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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text 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. 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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 *** diff --git a/77866-h/77866-h.htm b/77866-h/77866-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3a04747 --- /dev/null +++ b/77866-h/77866-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,20315 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + Memorials of Old Nottinghamshire | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + font-weight: normal; +} + +h2 {font-size: 100%; } + +h3 {font-size: 90%; } + +.subhed { display: block; margin-top: 1em; font-size: 90%; font-weight: normal; } + +.subhed1 { display: block; margin-top: 0em; font-size: 80%; font-weight: normal; } + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; + text-indent: 1.2em; +} + +.p0 {margin-top: 0em;} +.p1 {margin-top: 1em;} +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} +.p4 {margin-top: 4em;} + +.p-left {text-indent: 0em; 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} + +p.drop-cap:first-letter +{ +float: left; +margin: 0.1em 0em 0em 0em; +font-size: 350%; +line-height:0.85em; +} + +.xs { font-size: x-small;} + +.sm { font-size: small;} + +.lg { font-size: large;} + +.xl { font-size: x-large;} + +.xxl { font-size: xx-large;} + +.smaller {font-size: 90%; } + +.center {text-align: center; + text-indent: 0em;} + +.right {text-align: right;} + +.r2 {text-align: right; + margin-right: 2em;} + +.left1 {text-align: left; + text-indent: 3em; } + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.allsmcap {font-variant: small-caps; text-transform: lowercase;} + +/* Images */ + +img { + max-width: 100%; + height: auto; +} + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: 1px dashed;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poetry-container +{ +text-align: center; +font-size: 90%; +} + +.poetry +{ +display: inline-block; +text-align: left; +margin-left: 2.5em; +line-height: 100%; +} + +.poetry .stanza +{ +margin: .5em 0em .5em 1em; +} + +.poetry .ileft {margin-left: -.4em;} +.poetry .i1 {margin-left: 1em;} +.poetry .i2 {margin-left: 2em;} +.poetry .i3 {margin-left: 3em;} +.poetry .i4h {margin-left: 4.5em;} +.poetry .i8 {margin-left: 8em;} +.poetry .i8h {margin-left: 8.5em;} +.poetry .i9 {margin-left: 9em;} + +.spacing { + letter-spacing: 3em; + margin-left: 1em;} + +/* Transcriber's notes */ +.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; + color: black; + font-size:small; + padding:0.5em; + margin-bottom:5em; + font-family:sans-serif, serif; +} + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77866 ***</div> + + + + +<p class="center smcap lg">Memorials of the Counties of England</p> + +<p class="center xs">General Editor:</p> +<p class="center sm smcap">Rev. P. H. Ditchfield , M.A., F.S.A., F.R.S.L., F.R.Hist.S.</p> + + +<p class="center smcap p4 lg">Memorials of<br> +Old Nottinghamshire</p> + + <div class="figcenter"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_colophon.jpg" + alt=""> + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_frontispiece"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_frontispiece.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 center smcap">Nottingham. The Old Trent Bridge.</p> + </div> + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h1>MEMORIALS OF OLD<br> +NOTTINGHAMSHIRE</h1></div> + +<p class="center p2 sm">EDITED BY</p> + +<p class="center">EVERARD L. GUILFORD, M.A.</p> + +<p class="center xs"><span class="smcap">Author of</span></p> + +<p class="center xs">“<i>Little Guide to Nottinghamshire</i>”</p> + +<p class="center p4">ILLUSTRATED WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS</p> + +<p class="center p4 sm">LONDON<br> +GEORGE ALLEN & COMPANY, LTD.<br> +<span class="xs">44 & 45 RATHBONE PLACE, W.<br> +1912</span></p> + +<p class="center p1 xs">[<i>All Rights Reserved</i>]</p> + +<p class="center p4 xs">Printed by <span class="smcap">Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.</span><br> +At the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh</p> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p class="center p4 xs">TO</p> + +<p class="center sm">THE INHABITANTS OF<br> +NOTTINGHAMSHIRE</p> + +<p class="center">THIS BOOK</p> + +<p class="center xs">IS</p> + +<p class="center sm">DEDICATED</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<h2 class="p2">PREFACE</h2> +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap p-left">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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="r2 sm">EVERARD L. GUILFORD.</p> + +<p class="smcap sm">Lenton Avenue, Nottingham,</p> +<p class="left1 p-min sm"><i>June 1912</i>.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +</div> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 50em"> + <tr> + <th></th> + <th></th> + <th class="pag smcap">Page</th> + </tr> + +<tr> + <td class="cht">Historical Nottinghamshire</td> + <td class="cht">By <span class="smcap">Everard L. Guilford</span>, M.A.</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> + </tr> + +<tr> + <td class="cht">The Medieval Church Architecture of Nottinghamshire</td> + <td class="cht">By <span class="smcap">A. Hamilton Thompson</span>, M.A., F.S.A.</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td> + </tr> + +<tr> + <td class="cht">Newstead Priory and the Religious Houses of Nottinghamshire</td> + <td class="cht">By Rev. <span class="smcap">J. Charles Cox</span>, LL.D., F.S.A.</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td> + </tr> + +<tr> + <td class="cht">Wollaton Hall</td> + <td class="cht">By <span class="smcap">J. A. Gotch</span>, F.S.A.</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td> + </tr> + +<tr> + <td class="cht">The Ancient and Modern Trent</td> + <td class="cht">By <span class="smcap">Bernard Smith</span>, M.A.</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td> + </tr> + +<tr> + <td class="cht">The Forest of Sherwood</td> + <td class="cht">By Rev. <span class="smcap">J. Charles Cox</span>, LL.D., F.S.A.</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td> + </tr> + +<tr> + <td class="cht">Roods, Screens, and Lofts in Nottinghamshire</td> + <td class="cht">By <span class="smcap">Aymer Vallance</span>, F.S.A.</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_124">124</a></td> + </tr> + +<tr> + <td class="cht">The Civil War in Nottinghamshire</td> + <td class="cht">By <span class="smcap">Everard L. Guilford</span>, M.A.</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td> + </tr> + +<tr> + <td class="cht">Nottinghamshire Poets</td> + <td class="cht">By <span class="smcap">John Russell</span>, M.A.</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_193">193</a></td> + </tr> + +<tr> + <td class="cht">Nottingham</td> + <td class="cht">By <span class="smcap">W. P. W. Phillimore</span></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_228">228</a></td> + </tr> + +<tr> + <td class="cht">Southwell</td> + <td class="cht">By <span class="smcap">W. E. Hodgson</span></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_239">239</a></td> + </tr> + +<tr> + <td class="cht">Nottinghamshire Spires</td> + <td class="cht">By <span class="smcap">Harry Gill</span></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_270">270</a></td> + </tr> + +<tr> + <td class="cht">The Low Side Windows of Nottinghamshire</td> + <td class="cht">By <span class="smcap">Harry Gill</span></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_295">295</a></td> + </tr> + +<tr> + <td class="cht">The Nottingham Mint</td> + <td class="cht">By <span class="smcap">Frank E. Burton</span>, F.R.N.S., J.P.</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_306">306</a></td> + </tr> + +<tr> + <td class="cht">The Clockmakers of Newark-on-Trent, with Notes on some of +their Contemporaries</td> + <td class="cht">By <span class="smcap">H. Cook</span></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_323">323</a></td> + </tr> + +<tr> + <td class="cht smcap" colspan="2">Index</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_339">339</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> +</div> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht">Nottingham. The Old Trent Bridge</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From engraving after McArthur; from a photograph by A. Lineker, Nottingham</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_frontispiece"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <th></th> + <th></th> + <th class="pag smcap">Page, or Facing Page</th> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Blyth Priory Church</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a photograph by H. Gill</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_020fp">20</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">South Scarle: Nave North Arcade</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a photograph by J. Selby</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_026fp">26</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Southwell Minster: East End</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_032afp">32</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Southwell Minster: Capital in the Chapter House</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From photographs by E. L. Guilford</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_032bfp">32</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Barnby in the Willows.</td> + <td class="cht">(South Side of the Chancel)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_042afp">42</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Car Colston</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From photographs by E. L. Guilford</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_042bfp">42</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Newstead Priory: Buck’s West View, 1726</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a photograph by Donald Macbeth, London</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_060fp">60</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Plan of Newstead Priory</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a plan by Rev. R. H. Whitworth</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_071fp">71</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Plan of Wollaton Hall, by John Thorpe</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_078fp">78</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Wollaton Hall: Ground Plan, 1901</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_080fp">80</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Wollaton Hall: Half-elevation, by John Thorpe</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_080fp_2">80</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Wollaton Hall</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_081fp">81</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Wollaton Hall: Plan by Smithson</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_082fp">82</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Wollaton Hall: Elevation of Corner Pavilion, by Smithson</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_083fp">82</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Wollaton Hall: the Orchard. Plan by Smithson</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_084fp">84</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Wollaton Hall: the Screen, by Smithson</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_085fp">84</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Wollaton Hall: Panel in the Screen, by Smithson</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_086afp">86</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Wollaton Hall: Panel in the Frieze above the Screen, by Smithson</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_086bfp">86</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Plan and Section of the Trent Valley South-east of Nottingham</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_092">92</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Map of the Trent Valley between Clifton and Collingham</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_094">94</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">The Great Flood of October 1875. (View from Nottingham Castle looking South)</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>By permission of the Geological Survey and Museum</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_096fp">96</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">The Trent separating Holme from North Muskham</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_099">99</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Burton and Bole Rounds, after a Map by Mr. Gurnill, sen., Gainsborough, 1795</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_103">103</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Specimen of Sherwood Forest Roll</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a photograph by Donald Macbeth, London</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_112fp">112</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Blyth Priory Church: Screen in the Nave</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a photograph by A. Lineker, Nottingham</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_126fp">126</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">West Bridgford: Old Rood-Screen. (Now in South Aisle of enlarged Church)</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_130fp">130</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Holme Church toward the South-east from the Nave</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a drawing by Messrs. Saunders & Saunders</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_137">137</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Newark Church: Rood-Screen, from the North-west</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_146fp">146</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Southwell Minster: Pulpitum, from the West</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_154fp">154</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Southwell Minster: Pulpitum, from the East</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a photograph by A. Lineker, Nottingham</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_155fp">154</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Strelley Church: Rood-Screen</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>Measured and drawn by F. E. Collingham</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_158fp">158</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Wysall Church: Rood-Screen</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a photograph by A. Vallance</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_166fp">166</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Siege Plan of Newark</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From C. Brown’s “History of Newark”</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_188fp">188</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Robert Dodsley</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From the portrait by Gainsborough</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_200fp">200</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Philip James Bailey. “Festus”</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>By kind permission of Miss Carey</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_210fp">210</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Halam</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_272">272</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Sompting</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_273">273</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Bradmore</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_274">274</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Compton, Sussex</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_275">275</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Gotham, Notts</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_275">275</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Burton Joyce</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a photograph by H. Gill</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_277afp">277</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Wollaton</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a photograph by H. Gill</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_277cfp">277</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Normanton-on-Soar</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a photograph by H. Gill</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_277bfp">277</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Edwinstowe</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a photograph by H. Gill</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_277dfp">277</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Normanton-on-Soar</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_277">277</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Ratcliffe-on-Soar</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_278">278</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Mansfield Woodhouse</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_279">279</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Squinches, Edwinstowe</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_281">281</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Gedling</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a photograph by W. H. Kirkland</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_282afp">282</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">West Retford</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_282bfp">282</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Gedling</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_283">283</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Newark</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From F. Bond’s “Gothic Architecture of England”</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_284fp">284</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Bingham</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From F. Bond’s “Gothic Architecture of England”</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_284fp">284</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Thoroton</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a photograph by H. Gill</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_290afp">290</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Car Colston</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a photograph by H. Gill</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_290cfp">290</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Keyworth</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a photograph by Thomas Wright</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_290bfp">290</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Upton</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a photograph by H. Gill</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_290dfp">290</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Bradmore</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_293">293</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Laxton</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_296fp">296</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Costock</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a photograph by H. Gill</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_297afp">296</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Haughton</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a photograph by H. Gill</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_297bfp">296</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Car Colston</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a photograph by H. Gill</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_305afp">305</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Linby</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a photograph by H. Gill</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_305bfp">305</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Coins. Athelstan to Stephen</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a photograph by Mr. S. Barlow Vines</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_309fp">309</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Newark Siege Pieces. Half-crowns and Shillings</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a photograph by Mr. S. Barlow Vines</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_314fp">314</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Newark Siege Pieces. Ninepences and Sixpences</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a photograph by Mr. S. Barlow Vines</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_316fp">316</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Tokens</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a photograph by Mr. S. Barlow Vines</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_318fp">318</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Tokens</td> + <td class="cht">(<i>From a photograph by Mr. S. Barlow Vines</i>)</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_320fp">320</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Clocks by William Gascoyne and Nicholas Goddard</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_326afp">326</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Clocks by William Barnard and Edward Smith</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_327afp">326</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Clocks by S. Bettison, W. Barnard, and W. Unwin</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_332fp">332</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Clocks by Humphrey Wainwright and Will. Foster</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_333afp">332</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Sketch Map of Nottinghamshire</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#i_355fp"><i>at end</i></a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[1]</span></p> + +<h2>HISTORICAL NOTTINGHAMSHIRE<br> +<span class="subhed smcap">By Everard L. Guilford, M.A.</span></h2></div> + + +<p class="drop-cap p-left">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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[2]</span></p> + +<p>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 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>the</i> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[3]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[4]</span></p> + +<p>The publication of the first two volumes of the <i>Victoria History of +the County of Nottingham</i> 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.</p> + +<p>Historians nowadays divide the Britons into three races who came to +these shores one after the other, beginning about 600 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> +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 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> to be +precise—the Roman wave had passed over Nottinghamshire, and, what is +more, had passed over very lightly.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[6]</span> the marshes +of the Idle and the Cars to the north, and ran on the narrow crest of +the hills between Drakeholes and Scaftworth.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>We have seen how John used Nottingham as his headquarters in his +insurrection, and 200 years afterwards Richard II. attempted his +<i>coup d’êtat</i> there—an attempt which was to have made the King +absolute.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span></p> + +<h2>THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH ARCHITECTURE OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE<br> +<span class="subhed"><span class="smcap">By A. Hamilton Thompson</span>, M.A., F.S.A.</span></h2></div> + + +<p class="drop-cap p-left">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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span> 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.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> 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.<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span> 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.<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> 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,<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> or the warden and canons +of St. Mary and the Holy Angels at York,<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span> +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.<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> +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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span> 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 <span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span>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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_020fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_020fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Blyth Priory Church.</p> + </div> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span> 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.<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> 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.<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span> 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 +<i>voussoirs</i> 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.<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_026fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_026fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">South Scarle. Nave North Arcade.</p> + </div> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span> 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.”</p> + +<p>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,<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> 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,<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> was well within the +possible range of Lincoln influence. Misterton, on the other hand, +lay outside the district to which Lincoln craftsmen<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span> +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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_032afp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_032afp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Southwell Minster. East End.</p> + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_032bfp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_032bfp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Southwell Minster. Capital in the Chapter +House.</p> + </div> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span>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,<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span> 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.<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>matrices ecclesiæ</i> of the East and West Ridings +and of Nottinghamshire, learned<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span> 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.<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span> 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.<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span> leading features of this +beautiful composition.<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span> 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 <i>tour de force</i> into a triumphant success.</p> + +<p>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:<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span> +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 <i>pulpitum</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span> 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<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span> 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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_042afp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_042afp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Barnby in the Willows.</p> + <p class="p0 sm center">(South Side of the Chancel.)</p> + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_042bfp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_042bfp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Car Colston.</p> + </div> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> 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 <span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span>of the +chancel.<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> 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.<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> 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,<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> 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.<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span> 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 +<i>pulpitum</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> 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.<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> The geographical +distribution of these monuments, taken in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span> conjunction with their +history, is overwhelmingly in favour of their northern origin, as +against any influence from southern schools.</p> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span> doorway of the porch gives +some richness of effect to a design otherwise unpretentious.</p> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> 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.<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> At Southwell the chantry chapel founded +by Archbishop Lawrence Booth, in which stood the altar of St. William +and St. Cuthbert,<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> 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<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> +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.<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span> service called Willoughby’s chantry, founded at +the end of 1470.<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> 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,<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> 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.<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span> the north of the county, are of the ordinary type found in south +Yorkshire—<i>e.g.</i> 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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span> 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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span></p> + +<h2>NEWSTEAD PRIORY AND THE RELIGIOUS HOUSES OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE<br> +<span class="subhed smcap">By Rev. J. Charles Cox, LL.D., F.S.A.</span></h2></div> + + +<p class="drop-cap p-left">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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>A few general remarks may be permitted before proceeding to the more +particular but very brief discussion of each house.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>As to the slanderous <i>Comperta</i>, 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 +<i>Comperta</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span> 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 <i>£</i>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span> to +Newstead Abbey, a piece of mendacious pride of which several other lay +owners of monastic sites have been guilty.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span>after her death by John de Sancto Egidio and Henry +Balliol, to do therewith what the King had enjoined on them.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_060fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_060fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Newstead Priory. Buck’s West View, 1726.</p> + </div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Both Edward I. and Edward II. seem to have been<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 (<i>vultu prout decet hilari et jocundo</i>), 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span> 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.<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> +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 (<i>conversus</i>) 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span> nuns.” That he +was a man of odiously dissolute life is beyond all contradiction.</p> + +<p>Archdeacon South has left the following record of this dissolute bully, +and his subsequent public exposure:—</p> + +<p>“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.”<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“Years roll on years; to ages, ages yield;</div> + <div class="i1">Abbots to abbots, in a line, succeed;</div> + <div>Religion’s charter their protecting shield,</div> + <div class="i1">Till royal sacrilege their doom decreed.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>One holy Henry rear’d the Gothic walls,</div> + <div class="i1">And bade the pious inmates rest in peace;</div> + <div>Another Henry the kind gift recalls,</div> + <div class="i1">And bids devotion’s hallow’d echoes cease.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>The following is a list of the successive priors (not abbots) of this +house so far as at present ascertained:—</p> + +<div class="parent"> +<ul class="left smaller" style="margin-top: 0em"> + <li>Eustace, 1216.</li> + <li>Richard, 1216.</li> + <li>Aldred, 1230.</li> + <li>Robert, 1234.</li> + <li>William, 1241.</li> + <li>William de Mottisfont, 1267.</li> + <li>John de Lexinton, resigned, 1288.</li> + <li>Richard de Hallam, 1288.</li> + <li>Richard de Grange, 1293.</li> + <li>William de Thurgarton, 1324.</li> + <li>Hugh de Collingham, 1349.</li> + <li>William de Collingham, resigned, 1356.</li> + <li>John de Wylesthorp, resigned, 1366.</li> + <li>William de Allerton, 1366.</li> + <li>John de Hucknall, 1406.</li> + <li>William Bakewell, 1417.</li> + <li>Thomas Carleton, 1422.</li> + <li>Robert Cutwolfe, 1423.</li> + <li>William Misterton, 1455.</li> + <li>John Durham, 1461.</li> + <li>Thomas Gunthorp, 1467.</li> + <li>William Sandale, 1504.</li> + <li>John Blake, 1526.</li> +</ul> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>This Sir John Byron was by no means the mushroom man, like so many of +Cromwell and Henry VIII.’s <i>novi homines</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>The successive owners of Newstead Priory were:—</p> + +<p>Sir John Byron, who died in 1576.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Sir John Byron (3), who died in 1625.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Richard Lord Byron, the defender of Newark, succeeded his brother, and +died in 1679; he entertained Charles II. at Newstead.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>William, the fourth baron, son of the third, died in 1736.</p> + +<p>His son William, the fifth baron, known as “Devil Byron,” who killed +William Chaworth in a duel, died, without surviving issue, in 1798.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span>Newstead +adequately would require at least the whole of this volume.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_071fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_071fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Plan of Newstead Priory, by Rev. R. H. Whitworth.</p> + </div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span> use as a domestic chapel, and for that purpose it +is still used.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span> 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<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a>:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“Well sleep the dead; in holy ground,</div> + <div class="i1">Well sleeps the heart of iron,</div> + <div>The worm that pares his sister’s cheek,</div> + <div class="i1">What cares it for Byron?</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Yet when her night of death comes round,</div> + <div class="i1">They ride and drive together,</div> + <div>And ever, when they ride or drive,</div> + <div class="i1">All wilful is the weather.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>On mighty winds in spectre coach,</div> + <div class="i1">Fast speeds the heart of iron,</div> + <div>On spectre steed, the spectre dame,</div> + <div class="i1">Side by side with Byron.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Oh, ‘Night doth love her,’ O the clouds,</div> + <div class="i1">They do her form environ,</div> + <div>The lightning weeps—he hears her sob,</div> + <div class="i1">‘Speak to me! Lord Byron!’</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>On winds, on clouds, they ride, they drive,</div> + <div class="i1">Oh hark thou heart of iron,</div> + <div>The thunder whispers mournfully,</div> + <div class="i1">‘O speak to her, Lord Byron!’”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>par excellence</i> 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.</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="i8">“A monk arrayed</div> + <div>In cowl and beads and dusky garb appeared,</div> + <div>Now in the moonlight and now lapsed in shade,</div> + <div>With steps that trod as heavy, yet unheard.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p class="p-left">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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span> union with Miss Milbanke. Alluding to his faith in these +things, he said:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“I merely mean to say, what Johnson said,</div> + <div class="i1">That in the course of some six thousand years,</div> + <div>All nations have believed that from the dead</div> + <div class="i1">A visitant at intervals appears;</div> + <div>And what is strangest upon this strange head</div> + <div class="i1">Is that whatever bar the reason rears</div> + <div>’Gainst such belief, there’s something stronger still</div> + <div class="i1">In its behalf, let those deny who will.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p class="p-left">And he thus introduces the presumed duties, as it were, of the Black +Friar:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“By the marriage bed of their lords, ’tis said,</div> + <div class="i1">He flies on the bridal eve,</div> + <div>And ’tis held as faith, to their bed of death</div> + <div class="i1">He comes, but not to grieve.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>When an heir is born, he is bound to mourn,</div> + <div class="i1">And when aught is to befall</div> + <div>That ancient line, in the pale moonshine,</div> + <div class="i1">He walks from hall to hall.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>His form you may trace, but not his face,</div> + <div class="i1">’Tis shadowed by his cowl,</div> + <div>But his eyes may be seen, from the folds between,</div> + <div class="i1">And they seem of a parted soul.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p class="p-left">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.</p> + +<p>The apartments occupied by Lord Byron, bedroom, dressing-room, and +small haunted chamber—supposed to have been originally the prior’s +lodgings—are carefully<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span> 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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span></p> + +<h2>WOLLATON HALL<br> +<span class="subhed smcap">By J. A. Gotch, F.S.A.</span></h2></div> + + +<p class="drop-cap p-left">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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Wollaton Hall is sometimes quoted as a typical example<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“En has Francisci Willughbi militis ædes</div> + <div>Rara arte extructas Willughboeisq relictas.</div> + <div class="i2">Inchoatæ 1580 et finitæ 1588.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p class="p-left">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 <span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span>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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_078fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_078fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Fig. 1. Plan of Wollaton Hall, by John Thorpe.</p> + </div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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).</p> + +<p>In comparing Thorpe’s plan with the actual ground-plan (Fig. <a href="#i_080fp">2</a>), 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 <span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span>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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_080fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_080fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Fig. 2. Wollaton Hall: Ground Plan, 1901.</p> + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_080fp_2"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_080fp_2.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Fig. 3. Wollaton Hall: Half-elevation, by John +Thorpe.</p> + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_081fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_081fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Fig. 4. Wollaton Hall.</p> + </div> + +<p>Comparing Thorpe’s half-elevation with the photograph of the building +(Fig. <a href="#i_081fp">4</a>), 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>If we turn to Smithson’s drawings, we find that his plan (Fig. <a href="#i_082fp">5</a>) +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. +<a href="#i_083fp">6</a>) agrees almost accurately with the actual building.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Les plus Excellents +Bastiments de France</i>, 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 <span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span>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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_082fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_082fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Fig. 5. Wollaton Hall: Plan by Smithson.</p> + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_083fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_083fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Fig. 6. Wollaton Hall: Elevation of Corner Pavilion, +by Smithson.</p> + </div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_084fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_084fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Fig. 7. Wollaton Hall: The Orchard, Plan by +Smithson.</p> + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_085fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_085fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Fig. 8. Wollaton Hall; The Screen, by Smithson.</p> + </div> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span>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, <i>pace</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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. <a href="#i_083fp">6</a>) 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.</p> + +<p>The plan (Fig. <a href="#i_082fp">5</a>) 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span></p> + +<p>The plan of the orchard (Fig. <a href="#i_084fp">7</a>) 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.</p> + +<p>The drawings of the screen (Fig. <a href="#i_085fp">8</a>) 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. <a href="#i_086afp">9</a>), and it agrees with the existing carving; +the third is a sketch for the panels in the frieze above the screen +(Fig. <a href="#i_086bfp">10</a>), 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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_086afp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_086afp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Fig. 9. Wollaton Hall: Panel in the Screen, by +Smithson.</p> + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_086bfp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_086bfp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Fig. 10. Wollaton Hall: Panel in the Frieze above +the Screen, by Smithson.</p> + </div> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span>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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span></p> + +<h2>THE ANCIENT AND MODERN TRENT<br> +<span class="subhed smcap">By Bernard Smith, M.A.</span></h2></div> + + +<h3 class="smcap">The River Trent</h3> + +<p class="drop-cap p-left">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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span> 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.</p> + + +<h3 class="smcap p2">The Ancient Trent</h3> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Tributary streams, developed along north and south<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>However this may be,<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span></p> + +<p>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. <a href="#i_092">1</a>). 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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_092"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_092.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 sm center">Fig. 1.</p> + </div> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h3 class="smcap p2">The Present River Trent</h3> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>Between Midsummer and Christmas <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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. <a href="#i_094">2</a>), where the signs of the flood are still +discernible<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span> (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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_094"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_094.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 sm center">Fig. 2.</p> + </div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<a id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> +and Low Marnham (the stone crosses at North<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p> + +<p>The severe floods of 1887, 1895, and 1901, and the recent flood which +at Nottingham culminated at 6 <span class="allsmcap">A.M.</span> 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<a id="FNanchor_44" href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a>:—</p> + + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 50em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht">October 1875</td> + <td class="cht">80.38 feet</td> + <td class="cht">above mean sea-level at Liverpool.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">  „  1901</td> + <td class="cht">79.65 feet</td> + <td class="cht"> „  „   „   „</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">July 1875</td> + <td class="cht">78.46 feet</td> + <td class="cht"> „  „   „   „</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">  „  1895</td> + <td class="cht">78.25 feet</td> + <td class="cht"> „  „   „   „</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Yesterday (December 4, 1910)</td> + <td class="cht">78.63 feet</td> + <td class="cht"> „  „   „   „</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>One of the most remarkable features was the flooding of the Midland +Railway line from beyond Attenborough to the <span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span>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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_096fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_096fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">The Great Flood of October 1875.</p> + <p class="p0 sm center">(View from Nottingham Castle looking South.)</p> + </div> + +<p>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 (<i>e.g.</i> 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.</p> + + +<h3 class="smcap p2">Blown Sands</h3> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span> also accounts for the nearly complete absence of blown +sands on the western side of the Trent valley below Newark.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<h3 class="smcap p2">Changes in the Course of the Trent</h3> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>According to Dickinson and Throsby, the hamlet of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span> Holme was attached +to the parish of North Muskham, until the Trent, in <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 1600, +separated the two places during a high flood (Fig. <a href="#i_099">3</a>). 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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_099"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_099.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 sm center">Fig. 3.—The Trent separating Holme from North Muskham.</p> + <p class="p0 sm center">The stippled areas are gravel.</p> + </div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span></p> + +<p>Changes in course on the recent alluvium have taken place sometimes by +artificial means, but usually in a natural manner.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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>i.e.</i> 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<sup>ch</sup> +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<sup>ch</sup> 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.</p> + +<p>Instead of passing Kelham, as at present, the Trent,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span> 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 <i>History of Newark</i>.</p> + +<p>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. <a href="#i_094">2</a>).</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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. <a href="#i_094">2</a>). 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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span> the valley would rapidly revert to a +state of wildness similar to those of the rivers of young countries +(<i>e.g.</i> the Mississippi Valley, where channels and pools occur in +great numbers).</p> + +<p>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 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> +1649 a field, situated beyond the Trent, but in Collingham parish, once +of 35 acres, had been reduced to 8 acres by encroachment.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The lateral movement and windings of the “smug and silver Trent” were +evidently well known to Shakespeare, for in <i>King Henry IV.</i>, 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span> they would have been +much more like huge half-moons—to use Hotspur’s expression—than like +circles, such as Burton Round.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_103"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_103.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 sm center">Fig. 4.—Burton and Bole Rounds, after a map by Mr. +Gurnill, Sen., Gainsborough, 1795.</p> + </div> + +<p>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 <i>Directory of Nottinghamshire</i> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>, +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span> tend to shorten and straighten +the course as far south as Kelham and Averham.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_45" href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span></p> + +<h2>THE FOREST OF SHERWOOD<br> +<span class="subhed smcap">By Rev. J. Charles Cox, LL.D., F.S.A.</span></h2></div> + + +<p class="drop-cap p-left">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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Polyolbion</i>, at the close of the sixteenth century:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“From wealthy abbots’ chests and churches’ abundant store</div> + <div>What oftentimes he took he shared among the poor;</div> + <div>No lordly bishop came in lusty Robin’s way,</div> + <div>To him, before he went, but for his pass must pay;</div> + <div>The widows in distress he graciously relieved,</div> + <div>And remedied the wrongs of many a virgin grieved.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span></p> + +<p>Up to the present no earlier mention of this hero has been found than +that which is contained in the <i>Vision of Piers Plowman</i>, written +about 1377, wherein the character of sloth is introduced saying:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft hangingindent">“I can noughte perfitly my paternoster, as the prest it syngeth;</div> + <div class="hangingindent">But I can rymes of Robyn hood and Randolf erle of Chestre.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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 <i>A Lyttel Geste of Robyn Hode</i>.</p> + +<p>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)<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“Sherwood in the twilight is Robin Hood awake?</div> + <div>Gray and ghostly shadows are gliding through the brake:</div> + <div>Shadows of the dappled deer dreaming of the morn,</div> + <div class="hangingindent">Dreaming of the shadowy man that winds the shadowy horn.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span> appears. It would not +be difficult to make such a record full of interesting and valuable +information from end to end.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span>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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_112fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_112fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Specimen of Sherwood Forest Roll.</p> + </div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>During the same period the gifts of wood included five<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span> engines of the catapult +kind, whilst quarels were a heavy form of arrows with iron heads which +these engines discharged.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span> and Lenton and Radford Forest, whereby 8248 +acres were brought into cultivation. When Major Rooke published his +interesting <i>Sketch of the Ancient and Present State of Sherwood +Forest</i> 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.”<a id="FNanchor_46" href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span> 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.<a id="FNanchor_47" href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span> 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.”<a id="FNanchor_48" href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span></p> + +<p>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 <i>Fourteenth Report of Woods and Forests</i> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>In 1708 a strongly worded petition was drawn up at Rufford by +representative gentlemen of the north of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span> had materially increased, and the +wheat fields no longer needed to be guarded by horns in the daytime and +by fires at night.</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span></p> + +<h2>ROODS, SCREENS, AND LOFTS IN NOTTINGHAMSHIRE<br> +<span class="subhed smcap">By Aymer Vallance</span></h2></div> + + +<p class="drop-cap p-left"><span class="smcap">Arnold.</span>—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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Attenborough.</span>—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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Averham</span> (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>i.e.</i> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span> 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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Balderton.</span>—“A most beautiful, richly moulded Perpendicular +oak screen (<i>circa</i> 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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Beauvale</span> (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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Beckingham.</span>—The will of Robert Hall, dated 28th May 1529, +contains the clause: “<i>do et lego fabrice crucifixorii de</i> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span> onto the top of the rood-loft, is visible in +the east wall of the nave, to south of the chancel-arch.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Bilsthorpe.</span>—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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Blyth</span> (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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_126fp" style="max-width: 688px"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_126fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p-min sm left"><i>Photo: Mr. Arthur Lineker.</i></p> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Blyth Priory Church: Screen in the Nave.</p> + </div> + +<p>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 +<i>History and Antiquities of Blyth</i> (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<a id="FNanchor_49" href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> and the lower panels, +it has been destroyed; and ... these panels, all perfect though they +are, <span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span> 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 <i>John of Gaunt Sketch Book</i> (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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Bridgford, West</span> (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 +(<i>circa</i> 1380), of rectangular<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span> 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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_130fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_130fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">West Bridgford: Old Rood-Screen.</p> + <p class="p0 sm center">(Now in south aisle of enlarged church.)</p> + </div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Bunny</span> (October 1911).—A much-mutilated oak screen, of +rectangular construction and fourteenth century date, <span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span>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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Calverton.</span>—By will dated 10th October 1499, Thomas Belfin +left 13s. 4d. “<i>facture unius</i> roode-lofte <i>in ecclesia de</i> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span></p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Car Colston.</span>—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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Clayworth</span> (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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span> 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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Colston Basset.</span>—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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Costock.</span>—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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Cotgrave.</span>—“The staircase to the rood-loft on the south side +of the chancel-arch is walled up.” (J. T. Godfrey, 1907.)</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Cropwell Bishop.</span>—In 1824 Stretton noted that the chancel +was separated from the nave by a screen, which, however, has now +disappeared.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Drayton, East.</span>—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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span> by modern boarding. +(Communicated by Rev. Dr. Cox, 1911.)</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Elton.</span>—Remains of fifteenth-century screenwork, incorporated +in the high pews, were noted by Rev. Dr. Cox in 1904.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Finningley.</span>—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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Gamston.</span>—At the north-east end of the nave are the +rood-stairs, encased in a turret rising above the roof.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Gedling.</span>—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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Granby.</span>—“The chancel-arch bears evidence of the former +existence of a screen.” (J. T. Godfrey, 1907.)</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Hawton</span> (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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span> 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 <i>The +Spring Gardens Sketch Book</i>, plates 43 and 44, vol. v. 1874.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span></p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_137"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_137.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 sm center">Holme Church toward the South-east from the Nave.</p> + </div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Holme</span> (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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Holme Pierrepont.</span>—On the north outside wall, in line with +the chancel-arch, is a semi-circular projection<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span> 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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Kelham</span> (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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span> latter +being very similar in design to the transom, the effect is unusually +coherent and satisfying.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Keyworth.</span>—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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span> 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.)</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Kingston-on-Soar.</span>—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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Kneesall.</span>—The latticed screen had already been taken down +when Stretton wrote, about 1820.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Lambley.</span>—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.”</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Langar.</span>—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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span> 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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Laxton.</span>—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, <i>goutté de sang</i> (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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Leverton, North.</span>—James Nightgale, by will dated 5th October +1545, bequeathed his “bodie to bee buried in the churche ... of +Northelewton before the Rood-lofte.”</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Leverton, South.</span>—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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Lowdham.</span>—A bequest by Robert Peper, of Morton, on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span> 9th +May 1529, of half a quarter of barley “to the roode off loodame” is +believed to refer to Lowdham.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Maplebeck.</span>—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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Markham, East.</span>—Christopher Saureby, Vicar, by will, 30th +April 1439, desired to be buried “before the chancel-door,” <i>i.e.</i> +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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Markham Clinton</span> (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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Muskham, North</span> (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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span> 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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Muskham, South.</span>—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.)</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Newark.</span>—Reference in a will in 1482 shows that at that date +there existed an altar of St. Crux in the church.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span> 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>i.e.</i> 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.”</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_146fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_146fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Newark Church: Rood-Screen, from the +North-west.</p> + </div> + +<p>There is no question whatever that the Perpendicular oak rood-screen +is an exceedingly magnificent example of <span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[149]</span> 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.)</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Normanton-on-Trent.</span>—The upper doorway of the rood-staircase +remains on the south side; also the corbels<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[150]</span> for the support of the +rood-loft or rood-beam. (E. L. Guilford.)</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Norwell.</span>—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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Nottingham.</span>—<i>Carmelite Friary Church.</i>—“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.</p> + +<p><i>St. Catherine’s Chapel</i>, 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.</p> + +<p><i>St. Mary’s.</i>—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>i.e.</i> in front +of the Rood.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span> 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.)</p> + +<p><i>St. Peter’s.</i>—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.</p> + +<p>Alice Dalby, by will dated 28th March 1459, left 20s. “<i>fabrice +sancte crucis in le</i> rodeloft ... <i>et eidem cruci</i> ... <i>duas +lapides de byrrall</i>” and 5s. “<i>in auro facto</i>.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span> 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.)</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Nuthall.</span>—Under the west side of the chancel-arch stands an +oak screen of five rectangular compartments, <i>i.e.</i> 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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Ordsall.</span>—At the west end of the church stands a good screen, +of late-fifteenth century workmanship,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[153]</span> 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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Scarle, South.</span>—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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Shelford.</span>—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 <i>Walks Round Nottingham</i>, 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[154]</span></p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Sibthorpe.</span>—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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Southwell.</span>—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 <span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[155]</span>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 <i>Building +News</i>, 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span> 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.”</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_154fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_154fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Southwell Minster: Pulpitum, from the West.</p> + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_155fp" style="max-width: 675px"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_155fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p-min sm left"><i>Photo: Mr. Arthur Lineker.</i></p> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Southwell Minster: Pulpitum, from the East.</p> + </div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[157]</span> formerly +existed,” should be substituted. “Fragments were found still remaining +<i>in situ</i>; 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.)</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Staunton.</span>—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.”</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Strelley</span> (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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[158]</span> 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 +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[159]</span>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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_158fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_158fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Strelle Church: Rood-Screen</p> + </div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sturton-le-Steeple.</span>—The oak rood-screen, a fine example of +fifteenth-century work, perished in a grievously destructive fire in +1901.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Sutton-on-Trent</span> (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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[160]</span> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[161]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>Rev. H. Hudson, Rector of Holy Trinity, Old Trafford, surmises that +the object referred to in the Thoroton Society’s <i>Proceedings</i>, +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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[163]</span></p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Wilford.</span>—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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Willoughby-on-the-Wolds.</span>—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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Winkburn.</span>—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.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Worksop</span> (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>i.e.</i> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[164]</span> (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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[165]</span> 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.)</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Wysall</span> (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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[166]</span> 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 <span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[167]</span>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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_166fp" style="max-width: 633px"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_166fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p-min sm left"><i>Photo: Mr. Aymer Vallance.</i></p> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Wysall Church: Rood-Screen.</p> + </div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—I regret that want of time and space compels me +to omit all notice of some important screenwork, <i>e.g.</i> at +Barton in Fabis and Tuxford.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="r2 p-min smcap">Aymer Vallance.</p> +</div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[168]</span></p> + +<h2>THE CIVIL WAR IN NOTTINGHAMSHIRE<br> +<span class="subhed smcap">By Everard L. Guilford, M.A.</span></h2></div> + + +<p class="drop-cap p-left">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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[169]</span> 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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[170]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.”</p> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[171]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><i>Royalists</i>: the Earl of Newcastle and his son, the Earl of +Kingston and his eldest son, Lord Chesterfield and all<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[172]</span> 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.</p> + +<p><i>Parliamentarians</i>: 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[173]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[174]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[175]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[176]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[177]</span> 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. +<i>The Kingdomes Weekly Intelligencer</i>, 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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[178]</span> In June she was at Newark, +whence she sent the following letter:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">My Dearest Heart</span>,—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.”</p> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[179]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>The Queen’s escape was followed by the departure of the troops +concentrated at Nottingham.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[180]</span> was fought to the S.E. +of the town, and resulted in the defeat of the Royalists and relief of +Gainsborough.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Annals of Nottinghamshire</i>:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[181]</span> 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.”</p> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[182]</span> 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<a id="FNanchor_50" href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[183]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[184]</span></p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.”</p> +</div> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_51" href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> 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 <i>Weekly +Account</i>, April 16–23, 1645, says:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[185]</span> 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.”</p> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The <i>Weekly Account</i>, 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 <i>The Kingdomes +Weekly Intelligence</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[186]</span> 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 <i>The Diary, or an Exact Journal</i>, October 23–30:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.”</p> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[187]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>“Newark is full of discontent, and most of the gentry wavering, desire +their liberty.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[188]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cornelius Brown, in his <i>History of Newark</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[189]</span>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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_188fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_188fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Siege Plan of Newark.</p> + </div> + +<p>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 <i>Cities Weekly Post</i>, January 6–13, 1646, must +serve to describe one of these frequent sallies:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.”</p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left">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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[190]</span></p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[191]</span> 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 <i>Perfect Occurrences of both Houses +of Parliament, Week ending May 8th</i>, gives the following list of +treators:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“The clerks are Mr. Thos. Bristoe for us, and Mr. Coudy for +them.”</p> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>With the death of the King it is fitting that this short<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[192]</span> 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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[193]</span></p> + +<h2>NOTTINGHAMSHIRE POETS<br> +<span class="subhed smcap">By John Russell, M.A.</span></h2></div> + + +<p class="drop-cap p-left">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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>As for the scenery of the county, though it may seem tame to the +dwellers in the Lake District or the Peak, or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[194]</span> 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:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“Non dubia est Ithaci sapientia, sed tamen optat</div> + <div>Fumum de patriis posse videre focis.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p class="p-left">This pleasure in their home has found plentiful and apt +expression in the county poets. Kirke White sings:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“In woods and glens I love to roam,</div> + <div>When the tired hedger hies him home;</div> + <div>Or by the woodland pool to rest,</div> + <div>When pale the star looks on its breast.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p class="p-left">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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Henry Constable.</span>—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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[195]</span> 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 <i>Idea</i>, Daniel’s <i>Delia</i>, and +other similar collections. In 1584 appeared <i>Diana, or the Excellent +Conceitful Sonnets of H. C. Augmented with divers quatorzains of +honourable and learned personages. Divided into VIII. Decades.</i> And +in 1592 was issued a small quarto volume entitled <i>Diana, the Praises +of his Mistress in certain Sweete Sonnets by H. C.</i> In illustration +of his style may be quoted:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“My Lady’s presence makes the roses red,</div> + <div class="i1">Because to see her lips they blush for shame.</div> + <div class="i1">The Lily’s leaves, for envy, pale became;</div> + <div class="i1">And her white hands in them this envy bred.</div> + <div>The Marigold the leaves abroad doth spread;</div> + <div class="i1">Because the sun’s and her power is the same.</div> + <div class="i1">The Violet of purple colour came,</div> + <div class="i1">Dyed in the blood she made my heart to shed.</div> + <div>In brief, All flowers from her their virtue take;</div> + <div class="i1">From her sweet breath, their sweet smells do proceed;</div> + <div class="i1">The living heat which her eyebeams doth make</div> + <div class="i1">Warmeth the ground, and quickeneth the seed.</div> + <div>The rain, wherewith she watereth the flowers,</div> + <div>Falls from mine eyes, which she dissolves in showers.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>Michael Drayton’s <i>Idea</i> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[196]</span> which Sirena dwelleth, she to whom Nature +lent all that excelleth.”</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“Tagus and Pactolus</div> + <div class="i1">Are to thee debtor,</div> + <div>Not for their gold to us</div> + <div class="i1">Are they the better;</div> + <div>Hence forth of all the rest,</div> + <div class="i1">Be thou the river,</div> + <div>Which as the daintiest</div> + <div class="i1">Puts them down ever.</div> + <div>For as my precious one</div> + <div class="i1">O’er thee doth travel,</div> + <div>She to pearl paragon</div> + <div class="i1">Turneth thy gravel.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gervase Markham</span> [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, <i>The True Tragedy of Herod +and Antipater</i>, and in 1633 he produced another, <i>The Dumbe +Knight</i>. His poem, <i>The Most Honourable Tragedie of Sir Richard +Grenvile, Knight</i>, should be noticed because it probably gave +suggestions to Tennyson in writing his ballad of <i>The Revenge</i>. In +point of length there is a considerable difference between these works +of the two poets. Markham also wrote some religious poems.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">William Sampson</span>, 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, <i>The Vow Breaker, or the Faire<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[197]</span> Maide of Clifton</i>, 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.”</p> + +<p>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,”</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“Which Anagrammized thus, ’tis cleere and pure,</div> + <div>So hee ranne on. His honour now is sure.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thomas Shipman</span> [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.</p> + +<p>He published a rhymed tragedy, <i>Henry the Third of France, stabbed by +a Fryer, with the Fall of Guise</i>, and a volume of Loyal Poems called +<i>Carolina</i>. He made grateful acknowledgments to his friend Abraham +Cowley, and was a poetical friend of the third Lord Byron.</p> + +<p>An address to the reader by Thomas Flatman, in 1682,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[198]</span> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">John Oldham</span> [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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Ode on St. Cecilia’s Day</i>, “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.”</p> + +<p>He wrote Satires and Pindaric Odes, and based his work largely on +imitation of such classical authors as Horace and Juvenal.</p> + +<p>His appreciation of the schoolmaster’s calling was not very high—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“A Dancing-Master shall be better paid,</div> + <div>Though he instructs the Heels, and you the Head.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>Oldham’s works do not allow much satisfactory quotation; but these +lines may be given as a specimen of him:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“’T has ever been the top of my Desires,</div> + <div>The utmost height of which my wish aspires,</div> + <div>That Heaven would bless me with a small estate,</div> + <div>Where I might find a close obscure retreat;</div> + <div>There, free from noise and all ambitious ends,</div> + <div>Enjoy a few choice books, and fewer friends;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[199]</span></div> + <div>Lord of myself, accountable to none,</div> + <div>But to my conscience and my God alone:</div> + <div>There live unthought of, and unheard of die,</div> + <div>And grudge mankind my very memory.</div> + <div>But since the blessing is, I find, too great</div> + <div>For me to wish for, or expect of Fate:</div> + <div>Yet maugre all the spite of destiny,</div> + <div>My thoughts and actions are, and shall be free.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>From the Pindaric Ode to the memory of Mr. Charles Morwent may be +cited:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“Thy soul within such silent pomp did keep,</div> + <div class="i1">As if humanity were lulled asleep,</div> + <div>So gentle was thy pilgrimage beneath</div> + <div class="i1">Time’s unheard feet scarce make less noise,</div> + <div>Or the soft journey which a planet goes.</div> + <div class="i1">Life seemed all calm as its last breath;</div> + <div>A still tranquillity so husht thy breast,</div> + <div class="i1">As if some Halcyon were its guest,</div> + <div class="i2">And there had built her nest:</div> + <div>It hardly now enjoys a greater rest.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>The life of <span class="smcap">Robert Dodsley</span> [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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[200]</span> <i>The Muse in Livery</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>That Dodsley held a respectable position in the world of letters +is evident from the fact that Pope patronised his play of <i>The +Toyshop</i>, which was put on the stage in 1735; while of his tragedy +of <i>Cleon</i> 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.</p> + +<p>As a bookseller and publisher he succeeded well. It was Dodsley who +discerned the merit of Johnson’s <i>London</i> for which he paid +the author ten guineas. Later on he paid fifteen guineas for <i>The +Vanity of Human Wishes</i>, and he was one of the publishers who +bought <i>Rasselas</i>. 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 <i>Annual +Register</i>, 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, <i>The King and the Miller of Mansfield</i>, +and <i>Sir John Cockle at Court</i>, 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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_200fp" style="max-width: 366px"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_200fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p-min sm left"><i>Photo: Mr Emery Walker.</i></p> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Robert Dodsley.</p> + <p class="p0 sm center"><i>By kind permission of</i> <span class="smcap">Yates Thompson</span>, Esq.</p> + </div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[201]</span></p> + +<p>One or two quotations must serve to illustrate his manner of thought +and diction. In the <i>Miller of Mansfield</i> 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.”</p> + +<p>In the same play the countryman describes London:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.”</p> +</div> + +<p>He wrote several songs, one of the best known of which is “The Parting +Kiss.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[202]</span> his +responsibility as author and publisher. His conduct in respect of his +partnership in the <i>London Chronicle</i> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Erasmus Darwin</span> [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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[203]</span> His book, <i>The +Botanic Garden</i>, 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 <i>Metamorphoses</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>One quotation from his lengthy poems must suffice:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“Press’d by the ponderous air the Piston falls</div> + <div>Resistless, sliding through its iron walls;</div> + <div>Quick moves the balanced beam, of giant birth,</div> + <div>Wields his large limbs, and nodding shakes the earth ...</div> + <div>Soon shall thy arm, Unconquered Steam! afar</div> + <div>Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car;</div> + <div>Or on wide-waving wings expanded bear</div> + <div>The flying chariot through the fields of air.</div> + <div>Fair crews triumphant, leaning from above,</div> + <div>Shall wave their fluttering kerchiefs as they move,</div> + <div>Or warrior bands alarm the gaping crowd,</div> + <div>And armies shrink beneath the shadowy cloud.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>Mention should also be made of his <i>Song to May</i>.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">George Gordon Noel, Lord Byron</span> [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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[204]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Childe Harold</i>, impressive alike by the truth and +beauty of its descriptions and the pathos of its reflexions?</p> + +<p>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 <i>English Men of Letters</i>: “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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[205]</span> 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:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“High minds of native pride and force</div> + <div>Most deeply feel thy pangs, Remorse.</div> + <div>Fear for their scourge mean villains have:</div> + <div>Thou art the torturer of the brave.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p class="p-left">Byron also says:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“Full many a stoic eye and aspect stern</div> + <div>Mask hearts where grief hath little left to learn;</div> + <div>And many a withering thought lies hid, not lost,</div> + <div>In smiles that least befit who wear them most.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p class="p-left">“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:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“But I have lived, and have not lived in vain:</div> + <div>My mind may lose its force, my blood its fire,</div> + <div>And my frame perish even in conquering pain;</div> + <div>But there is that within me which shall tire</div> + <div>Torture and time, and breathe when I expire.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[206]</span></p> + +<p>Pollok’s estimate of his powers, given in <i>The Course of Time</i>, +not inadequately sums up his wayward genius:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="i8h">“All passions of all men,</div> + <div>The wild and tame, the gentle and severe;</div> + <div>All thoughts, all maxims, sacred and profane;</div> + <div>All creeds, all seasons, Time, Eternity;</div> + <div>All that was hated, and all that was dear;</div> + <div>All that was hoped, all that was feared by man,</div> + <div>He tossed about, as tempest-withered leaves,</div> + <div>Then smiling, looked upon the wreck he made.</div> + <div>With terror now he froze the cowering blood,</div> + <div>And now dissolved the heart in tenderness:</div> + <div>Yet would not tremble, would not weep himself;</div> + <div>But back into his soul retired, alone,</div> + <div>Dark, sullen, proud, gazing contemptuously</div> + <div>On hearts and passions prostrate at his feet.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>In a paper written for a book on Nottinghamshire, it is not +inappropriate to add that plates to illustrate Murray’s edition of +<i>Childe Harold</i> were taken from sketches supplied by Sir Charles +Fellows, the Lycian traveller, and a member of a well-known Nottingham +family.</p> + +<p>After Byron we may take <span class="smcap">Henry Kirke</span> (or <span class="smcap">Kirk</span>) +<span class="smcap">White</span> [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:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“Unhappy White! while life was in its spring,</div> + <div>And thy young muse just waved her joyous wing,</div> + <div>The spoiler came; and all thy promise fair</div> + <div>Has sought the grave, to sleep for ever there.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[207]</span> irritability is to the body.” Gray’s lines are +particularly applicable to White:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“Fair Science frowned not on his humble birth,</div> + <div>And Melancholy marked him for her own.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“God of the Just, Thou gavest the bitter cup;</div> + <div>I bow to Thy behest, and drink it up.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Clifton Grove</i>, and <i>Christiad</i> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[208]</span></p> + +<p>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—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“Mild offspring of a dark and sullen sire!</div> + <div>Whose modest form, so delicately fine,</div> + <div class="i2">Was nurs’d in whirling storms,</div> + <div class="i2">And cradled in the winds,”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p class="p-left">is taken as symbolical of virtue hardened by “chill adversity.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The first half of the nineteenth century was remarkable for its output +of local writings. In Wylie’s <i>Old and New Nottingham</i>, to which +this paper is much indebted for information and suggestions, it is +said: “Fifteen years ago, <i>i.e.</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[209]</span> much helped and stimulated by such papers +as <i>Dearden’s Miscellany</i>, <i>Sutton’s Review</i>, and the +<i>Nottingham Journal</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“In yonder humble grave there lies a Man.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>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 <i>Annals of +Nottinghamshire</i>. Among his poems are <i>Ireton</i>, dedicated to +Lord John Russell; the <i>Carnival of Death</i>; <i>What is Life?</i> +In business he was first in the stocking-trade, and afterwards a wine +merchant.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[210]</span></p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Philip James Bailey</span> [1816–1902], the author of <i>Festus</i>, +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:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="i2">“My Father! unto thee to whom I owe</div> + <div>All that I am, all that I have and can;</div> + <div class="i2">Who madest me in thyself the sum of man</div> + <div>In all his generous aims and powers to know,</div> + <div class="i2">These first fruits bring I.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>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 <i>Festus</i> 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:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“Life’s more than breath and the quick round of blood:</div> + <div>It is a great spirit and a busy heart,</div> + <div>The coward and small in soul scarce live.</div> + <div>One generous feeling; one great thought; one deed</div> + <div>Of good, ere night, would make life longer seem</div> + <div>Than if each year might number a thousand days,</div> + <div>Spent as is this by nations of mankind.</div> + <div>We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;</div> + <div>In feelings, not in figures on a dial.</div> + <div>We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives</div> + <div>Who thinks most; feels the noblest; acts the best.</div> + <div>And he whose heart beats quickest lives the longest,</div> + <div>Lives in one hour more than in years do some</div> + <div>Whose fat blood sleeps as it slips along their veins.</div> + <div>Life is but a means unto an end; that end,</div> + <div>Beginning, mean and end to all things—God.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_210fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_210fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Philip James Bailey. “Festus.”</p> + <p class="p0 sm center"><i>By kind permission of</i> <span class="smcap">Miss Carey</span>.</p> + </div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[211]</span></p> + +<p class="p-left">We may note also for its quiet humour—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“He sleeps! The fate of many a gracious moral</div> + <div>This to be stranded on a drowsy ear;”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p class="p-left">and this, as indicating Bailey’s aim as a writer—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“Write to the mind and heart, and let the ear</div> + <div>Glean after what it can. The voice of great</div> + <div>Or graceful thoughts is sweeter far than all</div> + <div>Word-music; and great thoughts, like great deeds, need</div> + <div>No trumpet. Never be in haste in writing.</div> + <div>Let that thou utterest be of nature’s flow,</div> + <div>Not Art’s; a fountain’s, not a pump’s.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p class="p-left">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.</p> + +<p>In 1901 Mr. James Ward, of Nottingham, published a pamphlet entitled +<i>Recollections of Philip James Bailey</i>, in which was published +for the first time a poem called “Liberty, a Poetical Protocol,” which +begins:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“Time was when Liberty came down</div> + <div class="i2">From the high seat</div> + <div class="i2">Where, by God’s feet,</div> + <div>With Law, she claims one same and sacred crown;</div> + <div>And to the dominant nations of the earth,</div> + <div class="i2">Massed in the West,</div> + <div>Where most her votaries dwell, who own her worth,</div> + <div class="i2">And love her best</div> + <div class="i2">These words addressed:—”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>Of criticism <i>Festus</i> 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 <i>Prometheus</i> is the +argument of <i>Faust</i> extended from man the individual to man the +species; while <i>Festus</i> is the argument of Job applied in the like +manner to the whole human family; <i>Festus</i> is to the one as Job +to the other, a type of the fall and recovery of all men. The scene +of Faust and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[212]</span> Prometheus is on earth; that of Job and of Festus is +(essentially) in eternity.”</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Luke Booker</span> [1762–1835] and <span class="smcap">Thomas Ragg</span> [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.</p> + +<p>Booker was vicar of Dudley, and besides his poems (“Sacred, Moral, and +Entertaining”), wrote a didactic poem called <i>The Hop Garden</i>, +and a Descriptive and Historical Account of Dudley Castle; this was +published in 1825, and is described as “a good piece of work.”</p> + +<p>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, <i>The Deity</i>, in twelve books, appeared in 1834, +and was called in the <i>Times</i> “a very remarkable production.” In +1855 he produced <i>Creation’s Testimony to its God, the Accordance +of Science, Philosophy and Revelation</i>. Ragg has been termed “the +adopted poet of the Evangelic Muse.”</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Spencer Timothy Hall</span> [1812–1885], “the Sherwood Forester,” had +a remarkable history, and was—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“A man so various that he seemed to be</div> + <div>Not one, but all the world’s epitome.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[213]</span></p> + +<p>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, <i>The Forester’s Offering</i>, <i>The Upland Hamlet, +and other Poems</i>, and <i>The Peak and the Plain</i>. He was born +at Sutton-in-Ashfield, and died at Blackpool. His epitaph on Robert +Millhouse will bear quoting again:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“When Trent shall flow no more, and Blossoms fail</div> + <div>On Sherwood’s plains to scent the spring tide gale,</div> + <div>When the Lark’s lay shall lack its thrilling charm,</div> + <div>And song forget the Patriot’s soul to warm—</div> + <div>When Love o’er youthful hearts hath lost all sway;</div> + <div>His fame may pass, but not till then away:</div> + <div>For Nature taught, and Freedom fired his Rhyme,</div> + <div>And Virtue dedicated it to Time.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p><span class="smcap">William Howitt</span> [1792–1879], <span class="smcap">Mary Howitt</span> [1799–1888], +and <span class="smcap">Richard Howitt</span> [1799–1869] were a remarkable trio, who +among them produced a considerable amount of work of various kinds.</p> + +<p>It seems unnecessary to say much in detail of William and Mary Howitt. +What child is not familiar with <i>The Spider and the Fly</i> and +<i>The Ant and the Cricket</i>? They published together in 1821 the +<i>Forest Minstrel</i>, and in their literary activity they were as +indefatigable as Southey. Among William’s works were <i>Homes and +Haunts of British Poets</i>, the <i>Ruined Abbeys and Castles of Great +Britain</i>, a <i>Popular History of England</i>, and a <i>History of +Priestcraft</i>, 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 <i>Ballads and other +Poems</i>, published in 1847, to “My best counsellor and teacher, +my literary associate for a quarter of a century, my husband and my +friend.”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[214]</span> 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.”</p> + +<p>Richard Howitt published in 1840 <i>The Gipsy King and other Poems</i>, +and in 1868 <i>Wasp’s Honey: or Poetic Gold and Gems of Poetic +Thought</i>. These contain much beautiful verse. The <i>Athenæum</i> +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 <i>On a +Daisy</i>, 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.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Edward Hawksley</span> published in 1829 some poems entitled +<i>Colonel Hutchinson and other Poems</i>. In a poem on the Trent he +makes special mention of Thomas Bailey—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“Last, Bailey tuned his sedgy reed,</div> + <div>And gave thee, rolling Trent, thy meed.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>In 1825 <span class="smcap">Mary Ann Cursham</span> produced a long poem on <i>Martin +Luther</i>, in three parts, containing altogether well over two +thousand lines; and from Southwell, in 1844, came <i>The Eastern +Princess</i> and a drama entitled <i>Walberg, or Temptation</i>, by +<span class="smcap">Sophia Mary Smith</span>. The publisher was W. Bunny. <span class="smcap">Henry +Hogg’s</span> verses, published in 1852, have a pleasant smoothness and +melody due to a close imitation of his poetic master, Tennyson, who at +that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[215]</span> 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 <i>Maud</i>.” This artisan, it appears, +had sent Tennyson his poems beforehand to read.</p> + +<p>In illustration of Hogg’s style may be quoted these lines:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“Till Knowledge from the statelier ranks</div> + <div class="i1">Shall come down unto earth, and lend</div> + <div>The faith to look beyond those banks</div> + <div class="i1">That skirt the life which has no end.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Whence some who look see nought but night,</div> + <div class="i1">And some feel nought but idle fears;</div> + <div>And grope in darkness for the light,</div> + <div class="i1">And waste a useless life in tears.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>And some see lights that burn afar,</div> + <div class="i1">And hear a still voice wisely teach;</div> + <div>And live, and grasp their better star,</div> + <div class="i1">And rise on stronger wings, and reach</div> + <div>Unto the foremost fruits of time</div> + <div>Where Wisdom walketh, gathering Grace,</div> + <div>And swelling heaven-ward.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Edwin Atherstone</span> [1788–1872] was a voluminous writer. Among +his works were the <i>Fall of Nineveh</i> in thirty books; <i>Israel +in Egypt</i>, containing nearly twenty thousand lines; and the <i>Last +Days of Herculaneum</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>In 1859 <span class="smcap">Joseph Truman</span> published a volume of verse “inscribed +to the author of <i>Festus</i> by his friend J. T.” The poems are +pleasant reading and the work of a thoughtful man.</p> + +<p>In some lines on Fox How we have:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“Reverential earnest Arnold,</div> + <div>Warmly human, wisely good;</div> + <div>O! for more of Arnold-spirit,</div> + <div>In our age’s feverish blood!<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[216]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>More of conscience in the Nation,</div> + <div>More of Manhood in the Man,</div> + <div>Statutes in a fairer fashion,</div> + <div>Churches on a broader plan!”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p class="p-left">And these lines give the spirit of the writer’s creed:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“Sooner or later all souls shall be saved,</div> + <div>Else God’s love is defeated, or not rich</div> + <div>Like God’s, and still the pleading Christ must stand</div> + <div>In human earnest raising unto Him</div> + <div>Pathetic eyes dim with eternal tears.</div> + <div>For life is like a circle drawn by God,</div> + <div>And closes in the place it came from—heaven.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>Did space allow, many beautiful thoughts might be set down here from +the poems of <span class="smcap">H. Septimus Sutton</span> [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 <i>Alliance News</i> 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 <i>Clifton +Grove Garland</i>.</p> + +<p>The “modest” White—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“A youth, slow pacing, unawares impelled</div> + <div>By blind thought,”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p class="p-left">who</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“Lifted from the grass his meditative eyes”;</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p class="p-left">Philip James Bailey, who</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“Came down the grove, dark-haired, deep-eyed,</div> + <div>And groundward looking; but I will be bound,</div> + <div>Not seeing aught he looked at on the ground”;</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p class="p-left">Miller, “the basket-maker”; Hall “with many a merry +smile.”</p> + +<p>Sutton’s poems won the appreciation of such judges as Francis William +Newman, Frances Power Cobbe, Christina Rossetti, and George Macdonald.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[217]</span></p> + +<p>One of his most exquisite productions is <i>Rose’s Diary</i>. What can +be more beautiful than these lines?—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <h3>“SORROW</h3> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“The flowers live by the tears that fall</div> + <div class="i1">From the sad face of the skies,</div> + <div>And life would have no joys at all</div> + <div class="i1">Were there no watery eyes.</div> + <div>Love thou thy sorrow; grief shall bring</div> + <div class="i1">Its own excuse in after years;</div> + <div>The rainbow!—see how fair a thing</div> + <div class="i1">God hath built up from tears.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p class="p-left">And to the question, “Is life worth living?” hear +Sutton’s answer:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“How beautiful it is to be alive!</div> + <div>To wake each morn as if the Maker’s grace</div> + <div>Did us afresh from nothingness derive</div> + <div>That we might sing ‘How happy is our case!</div> + <div>How beautiful it is to be alive!’</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>To read in God’s great book, until we feel</div> + <div>Love for the love that gave it: then to kneel</div> + <div>Close unto Him Whose truth our souls will shrive,</div> + <div>While every moment’s joy doth more reveal</div> + <div>How beautiful it is to be alive.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Rather to go without what might increase</div> + <div>Our worldly standing, than our souls deprive</div> + <div>Of frequent speech with God, or than to cease</div> + <div>To feel, through having wasted health or peace,</div> + <div>How beautiful it is to be alive.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Not to forget, when pain and grief draw nigh,</div> + <div>Into the ocean of time past to dive</div> + <div>For memories of God’s mercies, or to try</div> + <div>To bear all sweetly, hoping still to cry</div> + <div>‘How beautiful it is to be alive!’</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Thus ever towards man’s height of nobleness</div> + <div>Strive still some new progression to contrive;</div> + <div>Till, just as any other friend’s, we press</div> + <div>Death’s hand; and, having died, feel none the less</div> + <div>How beautiful it is to be alive.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[218]</span></p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">William Frank Smith</span> [1836–1876]. In 1864 a small volume was +published by Smith, Elder & Co., <i>Poems by William Frank Smith</i>. +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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The poems are sixteen in all, the most important being a +trilogy—<i>Saint Bruno the Believer</i>, <i>Spinoza the Thinker</i>, +and <i>Meister Cornelius the Worker</i>. 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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Saint Bruno</i>:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“But soon the music filled my thirsting ears</div> + <div class="i1">With richer harmonies,</div> + <div>The movement swifter grew, and then I saw</div> + <div class="i1">A curtain rise.</div> + <div>With sound of tinkling anklet bells there came</div> + <div class="i1">A train of laughing girls,</div> + <div>Dark-eyed, their braided raven tresses twined</div> + <div class="i1">With wreaths of pearls;</div> + <div>The silken rustling folds of Eastern robes</div> + <div class="i1">Half hid the glancing white<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[219]</span></div> + <div>Of limbs divinely moulded; noiselessly</div> + <div class="i1">As flakes of light</div> + <div>From boughs in sunlight waved, their arching feet</div> + <div class="i1">Beat on the velvet ground</div> + <div>In time to that enchanted melody</div> + <div class="i1">That breathed around.</div> + <div>And sweetly chimed the silver anklet bells</div> + <div class="i1">While hand in hand they came,</div> + <div>Now bending towards me, now retiring poised</div> + <div class="i1">Like waving flame;</div> + <div>But still their dark enticing eyes were fixed</div> + <div class="i1">On mine unceasingly,</div> + <div>I might not turn away, I could not shun</div> + <div class="i1">Their witchery.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>As his death draws near, Spinoza soliloquises:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“The polyp dies, his coral house remains,</div> + <div>The fragile ocean creatures melt away,</div> + <div>Their hollow spiral shells remain, perchance</div> + <div>For cycles hidden down beneath the earth.</div> + <div>I also pass away, and men no more</div> + <div>Shall hear my voice, but still my work remains.</div> + <div>In ages yet to come, high souls shall dwell</div> + <div>Within my palace, echoing my name</div> + <div>With reverence,</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="i4h">As one that draweth near</div> + <div>A fall of mighty waters in a pass,</div> + <div>What time the vale becomes a sunless chasm,</div> + <div>The overhanging rocks around him close,</div> + <div>He hears the awful thunder-voice more loud</div> + <div>Each step; even so, while now I draw more near</div> + <div>The awful presence, all my human life</div> + <div>Grows dark and narrow, all my soul is weak</div> + <div>With solemn awe,—with awe, but not with fear.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>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:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“The strong right hand hath fallen from the standard,</div> + <div>To him, a man, was given to see the long</div> + <div>And dark world drama with unclouded eyes</div> + <div>Even as a God. Through centuries of wrong,</div> + <div>And sounding wars, and splendid tyrannies,</div> + <div>He saw the growth of thought august and strong,</div> + <div>The slow advance to mightier destinies.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[220]</span></p> + +<p>Of Thomas Miller a good notice appeared in the literary supplement of +the <i>Nottingham Daily Guardian</i> of the date December 18, 1906. +Only passing mention can be made of John Hicklin, editor and part +proprietor of the <i>Nottingham Journal</i>; of Ann Taylor, afterwards +Mrs. Gilbert, of Ongar [1782–1866], a well-known writer of hymns and +poems for children; of Samuel Collinson, whose <i>Autumn Leaves</i>, +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, <i>Ye Faire Maide of Clifton</i>.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“One blessing on ourselves we may bestow:</div> + <div>’Tis peace: and Virtue is our peace below:</div> + <div>No power hast thou where Wisdom’s altars rise;</div> + <div>We, Fortune! build thee shrines, we station in the skies.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>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:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“Thrice blest the man, whose ruthless ears</div> + <div class="i1">Heed not the struggling mother’s moans:</div> + <div>Who from the breast her infant tears,</div> + <div class="i1">And dashes on the bleeding stones.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p><span class="smcap">George Hickling</span>, 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[221]</span> 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: <i>The Pleasures of Life, and other Poems</i>, +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, <i>Echoes from Nature; or the +Song of the Woodland Muse, a Poem for the People</i>, 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.</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <h3>“WHAT IS LOVE?</h3> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“Ah, What is love? No mortal tongue can tell:</div> + <div>It is the power that saves the earth from hell!</div> + <div>It is the spring of many a noble deed,</div> + <div>It shines refulgent in the Christian’s creed;</div> + <div>It smiles in every bursting bud and flower,</div> + <div>It has a voice in every passing hour;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[222]</span></div> + <div>It compasses the whole creation round,</div> + <div>And by its tendrils hearts to hearts are bound.</div> + <div>’Tis the pulsation of the universe,</div> + <div>It counteracts the evils of the curse;</div> + <div>The golden cord that pendent hangs from heaven;</div> + <div>The mystic ladder-way to mortals given;</div> + <div>It is the breath of blessed spirit throngs</div> + <div>When round the earth they breathe eternal songs.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p class="p-left">The <i>Nottingham Athenæum</i> said of him that “he was the truest poet +in our locality, and his present volume bears us out in our assertion”; +and the <i>London Athenæum</i>: “Some of Mr. Hickling’s poems are +excellent, and show great poetic power”; while the <i>Telegraph</i> +describes the verse as a pearl “as pure and priceless as any of the +glittering gems that Nottingham genius has hitherto offered.”</p> + +<p>In 1859 James Blackwood, of Paternoster Row, published a small volume +of poems entitled, <i>The Flirting Page, a Legend of Normandy, +and other Poems</i>, by Charles Dranfield and George Denham +Halifax. “Charles Dranfield” was the pen-name of <span class="smcap">Richard Foster +Sketchley</span>, 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 <i>Punch</i> for many years. A +memorial notice of him was contributed to the <i>Magnus Magazine</i> 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 <i>Punch</i>, He +died at Seaford in Sussex, and was buried there.</p> + +<p>His chief poem in the volume mentioned above is <i>The Flirting +Page</i>, in the style of the <i>Ingoldsby Legends</i>. It<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[223]</span> 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 <i>The Flirting Page</i>, will illustrate the author’s +gift of rhyme:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“Leave business, and bullion, and British Bank bubbles</div> + <div>For woods and plantations, for fallows and stubbles:</div> + <div>Leave barracks and chambers, the clubs, and ‘the House’</div> + <div>For the mountains and moor, for the deer and the grouse,</div> + <div>For jungles and prairies, and lonely savannahs,</div> + <div>With rifles and pale ale, and lots of ‘Havanahs’;</div> + <div>Leave the porter of Barclay, the water of Thames,</div> + <div>For vin ordinaire and the waters of Ems:</div> + <div>Leave station and bridges, by railway and steamer,</div> + <div>For Keswick or Conway, for Antwerp or Lima;</div> + <div class="i2">For the Rhine or the Rhone,</div> + <div class="i2">Or the winding Saone:</div> + <div>For the valley of Chamouni, bent on pic-nicing</div> + <div>On the top of Mont Blanc with champagne and chicken;</div> + <div>For Rome to buy bronzes and gaze at the Pope;</div> + <div>For Naples whose king’s not so good as its soap;</div> + <div>For the Dove or the Danube, for Malvern or Mecca;</div> + <div>For the banks of the Wye, or the banks of the Neckar.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p class="p-left">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)”:—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“In the carved chancel stalls</div> + <div class="i1">Knelt a maiden in the sun;</div> + <div>And the marble on the walls</div> + <div class="i1">Told of fields her fathers won:</div> + <div>She was pleading in her love</div> + <div class="i1">That her lover might not die:</div> + <div>And the angels wept above</div> + <div class="i1">For they heard his dying cry.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="spacing">****</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Underneath the pollard oaks,</div> + <div class="i1">Clustered on a grassy knoll</div> + <div>Where the woodman’s ringing strokes</div> + <div class="i1">Never slash the slender bole;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[224]</span></div> + <div>Meeting death among his men,</div> + <div class="i1">Grasping still his father’s sword,</div> + <div>Never more to charge again,</div> + <div class="i1">Lay the loved one on the sward.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p class="p-left">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,</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft hangingindent">“Where the rectory roses cluster, where the whitened cottage peers,</div> + <div class="hangingindent">In the old manorial mansion, eyes were filled with thankful tears.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>In 1810, <i>Besthorpe, a Descriptive Poem by a Young Native</i>, was +printed by Hage. Charles Snart, solicitor, angler, and poet, brought +out a <i>Selection of Poems</i>, containing several pieces by himself. +They have many allusions to the Trent and the writer’s love of the rod +and line.</p> + +<p>In 1823 John Atkin, of North Muskham, published <i>Jonah Tink</i>, +the title being an anagrammatic transposition of the letters of +the writer’s name. In 1830 appeared <i>Cambria, Raymond, and other +Poems</i>, by a Lady; and in the same year <i>The Power of Gold</i>, by +H. N. Bousfield, undergraduate of Queen’s College, Cambridge; and in +1862 <i>Sonnets</i>, by Thomas Lester, a schoolmaster at Ossington. At +an earlier date (1793) Allen and Ridge had produced <i>Miscellaneous +Poems</i>, by R. P. Shilton.</p> + +<p><i>Jonah Tink</i> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[225]</span> 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,</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="i3">“I should ’tis sure</div> + <div>Like S—th—y gain a sinecure,”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p class="p-left">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.”</p> + +<p>Bousfield’s <i>Power of Gold</i> 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.”</p> + +<p>Other local verse-writers who in this paper must be only names +are:—Matthew Unwin [1755–1786], Sidney<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[226]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>In conclusion, this paper lays no claim to exhaustive treatment of +its subject, either in respect of the writers<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[227]</span> 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—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="i3">“Quas aut incuria fudit,</div> + <div>Aut humana parum cavit natura.”</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[228]</span></p> + +<h2>NOTTINGHAM<br> +<span class="subhed smcap">By W. P. W. Phillimore</span></h2></div> + + +<p class="drop-cap p-left">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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[229]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[230]</span> Cow Lane and Girdlesmith +Gate were renamed Clumber Street and Pelham Street.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[231]</span> 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 <i>Life</i> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[232]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>In the early nineteenth century began the building of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[233]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The population of Nottingham, less than 25,000 at the end<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[234]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[235]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[236]</span> later times as the +Hethbeth bridge, a name of which the origin has not been satisfactorily +determined.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>It is not altogether easy to determine what these two bridges were. +Between our modern Trent bridge and the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[237]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[238]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[239]</span></p> + +<h2>SOUTHWELL<br> +<span class="subhed smcap">By W. E. Hodgson</span><br> +<span class="subhed1"><i>Priest-Vicar of Wells Cathedral, and late Assistant-Curate of +Southwell Minster</i></span></h2></div> + + +<p class="drop-cap p-left">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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The history of Southwell is known to reach back to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[240]</span> 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 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[241]</span></span></p> + +<p>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,<a id="FNanchor_52" href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> 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,<a id="FNanchor_53" href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> but Newark seems +always to have belonged to the Archbishops of York, and so was +probably in Lindsey.<a id="FNanchor_54" href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> 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.<a id="FNanchor_55" href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[242]</span> 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 +<i>Cartularium Saxonicum</i>.</p> + +<p>(1) A grant of land in Canterbury, <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 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.)</p> + +<p>(2) A grant by Athelstan to the church of St. Mary, Lyminge, of land at +Vlaham or Elham in Kent, <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 964. In this charter Lyminge is +described as the place “ubi sepulta est sancta Eadburga.” (B.C.S. 1126.)</p> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_56" href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> +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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[243]</span> 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,<a id="FNanchor_57" href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> corresponds roughly to the +territory now belonging to the two parishes of Southwell, St. Mary and +Holy Trinity.<a id="FNanchor_58" href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a></p> + +<p>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<a id="FNanchor_59" href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> 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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[244]</span> 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<a id="FNanchor_60" href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> (1070–1100). Also Archbishop Ealdred (1060–1070) is +recorded as having bought land to “found prebends” at Southwell.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[245]</span> 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.<a id="FNanchor_61" href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> 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.<a id="FNanchor_62" href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> 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,<a id="FNanchor_63" href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> “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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[246]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.”<a id="FNanchor_64" href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> Though Thomas, who died in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">[247]</span> 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 <i>Historia Regum</i> 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 (<i>consepta</i>) 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.</p> + +<p>We may also note an incident recorded in the continuation of the +Chronicle of Florence of Worcester (<i>sub anno</i> 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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">[248]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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;<a id="FNanchor_65" href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> 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 <i>c.</i> 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.<a id="FNanchor_66" href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> Of this church the nave and +transepts remain to-day as a fitting memorial to Thomas of Beverley.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Liber Albus</i> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">[249]</span> 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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">[250]</span> +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 <i>History of Southwell</i> (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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">[251]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">[252]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">[253]</span> 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.<a id="FNanchor_67" href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> 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.<a id="FNanchor_68" href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> On April +4, 1194, the Monday<span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">[254]</span> 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.<a id="FNanchor_69" href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">[255]</span> 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.”<a id="FNanchor_70" href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">[256]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">[257]</span> surroundings, and does not harmonise with the rest of the +nave.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.”<a id="FNanchor_71" href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">[258]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">[259]</span> +dioceses dwindled down to six, and Southwell was not among the chosen +few.</p> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_72" href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> 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.”<a id="FNanchor_73" href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> 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.”<a id="FNanchor_74" href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> 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.<a id="FNanchor_75" href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> But the position of the Chapter +was still<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">[260]</span> 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.”<a id="FNanchor_76" href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> 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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">[261]</span> 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.<a id="FNanchor_77" href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">[262]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>A quotation from Thoroton’s <i>Nottinghamshire</i> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">[263]</span> 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.”<a id="FNanchor_78" href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>After the troubles of the Commonwealth a more<span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">[264]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">[265]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">[266]</span> 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.”<a id="FNanchor_79" href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> It is interesting to remember that +Mr. Gladstone, then the young Tory member of Parliament for Newark +(in which division Southwell lay), spoke very<span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">[267]</span> strongly in the House +against the destruction of the Chapter.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_268">[268]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">[269]</span> 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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">[270]</span></p> + +<h2>NOTTINGHAMSHIRE SPIRES<br> +<span class="subhed smcap">By Harry Gill</span></h2></div> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“And O, ye swelling hills and spacious plains!</div> + <div>Besprent from shore to shore with steeple towers,</div> + <div>And spires whose silent finger points to heaven;”</div> + <div class="right">—<span class="smcap">Wordsworth.</span></div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + + +<p class="drop-cap p-left">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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">[271]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_80" href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">[272]</span> (Horse haulage was +not sanctioned by Act of Parliament until the middle of the eighteenth +century.)</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_272"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_272.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 center sm">Fig. 1.</p> + </div> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_81" href="#Footnote_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></p> + +<p>The origin of the spire grew out of the necessity for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">[273]</span> 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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_273"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_273.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 sm center">Fig. 2.</p> + </div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">[274]</span> importance to the whole fabric. +At Bradmore, for instance, where only the steeple remains,<a id="FNanchor_82" href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> 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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_274"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_274.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 sm center">Fig. 3.</p> + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_275"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_275.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 sm center">Fig. 4.</p> + </div> + +<p>The <i>stone</i> 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;<a id="FNanchor_83" href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">[275]</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">[276]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>Kirkby-in-Ashfield has a spire similar to the one at Gotham, but it is +modern, having been entirely rebuilt fifty years ago.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>broach</i>, 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.”</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_277afp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_277afp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Burton Joyce.</p> + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_277bfp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_277bfp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Normanton-on-Soar.</p> + </div> + + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_277cfp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_277cfp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Wollaton.</p> + </div> + + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_277dfp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_277dfp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Edwinstowe.</p> + <p class="p0 sm center"><i>From photographs</i> by Mr. <span class="smcap">H. Gill</span>.</p> + </div> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">[277]</span>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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_277"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_277.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 center">NORMANTON =ON= SOAR</p> + <p class="p0 sm center">Fig. 5.</p> + </div> + +<p>At Ratcliffe-on-Soar a further development in the evolution of spire +design may be seen. An Early English tower (<i>c.</i> 1200) was +surmounted a century later by a broach spire of similar construction +and material to the one at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">[278]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_278"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_278.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 sm center">Fig. 6.—Ratcliffe-on-Soar.</p> + </div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><i>Willoughby-on-the-Wolds.</i>—Similar in all respects to +Normanton-on-Soar. Recently restored.</p> + +<p><i>Burton Joyce</i>, (<i>c.</i> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">[279]</span> 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.</p> + +<p><i>Maplebeck.</i>—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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_279"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_279.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 sm center">Fig. 7.</p> + </div> + +<p><i>Mansfield Woodhouse.</i>—This steeple was built to replace a timber +spire which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">[280]</span> 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.</p> + +<p><i>Holme</i> (<i>Newark</i>) 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.</p> + +<p><i>Edwinstowe.</i>—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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">[281]</span> 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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_281"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_281.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 sm center">Fig. 8.</p> + <p class="p0 sm center">SQUINCHES</p> + <p class="p0 sm center">EDWINSTOWE</p> + </div> + +<p><i>Misterton.</i>—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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">[282]</span> 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.</p> + +<p><i>Gedling.</i>—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 <i>buttresses</i> +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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_282afp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_282afp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Gedling.</p> + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_282bfp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_282bfp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">West Retford.</p> + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_283"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_283.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 sm center">Fig. 9.—Gedling.</p> + </div> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">[283]</span>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">[284]</span> 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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_284fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_284fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 sm center">NEWARK.    BINGHAM.</p> + </div> + +<p>Spire-building reached its highest perfection in this county in the +middle of the fourteenth century, when the steeple of the parish church +at <i>Newark</i> was completed (<i>c.</i> 1356). The lower portion of +the tower was built about <span class="pagenum" id="Page_285">[285]</span>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.</p> + +<p><i>Bingham.</i>—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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_286">[286]</span> 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.<a id="FNanchor_84" href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a></p> + +<p><i>Whatton-in-the-Vale.</i>—This steeple differs from its neighbour +at Bingham, in that it stands above the crossing of a cruciform +church.<a id="FNanchor_85" href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> 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.</p> + +<p><i>Thoroton.</i>—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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_287">[287]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><i>Wollaton</i> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_288">[288]</span></p> + +<p>The following is a complete list of similar spires:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p><i>Attenborough.</i>—Early fifteenth century. Steeple built of +millstone grit.</p> + +<p><i>Barton.</i>—Early fifteenth century. Steeple built of +millstone grit.</p> + +<p><i>Cotgrave.</i>—Early fifteenth century. Plain octagonal spire +without lucarnes, built of millstone grit.</p> + +<p><i>East Leake.</i>—Fifteenth century spire on Early English +tower. Built of millstone grit.</p> + +<p><i>Epperstone.</i>—Fourteenth or early fifteenth century +steeple, built of local waterstone. The top portion of the spire +was renewed in 1820 with Mansfield stone.</p> + +<p><i>Holme Pierrepont.</i>—Fifteenth century. Built of Gedling +stone.</p> + +<p><i>Lowdham.</i>—Late twelfth century tower, originally +detached; fourteenth century spire.</p> + +<p><i>Mansfield</i> (St. Peter’s).—Norman tower (two stages). +Belfry stage and parapets fourteenth century; spire later. +Magnesian limestone.</p> + +<p><i>Stapleford.</i>—Tower, <i>c.</i> 1250. Parapets and spire +fifteenth century. Local skerry.</p> + +<p><i>Sutton-in-Ashfield.</i>—Steeple commenced in 1390–91, +completed 1399 by the donor, John de Sutton, Mayor and Member of +Parliament for Lincoln. Local magnesian limestone.</p> + +<p><i>Sutton Bonington</i> (St. Michael’s).—Steeple fifteenth +century. Castle Donnington stone.</p> + +<p><i>Tuxford.</i>—Early English tower in lower part, upper +portion and spire <i>c.</i> 1357. Skerry.</p> + +<p><i>Weston.</i>—Repaired 1910.</p> +</div> + +<p><i>Wysall.</i>—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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_289">[289]</span> 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.</p> + +<p><i>Nottingham</i> (St. Peter’s, <i>c.</i> 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.<a id="FNanchor_86" href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> 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.”</p> + +<p><i>Bunny</i> 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.</p> + +<p><i>Balderton.</i>—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.</p> + +<p><i>West Retford.</i>—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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_290">[290]</span> 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.</p> + +<p><i>Scrooby.</i>—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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_290afp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_290afp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Thoroton.</p> + </div> + + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_290bfp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_290bfp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Keyworth.</p> + </div> + + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_290cfp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_290cfp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Car Colston.</p> + </div> + + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_290dfp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_290dfp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Upton.</p> + </div> + +<p><i>Keyworth.</i>—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 <span class="pagenum" id="Page_291">[291]</span>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_292">[292]</span> the whole fabric suggests a +French origin. Probably 1400 is an approximate date.</p> + +<p><i>Car Colston.</i>—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.</p> + +<p><i>Upton.</i>—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.</p> + +<p>There is a diminutive steeple at Cossall of the ordinary fifteenth +century type. This church was entirely rebuilt in 1842.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_293">[293]</span> 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.</p> + + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <h3>VANES.</h3> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="ileft">“Lo, on the top of each aerial spire,</div> + <div>What seems a star by day, so high and bright,</div> + <div>It quivers from afar in golden light;</div> + <div>But ’tis a form of earth, though touched with fire</div> + <div>Celestial, raised in other days to tell</div> + <div>How, when they tired of prayer, apostles fell.”</div> + <div class="right">—<i>Lyra Apostolica.</i></div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_293"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_293.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 sm center">Fig. 10.—Bradmore.</p> + </div> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_294">[294]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_295">[295]</span></p> + +<h2>THE LOW SIDE WINDOWS OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE<br> +<span class="subhed smcap">By Harry Gill</span></h2></div> + + +<p class="drop-cap p-left">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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_296">[296]</span> the chancel was +rebuilt (<i>c.</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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: (<i>a</i>) shuttered openings; +(<i>b</i>) glazed openings.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_296fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_296fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Laxton.</p> + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_297afp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_297afp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Costock.</p> + </div> + + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_297bfp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_297bfp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Haughton.</p> + <p class="p0 sm center"><i>From photographs by</i> Mr. <span class="smcap">H. Gill</span>.</p> + </div> + +<p>(<i>a</i>) <i>Shuttered Openings.</i>—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 <span class="pagenum" id="Page_297">[297]</span>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 <i>in situ</i>, 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.”</p> + +<p>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>i.e.</i> at Easter, +Whitsuntide, Christmas, and during the patronal and dedication +festivals.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_298">[298]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Hucknall—It. ij hand bells, j sacring bell.</div> + <div class="i4h">Itm in the stepell, iij small bells.</div> + <div>Bingham—It. iiij belles and ij hande belles.</div> + <div>Whatton in the Vale—Itm iiij belles in ye styple.</div> + <div class="i9">Itm ij hand belles.</div> + <div class="i9">Itm one lytle saunce bell.</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>Regarding the use of these bells, the “instructions” issued by the +bishops are very precise:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> +</div> + +<p>I am disposed to think that all the shuttered openings in parish +churches were made for the purpose of ringing the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_299">[299]</span> sacring bell, and I +would like to draw attention at this point to two facts which help to +confirm this opinion:—</p> + +<p>(1) Corroboration of dates.</p> + +<p class="hangingindent1">(<i>a</i>) 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</p> + +<p class="hangingindent1">(<i>b</i>) All the shuttered openings in the county were +made between    1225–1350</p> + +<p class="hangingindent1">(<i>c</i>) The instructions as to ringing the sacring +bell in the chancel were all issued between    1224–1300</p> + +<p>(2) A peculiar example.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_300">[300]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_87" href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_301">[301]</span></p> + +<p>Shuttered openings may be seen at the following churches:—</p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">Barnby-in-the-Willows</td> + <td class="cht1">c. 1300</td> + <td class="cht1">Both sides.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr">(<i>a</i>)</td> + <td class="cht">Basford</td> + <td class="cht1">13th cent.</td> + <td class="cht1">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">Burton Joyce</td> + <td class="cht1">14th cent.</td> + <td class="cht1">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">South Collingham.</td> + <td class="cht1">14th cent.</td> + <td class="cht1">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">Costock</td> + <td class="cht1">14th cent.</td> + <td class="cht1">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">Flintham</td> + <td class="cht1">13th cent.</td> + <td class="cht1">Both sides.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">Gedling</td> + <td class="cht1">13th cent.</td> + <td class="cht1">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr">(<i>a</i>)</td> + <td class="cht">Halam</td> + <td class="cht1">14th cent.</td> + <td class="cht1">N.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">Haughton Chapel</td> + <td class="cht1">ruined</td> + <td class="cht1">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">Keyworth</td> + <td class="cht1">13th cent.</td> + <td class="cht1">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">Laxton</td> + <td class="cht1">14th cent.</td> + <td class="cht1">S.E.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">Low Marnham</td> + <td class="cht1">14th cent.</td> + <td class="cht1">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">Normanton-on-Soar</td> + <td class="cht1">13th cent.</td> + <td class="cht1">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr">(<i>a</i>)</td> + <td class="cht">Nuthall</td> + <td class="cht1">14th cent.</td> + <td class="cht1">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">Orston</td> + <td class="cht1">13th cent.</td> + <td class="cht1">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">Stanford-on-Soar</td> + <td class="cht1">14th cent.</td> + <td class="cht1">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">Trowell</td> + <td class="cht1">13th cent.</td> + <td class="cht1">N.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr">(<i>a</i>)</td> + <td class="cht" colspan="3">These are built up, thus making classification somewhat uncertain.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) <i>Glazed Openings.</i>—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>i.e.</i> 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.<a id="FNanchor_88" href="#Footnote_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_302">[302]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_303">[303]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_304">[304]</span> conformity with ancient custom, and also probably because the S.E. +window has had to be kept high up to clear the sedilia (Plumtree).</p> + +<p>Examples of windows for lighting purposes may be found at:—</p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 50em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht">Balderton</td> + <td class="cht1">15th cent.</td> + <td class="cht">insertion in 13th cent.</td> + <td class="cht">South side.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Barton-in-Fabis</td> + <td class="cht1">14th cent.</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="cht">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Car Colston</td> + <td class="cht1">14th cent.</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="cht">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Cropwell Bishop</td> + <td class="cht1">13th cent.</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="cht">N.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">East Bridgeford</td> + <td class="cht1">13th cent.</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="cht">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">East Leake</td> + <td class="cht1">13th cent.</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="cht">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Kneesall</td> + <td class="cht1">15th cent.</td> + <td class="cht">insertion in 13th cent.</td> + <td class="cht">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Laneham</td> + <td class="cht1">15th cent.</td> + <td class="cht">insertion in 12th cent.</td> + <td class="cht">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Lowdham</td> + <td class="cht1">13th cent.</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="cht">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Normanton-on-Trent</td> + <td class="cht1">14th cent.</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="cht">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Oxton</td> + <td class="cht1" colspan="2">Late insertion in 12th cent. work</td> + <td class="cht">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Plumtree</td> + <td class="cht1">15th cent.</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="cht">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">South Muskham</td> + <td class="cht1" colspan="2">Late insertion in 13th cent. work</td> + <td class="cht">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Sutton Bonington St. Ann’s</td> + <td class="cht1">14th cent.</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="cht">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Upton</td> + <td class="cht1">14th cent.</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="cht">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">West Leake</td> + <td class="cht1">14th cent.</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="cht">S.W.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Wilford</td> + <td class="cht1">15th cent.</td> + <td class="cht"></td> + <td class="cht">S.W.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>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.</p> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_305afp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_305afp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Car Colston.</p> + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_305bfp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_305bfp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Linby.</p> + <p class="p0 sm center"><i>From photographs by</i> Mr. <span class="smcap">H. Gill</span>.</p> + </div> + +<p>At Linby there is a small squint at the east side of the <span class="pagenum" id="Page_305">[305]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_306">[306]</span></p> + +<h2>THE NOTTINGHAM MINT<br> +<span class="subhed smcap">By Frank E. Burton, F.R.N.S., J.P.</span></h2></div> + + +<p class="drop-cap p-left">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.</p> + +<p><i>The Nottingham Mint.</i>—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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_307">[307]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><i>The Newark Mint.</i>—As far as is known, only one Saxon King is +supposed to have struck money here, and only two Kings of later periods.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_308">[308]</span></p> + +<p>Henry II.—It is extremely doubtful if any coins of this reign were +struck at Newark.</p> + +<p><i>The Torksey Mint.</i>—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.</p> + +<p><i>The Shelford Mint.</i>—Earl Sitric, who was killed in the battle of +Ashdown, <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 870, is understood to have struck coins here.</p> + +<p>The first coin illustrated is that of Athelstan, 925–940. (No. 1.)</p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Edelnod on Snotenceham.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Edelnod on Snotenceham.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>The “S” in the name of Nottingham was first dropped in the foundation +charter of Lenton Priory about the year 1108.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_309fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_309fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Coins: Athelstan to Stephen.</p> + <p class="p0 sm center"><i>From photographs by</i> Mr. <span class="smcap">S. Barlow Vines</span>.</p> + </div> + +<p>Athelstan was the first monarch who paid any considerable attention +to his coinage, and it is from his <span class="pagenum" id="Page_309">[309]</span>laws that we first obtain any +authentic information about the mints.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The names of sixty different towns are known where money was minted.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<p class="p1"><span class="smcap">Ethelred II.</span>, 979–1016, issued money from Nottingham.</p> + +<p>The sceptre first appeared on the coins of Ethelred in front of the +profile, and this usage in subsequent reigns became general.</p> + + +<p class="p1 p-left"><span class="smcap">Canute</span>, 1016–1035.</p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Cnut recx. Head crowned to left with sceptre.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Blamiam O Sno. (No. 2.)</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht2"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht2">Cnut recx a. Head to left having on +a conical helmet, with sceptre.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Bruninc on Snoti. (No. 3.)</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht2"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht2">Cnut recx a. Head to left with +sceptre; on head is a conical helmet.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_310">[310]</span></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Blacaman on Sno. (No. 4.)</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<p class="p1 p-left"><span class="smcap">Harold I.</span>, 1035–1040.</p> + +<p>Two coins of this reign are known with the reading: Harold Rex and the +Moneyer Blacaman or Sacgrim. The abbreviated name was Sn.</p> + + +<p class="p1 p-left"><span class="smcap">Hardicanute</span>, 1040–1042.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + + +<p class="p1 p-left"><span class="smcap">Edward the Confessor</span>, 1042–1066.</p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Edpard Re.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Blaceh on snotine. (No. 5.)</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>On all coins the Saxon “P” is used for “W” with one or two rare +exceptions.</p> + +<p>His coins are very varied. On some of them the head<span class="pagenum" id="Page_311">[311]</span> is bearded. They +vary exceedingly in size and weight, but all appear to have had the +same nominal value.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<p class="p1 p-left"><span class="smcap">Harold II.</span>, 1066.</p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Harold Rex angl. Bust to left with sceptre.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Forna on Snotn, and Pax between two beaded +parallel lines (No. 6).</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>Several varieties of these coins are known, but they are uncommon.</p> + + +<p class="p1 p-left"><span class="smcap">William I.</span>, 1066–1087.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + +<p class="p1 p-left"><span class="smcap">William I.</span>, 1066–1087.</p> + + +<p class="p1 p-left"><span class="smcap">William II.</span>, 1087–1100.</p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Pillelm Rex.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Iitsere on Snotin. (No. 7.)</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht2"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht2">Pillelm Rex.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Mana on Snoti. (No. 8.)</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_312">[312]</span></p> + +<p>Many varieties of coins were struck, but it is somewhat difficult to +assign the coins to their respective issuers.</p> + + +<p class="p1 p-left"><span class="smcap">Henry I.</span>, 1100–1135.</p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Henricus R. Front face with sceptre; at the side +of the neck is a cross of four pellets.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Aldene on Sno. Quatrefoil inclosing cross of +pellets with a star in the centre. Fleur de lis in the angles. +(No. 9.)</td> + </tr> +</table> + + +<p class="p1 p-left"><span class="smcap">Stephen</span>, 1135–1154.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Stiefne.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Spein on Snot. (No. 10.)</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht2"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht2">Stiefne: Re.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Spein on Snot. (No. 11.)</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht2"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht2">Stiefne: Re.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Spein on Snot. (No. 12.)</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>Swein was the moneyer, the Saxon “P” being used for “W.”</p> + +<p>It will be noticed that the obverse of each is defaced with a small +cross over the King’s face.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>It is now a very generally accepted fact that the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_313">[313]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Stiefner.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Spein on Snot. (No. 13.)</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht2"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht2">Stiefne: R.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Spein on Snot. (No. 14.)</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht2"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht2">Stiefne: Rex.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Spein on Snot. (No. 15.)</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht2"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht2">Stiefne.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Spein on Snotig. (No. 16.)</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>Other varieties exist struck at Nottingham, also cut halfpennies.</p> + +<p><i>Newark Siege Pieces.</i>—During the years 1645 and 1646, the +Royalist party held Newark and set up a mint.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_314">[314]</span> destruction of many ancient, rare, and valuable relics of +the highest interest to the towns of Nottingham and Newark.</p> + + +<p class="center p1"><i>Extract from the Kings Proclamation at York.</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.”</p> +</div> + + +<p class="center p1"><i>From the circular letter of Loan which was sent about and delivered +by Troopers</i>:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“... 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.”</p> +</div> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.”</p> +</div> + +<p>In the Memoirs of Hampden we read:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.”</p> +</div> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum" id="Page_315">[315]</span>some was paid out in its original form to be sold for the +pay of the troops.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_314fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_314fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Newark Siege Pieces: Half-crowns and Shillings.</p> + <p class="p0 sm center"><i>From photographs by</i> Mr. <span class="smcap">S. Barlow Vines</span>.</p> + </div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The general design of these coins is the same, namely:—</p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">C.R. (Carolus Rex) with a crown between, with +value expressed beneath in Roman numerals all within a single +pearled border.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Obs. (Obsidium-Siege) Newark, with date beneath +in Arabic figures.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The two half-crowns, Nos. 17 and 18, show differently designed crowns.</p> + +<p>On No. 18 may be seen marks of the pattern of the cup or salver from +which it was hastily cut.</p> + +<p>The four shillings, numbered 19, 20, 21, and 22, show<span class="pagenum" id="Page_316">[316]</span> four distinct +crowns. On No. 19 a double pearled border may be traced.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>On Nos. 19 and 22 the reading is “Newarke.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The sixpences, numbered 27 and 28, are alike.</p> + +<p><i>Tokens.</i>—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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The first mention of tokens is by Ruding. He quotes from the writer of +the <i>History of Allchester</i> 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.”</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_316fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_316fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Newark Siege Pieces: Ninepences and Sixpences.</p> + <p class="p0 sm center"><i>From photograph by</i> Mr. <span class="smcap">S. Barlow Vines</span>.</p> + </div> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_317">[317]</span></p> + + +<p class="center p1"><i>Nottingham.</i></p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Nottingham halfe penny chainged by ye +Chamberlain 1669.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Arms of the Town of Nottingham. (No. 29.)</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht2"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht2">Thomas Burrowes. A rose with Sm above.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">In Nottingham. A. Castle. (No. 30.) ½</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht2"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht2">John Blunt at the Weeke. A man on horseback with panniers.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Day Cross of Nottingham Baker his halfpenny. (No. 31.)</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht2"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht2">Roger Hawksley 1666. Merchant Tailors’ Arms.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">in Nottingham. His halfpenny. (No. 32.)</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht2"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht2">George Borzowes 1669. In Nottingham.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Salathyell Groves. ½ under three goats’ heads. (No. 33.)</td> + </tr> +</table> + + +<p class="center p1"><i>Bingham.</i></p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Thomas Markham Chandler 1669.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">in Bingham his halfepenny. (No. 34.)</td> + </tr> +</table> + + +<p class="center p1"><i>Collingham.</i></p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Thomas Ridge his halfpenny. The Grocers’ Arms.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">of Collingham Mercer 1664. The Mercers’ Arms +T.R. (No. 35.)</td> + </tr> +</table> + + +<p class="center p1"><i>Mansfield.</i></p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Samuel Haulton. A pair of scales hanging from +chief wavy part of the Bakers’ Arms.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">of Mansfield 1664. His halfpenny. (No. 36.)</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_318">[318]</span></p> + + +<p class="center p1"><i>Newark.</i></p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Joshua Clarke Mercer in. Grocers’ Arms.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Newark his halfpenny 1666. The Mercers’ Arms +I.C. (No. 37.)</td> + </tr> +</table> + + +<p class="center p1"><i>Retford.</i></p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">William Hall. His halfpenny.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">of Rettforde 1668—W.A.H. (No. 38.)</td> + </tr> +</table> + + +<p class="center p1"><i>Southwell.</i></p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Gregory Silvester. Southwell.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">William Leaver 1664. G.S. W.L. (No. 39.) ½</td> + </tr> +</table> + + +<p class="center p1"><i>Worksop.</i></p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Thomas Lee 1666. The Grocers’ Arms.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">in Wourksop—T.F.L. (No. 40.) ¼</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Sir Edward Thomason, in his Memoirs, states:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.”</p> +</div> + +<p>Perhaps the most interesting tokens of this period were <span class="pagenum" id="Page_319">[319]</span>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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_318fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_318fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Tokens.</p> + <p class="p0 sm center"><i>From photograph by</i> Mr. <span class="smcap">S. Barlow Vines</span>.</p> + </div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Mr. Hawksley died in 1815 and Mr. Davison in 1807.</p> + +<p>The issuing of these tokens of such high value in copper wherewith to +pay their workpeople was exceptional.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Davison and Hawksley, and fleece suspended from a tree.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">The Roman Fasces with the axe, spear, and a cap +of liberty in saltire, Arnold works. A. crown 1791. (No. 41.)</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The 2s. 6d., 1s., and 6d. pieces are similar, except in size and value.</p> + +<p>A token for 5s. was issued from East Retford. This token was +countermarked on a Spanish dollar.</p> + +<p>The Treasury and many firms throughout the Kingdom countermarked these +Spanish dollars and enormous numbers<span class="pagenum" id="Page_320">[320]</span> were in circulation, but this is +the only Nottinghamshire one known.</p> + +<p>Messrs. Bolton & Whatt at their Soho Mint, Birmingham, countermarked +over three millions previous to 1804.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>A silver token for 1s. was issued by the timekeepers.</p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">A griffin, with wings displayed, gorged, issuant +from a ducal coronet; legend, one shilling token sterling silver.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">For the use of the inns at Derby, Ashbourne, +Chesterfield, Nottingham, Leicester, Lichfield, Burton, &c.</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>H. Morgan issued shillings and sixpences:—</p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">The arms of Leicester, vert, a cinquefoil, +between two sprigs of olive. One shilling silver tokens.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Notts, Derby, Leicester, Northampton, and +Rutland shilling silver tokens. The outer legend—Morgan, +licensed manufacturer, 12 Rathbone Place, London. (No. 42.)</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>Messrs. Donald & Co. issued a halfpenny token:—</p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Donald & Co., stocking manufacturers, wholesale +and retail. Promissory halfpenny, payable Notting<sup>m</sup>, or</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">A beehive with bees, No. 29 Hull Street, +Birmingham, 1792. (No. 43.)</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_320fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_320fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Tokens.</p> + <p class="p0 sm center"><i>From photographs by</i> Mr. <span class="smcap">S. Barlow Vines</span>.</p> + </div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_321">[321]</span></p> + +<p>The Newstead Abbey token for one penny:—</p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">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.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">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.)</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>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.</p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">A view of the Town Hall with inscription—“Town +Hall, 1811.” Newark silver token for one shilling.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">The current value payable in cash notes. T. +Stansall, Cha<sup>s</sup> Moore, Rich<sup>d</sup> Fisher, W<sup>m</sup> Fillingham, W<sup>m</sup> +Readitt, and T. Wilson. (No. 45.)</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>Thomas Stansall was a grocer, Charles Moore a chemist, Richard Fisher +and William Fillingham drapers, William Readitt a grocer, Thomas Wilson +a brazier.</p> + +<p>Copper tokens for one penny were also issued in 1811, of which three +varieties exist:—</p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">A view of Newark Castle and the river, with date +1811. “Newark token for one penny.”</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">The current value payable in cash notes. T. +Stansall, Charles Moore, Rich<sup>d</sup> Fisher, W<sup>m</sup> Fillingham, W<sup>m</sup> +Readitt, T. Wilson. (No. 46.)</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_322">[322]</span></p> + +<p>J. M. Fellows & Co., bankers, of Bridlesmith Gate, issued penny tokens, +of which there are five varieties, dated 1812 and 1813:—</p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">A view of Nottingham Castle. One penny token, 1812.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">The arms of the borough in a circle, payable by +J. M. Fellows, a pound note for 240. (No. 47.)</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>Mansfield silver shillings:—</p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Beehive and bees, C. & G. Stanton, Hancock; +Wakefield & Co., and W<sup>m</sup> Ellis, Mansfield.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">Female seated on a bale with scales and +cornucopia. One shilling silver token, 1812. (No. 48.)</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>Two varieties of this exist. Messrs. Stanton, Hancock, and Wakefield +& Co. were cotton manufacturers; William Ellis a draper and woollen +salesman.</p> + +<p>In 1813, W. Baker, hosier, of Fletcher Gate, issued penny tokens:—</p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Obverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">W^m Baker, Nottingham, an ornament between Baker +and Nottingham. Legend—a pound note for 240 tokens, 1813.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht"><i>Reverse.</i></td> + <td class="cht">One penny token within a wreath of oak and +laurel. (No. 49.)</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_323">[323]</span></p> + +<h2>THE CLOCKMAKERS OF NEWARK-ON-TRENT, WITH NOTES ON SOME OF THEIR +CONTEMPORARIES<br> +<span class="subhed smcap">By H. Cook</span></h2></div> + + +<p class="drop-cap p-left">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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_324">[324]</span> 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.<a id="FNanchor_89" href="#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_325">[325]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>Itinerarium Curiosum</i> (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.</p> + +<p>But surprises come when least expected in clock research. Having +heard of a marquetry-cased clock of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_326">[326]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_326afp"> + <p class="p1 smcap right">Plate 1.</p> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Clocks by</p> + <img + class="p0" + src="images/i_326afp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">William Gascoyne.</p> + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_326bfp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_326bfp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Nicholas Goddard.</p> + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_327afp"> + <p class="p1 smcap right">Plate 2.</p> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Clocks by</p> + <img + class="p0" + src="images/i_327afp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">William Barnard.</p> + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_327bfp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_327bfp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Edward Smith.</p> + </div> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum" id="Page_327">[327]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_328">[328]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_329">[329]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_330">[330]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_331">[331]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_332">[332]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_332fp"> + <p class="p1 smcap right">Plate 3.</p> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Clocks by</p> + <img + class="p0" + src="images/i_332fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">S. Bettison.  W. Barnard.  W. Unwin.</p> + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_333afp"> + <p class="p1 smcap right">Plate 4.</p> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Clocks by</p> + <img + class="p0" + src="images/i_333afp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Humphrey Wainwright of Bunny.</p> + </div> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_333bfp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_333bfp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Will. Foster of Marnham.</p> + </div> + +<p>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 <span class="pagenum" id="Page_333">[333]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Unwin is the first of the new school which was to rule<span class="pagenum" id="Page_334">[334]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_335">[335]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_90" href="#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_336">[336]</span> details about +the premises which he occupied at Staythorpe until his death.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_337">[337]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_338">[338]</span> Hardy, the survivor of Hardy & Son, who are mentioned above.</p> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <td class="ctr">(1)</td> + <td class="cht">William Gascoigne</td> + <td class="cht1">1700–1740</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">Nicholas Goddard</td> + <td class="cht1">1700–1741</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">William Marshall</td> + <td class="cht1">1730–1770</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">William Barnard</td> + <td class="cht1">1740–1780</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">Edward Smith.</td> + <td class="cht1">1770–1790</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">Solomon Bettison</td> + <td class="cht1">1750–1795</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">Edward Crampton</td> + <td class="cht1">1760–1790</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr">(2)</td> + <td class="cht">John Crampern</td> + <td class="cht1">1770–1800</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">William Unwin</td> + <td class="cht1">1780–1805</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr">(3)</td> + <td class="cht">William Weston</td> + <td class="cht1">1790–1820</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">Richard Herring</td> + <td class="cht1">1790–1810</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">Unwin & Holt</td> + <td class="cht1">1805–1810</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">Richard Holt</td> + <td class="cht1">1810–1845</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">James Weston</td> + <td class="cht1">1825–1840</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">Henry Goodwin</td> + <td class="cht1">1815–1840</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">Henry Goodwin, junior</td> + <td class="cht1">1842–1850</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">Richard Hardy</td> + <td class="cht1">1820–1830</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">Thomas Hardy & Son</td> + <td class="cht1">1830–1850</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">Richard Holt, junior</td> + <td class="cht1">1840–1850</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">William Weaver</td> + <td class="cht1">1835–1850</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">James Priest</td> + <td class="cht1">1840–1888</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="ctr"></td> + <td class="cht">George Ganter</td> + <td class="cht1">1840–1850</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_339">[339]</span></p> + +<h2>INDEX</h2> +</div> + +<ul> + <li class="i1">Abbess of Godstow, + <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Abbey, Rufford, + <a href="#Page_54">54–56</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Shelforde, + <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Welbeck, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, + <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, + <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, + <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, + <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, + <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, + <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, + <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, + <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, + <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Abbot Doncaster of Rufford, + <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, + <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— of Combe, + <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Acklom of Wiseton Hall, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Act of Parliament clock, + <a href="#Page_336">336</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Adbolton, + <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Adulterine castles dismantled, + <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Alabaster monuments, + <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, + <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Albini, William de, + <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, + <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Alms, obligatory, + <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Almshouses, or hospitals, + <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Ancaster, + <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— quarries, + <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— stone, + <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Anlaf Guthfrithson, + <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + + <li class="i1"><i>Annals of Nottinghamshire</i>, quoted, + <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, + <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, + <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Anne, + <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— of Denmark at Newstead Priory, + <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Annesley park, + <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, + <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, + <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> + + <li class="i1"><i>Antiquities of Nottinghamshire</i>, quoted, Thoroton’s, + <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, + <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, + <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, + <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Archbishop Cranmer, + <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, + <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Drummond, + <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Ealdred, + <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, + <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Geoffrey de Ludham, + <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Gerard, + <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, + <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— John le Romeyne, + <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, + <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, + <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, + <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, + <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Kinsi, + <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Lawrence Booth, + <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Oskytel, + <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Roger, + <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Romanus, + <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Thomas de Corbridge, + <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Walter de Gray, + <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, + <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, + <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, + <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, + <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, + <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Wickwaine, + <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Archbishop of York, Thomas II., + <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Architecture, Cistercian, + <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— mediæval church, + <a href="#Page_12">12–53</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— of Blyth Priory Church, + <a href="#Page_20">20–22</a>, + <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— of Southwell Minster, + <a href="#Page_22">22–25</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Army, struggle to find recruits for the, + <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— weekly assessment of Notts for the Parliamentary, + <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Arnold chancel, + <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, + <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Forest, + <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Gothic screen, + <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Matthew, + <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, + <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> + + <li class="i1">“Array,” Charles’s “Instructions to Commissioners of,” + <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Ashburnham, John, + <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Ashdown, battle of, + <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Ashfield, + <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Assessment of Notts for the Parliamentary army, weekly, + <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Athelstan, + <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, + <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, + <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Atherstone, Edwin, + <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Atkin of North Muskham, John, + <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, + <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Attachment Courts, + <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, + <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Attempt to gain possession of Trent Bridge, + <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Attenborough, + <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— rood-stair, + <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— sculptured arcade at, + <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— spire, + <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, + <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Augustinian canons, + <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Averham, + <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, + <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Church, herring-bone work in, + <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— screen, + <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, + <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> + <li class="i1">Babington chantry chapel at Kingston-on-Soar, + <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bailey, Philip James, + <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, + <a href="#Page_210">210–212</a>, + <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Thomas, + <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, + <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Baker, John, + <a href="#Page_335">335</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Balderton, + <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, + <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Church, + <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— screen, + <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tower, + <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Balkfield, + <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Ballard attacks Newark, + <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, + <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Balliol, Henry, + <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Barber, + <a href="#Page_335">335</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bardolph, William, + <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Barker, Matthew Henry, + <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Barnard, William, + <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, + <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, + <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, + <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, + <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, + <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Barnby-in-the-Willows, + <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— spire, + <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, + <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> + + <li class="i1">“Bars,” Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Barton, John, + <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— steeple, + <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Barton-in-Fabis screen, + <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Basford, + <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Forest, + <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Basingfield, + <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bassetlaw, wapentake of, + <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, + <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Battle of Edgehill, + <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Battle of the Idle, + <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bawtry, + <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bayley, A. M. Y., + <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Beacon Hill, + <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Beauvale Priory, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, + <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, + <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, + <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— screens, + <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Beckingham, + <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, + <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Church, + <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— screen, + <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, + <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tower, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bede, + <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Belasyse, Lord, + <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Belfin, Thomas, + <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Belgæ, + <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bellar Gate, + <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bellcotes, + <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bellfounders’ Yard, + <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Belvoir Castle, + <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, + <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Vale of, + <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Benedictine nuns, Wallingwells, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Priory, Blyth, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, + <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, + <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, + <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bernesconi renovates ornament, Southwell pulpitum, + <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Besthorpe, + <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, + <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, + <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bestwood Park, + <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, + <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, + <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, + <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bettinson, Solomon, + <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, + <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, + <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bilhaugh, + <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, + <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, + <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bilsthorpe rood stairs, + <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bingham, + <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, + <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, + <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— steeple, + <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, + <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— token, + <a href="#Page_317">317</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Binham Church, + <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Birkin, John de, + <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Birkin, Thomas de, + <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Birkland, + <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, + <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, + <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, + <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bishop of Southwell, Dr. Ridding, + <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Rotherham, + <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Walter Langton, + <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Black or Austin priories, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Blackwell, Sir Thomas, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Blagg, T. M., + <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, + <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, + <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, + <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Blake, Prior Robert, + <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Blidworth, + <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, + <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, + <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Blown Sands, + <a href="#Page_97">97–98</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Blunt, Charles, + <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Blyth Hall gallery, + <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Priory Church, + <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, + <a href="#Page_20">20–23</a>, + <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, + <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, + <a href="#Page_34">34–36</a>, + <a href="#Page_54">54–56</a>, + <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— obligatory alms, + <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— screens, + <a href="#Page_126">126–129</a>, + <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— tower, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bole, + <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, + <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, + <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Church, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tower, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bones of extinct mammalia found in the valley deposits, + <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Booker, Luke, + <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Richard, + <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Boot, John, + <a href="#Page_331">331</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— William, + <a href="#Page_331">331</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Booth, Archbishop Lawrence, + <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bore, Trent, + <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bosworth fight, + <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Boundary between North and South England, Trent the, + <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bousfield, H. N., + <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, + <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bowman of Stamford, + <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Boxgrove, La Warre chapel at, + <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Brackenhurst Hill, + <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bracket clocks, + <a href="#Page_334">334</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bradbury, William, + <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bradebusk, + <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bradmore steeple, + <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Brampton, + <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Brant Broughton, + <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Brass trade of Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Brewing trade of Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bribour, + <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bridge, Gunthorpe, + <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Kelham, + <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Newark, + <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Trent, + <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Wilford, + <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— destroyed 1683, Newark, + <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— destroyed 1683, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bridgford (West) screen, + <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, + <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bridlesmith Gate, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, + <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Briggs, A. E., + <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Britons, + <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, + <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Broadholme nunnery, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, + <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Brown, Cornelius, + <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Browne, Frank, + <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Brythonic Celts, + <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bulcote, + <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bulwell, + <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Bunny, + <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— clockmakers, + <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— screen, + <a href="#Page_130">130–131</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— steeple, + <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— W., + <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Burgage Green, + <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Burnet, Bishop, + <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Burrells of Collingham, + <a href="#Page_333">333</a>, + <a href="#Page_336">336</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Burton, + <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, + <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, + <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Joyce, + <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— spire, + <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, + <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Lazars, + <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Byland Church, + <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Byron family, + <a href="#Page_69">69–74</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— George Gordon Noel, Lord, + <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, + <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, + <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, + <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, + <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, + <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, + <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, + <a href="#Page_203">203–206</a>, + <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— of Newstead, Lord, + <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Richard, + <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Sir Gilbert, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— of Colwick, Sir John, + <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, + <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, + <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— of Newstead Abbey, Sir John, + <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Sir Richard, + <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, + <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> + <li class="i1">Callis, Samuel, + <a href="#Page_332">332</a>, + <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Calvert, William, + <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Calverton, + <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, + <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— rood, + <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tower, + <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Camden, + <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Canute, + <a href="#Page_309">309</a>, + <a href="#Page_310">310</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Car Colston, + <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— arrow vane, + <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— chancel, + <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, + <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, + <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— screen, + <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— steeple, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, + <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, + <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Carlton Home, + <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, + <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Carlton-in-Lindrick tower, + <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Carlton-on-Trent steeple, + <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Carmelite friars, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Friary Church rood, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cars, the, + <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Carter, Mary Ann, + <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Carthusian Priory, Beauvale, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, + <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, + <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, + <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cartwright, Sir Hugh, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cassandra, Willoughby, Duchess of Chandos, + <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, + <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, + <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, + <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Castle Art Museum, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, + <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Belvoir, + <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, + <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Cuckney, + <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Donnington, + <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— stone, + <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, + <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Dudley, + <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Hayton, + <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Newark, + <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, + <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, + <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, + <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, + <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, + <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, + <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, + <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, + <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, + <a href="#Page_229">229–231</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Tamworth, + <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Tickhill, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Castles dismantled, adulterine, + <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Caunton, sculptured arcade at, + <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Caux, Maud de, + <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, + <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, + <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, + <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cave dwellings, + <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cavendish, Charles, + <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, + <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, + <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— William, + <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cawthorn, + <a href="#Page_335">335</a>, + <a href="#Page_337">337</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Central steeples, in the county only, + <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Ceolwulf, + <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Ceonulph, + <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Chandlers’ Lane, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Chantries, + <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, + <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Chapel Bar, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, + <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Chapter Decree Books, Southwell, + <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— House, Southwell, + <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Charles I., + <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— at Newark, + <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— at Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— at Southwell, + <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— refuses services of the Roman Catholics, + <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, + <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— trial and execution of, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, + <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Charles’s failure in foreign wars, + <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— “Instructions to Commissioners of Array,” + <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Charles II. at Newstead Priory, + <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, + <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Charterhouse, Beauvale, + <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Chaworth, Lord, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— William, killed in duel by “Devil Byron,” + <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Chesterfield, Earl of, + <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, + <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, + <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— parclose, + <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Christian, Ewan, + <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Churches appropriated to monasteries, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cistercian Abbey, Rufford, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, + <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, + <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— architecture, + <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> + + <li class="i1"><i>Cities Weekly Post</i> quoted, + <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Civil War, the, + <a href="#Page_168">168–192</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Clarborough Church, + <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Clay, division of the shire, + <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, + <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, + <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Claypole, + <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, + <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Clays, of Nottinghamshire, red, + <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Clayworth screen, + <a href="#Page_132">132–134</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Clifton, + <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, + <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Clifton Grove, + <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Clifton-on-Trent chantry, + <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Clifton, Sir Gervase, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Clipstone, King of the Scots at, + <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— park, + <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, + <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, + <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Clipston, royal hunting lodge at, + <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Clockmakers of Newark, + <a href="#Page_323">323–338</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Clocks, “Grandfather,” + <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, + <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, + <a href="#Page_334">334</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Close Rolls, + <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Clough, + <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cludd’s Oak, + <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Clumber, + <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— park, + <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, + <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cluniac Priory, Lenton, + <a href="#Page_54">54–56</a>, + <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, + <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cnut, + <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Coal working at Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, + <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Coddington, + <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, + <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, + <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Coke of Brookhill, Col., + <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + + <li class="i1">College, Nottingham University, + <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— of Secular Canons, + <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Colleges, or collegiate churches, + <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Collingham, + <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, + <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, + <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, + <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, + <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— token, + <a href="#Page_317">317</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Collinson, Samuel, + <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Colston Bassett Gothic screen, + <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Colwick, + <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Colwick, William de, + <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Combe, Abbot of, + <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + + <li class="i1"><i>Comperta</i>, + <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Constable, Henry, + <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, + <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, + <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Sir Robert, + <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cooper, Sir Roger, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, + <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, + <a href="#Page_184">184</a>,</li> + + <li class="i1">Corbridge, Archbishop Thomas de, + <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Coritani tribe, + <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cornish and Gaymer, + <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cossall, + <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— steeple, + <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cossall, William de, + <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Costock, + <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— screen, + <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cotgrave rood-stair, + <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— spire, + <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, + <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cotton trade in the shire, + <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Court, Forty-Day, + <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Courts, Attachment, + <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, + <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cox, Rev. Dr., + <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, + <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, + <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, + <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, + <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, + <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, + <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, + <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cow Lane, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cowley, Abraham, + <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Crampern, John, + <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, + <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, + <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Crampton, Edward, + <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, + <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Crankley Point, + <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, + <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cranmer, + <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, + <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Creswell Caves, + <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Crags, + <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cromwell, + <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, + <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, + <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, + <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, + <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, + <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, + <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, + <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, + <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— at Newark, + <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Church, herring-bone work in, + <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cropwell Bishop screen, + <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Crossings of the Trent, + <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Crumbwell, Ralph de, + <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cuckney Castle, + <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Culpepper, Sir John, + <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cursham, Mary Ann, + <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cut, Kelham, + <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Cuthred, + <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> + <li class="i1">Dalby, will of Alice, + <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Dalman, + <a href="#Page_335">335</a>, + <a href="#Page_337">337</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Dalton, Bishop Thomas, consecrated in Gedling Church, + <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Danelagh, + <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, + <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Daniel, + <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Danish invasion, + <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Darwin, Erasmus, + <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, + <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Davison tokens, + <a href="#Page_319">319</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Death of John at Newark, + <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Deer in royal forests, statistics of, + <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— of Sherwood, + <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, + <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— red and fallow, + <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Denham, + <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Derivation of Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Despenser, Hugh, + <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + + <li class="i1">“Devil Byron,” + <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, + <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, + <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Devon, the, + <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + + <li class="i1"><i>Diary, or an Exact Journal, The</i>, quoted, + <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Dickinson, + <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Digby, Sir John, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, + <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Dimock, J. F., + <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, + <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Dismantling of adulterine castles, + <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Doddington, + <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Dodsley, Robert, + <a href="#Page_199">199–202</a></li> + + <li class="i1">“Dogg-whipper,” the, + <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Domesday Book, + <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Survey, + <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Dominican friars, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Doncaster of Rufford, Abbot, + <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— William, + <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Donham, Thomas de, + <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Dorset, Earl of, + <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Drakeholes, + <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Drawswerd of York, Thomas, + <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Drayton (East) screen, + <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, + <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Michael, + <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Drayton’s <i>Polyolbion</i>, + <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Drummond, Archbishop, + <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Dryden, + <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Dudley Castle, + <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Duffield spire, + <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Dunham, + <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, + <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, + <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Dunham-on-Trent tower, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Durham, John, Prior of Newstead, + <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> + <li class="i1">Eadgar, + <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Eadwig, + <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, + <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, + <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Eagle, + <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Ealdred, Archbishop, + <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, + <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Earthworks, + <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> + + <li class="i1">East Bridgford Saxon Church, + <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + + <li class="i1">East Drayton Church, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Easter sepulchre, Fledborough, + <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, + <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— Hawton, + <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, + <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— Sibthorpe, + <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, + <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Eastfield, + <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + + <li class="i1">East Leake, + <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— herring-bone coursing at, + <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, + <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— spire, + <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, + <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> + + <li class="i1">East Markham Church, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, + <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, + <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— tower, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + + <li class="i1">East Retford Church, + <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— tower, + <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> + + <li class="i1">East Stoke, + <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Ebranc, + <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Edgar, + <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Edgehill, Battle of, + <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Edingley, + <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Edward I., + <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, + <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— II., + <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, + <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, + <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— III., + <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, + <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— at Newstead Priory, + <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— IV., + <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— at Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Edward VI., + <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— the Confessor, + <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, + <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— the Elder, + <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, + <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, + <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Edwin of Northumbria, + <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Edwinstowe, + <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, + <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, + <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, + <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, + <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Church, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— spire, + <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, + <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Edwy, + <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Effigies and tombs, + <a href="#Page_49">49–51</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Egmanton, + <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, + <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Eland, Governor of Nottingham Castle, + <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Ælfric Puttoc, Archbishop of York, + <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Elizabeth, + <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, + <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Elliot, Ebenezer, + <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Elston, + <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Elton screen, + <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + + <li class="i1">English and French boroughs in Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, + <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, + <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Epperstone chancel, + <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— steeple, + <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Esdaile of Bingham, Andrew, + <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, + <a href="#Page_336">336</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Essex, Earl of, + <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, + <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, + <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Æthelfrith, defeat of, + <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Æthelred, + <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— II., + <a href="#Page_308">308</a>, + <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Etherington, + <a href="#Page_324">324</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Everingham effigies, Laxton, + <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Robert de, + <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Evermuth, Walter de, + <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Everton, carved tympanum at, + <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Church, + <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Eyre, Sir Gervase, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> + <li class="i1">Fairfax, Lord, + <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Fallow deer, + <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Families, Parliamentarian, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Royalist, + <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Farndon, + <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, + <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— with Balderton Church, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Farnsfield, + <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Felley Priory, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, + <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Ferry at Littleborough, Roman, + <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Finningley screen, + <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Firth, Professor, + <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Fiskerton, + <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, + <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Fitzstephen, Ralph, + <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, + <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Fitzwilliam, Sir William, + <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Five Boroughs, the, + <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, + <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Flatman, Thomas, + <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Flawford spire, + <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Fledborough Easter sepulchre, + <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, + <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Holme, + <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Fledborough tower, + <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Fleet stream, + <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Fletcher, + <a href="#Page_337">337</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Flintham, + <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, + <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tower, + <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Floods, Trent, + <a href="#Page_92">92–97</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Florence of Worcester, Chronicle of, + <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, + <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Font, Lenton, + <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Forced loans, + <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Fords on the Trent, + <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Forest, Sherwood, + <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, + <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, + <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, + <a href="#Page_106">106–123</a>, + <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, + <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Forty-Day Court, + <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Foss Dyke, + <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, + <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Fosse Way, + <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, + <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, + <a href="#Page_325">325</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Foster of Marnham, Will, + <a href="#Page_332">332</a>, + <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Fountains Church, + <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Franciscan friars, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, + <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Frere, Miss, + <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Friar Lane, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Friar Tuck, + <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Friary House at Newark, + <a href="#Page_328">328</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> + <li class="i1">Gainsborough, + <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, + <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, + <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, + <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, + <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, + <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, + <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, + <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Gairdner, Dr., + <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Gamston bridge, + <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, + <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— rood-stair, + <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tower, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Ganter, George, + <a href="#Page_335">335</a>, + <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Gardiner, Mr., + <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Gascoigne, William, + <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, + <a href="#Page_325">325</a>, + <a href="#Page_326">326</a>, + <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, + <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, + <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + + <li class="i1">“Gates,” Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Gedling quarries, + <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— screen, + <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— spire, + <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, + <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, + <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, + <a href="#Page_282">282–284</a>, + <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— stone, + <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Gell, Sir John, + <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, + <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Gerard, Archbishop, + <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, + <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Giffard’s register, + <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Gilbertine Priory, Mattersey, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— of St. Katherine, + <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, + <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Giles, Sidney, + <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Gill, Harry, + <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, + <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, + <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, + <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Girdlesmith Gate, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, + <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Girton, + <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, + <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, + <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, + <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, + <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Glazebrook of Mansfield, + <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Glazed low side windows, + <a href="#Page_301">301–304</a></li> + + <li class="i1">“Goblin Friar,” Newstead, + <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Goddard, Nicholas, + <a href="#Page_326">326</a>, + <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, + <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Godfrey, J. T., + <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, + <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, + <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, + <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Godstowe, Abbess of, + <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Goffe, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Goidelic Celts, + <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Golding of Colston Bassett, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, + <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Goldsmith’s work at Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Goodwin, Henry, + <a href="#Page_334">334</a>, + <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Goodyer, F. R., + <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Goose Gate, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Goring, + <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Gospel lectern, Newstead, + <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Gotham, + <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, + <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— spire, + <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, + <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, + <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Graham, George, + <a href="#Page_324">324</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Grammar School, Newark, + <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Granby screen, + <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Grange, Prior Richard de, + <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Gray, Archbishop Walter de, + <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, + <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, + <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, + <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, + <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, + <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Col. Henry, + <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Col. Theo, + <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Green, quoted, Mrs. J. R., + <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Greendale Oak, Welbeck, + <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Grey Friars at Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Grey, Lord, + <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, + <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Gringley Park, + <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Grosseteste, Bishop, + <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Grove steeple, + <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Guisbrough Priory, + <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, + <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Gunthorpe bridge, + <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> + <li class="i1">Habblesthorpe Church, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hacker, Col. Francis, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Haggonfield, + <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Halam, + <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tower, + <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hall, Spencer Timothy, + <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, + <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, + <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— will of Robert, + <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— William, + <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Wollaton, + <a href="#Page_77">77–87</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hampden, + <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hardicanute, + <a href="#Page_310">310</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hardy, Richard, + <a href="#Page_335">335</a>, + <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hareston, Robert de, + <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Harold I., + <a href="#Page_310">310</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— II., + <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Harvey, John, + <a href="#Page_337">337</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Harworth, + <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Church, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hastings, herring-bone masonry at, + <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hatfield, + <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, + <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hawksley, Edward, + <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tokens, + <a href="#Page_319">319</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hawton, + <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— chancel, + <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, + <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, + <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Easter sepulchre, + <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, + <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— founder’s tomb, + <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— screen, + <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, + <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tower, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hays or parks of Sherwood, + <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hayton Castle, + <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Church, + <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, + <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Haywood oaks, + <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Heathfield, + <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Henderson, Sir John, + <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, + <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Henry I., + <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, + <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, + <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— II., + <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, + <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, + <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, + <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— takes possession of Nottingham Castle, + <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— III., + <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, + <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— VI., + <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— VII. at Newark, + <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— at Newstead Priory, + <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— at Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— VIII., + <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, + <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, + <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Heron, Thomas, + <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Herring-bone masonry, + <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Herring, Richard, + <a href="#Page_334">334</a>, + <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Heskey, will of Alderman, + <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hethbeth Bridge, + <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, + <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hicklin, John, + <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hickling of Cotgrave, George, + <a href="#Page_220">220–222</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hickling, pre-Conquest coffin-lid at, + <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tower, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hickman, Sir W., + <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Highfield, + <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hill, A. Du Boulay, + <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hind, Edward, + <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hine, T. C., + <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> + + <li class="i1"><i>History of Newark</i>, + <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, + <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + + <li class="i1"><i>History of Southwell</i>, Shilton’s, + <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, + <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hockerton Hill, + <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hodges, C. Clement, + <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hogg, Henry, + <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, + <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Holme, + <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, + <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, + <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, + <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, + <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, + <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Church, + <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, + <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— screens, + <a href="#Page_137">137–138</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— steeple, + <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Pierrepoint, + <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— monuments, + <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— rood-stair, + <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, + <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— steeple, + <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, + <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Holt, Richard, + <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, + <a href="#Page_333">333</a>, + <a href="#Page_334">334</a>, + <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hooton, Charles, + <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hosiery trade of the shire, + <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, + <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hospital, Nottingham General, + <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— of St. John in Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hospitallers, + <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hospitals or almshouses, + <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hotham, Sir John, + <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hough-on-the-Hill tower, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hoveringham, carved tympanum at, + <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— spire, + <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Howitt, Mary, + <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, + <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Richard, + <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, + <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— William, + <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, + <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hoybel Bridge, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hucknall, + <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, + <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, + <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Broomhill charity, + <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Torkard Church, + <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hudson, Dr., + <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— H., + <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, + <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hundred Years War, + <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Huntingdon, Earl of, + <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Hutchinson, Col. John, + <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, + <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, + <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, + <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, + <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, + <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, + <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, + <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— family, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> + <li class="i1">Ice Age, + <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, + <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, + <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Idle Valley, + <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, + <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, + <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Industrial riots in the shire, + <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Inns and public-houses connected with the forest and the chase, + <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + + <li class="i1">“Instructions to Commissioners of Array,” Charles’s, + <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Insula, Brian de, + <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Introduction of Christianity by St. Paulinus, + <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Invention of the stocking-frame by Rev. William Lee, + <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Inventory of the trees, Sherwood, + <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Ireton, Henry, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, + <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Iron trade of Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> + <li class="i1">James I., + <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, + <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Jenyn, bequest of Elizabeth, + <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Joan, Queen of Scots, + <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> + + <li class="i1">John at Newark, death of, + <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Nottingham Castle given to, + <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Earl of Mortain, + <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, + <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, + <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, + <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> + + <li class="i1"><i>John of Gaunt Sketch Book</i>, + <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— of Hexham, + <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Johnson, Dodsley publisher for, + <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Jones, Inigo, + <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Joynes, Lucy, + <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Julius Firmicus, + <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> + <li class="i1">Kaye, Sir Richard, + <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Keats, + <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Kelham, + <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, + <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, + <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, + <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, + <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, + <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, + <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, + <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, + <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, + <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— screen, + <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, + <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Keyworth arrow vane, + <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— rood-loft, + <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, + <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— steeple, + <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, + <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, + <a href="#Page_290">290–292</a>,</li> + + <li class="i1">King and Parliament, struggle between, + <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> + + <li class="i1"><i>Kingdomes Weekly Intelligencer, The</i>, quoted, + <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, + <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> + + <li class="i1">King’s Sconce, + <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Kingston, Duke of, + <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Earl of, + <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, + <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— first Earl of, + <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, + <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Kingston-on-Soar chantry chapel, + <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— screen, + <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— spire, + <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Kinsi, Archbishop, + <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Kirkby, + <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Hardwick, + <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— in Ashfield Forest, + <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— spire, + <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Kneesall, + <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— screen, + <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Knibb, + <a href="#Page_324">324</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Knights Hospitallers preceptory, Ossington, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Knights of St. John of Jerusalem at Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Knights Templars, + <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> + <li class="i1">Lace trade of the shire, + <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, + <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Lambley, + <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— screen, + <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Laneham Church, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, + <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, + <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— herring-bone work in, + <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tower, + <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Langar screen, + <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, + <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tower, + <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Langford, + <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, + <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Langton, Bishop Walter, + <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> + + <li class="i1">La Warre chapel at Boxgrove, + <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Lawley, + <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Laxton, + <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, + <a href="#Page_295">295</a>, + <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, + <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— clerestory, + <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— monuments, + <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, + <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— screen, + <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Layton, Dr., + <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, + <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Lee, Rev. William, inventor of the stocking-frame, + <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Leen Valley, + <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, + <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, + <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Legh, Dr., + <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, + <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Leicester, Peter de, + <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Leland, + <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, + <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, + <a href="#Page_232">232</a>,</li> + + <li class="i1">Lenton font, + <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Forest, + <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— obligatory alms, + <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Priory, + <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, + <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, + <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, + <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, + <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, + <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, + <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, + <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, + <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Leslie, General, + <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Lester, Thomas, + <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Leverton (North) rood-loft, + <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— South, + <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— screen, + <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Lexington, Lord, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Robert de, + <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— table-tomb, + <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> + + <li class="i1"><i>Liber Albus</i> of Southwell, + <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Libraries in Nottingham, Operatives’, + <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Library, Artisans’, + <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Mechanics’ Institution, + <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Nottingham, Bromley House, + <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Oddfellows’, + <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— People’s Hall, + <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Public Free, + <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Rancliffe Arms, + <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Seven Stars, + <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— the Alderman Wood, + <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Lichfield, + <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, + <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, + <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, + <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, + <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Linby, + <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, + <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, + <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, + <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— low side window, + <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, + <a href="#Page_305">305</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tower, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Lindsey, general-in-chief of the Royalist forces, + <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Linen trade of Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Lineker, A., + <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Lister Gate, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> + + <li class="i1">List of priors, Newstead, + <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Little John, + <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + + <li class="i1">“Little Sir John with the Big Beard,” + <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, + <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Littleborough, aisleless chapel, + <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Church, herring-bone work in, + <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Roman ferry at, + <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Loans, forced, + <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Lofts, roods, and screens, + <a href="#Page_124">124–167</a></li> + + <li class="i1">London, Dr. John, + <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, + <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Long Row, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Longvilliers, Sir John de, + <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Love, David, + <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Lowdham Church, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Lowdham rood, + <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, + <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tower, + <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Low Marnham, + <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, + <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Low side windows, + <a href="#Page_295">295–305</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Lucas, Sir Charles, + <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Sir Gervase, + <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Ludham, Archbishop Geoffrey de, + <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Lupus, Robert, + <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Lynsfield, + <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> + <li class="i1">Magnus, Thomas, + <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Major Oak, Sherwood, + <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Malton Prior Church, + <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Manchester, Earl of, quartered at Retford, + <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Mansfield, + <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, + <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, + <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, + <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, + <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, + <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, + <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, + <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, + <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, + <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, + <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, + <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, + <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Church, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— low side window, + <a href="#Page_304">304</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— (St. Peter) tower, + <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, + <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— stone, + <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tokens, + <a href="#Page_317">317</a>, + <a href="#Page_322">322</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— William, Earl of, + <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Woodhouse, + <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, + <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, + <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Manvers, Earl, + <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Maplebeck, + <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, + <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— screen, + <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— spire, + <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Marc, Philip, Constable of Nottingham Castle, + <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, + <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Markham, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Gervase, + <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— of Cotham, Sir Robert, + <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— (East), screen, + <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— (West), screen, + <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Marnham Church, + <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, + <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Holme, + <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, + <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Marshall, William, + <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, + <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, + <a href="#Page_338">338</a>,</li> + + <li class="i1">Martin, John, + <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Marton, + <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Mary Gate, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Queen, + <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Mattersey Priory, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tower, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Maurice, Prince, + <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Meadows, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Melbourne, + <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Meldrum, Sir John, + <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, + <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, + <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, + <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Mellish, Edward, + <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Mellors, H. Bradbury, + <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Mercia, + <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, + <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Mercian shire, + <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Mering Chapel, Sutton-on-Trent, + <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, + <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Middleton, Lord, + <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, + <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Milbanke, Miss, + <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Miller, Thomas, + <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, + <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, + <a href="#Page_220">220</a>,</li> + + <li class="i1">Millhouse, Robert, + <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, + <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, + <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, + <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Millington, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Gilbert, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Minster, Southwell, + <a href="#Page_239">239–269</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Mints, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_306">306–322</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Misterton Church, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, + <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, + <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, + <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— steeple, + <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Molineux, Sir Francis, + <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Monasteries, churches appropriated to, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— suppression of the, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Moneyers, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_306">306–322</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Montgomery, James, + <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Monuments, + <a href="#Page_49">49–51</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Morley spire, + <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Mortain, John, Earl of, + <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, + <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, + <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, + <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Mortimer’s Hole, + <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Morwent, Charles, + <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Mullen, Samuel, + <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Muskham, + <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, + <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, + <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, + <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, + <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Bridge, + <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— (North) screen, + <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, + <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, + <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— (South) screen, + <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Musters, J. P. Chaworth, + <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> + <li class="i1">Narrow Marsh, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, + <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Naseby, battle of, + <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Navigation of the Trent, + <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Nene Valley, + <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Neolithic men, + <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Newark, + <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, + <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, + <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, + <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, + <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, + <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, + <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, + <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, + <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, + <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, + <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, + <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, + <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, + <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, + <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, + <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, + <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, + <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, + <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, + <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, + <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, + <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, + <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, + <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, + <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, + <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, + <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, + <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, + <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, + <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, + <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, + <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, + <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, + <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, + <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, + <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, + <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— altar of St. Crux, + <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— attacked by Ballard, + <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Bridge, + <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Castle, + <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— chantries, + <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, + <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Charles at, + <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Church, + <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, + <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, + <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, + <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, + <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— herring-bone work in, + <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— vaulted crypt, + <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— clockmakers of, + <a href="#Page_323">323–338</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Friary House at, + <a href="#Page_328">328</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Newark garrisoned by Royalists, + <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Grammar School, + <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Mint, + <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, + <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Parish Church spire, + <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, + <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, + <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, + <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Royalist meeting at, + <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— screen, + <a href="#Page_146">146–149</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— siege pieces, + <a href="#Page_313">313–315</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— strengthened, defences of, + <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tokens, + <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, + <a href="#Page_321">321</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— treators for, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— wapentake of, + <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, + <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Newcastle, Duke of, + <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, + <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, + <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, + <a href="#Page_176">176–178</a>, + <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, + <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, + <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + + <li class="i1">New Park, + <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, + <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Newstead, + <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Abbey token, + <a href="#Page_321">321</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— home of Byron, + <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Lord Byron of, + <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— obligatory alms, + <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Priory, + <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, + <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, + <a href="#Page_54">54–76</a>, + <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, + <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, + <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Newton, + <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Cliff, + <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Nicholson, Richard, + <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Nineteen Propositions of Parliament, + <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Normanton-on-Soar spire, + <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, + <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, + <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Normanton-on-Trent rood-stair, + <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, + <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Normanton, Prebendary of, + <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> + + <li class="i1">North Clifton Church, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Collingham Church, + <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, + <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Northfield, + <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + + <li class="i1">North Wheatley Church, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Norton, J., + <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Norwell rood-stair, + <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Norwood Park, + <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Nostell Priory, + <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Notintone, + <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, + <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, + <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, + <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, + <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, + <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, + <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, + <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, + <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, + <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, + <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, + <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, + <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, + <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, + <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, + <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, + <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, + <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, + <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, + <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, + <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, + <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, + <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, + <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, + <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, + <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, + <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, + <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, + <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, + <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, + <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, + <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, + <a href="#Page_228">228–238</a>, + <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, + <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, + <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, + <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, + <a href="#Page_306">306–322</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Borough Records, 1392, + <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Castle, + <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, + <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, + <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, + <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, + <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, + <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, + <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, + <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, + <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, + <a href="#Page_229">229–231</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Charles at, + <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, + <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Franciscan Friars of, + <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— General Hospital, + <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Parliamentarians occupy, + <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— premier of the Five Boroughs Confederacy, + <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Nottingham regicides, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— roods, + <a href="#Page_150">150–152</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— (St. Nicholas) spire, + <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— (St. Peter) spire, + <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, + <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— standard raised at, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, + <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tokens, + <a href="#Page_317">317</a>, + <a href="#Page_320">320</a>, + <a href="#Page_322">322</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Nunnery, Broadholme, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, + <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Wallingwells, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Nuthall screen, + <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> + <li class="i1">Oaks for the navy, Sherwood, + <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— from Sherwood used for St. Paul’s, + <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Obligatory alms, + <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Observants, Newark, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Offa, + <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> + + <li class="i1"><i>Old and New Nottingham</i>, + <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Oldham, John, + <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, + <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, + <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Operatives’ libraries, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Ordsall Church, + <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— screen, + <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, + <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Orston Church, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, + <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Oskytel, Archbishop, + <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, + <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Ossington, + <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— preceptory, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Over Colwick, + <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Owthorpe, + <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Oxton, pre-Conquest Church at, + <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> + <li class="i1">Page, Colonel, + <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Paintings on Blyth Priory screens, + <a href="#Page_127">127–129</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Palæolithic Age, + <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— men, + <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— remains, + <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Palladianism, + <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Palmer, Ralph, + <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Sir Matthew, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Papplewick, + <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, + <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Parlby, + <a href="#Page_337">337</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Parliament Oak, Sherwood, + <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— treators for the, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Parliamentarian families, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Parliamentarians capture Nottingham Castle, + <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Parliamentary army, weekly assessment of Notts for the, + <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Committee of Leicester, + <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Parrott, Samuel, + <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Paulinus, + <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Paumer, Alice le, + <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— John le, + <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Penda of Mercia, + <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Pennines, + <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + + <li class="i1">“Pentecostals,” + <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Pepper of Morton, Robert, + <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Street, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + + <li class="i1"><i>Perfect Occurrences of Both Houses of Parliament</i>, quoted, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Perkins of Bunny, Sir George, + <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Peter Gate, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Peverel, William, Governor of Nottingham Castle, + <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, + <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, + <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, + <a href="#Page_313">313</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— the younger, William, + <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Philipote, bequest of John, + <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Pickering, E. G., + <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Pierpoint, Henry, + <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Pierrepont, Colonel, + <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Francis, + <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— William, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + + <li class="i1"><i>Piers Plowman, Vision of</i>, + <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Plantagenet, Geoffrey, + <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, + <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Plumfield, + <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Plumtree, + <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, + <a href="#Page_304">304</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— pre-Conquest Church at, + <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, + <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tower, + <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Pollok, + <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> + + <li class="i1"><i>Polyolbion</i>, Drayton’s, + <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Pope, Alexander, + <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, + <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Population of England at time of Civil War, + <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— of Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, + <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Portland, Duke of, + <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Potter’s Hill, + <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Poverty in Nottingham, absence of, + <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Poyntz, Major-General, + <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, + <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, + <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, + <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Prebendary of Normanton, + <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Pre-Conquest churches, + <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, + <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Priest, John and James, + <a href="#Page_335">335</a>, + <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Prior of Newstead, William the cellarer elected, + <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— of Thurgarton, + <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Priors, list of Newstead, + <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Priory, Blyth, + <a href="#Page_54">54–56</a>, + <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Felley, + <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Lenton, + <a href="#Page_54">54–56</a>, + <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, + <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, + <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, + <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, + <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Newstead, + <a href="#Page_54">54–76</a>, + <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— of St. Katherine, Gilbertine, + <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Worksop, + <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, + <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Public-houses called “White Hart,” + <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Pygg, bequest of Thomas, + <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Pym, + <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Pyramid roofs, + <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> + <li class="i1">Quare, Daniel, + <a href="#Page_324">324</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Queen’s Sconce, + <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> + <li class="i1">Radcliffe, + <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Radcliffe-on-Trent tower, + <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Radford, + <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, + <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Forest, + <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Ragg, + <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, + <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Ragnall, + <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Raine, John, + <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, + <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, + <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Rainworth, + <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Rastall, + <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Ratcliffe-on-Soar, + <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, + <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, + <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— spire, + <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, + <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> + + <li class="i1">“Rector’s Book” of Clayworth, + <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Red deer, + <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Rædwald of East Anglia, + <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Reform Riots, + <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Regicides of Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Repton, + <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Retford, + <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, + <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— token, + <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, + <a href="#Page_319">319</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Reynolds, Sir Joshua, + <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Rich, Sir Richard, + <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Richard I., + <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, + <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, + <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— at Nottingham Castle, + <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— II., + <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— at Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— III., at Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Richmond, herring-bone masonry at, + <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Ridding, Bishop of Southwell, Dr., + <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Robert, Prior of Newstead, + <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, + <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Robin Hood, + <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, + <a href="#Page_108">108–110</a></li> + + <li class="i1"><i>Robyn Hode, A Lyttel Geste of</i>, + <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Roche Church, + <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Roger, Archbishop, + <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Rolleston tower, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Rolston, Launcelott, + <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Roman arrival, + <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— bridge near Cromwell, + <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— ferry at Littleborough, + <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— pottery, + <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— stations, + <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Romano-British period, + <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, + <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Romanus, Archbishop, + <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Romeyne, Archbishop John le, + <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, + <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, + <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, + <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, + <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Romsey, + <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Roods, screens, and lofts, + <a href="#Page_124">124–167</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Rooke, Major, + <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + + <li class="i1">“Ropes, The,” Clifton Hill, + <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Rose, Thomas, + <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Ross, F. J., + <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Rossiter, Colonel, + <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, + <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, + <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, + <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Rotherham, Bishop, + <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Royal Society, Francis Willoughby one of the first members of the, + <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Royalist families, + <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Ruddington, + <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— spire, + <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, + <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Rufford Abbey, + <a href="#Page_54">54–56</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Abbot of, + <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— Doncaster of, + <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, + <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Park, + <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, + <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, + <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, + <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Sir George Savile of, + <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Runnymede, + <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Rupert, Prince, + <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, + <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, + <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, + <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— at Queensborough, Prince, + <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— loses Bristol, Prince, + <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Rushcliffe, hundred of, + <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Russell, Lord John, + <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Rutland, Earl of, + <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Ryemouth family, + <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> + <li class="i1">Sacheverell tombs, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, + <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Saddleback roofs, + <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Sadler Gate, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + + <li class="i1">St. Alban’s, Snenton, + <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> + + <li class="i1">St. Catherine’s Chapel rood, Nottingham Castle, + <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + + <li class="i1">St. Eadburg, + <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, + <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, + <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li> + + <li class="i1">St. Guthlac, + <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> + + <li class="i1">St. James’ Church, Standard Hill, + <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + + <li class="i1">St. Katherine, Gilbertine Priory of, + <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, + <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + + <li class="i1">St. Mary, Trent Bridge, Chapel of, + <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> + + <li class="i1">St. Mary’s Church, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, + <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, + <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, + <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, + <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, + <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Hill, + <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— rood, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, + <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> + + <li class="i1">St. Nicholas’ Church, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, + <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, + <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, + <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> + + <li class="i1">St. Paulinus, + <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + + <li class="i1">St. Peter’s, Nottingham, Chapel of the Holy Cross in, + <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, + <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Church, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, + <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— spire, + <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Sampson, William, + <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, + <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Sancto Egidio, John de, + <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Saundby tower, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Saureby, Christopher, + <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Savage, Ralph, + <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Savile, Lord, + <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, + <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, + <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Savile of Rufford, Sir George, + <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Sir John, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Sawley spire, + <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Saxon church, East Bridgford, + <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— times, + <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Scaftworth, + <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Scandinavian influence on sculpture, + <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Scarle (South) screen, + <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Scarrington spire, + <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + + <li class="i1">School, Nottingham Blue Coat, + <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— High, + <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Scotch wars, + <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Scots at Clipstone, King of the, + <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Scott, Sir Gilbert, + <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, + <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Screens, roods, and lofts, + <a href="#Page_124">124–167</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Scrooby spire, + <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, + <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Sculptured arcades, + <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Secular Canons, Southwell, + <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Sedilia at Southwell, + <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Selethryth, + <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Shakespeare’s reference to the Trent, + <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, + <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Shambles Oak, Sherwood, + <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Shapwick, + <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Sheep Lane, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Shelford, + <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Abbey, + <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Manor, + <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Mint, + <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— obligatory alms, + <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Priory, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— screen, + <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Shenstone, + <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, + <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Sherbourne, + <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Sherwood Forest, + <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, + <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, + <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, + <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, + <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, + <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, + <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, + <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, + <a href="#Page_106">106–123</a>, + <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, + <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, + <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Shilton, R. P., + <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Shipman, Thomas, + <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, + <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— William, + <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— of Scarrington, William, + <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Ship-money, + <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Shrewsbury, Countess of (“Bess of Hardwick”), + <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Shuttered low side windows, + <a href="#Page_296">296–301</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Sibthorpe, + <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— chancel, + <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, + <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, + <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, + <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— chantry, + <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Easter sepulchre, + <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, + <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— founder’s tomb, + <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— rood, + <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Thomas, + <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tower, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Sidnaceaster, + <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Siege pieces, Newark, + <a href="#Page_313">313–315</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Simnel at Nottingham, Lambert, + <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Simpson of Southwell, William, + <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Siward, + <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Sketchley, Richard Foster, + <a href="#Page_222">222–224</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Smith, Edward, + <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, + <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Sir Thomas, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Sophia Mary, + <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— William Frank, + <a href="#Page_218">218–219</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— William Powers, + <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Smithson of Bolsover, John, + <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, + <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, + <a href="#Page_82">82</a>,</li> + + <li class="i1">Smithy (Smeemus) Marsh, + <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Row, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, + <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Smythson, Robert, + <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, + <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, + <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, + <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, + <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, + <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Snart, Charles, + <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Snenton, + <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, + <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Church, + <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Hermitage, + <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Snotingaham, + <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Soane Museum, + <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Soar, banks of the, + <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Sookholme, aisleless chapel, + <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Southampton, Earl of, + <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + + <li class="i1">South, Archdeacon, + <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + + <li class="i1">South Clifton Hill, + <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, + <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, + <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + + <li class="i1">South Collingham Church, + <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, + <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, + <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Southey, Robert, + <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, + <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Southfield, + <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + + <li class="i1">South Leverton Church, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, + <a href="#Page_28">28–30</a></li> + + <li class="i1">South Muskham Church, herring-bone work in, + <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— tower, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Scarle Church, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, + <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, + <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Sutton Holme, + <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Southwell chantry, + <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— chapter house, + <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, + <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, + <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, + <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Collegiate Church of, + <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, + <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, + <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— corbel table of, + <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Feast week, + <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, + <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Minster, + <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, + <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, + <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, + <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, + <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, + <a href="#Page_32">32–35</a>, + <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, + <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, + <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, + <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, + <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, + <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, + <a href="#Page_239">239–269</a>, + <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, + <a href="#Page_331">331</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— pulpitum, + <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, + <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, + <a href="#Page_154">154–157</a>, + <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— sedilia at, + <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— token, + <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— towers, + <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Spalford, + <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, + <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, + <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Speech to citizens of Newark, Charles’s, + <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Spigurnel, Gilbert, + <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Spires, steeples, and towers, + <a href="#Page_270">270–294</a></li> + + <li class="i1"><i>Spring Gardens Sketch-Book, The</i>, + <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Stacey of Farnsfield, Thomas, + <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, + <a href="#Page_331">331</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Stamford, + <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Standard Hill, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Standfast, Rev. Dr., + <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Stanford-on-Soar, + <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Stanhope, John, keeper of Thorneywood, + <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Lord, + <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Stapleford, + <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, + <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tower, + <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Statham, H. H., + <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Staunton monuments, + <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— screen, + <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Stephen, + <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, + <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— civil war in reign of, + <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Stocking-frame, invention by Rev. William Lee of the, + <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Stoke, + <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, + <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Stoke-by-Newark Church, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Stone from Roche Abbey, + <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Stone <i>pulpitum</i>, Southwell, + <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, + <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Stone quarried at Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Stoney Street, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Strafford, + <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Street, G. E., + <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Strelley screen, + <a href="#Page_157">157–159</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— table tomb, + <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Strength of Charles in the north and west, + <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Strength of Parliamentarians in south and east, + <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Stretton, William, + <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, + <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, + <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, + <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, + <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, + <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, + <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, + <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Sturton-le-Steeple Church, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, + <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— screen, + <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tower, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Stuteville, John de, + <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Suppression of the monasteries, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Surflett, Stephen, + <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Sussex tower, Newstead, + <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Sutton Bonington (St. Michael) steeple, + <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Sutton-cum-Lound with Scrooby Church, + <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Sutton, H. Septimus, + <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, + <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Sutton-in-Ashfield, + <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, + <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, + <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Forest, + <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— steeple, + <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Sutton-on-Trent Church, + <a href="#Page_336">336</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Sutton-on-Trent screen, + <a href="#Page_159">159–162</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Sutton, Robert de, + <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— St. Ann’s, + <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> + + <li class="i1">“Swaynmote,” + <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Swinderby, + <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> + <li class="i1">Tamworth Castle, + <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— herring-bone masonry at, + <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Taxation Roll of 1291, + <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Taylor, Ann, + <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Isaac, + <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Thomas of Bayeux, + <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, + <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, + <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— of Beverley, + <a href="#Page_247">247–251</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Thoresby Park, + <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, + <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, + <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Thorney Park, + <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Thorneywood, + <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, + <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, + <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Thornhaugh, Colonel, + <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— of Fenton, Sir Francis, + <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Thoroton, + <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, + <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Church, + <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Robert, + <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, + <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, + <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, + <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— spire, + <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, + <a href="#Page_285">285–287</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Thorpe, John, + <a href="#Page_78">78–86</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Throsby, + <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Thurgarton, + <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, + <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, + <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, + <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— obligatory alms, + <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Prior of, + <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Priory Church, + <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, + <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, + <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tower, + <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— William de, + <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Tickhill Castle, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tower, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Tiguocobauc, + <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Timber of Sherwood Forest, + <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, + <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Tiovulfingacester, + <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Tokens, + <a href="#Page_316">316–322</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Tombs and effigies, + <a href="#Page_49">49–51</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Tompion, + <a href="#Page_324">324</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Torksey, + <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Mint, + <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Towers, steeples, and spires, + <a href="#Page_270">270–294</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Trades of Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Trafford, Robert de, + <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Trained bands, + <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Treators for Newark, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— for the Parliament, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Trees, inventory of the, + <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Trent, + <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, + <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, + <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, + <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, + <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, + <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, + <a href="#Page_88">88–105</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— banks of the, + <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Bridge, + <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, + <a href="#Page_182">182–185</a>, + <a href="#Page_235">235–238</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— crossing at Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— reaches of the, + <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, + <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Trevelyan, G. M., + <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Trollope, E., + <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Truman, Joseph, + <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, + <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Tuxford, + <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, + <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, + <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, + <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, + <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— chancel, + <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, + <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— screen, + <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— spire, + <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, + <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— stone, + <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Tympanum, Everton carved, + <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Hoveringham carved, + <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> + <li class="i1">Unwin, Matthew, + <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— William, + <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, + <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, + <a href="#Page_333">333</a>, + <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Upton, + <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tower, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, + <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, + <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Uvedale, Sir William, + <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> + <li class="i1">Vale of Belvoir, + <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Vanes, + <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, + <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Venables, Piers, + <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Vescy, Sir William de, + <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Vienne, Hugh de, + <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Vikings, invasions of the, + <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + + <li class="i1"><i>Vision of Piers Plowman</i>, + <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> + <li class="i1">Wade of Staythorpe, R., + <a href="#Page_335">335</a>, + <a href="#Page_336">336</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Wainwright of Bunny, Humphrey, + <a href="#Page_332">332</a>, + <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Wakefield, Gilbert, + <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Walesby Church, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tower, + <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Walkelin, Henry, + <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Walkeringham, + <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— chancel, quarter of repairs charged to Vicar, + <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Richard de, + <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + + <li class="i1"><i>Walks Round Nottingham</i>, + <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Waller, + <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Wallingwells nunnery, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— obligatory alms, + <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Wapentake of Newark, + <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Wars of the Roses, + <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Wath Bank, + <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, + <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Weaver, William, + <a href="#Page_335">335</a>, + <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Webb, John, + <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— W. F., + <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> + + <li class="i1"><i>Weekly Account</i>, quoted, + <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, + <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Weekly assessment of Notts for the Parliamentary army, + <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Weightman, J. G., + <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Welbeck Abbey, + <a href="#Page_54">54–57</a>, + <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, + <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, + <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, + <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, + <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, + <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— obligatory alms, + <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Park, + <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, + <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Welby Park, + <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + + <li class="i1">West Bridgeford, + <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, + <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> + + <li class="i1">West Drayton tower, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Western towers, + <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> + + <li class="i1">West Leake, + <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, + <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— monuments, + <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, + <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + + <li class="i1">West Markham Church, + <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Weston spire, + <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, + <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— William, + <a href="#Page_334">334</a>, + <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + + <li class="i1">West Retford spire, + <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, + <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, + <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, + <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Whalley, Edward, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, + <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Whatton-in-the-Vale, + <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, + <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— steeple, + <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Whatton tombs, + <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, + <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Wheeler Gate, Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, + <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> + + <li class="i1">White Friars at Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Henry Kirke, + <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, + <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, + <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, + <a href="#Page_206">206–208</a>, + <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Lodge, + <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— or Premonstratensian Abbey, Welbeck, + <a href="#Page_54">54–57</a>, + <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Nunnery, Broadholme, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, + <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> + + <li class="i1">“Whitsun farthings,” + <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Whitworth, R. H., + <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, + <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Wickwaine, Archbishop, + <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Wildman, Colonel, + <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Wilfield, + <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Wilford, + <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, + <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Bridge, + <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— rood-stair, + <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + + <li class="i1">William I., + <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— at Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— rebuilds Nottingham Castle, + <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— II., + <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— III., + <a href="#Page_336">336</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Earl of Mansfield, + <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— the cellarer, Prior of Newstead, + <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Williamson, Sir Thomas, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Willis, Sir Richard, + <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, + <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Willoughby, Mistress Anne, + <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— of Parham, Lord, + <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— of Risley, Sir Henry, + <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, + <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Willoughby-on-the-Wolds, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— chantry, + <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Willoughby-on-the-Wolds, effigies, + <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— screen, + <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— spire, + <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Willoughby, Percival, + <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, + <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Richard, + <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, + <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Sir Francis, + <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, + <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, + <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, + <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, + <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Sir T., + <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Will Scarlett, + <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Windows, low side, + <a href="#Page_295">295–305</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Winkburn tympanum, + <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Winthorpe, + <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, + <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, + <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Witham, + <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Witton of Norwell, F., + <a href="#Page_332">332</a>, + <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Wiverton Hall, + <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, + <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, + <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Woden, + <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Wollaton arrow vane, + <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— chantry, + <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, + <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Church, + <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Hall, + <a href="#Page_77">77–87</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Park, + <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, + <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— steeple, + <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— table tomb, + <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Wolsey, + <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— at Southwell, + <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Wood, Anthony, + <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Woodborough chancel, + <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, + <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, + <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tower, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Woollen trade of Nottingham, + <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Worde, Winken de, + <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Worksop obligatory alms, + <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— Priory, + <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, + <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, + <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, + <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, + <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, + <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, + <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, + <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, + <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— screen, + <a href="#Page_163">163–165</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— —— towers, + <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— token, + <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Wren, Sir Christopher, + <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Wright, Ichabod Charles, + <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— John, + <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Wyld, John, + <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Wylleby, Robert de, + <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + + <li class="i1">Wysall screen, + <a href="#Page_165">165–167</a></li> + + <li class="i1">—— tower, + <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, + <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, + <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul> + <li class="i1">Yates, Simon, + <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> +</ul> + + +<p class="center p2 xs">Printed by <span class="smcap">Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.</span><br> +Edinburgh & London.</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_355fp"> + <img + class="p1" + src="images/i_355fp.jpg" + alt=""> + <p class="p0 smcap center">Sketch Map of Nottinghamshire.</p> + </div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>Selections from<br> +<span class="lg">George Allen & Co.’s List</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class="center p1 xxl">MEMORIALS OF THE<br> COUNTIES OF ENGLAND</p> + +<p class="center p1 xs p1">GENERAL EDITOR</p> + +<p class="center p1"><span class="lg">REV. P. H. DITCHFIELD</span><br> +<span class="sm">M.A., F.S.A., F.R.S.L.,</span> <span class="smcap">F.R.Hist.S.</span></p> + + +<p class="center sm"><i>Beautifully Illustrated. Demy 8vo, cloth extra, gilt top.</i><br> +<i>Price 15s. net each.</i></p> + + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Oxfordshire.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by the Rev. <span class="smcap">P. H. Ditchfield</span>, M.A., F.S.A. +Dedicated to the Right Hon. the Earl of Jersey, G.C.B., G.C.M.G.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.”—<i>Spectator.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Devonshire.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by <span class="smcap">F. J. Snell</span>, M.A. Dedicated to the Right Hon. +Viscount Ebrington.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“A fascinating volume, which will be prized by thoughtful +Devonians wherever they may be found ... richly illustrated, +some rare engravings being represented.”—<i>North Devon +Journal.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Herefordshire.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by the Rev. <span class="smcap">Compton Reade</span>, M.A. Dedicated to Sir +John G. Cotterell, Bart.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.”—<i>Times.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Hertfordshire.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by <span class="smcap">Percy Cross Standing</span>. Dedicated to the Right +Hon. the Earl of Clarendon, G.C.B.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“The book, which contains some magnificent illustrations, +will be warmly welcomed by all lovers of our county and its +entertaining history.”—<i>West Herts and Watford Observer.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Hampshire.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by the Rev. <span class="smcap">G. E. Jeans</span>, M.A., F.S.A. Dedicated +to His Grace the Duke of Wellington, K.G.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“‘Memorials of the Counties of England’ is worthily carried on +in this interesting and readable volume.”—<i>Scotsman.</i></p> +</div> + + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Somerset.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by <span class="smcap">F. J. Snell</span>, M.A. Dedicated to the Most Hon. +the Marquis of Bath.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.”—<i>Standard.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Wiltshire.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by <span class="smcap">Alice Dryden</span>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“The admirable series of County Memorials ... will, it is safe +to say, include no volume of greater interest than that devoted +to Wiltshire.”—<i>Daily Telegraph.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Shropshire.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by the Rev. <span class="smcap">Thomas Auden</span>, M.A., F.S.A.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“Quite the best volume which has appeared so far in +a series that has throughout maintained a very high +level.”—<i>Tribune.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Kent.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by the Rev. <span class="smcap">P. H. Ditchfield</span>, M.A., F.S.A., and +<span class="smcap">George Clinch</span>, F.G.S. Dedicated to the Right Hon. Lord +Northbourne, F.S.A.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.”—<i>Standard.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Derbyshire.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by the Rev. <span class="smcap">J. Charles Cox</span>, LL.D., F.S.A. +Dedicated to His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, K.G.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.”—<i>Derbyshire Advertiser.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Dorset.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by the Rev. <span class="smcap">Thomas Perkins</span>, M.A., and the Rev. +<span class="smcap">Herbert Pentin</span>, M.A. Dedicated to the Right Hon. Lord +Eustace Cecil, F.R.G.S.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“The volume, in fine, forms a noteworthy accession to the +valuable series of books in which it appears.”—<i>Scotsman.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Warwickshire.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by <span class="smcap">Alice Dryden</span>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.”—<i>Birmingham Gazette.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Norfolk.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by the Rev. <span class="smcap">H. J. Dukinfield Astley</span>, M.A., +Litt.D., F.R.Hist.S. Dedicated to the Right Hon. Viscount Coke, +C.M.G., C.V.O.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.”—<i>Eastern Daily Press.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Essex.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by <span class="smcap">A. Clifton Kelway</span>, F.R.Hist.S. Dedicated to +the Right Hon. the Earl of Warwick.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“Will be one of the most essential volumes in the library +of every man and woman who has an interest in the +county.”—<i>Southend Telegraph.</i></p> +</div> + + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Suffolk.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by <span class="smcap">Vincent B. Redstone</span>, F.R.Hist.S. Dedicated to +the Right Hon. Sir W. Brampton Gurdon.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“Will be found one of the most comprehensive works dealing with +our county.”—<i>Bury and Norwich Post.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old London.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by the Rev. <span class="smcap">P. H. Ditchfield</span>, M.A., F.S.A. +Dedicated to Sir John Charles Bell, Bart., late Lord Mayor of +London. Two vols. Price <b>25s.</b> net.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“They are handsomely produced, and the history of London +as it is unfolded in them is as fascinating as any +romance.”—<i>Bookman.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Lancashire.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by Lieut.-Colonel <span class="smcap">Fishwick</span>, F.S.A., and the +Rev. <span class="smcap">P. H. Ditchfield</span>, M.A., F.S.A. Two vols. Price +<b>25s.</b> net.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“These fascinating volumes, re-picturing a vanished past, will +long afford keen pleasure.”—<i>Manchester City Press.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Middlesex.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by <span class="smcap">J. Tavenor-Perry</span>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“Closely packed with well-digested studies of the local +monuments and archæological remains.”—<i>Scotsman.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Yorkshire.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by <span class="smcap">T. M. Fallow</span>, M.A., F.S.A. Dedicated to Sir +George J. Armytage, Bart., F.S.A.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“The book well maintains the high standard so conspicuously +illustrated in the many previous volumes.”—<i>Bookseller.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Staffordshire.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by the Rev. <span class="smcap">W. Beresford</span>. Dedicated to Right +Rev. the Hon. Augustus Legge, D.D., Lord Bishop of Lichfield.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“Complete and most useful history of ancient Staffordshire, full +of interest and sound information.”—<i>Morning Post.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Cheshire.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by the <span class="smcap">Ven. the Archdeacon of Chester</span> and the +Rev. <span class="smcap">P. H. Ditchfield</span>, M.A., F.S.A. Dedicated to His +Grace the Duke of Westminster, G.C.V.O.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“The book is packed with information.”—<i>Pall Mall Gazette.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Durham.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by <span class="smcap">Henry R. Leighton</span>, F.R.Hist.S. Dedicated to +the Right Hon. the Earl of Durham, K.G.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“The book is illustrated with excellent photographs and +drawings, and is altogether a worthy addition to a remarkable +series.”—<i>Pall Mall Gazette.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Leicestershire.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by <span class="smcap">Alice Dryden</span>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“Deserves a place in every library, and cannot but prove rich in +antiquarian and historic wealth.”—<i>Leicester Daily Post.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Lincolnshire.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by <span class="smcap">E. Mansel Sympson</span>, M.A., M.D. Dedicated to +the Right Hon. Earl Brownlow.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“A valuable addition to a series highly esteemed among +antiquarians.”—<i>Scotsman.</i></p> +</div> + + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Surrey.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by the Rev. <span class="smcap">J. Charles Cox</span>, LL.D., F.S.A.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“Extremely well put together, and the writers are +just those who are best qualified to deal with their +subjects.”—<i>Spectator.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Gloucestershire.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by the Rev. <span class="smcap">P. H. Ditchfield</span>, M.A., F.S.A. +Dedicated to the Right Hon. Earl Beauchamp.</p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Worcestershire.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by <span class="smcap">Francis B. Andrews</span>, A.R.I.B.A.</p> +</div> + + + +<p class="center p1"><i>The following volumes are in preparation</i>:—</p> + + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Nottinghamshire.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by <span class="smcap">Everard L. Guilford.</span></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of North Wales.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by <span class="smcap">E. Alfred Jones</span>.</p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Berkshire.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by the Rev. <span class="smcap">P. H. Ditchfield</span>, M.A., F.S.A.</p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Memorials of Old Monmouthshire.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by Colonel <span class="smcap">Bradney</span>, F.S.A., and <span class="smcap">J. Kyrle +Fletcher</span>.</p> +</div> + +<p class="center"><i>Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, and Sussex are out of +print.</i></p> + + +<p class="p-left"><b>The Counties of England: Their Story and Antiquities.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by Rev. <span class="smcap">P. H. Ditchfield</span> and other writers. With +150 Illustrations Two Volumes. Demy 8vo, cloth, <b>21s.</b> net.</p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>The Sanctuaries and Sanctuary Seekers of Mediæval England.</b></p> + +<p class="p-left">By Rev. <span class="smcap">J. Charles Cox</span>, LL.D., F.S.A. With Coloured +Frontispiece, 20 Full-page Plates, and 11 Line Drawings. Demy 8vo, +cloth, gilt top, <b>15s.</b> net.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>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.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>In the Rhone Country.</b></p> + +<p class="p-left">By <span class="smcap">Rose Kingsley</span>, Author of “Eversley Gardens and Others.” +With 52 Full-page Illustrations, including 12 in Photogravure. 320 +pages, large crown 8vo, cloth, gilt top, <b>10s. 6d.</b> net.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“Infused with the warmth of an intelligent +enthusiasm.”—<i>Times.</i></p> +</div> + + +<p class="center p1 xl">THE BRITISH EMPIRE</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="center"><i><b>Large Crown 8vo, Cloth, gilt top, with Map, 6s. net per +Vol.</b></i></p> + + +<p class="p-left"><b>Yesterday and To-Day in Canada.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">By <span class="smcap">His Grace the Duke of Argyll</span>.</p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Modern India.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">By Sir <span class="smcap">J. D. Rees</span>, K.C.I.E., C.V.O. Sometime Additional +Member of the Governor-General of India’s Council.</p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>South Africa.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">By the Right Hon. <span class="smcap">John Xavier Merriman</span>, of Cape Colony.</p> +</div> + +<p class="center sm"><i>Other Volumes in Preparation.</i></p> + + +<p class="center xl">COUNTY CHURCHES</p> + +<p class="center">General Editor: <span class="smcap">Rev.</span> J. CHARLES COX, LL.D., F.S.A.</p> + +<p class="center"><i><b>Foolscap 8vo, Cloth, 2s. 6d. per vol. net; each Volume +Illustrated with Half-tone and Line Illustrations</b></i></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="center">The following volumes are now ready, or in active preparation:—</p> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Norfolk</b> (Two Vols., sold separately, 3s. net each).</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">By <span class="smcap">J. Charles Cox</span>, LL.D., F.S.A.</p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Surrey.</b> By <span class="smcap">J. E. Morris</span>, B.A.</p> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Cambridge.</b> By <span class="smcap">C. H. Evelyn-White</span>, F.S.A.</p> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Isle of Wight.</b> By <span class="smcap">J. Charles Cox</span>, LL.D., F.S.A.</p> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Sussex.</b> By <span class="smcap">P. M. Johnston</span>, F.R.I.B.A., F.S.A.</p> + +<p class="center sm"><i>Other Volumes are being arranged.</i></p> + + +<p class="p-left"><b>Dinanderie: A History and Description of Mediæval Art Work in +Copper, Brass, and Bronze.</b></p> + +<p class="p-left">By <span class="smcap">J. Tavenor-Perry</span>. With 1 Photogravure, 48 Full-page +Illustrations, and 71 Drawings in the Text. Crown 4to, Specially +Designed Cloth Cover, <b>21s.</b> net.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“To many lovers of mediæval art, Mr. Tavenor-Perry’s beautiful +volume will come as a revelation.”—<i>Standard.</i></p> +</div> + + +<p class="p-left"><b>Old English Gold Plate.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">By <span class="smcap">E. Alfred Jones</span>. 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 <b>21s.</b> net.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.”—<i>Scotsman.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Longton Hall Porcelain.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Being further information relating to this interesting fabrique, +by the late <span class="smcap">William Bemrose</span>, 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 <b>42s.</b> net.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“This magnificent work on the famous Longton Hall ware will be +indispensable to the collector.”—<i>Bookman.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Old English Silver and Sheffield Plate, The Values of, from the +Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Centuries.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">By <span class="smcap">J. W. Caldicott</span>. Edited by <span class="smcap">J. Starkie +Gardner</span>, F.S.A. 3000 Selected Auction Sale Records; 1600 +Separate Valuations; 660 Articles. Illustrated with 87 Collotype +Plates. 300 pages. Royal 4to, buckram. Price <b>42s.</b> net.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.”—<i>Daily Telegraph.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Old English Porcelain and its Manufactures, History of.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">With an Artistic, Industrial, and Critical Appreciation of +their Productions. By <span class="smcap">M. L. Solon</span>, 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 <b>52s. 6d.</b> net.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.”—<i>Athenæum.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>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.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">By <span class="smcap">P. M. C. Kermode</span>, 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 +<b>21s.</b> net. The edition is limited to 400 copies.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.”—<i>Spectator.</i></p> +</div> + + +<p class="p-left"><b>Martha Lady Giffard: Her Life and Letters, 1664–1722. A Sequel to +“The Letters of Dorothy Osborne.”</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">Edited by <span class="smcap">Julia G. Longe</span>. With a Preface by <span class="smcap">Judge +Parry</span>. Containing 24 Full-page Illustrations and +Facsimiles, including Frontispiece in Colour. 384 pages. Demy +8vo, cloth, gilt top, <b>15s.</b> net.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“Miss Longe has expended much care and enthusiasm on her task +and her commentaries are ample.”—<i>Athenæum.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>The Russells of Birmingham in the French Revolution, and in America, +1791 to 1814.</b></p> + +<p class="p-left">By <span class="smcap">S. H. Jeyes</span>. With Portraits and other Illustrations. Demy +8vo, cloth, gilt top, <b>12s. 6d.</b> net.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>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.</p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Country Cottages and Homes for Small and Large Estates.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">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 <span class="smcap">R. A. +Briggs</span>, Architect, F.R.I.B.A., Soane Medallist; Author of +“Bungalows and Country Residences.” Demy 4to, cloth, <b>10s. +6d.</b> net.</p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Venice in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. From the Conquest +of Constantinople to the Accession of Michele Steno, A.D. 1204–1400.</b></p> + +<p class="p-left">By <span class="smcap">F. C. Hodgson</span>, M.A., Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge. +With 21 Full-page Illustrations and Plans. 664 pages, Crown 8vo, cloth, +<b>10s. 6d</b>. net.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>This volume is the result of several years’ research, and is +a continuation of the Author’s previous work entitled “Early +History of Venice.”</p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Derbyshire Charters in Public and Private Libraries and Muniment +Rooms.</b></p> + +<p class="p-left">Compiled, with Preface and Indexes, for Sir Henry Howe Bemrose, Kt., by +<span class="smcap">Isaac Herbert Jeayes</span>, Assistant Keeper in the Department of +MSS., British Museum. Royal 8vo, cloth, gilt top. Price <b>42s.</b> net.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.”—<i>Scotsman.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>How to Write the History of a Parish.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">By the Rev. <span class="smcap">J. Charles Cox</span>, LL.D., F.S.A. An Outline +Guide to Topographical Records, Manuscripts, and Books. Revised +and Enlarged, Fifth Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth, <b>3s. 6d.</b> +net.</p> +</div> + + +<p class="p-left"><b>The Danube with Pen and Pencil.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">By <span class="smcap">Captain B. Granville Baker</span>, author of “The Walls of +Constantinople.” With 99 Illustrations in Colour, Half-tone, and +Line, from drawings by the Author. Royal 8vo, cloth, <b>15s.</b></p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“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.”—<i>Times.</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="p-left"><b>Corporation Plate and Insignia of Office of the Cities and Towns of +England and Wales.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p-left">By the late <span class="smcap">Llewellynn Jewitt</span>, F.S.A. Edited and +completed with large additions by <span class="smcap">W. H. St. John Hope</span>, +M.A. Fully illustrated, 2 vols., crown 4to, buckram, <b>42s.</b> +net. Large paper, 2 vols., royal 4to, <b>63s.</b> net.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>“It is difficult to praise too highly the careful research +and accurate information throughout these two handsome +quartos.”—<i>Athenæum.</i></p> +</div> + + +<p class="center p1"><i>Completion of the Great Edition of Ruskin</i></p> + +<p>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</p> + +<p class="center xl">THE LIFE,<br> +LETTERS, AND WORKS OF<br> +RUSKIN</p> + +<p class="center xs">EDITED BY</p> + +<p class="center sm">E. T. COOK <span class="allsmcap">AND</span> ALEXANDER WEDDERBURN</p> + +<p>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 <b>£42</b> the set, or in +Monthly Instalments, see Prospectus.</p> + + +<p class="center p1">George Allen & Co. Ltd., Ruskin House<br> +Rathbone Place, London</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h2>FOOTNOTES:</h2> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> York Epis. Reg. Wickwane, f. 79 (Surtees Soc. vol. cxiv. +ed. Brown, p. 290).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> York Epis. Reg. Kempe, f. 37 <i>d</i>.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> 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.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> 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.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> 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.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> <i>Memorials of Old Lincolnshire</i>, 1911, pp. 53–80 +(“Saxon Churches in Lincolnshire”).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> The two western responds of the Norman presbytery are +<i>in situ</i>.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> 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.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> The aisles were probably set out before the nave arcades +were begun, but the walls were not raised till later.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> 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.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> Marnham was appropriated to the Knights Templars, and +passed on their suppression to the Hospitallers.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">[12]</a> 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).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">[13]</a> <i>E.g.</i> at Sherburn-in-Elmet and Campsall.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">[14]</a> 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.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">[15]</a> The same arrangement is found in the eastern bay of each +aisle.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">[16]</a> 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.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">[17]</a> For reasons determining this date, see <i>Memorials of +Old Lincolnshire</i>, pp. 144, 145.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">[18]</a> Thomas Dalton, consecrated 1294, 10th Oct. (Stubbs, +<i>Registrum Sacrum Anglicanum</i>, 2nd ed., 1897, p. 68).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="label">[19]</a> The corbel-table of carved heads below the parapet should +be noticed. This feature is very usual in the neighbouring county of +Leicester.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="label">[20]</a> 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.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="label">[21]</a> 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 <i>d.</i>, 125). A vicarage was ordained on 24th September +(<i>ibid.</i>, f. 141).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="label">[22]</a> The north chapel of the chancel was “newly built” by 23rd +Oct. 1325. See Pat. 19 Edw. II. pt. 1, m. 20, and <i>cf.</i> m. 12. See +<i>Vict. Hist. Notts.</i> ii. 150–52, and Dugdale (ed. Caley, &c.) vi. +1369, 1370.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="label">[23]</a> 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.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="label">[24]</a> Licence bears date 1343, 10th July (Pat. 17 Edw. III. pt. +2, m. 31).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="label">[25]</a> 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.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="label">[26]</a> H. B. M’Call, <i>Richmondshire Churches</i>, 1910, has +dealt at length with this group of Yorkshire chancels.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="label">[27]</a> Licence bears date 1337, 2nd Sept. (Pat. 11 Edw. III. pt. +3 m. 39).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="label">[28]</a> 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.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="label">[29]</a> 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.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="label">[30]</a> 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).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="label">[31]</a> 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).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="label">[32]</a> Chantry Certificates, Roll 13 (43 c); 37 (106 a<sup>2</sup>). 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.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="label">[33]</a> Licence bears date 1476, 24 Oct. (Pat. 16 Edw. IV. pt. 1, +m. 6); Chantry Certificates, Roll 13 (3); 37 (14).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="label">[34]</a> See Blagg, <i>Guide to Newark</i>, &c., p. 85, for the +evidence. No licence exists.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="label">[35]</a> Licence bears date 1470, 13 Dec. (Pat. 49 Hen. VI. m. +16); Chantry Certificates, Roll 13 (50); 37 (3).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="label">[36]</a> 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.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="label">[37]</a> For the chantry here, see Chantry Certificates, Roll 13 +(4), 37 (25).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="label">[38]</a> “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, <i>Customs of the Augustinian Canons</i>, 205).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="label">[39]</a> <i>Narratives of the Reformation</i>, p. 35. (Camden +Society.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="label">[40]</a> These notes as to the haunting of the priory are taken +from Mr. Whitworth’s memoranda.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="label">[41]</a> 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.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42" class="label">[42]</a> Upon the wall of a house in Girton village there is the +following record by G. Porter:—</p> + + <div class="figcenter" id="i_095"> + <img + class="p0" + src="images/i_095.jpg" + alt=""> + </div> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43" class="label">[43]</a> From account in a local journal, 1875.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_44" href="#FNanchor_44" class="label">[44]</a> <i>The Nottingham Evening Post</i>, December 5, 1910.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_45" href="#FNanchor_45" class="label">[45]</a> For further details on the above subject see articles by +the author in the <i>Geographical Journal</i> for May 1910, and the +<i>Transactions of the Thoroton Society</i> 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 <i>History of +Collingham</i>, Brown’s <i>History of Newark</i>, Rastall’s (Dickinson) +<i>History of the Antiquities of Newark</i>, Padley’s <i>Fens and +Floods of Mid-Lincolnshire</i>, <i>The Victoria County History of +Nottingham</i>, <i>The Nottingham Borough Records</i>, &c., &c.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_46" href="#FNanchor_46" class="label">[46]</a> Cox’s <i>Royal Forests of England</i>, pp. 219–20.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_47" href="#FNanchor_47" class="label">[47]</a> 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.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_48" href="#FNanchor_48" class="label">[48]</a> Cox, <i>English Monasteries</i>, pp. 78–79.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_49" href="#FNanchor_49" class="label">[49]</a> 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.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_50" href="#FNanchor_50" class="label">[50]</a> Probably Rowland Hacker.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_51" href="#FNanchor_51" class="label">[51]</a> On August 2 Welbeck had surrendered to the Earl of +Manchester, who was marching south after the victory at Marston Moor.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_52" href="#FNanchor_52" class="label">[52]</a> 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.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_53" href="#FNanchor_53" class="label">[53]</a> <i>A.S. Chron.</i> (ed. Earle and Plummer, p. 68).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_54" href="#FNanchor_54" class="label">[54]</a> See <i>Thomas of York</i>, an essay by W. E. Hodgson.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_55" href="#FNanchor_55" class="label">[55]</a> Vide <i>Trans. of Thoroton Society</i>, vol. i. (1897), +p. 44, and <i>The Church Times</i> (Jan. 11, 1900), p. 51.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_56" href="#FNanchor_56" class="label">[56]</a> 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).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_57" href="#FNanchor_57" class="label">[57]</a> The part of the charter which defines the boundaries of +the land is written in Anglo-Saxon, and is obscure.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_58" href="#FNanchor_58" class="label">[58]</a> Southwell was all one parish up to about sixty years ago.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_59" href="#FNanchor_59" class="label">[59]</a> <i>Alcuin of York</i>, p. 82, <i>note</i>.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_60" href="#FNanchor_60" class="label">[60]</a> Leach, <i>Memorials of Southwell Minster</i>, Introd. p. +xxii.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_61" href="#FNanchor_61" class="label">[61]</a> <i>Historians of the Church of York and its +Archbishops</i>: Edited by Canon Raine (Rolls Series), vol. ii. p. 353.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_62" href="#FNanchor_62" class="label">[62]</a> <i>England under the Normans and Angevins</i>: H. W. C. +Davis, p. 190.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_63" href="#FNanchor_63" class="label">[63]</a> William of Newburgh, <i>Historia Rerum Anglicanum</i>, +book ii. chap. 3. (In Chronicles of Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I. +Rolls Series.)</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_64" href="#FNanchor_64" class="label">[64]</a> The Visitation Charge of the Archdeacon of Nottingham, +delivered at Southwell in May 1909.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_65" href="#FNanchor_65" class="label">[65]</a> Mr. Francis Bond’s opinion, quoted in <i>Life of Thomas +II.</i>, by W. E. Hodgson, p. 86.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_66" href="#FNanchor_66" class="label">[66]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 87.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_67" href="#FNanchor_67" class="label">[67]</a> Roger de Hoveden (<i>sub anno</i> 1189).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_68" href="#FNanchor_68" class="label">[68]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> (<i>sub anno</i> 1190).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_69" href="#FNanchor_69" class="label">[69]</a> Roger de Hoveden (<i>sub anno</i> 1194).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_70" href="#FNanchor_70" class="label">[70]</a> Quoted from the Rev. A. Dimock’s <i>Guide to Southwell +Cathedral</i>, p. 91.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_71" href="#FNanchor_71" class="label">[71]</a> Cavendish, <i>Life of Wolsey</i> (Temple Classics, p. +181).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_72" href="#FNanchor_72" class="label">[72]</a> <i>Memorials of Southwell Minster</i>, Introduction, p. +lxviii.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_73" href="#FNanchor_73" class="label">[73]</a> Dimock, <i>Guide to Southwell Cathedral</i>, p. 115.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_74" href="#FNanchor_74" class="label">[74]</a> Dimock, <i>ibid.</i>, p. 115.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_75" href="#FNanchor_75" class="label">[75]</a> Livett, <i>An Account of the Cathedral Church of +Southwell</i>, p. 33.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_76" href="#FNanchor_76" class="label">[76]</a> Livett, <i>ibid.</i>: Quotation from State Papers, 1604, +Add. Ch. 15,241 Brit. Mus.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_77" href="#FNanchor_77" class="label">[77]</a> 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.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_78" href="#FNanchor_78" class="label">[78]</a> Quoted by Mr. Dimock, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 129.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_79" href="#FNanchor_79" class="label">[79]</a> Dimock, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 124.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_80" href="#FNanchor_80" class="label">[80]</a> “South Prospect of Nottingham, taken from Wilford Pasture +beyond the Trent,” by Thomas Sandby, R.A., 1721–1798. Nottingham Castle +Art Museum, Gallery F.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_81" href="#FNanchor_81" class="label">[81]</a> “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, <i>for the Stepull was afore of Tymber +werke</i>: and part of the Kyrk was burned” (Thoroton, <i>Antiquities +of Nottinghamshire</i>, p. 273).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_82" href="#FNanchor_82" class="label">[82]</a> The church was destroyed by fire on 2nd July 1706.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_83" href="#FNanchor_83" class="label">[83]</a> 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>i.e.</i>, 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.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_84" href="#FNanchor_84" class="label">[84]</a> The fine illustrations of Newark and Bingham are +reproduced by permission of B. T. Batsford from Francis Bond’s +<i>Gothic Architecture in England</i>.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_85" href="#FNanchor_85" class="label">[85]</a> Whatton and Normanton-on-Soar are the only central +steeples in the county. The remainder are all at the west end.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_86" href="#FNanchor_86" class="label">[86]</a> 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.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_87" href="#FNanchor_87" class="label">[87]</a> An example can still be seen at Scarning church, Norfolk.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_88" href="#FNanchor_88" class="label">[88]</a> “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.”—<i>Endenture Ecclesie de Catrik</i> (Yorks), <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> +1412.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_89" href="#FNanchor_89" class="label">[89]</a> 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.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_90" href="#FNanchor_90" class="label">[90]</a> 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.</p> + +</div> +</div> + + +<p class="transnote">Transcriber’s Notes:<br> +<br> +1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been +corrected silently.<br> +<br> +2. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have +been retained as in the original.</p> + + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77866 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/77866-h/images/cover.jpg b/77866-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9eb55e9 --- /dev/null +++ b/77866-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/77866-h/images/i_020fp.jpg b/77866-h/images/i_020fp.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..082662e --- /dev/null +++ b/77866-h/images/i_020fp.jpg diff --git a/77866-h/images/i_026fp.jpg b/77866-h/images/i_026fp.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..03da4f7 --- /dev/null +++ b/77866-h/images/i_026fp.jpg diff --git a/77866-h/images/i_032afp.jpg b/77866-h/images/i_032afp.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..59e7ec9 --- /dev/null +++ b/77866-h/images/i_032afp.jpg diff --git a/77866-h/images/i_032bfp.jpg b/77866-h/images/i_032bfp.jpg 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