen- peny ad festum Ascensionis domini & dominus & omnes famuli ejusdem debent molere Stempnefre &c., & habet diem ad ostendendum scriptum ad prox' & veniet ad messionem per duos dies &: veniet ad levationem omnium pra- torum &c. Churshete : Church shot or scot, an ecclesiastical due, payable on the day of St. Martin, consisting chiefly of corn. Stempnefre: free of charge: see Ducange s.v. Stemnefreoch. JOHANN'.\ ATTE MuLLE tenet unam domum ij acras terre in Westfeld in diiabus parcellis una jacet inter terras Henrici Champeneys & Johannis Webbe & alia jacet subter la Mullene inter terras doinini & persone per redditum ij° vj"* ad iiij"' terminos usuales. Item, reddit viij'' pro una parcella terre & iij capones ad festum Nativitatis Domini & habet diem ad prox' &c. Johaxxes Webbe fecit domino fidelitatem unum mes' quod fuit J- Hoke & unum ferdele terre cum pertinentibus per redditum iiij' & solvet ad festum Sancti Thome Apostoli i lb. cere & dominus solvet unam lb. sarclabit per dimidiam diem ad pratum de Wantham ad levationem per dimidiam diem & per diem integrum ad messionem sectam curie & huntret servitio Regis. Henry Champneys : one of this name, son of John Champneys of Kilmyngton, bought a messuage in Swainswick, 14 Edw. III. John Webbe : a well-know n Swainswick name. This John Webbe in all probability was the grandfather of Edward Webbe, the agent of the College from 1529 to 1573. Idem tenet unum pratum voc' Calfheye de dominico domini per redditum vj" tolcestrum. Caltheye : Calfliays, name of a field in Swainswick. Tolcestrum : a payment to the lord for leave to brew. Adam Wysdom tenet unum mes' & ferdele terre secundum consuetudinem manerii per redditum vij' ad iiij"' terminos, Churshete & hertpeny & denarium beati Petri ad ecclesiam, tolcestrum levabit & vertet ad quinque prata videlicet & sarculabit per dimidiam diem & messionem i diem &c. Idem tenet ij acras in duobus campis & unum pratum voc' A\'ysdamesmede per redditum iiij*. Item i acram terre desuper Westwode per redditum iiij'' & i acram terre in Vig' campo & quoddam pratum voc' ^Vestmede per redditum dimid. marc. Item tenet quandam domum quam Robertus Attemull prius per eundem redditum. Erit prepositus. Adam Wysdom : the name of Henry Wysdom occurs in a deed temp. Edw. I. in Munim. Oriel. WiLLELMUS BoLiFANT fecit fidelitatem & tenet unum mes' & unum ferdele terre per redditum v' & per alia sicut Adam Wysdom. Idem tenet unum aliud cotagium ut in rotulo. Idem tenet parcellam pasture juxta Botcheswell pro qua reddit i'' ad ecclesiam voc' Peterspeny. The iManor. Idem tenet unam parcellam spineti ad emendandum tenenientum suum in recompensam unius acre terre quam Henricus Champenays cepit &c. Erit prepositus &c. WiLLELMUS Goi.DYNG tenet unum ferdele terre ut in rotulo & omnia facit sicut Adam Wysdom preter quod reddit denarium beati Petri & fecit fidelitatem & non erit prepositus. WiLLELMUS David fecit fidelitatem & tenet in villa unum mes' & unum ferdele terre per redditum vij' & omnia alia sicut Adam Wysdom. Adam Wud tenet unum mes' & unum ferdele claus' terre per redditum videlicet ij acras terre juxta la P"ossway sxjper Longmede & i acram, terre juxta crucem in campo orientali. Et in campo occidentali i acram dimid' cum deyle e terra Johannis Sturye per redditum viij' Churshete & omnia sicut Adam Wysdom. Preceptum est quod reddat in manus domini. Longmead : This is still a well-known locality in the City of Bath. Nicholas Foke tenet cotagium quod fuit Henrici Hudd ad voluntatem per redditum ij'. Henry Hudd : one of this name appears 6 Hen. VHI. in Munim, Oriel. Hudd is a name still common in the city of Bath. Johannes Thressher tenet cotagium & villenagium quod fuerat per redditum xii'' ad voluntatem. Johannes Taillor atte Hoke tenet i acram terre & parcellam clausi per redditum vi'^ ad Michs. & Hok. Agnes Estun tenet unam acram terre apud Fulewelle in campo orientali & dimid. acram in Aysbhcombe in campo occidentali & i acram apud Anokwelle dimid. acram in Smitfeld. Walterus Shephurd i acram terre apud Woljnch de terra Sturye per redditum xij*". WiLLELMUS Bolifaunt pro toto homagio presentat quod remanet in manu domini unum tenementum cum pertinentibus quod fuit Johannis Sturye con- tinens unum ferdele terre. Unde Adam Wud tenet i acram dimid. in Naille. WiLLELMUS David i acram voc' Shofelbrode acre, Willelmus Goldyng dimid. acram terra & i parvam spelam bosci pro quadam capitali terra quam dominus tenet penes se de dominico suo, Walterus Shephurd tenet i acram per xij"" in orientali, Adam Estun i acram apud Fulwell & residuum jacet in manu domini. Adam Eston : he and Alice his wife are mentioned in a Deed lo Edw. HI. Item, unum tenementum quod fuit Thome Goldyng remanet Integra in manu domini. Item, tenementum Ade Geffrey unum ferdele terre. Unde Adam Wud, tenet i acram apud Fordeleya in Estfeld juxta Difusse, Willelmus David C lo Aftiia/s of Szi>ai7is7i'ick. i acram terre apud Annokwelle & ij parcelle terre de eodeni tenemento & de tenemento Sturye occupate sunt per Magistrum Sancti Johannis per tres nnnos ad mortem Willelmi Iford. Gefifrcy : Edith, daughter of William Geffrey, acquired a messuage in Swainswick, ,?o Edw. I. William Iford : lately lord of the manor ; his brother and heir, Nicholas de Iford sold the estate to Henry Forde. Item, tenementum quod fuit Roberti Midewynter continens ij acras. Unde Adam Wvsdom occupavit toftum & croftum & residuum remanet in manu domini. trbc IDillaoe. The village of Upper Swainswick and the church are about three miles north-eastward from the Guildhall of the city of Bath. In its main characteristics the village remains pretty much what it was three centuries ago. In front, looking westward, across a narrow gorge, lies the village of Woolley,^ and above rise the heights of Lansdown. North westward, up the valley, nestles the village of Langridge, situated on a spur or ridge of Lansdown — hence its name, Langridge or Longridgc, or hog's back ; and to the south-east Little Solsburj-.- ' Formerly a detached part of the hamlet of Bathwick, and still ecclesiastically attached to the rectory of that parish. The houses form a figure of the letter T. The manor and church of Woolley, or Woolley Abbas, with Baihwick (now an integral part of the city of Bath), were presented in 12SS to tlie Convent of Wherwell in H.mipshire, the gift being confirmed by Pope Gregory IX. At the Reformation Woolley passed to William Sherston, and thence to the Wyatts, and from the latter it was purchased early in the eighteenth century by William Parkin, Esq., who bequeathed it to Elizabeth Parkin of Ravenfield, ^'orkshire. This lady, in 1761, employed John Wood, the younger, to rebuild the church, which has scarcely a single merit to boast of, notwithstanding the eminence of the architect. In iS"j, on lowering the pulpit, a parchment was found on which was engrossed, " Delapsura anliqua capella hanc splendidioreni sola impensa Elizabetha Parkin de Ravenfield agro Eboracensi et hujus Manorii Woollei Doniina aedificaii jusit, anno Chrisli 1761." Miss Parkin in 1791 devised the Manor of Woolley to her kinsman, Matthew Worgan, Esq. In Woolley church there is a tablet to Mr. Worgan's mother, who died on the 24th of March 1767. The mills appear to have been in existence for some three centuries, and were long used as gunpowder mills. At present they are flour-mills. - "At the southernmost extremity of the Cotswold Hills, overlooking the valley of the Avon, there is an almost isolated eminence, which is the most commanding, though not the highest of its group, and which from its shape is calculated to draw the attention of the spectator. From most points of the compass it appears as a truncated cone, with a flat top of about half the diameter of its base. The flatness of the top is common to all the hills in this oolitic district, and it is only the combination of this feature with the profile of the sides that gives it an air of singularity. " But if this eminence is peculiar in its shape, it is no less remarkable by position. The explorer who, attracted by its uncommon aspect, has reached its level top, is thence enabled to command a view of the valley of the Avon through a greater extent of its course than would be possible from any other point. For almost at his feet the river, which comes flowing towards iiim from the south through the long and lovely valley of Warleigh, makes a bend abruptly to the westward, and draws his eye to the nest-like hollow where the city of Bath reposes. It is the peculiar advantage of this position, that it aflibrds him an extensive view of the valley of the The Village. 1 1 The village is as primitive as it was at Prynne's birth, nearly 300 years ago, and the garden of the house in which he was born has been little changed during that long period. The fronts of the houses for the most part face the gardens, not the street. river, both upwards and downwards, such as he could comrnand from no other- point. Besides this home view, there is also an expansive general prospect reaching to Alfred's Tower at .Stourhead, which is situated at the opposite extreme of the county. Nor are these all the peculiarities of this peculiarly-shapen and peculiarly-stationed eminence. It has a peculiar name. Placed in the midst of names of a common everyday type, it has itself a name that a man must travel far to match, if indeed he can match it anywhere. It is called Solisbury or Solsbury. This is a name that recalls romantic places, like .Salisbury Plain and Salisbury Crags, but whether it has any affinity with these must depend on what these shall be decided to mean. I shall endeavour to ascertain the meaning of our "Solisbury" alone. In the "Itinerary of .Vntoninus," we find Bath under the name of Aqua: Solis, i.e.. The Waters of the Sun; and we might have been content to see in this a mere Roman designation totally excluding the know- ledge of any previous name, and superseding any native associations rooted to this locality before the Romans came. Happily, however, the diligence of learned antiquaries has found a way for us through the Roman barrier. It seems clear from the inscribed stones that have been from lime to time dug out in various parts of Bath, that under this name Solis we have something more interesting to us than the genitive case of Snl, the sun. It is found spelt Sul'vti the connection dea Sid-Mittencc, which shows that it was the name of a divinity, and that this .Sul was identified in attributions with the Roman's Minerva. We take the fact as established, that Solis, however understood or misunderstood by the Romans, represents Sul, a local and native sacred name, which these waters owned before ever a Roman bathed in them. "And with this we return to the consideration of SOLIS BVRY or SOLSBURY. The termination ' bury ' signifies a fort or stronghold, and it is to the English language what Arx was to the Latin, or toAis in its archaic use, equivalent to aKpov ufcYJOTroAw, was to the Greek. " It seems, then, that Solsbury is Arx Solis or Sulis, and that this name sets up a claim as of some special relationship, having subsisted between this hill and this city of Aquse Solis or Sulis. This conclusion, which speech-lore alone might justify, looks very secure when surrounded by its evidence, viz., of inscriptions, itinerary, local configuration and position. " To what, then, does this lead ? It leads us to catch a glimpse of an answer to the question with which this chapter opens. It suggests that in the days when this country was occupied by an indefinite number of petty nations, and when these were so commonly in a state of war with each other, that the open country was exoosed to frequent raids, — a position of natural strength exercised on the population just the same kind of attraction that a castle did in times nearer to our own. How many a modern town owes its existence to a medijeval baron, who chose the then solitary spot to pitch his castle on. So, in more remote ages, when an isolated hill was the best refuge, these hills became in like manner the parents of cities. Such is the history of Old Sarum and Salisbury — such is the history of Edinbur^'h, which is grouped about its "maiden castle " — of Dorchester, whose "maiden castle " is as far from the lown as Solsbur)- from ancient Bath — of Durham, if one may be guided by appearance, analogy, and name — of Corinth with its Acrocorinthos, and Syracuse with its Acradina. " But the most striking topographical parallel which can, perhaps, anywhere be found to illus- trate this probable relation between Solsbury and Bath, is afforded by Florence, and its (reputed) parent-fortress, Fa-sulce. Three miles N.N. E. of Florence rises the ancient Ar.r, which now goes by the village name of Fiesole, but which was once the fortified town o( Fusuhr. It occu- pied the summit of the hill, an advanced post or buttress of the Apennines, overlooking the Val d'.^rno, as Solsbury overlooks the Valley of the Avon. No one can turn a practised eye on Solsbury without at once perceiving that, moderate as it is in elevation, it possesses almost all the qualities desirable in a popular hill fortress. The level top of 30 acres area, spacious enough to accommodate a considerable population, would be available in a moment of alarm for all the neighbouring people, with their flocks and herds and moveables. Here they could 12 Annals of Swainswick. On approaching Upper Swainswick b}' the winding hill from the Foss- way, there is an "occupation road or lane" branching off from the main road, which leads directl)' to the lower part of the village, and to the church with its peaceful churchjard. trbe Cburcb. The church^ is dedicated to St. ]\Iar\', and is made up of chancel, nave, western tower, southern porch, noilh aisle, and ladye-chapel. The early church must have been simple and beautiful. Enough remains to assure us of that. The Norman work of the inner church door, as distinguished from that of the porch, with its cushioned capitals, head terminals, chevroned arches, and dog-toothed label, is one of those admir- able specimens of art of which many are still preserved around us. The beauty of the early church is indicated by what remains of the delicately-moulded jambs and the flowing lines of the tracery. The beautiful and unique three-light window (to the east of the southern porch), with its quaint and uncommon ogee head, hood, and finished terminal, is as early as 1300. The outer door of the porch has also an ogee head, and the remains of a similar terminal to the hood can be traced. The other windows of the old and leaning south \\all consist of a fine example of the Decorated, and a high pulpit window of the Perpen- encamp, and let the danger pass. It is precipitous enough for defence, and yet not so steep as to be inaccessible for horned cattle. Above all, its sides are well supplied with water, that requisite without which the most inviting positions are untenable. "In estimating the impoitance of an ancient site, the archsologist will always glance at the adjacent roads. Not at the modern highways of communication and traffic, but at those sequestered byways where, if anywhere, the fairies frolic still. These are mostly of high antiquity, and they often point silently to spots once frequented and celebrated, now deserted and silent. The old road at Bathford, the ferry at Bathampton, and the roads leading to it, may possibly contain a tacit allusion to the ancient greatness of Solsbury. We venture a surmise that if the system of pre-Roman roads in this part could be recovered, it would be found that this hill was the centre towards which they converged. In short, we shrink not fiom the responsibility of opining that Solsbury was something more than a hill-fort occupied merely on an emergency ; that it is the venerable site of a well-inhabited and populous British city. " But not to urge this opinion on the re.ader, we would assert no more than this, that in Solsbury we seem to find the first favourable condition for the congregation of a population in this valley. That Solsburj- was once a city, and that I'.ath was colonised by a migration there- from, is a supposition that may be accepted or rejected ; but that it was the Arx or ' burg ' of the Avon valley, and of the city of Sul, is hardly likely to be disputed. It matters little whether it actually gave a population to the city beneath it, or only fostered the growth of the city by its facilities for retreat ; in either case Solsbury must occupy the first chapter in a History of Bath." — Professor Earle's Guide to the Kticnvled^e of Bath, etc. 'Professor Earle truly s.iys, that within a circle of seven or eight miles, there are many churches rich in remains of the Norman period. Charlcombe church, which has a very good Norman arch; Langridge church, again, has a most splendid Norman arch. Remains of the same period are likewis: to be found at North Wraxall, Swainswick, and Twerton. The C/ucrc/i. j - dicular penod. On the south side of the chancel is a three-licrht round- headed I erpendicular window, and certain modern work which we must a low to speak for itself. The square western tower is built into the church, and on the north side of this end of the nave, its western face being nearly flush with the western face of the nave and more recent north ais^le The south-east angle of the tower, with the Decorated arches which carry it, is supported on a canted pillar, and the an-le overhanging the eastern side is finished by a squint. The nave floor is continued under the tower for the bell-ringers. Under the impost- moulding of the arch, on the eastern face of the tower, are the remains of a beautiful early crocketted and canopied niche. The belfrv is lighted on each face of the tower by a trefoil-headed two-light window The top of the tower has saddle-back roof, with a simple parapet, and theie still remains the old squmt-window-opening in the north face of the tower. In 1847 the Rev. J. P. Maud, finding the bells out of tune, had them recas and hung in new frames. The original peal bore inscriptions 3.S lollow ; — ^ I. Rex ex Regin.\ be.a.ti 1664. ^'*;^- (R P feeT^ Clarke, Lawrence Waldrun, John Nodes, Churchwardens. 3. FiLi Dei, ora pro nobis. 4. Anno Domini 1636. 5. These bells were cast at the charge of the parish, Benjamin Tanner Llrk.; George Clarke, Lawe. Waldrun; John Nodes. '^■"■- 1664. The north aisle is Perpendicular, and is lighted on the north side by a two-hght, well-moulded, recessed window, with carved terminals to the hoods, and one good four- light Perpendicular window The entrance to the ladye-chapel at the end of the north aisle was by a narrow door with a low four-centred arch and carved spandrels On the west jamb there are the remains (much mutilated) of a stoup with Its curious terminal, and carved and crocketted head. At the eas't end of the ladye-chapel is a four-light, flat-headed window, with square drip stones. ^ ^ The north aisle opens into the nave by two moulded Perpen- dicular arches, and a small one of a nondescript character at the east end i hcse arches are supported on moulded piers, with attached pillars havin^ good moulded abaci and bases. For the support of figures small corbels project from these pillars. The chancel arch has the usual mou dings, without any special character. The base of the font is Early h-nghsh, but the octagon bowl is probably modern. 14 Annals of Swainsiuick. The ladye-chapel opens into the chancel by a good four-centred arch, with sunk panelled traceried soffits, similar to many yet remaining in Somerset churches. In the east wall of the ladye-chapel is a moulded corbel for the support of an image of the virgin, and close by in the south wall a stoup. There are remains of a recessed tomb in the north wall. The car\'ed spandrel of the arch still shows above the pews. On the east side of the south wall, on entering the church, are the remains of a once beautifull)- canopied and crocketted niche of the Decorated period. The curious old hatchment now over the door inside has C. R. 1647, with the Ro\-al Arms. No mention of it is made in the Churchwardens' Accounts. William Pr}-nne most probably had it put up. Formerly it was o\er the chancel arch. The chancel is approached by four steps from the nave ; and in the floor, before the altar rail, there is a very interesting brass in a good state of preservation, bearing the following inscription : — "(Dratc yf ;uu (£timiii5i fforic' lie StUiUiufflnrikc armigeri qui obtit xbij" bic J^ebrnnrij, ^^ lint ina-cc.v.v.vi.v rt Jl» %w\x llco'^j ^u-uvici ln'° yoft ronqucftu .vliiij" nii« au ^J pirictur Jni .'" On three scrolls over his head, "Crcbo quob Tilcticmptor incus Hibit ct in nobiffimo iic ic terra {urrecturus fum. 0:1 in ranu uuo Ijiirbo '^m falbatovr men." The stone in which this brass is fixed seems to have lain formerly on a raised tomb. [Illustration 11.] ' In 1345 the name of Richard de Forde is to be found as a citizen of Bath, living in ''Norgate" Street. He is de.scribed as an "artificer," that is, a manufacturer of cloth. The industry at that time was very flourishing, and appears to have been divided into two branches — namely, the weaving and fulling, i.e., the process of scouring, cleansing, and thickening, by beat- ing the cloth in its unfinished state. This part of the manu-facturing was a distinct branch and carried on by an important class of men called filators, fullators, or fullers — hence the name Fuller. This Richard de Forde paid 5s. poll-tax, an equal sum having been paid only by another citizen, a "pety marchant," called John Conipe. It seems probable that this wealthy Richard de Forde was the Edm. Forde of Forde. There was a Henry de Forde, Rector of St. Michael's, Bath, who in 1339 exchanged {per mu:) with Robert de Aisshelegh [Ashley]. We have no doubt that the Webbes were originally Bath clothiers. The name is generic from their calling, and appears on the same rolls. "In Ford, in Ley, in Ham, in Ton The most of English surnames run." InciDubents, 15 INCUMBENTS OF SWAINSWICK. ■ .T'^'L'^°"^Pi?[5„'*'^'^ "^ Incumbents here given is from the " Somerset Incumbents " in the Hugo MS S., 30, 279-80, in the British Museum, recently edited and pubhshed by the Rev. Frederic William Weaver, M.A. This work is one of the most valuable contributions lately made to Somerset Bibliography. The Notes are an addition. Date of Institution. Incumbent. How Vacated. Patron. Ref. to Bishop's Register. 1297 13:8 1328 1332 1336 ij. Kal. Jun . I336xvii. Kal. .Sept. ■345 'J. Non. Mail. WiLLELMUs (persona) Will de Bathon ' . JoH. Prince' . Tho. de Rvsindon 3 . JoH. Prince Will ue Southam . Ron. Brewes de Lovvng- per mort. W. de E. per mut. per mut. Joh. Tornv Edm. Husee Ed.m. Husse Pryn., 3, 711. Drok., 13. 278. Rad., 56. 153- 142. TON Will. Schaw . Will de Iforde 304. 1402 1402 1431 July 23 Oct. 13. Mar. 15 John Smvth Euw. Kemi'Lev . Will. Whit . JOH. VaTE .... per mut. c. W. S. . EuM. Forde, domicellus . EuM. Forde EuM. Forde, arm. Bowet, 19. 20. Staff., 75. 1448 Mar. 14 John Daw ah. Hemmyn, 14.S1 Dec. 2 . A. B JoH. Taylor ah. Pem- per res. J. Y. Edm. Blunt, arm. . Beck., 85. broke .... per res. J. D. 135. 1454 Sep. 6 . JoH. Mathew . pcrmort. J.T.a/.P. " 184. 1466 Sep. 22 Will. Clyfton. per dimiss J. M. . Still., 6. 1469 July 8 . . Joh. .\ugrvme . per res. W. C. Margareta qute fuit. uxor, Edm. Blunt . 26. Sep. 15 Ric. Thomas . per mort. J. A. ,, ,, 27. '459 Mar. 30 Tho. Pvcher per mort. R.C. (j?V) Joh. Husy, mil. et Marg. uxor sua .... King, 35. 1504 Apr. 22 Tho. Blakebokowe . per res. T. P. Joh. Hl'sv, mil. Vac, King, 9. 1547 Aug. 31 Tho. Ireland . per mort. T. B. .-Vnth. Wayte, gen. . Knight, 35. 1558 Jan. II Joh. Rawe * . . . per mort. ult. rect. John Smith, praepositus aulae beal^ Mariae Oxon (Oryel Coll.) . Bourne, 35. 1577 April 10 Ric. Daws, A.M.^ . per mort. J. R. .^NTON. BLtNCow, priep. Collegli Orielensis . Bark., 46. 1629 Jan. 2 . Benj. Tanner"' . Succ. R. D. . Joh. Tanner, et Rob. Davies, a.c. per pr^posi- lum, etc., coll. Oriel Curl, I. 1674 June 20 Joh. Tailour, A.M.' per mort. B. T. . Hester BAViE,[BaYe]vidua Mew, 11. 1728 July 12 Joh. WoLLlN, A.M." per mort. J. T. Prajp. et Scholares collegii Oriel . . . ° . Wynne. 1735 Dec. 13 Joh. Penn, A.B. p^r cess. J. W, ,, ,, j 1744 . William Walker per mort. J. P. ,, ,, 1 Will'es. 1811 . Joh. Poole per mort. W. W. . ,, „ Beadon. 1857 John Earle per mort. j. P. >i » Auckland. ' In the first year of his incumbsncy Will, de Bathon seems to have met with ill-will {tnalitia) from his Hock, the Bishop, therefore (John de Drokensford), granted him " /./<:. absentendi" x.q leave his benefice to fitting persons for two years, and to act as Cathedral Vicar of WelU. Again, in 1324, the same Bishop granted to K jbert Rums p:)wer to act as cjaijutor to " Will de Bathe, senior Cathedral Vicar and Rector of Swainswick who is disabled by age and blmdnes^, to take care of his revenues, parishioners, and person." - Ccssit ad vicariam de Chippenham {Sarur/i). ^ Ccssit ad Chippenham. * It seems that John Rawe resigned sometime before Davys was appointed, his funeral taking place, according to the re^jister, on the 8th D.;cember 1575^ so that the living was vacant sixteen months. \_Notes to this Table continued on following pag€.\ 1 6 A iinals of Sicainsivick. 3. Overseers^ Accounts — 1674 William Fry, Curate. 1676 John Taylor, Rector, his signature repeated to April 21, 1712. 1712 John Hillier, Minister, and again 1713 when this book ends. 4. Poor Rates, etc. — 17 1 5 April 20, John Hillier, Minister. 1717 April Z2, John Taylor, Rr. 1720 April iS, "Walter Robbins, Minister. „ , , . „ f And this formula continues year by 1729 \\ alter Robbins, Curate. ^ .^^j. '737 June 21, John Penn, Rector. 1740 August 24, Walter Robbins, Curate. 1749 Walter Robbins, Minister. 5. Marriages, 17S4-1S11 — „. ,, „ (This is the first 'Rector' in this book, and 1803 \^llllam Walker, Rector I indeed the only one. 1S14-1S47 Rev. John Primal Maud was Curate, but he invariably signed him- self " Minister," and is so called on the Memorial Tablet. 1S47-1857 Rev. G. Dance was Curate. The ancient rectory-house is no longer in existence. It stood below the present one, its gable abutting on the lane, a strip of garden separat- ing it from the barton, which was flanked by the tithe-barn on one side and the stables on the other. The barn was pulled down, and the pre- sent schools built with the old materials on the same site by the present rector. The present rector\--house was formerly a small farm-house called " Streets," and was held, with about 25 acres of land, by copy of Court- roll until 1739, when the last two lives were exchanged for a 21 years' lease granted to Mr. James Street, a Bath apothecary. 1753 to 1760. Mrs. Street. 1768. William Street, who died in 1785 and is buried at Swainswick. 1775 to 1789. Randle Gauton. The lease expired in iSio. 181 1. Lease to Rev. John Poole, Rector of Swainswick, during his incumbency. In 1S20 the house was conveyed to the Rector absolutely. During the incum- bency of the present Rector the house has been enlarged by him and made what it is. ^ Buried January 3, 1629. He was curate as early as 1556, so that he was rector and curate 71 years. * Burial not recorded. t^ Samuel Batt was his curate for three years. He died and is buried at Charlcombe. In the south w all of the Chancel a tablet was placed: — "H.S.E. " Samuel Batt, l",lius natu minimus Michselis et Annae Batt. de Monkton Deverel in agro Wilton, ecclesiz Anglicana Presby.cr. A. M. e Coll. Regin. Cantab qui ubi in hie et vicina parochia de Swayneswick, Johannis Taylor, Rectoris, \ices per triennium impleverat, aniir.an Deo placide reddidit Sept. calend sexlilis. Anno Do 1701. /Etatis 30. Fiater mcestissimus. Michel Batt.' Samuel Batt was succeeded by John Whittington. The signature of John Tailour, as Rector,_ appeal^ for the last time in 1712 in the Churchwarden's Accounts. It seems probable therefore that from that time until his death in 1728 he was non-resident, and that Thomas Scudamore was bis curate, in succession to John Whittington.l * Burial not recorded. Memorials and Inscriptions. 1 7 MEMORIALS AND INSCRIPTIONS IN THE CHURCH AND CHURCHYARD. 3nsi&e tbe clburcb. Hidden beneath the Altar Steps. Johannis Wood, Armigeri Sepulchrum, ANNA, daughter of John Wood,^ of Bath, Esq., by Elizabeth, his wife, born August 8th 1762, died February 21st 1768. Here lyeth the body ok MARY CAPELL, wife of Edward Capell, Esq., and late wife of Thomas Prynne, of Swanswicke, gent, deceased, by whom she had issue three sons and five daughters, who departed this life 12th of March Anno Dom. 1631 (1632, N.S.) On tablets against the Belfry Pillar. 1870 Major GEORGE WILLOCK gave /loo for the benefit of the Parish. 1874 EMMA ANNE LOCKEV, of Swainswick Cottage, bequeathed ;^30o for the benefit of the Parish. SEPULCHRAL SLABS, NOW ALL BURIED UNDER THE .\LT.\R STEPS, BUT ONCE VISIBLE. On the Altar Steps. Here lyeth the body of ELIZABETH, the wife of George Clarke, who dyed the 7lh day of June 1670. Here lyeth the bodie of Mrs. BEATRIX; CLARKE, daughter of Mr. George Clarke, who departed this life the 6th day of July 1690. Here lyeth the body of THOMAS PRYNNE, gentleman, who departed this life the first day of July 1620. Here lieth the bodi of EDWARD WEBB, late farmer, and AGNES,' his wife, who diseced the isth daie of June, A.D. 1573. * This is the second John Wood, the eminent architect. - The burial is not recorded in the Register. l8 Annals of Swainszvick. MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS. tStoiiinsbjick Clltnvch. I A. S. I Anne Scudamcjre. \ Infant \ Children E. S. 1731. I Edward ScuDAMoRE. ) of Thomas and Mary. Before the West Window on a paving stone. In the Alley between pews. To the memory of SAR,\H, second daughter of Thomas Scudamore, gent, and Mary his wife, dyed September 29 1713, in the 27th year of her age. ANNE [DANV] ERS EON [TAN) NER DYED OC (TOBER) In a vaidt beneath are deposited the remains of WILLIAM STREET, Esq., who died 12th May 1785, aged 59. ELIZABETH STREET, relict of above William Street, died 21 April, 1789, aged 59. WILLIAM STREET, son of the above named William and Elizabeth Street, died 20th May, 17S5, aged 17. Nci-th Ais/e, 0)2 the wall, above a mayble tablet. In a vault near this spot, are deposited the remains of the Rev. THOMAS STREET, 35 years curate of the Parish of Lyncombe and Widcombe in this county — who died 9th March, 1S30, aged 64. Also of ANNE READY, his widow, who died 23 March, 1833, aged 67. On North Wall— {a stone slab). Near this place resteth the body of WILLIAM LONG, of the Parish of Box, who departed this life July ye 9th, 1701. Come hither mortall, cast an eye, Then go thy way prepare to dye, Read here thy doom, for know thou must One day like me, be turned to dust. Near this place resteth the body of MARY, the wife of William Long, who departed this life May the 3rd, 1702. These near related friends whom death did sever, Death at last have brought them near together. Near this place resteth ye body of JOHN GRIFFIN, of this Parish, who married Mary, ye only child of William and Mary Long, who departed this March the 12th, 1712, aged 39 years. The grave is but a fineing pot unto beleiving eyes For there its flesh shall lose its dross, and like the sun shall rise. Also near this spot lyeth the body of MARY GRIFFIN— she dyed May the I.-Jth, 1733. Thus generations pass away, and leaves their bodys in the clay. Lies near, ANN, EDWARD, ELENOR, and SARAH SCUDAMORE, their grandchildren. Memorials and Inscriptijiis. 1 9 Tuw black Tablets on North Wall. Que nos trahunt (licet minatura) s^quamur. Between these two opposite pillars doe rest the bodys of JOHN and WILLIAM TANNER, both ye sons of John Tanner, of this Parish, and Anne his wife. WILLIAM, ye younger, born ye 23rd of November, Ano Dni J680, and dyed ye 23rd of June following. JOHN, Ijorn ye 14th day of May, Ano Dim 1678, who, to ye inestimable loss of his parents, but (we hope), to ye great gain and joy of himself, fell asleep ye 3olh day of March, Ano Dni J697, after a languish- ing sickness undergone with exemplary patience and magnanimity of spirit to ye degree of a miracle. Hcec potuit virtus adolescens piiira minantem Indignata rapit mors et ad astra tuiit. Here lyeth ye body of ANN, late wife of William Danvers of Monck [Monks], in ye Parish of C)rsham, gentleman. Sole daughter of John Tanner of this Parish, and Ann, his wife. Born ye ninth day of May, Ano Dom 1682, and fell asleep ye 26 day of November, Ano Dom 1701. A farther and fairer account might be given of her, and due to her without affectation, but this short one shall suffice and better satisfie vs, that wee hope, and do assuredly believe also that the Lord is her portion for ever. ' On the Pillar facing South Door. JANE DANVER.S died 5 July 1801, aged 82 years, seventy of which were passed in this Parish in the e.-cercise of benevolence to her poor neighbours, and in social intercourse with the more affluent. John Danvers married in 1610 Susan AylilTe, daughter of Jotin Ayliffe, Arm., and i.l 1616 was admitted tenant to Monlis Estaie in the Mansr of Corsham, which formerly belonged to Sir Henry Baynton, Knieht John U^nveus, of Monks, grandson or great grandson of the abjve, married, in 1662, Dorothy Stafford, daughter of \Vm. Stafford, Esq., of .Marlewood, near Tnornbury, Glostershire. WiLi^lAM Danvers, only sorrowing son of this marriage, sold Monks Estate in iSoS. He married in 1701 Ann, only daughter of John Tanner, of Swainswick, whj died without issue. He married, secondly, Elizabeth Pearce, by whom he had five daughters. Two of these, Betty Danvers and Jane Danvers, lived at Swainswick the last dymg, as we have shown, in 1801. ' Only one of the daughters of \Vm. Danvers left children, Bridget, who married Richard Ward, of Wick, and afterwards of Upper Hazel, Gloucestershire. The eldest son of this marriage was Francis Ward, who married a Misi Knckdale of Bristol, and was the father of the late Richard Brickdale Ward of that city. Mrs^ Dorothy Danvers was a person of some note, a strong Jacobite. She was also " dresser" to the Queen, bee Diary of Lady Cowper, December 22, 1714. There were other Danverses in Bath, but, we find, not closely connected with the Corsham and the Swainswick family. Daniel Danvers, whose portrait is in the Board room of the Royal Water Hospital, was the Treasurer of that Institution from 1760 until his death. He was a member of the banking firm of Cam, Whitehead, Danvers, and Phillott. His daughter, Elizabeth, married Samuel Howse, of Widcombe, wine merchant, who was the twin brother of Henry ildivard Howse, of Lyncombe, D.D. Elizabeth Howse (born Danvers, October '7 17=6) died in 1787, the year after her marriage, and Samuel Howse subsequently married Martha, daughter of Tames Hill Alderman and Mayor of Bristol. > e, j , In the ojd Register of Baptisms at the Frog Lane Presbyterian Chapel, Bath (which preceded the present Chapel in i rim Street), there are entries of the baptism of several children of the same Daniel Danvers as follows ■ all baptized by the Rev. John Frank on dates assigned. May 15, 1755, Mary. Oct. 27, 1756, Elizabeth. Nov. 26, 1.757, M.\RV. Nov. 22, 1759, Daniel, died in Bristol in 1803. June 27, 1760, Sarah. Nov. 10, 1761, John Matthias King. Jan. 7, 1763, Sarah. Feb. 7, 17S4, Charles, died in 1803. June 25, 1769, John. Between the old monuments to Griffins and Tanners, two rahitc marble mural slabs i)iscribcd. Near this place are deposited the remains of FRANCE.S, wife of Francis Willock. .she died at Bath the 2Sth of May 1800, aged 41 years. Near this place are deposited the remains of MARY WINN, reL-ct of Thomas Wi.\.\, of Ackton in the County of York. .She died at Bath 15th March 1794, aged 6S years. 20 Anttals of S-d.ainsivick. Under the -window in the North Aisle, near these slabs, is a brass inscription. This window is restored in memor)- of GEORGE WILLOCK, late Major in the 6th Madras Liijht Cavalry, who died at Ba'h 25, April 1870, aged 77 years, by his son, George Woodward WlLi.ocK, 3d liengal Cavalry, A.D. 1877. Sacred to the memory of TEMPER.\NCE DERHAM, whose mortal remains were interred in this churchyard, A.D. 1845, with those of her late husband, G. Derham, Esq. Also to the memory of their only daughter Sophia, who was buried with her mother's relations at Chepstow, 1S38. Sacred to the memor)- of JANE, the beloved wife of Thomas Wintle, of Swainswick Villa, Esq., who dei>arted this life 21 May, 1S5S. " Behold, God is ray salvation, I will trust and not be afraid." Also to the memory of the above THOM.\S WIXTLE, Esq., who died March 10, 1S68, aged So. Also to the memory of SARAH BESLEV WINTLE, widow of the above Thomas Wintle. She died at Clifton on 25 July, 1877. Sacred to the memor)- of the Rev. JOHN TRIMATT MAUD, M.A., who was born the Sth of August A.D. 1791, and died the 24th of December A D. 1S47, having for the last thirty-three years of his life watched over the spiritual interests of this parish, and ministered to the wants of his poorer brethren. His mortal remains, by his o« 11 desire, rest in the burial ground adjoining Langridge Church. His immortal spirit is com- mitted to his heavenly Father in the humble hope, through the merits of Jesus Christ, of a blessed eternity. To the memory of Mrs. ELIZABETH CLARKE, wife of the late Edward Clarke, of Hyde, in the Island of Jamaica and Swanswick Estates. She departed this life 14 October, 1764, aged 53. Also to the memor)- of ANN CLARKE, their beautiful daughter, who died July 20th. 1764, aged 17. On the north wall of the Chancel is the following : — This monument is erected in affectionate remembrance of JOHN HAYGARTH, M.D., F. R. S. , late of Lambridge House in this parish. In public life he may be re- garded as a physician who advanced the cause of medical science by his writings, and exercised much sagacity in his treatment of diseases. As a philosopher he is known to have added to the stock of well- authenticated facts concerning the influence of the mind upon the body. .As a philanthropist he was unwearied in his exertions to diminish the amount of human misery, active in his endeavours to spread the blessings of education throughout the land, and ardent in his plans to increase the comforts of the poor. In private life he was strong in his domestic attachments, constant in his friendship, tender in his sympathies, and abounding in good will to all. He died in reliance on the atoning blood of his Saviour, June loth, 1827, aged 87 years. Imtnediately under this is a brass with the following inscriptions: — MARY SAINSBURY entered into rest nth Sunday after Trinity, iSSo, and was carried to Cold Ashton. This tablet is raised by the love of many who cherish the memory of her lo»ing worth among them. " Where I am there shall also my servants be." Memorials a?id Inscriptions. 2 1 In South Chancel. Mrs. CATHERINE WINSLOE died suddenly, December 28, 1802. Wife of Thomas Winsloe, Esq., of Twiclienham, universally lamented. Also died, ever to be lamented, November 27, 1S05, Mrs. MARY .STOWEY, sister of the above, and wife of James .Stowey, Esq., of Taunton. Sacrtd to the memory of ALEXANDER PETRIE, son of Colonel Petrie, of Swanswick. Died at Tampice, 19th August 1S33, aged 30. Under the Belfry, a Afeinorial .'^7a6 with an Urn above it. Beneath this marble rests the body of MARY MORGAN, wife of the Rev. N. Morgan, of the City of Bath. In whom was united the pious Christian, the affectionate wife, the tender mother and the faithful friend. She died Sept. 23, 1 796, aged 47 years. Requiescat in pace. On a broken Monument behind the organ {the inscription is gone, Under an urn is a Coat 0/ Arms which we cannot attribute. Against Pillar. Sacred to the memory of ELIZABETH MAUD, who died 5th of March 1820, in the 60th year of her age. Jesus s.-lid, " He that believelh in me though he were dead yet shall he live." On South J Vail. MARY BRODERIP' died 13 May 1827, aged 61. "He that believelh on the Son of Man halh li/e." 1 This lady was the sister of the late Mr. Broderip, the eminent naturalist, for many years a London Police Magistrate, and the life-long friend of Theodore Hook. The Broderips and the Mauds were closely related. ®utsi5e tbe Cburcb. On the south wall of the porch is a stone to the Woodward famil)- — inscription nearly obliterated. Neaf the IFindow, by the Pulpit. ANNE, the wife of Robert Cole, she died 14 day of June, a.d. 1761. Aged 87 years. (37 ?) The step of the Pulpit is formed from an old incised slab — only a portion of drapery left. This must be a very ancient desecration. At the east end a granite tomb marks the place in which rest the hon- oured remains of Henry Edmund Carrington, son of N. T. Carrington, the poet, and for many years editor and proprietor of the Balk Chronicle. The following inscription is engraved around its edge : — HENRY EDMUND CARRINGTON, of Bath, obit February 5, 1859, aged 53. This monument is placed near his remains by affectionate friends and fellow-citizens. As a journalist he was deeply impressed with the responsibility of his calling. He was true to the interests of his party, generous and just to his opponents. He loved the city of his adoption with patriotic fervour, and his name was a symbol of truth, honour and integrity. He possessed a rare liternry faculty, and this shown in the charming edition of his fathir's poem Darlmooi , which he edited, and to which he contributed a most interesting preface. F TATWICK. 'ESIDES this, there was in ancient times another manor in this parish, called Tatwick, now a small hamlet distant a mile northward from the village, which, in the time of King William the Conqueror, partly belonged to William Hosed, or Hosatus, and partly to Ralph de Berkley. These estates are thus surveyed in the book called Domesdaj-. "William [Hosed] holds Tatewiche. Three thanes held it in the time of King Edward, and gelded for one hide and a half The arable is one carucate, which is held in demesne, and three servants, and two cottagers, and half an acre of meadow, and ten acres of coppice wood. It was formerly worth ten shillings, now thirty shillings." " Ralph [de Bercheclai] holds Tatwiche. Godrie held it in the time of King Edward, and gelded for half-a-hide. The arable is one carucate, and there are three servants. There is one acre of wood. Formerly it was worth ten shillings but now fifteen shillings." [Collinson.] After the conquest this manor was given to the monks of Bath, and at the dissolution (32) Henry VHI. was granted to Sir William Dennis. Certain lands here were purchased (5) Edward HI. of Elias de St. Alban, for the maintenance of a chantrey, founded in the parish church of Cold- Ashton,^ in Gloucestershire. Of later memorials we are able to add much that may be useful and ' In the early deeds relating to Tumey's Court and Tatwick, mention is made of the " Free Chapel " [see page 26]. In the list of Chantreys and Free Chapels of Somerset, no mention is made of either at Tatwick. It seems more than probable that the Free Chapel thus referred to, although nominally in the" parish church of Cold Ashton," was none other than this Free Chapel provided for the use of the churchless village, and which would now be represented by the beautiful old barn which retains every indication of an ancient ecclesiastical edifice ; or at any late, the Chantrey Chapel at Cold Ashton might have divided the patrimony with Tatwick. The small village church of Cold Ashton is of the Somersetshire type, of the perpiendicular order, founded and built chiefly by one Thomas Keys, the rebus of whose name is carved on the hood terminals of the windows and doors. The Church consists of south aisle, a cleresloried nave, chancel, and low west tower. The walls of the Churcli are terminated by a moulded parapet. The chancel arch is four-centcrtd, and this and the two arches of the aisle are boldly moulded. The most noticeable feature of the interior is the veiy beautiful and unique pulpit at the north- east end of the nave. It is approached by the staircase which led to the old rood-loft, and is recessed in the thick wall. The canopied head is formed of delicate tracery and crocketted Tatvjick. -, , interesting Wood in describing the village and its situation, as miaht be expected, seeks for the meaning of the name Tatwick in his favoudte occult theory of Pagan worship and Druidic rites.i He savs- "The other Valesof Bath, all branching from Troy Novant, and of the very same kmd with it, seem to have been seats for the other eods of our Pagan ancestors ; for three miles and a half north of the hot sprin-s of the city there IS a place in the bottom of a valley called Tatwick \ name implying the Mansion of Tutates or Mercury ; two miles south' of the sanie springs there is a hollow dent against the back of a hill corruptly called Horse Comb, a name importing the small Vale of Hesus or Mars ; and not far to the west of this dent we have another comb b aring the British name of the sun, or rather of the Image by which Hau "h^vI "'i^'T ''^P^^^r''^- '"'r'^' ^"'^ ^^°'-^hipped. This name was Haul Hayl, Heil or Heo ; it implies a circle, and the sun still goes by It in Cornwall and in Wales. ^ ^ "Diametrically south of Tatwick we find another mansion of Mercury situated in the bottom of a valley, at the distance of about four miles and three-quarters of a mde south from the hot springs, and this place retains more of the name of God than the former, it being called Taites " _ 1 hen after a quamt disquisition on the forms and rites of the Pa^^ans in their worship upon and around the hills of Bath he adds ■ "^ "We may likewise conclude that upon some temple or 'sacred work belonging to Solsbury Hill, the king lost his life, by practising what was beyond the ability of man to perform, to g ive rise to the tradition con- work, supported on buttresses; the octagonal body is made of oak hpi„tif„ii„ ,„ i i i- . , traceried and carved, which until lately retained its^origral colour ' ^"^""^^''^ ^"'' '^^''^^'^'y The staircase to the rood and the corbels which supported the beam still exist There is an interestmg hagioscope, to obtain a view of the old altar from the south aisle The font IS original, of octagonal shape, and well carved 1 Wood was one of those "antiquaries, who," as Mr. Froude says, "are fine architects of castles^ in the air anl many of them, like Wood, "mad Nor-Nor-West, like Hanilet It admits of no doubt whatever," he wou d say. " Those old letrends nf .!,» x,,,.!,, j A ^amits dreams, but the iniagery of dreams is Jlways di'vn"!'™ fealhy.'' "thI r sh l—eTidTi^fic'al in structure with the Persian of the Zeudavesta. The traditions run on the same f.nef The name o Druid which foolish persons have connected with oak groves, and supposed to lie Greek is as little Greek as it is R.d Indian. It is the Persian Draoidh, the wise man of the East The bonfire which the Ga way or the lOllarney peasant passes his children through on St Tohn's Eve, IS trie tire of IVIolo:h, which was denounced by the Jewish pronhets The Rn m?i T were Bel Tines, built after the story of the Tower of Bab'lXn X tns of ih. ? ''r the Deluge built their Temple to the visible gods in th? sky "-^r.«LVrTTe when all virtue was treated as hypocrisy, and when the sense of shame seemed to have almost vanished from the land. The prostration of the Church was followed, with the full approbation of the bulk of the nation, by the bitter prolonged persecution of the dissenters. The hated memory of the Commonwealth was for more than a century appealed to by every statesman who desired to prevent reform or discredit liberty, and the name of Cromwell gathered around it an intensity of hatred approached by no other in the history of England. This was the single sentiment cotnnion in all its vehemence to the Episcopalians of England, the Presbyterians of Scotland and the Catholics of Ireland, and it had more than once considerable political effects " » Pryn, Prynn, Prynrie, Res Prynne or Rex-Prynn. It is certain that the family name has been spelt m all of the above-named ways, as well as others. Mr. Bruce, in his "Biographical Fragment," says the name was derived from the gentle eniinences which may be seen from the Wenlock Kidge, and which were originally called Preens, signifying points. The Prynnes were called De Preens, which ultimately degenerated into De Pryn, and then Prynne. We are not prepared to admit the accuracy of this derivation, unless it can be shown that it has an anterior and superior claim to authority over that hereafter advanced or implied. .Subsequent to the removal of the Aust branch of the family to that locality, there appears to have been a re-grant of the old arms to the Salop Prynnes. grijnn cc Jlcs^jriinn. Or, a chev. gu. betw. three boars' heads sa. JJitics prirstanttor lUiro. Prynne (Co. Salop.), granted by Dethick Garter, 15SS to Edward Prynne of Co. Salop • (Harl. MSS. 1069.) or. a fess engr. az. betw. Coronet or. an eagle displ. p.p. and beaked sa. Deo adjiivantc: I 34 Annals of Swainswick. died in 1590. Erasmus was twice married; Thomas, one of his sons by his first wife must have attained his age about the time of the birth of a son by the second marriage, named Arthur. We find, in the Register of Aust, that in 1581 Erasmus Prynne's daughter, " Alis and Arthore Baker weare [married] the xxiii. daie of Aprille." In 1581-2, February 2nd, his son Arthur was christened; and in 1588 another son, James, on the 24th of January. In 1593," Erasmus Prynne, Gent., was burreide the xx. (? xi.) daie of September, Ann : domin : IS93-" Whilst retaining the ownership of the Aust propert}', towards the close of the sixteenth century, Thomas removed to Swainswick. " On the steep northern side of one of the narrow valleys which meet, as in a centre, at Prynne (Chaddesley Corbet Co. Worcester), same arms. JJnjnnc. •"Branches of this family in Cornwall, Devonshire, Herefordshire, Wilts, and Worcestershire, Gloucestershire. The line of Edward Prynne and Sir Gilbert which settled in AUington, Wilts, now extinct in the male line." In the early part of this century Dr. Michael Allen Prynne practised as a physician in Devonport. He was uncle of the Rev. G. R. Prynne, Rector of St. Peter's, Plymouth. Bodrean (the seat of H. Prynne Andrews, Esq. , who had purchased the duchy manor of Moresk), was acquired by marriage with the family of Prynne. — Ly sons' s Magna Britannia. Edition 1814, page 61. Court, the Barton of this manor (Lanreath), on which is now a farm house, belonging to the representatives of Mr. Prynn, by whom it was purchased of the BuUer family about the year 1766. — Lysons's Magna Britannia, page 179. The arms of all the various branches of the family of Piynne are identical, and these and the ancient records establish the great antiquity of the family. Lord Clarendon, in his " History of the Great Rebellion," spells the name Pryn ; as also does Walker, in his book on the " Sufferings of the Clerg)-," lirst published in 1714. p'uUer, in his " Church History of England," spells it Prynne, as does Guizot in his " Histor)- of the English Revolution." Archbishop Laud, in his speech at the " Censure of Prj'nne and Bastwick," published in J 637, spells the name in all the first three ways named above. First Pryn, then Prynn, p. 39, then Prynne, see vol. vi., pt. i, "Anglo Cath, Libmry. " Antiquity of the Name. As far as can be ascertained, it seems to be the most ancient family name which occurs in English History, being the only one mentioned in " The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle." Extracts from The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. A.D. 794. " And Eadbert, who by a second name was named Pryn, obtained the kingdom of Kent." 796. " This year Kenulf, king of the Mercians, laid waste Kent, as far as the marshes, and took Pryn, their king, and led him bound into Mercia, and let his eyes be picked out and his hands be cut off." " Eadbert Pryn was descended from Ethelbert (first Christian king of Kent), who was de- scended from Hengist, the Saxon conqueror." — Vide Hume, "History of England." Ven. I'ede, says " Hengist and Horsa (the latter of whom was slain in battle by tie Britons), were the sons of Victgilsus, whose father was Vecta, son of Woden : from whose stock the royal race of many provinces deduce their original." Gilbert, in his " Historical Survey of Cornwall, "spells the name Prynn ; he says: "The surname of this family, which was formerly written Res-prynn, is supposed to have originated from Res- prynn, in the parish of Lanhydrock. The co-heiress of this family, married Whitley, whose heiress Williavi Pry line. 35 that most beautiful of English cities, Bath, and at the distance from the city of about two miles, stand the church and village of Svvainswick. The situation is singularly pleasant. In front, facing the west, across a narrow gorge, lies the village of Woolley, and above rise the heights of I.ansdown. Northward, up the valley, lies the secluded Langridge. The cottages of Swainswick are scattered by the side of the narrow road which winds along the valley side, and which, in the sixteenth century, was a mule track, pursued by the chapmen who passed through the clothing districts of the West, and bore off, from house to house, the produce of the looms for sale."^ The chief layman in the parish was the " farmer," or, as it might mean in those days, agent, or manager of the property, as well as the tenant of certain lands. married Granville of Stowe and Carmenowe, and the arms are still to be seen at Penheale among the quarterings of the Granville family — viz. , argent, a chevron, gules between three boars' heads, sable. There are younger branches of the same house still residing in the Eastern pirt of Corn- wall. " An Historical Survey of Cornwall," to which is added a complete Heraldry of the same by C. S. Gilbert, 1S20. The branches of the Prynne family were numerous ; some were contemporary with the Aust and Swainswick branches, and others have flourished since, and furnish representatives. In 1551-52 there was a Dr. Prinne, Rector of Bourton-on-the-Water, to whose estate Bishop Hooper administered. He also held the Living of Lower Slaughter. He was pro- nounced indoclus on examination in London, May 1552. In 1558 there was a John Pr)'nne, merchant of Bristol, who died, and was buried at St. Nicholas, leaving a numerous family, the names of whom were similar to those of the Aust or Swainswick Prynnes. In 1565-6 there was a William Prynne, a freeman and burgess. A century later there were Prynnes, sons of mer- chants, on the apprentice rolls of Bristol. Again, there was in 16S2-3 a John Prynne at Charlton Kings, in Gloucestershire, who married Elizabeth, daughter of William Rogers of Newent, a well-known family. The name of Mr. George Prynne occurs in Bath Abbey Register as being married to Mrs. Ann Pocock, December 17th, 1697. Towards the close of the seventeenth century a Ralph Prynne, and Ann, his wife, apparently of humble position, settled in St. James's parish, Bath : to them five children were born, the oldest in 1684, and the youngest, Samuel, in 1699. This Samuel became, in time, the confidential servant of Ralph Allen, until his death in 1760. Allen bequeathed to him and his wife a legacy of ;^loo each [see the Author's " Historic Houses," vol. ii. p. 149]. In "Notes and Queries," September 15th, 1877, P- 207, A. B. H. gives an Epitaph in Cheltenham Parish Church, taken down before it was obscured or missing, as follows : — "Here lyeth ye body of William Prynne, Gent., who departed this life the 19th day of November, Ann : Domin : 1680, aged 61." This William Prynne must not be confounded with the Puritan. ^ Bruce's "Biographical Fragment." This description can now only be realised in the "mind's eye." Moreover, we are disposed to think that the Webbes, the Hurels, the de Fordes, and the other wealthy "artificers," left little for the "chapmen" to get. Most likely there were looms at Swainswick, Freshford, and many other villages, as there were at Bath, the latter being worked by the Sherstons and the Chapraans, and others, who, as merchants, purchased nearly all the produce of the city and locality. Swainswick was acces- sible by the Foss Road, which ran through Walcot Street in which the cloth looms were chiefly worked, to the very foot of the hill leading up to the village ; but the road was not the present one, which was not constructed until 1S25. The old road was on the West side of the brook, until it reached the Dead Mills {set Old Paths, p. 174). The shuttle was the emblem of the city, and was formerly incorporated with the ecclesiastical arms on the pediment of the old monastery. o 6 Annals of Swainswick. It has been usuallj- supposed that Thomas Pn-nne went to reside in Swainswick in this capacitj-, in succession to Edward Webb, about the year 1573. Further research, however, shows that this state- ment is incorrect, and that he did not remove from Aust until about 1594. Edward Webb was the manager from about 1529 until 1569, and his son John is occasionally referred to as the " farmer," and is so described on his death. We think there is little doubt that this John Webb succeeded his father in 1569, and was, for certain reasons to be explained later, superseded as " farmer," i.e., agent, when Thomas Prynne succeeded to the post about the time of his marriage with Marie Sherston/ in 1594. As a matter of fact it does not appear that Thomas Pr\-nne became the tenant of the manor until 1616. The following are the official entries in the College accounts, although they do not seem to correspond with the leases (see "Clarke's," p. 38), but that may be accounted for by Pr)-nne having taken the reversion of \\'ebb's lease, and so on. 1616 Thomas Prynne (the year of John Webb's death). 1620 Widow Prynne. 1623 Edward Capell. 1 63 1 William Prynne. Thomas Prynne married first, Joan, daughter of John Smith - of Charlton, in the parish of Henbury, Gloucestershire. By this marriage there was one daughter, Agnes, born in January 1590, and baptised on the 13th of that month. I\Irs. Prynne died the same year, and was buried at Aust on the 29th of September. In due time this Agnes became the wife of George Gough (see note to Thomas Prynne's will\ of Bristol, merchant. Mr. Bruce says there is no record in the Register of Swains- wick of the marriage between Thomas Prynne and Marie Sherston, and that is true enough : for the portion of Swainswick Register from 1593 to 1603 is missing. The marriage took place at St. Michael's Church, Bath, on the 8th day of April 1594, and is there duly registered ; it is also registered at Aust — a proof of the strong interest felt in Thomas Prynne by the clerg)-man of his old parish. The second marriage of Mrs. Prynne with Edward Capell was solemnized at Aust and is thus registered : — " 162 1. ]Mr. Edward Capell, Esquire, and Mrs. Mary Prynne, were wedded the one and twentieth daye of September, anno supra dicto, with lysense from the Courte." ' William Sherston had a daughter Marger}', who married in 1591 John Clarke, merchant- vintner, of Bristol. This John Clarke was the uncle of George Clarke, who married Thomas Prj-nne's daughter Katherjne. Thus there was a double marriage connection between the Clarkes and the Trj-nnes. ^ Mr. Bruce was not aware of this fact, nor does Mr. Gardiner, in his recent " Biography of William Pr)nne," in the new edition of the Eticy. Brit., refer to it. The enlry was discovered by the Rev. F. J. Poynton. II "illiam Pj-yinic. Of himself, William Prynne, in his Brevia Parliavientaria, says— " The near relations I have to the renowned ancient city of Bath, in the county of Somerset, in regard of my extraction out of it by my mother's line, being one of the daughters of Mr. William Sherstone, an eminent, excellent magistrate and member of this city, a great bene- factor thereto in his life and at his death ; eight several tfmes Maior thereof, and by unanimous vote formerly chosen, retorned a citizen for this city, in five Parliaments, viz. :— Annis, 26, 39, 43, of Queen Elizabeth, Annis i and 3 of King James, of famous memor}'es f and by Oueen Elizabeth's own Charter to the city, dated September 5, in the~32nd year of her reign, constituted the first maior thereof in these words And by these presents, for us, our heirs and successors, We do assign, name, constitute, and make our well-beloved and faithful subject' William Sherstone, citizen of the said city, to be first and present Maior of the same city (which had antiently Maiors, but not by this New Charter). As also in respect of my education therein, during part of my minority ; of my neighbourhood and obligations to the city (whereof I am now Recorder, for which I have been twice freely elected a citizen for the late and present Parliament, by their undesired votes, without the least solicitation or expense, even in my absence, being importuned by letters under the Maiors, Aldermens, and Common Counsils hands and city seal to honour them with my service, though other persons of quality then courted them for their voyces, by their own and other great men's letters, and their agents), may justly challenge from me a sp^ecial section to revive, preserve the memoryes of the re'spective citizens for- merly elected, retorned for this city, extant either in the new-found or former bundles of Writs and Retorns remaining in the Tower of London, with those in the Rolls and Pettibagge, and of the principal Retorns and Indentures relating to their Elections." 1 > The Webb family flourished in Swainswick until the close of the next century We have said that W.lham Prynne was bom at the Hill House, and not, as stated by Mr. Bruce and others at the Manor Farm ; for although John Webb had ceased after 1594 to act as the college "farmer'' or agent, he contmued to occupy the manor house and farm until his death in 1616 The Hill House was William Prynne's residence up to 1631, and after that it was occupied by Captain Clarke of the Train Band, whose wife was William Prynne's sister. The manor house which stands north of the church, and faces north, Mr. Bruce describes as a " Puritan home- stead," without any sufficient reasons. There is nothing to show that either Thomas Pn-nne or his wife, .Mane, the daughter of William Sherston, ever felt or expressed any sympathy with the puritan party or with puritan principles. It cannot be truly alleged that William derived his principles from his father and mother, or from any local associations. He was a special creation and product of his time. There is not, moreover, any probability that William, even in his youth after his father removed from the Hill House into the Manor House in 1616, can ever have lived there, inasmuch as he was at the Grammar School, and then at Oriel College, until the death of his father m 1620. Mr. Bruce describes this manor house .as " an ancient fabric" in Thomas K o 8 Annals of Sicainsioick. There has always been some ambiguity as to Prynne's official and political connection with Bath. Warner gives a confused and misleading Pr)'nne's time. We feel no hesitation in saying that the house was built in the early part of the 17th century, of which it bears every characteristic, although there are indications of an earlier structure. It is a very pretty house, with a courtyard, and a garden with walled terraces describing two sides of a square ; and in the time of Thomas Prynne and Capell must have been in itself very tasteful, amidst surroundings of great natural beauty. The premises, even to this day, with the fine old barn, and the indications of order and good management, are pleasant to see. Our opinions as to the Prynne relations to the manor house and manor farm are confirmed by the facts given from official sources. The Manor Farm, including all Lower Swainswick; quantity, according to Sawey in 1729, 255 acres 1 rood. It appears to have become a custom in the College Books to call the respective holdings after particular lessees. Hence the Manor Fann was called — "Cl.\rkes." 1529 May 2. Lease by Richard Dudley, clerk, to Julia Webb and Edward Webb, her son, for the lives of the s.iid Julia and Edward Webb, Agnes, wife of Edward Webb, and Richard Webb, their son. [1560 April 22.] Lease by the College to Edward Webb, Agnes his wife, John Webb, and Richard Webb, their sons, for their lives and the longest liver. Rent, ;rfll, los. ild. 1569 April 27. Lease for thirty years in reversion, expectant on above lease, granted by the College to Elizabeth Cooper, daur. of Thomas Cooper, D.D. , Dean of Christ's Church, Oxford. (She married Dr. John Belly, Provost of Oriel College.) Manor ferme of Swainswick, then in the tenure of Edward Webb of Swainswick. l6o5 April 16. [John Webb covenants to pay to the College £4, I0=. a year additional rent, in consideration of expenses of the college in securing his possession against grantee of the Crown, and his tenure of the manor farm continued until his death in 161 6.] In 1616 the following entry occurs in the register :—" John Webb, farmer, of Swainswick, a man of the age of So years and upward, was buried the 4th dale of Aprile." 1638 Jan. 17. Lease by the College to George Clarke of London, Esquire, and William Kemeys of Swainswick, gent., of the manor farm, late in the tenure of John Webb and Thomas Prynne, and sometime of William Prynne, and now of the said William Kemeys. Rent, ;^ii, 3s. lid. in money and corn. [George Clarke and William Kemys were the sons-in-law of Thomas Prynne.] 1651 April II. Lease to George Clarke of London, Merchant, son and heir-apparent of George Clarke of the city of Westminster, Esq. of the manor farm, now in his own occupation. T659 Sept. I. Lease of the same to George Clarke, the younger of Swainswick, gent. 1667 „ 20. Lease of the same to William Prynne of Lincoln's Inn, Esq., and George Clarke of the Tower of London, Esq. 1678-9 Mar. 20. Lease of the same to Francis Blake of London, Esq., and William Blake of Coggs, CO. Oxon. , Esq., his son. Premises described as now in the tenure of George Clarke, gent. x68S Dec. 20. Lease of the same to the same. Premises described as late in the tenure of George Clarke, gent. 1696-7 Mar. II. Lease of the same to Sarah Blake of Coggs, co. Oxon., widow, John Biscoe of St. Margaret's, Westminster, apothecnry, and Joseph Biscoe of the Inner Temple, gent., three of the execs, of William Blake of Coggs, co. Oxon., Esq., deceased, son of Francis Blake of London, Esq., deceased, which said William Blake survived the said Francis Blake. Willia»i Pry line. -,n account of the political representation of the city, and it is in vain to look to him for light on obscure questions connected with it. In the foregoing quotation Prynne refers to himself as the Recorder.i In 1640 Sir W. Bassett^ was disqualified to sit in Parliament, and Ashe, the son of a Freshford clothier, was elected in his stead. In 1645 Prynne was deprived of the Recordership and replaced by Ashe, and the same Ashe, in 1646, was solely elected to serve in Parliament. During the late Wars and Revolutions, the Council unanimously elected and importuned Mr Prynne to be their Recorder, without his privity or desire, and continued him so after his spe'ech in the House for the satisfactorinesse of his late Majesty's concessions in the Isle of Wight and his memento, protestations, and other publications against his treasonable illegal trya'l and execution ; his proclaiming of King Charles II., January 1st, 1648, to be the lawfuU hereditary King of England by printed proclamation, sent by him to Bath, and most other great corpora- ions though voted by the rumpers high treason to proclaim him ; his forcible seising securing by the army and close imprisonments in Dunster, Taunton, and Pendennis Castles for main- taining his Majesty s title, interest, monarchy, and opposing the then usurping powers of all sorts m print, and in his charges at the Quarter Sessions of the city, when none others durst do It, till comniandei by an e.vpressed letter from the pretended Councel of .State at Whitehall to choose another Recorder in his place, and recommend a fitting rumper (Tames Ash) to succeed hrm whom they choose with much reluctancy. A very good argument of their loyalty, and good affection to his Majesty and monarchical government."— 5;-«-/a Parliamentaria [There is an entry in the Council Minutes of his appointment, but no comment.] The following entries occur in the Chamberlain's Accounts relating to Prynne :— No. 89. 16 October, 22 Charles I. (1646), given to Mr. Prynne two quarts of sacke, 00 02 oS Iso. 91. 12 October 24 Charles I. (1648), given to iMr. Pryn in Februarie 1647, a sugar 'lofe ■ oo.o5.oo, more given him, then a gallon of sacke, a pottle of Clarett and \ pottle bottles, 00.07.09; paid Wakeley for carrying it over 00.01.00 : given Mr Prynn's servant 00.01.00. Paid Robert Randall for writing of diuse [divers] letters to Mr. Popham, Mr. Ashe, Mr Pryn, and Mr. Harington ; and for copying of diuse Lres., 00.05.00 Paid Robert Hodges (Mr. Prynn's man), for drawing seuall orders and peticons to the Parliament, 00. 15.00. Upon the very first tydin.;s of Mr. Prynne's and other secluded members" restitution to the House, by the assistance of General Monck, in order to dissolve those present usurping powers and restore his majesty and kingly government, Mr. Prynne though he served not for them) received a congratulatory letter from them, expressing as much royalty and good affection to his Majesty as the times would permit. — Ibid. - The cause of Sir William Bassett's disqualification does not appear, but it is supposed to have been the result of an arbitrary exercise of power on the part of the parliament The beautiful domain and fine house which he possessed at Claverton, near Bath, his free and open- handed hospitality, his intense hatred of Cromwell and all that appertained to him his policy and his party, made him a marked man with that party ; but with the Royalists he was intensely popular. ^ "Sir William Bassett was a man whose portly form must have been very familiar in the streets of Bath. He lived at that charming old manor house, near the church at Claverton of which the terrace and out-buildings now only remain, and was a frequent visitor When the Mayor heard that he had ridden in to the Bear, he would send his respectful duty, and either a gallon of sack and some cakes, or a bottle of claret and some sugar, and then his Worship -culd be asked to help to discuss the good things, and would be proud of the honour And Bassett used to return these little courtesies ; and when there was to be a civic supper would 40 Annals of Szcatiiswick. Prynne, after his first prosecution, was elected for Newport,^ in Corn- wall (1640), when an order was given by the House of Commons for his release from prison. Here again is a little difficulty, because it appears that on the 13th April, in that year, the name of Nicholas Trefusis alone is returned, but it is probable that, as Newport returned two members, Prynne's return might have been later in the year at a special vacancy. Collinson states that " Prynne was displaced for his animadversion on Cromwell," but no dates or particulars are given. In November of the same year there was another election for Newport, the members returned being John Maynard and Richard Edgcombe. In 1648, on the 7th of November, Prynne was again returned for Newport.'- After the restora- tion (1660) Prynne (with Alexander Popham) was elected for Bath. Again, in 1661, he was returned, of which he gives a long and most tedious account in his Brevia Parliaiuentaria? An attempt was made on this occasion to change the mode of election ; and, partly by violence, and partly by intrigue, a double return was made. The Corporation, the legal constitutional elective bodj', chose Prynne (and the same year re-appointed him Recorder*) and Alexander Popham. Some of the free- men, and a party of lawless citizens, returned Sir Charles Berkley, Knt., and Sir Thomas Bridges, Knt. The ruse did not succeed. By an order of the House, dated i6th May, 1661, the two first-named were send a buck to grace the board, and lend his cook to dress it.' He was also an active magis- trate, who interested himself in local affairs, and several times served the office of Sheriff; and, in short, was a good specimen of a genial, jovial, country squire, with sound common sense, and a turn for public business." \_King and Watts' s Cavaliers and Roundheads. ^ ' Newport was one of the ancient boroughs of Cornwall, but escaped the fate of many of those which were abolished by the Reform Act of 1832, by being merged in Launceston, which was extinguished by the Reform Act of 1S65. 2 It does cot appear from any record, except the Council Minute-book, that earlier in the same year Prynne was elected for Bath, and there is no account of any vacancy or any other election in that year. 3 Written in 1662, after his election in the year preceding. ■* "We have here to speak of the Recordership of the city. We now associate the idea of a Recorder with that of an eminent counsel, appointed without the slightest reference to the city, and whose sole connection with it is that he comes down for one day four times a year to try prisoners at Quarter Sessions. But in older, and in this particular in better days, the Recorder was a high municipal official ; he often attended Council meetings, sometimes, in the absence of the mayor, presided. He advised the municipality in cases of difficulty, was the referee in their disputes, and the patron and friend of the city of London. The stipend was complimentar)-, forty shillings a year only; but the citizens, by entertainments and presents, always took care to show their appreciation of their Recorder's courtesy, and it was a sort of understanding that if the Recorder wanted a seat in Parliament he had a right to election by his own city. The Re- ^ Chamberlain's Accounts— 1671. To Sir W. P.;\ssetl"s man . . . jti o o Horse hier for a messenger to carry wine to Sir Wm. Bassett ... 020 For the hier of four horses to Claverton 040 [And so on for some years] £,\ d o Williani Prynne. ^j ordered to sit till the merits of the cause were determined. UltimateK- according to the Brevia Parliamentaria, they were declared duly elected 1 rynne sat until his death, and was succeeded 15th November 1669 bv i5ir Francis Popham, Knt. ^' ■* Warner, in his valuable historj-, gives a very imperfect account of the atlair He does not appear to have been aware of the existence of the fo lowing documents which give a clear and connected narrative of the intrigue— an intrigue until now, we believe, never fully described :— PRIVY COUNCIL REGISTER. ''At the Court Whitehall, 22 A/arch 1660 (i.e. 166/). '' Present— the King; etc. "Upon reading the humble Petition of Sr Thomas Bridges Knt T?^!, //r"""'V"^'''-T'^'^ P-'^P'^'' °^ ^'■''^I'^s exhibited against Mr'. John Ford, Mayor of Bath, it is ordend, his Matie sitting in Councell that the said Mr. Ford. Mayor of Bath, as also one Henry Moore men -' tioned in the 4th Article of the said complaint, do forthwith personally appeare at this Board to answer the said Articles of Complaint exhibited against him as aforesaid. ^.f^^^l''T ^ !^P^i intitled Articles against John Ford, Mayor of Bath, hath been this day exhibited by Sr Thomas Bridges, it is ordend h^ th'. n r T^'V ^°?,"u'"' '^^' ^ ^"PPy °f ^he said'Paper, attested by the Clerk of ye Councell be transmitted to Sr George Norton, Knt Hugh Smith and John Hanngton, Esqs., three of his Maties Justices of the Peace for the county of Sumersett, or any two of them to examine such witnesses upon oath as shal be produced unto them' for Board^ ^ ^''^ '""'"^ Articles, and to transmitt ye same to this "AtU 'hitehall- 2n,l April 1661. " Present the King and ly others. " This day John Ford, Esq., Maior of the city of Bath, being sumoned by order to attend this Board, made his appearance, and the same is accordingly entered. And it is ordered that the said Maior do attend ulfj vvl "r I'JT .""f!-" discussion, was Sergeant Robert Hyde, a nephew of the Nicholas lyle, who held that ofhce from 1619 to the time of his being raised to the Bench as Chief! Jus >ce in 1626. Robert Hyde was frequently in Bath. If the Bishop came he was asked to do he honours of tlie city to His Lordship ; if the deputy-lieutenants of the country were here he was invited to help to entertain them, and he appears also as a benefactor .0 a'^work which 7i^^ s:^,:^":r^j:T'' "' ^ ''' '''''-'''• °^ ^°"^^ °' correction."-Av,j':;^:} ^2 Annals of Szuainsivick. this Board to-morrow, the third of Aprill instant, at two in the afternoone, and that Sr Thomas Bridges, the Informant, have notice thereof, and attend at the same time." " Whitehall— 3rd April 1661. "Whereas Sr Thomas Bridges, Knt, did lately exhibit a Peticon and Articles of Complaint against John Ford, Esq., Major of the city of Bath, for some pretended misdemeanors, and thereupon the said Major was sumoned to appeare at this Board to answer the said Articles and Complaint against him, and one Henry Moore, wch accordingly hee did this day; and the said Sr Thomas Bridges, and the said Major being called in and heard ; upon due exaiacon of the whole matter, it is ordered by his Matie, that the said Maior of the city of Bath be forthwith dismissed and discharged from further attendance." " To the Rt Worpp. Sr Hii}^h Smith, Knight of the Bath, and one of the Deputy Leiu'tenants of his 'Majties County of Sommersett, at his house at Long Ashton. " Present icith speed and care. " Sir — Coming this morning to the city of Bath to keepe the generall quarter Sessions on his Majties behalf, who on Wednesday sennight was acquainted therewith, and wished me a good journey thither to discharge that service, soone after my arrivale there a party of Sir William Bassett's troope, by your order, seized nine of the Aldermen and comon Councill of the city, the one a Justice of the peace, another a constable, whereby the peace of the city was much disturbed and the quarter Sessions interrupted, soe that I was forced to adjourne the same till this day sennight. The orders to Sir William Bassett to seize and send them away forthwith this very morning, near fourty miles of to the Sherriff to secure them in the Marshalsey, there to remain till further order without any cause expressed, or pravious examination before yourselfe, being to near a neighbour unto them without proof or convic- tion of any offences that might demerrit such severe proceedings, against all rules of law and justice, is generally interpreted by the citty and countrey to be a designe (at least in the informers who engaged you in these unpresidented proceedings) to interrupt the quarter Sessions of the citty this day, and the election of the Maior and all other officers for this citty on Monday next, for the yeare ensuing (wherein nine of them ought to have their voices), and to put an affront upon myself their newly elected and sworne Recorder, who being by my oath obliged to main- teine their just rights and liberties to my power, and meeting with this high violation of them beyond expectation, I thought it my duty to IVilliani Prynne. i-i acquaint you therewith, and to advise you, as your friend and neighbour, speedily to release them, that they may attend the election on monday next, to preuent complaints thereof to his Majesty and his honoble Council by the next post, and unto the Parliament at their next meeting, who how ill they are like to resent such irregular proceedings, I leave to your owne judgment to consider ; and in the meantime remaine, your friend and Servant, Wm. Prynne.i "From Bath this ig//^ September 1661. " If you please to acquaint me of the informers against these persons at this juncture of time I shall take it as a favour, the witnesses are to quarter this night at Wells." " ]Vhitehall—2yth September 1661. "A complaint being then made unto his Matie in Councell, that Sr Hugh Smith and Sr Thomas Bridges, Knts, two of the deputy Lieutenants of the county of Somersett, had by their orders sent for and secured as prisoners the persons of Mathew Clift, John Biggs, Anthony Colaby, John Parker, John Bois, Edward Parker, Robert Penny, George Reeve, Henry Moore the yonger, George Long, Gierke, as also William Ireland and John Read, all liveing in or neare the city of Bath, their comittment being grounded upon peticon from the said city of Bath, for the securing thereof from frequent meetings held there by seditious persons of knowne disloyalty and disaffection to kingly government, the contrary whereof was represented by Mr. Prinne, Recorder of Bath, by letters to his grace the Duke of Ormond, Lord Lieutenant of that county. It was therefore upon due consideration of the whole matter, ordered by his Matie in Councell, that Sr Hugh Smith and Sr Thomas Bridges should attend his Matie in Councell at Whitehall, upon Monday the 14th October next, to give a more full accompt of the comittment of the persons above named, and that all and every of the persons so comitted should be sett at libertj', they being all of them also required to give their personall attendance at the Board the said 14th day of October next, that so upon hearing of the whole matter such further order may be given thereupon as shall be agreeable unto justice, the advancement of his Maties service, and the peace and security of his Maties royall authority and government. And the Recorder of Bath is hereby ordered to give notice to all the persons befo re named that they give attendance ] This letter is the link which, up to the present time, has been wanting to complete the chain of events in reference to this transaction. The original is at Long Ashton Court, and was discovered there many years ago, and copied by the Rev, G. R. Prynne, and by him most courteously sent to us. 44 Annals of Swainswich, at this Board accordingly. A like order (onely the last clause omitted) directed to Sr Hugh Smith and Sr Thomas Bridges, Knts, two of the deput)- Lieutenants of the county of Somcrsett." " Uliit€hall~2sth October 1 66i. " Upon reading two severall peticons, concerning the corporation of the city of Bath, in the county of Somersett, the one subscribed and pr'sented by William Prynne, Esq., Recorder there (on behalfe of the Maior and Corporacon), the other by Captaine Henr>' Chapman, in the name of divers of the Aldermen and comon Councell of the said city, mutual!}- complayning of misdemeanors, and accusing the one the other about the election of the Maior of that city, these differences tending much to his Rlaties disservice, the disturbance of the peace and govern- ment of that city, and being of bad example to other Corporacons. All which being taken into consideracon, and both partyes called in and heard, his Matie was displeased that his militia should be any way employed to strengthen a faction, and to disturb the civill government, and to the end that all enmit}' might cease, and all animosity be so quieted that no seeds of division might rema}-nc amongst them, — it is ordered by his Matie, that Alderman John Parker, who is chosen Maior of the said city be (and hereby is directed and comanded to continue in the said office for the yeare ensuing, the said Chapman being left to take his remedy by course of law, if he thinke fitt). And it is further ordered by his Matie that the Right Honoble the Duke of Ormond doe forthwith recall his comission granted to Captaine Henry Chapman, and that hee the said Chapman doe act no longer thereby. And also that his Grace doe take care that the comand of the trayned Band of that city and hundred of Bath Forum be conferred upon some worthy and fitt person liveing in or neare the said cit}\"^ '■ 20tlt December 1661. " A letter also was read from the deputy Lieutenants of the county of Somersett ; whereupon it was ordered that the Lord Lieutenant of that county do send for Mr. Prynn, and advise him to write to the Maior of Bath concerning his proceedings touching the Militia." " Bridges to Sir Ed. Xicliolas. " State Papers Domestic. Charles ii. f VV. JJ. l\o. 6. "Right Honble Sr, — Had not a misfortune I mett with last nighte comeing to the towne p'vented mee, I had waited on you myself, ' The commission of which Chapman was deprived was conferred upon Prynne's brother- in-law, George Clarke. William Prynne. 45 but being disabled by that accident wch keepes mee yet in my beede, I have sent my brother to acquainte you wth my indeavours in the country for promoting his Matys interest by the election of loyall and able gentlemen to serve in the approaching Parlement, but failing of the success I aymed at by the opposition of the Maior of Bathe (whose character I have sent you in these few articles), I am bolde to desire some instructions from yr experience, how to procede in the affaire, for the preventing of the election of Mr. Prynne and Mr. Fopham at Bathe, persons notorious enough for their actions in the late rebellions, and that still courte the populacy for their applause by their p'tended supporting of their libertyes ; it was in my thoughts to move the Lds of the Counsell upon these articles, for an order to sumon him up before them, and to invest alderman Henry Chapman (a person whose loyalty is unquestionable, nor blemished by the least failing under his great sufferings), wth his authority dureing his absence ; if this course finde the approbation of yr judgment I shall humbly desire the favr of you to promote it in the Counsell, by exhibiting the articles to their Lops in the next Counsell, for the business requires dispatche, this election being to be (I thinke) on Mondaye next. Sr, now that you knowe the persons proposed by the Maior, I shall not doubt of yr care and advice in it, to wh I shall humbly submitt myself, and ever remaine^ right honble, yr most humble faithful servant, TilOMAS BRIDGES. " March 20th 1660 (i.e. 1661):' Henry Chapman,^ who was Captain of the Train-Band, was the main instigator of the foregoing proceedings and what followed. He had been an adherent of the Cavaliers, and after the restoration he never forgave Prynne, who had previously forsaken his earlier party, although politically ^ In 1673 Prynne had charged Chapman as "a person disaffected to his Majesty, declaring by his speeches to several persons at diver.-, times, not only before his Majesties restitution, but since the late act of oblivion, attested by several oaths to this effect : — that when there were some private endeavours of well-affected subjects (about 165S) to restore his Majesty, the Captain used words to this effect, ' You Weston men flatter yourselves, and hope to have a king again, but if ever he comes with a foreign force, I will be the first man will draw my sword against him ; and more than that, for my part I am for Cromwell. That he scorned to serve such a beggarly prince as C. St.'" If this language were used by Chapman it must have been whilst labouring under great provocation. He "had been very much dissatisfied with the whole arrangement of the Restoration," and having borne the brunt of the local contest through the struggle, it is probable he might have used strong language, and "spake unadvisedly with his lips." Moreover, the invective of Prynne was hard to endure by one who had resisted him in the days of his disloyalty. The incident seems to have led Warner and others to believe and represent that Chapman was a political weathercock, who changed his principles to suit his own seltish purposes ; and we admit that we were in many instances deceived by those representations, but we are fully convinced that, whatever Henry Chapman's failings were, he was not a political renegade. M 46 Annals of Swainswick. they were now on the same side. Popham also, his colleague, had deserted the " rumpers." Sir Thomas Bridges then lived at Kenj-sham, and was the ancestor of the Dukes of Chandos, all of whom were more or less identified with Bath and its interests. Chapman is especially referred to in a note in the first chapter. He was a staunch royalist, and he, Bassett, and all the old adherents of the Royal cause hated Prynne with an undying hatred. After the defeat of Waller on Lansdown, Bridges was reappointed gover- nor of the city of Bath, and Chapman until then held a commission in a troop of horse under Lord Carnarvon, as his lieutenant. He was an exceedingl}' able man, as is manifest from his work TJienncB Redtvivce, published in 1673. He begins his preface, " It hath been all along (I praise my God) my inclination as well as my duty to serve my Prince and Country" . . . and he concludes by, " May the good God keep your Majesty, here (long after our age) in the highest degree of honour and health ; and when you change give you an incorruptible for a corruptible Crown, which hath, is, and shall be the daily and incessant prayers of, etc., etc., " Henry Chapman." The " Fragmentary Biography " of Prynne, by the late John Bruce, published by the Camden Society, contains as much of the personal history of that remarkable man as is likely to be written in a biographical form. To trace the history of Prynne ; to analyse his public character in its relation to the times in which he lived, and the influence he exercised over events out of which grew such immense results, happily is no part of the writer's task : happily, because he feels that he possesses no qualification to enable him to perform a work of such importance. The fuller a writer's knowledge of Prynne, the greater his self-restraint and discernment, and the more perfect his judicial temperament, should be, to enable him to arrive at a just historical estimate of Prynne's character. It is almost impossible for an ordinary mortal to read the proceedings of the Star Chamber in reference to Pr}-nne, to look into the evidence on which those proceedings were based, and then to contemplate the hideous cruelty of the sentences inflicted, without feeling such an amount of indignation as shall tend to paralyse his judgment. Whatever the provocation — and there was much on the part of the Puritan party in the special matter brought before the Star Chamber in connection with the " Histrio-Mastix " — there is scarcely any historian, whose opinion is worth anything, who does not clearly vindicate Prj-nne from the charge brought against him of reflecting upon the Queen. Prj'nne is a very complex character, a singular combination of contradictory qualities ; on the one hand, a strong puritan, with William Prynne. 47 immense diligence and learning, a never-tiring energy, great resources, and an inflexible virtue — all capable of degenerating into concentrated vindictiveness. On the other hand, he possessed that rare courage of answering to his conscience when it admonished him of his error, with a generosity, a fulness, and a magnanimity almost without parallel. He battled against prelacy, tyranny, and lawlessness, with the result that he saw a tyrant succeed to power who crushed all law except the law of his own will ; and again he fought, only to find that the usurper's finger was thicker than Charles's loins. Part II. ^N the great conjuncture of events 1633-40, Green ^ says: "The patience of Englishmen, in fact, was slowly wearing out. There was a sudden upgrowth of virulent pamphlets of the old Martin Marprelate type. Men, whose names no one asked, hawked libels, whose authorship no one knew, from the door of the tradesman to the door of the squire. As the hopes of a Parliament grew fainter, and men despaired of any legal remedy, violent and weak-headed fanatics came, as at such times they always come, to the front. Leighton, the father of the saintly Archbishop of that name, had given a specimen of their tone at the outset of this period, by denouncing the Prelates as men of blood. Episcopacy as Antichrist, and the Popish queen as a daughter of Heth. The Histrio-Mastix of Prynne, a lawyer distinguished for his constitutional knowledge, but the most obstinate and narrow-minded of men, marked the deepening of Puritan bigotry under the fostering warmth of Laud's persecution. The book was an attack on players as the ministers of Satan; on theatres as the devil's chapels; on hunting. May-poles, the decking of houses at Christmas with evergreens; on cards, music, and false hair. The attack on the stage was as offensive to the more cultivated minds of the Puritan party as the Court itself; Selden and Whitelock took a prominent part in preparing the grand masque by which the Inns of Court resolved to answer its challenge, and in the following year Milton his masque of ' Comus' for Ludlow Castle. To leave Prynne, however, simply to the ' " Short History of the English People." Edition 1S75, p. 512. 48 Annals of Swairiswick. censure of wiser men than himself was too sensible a course for the angry Primate. No man was ever sent to prison before or since for such a sheer mass of nonsense ; but the prison with which Laud rewarded Pr)-nne's enormous folio tamed his spirit so little that a new tract written within its walls attacked the bishops as devouring wolves and lords of Lucifer. A fellow-prisoner, John Bastwick, declared in his ' Litany' that ' Hell was broke loose, and the devils in surplices, hoods, copes, and rochets were come among us.' Burton, a London clergj-man, silenced by the High Commission, called on all Christians to resist the bishops as ' robbers of souls, limbs of the beast, and factors of Antichrist.' Raving of this sort, however, though it showed how fast the tide of popular passion was gathering, was not so pressing a difficulty to the Royal Ministers at the time as the old difficulty of the Exchequer." Mr. Bruce's " Fragment "^ takes the reader from Prynne's birth in 1600, through his youth at Bath Grammar School and Oriel, to his admission at Lincoln's Inn in 1621.- A diligent student of the law in that " safe shelter for Puritanism," he was offended by the growing taste for the drama. The " number of plays and plaj-houses increasing daily," " the 40,000 play-books vented within these two years," " the fact ' Academy, Aug. II, 1S77; article by R. C. Browne. - The Grammar School in 1600, and for some years before and after, was carried on in the tower of St. Mary's Church, close to the North Gate.' In 1752 when the Church was destroyed, the Grammar School was removed to its present site in Broad Street. Mr. Bruce could not find " even the name of Prynne's master." Prj-nne was educated under two masters, namely, from the time he entered the school when he was 1 2 years old, and for three years after, the head master of the Grammar School was Mr. Sharpe, and during his last year — namely, when he was 16 years old — the head master was Mr. Shrewsbury. These two learned gentlemen received, in addition to a dwelling and rations, ;^I2 per annum, which was paid always in the month of October. Mr. Bruce suggests that Prynne being full two miles from the school, in the winter season the Barton-house "afforded him a frequent shelter." There is nothing whatever to show that Sherston ever lived in Barton-house ; it is more probable that he lived in Broad Street, when he did not occupy the official residence, or his country house, at Langridge (not Swainswick, as is generally supposed). Indeed, there is very little doubt upon the matter, for it appears from St. Michael's Register that "Thomas Prynne married Mary Sherston in that church on the Sth April, 1594, and this very Mary herself was baptised in the same church, October 2, 1574 (the year of Queen Elizabeth's visit to Bath), and her brother, William Sherston, December 2, 1576, and Joan Sherston, August 28, 15S0. These facts pretty clearly demonstrate the connection of " Mayor Sherston " with St. Michael's parish. Jlr. Bruce repeats the exploded tradition of Queen Elizabeth's second visit to Bath, and her residence in Barton-house, which never could have been more than a small farmhouse. That story of Queen Elizabeth is destined to immortality ; let it live. Mr. Bruce thought it probable that Pr)-nne might have had some special knowledge of Laud from the fact of his having been Bishop of Bath and Wells. But it is doubtful whether his episcopal duties ever brought the bishop to Bath at all. Moreover, Laud was Bishop of Bath and Wells only from 1626 to 1628, when he was translated to London, and during that time Prynne's official connection with Bath had not begun, nor, so far as appears, was there any antagonism between him and the Bishop. Perhaps a visit to Bath from Laud might have inspired some of the puritan rogues with a little wholesome terror, and kept them honest. \} See Note on p. 4.I Jl'illiaDi Prynne. 49 that Shakespeare's plays were printed on better paper than Bibles" — these were the intolerable evils which inspired the invective sustained thro gh the eleven hundred pages of Histrio-Mastix, the Player s Scourge or Actors Tragedy. He was for years compounding this infelicitous jumble of learning, nonsense, and spite. Probably no one ever read it througii, save its author, the printer, and Laud's chaplain, Dr. Peter Heylin, who had his own grudge against Prynne for having irreverently handled his account of St. George. Heylin " hoped to have Mr. Prynne's head " for the Scourge; and he asserted that a peculiarly offensive reference to " women actors," in the Index, was a reflection on the Queen, who had taken part in a masque just as the Index was passing through the press. Prynne denied any such intention, as the passages in the text were printed two years before. But in his later history of the transacLion he records, with malignant relish, a scandal given by a lady who took part therein, " making a real commentary on Mr. Prynne's misapplied text." Her partner in guilt was sent to the Tower, and was Prynne's fellow-prisoner — "a strange Providence and worthy observa- tion." He\-lin made his extracts, and carried them to Laud. Laud took them to Lincoln's Inn, on the second Lord's Day morning in Candlemas term, 1633:— "To Mr. Noy, and keeping him on that sacred day both from the chapel and sacrament (which he then purposed to receive), showed him the book and charged him to prosecute Mr. Prynne. Mr. Noy before this had twice read over the said book very seriously, and protested that he saw nothing in it that was scandalous or censurable in the Star Chamber or in any other Court, and had thereupon commanded one of the books which Mr. Prynne delivered him to be put into the library of Lincohi's Inn for the use of the house : insomuch that he was so discontented with the commands of the arch-prelate that he wished he had been twenty miles out of town that morning. But being commanded, he must obey ; and then, a few days after, Mr. Prynne was sent for before the Lords to the Inner Star Chamber, and by them sent prisoner with four of the king's guard to the Tower, Feb. I, 1632-3." There he remained for a year. Committed by a warrant "general against law, wherein no offence was specified," he was denied access to his counsel, convenient time to instruct them or examine witnesses, and knowledge of the particular offences to be charged against him. He alleges that his counsel were tampered with, and their advocacy is faint enough. One of them actually begins by saying that he will not offer anything in defence. Nothing could exceed the unfairness, servility, and cruelty of the Court. Noy brought himself to such thorough obedience as to declare the book totally fraught with schism and sedition. The "censures" of but four members of the Court— Lord Cottington, Chief N 50 Annals of S-d'ainsi^nck. Justice Richardson, Secretary Cook, and Earl Dorset — are given in the State Trials. Mr. Gardiner's MS. gives an abstract of all the speeches. Dorset's fulsome eulogy of the Queen, " in whose praise it is impossible for a poet to feign, or orator to flatter," is much curtailed. His odd certificate of her Majest)-'s virtue, that she " is only a trouble to her ghosth- father, because she has nothing to trouble him withal," is omitted. Of the rest we learn that Judge Heath cited a Statute of Edward HI., "condemning them that dispersed lies and tales to be imprisoned till they found the author ; this man hath no author but himself, therefore perpetual imprisonment." Secretary Windebank thought Pr\-nne " more worthy of a halter than a sentence in this Court." Sir Thomas Jermyn's loyalty was wounded by the (imaginary) reflections upon Charles, " a king in whom Adam hath not sinned " — whatever that may mean. Bishop Juxon "condemns the book to the fire," apparently because "the next would have been mere treason." Laud, after a feebl\- pedantic defence of the drama (on such grounds as that Beza and Buchanan had written sacred tragedies), thank's the lords for so well vindicating the wrongs of the Church by their sentence of ;{;" 10,000 fine, the pillor)-, loss of ears, degradation, and perpetual imprisonment. The courtiers Dorset, Arundel, and Suffolk, would have added nose-slitting to this penalty, while Laud would have excused the " cropping of his ears." Even Prynne's fortitude gave wa)-. He petitioned the Privy Council, acknowledging the justice of the sentence, and begging their intercession with the king to mitigate his fine, and pardon his corporal punishment. The fine was reduced to ;{^3ooo, but after an interval of horrid expecta- tion, the rest of the sentence was executed — on May 7 and 10 — one ear being cut off at Westminster, and the other in Cheapside. Could any thing have been more devilish ? Prj-nne had found his eneni}', and he never rested till he had struck" " proud Canterbury to the heart. "' Dull by nature and assiduity, h.c rises in his hatred to something like prophetic strain.' While Ij'ing at the mercy of his foe, he is sustained b)- an assurance of coming vengeancc\ In a letter, written from the Tower a month after his first punishment, with a High Commission prosecution ready to fall on him, he defies and insults the Archbishop, acknowledging his " succession " from Ananias the high priest,'" who forged the self-same calumny against innocent St. Paul." He charges Laud with falsely accusing him to the king, and of depriving him of the royal pardon by " insolent solicitations." He accuses him of despiteful malice to the legal profession, and twits him with not having leisure to read the book he condemns, " by reason of ' Bnicc's Fragment on I'rynne. - IHd. William Prynue. 5 1 over-laborious preaching once or twice a year." He tells him the world's opinion, " that you are wholly composed of rancour, malice, oppression " — -and so on for several lines of bad qualities. He warns him that, having been advanced "almost from the very dunghill," he is in danger (unless he repent and make public satisfaction) "of misery, ruin, if not of hell itself." Prynne even taunts him with his anagram — I made Will Lau — and finishes by transcribing a text that was fatally veriiied^" He shall have justice without mercy that hath showed no mercy." The letter is extant only in the cop}' endorsed by Laud. The original was torn up, and thrown out of window by Prynne, when Noy had asked him if it were his, and Prynne had got it into his hands to look at the writing. Disraeli remarks : " Prynne well knew that the misde- meanour was in the letter itself, and Noy gave up the prosecution, as there was now no remedy. " Laud's character is, perhaps, not fully known even yet. Of his policy and position, as head of the High Churchmen, there is a thoughtful and suggestive estimate in Mr. Gardiner's "History of England under Buckingham and Charles L" Prynne was thoroughly honest and thoroughly impracticable. Peevish and positive, to him plays were "infernal," the cause of "plagues;" and dancing had its origin in the measure " trod by Herodias, or rather by the devil in her." The same author sums him up in terms too sweeping. "His pedantry clung to him too closely to be shaken off in the friction of a more than ordinary experience of trouble and vicissitude. His learning is of the kind that darkens knowledge, and he is so fearfully and wonderfully dull that, even when he gets on the right track of action, his reasons by their absurdity deprive him of the credit we might else think due to his practical judgment." The later trial of Prynne is better known than the earlier. He, a lawyer. Burton, a divine, and Bastwick, a physician, were fitting repre- sentatives of educated Englishmen weary of the insolent tyranny of the Court. Laud's persistent ill-will included Prynne in this prosecution. He was not satisfied with the punishment awarded by the Star Chamber. He had threatened Pr)-nne with proceedings before the High Commission. He had seized his books by an illegal warrant under his own hand. (Laud denied this warrant, but it was still extant when Prynne cited it in full in his " New Discovery.") It does not appear that Prynne gave any fresh provocation. Later writers have adopted the view of Clarendon ; but against that must be set Prynne's plea that not one of the books charged in the information was laid to him — a statement repeated in his petition to the L.ong Parliament, when avowal of the authorship could not have injured him. Two of these books are on Mr. Bruce's list of Prynne's works — upon what authority is not clear. One of them bears Annals of Sti'ainszvick. a title very reminiscent of the former trial, " A Divine Tragedy lately acted ;" but neither is on Prynne's own list of books written during his imprisonment, and his veracity has never been questioned. The Court intimidated Prynne's counsel from signing his defence, and then declined to receive it unsigned, or from himself The informa- tion was, therefore, taken pro Cfrt/fss.\ and a new sentence — the former, with the addition of branding — was passed. It was executed in Palace Yard, the spectators openly sympathising with the sufferers. Laud had a sharp prevision of the consequences of Prj-nne's speech from the pillor}-, wherein the Churchmen were challenged to prove bishops to be jure diviup, and the lawyers to show that their action in the case had been legal. He rose in the Star Chamber, and moved that his enemy should be gagged and brought in to receive further sentence ; " but the motion did not succeed," the spirit of tyranny being quelled for the moment. The condemned, as they journeyed to their distant prisons, had frequent tokens of the goodwill of their countrymen. The recusant lady who cut off the ears of her three cats and set them in a pillory, calling them Prynne, Burton, and Bastwick ; and the bishop who gave his crop-eared roan the name of Prynne, were exceptions to the general sympathy, which rose to a pitch alarming to the Court. Charles himself was in Council when order was given to "discover what persons did accompany, converse with, and entertain " the prisoners on their passage. Examples were made at Coventry and at Chester. At the latter place certain citizens were for this cause cited to the Council and to the High Commission at York, imprisoned, fined, and ruined. Three portraits of Pr\nne were ordered to be burnt at Chester High Cross, and, by a subsequent order, the very frames were to be destroyed. But the Puritan leaven was at work. Clergymen were found to say that the faithful were still faithful, though their ears were cropped. Fasts of condolence were observed. Social pressure became very hard on loose- lived supporters of the Court. "There is no mercy with the Puritans," writes one of this stamp. Part III. ?^iT»§HE wheel " went faster and faster till it came full circle." The Long Parliament set Prjmne and his fellow-sufferers at liberty, and annulled their sentence as illegal. They entered London in triumph. Laud was soon to "complete his metropolitical visitation," as prisoner Prynne told the lieu- tenant he would do. The busy Archbishop, who had " viewed all the places in his province except only the Tower," fulfilled his foeman's prophecy by coming to sit in the very place in the Tower Chapel " in which Mr. Prynne usually sat during his imprisonment." Possibly Mr. Prynne (who searched Laud's very pockets and printed his private diary for dis- tribution at the triaP) had arranged that little detail. Prynne was elected M.P. for Newport, in Cornwall, in 1648. During the Long Parliament in 1649, Ash superseded Prynne as Recorder of Bath, no doubt at the 1 This was the most indefensible act of Prynne's life. The private thoughts, the aspirations, the ejaculations of the Archbishop, so far as they were committed to writing, were ruthlessly exposed ; and it is the more surprising, because if there was one weakness of Prynne more characteristic than another, it was his superstiticn. His books abound with childish puerilites, which he made known to the world ; the Archbishop's expressions and emotions were noted for lirivate contemplation only. What is surprising, however, is that Macaulay, in his " Essay on Laud," should have reproduced much of the private diary which was originally brought to light by the shameful act of Prynne. What man is there of strong feelings and religious instincts, who, in his sorrows and his perplexities, but, above all, in his gratitude and thankfulness for mercies and blessings, does not more or less experience the emotions w hich brought upon Laud the con- temptuous sarcasms of Macaulay, and the brutal jests of Prynne's lawyers? Of Prynne's alleged vindictiveness, much is to be said in defence of his conduct, if it cannot be justified. The arguments adduced in mitigation of the charges of cruelty against Laud are precisely what may be urged in favour of Prynne : the excitement of the times, the imperfect perception of the doctrines and principles of toleration ; the mutual distrust of the two contending parties in the State, &c. If these reasons are good for Laud, ihey are equally good for Prynne. If Peter Heylin did not "get Prynne's head for the .S"latters, 6 porringers, 6 saucers, and one kettell. Item. — I give to my Daughter, Joane Kemishe, one fether bed, one boulster, two pillowes, two paire of sheetes, 2 blanketts and a coverlett, and one of my white silver bowles. Item. — I give to Katheryn Kemish, my daughter's daughter, two yews and two Lambs. Item. — I give to Henry and George Gofe,^ my daughter's sonnes, 20 shillings a peece. Item. — I give to Thomas and Mary Twimblowe, 20/- a peece, and to Agnes Batten, the daughter of Erasmus Batten, 20/-'" Proved Sep. 3, 1634, by George Clarke and Katheryn his wife. WILL OF WILLIAM PRYNNE. In the name of God, Amen. I, William Prynne of Lyncolnes Inne, in the county of Middlesex, esquire, being, through God's mercy, restored to perfect health and of sound memory from my late infirmitie (for which I bless his holy name), considering my owne declyning strength, the deathes of many of my relacions younger than niyselfe, and my approaching dissolucion, being willing to be dissolved and to be with Chryst which is best of all, whenever God shall please to take me oat of this vayne and wicked world, and hath noe more worke for me therein, doe make this my last will and testament in forme ensueing : First, I bequeathe my immortall soule into the hands of God frome whome I receaved it, by whose free grace, and all satisfactorly merritts of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, I stedfastly hope and beleeve to obtayne the full pardon of all my sinnes and eternall life in his heavenly kingdome. My vile body I bequeath to the dust, to be decently interred in the parish church of Swanswicke, in the county of Somersett, or Lyncolnes Inne, if I decease in or nere either of them, till God shall raise it up a glorious body, and reunite it for ever to my soule at the general resurrection. Item, I give and bequeath to the Churchwardens and Treasurers of Christ Church in London, towards the repairing thereof, the summe of tenne pounds ; and to the Churchwardens and Treasurers of the parish churches of Saint Antholines, Saint Lawrence neare the Guilehall, Saint Bridgett, and Saint Katherines Creed Church, 1 This daughter Agnes was Prynne's only child by his first marriage w ith Margery Smith. Agnes married a Bristol merchant named Gough, Goffe, or Gofe, who was the mother of the two "sonnes" referred to above. Mr. Bruce's statement that Thomas Prynne's first wife was not known, and that she left him childless is, therefore, erroneous. There is a reference to this Agnes Prynne in the Register. She was buried in Swainswick church, the floor of which was " broken " to receive her body. -This was Batten of the Mills. 6o Annals of Swaiiiswick. defaced by the late dreadful fire, five pounds a peece, to be paid them within three months after they shall beginne to repaire them respectively, in case I dye before that tyme, haveing already given the somme of tenne pounds a peece to the Treasurers of Saint Maryes Aldermanbury and Sepulchers, and five pounds to the Churchwardens of Saint Mildred's, with my owne handes, to bee imployed only on the repaires of the saide churches and for noe other uses. Item, I give to the library of Lyncolnes Inn all my manuscripts of Parlyament Rolles and Journalls, and other records not yet published, together with my Rerum Ger- manicarum Scriptores in five, Rerum Hispanicarum Scriptores in four, and Goldastus in three folio volumes. Item, I give to the Librar)- of Oriel Colledge, in Oxford, whereof I was both a member and tennant, my Ocham upon the Sentences, Saint Briget's Revellacions, Laurentius Surius his Councils in four tomes, and one of each sort of my owne printed bookes which they yet want. All the rest of my divinity and eeclesiasticall history bookes I give to my dear brother, Mr. Thomas Prynne, and all my other history bookes, phisick, philosophy, chirurgery bookes, and poets I give to my nephew AVilliam Clerke, with this proviso, that he shall not sell them. And for my law bookes I give so many of them to my brother George Clerke as he shall make choyce of. Item, I give to my dear brother, Mr. Thomas Prynne, my best gold ringe with my father's armes, and three old peeces of gold which were my grandfather's. Item, I give to my dear sister, Mistresse Katheryne Clerke, my best sergeant's ring, all my hangings, bedding, furniture in my chamber in Lyncolnes Inne, and two hundred pounds in money. Item, I give to her husband, Mr. George Clerke, one of my gold rings. Item, I give to every one of their sonnes and daughters who shall be living at the tyme of my decease one gold ring and one hundred pounds a peece. And to my neece Elizabeth Clerke and her daughter EUzabeth one gold ring and tenne pounds a peece in plate. Item, I give to my disconsolate neece, Mrs. Catherine Colman, widow, the somme of two hundred poundes in money ; to each of her daughters the somme of one hundred pounds; and to her sonnes the somme of fiftie poundes, provided that if either her daughters dye or her sons before marriage his or her portion shall remayne to the surviving daughter. Item, I give to my neece Collett, my neece Browne, and my neece ( ) forty pounds a peece. And to each of their respective children tenne pounds a peece. And in case any of their respective children shall dye before marriage, that the legacie of the deceased shall remayne to the survivor. Item, I give to my cousin Joyce Prynne the somme of 30", and to my neece Becke her sister the like somme, if alive at my decease. Item, I give to my clerke Ralph Jennings one of my cloth suites, with a coate, cloake, stockings, and hatt, with five poundes in money, to be paid to him by 5s. each weeke, lest he spend or be cheated thereof. Item, I give to my clerke Samuell Wiseman the somme of three pounds and one of my silk cloakes and last printed bookes. Item, I give to Dr. Tillotson one of each of my three tomes of my Exact Chronological Yindicacion, Svo., bound. Item, I give and bequeath to the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poore of the parish of Swanswicke the somme of tenne pounds, to be employed in binding forth poore boyes and girles therein apprentices as my nephew Mr. George Clerke and the William Prynnc. 6i Minister of the parish shall nominate and directe. Item, I give to Thomas Smith of Swanswick, the somme of twenty shilhngs in money and one of my suites of apparell and riding coates. Item, I give to my brother George Clarke all the bedding and furniture of my chamber in the Tower of London. Item, I give to Mr. William Ryley one of my last tomes of a Chronological Vindicacion. All the legacies in money formerly given I desire may be paid with all expedicion out of the sale and proceed of my printed books at my owne charge in my chamber and elsewhere, and of six yeares and half arreares of my annuall sallary and fee of five hundred pounds, as Keeper of the Records of the Tower, freely given mee by his Majesty King Charles the Second of his owne meere motion, for my ser- vices and sufferings for him under the late usurpers, and strenuous endeavours, by printing and otherwise, to restore his Majestie to the actual possession of his royall government and kingdome without opposicion or effusion of blood. As for my interest in the lease of Swanswick, and my hangings, pictures, and furni- ture there, I give and bequeath them to my dear brother, Mr. Thomas Prynne, for the use of my beloved sister, Mrs. Katherine Clerke, for her better mayntenance dureing her naturall life. And if she dye before the expiracion of the said terme, then to the use of her husband and my nephew, George Clerk, if living. All the rest of my reall and personall estate, goods, chattells, debts, creditts (I never coveting the uncertaine transient treasures, honors, or preferments of this world, but to do my God, King, country, all the best publicke services I could with the losse of my liberty, expences of my meane estate, and hazard of my life) I give and bequeath to my deare brother, Mr. Thomas Prynne, and my loveing sister, Mrs. Katharine Clerke, whom I make sole executors of this my last will and testament, revoking all former wills. In testimony whereof I have written it with my owne hand, and sealed and signed it with my owne seale of armes and hand this eleveanth day of August, in the yeare of our Lord 1669. William Prynne. Signed, sealed, published, and declared by the testator to be his very last will and testament, in the presence of Thomas Prynne. 62 Annals of Szuainswick. THE REGISTER OF SWAINSWICK (1557-1627). IhE Register of Swainswick, as now extant, begins in the year 1557, and has been kept from that time with unusual care and admirable method. It is styled "The Register book of the parish of Swainswick, faithfullie collected accord- ing to the Canons." We now proceed to give extracts from it from the beginning down to iSoo; copies also are given of the parochial accounts from the earliest date, 1631, down to a late period ; and these contain much miscellaneous and interesting matter. It should be observed, in certain cases, that January, February, and March occur after the later months, in which case the explanation is to be found in the transition from the ecclesiastical to the secular year, and is expressed thus: 1567-8. [5f^ 1567, for example.] ^hc 31 ere of our %ox\ 1537. 1557 Robert Pontynne, the sonne of Nicholas Pontynne, and of Alice, his wyffe, was baptised the 5 th daie of Aprill. John Mercicr of Southstoke = Agnes Saunder, 4 June. John Powle = Margerie Periman, 9 October. (See 1630.) Henrie Holder, the sonne of John Holder, was christened the 12th daie of Februarie. 1558 John Saunder, the sonne of Edmunde Saunder, burd. 7th daie of Aprill. [The name in the College books is sometimes spelt a final s, and sometimes without it.] Sir^ Thomas Ireland, clerke parsonne of Swainswicke (appointed 1547, resigned Jan. i, 1556), was buried the i6th daie of August. John Powle,- sonn of John Powle and Margerie, his wife, was christened the 13th daie of October. Alice Houlder, daur. of John Houlder and Alice, his wyfe, baptised the 19th daie of March. Richard Davis, Mhiister. Edmond Lewes, John Batten, 1559 John West of pish, of Box = Margery Tybett, nth June. \ Churchwardens. 1 This is only a title of respect, and is now represented by the prefix " Rev." ■- The name is the same as Powell, which is nearly always pronounced Powle or Pole in Somerset. = The Rev. Richard Davis was at this time the Curate. The Rector, John Rawe or Rowe, having succeeded Thomas Ireland, Jan. II, 1556, as recorded in December 1575, was succeeded by Richard Davis as Rector on April 10, 1577. Regisler. 63 Henrie Long, the sonne of John Long and Alice, his wjffe, bap. 15th Octr. Thomas Saunder, sonn of Richard Saunder and Joan, his wyfe, bap. i ith daie of Februarie. [See 1606.] 1560 William Lewes, son of William Lewes and of Ann, his wyfe, bap. 4th daie of ApriU. Davie Houlder, son of John and Alice, his wife, bap. 2 Maie. Joan Harnard, daur. of John and Alice, bap. 7th December. 1561 Thomas Andrews = John ' Chedseye, 20th daie of June. John Gunnmg" of the parish of Cold Aston = Ann Lewes,^ loth daie of September. Millesaint Harnard, daur. of John and Alice, bap. 5th daie of March. RiCH.\RD Davis, Minister. Edmond Lewes, I ^y^^j^„^_ John B.\tten, J 1562 Agnes Houlder, daur. of John Houlder and Alice, bap. 5th ApriU. Joan Andrews, daur. of Thomas Andrews and Joan, bap. 17th Maie. Joan Jones, daur. of William Jones, burd. 14th daie of August. Elinor Guning, daur. of John Guning'* and of Ann, bap. loth Oct. 1563 Thomas Saunder,^ son of John and Joan, bap. 28th March. ^ An error for Joan, which occurs more than once. - The Gunnings were an old Gloucestershire family, which was for many years settled at Turney's Court, Tatwick, and the Manor-house, Cold Ashton. These Gennyngs, Gunnings, Gunwins, or Gonings, had a common ancestry with the Castlecoote and Horton Gunnings. The John Gunning mentioned above was the eldest son of John Gunning of Turney's Court, who died in 1562, and who was the great-grandfather of Dr. Peter Gunning, Bishop of Chichester 1669, translated to Ely 1674, and died July 6, 16S4. The Bishop was the writer of the prayer, " For all sorts and conditions of Men." The Gunnings flourished in Swainswick for 250 years. Further reference will be made to the family in connection with Tatwick, ^ Ann Lewes was the daughter of Edmond Lewes, gentleman, who most probably at this time lived in the Manor-house at Tatwick, though his connection with the parish does not appear to have been of long duration. ■•John Gunning and his wife were evidently residents in the parish of Swainswick at this time. ^ Tenure of " Pickwicks." "Pickwicks," a house, now cottages, above the village tree, and 131 acres of land. Purchased by Richard Dudley, temp. Henry VIII., of John Turner and Robert Pistor, and known as " Pistor's and Turner's lands." It may also be mentioned that there was a Robert Pistor in Bath 150 years before, an ' ' artificer," i.e., a cloth weaver, who paid twelvepence Poll Tax in 1379. He may have been the ancestor of the Robert Pistor here mentioned. The farm is now called " Plill Farm" in the Ordnance Survey, [It will be seen that the Saunders' connection with the estate began twenty-four years before the Register.] '533 J"ly •• The College to Edmund Saunders of Swainswick, husbandman, Agnes his wife, and Richard their youngest son. Grant of a messuage at Swamswick, and lands in Swainswick and Batheaston, as the said lessees lately held the same of John Turner of Wolfrington, co. Somers, gent., by lease of I July 1524. Lease for their lives and the longest liver. 64 Annals of Swainswick. Elioner Saunder, daur. of Richard and Joan, 5th Aprill. Richard Andrews, son of Thomas and Joan, 7th Oct. Richard Gaye, son of John Gaye, 9th January. 1560 April 22. The College to Richard Saunders of Swainswick, gent., Joan his wife, and Edward Saunders and Edmund Saunders, their sons. For their lives successively : the messuage and lands referred to in former grant of 1533. Rent, 49s. Sd. [The same Richard Saunders also held lands in Tadwick, formerly Longe's, at a rent of 13s. 4d., making, with the above, a total sum of ;^3, 3s., which appears in the College accounts when they begin in 1583. In 1598 the same holding was granted by the College to John Harrington of Kelston, CO. Somers, Esq. Premises as above, at rent of 4gs. 8d. in money and corn. For lives of Benjamin Saunders, and such wife as he shall next marry, and James Harrington, gent., son of the said John Harrington. The name of Harington is spelt in the College books with two r's ; the family invariably spelt it with one. (Richard Davis, clerk, acts as attorney of the College, to deliver possession.)] Assignment of above lease by Sir John Harrington, knight, to Benjamin Saunders. 1598 July 21. i6i2 Oct. 12. The College to Benjamin Saunders of Swainswick, yeoman, and Susan Saunders, his wife. Premises as above, commonly known as Pistor's and Turner's lands, late in the occupation of Richard Saunders, deceased. For the lives of Benjamin Saunders, Susan Saunders, and George Saunders, their son, and the longest liver. Rent, 49s. Sd. in money and corn. 1614 June 23. Surrender of above lease. (After this the name does not occur in the Register.) Oct. 6. The College to Nicholas Meredith of Bristol, merchant, and Mary, his wife. Recites surrender as above. Premises and rent as above. For lives of Nicholas Meredith and Mary, his wife, and for one other life, to be nominated. 1621 Oct. 6. The College to Nicholas Meredith of Bristol, merchant. Premises and rent as above. For lives of Nicholas and Marj', and of their son Abel, and the longest liver. 1641 June 10. The College to Mary Meredith, widow. Premises and rent as above. For lives of Mary Meredith and Abel, her son, and one new life to be put in. 1647-8 March 10. The College to Abel Meredith of Westbury on Trym, gent. For lives of himself and Margery, his wife. 1652 Oct. 21. The College to Richard Walter of Westbury, CO. Glouc, gent. Recites surrender of lease to Abel Meredith. Premises and rent as above. For lives of the said Richard Walter, William Whitlinglon, son of John Whiltington, of Tatwick, gent., and Richard Walter, son of Thomas Walter of Horfield, co. Glouc., Esq. 1677 Aug. 10. The College to Joan Walter of Swainswick, relict and executri.\ of Richard Walter of Swainswick, gent., deceased. For lives of William Whiltington, son of John Whittington, of Tatwick, in the parish of Swainswick, gent., Richard Walter, son of Thomas Walter of Horfield, co. Glouc, Esquire, and of the said Joan Walter. Register. - 65 1564 Edward Guning, son of John and Ann, bap. loth Novr. Edith Taylor, daur. of John and Isabella, 26th Deer. 1565 Julian Powle, son of John and Margery, bap. 30th Sepr. Agnes Keynes, daur. of John, bap. 12th Octr. John Waterfoorde, son of Henry, buried 25th Novr. Margaret Barnard, wydowe, buried 8th Deer. 1566 William Cavell of Bath = Julian Meredith, 8th January. Edmond Long, son of Thomas Long, baptised i6th July. Henrie Andrews, son of Thomas and Joan Andrews, baptised Febr. i. 1567 Aliee Houlder, wyfe of John H., was buried 2nd Aprill. Robert Pitt was buried 15th Oetr. Owen Griffin of Bath = Margaret Shephard, 27th Novr. Edward Guning, son of John Guning, buried i Januarie (1568). 1568 William Rogers of Bitton = Harnard, 5th Maie. Edward Webb, son of Richard, bap. 27th Maie. Joan Brooksbye, daur. of John, bap. 5th March. 1569 Zella Saunder, daur. of Richard Saunder and Joan, bap. 18th June. Elioner Brothers, buried 14th Julie. Thomas Webb = John [Joan] I'aylor, 29th November. 1691 May II. The College to Ann Waller of Swainswick, spinster, Elizabeth Burton of Swainswick, and Mary Burton of Swainswick, spinster. For lives of William Whittington, Joan Walter, and Mary Walter, her daughter. 1697 June 2S. The College to Ann Walter of Swainswick, spinster, James Burton of Sutton Montague, co. Somers., clerk, Elizabeth Burton, his wife, and Mary Walter of Swainswick, spinster. Recites death of William Whittington of Weston, co. Somers. For lives of Joan Walter, Mary Walter, and James Burton, aged four years, son of the said James Burton, clerk. 1714 April 27. The College to James Burton of Sutton Montague, co. Somers., clerk, James Lacey of Sherborne, co. Dorset, clerk, and Mary Walter of Sherborne, co. Dorset, spinster. For lives of Mary Walter, James Burton, aged twenty years, and Walter Burton, aged fourteen years, two sons of the said James Burton, clerk. 1725 One new life put into the lease, viz., James Thome of Milborne Port, co. Somers., stockingmaker, aged eighteen. 1771 Oct. The lease expired by the death of Mr. Burton, the last survivor. 1772 The College to the Rev. James Morgan of Mortimer, co. Berks, renewed at intervals down to iSoo, when it was granted by the College to Eleazer Pickwick of Bath [who, from being a post-lioy at Tne Bear, had flourished as the landlord of the White Hart, and as a post-master and coach-pro- prietor]. The property was renewed down to 1S42 : the lease then granted expired in 1863, at which time it was held by one Royal (a dairyman in Bath), by assignment from Pickwick's trustees. P. > ]]'ardens. 66 Annals of Swain siuick. 1570 John Brooksbye, buried 23rd Julie. William Long, son of William and Alice, bap. 2nd Februarie. Julian Webb, daughter of Richard Webb, bap. 19th Februarie. 1571 Davye Taylor, buried 23rd Februarie. John Davys, sonn of Richard Davys, bap. nth March. Richard Davis, Minister. Edmond Lewes, John Baiten, 1573 Edward Webb,' farmer, was buryed 22nd daie of June. Isabel Andrews was bur)-ed 30th daie of Octr. Edith Long, daur. of John and Alice, bap. 20th Nov. 1574 Joan Brocke, buried 28th June. Thomas Andrews, was burd. 9th Sept. Edith Powle, was buried nth Octr. 1575 Samuel Cove, burd. nth April. William Brimblecombe = Alice Rimiwell, 30th June. John Gunt of Bath = Agnes Harnard, 31st Octr. Alice Griffin, daur. of Owen and INIargt., bap. 12th Novr. Mr. John Rawe, clerke parsonn of Swainsweeke, was buried the 8th daie of December. (See Note to 1558.) 1576 John Phillip, the sonn of John Phillip, an Egiptian \i.e., a Gypsey], was heere baptized the roth daie of ^Iaie. William Sheppard of Langridge, to Edith Montfoorde, of this parish, the 5th daie of June. Margaret Hort was buryed iSth Octr. Ann Silvestre, daur. of Richard and Ann, bap. 23 Novr. Alice Pontynn, wife of Nicholas, buryed 9th Januarie {1577). 1577 Edward Saunder= Marie Osborne, i6th Maie. Thomas Byde, burd. 24th Maie. Peter Longe, son of John and Alice, bap. ist Sepr. Alice Grome, wife of John, burd. 21st Sepr. William Tylye of Langridge = Joan Pontynne, 20th Oct. 1578 Nicholas Pontynn= = John [Joan] Gifford, i Maie. Richard Whiting, sonn of Danyl and Joan, bap. i June. 1 This Edward ^Yebb, as stated, was appointed "farmer," which signified agent or manager, by Oriel College, soon after it had acquired the property in 1529. He lived at the Manor House, standing on the north side of the Church The house is still in admirable preservation, ana although it contains vestiges of an ancient edifice, it is not in itself older than about 1600. Edward Webb was succeeded tn the agency by John Webb, and he by Thomas Prynne, father of William Prynne. \^^ee note on the Webb family, page 37.] = The name of Pontynn occurs repeatedly m this Register, and in that of Bath Abbey and Frome, and St. Cuthberts, Wells, in various modes of spelling, and is a name common in the county of Somerset. Registei'. 67 Thorcas Lewes = Joan Andrews, 25th Julie. Marie Pontynn, daur. of John and Isabell, bap. 31 Augt. Richard Sylvester and Ann, ) j John. Edward Saunder and Mary, ■ Sons bap. ■' "Samuell. Nicholas and Joan Pontynn, ) ( Richard. Alice, wife of Wm. Briniblescombe, buried. 1579 Thomas Hopkins of Marsfield = Alice Dirham, 24 Sept. Thomas Lawrence of Camerton = Joan Lewes, 22 Oct. Joan Gaye, wife of John, burd. 28 Nov. John Reade, son of Walter Read and Elizabeth, bap. i March. Richard Davis, Minister. Edmund Lewes. John Batten ' > Wardens. 1580 Henrie Waterfoord, buried 8th April. John Grome = Agnes Phelps, 5 Maie. William Brimblescome = Margery Humphreys, 28th June. (Their son Henry baptized loth July.) John Pontynn, son of Richard and Maude, bap. 15th Julie. John Rogers = Elizabeth Jones, 2 Oct. Richard Parker = Elizabeth Pontynn, 27 Nov.' 1584 Matthew Spencer, the son of Ann Spencer, a vagrant, was baptized 12 Deer. John Bruer of Langley = Joan Bush, 26th Januarie. 1585 5 funerals, 4 baptisms, i marriage. 1586 William Hulbert of Marsfield = Edith Harnard, 5th Maie. Elionor Cox, wydow, being an hundred yeres old, was buried the 8th dale of Julie. [There are no means of testing the authenticity of the fact, as in the case of Powle.] Antonye Bull of Katerin [St. Catherine's], sodenly dying, was here buryd the 9th dale of August. Edith Lewes, wife of Edmond Lewes of Todwick, burd. 7th Sept. Nicholas Pontyn, set. 80, buried i8th August. John Saunder, set. 80, buried 19th October. 1587 Rebecca Cove, daughter of John, bap. 8th April, burd. 5th Julie. William Brimblescombe, married a 3rd wife, Edith Atkins, on |une 12, and had a son bap. i6th September. Thomas Geffreis [Jefferies] of Walcott = Joan Pontyn, wydow, 1 2th Octr. Thomas Hopkins, son of Thomas Hopkins of Marsfield, bap. 30th September. [Hopkins is meant ; so also in 1611.] ' The following years 1 581, 15S2, 1583, only contain two events, Richard Bennett's marriage with Ann Horte and William Giffrey with Alice Pecoke. 68 Annals of Sxi'ainswick. 1588 John Batten of Frampton Cottrell = Joan Geffreis [this was her third marriage, she having married Jeflferies the previous year], w)-dow, 1 2th Sept. Edward Tylye of Langridge = Elionor Gunying, 2 1 Nov. 15S9 Morgan Thomas = Millesaint Harnard, 3rd August. John Lillie = Agnes Stokes (no day given). Andrew Horrie, son of Elionor Horrie, bap. 29 Nov., buried 4th December. 1590 Paule Holder was, by License from Wells, married here to Elizabeth Pitt the 2 2d of Octobre. William Collins of Bristowe = Alice Rogers, 16 Nov. 159 1 No Entry. 1592 William Morlaise [Morley], sonn of Thomas, bap. 2d Julie. Edward Lewes of Hortley, by speciall sute was here buried the 6th dale of December. 1593 Giles Rudman of Wolley = Edith Tayler, 30 Julie. John Atkins of Hampton = Joan Stokes, 2 2d Octr. William AVhit, son of John Whit, bap. 23 Novt. Hiatus in the Register from November 23, 1593, to December iS, 1603. Copy of LetUr, dated Wdh, Somt., 61 h Sept. 18S0. "Dear Sir, — Referring to your letter of the 4ih inst. — The information desired as to the Swainswick Register is not to be found in the papers I handed over to your father some time since, and which are now at Taunton. The missing pages are, I fear, irretrievably lost. If the date had been more recent, a copy of the Register might possibly have been found in the Diocesan Registr)- here. — I am, Dear Sir, yours obliged, Tho. Serel. "To Wm. Long, Esq., Woodlands, Congresbur)', R.S.O., East Somerset." 1603 William Gunning, son of Martin Gunning and Susanna, bap. i8th December. 1604 Joan Chilton, \ryfe of Richd., buryed 26th Male. Edward Humfrye = Cicelye [Cicely] Hatch, July i. Thomas Prinn,' the son of Thomas Prinn and of Marie, his wyfe, was baptized the 2d daie of Sept. ' This was the second son of Thomas Prynne. Reference has been made in the historical chapter to the fact that Thomas Pr)-nne's marriage to Marie Sherston was registered at Aust as well as at St. Michael's, Bath, where it took place. In 1596, the baptism of Catherine Prynne is recorded at Aust ; and in 1599, that of Joan Pr)-nne. In 1607, the baptism of Kattrine Prynne is here recorded, but no Joan, and beyond all doubt the entries at Aust refer to Thomas Prjnne's children. In his will, Thomas Prjnne, after his sons, WiUiam and Thomas, first mentions Kather)-ne and then Joan, in the order of seniority, according to the Aust register. In the interval the register is missing, so that we have no record ; the elder Catherine may have died. George Clarke married Katerine in 1627 (probably Katerine the younger), who would be twenty years of age, and it seems took the place in her father's will of the elder deceased Katerine. It often happened in that age that if a daughter died, and her death were followed by the birth of another, she took the name and place of her deceased sister. Register. 69 John Longe, " an aunchent old man," burd. 8th February. Edith Smithe, an old wydowe, burd. 14th Feb. Richard Davis, Minister. Richard Chilton, I ,,-, ■ John Phyllips, J Alice Gunninge, daur. of John and Elizabeth, bap. 10 March. 1605 James Tanner, sonn of John and Zella, bap. 20th October. Richard Chilton = Grace Perfect, 4th Nov. Marie Gunninge, daur. of Martin Gunninge and Susan, bap. 19th February. 1606 John Bruer of ffoord, in the parish of VVraxall, and the countie of Wilts = Ann Griffith, the 4th dale of Novembre— by license from Wells Joan Saunder,' wydowe of the age of 94, burd. 7th daie of Octobre. Richard Davis, Minister. John Tavler, | ;;.^,.^^„^ Walter Reade, ) Marie Smith, daur. of John and Elizabeth, bap. 7 December. Thomas Gunninge, son of Thomas and Nan [.\nn], his wife, bap. 18 Jany. 1607 John Phillipps = Joan Gregorie of Puckle Church, 7th Male. Katerine Prinn, the daughter of Thomas and Marie, bap. 19th Maie. [See note to 1604.] 1608 Samuel Tanner, K. c -, \. jthu 0.1,^1 Nathanaell Tanner, J '^'"^' ^°"^ °^ J"*^" ^"'^ ^'^^'^' ^'"^P- ^^'^ March. John Davis of Wolley = Ann Reade, 21st July. Richard Davis, Minister. Thomas Pryn, ) ,,. , T c- ( \y aniens. John Smith, | Walter Simmons, the elder of the parish of Batheaston, was maried to Alice Sparkes, 25th Septembre. Susan Gundevin [Gunning], daur. of Martin and Susan, bap. 16 Oct. Edmonde Lewes, an old man about the age of 82 yeres, was buried the last daie of February. 1609 Joyce Gunwin, daughter of Thomas and Marie, bap. 25 June. Robert Chedseie = Anne Younge, 24 Augt. ' This Joan Saunder was the widow of Richard Saunder, to whom reference is made in 1559. His death occurred between 1593 and 1613. .S 70 Annah of Swainswick. 1610 John Smith, labourer, burd. 28th March. Richard Davis, Minister. John Powle, \ r-i 1 • William Smith, J Dorothie Prinn, the daughter of Thomas Prinn and of Marie, his wife, bap. 15th daie of June. John Ffrancome of the town of Marsfield, in the countie of Gloucester, was married to Mercie Pontinn of this parish, the 29th of June. William Marksome of the towne of Marsfield, was maried to Julian Morlaise of this parish, the nth daie of Novembre. John Keylocke, a poor old travayling man, was here buried, the last daie of Januarie, Ano Dome 1610. Thomas Gunwin, son of Martin and Susan, bap. 17th Februarie. 161 1 John Workman = Margery Gingle, 8th October. Marie Gunwin, daur. of Thomas and Marie, bap. 10 Novr. John Shepharde, of the parish of Weston = Marie Lewes, 20th Januarie. Richard Hopkins, a base born child, born at Okeford,' in the parish of Marsfield, the son of Elizabeth Hopkins, and as she did confess at the houre of the birth of the child, the sonn of John Webb, gent., was brought to our church the tyme of Divine Service, and laid upon the fonte, and because it was weak and was begotten in the farme, was here christened the gth daie of Februarie. Richard Davis, Minister. Thomas Lewes, I ^v 7 j T n^ ; Lnurcliwardens. John Tanner, ) 1612 Isabel, wyfe of John Pontinn, burd. loth June. Henrie Summerell, of parish of Charlecombe = Alice Bruer, 28th June. 1613 Joan Brimblecome, the daur. of Henrie B. and of Agnes his wyfe, was baptized the fourth daie of Ajirile, being Easter Day, this yere 1613. Thomas Powle = Joan Bevile, wydow, of St. Michael's without gate, Bath, April 1 2. John Workman, a sucking child of John W. and Margery his wyfe, burd. 29th .-Vpril. Richard Pontinn, a poor old man burd. 21 June. John Jones, of pish, of Widcome = Elizth. Smith, wydowe, 24th June. Walter Cope, of pish, of Bitton = Sara Saunder, 21 October. Peregrine Cook, the sonn of Thomas Cook and of Elizth. his wyfe, baptized 14th of NovemiK-r. This Thomas Cook is a carier of Venice glasses, and his wife, as a walking woman, coming to this ' Okeford is near " the Rocks." Register. parish fell hear in travaile, and was delivered of this child and heere •^^l^*'^^"^- Richard Davis, iMmista: Thomas Gunwyn. John Shephard. Bridgett Prinn, the daughter of Thomas and Marie Prinn, baptized ist November. John Gunwinn, son of Thomas and Marie, bap. 23 Jany. John Fisher of Batheaston = Edith Rudman, 7th daie of March by speciall license from Welles. [The Fishers had considerable properly about Bath, Balheaston, and at Newton-St.-Loe, especially a well-known member of the family was the late Mr. Heniy Fisher, for many years head of the police force in Bristol. Another branch of the family possessed the manor and the patronage of Bathampton. Of this branch there are many representatives in Bath.] 1614 John Tayler, of this parish, an old ancient man, bd. 6th June. Memdm. That this John Tayler gave in his lyfe tyme and delivered by the hands of Giles Rudman to Owen Griffen and Thomas Mare, over- seers of the pore, ^^20 : to remain as a continual stocke for the good of the pore of the parish of Swainsweeke in the hands of such as shall be chosen yerely to be overseers of the pore of the said parish. The use of the which £^20, the said John Tayler willed to be distri- buted to the pore of the said parish at such tymes yerely as the said overseers shall give up their accompts without fraude, gyle, or further delay every yere. This 20 was delivered in the parish church of Swainsweeke, to the overseers above named the 8th daie of Male, 16 14. Sictestor. Ricardus Davis, /vVc/.r. William Morlais = Elenor Clement, 20th August. [The name Morlais afterwards is spelt Morley.] Alice Gunwin, daur. of Martin and Susan, bap. 21 Dar. Richard Davis. John Webb, 1 ,„ . Edward Holder, J ^^'^'^J'»'- 1615 Elizabeth Brimblescome, the daur. of Alice Brimblescome and (as it is confessed) of one Thomas Smith, at the sign of the 'Ram ' in Bath, ostler, was baptized heer 29th of Maie. Thomas Smith, of the parish of Peter and Paule in Bath, married A.lice Brimblescome, 2d daie of Julie. Wilham White, of parish of Westerleie = Alice Milles, i6th Octr. 1616 John Webb,' farmer of Swainswick, a man of the age of eighty yeres and P' ' This was the eldest son of Edward Webb, who died 1573, the earliest agent of Oriel College. This John succeeded him, but was probably dismissed. He gave by his will the sum of £\o to the Abbey Church. [See note on page 66.] Anna Is of Szcaiuszuhk. upward, was buried the 4th dale of Aprill. [He died at the Manor House.] Marie Dirham = John Jones of Midsomer-Norton, June 3. Dorothie Prinn, daur. of Thomas Prinn and Marie, his wyfe, buried 13 dale of Septembre. Richard Davis. Giles Rudman. Martin Gunwyn. 1617 John Wickam, the sonn of John Wickham and of his wyff Ann, was baptized with private baptism by reason of his weakness, and brought into the congregation the last daie of November, to certifie them of the lawfulness thereof. Katerine Kemmeish,' the daughter of ^^"illiam Kemmeish [Kemeys] and ' The Kemeys family was at one time a numerous and a scattered one, various branches of it possessing lands in South Wales, and the counties of Monmouth, Gloucester, Somerset, Wilts, and Dorset. The senior branch was seated at Cefn Mably, Glamorganshire, and is now repre- sented by Colonel Kemeys-Tynte, the present owner of that historic mansion. Of the branch settled at Swainswick, or Swanswick. Somerset, not much information can be given. There was a double connection between this family and Swainswick. " Roger Kemeys, 13 Edward IV. (1474), released his lands in Swainswick, Somerset;" and Mr. G. T. Clark, in his Getieahgics of Glamorxaii, P- 4'7i s'ates that " Roger Kemeys, of Swainswick, co. Somerset, released to William Sewcy, alias Stoweford, all his rights and lanils there." This Roger Kemeys was of Syston, and Franipton-Cottrell, co. Gloucester, in the church of which there are several monuments to the family. Roger Kemeys married Alice, daughter and heiress of William Arthur, of Bedminster. After an interval of more than a century, this s.amc branch of the Kemeys family again became connected with Swainswick by the marriage of William Kemeys, of Frampton-Cottrell (the great-great -great-grandson of the above Roger Kemeys), with Joan, daughter of Thomas Prynne, of Swainswick, and sister of William Prynne. "■\ViIUam Kemeys Ute of Frampton-Cotterell, CO. Glouc, deed. Admon. Sept. 13, 1639, to his relict, Joan Kemys." * '■ Joan Kemys, of Wickwick. CO. Glouc, widow. Will dated Feb. 10, 1640; proved Mar. i, 1641 (1641-2) [37 Caj>tpbeil].—lLO my brother William Pry'nne.t my lease in the manor and farm of Swainswick, Somerset. To my brother Thomas Prynne, my ground called ' Latymore,' in Wickwick. My sons William and Arthur Kemys ; my grandfather Kemeys; to my daughters Isabel, .Ann, Sarah, and Katherine Kemys; my sisters Sarah and Ann Kemys, 20/ each. My father-in-law, Mr. Arthur Kemeys, of Wickwick." * They were succeeded by their elder son, Arthur Kemeys. His Will. "Arthur Keymish, of Frampton Cotlerell, CO. Glouc. Will dated Aug. 6, 1644; proved Oct. 5, 1647 [197 Fines]. — Mr. W ill!am Prynne, of Lincoln's Inn, my uncle, and Roger Keymish, of Bristol, merchant, to be guar- dians of my young brother, William Keymish. My late mother, Joan Keymish. My aunts Sarah and Ann Keymish My sisters Katherine, Elisabeth, Ann, and Sarah. My uncle Thomas Prynne. J " * Note. — Frami'ton Cotterell, Co. Glouc. " But-ial^ 1692, Sept — Ann, daughter of William Kemys, of Wickwick, in this parish, Esq., and wife of Robert Brown, gent. Also, the bodies of the said William Kemys, her father: Arthur Kemys, her grandfather ; and Roger Kemys, her great-grandfaiher." " 1679, Sept. — Robert P.rown, gent." * From Somersetshire /('iV/i (Third Series), collected by the late Rev. Frederick Brown, M.A., F.S-.-i., and privately printed for Frederick Arthur Crisp, 1S89. t The Puritan. t He was the Puritan's only brother, and survived him. Register. 7 3 Jone (daughter of Thomas Prynne) his wyffe, bap. 4th dale of Januarie.' 16 1 S Thomas Chaterton,- the sonn of Thomas Chaterton and Ah'ce, his wyffe, was baptized 7th daie of June. Henry Pontinge, coming from Bristowe to his friends here, died, and was buried the 24th daye of Februarie. Richard Davis Thomas Prinn. I John Tanner. ) 16 19 Edward Smith, sonn of John Smith and Alice his wyffe, who coming to her mother, Edith Mare, at Todwicke, was there delivered, and the child here baptized, the iSth day of Julie. Arthur Kemmish, sonn of William K. and Jone, bap. 12 daie of Septembre. Richard Davis. John Shepparde. Henrie Andrewes. 1620 Thomas Prin, farmer of Swainsweeke, was buried the loth daie of Julie.^ William Stephens, sonn of John and Alice, bapd. 23d Deer. 1622 Owen Griffin, an auncient old man of the age of 88 yeres, was buried the 24th daye of December. 1623 Susan Gunwyng, the wyfe of Martin Gunwyng, was buried the 7th daie of Februarie. 1624 William Yeeles of the Parish of Katerine [St. Catherine's] was married to John Gunwyne, 3rd daie of June. Joan Lewes, an ancient old woman about the age of 96 yeres, was buried the ist daie of Julie. Martin Gunwyne, of Todweeke, in the parish of Swainsweeke, was maried to Joan Tiler of the same parishe, the 21st daie of Octobre. 1625 Joan Gunning, the daughter of Thomas Gunning and Joan his wyffe, bap. 16 daie of Januarie, 1626 Joane Batten, wyfe of John Batten, buried the last day of March. Stephen Croke = Elizabeth Huntley, 5th daye of October. Anne Hulbert, wife of Henrie Hulbert, burd. iSth Novr. Edward TiUie of Aust, in the countie of Gloucester = Elizabeth Mason, 20th Novr. 1627 George Clarke was married to Katerine Prin,^ 27th day of August John Battin of the Mill was buried the 29th of Oct ' The marriage of William Kemeys with Joao Prynne does not appeal to have talcen place at Swainswick. * This Thomas Chatterton may have been the ancestor of Chatteiton the poet. 2 This was Thomas Prynne, the father of William Prynne. ■" See Monograph on the Clarkes, also entry 1607. 74 Annals of Szvainswick. THE HYDE-CLARKE FAMILY. YDE HALL was a very old edifice in Cheshire, and was jv P standing till 1854. Only the offices now remain. "An ^ t^Si 2 ancient hall with a new front," it stood on the Cheshire side ^^'S'SP of the river Tame, opposite to Haughton and Denton, with gardens sloping to the water's edge. There was a weir across the river which produced a fine cascade, and the river above for half-a- mile appeared like a lake. Mr. Clarke had valuable coal-works in the neighbourhood. The original hall was erected during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, rebuilt about 1660, and refaced about a hundred years ago. The site was most probably that of the ancient castle of Matthew, Lord de Hyde. About the time of King John, the Hyde family was represented by Matthew de Hjde, who had issue — " Sir Robert Hyde, Kt, son and heir. Lord of Hj-de and of Newton, or part thereof, in Cheshire ; Shalecross and Ferneby, in Derbyshire ; and Haughton and Denton, in Lancashire. Robert, son of the said Robert, married de Norbury, cousin and heiress of Thomas de Norbury, b}' which marriage the lordship of Norbury came to the Hydes. They had issue — Sir John H3-de, son and heir ; Alexander Hyde, ancestor of Hydes of Denton." ^cbigrce of the ^fiics of ^]uiic, anb Clarkcs of ^toainsliiick. 3- 4- I 5. r MATTHEW DE HYDE dwelt in his castle of Hyde. Sir Robert HvDEof Hyde = 1250. I Robert de HYDE=daughter and co-heir of Thomas de Norburj- of son and heir. | Norbury. Stockport. I Sir John Hvde = in 1356 went to France ; I served under the Black Prince. '■ 3 I \ NYiLLiAM DE HYDE=daut. of Sir John Davenport of Eramhall i Hall, Cheshire. Register — the Hyde -Clarices. 75 Firtt Wife. I Second Wife. Third Wi/c. O. = Robert de Hvde= daughter of Boydell = daughter of Pulcroft. 1400. I Robert de Hyde. 7. ^ Q Hahnet DE Hyde = Sarah, dau. of Massey HENRvHvDEof "• of Norbury, Hyde. | ot Riscon, c. Lancaster. West Hatch. ! [From whom the Earl of Clarendon. 1 I g. Thomas Hvde= . . . d. of Geoffrey Kniverston of + 1487- I Underwood, Derbyshire. I First Wife. 10. Robert Hvde=. Margery, dau. of Wm. Holland of Norbury and Hyde + I53S- of Denton. I I. Hammond Hyde= Margaret, dau. of Lawrence Warren d. V. p. I of Poynton, Cheshire. c VT ' XI ., '''''^^ '^'■^'- Stcond Wijt. J 2. Robert Norbury Hyde = MargaketDukinfield = Jane, d. of Sir W. Davenport b. 1522 succeeded his | of Dukinfield. Kt., of Bramhall Hall, grandfather in 1530. I I 3. Robert Hy0e= Beatrice, dau. of Sir Wm. "'■ 1530. I Calverley. I 14. Hamnet Hyde= Frances Mary Warren of Poynton, 1563- I dau. of John. 1 „ . Pint Wife. Second IVi/e. 15. Robert Hyde = Margaret Fitton of=ANN Hyde of West Hatch. j Saddington. j^ Edward Hyde=Ann Brook of Norton Priory, 1628. I dau. to Sir Richard Brook of Norton. I I 7. Robert Hyde= Felicia, daut. of Sneyd of Keel Hall, ' ' 1642. I Staffordshire. I I 8. Edward Hyde, who » as governor of North Carolina in 1710. In 1714 he married = Catherine Rigby. I I I - - ^1 First IVi/e. Second Wife. ly. Edward George Clarke = = Ann Hyde = Penei.opk Hyde b. 1714. ofSwanswick; [Cousin.] b. there, 1679 ; buried at Chester {sec register 1679). A ' Th= Lord Chancellor Clarendon was descended from one of the earlier Hydes of Hyde. There was also in 1640 an Edward Hyde, M.P. for a Cornish borough. He entered it as a Republican, but for reasons, no doubt sultciently cogent, he separated from that party, and became an adherent of the King = rhii George Clarke was the son of George Clarke, who married Katheryn Prynne, daughter of Thomas and sister of William Prynne. The first George Clarke followed the political fortunes of William Prynne During some years he was under a cloud, being permitted to live at Swainswick under a special licence At the Restoration, he shared the good fortune of his uncle. In i66i, at the coronation of Charles II., a curious ceremony 76 Annals of Swainswick. A portrait of Edward Hyde, painted by Hudson, was bought at the sale of Lord Alvanley of Arden Hall, by the late Lowe Sidbotham of Shipley Hall, and presented to the late Capt. H. J. Clarke. At the death of Edward Hyde, 1714, the Hyde estates were heavily mortgaged to Sergeant Bretland of Mottram. When Edward Hyde came into possession, he arranged with his brother-in-law, George Clarke, husband of his elder sister Ann, to sell the estates. Hyde being only a common sailor, and not likely to redeem them, Clarke sold them to the next of kin. The George Clarke of Swainswick was Lieutenant-Governor of New York 1736. He married Ann Hyde, "a lady greatly beloved, at whose death minute-guns were fired off all the day of her funeral, and loaves of bread given to all the poor of the neighbourhood." George Clarke on returning from America took possession of the Hyde and Haughton estates. He lived and died at Chester 1760, and is buried in took place at Bath, in the High Street, where stood the conduit of St. Mary, in front of the old Guildhall, to which the citizens were accustomed to make their grand processions. On this occasion Mrs. Mayoress, attended by all the chief matrons of the city, and preceded by more than four hundred young virgins, going two and two, and each two bearing aloft on iheir hands gilded crowns and garlands, decked with the rarest and choicest flowers of the season, went to the conduit to drink the King's health with the claret that, figuratively, ran from it. The mayor (John Ford), attended by a great retinue of gentlemen of the city and from the country, preceded by a band, led the procession between rows of soldiers, with a company of foot from Weston, under the command of Captain Sheppard, and also a troop of horse under the command of Captain George Clarke, brother-in-law of Mr. Prynne, the recorder, and one of tlie members for the city. All these volunteers were clothed in sirnilar uniforms, and the young girls referred to were, for the most part, dressed in milk-while waistcoats, and in petticoats emblem- atic of the verdure of spring. The ceremonials of the period suggest a wide contrast with those of the present day, in which men take the chief part. The misi en set fit- on this occasion must have been very striking. On a later occasion, when Queen Anne visited Bath, two hundred young women, dressed in Amazonian fashion, met her above Weston, and preceded her to the West Gate. John Ford wr^te a quaint little book, entitled "Memoirs of Celebrating His Majesty's Coronation rt Bath, .<4/ri/is, r66i." By John Ford, Mayor of Bath. (Extremely scarce.) Record cj Expenses incurred in Bath at the Coronation of Charles II. Paid for the Fireworks at the Coronation, per bill . . Cj i 6 Paid for bringing "Two Proclamations, one for the King's Coronation, the other as per bill appeareth . 050 Paid for fagotts to make bonfires att the Coronation ......*... 150 Paid for three hogsheads of beare given to the souldiers and the maids on the Coronation day . . 4 10 o Paid for tobacco and bread and cheese given to the souldiers att the Coronation 0130 Paid for Beare, Bread, and Cheese, given to the Rirgers on the Coronation day o 11 o Paid for Bread and Beare given to the poore of St. John's Hospital, and the black .^Im.shouse then . 080 Paid Thomas Griffin's boy for playing before the maids att the Coronation 020 Paid a messenger to ffetch a drum and for the lent of it at the Coronation 020 Paid Mr. Robert Sheppard for cakes att the Coronation, per bill ... .1176 Paid Mrs. Jane Fisher for cakes att the Coronation, per bill 268 Paid Mr. Berkly Carne," for wine att the Coronation, per bill 500 Paid Thomas Quilly for guilding the streamers att the Coronation, as by his bill appeareth ... 516 Paid Mr. John Bush for powder at the Coronation, per bill • 2 14 10 Paid Thomas Quilly for guilding the crown and the flower.deluces at the King's bath, per bill . . 160 Paid Mr. Hockelv for wine at the Coronation, as per bill appeareth 7 7 to * This Barkeley Carne, who was a wine merchant in the Abbey Churchyard, was directly descended from Sir Edward Carne, the ambassador sent by Queen Elizabeth to Pope Julius the Third. Barkeley Carne died in 1695, and was buried in the North Aisle of the .^ibbey under a small black grave-stone, with the following inscrip- tion :— Here lyes the body of Barkeley Carne, gentleman, who dyed the 28th of April, 1695, in hope of a joyfull Resurrection— C«/'kj Aaimin Propriclietur Deus. Register — the Hyde- Clarkes. the cathedral, a tablet being erected to his memory, with an inscription, surmounted by the Crest and Motto, "SOYEZ FERME" 1:0 the ^cmoru of GEORGE CLARKE of Hyde, Esquire, Who was formerly Lieutenant-Governor of New York and afterwards became resident in this city. 35e bttl) Janwirg xii., mdcclx., AGED LXXXIV. YEARS, And was interred in this Chapel. [On the same pillar the following is also placed — jSitcrrt to the ^Ttmoro of FREDERICK nilLLIP.SE, Esquire, late of the Province of New Yorli, a gentleman in whom the various social, domestic and religious virtues were eminently united. The uniform rectitude of his conduct commanded the esteem of others, whilst the benevolence of his heart, and gentleness of his manners, secured their love. Firmly attached to his Sovereign and the British Constitution, he opposed, at the hazard of his life, the late Rebellion in North America, and for the faithful discharge of his duty to his king and country he was proscribed, and his estate, one of the largest in New York, was confiscated by the Usurped Legislature of that Province. When the British troops were withdrawn from New York in 17S3, he quitted a province to which he had always been an orna- ment and benefactor, and came to England, leaving all his property behind him ; which reverse of fortune he bore with that calmness, fortitude, and dignity, which had distinguished him through every former stage of life. He was born at New York the 12th day of September, in the year 1720, ^nb btcb ill this 'ifhxu the 30th day of April, in the year 17S5. AGED 65 YEARS. Both inscriptions are on marble tablets, on one of the main pillars under the tower in front of the great organ. The latter has no direct connection with the Clarkes, but there is a coincident historic relation to the subject.] George Clarke, his eldest son, born 1715 in New York, came to England in 1737, and was presented to the King at Hampton Court. It is said that he offered £ 1000 to the King, on condition that his father, the Lieut. -governor, be appointed to succeed Lord Delawar as governor. George Clarke was appointed secretary to his father 173S. After his return from America he lived at Hyde Hall, where he took much U /S Annals of Sivainswick. interest in agriculture, and is said to have given much attention to the culture of fences, and introduced into that neighbourhood the method of trimming, known as the "hogmane fence." He was in commission of the peace for Chester and Lancaster, and was Sheriff of Lancashire for the year 1748. He died 11 Nov. 1777, zet. 62, was buried at Stockport, in the same vault as his }-ounger brother Edward, leaving his American estate, Hyde Hall and Springfield, to his grand-nephew George Clarke ; the Swainswick estate, near Bath, to his younger grand-nephew, Edward Clarke, with a share in the American estate, which was sold by Edward to his brother George. Edward Clarke, born 1 7 16, was an officer in the army. He married Elizabeth Guthrie, who was widow of William Williams and daughter of Philip Haughton of Jamaica. Hence he derived large estates in that island. His wife and daughter were buried in Swainswick Church. Edward Clarke returned to New York from Swainswick in 1772. On his return to England he went to Buxton, where he died in 1776, as shown by a monument in the parish church of Stockport (Hyde being in that parish, though five miles distant). ^car this plact by permission of Peter Legh of Lyme, Esq., were interred the rem.iins of GEORGE CL.\RKE. of Hyde Estates, toho bicb 11 ^lobcmbtr 1777, AGED 62 YE.\RS. And also of EDWARD CL.\RKE, Esq., his younger brother lulio iiieli Ctli September 1776, at ^nxion, AGED 60 YEARS ; being the elder branches of the family of the Hydes of Hyde and Norbur)-. George Hyde Clarke, son of above Edward, came into the Hyde, Haughton, and Jamaica estates on the death of his uncle, George Clarke. He was born 1743, and married Catherine, daughter of Hussey, Esq. of Ireland, by whom he had George, born 1768, and Edward, born 1770. George Hvde Clarke lived partly at Hyde, and was J. P. for the counties of Cheshire and Lancashire. He died in London, but was buried at Denton, Lancashire, as is shown by the inscription on his tombstone. GEORGE HYDE CL.ARKE, late of Hyde in the County Cheshire, Esq., during his lifetime a constant attendant at this Chapel, and a liberal contributor to its repairs, ^icb in Iloubon, Julii 5th, 1S24, And agreeably to his own special direciions was here interred on the l6th day of July following. Register— the Hyde-Clarkes. 79 George Clarke, his eldest son, born 28th April 1768, married Elizabeth, daughter of General Rochfort of Bellfield, co. Westmeath, Ireland, to whom the lapsed title of "Earl of Belvedere" was offered by the king, but declined by him. She was a lady of great beauty and amiability, who was held in high esteem. She died at Brighton. 3;jtrc lie the vtmains at ELIZABETH, widow of the lale George Clarke, of Hyde Hall, Cheshire, and daughter of the late General George Rochfort, Royal Artillery, of Bellfield, Westmeath, Ireland. ^itb at Brighton S . I . 6 3 2 . 10 6 e 8 I I . I I I 6 6 9 4 2 II 10 . 2 . 9 6 4 3 6 8 9 4 8 8 2 10 d. 6 I 10 6 I 6 4 io6 Annals of Sivainswick. At the visitation To the Proctor for mendinge a bell wheele for stayinge the Court at Wells for a skynne of parchment For carrying the Terrier ' into the Prerogative Court of Canterbury For twyne for the Clobbs [club or clapper] of the Bells For a catch to the church hatch ...... for bringing the proclamation [Proclamation of Charles I. Feb 15.] for the prayer ....... for waishing the surpleese and the cloth for careing [carrying] the Register into the Court for mendinge the seat in the Chauncell to a breife by a general consent 1639 — The Accounts of John Svmes and John Longman Received in stocke ..... Collected 6 rates ..... Collected for bread and wine . Layd out. Imprimis for two new wheeles . ffor trussering [trussing] the bells ffor Iron woorke ..... ffor three sacks of Lyme .... Bread and Wine, Whitsuntide and Michaelmas, 2s. lod. each, Christ mas 3s. 6d., against Easter .... Maymed Soldiers ....... Another wheele ....... ffor the Iron worke, a newe stocke and Workmanship for keeping cleane the Churchyard .... given to divers Irish folke ...... Layd out at the Visitation ..... To the Tyler for mending the Church for lasts, nails, and haire ...... for Timber and mending ye seeleinge ffor a new Clapper ....... ffor the Archdeacon's Visitation .... ffor another Clapper ....... for washimg the surplisse ...... ffor carrying a note out of the regist. .... //'. s. d. . 9 6 3 4 I 4 . 4 6 4 I 4 6 3 6 6 6 6 14 9 ■ 4 9 9 . 9 £ s. d. 1,3 S 6 2 2 3 6 4 8 8 7 7 I 6 8 6 13 4 2 2 2 -> 6 6 6 6 . 7 6 6 . 6 ' A feudal term, signifying an enumeration of lands and tenements, held in a manor, with names of tenants, etc. C/iHi'ch Accounts. 107 1 64 1 — William Dirrham and John Tanner [This must be intended for 1640.] Received in stocke .... Collected 3 rates, each 14s. gd. Bread and Wine for five communions Two bell roapes .... Maymed souldier's money Books against the ffast [to be ready for] for bringing of them .... For keepinge cleane the Churchyard and leads given to a poore travailinge gentleman, at one time, and to two more at another ffor leathers for the bells . ffor 3 greyes' heads . ffor our chardges at the Visitation ffor washeinge of the surplisse . ffor our Registers sending to Wells ffor mendinge the church windowes ffor another for lead . Received likewise for the buriall of Margerie Smith in the church Received from the Communicants for bread and Wine 1641 — The Accounts of John Whittington and John Stevens Bread and wine 5 communions ..... 2 fo.x heads ......... To the Clarke for makinge cleane ye churchyard leads gave to two poore Irish travellers ..... Laid out at the Visitation ....... For carriage of the books of Matters [Martyrs] from London To the Clarke for washeinge the surplesse . . . . Maymed Souldiers' money ...... 1642 — Edward Smith and \Villiam Workman. Stock ............ o Received of communicants, 7s. id.; 3 Rates, each rate is 14s. 8d. Laid out as folloii'tth — Bread and Wine .......... o Item to Thomas Simmons ........ o Maymed Souldiers' Money ........ o William Smith ........... o Henry Brimble .......... o for one foxes head .......... o for lether for the bells ......... o lb. s. d. I 9 6 2 4 3 17 6 4 2 10 II I 4 3 I 6 I 3 9 3 10 6 xij I 6 8 7 fS. 16 5 T I 3 3 10 3 4 6 1 1 8 16 10 I ^ 6 o 1 1 2 I I o io8 Aitnals of Swainsu,ick. Chosen new Churchwarden. Edward Smith for Meredeths, Thomas Moorely for Goodings. [This was a local arrangement, the two signatories occupying certain farms. Moorely is Morley]. 1643 — Edward Smith, Churchwarden — alone Received in Stocke 3 Rates, each is 14s. 3d., received in all. Layd out. Itt. for bred and Wine for maymed souldear money ...... for kepping of a trope of horse ...... ffor our dinners at Bath when the Comesseioneres sate there For washing the Surples ....... For foure poore Iresh pepell ...... gave to three Iresh pepell in their travell .... gave to a creppell souldear ...... This is the year of the Battle of Lansdown, fought 5th July. The traces of this in the Accounts are — "For kepping of a trope of hors, 5s. Gave to a Creppell Souldear 5d." 1644 — Edward Smith. Bred and Wine ......... Maymed Souldears ......... Caring a petisstion and declaration to Welles and deliver it gave to 4 poore pepelle ........ lb. s. CImrch Accounts. 1 1 1 1655- for tenn sackes "of lime . maimd souldier money, 5 quarters parchment the pulpitt cloth and Carpitt for a tablecloth bread and wine to the glassior and plumer to the smith for to [two] catches to a Carpenter to Warrants . for going to Bekington . for weighting . -George Smallman and Beniamin Tanner for ye farme. Hospitall money ...... Boults and straps ffor ye bells .... ffor trusseinge up ye bells, putting on ye wheeles ffor cleansing ye churchyard and leads ffor a breife .....•• to poorc people at 3 sev. times Bread and Wine at 2 Com ffor the Warrant Signed by Widd. Phillipes. Mr. George Clarke. Mr. Tanner, minisfer. John Longman, Jn. Nicolas Hoper. Mr. Phillipp Sheppaud. Ap. the 17th, 1657. Seen and allowed by us Rich. Jones [of Stowey]. Rob. Long [of Wraxall]. Jo. Harington [of Kelston]. Ash [of Freshford]. -John Whittington, Edward Powell. £ o o o I o o o o o o o o 10 14 o 6 J. o 7 2 3 4 9 9 9 o o 6 6 s. d. II S 8 o 2 o I o 2 1 5 5 9 o 6 -i: 1657 Maymed souldier money Bread and Wine, 2 comu. A Warrant 2 bell ropes payd to a Poore man Seen and Allowed by us the 21 Aprill 1658. John Ashe. Jo. Harington ,/. 6 3 6 o o I I 2 Annals of Swainswick. Delivered to Richard Longman, being one of the Churchwardens, ye Church goods being a Siher Cup with ye Cover to it, one pewter flagon, a green Table cloath, and a white one, and one napkin. 1658. Maymed souldier .......... To a travelling woman ......... Bread and Wine (comns. at Xmas. and Easter only) .... A grey's head ........... In March paid a seaman wh. had a Certificate to gather ye Charrity of people to pass quietly to London, ye place of his aboad fibr a Warrant ........... [There is no record in 1660, the 3-ear of the Restoration. This is to be explained by the fact that Prynne, Clarke, and others were occupied by special duties in Bath. On the day of the Coronation the whole country around Bath had assembled in the city. See article on Prynne.] £ s. d. 4 o 1 1 1 66 1 — RicH.\RD Panton [Pontyn], John Longman. Paid Hospital (maymed souldier's money) Bread and Wine (Christmas and Easter) Severall breifes .... 2 foxes heads ..... A \\'arrant ..... Richard Lone for his daughter . on 7 1 19 o 2 o o ° 5 1662 — WiLLM. Smith and George Smallman. Repairing ye Churchyard wall and making a new hatch Maimed Souldier money, at our holiday [Somerset for holiday] ffor repairing the Church . three books At ye Visitation at Bath . at Wells . a table cloth and surplis . for trussing of a bell bred and wine at Christmas and Easter to poore people at severall times laid out more at Wells ye Clark for cleaning, etc. Sending a certificate to Wells 1 1 1 1 10 1 1 3 10 5 I 6 6 S I o 3 6 4 S 6 4 4 9 6 o 4 Church Accounts. 113 By the rate made 24th March 1663, we find that the inhabitants [heads of families] of Swainswick were — Mr. George Clarke. ,, Nich. Hooper.' ,, Rich. Panting [Pontynn.] „ Geo. Hopkins. ,, John Robins. „ Richd. Longman. „ John Longman. ,, John Longman [Junr.] Tatweeke. Mr. John Whittington. Widdow Phillips. Mr. Richd. Long. „ Willm. Smythe. Wid. Smyth for Ashcome. Mr. Beniamin Tanner [Rector. ,, Edward Powell. „ Henry Clarke. ,, Phillip Sheppard. „ Geo. Smalman. „ Willm. Ashly. „ Robert Saunders. Widdow Charmbury. Mr. John ffisher. „ Edmond Gunning. Widdow Linke. 1663 — Mr. George Clarke and Mr. John Whittington. Maimed Soldier Money (4 quarters) ...... 4 fox heads .......... 3 travelling people that came out of Ireland of one company To another poore man that had a certificate signed by Sr. Thos, Bridges, Mr. Harington, and others ..... 2 Seamen who lost their shipp, and were cast out on shore in Corn wall, as by a Certifte. from Pendennis Castle did appear To a Breife for a greate loss at sea ...... to a Breife for repayring the Church at Gravesend To another poore man that had a greate losse at sea and himself hardly escaping with life ........ To a breife of one Anne Walter of Cardiff .... For a great fire at Hexam in Northumberland .... for bread and wine for 2 Comunions ..... £ s. d. I 4 S 4 I 6 I I 6 6 I I 6 I 6 4 ' "Collins," afterwards "Hoopers." The house (now two cottages, between Mrs. Sainsbury's and Mr. Hallett's), and about 16 acres of land. Was held by copy of Court Roll, by family of Collins, and afterwards by Hooper. Leasehold. 1779 W. Hooper, for 21 years. 1800 Widow Hooper. 1807 Peter Hooper. Leasehold. 1835 Kxecutois of P. Hooper. 1842 Executors of P. Hooper. Expired in 1S63. 2 F 114 Annals of Swainswick. At Wells to ye Bishopp's Officers the Sparrow Ketcher, Swaynswick „ „ Tadweeke Wm. Smith to ye parator . Yet more to )e jiarator Pd. Georcre Sniallnian for his diner w ith ye parrator o o o o o o J. o 6 o 6 i66_l^ — Mr. Lawrence Walrond' to i668. Ye Widdowe Phillips. for Casting of 15 st. 20 lb. of bell nietall, at 15s. per st. ffor ye brasses ........ Paid to Wm. Candy, Carpenter, for his vorke in hanginge ye bells To Wm. Biles for his worke pd. him for spokes and stocks for bells ye Smyth for mending of 4 Clappers „ for one newe Clapper Tim. Smyth for ye rest of ye Iron work Ye plumer for mending ye leads Tiles, bellropes, nails, boards from Batheaston, 2 boulds [bolts] for the middle tower. John Woodward for his worke . . ... 10 Communions ........ 4 years' Hospitall Money For Carradge of Bells to Bristoll twice .... for waing [weighing] the Bells, VVheeledge, and other expenses 4 Visitations ......... Mending Church Windows ...... 7 Fox heads ......... Ye parator for books and entring ye register at severall times for cleaning ye Church and ye Churchyard at Burial times for a yere To poore distressed people att several times Washing ye Surplice .... Ye Sparrow Catcher .... Cleaning the Church and Churchyard, the Sparrow Catcher [who now regularly appears] and washing the Surplice. 1668 — Mr. Lawrence Walrond. 1671 — Widdowe Phillips. Hospitall and maymed Soldier money, 5s. i^d. per qr. [3 years] Bread and Wine, 3 yeare's comunion wh. was 10 times :i 1 1 6 7 1 1 3 . 12 . 10 6 12 II 17 16 2 . 5 I 15 ■ 4 2 2 10 12 I 14 4 . I 7 10 10 5 6 . 19 I 6 ."» 6 ^ The Walronds were a very old Somersetshire family, for many years settled at Langridge. Laurence Walrond, a descendant of William Walrond, became a parishioner in this year [1664] and lived, most likely, at the Manor House. There was a Laurence Walrond at TatwicU in 1747. [See Wills of William and Edward at p.iges 133, 134.] ChurcJt Accotinls. ■15 A:t 3 Visitations ... ye parrator for 4 times recording of ye register ye Carpenter for mendinge of ye Churche and for timber and nayles . Tiler, 3 days' worke for himself and his boy The parator for a booke . Mending ye chest and a key changing ye church flaggon ye hire of a hoss 2 days . poor travellers several! times 4 years' rates, 1664-1668 . 1 668-167 1 (3 years') 1670 — ^Collected, towards the Redemption of Captives [in Turkey], in the P'ish. of Swainswick, the yeere aforesaid .... £ o o o o o o o o o 22 d. o 2 O 6 o o 6 o o o Ben Tanner, Minist. L.wvRENCE Walrond, John Noad, Chunhicardens. CHURCH REPAIRS. Nole. — 7000 lath nails cost l6s. 4d. — other nails 6s. 6d. chised] 20 sacks. -tyle-pins 5s. — lime had [i.e., pur- 10 8 9 4 I 5 6 I 6 1670 Brewer and his men for gi days — Brown at 2od. Brown's men i6d Wm. Biles and his man worked 8 days — B. at is. 3',d. . Man, at is. 2d. . . . . . . .' . Mr. Heskers' Huntsman for a fox-head caught in our Parish The Glasier for mending ye Church windows . For his dyett and his horse, 2 dayes and a night Hancock of Bath for paynting ye Church, and for ye com- mandments [the authorised Board] . . . . .456 In 167 1 the Parish was in debt, £^, is. 8d., to Mr. Walrond and Widow PniLLiPS^this year the list of persons rated contains the first mention of Pigacre, for which Richard Ponting pays, and for himself 16 shillings and 3d. Mr. George Clarke heads the list, £t, os, 7 Jd., next comes Mr. Richard Walter, £1, 7s. 6d. At Tadwick Mr. Whittington pays . . . . . . .130 Widow Phillips . . . . . . . . . .126 Mr. John Phillips (for two holdings) . . . . . .110 Mr. Gunning is to pay for 20 acres of Wm. Smyth's Living, and Mr. Phillips is to pay for ye other acres. Mr. Phillips pays all Ashcome. Mary Long pays for 12 acres and Mr. Phillips pays for 17 acres. Ii6 Annals of Sz>.'ainstvick. 1671— Mr. George Clarke, John Longman. A great repair of the Church roof — 7 thousand Lath nayles, cost i6s. 4d., other nayles, 6s. 6d.; tyle pinns, 5s.; Lime, 20 sacks. Brewer was paid for 29 days' work and a-half at 2od. a day his man at i6d. a day a labourer 29 days and -i . William Biles, 8 days for himself his man ...... Bread and Wine, Christmas and Easter the parator for certificate about burialls and christenings The Glasier for mending the Church windows . Cole for the Glazier ....... ye Glasier's dyett and his horse, 2 days and night given to severall that came from Ireland (with certificates parts ........ Hospitall money ....... £ .f. d. ■ 2 9 2 I 19 4 I 9 6 10 8 9 4 5 10 I 5 6 3 I 6 ) and other 2 i IS 4l ■ ■ ) 10 3 es 1672, 1673, 1674 — Mr. George Clarke and John Longman. layd out at the Visitation at Wells .... Maymed Soldier and Hospitall ..... Bread and \^"ine, Easter and Christmas John Woodward, the tything man, for a rate for repairing the Bridge Given to poore Seamen at times .... The Parator for a booke ...... At the Visitation at Bath ...... Isaak Archer (Gierke) for cleaning church, churchyarde, and 2 grays — washing the surplice ..... The Ringers on Gun-powder Treason Given Soldiers that came out of France At Visitation at Bedminster [then as now in Somerset] Glasse for mending the Church Windows . charge for mending the Highways from 1671-1675. To Richard Davys for 2 dayes' worke at Lambridge bridge waye \^'m. Ashly 3 days' worke John Lorgman 2 days' worke at ye Highwayes ... for 1 2 days' worke with my plow [team of horses] in ye Highwayca . j 2 dayes' worke at Lambridge to Mr. Robins o Jno. Mayhew foi his worke ■ o Parish Rates comes to . 33 2 I 12 12 I o 6i s" 8i 10 S CInirch Accounts. 117 May 2d, 1674 and 1675- The payments for ye Church for ye severall yeares past comes to Ye parratur for a Coppy of ye Register Hospitall Money ...... Washing ye surpluss ...... given ye Ringers ye 5 th November . given to an old man and his wife that were burnt out of their house Visitation at Keynsham ..... Communion bread and Wine .... Mending ye Church windowes .... ye parratr for Recording ye Register for 2 yeres at is. 8d. a yeare, and 6d. for a proclamation for ye 30th January . To Thomas Gunning for Gaol and Hospitall money for this yeare wh was to be ye last qr. There was some abatement wh. I have forgott .......... Ringers — 5th November and the time before forgott . Isaak Archert's wife for washing ye surpluss ye last yeres . For a quart of Muskado and 2 manchetts for ye comn. this Easter To Brewer ye Tyler ......... A rate was made May 15, 1676. Mr. Gunning pays for the Parsonage at Tadwick. £ o o o o o o o o s. 18 2 10 2 2 I 3 o 6 4 o April 28th, 1676. pd. Gaol and Hospitall Visitation at Bath To two pore Seamen ....... To poor Officer that was wounded in ye Dutch AVars Symes ye Tyler for mending ye Church .... given to a poore seaman ....... ye Visitation at Bath — by myself and John Longman For a man that had lost by ye breaking in of ye sea in Norfolk 2 grey's heads ......••• Sett of New bellropes For a book for ye 2 fasts and proclamation At the Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide Communions about 2s. each — at one Easter, 3s. 2d. 2d o 5 o o 14 o 8 2 I 1 1 2 The Account in generall of disbursements of Mr. George Clarke, John LoNGM.^N, and Mr. John Whittington from ye yeare 167 1 to this present 21st of April 1679. pd. upon ye first account upon ye 2d Leafe, etc. £ 18 s. d. 8 10} 4 7' 2 G ii8 Annals of Swainswick. for a Comun. this Easter . For severall upon ye Highwayes The Amount is . £ s. d. 027 4 10 10 45 14 iii The Accompts of Mr. Hen. Clarke and Edward Powell, Church- wardens for the p'ish. of Swanswicke in ye year 1679. Maimed Soldiers' mony . Bread and AVyne, 4 Communions Poor Travellers Att ye Visitation John Longman for 2 greyes' heads Henrie Clarke and Edward Powell for 16S0. Hospital! mony 4s. id. per quarter, etc., as usual. To a traveller burnt out of all . To Seamen wh. had a Certificate ye Apparitor (twice) ye Church hatch ye booke for ye fast Ringers . poor travellers . 12 3 1 10 4 010 044 020 16S2 — John Griffin. At the Visitation To the Register For a book of Admonition To come with a certificate (7 times) A Journey to Wells, Jany. 20th Washing the Surplice and Rolls A Silver Cup with a cover, and a pewter fflagon, left in ye hands Richard Clark for ye next Churchwarden. of 1683 — Richard Palmer. Imprimis for the King's Declaration o for the booke of Articles ......... o for the Register .......... o for the presentment .......... o to the parriter for warninge [citing to Visitation] . . o Charges at the Visitation o Maimd Soldiers' money and two Bridges o County Bridge o o 6 II 9 2 o o 3 o o o o 6 xMr 6 o 6 4 6 o 6 9 Church Accounts. 119 /. s. J. 4 6 3 8 S 5 10 Some with a Certificate severall times ..... Poor people .......... Bread and Wine ........ a Locke ........... Signed as allowed by Ric. Clarke. [It is to be remarked that, from about this period and for some time after (no douljt owing to the influence of the Clarke family) Swainswick is to be found following the example of its greater and more powerful neighbour — Bath — in its humiliations, its rejoicings, and its thanks- givings. After the Restoration the city became very demonstrative in its loyalty, so did Swainswick, for the same general reasons ; and out of special sympathy with Prynne, so long as he lived , and reverence for his memory after his death, it seems to have been more active in the expression of its sentiments than is usual in small communities.] 16S4 — Richard Palmer. Bridg money ........ To ye Parate. [Apparitor] for a pass of ye King's touching . Another Certificate ......... To the Register ......... 2 grey, i Fox head. To ye parritur for warning ....... pd. toward an order sent from ye Bishop ..... Expenses at the Visitation ....... for mending a seat in ye Church ...... Hospitall money, bread and wine, poor travellers, etc. John Synies and ye paynter whitewashed and painted the Church for John Woodward for stonework ....... Gave to the ringers for ale ....... Poor people, cleaning church, washing surplice, Hospitall money. 3 5 . I I I 6 8 3 4 6 I I 16 8 4 Mr. Richard Clarke for ye farme. „ „ for his owne. Edmund Gunning. Mr. Whittinrton. Henry Pryor for Lambridge. Geo. Bullock for Pigacre. John Longman for ye hospital Land. Tatweeke. I R. Tyle for ye Parsonage. I Mr. Phillips. 1685 — RicHD. Clarke. Imps. pd. the King's Coronation Day and mending ye whele . [James II. The proceedings were not demonstrative. In Bath the con- trast between the rejoicings at the Coronation of Charles II. and James II. was remarkable. At the latter the event was celebrated by the Corporation distributing " 2 hogsheads of beare," at the former sec record in Notice of Prynne.] d. o I20 Annals of Swainswick. For a book broat by ye parotr [Apparitor] To disbanded souldiers . to a breif' for rortsmouth Expenses at ye Visitation To ye Ringers at ye 5th of Nov. and Alhalday [All Hallows, Nov. For a lader for ye Church for 2 bookes 30 Janre. For a brief for Beaminster Visitation .... 2 Breifs .... A d. o o 6 o 6 o 6 o o o May 3rd, '86. K LETTER issued by Bishop Ken, exhorting the Clergy of the Diocese of Bath and Wells to collect in behalf of the French Protestants [Huguenots]. "3^11 ' legatee. My well beloved Brother, Olliver Ashcombe, Esq. and Coz. (cousin), John B.^mtfeild the elder. Overseers. Sealed in presence of Edmund Tylly, John Bampfeild, William Skull, Thomas Prestons. Proved by Olliver Ashcombe and John Bampfeild— 1605. In Langridge Church is a stone — (I.; " Here lyeth the bodie of Penelope Powe. — 1615." Poor Rate Accounts. 1 3 5 POOR RATE BOOK ACCOUNTS. [These Accounts go down to 1767, and although they never seem to have been balanced, there is no reason to doubt their general accuracy. Every year they were certified by the County Magistrates, whose names are often but not always recorded. As in the Churchwardens' Accounts, the sums received are mixed up in inextricable confusion with the expenditure, and a part of that expenditure illustrates verj- strikingly the evils incidental to the old parochial system, and more especially as it dealt with bastardy. Another peculiarity is to be noted, and that is the fact that in 1697, and down to the close of these Accounts, the "Com- munion Money '" was transferred by the Churchwardens to the Ov^erseers, whilst the cost of the elements was borne by the former. The Webbs so often men- tioned were not connected with Edward and John ^^'ebb of the Manor House, but were an indigenous race, some of whom survive to this day. Two references, 1661 and 1712 for Rate for "parsnidge" at Tatwick. As there was no parsonage proper, the rate was presumably for the curate's residence, or it might have been for the Church Lands. Frequent reference is made in the Accounts to "the ty thing-man," which by some might be understood as a person in some way or other connected with tithes, but it is not so. The tything-man was an officer or constable who performed certain public duties in a tything or tenth part of a county "hundred." The office was a very ancient one. In feudal times the tything-man was a more important official than he came to be in the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- turies, when laws and customs had so materially changed. Under feudal tenure, the tything-man became surety for its members, and responsible for the mere or money payment, for fines for offences committed by those who might abscond. The tythings, as thus pledged, were called iithe-borlis or piace-ioroughs, of whom the tything-man was the public officer, as he was likewise of the Courts-Leet under the law or custom of Frankpledge, by which the relations between the lord and his tenants were more or less governed. Throughout the entire Register and Accounts the earlier entries present a favourable contrast as to accuracy and spelling with those of a later date. It will be seen in the last centurj- that, with the exception of the entries made during the terms of office of John Gunning and George Clarke, there was a gradual deterioration in the spelling and methods of the parish officers, some of whom could not write their own names. As a rule it is hoped that in cases of "pidgeon English " or of words wrongly or quaintly spelt, apart altogether from obsolete or archaic terms, one bracketed correction may suffice as a general key to the same or similar errors, but we have 136 Annals 0/ Swainswick. found in a few cases that such errors in themselves are so totally dissimilar as to require a key in each case.] This booke was bought of Richard Panton [Pontyn] at the chardge of the parish. 1661. Rate made this seventh day of May 1660, for the collectmg of eight months' pay towards ye maintenance of ye poore of ye parish of Swainswicke. £ s- d. Mr. George Clarke . . . . .100 Mr. Tanner, ministr. . . . . . .040 Richard Hooper . . . . . . . . . .030 Richard Panton . . . . . . . . . .028 John Robbins . . . . . . . . .020 Richard Longman . . . . . . . . . .020 Edward Nevell . . . . . . . .010 John Longman, Senr. . . .020 John Longman, Junr. . . . . . .008 Phillip Sheppard . . . . . . . . .010 Beniamin Tanner, Junr. . . . . . . . . . o i o John Robbins . . . . . . . . .010 Widdow Derham . . . . . . . .010 Mr. Hopkins, his tenants . . . . .020 Robert Saunders . . . .004 An Account of what moneys have been layd out and payd to ye poore by George Clarke this yeare 1660. Edith Gromc at 2 times ......... She was lodged by John Longman and Willm. Morly who received for rent ........... For this book to keep the Accounts for the poore of this parish Edith Grome to buy her some cloathes ...... Richard Long of Tatweeke wch. was allowed him out of his payment & mosely [mostly] towards ye keeping of his daughter and children wh. he desired ........ John Maynard for house rent for Edith Groome .... 4 6 I 10 I 4 8 2 8 10 Tatweeke. Edmond Gunning ........ Mr. John Whittington ....... Mr. Whittington for ye parsnidge \s€e Introductory Notice] \Villiani Smyth ........ 2 2 I 2 Poor Rate Accounts. 137 Widdow Phillips .... William Smith for Ashcome £ s. I d. Rich. Long 2 Edmund Gunning for Sheppards John Charmbury .... I I Mr. John ffisher .... I Edmond Gunning for Widdow Lewes 8 Bobie Moody .... Thomas Mosely [Morley] I 4 4 1662 — RlCH.\RD P.\NTON & JOHN LoNGM.^N. Edith Groome 17 George Smyth .... John Stevens ..... Edith Groome, more 6 6 I Goody Workeman .... 8 Seen & allowed by us the i8th Aprill 1662. ^i 16 Tho. Bridges. Will. Basset. Jo. Harixgton. On 27 May 1662. Mr. Henrie Clarke appears — also Geo. Smalman and Phill. Sheppard in Swainswick list, Nicholas fford at Tat^N eek. No entries till 1668. £ s. d. Imp. Mr. George Clarke ........ 2 5 ° Mr. Tanner, minister 9 Mr. Richard Walter 7 6 Richard Pontin .... 6 John Robbins .... 6 Edward Powell .... 3 John Longman .... 4 6 Mr. Lawrence Walrond . 3 Mr. John Tanner .... 3 Mr. John ffisher for Swanswicke Downe I John Robins 2 3 "Mr. Henry Clarke .... 2 3 Richard Long .... 6 Widowe Smalman .... I Mr. Wakeman .... 6 Robert Sanders .... 9 John Longman .... I 6 2 \1 138 .'Innals of Swaviswick. Tattweeke. Edmond Guninge John Whittington Widow Phillipps ^Villm. Smith . John Phillipps Wm. Smith . Edmond Guninge Robert ffletcher" Mr. ffisher . Nicholas fford £ 5. d. o 6 o o lO 6 o 6 o o 4 4 o 6 6 o ,3 o o I 6 o 3 o o 2 o o 2 o 1 668 — John Whittington, John Longman. Paid to Richard Pontin is. 6d. per week for 57 weeks towards ye maintenance of the bastard child according to an order of Sessions .......... Pd. to Nicholas Hoop for charges and expenses at the last qr. Sessions .......... To ^Vidow Workman for house rent for Jacob Pearse and his wife To John Longman for house rent for the Widow Webb for 2 yeares, [This Webb was unconnected with the ALinor House Webbs] ffor a warrant .......... • 4 5 I 8 9 . 2 6 I 14 I Mr. Richard Walter for three yeares: — viz., 1669, 1670, 1671. Collected parte of two rates made towards the releefe of the poore . Paid Richard Pouting of this parish, according to an order made at Wells Sessions, towards the maintenance of Edith Ponting's bastard childe at i8d. p. weeke for 130 weekes . . . 1 Pay Cometh to . . . . . . . . . ) Paid Jacob Perce's wife at severall times in Monies and Corne and other things to Relive tlie necessities of her and her childring . Paid John Longman for house rent for Jacob Pearce's wife and children ........... Paid for Warrants and spent in riding several times to the Justiceses and Petty Sessions about Ponting's busines .... An account of the money received by Mr. Clarke and Mr. Walter since the yeare 1669 to this present yeare 1673. [Here we find that John Griffin was "at the Mill."] In 1674 Mr. Cross paid for Pigacker. Mr. Taylor, ye A/i/iisft-r. 15 9 9 '5 Poor Rate Accounts. 139 1674. The bastard childe of Edith Ponting's causes an expense of Spent for Jacob Pearce, his wife and children . Goody Smyth's house rent. Paid Goody a peck of wheat and more Pd. her in barley and other things sins [since] . ' ' Goody Jacob in severall things ■ . . . . Persons relieved or paid. Francis Smith .... Isaac Archer. [He was the parish clerk/and his name often occurs' spelt in various ways] ... ' to ye Widow Webb to William Ashley £ o o o s. II 5 1675— Mr. Tayler, j/^ Minister; John Griffin A warrant of nomination .... John Stevens ...... Anne Pearce had at 2s. 6d., 3s., 4s., a week, also '. \ payd for physicke and other things for Anne Pearce I layd out for Anne Pearce when she went to London 1 To Anne Pearce for severall things . . . . ) Edith Ponting's maintenance, 134 weekes, at i8d. per week 1676 and '77 ffor the straying my cows about Lambridge For a warrant of continuance . I, „ about R. Ashley for ffrancis Smyth paid to him for a warrant of appearance ffor a warrant of disturbance against Margaret Webb In 1681 Richard Longman was allowed 2s. a week John Longman received also house rent for his Uncle Richard And for wood ..... Richard Palmer, for thatching Smith's house . . In 1680 Richard Palmer had brought a bill for thatching Mr. Phillip's [bheppard] huss [house] To Eliz Paynter ' ' ' ' Mr. J^ohn Griffin went out of office in June [25th], the Parish owing o o I o i° I o 15 I I I I I 10 I d. o o 6 o 6 6 Overseer. _£ s. d. o o 8 o 6 6 0108 Jo. Harington. Geo. Clarke. I40 Annals of Swainsiuick. 1681-2 — Phii.i.. Sheppard. Pd. John Griffin Richard Longman, 41 weeks ...... More one week ......... John Longman for house rent due and ordered at Easter past John Longman Bridg mony ...... Paid ffrancis Smith, his wife lying in and he complayning of want £ s. d. 25 Feb. 1681-2. ffrancis Smith, more i2d. . . . . . . . .010 Eliz. Paynter, one year's rent for Jacob Pierce his house . .0160 Allowed John Longman his three rates towards his house rent for Rich. Longman . . . . . . . ■ .060 Allowed ye widd. Smalman her three rates in consideration of her Sonne . . . . . . . • .009 Rent of Richd. Longman's house to J. L. [John Longman] . .040 Interest Money, 19s. 4d. John Noad Goody Webb Eliz. Ashly Wm. Morley :f. d. 2 6 2 6 2 6 2 6 William Ashly . ffran. Smyth Jacob Peirce Goody. Archar s. d 2 6 2 6 2 6 2 6 Signed by J. Langton, George Clarke. Richard Clarke. Hen. Clarke. John Longman. 4th May 1682 — Phill. Sheppard. Commencing from ye 24 Aprill last past — A warrant of nomination ....... for my dinner at ye petty Sessions ...... To Richd. Longman, 3 weeks ...... To Isaac Archar for ringing ye bell and digging Rich. Longman's grave . . ....... Jno. Longman for a shroud for Richd. Longman To Morly for Ale wch. Isaac Ashley had when he made Richd Longman's grave ........ Paid Anthony England for Richd. Longman his coffin Rent due to John Longman ....... To ye widd. Webb, her daughter being sick and she complaynig of want, 1 8d. ......... To goody Webb to buy firing ....... s. d. I o o 8 6 o Poor Rate Accon?its. 141 To Geo. Morly going to Mr. Moor Eliz. Painter one yeare rent for Jacob Pearce his house . Goody Webb had also in money ....... ,, „ to buy malt ........ 1683 — Interest Money received. Rents from Bath, Ap. 7th 1683 More by interest for ye five pounds given for the benefitt of ye poor, etc., now in the hands of Mr. Georg Clark and Mr. Philip Shepheard .......... Memorand. that ye Bond upon the Major and Aldn. of Bath is in the hands of Mr. Philip Shepheard, Overseer. [See Taylor's Gift at the end of Accounts.] s. d. 2 16 O 4 6 1 o 13 4 6 o Interest Money disbursed. Willm. Ashley Eliz. Ashlev . Wid. Webb . Jacob Ashley . Jacob Pierce . Goody. Archar John Noad ffrancis Smith 3 6 2 4 2 6 John Taylor, J^r. John Whittington. John Tanner. Hen. Clarke. W. J. H. Bassett. Jo. Langton. 1683 — Phill. Sheppard. Nothing different except a Sack of Cole for Widd. Webb . John Taylor, AV. 1684 — Phillip Sheppard. [Francis Smith nearly absorbed the parochial charity, he and his family receiving 3s., 2S. 6d., 2S., or IS. 6d. a week, generally 2s., for the whole year. There are the following entries also] : — Sept. To the trying ye tithe with ye Cittie of Bath, jointly managed s. d. by the whole hundred, pd. our proportion . . . . 85^ 4th March. Expenses for Mr. Tanner and myselfe to Tetbury to Mr. Phillips ........... 46 2 N 142 Annals of Swainswick. The 7th of March 1684-5. Francis Smith till iSth April To ^latt. Pearce for going to Wooley for Mar)' Collings Layd out for half a bushell of wheat for Goode Webb And ffor half a pound of butter .... More money to Goode Webb by Nan Pearce . To Nan Pearce money to buy Margett Webb a shroud 14 o 2 o I d. o I 3 3 6 6 Interest Money. John Noad Wm. Ashley Is. Archard G. Webb 1 o 2 o I o 6 4 1685 — Phill. Sheppard. Isaac Archar for Ringing the Bell and Digging Margret Webb grave Wm. Morly for ale and small beere for Margt. Webb in her sickness ffor Margett Webb's coffin ...... paid ]\Ir. Shearstone more for Mgt. Webb's shroud . Mary Collings for tending of Margett Webb Goode Pearce for goeing in errandes [errands] for Goode Webb in her daughter's sickness ....... To John Griffin for things for Margett Webb in her sickness To Mr. Henery Clarke for Goode Webb's hous rent half a year, due at Michael. 1685 ...... Francis Smith, every %yeek ...... 1686 — Mr. John Whittington and Mr. Phill. Sheppard. My expenses at ye pettie Sessions, dinner, etc. ..... i Allowed Jno. Griffin out of his pay for his expense at Midford to viewing ye Bridg ......... 2 Francis Smith and Goode Webb, all the year. To Sarah Ashly for tending Goode Webb i To Jno. Griffin for malt, wheat, etc., for Goode Webb ... 2 To Richd. Workman towards his expense to Bruton ... o Paid hearth' money for Ffran. Smith his house .... 1 To Isaac Archar for ringing ye bell and digging Jno. Peirce his grave 2 To Anthony England for a Coffin for Jno. Pearce agreed at . . 5 John Taylor, Recr. 34 1 Hearth money implies that the person was one of the inmates in a sort of poor-house, a joint fire end hearth. [See 1699-1700.] Poo7' Rate Accounts. 143 1 6th Aprill 1688— John Whittington and Thomas Harrold. £ Hearth money for Francis Smith ,, ,, Jacob Pearce Francis Smith is. for 52 weeks For a warrant of disturbance □ Expenses about a soldier '. o d. o o o o o 1689 — John Long. Francis Smith 52 weeks ..... for helm (hauling straw) for francis Smith's house for Spicks [spike rods used in thatching" The thatcher and one to tend him . F. Smith hearth money . Paid for a warrant for Mary Morley and another for their examination For Beer to the plowman [carter of the team] mending the highwayes 12 6 1 690-1 — Henry Prior, Overseer. Jacob Pearse, 14 weeks for Thos. Clement at 4s. per week Paid twice for signing of ye book ..... ffor Beer at mending the Highwayes .... To Isaac Archar more for ringing ye bell 2 16 o 1 O I o o I69I. A shroud for Thos. Clement A coffin .... Ringing the bell and digging T. Clement's grave 5 10 7 o 2 o 1693. Collected ^11 for settling of five children of John Morley and Dinah his wife, lately deceased. John Taylor, Rr. 1694 — John Longman. A warrant of disturbance for Ben Grace ffor the order to remove him to Wooley ...... William Maynard for Bridg Money Expense for two days going to the Justices myself and Mr. Sheppard in Ben Grace's business ... o o 6 144 Annals of Swainswick. Pd. for the Instruction for Assessing the King's Tax Expense going to Wells for myself and horse at the generall qr Sessions in Ben Grace his concern ..... To Mr. Player at Wells Session ...... ffor a suppene [subpoena] for Will Hooper .... For dyett and Horsemeat for myselfe and Thos. Harrold at Wells Sessions .......... Stopt [deducted] by Tho. Harrold for Arrears upon the Rates of the highwayes ......... Stopt more for signing his Rates for highwayes £ s- d. o o o 6 o o 1694 — William Lewes of Tadwyck. Paid for the order for removing Christopher Pearce .... To Wm. Maynard for hire of his horse ...... Spent in that Journey and occasion ...... John Taylor, Rr. 1 695-1696 — Wm. Lewis. Francis Smith again is. per week. Payd to Jno. Griffin for money layd out for the King's Quarterly Pay Stopt by Ricd. CoUings for money due to him upon the Church rate ........... 1697-1698 — John Long. The Comunion money 5s. first time. 3 4 I 6 o 6 I o 1 o 1699 — Easter Monday. Reed, of Madam Clark, relict of Mr. Geo. Clark, the 50 shillings wch. her Husband had of ye poor's money in his hands at ye time of his death, and also eight years' Interest of ye Money afore- said at 3 per Ann., being four and twenty shillings in all . . 3 14 o Communion money . . . . . . . . .046 John Taylor. 1699 — John Long. AVm. Ashley, 30th Sepr. — 22 Novr., or to his daughter Mille for his use . . . . . . . . . .0100 fTrancis Smith while living, and for charges at and about his death and burial . . . . . . . . . .266 Mr. Whittington charges about the highwayes, &c. . . . .036 Paper of Instructions for the Highwayes . . . . . .010 Poor Rate Accounts. 145 29 May 1699. £, s. d. Anne Smith of the money gave at the Sacrament, Whitsunday . 010 Whatever was owing to outgoing Officers on the Church rates seems to have been " Stopt " [deducted] out of the Poor rates. 1699-1700 — Phillip Sheppard. S s d Mary Long, 47 weeks . . . . . . . . .270 Allowed for a Luddore (Louis d'Or) taken of Mr. Taylor at 17s. 6d., money paid in by Madam Clarke, and would pass but for 17s., according to the valey and compute of gold at that time . .006 Paid at Nuton (Newton) for a warrant of Summons to Edwd. Smith to appear before the Justices . . . . . . .010 More paid for an order to remove Edd. Smith to Cold Ashton . .034 For a coppy of the said order to the Overseer of Cold Ashton . .006 My expense at Nuton, myself and horse . . . . . .016 John Taylor, Rr. J. Langton. Thos. Langton. The Parish rented of John Emor (Amor) his house for a Parish House at ^\ per ann., and allowed him everything to keep it in repair. 1700 — Phill. Sheppard. s. d. Received of Sacrament and money at Witsontide 1700 ... 26 from Mr. Taylor, 1701 ......... 26 Sacrament Money at Easter ........ 3 o 1701. Aaron Young for Bridg money ....... 3 o \^Beck Ashley is now the great recipient of weekly money.] Spent with ye Chamberlain at Bath ....... 02 John Taylor, Rec. N.B. — Little or next to nothing is said about education. There are a few detached references to "skooling," but how or where obtained there is nothing to show. 1703 — Aaron Young. s. d. Rebecca Ashley buried . . . . . . . . .147 John Taylor, Rr. 1704 — Aaron Young. Communion money .........30 Instructions for ye Window tax .......06 With ye Chamberlain (becomes annual) ......04 2 O 146 Annals of SiL'aiiiszoick. 1705 — John Griffin. ;£ For a nomination Warrant . . . . . . . .0 Bridge money ........... o to ye Constable for earring of it . . . . . . .0 iMr. Brown, Rate for ye p'sonage not paid . . . . .0 Pd. more for raising money for gaol and Marshalsey, March 6, 1705 . o 1706. Communion Money at Easter ...... Rent from Bath ........ Int. of Moiety of Parish money in hands of Mr Philip Sheppard John Longman for the other moyetie in his hands July 1 6th. Pd. towards ye mending of a Bridge att Newton St. Loe. Sept. 7. John Long in ye time of his sickness to ye Apothecary for John Long in his sickness for ye death of John Long's Child to ye Collectr. of ye duty Ye Constable for earring ye Tythings Return to Sissons [sessions]. For repairing ye County Goale and Bridges Towards ye repairing of severall Bridges .... To Richard Longman for Anne Pearce Coffin . [These payments for Bridges were County charges.] April 14, 1707. John Longman for the moyetie of the parish money, etc. . . .0 Recvd. then of Mary Amour for the interest of the other moyetie of the ;^5 in the hands of Mr. Philip Shepheard, deceased . . o Comunion money at Easter . . . . . . . .0 Reed, from Bath .......... o 1708 — John Whittington. For a nomination and signing the booke . . . . . .0 For my expenses to Newton same time . . . . . .0 To Benjn. Grace in his sicknesse . . . . . . .0 Pd. John Long tything man for County Stock money, to be paid for Constables .......... o John Griffin for a warrant of instruction for the land ta.\ . . .0 John Long, tything man to ye muster money . . . . .0 Willm. Maynard for a paper of instructions for the Highwaies . . o Stopt by Aron Young upon two rates money wch. he paid for the Highwaies Inditement. Willm. Maynard for going to Wells . . . . . . .0 John Long for going to Wells . . . . . . . .0 Myselfe for going to AVells . . . . . . . .0 Wm. Noad for a paper of instruction for the Land Tax . . .0 John Long for going to Wells . . . . . . . .0 s. d. I 2 •4 I I 2 3 5 13 4 4 3 I 5 10 4 6 4 2 4 5 3 4 13 1 1 I I 6 I o 10 o Poor Rate Accounts. '47 1709 — John Whittington. The Glasier for glassing the P'ish. House The masons for building the P'sh. House ....'. For lime for the house ...... For a dozen and half of healme [haulm for thatch] . . '. The Carpenter for his worke at both times about the p'ish. house John Brimble and his Son for thatching the p'ish. House Ben. Grace for ridding the ruble out of ye house Pd. him for fetching a dozen and half of healm . . . '. Robert Longman for hailing of stoone and sand for the p'ish. house John Long for his horse feching the healme for the p'ish. house . Pd. the Constable for excusing us from going to Wells For apprentesing John Long, Junr Ben Grace when he was lame in ye Quary £ 2 7 6 T 6 1 8 I 4 1.3 2 I 6 5 19 10 I t 10 i6 1 7 10 — Benjamin Woodward. 2 Warrants for Sarah Smith ffarmer [farmer] Ward for Apprehending of her . E.xpenses for myself 2S. to Newton upon ye Sam[e] For Bridg. money ..... For ye Gole [gaol] and Bridge money Again To Wm. Noade for 2 Jorneys to Wells for carrying warrants about souldiers . Golle [gaol] money againe Tho. Smith att 3 times when he was lame To Sarah Smith returns for o o o o o o o o o o o o 6 o o 6 o o I7II. Comunion money .... Thos. Sendle receives 2s. 6d. not John. John Taylor, Jir. 1711 — Benjamin Woodward. [For Greas and its variants read Grace.] For a pair of briches for Ben Greas . for indentures for Ben Greas For seling [sealing] ye indentures .... [Given] with ye Boye to bind him prentis for one pere of shoose for Ben Gres 148 Annals of Swain swick. More expenses about ben Grease .... Richard Workman for making a Wascot [genuine .Somerset for waist coat] for ben Greas ...... Joane Ceilings for tending of Mai Greas . For goods yt. Mai Grease had of Daniel Woodward for two aprons for ye children ..... To Richard Longman for mending of Grease's doore Jone Mainard for tending of ben Greas . Susan Jackson for makeing Mall Greas' Shroud and laying her out Benjamin Greas ....... Ye Poticary for grese's famely ..... for diging of Ben Grese's grave .... for half a bushel of bran [no doubt to put in his coffin] for Beniamin Grease's Cofing ..... Richard Longman for keeping of Beniamin Grease's two children, weeks ........ for ye cofing for Mary Grese ..... for a shroude for nial Grease ..... for ye tender [attendant nurse] of Mai Grease . for sixe garments for Grease's children for making affeddavid [affidavit] for Mai Gres . two pere of stockens for Grese's children . for bodeges [badges worn by paupers] is. a pair, for greses's children for one paire of shoose ...... For joys [Joyce] one of Meri Grease's children for clening ye house for a wascot for ben greas ..... for one paire of stockens for ben .... for guering [curing] of Sarah Smith's Ague Pd. Expences when i com into ye ofis William Noad Bridg money ..... Jeane Mainard for tending of gres .... Pd. Meri Gres Joen Collens for tending of gres .... Pd. Meri Gres Meri Gres for bred for Meri Gres ...... for five Sacks of Cole ...... to Jeane Mainard for tending ..... for Mery Grees Reliefe ...... Ye poticary ........ Sarah Aishley for burying of her mother . for laiiig out John Long ...... I began to pay Meri greas 4s. a week on ye 8th day of December, weeks .......... £ s. d. . I 6 I 5 6 I 6 I I 2 I 6 I 6 . I . 4 ■> 6 4 2 7 1 7 7 4 6 6 8 7 6 9 1 4 7 . I 10 I 2f 3 3 7 S . 2 7 6 2 6 6 2 6 5 6 4 5 S 10 TO 12 I 6 9 2 Poor Rate Accounts Reliefe of Grease's family Ye poticary for Meri Gres for cole for Grese's family for making of a cote for Ben Gres . for diging a grave for ben Greas Richard Workman for making of clothes John Long's cofen .... for macking of 6 garments 149 £ s. d. . 4 s . I 6 .048 . ore . 026 040 • 070 . 020 17 12— Easter Munday, April 21st. Recvd. then the "mark" from Bath Comunion monies ...... Reed, of John Longman for moiety of Parish money in his hands Reed, ye other moiety of Benjamin Woodward .... The Monie above then disburs'd to ye poor- Sarah Ashley . Martha Long . Jacob Pierce . Richd. Workman John Butler Ann Noad Robert Tylie . Ann Smith Elizabeth Woodward Daniel Workman I 3 4 We do nominate Nathanael Woodward of this Parish of Swaynswick to contmue overseer for the poor for the next year. John T.'vylor Rr. . ^ . Aaron Young. 24th of Aprill 1 7 12. 13 4 4 6 3 2 6 I 3 4 I 6 6 3 4 3 6 2 '» 6 I 6 2 6 2 2 6 Seene and allowed by us. J. L.4NGTON. J. Harington. RoBT. Smith. [So that Woodward must have been overseer the previous year.] 2 P ISO Annals of Swainswick. Nathaniel Woodward, Overseer — Rate 17th Sept. 1712. Madam Clark. [Mrs. Clarke, widow of George Clarke, and ^ '^^ ■ A '• sister of W. Prynne. See "Clarkes" in article on Prynne] . Mr. Tayler, Rect. . Mrs. Wallter . Mrs. Tanner Mr. Street Mr. Street for Clark . Mr. Tyndal for Pigacre Mrs. Hellier Thomas Scudamor . Thos. Scudamor for Smallman John Longman Sam Maynard . William Hooper Robert Longman Tatweek. Mr. John Whittington .... Mr. John Whittington for fishers [Fisher's] Mr. John Whittington for Mourleas [Morleys] Mr. Brown for Guning Mr. Brown for Leweses Mr. Brown for ye Parsonage AVm. Lewes for Mr. Phillips ^^■m. Lewes for pt. of Smith's . Madam Langton for pt. of Smith's Rich. Long .... Wid. Tylly for Moody's Lease . Totall . . . ^2 II 2i We the Parishioners of Swanswick whose names are subscribed, allow this Rate. James Burton. John Hellier, Ministr. Thomas Scudamor. Anne Tanner signs the allowing of the account, Aprill ye 6th 1 713. - Received by 3 rates ......•■• 15 3 2 6 3 9 9 I 6 3 3i 1 1 I 7 3 I 6 I 2 6 -^i 15 Si 2 I 3 I 9 6 I 5 6 6 I I 6 6 6 — 15 7 4 l\ 4 rates 9 12 lo;! 2 rates 4 1 1 1 1 Mr. Phillips and Mr. Whittington having some Abatement. £2 1 9 Poor Rate Accounts. \ 5 i 171 2— Nathaniel Woodward (Swansweek). Pd. Richard Longman for keeping Martha Grace and Sam Grace 5° weeks ......... Pd. Ann Smith 50 weeks ......... for a hatt and several! other things for Grace's children for making 3 Caps .......... for 3 Els of Cloth, thred, and making for a payr of shoos and stockings for ye two Graces for nursing the Barstard Marjery 6 weeks and som od days for cloaths for marjery ••....... for 3 warrants, i for Somerset, i for Wilts, and i for Bath Cyty to take up Elizabeth Leek upon suspicion of being mother of the child and charges of looking after her at severall other places for a man and horse to go to Wootton and charges for ourselves for charges to Midford, Marshfield, Congwell [Conkwell] and severall other places ■•........ Pd. Mr. Web ye Layer [this " Web ye Layer " was Webb, a well-known lawyer in Bath at that time] about Rett Leek .... To the Officers at Bath and bringing in witnesses and other charges For taking John Single [Sendall] and keeping him in hold and carrying him to Jayl ••........ for Bridg mony 2 severall times ...... for writeing 4 rates .......... The last entry is for April 6, Easter Monday. 1713. TIte interest Money was disburst asfolloweth: — Jacob Peirce ••........_ Martha Long ! o 2 6 for wooll for to lay one Anne Pearce in her Cofin by way of a shroud 006 John Sendall for didging of Anne Pierce's grave and Ringing ye Bell .002 J. Langton. Jo. Lansdown. 1713— Account of Thomas Scudamore for the Parish of Swansweeke. £ s. d. John Single [Sendall] at severall times when he was sick and lame . o 12 6 Martha Long for curing John Single ....... Spent with the man about takeing the bastard at severall times . Thos. Sheppeard of Lambridge 4 lb., being in part of nine pounds he is to have for taking the bastard child, Marjery Ink . . .400 For ye indenture and expences . . . . . . . . o c 7 10 2 10 6 7 2 4 13 6 I 13 1 1 12 6 II 9 3 6 9 4 2 12 5 10 2 024 020 020 10 Mary Ashley for keeping ye Bastard 2 wks. 2 days . . . .046 pd. her for some close [clothes] the Bastard had .010 152 Annals of Swain swick. Mr. Sherston for taking Martha Grace Aprentice for her indentures and expences for a sute of close for Martha Grace Vagrant money at two several! times Bridg Money at two severall times For a new poor book The book was in Debt Last year, and id. to Martha Long for search ing for ye mother of ye Bastard . For Sarah Smith's examination and expenses Pd. John Stone for keeping Sarah Smith 5 weeks when he was cureing her of the Pox ...... For chees, candles, soap, pins, and otiicr small things For Sarah Smith when she lay in ye first week . Chees and milk when she cd. not work Pd. her for three weeks Cole for Sarah Smith for tending of her Close for Saml. Grace 2 Purges for Saml. Grace . Gave Sarah Grace by the Justice's order . Gave Jacob Peirce for going to Newton about Sam Grace Nathaniel Woodward for expenses about Single [Sendall], him is. 6d that Freshford people should pay towards Sherborne Court . For.a letter from Tho. Shepperd about the Bastard Marjery Ink John Stoane for cureing Sarah Smith of the Pox £ 4 o Book allo-ived by Anne Tanner. Thgii.'^s Scudamor. Nathan I ELL Woodward. Aaron Young. Richard Collings. Reed. II rates . Disbd. I'ith May 17 13. Scene and confirmed by us J. Langton. J. Harington. Jo. Lansdown. £ s. d. 26 10 2>k . 25 10 9 d. o o 3 2 6 6 I o 15 o 4 9 7 6 2 4 2 6 9 8 o 10 I o 7 10 o Remains due to ye Parish . ^o 19 6i March 29, 17 13. This account was allowed by us, and we doe nominate Mr. Lawrence Wal- dron Overseer for the year ensueing. John T.wlor, Rr. Tho.nl\s Scudamor. Richard Colings. Nathaniel Woodward. Henry Surges. Poor Rate Accounts. ^lo £ s. d. The money received from Bath . . . . . . .0134 Comunion money . . . . .056 Interest money from John Longman . . .026 Benj. Woodward . . . . . . . . . .026 Martha Long Widow Noad Robt. Tiley Richd. Workman John Butler Wid. Woodward £ o o o o o o d. o o 6 o 6 o disburst to — £^ 3 10 Danl. ^Vorkman, Clark £ . s. d. ^\'idow Smyth . Thom. Sendle . . 3 I 6 Jacob Ashley, Junr. . I 4 ^I Thomas Scudamore seems to have succeeded John Whittington, and the Churchwardens appointed the overseers of the poor (two Seals loose in this book) — Thomas Carew. Jo. Lansdown. Jo. Haringtox. countersigned or audited the Accounts. The last Accounts for 17 13 are far worse written and spelt Woon fox-head .... Washing ye surplis and clening ye ledes For bread and wind (several times). Cost fees at visitation Wid. Noad Robert Tylye . Richard Workman . Daniell Workman Clarke Sarah Ashly John Buttler . Wid. Woodward Wid. Smith £ s. d. I 2 4 I 6 I 6 2 -» 2 2 I 6 I 1 7 14 — L.awrenxe Waldron. Richard Longman, 55 weeks for Saml. Grace for Stockings and Shoues and mending his ould shous ffor two shortes and making for Samuel Grace . for Bridge money 2Q £0 18 4 5 10 o ° 3 5 040 040 154 Annals of Swainstuick. ffor Bridge money a second time ...... ffor a new blanket for Sarah Grace ...... Goodey Noad is. for tending Sarah Grace when she was sick Wm. Lewes 2S. that he have paid to ye tything of Longridge -Mr. John Whittington is. that he have paid to ye tything Langridge ......... Mr. Sheplon for 2 duzen and \ of helme [haulm] John Brimble for thaching and spickes ..... of £ o o o o o o o I 12 7 d. o o o o o 6 9 Jno. Hellier, MinisU'^ {Curate). .■\pril 20, 1 7 15 — John Hooper. Ann and Sarah Smith have a shilling each regularly given and to a treavleng man like to be in distress ..... for footing a pare of stockens for Samuel Grace .... Paid stocke money ......... Paid the late Tything men of Swansweek for mony they paid out for freshford .......... Instructions for ye highways ....... Pd. for keeping the Bastard to Tho. Sheppard .... Communyon mony ......... Gave at Mr. Reed's ffunerall ....... o o o o o 5 o o 1 7 16 — Richard Collings. for serching after the mother of the base child at addown [Odd Down] For a day's worke, and also at BristoU was spent 2S., 9s. 9d. pd. the Cryer at Marshfield ..... \ d. the Cryer at Bath ...... John Noad for keeping the base child Elizabeth Aishley for bringing of the child from Tadwick Spent at Bath ........ Spent at the baptizem of the child .... for f of a pound of woole ...... for oyle spining and nitting of to pare of stockings for Sam Grace for a Shirt for Sam Grace and Lineing and mohair and buttons . for a hatt .......... for the Base Child, 2 Coats, 2 Wascoats, 2 Aprons, 2 Shirts, 2 Clouts a bodye coat ........ for Sam Grace, 2 Shirts, 2 Cravats, i pair Shoos, a apron, a pair of stockings, a pr. of Gloves. A dinner @ Newton .......... making 3 Shirts .......... I II o I 8 o o o o Poor Rate Accounts. 155 Aprenticing Saml. Grace to Trowbridge .... What John Hooper expd. before Petty Sessions after Easter John Taylor, Rc Thomas -Scudamgre. John Gunning. 1716- Jghn Hooper. J. Haringtgn. Hen AValters. £ s. d. 12 o o I 7 7 -Nothing in Richd. Colling's account. 17 17 — Henry Burgess. George the base child three weeks he cost 2S. per week— had a cap, a back whittle, 2 pair of hosen, a payr of shous and small things ....... Simon Smith, 2 shirts, 2 aprons and a pair of hosen .... Minister, Walter Rorbins. John Gunning. J. Langton. Thos. Scudamore. Wm. Skrine. Henry Burges. John Hooper. John Longman. 1718 — William Mainard. Richd. Aishley for keeping Georg the base child 47 weeks, 2s. per week ........ a hat, coat, pr. of shooes, 2 shirts and making i apron, 3 bibs, 2 pr stockins. Mary Sandal for keeping Simon Smith 21 weeks at 2S. per week 2 hats, a pair of stockins ....... a coat and britches, and lining and making .... ^ pr. Shooes and Stockins . A key for ye Parish house ...... Mending the door . . ...... Walter Robbins, Minis. 13, April 1719. John Gunning. Hen. Walters. Nathanl. Woodard. Thos. Scudamore. Wm. Skrine. Wm. Noad. John Hooper. 1719 — John Longman. Relief constantly to Thomas Singall, Ann Smith, Richard Aishley, Smiths. For seasing [assessing for tax] the '' winders " and making of a rate For planting of thorns about the house ..... Sheve of healm — one dozen and ten . J. Harington. Hen. Walters. 060 0310 048 4 14 o 2 o 3 li 6 10 2 4 2 6 I o I 6 o I 6 . 006 . o 12 10 Walter Robbin.s, Minister. i=;6 Annals of Swainswick. 1720 d. 6 Comunion Money . . . ' . Benjamin Woodward for Swinswick. May 20th, 1720. Clothes for George and Simon— mending their shoes, for a pere of briches and hornin Book [horn book strong bound for school use.] for Simon .......-••• '7 for Simon's Scooling ......... 10 for a shirt for Simon and a aphod [a girdle] for George, and making . 2 9 For a shirt and a aphod. for skooling for Simon ......... 10 March ye 27, 1722. — Then recevd. of John Longman and Benjamin Wood- ward ye sum of five pounds (viz.), of each of em ye sum of fifty shillings being a sum given by a Person now unknown, for ye Benefitt of ye Poor of ye Parish of Swainswick by being putt out to use and to be accounted for by ye Overseer for ye time being every year at Easter. W.^lter Robbins, Minister. John Gunning. Thom.\s Scud.\more. John Hooper. "L.wv. ^^'.\LROND. March ye 27, 1722. — It was agreed upon to lend the said sum of mony to ye Parish in order to apprentice out a child, and ye Parish is hereby charged with the said mony and are to pay 5s. a year interest for ye same to be distributed yearly at Easter to ye Poor of ye parish of Swainswyck, who do not require Alms of ye Parish, at ye discretion of ye Minister and Churchwardens and Overseers. Same witnesses as above. March 19, 1722. £ s. d. Reed, the money from Bath the Interest Money . Communion Monev . The money delevered to ye new Overseer- widd Woodard in mony Tho. Sandal in mony John Buttler in Cole Robt. Tylie in Cole . Dan. Workman in Cole 13 4 .S 5 6 I 3 10 3 10 5 5 5 5 Seen and allowed by us. J. Harington. Jos. HOULTON. Aprill the 2d 1722. Poor Rate Accounts. 157 The Account of Benjamin Woodward, Swinswick, 1721. Richard Ashlee for 50 weeks' pay for Simon and George at 4s. per week ....... For a pair of briches for Simon For Skooling for Simon ..... for a shurt and an apron and making for George for clothing of Simon, a coate and wescut, trimming and making Shoos for Simon and George to a travaling man ye 23d of July for skooling for Simon .... 4 pear of Stockings for Simon and George for a testament for Simon for skooling for Simon .... for a pear ofshoes and taping [putting "tips" or "taps"] a pare for Simon for skooling for Simon and George for a pare of briches for Simon for skooling for Simon and George . -Daniel \V OODW.\RD. the fry [to "fry" lands in Somerset For the poor Boys . Shos for the Boys . Clos for Simon Smith For Cravats for Simon Skooling for George . for Binding of Simon 1 Day's woork of 2 men for language is to surface drain them] for a going to the gustis [justice] for Tho. Sendal . . . . Parish Clark Thom.\s Send.\l 1723. He was killed at the Powder Mills and buried 26th June 1734. July 24. Paid Wm. fifisher for taking Simon Smith apprentice to a gardener .......... Richard Ashly 11 months for keeping George from May 10 — March 14, at 8s. per month Cloth for Georg 4 yds. at is. 6d. per yd. buttons and Linnen and other things for makeing and Pocketts A payr of Breeches for George 2 Shirts and makeing 2 payr of stocking for Georg . A payr of Shoos and mending £ 10 o o o o o o o o o o o o o o I o I o o o o o Hen. Walters. Wm. Skrine. Jos. HOULTON. I I I 2 I I I O 12 O j> 2 5 3 5 d. o 6 o 5 2i o o o li o o 10 o 8 4 Walter Robbins, Minis. Thomas Scudamore. John Hooper. John Longman. 2 R 158 Annals of Swainswick. 1724 — Lawrence Walroxd. Charges for mending George's shoes, and new ones, and his schooling for a year, which cost 4s. June 2d. pd. Daniell Milsum ffor tacking George Aprentice to a Gardner ....... Spent att binding George and bargaining for him 2 pear of Stockings . a new hatt .... 2 new peare of Briches 4 yds. and a J of Cloth at 2S. 8d. per yd. ffor lineing and triming ffor macking to Richard Workman ffor 2 new Shorts and making . ffor mending George's ould close Elizabeth Workman, Jany. ye 17 th She was allowed 4s. per week regularly, her husband Daniell Workman having been blown up at the Powder Jlills [buried on Jany. 7th.] She had a posthumous child, Mary, baptized on March 30. Daniel Workman was killed by the explosion at the Powder Mills and buried 7th January 1724. The " Gentleman " at the Powder Mills gave ^^7, los. towards apprenticing the children. [The " gentleman " was Mr. Scudamore.] £ s. d. 6 6 I I 10 4 4 1 1 4 I 6 3 4 4 S 1725 — John Hooper. Elizabeth Workman 53 weeks' pay, from the ist of Aprill to the 8th of Aprill, 4s. per week ........ Richard Workman 55 weeks' pay, from 5th March to 9th of Aprill, is per week ...... For going to Weston about Mary Noad's business Daniell Milsum for taking George Apprentice . fetching of a Warrant for Jane Fisher Going to the justisses wth Jane Fisher Ye Tvthine man. towards ve Bridewell att Bedminster £ 15 I o 4 4 8 1726. Same allowances to Elizth. Workman and her son Richd. To the tything man, Marshall money 7 Poor men by concent ...... 12 o o Thomas Scudamore. James Street. John Longman. For ye indentures and expenses for Thomas Workman d. 9 Poor Rate Accounts. 159 A prill 20///, 1727. — Reed, of Thomas Scudamore, Church Warden, and John Hooper, Overseer of ye parish of Swansweek, the sum of five pounds and ten shilhngs, being in full, according to agreement for takeing Thomas Workman apprentice. — Witnessed by me, John Harvv. Memd. — Left in Mr. Scudamore's hands two Pounds Eighteen Shillings, which with ye above ^5, los., is ye sum gave by ye Gentlemen of ye Powder Mills towards Aprenticing Widdow Workman's Children. [See 1724.] 1727 — Henry Burges. The Workmans ......... Richard Archard, 54 weeks, is. per week ..... Novr. ye 30th, to Benjamin Woodward for Bridge and ospitall money March 23rd, John Harris for Bridge and ospitall money . for aprenticing of Betty Workman to Robert Tiley Thatcher's Bill — Healm, Spikes, etc. . . • . Pd. for aprenticing Betty Workman, expenses and all, ^4, 13s., wth ye £2, 1 8s. I reced. of Mr. Scudamore, being ye remains of ye money ye parish had of ye powder mills . . . . . £ o 14 6 8 15 17 1728. Comunion money 7 6 172S — Richard Collings. The Workmans and Richard Archard regularly paid for County Stock mony, August 3d . . . . . . . . .046 Sisly [Cicely] Butler and Robart Tily, 4s. and 3s. each, regularly per week. Clothes for James Workman . . . . . . . .052 Daniell Workman for keeping James 5 weeks . . . . .076 Gaol and Marshal mony . . . . . . . . .026 Hen. Walters, j. houlton. Comunion money, 1729. . . . . . . . .050 1730 060 » » 1731 036 1729 — John Gunning. John Butler for keeping Workman's Girl 5 weeks and a half . .0110 John Butler for keeping her one year, and mending her cloaths . -330 Richard Workman for keeping James 6 weeks . . . . .090 Charles Kite for taking James an apprentice . . . . .6100 i6o Annals of Swain szvick. Indentures and expenses . Henry Lewellin for keeping Ann Workman for taking her Apprentice . Indentures and expenses . Expenses at the Bath Richard Workman, iS weeks at is. . „ „ 30 weeks at is. 6d Rt. Tyley, 48 weeks at 2s. 6d . £ ^- d. 6 n 2 to 8 10 7 2 4 16 6 S 1730- -Daniel Woodward. 3 26 17 10 3 13 8 15 .S i.S 2 6 Pd. to the Chamber at Bath money ye Parish had, yt. was gave . Mending and Whitewashing the Parish house this year, glazing windows, etc. Expenses about putting out ye money at Bath ..... Reed, by Twelve Penny Rates ........ 1 73 1 — John Hooper. Pd. The Man that have betty Workman's Child .... Robt. Tyle, 50 weeks, 3s. 6d. . Richd. Archer, 5 weeks, 2S. 6d. [?] . A poor woman .......... Thomas Scudamore. Edmund Gunning. Hen. Walters. Lau. Walrond. Jo. HouLTON. Richard Colings. 1732 — John Longman. John Butt for taking Mary Workman, apprentice . . . .700 for going to see her before she was bound and for expenses and indentures . . . . . . . . . . o 10 o 1733- Comunion money . . . . . . . . .046 1734- Comunion money . . . . . . . . . .060 1733 — Nathaniel Woodward. Robert Tyly died, his Coffin, etc., cost [iVf 1 731] . . . o 15 6 beer, bread and cheese, 5s. 6id., the Clerk, 4s. . County stock money ..... Do. do. Ospitall money ...... o 4 O 2 O I Poor Rate Accounts. ibi 1734 — Kdmond Gunning. Richard Archard, 48 weeks at 2s. 6d Oct. ye 8th. County Stock and Hospital money Jany. ye 6th. Do. do. ... Mary Butler was removed to Kelston, which cost the Parish Rogr. Palmer for thatching the Parish house for Mary Sandall' Joseph Wilton for building the wall for M.S. for clening out the foundation of a little shed adjoyning to the house for M. S. Farmer Hooper for Instructions for ye High Ways £ 6 pish. d. o 9 4 8 o o o 6 Communion Money 1735- 1735— N.VTHANIEL W00D\V.\RD. Paid to men that garded Sarah Yells [Yules] and a warrant and ex- penses and going to ye justices for making the Poor were [wear] ye Letters and puting them on [a bad<^e] (see page 149) Ospatel money ........ 1736. Communion money ........ 060 May 1 2, 1 736.— An order of Vestry made att ye Parish Church of Swansweek doe allow Richard Archar an Antyent man, and his labour being done, los a month for his maintenance. (He was baptized 23 June 1663.) We allow Mary Sandall and her two children, her Husband bein? dead los a month. ' We allow ye Poor to wear ye Badg as the Law directs. John Gunning. Henry Burgess, Warden. Law Walrond. Nathaniel Woodard. | Overseers of ye John Hooper. Thomas Scudamore. / poor. Edward Ashly. The mark of John Noad. Afay 30, 1736— Att a Vestry at the Parish Church of Swansweek, the Church Warden, Overseer and Parishioners doe agree and make an order that Mary Sandall's two children, being a girl and a boy, be put out aprentices as soon as ^ Thomas Sandall, he- was Parish Clerk. husband, was killed at the Powder Mills and buried June 26lh. 2 S He l62 Annals of Swainswick. they can gett convenient places for them, and we agree that the officers shall give not mure than ^5 with ye mayd, nor more than ^5, los. with ye Boy. the mark V of Nathaniell Woodard, Churchwarden. Thomas Scudamore, Overseer. John Gunning. John Hooper. 1736 — Thomas Scudamore and Nathaniel Woodward. May 15.- — Agreed at ye Vestry to give George Sandall los., his ffamyly have- ing lately had ye Smallpox ; and we doe agree to give Mr. John Gunning, ^i, IS., to take Aron Tyly a Servant for one year (he returned the money, Aron probably having Smallpox). for Putting Ann Sandall, Apprentice to Wm. Harolld Indentures and expenses ........ 1 1 Payr of Letters [badges] for ye Poor ..... Mary Davis and Bastard ........ A warrant for Edward Longman ffather of ye Bastard An order for Edward Longman to maintain ye Bastard 3 times to Bath and severall times to Balheston County Stock .......... Mary Tyly when sickened with Smallpox ..... Mr. Street, Apothecary's Bill ....... for a Shroud for Mary Tylye and Daughter and fetching om. [Somerset for "them"] for ringing ye bell, and [digging] graves ..... for 4 men to carry ym. [them] to ye Graves .... for Wood, Coles, wine, chees, meat, milk, and od things for ye Tylys Susan Jacksons, for bread and small things for ye Tylys for 2 coffins for ye Tylys ........ for Anthony Tyly for helping in ye Small Pox .... Mary Sandall for tending ye Tylys in ,, „ . I Bushell Malt for ye jioor ....... Mary Sandall for keeping Aaron Tyly 6 weeks, ending the i8th April Kept back from Anthony Tyly for stealing some of his mother's things Reed, for some of Mary Tyly's goods ...... Gift Money £ s. d. .s 5 6 2 2 6 I 5 9 2 2 2 6 7 6 12 6 7 8 >5 17 7 13 10 I I 3 8 5 I 6 I 10 4 1737-8 — Thos. Scudamore. Whitewashing poor house . . . . . . . . .050 Mary Sendall, kept Aron Tyly 5 weeks, 2s. a week . . . .0100 then he was apprenticed . . . . . . . . .576 Poor Rate Accounts. 173S. County Stock and Marshalsea . Remained last year of the Gift money Gave Anthony fford when he had a lame hand '63 £ 9 1 16 o 7 Hy. Bennett. Jos. HOULTON. Hen. W.\lters. 1739 — John Penn, Rector. John Gunning. John Hooper. Edmund Gunning. 6 10 o I 7 o 6 o S o 10 o 4 096 050 056 1739 — Thom.\s Scud.\more. Richard Archer, 13 months ...... pd. to ye Repayr of the Lock in the Navigation at Kelston Gaol and Marshalsea ....... Reed, of Mary Sandall for part of Mary Tyly's cloaths Ap. 8, 1740 — Account of ve Gift Money. Gave Anthony fford in ye hard winter Gave John Ashly .... Gave Doctor Shill .... Gave Mary Sandall when Sick . pd. Mary Shill for tending Mary Sandall allowed by — H. H.\rington. Hen. W.\lters. J. Hallidav. Aprils, 1740. — We, the Churchwarden, Overseer, and Parishioners of Swan- sweeke, doe make an order that Mary Sandall, being Sick and weake, doe have four Shillings a month untill she is better and doe wear ye letters. John Hooper, Churchwarden. Thomas Scudamore, Overseer. John Gunning. Law. Walrond. Edward Longman. A2to. 24, 1740. — We, the Churchwardens, Overseer, and Parishioners, doe make an order of Vestry that Joyce Sandal and three children, her Husband, Samll. Sandall being gon a Soldier, doe Sandall doe have 6d. a month, began June have I2S. a month and that Mary 28. Walter Robbins, Curate. Church Wdn., John Hooper. Thomas Scudamore, Overseer. John Gunning. 164 Annals of Swainswick. 1740 — Thomas Scudamore. Pd. Richard Archer, 13 months ...... For a midwife for Joyce Sandall ...... County Stocks, 4 times ........ 5 Bushels of Barley at Culern [Colerne] for Anthony Ford Edward Longman let Anthony Ford have i Bushel Barley, 3s. with 4s. ......... . Paid ye Surgeon for Anthony Ford Expenses at Bath about Parish affayres ..... 9d £ s. d. 6 10 ° 5 17 19 6 7 9 I 1740 — .\ccouNT how ye gift money was dysburst. Pd. Anthony Ford for his Rent twice . . . . . .16 Gave Solomon Pony [Powney] when sick in ye Small Pox att four times o 10 Gave Anthony Ford's wife, Easter Tuesday . . . . .02 Hen. Walters. J. Halliday. 1 741 — John Hooper. Richard Archer, Joyce Sendal, and Mary Sendal. 2 Bushels of Barley that Anthony Forde had att Colurn Lett Dr. Shill have to chorte [two shirts] . Lett Dr. Shill have County Stock ........ Docter Shill [Doctor, perhaps his Christian name] ' 19 3 050 050 010 012 9 010 1742 — L.\WRENCE WaLROND. Richard Archer, Mary Sandall, Joyce Sandall, Doctor Shell is. a week. County Stock monie, twice ....... For gleasing [glazing] the Poor House ..... Richd. Longman for mending ye Dores and flores of the Poor House 10 Ells of Dowlis [dowlas, a coarse calico], at isd. per ell Hacking 8 Garments at 4d. for Sandall's Child i Ouz. of thred at i i . James Ashley for taping [soling] to [two pairs] pare Sandals Shues For Discharging John Noad from gooing a Soulder . 14 3 2 10 1743 — Ed.mond Gunning. Richd. Archer died Feby. 4 1743, till then he received his Parish allowance, his coffin and shroud cost 14s. Poor Rate Accounts. l6: County Stock money paid July 9 | ...... July 30 > Shell and Sandal continue Jany. 2 ) Money from John Gunning stopt for ye use of S. Ph. [Swains- wick Parish] for money pd. for enlisting John Noad. s. d. 4 2 2 \. 4 3 1744 — Edmond Gunning. Mary Sandall 6s. per month. March 28. County Stock money ....... Pd. John Taylor out of ye money reed, from the chamber of Bath, 2 twice 10 6 County Stock money, July 23 4 3 30 Jany. 15 John Carew. 4 6 3 4i Hen. Walters. RoBT. Smith. 1745 — John Hooper. £ .f. d. Cinin [Signing] the book County Stock Q 2 6 2 ,, ............. ,, ,, . . . ....... Dr. Shell 6 -> 4 to the Ospetol I I County Stock 8 6 Paid thre Pound [caution money in case of death] for James Balord gayn [going] into the ospetol A Couple of new Shifts ) | 3 6 A pare of new shoes • Mary Noad 2 10 a Petty Cout and apron ) ( 6 - 1 1746 — John Hooper. Betty Ashley, Surgeon, for attending John Noad > . . j I 10 Candle, Sugar ^\ Bread and Cheese | 2 8 Coffin and Shroud ■ J. Noad 13 7 Pd. Clark ) 3 County Stock, 3 times at 8s. 4d. each 1 5 6 2 T 1 66 Annals of Sioainszoick. Mary Noad, 15 -(veeks at 3s. 6d. for attending 2 nights 1 -^^ ^^^^ Candles and pins / ^ ^ Stuff and making Clothes for Noad's children ard Fustain is. ttending him 2 Whittles 2S. 9d. Mary Sandall . James Ballard Hester Collins for al Coffin and Shroud Clark . 4 men for carrying Corps and for divers small Affidavit For Wood Mary Noad had when shee lid in things for Ballard £ 2 o o o o 4 o o o o o o o John Carew. RoBT. Smith. 1747 — Richard Ashley. Sisly Butler, 47 weeks at 6s. per week, for keeping Mary Noad's children ........... Mary Sandall, 1 1 months at 6s. 2d. at 8 . For a hat, and waistcote, and a shirt, and britches for Doctor Shill and in money .......... 14 14 4 2 o 16 d. 6 o 4 4 9 o o o o o o 6 6 1748 — Robert Cole. For going to Froom about the Cattle . . . . . .050 Mary Noad, Mary Sandall, John Taylor ph. allowance. Jany. 9th. her boy died, his funeral cost . . . . . .090 Mary Noad's Maids' clothing 182 ye woman as was toock up [apprehended] in ye Parish . . .4118 Pd. to John Davis for marks [badges] . . . .020 1749. April I, 1749. — Received of Robert Cole, Overseer of ye poor of Swainswick, Jane Noad, a poor child aprentice, and five pounds in money with her. As Witness my hand, John Vezey. 1749 — Robert Coles dying, on June nth. Robert Lydiard was chosen to replace him. Walter Robbins. Tho. Scudamore. John Hooper. Lawrence Walrond. James Hooper. Poor Rate Accounts. 167 1749. 4 Horseload of Cole ..... County Stock ... ... A Shurt for Dr. Shell Mary Aishley, a Coffin and Shroud . John Aishley for Ringing the Bel and deging the grave for marking the Poor, putting on the letters [like sheep] £^- Wm. H.\ll. Jo. Wood. -Mary 1750 — Robert Lediatt [Liddi.\rd.] Docter Shill and Mary Noad is. and 4s. per week. Feby. for sending to the Coroner ..... Pd. the Coroner's fees ....... Pd. expenses on the Jury ...... Pd. to Frances Bull and other expenses .... Charges and expenses at Taunton Sierzes [assizes] Dr. Shill- Sandal ......... 1 75 1 — George Send.\ll. Mary Noad, Mary Sendal, Docter Shill. Pd. the County Stock 2 Hund. Pound Rat Clothes for little Noads. The charges for the Man that was taken out of the water . 1752 — John Hooper. Mary Noad 4s., Mary Sendal 2s. 6d., Dr. Shill is., per week. Countty Stock twys [twice] ...... Clothes for John, Isaac, and James Noad. March i8th. for ye relief of Samuel Sandall famaley. Gane Lidgate for milk ....... Shusan for shop things ....... Pd. the house ......... 4 horse load of Coals ....... h. w.a.lters. Jo. Wood. 1753- Mary Noad, Dr. Shill, John Rallins, [Rawlings] Sisly Taylor. County Stock ...........06 Expenses of the oman [Somerset and Gloucestershire for woman] at Lambridg . . . . . . . . . . o 19 H. Walters. R. Hayward. d. o 4 o o o 8 043 3 12 6 017 o 2 10 o O 2 7 0140 070 4i o 168 A una Is of Sivainszuick. 1755 — Alexander Francis. The funeral expenses of Cisley Taylor and bringing home ye 3 Children ........••• for cleaning their bedding ........ for cloathing them — much expense. The tything man for carrying Dr. Shill to Shepton Bridewell Sheets, Shirts, Dowlis, etc., for 3 Taylors. The tything man carrying Dr. Shill to Bridwell 1756 — John Gunning. Paid the Justices Clerks for 2 pair of Indentures for Binding out apprentices James Noad and James Taylor .... For an order for removal of Charles Maricum Paid Francis Snailum my note dated May ye 7 th for apprenticing James Taylor .......... Sundr)- expenses proving the serving of an order for removing Charles Maricum and confirming that order at Sessions, as per Bill Mary Taylor apprenticed to Benjn. Herring John Scudamore, Augt. ye loth, my Note of ^5 pd. him as Cash by Wm. Loovet for apprenticing James Noad to him Charles Orchard, Nov. ye 15, for apprenticing Ashley's Boy to him. Sep. 2d, 1756 • Benjamin Herring, Sep. 18, £^ for binding out Mary Taylor to him . 1756— John Gunning and George Sandall. Pd. John Ashley expense at the funeral of An Taylor in Bath Saml. Strange, 2 payments, two ,-^300 rates for County Stock a Coffin for An Taylor Expenses at her burial Mary Noad, An Ashley weekly. 1757 — George Sendall. An Ashley kept two of Taylor's Chilren, at 2s. per week each. John Wilton, Mason, for mending the Poor House .... Oliver Noad's Indentures . . _ Apprenticing him to Jonathan Rawlins 1758 — George Sendall. Pd. Ann Ashley for two of Taylor's children, six -weeks' pay Ann Ashley for two of Taylor's children, six weeks' pay for yarn and mending shoes John Wilton for masoning work done at the Poor House . £ s. d. 8 6 oi o o 13 o 012 9 0100 063 056 050 500 I 4 o I 4 o 020 0.9 o Poor Rate Accounts. Richard Strange for 3 Sacks of lime 169 William Long's bill for Carpenter's work done at the Poor House pd. for board ......... George Soane's Bill for thatcher's work done at the poor house One dozen and two Sheafs of helm July 26. County Stock Sep. 27. Do. Deer. 13. Do. 3 Ells dowlas . I yd. I of Check £ o o o o o o o o o o £>ue to the Parish — One Shilling forfeited by John Bence for swearing 1759 — George Sandall, Swanswick. Ann Ashley for two of Taylor's children, a month's pay July 25. County Stock For the Repairing of Midford Bridge Jany. 9. County Stock Dowless for the children . March 5. County Stock . Jo. Wood. J. Smith. 1760 — James Hooper, Svvainswick. Pd. Sept. 22. County Stock ........ 2 Deer. 20. County Stock ......... i William Tuile, Senr., for taking Elizabeth Taylor an Apprentice . 5 Mr. Burge for Indentures ......... o John Gunning, Instructions for the High ways for 1760 . . ,0 Spent at Easter .0 1761 — James Hooper, Swanswick. June 16. County Stock ......... i for to Churts and meaking [two shirts and making] . . . . o for a wiscaite [waistcoat] ......... o for halt o for a peare of Stokins ......... o for mending of shuse ......... o 16 Sep. County Stock ......... i Dec. 29. Do. o o 16 o 8 o 12 2 2 o 5 o 12 I 3 2 I o o I 10 2 U Thos. Seymour. J. Smith. d. o 6 6 9 o 6 6 6 o £ s. d. o 170 Annals of Swainszuick. 1762 — John Scudamore, Swanswick. Jany. 14. Pd. Samuel Strange, County Stock . Expenses haveing Mary Shell and Nel to the Jestis . . . .01^ Expense of having Nel to her Parris [parish] 022 1763 — Daniel Benet, Swainswick. June 18. Pd. Samuel Strange, County Stock o 10 7I Sepr. 17. Do. do. . . . .• . o 6 4^ Reed. A wascoat, 2 Shorts and macking, and Stockings . . . .094 A pare of Breeches 036 a pare of Shoues 032 Mary Sandall received los. per month, the person not named. Samuel Sandall had 5s., so he returned from the wars. Reed. By Cash at Mrs. [Messrs.] Clutterbuck. [No doubt this refers to the City Chamberlain.] Pd. Jno. Gunning for 3 yrs. Interest of ^20 due I Sth of Jany. 1763 . 2 S o [John Taylor's Gift. — There are payments credited at various times appar- ently for interest on this gift, but in the year 1763, as we see, there is mention made in the book, kept by the Overseers of the poor for that year of three years' interest paid on ;^20, due from Mr. Clutterbuck ; and in the same book for the year 1776, mention is made again of this sum of ^20, and also of a sum of ;^45 which appears to have belonged to the parish, by John Gunning, in the following terms : — Two years' interest of ^^45, lately in the Corporation of Bath ^t ^i) 35. 4d. per ann., from Ladyday 1764 to Lady- day 1766 . . . . . . . , '. at wh. time they paid in the principal bond of . . . From the year 1766, my late father, John Gunning, applied to several people to get a ;^5o Bath Turnpike bond, and could not; till 26 Novr. 1770 to 26 Novr. 1771, one year's interest ........ 26 Novr. 1 77 1 to March 26, 1771, 4 months' int. of ;^5o This sum of ^50 is secured by the assignment of a turnpike security granted under an Act passed in the 30th year of K. George II., to John Gunning, Esq., deceased, and which afterwards devolved upon his son, Revd. Dr. Peter Gunning, and the above-mentioned sum of ;!^2o is also in the hands of the said £2 6 8 45 2 13 4 Pool' Rate Accounts. i/i Dr. Peter Gunning, who has regularly paid the interest of both sums, amounting to ;^3, los. for many years, down to the year 1813, to his sister, who resided at Swainswick, and who distributed the same among the poor of the parish. Since the year 1813, Dr. G. has paid the interest to the then rector, who, with the overseer, has distributed it annually at Easter among the poor of the parish not receiving parochial relief. Dr. Gunning proposed to transfer and deliver the above turnpike security, and to pay ^20 to the rector and churchwardens as trustees of this charity ; wh. appears to the Commissioners to be the proper way of securing that object.] 1764 — D.\NiEL Benet, Swainswick. Mary Sandall receives her los. and Taylors 8s. per month. June 16. pd. Saml. Strange> County Stock .... Sepr. 13. Do. do. .... Deer. 31. Do. do. .... E.xjiense for going with Thomas Jones ..... Pd. for apprenticing Isaac Taylor to Thomas Willton of this Parish Mr. Burge by Jno. Gunning for the Indentures .... Reed, with the Book ........ Collected by a 3d. Rate ........ Reed, of Mr. Clutterbuck for two years' interest of ;!^2o, due 18 Jany 1765 [in Mr. Gunning's handwriting] . .... £ o o o o 5 o 9 6 10 6 6 2 o 4 o 12 7 4i 4* o o o 9 9 4 i: April 12, 1765. — The foregoing Account was verified upon Oath and allowed by us. Geo. Somerville. J. H.\RRIS. 1765 — Account of George Jones, Swanswick. May 2. Pd. Mr. Birch For taking the man for the Bastard Child A month's pay, ilary Shil Do. Mary Singel [Sendall] May 28. Coles for Mary Shil . Antony ford had, 1765 Antony ford had Pd. to the County Stock at 3 pay Mary Shil and Mary Sandall rece day of payment specified. ved their monthly money £ 4 10 4 4 8 19 d. 6 o o o o o 6 ery regularly, th; H. Walters. Thos. Cow,\rd, Junr. George Send.\ll. J.AMES Hooper. John Scudaiiore. John Sendall. 172 Annals of SwainsTJjick. 1766 — George Jones, Swanswick. s. d. Sining the book .......... 30 Mary Sendall, per month . . . . . . . . . 100 Mary Shil ........... 40 Richard Aishly . . . . . . . . . . 100 From Deer. 4 Thomas King received 4s. gd. per week. Three sacks of Coles for the poor ....... 46 Do. do. ....... 46 Antony Fford . . . . . . . . . . 10 S Mr. Gunning always paid the receipts of the parish from Mr. Clutterbuck, etc. Jno. Gunning. J.\MEs Hooper. Thom.\s Wilton. Ap. 24, 1767. John Sfnd.\ll. Verified on Oath and allowed by H. Walters. J. Smith. £ s. d. Book in debt . . . . . . . . . . . 3 16 4.^ Collected by 4 Rates . . . . . . . . . 26 11 o Bill of Expenses by the Overseers of the Poor of the P.\rish of W.\lcot, in the County of Somerset, for Burying Samuel Sandle, who resided there, under Certificate from the Parish of Swainswick, in the County aforesaid. s. d. Ap. 9, 1767. Paid for a Coffin 10 o Paid for a Shroud ....... 5 o Paid fifour men for carrying him to Swainswick . . 40 19 o Allowed by Henry Walters. Esq., in pursuance of an Act passed 3 Geo. II. George Jones paid the bill. J.\mes Hooper, Overseer. The P.\RisH of Sw.vnsweek to the Parish of Cullern [Colerne], Dr. 1767, March 11. To carying Home Anthony Foorde and his wife by order of removal. s. d. Maintaining ........... 66 Order 46 Expenses at Sessions ......... 16 Cart, horse, etc., car)ing them from the Parish of Cullern to the Parish ofSwansweek .......... 36 16 o Poor Rate Accounts. i "jj, Reed. October 27, 1767, of the Overseer of the Parish of Swansick, the sum of one Pound for one Quarter and a Month, due this day by Mary Sandall, in full and all demands. Pd. Elizabeth Lanham. Receipts — County Stock. ^ ^ June 13, 1767. Towards a ^500 ;^ rate ..... 10 i\ Augt. 24, 1767. „ ;^4oo £ „ 8 6' January 8, 1768. „ £ioo £ „ 64 Pr. Neate, Constable, Stoke. Oct. 27, 1767. — Received of the Overseers of the Parish of Swaneek, the sum of One pound ten shilins for Rent and Looking after the Children, by me William Kidner. £ s. d. For Lookin after the Cheldren . . . . . . . .0100 A Bill of Work done by I George Jones | Oct. 21, at the Pariss Hous ) Thomas Welton / 1767. 7 days' works, myself and hos . . . . . . . .0140 2000 and 500 of speecks at 3 pence a houndred, an 100 of bigger at 6 pence . . . . . . . . . . .069 A hundred . . . . . . . . . . .006 ^i I 3 2 X OLD PATHS AND FOLK LORE. [a reminiscence addressed to the author so.me years ago.] 'he Gloucester Road, as it is called, is a work of later times (1825), but the old original lanes, some of which are still in use, are — i. The narrow way through Larkhall, past the Dead Mills, from the London Road behind Beaufort Buildings; 2. Inick's Lane, into the Gloucester Road, leading straight to Swanswick Church and Manor House, through the barton of which it communicates with 'Woolley Lane.' " Batheaston Lane skirts Solsbur\' and enters the Gloucester Road near the site of the old toll-bar, and joins the fosse way at Batheaston village. \\'hen I was a child my mother rented the fields on either side of the Gloucester Road before \-ou turn down by the finger-post to the village. The old road went straight along the bottom of the west field, in a line with Batheaston Lane, by Mr. Sainsbury's garden hedge, and then through the \-illage ; it seemed as though at one time it had crossed the present turn down from the high road, and had rejoined it near the gate of the private way down to Pickwick's farm. It there crossed the neii' road, as I will call it for the sake of distinction, went through Pick- wick's ' great field,' where stands a very large, old elm, and came upon the trackway which had left the ' new road,' and then skirted ' Eastfield.' This is marked by Mr. Scarth as a probable Roman road. ... It follows the hedges of our field and Pickwick's, and ascends the hill to Slaughterwell — the source of the springs whence all the village draws its supplies. At the summit of the hill it joins a steep, rugged road, the continuation of ' Poor House Lane,' and striking due north, as a down path, rejoins the 'new road' about the four-mile stone, where there are (or were) two cottages. " On the right hand, where the ascent is accomplished, is a down road leading to Charm}' Down and the farm thereon, belonging to the Bath Royal Mineral Water Hospital. In the field on the north of the farm may still be seen some Druidical stones, but they were much more conspicuous in my childhood. Marshfield is reached by going straight on over the Down. We always called this rough road from the village ' Fossill Hill,' from the quantity of tcrre- Old Paths and Folk Lore. 175 bratuls, belemnites, etc., which strewed it. Slaughtenvell must have been the scene of some desperate conflict. In the neighbouring Wiltshire district is Slaughterford, where Camden tells us that the Danes were defeated, and the inhabitants still cherish the tradition, although history is silent thereon. A grass road, only used by the waggons belonging to the farm, turns off from 'the supposed Roman road' beyond the gate into Pickwick's field, and just where it begins to ascend towards Slaughterwell. It has been ploughed up for about a quarter of a mile, and then begins as a regular lane in Chilcombe Bottom. At this point it is joined by the field-path coming straight from ' Pickwick's Gate,' and descending the terraced slopes which form the east side of Solsbury. The lane runs through Chilcombe Bottom, by the new waterworks to Batheaston village ; whence up the opposite hill it runs into the Fosse, near the Shire Stones, exactly in a line with the course of that famous road to Lincoln. Batheaston Lane, proper, joins the London Road nearly, if not quite, half-a-mile to the S.W., where was the ancient junction of the Fosse and Julian Ways. At the distance of half-a-mile nearer Bath is another old road. The ferry at Bathampton is exactly opposite to the point where it diverges, nearly at a right angle, from the Bath Road. It skirts Batheaston Villa, Bailbrook House, passes through the hamlet of Pigacre, and crosses the new road, descending by a steep and straight course to the ' Dead Mills,' whence it again ascends, after about half-a-mile to Charlcombe Lane, which it crosses at the inter- section of Wooley Lane, and so gains Lansdown. At the ' Dead Mills' is a short, steep junction with the ' New Road, following the curve of the hill, and rejoining the New Road at the turnpike,' now only existing as a cottage, but at which the wholesome plan of double tolls on Sundays was observed till within about five years {i.e., 1872). " Let us now return to the village. The road was very narrow, as it passed the first large house, tenanted, when first I remember it, by Mr. Keary, and afterwards by Mr. Sainsbury, ivJio is still there (1878V1 After a field with a high wall a small farmyard and two cottages on the left, and Parker's cottage and garden on the right, came the private way of Pickwick's farm, then his barn on the same side, and our stables — yard and house. Our entrance-gates [see ' Mayiiards' and Ptirle'ivents\ were flanked by square stone posts surmounted by large balls. " At this point three ways met, the main lane on the west becoming ' Wooley or Tadwick Lane,' as soon as it had passed the next large house and the precipitous descent to the rectory and church. " Pickwick's private way, through his barton, joined the New Road, ^ And happily is yet the esteemed occupier, 1889. I 76 Annals of Sicainsunck. and so, straight as a bird could fly, the lane in Chilcombe Bottom pointed due east. " Exactly at a right angle, conformable with the front of the farm, going due north, is Poor House Lane. But the meeting of these waj-s is at an irregular space of ground, nearl\- triangular, if our wall be con- sidered the base, the farm the N.E., and a picturesque old wall, topped by ivy, with a weeping ash overhanging, is the N.W. side. Beneath the ash is the village fountain, scarcely ever known to fail. Once, I think, its partial stoppage was caused by a ' Cat,' i.e., a growth of a fibrous grass, colourless like coarse tow, or some plant of the sort, which grows till it completely chokes up pipes and water-courses. In the centre of the open space was a green where the Maypole was always erected, and against Pickwick's stabling (which opened on the barton) were the Stocks. They have now disappeared, but I well remember Brain, the constable, placing a drunken man there, and my amusement at seeing him from my nursery window. Inside the picturesque wall, in Poor House Lane, was Moore's garden. He was the carpenter — very respectable — always ' waited ' when there were dinner parties at the rectory or at my mother's^ house, and on Sundays his performances were ' ear-piercing ' upon the clarionet. His son, Frederick Moore, was a distinguished member of the singing gallerj- — I think he performed on the bass viol, and sung too. He married our soprano, whose voice was well-nigh as cracked as the church bells. She was Anne Manning, our village school-mistress. Her home adjoined Moore's, the blacksmith's forge intervening in front. In the kitchen might be found on ever)' week day the united infants of Swanswick and \Voole}% male and female, till the former were old enough to scare crows, or to do odd jobs about the farms. Old Mrs. Manning was the titular schoolmistress, but Anne assisted her mother with energy, 'dapping' the heads of the idle with her thimble. Her gentle sister, Fann}-, gave such assistance as chronic rheumatism and ill health permitted to an invalid, f/w/r-ridden, if I may so say. " The girls learnt to work thoroughly well under these good women. " Betty Vowles had a quaint brother, one Joe Butler, whose eccen- tricities were so great that he disarmed the wrath of his employers, even when it was justly excited by his evil deeds. My mother em- ^ Ladv Jervis was the second wife of Osborn Markham, Esq. , son of Archbishop Markham (York), his first wife having been Lady Mary Thynne, d. of Thomas, first Marquis of Bath. Lady Jervis was the ekiest d. of Capt. Ficketts (the eldest son of Earl St. Vincent's eldest sister, by his wife. Lady Elizabeth Lambart, d. of the 6th Earl of Cavan). The Ricketts family assumed the nann- of Jer\'is in 1801. After her marriage with Osborne Markham in 1S23, Mrs. Markham, on the death of her great uncle, Earl St. Vincent, assumed the name of Jervis, having inherited a portion ot his property and landed estates. In 1S34, having been sometime a widow, she married Sir William Cockburn, but reassumed the name of Jervis. Old Paths and Folk Lore. i •]"] ployed him, but he quarrelled with the cook, and placed her shoes in the pigs' bucket, whence they were fortunately rescued somewhat the worse. He persisted in eating his dinner in an out-of-doors building, never erected for a dinner parlour ; he worried the maids, was gainsaying to the men, and whoever employed him had much to 'put up with.' His joy at seeing me, in 1862, Nora being a tall girl by my side, was expressed by a hearty pat on my back, and the exclamation, ' Law, how you be growed !' He also remarked, when some one complained of rheumatism, ' There be nothing of a cure for that but churchyard mould.' In our poorhouse we had two couples, Partridge and his wife, and the old Atherleys. Behind the house was a little bit of garden, kept so pretty and trim by the poor old men. Partridge helped Church- hill a bit on the road, when his strength allowed, escorted by a spotted turnspit ; his aged partner was a terrible sufferer from cancer, and died before the dreadful day came when our poor were no longer allowed to finish their days among friendly faces, and comforted by the loving ministrations of our dear pastor, Mr. Maud. The 'Union' was set up at Bath, and instead of ^70 or thereabouts we had ^150 to pay for poors'-rate. Atherley heard that he was to be separated from his wife in the ' Bastille,' as it was not inaptly called — he cut his throat ! and died. " Returning to the boundary of our own premises, there was a ' company gate,' only used for formal purposes. All friends went in, as we did, through the backyard, but when 'visitors' came, they rang at this side door, and the servants, I believe, got out of the kitchen window to open it. Then the visitor walked down a gravel path, through another door, and so to the chief door by the front of the house^not pleasant in rainy weather. To this gravel path adjoined our neighbour's garden, with a line of tall poplar trees. The house to which they belonged was undoubtedly the birth-place of Prynne (" Danvers";. "The small houses behind did not exist when he went to Swanswick in 1828. " Mrs. Maud's discomforts on a wet evening, when she had a dinner party, exceeded ours. We had a narrow dark passage, down four steps, which obviated the necessity of approaching the kitchen, but at the rectory (the old) the ' company gate and gravel walk ' were the only alternative for passing straight through the cook's domains. The draw- ing-room or the kitchen must be crossed every time anyone went upstairs to the bedrooms. Therefore the rule that you ' must never go into the kitchen ' was useless, and we straggled to and fro as we liked after the early days when good Nurse Fryer kept us all under her thumb." 2 Y 1 78 Annals of Swainswick. FAUNA. Swainswick, like most of the other lovely environs of Bath, being well wooded and watered, is the happy hunting-ground of most o{ \.\\c fauna to be found in the West of England. Deer are, of course, not to be found there, but the humbler game tribes — hares and rabbits, are abund- ant; the former, unfortunately, in sadly decreasing numbers. The badger was, and 1 believe is, occasionally to be found. ^ While the fox is a by no means unfrequent visitor, as the farmers' wives testif}', his cunning being more than a match for their care, and the hen-roosts suffering in consequence. That this 'cute gentleman, however, is sometimes caught in his own trap the following story will show. A few years since a fox that had for several weeks been levying contributions on the Swainswick poultry yards, decided to try his luck in the neighbouring parish of Batheaston ; he met with success, capturing a fine fat duck in a yard just within the parish. To return to his home he had to surmount a tall pale-fence, about five feet high, the tops of the pales being pointed. Whether he found his duck heavier than he thought, or whether he miscalculated his distance, deponent sayeth not, but the next morning he was found hanging dead with his head firmly fixed between the tops of the pales, the dead duck lying on the ground beneath him. There is every reason to believe that the otter may sometimes be found in the brook running through the valley. They are often seen in the Avon, not ver}' far from where the brook empties itself; some years ago a half-grown one was caught by a man, who had killed it in Swainswick brook. The polecat has seldom been found ; but the stoat and weasel, particularly the latter, are common. The old black rat is occasionally found in the brook, at some distance from the Avon ; but is becoming very rare, having been destroyed by its cousin, the large brown rat. It is a pity it is so — as, compared with the brown rat. it is a harmless animal. The pretty little squirrel, the hedgehog, the mole, and the various field mice are all to be found here. It has been frequently remarked to the author, " I am astonished to see what a number and variety of birds there are in the neighbour- hood of Bath." And it is so. We have collected the names of 161 species that have been found here, some, of course, common, but some very rare. Swainswick has its fair share, and although the hawk tribe ' The Churchwardens' Accounts testify to the fact that "once upon a time" the badger, the fox, and other " varmint " were superabund.nnt. Fauna. j «7q seems to prefer Claverton, where there is more rock, wood, and game preserves, still specimens are not unfrequently met with in Swainswick sometimes rare ones, as in 1840, when a very fine specimen of the honey buzzard was shot. Of other birds there is an abundance. The summer birds are plentiful, beautiful in song, and most useful in destroying msects, on which they mostly feed. Here may be heard the black*^ cap, nightingale, white throat, pettychaps, redstart, free pipit, wood willow, and sedge warblers, together with what may be called our reo-ular resident songsters— thrush, blackbird, redbreast, wren, the tits, skylark, chaffinch, greenfinch, linnet, yellow-hammer, and bunting, which keep up a perpetual concert, occasionally varied by the caw of the rook, chatter of the magpie, or harsh call of the greenwood-pecker; while the'nicrht is made melodious by the nightingale and sedge-warbler. This latte'r, the sedge-warbler, although, of course, not for a moment to be compared with the nightingale, is a great favourite of ours. He is a little, unobtrusive fellow, and during the day, amidst the grand burst of song that is goin"- on around him, is very likely to remain unnoticed, but in the silence ol" night he may be listened to with delight by the hour at a time; instead of sedge-warbler, he should have been named British mocking-bird, his imitations of other birds being something wonderful. We have counted the call-notes, notes of alarm, and parts of song.s, of fifteen different kinds of birds given one after another in rapid succession, and so true to nature that, had we not known to the contrary, we could have declared it was the birds themselves. The beautiful goldfinch, although not many years ago very common, is now rarely seen ; the almost equally beautiful bullfinch, however, is still plentiful. We have frequently, in winter, seen the bushes bordering the brook quite alive with the pretty active' little siskins, whose song, with its strange "stocking-weaver" note, is very pleasing. As you walk through the meadows you may hear overhead a hoarse croak, and looking up perceive a heron slowly flapping his way homewards, most likely to Bowwood, and as the evening comes on you may hear and see both brown and white owls hawking over the "-rass • and, though rarely, a goatsucker may flit by, like a gigantic swallow.'' Two bitterns were shot here in 1857. Red-backed shrikes, feldfares, redwing, chiffchaffs, gold crests, wagtails, flycatchers, jackdaws, starlings, sparrows,' wrynecks, creepers, cuckoos, nuthatchs, swallows, martins, swifts, wood- pigeons, pheasants, partridges, landrails, go to make up the summary of the birds found in this manor. The common snake and glowworm are common, but the viper is very rarely seen. Of insects (the lepidoptera) we can only say that, of the 540 species to be found in the neighbourhood of Bath, most may be met with in Swainswick. i8o Antials of Swainswick. FLORA. Daphne Mezereon. — Hunterwick Wood, Charmy Down, but very sparingly. N.B. — This locality is not noticed in the Fh» a Bathomensis of Babington. Gagea Lutea. — In a wood near Hartley Farm, on Charm}- Down, where also the Solomon's Seal {Cotivallaria Multijiord) is abundant. This locality for the Gagea is also unnoticed in Fl. Bath. Ribes Rjibrum (Common Red Currant). — Hedges by the roadsides between Swainswick and Tadwick in plenty ; also in hedges, and by the side of the brook, at Woolley, apparently quite wild. Loliinn Italiann (Bab.) — In a field at Swanswick below Solsbury Hill, in 1854, in plenty, but probably not distinct from L. pcrcnne, and introduced. Cokhicuni Antuimialis (Meadow Saffron). — Plentiful in one meadow between Swanswick and Tadwick. (^i% ^'M "i^^H^^^^C, rr-,''-^r%tt '•Uy4^/i^- >^vv-^« (^ir^^t (-i-^JiT /'/f/'L. Vei^"'^^'^^^rf /^^f/y^ ^t'e^y. /ff^ ^' W, y^^; fc /f. 4},.,'! nJ -f^//^ - ■■ -. v A' /yM-9}^, ■^ X/ly,W'i '//Jif')' z^jit^ t«fe^.^ ^«./7y*j /Cits'*- i^ji9 tr/t jvc^i ^1^ ¥tZyy r'^/iz^,,. a/>i /'y/^,,-^My,y fy//i^,^/, At)/ /' J fill i /r/ciMi^^z/ffu. c^ Sdura^eC^. S. Oaudi9 ■tzt^U T^u--^<^ ^ ~ fe'SSScE' ■fc. *~ yi*. *"—(:• ^~._~l#*/.<. ___ / ^:Sri sesS'^^ssSr -J^-tJ*-" -'^-'Hcr-?*** ~^** **■!■ 'p-'-'-^Mr MOMU^ X.«-™.f /SZ^^JU y^/A At '^my ^^^r 'ip^ ^^^^^^^^^■■'":'-~T'-'-'''-y g^^ £% fc^ -^ii ^ i^- «/^*-,i// <*.,<-<, - '^ «S? m-t-fmC-^^ SA^/n.u..,*' S3V-x'/t^' /T^SSe Jt-'/ I I I I 1 — — 1 r 1 _*^-.i^. ^.'■->' ^:^t. t-fe' ■^!^^ f]^f fe^ j^^& ?^'"''- H;-'^ '<-"^ ^'-^ ?^:^i£- l^-^s:- ^^^ TJET ^^~W5\j? ./w.; =?^-' c c rf^^A^jtfl^CMW aIm''' (&4ll^.«. ■^^^,_ ^.-/^ .~< .(i;,^ ^. . JL -A.—^ ^/Ma.£^ *,A.,^ .f ^.*M 4 *L. Kr^ -f HUM. ^„/a ./. *« •« .'...(-J.I.4W ^1^ j._v V/^ .di-i^it 7 .-<- 'n/n....> .. ,> 1725-1750. 158-167. .. ,. ,, 1750. '767, 167-173. ,, churchwardens' list, 130-132. ,, The Manor House, 56, 57, Si. ,, Lower House, 81. „ Hill Hou.se, 56, 57. ,, Cottage, 81. Villa, 81. ,, the fauna, 178, 179. ,, ,, flora, I So. Sweyn, King, 3, 4, 5, 6. Tatwick, 22-29, 98, 99. ,, (jrigin of name, 24. ,, the prefix Tat, 24. ,, account of, in Domesday, 23. ,, Wood's description of, 23, 24. ,, the manor held to, first by the monks of Bath, 22. ,, granted by Henry VHL to Sir William Dennis, 22. ,, ,, to John .Shatford, 24. ,, ,, toTimothyPipwellandhis son Michael, 24, 26. ,, ,, to John Pipwell, 25, 26. ,, ,, to John Gunning, 25, 26. ,, ,, to Sir George Farewell of Hilhishoppe, 26. ,, held by John Wyndham, 26. ,, held by the Gunnings, 26. ,, cottage, 27. Tourney's or Turney's Court, 26, 27, 28. ,, ,, sold to Mr. Robert Bush, 27. Walroni), William, hi.s will, 133. ,, Edward, his ,, 1 33, 1 34. Warner, the historian, I, 38, 41. Webb, Edward, 36. ,, John, 36. ,, family at Swainswick, 37. ,, in connection with leases at Swains- wick, 38. ,, Thomas, 32. Whittington, Thomas, 32. ,, Rev. Robert, 81. ,, family, genealogy of, at the end. Wick, definition of, 5. Wood, the historian of Bath, I, 2. ,, buried at Swainswick, 3. WooUey, 10, 28, 35. ^) Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. '•''. -rt... ■'/.•v ^^^"^^ ^,^;^ ?a j'.ii: ici j_i3 '.'.L S968P31 parish of Sffd-insvrick ■»n/v 690 S968P31 K :;^ \' v-, - 'iiSiiim'fii"""" U 000 452 740 »l it' ^ .^ fc :'>!^J- -;v :, :.'■,■;;■. ■■-•.'' - :.',^:-'v '■" v •■ . '' . -Vii.ityi^J ' '■'■i':.'^' '•■s:.' : .,.:;:^^''^' I 'it'