PLATE 1. ^frontispiece

Dranmi: Engraved byF.V/.Fai^holt. F.S A.

ANGLO-SAXON FIBULA
Discovered, ac Sarr, Isle of ThA.net.TRANSACTIONS

OF THE

firtttsf) arcfiawlogital assoriation,

► ‘ I

AT ITS

THIRD ANNUAL CONGRESS

HELD	AT GLOUCESTER  AUGUST 1846,
	CONSISTING OF THE

papers wall at ti)e sebcral JfflMttngs,

TOGETHER WITH AN

ACCOUNT OF THE EXHIBITIONS, AND EXCURSIONS
MADE BY THE ASSOCIATION DURING
THE CONGRESS.

LONDON:

HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET,

COVKNT GARDEN.

m fM.ccxr.viu.LONDON":

RICHARDS, 100, ST. MARTIN'S LaNF.PREFACE.

The Third Annual Congress of the British Archaeolo-
gical Association was held at Gloucester in 1846, and
the present volume contains the chief papers commu-
nicated on that occasion. Circumstances, over which
the Council held no controul, have prevented its appear-
ance earlier. The papers are printed under the revision
of their respective authors, who must be considered as
wholly responsible for the opinions therein expressed.

The Association is much indebted to the following
members for contributions of plates and other illustra-
tions to this volume:—

Mr. Frederick William Fairholt, F.S.A., the
frontispiece and the plate of Irish fibulae.

Mr. Alexander Horace Burkitt, F.S.A., and
Mr. John Skelton, the plates of Roman antiquities
found at Wroxeter.

Mr. Charles Warne, the two plans in illustration of
his own paper.IV

PREFACE.

Mr. John Huxtable, the plates delineating miscella-
neous antiquities from his collection.

The Rev. Beale Post, the map of Roman roads in
Surrey.

Mr. W. Devonshire Saull, F.S.A., the wood-cut
which accompanies his paper.CONTENTS.

PAGB

1.	Introductory Address, by T. J. Pettigrew	...	1

fltsltomal &cctton.

2.	Documents illustrative of History in the archives of the Corpor-

ation of Gloucester, by K. H. Fryer .	.	.	.16

3.	List of manuscripts in the Cathedral library of Gloucester, by

Thomas Wright	......	21

4.	Notes on the monuments in Lantony Priory, from a manuscript

in the Surrenden collection, by the Rev. L. B. Larking .	23

5.	On the ancient map of the world, preserved in Hereford cathe-

dral, as illustrative of the history of Geography in the middle
ages, by Thomas Wright .	.	.	.	.25

6.	Historical memoranda relating to the twentieth Roman legion, etc.

by the Rev. Beale Post	.	.	.43

7.	On Monkish Miracles, as illustrative of history, by Thomas

Wright .	...	58

lirimebal Rectum.

8.	Some account of the ancient city of Uriconium, in the county of

Salop, etc., by T. Farmer Dukes .	.	.	.66

9.	Observations on the primeval archaeology of Dorsetshire, by

Charles Warne .	....	74vi

CONTENTS.

10. Remarks on Irish fibulse, by F. W. Fairholt	. SO

11.	Description of Lingfield Mark Camp, Surrey ; and notes on the

Roman roads from the coast of Sussex to London, by the Rev.

Beale Post ...	.	.	!) 1

12.	Notes on some articles of antiquity in the collection of Mr. John

Huxtable, by C. Roach Smith .....	99

13.	On the ancient Pagan religion in the Britannic Isles, by Sir

Samuel Rush Meyrick	.....	102

14.	On some Gaulish coins presumed to be connected with the Celtic.

mythology, by A. C. Kirkmann	.	.	130

15.	On the Celtic or ancient British mound called “ The Dane-John

Hill”, at Canterbury, by Charles Sandys .	.	13(i

16.	Roman inscriptions discovered at York, by C. Roach Smith	149

17.	On the earlier British villages or locations, etc., by W. D. Saull .	152

18.	On the Basket Boats of the ancient Britons and other primitive

tribes, by H. Syer Cuming •	.	.	160

fHc&tebal J&tctuin.

19.	Historical account of painting as formerly used in churches, by

John Green Waller .	.	.	.	.	.170

20.	On the Bracteate and other early coins of Ireland, by John

Lindsay	.	.	.	.	.	.	.181

21.	On early armorial bearings (animals), with incidental remarks on

the royal arms of England, and those of the first earls or
consuls of Gloucester, by J. R. Planche	.	.	.	189

22.	Heraldic notices of Gloucester cathedral, previous to	the	Refor-

mation, by the Rev. B. S. Claxson, D.D.	.	200

23.	Curious enamel on the Poor’s-box in Smarden church, Kent, by

Edward Pretty .......	217

24.	On the Gloucestershire Tankard, and peg-tankards in general, by

T. J. Pettigrew ...	...	221

25.	Essay on ancient Hostels and Pilgrims’ Inns;	with a brief account

of the “ New Inn” at Gloucester, by John	Britton	.	230

26.	Observations on some compound colours mentioned in Fabliaux,

etc., by J. L. Williams .	211CONTENTS.	Vll

Architectural Section.

27.	An account of the Abbey church at Gloucester, by Edward

Cresy ........	245

28.	On the shape of the arch, with reference to the date of buildings,

by J. Adey Repton ......	303

29.	Edstaston chapel, in the county of Salop, by T. Farmer Dukes 307

30.	Account of the baronial mansion of Plaish, in the county of

Salop, by T. Farmer Dukes .	.	310

Abstract of the proceedings of the Congress at Gloucester

314LIST OF PLATES.

PLATE	PACK

1.	Anglo-Saxon Fibula found at Sarr. Frontispiece

2.	Roman inscriptions found at Wroxeter	71

3. Roman pottery found at Wroxeter	.	73

4.	Station of Vindogladia	80

5.	Ancient Irish Fibulae	.	.	89

6.	Map of Roman roads from the coast of Sussex to London	98

7.	Antiquities discovered in Yorkshire .	99

8.	Antiquities in the collection of J. Huxtable, Esq.	100

9. Irish Bracteate Coins, fig. 1 to 11	.	181

10.	„	„ fig. 12 to 20	188

11.	Gloucestershire Peg Tankard .	221

12.	Compound Colours mentioned in	Fabliaux, etc. .	241

The map of Roman roads is by mistake numbered as PI. v.INTRODUCTORY PAPER.

INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS BY T. J. PETTIGREW, F.R.S., F.S.A.,

VICE-PRESIDENT AND TREASURER.

The state of health of our most esteemed President has not only
deprived us of his attendance on this occasion, but also of that
Address which he would have so ably submitted to you upon the
labours of the Association during the past year. In his un-
avoidable absence, I have been requested to supply his place in
this respect, and I will therefore endeavour to perform that duty
in as concise a manner as possible; and you will perhaps permit
me, in the first place, to allude to the Congress held in the city
of Winchester, in August 1845, when I had the honour to
direct your attention to what I considered the true objects and
pursuits of Antiquarian Researches.

The ridicule which formerly attached to the pursuits of
Antiquaries, no longer exists with justice; a proper view of
their importance is entertained, and their connexion with history
forms now the primary and proper object of their application.
The importance of facilities to carry out such extended objects
—for the illustration of which much and varied knowledge is
demanded—has been strikingly shown in the labours of this
Association, which yet can claim only an existence of scarcely
three years. It will not be useless to look back, and take a
survey of what has been done in that very short period of time
—how many antiquarian discoveries have been made—how many
new labourers in the field have been brought forth—how many
ancient structures have been preserved—and how much general
taste has been created by the impetus which the Association has
given to the study of the monuments and remains of antiquity.

The Congress held by us at Canterbury, in September 1844,
when the Association had not attained the maturity even of a
single year, must ever be regarded as a most memorable event
in antiquarian history. It was the first of the kind held in this2

INTRODUCTORY PAPER.

country ; it was assembled together under discouraging circum-
stances—with the frigid support of some, and the ridicule of the
many. But the success and effects of the meeting removed the
doubts and dispelled the fears even of the most scrupulous, and
the increased taste for antiquarian discovery and inquiry, has
fully established the utility of such annual meetings. We were
bold to commence with the city of Canterbury, and its magnifi-
cent cathedral; but, although many individuals had, during ages,
exerted their talents in displaying the treasures of that locality
and that time-honoured building, it was yet found that the asso-
ciated body of archaeologists could discover much that had either
been misstated or overlooked. The labours of the next year’s
Congress added still more to the stock of antiquarian knowledge;
and the researches of Mr. Cresy, on Winchester Cathedral, will
remain a monument of that gentleman’s knowledge and industry,
and reflect the highest honour upon the establishment of the
British Archaeological Association. The details of these re-
searches are to be found in the volume of the Proceedings of the
Winchester Congress, now published; and it is therefore unneces-
sary for me to detain you longer on the subject. It remains to
be seen what we can do for Gloucester, where the same able
labourer has been at work, and has, I doubt not, earned for him-
self an equal portion of glory to that which he obtained at
Winchester.

In the department of Primeval Antiquities, the Association
has done much; the opportunities afforded by the progress of
the railways, have rendered this branch of our labours pre-
eminently conspicuous. The products resulting from these
various cuttings and excavations, have added much to our infor-
mation, and have enabled us more satisfactorily to distinguish
the British antiquities from the Roman, and the Roman from
the Saxon, and to show when the periods have been connected
together by the nature of the different implements and ornaments
which have been discovered in them.

Great confusion has hitherto existed in respect to Roman and
Saxon antiquities, and we are much indebted to the labours of
our zealous associate and secretary, Mr. Wright, for an attempt
to classify the Anglo-Saxon antiquities.* The silence of his-

* “ Journal of the Association,” vol. ii, p. 50.INTRODUCTORY PAPER.

3

torians, with regard to the condition of our island, from the 3rd
to the 7th century, is very remarkable; and we must therefore, of
necessity, look to those memorials which are found beneath the
soil, to gain information upon this subject, and to throw light
upon the state of society then existing. Mr. Wright has justly
observed, that “ the contents of the barrows alone can identify
the people or period to which they belonged : and it requires a
much more careful comparison of their contents than has yet
been made, before we can pronounce in all cases with certainty.
Many hasty conclusions have been drawn by antiquaries, and
no greater error has been made than that of supposing, that
articles of rude workmanship or materials must necessarily be of
an older date, and belong to a more barbarous state of society,
than articles of superior material and style. The objects deposited
in the grave must frequently have depended on the character or
station of its tenant. It is probable that a large portion of what
are considered as British barrows, belong to the Romano-British
period. Purely Roman barrows are easily recognized by their
contents; and the articles generally found in a Saxon barrow
are of too marked a character to leave any doubt of its identity.”
Kent appears to be the county in which Saxon antiquities
most abound; and with them—as the pages of the Journal of
the Association display—Roman remains are frequently inter-
mixed. The barrows of the Isle of Wight—as shown by our
associate, Mr. Dennett—approach most closely in the nature of
their contents to those of Kent. That articles of pure Saxon
manufacture have been found in Gloucestershire, the communi-
cations from our associates, Mr. Gomonde, and Mr. Niblet,
demonstrate; yet, with these, as is very commonly the case,
Roman coins were discovered. A rich collection of Saxon
antiquities, from the kingdom of the Northumbrian Angles, near
Driffield, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, has been communi-
cated to us by our associate, the Rev. Mr. Wellbeloved, for the
particulars of' which I refer you to the Journal,—as well as to
the description of those in the possession of another zealous
associate, Mr. Thos. Bateman, jun., taken from barrows opened
in Derbyshire. I cannot dismiss this part of my report without
strongly advising all archaeologists to attend to the distinctions
pointed out by Mr. Wright in the paper I have alluded to, by
which their researches will be much facilitated, and more satis-4

INTRODUCTORY PAPER.

factory notions entertained with regard to the nature of their
contents. Mr. Lukis, of Guernsey, has afforded us much infor-
mation on cromlechs. These primeval sepulchral structures are
of much interest; and in one was discovered two skeletons, in
a vertical kneeling position, which, as far as I know, is a novelty
in this department. Everything connected with the sepulture
of the earlier inhabitants of our portion of the globe, is of much
interest. M. de Roquefort* has remarked, that the people of
polished nations accumulated riches in their temples, whilst
those of barbarous ages deposited theirs in the tombs. Solomon
honoured his father by burying near him all the riches he could
obtain. Warlike nations have generally entombed the martial
weapons of the deceased with the body. The ancient Gauls
burnt their dead, and interred their arms with their ashes. The
tombs in Egypt have been found to contain all kinds of articles
bearing reference to the habits and profession of the deceased.
I have seen, and I possess, various specimens of corn, barley,
vetches, bread, fruits, artists’ pallettes, brushes, paints, imple-
ments, &c. Instruments of war have been rarely found, although
the Egyptians were so warlike a nation. In a Saxon cemetery,
recently discovered at Ozengal, in the Isle of Thanet—the ex-
cavations of which are now going on, and some of the particulars
of which will be laid before this Congress—the mode of interment,
and the weapons deposited, will be fully shown. One warrior
has been found armed with his spear, his knife, his sword, and
his shield, and gives to us a very correct picture of the practice
adopted by the Saxons at their period of history.

To Mr. Westwood we are indebted for some antiquities dis-
covered in a Saxon barrow, at Hey wood, Oxfordshire, opened
by the Rev. Mr. Filmer.

In 1844, a very rich collection of supposed British cinerary
urns, was found at the village of Kingston, near Derby, of
which we have received an account from the Rev. Professor
Henslow. Mr. Smith conjectures these urns to be early Saxon,
but the Professor dissents from his conclusion. The ornament-
ation of one of the urns is identical with that of some urns found
in an undoubted Saxon cemetery at Marston Hill, in Northamp-

* “Des Sepultures Nationales et particulierement dc celles des Rois
de France,” 8vo., Paris, 1824.INTRODUCTORY PAPER.

5

tonshire, and future discoveries may probably throw further
light on this, at present, obscure subject.

At the Canterbury Congress, the labours of Mr. E. T. Artis, in
the discovery of Roman potters’-kilns, in the vicinity of Castor,
near Peterborough—the site of the Durobrivse of the Romans
—were first brought under the notice of the Association ; and,
I rejoice to say, that they have been from that time to the
present, pursued with distinguished success. I speak advisedly,
when I say, that there is no antiquary of the present day—nor
of any former period—upon whose information we may so safely
rely on these matters of primeval investigation, as that of our
most respected member. A singular opportunity for testing this,
presented itself but a few weeks since, in a report given by him
to the Council, upon 6ome specimens of Roman pottery obtained
at Upchurch, on the banks of the Medway. This place presents
a new field of inquiry, and has already yielded vast numbers of
urns and other utensils, but of a description of ware perfectly
distinct from that with which Mr. Artis had become acquainted
in the county of Northamptonshire. It was not of that red
glazed description usually denominated Samian, but of a dark
leaden or black colour; and so minute is Mr. Artis’s information
on these matters—he has paid such attention to the substances
of which they are composed—to the manner in which they have
been manufactured—to the very nature of the kilns in which
the clay has been burnt—that he did not hesitate to pronounce
upon the examination of the fragments transmitted to him, that
some, which he distinctly pointed out, had been baked in kilns
supplied with sedge-peat. Upon the mention of this to the
Council, some gentlemen, who were present at Upchurch, im-
mediately declared, that along with these specimens, and in their
immediate neighbourhood, quantities of sedge-peat had been
observed.

It is not uncommon to laugh at pots and pans, and to regard
the consideration of these as subjects beneath the notice of the
antiquary ; but, it must be recollected, that utensils in earthen-
ware are among the most common objects presented as belonging
to the earlier periods of society, and that to trace civilization
from its rudest time to its most refined, is an object not beneath
the study of him who is desirous of contemplating and under-
standing the advances of mental improvement, and the cultiva-6

INTRODUCTORY PAPER.

tion of the arts and sciences. To classify these numerous objects
is a matter well worthy of attention, and a close observation of
their peculiarities and types, will, I am confident, serve to dis-
tinguish not only the periods to which, but also the people to
whom they have belonged. This cannot be yet said to have
been achieved; but much has been done by Mr. Artis, Mr.
Smith, Mr. Wright, and others of our associates, whose com-
bined labours will, I doubt not, still further elucidate this
interesting part of our inquiries. Mr. Artis’s discovery of
Roman potters’-kilns, containing much of the original earth, and
a quantity of the pigments employed, enabled that gentleman to
imitate the Roman pottery with great exactitude, and to present
to us a real Roman utensil, manufactured in our own day, but
cast in their own ancient mould, and with their original mate-
rials. For the minutise connected with these curious discoveries,
I must refer you to the Journal of the Association, in which
they are detailed with a truthfulness and a simplicity which
cannot be too highly commended.

In a report, received within the last month, from Mr. Artis,
relating to some further excavations made by him at Sibson, in
Northamptonshire, on the property of the Duke of Bedford,
that gentleman has discovered two most extraordinary Roman
potters’-kilns, differing from those he had previously discovered
at Castor. Remaining in the kilns were several fine specimens
of mortaria—one of a drab-pink or fawn colour—and there
were numerous saucers, "similar to those in use with us for
flower-pots. His researches are to be continued, and I there-
fore forbear making further allusion to them on the present
occasion.

The Roman potteries appear to have been establishments of
vast magnitude ; that of Castor extended to upwards of twenty
miles, and that of Upchurch is, I believe, of no less extent. A
survey of the latter will shortly be made by Captain Becher,
R.N., who has been permitted by the Admiralty to take upon
himself this duty ; and, I am much rejoiced to state, and at the
same time gratefully to acknowledge, that in order to carry out
this part of our labours in a satisfactory manner, we have re-
ceived every possible aid in most important assistants, and the
most liberal provision of means. To make accurate surveys of
the Roman stations and manufactories, still but imperfectlyINTRODUCTORY PAPER.

7

known or described, will confer a real benefit on antiquarian
science, and be a great means of promoting historical truth.

It would occupy too much time to enumerate all the places at
which Roman remains have been discovered, and intelligence of
which have been transmitted to the Association ; but, it is proper
especially to mention those more conspicuous and important dis-
coveries : —in Kent, at Southfleet, by Mr. Collier; at Spring-
head, by Mr. Sylvester; near Margate, by Mr. Rolfe ; at Dym-
church, by the Rev. S. Isaacson ; at Maidstone, by Mr. Charles;
at East Fairleigh, by the Rev. Beale Post; at Hartlip, by Mr.
W. Bland; and at Strood, by Mr. Wickham. In Essex, at
Stanway, by the Rev. H. Jenkins; at Colchester, by Mrs. Mills,
of Lexden Park, one of our lady associates; and by Mr. Wire,
and Mr. Smith. In Sussex, at Chichester, by Mr. King; and at
Findon, by Mr. Dixon. In Suffolk, at Ixworth, by Mr. Warren.
In Norfolk, at Beachenwall, by Mr. Goddard Johnson. At Lin-
coln, by Mr. Brooke, and Mr. Nicholson. In York, by the Rev. C.
Wellbeloved, and Mr. Bateman. In Cheshire, the Roman station
of Bannium, by Major Davis. In Dorsetshire, at Weymouth, by
Mr. Medhurst; and at Cranbourne, by Mr. Smart. In Hampshire,
at Romsey, by Mr. Keats; at Bossington, by the Rev. A. B.
Hutchins; and at West Dean, by Mr. Hatcher, Mr. Webster,
and Mr. C. Beauchamp. In Hertfordshire, at Penlowe Park, by
Mr. Inskip. In Northamptonshire, at Daventry, by Mr. Pretty;
and at Sibson, by Mr. Artis. In Gloucestershire, at Cheltenham,
by Mr. Niblet; at Oakridge Common, by Mr. Baker; at Bur-
leigh, by Mr. Scuse; and at Badminton, by His Grace the Duke
of Beaufort. In Middlesex, in the City of London, by Mr.
Newman, Mr. Price, Mr. Chaffers, and Mr. C. Roach Smith.

In the Historical department of our Association, we have
had, from the able pen of Mr. Wright, interesting articles on
Medieval Bridge Builders, Medieval Architecture, Medieval
Musical Instruments, and Arithmetic, — all illustrated from
medieval MSS. and other sources. Mr. Planche and Mr.
Lethbridge have favoured us with some curious observations on
Naval Costume; and Mr. Barrow has elicited from the Record
Office of the Admiralty, curious materials for those communica-
tions. This subject can scarcely be looked upon as an antiquarian
one, but it is so connected with our national history, that it
cannot fail to be interesting; some astonishment is excited8

INTRODUCTORY PAPER.

to find the degree of uncertainty in which it has been involved
until the present time.

By the kindness of Sir F. Myers, the original deed between
Henry VIII and the Lord Admiral Howard—which preceded
the expedition in which that nobleman lost his life, in 1512—
has been laid before the Association ; and a discovery, occasioned
by cutting for the Brighton and Hastings Railway, brought
under our notice a matter of considerable historical interest.
I allude to the finding, at Lewes, of the coffins and remains
of Gundrad — or Gundrada—and William, the first. Earl de
Warrene, the founder and foundress of the Lewes Priory.
Able reports upon these discoveries, by Mr. M. A. Lower,
together with a plan of the excavations made, will be found in
the Journal of the Association.

In Architecture, the associates have not been negligent.
Mr. Pretty, of Northampton, has detailed, with interesting pre-
cision, the particulars relating to the village church of Rothers-
thorpe; and depicted, by etchings from his own able pencil,
the curious structure of this building, remarkable as a specimen
of the pack-saddle roof and tower. Mr. Llewellyn Jewitt has
furnished us with some excellent drawings of St. Giles’s Church,
Shrewsbury, together with an interesting paper on the church
and hospital of St. Giles, in that town. Mr. Sprague has re-
corded particulars, and a drawing, of an elegantly-decorated
Norman arch, discovered in the old Moot Hall, in Colchester,
now destroyed. Major Davis has given us some valuable notes
on Brecon Priory ; and our old and valued friend and antiquary,
Mr. Adey Repton, has supplied us with ample materials on
piscinas of various dates; one of which he discovered in Spring-
field, in Essex, which he supposes to be of the time of Edward
I or II. His remarks on early fonts in churches in Essex—on
ornamental wood-carvings—on two Norman capitals, found in
the monastery of Bury St. Edmund’s—on restorations in Norwich
Cathedral—and observations upon the removal of whitewash
from capitals in Worcester Cathedral—are all worthy of their
author, and entitle him to our best thanks.

Numismatics—an important branch of archajology—has not
been neglected; and the Journal of the Association will show
that many additions to the British, the Romano-British, and the
Saxon series, have been made in new and unpublished types,INTRODUCTORY PAPER.

9

discovered in various parts of the country. Entertaining no
selfish and exclusive views, and anxious only for the advance-
ment of antiquarian knowledge, some of the communications in
this department, after being recorded by the Association, have
been by the Council permitted to be laid before the Numismatic
Society. Among these, the beautiful series of Roman small
brass, found by Mr. Baker, of Bisley, near Gloucester, may be
specified; among which was an interesting coin, of historical
worth, of Allectus. Mr. Bateman has also furnished, from
York, a most remarkable gold coin, presumed Saxon, which,
compared with others similar in type, lead to a supposition that
the hitherto-received opinion of the currency of that people
being exclusively silver, must be at least qualified.

The coins of Carausius, who, in the time of Diocletian and
Maximian, held imperial sway in Britain, have been augmented
by discoveries, which were first rendered available to the numis-
matic inquirer by means of the Association. The interesting
specimens from a hoard found near Rouen, were considerately
placed in the hands of one of our officers, by Mr. Curt. They
present a peculiar character, which enables us to place them
among the very earliest of this emperor’s coins—struck, ap-
parently, before the artists had time to engrave an authentic
portrait. Thus the portrait on the obverse closely resembles
those of the preceding and reigning emperors. The inscriptions,
however, prove that they were not slavish imitations or adop-
tions, for they are all pertinent to events of the time; and one,
that of equitas mundi, appears upon no other emperor’s coins,
and was hitherto unknown of Carausius. Added to these,
within the last month, is a new type of the rare gold coins of
this emperor, which has been purchased of Mr. Curt, for the
French national collection ; although it would have been desir-
able in our cabinet of the British Museum, as bearing more
directly upon the history of our own country.

The paper of the Rev. Beale Post, on British coins, is one of
the best essays that has been furnished for the numismatic
scholar. It embraces the entire range of the subject, connected
with the contemporary coins of Gaul, which are also explained ;
and thus the student is enabled to distinguish, not merely what
are British coins, but what are not,—a great advantage—for,
from the similitude of many, they have often been confounded
by the unpractised eye.10

INTRODUCTORY PAPER.

Of brasses, medieval antiquities, and various others submitted
to the Association, it would occupy too much time to take notice
in this brief review. I must therefore pass on to a very impor-
tant part of our plan, and consider that which relates to the
preservation of our ancient monuments.

One of the most useful and interesting features of our Asso-
ciation—and one, in the carrying out of which we shall, I con-
ceive, confer a national service — is the watching over those
ancient structures threatened with demolition by the course of
railways, or the wanton injury of the barbarous depredator.
Appeals have not only been made at the public meetings of the
Association — by personal application — and by means of the
Journal, for the restoration of several buildings (of whicli I may
mention—the church of St. Peter, Howden, Yorkshire; Wilsa)*-,
Bradford, Yorkshire ; St. John’s Gate, Clerkenwell; Burnham
Abbey, Berks; the abbey of Bury St. Edmund’s; and the
church of St. Thomas, Winchester) ; but we have also succeeded
in preserving for the antiquary and the historian, some of the
most precious of Roman monuments remaining to our times.

The first to which the attention of the Association was
directed, was Burgh Castle—the Gariononum of the Romans
■—the demolition of which was threatened by the formation of
the Yarmouth, Beccles and Diss Railway. Proper representa-
tions occasioned the abandonment of a line proposed in the first
instance, and a new one was adopted, not open to the objections
which existed to the former.

The grounds of the Manor House of Bittern, near South-
ampton, in the possession of our associate Mrs. Stuart Hall—
whose elegant hospitality we all partook of at the last Congress
—were threatened to be cut through by the London, Petersfield
and Southampton Railway, and called for the exertions of the
Association,—Bittern being the site of the Roman Clausentum,
a paper upon which (by Mr. Smith) is to be found in the Win-
chester Volume, just published.

Mr. C. Warne, our active associate, of Milbourne St. An-
drew’s, Dorsetshire, called the attention of the Association to the
imminent danger in which the celebrated Roman amphitheatre, at
Dorchester, was placed by the proposed line of the Weymouth
railway, and urged the necessity of taking immediate steps for
the preservation of the most complete antiquity of the kind inINTRODUCTORY PAPER.

11

the kingdom. No difficulty was experienced in averting such
an accident; the engineer, Mr. Brunei, falling immediately into
the views of the Association, and being equally anxious with
the members to avoid such desecration.

Fairlight church—an ancient building near Hastings—was
reported to the council as likely to be destroyed, contrary to
the wishes of many whose ancestors lay buried in it. Upon
inspection, the Association found it to be in a dangerous state
of dilapidation—indeed, past recovery; and it had been so fre-
quently repaired, that its original character was in a great mea-
sure lost. Drawings have therefore been made of it, and pre-
served, so that they can be referred to whenever necessary.

In December last, workmen being employed at Carpenters’
Hall, London Wall, made a discovery of paintings, hidden
behind some old canvas. This building is one of the few that
escaped the great fire of London, and is altogether an object of
interest. Our zealous secretary, Mr. Smith, was early apprized
of the discovery, through Mr. Bridger, an associate, and he
speedily entered into communication with the officers of the
company, who showed a most laudable zeal in the preservation
of the paintings, which, upon examination, proved to be of
considerable merit and interest, and to date from the time
of Henry VIII. The subjects, four in number, are Scrip-
tural, and all bear relation to the trade of the company:
thus, in the first compartment, Noah is represented receiving
the commands of the Deity for the building of the ark; in
the second, king Josiah is figured ordering the repair of the
temple; the third represents Joseph at his work as a car-
penter, while the Saviour is gathering the chips and placing
them in a basket beside him ; and the fourth displays the
Saviour in his youth teaching in the Synagogue, to which is
attached the inscription — “ Is not this the carpenter’s son ?”
Our draftsman, Mr. Fairholt, made careful tracings from the
originals, and afterwards executed masterly etchings, which
adorn our Journal* He has likewise furnished us with a most
excellent paper descriptive of the paintings, and illustrated by
reference to various documents belonging to the Carpenters’
Company, to which he was most readily and generously permitted
access. The original paintings have been duly protected, and

Vol. i, p. 275.12

INTRODUCTORY PAPER.

are now preserved for the gratification of antiquarian and other
visitors.

The last instance to which I shall have to direct your atten-
tion, and in which the services of the Association have been
required, is that of Caistor, the reputed Yenta Icenorum of
the Romans. The intended line of a railway threatened the
destruction of this castle, but the representations made to the
proper quartei*, obtained from Mr. Rendall, the engineer, an
assurance that this venerable structure Bhould not be lost to
antiquaries.

I am induced to dwell particularly on the efforts of the Asso-
ciation to save Caistor Castle, because I perceive, by Mr. Albert
Way’s statement, at the close of the proceedings of the Archae-
ological Institute, at York, that he has assumed the merit to
belong to his body. I shall content myself by simply stating
that my friend, Mr. Dawson Turner, of Yarmouth, brought the
threatened destruction under the notice of the Association ; that
Captain (now Admiral) Beaufort, one of our Council, wrote
to the engineer, Mr. Rendall, and immediately obtained his
promise for its security. The Norwich Archaeological Society
have, through their secretary, acknowledged our services.

The Journal of the British Archaeological Association has
become the organ of communication to the public of the dis-
covery of many of those mural paintings with which the ancient
churches were ornamented, and the advice of the Council is
frequently asked by those who are interested in their preserv-
ation. Mural paintings have been made known to us at
Croydon, in Surrey; at Godshill, in the Isle of Wight; at
Lenham, and East Wickham, in Kent; Feering Church,
Essex ; in the abbey church of Waltham; the abbey church
of St. Alban’s; and at the church of Battel, in Sussex —
founded in the 12th century. It has been well observed by Mr.
Waller, in his paper on recent discoveries of mural paintings
in churches — inserted in the last Number of the Journal—
that “ in days when the majority could neither read nor write,
the mind was addressed through the eye, and the church,
with its storied walls, constituted a book, which the rudest
peasant could read and understand.” Churches, therefore,
of a very humble character, will be found with remains of
paintings. These, however, are mostly in such a dilapidatedINTRODUCTORY PAPER.

13

state, that the Association can do little more than have drawings
made from them, to keep as a record of the past. Such has
been the case with Battel, where Mr. Brooke’s powers have been
most laudably employed; and the Association now possess a
series of very interesting drawings, illustrated by remarks and
descriptions from the pen of Mr. Waller, than whom no one
could do more ample justice to the subject.

In the report I have now submitted to you, I have omitted to
mention (with the exception of Mr. Cresy’s investigations into
Winchester Cathedral) any of the papers read at that Congress ;
the publication of a large octavo volume, however, giving an
account of the proceedings of that meeting, is of too striking a
feature in antiquarian history, not to demand some little notice
in this place,—particularly as it forms a portion of the labours
of the Association during the past year.

The volume just published—a copy of which is upon the table—
contains no less than fifty-three papers upon various antiquarian
subjects, printed entire, and illustrated by twenty-five distinct
plates, in addition to numerous wood-cuts accompanying the
articles to which they especially relate. Of the papers printed in
this volume, there are sixteen belonging to the historical section;
an equal number descriptive of the primeval antiquities; eleven
of the medieval, and ten upon architectural subjects;—a division
that has been found desirable in the arrangement of our ma-
terials. Of the merits of these papers it is not my intention to
speak; but, I must be permitted to observe, that as it is the
first volume of the kind that has appeared in this country, it
forms no bad presage of what may follow. I believe there is
not an antiquarian volume of equal value to be found. A most
judicious selection has been made of the larger papers submitted
to tho Congress, whilst many others of smaller note and bulk
have been either transferred to the pages of the Journal, or
given in abstract in the detail of the proceedings of the several
days. We are indebted to the liberality of several of our asso-
ciates— whose services are acknowledged in the preface — to
enable us to produce such a volume, and to the readiness with
which the members have subscribed to prevent the slightest
encroachment upon the funds of the Association. From the
papers already transmitted to us for the present Congress, there
is good earnest that a volume of no less interest may be the14

INTRODUCTORY PAPliR.

result of’ the meeting,—which will be alike honourable to the
members of the Association, and to the town in which we have
the pleasure to assemble.

I am sorry to have detained you so long in this report, and
that the hurry in which I have been under the necessity of
drawing it up, should have occasioned it to be so rude a pro-
duction. I rest easy, however, in knowing that those who com-
pose this Association are such as delight in facts, and that they
would rather have them submitted to their notice in an undress
than polished up to a period to which they can have no pretence:
and to those whom I have now the honour to address, who have
not been familiar with the labours of the Association, I will
venture to hope I have said enough to show that we are neither
an useless nor an idle body.

It only remains for me to notice the losses sustained by the
Association during the past yffar, by the decease of two of our
active members, Mr. Thomas King, of Chichester, and Mr.
Bradfield, of Winchester.

Mr. Thomas King was well known to antiquaries, and was
born in 1775. He received his education at the Rev. Mr. Gill’s,
of New Church, in the Isle of Wight; after which, upon the
removal of his father to London, he devoted himself to artistical
studies, and subsequently was apprenticed to an eminent en-
graver. At the solicitation of bishop Buchnor of Chichester, he
in 1804 took up his abode in that quiet city, and there settled
during the remainder of his life, devoting himself to his art, and
the pursuit of antiquities. For forty years he pursued his
studies with the greatest enthusiam, readily affording informa-
tion to every inquirer. Dallaway, and many others of eminence,
have received great assistance from this excellent man. Every
spot in the county of Sussex, and several in the county of Hamp-
shire, where there were the least vestiges of antiquities, wit-
nessed his labours; and the extent of these can yet only be
imperfectly estimated by the publications to which they gave
rise. His works, as an antiquarian draftsman and engraver,
were numerous, and attest his industry. They are perfect of
their kind ; and in the illustrations of brasses he was accustomed
to bestow the greatest care and attention: and the monumental
brass of Lord Camois and his lady, and that at Cowfold church,
executed for Dallaway’s History of Western Sussex, may beINTRODUCTORY PAPER.

15

selected as proofs of his skill and fidelity, and as among the best
specimens of that style of engraving extant. His engravings of
the monumental brasses and tombs in Pulborough church, in
Grinstead church, in Broadwater church, near Worthing, in
Arundel church, in Boxgrove church, in Polling church, in
Selsea church, in Goring church, in Amberley church, and in
various other churches in Sussex, are entitled to high praise.
His engravings, from his own faithful drawings of the antiqui-
ties in Chichester cathedral, and in the surrounding neighbour-
hood, merit great commendation, and many of them must of
necessity be useful in any future work of renovation. Mr. King
was a zealous member of the Association from its commence-
ment, and frequently contributed to its stock of information.
He died at Chichester, on the 9th of August, 1845 (the day of
the termination of the Winchester Congress, to which he con-
tributed), after a long and paiifful illness of two years, at the
age of 69.

Mr. W. B. Bradfield, of Winchester, was one of the earliest
members of the Association, and one of its most steadfast friends.
He was distinguished by his love of antiquarian researches, and
was a frequent correspondent on the subject of local antiquities
to the Council of the Association. His name appears also as a
contributor to the book of the Winchester Proceedings. He
died in November 1845.16

SECTION I.—HISTORICAL ANTIQUITIES.

DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE OF HISTORY IN THE ARCHIVES
OF THE CORPORATION OF GLOUCESTER. ■

BY KEDGWIN HOSKINS FRYER.

The documents of an historical character in the archives of the
corporation of Gloucester, consist chiefly of charters of incorpo-
ration, the earliest of which is of the date of Henry II; who
extended to the smaller towns those charters of privileges
which had in former times been confined to London, and a
few of the larger cities. By this charter, the king grants to
the burgesses of Gloucester “ the same customs and liberties
throughout his whole land, for toll and other things, as the cities
of London and Winchester enjoyed in the time of Henry I, and
strictly enjoins that no person shall give them molestation.”
Then follow the charters of king John—who, it will be remem-
bered, was crowned at Gloucester—and of Henry III. Then
we come to the charter of Edward III, which appears to have
been made whilst* the king was staying at Gloucester, and
which confirms all former charters; and grants (as it is expressed),
“ out of respect to his father’s being buried in the abbey church
of the town of Gloucester, to the inhabitants the liberty of using
all the old customs granted them by his ancestors, but then out
of use ; and, also, that they shall be free of tollage, pontage, &c.,
and all other customs throughout all England, and within his
dominions.” The circumstance of the burial of Edward II in
our cathedral, in connexion with his cruel death at Berkeley
Castle, led to such a conflux of persons on visits of devotion to
his tomb, that we are told the town was scarce sufficient to
contain them; and their offerings were so great, that out of the
oblations in six years, the cross aisle of the abbey church was
built, and enough, it is added, might have been obtained to have
rebuilt the whole church.THE ARCHIVES OF GLOUCESTER.

17

Next in order of date of the charters which have been pre-
served, are those of Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry
VI, Edward IV, Richard III, Henry VII, Henry VIII,
Elizabeth, James I, and Charles II. The latter is the charter
under which the present corporation is constituted. On re-
ferring to these charters, it will be observed that up to the time
of Henry VI, the charters are directed “to all archbishops,
bishops, abbots, priors, barons, viscounts, and others,” thus indi-
cating, by the order in which the several degrees of rank are
mentioned, the supremacy of the church over the laity; whilst,
after that period, when the crown had come into collision with
the church, the charters are directed generally “ to all to whom
these presents shall come.”

Among the miscellaneous papers in the possession of the
corporation, we find the charter of foundation, by Henry VIII,
of the bishoprick of Gloucester, by which also the town of
Gloucester received the dignity of being converted into a city.
This document is very elaborately illuminated with an initial
picture, which represents the king in the act of delivering into
the hands of the first bishop the deed of foundation, whilst the
ecclesiastics — Avith their shaven croAvns—are surrounding his
footstool. This document, it is presumed, passed with the
cathedral and its possessions into the hands of the corporation,
during the Commonwealth, under an act of parliament then
passed for vesting the cathedral in the mayor and burgesses of
Gloucester, Avho appear—from entries in their books of receipts
and payments connected with the establishment—to have held
possession for some years, probably till the Restoration. The ex-
emplification of this act contains in its illuminated border a repre-
sentation of the protector, which will be viewed with interest.

There is also a manuscript book, of the date of 29th Elizabeth,
having reference to the then threatened invasion of the Spanish
Armada; Avho, according to Camden, had it in their instructions
to destroy the oak timber of the royal forest of Dean, on the
banks of the river Severn—which flows up to this city—which
timber was considered peculiarly fitted for ship-building. In
this book is entered a certificate to the Lord Chandos, lord-
lieutenant of the city and county, of the names of all the able
men meet for her majesty’s service in the war, and all horses fit
for service; and from this book it appears, that in order to18

HISTORICAL SECTION.

guard against a sudden attack—which the proximity of the Bristol
Channel rendered not impracticable—a beacon was set up on
Robin Hood’s hill, overlooking this city, to be in communication
with the beacon on Cleeve hill, near Cheltenham, and the beacon
at Tewkesbury; the form of the oath to the watchmen of the
beacon is also given. We also learn, that in May, 1588, the
lords of the council required Tewkesbury and Gloucester to
bear the expense of sending one ship to serve under the lord
high admiral* against the Spanish invasion; and, accordingly,
that for this purpose, the bark “ Sutton ” was fitted out at a cost
of .£440.

Connected with this reign, in the corporation books occur
entries of payments incidental to the entertainment in this city
of queen Elizabeth, who paid a visit to this city when sojourning
on one of her royal progresses at Sudeley Castle, near Chelten-
ham, then the seat of Lord Chandos. There are two items
indicative of the amusements of that period, and in which occur
also the names of the two rivals to the queen’s favour; the one
refers to a payment to my Lord of Leicester’s players (whether
or not any of Shakespeare’s productions were represented on
this occasion must be left to conjecture), and the other is a pay-
ment to my Lord of Sussex’s bear-ward, “ for the dancing of his
bears before Mr. Mayor.”

In another manuscript book are copies of orders from the
privy council as to raising train-bands, and the proceedings
thereon from about 1626 to 1638 ; and a copy of a warrant,
under the royal signet, requiring the Earl of Northampton, then
lord-lieutenant of the city and county of Gloucester, to raise 1,000
men, and appointing York as the place of rendezvous. There is
also a commission of 17th Charles I, for the administration of
the oaths of allegiance and supremacy to suspected persons.

And we have another commission, under the great seal, of 11 th
October, 2nd Charles I,—for raising money by way of loan (no
doubt of a compulsory nature) for the use of the crown, which
recites the neglect of the parliament to afford the necessary
supplies to carry on the war with Spain, commenced in the
preceding reign ; and that the king had therefore, with the advice
of his privy council, thought fit, of his own authority, to adopt
this course to provide for the expense of carrying on the war,
and for the protection of this kingdom, then stated to be menaced.TIIE ARCHIVES OF GLOUCESTER.

19

In the same reign, there is a commission, 9 th Charles I, 1634,
—for raising money for rebuilding St. Paul’s Cathedral, which
was subsequently destroyed by the great fire of London, of
1566. The commission recites that “ this church, famous for
magnificent structure, and an ornament to the city of London,
had fallen into decay, occasioned partly for that so much of the
possessions of this church had come into lay hands, that the
residue sufficeth not to the continual charge required in the
reparation of so great and costly a fabric and the maintenance
of those that attended divine offices there, and partly by wasting
which length of time doth produce, many hundreds of years
having passed since this church was erected.”

Before concluding, I will briefly refer to an interesting docu-
ment, which I recently discovered in the city archives, but which
appears to relate more to the priory of Lanthony, near this city,
than to the corporation. It is a rent-roll, which, on the face of it,
is expressed to have been written out by brother Robert Cole,
canon of Lanthony, in the reign of Henry VI. On the back of
the roll is drawn up, in a tabular form, the genealogy of the kings
of England, from William the Conqueror to the commencement
of the reign of Henry VI; containing, in addition, a concise
chronicle of the principal events of each reign, marking par-
ticularly those which bore especial reference to the church, and
quaintly contrasting the good or bad qualities of each sovereign
in proportion to his beneficence to holy church: for instance,
of William Rufus, he says, “ This king did great grievances to
holy church, and held in his hands the revenues of divers bishop-
ricks and abbeys” :—whilst, of his successor, Harry Beauclerk,
he adds, “ This king discomfited the king of France in battle,
and died at St. Dennis, in Normandy. He founded the abbey of
Reading, of the order of St. Benedict, wherein he is sepulchred.
This king loved well God and holy church, and was a blessed
man, wherefore God gave him three things—wisdom, riches, and
victory, and he reigned in peace thirty-six years.” Under the
heading of king Stephen’s reign, the foundation of the priory of
Lanthony is stated in these words: “ Also, the second yer of
thys king foresayde, Milo, the sone of Walter Consular Earl
of Hereford, Lord of Brekenok, Constable of England, and of al
the Forest of Dene, the yer of our Lord a thousand an hundred
xxxv, fownded the IIous of Lanthony, bysyde Glouc’, by his20

HISTORICAL SECTION.

lyve, and aft his discece was buried in the Chapter hous of
y* sayde place.”

Haying thus enumerated the various papers in the possession
of the corporation, I beg, on their part, to add, that I shall be
happy to afford any assistance in my power to any of the mem-
bers of the Association who may think it worth while to make
a personal inspection of any of the papers after the close of the
meeting.

I will now beg your attention to an oil painting, which has
been lent to me for the occasion, representing the old Tolsey or
Town Hall, and the High Cross, together with a row of the old
timber houses in the back ground, which extended down the
centre of the Westgate-street. The old tolsey, which had an open
piazza, was taken down in 1755, and the present building erected.
The cross stood at the point where the four principal streets
met, and is supposed to have been erected about the time of
Richard III, who, previous to ascending the throne, had been
Duke of Gloucester, and who was a great benefactor to this city.
It had eight canopied niches, occupied by as many full-length
statues, some of which having fallen to decay or been removed,
the niches were occupied—at the time the structure was taken
down to widen the street, in 1750—by statues of king John,
Henry III and queen Eleanor, Edward III, Richard II, Richard
III, Elizabeth, and Charles I.21

LIST OP MANUSCRIPTS IN THE CATHEDRAL LIBRARY,
GLOUCESTER.

BY THOMAS WRIGHT, M.A., F.S.A., ETC.

The library attached to Gloucester Cathedral is of no great
extent or importance. It contains several early printed books,
and a small collection of manuscripts, which are not catalogued
in the great “ Catalogus MSS., Anglise et Hibernise,” published in
folio in 1691. In a very brief visit to the library, I have made
the following rough list of the manuscripts, the larger portion of
which appear to have been given to it by Henry Fowler, vicar
of Minchinhampton,—who had bought them at Shrewsbury and
other places, in the earlier part of the seventeenth century.
It will give a general view of the contents of the library; but
they are worthy of a more careful examination, as several of
them are volumes of miscellaneous scientific treatises, the value
of which, for the history of knowledge and intelligence in the
middle ages, is now beginning to be widely appreciated. The
original manuscript of Abbot Froucester's Chronicle—ox, Lives of
the Abbots of Gloucester—has unfortunately disappeared (I am
told) within the last twenty years, and nothing now remains but
a modern transcript. Other transcripts are found in the British
Museum, and at Oxford.

1.	Lives of the Saints, in Latin.

2.	Athanasii Opera.

3.	Augustinus de Civitate Dei.

4.	A volume of Scientific Lectures, of the seventeenth century.

5.	Lydgate’s Siege of Troy, a good MS., on vellum.

6.	Gilbertus Anglicus de Medicina.

7.	Guido de Medicina.

8.	Owen’s Reports.

9.	Judge Hatton’s Reports.

10.	Lane’s Reports.

11.	Translation of Justin, 1636.

12.	Lives of the Saints, in English prose, on paper, of the

fifteenth century.

13.	Facsimile of a Greek inscription.22

HISTORICAL SECTION.

14.	Augustinus.

15.	A volume of Medical Tracts.

16.	Constantini Africani Medica.

17.	Liber Pantegni.

18.	Hippocrates.

19.	A volume of Medical Tracts, in English, of the fifteenth

century.

20.	A volume of Theological Treatises, containing Chrysostom

and other writers.

21.	A collection of Astronomical Tracts, of the fifteenth

century.

22.	A volume of English Sermons, of the fifteenth century.

23.	Collatio Evangelistarum: (?) if Clement of Lanthony.

24.	A common-place book.

25.	A volume of Scientific Treatises, in Latin, on vellum,

written in the earlier part of the fourteenth century.

26.	An account of the Expenditure of the parish of the Holy

Trinity, in Gloucester: (?) 1618-1645.

27.	A volume of Theological Treatises, in Latin.

28.	A collection of Medical Treatises.

29.	Sermons.

30.	Froucester’s Register of Documents of the Abbey.

31.	Another Register: (?) by John de Malvern.

32.	A modern transcript of Froucester’s Lives of the Abbots

of Gloucester.

At the beginning and end of one of the registers, are bound
up two or three leaves of a very fine Anglo-Saxon manuscript;
probably a collection of Saxon homilies. The leaves here pre-
served contain a portion of the History of the Visions of St.
Furseus.23

NOTES OF THE MONUMENTS IN LANTHONY PRIORY, FROM A
MANUSCRIPT IN THE SURRENDEN COLLECTION.

COMMUNICATED BY THE REV. EAMBERT B. LARKING.

The following is transcribed from a thin folio paper manuscript
book, in the collection of sir Edward Dering. The book
consists of a miscellaneous collection of similar records, burials
in monasteries, pedigrees, church notes, etc., and seems to have
been a sort of common-place book, in which were entered
different notes picked up out of old monastic registries, car-
tularies, etc.—of which monuments sir Edward was an enthusi-
astic collector; and he lived at a time when they were scattered
about—easy of acquisition.

The following notes were probably transcribed from some
such registers; whether they have ever been printed, or the
original be still in existence, I know not.

THE NAMES OF THE FFOUNDERS OF THE CHURCH OF OUR BLESSED LADY IN
LANTHONY WHICHE AR DEPARTID (SIC) THER.

Milo, the ffotmder of the chyrche of our blessid Ladi of Lan-
thony w^oute Glocestre, Erie of Hereford, Lord of Brecon, and
of all the fforest of Done, and also Constable of Englond, lyithe
honorably in the middist of his chapter-house of Lanthon
aforseid.

At the head of the seade Milo are buried three of his sonnes,
—Roger, that is to sey his first begotten sonne, Erie of Here-
ford, Lord of Bricone, and of the forest of Done, also Constable
of England,—in the myddill.

And nighe unto hym, on the right hond, lyithe Henry, hys
Brother, Lord of Bricone, and of the Forest of Done, and also
constable of Englonde.

And of the left hand, lyithe Michell, lord of Bricone, and of
the fforest of Done, and also Constable of Englonde.

Nyghe to Milo the ffounder, of his ryght honde, and at foote
of the seid Henri, lyith Sibbil wiff of the seid Milo, which,
after the deth of the seid Milo, did entre into Religion in the
house of the seid Lanthon.24

HISTORICAL SFICTION.

On the ryghte hond of the seid Sibbill, lyith the right wor-
shipfull matron of Lanthon, ladi Margaret, the furst begottin
doughter of the seid Milo, whiche was maried to humfre of
Bohun, whiche had the erledome of Hartford and Constableshipe
of Englonde, and lithen buried at the fote of the seid Sibbill.

Of the over honde, lithen Luce, the thyrd doughter of the
seid Milo erle.

Nyghe to the veri ffoundre Milo, on his left hande, and at the
fote of the forseid Michell, lithen Humfre of Bohun, the iiijUl
sonue and heire of the forseid Margaret, erle of Hereford, and
Constable of Englond.

Nyghe unto Humfre the iiijth, and of his left honde, lithen
Henri of Bohun, sonne and heire of the forseid Margaret, erle
of Hereford, Essex, and Constable of Englond.

At the ffote of the seid Humfre the iiijth lithen Maude,
Doughter of the erle of Ewes in Normanni, first wiff of the seid
Humfre of Bohun.

At the ffote of the seid Maude, lithen Elionor of Brewis,
Ladi and heire of the land of Bricon.

At the head of erle Roger aforseid, sonne of Milo, a littill
within the chapter-howse dore, lithen Robert Braci, Prior of the
church of Lanthoni, the first.

Nyghe unto the forseid Robert, of hys right hond, lithen the
Ladi Alice of Tonny, doughter of Humfre of Bohun the vth.

And nyghe to the forseid Robert the Prior, of his left hond,
lithen Henri of Bohun, knight, sonne and heire of the Erie
aforeseid, and Brother of Humfre the vth.

At the foote of the seid Sibbill, nyghe unto Henri, lithen
Humfre of Bohun the ixth, sonne of Humfre of Bohun the
viijth.

In the middill of the Quier before the hye alter, lithen
Humfre of Bohun, the second lord, earle of Hereford and
Essex, lord of Bricon, and Constable of Englond.

Nygh unto hym, of the left hond, lithen Maude of Aven-
bury counte, wiffe of the seid Humfre the second.

Of their sowles, and all cristen, our Lord have merci upon.
Amen.25

ON THE ANCIENT MAP OF THE WORLD PRESERVED IN HERE-
FORD CATHEDRAL, AS ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE HISTORY
OF GEOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES.

BY THOMAS 'WRIGHT, M.A., F.S.A., ETC.

In the final breaking up of the Roman Empire, polite literature
suffered much more than science. While there were few, if
any, of the barbarians who established themselves in the Im-
perial provinces, that were capable of appreciating the pure
models of composition bequeathed to them by the classic writers,
many, excited by the novelties offered to their view on every
side, were seized with an ardent thirst after knowledge. We
know with what avidity the sciences of the Greeks and the
Romans were taken up by the Arabian conquerors, who subse-
quently gave to them an extraordinary developement. In the
west, during several centuries, the science received from the
Romans made little or no advance; and almost the only works
on science, previous to the eleventh century, were little better
than compendiums and school-books, such as the writings of
Isidore and Bede.

To people who were conquering and colonizing, no science
would be more attractive than that of geography, especially
when they were at the same time receiving a new faith, founded
on events which had occurred in countries far distant from
their own homes. Many circumstances which have escaped the
ravages of time, shew us how much attention was paid by the
Germanic conquerors to geography in the dark ages immedi-
ately following the overthrow of the Western Empire. Even
the song of the bard appears to have been most welcome when
it told of the different countries through which he had wan-
dered. The fragment which has been published, under the title
of the Traveller's Song, is one of the most remarkable relics of
early Anglo-Saxon poetry. At a later period than that to
which this piece evidently belongs, in the beginning of the
eighth century, we learn from the letters of Boniface that,26

HISTORICAL SECTION.

among the manuscripts then brought continually from the
continent into this island, our Anglo-Saxon forefathers were
particularly desirous of possessing treatises on cosmography.

There are extant two treatises on geographical science of a
somewhat remarkable character, belonging to the earlier period
of the middle ages. The first of these pretends to have been
written by a “philosopher” of Istria named Ethicus, in a
strange language, of which the alphabet is given at the end,
and to have been translated or re-written in Latin by the
celebrated St. Jerome, which would carry it back to the fourth
century of the Christian era. But the barbarous Latin, totally
dissimilar from the style of St. Jerome, seems to condemn this
account as a mere fable. It is, however, a work of great
antiquity; for the age of manuscripts still preserved carries it
back as far as the eighth century, and various points of internal
evidence seem to fix it to a still more remote period. Its pre-
tended author, Ethicus, is represented as a great traveller in
search of geographical knowledge: at one time we find him
penetrating into the depths of Asia; at another, exploring the
Western Ocean, and almost reaching America — he alludes
apparently to the peak of Teneriffe; and then again we find
him wandering through the Britannic isles, and extending his
researches to the northernmost parts of Europe. Whether he
really visited the places thus described may be considered as a
matter, that admits of great doubt; but, concealed under an
affectedly poetical but barbarous style of writing often unin-
telligible, we perceive traces of geographical knowledge which
we should little expect; and it is by no means improbable that
in Spain he may have picked up stories of the adventures of
some of the daring navigators of its western ports, whom storms
or their own bold curiosity had carried out into the trackless
ocean,—the extent and bounds of which were then wrapped in
fearful obscurity. The cosmography of Ethicus appears, by
the number of manuscripts written in this country, to have been
extremely popular in England from the eighth to the eleventh
(and even to the twelfth) century, but it is as yet inedited,
although an excellent edition is preparing by one of the most
learned geographers of the present day, M. D’Avezac of Paris.

In the kingdoms founded by the Goths in Italy and in Spain,
literature and science were extensively cultivated by men whoANCIENT MAP OF THE WORLD.

27

rather affectedly took to themselves the Greek title of “ philoso-
phers”. Unfortunately nearly all their writings have perished
amid the convulsions of a succession of wars, during which the
Goths ceased to exist as a people. It was probably to one of
these “ philosophers ” that we owe the so-called cosmography of
Ethicus. Another of these Goths, who is generally considered
as having lived at Ravenna, the capital of the Gothic kingdom
in Italy, and as having flourished in the seventh century, but
whose name is unknown, has left us a much more intelligible
treatise on geography, though written in equally barbarous
Latin. A remarkable feature of the work of the geographer
of Ravenna, the title by which this writer is commonly known,
is the number of other writers on the same subject, or (as he
calls them) “philosophers,” who appear to have lived a little
before his own time, who are cited by him, but who are other-
wise totally unknown to us. In fact, it is through this writer
alone that we are at all acquainted with the geographical liter-
ature of the preceding age. Among the rather numerous
writers quoted by this anonymous geographer, are three “philo-
sophers of the Goths” (Gothorum philosophi), whose names,
Aithanarid, Edelwald, and Marcomir, at once evince the country
to which they belonged. He quotes also frequently two Ro-
mano-African geographers, Probus and Melitianus; two Grseco-
Egyptians, named Cyachoris and Blantasis, who had travelled
to the south of Egypt in search of knowledge; two Persians,
who had written “a picture of the universe” in Greek, and
whom he names Arsatius and Aphrodisianus; two Greeks,
Hylas and Sardonius; and two Romans, Lallianus and Cas-
torius. The last of these is the writer whose authority the
geographer of Ravenna follows most largely. All the works
of the school represented by these names are now lost.

The treatise of the geographer of Ravenna, divided into five
books, consists in a great measure of lists of towns in each
country; and from the way in which they are given, his
authorities seem often to have been maps or geographical tables
like those of Ptolemy, whom also he quotes. But he has mixed
the names together in so confused a manner, that, joined with
the corrupt orthography, it has rendered it almost impossible
now to identify many of them, although we can have no doubt
that such places did exist. In Britain especially, where his28

HISTORICAL SECTION.

list is remarkably full, he seems to have run his eye backwards
and forwards in so careless a way, that he has in several
instances repeated the name of the same place, as though he
had found it in different parts of the island; and it is not at all
improbable that he may have so far wandered beyond the limits,
as to import into Britain two or three towns from the opposite
coasts of Gaul and Germany.

In the writings of this geographer we meet with those theo-
logical prejudices which were beginning to trespass on the
scientific discoveries of the Greeks and Homans. He 'shews an
unwillingness to speak of any but known countries; and lie
evidently had no distinct conception of the form of the globe.
He will not even allow, with the majority of the geographers
who had gone before him, that the earth was entirely sur-
rounded by the sea. For, says he, if such were the case, where
should we find Paradise, which the holy Scripture describes as
lying in the east. He therefore states as his opinion, founded
on the authority of St. Athanasius, that beyond India lay a
trackless desert of unknown extent, which no mortal was per-
mitted to pass, beyond which lay Paradise, forming the extreme
east. From Paradise, as he believed, sprang the four rivers—
Geon, Physon, Tigris, and Euphrates; and he could only be
induced to accord any credit to the “gentile” philosophers who
believed that the two latter rivers had their rise in the moun-
tains of Armenia, on the supposition that they had come there
from Paradise by an invisible course. He believed that the
ocean which washed the extremities of the earth with its ■waves
was bounded at an unknown distance by lofty mountains, behind
which the sun dropped at night as into a pit, passing under the
earth to rise next morning in the east.

Barbarisms like these had already been introduced into science
in the east by the Christian ascetics. An Egyptian monk of
the earlier part of the sixth century, named Cosmas, and termed,
from the presumed fact of his having travelled into India,
Cosmas Indicopleustes, has left us a treatise on geography,
which he designates by the title of The Christian Topography
of the World, intimating thereby that it was the only system
which conformed with the notions of orthodox Christianity.
A system which he combats as most heretical and absurd, was
that which gave to the earth the form of a globe, and whichANCIENT MAP OF THE WORLD.

29

had been held by the “heathen” philosophers. He describes it
as a vast oblong plain, surrounded by an immense wall which
supported the blue vault of the firmament. He believed, like
the geographer of Ravenna, that the sun set behind a great
mountain. If we overlook the gross errors of his system, the
treatise of Cosmas gives us some slight glimpses of the condition
of countries which were soon afterwards lost sight of by the
Christian world for several centuries.

The treatise of the geographer of Ravenna seems to have
been totally lost to the world until the manuscript was disco-
vered and printed in the seventeenth century; and the cosmo-
graphy of Ethicus, although evidently much read, seems to
have had very little influence upon geographical science in
succeeding ages. For we find that the books on this subject
down to the twelfth century are almost all founded on Pliny,
Solinus, and Isidore. Even at the end of the tenth century,
the text-book on geography in England was the metrical Perie-
gesis of Priscian, a translation from the Greek Periegesis of
Dionysius.

It is surprising how little improvement had at this time been
made in geographical science as taught in the schools, when we
consider the many distant voyages which had been made by
Anglo-Saxons in search of knowledge, and the eagerness with
which accounts of distant lands had been grasped at. With
the seventh century our forefathers began to pay frequent
visits to the east, and several narratives of travels have been
preserved. In the year 825, an Irish monk in France named
Dicuil, published a treatise on geography, under the title of
De Menmra Orbis (Of the Measure of the World), which is
still based on Pliny, Solinus, Orosius, Isidore, and Priscian;
but he has inserted in it original information, gathered on the
one hand from a traveller who had visited Syria and Egypt
a little before the year 767; and on the other hand, from some
clerks who had sailed among the northern islands of Scotland,
and had even reached Thule or Iceland about the year 795.
When king Alfred translated the historical work of Orosius,
he inserted into the prefatory description of the world very
exact original information relating to the northern coasts of
Scandinavia, which he had obtained orally from two northern
navigators, Ohthere and Wulfstan. The royal translator is30

HISTORICAL SECTION.

also said to have sent out messengers to distant India, who
returned with many curiosities; and who, if the relation be true,
must have delivered to the king an interesting account, the
loss of which is in the highest degree to be regretted. I look
upon it that there was no impossibility, or even great difficulty,
in such a journey in the peculiar state of political relations,
when the empire of the Arabs was at its highest point of gran-
deur. Expeditions like these, we should naturally think, ought
to have added to the knowledge previously in existence; yet
ages afterwards Ave still find the popular system founded as
before on the older Roman treatises, and even the Roman
names preserved at a time when they can only have existed in
books. It is impossible now to say how far the teachers in
the schools explained orally these ancient denominations and
descriptions according to their modern names, and what was
known of the modern state of things.

In the earlier medieval schools, teaching appears to have
been a mere lecture, in a great measure grammatical, on one
popular text-book, from which masters and scholars, from gener-
ation to generation, ventured rarely, or never, to depart. The
commentary of Bridfert.h of Ramsey, on the scientific writings
of Bede, represents this course as pursued in the monastic
school at Ramsey in the tenth century. Bridferth was, how-
ever, a man rather in advance of his age, and we find him some-
times appealing to experiment in his teaching. He was educated
in some of those schools on the continent which were then paving
the wray for a more solid extension of learning and knowledge,
which, towards the end of the eleventh century, received a
sudden and extraordinary developement, in the midst of which
arose those remarkable institutions of the Middle Ages, the
universities. The Christian scholars of the west were now no
longer satisfied with what was to be derived from their old
text-books, or with the ordinary routine of learning which had
been so long persevered in; what they could not find at home,
they sought in distant lands, and among the Arabs of Spain
and of Syria they found not only new elements, but they
imbibed new principles of study, and new views as to its objects,
which had a powerful effect on the progress of science in future
ages. The science of the Greeks, as the empire sank into
intellectual imbecillity, was received and cherished by the Arabs,ANCIENT MAP OP THE WORLD.

31

and they in their turn, as the empire of the Koran began to
totter, handed it over to another race, in whose hands it ulti-
mately led to that grander developement which it has taken in
modern times.

It was in the midst of that great intellectual blaze which
distinguished the twelfth century, that the first decidedly new
element was introduced into geographical science in the west.
The Arabs, like the barbarian conquerors of Western Europe,
had derived their first principles of geographical knowledge
from the treatises of the ancients; but they adopted and pre-
served Ptolemy, and probably some of the other writers who
were used by the Gothic “philosophers,” and who were ex-
changed in the west for mere elementary treatises. The Arabs,
moreover, who had applied themselves to all the sciences with
extraordinary ardour, were, by the great extent of their con-
quests, placed in a peculiarly advantageous position for extend-
ing and improving their knowledge in geography. They were,
thus, far in advance of the Christians of the west: who, from
their intercourse with them, derived not only new knowledge,
but a new energy in the pursuit of science; and above all, they
adopted that practical skill in astronomical observations, which
soon dispelled the superstitious ignorance which had previously
clogged their steps.

The Anglo-Saxon scholars understood perfectly well that the
earth was a globe. They considered it to be the centre of the
firmament, which they imagined to be an immense concave
surface, on which the stars were in some way or other attached.
Two stars, the north polar star and the south polar star, directly
opposite to each other, were the axles upon which the firmament
turned its endless round. The Anglo-Saxon Manual of Astro-
nomy, composed by Alfric, tells us that, “ the firmament is
always turning round about us, under this earth and above, and
there is an incalculable space between it and the earth. Four-
and-twenty hours have passed, that is one day and one night,
before it is once turned round, and all the stars which are fixed
in it turn round with it. The earth stands in the centre, by
God’s power so fixed, that it never swerves either higher or
lower than the almighty creator established it.” The notion
was, that all the continents and islands known to us as inhabited,
belonged to one of five zones, that it was divided from another32

HISTORICAL SECTION.

equally temperate zone inhabited by the antipodes, by a torrid
zone, the heat of wljich rendered it impossible for human beings
to pass from one temperate zone to the other. Each temperate
zone was bounded by a frigid zone, the cold of which rendered
it equally uninhabitable and inaccessible with the central torrid
zone. “ Truly,” says Alfric, “ the sun’s intense heat makes five
parts in the world, which we call in Latin quinque zonas, that is,
five girdles. One of the parts is in the centre, raging hot and
uninhabitable on account of the sun’s nearness, on which no
earthly man dwells on account of the insupportable heat. Then
there are on two sides of the heat two parts that are temperate,
neither too hot nor too cold. On the north part dwell all man-
kind, under the broad circle which is called zodiacits. There
are still two parts on two sides, a good deal to the southward
and northward of the limits of this circuit, cold and uninhabit-
able, because the sun never comes to them, but stops on either
side at the solstices.”

One of the popular Latin writers of this age compares the
world to an egg, in which the shell represents the firmament,—
and the yolk, our earth, in the middle. There were also more
popular views of science ; according to some of which it would
appear as though the earth, while it was agreed that its shape
was globular, was believed to be swimming in the ocean like an
orange, the inhabited portion being that part of the surface
which emerged from the water, while the sun dived into the
ocean each evening, and emerged from it in the morning. An
English poem, of a later period (the thirteenth century) assures
us that the—

“Urthe is amidde the see a lute bal and round.”

I have already observed that the geographer of Ravenna
appears to have had maps before him when he compiled his book.
We have, in fact, at nearly all times, allusions to the existence
of maps. In earlier times these maps were attempts to lay down
the positions of countries according to longitudes and latitudes,
as in those of Ptolemy, and probably in those used by the
Gothic “ philosophers”, or by itinerary distances, as in the cele-
brated Peutingerian tables. The maps which belong more
especially to the middle ages, are mere attempts of the teacher
or scholar to represent pictorially to the eye the supposed factsANCIENT MAP OF THE WORLD.

33

of the science, combined with his notion of their relative posi-
tion, and of what he supposed to be the outlines of continents
and islands. One of the most ancient maps of the world alluded
to by medieval writers, was that which was possessed by St.
Gall, who, in the sixth century, founded the monastery which
has ever since been known by his name. Charlemagne is said
to have had three tables or plates of silver, on which were repre-
sented the world, and the cities of Rome and Constantinople.
But silver was a dangerous metal for the preservation of a
monument of science; and, some years afterwards, the great
emperor’s grandson, Lothaire, being in wrant of money, broke
up one of these tables in order to pay his mutinous troops.

One of the earliest—perhaps the earliest—medieval map we
now possess, is a very interesting one preserved in an Anglo-
Saxon manuscript of the end of the tenth or beginning of the
eleventh century, in the Cottonian library. It is of a square,
or rather oblong square form, and, as it accompanies the text of
the Periegesis of Priscian, and as it is far more correct in its
general disposition than those of a later date, it is probable that
it was formed on a much more ancient model. The names are
generally ancient, but in the western and northern parts of Europe
and in England, the author has evidently intended to introduce
improvements to suit the position of things at the time he wrote.
In Armorica, for instance, he has placed the people, whom he
calls in Saxon Suft-brettas. In England, Wintonia, or Win-
chester—the capital of the Anglo-Saxon kings—stands equally
prominent with London, and these are the only two towns
named. The cities represented in this map, by their magnitude,
as the most eminent in the world, are Babylon, Jerusalem,
Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, and Carthage. A small and
rude Greek map, accompanying a manuscript of the Topography
of Cosmas Indicopleustes, said to be of the ninth century, repre-
sents the earth in a similar elongated square form with that
given to it in the Anglo-Saxon map.

A belief had arisen among the ecclesiastical geographers,
based upon a literal interpretation of the allegorical language of
Scripture, that the holy city of Jerusalem occupied the exact
centre of the world. A centre rather naturally implied a circular
circumference, and this is the form almost universally given to
maps of the world from the eleventh to the fifteenth century.34

ANCIENT MAP OF THE WORLD.

The monkish geographers also adopted the belief long before
enunciated by the geographer of Ravenna, that Paradise occupied
the eastern extremity of Asia, and to hinder any mistake that
might arise upon this subject, they take care to figure in that
position in their maps, not only the garden and the tree, but
Adam and Eve standing beside it. The forms and positions of
the different parts of the world are much more distorted than in
the Anglo-Saxon map. Five cities now hold pre-eminence—
Babylon, Jerusalem, Troy, Rome, and Carthage. Since the
commencement of the crusades, Constantinople and Alexandria
had diminished in importance. Babylon, the oldest of cities,
and the supposed site of the tower of Babel,—Jerusalem, the
holy city, par excellence, —Rome, the head of the Catholic
world, were objects of universal reverence in the west. Troy
had obtained an extraordinary celebrity in the course of the
twelfth century, not only from the circumstance of its history
having become a popular subject of romance, but because, in the
ethnological fables of that age, founded upon Virgil, it was
looked upon as the point from whence had sprung the different
peoples by whom western Europe was inhabited; and the map-
makers seem entirely to have forgotten that the warlike city (as
they called it) had long since ceased to exist. It is not so easy
to account for the continued celebrity of Carthage.

In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the maps—which are
all of this round form, and follow one or two types, chiefly dis-
tinguished by the form given to the Mediterranean sea,—are not
uncommon in manuscripts. They are all covered with inscrip-
tions, and with figures of animals and of towns, which make
them veritable treatises on geography. A map of the world, in
a manuscript of the thirteenth century, in the British Museum,
contains a curious note, in which the author refers to four maps
which were then looked upon in England as being of chief
authority. These were, the map of Robert de Melkeleia, that
of the Abbey of Waltham, that in the king’s chamber at West-
minster, and that of Matthew Paris.

The map to which more especially I have now to call atten-
tion, is, as far as I can judge from the fac-simile, of the earlier
part of the thirteenth century, and is certainly one of the most
remarkable monuments of this kind now in existence.

Its history is obscure; it is preserved in Hereford Cathedral,ANCIIiNT MAP OF THK WORLD.

35

and I understand that it was discovered under the floor of one of
the chapels of that edifice. I have not been able to meet with the
slightest traces of the person by whose orders it was made, who
has caused himself to be represented in one corner as a knight on
horseback attended by his page and his greyhound, and who has
commemorated himself under the name of Richard of Halding-
ham and Lafford: on the other side we read the following
Anglo-Norman rhymes:—

“ Tuz ki cest estorie ont,

Ou oyront, ou luront, ou veront,

Prient a Jkesu en deyt£,

De Richard de Haldingham e de Lafford eyt pite,

Ki l’at fet e compasse,

Ke joie en cel li seit done.”

This large map is founded on the popular cosmographical treatises
of the time, which generally commence with stating that Au-
gustus Caesar sent out three philosophers to measure and survey
the three divisions of the world, and that all geographical know-
ledge was the result of their observations. The ground-work of
this fable is found in the too literal interpretation of a passage of
the Gospel of St. Luke: in the map before us, the philosophers
are named Nichodoxus, Theodotus, and Policlitus; and the
emperor is delivering to them their written orders, confirmed by
a very handsome medieval seal. The world is here represented
as round, surrounded by the ocean. At the top of the map,
which represents the east, we see Paradise, with the tree, and the
figures of our first parents. Above is a large group representing
the day of judgment, with the Virgin Mary interceding for those
who have been faithful to her worship. The map is chiefly
filled with long inscriptions, comprising passages taken from
Solinus, Isidore, &c., with figures of towns, and with drawings
of the monstrous animals and peoples with which the medieval
cosmographers peopled distant parts of the world. Many of the
figures on this map manifest a remarkable degree of simplicity on
the part of the author; such, for example, as the figure of Lot’s
wife changed into a statue of salt; the labyrinth of Crete; the
columns of Hercules ; and the singular representations of Scylla
and Charybdis. The four great cities are made especially
prominent: Jerusalem is very distinctly figured as the centre of36

ANCIENT MAP OF THE WORLD.

the world ; Babylon has its famous tower : Rome, the capital of
the world, bears the inscription,—

Roma caput mundi tenet orbis frena rotundi ;
and Troy is described as Troja civitas bellicosissima.

It will be seen at once that nearly the whole of this remark-
able map is founded upon the more common and older element
of medieval geographical science,—that derived from the popular
Roman writers. It was some time before much of the other two
elements—the knowledge derived from the Arabians, and the
result of medieval voyages of discovery,—found its way into
monuments of this description. The only particulars I have
observed in the map which appear to be derived from the Arabs,
is the meJcesus civitas on the confines of Egypt and Arabia, which
is perhaps Mecca, and Samarcand, which is here mentioned. On
the western coast of Africa, the Canary Islands are indicated,
which our geographer follows Pliny in supposing were inhabited
by large dogs (canes), from which he derives the name.

When we turn our eyes to the eastern part of the Hereford
map, we cannot help being struck with the confused form given
to the whole of Asia. This might certainly have been cor-
rected by the knowledge which must then have been derived
from the frequent communications with the Arabs. As that
knowledge increased, the limits of this part of the world were
gradually carried further and further, until at length its figure
was traced more correctly ; but it was long before people were
disabused of the idea that Paradise occupied, as it does in our
map, the extremity of the eastern continent. Perhaps many an
adventurous monk wandered over the intervening lands in the
hope of reaching this final object of his worldly pilgrimage, who
might have told an interesting story of his adventures. They
related in the monasteries of the east an old legend of a holy
man who traversed Central Asia to the very precincts of Para-
dise, which he was not allowed to enter; and they told how he
met with pious hermits in the solitudes of the intervening
countries. If we read the travels of the Arabian Ebn Batuta,
we shall find that he also saw hermits in the interior of Asia,
but they were the religious fanatics of India, and not Christians.
This coincidence, however, would lead us to believe that there
was some foundation for the monkish legend to which I have
alluded.*ANCIENT MAP OF THE WORLD.

37

The great eagerness in the west for information relating to
the interior of Asia was first roused by the fearful intelligence
of the devastating irruption of the Tartars into Europe under
Ghengis Khan, in the beginning of the thirteenth century.
The dismay which this intelligence caused, even in England, can
now with difficulty be conceived; and there were many who
imagined that it was the bursting forth of the hordes of Gog
and Magog, the precursors of the end of the world. Others
took them for a race of demons. In this uncertainty, several
monks were successively sent on pretended embassies to Ghengis
Khan, but really with the object of gaining information as to
the character of the people who followed his standard, and as to
the countries from which they came. Some of these mission-
aries were carried into the interior of Asia as far as Thibet and
the borders of China, and obtained information which tended
materially to alter the previously-existing geographical notions
relating to that part of the world. The relations published by
two of these ambassadors, Jean du Plan de Carpin and Guil-
laume de Rubruquis, both Frenchmen, are full of the most
interesting details, and will bear a comparison with the works of
travellers of a much later date.

The free cities of Italy had now begun to shew their pre-
eminence in navigation, and an extraordinary spirit of commer-
cial enterprise. In the midst of the terrors excited by the
conquests of the Tartars, Italian merchants were venturing
even in the midst of their ravages to seek a mart for their
wares. It was with this view that the well-known Marco Polo
of Venice, whose father and uncle had twenty years before
travelled as far as Bokhara, accompanied them in 1271 into the
interior of Asia, and succeeded in reaching China, where they
gained the favour of the emperor and remained seventeen years.
They returned slowly by way of Persia, and at last reached
Venice in safety after an absence of twenty-four years. By
the relation afterwards published by Marco Polo, the mystery
which had so long enveloped the geography of Asia was entirely
dispelled. Their success produced a number of imitators, and
many attempts were made to reach the interior of Asia during
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. One of the most re-
markable of these travellers was our countryman, sir John Man-
deville, who, however, evidently never visited one quarter of38

ANCIENT MAP OF THE WORLD.

the localities he describes, and who has disfigured his narrative
with a number of marvellous stories, totally unworthy of credit,
either exaggerated misrepresentations of what he had learnt
from hearsay, or a mere repetition of the old fables of Solinus
and Isidore, which ought now to have been expunged from
the maps.

There is one passage in the relation of sir John Maundeville
which deserves our notice, as proving that the form of the earth
was still, in the fourteenth century, a matter of discussion.

In the seventeenth chapter of his Voiage and Travaile,
Maundeville speaks of the “ evylle customs used in the yle of
Lamary,” and adds :—

“In that lond, ne in many othere beyonde that, no man may see the
sterre transmontane, that is clept the sterre of the see, that is unmevable,
and that is toward the northe, that we clepen the lode sterre. But men
seen another sterre, the contrarie to him, that is toward the southe, that is
clept antartyk. And right as the schipmen taken here avys here, and
governe hem he the lode sterre, right so don schipmen beyonde the par-
ties, be the sterre of the southe, the whiche sterre apperethe not to us.
And this sterre, that is toward the northe, that wee clepen the lode sterre,
ne apperethe not to hem. For whiche cause, men may wel perceyve, that
the lond and the see ben of rownde schapp and forme. For the partie of
the firmament schewethe in o contree, that schewethe not in another
contree. And men may well preven be experience and sotyle compassemcnt
of wytt, that gif a man fond passages be schippes, that wolde go to serchen
the world, men myghte go be schippe alle aboute the world, and aboven
and benethen.”

After giving, in support of his views, a series of astronomical
observations he professes to have made with the astrolabe in
different countries through which he had passed, Maundeville
continues:—

“ And also I have seen the 3 parties of alle the roundnesse of the firma-
ment, and more yit 5 degrees and an half. Be the whiche I seye zou cer-
teynly, that men may envirowne alle the erthe of alle the world, as wel
undre as aboven, and turnen agen to his contree, that hadde companye and
schippynge and conduyt; and alle weyes he scholde fynde men, londes,
and yles, als wel as in this contree. For yee wyten welle, that thei that
ben toward the antartyk, thei ben streghte, feet agen feet of hem, that
dwellen undre the transmontane ; als wel as wee and thei that dwellyn
under us, ben feet agenst feet. For alle the parties of see and of lond han
here appositees, habitables or trepassables, and thei of this half and beyond
half.”

And in further confirmation, he repeats the following curiousANCIENT MAP OF THE WORLD.

39

story, which is peculiarly interesting, as shewing the popu-
lar notions which were then gradually spreading themselves
abroad :—

“ And therfore hathe it befallen many tymes of o thing, that I have
herd cownted, whan I was yong, how a worthi man departed somtyme from
oure contrees, for to go serche the world. And so he passed Ynde, and the
yles heyonde Ynde, where ben mo than 5000 yles : and so longe he wente
he see and lond, and so enviround the world he many seysons, that he
fond an yle, where he herde speke his owne langage, callynge on oxen in
the plowghe suche wordes as men speken to hestes in his owne contree ;
whereof he hadde gret mervayle, for he knewe not how it myghte he. But
I seye, that he had gon so longe, he londe and be see, that he had envy-
round alle the erthe, that he was comen agen envirounynge, that is to seye,
goynge aboute, unto his owne marches, gif he wolde have passed forthe, til
he had founden his contree and his owne knouleche. But he turned agen
from thens, from whens he was come fro; and so he loste moche peynefulle
labour, as him self seyde, a gret while aftre, that he was comen horn. For
it befelle aftre, that he wente into Norweye; and there tempest of the see
toke him; and he arryved in an yle; and whan he was in that yle, he
knew wel, that it was the yle where he had herd speke his owne langage
before, and the callynge of the oxen at the plowghe: and that was possible
thinge.”

The discoveries in the east, as we have seen, took first a
surpassing importance from accidental circumstances. Multi-
tudes of minor discoveries, known only within a small circle of
persons, or committed to a single manuscript which was for-
gotten till it perished, never found a permanent place in science.
It was only after the invention of printing, when copies of
books were so easily multiplied, that facts once obtained became
available to every scholar, and thus contributed with certainty
to the general advance of knowledge. In the course of our
researches into medieval documents, we are continually making
the discovery that some of what are looked upon, with least
hesitation, as the inventions of modern science were known to
the scholars at that period, when science flourished in so extra-
ordinary a manner in the medieval universities.

Of these, one of the most remarkable instances is the mariner’s
compass, which is now known to have been in common use in
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries among the English and
French navigators, although, it is true, in rather a rude form.
Two poems of the thirteenth century give exact and very curious
descriptions of the compass as then used. The Bible Guiot de40

ANCIENT MAP OF THE WORLD.

Pronins, a satire on the vices of the age, wishes that the pope
were as safe a guide to Christians as the polar star is to mariners,
and adds:—

“ Uu art font qui mentir ne puet
Pax la vertu de la inaniete:

Une pierre laide et brunete,

Ou li fers volentiers se joint,

Ont; si esgardeut le droit point,
Puis c’une aguile i ont touchie,

Et en un festu l'ont couchie,

En l'eve le metent sanz plus,

Et li festuz la tient desus;

Puis se tome la pointe toute
Contre l'estoile si sanz doute,

Que ja nul bom n‘en doutera,

Ne ja por rien ne fausera.

Qant la mers est obscure et brune,
Con ne voit cstoile ne lune,

Dont font a 1'aguille aluiner,

Puis n'ont il garde d'esgarer:
Contre l’estoile va la pointe,

Por ce sont li marinier cointe
De la droite voie tenir.

C’est une ars qui ne puet faillir."

“ They make a contrivance which cannot lie
By the virtue of the magnet;

An ugly and brownish stone,

To which iron spontaneously joins itself,

They have; and they observe the right point,
After they have caused a needle to touch it,

And placed it in a rush,

They put it in the water without anything more.
And the rnsh keeps it on the surface;"

Then it turns its point direct
Towards the star with such certainty,

That no man will ever have any doubt of it,

Nor will it ever for anything go false.

When the sea is dark and hazy,

That they can neither see star nor moon,
Therefore they place a light by the needle,

And then they have no fear of going wrong:
Towards the star goes the point,

Whereby tbe mariners have the skill
To keep the right way.

It is an art which cannot fail.”

In a love song, of nearly the same date, the lover compares
his mistress to the polar star, to which he, the magnet, ever
points; and describes in a similar manner how the voyagers by
sea construct the compass by which they discover the position
of the polar star in dark or cloudy weather:—

“ Li marinier qui vont en Frise,

En Gresse, en Acre, ou en Yenisse,

Sevent par li toute la voie.”

With the certainty that the mariner’s compass was known to
the medieval navigators, we have no difficulty in comprehending
how they often ventured upon distant voyages, and even at
times boldly throw themselves out upon the ocean in search of
adventures and discoveries. But here, deeply-implanted supersti-
tions and prejudices of a variety of kinds came to place a bar to
further discoveries, until they were broken down by some lucky
accident, or by the superior intelligence of some extraordinary
individual. The ancients supposed that the sea to the north of
Britain was not navigable, on account of the rigour of the climate,
which, as they imagined, rendered the water thick and stiff.ANCIENT MAP OF THE WORLD.

41

The Arabs had precisely the same notion with respect to the
sea of the torrid zone, the moisture of which they believed was
so much sucked by the heat of the sun, that the water was
thickened so as to be impassable by ships. This belief for a
long time presented an insurmountable check to the progress
of discovery along the coast of Africa, until it was contradicted
by the accidental experience of ships which were carried by
stress of weather beyond the supposed limit, or by the boldness
of individual enterprise. It is probable that many adventurers,
who have left no memorial of their actions, led the way to the
more important discoveries of the Portuguese in the fifteenth
century.

If we turn our eyes towards the west, we shall see that the
Middle Ages have also left us a considerable number of mys-
terious traditions of voyages, which would seem to indicate
attempts at least to explore the ocean in the direction of
America. The Arabian navigators of Portugal are said to
have sailed across the Atlantic in the middle of the twelfth
century. The most remarkable of the Christian traditions on
this subject is the marvellous legend of St. Brandan, who, after
wandering on the western seas for seven years, is said at length
to have reached Paradise. Indeed, during the Middle Ages,
all those who were initiated in science knew well that the earth
was a sphere ; and the idea of going to Paradise by sea, instead
of going there by land, must have struck many persons. We
are even told that the sailors of Columbus, as they approached
the coasts of America, imagined for a time that they had
reached the precincts of the terrestrial Paradise. But the
barrier raised by superstition against proceeding in this direc-
tion, was stronger even than that which limited the progress
of the ancient navigators to the south. It was easy to talk of
science and theory, but when it was the moment to put this
into practice, popular credulity often gained the mastery over
science which was still uncertain; and in the particular instance
now alluded to, every one was more or less awed by the mys-
terious fear, that if they advanced in that direction in search of
Paradise, it was not impossible that midway they might fall
into hell!—for they were not sure that at a certain distance in
the west there was not a gulf in the sea which conducted to the
infernal regions. In an early Anglo-Saxon tract, intended to42

ANCIENT MAP OF THE WORLD.

convey abstruse information in the form of dialogue, but filled
with the popular legends of the age, to the question, “ Tell me
why is the sun so red in the evening?” the answer is, “Because
it looketh down upon hell.”

Moreover, although it was generally understood that the
earth was spherical, there were various popular notions as to
the manner in which it was suspended, and to the form and
position of the ocean. Some seemed to think that it was like
an egg in an egg-cup, the upper portion of which was alone
exposed; others thought, as I have already stated, that it was
like an orange swimming in the sea. Some, unacquainted with
the nature of gravitation, supposed that after you had passed a
certain limit, you were in danger of dropping off from the
earth’s surface. However, as early as the fourteenth century,
such errors appear to have been gradually disappearing; and
stories and conjectures, like those which I have read from
sir John Maundeville, were the real precursors of the discovery
of America.43

HISTORICAL MEMORANDA RELATING TO THE TWENTIETH
ROMAN LEGION,

QUARTERED IN BRITAIN IN THE FIRST, SECOND, THIRD, AND FOURTH
CENTURIES, AND PRINCIPALLY AT CHESTER.

BY BEALE POST.

A history of the Roman Legions which were quartered in
Britain, is one of those works which are still wanting to illus-
trate the proceedings of the conquerors of the world in this
country: the materials of this work must be sought from the
Roman historians, and from inscriptions and coins still extant.
A few sketches of such a work, in a short form, have been
appended to many publications, but the following memoranda
are intended to shew it is capable of being carried much into
detail, and the twentieth Legion has been selected,—which above
a century ago was learnedly illustrated by Dr. Musgrave, in the
second volume of his Belgium Britannicum, who has given so
admirable a detailed account of that portion of the Roman
forces as to leave it much to be desired that the other Roman
legions connected with Britain might be similarly illustrated.
As the doctor’s work is not only extremely difficult to be pro-
cured, but also written in Latin, a translation here of his excel-
lent essay, may be of use in making it better known. The
doctor, who lived more than a century ago, and was secretary
to the Royal Society, is well known as having written several
learned and interesting dissertations on the antiquities of the
west of England : the present is one of the happiest of his
attempts, and forms a portion of his Essay on the Epitaph of
Julius Vitalis, a celebrated inscription found near Bath, which
was illustrated by the published dissertations of the first anti-
quaries of the time—namely, by those of Dodwell, Gale, and
Hearne, as well as by his own.

In introducing the subject, it is only necessary to say that the
twentieth Legion most probably quitted Britain with Stilicho,
about the beginning of the fifth century. Whitaker, the his-
torian of Manchester, thought that the auxiliary horse belonging44

THE TWENTIETH ROMAN LEGION.

to this Legion remained in the country; as, in the enumeration
of the Roman forces shortly afterwards, in the Notitia, several
bodies of horse are mentioned, which he presumed formed this
contingent. Since the time of Musgrave, several monumental
stones inscribed with the name of this Legion, have been found
in various parts of England, including a rather celebrated one in
London, in the year 1776, of Julius Valius. It may be added,
that this is supposed to be the Legion so elegantly commemo-
rated by the Roman poet, Claudian, in several passages of his
works. Dr. Musgrave may now speak for himself.

dr. musgrave’s dissertation on the twentieth legion.

The term Legion is derived from eligendo, or choosing. Thus
Varro informs us “ Legio quod leguntur milites in delectu.”—
Lib. iv., De Latina Lingua.

To explain the number xx which this legion bore; it may be
noted from Dion Cassius that the legions were numbered first,
second, and third, and so on in the order in which they were
raised. His words are: “ 0vrit) be brj tci -rroXirtKa arparoweba ttpog rrjv
Tit)v tcaraXoywy ra^ty ihvopia^ero' odey 7rep icai yvy bfioioir tcl rvv oVra rac
tTTiKXriaEtQ e\et.n—Lib. xxxviii.

Although the number of the legions which followed the for-
tunes of Mark Antony in the civil wars be variously estimated
by different writers, Plutarch* and Dion Cassius, making it
twenty-five, and Appianf twenty-eight, yet it is very certain—
from denarii seen by Fulvius Ursinus|—that they amounted in
a continuous number to twenty-five, and thence, with some
intervals, to thirty-three. From the standards of our twentieth
legion, it is very probable it was one of the twenty-five.

We may delineate these standards from Ursinus,§ from which
our conclusion is formed. The cut
represents a coin of Antony, which
has on one face his ship as admiral,
and in regard to his fleet Plutarch
may be referred to ; on the other face
it has the eagle of the twentieth legion and two other standards.

* In his life of Antony.	§ Page 32. But engraved here

t Lib. V. of the Civil Wars.	from a specimen in the British

j Fam. Rom. Paris, 1663, p. 29.	Museum.THE TWENTIETH ROMAN LEGION.

45

The reader is to be informed, that of the ten cohorts of which
Roman legions were composed, the first bore the eagle, which
was the standard of the whole legion ; the other cohorts had their
own particular standards, of which two are here represented.
These were all alike ornamented with gold and silver, as well as
tinted with various colours: circles were added to them, and they
were fixed on the top of a staff sharpened at the bottom that
they might more easily be inserted in the ground.

As to our legion being the twentieth, it is worthy of remark
that as it appears from Rosinus,* * * § Schedius,f Pancirolus,J and
Lipsius,§ that there were several first, second, third, fourth and
seventh legions, so it is evident—from a coin, and from inscrip-
tions worthy of credit—that there were also several twentieth
legions. This, in treating of our legion, being overlooked by
various learned and eminent men, has been a serious and most
unfortunate source of error to them.

It is even difficult to say how many twentieth legions there
were, as the number and names of the legions were uncertain
and often changed, Lazius|| will have it that there were five—
the twentieth Italica, Pannonica, Britannica, Hispanica, Gemina.
As for myself, I would not affirm that these were distinct
legions. Ursatus, from the authority of monuments, has—
1 Legio vicessima Britannica, 2 Legio vicessima gemina pro-
vince Hispanica citerioris ; and, from an inscription at Parma,
and another quoted by Gruter, which both have leg. xx. valen.
victr., it fully appears that there was a twentieth legion styled
Valens Victrix, which perhaps was the Legio Pannonica of
Lazius; for, from Pannonia the legions c&me which contended
with Otho at Bedriacum, not far from Parma and Cremona, as
Dion^T informs us. The coin which has been mentioned, is
noted by Gevartius. It has its reverse thus—leg. xx. hispanicje.
with an eagle and two standards.

Of these twentieth legions, it is very certain that only one of
them was ever in Britain ; that is, the one of which we now are
speaking, which has the letters y.v. added to it. We shall soon

* Roman Antiquities, x, 4.	ter, was the author of “ Commenta-

f De Diis Germanis, cap. 1.	rium de Republic!, Roman! in exteri9

| In his edition of the Notitia Im- provinciis hello acquisitis consti-
perii.	tuta,” and other works. He died a.d

§ Notes to Tacitus.	1555.

f| Wolfgang Lazius, a German wri- IT Lib. 64.46

THE TWENTIETH ROMAN LEGION.

see that the legions twentieth Hispanica, twentieth Pannonica,
can he distinguished from this. Afterwards, it will be shewn
that the twentieth Legio Italica can be so too.

Our twentieth legion had itself several different appellations.
At one time it is the Legio Vicessima, without any addition :
as in Tacitus,* and on a tile,f and on the authentic coin of
Ursinus, fig. 1, plate 1. At another time it is from the country
where it was stationed Britannica, as appears again from Tacitus
and fromUrsatus.J Now it is Atyiwv K Ntc^optoc, as in Ptolemy;
in Latin Victrix, as from Rosinus,§ and the Itinerary of Anto-
ninus. |[ Now it is called OuaXtpi'tiot cat Ntcj)ropE£, as in Dion ;1F
that is, Legio Valeriana Victrix, which is designated by the
letters v.v., as will presently be shewn, which are applied to this
legion by the Bath and other inscriptions.

This was the legion which, when the wars were concluded
between Antony and Augustus, and the latter reformed the
army, was preserved by him, and was ordered under Germanicus,
with seven other legions, to the Rhine, against the Germans,**
to repair the disaster sustained under Quinctilius Varus.

On the death of Augustus, this legion mutinied on the Rhine,
along with the first,|f other legions having set the example, and
being brought by Caecina,^ the Legatus, or Lieut.-General, into
the country of the Ubii, wintered there.§§ Afterwards, again
mutinying with the first legion, it was reduced to obedience by
the eloquent oration of Germanicus, recorded by Tacitus,|||| and
the ringleaders of the sedition, after being exhibited on the
platform and condemned by their fellow-soldiers, were put to
death.	*

After this, its services were useful to the army in passing
through the forests of Germany, and evading the ambuscades of
the Bructeri and its other enemies. 1H1 On this occasion the
twenty-first legion protected the left, the fifth the right, while
the twentieth brought up the rear; and the cohorts being dis-
ordered by the Germans, and Germanicus having addressed him-

* Annals I, 31, 37, and 39 ; His-
torise in, 22.

+ Camden in Flintshire.

J De notis Romanorum, edit.
1672.

§ Antiquitates Romanse, x, 4.

|| Iter xi, p. 29—Gale’s edition.

IT Liber lv.

** Tacitus Annals, Lib. i.
tt Annals i, 31.
tl Annals i, 31.

§§ Annals i, 39.

Dll Annals i, 42-3.

1T1T Tacitus Annals i, 51.THE TWENTIETH ROMAN LEGION.	47

self to the twentieth legion, they charged the enemy and drove
them off.*

In the same German war, against Arminius, the fifth legion
was stationed on the right, the twenty-first on the left, the first
led, and the twentieth again brought up the rear.f

After this, it would seem that having its winter quarters in
Belgium, or the vicinity, it was thence transferred in the first
expedition of Claudius, under Aulus Plautius, to Britain, with
the rest of the army, a.d. 43. The transactions which ensued,
were, without doubt, very fully related by Tacitus : and, should
the four books of The Annals of Tacitus, which follow the sixth,
and are now lost, ever be recovered, they would be read with
the greatest interest.

The first mention of this legion in Britain at present extant,
is in that historian under Suetonius, Paulinus ; the time, a little
before the last battle with Boadicea, when the fourteenth legion
is spoken of, and the Vexillarii of the twentieth,:): and that these
last were at no great distance from the legion itself is most
probable ; for, when shortly afterwards the battle took place,
which was fatal to Boadicea, the twentieth was present: and
how valiantly it conducted itself may be judged from the great-
ness of the victory. Posthumius, prsefectus castrorum of the
second legion, having failed to join with the troops under his
command, killed himself from disappointment when he received
news of the victory. “ Posthumius, on the success of the four-
teenth and twentieth becoming known, because he had deprived
his own legion of a similar glory, and had not joined agreeably
to the orders of the commander-in-chief, transfixed himself with
his sword.”—Annals, xiv, 37.

After this there is no record of the legion being detached from
Britain, whence the greater surprise may be expressed to find it
asserted that eight years after Boadicea’s defeat, Galba, the
emperor, being consul the second time, and T. Vinnius, it was
ordered to Britain,§ it being already there.

Subsequently, Tacitus notes in his histories, Book i., 60, that
Boscius Cselius was legatus, or lieutenant-general of the twen-
tieth legion.

In the reign of Vespasian, Domitian appointed Agricola prse-

* Tacitus Annals i, 51.	t Annals xiv, 34.

t Annals i, 64.	§ Camden’s Chester.48

THE TWENTIETH ROMAN LEGION.

feet of the twentieth legion; and it is observed that it took the
oaths to the new emperor with reluctance.*

Camden asserts that Vespasian was the prsefect of the
twentieth legion ;f but he must mistake it for the second, to
which legion, according to Tacitus, Vespasian was appointed.^
The station of this legion was principally at the mouth of the
Dee, and adjoining parts. From its station in these parts
soon there arose up a municipal town, and afterwards a colony,§
which a coin of Geta and tile testify, which was dug up at
Chester. The inscription of the coin—which is in Goltzius—is
thus recorded:||—col. divana. leg. xx. victrix. From these
beginnings was the city now called Chester, a name derived
from the word castrum, a camp. The name of the river Deva,
the Dee, in Greek Ar)ova, which flows into the Irish sea at that
place, is from the British Dwy, which signifies a river.

At what time the twentieth legion became permanently
quartered at Chester is doubtful. Some light may possibly be
thrown on the question. It is certain, from the authority of
Tacitus, that Agricola reduced the Ordovices, who had just
cut off a wing of horse and subdued the Isle of Anglesea.1T It
also may be believed that he inspired terror of the Roman fame
into the minds of the Cangi and neighbouring tribes. The
Ordovices had been before conquered by Ostorius, who had
from thence passed into the country of the Cangi; and Anglesea
had been before subdued by Suetonius. To retain these people
in their fidelity, Agricola might have stationed the twentieth
legion in winter quarters at the mouth of the Dee, which would
have been in the vicinity of all these people. What Tacitus
relates is extremely favourable to this opinion, namely, that
after the reduction of the Ordovices and Anglesea from the
moderation and prudence exhibited by Agricola on his conquest,
many states gave hostages and were so surrounded with forts
that he thus succeeded in holding in check these newly acquired
parts of Britain.**

Whether, during the time this legion was quartered in Britain,

* Tacitus Agricola, vn.	IT Life of Agricola,

f Camden’s Wiltshire.	** Life of Agricola. Dr. Musgrave’s

j Histories, m, 44.	argument appears to be that it is

§ Camden in Cheshire and Flint.	probable that Chester would be made

|| This coin is regarded as of a principal station to the rest,
doubtful authority.THE TWENTIETH ROMAN LEGION.

49

it returned at any intervals to the continent, may be a fit subject
for inquiry. This leads us to mention the civil wars of Otho,
Vitellius, and Vespasian. We read that on one occasion during
these mortal struggles, the British army was added to the forces
of Vitellius :* it may therefore be thought possible that the twen-
tieth legion might have then been recalled to Italy. It is very
certain that the fourteenth legion was,f and that it employed
itself very sedulously in slaughtering fellow-citizens: but the
case is very doubtful with regard to the twentieth, and even
appears to the contrary. Tacitus relates that the vexillaries of
the three British legions—among which the twentieth was one—
fought under Caecina, at Cremona, against Vespasian.^ There-
fore, the vexillaries went out of the island, but it by no means
follows that the legion itself did : and Stewechius shows,
out of Vegetius,§ that the legions and their auxiliaries were
different.

A coin is said to be extant, having on the obverse “hadrianus
aug. consul hi pater patri.33”: on the reverse, “exercitus
romanus,” with the figure of the emperor addressing three
soldiers, which may pass symbolically for the three legions
which were in Britain in the time of Hadrian, among which was
the twentieth.!

Antonius Pius having conquered the Britons, by his general
Lollius Urbicus, constructed another wall across the island,
different from that of Hadrian. This extended from Glotta to
Bodotria—or between the Friths of Forth and Clyde. For
3,000 paces this was formed by the vexillaries of the twentieth
legion — Val. Vic — as appears by an ancient inscription in
Camden.1T

What Ptolemy says concerning this legion and the city of
Deva, is this: “ Ev ole (i. e. Kopvavioig) KoXeig &r\6vvava ical Aeytwy
rurjcpopidg. OuipoKoyiov." i. e. in this district, in the country of the
Cornavii, is the city of Deunana and the Legio Victrix; (in
these parts also is the city called) Uriconium. According to
Gale, some copies have Ar/uva, which would be the same as the

* Tacitus Histories, i, 61.	great beauty and skill, as is occasion-

f Tacitus Histories, ir.	ally seen in old works,

j Tacitus Histories, n, near the	Camden’s Stirlingshire, Julius

end, and in, 22.	Capitolinus’ Life of Antoninus Pius,

§ Commentary on Vegetius ii, 1. and Casaubon’s notes on him, also
|| In Speed’s “History of England,” Pausanias, lib, vm.
p. 218, where it is cut in wood with ** Lib. i, 3.

E50

HISTORICAL SECTION.

Latin Deva,—as in the eleventh Iter of Antoninus, where it
stands—deva. leg. xx. vict. From this it is plain that at
the date of Ptolemy, and of the Itinerary, our legion was quar-
tered at Deva, or Chester.

At Chester, in the year 1653, an altar was dug up, inscribed

--“JOVI 0. M. TANARO T ELUPIUS GALERIUS PRA2SENS GUNTA PRIN-

CIPIBUS LEG. XX. V.V. CONSECRAVIT COMMODO ET LATERANO

coss.Commodus and Lateranus were consuls, a.d. 154, in
the reign of Antonius Pius; and Prideaux, in his Marmora
Oxoniensia, interprets cc Prsesens Gunta ” prseses Gunethre, i.e.
president of North Wales; and the inscription would accord-
ingly be a dedication from this person to the Legatus Tribunes
and prefects of the twentieth legion. This altar, of course,
proves the station of the legion in the before-mentioned year,
154.

To this day undoubted traces of this legion are found in
Yorkshire—the ancient country of the Brigantes—at Crawdun-
dale Waith, by an inscription on a rock, “ varronio prjefecto
leg. xx. v.v.”* There are quarries at this place, which the
inscription may be alleged to shew were worked in ancient
times.

Dion expressly mentions that our legion was in Britain in the
time of Alexander Severus.f He reigned from a.d. 223 to
a.d. 235.

The altar of the two Longini, the father and the eon, dug up
at Chester^—who were contemporaries of Constantius—and the
coin of that emperor, then enjoying the title of Caesar, plainly
shew that this legion was in Britain during the reign of Diocle-
tian and Maximinian. The altar and the coin will both be here
briefly treated of, as being not much known, and deserving to be
more so. In order to illustrate the subject, it will be necessary
to speak of another coin—one of Carausius—and to refer to the
history of that leader, the ignoble Menapian, though, as it
appears, skilful commander. It may be requisite to say that he,
from his misdeeds, being condemned to die, usurped the purple,
and occupied Britain during seven years. From one of his
coins, found at Bath, and communicated to the world by Mr.

* Camden’s Britannia.	+ Liber nv.

I Additions to Camden’s Chester, and Leigh’s History of Lancashire
and Cheshire, lib. in, p. 29.THE TWENTIETH ROMAN LEGION.

51

Guidott—a man of very great learning*—it is plain that our
twentieth legion adopted his cause. This coint has on the
obverse the head of Carausius crowned with a radiated crown,
with the inscription: imp. c. caravsivs. p. f. avg. ; and on
the reverse, pax. avg. with the figure of Peace with a thun-
derbolt in her right hand, and leaning on a spear with her left.
Across the field of the coin, are inscribed the letters b. e.,
signifying Britannicus Exercitus. Under her feet is mixx,
which may be interpreted Militia Vicessimana; or, if it be
read mlxx, Militia Legionis Vicessimae.

This coin was struck, as may be presumed, after the protracted
war which this leader maintained with the Romans; when, ac-
cording to Eutropius—who may almost be supposed to have had
this coin under his eyes—“ war having been attempted in vain
against Carausius, who was so versed in the military art, at last
peace was made with him.”|

Carausius was assassinated by Alectus, a person who was on
intimate and confidential terms with him ; who was thereby
enabled himself to assume the purple for three years, till Con-
stantius Chlorus, the general of the two emperors, led an army
against him. Britain being thus restored to the Romans,
Longinus, tribune of the twentieth legion, together with his son,
raised an altar on the occasion at Chester, thus inscribed :§

PRO. SAL. DOMINORVM. NN. INVICTISSIMORVM AVGG. GENIO LOCI
FLAVIVS LONG. TRIB. MIL. LEG. XX. LONGINVS. FI. EIVS. DOMO
SAMOSATA. V.S.

Here it is evident that the altar was raised by the two Longini,
who, implicated in the proceedings of Carausius, and perhaps
also in those of Alectus, thus endeavoured to set matters right
by dedicating an altar to the genius of the place for the welfare
of the emperors, Constantius having re-established their sway in
the island.

This discovery was attended by another; for, when the altar
was taken up, a coin was found underneath, without doubt
purposely deposited according to the Roman custom, who threw
coins into the foundations of monuments and buildings. The

• Discourse on Bath. London, J Selden, Mare Clausum, xi, 5,
1G76, chap. x.	Eutropius ix.

t This coin requires verification in § Additions to Camden’s Ches-
modem times.	ter.

E 252

HISTORICAL SECTION.

coin represents on the obverse the side-face of Constantius, with
the inscription fl. val. constantivs. nob. c. ; on the reverse,
genio popvli romani, with a female figure holding a patera
in her right hand, and a cornucopia in her left: across the
field, separated by the figure, the letters R.E.

The coin is confirmatory of the whole history of Carausius,
and the R.E. on the reverse may be understood to answer to the
b.e. on Carausius reverse, and to imply that the Roman army
had been superior.*

But our twentieth legion was at one time quartered at Bath,
or some part of it. Two inscriptions follow below : that of
Julius Vitalis, found at Walcot, one mile from Bath, in the year
1708 —supposed date about A.n. 200; that of Marcus Valerius,
found at Bath, the date of which is unknown.

IVLIVS. VITALIS. FABRICIESIS. LEG. XX. V.V. STIPENDIORVM
IX. ANNOR. XX.IX. NATIONE. BELGA. EX. COLECIO FABRICE ELATV
S. H S E.f

The term fabricensis relates to the Fabricse, or manufac-
tories of arms, of which it is recorded that the Romans had several
in various parts of their empire, and even attached to particular
legions, as in this case. The locality of Bath might have afforded
convenient access to the iron-mines in the forest of Dean, in
Gloucestershire, where it is always reputed that the Romans had
mines. The other inscription—of Marcus Valerius—reads thus:

DIS MANIBVS M VALERI VS MR F LATIN VS C EQ MLES LEG XX AN
XXV STIPEN XX H S E.

As to the date at which our twentieth legion quitted Britain,
the altar of the Longini, and its accompanying coin, shew it still
remaining at the time of the death of Allectus, a.d. 297. How
much longer it remained is uncertain4 It is not mentioned in the
Notitia Imperii—the date of which is about 410—which mentions
the other two legions, the second and sixth, then in Britain. It

* Dr. Musgrave adds, that the coin learnedly and it may be added intcr-
was in his possession; that the repre- estingly, each part of this inscription,
sentation he gives, was engraved from J By reference to the poems of
it, and that he was indebted for his Claudian, it is presumable it was
information respecting Carausius, to removed from Britain about a ccn-
the work of Mr. Leigh.	tury subsequent to the above date,

t In the work treating of this epi- to co-operate in the Getican war.
taph of Julius Vitalis, from whence Several passages in that poet render
these particulars relating to the twen- this scarcely doubtful, and this
tieth legion are derived, the Doctor opinion is supported by Richard of
treats extremely in detail, and very Cirencester.THE TWENTIETH ROMAN LEGION.

53

was therefore by that time removed elsewhere, or transfused into
cohorts, and thus its name lost.

The distinction v.v. of this legion is still to be noted, and
cannot be illustrated without some considerable investigation.
These two letters have been variously interpreted by different
persons, though the last of them by common consent is under-
stood to be Victrix.

As to the term Victrix, it was a word very agreeable to
Roman ears, and even venerable. Thus we find on coins,*
Venus Victrix, Minerva Victrix, Roma Victrix. So of the
names of the legions in the inscription at Romet the sixth and
twentieth are styled Victrix. The ninth we know otherwise
was so too. The various sources from which we know that our
twentieth legion in Britain was styled Victrix have been before
enumerated.

The other more doubtful letter some read Valens, as Cam-
den,:): Burton,§ and Leigh;|| but Camden hesitatingly and doubt-
fully; for speaking of the Roman inscription at Crowdundale
Waith in Westmoreland, which expresses this v.v. after the
name of the twentieth legion, he says “Valens Victrix, or the
like.” Gale, from mistake, or from assuming what was erro-
neous for truth, says :1F “ This legion is thus expressed in the
inscriptions of Gruter, leg.xx.v.v., and on the following stone,
praef.leg.xx. valen.victr.”: and in the margin he says, “To
this legion Vicissima Valens Victrix Agricola was appointed
commander by Vespasian.” It would seem he was not aware
that there was more than one Legio Vicessima v.v.

The author of the additions to Camden’s Chester reads Vic-
trix Valeria. Leave may be craved to dissent from so many
learned men, and to follow Ursatus** and others, in reading Va-
leriana Victrix, chiefly resting on the authorities of Tacitus and
Dion Cassius in this matter. Dion has the following passage on
the subject:ft “Ot Ebcoarol bi teat OvaXepu'toi Kal Nt/o/rO/Ofc wvofxaa^ivoi
Kal tv ftpEravvia tt} avo> ovteq ovanvag avrog ipoi boKit pera rwv r?)j' te
rod eiKoamv inwvvpiav i^ovruv Kal ev ri} Tsppar'ia rr] avto yEipa^orrtvy ti
Kal ra paXiara vf airavTwv OvaXeptEtoi ETrEKXrjQrjaav prjrs vvv eti rrj

* Oisclii Thesaurus Selectorum § Commentary on Antoninus, p. 126.
Numismatum.	|| History of Lancashire.

+ Lipsii Notae in xi Librum Taciti IT Commentary on Antoninus, p. 51.
Historiarum.	** He Notis Romanorum, p. 280.

X Camden’s Chester.	tt Liber lv.54

HISTORICAL SECTION.

irpoariyopia ravrr} Kpwvrat. 7rapa\a/3wr kri)pr\aE (Avyouoroc).” That is,
“The twentieth Valerian Victrix quartered in upper Britain,
which seems to me the same with that bearing the name of the
twentieth which wintered in upper Germany; though it was not
called by all Valeriana, nor bears the name now. (Augustus)
patronizing them, did not disband the legion, but continued it
among his forces.”

First, this passage of Dion shews that there was a twentieth
legion called Valeriana Victrix. As to the word Valeriana, it
must refer to a man’s name. Thus Tacitus speaks of a legion
which he styles Claudiana.* * * § It may be remarked, that ad-
jectives ending in anus are found particularly connected with
the names of legions. Thus in Caesar we have the appellation
Legio Fabianat and Legiones Fabian®, as also Veteranae Le-
giones4 In Hirtius, Legiones Julianae;§ elsewhere, Quarta
(legio) Afraniana.|| One of the second legions was called
Pompeiana. In an inscription at Messina occurs Legio Deio-
tariana.1T In Tacitus we read of Vitelliance Legiones,** * as also
of Legio Hispana;++ and again, Legio Galbiana.:j4 In Ptolemy
is mentioned Tpaiaiij Aeyiujv, i.e. Legio Trajana.§§ Vegetius
mentions the Martiobarbuli, who were two legions, and called
Joviani and Herculiani,|||| which Zosimus has in a Greek form
Iofit.avoi ical EpKovXtavoi In Vopiscus we read of Legio Sexta
Gallicana.ITIT Moreover, the inscriptions cited by Ursatus,
mention the Legiones Antonian®,*** Severianmttt and Gor-
dian®4JJ

As to the form of the word, whether it should be Valeria or
Valeriana, we have Dion’s authority for the last; and though
we have the terms Gens Claudia, Gens Flavia, as also Lex
Pompeia, Lex Julia, Lex Valeria, yet we have seen that the
ana termination is most peculiar to legions; and in particular
the name Legio Valeria is not to be found in authors.

* Histories, u and in.	tt	Historiae, xi, 86; in, 7, 10.

t Bellum Civile, Lib. i.	§§	Geographia, lib. n, 9.

X Bellum Civile, Lib.in; and Hir-	||||	De Re Militari, lib. i, 17;	lib.

tius de Bello Alexandrino.	in.

§ De Bello Africano.	In Vita Aureliani.

|| De Bello Hispanensi.	*** De Notis Romanorum.

51 Velseri Monumenta Peregrina. fit Robortellus de Legionibus Ro-
Norimberg, 1682, fol. p. 427.	manis. In Graevius, vol. x, p. 1472.

** Historise, xi.	lit Lipsius analecta ad Militiam

tt Historiae, Lib. I.	Romanam, 1675, p. 423.THU TWENTIETH ROMAN LEGION-

55

Secondly, the passage in question in Dion shews that at the
time he wrote, in the reign of Alexander Severus, the twentieth
legion Valeriana was in Britain; and though it appears from
the inscription at Parma, as well as Gruter’s inscription, that
there was a twentieth legion styled Victrix Valens, yet there is
nothing to shew that the same ever came to this island, or to
controvert Dion’s evidence, that the one which did come was
Valeriana Victrix.

If it be inquired whence the name Valeriana was derived,
it may be answered that there was a Caius Valerius Flaccus
elected consul with Marcus Herennius, in the room of Caius
Marius, which was in the year of Rome 668, and b.c. 86; who
was the author of the Lex Valeria, one of the various laws passed
by the Valerian family for paying the fourth part of the debtor’s
goods to the creditor. It is certain that this Valerius com-
manded the legions, which were called after him Valerianae,*
as we are informed in a fragment of Sallust, preserved by
Priscian.f After Valerius was slain, they fell under Flavius
Fimbria, who commanded the army; and he making away with
himself, they came under Lucullus, and afterwards under Pom-
pey, in Asia. At last it is to be presumed they came to Antony,
who, after Pompey, held wide sway in Asia; and that from
them were taken the thirteen legions, which Antony, entering
Armenia, is said to have led against the Parthians.J Augustus
became possessed of Antony’s legions; and newly arranging
the Roman army, preserved the twentieth, as has been before
noted from Dion. These are not points we can dogmatize
upon: we can only suggest their probability.

Being named from Fimbria they were sometimes called
Qhnfipiavoi,§ although at that time they were serving under
Lucullus. That appellation ceasing, the name Valeriana again
prevailed, and as it should seem because it had been their
original name. That the same legions which were Antony’s
remained in existence a long time after him is certain; for in
the battle between the parties of Vespasian and Vitellus, near
Cremona, the commander of the third legion is represented by
Tacitus as exhorting his soldiers to remember how under An-

* Plutarch in Lucullo. Yell. Pater- J Velleius Paterculus, xi, 82 Jus-
culus, xi, 24.	tin, xlii. 5, sajs sixteen leyions.

t Priscian, xxxviii.	§ Plutarch in Lucullus.56

HISTORICAL SECTION.

tony they had repulsed the Parthians:* and yet this was 103 or
104 years before.

It is also necessary to remind the reader that there was a
Valerius Messala, whose daughter the emperor married,f and
who became the mother of Britannicus. It is not impossible
that the name Valeriana may have been derived from her.

Thus there seems to have been at one time several Legiones
Valeriante, at another several twentieth legions; but that all
the Valerian legions were twentieth legions, or all the twentieth
legions Valerian, is by no means to be concluded. Moreover,
it would appear that the Valerian legions, as far as the name,
became reduced to one before the army was reformed by
Augustus, and that afterwards the twentieth legion became
multiplied.f From what cause it was styled Victrix is uncer-
tain. The Fimbriani, of whom the legion may be reputed
to have been a part, are characterised by Plutarch, who notes
both their good and evil qualities,§ as “ bold and lawless
men, pugnacious and experienced in war, and patient of its
hardships.” Ptolemy, as it should seem, is the first who gave
them the appellation of “ Nik^7-opec,”|| which implies that the
legion was then called Victrix ; and this first notice of the
name may be referred to about a.d. 130. Whether they ob-
tained the name from the conquest of Boadicea, and the retriev-
ing of the reputation of the Roman arms thereby, or from the
conquest of the Silures, Cangi, and Brigantes, or, which would be
nearer Ptolemy’s time, from Agricola’s victories in Scotland
over Galgacus, must altogether be left in uncertainty.

However these things may be, our twentieth Valerian legion
is to be regarded as one out of several twentieth legions, and
distinct from that twentieth styled “Valens.” Thus we have
traced our twentieth legion from Valerius Flaccus, employed
successively under him, under Fimbria, under Lucullus, under
Pompey. But more evidently we have traced it from Antony,
under him, under Augustus, under Tiberius, under Germanicus,
under Plautius, under Suetonius Paulinus, under Agricola, who
were all certainly noted leaders, and commanded it in Asia, on

* Histories, iv, 24.	J Life of Lucullus.

t Ursinus de Familiis Romanis. § Lib. i, 3.

Suetonius in Claudio, xxvi, with || Lib. i, 2.

Pitiscus’ notes.THE TWENTIETH ROMAN LEGION.

57

the Rhine, and in Britain. Altogether, our details of it extend
through several centuries, down to a.d. 297; that is, from
Antony about 334 years, from Flaccus 383 years.

To the foregoing dissertation may be added the inscription
found at Whitechapel in 1776, before alluded to at p. 44:—

D ’M’ IVL * VALIVS MIL ’LEG XX VV AN ’ XL ’ H ’ S ’ E ’ C ’A’ FLAVIO
ATTIO ’ HER.

Also that found at Airdoch in Stratherne, mentioned by
Camden, and given in the additions to that author as well as by
Sir Robert Sibbald. The stone on which the inscription is
engraved is in the form of the front of a temple. The middle
part is occupied by a figure of Victory sitting on a globe holding
a garland. Within the garland is an inscription, as also on the
pediment above and plinth beneath. The three were transcribed
in Camden, but are said to be somewhat more correctly thus.
On the pediment imp. c. t. m. hadriano. antonino. avg. pio.
pp. Within the garland vex. leg. xx. v. v. fec. On the
plinth pp. iiiicdxi. The whole implies that the vexillaries of
the twentieth Legion had constructed a length of 4411 paces of
Graham’s Dyke, or the wall of Antoninus. On the middle of
the plinth is the delineation of a wild boar.

There was still another inscription connecting this legion
with the wall of Antoninus, which it seems was first mentioned
by Edward Lhuyd the antiquary, and read thus with restora-
tions [ i]mp. c. t. ae. [h]adriano. antonino. [av]g. pio. p. p.
[vex. l]eg. xx. v. v. [pp. iiiicIdxi. This records a further
length of the wall executed, and, as far as may be judged from
the concluding figures, the same as the former.58

ON MONKISH MIRACLES, AS ILLUSTRATIVE OF HISTORY.

BY THOMAS WUIGHT, M.A., F.S.A., ETC.

The grand and final object of the researches of Archmologists
is—and certainly ought to be—to arrive at historical truth. To
understand the history of our forefathers in remote ages, some-
thing more is necessary than a simple perusal of the chronicles
of events; we ought to be well acquainted with the manners and
customs of the people among whom those events were acted, of
the knowledge and intelligence of the age in which they occurred,
and of the feelings and characters of the actors; and every dusty
relic moved from its hiding-place by the hands of the antiquary,
may contribute to throw some new’ light on what was previously
obscure and mysterious. The humblest class of documents—an
old parish register, a bill of household expenses, a private libel
— all these are sometimes of extreme importance ; and even
fables and stories are not to be despised, for from such sources
as these the critical enquirer will often deduce useful results.
Such also is the case with a set of documents which, despised
justly with regard to the character to which they lay claim, have
still been treated with too much neglect; these are the talcs
commonly known as monkish miracle legends.

There are two classes of monkish miracles. The first consists
of legends of the earlier saints, which refer to periods long be-
fore the time at which the legends were themselves composed,
and these, containing no contemporary allusions, are compara-
tively worthless. The other class is altogether of a different
character. Many of the monastic houses possessed the shrine of
some sainted personage, or some relic of unusual holiness, which
was an object of pilgrimage, because it was supposed to be the
scene or instrument of miraculous cures. As this was a source
of considerable profit, the monks of the place kept registers of
remarkable cases in which it was believed or pretended that
there had been a miraculous interference, and the collections of
stories thus formed were read from time to time publicly inMONKISH MIRACLES.

59

order to stimulate the pilgrim’s zeal. Such was the case, among
a multitude of other examples, at the tomb of St. Swithun at
Winchester, at the shrine of St. Edmund at Bury, at the tomb
of king Harold at Waltham, even at that of Simon de Montfort
at Evesham. Many of these collections of local miracles still
remain in manuscript, and some of them have been printed; and
among them we find not only illustrations of the manners and
sentiments of ages concerning which without such documents we
should be almost in the dark, but also curious details of historical
events of importance, which enable us to fill up the otherwise
lifeless outline of the dry chronicler. My object in the present
brief and hurried paper is to give two or three examples of the
kind of historical information which we glean from these hitherto
little used sources.

Unfortunately, during the Anglo-Saxon period, our remains
of this description are very scanty. I say unfortunately, because
there were a great number of Anglo-Saxon saints, and the in-
teresting character of the small number of collections of Anglo-
Saxon miracles which remain, makes us regret doubly the loss of
the large quantity of such literature of the Anglo-Saxon period
which must have perished. The miracles of St. Edmund, written
at different periods during the eleventh century, and preserved
in manuscript in the British Museum, contain, among other
things, several interesting notices relating to the Danish invasions.
A still earlier collection—the miracles performed at the shrine
of St. Swithun of Winchester—furnish us with interesting illus-
trations of Anglo-Saxon manners; and I will speak more at
large of this book, because it relates to the city at which we held
our Congress last year. The feelings of mutual satisfaction with
which our previous annual meetings have been attended, will
bear well a retrospective memorial of this kind.

The miracles of St. Swithun were written by a monk of
Winchester named Lantfrid, a disciple of bishop Athelwold, the
builder of that noble cathedral of which such extensive remains
have been traced in the present structure by our talented friend
and associate Mr. Cresy, and were shortly afterwards transferred
to Latin verse by another monk of the same religious house named
Wolstan. A nearly contemporary manuscript of both these
works is preserved in a very fine volume in the British Museum
(MS. Reg. 15, E. II). All these stories relate more or less to60

HISTORICAL SECTION.

events which occurred at Winchester, within a few years of the
time at which they were committed to writing, and (excepting
the miraculous part, which is in general easily to be explained
away) are no doubt perfectly true. They give us the only in-
formation we possess relating to the manners of the people of
Winchester at this remote period, and contain several curious,
though imperfect, pictures of the domestic life of our Saxon
forefathers. They illustrate, in several instances, the legal and
social position of different classes of society to one another;
they even show, though obscurely, the Anglo-Saxon method of
levying taxes. One story gives a singular description of the
way of proceeding against an offender accused of theft, and of
the process of trial by the ordeal of obliging the accused to hold
a piece of red-hot iron in his hand. There are several accounts
of the application of judicial punishment of a very strange
character, which remind us almost of the savage tortures said to
have been inflicted by the most barbarous nations. The follow-
ing may serve as an instance :—

A man one day came from foreign parts. He had been
guilty of parricide, and, as a punishment, his body was sur-
rounded with nine rings or hoops of steel, which were forced
into the flesh, and these he was to carry about with him nine
years. They were so contrived that it was almost impossible to
loosen them by the art of man. This miserable wanderer came
a penitent to the shrine of St. Swithun, and there we are told
two of the rings which had caused him the most excruciating
torment fell to the ground; he was probably relieved by the
monks of the place. We may form some idea of this horrible
species of punishment from the fact that one of the rings from
which he was thus relieved had been riveted round his belly1',
and by rust and its own weight had eaten away the flesh so as
to lay open his intestines; and that the other had been riveted
round the arm almost to the bone, and was now imbedded in a
mass of blood and putrid matter.

Another miracle describes the punishment for robbery in
England, in the reign of king Edgar, of whom the relator of
these miracles was a contemporary. The offender was first de-
prived of his eyes ; his hands, feet, ears, and nose, were then cut
off, and he was finally scalped, the skin with the hair of his head
being stripped off, and in this deplorable condition he was ex-MONKISH MIRACLES.

Gl

posed in the field to the mercy of beasts and birds, until he died.
So heavy a penalty shows the great prevalence of robbery and
violence, and the unprotected condition of personal property.
There are other proofs in these miracles of the frequence of
theft and all kinds of dishonesty at the period to which they
relate.

During the middle ages, a very large portion of our fore-
fathers were literally and truly slaves. As late as the fourteenth
or fifteenth century a serf, or peasant, quitting for an instant the
land on which he was born, was liable to be seized by his lord
and thrown into prison and tortured or put to death. We read
of a Norman bishop, of the twelfth century, who, in revenge for
a partial insurrection of his serfs, seized a certain number of
them, stripped them naked and bound them with iron to stakes,
and left them thus exposed to the sun and the attacks of noxious
insects until they died, no one daring to offer them the slightest
degree of assistance. We know that under the Anglo-Saxons
the condition of the serfs was exceedingly miserable. The
manner in which they were treated by their lords is shown in
several of Lantfrid’s miracles, of which an instance or two will
suffice.

There was a citizen of Winchester, named Teothic, whose
servant-maid had committed some slight fault. In revenge—
for it can only be called revenge—he placed heavy fetters of
iron on her legs and hands, and left her in that condition all
night, intending to flog her severely on the morrow. She ceased
not during the night to cry to God, that for the sake of St.
Swithun he would deliver her from her tormentor, until at
dawn, when the time of her punishment was approaching, in the
midst of her sobs and groans the fetters suddenly fell from her
feet. The maid rushed from the house direct to the cathedral,
and threw herself on her knees before the shrine of the saint.
She was saved from the wrath of her master by the interference
of the clergy.

On another occasion, a servant or serf in the northern part of
England was stolen away from her master by slave-dealers
(mangonibus), and brought to Winchester, where she was sold
to one of the citizens. After things had remained in this posi-
tion a length of time, her old master paid a visit to Winchester,
and knowing that he was there, she went to speak with him62

HISTORICAL SECTION.

without having received permission from her then lord. Her
mistress was informed that the girl had been to talk with a
strange man, and having learnt the circumstances of the case,
she threatened her with vengeance, and ordered her to be thrown
into chains and fettered in a most cruel manner, for fear that she
should return to her old lord. The wretched servant managed
to drag herself out of the house and crawl into the cathedral
(which was near at hand), or, as the legend says, she was carried
there miraculously, and by the intercession of the saints was re-
lieved from her fears and sufferings.

We have several other instances of throwing servants into
fetters, which were fastened on almost as cruelly as the hoops of
the parricide mentioned above, and they were otherwise treated
with the greatest barbarity. Such were the times on which we
are accustomed to look as those of “ merry old England,”—the
mirth, if mirth there were among any but the oppressors, was
but fitful ebullitions, partaking of the character of that “ moody
madness” which is described by the poet as “laughing wild
amid severest woe.” Such, as far as social happiness was con-
cerned, was the general character of the middle ages.

After the Norman conquest, and especially during the twelfth
century, these collections of miracles became very numerous; a
few have been printed, but by far the greatest number still re-
main in manuscript, and have never been used for historical
purposes. St. Bega was the patroness of St. Bees in Cumber-
land, where she had left a holy bracelet, which was long an object
of profound reverence. A small collection of her miracles,
written in the twelfth century, is extant, and has been printed;
and we may judge of the variety of incidents which occur among
similar stories, from the prefatory statement of its compiler, that
— “ Many borne down by various infirmities, or troubled with
unclean spirits, there, by the power of her merits and prayers,
obtained the wished-for restoration to health; many who were
imprisoned, whether bound by chains or fetters, found liberation
from her; whosoever forswore himself upon her bracelet, swiftly
incurred the heaviest punishment of perjury, or a speedy death ;
and no one could with impunity violate the peace of that place,
but felt it instantly vindicated and terribly inflicted upon him,
that others might have fear and hold the place thereafter in

awe.MONKISH MIRACLES.

63

One of the miracles in this little collection describes an inroad
of the pilfering Scots from the other side of the border, and fur-
nishes one of the earliest instances of the efficiency of the Eng-
lish bow. After having uttered opprobrious words against the
virgin saint, one of the Scots, to use the words of the story,
“ went away in the counsel and company of his impious fellows,
and both secretly and openly, whenever he could join with the
rest, drove away booty both from the land of St. Bega and else-
where. Having taken a horse from her territory, he was now
mounted on horseback. But certain of the herdsmen, seeing the
robbers from a distance, ran into the town, and by blowing of
horns got together a large crowd from all parts, to whom was
related what had happened. And they swiftly followed the
robbers, who were now flying, but saw only the wretch before-
mentioned, riding a long way off, separated from his companions,
who, when they heard the sound of the horn, and saw the crowd
following after them, took to their heels, leaving their booty
behind them, desirous only of saving their lives. But a certain
young man, swifter than the others, gained upon the sacrilegious
horseman and discharged some arrows at him. He disdained
to dismount; but, because he feared to be shot in the heart by
an arrow, stooped down with his head upon the horse’s neck.
The Scots, Irish, and Galwaithers (natives of Galway) fear
these sort of arms more than others, and therefore they call an
arrow a flying devil (unde et sagittam deemonem volantem vocant)"
In the posture alluded to, a chance arrow struck the marauder
in a spot where he least expected, and he fell lifeless from his
horse.

Another of these miracles describes a scene of drunken riot,
and its consequences, and depicts somewhat strikingly the mode
in which the offenders were pursued. “ There is a town in
Copeland, called Workington, situated near the river Derwent,
at which place, one Sunday towards evening, as the men were
returning home from the tavern after their day’s drinking, their
tongues became sharpened into a quarrel, and then from strife
in words they came to blows. Three of them, superior in
number and strength, fell upon the fourth, and easily got him
down under them. They dragged him into a certain little house
vulgarly called a tomel, and, perhaps by holding him down,
smothered him, or strangled him with their hands round his64

HISTORICAL SECTION.

throat. This being straightway discovered, the villagers flocked
together from all parts, and taking the dead man from that
secret place, found no wound upon the body. Upon this a hue
and cry is raised, according to the custom of the country, and
the inhabitants are collected together by the sound of the horn.
The three homicides were seized, bound, and carried to the castle
of Egremont, where they were thrown into the dungeon.”
After having suffered much, they became penitent for the
murder, and after many prayers, were miraculously delivered
from prison by St. Bega; but, singularly enough, not a word is
said on the impropriety of their method of passing the Sabbath,
which in fact seems to have been the common practice of the
time.

It has already been observed that the most valuable of these
miracles belong to the twelfth century. During the reign of
Stephen, they abound with pictures of the unbounded violence
and oppressions of the age, when every feudal landholder built
him a castle, and turned it into a den of thieves, who continually
scoured the country, and carried off the inhabitants to their
strong-hold, where they tortured them until they gave up
their money and property. One of the miracles of Reginald of
Durham (a large and interesting collection printed by the Sur-
tees Society), gives a truly horrible description of the treatment
of a prisoner in the dungeon of the castle of Berwick. In this,
and in various other similar descriptions in the same collection,
the prisoners are described as cast in dark holes filled with every
description of filth, and loaded from head to foot with ponderous
fetters which literally eat into the flesh. They were often fed
but twice a-week, and that scantily, and the fetters which held
their bodies were riveted tight to the walls, so that they had no
power of moving. One of Reginald’s miracles describes a
judicial combat. Another, which he describes as happening in
his time (nostris diebus), bears a close resemblance to one of
those already quoted from the Saxon Lantfrid, and shows how
little the world had changed in civilization from the tenth to the
twelfth century. A foreigner, as a punishment for some heavy
crime, had a girdle of iron riveted tight round his body, and two
rings of iron fixed on his arms. With these he wandered about
the world penitent and miserable, till he came to the holy sepul-
chre at Jerusalem, where he was miraculously delivered fromMONKISH MIRACLES.

65

his belt; the fetter upon his right arm subsequently fell off at
Limozacum ; he wandered seven years from country to country
and from shrine to shrine in the hope of getting rid of the third
fetter, which had eaten its way through the flesh to the bone,
and at length he obtained his release at Durham, at the tomb of
St. Cuthbert. In another miracle in the same collection, a man
is thus girdled round the naked body with a ring of iron made of
the sword or other weapon with which he had committed his
crime. More than one instance of this extraordinary kind of
punishment occurs. Reginald’s book, indeed, abounds with in-
teresting descriptions of the private manners and vices of the
twelfth century. But I have, I think, cited a sufficient number
of instances to show the importance to the historian of this ex-
tensive class of medieval literature, which is the only object of
the preceding observations.66

SECTION II.—PRIMEVAL ANTIQUITIES.

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE ANCIENT CITY OF URICONIUM.IN THE
COUNTY OF SALOP, AND OF THE ROMAN REMAINS
DISCOYERED AT THAT STATION.

BY THOMAS FARMER DUKES, F.S.A.

Notwithstanding the laborious pains and the intensity of
pursuit and inquiry that have been undertaken by the most
intelligent and persevering historians of ancient and modern
times, to unravel the mystery and darkness which pervade the
early state of the inhabitants of the British islands as a nation;
the obscurity is so impenetrable that no writer of this or any
other country has hitherto been enabled to develope it — no
authentic record has been obtained to discover or illustrate its
primeval condition—no adequate authority has hitherto been
met with to pierce that halo of mystery and awe which is
spread over the original condition of Great Britain. The
fountain of history indeed, as regards this, if not of every other
country of Europe, is so overshadowed by fable, that the
suffrages of the best writers of every age and nation yield to
this regretted certainty—to this indelible truth. There are no
existing repords at present known which sufficiently depict ,a
primitive state of society, save the inspired writings; and the
rarest and best memorials of the early ages are but little
superior to fanciful and untenable theories: but it seems to be
now admitted, that the primeval antiquities that have been
discovered in these islands belong to a period connected with
that which has been usually called British, Gaulish, Cymric,
and Celtic. The infancy of history has been chiefly preserved
in the language of poesy, and has come down to us delineated
and modelled conformably rather to the capricious taste and
prevailing raptures of the votaries of the muses; and it isROMAN REMAINS OF URICONIUM.

67

admitted that the pagan writers and historians of that early
period were the mere creatures of fanciful imagination, which
in after ages obtained the substantial belief which is almost
inseparable from the proverbial principle, “ that what is obscure
is necessarily sublime.”

The several historical details of the first settlement of the
Roman station Uriconium, or as it is now called, Wroxeter,
which have reached us, were, until a recent period, vague and
unsatisfactory. Some authors have attributed the foundation
of Wroxeter to the Britons, but the more prevailing accounts
which we possess of its origin are, that it was founded by the
Roman invaders of Britain; yet, although much has been
attempted to establish this account of its foundation, the result
has not satisfactorily tended to remove those reasonable doubts
which continued to exist concerning it. To a reflecting and
considerate mind it may reasonably be affirmed that its origin
was antecedent to the arrival of the Romans in this country—
that it owes its foundation to the Britons, and that the Romans
enlarged and strengthened it, and finally elevated it to the
dignity of a city.

A recent accidental discovery has thrown some valuable light
on the historical question. In the year 1841, a large brass
coin of the emperor Trajan, in a high state of preservation and
freshness, was found imbedded in the mortar of the Roman
wall (usually denominated the old works), still remaining at
Wroxeter. This fact warrants the conclusion, that although
the erection of this station, or of its enlargement, might have
been posterior to the reign of Trajan, it would seem to be clear
and decisive that it could not have been raised at an earlier
period. Trajan succeeded Nerva, and took the title of Au-
gustus a.d. 98, and died a.d. 117; and consequently it may be
presumed from the perfect condition and freshness of impress
of the above-mentioned coin, that Uriconium was built early in
the second century.

In a military point of view, even a partial survey of the
country surrounding this selected spot would prove abundantly
convincing to the eye of a warrior, that the site of this once
celebrated place possessed claims of so superior a nature as to
prove highly attractive to the Romans. The soil of the country
to a considerable extent hereabouts is celebrated for its richness

f 268

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

and productive quality, whilst the place is adorned and sur-
rounded with such surpassing and fascinating beauties of land-
scape scenery and sylvan prospects, which expand over fertile
vales and rivers and a picturesque and well-wooded country,
as fail not to strike the beholder with wonder and admir-
ation. Its substantial advantages as a military post are pre-
eminently conspicuous, being flanked by the broad and rapid
rivers the Severn and the Tern, which unite at this place,
forming nearly a crescent-boundary to the station, whilst the
celebrated mountain called the Wrekin (from whence the
station is reasonably supposed to derive its name), majestically
rising out of the extensive plain of Shropshire, elevating its
head to a height of above 1320 feet, is situate immediately
fronting the eastern approach, and between the river Severn
and Watling-street Road, at the distance of about three miles;
at once affording an advantageous point of observation, and
forming the postern or key-stone of the station, from whence
the surrounding country and the limits of the horizon are dis-
cernible in almost every direction therefrom, to an extent of
upwards of twenty leagues. The majesty and grandeur of the
horizon here can scarcely be rivalled; the bold arch of this
natural pyramid suddenly rising from the circumjacent plain,
adorned and beautified with a profusion of extraordinary land-
scape scenery, scarcely interrupted by any lofty eminences until
it sinks from the gaze, when the views are succeeded by moun-
tainous grounds, 60 happily diversified and situated as greatly
to extend the prospects which form its magnificent outline and
boundary. An extended district around this station is abun-
dantly intersected with numerous rivers, streams, and lakes or
meres of water; many of the last being from two to six or seven
miles in circumference. The river Tern or Tren rises as a
sheet of water called the Maerpool, in the adjoining county of
Stafford, taking a south-west course through a county which
even at this day is thickly covered with mosses, marshes, and
peat lands; the last of which are found to be in many places
several yards in depth, and are of so moist and tender a des-
cription as to render it dangerous if not impossible to pass over
them on horseback. The north and north-west portions of the
country, extending to the confines of the county, and frequently
into Cheshire and Staffordshire, are full of boggy grounds, quick-ROMAN REMAINS OF URICONIUM.

69

sands, and mud soils; notwithstanding that numerous waste
lands, commons, and extensive tracts of uncultivated lands,
have been at various times enclosed and reclaimed from the
stagnant waters, morasses, and marshy grounds, with which this
portion of the country was from one extremity to the other
saturated and covered.

This district being thus circumstanced, coupled with the
thickly-wooded uplands, would doubtless have presented a for-
midable barrier to the inroads of an enemy, and powerfully
operate as an impediment and check to his progress; it would
indeed have rendered it scarcely possible for the Britons, coming
from the north and north-eastern parts of the island, to assail
or annoy the possessors of this formidable establishment. From
advantages like these here enumerated, the site of Wroxeter
would naturally prove attractive, and strongly inducive to the
Roman cohorts to pitch their camp upon it, and fortify a place
to which the junction of the Severn and Tern added such
natural strength. The necessity of retaining this station, and
the resulting benefits of keeping secure such vantage ground,
would naturally continue to exist so long as any portion of the
country within its vicinage remained to be conquered by these
invaders; and hence, a considerable town or city would be
likely to arise for the reception and accommodation of the
travelling communities of the empire, whilst the Watling-street
and the Banchor roads were not only the best, but the only
regular passes through this portion of the country. But whether
the first or succeeding camps were so large as the present
mound or vallum, which extends nearly three miles in circum-
ference, including a tract of about fourteen hundred acres of
land, may with reason be considered as matter of doubt. There
are still evident remains of a cordon of encampments and stations
surrounding and probably in conjunction with that of Wroxeter,
but none of them exceed twenty-six acres within the banks or
mounds, so that Wroxeter itself would have contained at least
twenty times as many soldiers as any of the other stations:
these small stations could not have been held secure against the
formidable attacks of the enemy, having only a small body of
men in them, or such a body of soldiers as could be spared by
the Roman commanders when on their route to attack the
Brigantes or other powerful tribes, but they were essential70

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

for the due watching of the motions of an enemy to give
notice to the superior station in the event of any hostile
demonstration.

Antiquaries agree that the Roman general Ostorius fortified
the two rivers, Sabrina (Seveme) and Antona (Avon) before he
marched from those parts against the Brigantes.

Tacitus makes this general not move but fly from one side
of the island to the other, and represents him always in such
a hurry that it seems impossible, or at least improbable, that
Ostorius should have constructed the Watling-street road, and
formed the several camps by the side of it which are existing to
this day. This seems rather to have been the work of Agricola,
whose skill in such affairs was, according to this officer, equal
if not superior to that of any of the Roman generals; but per-
haps this might not be the work of any one of his successors,
but required the assistance and knowledge of several.

Ostorius was doubtless capable of forming one camp, and
enabled to spare a sufficient number of men to secure it against
the attacks of an enemy already beaten; for although he did
not know what quantity of land or men might lie beyond the
JSilures and Ordovices, he must soon have been sensible of the
advantageous situation he had gained where the town of
Wroxeter is situated. What name was given to this camp
by the Romans, or how described previous to their arrival,
is unknown, and is likely so to remain, unless inscriptions
shall be met with hereafter that may lead to the discovery.
It is certain that Antoninus was at this place, or near to
it, at the period of his second journey across the country;
and consequently it could not be the Viriconium, the name
given to it by Camden and others. The name it now enjoys
was given to it by the Saxons, and is of doubtful deriva-
tion. Roman money has long been, and yet is frequently
found here, and of almost every emperor from Claudius
to Valentinian; the greater part of which was coined under
those who lived not long before the army was called hence
to defend such parts of the empire as lay near to the metro-
polis. Urns have frequently been dug up at this place,
of various kinds; many are Samian ware of the most elegant
patterns, with others of exceedingly fine and well-tempered
clay. (See plate). About the year 1700, a hypocaust was dis-I

H S E

III

1!

V

>8*

'BONA KB I
PVBLlCjfc
NAT VS.

ROMAN INSCRIPTIONS

POUND AT WROXLTERROMAN REMAINS OF URICONIUM.

71

covered. The room was below the natural surface of the
earth, was square, and contained twenty-four tiles placed per-
pendicularly on the floor; they were hollow, and so contrived
as to convey the heat of the fire made under them to every
part of the upper floor and ceiling. These upright tiles were
so placed as to support flat tiles, over which was spread a coat
or two of mortar. In Germany and other countries the best
apartments of great people are in like manner heated by flues
or funnels, from a fire not made in the room itself, as in Great
Britain, but in some other at a distance, — a custom which
may perhaps have been continued ever since the time of the
Homans.

In 1752, three of the sepulchral stones given in the accom-
panying plate (plate i) were discovered. Two of them were
fastened by tennons into mortices cut into other stones that lay
flat within, and were covered by the ground so far as the upper
stone is plain, to prevent their being thrown down. The fol-
lowing are translations of their inscriptions :—

i. Caius Marinius Secundus Pollentinus, the son of Caius,
of the tribe called Pollia, a soldier of the twentieth legion,
fifty-two years old, a pensioner of the first legion, lies here
interred.

n. Marcus Petronius, the son of Lucius, of the tribe Me-
nenia, who lived eight-and-thirty years, a soldier of the four-
teenth legion called Gemina, was eighteen years in the army,
and an ensign, lies here interred.

in. First Table.—To the infernal gods.—Placide, fifty-five
years of age, was the wife of the bailiff thirty years.

Second Table.—Deuccus, fifteen years of age, was the bailiff
three years, or, the bailiff of Trebonius.

In the first inscription everything is plain and easy to be
understood, except ben • leg • pr, which may be rendered two
other ways, and signify that Marinius was either the first or oldest
beneficarius,—a pensioner of the twentieth legion, to which he
belonged at the time of his death—or, that he was then a pen-
sioner of the first legion, or, that he belonged to the first legion
at the time he became a pensioner.

Second Inscription. This is the first time that the fourteenth
legion, called Gemina, has been met with in this island. We
learn from Tacitus, that the fourteenth legion came there72

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

with Suetonius Paulinus; that it was chiefly engaged in the
battle with Boadicea; and that for this and other victories
it was called the conqueror of Britain : after it had been
here somewhat more than twenty years, Nero called it home;
Vitellius sent it back again, and Vespasian removed it from
hence a second time, and, it is said, it never returned again.
It is also remarked that the small remains of the ninth legion,
after this bloody battle, were taken into the sixth legion,
which, it is presumed, might on this account be called Victrix ;
but, may it not also be supposed that they were taken into
the fourteenth, and that from this time it went by the name
of Gemina, which the other seems never to have done; for, ac-
cording to Dio, when any part of a legion was added to another,
after having been reduced by sickness or ill-success in war, that
legion which received an accession, was called Gemina. At the
time of the compilation of the Notitia, this legion was in
Hungary.

The Third. These two inscriptions seem to be of consider-
ably later date than the others. Whether cvr • ag may not
stand for Curator Agrarius is uncertain, because we do not meet
with this title in any author or in any other inscription. This
curator might be some person under the villicus or farmer, to
look after the grounds, fences, drains, etc. To the care of these
curators seems to have been committed the bees, birds, poultry,
bams, statues, etc. The lands which lay next to the vallum of
a Roman camp, on the outside, were sometimes called Agraria
(Terra sc), and if so it does not seem necessary to enquire farther
for the meaning of the words cvr • ag • tre ; for Trebonius might
be the governor of the place at that time; but whether Tre-
bonius Maximus—the legate here under Nero—is here meant,
does not appear.

iv. In the year 1810, this stone was discovered in the vicinity
of those above-named, and placed by the then vicar of Wroxeter
against his vicarage-house, where it remained until his decease,
when it was removed into the library of the royal Free Grammar
School at Shrewsbury, where the other sepulchral stones were
placed, and where they all four now remain. The inscription
on this last stone is very much worn, and indistinct. The fol-
lowing is an attempted translation of it: “ Tiberius ClaudiusFLATK -S.

ROMAN POTTER/ DISCOVERED AT WROXETER..ROMAN REMAINS OP URICONIUM.	73

Terentius, of the cohort of the Thracians, fifty-seven years old,
who served, . . . lies buried here.”

v.	Is a sepulchral stone, supposed to have been found in the

vicinity of Wroxeter. It was presented to the Shrewsbury and
North Wales Museum, in 1841.	“ To the gods presiding over

the manes. Diadumenus erected (this monument) to Antonia
Gemella, who lived thirty-three years.”

vi.	This is only a fragment.

vii.	This stone, inscribed “ Bona reipublicse natus,” seems to
have been used as a font.*

The second plate which illustrates this paper, exhibits specimens
of fictile vessels discovered at Wroxeter, together with two intaglios,
a bone pin, and a strigil.

* A similar inscription on a large Constantine, on some of his coins, is
rude pillar resembling the milliary complimented with this title, con-
stones, is recorded by Horseley. The stantino. p. avg. b. rp. nat. ; and it
stone on which it was carved stood forms the epigraph on the gold coins
by the side of a military way leading of Flavius Victor, in the latter half
from Walwick Chesters to Carrvoran. of the fourth century.—c. R. s.74

OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRIMEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY OF
DORSETSHIRE.

BY CHARLES WARNE.

I hope to be enabled to prove, from the facts to which I am
desirous of drawing attention, that few counties are richer in
primeval archaeology than Dorsetshire; a circumstance in a
great measure to be attributed to its local position. The pos-
session of a considerable line of coast, well-sheltered roadsteads,
and secure harbours of easy access, in addition to its proximity
to the continent, presented such facilities to the aboriginal set-
tlers as led them to avail themselves of these advantages to a
considerable extent.

The evidences and manifestations of the primitive fathers of
our land meet the eye of the antiquary at every point and in
every form. Many a mound rises around him covered with the
green sward and rustling grass;—these were their tombs ; and
when seen in graceful and varied form, whether in immediate
contiguity, or breaking the outline of the hills in the distant
horizon, they cannot fail to arrest the attention of even the
careless spectator, whilst the more reflective is led by his
imagination to wander, in the mind’s eye, through the long vista
of past centuries, and meditate on the manners and customs,
religious systems and ceremonies, which were hallowed in their
observances by those venerable patriarchs who—

“ O’er their graves in heapy hillocks threw
The crumbling mould.”—Apollonius Rhodius.

On our yet uninclosed downs, occasional and marked inequal-
ities of the surface,—attracting notice in some instances from
their circular depressions, in others from a series of slight fossae
and low valla of remarkable irregularity, frequently with track
and covered ways in connexion,—point out the simple settle-
ments and rude residences of our Celtic predecessors. Whilst
the stupendous monolith, mystic circle, and massy cromlech,
are so many sure but silent memorials of a religious system
with its accompanying ceremonies, over which a veil of im-
penetrable obscurity seems destined ever to remain.ARCHEOLOGY OF DORSETSHIRE.

75

It will be impossible in this place (and in a paper so limited
as this must necessarily be) to enter into a detailed description
of these illustrations of ancient Dorsetshire; I must therefore
content myself on the present occasion with giving a brief
review of such of these remains as have come under my personal
observation. In doing this, though I cannot forbear expressing
my regret that it has not fallen into abler hands, still it is highly
necessary that some record should be made (meagre even as it
may be) of these (what we had vainly conceived) time-enduring
monuments; but the great change which the surface of the land
has of late undergone, has caused them to disappear before us
in such rapid succession,—some being totally obliterated, and
others so sadly mutilated, as to call forth the severest censures
of every one who has any sympathy with the long past: indeed,
so extensive of late has been the progress of cultivation, to
such a length it has and is still being carried, that I am war-
ranted on the best information in asserting, that in the county
of Dorset alone, not less than from eight to ten thousand acres
of our down land have within these last five years been con-
verted into tillage.

“ Year following year steals something ev’ry day.”

But the effect of these wholesale operations, and the destructive
agency of the plough, are known to every one who has paid any
practical attention to primeval archaeology; and we may with-
out any stretch of imagination fairly assume, that the period
will arrive, indeed is not far distant, when the inquirer after
the traces of the fathers of our land, will have to content himself
with such brief notices as are recorded in the pages of the
historian and local antiquary: for to the all-engrossing utilita-
rianism of the nineteenth century, attaches the peculiar demerit
of eradicating from the fair face of the soil, and desecrating
more of these time-hallowed reliques, than had previously been
done during so many centuries,—relics whose retrospective and
instructive associations it had been fondly hoped would have
secured for them respect, and preserved them from such pro-
fanations.

That the solitude of our island was first broken in upon, and the
first rude settlers landed, on our southern shores, seems pretty
conclusive; and that Dorsetshire in particular was thus early76

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

peopled, is, if we may reason from analogy, self-apparent, since
the whole face of the open portions of the county has numerous
vestiges of the Celtic race impressed on it; in the low parts
they have left but few, in fact we may say (by comparison), no
traces behind them: this is easily accounted for, if we take
into consideration the obstacles which the physical features of
the country presented at this early period—the low lands being
covered with forest and morass. My brief notices of our Celtic
remains will necessarily be confined to the hill, or rather down,
portions of the county.

It is unnecessary in a paper such as the present, to enter
into a retrospect of the condition of mankind, at the early
peopling of this island ; still we cannot sufficiently admire the
wisdom of a beneficent Providence in the adaptation of its
creatures: thus the necessities of the primitive man were few,
such as his limited knowledge could easily supply, and we
accordingly find him occupied in the hunter and pastoral states.
Restricted as were his wants, and with a mind but little in advance,
we must not expect to find the remains of this early period
otherwise than rude and simple, of which no better proof can
be given than in their locations or dwellings, which will come
first under consideration; of these (and which carry on them*
evidences of the greatest antiquity), some remarkable examples
are to be found in different parts of the county. The first to
which I shall direct attention, are on a down called Bondsleigh,
(in the parish of Shillingstone), on the lofty ridge known by the
name of Bulbarrow, which overlooks the extensive Vale of
Blakemore.

* Bondsleigh pits examined July
23rd, 1846.—An examination of these
pits was made a few days since by
Messrs. Sydenham, Hall, and myself;
the result of our researches was
satisfactory, in as much as it afforded
a conclusive testimony of the pur-
poses to which we had previously
assigned them ; as we found at the
bottom (of the pits), and at a depth
varying from 18 inches to 2 feet
beneath the surface, charcoal inter-
mixed with ashes, lying on a compact
pitching of flints. The pits were
more numerous than we had antici-
pated, being scattered over the whole

ridge, a tract of from four to five (or
more) miles in extent. In their size
they vary, some being from forty to
fifty feet in diameter at the top, and
from eight to ten feet deep, others
less, a few were double, and some
had the earth which had been re-
moved in their formation, placed in
a ridge on one side on the brink, and
in every instance on the side which
was most exposed to the weather. A
friend who resides in the neighbour-
hood mentioned, in confirmation of
their use, that the shepherd boys occa-
sionally found fragments of rude pot-
tery with charcoal, in some of these pits.ARCHAEOLOGY OF DORSETSHIRE.

77

This down is at the present day apparently in the same state
of original waste as it was at the period of its first occupancy
by the tribes who there “ lived, and moved, and had their being”:
here are to be seen a series of circular pits, in form similar to
an inverted cone, evidently adapted for sheltering from the cold
blast an uncivilized race, whose sole requirements, in addition
to their humble dwellings, were the providing themselves with
the spoils of the chace as a subsistence.

Similar pits or hollows are to be found on the uninclosed
down of Stratton, where they are numerous, have some tumuli
interspersed, and appear to be approached by some ancient
viae, but which we may consider to be of a period posterior to
the pits. Similar hollows are also on a down in the parish
of Winfrith. Others on that of Bere Regis.

The next examples of their dwellings we find to be more
elaborate in their nature and design, shewing an advance in
civilization. Of these a fine specimen is to be seen on Tumworth
down, on the same ridge of Bulbarrow, consisting, in addition to

Tumiili

'■au'i

British Settlement on Turn wood Common.

several of these pits, of a via running to and around a large
irregular circular enclosure, about 160 ft. at its greatest diameter:
this is formed by a slightly raised agger with its fosse on the78

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

outside; the entrance, which is on the east, is protected by a
small outwork; the via at this point branches off in different
directions, as shewn in the plan. The adjacent ground seems
to have been divided into unequal portions by a series of low
rectangular banks, or rather walls, as they are all formed of
flints. Somewhat similar earthworks, at least possessing in
some of its features like characteristics, are to be found on
Cerne hill, immediately above the singular turf-incised figure
called the Giant. Here also vise of approach and exit are to be
traced. Sites of British settlements may be discovered on the
respective downs of Tarrant Hinton, Tarrant Gunville, and
Launceston, all in the neighbourhood of Blandford. At the
north-eastern extremity of the county, bordering on Wiltshire,
on the down called Boveridge Heath, about midway between
Cranborne and Pentridge, are a series of these circular depres-
sions and irregular elevations of the soil, which denote its
early appropriation. Some four or five years since, on throwing
a ditch across this site, the workmen turned up much extraneous
matter, such as bones, fragments of coarse pottery, etc., mingled
with the soil, which was in some parts of a dark loamy nature.

In the same vieinity, on the down, near Oakly Wood, are
similar indications, and in fact the whole neighbourhood seems
to have teemed with an extensive early population ; the nu-
merous tumuli around are an attestation which will receive
greater confirmation, if we may be allowed to suppose that the
land in many places hereabouts has been used for agricultural
purposes at a contemporary period, being divided by low rec-
tangular earthworks, or banks, into portions or enclosures.
Caesar’s testimony is by no means conclusive against this ap-
propriation ; his words are : “ The greater part of those within
the country never sow their lands.” It is enough to prove
that although not universally, it was occasionally practised,
in all likelihood by distinct clans; thus, whilst some were
occupied by hunting and nomadic pursuits, others were engaged
(limited it may be) in cultivating the soil.

On the singular isolated hill of Chalbury, in the parish of
Sutton Poyntz, the settlement is extensive, combining with it
that of a place of considerable strength, or as has been elsewhere
observed, a hill fortress, being defended with a single, or in
some parts, double row of ramparts; the vestigia differ in likeARCHEOLOGY OF DORSETSHIRE.

79

manner from the preceding examples, wanting the deep-circular
pit or slight vallum, and consists of a great number of slight
depressions. Hod Hill, in the parish of Stourpaine, possesses
many features in common with Chalbury, but on a more ex-
tended scale; many of the pits and depressions within its area
have been closely examined, and found to contain a fine black
unctuous mould, with portions of charcoal, and fragments of
coarse pottery intermixed.

The last example I shall deem it necessary to mention, is one
of the most interesting of the whole series; one, it is deeply to
be deplored, which has suffered more from the encroaching obli-
terations of cultivation, the destructive influences of modern
innovation, than any of the others. I refer to the grand settle-
ment of Vindogladia, on the downs, midway between Blandford
and Salisbury.

The first intimation of this remarkable place is observable on
the high-road from Blandford to Salisbury, between the seventh
and eighth mile-stones from the former town, where a via—or
covered way—is seen trending across the downs in a north-
easterly direction. It commences with double valla, but does
not proceed far before they are increased to three or four. This
trackway continues about a mile, when it enters the grand
station at the north-west end; previously to which, and prior to
its termination, it makes a slight irregular curve. A junction is
made here by another via approaching from the west or north-
west. This is of much greater strength and irregularity than
the preceding, and is formed by three or four lines of valla. On
entering the station at this point, we find it occupying the Bide
of a down, which rises with a gentle acclivity from the north-
east, and extends over a space of from three-quarters to a mile
in length. It is protected on the south-east by a vallation, in
some parts with a single, others a triple row of ditches. The
form it takes is capricious; indeed, this appears to be a distinc-
tive feature in all the works of this early period. At the north-
east side there is no such protection ; a marked difference easily
accounted for, if we take into consideration from whence the
greatest danger was to be apprehended, which was certainly not
from the interior—that being peopled by their own kindred tribes.
It was from the south they were threatened, and from the south
they receded before the hostile aggressions of the colonizing80

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

Belgse, against whom they found it necessary to throw up de-
fensive barriers.

The whole interior of this settlement is crowded with a series
of depressions, inequalities, and slightly-raised banks, taking
various forms, and marked on the face of the soil; all attesting
the extensive occupancy of this spot by the primal Britons. At
nearly the middle part of this settlement, is a large irregular
circle, with an entrance from the east. Sir Richard Colt Hoare
—who examined this neighbourhood carefully—was led to sup-
pose that it had been devoted to civil and religious uses, from the
fact of the fosse being within the agger, a circumstance quite
unusual in works of a military character.

The plough, in making its needful, but to the antiquary de-
plorable, ravages on the whole of these interesting remains, has
exposed to view evidences of its early inhabitants, the corrobo-
ratives being quantities of coarse fragmental pottery, animal
bones, and other vestiges.

An avenue appears to have issued from about the centre of these
extensive works, and may be viewed taking a north-easterly di-
rection across the open downs towards a British settlement on the
Pentridge hills not far distant. It is formed by two low banks of
earth, which are about one hundred yards apart, running parallel
to each other, and may be traced for two or three miles. Sir
Richard Colt Hoare was of opinion that it had been used as an
hippodrome, resembling much that at Stonehenge. If this was
its use, no course could have been better selected for giving the
spectators, assembled at the station, a clear and uninterrupted
view of the contest. As an authority, Sir Richard Colt Hoare
is entitled to the most profound respect, but still this opinion
seems very questionable, though it differs much from any of the
vise we have described. Vindogladia, independent of its British
remains, possesses others of deep interest to the antiquary. As
it is, he may here recognize one of the lost stations of Antonine
and Richard of Cirencester’s Itineraries (Iter xv. and xvi.) I
believe the merit of this discovery belongs to Sir Richard Colt
Hoare, since which the whole site has gone by its restored name.

The via Iceniana, in all its pristine glory (and truly beautiful
is the sight) may be here seen for miles pursuing its undeviating
course across the open downs, and passes within three-quarters
of a mile of the British settlement. The intermediate space
seems to have been the Roman station, and here the ground isARCHEOLOGY OF DORSETSHIRE.

81

positively strewn with fragmental pottery, so that, in fact, I am
not exceeding the limits of veracity in saying, that in some spots
it may be literally shovelled up.

The remains which next in priority of construction claim our
attention — which impart as much pleasure to the way-side
traveller by their picturesque effect on the scenery, as they do
subjects of agreeable and instructive reflection to the antiquary
from their historic associations—are the tumuli, of which Dor-
setshire may justly be proud ; for of these silent yet impressive
monuments of primeval mortality, I may, without fear of con-
tradiction assert, that few counties contain such a numerous
series—certainly, none finer examples.

They occupy, as I before stated, the open portions of the
county, commencing on the south-west, midway between Brid-
port and Dorchester, in the neighbourhood of Longbredy Hut,
on the Downs, within three or four miles of which many fine and
beautiful examples are to be seen. “For sight of barrows not
to be equalled in the world,” were the words of the venerable
Stukeley, when making his Iter across these same Downs now
Borne hundred and twenty-three years past; and an expression
(which every one who may examine the locality will readily
admit) made without exaggeration.

A lofty chain of hills, or ridge-way, running parallel with the
coast, extends from hence to the Isle of Purbeck, beyond Corf
Castle, where, on a hill called Number (or nine barrow) Down,
not less than sixteen are to be seen in close connexion. The
extent of the points alluded to, occupy a distance of not less
than twenty-five miles, the intermediate space being studded
with these antique mounds and other primeval objects, which
may hereafter be noticed.

This extensive ridge or track-way, in some parts abuts on the
coast, whilst at other points a distance of from three to four
miles intervenes. In this intermediate space not a tumulus is to
be found—a strong and conclusive proof that elevated situations,
where attainable, were preferred. They more particularly claim
attention (from their numbers) on the several downs of Chaldon,
Mayne, Sutton, Came, Bincombe, Winterborne St. Martin,
Winterborne, and Kingston Russell.

From this chain of hills they are to be traced in a north-
easterly direction through the whole length of the county into82

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

Wilts; covering an extent of country, in some parts, of not less
than from twenty-five to thirty miles in width.

Their boundary on the western side may be taken as com-
mencing a little to the west of Longbredy Hut, the point first
referred to; they run to Agger-Dun Hill, Cattistock, the Syd-
ling, and Cerne Hills, to Melcombe Horsey and the lofty ridge
of Bullbarrow to its termination; and, on crossing the Stour (a
river still retaining its primitive name) wTe find them again on
Iwerne and Stourpaine Downs, to Ashmore and the limits of
the county. On the eastern part of the county, they may be
found commencing at Nine Barrow Down, thence by Studland-
Heath, to Wareham, Bere Regis, and Bloxworth, to near Wim-
borne Minster; thence bounded by the small river Allen (which
rises some few miles to the north-east) to Knowlton, St. Giles’,
and Cranborne, into Wilts. A few may be found without this
line, as at Dudbury, etc.

In the intermediate space, between these eastern and western
boundaries, they are to be seen in great numbers around Dor-
chester, as well as at Stratton, Forston, Waterson, Chesel-
bourne, Dewlish, and Milbourne ; at Charlton, and at Bradbury
near Wimborne, the neighbourhood of and above Blandford,
namely—Tarrant Hinton, Launceston, Gunville, Thickthorn, the
Gussages, to Woodyates—where we cross the noble boundary-
line of the respective counties of Dorset and Wilts—Bockerly
Ditch.

In a county so rich in these memorials of the dead, a great
variety will be reasonably expected to be found; and this is
so far the case, that the student in this peculiar branch of
Archaeology, will nowhere meet with a more extensive or in-
structive study. These remains include examples of every
variety as classified by Sir Richard Colt Hoare, whose general-
ization (I believe) had reference more to the external form and
feature, than to any especial peculiarity of the contents.

For the guidance of the stranger archaeologist, I shall refer
to the sites of a few of the most interesting varieties.

The lofty “Cone” or finely formed “Bowl” barrows, may rivet
our attention by their commanding size, and, whether scattered
over our plains, or crowning the hill-tops, are objects of an im-
portant and interesting character: but the beautiful, yet unpre-
tending, — the peculiar yet elegant-shaped Druid barrow, isARCHAEOLOGY OF DORSETSHIRE.

83

confessedly the most attractive of the whole seriee. Dr. Stukeley
seems to have been the first to have given, without any analogous
reference, this gracefully-formed species of sepulchral mounds
the strange misnomer.

The Druid barrow consists of an outward circular vallum of
slight elevation, from fifteen to sixty feet in diameter, enclosing
a tumulus (in some instances two tumuli are found) in the
centre of the area, invariably of small size, frequently not more
than four feet in height and eight feet in width.

It was an opinion of Sir Richard Colt Hoare, that they were
devoted to female sepulture; why, I am at a loss to conceive,—
unless it was that from the elegance of their construction, he
imagined them as symbolical (lasting, it must be allowed, still as
all legitimate impressions of the fair sex should be) of the supe-
rior beauty of the dark-haired Celtic maid. We cannot allow
this (beauty) to be attributable so much to race as climate,—for,
great as the attractions of the primeval female doubtless were,
yet I may, without fear of contradition, assert that they could
not have been in any wTay superior to—nay, in all probability
came not up to—the fascinating witcheries, heightened by the
mental intelligence, of the fair and blue-eyed Saxon lass of our
own time.

But to return from this—I hope pardonable—digression, I
have, from my own experience, found nothing to warrant this
peculiar appropriation.

Two tumuli of this class, on the downs of Bincombe, were
opened by me a few years since; the diameter of the circle of
the first was about fifty feet, enclosing in its area a mound four
feet in height. On removing the soil, an admixture of fragments
of coarse pottery and bones were found; and, about three feet
from the surface, a flat stone, covering a rude urn formed of the
coarsest material, partly filled with calcined bones, with three or
four thin flat stones, evidently placed for the purpose of retaining
the contents, the urn being deposited in an inverted position.

The other tumulus was of the same elevation as the preced-
ing, the diameter of its outer circle measuring sixty feet. In
this nothing entire was found, the contents being fragmental
pottery and burnt bones.

The finest examples of these (Druid) barrows, are to be seen
on the down, about a mile to the south-west of Woodyates84

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

Inn—and close abutting on the great south-western road—
which here runs for nearly a mile on the Via Iceniana, which
may hereabouts be seen in most perfect condition, stretching in a
straight line across the open downs, and serves conclusively to
establish the priority of construction of the tumuli, one of these
being cut, through in the formation of the Via.

Other examples are to be found on the neighbouring downs ;
again, on the down of Bloxworth; the respective downs of
Came, Bincombe, Upway, Martin’s Town, and Winterborne.

The “ long” barrow, which I shall next notice, has been of the
whole sepulchral series the least explored, its colossal size pre-
senting obstacles of a comparatively insuperable character.

This variety of tumulus is the most stupendous we have,
often ranging from forty to eighty yards in length, and from ten
to twelve feet in height. The examples on the coast are but
few; the respective downs of Winterborne, Bincombe, and
Mayne, have each a single specimen; and no other traces of
them are to be found till we arrive in the neighbourhood of Bere
Regis, where wre observe one on the down. To the north of
Blandford they may be seen in greater numbers, and will be
found on the several downs of Tarrant Hinton and Gunville—
two of considerable length on the Chettle estate—with several
on the downs of the Gussages, adjoining Vindogladia.

One peculiar feature connected with the “ long ” barrow is,
that whilst comparatively numerous in the interior of the
county, they are as rarely seen on the coast; and I beg to draw
attention to this fact, confessing myself at a loss for a satisfactory
elucidation.

Having given the sites of the two most interesting varieties of
our ancient tombs, it would be useless to give similar notices of
those of a more common character. I shall content myself with
observing, that they are to be found within the limits, and in
the different localities previously specified.

In the absence of all historic record, we may be allowed to
infer, that although the Belgae were in all probability farther
advanced in civilization than the primitive Celt® of this island,
still that their aggression was met by a determined resistance ;
and, indeed, it seems tolerably conclusive, that a long lapse of
years intervened before they were enabled to establish a perma-
nent footing.ARCHAEOLOGY OF DORSETSHIRE.

85

Their first irruption is generally considered to have taken
place about four hundred years before the Christian era; and we
find, from the testimony of Caesar at the time of his invasion—
some three hundred and fifty years subsequent—that the interior
of Britain was inhabited by the earliest people, but the coast by
the Belgic tribes, who settled in possessions gained by the sword
or otherwise.

During this long interval, an occasional intercourse must have
naturally taken place between our aboriginal ancestors and their
Belgic invaders; and, as we have already assumed the latter to
have made farther advance in the social scale, the conclusive
inference will be, that such improvements as were the result of
this early civilization were readily adopted by them. A careful
examination and comparison of the contents of our tumuli, go
far in support of this hypothesis—those on the coast being evi-
dently the earliest in construction; as we advance farther into
the interior an improvement gradually increasing in the material
and fabrication of the contents is observable—thus in themselves
carrying a silent but impressive evidence, “ a speaking to other
years,” of these facts.

I feel, from the length to which this paper has extended, that
I have trespassed too long on the time of this meeting. My in-
tention was to have included a review of the stone monuments,
ancient vise, and numerous military earth-works of the county.
This must be deferred, and may form the subject of a communi-
cation at some future time, unless it be (as I sincerely hope) that
they receive attention from more competent hands.86

REMARKS ON IRISH FIBULAS.

BY F. W. FAIRHOLT, F.9.A.

Irish antiquities may be said to derive their chief interest in
the eyes of an English archaeologist from their very early cha-
racter. It is not usual in England to meet with what we
sometimes term druidic remains, in the profusion with which
they are scattered over the sister country. Wiltshire and
Cornwall are with us the most prolific counties in examples of
monoliths, cromlechs, and circular temples ; but in Ireland
such things are far from uncommon, and are frequently of the
greatest interest: as at New Grange, Lough Gur, and else-
where. In the same manner the various implements, civil and
military, occasionally exhumed, and among them the many
articles of personal decoration, replete with elaborate ornament,
afford interesting confirmation of early civilization, and give us
a curious insight into the state of art, at a remote period when
Ireland was the seat of learning, a powerful and a prosperous
nation. The many fine relics of early art thus discovered in
Ireland, and their comparative rarity in our own country,
render them objects of much interest; more particularly as
they contain within themselves traces of a northern origin,
affording valuable facilities for comparison and deduction; and
are in character and style identically the same as the early
Danish and Scandinavian antiquities. A species of intricate
ornamental design, familiarly termed Runic knots, is that usually
adopted in the decoration of these articles, and which is the
prevailing characteristic feature of the interesting series of Runic
monuments in the Isle of Man, and is seen also in the illumin-
ations of early Saxon manuscripts; an instance of which may
be cited in the Durham Book, or Gospels of St. Cutlibert, now in
the British Museum (Cotton MS. Nero, D. 4), as well as in
various articles discovered in barrows in this country, particu-
larly those found at Ash and Gilton, in Kent, and which are
engraved in the Archceologia, vol. xxx. It is not my intentionIRISH FIBULAE.

87

here to take any discursive view of these interesting remains,
but to confine myself to the exhibition and description of a
particular portion of costume upon which the Northmen in the
early ages bestowed much care and attention; this was the
fibulae with which the cloak, and occasionally the tunic, was
fastened, and upon which the utmost ingenuity of the goldsmith
and jeweller was expended.

In order that the marked difference between the early Irish
and Saxon fibulae should be distinctly understood, it will be
necessary to describe the peculiarities of the latter.

Among our Anglo-Saxon ancestors the fibula was an elegant
and elaborate specimen of art; it was of large size, of expensive
workmanship, formed of precious metals, and enriched with
jewels, and it may be safely asserted that the manual dexterity
displayed in the fabrication of these articles could not be
exceeded in the present day. Some fine examples have been
discovered in this country, particularly in the county of Kent,
and I must refer to Douglas’s Nenia Britannica, for some mag-
nificent specimens. The museum of Dr. Faussett of Hepping-
ton, near Canterbury, contains several of great beauty.

The form of these fibulae is circular, and the pin which secured
them to the dress never reached beyond the outer circle, and
was entirely hidden, although occasionally ornamented with
stones.

By the aid of Mr. Rolfe, of Sandwich, I am enabled to
illustrate this paper more fully; that gentleman having obtained
for my inspection a magnificent specimen discovered in 1843,
at Sarr, in the Isle of Thanet, and which I have engraved the
full size of the original, and coloured in fac-simile as a frontis-
piece to this volume. The shell is of gold; the face of the fibula
being divided into four compartments by concentric circles,
which are subdivided into various and differently formed cells.
Some of these cells are filled with a triple range of ornaments,
constructed of gold wire twisted like cord, or arranged circularly;
others contain a chalky substance which appears to be decom-
posed pearl, while others are fitted with thin slices of garnet,
beneath which is placed gold foil, granulated with intersecting
lines to give brilliancy to the setting; pale blue turquoise is
fitted into the cross. The outer edge of the fibula resembles
that described by Douglas as a vermicular gold chain delicately88

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

milled in notches. The general arrangement of this ornament
is cruciform, in accordance with the ordinary style of these
relics of our Saxon forefathers; but it is not so strikingly visible
as upon many other specimens. The reverse exhibits no traces
of ornament except upon the head of the pin, where a single
piece of garnet is placed. The stem of the pin has been broken
and lost; it has been gilt, of which traces remain. The plate,
of discoloured silver, which forms the base of the fibula, is here
seen, and the narrow rim of the gold shell which is secured on
it and forms its face. The finished excellence of the workman-
ship of this jewel could not be surpassed by any artificer of the
present times.*

The Irish fibulae differed from these altogether in design, but
were sometimes analogous in ornamentation, and I allude to our
Saxon brooches chiefly to point out this strong distinction, and
bring the difference more forcibly to mind. Their use was the
same—that of fastening the heavy cloak upon the shoulder,
•which usually covered the left arm, but allowed free motion to
the right one, upon which shoulder it was affixed. The Anglo-
Saxon drawings frequently represent the cloak thus secured,
or else closed by the brooch upon the breast. The Irish mantle,
which resembled the classic pallium or toga, was still more
capacious ; it was a thick woollen garment suited to the wet
cold climate of the inhabitants; and their fibulae were larger
and stronger than those worn at the same period by our
ancestors; the pins are sometimes nearly fourteen inches in
length, and the circular part of the fibula eight inches in
diameter. When so large they are of silver or bronze; the
golden ones are smaller, and those which I have seen con-
structed of that metal are apparently of much more modern
manufacture. They are not perfect solid circles like the Saxon
brooch, but are lunar-shaped; the pin not secured at the top,

* The grave in which this fibula
was discovered
was broken in-
to accidentally
by some work-
men in digging
for gravel, and no record of its con-
tents kept. The only article known
to have been found with it, was the
bronze bowl here figured ; and which

hears a striking resemblance to one
discovered at Wingham, by lord Al-
bert Conyngham, engraved in the
“Archaeological Album.” It is about
twelve inches in diameter, the orna-
ments of the foot are perforated ;
a double raised circle is upon the
bottom within ; and it has two
handles which move freely on sock-
ets inserted on each side.T)rawn Jc Engraved by FWFairholt, FS A.

ANCIENT IRISH FIBUL/E.IRISH FIBUL-ffi.

89

but moving freely on its head, which is an open circle, embrac-
ing the upper band of the brooch, and the pin is also allowed
free passage through the centre of the broad lunette which
hangs from it.

By the sumptuary laws of the ancient Irish, the size of these
brooches or fibulas were regulated according to the rank of the
wearer. The highest price of a silver bodkin for a king or an
ollamhy according to Vallancey, was thirty heifers, when made
of refined silver; the lowest value attached to them being the
worth of three heifers. From this it may be inferred that the
rank of the wearer might always be guessed at from the fibula
he wore. General Vallancey, in the seventh volume of his
Collectanea, has given a very remarkable one, upon which is
engraved an inscription in the Ogham character, which his
correspondent states contains the name of the wearer and his
profession. It forms fig. 1 of the accompanying plate. He
says : “ This brooch was discovered by a peasant in turning up
the ground on the hill of Ballyspellan, in the barony of Galmoy,
in the county of Kilkenny, Sep. 1806. It is of silver of the
intrinsic value of three pounds.* It is one of those mentioned
in our laws by the name of aicde airgiot, and air-giot ed, that
is, a silver bodkin, and valued at five cows. I have examined
the inscription by the rule in your grammar, and think it is as
follows:—

“ Maelmaire, a church singer,

Maelmaire, a famous psalmist of Macludaigh.”

Another Irish antiquary imagines that “ without much tortur-
ing the sense, it may be read as verse, beginning and ending on
the name of the wearer.” Vallancey adds : “ Hitherto I have
not met with the Ogham characters but in inscriptions on stones.”
Concerning the Ogham characters, he says it was a secret mys-
terious form of writing, as the word implies, and that the
characters were originally in form like a dart, as the Babylonian
and Persepolitan inscriptions are; that the value of each letter
consists as much in the position that the lines of which it is formed
take through the centre line, as in being above or below it. The
alphabet consisted of twenty letters, all differing from each other,
the old Irish alphabet having only seventeen. But he says:

* It is 91 inches long, and 5 inches across the upper portion.90

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

“ The powers of the alphabet are lost”; adding, “ it is in vain
to attempt to read the Ogham characters of Ireland any more
than those of Babylon or Persepolis, which have great resem-
blance to the Irish.” Yet, as we have seen, the inscription upon
this brooch has been translated; and Vallancey himself, not-
withstanding his asseveration to the contrary, always professes to
read them, and—with a strange determination to do so—actually
uses three various alphabets to translate an inscription at New
Grange, consisting of only five letters. His other translations
of the inscription's there, are more fanciful than satisfactory;
while the one upon the altar of Tara, or Hill of the Sun (county
Kilkenny), upon which he is most certain and diffuse, and which
he reads beli diuose, “ to Belus, God of Fire ”—is now known
to be the work of some idler, who cut on it his name and the
date of the year “E. Conid, 1731.” Vallancey has so carefully en-
graved this inscription,
that, upon turning it HF
upside down, the truth F'"' TECl CIU03
at once presents itself, ^
and it is here copied for
the benefit of the reader.

Many of the other inscriptions are most probably weather-marks;
others a rude system of numeration; and, in the absence of any
authority for the fixation of an alphabet, it does seem more than
strange to determine the exact value and representative of every
mark and letter. As far as regards the inscription upon this
brooch, it certainly appears rather unlikely that a man would
walk about with a large pendant about his neck inscribed with
his name and his profession, as well as a puffing announcement
of himself as “ the famous Psalmist of Macludaigh,” when the
brooch itself must have testified the rank of the wearer without
this (see ante); and, as this inscription may be read all ways, as
prose or poetry, it does not appear worthy of much attention;
in fact, the Ogham altogether is clouded with incertitude, and
it bears so much resemblance to the dates on Runic monuments,
or the old Clog Almancks, that it is far from improbable that
they may be numerals only, and the monoliths boundary stones,
upon which measurements were cut. This is a point worthy of
consideration, but which I must now dismiss, as my object is to
deal with the fibulae simply as works of early art.IRISH FIBULJE.

91

A fine specimen of the peculiar interlaced ornament adopted
so generally in the early works of the northern nations, is afforded
by the second figure. It partakes of the involved broken cha-
racter of design which is frequently seen on the most ancient
crosses of Ireland, Wales, and occasionally in our country,
but more particularly on the extraordinary series before alluded
to in the Isle of Man. It is of silver, the ornaments are pierced,
and the centre decorated with large crystals.

The third example is of more solid construction and elaborate
workmanship. The surface of the lunette is covered with an
interlaced pattern, very similar to the ornaments introduced
into the famous Durham Book, or Gospels of St. Cuthbert, already
mentioned, which is believed to have been executed as early as
the seventh century by the hands of Eadfrid, afterwards Bishop
of iandisfarae, who died in 721. There is a greater degree of
careful finish in this, than is apparent in the preceding fibula; it
is set with garnets on the outer edge, and crystals in the centre.
It measures three and a-half inches across the top.

I should be inclined to fix a less ancient date upon the next
example (fig. 4). Here the head of the pin is of a novel and
elegant character, and the shaft does not pass through the
lunette, nor does that portion of the fibula exhibit the interlaced
ornament so common on the other specimens just described. It
contains, however, some ornamental features analogous to those
in use during the Norman period, and I should be inclined to
think it was manufactured in the eleventh century.

Instead of the lunette pendant from the ring attached to the
head of the pin or broche, we sometimes see a simple circular bar
of silver, with a large globular ornament in the centre and at top
of the fibula, as in No. 5. These are of massive construction,
adorned with small diamond-cut lozenges all over the globe, and
having the chevron encircling the bands on each side. The pin
loses its spherical shape beyond the circle of the fibula, and is
then flattened like a sword for the convenience of passing easily
through the thick garments of the wearer. When attention
was first called to these fibulm in Ireland, they appear to have
been little understood, and in Vallencey’s Collectanea is an en-
graving of one exactly similar to this, which he represents with
the pin in an horizontal line, and the circular part perpendicular
to it, as if it was an implement for thrusting; but he says — “ it92

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

is not a spear, offensive or defensive, as it is too weak ” for
military purposes !

One of the most elegant specimens which I am enabled to
submit to notice, forms fig. 6 of the plate. It is of a more modern
time; probably of the twelfth or thirteenth century. It is of
gold, small,* and of fine workmanship. The design is very
varied, chaste, and elegant; the terminations take the shape of
a quatrefoil, enclosing a raised lozenge, richly ornamented;
small stones are inserted in the angles, and the sharpness and
delicacy of the work equals that of the best jeweller.

The seventh, and smallest example I shall bring before your
notice, is of gold, very delicately constructed, and richly orna-
mented with the chasing-tool. The pin does not pass through
the open oval lunette, which I am inclined to think a character-
istic of earlier construction and more ancient fashion. From
the centre—in place of the opening—hangs an elegant pendant.
The pin is perfectly round, and it is all of gold.

The eighth and last specimen, I have obtained from the col-
lection of T. Crofton Croker, esq., and it presents an interest-
ing variety both in form and construction. Both sides of this
fibula are represented in the plate; the under surface (the
lowest on the plate) is flat, and is slightly ornamented with in-
cised lines; but the front is elaborately decorated. The ring
has rows of lines engraved on it. The head of the pin (the
lower part of which is broken off) has an incised ornament,
which has been filled in with red enamel. The lower part of
the circlet is chased, as well as the edge; and the triangular
portions below are filled up with a red vitreous paste, in which
circular white stones are embedded. Upon the only one remain-
ing, a radiation of five compartments has been engraved, and the
spaces filled in with blue enamel. The substance of this curious
fibula is bronze, and it has apparently been gilt ; but it has
received considerable injury. The circular part measures three
inches across, and it is two inches and three-quarters in depth.

In bringing before the Association this series of drawings,
copied from the original articles, which I saw in the course of a
tour in Ireland three years ago, I am actuated only by a desire
of offering them as specimens of the great excellence to which

* It is 2\ inches in width, and 4 inches in length.IRISH FIBUL/E.

93

the art of the goldsmith and jeweller had arrived at this early
period; and to show the remarkable distinction in design and
form between those discovered in Ireland and those found in our
own country. It is only by comparison and analogy that we
can arrive at the age and dates of such articles, or the distinctive
character of fashion observed in each country. Their novelty of
appearance and beauty of design excited an interest in my own
mind when I first saw them, and if I have succeeded in exciting
any analogous feeling in that of my hearers, my object will be
attained, and the more so if I have aided in the classification or
true appropriation of these interesting specimens of the art of the
goldsmith and jeweller in the palmy days of the sister country;
whose antiquities, neglected though they be, possess claims upon
the attention of the archaeologist, which I have before alluded to
in our Journal, and which I again repeat, in the hope of employ-
ing the “learned leisure” of those who, with a kindred taste,
have more time to gratify it, than has fallen to the lot of the
writer of this article.DESCRIPTION OF LINGFIELD MARK CAMP, SURREY; AND NOTES
ON THE ROMAN ROADS FROM THE COAST
OF SUSSEX TO LONDON.

BY BEALE POST.

In the course of May and June of the year 1846, a large
Roman camp, at Lingfield, near East Grinstead, having been
surveyed—which is a fine specimen of the military works of its
class, and is totally undescribed in any publication—some inves-
tigations of the Roman roads of Sussex and Surrey were thereby
suggested, under the idea that they might possibly afford illus-
tration to the object and purposes of the camp. This, on ex-
amination, was found to be the case : and, with this preliminary,
we may proceed at once with our subject, beginning with the
camp.

This ancient fortification occupies a very commanding situ-
ation on the highest ground of the vicinity, on a range of hills
which extend between Kent and Surrey at this part, and forms
rather a striking object from the Edenbridge station of the
South Eastern Railway, whence it is seen in the horizon, distant
south about four miles ; the large beech used as a sea-mark, and
a very conspicuous oak near it, point out its situation. Its
distance otherwise is three miles from Lingfield, in Surrey, three
and a-quarter from East Grinstead, in Sussex ; its situation
being on the confines of those two counties, as also of Kent.

On entering the camp and examining the works, it is found
to be triply intrenched in places, doubly in others, while in some
parts only a single rampart remains. However, as some of the
banks are known to have been removed only a few years since,
and as in most parts where they are absent evident traces of
them are apparent, there is no doubt whatever but that the
triple circumvallation extended formerly round the whole. The
innermost bank, or circumvallation, is perfect in every part,
except for about thirty yards. The fosses or ditches at some
places on the west side are still about twelve feet deep; at
others they are from nine to seven. The innermost bank is in theLINGFIELD MARK CAMP.

95

highest part from sixteen to eighteen feet high from the bottom
of the ditch. At one part, for a short distance on the north-
east side, the banks and trenches have assumed the form of three
terraces, one above the other, — a well-known appearance of
some of the earth-works of the midland counties. The interior
of the camp is divided into three fields by broad hedges—or
rather coppices—and contains within the inner bank twenty-six
acres and a quarter. The banks and trenches themselves, by
computation of their breadth, must, when entire, have occupied
about eight acres and three-quarters more. The circuit of the
inner bank is about one thousand three hundred and fifty yards.
The banks or ramparts rise with great regularity one above
another, the hindermost one overtopping the rest, except in one
place on the south-west side, where the ground does not permit.
The form of the camp approaches very nearly to that of a
parallelogram, with rounded angles.

The whole of the remaining intrenchments are at present
covered with underwood, and there are nine openings through
them, six of which appear to have been ports of the camp. To

Section <ct A •

The eleven acres

The fetLr acres

Lifigfield-Mark Comp, Lingfiald, Surrey.96

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

shew these, the plan must be compared with the Diagram here

inserted. Through two of the
opposite ports an ancient road
from the coast to London
seems to have passed.

For supply of water there
appears to be a spring, filling
a pond of a long form, in one
of the trenches of the northern
part of the camp, Near the
westernmost entrance there are
also not wanting indications
of water. Notwithstanding,
the hill, from some unex-
plained cause, is called “ Dry
Hill.”

No information of coins, pot-
tery, or other antiquities found
within the camp, was obtained,
nor are there any foundations;
though, on the edges of the interior fields before-mentioned, a
few square stones lie about at places. On the exterior, about
one hundred yards west of the spring, are discolorations and
small scattered fragments of tile and building materials: and
here there are said to be foundations. There are, however, no
indications that more than farm buildings of some sort or descrip-
tion have formerly occupied the spot.

We may now consider the directions of the several Roman
roads which led from the coast of Sussex, through Surrey, to
London, which will be found to illustrate the probable object of
this camp at Lingfield Mark.

i. The Stone-street, through Hardham camp, near Pulborough
and Billinghurst within about half a-mile to the west of Ockley, in
Surrey, soon after which it becomes obscure, but is considered to
have passed through Dorking, and having ascended the hills, is re-
cognized again at Tooting and other places, and ends at the well-
known Stone-street, near London Bridge. The camp at Holm-
bury hill, Ockley, of which a plan will be found in Manning and
Bray's Surrey, vol. iii, plate 48, would seem very like one of the
stations of this road. The Stone-street, it is scarcely necessary

Porta" Preeloriana

Via principalis

Porta	•	•	Porta

Via quintana

Porta DecnmanaLINGFIELD MARK CAMP.

97

to say, is by many frequently styled the Ermyn Street. This,
however, it may be remarked, does not correspond with the di-
rection given to that street by Ralph Higden—a writer of the
fourteenth century, who professed to give an account of the four
great national highways, and describes its course thus: “ The
Erminstrete goes from west to east, beginning from Mavonia, in
west Wales (that is Menevia, or St. David’s), and proceeding to
the port of Hamo, which is now called Southampton.” Mr.
Bray, in his paper in the ninth volume of the Archceologia, on
the Roman roads in Surrey, confines himself almost entirely to
this of Stone-street—or Stane-street, as perhaps the appellation
should more properly be,—and, indeed, chiefly restricts himself
to the upper, or Surrey portion of it.

ii. The Aldrington road. — Considerable quantities of ma-
terials were removed from this in the part near St. John’s
Common, in the year 1779, to repair other roads in the vicinity,
which occasioned it to attract notice. In 1781, some investi-
gations were published respecting it in the Gentleman's Maga-
zine of that year, p. 306. It is ascertained to proceed in a
straight line, pursuing a north by east direction from St. John’s
Common, which is nine miles from Aldrington, to Selsfield
Common, three miles west of East Grinstead, after which
accurate researches respecting it do not seem to have been
made: but from Selsfield Common this road apparently pursued
a direct route for London. Where its structure was examined,
it was eighteen feet broad, and composed of a close layer of
flints eight inches thick.

in. A road from Newhaven and Lewes to London.—Traces
of such a road are observable on the Ordnance maps—sometimes
at intervals, sometimes continuous—commencing at Isfield, ten
and a-half miles from Newhaven, and making a direct course
for London. Its course seems to have been about two and
a-half miles east of East Grinstead, and to have passed through
our camp. Afterwards its route appears to have been without
deviation for London. Above a century ago, Stukeley, as
appears by his Itinerary, traced the southernmost portion of
this road near Lewes and Newhaven. He thought it after-
wards went through East Grinstead, but the parts of it to-
wards London he acknowledges not to have examined.

iv. The Pevensey or Anderida road.—This, it is believed,98

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

has not been accurately traced, though it is the one mentioned
in the xvn Iter of Richard of Cirencester; who, however, does
not furnish us with the names of the intermediate stations,
except of Noviomagus. As Richard informs us, it approached
London by this station; and as, from the form of the ancient
Pevensey or Anderida bay, its egress from that place must
necessarily have been through Hailsham, the line of this
ancient road must have laid between this last-named place and
Holwood Hill, where future investigators must look for it. In
the absence of examinations, it may be suggested- to have
passed by Uckfield, through Ashdown forest, to Hartfield,
where may have been the intermediate station of Richard.
Thence by Cowden, Edenbridge, and Westerham, to Teston,
and so on to London. According to this course it would have
passed about two and a-half miles to the east of our camp at
Lingfield-mark.

Thus there appear to have been four principal communica-
tions from the Sussex coast to London, which the accompanying
map of roads will shew at one view. Their direction being
borne in mind, the position of our camp will be materially eluci-
dated. One of the communications it seems passed through it;
two others were within three miles of it; a fourth only about
eleven miles: there would therefore be a strong presumption
that this Lingfield-mark camp was formed as a place where
troops might be assembled, and whence they might speedily be
dispatched to any part of the' Sussex coast. This naturally
causes us to think of the formidable descents made on our
coasts by the Saxons in the third and fourth centuries. These
marauders had then increased in the boldness of their descents,
and it may have been as part of a system of defence against
them that this camp was formed.

It remains to add, that the estate on which the camp is
situated is the property of Mrs. Cranstone of East Court,
East Grinstead, and tenanted by Mr. Shorter of Beeches farm
adjoining.PLY. to face P. 98 .

§ JB X

Tooting t

lO Kestojv Camp
\ Roviomagus

\ yo Weslerham

Rdgcute/

ling field/0
Lingfieltl Camp r\

Dorking 0

^Sd£fi*^KrT\y'o£ast \

Com1110 I/ GrinsUcL \ o HarUieltl

Ardingky o	\	°

Pevmsey \
Anderida

FROM THE COAST OF

7© 1®S!1®®K!

J.E.Jcibliiis.lith..99

NOTES ON SOME ARTICLES OF ANTIQUITY IN THE COLLECTION
OF MR. JOHN HUXTABLE.

BY CHARLES ROACH SMITH, F.S.A., ETC.

The antiquities delineated in the following plates were exhibited
by Mr. John Huxtable to the congress at Gloucester, having by
his permission been selected by the secretaries from his very ex-
tensive collection, with a view to place before the antiquary, and
especially the student of our national antiquities, types of some
of the rarer objects of early art met with occasionally only.
Private museums contain very frequently the choicest and
most interesting relics of past times, which are not generally
accessible, and therefore the Council of the Association propose
from time to time, to facilitate the means of making comparison
between the antiquities of this and other countries, to publish
remarkable specimens with brief notes and remarks. It is not
always possible to authenticate the discovery of such objects,
which by the lapse of time often become dissociated from other
remains calculated to assist their appropriation, and from those
necessary details connected with their discovery which so often
materially confirm an opinion or conclusion, and warrant the
antiquary in generalising with confidence and certainty. In
the absence of recorded facts, oral testimony is not to be rejected,
and the degree of credit to be attached to it must of course
depend upon various circumstances and their accordance with
substantiated and accepted facts.

Plate a.—The entire contents of this plate have been dis-
covered in various parts of Yorkshire.

Fig. 1 is in stone; length, six inches. Fig. 2, spear-head in
white flint; length, nine inches. Figs. 3 and 4, in bronze,
are extremely rare ; they are not known in Denmark, but
analogous objects found in Hungary are preserved in the public
museum of Vienna. Fig. 5, is a bronze celt; length, three
inches. Fig. 6, five and a-half inches in length, in bronze.
Fig. 7, javelin head, four inches in length. Fig. 8, bronze
armlets.

n 2100

TRIMEVAL SECTION.

Plate b.

Fig. 1 was discovered in 1835, near Barcoot, in the parish
of Dorchester, Oxfordshire; it appears to be a whetstone; length,
ten inches ; near the same spot was found a polished celt in pale
yellow flint, eight and a-half inches in length. Fig. 2, bronze
celt, found near Fakenham, Norfolk; this type has not been
met with in Denmark; length, five and a-half inches. Fig. 3
appears to have been the upper appendage to
a Roman standard, such as is shewn on a coin
of Constantine, given in the annexed cut;
length, eight and a-half inches; unfortunately,
the place of its discovery is not known.
Fig. 4 is a specimen of the Irish bronze celt.
With respect to the celts found in Ireland, Mr. Worsaae
remarks, that although they resemble in general character
those found in Denmark, yet they exhibit peculiarities which
lead us to conclude they must have been fabricated in Ire-
land. Fig. 5 is a bronze bridle-bit found in Devonshire;
length, eleven inches. Fig. 6, bronze celt, found at Stibberd,
near Fakenham, Norfolk, with others
and lumps of metal; this and similar
ones appear to have been cast in a
mould and left unfinished; the edge is
rough, and the marks of the union of the
two portions of the mould are observable.

Fig. 7, a bronze gouge, two and a-half
inches in length, from Fillingham, Es-
sex. The gouge in metal, Mr. Worsaae
states, is not found in Denmark, but
it is common in that country in stone.

Fig. 8, is a bronze celt, five inches
in length, from a bog in the county
of Down; it is also common to Den-
mark.

The annexed wood-cut exhibits a
fine specimen of the Saxon fibula from
Mr. Huxtable’s collection. It is of
bronze gilt, and was found, as is stated, in Yorkshire.

Mr. Huxtable also exhibited to the meeting various medieval1NOTES ON ARTICLES OF ANTIQUITY.	101

antiquities, among which were several specimens of the sus-
pending bar of the gypsere or purse; one of which is inscribed
on the sides: “ O Mater Dei memento mei, Amen.” And in
the centre of one side “ihs,” and in the other, “ M.”

The bronze hand (fig. 3) we have since learnt was formerly
in the possession of the late Mr. Peckham, of Slough, a collector
of Roman coins.102

ON THE ANCIENT PAGAN RELIGION IN THE BRITANNIC ISLES.

BY SIR SAMUEL RUSH MEYRICK, K.H., LL.D., F.S.A.

The subject on which I shall submit a few observations, is the
ancient pagan religion, which is ordinarily introduced to the
consideration of youth, so as to appear a mass of glaring and
contradictory absurdities, that make so slight an impression on
the mind as to be retained with great difficulty, and not meriting
the trouble. The indefatigable and learned researches of that
“ giant of literature ”—as he has been styled— that able scholar,
Jacob Bryant, enabled him to be the first in pointing out these
fables as parts of a system, and as corruptions of truth. He has
been followed by Stanley Faber, Maurice, and Davies, and now
we have the mythology of the world so completely developed,
that we find the clue thus afforded will equally apply to Ireland,
and the Polynesia of the Pacific Ocean.

As our business this evening is with the Britannic Isles, I
shall have occasion to cite as my authorities the mythological
poems of the Kyn-veirdd, or primary bards “ of the isle of
Britain,” who wrote in the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries,
the authenticity of which has been proved in a most masterly
manner by Sharon Turner, in his Vindication, as well as those
very ancient memorials—some of which are of a mystical cha-
racter—called Triads, and those specimens of Druidic lore termed
Mabinogion, or juvenile instruction; and, for Ireland, such
fabulous accounts as have been collected by Jeffry Keating and
other chroniclers and antiquaries of that kingdom. In the same
manner as the Eddas, the Neibelungen Lied, and other like
remnants of northern paganism, are requisite towards the illus-
tration of the Gothic mythology, so do these very curious re-
mains afford us the clearest insight into that of the Celtic race.

With respect to the Triads, it must be remembered that they
have been mechanically formed to assist the memory, having for
many centuries been transmitted from one generation to another
orally, for which the number three seems best adapted. TheyANCIENT PAGAN RELIGION.

103

are deficient in dates, yet condense more information into a small
compass than can be accomplished by any other method, the ar-
rangement depending on the similarity of character, and not at
all on identity of period. They are assignable to no one epoch,
but have been of gradual formation, as fresh remarkable events
suggested; and, therefore, while some are of the highest an-
tiquity, others refer to times comparatively recent. In this
manner were the bards the preservers of early and primitive
tradition, doctrines, customs, and opinions. Their method of
instruction, say Diogenes Laertius, Caesar, and Pomponius Mela,
was by symbols and enigmas, or dark allegories, by ancient songs
and maxims, orally delivered and in private, which they deemed
it unlawful to reduce into writing, or to communicate to any but
of their own order. This system, then, was applied to the pur-
pose of preserving every kind of knowledge and science. But,
however vigilantly guarded, some of these triads occasionally
became public. Mela got acquainted with one, and has handed
down to us its meaning in the Latin language :

u Ut forent ad bella meliores,	“ To act bravely in war,

AStemas esse animas,	That souls are immortal,

Vitamque alteram ad manes.” And that there is another life after

death.”

Diogenes Laertius fortunately procured another:

“ Se&tv Otowc,	“ To worship the Gods,

Kai fiTjSev kclkov Spav,	To do no evil,

Kai avSptiav clokhv."	And to exercise fortitude.”

As a mutual corroboration of authenticity, I will just men-
tion, that this triad, as it appears in a British garb, is in
these very words: “ The three first principles of wisdom—
obedience to the divine laws, concern for the good of mankind,
and bravely sustaining all the accidents of life.” In the times
of the Kyn-veirdd—the mystic lore of the Druids—these enig-
matical songs, as well as their triads, were not only extant, but
in high repute ; and even in the times of the Welsh princes, we
meet, in the bardic poems, with not merely frequent allusion to
Druidic doctrines, but an energetic assertion by their authors of
being entitled to their especial character, upon the plea of accu-
rate institution into the mysteries and discipline of those ancient
sages. I presume you are aware that the Pelagian heresy was104

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

a mixture of such doctrines with the Christian religion, by a
distinguished preacher of the British church in the middle of the
fourth century, whose name was Morgant, which, implying sea-
born, was turned into the more striking Greek synonyme Pela-
gius. The Mabinogion were tales composed in allegorical lan-
guage for the instruction of youth in the principles of the Bardic
mythology ; and the more ancient either depict the object of the
Arkite worship, or a history of its contests for superiority with
the Sabsean idolatry, both of which I shall have to bring under
your notice in due time.

First of all, then, I call your attention to the introduction and
progress of Druidism, which refers to the state of the original
inhabitants of the Britannic isles before they had quitted the
Continent. Mankind appear, in the primitive world, not to
have been polytheists. They regarded one Being as supreme
over all the world of spirits, which were endowed—according to
their conceptions—with many of his attributes, though under his
control, and employed in the execution of his commands. In
their forms of expression they were seldom careful to discrimi-
nate between the One, Eternal, Universal Spirit, and these his
created ministers. The vague manner of speaking, gradually
led to great abuses in the Gentile world; yet, occasionally, we
find the nations acknowledging one supreme God, whose unity
they perceived, though under a great variety of symbols and
allegorical characters. The great invectives pronounced in Holy
Writ against the wickedness and violence of the old world, suf-
ficiently declare that their evil deeds were transgressions of some
known law, and that this must have been the eternal moral law.
Traces of such a law, and of positive institutions connected with
religion and morality, including sacrifices, have been remarked
in several nations long secluded from each other, and widely
dispersed over the face of the earth. In the generation that im-
mediately succeeded the flood we discover no vestiges of a savage
state. The knowledge, acquirements, and institutions of the
antediluvians had been handed down, and were cherished with
great exactness. We can perceive, in the Gentile systems—
deformed as they are—something too pure to have been derived
from the impious adherents of Nimrod, known to the ancients as
the Titans, There were few so profane as to say with the
giants—that is their chiefs—to the Almighty: “ Depart fromANCIENT PAGAN RELIGION.

105

us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways;” or, <f What is
the Almighty that we should serve him, and what profit shall we
have if we pray to him ?” Though they had become so gross in
their ideas as to change the glory of the incorruptible God into
an image like to corruptible man, yet they in some degree knew
God, and glorified him, though not worthily. Thus, those who
delivered or expounded the sacred doctrines, did so in mysterious
allegories. They had emblems and representations of a divine
being, considered in his relative characters, and gradually the
people began, under every separate symbol, to imagine a distinct
God. They went on to distinguish their more eminent ancestors
by epithets equally applied to the Supreme Being; for, in the
Old Testament we find such names as “ Gods,” “ Sons of God,”
and “ Sons of the Most High,” given to human beings. The
precise ideas with which these had been at first imposed, became
in time confused, and men began to regard such as were so
dignified as endowed with a superior nature. No sooner had the
punishment which befel the associates of Nimrod—who had con-
spired to resist the execution of the divine mandate—taken
place, than the families who still respected the authority of the
patriarch, Noah, began to repair, under his sons, towards their
allotted habitations. They carried with them the primitive
history, religious institutions, customs, habits, opinions, arts, and
sciences of the patriarchal age, and the primitive language, with
only such gradual variations as had been occasioned by local
circumstances. Abhorring the impiety of the great rebel, and
remembering the direful effect of the Divine wrath, the con-
ductors of the various societies, who thus were induced to spread
into the different parts of the earth, would naturally be anxious
to cherish the sacred institutions of their ancestors, and fix on a
sure foundation the arcana of primitive wisdom. Such was the
origin of Druidism, and all other hierarchies that ancient history
commemorates. In its pure and primitive state, it may be re-
garded as being raised on the basis of the patriarchal religion, for
the purpose of superseding the necessity of recourse to arms in
the contentions of independent states, and of restraining the
excesses of individuals. Among the traditions that the Gentile
world had received from their ancestors, the history of the
deluge was universal. We find, in all, an account of the de-
struction of the old world by water, and of the preservation of a106

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

single family in a boat or ark. Yet all of them make the vessel
to rest upon some mountain, or on the bank of some river or lake
in their own territories, where some distinguished personages
among their own ancestors come to land, which, being universal,
tends to shew that the traditions were derived in a direct line
from their common parents. The studies and occupations of the
Druids, led them to considerations respecting the nature of the
Deity, of the human soul, of the future state, of the heavenly
bodies, of the terrestrial globe and its various productions, besides
such arts and sciences as had been derived from their predeces-
sors. Under a variety of relative names and characters, they
acknowledged one God, the maker of all things, and lord of the
universe. They taught the superintendancy of divine Provi-
dence, the immortality of the soul, moral responsibility, and
recompense after death ; and, as a consequence, they observed
as well as enjoined the most rigid justice in their decrees, and—
according to both Csesar and Pomponius Mela —strict upright-
ness in their dealings with mankind. Their conception of the
divine nature is comprehensively explained in the following bold
and remarkable aphorism: “ Nid dim ond Duw, nid Duw ond
Dim,” “ God can not be matter, and what is not matter must be
God.” Their doctrines concerning the soul were that it pre-
existed in a state of gradual advancement by transmigration, and
was immortal. The circle of Abred was that in which man,
with all the works of nature, began. In it was contained a
mixture of good and evil, but the human race could—being
endowed with a power of choosing—bring all their passions and
propensities of their nature to a just balance through religion,
virtue, and fortitude. This condition of man was termed the
point of liberty. Thence he passed through the gate of mor-
tality into the circle of happiness, no more the victim of adver-
sity, want, or death. If, however, he permitted evil dispositions
to preponderate, he would sink from happiness, and death would
return him to the circle of courses, where he would meet with
the due punishment of his turpitude. Here the soul was to do
penance in a beast or reptile, or in several of these successively,
after which a revolution would restore it to infinite happiness.
The bards affirmed that God created this and innumerable other
worlds for the progression of intelligences through all modes of
being, approximating eternally towards himself. That this earthANCIENT PAGAN RELIGION.

107

was originally covered with water, which, gradually subsiding,
land animals appeared—but of the least perfect species, and thus
corresponding in organization with the then capacity of the soul.
New orders in the scale of being were successively produced
from these, whose frames and intellect improved through many
ages; thus also augmenting the store of knowledge or happiness,
so that man appeared the most perfect receptacle for the soul on
this earth. Of the theological triads, the following may be
selected : “ God consists necessarily of three things—the greatest
of life, the greatest of knowledge, and the greatest of power.
There are three primeval unities, and more than one of each
cannot exist—one God, one truth, and one point of liberty.
Three things proceed from the three primeval unities—all of
life, all that is good, and all power.” The doctrine of universal
peace was a first principle in Druidism, for: “ Three things
were forbidden to a bard—immorality, to satirize, and to bear
arms”; whence he was regarded as the herald, who could pass
from one country to another in his unicoloured robe, and go be-
tween two contending armies, who, though in the heat of action,
would—as Diodorus Siculus assures us—instantly desist. The
order of Druids under that name, does not appear to have been
known to the Roman writers out of Gaul and the Britannic isles,
and the original inhabitants seem, at some remote period of
antiquity, to have revised and reformed their national institutes.
Their priest had hitherto been simply Cwydd, or Gwydd—“ in-
structor,”—but it was deemed advisable to divide the sacred
office between the national, or superior priest, termed Der-wydd
—from Dar, “ superior,” and those in a subordinate character
called Go-wydd — or Ovydd—“subordinate instructor”; the
former corrupted by the Roman writers into Druides, and the
latter into Ovates. Hence Caesar observes: “ His omnibus
Druidibus praeest unus qui suraman inter eos habet auctorita-
tem.” “ Over all these Druids, one presided who had the chief
authority among them.” This person was called also Bardd
braint, “ the bard of presidency,” for, as the word Bardd literally
implies one who makes conspicuous,” it means “ a teacher ” or
“ philosopher”; and as verse was the medium generally employed
for conveying their precepts, the cultivation of poetry by them
was continued after the destruction of their power, which has
occasioned the modern acceptation of the term. The bardd108

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

braint was therefore the same as the arch-druid, and probably
was clad in white like the Derwyddon, sky-blue being in all
other cases the colour of the bard, and green—as resembling the
face of nature—that of the ovate. The disciples were styled
Awenyddion, or persons inspired by the Awen, or spirit of
poetry. Their dress was vai'iegated, the colours being blue,
white, and green ; and to be admitted into this class it was re-
quisite that the candidate be “ nobilissimi gentis,” “ of very
noble family.”

Such was Druidism in its purity. The want, however, of
continual intimations from heaven, soon caused our Celtic an-
cestors — as well as all other nations, except the peculiarly-
favoured Jewish race—to forget the simple but sublime concep-
tions of divinity, and a system of superstition, composed of
heterogeneous principles, was engrafted on them. It was well
remembered that the righteous Noah and his family had been
distinguished by providence, and miraculously preserved amidst
a perishing world. They must have been, therefore, highly and
justly reverenced by their offspring, and their precepts received
as the oracles of heaven. After their decease their memory was
revered, and a growing superstition may have begun to invoke
these undoubted favourites of heaven, as mediators with the
Supreme Being, and at last proceeded to worship them as gods.
One of the names of the true God was Hu gadarn, “ the mighty
inspector,” and this same appellation was also given to Noah.
The real history of the diluvian patriarch was not forgotten, for
the Triads and Kyn-veirdd describe him as a righteous man,
and ascribe to him the attributes and actions of a human being.
But, in process of time, the veneration for his character degene-
rated into worship, and, being designated by a title of the Most
High Noah, was confounded with the author of all, and soon
worshipped as a god. In the progress of error, the British race
still retained some recollection of the First Cause, but this was
very faint, as their homage and adoration were almost wholly
engrossed by certain supposed agents of a subordinate nature.
Caesar evidently alludes to this when he says: “ Multa de
Deorum immortalium vi ac potestate disputant, et juventuti
tradunt;” the druids “hold great disputations concering the
force and power of the immortal gods, and instruct the youth in
their principles.” To this he adds, that: “ of all the gods, theyANCIENT PAGAN RELIGION.

109

pay the greatest honours to Mercury, whom they represent as the
inventor of all arts. After him, they worship Apollo, and
Mars, Jupiter, and Minerva.” “ De his eandem ferb quern re-
liquae gentes habent opinionem.” “ Their opinion concerning
these nearly coincides with that of other nations.” Not only in
their theology, but even in the ceremonies of worship, did the
Druids resemble other nations. Dionysius — a writer of the
Augustan age, called Periegetes—in his geographical treatise,
informs us that “ The rites of Bacchus were duly celebrated in
the British islands,” and Strabo cites the authority of Artemi-
dorus that “ In an island close to Britain (which would be either
Anglesey or Ireland) Ceres and Proserpine are venerated with
rites similar to the orgies of Samothrace.” In the mythological
legends of Ireland we read that Partholan—a name, according to
Vallancey, composed of Bar “learned,” and Talan “a prophet”
—and his three sons, and their wives, peopled that country.
This evidently alludes to the patriarch and his family. The
tradition not only relates this, but adds the particular day of the
month of May, when they landed—mentions the servants (of
course the priests) of Partholan, his oxen, and his favorite grey-
hound. We are told that the first person who set foot on Ire-
land after the deluge was a messenger, whose name was Adhna,
(i.e. kindling of fire), the son of Beatha (life), sent by Mon, the
the son of Pelus (Beli), to discover the soil of the country. He
landed upon the coast about seven score years after the flood, but
made no stay; he only plucked up a handful of grass as a proof and
returned with it to his master. Is it possible to read this without
thinking of the dove of Noah? Of the memorials preserved by
the Druids of Britain, respecting the awful event of the deluge,
the Triads offer some examples. It is described as “ the burst-
ing forth of the lake Llion (which implies the great abyss or
waters under the earth), and the overwhelming of the face of all
lands, so that all mankind were drowned, excepting Dwyvan
(i. e. the god-like man, or high cause) and Dwyvach (the god-
like woman, or less cause), who escaped in a sheer hulk, and by
whom the island of Britain was re-peopled.” One of the great
achievements of the island of Britain, is said to have been
“building the ship of Nevydd Nav Neivion (i.e. ‘the celestial
one, lord of the waters,1 or Neptune), which carried in it a male
and female of every animal species when the lake of Llion burstno

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

forth.” Again:	“ The drawing of the Avane (amphibious

animal), to land out of the lake Llion by the Ychain banawg
(i. e. the elevated oxen) of Hu gadarn, so that the lake burst no
more.” These elevated oxen, like the Irish Adhna—or kindling
of fire, mentioned above—may allude to the offering of Noah
after the flood; and we shall see, hereafter, the Avanc was a
mythological title of the ark itself. So also the lake not burst-
ing any more alludes to the divine promise that the world should
not again be destroyed by water. Noah then received divine
honours from the Britons under the names of Dwyvan, Nevydd
Nav Neivion, and Dylan ail Mor (?. e. Deucalion, the son of the
sea), or ail ton (of the wave). His character and history as the
just man, for whose integrity he and his family received preserv-
ation from the Almighty, naturally selected him as the first
object of superstition to the gentile world. No doubt for some
time after the deluge, the ark itself would be preserved and
viewed with veneration, as having been the agent of a miracu-
lous preservation amidst the ruins of a perishing world; and, in
lapse of time, the growing superstition seized upon it as an
object of idolatrous worship. We have seen that the wife of
Noah, as the common mother of all, was commemorated by the
title of the god-like woman. This, Caesar mentions as an ancient
tradition of his time, by the Britons in the interior of the island.
In process of time, the ark—as having contained all of life—was
confounded with her, and both were considered as one goddess.
The adoration of Noah and the ark by degrees grew up into a
system, which formed the worship professed in Britain previous
to the arrival of the Phoenicians on its coast, which took place
about five hundred years before Christ. Hence, say the bards :
“ Hu, the mighty, is our god of mystery; he is great on land and
sea, greater than the worlds, emperor of the sea and land.” In
the mystical poem of Aneurin—one of the primary bards—we
not only find Noah evidently designated under the title of Hu
(Hesus), but also a goddess associated with him under the name
of Ked (the Ceto of antiquity), whom both Bryant and Faber
have sfyewn to be no other than Ceres, or Isis. Taliesin—
another Kyn-vardd—professes to have derived his mystic lore
from traditions of the distinguished Ogoad, or eight persons, by
which he means the Arkites who had been preserved in the
sacred ship. He displays the mythology of the deluge, stylesANCIENT PAGAN RELIGION.

ill

the chief Cadwaladr (i. e. the supreme disposer of battle), and
describes him as a druid. He tells us that he is attended by a
spotted cow, which procured blessings. On a serene day she
bellowed as a warning, probably of the deluge, and afterwards
she was boiled (i. e. sacrificed on May eve, which was the season
in which British mythology commenced the egress from the
ark). The spot where she was sacrificed afforded rest to the
deified diluvian, who is here called Yssadawr “the consumer,”
meaning the sacrificer. He has also the epithets of Gwarth
mor, “ ruler of the sea,” and Menwyd, “ the blessed,” and is de-
clared to be the constructor of Kyd (i. e. the ark), “ which
passed the grievous waters, stored with corn.” In another of
Taliesin’s poems, the diluvian god is termed “the reaper,” in
allusion to the patriarch’s character as a husbandman.

It has been already observed that the druids styled the
deluge, Llyn Llion, “ the lake of the abyss”; hence they looked
upon a lake as its just symbol. But as the flood was regarded
not merely as a punishment, but a purification of the earth for
the reception of the just ones, such lake was considered as
peculiarly sacred, which character it communicated to those
lakes and bays by which it was locally represented. The
ancient names of some which have been preserved among the
Cambrian mountains seem to confirm this. Llyn Creini, “ the
lake of adoration,” upon Cevn Creini, “ the hill of adoration,”
and Llyn Urddyn, “ the lake of consecration,” in Merioneth-
shire, and Llyn gwydd lor, “ the lake of the grove of God,” in
Montgomeryshire, may be instanced. We have the further
testimony of Gildas, that they worshipped mountains and rivers.
In the fabulous amplification of the chronicle, by Geoffry of
Monmouth, we are told that “ there is a lake near the Severn
called Llyn Llion, which swallows all the water that flows into
it at the flood tide without any visible increase ; but at the ebb
tide it swells up like a mountain, and pours its waters over the
banks, so that whoever stands near it at this time must run the
risk of being drowned.” As we have here the very name of
the mythological lake, we may fairly presume that this ,was a
local symbol. Strabo tells us that the Gauls consecrated their
gold in certain lakes; and adds, naXtara tfavrois at Aifivat rr)v
aavXiav irapelyov, “ lakes furnish them with their most inviolable
sanctuaries”; by which of course we must understand either112

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

rafts upon them, or islets enclosed within them. We learn the
same thing from Justin. From the circumstance of the deluge
having overwhelmed the earth, Mr. Davies fairly infers the
origin of such traditions as assert the calamity of cities having
been swallowed up by such lakes. The rivers alluded to by
Gildas were such as passing pure from or through particular
lakes, represented the stream of life which passed uninjured
through the destructive waters. Camden describes the river
Lleweni, as having entered Llyn Savaddan, a lake in Breck-
nockshire, and still retaining its own colour, as it were disdain-
ing a mixture. There are many others. It is curious to find
the fountains of the Dee are called Dwyvan and Dwyvach; and
its own name Dyvrdwy implies “ the divine water.”

The ark itself was called Caer, “an inclosure”; as Caer
Bediwyd, “ the inclosure of the inhabitants of the world,” Caer
Mediwyd, “the inclosure of the perfect ones,” Caer Golur, “the
gloomy inclosure,” Caer Vandwy, “ the inclosure resting on the
height,” Caer Ochren, “ the inclosure whose side produced life,”
in allusion to Noah’s having made a door in the side of the
ark; and Taliesin in one of his poems describes this same
Caer as an island. Hence it is fabled of the little island of
Dinbych, in Pembrokeshire, that it once floated on the ocean.
It was represented by the druids by what has been called a
cromlech, consisting of not less than three stones pitched on
end, so as to form three sides of a square, and another laid
across the top. In those of earliest construction, the dimensions
were so great as to render the erection of such a temple a work
of great difficulty, especially putting on what may be regarded
as the cover or deck of the ark. Therefore, one of the triads
tells us that the first of the three mighty labours of the island
of Britain was “ raising the stone of Ketti”; but we have before
seen that Kyd or Kit was the name of the ark; and here we
have the origin of the appellation of that druidical monument
near Ailsford, in Kent, called Kit’s Coity house: for Kit’s
Coity means Kyd’s Coed ty or house, near the wood or sacred
grove, and such was not far off. Whether the emblematic
temple ever approached in shape nearer the form of a ship in
Britain, no existing specimen remains to inform us, but in
Ireland are two very extraordinary examples. These are the
6hip temples of Dundalk, called Fags na ein eighe, i. e. “ theANCIENT PAGAN RELIGION.

113

one night’s work”; buildings erected within such a time, accord-
ing to the old Irish and old Welsh laws, being the sole property

I

Ship Temple, " one night's work" at Dundalk.

Flan of Temple at Dundalk.

of the builder, no one else having any power over them; and
one in the county of Mayo. The
smallest dimensions of the in-
terior of the former are 44 feet
9 inches in length by 21 feet
wide. So completely is it in _
the form of a ship, that it is
sharp in the bows, towards where
would be the cut-water, and
with a round stern; and on
taking a stern view is seen at
once to swell out so as to repre-
sent the curve formed by a ves-
sel’s ribs. The height of what remains is about 13 feet, and
there is within, all round, a projection of stones like a bench.
The entrance is at the side. The other is exactly like the
coracles or wicker boats covered anciently with hides, and now
with pitched canvas, which are to be found on the rivers of
Wales and Ireland. It is perfect; its greatest length inside is

Ship Temple, Mayo.114

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

15 feet, and its height is 7 feet. The walls are two feet thick,
and, like the other, without cement. The door is on the side,
formed in the Egyptian style, of two converging uprights, with
an impost. The roof, which is made of large flag-stones, with
a grassy covering, is about 2 feet 6 inches thick. Its name is
Leabha na Fathach, “the giant’s bed.” Both stand on isolated
hills, to represent the mountain on which the ark rested. I can-
not here avoid inserting a passage from Procopius in his History
of the Gothic War, as it bears so much on the subject:—“There
are some who think that the ship made of white stone, which is
to be seen on the Phseacian shore, is that in which Ulysses was
carried to Ithaca, after he had been hospitably received by the
Phoenicians. This ship is not formed out of one stone, but of
many; and it has an inscription plainly shewing that some
merchant of that country did in former times erect this monu-
ment to Jupiter Casius, the deity which these people formerly
worshipped. To this day, the city in which the ship stood, is
called Cassiope. In the same manner is that ship formed of
many stones, which Agamemnon, the son of Atreus, placed in
Geraste, a city of Euboea, dedicated to Diana, as an expiation
for the offence she had received at that time; when, in conse-
quence of the sacrifice of Iphigenia, she suffered the Grecians
to proceed on their voyage.” The raven that Noah sent out of
the ark is also recorded in British mythology under the name
of Morvran, i. e. “ the raven of the sea,” and said to be the first-
born of the arkite god and goddess. Being personified, he is
described as dark and hideous in his person, and addicted to
contention. As the raven was despatched by way of experi-
ment, and disappointed Noah, it was considered, as well as all
of the same kind, as a bird of ill omen; whence its croaking
and presence are to this day regarded by the peasantry as
unlucky. But the dove having brought the sprig of olive, that
has been looked on as proclaiming the end of contention, and
with the olive an emblem of peace. The arkite goddess is
represented sometimes as the consort, sometimes as his mother,
and at others as the daughter of the patriarch, for mythology
is far from particular in this respect; and is brought to our
notice under a variety of names, as Ked, Keridwen, Llad,*

* Benefit.ANCIENT PAGAN RELIGION.

115

A wen, etc. On the celebration of the mysteries on Maj'-eve,
convened by the song of the cuckoo, which is still hailed with
delight, the priests performed a solemn dance, and then within
the sanctuary (the cromlech) began to boil the mystic cauldron,
which wa3 an emblem of the deluge, and was probably a stone
vase, into which was put a liquid, got, if near at hand, from
the foam of the sea, in which was an infusion of various herbs.
In some places this was done in a natural cave, as in Doward
Hill, near Monmouth, called Arthur’s Cave, wherein a chest
containing a treasure is said to be watched over by three ravens,
and whoever enters will only come out near the river, and then
in the form of a greyhound, which we have already seen is said
to have been a favourite companion of the diluvian god. Some-
times this was an artificial cave of stone, built within a mound
of earth, specimens of which are found in Ireland; and that
one at New Grange has three recesses in the centre, one of
which is a large stone basin, the cauldron of Keridwen, and no
doubt each of the others was furnished with a smaller one,
though both do not remain. I need scarce mention to you
that the principal sprig, the berries of which were to be put
into the cauldron was the missletoe, which Pliny tells us was
to be pulled from the oak by a golden hook, and received in a
white garment, when the moon was six days old; but I may
mention that it was called by the druids, pren purawr, “ the
stem of pure gold.” This boiling was mystically said to be
continued for a year and a day. The next thing was to make
a beverage called gwin a bragawd, — being a composition of
wine, honey, water, and the extract of barley, —and this was
probably put into the smaller stone vases, when it was rendered
sacred, by having added to it a certain portion of the contents
of the cauldron, and was presented to those magnanimous
aspirants to the Bardic profession, who had taken and kept the
oath; they being told that they thus drank the water of inspir-
ation and science. No doubt, while I have been reading this,
the scene of the witches in Macbeth has occurred to the minds
of most of my hearers. The stone seats were then sprinkled
with some of the contents of the cauldron, and that became
consecrated. Next the spotted cow was to be sacrificed, because
the burnt-offering had yielded rest to the deified patriarch.
The Avanc, or amphibious animal, was the name given to the

i 2PRIMKVAL SECTION.

11()

shrine of the arkite god, and this was drawn from the lake or
river by the ychen banawg, or conspicuous oxen, while a chant
called Caine yr ychen banawg, intended to represent the lowing
of oxen and the rattling of chains, was sung during the per-
formance. After this and other ceremonies the mead-feast was
prepared, and given by the priest to the votaries as he intro-
duced them to the temple. Such was the sanctuary, and such
the rites of the arkite worship, which was now to receive an
innovation from a foreign tribe.

About five hundred years before the Christian era, the
Phoenicians, from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, first directed
their voyages to the Britannic isles, and having in a little time
established a commerce with the natives ; as many places,
according to Borlase, still retain Phoenician appellations in
Cornwall, they appear to have made some small settlements for
the better management of their trade. In order to strengthen
their connexion with the people of the west of England, and
afterwards with the Irish, they made an attempt to introduce
their own religion among the inhabitants, which for some time
met with great opposition from the druids, as will be shewn
hereafter. This system of theology was the Sabean idolatry,
or the worship of the diluvian god and goddess in conjunction
with the sun and moon; and the latter in its crescent shape so
greatly resembling a boat, it was soon regarded as a fit repre-
sentative of the arkite goddess, which then left the sun, as
ruler of the seasons and the beneficent comforter of the earth, to
be regarded as the immortalised patriarch. The connexion
therefore between these systems being pointed out most forcibly
by the Phoenician priests in Cornwall and the Scilly isles, was
pretty generally adopted ; but the British hierarchy, alarmed
at its progress, gave every possible check to its further advance,
so that for some time it was confined to the ancient Cornish
district. Speaking, as we have been told, in enigmas, they
represented it under the allegorical title of a sow, and prophe-
cied that “ Britain would be injured by her progeny.” Their
efforts did not damp the ardour of its supporters, and a colony
of these helio-arkite priests, whom their opponents termed Gwryr
Lledrithiawg “magicians”, was sent from Cornwall to Mon-
mouthshire, where they erected a circular stone temple in imi-
tation of the zodiac, such as they had set up in many parts ofANCIENT PAGAN RELIGION.

117

the former county, and assigned to it an establishment of three
ministers. They next succeeded in introducing their system
into Pembrokeshire, where it so greatly flourished as to cause
that district to be emphatically styled Bro yr Hud, “ the land
of mystery,” and for it to be said to be enveloped in Llengel,
“ a veil of mystery.” It was next carried to the regions of
Snowden; and a temple called Gyvylchi, now the meineu hirion,
or “ tall stones,” in the parish of Dwy-Gyvylchi, about a mile
from Braich y dinas, on the top of Snowden, towards the
shore, was the first erected in that part for the celebration of
the helio-arkite worship. This, we are expressly told in the
poems of Hywel the son of Owen, was the caer or sanctuary of
the mystical goddess, and the chosen place of her daughter
Llywy, who was the British Proserpine, and sometimes called
Creirwy, i. e. “ the token of the egg,” because the egg, like the
ark, contained the elements of future life. The new system
having gained ground in Caernarvonshire, was next introduced
into Mon or Anglesea. Here, according to the triad, the in-
habitants “ took it up and nursed it, to their own injury”; that
is, to the complete destruction of the simplicity of the former
worship, and that it became one of the three chief molestations
of Mona; implying that here it flourished in an eminent degree
—a fact proved from its abounding in druidical remains, as well
as the direct testimony of Tacitus. Indeed, the name Ynys
Mon, “ the island of the cow,” appears to have been given on
that account, as the lunar-arkite goddess was worshipped under
that title; and as by Taliesin it is called, “the island of the
praise of Hu.” From Snowden, too, the new system spread
into the surrounding country, and thence into North Britain,
where we still find many helio-arkite remains. The priests of
that part of this island, called Lloegr, and now England, had as
yet been unaffected by its progress. But the same causes as
had produced its success in other portions, in time contributed
to make it regarded less as an object of aversion, and here it
ultimately became incorporated with the national arkite religion.
The Irish as well as British mythological records state the
introduction of a new system of worship into that island. Nen-
nius, giving the tradition of his day, says that “the Spanish
colony in their voyage to Ireland saw a tower of glass, which
endeavouring to take, they were drowned in the attempt”; that118

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

is, did not succeed. Had they been crossing the North Sea,
this might have been conjectured to mean an ice-island, but it
here evidently alludes in the first place to the “ ship of glass,”
which we shall see was an arkite emblem, and next to the
arkite religion itself. We are further told by an ancient Irish
poem, as Avell as by Keating, that this colony had frequent
battles, i. e. struggles with the Tuath de Danans, the tribe to
which the other inhabitants were subject; and as these are
represented as a nation of enchanters, we necessarily infer an
allusion to the arkite priests. We are further informed that
they were distinguished by the title of gods. Vallancey gives
the etymon of their appellation, telling us that Tuath da Danan
implies the “ class of augurs.” The poem just alluded to, leads
us to understand that twenty-seven years elapsed before the
new system could be established in Ireland. It was the same
in the Isle of Mann, which took its name from Mannan, whom
the Manx Chronicle calls tc son of the sea”, and tells us was its
first prince. In Irish he is called Menn; and the following is
the literal translation of some verses regarding him :—“ When
affliction came on all mankind, Menn of the sea remained
unhurt. Woful was the day the waters gushed forth! But
Menn lived, and saw his children float.” He is indeed the
Menu of Indian mythology.

The helio-arkite god is thus spoken of in a Welsh poem :
“ Light is his course and swift, a particle of lucid sunshine is
his ear.” He was called Tydain tad Awen, i. e. “ Titan (a
known title of the sun) the father of inspiration”; and his three
attributes—Light, Harmony, and Energy, were considered as
having each contributed to methodize Bardism, whence they
were termed “ the three primary bards” of the helio-arkite
system. Hu was also termed “ the king who rises in light and
ascends the sky”; and in allusion to the solar rays, “ Hu with
the expanded wings.” The arkite divinity had been called in
Ireland, Crom, a title of the Almighty, whence the sanctuary
was termed Cromlech, from leach, a stone; but now Aosar, from
Aos, the sun, and many other similar names. But his grand
title was Beil; and in Britain, Bel or Beli (styled by Ausonius,
who uses the Roman termination, Belinus), evidently the Baal
of the Scriptures, thus becoming identified with Apollo; and
sometimes Y duw Cadyr, “ the puissant god of battle,” when weANCIENT PAGAN RELIGION.

119

immediately recognize Mars. Among his other names were:
“ the radiant bull of battle, the roaring Beli”; and, in allusion to
the sun’s progress in the ecliptic, “ the lion of the greatest
course.” From his gliding so gently along, as well as forming
a circle, which a snake would represent when its tail is brought
into its mouth, then allegorical of eternity, having neither
beginning nor ending; and as that reptile sheds its skin, being
a symbol of regeneration, Beli was termed “ the serpent who
pierces the sullen ones.” Hence the bull, the lion, and the
serpent, became his representatives on earth. He was styled
Pen-dragon, i. e. “ the chief leader or dragon”; and his priests
were mystically called dragons or serpents. One of his Irish
titles manifestly points to the union of the Sabean idolatry with
the Arkite superstition. It is Bal-kiste, i. e. Baal, or lord of the
chest or ark.

The lunar-arkite goddess became “Keridwen, the lofty and
fair; slow and delicate in her descending course, her complexion
is formed of the mild light in the evening hour; she is the splendid,
graceful, bright, and gentle lady of the mystic song.” As the
“first of womankind,” she was the same as the Venus of the
Greeks and Romans; as “ the goddess of various seeds,” she was
the Ceres; as “ the lady of the summit of the water,” the Am-
phitrite; as the lunar goddess, the same as Diana, and under the
title of Malen, i. e. “ one accustomed to war or strife,” she is
identified with Bellona. But when it was considered as requi-
site for the defence of her votaries, she was said to assume the
character of a fury, whence she was designated “ the old hag,”
“ the mother of mischief,” and the like; in all which she may
be regarded as Andraste. The diluvian god and goddess being
considered the universal father and mother, were typified by
rude stones, indicating the male and female generative powers.
This gave rise to a worship, called by the Greeks and Romans
the Phallic, and by the Hindoos, Lingam.

The Welsh Archaeology—a most valuable publication—supplies
us with an old formulary of initiation into the mystic rites of
the helio-arkite worship, in uncouth orthography and obscure
language, which seems to have been used upon these occasions.
This has been—fortunately for our purpose—translated by the
late Mr. Davies, who may be regarded (without disparagement
to others) as the most accomplished scholar Wales ever pro-120

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

duced. A druid, under the title of the divinity, named Arthur,
is represented as approaching the gate of the sanctuary, which
was guarded by the hierophant, and leading by the hand a young
aspirant named Kai, when the following dialogue commences:—

Arthur. “ What man is he who guards the gate?”

Hierophant. “ The severe hoary one (alluding to his white
robe) with the wide dominion. Who is the man who demands
it ?”

Arthur. “ Arthur and the blessed Kai.”

Hierophant. “ What good attends thee, thou blessed one, thou
best man in the world ? Into my house thou canst not enter,
unless thou wilt preserve it.”

Kai. “ I will preserve it; and that thou shalt behold, though
the birds of wrath should go forth, and the three attendant
ministers should fall asleep, namely—the son of the Creator,
Mabon the son of Mydron (attendant upon the wonderful
supreme ruler), and Gwyn (i. e. fair, the lord of those who
descend from above).”

These three attendants were as many priests, the first of whom
represented the diluvian patriarch; the second, bearing a torch,
the sun; and the third the moon.

Hierophant. “ Severe have my servants been in preserving
their institutes. Manawydon, the son of Llyr (i. e. ‘ the sea-
beach ’), was grave in his counsel. Manawyd truly brought a
perforated shield (a poetical expression for exertions in behalf of
druidism) from Trevryd, and Mabon, the son of lightning,
stained the straw (a symbol of helio-arkite worship) with clotted
gore; and Anwas, the winged, and Llwch Llawinawg (i. e. the
ruler of the lake) were firm guardians of the encircled mount.
Their lord preserved them, and I rendered them complete.”

Kai. “I solemnly declare—though all three should be slain—
when the privilege of the grove is violated, danger shall be
found by me.”

After this the initiation took place, which was a mimic repre-
sentation of what Noah was supposed to have suffered. The
darkness and gloom of the ark was regarded as a type of night
and death; consequently, the sun, like the patriarch, was con-
sidered in his veil of darkness, and the expression “ every one
will come into the ship of the earth,” poetically means all men
must die. The attendant priests began to terrify the aspirantANCIENT TAGAN RELIGION.

121

with the representation of death, placing him within a kistvaen,
“ the ship of the earth,” such as actually was used for burial.
He was then said to go to Annwn, the Hades, in which Pluto
held his court; and, as the sun sets in the west, it is fabled to
be in that region. Pluto, who was the genius of the deluge,
was called by the Britons Gwyn ab Nudd, “ violent impulse, the
son of mist.” The three attendants upon the hierophant, gave
rise to the story of the three-headed watch-dog Cerberus (by the
druids termed the dog of Gwyn ab Nudd), and Porthawr Godo,
“ the door-deeper of the partial covering,” called also “ the gate
of sorrow.” Plutarch supposes that the title of “ dogs ” was in
allusion to the fidelity and vigilance of that animal. Hence, the
Egyptians often represented their priests, and even gods, with
dogs’ heads; and in the British mythology they were styled
Cvvn Annwn, “dogs of the deep.” According to Taliesin, the
aspirant was confined in the kistvaen nine nights,—the number
nine being regarded as sacred; every ninth wave of the sea
being larger and more powerful, it was thought, than the rest.
As Noah came from the ark, the sun—his celestial type—again
burst forth with radiancy; the gloom in which the aspirant had
been was changed into light. One of the attendant priests as-
sumed the name of Morda («. e. ruler of the sea), who summoned
him to come forth, and he was now considered as renovated and
endowed with all knowledge. He was then presented with the
Glain Nadroedd, or serpent’s egg—that is, a druid’s bead—as a
badge of his admission to the sacred office, it being a sacred
emblem of the British Proserpine ; for I may here mention that
the “ rape of Proserpine ” was nothing more than a fable of the
ark carried off by the violence of the deluge. Pliny tells us
these serpent’s eggs were procured at a certain time of the moon,
and relates the allegorical story of the way in wdiich this was
accomplished,—and its similarity in its principal features to the
bardic account is highly interesting. As the egg was a vitrifi-
cation, it wras called not only “ the ship of glass,” but “ the
enclosure, or fortress of glassand Merddin Emrys and his
nine bards are said to have “ put to sea in a house of glass.” The
aspirant was now deemed worthy to taste of the cauldron of
Keridwen, and receive further information relative to the arcana
of druidic lore. This, according to the new religion, was placed
in a cell within a circular stone temple, with an altar lying be-122

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

fore it. Into the contents of the cauldron he was partially
dipped, as into a bath, and the liquid was considered as con-
ferring immortality. And then, it being purified, he had to
drink of it three times,—whence he was considered as having
drank of the water of inspiration, science, and immortality, and,
therefore, all futurity was open to his view. As all that was
excellent had been extracted, and all that was bad had gone into
the liquor, it was now regarded as deleterious,—and, being
divided into two equal parts, was put into two vessels, and the
priests putting up a prayer for a blessing on what they had
done, emptied them into a pit dug in the earth. We have not
the British prayer, but Euripides has preserved that of the
Greek priests of Ceres, and it was: “ May we be able con-
spicuously to pour the water of these vessels into the terrestrial
sink.” The aspirant was now led towards a river, and, from the
timidity that was supposed to have seized him, was represented
as a hare, which animal thence became sacred to the lunar-arkitc
goddess. Morda plunged him into the stream, by which he was
supposed to be received into the arms of the diluvian deities.
He then was acknowledged as a druid, and permitted to mix
with an assemblage of the same species and character. He was
enigmatically called a grain of pure wheat, and therefore emi-
nently sacred to Keridwen in her character of Ceres. To re-
ceive him into her bosom she was designated as a hen, a bird
deemed sacred by the Britons in the time of Caesar. This, how-
ever, was to be represented in manner manifest to the aspirant,
and he was enclosed in a ship, cell or cave, as symbolical of the
person of the mystical goddess, where he imbibed the doctrines
peculiarly sacred to Keridwen, when coming forth he had gone
through all the less mysteries. He was next to pass into the
greater. The proclaiming priest called out: “Noviciates, to
the sea,” in the same manner as the Greek votaries of Ceres
did—'AXaSe fivtTrai,-—but if the ceremony took place inland,
this was represented by a river ; and the aspirants immediately
repaired to the beach, though supposed to be “ dreading the sea.”
The priest then exclaimed : “ Water has the property of con-
ferring a blessing. It is meet to think rightly of God. It is
meet to pray earnestly to God, because the benefits which pro-
ceed from him cannot be impeded and, stepping on a stone in
the water, proceeded to enclose the aspirant in a coracle; but ifANCIENT PAGAN RELIGION.

123

he expressed any fear of the waves, the priest replied: “To
the brave, to the magnanimous, to the amiable, to the generous,
who boldly embarks, the landing-stone of the bards will prove
the harbour of life. It has asserted the praise of Heilyn (i. e.
‘ the solar divinity ’), the mysterious impeller of the sky, and till
the doom shall its symbol be continued.” The coracle was then
immediately covered with the skin of a beast, and launched from
the shore; and, after the aspirant had been thought to have
weathered the mimic deluge, he was received again safe to land.
The priest, during this ceremony, had taken the title of Gwydd-
naw, or priest of the ship, and he now assumed that of the “ lofty
crane,” as a fisher of men, and the aspirant being taken out, was
said to have been “ thrice born.” The god himself was described
as Tarw tri garan, Tarvos trigaranos, or “ the bull with three
cranes ”—alluding to the three attendants, one of which was
said to have perched on his head, another on the middle of his
back, and the third on his hinder part. We are at once re-
minded of the Egyptian crane, the ibis. If the aspirant was
timid, and regarded as wicked, the hierophant rejected him with
these words : “ Thy coming without external purity, is a pledge
that I will not receive thee. Take out the gloomy one (speaking
to the attendant officiating priests). From my territory have I
alienated the rueful steed. My revenge upon the shoal of earth-
worms is their hopeless longing for the pleasant allotment. (To
the aspirant): But of the receptacle which is thy aversion, did
I obtain the rainbow in allusion to the sacred token of recon-
ciliation, which one of the mystic poems represents to have been
formed by Gwidion, the British Mercury, as a consort for the
renovated sun: a beautiful poetic allegory to express the secondary
cause of this phenomenon. This was the last of the rites, and
the aspirant was now received into the arms of the hierophant,
and presented to the society as a complete bard of the highest
order. His having been thrice born, alluded to his natural birth
from his parent, next of Keridwen, and lastly of the mystical
coracle. The Phoenician origin of the helio-arkite worship, is
confirmed by a triad, which informs us that it was that of the
Coraniaid, at their first coming to Britain.

Besides the priests there were priestesses, and they had the
care of superintending the boiling of the mystical cauldron, and
were to keep the fire continually burning within “ the quad-124

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

rangular sanctuary”; being under the name of Seon, said by
their breath to warm it, and by their songs in the bosoms of
lakes, to have given the first presage of the deluge. They were
nine in number, and still commemorated in Cornwall by a stone
monument called “ the nine maids.” By the Britons they were
regarded as the Tylwyth Teg (i. e. fair family, or fairies), and as
“children of the evening,” and “night wanderers.” From the
songs of similar priestesses, the Greeks obtained the idea of the
nine muses. Pomponius Mela, speaking of those in Gaul, says
they were nine in number, of great endowments, capable of
raising storms by their incantations, and of transforming them-
selves into what animals they pleased. Strabo adds, that they
annually removed the covering of the sanctuary and replaced it
again, called by the Britons—Llwyth maen Bryn keti, “ the load
of the stone of the high place of Ked, or Ketti”; and if any one
let go the burden, she was immediately torn in pieces by the
rest. Thence the expression of the Welsh bards ; “ like the fall
of one of the Seon.” In Ireland they were called Gubha, which
signifies “ lamentation,” or “ mourning,” by which name the
muses were also known, and are commemorated by some rocky
islets a little to the south of the island of Raglin, near Magie,
called the nine maids. The second great labour of Britain was
Adeiliaw Gwaith Emrys (building the work of Ambrosius, a
name of the sun). The places of worship sacred to this motley
superstition had reference to the celestial, as well as terrestrial
objects of adoration. The temple was named Caer Sidi, i. e.
“ the inclosure of the just man,” an appellation of the sacred
vessel, in which, Taliesin asserts, the mythological “ Arthur and
his seven friends escaped the deluge”; but now transferred to
the great circle in which the sun and moon expatiated, and
therefore the zodiac. They were therefore constructed of
twelve stones placed upright in a circle, to represent the twelve
signs, and a huge one in the centre for the sun, so placed as to
cast its shadow on a particular one of the circle, and so point out
exactly the time of the solstice. Sometimes there were two
interior tall stones to represent the sun and moon, and at one
part a sanctuary was erected, or cell, in a quadrangular form.
As all such temples were constructed on astronomical principles,
we have, instead of twelve, sometimes nineteen (in allusion
to the lunar cycle), or thirty, or sixty stones. The name ofANCIENT PAGAN RELIGION.

125

Caer Sidi—though in Wales only to be found in the writings of
the bards—is quite common at this day in Ireland; and if a
peasant be asked “ what is such a circle of stones ?” he replies at
once “ Caer Sidi.” Mr. Bryant, in his Analysis of Mythology>
tells us that among the Greeks the pomegranate — from its
abounding with seeds—was regarded as a symbol of the ark, and
that one of its names was 2^77, a name also given to a city of
Pamphilia, said to have been built by Side, the daughter of
Danaus, by which is meant a priestess of Da-Naus, the ark.
This same erudite scholar informs us that the arkite goddess was
typified as Hippa (i. e. “ a mare ”), and so she is called by
Taliesin, and in her character of Ceres.

The third great labour of Britain was piling up the Mount
of Assemblies—the same that is called Din Breon—“ the hill of
judicature.” Such was Silbury hill in Wiltshire, Agglestone
barrow, and the like. The solemn meetings of the druids were
held at certain seasons of the year, at the new and full moon;
but the four principal assemblies took place at the solstices and
equinoxes; and the meetings for the ratification of what had
passed when the grand council of the nation assembled, were
held triennially. In an ancient Irish MS., we are told that
“ Magh-sleacht was so called from an idol of the Irish named
Crom-Cruaith, a stone capped with gold, about which stood
twelve other rough stones.” Magh-adhraidh, in the county of
Clare, signifies “ the field of adoration,” where there is a stone
temple of twelve stones in a circle, and a large flat one for an
altar. Another, four miles north of Cork, named Beal atha
magh-adhoir, “ the field of adoration for the invocation of Beal
* the sun,’ ” for which reason the stone was capped with gold, as
that for the moon was with silver. In order, before proclaiming
the festivals, that the Irish druids might watch the appearance
of the latter, they used to ascend certain hills; and such are
found at this day to retain the appellation of “ the hill of the
moon.” In the idolatrous mysteries of this people, a portable
shrine is said to have been drawn about by oxen, as in Britain,
and it was denominated Arn-Breith, which General Vallancey
asserts is evidently Arn-berith “ the ark of the covenant.” The
rites in honour of the helio-arkite divinity in Ireland, regarded
as Apollo, began like those in the sister isle, in May, whence
that month is termed Bel-teine “ the fire of Beli,” and Ked-126

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

aman “ the sacred rites of Red.” Fires were lighted on the hills
to their honour, and the Irish still light them, and, fancying
they have a purifying quality, drive their cattle through them.
So the British druids, who had the care of the spotted ox—
which was to represent the tauriform god in their rites—led him
round the omen fire.

Some suppose that the tall slender towers which are to be
seen in Ireland, and are of high antiquity, were intended for
holding fires on their tops, and thus supersede their being
lighted on the hills. As these are somewhat conical, tapering
towards a point, it has been conjectured that the idea was de-
rived from the pyramidal flame. The highest that remains is
dedicated to the daughter of Daghda (i. e. Apollo); another
stands at Drom-bagh (i. e. “ temple of the sun ”), a third is called
Aoi-Beil-tori (i. e. “ the community of the towers of Belus ”) ;
and the priest who superintended was declared to be “ the illus-
trious fire-minister.” The Irish histories, or rather chronicles,
however, seem to indicate that the substitution of fire-towers
was far from generally adopted; great opposition was made to
the innovation, and there continued some who persisted in light-
ing their fires on mountains or raised tumuli.

I have omitted to notice several names and representatives of
the helio-arkite god and lunar- arkite goddess, and not enumer-
ated many ceremonies, as, in order to get the subject into the
limits of your patience, I have felt compelled to compress as
much as possible into a small compass ; but I cannot close these
observations without mentioning a few vestiges of the system
still to be discovered in the rural traditionary charms and local
superstitions of the peasantry, leaving to your own memories to
supply others. I should premise that the object of the early
Christian missionaries to this country was—as set forth in the
letter of pope Gregory, in 601, to Melitus, for the information
of Augustine—to dedicate to some holy martyr what is done by
the pagans, rather than put an end to it, that they may be led to
worship the true God.

The sun : on the eve of every Twelfth day, I can see on the
hills around my dwelling in Herefordshire, numerous groups of
straw on fire, each twelve in number, and one of which is called
the old hag and raised higher than the rest. They are placedANCIENT PAGAN RELIGION.

127

on the early-sown corn, and the drinking parties around pass the
horn containing the beverage from the right over the left hand,
to indicate the course of the sun. Its shining on a bride is re-
garded as lucky.

The moon: in many parts it is usual to prefer the increase to
the waning for killing pigs, as in the former it is conceived that
the meat will swell during boiling, but in the latter will de-
crease. Reaping corn, and cutting withy trees, the same; and so
likewise in the shearing of sheep. Many superstitions are retained
by sailors, and among others, that such persons as being on deck,
who choose while the moon shines to lie down and go to sleep,
are in danger of being struck blind for such disrespect to that
luminary. The following invocation to the moon is often uttered
by the young women in Herefordshire:

“ New moon, new moon, declare to me,

Shall I this night my true love see 1
Not in his best, but his array,

As he walks in every day,” etc.

The ark: the pellicle, termed a child’s caul, is deemed a preserv-
ative against drowning, because it has enveloped the infant, like
the covered coracle had done the young aspirant. Friday : this
being dedicated to the Arkite goddess, it is considered exceed-
ingly unlucky to begin any matter of importance upon it, and
marriages are scarcely ever solemnized on that day. For the same
reason they seldom take place in May, the month of the helio-
arkite festival. The lunar-arkite deity, as a mare, is propitiated in
Herefordshire in harvest time, the reapers taking care to leave a
few straws with the ears on, standing a little way apart and in a
circle. These are brought together towards the centre, and then
tied, when they severally throw at it their sickles, and when cut
the bunch is held up amidst joyous vociferations, which is termed
“ crying the mare,” and it then hangs up in the farm-house as a
charm till next harvest. The Arkite goddess, in the character
of Proserpine, is appealed to in the baking of a pullet’s egg in
wood-ashes within twelve days after Christmas, which, if it
breaks, is unlucky—but, if not, is eaten by a young woman in
silence, in the hope of dreaming of her sweetheart. The ox;
on the eve of twelfth-day (that is, near twelve o’clock), the best
ox, white or spotted, has a cake placed on his left horn ; the men128

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

and girls of the farm-house being present, drink out of a silver
tankard to him, repeating this verse:

“ We drink to thee and thy white horn,

Pray God send master a good crop of corn.

Wheat, rye, and barley, and all sorts of grain :

If alive at the next time, I’ll hail thee again.”

The animal is then sprinkled with the libation. This makes
him toss his head up and down, and if, in so doing, the cake
be thrown forwards, it is a good omen—if backwards, the con-
trary.

The uncovering of the sanctuary : It is said in Herefordshire,
that on the top of Penyard-hill, near Ross, there is a sacred
place, containing a treasure, which cannot be opened but by the
help of nine white free-martins—which are heifer-calves pro-
duced as twins to bull-calves, and which are found never to
breed, therefore appropriate representatives of the nine virgin
priestesses. That eight have been found, who have begun to
pull asunder the hill, but, for want of the ninth, it has constantly
closed again. This splitting open of a hill is variously commemo-
rated in traditionary superstition. In Cardiganshire, it is said that
two oxen were employed in drawing the stones to be used in
building the church of Llanddewi Brefi (Pope Gregory’s advice
having been adopted, and the story given to the Christian in-
stead of the pagan structure), but that the load being too pon-
derous, one died in the attempt to drag it forward; an allusion,
as well as the ninth heifer, to the fall of a Se before-mentioned.
Upon this the other bellowed nine times, when the hill which
before presented the obstacle, divided, and this single ox was
enabled to bring the stone himself. It will, of course, be recol-
lected that the classic mythology relates that the Mediterranean
had no communication with the Atlantic ocean till the Phoenician
Hercules (i. e. the helio-arkite god) appeared before the moun-
tain which obstructed the passage, and rent it asunder, when he
and his companions were carried in their vessel through what
have thence been called, as well as from their columnar appear-
ance, “ the pillars of Hercules.”

The investigation of the British mythology, however curious,
would be of no benefit, did it not afford a demonstration to the
candid philosopher that heathenism had no foundation of its ownANCIENT PAGAN RELIGION.	129

to rest upon, but that its tottering fabric leaned against the
historical truths which are recorded in the Holy Bible. Our
unalloyed religion hence receives corroboration in a degree that
cannot fail to contribute increasing pleasure as we proceed in
such researches; and of us who have the light of Christianity,
it may be justly said: “Happy are the people that are in such
a case; yea, blessed are the people who have the Lord for their
God.”130

ON SOME GAULISH COINS PRESUMED TO BE CONNECTED WITH
THE CELTIC MYTHOLOGY.

BY A. C. KIRKMANN.

There are perhaps few archaeological subjects of greater in-
terest than the mythology and customs of the aboriginal inha-
bitants of the British Isles. Yet, although the writings of the
bards from the sixth to the fourteenth century are compara-
tively numerous, and more or less abounding in references to
the symbolic imagery of the arkite mythology; either that the
subject is closed in a language little understood on this side the
Severn, or those best acquainted with it, are satisfied with the
individual enjoyment of the knowledgs they possess, without
adding part to the general stock; certain it is that except from
the labours of Sir S. R„ Meyrick and Colonel Hamilton Smith,
and the paucity of information scattered throughout a few of
the Greek and Roman writers, and for the most part collected
by those gentlemen in their valuable book on The Costume of
the Original Inhabitants of the British Isles, and the elaborate
work of the Rev. Edward Davies on The Mythology of the
British Druids, little or nothing on this interesting subject is
generally known; a fact the more to be regretted, as British coins
and other Celtic remains are of continual occurrence, which a
better acquaintance with the actual existing authorities might
enable us in most cases successfully to appreciate.

To this want of knowledge may perhaps be attributed the
prevailing opinion, that the coins of the Britons bear no refer-
ence to their own institutions, but are merely copies of those of
the Greek or Roman states ; an opinion most effectually calcu-
lated to arrest all further inquiry into this interesting subject,
but at the same time unsupported by a single argument that
can sustain it.

That the Britons should not abandon their own prejudices,
but rather apply their improvement in the arts to perpetuate
them, is precisely what has happened in every case of theGAULISH COINS.

131

advance of a primitive people towards improvement; and hence
that their goddess Ceridvven (represented on their coins under
the form of a mare) should, after their intercourse with the
Romans, assume more the appearance of that animal, and less
the shadowy resemblance she previously bore, is perfectly con-
sistent, and their ultimate improvement in the arts after the
best models in the possession of their instructors, will satisfac-
torily account for the resemblance of some of their latter coins
to the types of the Macedonian sovereign, without assuming
that a people whose obstinate attachment to their own institu-
tions, and to the helio-arkite worship and Druid mythology in
particular, long survived the introduction of Christianity (and
strange as it may seem, became incorporated with it*), possessed
neither knowledge, genius, nor opinions, and that their numer-
ous coins and other remains coeval with, and anterior to the
time of the Romans, have nothing whatever to do with their
own customs, but are mere servile copies of something they saw,
but could neither appreciate nor understand.

These preliminary remarks may perhaps be found useful in
considering the accompanying sketch of two Gaulish coins,

which are no less remarkable for the singular locality of their
discovery, than they are for affording intrinsic evidence that the
Gauls at least depicted on their coins the mystical forms and
attributes of their deities; and if this be established, no reason-
able doubt can be entertained but that the Britons did so
likewise.

The first of these coins was obtained from some boys, by
whom it was found in searching the mud in the Seine, about
the centre of Paris, in the summer of 1833; and the second

* Mr. Davies, p. 109 et seq. cites
Sion Cent and Rhys Brydydd, to
prove that so late as the fifteenth
century the superstitious adoration

of the helio-arkite deity was not en-
tirely got rid of in the principality;
a fact that seems almost incredi-
ble.

K 2132

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

was procured of a dredger from the Thames, in 1843; thus
exhibiting a singular proof of the intercourse of the people to
whom they belong, with these two rivers. Both are from the
same design, although not from the same die, and both of the
same fabrication, having been apparently cast in a mould; the
waste (as the bullet-makers term that part of the metal that
adheres in the casting) being still attached to them. The
obverse represents a head of that peculiar character common to
both the British and Gaulish coins; and the reverse exhibits
two long-necked birds (a greater and a less), two radiated dotted
circles, and a waving band.

In offering some explanation of this curious device, I must
recur to a most important discovery of some sculpture in bas-
relief, made in constructing a vault in the choir of the cathedral
church of Notre Dame, at Paris, in J710; an account of which
will be found in the third volume de VRistoire de V Academic
Royale des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, 1717.* It consisted of
a series of tablets, representing personages (principally deities),
with their names attached ; some of these, Jo vis, Vulcanus,

rfAWoSTRKARANVS)

etc., were of course imme-
diately recognized; but others
created great perplexity ;

amongst which was the he-
lio-arkite god Hu (pro-
nounced Hee, and latinized
Esus), and the singular
Gaulish deity, a sketch of
whom, from a drawing taken
by Mr. Baudelot, is sub-
joined.

An accompanying inscrip-
tion left no doubt that this
curious monument was of
the age of Tiberius, but the
object of its erection was not
so clear, and considerable
discussion took place at the
time on the subject. Great

* See also " Montfaucon,” tom. ii, p. 424. Antiq. expliq. par les figures.GAULISH COINS.

133

difference of opinion also prevailed as to the deities, and to the
people to whom they belonged. M. de Mauton, deceived per-
haps by the Eolick origin of both the Greek and Celtic words,
Tavpoe, Taru, and others, referred their etymology to the
Greeks; while M. Baudelot with better reason traced their
explanation to the religion of the Gauls.

Borlase* observes of the Tarw Trigaranus, that he was
ranked with Jupiter, Esus, and Yulcan, and was so called
from three cranes perching, one on the head, one on the middle
of the back, and the third on the hinder part; and he tells us,
on the authority of Plutarch, that by this god, made of brass,
the Cimbri Teutones and Ambrones swore to observe the arti-
cles of capitulation granted to the Romans who defended the
Adige against them.

Davies, in his Mythology of the British Druids,+ says: “ I
cannot help thinking that the people who named this bull
spoke a language very similar to our Cambro-British; for
‘Tarw Trigaranus1 is Welch for a bull with three cranes, and
the idol itself seems connected with British superstition, as the
chief priest who attended the arkite mysteries was styled
Garan hir, or the lofty crane.” Bryant particularly remarks
the same symbolical bird in the helio-arkite superstitions of
other nations, and refers to the Egyptian crane, or ibis; he
adds, that “ Yepavogf the Greek name for this bird, was the
title of the sun himself.

The appellation of “ Garan” (the Celtic name for the crane),
to the Druid priest, and its connexion with the Egyptian my-
thology, is most remarkable.	The ibis was typical of the

moon, the Hermes of Egypt; J and the Ceridwen of the
Britons.§ Horapollo describes the Egyptian Hermes as the
president of the heart, or the personification of wisdom, || and
her priests were tie depositories of the mystical learning of the
Egyptian hierarchy ;1F here then we have a minute description
of the arkite priesthood under the same typical element.

With a knowledge of these facts it seems impossible to
regard the device on these Gaulish coins without being satisfied

* t( Antiquities of Cornwall,” B. n, § Davies, pp. 277, 284, et seq.
ch. xvi, p. 109.	|| Wilkinson, 223.

t Pages 132 and 161.	f Pettigrew’s “ History of Egyptian

X Wilkinson’s Egypt, vol. v, p. 217. Mummies,” p. 205.134

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

of its mythological purport, and of the probability that it
relates to the Tarw Trigaranus, his worship, or attributes;
unless indeed it be asserted that the same symbols, occurring on
various remains of the same people of the same era, have not the
same reference; but such assertion must falsify a large body of
archaeological evidence, which has hitherto been received as
affording a sound exposition in a great variety of cases where
no other authority has been deemed requisite.

No mythologist could fail in appropriating the “club11 or
the “ thunderbolt” to the respective deities to whom these
symbols belong; and why should the same weight of evidence
be received in one case, and rejected in another? except that
our greater ignorance of Celtic mythology renders its imagery
less familiar.

I have before noticed the prevailing opinion, that the horse,
the most ordinary type of the British coins (and which on the
earlier specimens resembles nothing but itself, and bears ex-
trinsic evidence of originality), has no reference whatever to
British mythology or superstition, but is merely copied from
the coins of the Macedonian sovereigns, and it would be inter-
esting to examine this opinion by the ordinary test of investi-
gation apart from bare assertion.

That the horse pertained both to the helio-arkite god and the
arkite goddess, and constituted one of the most prominent
features of British mythology, the poems of Taliesin (who
wrote in the sixth century) will abundantly testify. Hence
although both the Greeks and the Romans portrayed the same
quadruped on their coins, the horse found on the British coins
must be referred to British conception, rather than Greek or
Roman example, by every rule of evidence I am acquainted
with. The great resemblance of some of the latter British
coins to the Macedonian types is very satisfactory proof of the
culture of the Roman arts in Britain; but it affords us no
evidence whatever that nothing more was meant or intended by
the design itself than a servile copy. In modern days the eques-
trian statue of Charles the First has been copied innumerable
times; and it will be singular indeed if every work of art that
may have had the labours of Le Sceur for its prototype shall
hereafter be pronounced Charles the First, in defiance of the
most satisfactory demonstration that the workman had madeGAULISH COINS.

135

use of the original as a study only in aid of an artistic design
for somebody else.

There are many other symbols on these curious coins from
which irresistible conclusions may be drawn, that they refer
exclusively to British or Gaulish mythology; but as the whole
class of Celtic archaeology calls for a considerable acquaintance
with a language not easily attained, and little can be expected
towards its advancement, save from those who have made the
literature in which its evidences are for the most part locked up
their particular study, I shall conclude this paper with the
hope that some gentleman more extensively acquainted with
the subject will at no distant period, through the medium of
the Journal of the Associatiou, recur to this interesting subject
with better effect.136

ON THE CELTIC OR ANCIENT BRITISH MOUND, CALLED “THE
DANE-JOHN HILL,” AT CANTERBURY.

BY CHARLES 8ANDYS, F.S.A.

There is something peculiarly interesting in the contemplation
of the stupendous works of our ancient British ancestors. On
beholding a venerable relic like that which is the subject of our
present paper, we naturally inquire—by whom was it raised?—
at what period ?—and for what purpose ? These questions irre-
sistibly carry us back to a period long anterior to any historical
records of our country. In order to arrive at anything like an
approximation to the truth, we must consider man in the infancy
of society, and trace his progress from the period of that stu-
pendous miracle recorded in Holy Scripture {Gen. xi. 6-9,

a.	m. 1844, b.c. 2160), when God confounded the speech of
mankind, and thereby compelled them to migrate to the most
distant regions of the globe.*

We will not stop to inquire into the nature of that remark-
able dispensation of an all-wise Creator. Whether the descend-
ants of Shem retained their original primitive language, whilst
the posterities of Ham. and Japheth, only, were impressed with
other dialects and other tongues, Holy Scripture has not in-
formed us: but this we learn, that the descendants of Ham
eventually migrated to Africa; whilst Europe, as well as a
considerable portion of Asia, was peopled by the posterities
of Japheth.

For the purposes of our present inquiry, we will confine
ourselves to a cursory and rapid survey of the progress of the
latter, or Japhetic race of mankind;—of that race which “ di-
verged from Shinar throughout Asia and Europe, from the

* The deluge occurred a.m. 1656, tion were made known to the nations

b.	c. 2348, and the confusion of of the earth, who, at the preaching of
tongues at Babel, 188 years after the St. Peter on the day of Pentecost,
flood, b.c. 2160. By a miracle of a heard “ every man in his own tongue
somewhat similar character to that the wonderful works of God.”—Acts
mentioned in the Mosaic record, the ii, a.d. 33.

sublime mysteries of human redemp-DANE-JOHN HILL, CANTERBURY.

137

banks of the Ganges to the Atlantic Ocean, and from the
shores of Iceland to the Mediterranean Sea.”* Thus verify-
ing the prophecy and blessing of the patriarch: “ God shall
enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shera.”—
Gen. xi. 27.

There appear to have been three distinct sources of European
population, descendants of Japheth.

i. The Celt®, or Celts, who were settled in Britain more
than 1200 years before the Christian era.f n. The Teutonic,
German, Gothic or Scythian race, who migrated from Asia,
circ. b.c. 680, were on the Danube circ. b.c. 450, and had ex-
tended themselves to the eastern banks of the Rhine circ.
b.c. 50.J	in. The Sclavonic, or Sarmatian tribes, who first

settled in the eastern parts of Europe circ. b.c. 450, and have
never extended themselves so far west as Britain.

Of the two latter sources of European population, we shall
here take no further notice. Our business is with the first, or
Celtic races.

As we have already observed, the Celt®, or Celts, were
amongst the tribes which first migrated from Asia into Europe.
This immigration commenced probably soon after “ the confusion
of languages” (b.c. 2160). Passing over the Kimmerian Bos-
phorus, between the Sea of Azoph and the Black Sea, they
penetrated into Europe, and after ages of enduring toil, tra-
versed the trackless recesses of the Hercynian Forest, sur-
mounted the obstacles presented by the mighty rivers which
opposed their progress (streams which had flowed “unnamed,
unnoticed, and unknown,” from the beginning of the creation of
God), till at length they settled in Gaul, whence some of their

* See p. vii of the Preface, “ On
the Origin and Connexion of the
Germanic Tongues,” prefixed to the
learned Dr. Boswortn s Anglo-Saxon
Dictionary. London, 1838.

+ Herodotus, who flourished b.c.
450, in his account of the Phoenician
commerce, says, that “ Tin was
brought from Britain by the Phoeni-
cians before the Trojan war.”—Troy
was destroyed b.c. 1184.

£ According to Herodotus, the
Kimmerians (or Celtic tribes) were
attacked by the Scythians in their

settlements in the Kimmerian Cher-
sonesus, in the reign of Adyes (the
son of Gyges), who reigned b.c. 680,
to 631. — Turner’s “ History of the
Anglo-Saxons,” vol. i, p. 2. London,
1807. 4to. Second edition.

In the time of Herodotus, b.c. 450,
the Scythian or Teutonic tribes were
on the Danube. And in Caesar’s time,
b.c. 50, had established themselves so
far west as the eastern banks of the
Rhine, whence they dislodged the
Celts.—Bosworth, ut supra.138

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

tribes passed over into Britain, and thus became the aboriginal
inhabitants of our island.

This immigration of the Celtic tribes into Britain, occurred
at a period of very remote antiquity. They must have been
long settled in the island before the Phoenicians traded hither
for tin; for we find that at that period (1200 years before
Christ), they had attained a certain degree of civilization; that
they were a peaceably-disposed people, living chiefly on their
flocks; had mines of tin and lead, with which they traded with
the Phoenicians, receiving in exchange earthenware, salt, and
copper vessels.

We learn also from the Welsh triads, that the aboriginal
Britons were not involved in wars amongst themselves, but
lived together in entire peace and harmony.*

From the Welsh triads (for which see the note below), we
learn that Britain was first peopled by three different tribes of
the Cymry : — i. The Cymry, properly so called, n. The
Lloegrwys. in. The Brython. That these three nations were

* In Mr. Sharon Turner’s “ History
of the Anglo-Saxons,” vol. i, pp. 5, 6,
10, 11, is a most interesting account
of the Welsh triads. “The Welsh,”
says the learned historian, “ have
several collections of historical triads,
which are three events coupled toge-
ther, that were thought by the col-
lector to have some mutual analogy.
It is the strange form into which
their bards or ancient writers chose
to arrange the early circumstances of
their history. Three nanus have been
given to the isle of Britain since the
beginning. Before it was inhabited,
it was called Clas-Merddin (literally,
the country with sea cliffs), and after-
wards, Fel Ynys (the island of honey).
When government had been imposed
upon it by Prydain, the son of Aedd
the Great, it was called Ynys Prydain
(the island of Prydain) ; and there
was no tribute to any but to the race
of the Cymry, because they first ob-
tained it; and before them, there
were no men alive in it, nor anything
else but bears, wolves, beavers, and
the oxen with the high prominence.”
—Triad i.

“The three pillars of the nation of

the isle of Britain. First, Hu Gadarn,
who led the nation of the Cymry first
to the isle of Britain; and from the
country of Summer, which is called
Deffrobani, they came, that is, where
Constantinople is, and through the
hazy ocean they came to the island
of Britain, and to Llydaw, where they
have remained.”—Triad iv.

“ The three peaceful people of the
isle of Britain. The first were the
nation of the Cymry, who came with
Hu Cadarn to the island of Britain.
He obtained not the country nor the
lands by slaughter or contest, but
with justice and peace. The other
was the race of the Lloegrwys, who
came from the land of Gwasgyn; and
they were of the first race of the
Cymry. The third were the Brython,
and from the land of Llydaw they
came ; and they were of the first
race of the Cymry. And these were
called the three peaceful nations, be-
cause they came one to the other with
peace and tranquillity ; and these
three nations were of the first race
of the Cymry, and they were of the
same language.”—Triad v. Trioedd
Ynys Prydain.DANE-JOHN HILL, CANTERBURY.

139

of the first race of the Cymry, and were called the three
peaceful nations, and came one to the other with peace and
tranquillity.

This indicates a very early state of society, and confirms what
we have said above, that “ the immigration of the Celtic tribes
into Britain occurred at a period of very remote antiquity”;—at
a period when man had not yet learnt to lift up his hand in
deadly strife against his fellow man;—when war, that desolating
scourge of our race, was wholly unknown;—when the awful
denunciation of God was still impressed upon his heart: “Your
blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast
will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every
man’s brother will I require the life of man: whoso sheddeth
man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image
of God made He man.”—Gen. ix. 5-6.

So long therefore as these “ three peaceful nations”—the pri-
meval inhabitants of Britain—remained undisturbed by foreign
aggression, the art of war was unknown, and military fortifica-
tions and works for the purposes of attack and defence could
not have existed among them.

Under these circumstances it may be fairly conjectured, that
the Celtic or ancient British hill (the subject of the present
memoir) is not the work of that primeval race.

But we have seen, that about 680 years before the Christian
era, the second great stream of European population (the Teu-
tonic, Scythian, German, or Gothic race) commenced their im-
migration into Europe. This naturally in its course dispos-
sessed the original Celtic tribes, and impelled them continually
towards the west. Hence, we find that the Belgse, a Celtic
tribe,* settled in Gaul, sent out colonies into Britain, who,

* We have called the Belgse a
“ Celtic” tribe, contrary to the opinion
of most historians, who have con-
sidered them of “ German ” origin,
upon the testimony, as they allege, of
Caesar. If, however, in the time of
Caesar, the Germans (the second
source of European population), had
only recently established themselves
so for westward as on the eastern
banks of the Rhine, they could not
be the same race, which under the
general name of Belgae, had at a much

earlier period passed over into Britain,
and had occupied the whole southern
coast, from Essex to Devonshire and
Cornwall: viz.—the Cantii, in Kent;
the Trinobantes, in Essex ; the Regni,
in Surrey and Sussex; the Attrebatii,
in Berkshire ; the Belgse (properly so
called), in Hampshire, Wiltshire, and
Somersetshire, to the Bristol Channel;
the Durotriges in Dorsetshire; and
the Damnonii, in Devonshire and
Cornwall.

Caesar also, in describing the in-140

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

having conquered and driven out the original inhabitants, set-
tled in Kent (Cantium); and it is not an improbable conjecture,
that, with a view to defend their new conquests, and to protect
themselves from the incursions and assaults of the tribes whom
they had dispossessed, these Belgic invaders threw up the exten-
sive hill-works now under consideration.

We think, therefore, upon the whole, that we cannot safely
assign an earlier antiquity to these and other similar British
remains than the second century before the Christian era.

Having thus attempted to shew (but with what success, must be
left to the learned reader to determine), that the Celtic or ancient
British hill at Canterbury was raised by the Belgic invaders of
Britain, about the second century before Christ, and for the
purpose of defending their recent conquest against the irruptions
and attacks of the aboriginal Celtic inhabitants, whom they had
displaced, we now proceed with the subsequent history and
description of that interesting relic of antiquity.

Caesar,* in his second invasion of Britain ^b.c. 54), landed

habitants of Gaul, seems to treat the
Belgae as a distinct race from the
Germans. “They are situated next
to the Germans who inhabit beyond
the Rhine, with whom they are con-
tinually engaged in war.”—De Bell.
Gall, i, 1.

Again, the ambassadors tell Caesar,
that “ the Averni and Sequani (two
Belgic tribes) came to a resolution of
calling in the Germans; that at first
only 15,000 had crossed the Rhine,
but being a wild and savage people,
and greatly liking the customs, man-
ners, and plenteous country of the
Gauls, others soon followed, insomuch
that at present there were not less
than 120,000 of them in Gaul.”—De
Bell. Gall, i, 31. See also lb. vi, 12.

Again, the ambassadors of the
Rhemi (a Belgic tribe) inform Caesar,
that “ the rest of the Belgians were
all in arms, and that the Germans on
this side the Rhine had associated
with them.”—De Bell. Gall, ii, 3.

It is true that Caesar adds, that
“he found that the Belgae were for
the most part Germans originally,
who having formerly crossed the
Rhine, had been drawn by the fer-
tility of the country to settle in those

parts after driving out the ancient
inhabitants.”—lb. ii, 4.

We are inclined to think, that the
Germans here mentioned by Caesar,
were in fact Celtae, dispossessed and
driven over the Rhine into Gaul, by
the continual aggression and en-
croachment of the Teutonic or Ger-
man tribes (the second stream of
European population), whose immi-
gration into Europe commenced, c.
680 b.c. And we are further con-
firmed in the idea, that the Belgae
who thus invaded and possessed the
whole southern coast of Britain, were
of the first or Celtic stream of Eu-
ropean population, from the fact that
their language was a Celtic, not a
Teutonic or German dialect.

* “ Caesar, exposito exercitu, ac
loco castris idoneo capto, ubi ex cap-
tivis cognovit, quo in loco hostium
copiae consedissent, cohortibus x ad
mare relictis, et equitibus ccc, qui
praesido navibus essent, de hi vigilia
ad hostes contendit, eo minus veritus
navibus, quod in littore molli atque
aperto deligatas ad anchoras relin-
quebat et prasidio navibus Q. Atrium
pracfecit. Ipse noctu progressus mil-
lia passuum circiter xn, hostiumDANE-JOHN HILL, CANTERBURY.

141

with his army in the same place as on his former visit (supposed
to be the flat shore between Walmer and Sandwich on the
eastern coast of Kent), and setting out about midnight in pur-
suit of the Britons. “After a march of about twelve miles
during the night, he came within sight of the enemy, who
having advanced to a river with their cavalry and chariots,
attacked us from the higher ground, in order to oppose our
passage. But being repulsed by our horse, they retreated
towards the woods, into a place strongly fortified both by nature
and art, and which in all probability had been raised before on
occasion of some domestic war; for all the avenues were secured
by strong barricades of felled trees. They never sallied out of
the wood but in small parties, thinking it enough to defend the
entrance against our men. But the soldiers of the seventh
legion advancing under cover of their shields, and having cast
up a mount, forced the intrenchments with little loss, and
obliged the enemy to abandon the wood. Csesar forbade all
pursuit, because he was unacquainted with the nature of the
country; and the day being far spent, he resolved to employ
the rest of it in fortifying his camp.”—De Bell. Gall. v. 8.

“ A town among the Britons is nothing more than a thick
wood fortified with a ditch and rampart, to serve as a place
of retreat against the incursions of their enemies.”*—Ih. v. 21.

“ The island is well peopled, full of houses, built after the
manner of the Gauls, and abounds in cattle.”f—lb. v. 12.

Several attempts have recently been made by archeological
and antiquarian inquirers to ascertain and fix the spot of Cesar’s

copias conspicatus est. Illi equitatu,
atque essedis ad flumen progressi ex
loco superiore nostros prohibere, et
prselium committere coeperunt. Re-
pul si ab equitatu se in silvas abdider-
unt, locum nacti, egregie et natura
et opere munitum; quem domestici
belli, ut videbatur, caussa, jam ante
praeparaverant: nam crebris arboribus
succisis omnes introitus erant prae-
clusi. Ipsi ex silvis rari propugna-
bant, nostrosque intra munitiones
ingredi prohibebant: at milites Le-
gionis vii, testudine facta et aggere
ad munitiones adjecto, locum caeper-
unt, eosque ex silvis expulerunt,
paucis vulneribus acceptis: sed eos

fugientes longius Caesar persequi
vetuit et quod loci naturam ignor-
abat, et quod, magna parte diei con-
sumpta, munitioni castrorum tempus
relinqui volebat.”—Caesar de Bell.
Gall. lib. v, c. 9.

* “ Oppidum autem Britanni vo-
cant, quum silvas impeditas vallo
atque fossa munierunt, quo incur-
sionis hostium vitandae caussa, con-
venire consueverunt.”—Caesar de Bell.
Gall. lib. v, c. 21.

f “ Hominum est infinita multi-
tude, creberrimaque aedificia fere
gallicis consimilia: pecoris magnus
numerus.” — De Bell. Gall. lib. v,
c. 12.142

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

landing. Some have suggested Dymchurch, and other places
on the flat shore of Romney Marsh. But with our best histo-
rians, we consider that, both on his first and second invasion,
Caesar landed on the eastern coast of Kent, on the flat shore
near Sandwich; and that he thence set out with his invading
army in search of the British forces.

It is material, for the purposes of our present inquiry, to
trace his route with as much certainty as we may, by the feeble
light afforded by his Commentaries. We there find, that after
a march of about twelve miles,* he found the enemy had ad-
vanced to meet him, with their war-chariots and horse, to the
banks of a river, and from the higher ground disputed the pass-
age of the Roman army. When we consider the distance of
Caesar’s march, and the subsequent events, it seems clear that
this river is not the Greater Stour, on which Canterbury is
built, but another river of the same name, called The Little
Stour, which, rising at Elham, flows through Bishopsbourne,
Bridge, Patrixbourne, Beakesbourne,t and Littlebourne, in the
same direction, but at the. distance of about four miles to the
east of the Greater Stour. If we have correctly traced the
route of Caesar’s advance, then the retreat of the Britons (after
the Romans had forced their passage over the lesser Stour) was
naturally and properly upon the strongly fortified position in
their rear (described by Caesar), the site of the ancient city of
Canterbury; and the Celtic hill, with its surrounding earth-
works (whose history we are thus endeavouring to illustrate),
are the venerable remains of that British city.

By the inhabitants it was called Dur-whern (from its swift
river) and Caer-Kent (the city of Kent). By the Romans,
Durovernia and Dorobernia (the latinized form of Dur-whern,
its ancient British name). By the Saxons it was named Cant-
viara-byrig and Cant-wara-wic (the city of the men of Kent),
words of the same import as its more ancient British name, Caer-
Kent. In medieval Latin it was called Cantuaria (the latinized
form of the Saxon Cant-vjara-byrig); and its present name
Cant-er-bury, is the same Saxon name transformed into modern
English.

* The Roman mile was shorter than the English : the Roman mile con-
tained 1614 yards—the English, 1760 yards.

t This river was anciently navigable as far as Beakesboume.DANE-JOHN HILL, CANTERBURY.

143

From that period history is entirely silent as to this remarkable
hill, until the time of William the Conqueror. He fortified the
city with a wall and ditch. Upon that occasion, the earthworks
extending from the hill towards the east, appear to have been
cut through, for the more regular formation of the line of forti-
fication, and with the view probably of supplying the ditch with
water from the river.*

The walls having fallen to decay, appear to have been rebuilt
in the reigns of Richard II and Henry IY; the venerable re-
mains of which form one among the many interesting antiqui-
ties with which that city abounds.f

From Somner, the celebrated antiquary (who published his
Antiquities of Canterbury, a.d. 1640, and which were again pub-
lished with considerable additions by Battely, a.d. 1703), we
derive the following particulars of this ancient hill:

“Ridingate ward. — The Dungeon, a manor lying in this

ward.....called sometime Danzon, Dangon, Dangun, Daungeon,

and the hill hard by Dungeon-hill. Names much alike all......

The manor, I take it, derived its name from that of the neigh-
bouring hill....I am persuaded (and so may easily, I think,

any one be, that well observes the place), that the works both
within and without the present wall of the city, were not
counterworks one against the other, as the vulgar opinion goes,
but were sometimes all one entire plot,containing about three acres
of ground, of a triangular form (the outwork), with a mount or
hill intrenched round within it. And that when first made and
cast up, it lay wholly without the city wall; and hath been
(the hill or mound, and most part also of the outwork), for the
city’s more security, taken and walled in since. That side of
the trench encompassing the mount, now lying without, and
under the wall, fitly meeting with the rest of the city-ditch,

* Domesday. “In civitate Can-

tuar.....Modo Burgenses gablum

reddentes sunt xix de xxxii aliis qui
fuerunt sunt vastati xi in fossat. Ci-
vitat."

Some contend that the city was
walled-in in the time of the Britons,
and this they suppose from its name
Caer Chent, the word Caer signifying
a walled town. I apprehend that the
ramparts at that remote period were

only of earth, fortified by pallisades.
(Caesar de Bell. Gall, ut supra.) How-
ever that may be, it is clear that it
was walled in by the Romans.

t Archbishop Sudbury (temp. Rich-
ard II) rebuilt the noble Westgate
of the city, and a portion of the city
wall, but was arrested in his progress
by death, having been slain by the
rebels under Wat Tyler, June 15th,
1381.144

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

after either side of the outwork was cut through to make way
for it, at the time of the city’s inditching, as I suppose, it can-
not seem unlikely to have been to any that shall considerately
mark and examine the place.”

“ Over this Bidingate, was sometimes, and that in the memory
of many yet living, a bridge lying upon the underprops or but-
tresses yet standing on either side the gate, by which, when it
stood, a man might have continued his walk from the Lesser to
the Greater Donge Hill, and e contra, but it is decayed and gone.

“ Here as in a fit place (this I mean the Dungel, as we use to
call it, being the known place of common resort for such of the
city as affect the exercise of archery) let us observe by the way
the alterations of the times in point of martial and military
weapons.”...

From the MS. collections of the late learned Mr. Bunce (an
alderman of the city) we learn the following particulars.

“ a.d. 1401. A mill is standing at la Dungeon, which the cor-
poration called their land mill.”

“ a.d. 1428. The Dungeon or Danian field. The original
site of the fortifications of the Dungeon in this city, viz. the
ancient Dungeon-field, and mount, the dyke without the wall
from Biding gate to the castle, the Martyr-field* formerly ad-
joining, and the slip of land westward of the old Dungeon-field
came to the citizens as void and waste land under the grant of
king Hen. IV, 1403.”f

(t a.d. 1517. The corporation sold the Dungeon-hills without
the walls, called the Martyr-field, with that part of the old dyke
which lies under and without the wall, from Worthgate to
Kidinggate to Humphrey Hales, esq., son of John Hales, esq.,
one of the Barons of the Exchequer, the then Lord of the
adjoining manor of Dungeon.”

“ It is presumed that the dividing of the field, and the walling

* It is said in Fox’s “ Martyrs,”
vol. iii, that it was usually called The
Martyr-field, from several persons
having been burned in a large hollow,
or pit, at the south end of it, in queen
Mary’s reign, on account of religion.
—Bunce’s Collections.

f Henry IV, by a charter dated
5th May, in the fourth year of his
reign, stating that the citizens had

begun to fortify the city with a wall
of stone and with a ditch .... and as
it (the city) was a port and entrance
by which foreigners came into the
kingdom, it the more required forti-
fication .... grants liberty to the citi-
zens to build upon all the lands, and
vacant places, and wastes, within the
city and suburbs, and to hold them
for their assistance and relief.DANE-JOHN HILL, CANTERBURY.

145

and inditching that part which is now within the wall, are works
of very ancient date!"

“ The Stour in those days was admitted into the ditch near
St. Mildred’s church, and taking its course by the Barbican at
the Castle, thence by Worthgate, and passing Ridinggate, New-
ingate, Burgate, Queningate (at each of which places were
bridges) and Northgate, was discharged at the Waterlock, where
Abbots mill has since stood. This is apparent from the old
leases of the city dyke, which as it began to be swoln up, and to
fall into pasturage on its banks, contain a reservation to the cor-
poration of a right of fishing in the dyke. So late as 1569 the
accounts mention payment of one shilling to a man who waded
in the town dyke at such time as the carp were taken.”

a.d. 1630. “ Tents were ordered to be made for the infected
with the plague, and set up in the lower part of the Dungeon,
where most out of sight of passengers, and assessments were
raised on the inhabitants for the support of infected persons.”

The above valuable MS. collections of the late Mr. Bunce, are
now in the possession of the Misses Frend (the daughters and
executrixes of the late Richard Frend, esq.), to whose polite
and obliging attention I am indebted for the following interest-
ing notices of the Dungeon Hills; they are particularly valuable
as tending to fix the position of the Little Dungeon Hill, which
has long since disappeared.

“ a.d. 1509. The certificate of William Rood, not dated, aged
seventy years and more, that he had known the place called the
Dungeon for many years, and that the same was a common
sporting place, and was never enclosed, but was free for horse
and carriage.”

“ a.d, 1509. The award of John Westclyve, mayor of Sand-
wich, wherein he certifyes that he hath known the Dungeon
Hills for many years, and that the same were a common sporting
place for all such as chose to repair there, and that there was
also a cartway across the same between the hills there until
enclosed by one Walter.”

“ a.d. 1539. A criminal (Friar Stone) executed at the Dun-
geon.”

“a.d. 1695. The way between Newengate and Ridingate
within the Wall by the Little Dungeon, is levelled. This latter
gate (Ridingate) which the records of St. Augustine’s Abbey146

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

recognized in the year 1040, had a bridge lying upon its under-
props or buttresses standing on either side the gate; by which
the walk was in former times continued from the Lesser to the
Greater Dungeon.” (See also Somner’s Antiq. ut supra.)

“a.d. 1685. All that Tower being in and part of the wall
of the city wherein John Potter late dwelt, and wherein (	)

Carder doth now dwell, standing next to the Little Dungeon Hill.
And all that the Tower Dyke garden and wash-ground lying
and being without the walls of the city, adjoining to other
grounds of the said Mayor, and now used for a beast-market,
north and east of the ground of the said Mayor and Commonalty
lately demised to Titus Rufford. . . contains in length bounding
to the king’s highway 23 rods 10 feet 8 inches of assize, and to
the lands of the said Mayor and Commonalty lately demised to
the said Titus Rufford from the king’s highway home to the
wall of the said city 4 rods 2 feet and 6 inches of assize, and in
length to the ground along the wall of the said city to the beast-
market 23 rods 1 foot. From the Tower cross to the highway
near the house called the Three Musqueteers, now called the
Flying Horse, 3 rods 9 feet and 1 inch of assize.”

“a.d. 1790. That part of the field which lay within the wall,
and was called the Dungeon field, being in a very rugged and
uneven state, it was levelled, and its walls, which were in a tot-
tering and ruinous state, were repaired and bonded together with
timber at the expense of James Simmons, esquire, one of the
aldermen, and with immense labour, who expended upwards of
£1,500 upon this improvement.” (On this occasion the hill was
raised 18 feet, which converted it from a truncated cone into its
present conical form.)

“a.d. 1800. The corporation enclosed it with a handsome
pale fence, and expended upwards of £100 in putting it into a
proper state of repair, without which the walls and plantations
were going rapidly to ruin.”

Before we conclude our remarks upon this venerable relic of
our ancient British ancestors, we must not omit to notice an
extraordinary mistake into which Somner suffered himself to be
seduced by a fanciful etymology, arising from a mistaken view
of the ancient name of the hill and its adjacent manor—“ The
radix and original of which (says he) I conceive to signify the
Danes work, and therefore corruptly called Dungeon Hill forDANE-JOHN HILL, CANTERBURY.

147

Daman Hill or Danes Hill, and that because it was either theirs
against the city, or contrariwise the city’s against them. For
my part (he adds) I conceive first that it was the proper work of
the Danes (the great and frequent molesters, invaders and
wasters of our city), and that probably at such time as they
beleaguered the city in king Etheldred’s days, which stood out
against them and their siege twenty days, and then was not
mastered by open force, but by base treachery surprised, if we
may follow Henry of Huntingdon. Osborn, that was (and writ
the story) many years before him, making no mention of any
treason that the other saith was plotted or practised in the
winning of the city.”

This fanciful conjecture is wholly unworthy of so learned an
antiquary. It rests entirely upon an erroneous etymology, un-
supported by any historical testimony. If therefore the ety-
mology be erroneous, the whole superstructure falls to the
ground. Now, so far from Dungeon meaning Danian or the
Danes Hilly it is derived from the language of the ancient
Britons.

Sir W. Betham, F.S.A., Ulster King-at-Arms, “ having care-
fully examined the Dane John and the adjoining features” (when
present at the Canterbury Congress of the Association in 1844),
says:—“ I am satisfied it is an ancient fortified hill: on the
other side of the road are the remains of the earthwork or vallum
which once entirely enclosed this Dun or fortified hill: the
other part has been destroyed or removed at the building of the
city wall, having interfered with that object. The Romans
found it a British station, and adopted its site. The name is
Dinn Shan, or the old fortified Hill, which is old British or
Celtic, the language now called Gaelic or Irish.”

At the same Congress I also had the pleasure of accompanying
Mr. Bloxam in a careful survey and examination of these cele-
brated relies of antiquity, when that gentleman (whose authority
and judgment in these matters few, if any, will venture to dis-
pute) pronounced them to be unquestionably an ancient British
work.

But we need not rest merely upon the question of etymology
for the confutation of the hypothesis. The time selected by
Somner for raising this stupendous work is within the historic
period ; but the historians of that age, who wrote so fully on the148

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

siege and destruction of the city by the Danes, are wholly silent
with regard to it; a circumstance conclusive against the suppo-
sition of that learned antiquary. Again, it should be remarked
that the incursions of the Danes (whom he calls the frequent
molesters, invaders, and wasters of our city) were merely preda-
tory and transient, and that they had not leisure nor time to
raise such stupendous works.149

ROMAN INSCRIPTIONS DISCOVERED AT YORK,

BY CHARLES ROACH SMITH, F.S.A.

Among the various Roman antiquities discovered at York,
and exhibited by Mr. William Hargrove at Gloucester during
the Congress, the most important were these inscriptions. Two
of them had been dug up about three years since; the third had
only been brought to light about a week previous to our Con-
gress. The former are unfortunately fragmentary, and therefore
preclude the possibility of our affording a complete translation.
But inscriptions, in whatever state they be, are always more or
less valuable. The antiquary feels he has before him characters
and words which speak as forcibly and unmistakably now as
when they were sculptured: and that although they may be
presented in a mutilated condition, by the ravages of time or the
still more destructive hand of man, they generally afford evidence
sufficient to permit their meaning and intention being compre-
hended and explained. The fragment shewn in the annexed cut
is twenty-one inches by seventeen.

The inscription is particularly in-
teresting, in giving us, in the fourth
line, the first four letters of the word
Eburacum (York), the northern me-
tropolis of Roman Britain ; and in
showing that a temple there dedi-
cated to Hercules had been restored
by one T. Perpetuus.

The rev. C. Wellbeloved, in his
“ Eburacum, or York under the Ro-
mans,” * had adduced sound reasons
for departing from the common
orthography of the ancient name
of the city (Eboracum), although it is supported by an in-
scription discovered in York, and by Ptolemy, the ancient

8vo. York and London. 1842.150

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

geographer; and he adopts the form in which it appears in the
best editions of the “Itinerary” of Antoninus, and the “ Clioro-
graphy” of Britain, by the anonymous geographer of Ravenna.
This fragment is therefore valuable in confirming the claims in
favour of the word Eburacum. The word AEternitas in the third
line, may probably have been used towards expressing the wish
of the dedicator that his offering should endure in everlasting
honour to thecolony or city of Eburacum ; or it may have been
intended to convey a meaning equivalent to the ad perpetuam
tutelam, which occurs elsewhere.

The second inscription, shewn in the accompanying cut,

NVMINJBAVGETDEAE lOVk
S l VS AE DEMPROPATCTE D'



presents two peculiarities. The one in the Deae Jov. ; the
other, the expression pro parte. It is probable the goddess
Juno may be intended, but if so, she is generally styled Regina;
and reading the word as Julia, for the wife of Severus, would
be still more unsatisfactory and without precedent. The com-
mencement of the inscription, Numinib Augusti. or Augustorum,
“ to the” (tutelary) “ deities of Augustus,” or “of the Augusti,”
is clear enough; and if we suppose Severus, either alone or
associated with his sons, to be implied, it is not unlikely that
the Goddess Juno is meant to be here addressed as the supreme
protectress of the empress. It is true there is nothing in the
inscription to decide that Severus and his family are the Augusti
(taking the word in its plural sense) alluded to; but when we
consider that this emperor and his sons were actively engaged
in military warfare in the north of Britain, and were located at
Eburacum during a portion of the period of their stay in the
province, we shall be justified in suggesting this imperial familyROMAN INSCRIPTIONS AT YORK.

151

to be indicated in the dedication. The name of the donor or
dedicator of the temple is lost, the last four letters commencing
the second line alone remaining. Pro parte may be rendered,
“for his share.”

This stone measures thirty-nine and a half inches by fifteen
and a half.

These two inscriptions, Mr. Hargrove states, were found by
workmen at a considerable depth, whilst digging a cellar at the
corner of Ousegate and Nessgate, in the city of York.

The third was excavated in the rubble foundation, under one
of the pillars forming the nave
of the church of St. Dennis,

Walmgate. It may be read :

Deo Arciacono et Numini Au-
gusts Simatius Vitalis ordinis
(militaris), or, ordinis decurio-
nis, votum solvit merito; and is
chiefly remarkable for introduc-
ing to us a new local divinity,
in the god Arciaconus (if we
may be allowed thus to translate
the second line). This deity
appears to be one of a very
numerous class (scarcely met
with except in inscriptions),
deriving their names Trom the particular places or districts over
which they were supposed to preside as genii or guardians. It
is suggested that this subordinary divinity, or genius loci, may
owe his name to Arciaca, in Gaul, probably the native place of
Simatius, or Simathius Vitalis, who, in the discharge of a vow,
dedicated the altar to his paternal god and to the divinity of
Augustus.152

ON THE EARLIER BRITISH VILLAGES OR LOCATIONS, PARTICU-
LARLY IN REFERENCE TO ONE ON THE MOOR NEAR
SEALING, YORKSHIRE.

BY W. D. SAULT/, F.S.A., F.G.S.

Whilst the attention of archajologists in times past, and even
at the present day, has been directed with untiring energy to
the discoveries and elucidations of the memorials of the classio
ages, but little attention comparatively has been bestowed on
those of the most obscure and distant periods in the history of
our race, namely, those which must have preceded the advance
of the all-conquering Romans, in the east and west of Europe,
and particularly in Britain, where very many remains can still
be recognized, though in most instances they are partially, in
others entirely, obliterated.

This is not surprising, seeing so few remains are found to
reward the working antiquary; laborious indeed is his task in
opening the tumuli or depositories of the ancient dead, where
too he is frequently doomed to severe disappointment, on finding
that the skeletons in most instances are entirely decomposed;
occasionally bones or teeth may be met with, more rarely entire
skeletons, with fragments of rudely formed urns, seldom an
entire onej these, and sometimes celts of stone, arrow-heads,
and cutting instruments of flint, are his only reward in this
comparatively barren field of inquiry.

With these barrows or tumuli for receptacles of the dead,
many evidences yet exist of the contiguous camps, or simple
habitations in which the tribes were localized; in many instances
the tumuli only remain as evidences—situate on elevated spots,
whilst the primitive abodes of the tribes who erected them and
supplied them with their dead are entirely destroyed.

The inquiry into the social condition and habits of such a
people is replete with interest, for even in these researches much
may be acquired to reward the attentive observer, because he
can here trace man in the primitive states of existence, where
the necessities of his nature compelled him to live in simpleEARLY BRITISH VILLAGES.

153

holes formed in the earth, and to obtain his support by the
chace, accompanied perhaps with wild fruits and herbs supplied
him by the forest, in the recesses of which he was compelled to
form his habitation. Such unquestionably must have been his
condition in Britain, many ages before any communication could
have taken place with the tribes from Gaul or Belgium, which
communications we can trace were productive of considerable
advances in regard to his physical condition.

Surrounded as mankind are generally, at the present time, by
comforts and luxuries, it seems almost impossible to arrive at
the conclusion that such circumstances could exist, in these now
densely populated agricultural and commercial countries; yet
the investigations I have gone into, with other active inquirers
and observers in this distant and abstruse field, particularly the
rev. Dr. Young, of Whitby (who was the first to call my atten-
tion to the subject), together with Mr. T. Bateman, of Yolgrave,
Derbyshire, the rev. S. Isaacson, the late Mr. Sydenham, etc.,
leave not a doubt in my mind of the correctness of the conclu-
sions I have arrived at.

In order to comprehend the present subject of inquiry, and
prepare the path for future investigations, I found it necessary
to commence with a basis deduced from a fundamental law of
nature, namely, the law of progress. By adopting this process,
I was enabled to trace the gradual mental advance (if we may
so term it) of these rude uncultivated races, from the hunter or
wildest state, to the first appearance of their located condition,
no doubt adopted for the object of association, and thence
through the other periods referred to hereafter. Following out
these ideas, in my various visits to the north-eastern part of
the county of York, I there first discerned many of those
which may justly be termed original villages, some of which
yet remain almost undisturbed,—as neither the spade nor the
plough has been used to destroy them. They are simply
holes in the earth, about ten feet in diameter, mostly circular,
without any earthwork for their protection. Their uses are
clearly pointed out by the circumstance that, even at this distant
period, we have found, on digging into their centres or lowest
parts, ashes, and charred wood, and the stones are coloured by the
action of fire; a raised rim is frequently to be observed round
the edges, proving that they had been covered over with sods of154

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

earth, which, most probably had branches of trees for support.
A break may sometimes be seen on the edges before mentioned;
this was undoubtedly the entrance into these artificial caves,
through which the inmates crept, and which must have been
applied for the triple purpose of doorway, window, and chimney.
If this opinion required confirmation, it may be found in the
practice of many rude tribes at the present day. Captain Cook
has described such in his voyages; and sir James Ross states,
they are in use amongst the Esquimaux, the inhabitants of
Kamschatka, Terra del Fuego, Easter Island, Van Diemen’s
Land, etc.

Since my first introduction to these evidences of the barbarous
state of the first inhabitants of Britain in that locality, I have
diligently sought for similar remains in other parts of the
country, and my exertions have been amply rewarded; I have
met with undoubted remains of a similar character, but few in
so perfect a state as those in Yorkshire. I have observed them
in the peak district of Derbyshire, where principally flat stones
were used for the construction of their oven-like dwellings, no
doubt from the great abundance of that material, and where the
tribes would find it ready separated for their use; again, in
Northampton, Berks, Beds, Hants, Somerset, and Devon; Pen
Pits, near Shaftesbury, Dorset, is a fine example, being more
than three acres covered with them. One station of the later
or pastoral period, I visited a few days since, situate on Wim-
bledon Common, Surrey. It is in good preservation, and is
nearly of a circular form, with vallum and deep fosse; its area
is about seven acres. This, in the district maps, is erroneously
designated “ Caesar’s Camp.”

To those acquainted with the difficulties met with in deter-
mining the times of the probable origin of such very early
remains, it must, be obvious that their elucidation can only be
accomplished by dividing them into sections or classes. This
plan I have followed by arranging them according to the evident
advancement or improvement of the tribes consecutively. This
gradual and progressive advance is very distinctly marked, com-
mencing with the original locations, on the Yorkshire moors,
before referred to, which I place under—

Division, No. 1.—The most remarkable in this class are Dry
Heads in Harewood Dale, about nine miles from Scarborough,EARLY BRITISH VILLAGES.

155

about fifty holes in one group; Eyton Grange, ten miles from
Whitby, about one hundred and fifty; Rosebury, near Gains-
borough, and a small station on the moor, four miles from
Whitby, called Swarthone, with several others in this district.
Several of those in the peak of Derbyshire belong to this class;
also one at Castle Hill, near Dunstable, Beds; Kingly-bottom,
near Chichester in Sussex, etc. These are all of a most
primitive construction, nothing being found about them either
of a defensive or offensive character ; they are mere cavities in
the earth, about ten feet in diameter, sometimes with a rim or
lip round their edges, and proofs of their having had fires in
them; their average depth appears to have been three feet and
a half or four feet, but most of them are now much shallower,
owing to the decay of successive vegetable matter.

The next stage, or No. 2, shews an advance in the construc-
tion of the dwellings, for frequently we find rough stones
placed round the edges in place of earth, as in the former state ;
also the rude celts of stone were adapted for use, probably as
an offensive weapon: at this period are found in the neighbour-
hood of the stations one or more tumuli for the reception of the
dead; some of these tumuli are also constructed in part with
uncut or rough stones. To this division I refer those stations
in the peak of Derbyshire before mentioned; also, a remark-
able one at Worle Hill, near Weston-super-Mare, in Somerset-
shire. To this class also belongs the station,—the plan of which
I have the honour of submitting to the Association,—which is
situate on the moor near Scaling Inn, about twelve miles from
Whitby. The peculiarity here is, that the habitations are
formed in regular lines; the earth that was excavated has been
used to form boundary walls, or defences, and the residences are
arranged regularly in pairs, or couples. There are three distinct
groups, or divisions, each very similar according to the plan.
The first, to the eastward, consists of thirty dwellings; the next
also thirty; and the most westerly thirty-eight; one of these,
nearly in the centre of the last, contains one much larger than
any of the others, which may reasonably be supposed to have
been the residence of a chief; it is not excavated under the
turf as the others invariably are.

There is an oval inclosure between the first and the two last,
which probably was used for the purpose of keeping goats or156

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

other cattle ; a rivulet of water intersects it, and separates the
rising ground (see plan): there are four tumuli near; one sepa-
rate is now levelled; but the depressed ring surrounding its
base remains yet in a nearly perfect state; the three other

tumuli are placed nearly opposite the other two sections; the
two exterior ones are perfect; the centre one has been cut
across,* but apparently only about half-way to the bottom.
Thus we have undoubted evidences, that these were sojourning-
places for the living as well as receptacles for their dead,—which
were, most probably, burnt before the remains were committed to
their last resting-place. The aspect of the country for miles
round in some directions, is of the wildest character, and covered
with heath and scrub, but preparations seem making to bring it
under cultivation; the heath has already been burned off in large
portions; therefore, we may infer that in the course of a few
years, these interesting remains of a primitive age may be en-
tirely obliterated.

We now approach the third division, in which a more marked
improvement is clearly traceable. Continuing our researches

* Since I returned from visiting quantity of calcined bones found in
this interesting spot, I have been in- them; as I concluded, these tribes
formed that the other tumuli have had not acquired the art of fabricat-
bcen opened, and nothing but a ing pottery.EARLY BRITISH VILLAGES.

157

in the same locality, we find at a place called Stone Hags, some
miles from the last settlement described, situate on a descent
skirting the vale of Cleveland, a group of residences of a
higher character, and more varied in form—some circular, some
oval, and some semi-circular—their margins being formed of
rough stones, raised to such a height, that the occupants might
be enabled to stand upright in their dwellings.

Of a similar description, also, were those of Claughton, five
miles from Scarborough; but these are now entirely obliterated.
To this class belong the stations within the peak of Derbyshire,
such as those at Arborlowe, and another, eight or ten miles off,
whose name I have forgotten, but which I visited last autumn,
and actually slid down into one of them. In this district the
mountain limestone is abundant on the surface, and is so much
weathered, that stones of all sizes could be obtained ready
formed to their hands; and they have been appropriated by
placing some on their edges, and covering the openings with
large flat stones; the entrances are very narrow, and gradually
widen towards the end; in form elongated, something like a
modern oven.

Now the introduction of coarse pottery seems general, some-
times simply baked in the sun, or partially burnt; now the
stone and flint celts are well finished; so are the flint arrow-
heads and rude knives of flint; no metal whatever can be
traced as being used by these early races. Some more instances
might be cited of this class, but I will not intrude longer on
your valuable time.

Division, No. 4.—This comprises the circular camps, or sta-
tions, with vallum and fosse, sometimes single, double, and even
triple. They indicate the advance of the tribes to the pastoral
state, and are very numerous on almost all the elevated downs
or hills over England; and also in Ireland, where they are de-
nominated “ Raths”. As usual, many examples are found in
Yorkshire; they are seen at Cawthorn Camp, near Pickering,
Frysop, Croptin, in Mulgrave park, Eston Nab, etc. In Ox-
fordshire,* an apparent chain of them are traced near Banbury,
viz., at Tadmarton, Gredenton Hill, Nadbury, Machnarston, and
the Castle Hill, at Brailes in Warwickshire. They are so

Bceslcy’s “ History of Banbury.”158

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

very numerous, I shall only quote a few, which have mostly
come under my own inspection; it is not surprising that so
many specimens are yet extant, seeing that such was the general
state and condition of living of the various tribes at the time of
the Roman invasion of this country; they therefore naturally
belong to the later British period.

Borough Hill, near Daventry, Northamptonshire, is a fine
example of British castrametation, subsequently much ex-
tended by the Romans; Rainsborough Campj near Aynoe, in
the same county, is fine and perfect; Thorpe, also in that
locality, has been a fine one, but now, by cultivation, its ram-
parts are nearly levelled; Maiden Bower, near Dunstable, Beds.,
is one of the same description, and nearly perfect; its area
occupies nearly nine acres ; near London, a very perfect one of
this period still exists, which I inspected a few weeks since; it is
situate on Wimbledon Common, and incloses seven acres, and
is, as before remarked, improperly called “ Caesar’s Camp.”

On the chalk downs in Sussex many are found; one large
one is on the edge of the duke of Richmond’s park, at Good-
wood. They are numerous in Dorset and Somerset; a good
specimen is found on a hill near Cliefden, Somersetshire, not
far from the British channel; another encompasses the crest of
an isolated hill in that county called “ Bunk Knoll”.

But the most important and largest stations of this division
are those which there is great reason to conclude were con-
structed by the Belgic Britons, on the south and west,—such
instances are found upon St. Katharine’s Hill, near Winchester,
and in Danesbury Camp, near Stockbridge, where is a very
strong and perfect one, with an outwork towards the south,
altogether inclosing about fourteen acres; and within a mile
south of it, seven tumuli, the largest of which has been
levelled, but the depressed circular ring surrounding it yet
remains; Old Sarum also, and a chain or connexion of stations,
extending into Dorsetshire and Devonshire. As before observed,
very many examples might be cited, but these are sufficient
to prove the superior habits of the people to those races who
had preceded them : this was the condition in which the occu-
pants of Britain were prior to tfie Roman invasion, mostly pas-
toral, their families and cattle living inclosed in these circular
earthworks, encircled by forests, in the immediate vicinity of aEARLY BRITISH VILLAGES.

159

stream of water. To such fortresses the term “ Oppida” was
applied by the Romans.

With the conquest of Britain by the Romans, great changes
took place, and the original habits and customs of the natives
became so blended with those of their conquerors and friends,
as to lose, in the course of time, much of their distinctive pecu-
liarity. The Britons gradually left their elevated abodes and
came nearer the valleys. The examination and investigation of
their remains become then extremely interesting, as they yet
exist as convincing proofs of states of human society long passed
away, and which appear not to have had any fixed characters or
an alphabetical language.

In conclusion, I beg to add, that these researches prove
that our race is in a state of continuous and progressive im-
provement, which must confirm our highest aspirations for man’s
future destiny,—for intellectual, moral, and physical improve-
ments keep qn their course simultaneouslymay they never
more be checked or impeded. Compare the obscure trackways
of the Britons, with the perfect roads of the Roman period, or
even now, when we have left the well-constructed turnpike
roads, for the swift transit of railways; compare also our pre-
sent houses, replete with comfort, spread over the broad surface
of our country, with the rude uncouth domiciles I have pointed
out to you, and which seem to be adopted by most rude tribes.
The investigation of these changes in their various stages has
been to me a delightful task, as evidence well established of the
onward progress of humanity; in which feeling and in a desire to
promote so great an object, I rest assured that all whom I have
the honour of addressing must participate.

With a short quotation, bearing on this subject, from Horace’s
Third Satire, I shall conclude :—

“ When the first mortals crawling rose to birth
Speechless and wretched from their mother Earth,

For caves, and acorns, then the food of life,

With nails, and fists, they held a bloodless strife ;

But soon improved, with clubs they bolder fought,

And various arms which sad experience wrought,

Till words to fix the wandering voice were found,

And names impress’d a meaning upon sound.”1 GO

ON THE BASKET BOATS OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS AND
OTHER PRIMITIVE TRIBES.

BY H. SYER CUMING, ESQ.

“ Rude as their ships was navigation then,

No useful compass or meridian known,

Coasting they kept the land within their ken,

And knew no north but when the pole-star shone.”

Steam and railroads, the restless insatiate love of novelty, the
reckless march of innovation; the cold, heartless utilitarian
spirit of the age, are, one and all, active principles of destruction,
which league together to uproot and extirpate from our land the
few remaining fashions of “auld lang syne” If the Palaeo-aeonian
ethnologian endeavours to discover some existing traces of
Celtic customs, he will seek almost in vain for them in England,
and must turn his inquiring gaze towards our Cumbrian
brethren, among whom he will yet find a few fashions lingering
around the simple peasants, which were in vogue when Cajsar
and his powerful legions first made a descent upon our shores.

Perchance some rigid antiquarian, who revels amid the relics
of the proud Roman and perfidious Sassanagh, may marvel, and
ask what interest can be found in the dress and customs of
modern peasants ?—into the ears of such, let the spirit-stirring
words of the Bard be sounded:—

“ Sons of the Fair Isle, forget not the time,

Ere spoilers had breathed the free air of your clime.”

The customs of these modern peasants shadow forth the
customs of the primeval natives of the “ Honey Island of
Britain,”* and ought therefore to be diligently investigated by
every one who takes an interest in our national antiquities.
There may yet be seen the Welsh girl wearing the Gwn and
the Pais of her fair ancestors: the heads of the sturdy urchins

* Taliesin’s Elegy on Uthyr Pendragon.BASKET BOATS.

161

are to this day decked with the cappan cyrnicyll, or cornute cap
of rushes with which their hardy forefathers of old shaded their
brows: although the time has not yet arrived, when “ they shall
beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning
hooks,” we already find the kowain, or chariot of the bold
chieftain, converted into a hay cart by the peaceful farmers of
Cymru: the simple notes of the reed pib-gorn, or pastoral pipe
of the ancient shepherd, may still be heard amid the mountains,
as the music of his unsophiscated descendant: and the Cwrwgyl,
or Basket Boat of the Celtic mariner, is still the boat of the
modern fisherman. These are some of the few last relics of our
Celtic ancestors, which have outlived the wreck of ages; and
the contemplation of which carries back the mind to the stormy
days of the brave Caswallon, Cynfelyn, and Caradog: but how
soon may they also vanish, as hundreds of others have
vanished—

“ And, like, the baseless fabric of a vision,

Leave not a rack behind.”

The accompanying drawing, No. i, represents one of those
few remaining fashions, of which I have just spoken. It is a
copy of a small model of the Cwrwgyl, with its paddle, which
has been kindly sent me from Carmarthen, and which is an
exact ectype of the coracle still used upon the Welsh rivers.
It is in the shape of half a walnut shell, and formed of split
osier twigs, platted, and covered with pitched canvas. To the
low seat is attached a leathern thong, by means of which the
boat may be conveniently carried home by the fisher.

The coracle of the Welsh fishers consists either of a few
Blight ribs of wood, or a light wicker basket, over which is
stretched a pitched canvas or raw hide. It is only capable of
holding a single individual, and the slightest motion seems to
threaten to capsize the frail vessel. It is not without con-
siderable difficulty that a novice can get into the coracle and set
it afloat, for unless the weight is made to bear exactly in the
centre, it rolls over stern uppermost, and the unhappy ad-
venturer gets a good ducking instead of a pleasant voyage.
This kind of boat is so light, that when the fisherman has
finished his day’s work, he draws it out of the river, and carries
it home upon his back: a cord, or thong, which is attached to
the seat, passes either round his forehead or over his shoulders,162

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

and he places the paddle transversely across his back, to steady
the lower part of the vessel.

The boats in use upon the Severn are thus described in
Gibson’s edition of Camden. (t The fishermen in these parts
use a small thing called a coracal, in which one man being
seated will row himself with incredible swiftness with one hand,
whilst with the other he manages his net, angle, or other fishing
tackle. It is of a form almost oval, made of split sally-twigs
interwoven (willow-twigs), round at the bottom, and on that
part which is next the water it is covered with a horse-hide. It
is about five feet in length and three in breadth, and is so light
that, on coming off the water, they take them on their backs
and carry them home.”

The coracles in use upon the Wye are sometimes called
truckles. They exactly resemble those of Wales; but the pad-
dles which are employed with them are much more spade-shaped
than the Welsh-ones. Gilpin told a story of a daring fellow,
who, for a wager, navigated a coracle out of the Wye, and all
down the broad and frequently stormy estuary of the Severn, as
far as the Isle of Lundy, at the mouth of the Bristol Channel.
“ When he returned to the New Weir,” says the original teller
of the tale, “ report says the account of his expedition was
received like a voyage round the world.”

The usual vessels of the ancient Britons were these basket
boats, constructed of osier twigs covered with the hides of oxen.*
They were called cwrwgyl by the Britano-Celts, and currach
by the Gaels and Hiberno-Celts. They were in use when the
Homans invaded the island,f and such boats are still to be seen
on the Severn and the Wye, on the rivers of South Wales and
in Ireland.

Plinyf states, that Timseus, a very ancient historian, asserts
that the Britons used to sail to an island called Mictis, at the
distance of six days’ sail, in boats made of wattles covered with
skins. We learn from Solinus,§ who lived about the middle of
the third century, that in his time the communication between
Britain and Ireland was kept up on both sides by means of
these vessels. The size of some of them must have been con-

* See Richard of Cirencester, lib. i, Hist. Nat., vii, 56.
c. 3, s. 12.	X lb. iv, xvi.

t Coes. Bell. Civ., i, 54, and Pliny, § Cap. xxxv, p. ICG.BASKET BOATS.

163

siderable; for that learned monk Marianus Scotus, who wrote
in the eleventh century, makes mention of three Irishmen who
came in a wicker boat without sails or oars, and landed in
Cornwall, after a voyage of seven days.* In the management of
these slight and unsteady vessels, great hardihood and dexterity
must have been required, especially in a climate so variable and
seas so stormy as ours.

Whilst Caesar was carrying on the war in Spain, the army
under his command was put to the greatest straits for want of
necessary supplies, as none could be conveyed to them on account
of the river Sicoris having overflown its banks and become im-
passable. In this dilemma he constructed basket boats, covered
with skin, similar to those he had observed in Britain.t Lucan
not only alludes to this fact, but we also gather from him that
this kind of boat was equally used on the Nile and the Po.
His words are these:—

“ Primum cana salix, madefacto vimine parvum
Texitus in puppim, csesoque induta juvenco,

Vectoris patiens tumidum supematat amnem
Sic Venetus, stagnante Pado, fusoque Britannus
Navigat oceano. Sic, cum tenet omnia Nilus,

Conseritur bibula Memphitis cymba papyro.”—Pharsalia, 1. iv.

“ The bending willow into barks they twine,

Then line the work with skins of slaughter’d kine ;

Such are the floats Venetian fishers know,

Where in dull marshes stands the settling Po.

On such to neighbouring Gaul, allured by gain,

The nobler Britons cross the swelling main.

Like these, when fruitful Egypt lies afloat,

The Memphian artist builds his reedy boat.”

Rowe's Translation of Lucan.

In the fifth century, we find the Scots and Piets crossing the
friths in coracles, and spreading slaughter and consternation
throughout the north of Britain. And this kind of vessel was
much used in the Western Isles, even long after the art of boat
building was introduced into those parts by the Norwegians:
and so late as the year 1769, Pennant speaks of a circular kind
of boat called a courach, as being used upon the river Spey, in
Murrayshire. Sidonius Apollinaris, who was chosen bishop

* See also Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, lib. v, c. 3.
sub anno 891, and Fabius Ethelwerd, t Cses. Bell. Civ., i, 54.

M 2164

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

of Auvergne, in 472, states that the Saxon pirates of his time
frequently crossed the British seas in such boats.*

The boats in general use amongst the Danes, were nothing
but large broad-bottomed coracles, with keels formed of light
timber, and sides, and upper works, of wicker, covered with
strong hides. These vessels were much used by the pirates
who infested the German Ocean.

The Icelanders employed a boat bearing some resemblance to
the coracle. It was constructed of long poles placed crosswise,
tied together with whale sinews, and covered with the skins of
seals, sewed with sinews instead of thread.

ASIA.

In ancient times, the coracle of basket-work was not confined
exclusively to Europe, but was in daily use in Asia. Hero-
dotust describes a vessel for conveying goods down the Euphrates
to Babylon, which was of a circular form, and consisted of a
framework of willow, covered externally with skins, and the
bottom lined with reeds: it had no distinction of head or stern.
It was managed by two men with paddles, one pulled to him,
the other pushed from him. The boats of this kind were of
very different dimensions. Some of them were so large as to
bear freights to the value of five thousand talents : the smaller
of them had one ass on board; the larger, several. These
vessels were constructed in Armenia, in the parts above
Assyria; and on their arrival at Babylon, their owners, after
disposing of all their cargo, also sold the ribs of their boats, the
matting, and every thing but the skin coverings; these they
laid upon their asses and brought back to Armenia, the down-
ward force of the river’s current preventing them from sailing
up the stream. Major Kennel says, that this species of boat is
still in use in the lower parts of the river, and called kufah, or
round vessel. The inhabitants of Bagdad communicate between
the two parts of that city by means of large round baskets,
coated with bitumen—these are in fact the wherries of the
Tigris, Euphrates and Dialah.

Tavernier, in his Travels in India (book i, part 2, ch. 19),
describing the road from Gandicot to Golconda, says: “ Their

* Carm. vii.

t Clio, cxciv.BASKET BOATS.

165

ferry-boats wherewith they cross the river, are like broad-bot-
tom’d wicker flaskets, cover’d without with oxe’s hides; at the
bottom whereof they lay certain faggots, over which they
spread a piece of old tapestry, to keep the wares and merchan-
dise from wet.”—“ There are four men that stand upright at
the four corners of the boat, and row it along with broad pieces
of wood, made like shovels. If they do not all strike their
stroaks together, but that any of the four misses, the boat will
turn round two or three times ; and the stream carries it a
great way lower than where they intended to land.”

In many parts of Hindustan at the present day, the natives
are accustomed to cross rivers in round basket boats, from three
to fifteen feet in diameter; one of which can be made by six
men in as many hours.

Turner in his account of Tibet, describes a boat exactly
resembling the British cwrwgyl. He says, “ I saw a boat placed
on its end in one of the villages, for occasional use; which might
easily be carried on the back of the passenger. It was composed
chiefly of leather, and consisted of a rude skeleton of wood,
with thwarts and ribs, over which a bull’s hide was stretched.”

AFRICA.

We read in the second chapter of Exodus, that the mother of
Moses, “ when she could not longer hide him, she took for him
an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and
put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s
brink.” This ((ark of bulrushes ” was, beyond all doubt, an
Egyptian coracle. In the eighteenth chapter of Isaiah mention
is again made of vessels constructed of this material:—“ Woe to
the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of
Ethiopia, that sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of
bulrushes upon the waters.”

Herodotus,* Theophrastus,t Pliny,:}: Lucan,§ and other authors
of antiquity, state, that in Egypt they constructed boats or canoes
of the papyrus; and, according to Bruce, basket boats were still
to be seen upon the rivers of Abyssinia, constructed of this
material,—a piece of acacia being put in the bottom to serve as
a keel.

* ii, 90.
t iv, 9.

t vii, 10, and vi, 22.
§ iv, 130.166

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

The second sketch which accompanies this paper furnishes
us with a very early and rare example of the coracle—the “ Te-
bath Gome ” of Holy writ. It is taken from a rude tablet of
black slate, possibly of Carthaginian workmanship, which was
found with some others of the same barbaric character at Tunis.
It clearly represents a basket-vessel, not covered with hide, but
most probably one of those which were rendered impervious to
water by means of asphaltum. The gunwale is similar to that
of the cwrwgyl of our own rivers; and it appears to have a
strong piece of wood on the outside to serve as a keel, in the
same manner as the Abyssinian boats described by Bruce.

It is highly probable that the Phoenician merchants, who in
remote times traded to Britain for tin, first introduced this con-
venient kind of vessel to the primeval inhabitants of the Cassi-
terides; and it is worthy of remark, that the mokdaf, or paddle,
still in use in Tunis, is exactly like that employed with the Welsh
coracle.

AMERICA.

The ancient sagas which record the discovery of America
by the northmen in the beginning of the eleventh century,
represent the STcrodlings, or Esquimaux, as assembling in great
numbers in their sealskin boats, which no doubt resembled those
of their descendants.

The oomiaks of Hudson’s Bay and the baidars of the Western
Esquimaux of Hotham Inlet, are boats which bear some analogy
to our own coracles, but they are much larger. Captain Beechey
describes them as consisting “ of a frame made from drift-wood,
covered with the skins of walruses strained over it, and are ca-
pable of being tightened at any time by a lacing on the inside
of the gunwale; the frame and benches for the rowers are fast-
ened with thongs, by which the boat is rendered both light and
pliable ; the skin when soaked in water is translucent, and a
stranger placing his foot upon the flat yielding surface at the
bottom of the boat, fancies it a frail security, but it is very safe
and durable, especially when kept well greased.” These vessels
contain from ten to thirteen men.

With this class of boats may also be associated the kei-yak of
the Greenlanders. It is a canoe from twelve to fourteen leet
long, about eighteen inches wide, and a foot deep, consisting ofBASKET BOATS.

167

a frame work of pine wood and whalebone; pointed at the ends
and covered entirely with skin, leaving only a round hole in the
centre of the upper side surrounded with a hoop, in which the
native sits, and draws his seal-skin coat tight round it: the
whole of the lower part of his body being thus covered, he may,
like a sea-bird,

“ Ride o’er the stormy billows,”

without fear of getting wet, defying alike wind and waves.
Even when upset, he rights himself by a stroke of his pa-65-tik
under the water; but if this is lost or broken, he is sure to
perish. When he lands, he hawls his boat ashore, and carries it
home to his hut. This he does by inverting the boat, and plac-
ing his head within the circular aperture, lets the edge rest upon
his forehead and allows the end to recline upon his shoulders.

The third drawing is from a very pretty native model of a
Greenlander in his skin kei-yak, holding the double pa-oo-tik or
paddle; and to the side of the vessel is attached a rude wooden
carving of a seal.

But I fear I am getting beyond my depth; I have left our
native rivers and sea-girt isle and paddled my coracle

“ From Indus, all round to the Pole.”

In concluding these few remarks, I may just observe that the
coracle was not the only sort of boat employed by our ancestors;
for in the most remote periods of their history they used a rude
kind of vessel hollowed out of a single trunk, like an Indian
canoe. This boat was called Clock by the Britons, and Bior-
linn or Bir-linn by the Gaels; a word compounded of the Celtic
bir or bior and linn—a pool-log;* a name which well bespeaks
its primitive character.

Several of these ancient monoxylic canoes have been discovered
at different times. In the year 1736, one was found in a morass
called Lockermoss, in Dumfries, Scotland; it was about seven
feet long, and dilated to a considerable breadth at one end; near
it was its paddle. Another canoe measuring eight feet eight
inches long, two feet broad, by eleven inches deep, was seen by
Pennant in June 1772, at Kilblain, in Dumfries. In 1720

Armstrong’s Gaelic L'ictionary.168

PRIMEVAL SECTION.

several were dug up in the marshes of the river Medway, above
Maidstone; one of which was in such a perfect state of preserva-
tion that it was used as a boat for some time after its discovery.
On draining Martine Muir, or Marton Lake, in Lancashire,
some years ago, there were found eight canoes embedded in the
bottom of the lake. In the year 1823 a number of canoes were
discovered in Loch Doon, near Dalmellington, Ayrshire; they
were cut out of solid oak, and one which was measured was
found to be twenty-two feet long, by three feet ten inches broad.
In April 1834, a canoe was discovered in a ditch or drain near
the village of North Stokes, Sussex, not far from the left bank
of the river Arun. It was of oak, thirty-five feet long, about
two deep, and four and a half wide; the thickness of the sides
and bottom being generally about four or five inches. This
interesting example of the ancient cwch was presented to the
British Museum by the late Earl of Egremont. Another very
perfect cwch was discovered a few years back, by Mr. Artis,
in the bank of the river Nen. In the year 1839, whilst some
drainers were employed at Loughy Loch, in the parish of Tar-
bolton, Ayrshire, they came upon a canoe buried eight feet
below the surface of the earth. It was of oak, in a very good
state of preservation, and measured about sixteen feet in length
and three in breadth. When the waters were drawn off for
the purpose of deepening a part of Lough Heavy, nearest the
discharge pipes, in 1839, there were found three ancient canoes
embedded in the mud.

The cwch and the cwrwgyl were boats employed by the
Britons in their peaceful occupations. But Caesar* mentions an
engagement he had with the combined fleets of the Veniti and
Britons. He describes the enemy’s ships as being made with
bottoms flatter than the Mediterranean vessels, in order to
accommodate themselves to a tide harbour and a shoal coast;
and elevated both at the prow and the poop, which were deemed
better adapted to resist a stormy sea. They were built of
oaken planks, so firmly constructed that the beaks of the
Roman vessels could scarce make an impression on them.

Thus early do we find one of the greatest conquerors of

* De Bell. Gall., 1. iii, cap. 13. ships, consult Dion Cassius and Xi-
See also Selden, and Meyrick’s Cos- pkilinus, lib. lxii ; Geoffrey of Mou-
tume of the British Islands, p. 21. mouth, lib. iv, c. 5; and the Poems
For allusions to British fleets and of Ossian.BASKET BOATS.

169

antiquity bearing testimony to the invulnerability of “ the
wooden walls of old EnglandAnd the fame of this Celtic
fleet of old might not inaptly be sung in the words of a modern
song. They

“ scorn’d a foreign yoke,

For our ships were British oak,

And hearts of oak our men.”

In this fleet, which opposed “the conqueror of the world,”
we may behold the embryo of that mighty power and strength,
which in later times has defied and crushed all the combined
efforts of our foes; and has established our empire over every
sea in every clime; and which has exalted our beloved island-
home to a pinnacle of glory and renown, unapproached by any
other country, in any age of the world’s existence.

“ Britannia needs no bulwarks,

No towers along the steep :

Her march is on the mountain wave,

Her home is on the deep !”170

SECTION III.—MEDIEVAL ANTIQUITIES.

HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF PAINTING, AS FORMERLY USED IN

CHURCHES.

BY JOHN GREEN WALLER, ESQ.

As the discovery of paintings on the walls of churches is now
one of daily occurrence,—an instance having, indeed, been com-
municated since the meeting of this congress,—perhaps it may
not be uninteresting to offer a brief history of the practice of
decorating churches with religious pictures, from its gradual
introduction until the period of the Reformation, when, in this
country at least, the practice received a death-blow from which
it has never entirely recovered.

The earlier Christian converts, being Jews, carried with them
all those prejudices against the representation of life so rigidly
guarded against by their law, as well as by the often-denounced
practice of the pagan nations by whom they were surrounded.
Their zeal, indeed, against the arts so extensively used in the
heathen temples may be learnt from the strong invectives of
their apologists. They even carried their enmity against the
artists, excluding them from their communion, if, being con-
verts, they continued to practise the hated profession, and
denying the rite of baptism to those candidates for admission,
unless they renounced it. As they obtained more power and
influence, we have instances of fanatical rage similar to that
of the Puritans of a later time; and perhaps the progress of
Christianity, more than any other cause, hastened the downfal
of the already declining art of antiquity. But it is evident that
the accession of heathen converts to their communion must
gradually have weakened this prejudice, and, indeed, I shall pre-
sently have occasion to shew, that it was from among them that
the practice first obtained.HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF PAINTING.

171

The first public notice that we find taken of paintings in
churches is among the canons of a provincial council held at
Illiberis, now the city of Elvira, in Spain. The precise date of
this assembly is unknown, but it was near the close of the third
century. The words of the canon, by which the practice is
unreservedly condemned, are emphatic and precise. It says :
“ It hath pleased, that pictures in churches ought not to be,
neither may what is worshipped or adored be painted on the
walls.” This condemnation of itself argues that pictures in
churches were already extensively used; but it must be observed
that in this sentence we must not recognize the voice of the
Church, for it is certain that it never received universal atten-
tion, and, in all probability, its influence was not felt beyond
the province in which the council was assembled.

The first indications of a yearning towards representation in
the Christian society, was evidenced by the use of symbolic
forms—such, for instance, as the fish, the lyre, the dove, the
lamb, the vine, the palm, the ship, the anchor, to which may
be added the cross, as probably the earliest of all, and the mono-
grams of the holy name.

It is in the catacombs of Rome—places consecrated so early
to Christian worship, through the dangers to which its first
professors were exposed—that we meet with the earliest ex-
amples of the use of painting in the new religion. These are
very evidently the productions of converts from the heathen,
as they closely resemble in style and character previous pagan
decorations in similar places of interment. Indeed, this resem-
blance is so remarkable, that it requires a very narrow examina-
tion of the subjects to distinguish the one from the other. It is
also observable, that the selection of subjects betrays extreme
caution and reserve; those having an indirect allusion to the
doctrines of Christianity, by way of antitype, being at all times
preferred. Of these, the most frequent was the story of the
prophet Jonah, which was generally in four compartments; the
first shews a naked figure of the prophet reclining beneath a
frame on which gourds are trained ; the second shews the mari-
ners casting him into the sea; and it must here be remarked,
that the idea of the whale is curiously expressed by an animal
resembling the sea-horse of classic antiquity; the third, the
monster casting him upon land ; and the fourth represents him
seated.172

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

A selection of miracles from the Old Testament was also of
frequent occurrence, arranged together thus: Noah receiving
the dove returning with the olive-branch; Moses striking the
rock ; the manna in the wilderness ; Abraham about to offer up
his son Isaac, and a few others. Of subjects from the New Tes-
tament, though rarer, many were particularly selected : such as
the paralytic carrying his bed, the raising of Lazarus, restoring
the blind to sight, etc. The manner of treating these subjects
was peculiar, and exhibited a symbolic tendency. The intro-
duction of the figure of the Saviour is rare, unless it be under
the form of the good shepherd carrying on his shoulders a lamb
strayed from the flock; but there is no attempt at any peculiar
elevation of character. Another popular subject belongs to this
period of Christian art, and this only: it is that of Orpheus
playing on the lyre; plainly adopted from pagan art, through
the strong inclination among the early Christians to give to the
Orphic hymns a character of prophecy. The earliest design in
which the Virgin and Child are introduced, is in the catacomb
of St. Calixtus, on the Appian Way : the subject is the adora-
tion of the Magi, who are all represented in the Phrygian cap.

It would be impossible, in the brief space to which I must
confine myself, to enter as much into detail as this subject
requires. I must therefore be content with a very general
glance, noting only that which is of particular interest.

I will therefore now pass from the consideration of the paint-
ings of the catacombs, to notice one of the earliest descriptions of
the decoration of a Christian church that has come down to us.
This is found in one of the epistles of Paulinus, bishop of Nola,
who flourished at the latter half of the fourth century, the con-
temporary of saints Augustine and Jerome. Paulinus was a
native of Aquitain, of senatorial rank, and of great wealth. He
became a convert to Christianity, and was exceedingly zealous
in his new faith, in proof of which he constructed a magnificent
church near Nola, in honour of Saint Felix the martyr, of which
he has given a very interesting and minute description, both of
the arrangement and of the nature of its decorations. Among
other things, he describes the paintings introduced on the walls
and vaulting, all of which appear to have been selected from the
Old Testament. Then he continues to enumerate and descant
on the several subjects, from which it appears that it containedHISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF PAINTING.

173

the story of Moses, the passage of the Jordan, the story of Ruth
and Orpah, and, arranged on the walls opposite to each other,
the temptation of Job, the stories of Tobit, Judith, and Esther.
We also learn from him, that the custom of affixing descriptive
legends or texts illustrative of the subjects had already obtained;
for he says, alluding to this point, “ which is expressed above
by titles, that the letter may shew what the hand has explained.1'’
He concludes by asking his friend, “ if by chance he should
require some reason for this new practice of painting the sacred
houses, he will shew it in a few words.” He then goes on to say,
“ that the place was frequented by a rustic crowd not learned in
reading,” for whose edification it was intended.

In the fourth century the arts were rapidly declining, but, if
we could place confidence in descriptions, we might yet imagine
a power existing of no mean character. Amongst the records
of the second council of Nice there is an account of a painting of
the martyrdom of St. Euphemiah, given by Asterius, bishop of
Amasia, belonging to this era, in which the diversities of ex-
pression are particularly noted and described, and the highest
encomiums are bestowed upon the painter, not, indeed, unde-
servedly, if his work answered the description. “ Greatly I
admire,” says he, “the painter who the effect of conflicting nature,
that is to say, modesty and manliness, could combine”; and in
another part he bears testimony to the faithful and expressive
colouring thus: “for so manifestly and evidently the painter
has coloured the drops of blood, that you might swear it to flow
from the lips, and with weeping you are compelled to depart.”
A similar testimony, drawn from the same authority, is given
by Gregory Nyssen, who said he could not contemplate a picture
of Abraham about to offer up his son without shedding tears.
We must, however, accept these testimonies with some reserve;
for at a later time, when the arts were in the lowest state of
degradation, it is not uncommon to meet with similar encomiums.
There can be no doubt, then, that the close of this century saw
the principle of decorating churches with paintings established
far and wide wherever Christianity was to be found: and it
seems to have gone on silently, without encountering any oppo-
sition, except perhaps from small communions of heretics.

In this country there can be no doubt that it was introduced
with Christianity itself by the missionary St. Augustine; as174

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

pope Gregory the Great said, “it was chiefly for the sake of the
heathen, instead of reading, that they might learn from them
what they ought to worship.” Thus in the seventh century we
find two eminent men, St. Wilfrid and Benedict Biscop, both
employing the arts extensively in the service of religion. Bede
gives an account of the latter bringing paintings from Rome to
adorn his church at Weremouth. The images of the Virgin
Mary and twelve apostles were disposed on the roof at the east
end, carried from wall to wall, arranged apparently in tablets or
panels, for they were doubtless executed on wood and in dis-
temper. Subjects of gospel history were disposed on the south
wall, the visions of the Apocalypse of St. John on the north.

That abuses, however, had crept in very early, we have the
testimony of St. Augustine, who says, that “he knew many
who were adorers of pictures and sculptures”; but it was not
until the eighth century that an effort was made to suppress
the practice. This, however, was attempted by the emperor
Leo, known thence as the Iconoclast. By him religious pictures
were proscribed in the churches of Constantinople and the pro-
vinces ; they were, by his edict, defaced and covered with a
smooth surface of plaster; but so greatly were the popular
feelings outraged by these proceedings, that civil war, embittered
by theological controversy, raged throughout the Roman empire
for upwards of a century. To settle the question, his son and
successor, Constantine, called a council of the church at Con-
stantinople, a.d. 754, which pronounced an unanimous decree
that all visible symbols of Christ, except in the eucharist, were
blasphemous, and that all such monuments of idolatry should be
destroyed. Notwithstanding, however, the vigorous persecution
of those who fondly clung to a practice to which they had been
so long accustomed, this decree was found impossible to be en-
forced. The second council of Nice, which took place in 787,
finally settled the question as regards the Church, and produced
a very permanent effect on the practice of church decoration.
The records of its proceedings contain a vast deal of information
relative to the doctrine of the Church on the subject. It asserted,
contrary to historic truth, the continuous use of pictures from
the time of the apostles; but its decrees respecting the relation
of art to the Church were the most important, because of the
extraordinary influence that they had in reducing art to a mereHISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF PAINTING.

175

convention dependent on the theologian. The council decreed
that “the structure of images was not the invention of the
painter, but the approved legislation and tradition of the Church”;
and in another place it says: “ the art alone is the painter’s, but
the ordination and disposition the holy father’s.” The conse-
quence was, that from that time art lost its mental activity, and
remained stationary for centuries; and in the Greek Church to
this day it affords a most singular phenomenon of the repetition
of the same forms handed down from one generation to another,
so much 30 that MM. Didron and Durand, the eminent French
antiquaries, remarked, in a tour in Greece in 1838, that the
resemblance between works executed at St. Mark’s, in Venice,
by Greek, or as they are better known, Byzantine, artists in the
tenth century, was complete, even to the number of folds in the
drapery, to works many centuries subsequent. The influence
of Byzantine art was felt throughout Europe for many centu-
ries, as doubtless it was the monasteries of Mount Athos that
furnished the artists who, from the seventh to the twelfth cen-
turies, filled the churches with their productions. Their art,
founded upon the decrees of the council of Nice, remained, as
before observed, a fixed type without improvement, possessing
but a limited mechanical power, and still less feeling for nature.

The freer spirit of the west naturally operated very power-
fully in destroying this domination, which fettered the hand of
the artist; for although convention can be observed to the end
of the fourteenth century, and even later, yet there were many
departures from its influence. It is exceedingly curious to note
this feature in medieval religious art, which we have many
opportunities of observing throughout the twelfth, thirteenth,
and fourteenth centuries, whether seen in manuscripts, sculp-
ture, or paintings on the walls of churches; even in the technical
delineation of form, down to the middle of the last-mentioned
period, there seems to have been a fixed rule. This may be
partially noticed in the mode of drawing the features, which
certainly for a whole century does not materially differ.

After the decision of the Council of Nice, no serious opposi-
tion was made to pictures in churches, and there can hardly be
a doubt but that every church, however humble, had some kind
of religious painting on its walls.

In the twelfth century, when so great an impulse was given to176

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

the arts, we find the voice of the eloquent St. Bernard raised
against those monstrous combinations of forms painted on the
walls of churches; monstrous centaurs, half men, spotted tigers;
and he continues, “you see under one head many bodies, and
again in one body many heads. Here is discovered the tail of a
serpent on a quadruped,” etc.; and he observes, “ the whole day
is occupied in admiring these things, rather than in meditating
on the law of God.” I should imagine that the grotesque figures
common on Norman fonts are similar to those alluded to.

The improvement and advancement in architecture in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries was accompanied by a corres-
ponding progress in the art of painting and design, and our
parochial as well as our cathedral churches received as much
decoration as expense and circumstances permitted; and thus it
continued until the sixteenth century, when one of the earliest
acts of the Reformation in this country was the condemnation of
paintings in churches : at this period they were covered with
whitewash and defaced, and their places supplied with texts of
scripture.

Having thus given a general sketch of the history, I will now
proceed to notice some conventional peculiarities in the treat-
ment of a few subjects. It must be remarked that these are of
three kinds, viz. those derived from scripture and apocryphal
writings, biography of saints and illustrations of their miracles,
and moral allegories: the latter class are probably the most
interesting.

The first I shall notice is illustrative of the story of the rich
man and Lazarus, which was a favourite subject in relation to
the doctrine of the resurrection: it was generally thus shown.
The centre and upper part of the composition, a figure of the
Deity, seated on a rainbow; in his lap a small figure: this was
Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom. Immediately beneath is the
yawning mouth of a monster, the usual type of hell, in which is
shewn the figure of the rich man, surrounded by demons who
are tormenting him ; while he, looking up towards Lazarus,
significantly places his finger on his tongue. On one side is the
death of Lazarus, who, habited in the garb of a pilgrim, is
extended on the ground; an angel descends from above to
receive his soul, which, under the form of a child, is proceeding
from his mouth. On the opposite side is the death of the rich
man, whose soul is taken by a demon.HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF PAINTING.

177

Among the earlier paintings in Winchester cathedral is a
martyrdom of St. Catherine, where an angel similarly receives
the soul of the dying martyr. This was in accordance with the
doctrine of the Church, that at the moment when martyrs expire
in confessing their faith, “angels carry to the bosom of God
their victorious souls, singing songs of triumph.”

A similar office in classic mythology was assigned to the
syrens, who, Plato says, “ breathe into expiring souls the love of
heavenly and divine things, and the forgetfulness of mortal
affairsand also that “ they led the souls of the just to heaven
with melodious songs.” In the Resurrection and the Last Judg-
ment it is frequent to find a contention with the angel and demon
for the possession of a soul; the myth of soul-weighing is inti-
mately connected with this subject, and was very frequently
painted on the walls of our churches; the usual mode of repre-
sentation was to place the scales in the hands of St. Michael;
a small figure representing the soul in one basin containing his
good deeds, and in the other the bad deeds; to this demons are
constantly shewn as clinging with intention to weigh it down, and
one seats himself on the end of the beam triumphantly sounding
a horn. The Virgin is, however, frequently introduced as coming
to the rescue, and casting a rosary among the good deeds, thus
saving the soul. There are many miraculous relations of the
salvation of souls by the intervention of the Virgin at the
moment when it was found that the bad deeds greatly out-
numbered the good; a very curious one is to be found in Mr.
Wright’s St. Patrick's Purgatory.

But the most interesting class of subjects are the moral alle-
gories : of these some are particularly interesting. Human life
is typified by a wheel, which is usually divided into seven
periods or ages; and it may not be out of place to give an
example, by way of comparison with the well-known passage
of our great poet. This instance I have derived from a manuscript
in the Arundel Collection, No. 82, British Museum, belonging to
the early part of the fourteenth century. It consists of a series of
subjects disposed in circles, ten in number, to which are affixed
appropriate legends in Latin ; these are placed at the termination
of the spokes of the wheel, the centre of which is formed by the
head of the Deity, surrounded by a nimbus, and this legend:
“ I discern all things at once—I govern all by reason.” The178

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

whole wheel is comprised within a square, at eaoh corner of
which are four principal estates of humanity. Infancy or child-
hood, shewn by a seated figure of a child about to rise; man-
hood, a figure royally attired; age, a figure leaning on a staff
and looking back; and decrepitude, an old man prostrate on the
ground. The first of the ten circular compartments represents
the nurse: the analogy here with Shakespeare will at once be
recognized. She is represented with a child in her lap before a
fire, on which is a small pot or cauldron; the legend around it
is: “I am gentle and humble with milk from a pure nurse.”
The next subject ascending the wheel is a boy, holding a mirror
in one hand, while he combs his hair with another; the legend
is: “ Life worthy of the age is approved in the glass.” The
third is a youth holding a pair of scales, with this legend:
“ I will never be uncertain — I measure age.”* The fourth
shews a young man on horseback, with hawk on his fist, as
enjoying the pleasures of field sports; the legend: “Not the
image of the glass, but life made joyful.” I will here observe,
the highest degree of pleasure is generally represented by the
medieval artist, as that which consists of hunting or hawking.
The fifth, which occupies the summit of the wheel, indicates the
height of the attainment of worldly power,—it is therefore
represented as a king; the legend is: “I am king, I rule the
age; the whole world is mine.” The sixth is the first on the
decline of the wheel, appropriate to the declining years of man.
It exhibits an old man with staff in left hand, looking back as if
with regret upon his past state ; the legend is : “I take to me
a staff; almost known to death.” The seventh, analogous to
the “ last scene of all, which ends this strange eventful history”,
shews an old and decrepit man, blind, and bending under
the weight of his infirmities, with a staff in his right hand, and
leaning with the other on the shoulder of a child who leads
him; the legend is: “ Given up to decrepitude. Death will
be to me to be.”

The periods of life are thus comprised in the seven divisions,
but there are three others to complete the wheel; the eighth
shews the old man on the bed of death, a doctor stands by his
side, he holds up a vial in his right hand; the legend is: “Given
up to infirmity; I begin to fail.” In the ninth, the scene has

* In the" original the letters arc misplaced.HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF PAINTING.

179

closed; a coffin is extended on a bier, and a priest is chanting
the office of the dead ; the legend is : “I thought that I should
live; life has deceived me.” The tenth and last, the bottom of
the wheel, shews the tomb, the last resting-place of humanity ;
the legend is: “I am turned into dust; life has deceived me.”
This beautiful and very curious instance, although not derived
from a church decoration, illustrates an allegory which was,
without doubt, frequently painted upon our church walls,* and
for the painting of which there are minute directions in the
curious guide still used in the Greek Church, differing from the
above in a few details, but in principle the same. Here the
centre of the wheel is the Deity, as he who governs the revolv-
ing years of life ; in the guide, however, the wheel is turned by
night and day, a highly poetical idea, represented by the figures
of two angels.

The wheel of fortune bears a strong analogy to this allegory,
and, although of classical origin, belongs to church decoration ;
and an interesting example was discovered about six years ago
on the walls of Rochester cathedral. Fortune was there shewn
as a female crowned, standing in front of the wheel, which she
governed with her right hand; figures were endeavouring to
ascend the wheel; one was already seated on the summit, indi-
cative of the height of worldly power; that part which repre-
sented the decline of fortune’s favour was defaced. The Root
of Jesse, a genealogical tree of our Saviour’s ancestry, is fre-
quently met with ; it consists of a tree springing from a reclin-
ing figure of the patriarch, with others, representing our Lord’s
ancestry, disposed upon the spreading branches, with appropriate
legends. This is sometimes called the tree of life: in that case,
however, instead of the patriarch Jesse at the root of the tree
is a figure of St. John the Evangelist, holding a scroll, on which
is written: “ I saw the tree of life bearing fruit.” Arranged
together on each side are the figures of St. Peter and St. Paul,
the prophets Jeremiah, Moses, Daniel, and Ezekiel. The figure
of Christ occupies the centre, extended on the cross, the peni-
tent thief above on his right; and the apex of the composition
is finished by the symbolic representation of the pelican feeding
her young—an allusion to the passion.

The tree, as well as the wheel, is often made use of to ill us-

* An example occurs in the cathedral of Sienna.180

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

trate allegory in medieval decoration; but the one to which I
have alluded is the most curious and interesting.

It would be in vain for me to attempt, in a brief space, to
give a complete idea of the numerous subjects in use in church
decorations of the middle ages ; but I think I should be doing
wrong not to mention one which belongs to the period imme-
diately preceding the Reformation; I mean the Dance of Death.
During the fourteenth century a very favourite subject was
painted on the walls of churches, for the purpose of teaching a
moral on the levelling power of death : of this a recent instance
has been found on the walls of Battle church, in Sussex. It usually
exhibited three kings or persons of rank in discourse with three
skeletons ; the matter of which had reference to the instability
of worldly grandeur. From this morality, in the succeeding
century, appears to have arisen the Dance of Death: this con-
sisted of a series of figures, of all ranks and conditions, begin-
ning with the pope, being conducted by Death, with whom they
hold a dialogue. It is characterized by extreme satire and a
certain degree of levity, both in the compositions and dialogues
accompanying them. It is usual with many persons to consider
Holbein as the inventor of this design, his name having been
attached to a well-known series of etchings by Hollar; there is,
however, some doubt whether he ever painted the subject at all,
and, at any rate, that ascribed to him as decorating part of the
Augustin monastery at Basle was executed many years previous
to his time.

I have thus endeavoured briefly to set before you a general
view of the use of paintings in churches previous to the Reform-
ation ; but the subject is far too extensive to be comprised
in a few words. All I can hope to have done is, to have shewn
that sufficient interest attaches itself to the subject to induce all
those who have it in their power, to make at least a record of
every discovery whenever such an opportunity presents itself.1

/c>"ft i/

STEPHEN.

181

ON THE BRACTEATE AND OTHER EARLY COINS OF IRELAND.

BY JOHN LINDSAY, ESQ.

That numerous and interesting class of medieval coins, called
Bracteate, although long known on the continent of Europe, has
not been associated with Irish numismatics until the discovery-
in Ireland of a large hoard of them, bearing types so closely
resembling the Anglo-Norman, and in one or two instances the
Hiberno-Danish, as to leave no doubt of their correct appro-
priation to Ireland.

In my view of the coinage of Ireland, published a short time
after the discovery of this hoard, I, without hesitation, assigned
them to the native princes, and to a period immediately following
that of the Anglo-Norman coins to which they bore so close
a resemblance, and I considered the case so clear, that I should
not have thought it necessary to take up the time of the
Association with any observations on the subject, had not one
of the greatest antiquaries of the present age, the learned
author of the Essay on the Irish Mound Towers, assigned to
these interesting coins a much earlier period; the necessity of
placing this subject in a clearer point of view renders therefore
a further discussion of it imperative on me, and I shall proceed
to its examination. The cause of Mr. Petrie’s notice of the
Irish bracteate coins in his Essay on the Round Towers, was
the discovery, in the interior area of the Round Tower of
Kildare, of several of these coins, and which, from the position
in which they were found, he considers must have been
deposited at the original erection of the tower.

In discussing the period of the erection of this tower, Mr.
Petrie admits that the presence of the zig zag moulding, will,
by most architectural antiquaries, be considered decisive evidence
of its being the work of the Anglo-Norman period, but is of
opinion that such ornaments may be referred to a much earlier
period, and he looks to this discovery of the bracteates as a
mode of deciding the question.

He considers, however, that the antiquity of these coins,182

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

admitting of some doubt, their discovery in this round tower
should be rather taken as evidence of the greater antiquity of
the coins, than that the coins should be adduced as evidence of
the antiquity of the tower being less.

My object in this place, however, is merely to ascertain the
period when these coins were struck, and I leave the discussion
of the age of the Round Tower of Kildare to writers better
skilled in this branch of our antiquities.

When bracteate coins were first struck it is not very easy to
ascertain; Sperlingius, the only writer who has fully discussed
the subject, does not assign them an earlier date than the latter
part of the twelfth century; this is admitted by Mr. Petrie,
but he observes that Mr. Pinkerton supposes some of them to
be of the tenth century; the authority for which supposition
was, probably, the attribution by some of the Danish and
Swedish numismatists of a portion of the bracteate coins to
their early princes of the ninth and tenth centuries; but such
appropriations are now generally acknowledged to be ill-founded,
and every numismatist who has paid the least attention to the
subject will probably agree with me, that however difficult it
may be to ascertain the exact period of their first appearance,
we have never seen one that had the least appearance of belong-
ing to an earlier period than Sperlingius has assigned them,
whilst by far the greater portion of them appear to belong to
a much later.

Mr. Petrie seems to have founded his idea of the great antiquity
of these coins, on the supposition that the very rude Irish coins
without letters were the first struck; that the period of their
mintage was far earlier than the invasions of the Danes in the
ninth century; and that the coins of Ethelred II, and the
numerous Hiberno-Danish coins of what is called the Irish
type, were coined in imitation of them. He supposes, in fact,
that the Danes derived the art from the Irish, and not from the
Anglo-Saxons; but although he appears to be so far right, that
this type does not probably occur for the first time on the Irish
coins contemporaneous with Ethelred, there is no proof that it
is derived from any coins minted by the native Irish princes : on
the contrary, the rude coins generally found at and supposed to
be minted in Limerick (pi. n, Nos. 37, 38, 39, etc., of the
Coinage of Ireland), and which seem to have been some of theON THE BRACTEATE COINS OF IRELAND.

183

earliest coined in Ireland, are evidently the work of the Danes;
whilst the great mass of those very rude coins with strokes or
irregular legends, seem to have been the work of a far later
period, and indeed become still more rude as they approach the
Anglo-Norman period, when we find Irish coins apparently
copied partly from the Danish, and partly from the Anglo-
Norman types, and which, from the period in which they seem
to have been struck, are more likely to have been the money of
the native Irish princes; and to this period it will, I think,
appear that the Irish bracteate coins must be assigned.

Mr. Petrie thinks that from the intercourse of the Irish with
the Anglo-Saxons, the former must also have adopted the
practice of coining money, but no such money appears that can
be assigned to an earlier time than the latter part of the ninth
century, nor is there even a certainty of any being earlier than
the tenth, for the rudest can easily be proved to belong to the
Anglo-Norman period; and it may be here observed, that there
is abundant proof that rings of gold, silver, and brass, must have
formed a large portion of the currency of Ireland at a very remote
period, and that Anglo-Saxon coins appear to have circulated ex-
tensively there at a time when it is doubtful whether any money
was coined in Ireland; for although the Irish and Hiberno-
Danish coins have been often found with the Anglo-Saxon coins
of Ethelred II and subsequent princes, I have never heard of
their occurring amongst those of the earlier princes, although so
many hoards, particularly of those of Eadgar, have been dis-
covered in Ireland. Mr. Petrie combats, and I think with
success, the assumption of Mr. Pinkerton, that the Danes were
more advanced in civilization and letters than the Irish; but the
reason money seems to have been first struck by the Danes was,
on account of their intercourse with the Anglo-Saxons, whose
money they possessed in large quantities, and whose moneyers
they evidently used; the same names, in a multitude of in-
stances, being found on Anglo-Saxon and Danish coins;
whereas such money as we can attribute to the native Irish
princes appears to be copied, the earlier coins from the Danish,
and the later ones from the Anglo-Norman, as I think will
satisfactorily appear.

Mr. Petrie also seems to think many of those rude coins of184

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

Irish type—that is, with a rude head—are unilateral or brac-
teate.

Bracteates of this type, if there be any such, are extremely
rare, and I think it will appear that the type is as likely to be-
long to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries as those of an
Anglo-Norman character; but as Mr. Petrie has contended for
a much higher antiquity for the Irish coinage than an attentive
examination of the subject can possibly allow, I shall proceed to
examine the evidence he has adduced.

Mr. Petrie, in endeavouring to prove that the origin of the
bracteate coins is of earlier date than that assigned to it by
Sperlingius, adduces and confidently relies on the opinions of
M. Schoepflin and the French Academy of Inscriptions, who,
on the authority of Brenner and certain German writers, have
assigned bracteate coins to Biorno of Sweden, who reigned in
the beginning of the ninth century, and Harald of Denmark,
who reigned in the middle of the tenth; but these coins are
now admitted by every numismatist who has paid the least
attention to the subject, to belong to a period several centuries
later, and I shall merely adduce the opinion of Lelewel, one of
the best authorities on medieval coins, who, in his View of
Scandinavian Coins, p. 49, says,—‘‘The money of Sweden is
generally known by the wrork of Brenner; but that of the
middle ages is very badly appropriated, and pieces of the thir-
teenth century are falsely attributed to the ninth; I will not
combat errors which are so evident,'” etc.

Mr. Petrie, indeed, admits that it is the universally adopted
opinion of numismatists, that the minted money of Ireland ori-
ginated with the Danes in the tenth, or possibly in the ninth
century, but says that the discovery of the bracteates in the
tower of Kildare, has led him to doubt the propriety of this
•opinion.

He next adduces a letter written about 790 by Alcuin to the
celebrated St. Colcu of Clonmacnoise, in which lie mentions
that he sends fifty sicli of silver, etc. Mr. Petrie then quotes the
authority of a tract of the Brehon laws to shew, that the siclus
and the screpall were the same, and that it contains three pingins;
but admitting that the sicli sent by Alcuin were coins, it is
no proof that there were coins of that weight or denominationON THE BRACTEATE COINS OF IRELAND.

185

then struck in Ireland: for although it might be a fact, that the
screpall, (which he proves satisfactorily enough weighed about
twenty-four grains) was often represented in Ireland by an
Anglo-Saxon, French, or other foreign denarius, it might be
also more frequently represented by the Irish ring money,
which appears to have been adjusted to particular weights,
generally multiples of the half screpall or pennyweight.

He then proceeds to adduce a number of other passages from
ancient Irish authorities in which the words screpall andpinginn
occur, and which, it is evident enough, weighed twenty-four and
eight grains of silver respectively, but not a single authority from
which we can conclude that they were coins : many of these
authorities, however, are of the tenth and eleventh centuries,
when, from the abundance of silver money, which we know to
have been current in Ireland at that time, it is highly probable
weights of the above denominations were generally represented
by coin.

Mr, Petrie, however, considers himself supported by the
coins themselves, and says,—“ If we find pieces corresponding
with the screpall and pinginn, the fact seems placed beyond
dispute, and such pieces we find in our rude bilateral and
bracteate pieces,” the former of which he considers as screpalls
weighing about twenty-one or twenty-two grains, and the latter
as pinginns, weighing about seven ; and certainly if we look to
the Anglo-Saxon coinage, it appears to bear out his reasoning,
for the weight he assigns to the screpall was generally not far
from that of the Anglo-Saxon penny; and some of the smaller
coins of Alfred, and all, the small coins of Edward the Elder,
seem to be thirds of the penny, which denomination is men-
tioned in the laws of Alfred; but this very circumstance is
rather a proof that there was not any, or but little money
coined in Ireland at that time,—for if there was, it would proba-
bly have been of the weights supposed by Mr. Petrie, whereas
the Irish and Hiberno-Danish coins, with one exception, and
that of a very late period, appear not to have been adjusted to any
such weights.

Being anxious to ascertain how far Mr. Petrie was correct in
his ideas of the weights of the Irish coins, I have weighed all
those in my own cabinet which, not bearing the name of a
Danish king, could by any possibility belong to the native Irish186

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

princes, and all of which are in a good state of preservation; and
the following is the result:—

COMMON IRISH TYPE.—127 COINS.

18^ grains 1	15£ grains 2	13 grains 27
18 	 1	15 	 13	m	 7
m	 2	14^	 6	12 	 14
17 	 2	14 	 14	Hi	 3
16Jr	 1	13^	 6	11 	 5
16 	 3		

10£ grains 4

10 ........ G

9*........ 1

9 ........ G

8 ........ 3

ANGLO-NORMAN TYPES, INCLUDING A FEW OF THE TYPES OF CNUT AND
HAROLD I.—18 COINS.

14 grains 1

m......1

13 .... 3

m......2

12 grains 1	10£ grains 1
Hi	 1	10 		 1
11 	 1	H 	 1

grains

1

3

1

ECCLESIASTICAL, WITH CROZIER.—20 COINS.

13 grains 1 I 8 grains 3 I 7 grains 4 I 6 grains 4
8i......... 1	|	7\ ...... 5	|	6£ ....... 1	|	5 ........ 1

An examination of these classes will at once satisfy us, that
to the two first Mr. Petrie’s system of screpalls and pinginns
cannot in any degree apply, as we have coins of every weight,
from eighteen and a-half to seven and a-half grains; but with
respect to the third class, I am inclined to agree with my friend
Dr. Smith, who considers these ecclesiastical coins as pinginns,
or intended for such,—and the circumstance of one of them
weighing thirteen grains, will not be considered as an obstacle,
as its reverse is of a different type from the others, with which
it seems to have no connexion; in the main point, however, that
of their antiquity, these coins afford no assistance to Mr. Petrie’s
theory, for they are evidently copied from Anglo-Norman
types, and cannot be assigned to an earlier period than the
twelfth century. Neither do the weights of the bracteate coins
support his theory; for, although from their almost invariably
mutilated state it is not easy to ascertain their weights, ten
grains, or the weight of the half-penny, would seem to be their
usual weight, and not seven or eight, the weight of the pinginn.

Having thus attempted to shew that Mr. Petrie has failed to
prove, either from the weights of the coins or from historical
records, a greater antiquity for the Irish coinage than the tenth
century, I shall proceed to notice their types, on which he
appears much to rely; and he admits thait the antiquity of theON THE BRACTEATE COINS OP IRELAND.	187

coins must be tested by a comparison of their types with those
of other countries whose ages have been determined; this is
coming to the point, and by this test, (the best we can possibly
have,) I am willing this question should be tried.

The coins which Mr. Petrie considers likely to have been
struck by the native Irish princes before the arrival of the
Danes, are the bilateral coins, of rude workmanship, with
strokes instead of letters, and the bracteate unilateral coins, the
former of which he considers as the scr&palls, the latter the
pinginns; but the weights which I have given of these coins
will satisfy us that these names will not apply, except in the
single instance of the ecclesiastical coins, which, from No. 11 of
the drawings accompanying this paper, appear to have derived
their type from those of the Anglo-Norman.

The rude bilateral coins, with strokes instead of letters, have
appeared to many, as well as to Mr. Petrie, to have been the
earliest of the Hiberno-Danish class, although, in truth, they
are some of the latest; but a comparison of their types with
those of the Anglo-Norman coins, a selection of which I have
exhibited in the plate of drawings which I have thought neces-
sary to append to this essay, will shew their real position: and
it cannot fail to be observed, that some of these types, such as
the canopy of the conqueror on No. 14, could not possibly have
any other than an Anglo-Norman origin, whilst the resemblance
this coin bears to others of a more questionable appearance, will
determine the era of the latter. I have also exhibited, in the
same plate, the principal varieties of the bracteate coins found
in Ireland in conjunction with Anglo-Norman coins, from which
they appear to be copied, and it will be admitted that the
similarity between them is most striking. Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 9,
were found near Fermoy; No. 8 in the Tower of Kildare; and
Nos. 5 and 10 in the county Wexford; and the period when
the last mentioned were minted, has the additional evidence to
support it of some coins of Henry II being found along with
them, and also a rude bilateral coin, No. 20, with the Irish type
on the obverse and the reverse, resembling No. 10, one of the
bracteates in the same parcel.

Mr. Petrie gives us specimens of the coins of Eadwald, Offa,
and Coenwulf, which he compares with some of those brac-
teates; but the resemblance is neither so strong nor applicable188

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

to so many specimens as I have adduced; indeed, but little
resemblance will be admitted between the bracteates and early
Saxon coins, except in the instance of No. 8 of my plate to this
essay, one of those found in the Tower of Kildare, which,
although resembling the coins of Offa, bears as great an affinity
to No. 7, and to the Anglo-Norman coin I have placed under
it; and the mistake Mr. Petrie has been led into, seems to have
been caused by the fact, that many of the Anglo-Norman types
were actually and evidently copied from those of Offa, and
other early Saxon princes.

The coin, plate iv, No. 88, of my work on the Irish coinage,
(as to the type of which, I there observed that I could find
nothing like it except on coins of Offa and Coenwulf,) is too
small a fragment to afford Mr. Petrie any evidence, and I am
rather inclined to think it may be a variety of No. 3 of the
drawings annexed to this paper; and the coin of Irish type
which he gives in p. 228, although it appears in the plates of
my work, No. 73, as a bracteate, he will perceive by my note,
p. 22 of the same work, is not properly a bracteate but a
bilateral coin, and its true place in the Irish coinage will appear
by reference to Nos. 13, 14, and 15, of the drawings to this
essay.

The bracteate No. 1 is not illustrated by an Anglo-Norman,
but by an Anglo-Saxon coin, which, as belonging to a period
but little earlier, supports my reasoning as well as if it had been
Anglo-Norman. The coins of Domnald are very uncertain as to
whom they belonged, but they are evidently either contemporary
with, or but little anterior to, the time of Ethelred II. The
coins of Ethelred II, and Sithric III, of similar type, were
probably copied from Hiberno-Danish coins of a somewhat
earlier date, although none such appear which can be carried
further back than the latter part of the ninth, or the beginning
of the tenth, century.

Maryville, Cork, July 21 st, 1846.:eate coins.189

ON EARLY ARMORIAL BEARINGS (ANIMALS) WITH INCIDENTAL
REMARKS ON THE ROYAL ARMS OF ENGLAND AND
THOSE OF THE FIRST EARLS OR CONSULS
OF GLOUCESTER.

BY J. R. PLANCHE, F.S.A.

At the second Congress of this Association, held last August
at Winchester, I had the honour to read a paper upon the origin
of those primitive heraldic bearings, entitled the Honourable
Ordinaries, and endeavoured to show that they had their rise
simply from the necessary metal strengthenings or clamps of
the wooden shields of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. I
now beg to offer to the Association (in continuation of the
critical inquiry I am interested in making into the much
abused science of heraldry) a few remarks upon the figures of
animals found upon the earliest shields of our Norman ancestry,
and as it fortunately happened that for my paper at Winchester,
the* seal of Saer de Quincy, the first earl of Winchester, was
particularly illustrative of my subject,—so am I equally
favoured by the accident that the seal of William consul of
Gloucester, is one of the earliest and most remarkable we
possess of the class to which I am about to call your attention on
meeting you here in the city of Gloucester.

To those who are acquainted with heraldry only by the
casual inspection of a modern peerage, and who therein observe
the likeness of almost every animal that ever existed, and of
many that never existed save in the fancy of man, it may be a
matter of some surprise to learn, that in the twelfth century
but one animal is to be seen on the shields of any of the great
Anglo-Norman nobility,—that animal being a lion. The earls
of Arundell, Lincoln, Leicester, Pembroke, Salisbury, and
Hereford, all bear lions. On some seals of the earls of Devon,
a griffin is displayed, either alone, or surmounting a hound or
wolf, out of whose mouth issue flames; but on the heraldic
shield of one of those very earls we find a lion rampant: and
Brooke says, “ this (Richard de Rivers) is the first man of this
family that bare this arms that ever I could find, and for the190

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

griffyn which hath been usually set down for their armes, it is
but a device and no armes.” And though other arms have
been assigned by modern heralds to the consuls or earls of
Gloucester, the seal of William, who died in 1182, and who
was therefore probably the first earl of Gloucester who bore
armorial ensigns, displays a lion statant guardant.

In all these instances, with the exceptions of the earls of
Salisbury and Hereford, the lion is borne singly ; and with the
solitary exception of that of William consul of Gloucester, just
named, the attitude of the royal beast is rampant,—the only
one, according to some heralds, in which the lion can be repre-
sented, and which opinion, as I shall presently show, gave rise
to the controversy respecting the arms of England, the animals
in which have been as frequently called leopards as lions. In
the thirteenth century an eagle appears in the shield of an earl
of Gloucester, Ralph de Monthermer by name, afterwards
quartered by Montacute earl of Salisbury; the same im-
perial bird was assumed as a bearing by Richard earl of
Cornwall, on his election as king of the Romans about the same
period; and in the rolls of arms of the time of Edward I and
II, from one to six eagles are continually to be met with,
including, of course, those of the notorious Gaveston earl of
Cornwall. But the Norman kings of England; the kings of
Scotland, Norway, and Denmark; the native princes of Wales ;
the dukes of Normandy; the counts of Flanders, Holland,
Hainault, Poictou, etc., all about the same period (the first half
of the twelfth century), as with one accord, displayed the lion
in their shield of arms, as if to dispute the sovereignty of the
chivalric world with the bird of Jove, whose wings over-
shadowed so many escutcheons in the holy Roman empire.
The example thus set by the sovereigns and their chief nobility,
was of course quickly followed by the next in rank; and the
hirondelle for Arundell; the otter (Voutre) for Luttrell; the
elephant for Oliphant; the luce, or pike fish, for Lucy; the
bull’s head for Bullen ; the pelican for Pelham ; and many other
allusive coats, were assumed by those whose pride or humility
prevented their displaying, with a difference, the lion or the
eagle of their feudal lords.

The earliest intimation we receive of anything like an heraldic
decoration in England, is in the often quoted passage fromON EARLY ARMORIAL BEARINGS.

191

John the monk of Marmoustier, who, in hia History of
Geoffery le Bel, count of Anjou, tells us, that when knighted
by Henry I, king of England, in 1127, that monarch placed
round the neck of the count a shield emblazoned with little
golden lions (“ Leunculos aureos”), and that Geoffrey’s shoes
were also embroidered with lions; again, in speaking of a
combat in which the count was engaged, the same author
alludes to the lions on his shield : “ Pictos leones preferens in
clypeo,” etc. These lions are considered by Camden and Me-
nestrier to have been the armorial bearings of our first Henry,
Geoffrey’s father-in-law ; and some writers have gone so far as
to assert, that the royal arms of England were two lions passant
guardant, from the time of the conquest till the marriage of
Henry II with Eleanor of Acquitaine, when the addition of
the lion of that province completed the number still seen in the
royal achievement. That this is but surmise, unsupported by
any cotemporary evidence at present known to exist, I should
scarcely have recalled to you, were it not that writers of great
acumen and veracity on other subjects persist in repeating,
incidentally, this tradition as a matter of fact, and I am therefore
compelled to repeat the refutation. That admirable modern
historian, Mons. Thierry, in his Gonquete de VAngleterre par les
Normands, in describing, apparently from cotemporary authori-
ties, the vessel in which William the Conqueror came over to
England, says: “ Les voiles etaient de diverses couleurs, et l’on
y avait peint en plusieurs endroits les trois lions enseigne de
Normandie; a la proue etait sculptee une figure d’enfant portant
un arc tendu avec la fleche prete a partir”; and, in a marginal
reference, he cites as his authorities for this description, Strutt,
Wace, Rudborne, and the Bayeux tapestry. Upon the strength
of this assertion, and evidently without an attempt to verify
the quotation, this passage, literally translated, appears in the
Pictorial History of England. But how stand the facts? No
such thing is to be seen in the Bayeux tapestry. Wace men-
tions the figure of the boy with the bow and arrow, at the prow
of the vessel, but not a word of “ the three lions, the standard
of Normandy”. The print referred to in Strutt (plate xxxii of
the Horda) is copied from a manuscript of Henry Ill’s time, in
Bennet College library, at Cambridge, and has nothing to do
with the invasion of William the Conqueror; and the whole192

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

matter rests upon a passage in Thos. Rudborne’s Historia Major,
written at the close of the thirteenth century, in which he says,
not that they had painted the sails, in various places, with the
three lions, but that in the sacred banner sent by the pope to
William, were depicted three leopards, or, as some call them,
three “ lions.” “ In quo depingebantur tres leopardi glauci, ut
quidam volent tres leones glauci.” I need not stop to question
this unsupported assertion of a writer of the reign of Edward I,
at which time the three leopards, or lions, were the established
arms of England; but I could not resist pointing out to you so
apposite a specimen of the mode in which facts are distorted, and
errors perpetuated.

That the lions of England may owe their origin to the
assumption of one as a badge or device by Henry I, previous to
1127, is exceedingly probable, for reasons which I do not think
have been previously taken into consideration. The absence of
anything like a regular heraldic bearing in the shields depicted
in the Bayeux tapestry, or in any authenticated document of
the eleventh century that I have inspected, at once leads me to
conclude that the reign of Henry I, in which the earliest
known mention is made of a shield emblazoned with little
golden lions, is the remotest epoch to which the use of armorial
bearings can fairly be referred, at all events in England. John
of Salisbury tells us that Henry was surnamed the Lion of
Justice, and Mr. Sharon Turner, in his History of England,
remarks that this epithet was taken from the pretended pro-
phecies of Merlin, which were then in great fashion and circu -
lation. “After two dragons,” said Merlin, “ the Lion of Justice
shall come, at whose roaring the Gallic towers and island
serpents shall tremble.” Such a surname would be sufficient to
induce a monarch to assume a lion for his badge, independant
of any other motive. It may be also worth noticing, that
Henry’s favourite residence in Normandy, and the place where
he died, was in the Foret de Lions; and that his second wife,
Adeliza, was daughter of Godfrey, first duke of Lorraine, of
which duchy the canting or allusive arms were likewise a lion.

Now supposing Henry already to have assumed, or decided
on, the device of a lion, this union would as certainly authorize
him to add a second lion, as the marriage of Henry II with
Eleanor of Aquitaine could authorize the addition of a third.ON EARLY ARMORIAL BEARINGS.

193

But there is no proof that any particular number of animals was
borne either by Henry I or II; nor is their attitude, or the
colour of the field indicated; and one of the principal objects of
this paper is to establish the fact, that all original coats consisted
of simple charges, or single figures, whether of animate or inani-
mate objects, which were repeated and displayed according to
the caprice of the assumer or designer, or the peculiar form of
the shield, the triangular or heater-shape, which obtained in the
thirteenth century, rendering two and one, or three, two, and
one, the most general disposition of the charge, when of any
magnitude, and when small, its repetition “sans nombre” (as
indeed it was called), giving rise to the terms “ seme,” or “ pow-
der’d”; as in the case of the “fleur de lys ” of France, which first
appears singly on the counterseal of Louis le Jeune, and is after-
wards repeated, “sans nombre,” until the reign of Charles VI,
who reduced the number to three, as borne by the Bourbons to
the reign of Charles X.

Of this practice there are many proofs in early English
heraldry. But to return to the lion of Henry I, which, in like
manner, I believe to have been repeated at pleasure. Henry
left no legitimate male issue; but to Geoffrey of Anjou, who
married his daughter, the empress Maud, we have seen that he
gave a shield with little golden lions upon it. To Robert con-
sul of Gloucester, Henry’s eldest illegitimate son, who died in
1146, the heralds of the sixteenth century have appropriated a
coat of arms said to have been painted on the tomb (long since
demolished) of Gilbert de Clare, at Tewkesbury, who was Robert’s
great grandson. And this coat is gules, three figures (by some
called “ clarions”, or “ claricords by others, “ organ sufflues
and by a third party, “lance, or spear-rests), or"

For these arms there is no cotemporary authority ; and their
number and disposition point to a much later origin. If lance-
rests,—indeed the rest for the lance was not invented in the
twelfth century ; if clarions (although their form does not well
accord with the description of that instrument), they were pro-
bably a canting or allusive badge of the Clare or Clarence
family,* and only so far connected with the earls of Gloucester ;

* “ Clarion, du latin clarus, clair; aigre et per^ant. II n’a plus d’usago
parceque le son du clairon est fort clair. qu’en poesie.”—Landais’ Dictionnaire
Sorto de trompette dont le son est generale. My opinion has been194

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

for the seal of William, also consul or earl of Gloucester, presents
us, as I have before stated, with a single lion. And there can
be little doubt, that if his father Robert bore arms, they would
exhibit some similar derivation from those of his putative father,
Henry I. And it is probable, indeed, that the lion rampant
attributed to Fitz-Hamon lord of Gloucester, whose daughter
and heiress Mabel, this Robert married, was, in point of fact,
the arms of her husband, instead of those of her father.* The
second illegitimate son of Henry I, Reginald, made by him earl
of Cornwall, had a daughter, who married Richard de Redvers,
or Rivers, third earl of Devon ; and, as I have already shewn you,
he substituted, for the device of a griffin, the regular heraldic
bearing of a lion rampant. William de Albeny married the
widow of Henry I; and his son and heir, who died in 1176, and
was probably the first bearer of arms, displays on his seal the
lion which descended from him to the Fitzalans. Ranulph earl
of Chester, who married the youngest daughter of Robert earl
of Gloucester, and died in 1155, on his seal of green wax has
impressed a lion rampant. Thus we see that all the descendants
and connexions of Henry I had a lion ‘ for their arms, varying
only the colour, or metals, for difference.

Of Stephen king of England, the successor of Henry I, we
have no memorial to indicate what arms he displayed, although
it is evident that heraldry advanced considerably during the
reign of that warlike and chivalrous sovereign. The armed
figure on his seal exhibits the exterior of a long kite-shaped
shield; but it is perfectly plain, and on the gonfannon he carries
in his right hand is a simple cross.

Upton, who wrote in the reign of Henry V, says that Stephen,
having entered on his government in the month of December,
the sun being then in the sign of Sagittarius, took, in memory
thereof, gules, the bodies of three lions passant to the neck, with
men’s bodies, or, in the form of the sign Sagittarius; and Brooke
repeats this tradition, but gives the arms as the single sign of

strengthened by the recent publica-
tion of tbe seal of Neath abbey, the
patronage of which was in the family
of the Clares earls of Gloucester and
lords of Glamorgan. At the bottom
of it appears a heater-shaped shield
charged with the three clarions, pre-
sumed to be the arms of DeGranavilla.

* It may be as well to remark
that the encaustic tileB forming the
pavement of Fitz-Hamon’s chapel at
Tewkesbury, and on which the lion
rampant is found impaling a singular
cross, are of the close of the four-
teenth century.ON EARLY ARMORIAL BEARINGS.

195

Sagittarius itself, with the additional reason, that Stephen had
gained a great victory by help of his archers. As my object is
the discovery of fact, I am not anxious to indulge in theory, and
will only remark, en passant, that it is probable Stephen’s coat
of arms might have been composed of the royal lion assumed by
Henry I, and some personal device, such as the Sagittarius
alluded to, or a human archer,—for we remember that Wace,
though he says nothing about lions, tells us that the ship in which
William the Conqueror came over had the figure of an archer
at its prow, the bow drawn, and the arrow pointed towards the
desired land.

The great seal of Henry II gives us no further information,
the inside of the shield being alone visible ; and the story of his
having added a second lion to his arms, on his marriage with
Eleanor of Aquitaine, rests on no cotemporary evidence. The
earliest undoubted representation of a royal English atchieve-
ment, occurs on the seal of his son John, afterwards king of
England, who, during the life-time of his father, used one on
which he is represented bearing a shield emblazoned with two
lions passant, the same number being borne by his natural son
Richard de Varenne, passant regardant.

On the first seal of Richard I, we find a shield charged with
a lion counterampant; that is, with his face turned to the sinister
side of the escutcheon ; and, as the convex form of the shield
enables us to see but half of it, Sir Henry Spelman, in his Aspi-
logia, conjectures there would be another lion on the sinister side,
forming a coat that would be blazoned “ two lions combatant.”
And that Richard, during the life of his father, bore more than
one lion on his shield, as earl of Poictou, we have evidence in the
verses of a cotemporary poet, who makes William de Barr say,
he knew Richard “by the lions grinning in his shield,”—“Rictus
agnosco leonum illius in clypeo,”—establishing the plurality as
strongly as John of Marmoustier those of Henry I, or of Geoffry
of Anjou. On the second great seal of Richard, used after his
return from Jerusalem, and his captivity in Germany, 1194, we
have the first representation of the three lions or leopards, which
have, from that time, descended to us as the royal arms of Eng-
land. This latter seal also gives us the very interesting peculi-
arity of a crest,—the cylindrical helmet being surmounted by a
semicircle of rays, like a demi-soleil, in the centre of which196

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

appears a single lion or leopard. And here it may not be out
of place to recall to your recollections, that the figure on the
enamelled plate at Mans, which has been (erroneously, in my
opinion*) described as the effigies of the aforesaid Geoffry of
Anjou, exhibits four animals, rampant, on the shield, and one,
passant, on the cap. On the seal of William Longuespce,+ while
the shield is charged with six lions, the housings of the horse
exhibit but one in each compartment. And even as late as the
reign of Edward II there are instances of a variation in the
number of charges on the same coat, proving that it originally
consisted of one figure repeated at the pleasure of the bearer.

Having now arrived at the period when the arms of England
became settled and hereditary, I will endeavour to show the
reason why the animals in the regal escutcheon have been some-
times called lions and at others leopards, giving rise to one of
those provoking controversies in which infinite learning and
valuable time are most deplorably wasted for want of the simple
clue which would solve, in a moment, the mystery. Having no
writer on heraldry extant earlier than the commencement of the
fifteenth century,—three hundred years after its glories had
dawned upon the chivalric world,—and that solitary writer not
quoting the authority of others, but dealing out his facts and
his fancies, ex cathedra, without our being able to convict him
of falsehood or ignorance by the test of comparison, or the laws
of former times, we are left to battle as we may with the absurd-
ities and assertions which hold the place of argument and
evidence; and are ready to sink with dismay at the mass of
pedantic nonsense which still more disfigures the works of the
heralds and heraldic authors of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, and has caused one of the most interesting and instruc-

* Yide Journal of the British Ar-
chaeological Association, No. i, p. 29.
In support of the opinion I ventured
to express therein, I have great plea-
sure in adding the testimony of the
abbe de la Rue, who in his Essay on
the Bayeux Tapestry observes that
“ ce monument, eleve a la memoire
du comte d’Anjou dans le dixieme
siecle, suivant mes adversaires, ne
peut pas s'accorder avec les temoignages
des historiens gui ont vu celui <pii Jut
eriqt a VSpoque de sa mort. L auteur
des Gestes des comtes d’Anjou dit

qu’on lui fit elever un mausoU digne
d'un si grand prince. (‘ Cujus mau-
soleum tanti viri dignum et epitaphio
compositumextat.’) JeandeMarmou-
tier affirme que ce mausole itait tri-s
noble et qu'on y voyait la figure du
prince. (‘ Humatus in nobilissimo
mausoleo,’ etc) ce qu’on ne peut dire
d’un simple planche de cuivre, omee
d’un portrait en £mail et place contro
le pilier d’une £glise.”—R/cherchcs
sur la Tapisserie, etc. Caen, 1824,

p. 28.

t Cotton MS. Julius, C. 7.ON EARLY ARMORIAL BEARINGS.

197

tive studies in the world to be despised as folly, or neglected as
unnecessary. One of the latest and most intelligent writers on
heraldry, our worthy associate, Mr. Mark Anthony Lower, has,
in his remarks on the lion, alluded to the before-named contro-
versy in the following words : “ The circumstance of the royal
arms of England containing three lions, and those of Scotland
one, has rendered this animal a special favourite with British
armorists. Leigh and Guillim particularly are very minute in
their remarks upon him. The French heralds object to the
representation of the lion guardant,—that is, with his face turned
full upon the spectator,—and declare that this posture is proper
to the leopard, e wherein,’ says Guillim, ‘ they offer great indig-
nity to that roiall beast, in that they will not admit him, as saith
Upton, to shew his full face, the sight whereof doth terrifie and
astonish all the beasts of the field, and wherein consisteth his
chiefest majesty.111 “ The French,” continues Mr. Lower, “ still
allude derisively to our national charge, as only a leopard. That
one of these dissimilar animals could be mistaken for the other
affords singular evidence of the rudeness with which arms in the
middle ages were delineated.”

Now with due deference to Mr. Lower, I do not conceive
that it is from any mistake that the appellation arose. The
early heralds were laudably anxious to express as much as pos-
sible in the fewest words; and therefore, throwing zoology over
when they spoke of a lion, they had no occasion for the word
“ rampant,” as that attitude was conveyed at the same time;
nor had they to talk of a lion “passant guardant,” because in
such an attitude the animal was designated a leopard. The
necessity of varying the attitude as the number of bearers
increased, brought with it a corresponding quantity of terms,—
such as salient, statant, affronte or combatant, passant-reguar-
dant, rampant-reguardant, etc., etc.; and therefore, in order to
split the difference, in this quarrel, some of the stricter writers
invented the terms of “ lion-leoparde,” or lion-leopard, for a lion
when in any other position than rampant, and in profile; and of
“leopard-lion” when rampant, regardant, or full-faced. Jerome
de Bara, a French heraldic author of considerable repute, in his
Blazon des Armories, published in 1628, describes very clearly
the difference established by, no doubt, the very earliest heralds,
between the lion and the leopard. “The lion,” he says, “is always198

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

rampant, or ravaging, and shews but one eye and one ear; the
leopard is always passant, or allant, and shews both eyes and
both ears. And when one sees in a shield a lion passant (that
is, if he shew but one eye and one ear), you must say, in bla-
zoning him, ‘lion-leopard1; on the contrary, when you find the
leopard otherwise than passant (of which you see the two eyes
and the two ears, as aforesaid), you must say ‘ leopard-lion’, or
‘ leopard-lionn^’, in order to make the difference according to
the language of blazon. For the former need no specification ;
but you say, in one word, such a nobleman bears e azure, a lion
argent’, or ‘purple, a leopard or” Now a glance at the armo-
rial bearings of our early Norman sovereigns, already described
in this paper, will shew you, in a moment, the reason for their
being differently blazoned, not only by French, but by English
heralds, at different periods. Richard Coeur de Lion, whilst count
of Poictou, is spoken of as bearing lions in his shield by the co-
temporary poet we have already quoted : “ Rictus agnosco leo-
num”, etc.; and on his first seal we perceive a lion rampant,
“ shewing”, as De Bara has it, “ but one eye and one ear.” On
his second seal the animals are passant, and full-faced, and would
therefore be blazoned by a French herald, “ leopards conse-
quently, from that period, we find them continually so called,
not derisively, as Mr. Lower remarks, by the French, but seri-
ously by our own sovereigns, princes, and officers of arms, and
by the allies of England.

As early as the year 1235, the emperor Frederick sent three
leopards to our Henry III, in token of his armorial bearings ;
and it is therefore clear, that the heralds had very shortly after
the change in the position of the animals decided so to distin-
guish them, for the figures are otherwise as much like lions as
they were before, and there has been no attempt by spots to
convey to us the notion that they are leopards. Rudborne, we
have seen, calls them leopards in the reign of Edward I, adding,
“ or, as some call them, lions”, shewing that their ancient desig-
nation was still adhered to by some who might remember their
original attitude. Edward III, Edward the black prince, and
Richard II, distinctly speak of their crest of the leopard,
although it is precisely the same animal that has to this day
held its position upon the helmet of our royal achievement.
Chandos herald, about the same period, speaks of “ les lupars,11ON EARLY ARMORIAL BEARINGS.

199

and Nicholas Serby was ‘‘leopard herald” in the reign of Henry V;
in short, there is plenty of evidence to show, that during three
centuries at least, the animals composing the arms of England
were, by the rules of heraldry, denominated leopards.

It is probable that after the incorporation of the heralds by
Richard III, some garter principal king-at-arms chose, in the
plenitude of his authority, or in consequence of the commands
of his sovereign, to change their appellation to that of lions, for
they are so called in documents of Henry VHth’s time; and in
the reign of Elizabeth the controversy had already begun, which
has lasted down to the present period. I am not vain enough
to suppose that any remarks of mine will have the effect of
settling the dispute: but it is in evidence that they were lions
originally, that is in the reign of Henry I; that by the change
of position they became, heraldically speaking, leopards at least
as early as the reign of Richard I; and that by the will of
either the king, who is the fountain of honour, or of the officer
at arms,—who, in that day, possessed the power, under the
king, to grant and alter arms, and make the laws by which
those arms should be governed,—the royal animal regained his
name towards the close of the fifteenth century, and the arms
of England have ever since been blazoned “ gules, three lions
passant gardant, or.” I have too much respect for the British
lion, to rouse him by refusing to conform to the opinion sanc-
tioned by the sovereign and her officers of arms, as well as by
the general voice of the people.

There are many details which I have had great difficulty to
avoid being led into on this occasion: but I have already told
you that one of the principal virtues of the ancient heralds was
brevity, and I am not anxious to forfeit a claim to, perhaps,
the only merit which this paper may find in the eyes of the
Association.200

HERALDIC NOTICES OF GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL PREVIOUS
TO THE REFORMATION.

BY THE REV. B. S. CLAXSON, D.D.

The subject which I have been unhappily called upon, at the
eleventh hour, to consider, is not one of my own choice, or even
so much as in accordance with my general studies and pursuits;
but it has been handed over to me by a friend, wTho finding,
from the unexpected multiplicity of his engagements, that he
should not have sufficient leisure to write upon it himself, most
earnestly entreated me to undertake it for him. In compliance
therefore with his urgent request, and assisted by some heraldic
sketches, which were very readily contributed, both by my
friend and another excellent draughtsman, I propose to submit,
with all due deference to such a learned antiquarian society as
the British Archaeological Association, some “ heraldic notices
of Gloucester cathedral,” in reference to ancient armorial bear-
ings, as far as they are still visible in that sacred and venerable
structure.

Our attention is, first of all, called to the arms which appear
over the west entrance, as well as over the south porch. They
are correctly sculptured in stone on the spandrils over the great
west doors: the shield on the right side bearing the later arms
of France, quartered with those of England, viz., argent, three
fleurs-de-lis, or, for France ; quarterly with gules, three lions
passant guardant, or, for England. A similar shield on the left
spandril bears the arms of the abbey of St. Peter, before it was
converted by Henry VIII into a cathedral church, viz., argent,
a sword in pale, hilted, pommelled, and crowned, or, surmounted
by two keys in saltire of the last. There is a mistake in the
royal arms over the south porch, which ought, as before, to
have been those of Henry VI, the reigning sovereign,—the
first quarter being charged with the arms of England instead of
France,—a mistake arising from their having been put up of
late, long after the original shield had been defaced, by some
person who did not understand the meaning of that mode ofIIERALPIC NOTICES OF GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL.

201

quartering, and who thought, probably, that he ought to give
the first, which is considered the more honourable part of the
shield, to the arms of his own country. He evidently did not
know, that all the kings of England, from Edward III to the
then reigning sovereign, when the south porch was built, quar-
tered the arms of France in the first or dexter quarter, in order
to shew not only their descent from the royal family of France,
but also their legitimate claim, as they supposed, to the inhe-
ritance of that kingdom.

The arms of France were not originally limited to the number
of three fleurs-de-lis, nor indeed until the reign of Charles VI
of France, who was followed by Henry V of England ; but they
were semee or sprinkled with several of those flowers, as may
still be seen in the more ancient arms of France, depicted in
five different shields in the great east window of the choir.
The origin of a large but uncertain number of lilies in the arms
of France, is said to have been owing to a tradition, that a
great part of France was originally recovered from “the deep
blue sea,” which was thickly sprinkled with white water-flowers
resembling lilies.

The arms of England, as then and ever since to the present
reign, are three lions on a red ground, but they were originally
only two. The addition of one more lion (impaled, or on the
left side), was first used by king Henry II in consequence of
his marriage, in 1152, with Eleanor of Aquitaine, who bore one
lion only: by reason of which match, says Guillim, “ the field
and charge being of the same colour and metal that the then
royal ensigns of this land were of, this lion of the like action
that those were of, this lion was united with those two lions in
one shield : since which time the kings of England have borne
three lions passant guardant.” This was the reason, we may
add, which first induced Richard I, afterwards all his royal
successors to the present day, to adopt three lions in pale (or
three lions under each other), in consequence of Henry II’s
having impaled, or put on the left side, the additional lion of
Aquitaine, to mark the reunion of Normandy and Aquitaine.*

The arms of the abbey are frequently delineated in the cathe-
dral, and were continued to be used, without alteration, by the

* Vide observations on this sub- immediately preceding; pages 192-5.
ject, by Mr. Planche, in the paper Ed.202

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

bishops of the diocese long since the reformation and restora-
tion, even down to the beginning of the last century, as may be
seen in bishop Frampton’s arms, especially on his tomb in the
parish church of Standish, as also on a sun-dial put up by the
bishop himself on the vicarage-house, which the present sensible
vicar, who is one of his successor’s chaplains, has had the good
taste not to remove or deface, when the house was undergoing
considerable repairs. From bishop Frampton’s episcopate to
the present day, the distinguished charge of a sword in pale has
been entirely omitted; but for what reason, or upon what
authority, I cannot take upon me to say. The sword still
appears in the episcopal arms on the organ, depicted in the
reign of Charles II, immediately after the restoration, and I
know of no order for leaving it out at any subsequent period.
But I suspect that the sword was purposely omitted by bishop
Frampton’s rival, bishop Fowler, who succeeded him in the see
in the year 1691, from some religious feeling, that the sword
denoted summary power to punish contumacious offenders;
“ as seals with two swords,” observes Fosbrooke, quoting from
Matthew Paris, “ were usual in ecclesiastical citations, and
implied that the contumacious should be punished” (Fos. Ant.
p. 217). The arms of the see, however, I submit, are not
improved by this singular omission of the sword, whether from
accident or design, as it served, together with the cross keys, to
call to mind the particular circumstances of St. Peter, in whose
name the ancient church was founded. The sword, indeed,
appears to me a more modest bearing, when scripturally con-
sidered in connexion with the zealous apostle, than the two
keys alone, as the keys of themselves betokened power (though
only instrumental, or ministerial) to open and shut the kingdom
of heaven; whereas the sword erect over them tended to remind
the delegated bearer of the fate of St. Peter, who suffered a
righteous retribution, according to the ordinary though mys-
terious ways of Divine Providence, for having cut off the ear
of Malchus, though he did so in defence and support of his
Maker’s interests: as it is written in the oracles of truth, “ all
they that take the sword (i. e. unlawfully, without waiting for
the magistrate’s orders) shall perish with the sword” (Matt,
xxvi, 52).

I have to apologize for detaining you so long with my remarksHERALDIC NOTICES OF GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL.

203

at the church doors; but I promise to take you more quickly
through the nave and transepts, and even through the exten-
sively-admired cloisters, as there are not many ancient arms at
present in any of those places worthy of our special notice.
There may have been heraldic bearings among the fresco-
paintings with which the walls were originally covered; but if
so, they have been long ago completely obliterated by white-
wash, together with portraits and inscriptions.

In the nave I may mention the ancient arms of the city of
Gloucester, painted on alderman Machen’s monument, who died
a.d. 1568, since they have an important signification, and have
undergone four different changes at different periods, before the
modern and present grant was introduced. The arms over aider-
man Machen’s monument are the second in point of antiquity,
having been granted in the reign of Henry VIII, a.d. 1538.
They are exceedingly overcharged, cumbrous, and inelegant,
being—vert, a pale or; a sword, azure, besanted, the hilt and
pomel gules; upon the point a cap of maintenance, purple, lined
ermine; upon the field, two horse-shoes, argent, pierced sable,
between six horse-nails in triangle. On a chief party per pale,
or and purple, a boar’s head coupee, argent; in his mouth a
quince apple, gules, between two roses. They are distinguished
by an augmentation in chief, as well as by a greater number
and variation of the horse-nails, from the preceding arms of the
city, which latter may be still seen carved in stone, in front of
St. Mary de Crypt school, which was founded for the special
benefit of citizens’ children, in pursuance of the will of alderman
John Cooke, dated May 14, 1528. These latter are much more
simple and striking emblems of municipal authority, being—a
sword in pale, pomel in base, supporting a cap of maintenance,
between two horse-shoes and six horse-nails. Another specimen
of the city arms, the date of which is unknown, may still be
seen on a house of the middle ages, in the Westgate street, on
the south side, in this city, viz.,—a sword in bend, on the sinis-
ter chief one horse-shoe,—the colours of which are not expressed,
being carved in oak. The arms, which were used in the reign
of Henry VII, a.d. 1538, are, I think, the best,—their bearings
being more honourable and expressive than any of the others.
They simply bear the two grand distinguishing badges of the
city, viz., the sword and cap of maintenance, granted by Richard204

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

Ill; and the horse-shoes and horse-nails, alluding to their prin-
cipal trade in smithery, as well as perhaps to their right of toll-
age on all horses and carriages passing through this town, in
particular into Wales. From the Domesday survey we learn
that, “in king Edward’s time, the city of Gloucester paid ....
thirty-six dieres of iron (each of ten bars) a hundred iron rods,
drawn out for the nails of the king’s ships.” Giraldus Cam-
brensis says, that “the Severn flows through Gloucester, ‘forream
atque fabrilem’, i. e., famous for iron works and smithery.” The
horse-shoes and horse-nails, as expressive of Gloucester, were like-
wise represented on the seal of Edward III, for the recognizance
of debts at Gloucester, as well as on another seal in the reign of
Henry VIII. Although the number and position of the nails
and shoes vary in all the seals and shields, yet they are signifi-
cant enough to shew that they had a meaning expressive, most
probably, as I said before, of the ancient trade, if not the tollage,
of Gloucester.

I need not detain you with the account of the last abbot
Parker’s arms, in the north transept, which are—sable, a buck
trippant, argent, between three phaeons, or, within a bordure
engrailed of the third, charged with eight pellets of the first,—
except to say, that an ignorance of heraldry is apt to lead even
acute writers into error, respecting the date of buildings or
places, where armorial bearings may have been erected. Thus, for
instance, Counsel remarks upon the vestiary (or guarde-robe) in
the north transept, in the following manner: “From the appear-
ance,” says he, “ of abbot Parker’s arms, it has been supposed
that, whatever was the intention (of the vestiary), it was erected
in his time.” Now the real fact is, that abbot Parker’s arms
were placed there"not many years ago, and certainly long subse-
quent to the building itself, which is, I presume, early English.
And lest a similar blunder should be made by some future
chronicler, I would further state, that the ancient arms of
Edward the Confessor, and Henry VI, in stained glass, to be
seen in the cloisters, were put up by the late Dr. Griffiths, a
prebendary.

There is nothing further, that I am aware of, to prevent us
from going at once to the examination of the ancient arms in
the great east window in the choir, put up in the reign of
Edward III. Considering its immense size and antiquity, it isHERALDIC NOTICES OF GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL.

205

rather remarkable that there are only eighteen shields, which
are placed in juxtaposition in the base. Some of these arms are
at present in great confusion; three are actually turned inside
out; and the dexter half of one has been broken, and filled up
witli various bits of glass, though the other half is distinctly
visible and intelligible. They are all most grievously besmeared
with dust and dirt, except one belonging to the Berkeleys, which
has been evidently brushed, for the purpose, probably, of exami-
nation ; and they are all rendered still more obscure by the
whispering gallery, which runs at a greater or less distance quite
round behind them. But from the triforium they may be dis-
tinguished readily enough,—especially with the aid of a teles-
cope. We cannot derive much accurate information from any
preceding writers, as they either pass them over in a cursory
manner, or actually make the most egregious blunders, which
they copy from one another, or from some writings, which, not
being good heralds, they do not properly understand. This is
particularly the case with Fosbrooke, Rudder, Budge, and
Counsel, the last three of whom state the same errors, word for
word, making confusion worse confounded. I propose, there-
fore, to take and examine each seriatim, beginning on the dexter
side.

In the first compartment of the window, at the base, there
are four ancient arms, six in the middle division, and four again
on the sinister side, while there are four more under the centre
division. The four first, and the four corresponding, on the
opposite side, are in their original place and form,—i. e., within
a quatrefoil and square; and so likewise are the four last
directly under the central division.

Of these undoubtedly ancient arms, the first, No. 1, on the
north side, bears—gules, a lion rampant, or; evidently not to be
ascribed to any Berkeley, as all the aforesaid authors have
unthinkingly stated, in mistake, I presume, for the second of
our series. It probably represents the family of De Albany, or
Albini, an alliance of the house of Berkeley of this county, who
still have a right to quarter those arms; and they are also
quartered as arms of alliance, by earl Spencer. Or it may pos-
sibly refer to Fitz- Allan earl of Arundel.

No. 2 bears—gules, a cheveron, argent, between ten crosses
patee, six above, and four below, of the second, for Berkeley.MEDIEVAL SECTION.

206

This is the well known shield of Berkeley, of Berkeley castle
in this county, a cadet of whom, Berkeley of Stoke Giffard, has
his arms on the opposite side of the window,—the only distinc-
tion in their bearings being ermine on the cheveron instead of
simple argent. Thomas de Berkeley, in the reign of Edward I,
was a great benefactor to the church; and his eldest son, Mau-
rice, who was summoned to parliament in his father’s life time,
on June 23, 23 Edward I, as lord Berkeley of Berkeley castle,
was appointed governor of Gloucester. The arms of Berkeley
were augmented after,* from three crosses to ten, as borne ever
since the Crusades, in token of the active part which they took
on that occasion.t

No. 3 bears—gules, a fesse, or, between six cross crosslets of
the second, for Beauchamp, earls of Warwick, whose family, at the
time of the erection of this window, were very influential in this
county, being frequently placed, like the Berkeleys, in offices of
trust and authority under the crown.

No. 4.—Dexter half obliterated ; sinister half, or, three cheve-
rons, dimidiated, gules, for De Clare, earls of Gloucester, also
great benefactors to the abbey; who were venerated by the
Benedictine monks for having originally introduced their order
into England, as well as for their other religious and charitable
undertakings.

No. 5.—Placed in a larger shield than the others, argent, two
bendlets gobonnee, gules and vert.

No. 6.—Gules, three lions, or\ England turned inside out.

No. 7.—First and fourth, azure, a bend, or\ quartering, a
saltire of France,—for Trye, married to a daughter of France.
Their descendants, like many other county families, whose arms,
as being public benefactors, were placed in the abbey, are still
living and connected with this county. c‘The family of Trye”
(says Bigland, a very able herald) “are of Norman extraction,

* See Campden, who says : “ The naries, of which alone they at first
Veres and Berkeleys altered their consisted.

paternal coats when they had taken + Of many instances, I select those
up the cross.” A phrase of that day, of the noble families of Howard, Berk-
observes Baliaway, for engaging in eley, and Clinton; upon the two for-
the holy wars.	mer of whose escutcheons the crosses,

“About this period,” says Dallaway, originally three only, were increased
“ some deviations were made from the to six and ten ; and six were added
primary simplicity of armorial en- to that of Clinton, where the field
signs, chiefly by charging the ordi- was before plain.HERALDIC NOTICES OF GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL. 207

as appears by a roll of arms compiled in the time of the Crusade.”
“Monsieur Bilebatud de Trie, d’or a une bende gobonnee Sargent
et azure. Monsieur Reynalde de Trie, d’or a une bende d'azure?
The first upon record in England, is Rawley, about 1380. In
1434, John Trye was summoned as one of the gentry of this
county; and in 1427 was high sheriff. John Trye, esq., his
second son, was burgess in parliament, and the first mayor of
the city of Gloucester, when the charter was granted by Richard
III in 1483. William Trye, esq., represented it in the parlia-
ments of the second of William and Mary, in the seventh of the
same reign, and in the first year of queen Anne.

No. 8.—France, semee of fleur-de-lys ; quartering, England;
over all, a file of three points, argent. The file at that time,
before the introduction of labels, denoting affiliation, represent-
ing Edward prince of Wales, son of king Edward III.

No. 9.—England, over all a bend azure. The bend being also
an early mark of distinction for a branch of the family. This
shield looks odd, from being turned inside out. It represents
Henry earl of Lancaster.

No. 10.—“ The armys of Cristys passion.” A cross of Cal-
vary with three nails; on the dexter side, pincers between two
spears; on the sinister side, a hammer between two scourges,
and three dice below. These various charges appear so con-
fused, from being turned inside out, that I am not surprised that
all chroniclers have been so much puzzled as not to know what
to make of them. But when viewed from the other side of the
window they may be seen to be religious bearings, expressive of
the Crucifixion, which were frequently set up in churches in
the middle ages, as may still be seen, carved with a variation, on
the tomb of abbot Parker.

No. 11.—Barry, argent and azure, an orle of martlets, gules,
for balance-quartering, or, a maunch, for Hastings. Both
the families of Valence and Hastings were well known in the
county for their religious observances and extensive charities.

No. 12.—Gules, a lion rampant, argent, within a bordure
engrailed, or. Talbot, earls Talbot and Shrewsbury, whose
family have continued to live in this county, at Temple Guiting,
and whose ancestor is represented in the great east window of
the choir, was a most liberal benefactor to the abbey.

No. 13.—Berkeley of Stoke Giffard, belonging to the family208

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

of Berkeley of Berkeley, and therefore bearing the same arms,
except ermine instead of argent on the chevron, as a mark of
difference.

No. 14.—Argent, on a canton, gules, a rose, or. Bradstone.
This bearing, with the exception of or instead of argent, is
applied by Guillim to “Bradstone of Winterborne, in the county
of Gloucester”,—a cadet, probably, of the original Bradstone,
whose arms are depicted in the window, and whose descendants
have continued to be connected with the county. Guillim
quaintly remarks upon the rose in their arms : “ This beautiful
and fragrant flower doth lively represent unto us the momentary
and fickle state of man’s life, the frailty and inconstancy whereof
is such, as that we are no sooner born into the world, but
presently we begin to leave it.” And after a more detailed
description of the fading beauty of the rose, he sums up with
the following quotation from a certain poet, both in Latin and
English:—

“ As fades the blushing rose, so speeds
Our flow’ry youth away ;

It grows, it blows, it speeds, it sheds
Her beauty in one day.”

No. 15.—England, over all a file of France with three points ;
for Edmund Plantagenet, surnamed Crouchback earl of Lan-
caster, titular king of Sicily; or it may be for Henry duke of
Lancaster.

No. 16.—France, sem6e of fleurs-de-lys, quartering England;
over all a file of three points, charged with nine bezants, or;
for Edmund duke of York.

No. 17.—France, semee of fleurs-de-lys, quartering England ;
for Edward III, in whose reign the window was erected.

No. 18.—England, over all a file of France of three points ;
for Edmund Plantagenet, or Henry duke of Lancaster, the same
as before, in No. 15.

I have thus ventured, though not without much anxiety, to
describe the ancient arms in the great east window, differing, in
many respects, from all previous writers, as it was, perhaps, my
province to be more attentive to minutiae than those who only
alluded to the heraldry of the cathedral in a bye-way, as being
to them but a subordinate subject.

The arms below of abbot Parker and the dean and chapter,HERALDIC NOTICES ON GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL.

209

are not worthy of special notice, as they were painted in oil
only a few years ago by a verger, or some other unheraldic
person, who thought proper also to touch up the faces of some
of the portraits above, and to make some serious alterations, as
I shall have occasion to shew, in the ancient bearings on the
tomb of Robert Curthoyse duke of Normandy, in his unskilful
attempts to restore them. This celebrated tomb was originally
placed in the choir, before the high altar, where* he was interred,
and it continued entire until a.d. 1641, wrhen it was broken to
pieces by Cromwell’s soldiers, who were stationed there; but
being soon after purchased in its piecemeal state by sir Humphry
Tracy, of Stanway, he kept them secure from further injury
until the restoration of Charles II, when he put them together,
and gave them back to the cathedral. In the lapse of time,
however, the armorial bearings depicted round the tomb, which
is a chest made of strong Irish oak, and on which was placed
the effigy, in the same imperishable materials, of the knightly
hero, became so indistinct as to induce the aforesaid verger to
repaint the whole ; and in so doing, I need not say he grievously
mistook the heraldry. But fortunately, though I could not get
any fuller or more accurate information on the heraldry of this
tomb than of other parts of the cathedral, from any previous
publication whatever, yet I have lately met with an unpublished
document among the Lansdowne MSS. in the British Museum,
and which is in the handwriting of Nicholas Charles, Lancaster
herald, dated a.d. 1610, and which was written, you must ob-
serve, previously to the present alterations. Now from this
professional paper, I find that the surcoat was painted “gules,
two lions passant guardant, or,” for the dukedom of Normandy,
which our aforesaid verger not seeing, probably from the
gold having been worn off, retouched all over with one uniform
red colour. It is singular, too, that Mr. Britton, the able his-
torian of this among other cathedrals, should, by some slip of
the pen, have fallen into the opposite error of describing it, “ as
having depicted on the breast three lions,” instead of two,—two,
and two only, having been the constant number on the arms of
the dukedom of Normandy, and exactly the same number was
continued in the arms of the kings of England, from William
the Conqueror until Richard I, who was the first to add a third210

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

lion, in pale, to the royal ensigns, which have since become
quite identified with this highly favoured country.*

Counting from the left extremity of the tomb, I find that
within ten compartments there are, or rather were, the following
arms:

No. 1. Azure; a cross fleury, or, between five martlets of the
second,—the well-known bearing of Edward the Confessor.
The blue ground? has been altered by the verger to black.

No. 2. Gules; a lion sejant, with tail erect, in a chair, or,
holding a halbert, argent. I have not been able as yet to dis-
cover, or even to conjecture, whose these very singular bearings
are; but I presume, from their extraordinary appearance, they
are those of some ancient foreign prince of that day connected
with the duke of Normandy.

No. 3. Or; three ravens rising, sable; beaked and legged,
gules; representing, I think, the kingdom of Norway.

No. 4. Or; an eagle displayed, sable; dimidiated with France.
Apparently another foreign connexion.

Nos. 5 and 10, both at the head and feet. Azure; a cross
fleury, or, between four wreaths, vert, on the dexter half: dimi-
diated with gules; an escarboncle, or. The sinister half is
undoubtedly the arms of the earldom of Anjou ; but of the
other dimidiation I am uncertain. The whole shield in No. 10
is changed by our verger into England and France, quarterly ;
while the green wreaths in No. 5 he has painted as crowns of
thorns picked out with white, which at best is only false heraldry,
being a colour upon a colour, that is, black thorns upon a blue
ground.

No. 6. Gules; a pile in pale, azure, between two lions rampant,
affronte, or. This blue pile is now altered into a spear proper.

No. 7. Or; an eagle displayed with two heads, sable; beaked
and legged, gules; being, I submit, the shield of Richard Plan-
tagenet duke of Cornwall, and brother of Henry III, who was
the only Englishman ever elected titular king of the Romans.
The same arms, in stained glass, with the motto round, “Ricard.
Plantagenet semper Augustus fundator noster,” were removed
from Haile’s abbey* which he founded, to the great hall at
Toddington, the ancient seat (and demesne) of Lord Tracy,

Vide page 192-5 ut supra.—Ed.HERALDIC NOTICES ON GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL.

211

whose ancestor was sir Humphry Tracy, the original restorer of
this valuable tomb.

No. 8. Azure; a harp, or; for Ireland.

No. 9. Gules; three coronets in pale, or; for Denmark.*

The tomb, which is simply a wooden chest on wheels, capable
of being easily removed anywhere, is now taken from the choir
into abbot Boteler’s chapel, where it is placed to the west instead
of the east, contrary to the Catholic and generally acknowledged
custom of Christian interment, which is directed eastward, in
sure and certain hope of being welcomed by the coming Saviour,
who, according to Scriptural prophecy, is expected by many to
reappear in the east, on the day of his final return to judg-
ment.

In the same chapel with Robert Curthoyse’s celebrated tomb,
is a most beautiful, but now mutilated, shrine, erected by a
monk of the abbey in honour of the famous abbot Boteler. It
was originally adorned with forty-nine little shields of bene-
factors belonging to this county: of these forty-nine shields,
eleven have been displaced and lost, so that there are now only
thirty-eight remaining. In the upper row there were originally
twenty-five, where the eleven are missing.

No. 1. Argent; a cross, gules; St. George.

No. 2. Missing.

No. 8. Gules; five mascles, or; De Quincey, earl of Lincoln.

No. 4. Ermine; a millrind, sable. Mill,—allusive arms, a
millrind, being allusive to the name of Mill.

No. 5. Quarterly, argent and azure, a fesse dauncettee, coun-
terchanged.

No. 6. Missing.

No. 7. Missing.

No. 8. Berkeley, within a bordure, argent; for a monk of
that name and family.

* It is probable that these escut-
cheons are only those of nine wor-
thies, as—

No. 2. Are the arms generally ap-
propriated to Hector.

No. 3. To Judas Macabeus.

No. 4. Charlemagne.

No. 7. Julius Ctesar.

No. 8. David.

No. 9. Arthur.

p 2

No. 5. Appears intended for those
of Godfrey of Boulogne.

No. 6. May be meant for Alexan-
der the Great or Joshua.

No. 1. Is, no doubt, Edward the
Confessor, included in this list of the
worthies.

No. 10. Is France and England as
it was in the time of Sandford, 1665.
—Ed.212

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

No. 9. Missing.

No. 10. Missing.

No. 11. France and England.

No. 12. A diagram of the Trinity.

No. 13. Missing.

No. 14. Missing.

No. 15. Missing.

No. 16. Or; a cheveron, gules. Stafford, dukes of Buck-
ingham.

No. 17. Missing.

No. 18. Gules; three covered cups, or. Abbot Boteler, so
called and emblazoned from his ancestors having been hereditary
chief butlers to the king.

No. 19. Bradstone, as before described in the great east
window.

No. 20. Missing.

No. 21. Argent; a fess, azure; in chief three pellets of the
second.

No. 22. England.

No. 23. Missing.

No. 24. Missing.

No. 25. St. George, as before.

In the lower row are the following, which are all entire, and
in their proper place.

No. 1. St. George, again.

No. 2. Argent; a stag’s head, caboshed, gules. Boteler—a—
Park : wrongly attributed by Fosbrooke to Trye.

No. 3. Gules; a fesse checquy, or and azure. Whittington.

No. 4. Sable; a cross engrailed, or, within a bordure of the
same ; in the dexter point a cinquefoil of the second. Greville,
whose family became opulent clothiers at Campden in this
county, and were ancestors of the earls of Warwick.

No. 5. Or; between two bendlets, gules; in the dexter chief
point, an escutcheon,* sable. De Tracy, of Todington, whose
family have been frequently high sheriffs of this county from
the reign of Edward II. “ This family,” reports Rudder, “took
their name from the town of Traci, in Normandy, and accom-
panied king William in his invasion of England in 1066.”

No. 6. Gules; a chevron, argent and sable. Throgmorton,

* Escallop 1—Ed.HERALDIC NOTICES ON GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL. 213

who was connected with the Huntleys of Boxwell, the manor of
which was held by the abbey here in the seventeenth year of
Edward III.

No. 7. Berkeley, of Stoke Gifford, as before described.

No. 8. Gules; a fess, between six martlets, or, threerand
three. Beauchamp, of Powick. Fosbrooke appears to have
read Bigland’s MS. of or for argent, which induced him to put
silver for gold.

No. 9. Quarterly; first and fourth, azure only; second and
third, gules, fretty, argent; over all a bend, sable. De Spencer,
whose family were possessed of very large estates in various
parishes in this county. Fosbrooke has also here made a mis-
take in putting or for argent. Badly repainted.*

No. 10. France and England, as before.

No. 11. Edward the Confessor, as before.

No. 12. Azure; a sword in pale, hilted, pommeled, and
crowned, or; surmounted by two keys in saltire of the last.
St. Peter’s abbey; most sadly transformed by repainting.

No. 13. Gules; two swords in saltire, argent, pommeled, or.
the silver is now turned black ; for-------f

No. 14. Azure; three crowns, or. (Attributive) arms of the
kingdom of Mercia. (?)

No. 15. England quarterly with chequy, or and azure. War-
ren, De Brotherton earl of Norfolk, a cadet of England.

No. 16. Argent; three lozenges in fesse, gules. Montacute
earl of Salisbury.

No. 17. Or; three bulls’heads caboshed, sable, between a
fleur-de-lis of the second in fesse. De Boleyne, from whom is
said to have descended queen Anne Boleyne.

No. 18. Azure; an eagle displayed, argent, between a double
tressure of fleurs-de-lis of the second.

No. 19. Azure; a chevron, gules, between three griffins’heads
erased, or.

No. 20. Per fesse indented, argent and azure. Acton, of
Iron Acton, whose ancestors were seized of the manor of Acton
at the beginning of the reign of Henry III, and the famity after-
wards were frequently high sheriffs of this county.

* The arms of De Spencer are quarterly; first and fourth, argent; second
and third, gules; fretty, or; over all a bendlet, sable.—Ed.

+ The Seo of London ?—Ed.214

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

No. 21. Argent; on a bend, sable; three calves, or. Vele.
This is an early specimen of canting arms, used from the earliest
period down to the present day by a family of that name and
lineage in this county. “Nor is it improbable,” says Dallaway,
“ that with the inundation of heraldic conceits, which prevailed
in this kingdom, after the first conquest of France, that of ‘ Les
armes parlantes’, or punning arms, was first brought to us, as
may be collected from a seal of sir Peter le Vele, or De Vitulis,
in 1350, who bears calves as his ensigns.”

No. 22. Argent; on a cross, azure ; a lion’s head of the
second, in the dexter-chief point, a fir apple, gules. For Brydges,
a monk of the abbey, being a variation of the arms of Brydges,
lord Chandos.

No. 23. Azure; two bars, argent, within a bordure of the
second.

And lastly:

No. 24. St. George, as before.

In the foregoing account it must be perceived that I have
ventured to make a most material variation from all preceding
writers: but I am assured, that had they given their sole and
undivided attention to the medieval heraldry still visible in the
cathedral, they would have arrived at a more general agreement
than they happen to have done. And as to Bigland, who was
not only a professional herald, but a most laborious and accurate
topographer, I have no doubt, that his heraldic notes and sketches
which he left behind him in an unfinished state, and not revised
and arranged for publication, were generally misunderstood by
those who, from want of heraldic knowledge, were liable to
misinterpret his meaning. And when once an author puts forth
any blunders on subjects, like heraldry, not generally studied,
the same blunders, without further inquiries, are apt to be
taken up and repeated by succeeding writers. Thus I have
just seen in a very able and learned account of Llanthony priory
in this neighbourhood, published in No. hi, for July last (1846)
of the Archceologia Cambrensis, a description, together with
drawings of the arms of the priory, and which I mention as
they appear on a pavement in the south chapel of the Lady
chapel in Gloucester cathedral. “ In the last edition,” says the
intelligent correspondent of that journal, “ of Dugdale’s Monas-
ticony the arms of Llanthony are given as follows:—Party perHERALDIC NOTICES ON GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL.

215

pale, azure and purpure; on a chevron, argent; between three
oak branches, argent; three marigolds, proper. But Thomas
Niblet, esq. of Harefield (for Haresfield) Court, near Gloucester,
has kindly communicated some drawings and remarks on this
subject, from which it may be inferred that the correct blazon
is thus, viz.:—Per pale, argent and gules; on a chevron, argent;
between three oak branches, proper; fructed and stemmed, or;
a rose between two pinks, proper.” Now, in this correct blazon,
as he calls it, he has made no fewer than three mistakes in
reading his heraldic friend’s MS. Thus he puts, “ per pale,
argent,” for per pale, azure; ‘‘oak branches, proper,” for oak
branches, argent; and he has omitted the word slipped after
pinks.

The splendid armorial ensigns on the monument of Edward II
have been removed, probably only for the sake of the metal
(called laten) on which they were enamelled. And there now
only remains the well-known badge of Richard II, frequently
repeated around the adjoining columns, viz., a stag, argent,
lodged; attired, chained, and collared, or. And his badge, so
often repeated round his murdered ancestor’s monument, testified
his respect to the memory of the deceased, while it denoted his
frequent and splendid contributions to the shrine and church.

On abbot Parker’s tomb I have nothing to remark but his
own shield between two religious coats,—the one of the five
wounds, the other of Christ’s passion, somewhat varying from
that in the great east window.

The arms of abbot Sebrok—ermine, a cinquefoil, sable—are
not depicted on his tomb, but they may be seen painted on a
corbel on the walls supporting the great tower, which he built
himself, as also on some decorative tiles.

The lady chapel presents nothing for our consideration at
present, except the two rebuses of abbot Compton : a comb
and a tun, and a comb and ton. But we must not omit, as
our final remark, the magnificent badge of Edward IV,—the
“rose en soleil”, or a white rose on a golden sun—which marks
the date of the building, while it pays an appropriate compli-
ment to the then reigning sovereign, as well as to the town of
Gloucester, which was in favour of the white rose, as being of
the Yorkist party.216

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

In allusion to this striking badge, Shakespeare, as you must
remember, in his Richard III, introduces the duke of, Glouces-
ter, as saying—

“ Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by the sun of York.”

Note.—The reader is requested to attend to the following
errata, the first part of the article having gone to press by mis-
take before the arrival of Dr. Claxson’s corrected proof from
Gloucester: —

Page 200. For “argent” read “azure" in both places.

203.	Fourth line from bottom, for “ 1538” read “ 1508.”

204.	For “ forream” read “ ferream.”

207. For “ balance” read “ Valence.”217

CURIOUS ENAMEL ON THE POOR’S BOX IN SMARDEN CHURCH,

KENT.

BY EDWARD PRETTY.

On the south side of the nave of the church of Sinarden in
Kent is a poor’s box with three locks, and banded with iron
clamps to an octagon pedestal of solid oak about four feet high,
the base moulded. To the lid of the box is attached a curious
enamel, representing three figures baptizing an infant at the
font. The ornament round the font terminates in a trefoil,

emblematic of the Trinity, which, with the space within the
nimbi that surround the heads of the figures, is of a green
colour; the general ground of the rest of the space is a beau-
tiful ultra-marine or cobalt blue ; the rich gilding appears upon
the edges where it has escaped the wear to which the broader
spaces were subject and which exposed the copper ground. I
will not attempt to give any opinion of the age of this curious
work of art; but the font represented is certainly remarkable
as being so identical in shape with the font now standing in the
aisle of the church. There are marks of several small holes which
originally fastened the enamel to its place, but which have been
superseded by five larger nails: some symbolists may consider
them as emblematical of the five wounds of Christ.

It may be interesting to know something of the fabric in218

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

which this curious relic is found. Smarden church is popularly
known as “ the Barn of Kent”. Hasted’s description of this
building is extremely scanty : he states, that the church is
dedicated to St. Michael, consists of one aisle or body, and a
chancel; the former is of a most curious structure, being forty
feet wide, with a span roof over it, and singularly constructed.
At the west end is a tower steeple with a beacon turret. He
might have added a north and south porch to the account. The
construction of the roof is well worth an architect’s inspection;
it may be seen above the ceiling; there is but one tie beam.
Until within the last half century the roof was open to the
timbering, giving it probably an appearance congenial to the
local term, and lately a vestry has been built on the south side
of the chancel. Previous to the introduction of the chancel
arch, before the church was ceiled, the building must have ap-
peared in perspective from west to east as one gigantic length-
ened roof, no break excepting that of the rood loft being per-
ceptible to the eye. In the chancel, near the south buttress,
there is a small narrow window, closed up, which appears to
have opened into the interior near the right of the altar, at a
very unusual place. In the usual position there is a piscina,
cinquefoil-headed, with bowl quite perfect, a credence shelf, and
above a smaller one of wood. Opposite, on the north side, there
are appearances of the arch of the aumbry locker. There are
three sedilia; the higher arch cinquefoiled, and the other two
trefoiled; the seat is of oak. To the right is a circular bracket,
with a corresponding one on the north side. There are two
windows on the north, and two on the south sides, of two light
trefoiled, and a broad quaterfoil, opening in the head; and at
the east end there is a window three light cinquefoiled, with
quaterfoiled and side piercing above. Over this window, oil the
exterior under the gable point, is a stone with a cross pierced
thi*ough, and which, before the ceiling was added, must have
been seen from the interior. The arch which divides the chancel
from the nave, as before observed, is modern, as is evident by
the position of the lower part of the rood-loft screen, which is
left extending considerably beyond, as well as by the appearance
of the brick-work behind the panelling of the pew on the left
side. At the east end of the nave, on each side, there is a
reredos, embattled at the top, and ornamented with a doubleCURIOUS ENAMEL IN SMARDEN CHURCH.

219

corbel table, trefoil-headed. The corbels on the right-hand side
are plain, but on the left are highly decorated with heads and
foliage of exquisite workmanship, heightened with colour, which
occasionally appears under the whitewash. There is a square
panelling underneath, and probably painted originally above the
altar, of which part of the stone remains behind the pew. The
recess in the window adjoining has a stone bench, which may
have served for a sedile for the priest officiating at this altar.
On the right or south side there are the steps in the rood-loft
tower, and opening internally above the door. Three decorated
windows, similar to those in the chancel of two lights, originally
gave light on each side of the nave; but one on the north, near
the altar, and two on the south side, have been since enlarged
to three and four-light perpendicular windows, to give additional
light to this part of the church, probably at the time the tower
was built. The pulpit originally stood on the north side
between the windows to the right of the north door, where the
table of benefactions is now placed; to the right of which is a
curious panel, supported by two corbels of early character, and
above a figure pulling its mouth open; probably some inscrip-
tion was placed on this panel.

The tower of this church is of perpendicular architecture, of
three stages, bold and lofty in design; it was entered from the
nave by a noble perpendicular arch, now closed up by the erec-
tion of a gallery, theatrical in fashion, reaching by a series of
pews to the ground; before this addition was made this part of
the church must have been enlightened by the west window of
three lights over the door in the belfry, as frequently occurs in
the perpendicular towers of this neighbourhood. The stair-
case, or beacon turret, is at the north-east corner of the tower.
Dr. Harris, in his History of Kent, quotes the following: fi In
this church, as Fox takes notice in his Acts and Monuments,
fol. 971, and in the year 1558, which was the last year of queen
Mary, one Drayner, a justice of peace, made use of the rood-
loft, which was then standing here, to place spies and informers
in, in order to take an account who did not duly perform the
popish ceremonies; and that they might discover this the better,
he made for them nine peeping holes in the loft; and because
he was severe, and punished such as did not conform, the people
hated him, and gave him the name of Justice Nineholes; and220

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

that expression is still retained as a mark of contempt in this
county.” Probably this circumstance in its true relation is for-
gotten by the inhabitants at this time; but the sexton points out
the rood-loft door above as the place where people did penance
formerly. There is a peal of five bells, and John Hamden in
J361 gave six shillings per annum to the churchwardens for
maintaining the bell ropes. The church-yard on the east side
is entered by the Lich gate, over which a cottage has been built.
The stocks are placed under it.

Harris states that the manor did anciently belong to the
archbishop of Canterbury ; and one of them, John Stratford,
obtained for this place the grant of their market in the sixth
year of king Edward III; but supposes that it was given to the
see, or purchased since the Conquest; because it does not
appear among the archbishop’s manors registered in Domesday
book. He describes the market as being kept here on Fridays,
and a fair on Michaclinas-day. Of the market I could get no
information in the town ; it is forgotten. They could not
inform me at the inn. And as Harris did not bring his account
of the manors and estates later than the possessor of them in
Philpot’s time, 1656, it is probable the market may have been
discontinued previous to his death in 1719.

Length of chancel.	ft. in.

Within the altar step -	-	-	14 3

To chancel arch	-	-	26 0

From chancel arch to first step	-	6	3

Nave -	-	-	-	70 0

116 6

Width of chancel	-	-	-	-	18 2

Ditto nave from wall to wall -	-	-	35 4

Tower, 18 feet by 13 feet, exclusive of 3 feet 6 inches in the
tower arch.

Hasted’s admeasurement was probably to the recessed part
at the windows.

It is worthy of remark, that the walls are very thick in the
piers between windows, by which the roof is so ably sustained
without any buttresses; those set on at the corners of the nave
and chancel diagonally are merely for ornament. Over the left-
hand reredos is a highland broadsword, hung up as a trophy,
beyond a doubt, of one of the Scottish rebellions, when a Kentish
regiment retrieved the fortunes of the day.U.F.S.A.221

ON THE GLOUCESTERSHIRE TANKARD, AND PEG TANKARDS
IN GENERAL.

BY T. J. PETTIGREW, F.R.S., F.S.A., VICE-PRESIDENT.

The origin or introduction of pledging in drink is generally-
attributed to the Danes, and said to have been brought into
England by them; and it is affirmed by Henry, in his History of
Great Britain, that if an Englishman presumed to drink in
the presence of a Dane without his express permission, it was
esteemed so great a mark of disrespect, that nothing but his
instant death could expiate it. He further adds, that the English
were so intimidated, that they would not adventure to drink
even when they were invited, until the Danes had pledged their
honour for their safety, which introduced the custom of pledging
each other in drinking, of which some vestiges are still remain-
ing among the common people in the north of England, where
the Danes were most predominant. Historians agree in describ-
ing the Danes as great drinkers :

“ Your Dane will drink you dead drunk,”—Othello.

And Strutt says, that the bad examples set by those who were
in England in the time of Edgar, prevailed so greatly, that
Edgar, by the advice of Dunstan archbishop of Canterbury, put
down many ale-houses, suffering one only to be in any village
or small town; and that he also further ordained, that pins or
nails should be fastened into the drinking cups and horns at
stated distances, and whosoever should drink beyond those marks
at one draught should be obnoxious to a severe punishment.
The reference by Strutt is derived from a passage in William
of Malmesbury, which, however, scarcely goes beyond the
notice of the enacting of a practice to prevent excessive drink-
ing, and the quarrels from trifling causes, arising from such irre-
gularities. His words are: “ In tantum et in frivolis pacis
sequax, ut quia compatriotae in tabernis convenientes, jamque
temulenti pro modo bibendi contenderent, ipse clavos argenteos
vel aureos vasis affigi jusserit, ut dum metam suam quisque222

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

cognoscent, non plus subserviente verecundia vel ipse appeteret,
vel aliuin appetere cogeret.”—Script, post Bedam, p. 56.

The ecclesiastical institutes of the Saxons contain several
orders forbidding the priests to frequent ale-houses or ale-selling
places (Ceap-eale'Se). Wilkins, in his Leges Saxonicce ,* has
“ Presbyteri non debent in tabernis comedere vel bibere”; and
“ Nullus presbyter per stultitiam immoderate bibat, nec aliquos
provocet ad nimium potum,” etc.t Again, “ Non bibat in
oenopoliis”; X and “ Si presbyter ebrietati deditus sit, vel scur-
rilis aut cerevisiarius fuerit, hoc compensat.Ӥ

Mr. Chalfers, in a communication to the Association at one
of its evening meetings, pertinently alluded to the usual con-
struction given to this passage: “ That priests go not to drink-
ing bouts, nor drink to pegs'’ or pins placed in bowls or cups to
limit the quantity of liquor drunk by each person. The word
cf pinna”, he suggested, applies to the ale-stake or ale-pin, a place
where ale was formerly sold, and so called from a large stake
driven into the ground, with a sign on it, to denote that ale
was sold there. || Skelton calls it an ale-pole; and Chaucer 1T
says, “ Like a true ale-stake he tells you where the best ale is.”
This, Mr. Chaffers thinks, is the real interpretation of the word
“ pinna”, so ingeniously tortured by Dr. Pegge and others into
a peg or pin used in tankards ; and this opinion is certainly
supported by the following lines from the Vision of Piers Plow-
man (line 2530):

“ Tomme Stowne he taughte
To take two staves
And fecche Felice hom
Fro the wynen pyne.”

Papin says : “ Our Saxon ancestors were so addicted to
drunkenness that they were wont to drink out of large cups, and
take great draughts, till Edgar, in order to reform this abuse,
ordered certain marks to be made in their cups at a certain
height, above which they were forbidden to fill under a severe
penalty.”

Brady, in his Clavis Calendaria, says: “ The Saxons were

* 180, Art. 13, Lib. Leg. Eccle- § “ Northumbrium Presbyterorum
siast.	Leges,” p. 100.

t 157, Lib. Canonum Eccles.	|| See Cowel’s Dictionary.

I Ibid.	f Miller’s Tale.GLOUCESTERSHIRE TANKARD.

223

remarkable for immoderate drinking, and when intoxicated with
their favourite ale, were guilty of the most outrageous violence.
Dunstan endeavoured to check this vicious habit, but durst not
wholly obstruct their much-loved intemperance; he introduced,
therefore, the custom of marking or pegging their cups at certain
distances to prevent one man taking a greater draught than his
companions.”

The preceding references, though scanty, yet sufficiently estab-
lish the antiquity of the peg or pin tankards, and clearly carry
their origin back to the tenth century; but the introduction of pins
into the tankards does not seem to have had the effect of check-
ing intemperance—it rather tended to promote it; for in a cup
similar to that now before you, it would, I conceive, be no easy
matter to drink precisely to a mark. The practice was one
calculated to excite merriment, and we may easily imagine,
fitted to make all the company drunk; as it is said, that he who
drank short of his pin was obliged to renew his draught, and he
who went beyond it was necessitated to proceed to the next.
That intemperance resulted from the introduction of pegged
tankards, may fairly be inferred from the Canon of the Council
of London, 1102, in which priests are enjoined not to go to
drinking bouts, nor to drink to pegs : “ Ut presbyteri non eant
ad potationes, nec ad pinnas bibant.”* In Cocker’s Dictionary,
pin drinking, or nick the pin, is defined as—“ An old way of
drinking exactly to a pin in the midst of a wooden cup, which
being somewhat difficult, occasioned much drunkenness; so a
law was made that priests, monks, and friars, should not drink
to or at the pins.”

Peg tankards are not common. We have notices of very few
of them ; the finest of which is called the “ Glastonbury cup”,
of which an account is given by the Rev. John Milner, in the
Archceologia, vol. xi, p. 411. This cup in form is similar to the
one which I have called the Gloucestershire cup, or tankard,
differing very little from it either in shape or in the arrangement
of the carvings. The handle is, however, much less elaborated.
It was of oak, and the inside was coated with a thick varnish.
It holds two quarts, and there were originally eight pegs, so
that half a pint was the quantity assigned to each division.

Wilkins Concil. i, p 382.224

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

This seems to have been the quantity common to old tankards.
There is one of silver, described in the Gentleman's Magazine
(vol. vi, p. 1082), which held this quantity; another (vol. lxxii,
p. 19) of oak, contained the same. A correspondent of the
Gentleman's Magazine (vol. xxxviii, p. 426), Mr. T. Row, alluding
to the favouiite practice of our ancestors in their compotation
of ale, and of their amusements with a peg tankard, mentions
one which had eight pins, and held also two quarts, giving,
as he says, a gill half-pint, Winchester measure, between each
peg.*

Brady alludes generally to specimens of peg tankards, as to
be found in the cabinets of antiquaries; and the editor of the
Gentleman's Magazine (vol. lxxxviii, p. 17) says he recollects one
in the possession of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Pegge.

I recollect seeing many years ago one in the collection of my
friend Dr. Lettsom, to which I shall presently allude. But to
return to the Glastonbury cup, of which an excellent engraving
is given in the Archceologia. This cup is considered by the
author of the paper descriptive of it, as belonging to the Anglo-
Saxon era; and this opinion is based upon the peculiar orna-
mentation with which it is adorned. On the lid of this tankard
is carved the crucifixion. Around the cup the twelve apostles,
with their several names inscribed. Beneath these are figures
of various birds, beasts, flowers, etc. Three lions form the feet
of the tankard. The histoiy of this cup is, that it was said to
have been brought to Wardour castle from the ancient abbey of
Glastonbury, and that it formed one of the few things preserved
at the time of the destruction of that ancient structure. It is

* My attention has been drawn to
three tankards described by Mr. S.
Tymms, and figured in the “ Gentle-
man’s Magazine” for 1827. They
were in the possession of Mr. Silves-
ter, of Great Queen-street, Westmin-
ster, who purchased them of a gen-
tleman who bad procured them in
Germany. They were all composed
of maple-wood. One measured in
height eight inches and a half, had
six pegs, and was capable of contain-
ing two quarts. The diameter of the
lid was six and a half inches, and the
tankard was six inches deep. The
second measured seven inches in

height, had four pegs, and could con-
tain only three pints. The diameter
of the lid was six inches and a quar-
ter, and the tankard was four inches
and a quarter deep. The third was
six inches in height, had three pegs,
and could not contain more than one
pint and a half. The diameter of the
lid was five inches, and the tankard
was four inches deep. They were,
therefore, not of the same size. The
subjects carved upon two of them
were scriptural. The third, the small-
est one, was ornamented by carving
of different plants and flowers, which
were arranged in three compartments.GLOUCESTERSHIRE TANKARD.

225

mentioned in one of the old inventories of the effects belonging
to the castle as coming from the abbey, the magnificence of
which is known to have been mainly promoted by Edgar. How,
at the dissolution of the abbey, the cup should pass into the
possession of the Arundel family, does not clearly appear; but
one branch of that family is known to have been settled at
Wardour at the time of the visitation of Cromwell’s commis-
sioners, and it may then for security have been thus transferred.
Blanche, lady Arundel, the friend of Charles I, most heroically
withstood the siege of the castle in 1633, and upon its surrender
obtained a condition that all the effects preserved in it should
be retained for the proprietors; and in the inventories made out
on this occasion mention of the cup occurs, which was so highly
esteemed by her, that retiring to Winchester upon the death of
her husband, she carried the cup with her, and held possession
of it until her death.

Many years since, I have already said, I saw a peg tankard
in the collection of the late Dr. Lettsom, and among his papers,
which came into my possession at his decease, were some notes
relating to it. The cup was sold with his effects, and I have not
been able to trace it to its present destination, it having passed
through the hands of dealers in these objects of antiquity.
From the notes to which I have referred, I learn that at the
lower extremity of the cup was a plinth, and between it and a
kind of torus and bead-work was a row of leaves, with a bead
on each leaf, and another in each of the intermediate spaces.
Above these were five divisions or compartments, which em-
braced the whole circumference of the cup; each constructed of
a semicircular arch, with double dental mouldings, springing
from a capital of a double column of no regular order. Upon
pedestals placed on the capitals of the columns were four animals
sitting, each playing on an old-fashioned musical instrument.
They were—1, a goat, playing on an ancient violin ; 2, a mon-
key, on the trumpet; 3, a hare, on the harp; and 4, a hog, on
the lute. The cover of the top was domical, and in the centre
of a sunk top there was a female figure, holding in one hand a
bottle, and in the other a glass. On the handle of the cup was
the head of a satyr.

Within the first of the five divisions, or that next the handle,
was a representation of Noah asleep and uncovered, drunk with

Q226

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

the wine of the vineyard he had planted, which was represented
by a vine-branch bearing grapes. Ham, his younger son, who
had seen his father’s situation, deridingly telling it to his two
brothers, Shem and Japhet, who, with a garment across their
shoulders, are walking backwards into their father’s tent to
cover him.

In the second division were the two daughters of Lot, plying
their aged parent with wine. He was represented sitting on a
stool and leaning his elbow on a table as if intoxicated; over
their heads, on a pediment against the wall, were three vessels
in the shape of canisters.

In the third compartment, which was composed of symbolical
devices, a naked man was represented sitting on a wine cask,
half intoxicated. Upon his head was a fool’s cap and feather,
surmounted with a wine glass. In his right hand he held an
empty glass, and with another in his left he was pouring the
liquor down his throat. At his feet was placed a wine bottle,
and directly over his head, through a pulley fixed to the crown
of the arch, was passed a rope, of which one end was fastened
round his neck, and from the other hung a large drinking cup,
in the precise form of the cup itself.

In the fourth division, Samson was represented sleeping on
the knees of Dalilah, who was cutting off the hair of his head
with scissors. Over against them was a Philistine entering
with a cord to bind him, and upon a bracket over their heads
was placed a wine bottle.

In the fifth and last of the arched divisions was a representa-
tion of Judith, coming out of Holofernes’ tent, holding his head
in one hand, and in the other his truncheon, with which she had
severed it from his body. Her maid was opening the mouth of
the sack to receive the head.

This cup had six pegs. I do not know whether any were
missing, which was probably the case, or what quantity of liquor
it could contain. From my imperfect recollection of it at this
distant period of thirty-three years, I should think it was able
to have held two quarts.

There needs but little observation to show that the design of
the artist throughout was serious and moral; and that in holding
up to view the effects of drunkenness in characters of different
kinds, and under circumstances sufficiently diversified for hisOLOUCESTERSHIRE TANKARD.

227

purpose, he meant to caution those who should use the cup
against abusing it, and to inculcate the necessity of strict vigil-
ance to prevent surprise.

I come now to the tankard before us—The Gloucestershire
Cup. It belongs to a member of our Council, Thomas Baylis,
esq., and from him I learn that it was for many years in the
possession of an old collector of curiosities in Gloucester, named
Peach, from whom it was obtained about twenty-five years ago,
by a gentleman of the name of Shrapnell, at that time surgeon
to the Gloucestershire militia. Mr. Baylis was on terms of
intimacy with Mr. Shrapnell. I had frequent opportunities of
seeing the tankard, and upon the disposal of his effects it was
exhibited for sale in a shop window in the Westgate-street, and
there attracted the notice of a well-known London dealer in
curiosities, who thought to ensure it by leaving a deposit in
part payment of the price asked for it, with a promise of the
remainder at a future period. But in the meantime, another
dealer from London saw and purchased the relic, and established
it safely in his own shop in London. It remained there for
some time, until the first dealer, on paying his rival a visit,
recognized his old friend the tankard, and after much altercation
respecting their relative claims to its ownership, he compromised
the difficulty by giving a sum of money, and brought it away.
It remained in his possession for some years, and at a recent
sale of his effects, Mr. Baylis purchased his old friend. On the
centre medallion of the lid (sec plate xi, fig. 3) is carved a group
of four figures ; two of them representing musicians playing on
a mandolin and a violin. The other two are a male and female,
who have evidently been making merry with some wine placed
on a table near them. The gentleman is in the act of saluting
the lady. Bound this medallion, and within a border of foliage
and grapes, is an inscription, which I. am unable to make out.
It apparently reads thus:—“ In gravia es lapsus delictarem Ne
sodes non etenim ad mo rs est via sera Luc XV.” On the tan-
kard itself are allegorical representations of the seven deadly
sins (see fig. 4): Pride, Avarice, Luxury, Anger, Sloth, Envy,
and Gluttony, with inscriptions under them—Superbia, Avaricia,
Luxuria, Ira, Pigricia, Invidia, and Gula. This occupies one half
of the cup. The other half exhibits figures representing the
months of January, February, March, April, May, and June,228

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

with Latin inscriptions under them, and, above, representations
of the usual occupations of these months. The handle (fig. 2)
is exceedingly elegant, elaborately carved, and represents the
Crucifixion, Ascension, Day of Judgment, and the Murder of Abel
by Cain, whose name is inscribed, and who is represented as com-
mitting the deed with a jaw-bone. The carvings are all in bold
relief and excellent preservation, and in the bowl of the tankard
there are three of the original pegs remaining. The cup—like
the Glastonbury one—has been, on the inside, lacquered over
with a strong resinous varnish, and holds two quarts.

The only authority for calling this the Gloucestershire peg
tankard must be the length of time it has been known in this
country, and that Peach, a very old man when he died, never
quitted his locality in search of foreign rarities; and as few, if
any, ever reached Gloucester at the period I allude to, it is not
unreasonable to presume the tankard to have been a native
utensil. From the character of the cup, the figures carved upon
it, and the costume in which they are represented, I do not con-
ceive that we should be justified in giving to it a date beyond
that of the time of James; it would therefore belong to the
commencement of the seventeenth century.*

To peg, or pinned, tankards, and the practices connected
with them, we may probably be justified in tracing the
employment of some common terms yet current among us.
Thus of a person much elated, it is no uncommon thing to
say, “ He is in a merry pin”; and to one whose spirits
are depressed that “ He is a peg too low.11 It is not an
unusual expression to say of any boasting person, or vain-
glorious individual, that “ He must be taken down a peg”; and
Brady has ventured so far as to suggest that this may be an
allusion to a regulation that deprived all those of their turn of
drinking, or of their pegf who had become troublesome in their
liquor, f When a person was also taking greater liberties than
he ought to do, which might have reference to his drinking out

* Since this account was written, of the figures, the shape of the cup,
Mr. Fairholt, in making the drawings etc., would seem to warrant this in-
for the accompanying plate, discover- ference.

ed the date of 1598 upon the handle, + But these allusions will admit of
which settles this question. The carv- other explanations, as they can he
ing and figures are apparently those made to refer to the relaxing of the
of the Low Countries ; the squareness stringsorcordsofmusical instruments.GLOUCKSTERSHIRE TANKARD.

229

of his turn, or contrary to any regulation that was entertained,
but drank on, taking a double quantity, it might be not unfre-
quent to say, “ He is getting on peg by peg”; with which remark
I shall conclude, lest an application of it may be made to me for
thus occupying so much of the time of the Association upon such
a subject.230

ESSAY ON ANCIENT HOSTELS AND PILGRIMS’ INNS; WITH
A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF “THE NEW INN” AT GLOUCESTER.

BY JOHN BRITTON, F.S.A., ETC.

It is to me a source of sincere gratification to hail the present
meeting: I exult in having lived to see such an epoch, calculated
to exalt and popularize the study of archaeology. I use the term
popularize from a comparison and contrast between the state of
archaeology and antiquarian literature now, and at the beginning
of the present century, when I first entered upon its study and
practice. At that time, an antiquary was regarded as a dull and
plodding, as an abstracted and eccentric being; ridiculed by the
satirist and dramatist, and separated from men of general science
and general literature. Now we have had, and still have, not
only many profound scholars amongst its distinguished votaries,
but men of varied and pre-eminent talents. I could verify this
assertion by reference to names which command the respect of
all classes of society. Amongst those who no longer remain to
us, were sir Walter Scott, the Whitakers of Cornwall and of
Yorkshire, Daniel and Samuel Lysons, Mr. Surtees, sir Henry
Englefield, William Hamper, and many others, whose talents
and writings have conferred honour on English literature.

Struggling and groping as I did in the early part of my lite-
rary career, I view with astonishment and delight the rapid
progress which has lately been made in topographical and anti-
quarian literature. Formerly there were but few authors, few
draftsmen, and few engravers, qualified to elucidate or illustrate,
with skill or taste, the many and varied subjects belonging to
this branch of learning. Now, if their amount could be stated
in round numbers, it would astonish the ordinary observer.
This may be easily inferred from a review of the many publica-
tions which have recently issued from the press, and from the
works of numerous amateur artists and authors which are limited
to friendly circles. I have watched with anxiety and interest
the growth of this taste—the budding and blossoming of this
rare fruit in the garden of England—and feel assured thatANCIENT HOSTELS AND PILGRIMS’ INNS.

231

archaeological associations will tend to nurture and bring to
ripeness many useful specimens.

Change, reformation, revolution, are inherent in all mundane
things. The seasons present an endless succession of changes,
and all terrestrial and celestial objects move onward and revolve,
thereby exhibiting new phases and aspects for the study and
admiration of man. So even all the works of man himself
undergo mutations; from pristine newness and completeness, to
ruin and annihilation. Hence we are induced to view with
curiosity and interest the handicraft and artistic productions of
former generations, as evidences of the manners, customs, and
intellectual qualities of their producers, and hence endeavour to
deduce history from buildings, statues, coins, domestic utensils,
and indeed from every variety of implement or ornament. This
is the province of the archaeologist. In the architectural ruins of
Egypt, Greece and Italy, we see and estimate the character and
condition of mankind in times and countries far removed from
our own; whilst in such reviews and reflections we find pleasure
and acquire wisdom.

The dark ages, and the enlightened ages, are terms of compara-
tive import and meaning. We, of the present day, are arrogant
enough to fancy that we live in the latter, and that our ancestors
were shrouded in mental darkness during the former. What we
call the middle ages certainly exhibit a very useful contrast to the
present, as well as to those of the Grecian, Roman, and the later
Egyptian dynasties. From archaeological evidence—perhaps a
better and more authentic source than even literary records of
ancient history—we know that in the useful and ornamental
arts the Egyptians were far advanced, both in knowledge and in
practice. By the Greeks all these were further improved, and
adapted to the desires and to the necessities of a refined and
luxurious people. But in the middle ages, from the dominion
of the Saxons in Britain to the advent of the Tudor family, we
do not find much elegance, grace, or beauty, except in one, and
that the noblest of the arts. Architecture was, even in those
semi-barbarous ages, diligently studied, and hundreds, nay,
thousands of churches were erected, which are calculated to
excite our utmost admiration and surprise.

It is not, however, with the great master-pieces of the free-
masons of those olden times that we have now to deal. Our232

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

present object is merely to direct attention, by some general
remarks, to a class of interesting old buildings — the ancient
Inns, or Hostelries, of England ; and particularly to one of the
most curious specimens now remaining, i. e. the New Inn, as
still somewhat inconsistently termed, in the city of Gloucester.

The peculiar comforts of the inn, or tavern, have possessed a
charm for Englishmen, from the days of Chaucer, when his Can-
terbury pilgrims made them places of halting and refreshment,
to the time of Shakespeare, whose FalstafF indignantly exclaims,
<c Shall I not take my ease in mine i»’’; and again, to the time
of Dr. Johnson, who declared a “ tavern chair to be the throne
of earthly felicity.”

Chaucer (1390-1400), in his Canterbury Tales, shews the
importance of an host, and the comforts of his hostelry—the
Tabard, or the Talbot, in Southwark:—

“ They toke their In and loggit them at mydmorowe I trowe,

Alle cheker of the hope that many a man dothe knowe ;

Their hoost of Southworke that with them went, as ye have herde tofore,
That was rewler of them al of las and eke of more,

Ordeyned their dyner wisely, or they to chirche went,

Such vittaillis as he fonde in town, and for noon other sent.

The Pardonere beheld the besynes, how statis were yservid,

Diskenning him al prively and a syde swervid ;

The hostelere was so halowid fro o plase to another,

He toke his staffe to the tapstere; welcom myne own brother,

Qd she,” etc.

The New Inn at Gloucester was itself erected about half a
century after Chaucer’s death, and probably occupied the place
of an hostel much older.

Aubrey tells us, in his manuscripts at Oxford, that “ the
Saxons lived sluttishly in poor houses, where they eate a great
deale of beefe and mutton, and drank good ale in a brown
mazzard, and their very kings were but a sort of farmers. The
Normans then came and taught them civility and building.
The lords of manors kept good houses in their countries; did
eate in their great Gothique halls at the high table, or oriele, the
common folke at the side tables. No ale-houses or innes then,
except upon great roads. When they had a mind to drink, they
went to the friaries, and when they travelled they had entertain-
ment in the religious houses for three days, if occasion so long
required. The meetings of the gentry were not at taverns” [this,ANCIENT HOSTELS AND PILGRIMS’ INNS.

233

of course, implies that in the writer’s time they were], “ but in
the fields, or forests, with hawks and hounds, and their bugle-
horns in silken bawderys.”

“ Before the Reformation,” he says, “ in every church was a

poor man’s box; and the like at great inns....In these times

they had their pilgrimages to several shrines, as to Walsingham,
Canterbury, Glastonbury, Bromholm, etc.” And, indeed, the
pilgrimages which Aubrey, as well as Chaucer, mentions, greatly
conduced to increase the number and usefulness of inns.

The New Inn at Gloucester had its origin in the concourse
of devotees who visited the tomb of the murdered Edward II;
nearly contemporary with which, it is supposed that another
very large hostel was built, or enlarged, opposite the church of
St. Nicholas, in the same town. The priory of Lewes, in Sussex,
had a hostelry in the parish of St. Olave’s, Southwark, where
the fraternity were themselves lodged, and where they dispensed
their hospitality when they visited London. It afterwards became
a public inn, known as the “Walnut-Tree”; and in forming
approaches to the new London bridge, some remains of the build-
ing (a crypt of Norman character) were discovered.—See Bray-
ley’s Graphic Illustrator.

Old inns may still be met with at and between London and
Canterbury; at Dartford, especially.

The George Inn, at Glastonbury, a well-known ancient pil-
grims’ hostel, is remarkable for its fine architectural exterior
elevation, with stone sign-bracket.

A curious ancient inn at the corner of Spicer-street, St. Alban’s,
is illustrated (from a drawing by Buckler) in the Gentleman's
Magazine, September 1845. The Angel Inn, at Grantham; the
Red Lion Inn, at Corsham, etc., are more or less curious and
interesting.

The following picture of an old English inn, by Harrison, who
wrote towards the end of the sixteenth century, is interesting:—

“ Those townes that we call thorowfaires have great and
sumptuous innes builded in them, for the receiving of such tra-
vellers and strangers as pass to and fro. The manner of har-
bouring wherein, is not like to that of some other countries, in
which the host or goodman of the house dooth chalenge a lordlie
authoritie over his guests, but clean otherwise, sith every man may
use his inne as his owne house in England, and have for his monie234*

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

how great or little varietie of vittels, and what other service him-
selfe shall thinke expedient to call for. Our innes are also verie
well furnished with naperie, bedding, and tapisseric, especiallie
with napierie : for beside the linnen used at the tables, which is
commonly washed dailie, is such and so much as belongcth unto the
estate and calling of the guest. Ech commer is sure to lie in
clene sheets, wherein no man hath beene lodged since they came
from the landresse, or out of the water wherein they were last
washed. If the traveller have an horse, his bed dooth cost him
nothing,* but if he go on foote he is sure to paie a penie for the
same ; but whether he be horseman or footman, if his chamber
be once appointed, he may carie the kaie with him, as of his
owne house, so long as he lodgeth there. If he lose ought
whilest he abideth in the inne, the host is bound by a generall
custome to restore the damage, so that there is no greater secu-
ritie anie where for travellers than in the gretest innes of Eng-
land...........In all innes we have plentie of ale, beire, and

sundrie kinds of wine, and such is the capacitie of some of them,
that they are able to lodge 200 or 300 persons and, their horses at
ease, and thereto with a verie short warning make such provision
for their diet, as to him that is unacquainted withall may seeme
to be incredible.”

With these preliminary observations let us proceed to notice
the hostelry, or inn, situated in Northgate-street, in the city of
Gloucester, and known by the name of the New Inn.

It is recorded that this house was built by John Twining,
a monk of Gloucester, during the abbacy of Thomas Seabrooke,
who presided over the monastery there from 1450 till his death
in 1457. It is still the property of the dean and chapter of
the present cathedral establishment.

There can be very little doubt that this inn was built for the
accommodation of the great concourse of pilgrims and devotees
who were attracted to the abbey church by its peculiar sanctity,
as the place where the remains of the murdered monarch,
Edward II, had been interred, more than a century previously.

* At the beginning of the present travelled by stage, whilst the bag-
century, it was a common practice, man or farmer, who had a horse, was
at the travellers’, now called “ com- exempt from bed-charge. I have ex-
mercial ” inns, to charge 6d. or Is. perienced both,
for the guest who either walked orANCIENT HOSTELS AND PILGRIMS’ INNS.

235

That the shrine of king Edward had indeed maintained its cele-
brity throughout that long interval of time is evident (amongst
many other instances) from the fact that Henry VI offered an
oblation on the tomb before going abroad.

Whether the “New Inn” supplied the place of an “ Old Inn”
erected at an earlier time, or how otherwise the pilgrims were
lodged before the time of abbot Seabrooke, it is useless now to
speculate. But as the circumstances attending the interment of
the body of Edward II at Gloucester are peculiar and interesting,
it may be desirable to advert for a moment to them, as the
primary cause of the erection of the building now under con-
sideration.

The folly and weakness of that unhappy monarch are admitted
by most historians. His unbounded and infatuated attachment
to his successive favourites, Gaveston and the Spencers, excited
the general indignation of the powerful barons, who were then
preeminent in the legislative councils of England; and the in-
solence, ambition, and avarice of those unworthy ministers,
afforded just grounds for the hatred they encountered.

Edward, however, paid the penalty of his imprudence. His
realm invaded by his queen, Isabella—characterized by Gray as
the “she-wolf of France”—and her paramour, Roger de Mortimer,
their forces joined by all the chief nobility, Edward was soon
compelled to make a hasty flight from the metropolis to Bristol,
accompanied only by the two Spencers, his chancellor, and a
small retinue. Being pursued by the queen’s forces, he was
obliged again to fly, and took refuge in the abbey of Neath, in
Glamorganshire. There he remained in concealment about three
weeks; but the army of the queen and Mortimer having moved
on to Hereford, the king’s retreat was discovered, and on the
16th of November, 1326, he was made prisoner by the earl of
Lancaster, who conducted him to Monmouth castle. The un-
fortunate sovereign was removed to Kenilworth soon after-
wards, and there placed in the custody of the earl of Leicester.
In the month of January following, a parliament was held
at Westminster, when it was decided, in the words of Walsing-
ham, “that the king was unworthy of his crown ; that he
should be deposed, and his eldest son made king in his stead.
This being done, the decision was publicly proclaimed in the
great hall at Westminster, and the people consented to it. The236

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

archbishop of Canterbury and the prelates approving, the
former addressed a sermon to the people, taking for his text —
Voxpopuli, vox Dei”

It is not necessary to recapitulate the many indignities to
which Edward was subjected. Between the prison of a sovereign
and his grave, it has been remarked, the interval is short. The
deposed monarch remained at Kenilworth till the month of April,
when he was transferred to the custody of Thomas, lord Berkeley,
sir John Maltravers, and sir Thomas Gournay, who were to be
his keepers, each for a month alternately. He was confined
successively at Corfe, Bristol, and Berkeley castles ; and on the
night of the 20th of September, 1327, he was atrociously mur-
dered in the last-mentioned place by the two more brutal of
his keepers, Gournay and Maltravers, who took advantage of
the absence of their colleague, lord Berkeley, to effect their cruel
purpose.

It is recorded of this king, that, on visiting Gloucester about
the year 1319, he was honourably received by abbot Thokey and
the convent, and being present at an entertainment given in
the abbot’s hall, observed the pictures of his predecessors, and
inquired if his own was among them. The abbot, in some-
thing of a prophetic spirit, answered, that he hoped he should
have him in a more honourable place. This actually occur-
red ; for, when the king was murdered, the monasteries of
Bristol, Kingswood, and Malmesbury, refused to receive the
royal corpse, through fear of Mortimer and the queen, but abbot
Thokey conveyed the dead body from Berkeley castle in his
own carriage to the monastery of Gloucester, where it was re-
ceived by the members of the convent in procession, and buried
on the north side of the choir, near the great altar.*

In Smith’s History of the Berkeley Family, it is stated that
the account of William Aside, the receiver of the Berkeleys,
“ shewethe what he paid for dyeing of the white canvas into
black, for covering the chariot wherein the body of the kinge
was carried from Berkeley castle to Gloucester; what the cords,
the horse collers, the traces, and other necessaries particularly
cost, used about the chariot; and conveyinge of his body thence
to Gloucester. For a silver vessel to put the king’s heart in,

Britton’s “ History, etc. of Gloucester Cathedral.”ANCIENT HOSTELS AND PILGRIMS’ INNS.

237

37s. 8d. (Inuno vasee argenteo pro corde dicti domini regis patris
reponendo xxxviis. yiiic?.) In oblations at severall times in the
chappie of the castle of Berkeley for the king’s soule, 21c?. In
expences of the Lord Berkeley’s family goinge with the king’s
body from Berkeley to Gloucester, 18s. 6^., and many the like
particularityes; whereto add these records here margined, more
than evincing the truth of this matter, whereby this lord is
allowed five pounds by the day for the king’s expences whilst he
was at his keepinge at Berkeley, and for soe long time as his
body remayned at Berkeley after his death.”*

This politic measure on the part of abbot Thokey was of
incalculable advantage to the monastery. Never indeed was a
stroke of judicious policy or generous loyalty more effective.
Though that part of the expenses of the king’s interment which
fell upon the convent was very considerable, and it seems
that they could at that time ill afford it, no money could have
been laid out to more advantage. In the second year of the new
king’s reign, a royal ordinance was obtained, granting, in consi-
deration of the expenses which the abbey had incurred in cele-
brating his father’s funeral, that upon every vacancy of the
abbot’s chair the monks should compound with the king at the
rate of a hundred marks for the space of a year, but that all
knight’s fees holden of the abbey, escheats, and presentations to
churches, which should fall in the time of the vacancy, was to
belong to the king. The prior, as president, with the convent,
were to keep the house in safe custody, till another superior was
admitted thereto. The escheator, or the sheriff, upon a vacancy,
to make only simple seisin within the abbey, and so to depart.
Upon the ground of their heavy charges and loyal exertions,
Edward the Third further permitted them to appropriate three
churches, of Wyrardesbury, Chipping Norton, and Camme,
“ for the support of an anniversary, and that they should pray
for the soul of his father.”+

Probably the monastic fraternity of Gloucester were not slow
to avail themselves of the change of opinion as to Edward’s
merits, which we find took place soon after his assassination.
We are told that within six years after the resignation of abbot

* Britton’s “History, etc., of Glou- Abbey,” etc , in Britton’s “History,”
ccster Cathedral,” page 20.	page 4. From “ Rymer. Foedera,”

t Webb’s “ Essay on Gloucester vol. ii.238

MEDIEVAL SE'CTION.

Thokey, (that is to say, before 1336) the offerings at king
Edward’s tomb were so great, that, from their produce, his suc-
cessor (Wygmore) was enabled to build the aisle of St. Andrew,
supposed to be the north transept, a grange at Highnam, the
abbot’s chamber, near the great hall, the smaller hall attached,
called “ Vampey-halle,” and the chapel there. The next abbot,
Adam de Staunton, built the vaulting, or inner roof of the choir,
and the stalls on the prior’s side, out of the oblations presented
at king Edward’s tomb; and it is in fact stated that if all such
oblations had been expended upon the church, it might have
been built anew; and that so great were the offerings of the
nobles and rich men, about this time, of jewels and cloth of gold,
that a hundred pieces of silk, interwoven with gold, were sold at
a cheap rate. Edward III, being in danger of shipwreck, vowed
to offer a golden ship, which he faithfully presented, but after-
wards redeemed it, at the request of the abbot and convent, for
£100; the Black Prince offered a cross of the same metal, the
queen of Scots a valuable necklace with a ruby, and queen
Philippa, a heart and ear of gold.

Royal favour continued to be extended to the abbey in the
reign of Richard the second; who exempted abbot Froucester
for life from appearing in person at any of his parliaments, con-
gregations, and councils, on account of his special love to the
abbey of Gloucester, where the body of king Edward, his great
grandfather, was buried; and ordained that the said abbot might
be retained to celebrate exequies, and an anniversary for his soul.
“ From this memorable event the present cathedral church may
date not only its restoration, but much of its subsequent magni-
ficence. In the rage for visiting the tomb of Edward II, the
ways to Gloucester were crowded by innumerable pilgrims, and
the offerings there presented by the devotees made more than
amends for the slackening of other donations. The wealth that
was poured in at this channel flowed over, and descended to
later times, and it is worthy of observation that the most costly
improvements in this building were made during the fury of the
civil wars, when England became a theatre of havoc and blood;
and monasteries, the sanctuaries of those who fled from assassi-
nation or battle, were comparatively little thought of, and too
frequently suffered in the general devastation. Of what occurred
to the abbey at that precise period there is no regular contem-ANCIENT HOSTELS AND PILGRIMS’ INNS.

239

porary account. But to this hour may be seen the effects pro-
duced by the tomb of the murdered monarch. It was erected
by his son and successor, and, as a specimen of art, challenges
the admiration of the spectator; yet the eye that wanders from
the tiled floor at the high altar to the intricacies of the roof
above, will discern a still more striking memorial of his death
and burial. The choir itself, decorated no doubt by the super-
fluous wealth which the abbey had thus acquired, while it has
dedicated the wonderful and beautiful of architecture to the
service of the Most High, presents as noble a mausoleum as
perhaps has ever been erected to the memory of any British
king.”*

To return to the subject of the New Inn. The following
passage from archdeacon Furney’s manuscripts shews that this
house belonged entirely to the abbey : “ In or about abbot Sea-
broke’s time (1450-1457) John Twynning, then called a laudable
man, and a monk of this abbey, built from the foundation the
Great Inn, called the New Inn, in Upper Northgate-street, to
the great profit and advantage of the abbey, which, according to
tradition, was intended for the reception of pilgrims.”

It has been stated by Budge, that John Twining caused a sub-
terraneous passage to be made from the New Inn to the abbey,
which passage, he states, still remains, but walled up at both
ends. A similar story about subterraneous ways is attached to
almost every religious house, but it is more likely that they were
intended for sewers or drains, than for secret passages between
the residences of the male and female parts of the community.
A lease from the dean and chapter merely states the inn to be
“ a certain ancient messuage, with the appurtenances, situate,
etc., and known by the name of the New Inn.”

The building was spacious in extent, and constructed of pon-
derous and durable materials. The different apartments sur-
rounded two square courts, and as indicated by present appear-
ances, were provided with stairs, which ascended from the courts
and communicated with two tiers of galleries. These led to
numerous large and small dormitories, or sleeping-rooms. The
building is commonly said to be constructed entirely of chesnut
timber. Almost half of its material is wood, cut into large

* Webb’s “ Essay on the Abbey of Gloucester”, in Britton’s “History of
the Cathedral ”, page 5.240

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

beams, and placed horizontally, perpendicularly, and diagonally,
with the intermediate parts filled either with brick-nogging or
lath and plaster. The whole building extends one hundred and
thirty-seven feet from east to west, exclusive of the stables,
etc., which continue seventy-two feet further. The court-yard
seems admirably adapted for Chaucer’s Canterbury pilgrims and
Shakespeare’s carriers in the play of Henry IV.

To appreciate and properly understand the original character
and utility of the hostel now under consideration, it would be
desirable to people it with its pristine domestics and congregated
guests at some great religious festival. We should then duly
and clearly comprehend the entire picture—the actual time and
place. Then we might behold, not only the building, as recently
completed by its carpenter-architect, the host, the hostess; the
tapster, the hosteller, the cooks, and other servitors who formed
part of the regular household, but also numerous travellers, weary,
dusty, dirty pilgrims, with horses, asses, scrips, Vallets, staves,
and sumpter-loads. Chaucer has vividly depicted such a scene
in his quaint language ; and we can form a clear idea of it by
conceiving all the rooms, both large and small, filled with guests of
every variety, and the court-yard thronged with others, carousing,
wrangling, and begging unceasingly. We may now, fortunately,
clothe them, in imagination, each with his own appropriate
costume, by the aid of ancient sepulchral effigies, drawings, and
engravings, and particularly by the valuable “ Illustrations of
Ancient Costume,” which have been laid before us by our indus-
trious and well-informed draughtman and engraver, Mr. Fairholt.

A print of the interior of the principal court, w'ith some
account of the inn, are given in the Picturesque Antiquities of
the English Cities, in which work are views and accounts of the
following antiquities in the same city, viz.: church and tower
of St. Nicholas’ church, the old West gate house, and bridge.1

2

3

F.cnrlate blanche.	Pourpre Sanguine.	Poupre blanche.

While Crimson,	Crimson Purple	White Purple

or warm purple.	err ordinary purple.

Composed of White dr Crimson.	White, Crimson and a little blue.	White, Crimson and blue.
4	5	6
Vert Porprine.	Pourpre Gris.	Yellow - red.
Green purple.	Grey Purple.	

Green .White
and purple.

Black, White
and purple.

Yellow, Red
and White.241

OBSERVATIONS ON SOME COMPOUND COLOURS MENTIONED IN
FABLIAUX, ETC.

BY JOSEPH L. WILLIAMS.

Ellis, in his notes to Way’s Fabliaux, remarks,—“ The old
French writers speak also of pourpre ecarlate blanche (white
crimson); of pourpre sanguine (sanguine crimson); and in the
Fabliau de Gautier d'Arepuis mention is made of ‘ un vert mantel
porprine ’ (a mantle of green crimson). Hence, M. le Grand
conjectures that the crimson dye being, from its costliness, used
only on cloths of the finest manufacture, the term crimson came
at length to signify not the colour, but the texture of the stuff.
Were it allowable to attribute to the weavers of the middle ages
the art, now common amongst us, of making what are usually
called shot silks (or silks of two colours predominating inter-
changeably as in the neck of the drake, or pigeon), the contra-
dictory compounds above given (white crimson, green crimson,
etc.) would be easily accounted for.”

Reading the foregoing note, it occurred to me that these
enigmatical and seemingly inexplicable colours could be easily
explained, if, instead of referring to the labours of the weavers,
we examine the paintings in missals, and the mode adopted to
produce the various tints therein displayed ; in fact, looking at
the works of the mediaeval artist, instead of those of the artisan.

Vellum, the material employed by the book-makers of the
olden times, not being so purely white as paper, nor so suscepti-
ble of receiving washes of colour, a method of using the colours,
exactly the reverse of that adopted in later days, was employed,
and that was, the using or mixing white with the colours, as in
ordinary painting in distemper. Thus, instead of producing the
most delicate tints by the admixture of water with the colours,
as now practised, the illuminators attained the same end by
mixing white, employing, of course, more white in proportion to
the lightness of tint required. Colours so reduced in tone, and
which we should at the present day call light colours or tints,
were, most probably, in the middle ages called white colours, at

n242

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

least by the writers and illuminators of manuscripts, if not by
the possessors and readers of such treasures.

The compound colours, such as “ vert porprine,” were, I
apprehend, called after the colours used in their composition;
but before I enter on the elucidation of this part of the subject,
I would suggest that M. le Grand’s conjecture respecting crim-
son signifying the texture of the stuff and not the peculiar colour,
is an error; and that viherever the old writers speak of pourpre
or porprine, purple is invariably intended. I am not sufficiently
versed in the Fabliaux to assert positively that “porpis
always an adjective, whilst “ pourpre ” is a substantive; but
certainly in the case of the “vert porprine,” porprine is an
adjective,' answering to purplish, and denotes that the mantle
was a pnrplish green ; whilst pourpre, in “ pourpre blanche,” is
a substantive, and is to be considered a whitish purple, i.e. a light
purple; but in “ pourpre sanguine,” either word may be an ad-
jective or substantive, as reddish purple, or purplish red would
be an equally correct reading. Mr. Fairholt, in his recently
published and highly interesting work on Costumes, mentions,
that in the Lay of Sir Launfal a pourpre gris is spoken of.
This compound colour, like the “pourpre sanguinewould, if
M. le Grand’s theory be correct, have to be rendered as crimson
grey, or a stuff of grey crimson ; but I would certainly translate
it as grey-purple, and I know of no words in art which would
more clearly define the peculiar colour meant, than those, unless
the term “murrey” were used (and which word I find by Richard-
son’s Dictionary was coined by Bacon, and therefore of a date
long subsequent to the time of painters of manuscripts); and
even that is scarcely true, since yellow is used in the formation
of murrey, and no purple whatever, though the tint of murrey
is analogous to grey-purple.

To return to the explanations of the compound colours.
Pourpre and ecarlate blanches are light purple and light scarlet
(translating “ blanche” as “ light ” instead of “white,” in accord-
ance with the modern system of water-colour painting). Pour-
pre sanguine, I read as crimson purple, or purplish crimson, and
by this term I apprehend (to use a technical phrase) a warm
purple is meant, or one in which crimson predominates over
blue, as in fig. 2 of my accompanying diagrams, whilst fig. 3 is
the ordinary or dark purple. Vert porprine, green purple, isCOMPOUND COLOURS.

243

a difficult mixture to describe; but it is a very useful tint in
painting, and no name, that I am aware of, is in use in art, to
define it. In fig. 4 I shew this colour, produced by the mixture
of white, green, and purple; and it will be seen at once that
they produce a colour very similar to those frequently used in
illuminations. Pourpre gris was composed of purple, black,
and white; and by referring to diagram 5, its tint will be per-
ceived, and its exact similitude to tints used by early artists is
very striking.

In the tale of The Lady of the Fountain in the Mabinogion,
translated by Lady Charlotte Guest, one of these debateable
compound colours occurs. The silk covering to king Arthur’s
chair is described as of flame-coloured satin; and in the note to
the passage, Lady Guest remarks, that the literal translation of
the expression is yellow-red. Now, the mixture of yellow and
red produces an orange or flame colour, as her ladyship has
correctly rendered the phrase, though they did not bring to her
mind, that yellow-red was only a technical term for yellowtWi
red. Fig. 6 gives the colour of yellow-red; and I have here to
observe, that in all the diagrams I have mixed white with the
colours, even though white does not occur in the mention of
more than half of them; and my reason is, that white was
always used in the ground colours, or masses of colour, and the
pure colours unmixed with white, for the finishing touches only,
delineations of folds in draperies, etc., and, indeed, whenever
richness or strength of colour were required.

My theory I advance with great diffidence, since I oppose
that of antiquaries of renown, yet, as “ in the multitude of coun-
sel there is wisdom,” so even these few hints may elicit discus-
sion and unfold the truth. At all events my brief paper may
draw the attention of the Association to the inquiry respecting
the colours mentioned in Fabliaux, as to whether the terms are
terms of art; i.e., as to whether we are not to consider, when two
colours are mentioned, that one of them is an adjectivial prefix
to the other, to denote some peculiar tint not otherwise explain-
able ; or whether, in reality, shot silks are intended, as suggested
by Mr. Ellis, and if so, at what precise period the art of making
such silks was introduced either into Europe or England.

In the Gentleman's Magazine for May 1842, there are some
extracts from the English poems of Charles, Duke of Orleans;244

MEDIEVAL SECTION.

and one of them so exactly describes the appearance of shot
silks, that I cannot help thinking that silks so woven were
known and familiar to the duke. The passage is as follows :—

“ Upon the which she ware a mantell large
That many a feld was festid wl a lace,

Bicause only it bare so great a charge
Of which the colour black nor grene it nas,

But most like to a raynebow hewe it was :

Forwhi the silkis were so veray straunge,

That aye from blew to reed or grene thei chaunge.”

Although the above so accurately describes the appearance of
shot silks, it does not, to me at least, invalidate my theory, since
I am not aware of instances of such silks being delineated in
MSS. : for though light crimson dresses often occur, shaded with
dark crimson, and heightened with touches of gold, I do not
remember to have seen a, purple dress shaded with green to give
an idea of a shot silk of vert porprine.245

SECT. IV.—ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER, READ
BEFORE THE BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION,

ON TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1846.

BY EDWARD CREST, ARCHITECT, SOUTH DARENTH, KENT.

The abbey church at Gloucester, dedicated to St. Peter, formed
one of the most splendid religious establishments that was
founded before the Norman conquest. Its site was the British
city of Caer Glow, mentioned by Alfred of Beverley, as one of
the twenty-eight, built by the Britons, before the Romans had
footing in our island; it was afterwards called Glevum, and
Claudio-cestria, and Caer gloyii, or the City of the pure stream.
The many Roman remains discovered in this immediate neigh-
bourhood, assure us that the entire district was occupied by that
people, and that they exercised considerable influence over the
arts and social system.

When this island afterwards was occupied by the Saxons, we
find in 584, Creda, one of their chiefs, formed the kingdom of
Mercia, and Gloucester then ranked among the fifteen cities
belonging to the middle Angles. The abbey church, founded
in 681, in the reign of Etheldred, by Osric, “chief lord of this
shier and afterwards king of Northumbere,” became its most
important feature. From a chronicle, published by Hearne, we
learn that “ When Osricke, as sayd is, edified this building, which
carved was with caraxts wondrous to see, on most goodly of
places in that time being, he it indued of his liberality, with plea-
sant possessions and large liberty, garnishing it gaylie with
ornaments also, the year of our Lord 600, fourscore and two.”246

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

Three ladies, of royal descent, of the names of Koningsburge,
Eadburge, and Eve, queens of the Marshes, were its successive
abbesses, and for eighty-four years this abbey was occupied by
nuns, who in consequence of the wars carried on by Egbert,
in 767, were forced to quit it, when the establishment fell into
decay, and excited little attention until Bernulphe, king of the
Marshes, in 843,. “ moved with pity" placed within it secular
canons, who enjoyed the estates for an hundred years, but in
consequence of some disorders which grew up among them, they
were driven out by Canute.

The rules of St. Benedict, at this period, were greatly observed
in France, and their extreme sanctity induced St. Dunstan, in
the tenth century, to introduce them into England. That cele-
brated reformer, desirous of maintaining an order of religious
persons of both sexes, who should serve God with strict uni-
formity, made a collection of ordinances, from the institutes of
the abbey of Fleury, which he denominated a Regular-Goneord,
and Edgar, then on the throne, obliged all the abbots and
abbesses throughout the kingdom to obey it. This concord
was published and commented upon by Mr. Selden, from a rare
Saxon manuscript. To the Benedictines we are indebted for the
magnificent abbeys of Abingdon, St. Alban’s, Barking, Evesham,
St. Fredeswide at Oxford, St. Germains in Cornwall, Gloucester,
Malmesbury, Pershore, Peterborough, Rochester, Rumsey,
Westminster, and particularly for that at Glastonbury, which
having fallen from its original splendour, was restored by St.
Dunstan himself, who was appointed abbot by king Edmund;
that monarch bestowing sufficient wealth to reconstruct the mo-
nastery : the foundations were laid in 942 (p. 3, vol. i, Dugdale’s
Monasticon), the offices or dwellings being built after a model
brought from France, from whence also came the new congrega-
tion of monks.

The Benedictine order prevailed almost entirely in England
long after the conquest; the two new orders of Cistercians or
Bernardines introduced in 1128, and the Carthusians in 1180,
being only branches of the Benedictines.

The Carthusian, founded by St. Bruno, at Chartreux, in
France (from whence their establishments in England were
called charter houses), was one of the strictest of all the monasticTHE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.

247

orders; as the monks were not allowed to taste flesh of any kind,
and were restricted, on one day of every week to bread, water,
and salt.

The Cistercians, who were first established at Cisteaux or
Cisterium in Burgundy, in 1098, and greatly patronized by
St. Bernard, had many convents both in England and Scotland.

The dress of these three orders of monks was distinguished
from each other, but they all wore an under-garment of white,
occasionally adding a long, loose, black cloak over it; the Cis-
tercians and Carthusians when in church wore a white cloak.

We learn from the chronicles, that the peculiar sanctity of the
Benedictines produced a great change wherever they established
themselves, and that their churches and buildings were con-
structed in the most magnificent manner, the wealth of kings
and princes being employed to endow them.

The most valuable privileges were granted the abbot and his
monks, as sax, soc, theam, and infangenetheof; they were quit
of carriage, and summage, and conduct, king’s tollage, all royal
works, and unjust exactions; they were free from toll, custom,
and pontage, wherever they went, had free warren over all their
estates, and no one without their permission could hunt or fish;
even the royal forest of Dean paid to them a tithe of venison,
and sturgeon taken in the Severn was conveyed to the abbot’s
table, not to the king’s, as was the case elsewhere. Of these
splendid establishments the church was naturally the chief orna-
ment, and upon its construction a very considerable portion of
wealth was expended. Hence we find, throughout England,
prior to the conquest, that many of the abbeys rather resembled
cities than separate endowments; and portions were so solidly
constructed that they have needed no repairs, but have come
down to us in the state in which the Saxon builders left them.

In the library of the cathedral of Gloucester is a transcript of
the chronicle of Walter Froucester, made by archdeacon Furney,
either from an original in the library of Queen’s College, Oxford,
or one in the British Museum (Cott. MS. Dom. A 8). To this
chronicle, brought down to the year 1412, when Froucester
died, we are indebted for the information relative to the pos-
sessions of this abbey, and the progress of the buildings.

Soon after the secular priests were driven out in 1022, and the248

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

Benedictines were introduced, the inhabitants of Gloucester
endeavoured to expel them, headed by Ulphine le Rue, governor
of the city, when they killed seven monks, near Churchham;
in consequence of which the pope, who was appealed to, decreed
that land should be given up to the church for the support of
the same number of monks as had been slain.

In 1022, Edric was consecrated abbot by bishop Wolstan, and
at his decease, in 1058, king Edward the Confessor named
Wulstan, a monk of Worcester, to succeed him, and his conse-
cration was performed by Aldred, the bishop of the diocese.
This prelate (afterwards archbishop of York, who died in 1072,
when on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem), laid the foundation of the
present church, which was built somewhat nearer the city walls
than the former one.

“ Acta sunt haec an0 ab inc. Dni, circiter 1022, tempore Ka-
nuti regis, Aldredus Wygorn, episco8 Wilstanum Wygorn.
monachum in abbatem Glouc. consecravit an0 Dni 1058, et de
licentia regis Edwardi ConfP ibidem constituit. Sed ipse
Aldredus ecclesiam illam a fundamentis construxit de novo, et
in honore principis apostm Petri honorifice dedicavit.'” The
late rev. James Dallaway, in his Observations upon the Ar-
chitecture of England, has remarked, that few churches ex-
hibit a more complete school of the art than the cathedral of
Gloucester. From the middle of the eleventh to the com-
mencement of the sixteenth century, some work or other was in
progress, and the examples of each style, from the q)onderous
Saxon to the light and delicate perpendicular, may be studied
here with the greatest advantage. We have remaining the
crypt, with its eastern end terminating in a curved form, a
practice continued in the churches of the continent, but which
was abandoned in England immediately after 'the conquest.
Several crypts of our large churches preserve their circular
Saxon terminations, though altered to sustain the walls of the
Norman structures raised above them. The Saxon churches
are supposed to have undergone a change immediately after the
dispersion of their clergy ; many which had been lately rebuilt,
were demolished, and replaced by others on a grander scale. The
rev. John Milner, in his Treatise on Ecclesiastical Architecturey
has given it as his opinion, that all the great abbeys, throughout
the English realm, were reconstructed soon after the NormanTHE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.

249

conquest, that is to say, during the latter part of the eleven th
century and the beginning of the twelfth, except Westminster,
Gloucester, Waltham, and a few others, then lately erected.

The churches of the abbeys of Gloucester, Tewkesbury, and
Pershore, built about the same time, exhibit similar pon-
derous cylindrical columns of Saxon design and execution,
and none of the changes made after the introduction of the
pointed arch, produced a style possessing greater character, or
which was more consistent in its general arrangement. Though
heavy, the arches were proportionate to their supports, and to
hav.e lightened the walls, the Saxon builders must have altered
their entire system of construction, upon which the whole cha-
racter of their edifices depended. In the buildings which are
decidedly of Saxon origin, we find the thickness of the walls
exceed very much those erected in later times by the Normans;
but this lavish employment of material forms one of the fea-
tures of the style, and was not, as some have supposed, the effect
of ignorance in the primitive builders. The rules followed in
one building were strictly applied to others, which is demon-
strative that they had a system.

The cathedral of Gloucester, in its present state, has been most
ably illustrated by plans, elevations, and sections, from drawings
by J. Carter, accompanied by an account drawn up by sir
Henry Englefield, bart.; and as these engravings are made upon
a large scale, they are sufficiently accurate for every purpose
required, either by the antiquary or the architect. The same
subject has been most beautifully and graphically treated by Mr.
Britton, the history of this abbey church forming part of his
Cathedral A ntiquities.

The construction of this church on its original foundations,
is the cause of its present uniformity—the several changes it
has undergone not having altered its ground-plan. The nave,
transepts, choir, and Lady chapel, are all well proportioned to
each other. The total length of the building, as measured on
the pavement, is four hundred and eight feet, comprising the
whole of the interior, from the face of the present western wall
of the nave to the extreme of the Lady chapel at the east end.
The length of the transepts, on the inside, is one hundred and
forty-two feet, and, we ought to remark, that the clear width
of the nave and the choir agree, producing an unbroken vista,250

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

uninterrupted by the piers of the central towers. North of the
nave is the cloister, measuring, between the walls, one hundred
and forty-five feet from east to west, and one hundred and
forty-nine from north to south; the whole uniformly built
with ten divisions on each side, enclosed and lighted by glazed
windows, forming the most complete cloister remaining, and to
which we shall again refer.

In the middle of the east side is the chapter-house—a long
passage, called the slyp, separating it from the wall of the north
transept. On the north and west side of the cloister are several
ancient buildings, forming a part of the abbe}r, and towards
the north a smaller cloister remains, which, from its arrange-
ment, is particularly deserving of notice. These buildings are
partly constructed of timber, and some of the rooms attached
to the present deanery have outside corner-posts of extraordi-
nary height and scantling, and their framing shews us to what
excellence the carpenter’s art was advanced during the middle
ages.

The old church, built by Osric, which stood north of the
present cathedral, on or near the place called the infirmary, was
taken down, and bishop Aldred completed the new buildings in
1058, having raised the whole edifice from the very foundations.
Thus the crypt under the choir, the cylindrical pillars and walls
of the naves and choir, and the walls of the transepts, belong to
this Saxon structure ; and although cut into and altered by the
Normans and their successors, retain their original dimensions,
and shew that the cathedral has not been augmented since the
original foundations were laid, the Lady chapel alone excepted.
In describing the construction of this building we naturally
commence from the basement.

The crypt in its width was divided into three parts, one was
given to the nave, the other two distributed between the aisles,
the external walls, and the piers which separate them from the
nave. The Saxon builders generally made the thickness of
their walls at the foundation one-eighth of their height, and this
latter equal to the entire width of the building, measured on
the outside, a rule which has prevailed in the present instance,
the height being eighty-eight feet, and the thickness of the
external walls eleven feet, the same as at Richborough castle,
in Kent.THE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.

251

In tracing the progress of a practical science, it is interesting
to follow it step by step, marking its general advancement,
its adaptation to the new wants or wishes of society, and, where
architecture is the science, careful study and attention will enable
us to discover the germs which produce the beauty we admire.

Upon examining the principles by which this crypt is set out,
we find, simple as they are, that they indicate some knowledge
of the arts of design, for the getting rid of all complex lines and
the acquisition of simplicity is the result of gradual and slow
progress.

That all the points of support may be equally distributed, it
is also necessary that some regular figure should be adopted-for
the plan, and that selected here is the circle, from which the252

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

whole design proceeds. The diagonals of a square inscribed
within it, and forming a St. Andrew’s cross, mark out the
portion of the side chapels built around the church or eastern
end. This figure of St. Andrew’s cross seems also to have been
adopted in the windows of the south aisle of the nave when they
were reconstructed.

Before the conquest, the east end of our churches usually
terminated semicircularly, and those of large dimensions, poly-
gonally, for the purpose of attaching chapels to the alternate
sides ; and it is probable, that this form was derived from some of
the Roman edifices which remained scattered over the country
when the Saxons were converted to Christianity.

The external walls of the crypt are, as we have already
remarked, nearly eleven feet in thickness ; and the piers upon
which the cylindrical columns of the choir above rest, are massive
square constructions, with semi-circular columns, four feet four
inches in diameter, built up against them, apparently at a more
recent period. Around the outer walls in the side aisle are
similar columns, agreeing in diameter and height, which are equal.
These side columns (which were particularly examined by Mr.
White after the reading of this paper) were found to be built
round a smaller column that sustained the ribs of the groining,
and their construction was a mere ashlar, eight inches thick;
upon removing which, the original Saxon column, with its
capital and base bonded into the outer wall, was discovered—
thus indicating another change, and probably re-use of the stone
previously employed by the original Saxon builders.

These original massive outer walls are without buttresses, which
form a peculiar feature in the architecture of a later period.
Wherever the Normans commenced a church from the founda-
tions, they appear to have contemplated vaulting the side aisles in
the manner we generally find them executed : but the Saxons, who
adopted the cylindrical vaulting, without ribs or eross-springers,
made their outer walls of one uniform thickness throughout.

The nave of the crypt is divided by two rows of columns, six-
teen inches in diameter, with capitals rudely cut; and some
ornaments, resembling those given in the account of Winchester,
are decidedly Saxon. The windows are round-headed, and have
no mouldings; one single splay from the inner face, up to theTHE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.

253

iron bars which guard the narrow aperture, being the principal
feature. The bottom of this splay commences about nine inches
above the level of the capitals of the columns.

The three chapels at the east end have all been altered in a
slight degree, but the walls of unsquared and hewn stone bear
evident marks of Saxon work. The southern chapel has on
its south side a portion of its original decoration remaining, five
arches, resting upon half columns, with a string-course of pecu-
liar beauty over them, on which the deeply splayed windows
with their semicircular heads are set out, shewing at once the
strength of the walls, which here are also upwards of eleven feet
in thickness, but which, from the boldness of the splay, appear
thirteen or more. Beyond this dado of five arches there is a
beautiful piscina, with a trefoil head, introduced at an early part
of Henry Ill’s reign.

The middle chapel, under the entrance to the Lady chapel
above, is of a similar character, and within it are two trefoiled-
headed windows of the thirteenth century. The half columns
which support the ribs of the vaulting, have their capitals drilled
by two holes to the depth of twenty-two inches; these, an inch
in diameter, are too smooth on their outer edge to have had an
iron bar inserted in them, as some have supposed; they most
probably held some decorations or tablet required at the service
of these chapels. Similar holes again occur on the north side of
the nave of the crypt, particularly in the aisle. The north-east
chapel, with its rounded end, agrees with those already described.
Where the north and south aisles terminate and the first division
of the sweep commences, the ribs or cross-springers w'hich carry
the massive vault are decorated with zig-zag or Saxon froetwan;
this, their only decoration, is well cut.

In the north aisle a singular recess is formed in one of the
openings between the main piers, hollowed out on one side, appa-
rently for the purpose of introducing a coffin. The door, now
removed, shut within a rebate, and the holes for securing the
hooks on which the hinges rode remain, as does the mortice hole,
to receive the bolt of the lock. Some have supposed this stone
recess to have been the depository of the plate or other valuables
used in the service of the church; others, that it was a cell or
prison, in which the refractory monks performed penance: and254

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

the question must remain unanswered,—at least we have not yet
been able to decide it satisfactorily.

The vaulting of this crypt appears to have undergone some
change, when the choir assumed its present form, and then it
was, probably, that the second arches were introduced to support
the Saxon vault.

The crypt is entered from the east side of the south transept,
by a flight of steps; and quitting it by an opening in the
northern wall, which is thirteen feet thick, we enter a small
chapel or crypt immediately under the chapel of St. Andrew,
situated on the eastern side of the northern transept.

In this crypt, which has been fitted up with all the delicate
work of Henry Ill’s time, remains a beautiful piscina, and some
of the groined ribs let into the original Saxon work. From
this chapel, by a few more steps, we ascend through an open-
ing made in the north wall, eleven feet in thickness, to a
cylindrically-vaulted passage; its floor being level with the
ground on the north side of the cathedral. This passage, eleven
feet eight inches in width, passes between the chapter-house, or
present library, and the north side of the north transept, and
formerly led into the great cloister; the doorway, however,
appears to have been walled up when Froucester completed his
arrangements in that part of the structure.

The north wall which separates this elegant passage from the
former chapter-house, is evidently Saxon, as the masonry indi-
cates ; against it are fifteen semicircular arches, resting on the
capitals of small detached columns.

On the wall of the south side there are only eleven divisions,
and at the end, near the original entrance from the cloister,
a doorway seems to have communicated with the space inter-
vening between this passage or slyp and the end of the northern
transept.

The vault of this slyp is cylindrical throughout, composed of
rubble, and laid in the same manner as those of the corridor of
the Coliseum at Rome.

Probably this slyp, previously to its connexion with the great
cloister being destroyed, was used by the monks as an entrance
to the crypt, or to enable them to perform their interments
without entering the nave of the church; it might also serve asTHE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.

255

a private way when attending the service occasionally per-
formed in that part of the building.

North of the western front is a Saxon doorway, which con-
ducts to a cylindrically-vaulted passage of beautiful Saxon work,
leading to the south aisle of the cloister. Over this entrance is
a chapel that forms a part of the deanery, where are some
glazed tiles, with the raised letters MS. W. S., and on the walls
some early painting. The thickness of the wall between this
chapel and the aisle of the nave is nine feet, and it probably
formed a portion of the tower which stood at this end. The
vaulted passage is now called the Plumber’s shop.

The nave in its construction bears so strong a resemblance to
that of the crypt, that it is not possible to doubt its having been
executed at the same time; and as we have no evidence to prove
that this part of the Saxon edifice required taking down, we
may reasonably infer, that the columns and outer walls remain
as they were originally designed,—both being in a line with
those of the crypt and choir above.

By a reference to the plan, we also see that the centres of the
cylindrical columns of the choir are placed immediately over
those of the piers below, and that in every particular the original
plan of the crypt exhibits the same arrangement as the super-
structure above, the several sets off being necessary for the points
of support of the choir.

The masonry of the cylindrical column, and that which forms
the main portion of the outer walls, is easily distinguished from
the alterations afterwards introduced; it agrees throughout in
not exhibiting the marks of the peculiar tools used by the
workmen after the eleventh century : we may, from this addi-
tional circumstance, also conclude that Saxon, and not Norman
artificers, were engaged upon it.

Where documentary evidence is wanting to establish the date
of a building, we must have recourse to its form or execution,
and reason by analogy, to arrive at the probable period, as we
have endeavoured to do in the present instance.

The manner of cutting stone varies in different parts of the
world: the Egyptians used a bronze chisel, one of which was
found by sir Gardiner Wilkinson, in a tomb at Thebes, among
the stone chippings. The Greeks, for the production of their256

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

immortal works, used instruments of a very superior kind;
these, afterwards introduced into Italy, were applied to the
execution of the best works. In the marble remains of
Rome we have frequent evidences of the processes adopted
by the artists of the time. When the ornament was outlined,
the deep parts were sunk by drills, and with chisels and files the
workmen afterwards broke down and removed the parts intended
to be so treated. In this manner, the delicate works in the
temple of Jupiter Tonans, the triumphal arch of Septimus Se-
verus, and many other monuments, were performed.

The sarcophagi and architectural fragments which compose
the splendid collection in the museum of the Campo Santo at
Pisa, were sculptured in a similar manner, as late as the sixth
century; but the Saxons, who had to fabricate their tools,
made the hatchet the principal; as in all buildings executed by
them, there are indications that neither the saw nor the chisel
were employed upon the surface of stone work.

The nave has seven entire columns, besides the half one
attached to the piers of the tower, remaining on each side ; the
first two piers on entering from the west have alone been
changed; their mouldings, capitals, and arches, underwent an
alteration at the time the west front received its present cha-
racter. The sixteen cylindrical pillars are six feet nine inches
in diameter, and twenty-nine feet high, including their capital
and base. The shafts are built up in courses of unequal height,
their number varying from twenty-five to twenty-eight, or more.
The joints of the masonry are wide, and the face of each stone
appears to have been dressed with no other tool than the one
mentioned; these columns are probably constructed with squared
stone throughout, as the heads of the several stones present on
the exterior but small dimensions.

The capitals consist of a square, a hollow, and quarter round,
somewhat resembling the Doric, with the exception of the
abacus, which is not square as in the Roman example, but cir-
cular. The bases have few members, merely composed of an
octangular plinth, the sides of which are three feet three inches
and a half, with a small scotia and bead above; the entire height
of the base being twenty inches, and its projection seven. The
clear width of the nave is thirty-four feet one inch, and that ofTHE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.

257

the side aisles fourteen feet ten inches; whilst the entire width,
comprising all between the two outer walls, is eighty-three feet
ten inches.

The chapter-house was necessarily an important feature in every
conventual establishment: within its walls were held those fre-
quently contested elections, which seem occasionally to have
threatened the destruction of the community ; and here many
a trembling brother has entered its portal to hear the sentence
which consigned him to the narrow penitentiary imagined to exist
in the crypt. This punishment was inflicted often for disobey-
ing too severe a discipline, or for discussing too charitably in
after times the opinions of a Wickliffe, and it is scarcely possible
to believe that such events occurred in the same room in which
the laity can now assemble, with eager curiosity, to descant on
its proportions. Its length is seventy-two feet, its breadth thirty-
three feet, being a parallelogram on the plan ; its situation is on
the east side of the cloister, and it retains a considerable portion
of its Saxon character. There were several distinguished per-
sons buried within it before the Conquest, particularly the
family of the Lacys. In Mr. John Carter’s plan, already
referred to, the slyp, or passage, which is on the south side
of the chapter-house, is placed at thirteen feet distance from
the wall of the north transept, whereas it abuts against that
wall, as Mr. Britton has remarked in his survey of this ca-
thedral.

The whispering-gallery, which is considered a curious appendage
to our abbey church, has each of its three sides supported by
an arch, forming the segment of a circle; one of which is
still seen on the north and south sides of the exterior of the

choir. Each of these sides is divided into five panels . .....-

decorated with two varieties of zig-zag ornament.

This gallery appears to have been contrived for the purpose
of connecting the chapels that are over the side aisles of the
choir at the east end, and it has a singular property of trans-
mitting sound along its walls—the lowest whisper may be dis-
tinctly heard from one end to the other. On the centre wall is
written :

“ Doubt not but God, who sits on high,

Thy secret prayers can hear,

When a dead wall thus cunningly
Conveys soft whispers to the ear.”258

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

The walls of stone that form its sides are not more than seven
inches thick, and by no means evenly worked. In that towards
the east are three openings; one of which is the doorway con-
ducting to the gallery that looks down into the Lady chapel.
The sound, however, traverses uninterruptedly over the wall
with undiminished power.

A sound, whose progress is interrupted by any solid walls, is
partly transmitted and partly reflected, with a velocity equal to
that which it had before it impinged upon it; it is to La Grange
that we owe the demonstration that sound, like light, has its
angle of reflection equal to its angle of incidence. When a
sound, therefore, issuing from a distant point, impinges on a
concave surface, it converges to a certain point, after reflection ;
and any one situated near that point will hear the reflected
sound more distinctly than the direct. The same result will
be produced from several plain surfaces placed within the con-
cavity.

In the cathedral of St. Paul’s, at London, if a person be placed
near the wall of its whispering gallery, with his face towards it,
and he whispers a few words, another, on the opposite side, if he
applies his ear, will distinctly hear the sound, although it may
scarcely be perceptible to an attendant on the speaker.

The Hall of Secrets, at the Observatory at Paris, was an oct-
angular room; and any person speaking at one of its angles, was
distinctly heard by another placed at the opposite. If a sound
proceed from one focus of an ellipsis, and be reflected on its
curve, it will be directed, from every part of its circumference,
towards the other focus ; since the distance which every portion
of the pulse has to pass over in the same time, in following the
path, is the same,—the sum of the lines drawn from the foci, to
any part of the curve, being the same ; and it may also be shown
that these lines always form equal angles with the curve on
each side.

A sound reflected from a curved surface, will, in its passage,
form an angle with the surface equal to that which formed it.
Flat surfaces vibrate only in one direction, and sound diverges
in all directions; but it is the most intense when the ear is
placed at right angles with the surface.

The Ear of Dionysius, at Syracuse, is a gallery cut in the
rock, eighteen feet wide, and fifty-eight high; in form of theTHE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.

259

letter S. The sides are chiselled very smooth, and the roof
coved, gradually narrowing off, like a pointed arch. Along the
summit runs a groove, which answered the purpose of a pipe, by
which the sound was transmitted. Riot found, when making
his experiments upon sound, that in the pipes of the aqueducts
at Paris, the lowest whisper was heard at a distance of 3120
feet in 2.79 seconds.

Before we proceed with an account of the changes our abbey
church underwent after the appointment of its Norman abbots,
it is necessary that we should make a few remarks upon the
style we have designated as Anglo-Saxon; the more so, from
the general opinion which prevails, that our ecclesiastical
buildings do not retain any architecture which can be proved to
be executed previously to the Conquest by William. At that
period, and before, the churches constructed in France were
either in imitation of those of Lombardy, or what were after-
wards built at Caen by the express orders of king William
himself. But nowhere on the Continent do we find such
heavy cylindrical columns as those which separate the aisles from
the nave, at Gloucester. At Rouen, the capital of Normandy,
the cathedral choir is surrounded by delicately-proportioned
Corinthian columns, like those which Lanfranc built at Canter-
bury ; and everywhere in Normandy, the surrounding country,
and in Paris, before and during the eleventh century, the same
style was adopted, which was in accordance with the Byzan-
tine or Lombardic, and more resembled what we find remaining
at Pisa.

The great number of examples of heavy cylindrical columns
still remaining in England, which differ from any met with
in the country overrun by the Normans, warrants us in believ-
ing that these were essentially of Saxon construction, and
not imported after the conquest of that people. This is the
more evident when we examine those buildings where the
columns have not been removed. We there see a marked differ-
ence in their construction; and the work which is confessedly
Norman raised upon and around them. The evidence which the
design also affords, is sufficient to show that the columns and the
arches were not of the same period as those built over them, as
it is necessary, in most cases, to give the small columns which

s 2260

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

are introduced, either a false bearing, or sustain them on a cor-
bel let into the walls.

The Saxon pillars, so essentially different from any we find in
Normandy, were in common use in England before the introduc-
tion of the clustered pillar; as the lighter and more classic
column was in France, and on the borders of the Rhine, at the
same period. We may therefore safely affirm that these heavy
cylindrical columns constitute a style; and that, wherever they
are found, we have the remains of Anglo-Saxon construction
either before or after the Conquest. The bases and capitals of
the Saxon rude and massive cylindrical columns do not exhibit
any mouldings like those found in cotemporary structures on the
Continent, all of which have a decided Greek or Byzantine cha-
racter. The Saxon mouldings are parts of circles, and are not
formed of any portion of the section of a cone.

Edward the Confessor’s new church, at Westminster, con-
structed after that sovereign had resided several years in Nor-
mandy, and associated with its prelates, might properly be
termed, in contradistinction to the ordinary Saxon building, a
novum edificandi genus ; and, indeed, the cathedrals and churches
built by Athelwold before the conquest by the Normans, were
in imitation of the same style. Thus the portions which remain
of Athelwold’s Ely, Peterborough, and Winchester cathedrals,
in all probability bear some resemblance to the old abbey church
at Westminster, in all of which the clustered was preferred to
the cylindrical pillar; or the mode practised in Normandy at the
time of William the Conqueror, was followed in preference to
the original Anglo-Saxon style, which was columnar.

Peterborough cathedral has several cylindrical columns still
remaining, which, no doubt, formed a portion of the church
which was completed at the time king Edgar visited it in com-
pany with archbishops Dunstan and Oswald. In the account of
this abbey church in De Genealog. Regum Anglice, and William
of Malmesbury, De Gestis Pontif. Angli, we are told of the satis-
faction these royal and other visitors experienced at the sight of
the new edifice before them. Ingulphus, in his account of Croy-
land abbey, Rerum Angli Scriptor. post Bedam, infers that, in the
year 966, bishop Athelwold only restored the ruined monastery
of Medhamstede, or the building we are now alluding to. The
circular columns remaining may have been portions of the ori-THE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.

261

ginal Saxon church which he restored, suffered to remain and
form a portion of the new edifice, commenced in 1117 by John
of Sais.

When perusing the history of what occurred in England imme-
diately after the Norman conquest, we can scarcely believe that
any vast sums were expended in building new churches, and
particularly cathedrals; for the Norman prelates even disdained
to occupy the capitals of their diocesses when they were situated
in unpopulous districts; and we find them removing to more
populous towns, where they could enrich themselves by plunder-
ing the inhabitants, or draw a greater revenue from land of a
superior quality. A Norman prelate was often an armed man,
appointed by the Conqueror to a see, solely as a compensation
for services performed in subduing the Saxons.

Before we can admit what has been too generally believed,
that all the Saxon churches were destroyed, we must remember
the authority by whom the statement has been made; we must
recollect it was part of the policy of the Conqueror to hire clerks
to write and publish throughout the world that the mighty,
pious and victorious William, was civilizing a barbarous country
and reviving Christianity ; and that by such means he intruded
the Norman bishops, whose sole object was to degrade the Saxon
clergy, and not to exalt or civilize the inhabitants they ruled
over. It is true that learned monks flocked in from the con-
tinent, attracted by the rich benefices of our Saxon ancestors;
and, unluckily, all whom the Conqueror applied to were not
so conscientious as Guimaud, a monk of the convent of the
cross of St. Lenfroi in Normandy, who refused to strip the reli-
gious orders of what he termed their rightful inheritances, which
was the reverse course that Lanfranc adopted. He saw that the
Anglo-Saxon religion was identified writh its patriotism, and
hence it was that he declared that the Saxon saints were not true
saints; and there can be but little doubt that Lanfranc was
brought here by the Conqueror for the express purpose of en-
slaving the English, and bringing their laws and faith into con-
tempt. For many years the country was in too unsettled a state
to admit of large sums being devoted to the rebuilding of
churches; and what is partly a confirmation of this opinion, we
have not one remaining entirely constructed by the Normans,
though we have examples of their architecture left us, in many262

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

places, agreeing in style with several churches in Normandy, but
none of these can fairly lay claim to be portions of an edifice
originally constructed throughout in the same manner; in many
instances the nave of our cathedrals indicates a different, and
often a much earlier style than the transepts and choir, but this
by no means proves that the whole church was constructed in
that manner; the porticoes in the newest fashion, might have
supplied the place of what originally was the most ancient,
and it is improbable that a substantial edifice constructed by the
Saxons was ever demolished by the rapacious Normans, for the
purpose of shewing their taste in the arts, however they might
have thought it necessary to remove those objects which encou-
raged a national respect, and antipathy to the invaders; par-
ticularly when we know the extreme difficulty attending the
pulling down such massive constructions as they found every
where remaining. Even when Wykeham, some centuries after,
undertook his alterations at Winchester, he did not remove the
mass of Saxon walls, or take away the piers which separated the
aisles from the nave, but skilfully applied his facing of stone-
work to what by no means harmonized with the proportions of
the style he adopted. Wherever a building is entirely demo-
lished, and the structure raised upon its site or in the neighbour-
hood has its walls formed of an ashlar, filled in with rubble ma-
sonry, as they generally were before Roman architecture was
revived in this country, we find the old materials employed as a
stuffing, and known Norman walls contain very often mouldings
and enrichments that have decorated the former building, and
which in every particular agree with the style we have desig-
nated Saxon.

A portion of the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem,
plans of which were published in 1619 from drawings by Ber-
nardino, has sixteen heavy cylindrical columns, resembling those
at Gloucester abbey church, sustaining seventeen semi-circular
arches, over which is an upper gallery, of a like arrangement,
though the columns are of less diameter; over this story is an-
other of niches, answering to the arcades; above which is the
springing' of a conical dome ; these niches were originally
covered with mosaics: this circular portion of the church is
called the nave, beyond which to the east is the choir, with an
enclosure with stalls for the priests, and a sanctuary raised onTHE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.

263

two steps ; round these arrangements are the aisles, in which are
several chapels. The architecture, according to Chateaubriand,
whose authority may be relied on, is of the time of Constantine ;
the Corinthian order predominating. The columns of the circular
portion are very heavy, and their diameter nearly equal to their
height, whilst some of the coupled columns of the choir are in
better style and proportion. This church was consumed by fire in
the year 1808. Over the aisle is a gallery of the same dimensions,
which is continued round the entire church, and seems to be
contrived for purposes similar to those of the basilicas at Rome,
by some writers supposed to be set apart for the assembly of the
women during the time of service. There can be little doubt but
that the round churches in England were constructed in imita-
tion of the Holy Sepulchre, and that the first Saxon churches
were built after its model; the same heavy construction was
continued, till it gave way either to the Norman or that lighter
Lombardic style called opus Homanum, introduced by Lanfranc
at Canterbury cathedral, which h id been previously employed at
Paris in the church of St. Germain-des-Pres, on the banks of
the Rhine, and also at Pisa. Hence there were three dis-
tinct styles: the Anglo-Saxon, the Norman, and the Lombardic
or Byzantine. The zig-zag ornament, so much used by the
Anglo-Saxons, may be seen among the remains of the palace
constructed by the emperor Diocletian at Spalatro, decorating
the consoles or projecting corbels that sustain the pillars of the
recesses in the walls. Another curious feature in the same
palace is a flat arch of the Golden Gate, composed of nine stones,
which mutually sustain each other by a projecting indent on that
contiguous.

Boethius, the architect of Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, in
Italy, from 493 to 526, imitated this arch in some of his construc-
tions, and we see it introduced over the door of that sovereign’s
circular tomb at Ravenna. At Coningsborough castle, erected
in the twelfth century, the mantles of the chimneys are built
with similarly-indented stones: another example may be seen
over an opening at Kirkstall abbey in Yorkshire, and also at the
great doorway of Rochester cathedral, where the indentations at
the joints are half cylinders, which is a sufficient proof that for
six or seven centuries the masons imitated similar forms: a level
lintel of stone, placed in the position of its natural bed, could264

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

not remain over a wide opening without danger of fracture;
hence the absolute necessity of some contrivance to remedy such
an inconvenience ; over a fire-place it was the best expedient to
counteract the effect of the heat that could be adopted. The
intercourse that the Saxons held with Italy, after their conver-
sion to Christianity, gave them frequent opportunity of observing
whatever was curious in the arts of construction; and we find
that almost all men of rank, and prelates in particular, made
pilgrimages to Rome. King Ethelwulf, the father of Alfred,
remained at Rome upwards of a year, and as he was honourably
entertained there, we may suppose him to have been acquainted
with some of the objects of art with which that city then
abounded; and among his attendants there might have been men
capable of imitating on their return some of the arts practised
there: the illuminations of several Saxon manuscripts are proofs
that such was the case. We shall now proceed with a few
observations upon some of the most remarkable churches, where
the cylindrical columns remain.

Tewkesbury abbey church.—Its history is given at consider-
able length by Dugdale, who compiled it from a Latin manu-
script once belonging to the abbey; of which Atkyns, in his
Gloucestershire, gave an English translation (see edit. 1768,
p. 381), whence it appears that Oddo and Doddo, or Dodo, two
dukes of Mercia, founded this monastery in 715, upon their own
estate, on the banks of the Severn, seven miles from Gloucester;
the spot being previously rendered famous from the residence of
one Theokus, a hermit. It was afterwards patronized by another
Mercian nobleman, of the name of Hugh, who, in 799, caused the
body of Brictric, king of the West Saxons, to be buried within
it; and in 812 the noble Hugh was also interred there. In the
Danish wars this celebrated monastery was consumed by fire,
and in 980 it was again restored by its then patron Haylward
Mere, or, as he was called, Snow. “Circa annum gratiae dccccxxx,
sub inclyto et primo monarcha Adelstano, miles quidam nobilis,
Haylwardus Snew dictus, propter albedinem, ex illustri prosapia
regis Edwardi senioris ortus, claruit; vir quidem armis strenuus,
honoribus pollens, animique prasstans fide stabili: qui sui finis
non immemor, pro se ac sua conjuge (nomine Algiva) temporibus
regis Ethelredi et sancti Dunstani archiepiscopi parvurn monas-
terium in honorem Dei et Domini nostri Jesu Christi, matrisqueTHE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.

265

ejus, ac sancti apostoli Bartholomei in suo dominio apud Crane-
burne fundari fecit, terrisque et possessionibus ditavi. Congregatis
fratribus ibidem sub abbatis obedientia secundum regulam sancti
patris nostri Benedicti regulariter servitutis, prioratum Thewkes-
burise cujus patronus erat, eidem ecclesife de Cranburne in om-
nibus subjecit. Haec acta sunt prope annum Domini dcccclxxx.
Primo domino Haylwardo migrante ad ccelestia et in ecclesia
quam ipse fundaverat honorific^ sepulto, ejus filius cum sua
uxore Algiva jure haereditario succedit, dominus Algarus, Algaro
Brictricus, fidei et nobilitatis suorum progenitorum testes ydonei,
similique spiritu ducti et animo, juxta parentum vota ecclesiam
ab illis incoeptam satis magnifice ampliaverunt(Chronica de
Tewkesburye in Bibliotheca Cottoniana, sub effigie Cleopatra,
c. hi, folio 220 a.)

The most ancient part of the church, which comprises the
cylindrical pillars, no doubt, are the remains of the constructions
of this pious Saxon nobleman in the eleventh century, as we
have no mention made of its destruction, and sufficient evidence
in the structure itself of what was performed by the Norman
monks who succeeded the conquest, which we shall describe
hereafter. That this monastery was an important one at the
time the Domesday survey was made, is evident from its
possessing twenty-four and a half hides of land, which in the
time of Edward the Confessor were valued as worth annually
twenty-four pounds ten shillings; and which from some cause
or the other at the time of the conquest was supposed to be
worth only twenty pounds.

Robert Fitz Haimon, who came to England with the Con-
queror, obtained from William Rufus the estates which formerly
belonged to Brictric, under whose patronage the monasteries of
Tewkesbury and Cranbourne had been bestowed; he is men-
tioned in Bob. Glouc. Chron. ed. Hearne, vol. ii, p. 431.

“ Ther was tho in Engelond a gret loverdyng,

On of the grestost that ther was, wythout Henry kyng,

Syre Roberd le Fyz Haym, that let vorst arere
The abbey of Teukesbyry, and monekes brogte there.

He deyde about thulke tyne and ybured was ywys
In the abbey of Teukesbury, as hys body gut ys.”

This Robert Fitz Haimon is said to have enlarged the build-
ings and increased the possessions of Tewkesbury so much, that266

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

the monks of Cranburne were induced in 1102 to remove hither,
and make it their chief house of residence, leaving only two
monks and a prior at Cranburne. (Tann, Notit. Mon.)

But as we have no account that he destroyed the existing
church, or that he laid the foundation of a new one, we may
reasonably suppose, that when he is said to have refounded the
monastery in 1102, that he only as usual put it into a state of
repair; for if he had done more, it would certainly have been
mentioned.

The west front of this abbey church is a unique specimen of
architecture, and has not its prototype in Normandy or else-
where ; it is, however, in perfect accordance with the representa-
tions of churches given in the Saxon manuscripts: the bold and
lofty semi-circular arch, carried up the whole height of the nave,
is a feature so perfectly in harmony with the massive cylindrical
columns within, the plain moulded arches which rest on them,
and the triforium above, that we cannot hesitate for a moment
in believing them to belong to the same design—there being a
thorough correspondence in the proportions of the parts as well
as of the whole; but we also see that the interior of the building
was originally more lofty than it is at present, for the timber
roof, of Saxon construction, laid considerably above the present
groining, and its lofty pitch may be still traced upon the exterior
walls of the massive central tower.

The diameter of the columns in the nave, as well as in the
choir, is six feet four inches, the height of the latter is fifteen
feet ten inches, and of the former is thirty feet. The columns of
the nave retain their original Saxon arches, those of the choir
support pointed arches, placed there probably when the church
underwent a renovation in the twelfth century.

Evesham abbey church had its ruins carefully examined in
1832, by Edward John Budge, esq.—the result of which was
communicated to the Society of Antiquaries. The church had
a nave, transept, and choir, with a crypt beneath, the entire
plan very much resembling that at Tewkesbury; the foundation
walls consisted of stones set edgewise, like pitching, in a natural
bed of sand and gravel; upon this courses of stone were laid
flat, succeeded by larger blocks; the thickest walls, and the
substructions of the columns, were formed externally of faced
stones, and internally of irregular small stones, grouted withTHE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.

267

mortar so hard and tenacious, as to be difficult to break to pieces
with the wedge; the other walls, of four or five feet in thick-
ness, were built throughout in regular courses of dark blue
limestone. The interior length of the church measured two
hundred and eighty-one feet. The nave, measuring to the
centres of the* western piers, was one hundred and fifty-seven
feet long, and thirty-four feet wide, being divided from the side
aisles by two rows, of eight columns each; the two side aisles
were fifteen feet ten inches wide, making seventy-six feet eight
inches the total interior width of this part of the church. The
intercolumniations were eleven feet four inches, and the diameter
of the columns, five feet six inches each—the base mouldings of
which resembled those in the cathedral of Gloucester. The
substruction of each column was nine feet square and seven feet
deep; each column towards the side aisle had a small semicir-
cular column, fourteen inches in diameter, attached to it, with
one corresponding to it against the outer walls.

This abbey was founded by Egwin, the third bishop of Wor-
cester, in the year 701 : the kings of Mercia, Ethelred, and
Kenred, who were related to him, assisting him in the endow-
ment of this church, which he built; and which church fell
down in the time of Oswald the twentieth abbot,—who was
elected in 960,—and was shortly after rebuilt; the shrine of
St. Egwin being preserved unhurt, was placed within it; and,
in all probability, the cylindrical columns were portions of this
second church.

Hereford cathedral. — The nave is separated from the side
aisles by massive cylindrical columns, sustaining semicircular
arches, above which is a triforium and clere-story, indicating
Saxon construction; forming, in all probability, a portion of
that “ admirable stone church” erected by Milfrid in the ninth
century, after the death of Offa the Mercian king, who treacher-
ously murdered Ethelbert king of the East Angles, at the time
he visited his court as a friend.—Chronicon Johannis Brompton,
in Decern Scrip, ap. Twisden.

Dugdale says, that Milefred, king of the Mercians, founded
the first cathedral nhurch in 825, to the honour of St. Ethel-
bert, king and martyr, who was here buried. In the time of
the Danish dominion this church suffered considerably; but it
was repaired by bishop Athelstan, or Ethelstan, about 1055.208

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

That this church was built of stone, we are assured; for (in
Hist. Angl. Script. Antiq.) we learn that “ Milefridus, igitur rex,
hiis auditis, quamquam in remotis regni sui partibus tunc tem-
poris ageret, transmissa ad locum eundem pecunia multa eccle-
siam egregiam lapideA structura ad laudem et honorem bcati
martyris a fundamentis et pia devotione, Domino auxiliante per-
fecit: et in eodem loco primus regum omnium, episcopum con-
stituens, eandem ecclesiam cathedrali dignitate sublemavit, quatn
terris pulcherrimis et proediis amplis, palliis olosericis et orna-
mentis egregiis, regia quod yixit magnificentia ditare quidem
non cessavit.”

This church, the writer of the Saxon Chronicle says, was
destroyed in 1055, when Algar sacked the town of Hereford;
but this could not have been the case; for we are expressly told
that bishop Athelstan was buried in it a very short time after-
wards—he having died of grief occasioned by these calamities;
and there can be but little doubt that the columns and arches
of the nave are the same as existed in the time of Athelstan ;
and there is but little difficulty in discovering where the first
Norman bishops, Lozing and Raynelm, commenced their alter-
ations and repairs.

Leominster church of St. Peter and St. Paul, in Herefordshire,
and lies about thirteen miles north of Hereford, is remarkable
for its containing short and massive cylindrical columns, sus-
taining plain semicircular arches; over these is a triforium and
clere-story, which have undergone some alteration. This mo-
nastery was founded in the year 660, by Merwald, one of the
kings of Mercia; and it seems that in 1046, it was a place of
eminence, Edgiva, the abbess who was violated by Sweyne, the
eldest son of earl Godwin, then presiding over it. After Ed-
ward the Confessor had banished Sweyne, the nuns dispersed ;
and it does not appear that the estates were again possessed by
the church till Henry I gave them and it to the new abbey
of Reading.

Steyning church, Sussex, contains much Saxon architecture,
and within its walls was interred king Ethelwolf, the father of
Alfred the Great. The cylindrical columns support semicircular
arches, which are enriched with Saxon ornaments.

St. John's church without the icalls, at Chester, formerly col-
legiate, was erected in 906, by Ethelred duke of Mercia, andTIIE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.	269

his wife Ethelfleda ; it was afterwards repaired by Leofric earl
of Mercia, who died in 1057.

St. Cross church, near the city of Winchester, has considerable
Saxon remains; and the cylindrical columns it contains are in
all probability portions of an original church; the external walls
shew that the building has undergone several alterations, and
the masonry beneath the lower string-course is apparently of a
higher antiquity than the walls above it.

Lindisfarne, or Holy Island monastery, on the shores of
Northumberland, still exhibits ruins of a church built in the
form of a cross — the cylindrical pillars and arches resem-
bling those at Durham. The piers on which the great central
tower was supported are clustered with small columns ; but the
five columns on each side the nave are cylindrical, five feet in
diameter, and not more than twelve feet in height—their capitals
and bases being plain mouldings.

As this monastery was deserted by the monks in the year 884,
when they first settled at Chester-le-Street, not removing to
Durham till the year 995, we may infer that the earlier part of
the buildings we see at Lindisfarne were constructed previous to
either of those periods; and that the columns in Durham cathe-
dral, bearing so strong a resemblance in their spiral fluting,
were in imitation of those forming a portion of St. Cuthbert’s
church, which had been greatly improved by Ethelwold after
he became bishop, during whose time Ceolwulph abdicated his
throne of Northumberland, became a monk here, and the patron
of Bede.

Additions were made to the church of Lindisfarne probably
in the twelfth century, after it became a convent for Benedictine
monks, which are very discernible from the early portions of
the fabric, both in execution and design. Sir Walter Scott
considered the arches strictly Saxon in his Marmion. Alluding
to this ruin, he observes :

“ In Saxon strength that abbey frowned,

With massive arches broad and round,

That rose alternate, row and row,

On ponderous columns short and low;

Built ere the art was known,

By pointed aisle, and shafted stalk,

The arcades of an alleyed walk
To emulate in stone.”270

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

Durham cathedral was commenced by Aldune, or Alduine,
soon after his consecration in the year 900; this prelate was the
last of the bishops of Chester-on-the-Street, and the first bishop
of Durham, the see having been settled at the former place for
one hundred and thirteen years. We are informed that Alduine,
when he had grubbed up the woods around the site of his new
church, assigned dwellings to the whole of the people that
attended him ; and that after he had completed his buildings, he
assigned over considerable property for the purpose of adorning
his cathedral, and for the subsistence of the priests. This pre-
late died in 1018, beloved by all good men, both for his wisdom
and the excellence of his life. King Canute some years after-
wards visited the shrine of St. Cuthbert, and endowed the church
with various lands, enumerated by Leland. It is also said
that the western tower of the new church erected by Alduine
was not completed until the time of his successor, Eadmund.

Symeon Dunelmensis informs us, that, in the year 1093,
William de Carelpho, then bishop, began the erection of that
stately edifice now remaining at Durham, and that he had the
plan from Normandy. This prelate is said to have died in 1095,
without having done much to his intended new building, and
that its completion was left to his successor, Ralph Flambard,
who died in 1128, and the monks occupied the see during the
five years it was vacant, a successor not having been appointed
till 1133. Symeon describes the church erected by Alduine as a
considerable edifice ; and in the account which he gives of the
memorable conflict which ensued between the Norman soldiers,
conducted by Robert Cumin, the earl of Northumberland,
and the natives of Durham, when the foreigners were entirely
routed and driven away, he states, that the cathedral was
set on fire, but that the flames only caught the western
tower, and the wind suddenly changing, the rest of the building
was preserved. We are also told that William the Conqueror
afterwards visited Durham, and laid waste the city and the sur-
rounding country, but the church was not injured, as the remains
of St. Cuthbert were a second time deposited within it. We are
nowhere informed that Alduine’s church was entirely taken
down, and there is great reason for believing that much of it
remains, particularly as the cylindrical columns, resembling
those at Lindisfarne, are either fluted, carved with zig-zagTHE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.

271

ornament, or grooved like the figure of a net. Such are not
found in Normandy, but are met with at Waltham Abbey church
and elsewhere in England.

Waltham Abbey church is a Saxon pile, erected by Harold, the
son of earl Godwin, in 1062 ; the date of the charter Edward
the Confessor bestowed upon it. Portions of the Saxon work
remain, particularly the cylindrical pillars, ornamented with spiral
and zig-zag grooves, bearing considerable resemblance to those
in Durham cathedral. After the fatal battle of Hastings,
Harold’s body, having been given to his mother, was brought to
Waltham and interred in the church he had completed only
four years before.

St. Botolph’s priory church, Colchester, has cylindrical pillars,
composed of tiles and other small material, the proportions of
which are exceedingly heavy. Above are plain semicircular
arches, whose span scarcely exceeds the diameter of the columns
they rest upon.

St. Bartholomew the Great, at Smithfield, in London, erected
in 1133, has cylindrical columns, the height of which is a trifle
more than their circumference; the capitals and bases are plain
moulded, and the arches above semicircular.

Malmesbury abbey church, Wilts, although it has undergone
several reparations, still retains its original Saxon cylindrical
columns, upon which have been built pointed arches.

Shoreham church, Sussex, being on the coast, has suffered
spoliation several times; but during all the repairs it has re-
ceived, little or no change has been affected upon the original
Saxon columns separating the side aisles from the nave.

St. Sepulchre’s church, Cambridge, formerly belonging to the
priory of Barnwell, is circular on the plan, and no doubt was
built after the model of Constantine’s church at Jerusalem, of
the same name. The internal diameter is forty-one feet, and
the peristyle around consists of eight columns, each about four
feet in diameter; above the semicircular arches which rest upon
them is another series of arches, separated by cylindrical columns,
to which are attached others of small diameter, exactly corres-
ponding with the Saxon division of the choir at Gloucester. The
apses of that abbey church, before its alteration, must have
resembled one half of this round church, with the addition of a
clere-story. St. Sepulchre’s church was richly endowed by Payne272

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

Peverell, the standard-bearer to Robert duke of Normandy in
the holy wars.

Rumsey nunnery, Hampshire, was founded by Edward the
Elder, or Ethelwold, a Saxon nobleman, in 967. Benedictine
nuns, under the government of the abbess Merwenna, took up
their residence here by permission of king Edgar. Cylindrical
columns are still remaining in this church, although they have
undergone considerable alteration, and where the shafts are con-
tinued up through the spandrils of the main arches, we can
imagine that originally a similar triforium or gallery existed, to
that at present remaining round the choir of Gloucester abbey
church.

Christ-churchy Oxford, originally dedicated to St. Mary and
All Saints, was commenced in 727, and although it was partly
injured after the interment of St. Frideswide, it was put into
thorough repair by order of king Ethelred in 1004. The ori-
ginal cylindrical columns of this church were in height fifteen
feet six inches, but we are told that Ethelred heightened them
seven feet, as we now see them; the lower arches are ancient,
resting upon their original capitals.

The rev. James Ingram, D.D., in his interesting Memorials of
Oxford, informs us, that St. Frideswide died in 740, and was
buried in this church, and he also points out the difference between
the original Saxon church and the works added by the Normans.

Storer, in the account he has given of Oxford cathedral,
observes, had it been either re-edified or greatly altered by prior
Guimond, the royal Norman chaplain, the fact would certainly
have been recorded; and this author is of opinion that a con-
siderable part of the Saxon church remains. The columns of
the nave, which are cylindrical, are beautifully executed, and
exhibit that variety of capital which shews a fertility of inven-
tion, and for which the Saxon sculptors, according to Mr. Brewer,
were admired.*

Numerous other examples might be described, but already we
have cited enough to prove that the Saxons had a style of archi-
tecture peculiar to themselves, which underwent little change
after the Normans settled in this country: indeed we find it
frequently adopted in their buildings, probably from the work-
men they employed being mostly Englishmen.

* “ Beauties of England and Wales,” rol. xii, p. 2.THE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.

273

That the builders of the early Saxon churches should have
preferred the adoption of the heavy proportions of the church
erected in the holy city, whence their religion was first propa-
gated, to the more elegant practised throughout Italy, is not to
be accounted for, unless we imagine that the ceremonies of the
Greek church being adopted in preference to those of the Latin,
its form of building was also the most admired.

After the abandonment of Rome, the Longobardi in the short
space of two centuries effected considerable changes in civilization
throughout Italy; their commerce spread over Europe, and into
the regions of the East; their merchants associated in compa-
nies, and their artizans formed themselves into guilds; and from
Muratori we learn, that the masons and builders of Como,
during the reign of the Lombard kings, were everywhere known
under the designation of magistri Comacini. In the .time of
Charlemagne, the masons became free, being exempted by the
pope from all local laws and statutes, edicts of the sovereign
prince, or municipal regulations, and also had the power granted
them, as a corporate body, to fix the price of labour, and to
regulate their own society. Hence was established a school for
the science of construction and for the cultivation of the arts ;
and as all the lodges of free and accepted masons acknowledged
one master, we have no difficulty in accounting for the uniformity
which prevailed in the churches where they were employed. The
plan of the Lombard churches did not exactly correspond either
with those of the Roman basilicse or the Greek churches, but
was a compound of both; sometimes a nave with four side aisles,
generally with two, and occasionally without any. The exter-
nal walls were divided into recessed panels, and their extreme
angles strengthened by antse, resembling buttresses. The walls
of the clere-story of the nave were carried upon semicircular
arches resting on columns, with capitals and bases in imitation of
the best Roman period. The principal entrances were adorned
with sculptured ornaments, and the windows were narrow open-
ings, sometimes divided by a column. Where the walls were
of a considerable thickness, galleries were formed, through
which the circuit of the whole building could be made, and these
were ornamented with columns.

The church of St. Germain des Pres, at Paris, completed in
the year 1014, was a fine example of the opus Romanum; it was274

ARCHITECTURAL 8ECTI0N.

built by the abbot Movard, whose epitaph, no longer remaining,
according to the historian of the abbey, Dom. Jacques Bouillart,
was as follows:—“Morardus bonse memorise abbas, qui istam
ecclesiam a paganis ter incensam evertens a fundamentis novam,
re-edificavit, turrim quoque, cum signo, multaque alia ibi”:
which may be thus translated :—“ This church, which was
destroyed by the Normans, was rebuilt by the abbot Morard
from the foundations, and he added a tower and bell.” The
same accurate historian informs us, that king Robert the Pious
was bountiful in his assistance in supplying him with the neces-
sary funds.

This peculiar style, so remarkable for its lightness, and of
which many examples remain on the borders of the Rhine, in
the south of France, and in Italy, is, in this country, only found
at Canterbury; where the church built by Lanfranc, or that
part called the glorious choir of Conrad, was executed wTith
equally delicate proportions, the columns being the same number
of diameters in height as in the best days of Roman architecture.

In the churches on the Rhine, and in the choir at Canterbury,
there is a total absence, however, of those peculiar ornaments
which constitute the essential character of Roman architecture ;
while at Pisa the egg and tongue, the raffle-leaf, the dentil, the
modillon, employed to ornament the semicircular arches, are all
so admirably cut, that they might be ranked among the works
belonging to a more classic age. It has not been sufficiently
noticed, that the builders of the eleventh and previous centuries,
on this and the other side of the Alps, materially differed in the
practice of their art. In Italy the several members we have
enumerated above, were never omitted,—not even after the
introduction of the pointed arch. The works which at Pisa bear
so strong a resemblance to what we find on the crosses erected
to queen Eleanor, have the dentil and modillon running up the
acute pediments ; and the string-courses which accompany them,
enriched with the ovolo beautifully cut, with the dentil below.

The history of the artists of Pisa, from the ninth to the four-
teenth centuries, is that of the arts of Italy; and the sculpture,
painting, and architecture of that interesting period may be
studied with the greatest advantage in the cathedral, baptistery,
campanile, and Campo Santo of that city. If we examine the
Saxon, the Lombard, and the Norman styles, either in detail,THE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.

275

or in their proportions of mass and void, we shall be satisfied
that, though they have a common origin, they differ materially
from each other, as may be seen at once by comparing a portion
taken from the Saxon choir of Gloucester abbey church, the
nave of Pisa cathedral, and any of the divisions of the several
structures raised by the Norman conqueror. Each have their
peculiar characteristics too marked to admit of confounding them
with one another. Between the Saxon and Lombardic styles
there is also an amazing difference in the quantity of material
required for their execution. If we take a severy or division of
the crypt of the choir at Gloucester, and ascertain the propor-
tions in feet the walls, or points of support, bear to the entire
area, we shall find them to constitute about one third of the whole,
whilst in the cathedral at Pisa they are only one twelfth. For
a more detailed account upon this subject, the reader is referred
to the author’s Encyclopaedia of Civil Engineering. It is highly
important that all who study economy of material should adopt
that style which admits of its application without any sacrifice of
principle, and which our other national styles do not.

On this account Lombardic architecture is the best adapted
for parochial churches, where the outlay is limited. Let us
suppose a church sixty feet wide, as many high, and one hundred
and eighty in length; containing, altogether, 648,000 cubic feet.
The quantity of material required to give it character, in this
style, would be a twelfth of that produced, or 54,000 cubic feet.
In the Saxon style, 216,000, or four times as much material,
would be needed to obtain that solidity and effect we meet with
in the buildings constructed before the Conquest. But when
we adopt either of these cotemporary styles, it is important that
we should imitate them in the true spirit, and not apply the
delicate and classic ornaments of the Lombard school, to ponde-
rous masses piled up in imitation of the Saxon. The cathedral
at Pisa, and the original choir at Gloucester, are works of nearly
the same period, and they serve to express the tastes of the
people of their respective districts. In the latter example, the
ornamental carving, or architectural sculpture, has no more
affinity with the Italian school, than the massive cylindrical
columns have with the delicate granite monoliths at Pisa. Yet
we have observed these two styles had a common origin : both
may be traced to the Romans ; but the lightest was the result276

ARCHITECTURAL SFCT10N.

of a mature study, and a complete acquaintance with the princi-
ples of early art; whilst the other shews us that the Saxons had
commenced their studies in the construction of the arch, and
were afraid of hazarding strength in attempting delicacy. Or
we may imagine the Colosseum to have been the model of con-
struction to the Saxon ; whilst that of the lighter basilicm
were preferred for a similar purpose by the Lombard builders.
Nothing shews better the delicate feeling of the one, and the
massive proportions adopted by the other,—that the Italian cam-
panile and the central Saxon tower (the one as we have seen
above) might be carried up upon the same base four times as
high as the other, with the same quantity of material,—a suffi-
cient recommendation for its adoption.

Norman architecture, as we find it in Neustria, differs mate-
rially from that attributed to the same people in Calabria, in
Sicily, and in England. There is a variety in the plan and dispo-
sition of the buildings, as well as in their execution and construc-
tion, in the several countries where these bold invaders settled.
The cotemporary architecture seems to have been influenced
by the taste and knowledge of the vanquished. In Normandy,
the church of St. George’s, Bocherville, for construction, may
compare very favourably with others erected in the same cen-
tury. There are many churches in England, built after the
Conquest, that evidently belong to the same school of design,
although material differences may be found in the construction
of some portions, and in the style of execution. But the
Norman churches in Apulia, and in the south of Italy, differ
very materially from the constructions by that people in Sicily.
Although there is enough resemblance in the architecture of
these four several countries to denote a Norman superintendence,
there is sufficient also to indicate a native construction; hence
we find the Anglo-Saxon style prevailing, so long after the
Conquest, in several of our churches, and in the chapels of
many castles, particularly in the Tower of London.

The Norman style is not found pure out of Normandy. In
whatever country it was introduced, we find it united to the
previous method of construction, not constituting a distinct
whole. Where churches were erected from the foundation
even, we find the indication of that system of building which
at the time prevailed among the conquered people. GreatTHE ABBEY CHUKCH AT GLOUCESTER.

277

uniformity of style may be traced in the several Benedictine
establishments erected before and after the Conquest in Eng-
land ; and, without doubt, Norman influence may be referred
to for the cause of this similarity in the cathedrals of Peter-
borough, Ely, and Winchester. There is as much difference
between Anglo-Saxon and Norman architecture, as there is
between the latter and the Duomo, at Pisa, erected also in
the eleventh century. Each country had its class of artists, but
Italy alone had its school for architecture; for the principles
which had been exercised there, were never entirely lost.
The Byzantine or Lombardic style bears more strongly the
evidence of being the end of a system than the commence-
ment, as all its decorations and arrangements may be traced to
better days. In point of construction, as regards the quantity
of material, the builders employed at Pisa had an advantage
over those of a more classic period; for in making compari-
sons between the proportions of mass and void in Norman and
Italian architecture, we are enabled to award the palm to the
latter. It is thus that we can more accurately judge of the
difference between the several styles ; not by studying the super-
ficial effect, but by a careful examination of the relative quan-
tities of material required to produce it.

The Norman portions of this magnificent abbey church have
generally been attributed to the time when Serlo was appointed
abbot by the Conqueror. We have reasons for believing that
this abbot did not materially change the character of the build-
ing. According to the chronicle: “ In die festivitatis apostolo-
rum Petri et Pauli (1089). hoc anno, Glovernensis ecclesise loca-
tur fundamentum venerabili viro Roberto Herefordensi episcopo,
primum lapidum in eo ponente, prsesente dompno Serlone abba-
te.” But where this first stone was placed, we are not informed ;
nor have we any mention that the building erected by Aldred,
only the century before, with so much solidity, was taken down
to the ground, and we can scarcely suppose such an event to
have occurred without being chronicled.

In following up the account of Serlo’s work, we find that in
1100, only eleven years afterwards, the entire fabric was com-
pleted and ready for dedication. “ Anno Domini MC. idus Julii
die dominica ecclesia, quam veneranda memorise abbas Serlo a
fundimentis construxerat Glovernise, ab episcopis Sampsone278

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

Wigorn: Gundulpho Revensi et Hereno Bancorum, dedicata cst,
magno cum honore.” To explain these passages, we may suppose,
that after a fire which happened in 1088, it was necessary to repair
and restore the church ; new roofs in all probability would be re-
quired, and perhaps some of the walls strengthened:—a conflagra-
tion would not destroy the solid outer walls, nor injure the crypt;
may we not therefore conclude, that the dedication mentioned
applied only to such a restoration ? And Serlo coming from
Normandy, we may imagine that the restorations would in some
degree correspond with the style practised there; and we find
decorations let into the walls of the side aisles of the nave, the
mouldings of which constitute the half piers, and support the
groining, which are not at all in character with the massive
cylindrical columns opposite. Above the main arches of the
nave are a triforium and clere-story, differing from those of the
Saxon part of the choir, all of which may be fairly attributed to
the time of Serlo, inserted into Saxon walls, which must have
been built previously; these, then, and the massive cylindrical
columns which give the character to the church, we are not
justified in calling Norman.

The works of Serlo, however, called forth the praises of the
monk Godfrey, prior of Winchester, who states, that they were
something different from the ancient style ; and he sums up his
character in the following:—“ Ecclesise murus cecidit Serlone
cadente, virtutis gladius buccina justitise, vera loquens et non
vanis, sermonibus utens. Et quos corripuit principibus placuit
judiciam prseceps contrarius ordinis error. Et levitas morum,
non placuere sibi. Tertius a jano mensis, lux tercia mensis
cum nece suppressium vita levavit eum.”

The Norman reparations are further evident in the campaniles
in most of the windows throughout the church;—the Saxon
masonry does not bond with that which was introduced when
they were enlarged; and in the crypt we have portions, though
.slight, which exhibit additions made in the twelfth century.
The great window of the southern transept must not, however,
be supposed to belong to this period, although its pointed arch
is surrounded by the zig-zag. That ornament, probably collected
from other portions of the church, was worked in when the
alterations were made in the fourteenth century ; we must also
be careful not to confound the Norman work of the nave withTHE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.	279

that which was afterwards performed during the abbacy of
Thokey.

Among the monuments of this period is one to Robert duke
of Normandy, eldest son of William I, who on his death-bed
disinherited him in consequence of his having carried on war
against, and absolutely unhorsed his father at the battle of
Gerbrai. The recumbent figure of oak was probably put up in
the succeeding century; it is cross-legged, in the attitude of a
crusader, habited in chain mail, over which is a long surcoat.

Matthew Paris informs us he fought valiantly against the
Saracens, and obtained an important victory over them in 1099,
after which he was proclaimed king by the holy city of Jerusalem.
After the death of William Rufus he again returned to England,
and opposed Henry I at Tenchebray, where he was taken pri-
soner and deprived of his sight.

In 1134, having grown old in prison, and constantly suffering
from the ill-treatment of his brother, whom he styled his “ traitor
brother, his inferior by birth, an idle, petty clerk,” he resolved to
starve himself, and in this resolution died. By order of Henry I
he was buried before the high altar.

The pointed style, of which we find examples as early as the
latter end of the twelfth century, was not carried out in all its
beauty before the middle of the following. When the Norman
semicircular arches gave place to those constructed upon an
equilateral triangle, their massive pillars yielded to clusters of
delicately-turned shafts, held together by capitals of rich foli-
age, and sculpture, and bands and bases. A better acquaint-
ance with geometry enabled the masons to give more varied
form to their apertures and mouldings; and they imitated the
works of nature with as much skill as the cotemporary Italian
masters.

The Petworth marble quarries, which were then worked,
seem to have influenced the architecture of the thirteenth cen-
tury in England, for nowhere on the continent do we meet
with any which resembles it. In the greater number of our
churches, particularly in the chancels of several in Kent, we
meet with examples of this particular epoch.

It must be remarked, that the lancet, or early pointed style,
bears evidence that at its introduction sculpture was greatly
encouraged; for we perceive rich foliage, and figures forming280

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

parts of the designs, entering into almost every architectural
composition. To this employment of the sculptor’s art may be
attributed the great change which took place in the characters
of our national architecture; and it is singular that this early
style, so abundant in England, and from whence we can trace
all the changes made in the other styles which followed, like
our Saxon, is rare upon the continent; indeed there.are no such
examples as the cathedral churches of Salisbury and Glasgow.
St. Denis and Amiens both have windows which in part corres-
pond ; but in other particulars there is a vast difference.

The lancet style, which we meet with in this abbey church, is
nearly confined to the cluster pillars and corbels introduced into
the Saxon walls above the cylindrical columns of the nave, at the
level of the triforium, for the purpose of carrying the ribs of the
groined vaulting. Some other portions are scattered about in
the crypt and different parts of the edifice, as piscinas, etc.

In all probability these works, as well as the ancient part of
the monks’ stalls in the choir called the miserere, where are
some very grotesque sculpture, were performed during the period
that abbot Foliet presided, which was between 1228 and 1243.
“ Henrico Foliet anno Dom. 1237, 5 id. Nov. ob Helias de Here-
ford mon. qui turrim Glouc. abbiae erexit. Stalla monachorum
antiq. construxit, conductam aquae vivse fecit an. Dom. 1239.
14 Kal. Oct. dedicata est ecclesia, abbiae Glouc. a Waltero de
Cantelupo, Wygorn epis. in honore principis apost. Astantib’s
sibi venerab. prioris de Evesham et Theokusbury de Pessora
Cirencestra abbitus et aliis nobil. vires cum copiosa plebis
multitudine.” Thus it would appear that at every reparation
or improvement, the abbey church was honoured with a re-
dedication.

The most important example of the architecture of the thir-
teenth century in this church, is at the north end of the north
transept, which although it has suffered somewhat from the alter-
ations to whch it has been subject, is still in fine preservation.
By some writers this elegant screen is termed a reliquary, or
confessional, but by others it is considered as forming a treasury
where the offerings and presents made at the altar of St.
Andrew, in the adjoining chapel, were afterwards placed, and
occasionally exhibited to the people assembled in the northern
transept. A corresponding arrangement may have existedTHE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.

281

against the south wall of the other transept, where the present
beautiful door-way, guarded by angels, is still remaining.

Behind this rich screen, beneath the great north window, is
an ornamental passage of communication from the stairs to
the triforium of the choir: the whole seems to belong to an
early part of Henry Ill’s reign. It may have been erected
soon after that monarch was crowned in this church, for the
reception of some of the sacred vessels used during that pompous
ceremony, which took place in 1216. The design of this screen
is formed by three pointed arches of equal span; the mouldings
of which are cleanly cut, and rest upon enriched capitals sup-
ported upon delicately turned shafts. The central arch contains
a small doorway with a trefoil head, between which, and the
small pointed arch above, the wall is covered with figures of
men and angels. In the tympanum over the middle arch is a
perforation, called the star, produced by surrounding a circle
with eight equal spherical triangles, and beneath on each side is
a perforated trefoil. Each of the main divisions at the side of
the centre is divided by a column, and contains two windows,
the heads of which are finished with trefoils. Above these two
openings, within a trefoil arch, and directly over the slender
column that separates the windows, is a pierced quatrefoil.
Under the mouldings of the main arches, and in the spandrils
formed by the inclosed trefoil arches, there is some delicate
carving, or scroll work, resembling that in the chapter house at
Salisbury. The arms of the last abbot being placed at the
eastern extremity of this screen, may indicate it was repaired
by him.

The bracket monument on the south side of the choir, is
probably to the abbot Foliet, who was once prior of Bromfield.
The figure, though much mutilated, has not the mitre worn by
the abbots when summoned to parliament after the year 1265;
and as during his presidency another dedication to the church
took place, he was fully entitled to have the model of one placed
in his right hand.

Ralph de Willington and Olympias his wife, about 1224,
gave money for the erection of a chapel in the choir, and lands
for its endowment, on condition that two foreign priests should
pray their souls out of purgatory. This chapel was, however,282

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

dismantled between 1457 and 1498, when it was again put into
better condition by abbots Stanley and Farley.

Monument of King Edward II.—The interment of this
unfortunate prince in the abbey church was the cause of its
after wealth, and the various improvements that were made in
consequence. This monarch, the fourth son of Edward I and
Eleanor his queen, was born at Caernarvon the 25th April, 1284;
and in consequence of the intrigues got up by his queen,
Isabella, and her paramour, Mortimer, he was deposed and
committed to the custody of Henry earl of Leicester, who,
treating him too leniently, the charge was transferred to Thomas
lord Berkely, John Maltravers, and sir Thomas Gournay. The
queen and Mortimer, in the absence of Lord Berkely, gave
orders for the monarch’s death; the other two of his keepers
entered his chamber in the dead of the night, and with a red-hot
iron murdered him.

“ Mark the year, and mark the night,

When Severn shall re-echo, with affright,

The shrieks of death, through Berkely roofs that ring,—
Shrieks of an agonizing king.

She-wolf of France, with unrelenting fangs,

Thou tearest the bowels of thy mangled mate.”

Mr. John Carter, who made some elaborate drawings of this
cathedral, afterwards engraved by James Basire, made the
following observations upon this monument, which is truly
represented:—“This exquisite monument, the work of the
fourteenth century, the era when the arts of this kingdom had
arrived at their zenith of perfection, is perhaps, both in elegance
of design and delicacy of sculpture, the most perfect specimen
remaining of the monumental architecture of our ancestors.
The design consists of three principal stories: first, the base-
ment or tomb part, whereon the statue is laid; second, the open
screen, terminating with pinnacled canopies. In its length, the
screen has three arches, separated by clusters of pillars and
buttresses of most elegant contrivance, which support the vault
or canopy; and the design of the ends of the monument is an
exact representation of one of the lateral compartments in every
particular. There is some difference in the work of the niches
on each side of the basement; on the south side there are three
niches, while on the north side there are but two, the centre divi-THE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.

283

sion being filled up by an octangular bracket, on the top of which is
an excavation, probably to receive the offerings made at this
sacred memorial. When it is considered how many irreligious
and anti-royal hours, fraught with barbarity and savage des-
poliation, have passed since the erection of this noble tomb,
astonishment is excited that in our day it still exists so little
havocked, and so venerated.

“ The sculpture of the statue is excellent, and probably equal
to any thing of that period. The attitude is full of repose and
dignity. In the right hand is the sceptre, and in the left the
mundus or ball. On the head the crown, supported by angels,
at the feet a lion. The dress is a plain tunic reaching to the
feet, with an open mantle over it. The statue has suffered
little; the bottom of the sceptre is broken, the cross on the
mundus destroyed, the rays of the crown mutilated, and by the
small cavities in the circlet, jewels must once have been
stuck there. In the front view of the face we may fancy that
indications of pain about the forehead are discernible. It was
probably taken from a cast (wax) of the deceased, after the
countenance had been composed, yet not so effectually as to do
away all trace of the horrid torments he had endured. The
view of the profile of the head is beautiful in the lines, benign
and placid.”

The tomb is of different stone to the canopy, which has
occasioned some erroneously to suppose the latter to have
been executed at a later period. The fellows of Oriel college,
Oxford, now keep the monument in repair.

Joceline de Welles, or Troteman, after his return, in 1212,
from the banishment which king John’s displeasure brought
upon him, commenced the improvements of Wells cathedral; and
as we find it was re-dedicated on the 23rd October 1239, we
may imagine that the sculptures which decorate its west front
were completed by him: they bear such a resemblance to the
mutilated figures contained in the trefoils which occupy the
spandrils of the arches in the south transept, where the side
aisle of the choir is approached, at Gloucester, that we imagine
them to have belonged to the same period. Bishop Bing-
ham also, who succeeded bishop Poore at Salisbury in 1229,
introduced in that cathedral a similar style of figure; and it
becomes important to ascertain from whence the sculptors of284

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

this period could have derived their knowledge. That they
were English there can be but little doubt, for this style of
sculpture was practised in England before the birth of Cimabue,
the restorer of painting in Italy; and about the time that the
Pisan school was renowned, Nicolo Pisano having elevated
sculpture to its rank among the arts, was surrounded by stu-
dents from every part of Europe.

This peculiar sculpture at Wells, Salisbury, and elsewhere,
bears but little resemblance to what we find in Italy; and the
foliage with which it is accompanied, none whatever. The crosses
erected to the honour of Eleanor, the beloved wife of Edward I,
are ornamented with sculpture of a very different character,
bearing a strong resemblance to what was executed by the Pisan
scholars; and certainly they have a better title to an Italian
origin. The tombs of Edward the Confessor, and Henry III,
in Westminster abbey, we cannot for a moment doubt of being
executed by Italian artists ; but the sculpture and ornaments are
totally different from that executed by the English artists at the
commencement of the thirteenth century. And nowhere in
France do we meet with that peculiar style of foliage which
decorates our ecclesiastical buildings constructed at this period.

The style which succeeded the Lancet may be termed the
Geometric. This science rendered stone perfectly plastic, and
moulded architecture at its pleasure. The heads of the windows,
and the tracery which covered the vaults of the nave and aisles,
now exhibited a variety in their design which was governed by
higher intelligence. Westminster abbey, commenced by Henry
III in 1245, was executed in a richer style than Salisbury cathe-
dral. The masons employed upon it seem to have formed a new
school of architecture, and to have produced an improvement
throughout the whole of England; for it is surprising to see so
many remains executed in a similar manner. The chancel of
Stone church, in Kent, St. Saviour’s, Southwark, and several
other examples, appear to have been executed from the same
designs as portions of the abbey church.

At the latter end of the thirteenth century the windows had
expanded from the single opening, to two, three, or four divi-
sions ; and the heads were filled in with circles, as in the Chapter
houses of York and Salisbury, Lincoln cathedral, and Westmin-
ster abbey. This filling in with circles, which is extremelyTIIE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.

285

beautiful, we see at St. Denis, and several other churches in
France; and these circles, and portions of them, formed into
trefoils, quatrefoils, etc., constituted what has been sometimes
denoted the Decorated English style ; but, as its character is the
result of pure geometric forms, the title we .have selected for
its designation seems the most appropriate.

The south aisle of the nave has been supposed by some writers
to have been built by abbot Thokey, wrho was highly honoured
by king Edward III, in consequence of his having brought the
mangled body of his father from Berkeley castle, and bestowed
upon it honourable and costly interment; but as the emblem of
St. Andrew’s cross is clearly and distinctly shadowed forth in
the heads of the windows, we may imagine it to refer to the
work performed by the prior that succeeded Thokey, “ Johan
Wygemore, a.d. 1329, dum prior ejusd. monast. extiterat came-
ram abb. juxta gardinam infirmarie construxit. Sit et tabulam
ad altare prioris cum imaginibus politis et de auratis sumptibus
suis ordinavit. Et aliam tabulam quae nunc est in capella
abbatis de eodem opere composuit. Qui in diversis artibus
multum delectabatur ut ipse saepissime operetur, et multos
diversos operarios in diversis artibus prae extolleret, tarn in opere
mechanico quam in textura. Erat vultu et aspectu placidus,
colloquio blandus et affabilis, et conpatibus mansuetus et pius
ita id multo. Confratres suos ad cameram suam ob recreatione
nunc hos, nunc illos, convocaret, et diversis epulis et potibus
reficeret, et ita habuit se inter confratres ut omnes eum diligerent
et timerent non timere privignali sed amore,” etc. etc.

In the time of abbot Wigmore, the offerings to king Edward
II’s tomb were so great, that, from their produce, within six
years of his coming to the government of the monastery, he was
enabled to build the aisle of St. Andrew’s, a grange at Hynham,
the abbot’s chamber near the great hall, and the smaller hall
annexed, called “ Vampey halle.” (MSS. Cotton, Domit. A. viii,
folio 139.)

The windows of this south aisle, the hollows of which are stud-
ded with roses, exhibit, in the tracery of their heads, the cross
of St. Andrew, who appears to have been peculiarly honoured
by this religious community. The architects of the fourteenth
century endeavoured, on all occasions, to express in their designs
the character or purpose of the building they were employed286

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

upon ; and the manner in which the emblem of this saint’s cru-
cifixion is brought into the pattern of these window-heads, is
highly ingenious. And certainly this part of the church might
appropriately be called St. Andrew’s aisle. A spherical equila-
teral triangle . , . .. *, enclosing a hexagon, forms the nucleus and
arrangement of the entire pattern. By uniting opposite angles,
the St. Andrew’s cross is formed, and the six equilateral triangles
completed. These are variously disposed of; the upper, and
each alternate one, simply cusped; the intermediate two are
occupied by a trefoil cusped division, whilst the lower compart-
ment is made to form the head of the middle division of these
beautiful windows, which are a link in the history of pointed
architecture ; for they indicate a change from the first geometric
style, where the heads were filled in with circles, although they
faintly mark out the changes which took place in the middle of
the fourteenth century, when these pure geometric forms were
more blended together, and resembled foliage, as in the great
west window at York cathedral. This example of window has
more of the artificial than the natural flow of line prevailing;
but we at once see a desire on the part of the designer to mask
the lines and principles which guided him in setting out the
figure, and which was the commencement of a new style.

Wherever these geometric patterns occur, we find that the
executor of them was thoroughly acquainted with the rules
which enabled him to mitre his mouldings in any position he
assigned them; and this seems to have been one of the grand
secrets of the craft. In the square, for instance, bounded by
mouldings, it is required that they should be cut in a line or direc-
tion towards the centre, or, in other words, diagonally, to form a
proper junction with each other. The next figure, which affords
this, and still greater, facility of mitring a moulding, is the equi-
lateral triangle : and hence, probably, the cause of its universal
adoption; for this figure, surrounded by a moulding, would
require also its mitre to be cut in the direction of the centre of
the circle which surrounds it, the centre of gravity of these
regular forms being the point to which the line of mitre tends.
And so it is with the hexagon, heptagon, octagon, and other
regular figures that can be inscribed within a circle ; for although
in the heptagon there are an odd number of sides, it is composed
of seven triangles, having the two sides of each of the sameTHE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.

287

length, and tending towards the centre of the circle that bounds
the figure : therefore, if a moulding was placed around the hep-
tagon, the direction the mitre would take would be towards the
centre.

But preference was decidedly given, by the masons of the
middle ages, to the hexagon, composed of equilateral triangles ;
for whichever way you dispose of them, they touch, and the
mouldings by which they are surrounded may be made to mitre
regularly and uniformly. Hence it is that mouldings on the
inclined sides of a pediment will not mitre with those that are
laid horizontally ; and any variation from a vertical position
requires that the character of the moulding should be altered,
excepting the mitre be made in accordance with the rules above
stated.

To form such a variety of patterns as we see in the heads of
windows, with one moulding of the same dimensions throughout,
it is absolutely necessary that we should adopt regular figures;
for. whenever the curve changes its form, we must enlarge or
diminish the size of the mouldings, or make an awkward and
imperfect junction of the members which compose the moulding.
Unless the whole of the curves which are to unite are struck
also with the same radius, from centres regularly established by
a series of triangles disposed in such a manner that they form a
regular figure, no symmetrical design can be worked out; but
we have thousands of examples where these rules have been most
skilfully applied.

To John Wygmore, then, we may probably attribute the vault-
ing of this south aisle, and the erection of the buttresses on the
outside to resist the pressure occasioned by it. Elegant as they
are, it must be, however, regretted that they do not effectually
perform their office, for the Saxon walls are no longer perpen-
dicular ; this no doubt has been caused by the passage way left
between the wall of the aisle and the buttress, the lower portions
of which have been abridged of their due proportions and weight,
so that the pressure, acting upon the top of the buttresses, has
induced them to move, as upon a hinge or pivot. The south
transept was the next portion of the church which underwent a
change in its architecture.

This abbot died 2nd kalends March 1337, and was buried on
the south side of the church, near the entrance of the choir,288

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

which he built, with a stone pulpit over the west door, and
which, in 1718, was taken away to make room for the organ.
Against the south wall of the south transept are the remains of
a doorway, with two guardian angels of beautiful design, now
much mutilated; and on the other side, in a corresponding posi-
tion, is another entrance, now walled up. These were perhaps
a portion of Wygmore’s work, but to what they conducted we
are now at a loss to imagine; there might have been a chamber
contrived in the thickness of the wall, used as a confessional to
openings on the outer side. The south end of this transept,
above the two doorways already described, is lighted by an
elegant window of eight days, which, on the outside, has around
its pointed arch the zig-zag ornament brought from the demol-
ished windows, probably when Wygmore made his alterations
in this part of the structure. On each side of this window are
the remains of the Saxon towers, now terminated with Norman
work, exhibiting the intersecting arches, and the usual pyramids

and decorations bestowed upon them. The stone bracket.....

on the east side of the south transept, with the two figures of the
mason and his son or apprentice, who were employed upon the
improvements made at this time, is a curious reminiscence of two
very skilful operators. In many of the foreign cathedrals are
sepulchral and other memorials of the heads of the lodges of free-
masons, some represented with the rule, the compass, and square,
practising the art of setting out the respective works. The ribs
of the vaulting of the south transept, at their junctions, are not
covered with bosses, nor are those which are represented on the
stone bracket; we may hence reasonably conclude, that the
stone bracket and two figures allude to the operators that com-
pleted this part of the church.

The two entrances in the south transept, one of which con-
ducts to the steps of the south aisle of the choir, the other to the
Saxon crypt, have so peculiar a decoration and form, that we
have a difficulty in seeking for their parallel in this country—
the whole design has a foreign air, and we find their resemblance
at Rouen and in other flamboyant examples. The mason has
shewn the plasticity of his art, and given flowing and bending
lines to his material in as easy a manner as if he had employed
wax, or any other soft substance for the purpose.

The monuments of the abbots, on the flat stones with whichTHE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.

289

the south transept is flagged, are highly curious for the variety
of crosses they contain ; the simple staff is here seen, improved
and more highly decorated, in the hands of the successive abbots,
and at last exhibits very rich and gorgeous patterns.

The north transept was probably changed in its style during
the time when Wiggemore, as Willis styles him (Mit. Ah. vol.i,
p. 15) presided.

The chapel of St. Andrew’s occupies the eastern side of this
transept, from which it is now separated by a beautiful elliptical
arch, formed by covering a portion of that which the Saxons
had left of a semicircular form. The altar-screen of this chapel
has been very rich in its tabernacle work, though now defaced.

The reading-desk of stone at the entrance to the north aisle
of the choir, is an elegant example of the kind, and was probably
used by the monks when they were engaged in instructing the
people assembled in the north transept from the different por-
tions of Scripture.

The choir embraces in its length the area of the central tower;
and the delicate screen-work which, like embroidery, covers the
walls from the pavement to the vault, forms a magnificent chapel;
and by concealing the openings of the triforium and lower story,
the sides of the choir, when seen in perspective, scarcely indicate
that there are aisles or chapels above, which, in the Saxon
church, produced a beautiful effect of light and shadow. The
entire height of this choir, from the pavement of the crypt to
the top of the vault, is the same as the width of the entire
building, comprising the external walls. The proportions of
the cube seem never to have been laid aside.

The original church, when entered at the western end, which
was flanked by a tower at each angle, presented a very different
effect from that we now see; the whole length eastward formed
a vista, through ranges of heavy Saxon columns and ponderous
semicircular arches, the nave covered in with a timber roof; the
character assumed was bold and majestic, and massive strength
prevailed throughout its entire construction. Between the nave
and the choir, in the body of the church, was placed the altar of
the holy cross, where the hood and beads of every newly-elected
beadsman were consecrated, and above this altar rose the pon-
derous and lofty crucifix, at the foot of which was buried the
holy monk Adam de Clunely, where afterwards many miracles290

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

were performed. Near the entrance to the choir was a stone
pulpit, taken down in 1718, when the screen and rood-loft over,
the work of abbot Wygmore, was also removed.

The Saxon character, as well as that grafted on the church
by the Norman abbots and their successors, underwent a further
change during the abbacy of Wigmore and Adam Staunton,
who succeeded in March 1337 : to the latter is attributed the
completion of the choir as we now see it, as well as the construc-
tion of the Vineyard-house at Over, the expenses of which were
defrayed out of the oblations made by king Edward III, queen
Philippa, the Black Prince, and the queen of Scotland, at the
tomb of Edward II.

“Adam de Staunton successit venerabili magb suo Johan
Wygmor, cujus tempore constructa est magna volta chori mag-
nis et multis expensis et sumptuosis cum stallis ibidem ex parte
prioris, ex oblatione fidelium et tumbam regis confluentium,
quia, ut opinio vulgi dicit quod si omnes oblationes ibidem col-
latae, super ecclesiam expedirenter potuisset faciliendse novo
reparari, tanta erat oblatio magnatum quam divitum, qui illis
temporibus de pannis, auro textis quam de aliis jocalibus ut de
pannis sericis auro textis centum vendirentur pro vili pretio tarn
de meliorib. quam de debilibus.”

Staunton died in 1351 and was buried before the altar of St.
Thomas, built by his brother Thomas de Staunton. The changes
made in the choir, during the time that abbot Staunton presided,
now claim our attention, and much praise is due to the directing
mason employed on the work; he did not destroy the time-
hallowed walls raised by the Saxons, although he materially
altered the character of the building by various additions; and
we have evidence that the architecture of the fourteenth cen-
tury is not indebted altogether to the form of the arch, but to
the arrangement of the mouldings and the detail which accom-
panies it.

The change from one style to the other is ingeniously effected,
but differs from that which bishop Edyngton practised after-
wards at Winchester. That prelate cased his piers, and after
cutting away the main arches, as we have shewn on a former
occasion, raised others more lofty; and his successor, Wykeham,
continued to improve the nave in a similar manner.

In the abbey church at Gloucester there was not so muchTHE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.

291

boldness evinced, as we have only a facing or wall of stone
tracery, not more than two feet in thickness, built up in front
of the Saxon constructions towards the choir.

These alterations were commenced by abbot Wygmore a
little time before his death, which happened in 1337 ; we may
therefore consider the style adopted to be that in fashion at
the commencement of the fourteenth century. The character
of the divisions depends upon the perpendicular lines ; and,
on examination, we shall find that they are entirely composed
of beads and hollows. The middle of each pier is occupied
by a bead 6| inches in diameter, on each side of which is a
hollow, with another bead, inches in diameter; these three
beads and two hollows extend upwards from the base to the
springing of the ribs of the vaulting, where the capitals of
the beads are united, producing an effect the very opposite to
that which resulted from the heavy Saxon shafts placed one
above the other. The smaller bead, which is repeated around
the heads of the windows, is brought down to the level of
their bases, forming a panel ten inches wide between the window
and the main cluster, on which the ribs of the vaulting rest;
another small bead, inches in diameter, divides the main
compartment, continuing through the triforium up the centre of
the windows of the clere-story, forming also the tracery within
the acutely pointed arch above. Thus the windows have each
two grand divisions produced by the bead, each of which is again
divided by a small mullion without a bead. The four days of
each window are directly over divisions below, and the perpen-
dicular beads lose none of their continuous effect by being made
to mitre at least half a dozen times with those which are laid
horizontally to divide the spaces and form the open or close
panels. Considering the mass between the windows as the
pier, it is about eleven diameters in height up to the springing
of the vaulting.

In these mouldings there is no indication of that blending of
the bead and hollow together to form the ogee, which was
beginning to prevail about the time Wykeham was engaged in
altering the nave at Winchester, at the end of the same century.

The piers of the nave at Canterbury have two ogee united
within the splay in a most graceful and elegant manner. The
precise epoch when this new feature first made its appearance

u 2292

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

and altered the character of our mouldings, it is difficult to
establish.

In the section of these mouldings we have clearly exhibited
the method by which they were set out: one large equilateral
triangle is simply subdivided into others, the several portions
of which determine the dimensions and form for the greater
and lesser mullions, as each becoming a part of the same
regular figure; and also inscribed within an equilateral tri-
angle ; so that there is no difficulty in making the beads
and hollows, into which the respective sides are cut, form
proper mitres whenever they are required to be united: hence,
one of the great difficulties in construction is overcome. We
must not, in our search after the graceful and beautiful in archi-
tecture, be induced to throw aside the regular figures of square,
triangle, or any other that is useful; or for a moment imagine
“ that we can snatch a grace beyond the reach of art.” It is per-
fectly impossible even to comprehend the principles of medieval
architecture without a knowledge of these geometric forms and
their universal application; they are evidently employed in pro-
portioning an entire edifice, as well as its minute parts, presiding
also over its most elegant and elaborate enrichments. We
should no more despise the line and rule which guided the masons
of that period, than we do the scaffolding of which they made
use; to many eyes the former seem to have been removed from
sight and perception, as effectually as the latter. It is too much
the fashion of the present day to condemn the use of rules; but
on strict inquiry into the practice of the Greeks, we find those
high-minded and imaginative people were entirely governed by
them;—they were not, however, rules resulting from caprice,
but from laws,—the truth of which will continue to the end of
time. Each style of architecture has its peculiar principles, and
it is the duty of its professors to shew what constitutes the merit
of each, how its proportions are established, as well as the fitness
and propriety of its decoration. For variety of fancy and skill in
execution the medieval architects deserve the palm; and they
were entirely governed by rules which grew out of the use of
the square and triangle.

The large cylindrical pillars are partly cut into to admit
of the alteration referred to, and the effect of the screen from
the pavement to the clere-story is as astonishing as beautiful.THE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.

293

The simple massive column yielded first to an addition of
smaller cylinders to its sides, then to the pier, which was after-
wards broken up into a variety of small columns and mouldings,
as in this example ; but there is a beautiful order in their
arrangement, and a method in their setting out, entirely arising
from the equilateral triangles.

The galleries of the triforium are preserved in their original
Saxon character, and such is their beauty, that we rejoice
that they were not demolished as at Winchester; possibly the
masons found that the cylindrical columns, six feet in diameter,
would not permit the same changes as were effected on the
piers at Winchester, which were ten feet in width.

The choir and presbytery embrace within their arrangements
the great central tower, and comprise within their vaulting
seven separate severeys of equal dimensions. Two within the
tower occupy its entire width, and ingeniously deposit the ribs
of the vaulting upon a,flat arch on each side, that spans from
east to west. This novel and elegant expedient of the mason’s
art deserves the highest commendation for its appropriateness
and lightness. The vaulted roof continues unbroken through
the whole seven divisions; and although the pier is omitted, the
ribs traverse the bay, and deposit their weight upon a slender
arch of masonry as admirably executed as it is elegant.

No similar example can be adduced where so bold an expe-
dient has been adopted as a substitute for a massive pier. The
weight of the lofty tower, the diagonal flying buttresses seen in
the gallery of the triforium, all help, and contribute strength to
their abutments; and so well are they poised and balanced, that
not a fracture or opening in the work is apparent, after the lapse
of nearly five hundred years.

The clere-story windows have their heads acutely pointed
and are filled with simple tracery: they are divided into two
stories in height, and into four days in their width.

The chapels on the level with the triforium show to a con-
siderable advantage behind the rich screen-work that covers
them. The four divisions above and below the transom that
forms it into two heights, are each decorated with an arch richly
cusped; and the solid spandril on each side of the Saxon cir-
cular arches are almost lost sight of amidst the elaborate tracery
that covers them.294

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

Similar discharging arches, to those already mentioned, under
the tower, are introduced in front of the lower range of Saxon
arches, which, by receiving the perpendicular mullions, allow
of the introduction of another distribution of mouldings below,
rendered necessary by the appropriation of the intercolumniations
to monuments.

The oak stalls were altered to their present form by Adam de
Staunton, and the pinnacles and carved work above the miserere
added. On each side there are twenty-four, one in each angle
and five on each return, making altogether sixty. The number
of monks was constantly varying, but there was always a body
of retainers, sometimes as many as two hundred, among whom
was the bailiff, the steward, the treasurer, the porter, etc., who
were allowed seats here.

The large east window of the choir has no rival for extent or
beauty; it is made, by an ingenious contrivance, to occupy a
greater width than the choir itself. This is effected by making
use of the original points of support, which the Saxon founda-
tions afforded after the old Lady chapel was demolished. Six
divisions form its centre compartment, on each side of which are
four others, the whole divided into stories, enriched with frag-
ments of coloured glass. The outside of this window, or the
eastern termination of the choir, exhibits some very clever con-
struction and some decoration of the highest order, as do also
the subsellia, or stalls, for the four officiating priests, on the
south side of the altar.

Thomas de Horton, sacrist of the monastery, was elected in
1351, and resigned his duties in 1377; he died soon after, and
was buried in the north transept. He gave to the church many
rich vestments, and caused the great altar to be made beyond
the presbytery, together with St. Paul’s aisle, and the great hall,
in which the parliament was held in 1378, when Richard II and
all his courtiers were lodged within the monastery {MSS. Cotton,
Domit. a. viii, folio 141).

The presbytery is raised above the choir four steps, com-
mencing immediately beyond the stalls, and above this the floor
of the altar is raised three steps higher.

John Boyfield was elected in 1377, having previously been
the precentor of the church ; he died on the 3rd of the kalendsTHE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.

295

of January 1381, and was buried in St. Paul’s aisle, near abbot
Horton (Willis, Mit. Abb. vol. i, p. 116).

At the time Boyfield presided over this conventual church,
architecture had undergone another great change; in the year
of this abbot’s election Richard the Second ascended the throne,
and we find at this epoch that the lofty and simply formed pointed
arch, struck from two centres on the line of its base, had been
abandoned for others of a more complicated figure, struck some-
times from three or four centres.

The window heads were filled with perpendicular mullions
instead of geometric tracery; the east window of York, the
west window of Winchester cathedral, and the two which light
the ends of Westminster Hall, and another at the minster at
Beverley, may be cited as additional examples to that which
lights the choir at Gloucester. At this period the walls were
covered with panelling, formed by mullions running up perpen-
dicularly, crossed by others at right angles; the small columns
and pointed arches which covered the walls now yielded to this
new arrangement.

Walter Froucester, Froucestre, or Froncester, the chamber-
lain of the monastery, was the next abbot; he was elected in
1381. He procured from the pope a grant of the mitre and use
of the pontificals. {Willis, Mit. Ab.) This abbot built the great
cloisters in the north side of the church, and in one of the win-
dows were formerly some verses written by him detailing the
history of the convent, see Dugdale, vol. i. p. 542.	“ Hinc est

principium primusque status monachorum, profert indicium no-
bis Gloucestria quorum. Tunc sexcentenus erat annus virgine
nati, ac octogenus.” These cloisters are said to have been com-
menced by abbot Horton in 1351; they are one hundred and
forty-eight feet by one hundred and forty-four feet, as measured
internally; the breadth of the walk as well as the height being
about nineteen feet. On the north side of the south cloister are
thirty-three recesses or carols, once occupied by the monks em-
ployed as transcribers, who, it is said, wrote down word for word,
as it was spelt and read by one of their fraternity, thus striking
off, as it were, as many copies of a manuscript at once. On the
south side of the north cloister Yemains the lavatory, with its
stone water trough, and recesses for towels. The whole of the
proportions are of the greatest beauty, and this cloister is the296

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

only one in which the glazing remains. The doorway opposite,
the second division from the west end of the church, which
conducts from the north aisle of the nave to the western cloister,
is rich in its decorations, and of fine proportions. Froucester
transcribed all the evidences and records of this abbey until the
time of his death in 1412; he was buried in a chapel, at the
south-west part of the choir, under the arch of the tower, where
his mutilated grave-stone is still seen.

Hugh Morton was chosen abbot on the tenth of May 1412,
and died in 1420, when John Marewent, or Merewent, was
elected to succeed him; he built the wrest end of the church,
intending to have continued his work throughout the whole
nave; he constructed the south porch, which is surmounted by
pinnacles, perforated like those of the great centre tower; six
richly tabernacled niches occupy the front over the entrance
doorway, which has on each side a niche of similar character.
On the flank of this porch is a window of rather peculiar design,
and at the angles are well-proportioned and highly-wrought but-
tresses. Mutilated and injured as this fine porch is, we can
trace the perfection to which architecture had by this time
arrived; and it would be difficult to point out a finer or more
elaborately-worked example, or one where the proportions were
more beautiful; it indeed merits a speedy restoration, as it is
fast crumbling away. The west front was built by this abbot.

The large window, at the end of the nave, has three principal
divisions, each subdivided into three others; the head is formed
by perpendicular mullions, and the whole design appears to have
undergone some change which has caused the addition of a flying
buttress to each of the two principal mullions, which are not quite
in character with so elegant a window; at the same time it was
thought necessary to disfigure the work still more, by intro-
ducing the transom on the outside, which is devoid of the cusped
heads to the divisions as seen on the interior. The great distance,
or rather height, given to the middle division, may have been for
the purpose of arranging better the stained glass with which the
window was enriched.

On the outside, above the window, as well as below the gal-
leries, the whole of the masonry is covered with ornamental
work. The window which terminates the south aisle has five
divisions, and that of the south aisle but four; these mouldingsTHE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.

297

harmonize throughout, and the ends of the cusps are terminated
with strawberry leaves, in a similar manner to those executed
under Edyngton at Winchester. The great western door, and
that which leads into the north aisle, were constructed at the
same period, as were the two first piers and arches of the nave.
(.Leland, Latin edit. 1711, vol. iv, fol. 1726.)

Abbot Marwent died in 1437, was succeeded by Reginald
Bouler, who accepted the see of Hereford in 1440, and was
bishop of Lichfield afterwards.

Thomas Seabroke, who was elected 16th February 1450,
began the stately tower in the centre of the church, the finishing
of which was committed to a monk of the name of Robert Tully,
as an inscription on the west side of the great tower informs us.
“ Hoc quod digestum, specularis opusque politum Tullii hsec ex
onere Seabroke abbate jubente.” Seabroke died in 1457, and is
buried in a chapel at the south-west end of the choir, where his
effigy in alabaster is placed in length in pontificalibus upon an
altar tomb.

The clear internal dimensions of this fine tower, measured on
the lead flat, is forty-one feet one inch and a half on one side, and
forty feet four inches on the other; including the thickness of the
walls, forty-three feet four inches by forty-two feet four inches,
and the height to the summit of the pinnacles is two hundred
and twenty-five feet from the pavement,. or one hundred and
seventy-six feet from the pavement to the leads, and forty-nine
feet to the top of the pinnacle. Externally the shaft of this
tower exhibits two stories nearly similar in design, separated by
a pannelling of quatrefoils; at its angles are graduated buttresses.
The battlements and pinnacles are of delicate perforated work,
resembling that which surmounts the beautiful tower at Taunton.
Internally the tower is divided into two stories above, the
groined vaulting of the choir occupying one, having two win-
dows on each side. The great beauty of this tower arises from
its proportions, which are those of a double cube, and from the
symmetry and nice adaptation of all the component and minor
parts, rich in its external decorations, but without any sacrifice
of its simplicity, or its apparent strength diminished by the
ornaments which nearly cover its entire surface.

It is to Seabroke’s time we must attribute the glazed tiles
that have been used for the pavement of the church, many of298

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

which are now collected and laid at the east end of the choir.
Some of these tiles bear the inscription of—“ Dominus Thomas
Sebrok, abbas likewise his motto, “ Fiat voluntas Dni.,” which
has been interpreted, “if this abbey be destroyed, the will of
the Lord be done.”

Richard Harnley, Hanley, or Hauley, who was appointed
abbot 18th January, 1457, began the Lady chapel at the east
end, but dying in 1472, left the completion of it to his successor,
William Farley or Ferley, who was elected May 1st, 1472, and
he died in 1498. The architecture of the Lady chapel bears a
great resemblance to that of the choir, and considerable skill
was employed in attaching it to the east end without injuring
the effect or obscuring the light of the great east window. It
has on each side five divisions; the first, on entering, are imme-
diately under the gallery at the west end. The two next
divisions on each side are admirably appropriated to windows of
five days. The fourth division on each side is varied in its
arrangement, having an oratory above and a chapel below, which
give the character of a transept. The oratory is approached by
a staircase contrived in the third pier. The chapel on each side
under these oratories has some beautiful fan work tracery, with
two windows at the side, and one at each end divided into four
days. The oratories are more simply groined, and their win-
dows have each only two days or divisions. These divisions do
not vary from the others, or the one beyond it; in their general
arrangements the whole five on each side exhibit, in the clere-
story windows, the same distribution, and the vault continues
unbroken throughout its entire length. The east end of the
chapel is entirely occupied by a window of nine days, divided in
its height by three transoms. The altar screen is of rich taber-
nacle work, now greatly injured. Three chief niches and
numerous subordinate, once filled with statues superbly gilt
and coloured, now shew the devastation committed soon after
the Reformation, when a general cry was raised against the
professors of the Catholic church by those who held the spoil
and lands that had endowed such rich establishments. On the
south side are three sedilias for the officiating priests, of a highly
ornamental character.

The next abbots were, William Farley, appointed May 1st,
1472; JohnMalverne, 1498; ThornesBranche, August31st, 1500;THE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.

299

John Newton, alias Brown, July 10th, 1510; William Malvern,
alias Parker, elected the 4th May, 1515, who was the last abbot,
and is buried in a chapel on the north side of the choir, near the
high altar. The abbey was surrendered by him to Henry VIII
in the thirty-first year of his reign ; and Parker is said to have
died soon after.

The groining of the several parts of the abbey church and clois-
ter exhibits the gradual advances made by the freemasons in this
important branch of construction. Each style had its peculiar
system of vaulting, and manner of fretting a roof. In the slyp
we have the cylindrical vault, in the north aisle of the nave are
the cross springers, resembling those in the crypt; then the
more delicate ribs, used in the nave; then those of the south
aisles, the transepts, choir, the cloisters, the west end of the
nave, and Lady chapel.	*

The College of Freemasons (the earliest notice of whom we
have in the days of Claudius Caesar), dedicated a temple to
Neptune and Minerva: this we learn from a tablet preserved
at Goodwood, discovered at Chichester. We have little mention
made of master masons after this until the time of William of
Sens. In the thirteenth century, we find them heading lodges
and directing workmen throughout Europe, when they received
the blessing of the holy See under an injunction of their dedicating
their skill to ecclesiastical buildings.

We must not attribute to the monks or the clergy the credit
of having designed or executed any portion of this fabric, for
they were not versed in practical geometry, or in the skill of lay-
ing stone. The various styles would not have gradually advanced
to such perfection had they not been fostered and appreciated by
a body whose interest and duty was to devote their entire atten-
tion to the subject. It is not to the clergy that we are indebted
for the coarse caricatures we find here and elsewhere exhibited
to ridicule the monks, but to the freemasons. And unless the
subject of construction had been taken up by such a body, the
continuous chain of improvement in construction could not have
been so admirably preserved : there would have been some sudden
change of style : but we should not have had, in the examples
we have mentioned, the groining of the south transept, followed
by that of the north; that of the choir and presbytery; growing300

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

into the perfection of what we find in the cloister, and the nice
application of both systems in the Lady chapel.

An individual genius may strike out some new style, though
instances are rare; but he cannot break in upon a train of
progressive improvements without it being more apparent than
exhibited in this abbey church, or in others where the styles
follow in regular order. An architect cannot invent until he
has made himself master of all that has been done: and can the
clergy devote their time to so secular a calling ? The various
styles are beautiful of their kind, each has its character and
proportions; they must be understood before they can be ad-
vanced. In the styles of the middle ages we can trace this pro-
gressive advancement; from the Saxon heavy masses we proceed
to the more delicate; we have no fetters; we move on until we
arrive at perfection; and*as quantity of material is dispensed
with, we perceive science and knowledge of its quality compen-
sate for the loss. We arrive at the delicate style of the sixteenth
century by slow yet measured degrees,—there is not a link want-
ing. The lodges of Freemasons, like an individual, seem to
increase in knowledge as they increase in years.

The original altar screen was removed to the old church at
Cheltenham; and Mr. Carter informs us, that within it was en-
closed another, of very fine work, adorned with the curious paint-
ing now placed in the triforium. It is on a gold ground, and
painted on two folding doors; the whole, when opened, being
about ten feet by seven feet.

The present altar screen was from the design of Sir Robert
Smirke. The tabernacled niche, and all the gorgeous display of
ornaments, have been omitted; and it must not be compared
with earlier works of the same kind. It is truly Protestant.
The screen at the entrance to the choir from .the nave was exe-
cuted under the superintendence of the Rev. Jacob Griffith, in
1823. Although in composition it is not so rich as those exe-
cuted during the middle ages, it occupies the place of one which
was of a very ordinary and modern design.

In the two papers communicated by Mr. Britton and Mr.
Wright, we have evidences of the influence which these frater-
nities exercised over the manners and minds of the community;
and it would be highly interesting, were we permitted to obtainTHE ABBEY CHURCH AT GLOUCESTER.	301

a clearer insight of their domestic habits by a study of the build-
ings attached to the abbey church.

In the bishop’s residence is a gallery and chapel, with suites
of rooms, that indicate there was no lack of finish or decoration
within them. The gallery, with its timber walls, is enriched
with a flat ceiling, and terminated with a throne or chair of state.
In the deanery, attached to the west end, are large and lofty
halls, also constructed of stone and timber; and the chapels, of
great antiquity, paved with tiles, one or two of which, of curious
workmanship, we have alluded to. How much is it to be re-
gretted that the entire conventual buildings have not been pre-
served to us; we might perhaps then have realised some idea of
the charity and hospitality once prevailing within them.

It has by some been suggested, that the cathedral would be
improved by the demolition of all the surrounding buildings;
but the cloisters and north side of the church are not prepared
for such an exposure. The greatest improvement that could
be made, would be that which should restore around the
cloisters all the original structures, maintaining their cha-
racter, as belonging to the noble church itself. It is quite
a mistaken idea, that the beauty of an edifice depends upon
its isolation. Greatness should always be well attended;
and an abbey of the wealth and extent of this at Gloucester,
consisted almost of as many buildings as the city itself, each
portion of the establishment having its peculiar feature. But
the expression was given by the vast structure in the midst.

Before we conclude, it is necessary, perhaps, that we again
refer to the chronological history of this beautiful structure. In
it we see the gradual progress of the science of architecture
made during nearly five hundred years : —

In 1058 was consecrated the Saxon church.

—	1089-1100, the Norman introduced.

—	1228-1243, the nave vaulted, and the miserere of the choir

introduced.

—	1307-1329, south aisle of the nave; the transepts and choir

in progress of alteration by John Wygemore.

—	1337-1351, the choir vaulted by Adam de Staunton.

—	1351-1377, portions of the presbytery by Thomas de Horton.

—	1381-1412, the cloister, by Walter de Froucester.302

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

In 1421-1437, west front, end of nave, and south porch, by
John Marvvent.

—	1450-1457, central tower, by abbot Seabroke.

—	1457-1472, Lady chapel, by Richard Hanley.

—	1472-1499, ditto, ditto, by William Farley.

—	1514, parts of choir, by William Parker.

This discourse may have appeared prolix to some, and yet
is very inadequate to its subject. In the opinions I have
advanced, I have been guided solely by a desire to ascertain
the truth; and should subsequent inquiry prove that I am in
error, I shall most willingly acknowledge it. We have all some
favourite theory which we naturally seek to substantiate ; but
it is not a healthy zeal which endeavours to distort facts to
our purpose. My only object is to diffuse an interest in, and
an admiration for, the exquisite specimens of our noble art
bequeathed to us by our ancestors, whether Saxon or Norman.
Eight centuries have passed away since the iron heel of the
latter was placed on the neck of the former; and if some
few traces of the injury yet remain, let it be our endeavour to
obliterate them. Henceforth let the Norman allow that he
found in the lands of the Angles, reared to the most sublime of
purposes, many noble structures; and let the Saxon gratefully
admit, that to the Norman he is indebted for the preservation
and adornment of these evidences of a common Christianity.303

ON THE SHAPE OF THE ARCH WITH REFERENCE TO THE DATE
OF BUILDINGS.

BY JOHN ADEY REPTON, F.S.A.

The different styles of architecture are so well known in the
present day, that it appears almost unnecessary to enter upon
the subject before the members of the British Archaeological
Association; but I hope I may be allowed to submit a few
observations which may interest those who are about to examine
the cathedral of Gloucester.

I have observed in many semicircular arches erected before
the year 1100, that the crowns are slightly sunk, owing to the
great weight they have to support. I imagine that, in conse-
quence of this, the arches were, from that period, sometimes
struck from two centres (see fig. 1), the points being so near
to each other as to be hardly perceptible, as in the west front of
Saint Denis, near Paris (the work of abbot Suger), and also in
the great arch in Boreham church, Essex, etc., etc.

I have already said in a paper which was read at Canterbury,
that we are not to depend upon the shape of the arch to ascertain
the date of the building; but rather to look at the details of
mouldings, capitals of columns, etc. The members of the society
have now an opportunity of examining the semicircular door at
the west end of Gloucester cathedral, which, from its details,
does not appear to be earlier than the time of Henry III (the
same may be said of the round-headed windows at Saint Nicholas’
church, near the cathedral). The sharp-pointed arch, with its
zig-zag mouldings above the door, appears to be of an earlier
date than the door itself, i.e. about the time of king Stephen.*

* The round-headed arch may be fifteenth century (see fig. 14.) The
found as late as Edward IV, or Henry semicircular doorway (fig. 11), in
VII ; as in a window from Knapton Withryham church, Sussex (from
church, Norfolk (see fig. 2), which the details of its mouldings), does
also has an arch of the same form, not appear to be much earlier than
with its capitals, and also a window the year 1500. Compare its mould-
from Westacre, in Norfolk, of the date ings, fig. 13, with that of fig. 12,
of Edward II (see fig. 3), which can and the character will be found to be
never be mistaken for Norman archi- nearly alike. The figs. 7 to 12 shew the
tecture; nor can the beautiful wooden various forms of the arch mouldings
chest in Frettingham church, of the from the Normans to Henry VII.304

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

About the end of the reign of Stephen, the transition style
(as it is now called) began, when we often find the mixture of
the pointed with the round-headed arch. We may smile to hear
it asserted, that the pointed arch was first introduced in 1135,
when one was lately discovered in a Roman barrow at Rougham,
near St. Edmund’s Bury.

A curious specimen of the next style, and worthy of notice,
in Gloucester cathedral, is seen in the Monks Treasury; its
trefoil arches and the trefoil and quatrefoil holes are as if carved
into a plain flat wall without any return mouldings. The capi-
tals of columns, with their bold foliage, are peculiar to the time
of Henry III. The great circle in the centre is composed of
eight pointed arches, of which four have a rude and an early
specimen of the “tracery within tracery'''' which afterwards
prevailed much in the reigns of Edward I, II, III, etc.

The heavy style of architecture of Edward I and II may be
seen in the work of abbot Thoky (in the south side of the nave).
The plain sharp gables on the buttresses are admired by many
of the young architects of the present day ; but are sometimes
improperly introduced in their designs, as, for example, when
mixed with the Tudor style of the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries.

The great window at the west end of the cathedral (erected
about J377) is very ungraceful, being struck from two centres,
the ends being slightly rounded off (see fig. 5).*

The new part of the choir, with the rich tracery in the win-
dows, not being subdivided in half days, or lights, reminds us of
the work of William of Wickham at Winchester. The Lady’s
chapel was executed as late as 1499, by abbot Farleigh, who
had the good taste to prefer the simplicity of the choir to
that which generally prevailed in the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries.

The monument of Edward II is a fine specimen of that period
(after 1327). The lower parts, with the ogee arches and
tracery, remind us of the Prior’s chapel at Ely, and appear to
have been erected nearly at the same time. The elegant pin-

* It has generally been found that four centres, as in fig-6. The arch
the flat arches before the time of Ed- to king Osrick’s monument does not
ward III, were struck from two cen- appear to be older than the time of
tres, as in fig. 4, and afterwards by Edward IV.SHAPE OF ARCHES.

305

1 2

6

—^__

X306

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

nacles, with their sharp-crocketted gables above, are certainly an
improvement upon those erected about the end of Henry III, or
beginning of Edward I.*

The porch is not of an earlier date than Henry V, as the arms
of England are represented by three fleurs-de-lis instead of sem&c.
It is much to be regretted that the six large statues are miss-
ing, which have destroyed the appearance of the 'perpendicular
lines, so much admired in G-othic architecture,—a character very
different from the Greci-Grothic towers at Westminster abbey,
which are subdivided into a number of horizontal cornices.

* The bad taste of the ogee tracery I believe they are rarely to be met
in the three arches, which commonly with at so late a period as that of
prevailed about the years 1300 to Richard II.

1350, was soon afterwards exploded.307

EDSTASTON CHAPEL, IN THE COUNTY OF SALOP.

BY T. FARMER DUKES.

Edstaston is a chapelry in the parish of Wem, and in the
Whitchurch division of the Hundred of Bradford North, in
Shropshire, about two miles north of Wem ; and, according to
the census of 1841, contained a population of 449.

In ancient documents this place is styled Edstanstown, signi-
fying the town of Edstan,—a personage who is supposed to have
been lord of this township previous to the Conquest, and the
founder of its chapel; who had his seat, or place of residence,
on the north side of it, which was surrounded by a deerfold, or
park, and where the site of an ancient mansion is still visible,
though partly covered with soil and herbage. This building is
opposite to a fine Saxon door at the north entrance into the
chapel.

The township of Edstaston is bounded by Wem on the south,
by Lowe and Northwood townships on the west, by those of
Wixall and Cotton on the north, and by Lacon on the east. Its
length, from Quina brook, its northern boundary, to the south,
is about a mile and a half; and its breadth, from east to west, is
nearly a mile. The soil is productive for grain of all kinds;
but most advantageous for the dairy.

The parish, and the copyhold, or customary, manor of Wem,
extends over this township; and the chief part of it was, here-
tofore, of copyhold or customary tenure,—but a small portion of
it was ancient freehold; and whilst the families of the Playsters
and Onslows wTere lords of the manor of Wem, they enfranchised
so extensively, that, at the present day, the freehold lands in
Edstaston exceed the copyholds,—which is a manifest advantage
to the proprietors ; for although still subject to the baronial and
feudal vassalage of rendering suit and service to the lords of the
manor of Wem, the heirs of copyhold or customary tenants
dying seized of copyhold or customary estates, whether they be
of fee-simple, fee-tail, general, or special, can only be admitted
tenants thereof by payment of a heriot, which formerly consisted

x 2S08

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

of the best weapon, but now of the best good, or chattel, of which
the deceased tenant was possessed ; and which heriots arc at this
day usually compounded for from one to ten pounds each, and
anciently also, upon the payment of a fine, amounting in value
to one year’s improved rent of the estate, which, in later times,
has been increased so considerably, that two years’ improved
rent has been demanded as the lord’s right, but which is now
commuted to a year and a half of such rent. And from this
latter impost the freehold proprietor is wholly exempt.

Edstaston chapel was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and has
been usually called “ Our Lady’s Chapel of Edstaston”; and it
appears to have been founded for the welfare of the souls of the
founder and his kindred, for whom masses were continually sung
here until the suppression of religious houses by the statute of
the 37th of king Henry VIII. This chapel appears to have
escaped the general ruin and ill-fated destruction of royal rapa-
city ; for although its revenues were confiscated, and the chapel
closed and shut up for a considerable length of time, it became,
and for several ages has continued to be, embodied as a member
of the mother church of Wem, to which it is an accredited
chapel. This interesting structure is of the Gothic order, and
measures, internally, eighty-two feet in length, and twenty-three
feet in breadth; but formerly it was ten or eleven feet longer at
the west end. The ancient doors and roofing of the chapel were
not cut out and formed with the saw and plane, but hewn with
the addice, or common adze. Sometime about the year 1724 a
great portion of the roof fell in from decay, when an entire new
one, together with the west-end wall, were set up, and in the
latter a modern window of inferior taste was inserted.

The ancient splendour of this chapel may be inferred from the
numerous decorations and inscriptions which covered its walls;
from the floor being laid with encaustic and other tiles ; from the
stained glass in the windows; and from the rich and elaborate
sculptures which adorn the door, windows, and general fabric.
The old roof of the church was painted with stars, in imitation
of the firmament; but long previous to its general decay and
abolishment, their lustre was so diminished as to be but dimly
seen. Almost throughout the chapel there are still observable
faint delineations of relicary remains and paintings, which evi-
dently evince the character and superstitions of popery. AmongstEDSTASTON CHAPEL.

309

those which have been removed or destroyed, were two stone
pediments, placed on each side the altar, for tapers; two stone
bases, jutting from the eastern and north walls,—on the former of
which was placed the image of the Virgin, and on the other,
that of a saint. Beneath the small window in the south wall of
the chancel, were three stone steps, now taken away ; and in
the same window there is yet observable a painting of the Virgin
and infant. Near the altar is a square recess, now appropriated
to receive the consecrated elements, and which forms a piscina,
now much in decay, but which has a somewhat modern door to
it. On the opposite walls of the chapel were two piscinas; but
that on the south side has been destroyed, that on the other wall
remains entire. North of the altar was a sacristy for the sacred
utensils and vestments, the doorway of which is still existing;
and the restoration of the sacristy is contemplated. Formerly
a small square pedestal rested against the ancient west-end wall,
which, it is supposed, was for the purpose of supporting a statue
or cross. In the west end of the chapel a gallery has been
erected, which obviously covers a large portion of the ancient
paintings of figures, and other subjects, with which the walls of
this part of the chapel were extensively decorated. The figures
of the Virgin and child occur, with a variety of design, in seve-
ral parts of the chapel; but most unfortunately, from the various
coatings of whitewash, plaisterings, and daubings, upon the
entirety of the walls, and from the zealous but rather indiscreet
mode of uncovering and removing these excrescent superfluities,
the paintings are so greatly injured and obliterated, that it is
matter of difficulty to ascertain and satisfactorily make out the
real character and purport of the original designs, and which
none but an experienced eye, and with an adequate knowledge
of such-like subjects, can well accomplish. The old glass has
been mutilated, and nothing remains of it save patch-work with-
out design. The only perfect stained glass in the chapel, is a
modern window, containing the armorial bearings of the late
admiral George Bowen’s family.

The service of this chapel is fully sustained, and well attended.310

ACCOUNT OF THE BARONIAL MANSION OF PLAISH, IN THE
PARISH OF CARDINGTON, IN THE COUNTY OF SALOP.

BY T. FARMER DUKES.

In the middle ages a custom extensively prevailed throughout
the kingdom of Great Britain, amongst its gentry and influential
natives, of erecting fortified houses or strongholds, somewhat in
imitation of a castle; and pursuant to this prevailing spirit of
the time, these fortified habitations were extensively set up in
the county of Salop. This popular practice became essentially
necessary in this particular district of the country, by reason
that Shropshire, being one of the English border counties upon
Wales, and which for many ages was exposed to desperate con-
flicts and deadly feuds between the Welsh and English inhabit-
ants of this border of outrage, who were in almost incessant
collision. In addition to upwards of sixty castles that were
erected in the county of Salop, to defend its population, their
possessions, and personal property, from the incursions and pre-
datory inroads and ravages of the Welshmen, almost every
opulent landed proprietor in the country converted his place of
abode into a strong house, and fortified it against assaults. The
domestic mansion of Plaish became one of these baronial halls,
and a house of defence; it was protected by a mote that sur-
rounded the building, and in the upper story was a regular
dormatorium, extending itself along the fabric, immediately
under its roof, and which was constructed in a form somewhat
similar to a row of bins, open at the front and top, and each of
them just capable of holding one individual, apparently appro-
priated for the followers or military dependants of the pro-
prietor ; these appliances, coupled with the substantial masonry
of the building, rendered it formidable, and afforded it a capa-
bility of resistance to considerable hostility and force.

In the central part of this baronial domicile was a commo-
dious hall, or banqueting-room, for the joint accommodation of
its lord and his feudal tenantry and retainers; wherein the lord
and his family had a table, set out upon a dais, or raised floor;MANSION OF PLAISH.

311

and the tenantry, retainers, and others, had their tables set up
in the lower part of the hall: a large gallery, or orchestra, for
the musicians and choristers, extended itself across the hall,
immediately opposite to the dais,— the latter being separated
from the floor beneath it by a richly-carved screen of oak
panelling, and elaborately adorned with male and female figures
of the like material, surmounted by a tasteful tracery of per-
forated pilasters, which has a light and rather elegant appear-
ance. This screen takes an elevation of above one-third of the
height of the hall; but from the long period in which the
mansion has been unused for the purposes for which it was
originally intended, and from the abstraction of many of its
best carved figures, it has lost much from its ancient beauty.
When this mansion was erected it was unique, and replete with
such accommodation and comfort as the age admitted of, for a
feudal establishment in a domestic castle capable of enduring a
protracted siege.

There are few records left which have reference to the defen-
sive operations or political occurrences which this mansion may
have maintained and figured in; but its situation being on
elevated ground, commanding extensive views, and in the con-
tiguity of that lofty Caradoc mountain where the heroic Carac-
tacus had a formidable camp, it was judiciously placed for the
purposes of observation and defence.

In early times every rich man built his castle, or baronial
stronghold, and usually compelled his poorer neighbours to
labour in its erection, and oftentimes enforced these wretched
persons either to supply the garrison with cattle or other pro-
visions ; and in cases of resistance, or non-compliance with these
requisitions, the baronial retainers plundered the compounds and
houses of the husbandman, and did not hesitate to confine and
torture them till they released and gave up every thing that
they possessed. In more modern times this system of oppres-
sion greatly relaxed, and yielded to a fair and more honourable
kind of dealing.

The following singular fact, which gives some notoriety to
this mansion, is upon record, which tradition and general belief
support and hold up as being well founded. When this place
was part of the possessions of the honourable William Leighton,
chief justice of North Wales, and one of the council of the312

ARCHITECTURAL SECTION.

marches, he reconstructed or repaired this mansion, which has
much of the Elizabethan style of building, and of the present
appearance of which the accompanying drawing is a representa-
tion. The house is principally of stone, with occasional intro-
ductions of brickwork, in a reticulated or net-like form; and it

is so substantially constructed, that despite of age, and of two
fires that accidentally occurred internally, and now long neg-
lected and deserted, as a residence of those to whom it succes-
sively belonged, and given up to the careless kind of occupation
of the husbandryman, and parcelled out by him to his workmen,
—it still retains a decent state of preservation, and externally
exhibits an uniformity of appearance. At the period of the
chief justice’s reparations of this mansion, he was presiding at
an assize for the trial of prisoners, either in the principality, or
at Shrewsbury, which is now in the Oxford circuit, and took
occasion to inquire of the high sheriff, whether there happened
to be in these parts any man who could undertake the building
of ornamental chimneys ? when the sheriff observed to his lord-
ship in reply, that the only person whom he knew of that was
capable of such a performance, was the very man that his lord-
ship had just then tried for a capital offence, and had sentenced
him to be hung; whereupon the judge said—“ Then he shall
go and do my chimneys first.” The sentence thus passed upon
the convict was then respited, and his execution deferred. ThisMANSION OF PLAISII.

313

poor unfortunate was then commissioned to erect the ornamental
chimneys at Plaish Hall, and was forwarded to that place under
an escort of the sheriff’s officers, to complete the undertaking,
which he duly and satisfactorily performed; and of which chim-
neys the accompanying sketch is a delineation, as far as they still
in part remain; and according to the traditionary and generally
believed opinion, this miserable operative was removed again to
prison and finally suffered the sentence so passed upon him.

Upon a monument, erected in the parish church of Car-
dington, to the memory of Justice Leighton, his lordship appears
to have departed this life on the 20th of December 1606, and
on which monument the following inscription is set forth:

“ QVALIS VITA FINIS ITA.

“ Here lieth the body of Will’m Leyghton of Plashe, esq., chiefe justice
of North Wales, and one of the councell in the marches of Wales, wch place
he exercised by the space of above fortie yeares w**1 greate sincerity <fc
wthout complaint. He was hvmble in prosperitie, in hospitalitie liberall, to
the poor bovntifull, loving to his family, and to his friends, ten’nts, and
neighbours comfortable, and to all cvrteovs and affable, contented wth com-
petencye wherew* God blessed him sufficiently for his calling. Hf. had 2
wives, the first Issabell, daughter of Mr. Thomas Onslowe of London, mer-
chant, by whome he had 2 son’es, Sr Will’m Leighton, knight, and Richard,
and 4 daughters, Dorothy, Ellinor, Mary, and Elizab. The second wife was
Ann, daughter of Renold Corbett of Stoke, esq., one of the justices of the
King’s Bench, the familie famous and ancient, by whome he had Henrye
and Penelope. In whose memorie the said Ann, to shew the trve affection
of a vertvovs good wife, and Sr Roger Owen of Condover, knight, and
Edward Lvtwich, and Edward Vernor, esqrs., his executors, have caused
this monvmte to be made.

“ He died the 20 of December, 1606.

“ NEMO ANTE OBITVM BEATVS.”314

ABSTRACT

OF TUB

PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD CONGRESS.

HELD AT

GLOUCESTER, AUGUST 1846.

GENERAL COMMITTEE.

Sir James Annesley, F.R.S., F.S.A.
Joseph Arden, Esq., F.S.A.

Charles Baily, Esq., F.S.A.

John Britton, Esq., F.S.A.

John Car line, Esq.

William Chaffers, jun., Esq.

Joseph Clarke, Esq.

Edward Cresy, Esq.

Thomas Crofton Croker, Esq., F.S.A.,
M.R.I.A., Secretary
Henry Davies, Esq.

Capt. Sir W. H. Dillon, R.N., K.C.H.
Frederick W. Fairholt, Esq., F.S.A.
William Stevenson Fitch, Esq.

W. H. Gomonde, Esq.

W. P. Griffith, Esq., F.S.A.

William Vernon Guise, Esq.

Charles Hall, Esq.

J. 0. Halliwell, Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A.

The Rev. Stephen Jackson, M.A.
William Jerdan, Esq., M.R.S.L.

Captain Johns, R.M.

Edwin Keet, Esq.

John Lee, Esq., LL.D., F.R.S., F.S.A.
Thomas Lott, Esq., F.S.A.

Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick, K.H.,LL.D.,
F.S.A., Vice-President.

R.	Monckton Milnes, Esq., M.P.
Richard Mullings, Esq.

Sir Francis Myers, K.C.S.

Thomas Niblet, Esq.

J. Robinson Planche, Esq. F.S.A.
Thomas Joseph Pettigrew, Esq., F.R.S.,
F.S.A., Treasurer
Edward Bedford Price, Esq.

William Henry Rolfe, Esq.

William Henry Rosser, Esq., F.S.A.
Charles Sandys, Esq., F.S.A.

W. D. Saull, Esq., F.S.A.

T. F. Savory, Esq., F.S.A.

Major Edmund Sheppard

C. Roach Smith, Esq., F.S.A., Secretary

Edward Solly, Esq., F.R.S.

S.	R. Solly, Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A.

Re v. J. M. Traherne, M. A., F. R. S., F.S. A.
John Green Waller, Esq.

William Wansey, Esq., F.S.A.

Charles Warne, Esq.

Alfred White, Esq.

T.	Wright, Esq., M.A., F.S.A., Secretary

This list is comprised solely of the names of those members of the general com-
mittee who were enabled to assist in person at the Congress, or who took tickets.

Previous to the meeting, a letter was received from Earl Ducie, stating that, in
consequence of official duties at court, his lordship would be prevented from attend-
ing the Congress. A cheque for £20 towards the expenses accompanied the
letter. A communication was also received from Earl Fitzhardinge, expressing a
wish to receive the Association at Berkeley Castle.315

Monday, August 3, 1846.

The opening meeting was held in the grand jury-room, at the
Shire-Hall. At three o’clock in the afternoon, Mr. Pettigrew,
the Treasurer, who, in the absence of the President, had been
requested to open the proceedings of the Congress, delivered
an address. See page 1.

Some of the Committee having suggested that in consequence
of the great number of communications, it would be advisable
to proceed at once with some of the shorter papers, the chair-
man called upon the secretaries to make a selection. Mr. C.
Roach Smith said, the paper which had been placed in his hand
to be first submitted to their notice, was of a strictly local
character, being an account, by Mr. Thomas Inskip, of ShefFord,
Beds., of the discovery, a few years since, of a Roman tessellated
pavement, in Oxbody-lane (now Mitre-street), Gloucester; and
of which, he believed, no notice had yet been published. Mr.
Inskip had accidentally heard of this discovery during a sojourn
of one night in Gloucester; a circumstance which, Mr. Smith
remarked, suggested regret, that persons having leisure and
inclination to record similar discoveries, had not been found in
a city so abounding in ancient remains; for it was on the good
taste and energy of the inhabitants themselves, they must ever
mainly depend for the preservation of objects over which they
possessed control, and should be the most interested to save
from destruction. Rich as the neighbourhood was in historical
monuments, the county had been much indebted to strangers
for their illustration. He would instance the able dissertation,
by Dr. Conrad Leemans, of Leyden, on the Roman inscriptions
and sculpture of historical and artistic importance, found a few
years since nearCirencester.* Mr. Smith then alluded to some
of the more conspicuous and interesting remains of the primeval
period in the county, especially those splendid works analogous
to that described in Mr. Inskip’s paper, and expressed a hope,
that as the Association had already led the way to the formation

* Archtcologia, vol. xxviii, p. 211.316

PROCEEDINGS OF

of a local society, local antiquities would be more respected;
and that, aided by the parent Association, and by the local
society, all classes of educated persons would join in good faith
and sincerity in checking the wanton destruction of ancient
monuments—in recording and reporting discoveries of antiqui-
ties, and in promoting in good earnest the objects of the body
now assembled within their walls. Having acknowledged the
assistance afforded to the Association by Messrs. Gomonde and
Niblet, Mr. Smith read Mr. Inskip’s communication, which was
illustrated by a coloured drawing :—

“ In the month of August 1843, I had occasion to visit Gloucester, where
I slept only one night. Early next morning I was informed that a publican,
at the sign of the Oxbody, in what was formerly called Oxbody-lane, hut
now Mitre-street, in making some excavations for the enlargement of his
cellar, had made discoveries of an archaeological character. I hastened to

H	the spot and found a

beautiful Roman tessel-
lated pavement, about
ten feet from the surface
of the earth. I engaged
the workmen to remove
the soil as far as included
the limits of the intend-
ed alteration. Having
procured a mop and
water, I proceeded to
wash off the remaining
dirt from its surface, and
was much gratified by
the freshness of its co-
lours and the beauty of
its pattern :—the outer
border of which exhibit-
ed the guilloche, and
between which and the inner were two straight lines of tesserae, inclosing a
beautiful twisted or cable pattern of various colours; the inner corners were
divided off in an angular form by a straight line of white tesserae, inclosing
three triangular ornaments on a black ground. A wider angle joined to this,
representing within two hearts the bases placed opposite to each other, with
a lozenged ornament betwixt. These are much elongated, sharp at the
points, and, divided by the twisted cable pattern, form a third heart of a
more obtuse form, with triangular ornaments to fill up, and enclosed by
another line of cable twisted bordering, at right angles with the former-
The colours of the tesserae forming this pavement were extremely vivid, and
the whole effect in point of brilliancy much heightened by the frequent use



j®

gm

tiittttttliti-t ft :iTtTHE ANNUAL MEETING.

317

of bright tesserae, approaching to vermillion. So far as time and circum-
stances would permit, I traced several other ornaments of the old pattern,
called the true lover’s knot, and which is so very frequently introduced in
Roman pavements. I had not, however, the satisfaction of seeing the whole
uncovered, and only a part of the centre, which appeared to be extremely
beautiful, and of the same character as those of the corners already described.
In digging about a foot from the top, in the progress of this discovery, the
labourers found a quantity of lead, which had doubtless been melted on the
spot, as it had run down a fissure on to the pavement below in quantity suf-
ficient to realize, from the plumber to whom it was sold, three shillings and
sixpence. That this had been the domicile of some Roman, adroit in the art
of forgery, there can be little doubt, as I have a specimen picked up from
amongst the fused lead, of an intended coin, in its first state of progress
towards Roman fraud and imposition. An exceedingly rude specimen also
of a very small carved deity in bone, found in the floor, with the lead, is in
my possession.”

Mr. Carline read a paper by Mr. T. Farmer Dukes, F.S.A., of
Shrewsbury, on the baronial mansion of Plaisb, in Shropshire
(see page 310).

Evening Meeting.

T. J. Pettigrew, Esq., in the chair.

Mr. Godwin read a paper by Mr. Britton, on the New Inn at
Gloucester, and on ancient hostels and old timber houses (see
p. 230). It was illustrated by numerous beautiful and in-
teresting drawings.

At the conclusion, Mr. Britton directed the attention of the
meeting to some of the drawings. The first, he said, was
singularly interesting from its antiquity and uniqueness, being
unlike anything else in this country, or perhaps in any part of
Europe. It was a drawing of a genuine old Norman house,
discovered at Lynn, Norfolk, and in which the windows, door-
ways, etc., precisely corresponded with the remains of ecclesi-
astical architecture of the Norman period; but whilst many of
the latter had descended to us, this was almost the only specimen
of the domestic architecture of the times that had been preserved.
The next drawing was that of an old overhanging house at
Tewkesbury, • which town possessed several specimens of thisol8

PROCEEDINGS OF

class of dwellings, in which each story, from the ground to the
top, overhung the one below. In these houses there was gene-
rally one large room, which was lighted by a window, extending
across its whole front, which was not only a matter of taste,
but had also its use. These buildings being generally street
houses, had not always a very great width of frontage, but they
were often as many as six rooms deep; the first room being
lighted from the large external window, the second by a bor-
rowed light from that window, and the third by a borrowed
light from the two others. Then came a court, and beyond
that three other rooms, lighted in a similar manner from the
back. Gloucester, a few years ago, contained several of these
houses, and Tewkesbury had them even now.

Mr. Wright read a paper, entitled, “ On Monkish Miracles,
as illustrative of English history'” (page 58).

Mr. Purnell B. Purnell, of Stancombe Park, exhibited a
variety of Roman and medieval antiquities, discovered chiefly
at Kingsholme, in the suburbs of Gloucester, and in other parts
of the neighbourhood. Mr. Smith made some observations on
the various objects exhibited, and referred to former discoveries
made at Kingsholme, particularly to those recorded in the
Archceologia, which proved that in the Roman and Saxon times
the site was occupied by an extensive cemetery.

Mr. Charles Baily read a paper, by Mr. Edward Pretty, of
Northampton, on an ancient painting in enamel, on the poor’s
box, in Smarden church, Kent. A coloured drawing of the
subject of the paper was exhibited, together with drawings of
the church, which is commonly known under the popular name
of the Barn of Kent (page 217).

Mr. Smith read a short communication by Mr. James Put-
tock, on the etymology of Gloucester, and on the Roman road
leading from that city to London.

Tuesday Morning.

The chair was taken at eleven o’clock, by Richard Monckton
Milnes, esq., M.P., one of the Council.

Mr. Edward Cresy read a paper on Gloucester cathedral, in
which one of his objects was to show that in the present build-THE ANNUAL MEETING.

319

ing there were extensive remains of the original Anglo-Saxon
masonry.

Mr. Britton said he was happy to find that he was not too
old to learn. He came to the meeting to be amused; he should
go away instructed. He was much gratified with what he had
heard to-day, although he differed in opinion from his estimable
friend Mr. Cresy, upon some particular points ; but in order to
substantiate their differences, a more minute examination of the
cathedral would be requisite, than he had been able to make at
present. As, however, Mr. Cresy had thrown down the gaunt-
let—and a most daring one it was—he knew there were critical
antiquaries present who would take it up and investigate the
matter fairly. That the present cathedral contained these
Saxon remains, that the Saxon works were carried out from
the foundation of the crypt to nearly the top of the battlements,
through the columns, the walls, and part of the windows, was a
very daring position to take up at the present day ; and he
certainly honoured Mr. Cresy for his courage and magnanimity
in it, although he was rather doubtful whether he would be able
to maintain his opinions.

Mr. T. Niblet said he held in his hand a transcript which he
had made from the chronicle by Frowcester in the British Mu-
seum, relating to Gloucester cathedral; another transcript was
at Queen’s college, Oxford; and until some twenty years ago
the original manuscript was in the Chapter-house at Gloucester;
but this was now missing; and one of his reasons for alluding
to the subject was for the purpose of calling attention to the
loss, and with the hope of causing the preservation and restor-
ation of such an interesting chronicle.

At one o’clock a very large party of ladies and gentlemen
visited the cathedral, and, under the guidance of Mr. Cresy,
examined its antiquities and beauties, from the foundation to
the top of the tower, and occupied about two hours and a half
in an exploration, which seemed to afford much gratification to
every person engaged in it.

The church of St. Mary-le-Crypt was subsequently visited
by a large party, who were politely received by the rev. Mr.
Sayer. Other churches and buildings were examined by dif-
ferent parties.320

PROCEEDINGS OF

Evening Meeting.

R. Monckton Milnes, Esq. M.P., in the chair.

Mr. Godwin read a paper by Mr. J. Adey Repton, on
some architectural characteristics of Gloucester cathedral; in-
troductory to which he observed, that Mr. J. Adey Repton
was a veteran in archteology, and an excellent friend of the
Association. The object of his paper, which had reference to
Gloucester cathedral and some of the windows in that building,
was directly the converse of that of Mr. Cresy; for while Mr.
Cresy was anxious that we should not mistake Saxon for Nor-
man, and thus attribute to a later what belonged to an earlier
period, Mr. Repton was equally anxious that we should not call
that Norman which was of a later date still. Instead, there-
fore, of merely looking to the semicircular arch itself, as evi-
dence of Norman construction, Mr. Repton recommended an
examination of the mouldings, the capitals, and other details of
that sort. The transition towards the pointed arch began in
the reign of Stephen, but it would surprise many present to be
told that a perfect specimen of the pointed arch had been dis-
covered in a Roman barrow near Bury St. Edmunds.

Mr. Godwin then said that he had the greatest respect for those
placed in authority, and he almost felt that a society had har-dly
any business to come into a town to find fault; but he was afraid
that by strangers too cautiously acting upon that principle, and
from persons on the spot being restrained by feelings of delicacy
from alluding to matters which must come under their observa-
tion, parties who had the government and care of important
public buildings, went on from year to year, till at last they
found out that the buildings were falling into ruins; and, sur-
prised at the fact, they might then say that this would never
have happened if persons had warned them of it, so that proper
steps might have been taken to prevent it in time. It was with
the greatest respect, then, that he begged to solicit the attention
of the authorities to the state of Gloucester cathedral, being
quite satisfied that unless some proper supervision was ex-
ercised, and some professional architect occasionally consulted,
hereafter considerable expense would be entailed which might
now be saved. He hardly liked to go into particulars, butTHE ANNUAL MEETING.

321

he would point out that a great injury was being done to the
fabric by the enormous accumulation of earth that had taken
place all around the old building, but which might be more
especially observed on the south side of the cathedral entering
from Westgate-street. There, from eight to ten or even twelve
feet of earth had accumulated against the walls of the building,
and was quietly but most assuredly perpetrating the ruin of the
structure. He trusted this warning would be received in the
spirit in which it was thrown out: this noble cathedral did not
belong to Gloucester merely, nor to England merely, but to all
the world, and all the world was interested in its preservation.

Mr. Pettigrew said it was impossible to listen to the observa-
tions of Mr. Godwin without feeling sensibly the utility of
establishments and associations like the present, which was
decidedly one of the most useful institutions, in a national point
of view, that could be entertained. In his opening address, he
had pointed out to the members of the Association the various
buildings and institutions to which their attention ought to be
directed with a view to their preservation; and he was sure
Mr. Godwin had done a great public good by directing attention
to such a point as the preservation of the Gloucester cathedral.
As an architect, Mr. Godwin need feel no scruples on pro-
fessional grounds, in calling upon the authorities who had the
protection of that building to adopt precautions before it might
be too late; and those authorities were bound to attend to
admonitions of this nature. Nothing could be breathed on this
subject in a kinder spirit or a more generous feeling, and he
trusted the Association would not depart from Gloucester with-
out having done some service tor its magnificent cathedral.

Mr. Alfred White re-introduced the subject of the architec-
ture of the earlier parts of the cathedral, by inquiring whether
Mr. Cresy’s attention had been particularly directed to the
large cylindrical columns in the crypt. These columns, Mr.
Cresy had stated, he believed were of the same age as those of
the nave.

Mr. Cresy: My opinion is they were constructed at the same
time.

Mr. White: But was Mr. Cresy aware that these were not
original columns, but merely cases of other columns and capitals
which were enclosed in them, which columns and capitals were322

PROCEEDINGS OF

of an exceedingly simple character, as was most beautifully
shewn in some of the chapels attached to the crypt ? He and
others had that morning very carefully examined these outer
columns or cases, of the internal columns, and were of opinion
that they were added at some period subsequent to the original
foundation of the building, and had been adopted to increase
the strength of the original columns, when some addition had
been made to the building, or when some part of it had perhaps
given way. He did not seek to controvert Mr. Cresy’s opinion
as to the Saxon origin of the building. He believed, on the
contrary, that the enclosed columns were Saxon, but it was a
singular fact if it should turn out that the columns were
nothing more than adjuncts to something of an earlier date. He
thought this matter ought to undergo further investigation and
elucidation, and be clearly settled before the Association left
Gloucester.

Mr. Cresy was not aware that the columns were cased, but
always imagined them, below as well as above, to be formed of
masses of stone, and stuffing in the middle. All but the large
cylindrical columns in the crypt he conceived to be Norman,
but the large cylindrical columns he believed to be Saxon.

Mr. White : Within these cylindrical columns are other
columns.

Mr. Cresy had considered the earliest columns to be the large
cylindrical columns.

Mr. White thought he could prove to the contrary.

The subject then dropped.

Mr. Wright said that, since the discussion in the morning, he
had very carefully examined the sculptures of the carved stalls
in the cathedral, and his object in adverting to the subject, was
simply to show how necessary it was, in endeavouring to explain
branches of art in the middle ages, to be well acquainted with
the literature of those ages. A question had incidentally been
put that morning as to whether the grotesque carvings of the
seats of the choir were the work of the monks and clergy,
or of the freemasons ? Some had adopted the latter opinion;
but he (Mr. Wright) differed from that conclusion; and his
reason for disagreeing with it was that there was not one of
those sculptures that had not its representative, and he believed
type, in the literature of the day, which literature originatedTHE ANNUAL MEETING.

323

with and was peculiar to the clergy, using the term in a more
extended sense than was common at present,—clergy in those
days meaning every person who had received a scholastic edu-
cation. Amongst those persons was current a large body of
literature, differing very much from the monkish legends and
theological writings, and bearing to those legends and theolo-
gical writings as large a proportion as the popular literature
bears to the theological works of the present day. This litera-
ture consisted of all sorts of treatises, and some on science,
amongst which the most popular were the bestiaries, or treatises
on natural history, under which head were described numbers
of extraordinary animals which existed not in nature, but in
fables and stories. There were also fables, stories, jokes, bur -
lesques, parodies, and satirical compositions of every description.
There was not a single representation in the sculptures of the
cathedral which could not be found described in the popular
literature of that day. In some churches, it was not uncommon
for the sculptures to represent the history of some well-known
romance; and even in the cathedral he found a carving of a
combat between a knight and a giant, which combat he believed
he could find described in one of the romances to which he had
alluded. Therefore, archaeologists should always well consider,
before they pronounced an opinion upon works of art executed
in the middle ages, and should endeavour to combine upon every
occasion a knowledge of art and a knowledge also of the litera-
ture of the period to which their inquiries referred. He would
also mention,—as a hint had been thrown out in the morning
that some of these sculptures were indecorous,—that he had
examined the whole of them very carefully, and could assure
the meeting that the most delicate-minded person need not fear
to inspect them; they were entirely unobjectionable on that
score. There was another point on which he disagreed with
the opinion first formed, that the masons were more likely to
be the authors of those particular satires upon the monks and
upon the morals of the age than the clergy themselves. The
truth was, that those popular books of the middle ages contained
things which if not seen we should be perfectly astonished to
be told were to be found there. There were satires and satirical
allusions of every description, sometimes exceedingly gross, and
in some of them even the scriptures themselves were burlesqued.

Y 2324

PROCEEDINGS OF

There was, for instance, a manuscript “gospel of St. Bacchus”
in the British Museum, which, if published at the present day,
would excite great indignation. It was not necessary, there-
fore, to suppose these sculptures to be the works of the masons,
or that the monks were at all scrupulous in carrying their satires
into the carvings of their churches.

Mr. Pettigrew then read a paper on the Gloucestershire peg
tankard (p. 221). The tankard so termed, the property of Mr.
Baylis, F.S.A., was exhibited. At the conclusion, Mr. Planche
observed it was probable that the custom of drinking out of peg
tankards was ancient, but it was singular there were no speci-
mens in existence, as far as he had been able to ascertain, of an
earlier date than the sixteenth century.

Mr. Smith read a paper on Robert of Gloucester, by Mr. J.
O. Halliwell.

Mr. Richard Mullings exhibited a quantity of Roman remains,
discovered at Cirencester. The receipt of various other exhi-
bitions was announced, in addition to a great variety which
covered the table ; among those just received were an extraor-
dinary assortment of Roman remains found at York ; and up-
wards of two thousand Saxon coins (stycas) found at the same
place; the whole forwarded to the meeting by Mr. W. Har-
grove, of that city. (A descriptive account of the stycas has
been published in the Journal, vol. iii, p. 119.)

Wednesday Morning.

At eleven o’clock a large party visited the Roman remains at
Woodchester, by way of railway to Stroud, and thence by
hired carriages. The tessellated pavements are some of the
best class extant in this country, and vie in extent and in rich-
ness and beauty of design with similar remains in Italy. They
have been published by S. Lysons with great fidelity ; but
carefully as they have been given, his plates convey no notion
of the gorgeous splendour of the originals, especially when
viewed under the advantage of a clear sky and sunny day, 6uch
as contributed to enhance the pleasure of this excursion. The
pavements, by the direction of the rev. Dr. Williams the incum-
bent, for some days prior and subsequent to the visit of the
Association, were thrown open to the public; the proceeds fromT11E ANNUAL MEETING.

325

voluntary contributions of visitors being devoted to charitable
purposes. The remains of the villa appeared to be very exten-
sive, and probably have never been excavated to their fullest
extent. The chief room, a square of forty-eight feet, is in the
church-yard, and it is likely that the church itself occupies the
site of other apartments. It was a matter of congratulation
among the visitors that these interesting pavements seemed to
have sustained little or no injury since the time of Lysons.
Their good preservation is to be attributed to their being pro-
tected from the frost by being covered with earth.

The party proceeded from Stroud by railway to Cirencester,
where they were met by Mr. Richard Mullings, Mr. T.C. Brown,
and Mr. Gregory, who kindly accompanied and aided them in
the examination of the local antiquities. The church excited
much interest; and Mr. Godwin, on being requested, made
some remarks on its architectural features. The monumental
brasses, the mural paintings, etc., were carefully examined, and
Mr. Mullings communicated the substance of his paper on the
grand south porch. By permission of Miss Master, the abbey
grounds were
visited, to ex-
amine the mag-
nificent Roman
capitals disco-
vered in Mr.

Gregory’s nur-
sery grounds ;
portions of two
of which are
given in the an-
nexed cut.

The antiqui-
ties in the mu-
seum, and the
remains of St.

John’s hospital,
were then exa-
mined. One of
the Roman monuments discovered at Watermoor, near the town,
is deposited in the museum ; another is in an outhouse at the back326

PROCEEDINGS OF

of a small inn, in Gloucester-street; it appeared that both had
been imperfectly represented in the published engravings, with
respect to details, and correct drawings were therefore prepared.

The fine tessellated pavement at Barton Farm, in earl Ba-
thurst’s park, of which a carefully executed coloured drawing
was exhibited at Gloucester, by Mr. Beck, was lastly inspected.

The subject and its mode of treatment,—Orpheus attracting
the wild beasts by the music of his lyre,—resemble those of the
chief pavement at Woodchester; but the workmanship, it was
remarked, was even superior, and the tesserae with which the
figures were worked being more minute, the gradations of shade
and the details of the drawing were more fully effected. The
pavement is roofed and walled in, and the same mode of pre-
servation is adopted with one of a good description in the garden
of Mr. Brewin. The remains of what is commonly called an
amphitheatre, but by others considered an ancient quarry, could
be visited only by a few, as the day was almost spent, and

arrangements had been
made for returning to hold
the evening meeting.

Some fragments of Ro-
man sculpture in the pos-
session of Mr. Gregory,
were also examined, as
well as a considerable col-
lection of Roman coins and
other antiquities, discover-
ed from time to time on his
grounds. The annexed cut
exhibits a well-executed
head in stone, which is now
in the museum of Mr. Pur-
nell, of Stancomb Park.

Evening Meeting.

T. J. Pettigrew, Esq., in the chair.

Numerous exhibitions of local antiquities were made by his
worship the Mayor, the rev. Dr. Claxson, Mr. Turner, Mr. K.
H. Fryer, Mr. Niblet, and Mr. Mullings.THE ANNUAL MEETING.

327

' The chairman said that the attention of the meeting would
be first directed to an account of those objects of antiquity
which had that day been visited. Some of the members had
proceeded to Woodchester, there to inspect the celebrated Ro-
man pavement, which had been figured by Lysons in his volume
which lay on the table. Thence they had gone to Cirencester,
to inspect the church and antiquities there, and another party,
which had not yet returned, had ^one on to Fairford church.
Some of the gentlemen who had been to Cirencester and Wood-
chester were present, and the first part of this evening would
be devoted to their reports.

Mr. C. Roach Smith said, that having only just returned from
a delightful but somewhat fatiguing day’s excursion, he should
not engage the meeting long with his remarks on what they had
seen that day, for they had collected materials for consideration
and discussion, which it would be impossible to condense off-
hand, and to do justice to the subjects, even were he to mono-
polize the attention of the meeting to the exclusion of others.
He had been prepared, by the beautiful drawings published by
Lysons thirty or forty years ago, to see something extraordinary
at Woodchester; but he must own that the pavements them-
selves far exceeded any idea he could have formed of them, even
from those drawings. That of the grand hall of the villa was
one of the most splendid works he had ever seen. It was not
perhaps equal in execution to one they subsequently inspected
at Cirencester in earl Bathurst’s park; but for general effect
and extent it was unsurpassed, and probably not equalled, by
any similar remains in this country. Mr. Smith having com-
pared them with the Bignor pavements in Sussex, and made
some remarks on points of resemblance between them, observed,
that the Woodchester villa was in a most excellent state of
preservation, and as possibly there were many rooms still undis-
covered, it was highly desirable they should be preserved, the
land itself purchased, and the pavements uncovered at some
future time, walls built round, and a covering placed over them.
It was to be hoped the government would come forward and
give directions to look after these interesting antiquities, which
belonged properly to the nation, and for the nation it was the
duty of the government to secure and preserve them; but until
some proper provision could be made, no better plan could be328

PROCEEDINGS OF

devised for their safe custody than that of keeping them covered
with earth. Some little expense had been incurred in throwing
them open, and this they had endeavoured to meet by subscrip-
tions ; and he would beg to suggest, that as perhaps many who
did not take part in the excursion might still be willing to sub-
scribe, he should be happy to receive contributions and forward
them to Dr. Williams, who would apply any overplus to chari-
table purposes. After a very cursory inspection of these pave-
ments,—for they had only a quarter of an hour, or twenty
minutes,—they proceeded to Cirencester, and examined a very
handsome one there in earl Bathurst’s park. The subject
described, was Orpheus attracting by the music of his lyre the
birds and beasts, and was most beautifully designed. The
tesserae were exceedingly minute; and the figures of the beasts
were wonderfully executed, almost as well as they could be done
at the present day by one of the first painters in the country.
They also examined two of the interesting Roman sepulchral
monuments with inscriptions, discovered a few years since at
Watermoor, on the Roman road running to Winchester. Simi-
lar ones seemed to have been erected on the side of the road
between Grlevum and Corinium — Gloucester and Cirencester.
One was lately discovered at Wotton, which was figured in the
Journal of the Association, having been communicated by Mr.
Gomonde and Mr. Niblfet. He had examined many fragments
of such monuments, recently found by Mr. Lane, in the work-
house garden, which adjoins the former road.

Mr. Smith then alluded to the sculptures in the grounds of
Miss Master, and to the contents of the museum of Cirencester;
the most important of which were the Romano-British objects
discovered in and about the town ; and made some remarks on
the great importance of such institutions, and on the necessity
of depositing local antiquities in public museums connected with
the localities with which they were historically associated; and
he trusted that the example set by the people of Cirencester
would be followed in the neighbouring towns, and that a
museum of antiquities would be soon established in Gloucester.
He observed that the monuments they had seen, the rich pave-
ments, the well-executed sculptures, broken shafts, massive capi-
tals of columns, and sepulchral stones, would of themselves
testify the importance of the Roman town: even after so manyTHE ANNUAL MEETING.

329

centuries of destruction, the earth seemed filled with curious
indicia of its history, which could only be properly investigated
by residents on the spot. No traces remained of Roman circum-
vallations of stone, such as are seen at Silchester, St. Alban’s,
Richborough, and other places. There were remains of earth-
works said to cover such walls; but he could not discover the
least trace of Roman masonry, even where, if it had ever existed,
some vestiges would be expected to be found. In the work-
house garden were the remains o# foundations of a wall, which
had no resemblance to Roman work, although many fragments
of Roman sculptured monuments and stones which had been
clearly used in Roman buildings, were worked into it as build-
ing materials. Therefore, he inferred that Cirencester was not
fortified with stone walls by the Romans—nor perhaps was it
necessary, being probably protected by its vicinity to Gloucester,
and the comparative tranquillity that existed in a part of
Britain not so exposed to the incursions of invaders as the
northern and south-eastern districts. Mr. Smith expressed a
hope that the people of Cirencester would co-operate with the
Association, in order that records of future discoveries may not
be left to caprice or chance; and he concluded his remarks by
acknowledging the obligations they were under to Messrs. Mul-
lings, Brown, and Gregory, for their attention during the visit,
and also to Dr. Williams, for the readiness with which he had
caused the villa at Woodchester to be rendered accessible to the
Association.

Mr. C. Baily said, they had visited the interesting church at
Cirencester that day, and he would offer a few remarks as to
the most beautiful and curious proportions of that church.
There were two reasons why the churches of this country, and
nearly all ancient churches, were interesting to the antiquary,
namely, that they were of great architectural beaut'/, and that
they very often possessed curious features which called forth a
good deal of inquiry; and Cirencester church was very inter-
esting in both respects. The most beautiful parts of the church
were probably those of the latest date; being of the architec-
ture of the fifteenth century, and a very fine example of work
very late in that century. Upon entering the church, the
extreme beauty of the wooden roofs, of which there were five
or six different specimens (a large number to be found in one330

PROCEEDINGS OF

church), struck him as being worth the study of many months,
for every part ought to be drawn very carefully and correctly.
From what he knew previously from drawings, he had supposed
the church to be all in one style; but at the east end of the
north aisle he observed an arch which, judging not from its
shape, but from a section of the mouldings, he believed to be of
considerably earlier date than the other part of the church. He
considered this arch to belong to the early part of the fourteenth
century; and going more eastward, he found that that opinion
could be borne out. In the chancel were three chapels of con-
siderably earlier date and of remarkably curious work. The
two arches and columns with capitals between the south aisle
and the chancel, which was St. John’s chapel, as well as the
chancel itself, were remarkably fine. He did not think he had
ever before seen a capital of such peculiar character. It had all
the character of the work of Heury III; but at the same time
all the mouldings and the foliage were decidedly of the next
reign, and a valuable example. He thought it ought to be
drawn and placed upon record in their Journal. The rood-loft
stairs were the most perfect and beautiful specimens he had
ever observed, and the wood-work of the screens was extremely
fine, and was one of the curious features of the church. Another
peculiar feature was the porch, which was as beautiful as the
church itself. Here there was a room used as the town-hall,
and the connexion of civic and ecclesiastical architecture was
highly interesting. The manner in which the design of the
wooden roofs matched with the design of the stone corbels that
supported them, was much better than was generally found.
The corbels consisted generally of angels holding shields, and
in one case there was the figure of a lady, of whom there was
sufficient history to prove that she paid a large sum of money
towards building the church porch, and the shield which she
holds on her hand bears her name. The church was in a very
capital state of repair, but the inhabitants wished to make some
alterations or restorations, which in many respects was a very
desirable thing to do ; but restorations very often became alter-
ations, and much that ought to be preserved is destroyed.
He thought it always better to leave that which may in
some respects be objectionable in a church, than destroy any
thing which is in any way interesting. Although thereTIIE ANNUAL MEETING.

331

existed a great deal of work which he did not consider to be of
purely gothic design, yet it still possessed a curious and remark-
able character, and he did hope, if the church should undergo
alteration, that great care would be taken that these features
should not be destroyed.

Mr. Britton alluded to a very singular feature in the church
porch—a stone corbel detached from the wall. He knew nothing
of the sort elsewhere, and he thought it must have some con-
nexion with the history of the church. He did not himself
take part in the excursion that day, but those who did could
not fail to have observed the splendid tower of Cirencester
church, which was remarkable for its great beauty, decoration,
and general style of architecture.

A gentleman alluded to the extraordinary richness of Glou-
cestershire in Homan antiquities, and urged the necessity of
preserving and making collections of them. Accounts of dis-
coveries, etc., sent to the Association in London, would be
recorded, and a knowledge of them thus circulated throughout
England.

In answer to a question, Mr. Smith said that several addi-
tional discoveries had been made from time to time at Ciren-
cester; but at Woodchester, he believed, not much more had
been revealed than was published by Lysons. Dr. Williams
had intimated an intention to favour them with a paper on the
subject.

Mr. Pettigrew said a considerable sum of money would be
required to fully develope the Roman antiquities, at Wood-
chester. If friends were liberal towards the Association, he
was sure the Council would be equally liberal in forwarding so
desirable an object.

Mr. Wright said, allusion had been made to the compara-
tively pacific state to which England, and it might also be said
Wales, had been reduced internally during the time of the Ro-
man occupation of this island, as a reason why some of the most
important Roman fortifications to be found were on the coast
or in districts exposed to invaders from the sea. These for-
tifications were not only placed on those particular parts of
the coast to which it might be supposed the Saxons were accus-
tomed to come, but also on other parts of the coast; which
made it probable that the Saxon and northern tribes were332

PROCEEDINGS OF

accustomed to sail round the whole island in their piratical
expeditions, at a much earlier period than we generally suppose.
There were many other reasons for believing that the occupa-
tion of this island by the Saxons was not a sudden invasion as
described in our histories, when the Romans were weak, and
were obliged to go away and leave the Britons to fight their
own battles; for the Saxons not only fought the Romans them-
selves, and infested the coasts of the island, but they also, as
we trace from historical accounts, were allied with the Romans
sometimes, and probably had settlements here long before they
are mentioned in English history. Thus, everything that is
done in the way of excavating the ground, in examining old walls
and old pavements, and inspecting public monuments, or even
domestic utensils, combines to throw light upon history, and
shows the importance of archaeology in explaining and illustrat-
ing the history of the country.

Mr. Wright next proceeded to say, that he regretted he was
not able to take part in the excursion of the day ; but during
the absence of the other members of the Association he had
seized the opportunity of inspecting the manuscripts in the
library of Gloucester cathedral. The collection, a catalogue of
which he had made, was not a large one, thirty-two only in
number. The great strength of the collection consisted of
medical manuscripts, and there were some historical ones, but
very few on theological subjects. There Avas not a Bible
amongst them ; but there were one or two manuscripts of
Athanasius and Augustine. There were two or three collec-
tions of Lives of the Saints. One of these, of the fourteenth
century, in English prose, he thought was a rare one. Collec-
tions in verse of that date were not unfrequent; but collections
in prose were less common. There were two or three collections
of modern reports of proceedings in courts of law. The most
important manuscripts in the collection were two volumes of
registers of the old abbey of Gloucester; and there Avas a tran-
script of the Chronicle of Frowcester, but the original manu-
script was not there. There Avas one circumstance to which he
desired to call attention. It Avould appear that old manuscripts
had been torn up, and the materials used for new ones; for in
one of the registers Avere four or five leaves of a very valuable
old Saxon manuscript; they appear to have been part of a bookTHE ANNUAL MEETING.

333

of Saxon homilies, and contained a portion of a legend of a
Saxon saint, who was believed to have gone to purgatory and
to paradise. This collection, with the exception of the abbey
registers, did not originally belong to the cathedral; indeed,
very few cathedrals have the libraries which belonged to the
original monasteries. This collection appears to have been
chiefly made by a person named Henry Power, of Minchin-
hampton, at the commencement of the seventeenth century—
one of the books was marked as having been bought in Shrews-
bury, in 1671.

Mr. Wright next said, about a year ago a case was brought
before the Council of the Association of a little old chapel at
Gloucester, belonging to a hospital or poor-house, which chapel
was stated as about to be pulled down; the intervention of
the society was called upon, and intervention was successful in
preserving the building. He had heard, since coming to this
city, that the building was in a state of weakness, and would
probably fall, unless something were done for its preservation.
It was proposed to pull it down, and build it up stone by stone,
as had been done in at least one other instance. It was to be
regretted it had not been visited by some of the architects pre-
sent, who would be able to give advice to the local authorities,
so that the work might be done properly. There was always
danger in pulling old buildings to pieces. The description he
had of it was, that it was St. Mary Magdalene’s Hospital cha-
pel ; that there was an east window with a curious double sill;
that the date was that of king Stephen; that it had remarkable
mason’s marks on the exterior stones ; that it was now propped
up on both sides; and that its restoration would cost df?300.

Mr. Wright further called the attention of the Association
and especially the local members then present, to the fine old
wooden building known by the name of the Booth Hall, which,
formerly used as the shire hall, was now employed as a coach-
house, etc., to an inn, and was in a deplorable state of neglect and
delapidation. He understood that the upper part of the building
was shut up, on account of the unsafe condition of the roof and
floor. He felt satisfied, after a visit to this building (which was
one of the most interesting medieval monuments in Gloucester,
and belonged to a class now rapidly disappearing), that it might
be saved by the application for that purpose of no great sum of334

PROCEEDINGS OF

money; aud, as he believed the property belonged to the cor-
poration, he would suggest that it might be formed into a build-
ing for the reception of a museum, and the meeting of the local
antiquarian and literary societies.

Mr. T. Niblet exhibited and explained a number of very well
executed and accurate drawings of the encaustic tiles laid down
in front of the communion table, in Gloucester cathedral.

Mr. C. Baily exhibited a representation of a monument in
Lingfield church, Surrey, formed of encaustic tiles, of a descrip-
tion rarely met with in this country.

Mr. Britton said, that as one of the first objects of the
Archseological Association was the discovery and promulgation
of truth, he felt bound to call in question a remark made in the
course of the evening, that nowhere, except towards the eastern
coast or towards the borders, were the Roman stations fortified
with walls.

Mr. Smith said, that in speaking of Cirencester, he had merely
stated the fact of the entire absence of stone walls in the neigh-
bourhood of that and of some other Roman stations.

Mr. Britton said he could mention Winchester, Silchcster,
Chester, St. Alban’s, Colchester, and he thought he could refer
to twenty other Roman stations where there were evident
remains of Roman walls.

Mr. Wright: All which places were exposed more or less to
attack from the sea.

Mr. Britton thought it would be found upon inquiry, that in
various parts of the interior of the country there were several
Roman stations with remains of genuine Roman walls.

Mr. Wright said, that the remarks he had made were drawn
forth by some previous observations by Mr. Smith, and were
rather intended as suggestions of further investigations than to
give a decided opinion; but as far as they knew there were no
early instances of fortified Roman towns in this island, except
under peculiar circumstances. Chester, for instance, was pecu-
liarly exposed to invasion from the sea. Winchester and Sil-
chester were equally exposed to invasions from the south; and
Colchester was more exposed still: the first descents of the
Saxons being to the south and on the East-Anglian coast. St.
Alban’s, Bede mentions, was easily destroyed, because it was
not walled. It was a place where the merchants of LondonTHE ANNUAL MEETING.

335

had their country houses, and was particularly exposed to the
inroads of the Britons. This was in the early period of the
Roman rule in this country. The Romans soon established
themselves in security, and afterwards the country would seem
to have been pacific under their sway; and it was not until the
later period of the Roman empire, that London itself was forti-
fied, although there was not a town that was more exposed to
invasion. One reason why fortifications were at length adopted
in some places, might be that, as was well-known, every two or
three years fresh parties were contending for the empire, and it
was necessary for these to defend themselves against each other.
It was probably in these struggles for the empire, that the
Saxons were invited over and engaged to take the side of one
party or another. It is well known that the walls of Roman
towns in England, belong, in most cases, to a late period of the
Roman sway. These were points on which discussion would
effect much good. He was not without hope, that before long
the Association would bring to light facts that would give
quite a new feature to the history of the early part of the
medieval period.

Mr. Britton then explained a great number of architectural
prints, drawings, etc., which were hung on the walls, and were
representations of architectural buildings and remains of various
styles, ages, and character, domestic, castellated, and ecclesias-
tical, in various parts of the world. One of the drawings
served as a table of dimensions, showing the comparative height,
size, and proportions of celebrated structures,—such as the great
Pyramid, St. Peter’s at Rome, St. Paul’s, London, the great
temple at Athens, etc. Mr. Britton remarked that, when he
commenced his architectural career, he had to grope his way in
the dark, with no books to consult that were worth anything or
that could be relied upon; no public bodies to assist or cheer
him on ; and every step in the way of acquiring information
was attended with much labour and difficulty. Now the case
was widely different, and in every respect far more encourag-
ing. At our two universities there are two critical and learned
societies, and two associations were travelling the country, with
the view of diffusing a taste for, and a knowledge of, antiquities
in all directions. Therefore, now, no one need remain unin-
formed on the subject. He was happy to have lived to see336

PROCEEDINGS OF

such an epoch in the history of this country, and the British
Archaeological Association had his best wishes and his most
earnest hope that it would go on diffusing correct, judicious,
and tasteful information, in order to preserve all that was good,
to prevent the introduction of all that was bad, and also to
endeavour to counteract the erection of artless, tasteless, and
insignificant buildings to be called churches.

Mr. Wright read a paper received from the rev. Lambert B.
Larking, relating to monuments formerly in the ancient church
of Lanthony, near Gloucester, with notices of the distinguished
personages interred there, — among whom was Milo, lord of
Brecon and the forest of Dean, and one of the greatest barons
of his age, the founder of the building (page 23). Mr. Wright
said, from these notices, Lanthony church must have been a
very magnificent erection, and more important in its monuments
than the cathedral itself.

A short discussion arose on some antiquities, consisting of
an old seal and a broken die for coinage, of the date of Eliza-
beth, found in Windmill field, near Gloucester; the latter, it
was generally admitted, was an instrument for the purpose of
forging.

A paper communicated by Mr. Dukes, was read, descriptive
of mural paintings, recently discovered in Edstaston chapel, near
Wem, Shropshire (see page 307); after which the arrange-
ments for the morrow’s proceedings were announced, and the
meeting separated. •

Thursday.

A meeting was held, at ten o’clock, in the grand jury-room,
at which sir Samuel Rush Meyrick, K.H., Vice-President, pre-
sided. After a brief allusion, by Mr. Croker, to some antiqui-
ties which had just been received, the reading of papers was
commenced by Mr. Saull, on the earlier British villages or
locations, and particularly in reference to one on the moor, near
Sealing, Yorkshire (p. 152).

This was followed by a paper, by sir Samuel R. Meyrick, on
the ancient Pagan religion in this country (p. 99).

At twelve o’clock, the members proceeded by railway toTHE ANNUAL MEETING.

337

Tewkesbury, to inspect the fine abbey and other antiquities in
that town.

The visit to Tewkesbury abbey afforded much gratification
to the visitors. Its extent, architectural character, and stability,
called forth general admiration. Amongst the discussions which
arose, and the remarks which were called forth whilst inspect-
ing the abbey, were some earnest expressions of regret at the
bad taste which had been displayed in some of the modern
repairs and fittings. The pews were generally condemned as
altogether incongruous ; and the organ screen, pulpit, and some
other matters, were pronounced to be innovations, desecratory
of the architectural purity of the splendid edifice. An opinion
was also expressed, that the liberality with which white and
yellow-wash had been here and there applied, was far more
lavish than wise or tasteful. The monument of the Warwick
family, one of the most curious in style and character amongst
all the monumental erections in the kingdom, and decidedly
unique, commanded much attention; but its broken and sadly
dilapidated condition called forth a general feeling of regret.

After leaving the abbey, the party examined the ancient
overhanging houses which so quaintly characterize the town of
Tewkesbury ; and whilst the main body were enjoying their
antiquarian taste in this way, a select party detached themselves
and proceeded to visit the ancient church of Deerhurst and the
ruined priory. These remains on many accounts claim peculiar
interest from the antiquary. They are admitted to be among
the most ancient ecclesiastical buildings now to be found in the
country; and it is to be lamented that neglect, desecration, and
destruction, should have been experienced to so great an extent
by these pious and very extraordinary and interesting relics of
ages so long since passed away. In the church, Mr. Baily
examined some remains of fresco painting, which he believed to
be of Saxon date and execution. The edifice itself is undoubt-
edly Saxon; and the visitors on Thursday, after a close and
attentive examination of its structure and architectural details,
were of opinion that it was a Saxon erection of quite an early
date. The ruins of the ancient priory immediately adjoining
the church are occupied as a farm-house; and pigs, poultry,
cows, etc., make a dirty fold-yard of what was once (perhaps
long before the days of Allred the Great) the imposing, hal-338

PROCEEDINGS OF

lowed, and peaceful residence of some of the earliest expounders
and missionaries of the Christian religion in this island.

The Literary and Scientific Society of Cheltenham having,
through their President, Mr. W. H. Gomonde, invited the Asso-
ciation to hold a meeting at that town, it was arranged to
assemble in the lecture-room of that institution at eight o’clock
in the evening.

Evening Meeting.

T. J. Pettigrew, Esq., in the chair.

The following papers were read:—

1.	An historical account of painting as formerly used in churches. By

John Green Waller, esq.

2.	Remarks on ancient Irish fibulae. By F. W. Fairholt, esq., F.S.A.

3.	On early armorial bearings. By J. R. Planche, esq., F.S.A.

4.	On monumental brasses in the churches of Gloucestershire. By W.

H. Gomonde, esq.

Friday.

The day was devoted to a visit, by special invitation, to sir
S. R. Meyrick, Vice-President, at Goodrich Court, to examine
his unique collection of ancient armour and general national
antiquities.

The party, amounting to nearly seventy, were hospitably
received by sir Samuel, who, in person, assisted by Abraham
Kirkmann, esq., Thomas King, esq. (Rougedragon), and Augus-
tus Meyrick, esq., conducted his guests over the entire suite of
apartments, pointing out and describing the more remarkable
and interesting objects in the extensive and valuable collection.
The inspection, which exhausted several hours, was diversified
by a collation served in the banqueting-hall, and the introduc-
tion, during the repast, of Welsh minstrels, who, in the Min-
strel’s gallery, played and sang specimens of old Welsh airs and
songs; the history and peculiarities of which were explained by
sir Samuel, successively.THE ANNUAL MEETING.

339

Evening Meeting.

T. J. Pettigrew, Esq., in the chair.

Mr. Wright reported a visit made during the morning to
the ruins of the priory of Lanthony. He said that the priory
barn and some outhouses were all that now remained of this
once magnificent building; but that a larger field between the
barn and the river, evidently covered the floors and foundations
of the church and cloisters. He had that morning learnt that
this field was on the eve of being excavated, to form docks for
the Forest of Dean Company. He would urge upon the atten-
tion of the local members the necessity of carefully watching
these operations, as they would probably bring to light a great
number of interesting objects.

Mr. Wright stated, that he had also paid a visit, in company
with some of the architectural members of the Association, to
the Norman chapel of St. Mary Magdalene, already brought
under the notice of the meeting. They found the walls in very
good condition, and the props altogether unnecessary; the roof
was in a state of great neglect and dilapidation, but a small sum
in comparison with that which had been talked of, would put
the whole in a state of security, and they had come to a decided
opinion that it was totally unnecessary to meddle with the old
masonry.

Mr. Smith described the Roman and Saxon antiquities for-
warded from York by Mr. Hargrove.

Mr. C. Baily reported on the visit to Deerhurst church, made
by himself and some of the members on the preceding day.

Mr. Wright read some highly interesting manuscripts selected
from about 5,000 collected by M. Donnadieu. Among them
were, a letter addressed to sir W. Calverley from Harry Went-
worth, dated from Knaresborough Castle, 16th September, 1497,
announcing the landing of Perkin Warbeck on the coast of
Cornwall. Sir Henry Wentworth, son of sir Philip, by Mary,
daughter of John lord Clifford, was in the expedition with
Edward IV, when he demanded the restoration of the kingdom
of France. He was made a knight of the bath, in the reign of340

PROCEEDINGS OF

Henry VII, and was employed as a commissioner in raising
men, particularly against Perkin Warbcck. A letter from
Catherine Parr to her brother, seven days after she had married
Henry VIII.—Charles I: secret contract of marriage between
him, when Prince of Wales, and the Infanta of Spain, in
August, 1623.—Charles II: letter to his sister the duchess of
Orleans, dated from Canterbury, May 26, 1660, the day after
he landed in England on his restoration; and a letter relating
to the condemnation of the duke of Monmouth, beheaded five
days after this interesting letter was written.

The rev. Dr. Claxson read a paper entitled “ Heraldic notices
of Gloucester cathedral” (p. 200).

Mr. K. H. Fryer read a paper on the charters of the city of
Gloucester (p. 16).

The papers of Dr. Claxson and Mr. Fryer were illustrated
by drawings, and by an exhibition of the charters and deeds
described or referred to.

Mr. Smith read a paper by Mr. Hargrove in illustration of
the Roman antiquities discovered of late years in York.*

Mr. Huxtable exhibited an extensive collection of British,
Roman, and Saxon weapons and ornaments, in flint and in
metal, discovered in Yorkshire and other parts of England.

Mr. Niblet exhibited a bronze statuette of a lioness, of good
workmanship, found at Cirencester; and various Roman remains
from other localities in the county.

Mr. J. L. Williams exhibited drawings of medieval works
of art, illustrative of ecclesiastical and domestic customs in the
middle ages.

Drawings, illustrative of Roman remains at Wroxeter, were
exhibited by Mr. T. F. Dukes.

Mr. Rolfe exhibited a coloured drawing by Mr. Fairholt, of
the beautiful Saxon fibula which forms the frontispiece of the
present volume. This rare and interesting relic was accidentally
dug up at Sarr, in Thanet, on the property of the marchioness
of Conyngham. The spot Avhere it was found is near the turn-
pike road on the right side going to Canterbury. For some
years it has been used as a chalk-pit; in- removing the upper
soil human bones are often found; and, it is believed, that

* This valuable collection has since been ceded by Mr. Hargrove to the
York museum.THE ANNUAL MEETING.

341

weapons and the other usual accompaniments to the early Anglo-
Saxon funereal deposits are frequently met with, and sold, or
otherways disposed of by the workmen. With the fibula was
found a bronze dish, similar to specimens in the collections of
Mr. Rolfe, Dr. Faussett, and lord Albert Conyngham, in which
collections, it may be mentioned, are the most extensive series of
Anglo-Saxon works of art in the kingdom. The fibula, it is
understood, is now in the possession of lord Homesdale.

The rev. H. T. Ellacombe, F.S. A., vicar of Britton, exhibited
an extensive and valuable collection of rubbings of monumental
brasses, from the churches of Gloucestershire and the adjoining
counties. Mr. Ellacombe very kindly placed this collection at
the disposal of the Association during the Congress, and several
members availed themselves of his kindness by making sketches
and notes for future reference.

Some casts in plaster, of the Roman inscriptions from York,
presented by Mr. Hargrove, were transferred by the Council to
the Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, as a nucleus for a
museum of antiquities, which the Society expressed a desire to
establish in Gloucester.

Saturday.

The morning was devoted by some members to a further
examination of local antiquities, particularly of the interesting
wooden building called the “Booth Hall”,—to the preservation
of which the meeting had earnestly directed the attention of the
corporation and of the inhabitants.

A large party visited Berkeley Castle, the seat of earl Fitz-
hardinge, one of the patrons of the Association.

The closing meeting was held in the afternoon, Mr. Pettigrew
in the chair.

The chairman recapitulated the chief features of the proceed-
ings of the week, congratulated the Association on the good
results which would arise therefrom, and referred to the great
number of papers of value and interest, which could not possibly
from want of time be brought forward, but which, for the most342

PROCEKDINOS OF

part, would be printed in a volume especially devoted to the
proceedings of the Congress. Nothing now remained but the
pleasing duty of returning the thanks of the Association to
those who had furthered the success and contributed to the
enjoyment of the meeting.

The following votes of thanks were then passed unanimously :

1.	To the Mayor and Corporation of Gloucester, for the

kind and liberal assistance afforded to the Association,
particularly in the production of some of the most
interesting documents contained in the archives under
their care. Moved by Mr. T. Crofton Croker; seconded
by Mr. Niblet.

2.	To the earl Fitzhardinge, sir Samuel Rush Meyrick, the

rev. Dr. Williams, Mr. R. Mullings, Mr. T. C. Browne,
and Mr. Gregory, for the liberal assistance afforded to
the Association during the visits to Berkeley Castle,
Goodrich Court, and Cirencester, and for the hospi-
tality with which the members have been received.
Moved by Mr. Jerdan; seconded by sir W. Henry
Dillon, K.C.H.

3.	To W. Vernon Guise, esq., President, W. H. Gomonde,

esq., Thomas Niblet, esq., and Henry Davies, esq.,
members of the Gloucestershire Archaeological Society,
for the kind manner in which they have promoted the
objects of the Congress, and for attentions paid to the
members of the Association. Moved by Mr. Wright:
seconded by Mr. Waller.

4.	To the contributors of papers to the present Congress,

and to the exhibitors of the various antiquities laid
before the several meetings. Moved by Mr. C. Roach
Smith; seconded by Mr. Rosser.

5.	To the officers of the Association, for their zealous and

disinterested services in their several departments,
during the present Congress. Moved by Mr. Godwin;
seconded by Mr. Rosser.

The Association was moreover indebted to Purnell B. Pur-
nell, esq., of Stancombe Park, chairman of the court of sessions,THE ANNUAL MEETING.

343

for the ready manner in which he used his influence to obtain
for the meeting the use of the county-hall; and to the earl
Ducie, one of the patrons of the Association, for his kind inten-
tion to assist personally at the meetings throughout the week,
had not peremptory official duties prevented; and also, for a
generous donation of £20.

UNIS.

B1CHARDS, PRINTER, 100, ST. MAIITIN'S LANK.