Initial commit of ebook 77866 filesHEADmain

1 files changed, 15267 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/77866-0.txt b/77866-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4bd6a79
--- /dev/null
+++ b/77866-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,15267 @@
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77866 ***
+
+
+
+
+                 MEMORIALS OF THE COUNTIES OF ENGLAND
+
+                            General Editor:
+      REV. P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A., F.R.S.L., F.R.Hist.S.
+
+
+                             MEMORIALS OF
+                          OLD NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+  [Illustration: NOTTINGHAM. THE OLD TRENT BRIDGE.]
+
+
+
+
+                           MEMORIALS OF OLD
+                            NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
+
+                               EDITED BY
+
+                       EVERARD L. GUILFORD, M.A.
+
+                               AUTHOR OF
+
+                  “_Little Guide to Nottinghamshire_”
+
+                  ILLUSTRATED WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+                                LONDON
+                     GEORGE ALLEN & COMPANY, LTD.
+                      44 & 45 RATHBONE PLACE, W.
+                                 1912
+
+                        [_All Rights Reserved_]
+
+
+
+
+                  Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.
+
+                  At the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh
+
+
+
+
+                                  TO
+
+                          THE INHABITANTS OF
+                            NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
+
+                               THIS BOOK
+
+                                  IS
+
+                               DEDICATED
+
+
+
+
+                                PREFACE
+
+
+When this volume was originally planned the editorship was placed in
+the able and experienced hands of Mr. W. P. W. Phillimore, but pressure
+of work compelled his resignation before many essays had been selected.
+The present editor then took up the work, and has now brought it to a
+conclusion. The delay caused by the change of editor has not affected
+the matter in any of the essays except that on “Nottinghamshire Poets.”
+This paper was originally written four or five years ago, and since
+then some of the criticisms have been made and published by other
+writers.
+
+The present editor has tried to choose his subjects from a field as
+varied as possible, and he ventures to think that papers will be found
+here which will be welcome both on account of the matter to be found in
+them and because of the novelty of the subject.
+
+Nor must it be thought for a moment that the choice of interesting
+subjects is by any means exhausted. Enough material could easily be
+found to fill a second and perhaps even a third volume.
+
+It only remains for the editor to thank all who by their contributions,
+helpful advice, and encouragement have made the task of compiling this
+small tribute to the memory of a great county a pleasure.
+
+                                               EVERARD L. GUILFORD.
+
+    LENTON AVENUE, NOTTINGHAM,
+        _June 1912_.
+
+
+
+
+                               CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                                   PAGE
+
+    Historical Nottinghamshire          By EVERARD L. GUILFORD,
+                                          M.A.                        1
+
+    The Medieval Church Architecture    By A. HAMILTON THOMPSON,
+      of Nottinghamshire                  M.A., F.S.A.               12
+
+    Newstead Priory and the Religious   By Rev. J. CHARLES COX,
+      Houses of Nottinghamshire            LL.D., F.S.A.             54
+
+    Wollaton Hall                       By J. A. GOTCH, F.S.A.       77
+
+    The Ancient and Modern Trent        By BERNARD SMITH, M.A.       88
+
+    The Forest of Sherwood              By Rev. J. CHARLES COX,
+                                          LL.D., F.S.A.             106
+
+    Roods, Screens, and Lofts in        By AYMER VALLANCE,
+      Nottinghamshire                     F.S.A.                    124
+
+    The Civil War in Nottinghamshire    By EVERARD L. GUILFORD,
+                                          M.A.                      168
+
+    Nottinghamshire Poets               By JOHN RUSSELL, M.A.       193
+
+    Nottingham                          By W. P. W. PHILLIMORE      228
+
+    Southwell                           By W. E. HODGSON            239
+
+    Nottinghamshire Spires              By HARRY GILL               270
+
+    The Low Side Windows of             By HARRY GILL               295
+      Nottinghamshire
+
+    The Nottingham Mint                By FRANK E. BURTON,
+                                           F.R.N.S., J.P.           306
+
+    The Clockmakers of Newark-on-Trent,  By H. COOK                 323
+      with Notes on some of
+      their Contemporaries
+
+    INDEX                                                           339
+
+
+
+
+                         LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+    Nottingham. The Old Trent Bridge                     _Frontispiece_
+    (_From engraving after McArthur; from a photograph
+      by A. Lineker, Nottingham_)
+
+                                                   PAGE, OR FACING PAGE
+
+    Blyth Priory Church                                              20
+      (_From a photograph by H. Gill_)
+
+    South Scarle: Nave North Arcade                                  26
+      (_From a photograph by J. Selby_)
+
+    Southwell Minster: East End                                      32
+
+    Southwell Minster: Capital in the Chapter House                  32
+      (_From photographs by E. L. Guilford_)
+
+    Barnby in the Willows. (South Side of the Chancel)               42
+
+    Car Colston                                                      42
+      (_From photographs by E. L. Guilford_)
+
+    Newstead Priory: Buck’s West View, 1726                          60
+      (_From a photograph by Donald Macbeth, London_)
+
+    Plan of Newstead Priory                                          71
+      (_From a plan by Rev. R. H. Whitworth_)
+
+    Plan of Wollaton Hall, by John Thorpe                            78
+
+    Wollaton Hall: Ground Plan, 1901                                 80
+
+    Wollaton Hall: Half-elevation, by John Thorpe                    80
+
+    Wollaton Hall                                                    81
+
+    Wollaton Hall: Plan by Smithson                                  82
+
+    Wollaton Hall: Elevation of Corner Pavilion, by Smithson         82
+
+    Wollaton Hall: the Orchard. Plan by Smithson                     84
+
+    Wollaton Hall: the Screen, by Smithson                           84
+
+    Wollaton Hall: Panel in the Screen, by Smithson                  86
+
+    Wollaton Hall: Panel in the Frieze above the Screen, by
+     Smithson                                                        86
+
+    Plan and Section of the Trent Valley South-east of Nottingham    92
+
+    Map of the Trent Valley between Clifton and Collingham           94
+
+    The Great Flood of October 1875. (View from Nottingham
+        Castle looking South)                                        96
+      (_By permission of the Geological Survey and Museum_)
+
+    The Trent separating Holme from North Muskham                    99
+
+    Burton and Bole Rounds, after a Map by Mr. Gurnill, sen.,
+      Gainsborough, 1795                                            103
+
+    Specimen of Sherwood Forest Roll                                112
+      (_From a photograph by Donald Macbeth, London_)
+
+    Blyth Priory Church: Screen in the Nave                         126
+      (_From a photograph by A. Lineker, Nottingham_)
+
+    West Bridgford: Old Rood-Screen. (Now in South Aisle of
+      enlarged Church)                                              130
+
+    Holme Church toward the South-east from the Nave                137
+      (_From a drawing by Messrs. Saunders & Saunders_)
+
+    Newark Church: Rood-Screen, from the North-west                 146
+
+    Southwell Minster: Pulpitum, from the West                      154
+
+    Southwell Minster: Pulpitum, from the East                      154
+      (_From a photograph by A. Lineker, Nottingham_)
+
+    Strelley Church: Rood-Screen                                    158
+      (_Measured and drawn by F. E. Collingham_)
+
+    Wysall Church: Rood-Screen                                      166
+      (_From a photograph by A. Vallance_)
+
+    Siege Plan of Newark                                            188
+      (_From C. Brown’s “History of Newark”_)
+
+    Robert Dodsley                                                  200
+      (_From the portrait by Gainsborough_)
+
+    Philip James Bailey. “Festus”                                   210
+      (_By kind permission of Miss Carey_)
+
+    Halam                                                           272
+
+    Sompting                                                        273
+
+    Bradmore                                                        274
+
+    Compton, Sussex                                                 275
+
+    Gotham, Notts                                                   275
+
+    Burton Joyce                                                    277
+      (_From a photograph by H. Gill_)
+
+    Wollaton                                                        277
+      (_From a photograph by H. Gill_)
+
+    Normanton-on-Soar                                               277
+      (_From a photograph by H. Gill_)
+
+    Edwinstowe                                                      277
+      (_From a photograph by H. Gill_)
+
+    Normanton-on-Soar                                               277
+
+    Ratcliffe-on-Soar                                               278
+
+    Mansfield Woodhouse                                             279
+
+    Squinches, Edwinstowe                                           281
+
+    Gedling                                                         282
+      (_From a photograph by W. H. Kirkland_)
+
+    West Retford                                                    282
+
+    Gedling                                                         283
+
+    Newark                                                          284
+      (_From F. Bond’s “Gothic Architecture of England”_)
+
+    Bingham                                                         284
+      (_From F. Bond’s “Gothic Architecture of England”_)
+
+    Thoroton                                                        290
+      (_From a photograph by H. Gill_)
+
+    Car Colston                                                     290
+      (_From a photograph by H. Gill_)
+
+    Keyworth                                                        290
+      (_From a photograph by Thomas Wright_)
+
+    Upton                                                           290
+      (_From a photograph by H. Gill_)
+
+    Bradmore                                                        293
+
+    Laxton                                                          296
+
+    Costock                                                         296
+      (_From a photograph by H. Gill_)
+
+    Haughton                                                        296
+      (_From a photograph by H. Gill_)
+
+    Car Colston                                                     305
+      (_From a photograph by H. Gill_)
+
+    Linby                                                           305
+      (_From a photograph by H. Gill_)
+
+    Coins. Athelstan to Stephen                                     309
+      (_From a photograph by Mr. S. Barlow Vines_)
+
+    Newark Siege Pieces. Half-crowns and Shillings                  314
+      (_From a photograph by Mr. S. Barlow Vines_)
+
+    Newark Siege Pieces. Ninepences and Sixpences                   316
+      (_From a photograph by Mr. S. Barlow Vines_)
+
+    Tokens                                                          318
+      (_From a photograph by Mr. S. Barlow Vines_)
+
+    Tokens                                                          320
+      (_From a photograph by Mr. S. Barlow Vines_)
+
+    Clocks by William Gascoyne and Nicholas Goddard                 326
+
+    Clocks by William Barnard and Edward Smith                      326
+
+    Clocks by S. Bettison, W. Barnard, and W. Unwin                 332
+
+    Clocks by Humphrey Wainwright and Will. Foster                  332
+
+    Sketch Map of Nottinghamshire                              _at end_
+
+
+
+
+                      HISTORICAL NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
+
+                     BY EVERARD L. GUILFORD, M.A.
+
+
+Modern historians look askance at the writers of fifty years ago,
+their methods, and their results. Their work is unreliable, supported
+by little documentary evidence, and therefore of no worth. But these
+despised historians of an earlier generation did what many modern
+writers forget to do--they made history live. They remembered that
+the characters in the great drama were once such men and women as
+themselves, and they tried to reproduce them as such. Their frequent
+inexactitudes in the light of modern knowledge have discountenanced
+this school, and the pendulum has swung to the opposite extreme.
+No statement is accepted unless it can be amply and substantially
+supported by documentary evidence, and, what is more, if I may use the
+expression, by documentary evidence of the bluest blood. Thus it is
+that our national history, and more especially our local history, has
+lost many of those picturesque sketches which riveted our attention
+and, like the piers of a bridge, helped us to span the intervening
+gulf of interminable yet necessary detail. Nowadays we must eradicate
+from our minds the stories of such heroes as Robin Hood and place them
+among the national fairy tales. This is quite an unnecessary surgical
+operation. It is as though we cut off our leg to cure a sprained ankle.
+Much may be learnt from the adventures of Robin Hood if we regard them
+from the social point of view, for we can obtain from them no mean nor
+incorrect idea of what England, and particularly Nottinghamshire, was
+like in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
+
+I do not wish it to be thought that the importance of documents is
+disregarded, but rather that they can be used much more than they have
+been in conjunction with tradition and the study of natural features.
+In this sense the study of local history is still in its infancy. Some
+historians have even gone so far as to refuse to consider Nottingham
+prior to the first definite date recorded--868 A.D. This is
+mere stupidity, this erring on the safe side. One other side of the
+question I would venture to point out before I deal more particularly
+with Nottinghamshire history, and that is that it is impossible to gain
+a clear and correct knowledge of a district without making a personal
+acquaintance with the territory in question. Large scale maps will do
+much to help, but a tramp through the land under consideration will
+give clearer insight into the minds of the men who made the country,
+the natural features and the artificial features will then assume their
+proper positions and due proportions, and the why and the wherefore
+will in many cases be as clear as the noonday sun.
+
+Nottinghamshire has a great history--greater perhaps than any of its
+sons realise--a history reflecting in miniature the history of the
+country at large. The tale of all that has happened in this little
+Midland shire cannot be rightly understood unless we appreciate the
+importance of its geographical position and its natural features.
+Nottinghamshire is par excellence _the_ Midland shire. Its four
+neighbours all differ from one another, and Nottinghamshire in its turn
+partakes of the characteristics of that which is nearest. Hence we
+have a county of very varied character with two strongly predominating
+features--Sherwood Forest and the Trent. Both of these have played a
+great part in local history, the latter especially, for the importance
+of the former was more trivial and not so permanent. Truly the “smug
+and silver Trent” is the predominating feature in whatever way we
+consider Nottinghamshire. By it the middle of England could be reached
+by sea-going ships, and the commerce of the world distributed through
+districts otherwise extremely hard to reach. Besides the Trent
+served as a boundary between north and south England for legal and
+ecclesiastical purposes. The crossings of the Trent at Nottingham
+and Newark gave to these towns no small measure of their medieval
+importance; they became keys to the north.
+
+The earliest human inhabitants of these islands had a predilection for
+dwelling in caves, and we know that they were able to attain to their
+desires in one place at least within the county--at Cresswell Crags.
+Their remains are so scanty that we can readily believe that they were
+few in number, perhaps mere northerly outliers on the edge of a great
+uninhabitable unknown. These men we call the Palæolithic men, and
+their successors--though there is a great gap between--the Neolithic
+men. We have good reason to believe that in the earliest times Britain
+was not separated from the Continent, but we are certain that this
+cleavage took place before Neolithic man made these shores his home. In
+Nottinghamshire at any rate Neolithic man was much more numerous than
+his predecessors had been, assuming that we may argue the comparative
+population of races by the quantity and distribution of their remains.
+Of neither of these races, nor of any that succeeded them till we come
+to the Britons, can we obtain any fact which we can safely place on the
+modern side of the distant border between history and pre-history.
+
+The historians of the picturesque era brought the British period
+into bad repute, just as the writers of thirty or forty years ago
+discountenanced archaeology by classifying all architecture of
+uncertain age as Saxon. But if we want to get at the truth we must not
+be frightened of the pre-Roman days. The Britons were after all very
+human, and acted in given circumstances as men may always be expected
+to do. We must not look for their fords at the deepest parts of the
+river’s course, nor must we expect their roads to take a difficult
+ascent where an easy slope presents itself.
+
+The publication of the first two volumes of the _Victoria History of
+the County of Nottingham_ is an event of great importance to local
+historians and archaeologists. The volumes, in which are gathered all
+the store of present knowledge, show us how much we really know, and
+how much work lies before the earnest seeker for the truth. A list of
+more than a hundred earthworks is given, and of these hardly one has
+been adequately explored, and yet each holds some secret which would
+help us to a greater knowledge of our county’s story.
+
+Historians nowadays divide the Britons into three races who came to
+these shores one after the other, beginning about 600 B.C.
+and ending only a short half century or so before the Romans arrived.
+The first to come were the Goidels, with whom we have no concern, then
+came the Brythons, who inhabited at the arrival of Cæsar all Britain
+north of the Thames, and finally, south of the Thames, were the Belgæ.
+Nottinghamshire of course did not then exist as a county, but the use
+of the term must be excused because of its obvious convenience. So then
+Nottinghamshire was inhabited by a Brythonic tribe called the Coritani,
+a peace-loving, sparsely-scattered race, who offered no resistance to
+the Roman invaders, and of whom we know but the one fact that they
+existed. It seems hardly necessary to point out that Julius Cæsar’s
+two exploratory expeditions do not concern us. They were passing
+incidents whose importance has been greatly exaggerated by the survival
+of the Roman leader’s account of his little war. It was not until a
+hundred years later that the Roman world realised that there were
+still lands unconquered to the west. The realisation was father to the
+accomplishment, and within a very few years--by 50 A.D. to be
+precise--the Roman wave had passed over Nottinghamshire, and, what is
+more, had passed over very lightly.
+
+Historians of the Romano-British period ignore Nottinghamshire as
+containing nothing meriting notice, but the truth is that few or no
+efforts have been made to find out more. There are four acknowledged
+Roman stations within our borders, and of these two remain totally
+unexplored, the exact sites even unknown, while only tentative
+explorations have been undertaken on the remaining two sites. Yet,
+while it can claim no such important station as Ratæ or Lindum within
+its borders, Nottinghamshire cannot really be ignored, for it occupies
+an intermediary position in Roman Britain between the hardy north,
+where there was seldom peace, and the fertile and peaceful south,
+where the colonists could live a life more congenial to their southern
+desires. After all negative fact is often extremely useful. Why did
+not Nottinghamshire assume a more important position in Roman Britain?
+Why was not a strong station fixed on the twin hills of Nottingham?
+No race with self-protective instincts would ignore such a strong
+position as this, and yet the Romans passed hastily from Ratæ to
+Lindum without approaching Nottingham. To have utilised the British
+trackway which almost certainly crossed the Trent, passed through the
+camp on St. Mary’s Hill at Nottingham, and vanished into the dark
+forests to the north, would have brought into operation forces against
+which the Romans seldom opposed themselves if they could be avoided.
+A road driven through open country is more easily defended than one
+which carves its way through many miles of dense forest, and even when
+the forest was passed there lay to the north a wide marshy expanse,
+watered by the Idle, now a well-drained fertile tract, but formerly a
+wilderness of morass. The strong natural position of Nottingham would
+not appeal so forcibly to the Romans as it did to later invaders. It
+was then more a river town than a road town, and the Roman system of
+defence and communication ignored rivers as much as possible. Leicester
+and Lincoln could be linked together without any interference from
+the Trent, while the road from Lincoln to Doncaster was in every way
+suitable to Roman engineering--an easy ford over the Trent, and then a
+road for the most part over raised ground, which avoided the marshes
+of the Idle and the Cars to the north, and ran on the narrow crest of
+the hills between Drakeholes and Scaftworth.
+
+Nottinghamshire in Saxon times was a piece of essentially border
+territory. When the kingdoms of the Heptarchy were fighting among
+themselves the boundaries were ever changing, so that at one time
+a piece of Nottinghamshire would be in Lindsey, another piece in
+Northumbria, and yet a third in Mercia. During the early part of the
+Saxon period it was pretty equally divided between Northumbria and
+Mercia, but during the Danish invasions it was entirely Mercian. Of
+actual history there is little, yet one or two facts there are which
+must be recorded. About 630 St. Paulinus introduced Christianity
+into the valley of the Trent, while in 617 Rædwald of East Anglia,
+sheltering Edwin the exile King of Northumbria, defeated the usurper
+Æthelfrith at the battle of the Idle, fought, I am inclined to think,
+at Rainworth. This battle gave Edwin a kingdom which he kept until
+his death in 633 at the hands of Penda at Heathfield, perhaps near
+Doncaster, perhaps just north of Sherwood Forest.
+
+It was not until some common foe appeared that the Saxons ceased from
+intertribal warfare. During the early part of the ninth century all
+western Europe had suffered from the cruel plunderings and harryings of
+the Vikings--great sailors and great soldiers, whose fierce strength
+gave them the victory over higher though more effete civilisations
+than their own. Wave after wave of these fierce invaders broke on our
+shores, but could find no resting-place. But at length the Danes came
+to stay, and soon the north and east were overrun by these virile
+warriors. York fell in 867, and in the next year Nottingham yielded
+reluctantly to the Danish yoke, and entered on a bondage which was to
+bear so grand a result in the hardy hybrid race who peopled the East
+Midlands during the tenth and eleventh centuries. It was left for the
+Danes to recognise the strategic importance of the twin rocks that
+stand sentinel above the Trent. Every school-boy knows all about
+the Five Boroughs, and in this loose confederacy Nottingham probably
+occupied the premier place. What is perhaps of most importance to
+history is that the Danish jarls who ruled in each of these towns
+held sway over territory which a few years later was to be formed by
+Edward the Elder into the counties of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire,
+Leicestershire, and Lincolnshire, the great size of the last being
+due to the union of the jarldoms of Lincoln and Stamford. The English
+revival under Edward the Elder led to the emancipation of the East
+Mercians, and at Nottingham we hear that the town was fortified and
+“occupied by English as by Danes.” This phrase may possibly imply the
+existence of a Danish as well as a Saxon town, each on its rock and
+each with its own defensive earthwork.
+
+We must pass over the brief invasion of the Five Boroughs by Anlaf
+Guthfrithson, the quarrels of Eadgar with Eadwig, and Æthelred with
+Cnut, and pass to the period shortly before the Norman Conquest, when
+we find that England is divided into several great earldoms. Though
+Nottinghamshire was at first part of a small earldom with Leicester,
+yet soon it appears to have formed part of Siward’s vast Northumbrian
+territory.
+
+The history of Nottinghamshire after the Norman Conquest has been told
+many times, and therefore may be treated in a more cursory manner.
+William the Conqueror was at Nottingham in 1068, and then passed on,
+leaving the castle to be rebuilt by his powerful dependent William
+Peverel. It is almost certain that the English were sufficiently strong
+in the county to merit consideration, and in the county town itself
+we find that two boroughs were definitely established, an English and
+a French, each constitutionally separate and each surviving in name,
+if not in fact, till comparatively modern times. The great feudal
+castle at Nottingham becomes the dominating factor in the history of
+the town for the next 150 years, but before the end of this we see
+the awakenings of commercial and corporate life. The great forest of
+Sherwood provided a playground for kings, and throughout the county
+religious houses were founded to give knowledge to the people, alms to
+the poor, and rest to the weary.
+
+This county played a large part in the civil war of Stephen’s reign;
+both the castles of Nottingham and Newark were in the King’s hands,
+though the former changed sides several times, and in the process the
+town, whose prosperity and beauty Florence of Worcester belauds, was
+burnt.
+
+Henry II. had no intention of having Nottingham Castle held against him
+should occasion arise, and in 1155 he took possession of it himself,
+and at the same time ordered all adulterine castles to be dismantled.
+Probably Cuckney Castle was one of these latter, and there were almost
+certainly others, but the matter is obscure.
+
+Henry II. gave the castle of Nottingham to his favourite son John
+in 1174, and it remained this despicable prince’s chief and most
+frequented residence, and here he made his rebellious stand against
+his brother Richard, until he was ejected in 1194. It was in this
+year that Richard discovered the suitability of Sherwood Forest for a
+royal hunting-ground, and on April 17 he met the King of the Scots at
+Clipstone.
+
+After the conference at Runnymede had driven John into a corner, that
+treacherous monarch determined to make a last stand at Nottingham
+Castle, which he ordered Philip Marc, the constable, to prepare for
+a siege. Newark, too, was faithful to John, though the surrounding
+country was suffering much at the hands of his enemies. It is fitting
+that, as John had loved this county and been loved by it, he should end
+his worthless life here, and perhaps here alone was he regretted when
+he passed away at Newark.
+
+To all intents and purposes the history of Nottingham itself is the
+history of the whole county. The character of this history undergoes a
+change early in the thirteenth century. Henceforth Nottingham the town
+attracts our attention instead of Nottingham the castle as formerly.
+To quote Mrs. J. R. Green, “The interest of its history lies in the
+quiet picture that is given of a group of active and thriving traders
+at peace with their neighbours, and for the most part at peace with
+themselves.” Commercial Nottingham owes everything to its magnificent
+geographical position and fruitful geological formation. No marauders
+pillaged it, no warring barons held it to ransom and impoverished it.
+It dwelt in peace and grew in prosperity. Linen and woollen goods,
+ironwork, bells, brazen pots, goldsmiths’ work, images, and ale were
+all made in this wealthy town. During the fourteenth century the coal
+that lay all along the western border of the county began to be worked,
+and rich quarries of stone were cut to build the churches and houses
+that sprang up everywhere. Compared with other towns in the Middle Ages
+there seems to have been a noticeable absence of poverty in Nottingham.
+
+We have seen how John used Nottingham as his headquarters in his
+insurrection, and 200 years afterwards Richard II. attempted his
+_coup d’êtat_ there--an attempt which was to have made the King
+absolute.
+
+Nottinghamshire had been but little affected by the Hundred Years
+War. Except for an occasional demand for men or supplies--a demand
+frequently occurring in connection with the Scotch wars of the end
+of the thirteenth century--the records of the county are barren. The
+fifteenth century saw the suicide of feudalism in the Wars of the
+Roses, and here again Nottingham’s policy was a purely commercial one.
+It was quite immaterial to her which side gained the victory, so long
+as her trade was not interfered with, and so we find that whichever
+side was on the top, to that side did the powers that be in Nottingham
+send congratulations and men.
+
+Edward IV. and Richard III. were much at Nottingham, and to both of
+them the castle owed much. It was from here that Richard set out to
+fight his last fight at Bosworth, and a few years later the river
+meadows beneath the rock were black with the troops of Henry VII.,
+drawn together to meet the puppet of the Yorkists, Lambert Simnel.
+Henry passed from Nottingham to Newark and thence down the Fosse Way,
+while Simnel’s troops crossed from Mansfield to the Trent, which they
+forded, and met the King at East Stoke. This one important battle in
+the county’s history was a most bloody affair, and the pretender’s
+forces were completely routed.
+
+The Tudors for the most part neglected this county, and though we meet
+with such men as Wolsey and Cranmer now and then, they are but lights
+that emphasise the darkness.
+
+Nottinghamshire was shortly to awake from its lethargic commercialism
+to its great struggle during the seventeenth century between the King
+and the Parliament, between Newark and Nottingham, a struggle which
+harassed the trade of the towns and ruined the agriculture of the
+villages, which saw the standard of war raised at Nottingham, and the
+unhappy King surrender himself at Kelham. Newark gained eternal honour,
+and the county showed itself the birthplace of great men.
+
+If we except the industrial riots of the early nineteenth century,
+Nottinghamshire was to feel but once more the stirrings of civil
+strife; the invasion of England by the Young Pretender progressed as
+far as Derby, but the reputation of the fierce Scots covered a much
+wider field, and the horrors of war were felt to be very close at hand.
+
+But we must glance back for a moment and record the invention in 1589
+of the stocking-frame by the Rev. William Lee, curate of Calverton.
+Like many great inventors Lee was unlucky and without profit in his own
+country, yet, if we may be permitted to quote Master Ridley’s famous
+dying words, Lee had lit “such a candle, by God’s grace, in England,
+as I trust shall never be put out.” This stocking-frame was the small
+beginning whence came the great lace and hosiery trades which, during
+the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, may be said to have been the
+staple industries of the county. Almost every village round Nottingham
+earned its living by hosiery, and before the days of the big factories,
+in 1812, there were said to be 30,000 frames at work.
+
+It is impossible here to do more than state the fact that every great
+invention in the cotton trade emanated from Nottinghamshire. We have
+mentioned the early beginnings of the coal trade, and since then this
+mighty industry has continued to spread, until now it occupies the
+attention of one-third of the county, and in the near future it will
+undoubtedly spread further.
+
+Such is a brief history of Nottinghamshire, and though we realise that
+history is still being made, it behoves us to turn now and then, and by
+considering the past, try to wrest its secret from the Sphinx.
+
+
+
+
+          THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH ARCHITECTURE OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
+
+                 BY A. HAMILTON THOMPSON, M.A., F.S.A.
+
+
+Nottinghamshire probably has received less than its due from students
+of English architecture in the past. Its more easily accessible
+churches, Newark or St. Mary’s at Nottingham, naturally have attracted
+some attention; and the noble collegiate church of Southwell has never
+been neglected by intelligent lovers of medieval art. Newstead, dear
+to the illustrators of anthologies, is usually remembered as the home
+of Byron and a subject of his verse. Blyth and Thurgarton, however,
+are little known to the majority of Englishmen. Few people know of
+the beautiful, if unpretentious, work of the thirteenth century which
+is to be found in the churches of the Trent valley between Newark and
+Gainsborough. While frequent allusion has been made to the Easter
+sepulchre, the chief glory of the chancel of Hawton, little attention
+has been given to the fact that this chancel is simply a member of a
+group of fourteenth-century chancels, which, though not confined to
+Nottinghamshire, possesses its most finished examples within or close
+to the borders of the county. It is true that, for the most part,
+Nottinghamshire parish churches are simple and unambitious in plan and
+elevation alike. Their plans present few variations from the normal
+type. Here, as elsewhere throughout the north and eastern midlands,
+the aisleless nave developed, in the ordinary course of things, into
+the nave with aisles, western tower, and south porch. The rectangular
+chancel was lengthened, and here and there, as occasion served, was
+provided with one or more chapels. But while, in adjacent counties,
+considerable architectural development followed this expansion of plan,
+Nottinghamshire builders were on the whole content to build churches
+which were adequate for the services of the parish, without attempting
+to give them any special magnificence of outward form and decoration.
+This simplicity of design, however, has an architectural interest of
+its own, as throwing considerable light on the methods of local masons,
+who remained unaffected by the ambition of neighbouring schools of art.
+
+Geographically, Nottinghamshire presented no obstacle to a general
+architectural development on lines similar to those which were pursued
+in other midland counties. Only a small district of the county, on
+the north-west, reaches an elevation of from 400 to 600 feet above
+sea-level: a height of 600 feet is exceeded only here and there. The
+great stream of the Trent provided for building material a main artery
+of water-carriage from which no part of the county was altogether
+remote. The quarries of Ancaster, to which Lincolnshire architecture
+owes so much, were within easy reach of Newark and the vale of
+Belvoir. There was good building stone within the shire at Mansfield,
+Maplebeck, and Tuxford. Moreover, the general state of Nottinghamshire
+in the middle ages seems to have been highly prosperous: laymen were
+well-to-do, and few, if any, counties of the size can show such an
+array of well-endowed chantry foundations as that which it possessed
+at the close of the period. It possessed a centre of ecclesiastical
+influence at Southwell; and, although there was no religious house of
+the first class within its borders, there were several fairly important
+houses of canons regular, which might be expected to provide models for
+architectural work in their neighbourhood.
+
+It is probable, however, that, at any rate in the fourteenth and
+fifteenth centuries, much of the skilled workmanship of the district
+was attracted eastwards by the splendid growth of architecture which
+took place within the sphere of the trade route to Boston and in the
+neighbourhood of the growing port of Hull. These provinces of art,
+again, must have drawn towards them, and away from Nottinghamshire,
+masons brought up within the architectural influence of Lincoln and
+York. As Nottinghamshire formed the southern archdeaconry of the
+diocese of York, we should naturally expect to find some Yorkshire
+influence upon its buildings. This, as we shall see, was undoubtedly
+the case. The influence of York upon Southwell is strong, and the
+churches of north Nottinghamshire have a strong family likeness to
+those of south Yorkshire. Again, the chapter of Lincoln possessed a
+large amount of property in the wapentake of Newark, and in this part
+of the county it is possible to trace at an early date an architectural
+spirit which had its origin at Lincoln. The fact, however, remains
+that, while Nottinghamshire possesses several individual churches which
+are fully equal in beauty to those of south Lincolnshire or south-east
+Yorkshire, it stood outside the main current of architectural progress
+which set in, as the middle ages advanced, towards the Humber and the
+Wash.
+
+It may be said that the direct influence of ecclesiastical foundations
+upon churches connected with them was probably much less than is
+usually supposed. A large collegiate church, such as Southwell, which
+played its part as a central point in the ecclesiastical life of the
+county, and owned much local property, might have considerable effect
+upon the progress of local architecture. The chapter and its individual
+canons would be responsible for the repair of chancels in their
+impropriated churches. Where they were lords of the manor as well as
+impropriators, their care for the fabric might go still further. The
+same thing is true of monasteries. But it must be remembered that, as
+in our own day, so then, no corporation as lord of the manor, and still
+more as rector, would go out of its way to beautify its possessions
+at unnecessary expense. Its interest lay in the income to be derived
+from the churches, not in the money which it might be possible to
+expend upon them. The statement, so common in uncritical writers, that
+the religious houses throughout the land built churches broadcast,
+rests on no sound historical basis. It is far more accurate to say
+that they simply built where they were obliged to do so, and that
+then they did their utmost to avoid expense. The church west of the
+chancel lay outside their province. Its maintenance was the duty of
+the parishioners. In churches where they merely owned the advowson,
+the rector, their presentee, was responsible for the chancel. Where
+they were impropriators, they usually avoided part of their obligations
+by charging their vicar with a sensible part of the repairs of the
+chancel. Thus, Worksop priory undertook, in 1283–84, three-quarters
+of the repairs of the chancel at Walkeringham: the vicar was charged
+with the remaining quarter.[1] Many arrangements of this kind could be
+cited. At Newark, in 1428, St. Katherine’s priory at Lincoln undertook
+the whole upkeep of the chancel; but the vicar, on his part, was made
+wholly responsible for the vicarage house.[2] In any case, a monastery
+would save itself unnecessary expense, if possible. This is not to be
+wondered at, if the whole question of monastic finances in the middle
+ages, and the pressure of debt which constantly weighed upon even the
+larger houses, is considered. The constant excuse for appropriating an
+advowson was one of poverty, nor did bishops sanction appropriations
+without a conventional demur.
+
+These circumstances taken into account, it will be seen that the
+religious houses cannot be credited with any great architectural
+influence upon the churches belonging to them. For necessary repairs
+in parish churches they would employ local masons, who would charge
+them little, and execute their work neatly and adequately. It is true
+that there are exceptions. The vast aisled chancel of Newark was
+planned on an unusually liberal scale; but it may fairly be assumed
+that the work was put in the hands of skilled local craftsmen who had
+no direct connection with St. Katherine’s priory. Nor can any special
+architectural relationship be discovered between the chancel of Newark
+and the vanished church of the impropriating house. It may also be
+noted that, until the fourteenth century, the number of churches
+appropriated to monasteries in Nottinghamshire was not large. By the
+time of the suppression of the monasteries, a third of the churches of
+the county were appropriated to religious houses, and of these about
+a third belonged to monasteries outside the county, Westminster abbey
+holding six.[3] This, however, does not represent the proportion of
+appropriated churches during the time of the greatest architectural
+activity. The number of churches, on the other hand, appropriated to
+prebendaries of Southwell and members of other collegiate bodies,
+such as the dean and chapter of Lincoln,[4] or the warden and canons
+of St. Mary and the Holy Angels at York,[5] was considerable from the
+twelfth century onwards. Yet it is impossible to trace any general
+attempt at architectural improvement on the part of ecclesiastical
+bodies or their individual members. Here and there we may suspect
+something; but the general rule is one of sound practical building on
+local lines, following the general current of architectural growth
+prevalent throughout the length and breadth of England, and touched
+now and then by the work of a neighbouring school of masons whose
+mastery of their craft was superior to the homely dialect of the
+Nottinghamshire craftsmen. In most parishes the lord of the manor may
+be regarded as the principal contributor, who may have helped with the
+chancel, if he occupied a seat there, and would have been the ruling
+spirit in the building of the nave. The rector, often a non-resident,
+would be the repairer and rebuilder of the chancel, and may often
+have been forced to do his duty unwillingly. The builders, save in
+exceptional instances, were, we may well believe, masons of the village
+or neighbourhood, who were also the builders and repairers of the
+manor-house and such stone dwellings as the village might possess. For
+the furniture of the church the local carpenter and painter would be
+called in. In our own day, when we are familiar with the professional
+architect who restores our village churches, and with improved means
+of communication between place and place, it is difficult to imagine
+that our villages possessed the necessary talent for all this work.
+Architecture, however, in the middle ages was a general, democratic
+art: building was a part of the practical life of the English village,
+and the stonework of the place was a topic of current interest and
+intelligence, not yet relegated to the province of archæology.
+
+There are few buildings remaining in the county which can be said to
+contain traces of pre-Conquest work. Foundations of a church which is
+very probably of Saxon date have been uncovered at East Bridgford. The
+tower of the church of Carlton-in-Lindrick belongs to the type of late
+Saxon tower, of which there are many examples in north Lincolnshire. It
+was originally unbuttressed, and in, each face of its belfry stage was
+a double window opening, divided by a mid-wall shaft. In the fifteenth
+century an upper belfry stage and buttresses were added to the tower;
+the large dressed blocks of grey stone, of which these additions are
+composed, afford an interesting contrast to the rubble work of the
+older portion of the structure. In another volume of this series the
+present writer has attempted to show that a pre-Conquest date cannot
+with certainty be assigned to towers of this class, although there
+can be no doubt that the type originated during the Saxon period.[6]
+The presence of “herring-bone” masonry in the tower is a distinct
+indication of its post-Conquest date. “Herring-bone” coursing never
+occurs in portions of a fabric, of the Saxon origin of which there can
+be no doubt. At Brixworth, in Northamptonshire, it is found only in a
+portion of the tower, above the definitely Saxon work which remains: it
+occurs, again, in a part of the crypt at York, for the traditionally
+early date of which there is absolutely no evidence. On the other
+hand, by far the most extensive use of “herring-bone” masonry is in
+the walling of early castles, which were certainly not raised before
+the Conquest, but owed their origin to the conquerors. The curtains
+of Tamworth, Corfe, Lincoln, Richmond, and Hastings, the keep of
+Colchester, works of the later portion of the eleventh century, are
+imposing examples of the use of this method of masonry. It is not even
+a method which can be attributed to English workmen: it is found in
+Normandy, and is used on a grand scale in the interior of the donjon
+at Falaise. Where it is found in churches, therefore, it probably
+indicates Norman influence at a period soon after the Conquest; while
+it may be taken as a criterion for doubting seriously the pre-Conquest
+date of work that seems at first sight rude and primitive enough to
+be attributed to English masons before the coming of the Normans.
+Thus there is “herring-bone” coursing in the north wall of the nave
+at East Leake, found in company with small and narrow windows, the
+heads of which are not arched, but composed of flat lintels, with a
+segmental cut in their lower surface. At West Leake, where, as at East
+Leake, a south aisle was added to the fabric, but the north wall was
+left untouched, the window openings are similar, and the masonry is
+equally rude, but there is no “herring-bone” work. There are several
+examples in Nottinghamshire churches of walls, in which roughly tooled
+masonry, bedded in thick masses of mortar, and not infrequently
+arranged in “herring-bone” courses, occurs; and the pre-Conquest date
+of some of these--Oxton and Plumtree are cases in point--needs careful
+consideration. The most important cases of “herring-bone” work are
+found in the churches which fringe the left bank of the Trent below
+Newark--Averham, South Muskham, Cromwell, Laneham, and Littleborough.
+In the last two, which are the chief instances, the case for a
+pre-Conquest date is very poor. The proportions of the fabrics, both
+at Laneham and Littleborough, in which we find this masonry, have
+nothing about them which is peculiarly Saxon. On the contrary, while
+the earliest work at Laneham, the tower and tower-arch, is possibly
+earlier than the twelfth century, the whole fabric at Littleborough is
+an ordinary “Norman” aisleless church of twelfth-century character. It
+may be added that, on the opposite bank of the Trent, “herring-bone”
+masonry is hardly less common. At Marton, opposite Littleborough,
+it is used in the very uncommon method employed at Tamworth castle,
+with two horizontal layers of long, thin stones between the diagonal
+courses; while, at Upton in the same neighbourhood, the whole south
+wall of an originally aisleless church, somewhat larger than that of
+Littleborough, and as thoroughly of the twelfth century in its design
+and proportions, is composed of very regular “herring-bone” coursing.
+
+The whole problem of the work of English masons after the Conquest
+is one for the solution of which we have as yet no definite data.
+These Nottinghamshire examples can hardly be said to do more than
+leave the question where they find it. The one thing that can be said
+positively is that such churches were built in country places at small
+expense, and without the trouble of dressing stone in large blocks of
+regular size, which was taken in cases where more money was probably
+forthcoming. Such buildings, it need hardly be said, were intended to
+have an outer as well as an inner coat of plaster. The masonry, when
+exposed, is interesting, but unsightly. Far different was the case with
+the larger churches of the Norman period in England, with the rubble
+core of their walling faced, out and in, with courses of dressed stone.
+Of these churches, in which principles of construction were gradually
+developed by the attempt of the builders to solve the problem offered
+by the stone roof and its abutments, Nottinghamshire possesses two, the
+priory church of Blyth and the collegiate church of Southwell. Blyth
+was the church of a priory of Norman Benedictines, founded in 1088 as
+a cell to the abbey of La Trinité on the Mont-Ste-Cathérine at Rouen.
+The eastern portion of the church is now gone, but the nave and north
+aisle of the original building remain. These must have been built very
+soon after the foundation: their characteristics are those of the
+eleventh-century Romanesque of Normandy, as we see it in the large
+Benedictine churches of Bernay (Eure) and Jumièges (Seine-Inférieure).
+The masonry with which the building is faced is composed chiefly of
+cubical blocks of dressed stone with wide joints. The arches of the
+main arcades are round-headed, and of two orders, unmoulded: both
+orders spring from a single soffit shaft with a trapezoidal capital and
+heavy abacus. The piers dividing the arches are square blocks of wall,
+in front of each of which a bold semi-circular shaft rises to the level
+of the springing of the triforium arcade. The string-course at the
+sill of the triforium arcade is continued as a band round the vaulting
+shafts. Each bay of the triforium is pierced by a single archway, about
+a third of the height of the corresponding arch of the main arcade.
+Each of these arches is of two orders: the supports are formed by the
+rectangular recessing of the intermediate piers, and the arches spring
+from impost-blocks recessed to match. The construction of the triforium
+is thus more logical and symmetrical than that of the main arcade
+below, in which the two orders of the arches find no correspondence in
+the jambs. The clerestory is composed of a single round-headed opening
+in each bay, set in the outer face of the wall. The nave originally was
+not vaulted, but in the thirteenth century the vaulting shafts were
+adapted to receive the springing of a quadripartite vault, the ribs
+of which spring at the level already mentioned. Both aisles, however,
+were probably vaulted. At the end of the thirteenth century, a very
+wide south aisle was built for the sake of the parochial services, and
+the older aisle was removed. The north aisle, however, is left as it
+was: each bay is covered with a groined vault of plastered rubble. The
+groins are winding and irregular. The builders were evidently alive to
+the difficulty of keeping the crown of their vault level, where the
+compartment with which they had to deal was oblong in shape; and the
+groins are made to spring, not from the same point as the transverse
+arches dividing each bay, but from small stilts set rather awkwardly
+upon the springing blocks. The whole work is severely plain: the
+capitals of the soffit shafts of the main arcade have small volutes
+at their angles, and there is simple grotesque carving on the flat
+face of the capitals between the volutes. One of the bases also has an
+excellent double roll carved in cable fashion.
+
+  [Illustration: BLYTH PRIORY CHURCH.]
+
+The date of this work is of some importance in the general history of
+English architecture. Apart from the early work at Westminster, few
+churches in England, built wholly under Norman influence, can have
+been completed at an earlier date than Blyth, although the building
+of several was in progress at the time when Blyth was founded. The
+largest eleventh-century church in the neighbourhood, that of Lincoln,
+was consecrated in 1092; and the remains of the earliest work there
+have much in common with Blyth--the wide-jointed masonry, unmoulded
+arches, voluted capitals, broad triforium arches, and single clerestory
+openings. The date of the consecration of Blyth, however, is
+unrecorded, and it should be borne in mind that the work in 1088 would
+have been begun with the eastern arm, of which there is nothing left.
+All, therefore, that can be said about it is, that it is approximately
+contemporary with the eleventh-century work at Lincoln, and that the
+elevation adopted in the lateral walls of both churches probably
+supplied a model to the builders of Southwell. The monks’ quire at
+Blyth extended one bay west of the crossing, and, at a later date, was
+divided from the nave by a solid wall the whole height of the building.
+On this wall, towards the nave, remain traces of painting: the eastern
+bay of the nave is open to the garden of the modern hall near the
+church, and was used for some time as an aviary.
+
+The great church of Southwell, as it stands, was begun in the days of
+Thomas II., archbishop of York from 1109 to 1114. The eastern arm was
+terminated by a rectangular chancel, while the aisles ended in apses,
+the walls of which were rounded externally as well as internally.
+Traces alone remain of this interesting plan.[7] The transepts of the
+twelfth-century church remain, though the apsidal chapels to the east
+of them have gone: the whole of the nave and south porch, the central
+tower, and two western towers form one work with the transepts. The
+general character of this work is of a rather late Romanesque type.
+The gables of the transepts are filled with a relieved honeycomb
+pattern which bears some affinity to that used in the gables abutting
+on the lower stages of the western towers at Lincoln. The date of the
+Lincoln work has been supposed to lie between 1123 and 1148, but is
+very probably even later than the second date. The rich string-course
+of chevron ornament which, in spite of some mutilation, is still
+continued round the nave and transepts of Southwell at the level of
+the sills of the aisle windows, and is raised to form the segmental
+head of the doorway in the south transept, is another feature which
+points to the late completion of the western part of the church. The
+northern and western doorways of the nave, the first of five, the
+second of four shafted orders, in addition to the continuous inner
+order of rows of chevrons, have a refinement of detail which suggests
+a date not earlier than 1150. In the side walls of the north porch,
+the lower stage of the central tower, and the top stage but one of
+the north-west tower, are arcades of intersecting rounded arches. In
+the south-west tower, however, the arcade in the top stage but one
+consists of pointed arches. The probability is that the work was slowly
+achieved, and was not finished until the third quarter of the twelfth
+century. The earliest portion appears to be the great arches beneath
+the central tower, with their elaborate “double-cone” ornament, which
+is really a highly-developed variety of the twisted-cable sculpture,
+such as we have noticed on the base at Blyth.[8] The main arcades of
+the nave were then probably built westward as an abutment to these
+arches. The arcades are of seven bays up to the eastern piers of the
+towers. The arches have a curve of rather less than a semicircle:
+they are framed by a band of double-billet ornament beneath a small
+roll: they have a deep outer order with an edge-roll, and an inner
+order with two thick soffit rolls. They are divided by low and massive
+cylindrical columns, the capitals of which are cylinders of larger
+diameter, carved with scalloping and other ornament. This carving is
+incised, and little relief is given to the scalloping. The work of the
+triforium, clerestory, and aisles appears to have followed the building
+of the main arcades.[9] The triforium, as at Blyth, has a single bold
+opening in each bay. The moulding of the arches is very similar to that
+of the arches below, but the outer band of ornament is richer. The
+piers dividing them are square in section, and are recessed with an
+angle shaft and soffit shaft, each with scalloped capitals to bear the
+orders of the arches. The inner faces of the arches and jambs towards
+the triforium passage are left unmoulded. The clerestory consists of
+a circular opening in each bay, framed on the outside by a continuous
+roll moulding. There is a barrel-vaulted clerestory passage, which
+opens towards the nave by a plain rounded arch with soffit shafts in
+each bay. No vaulting shafts were ever planned: the elevation of the
+nave externally is rather flat and plain, but a strong horizontal
+line is given by the triforium string, and the effect of light and
+shade caused by the clerestory openings is one of the most beautiful
+features of this noble church. It was originally intended to introduce
+sub-arches into the triforium openings, on the plan adopted at Romsey:
+the preparations for this subdivision remain, but it was never carried
+out.
+
+The aisles are vaulted in quadripartite compartments, with massive
+diagonal ribs, square in section, with thick edge rolls, and a double
+bead on the soffit. The centre of the diagonals is considerably below
+their springing, with a fatal result to the artistic effect of their
+curve. No special provision is made for their reception either on the
+side of the main arcades or that of the aisle wall: their outward
+pressure, which is considerable, is met by shallow pilaster buttresses,
+which serve as thickening to the wall at the necessary points. The
+north porch, which has a solar or upper chamber, is barrel-vaulted. The
+rough rubble vault, denuded of its plaster covering, forms a strange
+contrast to the richness of the north doorway and the intersecting
+arcades of the side walls. Although, as already said, all this work,
+and the north porch most of all, belongs to an advanced period of the
+twelfth century, the actual plan, with the two rather slender western
+towers, may probably be assigned to the time when the rebuilding of the
+church was first projected by Norman builders. The two western towers
+planned at Melbourne (probably after 1133) and Bakewell in Derbyshire,
+at once recall on plan the towers of Southwell, and are less likely
+to have suggested them than to have been suggested by them. There is
+little doubt that the two towers of Worksop priory church bear witness
+to the influence of Southwell, while the scheme of the elevation of the
+nave there was derived from Blyth and Southwell, and expressed in later
+terms.
+
+The vaulted crypt which remains beneath the chancel of Newark church
+has been curtailed of its full proportions, but is a good example of
+the successful ribbed vaulting of a series of narrow oblong bays, the
+transverse arch between each bay being omitted, as in the alternate
+bays at Durham. Among the parish churches of the county there are
+few instances of unmixed Romanesque work of post-Conquest date.
+Littleborough and Sookholme are aisleless chapels with rectangular
+chancels, and to these the greater part of the fabric at Halam
+may be added. East and West Leake keep enough of their possibly
+eleventh-century structure to enable us to realise their original
+appearance; but both have undergone the process of the enlargement of
+the chancel and the addition of a south aisle, and at East Leake the
+tower is of the thirteenth century. Early towers with plain details,
+as at Laneham and Mansfield, are not uncommon: that at Plumtree is
+a case in which some slight architectural enrichment has been given
+to a simple design. Such towers, the unbuttressed construction of
+which, as at East Leake, survives into the thirteenth century, seem
+to be the work of local masons on whom the methods of the Norman
+builders have made comparatively little impression. On the other
+hand, the distinctive ornamentation of Norman churches has left its
+mark on chancel arches like those of Littleborough and Harworth,
+and on a considerable number of doorways. The carved tympana of the
+doorways of Hoveringham and Everton may be assigned to the early part
+of the twelfth century. The tympanum, now built into the west wall
+of the south transept at Southwell, is earlier in date. Its rude
+and angular figure sculpture has been cited with some probability
+as Saxon, but has much in common with other late eleventh- and even
+twelfth-century sculpture, in which possible Scandinavian influence
+may be detected. Work of a similar school may be seen in the carved
+figures, representing nine of the months of the year, which have been
+built into the tower at Calverton: these seem to have been the carved
+_voussoirs_ of the doorway of the eleventh-century church, of
+which the chancel arch remains. The influence of Yorkshire building on
+Nottinghamshire was always strong, and we cannot expect to find in the
+early work of the district the refined carving of the southern schools
+of masons. Among doorways of a later date, the south doorway and the
+outer doorway of the north porch at Balderton stand easily first: these
+have rich and deeply-cut bands of chevron ornamentation.[10]
+
+  [Illustration: SOUTH SCARLE. NAVE NORTH ARCADE.]
+
+Arcades of twelfth-century work are very few in number: there are no
+cases among the parish churches where both arcades are of this date.
+At Thoroton, South Collingham, and South Searle the north aisle was
+added before the transition to Gothic had thoroughly set in; and the
+two last examples are peculiarly instructive. In either case the arcade
+is of uncommon beauty. At South Collingham it is of distinctly late
+Romanesque character. The capitals are scalloped, the arches have
+heavy double soffit rolls, the outer order has a band of chevron both
+on the wall and soffit planes, and each arch has a hood of “nebule”
+ornament, which recalls the form of the corbel table of the nave at
+Southwell. Large grotesque heads occur at the junction of the hoods.
+The date of the work is certainly earlier than 1150. The north arcade
+at South Scarle belongs to the third quarter of the century. The
+arches are rounded and of two orders. The inner order is ornamented
+with bands of deeply moulded lozenges, formed by opposed rows of
+chevrons, set both on the wall and soffit planes, the edge between
+the points of contact of the lozenges being left square. The outer
+order has a slender edge-roll: on both planes are bands of lozenges,
+longer and narrower than those of the inner order, with a roll moulding
+running through and bisecting each lozenge. The hoods are composed of
+a double band of chevron, arranged on both planes, the edge, as in
+the inner order, being left square. At the meeting of the hoods are
+heads. The adjacent outer orders intersect and are combined with rare
+skill. The column dividing the arches is cylindrical: the capital has
+a heavy square abacus with a long vertical hollow, and the bell has a
+simple band of deeply undercut foliage with angle crockets. The whole
+design could hardly be surpassed in any English parish church of the
+period. It is not fanciful to suggest that the carving of both planes
+throughout the arch and hood was inspired by the outer order at South
+Collingham, where the chevrons are arranged alternately, so as to
+interlock, and no straight edge is left. But the work at South Searle
+is of a superior delicacy of execution: in the arches the thick convex
+curves of Romanesque work give place to the graceful undercutting of
+Gothic sculpture, and in the foliage of the capitals Romanesque methods
+have been entirely left behind.
+
+South Searle is, in fact, an early example of the transition which
+marks the end of the twelfth century. Other arcades of the period,
+belonging to the last quarter of the twelfth century, and showing
+sculptured foliage or figures, occur at Caunton and Attenborough. The
+date of the work at Attenborough, however, may be called in question,
+as it has features which indicate that it has been manipulated by
+clever sculptors of a much later era. Plain arcades with rounded
+arches, but otherwise Gothic in character, such as are common in
+Yorkshire, are those of Sturton-le-Steeple. The present writer, who
+has a clear recollection of the church as it was, saw it in its
+ruined state after the fire of 1901, and has visited it since its
+reconstruction, can testify to the substantial accuracy with which
+the rebuilding has been carried out. An important piece of work was
+begun towards the end of the twelfth century at Newark, of which the
+evidence remains in the clustered piers, with plain capitals and square
+abaci, intended, with a rather inadequate sense of the weight to be
+laid on them, to support a central tower. The great achievement of
+transitional work in Nottinghamshire, however, was the nave of Worksop
+priory church, the date of which is about 1175. As has been said, the
+Worksop builders owed something to Southwell, and their design at once
+recalls, in its external appearance and proportions, that which had
+been used at Southwell. The details are much simplified, as may be seen
+by comparing the elevation of the Worksop with that of the Southwell
+towers; and the large bull’s-eye windows of the clerestory at Southwell
+are not repeated at Worksop. Internally, the proportions are those of
+Blyth and Southwell--the low arch on the ground-floor in each bay, the
+wide single opening of the triforium above, the low clerestory. From a
+structural point of view, there is no very great advance upon Southwell
+in lightness of construction. The columns, alternately cylindrical and
+octagonal, are still squat and massive: strength of walls is still the
+ruling principle with the builders. But the approach to Gothic work is
+shown in the growing delicacy of detail, in slenderness of undercut
+moulding, in the use of the pointed arch, where it is not necessitated
+by vaulting, and in the abandonment of intricate twelfth-century
+ornament for carefully sculptured mouldings and for the conventional
+variety of carved foliage.
+
+The district near the Trent, in the wapentakes of Bassetlaw and
+Newark, provides a group of village churches which contain early
+thirteenth-century work of rare excellence. North Collingham,
+Marnham, Laneham, South Leverton, Beckingham, Misterton, and Hayton,
+are the members of this group. The treatment of the work is by no
+means identical in all these cases. At Laneham the nave arches
+have simple mouldings of very early thirteenth-century type, cut
+in rectangular planes, and rest upon clustered columns, the shafts
+of which are engaged in a rather thick central shaft. The same
+treatment of arch-mouldings may be seen at Ordsall, near Retford. At
+North Collingham, South Leverton, and Marnham, sculptured foliage is
+employed in the capitals of the nave arcade. These three churches
+differ from each other in the design of their arches and columns, and
+the true parentage of North Collingham, a worthy neighbour to South
+Collingham, is not easy to decide. But the design of tail-shafted
+columns and foliated capitals at South Leverton seems to be closely
+allied to the early thirteenth-century work at St. Mary-le-Wigford
+and St. Peter-at-Gowts in Lincoln; while the low columns and graceful
+foliage at Marnham belong to the same family as much thirteenth-century
+architecture in and round Lincoln--St. Benedict’s at Lincoln,
+Nettleham, and Waddington, are cases in point. It is easy to understand
+that Lincoln may have had a great architectural influence on a church
+like South Leverton, which was one of the churches appropriated to the
+dean of Lincoln, and forming part of his “parsonage.”
+
+The chapter of Lincoln, as has been said, possessed much property
+and several churches in Newark wapentake: the whole district, then,
+including churches, like Marnham,[11] which had no direct connection
+with Lincoln, might very well be brought within the sphere of the
+artistic influence of Lincoln. North Collingham, the advowson of
+which belonged to the abbey of Peterborough,[12] was well within the
+possible range of Lincoln influence. Misterton, on the other hand,
+lay outside the district to which Lincoln craftsmen were most likely
+to resort. The church itself belonged to the dean and chapter of
+York, who possessed property all round it; while five churches in
+the neighbourhood, East Retford, Clarborough, Everton, Hayton, and
+Sutton-cum-Lound with Scrooby, belonged to the collegiate chapel of St.
+Mary and the Holy Angels at York. In later days, Yorkshire influence
+was paramount in the buildings of the district; the tower of Haxey in
+Lincolnshire, and the tower of Gainsborough, seem to have been built
+by masons of the Yorkshire school. It has been explained that the
+possession of a church by monastic or clerical owners did not imply
+that the impropriators would do much for the fabric; and the examples
+just cited show for how little, in an architectural estimate, the
+actual owners of the church may count. Save only Balderton and South
+Leverton, those churches, in the neighbourhood of the Trent, which
+belonged to the dean and chapter of Lincoln, are not remarkable for
+their beauty, or for any traces of the handiwork of Lincoln masons in
+them. But it might well happen that, in the case of South Leverton,
+Lincoln masons were employed, and their work might bear fruit in
+neighbouring parishes.
+
+The work of Lincoln masons is certainly apparent in the tower of Newark
+church, begun during the second quarter of the thirteenth century. We
+have seen that this church was the property of the Gilbertine priory of
+St. Katherine without Lincoln. The canons of St. Katherine’s, however,
+would be under no obligation to supply the church with a tower. On the
+other hand, the bishop of Lincoln, as lord of Newark, would have a
+direct responsibility, and would probably be the largest contributor
+to the new work. What was more natural than that masons, whose methods
+had been learned at Lincoln, should be employed at Newark? As a matter
+of fact, the Lincoln influence is clearly declared, not only in the
+foliated capitals of the western doorway, but also in the “smocking”
+pattern which is used in the upper part of the thirteenth-century
+work. This method of breaking up a flat surface, by a series of
+diagonal fillets crossing and recrossing each other, into a chequered
+surface of sunken lozenges, is a peculiar feature of the architectural
+work done at Lincoln minster in the times of Bishop Grosseteste
+(1235–54). It was employed again, with a little variation, towards the
+end of the century in the tower of Grantham, which owes much to the
+example of Newark.
+
+The tower of Newark was the beginning of a great rebuilding, which
+gives us the most interesting development of plan in Nottinghamshire.
+It was planned, like most western towers, to stand free, on three
+sides, of the west end of the church. After the lowest stage had been
+built, however, arches were pierced in the north and south walls, so
+as to open into aisles extended westwards to a level with the west
+wall of the tower. This arrangement, as Sir Gilbert Scott suggested
+with much probability, may have been derived directly from Tickhill
+in south Yorkshire, where the tower was engaged within aisles at the
+close of the twelfth century. The plan had been used in Yorkshire at
+an earlier date.[13] There can be no question as to the influence of
+this arrangement at Newark upon the plan of the tower and aisles at
+Grantham some fifty years later. Grantham, however, completed its tower
+and spire within a few years of the conception of the borrowed design.
+Newark had to wait for the completion of its tower and spire until the
+fourteenth century; and the thirteenth-century lower stages, as we see
+them now, are an isolated fragment, crowned and flanked by work of a
+later period.
+
+The three western bays, which are all that remain, of the priory
+church of Thurgarton, belong to the northern school of early Gothic.
+The detail is severely simple, and the somewhat heavy clustered piers
+recall those of the church of Great Grimsby in Lincolnshire, which bear
+a near relationship to the early thirteenth-century work at Hedon
+in the East Riding. The west front and north tower are practically a
+translation into a more advanced type of Gothic of the west front and
+south tower of the late twelfth-century priory church of Malton. The
+work appears to belong to the first quarter of the thirteenth century:
+the buttresses of the tower are mere pilasters, finished off with
+gable heads above the belfry string. It is impossible to speak too
+warmly of the noble simplicity of the design, which is very moderate
+in elevation. A great west doorway, recessed in five orders, with
+shafted jambs, occupies nearly half the height of the west front. The
+upper half, which forms with its gable an equilateral triangle, is
+occupied by a row of lancets, decreasing in height from the centre on
+each side: the three central lancets are pierced. The north tower is
+divided by string courses into five stages: the lowest stage is again
+divided into two parts, the lower of which is pierced in the west face
+by another moulded and shafted doorway. Great ingenuity is shown in the
+care with which the surface of the tower and buttresses is broken up by
+blind arcades of lancets, which are applied at points where emphasis
+is really needed, and are not used indiscriminately. This is specially
+remarkable in the belfry stage, the centre of which in each face is
+occupied by two tall lancet openings. The unpierced wall on either
+side of these is divided into two halves by a bold string course; but,
+while the upper half is recessed with lancet niches, the lower half
+is left blank, and is broken only on the west face by the projection
+of the buttress gables. Probably no better instance could be found of
+the dignity and variety of interest which thirteenth-century builders
+contrived to create out of their stock of simple material. Every detail
+is taken carefully into account, but none is so accentuated as to
+lessen the harmony of the main design.
+
+  [Illustration: SOUTHWELL MINSTER. EAST END.]
+
+  [Illustration: SOUTHWELL MINSTER. CAPITAL IN THE CHAPTER
+  HOUSE.]
+
+In the second quarter of the thirteenth century the old eastern arm of
+Southwell minster was taken down, and a new aisled quire and presbytery
+built upon lines closely akin to those of the churches of Augustinian
+canons. The quire is of six bays. From the second bay from the
+east, in which the high altar probably stood, projects on each side
+a small transeptal chapel, with its roof on a level with that of the
+adjacent aisle. The eastern bay formed the ambulatory behind the altar;
+but the central body of the quire is prolonged beyond it for two bays
+eastwards as an aisleless chapel. The high altar is now against the
+east wall, but there can be no doubt as to the original arrangement. As
+at Thurgarton, the design is marked by great restraint in the matter
+of detail. The clustered columns, like those in the contemporary
+work done, during the archiepiscopate of Walter de Gray, at York and
+Beverley,[14] form an attached group around an inner core. Their
+capitals are simply moulded. The arches depend for their effect upon
+their mouldings, dog-tooth being used very sparingly in the hollows.
+The upper stage, in which clerestory and triforium are combined by
+the expedient of prolonging the inner arch of the clerestory to the
+triforium sill, and omitting the inner clerestory passage, is treated
+more richly. Dog-tooth is freely used in the ridge-rib of the vault;
+the jamb-shafts of the prolonged arches have foliated capitals; the
+capitals of the vaulting-shafts are foliated, and the shafts themselves
+rest on corbels of great beauty, carved with stiff-stalked leaf-work.
+This increased richness of the higher part of the composition gives
+balance to the design, which otherwise might be almost too plain.
+Taken as a whole, the composition is inferior to the transepts of York
+and the magnificent quire at Beverley. The two-storeyed division of
+the interior of the quire gives an effect of lowness, and the vault,
+with its strongly marked ridge-rib, seems to weigh too heavily on
+the building, which is rather broad in proportion to its height. The
+arrangement of two tiers of four lancets, one above the other, at the
+east end, is in keeping with the over-weighted impression given by the
+whole elevation. At the same time, there cannot be two opinions as to
+the picturesqueness of the design; for what is lost in height and
+dignity is gained in the contrast of light and shade in the triforium
+and clerestory stage. The vault, continued at one level through
+the quire and eastern chapel, is of eight bays. Of these seven are
+quadripartite, with a ridge-rib added. The eighth is, by an unusual
+arrangement, quinquepartite: the upper tier of four lancets at the
+east end is arranged in two pairs, between which a small shaft, with a
+prominent foliated capital, carries an arched rib at right angles to
+the east wall. This is brought up to the central boss of the vaulting
+compartment, where it meets the ridge-rib.[15] Externally, the lowness
+of elevation is less striking, and the striking projection of the
+tall buttresses of the eastern chapel, with their gabled heads, adds
+a vigour to the general outline which is missed in the interior of
+the building. The original pitch of the outer roof has been lowered,
+however, so that the complete effect is somewhat impaired.
+
+The south chapel of the quire of Worksop priory church, the building
+of which was almost contemporary with the thirteenth-century work at
+Southwell, is a melancholy ruin; but its remains are still enough to
+show the beauty which may be produced by the effective combination
+of simple lancet forms. It may be said with some confidence that the
+thirteenth-century builders at Southwell, Thurgarton, and Worksop,
+and of the high vault which was added during this period to the nave
+at Blyth, belonged to a school which had learned its traditions
+in the beginning from the Cistercian architecture of Yorkshire.
+Economy of ornament, variety in the use of simple forms, contrast
+of light with shade conveyed by the alternation of bold convex and
+deep hollow mouldings, are the characteristics of the twelfth- and
+thirteenth-century work in churches like Byland, Fountains, and Roche.
+From these the builders of the great churches of Beverley, Ripon, and
+Southwell, the _matrices ecclesiæ_ of the East and West Ridings
+and of Nottinghamshire, learned their art; and the example of these,
+little touched by the influence of the south-eastern builders, which
+appears at Lincoln, or of the western builders, which makes itself
+felt at Lichfield, is manifest in the larger churches within their
+neighbourhood.[16]
+
+The ruined priory church of Newstead, on the other hand, which belongs
+to the second half of the thirteenth century, has few characteristics
+limiting it to the work of a special school. The great west window,
+which has lost its tracery, and the traceried panels of the west
+front, are symptoms of a general architectural movement peculiar to
+no one district. From Binham in the east, and Salisbury in the south,
+to Croyland, Lincoln, and Grantham in the eastern midlands, and to
+St. Mary’s at York and Guisbrough priory in the north, single lancet
+openings gave place to combinations of several lights in one window,
+with tracery consisting of one or more cusped circles between them
+and the enclosing arch. A study of the chronology of these buildings
+leads to the conclusion that this development of art made its way
+northward. The west front at Newstead forms a half-way house, as it
+were, between the west front at Croyland and Abbot Warwick’s work at
+St. Mary’s, York. The likeness of the tracery in the flanking portions
+of the design at Newstead to that in the windows of the south aisle at
+Grantham church is very noticeable. The date of the work at Grantham is
+about 1280.[17]
+
+Newstead takes an honourable place among the greater achievements of
+the so-called geometrical period. The south aisle of Blyth priory
+church, which is probably not later than 1290, and was added to give
+more accommodation to the parochial services, is a good example of
+the simple and well-proportioned work of an epoch, which, in spite
+of the epithet of “Decorated” so often applied to it, produced some
+of the plainest and most sober work of the middle ages. The tracery
+of the windows, formed by the simple intersection of the mullions, is
+a special, though not exclusive, characteristic of English midland
+work, common in the windows of Leicestershire and Derbyshire churches.
+At Stapleford, close to the Derbyshire border of our county, there is
+a good window of this type. Nearly contemporary with the south aisle
+of Blyth, is the greater part of the fine church of Gedling. Here the
+chancel seems to have been rebuilt during the third quarter of the
+thirteenth century, the nave following after a short interval. The
+whole church, with the exception of the tower and spire, was probably
+finished by 1294, in which year Archbishop Romeyn consecrated here a
+bishop to his suffragan see of Whithorn in Galloway.[18] The tracery
+of the nave windows is of a simple geometrical character; but the
+place of the cusped and heavily-moulded circle is taken by the more
+angular forms and thinner stonework which mark the transition to the
+developed art of the fourteenth century. Otherwise, the detail of the
+work is plain, and the aim of the builders was evidently spaciousness
+of design before anything else. More decorative ambition is shown
+in the sculptured capitals of the nave at Bingham, in which the
+tendency to naturalistic treatment of foliage is very noticeable.
+The tower and spire of Bingham are among the principal achievements
+of Nottinghamshire masons at this period. There is some conservatism
+of feeling about the design. Bingham is near the district which
+was the early home of the broach spire, and it was long before, in
+that district, old traditions died out. The stepped buttresses,
+the double geometrical windows in the belfry stage, and the not
+more than adequately lofty spire, with its many lights, set upon
+a proportionately sturdy tower, are the leading features of this
+beautiful composition.[19] The tower at Thurgarton must have supplied
+Nottinghamshire builders with a first-rate lesson in design, and its
+influence may have been felt at Bingham. It was certainly felt in the
+thirteenth-century central tower of Langar--one of the few cruciform
+churches in Nottinghamshire--not far from Bingham; and this tower may
+have inspired the builders at Bingham with their ambition. It may be
+added, however, that these fine models were not generally followed in
+the county. Apart from Newark, which can hardly be considered from
+a merely local point of view, and West Retford, the most remarkable
+example--later than Bingham--of spire design in the county is at
+Thoroton. Other spires, such as Cotgrave, East Leake, and St. Peter’s
+at Nottingham, approximate to the very plain type of tall spire
+on a parapeted tower which is found so constantly, as at Sawley,
+Duffield, and Morley, in the adjoining county of Derbyshire. Bingham
+and Thoroton, on the other hand, are within easy call of the fine and
+elaborate spires of south Lincolnshire and Leicestershire. Another
+chapter in this volume deals with the spires of the county in detail.
+
+One church upon the Lincolnshire frontier deserves special mention
+at this point. This is Barnby-in-the-Willows, on the left bank of
+the Witham. Here a general rebuilding took place about 1300; and the
+task was evidently entrusted to a master of the works whose ideas of
+decorative design were all his own. In plan and construction he had
+nothing radical to offer, but, when he came to his windows, he used his
+geometrical tracery in defiance of all recognised canons, inserting
+pieces of tracery at the bottom or in the middle of his lights, instead
+of at the top of the window. This remarkable experiment, which, owing
+to the remote situation of the church, has attracted little attention,
+deserves full illustration and detailed description, which it is
+impossible to give in the present article. The great architectural
+successes of the neighbourhood, the nave of Claypole, and the aisles
+of Beckingham and Brant Broughton, were yet to come; but, unless we
+postulate a village genius reared in absolute isolation, it is hardly
+likely that the designer of the windows at Barnby was wholly ignorant
+of the magnificent work already accomplished within no great distance
+of his village at Lincoln and Grantham. These would be his nearest
+models for tracery at the time, and we may perhaps assume either that
+he saw them with an admiring, but careless and inaccurate eye, or that,
+having seen them, he gave rein to a personal eccentricity which hoped
+for improvement in a reversal of their principles. In any case, the
+design is of peculiar interest, and the chancel at Barnby is in some
+degree a forerunner of the splendid series to which reference will be
+made presently.
+
+The chief stimulus to local art in the early fourteenth century came
+from the chapter house at Southwell. This unique masterpiece was in
+process of construction about 1290, when John le Romeyn, who laid
+the foundation stone of the nave at York in 1291, was archbishop. It
+was closely modelled upon the chapter house at York, the fabric of
+which was certainly completed about the time (1286) when Romeyn took
+possession of the see. Both chapter houses have the same octagonal plan
+without a central pillar; but, while the vast chapter house at York was
+never covered with any but a wooden roof, the less ambitious structure
+at Southwell has a stone ceiling vaulted up to a central boss. Neither
+the tracery of the windows nor the details of the mouldings are much
+advanced for their period: the first is composed of cusped circles,
+while in the second filleted rolls predominate, in alternation with
+deep hollows. In the delicate sculpture, however, of the entrance
+doorway, the pediments of the niches for seats which surround the inner
+walls, and the capitals of the shafts which divide the niches from one
+another and bear their arches, we have the most remarkable achievement
+of the age. This carving was probably the work of years, and can
+hardly have been begun until the bulk of the fabric was completed. The
+leading feature of the work is its naturalistic treatment, which is
+in striking contrast to the conventional lines of the window tracery.
+One or two capitals occur, in which the sculptor allowed himself to
+use the conventional foliage of a generation earlier, and leaves which
+merely suggest natural forms grow, as in the smaller capitals of the
+quire and of the vestibule which leads to the chapter house, from stiff
+stalks. Such foliage has the advantage of seeming to take its life from
+the stonework in which its stalks are rooted. But, apart from these
+isolated instances, the sculptors have entirely modelled their work
+upon natural forms. Sprays cut from the hedges have, under their hands,
+been translated into stone, and wreathed round capitals, spread out
+on flat surfaces, or turned in garlands to fill hollow mouldings. No
+trouble has been spared to reproduce natural forms exactly: leaves are
+ridged and veined as in nature, and, even where they are most thickly
+clustered, they are everywhere undercut, and beneath them the concealed
+stems may be discovered. The delight of the sculptors in their work
+is obvious, and their never-flagging invention and labour converted a
+daring _tour de force_ into a triumphant success.
+
+Only this once, however, did English carvers apply themselves to the
+naturalistic treatment of stonework with a care for detail in which
+they may fairly be said to rival the conventional sculptors of the
+thirteenth century. Stonework does not lend itself readily to this
+purely imitative handling. The artist is bound by the limitations of an
+art which, to approach most nearly to nature, demands an independent
+life of its own. An impartial comparison between the carvings of the
+quire and chapter house must lead to the conclusion that the smaller
+capitals and corbels in the quire have greater life and vigour. The
+sculpture in the chapter house is decoration applied to architecture:
+the sculpture of the quire is part and parcel of the architecture which
+surrounds it. The effort which is maintained in the chapter house
+cannot be kept up. The interval of naturalism can only lead to a new
+kind of convention, in which the carvers seek to give a naturalistic
+effect to the surface of their work, without going to the full pains of
+realistic imitation. This can be seen in the carvings of the eastern
+side of the stone _pulpitum_ which separates the nave from the
+quire, and is almost the latest of the structural additions to this
+interesting church, as it has come down to us. The central archway
+in the eastern face, and the canopies of the stalls on either side,
+are of the ogee shape, which came into fashion in the early part of
+the fourteenth century: the ogee also prevails in the cusping. The
+mouldings are convex without intermediate hollows. The foliage and
+diaper work, still beautiful and impressive in their richness, even now
+that their early glory of gilding and colour is gone, become crowded
+and indistinct, a mere collection of undulations, when examined close
+at hand. The small figure sculpture, and the heads which form the
+finials to the cusping, are still full of life. But even the figure
+sculpture of the age is seen, when we turn from the screen to the
+sedilia on the south side of the eastern chapel, to lose in strength
+and distinctness, and to aim at producing a distant effect, which is
+not enhanced by close inspection.
+
+This phase of sculpture at Southwell at once recalls the work
+of the same epoch in the Lady chapels of Ely and Lichfield, and
+the altar-screen and Percy tomb at Beverley. It is the belief
+of the present writer, founded upon a long and close study of
+fourteenth-century work in the north and midlands of England, that the
+turning-point of the art of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,
+so far as these parts of England are concerned, was reached at York,
+where St. Mary’s abbey church represents the crowning achievements
+of “geometrical” work, and the nave of the minster marks the first
+decisive step in the direction of naturalistic sculpture, and greater
+freedom in the lines of window tracery. The influence of the York
+chapter house is clearly felt at Southwell, and the Southwell
+sculptors worked in harmony with the masons who, under the patronage
+of Archbishop Romeyn, were employed on the nave at York. In their more
+modest area, they even surpassed their York contemporaries. Putting
+buildings like Howden and the eastern bays of Ripon aside for our
+present purposes, it seems clear that the first step of the York school
+southward was made at Southwell. The close connection of Bishop Walter
+Langton (1296–1321) with York[20] explains the appearance of what may
+fairly be called the York manner in the eastern part of Lichfield
+Cathedral. That the influence of work so splendid and distinguished
+should spread into other dioceses is only likely, and it seems very
+likely that, in the second quarter of the fourteenth century, it
+was felt as far south as the Lady chapel at Ely, and far and wide
+throughout the fens. Here other influences from the south doubtless met
+it, which had been at work for some time in Essex and East Anglia. But
+the community of style between such churches as Ely and Beverley, or
+Patrington in Yorkshire and Claypole in Lincolnshire, at this period,
+seems to be due to an activity which spread in the beginning from York.
+
+In this dissemination of style, the southern part of the diocese of
+York, which wedged its way in between the dioceses of Lincoln and
+Lichfield, seems to have acted as a principal reservoir. The chancels
+of Hawton, Sibthorpe, Car Colston, and Woodborough, with those, now
+mutilated or destroyed, of Arnold and Epperstone, formed a band which
+stretched nearly across the county, between Newark and Nottingham.
+Their general characteristics are carefully dressed stonework,
+profusely moulded base-courses, gabled buttresses of bold projection,
+and admirably proportioned windows, with curvilinear or reticulated
+tracery. Externally, ornament is used with great restraint, and almost
+the whole emphasis of the design is laid upon the spacing of the bays,
+and the clean and finished treatment of parapets, buttresses, and
+base-courses. The tracery of the side windows is usually simple, but
+the east window is generally of five lights, and is treated with more
+elaboration. Internally, the chief feature, apart from spaciousness
+of proportion, is the magnificent permanent stone furniture. Triple
+sedilia, with a piscina to match, all adorned with crocketing and
+figure carving of the same type as that of the sedilia at Southwell,
+are a general possession of these fabrics. A founder’s tomb in the
+north wall of the chancel, and niches for statues in the east wall
+on either side of the altar, are also common. Hawton, however, has,
+in addition to sedilia with a wealth of carving on the wall-surface
+between their canopies, piscina, and founder’s tomb, a large permanent
+Easter sepulchre in the north wall of the chancel. At Sibthorpe
+there is a small Easter sepulchre, with a row of carved figures of
+the soldiers sleeping at the tomb, in the wall above the recess for
+the founder’s effigy. There are remains of a similar sepulchre at
+Fledborough, and a large and handsome, but much mutilated, sepulchre
+has been left in the rebuilt church of Arnold.
+
+  [Illustration: BARNBY IN THE WILLOWS.
+
+  (South Side of the Chancel.)]
+
+  [Illustration: CAR COLSTON.]
+
+The actual date of these chancels is not very easy to fix. It is
+clear that Car Colston, the least elaborate, though one of the most
+spacious of the series, must have been rebuilt some years before the
+appropriation of the church to Worksop priory in 1349.[21] The chancel
+of Sibthorpe, similarly, may not be much later than 1324, when we
+first read of the chantry which was gradually enlarged into a college
+of chantry priests, and was celebrated in a chapel north of the
+chancel.[22] At the same time, the college was not founded until 1340,
+and the founder, Thomas Sibthorpe, endowed a chantry and lights in the
+church of Beckingham, Lincolnshire, of which he was rector, in 1347,
+when the aisles of Beckingham church were rebuilt.[23] The character
+of the dated work at Beckingham is so like that at Sibthorpe as to
+forbid our assigning too early a date to the latter. A chantry was
+founded at Fledborough in 1343,[24] which seems to imply that the fine
+fourteenth-century church which we now see had recently been rebuilt.
+The Easter sepulchres at Fledborough and Sibthorpe have, as already
+noted, much in common. If these comparatively late dates be admitted,
+the date of 1356, which has been given to the chancel at Woodborough,
+is just possible. At the same time, the design of Woodborough forcibly
+suggests that it was built before the great plague of 1349, which
+worked such havoc throughout the country and effected such a change in
+English art. The founder of the chancel at Hawton died in 1330. The
+tracery of the east window and the character of much of the carving is
+in general keeping with this date. But the chancel was probably built
+in the founder’s lifetime, just as the noble chancel at Heckington,
+near Sleaford, was undoubtedly built some years before the founder’s
+death in 1345.[25] In two points especially, the mouldings of the
+founder’s tomb, which are of the first quarter of the fourteenth
+century, and the group of figures relieved against the wall at the back
+of the sepulchre, there is reason to antedate the fabric of Hawton to a
+date nearer 1320 than 1330. The figure sculpture in question is fully
+equal, in naturalistic treatment, to any of the carving in the chapter
+house at Southwell; while the rest of the sculpture of the sepulchre
+and sedilia is closely allied to the sculpture of the Southwell
+_pulpitum_. In any case, we have in these chancels a group of
+buildings which extend over a period between about 1320 and the plague
+of 1349, and the architectural influence which inspired them may be
+traced directly to Southwell, and so to York.
+
+Hawton, and the allied Lincolnshire chancels of Heckington and Navenby,
+were probably the first-fruits of the influence of Southwell upon
+local architecture. The sculpture in these three cases is of a more
+delicate and carefully worked type than that of the other churches
+mentioned. It is a significant fact that, if we look for the closest
+parallels to Sibthorpe, Woodborough, and Car Colston, we find them
+in churches which lie north of York--Patrick Brompton, Kirkby Wiske,
+and Ainderby Steeple. One of these, Patrick Brompton, the best of the
+series, belonged to St. Mary’s abbey at York, and appears to have been
+built in the decade between 1320 and 1330.[26] It is impossible to
+visit these churches without recognising the complete identity of type
+between the Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire examples, or realising the
+close link which binds them together. As has been said, the influence
+of Yorkshire masoncraft found its way into the diocese of Lichfield. At
+Sandiacre and Dronfield in Derbyshire this type of chancel appears once
+more: it may be recognised at Checkley in Staffordshire and Norbury
+in Derbyshire, and even more clearly in the distant church of Halsall
+in south Lancashire. An isolated instance occurs in the old diocese
+of Lincoln, at Cotterstock in Northamptonshire: the founder of the
+rebuilt chancel here in 1337 was John Giffard, a canon of York, who
+was beneficed at Barnby-on-Don, near Doncaster.[27] The geographical
+distribution of these monuments, taken in conjunction with their
+history, is overwhelmingly in favour of their northern origin, as
+against any influence from southern schools.
+
+Newark church, were it not for the disaster of the Black Death,
+would probably be the finest of all fourteenth-century churches in
+Nottinghamshire. Its present plan, a vast aisled rectangle, was
+conceived in the early part of the fourteenth century, and the lower
+courses of the outer walls were built as far as the top of the moulded
+plinth.[28] Only the outer walls of the south aisle, however, and the
+tower and spire above the already completed thirteenth-century work,
+were finished. The north aisle, and the lofty arcades and clerestory of
+the nave were not achieved until the second quarter of the fifteenth
+century, while it was not until the last quarter that the chancel with
+its aisles was completed, and the old chancel was finally removed.
+Later still the plan received its final addition by the building of the
+north and south transeptal chapels. All this work has the fine sense
+of design and sketchiness of detail which are the chief symptoms of
+late Gothic work in England: the dependence of the effect of such a
+building on stained glass, colour, and furniture is absolute. Fragments
+only of the glass remain, and the colour is gone; but the late
+fifteenth-century rood-screen, which has few rivals in the country, and
+two stone chantry chapels, one on each side of the altar, still remain
+to give us some idea of the former dignity and beauty of this great
+town church. The spire and upper portion of the tower were suggested by
+the completed work at Grantham. Although they yield the palm in height
+to Grantham, and the spire is inferior to Grantham spire in beauty, yet
+the design of the belfry stage, with a prominent crocketed pediment
+above the two lights in each face, is at any rate comparable to the
+treatment of the similar stage at Grantham. While the Grantham builders
+were uncertain about their design, and apparently altered it as they
+got higher, the Newark builders knew exactly what they wanted, and were
+content with a plan which, if more modest, is more homogeneous.
+
+Of the work of the fifteenth century in Nottinghamshire, St. Mary’s at
+Nottingham, which is almost entirely of one period, is the crowning
+example. The rebuilding of this fine church was achieved during the
+second and third quarters of the century. The architectural detail,
+apart from that of the south porch, which was probably built when the
+aisles were set out, as a beginning to the work, is somewhat hard and
+formal; but the characteristic skill of the age in design is everywhere
+present. The aisles were set out in six bays, divided by buttresses,
+each bay containing two windows of three lights each. In the west walls
+of the aisles are two windows of four lights each, with a doorway
+beneath each pair; the south doorway and porch are in the third bay
+from the east. Inside the church a very marked string-course, with
+hollowed underside, forms a continuous sill to the windows, which are
+framed within rectangular panels, formed by shafts projecting from
+the wall near the outer edge of the moulded window recesses. These
+shafts are continued through and below the string-course to tall bases
+resting on a plain bench-table, so that the wall below the windows is
+formed into a second series of panels. A similar framing is applied
+to the arches of the nave and windows of the clerestory and to the
+clerestoried transepts, of which the upper portions are contemporary
+with the arcade and west wall of the nave, and were not added until the
+aisles had been completed.[29] The treatment of the chancel, although
+in general keeping with the rest of the work, is much plainer: here, as
+elsewhere, the monastic impropriators, the prior and convent of Lenton,
+felt no desire to emulate the expense to which the lay parishioners
+committed themselves in the nave and transepts. The cruciform plan,
+which was employed at St. Mary’s, is uncommon in Nottinghamshire;
+and it may be mentioned that in one originally cruciform plan which
+remains, that of Whatton, the transepts have been absorbed within
+the aisles by the not uncommon method of widening the aisles to the
+extent of the projection of the transepts. At St. Mary’s, the fine
+effect of the tall central tower and long transepts is very noticeable
+from outside. Internally, the need of aisles, both to transepts and
+chancel, is much felt; and, although the whole design is actually more
+interesting than the work at Newark, it has not the same grace or
+spaciousness.
+
+Most of the churches of the county have some remains of
+fifteenth-century work. Here, as elsewhere, towers were built or
+heightened, and clerestories were added to earlier naves. The best
+work of this date, on the whole, is found in the north-east part
+of the county. East Markham church was entirely rebuilt about the
+middle of the century, and few churches are better examples of the
+excellent proportions of “Perpendicular” work. The chancel of Tuxford
+church, rebuilt in the last quarter of the century, and the elaborate
+clerestory at Laxton, added much beauty and dignity to plain fabrics
+of an earlier date. For combined beauty and simplicity, one of the
+most attractive buildings in the county is the little church of Holme,
+near Newark, rebuilt, with a south aisle to the nave and chapel to
+the chancel and a handsome south porch with a solar or upper chamber,
+towards the end of the century. This church fortunately keeps some
+of its old furniture and stained glass, and, although the inner
+face of its walls has been subjected to the process of scraping, it
+has otherwise been little spoiled. Here, as at Tuxford and in most
+of the late fifteenth-century work of the county, the windows have
+depressed heads, which practically form an obtuse angle, and prominent
+hood-mouldings; while the arch leading into the porch is four-centred.
+The row of seven shields of arms above the doorway of the porch gives
+some richness of effect to a design otherwise unpretentious.
+
+The large number of chantries founded in Nottinghamshire were the
+cause of the enlargement of many fabrics. This was certainly the case
+at Newark, where several chantries were endowed during the fourteenth
+and fifteenth centuries.[30] The majority of such foundations in the
+county belong to a comparatively early date, and the effect which they
+had on the plan is seen chiefly in the enlargement of the aisles.
+Chantry chapels which form an excrescence from the fabric are rare.
+The north chancel chapel at Sibthorpe, which has now disappeared, and
+the chapel at Willoughby-on-the-Wolds, are examples of such additions
+in the fourteenth century.[31] At Southwell the chantry chapel founded
+by Archbishop Lawrence Booth, in which stood the altar of St. William
+and St. Cuthbert,[32] projected from the wall of the south aisle.
+It was built upon the enlarged site of an earlier chapel: it was
+unfortunately destroyed in 1784. The foundation of a small college of
+chantry priests (1476) in the cruciform church of Clifton-on-Trent[33]
+led to the enlargement of the church and partial rebuilding of the
+chancel. The enlargement of Holme church, which took place in or
+a little before 1490, was due to the desire of the founder, John
+Barton, to establish a chantry there.[34] This chantry, if actually
+founded, was no longer in existence at the time of the suppression
+of the chantries. The south chapel at Wollaton was built for the
+accommodation of the service called Willoughby’s chantry, founded at
+the end of 1470.[35] But, as a rule, the foundation of chantries was
+followed by little variation of the normal plan. Thus, at Tuxford,
+where Sir John de Longvilliers had contemplated the foundation of a
+college of chantry priests in the middle of the fourteenth century, and
+actually endowed three chaplains,[36] the plan consists of the long
+chancel, built by the impropriating priory of Newstead in 1495, a north
+chapel, a nave with north and south aisles, south porch, and western
+tower. At Ratcliffe-on-Soar there is also a large north chapel to the
+chancel.[37] The normal plan, however, of the Nottinghamshire parish
+church is that of a chancel without chapels, aisled nave, western
+tower, and south porch. East Markham is an excellent instance of this
+design.
+
+Monuments of lords of the manor and founders of chantries are a very
+characteristic feature, which add to the architectural beauty of
+Nottinghamshire churches. The series of three monuments, two of the
+thirteenth and one of the early fourteenth century, at West Leake
+are remarkable: the monument of a lady on the north of the altar is
+almost unexcelled for beauty among effigies of the date. The late
+thirteenth-century table-tomb of one of the Lexingtons and the effigies
+(one wooden) of the Everinghams at Laxton, and the fine series of
+fourteenth-century tombs at Whatton deserve special mention; while at
+Willoughby-on-the-Wolds is a series of effigies from the thirteenth to
+the middle of the fifteenth century. Reference has been made to the
+architectural beauty of the founders’ tombs at Hawton and Sibthorpe.
+But the finest monuments of all are those of the late fourteenth and
+fifteenth century, when Nottingham was the centre of the alabaster
+industry, and the work of its craftsmen was known far and wide through
+England. Of the monuments already mentioned, one or more at West Leake,
+Laxton, and Whatton are of alabaster. Holme Pierrepont and Staunton,
+among other places, supply good examples. The beautiful table-tomb at
+Wollaton, between the chancel and the south chapel, is one of the best.
+But, for its architectural effect, the most striking of all the series
+is the late fourteenth-century table-tomb in the middle of the chancel
+at Strelley. This, combined with the other tombs of the chancel and the
+very handsome rood-screen, gives great impressiveness to the interior
+of a lofty and well-designed, but plain, building.
+
+More definitely architectural than these monuments is the gorgeous
+canopied chantry chapel, which a member of the Babington family built
+for himself between the chancel and south chapel at Kingston-on-Soar.
+The chancel and south chapel, which has a shallow half-hexagonal bay
+for an altar in its east wall, were rebuilt in 1538: the date is carved
+on the outside of the church, where shields of arms in rectangular
+panels are inserted in the wall. The chantry chapel is a rectangular
+erection, like those at Newark or the La Warre chapel at Boxgrove,
+standing within the arch south of the chancel, and has a stone canopy,
+elaborately vaulted, resting on four columns at the angles. The
+space between its foot and the west side of the arch is bridged by a
+depressed archway, forming an entrance into the south chapel, with an
+attic and pediment above. No tomb or altar remains within the chantry
+chapel. The design is rather heavy, and the broad octagonal capitals of
+the angle columns are distinctly clumsy. Every inch of the structure is
+covered with sculpture, some of which is coarse and inferior; but the
+“babe in tun,” the rebus of the Babingtons, is repeated in the hollow
+mouldings of arches and capitals with a wonderful amount of variety and
+liveliness, and there is a very delicate, although crowded, carving of
+the Doom on the east wall. The sculpture may fairly be compared with
+that of the screen of the Kirkham chapel at Paignton in Devon, which
+is rather earlier in date, and of the almost contemporary chapel of
+Bishop West at Ely. The hexagonal coffering of the columns suggests
+that the designer had seen the cast-metal screen of Henry VII.’s tomb
+at Westminster, and wished to reproduce it in stone. The archway west
+of the chapel has mouldings and other features of an unmistakably
+Renaissance type. A step further towards the Renaissance is taken in
+the tomb of Henry Sacheverell (d. 1558) in the neighbouring church of
+Ratcliffe-on-Soar, where there are rough Italianesque reliefs on the
+pilasters at the angles of the monument: the tomb of his father, Ralph
+Sacheverell (d. 1539) is, on the other hand, Gothic in all but the
+lettering.
+
+The period after the Reformation is not within the province of
+this chapter; but a word may be added as to the survival of Gothic
+work after the civil war at St. Nicholas in Nottingham, and in the
+well-designed central tower at East Retford, and to the beautiful
+modern churches, in which the spirit of medieval Gothic architecture
+is so well maintained, designed by Mr. G. F. Bodley, at St. Alban’s
+in Sneinton, and at Clumber. Something, however, remains yet to be
+said of towers and spires. Of spires later than those that have been
+mentioned, the best is at West Retford, where the flying buttresses
+seem to indicate a Lincolnshire origin for the design. Scrooby, Weston,
+and Tuxford, in the same part of the county, and Edwinstowe, further
+west, have good spires. In the district round Nottingham, spires, where
+they occur, are, as already has been said, very plain. The unusually
+lofty tower and spire at the north-west corner of Gedling church,
+however, would call for honourable mention in any part of England. The
+tower and spire of Attenborough are also an excellent composition.
+The massive and heavily buttressed tower at Keyworth is crowned by a
+stone octagon rising from a square base, and surmounted by a small
+spire, and is engaged within aisles, which are not continued the full
+length of the nave eastwards: the elevation and plan are altogether
+exceptional. Of fifteenth-century towers, a large number, especially
+in the north of the county, are of the ordinary type found in south
+Yorkshire--_e.g._ at Silkstone, South Kirkby, or Fishlake. The
+details are plain, there is a single window of two lights in each face
+of the belfry-stage, and a battlemented parapet with slender pinnacles
+at the angles. Such towers are found at Blyth, where the elaborate
+parapet was clearly suggested by that of the neighbouring church of
+Tickhill, and at Mattersey, East Markham, Saundby, Bole, Gamston, West
+Drayton, and several other places: the type occurs as far south as
+Hickling. At Carlton-in-Lindrick a belfry-stage and buttresses were
+added to an eleventh-century unbuttressed tower. Sturton-le-Steeple
+owes the latter part of its name to the far-seen array of twelve
+pinnacles with which the builders thought fit to surround the parapet.
+The tower of Dunham-on-Trent has a very lofty belfry-stage, pierced
+with enormous windows of three lights, with different tracery in
+each face--a design as unique in its way as the chancel at Barnby.
+Near Newark a different type of tower comes into use about 1480.
+This has double window openings in the belfry-stage, with depressed
+heads and prominent hoods: the string-courses are more in number and
+project more boldly, and the pinnacles of the parapet are less thin
+in design. Hawton is the best example of this type, which has more
+architectural ambition than the other: it is also found at Rolleston,
+and across the Lincolnshire border at Beckingham and in the upper
+stage of Hough-on-the-Hill. South Muskham, more massive and earlier
+in date than Hawton and Rolleston, belongs to the same family. Upton,
+near Southwell, has a small fifteenth-century tower, in the centre
+of which is a solid stone pinnacle or spirelet. Other towers, such
+as Sibthorpe, Woodborough, or Linby, of various dates and designs,
+are merely serviceable bell-towers of no special architectural merit.
+For gracefulness of design, no Nottinghamshire tower of the later
+Gothic period appeals to the present writer so much as that of Car
+Colston, with its long and slender belfry-openings. Indeed, the whole
+church, with its thirteenth-century south doorway and its beautiful
+fourteenth-century chancel, is pre-eminently one of those buildings
+in which, as Dr. Whitaker said of Patrick Brompton in Yorkshire, “the
+antiquary may happily waste an hour”; and, in its peaceful seclusion
+at the head of one of the prettiest village greens in England, is the
+appropriate last resting-place of the historian of the county, Robert
+Thoroton.
+
+
+
+
+      NEWSTEAD PRIORY AND THE RELIGIOUS HOUSES OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
+
+                 BY REV. J. CHARLES COX, LL.D., F.S.A.
+
+
+The county of Nottingham, considering its limited area, was rich
+in old religious foundations. Almost every variety of mediaeval
+monasticism was found within its bounds. There were Benedictine monks
+at Blyth, and Benedictine nuns had a small house at Wallingwells.
+Those reformed Benedictines, known as Cluniacs and Cistercians, were
+each represented in this county--the former at the important priory
+of Lenton, and the latter at the abbey of Rufford. The Carthusians,
+the most rigorous order of all the monks, had a house of some note
+at Beauvale. The Black or Austin Canons had five priories, of varied
+importance, at Felley, Newstead, Shelford, Thurgarton, and Worksop. The
+White or Premonstratensian Canons had a large and important abbey at
+Welbeck; whilst at Broadholme was one of the only two English nunneries
+pertaining to this order. The Gilbertine Canons were also represented
+at the priory of Mattersey. The Knights Hospitallers had a preceptory
+at Ossington, and they also held other property which they inherited
+from the dissolved Templars.
+
+As to the friars, it is not a little singular that so powerful an order
+as the preaching Dominicans had no house in the county; they had,
+however, friaries near at hand in the counties of Derby, Leicester, and
+Lincoln. The county town, however, had settlements of both Franciscan
+and Carmelite friars, whilst there was an establishment of Observants
+or reformed Franciscans at Newark.
+
+The colleges or collegiate churches, wherein a company of priests led
+a more or less regulated common life, were six in number--namely, the
+great collegiate church of Secular Canons, probably based on an earlier
+monastic foundation, at Southwell, and five later congregations of
+chantry priests at Clifton, Newark, Ruddington, Sibthorpe, and Tuxford.
+
+The hospitals or almshouses of mediaeval foundation, under a more
+or less definite religious rule, numbered thirteen--namely, five at
+the county town, two at Blyth, and one each at Bawtry, Bradebusk,
+Lenton, Newark, Southwell, and Stoke. In Nottinghamshire, as indeed
+throughout the greater part of England, the story of the old hospitals
+is a gloomy record of peculation by the masters or wardens of funds
+intended by the founders for the relief of the sick and needy, so that
+the seizing of their funds, as planned by Henry VIII. and carried out
+by Edward VI., did but little harm to God’s poor. In this county, too,
+the exceptionally large proportion of three of these houses managed to
+survive the cruelly avaricious storm of the sixteenth century--namely,
+Bawtry, Newark, and Plumptre (Nottingham); they are still doing good
+work.
+
+Although it is proper to include the mediaeval colleges and hospitals
+under the head of religious houses, the description of them in this
+short survey would too much curtail the limited space that can be
+allotted to the more important foundations. It is much to be desired
+that some one with the necessary ability and leisure would undertake a
+Nottinghamshire Monasticon on a thorough scale, so rich and abundant is
+the material ready to hand for those who know where to look for it. In
+fact, several of the houses, notably Lenton, Newstead, Welbeck, Blyth,
+and Beauvale--notwithstanding all that has been written of them--might
+readily be treated in monographs on no meagre scale.
+
+In order to find room for these brief historical sketches, it has also
+been necessary to omit any reference to existing monastic remains. In
+the majority of cases there are no traces left above ground of any of
+the Nottinghamshire houses, but to this rule Newstead Priory is an
+extensive and distinguished exception, whilst certain parts of the
+Beauvale Charterhouse still standing are of importance and interest.
+
+A few general remarks may be permitted before proceeding to the more
+particular but very brief discussion of each house.
+
+In Nottinghamshire there is an exceptional amount of general
+interest pertaining to the history and development of several of the
+monasteries. Thus Blyth Priory, in addition to the difficult problems
+involved under its rule between the foreign abbot in Normandy and its
+diocesan the Archbishop of York, had a direct influence on the trade of
+Nottinghamshire and south Yorkshire by reason of the considerable tolls
+that it was enabled to levy on all merchandise passing through Blyth,
+either by road or water. Again, the great semi-foreign Cluniac priory
+of Lenton entirely overshadowed the town of Nottingham in matters
+spiritual, and to some extent in matters temporal, after the like
+fashion that the Cluniac priory of St. Andrew overshadowed the town of
+Northampton.
+
+Various picturesque incidents telling of the wildness of the districts
+on the border of Sherwood Forest pertain to the story of Welbeck Abbey,
+the greatest of the Premonstratensian houses, towards the end of its
+life; whilst the special position and privileges of the houses of
+Newstead and Rufford, within the centre of the same forest, are briefly
+mentioned in another article in this volume.
+
+Much can be gleaned as to the condition of the monasteries of
+Nottinghamshire from time to time from the various visitations
+recorded of the houses subject to diocesan control, as well as those
+made by special visitors of exempt Orders, such as those of Cluni
+and Prémontré. In these sketches nothing of the nature of evil or
+careless living that is brought to light is omitted; but the noteworthy
+smallness of the number of grave charges, as compared with the number
+of the inmates, and of the great frequency of visitations wherein
+no laxity was discovered, cannot fail to bring every honourable and
+competent judge to the twofold conclusion that (1) the life and work of
+the great majority of the Nottinghamshire “religious” were distinctly
+praiseworthy and in accordance with their vows, and (2) that there was
+a persistent determination on the part of those in authority to deal
+sternly with careless or criminal living. To pass judgment on a whole
+class, because of the sins or laxity occasionally detected among an
+insignificant minority, is as malicious and absurd in connection with
+England’s vowed religious of the past, as it would be to do the like
+with England’s clergy of the present day.
+
+As to the slanderous _Comperta_, or abbreviated charges of Legh
+and Layton (men themselves of infamous life), Cromwell’s notorious
+visitors of 1536, their amazing accusations against the religious of
+this county are at once confuted by a study of the subsequent pension
+lists. Take a single instance, the charges against Abbot Doncaster of
+Rufford were of an appalling character; nevertheless, within a few
+months of this report being presented, the abbot received a pension
+of £25, which was, however, very speedily withdrawn in favour of
+his appointment by the Crown to the important living of Rotherham.
+Or again, in the cases of Welbeck and Worksop, the foul-minded
+visitors singled out four of each house as guilty of peculiarly vile
+offences, and yet seven of them were pensioned and the eighth retained
+in a vicarage. Supposing for a moment that the black lists of the
+_Comperta_ were true, which no one worthy of the name of historian
+now ventures to contend, the action of the granters of pensions and
+preferments was worse than that of the accused.
+
+As there are still one or two writers who persist in trying to make
+their readers believe in the generally foul life of the old monks and
+nuns, with a malignant and ignorant persistency, it may be well to
+point out that a second commission was sent out by the Crown in 1536,
+consisting of State officials and leading gentlemen of each county
+visited. Their elaborate and detailed reports are extant for religious
+houses in the counties of Gloucester, Hampshire, Huntingdon, Lancaster,
+Leicester, Norfolk, Rutland, Suffolk, Sussex, Warwick, and Wiltshire.
+In these returns, as Dr. Gairdner, the official historian of the reign
+of Henry VIII. says, “the characters of the inmates of the houses
+visited are almost uniformly good, the country gentlemen who sat on
+the commission somehow came to a very different conclusion to that of
+Drs. Layton and Legh.” The returns for Nottingham are unfortunately not
+extant; if they were there is every reason to believe that they would
+flatly contradict the pair of professional slanderers.
+
+It may be well here to confute the current notion that the suppressed
+monks, nuns, canons, and friars were all pensioned. The fact is that
+it was a distinct minority of the ejected religious that obtained a
+pension in Nottinghamshire or elsewhere. A large number of the younger
+professed members, namely, all under twenty-five years of age, were
+ruthlessly ejected by order of Cromwell, as Visitor General, before
+ever the scheme of thorough dissolution began. With regard to the
+smaller religious houses, which were dissolved in 1536–7, the rule was
+to grant pensions only to the superiors. Thus the prior of Blyth was
+the only one of that house who obtained any pension, and the like was
+the case with regard to the prioress of Broadholme. Friars received no
+pensions, and on being ejected were simply presented with a suit of
+secular clothes. Every excuse was made to avoid pension granting; thus
+the Lenton monks received nothing, as they were supposed, on paltry
+evidence, to be all tainted with high treason. The judicial murders in
+connection with the suppression of Lenton and Beauvale are peculiarly
+odious.
+
+In the case of Nottinghamshire, it can readily be seen how serious a
+matter the sweeping away of monks, canons, and nuns was to the poor
+of the county. Not only was relief in kind given at the gates of
+every monastic house, small or large, as well as a great variety of
+voluntary doles and aids in sickness, and the assigning to the poor
+after an inmate’s death the commons of the deceased for a whole year,
+but there were actual obligatory alms that various houses were bound
+by their statutes to distribute on specific days, often dating back to
+the very time of their foundation. Among such obligatory alms were:
+Lenton, £41, 1s. 8d.; Worksop, £25, 1s. 4d.; Welbeck, £8, 13s. 4d.;
+Thurgarton, £6, 8s. 1d.; Newstead, £4; Blyth, £3, 6s. 8d.; and Shelford
+and Wallingwells, £2, 6s. 8d. each--yielding an annual total of £93,
+4s. 4d., or considerably more than _£_1000 a year according to the
+present purchasing power of money. Not a shadow of attempt was made by
+Henry VIII. and his abettors to save for the poor a single penny of
+this money, which had been definitely dedicated to the service of the
+poor.
+
+When we come to the consideration of particular religious houses of
+the county, there is no doubt that there were several of exceptional
+interest, and whose history could be gleaned from unprinted or
+little-known records with so much amplitude that there would be
+abundant justification for the issue of monographs of no mean
+dimensions. Such is emphatically the case with the Cluniac house of
+Lenton, with which the town of Nottingham was so intimately connected,
+and with the important Premonstratensian house of White Canons of
+Welbeck. A third instance is undoubtedly to be found in the Black
+Canons of Newstead. Newstead was by no means one of the largest or
+wealthiest of the English houses of Austin Canons, but its history
+can be so fully exemplified, its situation in a beautifully timbered
+glade, surrounded on all sides by Sherwood Forest, is so exceptionally
+picturesque, the extent of the remnants of its conventual buildings so
+extensive, and its post-dissolution story, especially in connection
+with Lord Byron, so romantic, that a complete and carefully compiled
+work is much to be desired. It is proposed, then, to devote the
+remainder of this sketch to a record of some of the facts relative to
+Newstead Priory. In the later Byron period its title was changed to
+Newstead Abbey, a piece of mendacious pride of which several other lay
+owners of monastic sites have been guilty.
+
+From certain statements in the foundation charter of Henry II., it has
+been assumed by some that Newstead was a re-establishment of Austin
+Canons from some other part of Sherwood Forest, where they had been
+originally placed at an earlier date by Henry I.; but this is after
+all only a matter of somewhat vague conjecture. The very name of this
+religious house renders, however, some support to this idea. The prefix
+“New” has the same force as in Newark, Newcastle, Newminster, and the
+host of Newtons; and it was possibly here used in contradistinction
+to the Oldstead of a former foundation. There are two other English
+monastic establishments of this name--namely, the Gilbertine house
+of Newstead in Lindsey, and another Austin house of Newstead near
+Stamford; in both these cases a refoundation has been suggested.
+
+Newstead Priory--officially termed Prioratus Sancte Marie de Novo Loco
+in foresta nostra de Scirwurda--was founded in Sherwood as a house
+of Austin Canons by Henry II., about the year 1770. The foundation
+charter, executed at the royal residence of Clarendon, Wilts, conferred
+on the canons a site near the centre of the forest, Papplewick, with
+its church and mill and other appurtenances; the meadow of Bestwood
+by the side of the water; and 100 shillings of rent in Shapwick and
+Walkeringham. The canons were also granted a great extent of the forest
+waste around the monastery, the bounds of which are set forth in detail
+at the beginning of the chartulary. King John, in 1206, confirmed the
+founder’s grant, together with the church of Hucknall, of his own
+gift when Earl of Mortain, and £7, 8s. 6d. of lands in Walkeringham,
+Misterton, Shapwick, and “Walkerith” in Lincolnshire.
+
+In 1238, on 8th May, the mandate of Henry III. was sent to the prior
+of Newstead to allow Thomas de Dunholmia, citizen of London, to have
+all the goods late of Joan, Queen of Scots, which had been deposited
+with the canons after her death by John de Sancto Egidio and Henry
+Balliol, to do therewith what the King had enjoined on them.
+
+  [Illustration: NEWSTEAD PRIORY. BUCK’S WEST VIEW,
+  1726.]
+
+The convent obtained the royal licence, in April 1241, to elect a new
+prior, when their choice fell on William the cellarer. The licence was
+delivered at Westminster to Henry Walkelin and Thomas de Donham, two of
+the canons, who took the news of the death of Prior Robert to the King.
+
+The endowments slowly increased by various small benefactions. Thus
+Henry III., in 1251, granted the priory 10 acres of land out of the
+royal hay of Linby, to be held quit of all interference by the forest
+ministers, with licence to enclose the land with hedge and dyke.
+Nevertheless the convent was so seriously in debt in 1274, that the
+King appointed a receiver to administer their estates during pleasure.
+In 1279 the prior and canons obtained licence to fell and sell the
+timber of a wood of 40 acres which had been given them in 1245. Such a
+step as this would certainly bring considerable financial relief; but
+the regular income was after all very small for a house where wayfarers
+would so often claim hospitality. The income, according to the Taxation
+Roll of 1291, was only £83, 13s. 6d. The house was again pressed by
+its creditors in 1295, when, at their own request, Hugh de Vienne was
+appointed by the Crown to take charge of the revenue, applying the
+income, saving a reasonable sustenance for the prior, canons, and their
+men, to the relief of their debts; no sheriff, bailiff, or such-like
+minister were to lodge in the priory or its granges during such
+custody. On 25th July 1300, another like custodian, Peter de Leicester,
+a King’s clerk, was appointed after a similar fashion.
+
+The King, in 1304, made an important augmentation of the possessions of
+Newstead by granting the house 180 acres of the waste in the forest hay
+of Linby at a rent of £4, due to the sheriff, with licence to enclose
+them and bring them into cultivation.
+
+Both Edward I. and Edward II. seem to have been attached to this
+house in the centre of the forest, notwithstanding the important
+royal hunting lodge at Clipston. Edward I. sojourned at Newstead in
+August 1280 and in September 1290, and Edward II. in September 1307
+and October 1315, as is shown by the Patent and Close Rolls. The royal
+licence was obtained from the latter King, in 1315, to permit the
+appropriation of the church of Egmanton.
+
+News of the resignation of Prior Richard de Grange was brought to
+the King at Nottingham by the canons Robert de Sutton and Robert de
+Wylleby on 13th December 1324, and they took back with them leave to
+elect. On 10th December the King signified the Archbishop of York that
+he had assented to the election of William de Thurgarton, canon of
+Newstead, as prior. Owing to informality the archbishop quashed the
+election and claimed that the right of preferment had devolved upon
+him. Recognising, however, the worth of William de Thurgarton, the
+archbishop proceeded to collate him as superior; the King, when at
+Ravensdale, the forest lodge of Duffield, Derbyshire, on 10th January
+1323, issued his mandate for the deliverance of the temporalities to
+the new prior.
+
+The financial troubles do not appear to have much abated when Edward
+III. was on the throne. In 1330 the priory had remitted to them the
+rent of £4 due to the sheriff for the 180 acres within the hay of
+Linby. Licence was granted in 1334 for the alienation to the priory
+by William de Cossall of 12 messuages, a mill, and various lands in
+Cossall and Nottingham, to find three chaplains, two to serve in
+the church of St. Katherine Cossall, and one in the priory church,
+celebrating mass daily for himself, his ancestors, and successors.
+Considerable additional grants of land were made in 1341, conditional
+on the maintenance of two chaplains to say daily mass in the church of
+St. Mary Edwinstowe.
+
+Richard II., in 1392, granted to the prior and convent of Newstead a
+tun of wine yearly in the port of Kingston-upon-Hull, in aid of the
+maintenance of divine service.
+
+Henry VI., in 1437, licensed Prior Robert and convent to enclose 8
+acres within Sherwood Forest, just in front of the entry to the priory,
+and to dyke, quickset, and hedge it, for which they were to render at
+the Exchequer one rose at midsummer.
+
+Edward IV., in 1461, licensed John Durham, the prior, and his convent
+to enclose 48 acres of forest granted them by Henry II., adjoining the
+priory on the north, east, and south, with a ditch and low hedge, and
+to cut down and dispose of the wood growing thereon.
+
+The Valor of 1534 gave the clear annual value of this priory as
+£167, 16s. 11½d. The spiritualities, amounting to £58, included the
+appropriated Nottinghamshire rectories of Papplewick, Hucknall Torkard,
+Stapleford, Tuxford, and Egmanton, and the Derbyshire rectory of Ault
+Hucknall. The considerable deductions included 20s. given to the poor
+on Maundy Thursday in commemoration of Henry II. as founder; and a
+portion of food and drink, similar to that of a canon, given to some
+poor person every day, valued at 60s. a year.
+
+The episcopal registers at York contain various records as to diocesan
+visitations of Newstead. Archbishop Grey visited the priory in person
+in 1252, when he found, after individual examination, that the prior
+and canons were fervid in religion and lovers of peace and concord. He
+laid down a number of minor injunctions for their still better rule,
+which were to be read twice a year before the convent.
+
+Archbishop Geoffrey de Ludham personally visited Newstead on 4th July
+1259, and approved of the statutes made by Archbishop Grey, adding
+certain injunctions of his own. The prior, considering the evil days
+in which they were living, was to do his best to obtain grace and
+favour with patrons; he was personally to receive guests with a smiling
+countenance (_vultu prout decet hilari et jocundo_), and to merit
+the love of his convent, doing nothing without the counsel of the
+older canons. Medicines were to be reserved for the sick; any brother
+noticing the infringement of a rule was to speak; there was to be no
+drinking after compline, nor wanderings outside the cloister; and a
+canon was to be specially deputed to look after the sick.
+
+The record of a visitation by Archbishop Wickwaine in 1280 brought to
+light certain irregularities. In addition to general injunctions, such
+as the unlocking of the carrels twice a year, and oftener if necessary,
+in order to eradicate the vice of private property, it was ordered that
+two of the canons were to be confined to cloister for the improvement
+of their manners, that another canon was to be restored to the general
+convent through penitence, but that the cellarer and cook were to be
+deprived of their respective offices.
+
+Consequent on a visitation of Newstead by Archbishop Romanus, in 1293,
+injunctions were issued for the correction of the house, which followed
+the usual formal lines, save that he prohibited the resort to any games
+with dice, and that the sick were to be more delicately fed, and not
+with the usual gross food of the convent. The archbishop at the same
+time laid down that John, their late prior, was to be honoured and
+his counsel followed, because of his great services to the house and
+his generosity about his pension in freely and voluntarily giving up
+much to which he was entitled. As a new ordinance for his pension, the
+archbishop ordered that Brother John was to have his chamber and garden
+as previously arranged, with a canon’s livery for himself and another
+for the canon who was to dwell with him and say the divine offices, and
+another for his boy; and 30s. a year for his own necessities and for
+the boy’s wages; any guest who came to visit him was to have his meals
+in the frater or in the hall.
+
+It is often forgotten that all the chief religious Orders had their
+own scheme of visitation independent of the diocesan. An interesting
+reminder of this occurs in an entry of a Newstead visitation which
+took place on 16th July 1261; it was subsequently entered in Giffard’s
+register. The visitors on this occasion were the priors of the two
+Austin houses of Nostell and Guisborough, who were at that time the
+duly appointed provincial visitors of the order. They enjoined that a
+good servant, with a boy, was to be placed in the infirmary, and that
+one of the canons was to say the canonical hours for them, as well as
+celebrate mass, according to the rule of the Blessed Augustine.[38]
+A chamberlain was to be appointed to provide clothes and shoes for
+the convent; he was to have a horse to attend fairs and a servant
+assigned him to buy necessaries. The canons’ dishes were to have more
+eggs and relishes, but within moderation; never more than three eggs.
+No one was to drink but in the refectory after collation, and then to
+attend compline. Accounts were to be rendered twice a year. Canons
+were to make open amends in chapter on Sundays for transgressions. A
+lay brother (_conversus_) was to look after the tannery, with a
+canon to superintend and to see to the buying and selling. Another
+lay brother was to have charge of the garden, under the sub-cellarer.
+Finally, the prior was ordered to bring Canon Richard de Walkeringham
+with him to the next general chapter; he was to testify whether these
+injunctions had been obeyed.
+
+The clear annual income of Newstead having fallen considerably below
+the amount of £200 fixed as the limit for the suppression of the
+smaller houses in 1536, its fate seemed certain. But this was one of
+the cases in which a semi-fraudulent arrangement was encouraged by
+officials, who well knew that the doom of all monasteries was fixed,
+whereby Newstead obtained exemption on payment of the heavy fine of
+£233, 6s. 8d. A patent to this effect was signed on 16th December
+1537; but it only held good for about eighteen months, for on 21st
+July 1539 the surrender of the house was extorted. This document was
+signed by Robert Blake, prior, Richard Kitchen, sub-prior, John Bredon,
+cellarer, and nine other canons, Robert Sisson, John Derfelde, William
+Dotton, William Bathley, Christopher Matheram, Geoffrey Acryth, Richard
+Hardwyke, Henry Tingker, and Leonard Alynson.
+
+Dr. John London, the commissioner who took the surrender of Newstead,
+was one of the most objectionable and hateful of these suppression
+officials. He held no small amount of preferments in the Church, being
+a considerable pluralist. He was dean of Osney, dean of Wallingford,
+and canon of Windsor, and from 1526 to 1542, warden of New College,
+Oxford. He was one of the most thorough-paced spoilers of monasteries,
+so far as the work of devastation was concerned. His letters to
+Cromwell show that he delighted in the disfiguring of all that was
+fair and beautiful in the monastic churches and chapels, personally
+superintending the defacements. In connection with the friaries, he
+avowed that his orders for immediate destruction of roofs and windows
+were for the purpose of preventing the friars again taking possession
+of their property. He showed marvellous ingenuity in hunting out
+valuables of all kinds, but occasionally fell a victim to his credulity
+in listening to slanders. Being assured by a tale-bearer that the abbot
+of Combe had hidden £500 in a feather bed in his brother’s house, he
+forthwith proceeded to that residence and ripped open the beds in
+search for the money. Eventually he examined the abbot himself, who
+readily acknowledged that he held some money belonging to his former
+house, but it proved to be only £25. London’s shameful treatment of the
+abbess of Godstow is well known, and in that instance even Cromwell had
+to remonstrate with his conduct. Bishop Burnet, the historian, states
+that he has “seen complaints of Dr. London soliciting nuns.” That he
+was a man of odiously dissolute life is beyond all contradiction.
+
+Archdeacon South has left the following record of this dissolute bully,
+and his subsequent public exposure:--
+
+“But to what open shame Doctor London was afterwards put, with open
+penance, with two smocks on his shoulders, for Mrs. Thykked and Mrs.
+Jennynges, the mother and daughter, and how he was taken with one of
+them by Henry Plankney in his gallery, being his sister’s son, as it
+was then known to a number in Oxford and elsewhere, so I think that
+some yet living hath it in remembrance, as well as the penner of this
+history.”[39]
+
+Archbishop Cranmer summed up his judgment of this suppressor of
+Newstead by styling him, in a still extant manuscript, in his own hand,
+“a stout and filthy prebendary of Windsor.” He died in utter misery in
+the Fleet Prison in 1543, after having been found guilty of perjury,
+and condemned to ride through Windsor, Reading, and Newbury, with his
+face to the horse’s tail, and to stand in the pillory in each of these
+market towns with a paper on his head announcing his offence.
+
+A pension scheme was drawn up on 24th July, and forwarded to Sir
+Richard Rich for ratification. To the prior was assigned the not
+unhandsome sum of £26, 13s. 4d., to the sub-prior £6, to the cellarer
+£5, 6s. 8d., and to the remaining canons annuities ranging from £4,
+13s. 4d. to £3, 6s. 8d.
+
+Thus, in July 1539, came to an end the continuous services to God
+and man, for upwards of three and a half centuries, of those devoted
+religious the canons of St. Augustine of Sherwood Forest. That which
+one royal Henry had founded of his beneficence, another royal Henry
+blotted out through consummate greed. As Lord Byron says:--
+
+    “Years roll on years; to ages, ages yield;
+      Abbots to abbots, in a line, succeed;
+    Religion’s charter their protecting shield,
+      Till royal sacrilege their doom decreed.
+
+    One holy Henry rear’d the Gothic walls,
+      And bade the pious inmates rest in peace;
+    Another Henry the kind gift recalls,
+      And bids devotion’s hallow’d echoes cease.”
+
+The following is a list of the successive priors (not abbots) of this
+house so far as at present ascertained:--
+
+    Eustace, 1216.
+    Richard, 1216.
+    Aldred, 1230.
+    Robert, 1234.
+    William, 1241.
+    William de Mottisfont, 1267.
+    John de Lexinton, resigned, 1288.
+    Richard de Hallam, 1288.
+    Richard de Grange, 1293.
+    William de Thurgarton, 1324.
+    Hugh de Collingham, 1349.
+    William de Collingham, resigned, 1356.
+    John de Wylesthorp, resigned, 1366.
+    William de Allerton, 1366.
+    John de Hucknall, 1406.
+    William Bakewell, 1417.
+    Thomas Carleton, 1422.
+    Robert Cutwolfe, 1423.
+    William Misterton, 1455.
+    John Durham, 1461.
+    Thomas Gunthorp, 1467.
+    William Sandale, 1504.
+    John Blake, 1526.
+
+Immediately on the surrender being accomplished the custody of the
+house was handed over to Sir John Byron of Colwick. In May 1540, Sir
+John Byron was put into legal possession of the house, site, church,
+steeple, churchyard, and of all the lands, mills, advowsons, rectories,
+and of the late priory in return for the then large sum of about £800
+handed over to the Crown.
+
+This Sir John Byron was by no means the mushroom man, like so many of
+Cromwell and Henry VIII.’s _novi homines_ who were bribed with
+monastic estates to support the policy of reckless confiscation, not
+a few of whom found further reward in the creation of peerages. This
+“Little Sir John with the Big Beard” was descended from the Byrons who
+had fought at Crecy, was grand-nephew of the Byron of Bosworth Field,
+and he himself had helped to turn Henry Tudor into Henry VII.
+
+No sooner had the canons been turned adrift than the great conventual
+church, 257 feet in length, the nave of which had always been reserved
+for quasi-parochial use by the tenants on the prior’s estates,
+was deliberately unroofed and dismantled. The great block of the
+conventual buildings, surrounding the cloisters, on the immediate south
+of the church, were preserved by Sir John, the south transept with its
+stone Maundy seat, escaped destruction, as it completed the square of
+the buildings now occupied as a domestic residence. He is said to have
+moved the fountain, or water-conduit, which occupied the centre of the
+cloister garth, to the west front of his reconstructed house. Among
+the more striking survivals of the work of the first lay-owner of the
+priory are two brilliantly coloured overmantels, carved with busts in
+relief of Henry VIII. and other contemporary personages.
+
+The successive owners of Newstead Priory were:--
+
+Sir John Byron, who died in 1576.
+
+Sir John Byron (2), who died in 1609. He was the founder of the
+Hucknall Broomhill charity. In June 1603 he entertained at the priory
+Queen Anne of Denmark and her son Prince Henry, when on their way from
+Scotland to join James I. in London.
+
+Sir John Byron (3), who died in 1625.
+
+Sir John Byron (4), M.P. for Nottingham, a faithful adherent of Charles
+II.; he was created Lord Byron, with remainder to his brother, in 1643;
+he died in Paris in 1652.
+
+Richard Lord Byron, the defender of Newark, succeeded his brother, and
+died in 1679; he entertained Charles II. at Newstead.
+
+His son William, the third baron, died in 1695; his wife, Lady
+Elizabeth, gave the large silver-gilt chalice and paten to the church
+of Hucknall Torkard.
+
+William, the fourth baron, son of the third, died in 1736.
+
+His son William, the fifth baron, known as “Devil Byron,” who killed
+William Chaworth in a duel, died, without surviving issue, in 1798.
+
+George Gordon, the sixth Lord Byron, the poet, was great-nephew of the
+fifth baron. His two predecessors had seriously embarrassed the estate;
+it was so heavily mortgaged that in 1814 he finally left Newstead,
+to his intense grief, and after prolonged negotiations, the property
+passed, in 1817, into the hands of his friend and schoolfellow Colonel
+Wildman.
+
+Colonel Wildman, at great cost and with considerable taste, considering
+the general lack of taste of those days, proceeded to rescue the priory
+from its deplorable condition. He replaced the water-conduit in the
+centre of the cloisters; removed a disfiguring stone stairway; and
+generally altered the interior in an endeavour to restore as much as
+possible the original features. At a later period he erected the Sussex
+tower, in commemoration of the visit of the Duke of Sussex. He left
+the beautiful pile of buildings in much the same condition as it is at
+present.
+
+After the Colonel’s death, the priory and estate were bought in 1860
+by the late Mr. W. F. Webb. Under Mr. Webb’s guidance “the work of
+restoration and beautifying was piously and intelligently continued;
+he made it one of the chief aims of his life to increase both the
+historical and Byronic interests of the place.” Since his death the
+greatest care and good taste have continued to be expended on the
+house, and more particularly on the gardens and grounds, by his
+daughters, Lady Chermside and Miss Webb.
+
+Space entirely prohibits any attempt at a full or technical description
+of the ancient conventual church, and the buildings round the cloister
+garth which still retain, notwithstanding the frequent alterations,
+so many distinctive features of their original erection, at different
+periods for monastic purposes. The writer has had the advantage of
+making a fairly thorough survey of the priory in both the “seventies”
+and “eighties” of last century, and again during the twentieth century
+under the intelligent guidance of his late valued friend, the Rev. R.
+H. Whitworth, chaplain of Newstead, and for upwards of forty years
+vicar of the adjacent parish of Blidworth. To describe Newstead
+adequately would require at least the whole of this volume.
+
+  [Illustration: PLAN OF NEWSTEAD PRIORY, BY REV. R. H.
+  WHITWORTH.]
+
+Mr. Whitworth loved every stone of Newstead and every detail of its
+story. Not long before his death he gave to the writer the accompanying
+plan (together with many memoranda) the work of his own pen, and
+though not entirely accurate in dimensions or lettering, it is of real
+interest, and it is a pleasure to reproduce it in facsimile.
+
+All that can here be put on record are a few cursory remarks on certain
+remaining details, chiefly taken from Mr. Whitworth’s memoranda. The
+exceeding beauty of the west front of the church, with its delicacy
+of execution, of the best period of the reign of Edward I., is well
+known to all lovers of England’s ecclesiastical architecture. Sir John
+Byron, leaving the stately front as an ornament in line with the front
+of his reconstructed house, made so clean a sweep of the once stately
+church right up to the eastern end, that the smooth turf shows not a
+trace of even the foundations of the piers. It is characteristic of the
+semi-pagan character of the poet Byron that though he could vigorously
+upbraid the sacrilegious conduct of Henry VIII. and his myrmidons in
+ejecting the canons and in silencing all strains of worship “within
+these hallowed walls,” he did not apparently realise the unhappy
+inconsistency and gross irreverence of burying his favourite dog
+“Boatswain” on the holiest spot of this consecrated site and placing a
+monument over its body!
+
+Grievous as was the uprooting of this once stately church, it is
+impossible not to feel grateful to Sir John Byron for the preservation
+of the exquisite chapter house of the priory with its beautiful groined
+roof supported by two pillars of clustered banded shafts. It is
+situated, according to the invariable monastic custom, on the eastern
+side of the cloisters, separated from the south transept of the church
+by a slype or passage; it is of similar date to the west front of the
+church. Tradition has it that the first Sir John Byron had this chapter
+house set apart for use as a domestic chapel, and for that purpose it
+is still used.
+
+In common with other monks and canons, the inmates of Newstead Priory,
+when they knew the storm was about to break, endeavoured to conceal
+some of their ornaments and valuables ere they were inventoried. They
+flung into the water of the lake in front of their house a fine pair
+of great brass altar candlesticks, originally 4 feet 6½ inches high
+(they have been raised 10½ inches), together with the brass eagle
+which served as a Gospel lectern. These were accidentally found and
+recovered from the lake about 1780. Hoping perchance some day to
+reoccupy their old home, the canons packed tightly the cavity of the
+globe on which the eagle rested with a selection of their parchment
+title-deeds, dating from Edward III. down to Henry VIII. When fished
+up, in the days of that evil spendthrift, the fifth Lord Byron, the
+eagle and candlesticks were sold to a Nottingham dealer in old metals.
+They were repurchased by Sir Richard Kaye, rector of Kirkby; he was a
+canon of Southwell, and they are still in the honoured possession of
+that cathedral church. The eagle bore an inscription asking for prayers
+for the souls of Ralph Savage, the donor, and for all the faithful
+departed; he was the founder of a chantry in the year 1488, in the
+Derbyshire church of North Wingfield.
+
+Like so many old residences formed out of ancient monasteries, Newstead
+has the reputation of being haunted, and that by more than one spectre.
+But the name and fate of the last of the Byrons has overclouded and
+obscured all previous tenants, mortal or otherwise, and flung the pall
+of poetic melancholy over the domains such as no spiritual imaginations
+can survive. The legends connected with Newstead are many, and descend
+from that mysterious maid of Saracen birth or residence, whose form and
+features are so frequently repeated in the ancient panel work of the
+priory’s interior, down to Lord Byron’s immediate predecessor in the
+title and estates. “Devil Byron,” as this man was called, among other
+wild tales connected with his name was said to be himself haunted by
+the spirit of a sister, to whom he refused to speak for years preceding
+her death in consequence of a family scandal, notwithstanding her
+heart-rending appeals. Ebenezer Elliot, in a ballad he wrote on this
+legend, introduces the apparitions of both Devil Byron and his sister
+as riding forth together in stormy weather, the lady still making
+passionate appeals to the immovable brother to speak to her[40]:--
+
+    “Well sleep the dead; in holy ground,
+      Well sleeps the heart of iron,
+    The worm that pares his sister’s cheek,
+      What cares it for Byron?
+
+    Yet when her night of death comes round,
+      They ride and drive together,
+    And ever, when they ride or drive,
+      All wilful is the weather.
+
+    On mighty winds in spectre coach,
+      Fast speeds the heart of iron,
+    On spectre steed, the spectre dame,
+      Side by side with Byron.
+
+    Oh, ‘Night doth love her,’ O the clouds,
+      They do her form environ,
+    The lightning weeps--he hears her sob,
+      ‘Speak to me! Lord Byron!’
+
+    On winds, on clouds, they ride, they drive,
+      Oh hark thou heart of iron,
+    The thunder whispers mournfully,
+      ‘O speak to her, Lord Byron!’”
+
+Another family apparition which is said to have haunted the old priory
+was “Sir John Byron the Little with the Big Beard.” An ancient portrait
+of this mysterious ancestor was some years since seen hanging over
+the door of the great saloon, and was sometimes at midnight said to
+descend from its sombre frame and promenade the state apartments.
+Indeed this ancient worthy’s visitations were not confined merely to
+nightfall; one young lady on a visit years ago positively asserted that
+in broad daylight, the door of his former chamber being opened, she
+saw Sir John the Little sitting by the fireplace and reading out of an
+old-fashioned book.
+
+Several other apparitions have been seen from time to time about
+this ancient, time-honoured building. Washington Irving mentions
+that a young lady, a cousin of Lord Byron’s, on one occasion slept
+in the room next the clock, and when she was in bed she saw a lady
+in white come out of the wall on one side of the room, and go into
+the wall on the other side. Many curious noises and strange sights
+have been heard and seen by many visitors at Newstead; but the best
+known and most noted spectre connected with the place and immortalised
+by Byron’s verse is the “Goblin Friar.” The particular chamber that
+this spectre is supposed specially to frequent, and which is known
+_par excellence_ as the Haunted Chamber, adjoins Byron’s bedroom.
+During the poet’s residence this dismal-looking room was occupied by
+his page, who is said to have been a youth of striking beauty. Lord
+Byron and many others not only believed in the existence of the Black
+Friar, but asserted that they had really seen it. It did not confine
+its visitations to the Haunted Chamber, but, at night, walked into the
+cloisters, and other parts of the Priory.
+
+                        “A monk arrayed
+    In cowl and beads and dusky garb appeared,
+    Now in the moonlight and now lapsed in shade,
+    With steps that trod as heavy, yet unheard.”
+
+This apparition was the evil genius of the Byrons, and its appearance
+foreshadowed misfortune of some kind to the member of the family
+by whom it was seen. Lord Byron fully believed that he beheld this
+apparition a short time before the greatest misfortune of his life, his
+ill-starred union with Miss Milbanke. Alluding to his faith in these
+things, he said:--
+
+    “I merely mean to say, what Johnson said,
+      That in the course of some six thousand years,
+    All nations have believed that from the dead
+      A visitant at intervals appears;
+    And what is strangest upon this strange head
+      Is that whatever bar the reason rears
+    ’Gainst such belief, there’s something stronger still
+      In its behalf, let those deny who will.”
+
+And he thus introduces the presumed duties, as it were, of the Black
+Friar:--
+
+    “By the marriage bed of their lords, ’tis said,
+      He flies on the bridal eve,
+    And ’tis held as faith, to their bed of death
+      He comes, but not to grieve.
+
+    When an heir is born, he is bound to mourn,
+      And when aught is to befall
+    That ancient line, in the pale moonshine,
+      He walks from hall to hall.
+
+    His form you may trace, but not his face,
+      ’Tis shadowed by his cowl,
+    But his eyes may be seen, from the folds between,
+      And they seem of a parted soul.”
+
+However capable as a poet, Byron was clearly no student of monastic
+affairs. Otherwise he would have known that anything more unlikely than
+the residence of a Black or Dominican Friar within a house of Black
+Canons could hardly have taken place. But to him, as to many modern
+writers, including several of our leading novelists, monks, canons, and
+friars, though absolutely distinct, are of one and the same order.
+
+The apartments occupied by Lord Byron, bedroom, dressing-room, and
+small haunted chamber--supposed to have been originally the prior’s
+lodgings--are carefully kept in the same state as when occupied by the
+poet. Other rooms over the cloisters, hung with suitable tapestry, are
+named after Edward III., Henry VII., and Charles II.; they are said
+to have been respectively occupied by these Kings when visiting the
+priory.
+
+
+
+
+                             WOLLATON HALL
+
+                        BY J. A. GOTCH, F.S.A.
+
+
+Nottinghamshire is not rich in ancient houses; for although it can
+boast of many fine seats, they are either comparatively modern in
+date, or they have been so much altered as to have lost their ancient
+character. By far the most interesting architecturally is Wollaton
+Hall, close to Nottingham, the seat of Lord Middleton.
+
+It was built in the reign of Elizabeth by Sir Francis Willoughby, whose
+family had lived for several generations in a house near the church.
+Sir Francis left no son, but his eldest daughter and co-heir married
+her cousin Percival Willoughby, who succeeded in her right to the
+Wollaton property. He was among the earliest of the gentry knighted by
+King James I. on his accession to the English throne, receiving that
+honour at Worksop on April 20, 1603. He died about the beginning of
+the Civil War; his son, another Sir Francis, succeeded him, and was
+in turn followed by his only son, Francis, the celebrated traveller
+and naturalist. Francis Willoughby achieved a great reputation as a
+scientist, and was one of the first members of the Royal Society.
+He died in 1672 at the early age of thirty-seven. To him eventually
+succeeded his second son, Thomas, who was created Lord Middleton in
+1711 by Queen Anne. He also left a daughter, Cassandra, who married
+the Duke of Chandos, and is interesting to us because of some notes
+concerning her ancestral home which she left behind her.
+
+Wollaton Hall is sometimes quoted as a typical example of the work
+of the English Renaissance. Those who are in sympathy with that phase
+of domestic architecture point to it as a magnificent specimen of an
+Elizabethan palace. Those who are out of sympathy direct the finger of
+scorn to its extravagances and its pretentiousness. As a matter of fact
+it cannot be called a typical example. In its chief characteristics it
+stands by itself, namely, in its lofty central hall and its four corner
+pavilions. In its extreme regularity of treatment, and in the great
+care bestowed upon its detail, it exhibits far more of conscious effort
+in design than the majority of houses built at that period.
+
+The interesting question is, Who was responsible for the design
+of Wollaton? So little is really known from actual records of the
+architectural designers of that period, or of their method of work,
+that the field of conjecture is a vast one, and offers scope for
+manœuvres on a large scale. But there are one or two facts connected
+with this house which help us to a certain extent. We know from the
+inscription over the garden door that it was built by Sir Francis
+Willoughby, constructed with uncommon art, and left as a precious
+possession to the Willoughbys. It was begun in 1580 and finished in
+1588. The actual inscription runs thus, and consists of two hexameters--
+
+    “En has Francisci Willughbi militis ædes
+    Rara arte extructas Willughboeisq relictas.
+        Inchoatæ 1580 et finitæ 1588.”
+
+We also know that in John Thorpe’s collection of drawings in the Soane
+Museum in London there is a ground-plan of the house and half the front
+elevation. We also find in Wollaton Church a monument to “Mr. Robert
+Smythson, gent. architector and surveyor unto the most worthy house of
+Wollaton and diverse others of great account,” who died in 1614 at the
+age of seventy-nine. There are also some drawings relating to Wollaton
+in the valuable collection belonging to Col. Coke of Brookhill, near
+Alfreton. These belonged to a John Smithson, architect, of Bolsover,
+and were largely his own handiwork. The drawings of Wollaton
+comprise a plan of the house with forecourts, an elevation of one of
+the corner pavilions, a plan of the “new orchard,” dated 1618, and some
+sketches of the stone screen in the great hall. Lastly, we learn from
+Cassandra Willoughby, Duchess of Chandos, who wrote an account of the
+house in 1702, that Sir Francis Willoughby sent for the master-workmen
+who built the house out of Italy, and also for most of the stone
+figures which adorn it.
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 1. PLAN OF WOLLATON HALL, BY JOHN
+  THORPE.]
+
+Here, then, we have apparently a number of conflicting claims. No one,
+however, contests with Sir Francis Willoughby the honour of having
+built the house in the sense of having ordered and paid for it. Nor
+is its date in question. But there are three claimants to the honour
+of having designed it, namely, John Thorpe, Robert Smythson, and the
+master-workmen out of Italy. First, as to the latter. The idea has long
+been very prevalent that the houses of Elizabeth’s time owed their
+special characteristics to Italy and to Italian workmen; and so, in a
+way, they did, because Italy influenced more or less directly the work
+of the Renaissance in all other countries. But, as a matter of fact,
+it is extremely difficult to trace anything but a very small amount
+of English work to actual Italian hands. The whole tendency of recent
+inquiries goes to show that it was English hands which executed most of
+the work which has an Italian appearance. The tales of models having
+been sent for from Italy for English houses are probably apocryphal,
+because the plan of an English house differed widely from that of an
+Italian; and although it might be rash to assert that Cassandra the
+Duchess was wrong, still the master-workmen who were sent for out of
+Italy could have had very little to do with the designing of Wollaton.
+The chief credit for that performance ought to be given to John Thorpe,
+and it is possible to reconcile his claims with those of Robert
+Smythson by regarding the latter as the chief workman and clerk of
+the works, or surveyor. It must be remembered that although the same
+terms are used now as were used then, the meaning of them has changed.
+We find a number of men described as “architectus” or “architector,”
+who were what we should regard as master-masons, and that is probably
+what Mr. Robert Smythson was. But it must also be remembered that the
+relation of the master-mason to the architect was then very different
+from what it is to-day. The architect to-day designs everything
+himself; in those days he seems only to have given a general idea of
+what he wanted, leaving the detail to be developed by the master-mason.
+The latter might therefore well take credit to himself--or his
+sorrowing family for him--as being the “architector” to a house like
+Wollaton.
+
+There is no established connection between Robert Smythson of Wollaton
+and John Smithson of Bolsover; but both men were occupied with building
+matters, and the dates would allow of Robert being the father of John.
+The relationship, if it existed, would account for John being employed
+to make drawings of Wollaton.
+
+The actual origin of the house may properly be attributed to Thorpe. He
+claims nothing for himself, he only leaves certain drawings behind him
+(Figs. 1 and 3).
+
+In comparing Thorpe’s plan with the actual ground-plan (Fig. 2), it
+will be found that the main dimensions tally almost exactly; the corner
+pavilions, however, are not quite so large as he shows them, and the
+projection of the wings beyond the entrance and garden fronts is rather
+larger than he indicates. The hall is built to his dimensions of 60
+feet by 30 feet. As to the general similarity of the two plans, the
+likeness is obvious, but the difference in the thickness of the various
+main walls should be observed. The variations in the positions of the
+internal cross walls need hardly be considered, because they result,
+in all probability, from comparatively recent alterations. But in the
+main skeleton there are several noteworthy discrepancies. The corner
+pavilions in Thorpe’s plan do not overlap the north and south
+fronts, whereas they do in the building itself. The entrance porch as
+built is quite different from what he shows, and so is the projecting
+window in the centre of the south or garden front. The two central
+bays which he shows on the east and west fronts do not appear in the
+building itself; as a matter of fact the east front has six large
+windows between the pavilions, whereas the west has seven. Thorpe shows
+both these fronts treated alike.
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 2. WOLLATON HALL: GROUND PLAN,
+  1901.]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 3. WOLLATON HALL: HALF-ELEVATION, BY
+  JOHN THORPE.]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 4. WOLLATON HALL.]
+
+Comparing Thorpe’s half-elevation with the photograph of the building
+(Fig. 4), the general likeness again is obvious. But Thorpe shows no
+basement windows; his front porch agrees with his plan and differs
+from the actual work; he shows two four-light windows in the front
+at the side of the porch, whereas there are actually a four-light
+and a five-light; he shows a single pilaster between these windows,
+whereas there are two. The end of his wing has a four-light window; the
+building itself has a five-light. Niches which he does not show have
+been made on the main front as well as on the flanks of the various
+projections. He shows several ways of ornamenting the pedestals of
+his pilasters; in execution they have the gondola rings shown to the
+left of his ground story. The curly gable of his corner pavilion,
+although carefully shown, does not quite tally with the gable as
+carried out; nor does his angle turret on the central tower agree with
+what was built. He evidently started by treating the angle with quoins
+surmounted by a small turret at the top, but he subsequently lengthened
+the turret downwards. The pilasters which he shows on this central
+block do not appear in the building; if they had they would have served
+to bring that part of the composition more into harmony with the lower
+part, and nothing would probably have been heard of the suggestion
+that the central pavilion is part of an older building. A study of the
+plan and of the building, however, disposes of this suggestion, nor
+could the lofty hall and the room over it be harmonised with any known
+treatment of houses prior to the Elizabethan era.
+
+The discrepancies here pointed out do away with the idea that Thorpe’s
+drawings were made from the building after erection. They are easily
+accounted for on the supposition that the drawings were modified in the
+course of being carried out.
+
+If we turn to Smithson’s drawings, we find that his plan (Fig. 5)
+tallies almost exactly (as to the main walls) with the existing plan.
+This leads to the supposition that his plan was drawn from the actual
+building at a time when the addition of forecourts was contemplated;
+if, indeed, owing to the considerable and irregular slope of the ground
+they were ever contemplated. His elevation of the corner pavilion (Fig.
+6) agrees almost accurately with the actual building.
+
+There is one point in connection with the Thorpe drawings which bears
+forcibly upon the question as to the source whence the ideas which
+underlay our English Renaissance came. There was a tolerably widespread
+desire in Elizabeth’s time to benefit by what was being done in
+foreign lands. A young architect, John Shute, was sent by the Duke
+of Northumberland to study architecture in Italy. Lord Burghley made
+more than one inquiry for books on architecture recently published in
+France, and John Thorpe himself, as his drawings show, studied Italian,
+French, and Dutch books. One of the French books to which he devoted
+considerable attention was Androuet du Cerceau’s _Les plus Excellents
+Bastiments de France_, published in 1576, and in that book are a few
+plans with corner pavilions such as those at Wollaton. The disposition
+of Wollaton is so unusual that it is quite possible that Thorpe may
+have put into practice here some of the ideas he gleaned from Du
+Cerceau’s book. Some of Du Cerceau’s plans he copied into his own MS.
+book, but in doing so he adapted them to English uses, and it was much
+the same with Wollaton. The plan is not a direct copy; it is only
+the general idea which may have been derived from the French source.
+Thorpe having designed the plan and elevation, may be presumed
+to have handed them over to Robert Smythson, who, with the help of
+the master-workmen from Italy, carried the work out. Such a course of
+procedure would at any rate reconcile the claims of the various parties.
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 5. WOLLATON HALL: PLAN BY
+  SMITHSON.]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 6. WOLLATON HALL: ELEVATION OF CORNER
+  PAVILION, BY SMITHSON.]
+
+But leaving the question of who designed the house, a few words must
+be bestowed upon the structure itself. Its plan, although of foreign
+origin, was so contrived as to comply with old-established English
+habits. The central position of the hall rendered it not altogether
+easy of access in the usual way--that is, into the passage at the end
+called the “screens.” The most direct way from the front door to the
+hall is that which now exists, but this leads you into the middle of
+the side, not into the screens. Thorpe, therefore, kept his hall floor
+above the level of his front door, and led the visitor, not directly
+into the hall, but round to the right, and so, by way of a flight of
+steps, up to the end of the hall, and delivered him into the screens in
+the usual way. The spare space not occupied by the stairs he devoted
+to the porter’s rooms. Smithson’s plan shows a similar arrangement. A
+further reason for keeping the hall floor raised was that, contrary to
+the prevailing custom, he put his kitchen and servants’ rooms down in
+a basement. This was almost a necessity of the design, for being of a
+pretentious nature, it was obliged to be grand on every side, and the
+kitchen and inferior premises had to be hidden away in a basement in
+order not to spoil the symmetry of the four show-sides of the house.
+
+The disposition of the house, with a central hall surrounded by rooms
+two stories high, necessitated an unusual height for the hall, which
+is over 50 feet high. Its window-sills also had to be above the roofs
+of the surrounding rooms, and they are some 35 feet from the floor.
+The upper floor of these adjacent rooms on the east side was devoted
+to the long gallery, but modern alterations, necessitated by constant
+use, have not only divided this up into a number of small rooms, but
+have effectually obliterated from the interior of the whole house all
+its Elizabethan character, except what remains in the basement and in
+the great hall. The fine stone screen remains here, and agrees with the
+sketches in the Smithson drawings: the original roof is also left--an
+excellent specimen of Elizabethan work. It has this peculiarity,
+that though fashioned like an open hammer-beam roof, it supports in
+reality the floor of a large room over, called the Prospect Room, which
+occupies the upper part of the central block that forms so conspicuous
+a feature of the house.
+
+It only remains to say that the house was entirely new from its
+foundations, and that it occupied eight years in erection. There was
+apparently no building here before it, although very frequently we find
+Elizabethan houses enveloping the remains of a humbler predecessor. The
+Willoughbys had lived at Wollaton for some generations previous to the
+building of the mansion, but their home was a house somewhere near the
+church. It has been suggested that the central block is earlier in date
+than that which surrounds it; but reflection shows that the hall must
+necessarily have been built in relation to the lower buildings round
+it. There is nothing to indicate any alterations of an older building;
+the detail of the central block, although different, is contemporary
+with that of the rest of the house, and the whole of it is shown on
+Thorpe’s drawing. Everything, therefore, tends to prove that the whole
+house was built at the same time. Duchess Cassandra tells us that the
+stone was brought from Ancaster, and that the same pack-horses which
+brought it took back Sir Francis’s coal in exchange. Notwithstanding
+that he got his stone for nothing, she says, and that labour was much
+cheaper in those days, the house cost Sir Francis £80,000.
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 7. WOLLATON HALL: THE ORCHARD, PLAN
+  BY SMITHSON.]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 8. WOLLATON HALL; THE SCREEN, BY
+  SMITHSON.]
+
+The external treatment is of pronounced classic character, with
+plenty of pilasters and bold cornices. There are a number of circular
+niches containing busts of classic personages such as Virgil, Plato,
+Aristotle, and Diana. The master-workmen out of Italy were presumably
+familiar with these celebrities, and so might have been Mr. Robert
+Smythson, gent., but the ordinary English workman must have been
+rather puzzled by them, and perhaps secretly relieved when he heard
+that a shipload of them had gone down, an accident that is said to
+account for some of the niches being empty. But, _pace_ Duchess
+Cassandra, a good deal more assistance in English houses came from
+the Dutch than the Italians in the time of Elizabeth, and it would
+not be surprising if the building accounts, which are some day to be
+published, showed that Holland rather than Italy was the source whence
+some of the lower work was derived (in spite of the gondola rings which
+adorn the bases of some of the pilasters), as it was almost certainly
+the place where the curly gables of the pavilions had their origin.
+
+The Smithson drawings, which have come to light again in recent years,
+are of very great interest. It is difficult to say what was their exact
+purpose. The elevation of the pavilion (Fig. 6) may have been drawn
+from the executed building. On the other hand, it may have been a
+development of Thorpe’s rather rough sketch. If so, it would probably
+be the work of Robert Smythson, and thus link him up with John; and,
+assuming that they were father and son, John must have preserved his
+father’s drawing among his own.
+
+The plan (Fig. 5) has already been surmised to represent an idea of
+adding a forecourt to each front; but the levels of the ground seem to
+preclude the possibility of their ever having been carried out, and the
+drawing may be merely an exercise of fancy. In any case it appears odd
+to modern notions that the principal objects opposite to three of the
+fronts should be the stables, the dairy and laundry, and the bakehouse
+and brewhouse. On the fourth or entrance front there was to have been
+a gatehouse, which was quite a customary feature. The forecourt lying
+between the gatehouse and the mansion was to have been surrounded by a
+raised terrace or colonnade, as is indicated by the flights of steps
+leading up to it.
+
+The plan of the orchard (Fig. 7) is entitled “Sur Percevalles
+Willoughbyes Newe Orcharde at Wollaton, Ann. Domi. 1618.” It is
+curious, inasmuch as the central part corresponds in outline with the
+plan of the house. Whether it was ever carried out or not is not known.
+Sir Perceval, it will be remembered, was the son-in-law and successor
+of Sir Francis, the builder of the house.
+
+The drawings of the screen (Fig. 8) are of peculiar interest. There are
+three of them: one is the general design, differing in some respects
+from the actual work, and suggesting that it was the original design
+subsequently modified; another is a sketch for the upper carved panels
+between the columns (Fig. 9), and it agrees with the existing carving;
+the third is a sketch for the panels in the frieze above the screen
+(Fig. 10), and it agrees, in the main, with the actual work. All these
+facts point to the drawings being the originals from which the work
+was executed; they may, therefore, without forcing the argument, be
+fathered upon Robert Smythson, and they thus provide another link to
+connect Robert with John.
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 9. WOLLATON HALL: PANEL IN THE
+  SCREEN, BY SMITHSON.]
+
+  [Illustration: FIG. 10. WOLLATON HALL: PANEL IN THE
+  FRIEZE ABOVE THE SCREEN, BY SMITHSON.]
+
+It is always interesting to find out who the men were who designed
+the old buildings which we admire so much. The houses did not grow of
+themselves, there were definite means employed to gain the results; and
+a careful study of such drawings as survive is gradually helping us to
+further knowledge on the subject. Several groups of men at this period
+seem to have been proud of their work and to have preserved their
+drawings. Among them were the Thorpes, father and son; the Smithsons,
+who for several generations (excluding Robert, who, however, seems to
+be taking his place in the family) were architectural designers of
+acknowledged ability; and Inigo Jones with his nephew and successor,
+John Webb. The lives of these men covered almost the whole of that
+interesting period in English architecture when the Italian influence
+was gradually transforming our methods of design. The elder Thorpe,
+who was already at work in 1570, saw the early stages; Inigo Jones,
+who died in 1652, was the agent who familiarised his countrymen with
+the finer forms of Italian design, and established the reign of
+Palladianism, the effects of which lasted for more than a century and
+a half. The work at Wollaton represents an early step in this long
+development, and will always be interesting on this account alone,
+apart from the striking, and indeed magnificent, individuality of the
+house itself.
+
+
+
+
+                     THE ANCIENT AND MODERN TRENT
+
+                        BY BERNARD SMITH, M.A.
+
+
+                            THE RIVER TRENT
+
+The valley of the Trent deserves to be considered as one of the most
+interesting of the antiquities of the county of Nottinghamshire. When
+our ancestors dubbed it “The broad vale of Trent,” they unconsciously
+laid stress upon its width, and, in fact, rightly, because the
+present river Trent is a misfit--too small for the valley--a shrunken
+representative of that ancient stream which carved the great
+steep-sided trench between Nottingham and Newark.
+
+There is something very human about the behaviour of rivers; they live
+and move. In their youth, and at their headwaters, they are full of
+energy, constantly overcoming difficulties and removing obstacles from
+their course. As mature streams their paths are smoother and their ways
+more orderly. In old age they wander lazily to the sea, often haltingly
+and dropping their burdens on the way. But--unlike human beings--they
+are constantly at work. Should their energy be greater than is required
+to carry their load of rock-waste, they employ it in lowering and
+widening their beds, and in clearing and straightening their path to
+the sea. If all their energy is required to carry their load they can
+still burrow sideways into their banks, although they cannot now cut
+downwards. If the load is too great they wisely drop the overburden
+and carry that which their strength is equal to. The power of a river
+should never be gauged by its work or appearance at ordinary times,
+for tremendous vigour--out of all proportion--comes both with increase
+in volume and increase in pace, conditions only fulfilled when the
+river is in flood. Rivers, again, are more than human in the manner in
+which they adapt themselves to their environment. If hard rocks must be
+crossed they take the shortest path in a narrow gorge; if soft rocks
+are traversed they follow them as long as possible, meandering somewhat
+lazily along the path of least resistance; they thus tend to become
+adjusted to the texture and grain of the rocks over which they flow.
+
+
+                           THE ANCIENT TRENT
+
+The history of the river Trent is intimately connected with the
+story of the Great Ice Age in Britain. This event--so recent from a
+geological standpoint--was fairly distant from the human point of view,
+since nearly all of the Palæolithic relics of this country date from
+the retreat of the ice.
+
+Long before the Ice Age (at a time when great earth movements were
+taking place upon the Continent and building up the Alps) the younger
+rocks in the Nottinghamshire area were uplifted and tilted gently to
+the east, away from the older and underlying Carboniferous rocks of the
+Pennines, and were thus brought within the influence of destructive
+processes.
+
+Rivers, running down the slope in the direction of the North Sea, began
+to cut deeply and form a plain, whose general surface agreed roughly
+with the slope of the river channels. The higher beds on the west were
+stripped away, because a river is more active and cuts more deeply
+at its head than near its mouth. Hence the original surface of the
+uplifted plain has gone; the new surface slopes on the whole from west
+to east, and the older rocks are more elevated than the younger ones.
+
+Tributary streams, developed along north and south lines in the soft
+belts of rock, became in time more important than the first-formed
+west to east streams. One of these tributaries, no doubt, working its
+headwaters backwards from the Humber, formed a valley in the red clays
+of Nottinghamshire which lie west of the Lincoln Cliff, and tapped the
+easterly-flowing waters, thus forming a river very similar in direction
+to the present Trent.
+
+However this may be,[41] there is no sign of that river and that valley
+at the present day, although they were doubtless the guiding lines
+which eventually determined the course of the Vale.
+
+Nottinghamshire was invaded by ice-sheets descending from the north.
+The direction of movement was rather from the west of north in the west
+of the county, and from the east of north in the south-east of the
+county; and as the ice advanced the rivers were naturally destroyed,
+partly by refrigeration, but chiefly by being invaded by ice. When the
+climate ameliorated the floods were let loose and the waters sought
+their old channels.
+
+As the ice-front retreated it left behind it a mass of gravel which
+was in part washed from the ice-front by water draining the ice, and
+in part introduced by floods from distant sources. At the same time it
+is possible that much of the gravel was deposited beneath the surface
+of a large sheet of water; for in late-glacial times the water in this
+district seems to have been augmented by floods pouring into the basin
+from the direction of the Cheshire Plain and endeavouring to escape to
+the North Sea, since its escape to the Irish Sea was prevented by the
+Irish Sea ice. In our district it is thought that the water, finding
+its passage to the Humber barred by the retreating extremity of the
+ice-sheet, which rested against the cliff north of Lincoln and extended
+thence to the high ground north-west of Kelham, was forced to pour over
+a low gap in the hills at Lincoln.
+
+The highest elevations between Newark and Lincoln, near Coddington,
+Potter’s Hill, Swinderby, Eagle, and Doddington, are capped by the
+gravels of late-glacial age. The Lincoln gap was then cut down; the ice
+had now probably retreated--although there is no direct evidence--and
+already opened up the way to the Humber, and a second series of gravels
+distributed by running waters on gently-inclined slopes of the solid
+formations and in hollows scoured through the older gravels. Such
+gravels occur near Nottingham, Radcliffe, Farndon, and Newark; and from
+the latter place they stretch to Winthorpe and Langford, and thence in
+a well-defined S-shaped belt to within one and a half miles of Lincoln.
+They are also found to the east of that city. The waters were again
+rapidly lowered and escaped by two exits--the Humber and the Lincoln
+Gap. Gravels formed at this stage occupy not only the floor of the
+present Trent valley, but below Newark spread widely over the ground
+to the east, abut against the well-marked terrace of the second series
+near Langford and Eagle, and sweep round the northern flank of the
+Doddington Hills to Lincoln.
+
+The rather scanty evidence at our disposal tends to show that all
+these deposits were formed after the retreat of the ice, for although
+they rest upon boulder-clay (the ground moraine of the ice-sheet) at
+several points, they are never found beneath it. Between Nottingham
+and Newark the valley floor is almost certainly post-glacial, for,
+were it not so, we should expect to find boulder-clay on the valley
+slopes or beneath the river deposits--but such relics are wanting. The
+river had, however, established its present course very soon after the
+close of the Ice Age, because the bones of extinct mammalia--mammoth,
+rhinoceros, and hippopotamus--have been found in the valley deposits
+above Nottingham. At such a time heavy floods would occur when the
+winter snowfall melted in the spring, and the river and its feeders
+would be larger and more powerful than the present stream, which cannot
+lift and spread gravel over its flood plain.
+
+Between the flood-periods the stream was choked with débris and
+gravel-bars, and compelled to split up into rapidly changing branches
+which spread the gravels far and wide. Such was the ancient Trent--a
+powerful flood immediately after the Ice Age, but slowly dwindling in
+volume and power as, in course of time, it cut deeper and deeper and
+sunk its valley below the level of the earlier-formed gravels, which
+were therefore left as terraces and flats above the level of the latest
+and lowest flood-plains (Fig. 1). The older gravels are probably of
+Palæolithic Age, although no remains of the earlier Stone Age have been
+found in them. Palæolithic man, however, inhabited the district, for
+signs of his presence have been discovered in the Creswell Caves, hence
+it is reasonable to expect that Palæolithic implements may eventually
+be discovered in some of the oldest post-glacial gravels between
+Nottingham, Newark, and Lincoln.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 1.]
+
+In the Idle and Leen valleys there are also gravel terraces of
+considerable antiquity, whose history is very similar, although
+somewhat shorter than those of the Trent.
+
+
+                        THE PRESENT RIVER TRENT
+
+Since the accumulation of the river gravels there has been slight
+widening of the valley in places, but hardly any deepening. The
+gravels, as a rule, are spread over it from side to side beneath the
+recent alluvium of the present enfeebled river, and the surface of the
+alluvial plain is at a slightly lower level than that of the gravel
+terraces. At ordinary times the river meanders to and fro among its
+ancient gravel-bars without sufficient energy to clear away all the
+detritus brought down to the flat by its tributaries. It rearranges
+the mixed sandy gravel of the old river, depositing the sand above the
+gravel, and placing a layer of loam, derived mainly from red Triassic
+rocks, upon the top of all. Thus the alluvial plain--within the old
+gravel plain--is built up both by lateral wandering of the river and by
+the floods which level up the surface.
+
+Between Midsummer and Christmas A.D. 1346 long continued rains
+caused one of the most disastrous of the early recorded floods. In
+1683 the bridges at Nottingham and Newark were destroyed by ice and
+water, due to the breaking up of a frost (which began in September,
+accompanied by much snow). Muskham and Holme also suffered severely.
+The Brampton bank (Breach Pit Bank) was broken five times previous to
+1730, and again in 1824, since when a new bank has been erected. The
+banks near Newton and Torksey gave way in November 1770 and flooded all
+the lands on both sides of the Foss Dyke as far as Lincoln, flooding
+villages and destroying great quantities of hay and corn. Water stood
+several feet deep in the houses of Narrow Marsh, Nottingham. Floods
+also occurred in 1774 and 1790.
+
+The great flood of Candlemas 1795 was--like that of 1683--the result
+of a quick thaw after a frost, which lasted from December 24, 1794,
+until February 9, 1795, and was accompanied by some 15 inches of snow.
+In Notts, as well as in Staffordshire and Derbyshire, the whole of the
+Trent valley was a scene of desolation, rendered more terrible by the
+masses of ice and melted snow carried along by the waters. The outer
+river bank near Spalford (the Wath Bank) burst at the south-east end
+of South Clifton Hill (Fig. 2), where the signs of the flood are still
+discernible (the hollow formed, though now dry, was long filled with
+water). An immense breach was formed, into which 80 loads of faggots
+and over 400 tons of earth were dumped before it was filled up.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 2.]
+
+Sweeping across country from this gap, the water soon converted some
+20,000 acres of land, west of Lincoln, into a vast lake, and only
+stopped here because the High Street at Lincoln was raised above the
+general level of the Foss Dyke. The country inundated being in those
+days largely composed of swamp lands (now drained and cultivated), the
+damage would bear no comparison to that which would be caused by a
+similar flood at the present day.
+
+With one exception it entered every house in Spalford, and Girton
+village street was submerged 3 feet. The water rose to a height of 4
+feet 6 inches on North Collingham Churchyard wall (31 feet 6 inches
+above O.D.). In Nottingham the inhabitants of Narrow Marsh were
+prisoners for two days and nights, the water being 3 feet deep in some
+places. Water also entered these houses in 1809.
+
+A great inundation took place in 1814 after snow and frost, and
+thousands of acres of hay and corn were laid under water by a high
+flood on the 5th August 1839; whilst in November 1852, before the bank
+gave way near Dunham, the waters were halfway up the western wall of
+Collingham Churchyard and drowned Girton village street to a depth of 2
+feet. At Nottingham the waters rose 14 feet 9 inches above their mean
+level.
+
+In more recent times a sudden thaw produced an immense flood in
+January 1867, and in October 1875 thousands of acres were deluged in
+the Trent valley, the scene from Nottingham or Newark Castles being
+most remarkable, buildings, hedges, and railway lines alone appearing
+above the water-line. Marks registering this flood are preserved at
+Nottingham, Fiskerton (Trent House), Newark, Collingham, Girton,[42]
+and Low Marnham (the stone crosses at North Muskham and Holme are
+said to be records of floods, but are unfortunately undated). So deep
+was the water that a four-oared boat was rowed by Newark Magnus boys
+across country to Averham and Kelham. At Low Marnham, which is entirely
+surrounded by a flood-bank, a great struggle took place to prevent the
+water from overtopping the bank and flooding the village, in which
+there was a valuable store of grain. When all efforts seemed to be in
+vain, relief came at the critical moment by the bursting of a bank near
+Ragnall.
+
+This flood was at Nottingham 5½ inches higher than that of 1852, 23½
+inches higher than that of July 1875, and 28 inches higher than that of
+a later flood in January 1877. The flood of 1795 is estimated to have
+been 10 inches higher than that of 1875.[43]
+
+The severe floods of 1887, 1895, and 1901, and the recent flood which
+at Nottingham culminated at 6 A.M. upon the 4th December 1910,
+will live long in the memory of Nottinghamshire people. In the latter
+case incessant rains, following upon a severe snowstorm, produced a
+flood against which the improvements in drainage and dredging of the
+river bed were alike impotent. The floods continued to rise between
+Nottingham and Gainsborough and produced scenes unparalleled since
+1875. Official figures for the height of the Trent at Trent Bridge in
+the recent big floods are[44]:--
+
+    October 1875   80.38 feet above mean sea-level at Liverpool.
+
+     „      1901   79.65 feet   „         „        „     „
+
+    July    1875   78.46 feet   „         „        „     „
+
+     „      1895   78.25 feet   „         „        „     „
+    Yesterday (December
+    4, 1910)       78.63 feet   „         „        „     „
+
+One of the most remarkable features was the flooding of the Midland
+Railway line from beyond Attenborough to the centre bridge of the
+Nottingham Midland Station. All trains between Nottingham and Trent had
+to plough their way for five miles through water 3 to 4 feet deep in
+places; every locomotive, however, got through safely. At Collingham
+the water rose to within less than a foot of the 1875 level, whilst it
+poured bodily over the flood-bank near Gainsborough.
+
+  [Illustration: THE GREAT FLOOD OF OCTOBER 1875.
+
+  (View from Nottingham Castle looking South.)]
+
+It will be seen from the above account that whereas the smaller floods
+usually inundate the lower and recent alluvial plain, mostly meadow and
+pasture land, the more severe floods (_e.g._ 1875) cover large
+tracts of the higher-lying river gravels of the ancient Trent, now
+occupied by such villages as West Bridgford, Fiskerton, Collingham,
+Holme, Girton, and Dunham.
+
+
+                              BLOWN SANDS
+
+As we trace the gravels northwards from Nottingham to Newark, and
+thence to the Humber, the stones of which they are composed are noticed
+to become increasingly finer, and there is much more sand mixed with
+them. During the later days of the ancient Trent, when its waters kept
+altering their courses, the river channels, when dry, laid bare the
+sand, which was caught up by the prevalent winds--then, as now, blowing
+from the south-west. The sand was swept up on to the higher parts of
+the river plain, and accumulated as dunes near what is now the main
+road from Collingham to the north.
+
+Although to some extent fixed in position by the growth of grasses and
+gorse, and partly destroyed or levelled by agricultural operations,
+there still remain enough dunes to give a characteristic seaside-like
+appearance to the district, especially near Girton and Besthorpe. It is
+interesting to note that, since a part of the tract has been brought
+into cultivation, the drifting has again commenced, the sand being
+piled up in the north-east corner of every arable field, and swept away
+from the south-west corner. The direction of the winds which formed the
+original dunes also accounts for the nearly complete absence of blown
+sands on the western side of the Trent valley below Newark.
+
+It is related that in the coaching days wheeled traffic often
+experienced considerable difficulty in passing along the high road near
+Besthorpe and Girton because of the great depth of the sand which had
+been blown into it from the dunes.
+
+
+                  CHANGES IN THE COURSE OF THE TRENT
+
+We have seen that the ancient Trent wandered freely over its gravelly
+flood-plain, splitting up rapidly into branches, and abruptly altering
+parts of its course with every flood. Nowadays, although floods still
+occur, the river’s course is more or less controlled by flood-banks,
+and the chief changes are due to the slow action of the river swinging
+into and undermining its bank as it sweeps round its curves; yet, even
+within historical times, we have records of sudden changes in course.
+These changes are of two classes--firstly, those in which the river has
+found a new channel through the old gravels; and, secondly, those in
+which the river has shortened its course on its present alluvium. As
+examples of the first class we may cite the cases of Kelham and Muskham.
+
+Rastall, quoting from an autograph of Thomas Heron of Newark, says:
+“Where the main stream now runs by Kelham there was a small brook
+which, not being sufficient for the various purposes of the Sutton
+family resident there, a cut was made from the Trent to the brook which
+gave a turn to the whole current ... it then forced its way and formed
+that channel which is now seen. There were carriage bridges over the
+brook at Kelham and Muskham ... and they were obliged to build bridges
+over the new and extended river.” This probably occurred before 1225,
+because tolls were at that date collected at Kelham Bridge.
+
+According to Dickinson and Throsby, the hamlet of Holme was attached
+to the parish of North Muskham, until the Trent, in A.D. 1600,
+separated the two places during a high flood (Fig. 3). Saxton’s map,
+however, published about 1576, shows Holme already cut off. A will of
+Stephen Surflett, of the same date, leaves land for the maintenance of
+the water-bank at Holme; it is therefore probable that the change took
+place in Surflett’s lifetime. The alluvium between Muskham and Holme is
+three times the width of the stream, whilst that at Kelham is no wider
+than the river itself; but whereas the Kelham cut was nearly straight,
+that at Holme must have followed a winding course: subsequent movement
+of the meanders down stream would account for the greater width of the
+alluvial strip. An old man living at Holme last century remembered a
+barge sinking in the river on a spot, now an orchard, 100 yards from
+the stream.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 3.--The Trent separating Holme from North
+  Muskham.
+
+  The stippled areas are gravel.]
+
+Changes in course on the recent alluvium have taken place sometimes by
+artificial means, but usually in a natural manner.
+
+The Nottingham Borough Records for 1392 give an account of a “Process
+against the Lord of Colwick for obstructing the course of the Trent,”
+the substance of which is that William de Colwick, Knight, and one
+Richard Byron, Knight, and others, have diverted the waters of Trent
+from its ancient course at Over Colwick into a trench, by which a
+portion of the said water of Trent formerly held its course, by
+planting obstructions, such as willows and piles. The water totally
+left its former course and ran by the aforesaid trench to the mill in
+Over Colwick, where a closed “wear” was made. The former course, about
+1¾ miles in length, between the village of Adbolton and the village of
+Over Colwick, was destroyed and filled up by sand, willows, and other
+obstructions, so that ships could not come up the river to Nottingham
+for nine years.
+
+In judgment the “wear” and all other nuisances were ordered to be cast
+down and removed. The mill-weir was apparently destroyed, but the
+water held to the diverted course (_i.e._ the trench by which
+a portion of the said water of Trent formerly held its course). The
+ancient course is the Old Trent now defining parts of the boundaries of
+Colwick and the Borough of Nottingham. In some manuscript notes from
+the “Perambulation of the Forest of Sherwood [31st Queen Elizabeth]”,
+by Launcelott Rolston and others, it is stated that the boundary
+“ascendeth by the River of Trent, by the Abbey of Shelforde w^{ch}
+is on the Southe pte of the Trente, and above the same Abbey it doth
+followe the ould course and streame of the Trente wh^{ch} there is
+dryven of the north pte from its ould course and so ascendeth still
+to Collwicke by the River of Trente and so to Nottingham Bridge.”
+The above-mentioned “old course” is still traceable to the west and
+south-west of Shelford.
+
+Instead of passing Kelham, as at present, the Trent, or a branch of
+it, formerly passed Newark some 345 yards distant from the castle, and
+joined the Devon below the town. This Old Trent, now a mere trickle in
+a narrow winding valley, separates the hundred of Newark from that of
+Thurgarton. Above Newark an artificial cut connects the Old Trent with
+the Devon, which, after flowing beneath the castle, joins the Trent at
+Crankley Point 1½ miles down stream. The arrangement is shown in an old
+map of 1558 in C. Brown’s _History of Newark_.
+
+At some unrecorded date the stream has cut off from Carlton parish
+a field upon which the villagers still exercise right of pasturing
+cattle. This field, Carlton Home, by its uneven surface, appears to
+have been formed by lateral movement of the river; the old flood-bank
+may have fixed the parish boundary (Fig. 2).
+
+Sutton South Holme was an island in 1834; a part of the western
+stream-course still exists as a long pool. Across the river, and
+belonging to Sutton, is Smithy (Smeemus) Marsh, a pasture some 120
+acres in extent. A bank, ditch, and the parish boundary on the east fix
+the site of the Old Trent, which changed its course before the date of
+Saxton’s map.
+
+South of Clifton Hill, east of the Trent, an old meandering course,
+more than a mile long, cuts off a piece of ground known as “The Ropes.”
+This old course is probably of great antiquity, because it was the
+boundary of four parishes; it was once half the width of the Trent
+(Fig. 2). Other old courses may be seen on Marnham Holme, Fledborough
+Holme, and under Newton Cliff. The island south of Dunham Bridge, shown
+on maps from 1794–1834, was shaped like an inverted Welsh harp. The
+river invaded a neighbouring drainage-channel at the turn of a meander,
+which has since progressed down stream, as shown by the necessity for a
+new tow-path bank.
+
+Old and deserted meandering channels and dying pools occur in such
+numbers on the recent alluvium that the conclusion is forced upon
+us that, without embankments, the valley would rapidly revert to a
+state of wildness similar to those of the rivers of young countries
+(_e.g._ the Mississippi Valley, where channels and pools occur in
+great numbers).
+
+Evidences of recent lateral movement are extremely numerous; the
+example at Holme given above is a case in point. Roman pottery occurs
+in the gravel on the west bank above the site of the Roman bridge
+near Cromwell, where the river runs straight; and a block of dressed
+Blue-Lias stone was recently found here upon the site of the new lock,
+at least 25 feet from the present (river) bank. Again, in A.D.
+1649 a field, situated beyond the Trent, but in Collingham parish, once
+of 35 acres, had been reduced to 8 acres by encroachment.
+
+Near the “Crankleys,” about a mile north of Newark, an old loop of the
+Trent forms a curved “ox-bow” lake. This loop appears as a right-angled
+bend in a map (revised and published in 1725) drawn up by the chief
+engineer of the Scottish army besieging Newark in 1646. It also
+appears in Chapman’s map of 1774. In 1861 the Great Northern Railway
+was carried across the then well-developed loop, and to facilitate
+operations the bridge was first built upon the neck of the loop and
+the river diverted to a new channel cut across the neck beneath the
+bridge. Human remains, of Neolithic Age, with antlers of deer and bones
+of ox and horse, were found beneath the bridge at a depth of 25 feet,
+having been deposited in the bed of the river when it happened to be
+flowing at that spot. By lateral movement of the river the remains were
+entombed until thus brought to light.
+
+The lateral movement and windings of the “smug and silver Trent” were
+evidently well known to Shakespeare, for in _King Henry IV._, Part
+I., Hotspur and Glendower are warmly debating about one of the meanders
+north of Burton. Hotspur suggests straightening the river’s course,
+but Glendower will not have it altered. The meander referred to is
+apparently one of the abandoned “rounds” near Burton and Bole, nearly
+opposite Gainsborough. In Shakespeare’s time they would have been
+much more like huge half-moons--to use Hotspur’s expression--than like
+circles, such as Burton Round.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 4.--Burton and Bole Rounds, after a map
+  by Mr. Gurnill, Sen., Gainsborough, 1795.]
+
+By 1790 the necks of the loops were almost severed, and in February
+1792 the Bole Round was breached by the river, possibly aided by the
+Trent bore or “ægir”--an event celebrated three years later by a Mr.
+Gurnill, senior, of Gainsborough, who published a map (a copy is in the
+possession of Mr. J. S. Lamb, of Beckingham) showing that the other
+loop (Burton) would soon suffer the same fate. The first vessel to pass
+through the breach was the property of Mr. James Cuttle, of Lincoln.
+White’s _Directory of Nottinghamshire_ for 1832 states that “Until
+1797 the Trent here (Burton) took such a circular sweep that a boatman
+might have thrown his hat on shore, and, after sailing two miles, have
+taken it up again, but in that year the stream forced itself through
+the narrow neck of land in a straight line, in consequence of which
+the old winding channel was filled up and divided betwixt the counties
+of Nottingham and Lincoln, besides which the latter had now about one
+hundred acres on the west side of the course of the present river.”
+Both rounds have recently been transferred to Nottinghamshire, and
+remain as swampy hollows in Burton and Bole parishes, whose boundaries
+they partly define.
+
+Dr. Wake and others assume that the floods are efforts of the Trent
+to regain its old channel, now occupied by the Fleet stream, which is
+undoubtedly a part of the old river (Figs. 2 and 3). Between Langford
+and Girton there is a low westerly-facing cliff or terrace of gravel
+and sand, beneath which the Fleet stream flows from Winthorpe to
+join the Trent near Girton. The relations between the cliff and the
+alluvial flat make it clear that the Trent has worked along different
+parts of the cliff at one time or another. The expansions at Langford,
+Besthorpe, and Girton, and formerly at North and South Collingham, must
+also be regarded as relics of the old Trent; but whether it flowed
+beneath the whole length of the gravel cliff at one and the same time
+is an open question.
+
+The river has certainly moved from east to west, and is still doing so,
+having on its right hand a well-dissected gravel plain, on its left
+an unbroken sheet of gravel upon which it tends to encroach. It first
+left the Wath Bank (Spalford) at some time before 900 A.D.,
+according to Wake, when the hundreds were defined; deserted the Fleet
+Mere between the tenth and sixteenth centuries, and lastly separated
+Holme from Muskham. There were possibly also intermediate stages when
+the river cut through from North Collingham to Carlton Rack, and when
+the Kelham parish boundary was crossed.
+
+Thus the old story is repeated. The ancient waters flowed directly from
+Newark to Lincoln, then some of them fell away to the west to find exit
+by the Humber. Now the river flows in a northerly direction, but is
+edging to the west side of its valley--an effect probably due to freer
+egress through the remarkably narrow gap between the Keuper hills of
+Marnham and South Clifton, which would tend to shorten and straighten
+the course as far south as Kelham and Averham.
+
+The Trent has from very early times been a means of communication and
+a highway. Domesday Book records that the water of Trent was kept so
+that if any should hinder the passage of boats he should make amends.
+Henry I. gave the Bishop of Lincoln permission to erect a bridge at
+Newark, “so that it may not hurt my city of Lincoln nor my borough of
+Nottingham.” Acts of Parliament relating to the navigation were passed
+between 1699 and 1794, and troubles about weirs arose as early as 1292.
+These and other instances mentioned above show that importance was
+attached to the control of the waters from fairly early times.
+
+The Trent is supposed to be a tamed river. Its banks are fortified
+by flood-banks, piles, stones, cement, and even sunken barges; yet
+it persists in meandering. As fast as it undermines the flood-bank,
+the latter is repaired from the outside, hence the river, as it
+were, pushes the outer flood-bank before it when vigorously swinging
+outwards, but leaves the inner bank isolated by deposit of sediment.
+A second or inner bank then becomes necessary to carry the tow-path.
+Again, if the natural swing of the river is tampered with, it
+retaliates by readjusting its course below the point of interference.
+Thus, although tamed, the river under certain conditions has its own
+way, and never in more striking manner than when, overlapping its
+flood-banks, it bursts its bonds and surges far and wide over the broad
+Vale of Trent.[45]
+
+
+
+
+                        THE FOREST OF SHERWOOD
+
+                 BY REV. J. CHARLES COX, LL.D., F.S.A.
+
+
+There is abundant evidence that the central and western parts of the
+county of Nottingham was well wooded in the earliest historical times.
+It was otherwise with the eastern or Clay division of the shire. Among
+other evidences of this may be mentioned the place-names, a single
+example of which may be here noticed. The terminal “field”--which is
+usually spelt feld in olden times--signified a place where trees had
+been felled, so as to make a clearing for cultivation. Such place-names
+are invariably to be found in the western half of the shire, as at
+Ashfield, Balkfield, Basingfield, Eastfield, Farnsfield, Haggonfield,
+Highfield, Lynsfield, Mansfield, Northfield, Plumfield, Southfield,
+Wilfield, and a score or two of others which will be found marked on
+the larger ordnance maps. Such names are looked for in vain on the
+eastern side of the county.
+
+This well-timbered portion of Nottinghamshire probably served as a
+great hunting district for the later Saxon kings, and is well known to
+have been thus used in the earliest Norman days. It is, perhaps, hardly
+necessary to emphasise the fact that the old term “forest” had no
+particular connection with woods, great or small. The word was used for
+many centuries to denote a wild district reserved for the hunting of
+royalty, or of those specially licensed by the Crown, which was placed
+under special legislation in order to preserve the deer. Such tracts of
+country always included a certain amount of woodland or undergrowth,
+which served as shelter or covert for the larger game; but it was
+equally essential that there should be open glades and stretches of
+moorland for the feeding and general sustenance of the deer. Neither
+red nor fallow deer could possibly live in a district exclusively
+woodland. Many of these royal forests had but a scanty amount of timber
+of any kind, such as the western forests of Exmoor and Dartmoor, or the
+central forest of the High Peak, where the red deer used to swarm in
+almost fabulous numbers. Of all the royal forests of England, Sherwood,
+on the contrary, seems to have been exceptionally abundant in timber,
+and hence the red deer were not nearly so numerous at any time in her
+history as in the wilder parts of Derbyshire. The Forest of Sherwood,
+or Nottingham as it was sometimes called, probably gained its name of
+Shirewode or Shirwood from the fact that a considerable length of the
+forest boundary was also the boundary between the two shires of Derby
+and Nottingham.
+
+The Forest of Sherwood embraced at one time upwards of a fourth of the
+whole county. The Doomsday Survey shows that not a few of the places
+which were afterwards within the forest limits were members of the
+King’s great manor of Mansfield; hence it became a comparatively easy
+matter for the early Norman kings to extend this large amount of royal
+demesne into a large forest. The first precise historic notice of the
+forest occurs in the year 1154, when William Peverel the younger had it
+in his control and held the profits under the Crown. On the forfeiture
+of the Peverel estates, in the early days of Henry II., Sherwood
+Forest lapsed to the King, and it was for some time administered by
+the successive sheriffs of the joint counties of Nottingham and Derby.
+In the days of Richard I., Sherwood was held by his brother John,
+Earl of Morton. John made a charter grant of all the liberties and
+custody of the Forest of Sherwood to Maud de Caux and her husband Ralph
+Fitzstephen. This charter included permission to hunt hare, fox, wild
+cat, and squirrel, with dogs and hounds; the right to all cablish or
+wind-fallen wood; the valuable inner bark or bast of the lime trees;
+a skep (basket) out of every cartload of salt passing through the
+forest, and half a skep for a half load; the pannage dues for pigs; the
+fees for unlawed dogs; and also all goods and chattels belonging to
+“brybours” taken by them without the forest. Bribour was a mid-English
+term for a robber or pickpocket. The charter also sanctioned the
+holding of a park at Laxton by Ralph and Maud, wherein they might hunt
+deer without molestation by the forest ministers.
+
+This definite mention of robbers, whose presence was evidently not
+uncommon within the dense thickets and woodlands of Sherwood towards
+the close of the twelfth century, is instantly suggestive of the name
+of the world-famous Robin Hood. Although this great ballad hero is
+pretty closely associated in legend and tradition with the north of
+Yorkshire and other parts of England, he is emphatically the outlawed
+chieftain of the glades of Sherwood. There are but few English-speaking
+youths who have not revelled in the tales of Robin Hood, with Little
+John, Friar Tuck, Will Scarlet, and his other lawless associates, and
+more particularly in their delightful adventures with the Sheriff of
+Nottingham, and other purse-proud travellers. Although it is always
+admitted that Robin Hood was an outlaw and a robber, the reason why he
+has gained such well-merited fame is on account of the whole garland
+of ballads always representing him as an advocate of humane though
+socialistic principles and a protector of the oppressed. As Drayton
+sings in his _Polyolbion_, at the close of the sixteenth century:--
+
+    “From wealthy abbots’ chests and churches’ abundant store
+    What oftentimes he took he shared among the poor;
+    No lordly bishop came in lusty Robin’s way,
+    To him, before he went, but for his pass must pay;
+    The widows in distress he graciously relieved,
+    And remedied the wrongs of many a virgin grieved.”
+
+Up to the present no earlier mention of this hero has been found than
+that which is contained in the _Vision of Piers Plowman_, written
+about 1377, wherein the character of sloth is introduced saying:--
+
+    “I can noughte perfitly my paternoster, as the prest it syngeth;
+    But I can rymes of Robyn hood and Randolf erle of Chestre.”
+
+In the next century the references are fairly numerous, the most
+interesting of which is a petition to Parliament in 1439 complaining
+that one Piers Venables of Derbyshire, after rescuing a prisoner, had
+assembled unto him many misdoers and “in manure of insurrection weinte
+into the wodes in that countrie like as it hadde be Robyn Hode and his
+meyne.”
+
+The ballads pertaining to Robin Hood were so esteemed by our
+forefathers, that one of the earliest ventures of printing in England
+was the issuing by Winken de Worde, about 1495, of a sheaf of these
+rhymed stories under the title _A Lyttel Geste of Robyn Hode_.
+
+A few learned pedants have ingeniously argued that Robin Hood was
+but a visionary being, his very name, according to a German critic,
+being but a corruption of Woden, whilst Mr. Sydney Lee has come to the
+conclusion that he was but a “mythical forest elf.” Doubtless a variety
+of legends of widely differing dates have centred round this Sherwood
+hero which could not possibly pertain to the same individual, but it is
+impossible to believe that there was not a real outlaw of this name who
+gained this almost immortal celebrity. More or less ingenious attempts
+have been made to identify him exactly with some particular epoch or
+individual; but most of these attempts, such as that of Mr. Hunter in
+1854, who thought that he had found him under the guise of a porter of
+Nottingham Castle in the time of Edward II., are put forth regardless
+of the fact that Hood was, as is now the case, a fairly common name,
+and Robert (with its diminutive Robin) was about the third favourite
+Christian name in all England. There is no room here to debate this
+matter at any length, but on the whole the probabilities are strong
+that the original Robin Hood flourished in the days of Richard Cœur de
+Lion.
+
+At all events, it is quite impossible to dissociate Sherwood from
+thoughts of Robin Hood, and for our own part we feel satisfied that
+the weight of evidence is strongly in favour of the reality of his
+existence, although a modern poet says:--
+
+    “Sherwood in the twilight is Robin Hood awake?
+    Gray and ghostly shadows are gliding through the brake:
+    Shadows of the dappled deer dreaming of the morn,
+    Dreaming of the shadowy man that winds the shadowy horn.”
+
+Those who make a careful study of the old royal forest districts of
+England, should always refer to the details respecting the tremendous
+storm that swept over England in the winter of 1222, which are to be
+found in the Close and Patent Rolls of that date. Trees were overthrown
+in every part of the kingdom in such vast numbers that the old
+customs, whereby, for the most part, wind-fallen boughs or root-fallen
+trees were the perquisites of forest ministers, were suspended, and
+special writs were issued to the authorities directing the sale of all
+this overthrown timber with a return of the proceeds. Writs to this
+effect were forwarded to the verderers and foresters of the Forest
+of Sherwood; to the like officials of the enclosures or parks within
+Sherwood; to Maud de Caux, then a widow, as keeper of the Forest of
+Sherwood and of Clay; and to Philip Marc, as “keeper of the parks of
+Sherwood.” The title of “keeper of Sherwood and Clay” was a survival
+of the time when the districts, under the then cruelly severe forest
+laws, had been much extended by Henry II. and John. At that time a
+considerable part of the Clay division in the north-east of the shire,
+as well as in the northern part of Hatfield above Worksop, had been
+declared forest; but the great Charter of John, and the forest charter
+of the boy-king, Henry III., restored these parts to the common lord
+of the land. The earliest extant perambulation of Sherwood, of the
+year 1232, closely coincides with the still more precise perambulation
+of the year 1300. The forest was at that time, roughly speaking,
+twenty miles in length by eight in breadth. At the one extremity was
+the county town of Nottingham, and at another was Mansfield, whilst
+Worksop was close to the northern boundary. In other words, the forest
+contained approximately 100,000 acres, or about a fifth of the whole
+shire. These bounds were still maintained according to a perambulation
+of 30 Henry VIII., but the forest began to be broken up before the
+close of the sixteenth century.
+
+Maud de Caux died in the year after the great storm, and as the office
+of keeper was hereditary, according to the charter of the Earl of
+Morton, she was succeeded by her son John de Birkin, and he in his
+turn by his son Thomas de Birkin. In 1231 the office came to Robert
+de Everingham, in right of his wife, Isabel, daughter and heiress of
+Thomas. His grandson, Robert de Everingham the younger, forfeited
+his keepership in 1286, owing to the grievous abuse of his position
+as keeper of the King’s deer; he was imprisoned for some time in
+Nottingham gaol for venison trespass. After his disgrace, the position
+of chief forester or keeper of Sherwood was granted to various persons
+of high position as a mark of royal favour, but it was no longer
+hereditary and usually held at will.
+
+Among the vast store of forest proceedings in the Public Record Office,
+in Chancery Lane, is an exceptional amount pertaining to this important
+Nottingham forest. Some attempts have been made at analysing this
+information, and in occasionally setting forth certain details; but
+the story of Sherwood Forest yet remains to be written, and if done in
+any satisfactory fashion, might be readily extended to several volumes
+of the size of the one in which this essay appears. It would not
+be difficult to make such a record full of interesting and valuable
+information from end to end.
+
+The most fascinating of these records is the full story of the various
+forest offences which came to light when the Forest Pleas or Eyres,
+presided over by the King’s justices, were held at Nottingham. These
+courts, originally supposed to be held every seven years, were in
+reality summoned at much longer and fitful intervals. The earliest of
+these of which details are extant was held in 1251, when the forest
+was divided into three keepings or wards, each of which had their
+own verderers, foresters and agisters, the last of whom regulated
+the pasturage and the pannage of pigs permitted within the ward. At
+the Eyre of 1267, several hundred vert offences were brought before
+the court for damage to the growing timber. The most serious of
+these presentments was with regard to the Abbot of Rufford, who was
+charged with having felled four hundred and eighty-three oaks for
+building purposes since the last Eyre; but the abbot was able to plead
+successfully a charter of Henry II. as justifying his action. It does
+not appear that the justices held another Forest Court until 1286–87.
+It was then set forth that in the previous year there had been a
+grievous outbreak of murrain amongst the deer, both red and fallow,
+from which three hundred and fifty had perished. On this occasion Sir
+William de Vescy and his two brother-justices laid down a variety of
+special injunctions to be observed in the future administration of
+Sherwood. Among these it may be mentioned that any dweller in the
+forest felling a green tree was to be attached (summoned) for the next
+attachment court, there to find bail till the next Eyre, and to pay the
+price to the verderers; for a second offence he was to be dealt with
+in a like manner, but for a third offence he was to be imprisoned at
+Nottingham, and there be kept until delivered by the King or a justice
+of the forest. Any one dwelling outside the forest cutting any kind of
+green wood, was at once to be committed to prison until delivered by
+the warrant of the King or forest justice; but for a third offence
+he was also to forfeit his horses and cart, or his oxen and waggon.
+
+  [Illustration: SPECIMEN OF SHERWOOD FOREST ROLL.]
+
+Among other injunctions, it was laid down that the verderers were
+to assemble every forty days, in accordance with the charter of the
+forest, to hold Attachment Courts for vert and venison, and other small
+pleas. There is abundant evidence that this Forty-Day Court, also known
+as the Attachment Court, and sometimes as a “Swaynmote,” was held by
+the verderers with much regularity for a long period in Sherwood. These
+courts were usually held at four different centres, viz., at Calverton,
+Edwinstowe, Linby, and Mansfield, on successive days of the same week.
+The Roll of 1292–93 shows that green oak was usually valued at 6d., a
+dry oak at 4d., a sapling from 1d. to 3d., and a stubb, or dry trunk
+of a pollarded tree at 2d. These local courts also took cognisance
+of beast trespassing, the usual fine being 1d. for a straying cow or
+stirk, and 3d. for five sheep.
+
+The Close Rolls bear abundant evidence of the generosity of successive
+sovereigns in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries with royal gifts
+of both timber and venison from the stores of Sherwood. We may take as
+an example of such royal gifts those made by Henry III. from different
+parts of Sherwood between the years 1231 and 1234. The venison during
+this period included three roes to Robert de Lexington; three bucks and
+four does to the Earl of Huntingdon; five bucks and twenty does to the
+Bishop of Carlisle for his park at Melbourne; three bucks to the Dean
+of St. Martin’s, London; six bucks to Walter de Evermuth; two bucks
+and eight does to Hugh Despenser; a buck to John, son of Geoffrey; two
+harts to John de Stuteville; two bucks to Robert de Hareston; seven
+bucks to the Bishop of Carlisle; five bucks to William of York; three
+bucks to William Bardolph; five bucks and a hart to William de Albini;
+and ten bucks to the Bishop of Lincoln.
+
+During the same period the gifts of wood included five oaks to Gilbert
+Spigurnel, to make a mill; five oaks and thirty tie-beams to the
+chaplain of Hugh de Burgh; thirty oaks to the Priory of Lenton, for the
+works of their church; twenty oaks to Brian de Insula; five lime trees
+to the Franciscan Friars of Nottingham to make their stalls; thirty
+oaks to the Dean of St. Martin’s, London, for timber for his chancel at
+Elm; forty rafters to Brother Robert de Dyva; ten oaks to Robert Lupus;
+and fifteen oaks to William de Albini, for making rafters.
+
+In connection with timber, it may be mentioned that a great provision
+of wood was made from Sherwood early in the year 1316, when the
+Parliament was held at Lincoln. The Archbishop of York’s great wood at
+Blidworth was at that time in the King’s hands, as the see was vacant,
+and Edward II. ordered the forest-keeper to deliver to the sheriff
+fifty leafless oaks out of that wood, to be used for making charcoal,
+and for boards for trestle tables. Thirty oaks from parts of the forest
+near the Trent were to be despatched to Nottingham for firewood in the
+King’s hall against the ensuing Parliament, and thirty more for the
+King’s chambers. It should always be remembered in connection with
+woods in private ownership within royal forests, that there was no
+power of felling timber or cutting wood, save for immediate personal
+use, without a direct warrant. Thus, in 1316, it is entered on the
+Close Rolls that Edward II. authorised Ralph de Crumbwell to fell and
+sell as he pleased twenty acres of his wood at Lambley within Sherwood
+Forest, as a compensation for his losses when engaged in the King’s
+service in Scotland.
+
+A particularly interesting and exceptional use of the excellent timber
+of this forest occurs on the Close Rolls towards the end of the year
+1323–24, when an expedition was about to be undertaken into the Duchy
+of Aquitaine. The Sheriff of Nottingham and his carpenters were
+instructed to procure as many oaks and other suitable trees out of the
+forest, as were necessary for the construction of nine springalds and
+a thousand quarels. Springalds were military engines of the catapult
+kind, whilst quarels were a heavy form of arrows with iron heads which
+these engines discharged.
+
+Continuing a brief account of some of the more important circumstances
+with regard to the timber of Sherwood, it may be mentioned that at the
+Forest Pleas of 1334, the Roll of amercements of persons convicted of
+vert trespass at the Attachment Courts at more than fourpence (which
+could only be amerced at the Eyre), embraced upwards of seven hundred
+and fifty trespassers, varying in value from sixpence for green boughs
+or dry trunks, to two shillings for a single oak. These values had been
+paid to the verderers at the time when the Attachment Court had been
+held; the additional fines imposed by the justices varied from one to
+two shillings. This list of vert trespasses is after all not a very
+serious one, when it is remembered that it was about half a century
+since the last Eyre had been held. In the following century the supreme
+courts of the justices were held with almost equal rarity, and by the
+time of Henry VII. the complaints as to the gradual destruction of the
+oaks of Sherwood, both young and old, became numerous.
+
+The general custom which prevailed in most of England’s royal forests,
+of the tenants within the jurisdiction being permitted to use wood
+for the repair or rebuilding of their houses, for the construction of
+hedges, and for the purposes of fuel, obtained throughout Sherwood.
+At the last regular Eyre, held in 1538, the justices made two special
+orders affecting the forest timber, namely, that no hedgebote nor
+firebote was to be taken by the tenants themselves, but only by the
+deliverance of the woodward, nor any housebote without the deliverance
+of the keeper as well as the woodward; and in the second place it was
+ordered that no one was to fell any even of his own wood for any intent
+“without the especiall lycense of the kynge his highnesse, or the
+justice of the foreste, and that none from hencesforthe do take aine
+woode for bleaching.”
+
+An exact inventory of the trees of the most valuable part of this
+forest was taken in the year 1609. There were at that time 21,009 oak
+trees in Birkland, and 28,900 in Bilhagh; but the majority of them are
+described as being past maturity. In August 1624 a most destructive
+forest fire occurred, arising from some carelessness in the preparation
+of charcoal. This fire spread rapidly over an area four miles in length
+by one and a half in breadth. The abatement of the wind, and the
+trenches dug by a whole army of men with spades, picks, and shovels,
+happily checked the fire just as it was approaching the great wood
+which then stretched from Mansfield to Nottingham.
+
+Both trees and venison suffered severely during the disturbances
+that preceded the establishment of the Commonwealth. During the days
+of Oliver Cromwell, and with still greater frequency at subsequent
+dates, a considerable number of Sherwood oaks were felled for the
+navy. Various other grants for exceptional purposes on a large scale
+contributed to the rapid reduction of the forest timber. Thus, in
+1680, the inhabitants of Edwinstowe were permitted to fell 200 oaks
+in Birkland and Bilhagh for the repair of their parish church, which
+had been seriously damaged by the fall of the spire. In 1686, the oak
+trees of this part of the forest, including a number that were hollow
+or decayed, only totalled 37,316, and by 1790 they were still further
+reduced to 10,117.
+
+“From 1683 onwards, the area of the forest was being constantly
+curtailed; and in that year 1270 acres out of the hays of Bilhagh and
+the White Lodge, were sold to the Duke of Kingston to be enclosed
+within his park of Thoresby. At the beginning of the next century,
+about 3000 acres of the previous open forest were impaled to protect
+the deer under the auspices of the Duke of Newcastle, who was their
+keeper; this was called the New Park, and is now known as Clumber Park.
+Between 1789 and 1796 inclusive, Acts were passed for the enclosure
+of Arnold Forest, Basford Forest, Sutton in Ashfield Forest, Kirkby
+in Ashfield Forest, and Lenton and Radford Forest, whereby 8248
+acres were brought into cultivation. When Major Rooke published his
+interesting _Sketch of the Ancient and Present State of Sherwood
+Forest_ in 1799, the parts of the forest that still remained to the
+Crown were the hays of Birkland and Bilhagh, which had a total extent
+of 1487 acres.”[46]
+
+A most notable use of the grand oaks of Sherwood occurred in the days
+of Charles II., when the largest and most substantial of the beams used
+in the construction of the new St. Paul’s, by Sir Christopher Wren,
+came from this district. The papers at Welbeck Abbey include a letter
+from the great architect, of April 4, 1695, addressed to the steward of
+the Duke of Newcastle. Therein he states the measurements of the “great
+Beames” which he then required. They were to be “47 ft. long, 13 inches
+at the small end, of growing timber and as near as can be without sap.”
+
+Though the glories of Sherwood as a vast open forest land have long
+since passed away, there is still much fine timber to be noted on the
+old forest stretches of Birkland and Bilhagh, as well as a few noble
+groups of ancient oaks, as at Haywood, near Blidworth. Within, too,
+the present five deer parks of the county, all of which were within
+the forest confines in ancient days--namely, the parks of Thoresby,
+Welbeck, Rufford, Wollaton, and Annesley--portions of the ancient
+forest timber undoubtedly remain. In some cases the relics of the grand
+old oaks are but shattered fragments of their original magnificence.
+The Methuselah of the forest, the Greendale oak in Welbeck Park, would
+have perished long ago had it not been for the extreme care taken
+to prop and bind up its shattered members; but it still possesses
+considerable vitality. In 1724 the great gap hollowed through its
+centre by age and decay was cut away to such a height and width that
+“a carriage and six, with cocked-hat coachman on the box, drove
+through the tree with the bride of the noble owner; three horsemen
+riding abreast were able to pass through, a feat which has been often
+accomplished.” Several of the greater and more venerable oaks in
+other parts of the forest have had fanciful names assigned to them,
+perpetuated during recent years by means of picture postcards; but
+these titles are for the most part of recent origin. Such are the Major
+Oak, the Parliament Oak, and the Shambles Oak.
+
+The deer of Sherwood were of three kinds--red, fallow, or roe. The
+roe deer seem never to have been numerous, and they died out at a
+comparatively early date, not finding sufficient quietude owing to
+the nearness of Nottingham, Mansfield, and other fairly populous
+places. These small timid deer require a considerable amount of
+rarely-disturbed covert, and Sherwood, notwithstanding its extent, was
+intersected by a frequency of roads and byroads. At the Eyre of 1288,
+there was a single presentment for killing a roebuck.
+
+The red deer were undoubtedly indigenous to this and other parts of
+England, and roamed at large throughout the forest. The royal gifts of
+Sherwood deer made by Henry III. and the first three Edwards, consisted
+mainly of fallow deer; but it need not be considered from this that
+the red deer were few or far between, because the fallow deer were so
+much more easily killed or taken alive within the parks where they
+were sustained. The majority of cases of venison, as recorded in the
+presentments at the different Eyres, were also concerned with fallow
+deer; but a fair number of venison transgressors, particularly in the
+case of those of good position, were summoned for hunting the wild red
+deer. Thus, in 1334, Lord John Grey was found running a herd of hinds
+with six greyhounds at Bestwood, of which he killed two; and at the
+same court Henry Curzon of Breadsall was fined for killing a hind at
+Clipstone. At various different dates in the fourteenth century, royal
+releases from prison were granted to offenders who had been caught
+hunting the red deer. It may here be noted, as it is often forgotten,
+that the terms for red deer are harts and hinds, whilst the fallow deer
+are described as bucks and does. The survival at the present day in
+this county of eleven public-houses which bear the sign of the White
+Hart is an indirect evidence of the former number of the wild deer;
+there is also a single instance of a White Hind. This may appear to be
+a confusion of terms, but from the earliest days there were occasional
+instances of white harts and hinds, as at the present time among red
+deer.[47]
+
+The fallow deer were as a rule kept within parks, though, of course,
+they naturally strayed at times into the open parts of the forest. The
+two oldest of the hays or parks of Sherwood were those of Clipstone and
+Bestwood, and there were also those of Birkland, Linby, and Welby, as
+early as the days of Henry III.
+
+Among venison offenders it was not at all unusual to find the secular
+clergy. Thus, at the Eyre of 1334, the rector of Annesley and the vicar
+of Edwinstowe were among the culprits, and fully a score of other
+beneficed offenders were presented at different dates. Popular notions,
+encouraged by more or less scurrilous ballads, have long ago marked
+down the monks and canons of the religious orders as prime offenders
+in this respect; but the forest Rolls, which cannot lie, in Sherwood
+as elsewhere, prove the very small basis upon which such charges rest.
+“Throughout the length and breadth of England, in the extant forest
+documents extending over several centuries, only four or five charges
+of venison trespass against the religious have been found, and about
+a like number for the receipt of venison, or the harbouring of forest
+offenders. It is not to be understood that the examination has been
+quite thorough, save of a certain number of forests; but it is highly
+improbable that the charges against monks or canons regular, if the
+search was exhaustive, could not be counted on the fingers of both
+hands. And yet at the same time the charges against rectors, vicars, or
+parochial chaplains, and the heavy fines, sometimes exceeding a whole
+year’s income, are fairly common. No charges have been noticed against
+the monks of Rufford or the canons of Newstead, though they were in the
+very midst of Sherwood; and yet there was hardly a parish pertaining to
+that forest whose vicar or rector was not, at some time, convicted of
+deer-slaying with bow and arrows, or with greyhounds.”[48]
+
+When the sixteenth century is reached, definite statistics can usually
+be found as to the number of deer in the various royal forests of
+England. Henry VIII. appointed a commission in 1531, to view and
+certify the number of the deer in the forest and parks of Sherwood. The
+red deer at that date numbered 4280, and the fallow deer 1131. The red
+deer ranged throughout the forest, with the exception of some 200 in
+Bestwood Park. The fallow deer were within the four parks of Bestwood,
+Clipstone, Nottingham, and Thorney. Another less detailed return of
+1538 of all the deer in the King’s forests and parks north of the
+Trent, gives the number of red deer in Sherwood Forest as about 1000;
+in Bestwood Park, 700 fallow and 140 red; in Clipstone, 60 fallow and
+20 red; in Gringley, 150 fallow.
+
+Queen Elizabeth, in 1599, granted the keepership of the forest district
+of Thorneywood, to the north of Nottingham, to John Stanhope, with
+licence to hunt, chase, and kill the deer, provided he always found a
+hundred head for the use of the Queen.
+
+A considerable amount of detailed information with regard to the
+rapidly lessening area of Sherwood Forest, from this date down to 1793,
+is to be found in the _Fourteenth Report of Woods and Forests_
+which was issued at the latter date. In 1616, it was reported that
+there were 1263 red deer in Sherwood Forest, in addition to those in
+Thorneywood; another estimate of 1635 made the total 1367. A very
+large number of the royal deer not unnaturally disappeared during the
+Commonwealth days. In 1661, considerable expenses were incurred by the
+transporting of both red and fallow deer from Germany to restock the
+forests of Sherwood and Windsor.
+
+Charles II., in 1662, did his best to revive the forest laws of
+Sherwood, and appointed his faithful friend William, Earl of Mansfield
+and Marquis of Newcastle (afterwards known as the loyal duke) to act
+as Lord Chief Justice in Eyre. The business before this revived Forest
+Court was so complicated, and required so much legal investigation,
+that, though opened at Mansfield in February 1662–63, the proceedings
+were not concluded until 1676; they provided a right royal harvest
+for the lawyers and attorneys. Claims to special privileges were put
+forward by a great variety of persons, including the Archbishop of York
+and divers others, such as Sir George Savile of Rufford and Lord Byron
+of Newstead, who had succeeded to properties wrenched from monastic
+hands. Hosts of minor claimants came from all parts of the forest
+and its surroundings, pleading privileges that pertained in old days
+to particular townships or parishes. Some of these humbler folk were
+unable to resist the attractions of the game as they traversed the old
+forest grounds; thus one Thomas Cotton, a blacksmith of Edwinstowe, was
+convicted of shooting a hart when actually journeying to attend this
+court. He was fined 40s., and had to obtain a bondsman for £40 for his
+good conduct during the twelve months.
+
+In 1708 a strongly worded petition was drawn up at Rufford by
+representative gentlemen of the north of the county, addressed to the
+Crown, complaining of the grievous and almost intolerable burden under
+which the landowners laboured by reason of the increase during late
+years of the red deer in the Forest of Sherwood. They complained that
+so many of the woods had been granted or given away by the Queen’s
+predecessors, that but little harbour remained for the deer in the
+forest, and that the deer in consequence were scattered about in the
+county eating up corn and grass; that their tenants in severe weather
+had often to watch all night to keep the deer off; that their servants
+were terrified by new keepers, who threaten them if they so much as set
+a little dog at the deer. At the same time another general petition to
+the like effect obtained 400 influential signatures. It was therein
+stated that the red deer had recently increased from 300 to 900, and
+that their chief depredations were carried on “in the district called
+Hatfield and the whole district of the Clay,” which were parts of the
+county outside the forest limits. These petitions met with no favour
+at the hands of the Crown; it was argued that to attempt to stint the
+number of deer through Parliament would be detracting from the Queen’s
+liberties and rights.
+
+The forest, however, was far from being a source of profit during
+Anne’s reign. There were four well-paid “forest keepers” and four
+“deputy forest rangers”; the winter hay for the deer averaged £100 a
+year; whilst £1000 a year was granted to maintain the deer and the new
+park at Clumber, and to hunt with two horsemen, forty couple of hounds,
+eleven horses, and four grooms.
+
+Reports presented to the Commissioners of Woods and Forests in 1793
+showed that there were then no deer in the forest save in Thorney
+Woods, of which Lord Chesterfield was keeper. But evidence was given to
+the effect that there were a great many deer in Birkland and Bilhagh
+until about 1770, when they were killed off, with the assistance of the
+inhabitants, by the Dukes of Newcastle and Kingston, and in a short
+time the value of the forest farms had materially increased, and the
+wheat fields no longer needed to be guarded by horns in the daytime and
+by fires at night.
+
+Though the glories of Sherwood as a vast open forest district have long
+since passed away, several noble parks occupy some of its choicest
+portions. Five of these parks are stocked with deer--namely, Thoresby
+(Earl Manvers), Welbeck (Duke of Portland), Rufford (Lord Savile),
+Wollaton (Lord Middleton), and Annesley (J. P. Chaworth Musters, Esq.).
+The first two of these have herds of red as well as of fallow deer.
+It is quite possible that some of these may fairly claim to be the
+descendants of those which used to roam at will through the woods and
+glades of old Sherwood Forest in medieval days.
+
+
+
+
+             ROODS, SCREENS, AND LOFTS IN NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
+
+                           BY AYMER VALLANCE
+
+
+ARNOLD.--William Stretton, writing about 1820, noted:--“The Gothic
+screen of oak is still remaining. The corbels and holes for the timbers
+to support the rood-loft still remain, with the stone staircase in the
+south-east angle.” The screen disappeared at the “restoration” in 1877.
+The rood-stairs survive, concealed behind the pulpit.
+
+
+ATTENBOROUGH.--The rood-stair, of which only a part remains, was
+contained in the south pier of the chancel arch. The door intended
+for issue onto the rood-loft is now blocked, but the entrance at the
+bottom, with a cambered head, is situated in the north-east corner of
+the south aisle.
+
+
+AVERHAM (October 1911).--A somewhat plain example of a late-fourteenth
+or early-fifteenth century screen, rectangular in construction, stands
+in the chancel opening. Its total length is 16 ft. 9 in. by 9 ft. high.
+It comprises thirteen compartments of average centring of 1 ft. 2½ in.,
+_i.e._ five compartments on either hand of the doorway. The latter has
+a clear opening of 3 ft. 5½] in., and comprises three compartments,
+their two muntins being cut off by the horizontal door-head. The
+wainscot is 4 ft. 1 in. high, with head-tracery to the depth of 9
+inches, consisting of one continuous run supported by four vertical
+mouldings, making five panels on each side of the doorway. The south
+section of this tracery appears to be genuine, but the north section is
+all modern except 14 inches’ length immediately north of the doorway.
+All the flat panelling of the wainscot is modern. From the middle
+rail to the cord-line measures 44 in., the tracery in the head of the
+fenestration being 9 in. deep. This tracery is flat on the eastward
+face. The ornament attached to the west front of the lintel is modern.
+
+
+BALDERTON.--“A most beautiful, richly moulded Perpendicular oak screen
+(_circa_ 1475), having a figure of a monk with his arms crossed,
+and a globe below his foot, on the western face; and another of the
+Virgin and Child on the eastern face.” The screen is rectangular in
+construction, and comprises eight compartments, the two middle ones of
+which go to form the doorway.
+
+
+BEAUVALE (Carthusian Priory).--From the foundation of the monastery in
+1343, the church kept its original plan, an aisleless parallelogram,
+unchanged. The width of the nave, 27 ft., was, therefore, the length of
+the transverse screens, which disappeared at, or after, the surrender
+on 18th July 1539. “No trace of the pulpitum,” write Rev. A. Du Boulay
+Hill and Mr. Harry Gill, “can be seen in the standing walls,” nor did
+the excavations in 1908 disclose any pulpitum foundations.
+
+
+BECKINGHAM.--The will of Robert Hall, dated 28th May 1529, contains the
+clause: “_do et lego fabrice crucifixorii de_ Bekyngham,” 15s.; and
+William Hall, by will dated 10th October 1538, bequeathed his “bodie
+to bee buried in the churche of Bekyngham afore the rood-lofte.” Rev.
+Dr. Cox writes (1911) to say that in the tower archway stands the
+middle portion of the chancel screen, consisting of the doorway and two
+more bays, or compartments, with very fine tracery, of late-fifteenth
+century workmanship. The doorway (now blocked) which led from the
+rood-stair onto the top of the rood-loft, is visible in the east wall
+of the nave, to south of the chancel-arch.
+
+
+BILSTHORPE.--The upper and lower doorways, square-headed, of the
+rood-stairs, now walled up, are clearly perceptible in the north side
+of the nave. Externally nothing of the old staircase remains.
+
+
+BLYTH (October 1911).--The church of the Benedictine Priory (dissolved
+in February 1535–36) and the parochial church were under the same
+roof; but the screening arrangements are by no means clear. That the
+wall which cuts off the first bay of the nave below the crossing was
+built previously to the Reformation is evident from the fact that the
+westward surface of the filling was painted, late in the fifteenth, or
+in the early part of the sixteenth, century with the subject of the
+Doom, many traces of which remain to this day. It may be that this
+was the site of the pulpitum, in which case the walling simply meant
+heightening the front of the pulpitum until the space was filled to the
+roof. In the foot of the wall is a doorway (now blocked) 5 ft. 5 in.
+wide by 6 ft. 6 in. high, with a cambered head. Presumably this door
+was the former entrance of the pulpitum-passage into the quire.
+
+  [Illustration:
+
+   _Photo: Mr. Arthur Lineker._
+
+  BLYTH PRIORY CHURCH: SCREEN IN THE NAVE.]
+
+The rood-screen and loft over appear to have stood between the second
+pair of piers below the western crossing. Rev. John Raine, in his
+_History and Antiquities of Blyth_ (1860), described this screen
+as having fared very ill, for “with the exception of a fragment at the
+corner of the private gallery of Blyth Hall[49] and the lower panels,
+it has been destroyed; and ... these panels, all perfect though they
+are, are daubed over with paint, so as completely to obliterate the
+figures, except at the very base.” The screen, cleaned and “restored,”
+is of oak and rectangular in construction. It measures 21 ft. 6 in.
+long by 8 ft. 9 in. (exclusive of a modern lintel), with compartments
+centring at 1 ft. 2½ in. and having Perpendicular tracery to the depth
+of 12 in. in the head of the fenestration. The traceries are flat
+at the back, and only three at the northern extremity are genuine.
+They had been incorporated at one time in the Blyth Hall gallery. The
+doorway, contrary to what one would expect, is in the middle, and it
+has a clear opening of 3 ft. ½ in. The existing lintel rests in a
+hole of about 13 in. square in the second pier of the south arcade.
+The wainscot is 4 ft. 2 in. high and without tracery in the heads of
+the panels. The screen has at one time been richly coloured; only
+eleven, however, of the wainscot panels have paintings of saints, so
+much worn and mutilated as to be barely recognisable. The backgrounds
+are alternately green and deep purplish red. The subjects are as
+follow from north to south:--1. St. George. 2. Female saint in red
+robe, hands raised. 3. Archbishop in pontificals, chasuble red. 4.
+Female saint in red robe under green cloak, hands raised. 5. Abbot,
+or Abbess, in brown habit, crosier in hand. 6. Female saint in brown
+habit, kneeling to left, and contemplating a vision of our Lord rising
+out of the tomb or from clouds. Here is the doorway, having a clear
+opening of 3 ft. ½ in. South of the doorway:--7. Female saint, hands
+raised. 8. Saint in armour, with what looks like a hawk on his right
+hand. ? St. Bavon. 9. Figure in red, with close-fitting hood of red
+on the head, no nimbus, right hand holding what appears to be a boot;
+in which case it would represent Master John Schorne. 10. Figure in
+red, kneeling to right, and contemplating a vision. 11. Abbot, or
+Abbess, in brown habit, crosier in hand. Some of these figures have
+been identified respectively with Saints Boniface, Wilfrid, Edward,
+and Bridget. The last named, at any rate, is likely enough to be
+correct, seeing that among the lights of this church were one of St.
+Bridget, as also one of St. Sitha (Zita), which proves both these
+saints to have been objects of devotion in the place. Various chases
+in the piers show that the two arches to west of the above-described
+screen were both occupied by wooden parcloses. Across the south or
+parochial aisle, about in line with the above-described screen across
+the nave, stands another Perpendicular oak screen, authentic in the
+main, though patched, repaired, and even, according to a note by C.
+Clement Hodges in the _John of Gaunt Sketch Book_ (1880) having
+some details restored in composition. This screen measures 23 ft. 7
+in. long by 12 ft. 10 in. high (cresting included). It comprises five
+bays centring at 4 ft. 5 in. to 4 ft. 6 in., of three lights each. The
+cord-line, as also the springing level of the vaulting, is 4 ft. 6½ in.
+above the middle rail. The tracery is 21 in. deep in the heads of the
+fenestration, which takes the form of depressed two-centred arches. The
+bases (9½ in. high) and the caps (8½ in. high) of the boutel-shafts
+are polygonal. The vaulting is complete on both sides of the screen,
+and the width across the top of the platform from front to back is 5
+ft. 6 in. The breast-summer is deep, moulded, and has a hollow with
+square pateras. The wainscot is 4 ft. 2½ in. high, with tracery in the
+head of the panels to the depth of 9½ in. The panels, painted with
+figures, were “brought to light in 1842 from the boards and matting of
+pews, behind which they were concealed.” They may now, writes Raine in
+1860, “be seen with sufficient distinctness, though with a few marks
+of Puritanical violence; with the exception of that of St. Ursula,
+which was found in such a state of decay as to justify its removal to a
+place of safe preservation. Other figures on the panels of the parish
+rood-screen have been cut away to make a road to the reading-desk and
+pulpit.” Six painted panels survive, as follow, from left to right:--To
+north of the doorway are: 1. St. Stephen in a red dalmatic; 2.? St.
+Agatha stripped to the middle, her breasts transversely pierced by
+a sword. 3. St. Edmund, crowned and holding a sceptre and arrows.
+To south of the doorway (which has a clear opening of 4 ft. 6½ in.)
+are: 4. St. Helen; 5. St. Barbara; and 6. St. Ursula. Five of these
+paintings are figured in outline by J. G. Weightman in Rev. John
+Raine’s work.
+
+In the south arcade wall a passage from one loft to the other was
+tunnelled through the spandrel over the pier. This passage is walled
+up toward the north, but remains visible, with a hollow opening on the
+south side of the arcade, over the top of the south aisle screen.
+
+At right angles to the north end of the south aisle screen, and
+enclosing the north side of the parochial chancel, is another oak
+screen of Perpendicular date and rectangular construction. It measures
+14 ft. long by 9 ft. 5 in. high. It comprises a doorway at the east
+end and eight lights, only two compartments, centring at 3 ft. 10 in.
+and consisting of three lights apiece, being complete. It originally
+comprised at least four compartments, including the doorway. The
+wainscot is 4 ft. 3 in. high, and the tracery in the fenestration heads
+is 9½ in. deep. In the west part of the north aisle of the nave are two
+runs of panelling, both of similar character but not quite identical
+in design, one of them bearing distinct traces of ancient painting;
+panelling which must have belonged to the parapets of the rood-loft.
+There is no tracery, but the stiles are handsomely moulded. One run, 7
+ft. 1½ in. long by 4 ft. high, comprises six panels centring at 1 ft.
+1½ in., the hand-rail being 6¼ in. high. The other run, 9 ft. 3½ in.
+long by 2 ft. 11½ in. high, comprises eight panels centring at about 14
+in., the hand-rail being 5¾ in. high. Both hand-rails are elaborately
+embattled, like alternate billet mouldings. Under the western tower are
+three more fragments of similar hand-rail, respectively 2 ft. 3½ in., 2
+ft. 4 in., and 2 ft. 5 in. long.
+
+
+BRIDGFORD, WEST (October 1911).--Across the present south aisle, and on
+the site of what was originally the east wall of the chancel previously
+to the enlarging of the church, stands an oak screen (_circa_ 1380), of
+rectangular construction. The character of the framework is that of a
+stone screen carried out in wood, with mason joints. It comprises four
+compartments, centring on an average at 1 ft. 5½ in., on either hand
+of the central doorway, the divisions of the wainscot corresponding
+with those of the fenestration. The doorway has a trefoil-cusped and
+feathered head, springing 6 ft. 6½ in. from the ground; it centres at
+4 ft. 2½ in. and has a clear opening of 3 ft. 9½ in. The wainscot, 3
+ft. 7½ in. high, has tracery in the head of the panels to the depth of
+8½ in., but only the northernmost tracery ornament is authentic. The
+middle rail, embattled along the front edge, is flat upon the top, a
+familiar feature in early screenwork. The cord-line is 4 ft. 1½ in.
+above the middle rail and in the head of the fenestration the tracery
+is 16 in. deep. This tracery is in two orders on the west face of the
+screen, but the first order, with crocketed ogee ornament imposed, does
+not occur on the east face. The treatment of the crockets is peculiar,
+they being like rosettes at the points of cusping that radiates,
+instead of leaves that run in an upward direction in the usual manner.
+Moreover, the front surface of the tracery takes the form of a bead
+instead of the more usual fillet. The total height of the screen is
+9 ft. 10 in. The lintel, 17 ft. 7 in. long, and embattled along the
+top, has a cavetto in which at intervals are pateras, all of floral
+ornament except the northernmost one (which represents a dog, or cat,
+with a rat in its mouth) and the pair surmounting the door-jambs.
+These two are masks, the northern one of which is muzzled. The jambs
+and the end-uprights are 5 in. wide, with mouldings in the lower part
+and pinnacles in the upper part, all cut out of the solid. A chase, 2
+in. wide, in the abacus of the easternmost respond of the south aisle
+arcade shows that a wooden screen stood in the eastern arch of the
+arcade opening into the south aisle.
+
+  [Illustration: WEST BRIDGFORD: OLD ROOD-SCREEN.
+
+  (Now in south aisle of enlarged church.)]
+
+
+BUNNY (October 1911).--A much-mutilated oak screen, of rectangular
+construction and fourteenth century date, stands across the
+chancel-arch, which, however, on account of the abnormally uneven
+spacing of the screen, can scarcely be its original position. There are
+three compartments on the north side of the entrance and two on the
+south, their centrings varying from 2 ft. 2 in. to 2 ft. 6 in. The five
+openings of the fenestration have ogee tracery to the depth of from 10
+to 10½ in. in the head. The entrance has a clear opening of 3 ft. 10
+in. wide by 8 ft. 6 in. high to the apex of its two-centred arch. The
+latter is formed by a pair of solid spandrels, springing at a depth of
+2 ft. 8 in. below the lintel, and sculptured with conventional foliage,
+in low relief, of lithic character. In fact, the whole screen except
+its fenestration tracery, is mason’s work in wood. The jambs of the
+doorway have remains of buttressing; and the muntins have conspicuous
+stops at their junction with the middle rail. The latter has been
+cruelly hacked about and retains only scanty remains of the original
+battlementing along the front. The wainscot stands 4 ft. 3 in. high,
+but is now a mere framework, having been robbed of its stiles and
+panels. The tracery is flat at the back. Some remnants of the former
+colouring may be discerned. The north portion of the screen is 7 ft.
+1 in. long and the south portion 6 ft. 1 in. The total length is 17
+ft., the height 8 ft. 11 in., or 9 ft. 10 in. including the lintel,
+which is 19 ft. 4 in. long, and an incongruous addition, of eighteenth
+century character. In the upper part of the chancel-arch was a boarded
+tympanum, removed shortly before 1902. The stone of the east sweep of
+the easternmost arch of the north arcade has been cut into, probably
+for fitting the rood-loft into position.
+
+
+CALVERTON.--By will dated 10th October 1499, Thomas Belfin left 13s.
+4d. “_facture unius_ roode-lofte _in ecclesia de_ Calverton.” The
+middle part of the abacus and astragal of the capital of the north
+reveal of the chancel-arch has been cut through vertically for the
+insertion of wooden screenwork.
+
+
+CAR COLSTON.--In 1824 W. Stretton recorded that a rich screen,
+separating the chancel from the nave, had been “lately taken down.”
+But Mr. T. M. Blagg, F.S.A., thinks that Stretton must have attributed
+the removal of the screen to too recent a date. All recollection of it
+had long passed out of mind by 1846 or 1847, when, during the process
+of cementing the middle alley of the nave (Mr. Blagg’s grandfather
+then being churchwarden) some broken tracery of a pre-Reformation
+screen was quite unexpectedly discovered beneath a floor-slab. By the
+churchwarden’s orders, the remains of screenwork were left where they
+had been found and the slab replaced over them. At the east end of
+the south aisle (according to information supplied by Mr. Harry Gill,
+M.S.A.) stands a dado formed of part of the screen-wainscot, measuring
+4 ft. 3 in. long by 3 ft. 6½ in. high, inclusive of the middle rail,
+itself 4½ in. high. It consists of vertical boarding, reeded at the
+joints; its identity being established by the fact that it is pierced
+with holes for elevation-squints. Two of the holes are round, while the
+third is an elongated quatrefoil. Both reveals of the chancel-arch are
+hollowed, at a level of 3 ft. 10 in. from the bottom, with a chase 5
+in. by 4½ in. for the insertion of wooden screenwork; and at a level of
+3 ft. 2 in. above the chase is another one, 6 in. square, immediately
+below the necking of the chancel-arch. These chases are now patched
+with new stone. Moreover, the abacus has a chase extending upwards into
+the springer, for the lintel of the screen. The cutting away of part of
+the mouldings on the east side of the chancel-arch indicates the site
+of the eastern front of the rood-loft.
+
+
+CLAYWORTH (October 1911).--Though all the upper portion of the
+chancel-screen is only modern, the greater part of the wainscot is
+genuine. It stands 4 ft. 1 in. high, with head-tracery 10 in. deep, and
+of very doubtful authenticity. The back, or eastward, surface of the
+panels is of feather-edge boarding. The chief feature of the screen is
+the extraordinary massiveness of the middle rail, which measures 8 in.
+high, is embattled along the top edge, and had square pateras along its
+westward front on either hand of the doorway. The north section having
+been curtailed, there are only two pateras on its rail and three panels
+below; but the south section, which appears to be of approximately
+the original dimensions, is 6 ft. 1 in. long, has three pateras along
+the rail, and comprises four compartments. The uprights have massive
+buttresses, square on plan. The rood-loft was approached from the
+north. The entrance in the northward face of the north chancel-pier
+is rectangular, 5 ft. 4 in. high by 1 ft. 7 in. wide. It is 1 ft. 3½
+in. above the present floor level, and has a rebate, showing that the
+door swung outward from the stair. Three stone steps inside remain,
+but the rest of the stair is blocked. The issue naveward through the
+east spandrel of the north arcade is walled up likewise. Marks in the
+masonry indicate that there was formerly a parclose in the arch between
+the chancel and the south chapel, that of St. Nicholas.
+
+Across the south aisle, and in line with the chancel-arch, there stands
+a stone screen-wall, 15 in. thick, 11 ft. 2 in. long, and about 10 ft.
+6 in. high. It consists of three arched openings of obtuse two-centred
+form, each being constructed of two blocks of stone with a joint at the
+apex. The middle aperture 3 ft. 4 in. wide, with jambs measuring 9 in.
+each from north to south, is open to the ground, forming a doorway;
+but this does not look like the original plan, because the chamfer,
+instead of being carried down to the floor, is returned on the line of
+the fenestration-cill and has been abruptly cut through at the level of
+the latter in order to make the doorway. The change, however, if change
+it was, must have taken place previously to 1676, for a plan of the
+building in the “Rector’s Book” of that date shows the central doorway
+then in existence. The plinth is 11 in. high, and the wall sets on 2¾
+in., back and front, except on the westward front of the south section.
+From the ground to the fenestration-cill measures 4 ft. 7 in. high,
+the latter having a stool for the mullions worked on it. From the cill
+to the spring of the arches measures 3 ft. ½ in. The northern opening
+is 4 ft. 1 in. high by 2 ft. 5½ in., the southern one 4 ft. 2 in. high
+by 2 ft. 6 in. Both of them, like the upper part of the doorway, have
+chamfered edges of fairly wide splay. There is no sculpture whatever,
+but the surface of the stone shows abundant traces of red paint.
+
+
+COLSTON BASSET.--W. Stretton noted on 25th October 1811:--“The
+... Gothic screen is still standing and is chaste and handsome,” and
+also that “the south transept has a fine Gothic screen still standing.”
+The latter was in two parts, one occupying the arch between the nave
+and the transept, the other the arch between the transept and south
+aisle. The church itself having been wantonly dismantled and turned
+into a ruin in 1892, the screens taken out of it were removed to Long
+Whatton church, Leicestershire.
+
+
+COSTOCK.--The church being without a chancel-arch, there was,
+previously to the sadly drastic “restoration” in 1848, a boarded
+partition, or tympanum, reaching to the roof from the top of the
+rood-screen. The latter was ancient, and is described as having been in
+a dilapidated state, and covered with whitewash.
+
+
+COTGRAVE.--“The staircase to the rood-loft on the south side of the
+chancel-arch is walled up.” (J. T. Godfrey, 1907.)
+
+
+CROPWELL BISHOP.--In 1824 Stretton noted that the chancel was separated
+from the nave by a screen, which, however, has now disappeared.
+
+
+DRAYTON, EAST.--There is a good late-fifteenth century rood-screen
+with handsome tracery. The coved top remains, but the lower panels are
+wanting and their place is occupied by modern boarding. (Communicated
+by Rev. Dr. Cox, 1911.)
+
+
+ELTON.--Remains of fifteenth-century screenwork, incorporated in the
+high pews, were noted by Rev. Dr. Cox in 1904.
+
+
+FINNINGLEY.--When Stretton wrote, the east end of the north aisle was
+still parted off by a Gothic screen, the enclosure being used as a
+vestry.
+
+
+GAMSTON.--At the north-east end of the nave are the rood-stairs,
+encased in a turret rising above the roof.
+
+
+GEDLING.--An oak screen of Perpendicular work enclosed the east end of
+the north aisle until the “restoration” in 1871–72, when it was taken
+down and a portion only, consisting of the central doorway and two side
+compartments, preserved, and set up in the arch of the tower at the
+west end of the north aisle.
+
+
+GRANBY.--“The chancel-arch bears evidence of the former existence of a
+screen.” (J. T. Godfrey, 1907.)
+
+
+HAWTON (1906).--The oak rood-screen, standing under the western order
+of the chancel-arch, dates from the latter half of the fifteenth
+century. Rectangular in construction, the screen measures 17 ft. 6½ in.
+long by 10 ft. 6½ in. high. It comprises five compartments, the two on
+either hand of the doorway centring at 3 ft. 3½ in., and divided by
+moulded muntins (3¾ in. wide from north to south) into three lights
+apiece, opening 9 in. wide. The wainscot, 4 ft. 4 in. high, is divided
+into rectangular panels, corresponding in spacing to the divisions of
+the fenestration, and having no tracery in the head, but pierced in
+the upper part, as though for elevation-squints, with little crosses
+composed of five circles connected by straight slits, not unlike a
+cross pommée in heraldry. The door-jambs and the greater muntins (5 in.
+wide from north to south) are buttressed in the west with buttresses,
+square on plan, with panelled fronts, moulded bases, and two set-offs
+each. The middle rail, flat at the top, is 8 in. high. The fenestration
+each side of the entrance is 5 ft. 6 in. high with Perpendicular
+tracery in the head to the depth of 1 ft. 3½ in. An embattled transom
+conspicuously runs through the tracery of the fifteen lights. The
+doorway, which is without doors or gates, has a clear opening of 3 ft.
+3 in. wide. The door-head is in the form of an arch with quatrefoil
+pierced spandrels, and cusped and feathered underneath, springing,
+at a level of 6 ft. 6½ in. from the bottom of the screen, under an
+horizontal lintel. The latter (5¾ in. high) cuts off the minor muntins
+above it at a distance of 1 ft. 4 in. below the cornice, itself 8½ in.
+high, and, like the middle rail and the door-lintel, handsomely moulded
+and embattled along the upper edge. The cornice is morticed along the
+top for the ribs of the rood-loft coving. The mortices, about an inch
+deep by 1¾ in. from east to west by 3 to 3½ in. long, centre on the
+average at 15 in. The coving has unfortunately perished with the loft,
+but, what is an extremely rare and notable feature, there remains,
+embedded in the north wall of the nave, the end of the loft woodwork,
+cut off flush with the plaster in the sixteenth century and eventually
+brought to light through the flaying of the wall surface in modern
+times. The profile of the breast-summer can be made out, but that of
+the hand-rail is less clear. Enough, however, survives to show that the
+level of the rood-loft platform was some 12 ft. 9 in. above the present
+floor level, and that the front parapet measured 3 ft. 10½ in. high,
+the top of the hand-rail being therefore 16 ft. 7½ in. from the floor.
+A sketch elevation, with details and sections of the rood-screen, drawn
+by J. Norton in 1871, is to be found in _The Spring Gardens Sketch
+Book_, plates 43 and 44, vol. v. 1874.
+
+  [Illustration: Holme Church toward the South-east from the
+  Nave.]
+
+HOLME (October 1911).--In this church are three screens in a sad state
+of neglect and dilapidation--the rood-screen the worst. They are all
+fifteenth-century work of timber and rectangular in construction. There
+is no chancel-arch, but the rood-screen extends, 13 ft. 5 in. long by
+9 ft. 6 in. high, from the north wall to the south-arcade wall. The
+wainscot (exclusive of the ground-cill, which is not original) stands 3
+ft. 8 in. high and has no head-tracery. Part of the wainscot boarding
+itself is missing. The middle rail is moulded and measures 5¾ in. high.
+The fenestration, centring from 2 ft. 3 in. to 2 ft. 5 in., is divided
+into four lights on either hand of the doorway, which opens 3 ft. 3½
+in. in the clear, and has neither doors nor gates. The cord-line is
+3 ft. 5 in. above the middle rail. The fenestration tracery should
+be 10 in. deep, but only one piece, that in the head of the light to
+north of the doorway, is original. It is flat at the back. The rest of
+the tracery 10½ in. deep and not corresponding with the original one
+in design, nor in spacing with the framework of the screen itself,
+does not belong. Indeed it is not screen-tracery at all, but has been
+taken from the front of stall-desks and misapplied to the screen so
+unintelligently that the flat hind part is actually turned round toward
+the front. The lintel is of deal, with portions of old broken cresting
+attached both to the east and west sides.
+
+Some 3 ft. further west than the rood-screen, stands a parclose under
+the arch between the nave’s south aisle and the south chapel. The
+screen measures 15 ft. 5½ in. long by 8 ft. 11 in. It comprises five
+compartments, centring at 2 ft. 1½ in., and divided into two lights
+apiece. The wainscot, exclusive of the ground-cill, which is 5 in.
+high, stands 3 ft. 9 in. high, with head-tracery to the depth of 11
+in. The doorway has a clear opening of 3 ft. 2 in., and part of the
+original door remains; a minor muntin, however, and the lower panels
+wanting, though the head-traceries, 10¼ in. deep, are still preserved.
+There remain also the old lock, hasp, and part of the sliding bolt. The
+cord-line is 3 ft. 5 in. above the middle rail; and the fenestration
+tracery, very like that of the rood-screen, is 11 in. deep. The lintel
+is substantial, and well moulded, but has no cresting.
+
+The third screen, of much the same date and character as the others,
+is a parclose occupying part of the westernmost arch between the
+chancel and the south chapel. It measures 7 ft. 5½ in. long by 8 ft. 1
+in. high, and consists of four compartments centring at 1 ft. 9½ in.,
+and divided each into two lights by minor muntins. There is a doorway
+at the east end of the screen, the rebate showing that the door, now
+lost, swung into the chapel. The wainscot, of which all the panels are
+missing, stood 3 ft. 3 in. high; the cord-line is 3 ft. 4½ in. above
+the middle rail, and the head-tracery of the fenestration is 11 in.
+deep.
+
+
+HOLME PIERREPONT.--On the north outside wall, in line with the
+chancel-arch, is a semi-circular projection having an embattled
+parapet level with the top of the wall. Though, owing to inside
+plastering, there is now no visible means of access, there can be no
+doubt that this was the rood-stair turret.
+
+
+KELHAM (October 1911).--In the chancel-arch stands an oak rood-screen,
+which has been repaired in places, but is, in the main, authentic
+work of about 1475. Its total length is 10 ft. 4½ in., and its height
+(exclusive of a poor, modern parody of brattishing) 9 ft. 7 in. It
+consists of six bays, centring from 1 ft. 8½ in. to 1 ft. 9 in., the
+two middle bays together forming the doorway, with a clear opening of
+3 ft. 1 in. under a four-centred door-head. The doors are wanting.
+The wainscot, including the ground-cill, is 4 ft. 3 in. high, with
+tracery in the head of the panels (two panels to each bay) to the depth
+of 7½ in. The two-centred arched openings above have head-tracery to
+the depth of 2 ft. 1 in., originally supported on one central muntin,
+which divided each bay of the fenestration into two lights, but has
+been improperly removed to make the screen more open. The distance from
+the middle rail to the cord-line is 3 ft.; the cord-line being 8½ in.
+higher than the spring of the arch over the entrance. The latter once
+had rich cusping underneath, of which nothing but mutilated stumps now
+remain. The upper side of the arch has a row of crockets hollowed out
+behind, and perforated and carved in the most refined manner. They are
+now sadly broken. The tracery in the side openings is enriched with
+an ogee, imposed in relief, with crockets and finial to correspond.
+The east face of the screen is flat and plain compared with the west
+face. The vaulting, now utterly perished, sprang, at a height of 13 in.
+above the cord-line, from polygonal embattled caps, each resting, not
+on a single boutel, but on a cluster of three small, engaged shafts. A
+feature of the screen is the embattled transom which runs right through
+the fenestration tracery on a line with the springing-caps. The latter
+being very similar in design to the transom, the effect is unusually
+coherent and satisfying.
+
+The rood-stair turret, polygonal on plan, stands in the eastern
+abutment at the end of the north arcade wall, and projects on either
+hand, northwards into the aisle, and southwards into the nave. It is
+continued within the building up to the aisle roof, above which it
+rises as high as the nave, terminating in a plain horizontal parapet.
+Stone steps inside turn on a cylindrical newel. The stair is entered
+from the nave through a four-centred doorway, 5 ft. high by 1 ft. 7
+in., the door swinging inward. The issue, in a direct line above the
+entrance, is now blocked up, but the stone door-frame is visible, 1 ft.
+5½ in. wide by 4 ft. 9 in. high, to the crown of its arched head, the
+form of which may be described as segmental with rounded corners. The
+threshold has been tampered with, but it is evident that the doorway
+opened on to the loft at a height of 10 ft. 3½ in. above the present
+nave floor level.
+
+In the arch between the chancel of the south chapel stands an oak
+parclose of about the year 1440. It is rectangular in construction,
+10 ft. 2½ in. in length, and comprises four compartments, centring at
+about 30 in. The wainscot is 4 ft. 5½ in. high, having tracery to the
+depth of 12¼ in. in the head of each of the three panels with which
+each compartment is divided. The fenestration correspondingly consists
+of three lights to each compartment with tracery in the head to the
+depth of 12½ in.; the height from the middle rail to the cord-line
+being 23½ in. The second compartment from the east is the door. The
+total height of the screen is 8 ft. including an embattled lintel of
+modern work.
+
+
+KEYWORTH.--The rood-loft was approached at the north end through the
+east spandrel of the easternmost arch of the north arcade. Although the
+apertures have been walled up, the jambs of the rood-stair entrance in
+the north aisle and of the issue into the nave were visible until the
+“restoration” in 1874, or even later, but they are now entirely hidden
+by plastering. Cuts in the naveward corners of the abacus on each side
+of the easternmost arch of the north arcade mark the place where a
+timber parclose was formerly fixed. (October 1911.)
+
+
+KINGSTON-ON-SOAR.--In 1819, Stretton noted that the screen was
+standing, and that it had “plain tracery, but ... no appearance of a
+rood-loft.” This apparently means that the screen was not vaulted, but
+rectangular in construction. It has, unfortunately, been removed.
+
+
+KNEESALL.--The latticed screen had already been taken down when
+Stretton wrote, about 1820.
+
+
+LAMBLEY.--There is no chancel-arch, but in the chancel opening stands
+an oak screen to which Rev. Dr. Cox assigns the date 1377. It is of
+Perpendicular work and rectangular form. It comprises five compartments
+on either hand of the entrance, all with tracery in the head of
+the fenestration. The screen is 11 ft. 2 in. high by 18 ft. long.
+The central doorway is 4 ft. 2 in. wide, but no doors remain. “The
+rood-loft was approached by a staircase on the north side.”
+
+
+LANGAR.--In 1851, Andrew Esdaile remarked the original rood-loft
+still standing, and kept with great care as a beautiful ornament and
+one of extreme rarity, if not unique, in the neighbourhood. In 1864
+the Associated Societies’ Reports observed that the screen, though
+somewhat heavy, was “a fine specimen of carved work of its time, ...
+the half-canopy” being “especially good.” A staircase within the screen
+afforded “the sole access to the tower.” But by the time that J. T.
+Godfrey wrote, in 1907, the rood-screen had “been swept away, except
+the beam and jambs,” which were then fixed up at the west end of
+the nave. There the relics of the screenwork, with tracery panelling
+beneath a carved vine-trail, may still be seen. The north transept is
+shut in by parcloses on the south and west; the south transept by a
+parclose on the north only. These screens are of oak and have undergone
+some restoration.
+
+
+LAXTON.--The rood-screen which extends from side to side of the
+nave, across the front of the chancel-arch, is a fine specimen of
+Perpendicular, conjectured to have been erected by Bishop Rotherham
+between 1480 and 1500. The head-ornament of the fenestration is of two
+orders, the first consisting of a crocketed canopy on the face of the
+tracery, the second the pierced tracery itself. The screen was moved
+bodily one bay westwards of its original position when the church was
+altered in 1860 by Mr. T. C. Hine. To adapt it to its new situation,
+the screen was then lengthened by some additional work at one end. A
+parclose in the north aisle embodies portions of ancient screenwork,
+richly carved, and bearing the words of the angelic salutation and a
+shield charged with the Five Wounds, _goutté de sang_ (mistaken by
+Thoroton for “weeping eyes”). The donor’s name, Robert de Trafford,
+and the date, 1532, are also inscribed upon this screen. There is,
+moreover, a parclose in the south aisle.
+
+
+LEVERTON, NORTH.--James Nightgale, by will dated 5th October 1545,
+bequeathed his “bodie to bee buried in the churche ... of Northelewton
+before the Rood-lofte.”
+
+
+LEVERTON, SOUTH.--The chancel-screen was removed during the
+“restoration” in 1897. Some portions are still stored in the belfry,
+but it appears, according to Mr. Harry Gill, to have been but a poor
+work, executed in deal. In that case it was certainly not a mediæval
+structure.
+
+
+LOWDHAM.--A bequest by Robert Peper, of Morton, on 9th May 1529, of
+half a quarter of barley “to the roode off loodame” is believed to
+refer to Lowdham.
+
+
+MAPLEBECK.--The screen, described by Stretton as a “studded partition,”
+is of seventeenth-century workmanship, with balustrades, but the lintel
+is pronounced by Rev. Dr. Cox to be of the fifteenth century.
+
+
+MARKHAM, EAST.--Christopher Saureby, Vicar, by will, 30th April 1439,
+desired to be buried “before the chancel-door,” _i.e._ beneath the
+foot of the Great Rood. In 1907, Rev. A. E. Briggs observed that the
+rood-screen, “apparently cut down in Laudian days, was removed to its
+present position in 1897.” The rood-stair entrance (blocked and turned
+into a chimney in the early part of the nineteenth century) is situated
+in the east wall of the nave, to south of the chancel-arch. In a direct
+line above it, in the south spandrel of the chancel-arch, is the former
+issue onto the rood-loft--a four-centred doorway, likewise blocked.
+There is a rood-turret at the south-east corner of the nave.
+
+
+MARKHAM CLINTON (otherwise West Markham).--In this church, now
+abandoned to decay, are the scanty remains of a screen of late date.
+They comprise a set of plain standards (the doorway opening 3 ft. 3 in.
+wide) and some eighteenth-century panelling which fills the space above
+the lintel.
+
+
+MUSKHAM, NORTH (October 1911).--The fifteenth-century rood-screen,
+having become dilapidated, was extensively restored, in the first
+decade of the twentieth century, by Bowman, of Stamford. It measures
+12 ft. 7 in. long and comprises six bays, centring from 2 ft. 1 in.
+to 2 ft. 1½ in., the two midmost bays forming the entrance. The
+wainscot, exclusive of the modern ground-cill, stands 3 ft. 11 in.
+high, with tracery in the head of the panels to the depth of 9 in.,
+two traceries only of the original surviving on the north side. Of the
+skirting ornament, which is 8½ in. high, some parts on the north side
+are authentic. The entrance has a clear opening of 3 ft. 9½ in., and
+there are no gates. The cord-line is 3 ft. 4 in. above the middle rail,
+and the tracery in the head of the fenestration is 31 in. deep. That
+on the west face is of two orders, the first consisting of crocketed
+ogees implanted. The tracery is less finished on the east face, solid
+carved spandrels above it showing that the vaulting projected only
+westward. The level of the springing of the groined vaults is 17 in.
+above the cord-line. The boutel-caps for the springing of the ribs
+are clustered groups of three each, with architectural carving. The
+vaulting and the platform at the top of the screen are entirely new.
+As recently as 1902--before the “restoration,” that is--the screen,
+robbed of its original vaulting, stood surmounted by a cornice of
+seventeenth-century work. The rood-loft was approached from the north;
+the bottom entrance being situated in the north aisle in the east
+abutment of the nave’s north arcade. It is secured by an ancient oak
+door, fitted with two iron strap-hinges, and swinging back against
+the east wall of the aisle. The threshold of the stair is 4 ft. 7 in.
+above the nave floor, and the wooden door frame is rectangular (20½ in.
+wide by 4 ft. 6 in. high), the southward underside of the lintel being
+hollowed out to provide for the rise of the stair in the hollow of the
+arcade-wall, which is 35 in. thick. Two original stone steps remain,
+rising 20 in. altogether. The rest of the steps are entirely modern,
+affording an ascent less steep than the original one was. A series
+of eight oblong chases at regular intervals, under the western order
+of the chancel-arch, shows where the vertical quarters of a boarded
+tympanum were fixed; and a pair of chases, somewhat further toward the
+east, mark the site of an horizontal timber, which held the tympanum
+in place. A vertical chase through the east part of the label of the
+easternmost arch of the south arcade marks where the front of the
+rood-loft parapet projected in the nave. Another pair of chases, 8 in.
+high, in the eastward order of the chancel-arch, shows the position of
+the parapet of the rood-loft toward the chancel, and that the top of it
+reached to a height of 16 ft. 5 in. above the present nave floor level.
+Two runs of panelling from the fronts of pews, or chancel-stall desks,
+are now set up in the south aisle in a deceptive fashion that suggests
+the wainscot of a parclose screen cut down, which even a cursory
+examination is enough to prove that they never could have been.
+
+
+MUSKHAM, SOUTH.--If the screen was originally elaborate, it had at any
+rate lost its ornament by 1859, in which year the upper part, then a
+plain rectangular frame of oak, was levelled down to the middle rail.
+The wainscot was spared for the time, but, being mistaken for deal,
+it was ultimately removed at the “restoration,” 1873–82. The pieces
+are said to have been treasured religiously by the old clerk, John
+Fletcher; but the son who succeeded him being dead, and the home broken
+up, all traces of the ancient screenwork have disappeared. (Information
+kindly supplied by Miss M. B. Hull, of North Muskham.) Fortunately,
+however, the building itself affords some indications of the ancient
+arrangements. In the eastward order of the chancel-arch a square patch
+of new stone--on the north side 10 in. high, and at a level of 13 in.
+above the capital; on the south side 12 in. high and 10 in. above the
+capital--probably marks the level of the screen lintel. The soffit of
+the arch has been much scraped, but there are distinct traces of a
+groove under the north sweep for fitting in the boarding of a tympanum;
+and toward the west, just under the apex of the arch, are two sunk
+spaces, where the top of a vertical timber was made to fit into the
+stone. (October 1911.)
+
+
+NEWARK.--Reference in a will in 1482 shows that at that date there
+existed an altar of St. Crux in the church. The indenture, dated 21st
+February 1531–32, of Thomas Magnus for the founding of a free Grammar
+school and free Song school, ordained that the song-schoolmaster and
+six children should nightly recite, after the antiphon of our Lady,
+“another antempne of Jhesus ... afore the rode in the bodye of the
+churche (_i.e._ in the nave); ... knelyng in the manner and forme as
+... hath and ys usyd before the Roode of the north dore in ... Seynt
+Paule in London and in the college of Wyndesore (St. George’s Chapel),
+with lyke prostracions and devout maner.”
+
+The general opinion is that, though the character of the work looks
+ten or fifteen years earlier, the construction of the rood-screen and
+loft was begun in 1492 and finished in 1508. This opinion rests on the
+fact that there is preserved, among the papers of the Corporation, an
+acquittance of the latter date, by which the churchwardens and others
+acknowledge that a carver, Thomas Drawswerd, of York, has thoroughly
+carried out his undertaking to make the “reredose.”
+
+The Rev. J. F. Dimock, in 1855, appears to have been the first to
+interpret the term “reredose” in this case to mean the rood-loft, and
+subsequent writers on the subject have taken the identification for
+granted, notwithstanding the word “rood-loft” was in familiar use at
+the date in question, and there is no reason why it should not have
+been employed in the acquittance, if it was really meant. In that
+event, two bequests in 1509, viz., that of Thomas Pygg, who left 40s.
+“to gild the picture of the reredos,” and that of Elizabeth Jenyn, who
+left £3 for “giltyng of the reredos,” would refer to the decoration of
+the screen and loft. Another bequest, that of John Philipote, who in
+the same year, 1509, left a sum of money for “gilding the Rodehouse,”
+though the precise meaning is obscure, does more certainly refer to
+some part of the structure connected with the Rood.
+
+  [Illustration: NEWARK CHURCH: ROOD-SCREEN, FROM THE
+  NORTH-WEST.]
+
+There is no question whatever that the Perpendicular oak rood-screen
+is an exceedingly magnificent example of its kind. It stands, at a
+distance of some 126 ft. from the west door, against the west face of
+the piers of the eastern crossing. It must originally have extended,
+or been designed to extend, across the chancel-aisles as well as the
+chancel-opening. Its ends, however, are cut off abruptly, and furbished
+with modern ornament, to give the truncation a specious appearance
+of completeness. It now measures 36 ft. 6 in. long, and consists of
+nineteen bays centring from 1 ft. 10 in. to 1 ft. 11½ in. The four
+bays of either end are blind, and no doubt served as reredoses for
+altars. Of the eleven bays with open fenestration, the three in the
+middle are occupied by the four-centred doorway into the chancel. The
+wainscot is 4 ft. 10 in. high, with tracery to the depth of 14 in. in
+the head of each of the two panels into which each bay is divided. The
+spandrels of this head-ornament are solid, and sculptured with a great
+variety of forms--angels, masks, birds, beasts, and monsters. The doors
+are complete, and measure 5 ft. 3 in. across when closed, the jambs
+centring at 5 ft. 8 in. The fenestration has a lofty opening of 9 ft.
+2 in. from the middle rail to the crown of its two-centred arches. The
+distance from the middle rail to the cord-line of the fenestration
+tracery is 45 in. So slight, however, is all the lower portion of the
+head-ornament--simply a muntin, rising from the summit of a cusped arc,
+and dividing the opening into two lights--that the virtual cord-line
+is the springing-point, some 30 in. higher, of the arches of the twin
+lights. Above their head the tracery, in two orders, has a first order
+with a crocketed ogee running up to a finial. The vaulting toward the
+east as well as toward the west springs, at a level of 4 ft. 1 in.
+above the cord-line and 12 ft. 8 in. above the foot of the screen, from
+moulded polygonal caps, resting each on a triple cluster of engaged
+shafts. From each cap spring five ribs and two half-ribs, the latter
+along the screen’s axial line, where each pair of half-ribs meets in
+the apex of the arched opening. The extremities of the projecting ribs
+are not embedded in a breast-summer, but, arching forward and downward,
+produce a series of pendent arches along the front of the screen top.
+The interstices of the groining have no cusping, but combine to form,
+in the crown of each bay, as it were the four arms of a cross pointed,
+composed of four hexagons, two of them more elongated than the others.
+These hexagons again are sub-divided by mouldings into four circles or
+vesicas (sixteen to the bay) in which are inserted leaden discs, cast
+and gilt, of fine perforated tracery, in appearance not unlike the rose
+ornament in the sound-hole of a guitar. The screen, exclusive of the
+cresting, stands slightly over 16 ft. in height. The whole is raised
+on a stone base, or stepped platform, 1 ft. above the nave level. The
+screen was repaired in about 1815. In 1853 the paint was cleaned off
+and the screen “restored with an almost incredible amount of labour,”
+writes Cornelius Brown, “the greatest portion of the upper part of
+the carved work being new.” The whole surface is now very dark, but
+slight traces of scarlet here and there show that originally it was
+gay with colour. The rood-stair, lighted by one pierced quatrefoil and
+two plain rectangular loops, is contained in the south-east pier of
+the crossing. It is entered from the east, in the south chancel-aisle,
+through a four-centred doorway 1 ft. 10 in. wide. The steps averaging
+1 ft. 11 in. wide, turn on a cylindrical newel. There are twenty stone
+winders, culminating in two wooden steps which emerge westward through
+a four-centred doorway onto the floor of the loft platform. The organ,
+erected in 1804 in a west gallery and subsequently transferred to the
+rood-loft, was removed on the recommendation of Sir Gilbert Scott
+during the restoration 1853–55. Previously to that time there had been
+a gallery front on the top of the screen, forming a complete loft,
+with Gothic-like arcading and pinnacles, no earlier, probably, than
+the date of the organ-case itself, which was of imitation Gothic. The
+rood-loft parapets are now wanting. The platform, extending across the
+chancel opening, measures 24 ft. 6 in. long at its shortest, between
+the reveals of the chancel-arch, and 8 ft. 10 in. from front to back.
+In the middle, however, over the entrance in the chancel, it projects
+3 ft. 5 in. further eastward, forming, as it were, a porch over the
+chancel gates. This projection is 7 ft. 1½ in. wide from north to
+south, and 12 ft. 3 in. over all from east to west. The two westernmost
+arches of the chancel arcades, north and south, are fenced by parcloses
+of six bays apiece, having an average centring of 2 ft., and forming
+a screen of twelve vaulted bays on each side, behind the stalls. The
+canopies of the latter are, in fact, the overhanging vaults of the
+screens; for, though the stone pier intervenes midway, the timber
+groining is ingeniously contrived, branching outward, to embrace the
+pier in such wise that the breast-summer of the two halves together
+extends uninterruptedly both chancelwards and chancel-aislewards. There
+is no apparent means of access, and perhaps never was, between the
+rood-loft and the top of the side-screens, nor is there anything to
+show whether the latter ever had any parapets. The middle rail of the
+parcloses toward the chancel-aisles is embattled along its upper edge,
+and along its face runs a band of tracery on a wave basis. The panels
+beneath have head-tracery to the depth of 6¾ in. in the easternmost
+sections on each side of the chancel, and 7¾ in. deep in the
+westernmost sections, the latter having a somewhat higher level than
+the others. The pierced metal ornaments in the rood-screen vaulting
+are replaced, in the case of the side-screens, by similar ornaments
+in wood. For the rest the design of the side-screens, though adapted,
+is virtually identical with that of the rood-screen itself, the whole
+series of screens together constituting a coeval and complete scheme.
+(1906, and October 1911.)
+
+
+NORMANTON-ON-TRENT.--The upper doorway of the rood-staircase remains on
+the south side; also the corbels for the support of the rood-loft or
+rood-beam. (E. L. Guilford.)
+
+
+NORWELL.--The entrance to the rood-stair is in the north transept.
+The doorway is 1 ft. 11 in. wide by 6 ft. 1½ in. The stair comprises
+fifteen steps, of which three lead up from without to the newel-stair
+within. The ascent is steep and narrow, and the stair emerges 10 ft. 8½
+in. from the ground by an opening 1 ft. 7 in. wide.
+
+
+NOTTINGHAM.--_Carmelite Friary Church._--“When Henry VIII. visited
+Nottingham, in August 1511 ... he made an offering ... at the Rood of
+the White Friars.” The surrender took place on 5th February 1539.
+
+_St. Catherine’s Chapel_, in the Castle.--The Liberate Roll shows that,
+in the year beginning 28th October 1251, Henry III. ordered the Sheriff
+of Nottingham to cause “the judgment to be dreaded” to be painted “in
+the gable of the ... chapel.” The meaning surely is that the subject of
+the Doom was painted on a tympanum, or wall-space, above, or behind,
+the Rood.
+
+_St. Mary’s._--The report (among the Records of the Borough of
+Nottingham) of an action, 10th February 1517–18, arising out of a
+dispute as to the precise place of payment, shows that one of the
+litigants, Ralph Palmer, had received 5s. “for a reward for painting
+the rood-loft in St. Mary’s.” Alderman Heskey, making his will in 1558,
+directed that his body should be buried in the middle alley of the
+church, “before the picture of Christ Crucified,” _i.e._ in front of
+the Rood.
+
+It is evident that the existing building was planned from the outset
+for a rood-loft, the spacing of the windows allowing blank abutments
+for the presence of the pair of rood-turrets at the junction of the
+outer lateral walls of the nave aisles with the west wall of the
+transept. These octagonal turrets, with their eight-sided conical caps
+above the transept roof, are conspicuous features of the exterior.
+Within the church, at the east end of each outer wall of the nave
+aisles, is a stone doorway now blocked, 2 ft. wide by 5 ft. 9 in.
+high, which formerly gave access to the newel stairs in the turrets.
+The door-frames have deep chamfers, stopped at the foot. The north
+doorway is rectangular with rounded corners, and the south one is
+similar, only its lintel is slightly cambered underneath. There is no
+sign of an upper door on the north, but above the rood-stair entrance
+on the south, at a level of 14 ft. from the floor, the place, walled
+up with yellow stone, is clearly visible, where a doorway, of the same
+width as that below, and apparently two-centred, emerged upon a loft
+across the south aisle. There is nothing to show whether the rood-loft
+gangway continued in one stretch of 67 ft. across nave and aisles at
+the western crossing, or whether, spanning the aisles only at this
+point, it returned eastwards across the transepts, to connect with a
+loft across the structural chancel-arch. Anyhow, the transepts were
+certainly screened off, in pre-Reformation days, to form chapels, that
+of All Saints on the north, and that of the Samon chantry on the south.
+(October 1911.)
+
+_St. Peter’s._--From a bequest in February 1313–14, it is known that
+there was at that date a chapel of the Holy Cross in the building.
+
+Alice Dalby, by will dated 28th March 1459, left 20s. “_fabrice sancte
+crucis in le_ rodeloft ... _et eidem cruci_ ... _duas lapides de
+byrrall_” and 5s. “_in auro facto_.”
+
+The rood-loft across the east end of the nave was approached from the
+south, the stairs being built in the south pier and the staircase
+projecting in a cant in the north-east angle of the south aisle, and
+externally (all its masonry now refaced), in the re-entering angle
+between the chancel and the south aisle of the nave. The entrance to
+the stairs is at the extreme east end of the nave’s south wall, but
+the doorway has been too much renovated to be worth measuring. The
+steps within are about 2 ft. wide, and turn on a cylindrical stone
+newel. The stair opens westwards, under an imperfect four-centred
+arch, onto a small landing in the hollow of the wall, whence another
+step or two led up northwards onto the loft itself, under an horizontal
+lintel. The east end of the latter abuts against the head of the
+four-centred arch just named, and is carried on a corbel sculptured to
+represent the demi-figure of a man, crowned and bearded. The awkward
+combination of these two doorways, in the south-east corner of the
+nave, is most peculiar. Indeed it is clear that the uppermost doorway
+cannot be in its original state, because its west side and jamb are
+composed of a large stone slab set on end, the incised crosses on the
+surface of which unmistakably testify to its having been a consecrated
+altar-stone. As such it could not have been placed in its present
+position until after the Reformation. (October 1911.)
+
+
+NUTHALL.--Under the west side of the chancel-arch stands an oak screen
+of five rectangular compartments, _i.e._ two narrower ones on either
+hand of a wider compartment for the entrance. The ornament in the head
+of the latter is modern work of the year 1884. The screen is 13 ft.
+long by 8 ft. 4 in. high. The tracery in the fenestration-heads is
+of two orders, the first consisting of crocketed ogee ornament. This
+chancel-screen has obviously been reconstructed. The fact is that both
+this and another screen (which occupies the arch at the east end of
+the nave’s north aisle, and embodies some portions of original work),
+were made up from a parclose that surrounded the Temple pew at the
+east end of the north aisle and was taken down in 1884 “cleaned from
+paint, restored and re-erected” in the present situations. Rev. Dr.
+Cox, however, is of opinion that the Temple parclose itself had, at
+some time after the Reformation, been constructed out of the ancient
+rood-screen.
+
+
+ORDSALL.--At the west end of the church stands a good screen, of
+late-fifteenth century workmanship, retaining its coving complete and
+comprising three bays on either hand of the entrance. Rev. Dr. Cox, on
+the internal evidence of the screen itself, is disposed to discredit
+the common tradition that it is a domestic work, brought hither from
+Hayton Castle.
+
+
+SCARLE, SOUTH.--The rood-screen, dating apparently from the time
+of Henry VI., was removed in 1871, but has since been repaired and
+refitted. It now stands at the chancel opening, and measures 12 ft.
+5 in. long by 9 ft. 7 in. high. It comprises three bays of depressed
+two-centred arches, of which the middle one, perceptibly narrower than
+the others, forms the doorway, with a clear opening of 3 ft. 5 in. The
+wainscot is 3 ft. 7 in. high, each bay of it divided into two panels,
+corresponding to the two main lights of the fenestration, and having
+head-tracery which reproduces on a smaller scale and of one order only
+the fenestration tracery. The latter is of bold character, and in
+two orders, the first of which consists of crocketed ogee ornament.
+The finials have been displaced and incorrectly fixed just above the
+springers of the perished vaulting. The ribs of the latter sprang from
+polygonal moulded and embattled caps.
+
+
+SHELFORD.--By the time that Stretton wrote, in 1818, the screen had
+already “been taken down, except a part within the arch (? a tympanum)
+bearing the King’s Arms of the time of George I.” Matthew Henry Barker,
+author of _Walks Round Nottingham_, in 1835 wrote:--“On the skreen,
+dividing the body of the church from the chancel, is the Royal Arms
+flamingly painted, and the artist has left his name upon his work,
+‘Charles Blunt, 1717.’ There are also the names of the churchwardens
+for that year.” The corbels noted by J. T. Godfrey in May 1885,
+projecting “from the walls of the nave, just above the capitals of the
+piers of the chancel-arch,” were, without doubt, designed to carry the
+rood-loft or rood-beam.
+
+
+SIBTHORPE.--On 3rd December 1336 the founder of the Collegiate
+establishment gave ample endowments for various religious purposes,
+including the providing of a lamp to burn, on stated occasions, before
+the rood.
+
+
+SOUTHWELL.--The Minster, being a secular canons’ church, had not a
+rood-screen in addition to the pulpitum, but the latter served both
+purposes. There appears to be no evidence to show where the Norman
+pulpitum stood; but that the present site, the eastern crossing,
+was the position of the pulpitum at least from the beginning of the
+thirteenth century, is proved by the existence of an early English
+doorway giving access from the north-west part of the south quire-aisle
+to the staircase leading to the top of the loft. This doorway, 2 ft. 6½
+in. wide, opens onto the foot of the stairs at a level of about 5 ft. 6
+in. from the floor, and is the only relic of the earlier pulpitum. That
+which still happily survives is a magnificent specimen of stonework
+dating from the early years of Edward III., while the eastward front of
+it, the latest portion, was finished about the middle of the fourteenth
+century. The pulpitum extends over the entire area between the eastern
+crossing piers, its back part projecting considerably beyond the
+eastern limit of the said piers. The total breadth covered from east
+to west is 17 ft. 6 in. On plan the pulpitum at the east or back part
+consists of two parallel walls 2 ft. 7 in. apart, while the west front
+is an open arcade of three arches between two blind arches. The eastern
+elevation is 21 ft. 1 in. high by 32 ft. 3 in. long, the western 21
+ft. 6 in. high by 28 ft. 7 in. long. In the westward arcade the middle
+arch, narrower than the others, has a clear opening of 4 ft. 10 in. and
+centres at 6 ft. 7½ in. The northern arch is about half an inch wider
+than the southern, but they have approximately a clear opening of 5 ft.
+2½ in. each and centre at 7 ft. each. The arches spring at a level of
+9 ft. 11 in., the height from the springing to the apex of the opening
+being 4 ft. 11 in. The arches are two-centred and boldly cusped, the
+cusps having a slight ogee curve at the crown of the foliations.
+The space under the pulpitum is 21 ft. 9½ in. long from north to south
+(or 20 ft. 7½ in. on the ground), and is 8 ft. 3 in. in the clear
+from east to west between the keelmoulds of the reveals. Each end
+wall within is beautifully panelled with blind tracery of flamboyant
+character, having three lights, over a shallow recess, gabled above
+and cusped beneath, as though for a tomb such as Bishop Gower’s,
+which occupies a somewhat analogous situation under the pulpitum at
+St. David’s Cathedral. The roof overhead is vaulted in three bays,
+ranging from north to south, with open vaulting-ribs, under a flat
+ceiling, with skeleton trefoils in their spandrels. (Skeleton vaulting
+again occurs, for instance, under the fourteenth-century pulpita of
+Lincoln and St. David’s cathedrals.) Of the two parallel walls at the
+back part of Southwell pulpitum, the western one should perhaps be
+more accurately described as a three-arch arcade, of which the north
+and south arches are walled up to the height of 7 ft. 8 in. from the
+ground. At the foot of each of these walls, as against a reredos, just
+as in the similarly planned pulpitum at Chichester, it is probable
+that an altar stood, until the Reformation. The spaces above the walls
+to the apex of the arches were once protected, as numerous holes in
+their stone framework testify, by metal grates, or by stanchions and
+saddle-bars. The central archway affords the opening, 4 ft. 10 in.
+wide, of the passage into the quire. On either hand of this passage,
+between the two parallel walls, a flight of steps leads up to the top
+of the pulpitum. According to a writer in the _Building News_, 28th
+February 1887, neither of these flights of steps had been discovered
+and opened out until some few years previously to that date. Until then
+the only means in use to reach the top had been the original stair
+which ascends from the south quire aisle. In either staircase opening
+from the central passage hangs a door, set back 2 ft. 4 in. from the
+passage, so as to swing forwards, and yet clear of, the latter. The
+western parapet to the pulpitum is embattled above a band of pierced
+tracery on a wave basis, the height of the parapet from the loft floor
+level to the summit of the battlements being 4 ft. 5 in. The east
+doorway from under the pulpitum into the quire has a clear opening of
+4 ft. 10½ in., and is flanked on either hand by three canopied stalls
+(the return-stalls of the quire) centring at 3 ft. 1½ in., all of stone
+and integral structurally with the pulpitum itself--a most unusual, if
+not indeed unique, arrangement. The springing of the canopies is at a
+height of 8 ft. 9½ in. above the quire floor level. Above the stalls is
+an upper tier of stone-tracery, blind except in the case of the panels
+over the middle stall on each side. This pair of panels is pierced to
+light the staircases within. Beyond the stalls each extremity of the
+east façade of the pulpitum has a blind panel from top to bottom as
+in the west front. The east front is of extraordinary delicacy and
+elaboration, being without doubt, as above stated, later in date than
+the other. It must, however, be acknowledged that much of the ornament
+was renovated in composition, at the beginning of the nineteenth
+century, by Berndsconi, an Italian, the same who “restored” the carved
+work of York Minster pulpitum. As for the example at Southwell, Canon
+J. F. Dimock, in 1853, observed that the feature of “double foliations
+... does not occur in any original portion” of the pulpitum. Mr. H. H.
+Statham considers it peculiar as “a pronounced example of the German”
+device of interpenetrating mouldings. The mural “diaper-work on the
+inner side of the screen,” he continues, is remarkable because, in the
+“minute design dividing the wall-surface ... into small squares ...
+every square is differently treated--a by no means usual refinement.”
+
+  [Illustration: SOUTHWELL MINSTER: PULPITUM, FROM THE
+  WEST.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+
+   _Photo: Mr. Arthur Lineker._
+
+  SOUTHWELL MINSTER: PULPITUM, FROM THE EAST.]
+
+In the early part of the nineteenth century, plaster screens, the
+work of Berndsconi, embodying portions of the originals, were erected
+between the quire and its aisles. This plaster-work was removed on the
+recommendation, in 1875, of Mr. Ewan Christian, endorsed by Mr. G. E.
+Street, that “new screens of oak on the model of those which formerly
+existed,” should be substituted. “Fragments were found still remaining
+_in situ_; besides many loose pieces, which had been stored in the
+roof of the chapter house,” and upon these the new screens were based.
+They were finished by 1892, the carvers being Messrs. Cornish and
+Gaymer, of North Walsham. If only the fragments of old work had been
+preserved and incorporated, instead of being merely copied, in the new
+work, the latter, as enshrining them, might have had some justification
+for its existence. As it stands, however, it is absolutely commonplace
+and devoid of interest. (October 1911.)
+
+
+STAUNTON.--Across the chancel-arch is a screen which Rev. Dr. Cox
+esteems one of the most interesting in the county, because it bears
+both the date of execution and the donor’s name. The inscription,
+sculptured in relief in black-letter along the middle-rail,
+reads:--“(Pray) for the saule of Mayster Simon Yates, bachelor in Law,
+living in Newark, Parson of this Church and of Beckingham, and official
+of the Archdeaconry, (who) caused this Rood lofte and the Tabernacle of
+our Lady to be made in the yere of our Lord MCCCCCXV, on whose saul God
+have mercie.” The screen is fairly perfect, except that it has lost its
+loft. “The Rector, the Rev. F. J. Ross, has himself taken the trouble
+to remove the many coats of paint with which it was covered.”
+
+
+STRELLEY (1907).--The oak rood-screen, a remarkably rich and handsome
+specimen of Perpendicular (about 1490), and bearing a striking
+resemblance to the parclose in the south transept at Chesterfield,
+stands against the west side of the chancel-arch. It measures 16 ft.
+4 in. long by 14 ft. 10 in. high over all on the west. It comprises
+five bays vaulted towards the nave, the entrance having a clear opening
+of 2 ft. 10¼ in., with doors complete, occupying the central bay.
+The centring of the bays varies from 3 ft. 2½ in. to 3 ft. 4 in. The
+wainscot stands 5 ft. ¼ in. high, this measure including a stone
+plinth 7¾ in. high. The middle rail is ornamented along the front
+with a band of tracery--a wave between quatrefoils. Each compartment
+is divided into four panels corresponding to the lights of the
+fenestration. The panels have cinquefoil-cusped ornament in the head
+and a band of quatrefoils--two apiece to the panel--along the skirting.
+The fenestration is four-centred arched, lofty, and divided by three
+muntins (one central between two narrower muntins) in each bay into
+four narrow lights, the opening of which varies from 5 in. to 5½ in.
+only. The fenestration has very rich tracery with carved crockets and
+finials to the depth of 2 ft. 5 in. in the head. This ornament, in
+typical Midland fashion, is plain at the back, or east side. Two feet
+below the cord-line of the head-tracery the screen (all but the middle
+bay with the doors) is crossed by a transom of which the top edge (once
+enriched with cresting, now perished) is 3 ft. 4½ in. above the middle
+rail. In each light the under side of this transom has cinquefoil
+cusped ornament, the cord-line of which is on a level with that of the
+head-tracery in the screen doors. The doorway has a moulded, horizontal
+lintel, crested along the top, above a four-centred arch, cusped and
+feathered underneath, with solid carved spandrels, enclosing each a
+Tudor rose. The boutel-shafts are clustered and have polygonal moulded
+bases and caps. The springing level of the vaulting is some 11 ft.
+6 in. from the bottom, and about 13 in. above the cord-line of the
+fenestration tracery. On the west front the tierceron vaulting ribs,
+with tracery between, are perfect but the solid panels behind the
+tracery have unfortunately been removed, a mistake which gives the
+vaulting a false and unsubstantial appearance. The breast-summer has a
+trail of vine ornament. Seven massive joists, running east and west,
+carried the rood-loft floor, now removed. The eastward projection,
+protruding under the chancel-arch into the chancel, is some 9 or 10 in.
+in excess of that of the vaulting on the west, the total width over all
+from east to west at the top being 6 ft. 8 in. The extremities of the
+breast-summer in the nave are cut off abruptly, a fact which seems
+to indicate that the rood-loft extended continuously, 35 ft. 6 in.
+long, across the whole interior, aisles as well as nave.
+
+  [Illustration: STRELLE CHURCH: ROOD-SCREEN]
+
+
+STURTON-LE-STEEPLE.--The oak rood-screen, a fine example of
+fifteenth-century work, perished in a grievously destructive fire in
+1901.
+
+
+SUTTON-ON-TRENT (28th October 1911).--In the arch between the south
+aisle of the nave and the south, or Mering chapel, stand a small, but
+handsome, oak screen and loft, dating between about 1505 and 1520. The
+screen, 7 ft. 6 in. long by 7 ft. 3 in. high, comprises a door at the
+north end and three rectangular compartments, centring at 1 ft. 1½ in.
+on the south. The wainscot stands 4 ft. 4 in. high, with rich tracery
+ornaments to the depth of 10 in. in its panel-heads. There is a trail
+along the middle rail. The fenestration head-tracery is 11 in. deep.
+The doorway has an opening 6 ft. 3 in. high by 2 ft. 9 in., under a
+depressed arch formed by hollowing the under part of the lintel, which
+is carved along the front, with a shield of the Mering arms (argent on
+a chevron sable three escallops or) in the middle. The door is complete
+and is divided into three panels centring from 9½ in. to 10½ in., the
+openings above its middle rail being without tracery in the head. The
+solid panel-work below rises to the same level as the wainscot, but the
+head-tracery, 9½ in. to 10 in. deep, in its panels is of a different
+design from the corresponding ornaments in the wainscot itself. The
+middle rail of the door has a trail like the wainscot.
+
+The screen, being of rectangular construction, is of course unvaulted;
+but the underneath part, or soffit, of the westward overhanging loft
+is divided by mouldings into twelve rectangular panels ranging in a
+double row of six from north to south. The loft overhangs eastwards
+also, but the soffit under the hinder part is not divided into panels.
+Both eastern and western parapets measure 3 ft. 2 in. high within
+the loft from the platform to the hand-rail top, the distance from
+front to back between eastern and western hand-rails being 7 ft. 4
+in. The western parapet extends 12 ft. 10 in. long from side to side
+of the south aisle, and is fixed against the latter’s east wall, the
+breast-summer being supported at either end, at a level of 7 ft. 8 in.
+from the ground, on a massive stone corbel fixed in the said wall. The
+breast-summer has the remains of an inverted brattishing along the
+under edge, and a carved and pierced trail along its front. The parapet
+comprises eleven plain panels centring from 1 ft. 2 in. to 1 ft. 3 in.
+They are each 2 ft. 6 in. high, their plane being some 9 in. back from
+the utmost projection of the breast-summer and hand-rail. The stiles,
+almost as wide as the panels, are moulded along either edge and have
+each a strip of tracery up the middle between a pair of narrow and very
+shapely buttresses. The tops of the buttresses are cut away to enable a
+trail, much like that on the breast-summer, to be inserted immediately
+below the hand-rail. Above the latter, again, a long band of tracery
+(consisting of a series of rosette-centred quatrefoils within circles),
+set obliquely at an angle of 45, is fixed--possibly not its original
+position. The height over all from the top to the floor is 11 ft. 5
+in. The east front of the loft, 12 ft. 10 in. long by 3 ft. 10 in.
+high, and 7 ft. 7 in. above the floor, was constructed as follows:--Two
+tiers of panels (uniformly semicircular-headed, with solid carved
+spandrels) ranging from end to end; four panels on the north, of which
+the northernmost centres at 1 ft. 9 in., the three others at 1 ft. 2
+in.; next, a projecting bay, and to south of it three panels centring
+at 1 ft. 1½ in. There is an old bench for seats attached inside the
+loft to this south-east section. The bay, projecting some 10 in. in
+advance of the breast-summer, comprises three cants, the side cants 1
+ft. 1½ in. wide at the bottom and diminishing to a point at the top,
+the central cant, toward the east, 2 ft. ½ in. wide at the bottom and
+widening upward to 3 ft. across at the level of the hand-rail; and
+having a singular feature of an extra row of three more panels above
+it, the three measuring 2 ft. 6¼ in. from north to south by 1 ft. 6½
+in. high. It will be realised that on this plan the middle cant would
+perceptibly tilt back westwards at the top; a defect satisfactorily
+provided against by the fact that the top of the parapet leans forward
+5 in. (reckoned inside the loft) out of the perpendicular.
+
+Such the Mering loft continued to be until shortly before Easter 1911,
+when, in respect of its most remarkable feature, it was wantonly
+mutilated. The projecting bay was then sawn off flush with the straight
+stretch of parapet on either hand of it, leaving an unsightly,
+gaping void--and all for what? Merely for the caprice of planting a
+huge, modern organ in the Mering chapel 10 in. more to the west than
+would have been possible had the loft been preserved intact! That is
+literally the sole advantage gained by sacrificing a monument of four
+hundred years’ standing, a monument not only unique of its kind in
+the county of Nottinghamshire, but exceedingly rare in any part of
+England whatever. Whether authorised by a faculty or not, in any event
+the proceeding reflects the utmost discredit on everybody concerned.
+When I visited the church, six or seven months afterwards, I found the
+dismembered parts of the bay left, like lumber, in the loft itself--or
+rather some of the parts, for a portion of the embattled ornament
+along the base of the bay, in continuation with the breast-summer
+battlements, was already missing. What safeguard is there to hinder the
+rest from disappearing in the same way?
+
+For access to the rood-loft a polygonal turret staircase, cylindrical
+within, the steps turning on a newel, was built in the re-entering
+angle between the chancel and the nave’s south aisle. Subsequently,
+in the sixteenth century, the Mering chapel was erected, but the
+rood-turret was still retained and thus became internal. The entrance,
+at the north-west of the chapel, is a four-centred doorway 1 ft. 8
+in. wide by 5 ft. 4 in. The stair, the stone steps of which are much
+worn, emerges upon the south loft platform at a height of 8 ft. 2 in.
+from the chapel floor below. Two feet higher a rectangular passage,
+5 ft. high by 2 ft. 2½ in. wide, under a timber horizontal lintel,
+led through the hollow of the wall northwards onto the south end of
+the rood-loft. The opening is now blocked, but its cill, about 31 in.
+long, is still visible near the west end of the south wall of the
+chancel; showing exactly where the passage issued at a level of 11
+ft. 6 in. from the ground. No trace of the rood-loft itself remains,
+except that in the east sweep of the easternmost arch of the nave’s
+south arcade some of the stonework has been hacked away, presumably for
+the accommodation of the rood-loft’s western parapet. A two-centred,
+shallow recess in the north spandrel of the chancel arch has been a
+niche, accessible from the rood-loft, but must not be confounded with
+the door admitting to the latter from the rood-stair.
+
+Rev. H. Hudson, Rector of Holy Trinity, Old Trafford, surmises that
+the object referred to in the Thoroton Society’s _Proceedings_,
+1902, as “the curious frontage of what may have been a small gallery
+over the belfry, and an old clock-face” is more likely to have been
+the mediæval celure, or canopy of honour over the great rood. The
+object in question, 11 ft. long by 4 ft. 5½ in., consists of a panel,
+3 ft. 6 in. high by 3 ft. wide, between two openings, each 3 ft. 2
+in. wide. Mr. Hudson says that the most striking points about it are
+these:--(1) The framework of the panels shows traces of red and green
+in the hollow of the mouldings, whilst all over, in spite of a later
+disguise of paint and varnish, there can be detected remains of ancient
+colouring in black and white, beside the red and green; (2) a shallow
+battlement along the top rail; and (3) a series of six mortice-holes,
+all cut aslant, along the bottom rail, as though the panelling had once
+been fixed anglewise to form a canopy over the rood, in which case the
+so-called “clock-face” would be a nimbus of rays, and the aperture in
+the middle, mistaken for the place of the spindle of the clock hand,
+the hole for suspending the Lenten rood-veil or possibly the light
+before the rood.
+
+
+WILFORD.--A rood-stair turret, cylindrical on plan, occupies the
+re-entering angle between the chancel and the north aisle. It is
+surmounted by a plain horizontal parapet, level with those of the nave
+and chancel.
+
+
+WILLOUGHBY-ON-THE-WOLDS.--Part of the old oak screen remained in 1815
+when Stretton wrote. It is now no more, but Rev. A. M. Y. Bayley, in
+1902, stated his opinion that it was not until the “restoration” of the
+chancel in 1891 that all traces of screenwork disappeared.
+
+
+WINKBURN.--There is no structural chancel-arch, but marking the
+division is an open quasi-screen of four lofty posts (seventeenth, or
+possibly late-sixteenth century work). The pedimental space above, up
+to the roof, is filled with a plaster tympanum, against which is a
+painted representation of the Royal Arms, dated 1764.
+
+
+WORKSOP (anciently Radford).--Priory of Austin Canons, surrendered 31st
+October 1538, the nave becoming thenceforward exclusively parochial.
+The churchwardens’ accounts furnish an interesting record of the
+various changes effected in the screening arrangements. In the year
+1546–47 occurred payments to one Thomas Rose for “makyng hols for the
+parrtycyon at 5d. the day” for two days and a half; to one Elot for
+three days and a half “at makyng vp of the partycyon at the same rate,”
+and to one William Doncaster “at syche lyck warke.” The “parclose of
+Jesus quere with the lawft (loft) wher they sange” were sold for 3s.
+in the same year. During the reign of Edward VI. two carvers were
+employed in setting up the new parclose and also in “settyng vp the old
+parcloses and makyng a lytell voute” (vault); and a painter was paid
+8d. for washing (_i.e._ whitewashing) the rood-loft. The rood-images
+were first ill-treated by darkening their faces, and subsequently
+taken down altogether. They were replaced under Queen Mary, and again
+removed after Elizabeth had come to the throne (1559–60). In the
+same year the rood-loft was white-washed once more; it was taken down
+in 1564. In 1570, however, further items relating to the same were
+entered in the accounts:--Workmen at the taking down of the rood-loft
+received 2d.; the painter 8d. “for payntyng the rode-lofte before yt
+was takyn downe.” The vicar purchased the timber of the loft for 6s.
+8d. A subsequent expenditure of 3s. 2d. “for makyng of a creste for the
+roode-lofte” in 1571 refers to the brattishing erected, according to
+royal mandate, along the top of the screen in place of the demolished
+rood-loft. And yet, still later, in 1637 a contractor covenanted to
+take down part of the loft.
+
+From the above extracts two things are clear: firstly, that the
+rood-loft was of timber (the screen beneath it being most likely of
+the same material); and secondly, that after the dissolution there
+occurred a somewhat extensive rearrangement of the screens. Precisely
+what this rearrangement involved is far from clear. An examination of
+the exterior of the existing east end shows that the respond of the
+western crossing arch which projects inward 5 in. on the north and
+south alike, is cut away abruptly underneath at a height of some 8
+ft. from the ground, affording a clear opening of 21 ft. across. That
+this is no wanton mutilation, but the original scheme (1103–1170), is
+proved by the fact that the attached angle-shaft is not carried down
+to be cut through with the respond itself, but that it finishes, just
+above the truncation, with a regular base, moulded and resting upon
+the square quoin. The significance of this detail is that the ritual
+quire, bounded by the pulpitum at the west, extended westwards at least
+as far as the western crossing. It probably included the whole of the
+first bay below the crossing, since the first arch of the arcade below
+the crossing remained walled until the “restoration,” in 1846. What
+appears to have happened, consequent upon the dissolution, is that the
+canons’ pulpitum was removed bodily, and the whole of the three bays
+below the crossing turned into the parochial chancel, the rood-screen
+remaining where it had always stood, at the third pair of piers below
+the crossing, but being adapted--as a solid stone screen could not,
+but as this, a timber screen, could be--for the purposes of the parish
+chancel screen. Moreover, below the crossing the second and third
+arches of the nave arcades were then fitted with wooden parcloses to
+form side enclosures for the chancel. Until the “restoration” of 1846 a
+considerable part of these screens survived, at any rate, on the north
+side. An upright timber remained against the first pier of the north
+arcade below the crossing; while the next arch, the third below the
+crossing, was occupied by a parclose then standing complete, according
+to Rev. E. Trollope. Previously to the “restoration” there were evident
+traces of the former presence of the rood-screen, “portions of the
+capitals of the third pair of pillars having been cut away to admit of
+its erection.” Screens crossed the aisles in line with the rood-screen,
+the screen across the north aisle remaining complete until the
+“restoration” of 1846. Richard Nicholson, the architect responsible,
+writing in 1850, admits that, in the process of removing the galleries,
+pews, and other eighteenth-century incumbrances from the nave, “a few
+specimens of ancient oak ... screens were found in various parts of
+the church, but little that was worth preserving, except as objects of
+curiosity.” Thus everything was ruthlessly sacrificed, so that when
+the sweeping “restoration” was finished, it not only left the building
+denuded of its ancient fittings, but even obliterated such marks as
+had until that time survived to testify to the former existence of the
+fittings. A step, intersecting the nave floor, just to west of the
+third bay below the crossing, now alone remains to indicate the site of
+the rood-screen. (October 1911.)
+
+
+WYSALL (October 1911).--There is no chancel-arch, but across the
+chancel-opening stands an oak rood-screen dating from about 1440.
+Rectangular in construction, it comprises a wide compartment, opening
+3 ft. 11 in., fitted with gates, for the entrance, between two
+compartments on either hand, centring from 2 ft. 6 in. to 2 ft. 6½ in.
+and divided into two lights apiece. The middle rail is exceptionally
+massive, being 9 in. high; and its moulding is reproduced at the same
+level in the shape of returns to the standards, which appear to have
+had similarly moulded bases, only those, however, of the doorway jambs
+remaining. The standards are 6 in. wide by 7½ in. thick from front
+to back. The wainscot, about 3 ft. 7 in. high, consists of plain
+panels, without tracery, but the two southernmost ones are pierced
+with elevation-squints. The panel immediately south of the doorway
+has, near the south upper corner, a group of four chamfered round
+holes, about ⅞ in. in diameter, arranged lozengewise. The southernmost
+panel contains several holes, at different levels. On the left is a
+single round hole, chamfered; next is a chamfered aperture, about 2½
+in. high, of two overlapping circles, the upper one larger than the
+lower; next, just under the rail, is a hole, measuring about 1½ in.
+either way, rectangular at the bottom and semi-circular at the top;
+and lastly, at the right-hand upper corner, is a group of three round
+holes, two and one. The fenestration openings are 5 ft. 6½ in. high,
+with Perpendicular tracery in the head to the depth of 2 ft. 3½ in. The
+four-centred arch of the doorway springs 2 or 3 in. lower. The tracery,
+plain and flat at the back, once consisted of two orders on its western
+face. The first order, of trefoil-headed ogees, has perished from the
+side openings, but part of it survives in the door-head in the shape
+of a superimposed moulding to the four-centred arch, crocketed along
+its upper edge. The lintel has a deep cavetto, filled at intervals by
+seven square Gothic pateras, which seem all except one to be modern.
+The screen was “restored” in 1873. The ground-cill has been wrongly
+removed and the gates consequently rehung some 2 or 3 in. too high,
+thus breaking the level of the middle-rail line and spoiling the
+logical coherence of the design. The screen now stands 9 ft. 11 in.
+high, and though the lintel extends 15 ft. 8 in. long from wall to
+wall, the body of the screen is about 1 ft. too short for its place. In
+the north wall of the nave, at a distance of 7 ft. 9 in. from where the
+rood-screen now stands, is a chase (10 in. high by 4 in. wide) which
+may have held the support of the rood-loft front at its north end. In
+that case the opposite or south-west corner of the loft would have been
+carried on a post from the ground. A boarded tympanum existed “till
+quite lately”--so it was said in 1902. A ring in the ridge-piece of the
+nave roof, about 3 ft. from the east end of the nave, probably served
+for suspending the light before the Great Rood.
+
+  [Illustration:
+
+   _Photo: Mr. Aymer Vallance._
+
+  WYSALL CHURCH: ROOD-SCREEN.]
+
+
+   NOTE.--I regret that want of time and space compels me
+   to omit all notice of some important screenwork, _e.g._ at
+   Barton in Fabis and Tuxford.
+
+   In conclusion, I have to thank the Thoroton Society and
+   Miss Frere for their courteous permission to reproduce
+   the latter’s drawing of the south door of the pulpitum at
+   Southwell (permission of which, however, I have not been able
+   to take advantage); Mr. A. Lineker for kindly going to Blyth
+   to photograph one of the screens there expressly for this
+   work, and for permission to reproduce the same and also his
+   beautiful photograph of the east elevation of the pulpitum at
+   Southwell; to Messrs. Saunders & Saunders, architects, for
+   permission to reproduce their drawing of Holme church screens;
+   to Mr. Harry Gill and Mr. E. L. Guilford for photographs and
+   valuable notes, and the Rev. Dr. Cox, F.S.A., Rev. H. Hudson,
+   and Mr. T. M. Blagg, F.S.A., for much useful information; and
+   lastly, the clergy, who have kindly permitted me to take notes,
+   measurements, and photographs in a number of churches throughout
+   the county.
+
+                                                    AYMER VALLANCE.
+
+
+
+
+                   THE CIVIL WAR IN NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
+
+                     BY EVERARD L. GUILFORD, M.A.
+
+
+The Civil War has so unique a character that its study gives us a far
+deeper insight into the thoughts and feelings of the average Englishman
+than we should gain by turning our attention to any other outstanding
+episode in the history of England.
+
+Though the war was general throughout England, yet it was really
+composed of a number of small local wars, which went on irrespective
+of the general war, except when the tide of this greater drifted the
+armies within the sphere of the less.
+
+To understand clearly the nature of the Civil War in any one county,
+it is necessary to grasp the basic characteristics of the war in
+general, and to gauge the extent of local influences. There is a
+great temptation to compare the Civil War with the French Revolution.
+The ends were similar, in that both resulted in the execution of the
+reigning monarch and the institution of a republic. And yet beyond this
+there is little or no similarity. After studying the French Revolution,
+we feel that the Civil War was merely playing at revolution, and when
+we come to examine the facts more closely, we find that our Civil War
+cannot be called a revolution at all. It is only a rebellion--a great
+rebellion. Here were no downtrodden rebels fighting for the wealth of
+the upper classes, but instead a body of intellectual and prosperous
+men struggling for the retention of what they believed to be their
+religious and political rights. It was not a war of classes. Without
+the religious differences there would have been no war: for without
+the religious fervour there could have been no Parliamentary force of
+sufficient strength to combat the inborn and ingrained reverence for
+the name of King. Elsewhere in Europe, where religion had been the
+mainspring of war, brutality and cruelty had been ever to the front;
+but this was not so in England, for, to quote Mr. G. M. Trevelyan, “two
+minorities were fighting under critical inspection for the favour of
+all England, and when rivals duel they take care not to wound their
+mistress.”
+
+Local jealousy might cause cruelty, but, as a rule, the war was as kind
+and merciful as a war can be. Another point that needs emphasis is,
+that it was a war between two minorities. The majority of Englishmen
+took no active part in the struggle--at any rate at first--though later
+the non-combatants found that they were plundered by both sides alike,
+and consequently joined that which they believed would best protect
+their homes. One class held aloof altogether. The hired labourer had
+no interest either way. If he joined in the war, it was either because
+of local influence or because he was forced into service by the
+ever-present pressgang.
+
+We have no space here to give an outline of the events preceding
+the outbreak of the Civil War; nor indeed would such an account be
+pertinent to the matter in hand.
+
+Charles’s failure in foreign wars was followed by an inevitable desire
+for money, which was not forthcoming by constitutional means. Forced
+loans, free gifts, and ship-money were resorted to, with little
+success. Much bitterness was caused, and soon there appeared a small
+party of men who realised that if the liberty of England was to be
+saved, Charles must be released from the chains thrown round him by
+such counsellors as Strafford. This body of constitutionalists, as
+they considered themselves, included men like the Earl of Essex, Pym,
+Hampden, and others, who played prominent parts during the coming war.
+
+Feelings gradually became more embittered, and when in March 1642
+Parliament tried to deprive Charles of his command of the militia,
+the quarrel became irreconcilable. Charles was in the North, and on
+April 23 arrived at Hull, where a large store of munition was awaiting
+transhipment to London. The Governor of the town, Sir John Hotham,
+refused the King admission to the town, and Charles called on the
+trained bands of the neighbouring counties to help him to force his way
+into this rebellious seaport.
+
+The impracticability of the whole question is well seen when, on June
+2, the Parliament sent their Nineteen Propositions to the King. No
+possible basis of discussion could result from so one-sided a document.
+
+Negotiations of a kind were entered into, and Charles undertook to
+make no further attempt to capture Hull until July 27. Meanwhile he
+visited Doncaster, Newark, Nottingham, and Leicester. At Newark, where
+he reviewed the county trained bands, he showed his trust in this loyal
+borough--a trust which events proved was not misplaced. His speech to
+the citizens of Newark was as follows:--
+
+   “Your honest resolutions and affections to me and your country,
+   for the defence of my person and the laws of the land, have
+   been and are so notable, that they have drawn me hither only
+   to thank you: I go to other places to confirm and undeceive my
+   subjects, but am come hither only to thank and encourage you:
+   you who have made the best judgment of happiness by relying on
+   that foundation which the experience of so many hundred years
+   hath given such proof of--the assurance and security of the law:
+   and assure yourselves when laws shall be altered by any other
+   authority than that by which they were made, your foundations
+   are destroyed, and though it seems at first but to take away my
+   power, it will quickly swallow all your interest. I ask nothing
+   of you (though your demeanour gives me good evidence that you
+   are not willing to deny), but to preserve your own affections to
+   the religion and laws established. I will justify and protect
+   those affections and will live and die with you in that quarrel.”
+
+To obtain a clear understanding of this war, a few statistics are
+necessary. The population of England was about five millions, of whom
+six-sevenths lived south of the Trent, and out of this whole number
+not more than 2½ per cent. took any part in the struggle. London, of
+course, was the largest town, with 500,000 inhabitants, and Bristol and
+Norwich were next, with some 30,000 each, while no town in the north
+had half this number. Roughly stated, it may be said that the strength
+of the King lay in the north and west, and that of the Parliament in
+the south and east. Thus it will be seen that the predominance, as far
+as population (and consequently commercial prosperity) went, was with
+the Parliament. Do not let us imagine for one moment that the Houses
+of Parliament were unanimous in their antagonism to the Royalists.
+Professor Firth calculates that 30 peers supported the Parliament and
+80 the King. Of the Lower House, 300 were Parliamentarians and 175
+Royalists.
+
+All through the struggle, the difficulty on both sides was to find
+recruits for the army. There was no standing army and no regular
+troops, with the exception of a few garrisons. The only forces were
+the trained bands, and, except those in London, who were strongly
+Parliamentarian, these took little or no share in the struggle,
+refusing in most cases to leave the counties in which they had been
+raised. Thus the party with the longest purse was sure to win. At
+first the generosity of his adherents gave Charles a great financial
+predominance, but in the end the steady flow of wealth from the
+commercial centres threw the balance on to the other side.
+
+Parliament tried to raise an army and pay for it by means of weekly
+assessments on the counties. Nottinghamshire was assessed at £187,
+10s., Leicestershire at the same figure, Derbyshire at £175, while
+Lincolnshire had to find £812 and London £10,000. In Nottinghamshire
+the raising of regiments was entrusted to Sir Francis Thornhaugh of
+Fenton, near Sturton le Steeple; Sir Francis Molineux, who declined to
+act; and Mr. Francis Pierrepont, son of the Earl of Kingston.
+
+Before we go any further, it may not be amiss to give a list of the
+gentry who sided with the King, and of those who were Parliamentarians.
+
+_Royalists_: the Earl of Newcastle and his son, the Earl of
+Kingston and his eldest son, Lord Chesterfield and all his family,
+Lord Chaworth, Mr. Golding and other Catholic gentry, Sir John Byron
+and all his brothers, Sir John Savile, Sir Gervase Eyre, Sir John
+Digby, Sir Matthew Palmer, Sir Thomas Williamson, Sir Roger Cooper, Sir
+W. Hickman, Sir Hugh Cartwright, Sir T. Willoughby, Sir Thomas Smith,
+Sir Thomas Blackwell, and members of the following lesser families:
+Markham, Parkyns (Thomas and his son Isham), Tevery, Pearce, Wood,
+Staunton, Saunderson, Moore, Mellish, Butler, Rolleston, Lascelles,
+Neville, Burnell, Holder, Wyld, Leek, Clay, Gilby, Lee, Shipman, North,
+Apsley, Colley, Newport, Holland, Hacker, Holden, Pocklington, and
+Green.
+
+_Parliamentarians_: Mr. Sutton (afterwards Lord Lexington), Sir
+Gervase Clifton (who became a royalist), Mr. William Pierrepont (who
+did not serve in Nottinghamshire), Mr. Thomas Hutchinson and his sons
+John and George, Mr. Henry Ireton, Mr. Edward Whalley, Mr. Gilbert
+Millington, Mr. Francis Hacker, Sir Francis Thornhaugh and his son, Mr.
+Pigott, Mr. Wright, Mr. Widmerpool, Mr. Scrimshire, and Mr. Acklom of
+Wiseton Hall.
+
+From this list it will readily be seen that Nottinghamshire was
+strongly Royalist--so predominantly so, that it is difficult to account
+for the fact that Charles’s summons to his supporters to meet him at
+Nottingham was so scantily answered. This summons was issued from York
+on August 12, and the meeting was to be on August 22, when the standard
+would be raised.
+
+At this point we are met by several problems which require
+consideration. Why did Charles raise the standard of war before he was
+ready to fight? Why did he choose Nottingham for that purpose? And why
+was he so badly supported in this very Royalist county?
+
+At no time during the war did Charles ever really want to fight.
+He was the victim of circumstances: he was blind to facts, and he
+under-estimated his opponents’ strength, as they did his. He thought,
+doubtless, that such a direct challenge as the raising of the standard
+would frighten the Houses into submission. The sacred name of King
+would be a rallying point. Men might criticise, but they would not
+fight against their King. The reverence for the person of the monarch,
+which had reached its height during Elizabeth’s reign, was still great,
+notwithstanding a steady decline, and there is no doubt that many men
+were influenced by this feeling. They agreed with the theory of the
+Parliament’s demands; but when it came to practice, they would fight
+for their King, even against their better judgment. Charles hoped that
+the challenge would prove a lifebelt in the sea of his difficulties; he
+found that it was a millstone. But this does not explain why he raised
+the standard before he had an army. He felt that many places, and
+especially the seaports, were slipping away from him, and he hoped to
+save them by this step. His hope was false, and before long the fleet
+and all the great seaports were in the hands of his enemies. Charles’s
+choice of Nottingham was probably due, in the first place, to his
+belief in the loyalty of the gentry in the county, and, in the second
+place, he had doubtless heard that Nottingham was a strong military
+position, with its Castle standing high above the Trent, which was only
+to be crossed at the Hethbeth Bridge--a position easily defended--and
+possibly also at Wilford. He must have been very disappointed to find
+that the river was very low, and was easily fordable at various points
+close to the town. Of the ruinous condition of the Castle and town
+defences he must have been aware, for he was no stranger to the town.
+The reason for the bad support accorded him is difficult to discover.
+Perhaps most of the gentry were already at Nottingham, but if so, they
+had brought few followers; probably many wished to remain neutral,
+though later events caused them to throw in their lot with Charles.
+
+Much has been written of the raising of the standard, and here, since
+space is limited, we must not go into details. The King arrived at
+Nottingham on August 19, and almost immediately was compelled to set
+out for Coventry, which, he heard, was in danger of capture. His
+journey was futile, and he returned crestfallen on August 22. That
+evening the standard was raised, probably on a slight eminence in a
+field to the north of the Castle, now in the grounds of the General
+Hospital, and after the ceremony it was carried into the Castle, this
+procedure being repeated every day till the 25th.
+
+Charles’s position was not enviable. He had thrown down the formal
+challenge, and was now finding, when too late, that he had not the
+forces at his back to uphold such a challenge. The general feeling of
+most Englishmen at this time was truly expressed by Lord Savile when he
+wrote: “I would not have the King trample on the Parliament, nor the
+Parliament lessen him so much as to make a way for the people to rule
+us all.”
+
+A Parliamentary army of 20,000 men was stationed at Northampton,
+heavily outnumbering the forces assembled at Nottingham. Prince Rupert
+was stationed at Queensborough, between Leicester and Melton Mowbray,
+with his cavalry. Unable to fight, Charles fell back upon negotiations.
+Though he had little hope of any success by this means, he recognised
+that by forcing the Parliament to refuse offers of peace, he would
+bring over to his side many who viewed the prospect of open war with
+horror. The first message left Nottingham on August 25, in the hands
+of the Earls of Southampton and Dorset, Sir John Culpepper, and Sir
+William Uvedale. Even before any answer was received, Charles had
+issued some “Instructions to his Commissioners of Array,” which show
+what he thought would be the result of the deputation. The expected
+happened. The Houses sent an unfavourable answer, and further messages
+were sent, though all this time both sides were preparing for war. At
+first Charles would not avail himself of the services of the Roman
+Catholics, who were only too willing to lend him aid and money. This
+was a wise step, for Catholics were looked upon with considerable
+hatred, and their adhesion would result in the alienation of many.
+Eventually, however, the King gave way, for Catholic money was as good
+as any other, besides being more plentiful in this time of scarcity.
+The leading Catholic in this district was Mr. Golding, who held large
+estates at Colston Bassett.
+
+On September 10 the Earl of Essex joined the Parliamentarian forces at
+Northampton, and, had he marched at once on Nottingham, it is difficult
+to see how Charles could have avoided capture. But Essex dallied for
+some unknown reason, and the golden opportunity to end the war at one
+stroke passed by and never came again. Charles saw his danger, and
+recognised the fact that Nottingham was no longer a safe shelter. On
+September 13 he marched to Derby and thence to Shrewsbury, where he was
+able to collect such forces as placed him more nearly on an equality,
+numerically, with his opponents.
+
+Freed from the presence of the King, Nottingham was open to occupation
+by either party. The citizens were divided in their opinions, and
+neither party was yet strong enough to take possession of the town.
+
+Thus matters continued until the Battle of Edgehill, after which Sir
+John Digby, the High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire, made an attempt to
+secure the county for the King. A meeting was called at Newark, at
+which all the gentry were requested to be present. Though the best
+interests of the county were the ostensible object of this meeting,
+the Parliamentarian gentry grew suspicious and absented themselves,
+and it was as well for them that they did so, for it was the intention
+of Sir John Digby to capture all those who were likely to oppose him.
+Gradually John Hutchinson had come to the front, and henceforward
+he took over the command of affairs locally in the interests of the
+Parliament, aided by a committee with whom he was not always in
+agreement. His family lived at Owthorpe, and those who wish to see him
+through the idealising eyes of his wife cannot do better than refer to
+the famous memoirs. Recognising the fruitlessness of all negotiations,
+Hutchinson summoned all those well affected to the cause of Parliament
+to come to him at Nottingham. By Christmas 1642 a sufficient number
+were assembled for the fortification of the town to be pushed on apace.
+New gates replaced those which had fallen down, and Nottingham was made
+as strong as the shortage of time and men permitted. Hutchinson with a
+small force occupied the Castle.
+
+Meanwhile the Royalists were occupying and strengthening Newark, which
+was in better repair than Nottingham. The Duke of Newcastle garrisoned
+it with a force under the leadership of Sir John Henderson. This
+occupation of Newark by the Royalists was of paramount importance, for
+there were but three regular fords on the Trent, one at Nottingham,
+one at Newark, and the third at “Wilden Ferry,” in Derbyshire, where
+the Cavendish Bridge is now, and further, Newark served to divide the
+parliamentary forces in South Lincolnshire from those in Yorkshire
+under Lord Fairfax, besides acting as an ever-present thorn in the
+side of the Parliamentary garrison at Nottingham. Soon after Newark
+was garrisoned, an attack was made on it by the Lincolnshire forces,
+but this was beaten off. This attack was followed by another, planned
+on a larger scale, which came within an ace of being successful. It
+was decided to make an assault on Newark from all sides at Candlemas
+1643. Forces from Nottingham and Derby, under the command of Colonel
+John Hutchinson and Sir John Gell respectively, were to attack the
+town on the western side, while the Lincolnshire forces, under one
+Ballard, were to attack on the east. Ballard was to be commander of
+the whole force. This soldier was a man whose days of prosperity were
+behind him, and who, having many friends among the Newarkers, was
+unwilling to be the cause of their undoing. He took up his position on
+Beacon Hill, and began to bombard the town at a distance too great to
+effect any appreciable damage. However, matters were going well for
+the attackers: a street had been captured on the east, and on the
+west the townsmen had been driven from their position. At this point
+Ballard hesitated, and refused to move. The Newarkers were quick to
+profit by his weakness, and the enemy were driven off. But this narrow
+escape served as a warning to the Cavaliers, who began immediately to
+strengthen the defences of Newark. Shelford Manor and Wiverton Hall
+were fortified, and Sir Roger Cooper and the Duke of Newcastle put
+their houses, at Thurgarton and Welbeck respectively, into a state of
+defence; while about the same time Newstead Priory, Felley Priory, and
+Kirkby Hardwick were occupied by the Royalists. In May of this year
+Oliver Cromwell first appears in this district. His forces and those
+of Lincolnshire were allied, and in the several skirmishes that took
+place, the Newarkers appear always to be the losers. Cromwell’s force
+numbered 2000 men, and we find there the beginnings of that discipline
+and uprightness which was to be later so important a factor in the
+organisation of the army of the eastern association and the new model.
+_The Kingdomes Weekly Intelligencer_, referring to this force,
+says: “No man swears, but he pays his 12d.; if he be drunk, he is
+set in the stocks; or worse, if one calls the other ‘Roundhead,’ he
+is cashiered, in so much that the countries where they come leap for
+joy of them, and come in and join with them.” What a contrast this is
+to the irregularities practised in many of the Royalist camps, where
+debauchees like Goring were in command! There were many earnest men
+who withheld their hands from their swords rather than serve in a
+force commanded by such creatures as these. Nor was this looseness
+the only weakness in the Royalist army. The King was unwilling to
+entrust the whole command to any one man, and so, while making Lindsey
+general-in-chief, he had left the cavalry in the hands of Prince
+Rupert. Concerted action was impossible, jealousies were prevalent, and
+distrust and disorder resulted. It was about this time that the Queen
+arrived from abroad with help for the King. In June she was at Newark,
+whence she sent the following letter:--
+
+   “MY DEAREST HEART,--I received just now your letter by
+   my Lord Saville, who found me ready to go away, staying but for
+   one thing, for which you will pardon two days’ stop, it is to
+   have Hull and Lincoln. Young Hotham having been put in prison
+   by order of the Parliament, is escaped, and hath sent to 260
+   (the Earl of Newcastle?) that he would cast himself into his
+   arms, and that Hull and Lincoln should be rendered. He is gone
+   to his father, and 260 writes for your answer; so that I think
+   I shall go home Friday or Saturday, and shall go lie at Werton
+   (Wiverton), and from thence to Ashby, where we will resolve
+   which way to take; and I will stay there a day, because that the
+   march of the day before will have been somewhat great, and also
+   to know how the enemy march, all their forces at Nottingham,
+   at present, being gone to Leicester and Derby, which makes us
+   believe it is to intercept our passage. As soon as we have
+   arrived I will send you word. At this present I think it right
+   to let you know the state in which we march, and what I leave
+   behind for the safety of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire. I
+   leave two thousand foot and wherewithal to arm five hundred
+   more; twenty companies of horse, all to be under the command
+   of Charles Cavendish, whom the gentlemen of the country have
+   desired me not to carry with me against his will, for he desired
+   extremely not to go. The enemy have left within Nottingham one
+   thousand. I carry with me three thousand foot, thirty companies
+   of horse and dragoons, six pieces of cannon, and two mortars.
+   Harry Germyn commands the forces that go with me, as colonel of
+   my guard; and Sir Alexander Lesly the foot under him, and Gerard
+   the horse, and Robert Legge the artillery, and her she majesty
+   generalissimo over all and extremely diligent, with one hundred
+   and fifty waggons of baggage to govern. In case of battle have
+   a care that no troop of Essex’s army incommode us: for the
+   rest I hope that I shall be strong enough, for we have had the
+   experience at Nottingham, one of our troops having beaten six of
+   theirs, and made them fly. I have received your proclamation,
+   or declaration, which I wish you had not made, being extremely
+   disadvantageous for you, for you show too much fear, and do
+   not what you had resolved upon. Farewell, my dear heart. From
+   Newark, 27th June 1643.”
+
+Meanwhile Colonel Hutchinson at Nottingham was becoming apprehensive
+for the safety of the town, which was now surrounded by Royalist
+garrisons. Moreover, the energetic Newarkers were always ready to
+take advantage of any weakness Nottingham might show. In these
+circumstances, Colonel Hutchinson was despatched to London to inform
+Parliament of the danger, with the result that Cromwell, Hubbard,
+Lord Grey, and Sir John Gell were ordered to unite their forces
+at Nottingham. Besides the strengthening of the town, this order
+had another object. It was known that the Queen would pass close by
+Nottingham in her attempt to join the King, and it was hoped that she
+might be intercepted. With this object in view, the force of some 5000
+men, now in Nottingham, were divided as stated in the Queen’s letter,
+some being stationed at Derby, and others at Leicester. All these
+precautions proved futile, for after waiting two days at Southwell,
+in doubt whether to attack Nottingham or not, the Queen passed on to
+Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
+
+The Queen’s escape was followed by the departure of the troops
+concentrated at Nottingham.
+
+The Newarkers were by no means content to wait to be attacked. They
+preferred to fill in their time by annoying their opponents as far as
+lay in their power. During May an escort had been sent to Oxford to
+convoy some arms, and this force, some 2000 in number, on its return
+made an unsuccessful attack on Northampton. Later in the year a night
+march to Melton Mowbray resulted in the capture of the Parliamentary
+Committee of Leicester, who were there with the object of raising money.
+
+About the middle of 1643 two changes of leaders took place. Sir John
+Meldrum superseded Lord Grey, and Sir John Henderson surrendered the
+governorship of Newark to Sir Richard Byron. On July 20 Lord Willoughby
+of Parham had taken Gainsborough by surprise from the Royalists, and
+on the 25th Meldrum and Cromwell were ordered to go to his assistance,
+for he was menaced by a force of Newarkers under Charles Cavendish,
+the Royalist commander in Notts and Lincolnshire. Gainsborough was an
+important place, for, to quote Mr. Gardiner: “It stood in the way of an
+attack by the Royalists on Lincoln or of an attempt to help Newark.”
+Mr. Gardiner continues: “Cromwell and Meldrum joined hands at Grantham,
+and a body of troops met them from Lincoln at North Scarle. On the 28th
+they arrived at Gainsborough, and the battle was fought to the S.E.
+of the town, and resulted in the defeat of the Royalists and relief of
+Gainsborough.
+
+“A Royalist force is reported, and Cromwell advances to meet it.
+He finds it is the army under Newcastle, and has to retire to
+Gainsborough, which he leaves to its fate, and on the 30th it
+capitulates. This battle was the turning point of the war, for it
+showed the Parliament where to look for cavalry and a great leader.”
+During this battle Charles Cavendish was slain, a great loss to the
+Royalists.
+
+After this Sir John Meldrum joins the main army and leaves
+Lieut.-Colonel Hutchinson in command at Nottingham, which was neglected
+by Parliament and left to its own devices, for even troops commanded
+by such local men as Henry Ireton and Whalley are taken from this
+neighbourhood.
+
+Before proceeding to detail the events at Nottingham, it may be as well
+to give a description of the condition of the Castle at this time,
+which Bailey quotes in his _Annals of Nottinghamshire_:--
+
+   “The castle was built upon a rock, and nature had made it
+   capable of very strong fortification; but the buildings were
+   very ruinous and uninhabitable, neither affording room to lodge
+   soldiers nor provisions. The castle stands at one end of the
+   town, upon such an eminence as commands the chief streets.
+   There had been enlargements made to this castle after the first
+   building of it. There was a strong tower, which they called
+   the old tower, built upon the top of all the rock.... In the
+   midway to the top of this tower, there is a little piece of
+   rock on which a dovecote has been built; but the Governor took
+   down the roof of it, and made it a platform for two or three
+   pieces of ordnance, which commanded some streets and all the
+   meadows better than the higher tower. Under that tower, which
+   was the old castle, there was a larger castle, where there
+   had been several towers, and many noble houses, but the most
+   of them were down, only it was situated upon an ascent of the
+   rock, and so stood a pretty height above the streets. And there
+   were the ruins of an old pair of gates, with turrets on each
+   side. Before the castle, the town was on one side of a close
+   (Standard Hill and parts adjacent), which commanded the fields
+   approaching the town; which close the Governor afterwards made a
+   platform. Behind it was a place called the Park, that belonged
+   to the castle, but then had neither deer nor trees in it.... In
+   the whole rock, there were many large caverns, where a great
+   magazine and many hundred soldiers might have been disposed,
+   if they had been cleansed and prepared for it, and might have
+   been kept secure from any danger of firing the magazines by
+   any mortar pieces shot against the castle. It was not flanked,
+   and there were no works about it, when Mr. Hutchinson undertook
+   it, but only a little breastwork before the outmost gate. It
+   was as ill provided as fortified, there being but 10 barrels of
+   powder, 1150 pounds of butter and as much cheese, 11 quarters of
+   bread corn, 7 beeves, 214 flitches of bacon, 560 fishes, and 15
+   hogsheads of beer.”
+
+The position of the town was critical. Girded with fortifications which
+could only be sufficiently defended by 3000 men, Nottingham was riddled
+through and through by jealousies and dissensions. Hutchinson was not
+popular, and many Parliamentarians disapproved of his carrying the
+cannons up into the Castle. Eventually a meeting of the townspeople was
+held, at which Colonel Pierrepont propounded these three alternatives:
+(1) To leave the town and go to other garrisons; (2) to stay in the
+Castle; (3) to stay in the town works and have their throats cut. Many
+left the town, and but 300 joined Hutchinson in the Castle. These were
+all good men, and when the place had been provisioned, the position was
+one of no little strength. The town defences were left in the hands
+of the municipality. Of the garrison in the castle two-thirds were
+quartered in the town.
+
+Before long Newcastle sent Major Cartwright with a summons to
+surrender. He was met with a refusal, and a similar answer was carried
+back by Mr. Ayscough, whom Sir Richard Byron sent with the offer of a
+bribe to the Governor.
+
+Meanwhile hostilities had been continuing round Gainsborough, with the
+result that the Royalists suffered a severe loss by the deaths of the
+Earl of Kingston and Colonel Thomas Markham of Ollerton.
+
+On the morning of September 19, Nottingham Castle narrowly escaped
+capture. During the night a force of 600 Newarkers, led by Sir Richard
+Byron, had gained access to the town, surprised the 200 of the garrison
+who were quartered outside the Castle, and either captured or drove
+them off. Thus Hutchinson found his garrison reduced to 100, and the
+enemy at his gates. For five days the town was plundered and the
+Castle fired at from the tower of St. Nicholas’s Church. On September
+23 the invaders withdrew, and at the same time help arrived from Derby
+and Leicester, but the Royalists and their prisoners were allowed to
+depart, leaving Captain Hacker[50] with a small force to hold the newly
+erected fort at the Trent Bridge. The menace of this force annoyed the
+Governor, who planned its dispersal. Acting contrary to the advice
+of the commander of the Derby forces, Hutchinson began to lay siege
+to this bridge fort, and after five days he was so far successful
+that Hacker withdrew to Newark, after breaking down two arches of the
+bridge behind him. But Hutchinson’s troubles were by no means at an
+end. Unpopular, and at odds with the Committee, he was called upon,
+in January 1644, to face another attack upon the Castle. This time
+the attack was made by some 3000 troops, 1000 of whom entered the
+town, with intent to occupy it, another 1000 remained outside to guard
+against any attack by neighbouring Roundhead troops, while the third
+body, recruited largely from the garrisons of Belvoir and Wiverton,
+were to gain possession of the all-important passage over the Trent.
+The town force, led by Sir Charles Lucas, was surprised in the streets
+of the town by a fierce attack of the garrison, and fled without making
+much attempt to fight. A month later the Newarkers made an attempt to
+gain possession of the Trent Bridge by entering in the disguise of
+market women. Their ruse failed, and more than half of this heroic
+force of nine were slain.
+
+But this state of affairs could not go on. It was incredible that the
+Parliament would allow themselves to be the butt of frequent attacks
+without making some reprisals. Early in 1644 the Committee of both
+kingdoms made up their minds to deal severely with Newark. Sir John
+Meldrum, a Scotsman, was placed in command of the expedition, and
+the forces of Nottingham and Derby were to co-operate with him. The
+condition of the garrison was not enviable. Reduced in numbers by the
+departure of several expeditionary forces, it was composed largely of
+the townspeople and neighbouring gentry, while in addition to their
+fewness of numbers, the capture of a food convoy rendered it likely
+that soon they would be in want of provisions. The besieging army
+numbered about 8500 men; but for all this the Newarkers were not going
+to await their fate without doing all in their power to annoy the
+enemy, for early in March a sudden sortie proved very disastrous to the
+besiegers. But notwithstanding this, Sir John Meldrum expected almost
+daily to gain possession of the town. But it was fated otherwise, and
+the minister of fate was Prince Rupert, whom the King sent to do his
+utmost to save the loyal borough. That he was not expected by the
+Parliamentarians is evident, for his rapid cavalry attack delivered
+from Coddington was successful, and the siege was raised before Sir
+John Meldrum had time to find out the size of the force opposed to him.
+
+The disputed ownership of Newark settled, Prince Rupert turned his
+attention to Nottingham, and sent a demand for the surrender of that
+town. The answer was a direct refusal; and evidently the Royalists
+did not consider themselves strong enough, for though they advanced
+to within three miles of that town, they changed their course and
+journeyed to Oxford. But the Parliament had received a severe scare,
+for when it was thought that Rupert might arrive at Nottingham
+any minute, the Parliamentarians set to work to strengthen the
+fortifications with the utmost haste. The meadows were flooded, and
+even on Sunday no pause was permitted. But the moral effect of the
+relief of Newark was so great, that even Mrs. Hutchinson, who saw
+little good even in the majority of the supporters of the Parliament
+and none at all in the Royalists, wrote: “Such a blow was given to the
+Parliament interest, in all these parts, that it might well discourage
+the ill-affected, when even the most zealous were cast down, and gave
+up all for lost.”
+
+The Newarkers were wise. They were not buoyed up with any false opinion
+of their future security. The Parliament was still as determined as
+ever, and in July, the Earl of Manchester was quartered at Retford
+watching Newark. Mr. Cornelius Brown quotes the following letter from
+one Will Goode in the army of the Earl. It refers to events which took
+place between July 27 and August 16, 1644:--
+
+   “On Monday morning came an alarm to our quarters (at Retford)
+   from Tuxford that our horse there were beaten up with great
+   loss to us, whereupon Lieutenant-General Cromwell speedily
+   rode thitherwards to prove the truth, whereupon he found that
+   Newark, by obscure ways through the forest, unknown to our horse
+   guards, being two troops which stood two miles from Tuxford
+   towards Newark, had fallen suddenly into Tuxford upon our three
+   troops, of whom they killed a lieutenant and a quartermaster
+   and took with them eight prisoners and some horse, and so
+   speedily retreated to Newark. On Monday, his Lordship advanced
+   from Retford to Gainsborough, and then rode to Lincoln, where
+   he yet remains, having sent 2000 horse and 150 foot to lie at
+   Beckingham and Claypole, and some troops within two or three
+   miles of Newark to hold them in.... Our horse lies between
+   Newark and Belvoir, and will prevent all relief on this side of
+   the Trent to that town. Newark now expects a siege.”
+
+The first of the Royalist garrisons in the valley of the Trent which
+fell into the Parliament’s hands was Thurgarton Hall, the residence
+of Sir Roger Cooper, which was carried by assault by the force under
+Colonel Thornhaugh, which had assembled at Mansfield and marched
+by way of Thurgarton to assist in the watching of Newark.[51] This
+Royalist disaster occurred at the end of 1644. In Nottingham itself
+the quarrel between Hutchinson and the Committee had by the beginning
+of 1645 become so acute that in April we find both parties in London
+pleading their cause at headquarters. Hutchinson’s visit was cut short
+by the receipt of the news that the Newarkers had captured the fort at
+Trent Bridge. One who signs himself T. H., writing to the _Weekly
+Account_, April 16–23, 1645, says:--
+
+   “I doubt not but you have heard of the sad condition of these
+   parts; the King’s Forces from Newark of late have been more
+   active than ever, and their opposition as little. They have
+   plundered us of our Goods and Cattle on this (the south) side of
+   the River, and on Saturday last a Partee of the Newark Horse and
+   Dragoons, when it was not yet duske, fell on Nottingham Bridge,
+   which is not many furlongs from the Town, cut off the Centinell,
+   and surprised the whole Guard, except 3 men which narrowly
+   escaped; the whole Guard consisted of 33 Persons, those that
+   got not away were most inhumanly cut to pieces, notwithstanding
+   desire of Quarter, &c., and it may please God that some of those
+   which committed this massacre, may be met with in the like
+   Hands.”
+
+This was a serious matter, for the loss of this fort closed the road
+for all provisions into Nottingham from the south. Accordingly, Colonel
+Rossiter was sent with a force of nearly 2000 men to recapture the
+position. No fight was necessary, for the Newarkers, recognising the
+numerical superiority of the enemy, and hearing that the Scotch army
+would shortly arrive at Nottingham, retreated home.
+
+The _Weekly Account_, May 4, 1645, states: “The Scots will keep
+their rendezvous at Nottingham to-morrow”; but it seems doubtful
+whether they did, for it is the middle of June when _The Kingdomes
+Weekly Intelligence_ announces: “The Scots are come to Nottingham
+with 7000 foot, and 4000 horse, expecting command of their removal.” As
+a matter of fact, they appear to have left on July 1.
+
+Meanwhile the King and Prince Rupert had determined to capture
+Leicester, the most important Parliamentary position in the Midlands.
+A large force was collected, among them the celebrated regiment of
+Newark cavalry led by Colonel Page, and by the beginning of June the
+town was in Royalist hands. But their triumph was short-lived, for on
+June 14 the battle of Naseby proved that the time of the Parliament
+had come, and that the question now was how long the few isolated
+Royalist garrisons could hold out. Of these towns Newark was the most
+important, and the numbers of its garrison were swelled by the arrival
+of many fugitives from Naseby. With increased strength came greater
+activity, and the raids of the Newarkers became even more galling
+to the Parliament than they had hitherto been. The energetic forces
+dashed in all directions, turning up where they were least expected
+and leaving before any concerted attack could be made upon them.
+Among their exploits at this time was the capture of Welbeck House,
+together with 200 prisoners. Each month saw special efforts being made
+to capture this energetic town, which received fresh encouragement on
+August 22 from a short visit of the King, who passed through on his way
+to Huntingdon. The town was now governed by Sir Richard Willis, who
+had succeeded to the post in 1644. Under his leadership the raids on
+the surrounding country were continued until October, when on the 4th
+the arrival of the King gave a new turn to affairs. Charles’s object
+appears to have been to make his enemies leave the Welsh border and
+compel them to attack him in a strong position from which he could
+escape whenever he might wish to do so. That the Parliament did not
+look on the matter in the same light, is evident from the following
+extract from _The Diary, or an Exact Journal_, October 23–30:--
+
+   “Major General Poyntz hath blocked up Newark on the North side
+   of it; and to make his men more circumspect and eager in the
+   siege thereof, hee is certainly assured that the King is there,
+   and with him the two German Princes Rupert and Maurice: the
+   London Brigade, under the Command of Colonel Man Waring is now
+   there with him, with whom are joyned the Horse and Foot of
+   Nottinghamshire under the Command of Colonell Thornehaugh. On
+   the South Side of the Towne Colonell Rossiter is quartered with
+   his owne Regiment; and he hath with him the Northampton Horse
+   under the Command of Colonell Lidcot, so that it is conceived,
+   it is altogether impossible for the king to escape through them
+   either by force or stealth, for hee hath not with him above
+   800 Horse, the Truth of which may easily be collected by the
+   strength which he brought with him into Newarke, which were at
+   the most not above 1800 horse, sixteen hundred whereof were so
+   sorely shaken at Sherbourne, that it is thought very few of
+   them returned to Newarke, to bring the sadde tydings of their
+   overthrow, so that he hath now but 200 remaining with him, which
+   being put to the troopes of the Garrison, which are but nine
+   troopes, and are 3 score in every troope doe make up just 800.”
+
+But dissension was about to appear in the little garrison of Newark.
+Prince Rupert had lost Bristol, and had, on this score, been abused.
+Contrary to the King’s wishes, he came to Newark to explain his side
+of the question. The position was further complicated by the King
+choosing this time to supplant Sir Richard Willis in the governorship
+of the town, and to put in his place Lord Belasyse. This, taken with
+other private jealousies, brought matters to a climax. The Princes,
+Rupert and Maurice, sided with Willis when at a feast given by Lord
+Belasyse the quarrel became open. “Thereupon they all drew in the
+King’s presence, and within an hour the Princes, Genl. Willis, and many
+others cald to Horse, and went away that night on the South side of the
+Town (to Wiverton Hall). Colonell Rossiter lyeing on that side must
+needs know of their action. Bellasis is made Governor of Newarke, the
+onely creature of note with his Majesty.
+
+“Newark is full of discontent, and most of the gentry wavering, desire
+their liberty.”
+
+The sequel of this quarrel was that the discontented Royalists applied
+to Parliament for passes to leave the country, promising not to take
+any further part in the war. Their request was granted, yet not
+all seem to have taken advantage of it, for some at any rate were
+reconciled to the King. Prince Rupert, however, passes altogether from
+the local stage.
+
+At the end of October, Poyntz undertook the suppression of the Royalist
+garrisons at Shelford and Wiverton. Shelford, commanded by Lord
+Stanhope, son of the Earl of Chesterfield, refused to surrender. A
+bloody struggle was the result, and it was not until their general was
+slain that the plucky defenders capitulated. Within a week Wiverton and
+Welbeck, awed by the fate of Shelford, surrendered without waiting to
+be stormed. Thus was Newark becoming gradually surrounded by hostile
+garrisons, and now Belvoir Castle alone remained in Royalist hands.
+The King realised that if he wished to escape before the net was drawn
+quite tightly round Newark he must delay no longer, and on November
+6, Colonel-General Poyntz had to report “that the King was come from
+Newarke and gotten by him.”
+
+Siege was laid to Belvoir Castle, its outworks were captured, and
+its water-supply almost cut off, yet it appears to have held out for
+two months, until December 30, when the Governor, Sir Gervase Lucas,
+surrendered.
+
+Meanwhile a formal siege had been laid to Newark, and the town was
+all but surrounded; for now that the Earl of Montrose was defeated in
+Scotland, and the Royalists in the west of England dispersed, all that
+remained to be done was to capture the King and his towns of Oxford and
+Newark.
+
+Mr. Cornelius Brown, in his _History of Newark_, draws attention
+to the fact that while the King was at Newark he was in communication
+with the Scottish leaders--a fact to be noticed in view of the course
+events afterwards took.
+
+This last siege of Newark was a much more serious affair than either
+of the others had been. A large army was collected for the purpose,
+and an attempt was made to surround the town and establish a blockade,
+with the object of preventing the introduction of provisions into
+it. The arrangement of the besieging forces can be well seen from
+the contemporary plan. Colonel Rossiter at Balderton, and General
+Poyntz at Farndon, were watched by the Newarkers established in the
+Queen’s Sconce, of which notable remains can still be seen. Colonel
+Theo. Gray at Coddington, and Colonel Henry Gray at Winthorpe, were,
+in their turn, watched by the garrison of the King’s Sconce, now
+unfortunately destroyed. It had been arranged that the Scots, when they
+arrived, should take up their position at Kelham, and by occupying
+the island from Kelham to Muskham Bridge they would complete the ring
+of besiegers. At the beginning of December the Scots arrived, and
+immediately a council of war was held by the English and Scottish
+generals. As a result Muskham Bridge was stormed and a sconce near it
+captured. It is difficult to point to the exact place where the Scots
+had their main camp, called Edinburgh. Undoubtedly it was a very large
+enclosure, and one would expect it to have been defended by some
+kind of earthworks; yet a careful search of this part of the island
+has failed to reveal more than a few isolated banks and ditches,
+insufficient to give us any idea of the shape or extent of this camp.
+
+  [Illustration: SIEGE PLAN OF NEWARK.]
+
+Notwithstanding the arrival of the Scots, the circuit would not seem
+to have been complete, for the Newarkers still continued to carry
+provisions into the town, and not infrequently they would sally forth
+and fiercely attack one or other of the enemy. The following graphic
+account from the _Cities Weekly Post_, January 6–13, 1646, must
+serve to describe one of these frequent sallies:--
+
+   “Major Generall Poyntz continues his Quarters at Stoake; the
+   Nottingham forces did keep their Guards in the Church, where
+   unfortunately happened so great a fire, which took hold of the
+   straw, that they could not quench it until it had devoured
+   all that was combustible by the fire, and nothing on the
+   next morning but the walls remaining, a sad spectacle to the
+   beholders; whether this gave any encouragement to the Enemy in
+   Newarke we cannot tell; but not long afterwards, the Nottingham
+   forces being many of them gone to Nottingham upon some business
+   (as wee heare) of publicke concernment, the Enemy sallyed forth
+   from Newarke, being about 800 Horse and betwixt 200 or 300 Foot,
+   and were making up to Major Gen. Poyntz his quarters at Stoak,
+   which they did with so much fury and eager speed, that his Horse
+   Guard began to flye, and were in that disorder, that two Horses
+   fell down as they were passing through the turn Pike, by which
+   means the more neare approaches of the Enemy and the Allarum
+   they did give us could not so perfectly bee apprehended until
+   they had entered into our Quarters, and Major Gen. Poyntz his
+   own Chamber, which they made hast to plunder. In the meantime
+   Major Gen. Poyntz using all dilligence to re-colect his men, did
+   deport himselfe with so much resolution, that many of the Enemy
+   were killed, nine prisoners taken, and about fifty wounded. In
+   this service, it is said, we had not above three slaine, and
+   seven hurt. The Enemy retyred in disorder to Newark, and the
+   rather because they heard that Collonel Rossiter with a new body
+   of 1000 Horse and foot was cumming down from Claypoole towards
+   them, but perceiving that the Enemy had notice of their cumming,
+   and were got into Newark, he onely gave an alarum to their
+   Garrison, and returned safe to his own quarters.”
+
+Even the turning of the river out of its course was not able to break
+down the defences of the gallant town, and so matters went on, until in
+May the end came suddenly and dramatically.
+
+Negotiations between Charles and the Scotch Commissioners appear
+to have been in progress for some time, the intermediary being
+Montreuil, a Frenchman in the King’s confidence. There is a certain
+amount of mystery attached to the whole affair, but at any rate
+Charles thought that he could not do better for his cause than join
+the Scotch army. How far the negotiations had gone, and how far the
+Scotch generals were privy to these negotiations, is not clear, but
+at any rate when the King suddenly appeared at Kelham on May 5, 1646,
+General Leslie professed complete astonishment and embarrassment.
+But it is instructive to inquire how Charles reached Kelham, for
+considerable uncertainty exists as to the course he took after entering
+Nottinghamshire at the south. We hear that the King reached Stamford
+in disguise, accompanied by Dr. Hudson and John Ashburnham, on May 3,
+and left again on the 4th, travelling all night. The only detail of
+his journey to Southwell, where he arrived early on the 5th, that we
+have been able to meet with, is that he crossed the Trent near Gotham.
+This statement is confusing rather than otherwise, for the Trent does
+not pass within two miles of this isolated village. The reason why it
+was necessary to cross the river to the west of Nottingham would be
+that the country between Nottingham and Newark was quite unsafe for
+Royalists, while there was quite a possibility of a safe circuit round
+Nottingham by the north, and so by forest roads to Southwell. But the
+exact spot where the Trent was crossed still remains to seek. Arrived
+at the King’s Arms (now the Saracen’s Head), Southwell, Montreuil’s
+headquarters, Charles rested for a short time, and after dinner marched
+on to Kelham. Though seemingly embarrassed by their royal prisoner, the
+Scots had no intention of letting him escape. He was closely guarded
+at Kelham Hall--so closely, indeed, that no one could correspond with
+him. No sooner was he at Kelham than Charles set about to arrange for
+the surrender of Newark. The Newarkers begged that they might hold
+out as long as they could, but Charles insisted on their surrender,
+and Belasyse had to make the best terms he could. The terms were
+favourable, for the garrison marched out with all the honours of war.
+The arrangements for the surrender of the town were made “neere Maj.
+Gen. Poyntz headquarters.” The _Perfect Occurrences of both Houses
+of Parliament, Week ending May 8th_, gives the following list of
+treators:--
+
+   “Treators for the Parliament are Col. Alex. Popham, Col. Fras.
+   Thornhaugh, Col. John Hutchinson, Col. Henry Gray, Col. Richard
+   Thornton, Maj. Phil. Twisleton, and Maj. John Archer--English;
+   Col. Walter Scott, Lieut.-Col. Gil. Carre, Maj. Archib.
+   Douglas--Scots.
+
+   “Sir Thos. Ingram, Sir Bry. Balmes, Sir. Ger. Nevile, Mr.
+   Robt. Sutton (not allowed to be a lord), Sir Simon Fanshaw,
+   Maj.-Gen. Eyre, Col. Gilsby, Col. Darcy, Col. Atkins, Alderman
+   Standish--for Newark.
+
+   “The clerks are Mr. Thos. Bristoe for us, and Mr. Coudy for
+   them.”
+
+On May 8 the Governor of Newark marched out, and on the same day the
+Scotch army and the King went northwards, spending the first night at
+Markham. With the surrender of Newark an order came from Parliament for
+the pulling down of all strong places in Nottinghamshire, including
+Southwell Palace and the Minster. The Palace was already in a ruinous
+condition, but Mr. Cludd managed to save the Minster, while Nottingham
+Castle was spared till 1651, on account of its steady adhesion to
+Parliament. But Newark Castle was “slighted,” and by the end of July
+was such a ruin as we see to-day.
+
+Little more remains to be said with regard to the struggle in Notts. In
+July 1648 a rising of Notts and Lincolnshire Royalists was led by Sir
+Gilbert Byron. A skirmish was fought near Willoughby on the Wolds, and
+the Royalists were totally routed by Colonel Rossiter. Early in 1649
+the King was brought to trial before a court of sixty-seven members.
+Five names connected with our county are prominent: Whalley, Ireton,
+Hutchinson, Millington, and Goffe; while to Colonel Francis Hacker was
+given the task of seeing that the sentence was carried out.
+
+With the death of the King it is fitting that this short sketch of
+the Civil War should cease. It has not been possible to go into any
+details, and in order to preserve the due proportion it has been
+necessary to omit much that might have proved interesting. England
+passed through a severe crisis in her history--a crisis which was
+almost sure to occur at one time or another--and though its course
+might have been less bloody had the ruler of England been a stronger
+man, yet it doubtless served a good purpose in providing a wide outlet
+for all the seething schisms engendered by Puritanism.
+
+
+
+
+                         NOTTINGHAMSHIRE POETS
+
+                         BY JOHN RUSSELL, M.A.
+
+
+The appreciation of poetry would appear to be as various and uncertain
+as its definition. For while, on the one hand, the cynic, confusing
+cause with effect, has defined it as a “disease of the intestines,”
+on the other, a great critic, himself an excellent poet, has written:
+“Poetry is nothing less than the most perfect speech of man, that in
+which he comes nearest to being able to utter the truth. It is no small
+thing, therefore, to succeed eminently in poetry”; and again, “The
+noble and profound application of ideas to life is the most essential
+part of poetic greatness”: so that when a poet has established his
+claim to real glory, “that real glory is good and wholesome for mankind
+at large, good and wholesome for the nation which produced the poet
+crowned with it.”
+
+The county of Nottingham cannot claim the credit of having produced
+many such glorious poets. Only three of her poetic children stand out
+very conspicuously--Byron, Kirke White, and Philip James Bailey. But
+she can claim a fair number of minor poets, with whom this paper will
+more especially deal. It might, indeed, have been expected that the
+county and the county town would be prolific in poetic achievement.
+For they have had a remarkable history and have been the scene of many
+stirring incidents in the great drama of the nation’s life. Some,
+indeed, may say that the inhabitants have been men of action rather
+than of words.
+
+As for the scenery of the county, though it may seem tame to the
+dwellers in the Lake District or the Peak, or amid the combes and
+moors of the south-west, yet Sherwood Forest, Clifton Grove, and
+the long reaches of the Trent have a peculiar beauty of their own,
+and the homely charm of fields and hedgerows appeals strongly to
+Nottinghamshire men, so that amid grander scenes they can feel as
+Ulysses of old felt:--
+
+    “Non dubia est Ithaci sapientia, sed tamen optat
+    Fumum de patriis posse videre focis.”
+
+This pleasure in their home has found plentiful and apt expression in
+the county poets. Kirke White sings:--
+
+    “In woods and glens I love to roam,
+    When the tired hedger hies him home;
+    Or by the woodland pool to rest,
+    When pale the star looks on its breast.”
+
+He does but express in verse what any sensitive mind would feel in
+walking, while the early autumn twilight is fading into dark, say along
+the field path between Thoroton and Orston. The scope of this article
+forbids any detailed account of the lives of the several writers and
+their works, or lengthy criticism; it must be enough to relate a few
+facts about each, mention their chief writings, and occasionally, where
+it seems desirable, add a few lines of illustrative quotation.
+
+HENRY CONSTABLE.--The first to claim our attention is Henry Constable
+[1562–1613]. Anthony Wood says of him “that he was born (or at least
+descended from a family of the name of Constable) in Yorkshire.” It
+seems, however, to be accepted now that he was born at Newark, and
+was the son of Sir Robert Constable, Lieutenant of the Ordnance to
+Queen Elizabeth. He was educated at St. John’s College, Cambridge, a
+fact with which it is somewhat difficult to reconcile Wood’s statement
+“that he spent some time among the Oxonian muses.” He became a Roman
+Catholic at an early age, and his zeal for the cause of his religion
+brought him many difficulties and made him an exile for many years of
+his life. He died at Liège. His poetical ability was fully recognised
+by his contemporaries. In a letter from abroad he is described as “One
+Constable, a fine poetical wit, who resides in Paris”; and in the same
+letter he is said “to have had in his head a plot to draw the Queen to
+be a Catholic.” Wood eulogizes him as “a great master of the English
+tongue,” and adds that “there was no gentleman of our nation had a
+more pure, quick, and higher delivery of conceit than he.” Sonnets
+of conceits, that is, quaint or humorous fancies elaborately wrought
+out till they were exhausted of suggestion, were a favourite form of
+composition at that time, and with Constable’s work may be compared
+Drayton’s _Idea_, Daniel’s _Delia_, and other similar collections. In
+1584 appeared _Diana, or the Excellent Conceitful Sonnets of H. C.
+Augmented with divers quatorzains of honourable and learned personages.
+Divided into VIII. Decades._ And in 1592 was issued a small quarto
+volume entitled _Diana, the Praises of his Mistress in certain Sweete
+Sonnets by H. C._ In illustration of his style may be quoted:--
+
+    “My Lady’s presence makes the roses red,
+      Because to see her lips they blush for shame.
+      The Lily’s leaves, for envy, pale became;
+      And her white hands in them this envy bred.
+    The Marigold the leaves abroad doth spread;
+      Because the sun’s and her power is the same.
+      The Violet of purple colour came,
+      Dyed in the blood she made my heart to shed.
+    In brief, All flowers from her their virtue take;
+      From her sweet breath, their sweet smells do proceed;
+      The living heat which her eyebeams doth make
+      Warmeth the ground, and quickeneth the seed.
+    The rain, wherewith she watereth the flowers,
+    Falls from mine eyes, which she dissolves in showers.”
+
+Michael Drayton’s _Idea_ appears in 1619. Though he was a Warwickshire
+man, he perhaps deserves a passing mention here because of his praises
+of “the Crystal Trent, for fords and fish renowned,” and the “silver
+Trent near to which Sirena dwelleth, she to whom Nature lent all that
+excelleth.”
+
+    “Tagus and Pactolus
+      Are to thee debtor,
+    Not for their gold to us
+      Are they the better;
+    Hence forth of all the rest,
+      Be thou the river,
+    Which as the daintiest
+      Puts them down ever.
+    For as my precious one
+      O’er thee doth travel,
+    She to pearl paragon
+      Turneth thy gravel.”
+
+GERVASE MARKHAM [1568–1637], a member of a very distinguished
+Nottinghamshire family, was the son of Sir Robert Markham of Cotham.
+After serving as a soldier in the Low Countries and with the Earl of
+Essex in Ireland, he applied himself to writing, for which he was
+well qualified, being a scholar and knowing four or five languages.
+He had a practical knowledge of agriculture and horse-breeding, on
+which subjects he wrote several treatises. In association with William
+Sampson he published in 1622 a drama, _The True Tragedy of Herod and
+Antipater_, and in 1633 he produced another, _The Dumbe Knight_. His
+poem, _The Most Honourable Tragedie of Sir Richard Grenvile, Knight_,
+should be noticed because it probably gave suggestions to Tennyson in
+writing his ballad of _The Revenge_. In point of length there is a
+considerable difference between these works of the two poets. Markham
+also wrote some religious poems.
+
+WILLIAM SAMPSON, about whom very little is known, was probably born
+at South Leverton near Retford, at the end of the sixteenth century.
+On the title page of the play which was written by him in conjunction
+with Gervase Markham, he is described as a “Gentleman.” It is said that
+he was a retainer in the family of Sir Henry Willoughby of Risley. In
+support of this it may be mentioned that he dedicated one of his plays,
+_The Vow Breaker, or the Faire Maide of Clifton_, to “The Worshipfull
+and most vertuous Gentlewoman Mistress Anne Willoughby Daughter of the
+Right Worshipfull and ever to be Honoured Henry Willoughby of Risley in
+the County of Derby, Baronet.”
+
+In his volume of poems, many of which are of the nature of epitaphs
+or elegies, he gives some anagrams. Making of these was “then the
+fashionable amusement of the wittiest and most learned,” as Disraeli
+says. From “William Cavendish,” Sampson makes “All my will is Heaven”;
+from “John Curson” or “Cursone,” “So I ranne on,” and “Honour is sure,”
+
+    “Which Anagrammized thus, ’tis cleere and pure,
+    So hee ranne on. His honour now is sure.”
+
+Among the subjects of his verse may be noted the Countess of Shrewsbury
+(“Bess of Hardwick”), “ould Sir John Byron of Newstead Abbey,” Sir
+George Perkins of Bunny, Henry Lord Stanhope, and “the right Honourable
+Henry Peirpoint,” father of the first Earl of Kingston.
+
+THOMAS SHIPMAN [1632–1680] was the eldest son of William Shipman of
+Scarrington, by his second wife, Sara, daughter of Alderman Parker
+of Nottingham. Thoroton speaks of him as “a good Poet, and one of
+the Captains of the Trained Bands of this County.” His father was an
+enthusiastic Royalist. In spite of this partisanship, Thomas succeeded
+in “saving a small estate amid the calamities of the last rebellion,”
+which indicates shrewdness and capacity in business. His wife, daughter
+of John Trafford, brought him an estate at Bulcote. Their son William
+was high sheriff of Notts in 1730. Among his literary associates were
+Denham and Oldham.
+
+He published a rhymed tragedy, _Henry the Third of France, stabbed by
+a Fryer, with the Fall of Guise_, and a volume of Loyal Poems called
+_Carolina_. He made grateful acknowledgments to his friend Abraham
+Cowley, and was a poetical friend of the third Lord Byron.
+
+An address to the reader by Thomas Flatman, in 1682, describes him
+as “a man every way accomplished: To the advantages of his birth,
+his education had added whatsoever was necessary to fit him for
+conversation, and render him (as he was) desirable by the best wits of
+the age.” Some of his writings were not free from the moral blemishes
+which disfigure much of the writing of that period.
+
+JOHN OLDHAM [1653–1683], though born in Gloucestershire, is often
+numbered among Nottinghamshire writers because of his connexion with
+the Earl of Kingston, who was his patron and gave him a home for a time
+at Holme Pierrepoint.
+
+In the church of that village there is a tablet to the poet’s memory.
+That he was a man of distinction among his literary contemporaries
+is clear from the fact that both Waller and Dryden paid tribute
+to him at his death: and his work seems to have had considerable
+influence upon Pope and other eighteenth-century poets. He is called
+in the introduction to the _Ode on St. Cecilia’s Day_, “the late
+ingenious Mr. John Oldham,” and in a Dictionary published in 1694
+in London he is described as “The darling of the Muses, a pithy,
+sententious, elegant, and smooth Writer.”
+
+He wrote Satires and Pindaric Odes, and based his work largely on
+imitation of such classical authors as Horace and Juvenal.
+
+His appreciation of the schoolmaster’s calling was not very high--
+
+    “A Dancing-Master shall be better paid,
+    Though he instructs the Heels, and you the Head.”
+
+Oldham’s works do not allow much satisfactory quotation; but these
+lines may be given as a specimen of him:--
+
+    “’T has ever been the top of my Desires,
+    The utmost height of which my wish aspires,
+    That Heaven would bless me with a small estate,
+    Where I might find a close obscure retreat;
+    There, free from noise and all ambitious ends,
+    Enjoy a few choice books, and fewer friends;
+    Lord of myself, accountable to none,
+    But to my conscience and my God alone:
+    There live unthought of, and unheard of die,
+    And grudge mankind my very memory.
+    But since the blessing is, I find, too great
+    For me to wish for, or expect of Fate:
+    Yet maugre all the spite of destiny,
+    My thoughts and actions are, and shall be free.”
+
+From the Pindaric Ode to the memory of Mr. Charles Morwent may be
+cited:--
+
+    “Thy soul within such silent pomp did keep,
+      As if humanity were lulled asleep,
+    So gentle was thy pilgrimage beneath
+      Time’s unheard feet scarce make less noise,
+    Or the soft journey which a planet goes.
+      Life seemed all calm as its last breath;
+    A still tranquillity so husht thy breast,
+      As if some Halcyon were its guest,
+        And there had built her nest:
+    It hardly now enjoys a greater rest.”
+
+The life of ROBERT DODSLEY [1703–1764], publisher and poet, has in it a
+touch of romance in that, by ability, perseverance, and integrity, he
+raised himself from the comparatively servile position of a footman to
+be the friend and helper of many of the greatest men of his age, men
+distinguished by high birth and position or by genius, or by all three
+combined; and it will appear from what follows that he played no small
+or insignificant part in the literary life of the eighteenth century.
+
+Dodsley was born on the 13th February 1703. The date of his birth is
+not recorded in the Mansfield register, but has just been discovered
+in an old memorandum book kept by the parish clerk, John Lodes. The
+omission of his birth entry from the registers suggests that his
+parents were perhaps Dissenters.
+
+He is said to have been apprenticed at first to a stocking-weaver,
+but, disliking the trade or the conditions in which he had to work,
+he gave it up and became a footman. At this period of his life he
+published a volume of verse entitled _The Muse in Livery_. He
+received encouragement and support from his employer and her friends.
+Ultimately, with the help of £100 from Pope, who befriended him also in
+other ways, he set up a bookseller’s shop in Pall Mall, and from the
+profits of this business and his writings he was able to retire towards
+the close of his life with a comfortable competence. He died at Durham
+and was buried there.
+
+That Dodsley held a respectable position in the world of letters is
+evident from the fact that Pope patronised his play of _The Toyshop_,
+which was put on the stage in 1735; while of his tragedy of _Cleon_
+Johnson says, “if Otway had written this play, no other of his pieces
+would have been remembered,” praise which even Dodsley himself thought
+rather above the merit of his work.
+
+As a bookseller and publisher he succeeded well. It was Dodsley who
+discerned the merit of Johnson’s _London_ for which he paid the author
+ten guineas. Later on he paid fifteen guineas for _The Vanity of Human
+Wishes_, and he was one of the publishers who bought _Rasselas_.
+Johnson alludes to him affectionately as “Doddy my patron,” and says
+“Dodsley first mentioned to me the scheme of an English Dictionary.”
+To Dodsley’s enterprise the _Annual Register_, which is continued to
+this day, owed its origin. This is not the place to give a full list of
+his works, but mention must not be omitted of his two plays, _The King
+and the Miller of Mansfield_, and _Sir John Cockle at Court_, which
+show shrewd observation of men and affairs. Dodsley’s character seems
+to have been very agreeable and estimable. He is described by Boswell
+as “worthy, modest, and ingenious,” and we have it on the testimony of
+Johnson and Walpole that he had the manly merit of not being ashamed to
+recall “the limits of his narrower fate.” He honoured the memory of his
+friend Shenstone the poet by publishing an edition in two volumes of
+his works, both prose and verse.
+
+  [Illustration:
+
+   _Photo: Mr Emery Walker._
+
+  ROBERT DODSLEY.
+
+  _By kind permission of_ YATES THOMPSON, Esq.]
+
+One or two quotations must serve to illustrate his manner of thought
+and diction. In the _Miller of Mansfield_ he says: “Why we are all
+of us lost in the dark every day of our lives, knaves keep us in the
+dark by their cunning, and fools by their ignorance. Divines lose us in
+dark mysteries, lawyers in dark cases, and statesmen in dark intrigues.
+Nay, the light of reason, which we so much boast of, what is it but a
+dark lanthorn, which just serves to prevent us from running our nose
+against a post perhaps, but is no more able to lead us out of the dark
+mists of error and ignorance, in which we are lost, than an ignis
+fatuus would be to conduct us out of this wood.”
+
+In the same play the countryman describes London:--
+
+   “O! ’tis a fine place! I have seen large houses with small
+   hospitality, great men do little actions, and fine ladies do
+   nothing at all. I have seen the honest lawyers of Westminster,
+   and the virtuous inhabitants of Change Alley; the politic madmen
+   of coffee-houses, and the wise statesmen of Bedlam. I have seen
+   merry tragedies, and sad comedies; devotion at an opera, and
+   mirth at a sermon; I have seen fine clothes at St. James’s,
+   and long bills at Ludgate Hill. I have seen poor grandeur and
+   rich poverty; high honours and low flattery; great pride and no
+   merit. In short, I have seen a fool with a title, a knave with a
+   pension, and an honest man with a thread-bare coat.”
+
+He wrote several songs, one of the best known of which is “The Parting
+Kiss.”
+
+Dodsley sat for his portrait to Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1760. From the
+interesting life of Dodsley, recently written by Mr. Ralph Straus,
+it is abundantly clear that the bookseller was a remarkable and very
+worthy man, and that English literature is greatly indebted to him in
+many ways. It is indeed a cause for surprise that his life has not
+been more fully written before. He not only had a keen discernment
+of the literary merit of work submitted to his judgment, but he had
+an equally keen discernment of what the public taste required at the
+moment. He therefore very seldom failed in his publishing ventures. He
+had also a high conception of the dignity of literature, and of his
+responsibility as author and publisher. His conduct in respect of his
+partnership in the _London Chronicle_ is deserving of the highest
+praise, and his letter announcing his intention of relinquishing
+his share in that periodical is worthy, for its manly sincerity and
+straightforwardness, to be compared with the famous letter of Dr.
+Johnson to Lord Chesterfield. Says Dodsley: “However, as I am but a
+single person, I desire you will take the sense of the Partners on all
+I have said, only assuring you that if the Paper cannot be carried on
+without giving any of these cause of offence, I shall desire to dispose
+of my share, being determined not to sacrifice my character to other
+people’s indiscretions, nor to any lucrative consideration whatsoever.”
+From the few private letters given in Mr. Straus’s book, we get a
+pleasing glimpse of his good nature and humour in the relations of
+ordinary family life, and can quite easily understand that he was
+popular and much esteemed by his friends. Shenstone said of him, “Of
+his simplicity, benevolence, humanity, and true politeness, I have
+had repeated and particular experience.” Though Dodsley had not the
+advantage of a good early education, yet, in the words of Mr. Straus,
+“a long life spent in the society of literary and artistic people, and
+much reading, had educated him more surely than a five years’ course at
+one of the universities might have done. The education that comes to
+the man in love with life is of far more importance than the forced, if
+polite, education that is given to the boy.” With the exception of his
+early want of opportunity, his life was singularly full and complete.
+
+ERASMUS DARWIN [1731–1802], the bearer of a name which his illustrious
+grandson has made for ever famous in the history of scientific
+speculation, was himself a man of distinction, “the worthy grandfather
+of a far more eminent contributor to human knowledge.” He was born
+at Elston, near Newark, educated at Chesterfield and St. John’s
+College, Cambridge, and finished his medical education at Edinburgh.
+He practised in Lichfield and at Derby. His book, _The Botanic
+Garden_, appeared in 1781, and consists of two parts, the “Economy
+of Vegetation,” and “Loves of the Plants.” His work is full of
+classical allusions, and he may be looked upon as one of the last
+exponents of the classical tradition in English verse. As Ovid, in his
+_Metamorphoses_, had set forth the change of human beings into plants
+and animals, Darwin, reversing the process, undertook to “restore some
+of them to their original animality, after having remained prisoners so
+long in their vegetable mansions.” In other words, he personified and
+allegorised the forms and natural properties of plants. The effects,
+for instance, of a decoction of laurel or Laura, are represented in a
+figure of Nightmare.
+
+One quotation from his lengthy poems must suffice:--
+
+    “Press’d by the ponderous air the Piston falls
+    Resistless, sliding through its iron walls;
+    Quick moves the balanced beam, of giant birth,
+    Wields his large limbs, and nodding shakes the earth ...
+    Soon shall thy arm, Unconquered Steam! afar
+    Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car;
+    Or on wide-waving wings expanded bear
+    The flying chariot through the fields of air.
+    Fair crews triumphant, leaning from above,
+    Shall wave their fluttering kerchiefs as they move,
+    Or warrior bands alarm the gaping crowd,
+    And armies shrink beneath the shadowy cloud.”
+
+Mention should also be made of his _Song to May_.
+
+The close of the eighteenth century brings us to the age of Byron and
+Kirke White, who were born within a year or two of each other.
+
+GEORGE GORDON NOEL, LORD BYRON [1788–1824] is a man whose life and
+writings are so well known to educated Englishmen, and have been the
+theme of so much criticism and controversy, that it seems superfluous
+to set down many details in this short notice. He was born in London,
+educated at Aberdeen Grammar School, at Harrow, and at Trinity College,
+Cambridge. He lived some time at the family home of Newstead, and after
+a life of much dissipation, disappointment, and varied travel, he
+died at Missolonghi, in Greece, while rendering chivalrous help to the
+Greeks in their struggle to recover what they had lost--the freedom
+which their forefathers had been able to preserve against seemingly
+overwhelming odds so many centuries before. It was fitting that his
+life should end in a country and amid a people for whose scenery and
+history he had so great an affection.
+
+It cannot be said that he has been enthusiastically honoured in his
+own county. At Nottingham there is now a fine bronze bust of him
+at the entrance to the Castle Art Museum; but otherwise there is
+no conspicuous memorial, such as a statue or public building, to
+perpetuate openly his fame. Yet by the quality and boldness of his
+thought and the splendour of his diction he stands in the front rank
+of our national poets; and his genius is recognised and acclaimed far
+beyond the limits of his own island and Europe.
+
+For this neglect he has perhaps mainly himself to blame. The
+irregularities of his life, and his disregard of conventional morality,
+so offended soberer minds and puritan instincts that the imperfections
+of his character have been allowed by many to overshadow the greatness
+of his poetic achievement. This is a pity. Where shall we find a finer
+poem than _Childe Harold_, impressive alike by the truth and beauty of
+its descriptions and the pathos of its reflexions?
+
+Byron’s excesses and eccentricities were a not unnatural consequence
+from his ancestry and bringing up. His was a nature that needed from
+the very first wise guidance and discipline if it was to be nurtured
+to self-control and regulated usefulness. Such discipline he seems
+not to have had. Of his ancestry and inherited characteristics it is
+well said in _English Men of Letters_: “Burns had only the fire of
+his race: the same is true of Byron, whose genius, in some respects
+less genuine, was indefinitely and inevitably wider. His intensely
+susceptible nature took a dye from every scene, city, and society
+through which he passed; but to the last he bore with him the marks of
+a descendant of the sea-kings, and of the mad Gordons in whose domains
+he had first learned to listen to the sound of the two ‘mighty voices’
+that haunted and inspired him through life.” He loved “the mountain’s
+shaggy side and sought the rocks where billows roll.” This love is
+connected with his passion for liberty. It will be remembered that
+he pleaded the cause in Parliament of the Luddite frame-breakers. It
+is dangerous to argue, in the case of a great poet or novelist, from
+their works to their personality. By their imagination they can realise
+adequately situations and characters of which they may have had no
+personal experience. Like the skilled anatomist they can construct
+the whole from a small part. Still it is possible that the gloom and
+self-abandonment and vivid pictures of remorse which we find in parts
+of Byron, may have been partly due to a remorseful feeling he was too
+proud to own except indirectly. Scott says:--
+
+    “High minds of native pride and force
+    Most deeply feel thy pangs, Remorse.
+    Fear for their scourge mean villains have:
+    Thou art the torturer of the brave.”
+
+Byron also says:--
+
+    “Full many a stoic eye and aspect stern
+    Mask hearts where grief hath little left to learn;
+    And many a withering thought lies hid, not lost,
+    In smiles that least befit who wear them most.”
+
+“None are all evil,” and whatever Byron’s faults may have been and
+their cause, the fact remains that he has enriched his country’s
+literature with noble poetry, and invested the ancestral home of
+Newstead with undying fame. He was not afraid that he would be
+forgotten:--
+
+    “But I have lived, and have not lived in vain:
+    My mind may lose its force, my blood its fire,
+    And my frame perish even in conquering pain;
+    But there is that within me which shall tire
+    Torture and time, and breathe when I expire.”
+
+Pollok’s estimate of his powers, given in _The Course of Time_, not
+inadequately sums up his wayward genius:--
+
+                          “All passions of all men,
+    The wild and tame, the gentle and severe;
+    All thoughts, all maxims, sacred and profane;
+    All creeds, all seasons, Time, Eternity;
+    All that was hated, and all that was dear;
+    All that was hoped, all that was feared by man,
+    He tossed about, as tempest-withered leaves,
+    Then smiling, looked upon the wreck he made.
+    With terror now he froze the cowering blood,
+    And now dissolved the heart in tenderness:
+    Yet would not tremble, would not weep himself;
+    But back into his soul retired, alone,
+    Dark, sullen, proud, gazing contemptuously
+    On hearts and passions prostrate at his feet.”
+
+In a paper written for a book on Nottinghamshire, it is not
+inappropriate to add that plates to illustrate Murray’s edition of
+_Childe Harold_ were taken from sketches supplied by Sir Charles
+Fellows, the Lycian traveller, and a member of a well-known Nottingham
+family.
+
+After Byron we may take HENRY KIRKE (or KIRK) WHITE [1785–1806], the
+son of a butcher, afterwards articled to a firm of solicitors, and
+for the last year of his short life a student at St. John’s College,
+Cambridge. He fell a victim to consumption, aggravated, it is thought,
+if not actually brought on, by premature and excessive devotion to his
+studies. Hence Byron’s beautiful and pathetic lines on him:--
+
+    “Unhappy White! while life was in its spring,
+    And thy young muse just waved her joyous wing,
+    The spoiler came; and all thy promise fair
+    Has sought the grave, to sleep for ever there.”
+
+In one of his letters White says of himself: “My mind is of a very
+peculiar cast. I began to think too early; and the indulgence of
+certain trains of thought, and too free an exercise of the imagination,
+have superinduced a morbid kind of sensibility; which is to the
+mind what excessive irritability is to the body.” Gray’s lines are
+particularly applicable to White:--
+
+    “Fair Science frowned not on his humble birth,
+    And Melancholy marked him for her own.”
+
+Matthew Arnold remarks that “much good poetry is profoundly
+melancholy,” that condition of mind being natural to a sensitive and
+poetic temperament in contact with the difficulties and disappointments
+of life. “The eternal note of sadness” strikes too keenly on such a
+mind in view of the “turbid ebb and flow of human misery.”
+
+But White’s melancholy is often due mainly to the depression of
+illness. This makes all the more admirable the spirit of resignation
+with which he faced his end:--
+
+    “God of the Just, Thou gavest the bitter cup;
+    I bow to Thy behest, and drink it up.”
+
+Speculations upon the “might have been” of a writer dying long before
+his prime are a somewhat useless exercise of the imagination, and it
+is impossible to say what White would have produced had his mind been
+filled, expanded, and matured by more reading, by travel and experience.
+
+Keats, with whom White was “equalled in fate,” if not in renown, has
+left us an example of what genius can accomplish in even a short span
+of years; but his life was prolonged some four years longer than
+White’s, a not inconsiderable period in the years of growth, and he
+was happier in his early opportunities. White was barely past the time
+of imitative work, and shows many traces of the influence of Milton
+and Gray. He has, however, left enough to show that he was not a mere
+writer of pretty verse, but was capable of conceiving and sustaining
+a higher flight. His _Clifton Grove_, and _Christiad_ fragment will
+illustrate this statement. And he will always have a charm for
+Nottingham readers, because his inspiration, when not religious, was
+mainly derived from the sights and sounds and association of his own
+country side; he was a home-bred poet.
+
+A poem “To an early primrose,” written, he says, at the age of
+thirteen, seems a natural outcome of his feelings and circumstances.
+The flower--
+
+    “Mild offspring of a dark and sullen sire!
+    Whose modest form, so delicately fine,
+        Was nurs’d in whirling storms,
+        And cradled in the winds,”
+
+is taken as symbolical of virtue hardened by “chill adversity.”
+
+When his age and circumstances are duly considered, the extent and
+maturity of his production fully entitle White to be called a genius.
+His letters are well worth reading for their sound sense, and for the
+light they throw on his thoughtful regard for the best interests of his
+family.
+
+The first half of the nineteenth century was remarkable for its output
+of local writings. In Wylie’s _Old and New Nottingham_, to which this
+paper is much indebted for information and suggestions, it is said:
+“Fifteen years ago, _i.e._ in 1838, Nottingham was the residence of a
+more brilliant literary circle than was probably ever drawn together
+in a town of the like extent.” Perhaps Norwich may be fitly compared
+with it in this respect, and it is singular that the migration thence
+of several families established what was in literary matters perhaps
+partially causal, a connexion between the two cities.
+
+This literary activity need cause no great surprise. Men were living
+“mid the stir of the forces whence issued” the modern world. The French
+Revolution, the rise and fall of Napoleon, the struggle for religious
+and political emancipation, scientific discoveries and inventions,
+the diffusion of cheap literature, were all having their effect upon
+the more thoughtful minds of the time. And there was less distraction
+of amusement and multitudinous publication. Men had to be content
+with fewer books; they made them, however, their own by study and
+quiet reflexion; life was less diffuse and “scrappy.” It is evident
+from the history of many of the writers that the literary life of
+Nottingham was much helped and stimulated by such papers as _Dearden’s
+Miscellany_, _Sutton’s Review_, and the _Nottingham Journal_, to the
+pages of which many fugitive pieces were contributed, as well as others
+which have survived in book form. Not much of the verse is of the type
+usually known as religious, though some of the writers handle religious
+topics. The ordinary religious poem is not difficult to write, dealing
+as it does with a stock-in-trade of emotions common to the race handed
+down through the ages, and to a large extent realized in each man’s
+personal experience, having besides a form of expression of the finest
+kind familiar to every Englishman from childhood. But to adapt by
+strenuous thought and long reflexion the old faith to new conditions,
+to state its eternal verities in terms of fresh science and advancing
+ideas is another and a more difficult matter; and such adaptation is
+what several of our local writers have attempted after the manner of
+Clough and Matthew Arnold.
+
+A remarkable thing about many of the writers is the largeness of their
+conceptions, the ambitious scale on which they essayed to write.
+Another noteworthy fact is that many of them were of humble origin,
+and did their literary work in circumstances which might well have
+smothered their nascent aspirations. Millhouse, Ragg, and Miller are
+all examples of this pursuit of knowledge under difficulties. They
+“broke their birth’s invidious bar,” and of them may be truly said what
+Millhouse said of Richard Booker--
+
+    “In yonder humble grave there lies a Man.”
+
+Chief of these nineteenth-century poets is Bailey, the son of
+Thomas Bailey [1785–1856], who was himself an industrious writer
+and journalist. Besides poems Thomas Bailey wrote the _Annals of
+Nottinghamshire_. Among his poems are _Ireton_, dedicated to Lord John
+Russell; the _Carnival of Death_; _What is Life?_ In business he was
+first in the stocking-trade, and afterwards a wine merchant.
+
+
+PHILIP JAMES BAILEY [1816–1902], the author of _Festus_, was fortunate
+in having a father whose literary interests enabled and induced him to
+sympathize with the poetic aspirations of his son, and the poem is very
+appropriately dedicated by the son to the father:--
+
+        “My Father! unto thee to whom I owe
+    All that I am, all that I have and can;
+        Who madest me in thyself the sum of man
+    In all his generous aims and powers to know,
+        These first fruits bring I.”
+
+Bailey studied for the bar, and was called, but did not practise. His
+education at the University of Glasgow was perhaps a better training
+for his future career than residence at the old English universities
+might have been; it was wider and less purely classical. He is
+remarkable for having deliberately resolved to be a poet, for having
+prepared himself most scrupulously to rise to “the height of his great
+argument,” and for having refused to court popularity by following a
+lower aim in his verse. Such a work as _Festus_ can not be popular; it
+is too long and difficult for that. It does not lend itself readily
+to quotation, but must be read and studied as a whole. The lines most
+commonly cited from it are these:--
+
+    “Life’s more than breath and the quick round of blood:
+    It is a great spirit and a busy heart,
+    The coward and small in soul scarce live.
+    One generous feeling; one great thought; one deed
+    Of good, ere night, would make life longer seem
+    Than if each year might number a thousand days,
+    Spent as is this by nations of mankind.
+    We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;
+    In feelings, not in figures on a dial.
+    We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives
+    Who thinks most; feels the noblest; acts the best.
+    And he whose heart beats quickest lives the longest,
+    Lives in one hour more than in years do some
+    Whose fat blood sleeps as it slips along their veins.
+    Life is but a means unto an end; that end,
+    Beginning, mean and end to all things--God.”
+
+  [Illustration: PHILIP JAMES BAILEY. “FESTUS.”
+
+  _By kind permission of_ MISS CAREY.]
+
+We may note also for its quiet humour--
+
+    “He sleeps! The fate of many a gracious moral
+    This to be stranded on a drowsy ear;”
+
+and this, as indicating Bailey’s aim as a writer--
+
+    “Write to the mind and heart, and let the ear
+    Glean after what it can. The voice of great
+    Or graceful thoughts is sweeter far than all
+    Word-music; and great thoughts, like great deeds, need
+    No trumpet. Never be in haste in writing.
+    Let that thou utterest be of nature’s flow,
+    Not Art’s; a fountain’s, not a pump’s.”
+
+Bailey’s work has hitherto been more appreciated in America than in
+England. On the death of Tennyson, in 1892, it was suggested that he
+should be made Poet Laureate; and he was one of the distinguished men
+on whom the University of Glasgow conferred an honorary degree at its
+Jubilee Celebration in 1901.
+
+In 1901 Mr. James Ward, of Nottingham, published a pamphlet entitled
+_Recollections of Philip James Bailey_, in which was published for the
+first time a poem called “Liberty, a Poetical Protocol,” which begins:--
+
+    “Time was when Liberty came down
+        From the high seat
+        Where, by God’s feet,
+    With Law, she claims one same and sacred crown;
+    And to the dominant nations of the earth,
+        Massed in the West,
+    Where most her votaries dwell, who own her worth,
+        And love her best
+        These words addressed:--”
+
+Of criticism _Festus_ has had plenty. Tennyson said, “I can scarcely
+trust myself to say how much I admire it, for fear of falling into
+extravagance.” Gilfillan says “Shelley’s _Prometheus_ is the argument
+of _Faust_ extended from man the individual to man the species; while
+_Festus_ is the argument of Job applied in the like manner to the whole
+human family; _Festus_ is to the one as Job to the other, a type of the
+fall and recovery of all men. The scene of Faust and Prometheus is on
+earth; that of Job and of Festus is (essentially) in eternity.”
+
+LUKE BOOKER [1762–1835] and THOMAS RAGG [1808–1881] may be mentioned
+together with Spencer T. Hall as friends and helpers of the weaver
+poet, Robert Millhouse [1788–1839], whom they assisted by writing on
+his behalf and in other ways.
+
+Booker was vicar of Dudley, and besides his poems (“Sacred, Moral, and
+Entertaining”), wrote a didactic poem called _The Hop Garden_, and a
+Descriptive and Historical Account of Dudley Castle; this was published
+in 1825, and is described as “a good piece of work.”
+
+Ragg, after being in his father’s printing office and then apprentice
+to a hosier, became a bookseller’s assistant, and finally, having
+attracted by his Christian apologetics the attention of some Church
+dignitaries, took orders. He died vicar of Lawley, in Shropshire. Among
+those interested in him were James Montgomery, Isaac Taylor, and Robert
+Southey. His poem, _The Deity_, in twelve books, appeared in 1834, and
+was called in the _Times_ “a very remarkable production.” In 1855 he
+produced _Creation’s Testimony to its God, the Accordance of Science,
+Philosophy and Revelation_. Ragg has been termed “the adopted poet of
+the Evangelic Muse.”
+
+SPENCER TIMOTHY HALL [1812–1885], “the Sherwood Forester,” had a
+remarkable history, and was--
+
+    “A man so various that he seemed to be
+    Not one, but all the world’s epitome.”
+
+He said of himself that he “could dig, plough, reap, stack, thresh, and
+winnow, make a stocking and a shoe, write a book and print and bind it,
+or give a lecture, or take stock of a man’s body and mind and furnish
+him with an inventory of the same!” He gave exhibitions of mesmerism,
+helped to edit a newspaper, was once a postmaster, was secretary to the
+Society for Abolishing Capital Punishment, and a poet to crown it all!
+
+In his steady determined struggle upwards from obscurity and
+uncongenial occupations to literary recognition and success he
+resembled his great exemplar Benjamin Franklin, and his versatility
+recalls his fellow-townsman Samuel Parrott the painter, whose boast it
+was that he could do three things well--build a tall factory chimney,
+play the violin, and paint an Academy picture. Among Hall’s writings
+were, _The Forester’s Offering_, _The Upland Hamlet, and other Poems_,
+and _The Peak and the Plain_. He was born at Sutton-in-Ashfield, and
+died at Blackpool. His epitaph on Robert Millhouse will bear quoting
+again:--
+
+    “When Trent shall flow no more, and Blossoms fail
+    On Sherwood’s plains to scent the spring tide gale,
+    When the Lark’s lay shall lack its thrilling charm,
+    And song forget the Patriot’s soul to warm--
+    When Love o’er youthful hearts hath lost all sway;
+    His fame may pass, but not till then away:
+    For Nature taught, and Freedom fired his Rhyme,
+    And Virtue dedicated it to Time.”
+
+WILLIAM HOWITT [1792–1879], MARY HOWITT [1799–1888], and RICHARD
+HOWITT [1799–1869] were a remarkable trio, who among them produced a
+considerable amount of work of various kinds.
+
+It seems unnecessary to say much in detail of William and Mary Howitt.
+What child is not familiar with _The Spider and the Fly_ and _The
+Ant and the Cricket_? They published together in 1821 the _Forest
+Minstrel_, and in their literary activity they were as indefatigable
+as Southey. Among William’s works were _Homes and Haunts of British
+Poets_, the _Ruined Abbeys and Castles of Great Britain_, a _Popular
+History of England_, and a _History of Priestcraft_, the last of which
+dragged the writer into politics as an advocate of popular liberty,
+and caused him to be made an alderman of Nottingham. Mary Howitt
+dedicated her _Ballads and other Poems_, published in 1847, to “My
+best counsellor and teacher, my literary associate for a quarter of a
+century, my husband and my friend.” In the light of this dedication
+the bronze plaque at the Nottingham Castle Museum is invested with
+peculiar interest. On it husband and wife are represented as poring
+together over the pages of an open book, and there is a moving pathetic
+tenderness in the artist’s work. Mary Howitt’s reception at the
+close of her life into the Church of Rome suggests that she had been
+“voyaging through strange seas of thought alone.”
+
+Richard Howitt published in 1840 _The Gipsy King and other Poems_, and
+in 1868 _Wasp’s Honey: or Poetic Gold and Gems of Poetic Thought_.
+These contain much beautiful verse. The _Athenæum_ said of him, “He
+is healthfully English in his composition,” while Tennyson said,
+“Nature has been bountiful to you.” He won also the appreciation of
+Wordsworth, Leigh Hunt, and Christopher North. A characteristic poem
+showing his delight in simple nature is _On a Daisy_, first seen by
+him in Australia. He died at Edingley, near Southwell. Interesting
+illustrative quotations from the works of the Howitts, Robert
+Millhouse, and other writers may be found in Wylie’s book already
+mentioned. Millhouse has been called “the Burns of Nottinghamshire,”
+and his sonnets have a simplicity and directness that indicate strength.
+
+EDWARD HAWKSLEY published in 1829 some poems entitled _Colonel
+Hutchinson and other Poems_. In a poem on the Trent he makes special
+mention of Thomas Bailey--
+
+    “Last, Bailey tuned his sedgy reed,
+    And gave thee, rolling Trent, thy meed.”
+
+In 1825 MARY ANN CURSHAM produced a long poem on _Martin Luther_,
+in three parts, containing altogether well over two thousand lines;
+and from Southwell, in 1844, came _The Eastern Princess_ and a drama
+entitled _Walberg, or Temptation_, by SOPHIA MARY SMITH. The publisher
+was W. Bunny. HENRY HOGG’S verses, published in 1852, have a pleasant
+smoothness and melody due to a close imitation of his poetic master,
+Tennyson, who at that time was evidently influencing considerably the
+local writers. In Tennyson’s Memoir it is recorded: “Towards the end of
+the year (1855) an unknown Nottingham artisan came to call. My father
+asked him to dinner, and at his request read _Maud_.” This artisan, it
+appears, had sent Tennyson his poems beforehand to read.
+
+In illustration of Hogg’s style may be quoted these lines:--
+
+    “Till Knowledge from the statelier ranks
+      Shall come down unto earth, and lend
+    The faith to look beyond those banks
+      That skirt the life which has no end.
+
+    Whence some who look see nought but night,
+      And some feel nought but idle fears;
+    And grope in darkness for the light,
+      And waste a useless life in tears.
+
+    And some see lights that burn afar,
+      And hear a still voice wisely teach;
+    And live, and grasp their better star,
+      And rise on stronger wings, and reach
+    Unto the foremost fruits of time
+    Where Wisdom walketh, gathering Grace,
+    And swelling heaven-ward.”
+
+EDWIN ATHERSTONE [1788–1872] was a voluminous writer. Among his
+works were the _Fall of Nineveh_ in thirty books; _Israel in Egypt_,
+containing nearly twenty thousand lines; and the _Last Days of
+Herculaneum_. He was a friend of John Martin the painter. He died at
+Bath, being at the time of his death in receipt of a pension of £100 a
+year.
+
+In 1859 JOSEPH TRUMAN published a volume of verse “inscribed to the
+author of _Festus_ by his friend J. T.” The poems are pleasant reading
+and the work of a thoughtful man.
+
+In some lines on Fox How we have:--
+
+    “Reverential earnest Arnold,
+    Warmly human, wisely good;
+    O! for more of Arnold-spirit,
+    In our age’s feverish blood!
+
+    More of conscience in the Nation,
+    More of Manhood in the Man,
+    Statutes in a fairer fashion,
+    Churches on a broader plan!”
+
+And these lines give the spirit of the writer’s creed:--
+
+    “Sooner or later all souls shall be saved,
+    Else God’s love is defeated, or not rich
+    Like God’s, and still the pleading Christ must stand
+    In human earnest raising unto Him
+    Pathetic eyes dim with eternal tears.
+    For life is like a circle drawn by God,
+    And closes in the place it came from--heaven.”
+
+Did space allow, many beautiful thoughts might be set down here from
+the poems of H. SEPTIMUS SUTTON [1825–1901], who has left behind him
+a volume of verse distinguished by delicate sentiment and much beauty
+of diction. He was educated at first for the medical profession, but
+finding some of the work incidental to it distasteful, he became a
+journalist and devoted himself to the cause of temperance, being editor
+of the _Alliance News_ for more than forty years. He was intimate with
+most of the writers of the “Sherwood Forest School,” and has left
+slight sketches of some of those writers in his _Clifton Grove Garland_.
+
+The “modest” White--
+
+    “A youth, slow pacing, unawares impelled
+    By blind thought,”
+
+who
+
+    “Lifted from the grass his meditative eyes”;
+
+Philip James Bailey, who
+
+    “Came down the grove, dark-haired, deep-eyed,
+    And groundward looking; but I will be bound,
+    Not seeing aught he looked at on the ground”;
+
+Miller, “the basket-maker”; Hall “with many a merry smile.”
+
+Sutton’s poems won the appreciation of such judges as Francis William
+Newman, Frances Power Cobbe, Christina Rossetti, and George Macdonald.
+
+One of his most exquisite productions is _Rose’s Diary_. What can be
+more beautiful than these lines?--
+
+
+                                “SORROW
+
+    “The flowers live by the tears that fall
+      From the sad face of the skies,
+    And life would have no joys at all
+      Were there no watery eyes.
+    Love thou thy sorrow; grief shall bring
+      Its own excuse in after years;
+    The rainbow!--see how fair a thing
+      God hath built up from tears.”
+
+And to the question, “Is life worth living?” hear Sutton’s answer:--
+
+    “How beautiful it is to be alive!
+    To wake each morn as if the Maker’s grace
+    Did us afresh from nothingness derive
+    That we might sing ‘How happy is our case!
+    How beautiful it is to be alive!’
+
+    To read in God’s great book, until we feel
+    Love for the love that gave it: then to kneel
+    Close unto Him Whose truth our souls will shrive,
+    While every moment’s joy doth more reveal
+    How beautiful it is to be alive.
+
+    Rather to go without what might increase
+    Our worldly standing, than our souls deprive
+    Of frequent speech with God, or than to cease
+    To feel, through having wasted health or peace,
+    How beautiful it is to be alive.
+
+    Not to forget, when pain and grief draw nigh,
+    Into the ocean of time past to dive
+    For memories of God’s mercies, or to try
+    To bear all sweetly, hoping still to cry
+    ‘How beautiful it is to be alive!’
+
+    Thus ever towards man’s height of nobleness
+    Strive still some new progression to contrive;
+    Till, just as any other friend’s, we press
+    Death’s hand; and, having died, feel none the less
+    How beautiful it is to be alive.”
+
+
+WILLIAM FRANK SMITH [1836–1876]. In 1864 a small volume was published
+by Smith, Elder & Co., _Poems by William Frank Smith_. It is dated
+from The Park, Nottingham, July 1864, and is dedicated to “W. W. Gull,
+Esq., M.D.,” the author being led to dedicate it thus “by a sense of
+gratitude for this, that among the hours of your laborious life you
+found time to encourage and appreciate my efforts when encouragement
+was indeed of great price to me.”
+
+Smith was educated at Bromsgrove School. He became a doctor, and held
+the post of physician to the Sheffield Infirmary. His health broke
+down, and he died at the early age of forty.
+
+The poems are sixteen in all, the most important being a
+trilogy--_Saint Bruno the Believer_, _Spinoza the Thinker_, and
+_Meister Cornelius the Worker_. They are evidently the production of
+a cultivated man with refined tastes and feelings, sensitive to the
+charms and varying moods of nature, and brooding, perhaps unhealthily,
+over the unsolved “riddle of this painful earth.”
+
+There is in them much vividness of conception and beauty of
+description. The writer seems to have drawn his inspiration largely
+from the Ancient Classics and the Bible, from Tennyson, and mediæval
+speculations and pageantry.
+
+A second edition of the poems appeared in 1879, with a memoir of
+the author by Dr. Pye Smith, and additional poems, including some
+translations from the Classics. To illustrate the style and spirit of
+the work, we quote from _Saint Bruno_:--
+
+    “But soon the music filled my thirsting ears
+      With richer harmonies,
+    The movement swifter grew, and then I saw
+      A curtain rise.
+    With sound of tinkling anklet bells there came
+      A train of laughing girls,
+    Dark-eyed, their braided raven tresses twined
+      With wreaths of pearls;
+    The silken rustling folds of Eastern robes
+      Half hid the glancing white
+    Of limbs divinely moulded; noiselessly
+      As flakes of light
+    From boughs in sunlight waved, their arching feet
+      Beat on the velvet ground
+    In time to that enchanted melody
+      That breathed around.
+    And sweetly chimed the silver anklet bells
+      While hand in hand they came,
+    Now bending towards me, now retiring poised
+      Like waving flame;
+    But still their dark enticing eyes were fixed
+      On mine unceasingly,
+    I might not turn away, I could not shun
+      Their witchery.”
+
+As his death draws near, Spinoza soliloquises:--
+
+    “The polyp dies, his coral house remains,
+    The fragile ocean creatures melt away,
+    Their hollow spiral shells remain, perchance
+    For cycles hidden down beneath the earth.
+    I also pass away, and men no more
+    Shall hear my voice, but still my work remains.
+    In ages yet to come, high souls shall dwell
+    Within my palace, echoing my name
+    With reverence,
+
+              As one that draweth near
+    A fall of mighty waters in a pass,
+    What time the vale becomes a sunless chasm,
+    The overhanging rocks around him close,
+    He hears the awful thunder-voice more loud
+    Each step; even so, while now I draw more near
+    The awful presence, all my human life
+    Grows dark and narrow, all my soul is weak
+    With solemn awe,--with awe, but not with fear.”
+
+The end of Meister Cornelius is impressively told. Perhaps these lines
+from a sonnet on the death of T. W. Buckle indicate Smith’s outlook
+upon life:--
+
+    “The strong right hand hath fallen from the standard,
+    To him, a man, was given to see the long
+    And dark world drama with unclouded eyes
+    Even as a God. Through centuries of wrong,
+    And sounding wars, and splendid tyrannies,
+    He saw the growth of thought august and strong,
+    The slow advance to mightier destinies.”
+
+Of Thomas Miller a good notice appeared in the literary supplement of
+the _Nottingham Daily Guardian_ of the date December 18, 1906. Only
+passing mention can be made of John Hicklin, editor and part proprietor
+of the _Nottingham Journal_; of Ann Taylor, afterwards Mrs. Gilbert, of
+Ongar [1782–1866], a well-known writer of hymns and poems for children;
+of Samuel Collinson, whose _Autumn Leaves_, a small volume published in
+1867, deserves mention if only for its graceful lines of dedication; of
+F. R. Goodyer, who wrote to the local journals many amusing parodies
+and comic verses on passing events, and was besides associated with
+William Bradbury in the production of a burlesque acted at Nottingham,
+_Ye Faire Maide of Clifton_.
+
+Among translators are Gilbert Wakefield the Scholar [1756–1801],
+who made translations from Juvenal, Horace, and Virgil, and wrote
+metrical versions of one or two of the Psalms: and Ichabod Charles
+Wright [1795–1871], the translator of Homer and Dante. Wakefield’s
+translations are not very remarkable, and in his Horace renderings he
+does not attempt to reproduce the original metres. His Tenth Satire of
+Juvenal ends thus:--
+
+    “One blessing on ourselves we may bestow:
+    ’Tis peace: and Virtue is our peace below:
+    No power hast thou where Wisdom’s altars rise;
+    We, Fortune! build thee shrines, we station in the skies.”
+
+It seems strange that for one of the exercises of his muse he should
+have chosen a Psalm the last verse of which in his translation is:--
+
+    “Thrice blest the man, whose ruthless ears
+      Heed not the struggling mother’s moans:
+    Who from the breast her infant tears,
+      And dashes on the bleeding stones.”
+
+GEORGE HICKLING, of Cotgrave [1827–1909], is better known perhaps
+to Nottinghamshire readers by his pen-name of “Rusticus.” Of lowly
+origin and circumstances and practically self-educated, he attained a
+respectable position in the local world of letters, and, if he did
+not achieve greatness, he produced work which showed that he had a
+sensitive and observant mind, and that he had by perseverance won a
+most creditable victory over limited opportunities. Much of his verse
+was contributed to the Nottingham newspapers, to which, towards the
+close of his life, he sent also communications in prose on agricultural
+and meteorological matters. Two collected volumes of his verse were
+published: _The Pleasures of Life, and other Poems_, which appeared
+in 1861. It was dedicated to the Duke of Newcastle, and has some
+introductory lines signed H. B., M.A., and dated Nottingham Park,
+September 22, 1859. The other, _Echoes from Nature; or the Song of the
+Woodland Muse, a Poem for the People_, is dated 1863, and dedicated
+to Frederick Webster, Esq. They consist largely of descriptive and
+reflective pieces, suggested by the village and its neighbourhood in
+which his life was spent. They contain also patriotic verse called
+forth by the current events of his time. There are in some of these
+poems, naturally, unconscious echoes of more illustrious writers, such
+as Goldsmith. This does not mean a charge of plagiarism; far from it:
+the thoughts of “Rusticus” were his own, and he clearly endeavoured to
+express them in his own simple words. But he would be as profoundly
+influenced by the books he read in his early days as boys are by the
+personal teaching of a vigorous and stimulating master. Characteristic
+quotation from him is not easy. Perhaps the following lines will give a
+fair idea of his style and thought. But his poems should be read whole
+and one with another.
+
+
+                            “WHAT IS LOVE?
+
+    “Ah, What is love? No mortal tongue can tell:
+    It is the power that saves the earth from hell!
+    It is the spring of many a noble deed,
+    It shines refulgent in the Christian’s creed;
+    It smiles in every bursting bud and flower,
+    It has a voice in every passing hour;
+    It compasses the whole creation round,
+    And by its tendrils hearts to hearts are bound.
+    ’Tis the pulsation of the universe,
+    It counteracts the evils of the curse;
+    The golden cord that pendent hangs from heaven;
+    The mystic ladder-way to mortals given;
+    It is the breath of blessed spirit throngs
+    When round the earth they breathe eternal songs.”
+
+The _Nottingham Athenæum_ said of him that “he was the truest poet in
+our locality, and his present volume bears us out in our assertion”;
+and the _London Athenæum_: “Some of Mr. Hickling’s poems are excellent,
+and show great poetic power”; while the _Telegraph_ describes the verse
+as a pearl “as pure and priceless as any of the glittering gems that
+Nottingham genius has hitherto offered.”
+
+In 1859 James Blackwood, of Paternoster Row, published a small volume
+of poems entitled, _The Flirting Page, a Legend of Normandy, and other
+Poems_, by Charles Dranfield and George Denham Halifax. “Charles
+Dranfield” was the pen-name of RICHARD FOSTER SKETCHLEY, who was born
+at Newark on 23rd July 1826. He was of far-reaching Newark ancestry,
+and was educated at the Magnus Grammar School, from which he proceeded
+to Exeter College, Oxford. In 1864 he was appointed Assistant-Keeper
+of the Science and Art Department of the Victoria and Albert Museum
+at South Kensington, and held that post for thirty years. He was on
+the staff of _Punch_ for many years. A memorial notice of him was
+contributed to the _Magnus Magazine_ by Mr. T. M. Blagg, another
+old Magnus boy. It is clear from the testimony of his friends that
+Sketchley was a man of great charm of manner and singular modesty; his
+serious poems show that he had a cultured mind, refined and sensitive;
+that he had no common gift for humorous writing is evident from his
+connexion with such a paper as _Punch_, He died at Seaford in Sussex,
+and was buried there.
+
+His chief poem in the volume mentioned above is _The Flirting Page_, in
+the style of the _Ingoldsby Legends_. It is amusing and well written,
+with a great command of rhyme, and shows that the writer had an
+extensive acquaintance with men and things. The more serious poems deal
+with incidents in the Crimean War, or with feelings aroused by memories
+of the far-off days of happy youth. Quotation is not easy; the poems
+should be read as wholes. These lines, from the Introduction to _The
+Flirting Page_, will illustrate the author’s gift of rhyme:--
+
+    “Leave business, and bullion, and British Bank bubbles
+    For woods and plantations, for fallows and stubbles:
+    Leave barracks and chambers, the clubs, and ‘the House’
+    For the mountains and moor, for the deer and the grouse,
+    For jungles and prairies, and lonely savannahs,
+    With rifles and pale ale, and lots of ‘Havanahs’;
+    Leave the porter of Barclay, the water of Thames,
+    For vin ordinaire and the waters of Ems:
+    Leave station and bridges, by railway and steamer,
+    For Keswick or Conway, for Antwerp or Lima;
+        For the Rhine or the Rhone,
+        Or the winding Saone:
+    For the valley of Chamouni, bent on pic-nicing
+    On the top of Mont Blanc with champagne and chicken;
+    For Rome to buy bronzes and gaze at the Pope;
+    For Naples whose king’s not so good as its soap;
+    For the Dove or the Danube, for Malvern or Mecca;
+    For the banks of the Wye, or the banks of the Neckar.”
+
+And as specimen of the shorter poems, we may take to illustrate the
+writer’s sympathetic insight, two contrasted verses from “Peace and War
+(Sunday, November 5, 1854)”:--
+
+    “In the carved chancel stalls
+      Knelt a maiden in the sun;
+    And the marble on the walls
+      Told of fields her fathers won:
+    She was pleading in her love
+      That her lover might not die:
+    And the angels wept above
+      For they heard his dying cry.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    Underneath the pollard oaks,
+      Clustered on a grassy knoll
+    Where the woodman’s ringing strokes
+      Never slash the slender bole;
+    Meeting death among his men,
+      Grasping still his father’s sword,
+    Never more to charge again,
+      Lay the loved one on the sward.”
+
+It is clear that Sketchley’s work is too good to pass over without
+remark. He had the gift of rousing the emotions and kindling the
+imagination by a skilful touch of scenic colour, as when he speaks of
+“the grange beyond the wold” (perhaps a recollection of Tennyson’s “old
+mill across the wold”), and again,
+
+    “Where the rectory roses cluster, where the whitened cottage peers,
+    In the old manorial mansion, eyes were filled with thankful tears.”
+
+The mention of Newark calls up the names of several writers whose works
+were published in that town when it was a publishing centre. For a
+more detailed account of these authors and their works the reader is
+referred to Mr. T. M. Blagg’s chapter on “Newark as a Publishing Town,”
+in his little book of Newark history.
+
+In 1810, _Besthorpe, a Descriptive Poem by a Young Native_, was printed
+by Hage. Charles Snart, solicitor, angler, and poet, brought out a
+_Selection of Poems_, containing several pieces by himself. They have
+many allusions to the Trent and the writer’s love of the rod and line.
+
+In 1823 John Atkin, of North Muskham, published _Jonah Tink_, the title
+being an anagrammatic transposition of the letters of the writer’s
+name. In 1830 appeared _Cambria, Raymond, and other Poems_, by a
+Lady; and in the same year _The Power of Gold_, by H. N. Bousfield,
+undergraduate of Queen’s College, Cambridge; and in 1862 _Sonnets_, by
+Thomas Lester, a schoolmaster at Ossington. At an earlier date (1793)
+Allen and Ridge had produced _Miscellaneous Poems_, by R. P. Shilton.
+
+_Jonah Tink_ has no claim to the title of poetry as the elegant
+expression of subtle or deep feeling, and the idealized description
+of nature, character, and action; it is merely a rhymed and not
+over-grammatical account of the rise of an industrious and
+well-conducted farm-servant to wealth and an influential position; it
+is a kind of rhymed commentary on Hogarth’s Industrious Apprentice. Its
+value lies in its descriptive touches of the life of a certain section
+of society at the time it was written, and its incidental allusions
+to social abuses and customs. From the preface it appears that Atkin
+was originally a carpenter and joiner by trade, and afterwards became
+master of the Free School in his native village. He mentions a visit
+to a “personally unknown bard,” Mr. Benjamin Kemp, of Farnsfield. He
+had his full share of pedagogic authoritativeness, and it is amusing
+to read that he “disbelieved the theory” of Sir Isaac Newton as to
+gravitation. He makes a disparaging reference to Southey,
+
+          “I should ’tis sure
+    Like S--th--y gain a sinecure,”
+
+adding in a note, “In the year 1818 no fewer than four Marriages of the
+Royals took place, which formerly would have caused the Laureate to
+invoke the Sackbut, but not a line had been produced by the State Poet.”
+
+Bousfield’s _Power of Gold_ is more literary in its form. It deals
+with the warping and corrupting influence of wealth on naturally
+good dispositions, and is religious in tone, as are many others of
+Bousfield’s poems. Among the subscribers to the book were Michael
+Thomas Sadler, M.P.; Dr. Sleath, Master of Repton; and Henry
+Willoughby, M.P. One line in the poem on wealth, “To temper earth
+with antepast of heaven,” suggests by its archaism that the writer
+was familiar with the earlier writers of verse. It is perhaps not
+without interest to mention that, as the scientific imagination of
+Erasmus Darwin anticipated the invention of aeroplanes, so John Atkin
+foreshadowed the era of the bicycle and motor car by his allusion to
+the actual use in his time of the “velocipede”--a beast which “wanted
+neither corn nor hay.”
+
+Other local verse-writers who in this paper must be only names
+are:--Matthew Unwin [1755–1786], Sidney Giles [1814–1846], Charles
+Hooton [1810–1847], Edward Hind, Lucy Joynes [1781–1851], William
+Calvert, John Wright, Frank Browne, Mary Ann Carter, William Powers
+Smith, E. G. Pickering, Samuel Mullen, and H. Bradbury Mellors. Nor
+should we forget David Love [1750–1827], packman and ballad-monger. He
+was a Scotchman by birth. Two portraits of him were exhibited by the
+Thoroton Society at the conversazione held in 1900.
+
+A cursory glance at the work of our local poets will make it plain
+that they reflect the dominant literary tendencies of various epochs,
+“the spacious times of great Elizabeth,” when sonnets expressed the
+amours and gallantries of the Queen’s Court; the dramatic impulse
+and fantastic compositions of the early Stuart period; the satirical
+poems of the age of Dryden; the simplicity, fondness for nature, and
+reflective poetry of Wordsworth and Browning. There do not appear any
+clear traces of the influence of Keats and Shelley.
+
+It may be objected that much of the verse spoken about is not poetry
+at all. But the objection is scarcely valid. Great gifts of vivid
+imagination and creative genius, with the power of apt, vigorous, and
+melodious expression, are granted to few. Minor writers can, however,
+act the part of the ancient pædagogos by leading us on to the great
+masters of thought and song; or, to vary the figure, they dig from the
+deep mines of thought gems to polish and set for daily use by busy,
+practical, unlearned men. They change the pure gold into current coin.
+And though Spedding speaks “of the tricks of these versifying times
+(about 1842) born of superficial sensibility to beauty and a turn
+for setting to music the current doctrines and fashionable feelings
+of the day,” it will be found that, with few exceptions, our writers
+are honourably distinguished for their independence of thought, and
+truthful spontaneous naturalness.
+
+In conclusion, this paper lays no claim to exhaustive treatment of
+its subject, either in respect of the writers enumerated or the
+short notices of some of them. Time, space, and opportunity have been
+against both the one and the other. The writer has done his work amid
+a pressure of other occupations; and he craves the indulgence which is
+usually shown towards errors or omissions--
+
+          “Quas aut incuria fudit,
+    Aut humana parum cavit natura.”
+
+If his work should be another step onwards towards a complete anthology
+of the native verse, and should lead Nottinghamshire men to a fuller
+knowledge and keener appreciation of their county writers, it will have
+its full reward.
+
+
+
+
+                              NOTTINGHAM
+
+                        BY W. P. W. PHILLIMORE
+
+
+The first historical reference to Nottingham which we possess is but a
+little more than a thousand years ago, and though it is likely enough
+that there were at a very much earlier date some few dwellings along
+the southern slopes of the hills upon which the city stands, or cave
+dwellings hewn out of the soft sandstone rock, it is unlikely that
+it had become of any importance before the Saxon period, to which
+it is obvious that its name, anciently Snotingaham, belongs. It is
+apparently tribal in its origin, indicating the home or dwelling of
+the descendants of Snod; possibly the early form of our modern surname
+of Snow. There are but few other places in England whose names may
+have a similar origin. In Kent we find Snode Bridge and Snodland, in
+Dorset is Nottington, and in Hampshire, a few miles west of Andover,
+is an obscure hamlet called Snottington. Snenton, now an integral part
+of Nottingham, is said to have the same derivation, and the local
+historians identify it with the Notintone of Domesday. Medieval writers
+have ascribed a much greater antiquity to Nottingham, and have given
+it the strange name of Tiguocobauc, said to mean a place of caves.
+The tradition of King Ebranc and of the slaughter of the Britons here
+points to a belief in medieval days in the great antiquity of the town.
+But beyond the existence of cave dwellings, which after all may be
+quite modern in origin, and the discovery of a few bronze implements,
+we have no tangible evidence of any higher antiquity, and the physical
+characteristics of the site further militate against the claim. With
+the forest coming near the town on the north, and the alluvial marsh
+lands on the south, the site must in early times have been very
+inaccessible, a fact which doubtless attracted those who first selected
+the Castle rock as a military stronghold. The Castle and St. Mary’s and
+Snenton churches form the ends of a double horseshoe. Between them lies
+the town facing the south, with the rock dwellings of Snenton Hermitage
+at one end, and those under the Castle rock, known in later times
+as the Papist Holes, at the other end. Until destroyed by the Great
+Northern Railway extensions in recent years, the rock dwellings at the
+foot of the rock at Snenton, on which stands St. Stephen’s Church, were
+an interesting characteristic of the village.
+
+The Danish invasion of Mercia brought Nottingham into prominence.
+It became one of the five principal towns of the Danelagh--Derby,
+Leicester, Lincoln, and Stamford, being the other four--and though the
+Danish dominion was not of long duration, it left a very permanent
+mark on the town. The gateways in the town walls were known as “Bars,”
+instead of “Gates” as in the south of England, and the last of these,
+Chapel Bar, pulled down in the eighteenth century, still survives in
+name, forming a familiar part of the great western outlet of the town.
+The other trace of the Danish occupation is the almost universal use
+of “Gate” instead of “Street.” Two hundred years ago the only streets
+were Stoney Street and Pepper Street, the other principal thoroughfares
+being known as Gates or Rows, while the lesser ones were called Lanes.
+Wheeler Gate, Goose Gate, Peter Gate, Mary Gate, Long Row, Smithy Row,
+and Friar Lane are familiar to all Nottingham people, and within the
+last half century we still had Sheep Lane and Chandlers’ Lane. These
+last have given place to Market Street and Victoria Street, just as in
+the previous century Sadler Gate, the continuation of Bridlesmith Gate,
+very inappropriately became High Street, and Cow Lane and Girdlesmith
+Gate were renamed Clumber Street and Pelham Street.
+
+Although there was right in the centre of the town one of the largest
+market-places in the kingdom, the ways out in every direction were
+remarkably narrow, and even within recent years two carts could not
+pass one another in Pelham Street, the principal eastern exit. The
+widening of Cow Lane, now Clumber Street, in the eighteenth century,
+followed by the demolition of Chapel Bar, improving the ways out on the
+north and west, were the earliest attempts at town improvement. The
+latter half of the nineteenth century saw the construction of Albert
+Street and the widening of Lister Gate on the south, the conversion of
+Chandlers’ Lane into Victoria Street, and the change in Sheep Lane by
+widening it so as to form Market Street. King Street and the widening
+of Wheeler Gate are the most recent of the street improvements in the
+centre of the town.
+
+As a military post in early times, Nottingham was of considerable
+importance. The great rock, upon which stood the Castle, with its
+natural means of defence, was obviously well suited for a military
+stronghold. The Castle, built or rebuilt by William the Conqueror, was
+guarded by William Peverel, and somewhat more than a hundred years
+later it became the stronghold of John, when Earl of Mortein, in his
+rebellion against his brother, King Richard I, by whom it was besieged
+in 1194. It was at Nottingham Castle, in 1330, that Edward III struck
+the blow which ended the usurpation of Isabella and Mortimer, through
+the help of Eland, the Governor, who revealed to him the existence of
+the secret passage down into the valley of the Leen, which ever since
+has borne the name of Mortimer’s Hole, now so familiar to Nottingham
+people. Throughout his reign Edward III was often at Nottingham Castle,
+and held some of his Parliaments here. It continued to be a royal
+fortress and residence, but after the Wars of the Roses was allowed
+to fall into decay. From the description which Leland the antiquary
+gives of it in the reign of Henry VIII, the buildings must have been
+of great extent and importance, but no illustrations of it have been
+preserved, and there now only remains the entrance gateway of this
+famous fortress as an indication of its former greatness. A plan of it
+is given in the local histories, upon which the late Mr. T. C. Hine
+based an imaginative picture of it. In the reign of James I it was
+granted to the Earl of Rutland, and so became private property. It was
+then so ruinous that that King, on his visit to Nottingham, could find
+no suitable lodging in it, and was obliged to stay in the town itself.
+Only once again was Nottingham Castle concerned with military matters,
+and that was in 1642, when King Charles I here raised his standard
+against the Parliament. The next year it fell into the possession
+of the Parliament, and was held by the famous Colonel Hutchinson,
+who defended it against royalist attacks. Of the siege we have the
+well-known narrative related by Mrs. Hutchinson in the _Life_
+of her husband, which she wrote. After the Civil War the Castle was
+dismantled, and its military history ended. It was afterwards bought
+by the Duke of Newcastle, who demolished the remains, and in 1674
+commenced the erection of the present stately building, which was
+completed by his son in 1679, but was occupied as a residence by the
+Newcastle family for hardly a hundred years, being afterwards let to
+tenants. At the time of the Reform Riots in 1832, it was burnt down by
+the mob, and remained a blackened ruin until, in 1878, it was acquired
+on a long lease by the Corporation of Nottingham, and converted into an
+art museum.
+
+One remarkable feature continued in Nottingham right into the
+eighteenth century, and that was the division of the town into the
+English and French boroughs. The English part of the town was that
+surrounding the mother church of St. Mary; the French, or the new town,
+comprised the districts now forming the parishes of St. Peter and St.
+Nicholas. For the two divisions of the borough, between which the
+market-place was divided, it was customary to elect separate juries.
+Indeed, the custom of electing two sheriffs and two coroners, which
+prevailed until the Municipal Reform Act of 1835, has been thought to
+have a similar origin.
+
+In the middle ages Nottingham was a place of military rather than
+of ecclesiastical importance. Town and county until the nineteenth
+century owed allegiance to the far-off cathedral of St. Peter at
+York. The Grey Friars and the White Friars, as well as the Knights of
+St. John of Jerusalem, had houses here, but of these establishments
+all traces save street names have long since disappeared. And of the
+great priory at Lenton, founded by Peverel, there are left only the
+fragments of two Norman pillars to indicate the strength and majesty
+of that building. Until the last century there were but three parish
+churches in the town. St. Peter’s structurally is the most ancient,
+for parts of it appear to date from the twelfth century, and it may be
+regarded in some respects as more interesting than the more important
+church of St. Mary’s. St. Nicholas, the smallest of the three ancient
+churches, demolished for military reasons in 1647, was rebuilt some
+thirty years later, and is notable as being one of the comparatively
+few examples there are of late seventeenth century church work built in
+the pointed style. But the glory of Nottingham is the great church of
+St. Mary built in the middle of the ancient English borough, its tower
+rivalling in prominence the castle at the other end of the town. From
+an architectural point of view this splendid cruciform church has the
+advantage that, with the exception of the chancel, which was built at a
+somewhat later date, the whole of it belongs to the best period of the
+Perpendicular style. Its present internal characteristic, lightness,
+was noted by the antiquary John Leland, in Henry VIII’s time, who
+described it as having “so many fair windows that no artificer could
+imagine to set more.”
+
+In the early nineteenth century began the building of additional
+churches necessitated by the growth of the town, and of these the
+first was St. James on Standard Hill, which in its name commemorates
+an ancient chapel that had long before disappeared. Of the many new
+churches which have been built in the past century, or of the efforts
+of the various nonconformist bodies who similarly have sought to supply
+the religious requirements of the town, it is impossible here to do
+more than allude.
+
+The great increase of Nottingham during the past hundred years has been
+due to the trade of the place, but this is no mere modern development.
+In the middle ages the “little smith of Nottingham who doth the work
+that no man can,” was as famous as his successors at the present day
+upon whose skill depend the great staple trades of lace and hosiery.
+Smithy Row, Bridlesmith Gate, Girdlesmith Gate, Bellar Gate, and
+Bellfounders’ Yard point out to us where the ancient craftsmen in metal
+carried on their industries. Many other trades have been carried on
+from time to time, and one of these, dyeing, left us a picturesque
+reminder in the fields of saffron which, in springtime and in autumn,
+were, until the great extension of building on the southern side of the
+town, so conspicuous a feature of the Nottingham Meadows.
+
+Until the middle of the nineteenth century the growth and prosperity
+of the town was greatly restricted by the commonable lands surrounding
+it which could not be built upon; but in 1845, under an Inclosure Act,
+the commonable rights were extinguished, thus permitting the needful
+extension of the town. So long ago as 1787 the need of inclosure was
+realised, but steadily and persistently opposed by the Corporation,
+whose past action largely contributed to the creation of insanitary
+areas, which in recent years have in some measure been swept away at a
+vast expense, partly by railway extensions without cost to the town,
+partly under improvement schemes at the expense of the ratepayer.
+
+The population of Nottingham, less than 25,000 at the end of the
+eighteenth century, has increased at least tenfold in the past hundred
+years. An ancient borough by prescription, now a titular city, it
+has a series of charters from the time of Henry II, and for more
+than 600 years has had a mayor and the right of returning members to
+Parliament. It is also a county in itself, though through the supposed
+exigencies of the case the site of the Shire Hall in the middle of
+the town belongs to the county. The Corporation is a very wealthy
+body, possessed of large estates producing more than £30,000 a year,
+besides the revenue which it draws from the profits of its commercial
+undertakings, such as the trams, the gasworks, and the waterworks,
+not to mention the contributions of the ratepayers, whose burdens,
+despite the Corporation estates, are not less than those of other
+towns. In 1877 the area of the borough was extended by the inclusion
+of the neighbouring parishes of Snenton, Lenton, Radford, Basford, and
+Bulwell, and in 1897 it was by royal charter created a city.
+
+Some reference may properly be made to the individual activity of
+Nottingham citizens. The religious work of the town is mainly dependent
+upon voluntary contributions, and in medical matters the various
+hospitals of the town form a striking testimony to this principle;
+while voluntary education is well represented by the High School and
+the Blue Coat School. Even the University College owes its origin to
+the anonymous gift of £10,000, and it is a matter of common knowledge
+that the great religious and social organisation known as the Salvation
+Army, which is based wholly upon volunteer work, was founded by a
+native of Nottingham. The literary activity of the town has not been
+small. In the middle of the eighteenth century, Dr. Standfast, the
+rector of Clifton, founded the professional library known by his name,
+which is merged in Bromley House Library, established in 1816. But
+even in much humbler ranks of life the value of books was recognised.
+Few perhaps realise what the working classes of Nottingham did before
+rate-supported libraries were started. Seventy years ago there were
+at least six operatives’ libraries supported by the weekly pence of
+working men, and the remarkable point about them--surprising perhaps to
+modern philanthropists--is, that they were situated at obscure taverns
+in some of the poorest parts of the town. That at the Rancliffe Arms,
+founded in 1835, had 2200 volumes; another at the Seven Stars owned
+about 1800 volumes, and the one at the Alderman Wood possessed 2150
+volumes, while the Oddfellows’ Library had 2300. There was another at
+the People’s Hall, and in 1836 was founded the Mechanics’ Institution,
+which, with its library, lectures, and classes, has done such valuable
+work for the intellectual advancement of the town, and is a centre of
+great literary activity. Even the rate-supported Public Library was
+based upon the old Artisans’ Library, which was founded as long ago as
+1824.
+
+At Nottingham is one of the ancient crossing places of the river
+Trent, the history of which dates back about a thousand years, for the
+building of a bridge here has been ascribed to Edward the Elder. The
+large expanse of alluvial land between the town and the present bed of
+the Trent necessitated in fact more than one bridge, as is hinted at
+in the colloquial plural form, not perhaps yet obsolete, of the Trent
+bridges, instead of merely Trent bridge. Passing the meadows from the
+foot of St. Mary’s rock, a series of bridges carried the London road
+to the narrow stone bridge of eighteen or twenty arches, which, forty
+years ago, was superseded by the present bridge of stone and iron.
+
+Medieval records have much to tell us of the building of the Trent
+bridge. Then, as now, the maintenance of the bridge was provided for
+without calling upon the townsmen for enforced contributions in the
+shape of rates. Seven hundred years ago the care and maintenance of
+the bridge was undertaken by the Hospital of St. John, in Nottingham,
+and in 1231 we have the record of “indulgences” of thirteen days
+given to those aiding in the building of the bridge of Hoybel at
+Nottingham--doubtless the structure known in later times as the
+Hethbeth bridge, a name of which the origin has not been satisfactorily
+determined.
+
+Bridges, then, were largely maintained with ecclesiastical support by
+voluntary gifts, as is shown by various episcopal records granting
+“indulgences” for their benefit. A chapel was commonly associated
+with a bridge, and the Trent bridge, with the chapel of St. Mary at
+the north end, was no exception to the rule. In 1303 John le Paumer
+of Nottingham, and Alice his wife, settled property in Nottingham
+amounting to the substantial annual value of £6, 13s. 5d. for the
+endowment of two chaplains for a daily service in the chapel of St.
+Mary at Hethbeth bridge, “for the souls of them, their ancestors,
+and all Christians who assign their goods or part of them for the
+maintenance of the bridge.” John le Paumer died within the next few
+years, but his widow, Alice le Paumer, continued the good work, and in
+1311 she obtained a grant of pontage, or the right of levying tolls on
+wares brought over the bridge, in order to provide the necessary funds,
+and provision was made for auditing the proceeds and the expenditure
+which she incurred. For fifteen or sixteen years the work seems to
+have continued under her care, for there exists in the Patent Rolls
+record of various grants to this lady in connection with the bridges.
+In 1314 occurs the specific statement that she was then building the
+bridge of Hethbeth, and four years later that the right to take pontage
+is extended for a further period of four years to provide also for
+the repair of any bridge to be built between Hethbeth bridge and the
+land towards “Gameleston,” now Gamston. This second bridge seems to
+have been built within the space of two years, for in July 1321 it was
+still spoken of as “to be built,” and in November 1323 it is stated
+to be “newly built.” In 1324 Alice le Paumer received a further grant
+of pontage for three years for the repair of Hethbeth bridge and “the
+bridge of the new breach by the said bridge.”
+
+It is not altogether easy to determine what these two bridges were.
+Between our modern Trent bridge and the land towards Gamston there
+could not have been any bridge, and the situation of the two bridges
+must be sought for somewhere in the London road between the town
+and West Bridgford. The Hethbeth bridge has been assumed to be, and
+probably correctly, the southern part of that series of arches which
+carry the roadway over the meadows to the south of the Leen. From the
+alluvial conformation of the land it is not unlikely that the Trent may
+have altered its course, or that it may have become divided here. If
+so the old stone bridge demolished some forty years ago would be that
+built by Alice le Paumer about 1321–1323, and described as the bridge
+of the “new breach,” an expression perhaps indicative of some new
+course then made by the Trent.
+
+The ancient stone bridge, which the older inhabitants of the city well
+remember, stood a little to the west of the present iron structure.
+One or two of the arches at the southern end have been left standing,
+and they indicate its width, or perhaps one might rather say its
+narrowness, in medieval times, though at some later period the bridge
+was widened, but not sufficiently to permit of a footpath on either
+side, and the only refuge from the traffic available for pedestrians
+was to be found in the angular recesses which surmounted the
+buttresses. Most of the arches of the bridge were pointed and narrow,
+dating probably from the time of Alice le Paumer, but those at the
+northern end had been rebuilt in the seventeenth century in a wider
+and rounded style. It was a picturesque and interesting structure,
+and as far as traffic was concerned at the time of its demolition,
+amply sufficed for the needs of the district. Only on market days
+was the foot passenger troubled by the traffic across the bridge--a
+great contrast to the present time, when the bridge has to serve the
+requirements of the populous suburb which has taken the place of the
+little country village of West Bridgford. It was in 1870 that the
+present Trent bridge was opened to traffic, and shortly after the
+ancient structure, which for so many centuries had served the needs of
+the men of Nottingham, was removed, all save the arches, which serve as
+the entrance to the riverside walk to Wilford. Those who are curious
+about relics of the past may like to know that some of the stonework of
+the old Trent bridge was utilised in building a new aisle to Plumtree
+Church.
+
+The Trent bridge is richly endowed, and out of the revenues of the
+bridge estate were provided the funds needed to build the present
+structure, without recourse to the ratepayer. These endowments are
+of ancient standing, and in an extension of this system of voluntary
+endowment followed by our ancestors may yet be found the way to relieve
+the ratepayer of the ever-increasing burden of local taxation.
+
+Half a century ago there were in the county but two bridges across
+the Trent--at Nottingham and Newark. Now we have in addition those at
+Wilford and Gunthorpe, besides the two railway bridges at Nottingham.
+As against this must be set the recent discontinuance of the
+ancient ferry which from Roman times or even earlier had existed at
+Littleborough.
+
+This sketch of the history and character of a great city is imperfect,
+as such attempts must be when limited to the space of a few pages.
+Perhaps it will suffice to show that Nottingham is no mean city, but
+one of which the inhabitants are rightly proud. Those who have settled
+there by choice, and those who are natives of the town, alike pride
+themselves upon it with good reason.
+
+
+
+
+                               SOUTHWELL
+
+                           BY W. E. HODGSON,
+
+    _Priest-Vicar of Wells Cathedral, and late Assistant-Curate of
+                          Southwell Minster_
+
+
+Hidden in a hollow amidst the undulating downs which skirt the vale of
+Trent, Southwell has escaped the notice which it deserves from both
+the antiquary and the historian. Its annals are not wildly exciting,
+for the streets of the little township have not often resounded to
+the clash of arms, nor its halls been the scene of statesmen’s high
+debate; but its history is really interesting to the serious student,
+for in some ways it is unique. And above all, the lover of our
+church architecture finds in the stones of the Minster a majesty of
+conception, mixed with an extreme delicacy of detail, which it is not
+easy to excel.
+
+The best way to approach Southwell is to travel by the road from
+Nottingham which passes through Thurgarton, the low road the natives
+call it, for when the pilgrim has breasted Brackenhurst Hill, he is
+greeted by a truly artistic view: the sight of Southwell Minster
+nestling in the valley below, framed in a plentiful surrounding of
+trees, and banked with a pleasing profusion of red-tiled roofs. It is
+the south side of the church which is thus seen, and the picture of the
+cathedral standing in the midst of green fields, once the Archbishop
+of York’s park, seems the very ideal of peace and tranquillity. It is
+indeed a true epitome of the whole story of the church and town.
+
+The history of Southwell is known to reach back to the year 956, but
+like many other places whose origins are uncertain, that history has
+been extended still further back into the past, till it rests on the
+very weakest of foundations. The mistake arose partly, no doubt, from
+a desire to attach to the church the well-known name of some pioneer
+of Christianity in this land, and partly from the mistaken identity of
+the locality of Tiovulfingacester, the place near which, so Bede tells
+us, Paulinus baptized large numbers of converts in the Trent. Camden,
+who is followed by all the local historians, describes Paulinus as the
+founder of the first church at Southwell, but there is no real evidence
+to support this assertion, and we must be content to admit that the
+origin of the place is unknown. The locality, however, was inhabited
+during the Roman occupation of Britain, for undoubted Roman remains
+have been discovered. A piece of pavement can be seen beneath some old
+wooden stalls in the south limb of the transept of the Minster, and
+when some digging was in progress a few years ago in the garden of the
+Residence House, to the east of the Minster, the remains of a Roman
+wall were discovered. These remains were photographed before they were
+covered up again, and it is quite possible in the summer to trace the
+course of the masonry beneath the lawn by the lighter shade of green
+which it causes the grass above it to assume. Experts, to whom the
+fragments of pottery and other things which have been dug up in the
+garden have been shown, are convinced of their genuineness. Whether
+the Roman occupation took the form of a villa or an encampment we
+cannot tell; but the sheltered hollow in which Southwell lies is one
+that would have taken the fancy of some magnate seeking a site for his
+country house, for it would have been easily accessible from the Trent,
+and was also within a few miles of the Fosse way. But this is all
+conjecture, and though at any time the spade may reveal direct evidence
+of earlier history, yet at present we can only start with certainty at
+the year 956 A.D.
+
+There is no direct evidence to show in what diocese Southwell lay
+before 956, for it is uncertain whether that part of Nottinghamshire
+belonged to Lindsey or Mercia. If the boundary lay to the west
+of Southwell, then it was in Lindsey and in the diocese of
+Sidnaceaster,[52] and the province of York, but if to the east, it
+was in Mercia, and so in the diocese of Lichfield and the province
+of Canterbury. Nottingham itself was in Mercia,[53] but Newark seems
+always to have belonged to the Archbishops of York, and so was
+probably in Lindsey.[54] There is ample evidence to suppose that the
+boundary lay between Southwell and Newark, a supposition to which the
+connection of the former with St. Eadburg lends weight. This connection
+of St. Eadburg is unfortunately not at all clear. In a tractate on
+the burial-places of English saints, which was apparently a kind of
+pilgrims’ guide to famous shrines (the oldest extant copy is assigned
+to the year 1015), there is the following entry: “There resteth St.
+Eadburg in the Minster near the water which is called Trent.” St.
+Eadburg, abbess of the monastery of Repton, died at the beginning of
+the eighth century; she was a lady of Mercian royal descent, and the
+friend of St. Guthlac, the founder of Croyland, to whom on one occasion
+she sent a coffin and a winding-sheet, with a request that he should
+use them when the proper time arrived. These strange gifts St. Guthlac
+is said to have ordered to be used after his death.[55]
+
+St. Eadburg of Repton is generally considered to be the saint of that
+name whose shrine was mentioned in the pilgrims’ guide as being at
+Southwell. But why was she buried at Southwell? It has been conjectured
+that she founded a monastery there; but there is no evidence of this,
+and as far as we have any certain knowledge there does not seem to have
+ever been a time when any regular Order was established at Southwell.
+Tradition also is silent on the point. Before 956 Southwell was
+probably a royal estate, and perhaps one of the least disturbed parts
+of Mercia. Besides, in those days, the peregrinations of the bones of
+saints were not infrequent, and St. Eadburg’s must have been moved to
+Southwell some time after her death, as it appears that St. Eadburg’s
+body lay at the Monastery of Limming or Lyminge in Kent for over 150
+years. For there are references to her in two charters in Birch’s
+_Cartularium Saxonicum_.
+
+(1) A grant of land in Canterbury, A.D. 804, by Coenulph, King
+of the Mercians, and Cuthred, King of the Cantuarii, to Selethryth,
+Abbess of the Convent at Limming, “ubi pausat corpus beatæ Eadburgæ.”
+(B.C.S. 317, Cod. Dip. 188.)
+
+(2) A grant by Athelstan to the church of St. Mary, Lyminge, of land at
+Vlaham or Elham in Kent, A.D. 964. In this charter Lyminge is
+described as the place “ubi sepulta est sancta Eadburga.” (B.C.S. 1126.)
+
+If these charters are genuine, an interesting question is raised.
+What was the connection of St. Eadburg with Lyminge, and why was her
+body moved, so long after her death, to Southwell? A possible answer
+to the second question is that her bones were moved to Southwell by
+order of King Edgar, to enhance by their presence, the gift of land at
+Southwell, which King Eadwig had made to Oskytel of York in 956.[56]
+If this was so, the body was probably moved to Southwell very shortly
+after 964. This grant of land by King Eadwig to Archbishop Oskytel of
+York, in 956, is the first real fact in the history of Southwell. The
+genuineness of the charter which embodies this gift has been called
+in question, but the balance of evidence seems distinctly in favour of
+its authenticity. The extent of the lands granted to the archbishop, as
+far as can be made out from the charter,[57] corresponds roughly to the
+territory now belonging to the two parishes of Southwell, St. Mary and
+Holy Trinity.[58]
+
+It is not meant to infer that there was no church at Southwell before
+956, but that up till then it had most probably been one of the
+numerous minsters or parochial churches distributed over the county.
+Some people still think, because the church at Southwell is called “the
+Minster,” that it was once served by monks. Such was not the case, and
+it is a noticeable fact that the churches to which this name has clung
+were none of them monastic--York, Lincoln, Beverley, and Southwell. The
+word “Monasterium,” the Bishop of Bristol[59] says, “is used in the
+Middle Ages for a parish church in the country. ‘Minster’ has always
+been a special Yorkshire word, York Minster, Beverley Minster.”
+
+An interesting fact about this grant of land by Eadwig to Oskytel
+is that it seems to be the first recorded instance of a grant of
+private jurisdiction, the archbishop being given sac and soc over his
+new estate. Oskytel did not, in all probability, leave the church
+purely parochial, but established a college of Secular Canons there,
+whose duty it was to serve the Minster, and also to look after the
+neighbouring churches. If he founded the college he would also most
+likely rebuild and enlarge the church to make it more worthy of its
+higher position. Though at this period the history of Southwell seems
+to consist only of probabilities, yet we do know for certain that
+by the Norman Conquest there was a College of Canons there who were
+prebendaries, for Domesday Book, in speaking of the lands which the
+archbishop possessed at Southwell, describes two bovates as being “in a
+prebend.” This is very interesting, for very few, if any, other canons
+held their land as prebendaries before the Conquest, those of the great
+church at York not reaching that status till the episcopate of Thomas
+of Bayeux[60] (1070–1100). Also Archbishop Ealdred (1060–1070) is
+recorded as having bought land to “found prebends” at Southwell.
+
+This College of Secular Canons had a remarkable career. At the time
+of the Conquest they were seven in number, and by the end of the
+thirteenth century they had grown to sixteen, at which number they
+remained until the dissolution of the Chapter seventy years ago. The
+history of this college may not be exciting, but its career is most
+interesting, for it lasted from before the eleventh century until the
+year 1840. No other ecclesiastical corporation in the country had such
+a long existence, surviving the storms of the Reformation to be swept
+away by the almost fanatical wave of reform which raged over England
+during the second quarter of the nineteenth century.
+
+But we must return to earlier days. Even after the first real fact of
+956 the history of Southwell remains very incomplete, nothing but a
+few scraps of information rewarding the most diligent search, and the
+reader must bear in mind that the meagre scraps that are to be picked
+up are almost entirely ecclesiastical, for the history of Southwell
+consists simply of the history of the Chapter and their church.
+
+Ælfric Puttoc, Archbishop of York (1023–1050), is said, like many of
+his successors, to have lived at Southwell, and to have died there. He
+was a very worldly-minded prelate and bears a bad reputation, though
+he is said to have been a great benefactor to Southwell; which is
+quite likely as he particularly favoured the great secular churches of
+his diocese, and among other things organised the College of Canons
+at Beverley. He was, however, a magnificent patron of the abbey of
+Peterborough where he was buried. His successor Kinsi (1050–1060),
+gave some large bells to Southwell, and Ealdred, who succeeded him,
+bought lands to found prebends there, and also built, both at Southwell
+and York, a refectory.[61] Ealdred was fated to be the last Saxon
+archbishop, and he seems to link the Saxon and Norman races together
+by the fact that he crowned both Harold and William the Conqueror. We
+know of little intercourse between Thomas of Bayeux, the first Norman
+Archbishop of York, and Southwell, but his successor Gerard, a man of
+great learning, and one who played a curious part in the political
+and ecclesiastical life of William II.’s reign, is supposed to have
+rebuilt the palace. He is a man who has not had justice done him in
+contemporary history. He held very advanced views on Church matters,
+and was in great disfavour because his studies were far too secular for
+those days, being devoted to mathematics and astronomy. His zeal for
+these subjects only drew down on him the suspicion of dabbling in magic
+and evil practices, and he was verily believed to have sold himself to
+the devil for the sake of forbidden knowledge.[62] Gerard spent much
+time at Southwell, where he died, and the story of his death is worth
+recording. On May 21, 1108, the archbishop had been dining and went for
+a walk in the garden “near the dormitory.” Lying down to rest on a bank
+with his head on a cushion he not unnaturally fell asleep, but it was,
+in the words of the chronicler,[63] “a fatal sleep,” for he never woke
+again. His end was regarded as most shocking, not so much for the way
+of his death, but because underneath the cushion on which his head had
+rested was found a book by Julius Firmicus, a writer on mathematics
+and astrology. His last moments had thus been given to the study of
+the black arts, and his sudden end was regarded as the righteous
+judgment of Heaven for indulging in such a sin. His body was carried
+from Southwell to York by an “unfrequented road,” and on its arrival
+was not met, as was usual, by the citizens and clergy of the cathedral,
+but by noisy boys who irreverently pelted the bier with stones. He was
+buried outside the cathedral without any funeral rites, and it was left
+to his successor to transfer his body from this unhallowed grave to a
+more fitting resting-place within the Minster church. Perhaps it was
+not only his secular studies and untimely end that caused the canons of
+York to treat his body with such disrespect, for it is probable that
+they bore him no good will because he had zealously tried to reform
+their morals and discipline, which were very lax. Another reason why
+Gerard’s body was treated with such indignity, and which made his
+contemporaries feel so sure that his life beyond the grave would be
+anything but happy, was the fact that he had died without making a
+will, and so had made no bequests to the Church or to the poor which
+might have atoned for his evil life.
+
+Gerard was succeeded by another Thomas, nephew to Thomas of Bayeux, who
+had been made by his uncle the first Provost of the College of Canons
+at Beverley. He is of no importance in history except for the not very
+noble part he played in the long dispute between the sees of Canterbury
+and York concerning the right of allegiance which the former demanded
+from the latter. But for our purpose Thomas of Beverley is famous, “for
+he may be regarded as the builder of the present nave of Southwell
+Minster.”[64] Though Thomas, who died in 1114, would not have seen his
+church rise much above the ground, yet to him is due the initiation of
+the scheme which other men carried through, the result of which we of
+these latter days still wonder at and enjoy. Forty years at least would
+such a church take in building, and it was probably not half completed
+when the troubles of Stephen’s reign began. A chance entry in the
+continuation by John of Hexham of the _Historia Regum_ of Symeon
+of Durham helps us to suggest a date by which the church was almost
+if not quite finished. Under the year 1143 is the following remark:
+“William Painel, commander of the troops in Nottingham, moved a band
+of soldiers to Southwell, wishing to break down the wall by which the
+precincts (_consepta_) of the church of St. Mary were protected,
+in order to pillage. A number of the inhabitants who had gathered in
+the neighbourhood of the place manfully defended it.” This entry is
+interesting, for it not only tells us that even the peace of Southwell
+was disturbed by the upheavals of the Civil War, and that the common
+people were zealous to defend their church, but it also gives us reason
+to believe that the church itself was probably finished by then, for
+it is not likely that time would be spent in building a wall capable
+of being defended round the precincts until the church inside was
+completed, for it was not till the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
+that the corporate bodies which controlled our greater churches looked
+to their own homes first and largely left the houses of God, which were
+under their charge, to look after themselves.
+
+We may also note an incident recorded in the continuation of the
+Chronicle of Florence of Worcester (_sub anno_ 1137), for it
+is interesting as being a case of the miraculous. “At Southwell, an
+archiepiscopal town, while a grave was being prepared for interment,
+the relics of some saints and a glass vessel containing some very
+clear water, supported on uprights, which apparently protected it from
+being broken, were found; this being given to the sick and taken by
+them, they were restored to health.” Perhaps these were the relics of
+St. Eadburg which, after the Conquest, may have been removed from the
+church and buried in an unknown grave, for the Normans did all they
+could, for political reasons, to discourage the veneration of the Saxon
+saints.
+
+But to return to Thomas of Beverley and the Minster he set a-building.
+We can imagine, then, that the first part to be constructed was the
+choir and the lower stages of the central tower, and as much of the
+nave and transepts as would be required to give abutment to the tower
+arches;[65] and experts tell us that the western part of the nave is
+distinctly later in character. Mr. J. Bilson attributes the aisle
+vaults of the nave to _c._ 1130, and also gives as his opinion
+that the Norman choir of the Minster did not have a square east end,
+but that what has been taken for traces of such an end probably
+indicate a broad sleeper wall across the chord of the apse, as at
+St. Mary’s, York, and Selby Abbey.[66] Of this church the nave and
+transepts remain to-day as a fitting memorial to Thomas of Beverley.
+
+The choir of the Norman church which was pulled down to make room for
+the present one consisted probably only of three bays, and would, in
+fact, form but the presbytery and sanctuary of the church, the ritual
+choir being extended westwards as far as the first or second bay of
+the nave. Our authority for saying that Thomas of Beverley was the
+archbishop who started building the Norman Minster depends on a letter
+which is preserved in the _Liber Albus_ of Southwell--the oldest
+manuscript book preserved in the library. The commencement of the
+compilation of the White Book dates from about the beginning of the
+fourteenth century, but it contains copies of documents dating back as
+far as the beginning of the twelfth century. The White Book consists
+of Papal Bulls, Royal and Episcopal Letters, and charters and other
+documents connected with the privileges and property of the collegiate
+church. The letter in question runs, when translated into English,
+thus: “Thomas, by the grace of God (Archbishop of York) to all his
+parishioners of Nottinghamshire, greeting in the blessing of God. We
+pray you, as most beloved sons, that for the forgiveness of your sins
+you will help, by the blessing of your alms towards the building of
+the church of St. Mary of Southwell. And whosoever, even in the least
+degree, shall give the smallest assistance shall be to the end of
+time a participator in all the prayers and benefactions that shall be
+done in that and all our other churches. And this ye ought to do more
+willingly that we release you from the need of visiting each year the
+church of York, as all our other parishioners do, but instead (you
+shall visit) the church of Southwell, and there have the same pardon
+that ye have at York.”
+
+It will be noticed that the letter does not say which Thomas is
+the author, but all the evidence we can gather, and the style of
+the Minster itself, make it certain that it was Thomas of Beverley
+(1108–1114). This letter also tells us of something else that Thomas
+did for Southwell. He made that church a pro-cathedral for the county
+of Nottingham by allowing the parishes to send their representatives
+there instead of to York Minster, on the annual pilgrimage to fetch
+the chrism required by each parish for the year, and also to pay at
+the same time their accustomed dues. The chrism, which as a rule was
+consecrated by the bishop in his cathedral on Easter Eve, was used
+in baptism, confirmation, and extreme unction. It was consecrated at
+York, and a portion sufficient for the parishes of Nottinghamshire was
+sent to Southwell, and distributed on the morrow of Whitsunday to the
+representatives of the parishes who had journeyed there. Thus it was
+called the Whitsuntide procession. To be the goal of the Whitsuntide
+procession was a great privilege, for it brought honour and profit
+to the church and town. This custom continued down till the time of
+Archbishop Drummond, towards the close of the eighteenth century,
+by whose mere fiat it was abolished, though, of course, through the
+changes in the value of money the dues then paid were of no material
+advantage. The chrism, needless to say, had not been distributed
+subsequent to the Reformation. The church of York had at one time
+tried to take the Pentecostal offerings away from Southwell, and a
+warm dispute ensued, which was only terminated by Pope Innocent III.
+This Whitsuntide procession, which was started by Thomas of Beverley
+to encourage the county of Nottingham to help in building the church,
+became the great event of the year in the little country town. Shilton,
+in his _History of Southwell_ (published in 1818), quoting from
+an older book, tells us that the Mayor and Corporation of Nottingham,
+with the Justices of the Peace, till quite recent times kept up the
+custom of riding to Southwell on Whit Monday, all decked in their
+best clothes, and bringing with them their “Pentecostals” or “Whitsun
+farthings.” Apparently the Mayor was allowed a certain discretion,
+and sometimes did not come “because of the foulness of the way or
+destemperance of the weder.” The money used to be paid in the north
+porch of the Minster, and even after the procession was given up for a
+long time the Chapter clerk attended for form’s sake in the porch on
+Monday in Whit Week, although the money was collected by the apparitor
+at the Chapter’s visitation in the county. The payment of this money
+long before it was given up had become a mere form, so trifling were
+the amounts--Nottingham itself only paying 13s. 4d. and Southwell
+5s.--yet at one time this must have meant a large sum of money and
+have been a great help towards the upkeep of the fabric of the church.
+Southwell was very gay on Whit Monday with the representatives of two
+hundred and five odd parishes riding into the little town. Whit Week
+was long regarded as Southwell Feast week, when merry village sports
+and other pastimes made a welcome break in the peaceful progress of the
+year. The greatest attractions were the donkey and pony races from
+Burgage Green to the top of Hockerton Hill and back. Nothing is left
+of all these enjoyments now, and the whole feast has degenerated into
+Southwell Races, which are held at Rolleston.
+
+It must have been a real blessing for the inhabitants of
+Nottinghamshire to have been excused the tiresome journey to York once
+a year; yet irksome as that duty was we can well believe that in those
+days it was regarded as a sacred obligation and as such was faithfully
+fulfilled. Yet the hearts of Nottingham men must have swelled with
+gladness when they heard the letter read which gave them leave to go to
+Southwell instead, and they blessed the goodness of Thomas of Beverley.
+Besides this, Thomas is thought to have added two more to the number
+of prebends, and altogether he may be counted as one of the greatest
+benefactors the church of Southwell ever had.
+
+In the few pages allotted to the history of Southwell in this volume
+it is impossible to give a complete or consecutive account of even the
+little that we know about the place. We must therefore be content with
+an item here and there, remembering that much interesting matter has
+had to be omitted for want of space.
+
+The Minster was enlarged and made more beautiful as time went on, and
+the Chapter was increased by successive archbishops and its privileges
+multiplied, but it never became a very wealthy body, and at times
+we hear of complaints of poverty, and even of inability to keep up
+the style of worship expected in so great a church. Statutes were
+given to the church by Archbishops Walter de Grey (1216–1256), John
+le Romeyne (1286–1296), and Thomas de Corbridge (1300–1304) either
+to reform abuses or to make better provision for the service of God
+and the welfare of the church and its ministers. By the days of le
+Romeyne the Chapter reached the number (16) at which it remained till
+its dissolution. The canons were all technically equal, for there was
+no dean, except apparently for a short time in the days of Walter de
+Grey, who perhaps tried the experiment of appointing one in order to
+improve the discipline of the college. Several charters in the White
+Book are signed by “Hugh, Dean,” who generally, though not always,
+put his name first. There is also one signature of a “Henry, Dean,”
+but this is most likely a mistake, because if Walter de Grey did once
+appoint a dean there seems little evidence that the experiment was
+repeated, and it is doubtful if the one appointed was able to exercise
+much authority. So the college remained a corporate body of sixteen
+canons, all equal in rank, though the Prebendary of Normanton (near
+Southwell) seems to have had more privileges than the others, as he
+appointed the parish vicar of Southwell, and as chancellor had the
+appointment of the mastership of the grammar schools throughout the
+county. Besides the sixteen canons, there were sixteen vicars, mostly
+in priests’ orders, connected with the Minster, one being presented
+for institution to the Chapter by each canon. These vicars were the
+representatives of the canons in the Minster, and they were needed,
+as the evil of non-residence was felt at a very early date, and none
+of the steps taken to check it had any permanent effect. Besides the
+vicars there grew up in time a large college of chantry priests, and
+at the time of the Reformation the number of clergy attached to the
+church was quite fifty. The vicars had lodgings in the Vicars’ Close,
+and a common hall where the present Residence House stands, which was
+taken from the vicars about the beginning of the seventeenth century.
+The vicars of Southwell, though a numerous body, with their own rights
+and privileges, never became so numerous or important and independent a
+body as the college of vicars at Wells.
+
+On rare occasions Southwell creeps into the history of the nation,
+only, however, to retire once more into seclusion amidst the peace of
+its undulating hills. At the end of August 1189 the town witnessed an
+ecclesiastical function of some importance. Geoffrey Plantagenet, the
+natural and only faithful son of Henry II., had been appointed by
+his brother, Richard I., to the see of York at the great council held
+at Pipewell, in Northamptonshire, about a week before. But Baldwin,
+Archbishop of Canterbury, claimed the right of consecrating him, and
+forbade him either to receive priests’ orders or consecration from
+anybody but himself, and appealed to the Pope to support his rights,
+reminding the King and Court of the old dispute between Canterbury
+and York, which had continued so long in the days of the first three
+Norman kings. Geoffrey had meanwhile got into trouble with the King,
+who cancelled his appointment to York. Nothing daunted, Geoffrey set
+out for Southwell, the nearest church of importance in the diocese of
+York, taking with him John, Bishop of Whithern, his suffragan, who
+himself had only been consecrated at the recent council at Pipewell
+by John, Archbishop of Dublin. At Southwell, on August 29th, the
+Bishop of Whithern ordained Geoffrey priest.[67] Though Geoffrey was
+soon reconciled to the King, yet Richard had no intention of allowing
+him to be consecrated, and insisted on his promising to remain out
+of England while the King went on a crusade. Poor Geoffrey is one of
+the most pitiable characters of this period. Misfortune seemed to dog
+his footsteps, while he had the unfortunate knack of quarrelling with
+every one with whom he had to deal. In 1190 Richard sent Hugh, Bishop
+of Durham, back to England with letters in which he appointed him
+Justiciary north of the Humber. Hugh met William of Ely, the Chancellor
+and Regent of the kingdom, at Ely, and showed him the letters. The
+Chancellor said he was willing to obey the King’s orders, and in a
+friendly way travelled with Hugh as far as Southwell, where he suddenly
+arrested him, and kept him in custody till he had surrendered to
+him the castle of Windsor and made other concessions.[68] On April
+4, 1194, the Monday in Holy week, a more distinguished pair met at
+Southwell--Richard of England and William of Scotland--and there
+debated on the differences between them, departing together the next
+day to Melton.[69] But these were isolated events, and the comings
+and goings of kings and rulers did not often disturb the peace of the
+little town. Besides the doings at Whitsuntide, the visits of the
+different archbishops would be the greatest excitement, for when in
+England they would spend, no doubt, some part of each year at their
+manor of Southwell, for it was commodious and near to London; besides,
+in those days it was customary for great men to travel from manor to
+manor, and stay long enough to consume the provisions and stores laid
+up, for it was not possible for one manor to support a great dignitary
+and all his retinue for more than three weeks or a month at a time.
+
+The old Norman choir in which Geoffrey had been ordained was not
+destined to stand much longer, for about the year 1220 or 1230 Walter
+de Grey started to build the present choir. We know for certain that in
+1233 he issued an indulgence of thirty days to all who should help by
+their alms towards the completion of this new work. For the description
+of the choir, as of the other parts of the building, the reader must
+refer to the excellent guide-books to the Minster; yet we may say
+here that the choir is as good an example of thirteenth-century work
+as can be found. Its lightness and elegance, in contrast to the heavy
+if majestic solidity of the nave, is most pleasing. Next in order of
+time comes the chapel in the east side of the north transept of the
+nave, now used as the vestry. This chapel formerly contained two altars
+of different chantries, but has since been put to various uses; even
+becoming a song school before the abolition of the chantries. In later
+years it was the vicar’s vestry, then it became the library until the
+books were moved to their present home above the chapel in question.
+The next addition to the Minster was the vestibule to the Chapter
+House, which was at one time an open cloister; and though the closing
+up of its eastern side may have added to the comfort not only of the
+vestibule but of the whole church, it certainly has not improved its
+appearance. This vestibule leads to the goal of all lovers of Gothic
+art who visit Southwell--the Chapter House, with its incomparable
+doorway, which has often been described in words of unstinted praise,
+and indeed it would be impossible for such praise to be exaggerated.
+The present writer will not attempt to describe this building, but
+will quote the words of Mr. G. E. Street, who says: “What either
+Cologne Cathedral, or Ratisbon, or Weisen Kirche are to Germany, Amiens
+Cathedral and the Sainte Chapelle are to France, the Scalegere in
+Verona to Italy, are the Choir of Westminster and the Chapter House
+at Southwell to England.”[70] Mr. A. F. Leach is of the same opinion
+when he says: “It is the most perfect work of the most perfect style
+of Gothic architecture.” It is not only the doorway with its exquisite
+carving, but the beautiful proportions of the whole Chapter House, and
+the extreme lightness and delicacy of all its parts and details, that
+arouses the enthusiasm of the most casual visitor, and holds the expert
+spell-bound with its charm.
+
+Archbishop John le Romeyne (1286–1296) is the man who set on foot this
+work. He it was who initiated the rebuilding of the nave and Chapter
+House at York. For the same man to have started three such beautiful
+examples of Gothic architecture as the Chapter Houses at Southwell and
+York, and the nave at York, is indeed to lay posterity under a debt
+which can never be paid. But his interests were not only architectural.
+His first care was the moral and spiritual discipline and welfare of
+the great churches in his diocese. He established, among other things,
+his right of visitation over his cathedral Chapter, and gave statutes
+to Southwell which he based on those of York. The next addition of
+importance to the Minster was the choir screen or pulpitum. Here,
+again, it does not seem an exaggeration to say that in this feature
+also Southwell is very hard to beat; for though, unfortunately, the
+greater number of the carved heads are not the original ones at all,
+yet as a whole the pulpitum stands unrivalled for its beauty and
+elegance of design. It was built towards the end of the first half of
+the fourteenth century. In the White Book there is a copy of a licence
+granted by Edward III., in 1337, to the Chapter, allowing them the free
+transit of stone from Mansfield through Sherwood Forest. This licence,
+which was granted as a result of complaints made by the Chapter that
+their carts had been unduly made to pay toll by the King’s foresters,
+is generally supposed to refer to the cartage of material required
+for building the screen. And therefore the screen has been dated from
+the year of this licence, 1337; but the present writer is bound to
+confess that, from an impartial reading of the licence in question, it
+does not seem to infer that any special work was in progress, but only
+refers to the stone that would be continually needed for the repair and
+support of such a fabric as the Minster, and of all the buildings and
+houses depending on it. Southwell, it must be remembered, had to fetch
+all its stone from Mansfield, no durable material being found in the
+neighbourhood. The screen is built in the fully developed Decorated
+style, and must have been erected somewhere about this time, yet this
+licence is not nearly explicit enough to warrant any one taking its
+date as the precise date of the screen itself. The sedilia, remarkable
+both for their beauty and for the unusual number of seats--five--were
+built a little later than the screen, and are the last addition of
+importance which can be entirely praised.
+
+As regards the great west window, which is fifteenth-century work, much
+as it is needed for the illumination of what would otherwise have been
+a very dark interior, one cannot help feeling that it is out of keeping
+with its surroundings, and does not harmonise with the rest of the
+nave.
+
+So uneventful was life at Southwell during the fourteenth and fifteenth
+centuries that a recent student of the Chapter records of the later
+fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries could find nothing else to
+publish, except the peccadilloes and moral lapses of the vicars-choral
+and chantry priests which came up before the Chapter for punishment. It
+is, of course, no excuse to say that the clergy at Southwell were no
+worse than other like bodies, and it must be admitted that many things
+happened that ought not to have occurred.
+
+In 1530 a very important person came to Southwell. Cardinal Wolsey had
+never visited this house of his during the years of his greatness,
+but after his fall he spent the summer of 1530 there. In Passion Week
+he travelled from London to Peterborough, and “upon Easter Day in the
+morning he rode to the resurrection, and that day he went in procession
+in his vesture cardinal, with his hat and hood upon his head, and he
+himself sang the high mass there very devoutly; and granted clean
+remission to all the hearers.”[71] He stayed at Peterborough till the
+Thursday in Easter Week when he removed to the house, near the town,
+belonging to Sir William Fitzwilliam, an old friend of his. Here he
+remained a few days, and then went north, staying nights at Stamford,
+Grantham, and Newark, and reaching Southwell in the middle of the
+week after Low Sunday. He could not go to the palace for it wanted
+repairing, so he lodged in the house of an absent prebendary, removing
+to the palace about Whitsuntide.
+
+Mr. Dimock, in his book quoted above, gives an extract from a pamphlet,
+published about fifteen years ago, which starts as follows: “Who was
+less beloved in the north than my Lord Cardinal before he was amongst
+them? Who better beloved after he had been there awhile? He gave
+bishops a right good example how they might win men’s hearts.” On the
+eve of Corpus Christi he decided to sing high mass in the Minster on
+the following day, and ordered Cavendish to make all due preparations.
+Nor was he prevented of his purpose by the fact that during the night
+two gentlemen arrived from the King, and caused him to be roused,
+and after some private speech made him sign some paper. At the close
+of the summer, “at the latter end of grease time,” so Cavendish puts
+it, he removed to Scrooby, and by departing in the middle of the
+night disappointed many gentlemen lodging in Southwell, who came to
+accompany him on his journey through the forest, intending “to lodge
+a great stag or twain for him by the way.” But he dare not indulge in
+such honours, for he feared what his enemies would make of such doings
+with the King, and so departed by night to Welbeck abbey, and was in
+his bed continuing his night’s rest before his disappointed admirers
+at Southwell were awake. Greatly grieved were the people of Southwell
+when the Cardinal left them, for they had received nothing but kindness
+from him, as did all the people of the places in his dioceses where he
+stayed from that time till his arrest. From his behaviour during these
+few weeks it is abundantly evident what a good and wise bishop Wolsey
+would have made if he had served his God as well as he served his King.
+
+It was not to be expected that the Reformation and the church
+spoliation indulged in by Henry VIII. and Cromwell would leave
+Southwell unharmed. The Chapter, perhaps wisely, surrendered their
+church and estates to the King in 1540. They possessed a kind friend
+in Cranmer, who was a Nottinghamshire man, and no doubt mainly through
+his influence Henry refounded the Chapter in 1541. Southwell also was
+mentioned as one of the fifteen new sees which Henry professed his
+desire to create out of the spoils of the monasteries and one of the
+prebendaries--a certain Dr. Cox--was even named as the first bishop.
+But Henry’s cupidity got the better of his zeal, and the fifteen new
+dioceses dwindled down to six, and Southwell was not among the chosen
+few.
+
+But the restored Chapter did not enjoy uninterrupted peace, for at
+the end of the White Book are copies of three letters from Sir Edward
+North, Chancellor of the Court of Augmentations, in which he accuses
+the Chapter of disposing of some of their plate and ornaments, and
+after rebuking them for so doing, orders them to surrender the goods
+in question, and despatch them at once to London for the use of the
+King. Mr. A. F. Leach thinks these letters probably belong to the
+year 1546.[72] Southwell does not seem to have been affected by the
+first passing of the Chantries and Colleges Act. Mr. Dimock says: “The
+Court of Augmentations, to which was entrusted the alienation of the
+different estates, left Southwell alone, as the list of 1547 shows
+that the prebendaries and other clergy were in full enjoyment of their
+benefices.”[73] But this Act was renewed at the beginning of the reign
+of Edward VI., and the Chapter ceased to exist. “On the petition of
+the parishioners, the Minster was continued as the parish church;
+and the sacrist prebendary, John Adams, was made vicar of Southwell
+at a stipend of £20 a year, with his vicar-choral Matthew Fort, and
+the old parish vicar, Robert Salwyne, as ‘assistants to the cure,’
+with £5 a year each.”[74] The lands of the Chapter, after changing
+hands once or twice, eventually remained in the possession of John
+Dudley, duke of Northumberland, and at his attainder lapsed to the
+Crown. This gave Queen Mary the opportunity she did not often get of
+restoring church lands to their original owners, and the Chapter was
+reinstated. No doubt the cause of the Chapter was greatly helped by the
+influence of Heath, archbishop of York, whom the Queen had appointed
+on the deprivation of Holgate.[75] But the position of the Chapter
+was still legally uncertain, because the Act of Suppression had not
+been repealed. But it was safe during Mary’s reign, and was left in
+possession by Elizabeth, who granted new statutes for the governance
+of the college which remained the foundation of its organisation until
+its dissolution in 1840. It was left to James I. to put the Chapter
+on a firm legal footing, during whose reign it was argued that the
+Chapter of St. Mary’s, Southwell, is vested in the Crown by statute of
+I Edward VI., “thus enabling James I. in 1604 to make the magnanimous
+grant and confirmation to the Chapter of the collegiate church of
+Southwell of the site and precinct of the church, and the possessions
+belonging thereto.”[76] James I.’s interest in the place may have been
+influenced by the fact that he passed through Southwell on his way to
+London to take possession of the throne. He was struck with surprise,
+we are told, at seeing such a church in so small a town. And when some
+of his Court remarked that York and Durham were far more magnificent
+structures, James replied rather peevishly in his Scotch accent, “Vare
+wele, vare wele, but, by my blude, this kirk shall justle with York or
+Durham, or ony kirk in Christendom.”
+
+Once more the Chapter started on its quiet course, and again its
+history is for the most part a peaceful blank. We get just a glimpse
+of the condition of things in 1635 from some odd papers of answers to
+the visitation articles of the archbishop in that year. The old faults
+are prominent; canons neglect to keep their residence and let their
+houses fall into disrepair, and the due amount of sermons and lectures
+do not seem to have been delivered. One canon in his answers complains
+that the organist is very negligent in his duties and especially in the
+management of the choristers, often only correcting them in service
+time to the great disturbance of the worshippers. “And besides all
+this,” he goes on, “he is a great lyer as yr lordship knows if you
+please to remember him ... and as soon as he has made a boy fit for
+the quire he sells him to some gentleman and soe by this means the
+quire is impoverished.” The selling and even kidnapping of solo boys
+seems to have been not uncommon at this time. The same prebendary
+says that the church needs a “paire of good organs which I wish your
+Grace would be pleased to contribute something towards and divers
+other gentlemen would be ready to follow in so good a worke.” He
+also says that the chimes and clock are much neglected. Another says
+that he believes “Copes and a decent Corporall and a Bason for the
+offertory are required” and that “there have been writings taken out
+of the Treasury.” A third tells the archbishop that in the Treasury
+“are divers writings, but so laid up that they are in danger of wette,
+by raine or snowe, if the leads should happen to be faulty, and so
+confused that it will be hard to finde what the church may stand
+suddenly in need of. The letters patent of Queen Elizabeth, King James,
+the authentique copy of the statutes, with divers other evidences
+and muniments of the church are not there but in the keeping of the
+Residentiaries. How they were taken out, or what caution taken for the
+returning of them, he knoweth not.” After reading here how little care
+was taken for the preservation of the documents of the church it is a
+cause for thankfulness that as many remain as do.[77] This negligence
+amply accounts for the great losses the library has sustained, and
+there is no need to put the blame of their removal or destruction on
+the shoulders of Cromwell and his Ironsides, as is so commonly done, as
+if their shoulders had not enough to carry already. The Treasury was
+described in one of the papers of visitation answers, mentioned above,
+as “by the Chapter House,” and was probably the room now used as the
+library.
+
+During the Civil War Southwell was the scene of much activity. King
+Charles stayed there on his way to hoist his standard at Nottingham,
+and he also spent some hours at “The Saracen’s Head” before he gave
+himself up to the Scottish Commissioners at Kelham. On one occasion he
+lodged at the palace, but it had been much damaged, for it had been
+occupied by the troops of both sides. The townspeople mostly favoured
+the Puritans. This may have been partly due to the fact that Mr. Edward
+Cludd, the most prominent layman in the town, was a great supporter of
+Cromwell. After the dispossession of the church he bought Norwood Park,
+close to Southwell, which had belonged to the archbishop, and built
+himself a house there. As a magistrate, it was his duty to perform
+marriages under the new regime, and there was a big oak in the park
+which was famous as the place where he had tied many couples together.
+Shilton, who published his history of Southwell in 1818, says the tree
+was still pointed out and was called Cludd’s Oak. After the Restoration
+Cludd continued to live at Norwood, leasing the property from the
+archbishop. Posterity owes a deep debt of gratitude to Mr. Cludd, for
+it is said to have been due to his influence with Cromwell that the
+latter did not damage the Church nor pull down the nave, which he
+certainly intended to do, as he thought the choir large enough for the
+needs of the parish.
+
+A quotation from Thoroton’s _Nottinghamshire_ is interesting. It
+refers to a visit of King Charles I. to the town, which took place
+during the period between the battle of Naseby and his subsequent
+residence at Oxford. “The King with a few faithful followers took
+refuge at Southwell. The day after his arrival he walked about the town
+not known, and entered the shop of a shoemaker, whose name was Lee, who
+was a fanatic of the day. His Majesty, after some conversation with
+this man, bid him take measure for a pair of shoes. Lee, on taking
+the King’s foot in his hand and looking at him attentively, refused
+to proceed. The King, astonished at the man’s behaviour, desired him
+to do what he had requested; but the shoemaker actually refused,
+giving the reason that the King was the customer he had been warned
+against in a dream the night before, in which he (the customer) was
+doomed to destruction, and those who worked for him would never thrive.
+The forlorn monarch, whose misfortunes had opened his mind to the
+impressions of superstitions, uttered an ejaculation expressive of his
+resignation to the will of providence, and returned to the palace,
+which was the place of his abode.”[78]
+
+There is also a story that during the Civil War a lady took refuge
+in the room over the north porch, and that during the time of her
+concealment she gave birth to a child. It is said that all the time she
+was hiding from the Puritans, a body of these men were camping in the
+church, and her terror at being discovered was not lessened by hearing
+their shouts and ribaldry so near at hand. She was kept alive by an
+old friend who crept in every night to bring her food and render her
+what other assistance was possible in her terrible predicament. The
+Commonwealth soldiers stayed for some time in Southwell, especially
+during the siege of Newark, and many skirmishes are reported to have
+taken place in the neighbourhood, but there seems to be no truth
+in the tradition that Cromwell bombarded the palace, although the
+so-called trenches which were made for his guns are pointed out on the
+neighbouring hill to the south. The unfortunate part of the story is
+that these trenches, which are really gravel pits, are situated at a
+much greater distance from the palace than any cannon of that period
+could carry; and also that part of the palace which faces these very
+pits is to-day the best preserved part of the ruins.
+
+It may also be added that it would have been a marvellous thing that
+the church should have escaped if any considerable bombardment had
+taken place.
+
+After the troubles of the Commonwealth a more profound peace than ever
+enveloped Southwell. Matters, of course, had to be put straight again,
+and there are extant two letters of Charles II. written just after the
+Restoration, one of which orders the Chapter to provide a sufficient
+maintenance for the ministers who officiate in the parochial churches
+appropriated to the Chapter, implying that the Chapter had rather
+starved such livings, and ordering them to increase the emoluments up
+to the value of £80 a year. The other letter is addressed to certain
+gentlemen directing them to “seize and secure into safe hands and
+places all the rents and revenues,” together with all the woods and
+other property belonging to the Chapter in Nottinghamshire.
+
+Nothing much of interest happened during the last 180 years of the
+Chapter’s existence. On November 5, 1711, a fire, caused by lightning,
+broke out in the south-west tower of the nave and the flames destroyed
+the roof of the nave and the organ and melted the bells in the central
+tower. At the end of the eighteenth century the houses in the Vicars’
+Court had grown so old and dilapidated that they had to be pulled down
+and the present ones were erected in their stead. At the beginning of
+the nineteenth century fears, quite unfounded, were felt as to the
+safety of the spires on the western towers, and so the towers were
+literally beheaded and the tops battlemented instead. The spires were
+restored about thirty years ago, but after comparing them with old
+pictures of the former ones they do not seem nearly so shapely, and are
+even thought to be grotesque by some people.
+
+The Chapter Decree Books, which from 1661–1840 are fairly complete,
+contain nothing of great moment. There are mentions of organ repairs
+and the duties of the ringing men, the prohibition of fives playing
+against the walls of the church, the regular entry of a decree “that
+the Dogg-whipper shall have a new coat as usual.” This official was
+doubtless the man who wielded the dog-tongs, though such an instrument
+is not mentioned. His office is continued to this day in a certain
+verger who is on duty on Sundays and any special occasions, and marks
+his descent from the old dog-whipper by always carrying a long wand.
+In 1798 there is an entry that the tradesmen shall be paid £61, 9s.
+2d. for putting up a new bed in the Residence House, which certainly
+seems a large sum for such an article. In 1820 it is decreed that an
+alteration be made in the wine cellars of the Residence House so as
+to furnish room for the accommodation of each prebendary. There were
+sixteen prebendaries supposed to keep a residence of three months each
+in turn, and it looks as if some of them did not wish their wines to
+get mixed up with those of their less fastidious colleagues. In 1805
+the Chapter accepted the gift of the Brass-Eagle lectern, now in the
+choir, which had belonged to Newstead abbey, and had lain for more than
+200 years at the bottom of the lake at Newstead, where it had been
+hidden by the monks at the dissolution of the monasteries.
+
+There is one curious entry of which no explanation is given. On June
+23, 1806, it is “decreed that the last seat in the South Side be
+allotted to the Prior of Thurgarton.” What this means it is impossible
+to say; this seat had always been given by courtesy to the Prior of
+Thurgarton, while such a dignitary existed, because he was head of the
+nearest important religious house.
+
+In the history of the town itself there is nothing much to relate.
+Southwell seems to have been quite a gay little place at the
+beginning of the nineteenth century. There were archery meetings and
+a flourishing bachelors’ club and numerous dances--the Assembly Rooms
+being built in 1808 for this purpose--a theatre was built in 1816,
+and there was a billiard-room as well. Lord Byron, who lived with his
+mother during his school and college days in Burgage Manor House,
+described the place as being very pleasant and possessing “a very
+genteel society.”
+
+At the accession of Queen Victoria the Chapter still continued, but the
+end was near. In 1835 a Royal Commission was appointed to look into
+the affairs of the church, for there was a general demand that the
+whole body ecclesiastical needed rousing to life. Reform was active
+in other branches of public life, and it was not possible, nor indeed
+desirable, that the church should go on in her old way and not stir
+herself to meet the changing needs of the ever-moving life around
+her. It was felt that there was a great waste of time and money, and
+especially was this the case among cathedral and collegiate bodies.
+The Chapter of Southwell did not escape the keen scrutiny that was
+fixed on all such bodies; it was not any more effete or lazy than other
+capitular bodies, and it was by no means as wealthy as some Chapters
+were at that time, but there seemed little need for it, and it appeared
+to fulfil no useful purpose in the Church at large, for Southwell was
+not a cathedral city nor was it the centre of a large population, and
+as there was nothing for its canons, as such, to do, it was thought
+that its revenues ought to be diverted into some more useful channel.
+We need here only mention the recommendations of the Commissioners so
+far as they affected Southwell. In 1837 Nottinghamshire, except the
+Peculiar of the Chapter of Southwell, was transferred from the diocese
+of York to that of Lincoln. For three years longer the Chapter was
+suffered to remain, but “in 1840 a clause or two in a bill (3 and 4
+Vict. c. 113), supplemented the next year by a special Act (4 and 5
+Vict. c. 30), destroyed the Chapter, after making allowance for vested
+interests, as a useless waste of ecclesiastical revenues. The canonries
+as vacancies occurred were not filled up, the minor canons were to be
+reduced to two (eventually to none at all), and the property was to
+go to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to help in founding Ripon and
+Manchester, although these two dioceses were quite wealthy enough to
+endow their own bishoprics.”[79] It is interesting to remember that
+Mr. Gladstone, then the young Tory member of Parliament for Newark
+(in which division Southwell lay), spoke very strongly in the House
+against the destruction of the Chapter.
+
+In time Southwell became a simple rectory, with the Residence House
+as the official residence of the incumbent. The Commissioners pay
+the rector and two assistant curates, the organist, choir, and other
+officials of the church, and keep the fabric in repair.
+
+The Chapter was not dissolved at once, the canons being allowed to
+keep their stalls and their incomes as long as they lived, but they
+were to have no successors; one of their number was to be appointed by
+themselves as perpetual residentiary. The Chapter thus died a lingering
+death. The policy which destroyed it was short-sighted, for it was
+evident that Nottinghamshire could not long remain in the diocese of
+Lincoln, for it was a district with a rapidly increasing population
+owing to the development of the coal trade. Indeed, the last prebendary
+of the old foundation was not dead before a project was on foot to make
+Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire a separate diocese in themselves. And
+that same last prebendary had scarcely been in his grave ten years when
+this project was carried out--the new see being constituted in 1884.
+But nothing had been done to stop the transference of the patronage
+of the old Chapter to the Bishops of Ripon and Manchester, to whom it
+was allotted by the Act of 1840. The last prebendary, the Rev. T. H.
+Shepherd, had exercised all the patronage until his death in 1873,
+and then each living as it became vacant went in turn to the Bishops
+of Ripon and Manchester. It was in vain that the first Bishop of
+Southwell, Dr. Ridding, tried to secure this patronage, which consists
+chiefly of livings just round Southwell.
+
+It was principally due to Bishop Wordsworth, of Lincoln, that Southwell
+Minster was chosen as the cathedral of the new diocese, and he was also
+one of the largest subscribers to the funds needed to found the new
+bishopric, parting even with some of his official income. The Minster
+was a building worthy of the honour, and though by the foolishness
+and short-sighted policy of the previous generation the bishop found
+no Chapter at his cathedral church, yet this church possessed the
+advantage and privilege of two choral services daily, of the kind
+that rightly are expected to be found in cathedral churches, for the
+Commissioners had not discontinued the revenues which supported the
+choral services, which had thus been sung daily in the church from
+time immemorial under the regime or the old College of Canons. It was
+left to the present bishop of Southwell to make the Palace, which the
+archbishop never used after the Great Rebellion, owing to its ruinous
+condition, once more the home of a bishop, and a place of generous
+hospitality to all who are concerned in the affairs of the Church.
+
+There is now a chapter of twenty-four honorary canons, of which body
+there is nothing to say except that perhaps its members are more
+honorary than is usually the case; sixteen of them have taken the
+names of the old prebends for their stalls, and the other eight are
+called after places in the diocese. It seems a pity, perhaps, that the
+old names have been taken, for there is really no connection whatever
+between the old body and the new.
+
+The little town does not grow very fast, but it is in no sense
+old-fashioned, the advent twenty years ago of a lace factory giving
+the place a modern appearance and helping to keep it up to date. There
+is also a silk mill and a flour mill and large nursery gardens to give
+employment to the people.
+
+It is impossible to close this chapter without one word of regret
+that Southwell, and indeed all Nottinghamshire, remain divorced from
+the ancient ties with the archbishopric of York. When the present
+archbishop visited Southwell, in June 1909, on the occasion of the
+commemoration of the 800th anniversary of the building of the nave,
+he expressed the same regret; for, as he said, in the very place
+where his long line of predecessors had worshipped and ruled and
+dwelt, he was himself only present by the sufferance, willingly
+granted, it was true, of his brother of Canterbury. He hoped that
+some day he would come again in his own right and not as a stranger,
+but as a metropolitan visiting one of the dioceses which formed part
+of the province over which he ruled. It is to be hoped that when
+Nottinghamshire is made into a separate diocese, as the needs of the
+Church will soon demand, that it will be restored to its old province
+of York and once more acknowledge the overlordship of the archbishop of
+the northern see.
+
+
+
+
+                        NOTTINGHAMSHIRE SPIRES
+
+                             BY HARRY GILL
+
+    “And O, ye swelling hills and spacious plains!
+    Besprent from shore to shore with steeple towers,
+    And spires whose silent finger points to heaven;”
+
+                                       --WORDSWORTH.
+
+
+The word steeple is generally applied to a lofty tower intended to
+contain a peal of bells, and especially to a tower surmounted by a
+spire.
+
+The origin of the word spire is obscure; presumably it is a survival of
+the Anglo-Saxon word “spir,” a spike or stalk, and it is now used to
+denote the upper portion of a steeple when it shoots up to a point.
+
+It would be presumption to claim any special distinction for the spires
+of Nottinghamshire. They are not to be compared in size or grandeur
+with those of the neighbouring county of Lincoln, or with the beautiful
+spires to be found in the Nene valley, where the “tower roof” is
+said to have originated. Still they are not devoid of interest, and
+one example (Newark) is held to be one of the finest spires in the
+kingdom, while in no other district of equal area can the development
+from one type to another be traced more easily than in the hundred of
+Rushcliffe, in the south of the county.
+
+The existence of a spire pre-supposes two important conditions:
+(1) A well-trained band of masons; (2) a local supply of suitable
+stone; for in the Middle Ages the architecture of a district was
+influenced greatly by its geology; and, at any rate while the art of
+spire-building was in its infancy, we may almost add that a third
+condition was essential--the existence of a tower large enough and
+strong enough to support a superimposed spire, for in many of the early
+examples the tower is much older than the spire.
+
+If we take a map of the county and place a mark wherever a steeple
+was built, we shall see how sporadic the art of spire-building was.
+Where stone of a suitable kind was to be obtained, there we shall find
+spires; an extensive cluster in the south, with a trail northward along
+the outcrop of the Keuper marl; a group of five spires in the magnesian
+limestone district around Mansfield; isolated examples along the banks
+of the Trent and Soar, where river-borne stone could be obtained; while
+the hundred of Bassetlaw, comprising large tracts of flat marshy land
+in the north of the county, may fairly be said to have been spireless,
+for only two medieval spires stand to the north of Tuxford, and both of
+these belong to a late period of architecture.
+
+The blue lias limestone of the county, sometimes used for rubble
+walling in towers, was quite unsuitable for spire-building, and
+therefore the earliest spires are to be found on the skerry belt,
+wherever “water-stones” of good quality could be obtained; Tuxford,
+Maplebeck and Gedling were the principal quarries, while fairly good
+stone was obtained from the bank in the vicinity of Bunny and Gotham.
+
+As facilities for transport increased, we find that the millstone grit
+from Castle Donnington and south Derbyshire was used in the southern
+portion of the county, and Lincolnshire oolite in the eastern portion.
+The tradition of river-borne stone having been used still lingers in
+Trentside villages; and even as late as 1742 one of our local artists
+shows the method of haulage then in vogue, where five men are seen on
+the towing-path, harnessed to a small boat.[80] (Horse haulage was
+not sanctioned by Act of Parliament until the middle of the eighteenth
+century.)
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 1.]
+
+It is difficult to determine when spire-building first started in this
+country, for lightning, storm, and fire have destroyed every trace of
+the timber and shingle spires which prevailed before stone was adopted
+as the more suitable material.[81]
+
+The origin of the spire grew out of the necessity for roofing the
+tower in some form. The simplest and most natural kinds of roof were
+the “pyramid” and “saddle-back.” The early Saxon churches, especially
+in districts exposed to the attacks of the Danes, each had a strong
+tower for defensive purposes, and this was invariably crowned with
+a pyramid. This type of tower roof was continued during the Norman
+period. The ancient towers at Halam, Flintham, and Fledborough still
+retain the original form of pyramidal roof, although in each instance
+they are modern restorations; and this applies also to the western
+towers at Southwell Minster. The ivy-mantled tower at Walesby is the
+only ancient tower in the county with a saddle-back roof; but this,
+again, is not the original work. Sometimes the pyramidal roof was set
+diagonally, thus forming a four-sided gable spire. We have only one
+example of this type remaining in England, at Sompting in Sussex,
+although it is still quite common in the Rhenish provinces.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 2.]
+
+As time went on, the churches were gradually enlarged to meet
+increasing needs; chancels were extended, aisles were thrown out
+necessitating the introduction of clerestories, and thus the tower,
+once the dominant feature, was dwarfed and made to look quite
+inadequate. It was natural, therefore, that the tower should be raised,
+when it not infrequently happened that the old roof was discarded,
+and a new type of “tower-roof,” a tall, tapering spire, was erected
+in its place, not only to keep out the weather, but designed as an
+ornamental feature to give dignity and importance to the whole fabric.
+At Bradmore, for instance, where only the steeple remains,[82] and that
+in a ruinous condition, the building periods are quite clearly marked.
+The lower stage of the tower, built of local blue lias limestone with
+skerry dressings, is the original steeple; this was raised by the
+addition of another stage, of a superior kind of workmanship, built of
+cleansed ashlar in large and regular courses of millstone grit, and
+this stage was eventually finished with a parapet surmounted by a plain
+octagonal spire of fourteenth century type.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 3.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 4.]
+
+The _stone_ spire first made its appearance late in the twelfth
+century, and became fully developed by the end of the fourteenth
+century. At first it took the same form as the discarded timber
+structures;[83] a stone corbel-table took the place of the dripping
+eaves, and from this rose a plain octagonal pyramid, the oblique
+faces being brought out to the square at the base with a plain
+splay. There is only one example of this non-lithic form of spire in
+Nottinghamshire--that at Gotham. To facilitate comparison, I have made
+a sketch of it side by side with a typical spire of timber and shingle.
+An Early English tower, 18 feet square, in three diminishing stages,
+without buttresses of any kind, stands at the west end of the nave.
+The walls are 3½ feet thick, finished with a corbel-table, from which
+a spire springs without the intervention of parapet or pinnacles. The
+spire is square on plan to begin with, but quickly assumes an octagonal
+form, the oblique faces being brought out with a plain splay above the
+squinches, which consist of well-formed pointed arches of one order.
+There are two tiers of lucarnes or spire lights in each cardinal face,
+with an orb and weather-cock as a finial at the summit. About twelve
+years ago the masonry was repaired and pointed, the upper portion of
+the spire, from just above the splays to the summit, being taken down
+and rebuilt in its original form. A peculiarity of this spire is that
+the stonework is left rough and irregular within, probably due in part
+to the fact that the local skerry or waterstone, of which the whole
+steeple is built, is very tough and difficult to work, and in part to
+the inexperience of the early builders. Speaking generally, spire walls
+are as truly worked within as without, and as the skill of the masons
+increased, the thickness of the masonry was reduced on account of the
+weight, until the utmost limit was reached. The beautiful spire at
+Louth (Lincs.), which rises to a height of 294 feet from the ground,
+is only 10 inches thick in the lower portion and 5 inches thick in the
+upper portion.
+
+Kirkby-in-Ashfield has a spire similar to the one at Gotham, but it is
+modern, having been entirely rebuilt fifty years ago.
+
+All through the thirteenth century and well on into the fourteenth
+century the broach spire was common. Instead of a splay, the angle
+between the square of the tower and the octagon of the spire was
+covered by a hood in shape a half-pyramid, now popularly called a
+_broach_, although originally that term was applied to the whole
+spire, and not to a part of it only. Whereas the earlier spires
+exhibited the constructive principles of the carpenter, this was
+essentially the mason’s method of covering the squinches; and so
+characteristic of masoncraft is it that to this day, whenever the
+broach form is used to stop a plain chamfer, either in woodwork or
+stonework, it is always called a “mason stop.”
+
+  [Illustration:
+
+    BURTON JOYCE.      NORMANTON-ON-SOAR.
+
+    WOLLATON.          EDWINSTOWE.
+
+  _From photographs_ by Mr. H. GILL.]
+
+One of the finest specimens of a broach spire in the county is at
+Normanton-on-Soar. It has a bold corbel-table in place of the plain
+dripping eaves, carved knots at the apices of the broaches, two tiers
+of lucarnes, and a distinct, though not too pronounced, entasis--all
+characteristic of the thirteenth century type. The tower belongs
+to the Early English period, and is built of rubble (blue lias
+limestone), with dressings of local skerry. The spire also is built
+of local skerry, but it is a later addition. It rises direct from the
+corbel-table, and assumes a graceful outline as it soars above the
+crossing of what once was a fine cruciform church, now, alas, despoiled
+of some of its original character, but still forming a very pleasing
+picture, especially when viewed from the opposite bank of the river
+Soar.
+
+  [Illustration:
+
+    NORMANTON =ON= SOAR
+
+  Fig. 5.]
+
+At Ratcliffe-on-Soar a further development in the evolution of spire
+design may be seen. An Early English tower (_c._ 1200) was
+surmounted a century later by a broach spire of similar construction
+and material to the one at Normanton-on-Soar, but with this
+difference, that here an attempt was made to overcome that sense of
+bareness and weakness which is so apparent in an ordinary broach spire.
+This was accomplished by carrying up each angle of the tower above
+the springing of the broaches, so as to form a base for an octagonal
+pinnacle; and it is interesting to notice that each pinnacle is a
+miniature of the spire which rises in the midst.
+
+This innovation was intended not only to give weight and strength at
+the angles, but to overcome the abrupt appearance caused by the change
+from the square form of the tower to the octagonal form of the spire,
+and it is an interesting example in the transition from the “pathless”
+spire to the fully developed type having a pathway all round, with
+parapets between the pinnacles to mask the junction of the spire and
+tower.
+
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 6.--Ratcliffe-on-Soar.]
+
+The three spires--Gotham, Normanton-on-Soar, and
+Ratcliffe-on-Soar--standing in close proximity to each other, thus form
+an interesting study in the development of spire design.
+
+Before proceeding to the consideration of spires with parapets, it may
+be well to give a brief enumeration of the remaining broach spires in
+the county.
+
+_Willoughby-on-the-Wolds._--Similar in all respects to
+Normanton-on-Soar. Recently restored.
+
+_Burton Joyce_, (_c._ 1300) is a typical illustration of a broach
+spire. The tower, 17 feet square, well buttressed in the lower stage,
+stands in the usual position at the west end of the nave, surmounted
+by a spire of good proportions with well-designed dormers on each
+cardinal face just above the dripping eaves, and lucarnes near the
+summit. Each angle of the spire was emphasised just above the broaches
+by a boldly carved knot of foliage--the forerunner of the crockets
+of a later style--but these are now damaged and worn, and the spire
+has in consequence lost much of its beauty. It nevertheless stands as
+a pleasing example of a steeple suitable for a village church. The
+building material was obtained from the quarries at Gedling, close by.
+
+_Maplebeck._--A very good bed of skerry was quarried here. It is not
+surprising, therefore, to find that the church has a spire. This is
+similar to the one at Burton Joyce.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 7.]
+
+_Mansfield Woodhouse._--This steeple was built to replace a timber
+spire which was burnt down in 1304. A curious effect is produced by a
+cluster of unpierced gablets which form a corona near the summit of the
+spire. The dormers, which stand out boldly from the dripping eaves on
+each cardinal face of the spire, are well designed and characteristic
+of the period.
+
+_Holme_ (_Newark_) has a small, stumpy steeple, built of Lincolnshire
+oolite, in the fifteenth century, with broaches and spire lights after
+the manner of an earlier period.
+
+_Edwinstowe._--This steeple, which forms a conspicuous landmark
+for miles around, has been the subject of much controversy regarding
+its design and its antiquity. Obviously, to make a good polygonal
+spire, the tower top from which it springs should be four-square; but
+in this instance, as in many others where the spire has been built upon
+a tower which was not originally intended to receive it, the width of
+the tower from east to west is greater than the breadth from north
+to south, and consequently the spire becomes an irregular polygon.
+The spire at Edwinstowe was built in the latter half of the fifteenth
+century upon a tower of twelfth or very early thirteenth century work.
+At first sight the spire appears to belong to the same period as the
+tower; the angle shafts in the peculiar arrangement of square pinnacles
+which are set upon the broaches may easily be mistaken for Early
+English work, but a more careful scrutiny reveals the fact that the
+merlons in the quasi-parapets have the mouldings mitred and returned
+on the sides as well as on the top--a sure indication of a later date.
+There are dormers at the springing to correspond with the pinnacles,
+the upper portion of the spire being quite plain, excepting that each
+cardinal face is pierced with a quatrefoil near the summit--a further
+indication of late date. Judging by the character of the work, I think
+it is probable that the spire was commenced after the completion of
+the north aisle, late in the fifteenth century, but it did not survive
+completion long, for in 1679 the parishioners sent a petition to King
+Charles II. asking for “£200 or 200 decayed oaks which are unfit for
+ship timber,” from the royal forest of Sherwood towards the cost
+(£300) of repairing “the Body of the Church,” which was “extremely
+shaken and in a very ruinous condition,” occasioned by the fall of the
+steeple, which about seven years ago “was beaten down by thunder.” The
+upper portion of the steeple at any rate, probably from the pinnacles
+upward, thus appears to be seventeenth century work. The blind arcades
+in the upper stage of the tower are the original belfry windows, which
+were built up when the spire was added. The oak beams of the old
+tower roof are still in position, and appear to have been utilised
+for hoisting up materials. The structural expedient for spanning the
+corners of the tower to suit the shape of the spire, and known as
+“squinches,” consist of concentric pointed arches in two orders, with a
+corbel stone and lintel in addition. All the masonry, both inside and
+outside the spire, is magnesian limestone most carefully worked. A very
+tall lancet window in the west face of the lowest stage of the tower
+is probably unique in that it is divided almost equally in height by a
+transom. The spire was struck by lightning forty years ago, which once
+more necessitated the rebuilding of the top portion.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 8.
+
+    SQUINCHES
+
+    EDWINSTOWE]
+
+_Misterton._--This steeple is sometimes described as belonging to the
+Early English period, but the statement is incorrect, as the spire
+has no claim to antiquity. The porch at the extreme west end of the
+south aisle gives entrance to the church through the tower--a very
+unusual arrangement. The tower and other parts of the church are built
+of fine grained magnesian limestone from the Roche Abbey district. The
+lower part of the tower formed the steeple to an earlier church. It
+was raised in the Decorated period to a high tower with parapet and
+pinnacles. The upper portion of the tower was damaged by lightning, and
+when it was rebuilt (1847–48) a broach spire of inelegant proportions
+was added. The ancient appearance of this spire is due to the fact that
+it is built of brown Yorkshire stone, in contrast with the white Roche
+Abbey stone used in the construction of the tower.
+
+_Gedling._--This steeple is one of the earliest examples we have of a
+tower and spire of the same date. It was built about 1320, and although
+it now has battlements and a pathway all round, I think it should be
+classed with the broach spires. It is probably unique by reason of the
+remarkable entasis, which is not an “almost imperceptible swelling,” as
+the dictionaries have it, but a swelling so pronounced as to be almost
+a distortion. The builders of old understood the value of an entasis
+for correcting optical illusion, and either made the sloping sides of
+their spires slightly convex or, at a later time, produced the same
+effect by running crockets up the angles and making them larger, or of
+greater projection, in the centre and diminishing them as they neared
+the base and the summit (as at Louth); but here we have a divergence
+from the straight line of 24 inches, and what is more remarkable still,
+the cardinal faces of the tower _buttresses_ have also a similar curve.
+This is not due to settlement or defective building, for the whole
+structure stands as true and firm to-day as it did nearly 600 years ago.
+
+  [Illustration: GEDLING.]
+
+  [Illustration: WEST RETFORD.]
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 9.--Gedling.]
+
+In design and workmanship Gedling differs from any other church in
+the county, and I can only suggest that it is the work, not of local
+masons, but of craftsmen from some other part of the country, probably
+the Nene valley. The whole of the stone was obtained from the local
+quarry, which lies about three-quarters of a mile to the north of
+the church--now a tree-grown hollow on the western side of the lane
+leading up to Mapperley Plains. The stone, which is very tough, has
+been used in blocks of enormous size. The tower, 24 feet square,
+stands to the north-west of the church, and is only engaged in part
+with the north aisle. This unusual position, which has the advantage
+of enabling the tower to be well seen to its full height, is due to
+the fact that the road passes close to the south-west angle of the
+church in an oblique line and trends away to the north-west. The
+walls of the tower, 5 feet thick, are carried up in three stages to a
+height of 90 feet and heavily buttressed. A newel staircase, 2 feet
+4 inches wide, occupies the north-west angle. It is worthy of note
+that this staircase stops at an internal platform before the leads are
+reached, and gives access to the bells only. To reach the pathway, it
+is necessary to cross the bell frames and pass through a small doorway
+on the north side. This fact alone is not conclusive, but it should
+be further noticed that the parapet is not continuous, as we should
+expect if it was coeval with the tower, but embattled; the merlons are
+low and thin, the pathway very narrow, and the appearance altogether
+is very unusual and suggestive of the work of a later period. A
+careful examination of the work at the base of the spire, which rises
+to a height of 180 feet from the ground, leads me to think that this
+steeple was originally a pathless one, and that the cardinal faces
+sprang from the top of a corbel table; but for some reason--perhaps for
+purposes of observation or to facilitate repairs--the lower part of the
+broaches and the sloping faces were afterwards cut away and parapets
+introduced. A horizontal moulding runs round the spire 8½ feet above
+the leads. The workmanship below this moulding is inferior, and the
+angles of the spire, which are beautifully moulded, do not “line” with
+the work above, in some cases by inches, which proves clearly to my
+mind that an alteration of some kind has taken place since the spire
+was built. There are no pinnacles to emphasise the corners, although
+the appearance of the steeple would be greatly improved by them.
+Tradition says that pinnacles were once in evidence, but they could
+only have been small and insignificant, judging by the smallness of
+the stools. There are canopied niches at the apices of the broaches,
+each designed to contain a sculptured figure in the attitude of prayer.
+The north-east niche is now tenantless. The north-west figure is worn
+beyond recognition; that on the south-west represents a lady, and that
+on the south-east a warrior. In consequence of exposure to the weather
+for 600 years, nearly every trace that might lead to the identification
+of these figures has been obliterated. It is still possible, however,
+to discern indications of chain mail on the armour of the warrior, and
+this is quite in harmony with the suggested date of erection.
+
+  [Illustration: NEWARK.]
+
+  [Illustration: BINGHAM.]
+
+Spire-building reached its highest perfection in this county in the
+middle of the fourteenth century, when the steeple of the parish church
+at _Newark_ was completed (_c._ 1356). The lower portion of the tower
+was built about 1230, but it was left unfinished until a century
+later, when a celebrated school of masons, who had done much good work
+in the neighbourhood, after completing the church at Grantham, came
+to Newark and carried the tower up to its full height, enriched with
+niches and sculptures and crowned with a lofty spire having moulded
+angles, four tiers of spire lights, slender broaches with carved knots
+at the apices, and a continuous perforated parapet between lofty
+angle pinnacles, which are pierced to allow for a pathway all round
+the base of the spire. Rickman says: “This spire deserves peculiar
+attention.... On the whole, perhaps, there are no specimens superior in
+composition and execution, and few equal.” It is built of Lincolnshire
+oolite, and stands engaged at the west end of the church, which comes
+close up to the pavement and can best be seen in its full height as
+it closes the vista down one of the narrow streets of the town. But
+whether viewed from this point or from the market-place, or from the
+surrounding fields and lanes, it cannot fail to charm the beholder by
+its gracefulness and beauty.
+
+_Bingham._--Although this steeple is not so graceful as the one at
+Newark, it impresses by its solidity and strength, and is worthy of
+very careful study. It stands at the west end of the church, and
+consists of an Early English tower, having walls 5½ feet thick, chiefly
+built of local skerry, surmounted by a decorated broach spire of
+pleasing outline, having a pronounced entasis and three tiers of spire
+lights. The upper stage of the tower is pierced on each face with two
+two-light windows, having deeply recessed mouldings, arched heads, and
+finished with a corbel table, constructed in such a way as to suggest
+that a perforated parapet (probably similar to those at Newark and
+Thoroton) was anticipated, although it was never put on. The corbel
+table consists of masks with ball-flower ornaments, and carved foliage
+between them. The ball-flower predominates, and it is interesting to
+notice the irregularity in the width of the spaces between the corbels;
+in most cases two flowers suffice, while in others three are barely
+sufficient. Two of the pinnacles are mutilated sculptures of bishops
+in eucharistic vestments; they stand out conspicuously against the
+sky at the north-west and south-west angles of the massive tower. It
+is probable that in their original state the pinnacles were intended
+to represent the four Evangelists, but those at the north-east and
+south-east have been replaced by finials of Decorated types of foliage.
+The lancet window in the buttress on the western face of the tower is
+a very effective feature when seen through the tower arch from within,
+being recessed with splays more than 8 feet deep.[84]
+
+_Whatton-in-the-Vale._--This steeple differs from its neighbour
+at Bingham, in that it stands above the crossing of a cruciform
+church.[85] In all other respects there is a great similarity. It
+was rebuilt in 1870–71, as nearly as possible on the original lines,
+and with the original material. The foundation is Norman work; the
+tower Early English, with plain parapet and pinnacles; the spire is
+Decorated, but obviously it is not high enough to be quite effective,
+in comparison with the broad tower on which it stands.
+
+_Thoroton._--This church was struck by lightning on 27th April 1868,
+and the tower and spire was thoroughly restored the same year. The
+tower consists of three stages, and is finished with a continuous
+parapet of open quatrefoils, supported on a bold corbel table. The
+faces on the corbels are all awry, as though they were distorted with
+pain. This has led to the facetious remark that the figures represent
+the Ryemouth family, but I think it is more probable that, if any
+meaning were intended, they are a memento of the Black Death, which had
+decimated the county only a short time before this steeple was built.
+Within the parapet a graceful spire rises, with three tiers of spire
+lights arranged in a pleasing manner on alternate faces of the spire.
+On the western side of the tower there is a fine ogee canopied niche,
+with fragmentary remains of the sculptures it once contained--a very
+unusual feature in this district. The steeple belongs to the Decorated
+period. It is built with rubble willing, of blue lias limestone, and
+dressings of skerry in the older parts, mixed with Lincolnshire oolite.
+
+With the advent of the fifteenth century, the art of spire-building
+became more general. As the knowledge of constructive principles
+increased, spires were made lighter in appearance; the springing was
+hidden behind a parapet, lucarnes were sparingly used or omitted
+altogether, and thus was evolved the plain tapering spire of slender
+proportions so familiar in villages, not only in this county, but
+scattered all over the land, and apparently all built from one design.
+
+_Wollaton_ may be taken as an example of this type. The church is
+built with large blocks of sandstone of a rich yellow tint, quarried
+in the neighbouring parish of Trowell, the only place in the county
+where carboniferous limestone was obtained. The steeple is carried
+on arches on the north and south sides, though the reason for this
+is not now apparent. As the western face of the tower abuts upon the
+roadway, it is possible that the public footpath once went underneath
+the tower, or it may have been that the arches were made to admit of
+processions round the church without going outside the consecrated
+area. The steeple belongs to the late Decorated period. The tower is
+finished with an embattled parapet, which projects slightly beyond the
+wall line. The spire is slender, and springs well within the parapet,
+having only one tier of small spire lights, which scarcely break the
+sloping lines of the spire. Unlike all other spires in the county, with
+the exception of Keyworth and Car Colston, the finial in this case is a
+weather vane, and not the familiar weather-cock.
+
+The following is a complete list of similar spires:--
+
+   _Attenborough._--Early fifteenth century. Steeple built of
+   millstone grit.
+
+   _Barton._--Early fifteenth century. Steeple built of
+   millstone grit.
+
+   _Cotgrave._--Early fifteenth century. Plain octagonal spire
+   without lucarnes, built of millstone grit.
+
+   _East Leake._--Fifteenth century spire on Early English
+   tower. Built of millstone grit.
+
+   _Epperstone._--Fourteenth or early fifteenth century
+   steeple, built of local waterstone. The top portion of the spire
+   was renewed in 1820 with Mansfield stone.
+
+   _Holme Pierrepont._--Fifteenth century. Built of Gedling
+   stone.
+
+   _Lowdham._--Late twelfth century tower, originally
+   detached; fourteenth century spire.
+
+   _Mansfield_ (St. Peter’s).--Norman tower (two stages).
+   Belfry stage and parapets fourteenth century; spire later.
+   Magnesian limestone.
+
+   _Stapleford._--Tower, _c._ 1250. Parapets and spire
+   fifteenth century. Local skerry.
+
+   _Sutton-in-Ashfield._--Steeple commenced in 1390–91,
+   completed 1399 by the donor, John de Sutton, Mayor and Member of
+   Parliament for Lincoln. Local magnesian limestone.
+
+   _Sutton Bonington_ (St. Michael’s).--Steeple fifteenth
+   century. Castle Donnington stone.
+
+   _Tuxford._--Early English tower in lower part, upper
+   portion and spire _c._ 1357. Skerry.
+
+   _Weston._--Repaired 1910.
+
+_Wysall._--The tower is built of local lias limestone, mixed with
+bands of skerry. The walls are nearly four feet thick, with buttresses
+at the angles. The battlements and spire are of cleansed ashlar. The
+spire, carried on corbelled squinches set low down in the tower, looks
+very weak and dilapidated, and this is accentuated by the pierced
+spire lights fixed high up on the sloping sides, and by the battered
+weather-cock at the summit. There is no staircase, the belfry being
+reached by a climbing ladder fixed within the tower. The striving after
+plainness and lightness had reached its limit when this spire was built.
+
+_Nottingham_ (St. Peter’s, _c._ 1400) might well have been included in
+the foregoing list, if the spire, as it now stands, was in its original
+condition, but unfortunately it has been denuded of the crockets which
+were once a conspicuous feature. These crockets were cut off by a
+man named Wooton, of Kegworth, who was engaged to repair the spire
+in or about 1825.[86] The father of the man who committed this gross
+vandalism was not only a noted spire builder and repairer, but he was
+also a crank, for when he had finished his task of restoring the spire
+at Kegworth, “resting on his airy perch at the summit, he played some
+tunes on the French horn, while the villagers looked up in awe and
+listened to the music of the spheres.”
+
+_Bunny_ has a steeple similar to St. Peter’s at Nottingham, built
+of millstone grit with crockets at the angles. These crockets are too
+small to be really effective, and those near the top and on the exposed
+angles to the north and east have perished to a considerable extent.
+
+_Balderton._--The upper part of the tower and spire was added in the
+fourteenth or early fifteenth century. It is evident that the work here
+was influenced by the beautiful work at Claypole, just over the border,
+in Lincolnshire. The crockets on the spire give it quite a Lincolnshire
+appearance, while the tower is of the usual Nottinghamshire type, with
+embattled parapets and corner pinnacles.
+
+_West Retford._--This crocketed spire of beautiful design and
+proportions was built of skerry (locally called Tuxford stone) during
+the latter half of the fifteenth century. It will be noticed that the
+upper part of the belfry stage assumes an octagonal form immediately
+above the louvres, the angle buttresses being carried up vertically
+so as to form pinnacles with gabled and crocketed heads. Behind each
+main pinnacle a small bar of stone is carried over in the form of a
+flying buttress until it reaches the face of the spire, whence it
+is again carried up vertically in the form of a slender buttress or
+inner pinnacle, and enriched with crockets. This treatment is very
+characteristic of the period, and although it produces a graceful
+effect it is quite useless from a constructional point of view, and
+indicates that the decline in Gothic architecture was at hand.
+
+_Scrooby._--A spire similar in outline and principle to that at West
+Retford, but without the crockets, was built at Scrooby of stone from
+Roche Abbey. These two spires form a class by themselves. They are the
+only medieval spires in the northern part of the county, and appear to
+have been built at the same period and by the same band of masons.
+
+[Illustration:
+
+    THOROTON.      KEYWORTH.
+
+    CAR COLSTON.   UPTON.]
+
+_Keyworth._--A steeple unique in design and construction still
+remains to be noticed. It is a well-known fact that a steeple was
+sometimes used as a beacon for the guidance of travellers by land or
+sea. For instance, Boston “Stump” has long been a landmark for mariners
+on Boston Deeps and for travellers on the broad fens. Keyworth has
+a steeple traditionally said to have been used as a beacon to guide
+parishioners home over the trackless lands (enclosed since 1797).
+Standing on a crest of the Wolds, it is certainly a conspicuous object
+for miles around, and it may well have been used on occasion for the
+display of signals in time of national peril; but a careful examination
+has failed to disclose any trace of a beacon fire or light ever having
+been used, and probably the term “lantern” tower which is now generally
+applied to it is solely due to the peculiarity of the design. The tower
+was built at the west end of the church, the walls on the north and
+south sides being carried on pointed arches. The subsequent extension
+of the north and south aisles so as to enclose the tower thus enabled
+the whole of the west end of the church to be used as a schoolroom,
+and it was so used until 1820. The tower is 17 feet square at the
+base, with flat buttresses at each corner, panelled and gabled in a
+manner quite unusual in this district. There are indications that the
+parapet was originally embattled, but the merlons and pinnacles were
+removed some time during the past century. Within the parapet rises
+a smaller tower 11 feet square, with a stone pathway all round it 2½
+feet wide, composed of large “through” stones, laid across the top of
+the main walls. (No lead is used.) These “through” stones project over
+the walls, and are long enough to form a corbel table outside and an
+over-sailing course inside to carry the walls of the lantern. About
+six feet above the pathway the lantern takes an octagonal form, the
+squinches consisting of two plain over-sailing courses in each angle,
+covered with a stone which may originally have been a low broach, but
+it is now worn almost level by exposure to the weather. The octagonal
+lantern is finished with gargoyles and an embattled parapet, and
+surmounted by a short stone spire. Each cardinal face of the lantern is
+pierced with two louvred openings, 3 feet high by 9 inches wide in the
+octagonal part, and four openings 3 feet high by 11 inches wide in the
+lower part, the pathway round the spire being reached from the belfry
+through one of these on the north side. The openings are very unusual
+in character, being plain rectangles without mouldings or cusps, but as
+they occur just above the bells, and are louvred, they were undoubtedly
+intended to let out the sound. The walls are built of millstone grit
+from the Castle Donnington district, backed in with local rubble,
+blue lias limestone, skerry, and in some places with brick. It is
+difficult to determine the date of erection. The detail of the upper
+portion seems to indicate an earlier period than the lower portion,
+which obviously could not be the case, and the whole fabric suggests a
+French origin. Probably 1400 is an approximate date.
+
+_Car Colston._--The lower stage of this tower was built in the Early
+English period with rubble walls of lias limestone and dressings of
+local skerry. In the fifteenth century it was raised to be a lofty
+tower with parapets and pinnacles, and surmounted by a low octagonal
+roof or spire of Ancaster stone of very unusual form, and unlike any
+other spire in the county.
+
+_Upton._--At Upton there is a fifteenth century tower with a cluster of
+eight pinnacles round the parapet, and a large crocketed pinnacle--an
+incipient spire--set in their midst on the crown of the stone barrel
+vault which forms the roof of the belfry. The effect of this is
+peculiar rather than graceful, and the method of construction is
+unsound in principle, for, as might have been expected, the great
+weight of the spirelet has caused the vaulting to spread and push the
+tower walls out of the perpendicular.
+
+There is a diminutive steeple at Cossall of the ordinary fifteenth
+century type. This church was entirely rebuilt in 1842.
+
+The spire at Scarrington was rebuilt and the tower restored in 1896.
+The description given by Sir Stephen R. Glynne in 1866 still applies:
+“The tower is Decorated, rather heavy, and has flat buttresses which
+may be Early English.... The belfry windows are large but mutilated.
+The parapet is plain, the spire octagonal without ribs, having two
+tiers of spire lights set in the same sides.”
+
+Several ancient steeples have been entirely destroyed, and only
+records remain. The old church at Hoveringham had a parapeted spire.
+Radcliffe-on-Trent had a Decorated tower and a tall, graceful,
+crocketed spire. The crocketed spire of old St. Nicholas’ church,
+Nottingham, was destroyed during the Parliamentary wars. The
+original parish church at Flawford had a handsome spire steeple
+which was demolished in 1773. Ruddington church, which was once a
+chapel to Flawford, was rebuilt in 1887, the stones of the old
+spire being re-used. Kingston-on-Soar had a small spire previous to
+rebuilding, when it was replaced with a square tower. The steeples at
+Carlton-on-Trent and Grove are modern erections.
+
+
+                                VANES.
+
+    “Lo, on the top of each aerial spire,
+    What seems a star by day, so high and bright,
+    It quivers from afar in golden light;
+    But ’tis a form of earth, though touched with fire
+    Celestial, raised in other days to tell
+    How, when they tired of prayer, apostles fell.”
+
+                                   --_Lyra Apostolica._
+
+The summit of the spire was generally finished with a vane of the
+familiar chanticleer form--emblem of vigilance, watchfulness, and
+prayer. In only three instances in the county has this custom been
+departed from. Wollaton, Car Colston, and Keyworth have weather vanes
+in the form of an arrow. The one at Keyworth has only quite recently
+supplanted the original weather-cock, which is still retained in the
+church. It was formed out of two sheets of copper cut to shape and
+riveted together. It is no unusual thing to find an inscription or date
+engraved on the brass or copper plates of which the vane is composed
+and the hollow body of the bird filled with corn.
+
+  [Illustration: Fig. 10.--Bradmore.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It may perhaps seem strange to mention botany and ornithology in
+connection with church steeples; yet strange as it may appear, some
+splendid botanical specimens have made the church steeple their
+home--not only mosses and lichens, but wild flowers in profusion. The
+rue fern flourishes on the steeple at Holme; a cluster of very fine
+harebells adorns the steeple at Gedling; the ivy-leaved toadflax,
+wallflowers, polypody fern, and many other small specimens may be found
+growing on the sunny side of many an ancient steeple; while at Wysall
+large elderberry trees are actually growing all round the spire.
+
+In addition to flocks of starlings, pigeons, jackdaws, swifts, and
+other familiar birds that live upon the church, a cormorant once chose
+to make its nest at the summit of Newark spire, and during the same
+summer (1893) a crow found a nesting-place in the iron corona at the
+top of a turret in Nottingham. At Upton a chamber in the upper part of
+the tower has been used as a dovecote. The ledges and nesting-holes all
+round the walls are still in perfect condition, and give a good idea of
+the interior of a medieval columbarium.
+
+
+
+
+                THE LOW SIDE WINDOWS OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
+
+                             BY HARRY GILL
+
+
+The term “low side windows” is now generally used to denote the
+peculiar openings which are to be found in the walls of ancient
+churches, generally, but not always, in the chancel; sometimes on the
+north side, more frequently on the south side, and occasionally on both
+sides, commonly known by the name of “leper windows.”
+
+The popular idea concerning them is that they were made to enable
+persons stricken with the dreadful disease of leprosy--painfully
+prevalent in England when these windows were first introduced--to
+attend the service of the Mass and to receive the solace of Holy
+Communion at the hands of the priest without entering the church. Apart
+from the fact that the leper was looked upon as a dead man and never
+allowed to mingle with his fellows, a very cursory examination of the
+openings will prove that they were utterly unsuited for such a purpose.
+The height above the ground in some cases, and the great thickness of
+the wall in almost all cases, would have made it very difficult for
+the priest to administer the sacrament in this way; nor would it be
+possible for any one standing outside the church to see through them
+to the altar, to the images on the rood-loft, or to any essential
+feature within the church. There is only one instance in the county (at
+Laxton) where the altar might possibly be seen through the opening.
+In this case the window is near the east end of the south wall of the
+chancel. The reason for this position is obvious. When the chancel was
+rebuilt (_c._ 1400), aisles were thrown out on either side to form
+sepulchral chapels for the lords of Laxton: the south side was for the
+superior lords--the Everinghams, and the north side for the Lexingtons.
+These chapels extend to within 7½ feet of the extreme east end, and in
+the middle of this space the wall has been pierced by a small window 18
+inches high, 3½ inches wide, which looks straight towards the end of
+the altar; but as the opening is rebated for a shutter and the sill is
+5½ feet above the ground, it is not likely that it was intended for the
+view.
+
+A systematic survey of all the low side windows in the county has led
+me to the conclusion that they were not all made for one and the same
+purpose, and in order to determine their use it will be necessary to
+notice their position and size, and especially the section of the
+jambs, which in some cases have a wide rebate which indicates that the
+openings were originally fitted with an oak shutter, while in other
+cases they were rebated for glass in the ordinary way; and further,
+the shuttered openings will be found to be plain rectangles, while the
+glazed openings are arched and cusped. The fact that the shuttered
+openings have all been “stoned up,” points to the fact that they were
+used in connection with some ceremony which went out of use at the
+Reformation; while the glazed openings were intended simply to give
+light, and therefore remain unaltered. It will be convenient to deal
+with them under two separate headings: (_a_) shuttered openings;
+(_b_) glazed openings.
+
+  [Illustration: LAXTON.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+
+    COSTOCK.      HAUGHTON.
+
+  _From photographs by_ Mr. H. GILL.]
+
+(_a_) _Shuttered Openings._--The earliest examples I have
+noticed in the county belong to the thirteenth century. In some
+instances the string moulding beneath the window sills was “stepped”
+so as to allow the sill at the west end of the chancel to be brought
+down to a lower level; the lower portion of this elongated window was
+divided from the upper portion by a transom, thus forming a rectangular
+opening (Flintham). In other instances the string moulding and sill
+are carried through level and a small independent opening formed in
+the wall space immediately below the window (Stanford-on-Soar).
+In either case the opening was fitted with a shutter made to open
+inwards and hung with iron bands and hooks. In many instances the hinge
+hooks and catches are still _in situ_, notably at Costock, where,
+until sixty years ago, the shutter was intact. It is certain that
+these shuttered openings were not introduced for the purpose of giving
+light; it is equally certain also that they were not intended either
+for lychnoscopes or hagioscopes, for it is impossible for the Easter
+sepulchre or the altar to be seen through any of them, except the one
+at Laxton before referred to. So far as I know, the only documentary
+evidence which throws any light on the question is contained in a
+letter written by Richard Bedyll to Thomas Cromwell in the reign of
+Henry VIII.: “and we think it best that the place, wher thes frires
+have been wont to hire uttward confessions of al commers at certen
+tymes of the yere, be walled up for ever.” This quotation may seem on
+the face of it to favour the confessional theory, but we must remember
+that it was specially written concerning a monastic church, and only
+bears upon the question, so far as parish churches are concerned, in
+that it tells of the way they had in those days of dealing with an
+object for which there was no further use; it was “walled up” and “that
+use foredoen for ever.”
+
+An example of the openings to which this letter would apply may be seen
+in the Galilee porch at the west end of the large cruciform church
+at Melton Mowbray (Leicestershire), partly built (1300–1325) and
+controlled by the Cluniac monks attached to the great priory of Lewes,
+who had a cell here; while fourteen chantry priests were installed only
+two miles away at the rectory close by the leper hospital at Burton
+Lazars. With such a supply of priests at hand, it may well be that this
+porch, containing four shuttered openings, all conveniently placed
+as regards height and position, was used “for uttward confessions
+of al commers at certen tymes of the yere,” _i.e._ at Easter,
+Whitsuntide, Christmas, and during the patronal and dedication
+festivals.
+
+But these special openings bear no relation to, and must not be
+confused with, the openings in parish churches. If they were actually
+used as confessionals, they only prove that the medieval workman knew
+how to meet the necessities of a case in the most convenient way, and
+it would be a libel on his intelligence to suppose that the openings
+to be found in parish churches were the best means he could devise for
+communicating lepers or confessing penitents.
+
+The fact that the shuttered openings were all built up with stone,
+proves that they were used for some purpose that was discontinued when
+the Reformation was completed; not confession, for that did not cease
+at once, but something in connection with the office of the Mass.
+
+If we look through the inventories of church goods made in the reign
+of Edward VI. (1552), we shall find in almost every case an account of
+bells that were used for various purposes.
+
+    Hucknall--It. ij hand bells, j sacring bell.
+              Itm in the stepell, iij small bells.
+
+    Bingham--It. iiij belles and ij hande belles.
+
+    Whatton in the Vale--Itm iiij belles in ye styple.
+                         Itm ij hand belles.
+                         Itm one lytle saunce bell.
+
+Sometimes the position of the bell is given:--“j little bell in the
+churche called the Saints bell, the sacringe bell in the hie chancell.”
+
+Regarding the use of these bells, the “instructions” issued by the
+bishops are very precise:--
+
+   “At the Elevation of the Eucharist, when it is lifted up, let
+   the little bell first be rung.”--Bishop of Lichfield, 1237;
+   Bishop of Worcester, 1240.
+
+   “The parishioners shall not irreverently incline at the
+   Elevation of the Body of Christ, but adore with all devotion and
+   reverence; wherefore let them be first warned by ringing the
+   little bell, and at the Elevation let the great bell be thrice
+   knolled.”--Bishop of Exeter, 1280–1292.
+
+I am disposed to think that all the shuttered openings in parish
+churches were made for the purpose of ringing the sacring bell, and I
+would like to draw attention at this point to two facts which help to
+confirm this opinion:--
+
+(1) Corroboration of dates.
+
+    (_a_) At a time when the Church, as a result of
+    the Pope’s interdict (1208–1214), lay dormant,
+    neglected, and moribund, the Friars
+    came (1222–1224), and by their zeal and
+    influence kindled a revival which lasted
+    until the Black Death (1349) decimated
+    their ranks, when the tone of the clergy
+    began to decline.                                    1222–1349
+
+    (_b_) All the shuttered openings in the county were
+    made between                                         1225–1350
+
+    (_c_) The instructions as to ringing the sacring
+    bell in the chancel were all issued between          1224–1300
+
+(2) A peculiar example.
+
+Beneath the sill of a large two-light fourteenth century window in
+the chancel at Dersingham, Norfolk, there is a panel, 24 inches
+by 22 inches, and 43 inches from floor to sill, pierced with four
+quatrefoils. It certainly was never intended for light; nothing
+can be viewed through it, and the detail is much too intricate for
+any substance to be passed through the apertures. Any one familiar
+with the “sound holes” which are so characteristic of East Anglian
+belfries, cannot fail to be struck with the similarity between them
+and the little panel in question, which I suggest is also a “sound
+hole,” intended to indicate the place of the tinkling bell in the “hie
+chancell,” just as the larger panels indicate the place of the tolling
+bell in the high tower.
+
+The wide internal splays to all the shuttered openings now under
+consideration, is evidence that the intention was for sound to go
+out rather than to enable any one to look in, either to watch the
+lights upon the altar (the church doors were always open save during
+divine service), or for any other purpose; nor can they have been for
+the purpose of showing a light to scare evil spirits away, for the
+medieval mind always imagined that evil spirits came out of the north,
+and by far the larger portion of the openings are on the south side;
+while the dial markings, so frequently found on the jamb between the
+priest’s door and the low side window, and said to be connected with
+it, will prove upon examination to be more recent in date, and to be
+dial markings and nothing else. I have found them on the south side of
+all ancient churches that are built of soft grained stone, but seldom
+on the harder and coarser grit stones.
+
+It may fairly be asked why, if the purpose of these openings was to
+enable the sacring bell to be rung effectively, are they not to be
+found in every ancient chancel. The church at Ratcliffe-on-Soar, for
+instance, has no low side window, while the church at Flintham, only
+a little earlier in date, has one on either side of the chancel. The
+explanation is that the purpose could be achieved in various ways.
+Early in the fourteenth century when screen building set in vigorously,
+the rood-loft offered a convenient alternative position for a ringer
+with a little hand bell.[87] A bell cote or turret at the junction of
+the roofs of the nave and chancel, or near the porch, a bracket or beam
+projecting from the wall of the tower on which a bell was suspended,
+were all expedients variously adopted, the only essential being that
+the ringer, wherever he was stationed, should have an uninterrupted
+view of the high altar; and I think it will be found that not all
+the hagioscopes were made to allow an exalted personage to view the
+elevation of the host without the necessity of leaving his private pew,
+but in most cases they were made to enable the bell-ringer to see the
+altar and give the signal. Wherever a low side window and a bell cote
+are found in the same church, it will invariably be discovered that the
+bell cote is a later addition, and superseded the window.
+
+Shuttered openings may be seen at the following churches:--
+
+          Barnby-in-the-Willows  c. 1300       Both sides.
+    (_a_) Basford                13th cent.    S.W.
+          Burton Joyce           14th cent.    S.W.
+          South Collingham.      14th cent.    S.W.
+          Costock                14th cent.    S.W.
+          Flintham               13th cent.    Both sides.
+          Gedling                13th cent.    S.W.
+    (_a_) Halam                  14th cent.    N.W.
+          Haughton Chapel        ruined        S.W.
+          Keyworth               13th cent.    S.W.
+          Laxton                 14th cent.    S.E.
+          Low Marnham            14th cent.    S.W.
+          Normanton-on-Soar      13th cent.    S.W.
+    (_a_) Nuthall                14th cent.    S.W.
+          Orston                 13th cent.    S.W.
+          Stanford-on-Soar       14th cent.    S.W.
+          Trowell                13th cent.    N.W.
+
+    (_a_) These are built up, thus making classification somewhat
+            uncertain.
+
+(_b_) _Glazed Openings._--Early in the fourteenth century the
+screen developed into an imposing and extensive structure. Surmounting
+it were the images of Christ, Mary the Mother, and John. A loft about
+five feet wide was necessary to give access to the lamps which were
+kept burning before the images, to the row of lights placed along the
+top of the hand-rail at the great festivals, and for the purpose of
+veiling the images during Lent. The projection of the loft generally
+formed a canopy for the two altars which stood on the west side of the
+screen, but there is evidence that in some instances the projection
+was eastwards, _i.e._ into the chancel, thus necessitating a
+special arrangement of the fenestration, in order to get light either
+for general purposes, or to enable the priest to read his hours at the
+desk, which otherwise would be dark when thus placed under the soffit
+of the loft.[88]
+
+With these facts in mind, let us examine the work at Car Colston, one
+of a series of beautiful churches built by a peripatetic band of masons
+known as the York School, and the only chancel in Nottinghamshire
+built by them which contains a low side window. It is evident that the
+rood-loft in this case projected eastwards, for the eastern face of the
+chancel arch is quite plain, and the mouldings on the responds are not
+returned, but cut off square and flush with the walling. No trace of
+a staircase or door for entering the loft can be found. A comparison
+between the work here and the chancel at Arnold--built about thirty
+years earlier by the same school--where a stone newel staircase leading
+to the rood-loft is worked in the south pier of the chancel arch, well
+lighted by a small aperture in the angle, leads me to conclude that
+a similar arrangement was adopted here, but probably the stairs in
+this case were formed in wood instead of stone. It would therefore be
+necessary to get light at this point, and the skill of the builders is
+manifest in the introduction of this small but beautiful window of two
+lights, each 7½ inches wide and 36 inches high to the springing, and
+6½ feet from ground to sill. It has a sloping sill to throw the light
+downwards, while the absence of a rear arch and the substitution of a
+flat soffit indicates that it came up quite close to the floor of the
+rood-loft. A quadrant splay to the westward distributed the light and
+gave access to the rood stairs, and there was a square reveal to the
+eastward, because the window was separated from the priest’s doorway by
+a jamb only 8½ inches wide.
+
+Wherever the rood-loft projected far into the chancel, it was necessary
+to obtain light beneath it; and where the original fenestration did not
+admit of this, a small special window was introduced for the purpose.
+I think it will be found that in all cases where the jambs were not
+originally rebated for shutters, the low side window has been inserted
+after the introduction of the rood-loft for lighting purposes. During
+the first half of the thirteenth century the lighting of churches
+received but little consideration. Narrow lancets with sills high above
+the floor were deemed sufficient, while the north wall was often built
+without any windows at all. When the friars came, they were supposed
+to know the service by heart, and manuscript sermons were unknown.
+But as time went on, the desire for more light was felt, and it was
+first met by setting the lancets in pairs, and later in triplets; and
+not unfrequently the small east window was taken out and fixed at
+the west end of the south wall of the chancel, and a new and larger
+east window provided (Sutton St. Ann’s). At Kneesall portions of the
+original lancets may still be seen in the south wall blocked up with
+masonry, and in their stead two beautiful three-light, square-headed
+windows were introduced when the chancel was extended eastwards in the
+fifteenth century; and a similar thing occurred at East Leake, where a
+portion of the lancets still remain, though now superseded by larger
+windows. At Burton Joyce, in addition to the shuttered opening in the
+chancel, there is a small lancet fixed low down in the centre of the
+north aisle wall. This does not command any essential feature within
+the church. The probability is that it was introduced to light the
+priest’s desk in a chantry chapel which occupied a large space on this
+side of the church, and contained the tombs of the dominant owners.
+
+At a later date builders did not hesitate to insert large windows
+in the walls in place of the original lancets wherever light
+was needed for any special purpose, and in many instances the
+original shuttered openings were altered and converted into lights
+(Barnby-in-the-Willows). In some cases where chancels were entirely
+rebuilt, the S.W. window of the chancel was made with a low sill and a
+transom--an obvious development of the earlier shuttered window--but
+never intended for any other purpose than to give light, for both on
+the outside and inside the jambs are widely splayed and beautifully
+moulded (Wilford). In other cases the S.W. window has been kept low
+in conformity with ancient custom, and also probably because the S.E.
+window has had to be kept high up to clear the sedilia (Plumtree).
+
+Examples of windows for lighting purposes may be found at:--
+
+    Balderton                   15th cent. insertion in 13th cent.  South side.
+    Barton-in-Fabis             14th cent.                          S.W.
+    Car Colston                 14th cent.                          S.W.
+    Cropwell Bishop             13th cent.                          N.W.
+    East Bridgeford             13th cent.                          S.W.
+    East Leake                  13th cent.                          S.W.
+    Kneesall                    15th cent. insertion in 13th cent.  S.W.
+    Laneham                     15th cent. insertion in 12th cent.  S.W.
+    Lowdham                     13th cent.                          S.W.
+    Normanton-on-Trent          14th cent.                          S.W.
+    Oxton                       Late insertion in 12th cent. work   S.W.
+    Plumtree                    15th cent.                          S.W.
+    South Muskham               Late insertion in 13th cent. work   S.W.
+    Sutton Bonington St. Ann’s  14th cent.                          S.W.
+    Upton                       14th cent.                          S.W.
+    West Leake                  14th cent.                          S.W.
+    Wilford                     15th cent.                          S.W.
+
+   Plumtree may be taken as a typical example of a dozen or more
+   fifteenth century chancels having the sill of the S.W. window at
+   a lower level than the others.
+
+There are two examples in the county that call for special treatment,
+as they do not belong to either of the foregoing classes--Mansfield and
+Linby.
+
+At Mansfield side chapels were added in the fifteenth century on either
+side of the chancel. Near to the east end of the wall on the south a
+narrow opening has been formed 4½ feet above the floor level, which
+has been described as a “leper window.” One side of this squint is
+formed with an ancient incised slab, and several stones with the Norman
+chevron moulding have been used. It does not appear ever to have been
+external, and in my opinion it was cut through the old wall after the
+chapel was built, in order to give a view between the two altars.
+
+  [Illustration: CAR COLSTON.]
+
+  [Illustration: LINBY.
+
+  _From photographs by_ Mr. H. GILL.]
+
+At Linby there is a small squint at the east side of the doorway
+of the north porch which has given rise to much controversy. I am of
+opinion that it was made to enable the ringer in the belfry under the
+tower at the west end of the church to see to the Top Cross in the
+village street, which may have been used in the elaborate service
+of Palm Sunday, when, after the palm branches had been blessed and
+distributed, the priest bearing the Blessed Sacrament went out with
+his attendants and took up his station at the Palm Cross. Then the
+choir and people came out of the church in procession with their
+palms to meet him at the cross and accompanied him back to the church
+with the singing of “Hosannas” and other appropriate anthems, in
+memory of our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. This porch is
+always said to have been built in 1548, but the style of architecture
+indicates an earlier date; and the shields on the gable and buttresses,
+Strelley, Hunt, and Savage, lead me to think that it is the work of the
+grand-daughter and heiress of Thomas Hunt (died in 1427, seized on a
+moiety of the manor of Linby), who was married first to John Strelley
+(died 1487), and the year afterwards to James Savage.
+
+While making this survey, I took particular notice of the relative
+positions of the manor-house, parsonage, and village, in relation to
+the church, and also the direction and lie of the main roads; but I
+found that none of these had any effect upon the low side window. The
+date of erection and the internal arrangement of the church appear to
+have been the sole determining factors.
+
+
+
+
+                          THE NOTTINGHAM MINT
+
+                  BY FRANK E. BURTON, F.R.N.S., J.P.
+
+
+In contributing a paper upon the coins and tokens either relating to or
+struck in the city of Nottingham, or in the county of Nottingham, it
+is quite impossible for me to give a complete history or even a brief
+description of each coin or token, or to describe all the different
+dies from which they were struck in the space kindly allotted to me by
+the editor; but the illustrations taken from amongst those specimens in
+my possession should, I hope, give the reader a very good idea of what
+these coins and tokens are like, and although there are many varieties,
+these in most cases only differ in detail in wording and dates; in
+fact, generally some small alterations in the die.
+
+_The Nottingham Mint._--In Saxon and Norman times this mint must
+have been an important one, considering that we know of eleven kings
+who coined silver pennies here. No coins were struck above the value
+of one penny, and the coinage of the whole kingdom at this period
+practically consisted of silver pennies.
+
+In 924 Edward the Elder captured the town from the Danes, and
+afterwards rebuilt it, but we do not know if he established a mint, as
+no coins of his are known to have been struck at Nottingham; but the
+mint was in operation in the reign of his successor, Athelstan, 925–940.
+
+According to Domesday Book there were two moneyers in Nottingham in
+the days of Edward the Confessor, and they paid to the King the sum of
+forty shillings.
+
+This amount had been increased to ten pounds by the Conqueror when
+Domesday Book was written, thus showing that the Nottingham Mint was
+then a royal one.
+
+One pound sterling was understood to be a pound weight of silver coined
+into about 240 pennies. One penny would, in Saxon times, more than pay
+a workman for his day’s labour, so that ten pounds was a large sum of
+money in those days.
+
+When we consider that the yield from this mint and these moneyers had
+increased from two pounds to ten pounds, I think we may rightly assume
+that they were looked upon as a considerable source of income by the
+Exchequer.
+
+Accepting this and knowing that such a large number of varieties of
+coins were struck during the long period of about 230 years, in which
+this mint is known to have existed, it is rather strange that these
+early coins should be so seldom met with, and that some should be so
+excessively rare. I know of no coins struck in Nottingham by any king
+after the reign of Stephen.
+
+_The Newark Mint._--As far as is known, only one Saxon King is
+supposed to have struck money here, and only two Kings of later periods.
+
+The first coin said to have been struck at Newark is that of King
+Edwy, 955–959. Although the British Museum describes it as Newark,
+Northamptonshire, there is little doubt that it was struck at Newark,
+Notts, as Newark, Notts, is the only Newark mentioned in Domesday Book.
+
+The next two Kings who were supposed to have issued pennies were Henry
+I., 1100–1135, and Henry II., 1154–1189, and the place of minting Ne,
+short for Newark. It is questionable if any coins were struck at Newark
+in the reign of Henry I. It is probable that Henry I. granted a charter
+to the Bishop of Lincoln to coin money at Newark, as we know a charter
+to this effect was confirmed by Stephen, and coins of Stephen’s reign
+struck at Newark are known to exist.
+
+Henry II.--It is extremely doubtful if any coins of this reign were
+struck at Newark.
+
+_The Torksey Mint._--Ethelred II. (979–1016) is supposed to have
+struck money here, but opinions differ upon this question. Turc being
+short for Torksey, I am very much of opinion that these coins were
+struck at Torksey, for in Saxon times Torksey was probably the most
+important town between Nottingham and the Humber.
+
+_The Shelford Mint._--Earl Sitric, who was killed in the battle of
+Ashdown, A.D. 870, is understood to have struck coins here.
+
+The first coin illustrated is that of Athelstan, 925–940. (No. 1.)
+
+    _Obverse._ Edelnod on Snotenceham.
+    _Reverse._ Edelnod on Snotenceham.
+
+There is a coin of this reign in the British Museum with this same
+reading on the reverse, and on the obverse--Edelstan re Saxorum.
+
+This coin is rare and extremely interesting. It does not bear the
+King’s name or any of his titles. Edelnod is the moneyer’s name, and
+he was the moneyer for Nottingham and also for Derby. It has the same
+reading on both sides, which is exceptional, and it is the first
+authenticated coin struck at Nottingham, and the only coin having the
+full reading Snotenceham; in all other Saxon or Norman coins struck in
+Nottingham by any other Kings, the name of the city is abbreviated.
+
+This abbreviation of the name of the city often occurred in deeds of
+the period; in fact, we find it as late as in the charter granted by
+Henry II., 1155, to Nottingham, and where the name reads “Noting” and
+“Notingh.”
+
+The “S” in the name of Nottingham was first dropped in the foundation
+charter of Lenton Priory about the year 1108.
+
+  [Illustration: COINS: ATHELSTAN TO STEPHEN.
+
+  _From photographs by_ Mr. S. BARLOW VINES.]
+
+Athelstan was the first monarch who paid any considerable attention
+to his coinage, and it is from his laws that we first obtain any
+authentic information about the mints.
+
+In 928 he held a grand synod, at which Wulfhelme, Archbishop of
+Canterbury, and all the great and powerful men of the kingdom were
+assembled. They decided that the whole coinage of the realm should
+be alike, and should bear the King’s portrait only, withdrawing the
+privilege from the bishops, abbots, barons, &c., of having their
+portraits struck upon the coins.
+
+They also agreed that money should only be minted in a town, and
+decided that each burg was entitled to one moneyer, but certain
+places, on account of their importance, were entitled to two or more.
+Nottingham had two, London eight, Canterbury seven, Winchester six, and
+Rochester three. The penalty for establishing a private mint was death.
+Considering that in these days Nottingham was divided into two burgs,
+it is extremely probable that there were two mints--one for each burg.
+
+The names of sixty different towns are known where money was minted.
+
+From the fact that the coin illustrated has no portrait upon it, it
+leads one to suppose it was struck in the early part of Athelstan’s
+reign before the above law was enacted.
+
+
+ETHELRED II., 979–1016, issued money from Nottingham.
+
+The sceptre first appeared on the coins of Ethelred in front of the
+profile, and this usage in subsequent reigns became general.
+
+
+CANUTE, 1016–1035.
+
+   _Obverse._ Cnut recx. Head crowned to left with sceptre.
+   _Reverse._ Blamiam O Sno. (No. 2.)
+
+   _Obverse._ Cnut recx a. Head to left having on a conical helmet,
+                with sceptre.
+   _Reverse._ Bruninc on Snoti. (No. 3.)
+
+   _Obverse._ Cnut recx a. Head to left with sceptre; on head is a
+                conical helmet.
+   _Reverse._ Blacaman on Sno. (No. 4.)
+
+All the coins of this reign have the place of mintage and the moneyer’s
+name mentioned. The moneyer was responsible for the purity of the coins
+and their just weight, under various penalties--firstly, his hand was
+cut off, secondly, death; but in some few cases fines were imposed, as
+instanced in the case of Swein, who was a moneyer at Nottingham during
+the reign of Henry I. and Stephen. He was fined 100 shillings.
+
+Numerous varieties of this coin are known, of which the three
+illustrated show two different dies and three different moneyers. It is
+not surprising to find coins of this monarch struck at Nottingham, as
+his coins bear the names of more places of mintage than those of any
+other reign.
+
+
+HAROLD I., 1035–1040.
+
+Two coins of this reign are known with the reading: Harold Rex and the
+Moneyer Blacaman or Sacgrim. The abbreviated name was Sn.
+
+
+HARDICANUTE, 1040–1042.
+
+Although this King is mostly styled Harthacnut or Harthecnut, Re or
+Rex, with the mint and moneyer always mentioned, in a known example
+struck at Nottingham the reading is “Hardacn” and on the reverse,
+“Plunod on Snot.”
+
+
+EDWARD THE CONFESSOR, 1042–1066.
+
+   _Obverse._ Edpard Re.
+   _Reverse._ Blaceh on snotine. (No. 5.)
+
+On all coins the Saxon “P” is used for “W” with one or two rare
+exceptions.
+
+His coins are very varied. On some of them the head is bearded. They
+vary exceedingly in size and weight, but all appear to have had the
+same nominal value.
+
+Considering that eight different varieties of coins exist, which were
+struck at Nottingham, with the place of minting Sn., Sno., Snoti.,
+Snotih, and Znot, it seems strange that they should be so seldom met
+with. During this reign halfpennies and farthings were first formed by
+cutting the pennies in two or four parts, but none are known relating
+to Nottingham.
+
+
+HAROLD II., 1066.
+
+   _Obverse._ Harold Rex angl. Bust to left with sceptre.
+   _Reverse._ Forna on Snotn, and Pax between two beaded parallel
+                lines (No. 6).
+
+Several varieties of these coins are known, but they are uncommon.
+
+
+WILLIAM I., 1066–1087.
+
+When the rule of England changed from Saxon to Norman there was no
+alteration in the style of the coinage, and silver pennies continued to
+be the sole current coin of the realm.
+
+
+WILLIAM I., 1066–1087.
+
+
+WILLIAM II., 1087–1100.
+
+   _Obverse._ Pillelm Rex.
+   _Reverse._ Iitsere on Snotin. (No. 7.)
+
+   _Obverse._ Pillelm Rex.
+   _Reverse._ Mana on Snoti. (No. 8.)
+
+In the reigns of the two Williams the number of moneyers increased
+considerably and at least ten are known, and the following abbreviated
+readings of Nottingham are found on the coins:--Sn, Sno, Snot, Snoti,
+Snotin, Snotig, Snotine, Snotinc, Snotinge, Snotigne.
+
+Many varieties of coins were struck, but it is somewhat difficult to
+assign the coins to their respective issuers.
+
+
+HENRY I., 1100–1135.
+
+   _Obverse._ Henricus R. Front face with sceptre; at the side
+                of the neck is a cross of four pellets.
+   _Reverse._ Aldene on Sno. Quatrefoil inclosing cross of
+                pellets with a star in the centre. Fleur de lis in
+                the angles. (No. 9.)
+
+
+STEPHEN, 1135–1154.
+
+The coins of this reign are of very great interest, and more is known
+about them since two hoards were found--one in 1867 at the old Hall at
+Sheldon, near Bakewell, the other in 1880 in Rose Yard, Bridlesmith
+Gate, Nottingham; a large portion being of the reign of Stephen and of
+the Nottingham Mint, amongst them some few not previously known. During
+this reign money is supposed to have been much debased, but none of
+these debased specimens exist.
+
+    _Obverse._  Stiefne.
+    _Reverse._ Spein on Snot. (No. 10.)
+
+    _Obverse._ Stiefne: Re.
+    _Reverse._ Spein on Snot. (No. 11.)
+
+    _Obverse._ Stiefne: Re.
+    _Reverse._ Spein on Snot. (No. 12.)
+
+Swein was the moneyer, the Saxon “P” being used for “W.”
+
+It will be noticed that the obverse of each is defaced with a small
+cross over the King’s face.
+
+In Nos. 11 and 12, which are from the Nottingham find, we have, in
+addition to the cross, a small pellet and a line cut in the die, and so
+almost obliterating the King’s head.
+
+It is now a very generally accepted fact that the partisans of
+Matilda, having no dies except Stephen’s, used his dies, but did not
+wish to acknowledge his title, and so cut a cross in the die to deface
+the King’s head.
+
+Probably these coins were issued by William Peverel II. of Nottingham
+during Stephen’s captivity in 1141. Peverel, being Governor of
+Nottingham and holding the Castle, would no doubt have control of the
+mint during this troublous time. Examples exist with larger shaped
+crosses and different from the above.
+
+    _Obverse._ Stiefner.
+    _Reverse._ Spein on Snot. (No. 13.)
+
+    _Obverse._ Stiefne: R.
+    _Reverse._ Spein on Snot. (No. 14.)
+
+    _Obverse._ Stiefne: Rex.
+    _Reverse._ Spein on Snot. (No. 15.)
+
+    _Obverse._ Stiefne.
+    _Reverse._ Spein on Snotig. (No. 16.)
+
+Nos. 13, 14, 15 are from the Nottingham find, and have very fine large
+profile busts, and are exceptionally fine specimens for coins of
+Stephen. In No. 16, though the lettering is somewhat worn, the portrait
+is good, but quite different from the others, it being struck in the
+early part of his reign. It has the rare name of the place of minting
+“Snotig.”
+
+Other varieties exist struck at Nottingham, also cut halfpennies.
+
+_Newark Siege Pieces._--During the years 1645 and 1646, the
+Royalist party held Newark and set up a mint.
+
+Many Royalist supporters gave their silver and silver gilt cups,
+flagons, dishes, and family plate for the Royalist cause; others sold
+their family plate for so much per ounce to be coined into money. This
+coining down of thousands of ounces of silver plate belonging to the
+nobility and gentry of the surrounding districts must have caused a
+barbarous destruction of many ancient, rare, and valuable relics of
+the highest interest to the towns of Nottingham and Newark.
+
+
+            _Extract from the Kings Proclamation at York._
+
+   “And such of our subjects as shall come to us--either to our
+   said town of Nottingham or to any other place where we shall
+   happen to encamp--and whosoever shall in this our danger and
+   necessity supply us either by gift or loan of money or plate.”
+
+
+ _From the circular letter of Loan which was sent about and delivered
+                            by Troopers_:--
+
+   “... desire you forthwith to lend us the sum of Twenty Pounds
+   or the value thereof in Plate, touched Plate at five shillings,
+   untouched Plate at four shillings and fourpence per ounce ...
+   which we promise to repay as soon as God shall enable us.”
+
+Charles I. was quite an old and experienced hand at borrowing money
+as instanced in the private instructions sent to the Commissioners of
+Nottingham some years previous to the siege of Newark:--
+
+   “That in your treating with your neighbours, about this
+   businesse, yee shew your own discretions and affections, by
+   making choice of such to begin with, who are likely to give the
+   best examples; and when yee have a competente number of hands
+   to the roll or liste of the lenders, that yee shew the same to
+   others as they come before yee, to lead them to lend in like
+   manner.”
+
+In the Memoirs of Hampden we read:--
+
+   “The Midland Counties of England, however, undertook with great
+   alacrity to bear this charge. They voluntarily subscribed their
+   money and their plate. The Cities of London and Westminster were
+   forward and liberal in their contributions. The women brought in
+   their rings and jewels; the goldsmiths and silversmiths their
+   stock.”
+
+In 1642 the King when at Nottingham, just about the breaking out of the
+Civil War, received as a loan from the Universities nearly all their
+plate, which was to be repaid at so much per ounce for white silver and
+so much extra for the gilt silver. Most of this silver was minted at
+York, but some was paid out in its original form to be sold for the
+pay of the troops.
+
+  [Illustration: NEWARK SIEGE PIECES: HALF-CROWNS AND
+  SHILLINGS.
+
+  _From photographs by_ Mr. S. BARLOW VINES.]
+
+In 1644 Parliament ordered all the King’s plate to be melted down and
+coined, notwithstanding a remonstrance from the Lords alleging that the
+curious workmanship of these ancient pieces of silver made them worth
+more than the metal.
+
+To such dire necessity were the Royalist party put for money, that
+even at Newark some “regal” service of plate was used. These pieces of
+money were roughly cut and curiously shaped. The city being besieged,
+there would no doubt be an urgent demand for money, and the Royalists,
+not having any dies or skilled workmen who could make them, they made
+the best they could; for even if a man could not cut the likeness of
+the King, he might not have much difficulty in cutting a crown, a few
+letters, and figures. They were all struck upon lozenge-shaped flans,
+which flans were cut direct from the silver plate.
+
+The coins were of the value of 2s. 6d., 1s., 9d., and 6d., and must
+have been struck from various dies, as several varieties exist dated
+1645/1646. Numerous specimens are found gilt, showing they must have
+been cut from services of gilt plate.
+
+The general design of these coins is the same, namely:--
+
+   _Obverse._ C.R. (Carolus Rex) with a crown between, with
+   value expressed beneath in Roman numerals all within a single
+   pearled border.
+
+   _Reverse._ Obs. (Obsidium-Siege) Newark, with date beneath
+   in Arabic figures.
+
+The two half-crowns, Nos. 17 and 18, show differently designed crowns.
+
+On No. 18 may be seen marks of the pattern of the cup or salver from
+which it was hastily cut.
+
+The four shillings, numbered 19, 20, 21, and 22, show four distinct
+crowns. On No. 19 a double pearled border may be traced.
+
+On the reverse of No. 20, part of the Royal Arms may be seen;
+undoubtedly this silver at one time formed part of some regal service
+of plate. This is an extremely uncommon and interesting piece.
+
+No. 21 has the letter “L” beneath the date 1645, which appears to be
+a silversmith’s private stamp indicating the source from whence it
+originally came.
+
+On Nos. 19 and 22 the reading is “Newarke.”
+
+The four ninepences, numbered 23, 24, 25, and 26, show three different
+crowns, Nos. 25 and 26 being replicas. On the obverse of No. 25 there
+are two “K’s” at the end of the word “Newarke,” showing this coin was
+doubly struck.
+
+The sixpences, numbered 27 and 28, are alike.
+
+_Tokens._--During the seventeenth century money continued to be
+extremely scarce, especially that of small denomination, probably
+owing to the exactions made for the wars and to the poverty of the
+inhabitants, and tokens--chiefly halfpennies and farthings of copper
+or brass--were struck by corporate bodies, chamberlains, and all
+descriptions of tradesmen with the names of the owners thereon to
+facilitate easy purchase and ready settlement. These tokens were
+superseded, after 1672, by the coinage of the realm.
+
+A token in money is understood to be a coin issued by a private
+individual or firm above its real value, but intrinsically a guarantee
+of good faith of the issuer that he will pay the nominal value when
+demanded.
+
+The first mention of tokens is by Ruding. He quotes from the writer of
+the _History of Allchester_ in 1622:--“King Edward, 1272–1307, his
+leathern money bearing his name, stamp, and picture, which he used in
+the building of Carnarvon, Beaumarish, and Conway Castles.”
+
+  [Illustration: NEWARK SIEGE PIECES: NINEPENCES AND
+  SIXPENCES.
+
+  _From photograph by_ Mr. S. BARLOW VINES.]
+
+In Nottinghamshire 121 tokens are known representing halfpennies and
+farthings, all of which were issued between the years 1650 to 1670. I
+only illustrate a few:--
+
+
+                             _Nottingham._
+
+   _Obverse._ Nottingham halfe penny chainged by ye
+                Chamberlain 1669.
+   _Reverse._ Arms of the Town of Nottingham. (No. 29.)
+
+   _Obverse._ Thomas Burrowes. A rose with Sm above.
+   _Reverse._ In Nottingham. A. Castle. (No. 30.) ½
+
+   _Obverse._ John Blunt at the Weeke. A man on horseback with
+              panniers.
+   _Reverse._ Day Cross of Nottingham Baker his halfpenny.
+                (No. 31.)
+
+   _Obverse._ Roger Hawksley 1666. Merchant Tailors’ Arms.
+   _Reverse._ in Nottingham. His halfpenny. (No. 32.)
+
+   _Obverse._ George Borzowes 1669. In Nottingham.
+   _Reverse._ Salathyell Groves. ½ under three goats’ heads.
+                (No. 33.)
+
+
+                              _Bingham._
+
+   _Obverse._ Thomas Markham Chandler 1669.
+   _Reverse._ in Bingham his halfepenny. (No. 34.)
+
+
+                             _Collingham._
+
+   _Obverse._ Thomas Ridge his halfpenny. The Grocers’ Arms.
+   _Reverse._ of Collingham Mercer 1664. The Mercers’ Arms
+                T.R. (No. 35.)
+
+
+                             _Mansfield._
+
+   _Obverse._ Samuel Haulton. A pair of scales hanging from
+                chief wavy part of the Bakers’ Arms.
+   _Reverse._ of Mansfield 1664. His halfpenny. (No. 36.)
+
+
+                               _Newark._
+
+   _Obverse._ Joshua Clarke Mercer in. Grocers’ Arms.
+   _Reverse._ Newark his halfpenny 1666. The Mercers’ Arms
+                I.C. (No. 37.)
+
+
+                              _Retford._
+
+   _Obverse._ William Hall. His halfpenny.
+   _Reverse._ of Rettforde 1668--W.A.H. (No. 38.)
+
+
+                             _Southwell._
+
+   _Obverse._ Gregory Silvester. Southwell.
+   _Reverse._ William Leaver 1664. G.S. W.L. (No. 39.) ½
+
+
+                              _Worksop._
+
+   _Obverse._ Thomas Lee 1666. The Grocers’ Arms.
+   _Reverse._ in Wourksop--T.F.L. (No. 40.) ¼
+
+During the latter part of the eighteenth century the coinage of copper
+and silver money by the Government was totally inadequate for the
+nation’s needs. This caused the revival of tokens. They were again
+issued in very large numbers by all kinds of tradesmen, manufacturers,
+and banks. The Bank of England alone in 1811 and 1812 issued no less
+than fourteen million silver tokens of the value of 3s. and 1s. 6d.
+
+Sir Edward Thomason, in his Memoirs, states:--
+
+   “The copper and silver change became so extremely scarce that
+   the demand for the manufacture of tokens to enable the masters
+   to pay their workmen their weekly wage was so great that I
+   had endless applications for both. I manufactured during this
+   year silver and copper tokens for Wales, Brecon, Gainsborough,
+   Newcastle-on-Tyne, and for many different establishments. In
+   1811 I manufactured above two million copper tokens for Samuel
+   Fereday, the great ironmaster, who employed 5000 people.”
+
+Perhaps the most interesting tokens of this period were those of
+the firm of Messrs. Robert Davison & John Hawksley of Arnold. Both
+belonged to old Nottingham families; they were important business men
+and well-known philanthropists, Mr. Hawksley being presented with the
+freedom of the town of Nottingham.
+
+  [Illustration: TOKENS.
+
+  _From photograph by_ Mr. S. BARLOW VINES.]
+
+The Hawksleys were maltsters, the Davisons hosiery manufacturers.
+Mr. Davison gave up the hosiery business and joined Mr. Hawksley in
+building a factory near Leen Side, Nottingham, for worsted spinning.
+This factory was burned down in January 1791. They at once commenced
+building new works at Arnold. These works were running before the end
+of the year. They were situated near the site of Arnot Hill House
+in which Mr. Hawksley lived. They did not prove a success, and the
+machinery was sold and the factory demolished.
+
+Mr. Hawksley died in 1815 and Mr. Davison in 1807.
+
+The issuing of these tokens of such high value in copper wherewith to
+pay their workpeople was exceptional.
+
+It is strange that, although they issued these tokens in Arnold, I know
+of none being issued from their Nottingham works. They were of the
+value of 5s., 2s. 6d., 1s., and 6d., and all copper, but I have some
+of the tokens plated in silver and in gilt. The crowns and half-crowns
+are the most rare of all the Nottinghamshire tokens of this period. The
+shillings and sixpences are not uncommon.
+
+   _Obverse._ Davison and Hawksley, and fleece suspended from
+                a tree.
+   _Reverse._ The Roman Fasces with the axe, spear, and a cap
+                of liberty in saltire, Arnold works. A. crown 1791.
+                (No. 41.)
+
+The 2s. 6d., 1s., and 6d. pieces are similar, except in size and value.
+
+A token for 5s. was issued from East Retford. This token was
+countermarked on a Spanish dollar.
+
+The Treasury and many firms throughout the Kingdom countermarked these
+Spanish dollars and enormous numbers were in circulation, but this is
+the only Nottinghamshire one known.
+
+Messrs. Bolton & Whatt at their Soho Mint, Birmingham, countermarked
+over three millions previous to 1804.
+
+On one occasion forty tons of dollars were taken from two Spanish
+frigates captured by the British fleet. This specie was taken to
+Plymouth and then forwarded on to the Bank of England.
+
+A silver token for 1s. was issued by the timekeepers.
+
+   _Obverse._ A griffin, with wings displayed, gorged, issuant
+                from a ducal coronet; legend, one shilling token
+                sterling silver.
+
+   _Reverse._ For the use of the inns at Derby, Ashbourne,
+                Chesterfield, Nottingham, Leicester, Lichfield,
+                Burton, &c.
+
+H. Morgan issued shillings and sixpences:--
+
+   _Obverse._ The arms of Leicester, vert, a cinquefoil,
+                between two sprigs of olive. One shilling silver
+                tokens.
+
+   _Reverse._ Notts, Derby, Leicester, Northampton, and
+                Rutland shilling silver tokens. The outer
+                legend--Morgan, licensed manufacturer, 12 Rathbone
+                Place, London. (No. 42.)
+
+Messrs. Donald & Co. issued a halfpenny token:--
+
+   _Obverse._ Donald & Co., stocking manufacturers, wholesale
+                and retail. Promissory halfpenny, payable Notting^m, or
+
+   _Reverse._ A beehive with bees, No. 29 Hull Street,
+                Birmingham, 1792. (No. 43.)
+
+There are five or six varieties of these copper tokens. When the
+first die was made it was found that the word “promissory” was spelt
+“promissary.” This error was rectified by cutting “o” over the “a.”
+Afterwards fresh dies were made with the word spelt correctly.
+
+  [Illustration: TOKENS.
+
+  _From photographs by_ Mr. S. BARLOW VINES.]
+
+The Newstead Abbey token for one penny:--
+
+   _Obverse._ A view of Newstead Abbey. The words Newstead Abbey,
+                and on the raised outer circle “Nottinghamshire,” and
+                in small letters the name of the engraver Jacobs.
+
+   _Reverse._ Two palm branches and the letters “T.G.”, and on
+                the raised outer border “British Penny” and the date
+                1797. Round the edge of the coin is impressed the
+                words--“I promise to pay on demand the bearer one
+                penny.” (No. 44.)
+
+In 1811 silver tokens were issued at Newark, value 1s. There are four
+varieties of these. Probably the issuing of these pieces by a number of
+tradesmen was done in order to share the cost of the die and to procure
+a quantity of tokens at a cheaper rate, and also to inspire confidence.
+
+   _Obverse._ A view of the Town Hall with inscription--“Town
+                Hall, 1811.” Newark silver token for one shilling.
+
+   _Reverse._ The current value payable in cash notes. T.
+                Stansall, Cha^s Moore, Rich^d Fisher, W^m Fillingham,
+                W^m Readitt, and T. Wilson. (No. 45.)
+
+Thomas Stansall was a grocer, Charles Moore a chemist, Richard Fisher
+and William Fillingham drapers, William Readitt a grocer, Thomas Wilson
+a brazier.
+
+Copper tokens for one penny were also issued in 1811, of which three
+varieties exist:--
+
+   _Obverse._ A view of Newark Castle and the river, with date
+                1811. “Newark token for one penny.”
+
+   _Reverse._ The current value payable in cash notes. T.
+                Stansall, Charles Moore, Rich^d Fisher, W^m Fillingham,
+                W^m Readitt, T. Wilson. (No. 46.)
+
+J. M. Fellows & Co., bankers, of Bridlesmith Gate, issued penny tokens,
+of which there are five varieties, dated 1812 and 1813:--
+
+   _Obverse._ A view of Nottingham Castle. One penny token, 1812.
+
+   _Reverse._ The arms of the borough in a circle, payable by
+                J. M. Fellows, a pound note for 240. (No. 47.)
+
+Mansfield silver shillings:--
+
+   _Obverse._ Beehive and bees, C. & G. Stanton, Hancock;
+                Wakefield & Co., and W^m Ellis, Mansfield.
+
+   _Reverse._ Female seated on a bale with scales and
+                cornucopia. One shilling silver token, 1812.
+                (No. 48.)
+
+Two varieties of this exist. Messrs. Stanton, Hancock, and Wakefield
+& Co. were cotton manufacturers; William Ellis a draper and woollen
+salesman.
+
+In 1813, W. Baker, hosier, of Fletcher Gate, issued penny tokens:--
+
+   _Obverse._ W^m Baker, Nottingham, an ornament between Baker
+                and Nottingham. Legend--a pound note for 240 tokens,
+                1813.
+
+   _Reverse._ One penny token within a wreath of oak and
+                laurel. (No. 49.)
+
+
+
+
+                  THE CLOCKMAKERS OF NEWARK-ON-TRENT,
+                      WITH NOTES ON SOME OF THEIR
+                            CONTEMPORARIES
+
+                              BY H. COOK
+
+
+Among the many inanimate things which invite us to reflect on bygone
+days and the life and activities associated with them, none are more
+insistent in their invitations than the sober faces and steady tickings
+of the clocks which measured out the time for our grandfathers, and
+often enough for our great-grandfathers. None are more reticent of the
+doings of the days that are gone; yet the very tickings are akin to a
+pulsation of energy and life which seem to invite us to search out the
+men who made, owned, or took pleasure in them in generations past. Nor
+is the invitation unheeded by some of those whose lot is cast among
+clocks and have the daily handling of them, and I will try, as one
+humble manipulator, to place on record a few of the most interesting
+characteristics of the makers of Newark-on-Trent, and incidentally of
+some of the village makers of Nottinghamshire.
+
+The task of putting into order the whole of the makers of
+Nottinghamshire would be too large an undertaking for one individual;
+but in my many years’ experience of the “Grandfather” type of clock,
+I have found much of interest in the work of the Newark makers, and
+of others from the county which has come my way. At the outset, I am
+obliged to admit the meagre nature of the information to hand, as far
+as the early makers are concerned, for I find that Nottinghamshire, in
+common with the provinces generally, had, in early days of domestic
+clocks, to draw on the London makers, at any rate for its best clocks;
+especially was this the case as early as the latter part of the
+seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth century, and I have found
+in the neighbourhood at least one clock by Tompion, one by Etherington,
+one by Knibb, one by George Graham, and one by Daniel Quare.[89]
+
+These odd clocks, surviving from the seventeenth century to the
+present time, are sufficient to indicate the way Nottinghamshire men
+of those days were compelled to import from London the much-prized
+“Grandfather,” or cased clock, with the newly invented royal pendulum
+(the application of Galileo’s invention). But, however much this was
+the case, it soon came about that the towns in the county, and very
+soon a great many of the villages even, had their own clockmakers, and
+it is with these we are concerned for the present.
+
+Any clock work earlier than the typical cased clock is very rare
+indeed around Newark, and I am not aware of any example of the table
+clock, and of only one example of the lantern variety. Considering
+that public clocks must have been in use before these days, it is a
+matter for wonder that there are few or none of earlier types coming to
+light, notwithstanding all our researches and bargain hunting. I have
+advertised personally, in likely quarters, and kept a sharp look-out
+for the last twenty-five years without success, although various pieces
+of supposed early work have come to me.
+
+Beginning with Newark, I find that William Gascoigne is the earliest
+maker of the “Grandfather” clock we have, and Plate 1 shows the style
+of work he turned out in the early part of the eighteenth century.
+He was a maker of eight-day clocks of the usual quality of his day,
+when all work was good, but the illustration shows only a thirty-hour
+clock; for although I have an illustration of an eight-day clock, I
+selected this because of its unusual features; for it should be noted
+that, although only a one-day clock, it has a seconds dial and hand
+all complete, as though it were an eight-day timepiece. The quality
+of the work in the corner-pieces, which are nicely cut up and carved
+after the casting, and in the hands, which show a bit of finely drilled
+and pierced iron work, and in the solidity of the dial plate and hour
+circle with the pretty numbering in vogue in those days, make it of
+rather greater interest than the eight-day clocks by the same maker.
+
+William Gascoigne bore the name of an old Newark family which for
+generations had mixed in the life and affairs of the town. He appears
+to have been in business as late as 1728, for W. Stukeley, in his
+_Itinerarium Curiosum_ (vol. i. p. 106, 1776), tells how he
+was informed by Mr. T. Hurst of Grantham, that he had seen at Mr.
+Gascoigne’s, a goldsmith in Newark, a large gold ring, weighing 42s.,
+lately brought him by a countryman who had found it upon the Fosse Way,
+and he afterwards makes comment that it was supposed to show a wolf
+upon it, but he found it was a fox beneath a tree, and he bought the
+ring. To the name of Gascoigne also belongs, I believe, the distinction
+of the mention of the earliest domestic clock in our Newark annals.
+In 1678, March 11th, John Gascoigne, the glover, gave by his will to
+William Cook, “The Clock and the Jack,” an interesting note, as any
+allusion to domestic clocks at this date is very rare, and it gives an
+idea of their value and the esteem in which they were held. I have seen
+one at least of these early jacks, a wooden pillar on a heavy foot,
+carrying a gear work on the top propelled by a weight running down the
+back of the pillar and spinning the joint in front of a tray of metal
+which covers and protects both joint and jack.
+
+But surprises come when least expected in clock research. Having
+heard of a marquetry-cased clock of Gascoigne of Newark far away
+in Devonshire, I was anxious to procure it, expecting to find the
+well-accredited “William” on the dial, but much to my surprise the dial
+bore the inscription “Owin” Gascoigne, in Newark, and this was the
+first and last of the Owin Gascoigne clocks I had seen, or ever expect
+to see. I may add that it was a very early and undeniably good month
+clock, and is now doing good service in a mansion in Lincolnshire.
+But the puzzle of how to explain the fact that William Gascoigne is
+well known, while Owin Gascoigne suddenly appears on the scene, is a
+mystery, unless we solve it by the conjecture that Owin was a relation
+of William, and had ordered the clock from him, a possible solution,
+when we remember that the family were well established in Newark,
+and were most likely well provided with this world’s goods. William
+Gascoigne seems to have flourished in the town from about 1700 to 1740,
+when there is a record of his death on the 23rd February.
+
+A worthy competitor and contemporary of Gascoigne was Nicholas Goddard,
+and Plate 1 shows an eight-day clock of his which is in most details
+very like those made by his compeer Gascoigne, though he also made some
+arched dials, of whose manufacture by Gascoigne I have no evidence. The
+clock dials of both were similar, indicating that there were fashions
+as well as variations to tickle the popular palate in those days as
+much as in our times. The name of Goddard is even more impressed on
+our local history than that of Gascoigne, for we have a record of
+one Nicholas Goddard, who married in 1558, and the name runs through
+our history for 150 years. In 1659 “Henrie” Goddard was paid by the
+churchwardens for mending the chimes and for other work about the
+church, and, for 209 lbs. of iron for the steeple stairs, the sum of
+£4, 19s. 2d.
+
+  [Illustration: PLATE 1.
+
+    CLOCKS BY
+
+    WILLIAM GASCOYNE.      NICHOLAS GODDARD.]
+
+  [Illustration: PLATE 2.
+
+    CLOCKS BY
+
+    WILLIAM BARNARD.      EDWARD SMITH.]
+
+Though Nicholas seems to have been the family Christian name for many
+generations, the clockmaker Nicholas has left his name behind him more
+frequently than any of his forbears, and there are a good many of
+his clocks still to be seen ticking away with their brass faces beaming
+out from dark oak cases. As far as we can tell from the little evidence
+we have, his death occurred in 1741. His work was fine and artistic as
+well as substantial.
+
+About this time we hear of William Marshall, whose clocks are all of
+a rather less costly make and usually “thirty hours.” One peculiar
+feature in all his dials is the printing in Roman capitals of the name
+between the hours 7 and 5, in the usual place, but with the “William”
+one side of the 6, all in proper order, while the name “Marshall” was
+so cramped into the space between the 6 and 5 that the last two letters
+were always placed on the top of the “sha,” a peculiar habit, to say
+the least of it. His work was not so artistic as either Gascoigne’s or
+Goddard’s. They all made cast dial-plates and corner-pieces, but, in
+Marshall’s case, these were not so well carved, and there was little or
+no ornamental cutting on the plate or circle.
+
+After Nicholas Goddard and William Marshall comes William Barnard, by
+far the most prolific of our local makers. Barnard had a peculiarity
+not known so far as I am aware in the work of any other maker: he
+was sufficiently bold to place a number on all his clocks, whether
+they were one-handed one-day clocks, eight-day clocks with the usual
+square dials, or even a moon-arched top dial. On some of his dials
+he put a round number and name-plate under the hour 12, in others he
+put the name in the place usual at the period--between the hours of 7
+and 5--and the number inside the seconds dial space; or, in the case
+of the moon dial, the name was placed round one hemisphere and his
+number round the other. These small details are a pleasing feature,
+pointing us to the fact that he was not in the habit of making clocks
+for other people to sell, but was what we should prefer him to be--the
+maker-seller, and consequently the individual who had an interest in
+the future behaviour of clocks bearing his name. He also made one
+or two very unusual movements, one of which, an eight-inch dial with
+alarm works, now in the Friary House at Newark, is illustrated here
+(Plate 2). This is a pretty little dial, and the hand shows the alarm
+hour through its tail, extended for the purpose, while the cherub
+corners are like some I have seen on Gascoigne’s hood clocks, and the
+number is not very far advanced, for some of his dials are numbered
+as high as 1200, while some approach 1300, but I suspect that he did
+not begin at 1. Only on one of his clocks have I seen the dial without
+the name and number, and here they are both cut into the back of the
+movement. Though by no means certain, it is very probable that Barnard
+succeeded to Goddard’s business and largely added to it, for there is a
+similarity in the details of the mechanical portions of their work.
+
+The sequence of numbers on the dials has given scope for fun on many
+occasions. I remember well a deaf old gentleman coming into my shop
+and announcing that he had the oldest clock in Newark--made in 1050.
+After much loud questioning, I ascertained that Barnard was the maker,
+and when I had brought down from the workshop a similar dial, with the
+number 1215 on it, he was quite a long time before he realised what age
+Barnard must have been when he made the second of these two specimens,
+and I had much difficulty in persuading him that the number was only
+a number and not a date. Barnard flourished from 1740 to 1780, about
+which date William Unwin appears with work (Plate 3) very similar to
+that of Barnard’s later years. While all Gascoigne’s cases were of oak
+or veneered walnut, and Barnard’s were of oak only, Unwin introduced
+us to the mahogany case. Unwin’s shop was in Kirk Gate, opposite the
+famous stage-coaching house of Gilstrap’s, at the northern end of
+the Nottingham and Notts Bank premises, with a door into the passage
+leading down the adjacent Wheat Sheaf yard. It was here he afterwards
+conducted a partnership with Holt, whom we shall note later, and there
+is presumptive evidence that Barnard occupied the same premises,
+which have thus been a clockmaker’s shop for a century. Before it was
+pulled down it presented a very old-fashioned appearance with its bow
+window of many small panes, and the half-doors with the top portion
+filled with bull’s-eye glass. Unwin was in business here in 1780, in
+which year we find him a voter at the election. In 1791 he subscribed
+five shillings to the fund for lighting the town by lamps. I have also
+evidence of his being there in 1801 from a watch bearing his name and
+the date letter of that year which came into my hands. Unwin lived at
+the time of the transition from the brass dials to the cheaper iron
+painted ones. Occasionally on the back of these latter we find the
+little painted label used by the painters to indicate the style in
+which the dial was to be finished, a detail which shows us that the
+later practice of keeping dials on hand from Birmingham had not yet
+begun. The dial plate was made and fitted, the label stuck on at the
+back, and the portions printed on it which were not required were
+struck off, and the painter worked from the remainder. So in examining
+Unwin’s work we see fine brass dials, an odd but equally fine brass
+silvered dial, and many painted ones, and in all varieties of faces the
+well-worked iron hands remained. The cases, however, began to change,
+the long door of the earlier makers became shorter, and rather more
+detail appeared, but on the whole the plain school predominated.
+
+We must now consider another old maker of importance, who, like
+Gascoigne and Goddard, possessed an old Newark name. Solomon
+Bettinson’s (so spelled for many generations, though afterwards changed
+to Bettison), name appears in the 1780 and 1796 election poll books,
+and on a particularly interesting clock (Plate 3) now in the Chantry
+House, with a plain oak case with cushion top, a 14-inch circular brass
+and silvered dial, centre seconds hand, centre day of the month hand,
+and a well-engraved dial whereon is inscribed his own name, Solomon
+Bettison, Newark, and above it, crowded in among the numbers of the
+days of the month, is the name of Sarah Flear, for whom Bettison
+originally made the clock. This Sarah Flear was married at Flintham to
+Richard Greene, on 4th June 1792. Richard Greene and Sarah, his wife,
+had a daughter, to whom the clock eventually belonged, and it was her
+nephew, an old man of some eighty years of age, told me how Sarah Flear
+had had this clock made when she was about to be married and set up
+a house of her own. The Flintham register supports these statements,
+and thus gives us the date, 1792, for the manufacture of this clock.
+Bettison made square dials to his clocks as well as round ones, and he
+seems to have been partial to those with engraved centres instead of
+the usual matted and lacquered ones.
+
+But I am neglecting some of the contemporaries of Bettison and Barnard,
+who did good work in both square and round dial clocks. About this
+time, 1780, there was on both square and round a pattern much in vogue,
+which may be best described as the pagoda style of cutting. Some of
+the round dials made by Edward Crampton, Barnard’s apprentice, and by
+Stacey of Farnsfield, were fine examples of the engraver’s art. The
+centres of the square dials are, at this period, treated in the same
+way for the most part. Unwin, Bettison, Crampton, together with John
+Crampern and Edward Smith, who are described in the marriage registers,
+under the years 1773 and 1775 respectively, as watchmakers, were all
+contemporaries, and followed the fashion of the time. I am afraid it
+is a mistake on the part of the registers to call Crampern and Smith
+watchmakers; it ought to have been clockmakers, for I have never met
+with any watch of Newark make at this early date. Although not of
+the particular pattern alluded to above, the clock by Edward Smith
+(Plate 2), now at Ossington Hall, has a very good engraved and filled
+black and silvered centre dial. Though not a bit better than other
+contemporary work of this period (about 1780), Smith’s clock shows the
+fashion of the time in the preference of the graver for the matting
+tool. Such clocks look very well indeed in their plain oak cases,
+with cushion tops and well-proportioned trunks and bases. One dial by
+Crampern has a very interesting appearance. It is 12 inches square, and
+the silvered centre shows a village inn, the Chequers, on one side,
+while on the other is a summer-house with latticed shelter and a table
+on which stands a foaming tankard. Seated are two figures, one male and
+one female, each smoking a clay pipe.
+
+The dials made by Thomas Stacey of Farnsfield are worth illustrating,
+but space forbids. Stacey was married to Margaret Gamble on 5th June
+1774, and the family went to live at Southwell, finding it most likely
+a better centre for their business. They are to be found there until
+nearly the middle of the nineteenth century.
+
+At this point it would be well to consider one or two other places
+in the neighbourhood which were as well provided with clockmakers as
+Newark.
+
+At the time Barnard and his contemporaries were flourishing at Newark,
+there was at Sutton in Ashfield a family named Boot, who made clocks
+in many respects similar to those of Barnard. The first of the name,
+John Boot, had his own peculiar fancy as to dials. Many of his one-day
+clocks had, like Barnard’s, only one hand--a cheap economy. There
+was a round number and name-plate under the hour of 12, and drilled
+through the dial, in line with the centre hole, were two holes nicely
+decorated with turned rings, while the rest of the centre of the dial
+was chased with wild roses--a very effective and distinctive treatment.
+This particular dial was peculiar to him, I believe, though he made
+other varieties, such as eight-day clocks similar to those of Marshall
+and Barnard at Newark. Next comes John Boot, junior, who adhered to
+the square dial-plates, and to many of the family peculiarities. He
+was followed by John and William Boot, whose work was done about the
+year 1780. About the same time we have a flat engraved dial with arched
+top, centre seconds hand, and calendar work similar to that (Plate 3)
+illustrating Bettison’s work, inscribed with the name, Elizabeth Boot.
+I have, however, seen very few with the lady’s name on them. The very
+fact of their being a clockmaking family is a rare occurrence, and can
+only be paralleled in Newark in later years by the Westons.
+
+At this period we find several makers of note in Nottingham, of whom
+the earliest seems to be John Wyld. Mansfield, too, had a Glazebrook,
+whose work was of the same style; but with the makers of these towns I
+am not very familiar, and must leave them to more competent treatment.
+
+Another interesting phase of the subject now invites attention. Plate 4
+shows a very marked and artistic piece of work by Humphry Wainwright of
+Bunny. The clock plays a tune every three hours, and on the arch of the
+dial is depicted a music school of a primitive kind, with the closed
+music scroll lying on the table, the fiddlers large and and small,
+the horns and clarinets, the spinnet and the conductor, all make up a
+very droll picture. This clock, the property of E. F. Milthorp, Esq.,
+has a 14-inch square dial, and a beautifully designed mahogany case, a
+vivid contrast to some of the cruder bits of work, such as that shown
+in Plate 4. Wainwright seems to have devoted some attention to church
+clocks, and one of his make can still be seen in the neighbourhood.
+One Wainwright is found working at Nottingham in 1797, and this may be
+Humphry, or perhaps John.
+
+  [Illustration: PLATE 3.
+
+  CLOCKS BY
+
+    2       1       3
+
+    S. BETTISON.  W. BARNARD.  W. UNWIN.]
+
+  [Illustration: PLATE 4.
+
+  CLOCKS BY
+
+  HUMPHREY WAINWRIGHT OF BUNNY. WILL. FOSTER OF MARNHAM.]
+
+We must now just pause to note what may fairly be called some oddments
+of the clock trade. Single specimens of brass dials by local makers
+are found, such as that with the name, “F. Witton, Norwell,” or one
+bearing an old Newark name, Samuel Callis, or the one illustrated
+(Plate 4) by Will. Foster of Marnham. These must all be regarded with
+doubt and reserve, from the fact that they are isolated specimens. Many
+clocks were made by amateurs, and perhaps these may be thus accounted
+for; or perhaps they were made to order by clockmakers, and the
+purchaser’s name put on the dial. That there were makers in these
+villages who made clocks for trade purposes, we have seen at Bunny
+and Sutton in Ashfield. The specimen by Will. Foster of Marnham was
+probably the work of an amateur, for its dial cutting is unequally
+divided and poorly cut, the open work of its hands is of poor design,
+the wheel work is very crude, and the teeth slots are of various
+depths, the teeth points are variously shaped; in fact, the whole is
+suggestive more of the file than of the turner’s cutting tools. The
+case, too, is most primitive, with its long narrow door all painted and
+grained; yet, notwithstanding all its deficiencies, it is still ticking
+away and marking the hours. The clocks by Callis and Francis Witton are
+both creditable examples of work and denote professional skill.
+
+A very unusual clock, by William Simpson of Southwell, is now at
+Brackenhurst Hall. It has a fine mahogany case, silvered dial, and
+quarter-chime movement. Simpson was an ingenious mechanic, who has
+left behind him, among other things, a curious thirty-hour “virgule”
+escapement. He, like Wainwright and the Burrells, who are mentioned
+later, was concerned with the manufacture of turret clocks. He seems to
+have been in business at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
+
+We have now come to a parting of the ways. Brass dials give place
+to painted ones, and the clockmaker becomes subservient to the
+cabinetmaker. Birmingham dial makers are more and more employed, with
+the result that we see quite a number of similar dials. We must say
+farewell to the plain oak cases, with their long doors; and view the
+more recent plain oak cases with mahogany pillars, the mahogany cases,
+with flat, silvered dials, such as Unwin and Holt in particular made,
+the oak cases polished to a lighter colour, with mahogany facings, and
+the mahogany scroll top cases with satin-wood decorations.
+
+Unwin is the first of the new school which was to rule for the next
+fifty years, and make brass dials a thing of the past. After Holt
+joined him (as Unwin & Holt), we never find another of his clocks with
+a brass dial, and this partnership in 1805 sees the last of the old
+style.
+
+The competition for the premier place lay between Richard Herring,
+William Weston, and Richard Holt, and it was to the latter that the
+honour fell. Weston was in business in 1790 and 1825, and all his
+clocks had the painted dials. Both he and Herring were subscribers to
+the 1791 lamp fund for lighting the streets of Newark, and in 1804 both
+were volunteers. Weston was succeeded by his son James, of whom we have
+evidence in 1839, and then the names of James and John appear on the
+dials, and finally the general description, “Westons Newark.”
+
+Holt applied his skill and energy to the business, which, after Unwin’s
+retirement, became very large. His name occurs on some gold and silver
+watches, which there is every reason to believe were made either in
+London or Birmingham. It is also to be found on the dials of bronzed
+brass bracket clocks, which may or may not be his own work, but there
+is no doubt about the maker of his clocks of the “Grandfather” type.
+Some good bracket clocks in mahogany cases also bear his name, and it
+was through him and his contemporaries that these were brought to the
+notice of local buyers. To this list may be added the short fall and
+spring dial and drop dial clocks, though these latter were soon being
+imported from Birmingham.
+
+He continued in business until 1845, but though many of his clocks have
+pretty mahogany cases and interesting dials, they no longer concern us,
+since these had become ready made. Though he taught his sons the trade,
+they did not succeed, though one, Richard, started in opposition to his
+father, but the name died out. Holt’s contemporary was Henry Goodwin,
+who was in every way his equal. Other rivals were William Weaver,
+Richard Hardy, Hardy and Son, George Ganter, and John and James Priest.
+William Weaver was very fond of a style of dial representing a ship
+in full sail on a painted ocean, the vessel rising and falling with
+the swinging of the pendulum. Ganter came to Newark as a Dutch clock
+pedlar, and settled there. James Priest made clocks in the old style,
+and saw the art die out as a local industry. At his death, in 1889, he
+left a cellar full of his earlier efforts, together with one or two
+finished items, which must have been standing in the shop for fully
+forty years.
+
+About 1840 a lamentable, though not unexpected, event happened.
+The cabinetmakers in Newark became tired of making cases for the
+clockmaker, and the practice began of the clockmaker making movements
+for their cases, and though in itself a regrettable feature, the
+result has left us some really beautiful cases of this period, notably
+by Cawthorn, Dalman, and Barber. The man who seems to have made
+movements for them was John Baker (who worked at one time for Holt),
+who cut his name and a number on the plate at the back of the dial.
+In contradistinction to this procedure, we have to note R. Wade, of
+Staythorpe, a village four miles from Newark, who combined the two
+operations. A clock-case maker by trade, he went to London to work in
+the piano-case trade and clock-case making, and there he conceived a
+fancy for the mechanical side of clock making.[90] After some years he
+returned to Staythorpe, and set up as a maker of both clock and case.
+His work was of a very creditable character, and quite a number of
+his clocks are in good working order in the neighbourhood. He was an
+eccentric character, and left his mark in many little details about
+the premises which he occupied at Staythorpe until his death.
+
+No account of the local village clockmakers would be complete without
+some mention of the Burrells of Collingham, a family who worked there
+till about 1860 and then migrated to Sheffield, where they became
+firmly established. However, the attraction of the mechanical side of
+the trade was too strong for the mercantile side, and they embarked on
+a system of time synchronisation which brought them ill fortune. Their
+initials are stamped upon an old clock, probably made about 1800, at
+Sutton-on-Trent church, showing that they did large as well as small
+work.
+
+Andrew Esdaile of Bingham is another notable character of the period
+1830–1850. Though his clocks are not plentiful, the stories of him
+and of his poetic inclinations are numerous. From the fact that he
+eventually turned author, we may perhaps conclude that he paid more
+attention to literature than to horology.
+
+I have kept a careful watch for any effect Pitt’s Act of Parliament
+may have had on our local industry, but I have not been able to trace
+any at all, for our local products seem to be the same at that time
+(1797–98) as before and after, and no Act of Parliament clock of local
+origin has ever been under my notice, so we may conclude that the scare
+which shook the trade was not felt here very severely. I have also
+never seen a lacquered case with local works inside it, and, no doubt,
+the choicer kinds of cases were not made by our local artists. When we
+come to think that nearly all our early marquetry was done by the Dutch
+inlay workers who followed William III. to England, and that probably
+the lacquer decorated cases became, after a very few years, their work
+also, we are compelled to conclude that these arts were not general in
+the provinces, so that we must not expect to see them applied in the
+case of the Newark clocks, much less in that of the rural specimens,
+though there are some fine mahogany cases which are exceptions to this.
+
+The list of Newark makers that follows shows the division of--(1) those
+who made brass dials only; (2) those who made both brass and painted
+dials; and (3) those who made clocks with painted dials only.
+
+This delegation of the brass dials to a secondary position must be
+attributed to their cost when compared with that of the painted dials.
+The makers of this last popular style also made the shortfall and
+mantle clocks.
+
+In the last period the cases were doubtless made by Cawthorn, or
+Dalman, or Fletcher, or Parlby, but in the earlier ones the case
+makers are quite as unknown as the clock work would be were it not
+for the names inscribed and the incentive thus given to learn more
+about them. The later makers are identified by such details as the
+dates on watch-case papers (some of them worth illustrating), by the
+hall-markings of the cases of their watches, by scraps in the form of
+receipts for work done, and by leaves from tradesmen’s old ledgers; but
+for our knowledge of the earlier makers we have to go further afield,
+and help in this direction is gratefully acknowledged.
+
+The date of a clock may be gauged fairly accurately by noting first the
+plainness of outline of the cases and the length of the door, which
+in early times was very pronounced. There was usually a bottle glass
+panel in the door. In a few years plainness gave way to cross-banded
+ornament, and this in its turn to veneering with mahogany, or, in the
+better cases, to mahogany with veneered facings. These styles were
+ousted by the ornate cases in light oak, with very short doors and
+mahogany decorations in veneer and line inlay. As a general rule,
+however, the earlier the work the better it is, both as to case and
+clock, especially the latter.
+
+My own connection with the clockmakers of Newark has only been of a
+secondary character, although I have spent many happy days among their
+work. Yet I remember that I am the last apprentice of the late John
+Harvey (who died in 1886), who was himself the last apprentice of
+Thomas Hardy, the survivor of Hardy & Son, who are mentioned above.
+
+    (1) William Gascoigne       1700–1740
+        Nicholas Goddard        1700–1741
+        William Marshall        1730–1770
+        William Barnard         1740–1780
+        Edward Smith.           1770–1790
+        Solomon Bettison        1750–1795
+        Edward Crampton         1760–1790
+    (2) John Crampern           1770–1800
+        William Unwin           1780–1805
+    (3) William Weston          1790–1820
+        Richard Herring         1790–1810
+        Unwin & Holt            1805–1810
+        Richard Holt            1810–1845
+        James Weston            1825–1840
+        Henry Goodwin           1815–1840
+        Henry Goodwin, junior   1842–1850
+        Richard Hardy           1820–1830
+        Thomas Hardy & Son      1830–1850
+        Richard Holt, junior    1840–1850
+        William Weaver          1835–1850
+        James Priest            1840–1888
+        George Ganter           1840–1850
+
+
+
+
+                                 INDEX
+
+
+    Abbess of Godstow, 66
+
+    Abbey, Rufford, 54–56
+
+    ---- Shelforde, 100
+
+    ---- Welbeck, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59, 117, 177, 184, 186, 187
+
+    Abbot Doncaster of Rufford, 57, 112
+
+    ---- of Combe, 66
+
+    Acklom of Wiseton Hall, 172
+
+    Act of Parliament clock, 336
+
+    Adbolton, 100
+
+    Adulterine castles dismantled, 8
+
+    Alabaster monuments, 49, 50
+
+    Albini, William de, 113, 114
+
+    Alms, obligatory, 59
+
+    Almshouses, or hospitals, 55
+
+    Ancaster, 84
+
+    ---- quarries, 13
+
+    ---- stone, 292
+
+    Anlaf Guthfrithson, 7
+
+    _Annals of Nottinghamshire_, quoted, 180, 181, 209
+
+    Anne, 77
+
+    ---- of Denmark at Newstead Priory, 69
+
+    Annesley park, 117, 119, 123
+
+    _Antiquities of Nottinghamshire_, quoted, Thoroton’s, 53, 262, 263,
+        272
+
+    Archbishop Cranmer, 10, 67
+
+    ---- Drummond, 250
+
+    ---- Ealdred, 244, 245
+
+    ---- Geoffrey de Ludham, 63
+
+    ---- Gerard, 245, 246
+
+    ---- John le Romeyne, 36, 38, 41, 251, 255
+
+    ---- Kinsi, 245
+
+    ---- Lawrence Booth, 48
+
+    ---- Oskytel, 242
+
+    ---- Roger, 33
+
+    ---- Romanus, 64
+
+    ---- Thomas de Corbridge, 251
+
+    ---- Walter de Gray, 33, 41, 63, 251, 252, 254
+
+    ---- Wickwaine, 64
+
+    Archbishop of York, Thomas II., 22
+
+    Architecture, Cistercian, 34
+
+    ---- mediæval church, 12–53
+
+    ---- of Blyth Priory Church, 20–22, 23
+
+    ---- of Southwell Minster, 22–25
+
+    Army, struggle to find recruits for the, 171
+
+    ---- weekly assessment of Notts for the Parliamentary, 171
+
+    Arnold chancel, 41, 42
+
+    ---- Forest, 116
+
+    ---- Gothic screen, 124
+
+    ---- Matthew, 207, 209
+
+    “Array,” Charles’s “Instructions to Commissioners of,” 174
+
+    Ashburnham, John, 190
+
+    Ashdown, battle of, 308
+
+    Ashfield, 106
+
+    Assessment of Notts for the Parliamentary army, weekly, 171
+
+    Athelstan, 242, 306, 308
+
+    Atherstone, Edwin, 215
+
+    Atkin of North Muskham, John, 224, 225
+
+    Attachment Courts, 113, 115
+
+    Attempt to gain possession of Trent Bridge, 182
+
+    Attenborough, 96
+
+    ---- rood-stair, 124
+
+    ---- sculptured arcade at, 27
+
+    ---- spire, 51, 288
+
+    Augustinian canons, 32
+
+    Averham, 96, 105
+
+    ---- Church, herring-bone work in, 19
+
+    ---- screen, 124, 125
+
+
+    Babington chantry chapel at Kingston-on-Soar, 50
+
+    Bailey, Philip James, 193, 210–212, 216
+
+    ---- Thomas, 180, 209
+
+    Baker, John, 335
+
+    Balderton, 26, 188
+
+    ---- Church, 30
+
+    ---- screen, 125
+
+    ---- tower, 289
+
+    Balkfield, 106
+
+    Ballard attacks Newark, 176, 177
+
+    Balliol, Henry, 61
+
+    Barber, 335
+
+    Bardolph, William, 113
+
+    Barker, Matthew Henry, 153
+
+    Barnard, William, 327, 328, 329, 330, 331, 338
+
+    Barnby-in-the-Willows, 303
+
+    ---- ---- spire, 37, 38
+
+    “Bars,” Nottingham, 229
+
+    Barton, John, 48
+
+    ---- steeple, 288
+
+    Barton-in-Fabis screen, 167
+
+    Basford, 234
+
+    ---- Forest, 116
+
+    Basingfield, 106
+
+    Bassetlaw, wapentake of, 28, 271
+
+    Battle of Edgehill, 175
+
+    Battle of the Idle, 6
+
+    Bawtry, 55
+
+    Bayley, A. M. Y., 163
+
+    Beacon Hill, 176
+
+    Beauvale Priory, 54, 55, 58, 125
+
+    ---- ---- screens, 125
+
+    Beckingham, 38, 157
+
+    ---- Church, 28
+
+    ---- screen, 125, 126
+
+    ---- tower, 52
+
+    Bede, 240
+
+    Belasyse, Lord, 187, 191
+
+    Belfin, Thomas, 131
+
+    Belgæ, 4
+
+    Bellar Gate, 233
+
+    Bellcotes, 300
+
+    Bellfounders’ Yard, 233
+
+    Belvoir Castle, 187, 188
+
+    ---- Vale of, 13
+
+    Benedictine nuns, Wallingwells, 54
+
+    ---- Priory, Blyth, 54, 55, 56, 58
+
+    Bernesconi renovates ornament, Southwell pulpitum, 156
+
+    Besthorpe, 97, 98, 104
+
+    Bestwood Park, 60, 118, 119, 120
+
+    Bettinson, Solomon, 329, 330, 338
+
+    Bilhaugh, 116, 117, 122
+
+    Bilsthorpe rood stairs, 126
+
+    Bingham, 36, 37, 298
+
+    ---- steeple, 285, 286
+
+    ---- token, 317
+
+    Binham Church, 35
+
+    Birkin, John de, 111
+
+    Birkin, Thomas de, 111
+
+    Birkland, 116, 117, 119, 122
+
+    Bishop of Southwell, Dr. Ridding, 267
+
+    ---- Rotherham, 142
+
+    ---- Walter Langton, 41
+
+    Black or Austin priories, 54
+
+    Blackwell, Sir Thomas, 172
+
+    Blagg, T. M., 132, 167, 222, 224
+
+    Blake, Prior Robert, 66
+
+    Blidworth, 70, 114, 117
+
+    Blown Sands, 97–98
+
+    Blunt, Charles, 153
+
+    Blyth Hall gallery, 127
+
+    ---- Priory Church, 12, 20–23, 25, 28, 34–36, 54–56, 58
+
+    ---- ---- obligatory alms, 59
+
+    ---- ---- screens, 126–129, 167
+
+    ---- ---- tower, 52
+
+    Bole, 102, 103, 104
+
+    ---- Church, 16
+
+    ---- tower, 52
+
+    Bones of extinct mammalia found in the valley deposits, 91
+
+    Booker, Luke, 212
+
+    ---- Richard, 209
+
+    Boot, John, 331
+
+    ---- William, 331
+
+    Booth, Archbishop Lawrence, 48
+
+    Bore, Trent, 103
+
+    Bosworth fight, 9
+
+    Boundary between North and South England, Trent the, 3
+
+    Bousfield, H. N., 224, 225
+
+    Bowman of Stamford, 143
+
+    Boxgrove, La Warre chapel at, 50
+
+    Brackenhurst Hill, 239
+
+    Bracket clocks, 334
+
+    Bradbury, William, 220
+
+    Bradebusk, 55
+
+    Bradmore steeple, 274
+
+    Brampton, 93
+
+    Brant Broughton, 38
+
+    Brass trade of Nottingham, 9
+
+    Brewing trade of Nottingham, 9
+
+    Bribour, 108
+
+    Bridge, Gunthorpe, 238
+
+    ---- Kelham, 98
+
+    ---- Newark, 238
+
+    ---- Nottingham, 238
+
+    ---- Trent, 96
+
+    ---- Wilford, 238
+
+    ---- destroyed 1683, Newark, 93
+
+    ---- destroyed 1683, Nottingham, 93
+
+    Bridgford (West) screen, 129, 130
+
+    Bridlesmith Gate, Nottingham, 229, 233
+
+    Briggs, A. E., 143
+
+    Britons, 3, 4
+
+    Broadholme nunnery, 54, 58
+
+    Brown, Cornelius, 148
+
+    Browne, Frank, 226
+
+    Brythonic Celts, 4
+
+    Bulcote, 197
+
+    Bulwell, 234
+
+    Bunny, 271
+
+    ---- clockmakers, 333
+
+    ---- screen, 130–131
+
+    ---- steeple, 289
+
+    ---- W., 214
+
+    Burgage Green, 251
+
+    Burnet, Bishop, 66
+
+    Burrells of Collingham, 333, 336
+
+    Burton, 102, 103, 104
+
+    ---- Joyce, 303
+
+    ---- ---- spire, 278, 279
+
+    ---- Lazars, 297
+
+    Byland Church, 34
+
+    Byron family, 69–74
+
+    ---- George Gordon Noel, Lord, 12, 59, 67, 69, 74, 193, 197,
+        203–206, 265
+
+    ---- of Newstead, Lord, 121
+
+    ---- Richard, 100
+
+    ---- Sir Gilbert, 191
+
+    ---- of Colwick, Sir John, 68, 71, 73, 172
+
+    ---- of Newstead Abbey, Sir John, 197
+
+    ---- Sir Richard, 179, 181
+
+
+    Callis, Samuel, 332, 333
+
+    Calvert, William, 226
+
+    Calverton, 10, 113
+
+    ---- rood, 131
+
+    ---- tower, 26
+
+    Camden, 240
+
+    Canute, 309, 310
+
+    Car Colston, 302
+
+    ---- ---- arrow vane, 293
+
+    ---- ---- chancel, 41, 42, 44
+
+    ---- ---- screen, 132
+
+    ---- ---- steeple, 52, 287, 292
+
+    Carlton Home, 101, 104
+
+    Carlton-in-Lindrick tower, 17, 52
+
+    Carlton-on-Trent steeple, 293
+
+    Carmelite friars, Nottingham, 54
+
+    ---- Friary Church rood, Nottingham, 150
+
+    Cars, the, 6
+
+    Carter, Mary Ann, 226
+
+    Carthusian Priory, Beauvale, 54, 55, 58, 125
+
+    Cartwright, Sir Hugh, 172
+
+    Cassandra, Willoughby, Duchess of Chandos, 77, 79, 84, 85
+
+    Castle Art Museum, Nottingham, 204, 214
+
+    ---- Belvoir, 187, 188
+
+    ---- Cuckney, 8
+
+    ---- Donnington, 271
+
+    ---- ---- stone, 288, 291
+
+    ---- Dudley, 212
+
+    ---- Hayton, 153
+
+    ---- Newark, 8, 191
+
+    ---- Nottingham, 7, 8, 109, 114, 173, 174, 176, 180, 181, 191,
+        229–231
+
+    ---- Tamworth, 19
+
+    ---- Tickhill, 16
+
+    Castles dismantled, adulterine, 8
+
+    Caunton, sculptured arcade at, 27
+
+    Caux, Maud de, 107, 108, 110, 111
+
+    Cave dwellings, 3
+
+    Cavendish, Charles, 178, 179, 180
+
+    ---- William, 197
+
+    Cawthorn, 335, 337
+
+    Central steeples, in the county only, 286
+
+    Ceolwulf, 241
+
+    Ceonulph, 242
+
+    Chandlers’ Lane, Nottingham, 229
+
+    Chantries, 48, 49
+
+    Chapel Bar, Nottingham, 229, 230
+
+    Chapter Decree Books, Southwell, 264
+
+    ---- House, Southwell, 255
+
+    Charles I., 231
+
+    ---- at Newark, 170
+
+    ---- at Nottingham, 170
+
+    ---- at Southwell, 262
+
+    ---- refuses services of the Roman Catholics, 174, 175
+
+    ---- trial and execution of, 191, 192
+
+    Charles’s failure in foreign wars, 169
+
+    ---- “Instructions to Commissioners of Array,” 174
+
+    Charles II. at Newstead Priory, 69, 76
+
+    Charterhouse, Beauvale, 56
+
+    Chaworth, Lord, 172
+
+    ---- William, killed in duel by “Devil Byron,” 69
+
+    Chesterfield, Earl of, 122, 171, 187
+
+    ---- parclose, 157
+
+    Christian, Ewan, 156
+
+    Churches appropriated to monasteries, 16
+
+    Cistercian Abbey, Rufford, 54, 55, 56
+
+    ---- architecture, 34
+
+    _Cities Weekly Post_ quoted, 189
+
+    Civil War, the, 168–192
+
+    Clarborough Church, 30
+
+    Clay, division of the shire, 106, 110, 122
+
+    Claypole, 38, 189
+
+    Clays, of Nottinghamshire, red, 90
+
+    Clayworth screen, 132–134
+
+    Clifton, 55, 234
+
+    Clifton Grove, 194
+
+    Clifton-on-Trent chantry, 48
+
+    Clifton, Sir Gervase, 172
+
+    Clipstone, King of the Scots at, 8
+
+    ---- park, 118, 119, 120
+
+    Clipston, royal hunting lodge at, 62
+
+    Clockmakers of Newark, 323–338
+
+    Clocks, “Grandfather,” 323, 324, 334
+
+    Close Rolls, 114
+
+    Clough, 209
+
+    Cludd’s Oak, 262
+
+    Clumber, 51
+
+    ---- park, 116, 121
+
+    Cluniac Priory, Lenton, 54–56, 58, 59
+
+    Cnut, 7
+
+    Coal working at Nottingham, 9, 11
+
+    Coddington, 91, 183, 188
+
+    Coke of Brookhill, Col., 78
+
+    College, Nottingham University, 234
+
+    ---- of Secular Canons, 244
+
+    Colleges, or collegiate churches, 55
+
+    Collingham, 94, 95, 97, 102, 104
+
+    ---- token, 317
+
+    Collinson, Samuel, 220
+
+    Colston Bassett Gothic screen, 134
+
+    Colwick, 100
+
+    Colwick, William de, 100
+
+    Combe, Abbot of, 66
+
+    _Comperta_, 57
+
+    Constable, Henry, 194, 195, 196
+
+    ---- Sir Robert, 194
+
+    Cooper, Sir Roger, 172, 177, 184
+
+    Corbridge, Archbishop Thomas de, 251
+
+    Coritani tribe, 4
+
+    Cornish and Gaymer, 157
+
+    Cossall, 62
+
+    ---- steeple, 292
+
+    Cossall, William de, 62
+
+    Costock, 297
+
+    ---- screen, 134
+
+    Cotgrave rood-stair, 134
+
+    ---- spire, 37, 228
+
+    Cotton trade in the shire, 11
+
+    Court, Forty-Day, 113
+
+    Courts, Attachment, 113, 115
+
+    Cox, Rev. Dr., 125, 135, 141, 143, 152, 153, 157, 167
+
+    Cow Lane, Nottingham, 230
+
+    Cowley, Abraham, 197
+
+    Crampern, John, 330, 331, 338
+
+    Crampton, Edward, 330, 338
+
+    Crankley Point, 101, 102
+
+    Cranmer, 10, 67
+
+    Creswell Caves, 92
+
+    ---- Crags, 3
+
+    Cromwell, 57, 58, 66, 116, 178, 179, 180, 184, 262
+
+    ---- at Newark, 177
+
+    ---- Church, herring-bone work in, 19
+
+    Cropwell Bishop screen, 134
+
+    Crossings of the Trent, 3
+
+    Crumbwell, Ralph de, 114
+
+    Cuckney Castle, 8
+
+    Culpepper, Sir John, 174
+
+    Cursham, Mary Ann, 214
+
+    Cut, Kelham, 99
+
+    Cuthred, 242
+
+
+    Dalby, will of Alice, 151
+
+    Dalman, 335, 337
+
+    Dalton, Bishop Thomas, consecrated in Gedling Church, 36
+
+    Danelagh, 7, 229
+
+    Daniel, 195
+
+    Danish invasion, 6
+
+    Darwin, Erasmus, 202, 203
+
+    Davison tokens, 319
+
+    Death of John at Newark, 8
+
+    Deer in royal forests, statistics of, 120
+
+    ---- of Sherwood, 118, 122
+
+    ---- red and fallow, 107
+
+    Denham, 197
+
+    Derivation of Nottingham, 228
+
+    Despenser, Hugh, 113
+
+    “Devil Byron,” 69, 72, 73
+
+    Devon, the, 101
+
+    _Diary, or an Exact Journal, The_, quoted, 186
+
+    Dickinson, 98
+
+    Digby, Sir John, 172, 175
+
+    Dimock, J. F., 146, 156
+
+    Dismantling of adulterine castles, 8
+
+    Doddington, 91
+
+    Dodsley, Robert, 199–202
+
+    “Dogg-whipper,” the, 264
+
+    Domesday Book, 105
+
+    ---- Survey, 107
+
+    Dominican friars, 54
+
+    Doncaster of Rufford, Abbot, 57
+
+    ---- William, 163
+
+    Donham, Thomas de, 61
+
+    Dorset, Earl of, 174
+
+    Drakeholes, 6
+
+    Drawswerd of York, Thomas, 146
+
+    Drayton (East) screen, 134, 135
+
+    ---- Michael, 195
+
+    Drayton’s _Polyolbion_, 108
+
+    Drummond, Archbishop, 250
+
+    Dryden, 198
+
+    Dudley Castle, 212
+
+    Duffield spire, 37
+
+    Dunham, 95, 97, 101
+
+    Dunham-on-Trent tower, 52
+
+    Durham, John, Prior of Newstead, 63
+
+
+    Eadgar, 7
+
+    Eadwig, 7, 242, 243
+
+    Eagle, 91
+
+    Ealdred, Archbishop, 244, 245
+
+    Earthworks, 4
+
+    East Bridgford Saxon Church, 17
+
+    East Drayton Church, 16
+
+    Easter sepulchre, Fledborough, 42, 43
+
+    ---- ---- Hawton, 12, 42
+
+    ---- ---- Sibthorpe, 42, 43
+
+    Eastfield, 106
+
+    East Leake, 303
+
+    ---- ---- herring-bone coursing at, 18, 25
+
+    ---- ---- spire, 37, 288
+
+    East Markham Church, 16, 47, 49
+
+    ---- ---- tower, 52
+
+    East Retford Church, 30
+
+    ---- ---- tower, 51
+
+    East Stoke, 10
+
+    Ebranc, 228
+
+    Edgar, 242
+
+    Edgehill, Battle of, 175
+
+    Edingley, 214
+
+    Edward I., 61, 62
+
+    ---- II., 61, 62, 114
+
+    ---- III., 62, 230
+
+    ---- ---- at Newstead Priory, 76
+
+    ---- IV., 63
+
+    ---- ---- at Nottingham, 9
+
+    Edward VI., 55
+
+    ---- the Confessor, 310, 311
+
+    ---- the Elder, 7, 235, 306
+
+    Edwin of Northumbria, 6
+
+    Edwinstowe, 62, 113, 116, 119, 121
+
+    ---- Church, 16
+
+    ---- spire, 51, 280
+
+    Edwy, 307
+
+    Effigies and tombs, 49–51
+
+    Egmanton, 62, 63
+
+    Eland, Governor of Nottingham Castle, 230
+
+    Ælfric Puttoc, Archbishop of York, 244
+
+    Elizabeth, 77, 120
+
+    Elliot, Ebenezer, 73
+
+    Elston, 202
+
+    Elton screen, 135
+
+    English and French boroughs in Nottingham, 7, 231, 232
+
+    Epperstone chancel, 41
+
+    ---- steeple, 288
+
+    Esdaile of Bingham, Andrew, 141, 336
+
+    Essex, Earl of, 169, 175, 196
+
+    Æthelfrith, defeat of, 6
+
+    Æthelred, 7
+
+    ---- II., 308, 309
+
+    Etherington, 324
+
+    Everingham effigies, Laxton, 49
+
+    ---- Robert de, 111
+
+    Evermuth, Walter de, 113
+
+    Everton, carved tympanum at, 25
+
+    ---- Church, 30
+
+    Eyre, Sir Gervase, 172
+
+
+    Fairfax, Lord, 176
+
+    Fallow deer, 107
+
+    Families, Parliamentarian, 172
+
+    ---- Royalist, 171, 172
+
+    Farndon, 91, 188
+
+    ---- with Balderton Church, 16
+
+    Farnsfield, 106
+
+    Felley Priory, 54, 177
+
+    Ferry at Littleborough, Roman, 238
+
+    Finningley screen, 135
+
+    Firth, Professor, 171
+
+    Fiskerton, 95, 97
+
+    Fitzstephen, Ralph, 107, 108
+
+    Fitzwilliam, Sir William, 257
+
+    Five Boroughs, the, 7, 229
+
+    Flatman, Thomas, 197
+
+    Flawford spire, 292
+
+    Fledborough Easter sepulchre, 42, 43
+
+    ---- Holme, 101
+
+    Fledborough tower, 273
+
+    Fleet stream, 104
+
+    Fletcher, 337
+
+    Flintham, 296, 300
+
+    ---- tower, 273
+
+    Floods, Trent, 92–97
+
+    Florence of Worcester, Chronicle of, 8, 247
+
+    Font, Lenton, 26
+
+    Forced loans, 169
+
+    Fords on the Trent, 176
+
+    Forest, Sherwood, 2, 6, 8, 106–123, 256, 281
+
+    Forty-Day Court, 113
+
+    Foss Dyke, 93, 94
+
+    Fosse Way, 10, 240, 325
+
+    Foster of Marnham, Will, 332, 333
+
+    Fountains Church, 34
+
+    Franciscan friars, Nottingham, 54, 114
+
+    Frere, Miss, 167
+
+    Friar Lane, Nottingham, 229
+
+    Friar Tuck, 108
+
+    Friary House at Newark, 328
+
+
+    Gainsborough, 12, 96, 97, 102, 179, 180, 181, 184
+
+    Gairdner, Dr., 58
+
+    Gamston bridge, 236, 237
+
+    ---- rood-stair, 135
+
+    ---- tower, 52
+
+    Ganter, George, 335, 338
+
+    Gardiner, Mr., 179
+
+    Gascoigne, William, 324, 325, 326, 328, 329, 338
+
+    “Gates,” Nottingham, 229
+
+    Gedling quarries, 279
+
+    ---- screen, 135
+
+    ---- spire, 36, 51, 271, 282–284, 293
+
+    ---- stone, 288
+
+    Gell, Sir John, 176, 178
+
+    Gerard, Archbishop, 245, 246
+
+    Giffard’s register, 64
+
+    Gilbertine Priory, Mattersey, 54
+
+    ---- ---- of St. Katherine, 15, 16, 30
+
+    Giles, Sidney, 226
+
+    Gill, Harry, 125, 132, 142, 167
+
+    Girdlesmith Gate, Nottingham, 230, 233
+
+    Girton, 94, 95, 97, 98, 104
+
+    Glazebrook of Mansfield, 332
+
+    Glazed low side windows, 301–304
+
+    “Goblin Friar,” Newstead, 74
+
+    Goddard, Nicholas, 326, 327, 338
+
+    Godfrey, J. T., 134, 135, 141, 153
+
+    Godstowe, Abbess of, 66
+
+    Goffe, 191
+
+    Goidelic Celts, 4
+
+    Golding of Colston Bassett, 172, 175
+
+    Goldsmith’s work at Nottingham, 9
+
+    Goodwin, Henry, 334, 338
+
+    Goodyer, F. R., 220
+
+    Goose Gate, Nottingham, 229
+
+    Goring, 177
+
+    Gospel lectern, Newstead, 72
+
+    Gotham, 190, 271
+
+    ---- spire, 274, 276, 278
+
+    Graham, George, 324
+
+    Grammar School, Newark, 146
+
+    Granby screen, 135
+
+    Grange, Prior Richard de, 62
+
+    Gray, Archbishop Walter de, 33, 41, 63, 251, 252, 254
+
+    ---- Col. Henry, 188
+
+    ---- Col. Theo, 188
+
+    Green, quoted, Mrs. J. R., 9
+
+    Greendale Oak, Welbeck, 117
+
+    Grey Friars at Nottingham, 232
+
+    Grey, Lord, 178, 179
+
+    Gringley Park, 120
+
+    Grosseteste, Bishop, 31
+
+    Grove steeple, 293
+
+    Guisbrough Priory, 35, 65
+
+    Gunthorpe bridge, 238
+
+
+    Habblesthorpe Church, 16
+
+    Hacker, Col. Francis, 172, 191
+
+    Haggonfield, 106
+
+    Halam, 25
+
+    ---- tower, 273
+
+    Hall, Spencer Timothy, 212, 213, 216
+
+    ---- will of Robert, 125
+
+    ---- ---- William, 125
+
+    ---- Wollaton, 77–87
+
+    Hampden, 169
+
+    Hardicanute, 310
+
+    Hardy, Richard, 335, 338
+
+    Hareston, Robert de, 113
+
+    Harold I., 310
+
+    ---- II., 311
+
+    Harvey, John, 337
+
+    Harworth, 25
+
+    ---- Church, 16
+
+    Hastings, herring-bone masonry at, 18
+
+    Hatfield, 110, 122
+
+    Hawksley, Edward, 214
+
+    ---- tokens, 319
+
+    Hawton, 45
+
+    ---- chancel, 41, 43, 44
+
+    ---- Easter sepulchre, 12, 42
+
+    ---- founder’s tomb, 49
+
+    ---- screen, 135, 136
+
+    ---- tower, 52
+
+    Hays or parks of Sherwood, 119
+
+    Hayton Castle, 153
+
+    ---- Church, 28, 30
+
+    Haywood oaks, 117
+
+    Heathfield, 6
+
+    Henderson, Sir John, 176, 179
+
+    Henry I., 60, 307, 312
+
+    ---- II., 60, 63, 253, 308
+
+    ---- ---- takes possession of Nottingham Castle, 8
+
+    ---- III., 60, 61
+
+    ---- VI., 63
+
+    ---- VII. at Newark, 10
+
+    ---- ---- at Newstead Priory, 76
+
+    ---- ---- at Nottingham, 10
+
+    ---- VIII., 55, 58, 59
+
+    Heron, Thomas, 98
+
+    Herring-bone masonry, 18
+
+    Herring, Richard, 334, 338
+
+    Heskey, will of Alderman, 150
+
+    Hethbeth Bridge, 173, 236
+
+    Hicklin, John, 220
+
+    Hickling of Cotgrave, George, 220–222
+
+    Hickling, pre-Conquest coffin-lid at, 26
+
+    ---- tower, 52
+
+    Hickman, Sir W., 172
+
+    Highfield, 106
+
+    Hill, A. Du Boulay, 125
+
+    Hind, Edward, 226
+
+    Hine, T. C., 142
+
+    _History of Newark_, 101, 188
+
+    _History of Southwell_, Shilton’s, 250, 262
+
+    Hockerton Hill, 251
+
+    Hodges, C. Clement, 128
+
+    Hogg, Henry, 214, 215
+
+    Holme, 93, 96, 97, 99, 102, 104
+
+    ---- Church, 45, 47
+
+    ---- screens, 137–138
+
+    ---- steeple, 280
+
+    ---- Pierrepoint, 198
+
+    ---- ---- monuments, 50
+
+    ---- ---- rood-stair, 138, 139
+
+    ---- ---- steeple, 288, 293
+
+    Holt, Richard, 328, 333, 334, 338
+
+    Hooton, Charles, 226
+
+    Hosiery trade of the shire, 10, 11
+
+    Hospital, Nottingham General, 174
+
+    ---- of St. John in Nottingham, 235
+
+    Hospitallers, 29
+
+    Hospitals or almshouses, 55
+
+    Hotham, Sir John, 170
+
+    Hough-on-the-Hill tower, 52
+
+    Hoveringham, carved tympanum at, 25
+
+    ---- spire, 292
+
+    Howitt, Mary, 213, 214
+
+    ---- Richard, 213, 214
+
+    ---- William, 213, 214
+
+    Hoybel Bridge, Nottingham, 235
+
+    Hucknall, 60, 63, 298
+
+    ---- Broomhill charity, 69
+
+    ---- Torkard Church, 69
+
+    Hudson, Dr., 190
+
+    ---- H., 162, 167
+
+    Hundred Years War, 9
+
+    Huntingdon, Earl of, 113
+
+    Hutchinson, Col. John, 175, 176, 178, 180, 181, 182, 184, 191, 231
+
+    ---- family, 172
+
+
+    Ice Age, 89, 91, 92
+
+    Idle Valley, 5, 6, 92
+
+    Industrial riots in the shire, 10
+
+    Inns and public-houses connected with the forest and the chase, 119
+
+    “Instructions to Commissioners of Array,” Charles’s, 174
+
+    Insula, Brian de, 114
+
+    Introduction of Christianity by St. Paulinus, 6
+
+    Invention of the stocking-frame by Rev. William Lee, 10
+
+    Inventory of the trees, Sherwood, 116
+
+    Ireton, Henry, 172, 180, 191
+
+    Iron trade of Nottingham, 9
+
+
+    James I., 69, 260
+
+    Jenyn, bequest of Elizabeth, 146
+
+    Joan, Queen of Scots, 60
+
+    John at Newark, death of, 8
+
+    ---- Nottingham Castle given to, 8
+
+    ---- Earl of Mortain, 60, 107, 111, 230
+
+    _John of Gaunt Sketch Book_, 128
+
+    ---- of Hexham, 247
+
+    Johnson, Dodsley publisher for, 200
+
+    Jones, Inigo, 86
+
+    Joynes, Lucy, 226
+
+    Julius Firmicus, 246
+
+
+    Kaye, Sir Richard, 72
+
+    Keats, 207
+
+    Kelham, 10, 90, 96, 98, 99, 100, 104, 105, 188, 190
+
+    ---- screen, 139, 140
+
+    Keyworth arrow vane, 293
+
+    ---- rood-loft, 140, 141
+
+    ---- steeple, 51, 287, 290–292
+
+    King and Parliament, struggle between, 10
+
+    _Kingdomes Weekly Intelligencer, The_, quoted, 177, 185
+
+    King’s Sconce, 188
+
+    Kingston, Duke of, 116
+
+    ---- Earl of, 171, 181
+
+    ---- first Earl of, 197, 198
+
+    Kingston-on-Soar chantry chapel, 50
+
+    ---- ---- screen, 141
+
+    ---- ---- spire, 293
+
+    Kinsi, Archbishop, 245
+
+    Kirkby, 72
+
+    ---- Hardwick, 177
+
+    ---- in Ashfield Forest, 116
+
+    ---- ---- spire, 276
+
+    Kneesall, 303
+
+    ---- screen, 141
+
+    Knibb, 324
+
+    Knights Hospitallers preceptory, Ossington, 54
+
+    Knights of St. John of Jerusalem at Nottingham, 232
+
+    Knights Templars, 29
+
+
+    Lace trade of the shire, 10, 11
+
+    Lambley, 114
+
+    ---- screen, 141
+
+    Laneham Church, 16, 28, 29
+
+    ---- ---- herring-bone work in, 19
+
+    ---- tower, 25
+
+    Langar screen, 141, 142
+
+    ---- tower, 37
+
+    Langford, 91, 104
+
+    Langton, Bishop Walter, 41
+
+    La Warre chapel at Boxgrove, 50
+
+    Lawley, 212
+
+    Laxton, 108, 295, 296, 297
+
+    ---- clerestory, 47
+
+    ---- monuments, 49, 50
+
+    ---- screen, 142
+
+    Layton, Dr., 57, 58
+
+    Lee, Rev. William, inventor of the stocking-frame, 10
+
+    Leen Valley, 92, 230, 237
+
+    Legh, Dr., 57, 58
+
+    Leicester, Peter de, 61
+
+    Leland, 230, 231, 232
+
+    Lenton font, 26
+
+    ---- Forest, 117
+
+    ---- obligatory alms, 59
+
+    ---- Priory, 46, 54, 55, 56, 58, 59, 114, 232, 234, 308
+
+    Leslie, General, 190
+
+    Lester, Thomas, 224
+
+    Leverton (North) rood-loft, 142
+
+    ---- South, 196
+
+    ---- ---- screen, 142
+
+    Lexington, Lord, 172
+
+    ---- Robert de, 113
+
+    ---- table-tomb, 49
+
+    _Liber Albus_ of Southwell, 248
+
+    Libraries in Nottingham, Operatives’, 235
+
+    Library, Artisans’, 235
+
+    ---- Mechanics’ Institution, 235
+
+    ---- Nottingham, Bromley House, 234
+
+    ---- Oddfellows’, 235
+
+    ---- People’s Hall, 235
+
+    ---- Public Free, 235
+
+    ---- Rancliffe Arms, 235
+
+    ---- Seven Stars, 235
+
+    ---- the Alderman Wood, 235
+
+    Lichfield, 35, 40, 41, 202, 241
+
+    Linby, 61, 62, 113, 119
+
+    ---- low side window, 304, 305
+
+    ---- tower, 52
+
+    Lindsey, general-in-chief of the Royalist forces, 177
+
+    Linen trade of Nottingham, 9
+
+    Lineker, A., 167
+
+    Lister Gate, Nottingham, 230
+
+    List of priors, Newstead, 68
+
+    Little John, 108
+
+    “Little Sir John with the Big Beard,” 68, 73
+
+    Littleborough, aisleless chapel, 25
+
+    ---- Church, herring-bone work in, 19
+
+    ---- Roman ferry at, 238
+
+    Loans, forced, 169
+
+    Lofts, roods, and screens, 124–167
+
+    London, Dr. John, 66, 67
+
+    Long Row, Nottingham, 229
+
+    Longvilliers, Sir John de, 49
+
+    Love, David, 226
+
+    Lowdham Church, 16
+
+    Lowdham rood, 142, 143
+
+    ---- tower, 288
+
+    Low Marnham, 95, 96
+
+    Low side windows, 295–305
+
+    Lucas, Sir Charles, 182
+
+    ---- Sir Gervase, 188
+
+    Ludham, Archbishop Geoffrey de, 63
+
+    Lupus, Robert, 114
+
+    Lynsfield, 106
+
+
+    Magnus, Thomas, 146
+
+    Major Oak, Sherwood, 118
+
+    Malton Prior Church, 32
+
+    Manchester, Earl of, quartered at Retford, 184
+
+    Mansfield, 10, 13, 106, 107, 111, 113, 116, 118, 121, 184, 199,
+        256, 271
+
+    ---- Church, 16
+
+    ---- low side window, 304
+
+    ---- (St. Peter) tower, 25, 288
+
+    ---- stone, 288
+
+    ---- tokens, 317, 322
+
+    ---- William, Earl of, 121
+
+    ---- Woodhouse, 272, 279, 280
+
+    Manvers, Earl, 123
+
+    Maplebeck, 13, 271
+
+    ---- screen, 143
+
+    ---- spire, 279
+
+    Marc, Philip, Constable of Nottingham Castle, 8, 110
+
+    Markham, 191
+
+    ---- Gervase, 196
+
+    ---- of Cotham, Sir Robert, 196
+
+    ---- (East), screen, 143
+
+    ---- (West), screen, 143
+
+    Marnham Church, 28, 29
+
+    ---- Holme, 101, 104
+
+    Marshall, William, 327, 331, 338
+
+    Martin, John, 215
+
+    Marton, 19
+
+    Mary Gate, Nottingham, 229
+
+    ---- Queen, 259
+
+    Mattersey Priory, 54
+
+    ---- tower, 52
+
+    Maurice, Prince, 187
+
+    Meadows, Nottingham, 233
+
+    Melbourne, 113
+
+    Meldrum, Sir John, 179, 180, 182, 183
+
+    Mellish, Edward, 126
+
+    Mellors, H. Bradbury, 226
+
+    Mercia, 241, 242
+
+    Mercian shire, 6
+
+    Mering Chapel, Sutton-on-Trent, 159, 161
+
+    Middleton, Lord, 77, 123
+
+    Milbanke, Miss, 75
+
+    Miller, Thomas, 209, 216, 220
+
+    Millhouse, Robert, 209, 212, 213, 214
+
+    Millington, 191
+
+    ---- Gilbert, 172
+
+    Minster, Southwell, 239–269
+
+    Mints, Nottingham, 306–322
+
+    Misterton Church, 16, 28, 29, 60
+
+    ---- steeple, 281
+
+    Molineux, Sir Francis, 171
+
+    Monasteries, churches appropriated to, 16
+
+    ---- suppression of the, 16
+
+    Moneyers, Nottingham, 306–322
+
+    Montgomery, James, 212
+
+    Monuments, 49–51
+
+    Morley spire, 37
+
+    Mortain, John, Earl of, 60, 107, 111, 230
+
+    Mortimer’s Hole, 230
+
+    Morwent, Charles, 199
+
+    Mullen, Samuel, 226
+
+    Muskham, 93, 96, 98, 99, 104
+
+    ---- Bridge, 188
+
+    ---- (North) screen, 143, 144, 145
+
+    ---- (South) screen, 145
+
+    Musters, J. P. Chaworth, 123
+
+
+    Narrow Marsh, Nottingham, 93, 94
+
+    Naseby, battle of, 185
+
+    Navigation of the Trent, 2
+
+    Nene Valley, 270
+
+    Neolithic men, 3
+
+    Newark, 3, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 41, 54, 55, 88, 91, 92, 93,
+        95, 97, 101, 102, 104, 105, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187,
+        188, 189, 190, 202, 222, 224, 241, 257, 263, 270, 294
+
+    ---- altar of St. Crux, 145
+
+    ---- attacked by Ballard, 176
+
+    ---- Bridge, 238
+
+    ---- Castle, 8, 191
+
+    ---- chantries, 48, 50
+
+    ---- Charles at, 170
+
+    ---- Church, 28, 30, 45, 46, 47
+
+    ---- ---- herring-bone work in, 19
+
+    ---- ---- vaulted crypt, 25
+
+    ---- clockmakers of, 323–338
+
+    ---- Friary House at, 328
+
+    Newark garrisoned by Royalists, 176
+
+    ---- Grammar School, 146
+
+    ---- Mint, 307, 308
+
+    ---- Parish Church spire, 31, 37, 52, 284, 285
+
+    ---- Royalist meeting at, 175
+
+    ---- screen, 146–149
+
+    ---- siege pieces, 313–315
+
+    ---- strengthened, defences of, 177
+
+    ---- tokens, 318, 321
+
+    ---- treators for, 191
+
+    ---- wapentake of, 28, 29
+
+    Newcastle, Duke of, 116, 117, 171, 176–178, 180, 181, 231
+
+    New Park, 116, 121
+
+    Newstead, 120
+
+    ---- Abbey token, 321
+
+    ---- home of Byron, 12
+
+    ---- Lord Byron of, 121
+
+    ---- obligatory alms, 59
+
+    ---- Priory, 35, 49, 54–76, 177, 203, 205
+
+    Newton, 93
+
+    ---- Cliff, 101
+
+    Nicholson, Richard, 165
+
+    Nineteen Propositions of Parliament, 170
+
+    Normanton-on-Soar spire, 276, 278, 286
+
+    Normanton-on-Trent rood-stair, 149, 150
+
+    Normanton, Prebendary of, 252
+
+    North Clifton Church, 16
+
+    ---- Collingham Church, 28, 29
+
+    Northfield, 106
+
+    North Wheatley Church, 16
+
+    Norton, J., 136
+
+    Norwell rood-stair, 150
+
+    Norwood Park, 262
+
+    Nostell Priory, 65
+
+    Notintone, 228
+
+    Nottingham, 2, 3, 5, 7, 41, 55, 56, 59, 62, 88, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95,
+        96, 97, 105, 111, 116, 118, 120, 175, 178, 179, 180, 181, 183,
+        189, 190, 204, 208, 228–238, 247, 250, 262, 294, 306–322
+
+    ---- Borough Records, 1392, 100
+
+    ---- Castle, 7, 8, 109, 114, 173, 174, 176, 180, 181, 191, 229–231
+
+    ---- Charles at, 170, 173
+
+    ---- Franciscan Friars of, 114
+
+    ---- General Hospital, 174
+
+    ---- Parliamentarians occupy, 176
+
+    ---- premier of the Five Boroughs Confederacy, 7
+
+    Nottingham regicides, 191
+
+    ---- roods, 150–152
+
+    ---- (St. Nicholas) spire, 292
+
+    ---- (St. Peter) spire, 37, 289
+
+    ---- standard raised at, 172, 174
+
+    ---- tokens, 317, 320, 322
+
+    Nunnery, Broadholme, 54, 58
+
+    ---- Wallingwells, 54
+
+    Nuthall screen, 152
+
+
+    Oaks for the navy, Sherwood, 116
+
+    ---- from Sherwood used for St. Paul’s, 117
+
+    Obligatory alms, 59
+
+    Observants, Newark, 54
+
+    Offa, 241
+
+    _Old and New Nottingham_, 208
+
+    Oldham, John, 197, 198, 199
+
+    Operatives’ libraries, Nottingham, 235
+
+    Ordsall Church, 29
+
+    ---- screen, 152, 153
+
+    Orston Church, 16, 194
+
+    Oskytel, Archbishop, 242, 243
+
+    Ossington, 224
+
+    ---- preceptory, 54
+
+    Over Colwick, 100
+
+    Owthorpe, 175
+
+    Oxton, pre-Conquest Church at, 19
+
+
+    Page, Colonel, 185
+
+    Paintings on Blyth Priory screens, 127–129
+
+    Palæolithic Age, 92
+
+    ---- men, 3
+
+    ---- remains, 89
+
+    Palladianism, 87
+
+    Palmer, Ralph, 150
+
+    ---- Sir Matthew, 172
+
+    Papplewick, 60, 63
+
+    Parlby, 337
+
+    Parliament Oak, Sherwood, 118
+
+    ---- treators for the, 191
+
+    Parliamentarian families, 172
+
+    Parliamentarians capture Nottingham Castle, 231
+
+    Parliamentary army, weekly assessment of Notts for the, 171
+
+    ---- Committee of Leicester, 179
+
+    Parrott, Samuel, 213
+
+    Paulinus, 240
+
+    Paumer, Alice le, 236
+
+    ---- John le, 236
+
+    Penda of Mercia, 6
+
+    Pennines, 89
+
+    “Pentecostals,” 250
+
+    Pepper of Morton, Robert, 142
+
+    ---- Street, Nottingham, 229
+
+    _Perfect Occurrences of Both Houses of Parliament_, quoted, 191
+
+    Perkins of Bunny, Sir George, 197
+
+    Peter Gate, Nottingham, 229
+
+    Peverel, William, Governor of Nottingham Castle, 7, 230, 232, 313
+
+    ---- the younger, William, 107
+
+    Philipote, bequest of John, 146
+
+    Pickering, E. G., 226
+
+    Pierpoint, Henry, 197
+
+    Pierrepont, Colonel, 181
+
+    ---- Francis, 171
+
+    ---- William, 172
+
+    _Piers Plowman, Vision of_, 109
+
+    Plantagenet, Geoffrey, 252, 253
+
+    Plumfield, 106
+
+    Plumtree, 55, 304
+
+    ---- pre-Conquest Church at, 19, 238
+
+    ---- tower, 25
+
+    Pollok, 206
+
+    _Polyolbion_, Drayton’s, 108
+
+    Pope, Alexander, 198, 200
+
+    Population of England at time of Civil War, 170
+
+    ---- of Nottingham, 233, 234
+
+    Portland, Duke of, 123
+
+    Potter’s Hill, 91
+
+    Poverty in Nottingham, absence of, 9
+
+    Poyntz, Major-General, 186, 187, 188, 189, 191
+
+    Prebendary of Normanton, 252
+
+    Pre-Conquest churches, 17, 19
+
+    Priest, John and James, 335, 338
+
+    Prior of Newstead, William the cellarer elected, 61
+
+    ---- of Thurgarton, 265
+
+    Priors, list of Newstead, 68
+
+    Priory, Blyth, 54–56, 58
+
+    ---- Felley, 177
+
+    ---- Lenton, 54–56, 58, 59, 114, 232, 308
+
+    ---- Newstead, 54–76, 177
+
+    ---- of St. Katherine, Gilbertine, 30
+
+    ---- Worksop, 15, 54, 57
+
+    Public-houses called “White Hart,” 119
+
+    Pygg, bequest of Thomas, 146
+
+    Pym, 169
+
+    Pyramid roofs, 273
+
+
+    Quare, Daniel, 324
+
+    Queen’s Sconce, 188
+
+
+    Radcliffe, 91
+
+    Radcliffe-on-Trent tower, 292
+
+    Radford, 163, 234
+
+    ---- Forest, 117
+
+    Ragg, 209, 212
+
+    Ragnall, 96
+
+    Raine, John, 126, 128, 129
+
+    Rainworth, 6
+
+    Rastall, 98
+
+    Ratcliffe-on-Soar, 49, 51, 300
+
+    ---- ---- spire, 277, 278
+
+    “Rector’s Book” of Clayworth, 133
+
+    Red deer, 107
+
+    Rædwald of East Anglia, 6
+
+    Reform Riots, 231
+
+    Regicides of Nottingham, 191
+
+    Repton, 241
+
+    Retford, 29, 184
+
+    ---- token, 318, 319
+
+    Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 201
+
+    Rich, Sir Richard, 67
+
+    Richard I., 107, 230, 253
+
+    ---- at Nottingham Castle, 8
+
+    ---- II., 62
+
+    ---- at Nottingham, 9
+
+    ---- III., at Nottingham, 9
+
+    Richmond, herring-bone masonry at, 18
+
+    Ridding, Bishop of Southwell, Dr., 267
+
+    Robert, Prior of Newstead, 61, 63
+
+    Robin Hood, 1, 108–110
+
+    _Robyn Hode, A Lyttel Geste of_, 109
+
+    Roche Church, 34
+
+    Roger, Archbishop, 33
+
+    Rolleston tower, 52
+
+    Rolston, Launcelott, 100
+
+    Roman arrival, 4
+
+    ---- bridge near Cromwell, 102
+
+    ---- ferry at Littleborough, 238
+
+    ---- pottery, 102
+
+    ---- stations, 5
+
+    Romano-British period, 4, 5
+
+    Romanus, Archbishop, 64
+
+    Romeyne, Archbishop John le, 36, 38, 41, 251, 255
+
+    Romsey, 24
+
+    Roods, screens, and lofts, 124–167
+
+    Rooke, Major, 117
+
+    “Ropes, The,” Clifton Hill, 101
+
+    Rose, Thomas, 163
+
+    Ross, F. J., 157
+
+    Rossiter, Colonel, 185, 186, 188, 189, 191
+
+    Rotherham, Bishop, 142
+
+    Royal Society, Francis Willoughby one of the first members of
+        the, 77
+
+    Royalist families, 171, 172
+
+    Ruddington, 55
+
+    ---- spire, 292, 293
+
+    Rufford Abbey, 54–56
+
+    ---- Abbot of, 112
+
+    ---- ---- Doncaster of, 57, 112
+
+    ---- Park, 117, 120, 121, 123
+
+    ---- Sir George Savile of, 121
+
+    Runnymede, 8
+
+    Rupert, Prince, 177, 183, 185, 187
+
+    ---- at Queensborough, Prince, 174
+
+    ---- loses Bristol, Prince, 186
+
+    Rushcliffe, hundred of, 270
+
+    Russell, Lord John, 209
+
+    Rutland, Earl of, 231
+
+    Ryemouth family, 286
+
+
+    Sacheverell tombs, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, 51
+
+    Saddleback roofs, 273
+
+    Sadler Gate, Nottingham, 229
+
+    St. Alban’s, Snenton, 51
+
+    St. Catherine’s Chapel rood, Nottingham Castle, 150
+
+    St. Eadburg, 241, 242, 248
+
+    St. Guthlac, 241
+
+    St. James’ Church, Standard Hill, 233
+
+    St. Katherine, Gilbertine Priory of, 15, 16, 30
+
+    St. Mary, Trent Bridge, Chapel of, 236
+
+    St. Mary’s Church, Nottingham, 12, 46, 47, 229, 231, 232
+
+    ---- Hill, 5
+
+    ---- rood, Nottingham, 150, 151
+
+    St. Nicholas’ Church, Nottingham, 51, 182, 231, 232
+
+    St. Paulinus, 6
+
+    St. Peter’s, Nottingham, Chapel of the Holy Cross in, 151, 152
+
+    ---- Church, Nottingham, 231, 232
+
+    ---- ---- spire, 37
+
+    Sampson, William, 196, 197
+
+    Sancto Egidio, John de, 61
+
+    Saundby tower, 52
+
+    Saureby, Christopher, 143
+
+    Savage, Ralph, 72
+
+    Savile, Lord, 123, 174, 178
+
+    Savile of Rufford, Sir George, 121
+
+    ---- Sir John, 172
+
+    Sawley spire, 37
+
+    Saxon church, East Bridgford, 17
+
+    ---- times, 6
+
+    Scaftworth, 6
+
+    Scandinavian influence on sculpture, 26
+
+    Scarle (South) screen, 153
+
+    Scarrington spire, 292
+
+    School, Nottingham Blue Coat, 234
+
+    ---- ---- High, 234
+
+    Scotch wars, 9
+
+    Scots at Clipstone, King of the, 8
+
+    Scott, Sir Gilbert, 31, 148
+
+    Screens, roods, and lofts, 124–167
+
+    Scrooby spire, 51, 290
+
+    Sculptured arcades, 27
+
+    Secular Canons, Southwell, 55
+
+    Sedilia at Southwell, 42
+
+    Selethryth, 242
+
+    Shakespeare’s reference to the Trent, 102, 103
+
+    Shambles Oak, Sherwood, 118
+
+    Shapwick, 60
+
+    Sheep Lane, Nottingham, 229
+
+    Shelford, 187
+
+    ---- Abbey, 100
+
+    ---- Manor, 177
+
+    ---- Mint, 308
+
+    ---- obligatory alms, 59
+
+    ---- Priory, 54
+
+    ---- screen, 153
+
+    Shenstone, 200, 202
+
+    Sherbourne, 186
+
+    Sherwood Forest, 2, 6, 8, 9, 56, 60, 63, 100, 106–123, 194, 256,
+        281
+
+    Shilton, R. P., 224
+
+    Shipman, Thomas, 197, 198
+
+    ---- William, 197
+
+    ---- of Scarrington, William, 197
+
+    Ship-money, 169
+
+    Shrewsbury, Countess of (“Bess of Hardwick”), 197
+
+    Shuttered low side windows, 296–301
+
+    Sibthorpe, 55
+
+    ---- chancel, 41, 42, 43, 44
+
+    ---- chantry, 48
+
+    ---- Easter sepulchre, 42, 43
+
+    ---- founder’s tomb, 49
+
+    ---- rood, 154
+
+    ---- Thomas, 43
+
+    ---- tower, 52
+
+    Sidnaceaster, 241
+
+    Siege pieces, Newark, 313–315
+
+    Simnel at Nottingham, Lambert, 10
+
+    Simpson of Southwell, William, 333
+
+    Siward, 7
+
+    Sketchley, Richard Foster, 222–224
+
+    Smith, Edward, 330, 338
+
+    ---- Sir Thomas, 172
+
+    ---- Sophia Mary, 214
+
+    ---- William Frank, 218–219
+
+    ---- William Powers, 226
+
+    Smithson of Bolsover, John, 78, 80, 82
+
+    Smithy (Smeemus) Marsh, 101
+
+    ---- Row, Nottingham, 229, 233
+
+    Smythson, Robert, 78, 79, 80, 83, 85, 86
+
+    Snart, Charles, 224
+
+    Snenton, 228, 234
+
+    ---- Church, 229
+
+    ---- Hermitage, 229
+
+    Snotingaham, 228
+
+    Soane Museum, 78
+
+    Soar, banks of the, 271
+
+    Sookholme, aisleless chapel, 25
+
+    Southampton, Earl of, 174
+
+    South, Archdeacon, 67
+
+    South Clifton Hill, 93, 101, 104
+
+    South Collingham Church, 26, 27, 29
+
+    Southey, Robert, 212, 213
+
+    Southfield, 106
+
+    South Leverton Church, 16, 28–30
+
+    South Muskham Church, herring-bone work in, 19
+
+    ---- ---- tower, 52
+
+    ---- Scarle Church, 16, 26, 27
+
+    ---- Sutton Holme, 101
+
+    Southwell chantry, 48
+
+    ---- chapter house, 38, 39, 40, 44
+
+    ---- Collegiate Church of, 12, 13, 14, 16
+
+    ---- corbel table of, 26
+
+    ---- Feast week, 250, 251
+
+    ---- Minster, 20, 21, 22, 25, 28, 32–35, 41, 43, 54, 55, 72, 190,
+        191, 214, 239–269, 273, 331
+
+    ---- pulpitum, 40, 44, 154–157, 167
+
+    ---- sedilia at, 42
+
+    ---- token, 318
+
+    ---- towers, 25
+
+    Spalford, 93, 94, 104
+
+    Speech to citizens of Newark, Charles’s, 170
+
+    Spigurnel, Gilbert, 114
+
+    Spires, steeples, and towers, 270–294
+
+    _Spring Gardens Sketch-Book, The_, 136
+
+    Stacey of Farnsfield, Thomas, 330, 331
+
+    Stamford, 190
+
+    Standard Hill, Nottingham, 232
+
+    Standfast, Rev. Dr., 234
+
+    Stanford-on-Soar, 297
+
+    Stanhope, John, keeper of Thorneywood, 120
+
+    ---- Lord, 187
+
+    Stapleford, 36, 63
+
+    ---- tower, 288
+
+    Statham, H. H., 156
+
+    Staunton monuments, 50
+
+    ---- screen, 157
+
+    Stephen, 307, 312
+
+    ---- civil war in reign of, 8
+
+    Stocking-frame, invention by Rev. William Lee of the, 10
+
+    Stoke, 55, 189
+
+    Stoke-by-Newark Church, 16
+
+    Stone from Roche Abbey, 290
+
+    Stone _pulpitum_, Southwell, 40, 44
+
+    Stone quarried at Nottingham, 9
+
+    Stoney Street, Nottingham, 229
+
+    Strafford, 169
+
+    Street, G. E., 156
+
+    Strelley screen, 157–159
+
+    ---- table tomb, 50
+
+    Strength of Charles in the north and west, 171
+
+    Strength of Parliamentarians in south and east, 171
+
+    Stretton, William, 124, 132, 134, 135, 141, 143, 153, 163
+
+    Sturton-le-Steeple Church, 16, 27
+
+    ---- screen, 159
+
+    ---- tower, 52
+
+    Stuteville, John de, 113
+
+    Suppression of the monasteries, 16
+
+    Surflett, Stephen, 99
+
+    Sussex tower, Newstead, 70
+
+    Sutton Bonington (St. Michael) steeple, 288
+
+    Sutton-cum-Lound with Scrooby Church, 30
+
+    Sutton, H. Septimus, 216, 217
+
+    Sutton-in-Ashfield, 213, 331, 333
+
+    ---- Forest, 116
+
+    ---- steeple, 288
+
+    Sutton-on-Trent Church, 336
+
+    Sutton-on-Trent screen, 159–162
+
+    Sutton, Robert de, 62
+
+    ---- St. Ann’s, 303
+
+    “Swaynmote,” 113
+
+    Swinderby, 91
+
+
+    Tamworth Castle, 19
+
+    ---- herring-bone masonry at, 18
+
+    Taxation Roll of 1291, 61
+
+    Taylor, Ann, 220
+
+    ---- Isaac, 212
+
+    Thomas of Bayeux, 244, 245, 246
+
+    ---- of Beverley, 247–251
+
+    Thoresby Park, 116, 117, 122
+
+    Thorney Park, 120
+
+    Thorneywood, 120, 121, 122
+
+    Thornhaugh, Colonel, 184
+
+    ---- of Fenton, Sir Francis, 171, 172
+
+    Thoroton, 194, 197
+
+    ---- Church, 26
+
+    ---- Robert, 53, 262, 263, 272
+
+    ---- spire, 37, 285–287
+
+    Thorpe, John, 78–86
+
+    Throsby, 98
+
+    Thurgarton, 12, 101, 177, 184
+
+    ---- obligatory alms, 59
+
+    ---- Prior of, 265
+
+    ---- Priory Church, 31, 33, 34, 54
+
+    ---- tower, 37
+
+    ---- William de, 62
+
+    Tickhill Castle, 16
+
+    ---- tower, 52
+
+    Tiguocobauc, 228
+
+    Timber of Sherwood Forest, 114, 115
+
+    Tiovulfingacester, 240
+
+    Tokens, 316–322
+
+    Tombs and effigies, 49–51
+
+    Tompion, 324
+
+    Torksey, 93
+
+    ---- Mint, 308
+
+    Towers, steeples, and spires, 270–294
+
+    Trades of Nottingham, 9
+
+    Trafford, Robert de, 142
+
+    Trained bands, 171
+
+    Treators for Newark, 191
+
+    ---- for the Parliament, 191
+
+    Trees, inventory of the, 116
+
+    Trent, 2, 5, 6, 12, 28, 30, 88–105
+
+    ---- banks of the, 271
+
+    ---- Bridge, 96, 182–185, 235–238
+
+    ---- crossing at Nottingham, 235
+
+    ---- reaches of the, 194, 195
+
+    Trevelyan, G. M., 169
+
+    Trollope, E., 165
+
+    Truman, Joseph, 215, 216
+
+    Tuxford, 13, 55, 63, 184, 271
+
+    ---- chancel, 47, 48
+
+    ---- screen, 167
+
+    ---- spire, 51, 288
+
+    ---- stone, 289
+
+    Tympanum, Everton carved, 25
+
+    ---- Hoveringham carved, 25
+
+
+    Unwin, Matthew, 225
+
+    ---- William, 328, 329, 333, 338
+
+    Upton, 19
+
+    ---- tower, 52, 292, 294
+
+    Uvedale, Sir William, 174
+
+
+    Vale of Belvoir, 13
+
+    Vanes, 293, 294
+
+    Venables, Piers, 109
+
+    Vescy, Sir William de, 112
+
+    Vienne, Hugh de, 61
+
+    Vikings, invasions of the, 6
+
+    _Vision of Piers Plowman_, 109
+
+
+    Wade of Staythorpe, R., 335, 336
+
+    Wainwright of Bunny, Humphrey, 332, 333
+
+    Wakefield, Gilbert, 220
+
+    Walesby Church, 16
+
+    ---- tower, 273
+
+    Walkelin, Henry, 61
+
+    Walkeringham, 60
+
+    ---- chancel, quarter of repairs charged to Vicar, 15
+
+    ---- Richard de, 65
+
+    _Walks Round Nottingham_, 153
+
+    Waller, 198
+
+    Wallingwells nunnery, 54
+
+    ---- obligatory alms, 59
+
+    Wapentake of Newark, 14
+
+    Wars of the Roses, 9
+
+    Wath Bank, 93, 104
+
+    Weaver, William, 335, 338
+
+    Webb, John, 86
+
+    ---- W. F., 70
+
+    _Weekly Account_, quoted, 184, 185
+
+    Weekly assessment of Notts for the Parliamentary army, 171
+
+    Weightman, J. G., 129
+
+    Welbeck Abbey, 54–57, 59, 117, 177, 184, 186, 187
+
+    ---- obligatory alms, 59
+
+    ---- Park, 117, 123
+
+    Welby Park, 119
+
+    West Bridgeford, 97, 237
+
+    West Drayton tower, 52
+
+    Western towers, 31
+
+    West Leake, 19, 25
+
+    ---- ---- monuments, 49, 50
+
+    West Markham Church, 16
+
+    Weston spire, 51, 288
+
+    ---- William, 334, 338
+
+    West Retford spire, 37, 51, 289, 290
+
+    Whalley, Edward, 172, 180, 191
+
+    Whatton-in-the-Vale, 47, 298
+
+    ---- ---- steeple, 286
+
+    Whatton tombs, 49, 50
+
+    Wheeler Gate, Nottingham, 229, 230
+
+    White Friars at Nottingham, 232
+
+    ---- Henry Kirke, 193, 194, 203, 206–208, 216
+
+    ---- Lodge, 116
+
+    ---- or Premonstratensian Abbey, Welbeck, 54–57, 59
+
+    ---- Nunnery, Broadholme, 54, 58
+
+    “Whitsun farthings,” 250
+
+    Whitworth, R. H., 70, 71
+
+    Wickwaine, Archbishop, 64
+
+    Wildman, Colonel, 70
+
+    Wilfield, 106
+
+    Wilford, 173, 303
+
+    ---- Bridge, 238
+
+    ---- rood-stair, 163
+
+    William I., 311
+
+    ---- at Nottingham, 7
+
+    ---- rebuilds Nottingham Castle, 230
+
+    ---- II., 311
+
+    ---- III., 336
+
+    ---- Earl of Mansfield, 121
+
+    ---- the cellarer, Prior of Newstead, 61
+
+    Williamson, Sir Thomas, 172
+
+    Willis, Sir Richard, 186, 187
+
+    Willoughby, Mistress Anne, 197
+
+    ---- of Parham, Lord, 179
+
+    ---- of Risley, Sir Henry, 196, 197
+
+    Willoughby-on-the-Wolds, 191
+
+    ---- chantry, 48
+
+    Willoughby-on-the-Wolds, effigies, 49
+
+    ---- screen, 163
+
+    ---- spire, 278
+
+    Willoughby, Percival, 77, 86
+
+    ---- Richard, 48, 49
+
+    ---- Sir Francis, 77, 78, 79, 84, 86
+
+    ---- Sir T., 172
+
+    Will Scarlett, 108
+
+    Windows, low side, 295–305
+
+    Winkburn tympanum, 163
+
+    Winthorpe, 91, 104, 188
+
+    Witham, 37
+
+    Witton of Norwell, F., 332, 333
+
+    Wiverton Hall, 177, 178, 187
+
+    Woden, 109
+
+    Wollaton arrow vane, 293
+
+    ---- chantry, 48, 49
+
+    ---- Church, 78
+
+    ---- Hall, 77–87
+
+    ---- Park, 117, 123
+
+    ---- steeple, 287
+
+    ---- table tomb, 50
+
+    Wolsey, 10
+
+    ---- at Southwell, 257
+
+    Wood, Anthony, 194
+
+    Woodborough chancel, 41, 43, 44
+
+    ---- tower, 52
+
+    Woollen trade of Nottingham, 9
+
+    Worde, Winken de, 109
+
+    Worksop obligatory alms, 59
+
+    ---- Priory, 15, 28, 34, 42, 54, 57, 77, 110, 111
+
+    ---- ---- screen, 163–165
+
+    ---- ---- towers, 25
+
+    ---- token, 318
+
+    Wren, Sir Christopher, 117
+
+    Wright, Ichabod Charles, 220
+
+    ---- John, 226
+
+    Wyld, John, 332
+
+    Wylleby, Robert de, 62
+
+    Wysall screen, 165–167
+
+    ---- tower, 288, 289, 294
+
+
+    Yates, Simon, 157
+
+
+                  Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.
+                          Edinburgh & London.
+
+  [Illustration: SKETCH MAP OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.]
+
+
+
+
+                            Selections from
+
+                       George Allen & Co.’s List
+
+
+                 MEMORIALS OF THE COUNTIES OF ENGLAND
+
+                            GENERAL EDITOR
+
+                         REV. P. H. DITCHFIELD
+                  M.A., F.S.A., F.R.S.L., F.R.HIST.S.
+
+
+      _Beautifully Illustrated. Demy 8vo, cloth extra, gilt top.
+                         Price 15s. net each._
+
+
+=Memorials of Old Oxfordshire.=
+
+   Edited by the Rev. P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A.
+   Dedicated to the Right Hon. the Earl of Jersey, G.C.B., G.C.M.G.
+
+   “This beautiful book contains an exhaustive history of ‘the
+   wondrous Oxford,’ to which so many distinguished scholars and
+   politicians look back with affection. We must refer the reader
+   to the volume itself ... and only wish that we had space to
+   quote extracts from its interesting pages.”--_Spectator._
+
+=Memorials of Old Devonshire.=
+
+   Edited by F. J. SNELL, M.A. Dedicated to the Right Hon.
+   Viscount Ebrington.
+
+   “A fascinating volume, which will be prized by thoughtful
+   Devonians wherever they may be found ... richly illustrated,
+   some rare engravings being represented.”--_North Devon
+   Journal._
+
+=Memorials of Old Herefordshire.=
+
+   Edited by the Rev. COMPTON READE, M.A. Dedicated to Sir
+   John G. Cotterell, Bart.
+
+   “Another of these interesting volumes like the ‘Memorials of
+   Old Devonshire,’ which we noted a week or two ago, containing
+   miscellaneous papers on the history, topography, and families
+   of the county by competent writers, with photographs and other
+   illustrations.”--_Times._
+
+=Memorials of Old Hertfordshire.=
+
+   Edited by PERCY CROSS STANDING. Dedicated to the Right
+   Hon. the Earl of Clarendon, G.C.B.
+
+   “The book, which contains some magnificent illustrations,
+   will be warmly welcomed by all lovers of our county and its
+   entertaining history.”--_West Herts and Watford Observer._
+
+=Memorials of Old Hampshire.=
+
+   Edited by the Rev. G. E. JEANS, M.A., F.S.A. Dedicated
+   to His Grace the Duke of Wellington, K.G.
+
+   “‘Memorials of the Counties of England’ is worthily carried on
+   in this interesting and readable volume.”--_Scotsman._
+
+
+=Memorials of Old Somerset.=
+
+   Edited by F. J. SNELL, M.A. Dedicated to the Most Hon.
+   the Marquis of Bath.
+
+   “In these pages, as in a mirror, the whole life of the
+   county, legendary, romantic, historical, comes into view,
+   for in truth the book is written with a happy union of
+   knowledge and enthusiasm--a fine bit of glowing mosaic put
+   together by fifteen writers into a realistic picture of the
+   county.”--_Standard._
+
+=Memorials of Old Wiltshire.=
+
+   Edited by ALICE DRYDEN.
+
+   “The admirable series of County Memorials ... will, it is safe
+   to say, include no volume of greater interest than that devoted
+   to Wiltshire.”--_Daily Telegraph._
+
+=Memorials of Old Shropshire.=
+
+   Edited by the Rev. THOMAS AUDEN, M.A., F.S.A.
+
+   “Quite the best volume which has appeared so far in
+   a series that has throughout maintained a very high
+   level.”--_Tribune._
+
+=Memorials of Old Kent.=
+
+   Edited by the Rev. P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A., and
+   GEORGE CLINCH, F.G.S. Dedicated to the Right Hon. Lord
+   Northbourne, F.S.A.
+
+   “A very delightful addition to a delightful series. Kent, rich
+   in honour and tradition as in beauty, is a fruitful subject
+   of which the various contributors have taken full advantage,
+   archæology, topography, and gossip being pleasantly combined to
+   produce a volume both attractive and valuable.”--_Standard._
+
+=Memorials of Old Derbyshire.=
+
+   Edited by the Rev. J. CHARLES COX, LL.D., F.S.A.
+   Dedicated to His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, K.G.
+
+   “A valuable addition to our county history, and will possess
+   a peculiar fascination for all who devote their attention to
+   historical, archæological, or antiquarian research, and probably
+   to a much wider circle.”--_Derbyshire Advertiser._
+
+=Memorials of Old Dorset.=
+
+   Edited by the Rev. THOMAS PERKINS, M.A., and the Rev.
+   HERBERT PENTIN, M.A. Dedicated to the Right Hon. Lord
+   Eustace Cecil, F.R.G.S.
+
+   “The volume, in fine, forms a noteworthy accession to the
+   valuable series of books in which it appears.”--_Scotsman._
+
+=Memorials of Old Warwickshire.=
+
+   Edited by ALICE DRYDEN.
+
+   “Worthy of an honoured place on our shelves. It is also one of
+   the best, if not the best volume in a series of exceptional
+   interest and usefulness.”--_Birmingham Gazette._
+
+=Memorials of Old Norfolk.=
+
+   Edited by the Rev. H. J. DUKINFIELD ASTLEY, M.A.,
+   Litt.D., F.R.Hist.S. Dedicated to the Right Hon. Viscount Coke,
+   C.M.G., C.V.O.
+
+   “This latest contribution to the history and archæology of
+   Norfolk deserves a foremost place among local works.... The
+   tasteful binding, good print, and paper are everything that can
+   be desired.”--_Eastern Daily Press._
+
+=Memorials of Old Essex.=
+
+   Edited by A. CLIFTON KELWAY, F.R.Hist.S. Dedicated to
+   the Right Hon. the Earl of Warwick.
+
+   “Will be one of the most essential volumes in the library
+   of every man and woman who has an interest in the
+   county.”--_Southend Telegraph._
+
+
+=Memorials of Old Suffolk.=
+
+   Edited by VINCENT B. REDSTONE, F.R.Hist.S. Dedicated to
+   the Right Hon. Sir W. Brampton Gurdon.
+
+   “Will be found one of the most comprehensive works dealing with
+   our county.”--_Bury and Norwich Post._
+
+=Memorials of Old London.=
+
+   Edited by the Rev. P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A.
+   Dedicated to Sir John Charles Bell, Bart., late Lord Mayor of
+   London. Two vols. Price =25s.= net.
+
+   “They are handsomely produced, and the history of London
+   as it is unfolded in them is as fascinating as any
+   romance.”--_Bookman._
+
+=Memorials of Old Lancashire.=
+
+   Edited by Lieut.-Colonel FISHWICK, F.S.A., and the
+   Rev. P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A. Two vols. Price
+   =25s.= net.
+
+   “These fascinating volumes, re-picturing a vanished past, will
+   long afford keen pleasure.”--_Manchester City Press._
+
+=Memorials of Old Middlesex.=
+
+   Edited by J. TAVENOR-PERRY.
+
+   “Closely packed with well-digested studies of the local
+   monuments and archæological remains.”--_Scotsman._
+
+=Memorials of Old Yorkshire.=
+
+   Edited by T. M. FALLOW, M.A., F.S.A. Dedicated to Sir
+   George J. Armytage, Bart., F.S.A.
+
+   “The book well maintains the high standard so conspicuously
+   illustrated in the many previous volumes.”--_Bookseller._
+
+=Memorials of Old Staffordshire.=
+
+   Edited by the Rev. W. BERESFORD. Dedicated to Right
+   Rev. the Hon. Augustus Legge, D.D., Lord Bishop of Lichfield.
+
+   “Complete and most useful history of ancient Staffordshire, full
+   of interest and sound information.”--_Morning Post._
+
+=Memorials of Old Cheshire.=
+
+   Edited by the VEN. THE ARCHDEACON OF CHESTER and the
+   Rev. P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A. Dedicated to His
+   Grace the Duke of Westminster, G.C.V.O.
+
+   “The book is packed with information.”--_Pall Mall Gazette._
+
+=Memorials of Old Durham.=
+
+   Edited by HENRY R. LEIGHTON, F.R.Hist.S. Dedicated to
+   the Right Hon. the Earl of Durham, K.G.
+
+   “The book is illustrated with excellent photographs and
+   drawings, and is altogether a worthy addition to a remarkable
+   series.”--_Pall Mall Gazette._
+
+=Memorials of Old Leicestershire.=
+
+   Edited by ALICE DRYDEN.
+
+   “Deserves a place in every library, and cannot but prove rich in
+   antiquarian and historic wealth.”--_Leicester Daily Post._
+
+=Memorials of Old Lincolnshire.=
+
+   Edited by E. MANSEL SYMPSON, M.A., M.D. Dedicated to
+   the Right Hon. Earl Brownlow.
+
+   “A valuable addition to a series highly esteemed among
+   antiquarians.”--_Scotsman._
+
+
+=Memorials of Old Surrey.=
+
+   Edited by the Rev. J. CHARLES COX, LL.D., F.S.A.
+
+   “Extremely well put together, and the writers are
+   just those who are best qualified to deal with their
+   subjects.”--_Spectator._
+
+=Memorials of Old Gloucestershire.=
+
+   Edited by the Rev. P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A.
+   Dedicated to the Right Hon. Earl Beauchamp.
+
+=Memorials of Old Worcestershire.=
+
+   Edited by FRANCIS B. ANDREWS, A.R.I.B.A.
+
+
+
+             _The following volumes are in preparation_:--
+
+
+=Memorials of Old Nottinghamshire.=
+
+   Edited by EVERARD L. GUILFORD.
+
+=Memorials of North Wales.=
+
+   Edited by E. ALFRED JONES.
+
+=Memorials of Old Berkshire.=
+
+   Edited by the Rev. P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A.
+
+=Memorials of Old Monmouthshire.=
+
+   Edited by Colonel BRADNEY, F.S.A., and J. KYRLE
+   FLETCHER.
+
+       _Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, and Sussex are out of
+                                print._
+
+
+=The Counties of England: Their Story and Antiquities.=
+
+   Edited by Rev. P. H. DITCHFIELD and other writers. With
+   150 Illustrations Two Volumes. Demy 8vo, cloth, =21s.= net.
+
+=The Sanctuaries and Sanctuary Seekers of Mediæval England.=
+
+By Rev. J. CHARLES COX, LL.D., F.S.A. With Coloured Frontispiece, 20
+Full-page Plates, and 11 Line Drawings. Demy 8vo, cloth, gilt top,
+=15s.= net.
+
+   The author has long been engaged in collecting the material for
+   this work, which traces the development of Sanctuary rights in
+   England from Anglo-Saxon days until their decay in the sixteenth
+   century.
+
+=In the Rhone Country.=
+
+By ROSE KINGSLEY, Author of “Eversley Gardens and Others.”
+With 52 Full-page Illustrations, including 12 in Photogravure. 320
+pages, large crown 8vo, cloth, gilt top, =10s. 6d.= net.
+
+   Miss Kingsley, who has made France and French literature her
+   constant study for many years, herein describes an ideal trip
+   through the country of the “fierce and noble river.” Although
+   this is not a guide-book, it will be found indispensable to all
+   who visit the country.
+
+   “Infused with the warmth of an intelligent
+   enthusiasm.”--_Times._
+
+
+                          THE BRITISH EMPIRE
+
+The aim of this new series of books is to give the public at home and
+in the Colonies an absolutely trustworthy, authentic, and up-to-date
+description of British interests, resources, and life throughout the
+Empire, which, with its great problems of government, self-defence,
+finance, trade, and the representation of the coloured races, forms
+a subject of at least as great and live value as any of the subjects
+studied at school and university.
+
+_=Large Crown 8vo, Cloth, gilt top, with Map, 6s. net per Vol.=_
+
+
+=Yesterday and To-Day in Canada.=
+
+   By HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF ARGYLL.
+
+=Modern India.=
+
+   By Sir J. D. REES, K.C.I.E., C.V.O. Sometime Additional
+   Member of the Governor-General of India’s Council.
+
+=South Africa.=
+
+   By the Right Hon. JOHN XAVIER MERRIMAN, of Cape Colony.
+
+                    _Other Volumes in Preparation._
+
+
+                            COUNTY CHURCHES
+
+General Editor: REV. J. CHARLES COX, LL.D., F.S.A.
+
+       _=Foolscap 8vo, Cloth, 2s. 6d. per vol. net; each Volume
+          Illustrated with Half-tone and Line Illustrations=_
+
+A new series of small handy guides to all the old Parish Churches in
+each of the Counties of England, written by expert authors. The main
+Architectural features are described and reference made to the Fonts,
+Pulpits, Screens, Stalls, Benches, Sedilia, Lecterns, Chests, Effigies
+in Brass and Stone, and other Monuments. The initial dates of the
+Registers, where possible, are also given.
+
+The following volumes are now ready, or in active preparation:--
+
+=Norfolk= (Two Vols., sold separately, 3s. net each).
+
+   By J. CHARLES COX, LL.D., F.S.A.
+
+=Surrey.= By J. E. MORRIS, B.A.
+
+=Cambridge.= By C. H. EVELYN-WHITE, F.S.A.
+
+=Isle of Wight.= By J. CHARLES COX, LL.D., F.S.A.
+
+=Sussex.= By P. M. JOHNSTON, F.R.I.B.A., F.S.A.
+
+                  _Other Volumes are being arranged._
+
+
+=Dinanderie: A History and Description of Mediæval Art Work in
+Copper, Brass, and Bronze.=
+
+By J. TAVENOR-PERRY. With 1 Photogravure, 48 Full-page Illustrations,
+and 71 Drawings in the Text. Crown 4to, Specially Designed Cloth Cover,
+=21s.= net.
+
+   Dinanderie was the name used to denote the various articles used
+   for ecclesiastical purposes with which the name of Dinant on the
+   Meuse was so intimately associated.
+
+   No attempt has hitherto been made to describe adequately the art
+   of the Coppersmith, although our Museums and the Continental
+   Church Treasuries abound in beautiful examples of the work.
+
+   “To many lovers of mediæval art, Mr. Tavenor-Perry’s beautiful
+   volume will come as a revelation.”--_Standard._
+
+
+=Old English Gold Plate.=
+
+   By E. ALFRED JONES. With numerous Illustrations of existing
+   specimens from the collections belonging to His Majesty the
+   King, the Dukes of Devonshire, Newcastle, Norfolk, Portland, and
+   Rutland, the Marquis of Ormonde, the Earls of Craven, Derby, and
+   Yarborough, Earl Spencer, Lord Fitzhardinge, Lord Waleran, Mr.
+   Leopold de Rothschild, the Colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, &c.
+   Royal 4to, buckram, gilt top. Price =21s.= net.
+
+   “Pictures, descriptions, and introduction make a book that must
+   rank high in the estimation of students of its subject, and
+   of the few who are well off enough to be collectors in this
+   Corinthian field of luxury.”--_Scotsman._
+
+=Longton Hall Porcelain.=
+
+   Being further information relating to this interesting fabrique,
+   by the late WILLIAM BEMROSE, F.S.A., author of “Bow,
+   Chelsea, and Derby Porcelain.” Illustrated with 27 Coloured Art
+   Plates, 21 Collotype Plates, and numerous line and half-tone
+   Illustrations in the text. Bound in handsome “Longton-blue”
+   cloth cover, suitably designed. Price =42s.= net.
+
+   “This magnificent work on the famous Longton Hall ware will be
+   indispensable to the collector.”--_Bookman._
+
+=Old English Silver and Sheffield Plate, The Values of, from the
+Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Centuries.=
+
+   By J. W. CALDICOTT. Edited by J. STARKIE
+   GARDNER, F.S.A. 3000 Selected Auction Sale Records; 1600
+   Separate Valuations; 660 Articles. Illustrated with 87 Collotype
+   Plates. 300 pages. Royal 4to, buckram. Price =42s.= net.
+
+   “A most comprehensive and abundantly illustrated volume....
+   Enables even the most inexperienced to form a fair opinion of
+   the value either of a single article or a collection, while as
+   a reference and reminder it must prove of great value to an
+   advanced student.”--_Daily Telegraph._
+
+=Old English Porcelain and its Manufactures, History of.=
+
+   With an Artistic, Industrial, and Critical Appreciation of
+   their Productions. By M. L. SOLON, the well-known
+   Potter-Artist and Collector. In one handsome volume.
+   Royal 8vo, well printed in clear type on good paper, and
+   beautifully illustrated with 20 full-page Coloured Collotype
+   and Photo-Chromotype Plates and 48 Collotype Plates on Tint.
+   Artistically bound. Price =52s. 6d.= net.
+
+   “Mr. Solon writes not only with the authority of the master
+   of technique, but likewise with that of the accomplished
+   artist, whose exquisite creations command the admiration of the
+   connoisseurs of to-day.”--_Athenæum._
+
+=Manx Crosses; or The Inscribed and Sculptured Monuments of the
+Isle of Man, from about the end of the Fifth to the beginning of the
+Thirteenth Century.=
+
+   By P. M. C. KERMODE, F.S.A.Scot., &c. The illustrations
+   are from drawings specially prepared by the Author, founded
+   upon rubbings, and carefully compared with photographs and
+   with the stones themselves. In one handsome Quarto Volume 11⅛
+   in. by 8⅝ in., printed on Van Gelder hand-made paper, bound in
+   full buckram, gilt top, with special design on the side. Price
+   =21s.= net. The edition is limited to 400 copies.
+
+   “We have now a complete account of the subject in this very
+   handsome volume, which Manx patriotism, assisted by the
+   appreciation of the public in general, will, we hope, make a
+   success.”--_Spectator._
+
+
+=Martha Lady Giffard: Her Life and Letters, 1664–1722. A Sequel to
+“The Letters of Dorothy Osborne.”=
+
+   Edited by JULIA G. LONGE. With a Preface by JUDGE
+   PARRY. Containing 24 Full-page Illustrations and
+   Facsimiles, including Frontispiece in Colour. 384 pages. Demy
+   8vo, cloth, gilt top, =15s.= net.
+
+   “Miss Longe has expended much care and enthusiasm on her task
+   and her commentaries are ample.”--_Athenæum._
+
+=The Russells of Birmingham in the French Revolution, and in America,
+1791 to 1814.=
+
+By S. H. JEYES. With Portraits and other Illustrations. Demy
+8vo, cloth, gilt top, =12s. 6d.= net.
+
+   These Memoirs are of singular interest to the serious students
+   of the French Revolution. They are unique of their kind, for
+   they give pictures of the later period of the Revolution as
+   seen on the spot by a cultivated English family of strong
+   liberal views. After being made prisoners of war, the family
+   was subsequently driven to America, and its experiences of life
+   under a republic there are well worth perusal.
+
+=Country Cottages and Homes for Small and Large Estates.=
+
+   Illustrated in a Series of 53 Designs and Examples of Executed
+   Works, with Plans Reproduced from the Original Drawings,
+   including 3 in Colour, and Descriptive Text. By R. A.
+   BRIGGS, Architect, F.R.I.B.A., Soane Medallist; Author of
+   “Bungalows and Country Residences.” Demy 4to, cloth, =10s.
+   6d.= net.
+
+=Venice in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. From the Conquest
+of Constantinople to the Accession of Michele Steno, A.D. 1204–1400.=
+
+By F. C. HODGSON, M.A., Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge.
+With 21 Full-page Illustrations and Plans. 664 pages, Crown 8vo, cloth,
+=10s. 6d=. net.
+
+   This volume is the result of several years’ research, and is
+   a continuation of the Author’s previous work entitled “Early
+   History of Venice.”
+
+=Derbyshire Charters in Public and Private Libraries and Muniment
+Rooms.=
+
+Compiled, with Preface and Indexes, for Sir Henry Howe Bemrose, Kt., by
+ISAAC HERBERT JEAYES, Assistant Keeper in the Department of
+MSS., British Museum. Royal 8vo, cloth, gilt top. Price =42s.= net.
+
+   “The book must always prove of high value to investigators in
+   its own recondite field of research, and would form a suitable
+   addition to any historical library.”--_Scotsman._
+
+=How to Write the History of a Parish.=
+
+   By the Rev. J. CHARLES COX, LL.D., F.S.A. An Outline
+   Guide to Topographical Records, Manuscripts, and Books. Revised
+   and Enlarged, Fifth Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth, =3s. 6d.=
+   net.
+
+
+=The Danube with Pen and Pencil.=
+
+   By CAPTAIN B. GRANVILLE BAKER, author of “The Walls of
+   Constantinople.” With 99 Illustrations in Colour, Half-tone, and
+   Line, from drawings by the Author. Royal 8vo, cloth, =15s.=
+
+   “Capt. Granville Baker, who gave us last year a good account
+   of the historical associations of the Walls of Constantinople,
+   is an intelligent and lively cicerone, and his drawings are
+   admirable and numerous.”--_Times._
+
+=Corporation Plate and Insignia of Office of the Cities and Towns of
+England and Wales.=
+
+   By the late LLEWELLYNN JEWITT, F.S.A. Edited and
+   completed with large additions by W. H. ST. JOHN HOPE,
+   M.A. Fully illustrated, 2 vols., crown 4to, buckram, =42s.=
+   net. Large paper, 2 vols., royal 4to, =63s.= net.
+
+   “It is difficult to praise too highly the careful research
+   and accurate information throughout these two handsome
+   quartos.”--_Athenæum._
+
+
+              _Completion of the Great Edition of Ruskin_
+
+The whole of Ruskin’s works are now for the first time obtainable in a
+complete, Uniform, Annotated, Illustrated, and Indexed Edition. This
+has just become possible through the completion of
+
+                               THE LIFE,
+                         LETTERS, AND WORKS OF
+                                RUSKIN
+
+                               EDITED BY
+
+                  E. T. COOK AND ALEXANDER WEDDERBURN
+
+The Final Volume, consisting of a Complete Bibliography and an Index to
+the Whole Work, with 100,000 references, is nearly ready. Its inclusion
+will make this more than ever the One Reference and Library Edition of
+Ruskin’s Works, with about 1800 Illustrations from drawings by Ruskin.
+For full particulars of the 38 Volumes, for =£42= the set, or in
+Monthly Instalments, see Prospectus.
+
+
+                 George Allen & Co. Ltd., Ruskin House
+                        Rathbone Place, London
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] York Epis. Reg. Wickwane, f. 79 (Surtees Soc. vol. cxiv. ed. Brown,
+p. 290).
+
+[2] York Epis. Reg. Kempe, f. 37 _d_.
+
+[3] Viz., Harworth, Lowdham, East and West Markham, Walesby, and North
+Wheatley. These, before they were granted to Westminster, were regarded
+as members of the free chapel in Tickhill castle.
+
+[4] The dean and chapter held the churches of Edwinstowe and Orston.
+The dean was parson of Mansfield and South Leverton. The chancellor
+held the church of Stoke-by-Newark as a prebend; and the churches of
+North Clifton, Farndon with Balderton, and South Searle formed separate
+prebends.
+
+[5] The churches belonging to this body are mentioned below. The
+dean and chapter of York held East Drayton, Laneham, Misterton, and
+Sturton-le-Steeple. Bole and Habblesthorpe were prebends in York
+minster.
+
+[6] _Memorials of Old Lincolnshire_, 1911, pp. 53–80 (“Saxon
+Churches in Lincolnshire”).
+
+[7] The two western responds of the Norman presbytery are _in
+situ_.
+
+[8] The arches, however, were probably not turned until some advance
+had been made with the nave. The capitals of the eastern piers are much
+earlier in character than those of the western.
+
+[9] The aisles were probably set out before the nave arcades were
+begun, but the walls were not raised till later.
+
+[10] The best and most refined example of twelfth-century sculpture
+in the county is the font at Lenton. This, however, hardly comes
+within the scope of architecture; the same thing may be said of the
+pre-Conquest coffin-lid at Hickling.
+
+[11] Marnham was appropriated to the Knights Templars, and passed on
+their suppression to the Hospitallers.
+
+[12] The church was not appropriated to Peterborough till long after
+the thirteenth century. The licence bears date 1499, 20 April (Pat. 14
+Hen. vii., pt. 2).
+
+[13] _E.g._ at Sherburn-in-Elmet and Campsall.
+
+[14] It should also be noted that the west front and towers at Ripon
+were added at this period to Archbishop Roger’s aisleless nave there.
+
+[15] The same arrangement is found in the eastern bay of each aisle.
+
+[16] At the same time, it may be noted that the elevation of the quire
+at Southwell appears to owe something to western, rather than northern
+influence.
+
+[17] For reasons determining this date, see _Memorials of Old
+Lincolnshire_, pp. 144, 145.
+
+[18] Thomas Dalton, consecrated 1294, 10th Oct. (Stubbs, _Registrum
+Sacrum Anglicanum_, 2nd ed., 1897, p. 68).
+
+[19] The corbel-table of carved heads below the parapet should be
+noticed. This feature is very usual in the neighbouring county of
+Leicester.
+
+[20] He was a Leicestershire man by birth, but was related to William
+of Rotherfield, dean of York, and to Archbishop Walter de Gray. He was
+a prebendary of York, was beneficed in more than one place in York
+diocese, and was master of St. Leonard’s hospital at York.
+
+[21] Licence bears date 1316, 4th Aug. (Pat. 10 Edw. II., pt. 1, m.
+31). The actual appropriation, however, did not take place until
+1349, by deed of 28th March in that year (York Epis. Reg. Zouche,
+ff. 124 _d._, 125). A vicarage was ordained on 24th September
+(_ibid._, f. 141).
+
+[22] The north chapel of the chancel was “newly built” by 23rd Oct.
+1325. See Pat. 19 Edw. II. pt. 1, m. 20, and _cf._ m. 12. See
+_Vict. Hist. Notts._ ii. 150–52, and Dugdale (ed. Caley, &c.) vi.
+1369, 1370.
+
+[23] See Pat. 21 Edw. III. pt. 3, m. 10 (20th Nov. 1347). There is much
+in common between the window-tracery at Beckingham and that in the
+chapel east of the north transept at Southwell.
+
+[24] Licence bears date 1343, 10th July (Pat. 17 Edw. III. pt. 2, m.
+31).
+
+[25] A chantry was founded in Heckington church by licence bearing date
+1311, 28 April (Pat. 4 Edw. II. pt. 2, m. 17). Rebuilding may have been
+begun by that time. The founder was presented to the rectory in 1309–10.
+
+[26] H. B. M’Call, _Richmondshire Churches_, 1910, has dealt at
+length with this group of Yorkshire chancels.
+
+[27] Licence bears date 1337, 2nd Sept. (Pat. 11 Edw. III. pt. 3 m. 39).
+
+[28] The account of Newark Church, by T. M. Blagg, F.S.A., in his
+valuable handbook to Newark, Hawton, and Holme, contains a plan of the
+building, and traces its architectural development very clearly.
+
+[29] This chronology is indicated by internal evidence. It follows a
+very usual method of rebuilding, in which the aisles were first built
+outside the older nave, and the new nave begun when they were finished.
+Thus the old fabric was kept in use as long as possible.
+
+[30] A large number of licences occur on the Edw. III. Pat. Rolls.
+Fourteen chantry priests are enumerated in Chantry Certificates, Roll
+13 (14–27); fifteen in Roll 37 (48 b-p).
+
+[31] The licence for the foundation of Richard Willoughby’s chantry at
+Willoughby bears date 1324, 16 Nov. (Pat. 18 Edw. II. pt. 1, m. 8). See
+also Chantry Certificates, Roll 13 (1); 37 (18).
+
+[32] Chantry Certificates, Roll 13 (43 c); 37 (106 a^2). In Roll 13 the
+altar is said to be of our Lady and St. Cuthbert. It seems to have been
+originally dedicated to our Lady of Grace.
+
+[33] Licence bears date 1476, 24 Oct. (Pat. 16 Edw. IV. pt. 1, m. 6);
+Chantry Certificates, Roll 13 (3); 37 (14).
+
+[34] See Blagg, _Guide to Newark_, &c., p. 85, for the evidence.
+No licence exists.
+
+[35] Licence bears date 1470, 13 Dec. (Pat. 49 Hen. VI. m. 16); Chantry
+Certificates, Roll 13 (50); 37 (3).
+
+[36] Licences of 1351, 6 Nov. (Pat. 25 Edw. III. pt. 3, m. 16) and
+1356–57, 8 Feb. (Pat. 31 Edw. III. pt. 1, m. 25); Chantry Certificates,
+Roll 13 (36, 37); 37 (71 a, b). See also Dugdale, vi. 1370.
+
+[37] For the chantry here, see Chantry Certificates, Roll 13 (4), 37
+(25).
+
+[38] “The master of the infirmary ought to have mass celebrated daily
+for the sick, either by himself or by some other person, should they
+in any wise be able to come into the chapel; but if not he ought to
+take his stool and missal and reverently at their bedsides make the
+memorials of the day, of the Holy Spirit, and of Our Lady; and if they
+cannot sing the canonical hours for themselves, he ought to sing them
+for them, and frequently in the spirit of gentleness repeat to them
+words of consolation, of patience, and of hope in God; read to them,
+for their consolation, lives of Saints; conceal from them all evil
+rumours; and in no wise distress them when they are resting” (Willis
+Clark, _Customs of the Augustinian Canons_, 205).
+
+[39] _Narratives of the Reformation_, p. 35. (Camden Society.)
+
+[40] These notes as to the haunting of the priory are taken from Mr.
+Whitworth’s memoranda.
+
+[41] There seems to be no doubt that the relief of the county, except
+for the deep Vale of Trent, was then similar to what it is now, but it
+has been considerably lowered by denudation.
+
+[42] Upon the wall of a house in Girton village there is the following
+record by G. Porter:--
+
+                                                          Slit painted
+                                                        .    black.
+     ^                  +--------------------------+  .
+     |                  |                          |.
+     .                  |      FEB. 14, 1795      .|
+     .                  +--------------------------+.......3 ft. above
+     .            ^     |                          |        level of
+    1 ft.        4 ins. |      OCT. 24, 1875       |        street.
+     .       ^    v     +--------------------------+
+     .       |          |                          |
+     .       .          |                          |
+     .   8½ ins.        |                          |
+     .       .          |                          |
+     |       |          |      NOV. 20, 1852       |
+     v       v          +--------------------------+
+                        |                          |
+                        |   _When this you see     |
+                        |    Pray think of me._    |
+                        |                    G. P. |
+                        +--------------------------+
+
+
+[43] From account in a local journal, 1875.
+
+[44] _The Nottingham Evening Post_, December 5, 1910.
+
+[45] For further details on the above subject see articles by the
+author in the _Geographical Journal_ for May 1910, and the
+_Transactions of the Thoroton Society_ for 1910, from which the
+above article has been largely compiled. Other references may be found
+in the publications of the Geological Survey, in Wake’s _History of
+Collingham_, Brown’s _History of Newark_, Rastall’s (Dickinson)
+_History of the Antiquities of Newark_, Padley’s _Fens and
+Floods of Mid-Lincolnshire_, _The Victoria County History of
+Nottingham_, _The Nottingham Borough Records_, &c., &c.
+
+[46] Cox’s _Royal Forests of England_, pp. 219–20.
+
+[47] The inns and public-houses of Nottinghamshire of to-day reflect
+in a remarkable manner its former close connection with the forest
+and the chase, especially throughout the Sherwood Forest half of the
+county. There are three Red Harts (one of them absurdly corrupted into
+Red Heart), eleven White Harts, one White Hind, one Stag, two Horse
+and Stag, and two Horse and Pheasant. As to hounds, there are nine
+Greyhounds, three Talbots, and eight Foxhounds. The monarch trees of
+Sherwood Forest are commemorated in two Greendale Oaks, a Major Oak,
+a Parliament Oak, and twenty-two Royal Oaks. There are three Forest
+Taverns, one Forest Grove, a Foresters’ Arms, and two Royal Foresters.
+It is also worth while to note that there are twelve Robin Hoods, and
+two Robin Hood and Little Johns.
+
+[48] Cox, _English Monasteries_, pp. 78–79.
+
+[49] Between 1684 and 1689, Edward Mellish, proprietor of the
+confiscated estate of the Priory, built himself a pew in the north
+aisle, “cutting pier and capital and window in the most wanton manner,
+taking up one entire arch of the nave with his steps,” and “projecting
+his pew far in advance into the nave through another arch.” There is
+now no sign of this pew, but it would seem to have been identical with
+the “private gallery” referred to by Raine in 1860.
+
+[50] Probably Rowland Hacker.
+
+[51] On August 2 Welbeck had surrendered to the Earl of Manchester, who
+was marching south after the victory at Marston Moor.
+
+[52] As Sidnaceaster was annexed by Offa to the short-lived Lichfield
+Archbishopric (787–803), the whole of Nottinghamshire must have
+belonged to that province during these years; but as under Ceolwulf the
+condition of affairs before 787 was restored, this does not affect the
+question.
+
+[53] _A.S. Chron._ (ed. Earle and Plummer, p. 68).
+
+[54] See _Thomas of York_, an essay by W. E. Hodgson.
+
+[55] Vide _Trans. of Thoroton Society_, vol. i. (1897), p. 44, and
+_The Church Times_ (Jan. 11, 1900), p. 51.
+
+[56] In my essay on Thomas II. of York, I have tried to outline the
+reasons which would induce Edgar to confirm the gift of his brother,
+and also the reasons the King would have for making the gift as
+valuable as possible in the eyes of the Archbishop (pp. 13, 14).
+
+[57] The part of the charter which defines the boundaries of the land
+is written in Anglo-Saxon, and is obscure.
+
+[58] Southwell was all one parish up to about sixty years ago.
+
+[59] _Alcuin of York_, p. 82, _note_.
+
+[60] Leach, _Memorials of Southwell Minster_, Introd. p. xxii.
+
+[61] _Historians of the Church of York and its Archbishops_:
+Edited by Canon Raine (Rolls Series), vol. ii. p. 353.
+
+[62] _England under the Normans and Angevins_: H. W. C. Davis, p.
+190.
+
+[63] William of Newburgh, _Historia Rerum Anglicanum_, book ii.
+chap. 3. (In Chronicles of Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I. Rolls
+Series.)
+
+[64] The Visitation Charge of the Archdeacon of Nottingham, delivered
+at Southwell in May 1909.
+
+[65] Mr. Francis Bond’s opinion, quoted in _Life of Thomas II._,
+by W. E. Hodgson, p. 86.
+
+[66] _Ibid._, p. 87.
+
+[67] Roger de Hoveden (_sub anno_ 1189).
+
+[68] _Ibid._ (_sub anno_ 1190).
+
+[69] Roger de Hoveden (_sub anno_ 1194).
+
+[70] Quoted from the Rev. A. Dimock’s _Guide to Southwell
+Cathedral_, p. 91.
+
+[71] Cavendish, _Life of Wolsey_ (Temple Classics, p. 181).
+
+[72] _Memorials of Southwell Minster_, Introduction, p. lxviii.
+
+[73] Dimock, _Guide to Southwell Cathedral_, p. 115.
+
+[74] Dimock, _ibid._, p. 115.
+
+[75] Livett, _An Account of the Cathedral Church of Southwell_, p.
+33.
+
+[76] Livett, _ibid._: Quotation from State Papers, 1604, Add. Ch.
+15,241 Brit. Mus.
+
+[77] The important MSS. in the Library, besides the White Book, consist
+of Chapter Decree Books, which start about the middle of the fifteenth
+century, and with some considerable number of years omitted, go down to
+1840. There is also a book of leases and other documents.
+
+[78] Quoted by Mr. Dimock, _op. cit._ p. 129.
+
+[79] Dimock, _op. cit._ p. 124.
+
+[80] “South Prospect of Nottingham, taken from Wilford Pasture beyond
+the Trent,” by Thomas Sandby, R.A., 1721–1798. Nottingham Castle Art
+Museum, Gallery F.
+
+[81] “Be it had in mynd that the Towne of Maunsfeld Wodhouse was
+burned, the Saturdaye nexte afore the Fest of Exaltation of the
+holy Crosse, the yere of our Lord MCCCIIII., and the Kirke Stepull
+with the Bells of the same, _for the Stepull was afore of Tymber
+werke_: and part of the Kyrk was burned” (Thoroton, _Antiquities
+of Nottinghamshire_, p. 273).
+
+[82] The church was destroyed by fire on 2nd July 1706.
+
+[83] The Anglo-Saxon verb “getimbrade” (made of wood), became so
+familiar in the vernacular, that we find in documents the expression
+“to getimbrian a church of stone”--_i.e._, literally to make of
+wood a stone church. Nor was this altogether a misnomer, for the motif
+of the carpenter was adopted in the earlier attempts at masoncraft.
+
+[84] The fine illustrations of Newark and Bingham are reproduced by
+permission of B. T. Batsford from Francis Bond’s _Gothic Architecture
+in England_.
+
+[85] Whatton and Normanton-on-Soar are the only central steeples in the
+county. The remainder are all at the west end.
+
+[86] The spire is shown with crockets in early pictures of Nottingham
+down to 1845, when for the first time it is represented as it now
+stands plus the pinnacles, portions of which lie in the churchyard at
+the base of the tower.
+
+[87] An example can still be seen at Scarning church, Norfolk.
+
+[88] “And he sall make a windowe on the same side, of two lightes, and
+a botras accordaunt thereto on the same side. And the forsaide Richarde
+sall make then a quere dore on wheder side of the botras that it will
+best be, and a windowe of two lightes anense the deskes.”--_Endenture
+Ecclesie de Catrik_ (Yorks), A.D. 1412.
+
+[89] Tompion and Graham lie in Westminster Abbey as the fathers of
+English clockmaking, while Knibb was clockmaker to William III., and
+Quare was the inventor, among other things, of the repeating watch.
+
+[90] In the case of the late Mr. Harston, the organ builder, this
+process was reversed. Being apprenticed to a clock and organ maker, he
+left the clock trade for that of the piano and organ, and founded the
+business so successfully carried on at present by his son.
+
+
+Transcriber’s Notes:
+
+1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been
+corrected silently.
+
+2. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have
+been retained as in the original.
+
+3. Italics are shown as _xxx_.
+
+4. Bold print is shown as =xxx=.
+
+5. Superscripts are represented using the caret character, e.g. D^r.
+     or X^{xx}.
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77866 ***