HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE. Aci/^ J. M. £^[j:.,^ POPULAR COUNTT HISTORIES. A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE, BY LIEUT.-COL. COOPER KING, F.G.S. LONDON : ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. 1S87. In conipliaiitc with cunctii topvriirlit law. LBS Archival Products prodiicecl this replacement Nolumeon j)aper that meets the ANSI Standard Z39.4', might be thought to apply to the second great fight. But the Berkshire Eddington seems too far from Brixton, and too far south to answer the requirements of the case. So by this second great fight in the Berkshire neighbour- hood, and practically at the western end, this time, of the Berkshire Hills, Alfred of Wantage again reduced the Danes to submission. Guthorm, their King, became a Christian, and as Guthorm-zEthelstan was still allowed to " E. A. Freeman. History of Berkshu'e. keep East Anglia and North-east Mercia ; while Alfred regained that portion of the Mercian kingdom which had been part of Wessex in the seventh and eighth centuries. The Danes settled, and Alfred strengthened and restored his kingdom, torn and desolated by so many struggles. Churches and learning grew, schools were established, and books written ; an army and a permanent navy were formed ; the laws of past rulers were collected, codified, and added to ; and, if it had not been already done by Ina of Wessex, the empire was now divided into shires. And so by this time, at any rate, Berroc scyre came to be, whether from the tradition of the old Bibroci who occupied its western portion, or from the Berroc (box), or the Beorce (beech), which then flourished in its forests, is immaterial. But in maps of no very distant date Berruc Wood is shown around Wokingham, and lives as modern ' Bearwood.''^ This division of the country into manageable fractions was based apparently on a system of judicature. Each shire at first seems to have been divided into thirds, or trythings, a system surviving partially ' in the ridings of Yorkshire, the laths of Kent, and the three parts of Lincoln- shire.' Each trything again was divided into hundreds, or wapentakes ; and these again into tythings, or dwellings of ten householders. Each of these was responsible for the good order of his house, both to the King and to the other members of the tything. Lastly, each shire was governed by an earl, who was called the shire-rieve, whence is derived the term sheriff. So the country was ruled by the West Saxons until Ethelred IL ascended the throne, and then Sweyn of Denmark ravaged the country, and burnt Reading, Wal- ~ Also called by old Latin writers ' Bercheria,' and spelt also Borres-cyre, Berro-cire, Baroc-scire. Asser considers it derived from the boxwood-tree, which are not, now at least, common. Another suggestion is, that it arose from the 'Bare Oak' in Windsor Forest, where the Druids met in solemn conclave; but this seems mythical. The Saxon Conquest, Hngford, and Cholsey in 1006, Thence the Danes moved by Ashdown to Cuckhamsley ; for there was a tradition that those who did so would never again see the sea. During this time Saxon Nachededorne, near Compton village, must again have been destroyed. ' They went,' says Richard of Gloucester, ' Mest wo hii dude in Barcssyre and up Assesdouiie, And so about Quychelmesley, and so in mony toune ;' and it is also said defeated the Saxons in a skirmish near the Kennet, probably on their way back to Reading. Then he granted a truce for ^^3,600, and from this and other similar demands arose the tax of ' Danegelt/ which con- tinued to be levied long after the cause for it had ceased.* But the truce was soon broken, and more burninsr and destroying was followed by reprisals. Again the ravaging hordes passed with desolation over Wallingford, Abingdon, and Oxford, to return by way of Dorchester, Bensington, and Staines, until, in 1013, Sweyn assumed the sovereignty over England, and Ethelred fled to Normandy. The history of the county throughout the Danish and late Saxon rule, and up to the Norman Conquest, does not present many features of interest. After Ethelred's death the kingdom was divided ; Edmund Ironside taking the Southern Provinces, and the Danes those of Mercia, East Anglia and Northumbria. But when the Saxon King also passed away, the whole territory was merged in the kingdom of Cnut the Dane. After his decease it became the appanage of his son Hardicnut, during his brother Harold's reign ; and finally, in the time of the Confessor, Sweyn, Godwin's son, governed Oxford, Berks, Gloucester, Somerset, and Hereford until, after his outlawry, it passed to his brother Harold the Earl. Then, on Edward's death, the last Saxon Earl of Wessex, '■■' Hume. History of Berkshire. and therefore of Berkshire, became Harold the Kin^ ; and, slain by an arrow on the bloody field of Senlac, on the 14th October, 1066, he was buried in the Abbey Church of Waltham, and with him passed away the pure Saxon line of sovereigns of England for ever. No wave of invasion has left a stronger mark upon the nation than that of the Saxons. In name terminations, as Chester, caster, cester, ceaster, from castrum, a fortress ; as clere, a hill, in Highclere, Burghclere, Kingsclere ; in ham, an enclosure ; in holt, a copse ; in hurst, a wood ; in ing, belonging to ; in low or hloew, a grave-mound ; in lich, a field of the dead ; in stead or stede, a place ; in ton or tun, a fenced place ; in dun or dune, a hill ; in burn or bourne, a brook ; and in numerous other cases can modern place- names be traced to a Saxon source, Henley finds an origin in Hen-llys, the old palace. Wallingford may be the Wealas-ing-ford, that is, the old fordway of the British or Welsh ; or it may have been derived from the Wallingas- ford, or ford of the Welshmen. The ' slad ' at Compton is the valley between the hills. Their land-divisions of mark, or a portion set aside for a community of freemen ; of seir, the union of two marks, or of a portion shorn from the greater kingdom ; gafol, rent of land, were methodical, and the basis of land division now. Their power extended over the whole area they con- quered, because they were colonists as well as settlers ; and, like other military colonists, they drove back, destroyed, or more or less enslaved, the populations with whom they came in contact. Their organization was that of the com- mune, as can be traced in place-names, where the prefix denotes the family name of the first Saxon settlers. Thus the Farringas founded Farringdon ; the Abbas, Abbadon or Abingdon; the Radingas, Reading, and so on ; and with these more numerous and more widely-spread settlements, the intercommunication between them multiplied also. As agriculture increased the cultivation extended farther into The Saxon Conquest. "j^ the valleys and encroached on the primeval woods. With their destruction came less rainfall, and less morass. So that roadways of Saxondom run pretty much as they do now. They did not make solid roads, or improve and mend aboriginal ones, as their immediate predecessors had done ; but they made new ones, and widened or made more definite the old. The spread of Christianity and the build- ing of churches, though large numbers of them were pro- bably at first either partially or entirely constructed of wood, still further induced the opening up of the country and the formation of village communities. If the Roman rule had been one of municipalities, and of imperial central- ization, that of the Saxon had been agrarian and domestic. The former 'built and fortified; the latter appropriated and enclosed.'* Thus some of the land in the valley of the Ock, which had once been marshy, as the name Moreton (Moor-town), and Cholsey (Ceol's Isle) along the stream or bourne which rises near Hagbourne (the Jiaig or hedged enclosure by the bourne or brook) would imply, now contained villages, united by a branch road from Wallingford to the Icknield way. Wallingford was then, and remained until the fifteenth century, the principal passage of the Thames, with fords at Boxford and Culham. The Streatley passage seems to have been abandoned, as the Roman road had been ; and it is also likely that the Roman Bridge at Pontes had never been rebuilt, but that the ford at old Windsor took its place. Again, in the Kennet Valley along its northern bank, the line of traffic partially deserted the Bucklebury Hills, and united Reading with Newbury and Hungerford by the road which joined the Saxon Churches of Theale, Shaw, and Avington, Elsewhere, too, the communications began to assume their modern directions and positions ; and the ancient Icknield way and Ridgeway, and many another '^' Godwin. 74 History of Berkshire. ancient route, in their turn fell into disuse, and became grass-grown, as the Roman military highways had done before them. Bridges still were rare. National laws and ecclesiastical regulations followed in due course from Ethelbert to Cnut, and written charters from Ethelbert to the Conquest. A charter of 944 mentions a Beaver Island in the Kennet, which points to a tradition of the former existence of that animal there. Alfred left the three estates of Wantage, Ethendun (Yattendon), and Lambourne to his wife, and the latter is mentioned as a royal demesne of the Con- fessor's. In the Saxon Chronicle of 821, Leckhampstead, Boxford, Welford, Poughley, Trinley, Wickham and Speen are of sufficient importance even then to be mentioned ; and when the Saxon Thane Ulward held Newbury as the Ulward's town, which the Normans afterwards called Uluritone, it numbered fifty-one houses, while Reading had but twenty-nine. The churches, of which many at first were probably of wood, and were destroyed by the Danes, numbered i,7C)0 in the time of the Conquest ; but many of these may have been built by Cnut and his successors. The stone churches were distinguished by 'long and short masonry,' the absence of buttresses, semicircular and triangular arches, rude balusters, hammer dressings, and unchiselled sculptures. The tower of Cholsey, the tower and chancel- arch of Wickham, show the traces of the work of this period. In Benson Church is a clumsy pillar that encloses a part of the Saxon edifice, and Upton and Aston are both by tradition said to have been churches in which Alfred worshipped. In the latter he returned thanks after yEscesdun for his wonderful victory. Religious establish- ments are said to have existed at Bromhill, and at Brad- field, where Ina founded one, and bestowed it on the Abbey of Abingdon. The Saxon Conquest. 75 At Cholsey, in 986, Ethelred founded a monastery in expiation of the murder of Edward the Martyr, which the Danes burnt ; and the lands went afterwards to the great Abbey at Reading, near the site of which Elfrida in 986 also founded a house of Benedictine nuns, as an atone- ment for the same offence. This also was destroyed during the Danish invasion of 1006.* Sonning was the site of a Saxon Bishopric, of which Athelstan, Odo, Osulf, Alfstan, Algar, Syeric, Alfric, Brightwold. Hereman, Oswald and Roger, were Bishops, which was afterwards united to that of Sherborne, whither the headquarters of the see were transferred in the reign of Edward. The greatest Saxon religious establishment in Berkshire was the Abbey of Abingdon. It was founded by Cissa, Viceroy of Centwine, who in 675 granted a tract of land to lieane, his nephew, who became the first prior over the twelve monks of the Abbey erected in honour of the Virgin. This story is somewhat corroborated by another, which states that one ' Eanus, a noble Saxon, began to build a little monastery by the permission of Cissa at Bagley Wood or Chisewel.' A sister of Heane's also dedicated a nunnery here to St. Helen, whence it took the name of * Helenstow ;' and when this, later on, was removed to Witham, its site became the manor of ' St. Elen's,' which eventually passed to the fraternity of the Holy Cross, and to the Christ's Hospital Charity of Abingdon. The nuns of St. Helen's were of a very strict and retiring disposition, for even at Witham they would not rest, but deserted it during the wars of Offa and Cynewulf, because a Saxon castle and its garrison were established there. Tradition and legend have, of course, gathered round the early history of the great Abbey, and monkish chroniclers were not unwilling to adopt them. Some of them assert that its ° The ancient barn at Cholsey, measuring 64 feet by 303 feet, dates from A.D. iioi, and belonged to the Abbots of Reading. 76 History of Berkshire. name is derived from that of an Irish monk Abennus, who received from the King of Britain the greater part of Berks. Others stated, so Leland says, that it was begun near Bagwell Wood, in the parish of Cumnor. A mysterious reverence was attributed to the place. It had been the site of a place of British worship. It had been the chosen spot where Christianity had first taken root in that district. A cross made ' of the nails of the Cross, which struck dead all who forswore themselves on it,' had been found there. 'At the time when the wicked Pagan, Hengist, basely murdered 460 noblemen and barons at Stonehengist or Stonehenge, Abai, a nobleman's son, escaped into a wood on the south side of Oxfordshire, where, leading a most holy life, the inhabitants flocked to him to hear the Word of God, and built him a dwelling-house and a chapel in honour of the Holy Virgin ; but he, disliking their resort, stole away to Ireland, and from him the place where he dwelt is called Abingdon.' The effort to give the Church's holding over the place extreme antiquity is evident, but there is no proof that British Christianity penetrated so far as this, even though the tradition runs that on digging the foundations at Abingdon, images and crosses of that distant period were found. There is little doubt, however, that Cissa founded it, and that Ceadwalla not only confirmed the latter's gift, but probably gave the royal city, known as Seovocesham, to the new monastery, and changed its name to Abbenden, the Abbey Hill. Cissa himself, according to Leland, was buried in the Abbey, 'but the very place and tomb of his burial is never known, syns the Danes defaced Abingdon.' Ceadwalla further endowed it, in 6S6, with ' Uicham cum suis campis ' on the Roman road, near Speen ; and King Ina, in 699, added to it 273 hides of land in ' Bradfield, Bestleford, Streatley, and Ermondslea,'"^ and also the manor of Goosev. '■' Appleton. The Saxon Conquest. In 755 King Cynewulf granted to his sisters the vill of Culham, which they desired to present to the Abbey, in which they intended to be buried. Shortly afterwards Pope Leo III. placed Culham Church under the absolute jurisdiction of the abbot. The ' Charter of Easton,' in Sor, contains a gift by Brihtric of the manor of Aston to Lulla the Saxon, whose name is preserved in ' Lollendon,' and who, in his turn, says,' All my rights that I had in Aston I give to St. Mary of Abingdon.' Ethelwolf, about 850, gave the tithes to the churches free of tax, which made ' general what had before been the fruit of individual piety ;' and Lyford was held by a charter of 944, together with thirteen hides of land in Hennerithe (East Hendred), Bray, and elsewhere, the gifts of Edmund, Eadgar, and Cnut. The building was growing in size as well as wealth. * There were twelve mansions about this monastery at first, and as many chapels, inhabited by twelve monks without any cloister, but shut in with a high wall ; none being allowed to go out without great necessity and the abbot's leave. No woman ever entered the same, and none dwelt there but the twelve monks and the abbot. They wore black habits, and lay on sackcloth, never eating flesh unless in dangerous sickness."- So the church waxed strong and rich, and the Danes, thinking so, took it and destroyed it. Its first church, 120 feet long, and with apsidal ends, was probably of wood, and was certainly burnt. And this notwithstanding that an image took stones out of the wall and pelted the Danes therewith. But it availed nothing. The hard-hitting heathen plundered it and went their way, to be defeated afterwards by the King, who then sought payment for his aid from the Abbey monks. The looted monastery had little to give, and that little the King wanted, but did not get. So he took from them the governance of the town and '- Dugdale's ' Monasticon.' 78 History of Berkshire. many of their estates as compensation for having vanquished their spoilers, and was compared to Judas promptly. The manor of Aston seems to have left them, and did not come back until after the death of y^lfrith, Queen to Eadgar, to whom the King had granted it and its disposal. But it rose slowly from its ashes, and Hugh Capet of France helped it indirectly in 939, for he wanted to marry Ethilda, the sister of Athelstan, and so sent valuable pre- sents, which found their way to Abingdon. Such valuables as ' a thorn and part of a nail from our Lord's crown and cross ; the standard of St. Maurice, commander of the Theban legion and martyr ; and a finger of St. Dionysius, the martyr,' would be attractions to the devout pilgrim, doubtless. It was a fitful gleam of prosperity, however, for after the death of Edmund I. the monastery was almost deserted, and its lands taken from it. The county was much disturbed during these days, and the woodlands were the resorts of all the loose elements of a disordered society. In Bagley Wood, north of Abingdon, St. Edmund of Abingdon was himself attacked, but proving his real poverty, escaped. Other notables were not so fortunate. ' One Blake hung upon an oak, in the way to Abingdon, beyond the half-way gate. This traitor betrayed three Christian kings, and would have betrayed the fourth ; upon which he was hanged within two days after his design was discovered, upon the said oak, which is thus called " Blake's Oak." '* Whether the Danes had again ravaged it or not, is not stated ; perhaps there was nothing, except relics they did not value, worth the stealing. Eadred, Alfred's grandson, whom the Witaji chose as king, hail fallen under the monkish influence of Dunstan, Abbot of Glastonbury, as somewhat similarly did Henry II. later on. The prelate was shrewd enough " to see that the existing monasticism had become weakened by the disorders of the time, and that unless reformed and hardened ■■■ Hearne. The Saxon Conquest. it must give way. Ethelwold, pupil of Bishop Alphege of Winchester, and Oswald, shared Dunstan's views. They recognised the force of the principle of celibacy, as ap- plied to the clergy, which the Benedictines had introduced into Italy, and they determined to apply it here. So> to there-endowed and now Benedictine Abbev of Abinrrdon was appointed Ethelwold, the Glastonbury monk, at the instance of Queen Edgiva. Dunstan assisted at its re- consecration ; and its two first bells were the gifts of him and of the new abbot, and were made by their own hands. Eadred, in 949, gave eighteen manses or hides of land at Welleford (Welford), in exchange for lands in Cornwall ; and this gift was, by the King's consent, bestowed on Abingdon. In 955 Eadwig (Ed vvy), granted Ferry Hinksey and South Hinksey to it by charter ; and in 956 gave twenty-two hides, at Welyford (Welford) to Eadric, who transferred it to the Abbey. This same parish contains the ten hides of land at Easton, given by Eadgar to his Queen yElfrith (Elfrida), daughter of Ordgar, Ealdorman of Devon. She it was whose beauty led to the deceit practised by the King's friend, ^Ethelwold, when sent to woo the Earl's daughter for his sovereign, and which re- sulted in his being his own wooer, and marrying her. But Eadgar saw her later, and /Elfrith herself, using all her charms to fascinate the King, induced him to slay her husband by treachery, and make her Queen. This last charter to her, in which he speaks of her in the most affec- tionate terms, and where he himself styles himself ' Totius Albionis insulae archous,' is signed by Dunstan, ' 1 1 bishops,. 5 abbots, 5 duces, and 25 ministers or priests ;' but she nevertheless caused the death of this husband's son, King Edward the Martyr, by ordering him to be stabbed when drinking his stirrup-cup after hunting at Corfe Castle, and then made tardy expiation for her crimes by founding the monasteries of Wherwhell and Amesbury. Dunstan was an energetic man. He got from Edvvy, So History of Berkshire. who succeeded Eadred, the privilege for the Abbey to elect its own abbot, and this and other advantages Eadgar con- firmed. He commenced the new church. He sent Osgar, the monk, to learn singing, and to improve the service, and gave cups of gold and silver for the altar. Abbot Ordgar saw the completion of the church, which soon was rich in manors and relics. The Lady Eadfleda gave lands in Winkfield and Wickham, and reliquaries, and cups, and vestments in 1015. Cnut himself had a casket made to contain the relics of St. Vincent of Spain ; and Athelvvin gave another with relics collected by himself. Remains of Edward, ' King and Martyr,^ were also brought there ; so that Abbot Seward may be excused for wishing, as he did, to improve the beauty of so rich a church. But sainted Ethehvold appeared to him in a dream, and told him to turn his attention to the poor. Athelstan, Spearhavoc, and Ordric followed in the abbacy in due course, with the usual additions of land, such as that at Lewknor, ' to pro- vide more liberally for the maintenance' of the monks, and their privileges during their tenure of office; but only Ordric did any special work, and he, by improving the navigation of the river by a new cut, gained for the Abbey cellarer a toll of one hundred herrings for every boat that passed. Last of all, the Confessor bestowed on it the Hundred of Horner. Dugdale says that so rich was it, that at one time all the land from Eynsham to Dorchester was in the Abbey's holding, and it ranked almost with that great Abbey of Glastonbury, of which Dunstan of Canterbury was the head. But the reign of Saxon priests at Abingdon drew to an end. Aldred was the last, and he boldly withstood William of Normandy, only to find a prison first at Wallingford, and then with Bishop Walkelin of Winchester.* In earlier days the Wessex Saxons had rarely cremated their dead, but had buried them in deep graves, over which * Godwin. The Saxon Conquest. 8i a huge mound or hlcBwe was raised, as in the case of the barrow at Taplovv, on the borders of Berks. They were interred in any place rendered holy by being used for the funeral rites ; but it was not until 742 that Cuthbert of Canterbury introduced the practice of interment in church- yards. A Saxon grave may be distinguished from those of other races by the character of the urns found in it, as at Long Wittenham and near Crux Easton Rectory, and by the presence of the iron sword, the spear, and the sceax. From this latter, the short knife, came the Saxon name. Such knives, with the iron umbo of a shield, were found in the ' cross barrow,' Compton ; iron spear-heads at Lowbury; iron arrow-heads at the Churn Barrows ; and an iron axe, somewhat of the ' Francisca ' pattern, was found at Bede Farm, and may be either late Saxon or early Norman.* The barrows also frequently contained wooden bronze-cased buckets, glass drinking-vessels of strange form, and wooden shields with iron bosses or umbos, and the dresses and sword-belts were fastened with clasps of gold, bronze, or gilt metal. Cemeteries of the West Saxons have been examined near Abingdon, Fulford (with old Roman interments), Blewbury, Cookham, Long Wittenham, Mil- ton, and Streatley ; and Saxon skeletons are numerous in the * holy place ' of Kintbury. When Athelstan reigned, in 931, he granted to a certain Wulfgar, a thegn of Inkpen and Collingbourn, lands at Hamme ; and it is possible that the monastery said to have existed there may have owed its endowment to him, for his name appears in a will bequeathing ' three parts of all the produce of his land at Inkpen to God's servants at Kintbury ; to the holy place at Kintbury ; to the servants of God where my body rests ; for my soul, and for my father's, and for my grandfather's ; for Wulfgar 's soul who gives it, and for Wulfric's, and for '- A somewhat similar axe from the field of ' Battle ' at Hastings is in the possession of Dr. Stevens, of Reading. 6 82 History of Berkshire. Wulfhere's, who first acquired it.'* This ancient cemetery has been discovered and carefully examined by Mr. Walter Money, F.S.A., and is situated a short distance east of the present church. f A number of Saxon coins were found here in 1762 ; and coins of the same Athelstan, with Beornwald as moneyer, have been dug up at Wallingford. But Saxon barrov.'s of pre-Christian days are rare in this district, and the huge mound on the Ridgeway known as Scutchamore, or CuckhamsleyJ Knob, is supposed to be rather a boundary mark than of sepulchral character. It was once more conical than barrows usually are, and in 1850 was about 18 feet high and 412 feet round, with a ditch 35 feet wide. Nothing was found within it, and it seemed to have been ' formed from the parings of turf cut from the hill on which it stands.' In the Saxon Chronicles of A.D. 648, it is stated that Kenwal, King of Wessex, gave his nephew Cuthred, son of Cwichelm, 3,000 hides of land 'be yEscesdune,' amounting, so says William of Malmes- bury, to nearly one-third of his kingdom. Now Cwichelm himself was baptized at Dorchester in A.D. 636, and died that year, so it is difficult to see what this non-sepulchral mound had to do with him ; but it has been suggested that it is none the less the boundary mark of Kenwal's gift, and that as the grant was possibly made to Cwichelm originally, the mound, or Cwichelms-hlsewe, bore the name of the father rather than the son.§ The Danes left fewer traces on the land than their immediate predecessors. They occupied at first the eastern counties and great river lines chiefly, and it is in these directions that their influence was most strongly felt. Like ■^" N. D. F. C, vol. ii., p. 76. + The suggestion that the holy place might be at Avington, on the north bank of the Kennet, seems to have little foundation. \ Also spelt Cuchmslow, Scuchmslow, and Curchelmslawe. § There is also a ridge near here spelt Cheeseridge, but locally, and therefore correctly, pronounced Ciish-xiA'gt. This may be a modification of Cuthred's ridge (Hundred of Compton). The Saxon Conquest. 83 the Early Saxons their career had been one of ravage and destruction, and the ruin of older things had followed in their steps. Save in a few place-names, such as Thorpe, near Chertsey, Marlow and Danesfield, near Hurley, and Danespit and Danespare on the Ashdown Hills, their mark on the Berkshire district is very faint. They do not seem to have penetrated up the Thames much farther than Wallingford, though they extended their ravages inland for some distance from the banks of the river. Of their small circular camps there are no undoubted specimens, and even that at Reading has now been swept away, while the churches that were erected during the reign of the Danish kings were practically Saxon. Though they had burnt Wallingford in 1006, they settled there ; but nothing is left to show that it was once a Danish town. They were luxurious people, these Danes, for they 'combed their hair once a day, bathed once a week, and changed their garments frequently ;' and if they left no lasting trace on the surface of the land, they did on the peoples they overran, conquered, and finally settled side by side with. The Danish blood gave a fresh impetus to the decaying Saxon life, and from its infusion into it sprang the Englishman. The Dane destroyed as the Saxon did, but did not so rapidly colonize and thereby maintain so lasting a hold. If the Saxons absorbed the Celt and Romano-Briton, or what was left of them, the Dane, on the other hand, was absorbed by them ; and when the stronger stock that descended from this union was again invaded and conquered by yet another race of Teutonic origin, though further removed from the parent stem than the earlier waves of conquest, the new-comer, the Norman,* a descendant of Northern Vikings, was soon melted down and disappeared in the English race. So for good reasons or for bad reasons the invasion of William the Norman swept over the land. This wave there- ■-■" The term first appeared in 895. 6—2 84 History of Berkshire. fore, alternating like the previous ones, came practically from the south. The coincidence is curious. Celt, Roman, and Norman seem to have advanced towards the North, while Palseolithic man, the Belgs and the Saxon-Dane marched towards the west. It must be borne in mind that the possibility of such an irruption had been foreseen, and that William had many actually Norman-French, as well as English, friends in England. This can alone account for the comparatively ready submission of the land to the new-comers. Except at Senlac, there was no real fighting. The Conqueror, after taking Dover and moving round the eastern edge of the Andreadsweald, was checked at Southwark, and passed burning and plundering, as his forerunners had done, through Surrey, Hants, and Berks, along the south bank of the Thames to Wallingford, where Wigod the Saxon surrendered to the Norman, and became the King's man. He had been an ally of his before, and offered no objection therefore to the marriage of his daughter and heiress, Algitha, with Robert d'Oyley ; and so the keep of a Norman castle of stone soon overawed the land, and replaced the earthworks and stockading of the Saxon fortress. Passing by the future stronghold,. William crossed the Thames at Wallingford and seized London. Like all great military nations, the Normans had a keen eye for ground. The possible Celtic or British Giialhen- ford, or old fort by the ford, had become Romanized, had changed to Saxon Wallingas-ford, and so to Walling- ford ; and its fortress, covering a chief point of passage of the great western road over the Thames, altered with its name. The irregular British earthwork had changed to rectangular Roman, and then, improved by Saxon, had given way to stone. Similarly the hill at Windsor, com- manding the valley of the Thames farther down, was seized upon by William as a suitable strategic site for a. The Saxon Conqtiest. 85 Norman tower ; others were erected at the important strategical points of Reading and Newbury later on. Thus the new invaders, like the old, held those places which commanded the principal arteries of communication. For the rule of the Barons was one of violence and re- pression. ' Domesday Book,' that marvellous record of the extent and value of all land and property throughout the realm, commenced in 1083, and ratified by a council at Old Sarum in 1086, was a means of still further crushing out the individuality of the freeholders, who in the year of its completion were obliged to take an oath of fealty to William. One of its commissioners, or Royal Justiciaries, for the Midland counties was Adam, the brother of Eudo Dapifer, the King's steward, who had two hides of land at Windsor. The survey produced by the land-tax as much as iJ"50O,0OO of revenue, a rich prize in those days. Confiscation now was easy, and revolt or insubordination met with organized and relentless punishment. The power of the Saxon Church was crushed ; its independence of Rome taken away ; its monasteries plundered. Norman priests and Italian prelates usurped the ecclesiastical rule, in which Pope Alexander willingly concurred. ' Contumely seems to have been wantonly added to oppression ; and the natives were universally reduced to such a state of meanness and poverty that the English name became a term of reproach, and several generations elapsed before one family of Saxon pedigree was raised to any consider- able honours, or could so much as attain the rank of Baron of the realm.'* But this last invasion was, unlike its forerunners, con- structive and not destructive. It plundered and slew, but there it stopped. It annexed, but it did not demolish. It grafted itself on the ancient peoples, and improved them and bore fruit. The Normans, Saxons, Danes, and Belgae came from the same racial stock, and though at times they =' Hume. 86 History of Berkshire. differed in faith, they insensibly became one. But the Roman was a foreigner in faith, in blood, and in character, and, as far as the whole nation was concerned, remained so during his entire occupation. So in India, the Mahome- tan and Hindu live side by side without much active antagonism, for they are but waves of immigration from the same district ; while the Englishman, like the Roman was, is a foreigner in faith and blood, never intermarries with the conquered, is neither absorbed by nor absorbs them, and is, and ever will be, alien. Still, the first result of the Norman invasion was naturally to produce antago- nism on the part of the invaded ; and though William's rule at first seems to have been gentle, the natural confis- cation of the property of the Saxon ruling classes eventually led to insurrections, and these to increasingly cruel re- prisals. Many an Anglo-Saxon noble of what had once been Wessex, despairing of the fortunes of the country, fled to other lands ; and the Varingians of the Greek emperors at Constantinople were largely reinforced from Saxon Berkshire. Still, while William reigned, he let no one rule but him- self. His feudal followers he governed as sternly as the conquered Saxons. It was only after his death that the Barons broke loose from the restraint he imposed by his own strong rule. ' Stark he was,' says the English chronicler, ' to men that withstood him ; none dared resist his will. Earls that did aught against his bidding he cast into bonds ; Bishops he stripped of their bishopricks, and abbots of their Abbacies. But stern as his rule was, it gave peace to the land.'* With peace had come, too, an exten- sion of ecclesiastical architecture. The Saxons had done little in this way, or at least their churches, if not of wood, had been small and plain, or rude. Lysons seem to be in doubt whether some of the so-called Norman fonts may not be of this time, and there is possibly Saxon work in the *' Proc. Berks Archaeol. Soc. The Saxon Conquest. 87 tower of Wickham. Still, since there are fifty-six churches mentioned in ' Domesday ' as existing in Berkshire at that date (1083-10S6), a large number of these must have been of Saxon construction, though probably the whole were enlarged, altered, or improved by the new-comers, who left few unquestionable traces of the old work. So that there are traces of Norman work in Norman fonts in the churches of Acrington, St. Nicholas at Abingdon, Aldermaston, Bisham (with the tombs of the Hobbies), Brightwalton, Bucklebury (with the tombs of the Winchcombes), Chaddleworth, Charney, Childrey, Cholsey, Clewer, Calmore, Enborne, Finchamstead, Farn- borough, Hatford, Hinksey, Hurley, Kintbury, Purley, St Lawrence at Reading, Sulhamstead-Abbots, Sutton Cour- tenay, Shalbourne, Shaw, Stanford Dingley, St. Leonard's at Wallingford, Thatcham, Woolhampton, and Welford ; and there are other indications at Woburn, Farringdon, Ashbury, Tidmarsh, and Letcombe Regis, in doorways and mouldings. The apsidal chancels of Padworth, Finchamp- stead, and Remenham, are also probably of Norman origin. Thus the constructive Norman has left even more en- during traces than his predecessors. His churches were numerous and massive. If there are few Celtic and Roman words in Berkshire, and fewer Danish, Saxondom left its firm mark in numerous place-names which the Normans intensified. Where the Saxon family had created a village to which its name formed the prefix, as the Uffingas, the children of Ofifa, had made the Uffingas-ton, the Norman had, in many cases, boldly added to it his own patronymic distinctly as an affix. Thus Aston became Aston-Ferrold ; Kingston, Kingston-Lisle, and Kingston-Bagpnze ; Hamp- stead, Hanipstead-Norris; Sutton, Sntton-Conrtenay, and so on. These names are few and far between, it is true, but they nevertheless represent the centres of Norman life. They were the seats of those who ruled and often ravaged the intervening lands ; and the numbers of the invaders were 88 History of Berkshire. as small in proportion to the great waves that had preceded them, as their discipline and armed strength were infinitely- preponderating. The Saxon occupied the ground broadcast by sheer weight of numbers, and there he settled and replenished the exhausted land. The Norman held the richest parts as his appanage ; and the towers of the Norman keeps which arose at important strategical points where many roads met, as at Farringdon, Wallingford, Reading, and New- bury, were his sign-manual that he held the land, as he had gained it, by the sword. CHAPTER V. ITS MILITARY HISTORY.— (^z) ITS FORTRESSES : THEIR RISE AND FALL. Very soon after the Norman invasion arose the castles of Wallingford and Windsor. Others were soon constructed near the passage of the Kennet, at Reading, and where, in place of UKvardstown (or Uluritone) was springing up Norman Newbury. During the Stephanie wars fortresses were also built at Farringdon and Brightwell. Lastly, the mansion of Donnington was eventually crenellated, and this covered the new road along the northern bank of the Kennet, as well as that to Oxford. Of these, Reading, Brightwell, and Farringdon were speedily destroyed in, or after, Stephen's reign ; Newbury died a natural death in the Middle Ages ; Wallingford, Donnington, and Windsor survived to take part in the Civil Wars ; and, after that, Windsor alone remained. Of the history of the Castle of Newbury little is at pre- sent recorded, though its duration was not very brief, and it commanded the chief, if not the only, permanent passage on the middle Kennet. It was erected by the Earl of Perche, probably in the early part of the thirteenth cen- tury ; was stormed by Stephen in 1154; was seized by John Lackland; was forfeited by the last Earl of Perche; was granted to Earl Pembroke ; passed through the hands of the Montforts, Bigods, Mortimers, and Mohuns, and 90 History of Berksldre. then, by the female line, to the Montacutes, Beauchamps, and Richard Duke of York, who fell at the battle of Wake- field Green in 1460. In 1480, on its gate was spiked one of the quarters of Ramsay, a confederate of Cade's ; and after the fall of Warwick it once more became an appanage of the Crown. It probably stood on the canal wharf, east of the present bridge ; and from it the arms of the town — ' On a mount, a castle with three domed towers, on each a pennon with the legend ''Burgus Neioberie"' — were taken. When the building fell into disuse is uncertain ; but in the year 1627 the Corporation of Newbury, under a license of King Charles, purchased the Castle estate and converted the building into a workhouse, with John Emes as master. Finally it became the property of the River Kennet Navi- gation Company in 1723, who erected there the canal wharf.* The history of the Castle at Reading, which covered the double passage of the Kennet and the Thames, is even more obscure. It is considered to have stood at the western end of the town, either where the old gaol was situated, at the foot of ' Castle Street,' or on the higher ground behind Coley Hill, where in Coates's map are shown fields marked as the ' old fortification,' and ' Mount- field. 't In the name of the street lives the only certain trace of the Norman keep of Stephen, which was destroyed in the following reign of Henry 11. Similarly the Castle at Farringdon, which covered the junction of five roads, and also the passage of the Thames at Radcot Bridge, was built by the Earl of Gloucester about 1 142, suffered a short siege in the reign of Stephen, and was also probably demolished by Henry II., if not before ; and Brightwell, built during the same troubled time, on the heights west of Wallingford, so as to watch and over- come that fortress, shared the same fate. That of Wallingford, which blocked the chief passage of '' N. D. F. C. Proc. f Coates. Ics Fortresses : their Rise and Fall. gi the Thames where the great western road crossed it, has a more stirring story to tell. It had been a fortress through all British time. The earthen camp of the Celts had been altered by the Romans, or replaced by a rectangular work, one side of which was washed by the Thames. In the ancient walls of the keep there seemed to have been Roman masonry, from the 'herring-bone' fashion in which the stones were laid ; but this is no evidence that it was ever a walled town, and the subterranean passages from the north side to the river, and from the south side also, though the masonry appears Roman, are of no further value than proving that there was a Roman station here. The Saxons apparently erected no castles of stone ; and Earl Wigod's house was probably, at most, a long, low, wooden building, while the earthen city wall was defended by stockades. It was left to the con- structive Normans to erect the more permanent castle. After the revolt of Oxford, and its subsequent storm, D'Oyley of Wallingford was directed to fortify his town, and in it hence arose the Norman keep. ' Pro castello sunt viii. hagse destructa^ ;' and in 107 1 the castle begun in 1067 was finished. In the former year a similar fortress was erected by D'Oyley at Oxford. Throughout the disturbed times of the Norman and Anglo-Norman kings, both took a larger share than almost any other towns in the continual strife of that period. Ranulph de Blundeville, the Earl of Chester, held it in 1218, and built the Castle Hall; and when he died, his heart was buried there, and his body in his town of Chester. From him, in 1231, it went to the Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans and King of Almain,* brother to Henry III., who held court there with royal hospitality, and in whose time large sums were spent upon it. He was not inaccessible to corruption, for certain Jews bribed him to pardon one of their number condemned to death at '-' Spelt also Almayne ; he claimed the sovereignty of Germany also. 92 History of Berkshire. Reading; but, notwithstanding, the Jews of the realm were sold to the Earl by the King for the sum of 5,000 marks. On the Earl's death it passed to his son Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, who founded the Church of St. Nicholas in the Castle. It took part in the troubles of the reign of Henry III. His weak and vacillating character had led to discontent on the part of the Barons, who, after the ' mad Parliament ' of 1258, broke into open insurrection against both him and his brother, the Wallingford Earl. After falling into the hands of the Barons, it was occupied in 1262 by Simon de Montfort, their leader, whose Countess for a time resided there. But on the breaking up of the conspiracy, owing chiefly to the deser- tion of Gloucester to the King's cause, De Montfort fled to France, and the Castle again had a royal garrison. But Leicester returned again and attacked it ; * and, though Henry once more submitted, it still remained with the royal party. The truce was of short duration, however, and after the battle of Lewes it received as prisoners the King, Richard of Cornwall, with his sons Prince Edward and Henry Almain; and here, when the rest were released, Edward was still kept in durance. Efforts were made to release him. The Queen secretly apprised Sir Warren de Basingbourne that the Castle was but weakly guarded, and he, advancing against it with 300 horse, after a brisk assault gained the outer works. But here they were checked. For the assailants were warned that if they wanted the Prince they should have him, but he should be sent to them bound from a mangonel. Shortly afterwards he was removed to Kenilworth, whence he escaped to join in the battle of Evesham, where Leicester was slain. In due course Edward became the King, and his son, the first Prince of Wales, succeeded him. He had little of his father's energy or intellect. A victim to favourites, he ■"■ ' Hist, of Wallingford.' Its Fortresses : their Rise and Fall. 93 gave to one of the haughtiest and worsts Piers de Gaveston, theCastleandManorof Wallingford, SirPiershad littletact, to say the very least. A tournament was held to inaugu- rate his appointment. At this he used a tongue so railing as to incense the Earls, his guests ; and one of them, never forgetting the insults of that time, ultimately took his life. To call the dark, sallow Earl of Pembroke 'Joseph the Jew;' to address the fierce Earl of Warwick as 'the wild boar of the Ardennes ;' to touch the vanity of the Earl of Lancaster by calling him 'the stage-player,' was little calculated to bind these nobles to him. But he died as he had lived, in violence, in the Castle of that very Earl of Warwick whom he had insulted at Wallingford long years before. And then Wallingford became the appanage of another favourite, Hugh Despencer ; and after his fall that of Isabella the Queen. Conspiracies were numerous for all sorts of causes. During one of these, set about to release all those who had been imprisoned when the King seized the estate of Alicia, widow of the Earl of Lancaster, for marrying another husband without his royal consent — a curious illustration of the extent of the feudal power — it w^as taken by the malcontents, but recaptured by Sir Richard d'Amoz, Lord of Bucknell and the King's steward. Meanwhile Isabella had fled to France, and found, in her turn, a favourite in Roger Mortimer. She returned osten- sibly to destroy the power of Despencer, who was again in favour, and issued a manifesto from Wallingford offering a reward for his head. On her favourite she bestowed the Castle, when the King had been taken prisoner to Kenilworth, and held a * Royall Christmas ' at the ancient town of Wallingford. During the minority of Edward III. it had been in the hands of William de Mareschal by order of the late King ; but Isabella deprived him of it and gave it to Sweyn de ]\Iartel, to see it restored to him by her son, who, when he 94 History of Berkshire. became King, eventually presented it to his brother, John of Eltham, created Earl of Cornwall. Edward speedily checked the career of Mortimer, who was the first man hanged at Tyburn, and Isabella the Queen practically became a prisoner in Castle Rising in Norfolk. Then grew up the connection between Wallingford and the Princes of Wales. For as the Earldom of Cornwall had, as far back as Fitzcount's time, been linked with the manors and Castle of Wallingford, so when in 1334, on the death of John of Eltham, the earldom was made a dukedom, an Act of Parliament of the next year enacted that the Duchy of Cornwall with the Castle and Honour of Wallingford should be 'settled on the eldest sons of the Kings of England in succession.' Thus the Black Prince, born at Woodstock, became Lord of Wallingford, and it remained an appanage of the Duchy until the reign of Henry V^HI. On his death it passed to his son Richard; and here, where she had long lived unmarried owing to the opposition of the King to her union with the Black. Prince, resided his ladye-love, ' the fair maid of Kent ;' and here she, his widow, after nine years of mourning, died and was buried. Richard H., after his farewell from his girl-Queen at Windsor in 1399, on his departure for Ireland, caused her to be removed to the ' stronger fortress of Wallingford,' a clear proof of the relative importance of the two places at that time. But in the August of that year he became a prisoner to Henry of Bolingbroke, and on his deposition his young wife took an active part in the effort to regain the throne for her husband. Her adventures are touch- ing in the extreme. Hurried from place to place, she at length found herself at the head of an army at Sunninghill in Berkshire, and the Earls, her generals, had laid hands too on Windsor. But it availed nothing. The Earl of Kent deceived her with false hopes. ' So gladed he the Queen with lyes, and rod forth to Walynforth, and Its Foi'tresses : their Rise and Full. 95 from Walynforth to Abyngdon, warnyng alle men be the wcye that thei shuld make hem redy to help Kyng E.ichard.' But Richard was still a captive, and was soon to taste the bitterness of death. And Isabella of Valois, herself taken prisoner, then but a child of thirteen years, was held for the while in close restraint, and, mourning for her husband, refused to be comforted. Thus Henry of Bolingbroke reigned as the fourth of that name,and probablydid no more remarkable deed throughout his reign than appoint ' nostre bien aime escuier,' Thomas Chaucer, to be Constable of Wallingford and High Sheriff of Oxford and Berks. He was the son of the poet, and a man of influence. Four times did he represent the town in Parliament, and in 1414 was made Speaker of the House of Commons. He received for his stewardship the sum of £:\0 a year, with twenty marks additional, when, like another Joseph, he was made chief butler to the King for life. Henry V. bestowed the Castle and Honour on his Queen; and his son, afterwards Henry VI., was entrusted to the care of the Earl of Warwick to be taught and instructed in his duties at 'Wallingford and Hertford in the summer, and Windsor and Berkhampstead in the winter.' Owen Tudor was transferred here from Newgate in 1438 to the custody of the Earl of Suffolk, who was after- wards charged by the Commons with treachery, and with having * for his own defence furnished the Castle of Wallingford with all warlike munition,' with the ultimate object of handing it over to France. He fell a victim at last to the popular fury, though there is no evidence of such treachery on his part. His Duchess, Alice, at first a Lancastrian, became Yorkist when the political tide turned, andasConstableof theCastle received there the person of the Duke of Exeter, a Lancastrian prisoner. She shortly after- wards once more reverted to her first political attachment, but again changing on the advent of the Yorkists to power, she still retained her position as Castellaine, even when 96 History of Berkshire. Queen Margaret, her erstwhile patron, was prisoner within its walls. ' Twenty-seven years before, Alice had, with all the splendour which England could afford, accompanied her husband to France to bring home Margaret, " in the flower of youth and beauty's pride," as Queen to this country. Then all was hope and happiness. But now this same Margaret, a widow, childless, degraded from her regal power, " broken with the storms of State," was a prisoner, on the poor allowance of " five marks a week," in a fortress which once had owned her sway.' Berkshire seems to have been favourable to such changes in belief, as Lady Suffolk showed. Between Alice Chaucer, Duchess Dowager of Suffolk, and Simon Aleyn, Vicar of Bray later on, there is not much to choose. ' Such many, now-a-dayes, who, though they cannot turn the wind, will turn their mills, and set them so, that where- soever it bloweth, their grist shall certainly be grinded.'"'^ Her son, John de la Pole, had intermarried with the house of the White Rose, and became Constable in his turn, and steward of the Honours of Wallingford and St. Wallerie ; and was succeeded by Sir Richard Grey, and then by Lord Lovell until his attainder for his share in Bosworth fight, after which he had fled to Burgundy. With Henry VH. the Suffolks again so trimmed their sails as to obtain the King's favour, and, 'in consideration of good and faithful service,' the Constableship of Walling- ford. Supple dispositions the family must have had, both mother and son ; and a ready adaptability to the varying circumstances of the time. The Duke had got his son made Earl of Lincoln by Edward IV.; had supported Richard HL so far that he declared this same son the heir to the throne, and endowed him with manors in Berkshire ; yet, notwithstanding all this, he at the coronation of the Earl of Richmond, as Henry VH., carried the royal sceptre. ■"■ ' Fuller's Worthies.' Its Fortresses : their Rise and Fall. 97 But the Earl of Lincoln lacked his father's pliability. He had not forgotten that he might have worn the crown but for Henry VH. So Lambert Simnel's attempt to dislodge the King gave him an opportunity which both he and Lovell seized. His persistency of purpose, so uncharacter- istic of the family, did not succeed. He neglected the Suffolk traditions and could not trim. So he died in battle at Stoke, near Newark, in 1487, and Lovell fled, never more to be seen again alive in England. The Duke of Suffolk was still Constable of Wallingford for two years longer, and then resigned his office. Camden thinks he died of grief for the loss of his son, or rather ' for the ruin brought on the family by the Earl of Lincoln's death.' This latter is probable. It must have been very hard to see honours and possessions gained so ably, if nothing else, pass away to others, and that through breaking the family traditions, too ! Hence Edmund de la Pole, the Duke's re- maining son, inherited the bare title ; without the command at Wallingford, which his ancestors had so often held. Arthur, Prince of Wales, was Constable now, and on his investiture the King created Thomas Wriothesley, Esquire, ' Wallingford Pursuivant Extraordinary.' Among the com- manders of the army of the King in the battle of Stoke, before referred to, had been a certain Sir W^illiam Norris. His grandson, Henry, became a favourite of Henry VHL, and was appointed Constable of Wallingford. But the friendship of the second Tudor was very insecure. On May Day, 1536, 'Anne Boleyn appeared for the last time in the pride and pomp of royalty'* at the jousts at Greenwich. Henry Norris of Wallingford took an active part in them, and performed his devoir well ; so well, it is said, that the Queen, either by accident or design, dropped her handker- chief from the balcony at the good knight's feet, and he, taking it up, touched his face with it, and returned it on his lance-point to the Queen. Whether there was cause or * Miss Strickland, 'Lives of the Queens of England,' vol. iv. 98 History of Berkshire. not for jealousy is doubtful, but Henry thought there was; and so Norris was arrested for high treason. There is no proof whatever of wrongdoing on his part ; but even if he had 'lived like a sinner he died like a saint.' All efforts to make him incriminate Anne Boleyn, and save his own life thereby, failed. No, he said ; ' in his conscience he thought the Queen was innocent of the things laid to her charge, and he would die a thousand deaths rather than ruin an innocent person.' And thinking thus, he died on Tower Hill. Sir Francis Knollys succeeded him in his office, and is noteworthy as a just man who, though of strong Protestant feelings, both behaved gently towards Mary Queen of Scots when she was entrusted to his custody, and even seems to have doubted the wisdom of detaining her at all. But the value of Wallingford as a fortress was passing away. Its old rival, Windsor, was growing up in its stead ; and, by the reign of Mary, much of it had become dilapi- dated. It had not been a favourite residence of royalties for some time. An inquisition, made in 1555, shows that the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas, with its tower, was standing, but only as a mere shell, while the keep was still entire. Much lead had been stripped from it for making the water-pipes at Windsor; and squared stone was removed both from Wallingford and Reading to build the dwellings for the poor knights in the lower ward there. In due course it passed through the hands of Sir Henry Knollys, and his brother Sir William, Comptroller of the Household, who finally became Viscount Wallingford, and then Earl of Banbury. The race was an able one, and many of its other scions represented the borough in Parliament.* Lord Wallingford held the Constable- ship of what had once been the Castle up to 1632, when the Earl of Berkshire was elected ' High Steward of the Borough of Wallingford,' and the term ' Constable * • ' Hist, of Wallin^rford.' Its Fortresses : their Rise and Fall. 99 finally ceased. But the old walls and earthworks had some military value even now, and when the Civil War broke out they were placed in a state of defence, and Colonel Blagg-e took command. After its surrender by him to Adjutant Arthur Evelyn, Governor for the Parlia- ment, it was temporarily in the hands of Sir Edmund Dunch, through his relative Oliver Cromwell, and then became a state prison until 1652, when the Castle was ordered ' to be demolished and the works effectually slighted.'* Little remains to show the magnitude and im.portance of the fortress. It was situated within the walls of the town at its north-east angle, thus overlooking the Thames. In Leland's time it seems to have had three ' dykes ' or wet ditches, with two lines of embattled walls, and an inner keep or castle on a, probably artificial, mound, with other buildings also inside the second wall for domestic purposes. But not the least trace of any masonry has been discovered in the mound now. ' The huge mount stripped of all its former appendages, the few mouldering ruins, and the undulations and entrenchments, are all that remain to give an idea of the strength and extent of this once impregnable fortress. At no other stronghold could Cromwell's soldiers have done their work more thoroughly ; its lofty towers, its buttresses and formidable walls, are gone, and its impor- tance is no more ; but its frame is indelibly marked on the page of history.'t The Castle estate has fallen fortunately into worthy hands, and no better fate could be wished for this land- mark of Berkshire history than to be in the possession of the historian of Wallingford. Like Wallingford, the castle at Donnington, near New- bury, the date of erection of which is uncertain, was one of the few Berkshire fortresses that remained to take part in the later Civil Wars. * Destroyed. f ' Hist, of Wallingford.' 7—2 lOO History of Berkshire. The manor is mentioned in ' Domesday ' as being held with Aneborne, Mortune, and also Deritone, in the hundred of Taceham. It passed principally through the hands of Gervas de Sanervilla, as Dunintona (1166) ; Gilbert Fitz- Reinfrid (1213); Richard de Copland (1237); Thomas de Abberbury, who held Dynynton in 1306-7; and Walter de ' xA-bbresbury ' (his brother).* He is stated by Grose to have given King Edward H. one hundred shillings for the Castle, which at that time was apparently merely an unfortified dwelling-house ; seeing that, in 1306, it was described simply as a capital messuage.t In 1385 it was in the hands of Sir Richard de Abberbury, guardian to Richard II. during his minority, who held a license to ' build anew and crenellate his Castle at Donyngton.' It appears in these records also that in 1237 it was part of the Honour of VVallingford ; and that in 1243 the Bishop of Salisbury confirmed the appropriation of the tithes of Donnington to the priory of that town ; this ex- plains the connection that is apparent between the two places. A Richard de Abberbury is also mentioned, in 1433, in the list of Berkshire gentry; and in 1414 it is recorded that he and his wife conveyed, through trustees and others, the Manor and Castle to Thomas Chaucer, for 1,000 marks of silver.^ This Chaucer died in 1434, and it then passed to his daughter Alice, whose first husband, Sir John Phelipp, had died in 141 5 . Alice meanwhile had married the Earl of Salis- bury, and on his death De la Pole, Earl of Suffolk. Thence her history merges into that of the Castle of Wallingford. As she had changed her husbands, so, as will be seen by reference, she altered with equal facility her political creed. A woman of much astuteness and little consistency was this fair dame, Knight of the Garter though she was, as her monument in Ewelme Church shows. Donnington passed to her eldest son John, who was followed by his son the * Pipe Rolls. t Godwin. J ' N. D. F. C. Trans.,' vol. i. Its Fortresses : their Rise arid Fall. loi Earl of Lincoln, and his brother Edmund de la Pole, on whose attainder the Castle reverted to the Crown. Henry VIII. granted it to the new Earl of Suffolk, Charles Brandon, who frequently resided there, and whose arms ornamented the glass of its windows. In 1535, he sold * the Manor, Castles, and Lordships of Ewelme, Donyngton, Langley, West Bradley, West Compton, and Buckland, in the County of Berks, together with other Manors in the County of Oxford, the Manor-house and place of South- warke, commonly called the Duke of Suffolk's Place in the County of Surrey, with all Houses, etc., and the Park there, and also the offices of the High-Stewardship and Constable- ship of the Castle of Walyngford, Berks, in exchange for the reversion of the fee-simple of the Manors of Philbirdes (otherwise called Philbartes), Long W^ittenham, Fiffed (Fifield), Eton, Frydysham (otherwise called Frilsford), and Gartford, in the Counties of Berks and Oxon, the reversion belonging to and the Manors of Southwolde, Dysenage, and others in the County of Suffolk.' Thus the Castle again returned to the Crown, in whose hands it was neglected and fell into partial decay. None the less it was granted by Edward VL to his sister Elizabeth, with some other manors, a part of the town of Newbury, and the manor of Hamsted-Marshall, etc. ; and by her, during her reign, to the Earl of Nottingham. Among others, it came ' by settlement or mortgage ' to Peter Vanlore of Reading, of whom, now at least, his epitaph in Tilehurst Church speaks truly when it says : 'When thou hast read the name, " Here lies Vanlore," Thou need'st no story to inform thee more.' He is almost prophetic in his views of what posterity would say of this Utrecht merchant ; though his life was such as to merit the further information that it was ' The greatest part in one chaste wedlock spent ; Utrecht his cradle— Tylehurst loves his tomb.' Of the rest of his life little is, perhaps advisedly, said. I02 History of Berkshire. Mr. Chamberlayne seems to have held it in 1623 \ and Mr. Packer is said by Symonds to have bought it of him. How the alienation from the Crown took place is not clear, but it is certain that it was the property of John Packer when it was garrisoned for the King during the Civil War. He did not fight there on one side or the other; but in the Long Parliament he was M.P. for Wallingford, another place that suffered in these troubled times ; and when the war was over he built a mansion, now known as Donnington Castle House, from the ruins of the battered stronghold. It is this very battering that has made the Castle of Donnington especially interesting.* It is situated on the hill north-west of the village ; and, at the time when Sir John Boys, shortly after the first battle of Newbury, was ordered to garrison and defend it with his own Foot and the Dragooners of Sir Robert Howard, it consisted of a rectangular stone building, ' with windows on all sides, very lightsome.' The Castle had towers at the four angles, with possibly a small courtyard in the centre ; and a square porch, further protected by two similar towers, stood on the east side. It is this part that is now alone standing. It is a question whether the earthworks afterwards made by Boys, and of which such definite traces still exist, were made while the walls were intact. In one or two parts of the perimeter the earthen parapets are close to where the walls of the Castle stood, and it would be impossible to occupy the trenches while there was the certainty of masses of masonry being dis- lodged from the walls and battlements. Sir John received weekly contributions 'from the hundreds of Kintbury Eagle, Fairecrosse, and Compton,' besides the neighbouring town of Newbury, which was most of the time at his mercy. The first attack was made by Lieut.-General Middleton July 29th, 1644, who appeared before the place with about * ' Battles of Newbury,' W. Money, F.S.A. Its Fortresses : their Rise and Fall. \ox a 4,000 men. They assaulted some of the farm buildings in which Boys had placed some musketeers ; and, on capturing them, sent a summons to surrender, which shows how the name of the King was used in such proclamations by his opponents. It ran as follows : ' Sir, ' I demand you to render me Donnington Castle for the use of the King and Parliament. If you please to entertain a present treaty, you shall have honourable terms. My desire to spare blood makes me propose this. I desire your answer. 'John Middleton.' To this the commandant replied : 'Sir, ' I am instructed by His Majesty's express com- mands, and have not yet learned to obey any other than my Sovereign. To spare blood, do as you please ; but myself, and those who are with me, are fully resolved to venture ours in maintaining what we are entrusted with, which is the answer of 'John Boys.' ' Donnington Castle, July 31, 1644.' A half-hearted assault was thereupon attempted, but it failed, with a loss of an officer and six men prisoners, and some killed. Sir John was more punctilious than his ad- versary about those ' which,' as he says, ' I cannot accom- modate with Christian burial, as likewise many of your wounded men which I know not how to dispose of.' But Middleton, while expressing willingness to exchange the latter, conceived ' no inherent holinesse to be in any place or burialc, for all earth is fit for that use ;' and leaving his men to their fate, he withdrew to join Essex in the west, while Governor Browne of Abingdon was left in charge of I04 History of Berkshire. the operations. Up to this time it appears that the building had suffered little real damage. The second siege was commenced by a more strict blockade ; and, reinforced by troops from Abingdon, Windsor, and Reading, together with some siege artillery, a heavy battery was formed ' at the foot of the hill towards Newbury,' whence a hot fire was kept up for twelve days, resulting in the destruction of three of the south towers and part of the curtain wall. There were but four pieces of cannon, according to Symonds, in the Castle, with 200 foot and 25 horses, at this time ; while the siege battery fired about 500 rounds from 36, 12, and 6 pounder guns. Again summoned to surrender, Boys replied that ' Neither your new addition of forces nor your high threat- ening language shall deter me or the rest of these honest men with me, from our loyalty to our sovereign ; but we do resolve to maintain this place to the uttermost of our power ; and for the matter of quarter, yours may expect the like on Wednesday, or sooner if you please. This is the answer of, sir, your servant, 'J NO. Boys.' The obstinacy of the gallant Colonel brought Manchester himself from Reading, and a third summons having met with a further denial, an assault was proposed but nega- tived. The siege train was next transferred to the other side of the Castle, and placed in a battery on Snelsmore Common. Sapping was resorted to, and frequent sorties were made by the defenders, who were, as a rule, successful in these skirmishes ; and finally, after seven days' further bombardment, during which they expended another 500 rounds, the siege was raised owing to the approach of the King, the guns being carried back to Reading. A garrison was, however, still left in Newbury, consisting of a regiment and two or three troops of horse ;* and an officer of this * ' Battles of Newbury,' p. 121. Its Forh'esses : their Rise and Fall. 105 force, writing to the London Post on the 23rd of October, 1644, states that the Castle 'is sore battered, and one breach in it that many may enter abreast.' It is probable therefore that either during, or immediately after, this second siege, the field-works round the Castle were constructed. They consisted of an irregular bastioned- trace completely enclosing the remains of the stone build- ing, the two largest bastions being on the northern and southern sides connected by a bent curtain. Nothing further occurred until the Parliamentarians re-entered Newbury after the second battle, and again surrounding the Castle, summoned it to surrender. Sir John was accustomed to these requests " from his enemies, and being threatened that if he did not comply * they would not leave one stone upon another,' merely made answer that he was ' not bound to repair it.'* Though offered a capitulation by which he might depart with arms and ammunition, he refused, saying, ' Carry away the Castle walls themselves if you can ; but with God's help, I am resolved to keep the ground they stand on till I have orders from the King, my master, to quit it, or will die upon the spot.' Such obstinacy could only have one answer, an assault ; and that failed. The spirit of the assailants seems to have become cowed. No further active measures were taken, but an attempt was made to poison the well, of which Sir John was informed by the commander of the investing force ; and influence was even brought to bear on him through the Earl of Brentford, who, wounded on the 27th of October, was left at the Castle. But it was fruitless ; so again, owing to the advance of the King from Oxford to Newbury, which he reached on the 9th of November, the siege was raised. The enemy still retained his hold of Newbury town, the northern side of which he had fortified. Right worthy was Colonel, now Sir John, Boys, of the knight- * ' Battles of Newbury,' p. 145. io6 History of Berkshu'c. hood which the King had bestowed on him on the 22nd of October. His persistency of purpose not only held for the King, with even so weak a garrison, a fortress that was a constant menace to any but large forces of the Parliamen- tarians, but one which seemed to keep alive the Royalist spirit in the very heart of Berkshire. The Puritans had, for a while, little stomach for further fighting. The Oxford army, drawn up in the fields between the Castle and Newbury, could not tempt those in the town to come forth to battle; on the loth of November, 1644, therefore, all the stores that could be moved were taken away, leaving behind about eighteen field-pieces, and five or six larger guns in the works, well supplied with ammunition. Soon after, Newbury was abandoned by the Parliament : and then it is reported that the Governor of Donnington, by way of reprisals, ' went to the mayor of the town and pulled him out of his house, w^iich they plundered, and that they " abused his whole family most shamefully ;" and that they then went to the houses of eight or nine more chief persons in the place, dragged them also out of their dwellings, " abused their wives, children, and servants," and carried away great plunder ; and that the gentlemen them- selves were actually conveyed prisoners to Donnington Castle.' There was some excuse for it, as the town had refused to afford any succour at all to the garrison ; but it in- creased and embittered the feeling that separated the antagonists. These foraging-parties from Newbury, Wal- lingford, and Farringdon were exasperating to the Govern- ment, and likely to call attention to the injury these small garrisons were doing. So that Cromwell himself, after the fall of Basing, forcibly urged that the place should be reduced, and advised 'a strong quarter' to be made at Newbury. Thus began the last siege of Donnington, con- ducted by that same Captain Dalbier who had shared in the fighting and wounds at both the great battles in Its Fortresses : their Rise and Fall. loy Berkshire, and who had taken an active part in the assault of a similar stronghold on the south-western road, that of Basing House. On the approach of Dalbier's force, consisting of two regiments of horse and three of foot, Sir John Boys fired ' Denington Toune ' and ' other ajatient villages,* thus causing Dalbier to quarter his men in Newbury. The investment, notwithstanding Sir John's wise precautions, seems to have been fairly complete ; but the country people still furnished the garrison with supplies, for the commandant ' Allvvays gave them a better price for there Comodities then they could have fownde att any of the Ajatiente Alarketts, and truelly soe good A Justiser w^as Sr. John, y' England had not A beter ReguUated guar- risson, nor better beloved of the country then was this of Denington.' Furthermore, since the north side of the hill upon which stood, where General Browne had erected the siege battery before, was weakest, as being on the end of the plateau, and the Castle could be more easily stormed from that approach, Boys erected there an outwork some 200 paces off, which he ' trenches and pallasads,' and made it bomb- proof. Reinforced also by 140 men from Winchester, and having sent away all the superfluous horses, he harassed the enemy by continual sorties, which were so successful that the Kentish regiment, which was most frequently attacked, became completely demoralized. The Parliamentary guards showed so little vigilance that these skirmishes, usually conducted after dark, as a rule surprised their various detachments ; and whether at Woodhay or at Bolsome House, the Royalists were victorious. The death of Colonel Smith, a Royalist, goaded them to still further activity. Major Stuart, one of the Parliamentary com- manders, who had himself killed the unfortunate Colonel, had gone to ' Knight's howsse of Grecnhame to a greatte supper, to whose dafter he was a servante.' But civil war io8 History of Berkshire. and party hatreds respect no such ties, for the party of sixty men who had been despatched on their mission of revenge, ' came upon them soe sudently betwexte 7 and 8 of the cloke in the yeavinge in Marche, that they founed the doores oppen, and stuarte att super setting by the side of his m".' It was the last ' beatinge uppe of quarters ' of poor Stuart, ' The man would take no quarter,' and he died like a man, ' shotte dead in the place ' by the side of the woman he loved. Such reprisals were of course common. Houses in Bagnor were burnt by Boys because Dalbier's men had taken some of their adversaries prisoners while they were drinking there. Later on, in April, the trenches were pushed closer, and this time at the foot of the 'Maypole' Hill, between the burnt ruins of Donnington village and the Castle out- buildings. Sir John vigorously disturbed the work of course by a dashing sortie, so that the assailants were strongly reinforced here ; and a mortar battery was con- structed, which fired seventeen shells at the ' oold weake Rotten howse y' w'" this one dayes worke was well ney all shattered to peces.'* The end v/as fast approaching. The previous bombard- ment had probably demolished all except the gate-house building, and this would be exposed on its southern side to the fire of the mortars. The barn and outbuildings had been again burnt. The ' granadoes made such work that the souldiers within knew not where to secure themselves, divers leaping over their works and craving quarter.'f So the last summons was sent to the gallant old knight. He was told that Fairfax was victorious in the west, that Astley had been routed at Stow on the Wold, and that Chester had surrendered ; hence, after stipulating that he should personally be permitted to corroborate the informa- tion by sending messengers to Oxford — a request that was * Captain Knight ; ' Battles of Newbury,' p. 1S3. "j" Moderate Ititclligencer ; ^ Battles of Newbury,' p. 159. Its Fortresses: their Rise and Fall. 109 at once granted — a parley was held, and the terms of capitulation agreed to in a field south of the Castle, which still bears the name of ' Dalbier's Mead.' The defenders had won the respect of their adversaries by their fortitude and gallantry, and marched out with all the honours of war. So fell the one fortress in Berkshire that had exercised a decided influence on the conduct of the war. With it the valley of the Thames, as far as Reading, and that of the Kennet beyond that town, were lost to the King. With the exception of Wallingford, no strong place in the county now held a Royal garrison. What was left of Donnington was still further demolished after its fall. From its ruins a new building, ' The Castle House,' was eventually erected : its timber and lead were plundered. Vlx. Packer, the owner, had some difficulty in getting his property restored, and only did so by virtue of an order from the House of Peers. WMien he did so he was threatened by Robins, an ensign in the Farnham regi- ment, from whom he had apparently recovered some of the stolen metal, that he would 'have his blood or his lead. This happened at the house of Gabriel Coxe, of Newbury, which he left unsatisfied, and with ' great threatenings.' ^Meeting JMr. Packer two days later in Basingstoke, he again assaulted him, but nothing came of it, and it is to be hoped that Air. Packer regained from Mr. Robins and others his lost property, three tons of which were then in the possession of Barnard Reeves, grocer, of Basingstoke. Plundering and siege have done their work on the old building, and nothing now remains but the shot-marked gate-house and the grass-grown earthworks, behind which stood, for so many days, the gallant troopers and musketeers of Sir John Boys. Berkshire's greatest Castle, that of Windsor, alone exists in a perfect condition. Its exact origin is obscure, though it is possible that an earthen fortress may have existed here in British as well as Saxon times ; but it is no History of Berkshire. likely that the Castle for which Earl Harold paid rent in the Confessor's time was situated elsewhere.* All that is certain is that in 1066 Edward, then at the ' Royal Ville of Wendlesore,' granted twenty hides of land here, with the manor of ' Steine,' to his newly-erected monastery of St. Peter's, at Westminster, ' for the hope of eternal reward, for the remission of all his sins, the sins of his father, mother, and ancestors, and to the praise of God.' This was pro- bably dated from 6^/^;' Windsor, though the grant may have included New Windsor also. But Norman William, too, was enamoured of the pleasant site, and exchanged it, with the monastery, later on for the lands of Ferniges and. Wokendune, in Essex ; and here, at any rate, he erected the Castle, which, together with ' Walingford,' is mentioned in 'Domesday,' and which was erected on a hill 'two miles N.W. of Old Windsor.' But at most it was but a rude Norman keep in which William II. held court, and which Henry I. enlarged, enclosing the ground occupied by the lower and middle wards. In mo he summoned all his nobles for the first time to ' New Windsor.' Here, also, he was married to Adeliza, his second wife ; when Ralph, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who claimed the right to per- form the coronation ceremony instead of the Bishop of Salisbury, to whose diocese Windsor then belonged, was so furious at the opposition to his claim that ' he could hardly be entreated by the Lords to refrain from striking off' the King's crown. Eventually the ceremony was per- formed by the Primate. Stephen, Henry II., Richard I., and John only executed the necessary repairs. Though there is considerable doubt whether any of the existing masonry is older than the reign of Henry II., it is still possible that the King's Gate, destroyed in the reign of George IV., but of which the side wall, portcullis, groove, * Stil], Harold's Castle was built in the manor of Clewer (Clivere), in which the present Castle was situate. Its Fortresses : their Rise and Fall. 1 1 1 and hinges remain, was of this date.* The passage, too, has a vault of Norman character. There is a story told by Fabyan which, if true, shows how deeply Henry II. felt the conduct of his sons. He says, * It is recorded, that in a chamber at Wyndesore he caused to be painted an eagle, with four birds, whereof three of them all rased the body of the old eagle, and the fourth was scratching at the old eagle's eyes. When the question was asked of him what that picture should signify t it was answered by him, "This old eagle," said he, "is myself; and these four eagles betoken my four sons, the which cease not to pursue my death, and especially my youngest son John, which now I love most, shall most especially await and imagin my death." ' At this period, too, the vineyards of the Castle were of such importance that a regular annual charge is recorded for the cost of the vintage and for gathering the grapes. One of these vineyards occupied the Castle ditch. It is to Henry III. that the most important alterations and repairs are due ; and much of the buildings that form the lower ward date their present foundations from this reign. He repaired the breaches in the wall, built a chapel, the ' Bell,' ' Clure's,' ' Bcrner's,' and the ' Almoner's ' towers, on the north side, and the Garter and Salisbury or Chancellor's towers on the west ; and further improved the building for the habitation of the King and his Court. The ditch was also completed on this side by the removal of houses, for which the sum of £"] los, was paid, and the fortress was strengthened with a barbican. Of these works sufficient traces still exist, ' The prison chamber in the base of Clewer Tower still remains. Under the Garter Tower was a stable-yard and stables, with a fine wide arch. The King's Hall was in the Clewer Tower, now the library of the Dean and Chapter, and much modernized. The Royal Kitchen was beyond, * Godwin, p. 230. 112 History of Berkshire. and further on, following the north wall, the chamber of the King and Queen. Further on still was the cloister and chapel, with a Galilee porch at the west-end.'^ Also the South Ambulatory of the present Dean's cloister, the door behind the altar in St. George's Chapel, and some masonry of the Domus Regis on the north of the chapel, belong to the period of the Henrys. The country round, so often the scene of conflict between the Barons and the King, gained little by the presence of the royal residence. Adam de Gordon, a notorious bandit, who ravaged Berks and Hants, as Turpin did later, was defeated in personal fight by the third Henry's son Edward ; and, after pardon, given a small office in Windsor. When the latter became King, it was a favourite residence of Eleanor his Queen, and here three of their children, John, Eleanor, and Harry, were born. The royal property in the neighbourhood was improved, and waste lands culti- vated and sown ; but even then the forest laws were strict, and the Bishop of Winchester was distrained upon for trespasses committed in the Forest of Windsor.-f- The Castle chapel was enriched with relics. On the day of the Purification of the Virgin Mary, in 1300, the King gave 5s. to the ' Cross of Gneyth ' (a portion of the true cross), and 3s. to the ' Thorn of Christ's Crown.' There is no record of any additions to the buildings in this reign. Edward HI., who was born here, made it his chief residence, and ordered considerable improvements, practically enlarging the Castle to its present extent. It had been at times a prison, and from the time when the Earl of Northumberland had been incarcerated there by William H., to the imprison- ment of Marshal Bellisle, who was taken prisoner while crossing through Hanover in the reign of George H. — the first and last important victims — it had been used for such state purposes. It is even said that it was due to a suggestion from Kings John of France and David * Godwin. f ' Hist. Windsor,' vol. i., p. 113. Its Fortresses : their Rise and Fall. 113 of Scotland, who were detained here in this reign, after their conflict at Crecy and Neville's Cross respectively, that the enlargement of the Royal fortress was decided on ; and that the cost was defrayed by their ransoms. Be that as it may, workmen and materials of all sorts were pressed into the service of the King, and Lord Furnival's woods, at Farnham, were purchased to supply timber for the work. Carpenters received 2d. a day, and William of Wykeham, the chief architect, 7s. a week ! The changes, as well as additions, were considerable. The old keep was rebuilt as the Round Tower, to receive the round table for the new order of the Knio-hts of the Garter.* ' As many as 600 men were employed in the Castle, and 200 in the quarry during some portion of the time,' the total cost, ;^ 500, being equivalent to about i^ 10,000 now. The Chapel of Henry III. was completed with cloisters, and the entire tendency of the rebuilding was to effect a revolution in castellated architecture. ' The spirit of feudal warfare had subsided, or was quelled by the increasing power of the monarchy ; and though security might still be an important element in constructing the habitations of the nobility, yet it was no longer im- perative that it should be purchased at the expense of the comforts and amenities of life. The less powerful baron had therefore quitted the narrow confines of his keep tower to breathe more cheerfully in the embattled and moated house, while the domestic buildings of the great castles, instead of lurking under the shelter of the ramparts, were compacted into the lofty and majestic structure grouped with massive towers of defence, uniting an aspect of im- pregnable strength without to the progressive refinements of art within.' t The result of the architect's labours was to produce a work of considerable grandeur, and the inscription said to * Godwin. f ' Essay on Windsor Castle," Paynter. 8 114 History of Berkshire. have been placed on its wall, ' Hoc fecit Wykeham,' and which called down the censure of the King, was not un- justifiable. But successive innovations have destroyed much of the character of his work. The, miscalled Norman^ gate at the north-west corner of the upper ward, the vaults beneath the apartments here, the groining of the Devil's and King John's Towers, the Rose Tower, and the Dean's Cloister, may reasonably be attributed to this period. All else has been altered. The most noteworthy event other than this extension of the buildings was the installation of the Order of the Garter. Edward III. had previously held a ' Round Table,' inviting Knights and Esquires from all countries to take part in jousts and rejoicings at his Castle of Windsor. This occurred in 1344, but no mention is made of the foundation of a knightly order ; and not long after, previous to the undoubted date of the formation of the society, it is on record that the garter, with its well- known motto, was not uncommonly used as a badge or device. There is a charge, for example, for ' making a bed of blue taffeta for the King, powdered with Garters, con- taining this Mottoe — Hony soit q inal y pense ;' and again,. ' for making twelve blue garters, embroidered with gold and silk, each having the mottoe,' etc., for the * King's hastilude at Eltham,' in 1347-48. But there is no doubt that in the autumn of 1348 a regular and perpetual order of knighthood, consisting of twenty-six persons, including the King, was instituted as ' The Society of the Garter.' Whether the traditional story as to its origin in connection with the fair Countess of Salisbury has a basis of truth is questionable, though not unlikely. The anecdote dates- much further back, and the celebrated badge may have been chosen from such an accident, for the choice would have been quite in keeping with the sentiment of gallantry of the time.* But there is no proof of it ; and even the current translation of the motto has been made to fit into- # I Hist. Windsor.' Its Fortresses : their Rise and Fall. 1 1 5 its assumed origin, rather than be correctly rendered ; its true meaning being ' Dishonour,' or ' Be he disgraced who thinks ill of it.'* Be the origin of the order what it ma\-, it has its place in the history of Windsor. Its knights had stalls in its church, and the ' College of St. George,' consisting of twenty-six Canons and twenty-six Poor Knights, being the same in number as the Knights of the Garter, was estab- lished about the same time. Thus the lower ward became appropriated to their use, and for that of the guests who attended the feasts and gatherings of the order ; the royal apartments being transferred thence to the new ward, which the King had built. Here, too, died Queen Philippa, she who on her death- bed could say to her husband, as is touchingly told by Froissart, ' Sir, we have in peace, joy, and great prosperity used all our time together ;' and Edward himself, some eight years afterwards, fulfilled his promise made to her then, and was laid beside her at Westminster. Little occurred, other than matters of somewhat domestic interest, for some reigns. In Richard II.'s time the chapel was endowed with many relics. There were crosses, crowns, images and jewels ; bones of St. Bartholomew, St. Thom.as, St. Margaret of Scotland, St. Thomas of Hereford, Sts. William of England and of York, St. Mark, St. Geran, St. Maurice, St. Elizabeth, St. Vitale, the good Archbishop Edmund, St. Thomas the Apostle, and one of the 11,000 virgins. There were 'branches of silver' containing an arm-bone of St. George, and fragments of the supper- table of our Lord and of the V^irgin's tomb ; some blood of St. Thomas of Canterbury, and one of the stones with which St. Stephen was martyred ; and a shirt belonging to- the same saint, together with one of St. Thomas. There was a white girdle which St. John had given to St. Mary, and some milk and a candle-end of the Virgin Mary's 1 '' Sir H. Nicholas. 8—2 ii6 History of Berkshire. But these, like many other things, disappeared when the Reformation came. The chapel was under repairs in Richard II.'s time, under the superintendence of Geoffrey Chaucer, who, as ' Clerk of the King^s works,' received 2s. a day for his labours ; and here the King, in April, 1399, bade a last affectionate farewell to his baby Queen. Froissart describes the sad parting, all the more sorrowful because of the fidelity of the young wife to her husband's memory in after years at Wallingford.* He says, ' After the Canons had chaunted very sweetly (in the chapel), and the King himself had chaunted a collect and made his offerings, he took the Queen in his arms and kissed her twelve or thirteen times, saying sorrowfully : " Adieu, Madame, until we meet again." And the Queen began to weep, saying : " Alas ! my lord, will you leave me here ?" Upon which the King's eyes filled with tears, and he said : " By no means, mamye, but I will go first, and you, ma chere, shall come there afterwards." Then the King and Queen partook of wine and comfits at the Deanery, and all who chose did the same. Afterwards the King stooped down, and took and lifted the Queen from the ground and held her a long while in his arms and kissed her at least ten times, saying over, " Adieu, ma chere, until we meet again," and then placed her on the ground and kissed her at least twice more ; and, by our Lady, I never saw so great a lord make so much of, or show such affection to, a lady as did King Richard to his Queen. Great pity it was that they separated, for they never saw each other more.' For on his return from Ireland he was taken prisoner by Henry of Lancaster, who, after the deposition of Richard, ascended the throne as Henry IV. Both Richard and his successors kept Welsh prisoners here, and Henry held in durance Prince James of Scotland for eleven years. Not that his period of punishment was all * See p. 94 ; Murray, p. 16. Its Fortresses : their Rise and Fall. 1 1 7 pain. From the top of the iMaiden's Tower, which had successively been called that of the Earl Marshal, of the Maid of Honour, and of the Devil, he saw and loved Jane, daughter of the Earl of Somerset, whom he afterwards married. He has left on record his poetical effusion on the subject, in which, describing the garden, he says : ' Now was there maid, fast by the Touris wall, A gardynfaire and in the Corneris set Ane herbere grene, with wandis long and small Railit about, and so with treis set Was al the place, and hawthorn hegis knet That lyf was non, walkyiig there forbye That mycht within scarce any wight aspye. And on the small grene twistis set The lytel swete nytingale and song So loud and clere the ympnis consecrat Of luvis use, now soft, now lowd among That all the gardynes and the wallis rong Rycht of thaire song.'* But Henry VI, freed him, and he returned to Scotland. The King had been born here, and his father seems to have had no hopeful feelings as to his future. For though, as he ' lay at siege before Meaux, he gave God thanks in that it had pleased Divine Providence to send him a son which might succeed in his crown and sceptre,' he said unto the Lord Fitzhugh, when he was told where the child was born^ 'My Lord, I, Henry, born at Monmouth, shall small time reign and much get ; and Henry, born at Windsor, shall long reign and all lose ; but as God will, so be it.' Henry VI. had little to do with Windsor, but Richard III. had his body removed there ; so there he rests. A slab of black marble marks his tomb ; and of it Pope sympatheti- cally writes : ' Here o'er the martyr-king the marble weeps, While fast beside him once fear'd Edward sleeps ; The grave unites, where e'en the great find rest, And blended lie th' oppressor and th' opprest.' The King's Ouair'; ' Chronicle of Scottish Poetry. ii8 History of Berkshire. Edward IV., however, left his mark on the royal fortresses in the Chapel of St. George, which he commenced, and in which he was buried. It was completed in Henry VII.'s reign, when the vaulting was finished by a subscription from the Knights of the Garter, to which the King con- tributed ^loo ; and he also built the great gateway. Many festivals of the Garter were held from time to time until the reign of Edward VI., when the statutes were altered to suit the new religious condition of things ; but Mary, who succeeded him, expunged the Protestant correc- tions from the statutes, and invested her husband Philip with the knightly order when he visited Windsor after their marriage at Winchester. Anne Boleyn was made Mar- chioness of Pembroke in full court at Windsor, and one of her successors, Jane Seymour, was brought here to be buried. Her Latin epitaph, by Bishop Godwin, a Berkshire man from Oakingham, runs : ' Phoenix fana jacet nato Phoenice, dolendum Secula Phcenices nulla tulisse duas.' During Henry VIII. 's reign Wolsey embellished Henry VII.'s Chapel to make it a tomb-house, but it was never destined to hold his body. Even the black marble sarcophagus that was to contain his remains was never finished. It was despoiled of its brass by the Puritans, who sold it for ;^6oo, and the marble now covers the tomb of Nelson in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul. Eliza- beth, alarmed at the spread of the plague in London, took refuge in the Castle, where also were brought the French hostages given for the safety of Calais. The chapels were despoiled of much of their wealth, the rood-loft was pulled down and sold, and the priests 'that had wives should put them out of the College ; and for time to come to lie no more within that place.' The Queen was a keen student in those days. Schoolmaster Ascham so appreci- ated her labours, as compared with those of the male youth Its Fo7^t reuses : their Rise and Fatt. 119 as to break out thus : ' It was their shame that one maid should go beyond them all in excellency of learning and knowledge of divers tongues.' The great terrace, one of the beauties of the royal residence, owes its construction to her taste ; and ' Queen Elizabeth's Gallery,' which was erected in 1576, still forms a portion of the library. But the internal arrangements of the royal apartments did not show at this time any great attention to comfort. Her maids of honour asked that the partitions in their rooms, ' that is of boards there,' should ' be made higher, for that the servants look over.' Nor was the Queen herself much better off, for she complained that her dinners were cold ; a matter of no great wonderment, seeing that the meat had been brought all the way from the bakehouse in Peascod Street. Though James I. often resided at Windsor, nothing of importance was done by him there except to instal Prince Henry as Knight of the Garter; after which, with his wonted carefulness, he attempted to reduce the absurd expenditure attached to the ceremony. He employed John Norden, the topographer, to survey the Honour of Windsor ; and his careful work gives the best and most accurate account, both by illustrations and in written matter, of the then condi- tion of the royal residence. But his son Charles left a mora serious record on its annals. The plague raged much in Windsor during the first years of his reign, so that his visits were not frequent ; but he was present at the ratifica- tion of peace with Louis of France in St. George's Chapel, when the Dean, and not the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was, nevertheless, present, administered the oath to the French Ambassador, the Marquis of Chasteneauf. It appears from this that the Dean held supreme spiritual power within the precincts of the Church. One painful incident occurred about this time in the execution of one John Dean, a child about nine years old, for burning two houses in Windsor with ' malice, revenge, craft, and cun- ning.' This was the youngest person ever hanged in 1 20 History of Berkshire. England ; and the law relative to the responsibility of children of tender years has been practically unaltered, though under modern conditions such a sentence would scarcely be carried into effect. About 1634 the King's visits were more frequent ; and it was then that the few alterations, such as replacing Queen Mary's fountain by another, and rebuilding the banqueting-hall, were made. But troubled times were approaching. The Church- wardens' accounts show payment for training the train- bands ; and riots and disturbances occurred in the King's forest, where Aminadab Harrison of Ockingham and others killed the King's deer. A less reverent spirit towards the sovereign than had obtained heretofore was arising in the land, and Berkshire fully shared in it. The church-restora- tions of Laud and others had met with as little favour as had the redecoration of the town cross by Dr. Goodman, a Canon of the Chapel of St. George. And when Mr. Bagshaw of Windsor reported to the House of Commons that troops of horse and waggons of ammunition had assembled at Windsor, where the King was, the Commons appointed a committee ' for putting the Kingdom into a Posture of Defence.' Shortly afterwards Charles went to York, never again to return to Windsor free and unfettered. The riotous proceedings on the borders of the forest still continued ; for ' the people in Berkshire adjoining the Forest of Windsor have a resolution speedily to come in a tumultuous manner and pull down the pales of the Great Park at Windsor ;' and soon the ' royal borough ' took a decided part, and both subscribed towards the sum the Commons had levied, and received Colonel Venn with two companies of foot, who were sent in the name of the 'King and Parliament' to 'take some especial care of Windsor Castle.' With him was another regicide, Captain John Berkstead, afterwards Governor of Reading, and thither gathered 'severall well affected gentlemen,' who Its Fortresses : their Rise and Fall. 121 preferred to ' fortifie themselves, and to make out-workes,' so that the Cavaliers who intended to ' draw to Windsor have lost their labour.' Prince Rupert made an unsuccessful attack on the Castle in 1642, and during the winter of that year it was the headquarters of the Earl of Essex, while the forces of the King were at Reading, Abingdon, and Oxford ; and here, too, were incarcerated many Royalist officers, who had fallen into the hands of their opponents. The Castle suffered much in those rough days. The Canons and other officers were dismissed, but, subject to search, were allowed to take away their goods ; and the Chapel o{ St. George was spoiled and dismantled, the coat of mail of Edward IV. being carried off, and even the woodwork torn up and demolished. The plate was sent to the Guildhall, and there melted and converted into coin to aid Fairfax in the north ; and the sequestration of all property of ' the malignants,' both here and at Eton, was rigorously enforced. Dr. Stewart's place, as provost of Eton, was taken from him for 'joining himself to those that have levied war against the Parliament' ; and Mr. Rous was appointed in his stead. But the garrison murmured much at irregularity in their pay, so that in 1644 it was partially disbanded. Even then there was discontent and mutiny. Middlesex trained-bands had to reinforce the garrison and overawe the rebellious spirits. In 1645 Colonel Christopher Whitchcott became Governor, Colonel Venn being employed in recruiting; for the Chamber- lain's accounts show that on the 26th of June of that year 19s. was paid for a 'gallon of Brewed wyne, and 4 loaves of sugar weighing xi. lb., at i6d. per lb., when Mr. Maior and some of his company went to Colonell Venn at his goinge awaye from the Castell ;' and the larger sum of 27s. 3d. was expended to celebrate the entrance of the new Governor. Soon met here that solemn conclave of generals who 122 Histojy of Berkshire. resolved that ' the King^ should be prosecuted for life as a criminal person ;' and ' great councils of the army ' as- sembled to consider its reduction. No element of religious enthusiasm was omitted to increase the feeling of the sec- taries. In the dismantled and ruined Chapel of St. George ' the duties of the day were performed by divers of the officers, amongst whom there was a sweet Harmony. The Lieutenant-General (Cromwell), Commissary-General Ireton, Colonel Tichburne, Colonel Hewson, Mr. Peters, and other officers, pray'd very fervently and pathetically ' ; and this continued from nine in the morning till seven at night. Meanwhile Charles, virtually a prisoner after his surrender by the Scots, had been removed from Holdenby, where he had lived under the superintendence of commissioners appointed by the Parliament, to Newmarket, and then to Windsor. This was apparently at Cromwell's instigation, for Fairfax disowned it. At any rate he came here, and after staying at Lord Craven's at Caversham, where he met his children ; then at Latimer, with the Countess of Devonshire ; at Oatlands, Hampton, and Carisbrooke (at both of the latter he attempted his escape) ; and lastly at Hurst Castle, he was again removed to Windsor, under an escort of horse. Colonel Harrison, who commanded this guard of 2,000 men, took good care lest his prisoner should escape, as he had indeed arranged to do in passing the woods of Bagshot. Around him were 100 mounted soldiers, each having his pistol ' ready spanned ' in his hand ; and the inhabitants of Windsor crowded to see the unwonted spectacle of the King brought a prisoner by his own subjects to the Royal Castle. The stern colonel of the Parliament had scant reverence for the monarch. Again he was his guard when removed to St. James's, and sat in the same carriage with the King, ' his hat upon his head.' But the earthly trials of Charles were soon to terminate, and after '■' ' Hist. Windsor,' vol. ii., p. 219. Its Fortresses : their Rise and Fall. 123 the fatal 30th of January, 1648-9, the body of the Second Stuart was removed finally to Windsor, there to be interred ' in a decent manner, provided that the whole expense should not exceed ^,"500.' But here the generosity of the Parliament ceased. So dismantled and ruined was the Chapel of St. George, that the mourners of the King recognised not ' where they were.' They long searched for a vault in which to inter the body, and finally lighted on one which was supposed to contain the bodies of the Eighth Henry and Jane Seymour. Here they placed the coffin, with the simple inscription cut in lead — ' King Charles, 1648.' No service was read over the grave. The fanatic Governor of the Castle forbade the use of the Book of Common Prayer that had been put down by law, for to him ' it was not lawful ; and he would not suffer it to be used in that garrison where he commanded.' The just man knew no mercy ; he did only what he deemed his duty ; but the prayers of those who followed their master to the grave were none the less fervent ; and when the pall-clad coffin reached the chapel's western door, the falling storm had made it ' white as the driven snow.' The coffin was discovered and opened in 1813. Sir H. Halford, who was present, describes the complexion of the face as dark and discoloured. ' The forehead and temples had little or nothing of their muscular substance; the cartilage of the nose was gone ; but the left eye, in the moment of first exposure, was open and full, though it vanished almost immediately. The shape of the face was a long oval. The hair was thick at the back of the head and nearly black, that of his beard was of a reddish-brown. On holding up the head, the muscles of the neck had evidently contracted considerably ; and the fourth cervical vertebra was cut through transversely, leaving the substance of the divided portions smooth and even — an appearance which could only have been produced by a heavy blow 124 History of Berks Im'e. from a very sharp instrument, and which furnished the last proof wanting to identify Charles I.' In 1649, a Committee of the House of Commons was appointed to decide on the disposal of the Royal Castle, property, and park. A survey was made of all of it, and the House at first decided that ' the Castle of Windsor, with all the Houses, Parks, and Lands there, belonging to the State, be sold for ready money ;' but later on this was negatived by ten votes, and only the ' Little Park ' was surveyed for sale. This seems, by a letter under Cromwell's seal, to have been actually sold, and repurchased for the Protector. Many political prisoners, both old friends and old foes, were kept in durance at the Castle. General Browne, formerly Puritan Governor of Abingdon, Mr. Ashburnham, and Colonel Legg, who assisted in the attempted escape of Charles from Hampton, Earls Lauderdale, Kelly, and Rothes, and many other Scottish and English prisoners were detained here. The three Earls were prisoners during the whole nine years of the Commonwealth, while numbers of the private soldiers were transported beyond the seas. The Lord Protector often visited the Castle in his latter days. Sums varying from 2s. to 2s. 6d. were paid for a bonfire, for the ringers, and for ' proclaymeinge ' him in 1657 ; and the Poor Knights of Windsor attended his funeral in 1658. Whatever may be thought of his policy, Cromwell himself when in power preserved rather than destroyed what was left of the Castle, for he ' prevented further ware and spoliation of the Chapel at Windsor and elsewhere, from the time he possessed the power.'* He occasionally resided there. He certainly kept together the endowments of the College, and the landed estates were greatly improved in value during his administration. He instituted a regular establishment for the service of the chapelj and attached it to the foundation of the Poor * ' Hist, Windsor,' vol. ii., p. 2S2. Its Fortresses : their Rise and Fall. 125 Knights, which he maintained, and issued an ordinance of twelve articles for its regulation. The Restoration was inaugurated by the expulsion from the disused buildings of the Castle of those poor persons who had with their wives and families been permitted to dwell there. The buildings were repaired ; feasts of St. George were celebrated in 1662; and the ' Star Building,' afterwards named the ' Stuart Building,' was erected on the north-east side. Antonio Verro was employed to paint in fresco the walls and ceilings of the apartments, and to Grinling Gibbons was entrusted the restoration of the carved work. Christopher Wren had the general super- vision. The ditch was filled in, the northern terrace was com- pleted, and the repaired north front was furnished with incongruous windows ; and the ' Devil's Tower,' now fitted for the reception of the maids of honour, received a more gentle name from that circumstance. In the upper ward was placed a statue of the King. It was executed in copper by Stada, an Italian, at the expense of Tobias Ruslat, who had been faithful to his master, even unto exile with him. Rupert became Constable, and decorated the Round Tower internally with arms. Its exterior had recently been disfigured for some unknown reason with a facing of brick. Neither Charles II. nor James II. did much at Windsor. They lived there, and hunted and went away. James Francis Edward, the King's son, who became the 'Old Pretender,' was born at Windsor in 16S8 ; and in the November of that year his royal father left the Castle for Salisbury to be with the army that had gathered there to meet the Prince of Orange from Torbay. He did not remain long, but returned by Wallingford to W^indsor and so to London, followed along the same route by William of Orange, who soon became the King. He cared little for Windsor, nor did Anne, little money being spent even in the necessary repairs ; but in George III.'s reign the Queen's 126 History of Berkshire. Lodge was added, as being more suitable for a residence, and St. George's Chapel was restored, its east window being fitted with painted glass by West. The Castle was ceasing to be a fortress, so the southern and eastern ditches were filled up, and the apartments of the north front improved by the alteration of Wren's windows. The Order of Knighthood of the Garter, now a mere honour or badge of distinction, was extended to include others than the sovereign and the twenty-five knights of the original constitution, thus destroying that strict principle of ex- clusion which had lasted for four centuries, and which had so much tended to maintain the high estimation in which the order has been held throughout Europe. The conti- nental principles of the Georges did not share this distinctly English feeling of exclusiveness, and in 1805 the last formal ceremony of the installation of the knights ceased. Finally, Wolsey's Chapel was converted into a * Tomb House,' and here have been interred the bodies of Princes Octavius and Alfred, children of George III., removed from Westminster Abbey ; the Duchess of Bruns- wick ; Princesses Adelaide and Elizabeth, children of the Duke of Clarence ; Princess Amelia ; Princess Charlotte ; Queen Charlotte ; the Duke of Kent ; George III. ; the Duke of York ; George IV. ; William IV. ; Princess Augusta ; and Queen Adelaide. The last restoration of the Castle and its present appearance is due to the plans and works of Sir Jefirey W^yatville in the reign of George IV. A thorough over- hauling of the building resulted in much necessary internal repairs, in the removal of useless and dilapidated edifices, and the modernizing of the exterior, to render it more suitable as a royal palace. The Round Tower was heightened 30 feet, and a watch-tower added on its sum- mit, thus rendering it a more imposing feature than it had previously been. The upper ward still remained as the abode of the Sovereign, the eastern end containing the Its Fortresses: their Rise and Fall. 127 private apartments, the northern side the State galleries, and the south the rooms for visitors. Only the royal stables and the conversion of the Tomb House to a memorial chapel of the Prince Consort belong to the present reign, except the restoration of St. George's Chapel to somewhat of its pristine character by the re- moval of the coats of limevvash, paint, and varnish that had obscured the surface of the original materials. In or near it now lie the last princes of two lines of kings. At its western end, without the walls, rests the body of Prince Alamayu of Abyssinia, son of Theodore, who perished at Magdala. The English service had been read over father, mother, and child, and English soldiers stood by the grave of each. In one of the southern chapels is Napoleon, Prince Imperial of France. His effigy wears tli2 uniform of an English artilleryman, and, clasping the sword he carried in a war of England's making, the figure lies with the head resting on cushions embroidered with the ' Golden Bees ' of the empire. The Wolsey Chapel, neglected after the Cardinal's fall, first came again into use Avhen James II. repaired it for a Roman Catholic service. But this displeased the people. They did not care that Protestantism should be professed in St. George's and Romanism in that of Wolsey, so they broke the windows by way of protest^ and this teaching had its effect. Again the chapel was disused. It became a schoolhouse in 1742, and later on George III. made it a 'Tomb House.' In this state it remained until,, after the death of the Prince Consort, it was redecorated in its present form. It is lavishly ornamented with rich carvings in wood and alabaster, is panelled with polished marble and pictures illustrative of the ' Resurrection of Christ,' by Baron Trinqueti ; the rich windows designed by Clayton and Bell contain, among sacred subjects, the heraldic bearings of the Prince's family since the year 80 r, and the roof is enriched with mosaic by Salviati. The 128 History of Berkshire. cenotaph, an altar-tomb, stands in the centre of the nave, and is made of Pyrenean and Sicilian marbles, and sup- ports on its upper slab the marble ^'^gy of the Prince clad in mediaeval armour. The body itself was removed thence to Frogmore^ when the special mausoleum was completed. This is a cruciform building with an octagonal dome, con- structed in the Romanesque style, and lined with polished marble, and contains a central sarcophagus of dark-grey Aberdeen granite, on the upper slab of which are spaces for two figures, one of which is occupied by an effigy of the Prince. This terminates the list of castles proper ; but there were other buildings that had been castellated during the mediaeval period. Thus there were Beaumys, near Shinfield, a mansion fortified in 1338 by Nicholas de la Beke (or Beche) ; Sonnyng, where the Salisbury Bishops Robert and Radulphus crenellated their episcopal palace, still in their diocese, in the reigns of Edward III. and Richard II.; and the Abbey at Abingdon in the fourth year of Edward III. Each of the former was referred to as * Mansum manerii,' and the latter ' Totum situm Abbati, Abbas et Conventus de Abyndon.'* Of Beaumys the romantic story is told by Lyons, that in 1352 a certain John of Dalton ' outrageously assaulted it, killing Michael de Poynings, uncle to Lord Poynings, Thomas le Clerk, and others, and carrying off, besides goods and chattels to the value of i^ 1,000, ' several prisoners, among whom was Lady de la Beche.' The same family held the Manor of Aldworth and a castellated house there in the reigns of Edward I. and Edward II., whence one of them. Sir Edmund, was taken as a prisoner to Pomfret Castle for being concerned in the escape of the Lords Berkley and Audley from the Berk- shire Castle at Wallingford. Another, Sir Nicholas, was * Godwin. Its Fo7'tresses : their Rise and Fall. 129 ' Lieutenant of the Tower ' and guardian to the Black Prince ; but Kings' favours are uncertain, and in 1340 he was committed to the Tower for not sending timely re- mittances to the King. The year after, however, he appeared with him in Brittany. Afterwards he became Member of Parliament, and was made Seneschal of Gascony. It was the widow of this knight who was the heroine in Lysons's story. She was the relict of Edmond Bacoun before she became the wife of Sir Nicholas Beche, and after his death in 1346 she married Sir J. Arderne ; but he, too, must have soon died, as after her abduction she was 'forcibly' espoused to John de Dalton, and deceased two years afterwards. Hers was a romantic history in a romantic family of great importance once in Berks, for Sir Nicholas inherited no less than seventeen manors in the county. Aldworth- Church contains the family monuments, con- sisting of six stone effigies of knights in armour, five of which have their legs crossed, and two ladies. Two of these are on altar-tombs, the rest lie under enriched decorated canopies, and local village gossip has designated three of them John Long, John Strong, and John Neverafraid. There is yet another figure under an arch in the church wall, and to him the same authorities have given the name of John Everafraid ; for as Captain Symonds says in his diary of 1644, ' He gave his soule to the Divil, if ever he was buried either in Church or Churchyard, so he was buryed under the Church wall under an arche.' Both these castellated houses have absolutely disap- peared. Of Aldworth, the name alone lives in ' Beche Farm,' and of Beaumys there is even less trace. They have, passed away entirely, and the grass grows green over the mansions of these Berkshire families. The Abbey at Abingdon was fortified for security against chance marauders, and its history is ecclesiastical rather than * Aldworth, from Eahi, old, and uorth, a land or manor ; in Domesday it is spelt EUeorde. 9 130 History of Berkshire. military. The same remark applies to the Episcopal Palace at Sonning, which had been the residence of the Saxon Bishops before the see was united to that of Sherborne ; and hither it was that Isabella of Valois, the wife of Richard II., fled to the Church's care on the deposi- tion of her royal husband. It remained in the hands of the Bishops until the reign of Elizabeth, when it reverted to the Crown. Now its site is only marked by an old ash- tree. None of these latter buildings have been actively concerned in the military history of the county. They were merely dwelling-houses capable of defence, and were rarely called upon to test their powers in this respect. The raison d'etre of fortresses and strong places in Berkshire has gone for evermore, it may be devoutly hoped. Those of Farringdon, Reading and Newbury have left no trace even of their existence ; Wallingford is but a name ; and of Donnington Castle there are but battered towers and ruined walls. Of them all Windsor alone remains, no longer a Castle armed and garrisoned to overawe the land, but the principal country mansion of the Sovereign of a loyal and law- abiding people. CHAPTER VI. ITS MILITARY HISTORY. — {b) ITS WARS. The Berkshire fortresses have all, at times, taken a more or less prominent share in the internal troubles of the kingdom ; and the first instance in which they were put to a military use was in the struggle between Stephen and Queen Matilda. Though the succession to the English throne had been settled by Henry I. on his daughter by will, his nephew Stephen usurped the Crown, and, to appease the Barons and clergy, authorized or permitted the construction of castles, which were the head-quarters of unscrupulous nobles, with a following of still more unscrupulous mercenaries. When, therefore, the Empress Matilda, attended by the Earl of Gloucester, landed to assert her rights, these became the centres of the spoliation, murder, and rapine that followed in the footsteps of the Civil War, which raged in a desultory fashion till nearly the end of Stephen's reign. Brian Fitzcount, with Miles of Gloucester, held Walling- ford for the Empress when she set foot in England, and hither her opponent, Stephen, came ; but, instead of attack- ing it, he contented himself with building a fort on its eastern approach at Crowmarsh to 'contain' and check the garrison. While he marched by Cernc and Trowbridge to Malmesbury, which surrendered to his army. Miles made a sortie and captured this ' barbican,' which threatened him 9—2 132 History of Berkshire. from Crowmarsh. But the King did not return. In 1140 he was at Reading ; and, going by way of Ely to Lincoln, he was taken prisoner the following year in the battle there. Meanwhile the operations of the Empress met with varying success. Leaving London in 1 141, she proceeded to Reading, where she met D'Oyley of Oxford, who pro- mised to surrender to her the Castle in that town ; and then went on to Winchester, where she was foiled in her attack upon the city, and retired to Devizes. Her brother Robert was soon after taken prisoner, and eventually exchanged for the King ; while the Empress took up her quarters in Oxford. But the liberation of Stephen had given new vigour to his followers. They attacked Oxford with such resolution that the Empress, fearing capture, fled with a small escort, and, dressed in white, escaped the vigilance of the assailants on a snowy night, and took refuge in Wallingford, where she met the Earl of Gloucester. This castle, with Farringdon and Newbury, was garrisoned by her adherents ; but Reading and Windsor held out for the King. Around these fortresses the war surged. It was essentially one of sieges, in which neither party gained a decided advantage. At length Oxford fell, and Stephen, after pursuing the Empress to Wallingford, where he was checked, retired to Wilton, and here, attacked by Gloucester, his army was dispersed. Hideous cruelties were visited on those who were so unfortunate as to become prisoners. ' They hanged up men by their feet, and smoked them with foul smoke. Some were hanged up by their thumbs, others by the head, and burning things were hung on to their feet. They put knotted strings about their heads, and writhed them till they went into the brain. They put men into prisons where adders and snakes and toads were crawling, and so they tormented them.' Still the struggle went on. In 1145 the fortress of Its Wars. 00 Farringdon, which Gloucester had erected, fell. Stephen advanced to Wallingford, repaired the fort at Crovvmarsh, and also probably erected that which is referred to* at the bottom of Bretwell (Brightwell) Hill to the west ; but he soon retired, and did not appear again until 1152. Finally, after reducing the Castle of Newbury by ' siege and force of assault,' he for the third time reached Wallingford, and sat down before it for a regular siege. Meanwhile the Empress had retired to Flanders In 1 146; and her son Henry, after keeping the flame alive in Scotland, whence he made many incursions across the border, returned to Normandy, to land in England in 1 1 53 and attack with his following the Castle of Malmes- bury. No movements are so difficult to follow, and appear to have so little method, as those of the belligerents in this war. Places fall and are retaken. Sieges are raised without apparent cause. Armies appear at places without evidence of how they got there, and escape past enemies who fear to attack them. Thus Henry, having captured Malmesbury, approached Wallingford, and Stephen at once moved on London — why, it is hard to say. A battle would have settled the question, but that both parties seem to have feared. Doubtless the roads, neglected as they had been, were poor, the country ruined by plunder and devastations, and the weather so bad as to render the support of an army difficult; but it was only postponing the evil day. Henry relieved and succoured Wallingford, destroyed the fort at Brightwell, as well as that at Crowmarsh again, and the Castle, so it is said, at Reading. The valley of the Thames and the great western road in Berkshire were thus in his hands ; but, still avoiding London, he took Stamford and besieged ' Gypswich ' and Nottingham. For the last time Stephen appeared before Wallingford. The place had a curious fascination for •^ Camden. 134 History of Berkshire. him. He had scarcely settled down before it when Henry, raising the siege of Nottingham, moved to its relief. But the country was weary of these internal troubles, and a treaty between the belligerents was agreed to. By it Stephen reigned for life and Henry was to succeed him. By it, also, 1,115 castles that had been erected in England were to be demolished, and among them were those of Farringdon and Reading, if they had not been destroyed before, Newbury seems to have been left with a royal garrison ; and Windsor did not apparently exercise any influence over the local campaigns. Only in the treaty of Wallingford is it mentioned that ' the Tower of London and the fortress of Windsor, with the consent of Holy Church, are delivered to Richard de Lucy safely to be kept ; and Richard de Lucy has sworn, and has delivered his son in pledge, to remain in the hands and custody of the Archbishop of Canterbury, that after his decease he shall deliver the castle to the Duke.' The surviving castles saw little active service in the reign of Henry H. With him the wave of Norman conquest that had swept over England sank and became absorbed into the land. ' Here may be thought that the reigne of the Normans and Frenchmen over the realme of England tooke end ; a hundred twentie two years after the coming in of the Conquerour ; for those that reigned after this Henrie the second we may rightlie esteeme to be English- men, because they were borne in England and used the English toong, customes, and maners, according to the nature and qualitie of the countrie.'* The country remained at rest during the early part of Richard L's reign ; but after his departure for Palestine in 1 190, the ambition of his brother John led to further broils, in which Windsor and Wallingford alone shared. For Earl John, after calhng a meeting at Reading in 1 1 9 1 of the nobles and clergy of the kingdom, and having vainly attempted * Hollinshed. Its Wars. 135 to bring about a meeting with Longchamp, the ' Chief Justiciar' during the King's absence, at Lodden Bridge, *a safe place near Windsor Castle,' followed him from that fortress to London, and there compelled him to resign his Custodianship of Windsor to Walter, Archbishop of Rouen, who had been sent by Richard to ' advise about the kingdom.' In his hands it remained for two years, when John, after attempting, through the instrumentality of Philip of France, to secure his brother Richard's pro- longed captivity in Austria, assembled an army ' principally of Welshmen and foreigners,' and stormed it. The Welsh, the relics of the subdued Celtic tribes, were largely employed by him in the troubles that followed. Returning eastward to the lands whence their forefathers had been driven, they came as a reactionary wave to check the turbulent uprisings of the last storm of conquest. At last an English King— for with all his faults John was that — had called upon an English people to resist the Norman French. Richard's adherents rose against the usurpation of power by the Earl ; and the Archbishop of Rouen and the Bishop of Salisbury besieged the Castle of Windsor and took it. Thereupon John fled to France, and the fortress, with those of Wallingford and the Peak, were held by Eleanor the Queen on behalf of her son Richard. "^ Eventually John became King, and, spending much of his time at Windsor, made many marches thence through Berkshire on his way to Reading, Odiham, and Freemantle. He seems to have lived well and studied. Reginald de Cornhill is directed to send ' two small casks of good wine to Windsor,' and also the ' Romance of the History of England.' These reached him by boat on the Thames, the ordinary mode of transit for merchandise ; and tolls were levied both on foot- passengers and on the boats for the support of the bridges at Windsor, Eton, and elsewhere along the river. At '■' Roger de Hoveden. 136 History of Be7'kshire. Christmas-tide, in 12 13, the same Reginald was directed to provide abundant cheer, and this time ' twenty tuns of good and new wine for the household, as well Gascoigny* as French wine, and four tuns of best wine for the King's own use, that is to say, two of white and two of red wine were to be delivered before the day of the Nativity.' He had endeavoured on his accession to cheapen the price of wine, ' and so,' says the chronicler, ' the land was filled with drink and drinkers.' But his general character had estranged the Barons and alienated his people. Under the guidance of Robert Fitzwalter the conspiracy against the King, for which all Englishmen owe a debt of grati- tude to Stephen Langton, the Archbishop of Canterbury, drew to a head, and ' the Armie of God and the holie Church 't took possession of London, and obliged the King to come to terms. He was at Odiham, on the borders of Berkshire, with a poor retinue, and rode thence to Windsor on the loth of June, 12 15. Five days later he went to a small island in the Thames opposite ' the field called Runimede/:|: immediately beyond the south-east boundary of Berkshire, and signed near that ancient place of council, and within sight of our greatest Berkshire castle, the Great Charter of English liberty. The irre- sponsible power of the Norman invader was fast fading before the rising strength of the English people and the English nobles. But the King was a traitor in this, as in all other actions of his useless life. He had little interest, and no wish at all, to hold the charter valid. Under cover of a papal Bull which condemned it, and with the assistance of foreign mercenaries, he endeavoured to regain his lost power. So the Barons called in the aid of France, and Louis the * Gascony wine, 30s. tun. French, ik, marks. Money=i5 times more than now. t Holinshed. X Run mede, council meadow (Introduct. ' Patent Rolls '). Its Wars. 137 Dauphin landed at Sandwich, when all the castles near London surrendered to him, except Windsor and Dover. To the latter the Prince thereupon laid siege, while the Barons under the French Count de Nevers besieged the former. ' They were long there, but did little, and were in great jeopardy. The besieged made many fierce sallies, twice cutting the beam of their perriere.' Meanwhile, John amused himself by ravaging the country, and once came so near to Windsor that his men engaged with arrows. But no battle followed, and he returned by Sonning to Wallingford and Cambridge, followed for a time by De Nevers ; but soon the allied army returned to London, and did not again molest the castle."- Beyond using it as a residence, John had done little for it. He seems to have repaired it in 121 5, but after the last attack it remained dilapidated till the next reign. The feeble effort to raise the siege referred to above was King John's last sight of the towers of Windsor. Though the war with the French and Barons did not at once cease, peace was concluded soon after the accession of King Henry HL, the terms being arranged between Louis in person and the Dowager Queen on an island in the Thames near Windsor. Henry HL's reign was little calculated to lead to internal peace, and during the rebellion of the Barons much of the fighting took place round Wallingford. Windsor, garrisoned by the King's son with a foreign garrison, surrendered, and after that took no further part in the Barons' War. Peaceful times on the whole followed the close of the dynasty of the Plantagenets, and little of serious military interest occurred in the county history during those of the Lancastrians, Yorkists, and Tudors. There was a skirmish at Maidenhead in the reign of Richard IL, when Henry IV. attempted to cross the bridge, which was held by the Duke of Surrey ; and a battle was fought between * ' Hist, des Dues de Norm, et des Rois d'Angl.' 13S History of Berkshire. ^ \ the same Henry, when Earl of Derby, and Vere, Duke of \ Ireland, at the bridge of Radcot. These seem to have been mere interludes in the general peace, or at least what represented peace in those old days. The Castle of Newbury as time went on ceased to have any active value, and when the Tudors began to reign it no longer existed ; so that only Windsor, Wallingford, and Donnington were now left to take part in the impending Civil War. Berkshire increased and prospered with more peaceful days ; and when, in the reign of the third Henry, the great woodland that had reached from Windsor even to Hungerford was disafforested, more land was brought under cultivation, and numerous villages produced better and more frequent roads. Civilization and learning became more widely spread after the abolition of a monasticism that had been useful in troubled times ; and with the increase of trade that characterised the Elizabethan Era arose a powerful middle class, whose wealth equalled or surpassed that of the nobles, and whose political power in the State could now be no longer suppressed. The age of the sword, in home matters at least, had given way to that of the pen and of commercial enterprise ; and the absolute power of the Sovereign and of feudalism was antagonistic to that growing spirit of freedom which the Reformation had inaugurated, and which the Parliament of the Commons, as it grew in strength, fostered. So that during the early days of the Stuart dynasty a spirit antagonistic to the supreme authority of the Crown had been gradually arising. The power of the nobles had been gradually lessening as the country became less liable to invasion by foreign Powers, and the mercantile class felt little disposed to accept a rule that had in it the possible elements of tyrannical government. The representatives of the people in Parliament felt their power being undermined by acts Its Wars. 139 which owed their legality to the royal will alone, and to this they were not disposed to give unquestioning obedi- ence. Thus the tension between the opposing factions became dangerously strained, and it was soon apparent that any overt act on either side might lead to rupture. The cause soon arose. Charles I., despising Parliaments, had rarely called them together, unless for Supply ; and when he found they were unwilling to furnish him with the requisite funds, he resorted to arbitrary taxation to replenish his ex- hausted exchequer. Of all these taxes that of ' ship money' was most obnoxious. It was applied to all towns, whether inland or maritime ; and in Berkshire, not only was the county assessed at ^^4,000 to provide a vessel of 320 tons, carr^'ing 120 men, but the towns of Windsor, Newbury, Reading, Abingdon and Wallingford were respectively assessed at ;^ioo, ^100, ;^220, iJ"ioo and £20. Against this grievous imposition the Grand Jury of the county appealed. It complained that the people had ' grievances of divers natures deriving their authority from V Maj^ but being directly contrary to Y' Ma''^^ Lawe established in this your kingdom ;' and among them were enumerated ship money, the new taxes on coal, and conduct money, and the com-pelling freemen by imprisonment and threats to collect them. It was not alone in this that the King personally prepared the storm that was to wreck his throne. The Reformation, with its simple form of worship, had taken a strong hold on the minds of the English people, as it had on all the Teutonic races of Northern Europe. They had learned to view with hatred the ritual and ceremonies of the Roman Church, to which the active hostility of Spain, the most bigoted of all its professors, had given increased vigour. Charles, under the influence of Laud — a Reading man by birth — had promoted a more ornate ritual, removed the communion tables to the eastern end of the churches, 140 History of Berkshi^'e. and punished those who from conscientious scruples re- fused to join such desecrations of the Sabbath, in their opinion, as games and sports, which the King had given open countenance to by renewing his father's edict per- mitting similar recreations on Sunday to those who attended church. The Puritans became willing martyrs to these enact- ments ; and martyrdom in this, as in all other cases, strengthened the cause and increased the power of the persecuted. So by a continued series of injudicious acts the breach widened, and Charles, proceeding to Not- tingham, raised the Royal Standard, the signal for civil war. Nor was the popular party behindhand. The armies that had been raised to put down the Irish rebellion were ready for use and placed under the command of Essex. The women of London 'gave up all their plate and orna- ments of their houses, and even their silver thimbles and bodkins, in order to support the good cause against the malignants.'* The war reached Berkshire in due course. In 1642 the King retired by way of Reading from Brentford, and thence to Oxford. At this time Oxford was the royal head-quarters, and garrisoned as outposts to this town were, in first line, Farringdon, under Colonel Lisle ; Abingdon ; Wallingford, under Colonel Blagge; and Greenwell House, under Colonel Hawkins. Reading, under Colonel Middleton ; Newbury; Donnington Castle ; and Hungerford were in second line. On the other hand, Windsor was in the hands of the King's opponents. Opinion seems to have been fairly divided throughout the county. When the Houses of Parliament decided that the protestation to ' maintain and defend as far as lawfully I may with my Life, Power, and Estate,' the Reformed faith, was ' a * Hume. Its Wars. 141 shibboleth to discover a true Israeh'te,' it was ordered that it should be made by every person holding office in the Church or Commonv/ealth. The parishes of Brimpton, Chaddleworth, Chievele}-, Compton, Enborne, Frilsham, Greenhaw, Hamsted-IMarshali, Hamsted-Norris, the two Ilsleys, Inkpen, Kintbury, Leckhamstead, Midgham, New- bury, Peasemore, Shaw-cum-Donnington, the two Shef- fords, Speen, Wasing, Welford, and Winterborne Danvers, made the 'protestation;' and among the names mentioned in this case are those of only seven Recusants. Again, the shire and four boroughs returned in all ten members, and of these two only are definitely specified as Royalists. On the other hand, the landed gentry largely sided, nere as elsewhere, with the King. The list of those who had to compound for their estates under the Ordinance of the Parlia- ment of April 1st, 1643, shows thirty-one names from all parts of the county, including those of Choke of Avington, Sir Humphrey Foster of Aldermaston, and Christopher Milton of Reading (the brother of the poet). They were amerced in sums varying from Mr. Appleyard's ^^3 los. at Wargrave to Sir George Stonehouse's ^1,460 at Radley. It is probable, therefore, that here, as in other parts, the towns and the trading middle-class on the whole took the side of the Parliament against the landed interest, which, from a survival of feudal feeling, joined the King. Many other families, more actively employed than the above probably, lost all they had, and only those who were not so deeply involved were allowed to compound ; while, naturally at such a time, the Recusants for conscience' sake, such as the Roman Catholic families of the Eystons of Hendred, the Perkinses of Upton Court, the Brownes of Great Shefford, and the Dancastles of Wellhouse, were severely fined. There is on the part of the King an amusing assumption of ignoring the fact that there actually were in the county those who did not side with him in the agreement made 14- History of Berkshire. between him and the ' Knights, Gentlemen, Freeholders, and Inhabitants of the County of Berks for the better provision and ordering of His Majestie's Army.' For by this instru- ment the Sheriff and others ' on behalfe of all the inhabi- tants of the county ' agreed to pay for one month, by way of loan, the sum of i^i,ooo weekly, to be proportionately laid upon all parts of the county except the hundreds of Riplesmere, Bray, Cookham, Benhurst, and Wargrave, which being in 'the Furest' were at the King's disposal. The guarantors agreed to make good loss or damage occasioned by the misconduct of their men, and promised that there should be no manner of 'free quarter or billeting^ without payment. But all these wise and sound regulations, as will be seen, soon had to give way before the necessities and irregularities of a prolonged civil war. It must have been a hard time for the county, what with Royalist demands and Republican requisitions. In 1644, the Parliament appointed commissioners in their turn ' for raising money and forces within the county of Berks, and for maintenance of garrisons within the said county ;' two of them were Berkshire men, but they did not attempt to levy in the names of ' all the inhabitants,' as the Sheriff had done. They were Speaker William Lenthall, Master of the Rolls, of Besilsleigh ; Sir Robert Pye, who later on joined in the attempt to restore Charles II,; Sir Benjamin Rudyerd, of West Woodhay, one of those IMembers of the Commons who were seized and imprisoned by Cromwell ; Edmund Dunch, Member for Wallingford and for the county, who married Mary, daughter of Sir Henry Crom- well ; Daniel Blagrave, of Southcote, Member for Reading and Treasurer of Berkshire ; Richard Browne, Major- General of Berks, Bucks, and Oxon, who defended Abingdon during the war, and was Lord Mayor of London in 1660 ; John Packer, and Robert his son, of Donnington Castle ; Cornelius Holland, Member for Windsor; and lastly. Sir Francis Pole, Richard White- Its Wars. 143 head, Henry Martin, Peregrine Hobby, Tanfield Vachell, and William Ball, most of whom were ' sequestrators ' also. The Earl of Essex was appointed to the command of the army of the Parliament, and assured the House that he would never desert the cause, ' as I have any blood in my veins, until this kingdom may be made happy by a blessed peace (which is all honest men's prayer) or to have an end by the sword.' The campaign of 1643 opened on the 15th April by an advance of the Parliamentarians on Reading with 16,000 foot and 3,000 horse. The town was invested, batteries were built and armed ; but Major Vavasour, making a premature effort to storm the defences, was beaten back on the 22nd April. About this date the King, with forty- five troops of horse, nine regiments of foot, together with dragoons and artillery, attempted its relief, moving first ^rom Oxford to Wallingford. He marched thence in two columns ; the right, under Colonel Ruthorn, on Reading, the left, led by himself, on Caversham, intending to re- concentrate before the beleaguered city. They found the enemy ready to receive them, having enclosed their siege works so as to prevent their being taken in reverse ; and turning part of their siege artillery on their assailants, they made a vigorous offensive move- ment against the relieving army, one portion of which was trying to force the bridge at Caversham. Both attempts failed, that at Caversham with heavy loss, though supported by the fire of some twenty-four pounders ; and the Royalists therefore fell back on Oxford, where the garrison of Reading, after its surrender later in the year, joined it. The Royalist soldiery were robbed to some extent when leaving the town, a proceeding that bore evil fruit ; for ' whether this, or the unruliness of the common soldiers, produced a breach of the articles, it was the origin of, and became an excuse for, mutual injustice during the continu- ance of the war, and particularly at the surrender of 144 History of Berkshire, Bristol/ Reading remained in Parliamentary hands until after the first battle of Newbury. Governor Blagge of Wallingford showed little courtesy to his opponents. Though when Earls Lindsay, Holland, and Bedford came to him on their way to see the King at Oxford, with the view of joining his faction (which they did not do), he received them with all honour ; on the other hand, he kept waiting outside his gates, and afterwards received most haughtily, those members of the Lords, Commons, and Scottish party who had been deputed by the Parliament to consult his Majesty as to terms of peace. The principal scene of action had in the meantime shifted to the west. There the armies of the King had triumphed, for Waller, who had been sent to check the Royalist successes, was beaten at Lansdown and Devizes, and had to fall back on Bristol. This town fell to Prince Rupert in July ; and while Waller was allowed to retire to London, the Royalist army, which Charles himself had joined, then sat down before Gloucester, which was held by Governor Massey, It was the only place in the west which now held a Puritan garrison, and the continued success of the enemy had so alarmed the Parliament, that Essex hurried to the relief of the beleaguered town ; but when, on his approach from London by Colnbrook, Aylesbury, Chipping Norton, and Stow-in-the-Wold, the Royalists raised the siege, he, feeling himself deficient in artillery, attempted to return to the capital. This led him back to Berkshire, as he evidently wished to place the Thames, and possibly the Kennet also, if necessary, between him and his opponent. But Charles forestalled him. Moving on ' inner lines,' he reached Newbury, and, occupying the low ground on the south side of the town, was on the flank of the Puritan General's line of march if he attempted to pass him by the road over the W^ash and Greenham Common. Thus was brought about the first battle of Newbury, on the 20th September, 1643. lis Wars. 145 The Earl of Essex was by no means deficient in military skill, and probably a more dashing- leader would not, in those early days of the war, have done so much as he to create the fighting weapon from which the ' new model army ' was afterwards formed. His men, though half trained and ill disciplined, had made an excellent march so far ; but their rear-guard had been harassed from Brackley to Prestbury by the Royal cavalry. He wasted his men in no slight encounters that could be avoided ; and so gave them confidence, and, by small successes, increased their self-consciousness. Thus, coming to the south through Circencester by night, he surprised a small force there, and, for the second time since he left London, taught his men the lesson that they could fight and win ; and when, after leaving Swindon, he was three days later, in his turn, attacked on Aldbourne Chase, he practically lost nothing but the ' loot ' from Cirencester, which had to be left behind ; while, on the other side, the Marquis de Vieuville was slain. It is possible that the undoubted presence of the enemy in the neighbourhood made him abandon any idea, if he had formed one, of reaching London by the road north of the Kennet ; and in this case that between the Kennet and the Enborne was the only other available.* He reached Hungerford on the 19th September, and moved by Kintbury toward Enborne ; where, finding that the Royalists were in possession of Newbury, he prepared for battle. His position was a strong one. His flanks rested safely on the Enborne and Kennet ; near Hamstead- Marshal, on a good road, was a secure place for parking his cumbrous train ; and, more than this, with a quick eye for the tactical value of ground, he had pushed forward his left centre to occupy the rounded spur in front of Skinner's Green, whence a battery could ' command all the plain before Newbury.' Then Essex, in command of * ' Battles of Newbury,' p. 7. 10 146 History of Berkshire. the left wing, while Skippon led the right, waited quietly for daybreak. ' And you that know the gains at Newberry ! Seeing the General, how undauntedly He then encouraged you for England's right ! When Royal forces fled he stood the fight.' ••■■ Charles had reached Newbury from Evesham by North- leach, Farringdon, and Wantage ; and, during his tnarch, had sought to harass and delay that of his opponent by the cavalry action under Rupert at Aldbourne. Having encamped in the fields south of the town, he must either have allowed his adversary to pass by along the high ground of the Wash Common, or, taking the initiative, have attacked him. He decided on the latter course. Advancing his right wing against the strong position occupied by Essex's left — all the stronger for such troops as his because it was rendered intricate by hedgerows, and therefore better suited to steady trainbands than mounted cavaliers — he threw forward his artillery on the high ground of the common, and gradually extended his line of battle down the southern slopes of the Wash. His guns may have been entrenched on the common the night before, but this seems doubtful. There were numerous independent leaders who fought under the Royal banners without any special command, and among these were Lords Falkland and Carnarvon, who fell upon the field ; but Lord Forth held supreme command under the King, while Sir Nicholas Byron and Prince Rupert ' ordered ' the infantry and cavalry respectively. The offensive movement of the Royal right had been covered and protected by an advance of Rupert^s cavalry. Ascending the slopes they had turned sharply to their right, and, losing all control, charged with desperate ardour and impetuosity against the steel-clad pikemen. The King's guns were masked b)^ this wild advance, and '- ' Battles of Newbury,' p. 23. Its Wars. 147 here Falkland fell. But the days of individual fighting were fast passing away, and giving place to the combined action of bodies of troops working to a common end. All the foolish dash of 'officers flinging off their doublets in bravado, and leading on their men in their shirts ' against cold shot and bright steel, must fail in the long-run if the infantry will but stand firm. And so these Royalists found. There is something almost pitiful in the boyish enthusiasm of these brave cavaliers when the results of their efforts are considered. Beyond the temporary forcing back for a very short distance the enemy's left centre, they influenced the fight not at all. For ' the city red and blue regiments,' moving from the right, ascended the southern slopes.^ Their ' serried lines stood undaunted and conquerors against allj and like a grove of pines in a day of wind and tempest, they only moved their legs, heads, or arms, but kept their footing sure.' This counter-attack, this 'offensive return' by Skippon, was made on the broken or disordered centre of the King's line of battle. By the mere effect of marching forward now it had cut the army in two, exposing its severed fractions to flank attacks unless it fell back. So fall back it did, beaten. It had totally failed in its proposed effort. It had moved from Evesham to defeat Essex, or at least prevent his march to London. It had done neither, and it had suffered severely, more especially in great leaders and chiefs ; even the field was left to the enemy, for the cavalry had crossed to Speen, and the infantry had retired within the town. Besides Falkland, the Earls of Sunderland and Carnarvon had fallen ; and it was related, even as late as the early part of the last century, that there were those then living who had seen the latter, before the battle, riding gaily with his drawn sword through Newbury streets, and laugh- ingly taking measure of a gate, through which the Parlia- mentary generals were to be led when made prisoners, to * ' Battles of Newbury," p. 32. 10 — 2 148 History of Berkshire. see if it were wide enough to take ' their horns.' But they were as little likely to surrender without a fight as any Royalist in Newbury; they were of the same English stuff, and so the Earl found, for he was brought back the next day dead, carried across the back of a horse ' like unto a calf.' The battle was practically lost, and so, too, was Falkland, the Secretary of State. He was the one man who seems to have felt in all its force the evil of the Civil War ; and his honesty and straightforwardness in opposing the detested tax of ship-money shows he was no mere partisan. His pitiful cry for ' Peace ' shows with what deep regret he him- self had drawn the sword. No one more sorrowfully recog- nised the extreme divergence of opinion which left the opponents neither choice nor arbiter. He saw, but with no light heart, that there was no other way out of the tangle but to cut the Gordian knot. The disease of severe political disagreement had to be cured by cold shot and sharp steel, and Falkland was one of those who mourned over the painful need. But his sorrow and regret did not check him in his path of duty. He led his gallant troopers against the hedgerows, where Essex stood, with all the dauntless courage of one who feared not death, like a valiant gentleman of England. ' I am weary of the times,' he said on the morning of the fight, ' and foresee much misery to my country ; but I believe that I shall be out of it ere night.' So his presentiment was fulfilled, and his dead body, after resting a while in Newbury, was removed to Oxford. Essex, too, on that hard-stricken field, in all the triumph of victory, felt it was not all joy, when, saddened, and looking over the wide-spread scene of carnage, he 'prayed fervently that peace might once more shine upon the land.'-'^ He was up betimes on the 21st, and steadfastly adhering to the plan on which he had determined, continued his march to London. He passed — though not unmolested, * ' Battles of Newbury,' p. 41. Its Wars. 1 49 for some of Rupert's sleepless horsemen attacked him during the day 'in the narrow lanes about a mile and a half from Aldermaston ' — by way of Greenham Common, Brimpton, Aldermaston, Padworth, and Theale, to Reading, where he rested for two days, and then proceeded by Maidenhead to Windsor and London. The less critical Royalist papers and authorities claim the day as a partial victory to the King, as the field was left in his possession, and he personally busied himself there, the day after the battle, in seeing that the wounded were cared for. A cottage near Enborne became literally a 'Cottage Hospital,' and bears the name of 'the Hospital' still. Many of the dead were buried under two great mounds on Wash Common ; though isolated bodies must have been interred just where they fell, or in the churchyard at New- bury.* When, finally, Essex had left Reading for London, the King re-garrisoned it, under Sir Jacob Astley ; reinforced the Castle of Donnington, which was still under Sir John Boys ; and then retired to Oxford, leaving also a garrison of infantry in Abingdon with orders to hold the place. Nothing happened during the winter of 1643, except that Essex rejoined the forces collecting at Windsor, to be in readiness to assist Waller, who was preparing an expedition against Old Basing House. This started by way of Hart- ford-bridge Flats in the spring of 1644, but produced no result. The campaign had meanwhile shifted to the Northern Counties, and what Royalist forces could be spared were drafted thither. Hence, when again Essex advanced with 10,000 men on Reading, the King abandoned both it and Newbury, causing the fortifications of the former to be destroyed, and marched all his available troops by way of Compton and Wantage to Abingdon, and then to Oxford. The garrison of Abingdon did not await the arrival of the * After the second battle, in the autumn of the following year, when the fight was hottest in the fields round Speen, most of the dead were buried in a ' large pit near the tower of Newbury Church.' 150 History of Berkshire. Parliamentary troops, but left the place. This town was of very great importance to the Royalists because of its proximity to Oxford, and from its position between the advanced posts of Farringdon and Wallingford ; yet on the approach of Essex the garrison abandoned it with- out apparently sufficient cause ; and first General Craw- ford, and then General Browne, assumed command of the town. Royalist Colonel Blagge of Wallingford Castle was made of more tenacious stuff; he showed himself a dashing and enterprising, if not always a successful, commander, and kept his soldiers' hands in by constant forays. Thus though Crawford, who was short of food, foraged 1,000 sheep from under the very walls of the Castle, his adversary, watching his opportunity, later on assailed a party of eighty horse that was marching to Aylesbury, under Crawford himself, v^'ith his troop of 120 men, and defeated them with loss. Blagge himself was wounded, but this did not check his ardour. Though a detachment foraging from Wallingford was assailed by Captain Tomlinson and driven back, another moving on Green well House, which was besieged, relieved it and forced their adversaries to withdraw. But Browne, stung by this reverse, himself advanced against it the fol- lowing spring, and made the place surrender ; its garrison tl:en joined that of Wallingford. Thus the early part of the year 1644 saw nearly the whole of Berkshire in the hands of the Parliament. Windsor, Newbury, and Abingdon held Puritan garrisons ; and only Farringdon, Donnington, and Oxford those of the King. Matters had not been progressing for the Royal cause. The Scots and Roundheads had united on Marston Moor, and had there given battle to Rupert. They owed their victory to some extent to a man with a heavy face, an ungainly manner, but a stern enthusiast; who, as General Cromwell, was to share in the next battle in Berkshire, and, as the Lord Protector, to rule it afterwards, and England too. He had given proofs of military aptitude at Its Wars. 151 Gainsborough the year before, and now made another mark as a bold leader. But it was indirectly owing to the second battle of Newbury that he assumed a definite position ; for after it came that quarrel with the Earl of Manchester, which, among other things, led to the forma- tion of the ' new model army,' that terrible weapon which in strong Cromwell's hands was to smash in pieces the armies of the second Stuart. The battle was brought about in this manner. Waller having been defeated in the Midlands at Cropredy Bridge, his army, as an offensive force, practically ceased to exist ; so Rupert had it all his own way there. Essex, too, who had moved against the Royalists under Maurice in the south- west, was cooped up in Cornwall by the combined forces of Maurice and the King; and though Balfour, with the horse, got away, and Essex himself escaped to Plymouth, Skippon vi^as obliged to surrender with arms, artillery, and baggage. Thus the gleam of sunshine that had followed the Parlia- mentary cause after the raising of the siege of Gloucester disappeared. The relics of Waller's army were reorgan- ized, and, joined with that of the Earl of Manchester from the Eastern Counties, were to advance to the relief of Essex, while a force under Colonel Middleton was to harass Rupert if he moved southward to aid the King. On his way he was to reduce the stronghold of Donnington Castle. The autumn of 1644 showed the forces thus distributed. The King, returning from the west, was at Blandford ; Rupert was collecting forces at Bristol ; but the Royalist garrisons of Basing, Donnington, and Banbury were closely invested. On the other side, Middleton had ineffectually attempted to storm Donnington, and had moved west, to be defeated and driven to Sherborne, whence he joined Essex at Portsmouth. The siege was then undertaken by Colonel Horton, Browne's Adjutant - General at Abingdon. Waller was at Andover, where, attacked by Charles, he 152 History of Berkshire. fell back to Basingstoke, and joined the main army at Reading. Essex, who had collected an army at Ports- mouth, had also reported himself at Reading, and lay sick at Swallowfield, Manchester's headquarters. Cromwell, leaving Banbury, had also joined Manchester, who now had a large and well-appointed force under his command ; and, informed of the weakness of the King, prepared to advance against him. Meanwhile Charles had marched to Salisbury, and thence by Andover, Whitchurch, and Kingsclere, to Newbury. This movement naturally raised the siege of Donnington. To relieve Banbury was the King's next care, and for this purpose a force was despatched thither under the Earl of Northampton. Basing had in the interim been gallantly relieved and reprovisioned by Colonel Gage, who had marched by way of Wallingford and Aldermaston, and then returned to Oxford, after a dashing skirmish, laden with booty and prisoners. Thus so far the Royalist plans had succeeded. The besieged places had been relieved ; and, though Rupert had not yet joined him, the King had concentrated all his available forces at Newbury. But the detachments he had made had seriously weakened him, and the delay in his movements had given his adversaries ample time to concentrate a force more powerful than his. Hence it was that, though operating offensively until now, he was compelled to assume the defensive ; and taking up a position north of Newbury, facing chiefly north and north-west, he prepared to await attack. Manchester was quite prepared to try conclusions with him, and marching by way of Aldermaston, Padworth, and Buckle- bury Heath, encamped on Clay Hill, overlooking the Royalist right wing at Shaw ; while, in London, ' shops were closed, the people rushed to the churches, and a solemn fast was ordained to seek the blessing of the Lord on the coming battle.'* * ' Battles of Newbury,' p. 126. Its Wars. 15" o The King's army, numbering about 13,000 men, was strongly posted. Its right, resting on the Kennet, was strengthened by Shaw House, held by Sir Richard Page, and by a force under Astley and Lisle at the passage of the Lamborne at Shaw villasre. There the houses were prepared for defence, with a strong body of horse and foot, under Sir Thomas Hooper and Sir John Brown, between them and the mansion. In reserve here was Colonel Thelwall with his Reading brigade ; and Sir Bernard Astley was also, in second line, occupying a house at the south-east angle of the park. Every building was occu- pied and fortified, and the hedgerows were lined with musketeers. The centre was rendered safe by the works at Donnington, which had replaced and surrounded the battered Castle, where Sir John Boys still commanded. In rear of it, in the fields between it and Newbury, the King, with the main body of the artillery, took post. The left rested somewhat eii fair. Speen Hill, hastily entrenched, was held by the Cornish foot and the Duke of York's regiment, and five guns, under St. Leger ; below it, in the village, was Prince Maurice's main body, consisting of one brigade of horse and two brigades of foot and artillery. Newbury itself was occupied by a strong detachment at its southern entrance, and detached posts were pushed out on the left to the fords on the Lar.iborne at Bognor and Boxford. Frequent skirmishes took place as the Parliamentarians closed up. Fighting occurred on the 25th near Thatcham, and during a reconnaissance on the following day. Manchester had entrenched a strong battery on Clay Hill, and skirmishing took place between the light troops, the result showing the exceeding strength of the King's posi- tion on this flank. The centre was known to be too strong, owing to the works at Donnington, and hence it 154 History of Berkshire. was decided to despatch Cromwell and Waller on the afternoon of the 26th with the bulk of the force to move by Cold Ash, Prior's Court, Chieveley, and North Heath (where they would halt), and then, on the 27th, by Winter- bourne Church and Boxford to Wickham Heath ; whence they would face the King's left at Speen. To cover this flank march, and to keep the enemy in ignorance of it, Manchester was to attack him vigorously at Shaw ; and^ when he heard the sound of Waller's guns, to push his assault to the very utmost. Thus, on the 27th, at daybreak, he attacked the extreme right of the enemy by crossing over a temporary bridge, made during the night, at the foot of Clay Hill ; but though there was no lack of bravery, the force was too small to effect any impression. Still desultory fighting was kept up during the day ; until, at four o'clock, he heard the welcome sound of Waller's artillery brought faintly to him on the evening breeze. Joyfully forming his men into two columns, he advanced against Shaw. The right was to attack the gardens and mansion itself, the left the village. The Puritans advanced with bravery and cool determination,"^ but though both attacks were pushed with the greatest gallantry, the steel- clad men fell back in some disorder, leaving a colour and two 'drakes' on the hard-fought field. Still, they had fully done their work. It was almost hopeless to expect to c^rry such strongly fortified posts by a frontal attack, and yet no other choice was left them. But though they failed to gain possession of the defences, they none the less detained there a very strong force, and at one time must have kept inactive the King's centre too. Cromwell's movement had meanwhile been effectively completed. His march to North Heath, where he halted for the night of the 26th, had been entirely unopposed ; but on passing over the high ground the next day, the * Clarendon, iv. 548. Its Wars. 155 Parliamentarians were seen by the garrison of Donnington, and Sir John Boys sent a small party of cavalry to check them. They could effect little ; so that shortly after noon the enemy's artillery arrived within range of the Royalist position on Speen Hill, and by three o'clock the army had deployed for battle. Waller commanded in chief, with Skippon in charge of the infantry, and Sir William Balfour and Cromwell in command of the right and left wings of the horse. They extended apparently from Stock Cross across the Bath road to the valley of the Kennet ; and, thousfh their first attack was checked, reinforcements were hurried up, and soon the entrenchments were captured. The guns that had been lost in Cornwall were recovered ; and the soldiers, clapping their ' hats on the touch-holes, embraced them with tears of joy.'* The cavalry pushed vigorously forward, and converted the retreat into a rout. The right wing, moving rapidly along the hill-slopes, debouched on to the open fields, and charged the reserve near the King, who, for a time, ran an imminent risk of capture. But the squadrons of Sir John Cansfield and Lord Bernard Stuart hurried to his as- sistance, and there fresh troops drove back the disordered Puritan cavalry to the cover of Skippon's pikemen and musketeers. The left wing of the horse had not been idle. Though the guns of Donnington Castle are said to have opened fire towards this part of the field, they do not appear to have exercised any telling influence. Cromwell, on his advance, met with Benett's cavalry brigade, which formed part of the Royalist centre, and dispersed them ; but his disordered squadron were driven back by the Earl of Cleveland's brigade, under Lord Goring, and had, like Waller's cavalry, to take refuge under Skippon's infantry, who routed the assailants with loss. It is only another example of the effect of fresh squadrons on others * Ludlow's ' Memoirs ;' from ' Battles of Newbury.' 156 History of Berkshire. disorganized by charging; and also on the fact that steady infantry have nothing to fear from the mounted arm. Throughout all this, the decisive portion of the action, nothing is more noteworthy than the cool, collected action of Skippon's infantry. Cavalry charges may disturb an enemy, but will not themselves win a battle ; and if vigorously attacked when in disorder, they are helpless to rally, except under the cover of the muskets of the infantry. Night was coming on, and the battle was practically ended. Numbers had fled into the town of Newbury, and the rest had fallen back, covered by the Castle of Donning- ton, and the fortified houses of Shaw. The battle was a drawn fight as far as its immediate results went, but the loss to the Royalists had been severe ; they had been roughly handled on their left, and they had checked, without either routing or demoralizing Manchester's force. So the night was spent in re-organizing the scattered troops on both sides ; and the King, deciding on retreat, directed the infantry and cavalry, under the comm.and of Prince Maurice, to march by Snelsmore Common and Compton to Wallingford and Oxford, while all the artillery and heavy baggage were left under the care of the garrison and guns of the Castle at Donnington. The fight had been necessarily dislocated on the part of the Parliamentarians. Union was almost impossible ; and at the end of the day, their force at Shaw was ignorant of what had been the result of the turning movement on the Speen side. Still, to the Parliamentarians it was a practical success, and rightly so. They had not been defeated, and the enemy had left the field to them. Well might the Commissioners write (to the Derby House Committee), ' Wee desire to give God the glory of this victory, it being His worke, and upon His day.' It was late on the morning of the 2Sth before any attempt at pursuit was organized, and it is difificult not to lis Wars. 157 convict ^Manchester of a supineness that was almost criminal. A rapid pursuit might have very seriously in- creased the demoralization li an army that had tacitly acknowledged itself beaten ; but it was only after the repeated and earnest solicitation of Cromwell that he, Waller, and Heselrige were permitted to take the cavalry, about 6,000 strong, and follow the retreating army. They were too late to reach them that day, so they bivouacked in Blewbury, Hagbourne, Chilton, and Harwell, where they received an order for their immediate return. Thereupon the three Generals personally visited the Earl, and pressed for permission to push on ; or, at least, to be reinforced by 3,000 infantry, and retain the positions they then occupied. Still Manchester refused, on the ground that the whole valley was impassable from floods ; and leisurely marching to Harwell on the 2nd and 3rd November, he there directed a general rendezvous on Compton Downs, and on the 7th returned to Newbury. Meanwhile, a singularly ineffective attempt to gain pos- session of Donnington Castle had been made ; and Crom- well's opinion as to the advisability of holding the position on the Ilsley Downs was fully borne out by the return of the Royal army there on the 8th November, the day after Manchester had left. For the King had gone to Bath to meet Rupert after the battle ; and, with the troops there, had marched by Cirencester to Burford, meeting the Earl of Northampton with the force that had relieved Banbury, and returning with the whole to Oxford. Here the army was re-organized, and, about 11,000 strong, marched by Wallingford to Ilsley. Crossing the fords of the Lamborne at Donnington Mill, it took post in the fields between Newbury and Speen.* The Parliamentarians had made entrenchments to cover the town, erected probably on what is now the ' Marsh ;' but '■- ' Battles of Newbury,' p. 148. 158 History of Berkshh^e. they offered no molestation, and ' the King lay that night at Donnington Castle, and all the army about him.'* The next day he removed the Crown, Great Seal, and divers jewels and papers from the Castle ; and, taking away all the guns for which he had transport, once more bade adieu to the gallant Sir John Boys. He marched by Burford and Shefford to Lamborne, quartering his troops between that village and Wantage ; but, after a short rest, he pushed on to Marlborough and Tyfield. Here it was decided to re-provision Basing, and to Sir Henry Gage was the mission entrusted. To support him the army moved to Hungerford ; and, the relief having been effected, Charles returned by Great Shefford, Wantage, and Farringdon, where he left the army and went to Oxford. He had thought of attacking Abingdon on the way, but had given up the idea ; but Rupert, left alone, tried it, and was beaten off; and, when the army went into winter quarters, joined Charles at Oxford. Manchester had remained idle. He moved out of Newbury in a half-hearted way, as if to interfere between Basing and Gage's relief-party by way of Kingsclere ; but hearing of the occupation of Hungerford, he fell back on Aldermaston, proposing to take that way of reaching Basing. But he withdrew the Parliamentary force instead ; and then moved leisurely enough by Padworth to Buckle- bury. Berkshire had suffered deeply in the campaign of 1644. The whole county was * in a miserable condition ; hardly a sheep, hen, hog, oats, hay, wheat, or any other thing for man to feed on,^ was left in all the district round. One of the results of the second battle of Newbury was the quarrel that occurred between Manchester and Crom- well. The latter accused his chief of cowardice practically, in allowing the Royal army to escape with all its guns, and for refusing to allow him to pursue with his cavalry ; and, * ' Battles of Newbury,' p. 149. Its Wars. 159 as has been shown, there is every reason for believing that the Earl had displayed want of vigour, to say the very least. Mutual recrimination tended to widen the breach ; until at length, by the ' self-denying ordnance,' Essex, Manchester, Waller, and others were compelled to resign their commands, and Fairfax became the head of the army. With him was still associated Cromwell. For when the former proceeded to Windsor to make arrangements for the formation of the ' new model army,' Cromwell, who, like the others, should have been deprived of his command, was met there by a ' dispensation ' prolonging his services forty days longer to intercept Rupert, who was marching to relieve the King at Oxford. Drakes and other ordnance were sent from Windsor to Abingdon, and Fairfax himself marched through Reading and Newbury on his way to Taunton, and again halted at Newbury on his return to besiege Oxford. Thus, in May, 1645, Windsor, Abingdon, and Reading were in the hands of the Parliament, and Farringdon, Wallingford, and Donnington still in those of the King. Between the garrisons of these places there were many raids and skirmishes^ and in these Governor Blagge, of Wallingford, that alert and daring soldier, took a leading part ; but, on the whole, the advantage lay with the King's enemies. Colonel Baxter, who held Reading, advanced against Wallingford, but thought his chances of success small, and fell back again. Captain Barker, of Wallingford, pursued him with his troop of 120 horse, and defeated his rear- guard, taking thirty prisoners ; so Baxter turned at bay and took him prisoner with his spoil, and twenty-five men and fifty horses beside. Then Blagge, picking up a reinforcement at Donnington, made a dash at Kintbury, to return with a loss of twenty men and horses ; and Colonel Lowe, of Wallingford — there being a party of Parliamen- tarians in the vicinity — was next despatched to defeat it, i6o History of Berkshire. to be again beaten by General Browne, of Abingdon, with a loss of fifty men. Colonel Barkstead became Governor of Reading in due course, and was nearly captured by one of Blagge's forag- ing parties. This restless Royalist at times sought for even more active work, and commanded the first tertia of the third brigade in the King's army in Cornwall. While he was away, Cromwell's horse defeated those of the Earl of Northampton at Islip ; but a troop was sent from Wallingford, joining one from Farringdon and another from Oxford, only to find that astute general had gone. One of the most remarkable points about this extraordinary campaign is the want of union between the forces, and the general inactivity of the armies after success. Though Manchester had fairly beaten Charles at Newbury, he seems to have allowed him, none the less, the free run of the district. Whether from policy or fear, he did not interrupt him in removing the guns from Donnington, or disturb Gage's march to Basing. Blagge, as we have seen, was also able to march to Kintbury and return. In fact, the prolongation of the war was due entirely to these errors. Cromwell alone seems to have recognised the necessity of striking hard and striking quickly. No two places exercised a greater influence on the war than Basing and Donnington. The former, Cromwell's energy had seized and destroyed. After three days' fierce fighting he could thank God that he ' had given a good account of Basing,' and it was his influence that led to the final siege of Donnington by Colonel Dalbier. Dalbier was used to hard knocks ; he had been wounded in Newbury fight, and again from a musket-shot fired through a loophole at Basing. In November, 1645, he planted himself before Sir John Boys in the meadow that still bears his name, and in March, 1646, had given a sufficiently good account of Donnington too. For it fell, notwith- standing the brilliant defence of its most gallant Governor ; Its Wars. 1 6 r and John Boys, as loyal a man as ever followed the banner of the King, marched out with all the honours and courtesies of war. In what a state the country must have been ! Peaceful people were torn from their homes, and kept for ransom by each side. Colonel Ball, writing to Speaker Lenthall, says, ' That which exceedingly affects me is the continual clamour of the soldiers at Newberry, and country people thereabout ; that the soldiers having almost starved the people where they quarter, are half starved themselves for want of pay, and are becoming very desperate, raging about the country, breaking and robbing houses and passengers, and driving away sheep and other cattell before the owners' faces.'* Both money and provisions were wanting. The commonest complaint of the Parliamentary chiefs to the Government was that the pay was considerably in arrears. Thus forced contributions had to be levied by both sides, and the unhappy folk had to contribute as well in coin as in kind. ' Some of the soldiers were driving away the sheep of Andrew Pottinger, of Wolhampton, a freeholder of ^^"60 per annum, a very considerable man for the Parlia- ment, having a wife and six young children ; who endeavour- ing to secure his sheep, the soldiers struck him on the head so that he became presently speechless, and dead within four hours, to the great grief and sorrow of the neighbourhood. Another party of nyne soldiers, armed with muskets, came yesterday to the house of Mr. Ilsley, of Beenham, and broke open his door, to the great affright of his wife, he being absent, and hearing of it, got together his neighbours and so beat the soldiers that they were all wounded, and not able to return to their quarters.'* The burden of war was felt by all classes, and instances of violence might be indefinitely multiplied. Sir Humphrey Foster, of Aldcrmaston, was dining quietly * Tanner MSS. II 1 62 History of Berkshire. with his friends, when a party of troopers, headed^by three officers, broke into the house and carried away the valuables and eight horses. Even friendly towns suffered. For 'these grateful Rebells .... to make their accompt just, they took a farewell survey of their deare Society at Newbury, and for a Farewell plundered the towns most equally, leaving them to contemplate the Reward of Rebellion, which is to be used worse by those for whose sake they have been most seditious.' This was attributed to the ' Redding forces,' who acted in ' a most deplorable manner, and that honest old Sir Francis Knowles, the ancientest Parliament man in England, had much prejudice done to his houses and their tenants in January, 1643.' The want of an organized system of suppl}' and transport threw the whole burden of supporting the war in these respects on the civil population. The evils were confined to neither side in particular; and the soldiers, being but human, were com- pelled to forage for their own subsistence. It was one of the unavoidable evils of war conducted on unscientific principles. Trade was necessarily paralyzed. Carriers from London to Wiltshire, after entering into a composition with Sir John Boys at a charge of ^^"3 a waggon, were captured and recaptured by other officers, and had to pay each time. On another occasion a party of clothiers, on payment of i^400, receiving a safe-conduct from Governor Lloyd of Devizes, were seized and taxed by the Commandant at Donnington to the same amount ; to be again stopped at Wallingford, and mulcted ;^io a bale. Verily these were troubled times for quiet traders, and it was time the war should cease. The King had been busy, and, at first, successful in the north ; while Fairfax, from Newbury, had laid siege to Oxford. When Charles advanced the siege was raised ; Naseby was fought, and the King then returned to Oxford. The brave Sir Henry Gage had been mortally Its Wars. 163 wounded at Culham during a sortie from Abingdon ; and this was not the only heavy loss that Charles could mourn. Soon the Western armies of the Royalists were defeated also, and Bristol, with Rupert, fell. It was Fairfax who had done these things, and he was returning to capture Oxford, where the King had taken refuge ; whereupon his Majesty fled to Scotland, and the war was practically at an end. Wallingford and Farringdon were now the only towns in Berkshire in Royalist hands. The latter, held by Sir Marmaduke Rawdon, had been unsuccessfully attacked by Cromwell, though its church tower had suffered ; and in a skirmish shortly after at Radcot Bridge he took Colonels Littleton and Vaughan prisoners. The great house of Farringdon had been defended by Sir John Pye against a force led by his own father-in-law. Colonel Hampden. But at length it, as well as Oxford, surrendered ; Walling- ford alone finding, in Colonel Blagge, a hero as determined as Sir John Boys of Donnington, for that Castle was the last fortress in Berkshire to surrender to the Parliament. In due course the King was tried and beheaded ; and one Berkshire man at least, Samuel Fell, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and Rector of Sunningwell, is said to have died of grief when he heard of his royal master's execution.* Donnington Castle was in ruins, that of Wal- lingford was dismantled ; and thus, with the Civil War, two more of the Berkshire fortresses, to all intents and purposes, ceased to be. Never was there a political struggle in which family had been divided more against family, or where men had more frequently changed sides. Of the Percys of Northumber- land, Lord Henry had joined the King, while his elder brother, the Earl, was for the Parliament. Lord Holland changed from Parliament to King, and back again, and then joined in the abortive rising in favour of Charles IL at Kingston-on-Thames, the last blow struck in the Civil - ' Hist. Marlborough.' II — 2 164 History of Berkshire. War. Captain Charles Fleetwood had remained a staunch Republican, marrying Cromwell's daughter, Ireton's widow ; but he was instrumental in bringing about the resignation of Richard Cromwell, and thus paving the way for the return of Charles 11. Middleton and Massey both became Royalists eventually, notwithstanding the share they had taken with the opposite side; and there are numerous other names, besides these, of men who fought in Berkshire, who had a similar difficulty in making up their minds. The sequestrators of the ' Delinquents' ' estates were generally Berkshire men. They were Sir Francis Pile, Member for the County, son of the first Baronet, who had been created by Charles I. ; Sir Francis Knollys, son of Queen Elizabeth's treasurer, who held the farm of Battle at Reading, lived in the Abbey House there, and was Member both for the County and the Borough at different times ; Peregrine Hoby of Bisham ; Harry Marten, the regicide, from Longworth, near Farringdon, who v/as at one time Member for the County and Governor of Reading ; Roger Knight, of Greenham, who joined in the last siege of Donnington ; Henry Powl, of Shottesbrooke; Thomas Fettiplace of Fernham, near Farringdon ; and Tanfield Vachell, of Coley House, Reading, Member for that Borough in 1645. The latter was another instance of apparent political inconsistency ; for, though made Sheriff of Berks in 1643 by Charles, he 'left his service and went into rebellion.' He came from astern family. For "Tis reported in Reading an old story of Vachell, y' he would not suffer y« Abbot of Reading to carry the hay through his yard. Y'' Abbot, after many messengers, sent a Monk whom Vachell in fury kill'd.' He was forced to fly, and his kin afterwards adopted the motto, ' It is better to suffer than revenge.' The traces of the Civil War, however, passed away, and the factions were soon practically reconciled, so that the next uprising against the royal authority was distinguished by Its Wars. 165 little active violence. The Revolution of 1688 was almost a peaceful one, and Berkshire saw what little active hostility- there was to be shown. One of the most vigorous among the conspirators was Richard Lord Lovelace, who then resided at Lady Place. In the cellars of his house the meetings were held which resulted in bringing the Prince of Orange to English ground. When William landed at Torbay, on the 5th November, 1688, his small army, superior in discipline, though inferior in numbers to that of the King, was slow at first in gaining active adherents. One of the first of the nobles to march to him was the Lord of Lady Place. With seventy followers, well armed and mounted, he rode as far as Cirencester without opposition. But the militia met him there, and after a sharp skirmish he was overpowered, made prisoner, and sent to Gloucester Castle. It was the first blood shed in the struggle, and it was shed by Berkshire men ; while the ' first peer of the realm who made his appearance at the quarters of the Prince was James Bertie, Earl of Abingdon,' a Berkshire peer. Meanwhile James had joined his army at Salisbury, and was disposed to move towards Exeter, which his adversary had occupied ; but doubtful of the result of the coming struggle, and alarmed at the defection of his nearest friends, he left the army, and returned by way of Wallingford and Windsor to London. The ' Eastern Counties were up.' The people of Gloucester had released Lovelace of Lady Place, and he, with an irregular, half-armed, but enthusiastic following, had entered Oxford in triumph. William followed nearly the same route as James, and passed across Salisbury Plain, near Stonehenge, to Hunger- ford, which he reached on the 6th December, putting up at the Bear Inn for the night. Here he met the Commissioners appointed by the King, and then went to Littlccote, riding to Newbury on the nth December. His advanced troops 1.66 History of Berkshire. reached Padworth, and then went on to Reading ; the rest of the army marching from Newbury by Farnborough, West Ilsley, the ' Golden Mile,' near Hendred, to Drayton, and reaching Abingdon on the same date. Only insignificant skirmishes had attended the Prince's progress, one being at Reading, which had been garrisoned by Irish troops, who, from their religious sympathies, were adherents of King James. A party of these, 500 strong, attacked some of the Orange light troops at Hungerford on the day on which William entered that town ; but they were roughly handled. Later on, these same Irish dragoons so exasperated the people of Reading by their threats of pillage and massacre, that they sent to the Prince of Orange requesting help and protection. Thereupon 300 troopers marched to the town on the 9th December ; and, after a brisk engagement in the market-place, the King's party was defeated, their opponents losing a few men, and the only officer killed during the war. As it appears by the registers of St. Giles's Church, he, with eight ' King's soldiers,' and one of the party of the Prince of Orange, was buried in the yard of that church, which then stood on the very outskirts of the place. James had fled from London on the nth December, and his army was dispersing too. William's army had moved by Wallingford and Henley ; but as there is a tradition of a slight skirmish at Twyford, it is also possible the march may have been covered by the advance of a portion of the Reading garrison in pursuit of the Irish dragoons which they had driven out from Reading. These Irish troops had apparently purposed to defend Maidenhead ; but the townfolk beat a Dutch march by night, and they fled in confusion, leaving their guns and ammunition behind. And so, to what for the time being became a national air, to the tune of ' Lillibulero Bullen a la,' William of Orange passed on through Windsor to London, and became King. Its Wars. 167 With the Civil Wars terminated the military history of Berkshire. One by one its castles did their work, were demolished, and disappeared from active life. Now but fragments of its existence, they shared in its upgrowth ; and round them rallied some of the most stirring events that the national records can show. In place of a feudal fortress has risen the barrack towers of a regiment of Berkshire men in the depot at Reading ; and the gallantry of those who fought on either side round the weather-beaten stones of Donnington has descended, we may feel sure, on those who now represent the military spirit of the county. The cry of ' No sur- render !' which Boys and Blagge had raised, was echoed on the disastrous day at Maiwand when the colours of the 66th Regiment of the Line — the Berkshire Regiment — fell, after a most gallant resistance, into Afghan hands. But in not only these soldiers of the line has the spirit of old days lived ; for Berkshire Volunteers, Berkshire Militia, and Berkshire Yeomanry show that the fighting spirit still exists among us, and, if dire need arose, would blaze afresh. CHAPTER VII. ITS MONASTIC AND ECCLESIASTICAL LIFE. It was not only in the castles which overawed and kept down the rebellious spirit of the land that the Norman influence was felt. From policy perhaps, and partly from the gradual growth of priestcraft, the Church also, as well as the State, acquired increasing power over the people and their possessions. Great monasteries were founded, and grew rich. Churches of noble architecture replaced the ruder Saxon structures, or rose where none had been before ; and Berkshire in those mediaeval days revelled in monasticism, with all its attendant merits and demerits.* Reading and Abingdon stood in the list of the twenty- seven mitred Benedictine Abbacies of England ; Hurley Priory, of the same religious order, was founded as a cell to Westminster. The Augustine Monks, called Canons Regular, or St Austin's Canons, held Poughley Priory, erected on the site of a hermitage by Ralph de Chaddleworth in 1160, and Sandleford Priory, built by Jeffrey, Earl of Perch, and his wife Maud, about 1205. The Knights-Hospitallers, or Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, whose duty it was to provide for pilgrims to * In the ' Notitia Alonastica' as many as thirty-five monasteries are mentioned as existing before the Reformation, and many had been destroyed when the ahen priories were abolished. Its JMonastic and Ecclesiastical Life. 169 the Holy Land, and who were estabh'shed in England by Jordan Briset about 1108, had ' Commanderies' at Brimpton and Greenham. The Grey or Franciscan Friars, who were established at Canterbury as early as 1224, had a house and a convent at Reading; and the Maturins, or Friars of the Holy Trinity, who came to England in 1224, established a monastery at Donnington. The Preceptories of the Knights-Hospitallers have left little or no actual trace.* But in a deed preserved in the library at Valetta, there is a report by Philip de Thame, Prior of the Hospital in England, to the Grand Master of the Order, Elyan de Villanova, in 1338, in which the property of the Knights in this country is specified. In the account of the Hospital at Jerusalem, its resources are given ; and pensions are mentioned from the churches of Speen, Ilsley, Woolhampton, Ufton, Wasing, and Catmere. The position of the Preceptory at Newbury is doubtful ; but it may have been situated near the canal-wharf, where, probably, also stood the Castle of Newbury.f One of the fields near there long bore the name of the Hospital Mead. The Preceptory at Brimpton, which seems to have been an offshoot of, and subordinate to, the other, is mentioned in the deeds as being at ' Shadeford.' Shalford is a house standing on the bank of the Enbourne, near the road from Brimpton to Aldermaston, and is even now surrounded on two sides by a moat. Remains of foundations are known to exist here ; and in the churchyard of Brimpton Church was found a ' prick spear,' which may have belonged to the fourteenth century.:]: The church was one of their possessions, as well as the manor and village of Greenham, presented to them in the reign of Henry H. by Maud> " W. Money, F.S.A., in Ncivbury Weekly Xeins. t Trans. N. D. F. C, vol. ii., p. 254. + Ibid.^ vol. i., p. 18. 1 70 History of Berkshire. Countess of Clare, and Gervase Paynell respectively.* Of their history in Berkshire nothing is known, except that in the reign of Henry VI. John Prendegast's name appears among those of the Berkshire gentry as Preceptor of the Hospital of St. John of Greenham.. The most ancient of the monastic edifices in Berkshire is the Abbey of Abingdon, of whose Saxon history mention has been already made. The Norman rule began with Norman priests, and Athelhelm, the Normanized Saxon, became Abbot. He succeeded to a rich inheritance ; in Berkshire and Oxfordshire alone were 113 manors or properties, of which at least thirty were in the former county. Thanks to the friendly feeling between the Abbot and the King, Abingdon was little disturbed ; and, indeed, its possessions were increased by the gift of the church at Sutton from William himself. Athelhelm had to place mercenary troops, which he hired, at Windsor when the Castles of Oxford, Windsor, and Wallingford were built. Robert d'Oyley, of Oxford and Wallingford, who already owned Berkshire lands too at Ardington, was a friend of his, and managed to obtain from him the Tadmorton estate ; but for what equivalent, history does not say. D'Oyley visited the monastery at Eastertide in 1087 with Miles Crispin of Wallingford, and Henry, the Conqueror's son ; and here finally he was buried. It has been asserted from this visit that Henry was educated at the Abbey ; and, from his learning or the excellence of the teaching, took the name of Beauclerc. Abbot Athelhelm was a man of parts. Alfsi, the King's bailiff in Sutton, cut wood in the Abbey grounds at Cumnor and Bagley W^ood ; whereupon the Abbot pur- sued him on horseback, until he took refuge in the Ock, up to his neck in water. On another occasion this same bailiff took the Abbot's oxen * to draw lead for the King's " Trans. N. D. F. C, vol. ii., p. 254. Its lilonastic and Ecclesiastical Life. 171 work ;' whereupon their redoubtable owner thrashed him with his own staff. The Abbey was used as a prison also, if Hollinshed speaks truly ; for, according to him, here Egelwin, Bishop of Durham, was imprisoned and starved to death. Rainald succeeded Athelhelm as Abbot ; and, like his predecessor, he was a favourite of the Norman kings, who confirmed the rights claimed by the monastery. He energetically set about the restoration and enlargement of the church, of which the tower had fallen, during some repairs, in the spring of 1091, though without injury to the brethren, who were on their way to matins. But he was in want of funds, so he insisted on the accurate payment of the tithes ; and, as churches had been consecrated at Kingston and Peasemore, hamlets of Worth and Chieveley, by Roger Bacheping and others, he forced them to own the Abbey rights, and to make a yearly acknowledgment to the rectors of the mother churches. On his death, Rufus, who, for politic reasons, filled his ex- hausted coffers at the expense of the Church by refusing to appoint successors to vacant benefices,* appointed Broad- bent to collect the rents of Abingdon ; but no Abbot was installed until iioo, when Henry I. gave Fabritius the vacant office ; and he was followed by Vincent, Ingulph, and Walkelin. The latter became Bishop of Winchester ; and to Fabritius is due the removal of the church, which stood ' more northerly, where now the Orchard is,' and who ' made the East part and Transept new, adorning it with small marble pillars.' There was a break in the succession after Walkelin. Godfrey, Bishop of St. Asaph, held it in covtinendatn, and then Roger, Prior of Bermondsey ; after which it was governed by Priors, until Alured, Prior of Rochester, was succeeded by Abbot Hugh. After him came William of ** At his death one archbishopric, four bishoprics, and eleven abbeys were vacant. lyi . History of Berkshire. Colne, and Robert de Hendred, the first to wear 'the mitre and pontificals,' on Trinity Sunday, 1268 ; and, during his reign, Henry III. held a court here. Nicholas de Culham, who built the parish church of St. Nicholas outside the Abbey gates, Henry deTulford, John de Sutton, William de Cumnor, Richard de Boxford, Ralph de Hanney (all bearing names taken from the dependencies of the Abbey), Aschecdune, and John Saute, who was Ambassador at Rome in the reigns of Edward IV. and Henry VII., and who enlarged the church buildings, were successively Abbots of Abingdon. Geoffrey of Monmouth even has been asserted to have been one of them, and to have been buried in the Church. Lastly, Rowland de Penthecost assumed the mitre in 1 5 14, and twenty-five years afterwards surrendered it to Henry VIII. At that time its yearly value was ^2,042 2s. Sd., worth in 1S27, according to Cobbett in his 'Protestant Reformation,' as much as ^^"40,842 14s. 2d. of modern money. He was allowed to keep the Manor of Cumnor until his death ; and, by some, has been accused of many crimes, and said to have amassed wealth enough to buy the manor. This had been used as an hospital for sick or convalescent Abbots of the Abbey, and was, in fact, their country-seat. It was bought after his death by Anthony Forster, Esq., described on the brasses of his gray- marble tombstone as ' amiable and learned, a great musician, builder, and planter.' He was a friend of the Earl of Leicester, to whom he left Cumnor Place by will, and it was said to have been with his connivance that 'Amy Robsart' died. It is a pity almost to destroy the romance that Scott has told, but whether she was murdered by Sir Richard Varney and Forster, or whether the whole of that story is false, she was undoubtedly the daughter of a Norfolk knight, and was married to Robert Lord Dudley at Sheen on the 4th June, 1550, in the presence of Edward VI. She could not have become Countess for Its MoJiastic and Ecclesiastical Life. i -I J four years after her supposed death in 1560, when Dudley became Earl, nor have been present at Kenilworth when Elizabeth visited it eleven years later in 1575. Still, there seems little doubt that there was a suspicion of foul play attaching to the Earl. Naturally ambitious, and raised to the dignity of Master of the Horse, Knight of the Garter, and Privy Councillor, he may easily have been led, with his handsome person, to aspire to be the Consort of the Queen. Certain it is that, though, on the death of his wife, applica- tion was made, no inquiry into the case was ever entered into ; but ' among the reasons assigned to Elizabeth why she should not marry him, by Cecil — afterwards Lord Burleigh — was this, that he is infamed by the death of his wife.'* Little remains of the low quadrangular fourteenth- century edifice surrounding a small courtyard, but a portion of a wall and three arches adjoining the church- yard. Its painted windows arc now in the church at Witham, where also, in the churchyard, is a gateway from Cumnor, still bearing the motto, ' Janua vitae verbum Domini,^ and which once had, in addition, 'Antonius Forster, 1 57 1.' A statue of Elizabeth which stood at Cumnor was moved to Hinksey. Towers it had none to speak of, and its apartments were not spacious ; but Scott's story is none the less beautiful, and ' Full many a traveller had sigh'd. And pensive wept the Countess' fall, As wandering onwards they espied The haunted towers of Cumnor Hall.' Here, at any rate, Abbot Rowland finished his career ; while the Abbey he had ruled, and which had an income of ;^2,042 — a large sum in those days — passed to Sir Thomas Seymour, and then to Sir Thomas Wroth. There was another ' Rectorial House,' with painted windows and decorated tracery, at Sutton Courtenay, which belonged * Lodge ; quoted in Murray's ' Handbook.' 1 74 History of Berkshire. to the Abbot, and was built in the reign of Edward III., but of this nothing is recorded. The Abbot's pension was ;^223 ; that of the Prior, £22 ; and those of the twenty-three other monks^ for there were twelve monks and twelve lay-brethren, varied from ;^20 to £2 13s. 4d. The western Perpendicular gateway of the Abbey with its statue of the Virgin, and part of the Refectory with its open roof, Decorated window, and Henry III. fireplace, are all that is left of the fabric that Leiand describes as magnificent. Its eastern portions and cruciform church were of Norman work; and the latter is said to have been 560 feet long, and supported by twenty-four columns on each side. It was crenellated, that is, its walls were embattled by a license of Edward III. in 1380; and the west front was due to the energy of Abbots Ashecdune and Saute in the fifteenth century. It was the oldest of the Berkshire monasteries, though not the greatest. The Benedictine Priory of the Holy Trinity at WaUing- ford was the next in order of foundation, and owed its existence to the pious misgivings of Robert d'Oyley. In the Abbacy of Richard, during the reign of Henry I., the Priory became a cell of St. Albans, and so the Black Monks of Wallingford became subordinate to the greater monastery. It has been attributed to Geoffrey, the King's Chamberlain, but there is only evidence that he was at one time connected with lands which the Priory after- wards possessed.^ It was rich in lands in 1160, when Joceline, Bishop of Salisbury, confirmed to it the churches of St. John, St. Martin, and St. Mary in ' Wallingford,' the Church of Hendred, and tithes in Moulsford, Cherseville, Dunituna, Erleia, Morton, and Sotwell. Grants were continually made to it, and among its m.any possessions was the Manor of Eastbury, in the parish of Lamborne. St. Mary's Chapel at Lamborne, built by John of Eastbury * ' Hist, of Wallingford,' ii., p. 343. Its Monastic and Ecclesiastical Life. 175 in 1360, contains curious carvings of 'men blowing horns, and dogs chasing a hare, and also of fish, in contrast with caricatures of monks/ that may have been originally in the Priory of the Holy Trinity. Sir John died and was buried in the chapel with Agnes his wife, with the prayer, ' ]^-Iay God have mercy on their souls.' His descendant, also Sir John, added to it a ' Chapel of the Holy Trinity,' and was interred in it in 1485 under an altar tomb which bears his copper effigies. Legend has gathered round him. He is said to have ' been killed by a worm dropping into his mouth while he was asleep in an arbour,'* which his housekeeper tried to decoy away with a basin of milk ; but it stung his lip, and so he died. The Priory has little or no history, and in 1525 peacefully surrendered to the King, to be granted with all its possessions to Wolsey. On his attainder it reverted to the Crown. It stood apparently near the west gate of the town, near which foundations, tiles, and skeletons have been turned up ; but the walls themselves were finally pulled down in 1723. Its annual value in Henry VIII.'s reign was £i^7 8s., equivalent now to ^^2,848 os. lod. In magnificence and importance, the Abbey of Reading took first place. It owes its creation to Anselm, Arch- bishop of Canterbury, to whom is due also that greater action, the promotion of the union between the Saxon and Norman lines. For Edith, or Matilda, the daughter of Malcolm of Scotland and Margaret, the sister of Eadgar ^theling, had been brought up in the Hampshire Convent of Romsey, and had been forced to take the veil. She appeared before the King, her future husband, and com- plained with passionate pleading that her aunt the Abbess had forced her to the act. 'As often as I stood in her presence,' she said, ' I wore the veil, trembling, as I wore it, with indignation and grief. But as soon as I could get out of her sight, I used to snatch it from my head, fling it to - Trans. N. D. F. C, vol. i., p. 144- 1 76 History of Berkshire. the ground, and trample it underfoot. That was the way^ and none other, in which I was veiled.' * But Anselm absolved her, and she became Henry's wife. Thus he had great influence over the King. So ' Henry, by the grace of God, King of the English, and Duke of the Normans,' by the advice of his ' Bishops, Clergy, and other Lieges, for the salvation of my soul, and of King William my Father, and of King William my Brother, and of William my Son, and Queen Maud my Wife, and of all my ancestors and successors,' built ' a new Monastery at Reading in honour and to the name of the Mother of God, and ever Virgin, Mary, and of the blessed John the Evangelist.' He endowed it with Reading itself, Cholsey, and Lempster (Leominster), and with manors at East Hendred and else- where ; and gave its Abbots privileges such as none but independent Barons or the King himself possessed. ' The Monks of Reading,' the Charter states, ' their family (household) and effects shall be free from all gelt and toll and every other custom by land and water in passing over bridges and seaports throughout England.* And the Abbot and his Monks shall have all hundreds and places with soc and sac and tol and theam and infangenthef and utfangenthef and hamsoken, within borough in ways and paths, and in all places and all causes which are or may be, from their men and all their possessions, and from aliens forfeiting therein ; and the Abbot and Monks of Reading shall within all their possessions have the whole cognizance of assaults and thefts, murders, shedding of blood and breach of the peace as much as belongs to the Royal power, and of all forfeitures.' f * ' History of Reading Abbey.' t The terms herein used are thus explained in Mr. Albury's most able article on the Abbey, whence the information regarding it is chiefly drawn. Gelt, fine ; tol, of merchandise ; soc, authority or liberty to minister justice and to execute laws ; sac, a royalty or Its Monastic a7id Ecclesiasticat Life. lyj The Abbot was allowed a mint, being, therefore, 'a moneyer,' and was allowed the rare privilege of making knights. 'Abbots made two sorts of knights, the one superior, the other inferior. Those termed " Milites " could not be common soldiers, for they were made with many ceremonies, and the greater the ceremony the greater the honour. Thus Hereward, a nobleman, who long contended with William the Conqueror, was knighted by the Abbot of Peterborough ; and William Rufus by Lanfranc, Arch- bishop of Canterbury. Abbots could not make them "nisi in sacra veste," which was their cope, for the adding more to the reputation of the receiver.'* Relics accumulated as a matter of course. They added to the sanctity of the edifice, and increased the number of worshippers and therefore contributors to its coffers. The hand of St. James the Apostle enriched the Abbey reliquaries, and similar valuables followed. Thus by the Dissolution they were rich in them. There were, ' Imprimis, Twoo peces off the Holye Crosse ; Saynt James hande ; Saint Phelype scolle (skull) ; A bone off Marye Magdalene, with other more ; A piece off Saynt privilege which a lord of the manor claims to have in his court of holding plea in causes of debate arising among his tenants and vassals, and of imposing and levying lines touching the same ; tol, a liberty to buy and sell within anyone's own land ; thcam^ a royalty granted to the lord of a manor for the having, restraining, and judging bondmen, bondwomen, and villain?, with their children's goods and chattels in his court ; infangtheof, a privilege granted to the lord of a manor to judge any thief taken within his jurisdiction ; utfangtheof, a privilege as used in ancient common law, whereby a lord was enabled to call any man dwelling in his manor, and taken for felony in another place out of his fief, to judgment in his own court ; hamsoken, the privi- lege of freedom which every man has in his own house, and it also signifies the right wherewith the lord of the manor takes cognizance of the breach of that immunity.' * Hearne's 'Antiquarian Discourses.' 12 1 78 History of Berkshire. Pancrat's arme ; A bone off Saynt Quyntyn's arme ; A bone off Saynt Davyde's arme ; A bone off Marye Salome's arme ; A bone off Saynt Edward the Martyr's arme ; A bone off Saynt Hierome, with other more ; A bone off Saynt Stephen, with other more ; A bone off Saynt Blaze, with other more ; A bone of Saynt Osmonde, with other more ; A bone of Saynt Ursula scole ; A chawbone of Saynt Ethelwold ; Bones of Saynt Leodigarye and off Saynt Heremei ; Bones of Saynt IMargarett ; Bones of Saynt Arval ; A bone off Saynt Aias ; A bone off Saynt Andrewe, and two pieces off his crosse ; A bone off Saynt Fredyswyde ; A bone off Saynt Anne, with many other. There be a multitude of small bonys &c. which wolde occupie iiii schets of papyre to make particularly an inventorye of any part thereof. They be all at your Lordeschyp's commaundments.' The final sentence is instructive. The disbelief in relics must have been of no new origin, to the educated classes at least, when the monastery was destroyed. Its mitred Abbot had a seat in Parliament, and was the third in precedence in the kingdom, ranking after those of St. Albans and of Glastonbury, and he retained this privi- lege until the Dissolution. The monks had waxed fat and neglected their duties. Their number diminished ; they contracted debts ; the divine offices were insufficiently per- formed. So Edward I. stepped in and sequestrated their revenues charging the lay administrator, however, to provide the ecclesiastics with sufficient food and raiment. Abbot Nicholas de Ouappelode exerted himself to pay off its debts, and succeeded in remitting £1,22^ to the Caorsini money-lenders ; and also paid off ' one Alexander, a mer- chant and citizen of London, all the moneys due to him.' No monastic edifice shared so largely in the history of England. Here Henry I., its founder, in 1135 ; his wives, 'good Queen Molde' and Adeliza ; his natural son Regi- nald, Earl of Cornwall, 1175 ; his daughter Matilda; and Its Monastic and Ecclesiastical Life. 179 William, son of Henry II., 11 56, were buried. Here, too, were married John of Gaunt to Blanche, daughter of Henry Plantagenet, in 1359; and Lord Maltravers, son of the Earl of Arundel, to Margaret, sister to the Queen of Edward IV., in 1464. King Stephen was here in 1140; Henry II., in 1 163, and in 1164, when Archbishop Thomas a Beckett consecrated the Abbey Church, and again in the Easter of 1 177; Henry III., in the Christmas of 1227, and in 1259, at the pleadings of the Courts of Justice of Michaelmas term; Edward III., during the great 'justing' of 1346; Richard II., in 1389, to be reconciled to his nobles through the intervention of John of Gaunt ; Edward IV., when his private marriage with Elizabeth Woodville was made public in 1464; Henry VII., in i486; and Henry VIII. with Catherine his wife, made the Abbey their resting- place when they visited Reading.* Such royal progresses must have been heavy additions to the Abbey expenditure. Parliaments met here, such as those of Richard I., in 1191; of John, in 1213 ; of Henry VI., in 1439, 145 1, and 1452 ; and of Edward IV, in 1466 and 1467. Heraclius, patriarch of Jerusalem, here had audience of King Henry III. to solicit his aid against the Turks, presenting him with the keys of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Royal Banners of the city. Ecclesiastical councils, one under Legate John of Florence in 1206, and another under Archbishop Peckham in 1279, met to settle grave matters of the Church. In fact, the Abbey answered other purposes than that of a religious edifice. It was the place where travelling nobles and royal personages, besides mendicants and wayfarers, received relief and hospitality. It had to make some return for the privileges conferred on it, and these returns were costly. But if the guests fared well their hosts fared no worse, if Fuller's story be true. He says that 'As King Henry VIII. was hunting in Windsor Forest, he cither casually lost, or '• ' Proc. Berks. Archacol. Soc' j2 2 i8o History of Berkshire. more probably wilfully losing himself, struck down, about dinner-time, to the Abbey of Reading, where, disguising himself (much for delight, more for discovery unseen), he was invited to the Abbot's table, and passed for one of the King's guard — a place to which the proportion of his person might properly entitle him. A sirloin of beef was set before him (so knighted, saith tradition, by this Henry), on which the King laid on lustily, not disgracing one of that place for whom he was mistaken. " Well fare thy heart," quoth the Abbot ; " and here, in a cup of sack, I remember the health of his Grace your master. I would give an hundred pounds on the condition I could feed so lustily on beef as you do. Alas ! my weak and squeezie stomach will hardly digest the wing of a small rabbit or chicken." The King pleasantly pledged him, and heartily thanked him for his good cheer ; after which he departed as undiscovered as he came thither. Some weeks after the Abbot was sent for by a pursuivant, brought up to London, clapt in the tower, kept close prisoner, and fed, for a short time, with bread and water ; yet not so empty his body of food as his mind was filled with fears, creating many suspicions to himself, when and how he had incurred the King's displeasure. At last a sirloin of beef was set before him, on which the Abbot fed as the farmer of his grange, and verified the proverb that two hungry meals make the third a glutton. In springs King Henry, out of a private lobby, where he had placed himself, the invisible spectator of the Abbot's behaviour. " My Lord," quoth the King, " present deposit your hundred pounds in gold, or else no going hence all the dales of your life. I have been your physician to cure you of your squeezie stomach, and here, as I deserve, I demand my fee for the same." The Abbot down with his dust, and glad he had escaped so, returned to Reading, as somewhat lighter in purse, so much more merry in heart than when he came thence.'* * Fuller's ' Church History.' Its Monastic and Ecclesiastical Life. i8£ Still, the Abbacy was important ; and when John Glover, Prior of the cell of Leominster, and Hugh Cook of Faring- don, the last Abbot of Reading, were required to resign their offices, it is a matter of little wonder that they offered some resistance. Hugh Cook, especially, ' was a stubborn monk, absolutely without learning.' Dr. John Loudon, who seems to have been the last head of the college of St. Nicholas, at Wallingford, and who certainly assisted in the spoliation of the monasteries, was employed here. He wrote of Abbot Hugh to Lord Cromwell that ' He desyreth only yr favour and no other thing, and I know so much that my Lord shall find him as conformable a man as any in thys realme, as more at large I will shew you at the begynning of the term by the Grace of God.' The same visitor writes on another occasion : ' I have requyred of my Lord Abbot the relycks of thys house which he schawyed unto me wt gudd will. I have taken an inven- tory of them, and have lokkyed them upp, behynd the high altar, and have the key in my keeping, and they be always redy at your Lordeschip's commandment. They have a gudde lecture in scripture daily redde in their Chapiter House, both in Englisch and Laten, to the wiche is gudde resort, and the Abbot ys at yt hymself.' The Abbot was a stubborn monk, if ' illiterate,' and stood firm. So Hugh Faringdon or Cook, 'the last Abbot of Reading Abbey, refusing to deliver up his Abbey to the visitors, was attainted of high treason on some charge trumped up against him ; and in the month of November, 1539, with two of his monks, named Rugg and Onion, was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Reading. This happened on the same day on which the Abbot of Glastonbury suffered the like sentence for the similar provocation,' Then the building became a royal residence, frequently occupied by the Sovereigns, until the ' Great Rebellion ' came. If the grand old Abbey began with a great Church- man, firm to do his duty to his country, despite of Pope or 1 82 History of Berkshire. cruelly extorted monastic vows, it ended with a determined one, who, in his poor way, was unable to see that ' the King could do no wrong.' Hugh, the 'illiterate,' who died with what he called firmness, and the King obstinacy, had the courage of his convictions as much as Anselm, though the fates were against him. Few monastic edifices could have been richer in extent, in wealth, or in decoration than this mighty Abbey. At its Dissolution its revenues amounted to ^^"1,938 14s. 3d. Like Abingdon, its Abbots had a country residence ; theirs being at Abbot's Place, near Cholsey, which was given to Sir Francis Englefield in Mary's reign. Bere Court, near Pangbourne, had also been bestowed on them by the Bishop of Salisbury in 1230. Near Burghfield Hill House, also, are the foundations of a brick building, known as 'Abbot's House,' which was used for a similar purpose ; and the Tudor Mansion of Bucklebury has been built round an ancient country-house of the Abbots of Reading. But the monks, thoughtful for others, had set aside a house in Reading called St. John's House, or Hospital, for the destitute widows of persons in the town, who became nuns in this establishment. It was suppressed by Abbot Thorn in the reign of Henry VH., and with the Abbot's consent the building in 14S6 was made the Grammar School. It would be difficult to give a complete list of the possessions of the great Abbey ; but it had manors at Cholsey, Blewbury, Hendred, Burghelbury, Greenham, Midgham, Cookham, Calthorp, Pangbourne, Basyldon, Shyningfield, Sonning (Bulmershe), the rectories of War- grave, and Reading town and borough ; rent in sundry places ; farms at Windsor Underore, Whitley, and Caled Mill, and the fishery of the Kennet ; the Rectory of Ben- ham, Tilehurst, Thatcham, Colley, and Whitley ; besides land in other counties, and pensions from St. Mary's, St. Giles', Englefield, and other churches. Its buildings covered a large area of ground, and its land stretched Its Monastic and Ecclesiastical Life. 183 .> away as far as Sonning. The present ' Abbey Gateway ' stood on the south side, and opened into a wide enclosure, formed by a wall extending behind the churchyard of St. Lawrence on the west to the margin of the road running parallel to the railway on the north, where it still exists, overlooking the low ground through which ran the Flummery Ditch ; it then turned back towards the south by the side of the present gaol, forming the eastern wall, till it rested on the Holy Brook. From the east side of the present gateway, or near it, a wall seems to have run somewhat parallel to the eastern wall until it reached the Abbey mills upon the Holy Brook. There were also three other gates, one towards St. Lawrence Church. Within the south-eastern portion of this area the prin- cipal building stood, the great church occupying the level of the plateau. It was cruciform in shape. The north transept stood apparently about wher6 the Roman Catholic Church now stands ; the south transept, with a double apsidal end, is still apparent ; the Choir and Lady Chapel extended to the eastward between them, under the present gaol ; and the nave extended to the west towards the Abbey Gate, across the bridge and road which now leads to the Roman Catholic Church. South of the south transept are the ruins of the Chapter House ; and, between that and the Holy Brook, other buildings whose use is doubtful. But the south transept and Chapter House opened on the eastern side of the quadrangle which was surrounded by the Cloister, the side of which towards the Kennet was occupied by the refectory, and the western face towards the present gateway by the monks' dormitories. It remains a mere shell of its former glory. All the squared stone has been removed, exposing the inner flint rubble, which still retains its massive character. The bases of the pillars of the church, the restored south gateway, the almost shape- less ruins of the Chapel of St. Thomas of Canterbury behind the present Roman Catholic priest's house, the ruins 184 History of Berkshire. of the south transept, and the Chapter House, are alone distinguishable. Fragments of enriched Norman work are built into the bridge leading to the Roman Catholic Church, and one more perfect than the rest has been utilized to form its font. Its stones have travelled far. Many are said to have originally been brought from Romano-British Silchester, and many have been removed from Reading to build the Hospital of the Poor Knights at Windsor, whither they were taken by water-carriage. There are entries in the records of its gradual destruction. ' Carpenters for viewing the roofes at Reading and Wallingford ' received I2d. a day, as did masons for ' taking down the great stones of the dores and windowes of the Chappell of our Lady' there ; but labourers for ' digging of Caen stone out of the windowes for the battlements in the new buildings' (at Windsor) received but /d. per diem. Queen Elizabeth's charter to the Corporation of Reading grants them two hundred loads of 'fine stone from the Abbey;' and large quantities were removed by General Conway to build the bridge at Park Place, across the Henley- Wargrave road. On the site of the ancient Hermitage of Clenfordemere, or Ellenfordesmere, in the parish of Chaddleworth, was erected in 1 160, by Ralph de Chaddleworth, the Monastery of Poghley, or Poughley,* for Canons Regular of the Order of St. Augustine. It was dedicated to St. Margaret.f and between the priorhood of Robert in 1182, to the period of its dissolution in 1524, when John Somer * Spelt also Pochele, Pohhel, Pouhhthele, Poughthele, Pothele, Pocholhoe, Porchekela, Pogkill, Powshley, Poghele, Poghle, Poghly, Poghley, Poughly, and Poughley. — Trans. N. D. F. C, vol. ii. J St. Margaret of England, who lived temp. Henry II., was a pilgrim to Jerusalem and Bethlehem, thence to Montserrat in Spain, and to the Shrine of Our Lady at Puy, in Velay. She died at the Cistercian Nunnery of Seauve Benoite, where 'her body is preserved entire.' — Ibid., p. 56. Its Monastic and Ecclesiastical Life. 185 surrendered the house to the King, there were twenty Priors, none of whom seem to have 'oeen of great note. In the time of Thomas Sutton, who lived in 1469, the revenues amounted to ;!^50 per annum, and these had reached the sum of about ^71 los. when the place was suppressed. Among other lands, it had received the Manor of Bagnor in Thatcham Hundred.* The usual privileges were granted it. It was exempt from tithes ; it, like Reading, was empowered * to perform the Divine office in their church, with closed doors, when the land was under an interdict.'-f- It was well supplied in the time of 'John atte Hyde, Seneschal of the Priory of Poghle (Pougthele). In the larder were : ' liiii sides of bacon, xiiii quarters of beef, v bushels of salt, vii bushels of oat- fiour, with iiii vessels for holding salt and flour, ii butcher's vessels for salting meat, and " trushing " pans. In the kitchen, besides a variety of utensils, there were chafing- dishes, brass plates (bound with iron), mortars, ladles, and three meat knives, of which one was old and weak {yetus et debilis). In the dairy there were viii cheeses, etc. In the barns there was an abundance of corn of different kinds ; and in the stables vi riding horses, vi farm ditto, xii oxen for draught, xii for the farm, also i bull, x cows and year- lings iv, 3 male and i female ; besides these there were 120 sheep, fowls, geese, hogs, etc' A curious instance of the absolute resignation, during the lives of the contracting parties, of their entire property occurs in connection with this monastery ; when Lambert of Farringdon and Matilda his wife, ' moved by the Divine Spirit,' renounced ' the world and worldly things,' and were supported by the Prior, while their son, William, became a monk of ' Pochele.' The indenture, made on the Festival of St. Peter's Chains in 1242, states that Lambert, son of Bernard, and Matilda, gave and insured to the Prior and convent, and to their church at Pohhel, ' all that ^ ' History of Newbury.' t Trans. N. D. Y. C, vol. ii., p. 52. 1 86 History of Berkshire. tenement which he has held in Faringdon with its appurten- ances, and with all his chattels found in the said tenement for a perpetual alms, saving the service of the feudal lords.' For this they were to receive from the buttery, ' i6 loaves of wheaten bread, which loaves they call iniches, of due weight according to the said house, and 8 loaves which they call biss, likewise of just weight, and as many gallons of beer, viz., 1 6 of the first and 8 of the second/ They were to have their commons out of the kitchen, or two platters of porridge of potherbs or pulse daily, or in default thirty shillings per year; and they were allowed to have meat cooked by the Priory cook. Twenty shillings a year was given them for clothing, and two cows from the conventual herd, and houses and 'coals' were furnished to them. In fact, they used Poghley as a species of workhouse, and both saved themselves trouble and saved their souls by this gift of all they had to the Church. William seems to have been either too young or too apathetic to have objected to the paternal alienation of his patrimony. He became a monk; that is enough. Little remains of its buildings. There are some ruins of the kitchen, some dormitories over it with lancet windows, and the walls are about 3 feet thick. Human remains, fragments of encaustic tiles with ' iMagdalene ' on them, carved stone and oak, and coins of Roman and of mediaeval days, have been from time to time turned up. Some of its stained glass now decorates the entrance porch at Prior's Court.* It represents ' a number of monkeys playing on musical instruments ; one riding a hobby-horse, and others not quite so decent. There is also one with two figures, a man and woman in the dress of the fourteenth century. The male figure is seated near a table, smoking ; the tapster's wife is pointing to the chalked score, and at the feet of the table there is an empty jug and dice scattered on the floor. There is also a single figure on * Trans. N. D. F. C, vol. ii., p. 59. Its Monastic and Ecclesiastical Life. 187 another " quarry," in the dress of the same period.' Such decoration seems odd in a religious building ; but, as appears at Lamborne Church, it was not rare. St. Bernar- dine, denouncing the architectural fancies of the Cluniac monks, asks : ' What is the meaning of those ridiculous monsters in the cloisters, and of that deformed beauty, before the very eyes of the brethren when reading ? Why are disgusting monkeys there, or ferocious lions, or horrible centaurs, or spotted tigers, or fighting soldiers, or huntsmen sounding the bugle .-" Stone coffin lids have been found, one of which to ' Hieronimus Robertus, Prior primus,' and having a cross carved on it, is now preserved at East Hendred ; and another of Caen stone, having on it a figure of a priest under a fioreated canopy, all of which had once been coloured, was exhumed in moving the foundation of the chapel. Poughley was dissolved by Wolsey, and was 'given to the Abbot and Convent of Westminster in exchange for 100 acres of land (a part of which was made into St. James's Park) conveyed by the Abbot to the King.' Some of its stones went to build the spire of Farn- borough Church. Sandleford Priory was established by Geoffrey, Earl of Perche, and Maude his wife, about the year 1200, under the rules of St. Austin's Canons. Little is at present known of its history ; but at one time it seems to have paid tithes to the Church of Newbury.* Ashmole refers to the church as containing, near the high-altar steps, a free- stone tomb of a mailed knight, cross-legged, with a deep shield on his left arm, and seeming to draw his sword. His feet rested on a dragon ; and it is possible that this was the effigy of the Earl of Perche, the founder of the Priory. In the time of Edward IV. it was given to the Dean and Chapter of Windsor ; and during the reign of James I. it was made a separate parish, its owner having to pay to the * 'Hist, of Newbury.' 1 88 History of Berkshire. Rector of Newbury Church an annual sum of £%\, for which he had a pew there.* It was converted into a dwelling-house, also called ' Sandleford Priory,' and the ancient chapel forms the modern dining-room. Here once lived charming Mary Montagu, the centre of that literary coterie of which Johnson, Goldsmith, Burke, Reynolds, Beattie, and Mrs. Carter, were the brilliant lights ; and here originated the term ' blue-stocking ' for women of such tastes. For ' Dr. Stillingflcet was in the habit of attending her literary parties in a full suit of cloth, with blue worsted stockings, and rendered himself so entertaining that the ladies used to delay their discussions until his arrival, declaring, " We can do nothing without our blue-stockings" — whence the bus bleu f There were many other minor religious establishments, which are referred to at different times, though none were of any real importance. Thus it is said that King John, in 1203, bestowed the site of the late Castle of Farringdon, at Great Coxwell, on the Cistercian Monks for an alien abbey, which was an offshoot of Beaulieu. Leland, again, notes a Priory of Black Nuns, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen at Hamme, near Wantage; but of none of these are there any remains. At Shottesbrooke also, near Maidenhead, was an obscure college or chantry for one warden, and at most ten priests, founded by Sir William Trussell, of Cublesdon in Staffordshire, in 1387. It was dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and Edward III. enriched it with the Church of Battlesden (Basilden), It was worth at the Dissolution, in annual value, £y^ i8s. 8d. ; but it made no mark in the ecclesiasticism of the county. Similarly,there are the remains of a small chantry or monastery, called the 'Jesus of Bethlehem,' which was an offshoot of that at Sheen, near Richmond. But these disappeared probably when the ' alien ' priories were abolished. Donnington possessed a religious house of Maturins, or * Lysons. Its Monastic a7id Ecclesiastical Life. 189 Friars of the Holy Trinity for the Redemption of Captives. The society, instituted in 1200 by St. John de Mattia, and St. Felix de Valois, wore white robes with a red and blue cross on their breasts, and took their names from having their first house in Paris, near St. Mathurine's Chapel. Their rule does not appear to have been so harsh as that of other societies. Their property was divided into three parts : one for the entertainment of religious persons, another to relieve the poor, and a third to redeem Chris- tians captured by the infidels ; but though they were not allowed feather-beds unless sick, they were permitted to lie on wool and have a pillow ! They might ride, though not on horses, and might drink wine ' so tempered with water that it may be to sobriety.' They were compelled to work ; for if ' he can and will not work, let him be obliged to quit the place, since the Apostle says, " He that does not work, let him not eat." ' The house at Donnington was founded in 1392,* and in the following year Sir Richard de Abberbury, who is con- sidered by some to have been its founder, refers to it in a deed relating to a Hospital for the Poor, which he had also built there. By another document, dated 1500, Robert Haire, minister of the Almshouse in Donnington, directed his body to be ' buried in the new Chapel of Jesus, on the south side of the Church of the Friars of the Holy Cross, in Donnington ;' but no trace thereof at present exists. It paid tithes to the Priory of the Holy Trinity of Wallingford, until it was dissolved by a Bull of Pope Clement VH. It was a peaceful retreat of quiet monks, who, like others of more eventful or dissolute lives, were swept away in 1538. Dr. John Loudon, of Wallingford, was the energetic Commissioner of this district, and did not think much of the little Priory. 'At the Crowche Fryers besyd Newbery,' he says, in a letter to Sir Richard Rich, ' was no more butt a power (poor) Chaly.s. The * W. Money, F.S.A., ' Hist. Donnington Priory.' IQO History of Berkshire. londes be gudde xxij" by yere, butt the guddes all were not worthe the mynistre rewardyd vj''.' So the common seal was broken, the church and house defaced ; the minister received his £6, and he and his brethren went forth into the world. The lands were sold to Edward Fettyplace for about i^395 ; and other properties in Northbrook Street, Newbury, East Hendred, and elsewhere, were gradually disposed of; but the Priory buildings were kept distinct, and passed through the hands of the Grevills and the Ire- mongers, to whom it belonged when, with the other build- ings of the village, it was burnt by Sir John Boys in 1644. The present ' Donnington Priory' was built, long after the destruction of the ancient building, by Mr. Cowslade ; but it seems possible that some of its fragments were incorporated in the new house ; and this eventually became the property of the son of Dr. Hughes, Canon of St. Paul's, whose grandson was the author of ' Tom Brown's School- days.' Finally it was purchased by Mr. Fellowes.* It had remained in the Cowslade family until 18 14, one of whom at least had opinions of his own. He was Gentleman-Usher of the Privy Chamber to Queen Charlotte, and was buried at Shaw in 1795; and it is stated on his tombstone that ' He divided his fortune chiefly amongst his kindred, esteem- ing it a Piece of Vanity to aim at perpetuating a Family by Adoption, which by the Will of Providence is on the verge of being extinct, and which sooner or later is to be the common Lot of all Mankind.' The monastery of the Mendicant Order of the Franciscan, or Grey, Friars, at Reading, was erected in 1306, when Edward I. granted them fifty-six oaks from the Royal Forest of Windsor. They were instituted by St. Francis of Assisi in Italy, in 1209 ; and, establishing themselves at Canterbury in 1224, appeared in Berkshire about 1233. They were zealous preachers, and their church was, unlike other monasteries, the only important building in its precincts. '■ W. Money, F.S.A., ' Hist. Donnington Priory.' lis IMonastic and Ecclesiastical Life. 191 The first site, in the Cavesham Road, was granted by- Adam de Lothbury, at that time Abbot of the neighbour- ing Benedictine monastery ; but, being found damp, a fresh piece of ground was given them in 1285, on which the church now stands. In each case it was subject to the condition that they were not to ask alms, acquire property, nor soh'cit donations ; nor were they to seek to extend their buildings beyond those originally constructed. The church, dedicated to St. James and completed in 131 1, consisted of a nave, with side aisles, transepts, and a chancel ; the latter being separated from the church by a screen. The conventual buildinc^s were on the north side, and were probably small.* They were swept away, like the rest of Berkshire monasteries ; and Dr. Loudon ' inwardly defaced the Churche.' Some of the aged brethren appealed to be allowed to finish their days in the cells and orchard where their lives had been passed ; but their appeal met with no response, and in secular garments they were turned away. It must have been a cruel irony to them to sign the act of surrender. In it they were made to say that ' the very true way to perfection, and to please God,' does not consist ' in the traditions and inventions of man's wit, in wearing of a grey, black, white, or any other coloured garment, cloak, frock, or coat, in girding ourselves upon our outward garments with girdles full of knots ;' and that ' we therefore, the guardian and convent of the house, called commonly Greyfriars of Radynge, considering that we may be the true servants of God as well in a secular habit as in a friar^s coat,^ do submit ourselves to the King. The Friary became converted to secular uses very soon. Granted by the Crown to the Corporation, it was used as a guildhall, a hospital, a workhouse for children and aged persons ; and lastly a 'bridewell,^ by bricking up the spaces between the arches to form cells, and removing the roof - Trans. N. D. F. C, vol. ii. 192 History of Berkshire. of the nave. A field behind it, surrounded by a branch of the ' Flummery Ditch/ bore the name of the Friary Mead as late as 1802. It continued in this state until i860, when the Venerable Archdeacon Phelps obtained the build- ing from the Corporation, and in 1863 the restored building was re-opened as a church. Hurley Priory, a cell of the great Abbey of Westminster under the Benedictine rule, was endowed by Geoffrey de Mandeville, the ancestor of the Earl of Essex, in 1087. It was dedicated to St. Mary, whence its name of ' Lady Place.' The chapel, now the parish church, was conse- crated by St. Ormund, Bishop of Salisbury, and became the burial-place of Edith, sister of Edward the Confessor, and of John d'Oyley, in 1492. Suppressed in 1535, when its revenues amounted to £\2i 8s. 5d., the Priory passed in 1545 to Leonard Chamberlayne, and in 1558 to the family of the Lovelaces. There they settled. The mansion, built by one of them ' out of the spoils of Spanish galleons from the Indies, rose on the ruins of a house of Our Lady in that beautiful valley through which the Thames, not yet defiled by the precincts of a great capital, nor rising and falling with the flow and ebb of the sea, rolls under woods of beech round the gentle hills of Berkshire. Beneath the stately saloon, adorned by Italian pencils, was a subterraneous vault, in which the bones of ancient monks had sometimes been found. In this dark chamber some zealous and daring opponents of the Government had held many midnight conferences during that anxious time when England was impatiently expecting the Protestant wind.' * Not that the house actually occupied the whole of the conventual buildings. It was constructed, probably on ancient foundations, some short distance from the quadrangle, one side of which is still the church, and * Macaulay, vol. ii., p. 3S0. Its Monastic aiid Ecclesiastical Life. 193 the others contain outhouses and stables, made out of the old refectory. The house of the Lovelaces stood in the open field to the east. It was pulled down in 1S37, and only the vaults in which the Orange conspirators met, and which William III. afterwards visited with sympathetic interest, are left to show its site. Its inlaid staircase now adorns a house in the north of England,* and its painted panels have been disposed of. ' The last inhabitant of old Lady Place was the brother of Admiral Kempenfelt ; and here he and the Admiral planted two thorn-trees, which he took a great pride in. One day, on coming home, he found that the tree planted by the Admiral had withered away, and said : " I feel sure that this is an omen that my brother is dead."i- That evening came the news of the loss of the Royal George! The only description of what the old house was is to be found in the Gentleman's Magazine of 1831, which also gives a view of the building as it then appeared. In 1338, William de Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, erected, on an old foundation of the Knights Templar^ the Priory of Bisham, or Bustleham, which was held by St. Austin's Canons. In the reign of Stephen the old Precep- tory had received the Manor of Bisham, as well as land in Bray, in 1272, from Robert de Ferrariers, whose grandfather had obtained it from William the Conqueror ; and after the disappearance of the Templars in 13 12, the Preceptory was held by the Knights Hospitaller of St. John of Jerusalem, until 1335. In that year it, as well as the Manor of Crook- ham, was granted by Edward III. to De Montacute, who then built the monastery, and endowed it with £'285 is. per annum. J Its last Prior, Barlow, became Bishop of St. David's, each of whose five daughters — for he married as soon as he was free — also became the wife of a bishop. ^' See Gentleman's iMngazine, 1831. t Murray's 'Handbook.' 13 X Dugdale. 194 History of Berkshire. In 1520 John Grove held a farm of the Prior and Convent of Bustleham, in the parish of Maydenhythe, and this may have been the land held by the Templars, and transferred to the new foundation. The Priory was first dedicated to our Lord and His mother, the blessed Virgin, then to 'the blessed Virgin Mary ;' but it was finally styled ' the Conventual Church of the Holy Trinity.' Of the earlier buildings little now remains unchanged. The octagonal tower, the pointed doorway, and the hall, are of Stephen's time ; but all the rest is of the Tudor period, and was built by Sir Philip Hoby. The hall itself has a finely timbered roof; but many of the old windows and panes are now filled in. At one end was a fine lancet window of three lights, and at the other is an open gallery, all carefully ' restored ' in 1859. Of the Conventual Church, unless the hall be it, there is no trace. The Rev. T. E. Powell has remarked that there were traces of an apsidal structure to be seen in the meadow on the east side of the house, but it did not lie east and west. Portions of large columns suitable to such an edifice are found in farm buildings near. In the grounds, also, the moat round the gardens still remains, but the bath, once used by Queen Elizabeth, has been filled in. The Tudor building has apparently encased the prin- cipal ruins of the ancient Abbey. The conventual barn built of Spanish chestnut still exists separate and entire. That the hall was used as a burial-place is evident from the fact that monuments to many of the illustrious dead were standing there in the last century. On the south side of the house is the long apartment which, though now forming two rooms (the ' Council Chamber ' and a bed- room), was in its former state used by Princess Elizabeth during her enforced retirement here. The bow window and a dais 16 inches above the floor were made at this time for her convenience. Here she spent three years under the surveillance of Sir Thomas Hoby, who was after- Its Monastic and Ecclesiastical Life. 195 wards Ambassador in France, where he died in 1566. But the time in so lonely a spot does not seem to have passed unpleasantly. When Sir Thomas attended the Court of the Queen, she said : ' If I had a prisoner whom I wanted to be most carefully watched, I should entrust him to your charge; if I had a prisoner I wished to be most tenderly treated, I should entrust him to your care^ In the walls of the mansion is a relic of the old dangerous days, namely, a secret room, the entrance being carefully concealed behind the tapestry, and its chimney communi- cating with that of the great hall. It is significant of the necessity for concealment that may at any time have arisen even in the noblest houses in the land. The Priory was a favourite burial-place of the De Monta- cutes, and the body of the Earl of Salisbury, its founder, v/as interred in the chapel. There were also monuments, accord- ing to Ashmole, to William his son, who fought at Poictiers ; to his son John, who was attainted and beheaded in 1400, his body having been brought from Cirencester ;* to his son Thomas, who died at the siege of Orleans in 1428, and who, like those before mentioned, was also Earl of Salisbury; to his son-in-law Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, beheaded at York in 1460 for espousing the Lancastrian cause ;-f- to his two sons Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, the ' King- maker,' and John Neville, Marquis of Montague, who both fell at Barnet in 147 1 ; to his grandson Edward Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick (son of George, Duke of Clarence, by Richard Neville's daughter Isabel), who was beheaded in 1499 for attempting to escape from the Tower of London ;{ and to many others whose names even are forgotten. In 1536 the Priory was surrendered to Henry VIII., who refounded it in the following year, ' endowing the new establishment with the lands of Chertsey, Ankerwyke, Little '^ Dugdale. f Trans. N. D. F. C. Excursion to Bisham. I Murray. 13—2 196 History of Berkshire. Marlow, and Medmenham, to the amount of £661 14s. Qd. a year, for the maintenance of an abbot and thirteen Bene- dictine monks ; but in three years it was finally suppressed. It was granted by the King to his repudiated wife Anne of Cleves, whose property it did not, however, become until the reign of Mary, to whom she applied for permission, ' for the sake of their dear father and brother,' to exchange it with Sir Philip Hoby, the last English papal legate at Rome, for his house in Kent. Thus it came into the hands of the Hoby family, who built the present mansion. Naturally it is full of legends. ' Tradition tells that when Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, was going to the Crusades, he came with all his train for last prayers at the Abbey he had founded ; and his daughter, then at the convent at Marlow, came hither with all her nuns to meet iu\m. A squire, who had been in love with her before, seized the opportunity for elopement, and they escaped in a boat, but were taken at Marlow. She was sent back to her convent, and he was shut up in the tower, whence he tried to escape by means of a rope, which he made from his clothes torn into shreds ; the rope broke, and he was dread- fully injured, and was taken into the x^bbey, where he afterwards became a monk.'* The Hobys, too, have left a legendary ghost. In the dining-room is the portrait said to be that of Lady Hoby, the widow of the Sir Thomas who was Ambassador to France. She is represented with a ' very white face and hands, and attired in the dress of a widow lady of her rank at that period — coif, weeds, and wimple.' ' In this dress she is still supposed to haunt a bedroom, where she appears with a self-supported basin moving before her, in which she is perpetually trying to wash her hands ; but it is remark- able that the apparition is always in the negative, the black part white, the white black. The legend is, that because her child William Hoby could not write without making •■■■ Murray's 'Handbook,' p. 81. Its Monastic and Ecclesiastical Life. 197 blots, she beat him to death. It is remarkable that twenty years ago, in altering the window-shutter, a quantity of children's copy-books of the time of Elizabeth were dis- covered pushed into the rubble between the joists of the floor ; and that one of these was a copy-book which answered exactly to the story, as if the child could not write a single line without a blot.' Bisham remained in the Hoby family until 1768, when it passed into the hands of the Millses of Hampshire, who took the name of Hoby; and it was finally sold in 1780 to the ancestor of the present owner, Mr. Vansittart. Bisham Church, which is situated but a short way from the ancient Priory, shows somf traces of Norman work, and many monuments to the Hobys. One ox thesv., erected over the bodies of Sir Philip and Sir Thomas by the widow of the latter, who caused the bodies to be brought over from the Continent, contains an epitaph, written by this learned lady in Greek, Latin, and English, one of them terminating with : ' Give me, O God ! a husband like unto Thomas, Or else restore me to my husband Thomas,' Her prayer was answered. Within a year Sir Thomas Russell had proposed to her, and she accepted him. Whether the unhappy inky-fingered child she is said to have so brutally used was the issue of the marriage, is not stated. But this learned mother may, like others, have had a stupid son, and did not spare the rod, though she spoilt the child. Full of English history as Bisham is, it owes its origin to the monasticism of mediaeval Berkshire. Probably the least of the smaller religious foundations was that at Childrey, where, in 1526, Fetyplace founded a 'perpetual' chantry of one priest, by the name of the 'Chantry of the Holy and Undivided Trinity and the glorious Virgin St. " Kateryn,'" and ordained Sir William Rudde as the first cantarist or chaplain thereof. Prayers igS History of Berkshire. were therein rendered for the repose of the souls of the family of the pious founder, and detailed instructions were issued that these appeals should be made after the mass, or before the following commemorations. On Sunday, that de Sea Trinitate ; Monday, i/^ Spiritu ; Tuesdsiy, d^ A ng-e/ts ; Wednesday, de Cruce ; Thursday, de Corpore Christi ; Friday, de homine fesu ; Saturday, de annunciatione beatificce Maries Virginis. There was also to be ' a Mass of Requiem, with placebo and dirige, and commendaciam on each anni- versary of the death ' of each of those prayed for. But it didn't last long. Far from being 'perpetual,' Henry VIII. made it very temporary. But monasticism, which had done good work in its day, was dying a natural death. It had not kept pace with the times, nor had it, in its old age, preserved its original purity and strength. It had become to some extent a vehicle for the pauperization of the idle and indolent. Its priests, in many cases, were worse than worthless. ' They took secular employment, and left their flocks without due care ;' they * were both ignorant and scandalous for their ill lives, and many of them so intolerably bad, lazy, and wicked, that the parishioners oftentimes brought informations against them to the Bishops of the Dioceses, and also to the Council.' Small wonder then that the first efforts of the Reformation in sweeping away these religious foundations, even though it was so ruthlessly done as to condemn both good and bad to the same fate, met with little objection from the people at large. Doubtless the immediate effects were the spoliation of the property of the Church, the throwing upon the ranks of the population thousands of priests and nuns, good, bad, and indifferent, and the staying that eleemosynary system by which alms and goods had been dispensed with lavish hand. Some 10,000 recluses of both sexes, very few pensioned, were thus turned adrift to work or die. One of the two o ' Hist, of Wallingford.' Its Monastic and Ecclesiastical Life. 199 they must have done, for the laws against ' rufflers, sturdy vagabonds, and vahant beggars' were severe to cruelty. All that can be hoped is that the best of them found wilh'ng hands to aid them, in thankfulness for past help and assistance, and that the ' sturdy ones ' learnt to earn their daily bread. To the poor it was at first a cruel blow, as with the suppression of the monasteries the daily dole from their gates ceased. The monks had represented the arts of peace, and their very lives in these country districts had encour- aged them to pursue agriculture. Wheat, therefore, rose considerably in price after the Dissolution, whereas before it had varied little. A song of the days says : ' I'll tell thee what, good vellowe, Before the vriars went hence, A Bushel of the best wheate Was zold for vourteen pence ; And vorty eggs a penny, That were both good and newe ; And this, I say, myself have seen, And yet I am no Jewe.' Of course it was not merely the loss of these centres of peaceful labour that so affected the price of the great staple. There must have been a check in the order of agricultural labour when the monks ceased to govern and supervise. No great radical change, such as this, can be effected without bringing some evil with it, though that evil may often be outweighed by the good. Rightly or wrongly the thing was done, and it was well on the whole for England that when Mary had assumed the sceptre, and proposed to pass an Act of Parliament, restoring to the Church its plundered property, the Lords ' clapped their hands upon their swords, declaring that so long as they were able to wear a weapon by their side, with their Abbey lands they would never 20O History of Berkshire. part.' And so monasteries and priories and such religious foundations passed away, and in their place grew up,- under the purer light of the reformed faith, freer institu- tions, self-dependence and self-help, such as the land had never seen before. The mediaeval labour of the country had enriched it with many ecclesiastical edifices besides these monastic foundations. The period of Norman architecture had terminated with its Transitional stage. About 1189, or with the reign of Henry II., the ' Early-English ' style, with its long pointed lancet windows, followed, lasting until about 1306, or to the end of the reign of Edward I. It replaced and modified in many cases the previous Norman work, and to its period belong the curious octagonal apse of Tidmarsh, and the round towers of Welford and Great Shefford, which date from Henry III.'s reign. To this same architectural period may be attributed much of the work in the churches of Aldworth (containing monuments of the Beches), Bray (that of Simon Alleyn, its vicar), Bradfield, Compton, Englefield (the tomb of the Marquis of Winchester, who defended Basing House), East Ilsley (those of the Hildesleys), Farringdon (monuments of the Unton family). Long Wittenham, St. Lawrence, Reading (where Blagrave is buried), St. Nicholas Abingdon, Ufifing- ton, Wantage (monuments of the Fitzvvarines), and Welford. The Decorated style, from 1307 to 1377, or to the reign of Edward III., with its traceried windows and more orna- mented mouldings, canopies, and niches, is shown in the churches of Ashbury, Bray, Didcot, Farringdon, Harwell, Long Wittenham. Shottesbroke (with the tomb of Sir William Tressell, 1337), St. Andrews, Sonning (where Lord Stowejl is buried), Sparsholt (the tombs of the Achards, in the fourteenth century). Wantage and Welford. Finally the Perpendicular style, which was the last distinct architectural system, and which is characterized by the squareness of door-headings and squarely panelled windows. Its Motiastic and Ecclesiastical Life. 201 hai left its trace in the churciies of Didcot, Lamborne (with the tombs of the Isburys), Letcombe Regis, Newbury, St. Lawrence and St. Mary's, Reading ; St. Mary's, Walling- ford ; Stanford, Wantage and Welford. Those of East- hampstead, Wokingham (with the tomb of Bishop Godwin 1590), Clewer (that of Martyn Expence), Winkfield, Bin- field (Admiral Vernon, 1794), White Waltham, St. Peter's Wallingford (Sir W. Blackstone), Blewbury, East Ilsley, Harwell, Hagbourne, Little Wittenham (the Dunches), Yattenden (Sir. T. Norreys), Sutton Courtenay, Drayton, St. Helen's, Abingdon (the Goulds), Radley, Wytham (the Wightams), Cumnor (Sir Anthony Forster), Appleton (Sir L Fettyplace, 1593), Fyfield (Sir John Golafre), Stanford, Coleshill, Pangbourne, Wargrave (Mr. Day, author of • Sandford and Merton'), Rotherfield Greys (Lord Knollys) Tilehurst (Sir Peter Vanlore), Burghfield, Beenham (Vicar Stackhouse), Speen (Sir John Baptist de Castillon, 1594, and those of the Margrave and Alargravine of Anspach), Kintbury (the Darells), Inkpen, Peasemore, and Wasing, have nothing especially noteworthy, except the monuments named. The churches of Bracknell, Bearwood, Boyne Hill, and Theale, are all more or less modern. The ecclesiastical history of Berkshire is somewhat varied. Vv'hen Birinus, the apostle to the Saxons, in 634, ' To turne King of Wessex, Kynegils, to Christendom, And that land of Wesse.x, unto this land he com ' his See of Dorchester governed so large a proportion of the Southern and Midland counties, that in 705 it was split up, and eventually, as time went on, formed part of the Bishoprics of Winchester, Salisbury, Bath and Wells, Lichfield, Worcester, and Hereford. Meanwhile the ' Archdeaconry ' of Berks was assigned to the Diocese of Sherborne, and in 909 was taken thence to form the new See of Ramsbury, the episcopal palace of which appears to have been at Sonning. This, about A.D. 1059, was re- 202 History of Be^^kshire. united with Sherborne by Bishop Herman, who made Sonning his principal residence, until in the reign of Edward he transferred his See thence to Sherborne by 'synodal authority and the King's munificence.' It was again transferred to Old Sarum, and finally to Salisbury in 1217 ; and in the reign of Richard 11. the Bishop resided at Sonning Palace, where Isabella of Valois, the young wife of the King, fled for protection. With the Bishop of Sarum the palace remained until the reign of Elizabeth. An old ash-tree now alone marks the spot. So the 'Archdeaconry' of Berks remained until 1836, when it was transferred to Oxford. It has now nine rural deaneries, and numbers 148 parishes, as compared with the 140 that existed in the reign of Henry VIII., and 193 churches. CHAPTER VIII. CIVIL LIFE. — ITS TOWNS AND VILLAGES, AND THEIR UTGROWTH. With the Norman Conquest, or rather with the more peaceful times that followed after the amalgamation of the Saxon and Norman, the steady progressive increase in the national prosperity took its rise. By the reign of Henry II. the distinction between the races had almost been obliterated ; and when Edward I. came to the throne, even the peculiar differences between the Norman and Saxon attire had disappeared. The older towns lived and grew; new ones sprung up; roads multiplied. The civil history of a county is the science of its roads. First, the hunting nomads follow river-lines for water. Then, when able to carry water, and better armed against the savage animals of the forests, they traced pathways across the open hills. Then tiny hamlets grouped themselves where these tracks met, as the inhabitants more and more ceased to follow a nomad life, until, with an agricultural people, came a clearance of woodland, less rainfall, and better drainage of valleys. Cultivation extended, and hence scattered homesteads gathered others unto them, and fresh villages were formed. Every such creation induced further roads, until, as the county settled more firmly and continuously into peace, they by degrees assumed their present form and direction. Main roads at 204 History of Berkshire. first ran on high and dry land ; next they united the most frequented fordways ; and finally, they connected those towns which, from political or commercial motives, suc- cessively came into prominence. War, with its castle- centres of active life, first made these towns ; then, or often coeval with them, the great monastic institutions exercised the same attractive power ; and lastly, commerce, based on wider human interests than either, asserted its centralizing influence. Nothing is more interesting in the history of the county, therefore, than to watch the gradual upgrowth of its towns to power, and to trace them thence, sometimes, through their comparative decadence. Thus in Saxon times, Wantage and W^allingford have each in their turn been of importance. Under Norman and medieval kings, Wallingford, Abing- don, and Newbury rose into notice, and Wantage fell. The great market held at Ilsley ceased to be of importance when the Kennet navigation was opened in 1716, by diverting the direction of improved facilities of internal traffic, and its decay was completed when the turnpike road from Oxford to Newbury was opened in 1776. In modern times all these have dropped into second-place, and Reading has outstripped them in population and in wealth, and has continued to increase in material pros- perity. As it was one of the first occupation sites of PaljEolithic man, so, for reasons similar to those which made Celt and Roman and Saxon necessarily hold it, it has continued to grow. Towns rose and fell from political or ecclesiastical causes in early days ; and so would have Reading, had its only raison d'etre been that of an appanage to the great Abbey of King Henry. But as it was strategi- cally valuable in the days of feudalism, so, as commerce usurped the dominion of the sword, it has not retrograded, but as the junction of many roadways has risen, and will continue to rise, while trade makes it its seat. Windsor has remained just where it was, sharing in the general Its Tozuns and Villages. 205 national prosperity, but owing its existence to tiie fortress, under which it grew and was protected. Wantage, as the residence of Saxon Alfred, was note- worthy in his time. Ethelwulf was Eaolderman of Berk- shire then, and must often have visited the capital town of 'Wanting.'* It was situated on the lower and newest branch of the ' Ickleton ' Street, and through it also pro- bably ran a winding trackway, running north and south, as the lowlands became drier and less wooded, joining the British stations at Abingdon and Hungerford. It stood also at a cross-road on the most important highway passing by the best point of passage over the Thames at Walling- ford. Mr. Wise discerned, he thought, remains of an earthen vallum at Limborough; and coins of Valens and others, and a stone pavement, have also been found. But Wantage only rose to notice in the Saxon time, when, as the patrimony of the Wessex kings, it contained the royal palace where Alfred the Great was born, in 849. This was probably situated at the ' High Garden.' Alfred devised the manor by will to his wife Ealswitha, daughter of Ethelred of Mercia, who died in 904, when it again reverted to the Crown. Here, too, Ethelred II. held a council to revise the Saxon laws in 990 ; and it was noted as a royal domain when the Survey was made, and kept so until the reign of Richard I. He gave it to Baldwin de Bethune, Earl of Albemarle, whence it passed to William IVIareschal, Earl of Pembroke, Hugh Bigod, Fulke Fitzwarine (in Henry III.'s reign). Sir Richard Hankford,and Sir William Bourchier, to whom it was given by Elizabeth. He was afterwards created Lord Fitzwarine, and his descendants became Earls of Bath. Wantage sank as soon as the Normans came. Its royal palace passed away, and it became a quiet country village, noted for its sacking and its corn-market. It owed its * From want^ a mole, and inij;, a meadow ; Anglo-Saxon. Also spelt Wanating, Waneting, and Wanting. 2o6 History of Berkshire. fame to a vanished race ; and of Saxon Wantage nothing is left. Its church, founded by Norman hands, is now of Early English architecture, with Perpendicular and Deco- rated work, and covers the tombs and brasses of some of the Fitzwarines. The only person of note that Wantage has produced, besides Alfred, was Bishop Butler, the author of ' Butler's Analogy,' who was born in 1692 in the ' Priory House,' and educated at the Free Grammar School. With the advent of the Norman rule, Wallingford* took the place of Wantage in importance. Its British and Roman history has been already referred to, and there is a further trace of these ancient associations in the arms of the town, a castle with sun and stars above, which appear on a coin of Constantius. It was a large place even in Saxon times, for in the reign of the Confessor there were 276 houses paying ' gabel tax ' to the Crown. At the time of the Conquest, Earl Wigod ruled it as the chief town in Berkshire. While Windsor had but lOO Jiag(2-\ or houses, and Reading but 28, it possessed 494 dwellings. D'Oyley, who was made Baron of Hokenorton, was directed to fortify it, and also held at this time the Manors of Chaddleworth, Letcombe, Bassett, Shefford, and Ardington ; but it was not until Toky, the only son of Wigod, was killed in defending the life of William I. at Gerberoi that the whole of the lands passed into the Norman's (D'Oyley's) hands. His rule was one of cruelty and rapine. He is said to have burned the Abbey of Abingdon ; but this is doubtful, seeing that a strong friend- ship existed between him and Abbot Athelhelm. The curfew bell was early introduced by him, and still rings at 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. Sickness at last overcame the knight ; and, under * Wallingford, spelt at different periods Wealinga, Waling, Walin, Walling, and Wallyngford ; Wallingfort, Walyngforth. t From Sax. hagh^ a house fenced or ditched ; allied to heg^ a hedge. Its Tozuiis a7id Villages. 207 its softening influence, he founded the Priory of Wallingford. Superstition, too, had probably something to do with his reformation. He had certainly obtained from the Abbot, through some undue influence, the estate of Tadmorton ; and falling ill soon after, he had a vision.* He dreamt that 'he seemed to be in a royal palace, and to see a queen seated on a throne ; and by her stood two x-\bingdon monks that at his entrance knelt before the Queen, and pointed him out as the man who usurped her possessions and caused their complaint. She ordered him to be thrust out of doors, and carried to the m.eadow and there punished. So it was done, and being made to sit, some ill-behaved little boys brought hay from the meadow, and having wetted it, set it on fire around him and smoked him. As he groaned in his sleep his wife woke him, to whom he told his dream, and with her advice he vowed reparation ; and as soon as he was well enough, he made formal restoration of the Manor of Tadmorton to the Abbot on St. Mary's altar at Abingdon.' Revolts of the unhappy English were common and fierce. Hereward the Wake long held the Normans at bay in the Lincoln fens ; and Aldred, a monk of Abingdon, who had essayed to aid him, was imprisoned in the new keep at Wallingford. After D'Oyley's death the town became the fief of the Bassetts, who held Wallingford and Ardington in the time of the second Henry. By this time it was rich, with fourteen churches, which testified to the size and importance of the place ; and, judging from the archives, the pure Saxon names were disappearing, and giving place to English. There are many quaint names, both of men and women, in the Corporation Records and Burghmote Rolls. There were John Time-of-day, Nicholas Three-half-pence, Alice Lang- heregaud, and Alice Longhair. This latter lady seems to have been of doubtful character. For a certain man was fined '-■ Proc. Berks. Archaeol. Soc. 2o8 History of Berkshire. thirty-seven pence for * being with Ah'z Longhair.' As time went on, too, owing to the influx of Norman peoples, there were such fanciful names as Estrilda, Elevviz, Claria, Assehna, Ybbe, and Tamason, to be found in the list of fee-farm rents. It was one of the earliest of Parliamentary boroughs, sending representatives in 1293, and, like Windsor, paid its members, and chose them from the inhabitants, or from the Corporation, The voters were the Corporation and inhabitants ' paying scot and lot.' It was originally the gaol town, but the prison was removed to Windsor in 13 14, whence it was transferred to Reading; that at Abingdon being still retained until 1870, when it was disused. A curious custom was permitted under the charter granted by Henry III., for by it an offender convicted for the first time of a grave offence could claim to lose his eyes, or be otherwise mutilated, rather than suffer death. Richard II., when a minor, showed both courage and address. The revolt of the people under Wat Tyler did not apparently extend to Berkshire, though it had a footing in Surrey, and a Berkshire man, ' Richard Wallingford,' took a leading part in it.* He was no common man was this Richard. In happier days he would have been, at least, a demagogue ; at most, a politician with advanced views representing a turbulent radical constituency. He ' stood high in the municipal institutions of the town ; he was head-borough or constable,' and acted as lieutenant to, though not a servile follower of, his leader Tyler. The programme of the rebellious mob was comprehensive enough. ' The House of Lords, the lawyers, justices, judges, jurymen, were to be swept from off the earth,' for ' without this antidote the poisoned commonwealth must perish.' It was Richard Wallingford's calmer influence that led the King to grant the charters that were afterwards cancelled ; and he showed a sound judgment in withdrawing himself * 'Hist, of Wallingford.' Its Toivns and Villages. 209 in time from his leader, and refusing to share in the excesses which accompanied his progress. So that when, with the death of Tyler, by the Lord Mayor's dagger, the mob bioke up, and when Richard of Wallingford's action in doing his utmost to restrain the violence of the rebels at St. Albans had been taken into consideration, he was pardoned ; and the abortive insurrection passed away like smoke, leaving matters just where they were before. He was a man before his time. He had endeavoured to guide the unruly spirits he had helped to raise, and had seen, we may well imagine with bitter disappointment, all his efforts and theirs too, abortive. Of the rioters, John Ball, the 'popular preacher,' was hanged, drawn, and quartered; Jack Straw's head was exposed on London Bridge ; but Richard Wallingford passed away in peace. There were twelve parishes in the town of Wallingford, and its municipal Government was commendable. There were linen-markets, corn-markets, and fish-markets, and these were under careful supervision. Tallies, neatly notched to denote payment, were appended to ' quit-rents.' The selling of fish and other things 'too dear' was followed by fine, as was also 'taking in excess' and selling 'eels corrupt and dead.' Scandal-mongers and scolds went not un- punished. But other arguments were used besides fines. The pillory and ducking-stool for scolds and others, and the tumbril for persons of evil life, were kept repaired at the expense of the town ; and to these were added later the stocks and whipping-post. They stood in the market- place as a warning to such wrongdoers. Servants were not allowed out of their ' master's house any night-time, after nine of the clock, without a lawful excuse, under pain, any time so found trespassing, of I2d., and his body to ward.' Such a fine must have been a wholesome deterrent from straying, to the well disposed, and must have enabled the ' town watch ' to decide with little difficulty whose wandering legs should be in ' the ward ' of 14 2IO History of Berkshh'e. the stocks. Neither could servants ' play at tables, dice, or cards, on working days, both by night and day, in any ale house, or tippling house/ under penalties laid down. Doubtless they were practically as inoperative as if any such regulations were made now. Wallingford, the chief town in Berkshire in William's reign, was very different when the Civil War of the seventeenth century began. The construction of the bridges at Culham, Burford, and afterwards at Dor- chester, diverted some portion of the western trade to the Abingdon roads. Up to this time the bridge of W^allingford had been the most important on the Thames in these parts, but the alterations of the line of traffic had rapid results. The population of the town had sunk to be a fifth of what Reading v.-as, and of its fourteen churches but three or four were left. Besides the loss of trade, the plague, in 1343, committed fearful ravages, and had depopulated the town. Parishes, too poor to be kept separate, had been joined together, and so by degrees these centres of spiritual activity decayed. Thus ten churches fell into disuse. Of those belonging- to the religious foundations, the Benedictine Monastery of the Holy Trinity, * built by D'Oyley, the house of St. Lucien, the Hospital of St. John the Baptist, and the College of St. Nicholas, ' within the 3rd Dyke of the Castle,' were dissolved by the Reformation. Dr. Loudon, the last head of the College, had willingly shared in the process of spoliation ; and, afterwards convicted of perjury and other offences, he was sentenced to be pilloried in Oxford, Windsor, and Wokingham, ' where every voice might revile, and every hand might hurl filth at him, and then he was thrust away in the Fleet Prison, where he miserably died.'t It held the Manor of Eastbury, near Lamborpe, as Wallingford le held £ t Froude. Castle held among its manors that of Donnington Its Towns and Villages. 211 Of the other churches, All Hallows was destroyed in the Civil War. St. Mary the Minor was united to St. Peter's in 1374, and possibly the groined crypt in the High Street is a relic of it. St. John super aqiiam was in Thames Street ; St. Martin's stood near the street of the same name ; St. Michael's was united to St. Peter's in 1374 ; and St. Peter in the West and St. Rumbald's have disappeared. All Hallows, or All Saints, was probably erected on the site of the Saxon church of Wigod, and did not stand within the Castle precincts. St. Mary the More (late Perpendicular) ; the Church of St. Leonard, also probably first erected by D'Oyley, as it has a Norman doorway, but repaired in 1704 ; and St. Peter's, which, ruined in the Civil War, was rebuilt in 1769, and which contains the grave of Sir William Black- stone, are alone left of the number that once adorned the town. Mann describes St. Peter's as furnished with wainscot pews, and as rejoicing in that exceeding tasteless- ness that characterized the architecture and decoration of the last century; but few would now agree with him that it was ' one of the neatest and best adapted to this northern climate of any of our country churches, which are in general gloomy, cold, and damp, and calculated to inspire those who attend them rather with horror than devo- tion.' The bridge, which tradition says was erected as far back as A.D. 600, has also had its vicissitudes. The first was doubtless of wood, but the second was so nearly like that of Old London that it may well have dated as far back as the reign of John. The Civil War damaged it. It was cut through, and drawbridges made ; but the repairs, executed in wood, and then in stone, probably were insufficient, for in 1809 it had to be rebuilt. One of the most noteworthy names in the annals of Wallingford is that of the Bunches of Wittenham. They frequently represented the town in Parliament. Sir 14—2 2 1 2 History of Berkshire. William Dunch was member in 1612, and his eldest son, Edmund, though he supported his relative, the Protector, and was for a time Governor of the Castle, was active in the restoration of Charles I. His grandson was largely instrumental in promoting the revolution of 1688, held office as Master of the Household to Anne and George I., and was member till his death in 1719. Edmund Dunch had been created Baron Burnell by Cromwell, though the title was disallowed on the return of Charles H. ; and it was said of Edmund by the Royalists that he had ' a patent to be lord of the Lord knows what, and how little he deserves it.' His race became extinct in 1719, as so many other old families in Berkshire have done. Fuller in his ' Worthies ' mentions only ninety families that still occupied their ancient residences ; and now apparently only three, the Eystons of Hendred, the Puseys of Pusey, and the Pley- dells of Shrivenham, are left. The ancient borough of Wallingford was one of the first to have a mayor and municipal rights ; and in early days it had paid its chief magistrate i^20 a year. Its decline was somewhat checked by the exertions of Sir William Blackstone, its representative, who was instrumental in bringing about the construction of two turnpike roads, one between Oxford and Reading, and the other to Wantage, which, by improving the communications, im- proved its commercial position. But its day had gone by. It had been the chiefest city of Berkshire in Saxon days, and had reached its highest prosperity in the time of the Norman kings. Abingdon was also a place of note in early times ; and, growing with its famous monastery, declined with its dis- solution. Originally called Seovechesham, Seukesham, Seovesham, or Seusham, it was probably of British origin ; and the Isle of Andersey, opposite the site of the Abbey, may have been the position of the early settlement in summer-time. This islet the monks exchanged with Offa Its Towns and Villages. 213 of Mercia for the Manor of Goosey ; and on it the King built a palace, in which his son Egfrid died in 793. There was ' in olde time a fortress in Andersey,' says Leland, 'part of which remained after the Conquest; and there were kept the King's hawks and hounds. The scite is still called the Castle of the Rhe, "a fluvio praeterlabente," and is occupied by an old barn.' Koenwulf, Egfrid's successor in the Mercian dynasty, again exchanged it, at Abbot Bethunus's request, for the Manor of Sutton, and 120 lb. of silver. Both Abbey and town were burnt by the Danes in 872 ; but when the former was rebuilt on its more extended scale by Edred, the town grew and prospered. There was a curious contest in the reign of Henry II. between the people of Abingdon and those of Wallingford and Oxford as to the right of the first to a free market, and at one time the disputants came to blows ; but the Abbot's men drove them out of the town. The Oxford men wished that the market, ' which was desired to be free for all commodities,' should be stopped. It was the struggle between free trade and protection, or what represented the former in those days ; but the King would not listen to the objections raised, and commanded that ' a full market should be held at Abingdon, to which only the Abbot's tenants should be admitted.' They were somewhat quarrelsome, the good burgesses of the ancient town ; for in 143 1 there is an account of an insurrection in which Bailiff William Masdeville took a leading part. The mob had a grudge against their spiritual rulers, and were anxious to ' make the heads of the clergy as cheap as sheep's heads, 3 or 4 a penny.' Other citizens deserved better of their town than the bailiff. Two men, named John Brett and John Houchons, or Huchyns, were far-seeing enough to understand that to improve their town, trade should flow through it, and not by it. The only bridge over the Thames then existing in 2 14 History of Berks Im'e. the neighbourhood was that at Walh'ngford. So they, ' of their own bounty,' built the bridge of six pointed arches with stone provided by Sir Peter Besils, of Besilslegh, who also left houses for its repair ; and who, with Geoffrey Barbour and William and Maud Hales, were especial benefactors to the New Bridge. They built another at Burford, too ; and so there arose a stream of trade by the Cirencester route. The monks had done nothing to make or mar the bridge ; the King had graciously given his royal license for it, but had added nothing to that valuable document. It seems strange nowadays to think that a great improvement such as this could not be effected without the consent of the King. But it was so ; and the energy of these wise men was not, as it might have been, checked. ' Kynge Henry V. in his fourthe yere, He hath i-found for his folic a brige Berkscheere, Where cartis with carriage may go and come clere, That many winters afore were marred in the myre. For now is Culham Hithe* i-come to an ende, An al the contre the better an no man the worse. Few folke there were coude that way mende, But they waged a wed or payed of her purse ; An if it were a beggar had breed in his bagge, He schulde be ryght soone ibid for to goo aboute ; An if the pore penyless the hireward wold have A hood or a girdle an let him goo withoute.'t A strong and affluent Guild — that of the ' Fraternity of the Holy Cross' — was formed about 1389, when they had a priest and two proctors chosen annually. They were instrumental in erecting a handsome rood or cross in the Church of St. Helen's ; and Geoffrey Barbour, and many others who exerted themselves in the building of the New Bridge, were members of the Guild. They were incor- porated in 1442, were endowed with lands so as to keep * M16. I Lysons. Its Tozuns and Villages. 215 in order the road between Abingdon and Dorchester, and built in 1446 a Christ's Hospital for thirteen poor men and women. Sir John Golafre and Thomas Chaucer, the son of the poet, were the trustees ; and thus the latter family- has had to do certainly with three principal Berkshire towns — viz., Reading-, Wallingford, and Abingdon — and traditionally with Newbury, through the neighbouring- Castle of Donnington. The Guild supported two Chaplains in 1457 — one, the Rood Priest, to pray for the benefactors thereto ; and the other, the Bridge Priest, to intercede for the benefactors to the bridge — and for these duties each received a salary of £6 13s. 4d. The members feasted royally on the 3rd May of each year in Banbury Court, West St. Helen's Street ; and, as the following statement shows, compared with the present value of money, cheaply. They provided six calves at 2s. 2d. each, sixteen lambs at is. each, eighty capons at 3d. each, eighty geese at 2id. each, and eight hundred eggs at 5d. a hundred, besides vegetables, herbs, and the like. In 1539 they erected an aisle called Our Lady's Aisle in St. Helen's Church, which was ceiled by Nicholas Gould, one of the members of the Guild, to whose memory an inscription was placed, asking the reader to, ' In the worship of our Lady, Pray for Nicholas Gould and Amy.' The roof is ornamented with figures of kings and saints under carved canopies, said to have once belonged to the great Abbey. This semi-religious Guild was, like others, dissolved by Henry VHI. in 1547; but, at the request of Sir John Mason, it received a new charter in 1553 from Edward VI., incorporating the Guild and some of the chief inhabitants of the town as Governors of the ' Christ's 2 1 6. History of Berkshire. Hospital,' when a sermon was preached in commemo- ration of the benefactors by Laud before he became a bishop. It is a low brick and timber house, with a wooden cloister, having texts, a representation of the market cross which the Guild had erected, and paintings illustra- tive of almsgiving, some of which contain portraits, which, tradition says, are those of Geoffrey Barbour, Sir John Mason, and Edward VI. In the old hall the stained glass bears the arms of these benefactors to the town, whose portraits, together with those of Sir Peter Besils, Lionel Bostock, and Thomas Tesdale (founder of Pembroke College), hang on the walls. There is an ancient picture, too, showing Barbour giving John Huchyns money to build the bridge, which is being constructed in the background. To the energy of the one, the wealth of the other, and the sympathy of the brethren of the Guild of the Holy Cross, the bridge was due. With the dissolution of the great Abbey the town began to decline. The clothing trade and manufacture that flourished in Berkshire, at Newbury, Hendred, Reading, Abingdon, and elsewhere, fell off and decayed with the disappearance of the monastic edifices in the county. As Leland says, ' The town stondith by clothing.'* An appeal to Queen Mary resulted in the grant of new lands to the town, and a charter of incorporation, whereby it had a mayor, two bailiffs, and nine aldermen. At this time its market-place was adorned with a very handsome cross, which stood where the present market-house, a building of Queen Anne's time, is erected. It is described by Richard Symons as of octangular form, with ' 3 rows of statues — the first of 6 grave kings ; the second of the Virgin, 4 female saints, and a mitred prelate ; the third of small "•-' 'Hist, of the Hundred of Wanting:. ' Its Towns and Villages. 217 figures of apostles and prophets ; the whole ornamented with coats of arms painted and carved.' The Guild of the Holy Cross built it ; for the arms of Sir John Golafre, one of the Commissioners by whom the Fraternity was incorporated by Henry VI., were on it. Waller, the In- dependent, destroyed it. Like similar structures, it was the central gathering-place of the town. Here proclamations were issued, and orders notified ; and here Richard Corbet, afterwards Bishop of Norwich, but then Dean of Christchurch, ' being one market-day with some of his companions at the taverne by the Crosse, a ballad-singer complayned that he had no custom and could not put off his ballads ; whereupon the jolly Doctor puts off his gowne and puts on the ballad- singer's leathern jacket, and being a handsome man, and having a rare full voice, he presently vended a great many and had a great audience.'* During the Civil War, Abingdon was held by the Royalists as an advanced post from their chief head- quarters at Oxford ; and here they quartered the main body of the ' horse,' when the King, with the whole of the Royal Family, passed through in April, 1644. But it was abandoned on the approach of Waller and Essex, and General Browne occupied it for the Parliament. Their adversaries made several attempts to regain possession of it. First, the Earl of Cleveland with 150 men made a night attack, but the garrison of 1,400 drove him out again. t Sir Henry Gage made a fort at Culham Bridge to threaten it ; but a sortie was made from the town, and Sir Henry was mortally wounded. In 1645 Sir Stephen Hawkins made another attack, but also failed ; and finally, in 1646, Prince Rupert himself made a desperate effort ; but though he gained possession of the Abbey buildings with 500 men, he was eventually compelled to abandon it. ' Aubrey. t Lysons. 2i8 History of Berkshire. After this, Governor Browne was left at peace ; but his ways were cruel. All Irish prisoners were hanged without trial by 'Abingdon Law.' Both in this Civil War, and that of 1668, the feeling of antipathy shown towards the Irish was extreme. They were looked on as representing the Papist element, against which the nation had rebelled, and, if captured, they were shown scant mercy. After the war, Abingdon subsided into a quiet town, whose days of mercantile activity had passed away, its trade now con- sisting of ' malting, hemp-dressing, and sack and sail-cloth making.' In ancient buildings, besides the relics of the Abbey, it is still rich. In addition to Christ's Hospital is the Church of St. Helen, its spire supported by flying buttresses, and containing tombs of Royse, founder of the Grammar School in 1571 ; of Lee, five times Mayor of Abingdon, and who had * in his lifetime issue from his loynes 200, lacking but 3 ;'* and lastly of Geoffrey Barbour, who died in 141 7. One of its windows once contained a reference to the bridge, in which the King's name was given undue prominence by some forgotten admirer ; for the motto ran : ' Henricus Quartus, quarto fundaverat anno Rex Pontem Burford, super undas atque Culhamford.' The Church of St. Nicholas, close to the Abbey gateway, is the most ancient, having been built by Abbot Nicholas de Colchan in 1300, on the site of a more ancient, and possibly Saxon, edifice. The Manors of Witham, Appleton, Besilsleigh, and Hendred are intimately connected with the monastic history of Abingdon. The former, connected with the Wightams, who became extinct as far back as the reign of Edward IV., has a moated house with embattled gate- tower, which was erected by Sir Richard Harcourt in * Ashmole. Its Tozuns a7id Villages. 219 1480, into whose hands the property had passed. Thence it returned to the King, by whom it was granted in 1539 to Lord William of Thame, and then to the son of that Sir Henry Norris who was beheaded on suspicion of being a lover of Anne Boleyn after the scene at the tourna- ment at Greenwich. From him it went to the Berties. Appleton is also moated, and with its Norman doorway and arches of the reign of the second Henry, is the oldest manor-house in Berks. Besilsleigh, which was old enough to contain a secret chamber, has long been destroyed ; but it had an interest in being the family residence of the Besils, who obtained it by marriage in 1350, and whose descendant, Sir Peter, gave the stone for the bridge at Culham. But the family diminished ; and finally the last of the direct line of the Besils intermarried with another old Berkshire family, the Fettyplaces of Appleton (in the church of which is the tomb of Sir John, who died in 1593), and of Little Shefford, where the heiress and her husband built a ' moated manor-house.' The great hall at Little Shefford still con- tains its old timber-work and windows, and on a projecting stone is a shield of the ' arms of the Besils quartering Leigh.' Its church contains the alabaster monument to Sir Thomas Fettyplace and his wife, the founder of the manor-house ; that of John Fettyplace and his wife, bearing the date of 1524; and both in the windows and on the tombs are the arms of Fettyplace, 'quartering Besils, and impaling those of Leigh.' "^^ The family returned again to Besilsleigh, and in 1634 sold it to William Lenthall, Speaker of the Long Parlia- ment, who had something to do with Berkshire in the sequestrating days of the Civil War. Hendred, or rather land there, is also associated with Abingdon, inasmuch as it was held under a Saxon charter by the Abbey of Abingdon; but the 'Abbey Manor' of * Murray's ' Handbook.' 2 20 History of Berkshire. Hendred, according to Domesday, then belonged to the King. Henry I. gave it to the Empress Matilda, who granted it to the Abbey of Reading, in whose hands it remained until the Dissolution. Then it passed to the son of Sir Henry Norris, before referred to, who was beheaded 14th May, 1536; and from him to Fenton, Earl Kellie, Sir Peter Van Lore, and finally to the Eystons, in 1623. Another of the Hendred manors, the ' Manor of Arches,' was the property of Henry de Ferrers at the Norman Survey ; and then of the Turbervilles, one of whose daughters. Amice, married William de Arches ; whence it descended to the Stowes of Burford, in 1422 ; and the Eystons of Isleworth by marriage, in 1443, in whose family it has ever since remained. Attached to the manor-house is the old Early-English Chapel of St. Amand and St. John the Baptist, which dates back probably as far as 1291 ; and is, with Stonor and Hazlewood in York- shire, one of the few Roman-Catholic places of worship which has always been devoted to the tenets of that creed. It may have even had a Saxon origin, for near it coins of 'yEdelred, Rex Anglorum,' have been found. It cer- tainly was endowed in 1402 by Robert Randolf with lands, tithes, and a house in East Hendred. These were alienated in 1547. It was connected with the Abbey of Reading also — for in one of its windows is the cipher of Hugh Faringdon, the last Abbot — in the same way that the district was with that of Abingdon, to which it furnished Abbots Robert de Hendred and Richard de Hendred, in 1234 and 1289. In the library adjoining the chapel is still preserved the tomb of Robert, first Abbot of Poghley, which was removed there on the destruction of that religious house ; so that Hendred was closely associated with the monasticism of the county.* In the old house are preserved the drinking-cup of Sir * See p. 1S4. I^s Towns and Villages. 221 Thomas More, with portraits of him and Cardinal Pole ; and the walking-staff of Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, which supported him on his way to the scaffold, and which bears the inscription that it is 'the walking-staff of John Fisher, Cardinal Bishop of Rochester, who suffered 22nd June, 1535, aged 56 years and 9 months.' Hendred was one of the ^q\v places that suffered in the Revolution of 1688, when the army of the Prince of Orange was passing over the road known as the 'Golden Mile.' There, as Charles Eyston's MS. tells us, ' Some loose fellowes (whether by orders or not I cannot tell) came hyther, went into the Chappell, pretended to mock the priest by supping out of the chalice, which they would have taken away had it been silver, as they themselves afterwards gave out : however, having torn down the Jesvs Maria from the altar, which holy names were painted upon pannells in the same frames, where the Jesvs Maria are now wrought in bugles, they retired, taking an old suite of church stuffe with them to Oxford, where they drest up a mawkin with it, and set it up there on the topp of a bonfyre. This happened on Monday, December the nth, 1688, and this is all the mischief they did, besides breaking the lamp and carrying away the Sanctus bell.' Farringdon, the third Saxon town of Wessex, and which contained a royal palace in which Edward the Elder died in 925, has an unimportant history. Robert Earl of Gloucester built its Castle, which was captured by Stephen after a four days' siege ; and the town, under Sir Marmaduke Rawdon, held out for the King in the later wars of the seventeenth century. Its history is essentially of a military character. Its most noteworthy personage was that Henry Unton who, knighted for bravery at Zutphcn, challenged the Duke of Guise, when he was Ambassador at the French Court, for disrespect to Elizabeth, his Queen, in that in ' speaking basely of her he had most wickedly and shamefully lied.' 222 History of Berkshire. But as it rose with the construction of the Abingdon bridge, and the divergence of the western traffic, to some extent, through it, so it shared in its eventual rest. The Saxon towns of Berkshire have little influence in modern times. Not far from Farringdon is the ancient Manor of Pusey, held by one of the oldest families in Berkshire, and originally granted to its first possessor by the tenure of a horn. Though asserted to be of the date of Cnut, the inscription on the horn is certainly not Danish. The tradi- tion that the first recipient, who was an officer in Cnut's army, obtained it because he had warned the King of a Saxon ambuscade, can have, therefore, but scanty founda- tion. The horn, which is 24^ inches long, and 12 inches in circumference, is of a dark brown ' tortoise-shell ' colour, mounted at each end with rings of silver. A central ring, to which is affixed two small feet to render it capable of standing, contains the inscription, which runs : ' Kynge Knoud geve Wyllyam Pewse Hys home to holde by thy Londe.' Though horns were used by the Saxons rather than the Normans as drinking vessels, the custom of holding manors by such curious tenures is rather Norman than Saxon ; and there are other cases of a similar character in Berkshire. Thus there are the horns at Hungerford — one, said to have been given as a charter to the town by King John, holds about a quart of liquid ; the other, bearing the date of 1634, is of brass, and is not a drinking- horn, but a bugle, which is used to summon the tenants at the Manor Court, and was formerly* 'blown annually on Hock Tuesday to assemble the inhabitants to chuse the Constable, in whom is vested the municipal govern- ment of the town. This officer was formerly also Coroner, Clerk of the Market, and Lord of the Manor for the time being, and was assisted by 12 feoffees and burgesses, a * ' Topog. Descrip, Berkshire.' Its Towns and Villages. 22^^ o portreeve, steward, etc/ This horn bears the following inscription : ■ 'John a Gaun did give and grant the riall fishing to Hungerford Towne from Eldven Stub to Irish Stil, excepting som several mil Pound. Jehosphat Lucas was Cunstable.' This is evidently a survival of the older tradition, as the more ancient and possibly genuine drinking-horn is unin- scribed. Such vessels were doubtless handed down as heir- looms in Saxon families, all the more so if richly mounted, and may easily have come into the hands of the Norman plunderers, who may have used them for such purposes of feudal tenure as the above instance would suggest Farringdon and Wantage both had held Saxon palaces ; Abingdon a Saxon abbey ; Wallingford a Saxon castle ; and there was yet another place on the borders of the Thames that was a Saxon vil, which was to be the parent of a modern royal borough. The village of Old Windsor contains the site of the palace of Edward the Confessor. Some Roman bricks and coins in the neighbourhood at St. Leonard's point to Roman occupation, though to a limited extent ; but it is only in the Confessor's reign that it comes prominently into note. It covered an old ferry over the Thames here, referred to in the metrical Anglo-Norman romance of Geoffrey Gaimar, who, in describing the Battle of yEsces- dun, says : ' Co est un gu^ vers Windesoveres, A unes estand en unes mores.' The origin of the name is doubtful. It has been suggested to have been derived from the winding shore of the Thames at this point, which seems far-fetched. The better interpretation appears to be that of Harrison, 224 History of Berkshire. who fancies that the forest district, through which runs the Windle, or ' Vindeles,' brook, on which Windlesham is situated, and which enters the Wey near Chertsey, took its name from the stream, and gave it again to the ' Royal Vil ' of Edward, which grew up by the fordway on the Thames. The early spelling gives colour to this view. It is usually Windles-ofra, Windles-oure, Windles-ora, Windelsor, Windleshora ; and only in later manuscripts does it become Windesour, Wyndosor, etc. ' The name whereof (not w'out cawse) is callyd Wyndsore ; whethar it came as some affirme of ye fery over ye rivar there, ye passengers usynge (in callynge for the boate) to bydd them wynd to shoar (becawse ye boate then as now also went to a rope and a pole, thowghe not in the same place wher it is now, but where ye bridge is), or whithar it toke name of ye qualitie of ye place whiche standynge hyghe and open to the wethar is called Wyndesor becawse ye wynd is sore and ye ayre very subtile and percynge there as ye Inhabitants fynd it, whiche etymologie devysynge w' my selffe if ye nature of ye place it selffe, I added anothar also thereto, de situ loci at my fyrst comynge thethar, of this efifecte : ' The w>'nd is sore in highe wyndsor, whereof it maye take name, And wynde, for wyndynge, may import assendynge to ye same, As eke the hawke is sayde to sore that lyethe on highe above, Of which etymologies, one the trewthe I guesse dothe prove.'* This Saxon * vil ' was a favourite residence of Edward's ; and possibly the moated farm, west of the church, may represent his Saxon dwelling. One of its guardians was Wulmar of Nutgareshale, whose son, cutting timber one day in Bruelle (Brill, Bucks) Woods, was struck blind, and remained so until he got audience with the King, whom he besought to help him, as he had been told in a dream to * Stowe. Its Towns and Villages. 225 visit eighty- seven churches, and 'entreat a cure of blind- ness from the saints.' The Confessor did not seem un- willing to class himself with the latter, though he betrayed some doubt as to his power in that capacity.* ' By my lady St. Mary,' said he, ' I shall be truly grateful if God, through my means, shall choose to take pity upon a wretched creature.' And so, dipping his hands in water, he touched his eyes, and the man saw, and exclaimed, ' I see you, oh King ! I see you, oh King I' Another and more tragical tradition is told of the moated palace. Earl Godwin had been suspected of causing the death of Alfred, the brother of the King ; and while at meat, on Easter Monday, 1053, ^ remark was made by Edward, which caused the Earl to say : ' Syr, as I perceive well, it is tolde to the, that I should be the cause of thy brother's deth ; so mut I safely swalowe this morsell of brede that I here holde in my hande as I am gyltlesse of the dede.'-f" None the less, when Earl Godwin received the bread he was choked to death, and was conveyed to Win- chester for burial. In this same hall, again, Harold Godwin- son, when seized by the hair by his brother Tosti, Earl of Northumberland, as he was drinking a health to the King, and ' handled shamefully to the amazement of all the King's household,' grasped the Earl in his arms, and lifting him, dashed him with violence on the ground.:]: Verily the gentle Edward had rude companions; and thank- ful for his prosperity, if not for them, he granted Windsor and its appurtenances to his new Monastery of St. Peter's. The Conqueror William, however, liked the district too, and easily effected an exchange. No mention is made in ' Domesday ' of a church either here, at Eton, or at Clewer ; and of what is Modern Windsor there was no trace, though the Ait-ton, on its island, protected the passage of the Thames which led northward. But round the Norman Castle * William of Malmesbury. f Fabyan's ' Chronicles.' + Roger of Wendover. 15 2 26 History of Berkshire. a villaee grew. Walter Fitz Other was the first Castellan and Warden of the Forest, and, from his office, his son took the name of ' Windsor.' From this race sprang the great families of the Earls of Plymouth, the Carevvs of Cornwall, and the Fitzgeralds and Fitzmaurices of Ireland, From the hands of Walter the Manor of Eton passed through those of Hodenge, Huntercombe, Scudamore, and Lovel to Eton College in the reign of Edward IV. Possibly a small chapel existed in Old Windsor in Saxon days, for a priest or presbyter of the manor is mentioned as a tenant of land there. Anyhow, in 1189 Richard granted 'the Chapel of Old Windsor, and the Church of St. John the Baptist at New Windsor to the Monastery of Waltham.' By this time, therefore, the new village was large enough to want a church. Similarly mention is made in 12 10, in a dispute between William de Cantilupe, Lord of the Manor of Eton, and the Prior of Merton, relative to Eton Church. So the latter village too had grown, but its church has long since passed away. The new road through Eton to Slough was probably made when the royal residence was transferred to the Castle of Windsor, Before that it ran by Old Windsor, to cross the Thames at Staines ; but with the first charter, granted by Edward I., the line of traffic began to pass through the new ' town.' A portion of the manor between the Castle and Eton, known as ' Windsor Underoure,' passed into the hands of the monks of Reading Abbey about this time, and a trace of this transference still remains in the name of the Abbot's Pile on the Eton side near Tangier Mill. To Reading also the county gaol, which had been transferred here from Wallingford in 1276, and so remained until 13 14, was then removed by petition, as being a more central position.* Thus for some time W^'ndsor became the county town, as assizes were held there. Jousts and great rejoicings followed at '■■' ' Typog. Descrip. Berks.' Its Tozuns a7id Villages. 227 Windsor after the victory at Crecy ; and about this time the cross was erected at the junction of Peascod, Castle, High, and Thames Streets ; at its foot proclamations were read. The name still survives, and public orders are read on its site even now. It witnessed the departure of Richard II. from his baby queen of eleven years old ; and by it old Sir Bernard Brocas must have often passed, from his Manors of Winkfield, Bray, and Old Windsor, on his way to those in Clevver and in New Windsor, near the field which perpetuates his name in the immediate neighbour- hood of the College of Eton. It is to Henry VI. that the foundation of this college is due. After visiting William of Wykeham's foundation at Winchester, he ' invited all the faithful in Christ to aid him, for the praise, honour, and glory of God, and of the blessed Virgin Mary, and for the increase of Divine worship, and the increase of the holy Church, to found, make, and ordain, and duly establish, a College in the Parish Church of Eton, near New Wyndesor.' Accordingly the work was begun, and materials were brought from all parts. The sand at id. per load from the ' Sandepytte,' which was ' infra situm Collegii ;' the chalk was dug at Lyme Hoste ;* flints, of which large quantities were used, came from Lyme Hoste and Mar- lowe ; Caen stone from Normandy and ' ragg stone ' from Maidstone were employed in the construction of the chapel ; while the oak was furnished from London, Easthampstead, Sunninghill, Windsor Forest, and numerous other places, even as far away as Newark. The workmen were kept strictly at work. They were fined ' for chiding,' ' for play- ing,' ' for looking about,' ' for telling of tales,' at 2d. for each offence ; and ' for shedding lime ' they paid as much as 6d. Doubtless they were attentive to their work, for the 2d. of their days would be fairly represented by 5s. of ours. When the college became finished, Henry directed that no other school should teach within * Castle Hill (?). 15—2 2 28 History of Berkshire. ten miles of it. The first statutes, drawn up by William Waynflete, the first provost, in 1443, were followed by a more complete set drafted by Henry himself three years later. By them the school was to teach seventy scholars, with teachers, choristers, and thirteen almsmen ; and the King added to his royal gifts of money and books the treasured relics of John the Confessor, formerly Prior of the Monastery of Bridlington. So the church was enriched by a finger-joint and a vertebra of the reputed Saint. The provisions with regard to the almsmen seem never to have been carried out, but in other respects the college has exceeded the intentions of its founder in the number of its pupils, to whom Henry's own words should be ever applicable, ' Sitis boni pueri ; mites et docibiles, et servi Domini ' (' Be good boys ; be gentle and docile, and servants of the Lord '). In the reign of Henry VIII. first appears, in the Corpo- ration Accounts, the charge of 40s. for the payment of the ' expenses ' of the two members of Parliament for the borough ; and the custom of payment of members at this time appeai^s to have been prevalent throughout the kingdom, though the amount varied from time to time. The Commons had but little power then, and such stories as the judicial murders of the martyrs Pearson, Testwood, and Filmer at Windsor in 1543, may have done much to bring about that feeling of rebellion, both against the Church and the Sovereign, which led, not long after, to a ready acceptance of the doctrines of the Reformation, and indirectly to the bloody issue of the Civil War. For Henry, influenced by Gardiner of Winchester, had passed a statute imposing death by burning or hanging on all who denied transubstantiation, the expediency of masses, and the necessity for auricular confession ; and these men and some others were persecuted in 1543 by a band of bishops, lawyers, and knights, among them being one Master ' Fachel,' of Reading. Robert Testwood Its Towns and Villages. 229 was built of the stuff of which martyrs are made. One cause of his ' trouble ' was that on going into the church he saw pilgrims, specially from those benighted places Devon and Cornwall, offering candles to ' good King Henry, of Windsor, as they called him,' and others. Also ' licking and kissing a white Lady made of Alabaster ;' and ' when he saw them so superstitiously use the Image as to wipe their hands upon it, and then to stroke them over their heads and faces, as though there had bin great vertue in touching the picture, he up with his hand, in the which he had a key, and smote a piece of the border about the image downe, and with the glance of the stroke chanced to break off the image's nose. " So, good people," quoth he, " you see what it is, nothing but earth and dust, and cannot helpe itselfe, and how then will you have it to helpe you ? For God's sake. Brethren, be no more deceived." ' Henry Filmer's 'troubfe' was mainly that he expostu- lated with ' Syr Tho. Melster, which had beene a Frier before,' about his sermon ; and it may be reasonably imagined that ' trouble,' though not of so grave a character, would follow on a similar expostulation now. Poor Anthony Pearson's ' troubles ' also came out of sermons, but good ones ; but it arose out of the hatred and malice that less favoured preachers felt towards one ' greatly esteemed among the people who flocked so much to his sermons.' For this displeased the 'great priests of the Castle, with other papistes of the Town ;' and they soon found ground for trial, inasmuch as he at least would ' have no invocation of saints.' And so they died the death of the righteous, with courageous words upon their lips even at the stake. ' Be merry, my brethren, and lift up your hearts unto God, for after this sharpe breakfast I trust we shall have a good dinner in the Kingdome of Christ our Lord and redeemer.' And in this hope they passed away ' with such humilitie and stedfastnes,' says Foxe, ' that many which saw their 230 History of Berkshire. patient suffering confessed that they could have found in their hearts (at that present) to have died with them.' One curious result seems to have happened from the martyrdom which those who suffered scarcely dreamt of. The Vicar of Bray was present in the crowd. The sight was too dreadful for his courage, and the mutability of his religious convictions is said to date its origin from the martyr's fires, which he ' found too hot for his tender temper.' The faith that was in these men found no echo in his breast. He had but one ambition — to remain Vicar of Bray through all the changes of that changeful time. He had his wish gratified, and has been historically pilloried accordinglv. Others who showed vacillation of a less marked character also visited Windsor. Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer were, after a long imprisonment in the Tower, conveyed to Windsor. But they did not remain long, as they were moved to Oxford, there ' to dispute with divines and learned men ;' and two years later all three had followed the fiery road traversed by the martyrs of W^indsor. Still the town grew and prospered ; and in 1629 its streets were paved, and some attention was paid to cleanli- ness. ' Dunghills were ordered to be removed from the streets and lanes, as well as other obstructions to the thoroughfare, such as carts, timber, blocks, heaps of stones, or other offensive lumber. Swine were not permitted to wander loose in the market-place, and washing was pro- hibited in the streets.'* In those good old times decency and order were evidently remarkable by their absence even in the royal borough. Its church suffered many religious vicissitudes. Granted by Richard I. to Waltham Abbey, it remained in their hands until the Dissolution of the monasteries. In Henry VIII. 's reign Windsor Church rejoiced in many ' lights.' Besides that of 'our Lady,' there were those of the Holy Trinity, St. Thomas, St. Stephen, the '■■' ' Annals of Windsor,' R. H. Tighe, Esq., and T. E. Davis Esq. Its Towns a7id Villages. 231 Rood, St. Clement, St. Catherine, St. Anthony, St. James, St. George, St. Cornelius, and 'our Lady of Pity,' and each of these had two attendants. But with the Reformation rapid changes occurred. By 1530 the work of spoliation had begun, the treasures were one by one sold ; 'the broken silver of the Rode, and of the Image of St. John the Baptist, fetching as much as £11 i6s;' while more was got rid of in the next reign. The Puritanism of the age was becoming more marked. Fines of is. and upwards were inflicted ; such cases, for example, as ' Clifton's wife for absence from Church,' ' Vidua Bebe for tippling in service tyme,' and ' Uxor Caudie for swearing.' But if there was a tendency to sternness in church matters on the one side> there was certainly charity on the other. There is some- thing almost touching about such entries as 'given to 3 poor ministers, 3s. 6d. ;' ' to a poor soldier, is. ;' and ' 2s. to two merchants' wives, whose husbands were taken slaves in Turkic ;' and one wonders sympathetically what was the ultimate fate of the ' two little wenches w^^ were straneers,' and who received the magnificent sum of is. 6d. As the civil disturbances became more marked, so in such church prayers as those for the ' King's safe return,' and for the ' good success ' of Parliament, may be recognised that unwilling divergence of opinion which was strong in the hearts of many others besides Falkland. But the borough at length threw in its lot with the Puritans, and greater changes still passed over the church. In 1646 the Committee of the Commons ordered that ^^50 a year should be paid for ' the maintenance of such ministers as should officiate in the Parish Church ;' and certain persons, such as the Mayor, the Governor of the Castle, and others, were appointed to nominate them. And they nominated a very mixed lot ; for among them appear the name of Sir Robert Bennet, Knight; Mr. Eayres ; Mr. Starkey, senior ; Captain Botterell ; and Mr. Brown, butcher. But wandering divines were not unwelcome, and the frequency of the payments for 232 History of Berkshire. hour-glasses, which were the only guides to the preacher as to the length of his sermon, may be due to the vocifer- ous outpourings and vigorous arm-outstretchings of gifted soldiers. A not uncommon and suspicious entry runs side by side with others. ' Item, paid for a pinte of sacke when Mr. Voyce preached, x^^ ;' this may have had something to do with the broken hour-glass. Fortunately the church plate was entrusted to the Corporation, and with the Restoration was returned to the church. Falling into a dilapidated state in the last century, the church was rebuilt early in the reign of George IV. ; and at nearly the same time the new bridge, which replaced the old wooden one over the Thames, was built also. The restoration of monarchy came in due course. With it came the hanging, drawing, and quartering of the unfortunate regicides, an act which must have thrown a gloom over the advent of the second Charles ; and warrants, though not in the way Evelyn probably meant it, his comment on the spectacle : ' Oh ! the miraculous providence of God,' he says. Other equally strange things followed. Mention is made for the first time, and not unfrequently afterwards, of the pillory, ducking-stool, and whipping-post ; and on the 2nd July, 1685, there is a notice in the London Gazette of ' a great match of cock-fighting at Windsor between two persons of Quality, which continues for that whole week.' But with these undoubted evils were the gleams of better things. The beginning of that more rapid and inti- mate communication between the cities of the realm, and which has been productive of increased unity and pohtical strength, arose even in these dark days. The first stage- coaches from Windsor to London must have started about 1673 ; and the comments of their opponents have had their echoes in every great improvement that has occurred since. The author of a tract, published at the time, says : * Those coaches hinder the breeding of watermen and Its Tozuns and Villages. 233 much discourage those that are bred ; for there being stage-coaches set up unto every little town upon the river of Thames, on both sides the water, from London, as high as Windsor and Maidenhead, etc., and so from London- bridge to and below Gravesend, and also to every little town within a mile or two of the water side, these are they who carry all the letters, little bundles, and passengers, which before they set up were carried by water, and kept watermen in a full employment and occasioned their increase (whereof there never was more need than now), and yet, by these coaches they of all others are most discouraged and dejected.' The same argument — that a reform, being detrimental to a class, should be viewed with disfavour — has been used with railways and steam. The breeding of watermen in this case, and of horses in the other, was not to be ' hindered,' lest the country be urged on the downward path. History repeats itself over and over again. Ignorance and superstition go ever side by side; and it is not wonderful to read that shortly after this, in 1686, fifty-four persons of the school and parish of Eton were touched for the King's evil by James IL Nevertheless the following year another step towards progress was made in the establish- ment of a stand for hackney-coaches on the Castle Hill. But James and the Stuart dynasty had proved too much for England. Neither the character nor the religion of the King was in accordance with the spirit of the people or the time. He left Windsor on the iSth November, 16S8, for Salisbury, where his army was assembling to resist the Prince of Orange, who had landed at Torbay ; but he quickly returned to London, and soon afterwards William of Orange reigned in his stead. The Windsor Guildhall was erected in this reign; and, in the market-place outside, the election of representatives by the ' mayor, bailiffs, burgesses, and all the inhabitants paying 234 History of Berkshire. scot and lot ' * was openly made until the passing of the Reform Bill, which practically confirmed the then existing institutions. It is a sign of the times, too, that at this date the pillory was removed, and that Temperance Shorren, widow, was made free of the town for a fine of ;^i 14s. id. It is one of the earliest cases of women taking up the freedom. Little else of interest occurred during the reigns of William, Anne, and the first two Georges ; though Anne liked Windsor, and, living there much, kept the Castle in repair. She was not unpopular, and her statue and that of Prince George of Denmark were placed to adorn the walls of the Town Hall. The ' effigies ' of the Queen is not beautiful, but the words of the inscription are compli- mentary enough, for Mr. Peisley, the under-steward, tells us that it was erected 'Anno Regni sui Vr. Dom. 1707,' with the inscription, 'Arte tua, Sculptor, non est imitabilis Anna Annae vis similem sculpere ? Sculpe Deam. S. Chapman Praetore.' This has been translated as follows; but the verse is scarcely borne out either by the statue or the original : ' Sculptor ! thy art is vain : it cannot trace The semblance of the matchless Anna's grace ; Thou may'st as soon to high Olympus fly, And carve the model of some deity.' If these were the views of Mr. Peisley and S. Chapman, mayor, their adulation was not shared by the whole of the burgesses, as appears by an entry in the records of the Court of Common Council, 12th September, fifth year of Queen Anne, 1706. For sundry members of the Corporation are called to account and made to apologize for having ' unadvisedly taken upon them to say that the Corporacon was not two pence the better for the Queen's coming to Windsor.' Whether true or not, they were compelled to ' deny all manner of disrespect and undutifulness to be by * I.e.. paying parochial rates. Its Towns and Villages. 235 them intended thereby towards her Sacred j\Ia'>'.' The belief in a divine right of kings was slow in disappearing even in what had been Puritan Windsor. ' Autres temps, autres mceurs' could be applied here as well as in its neigh- bouring Church of Bray. There is a curious record about this time in the history of the Castle which will show how slow the practice of the open sale of appointments, which had been common enough during the late Stuarts, was now dying out. Mr. Potts had been Deputy-Governor for many years, and was now ' by age and other Infirmities rendered incapable to perform ' his duty. That he should apply for retirement was natural ; but it looks strange, in modern times, to see an ex-official requesting the appointment of his successor (as Mr. Potts does further on in his letter) on the ground that he, Mr. Tho. Olivier, Lieutenant in Major-General Evans's Regi- ment of Dragoons, had given him a ' sufficient consider- ation to resign.' There were no pensions for such offices in those days ; and retiring officials may be presumed to have pensioned themselves in this way. The survival of the principle was shown in the purchase of commissions, later on, by officers of the army, and by the over-regulation prices they paid to induce others to retire ; and no doubt the same storm of objection was raised when the purchase of the appointment of the Deputy-Governorship of Windsor Castle was abandoned, as when, 150 years later, the sale of commissions in the army of the State ceased. Year by year the Castle has become more of a royal re- sidence and less of a fortress, while the town that has grown up around it has changed little. Not so the great forest which forms a part of its history, as it was to some extent its origin. This was due to two causes : first, the natural beauty of its site and its strategical value as covering the fordway at Eton and the shallow or ferry at Datchet ; and secondly, its proximity to the great game-full forest that, in the time of the Conqueror, reached as far south as Chertsey 236 History of Berkshire. and Guildford, and west to Hungerford. It is one of the five specially mentioned in * Domesday ;' and, though that part of it in the Kennet Valley was disafforested in 1226, the district east of the Loddon was only partially cleared for many reigns. In fact, the whole of the area occupied by the Eocene strata, and south of a line following the streamlets between Twyford and Bray, was very probably forest or bare heath-land, in which were a few poor villages, up to the time of the Stuarts. The map executed by Norden, who was employed by James I. to survey the ' Honor of Windsor,' shows this district divided off into ' walkes,' in which the character of the deer, whether red or fallow, is indicated ; and the 'Honor' is shown as extending to the line of the Wey as far as Guildford, whence the boundary goes by ' Guild Down ' towards the Blackwater, and then follows the course of that river to the Loddon. Only that part in the angle of the Thames between Bray and Twyford is separately named as the Fines Bayliwick, and is shown as dotted with forest ; but a note states that this is ' for the most part inclosed, and is latelie began to be stored with red and fallow deer by Sir H. Neuell.' The roe-deer is only mentioned as 'about 17 Rowe Deere,' which ' lie couertlie, and are hardhe discouered ' in Bag- shott Parke. Woodland names are common in the map, such as Rusk Hills, YidLxthedges , QxowtJiorne, Hackley Bushes ; and other names of hills, moors, ponds, and lodges, coupled with the paucity of the roads, show a district that was thinly popu- lated and poor. There is a ' White Cony-borow Hill ' in Norden's map of the Great Park, and this may indicate that white rabbits were bred there. Almost the only continuous roads shown are those from Windsor to Old Windsor and Egham ; to Bagshot ; to Winckfield, Ockingham, and Reading ; and by Bray to Maidenhead and Cookham. Its Tozuns and Villages. 237 In the northern part is a road from Marlow and Henley ; and that from Maidenhead to the west seems to have bifurcated at Littlewick, sending branches to Henley and to Twyford. Similarly roads are shown joining the Loddon fords at Arborfield, Swallowfield, and Yateley, with Ockingham ; but the village of Sandhurst simply covers a ford of the Blackwater, and has a track to ' Wishmoor Cross/ and a road along the stream to the next ford at Blackwater or Bradforde.* Here and there are shown enclosures named ' parks' or ' rayles,' where deer were especially kept or bred. During the troubles of the following reign, the deer of the Royal Forest took a share in adding to the distresses of the people. The Grand Jury of the County of Berks in its petition against ship-money places among its schedule of grievances 'The infinite number of monopolies upon every thing allmost the Countrymen must bye. Besides the easterne part of this Countie, wher your Ma"^^ fforest of Windsor is, is particularly burthened with immeasurable inroades of the deare, which if they shall goe on soe for five years will leave neither foode nor roome for any Creatures in the fforest. With rigid execution of forest lawes in ther extremitye, with the exaction of the Imoderate fees by som officers under the Ld. Cheef Justis in lyre.'f The ' Little Park ' in Norden's time did not extend to the Thames, but lay south of a road from Datchet Ferry to Windsor. This was altered in the present century. The 'Moat' and 'Great' Parks both lay south-west of the Castle, and were separated from it by fields. In the Great Park, the Long Walk, which terminates with Westmeath's statue of George III. in the unsuitable attire of a Roman toga, was commenced by Charles II., and - Norden's Map, Had. MSS., Xo. 3,749. t Add]. MSS., Brit. Miis. 238 History of Berkshire. finished by William III. ; and the Queen's Walk, parallel to it, was planted during the reign of Queen Anne. The Queen's Walk in the Little Park was made by Eliza- beth. Encroachments had previously taken place in many directions; and the boundaries of the different ' Walkes,' even in Norden's time, were so indefinite, that the final enclosure of the forest and waste lands by Act of Parlia- ment in 1S13 became essential. Old roads were closed, and new ones opened, giving greater privacy to the royal grounds. The forest will ever owe its chief interest to the pen of Shakespeare. The drama of the ' Merry Wives of Windsor ' lends a picturesque colouring to the close of the stormy era which preceded the reign of the last of the Tudors. That kindly patron of the stage. Queen Elizabeth, saw it first acted in 1593, when Shakespeare was in but his twenty-ninth year. The first edition of 1602 entitles it 'A most pleasaunt and excellent conceited Comedie of Syr John Falstaffe and the Merrie Wives of Windsor,' etc. ; but the play in its present form, though acted before James I. in 1604, was not printed until the folio edition of 1623 appeared. The traditional house may still be seen in Windsor, where ' Mine host of the Garter ' found the third of the three umpires, the others being ' Master Page, fidelicit, Master Page ; and there is mystU.Jidelicit, myself.' It stood next the present White Hart Inn. Of its actual existence there is no doubt ; for its name appears often in the Churchwarden's Accounts, and 'Mr. Mayor' on his return from London once expended 8s. there. Richard Gallys, Mayor in 1562, and member for the town, on whose brass he is described as ' a gentleman who was learned and liv'd a godly lyfe and was thrice Maior of this Towne of Newe Windsor,' was the occupier of the 'Garter' in 1561, and hence its host* * Ford's ' house, too, stood opposite, though the actual identity of the person, and that of Page also, is impossible. "'■ Ashmole. Its Towns and Villages. 239 Still, the name of Fforde appears several times in the parish register of the end of that century and the begin- ning of the seventeenth ; and in 1623 were buried 'Richard Page ' and ' Anne Ford.' The actual features of the neighbourhood have altered much, owing to the enclosures and improvements that have taken place. A road led from the south side of the town close to the Castle grounds, and so to Frogmore and Old Windsor; it was known as 'Moor Street' till 1851. Another ' right of way ' existed in olden time from the north side of the town along that edge of the then ' Little Park ' to Datchet Ferry. So that when ' mine host ' directs ' Master Guest, and Master Page, and eke Cavalero Slender to go tJirough the tozv?i to Frogjuorel he apparently indicated the then main road, bordered with trees and hedges, which left the south entrance of Windsor for Staines ; while he himself took the Doctor by the field road on the north of the Castle to ' Go about the fields with me through Frogmore ; I will bring thee where Mistress Anne Page is, at a farm-house, a feasting : and thou shalt woo her.' Along these very fields, too, may the gallant Sir John Falstaff have been carried, when Mrs. Ford directed her servants : ' Marry, as I told you before, John and Robert, be ready here hard by in the brewhouse ; and when I suddenly call you, come forth (with- out any pause or staggering), take this basket on your shoulders : that done, trudge with it in all haste, and carry it among the whitsters in Datchet-mead, and there empty it in the muddy ditch, close by the Thames side.' For the ' muddy ditch ' close by the Thames-side still ran through Datchet Mead in Anne's reign, when it entered the river about 400 yards above the ferry, and was known as ' Hoghole.^ Here it was where ' The rogues slighted nie into the river with as little remorse as they would have drowned a bitch's blind puppies, fifteen i' the litter : and 240 History of Berkshire. you may know by my size, that I have a kind of alacrity in sinking ; if the bottom were as deep as hell I should down. I had been drowned, but that the shore was shelvy and shallow ; a death that I abhor ; for the water swells a man ; and what a thing should I have been, when I had been swelled ! I should have been a mountain of mummy.' But it will be vain to seek for that oak where, — ' An old tale goes, that Heme the Hunter, Sometime a keeper here in Windsor Forest, Doth all the winter-time, at still midnight, Walk round about an oak, with great ragg'd horns ; And there he blasts the tree, and takes the cattle ; And makes milch-kine yield blood, and shakes a chain In a most hideous and dreadful manner : You have heard of such a spirit ; and well you know, The superstitions idle-headed eld Received, and did deliver to our age, This tale of Heme the Hunter for a truth.' Whether Heme ever lived as keeper of the forest in the reign of Elizabeth is more than doubtful, and no allusion to the legend exists except in Shakespeare's play. All that is known is that ' Rycharde Home, yeoman,' was examined as one of the hunters, for hunting in his Majesty's forests, when Henry VHL was king. So that the quaint story of the 'merry wives' has localized a certainly obscure tradition in the near neighbourhood of Windsor.* Heme's oak is first shown as ' Sir John FalstafTs oak ' in Collier's map of the Little Park, in 1742, in Queen Eliza- beth's Walk ; and by it is indicated a pit or undulation of the ground. It was in this that the fairy Queen, ' sweet Anne Page,' with her fairies were ' couched hard by Heme's oak, with obscure lights ; which, at the very instant of Falstaff's and our meeting, they will at once display to the night.' It has been partially filled up, owing to the carelessness and indifference of those who completed the present altera- tions ; though it can still be recognised by the thorn trees '■^ ' Annals of Windsor.' Its Toivns and Villages. 241 planted there. But of Heme's oak there is now no trace. It died in 1790, and was destroyed six years later; and though to a dead and withered tree is still attached the story, it is but a counterfeit. The oak, as shown from undoubted pictures, was a ' pollard,' and huge ; that now marked is a maiden tree, and small. All the oldest known trees near the dell have had their tops lopped at one time or the other.* On the borders of the forest, by the road to Bagshot, is the racecourse of Ascot, which, together with its ap- proaches, was directed by Parliament to be ' kept and con- tinued as a racecourse for the public use at all times.' The races are of no great antiquity, having been founded by the Duke of Cumberland, uncle of George III., the breeder of the famous racehorse Eclipse. The Duke, finding that from the time of Charles II.' racing had languished, perhaps from want of more support from the Crown and higher aristocracy,' revived it. 'This was not effected without an immensity of expense, and an incredible succession of losses to the sharks, Greeks, and blacklegs of the time, by whom H.R.H. was surrounded and, of course, incessantly pillaged. Having, however, the military maxim of " Persevere and conquer," he was not deterred from the object of his pursuit till he became pos- sessed of the best stock, best blood, and most numerous stud in the kingdom.^ t Whether this revival was worth the expense and trouble is a question that posterity will settle for us. It is by no means impossible to imagine a generation arising that would relegate the sport to the obscurity whence the Royal Duke removed it. Other popular amusements, such as cock- fighting at Windsor on the one side, and the bull-baiting at Wokingham on the other side of the great racecourse, have had their day and have gone without regret, and a ■■'• ' Annals of Windsor.' f Quarterly Review. 16 242 History of Berkshire, time may come when the Ascot Meeting too will be gathered among the perished sports. Like pugilism, both cock-fighting and bull-baiting had their devoted adherents, both had their prophets who fore- saw the downfall of the country with the downfall of their favourite recreation ; and history will repeat itself, no doubt. Virginia Water also owes its construction and adornment to the Georges, for both the Duke of Cumberland and George IV. delighted in its beauties. But they were created, none the less, at the expense of other things and places ; for the stones of an ancient cromlech which is said to have stood on Bagshot Heath were utilized for its cascade, and the so-called temple is formed from Roman fragments brought from the African coast near Tunis. There are few other places of general interest in the old forest area. On the Wokingham road the first place of note is Clewer (Cleworth). Its Church of St. Andrew has a curious brass referring to a contest between the men of this village and that of Bray.* It states that ' He that lyeth under this stone. Shot with one hundred men, himself alone. This is true that I doe say, The match was shot at Oldfield, at Bray. I will tell you before you goe hence, That his name was Martyne Expence.' Nothing more is known of him ; but he did his duty, and apparently not without self-satisfaction. Its other church — that of St. Stephen, built in 1874 — was built for a Protestant, or rather Anglican, Convent for ladies, to which a reformatory is attached. Farther on is the Park of Easthampstead, holding once an ancient house, long since destroyed, which was a royal residence. Richard II. used it as a hunting-box in 1381 ; Queen * Murray's ' Handbook,' p. 27. Its Towns and Villacres. 243 Katharine of Aragon was occupying it in 1531, when the King, her husband, sent some of the members of his Council to persuade her to agree to a divorce ; and James I. resided here in the summers of 1622 and 1623. The only town in the forest, with the municipality of an alderman and eleven burgesses, is that of Woking- ham, Oakingham, or Ockingham. Its principal claim to notice is that, owing to the bequest of an enthusiast who thought all things were permanent, bull-baiting was annually kept up until about 1840. This George Staverton, in 1 66 1, left a house for the purpose of buying a bull to be baited and killed at Christmas, the meat of which fed the poor and the sale of its offal gave them shoes. Thus evil was done that good might come. Round its inn, too, ' The Rose/ gathers the celebrated story in which Gay, Swift, Pope, and Arbuthnot, detained here by stress of weather, amused themselves by immortalizing in a poem the charms of the daughter of the landlord. Yet notwithstanding her beauty, and the fact that she had an ill-used lover, who died of love at the early age of twenty-seven in the old Manor House of Arborfield, described in ' Our Village ' under the name of ' The Old House at Aberleigh,' she remained a spinster for sixty-seven years. The pining lover was the last heir male of the Standens of Arbor- field.* Wokingham Church contains a monument to a native of the town, Bishop Godwin of Wells, who died in 1590. The Northern road from Windsor probably runs near that which was formed by the junction of the British track from Old Windsor Ferry and that from Egham Wick and Staines, which met at St. Leonard's Hill. Roman remains and bronze implements point to early occupation at the meeting of the ancient roads. A bronze lamp found there forms the crest of the Society of Antiquaries, and the Roman site became that of a chantry or hermitage dcdi- * Murray's ' Handbook.' 16 — 2 244 History of Berkshire. cated to St. Leonard. Thence, following the high land, the Windsor road continued to Bray Wick. This village of Bray has, like Farringdon, given its name to a Hundred ; and though it has never occupied a promi- nent position it may, like Speen,have the interest attaching to a possible Roman origin. It may have been Bibracte,* though there are no traces of buildings to identify it ; but coins and other relics show that there was a line of traffic here in Roman times. 'Nothing more strikingly points out the very superficial character of the Roman holding than the utter disappearance of the majority of its towns. They were not of the Britons' choosing, and so they burnt them and went their way. Silchester is a farm, Speen a tiny hamlet, Thamesis little better ; and if Bray be Bibracte, it has stood still too. Other places prospered; but the bulk of the Roman occupation sites never did. Bray belonged to the Confessor before the Conquest, where there was a Saxon church, of which Reinbald was priest ; and many of the local land-tenures date far back to these and early feudal days. Thus it was held by ' Werkland,' whereby the holder had to do some proportion of work on the lord's land ; by ' Akerman ' service, when the tenant paid ' 2s. 6d. rent; and the service belonging to that tenure — namely, that on his death a pig value I2d. was due to the lord for a heriot.' The ancient Saxon church was taken down in 1293, when the ' Early-English ' building was erected, to which 'Decorated' work has since been added. It was ornamented in diaper and fresco, and, till the present century, had the carved-oak rood-screen intact. It is chiefly noteworthy for its changeable vicar, whose Protestant communion-table is still shown ; and there are brasses to some of the Norreys family who once occupied the old Manor House of Ockholt.t 'This Vicar of Bray, when King Henry VIII. "- Bibracte, in France, has been corrupted into Bray. (.' Topog. Descrip. Berks.') t Vide p. C47. Its Tozvns and Villages. 245 shook off the Papal supremacy, preached in the most zealous manner against the innovations and encroachments made by the Court Qi Rome ; and when the Five Articles were published, he vindicated idolatry with all the strength of prostituted logic. In the reign of Edward VI., when the Protestant religion was established by Act of Parlia- ment, the vicar renounced all his former principles and became a strenuous advocate of the Reformation. On the accession of Queen Mary he again vindicated the doctrines of the Church of Rome, and became a zealous Papist, inveighing with great acrimony against all those worthy persons who abhorred the Romish religion. He enjoyed his benefice until the reformed religion was established in the reign of Oueen Elizabeth, when he once more changed with the times, and enjoyed his vicarage till his death.' Thus he was merely a one-idea'd man, and his creed was very simple and entirely comprehensible. ' I have always kept,' he says, ' my principle, which is this — to live and die the Vicar of Bray.' ' To teach my flock I never missed, Kings were by God appointed ; And they are damned who dare resist Or touch the Lord's anointed. And this is law I will maintain Until my dying day, sir, That, whatsoever king shall reign, I'll be the Vicar of Bray, sir.' Certainly he acted up to his principles. Through the varied religious conditions of the reign of Henry VIII., Edward VI., INIary, and Elizabeth, he maintained his vicarage and changed his views with the prevailing creed. With his ' cure of souls ' he could have had but little real sympathy, though he must from time to time have ap- pealed to each section in turn. From Papist to Protestant, 246 History of Berkshire. from Protestant to Papist, and from Papist to Protestant again, he fully carried out the view of being all things to all men. He was not the only clergyman who was thus remark- able. The records of West Ilsley tell of two others. Antonio de Dominis, Archbishop of Spalatro, was con- verted to Protestantism, and on flying to England was made Vicar there by James I. in 1616. He preached much against his former faith, as most such converts do ; but, dissatisfied at being made only Dean of Windsor, he re- canted, on promise of pardon from Gregory XV., and returning to Rome was imprisoned, under the orders of the Inquisition, in the Castle of St. Angelo, where he died in 1625. His successor. Dr. Goodman, Bishop of Gloucester, was a devoted adherent of the Church and of the cause of Charles I., who visited him at his rectory in 1644 ; but he, notwithstanding, trimmed to the varying fortunes of the time by dedicating a 'Discourse on the Trinity' to Puritan Crom- well. But he did not go far enough ; for, refusing to sign the Seventeen Canons of Doctrine and Discipline, he 'was spoiled, plundered, and utterly undone,' and sought refuge within the bosom of the Church of Rome, being, as Fuller says, though it is hard to sympathize with him in his tenderness for the versatile vicar, through the 'vile and detestable practice of those who engross to themselves the name of Protestants . . . scandalized into Popery.' All that can be said of him is that he tried to play the game of his cleverer brother of Bray, and did not succeed. A small chantry to the Virgin, which stood near the Church of Bray, was converted into a school-house, and the churchyard possesses a fine lych-gate with rooms over it, one of the timbers of which bears the date of 1448. Archery meetings were held here in Ehzabeth's time. The Volunteers of Bray challenged the Company of Clewer, and Martyne Expence carried off the laurels of the day, as Its Towns and Villages. 247 appears by the inscription on his tombstone in Ciewer Church.* Two ancient and winding (possibly Romanized) British - trackways must have led north from Bray by Maidenhead Thicket to Cookham, and so north to High Wycombe, and west to Reading. The former must have gone very close to the Manor House of Ockwells (or Ockholt) that was built by Sir John Norris in 1466. The manor itself had been originally granted, in 1267^ to Richard de Norreys, the cook of Queen Eleanor, wife of Henry HI. ; but it does not appear that any building preceded that now in existence. It is quaintly gabled, with much old oak carving, and contains a large oak- wainscoted hall, with a musicians' gallery at the end, and a deep square-bayed window extending almost from the ground to the roof This at one time contained much stained glass, on which the arms of Henry VL, with antelopes as supporters ; of Queen Margaret, with the antelope and eagle; those of Norreys, with the beaver, and their motto, ' Feythfully serve ;' as well as those of the Abbeys of Westminster and Abingdon, the Beauforts of Somerset, the Earl of March, Henry Duke of W^arwick, the De la Poles, Dukes of Sussex, and others. It remained in the Norreys family till 1786, and is now the property of Mr, Grenfell of Taplow Court. There is a quaint legend told of Hawthorn Hill in the neighbouring Manor of Crutchfield. A certain man who dwelt near there (how long ago the story sayeth not) dreamed on three consecutive occasions that some one appeared to him, and told him that if he would but go to London Bridge he would ' hear of something to his advan- tage.' Being of an unsuspicious and confiding nature, he obeyed the ghostly visitant ; and while looking around him on the great city he was accosted by a London tradesman, who found out his errand. He gravely warned him of "■ See page 242. 24S Histoy of Berkshire. the futility of trusting to the pleasant visions of dreanriland, for that he himself had dreamt a similar dream, recom- mending him to go and dig on HawtJiorn Hill, where he, in his turn, would find * something to his advantage.' Of course, even if he knew the place, which he didn't, he would not go, he said ; and so the Berkshire man returned home, and himself dug up the pot of money on the hill he knew so well. But this was not all. On the pot were certain strange characters. These, after a while, some Oxford scholars drinking at his inn, for he was a publican, de- ciphered, and they ran thus : ' Beneath the place where this pot stood. There is another twice as eood.' to^ Needless to say the favourite of fortune and of dreams carried out the will of the original depositor. Like Gil Bias of Santillane he found the ' soul ' of a possible licentiate in yet another hoard, and therefore changed the name of his inn from the ' Woodman ' to the ' Money- Pot.'* The Treasury did not trouble about treasure- trove apparently, or perhaps never heard of it in those days. Maidenhead,t at the junction of the Bray-Cookham track- way with that from Twyford to Taplow, is said to have been originally named South Arlington or Sudlington. The tradition as to its taking its name from the head of a British virgin, one of the 11,000 who were martyred with St. Ursula at Cologne, is of course without foundation ; for the legend probably arose from the death of two ladies, Ursula and Undecimilla, the latter name being taken to mean ' undecima mille,' eleven thousand, rather than a * Hundred of Bray. Rev. C. Kerry. f Called Maidenhuth in 12S8, and Maydenhead in 1500. Partly derived froni ' hithe,' a wharf for timber. See note on ' Culhamhithe,' in account of Abingdon, where it seems to have been used to express a ' ferry.' It may have been, also, partly derived from the ' Mai dun,' or great hill of Taplow, on the opposite bank. Its Towns and Villages. 249 proper name. It was first incorporated in 135 1, under the name of the Fraternity or Guild of the Brothers and Sisters of Maidenhythe, and again in the reign of James II. by the style of the Mayor, Bridge-master, and Burgesses. Its bridge is one of the most ancient in Berkshire, if the statement that there was a grant for its repair in 1298 be true ; but Camden says that it was not erected till 1460, when it took the place of the ferry at ' Babham End,' near Cookham, by which then ran a branch of the Great Western road. A hollow way, much overgrown, marks the line taken by ihe latter up Clieveden Hill. But whatever date may be attached to it, it was a wooden bridge on piles, for the repair of which the Corporation was allowed three oak-trees annually from the forests of Windsor, It was replaced by a stone bridge in 1772, and conveyed one of the Western roads, though not the most important. Its neighbourhood was, so Leland says, ' infested with robbers for 5 miles in extent.' So dangerous was the ' thicket ' to the west of the town in 1255 that orders were given to widen the road through the gxQdX firth-- between Maidenhead and Twyford. Even as late as Elizabeth's days the Vicar of Henley, who served the cure at Maidenhead, ' was allowed an extra salary to atone for the danger of passing ' through the thicket. The robbers were not respecters of persons, and, like Robin Hood, robbed a fat priest as well as a lean layman. The name of ' Robin Hood's Arbour' near here may be a curious corruption of a ' cold harbour,'-|* which had sur- vived the Roman times to be added to the name of a notorious popular robber, and modified to its present form. There is a tradition that ' James I., when hunting one day, rode on before his hounds to search for luncheon, and came to the inn at Maidenhead; but the landlord lamented '-■ Ffriedd (pronounced/rZ/Z:) is Welsh for a wild district, t Vide p. 51. 250 History of Berkshire. that he had nothing left in his house, for the Vicar of Bray and his curate were upstairs, and had ordered all that there was, but perhaps they would allow him to join them. King James went upstairs and asked permission, which was glumly given by the vicar, but cordially by the curate. All dinner-time the King told so many stories that he made them roar with laughter. At last came the bill, when the King, searching his empty pockets, protested that he had left his purse behind him, and could not pay ; upon which the vicar angrily protested that he would not pay for him, but the curate expressed his pleasure in being able to make some return for the amusement he had given them. The bill paid, they all went out upon the balcony, when the huntsmen, riding into the town, and seeing the King, went down upon one knee in the street, as was then the custom. The vicar, overwhelmed with confusion, flung himself at the King's feet, and implored forgiveness, to which the King replied, ' I shall not turn you out of your living, and you shall always remain Vicar of Bray ; but I shall make the curate a Canon of Windsor, whence he will be able to look down both upon you and your vicarage.'* It was at the Greyhound Inn of Maidenhead that Charles I. met his children in 1647, ^"d thence went to Caversham, where they stayed two days together. Turning back to Bray again, the churches of White Waltham, Shottesbrooke, St. Lawrence Waltham, Rush- combe, and Twyford, mark approximately the line of the ancient road to the westward from Bray. White Waltham is unimportant ; but Mr. Bower was vicar here till 1644, after sixty-seven years of pastorate. He had somewhat similar, though less pro- nounced, feelings than his brother of Bray ; or, at least, entertained an equally lofty opinion of the position of the Sovereign. In preaching before Elizabeth, he addressed * Murray's 'Handbook,' p. 85. Its Towns and Villages. 251 her first as 'my royal/ and then as 'my noble' Oueen which caused her Majesty to say, ' What ! am I ten o-roats worse than I was ?' Overcome by the remark, he never again preached a sermon ; but read a homily, possibly to the greater benefit of his congregation than heretofore. Near this was an ancient manor-house, once occupied by Henry VII.'s son, Arthur. Shottesbrooke Church, situated in 'a manor that was owned by Alward the goldsmith, in Rufus's time, under the tenure of providing charcoal to make the Crown and Regalia, is of pure Decorated architecture, and was built in 1337 by Sir William Tressell. The latter's tomb is in the N. transept, and is surmounted by a richly-wrought canopy of Gothic arches. The body is said, by Hearne, to be ' wrapt up in lead, with his wife in leather at his feet ;' and his daughter Margaret, Lady Pembrugge, lies near him under a slab with a good brass. Sir R. Povvle was buried here in 1678, as also was Sir T. Noke, ' who, for his great age and virtuous life, was reverenced by all men, and com- monly called Father Xoke.' Lady Hoby, of Bisham, the sister of Lady Bacon and Lady Burleigh, wrote his Latin epitaph. There is a local tradition that when the builder was laying the last stone on the top of the spire, he called for wine to drink the King's health, and after drinking it he fell to the ground, was dashed to pieces, and was buried on the spot. Over him was placed a stone with his last inter- jection, '01 O !' as the sole inscription. Neither Rush- combe nor St. Lawrence Waltham are of importance, except to notice that the large number of Roman coins found at the latter place identify it as a British-Roman occupation site.* Thus in the valleys of the Thames and Ock similar points have been successively occupied. This was not a matter of accident. Places originate and grow for well- ^ ' Coins at Lawrence Waltham ; Hundred of Bray,' pp. 154, 1S7. 252 History of Berkshire. known reasons. Thus Wantage, at the junction of the Portway, the Ickleton Street, and the Hungerford track, was British and Saxon, and nothing more. Farringdon grew up where five roads meet, and was British and Saxon ; and, sharing sh'ghtly in the Norman and Stuart wars, had a Httle longer history. Both these places, then, are at the union of many roads, and owe their existence to this fact only. Abingdon and Wallingford were British, Saxon, and the last certainly Roman holdings ; both were also mediaeval. While the one began to rise because of its Abbey, the other rose because of its Castle. Both shared fully in the troubles of the Civil Wars, and both continued to exist as towns because they covered bridges on the Thames to which many roads necessarily converged. Their growth is there- fore partly due to geographical, partly to political causes ; and the history of Wallingford is the more continuous of the two because of its ancient bridge, which carried at one time the bulk of the Western trade. Abingdon has a history beyond the death of the Abbey which created it, because of its more modern bridges, made by the energy of the Guild of the Holy Trinity, which drew through it some of the Western traffic. Lastly, Bray, with its offshoot, modern Maidenhead, and Old Windsor, with its new offspring, modern Windsor, are to some extent British, Roman, and Saxon, but share little in their stories. Bray ceased to be important when the Roman lines of communication which had created it were abandoned ; and Maidenhead would have been but a ferry and a timber-wharf on the borders of the robber- infested forest but for its thirteenth — or more probably fifteenth — century bridge. Similarly Old Windsor died, as Wantage did, with the disuse of its Saxon palace; and New Windsor grew up with its Castle, and had at first no other raison d'etre. Its origin was therefore political, and its existence is largely Its Towns and Villages. 253 so still. But with the construction of its bridges its history became general rather than special, and it ceased to be the mere cluster of houses, sheltered under the Castle walls, to hold and supply the retainers thereof. Thus along the valley of the Thames, the only ancient holdings that live as towns and until lately returned Members to Parliament are those which, in the earliest times as well as now, kept ward over the fords and bridges of the stream. Turning to the valley of the Kennet, the same principle applies. Along its course Newbury and Reading certainly covered fordways. Other places may have done so in later days, but never continuously in early times. Newbury's history is chiefly that of the Civil Wars, though it may be classed among the most ancient towns in Berkshire with regard to its origin. It seems probable that the original situation of the British hamlet was on the heights north-west of the present town, on the upland of Speen. In those early days the forest area, extending from Windsor to Hungerford, doubtless occupied the whole of the Kennet and Lambourne Valleys to the lower slopes of the Wickham ridge, as the presence of tree-remains in the peat proves, and a narrow trackway wound through it, uniting Wash Common on the south with the high land on the north, where stood the Celtic village of Speen, This point, commanding the only passage of the forest and the Middle Kennet, was occupied by the Romans, as pottery, coins, and tiles have been found in the grounds of Mr. Wyld's house there, though no distinct traces of either the British or Roman vallum now remain. It was merely at first one of the small * castra stativa,' which held a Roman outpost to overawe the subdued districts ; and thence, as the county became civilized, may well have been transferred to the present site of Newbury.'- - \V. Money, F.S.A. 2 54 History of Berkshire. Its name of Speen is undoubtedly derivable from Spines^ the Latin name for the station that must have stood, at any rate, near here ; and the presence of ancient rose- brambles and thorn-trees, the latter common in many old occupation sites, would give colour to this view.* Furthermore, the discovery, many years since, of a Roman cemetery near the present railway-station of New- bury seems to point to the final transference of the Roman holding to the fordway of the river itself.f The neighbourhood was wooded even in Saxon times, for ' Deen's Wood ' and ' Wood Speen ' are survivals of the existence of ancient forests ; and King Cynewulf gave as a hunting-chase to Abbot Bethune of Abingdon 'all the wood which is called Spene.' But whatever village existed there had fallen into in- significance, compared with the town that Saxon Ulward in the Confessor's days possessed on the Kennet. It pos- sessed fifty-one hagcB, when Reading had but twenty-nine ; and in the Norman survey Ulward's town became Uluritone, the town of Ernulf de Hesdin ; while Spone, the 'vil,' and Bagnore, in the hundred of TaceJiani, became the appanage of Hunfrid Vis de Leu.| Soon it became Newberie§ — possibly when the Castle was built by the new possessors of the town, the Norman Earls of Perche ; and then it passed to William of Pem- broke, the Earl Marshal, and eventually to the Crown. John frequently visited it from his palace at Freemantle Park, near Kingsclere, and is even said to have taken refuge in the house of a poor spinning-woman when pursued by his insurgent Barons. Be that as it may, he built the alms- * ' In the Midland and Eastern counties the term "spinney," as applied to a wild underwood, or coppice, probably has the same deriva- tion.' — Godwin. t 'Typog. Descrip. Berks.' J 'History of Newbury.' § Variously spelt : in the reign of John, Neubury and Neubiry ; Edward IV., Nubury ; Henry VI., Newebury ; Elizabeth, Newbery and Newberye. Its Tow7is and Villazes. -55 houses of St. Bartholomew, and furnished it with a chapel and priest's house, near which a piece of ground called the ' Litten ' long marked the site of a place of the dead by- its Saxon name. Its Castle was the scene of one stout siege, in which King Stephen took it by assault ; but it does not appear to have been put to further military use, and even its site is doubtful. It was connected with the insurrection of Tyler, in which Richard of Wallingford took so prominent a part; for in 1450 one of the 'quarters' of Ramsay, a principal leader, was spiked on the gateway of the Royal Castle.* Among other persons to whom the Manor of Newbury was granted were Queen Jane Seymour and Anne of Denmark, as a jointure. The neighbouring Manors of Wood Spene and Benham Valence, which had taken its name from Valence, Earl of Pembroke, its possessor, in 1250, were united in the hands of John Baptist de Castillion in 1565, by the gift of them to him from Elizabeth, because of 'his faithful services ;' and these finally were purchased by the Earls of Craven in 1630, whose descendant, in 1775, occupied Benham Place with his wife, the Margravine of Anspach. Both she and Castillion lie in the old church of Speen — the knight in an altar tomb, on which his armoured effigies rests ; and the lady under a monument that Canova de- signed. Newbury had become a flourishing seat of the cloth trade in the fifteenth century, and produced two men of note who may be reckoned among the chief worthies of the town. These were John Winchcombe and Thomas Dolman. To the latter was granted in 1557 the Manor of Shaw; and either he or his son built in 15S1 the stately Elizabethan mansion which took so prominent a part in the second battle of Newbury. He seems also to have held land in Speen ; but beyond being a knighted sheriff • Trans. N. D. F. C, vol. ii., p. 242. 256 History of Berkshire. of Berks in 1588, neither he nor his descendants, several of whom were also knighted, seem to have left any mark on the county history. He was not so successful as his rival clothier Winchcombe, nor did he leave so good a name behind, if the doggrel of his time is to be believed, which runs : ' Lord, have mercy on us, miserable sinners, Thomas Dolman has built a new house, and turn'd away all his spinners.' He was little affected by the opinions of others appa- rently, for over his portico he placed the motto, ' (p9ov€pc<; fiTjBeU eiairco ;' and over the window above of the porch the retort to the above couplet : ' Edentulus vescentium dentibus invidet, Et oculos caprarum talpa contemnit.' Sir Thomas Dolman, Clerk of the Privy Council, and M.P. for Reading in 1661, and who was owner of the house during the Civil War, fought by the side of the King in his own garden during the second battle of Newbury. For this he was knighted ; and from some episode of the fight, the family motto of the Dolmans became : ' " King and law 1" Shouts Dolman of Shaw.' At length the house, like so many other Berkshire pro- perties, fell into feminine hands, and so was purchased by the Duke of Chandos, until it finally came into the hands of Mr. Eyre. It was little damaged during the Civil War ; and the only trace of its having been under fire is the heap of cannon-balls that have been found at times in the garden, and the hole in the wainscoting of the east bow-window, which tradition says was made by a shot aimed at Charles I. It is difficult to tell from which direction it was fired ; but the hole is guarded by a brass plate, on which is inscribed : ' Hanc juxta fenestram, Rex Carolus Its Towns and Villages. 257 primus, instante obsidione scloppopetras ictu tantum non trajectus fuit. Die Octob. xxvii., MDCXLIV.' The story of John Smallwode or Winchcombe is more extensive. 'Jack of Newbury' was a poor clothier, who, by his energy, raised himself to be one of the largest employers of labour in the county. He kept 100 looms at work in his house, each managed by a man and a boy ; and when the Scotch invaded England in the reign of Henry VHI., he mustered fifty mounted men and fifty pikemen for the service of the King, ' as well armed and better clothed than any.' The latter statement is not astonishing ; and it is to be hoped that the ballad of the ' Newberrie Archers ' does not overrate the value of their exploits on the hard-fought field of Flodden. Henry VHI. and Queen Katherine visited the gallant clothier on the return of the former from France, and were royally feasted in the house, which is now an inn. Henry would have knighted him, but he declined the honour. He had a greater object in view than that ; for he was a champion of free trade. He petitioned that ' by reason of the wars many merchant strangers were prohibited from coming to England ; and also our merchants, in like sort, were forbidden to have dealings with France and the Low Countries.' Chancellor Wolsey would not listen to him. He thought that ' Jack of Newbury, if well examined, would be found to be infected with Luther's spirit.' So he was, as far as energy and determination and a certain habit of plain speaking went. He liked not the delays in pushing his suit ; so he answered the Cardinal's menacing remark by the harder and even less courteous rejoinder that ' if my Lord Chancellor's father had been no hastier in killing calves than he in despatching poor men's suits, I think he would never have worn a mitre.' Jack's persistency, and probabl\- his previous helpfulness 17 258 History of Berkshire. and hospitality to the King, gained its reward. The clothiers got the order ' that merchants should freely traffic with one another, and the proclamation thereof should be made as well on the other side of the sea as the land.' So he prospered, and his descendants after him. He largely contributed to the re-building of the parish church, in which he directed by will in 15 19 that he should be buried with his wife, and a ' stone to be layde upon us bothe.' The brass thereon contains the inscription : * Off yo charitie pray for the soule of John Smalwode als Winchcom and Alys his wyfe. John dyed the xv day of February, A°- dm. M°CCCCC°XIX.' ' He was the most considerable clothier (without fancy or fiction^ England ever beheld.'* When Queen Elizabeth visited the town during her many 'progresses,' she seems to have lodged with the son of the great manufacturer, to whom was granted in 1539 the estate of Bucklebury, where, in 1540, he built a house, and where his widow lived after his death. Strutt, in his 'Habits of the People of England,' thus speaks of her: ' She came out of the kitchen in a fair train gowne, stuck full of silver pins, having a white cap upon her head with cuts of curious needle work under the same, and an apron before her as white as driven snow.' Her wedding-dress is also specified in the same history in the following manner : ' The bride being habited in a gowne of sheep's russet and a kirtle of fine worsted, her head attired with a biliment of gold, and her hair as yellow as gold hanging down behind her, which was curiously combed and plaited according to the manner of those days, was led to church between two boys with bride laces and rosemary tied about their silken sleeves.' The maidens employed in spinning are prettily described in the following lines in the book just referred to : * Fuller's Worthies. Its Towns and Villages. 259 'And in a chamber close beside Two hundred maidens did abide, In petticoats of stainsmet red, And milk-white kerchers on their head. Their smock-sleeves like to winter snow, That on the western mountains blow, And each sleeve with a silken band Was fairly tied at the hand. These pretty maids did never lin. But in the place all day did spin.' The Tudor mansion was pulled down in 1833, when a subterranean passage was discovered, and some traces of ancient architecture. The last heir male of the Winch- combes, Sir Henry, died in 1703, leaving daughters, one of whom, the Lady Frances, founded a charity school in the village of Thatcham in 1707, and married Lord Boling- broke. His friend Swift visited him, and wrote, as was his wont, to Stella : ' Mr. Secretary was a perfect country- gentleman at Bucklebury. He smoked tobacco with one or two neighbours ; he inquired after the wheat in such a field ; he went to visit his hounds, and knew all their names. He and his lady saw me up to my chamber just in the country-fashion. His house is just in the midst of ;^3,ooo a year he had by his lady, who is descended from Jack of Newbury, of whom books and ballads are written, and there is an old picture of him in the room.' Another of Sir Henry's daughters married John Packer, Clerk of the Privy Seal, and secretary to George Villiers, second Duke of Buckingham, who owned the Castle of Donnington during its famous siege. The church that the founder of this great and useful family restored, and the tower of which he is said to have built, contains other monuments of interest. Here were buried Sir John Wayle, the last Roman Catholic vicar of the old time ; Dr. Whyte, the first Protestant rector ; and then the son of another Newbury clothier, Dr. Twisse, writer and divine, and also chaplain to the 17 — 2 26o History of Berkshire. daughter of James I. He had all the energy of the leaders of the craft at which his father worked, and lost all his property from taking the losing side during the civil troubles, Benjamin Woodbridge, the first Nonconformist minister, was equally in earnest. He was a fierce opponent of Sansonists and Quakers, whom, with quaint inconsistency, he classed with Turks or infidels. They did not protest more than he did. Though disestablished on the Restora- tion, he still preached privately till 1672, when the Act of Indulgence released him, and he died in peace at Engle- field in 1684. Joseph Sayer, who succeeded him, was another determined man. He was minister from 1666 to 1674; and when the Five-Mile Act of 1665 was passed, he had the ground measured so as to be sure.* Whichever side they took, there was a grim unforgiving earnestness about these good men of Newbury. They had proved it before this. There were sects of 'faithful favourers' here in the early part of Henry VHI.'s reign ; and though undisturbed for fifteen years, they were then betrayed, and three or four were burnt, while ' six or seven score' were abjured.f Christopher Shoemaker, one of them, tried to improve a certain John Hay by reading the Bible to him in 15 18. His motives were good, and courage undoubted ; but he, also, was burnt therefor. Julinus or Julius Palmer, Fellow of Magdalen College in the reign of Edward VI., had been so strong a Catholic at Oxford as to assist at the burning of the bishops. The effect of the scene, or true conviction, made him change his views. He became as stout a Protestant, and took the mastership of the school at Reading ; but resigned it, to return to it later with his Catholic mother's curse. He was imprisoned then at Reading, and charged with treason and sedition ; - ' Hist, of Newbury.' f Ibid. lis Towns and Villages. 261 but these could not be proved, so they tried the likelier charge of heresy, under Dr. Jeffrey, who held a visitation at Newbury on the 15th July, 1556. Of course, his trial was a fraud, and his judge had pre-judged him ; and now let Foxe, the historian of English martyrs^ tell his own tale : ' When they were come to the place where they should suffer, they all 3 fell to the ground ; and Palmer, with an audible voice, pronounced the 31'' Psalm, but the other 2 made their prayers secretly to God .... and so forthwith they put off their raiment, and went to the stake and kissed it. And when they were bound to the post, Palmer said, " Good people, pray for us that we may persevere to the end ; and, for Christ's sake, beware of Popish teachers, for they deceive you." As he spake this a servant of one of the bailiffs threw a faggot at his face, that the blood gushed out in divers places. For the which fact the sheriff reviled him, calling him cruel tormentor ; and with his walking staff brake his head, that the blood likewise ran about his ears. When the fire was kindled and began to take hold upon their bodies, they lift up their hands towards heaven, and quietly and cheerily, as though they had felt no smart, they cried, " Lord Jesu strengthen us ; Lord Jesu assist us ; Lord Jesu receive our souls !" And so they continued, without any struggling, holding up their hands, and knocking their hearts, and calling upon Jesu, until they had ended their mortal lives.'* They died, as John Winchcombe would have died, true to their convictions. The town had other royal visitors besides Elizabeth, in whose reign it was still of such importance as to furnish for the Scotch War 1,500 men, while Reading only pro- vided 1,000, 'besides other rascals.' Here passed James I. with his Queen, who unmasked to please the cheering people. Charles L visited it during the first battle of •"■ 'Hist, of Newbury.' 262 History of Berkshire. Newbury, as did Charles II. after he became King ; and here came Cromwell, afterwards the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England. But with the decline of the clothing trade the importance of Newbury fell too. Its chief interest lies in the prominent part it took in the Civil War ; but when these days passed Newbury subsided into a quiet county town, where its inn, the Pelican, drew from Ouin the lines that — ' The famous Inn at Speenhamland, That stands below the Hill, May well be called the Pelican, From its enormous Bill.' The bridge over the Kennet which led there was of wood until 1770, when it was built of stone. For all the early part of the county history, it was the chief town in the valley of the Kennet, for it was a great manufacturing centre for clothing, and nine great roads converged on its permanent bridge. As time went on, canals improved its communications, and then a railway; and with the new north and south line it may once more return to its original important position, that of the meeting of lines of traffic from the north and south as well as the east and west. The valley of the Kennet contains much of historical interest besides the town of Ulward. The Manor of Kintbury, the Chenetberie of the Survey, deriving its name from the ancient Beorgh by the Kennet, belonged to the Crown in 1086 ; but afterwards it passed into the hands of the Nunneries of Ambresbury and Nuneaton. It had been a ' holy place ' in Saxon days,* so its connection with these religious houses is a curious sur- vival. What did not go to them went to a certain ' John Belet,' who built a moated house, which, beginning as Beletston, became Balsden ; and this, after many vicissi- tudes, became vested in the hands of the Darrells of * See p. Si. Its Tozv7ts and Villages. 263 Littlecote, and then passed to Mr. Dixon, of Wallington. Few traces of this ancient house exist, which followed, though earlier, the fate of the Elizabethan mansion of Bucklebury, which John of Winchcombe, the son of the celebrated Newbury clothier, built there in 1540. Around the site of the latter, superstition still lingers. A chariot with six black horses, driven by headless postillions and a white lady (by way of contrast, one may suppose), haunts the site of the Winchcombes' house. Quaint country customs long survived at Bucklebury. On Mid-Lent Sunday young people returned to see their parents and feast with them, and so it got the name of ' Mothering ' or ' Furmity ' Sunday. On St. Valentine's Day children still go from door to door singing rustic rhymes.* Ufton Court, which was built by the Perkins in 1662, still remains intact. One of its two manors was the property of the Abbey at Reading, but they both passed to Francis Norreys, Earl of Berkshire, and from him to the Perkins who built the house, and finally to the hands of Mr. Benyon. The ancient gabled house is now divided into several dwellings, but it still contains many secret rooms and passages, which were doubtless places of refuge for both priests and laymen in troubled times. Such were not uncommon. Others exist in the Eystons' house at East Hendred, in that of the Throckmortons at Buckland and at Englefield, and there was one in the ancient house of the Besils at Besilsleigh before it was pulled down. In that at Ufton was found two petronels and a crucifix. Ufton is also noteworthy as having been the residence of Arabella Fermor, the Belinda of Pope's ' Rape of the Lock.' Of all the county towns, Reading alone has slowly, but steadily and without check, increased in prosperity, and has probably, therefore, a more continuous if less eventful history than those which have from time to time taken precedence in Berkshire. In the Domesday Survey '- Newbttry Ncn's. 264 History of Berkshire. it had but twenty-eight houses, and was the seat of the Hundred Court ; and about this time the Nunnery of Elfrida, if not burnt before by the Danes in 1006, must have been destroyed, for William endowed his new-founded Abbey of Battle with its possessions and church. The town's history is, until its dissolution, that of the Abbey, Near it in the fields below the bridge at Caver- sham was fought the combat between Robert de Montford and Henry de Essex (hereditary standard-bearers to the Kings of England), in which the latter, who was charged with cowardice in throwing away the Royal Standard in the Welsh wars of 11 57, was defeated : he became a monk of Reading in 1 163. Chaucer, the poet, whether he lived at Donnington or not, was mixed up with Berkshire men. When John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, married Blanche Plantagenet at Reading, there were feasts and jousts and great re- joicings ; and Chaucer celebrated the occasion in his poem called ' His Dream.' But it was not all pleasure for low as well as high in those days any more than now, for the same year a strong contingent of men with grievances joined the insurrection of Wat Tyler. Nothing is known of them or of what became of them ; but Reading, as well pos- sibly as Newbury and certainly Wallingford, held disaffected spirits then, as they did later in the Civil War, when the two former places espoused the cause of the people. It is only to be hoped they got out of the first tangle as skilfully as Richard of Wallingford did. Still, if nothing was done for the people at large, the nobles obtained for themselves the institution of the new order 'Viscount' in 1389. The Reading churches were ancient, and one at least, that of St. Mary, benefited by the destruction of the Abbey, for when rebuilt in 1550, it helped itself largely to the Abbey materials. The taste for asceticism had not arisen then ; as the churchwardens' accounts show that in 1557 the sum of 3s. was paid 'to the Minstrels and Hobby Horse Its Towns and Villages. 265 upon Maye Daye,' and that 3s. 4d. was given ' to the morrys daunsers and the mynstrelles for mete and drinke at Wliytsontide.' St. Lawrence is considerably the older of the churches, and shows Norman work. It is the ancient municipal church of Reading, and very possibly was removed from an older site, and rebuilt when the Abbey was begun. In it is a fine 'palimpsest,' in a brass to Walter Barton, which had been made from one to Sir John Popham, who had been buried in the cloisters of Charterhouse, London.* The records are full of interest. There is one of a payment ' to a fre mason that shuld have made the arch for the belis of the new organs for iiij dayes an di, by the day vjd- — ijs. iijd/ St. Lawrence shared in all the rejoicings when kings came and went, and rang its bells as impartially for Papist Mary as for Protestant Elizabeth, for English James as for Dutch William, for the Lord Protector as for Charles the King. It rang when these and others came, and on Essex's departure on one occasion the ringers were paid the sum of 3s., ' when the Jinerall was going a way.' Laud, whose father was churchwarden here, left the sum of ;^50 from property in Bray to the vicar of the church. St. Giles's, too, shows Norman work possibly, in the base of the tower ; but the bulk of it belongs to the fourteenth century, and its Norman fragments may well have been plundered from some other building. Its only noteworthy piece of internal history is given in the plan of the church some years ago, when its arrangement of pews in the ' Churchwarden period ' of architecture made it resemble ' the segment of an immense cobweb, of which a vast " three-decker" formed the centre. From this radiated with mathematical precision the pews on floor and gallery, the latter supported on cast-iron columns.' "^ ' Hist, of St. Giles,' by the Rev. C. Kerry. 266 History of Berkshire. In its records, also, are many entries of interest relating to the social and political aspect of affairs. It shared fully in the ups and downs of creeds in the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth; for while, in 1558, the sura of 6d. was ' paid for brede and drincke for the ryngers when the altars were hallowed,' only two years after 2s. 8d. was expended ' for pulling doun the awlters and rydding away of the rubbis.'* Laud, the Archbishop, who did as much as anyone, perhaps, to alienate Charles I. from his people — for his attempt to introduce a more ornate ritual, and the removal of the communion-table from the body of the church to the east end, had aroused the angry opposition of all the advanced Protestants — was born in Broad Street, in 1573. His father, a native of Wokingham, was a clothier of Reading, one of that guild of manufacturers as important here as in other parts of Berks. The great Churchman was not unmindful of his native county. He left £120 a. year to be employed for appren- ticing ten boys born in Reading, and one each in Bray and Wokingham parishes ; and every third year it was to be divided into ^20 shares, which were to be given to maid- servants of the same places who had been three years in one service, so as to ' promote them in marriage.' A sum of ^40 a year was also given to Wokingham to be divided every three years between ' three poor maidens of the age of 18,' under the same conditions ; the money during the intermediate years to be expended in apprenticing poor boys. On Windsor, also, ;^50 was bestowed for a similar purpose. Laud's rise was rapid. He was made Bishop of St. David's, of Bath and Wells, and then of London ; and in 1633 Archbishop of Canterbury. He was an able scholar, energetic and in earnest ; and seems, as Sir James White- C- ( Eccles. Hist, of Reading.' Its Tozuns a7id Villages. 267 lock, one of the judges, said, to have been 'too full of fire, though a just and good man ; and that his want of ex- perience in State matters, and his too much zeal for the Church ceremonies, if he proceeded in the way he was then in, would set the nation on fire.' That he was harsh and stern with those who differed from him is evident ; and to this the isolation and w^ant of knowledge of men and of the world which his collegiate and ecclesiastical training had fostered may be mainly attributed. He, perhaps unintentionally, tried to resuscitate that spirit of priestly domination to which a large section of the community were absolutely antagonistic ; and to the Scotch especially, his opinions with regard to the Liturgy of the Church of England savoured strongly of Romish doctrines. There is no doubt that his views leant in that direction, though he probably never designed to return under the spiritual jurisdiction of the Pontiff. Still, 'he had gone so far towards Rome that even the Papists had hopes of him, and ' (as he says himself) ' actually offered him a Cardinal's Hat.' But he could not bend to the popular storm, and so broke before it. After three years' imprisonment in the Tower, he expiated on the scaffold his want of judgment. Reading had produced clothiers almost as noteworthy as those of Newbury. There was a certain Thomas Cole, who had been known as the ' rich clothier of Reading ;' and John Kendrick, a native of the town, but a clothier in London, was generous towards his county. He seems to have been a descendant of that William Kendrick whose monument is in St. Mary's Church, and who was said to have been descended from Saxon kings.* He left i^4,ooo to found a charity in Newbury, and i^7,500 to further the maintenance of the cloth trade in Reading. In the first case, the money was to be expended in the **' ' Topog. Descrip. Berks.' 268 History of Berkshire. purchase of a ' house and garden for the employment of the poor in the clothing manufactory, and providing them with necessary materials.' But this was not carried out ; and, for a time at least, the produce of the legacy was lent by the Corporation in sums of ;^50 to weavers for three years. The Reading bequest was used in part to build and endow the Jacobian Hall of the Dyers and Wool Merchants, which afterwards became a charity and resi- dence for poor persons. It was named ' The Oracle,' and took its title, so it is said, from the ' Orchel' (Roccella tinctoria), a lichen brought from the Canary Isles, and used in dyeing.* It is curious to notice what able and energetic families followed this trade. The Dolmans, Winchcombes, and Kendricks were all determined men of business, and left strong descendants. John Kendrick's daughter was one of these ; and, though rich, she could not find the man she chose to marry, until, * Being at a noble wedding In the famous town of Reading, A young gentleman she saw, Who belonged to the law ;' and therefore determined that, lawfully or unlawfully, she would convert him into her lord. So the gentleman in question, Benjamin Child, barrister- at-law, was challenged by a person unknown ; and, on going to Calcott Park, was met by a masked lady, who, with the courage of a determined woman, tells him he must ' " Either fight or marry me." Said he, " Madam, pray what mean ye ? In my life I ne'er have seen ye : Pray unmask, your visage show ; Then I'll tell you, ay or no." ' * Murray, * Handbook,' p. 33. I(s Tozvns and Villages. 269 But the lady meant to have her own way as long as she could. * " I will not my face uncover Till the marriage rites are over ; Therefore take you which you will — Wed me, sir, or try your skill." ' The barrister, unaccustomed to such determined plead- ing, resigned himself a captive to her courage, if not to her unknown charms. Married they were, and proceeded to Calcot House, where she leaves him for a while ; but, re- turning unmasked, tells him : * " Sir, my servants have related, That some hours you have waited In my parlour ; tell me who In this house you ever knew ?' And he, not unnaturally puzzled, explains that : ' " Madam, if I have offended, It is more than I intended. A young lady brought me here." " That is true," said she, " my dear." ' Thus the briefless barrister became lord of Calcott Hall and of its mistress. He was a man of peculiar tastes. Not that a fondness for oysters is necessarily peculiar, but the storage of oyster-barrels certainly is ; and this was so favourite a pursuit, that he had a room fitted with these empty relics of departed feasts. This was after the death of his wife, whom he very sincerely mourned — so much so, that he would hardly leave the house ; and his loss may, at least, have tended to his eccentricity. The Kcndrick vault in St. Mary's Church was opened in 1S20, and the leaden coffin of Frances Child, 'moulded to the form of her body and features,' was discovered. She died in 1722; and Benjamin, her husband, joined her in 1767. Reading has had many royal visitants. Ouccn Eliza- 270 History of Berkshire. beth stayed nine times in the town, and a royal seat was appointed for her in St. Lawrence Church. On one of these occasions she went one ' day to dinner to Mr. Comptroller's (Sir William Knollys) at Caversham. Mr. Green, Sheriff of Oxfordshire, met her at the bridge very- well accompanied. Mr. Comptroller made great cheer, and entertained her with many devices of singing, dancing, and playing wenches, and such like. At her going thence she made three knights — Sir Francis Goodwin, Sir Edward Fettiplace, and Sir Richard Warder.' The Abbey at Reading had been turned, at the Dissolu- tion, into a royal palace, and here probably the Queen stayed during her visits to that town. Charles I. spent much time here in 1625 ; but in 1642 the High Sheriff refused to obey his Majesty's commands, and the town was fortified. When the King was there later in his year, many of the inhabitants, true to their convictions, left the town because the mayor and a few others then supported the Royalist cause. In the siege of the following year, 1643, ^^ tower of St. Giles was destroyed. The town passed again into the hands of the Roundheads, and ' April 30th, being Sunday, was spent in preaching and hearing God's Word, the churches being extraordinarily filled.' But Essex had to retreat, and the King's men entered it once more. His Majesty resided at Coley House. ' The distress of the inhabitants during all the confusion and horror of the war was so great, that they were reduced to the lowest depths of misery and distress.' The Royalists at one time pillaged the Roundheads ; the latter, in their turn, looted the looters. By 1647 Charles was a prisoner at Caversham. His children were allowed to stay with him there, after he had been permitted to meet them at the Greyhound Inn at Maidenhead. He was not at first kept in close confine- Its Towns and Villages. 271 ment, but was permitted to go to the inn at Goring to play bowls on its bowling-green. His fondness for the game here was noted in the following lines : ' Stop, traveller, stop ! In yonder peaceful glade His favourite game the royal martyr play'd ; Here, stripp'd of honours, children, freedom, rank. Drank from the bowl, and bowl'd for what he drank ; Sought in a cheerful glass his cares to drown, And chang'd his guinea ere he lost his crown.' There were superstitious people in Berkshire at that time. Some of the soldiers of Lord Essex had espied a witch crossing the Kennet, near Newbury, on a thin plank, and had much trouble in despatching her ; for the ' bullett back rebound'd like a ball, and narrowly it missed his face that was the shooter,'* Not long after- there was at the Church of Bradfield a certain rector called John Pordage, who was accused by the Reverend Christian Fowler, of Reading, before the Commissioners of Berks, for blasphemy, anti-scriptural doctrine, and familiarity with evil spirits ; and for these crimes he was ejected in 1654. He seems to have been a harmless enough mystic ; he was a Behmenist, says Baxter, and fancied himself inspired. He had communion with spirits ; he said that ' an impression was made in the brick v/all of his chimney, of a coach drawn with tigers and lions, which could not be got out till it was hewn out with pick- axes.' His proselyte, Everard, was equally skilled in raising the spirits. They were, like many other Berkshire people, men before their time. Now they would have been professional ' mediums/ and subscribed to ' Day- break' or 'Light.' With the Revolution of 1688 the town had little to do ; though, as has been already pointed out, it saw one of the very few skirmishes of that period. This event was note- worthy in Reading annals. It was long kept up by the * Trans. N.D.F.C, vol. ii. 272 History of Berkshire. ringing of bells, and a ballad called, ' The Reading Skirmish ' told how ' Five hundred Papists came there To make a final end Of all the town in time of prayer, But God did them defend.' The woollen manufacture that existed here had been shaken by the Dissolution of the monasteries, and was destroyed by the Civil War. That trade, together with the making of cloth, pins, coarse linen, gauzes, silks, and ribbons, has disappeared ; in its place has arisen the iron and tin works, the breweries, seed establishments, and biscuit factory, that now render Reading the chief com- mercial town of Berks. It was not until 1785 that the town was paved; but though backward in town improvements to this extent, it formed a volunteer corps as far back as 1794 ; and this was largely increased in 1798, when Dr. Valpy, of Reading School, was its chaplain. The new Town Hall, Assize Court, Grammar School, and restored church of St. Lawrence, are worthy additions in late years to the rising town. It gave its name to Sir Jacob Astley, who was made Baron of Reading for his services in the Civil War ; but the title be- came extinct Avith his grandson, and has never been revived, though there was a ' Lord Cadogan ' of Reading in 17 16. Thus Reading has followed the usual law. It has really the oldest history of any town in Berkshire. Its museum contains the tools of local Palaeolithic man, first found and arranged there by Dr. J. Stevens ; polished celts and flints, together with implements of bone, show its next occupa- tion in Neolithic days ; and finally, bronze weapons indicate its advance in the arts of prehistoric time.* Roman, Saxon, and Dane followed. Mediaeval monk and Norman castle- builder both recognised its value. And now as the junction of five great roads, two canalized streams, and five great * Dr. J. Stevens in Trans. Berks. Archaeol. Soc. Its Towns and Villas^es. 273 railways, it has gathered to itself, as Wallingford and Abingdon did long years before, the streams of traffic from the West towards the capital. In the age of the sword it was a strategic centre, and now in the age of commerce it still maintains its position in the peaceful strategy of trade. iS CHAPTER IX. ITS MODERN LIFE. The county, according to the Domesday Survey, contained twenty-two Hundreds, of which twenty still exist ; and among the ancient manors, those of Arborfield, Ashamp- stead, Didcot, East Garston, Hurst, Radley, Ruscombe, Sandhurst, Sandleford, Sunning Hill, Tidmarsh, Tilehurst, Woodhay, and Wokingham, are not mentioned.* So it may be surmised that some of these were created when the forest area was cleared, and the lands drained and reclaimed. There are traces of the survival of old things in the fact that up to the last century a pollard-oak in the parish of Shefford was the place where the Hundred Court used to be held, under the name of the ' Hug Ditch Court,' said to be derived from Hugo, King of Mercia. Serving as a link between these ancient days and our own was a curious relic which stood near Basildon. It was a stone cell, with a semicircular top, which was formerly leaded, and with a door, bearing the inscription, ' Nobes' tomb, 1692.' Of its origin nothing is known ; but it was not ancient. Tradition says it was erected by a farmer, who lived near, to be his last resting-place ; and that he ordered that, when he had been interred, the door should be locked, and the key thrown inside through an aperture left for the purpose. When he lived people said, so the * ' Encyclop. Brit.' Its ]\loder7i Life. 275 story goes, ' There goes Nobes on his white horse ;' but nothing is known of him, and the cell door is broken open. As a trading county, the commerce of Berkshire has drifted from its borders to its central district. With the downfall of monasticism, the cloth trade, which had been instrumental in establishing many of the Berk- shire towns, gradually declined.* The great sheep-fair on the Ilsley Downs, which may have indirectly led to the extensive establishment of woollen manufactories, was founded in the reign of Henry III., and is still held on the Wednesday in Easter week : ' Ilsley, remote amidst the Berkshire downs, Claims these distinctions o'er her sister towns. Far famed for sheep and wool, though not for spinners, For sportsmen, doctors, publicans, and sinners.' There were other centres of cloth manufacture besides Newbury and Reading. Hendred Church contains numerous monuments, with brasses to persons having such titles as Pannarius and Lanarius — that is, to ' merchants in cloth and wool ;' and in the fields near, the cloth was dried which was sold at Cuckams- ley fair. The cloth could be made and fully completed ready for use ; and a striking example of this occurs at Buckland, where is preserved a coat, the wonder of 181 1. For 'in one day 2 sheep of Sir John Throckmorton were shorn, the wool spun, spooled, warped, loomed, and woven ; the cloth burred, milled, dyed, dried, sheared, and pressed, after which the coat was made up by White, a Newbury tailor, and worn by Sir John in presence of 5,000 spectators within 13 hrs. 20 min. from the time the sheep-shearing commenced.' In the last century there were old frames in ' Rack Marsh,' not far from Newbury, where, up to 1709, druggets and serges were manufactured. Wokingham was also a seat of the cloth trade ; and at Shefford and Shaw linen was made, Bagnor and Donnington had papcr- ^ Kellie's ' Directory.' iS— 3 276 History of Berkshire. mills. Chalk is still made into whiting at Kintbury, and flint is ground there for porcelain and glass. The area of the county is 758 square miles, or 485,120 acres.* It grows much corn on the slopes of the valleys ; water meadows line the flat basin of the Kennet; and the open chalk downs along the Ridgeway afford pasture for sheep. One variety of the sheep, the ' Not,' is said to be native. Its canal system was, at one time, largely used. The ' Thames Navigation ' extends as far as St. John's Bridge, Lechlade, where the river is 258 feet above sea-level. The ' Kennet Navigation ' begins at Reading, with an altitude of 134 feet, and terminates at Newbury, where it is 264 feet. The 'Wilts and Berks' Canal, uniting Abingdon (180 feet) with Wantage (345 feet) ; and the ' Kennet and Avon ' Canal, which proceeds west from Newbury, completes its system of water-carriage. Its railway system, which is even more extensive, met with as much, or even more, opposition than did the introduction of the stage-coach into Berkshire.^* This time the objec- tion began with the representatives of Eton College, who, doubtless from conscientious motives hard now to under- stand, were desirous of keeping as far away at least as Slough the contamination of the iron horse. But they were at length compelled to give a reluctant assent, and thus the South- western and Great Western Companies both brought their stations into Windsor town. Now, therefore, there is a fair network of railways. Reading forms the greatest junction, and therefore grows most rapidly ; and when a portion of the Northern trade from Didcot, by Newbury, to the South is diverted along the new line which is being constructed, the renewal of the traffic that made the latter town once great will, it is to be hoped, have a corresponding result. There are still six municipal boroughs — namely, those of Reading, Windsor, Maidenhead, Newbury, Abingdon, and Wallingford, of which the first two return Members to the House of Commons. The county itself from 1296 until * Arrowsmith. f See p. 232. Its Modern Life. 277 1832 returned but two Members, and the effect of the Parh'amentary reform of 1S32 was to increase that number to three; while the Act of 1885 retained the same number of county representatives as before, but divided the county into three districts named respectively after Newbury, Abingdon and Wokingham. Six peerages take their titles from the county. The Howards are Earls of Berkshire as well as of Suffolk ; the Cravens' second title is that of Uffington ; the dormant Earldom of Banbury included the Viscounty of Walling- ford ; the Marquis of Bute is Earl of Windsor ; and the Berties are Earls of Abingdon. Wokingham gave the title of Baron to the Prince of Denmark, husband of Queen Anne ; and Reading that of Baron Astley in 1648, and Lord Cadogan of Reading in 17 16. Some of its waters were medicinal. At Sunning Hill are chalybeate springs, which were once much resorted to from Windsor ; and at Goring also, as appears by the Readiyig Mercury of 13th June, 1724, which contains a list of those cured, was a spring noted for healing skin diseases. In Clewer parish is a mineral spring, which Ashmole refers to as Elias's Spital, now St. Peter's Well, which probably had a chantry attached. There were other 'spring wells ' at St. Leonard's Hill (where there was a ' pump-room ') and Winkfield Park ; but fashion has deserted many of these English Spas for foreign ones of probably no greater value. The population of the county has shown a rapid increase within the last fifty years, as will be seen by a comparison between the census of 1831 and that of 1881.* The total 1831. 1871. i88r. ** Reading - 15,595 32,324 42,054 Abingdon - - 5,259 5,799 5,684 Windsor - 5,650 11,769 12,273 Newbury - - 5,959 6,602 10,144 Farringdon - 3,033 3,525 3,141 Wantage - - 3,282 3,295 3.488 Wallingford — 2,972 2,803 2 yS History of Berkshire. population in 1831 was 146,234, but in 1881 it had increased to 218,382. The older families have disappeared with great rapidity. Of the 195 names mentioned in Ashmole's 'Visitation' of the county, in 1664, there are but few that still occupy their old ancestral houses. These are the Puseys of Pusey, whose tenure is traditionally stated to date from the days of Cnut ; and the Eystons of Hendred, who hold the Manor of Arches, which Henry de Ferrers was seized of in Domesday. But the Englefield family, which could show a holding of eighteen generations when the * Visitation ' was made in 1623, became extinct in 1822. The Cravens of Beenham and of Ashdown, who now may be reckoned the second oldest family in Berks, have held their manors and possessions since the early part of the seventeenth century. The Berkshire dialect has many curious provincialisms, some of true Saxon derivation. Thus the Berkshire man says thik for that, him for he, rot for rat, not for gnat, postis for posts, and thof for though. Nearly is anenst ; houses, Iioitsen ; peas, peasen ; care for, hoe for; brittle, frow ; sprightly, sprack ; rags, littocks ; clumsy, btingersome ; angry, scrow ; wretched, linked; hungry, leer ; troublesome, prodigal; and garden, gher7i. To prefer is to inoiich ; to garner, to gam ; and to bind, to grip. A man is queasy if he be sick, and deedy if he be notable. This latter term is expressive. Oo'lt is ' wilt thou'; overrights is opposite; to entice is to tole awoye ; to labour is to scawt ; to muddle is to caddie ; in great spirits is to be in great spoilt ; and the scolded child complains of his corrector that he do chapse oi. He tor- ments when he terrifies, and terrifies when he wishes to torment. Mr. Thomas Hughes, formerly of Donnington, near Newbury, has best illustrated the county talk in his ' Scouring of the White Horse.' In Cupid's garden a Its Modern Life. 279 Berkshire man meets two Berkshire lasses, and tells his story thus : ' As I wur in Cubit's gardin, Not mwoar nor haf an hour, 'Tvvur ther I zeed two may-dens Zittin' under Cubit's bower, A-gatherin' of sweet jassa-mine, The lilly and the rose, — These be the fairest flowers As in the gardin grows. * I vondly stepped to one o' them, These words to her I zays : " Be you engaged to arra young man, Come, tell to me, I prays."' " I bean't engaged to narra young man, I solemnly declare ; I aims to live a may-den, And still the laurel wear." * Zays I, " My stars and garters ! This here's a pretty go, Vor a vine young mayd as never wos To sar' all mankind zo.'' But the t'other young may-den looked shy at me. And vrom her seat she ris'n, Zays she, " Let thee and I go our own waay, And we'll let she go shis'n.'' ' But he believes in Berkshire and in his own home : ' Throo aall the waarld owld Garge would bwoast, Commend me to merry owld England mwoast ; While vools gwoes praating vur and nigh, We stwops at whum my dog and oi.' There are many quaint traditions and customs still existing in this as in every other English county, but they are rapidly disappearing before modern materialism and modern education. None the less they form part of our national history. In the manors of east and west Enborne once obtained a peculiar custom in land-tenure. ' On the death of a copy- 28o History of Berkshire. hold tenant, the widow is to have her free bench in all his copyhold lands dinnsola et casta fuerit ; but if she committed incontinency she forfeited her widow's estate ; nor could it be restored unless she mounted a black ram, and came into the next court held for the manor, riding back- wards, and repeating a quaint formula of words.'* The feudal holding of Pusey has been already referred to ; and there is another typical case in that of the Manor of East Garston, which was ' held by the service of finding a knight clad in plate armour to serve in the King's army for forty days, at the lord's cost, whenever he should be in the territory of Kedwelly, in Wales, of which manor this was a member.' -f- With charities and almshouses the county abounds ; and one particular form of helpfulness is of Reading origin. For formerly ' On Good Friday, in every year, three maidservants, who have lived in one service five years, are appointed by the Corporation, who throw lots in the Council Chamber for twenty nobles, the gift of Mr. John Blagrave, June lo, i6ir. At the nomination of the mayor elect, on the last Monday in August, in every year, three other maidservants, appointed as last mentioned, also throw lots in the Council Chamber for eight pounds, the gift of the late Aldermen Mr. John Deane and Mr. John Richards ; and the sum of five pounds has of late years been given by Martin Annesley, Esq., brother to the member. And the late Awberry Flory, Esq., also gave by will the interest of ;^ioo for ever, to be added to Mr. Annesley's gift, and equally divided between the two tinfortiinate maids.' J Some customs relating to the church were curious, as, for example, that of parishioners of Cumnor, who, if paying * vicarial tithes, have a custom of repairing imme- diately after prayers on Christmas Day to the vicarage- * ' Topog. Descrip. Berks.' f Ibid. X Ibid. Its Modern Life. 281 house, claiming to be there entertained with four bushels of malt brewed into ale, two bushels of wheat made into bread, and half a hundredweight of cheese ; what may be left is the next morning, after divine service, given to the poor.' A custom, or rather superstition, common to other counties beside Berks is related in the Gentleman'' s Maga- zine for 1794. The writer mentions ' a notion that a ring made from a piece of silver collected at the communion is a cure for convulsions and fits of every kind. A woman in my parish applied to me for a shilling on Easter Sunday, in the hope of deriving benefit from the effect of a ring to be made from it by a blacksmith in or near the town. As I was convinced she was not influenced by any mercenary motive, but had really confidence in the remedy, I took care not to deprive her of such benefit, at least, as she might derive from her imagination. I have not yet heard of the success of the donation, but have since understood that the superstition prevails very generally in the neigh- bourhood. The notion would seem to originate from Popish ideas of the Eucharist' In Aubrey's ' Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme,' he says in reference to sacred wells, that ' in processions they (the priests) used to read a Ghospel at the springs to bless them ; which hath been discontinued at Sunnyvvell, in Barkshire, but since 1688.' Pilgrimages were made to the old chapel at Sonning — which had been, as already pointed out, the seat of a Saxon Bishoprick — for the 'cure of madness.' At Finchampstead on one occasion, so Dr. Childrey tells us, a well boiled up with streams of blood, and continued so to do for many days. There were beliefs and customs, too, of a less religious character. In Abingdon, as late as 1782, a writer says that ' Early in one of the first Sundays in October I found the people in the street at the entrance of the town very 282 History of Berkshire. busy in adorning the outside of their houses with boughs of trees and garlands of flowers, and the paths were strewed with rushes. One house was distinguished by a greater number of garlands than the rest, and some were making to be fixed at the end of the poles. On inquiring the reason, I was told that it was usual to have this ceremony performed in the street in which the new mayor lived, on the first Sunday that he went to church after his election.' This was evidently a survival of the pageant that accom- panied the acceptation of the office of Chief Magistrate of the Borough, and strewing fresh rushes in rooms or else- where was a common custom before the introduction of carpets.* The Lamborne, long believed to be persistently inter- mittent, was stated to * go off about Michaelmas, and sometimes sooner ; but the sooner it goes the cheaper corn is usually that year, if the observation of the country people be to be listened to.' There seems, however, to be no foundation either for the statement or its deduction. Astrology had been by no means relegated to its present obscurity even as late as the reigns of the early Georges in Berkshire. The plague almost ' dispeopled ' Wallingford in 1348, and ' Mr. Camden attributes this to the conjunc- tion of Saturn and Mars in the 25th Degree of Capricorn, which happened in February, 1342. Dr. Childrey thinks this cause to come a little too early for such an effect, and therefore pitches upon the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in the i8th Degree of Libra in the year 1345. But we think it unsafe to fix such great effects upon any one single aspect, without considering the face of the rest of Heaven and other concurrent causes. This is the way pursued by some late knowing astrologers, and particularly with success by the learned Dr. Good. In the Gentleman's Magazine Library, Archce.o\ogy, Part I., there is a reference to the discovery of a cavern in the chalk ■"■ Brand's ' Pop., Antiq.,' vol. ii. Its Modern Life. 283 at Yattenclon during the year 18 19, but nothing is known of its position now. It seems to have been, like the ' Dane- pits ' near Tilbury, or the ' Grimes' Graves ' in the Eastern Counties, a mine for the excavation of chalk flints during the Neolithic age, rather than merely a habitation ; though doubtless such subterraneous works were utilized for dwell- ings as well as for mines. The county has increased its educational establishments by the addition, to its ancient schools, of those of St. x'lndrew at Bradfield, of Wellington at Crowthorne, and the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. The first named was opened in 1850 for general education ; that at Crowthorne, built in 1856, * for the education of orphan sons of officers,' but not only for them ; and that at Sandhurst for cadets in the army, who were first received in a school at High Wycombe in 1799, then transferred in 1802 to Marlow, and finally removed to the present building in 181 2. For many years the cadets, whose course of instruction was partly civil, partly professional, were admitted at as early an age as fourteen, and spent four years at the institution; but in 1869 this system, which was not in accordance with modern conditions, was abolished ; and ' students,' who were gazetted to regiments as vacancies occurred during their residence at the College, were admitted by open competition at the mimimum age of seventeen years. This, again, was modified by the intro- duction of officers, as sub-lieutenants, who had spent one year with their regiments, and were therefore better quali- fied for military instruction ; but this system also was set aside, and was replaced by a modified cadet system. In this the gentlemen cadets enter through open competition between the ages of seventeen and twenty-two, and remain one year under instruction in purely professional subjects, when t:iey are gazetted to regiments as vacancies occur. At Beaumont Lodge, near Old Windsor, is a Roman Catholic educational college under Jesuit guidance. The great world of letters has not been unrepresented in 284 History of Berkshire. Berkshire, and it has been the favourite home, as its scenes have been the favourite theme, of writers and poets. Chaucer certainly was connected with it, and very possibly at times resided in it. Pope's early home was at Binfield, a place of which he speaks tenderly, as ' My paternal cell, A little house with trees a-row, And, like its master, very low.' His poems of ' Windsor Forest ' and of ' Farringdon Hill' display, if not high merit, at least keen appreciation of the beauties of Berks. Miss Mitford, who resided at Three Mile Cross, lies not far from her old home in the church at Swallowfield. Drayton, Spenser, and numerous others have expatiated on the beauties of the Thames valley. Sir John Denham in ' Cooper's Hill,' and Robert Morris in ' St. Leonard's Hill,' both chose for a poetical immortality some of the loveliest bits of gentle English country life; and as far back as 1635, Otvvay wrote his poem on 'Windsor Castle.' A poet laureate, Henry T. Pye, was Member for the county at the end of the last century, and wrote the poem of ' Farringdon Hill ;' and Fenton died at East Hampstead. Lastly, ' Charming Mary Montagu ' gathered round her at Sandleford some of the most brilliant intellects of her time ; and at Upton Court dwelt Arabella Fermor. The history of each of these is one of more or less success and happiness ; but in the quiet churchyard of Old Windsor lies one other ' artist,' whose career at least now all may pity. Poor 'Perdita' — a victim to the 'Prince Regent ' — has found peace there at last 1 The history of Berkshire is an epitome of the history of England. Through Brit-Belgtc interference in Continental matters, Caesar was led to invade this country ; and Com- mius, chief of the Attrebatian tribes, had much to do with the invasion. The greatest Romano-British city south of the Thames, Silchester, stands on the southern boundary of the Its Modern Life. 285 county with its amphitheatre actually in it. The most im- portant of the Saxon states, that of Wessex, held Berkshire as its centre ; and Alfred, the King who decisively checked the Danes, fought his greatest battle on the Berkshire hills. William the Norman found a loyal friend in Wigod, the Saxon thane of Wallingford ; and D'Oyley's castle there was one of the first and strongest Norman fortresses in Britain. The Civil Wars of the second Stuart traversed this county more frequently and continuously than almost any other. It saw two of its greatest battles fought, and it contained the last fortress in England that held out for the King. One of Charles's strongest adherents, who was most concerned in bringing the differences between Sovereign and people to the arbitrament of the sword, was Laud, a Reading man ; William Lloyd, Bishop of St. Asaph, and one of the prelates committed to the Tower by James IL, was born at Tilehurst ; and the only blood- shed that marred the almost peaceful revolution against the last named Sovereign was fought on Berkshire soil. Lastly, it has been a ' royal county ' since the Saxon era. Alfred was born in Berkshire, and there were royal palaces also at Farringdon and Old Windsor. But to New Windsor was transferred the Castle and Palace which is the noblest in England ; and which, therefore, became the ' ro)'aI borough ' of Berkshire. In its present condition, as the peaceful residence of the Queen of a peaceful people, may be at length recognised the fulfilment of Lord Falkland's prayer before he fell in battle on a Berkshire field, that ' Peace might overshadow the land.' p P 1 1 ^g 1 8 m 1 1 ^C^^v^oJ*v*v ^K P i^j^ ^i^^ ^ hWl jiO^j; ™i!iMbs?W?(« ABRIDGED LIST OF BOOKS, ETC., RELATING TO BERKSHIRE. Abingdon, Chronicon Monasterii de Abingdon, the Meyrour of tlie Church of St. Austyn of - - - - - Agriculture of Berkshire - - - - Agriculture of Berkshire - - - - Antiquities, Account of some, between Windsor and Oxford . . - . . Antiquities in Berkshire, Letter to Dr. Mead concerning some - . . . Antiquities of Old Windsor, some Account of Antiquities of Berkshire - - - Antiquities of England and Wales (Berkshire) Antonine's Itinerary, Notes on - Archaeology of Berks, Address on - Battles of Newbury . . . . Beauties of England and Wales (Berks) - Benefactions of Archbishop Laud to Berks Berkshire, Parochial History of. Collection towards Berkshire, Visitation of - Berkshire, History of the County of Berkshire, Handbook of - Berkshire, Tourist's Guide to - - - Berkshire, Topographical Description of - Berkshire, Directory of - Berkshire, Worthies of - 1521. Mavor. Spearing. Hearne. Wise. Girdler. Ashmole. Grose. Gale. Lord Carnarvon. Money. Brition. Bruce. Mores. Ashmole. Cox. Murray. Walford. Cooke. Kellie. Fuller. Abridged List of Books. 287 Berkshire, History of - - . . De Foe. Berkshire, Archaeological Society's Transactions of Vol. r. Birds of Berks and Bucks - - - - Clark Kennedy. Church Historians of England Church Congress at Reading, Report on Cumnor Place - . . Stevenson. Dunkley. Domesday (Ancient), Reprint, Ordnance Survey Office, 1S63. Domesday (Modern), Return of Owners of Land in 1873. Dugdale's Monasticon. Ecclesiastical and Architectural Topography of England, Part II., Berks Etonians, Memoirs of Eminent, etc. - Parker. - Creasy. Flora of Oxford and Contiguous Counties Walker. Garter, Order of, History of St. George and the Heylon. Garter, Institution, Laws, and Ceremonies of the Most Noble Order of - - - - Ashmole. Garter, Memoirs of St. George, Patron of- - Dawson. Garter, Register of - - - - - Anstis. Garter, Institution of - - - - West. Garter, Institution of - - - - Bletz. History of Newbury History of Reading History of Reading History of Windsor History of Wargrave History of Henley-on-Thames History of Wallingford History of White Knights - History of Farringdon History of Parish of Great Co.xwell History of Hundred of Wantage - History of Hundred of Compton - History of Hundred of Bray Coates. Man. Hakewell. Reid. Burn. Hedges. Hofland. ? E. R. More. Clarke. Hewitt. Kerry. Leland's Itinerary. 288 Abridged List of Books. Magazine, Blackwood . - . . Magazine, Quarterly Review Magna Britannia '-'-'-^ ' "^^ -t-r-'-'-'^Jf /^*^ ; Maps, etc. : Hollar, 1670 ; Topographical Survey of Berks, 1761, Rocque ; Ten Miles Round Newbury, 1768, Willis. Views of Reading, Windsor, and Donnington, by Buck ; of Don- nington, in Grose's Antiquities ; of Windsor, by Hoefnagle, in Brauni Civitatis Orbl, 1572 ; of Verrio's Ceilings at Windsor, by Vanderbanks ; Elevation and Plan of Windsor Castle in 1743, by Langley ; Green Park, eight Views in, by Sandby ; of Reading Abbey, 1791, by Tomkins ; of Basildon and Palling Place, 1800, in Angus's Select views ; of Blsham, Windsor, Basildon, Bear Place, Ben- ham House, Abingdon Market, etc., in Copper- plate Magazine. 1883. 1S19. Lysotts. Newbury, History of - - - - Newbury, Battles of - - - Newbury, Worthies of, etc. Newbury, Pleasant History of John Winchcomb of Newbury, History of Mr. John Winchcomb, alias Jack of Newbury - - . - Newbury, Description of Peat near Newbury District Field Club, Transactions of Money. Godwin. T. D. Phil. Tr., Vol. 50. Vol. I., 2. Picturesque Views on River Thames Pusey Horn - Boydell&^Ireland. - A rchcEolog.., Vol. 3. Reading, History of - - - - Reading, History of - - - - Reading Abbey, some Account of - Reading Abbey . - - - - Reading, Description of - Reading, History and Antiquity of Reading, Environs of - - - - Reading, Thomas of, or the Five Worthy Yeomen of the West . - - - - Reading, the Stranger in - Reading, Letter to the Stranger in Man. Coates. Englefield. Archcpolog., Vol. 6. Cooke. Doran. Robertson. ' Traveller.' * Detector.' Abridged List of Books. 289 Representative History of Great Britain and Ire- land (with Biographical Notes of M.P.'s from 1377 to 1847) - - - - a Byrne. The Agreeable Historian - - - - Unton Inventories (Wadley and Farringdon) White Horse, Valley of - White Horse, Scouring of - Windsor, Annals of - - - Windsor, Annals of - - - Windsor, Annals of - - - Windsor Forest, Rights of Windsor Forest, Rights of Windsor Guide - . .. - Windsor Castle, History and Antiquities of Windsor Castle, History and Antiquities of W^indsor Castle, Map, with Description - Windsor, Old, some Account of Antiquities of Wise. Hughes. Tighe and Davis. Bickham. Hakewell. Boothe. Stoiighton. Knight. Poynter. Pole. Speed. Girdler. A large and valuable collection of Pamphlets and Monographs, too voluminous to be referred to here, are to be found in the Free Library at Reading. 91 INDEX. Abingdon, 33, 212, 217, 252 Abingdon, Abbot of, 172 Abbey, Abingdon, 75, 80, 176 Abbey, Reading, 174 Abendun, battle at, 68 Aldermaston Common, 15 Aldworth Church, 129 Aldbourne Chase, 145 * Alfred's bugle horn,' 24 Ancalites, the, 16, 38 Ancient approach to Kennet Valley, 12 Andreadsweald, the, 12 Anne, Queen, 234 Ella's landing, 54 ^scesdune, battle of, 63 yEscesdune, site of battle of, 66 Antonine's Itinerary, 43 Anselm, Abbot, 176 Appleton, 219 Arabella Fermor, 213, 263, 284 Amy Robsart, 172 Ascot Races, introduction of, 241 Ascot barrows, 29 Astrology, 282 Athelhelm, Abbot, 171 Atrebates, the, 17, 38 Abberbury, Richard de, loi, 189 Augustine Priors, 107, 168, 184 Bagshot district, 2 Barrows, 20, 28, 33, 46 Basildon, 275 Basing House, 149, 152, 151 Battle of Newbury, first, 144 Battle of Newbury, second, 157 Beche, Sir Nicholas, 129 Belgae, round-skulled people, 13 Belgae, invasion from the east, 14, 16 Belg3P, defeated by Romans, 39 Beaumys, castellated mansion of, 128 Bertie, James, Earl of Abingdon, 165 Berkshire, names for, 70 Besils of Besilslegh, the, 214, 219 Bibracte, 40, 41 Bibroci, the, 15, 38 Birinus, Bishop, 57, 60, 201 Bisham Priory, 193 Benedictine Priory, 174, 192 Blagge, Colonel, 144, 150, 159 Bob's Mount, Reading, 28 Bolingbroke, Lord, 259 Boys, Sir John, 102 Boxford, 32 Bray, 49, 244, 252 Bray, Vicar of, 230, 244 Bray wick, 41 Brightwell Castle, 90, 133 Brimpton Preceptory, 169, 179 British idols, 22 Broadford, Blackwater, 29 Bronze implements, 35 Browne, General, 104, 124, 160 Bucklebury, 258, 263 Index. 291 Bull-baiting at Wokingham, 243 Bussock Camp, 32 Caesar's Camp, Easthampstead, 29 Calieva (Silchester), 17, 43, 45 Calleva, destruction of, 55 Calleva-Dorocina Road, 47 Calleva-Pontes Road, 44 Calleva-Spince Road, 45 Canals, 276 Castle, Brightwell, 90, 133 Castle, Crowmarsh, 131, 133 Castle, Donnington, 99, 153, 160 Castle, Farringdon, 90, 132, 221 Castle, Newbury, 89, 133, 255 Castle, Reading, 90 Castle, Wallingford, 132 Castle, Windsor, 109, 135, 225 Celts, a long-skulled people, 14, Celtic Invasion from the South, 14 Celtic names, 35 Celtic cross-roads, 30 Celtic remains at Compton, 18 Ceadwalla's grants to Abingdon, 76 Chalk areas, 3 Charles I., King, 122, 250, 256, 270 Charles I., discovery of body, 123 Charles II., restoration of, 252 Chaucers, the, 95, 96, 100, 264 Cherbury Camp, 27, 31 Child, Benjamin, 268 Childrey Priory, 197 Cholsey, 73, 75 Christianity, legendary introduc- tion of, 52, 60 Christianity in the north, 57, 69 Christianity, re-introduction of, 59 Cromwell at Newbury, 150, 154 Cromwell at Windsor, 122, 124 Churches of Berkshire, 200 Cissa's landing, 54 Cissa's grant of land at Abing'don, 75 Civil War, outbreak of, 139 Civil War, condition of country during, 161 Clewer, 242, 246 Clays, London, r Clays, Oxford and Kimmeridge, 1,4 Cnut, 68, 71, 74 Cocktighting at Windsor, 232 Compton, 18, 48, 67 Compton, Roman remains at, 41, 68 Cold Harbour, 47, 51, 249 Continental nature of the country in early times, 6 Cravens of Beenham, 278 Crowmarsh Castle, 131, 133 Cretaceous strata, 3 Culham, jj Cumnor, 172 Customs at Bucklebury, 263 Customs at Cumnor, 280 Customs at Abingdon, 282 Cuckhamsley, 59, 71 Cwichelm, 57 Cynric and Cerdic, 55 Cynewulf and Offa, 58 Cynegils, 57, 59 Clothing trade, 216, 255, 267, 275 Dalbier, Captain, at Donnington, 107 Danegelt, 71 Danish invasion, 62 Danish invasion, landing at Reading, 62 De la Poles of Wallingford, 96 Dialect, Berkshire, 279 Dolman, Thomas, 255 Domesday Book, 85 Donnington, 169 Donnington Castle, 99, 153, 160 Donnington Priory, 1S9 Donnington, reprisals at, 106, 107 D'Oyley, of Wallingford, 91, 170, 206 Dragon's Hill, 23 Dunches, of Wittenham, the, 21 r Dunstan of Canterbury, 78 ' Early English ' churches, 200 Earth fortresses, general charac- ter of, 21 Earth fortresses, intention of, 25 Easthampstead, 242 Ecclesiastical divisions, 201 Educational establishments, 203 Egham Wick, 41 19 — 2 292 History of Berkshire, Eldebury Camp, 45 Egbert, 61 Englefield, defeat of Danes at, 69 Eocene strata, i Essex, Earl of, at Newbury, 145 Essex, supineness of, after the battle, 157 Eton, 225, 227 Ethandun, defeat of Danes at, 69 Ethandun, site of battle of, 69 Eystons of Hendred, 278 Falkland, Lord, 148 Farringdon, 30, 221, 252 Farringdon Castle, 90, 132, 221 Fell, Samuel, 163 Fettyplaces, the, 219 Forbury, the, Reading, 62 Forest conditions in Neolithic time, 1 1 Forest conditions of Kennet Valley, 12 Forest, Windsor, 12, 237 Fortresses, 89 Garter, Order of the, 114, 126 Ghost-story of the Hobys, 196 Ghost-story at Bucklebury, 263 Godwin, Earl, 225 Gravels, Pliocene, 4, 2 Gravels, river-valley, 4, 7 Grey Friars Church, Reading, 190 Grey Friars, the, 169, 190 Guild of the Holy Cross, Abing- don, 214 Grims' Ditch, 59 Hackney Hay, 19 Hackpen Hill, 21 Hamme, Wantage, 81, 88 Hawthorn Hill, legend of, 247 Harold, Earl of Berks, 71 Hearne and sister at Abingdon, 75 Hendred, T"], 187, 219, 221, 263 Hendred, remains of Poughley Priory at, 187 Henry of Windsor's tomb, 117 Henry III., King, at Reading Abbey, 176 Henry VIII., King, gifts to Read- ing, 180 Heme's Oak, 240 Hobys, the, 194, 251 Hill ranges and streams, 6 Horns at Pusey and Hungerford, 222 Hughes, Thomas, 190, 279 Hungerford, 222 Hurley Priory, 192 Hugh Cook of Faringdon, 181 Ilsley, sheep fair, 275 Ilsley. Vicar of, 246 Imp Stone, 45 Ina, 61 Influence of Roman invasion, 51 Influence of Saxon occupation, 73,88 Influence of Danish raids, 83 Influence of Norman conquest, 85, 88 Jane Somerset and Prince James, 117 Jane Seymour's tomb, 119 James I., King, 250, 261 James II., King, 165, 233 James of Scotland, Prince, 117 John, King, at Windsor, 135, 254 John Packer, 259 John Winchcombe, 257 Kennet marl, 3 Kennet Valley, 2-12 Kendrick, Miss, 268 Kendrick, Thomas, 267 King's evil, 233 King's Standing Hill, 26 Kintbury, 31, 69, 262 Kintbury, Saxon cemetery at, 82 Knights-Hospitallers, the, 168 Knights, made by abbots, 177 Lady Place, 165 Lambourne, the, 282 Land-tenures, 279 Land, 139, 265 Letcombe Camp, Sarsden stones in rampart of, 20 Limborough, 26, 32, 205 Local customs at Wallingford, 209 Loudon, Dr. John, 1S9, 191, 210 Lovelace, Lord, 165, 192 Lowbury Camp, 20 Index. 293 Magna Charta, 136 Maidenhead, 28, 49, 248 Maidenhead, skirmishes at, 137, 166 Manchester, Earl of, 152 Martyn Expence, 242, 246 Martyrs of Newbury, 260 Martyrs of Windsor, 229 Medicinal springs, 277 Membury Camp, 30 Middleton, Sir John, 103 Middle-class, rise of, 138 Mitford, Miss, 243, 280 Military history — fortresses, 89 Monastic life, 168 Monasticism, 168 Monasticism, end of, 148 M.P.'s, payment of, 228 Nachededorne, hundred of, 67 Nachededorne, destruction of, 71 New model army, 159 Newbury, 252 Newbury, Castle of, 89, 255 Newbury, first battle of, 144 Newbury, second battle of. 157 Newbury Preceptory of Knights- Hospitallers, 169 New Windsor, 226 Nobes' tomb, Basildon, 275 Norden's map of Windsor, 1 19, 236 Norman invasion, Z^ Norman churches, 87 Norman names, 87 Norris. Sir W., 97 Nymph stone, 45 Oarebury Camp, 32 Ockwells, or Ockholt, 247 Offa and Cynewulf, 59 Old Windsor, 223, 252 Oolitic strata, 3 Oracle, the, at Reading, 268 Otway, 281 Palmer, Julius, 261 Palaeolithic man, 7, 8, 28 Packer, Mr. John, of Wallingford, loi, 259 Parliamentary commissioners, 142 Parliaments at Reading Abbey, 179 Payment for office, Windsor, 235 Peat of Kennet Valley, 2 ' Perpendicular' churches, 201 Perborough Camp, 18, 33, 48 ' Peter's Pence,' origin of, 61 Pliocene gravels, 4 Pontes (Staines), 40 Pope, 280 Population, 278 Portway, the, 26, 48 Pordage, John, 271 Priory, Bisham, 193 Priory, Childrey, 197 Priory, Donnington, 197 Priory, Hurley, 189 Priory, Poughley, 192 Priory, Sandleford, 168, 184, 220 Priory, Wallingford, 187 Preceptories of Knights-Hospital- lers, 169 Prince of Wales and Wallingford, 94. Priories, minor, 1S8, 197 Protection at Abingdon, 213 Protestation, the, in 1642, 140 Provincialisms, 278 Puseys, the, 202, 222, 278 Pye, 281 Railways, 276 Reading, 28, 62, 149, 159, 166 Reading Abbey, 176, 204, 226, 263, 272 Reading, first attack on, during Civil Wars, 143 Reading Castle, 90 Reading skirmish, 272 Recusants in Berkshire, 141 Representation, 277 Rhemi, the, 16 Richard II., King, 94, 116, 208, 227 Richard of Wallingford, 208 Ridgeway, the, 19 Rivers, 6 River-valley gravels, 4 Roman invasion, causes and direc- tion of, 37 Roman roads, military, 44 Roman roads, nature of, 48 Romano-British forts, 45, 49 Roman names, 50 Roman remains, 44, 48, 50, 243 Roman interments, 51 294 History of Berkshire. Roads, early Celtic, 19 Roads, later Celtic and Belgic, 26 Roads, direction of early cross, 30 Roads, Roman military, 43 Roads, private, 48 Roads, Saxon, 73 Royal favourites at Wallingford, 92 Rupert, Prince, at Wmdsor, 121, 125 Rupert, Prince, at Newbury, 145, 149 Sandhurst Royal Military College, 283 Salisbury, Earls of, 195 Sandleford, priory at, 187 Sagbury Camp, 20 Saxon conquest, the, 54 Saxon camps, forms of, 21, 83 Saxon churches, 74 Saxon interments, 80 Saxon remains (weapons), 81 Saxon names, 72 Saxon names as prefixes, 87 Saxon charters, 74 Segontiaci, the, 16, 18, 38 Segontian inscription (Silchester), 17 Secret chambers, 195, 263 Sequestrators, the, 164 Seven barrows, the, 36 Shaw, 255 Shaw House, 152 Shaw-Compton road, 48 Shottisbrooke Church, 251 Ship-money, 139 Slad, the, 41 Silchester, 17, 40, 55 Soils, nature of, 4 Sonning, 75, 201 Spinae, 54, 402 Spinae-Corinium road, 46 Spinae-Cunetio road, 46 Speen, 32, 253, 255, 262 Speenhamland, Pelican at, 262 Spiritualism at Bradford, 271 Stage - coaches, introduction of, 23? Staines (Pontes), 42 Stephen, King, wars of, 131 St. Giles's Church, Reading, 266 St. Lawrence Church, Reading, 265 St. Lawrence Waltham, 49 St. Leonard's Hill, 36, 243 Suffolk, Earls of, at Wallingford, 95 Superstitions, 281 Uffington Camp, holes in rampart of, 21 Upton Court, 263 Vachell, Tanfield, 164, 228 Vanlore, Sir Peter, of Reading, lOI Venn, Colonel, at Windsor, 121 Verrio's paintings at Windsor, 125 Vicar of Bray, 230, 244 Vicars of Ilsley, 246 Virginia Water, 242 Waltham, 251 Wantage, 205, 252 Wallingford, 41, ^l, 84, 90, 143, 206, 252 Wallingford Castle, 132 Wallingford Priory, 174 Wansdyke, 85 Wasing gravels, pateoliths in, 9 Wayland Smith, 24 Waycock Field, 149 Wallingford, Lord, 98 White Horse Hill, 22 Wickham Bushes, 29, 41, 44 Wigod of Wallingford, 84, 91, 206 William the Conqueror, 86 William HL, King, 165 White Waltham, 250 Windsor Castle, 109, 135 Windsor, prisoners at, 112 Windsor Chapel — Wolsey, 118, 126, 127 Windsor Forest, 12, 237 Windsor, Merry Wives of, 238 Windsor, St. George's Chapel, 115 Windsor, Old, 223, 226 Windsor, church at, 230 Winchcombe, John, 255, 257 Wittenham, the Dunches of, 211 Witch at Newbury, 271 Woodbridge, Benjamin, 260 Wokingham, 243 Wyatville, Sir Jeffery, 126 Yattenden, cavern at, 283 London : Elliot Stock, fia, Paternoster Row, E.C. 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