THE LIBRARY 
 
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 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES

 
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 A BEEKSHIPiE VILLAGE, 
 
 ITS 
 
 UISTOliY AND ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. LEWIN G. MAINE, 
 
 CCKATE OF STANFOED-IN-THE-VALE. 
 
 (0yfoit» aulr Eon Don, 
 
 JAMES PAllKER AND CO. 
 
 1866.
 
 LONDON : 
 
 GILBEHT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, 
 
 ST. JOHN'S SQrARE.
 
 DP) 
 
 TO Trri-; 
 VENERABLE CHRISTOPHER AVORDSWORTH. D.D., 
 
 ARCHDEACON OF WESTMINSTEK, 
 VICAR, 
 
 MR. HUNTER, AND MR. PUSEY, 
 
 CHTTRCHWARDENS, 
 
 AND THE PAKISHIONEES OF STANFOUD-IN-THK- VALE. 
 
 THIS LITTLE 
 
 Drsloru of iljm |3'arrslj 
 
 IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED. 
 
 G83830
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The following' pages contain the substance of two 
 Lectures upon Stanford and its neighbourhood, de- 
 livered during the winter of last year. They are 
 printed at the request of some who heard them, 
 in the hope that others may be induced to imitate 
 that whicli has here been imperfectly executed, and 
 to give to the world the rich materials which abound 
 towards the compilation of the history of our county. 
 All agree in saying that it is high time something 
 was attempted, for every writer upon Berkshire makes 
 the same complaint, viz., that old customs are being 
 forg^ten, and local traditions continually passing 
 away. Thus the author of " Tom Brown^s School 
 Days " tells us that *' the present generation know 
 nothing of their own birth-places, of their own lanes, 
 and woods, and fields ; that not one in twenty knows 
 whei^ to find the wood sorrel or bee orchis, or is ac- 
 
 a
 
 vi PREFACE. 
 
 quainted with the country legends, the stories of the 
 old gable-ended farm-houses, the place where the last 
 skirmish was fought in the Civil AVars, or where the 
 parish butts stood/' 
 
 Aud Lord Carnarvon, in his excellent little addi-ess 
 on the Archaeology of Berkshire, tells us that " local 
 traditions and legends are the most precious heirlooms 
 of archseolog}^, because, in an especial degree, they 
 breathe the life, the habits, and the faith of our 
 ancestors. These," he writes, " are year by year perish- 
 ing from amongst us, and day by day, as it is deferred, 
 the difficulty of obtaining materials for a county 
 history becomes greater and more formidable." 
 
 In the hope of contributing something, however 
 small and imperfect, to such an imdertaklng, this 
 little work is given to the public, in which, together 
 with other matter by way of illustration, I have en- 
 deavoured to preserve the em-rcnt village traditions. 
 
 Any profits arising from the jmhlication of these 
 
 Lectures toill he devoted to a fund for building a south 
 
 aisle in Stanford Church. 
 
 4t 
 
 Easier, JSGfJ.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 British Remains in the Vale 
 
 Eoman „ „ . . 
 
 Saxon „ ,, . . 
 
 Saxon Words in Common Use . 
 
 Pusey Horn and Clierhnry Camp 
 
 Monastery of Abingdon 
 
 Stanford Church dedicated to St. Denys 
 
 „ Manor .... 
 The Building of the South Torch 
 Effect of Dissolution of Monasteries . 
 State of the Country at the Reformation 
 The Yeomanry, their Habits and Manner < 
 Mr. John Fawconer's Will 
 Interesting Entries in the Churchwardens' 
 Restoration^ of Stanford Church 
 Churchyards and Epitai)hs 
 Stanford Manor House built by Sir Francis 
 Wadley and tlic TTnton Family . 
 Anne Countess of Warwick , . 
 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 4 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 . 5 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 . 6 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 12 
 11- 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 17 
 19 
 21 
 27 
 31 
 
 of Living 
 
 
 
 33 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 38 
 
 Book 
 
 
 
 41 
 48 
 52 
 
 s Knollys, 
 
 k'.G. 
 
 
 58 
 61 
 62
 
 vm 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Visit of Queen Elizabotli ...... 
 
 Sir Henry Unton's Challcnije .....' 
 
 Bishop Jewel and Richard Hookei' .... 
 
 Remains of Manor Houses in the Neighbonrhood 
 
 The Great Rebellion and its Effect on this Tfeighboiithood 
 
 Faringdou House held for the King ..... 
 
 Childrey and Dr. E. Pocock 
 
 Entries in Churehwatdens' Book, illustrating the History of the 
 
 Time ...... 
 
 Changes effected in Names 
 Backsword Play and other Games Forgotten 
 Changes in Dress and Manners . 
 Concluding Remarks ..... 
 
 Appendix 
 
 Inventory of Vestments and Ornaments in use in Stanford 
 
 Cluu'ch before the Reformation . . . . . 
 List of Vicars ......... 
 
 pa&t: 
 . 61 
 
 60 
 68 
 76 
 76 
 77 
 79 
 
 8t 
 85 
 87 
 90 
 94 
 
 97 
 103
 
 BEEKSHIEE TILLAGE: 
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 The village of Stanford or Stanford-in-tlie-Yale, 
 can hardly lay claim to be called a picturesque 
 village. On the contrary, when I first approached 
 it by way of the fields from the railway station, 
 on a hot and dusty July day in the summer of 1859, 
 I must confess that my first impressions respecting 
 it were any thing but favourable. There was a 
 certain old tumble-down barn which met the 
 eye after crossing the little bridge over the Ock, 
 which seemed to give a character to the whole 
 — an appearance of poverty and decay by no means 
 pleasing. The approach to the bridge, too, seemed 
 sadly in want of the mason's care; and I mentally 
 inferred that the village of Stanford had great need 
 of a local surveyor. One redeeming feature, however, 
 encouraged a hope that there was a better side to all 
 this : viz., a handsome church tower peeping out from 
 amid trees, on a slight elevation above the houses of 
 
 B
 
 2 A BERKSHIHE VILLAGE : 
 
 the village. And when, on entering- the church path 
 through Foot-ball Close, the Manor Farm, with its 
 old grey buildings and crowded rickyard, appeared on 
 the right, I began to think even a tumble-down 
 village was not altogether devoid of beauty. And 
 certainly it has proved so on further acquaintance, for 
 although I have often grumbled at the absence of 
 trees, the hot dry dust in summer, the excess of mud 
 in winter, and the level country in the immediate 
 neighboiu'hood, I have learned to love it for its own 
 sake, to look with pleasure on the beautiful Berkshire 
 hills in the distance, and to enjoy the glorious sunsets 
 which never seem more lovely than at Stanford. 
 
 It is no doubt a great thing to live in a vale, and 
 that vale the "\^ale of White Horse. As Mr. Hughes 
 observes in his famous novel, entitled " Tom Brown^s 
 School Days,^' " I pity people who weren't born in a 
 vale. I donH mean a flat country but a vale, that is, 
 a flat country bounded by hills. Tlie having your 
 hill always in view, if you choose to turn towards 
 him, that's the essence of a vale. There he is, for 
 ever in the distance, your friend and companion ; you 
 never lose him as you do in hilly districts." Now 
 Stanford, be it ever remembered, lies in the very midst 
 of the Vale of White Horse, which is the richest 
 district in all Berkshire. It lies midway l)ctwcen two 
 ranges of hills, and, although in itself a little wanting 
 in picturesque character, is in the neighbourhood of
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQriTIES. 3 
 
 fine scenery. Standing- either on the White Horse 
 Hill or on the Faring-don range, a view may be 
 obtained over many counties of England. Our own 
 village has a special claim to represent the glories of 
 this famous district, for it is called after the vale ; and 
 all who hear its name become acquainted with the 
 fact that Stanford is Stanford-in-the-Vale. 
 
 The Vale of White Horse is full of historical 
 memories ; not only famous for Back-sword Play and 
 Scouring the White Horse, but famous for the part 
 played by its inhabitants in many a drama of English 
 history. There is scarcely an historical period which 
 is not in some way connected with this part of Berk- 
 shire. To connect some of these periods \vith the 
 history of our parish and its immediate neighbour- 
 hood, is the design of this lecture. It is an humble 
 endeavour to interest you as well as myself in the 
 memorable events of which this village has been the 
 witness, and in which numbers of those who now 
 slumber in our churchyard were the living agents. 
 Should any be inclined to think such knowledge 
 profitless, I would reply to them in the words of 
 Bishop Kennett, " I am sensible there be some who 
 slight and despise this sort of learning, and represent 
 it to be a dry, barren, monkish study. I leave such 
 to their dear enjoyments of ignorance and ease, but I 
 dare assure any wise and sober man that historical 
 antiquities, especially a search into the notices of our 
 
 B %
 
 4 A BERKSHIRE VILLAGE : 
 
 own nation, do deserve and will reward the pains of 
 any English student, will make him understand the 
 st-ate of former ages, the constitution of Governments, 
 the fundamental reasons of equity and law, the rise 
 and succession of doctrines and opinions, the tenures 
 of property, the rites of religion, and, indeed, the nature 
 of mankind." 
 
 There are indications within a few miles which 
 carry us hack into a hoary antiquity, and connect 
 this neighbourhood with the very dawn of English 
 history. INfany of you must have visited that sin- 
 gular group of stones on the White Horse Hill made 
 famous by Sir Walter Scott^s novel of " Kenilworth," 
 called Wayland Smith's cave. In the middle of a 
 clump of trees you may see a large flat stone raised 
 on seven or eight others. This is an ancient Crom- 
 lech, and connects the place with the heathen worship 
 of the ancient Druids. It speaks to us of a time 
 wlien the early Britons roamed over these hills, and 
 worshipped Him whom they called the Unknown. 
 The name of our little river, the Ock, is another trace 
 of early British rule, for it bears a Celtic name, the 
 language of the first inhabitants of our island. 
 
 Hut if in many places we can find indications of 
 British occupation, our own parish carries us a link 
 further in the chain of history. On the fai-m in the 
 ofcupation of JVIr. Penstone at Chinham we have evi- 
 dences of these verv lands having been trodden bv the
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 5 
 
 Roman leg-ions. For Cln'nliam has been identified 
 with Julianum, a Roman settlement, and on its site 
 is found what is called the " Chinham money/' on 
 which you may read the superscription of the Caesars. 
 A larg-e number of these coins was lately in the pos* 
 session of Mr. Penstone, they were g-iven by him to the 
 late Bursar of Brazenose College, Oxford. Another 
 collection, now belonging to Mr. Kimber, has been lent 
 to me, and amongst them I find several coins of Con- 
 stantine, and one of Trajan and Nerva. Remains 
 of Roman building have also been found in a field, on 
 the farm lately occupied by Mr. Henry Penstone, and 
 traces of a road reaching across the country to Spars- 
 holt have been also discovered. But, in speaking of 
 the times of the Romans, I must not omit to mention 
 the Camp on the White Horse Hill. It is one of the 
 finest specimens in England. You may trace its 
 gates and ditch and mounds all in perfect preservation ; 
 and within it you may find, as Mr. Hughes lias 
 observed, " most beautiful green turf with tender blue 
 bells, and gossamer, and thistledown, together with 
 the pleasantest breeze that ever blew.'' But the chief 
 evidence of these lands having been trodden by the 
 Roman legions is to be found in the old Roman roads 
 called the Ridgcway, and the Ickleton or Icknield 
 way, which run for miles along the White Horse Hill. 
 It was by means of these roads the Roman soldiers 
 marched, and doubtless by them Christianity was first 
 
 B 3
 
 6 A BERKSHIRE VILLAGE : 
 
 introduced into this island^ and perhaps into this 
 parish. The first martyr of these ishmds, St. Alban, 
 was, we knoWj a soldier in the Roman army. 
 
 The hamlet of Goosey, which, since the Reforma- 
 tion, has been joined to this Parish, advances us another 
 link in the chain of history. It speaks to us of those 
 who next became the masters of this island, viz., the 
 Saxons. And here we stand on firmer ground, being 
 able to show by actual existing documents that 
 Goosey was known by the same name that it bears at 
 present, in the middle of the eighth century. 
 
 Tliis information is gained from an ancient Latin 
 record, entitled, " Tlie Chronicles of Abingdon," 
 which, since the dissolution of monasteiies in the 
 16th centuiy, has remained in the custody of the 
 Queen^s Master of the Rolls. From this we learn 
 that Offa, King of Mercia and Wessex, whose name 
 survives in the name of the neighbouring village of 
 Uffington, or Offals Town, gave to the monks of 
 Abingdon the Manor of Goosey in exchange for a 
 large tract of meadow-land near Abingdon, called 
 Andresey, or St. Andrew's Island. This grant of the 
 Manor of Goosey connects our parish with the times 
 of the Saxons, for Goosey is essentially a Saxon 
 village, its name signifying Goose Island; being 
 probably so called from the large Hocks of wild geese 
 frequenting Goosey Mere. 
 
 Hut, indeed, the whole country round a])out us
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 7 
 
 teems with traces of our Saxon forefatlicrs. The 
 White Horse cut on the hill commemorates the 
 famous victoiy obtained by King Ethelred and his 
 brother Alfred^ afterwards called Alfred the Great, over 
 the Danes, in the year 871. This is called the battle 
 of Ashdown. The Danish army was in two divisions, 
 one commanded by two of their kinr^s called Berjjf- 
 secg" and Aldene, the other commanded by two earls. 
 The Danes had the advantage of position, for they 
 occupied the higher grounds, that is Uffington Camp 
 and the slope beneath. The Saxon army was like- 
 wise divided into two parts, the one under the com- 
 mand of King Ethelred, and the other under that of 
 his brother Alfred. Whilst King Ethelred was en- 
 gaged in his tent in prayer and receiving the 
 Holy Communion, the Danes began the battle. 
 Seeing the danger of delay, Alfred, without waiting 
 for his brother, formed his men into a dense phalanx 
 and led his troops against the enemy. But Alfred^s 
 troops, fighting with disadvantage of ground and 
 numbers, began to be discouraged and give way, when 
 King Ethelred came up, and charging the enemy with 
 great fury, turned the fortune of the day. According 
 to the old Saxon chronicler whose words I transcribe, 
 " There was also a single thorn-tree of stunted growth 
 which we ourselves with our very eyes have seen. 
 Aromid this tree the opposing armies came together 
 with loud shouts from all sides, the one party to 
 
 B 4
 
 8 A BERKSHIliE VILLAGE : 
 
 pursue their ^\'ieked course, the other to fig-ht for 
 their lives, their dearest ties, and their countiy ; and 
 when both armies had foug-ht long and bravely, at 
 last the pagans, by the Divine judgment, were no 
 longer able to bear the attacks of the Christians, and 
 having lost great part of their army, took to a dis- 
 graceful flight. One of their two kings and five 
 earls were there slain, together with many thousand 
 pagans, who fell on all sides, cov^ering with their 
 bodies the whole plain of Ashdown/^ 
 
 Such was the great victory obtained by the 
 Christian Saxons over the heathen Danes, of which 
 the ^Vhite Horse, cut on the hill, is the sign and 
 memorial. There it has been for nearly a thousand 
 years. 
 
 Another memento of Saxon times remains in the 
 name of Wayland Smithes Cave. It is true it is a 
 British cromlech, but the name by which we know 
 it, is Saxon. Weland the Smith, was one of the 
 Teutonic demigods, and traditions of him are found 
 throughout Europe. According to Anglo-Saxon le- 
 gend, he was a cunning goldsmith and magical farrier. 
 The local tradition is, that an invisible smith, called 
 Wayland, had his abode on this spot, who would shoe 
 a traveller's horse, if left liere for a short time with 
 a piece of money for payment. Certain it is that 
 this group of stones has borne the same name since 
 the time of the Saxons, for it is mentioned in the
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 Abing-don Chronicle as a landmark under the name <.f 
 *'Welundes Smiththc/' 
 
 But, indeed, everywhere in the Vale we find un- 
 mistakable indications of our Saxon origin. INIany 
 of our familiar names are Saxon, Thus Wic means a 
 dwelling'-place in the old Anglo-Saxon, and we have 
 Goosey-wick and Charney-wick. Mere is Saxon for 
 a lake, and we have Goosey Mere. Croft is Saxon for 
 a meadow, and we have Sheepcroft, and Horsecroft. 
 The name of our parish, and, indeed, that of all the 
 neighbouring- parishes, is Saxon. Stan is Saxon for 
 a stone, and ford is Saxon in its derivation, perhaps 
 meaning when put together " the ford by the quarry -," 
 for Stanford, we know, abounds in quarries of stone. 
 The termination "ey^^ in Goosey, Charney, Pusey, 
 Hanney, Childrey, means Island, and is Saxon in 
 its origin. It shows that the country in those times 
 was much covered with water, and that these were 
 places so surrounded by it as to obtain the name of 
 islands. Any one may well understand this who has 
 ever been to Hanney or to Goosey in the winter. In 
 Uffington, as we have said before, we are reminded 
 of a Saxon king, whose town it was. In Buckland 
 we seem to have reference to the Saxon distinction of 
 land into " folc-land '' and " hoc-land. ^^ Land which 
 belonged to the state or community at large, was 
 called " folc-land,^^ that is, the people^s land. Stan- 
 ford had folc-land, or, as it was called, " Stanford 
 
 b3
 
 10 A BERKSHIRE VILLAGE : 
 
 common field." Bocland was land held by book or 
 charter. Boc is the Saxon for beech, and books or 
 charters were wi-itten on beechen tablets, and so the 
 word " boc" came to signify book. 
 
 Butj indeed, we have still more familiar traces of 
 Saxon times in the very language spoken amongst us. 
 Some of the best judges pronounce the dialect of our 
 Vale to be the purest Anglo-Saxon now spoken. To 
 mention some few words amongst many. We say 
 housen when we mean houses. We speak of a heisch 
 day. We call a gate, a gaat. When we are lone- 
 some or solitary, we say we are very unhed. When 
 we are vexed or put about, we say, we are caddled. 
 We »ay, when wheat comes up very early, it is 
 fromm. We say, when we are very hungry, that we 
 are very leer. We say, when a child is brisk and 
 lively, that it is peart. We speak of staying in 
 a place as hiding in a place; and when we talk of 
 moving, we say wagging. From this word wag is 
 formed the word waggon — that is, something which 
 wags or moves on. A man came to my house, 
 the day after New Yeai'^s Day, selling oranges, from 
 the Saxon town of Wantage, who pleaded as a reason 
 for my purchasing some, that I had not given him a 
 hansel this year; handsel, in Saxon, meaning a New 
 Year's gift. 
 
 We often make use of old grammatical forms. 
 Thus we use the personal pronouns he or she to ex-
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 1 I 
 
 press objects without life. Thus I heard a lad remark 
 one day to another who had g-iven him an apple, 
 "Who ever gave you he to give to 7?^^ Such was 
 once the manner of speech amongst all. Such ex- 
 pressions are not bad, but only antiquated English, 
 and prove that once our forefathers spoke pure Anglo- 
 Saxon. 
 
 Moreover, traces of the time in which those hardy 
 Norsemen, the Danes, disputed with the Saxons the 
 possession of this country, survive also in the tra- 
 dition connected with the horn by which Mr. Pusey 
 of Pusey holds his land. This horn bears the inscri])- 
 
 tion, 
 
 Kyng Knoude gave William Pewse 
 Yys home to holde by thy Londe." 
 
 About this horn there has been some dispute. The 
 tradition about it is called a fabulous legend by one 
 historian of Berkshire ; and perhaps it may be that 
 the inscription is of later date than the horn itself; 
 but certain it is that King Canute was a great 
 deal in this neighbourhood, for he is mentioned 
 in the old Latin Chronicle of Abingdon as a con- 
 siderable benefactor to the monastery. Holding 
 lands by cornage, or the service of a horn, was 
 common in early times. He who held land ]jy a 
 horn, it is said, was bound to blow a horn when any 
 invasion of an enemy was perceived. The name of 
 Pusey will ever be honoured and respected in Stan- 
 
 B 6 •
 
 12 A BERKSHIRE ^TLLAGE : 
 
 ford. There is scarcely a cottag-e which does not 
 contain the portrait of the " old Sqnire ;" and he well 
 deserves to he honourably mentioned in any account 
 of our parish ; for he was a man of genial humour, 
 varied information, practical ability, and sterling 
 worth. He set a good example to the gentry of 
 Berkshire in residing much on his property. He was 
 the president and founder of the Agricultural Society, 
 and for some time worthily represented this county 
 in Parliament. Both he and Lady Emily, his wife, 
 are remembered with affection by many of the 
 labourers and their families. 
 
 But not only are we reminded of tlie Danes by the 
 Pusey horn, but also by the camp, about half a mile 
 from Pusey, called Cherbury Camp. This has been 
 called a British camp ; but the tradition about it is, 
 that it was at all events used by the Danes. The 
 present Lord Carnarvon, a relative of Mr. Pusey^s, in 
 a little work on the Archaeology of Berkshire, pub- 
 lished in 1S59, relates that this is the camp into 
 which Alfred the Great penetrated in disguise as a 
 minstrel, in order to learn the plans of the Danes. 
 The story told by the Saxon chronicler Ing-ulf is, 
 that " the king, feigning to be a glee-man, took his 
 harp, and went into the camp of the Danes, where, 
 being admitted into its most private places, he saw 
 all the secrets of his enemies ; and, when lie had gra- 
 tified his wishes, withdrew without being found out."
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 13 
 
 Thus, in all parts of the Vale we are reminded of 
 the great Alfred. Wantage, or Wanting — that is, 
 " the place of moles " — was his birth-phice, and at 
 Ashdown he gained his great victory. Well may 
 those who live in the Vale think with pride of Alfred 
 the Great, for a great and good king he was. His 
 great desire was to benefit the English nation; and 
 for this purpose he translated much of the Scripture 
 into English ; and in order to encourage the clergy of 
 his own and future times to the earnest performance 
 of the pastoral office, he translated a famous book 
 called the Pastoral of Gregory the Great, a copy of 
 which, together with a golden pen, he sent to every 
 bishop in his kingdom, that it might be preserved 
 for ever in their churches. The whole of this 
 neighbourhood is connected with the residence of 
 the Saxon kings; for both at Wantage and at 
 Faringdon there were royal palaces. In one of 
 them, at Wantage, Alfred was born ; and in the 
 other, at Faringdon, Edward, his son, called Edward 
 the Elder, died in &25. 
 
 ' Thus the antiquity of this neighbourhood and its 
 connexion with the several races which from time to 
 time obtained the mastery in England can be proved 
 without dispute ; but if we would form a perfect idea 
 of the life of those early days, we must strive to com- 
 prehend something of that monastic life which was 
 led by so many in this immediate neighbourhood.
 
 14 A BERKSHIRE ^^LLAGE : 
 
 The monastic life does not seem a state recom- 
 mended to us by the life of our Blessed Lord. He 
 taug-ht us rather, while we seek for seasons of retire- 
 ment, to mix among" men and leaven by Christian 
 example the mass of sin about us. The monastic life 
 began about the middle of the third century, during 
 the Decian persecution. Many persons then formed 
 themselves into communities, and lived apart from 
 the world. No sooner had religion made any progress 
 among-st the Saxons, than many monasteries began 
 to be built all over the island. This was natural, for 
 Gregory the Bishop of Rome, who sent forth a mission 
 to convert the heathen Saxons, was himself a monk, 
 and the person he selected to undertake their con- 
 version was Augustine, a monk from his owai monas- 
 tery. 
 
 One of the first monasteries built in the south of 
 England was that of Abingdon, some few traces of 
 which may still be seen. There are the remains of a 
 gateway, and in an adjoining brewery some ancient 
 rooms still exist. The Arms of the Abbey, with the 
 Royal Arms, may yet be seen over the gateway. 
 This Abbey was built about the year 675 by Heane, 
 nephew of Cissa, king of the West Saxons. Some 
 idea of its extent may be gathered from the number 
 of in and out-door servants employed in it, which 
 were more tliaii a hundred in uumlxT. At its 
 gates the poor were continually relieved. It was
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 1 5 
 
 the hospital for the whole district, for all the 
 knowledj^e of medicine possessed in those days was 
 enjoyed by the monks. It was the school of the 
 neighbourhood, and here William the Conqueror left 
 his son to be educated. It was the alms-house of 
 those days, where the ag-ed servant and the decayed 
 labourer retired to a home neither uncomfortable nor 
 humiliating. Again, the monasteries were the inns of 
 the country, where all wayfaring men were lodged 
 and fed on their journeys. The brethren of Abingdon 
 spent their time partly in prayer and partly in 
 labouring in the fields. Tliey were the great farmers 
 of their day, and greatly promoted agriculture. 
 
 The food of the monks was at first very coarse and 
 simple, but afterwards greater indulgences were per- 
 mitted them. In later times pork or bacon was 
 allowed once a day. Each monk had also half a 
 quartern loaf and half a pound of cheese, with beer 
 twice a day. On feast-days they had other indul- 
 gences, such as hydromel, a drink made from water 
 and honey, and wine was allowed on the great festi- 
 vals. In Lent, instead of cheese, they had each one 
 large eel. ]\Iilk and eggs were largely consumed, for 
 their own manors were bound to furnish them with 
 £9,000 eggs yearly. 
 
 I have dwelt upon these details because the hamlet 
 of Goosey was a manor belonging to the Abbey of 
 Abingdon. Here in all probability the monks had
 
 16 A BERKSHIEE VILLAGE : 
 
 a farm, for Goosey is mentioned in the Chronicle aS 
 supplying the Abbey with cheese. At Charney they 
 had another farm, from which also the monks drew a 
 further supply. Doubtless that very form of cheese 
 which is made so extensively in this neighbourhood is 
 fashioned after a recipe which originally emanated 
 from the dairy at Abingdon. In imagination, then, 
 we may people the fields of Goosey Avith the lay 
 brethren of the monastery engaged in agricultural 
 pursuits, busied in the hay field, cutting wood, milk- 
 ing cows, or driving them to pasture. Nay, we may 
 think of this labour as sanctified by religion, and 
 hear the matin bell calling them to early prayers, and 
 the vesper, or evening, bell inviting them to devotion 
 and repose. True, in many respects, it was a corrupt 
 religion which they professed ; but their piety in this 
 respect contrasts somewhat favourably with that of 
 the 19th century. 
 
 The dress of the Benedictine monks of Abingdon, 
 and therefore of Goosey, was a long robe of black 
 serge with a hood to cover the head. The head was 
 partially shaven, :nul in their hands they carried a 
 book of prayers. Such figures must have been very 
 familiar to the inhabitants of Stanford in past years. 
 
 The Abbey at Abingdon was destroyed by the 
 Danes, but its ruined fortunes were restored by King 
 Athelstane. He bestowed on it many manors, and 
 amongst them that of the neighbouring village of
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 17 
 
 Shelling"ford. And it happens that the gift of Shel- 
 ling-ford to the Abbey is connected by a remarkable 
 link with our ovm parish church. Athelstane^ as the 
 Chronicle of Abing-don relates^ kept the feast of Easter 
 in the year 939 with his whole court in great state 
 at Abingdon. Whilst there, messengers arrived from 
 Hugh Cajiet, king of France, with valuable presents 
 of gold and jewels and holy relics, to ask from the 
 English monarch his sister's hand in marriage. 
 Amongst the relics was a finger of St. Denys of 
 Paris. This St. Denys was one of a company of 
 seven who were sent from Italy in the time of the 
 Decian persecution to relight the lamp of faith in 
 Gaid. He preached most diligently, and is called 
 the Apostle of Gaul. With two others he suffered 
 martyrdom, and was buried in Paris at a spot called 
 Montmartre, that is, the mount of martyrs. A mag- 
 nificent church was built in his honour, in which, for 
 many centuries, the French kings were buried. It is 
 the Westminster Abbey of France. St. Denys is 
 looked upon as the patron saint of France, and the 
 French soldiers used to shout his name for their 
 battle cry, as the English that of St. George. Now 
 it is to this holy saint and martyr our parish church 
 is dedicated, for the festival of St. Denys of Paris was 
 held on October 9th, the very day on which Stanford 
 feast falls, these feasts being the anniversaries of the 
 dedication of the church.
 
 18 A BERKSHIRE VILLAGE: 
 
 Now our present cliurch was built at a later date, 
 but yet there are tombs iii the churchyard which 
 show there was a church on the present site about 
 800 years ago. It seems more than probable that 
 about this time, the time when Shellingford came 
 into the possession of the monks, that a church was 
 built in Stanford and dedicated to the memory of St. 
 Denys of Paris. 
 
 Tlie naming of the church was doubtless owing to 
 the fact of a finger of St. Denys being possessed as 
 a famous relic by the monks of Abingdon. While, 
 then, we condemn that superstition \\'hicli the venera- 
 tion of relics brought upon the Church of God, let us 
 remember that he to whom our church is dedicated 
 was indeed a saint and martyr — one who, at the 
 hazard of his life, preached the blessed Gospel of the 
 living God during a time of persecution. 
 
 It was only by degrees that corruptions crept into 
 the Church. In the times of the Saxons, there was 
 much pure religion practised in England. It was not 
 until much later in the history of our nation that the 
 reading of the Bible was discouraged. The learning 
 of the four gospels by heart was a necessary acquire- 
 ment for all who took Holy Orders ; and the Saxon 
 homilies — i. e., sermons composed to be read in 
 churches — exhort the people with much earnestness 
 " to the frequent perusal of the Scriptures,'^ and en- 
 force the advice from the great benefit of that exer-
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 19 
 
 cisGj saying-, "tliat the mind was refined, and the 
 passions purged by this expedient ; that this was 
 the way to refresh our greatest concern upon us, and 
 make heaven and hell have their due impression. 
 That, as a blind man often stumbles in his motion, so 
 those who are unacquainted with the word of God 
 are apt to make false steps and miscariy '." 
 
 Laws, too, were made at successive councils, ex- 
 horting the clerg-y, parents, and g-odparents to instruct 
 children, and commanding the sanctification of the 
 Lord's Day. 
 
 But to return to the history of our owti parish. 
 Its history, so far as it is known from authentic docu- 
 ments, cannot be traced until after the Conquest. 
 From the evidence of ancient charters referred to in 
 Lyson's History of Berkshire, it seems that the 
 Manor of Stanford was given by the Conqueror to 
 Henry do Ferrars, Earl of Derby, in whose family it 
 continued for 200 years. This nobleman held no less 
 than twenty-two manors in Berkshire, he being the 
 greatest lay proprietor. During the time the manor 
 was in the possession of the Ferrars, Earls of Derby, a 
 market was granted to the parish, in the year 1230, 
 in the reign of Henry III. Stanford was a market- 
 town down to the time of the Reformation ; for it is 
 called a town in the Churchwarden's accounts of the 
 
 » Cp. Collier's Ecd. Hist., vol. i. p. 201.
 
 20 A BERKSHIRE VILLAGE : 
 
 16tli century; and traces of this may be found in the 
 language used respecting strangers — viz., that they 
 are out-towners. 
 
 At this time also a fair was granted to Stanford, 
 which was held at the time of Stanford feast, and 
 which still lingers in the annual appearance of a few 
 travelling shows and gingerbread stalls. A fair was 
 a very different matter once, being attended by per- 
 sons from all the country round; for in old times 
 there were few shops, and such opportunities of 
 obtaining needful merchandise could not be lost. 
 Our market was held on Thursdays, perhaps on 
 Church Green ; and then the neighbours from Shel- 
 lingford, Pusey, Charney, Goosey, and other villages, 
 would bring wool, honey, poultry, butter, and eggs. 
 Occasionally, perhaps, a lay brother from Goosey 
 would offer for sale some of those cheeses so much ap- 
 preciated by the monks. 
 
 Stanford was lost by the Ferrars family in 1266. 
 On accoimt of the part taken by Ferrars, Earl of 
 Derby, against Henry III. and his son, this estate 
 was forfeited, and was given by the king to Clare, 
 Earl of Gloucester, whose arms may be seen in the 
 chancel window of the church. The church was in 
 all probability built whilst this nobleman possessed 
 the manor. The architecture, which is of the style 
 called Decorated Gothic, leads us to think it was built 
 about the beginning of the fourteenth century. The
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 21 
 
 windows are exactly similar to some in the chapel of 
 INIerton College at Oxford, where the arms of the 
 De Clares are also to be seen, A brass in our chancel 
 tells us that Roger Campcdene was Rector of Stanford, 
 and that he died in 1398. Perhaps he was the first 
 rector of the new church. From the Clare family the 
 Manor passed by female descent to the family of De 
 Spencer, then to that of Beauchamp, and after that, 
 to the Nevilles. And this brings us to a veiy in- 
 teresting period in the history of our country, to an 
 event rendered still more famous by the pen of Shak- 
 speare. For this Manor, we have seen, belonged to the 
 Nevilles, and from thence it passed to the Crown. 
 How this happened we may gather from the south 
 porch of our church, which is of later date than the 
 rest, and has carved upon it the rose and fetlock 
 impalvig Hie ragged staff. This points to the porch 
 being built about the time of the marriage of Lady 
 Anne Neville with the Duke of Gloucester, after- 
 wards Richard III., by whose orders it is said the two 
 young princes were murdered in the Tower. This 
 lady was a daughter of the famous Neville, Earl of 
 Warwick, sometimes called the King-maker, who 
 played a prominent part in the Wars of the Roses. 
 Her first marriage was a very unhappy one. She 
 was married to that Prince Edward, son of Henry VI., 
 who was stabbed to death by the Dukes of Clarence 
 and Gloucester, after having been taken prisoner at
 
 22 A BERKSHIRE ^^LLAGE : 
 
 the battle of Tewkesbury — the horrid deed which 
 Shakspeare, in his play of Richard III., has fitly 
 made one of the phantoms that haunted the death 
 dream of Clarence. 
 
 " Then came wandering by 
 A shadow like an angel, with bright hair 
 Dabbled in blood ; and he shrieked out aloud, 
 Clarence is come — false, fleeting, perjured Clarence, 
 That stabbed me in the field by Tewkesbury : 
 Seize on him furies, — take him unto torment ". 
 
 ■ 5 " 
 
 But the second marriage of Lady Anne Neville was 
 
 a still more miserable one; for she was sought out 
 
 from concealment by Richard Duke of Gloucester, 
 
 one of those who stabbed her husband, and induced or 
 
 forced to marry him. Shakspeare has woven some 
 
 incidents of this sad history into the same play. He 
 
 represents the corpse of King Henry VI. being borne 
 
 towards Chertsey, and Lady Anne following as a, 
 
 mourner : — 
 
 " Poor key-cold figure of a holy king ! 
 Pale ashes of the house of Lancaster ! 
 Tliou bloodless remnant of that royal blood! 
 Be it lawful that I invocate thy ghost, 
 To hear the lamentations of poor Anne, 
 Wife to thy Edward, to thy slaughtered son 3." 
 
 On the road to Chertsey she is met by Richard, 
 who endeavours to persuade her to marry him. At 
 first she rejects his suit with the most bitter scorn, 
 
 ' King llicbard III., Act i. Scene 4 ^ j/,ij,^ Act i. Scene 2.
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTiquiTIES. 23 
 
 but at last is secming-ly persuaded to consent. It is 
 not improbable that the south porch of our church 
 may have been erected by the King", as a kind of 
 penance for sin^ for in such a manner sorrow for 
 wrong- done was often shown in those days. 
 
 The l)uilding' of the south porch is the last link 
 I am able to supply in the history of Stanford imtil 
 the date of the Reformation ; but it may not be with- 
 out interest to mention that only a few days ago 
 a silver penny of the time of Richard III. was found 
 in the mould of the churchyard. The reign of Richard 
 is not perhaps the one which is most pleasing to 
 remember in connection with Stanford^ but still it 
 was a most eventful period, and may serve to remind 
 us of the stormy times through which our ancestors — 
 those who worshipped in the same church — have 
 passed. It is only fair to say that it has been con- 
 tended that the popular notion of Richard's character 
 is a party delusion, a matter of Lancastrian prejudice 
 fomented by Shakspeare ; but although it is possible 
 the dark side of his character may have been exag- 
 gerated, there must without doubt have been some 
 foundation for it. Shakspeare has a fine passage, 
 where he makes Richard express remorse before his 
 death. He has an agitated dream on the eve of the 
 battle of Bosworth Field. There, rising from his 
 sleep, harassed, haggard, and disturbed, he explains
 
 24 A BERKSHIRE VILLAGE : 
 
 to his attendants the change which had come over his 
 spirit, and the hauntings of his guilty conscience : — 
 
 " My conscience hath a thousand several tongues. 
 And every tongue brings in a several tale, 
 And every tale condemns me for a vUlain : 
 Perjury, perjury in the high'st degree, 
 AU several sins, all used in each degree, 
 Throng to the bar, crying all — Guilty ! guilty ! 
 I shall despair. There is no creature loves me, 
 And if I die no soul will pity me. 
 Nay, wherefore should they ? since that I myself 
 Find in myself no pity to myself; 
 Mcthought the souls of all that I had murdered 
 Came to my tent, and every one did threat 
 To-morrow's vengeance on the head of Richard*." 
 
 "o'- 
 
 May we not hope that Shakspeare has only in this 
 preserved a tradition of the qualms of conscience felt 
 for his deeds by Richard before his death? Such 
 conscientious qualms perhaps may have mo ed the 
 king to the erection of our church porch ; and may we 
 not trust, that perhaps within the walls of Stanford 
 Church, the king may have sought pardon and for- 
 giveness for his great sins from the mercy of God, 
 a j)ardon which we know is not withheld on sincere 
 repentance even to the greatest of sinners. 
 
 At this period of war and bloodshed in the State, 
 there was much corruption in the Church; but even 
 before, and at that time, some there were who set a 
 
 * King Richard III., Act v. Scene 3.
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 25 
 
 bright example of Christian living*. Tliis may be 
 learned from the poetry of Chaucer^ who, it is al- 
 leged, lived at Donnington Castle near Newbury in 
 this county, where, under an oak in the park, he 
 composed, according to tradition, many of his poems. 
 His son was Lord of the Manor of the neighbouring 
 villages of Buckland and Hatford in the year 1436. 
 In one of his poems, Chaucer has left us a description 
 of a parson of his day, which, if true, abundantly 
 testifies that at that time there were, at all events, 
 some parishes where faith was not altogether extin- 
 guished. He speaks of 
 
 " A poor Parson of a town, 
 But rich he was of holy thought and work j 
 He was also a learned man, a clerk 
 That Christe's Gospel truly would he preach. 
 His parishens devoutly wovdd he teach. 
 
 Wide was his parish — houses far asunder, 
 
 But he neglected nought for rain and thunder j 
 
 In sickness and in grief to visit all. 
 
 The farthest in his parish, great and small. 
 
 Always on foot, and in his hand a stave, 
 
 This noble example to his flock he gave. 
 
 That first he wrought, and afterward he taught ; 
 
 Out of the Gospel he that lesson caught. 
 
 And this new figure added he thereto. 
 
 That if gold rust, then what should iron do," 
 
 But in the same poem from which this description 
 is taken, Chaucer shows us that many corruptions 
 were rife in regard to religion. A wicked traffic was 
 
 c
 
 26 A BEP.KSHIEE VILLAGE : 
 
 carried on in pardons which the Pope pretended to 
 grant, and which were sold for money by his agents 
 in England. Then, also, pilgrimages were made to the 
 shrines of the saints, as if by this, sin could be atoned 
 for. All this was fostered by the denial of the Scriptures 
 to the people, and by the use of Latin in the public 
 prayers, wlaich, therefore, the people could not under- 
 stand. Much corruption, moreover, grew out of the 
 monastic system. The monks persuaded the lords of 
 manors to make over the churches on their estates 
 and the tithes with which they were endowed, to their 
 own monasteries, they, meanwhile, undertaking to 
 provide for the ecclesiastical duties ; and thus parishes 
 were left without resident pastors, the Church sennces 
 being performed by monks from the neighbouring 
 monastery. The monastic system again interfered 
 with the healthier parochial system in other ways. 
 It drained oflP the resources of religious zeal into one 
 channel, and prevented the erection and endowment 
 of bishoprics and parishes. This abuse was foreseen 
 by Bede, a learned Saxon monk, who died in 735. Even 
 in his day, he foresaw the evil which would arise from 
 too great an increase in the building of monasteries ; 
 and advised that some of them should be suppressed, 
 and their estates applied to the erection of bishoprics. 
 Another evil arising from the monastic system was 
 the false view it propagated in regard to religion, a 
 corruption which is illustrated by the word religion
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 27 
 
 itself. " A religious person in the times of the monks 
 did not mean any one who felt and allowed the bonds 
 that bound him to God, and to his fellow men ; but 
 one who had taken peculiar vows upon him, a mem- 
 ber of one of the monkish orders. A relig-ious house 
 did not mean a Christian household, ordered in the 
 fear of God, but a house in which these persons were 
 gathered together, according to the rule of some man. 
 ' Religious' was a title which might not be given to 
 parents and children, husbands and wives, men and 
 women fulfilling faithfully and holily in the world the 
 several duties of their stations, but only to those who 
 had devised such a self-chosen service for themselves^'' 
 No one who has not carefully studied the history of 
 those times can conceive the great revolution which at 
 the dissolution of monasteries passed over this country. 
 The first great change in this neighbourhood must have 
 been the dissolution of the great abbey at Abingdon. 
 This abbey must have been a source of wealth and tem- 
 poral benefit to the whole neighbourhood. No doubt 
 the system of which it was the representative was 
 productive of much spiritual evil ; but this evil was 
 mixed mth much that was good, and the temporal 
 benefits which it dispensed were very great. For, at 
 the gates of the abbey, as I have said, the poor were 
 largely relieved. It was an asylum for the aged and 
 infirm, for the sick and the destitute, the hospital and 
 
 * Trench, on the Study of Words, 
 
 c 2
 
 2S A BERKSHIRE VILLAGE : 
 
 disjiensary for the whole neighbourhood. But now 
 all this was swept away. King Henry VIII. at two 
 several times confiscated the whole of the monastic 
 property to the service of the state. He is said to 
 have lost at a game with dice the great bell of 
 St. Paul's to one of the courtiers. By the sale of the 
 abbey lands, and from the plate and jewels of w^hich 
 the monasteries were despoiled, an enormous sum of 
 money was obtained. The excuse for this was the cor- 
 rupt state of many of these monastic houses, but there 
 is every reason to believe this was exaggerated. No 
 douljt much of the land had been given to the service 
 of religion under false notions of penitence, but still 
 much of it must have been given through motives of 
 piety ; and, indeed, no one could be sure what were 
 the inner springs influencing men to bestow their 
 land and treasure. These lands and this money did 
 not belong to the monks absolutely. The monks were 
 only the tnistees for religion and the poor. Granting 
 that the tiiistces were evil, they should have been 
 removed, but not the trust confiscated. Thus a great 
 wrong was done, and a great sin committed. Arch- 
 bisho}) Cranmer and Bishops Latimer and Ridley 
 earnestly moved the king to give some of the monas- 
 teries as schools of learning, and to endow them with 
 their revenues, and to allow some to remain for better 
 religious purposes, And the king certainly at one 
 time had some intention of doing this, for there exists
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 29 
 
 in his own handwriting a scheme for erecting thirteen 
 bishoprics out of the spoils of the monasteries. But 
 this scheme was never carried into effect. Out of the 
 whole of the immense revenue that accrued to the 
 Crown from the abolition of the monasteries^ a fraction 
 of about £8,000 per annum was bestowed upon the 
 endowment of six new bishoprics, and the substitu- 
 tion of canons for the disbanded monks in several of 
 the old cathedral churches. 
 
 The whole of this neighbourhood must have been 
 deeply affected by the dissolution of the monasteries, 
 for both Cistercians and Benedictines had religious 
 houses in the vicinity. There was a cell at Faring- 
 don, an offshoot of the Cistercian Abbey of Beaulieu 
 in Hampshire, a record of which remains in the old 
 barn at Great Coxwell ; and at Abingdon there was 
 the great Benedictine monastery. Stanford, it is pro- 
 bable, had frequent intercourse botii with Cistercians 
 and Benedictines, for Faringdon is only four miles 
 distant from Stanford, and there still remain traces 
 of an old road or track leaving this parish near that 
 part of it which is called Bow, and running through 
 Charney field in a straight line for Abingdon. 
 
 Intercourse with these places must have greatly 
 promoted the breeding of sheep, and the tillage of 
 land, for the Cistercians were the great wool-growers 
 of the country, and the Benedictines the promoters of 
 agriculture. Much wool was doubtless brought to 
 
 c 3
 
 80 A BERKSHIRE ^^LLAGE : 
 
 Stanford Market, for it is plain from Mr. Fawconer's 
 will, in which mention is made of wool weights, that 
 tithes were paid in wool, and several published walls 
 of the Unton family at Wadley, about the time of the 
 Reformation, prove the staple production of this 
 neighbourhood to have been wool. It is highly pro- 
 bable that Stanford may have had a considerable 
 manufacture of kersey cloth, which was produced in 
 many Berkshire towns, a trade which was ruined by 
 the civil wars. Together with this trade, consider- 
 able attention must have always been paid to agri- 
 culture and dairy farming. Tlie cheese supplied by 
 Sliellingford, Goosey, and Charney to the monastery 
 of Abingdon, sufficiently proves that attention was 
 then, as now, paid to the feeding of cows in the Vale. 
 The methods of farming were veiy primitive. No 
 carts were known, and manure was carried in ham- 
 pers or panniers on the backs of horses ; and, indeed, 
 this custom is still remembered by some living, who 
 affirm that this was so in the village of Goosey until 
 a very late date. 
 
 At the Reformation Stanford had to wish good-bye 
 to her old neighbours, the Cistercians and Bene- 
 dictines, and accustom herself to a new order of 
 things, to exchange monkish landlords for lay pro- 
 prietors. In order to reconcile the leading persons in 
 every county to the sale of the abbey lands and 
 tithes, they were allowed to purchase them at easy
 
 ITS HISTOEY AND ANTIQUITIES. 31 
 
 prices. Thus it was said, " Popish lands made Pro- 
 testant landlords." In these times the poor were 
 great sufferers, for a vast proportion of the population 
 were turned adrift witliout employment, and so great 
 was the distress that in Oxfordshire there was a 
 serious rebellion. 
 
 This parish was then, as indeed it continued until 
 the last generation, entirely unenclosed. From Far- 
 ingdon to Oxford was one large sheep-walk. Ancient 
 charters give us some idea of the state of the country 
 round. Tlius in the Wadley property in Wyke, that 
 is, part of Faringdon and the whole of Hatford, the 
 land was proportioned as follows : — Tliere were 1500 
 acres of arable, 600 acres of meadow, 1000 acres of 
 pasture, 100 acres of wood, 500 acres of jampnorum, 
 that is, gorse or furze, being 2100 acres of grass 
 land to 1500 of arable. Thus we see that the 
 rearing of sheep was found more profitable than 
 keeping the land in tillage. Indeed, Bishop Burnet 
 shows that much land was turned into pasture, and 
 many enclosures removed for the sake of breeding 
 sheep, the wool of which fetched a very high price. 
 Through this fewer labourers were employed, and 
 land was let at a dearer rate to yeomen. These 
 ancient charters prove the existence of many woods 
 which have now wholly disappeared, and show us that 
 much land has been reclaimed, once altogether waste. 
 Within the memory of many living, there were many 
 
 c 4
 
 $Z A BERKSHIRE VILLAGE : 
 
 acres of common covered with furze between this 
 \411ag'e and that of Buckland, and a large tract of 
 land called Hatford Downs. The furze probably sup- 
 plied the poor in old times wdth fuel, and when the 
 making of bricks was introduced into the Vale, it was 
 wdth furze that the furnaces were heated. 
 
 Anciently Stanford was peopled by many sub- 
 stantial yeomen. The name of yeoman may be read 
 on many old gravestones, and constantly occurs in the 
 Church registers. Tliere still exist many old farm- 
 houses, none of them of very large size. These are 
 stUl known by the names of their former ouTiers, 
 whose families for many years inhabited this parish. 
 Thus we have Spinage^s, Ducket's, Stone's. Tliere 
 are the remains of one of these old houses of the yeo- 
 maniy on Second Common, which, though now turned 
 into cottages, presents a very ancient and picturesque 
 appearance. It is said that large numbers of yeo- 
 maniy are peculiar to Berkshire, and that at the 
 beginning of the present century the number of yeo- 
 men farming their own land in Berkshire was greater 
 than in any other county of the same size. None of 
 these, in all probability, farmed a larger number of 
 acres than forty, fifty, or at the most eighty, but then 
 they had the right of pasturage on the common or 
 "folc land" of Stanford*. In illustration of this we 
 
 « I remember the late Mr. Cowdcroy telling me that his father was 
 accustomed to relate that, before the Euclosurc Act, the cows belong-
 
 ITS HISTOllT AND ANTIQUITIES. '63 
 
 find Bishop Latimer in a sermon mentioning- that his 
 father was a yeoman having- no lands of his own^ })ut 
 renting a farm of the annual value of 31. or 41. Thi.Sj 
 he says, he tilled, employing- half a dozen men; but 
 then, we are told, he had walk for an hundred sheep, 
 that is, rig-ht of pasturage for so many. He was a 
 substantial yeoman for those days, for he sent his son 
 to school, and afterwards to the University of Cam- 
 bridge. He was able to portion his daughters with 
 51. a piece, and " he kept hospitality for his poor 
 neighbours, and some alms he gave to the poor." 
 
 However, this was before the Reformation, for Lati- 
 mer complains in 1549, that the same farm for which his 
 father paid 3/. or 4.4. was then let for 16^. by the year. 
 
 The yeomanry at this time in England usually 
 lived in dwellings of timber, the walls being formed 
 of wattled plaster, but it is probable that in this 
 neighbourhood stone would be very generally used 
 from the abundance to be found in the parish ; but 
 all dwellings must have been of ruder construction 
 than at present, for now the farmers of Berkshire 
 occujiy the old Manor Houses of the gentry. Houses 
 at that time were not all furnished witlj chimneys, 
 the monasteries and manor houses had them, but they 
 were not common in the 16th century. The yeo- 
 
 ing to the difTercnt yeomeu were gathered togctlier each morning by 
 the blowing of a horn, the cowherd calling loudly on the inhabitants 
 to send out their cows to pasture, that this man had the charge of 
 them during the day, and in the evening gave notice of his return 
 in the same manner by blowing his horn. 
 
 c 5
 
 84 A BERKSHIRE VILLlGl f 
 
 manry mostly lived together with their labourers in 
 their kitchens^ the fire being' made against the wall 
 or rere-dos, the smoke finding its way out at a hole in 
 the roof. Many only slept on straw pallets covered 
 with a canvas sheet and coarse coverlet. Then, 
 perhaps^ instead of a bolster, they had a good round 
 log. Sometimes the father or goodman of the house 
 would have a mattress or flock bed, and a sack of 
 chaff to rest his head on. Oftentimes their servants 
 had no sheets at all, but lay on the straw. Then, all 
 ate off wooden trenchers, and drank their beer out of 
 wooden bowls, called biggins or piggins, the beer 
 being drawn for use in deep black leathern or wooden 
 pitchers called jacks. The sign of the ancient inn 
 near the present railway station, called " The Leathern 
 Bottle,^'' illustrates this custom. Few of the yeomanry 
 had more than four or five pieces of pewi:er in their 
 possession. For seats, they had rough stools, such as 
 any man could make with a chopper, and sometimes 
 settles — seats with a back oftentimes opening and 
 forming a box. Joined or joint stools, that is, stools 
 made properly by a joiner, were more luxurious. The 
 taUes were formed by boards laid on tressels,so that they 
 could be easily removed, as appears from an expression 
 in " Romeo and Juliet,^' where Capulet exclaims — 
 
 " A hall ! a hall ! give room and foot it girls ; 
 More light, ye knaves, and turn the tables up '^." 
 
 ' " Rouico and Juliet," Act i., Scene 5.
 
 Its history and antiquities. 35 
 
 The food of the Reformation period was coarser^ and 
 much less varied than it is now. Only the gentry 
 could afford to eat wheaten bread throughout the year. 
 Servants and poor people ate bread made of barley or 
 rye. Sometimes it was even made of beans, pease, and 
 oats. There were then no potatoes, nor was it luitil 
 the end of Heniy VIII.^s reign that any salads, car- 
 rots, tiirnips, or other such like roots were produced in 
 England. When Queen Katharine wanted a salad, she 
 was obliged to despatch a messenger to Holland on 
 purpose *. 
 
 Salt meat was eaten throughout the winter. Cattle 
 were slaughtered at Martinmas, and the meat salted 
 for winter consumption. It may be inferred that 
 much of the meat consumed by our ancestors was 
 bacon, from the word larder, which is derived from the 
 Latin laridum or lardum, and the monks of Abingdon 
 called their receptacle for cold meats lardanarium. 
 The names by which we call many of the rooms in 
 houses at the present day throw light on old customs. 
 Thus parlour is of course from parler, for people lived 
 in kitchens or halls a kind of public life, surrounded 
 by their servants ; but they had a room in which 
 they went aside to parley. It certainly was not a 
 sitting-room at this time, even in the houses of the 
 gentry, for in the great house at Wadley we read of 
 
 * See Hume's History of England. Henry VIII. 
 
 c 6
 
 36 A fiEitKSHIRfi VILLAGE : 
 
 a bed in the parlour, and so also in the Vicarage at 
 Stanford. 
 
 FitzHerbert, who wrote a book on husbandry in 
 15'2'Z, speaks about the duties of farmers^ wives. In 
 those days the housewife spun the wool and flax pro- 
 duced on the farm. Respecting this custom, Fitz- 
 Herbert tells us that it is not profitable for a woman 
 wholly to devote herself to the distaff*, but, he re- 
 marks, "it stoppeth up a gap, and must needs be 
 had.^^ According to this writer, farmers^ ^^ives in the 
 16th century must have been patterns of diligence and 
 industry. It was their duty to measure out the 
 quantity of corn to be ground, and see that it was sent 
 to the miller. They took care of the poultry and pigs, 
 and superintended the brewing and baking. The 
 garden was especially the care of the yeoman's wife. 
 She had to depend upon it for various herbs which are 
 now no longer in use, but which could not be dis- 
 pensed with in times when spices were rare and costly. 
 Besides pot-herbs, strewing-herbs were required for the 
 chambers, andherbspossessingmedical virtues. Aknow- 
 ledge of herbs still lingers in this neigh1)ourhood, but 
 principally amongst aged women of the labouring class. 
 
 The principal materials for clothing were obtained 
 by the industry of each family. Sole-leather was 
 kept in farmhouses, with which shoes might be 
 mended as occasion required. Every yeoman more- 
 over was expected to know how to make yokes and
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. '67 
 
 plough g-ear. Such work afforded profitable employ- 
 ment in the winter evenings. Tims the Stanford 
 people in those days must have fulfilled that ideal 
 picture which the poet drew of the habits of the 
 ancient Romans, whom he represents in the nights of 
 winter drawing round the fire : — 
 
 " When young and old in circle. 
 
 Around the firebrands close; 
 
 When the girls are weaving baskets, 
 
 And the lads are shaping bows. 
 " Wlien the good man mends his armour. 
 
 And trims his helmet's plume ; 
 
 When the good wife's shuttle merrily 
 
 Goes flashing through the loom ^." 
 
 Certainly in those days people in the country did not 
 lead an easy, idle life. 
 
 A writer in Queen Elizabeth-'s reign relates that, 
 " In times past men were contented to dwell in houses 
 builded of sallow, willow, &c., but now these woods are 
 rejected, and nothing but oak anywhere regarded. 
 And yet see the change. For when our houses were 
 builded of willow then had we oaken men, but now 
 that our houses are made of oak, our men are not 
 only become willow, but a great many altogether of 
 straw. Now we have many chimneys, and yet our 
 tenderlines complain of rheums, catarrhs, and poses. 
 Then we had none but rere-dosses, and our heads did 
 never ache, for as the smoke in those days was sup- 
 9 " Lays of Ancient Rome."
 
 38 A BERKSHIEE VILLAGE I 
 
 posed to be a sufficient liardening for tlie timber of 
 the house, so it was reputed a far better medicine to 
 keep the goodman and his family from the quack or 
 posse, where"n4th as then very few were acquainted." 
 
 It is said that local peculiarities are wearing out in 
 Berkshire, but one I rejoice to record has not yet de- 
 parted, namely, the early and industrious habits of 
 the inhabitants of the Vale. There is scarcely a farm- 
 house in this neighbourhood where the duties of the 
 day do not commence at the veiy earliest possible hour. 
 For cows must be milked, and dairy- work attended to. 
 The universal Stanford dinner-hour among all classes 
 is half-past eleven, and the hour for tea half-past 
 three. Fifteen years ago the children in the parochial 
 school assembled at eight o^ clock, and even now 
 they meet at half-past eight, half an hour earlier than 
 is usual in most schools. The necessary dairy- work of 
 the Vale is the means of training a hardy, useful, and 
 industrious people, and of fostering the wholesome 
 custom of early rising. 
 
 An interesting document relating to this \dllage is 
 preserved amongst the parish archives, viz. the Avill 
 of Mr. Fawconer, vicar of Stanford in the time of the 
 Reformation. lie held also the living of Shalburae 
 or Chalburno, ill AViltshire. lie died in 1592, leaving 
 a legacy of 2/. to eveiy man, woman, and child living 
 in Stanford and Goosey. This legacy suggests how 
 greatly the p(>})ulation of the country has increased.
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTiqUITIES. 3'J 
 
 It has done so pai-ticularly in Stanford, into which 
 strangers have flocked from neig-hhouring- villag-es. 
 It is probable that the population of Stanford, 
 at the time of Mr. Fawconer^s death, was less 
 than half its present numbers. We may infer this 
 by comparing- the population returns of 1801 with 
 those of 18G1. In 1801 Stanford had a population 
 of 607, but, in 1861, it had increased to 1075. 
 
 This will, and the wills of the Unton family of 
 the same date, published by the Berkshire Ashmolean 
 Society, show us how customary it was in those days 
 to bequeath articles of clothing. Mr. Fawconer 
 divides his clothes amongst his friends and amongst 
 the poor of his parish. Thus we find entries as fol- 
 lows : " I give and bequeath to Mr. Thomas Pincke, 
 curate of Shulburn, my best gown, and my best coat 
 furred with floynes." " I give and bequeath to Ed- 
 mund Whitehorn my old frieze coat, one pair of my 
 hose, a doublet, and a shirt. ^' '' I give and bequeath 
 to Sir Roger Wollaston, a poor priest, my rugg gown, 
 and in money twenty shillings, and do forgive him the 
 debt that he oweth me." This last bequest illus- 
 trates the history of the times, and shows into what 
 distress the Reformation had plunged many of the 
 clergy. Numbers, it is said, at this time became 
 carpenters, and tailors, and even keepers of ale-houses. 
 Others were forced to go to service as domestics, to 
 turn clerks of the kitchen, surveyors, or receivers.
 
 40 A BERKSHIUE "VILLAGE : 
 
 Another legacy left by Mr. Fawconer is one of 
 31. 6s. Sd. to poor scholars. " I give and bequeath 
 SI. 6s. Sd. to be distributed by mine executors* dis- 
 cretion to ten poor scholars in Oxford that be towardly 
 in learning and good condition.'" Tliis legacy re- 
 minds us that although learning afterwards revived, 
 yet for a time it received great discouragement from 
 the dissolution of the monastic schools^ and indeed it 
 is said that immediately after the Reformation the 
 Universities were almost deserted. 
 
 Another bec^uest^ namely a sum of money, the 
 interest of which was to be applied to the keeping up 
 the highway between Stanford and Wantage, shows 
 us the bad state of the roads at that time. The soil 
 of the Vale is a strong grey loam, mixed with large 
 quantities of vegetable mould, and the stone quarried 
 at Stanford, and used for many years for making and 
 repairing the roads is limestone, in the stratum of 
 which fossil shells, and other marine productions, are 
 found in abundance. This stone, however, is by no 
 means the best for road-making, and a great modern 
 improvement is the imjwrtation of harder stone from 
 Uie neighbourhood of Bristol. Stanford doubtless, in 
 Mr, Fawconer's day, must have been what it remains 
 at present, a muddy place, and it must have been 
 hardly possible to distinguish in the dusk the high- 
 way from the unenclosed heath on either side. 
 
 Another legacy consisted of five shillings a piece,
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTiqUITIES. 41 
 
 and coats and g-owns to a large number of Mr. Faw- 
 coner^s god-children^ amongst whom were the names 
 of Franklin^ Tyrrold, Spinage, Lambourne, White- 
 horne, Cox. A legacy to John Cox was as follows : 
 " I give and bequeath unto John Cox, sometime my 
 servant, in money 20*., and 20*. 8^/. that Thomas 
 Barlow the butcher owetli me for a pig, and a heifer 
 that the said John Cox sold him.^' 
 
 Another bequest was one by which Mr. Fawconer^'s 
 name is still thankfully remembered in Stanford, for 
 he leaves money " to portion poor maydes on their 
 marriages, born within the parish of Stanford.^^ Mr. 
 Fawconer endeavoured to remember every one in 
 his will ; neither did he forget the poor of the 
 neighbouring parishes, for he left ten shillings to each 
 of the villages of Shellingford, Pusey, and Buckland. 
 He left the residue of his property, after his debts 
 were paid, to be divided into three parts, one was the 
 poor mayde^s portion, one that which was to go 
 towards the repair of the highway, and the third he di- 
 rected to be spent for the relief of poor prisoners abroad. 
 
 Before the Reformation the church at Stanford 
 was served by three clergymen, a priest, a deacon, 
 and sub-deacon. From the " Inventory,^^ taken in 
 1553, a copy of which is given in the Appendix,' we 
 
 ' See Appendix. This inventory is to be found at the beginning 
 of a valuable volume — the original record of the accounts of the 
 churchwardens of Stanford from the year 1553.
 
 42 A BERKSHIRE VILLAGE : 
 
 find that it was very^ rich in plate and vestments. 
 The interior of the church presented a very different 
 appearance to that which it does at present. At the 
 point where the chancel is divided from the body of 
 the church, there was, near the roof, a galleiy in 
 which were placed a Crucifix, and on either side figures 
 of the Blessed Virgin and St. John. The Crucifix 
 was called the rood, and the gallery on which it stood 
 the rood-loft. The ancient staircase leading to this 
 gallery is now to be seen at the east end of the 
 present aisle. In the rood-loft there were altars, as 
 is shovm by entries in the Churchwardens' Book, at 
 which masses were said, and in it " before the rood " 
 a light constantly burned. Tliis gallery was removed 
 at the Reformation, and in the " Inventory " mention 
 is made of the Church possessing "a hjhidl, 2 lolces 
 of Comon Prayer, a Salter all in Englj/s/ie." Tliese 
 entries mark a change for which we cannot be too 
 thankful. \Miereas the service was before in Latin, a 
 tongue not understood by the people, henceforward all 
 were enabled to worship God in their own language. 
 In the place of a mutilated mass, men were now per- 
 mitted to communicate after the practice of Apostolic 
 times. Again, this '' Inventory " records the ves- 
 sels which were brought again to light, to be used 
 according to the old fashion, in Mary's reign, and 
 of certain costly vestments woi'ked by the hands 
 of Dame Dorothy Phetyplayse Voy, one who clung
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 43 
 
 to those ceremonies to which she had been accus- 
 tomed. 
 
 One of the coiTuptions which had grown up in the 
 Church, and which made reformation so necessary, 
 was the strange mixture of religious ceremony and 
 worldly amusement. This is seen by the manner in 
 which fairs were held. Tliey were often opened in the 
 immediate vicinity of the church, sometimes in the 
 churchyard. Inscriptions were raised calling upon 
 men to deal honestly with each other, not to steal, 
 not to cheat, not to go beyond or defraud a brother in 
 any matter. Wandering friars often preached on 
 these occasions to the people, and the church doors 
 were left open inviting men to enter and worship. 
 Many abuses, however, grew up in connexion with 
 these fairs, and in Henry III.^s reign the Papal legate 
 I'eminded Englishmen that churches were built for 
 purposes of jirayer, and decreed that no market shoidd 
 be held in churches. Again, in Edward I.'s reign, an 
 Act of Parliament was passed forbidding fairs and 
 markets being held in churchyards. In the old 
 Stanford Churchwardens' Book we meet with entries 
 of money " received for the gaynes of the May ale." 
 This was sometimes called Whitsun ale. It was a 
 parochial feast said to be derived from the love feasts 
 of the early Christians, and it was so called from the 
 Churchwardens' buying and laying in from presents 
 a large quantity of malt which they brewed into
 
 44 A BERKSHIRE VILLAGE : 
 
 beer, and sold out in the church or elsewhere. The 
 profits, as well as those from sundry games (there 
 being no poor rates), were given to the poor, for 
 whom this was one mode of provision. The Church- 
 wardens^ Book also makes continual mention of the 
 Church House. There was one of these in every 
 parish, to which belonged spits, crocks, and other 
 utensils for dressing provisions. Here the people 
 met, the young people engaging in dancing, bowling, 
 shooting at butts, &c., the elder sitting by. A tree 
 was erected by the church door, where a banner was 
 placed, and maidens stood gathering contributions. 
 An arbour also, called Robin Hood^s bower, was put 
 up in the churchyard. Tlaese meetings often led, as 
 might be supposed, to great desecration of the church 
 and churchyard, and a canon made in the reign of 
 James I. enacts that "the Churchwardens, or Quest- 
 men and their assistants, are to suffer no plays, feasts, 
 banquets, suppers, church ales, drinkings, temporal 
 courts or lete, lay juries, musters, or other profane 
 usage to be kept in the church, chapel, or church- 
 yard.'^ 
 
 Again, the Churchwardens' Book contains entries 
 of " money received for the font." This was a col- 
 lection made by two young women at Whitsuntide 
 from house to house, part of the proceeds of which 
 was spent in buying the figure of a dove, which was 
 suspended from the roof of the Church in order to
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 45 
 
 represent the Holy Spirit, and the remainder of the 
 money collected was g-iven to the poor. 
 
 Another custom alluded to in this same book is the 
 ring-ing of bells on the eve of AH Saints' Day. We 
 find entries as follows : " Received from the maydes 
 at All Ilullowtide towards the belles." This refers 
 to the custom of certain young* women walking about 
 the parish dressed in black, ringing a dismal tolling 
 bell, and calling upon all persons to remember the 
 souls in purgatory, and to give them the aid of their 
 prayers. Another entry in the book is as follows : 
 " For watching the Sepulchre." This alludes to the 
 practice of placing" the crucifix wrapped in linen in 
 a recess formed on the north side of the altar on 
 Easter Eve, to represent our Lord's burial. There it 
 was watched by certain appointed persons till early 
 on Easter morning. Then the crucifix was uncovered 
 with certain ceremonies, the priests and deacons ask- 
 ing* questions of one another, acting over, as in a 
 play, the Gospel account of the Resurrection. For 
 instance, several would come stealing towards the 
 tomb, as if looking for something ; then one at the 
 sepulchre would begin singing in a soft voice, " Whom 
 seek ye ? " to which would be replied, " Jesus of 
 Nazareth." To this the other would answer, " He is 
 not here ; He is risen.'' Then they replied, " Alleluia, 
 the Lord is risen !" The other then, as if calling 
 them back, sang, " Come, and see the place," and then
 
 46 A BERKSHIRE ^^LLAGE : 
 
 rising- would raise the cloth, and show them the place 
 without the crucifix, and the linen clothes in which it 
 was wi'apped *. 
 
 Other entries in the Churchwardens' Book are 
 interesting". Thus we have sums of money " payd 
 for Smoake farthings." Tliis was a yearly rent paid 
 by the inhabitants of a diocese at Whitsuntide when 
 they made the customary procession to the cathedral 
 or mother church, which, in the case of Stanford, 
 was that of Salisbury. A farthing- was collected from 
 every house as a composition for the customary dues. 
 Again there are entries such as '' a hooke of Collects 
 to pray for Pope Julius;" " Pay d for the Paschal 
 taper ;" " Payd for the Rode lyghte, the holy oil and 
 Chrism, for frankincense, for wending the censers ;" 
 and a yearly sum of four shilling-s paid " to the Bog- 
 whipper." Respecting this office of dogtohipper, it is 
 stated in Lyson's Environs of London that he anciently 
 wore a vizard and a cap. His duty, it is evident, was 
 to prevent dogs, of which in the absence of a dog tax 
 there must have been man}', straying into the church. 
 He, as also the parish clerk, is a very ancient officer of 
 the Church. The late dogwhipper at Stanford, who 
 still lives, was John Plummer, a pensioned sergeant of 
 dragoons. After serving with distinction in the 
 Peninsulnr war, his latter days have been spent in 
 
 ' For account of this and other ancient customs sec Fosbroke's 
 Antiquities.
 
 ITS HISTOHY AND ANTIQUITIES. 47 
 
 •guarding the church from the incursions of the Stan- 
 ford boys. His white head and tall person^ his 
 scrupulously clean and neat Sunday apparel and white 
 doe-skin g-loves, will long* be remembered in this vil- 
 lage. Parish clerks were anciently really poor clerks 
 or clergymen. From the time of Henry III. parish 
 clerks formed a guild or fraternity, and were cele- 
 brated for their skill in church music, an accomplish- 
 ment in which they are still requii'ed l)y the canon to 
 be learned, if it may be. Their ancient duty at 
 church was to assist the priest at the altar, sing with 
 him, and read the epistle. In some places they read 
 the lessons. Upon working days they attended the 
 schools '. In the porch or south door of churches 
 parishioners used to meet to settle law disputes, pay 
 rents, &c., and over them was often a room used as a 
 school or as a repository for books. One of these may 
 be seen over the porch in Uffington Church, in which 
 there is an original fire-place and chimney. Another, 
 now destroyed, might have been seen some years ago 
 at Denchworth. Over the porch there was a room 
 erected in 1693, containing about one hundred and 
 twenty volumes of books, principally on divinity, in 
 folio and quarto. These books were attached by long 
 chains to their cases, and were intended as a theo- 
 logical library for the successive vicars of Dench- 
 
 ' Since this lecture was commenced our Parish Clerk, Joseph King, 
 after many years of faithful service, has been taken from us.
 
 48 A BERKSHIEE TILLAGE : 
 
 worth. The porch has been removed, but the volumes 
 still remain, many of them with their chains in the 
 custody of the present \4car. Amongst the books is 
 a copy of Cranmer's Bible, the works of St. Tliomas 
 Aquinas, the works of Barrow, &c. The room was 
 built by Mr. Geering", and the books were the g-ift of 
 Mr. Geering, Mr. Ralph Kedden, \acar of Denchworth, 
 and Mr. Edward Brewster, stationer, of London. Mr. 
 Geering was lord of the manor of Denchworth, and a 
 member of the Honourable Society of Gray's Inn. 
 
 The old parish church of Stanford was restored 
 about ten years ago through the exertions of the 
 present Yicar, under the direction of Mr. Street. 
 Considerable judgment has been showTi in retaining 
 all its really ancient features, whilst all that was 
 unseemly has been swept away. It is to be regretted 
 that such like restoration did not earlier take place in 
 many of the churches of this neighbourhood. It must 
 be a subject of regret that so many memorials of the 
 ])ast have been suffered to perish, such for instance as 
 the ancient glass which formerly adorned many of 
 them. Some of the most interesting churches in the 
 Yale are those of Childrey, Hanney, and Chamey, 
 which, unless a timely restoration is effected, must 
 suffer greatly in consequence. It is, liowever, a 
 matter of congratidation that the greater number of 
 churches in this neighbourhood have been carefully 
 renovated. It is now very rare, though still sonietimes
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 40 
 
 a church is to he met with, like that descrihed hy 
 Bishop Ilorne in 1787. "In a certain vilkig'e/' he 
 writes,, " within sight of the church, there stood a 
 g'entleman''s seat, whicli was hud out with all the 
 eleg-ance that could be bestowed upon the house 
 and grounds. The churchyard joined to the j)ark. 
 Having surveyed everything, it being Sunxlay, I went 
 into the church, to which one miserable bell, much 
 like a small porridge-pot, called half a dozen people, 
 which number comprehended the congregation. The 
 churchyard itself was low and wet ; a broken gate the 
 entrance ; a few small wooden tombs and an old yew 
 tree the only ornaments. The inside of the church 
 answered the outside ; the walls green with damp ; a 
 few broken benches, with pieces of mats, dirty, and 
 very ragged ; the stairs to the pulpit half worn away ; 
 the communion table stood upon three legs ; the rails 
 worm-eaten, and half gone. Who can expect,^^ he 
 asks, " that the young and gay will prefer this scene to 
 the pleasures of the world ? It is not in general to be 
 expected. Would but the rich and great in everj^ 
 village who lavish sums of money on their own per- 
 sons, furniture, houses, grounds, &c., would they but 
 bestow a little of it towards making the house of God, 
 if not equal with their own habitations, at least 
 decent and cheerful, very great indeed would be the 
 effect on multitudes. We naturally call to mind the 
 uneasiness felt and expressed by the royal prophet, 
 
 5
 
 50 A BERKSniEE VILLAGE : 
 
 Oil considering tlie mag-nifieence of his own house, 
 and the little or no care taken of the Ark of God *." 
 Stanfoi'd Church ' still consists of its original Nave, 
 Chancel, and Aisle, and it has a roof of dark oak. The 
 chancel is paved with INIinton^s tiles, and is fitted 
 with handsome oak stalls. Behind the altar is a 
 reredos in (^^loured tiles, on which are emhossed ears 
 of corn, alternately with bunches of grapes. Over it 
 is the text, " Come unto Me, ye that labour and are 
 heavy laden, and I will give you rest." There is a 
 large east window, in the lights of which are depicted, 
 in stained glass, different events in our Lord's public 
 ministry. At the top some ancient glass still remains, 
 representing the living creatures and the wheels in 
 EzekiePs vision. Three windows on the south side of 
 the chancel contain the arms of the De Clares and 
 the royal arms, together with some modern glass. 
 At the bottom are placed the versicles from the Te 
 Deum, " To Thee Cherubin and Scraphin continually 
 do cry, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth : Tlie 
 Father of an infinite Majesty ; Thine honourable, true, 
 and only Son ; Also the Holy Ghost the Comforter.'" 
 There is an aperture or hagioscope in the north 
 chancel wall, tlirough which the altar may be seen 
 from the aiyle. On the north of the altar there is an 
 
 « Bp. Home, 011a Podrida. 
 
 * For the sketch of f^tanford Clnntli iu the frontisiiieco, I am 
 iudchtcd to Miss Wordsworth.
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 51 
 
 ancient awmry, and on the south a piscina, and over it 
 a canopied tabernacle. The nave and aisle are fitted 
 with open seats, and at the west end of the nave is 
 the tower, in which is placed a wooden font lined 
 with lead. In the tower there is a small pointed 
 window, fdled with stained g-lass, representing our 
 Lord as the Good Shepherd bearing a child in His 
 arms. A beautiful effect is produced by the rays of 
 the setting sun falling upon the window, which reflect 
 its subject perfectly on the wall. At the west end of 
 the aisle is a window filled with stained glass in three 
 compartments, representing the Annunciation, the Mes- 
 sage to the Shepherds, and the Adoration of the Magi. 
 This, also, when lighted by the setting sun, is very 
 beautiful, the angels appearing as if lifting up their 
 wings in an attitude of adoration. The ancient 
 custom still lingers in Stanford Church of the men 
 and women sitting on different sides, and I have seen 
 an aged woman curtsey at the Gloria. 
 
 The communion plate in use at Stanford has been 
 used for many years. Tlie cup, which is furnished 
 with a cover, bears the date 1585. The paten and 
 flagon are both interesting memorials of individual 
 piety. The paten was dedicated by Jolm and Eliza- 
 beth Ilutton, December 8th, 1711, plainly as a 
 thank-offering for past mercies, for on it is engraven, 
 " I will pay Thee my vows which I promised with my 
 lips, and spake with my mouth when I was in trouble." 
 
 D 2
 
 52 A BEllKSHIEE TILLAGE : 
 
 This Mr. Hutton became about that time vicar of 
 Stauford. The Flagon was dedicated in the following 
 terms : " This Flagon is dedicated to the use of the 
 altar in the Parish Church of Stanford in the Yale for 
 ever^ by Joseph Cox, Esq., and Catherine Sophia liis 
 wife, as an humble testimony of their unfeigned 
 thanks to Almighty God for the recovery of their 
 three children, Thomas, Sophia, and Charlotte, from 
 the Small Pox, by inoculation 1752.^' ' 
 
 Since this lecture was commenced a considerable 
 fund has been raised by public subscription, and a 
 small church-rate, for the repair of the church path, 
 and the church clock. The church path has been neatly 
 ])aved with stone, and the clock refaced, cleaned, and 
 restored. A public thoroughfare through a churchyard 
 is not perhaps in itself very desirable, and probably 
 in former times no such right of way existed. Still 
 such a thoroughfare is not without advantages. 
 
 Anciently, we know the approach to the imperial 
 «'ity of Rome was by a street of tombs. The praetors 
 and proconsuls, hastening to their provinces along 
 the Appian Way, passed for miles through a road 
 crowded on either side with lofty tombs, and votive 
 edifices to the dead. By these they were continually 
 reminded of the passing natiire of human greatness ; 
 and how much more should Christians be reminded 
 of (Icatli and resurrection, by passing 1)y the graves 
 of the de]>arted. For h.ow difl'cront is the teaching of
 
 ITS TtlSTOUY AND ANTiqUITIES. 5.*i 
 
 our humble graves from the lofty tombs of the de- 
 parted heathen. The tombs along the Roman higii- 
 ways contained the ashes of the great, and sometimes 
 of their faithful and favoured freedmen ; but wluit 
 became of the mass of the vulgar dead, the poor, the 
 slaves? They were east into vast pits, dug indif- 
 ferent parts of the outskirts of the city, the largest 
 and most famous on the Esquilinc Ilill. There they 
 were fed upon by foul birds of prey. When we pass 
 through our churchyard we are reminded, not of the 
 rich only, but specially of the poor who have a 
 common hope of the resurrection of the body. Be- 
 cause we so believe — even that the grave will one 
 day give up her dead — we treat the body as a holy 
 thing, and treasure up not only the ashes of the rich, 
 as the heathen did in sepulchral urns, but the bodies 
 of the poor, each in his own peaceful resting--place. 
 Many superstitions grew up in mediaeval times in 
 connexion with churchyards. We hear of persons 
 being afraid of going through them at night, an appre- 
 hension derived from the heathen belief that departed 
 spirits came out of the tombs, and wandered about 
 the place where the body lay. Another superstition, 
 supposed to be derived from the Druids, is, that the 
 ghost of the person last buried wanders round the 
 churchyard till another is interred. Such notions are 
 entirely unworthy of Christian people, who need only 
 fear the workings of an evil conscience. The oldest 
 
 u
 
 54 A BERKSHIRE TILLAGE : 
 
 tombstones in our churchyard are prismatic in form, 
 of which there are severah One stone, coffin-shaped, 
 on which is rudely carved a cross, is connected with a 
 foolish tale of a g"ipsy and a fryingpan. It is, pro- 
 bably, one of the most ancient in the churchyard. 
 
 Some of the tombstones in Stanford churchyard are 
 beautifully carved. They are said to be the work- 
 manship of a family of the name of Strong", who for 
 many years were masons at Stanford, and who were 
 famous in the country round. It is to be regretted 
 that such skill as theirs was not more universally in 
 request, for many of the grave-stones are of a very 
 heavy and unworkmanlike appearance. Remembering 
 how much people are affected by outward things, by 
 objects of beauty, it would seem that reverence and 
 affection towards the departed should make us anxious 
 to perpetuate their memories by tasteful and beautiful 
 memorials. Tliere can be no religion in ugliness, and 
 it can only sei'\'e to discourage a visit to the spot 
 where our friends lie interred. Former generations 
 were at greater pains to erect suitable memorials to 
 the departed. For instance, what can be more simple 
 and more beautiful than the ancient brasses, of which 
 such perfect specimens are to be seen in Hanney and 
 Childrey chiirches. Or what, again, more simply 
 affecting than the stone cross, the symbol of our sal- 
 vation, and universally used by Christians in the 
 purest times, before corruptions grew up in the
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 55 
 
 Church of God. Formerly, crosses were placed at the 
 entrances of all churches in order to inspire recol- 
 lection and reverence amongst those about to enter. 
 The remains of one, we all know, may still be seen at 
 the entrance of Goosey Chapel. Crosses were for- 
 merly erected in many places, and wherever they were 
 placed, they were intended to check a worldly spirit. 
 They were erected in market-places, in order to incul- 
 cate upright intentions and fairness of dealing. Tliey 
 were placed by the side of highways to restrain rob- 
 beries, and to call the thoughts of the passenger to a 
 sense of religion. The cross certainly seems a suit- 
 able s}Tiibol to mark that the departed looked to our 
 Saviour^s death upon the Cross, as his comfort in the 
 hour of death. 
 
 Greater care, too, is certainly desirable in the selec- 
 tion of appropriate epitaphs on tombstones. Some 
 are shocking exhibitions of bad taste and a low state 
 of I'cligious feeling. For instance, I have read one as 
 follows : " Here lieth the lord of this manor, who was 
 esteemed a fine gentleman by all who knew him." 
 Here there is no expression of penitence or hope, but 
 only a miserable attempt at flattery. Surely all lau- 
 datory epitaphs are entirely out of place on the tomb- 
 stones of the dead. The early Christians contented 
 themselves by simply painting or engra\'ing on the 
 tombs of their departed friends difierent unpretending 
 symbols, which marked on what the foundation of 
 
 D 4
 
 S6 A BERKSHIEE \^LLAGE : 
 
 their hopes for the departed were based. Tlius in the re- 
 cently opened catacombs at Rome> in which the first 
 Christians were buried, the symbol of the fish con- 
 tinually appears, the initial letters of 'It^ctoi)? XpcaT6<; 
 0€ov Tio'i Scorrjp, forming" the Greek word IXGTS, 
 which sig-nifies a fish. On others, the fish appears, to- 
 gether with, bread and wine, on a table. On others was 
 found painted a priest or bishoj) in the act of conse- 
 crating the elements, with a kneeling figure of a 
 female, doubtless representing the Church. On the 
 tombs of martyrs were simply cut the name, followed 
 by " martyr.^^ In such ways the early Christians were 
 contented to mark the resting-places of those who 
 needed no laudatory epitaph, whose only hopes were 
 based on the Sa\'iour, on the promises made to penitent 
 communicants that they should be raised up at the 
 last day. 
 
 Churchyards had anciently lych-gnies or sheds at 
 their entrance, where the coqise rested for interment 
 until the arriyal of the priest, a building which may 
 still be seen in many old churchyards, and the conveni- 
 ence of which ought to lead to its general re-adoption. 
 
 The reason why tombstones are often found crowded 
 on the south side of the church is said to be because 
 the prayers of the congregation were in those times 
 desired for the dead, and the entrance to the church, 
 through which the people passed, was the south door. 
 This is not done now, because, as we do not know for
 
 ITS HISTOTJY AXD ANTIQUITIES. 57 
 
 certain the final state of any, we cannot benefit indi- 
 vidual souls by our prayers, although we pray " that 
 we, with all those that are departed in the true faith 
 of Christ's holy Name, may have our perfect consum- 
 mation and bliss, both in body and soul, in His eternal 
 and everlasting- glory." 
 
 Sometimes a ring for a catch is found on ancient 
 church doors, as on that at Stanford. This, it is said, 
 was that which was laid hold of by persons flying to 
 the church for sanctuary. 
 
 The tower of Stanford church forms one of the 
 most distinguished objects in the Vale. It is fur- 
 nished with six bells, all of which were recast earl}- iii 
 the eighteenth century. A bell is always rung on 
 Sunday morning at half-past seven. Three strokes 
 upon each bell are always given on the death of a 
 man or boy, and two for women or girls. These three 
 strokes, it is said, are given in honour of the Trinity, 
 one less to a woman to mark her inferiority. The bell, 
 now improperly rung afteY a person's death, was origi- 
 ginally intended for the person dying, not actually dead, 
 and was called the " passing bell." It was a signal to 
 the priest to hasten to the bed-side of the dying per- 
 son, and to the people to pray for a so\d passing into 
 eternity. 
 
 And now, having dwelt at some length on the old 
 church and its appendages, I would pass to the old 
 Manor House which adjoins the churchyard wall. 
 
 D 5
 
 58 A BERKSHiEE \t;llage : 
 
 The great !Manor House of Stanford was that now- 
 occupied as a farmhouse by Mr. Charles Hunter. 
 From the will of Sir T. Fettiplace of Childrey it 
 appears that in the reign of Henrj^ VIII. the manor 
 of Stanford was his property. AVhether by marriage 
 or purchase^ it soon afterwards passed into the posses- 
 sion of Sir Francis Knollys^ K.G.^ Yice-Chamberlain, 
 and Captain of the Guard to Queen Elizabeth. His 
 name is connected with an interesting period of Eng- 
 lish history. He was sent by the Queen to escort the 
 unfortunate Maiy^ Queen of Scots, when she sought 
 hospitality in England. He appears to have been 
 much captivated by her manners, and not to have 
 much relished the office he had to perform, especially 
 as he was suifered to bear much of the expense him- 
 self. He was the father of a numerous family. One 
 of his sons was created the first Earl of Banbury. One 
 of his daughters was still more famous, for she was the 
 notorious Lettice Knollvs, who married the first time 
 Walter, Earl of Essex, and on his death, as was re- 
 ported by poison, she married a second time the 
 famous Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, the un- 
 wortliy favourite of Queen Elizabeth, whose histoiy is 
 woven by Sir Walter Scott into the novel of " Kenil- 
 worth.'^ At tlie time of this marriage Amy llobsart, 
 of Cumnor Hall, was dead. Sir Francis Knollys had 
 other children more worthy of his name, in ]iarticular, 
 Richard Knf)llys of Stanford, on whom alone of all
 
 ITS HISTORY AXD ANTIQUITIES. 59 
 
 his sons lie is said to have bestowed his spiritual 
 blessing-. 
 
 Either by Sir Francis or his son, Stanford Manor 
 House was built. Certainly Richard Knollys was the 
 builder of the great barn which forms so picturesque an 
 object as seen from Foot Ball Close. On it have been 
 lately discovered certain letters, cut in the stone, which 
 are the initials of himself and his children, his wife, and 
 his wife's brother, John Higham, with the date, 1618. 
 
 The eldest son of Richard Knollys was Sir Robert 
 Kfiollys, and his youngest Captain Francis Knollys, 
 to whom there is a monument in the chancel, lately 
 restored by Mr. Bj^am, who is descended from his 
 daughter Dorothy. 
 
 Anciently this house must have been a place of 
 considerable pretensions. Much has been pulled down 
 in the memory of persons living, but even now it 
 bears many traces of the wealth and position of its 
 former owners. There is a fine old oaken staircase, 
 the stairs and landing of which are beautifully inlaid 
 in diamond oaken patterns. There is also remaining 
 what was formerly a handsome stone hall, though now 
 the principal entrance is closed up, and the hall in- 
 cluded in a sitting-room. Some handsome bed- 
 chambers still remain ; one is in panel, and another is 
 still covered with ancient tapestry. The walls of the 
 tapestried chamber show traces of beautiful painting. 
 Tlie tapestry itself is worked with figures of men, 
 
 D 6
 
 60 A BERKSHIEE VILLAGE : 
 
 animals^ and trees, and seems to represent Chinese or 
 Indian scenery. Almost all the rooms have handsome 
 stone chimney-pieces. There are many cupboards in 
 this old house, and thoug-h one of them certainly con- 
 tains very excellent g-rape and black currant ^-ine, 
 there was one possessing* still more valuable contents 
 in the year 1G31, for Letitia Knollys left to her uncle 
 by will, " the contents of my closet in the house at 
 Stanford.^^ Many strange secrets, doubtless, could that 
 old house unfold. The g-ood-natured face and bald 
 head of its present tenant are very familiar to us, and 
 we can only hope that the ancient lords of the manor 
 possessed some of his good qualities. Oftentimes, from 
 the present farm g-ates, there must have rolled a heavy 
 coach and six. Oftentimes must Master Richard 
 Knollys have come forth himself, dressed in a rich 
 jacket, with a feathered hat, and boots with larg-e pro- 
 jecting tops, a sword by his side, and a staff in his 
 hand, for such was the costume of men in his rank of 
 life in the beginning of the seventeenth century. 
 
 Sometimes thus apparelled he may have graced the 
 sports on the village green, and like another Sir Roger 
 de Cover! ey have danced round the May -pole, for the 
 Stanford folk did dance round the May-pole in those 
 times, as appears from an entry in our Churcli- 
 wardens^ Book in 1022, ^^ Receyved for the topp of 
 the May -pole." 
 
 Another costume common amongst the middle
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 61 
 
 classes a little earlier would probably long- linger at 
 Stanfox'd, viz. a dress not unlike that worn hy the 
 boys of Christ's Hospital in London^ a long" g-own, 
 over a petticoat or doublet, with a flat cap. A furred 
 gown also was worn, as is mentioned in Mr. Faw- 
 coner's will, a rejiresentation of which is preserved in 
 the livery gown of the City of London. Costumes 
 were brighter in those daj's ; other colours than black 
 being worn, such as scarlet and blue. The ladies of 
 this period invented a kind of doublet, with high 
 wings and pufled sleeves. They also wore fardingales, 
 that is, immense hooped petticoats. Other costumes 
 were long boddices, with or without skirts or close- 
 bodied gowns over them, with petticoats. They also 
 wore ruffs and tippets. Some ladies indulged them- 
 selves in enormous head-dresses; others wore flat caps 
 like the men, with feathers at the side. 
 
 The widow of Richard Knollys married a son or 
 grandson of the famous Jack of Newbury. His 
 maidens are described as arrayed while they spin — 
 
 " In petticoats of stamel red, 
 Aud milk-white kerclicrs on their head; 
 Their smock sleeves like to winter snow. 
 That on the western mountains flow. 
 And each sleeve with a silken band 
 Was fairly tied at the hand." 
 
 The Manor House at Stanford was, as we have said, 
 evidently a considerable place, but another still more 
 important was the great house at Wadley. Wadley
 
 62 A BERKSHIRE \aLLAGE : 
 
 House lies about three miles from Stanford, within a 
 small park which contains a few noble trees. An 
 annual fair is held on Old Lady Day, by ancient 
 charter, within the precincts of the park. The word 
 " Wadley " is derived, it is supposed, from Wade, the 
 name of one of the Saxon gods, the reputed father- of 
 " Weland the Smythe.^^ He is connected in some 
 way with water. Wadley once belong-ed to Stanley 
 Abbey, in Wiltshire, Ijut in the reign of Henry VI. it 
 ■ passed into the hands of Oriel College, Oxford. The 
 house at Wadley, at the time of the Keformation, was 
 inhabited by Sir Thomas Unton, and it continued to be 
 the family residence of the Untons until the beginning 
 of the seventeenth century. The family of the Untons 
 connect this neighbourhood with much that is interest- 
 ing in the history of the time. In the reign of Queen 
 Mary one member of this family, viz. Sir Edward 
 Unton, married Anne, Countess of Warwick, whose 
 first marriage was one of the most memorable ever 
 contracted by a subject in England. Lady Anne Sey- 
 mour, by her first marriage Countess of Warwick, and 
 afterwards the wife of Sir Edward Unton, was a 
 daughter of the Protector, Duke of Somerset, and first 
 cousin to the young king, Edward VI. Between her 
 father and the Duke of Northumberland tliore was 
 great rivalry, but in order to efTect a truce between 
 them this lady was given in marriage to the Earl of 
 Warwick, the Duke of Northuml)crland's son. It
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. G3 
 
 was, in fact, a political marriag-e. The rejoicings 
 upon this marriage were soon turned into tears, for in 
 the course of a few weeks fresh enmity sprang up 
 between the families of her husband and her father, 
 and a short time afterwards her father was beheaded 
 on Tower Hill. After two years her father-in-law 
 was likewise executed, and his four sons, including 
 the Earl of Warwick, imprisoned. After his father^s 
 execution, her husband in his turn was tried and con- 
 demned. Whoever visits the Tower of London \vill be 
 shown, in a room in the Beauchamp Tower, a very 
 curious carving on the right hand of the lire-place, 
 cut by the Earl of Warwick when in prison. It re- 
 presents a chained bear and lion supporting between 
 them a ragged staff, some lines in verse being carved 
 beneath. This nobleman was delivered out of prison, 
 but died ten days afterwards. His widowed countess 
 then married, in Hatford church. Sir Edward Unton, 
 the record of which marriage is to be found in the 
 Hatford register. This marriage connected the family 
 of Unton with many of the noblest families in the 
 land, and even with royalty itself. His mansion in- 
 deed seems to have been of a princely character. It 
 may give some idea of it if I mention some of the 
 rooms. Tliere was a chapel, a hall, a great chamber, 
 a parlour, a long gallery, a stud}-, a draA\nng chamber. 
 There was the gentlewoman's chamber, my lady's 
 chamber, the chapel chamber, the new chamber, the
 
 64 A BERKSHIRE YLLhA.G'E '. 
 
 little chamber next the new chamber^ the maiden^s 
 chamber, the wainscot chamber, and a great many- 
 more. There was a kitchen, a buttery, a pastry -house, 
 a dry larder, a wet larder, a store-house, a brew-house, 
 a bake-house, an armoury-house, and porter^s lodge. 
 It was elaborately furnished; for instance, in the 
 parlour there was a long table and a frame, one table 
 and a square frame, one livery cupboard, three green 
 carpets, two green cloth chairs, one black Avi-ought 
 velvet chair, laid with silver and gold lace, three long 
 cushions of red satin, laid with gold lace, thirteen 
 green cloth stools, six leather stools, one cushion of 
 Turkey work. In my lady's chamber there were 
 hangings of dornex, a folding bedstead covered with 
 green cloth and laid with watchet lace, surmounted 
 with eight plumes of feathers, two chairs, and two 
 little green stools. Such are specimens of the manner 
 in which great houses were furnished in the reign of 
 Elizabeth. 
 
 Such was the great house at "Wadlcy in 1573. Then 
 this neighl)ourhood was honoured by a visit from the 
 Virgin Queen, Queen Elizabeth, of glorious memory. 
 She came to Wadley in July, 1574, and no doubt on 
 1h;i< occasion there were great rejoicings. Then, pro- 
 bably, all ilic neighbouring gentry would hasten to do 
 her honour. The Knollys, of Stanford ; the Yates, >^ 
 of Biickland ; the Puseys, of Pusey ; the Fettiplaces, 
 of Childrey ; the Ilydes, of Dcnchworlli ; the xVysh-
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 65 
 
 combcSj of Lyford; the Packers, of Shelliiig-fordj would 
 come, mounted and attended, to many a hunting- and 
 hawking- party, to many a masque and pageant, in 
 order to do honour to the Queen, In the train of Sir 
 P\'ancis Knollys, or his son, might veiy well have been 
 found a Giles Gosling and a Mike Lambourne, for 
 Goslings and Lambournes and Varneys are names 
 that have flourished in Stanford for centuries. Sir 
 Walter Seott, in his novel of " Kenilworth,^^ by the 
 names which he introduces, shows his acquaintance 
 with this part of Berkshire, and indeed he is said to 
 have often been a guest at the house of the Rev. Dr. 
 Hughes, Vicar of UfRngton. Cumnor Hurst may be 
 seen from the top of Stanford Church. 
 
 One amusement, we have reason to think, was pro- 
 vided for the Queen when she came to Wadley, viz. 
 masquerading, for there was a picture existing not 
 long ago representing" a masque at the marriage of 
 one of the Untons. The following description of it 
 was given in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1786 : — 
 " Here we see the masquers march in order round the 
 table. The chief masquer is Diana, who is preceded 
 by Mercury. Before him stand two Cupids, the one 
 black, the other white.'' On the occasion of this visit 
 Sir Edward Unton presented the Queen with a hand- 
 some jewel, which is thus descril)ed in an official 
 document : " First one juell of golde, garnished with 
 dyamondes and rubyes and fyve perles, pendente, one
 
 66 A BERKSHIRE VILLAGE : 
 
 big-g'er than the rest/' Sir Edward had before given 
 her Majesty "one fayre flower golde enamelled, and 
 garnished with a chrysolite and an emeralde, and fully 
 furnished with rubyes, dyamondes, and perles, and 
 three perles pendante." Again, in 1580, he gave her 
 " A payre of bracelets of golde containing sixteen 
 pieces, in every one of them a small ruby garnished 
 with a small perle/^ Another distinguished member 
 of this family was Sir Henry Unton, the friend and 
 kinsman of Sir Philip Sidney. He was present with him 
 at the siege of Zutphen, and was there knig-hted for his 
 bravery. At the public funeral of Sidney, Sir Henry 
 Unton walked among- the twelve knig-hts of his kins- 
 men and friends. He was sent by Queen Elizabeth 
 as ambassador to France, and when some slighting 
 word was spoken by the young Duke Henri de Guise 
 ag-ainst the honour of his queen. Sir Henry sent him 
 this famous challeng-e : " Forasmuch as in the lodg- 
 ing of the Lord Dumayne, and in public elsewhere, 
 impudently and indiscreetly and over boldly you spoke 
 badly of my sovereign, whose sacred person I in this 
 country represent : to maintain both by word and 
 weapon her honour which was never called in question 
 amongst people of honesty and virtue. I say you 
 have most wickedly lied in speaking so badly of my 
 sovereign ; and you will do nothing but lie wherever 
 you shall dare to tax her honour. IMorcover, that her 
 sacred person, being one of the most complete, accom-
 
 ITS HISTORY AXD ANTIQUITIES. (37 
 
 plishedj and virtuous princesses in the world, ought 
 not to be ill-spoken of by the malicious tongue of such 
 a perfidious traitor to her law and countiy as you are ; 
 and hereupon I do defy and challenge your person to 
 mine, with such manner of arms as you shall like or 
 choose, be it on horseback or on foot. Nor would I 
 have you think that there is any inequality of person 
 between us ; I being issued of as great a race and 
 noble house, in all respects, as yourself. So assigning 
 me an indifferent place, I will there maintain my 
 words, and the lie which I have given, and which you 
 should not endure, if you have any courage at all in 
 you. If you consent not to meet me hereupon, I 
 will hold you, and cause you to be held, for the ar- 
 rantest coward, and most slanderous slave, that exists 
 in France. I expect your answer," &c. 
 
 The late Mr. Hearn, rector of Hatford, the friend 
 and correspondent of Dr. Arnold, a great lover of his- 
 torical antiquities, and in whose church Sir Edward 
 Unton was married to the Countess of Warwick, used 
 to please himself by imagining that Sir Henry Unton 
 and Sir Philip Sidney may both have played at bowls 
 in his garden. We, too, may well imagine that 
 Queen Elizabeth could not have left Wadley without 
 paying a visit to Stanford, and accepting some jewel 
 from that good knight Sir Francis Knollys, or his son 
 Master Richard Knollys. In the parish church of 
 Farinffdon there are several monuments of Sir
 
 GS A BERKSHIRE VILLAGE ! 
 
 Alexander, Sir Edward, Sir Thomas, and Sir Henry 
 Unton. During this reign, the bishop of the diocese ' 
 was John Jewel, the famous author of " The Apo- 
 logy j" to him our churchwardens must have made 
 their presentments, as the churchwardens' book tells 
 us. He and Sir Francis Knollys were friends and 
 companions in exile during Mary's reign. 
 
 He was also the friend and patron of another famous 
 man, who profited by the good offices of Sir Francis 
 Knollys, for when the judicious Hooker, the author of 
 '' The Ecclesiastical Polity,''^ was turned out from his 
 fellowship at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, it was 
 to Sir Francis Knollys application was made for his 
 restoration ^ Some may take pleasure in remembering 
 Hooker's visit to Jewel, when at the Bishop's parting 
 with him he " gave him good counsel and his benedic- 
 tion, but forgot to give him money, which, when the 
 Bishop had considered, he sent a servant in all haste 
 to call Richard back to him. And at Richard's re- 
 turn, the Bishop said to him, ^ Richard, I sent for 
 you back to lend you a horse, which hath carried me 
 many a mile, and I thank God with much ease,' and 
 l)resently delivered into his hand a walking-staff, with 
 which he professed he had travelled through many 
 parts of Germany. And he said, ' Richard, I do not 
 
 • Uutil a coniparativi'ly recent date this pint of Berkshire was ia 
 the diocese of Salisbury. 
 
 7 Walton's Life of Hooker. Wordsworth's Eccl. Biog.
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 69 
 
 give, but lend you my horse ; be sure you be honest, 
 and bring my horse back to me at your return this 
 way to Oxford. And I do now give you ten groats 
 to bear your charges to Exeter; and here is ten 
 groats more which I charge you to deliver to your 
 mother, and tell her I send a Bishop^s benediction u-ith 
 it, and beg the continuance of her prayers for me. And 
 if you bring my horse back to me I will give you ten 
 groats more to carry you on foot to the college, and so 
 God bless you, good Richard,^ " This is the incident 
 wliich ffave rise to one of the ecclesiastical sonnets 
 of the late Poet Laureate. 
 
 " Methinks that I covild trip o'er heaviest soil, 
 Lififht as a buoyant bark from wave to wave. 
 Were mine the trusty staff that Jewel gave 
 To youthful Hooker ; in familiar style 
 The gift exalting, and with playful smile. 
 For thus equipp'd, and bearing on his head, 
 The donor's farewell blessing, can he dread 
 Tempest, or length of way, or weight of toil ? 
 More sweet than odours caught by him who sails 
 Near spicy shores of Araby the blest. 
 A thousand times more exquisitely sweet. 
 The freight of holy feeling which we meet. 
 In thoughtful moments, wafted by the gales. 
 From fields where good men walk, or bowers wherein they rest." 
 
 Those silver coins called groats, some of which 
 Jewel gave to Hooker, must have been familiar 
 enough to the people of Stanford, for one of them was 
 shown to me the other day which was found in the
 
 70 A BERKSHIRE VILLAGE : 
 
 thatcli of an old barn. Hooker^s friend. Sir Francis 
 Knollys, the Lord of Stanford Manor, was buried at 
 Rotherfield Greys, near Henley-on-Thames, in Ox- 
 fordshire, where there is a magnificent monument to 
 him and his wife. Their effigies lie under a canopy 
 supported by pillars of black marble. Seven sons and 
 six daughters, with the Countess of Banbury, their 
 daughter-in-law, are kneeling beneath, while the 
 Countess is repeated, with her husband, William, Earl 
 of Banbury, in the upper part, kneeling before a desk. 
 In the following reign Wadley was again honoured 
 by a royal visit, for King James I. came to Wadley 
 in 1G03, and stayed there two nights. Stanford 
 ^Manor House was then the home of one of the officers 
 of the royal household, for together with the Knollys 
 there lived a relative, IMr. John Higham, who, as we 
 learn from a black marble slab in the chancel, was 
 ^larshal of the Hall to King James and King 
 Charles. Besides the old Manor House at Stanford, 
 there are traces, at what is now called the Park Farm, 
 of a considerable mansion, the history of which is 
 entirely forgotten. There is a spot near it plainly 
 laid out originally as a pleasure ground, called " the 
 Island," surrounded by water, formerly, perhaps, con- 
 structed for a fish-pond. Between the Park Farm 
 and Stanford there are several enclosures laid in grass 
 still known by the name of Meads. There is Whit- 
 field's Mead, the Parson's Mead, Little Gentleman's
 
 ITS HISTORY AND AXTIQUITIES. 71 
 
 Mead, Great Gentleman^s ^lead, &:e. Not far from 
 these are certain enclosures known as the Wick 
 Closes, and a local tradition speaks of there having- 
 been buildings adjoining-, a fact which seems to be 
 pointed out by the name, trick, as has been said 
 before, meaning a dwelling-place. In some of these 
 the most beautiful wild flowers may be gathered in 
 the early spring, and here also may be found the 
 gayest and the rarest butterflies. These Closes border 
 on our little river Ock, in which large numbers of 
 cray-fish are caught. Little boys may be seen in the 
 summer lifting up the stones in the stream in search 
 of these, and depositing them in their trowser pockets 
 in lieu of a basket ! 
 
 At the extremity of Stanford parish, which runs up 
 almost to Faringdon Clump, stands Stanford Place, a 
 house erected not many years ago by George Butler, 
 Esq., a direct descendant of Bishop Butler. Tlie pro- 
 perty is now sold, but only a few months back the 
 dining-room at Stanford Place contained a half-length 
 portrait of this famous prelate, the author of the 
 " Analogy of llevealed Beligiou.''^ His birth-place 
 was the town of Wantage. 
 
 Besides the Manor House already mentioned, por- 
 tions of others of great interest still exist in the 
 neighbourhood. Thus at Chaniey there are the remains 
 of what must have been the residence of an officer of 
 the Monastery at Abingdon ; in it may still be seen
 
 72 A BERKSHIRE VILLAGE : 
 
 the ancient Oratory, with its oriel window and pis- 
 cina. This is now used as a loft. The house adjoins 
 the church, and has for many j^ears been the principal 
 house in the village. At Lyford we find in a farm- 
 house a part of the old residence of the Ayshcombes, 
 and at Shellingford, in some out-buildings, a large 
 walled garden and some plantations of yew surround- 
 ing a fish-pond, we see the remains of the old Manor 
 House of the Packers, called Shellingford Castle. 
 This house remained for a long time uninhabited, 
 and its chimney-pieces were used as quarries to sup- 
 ply the Stanford boys \\'ith marbles ! Another fine 
 old Manor House is that of Hatford, formerly the 
 residence of the Tyrrells. It contains a beautiful 
 staircase, and some handsome I'ooms. Its sitimtion is 
 veiy picturesque, several fine trees on a small lawTi 
 compose a very pretty foreground. Not far from 
 Hatford House, winding along the edge of a little 
 brook — a favourite resort of the king-fisher, and 
 where forget-me-nots may be gathered in profusion — 
 is a footpath leading to the park at "Wadley. 
 
 Certain entries in our old Churchwardens^ book 
 relate to the laws against Roman Catholics. Thus 
 we read, " For a hoolce of Articles against Recti- 
 sants." This reminds us of that succession of dark 
 plots formed l^y Roman Catholics against the life 
 of Queen Elizabctli, and the severe measures taken 
 in consequence against theni. The Five Mile Act
 
 
 
 / , 
 
 ^ ITS HISTORY AND AXTIQUITIES. 7:i 
 
 forl)ade them to g-o more than five miles from 
 their dwellings without a licence from two Jus- 
 tices of the Peace or with the assent in writing of 
 the Lord-Lieutenant or Bishop. Four miles from 
 Stanford is Buckland House, the seat of the Throck-^ 
 mortons, who came into the possession of this estate , 
 by marriage with the last female heir of the Yates. 
 Here is preserved a curious relic, viz. a shift of Mary A 
 Queen of Scots. Tlie Throckmortons have been for 
 some generations Roman Catholics, and there is a 
 beautiful cha])el in the Park, designed by Pugin. 
 One of the priests attached to this chapel purchased 
 some years ago of one of the farmers, an ancient ser- 
 vice-book used in Stanford Church before the Refor- 
 mation. Not far from Buckland is Carswell House, 
 the ancient seat of the Southbys. This family espoused 
 the Puritan cause during the time of the troubles in 
 England, and there may yet be seen in the pleasant 
 drawing-room of the mansion certain grim portraits 
 of many who bore their part in the events of those 
 times. 
 
 During the reign of King James, Stanford was the 
 residence of one of the Royal household, for a slab in 
 the chancel informs us " Mr John Higham was Mar- 
 shal of the Hall to King James and King Charles." 
 This Mr. Higham lived at the IManor House, and was 
 the brother-in-law of Richard Knollys. He must 
 have been the witness to the commencement of that
 
 74 A BERKSHIUE VILLAGE t 
 
 terrible storm which soon broke upon England. 
 Upon King- Charles I. seems to have fallen the 
 punishment due to the acts of sacrilege perpetrated 
 in former reigns. Insufficient pastoral care gave rise, 
 douljtless, to that party to which the name of Puritan 
 has been given. Some of those to whom this name 
 was applied were doubtless men of irreproachable lives, 
 but often greatly wanting in sound judgment and 
 Christian charity towards others. They scrupled at 
 clergymen wearing the surplice, and thought it wrong 
 to kneel at the Holy Communion. But the clamour 
 which thev raised against the Church onlv served to 
 aid the cause of Rome, for the Church of England 
 in her doctrine and sober ritual, and especially in the 
 ample provision which she makes for the reading of 
 Holy Scripture, is the strongest l)ai'rier against 
 Popeiy. The spread of licentiousness so much de- 
 plored by all good men was really owing to the need 
 of better provision for the clergy. Their state was a 
 most impoverished one, and in consequence many held 
 several benefices, and others were so ignoi'ant as to be 
 unfit to teach. This is set forth in a speech made by 
 Sir Benjamin lludyer in Parliament at the beginning 
 of this reign. "I have observed,^^ he said, "that we 
 nre always very eager and fierce against papistry, 
 against scandalous ministers, and against things which 
 are not within our power. T do not speak this, that 
 T do mislike llie destroying and pulling down that
 
 ITS iriSTOKY AND ANTIQUITIES, 17) 
 
 which is ill; but then let us be as earnest to plant 
 and build up that which is good in the room of it, for 
 why should we be desolate ? The best and nearest 
 way to dispel darkness, and the deeds thereof, is to 
 let in lig"ht. We say that day breaks, but no man 
 ever heard the voice of it, God comes in the still 
 voice ; let us quickly mend our candlesticks, and we 
 cannot want lig-ht. I am afraid this backwardness of 
 ours will g-ive our adversaries occasion to say that we 
 choose our religion because it is cheaper of the two ; 
 that we would willingly serve God with somewhat 
 that should cost us nought. Believe me, Mr. Pym,"^ 
 he said, addressing the Speaker, " he that thinks to 
 save any thing by his religion but his soul, will be a 
 terrible loser in the end. We sow sparingly ; that is 
 the reason we reap so sparingly and have no more 
 fruit, Methinks, whosoever hates papistry should 1)\ 
 the same rule hate covetousness, for that is idolatry 
 too. I never like hot professions and cold actions. 
 Such a heat is rather the heat of distemper and disease 
 than of life and saving health. As for scandalous 
 ministers, let them be punished, but let us deal with 
 them as God has dealt with us, God, before He 
 made man, He made the world, a handsome place 
 for him to dwell in. So let us provide competent 
 livings, and then punish in God^s name; but till 
 then, scandalous livings can but have scandalous 
 ministers.'^ He ends by asking, "Why should we 
 
 E 2
 
 7n A BERKSHIRE VILLAGE : 
 
 dwell in houses of cedar, and sutfer God to dwell in 
 skins 'P^^ 
 
 Some comj)laints were made by the Puritans 
 without much show of reason. Thus William 
 Prynne published a book in which he not only con- 
 demned without reserve masques and dancing-, but 
 also hunting-, public festivals, keeping Christmas, 
 bonfires, and May -poles. Upon church music he was 
 most severe, for he calls it " a bleating of brute 
 beasts." " Choristers," he writes, " bellow their tenor 
 as if they were oxen, bark a counterpoint like a kennel 
 of dog-s, roar a treble as if they were bulls, and grunt 
 out a bass like a parcel of hogs'." As regards this* 
 indiscriminate condemnation of amusement, it might 
 have been considered that men have need of some 
 recreation. A wiser man than William Prynne, viz. 
 Bishop Latimer, wrote : " INIen of England in times 
 past, when they would exercise themselves (for we 
 must needs have some recreation, o\ir bodyes cannot 
 endure without some exercise), they were wont to g-oe 
 abroad in the fields of shooting-. It is a goodly arte," 
 he adds, " a wholesome kinde of exercise, and much 
 commended in physicke'." 
 
 But an entry in our old church book points to that 
 event which was the immediate cause of the troubles 
 
 ' Collier's Eccl. Hist., vol. viii. 
 
 9 Il)i<l. 
 
 ' VN'ordswortli's Eccl. IJio^r., vol. ii.
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 77 
 
 in Charles's reign. It is an entry respecting sin']) 
 money, " Given to John Nash, being collector for the 
 ship money, having had great loss by the State." This 
 was that tax imposed by the King which became so 
 unpopular, doubtless through the zeal of political 
 agitators. John Hampden disputed the King's right 
 to impose the tax. The case was tried in the Ex- 
 chequer Chamber, and Hampden was defeated, but 
 this decision of the judges increased the irritation of 
 the people. John Hampden was connected by mar- 
 riage with the Pye family, then living at Faringdon 
 House, for Sir Robert Pye married his sister. 
 
 And now began the opposition of the Parliament to 
 the King, and soon that struggle commenced which 
 carried civil war into all the villages of the kingdom, 
 and especially into those of Berkshire. The neigh- 
 bourhood of this parish, and the country lying between 
 Abingdon and Oxford, was again and again the battle- 
 ground of the contending parties. A melancholy 
 record of this time may be read in the Register of 
 Burials at Stanford in 1643. There we read the 
 names of " Richard Figler, a Cheshire man ; Francis 
 Minshidl, Gent.; Henry Stanton, John Neabor, troopers 
 in Sir Thomas Aston's regiment j" and also of " Ale.v- 
 andre, a Frenchman, trooper in Prince Charles his regi^ 
 went." 
 
 Faringdon House, then the residence of the Pyes, 
 was garrisoned for the King, although its owner 
 
 E 3
 
 78 A BERKSHIRE VILLAGE : 
 
 took the side of the Parliament. Tlie g-an-ison was 
 commanded by Sir Marmaduke Rawdon^ whose monu- 
 ment may be seen in the nave of Faring-don Church. 
 The house was attacked by Cromwell^ in the month of 
 June^ 1645, at three o^clock in the morning', Avith six 
 hundred men from the garrison of Abingdon, when he 
 suffered a repulse. Another attack was made the 
 following year, when the rebels were commanded by 
 Sir Robert Pye, the owner of the house. In this 
 attack, it is said, the spire of Faringdon Church and 
 the south transe^jt were beaten down by cannon placed 
 on Faringdon Clump. Faringdon House was one of the 
 last places which held out for the King, for it was not 
 surrendered until the month of June, 1616, when the 
 governor gave it up to the Parliament pursuant to the 
 articles for the surrender of Oxford. Shot is still picked 
 up in the neighbourhood : a ball which must have been 
 fired from a piece of ordnance is in my possession, 
 found not far from Faringdon Clump. The hill called 
 Faringdon Clump is the chief landmark in the Vale, 
 and commands extensive views. The group of Scotch 
 firs on the top is said to have been planted by Pye, the 
 Poet Laureate in the reign of George III., an act 
 which, as some one has remarked, was perhaps the 
 most poetical of his whole life. 
 
 King Charles I., on his way from Oxford to Marl- 
 borough, slept a night at Childrey, on the 9th April, 
 1614. He was entertained at the Manor House, then
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 7 'J 
 
 in the occupation of Lady Fettiplacc. The bedroom 
 in which he slept mi<^ht have been seen some ten 
 years ago. It communicated by a private staircase 
 with a postern gate. The old manor house is now 
 destroyed, but parts of it are built into the farmhouse 
 which occupies the site. A visit to Childrey Church 
 will well repay the pains of any who take an interest 
 in antiquarian research. Childrc}', moreover, ought 
 to be dear to any who revere the Church in England, 
 for it once was the residence of a man of whom 
 England may well be proud, the home of an English 
 saint. It was here that Dr. Edward Pocock lived. 
 He was rector of Childrey during the time of the 
 troubles in England, and a more devout, learned, and 
 gentle spirit never lived. Dr. Pocock, many know, 
 was a most famous Oriental scholar, and was chosen 
 by Archbishop Laud to fill the post of lecturer in 
 Arabic in the University of Oxford, a lecture which 
 the Archbishop himself founded. His biographer 
 tells us that the whole life of Dr. Pocock was one 
 continued sermon, powerfully recommending to all 
 who were acquainted with him the several duties of 
 Christianity. Tliough deeply versed in languages he 
 carefully avoided " the shows and ostentations of 
 learning,'^ so much so that when one of his Oxford 
 friends travelling through Childrey inquired for his 
 diversion of some of his parishioners who was their 
 minister and how they liked him ? he received for an 
 
 E -i
 
 80 A BERKSHIRE VILLAGE : 
 
 answer^ " Our parson is one Mr. Pocock, a plain, 
 honest man ; but, master, he is no Latiner/^ During- 
 these unhappy times we are told that with great 
 coiarage he preached against the sins of the day, 
 Warning those under his charge, not only against all 
 profane and immoral practices, but also against those 
 schisms and divisions which were then breaking in 
 upon the Church. Dr. Pocock Avas cited to appear 
 before the triers at Abingdon, that is, before certain 
 commissioners appointed by Cromwell for the purpose 
 of ejecting from their benefices " ignorant, scandalous, 
 insufficient, and negligent ministers,^' a wide com- 
 mission, inviting all who were discontented to invent 
 accusations. Dr. Pocock was accused of using the 
 Book of Common Prayer, of praying for the King, of 
 railing at professors, of denying to some godly men 
 the liberty of preaching in his pulpit, one of these 
 being the author of a book called '^ Arrows against 
 Babylon." 
 
 To these accusations Dr. Pocock made answer, but 
 fresh complaints were fabricated, and at last he had 
 to appear a second time before the triers, then sitting 
 at Wantage, and had it not been for the testimony of 
 his friends he would have been ejected from his bene- 
 fice as an ignorant minister. But his friends, many 
 of whom, such as Dr. Owen, belonged themselves 
 to the Puritan party, represented that to do this 
 would be strangely foolish and unjust, seeing that
 
 ITS historV and antiquities. 81 
 
 Dr. Pocock was celebrated through Europe for his 
 learning". One feature in Dr. Pocock's work at 
 Chiklrey was his custom of catechizing, a custom 
 whicli seems long to have been continued in the 
 neighbouring parishes, for old people in Stanfoid 
 remember when it was practised instead of a sermon 
 every Sunday afternoon. This primitive custom lias 
 now for many years been revived in our parish, in 
 accordance with the Rubric in the Prayer Book. 
 
 Some idea of the great insecurity of the time of 
 the civil war may be understood, when we remember 
 that about three years ago, a number of silver coins 
 of the reign of King Charles were discovered 
 hidden in the thatch of an old building at Stan- 
 ford, belonging to Mr. Henry Penstone. There is 
 a tradition to the same effect about the old Manor 
 House at Lyford. Near the house there stands an 
 old pigeon-house where, it is said, the money and 
 plate belonging to the Ayshcombes was secreted in 
 the civil war ; which place of concealment being dis- 
 covered by some soldiers of the rebel army, they 
 carried off valuables to the amount of a cartload. 
 
 During the time of the troubles, the old Church- 
 wardens^ book, from which we have often quoted, 
 exhibits a hiatus. There are no entries between le-i."} 
 and 1652. During this time the Common Prayer 
 Book was not permitted to be used. It was not only 
 interdicted in churches but even in private houses. 
 
 E 5
 
 83 A BERKSHIRE VILLAGE i 
 
 As Lord ^lacaulay relates/ " It was a crime in a 
 child to read by the bedside of a sick parent one of 
 those beautiful Collects which had soothed the griefs 
 of forty generations of Christians." The keeping of 
 Christmas was prohibited^ and the Long Parliament 
 gave orders in 16^4 that Christmas Day should be 
 strictly observed as a fast. Marriages were made, not 
 before God's minister^ according to the practice of 
 Christ's Church from the earliest times, but before a 
 Justice of the Peace. Evidence of this is contained 
 in the Church registers. Thus we have entries of 
 marriages, that is, legal contracts, made before Sir 
 Robert Pye at Faringdon, and also before the Mayor 
 of Abingdon, not celebrated by God's minister at 
 God's altar, and without any sweet peal of Stanford 
 bells, making known across the Vale that man and 
 wife had become one in the sight of God. 
 
 Again, baptisms were not permitted to take place 
 with sponsors. Thus we find Mr. Cox, a gentleman 
 of this parish, delaying the baptism of his children 
 xmtil the time of the Restoration, when we have 
 entries which show that they were all brought to 
 church and baptized with sponsors according to the 
 Book of Common Prayer. Mr. Cox, we may sup- 
 pose, shared the feelings of the poet when he wrote — 
 
 " Fiitlur ! to God Himself we cannot give 
 A holier name ! tlicii lii^'litly <lo not bear 
 Botb uumcs conjoiucU, but ol" thy spiritual caro
 
 ITS HlSTOllY AND ANTIQUITIES. N-i 
 
 Be duly mindful : still more sensitive 
 Do thou, in truth a second mother, strive 
 Against disheartening custom, that by thee 
 Watched, and with love and pious industry 
 Tended at need, the adojited plant may thrive 
 For everlasting bloom. Benign and pure 
 This ordinance, whether loss it would supply, 
 Prevent omission, help deficiency, 
 Or seek to make assurance doubly sure. 
 Shame if the consecrated vow be found 
 Au idle form, the word an empty sound "." 
 
 This Thomas Cox was no doubt the builder of the 
 larg-e old house, called Cox's at the present day, which 
 stands at the entrance of Stanford village, and is now 
 the property of Mrs, Avery Whitfield. The house was 
 probably built at the time mentioned on an old sun- 
 dial, on which is written the date 1690. It is a large 
 house with a fore-court, built something like an old 
 French chateau, the bedrooms opening out of a long 
 o'allerv. There is a handsome stone hall which has 
 been somewhat docked of its proportions to build 
 another room. There are some handsome sitting- 
 rooms, panelled, full of delightful old cupboards. In 
 one of the bedrooms there is ancient tapestry, in 
 which the foliage represented is very beautifully 
 worked. 
 
 The Coxes, it would appear, were of a very ancient 
 family. In one of the wills of the Unton family, " my 
 cousin Thomas Cox " occurs, and it is highly probable 
 
 2 Wordsworth's Eccl. Sonnets. 
 E 6
 
 84 A BERKSHIRE VILLAGE t 
 
 that the Coxes of Stanford were relations of the Untons, 
 The name occurs as that of owners of property in the 
 parish early in the seventeenth century. In the year 
 1738 John Cox of Stanford served the office of high 
 sheriff. Some twenty years ago, a clergyman of the 
 name of Cox, a fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford, 
 purchased from the then owner an old portrait of the 
 last owTier, a certain General Cox, whom he stated to 
 be his grandfather. This gentleman asserted that his 
 family had been allied to Royalty, which certainly 
 would have been the case had the Coxes been related 
 to the Untons. 
 
 A further record of the civil war appears iu an 
 entry in the Churchwardens^ Book of money paid 
 " For hloiting out the King's amies, and for setting 
 up the State's amies." Before this was done, the 
 King had been put to death. He was judged by 
 a revolutionary tribunal and condemned to death, 
 although he refused to plead before a court unknown 
 to the law. King Charles Ijehaved with great dignity 
 in this trying hour. " No demagogue,^^ writes Lord 
 ]\Iacaulay, " ever produced such an impression on the 
 puljlic mind as the captive king, who, retaining in that 
 extremity all his regal dignity, confronted death with 
 dauntless courage, showing the high spirit of a gallant 
 gentleman, the patience and meekness of a penitent 
 Christian '." 
 
 * Macaulaj's Hist, of Eiiglund.
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 85 
 
 A further entry in the Churchwardens' Book Ijriugs 
 us to the era of the Restoration. There is an entry on 
 the 21st April, 1861, of money paid "For ihe setting np 
 the King's armes," and other entries occur about the 
 same time of money paid to the ringers. At this time, 
 it would seem, as a thank-offering- to God, the tower 
 of the parish church, which is a very conspicuous 
 object in the Vale, was raised to its present height, 
 and the roof of the church was adorned with the 
 present battlements. Beyond the period of the Re- 
 storation I feel unable to carry our parish history, 
 and with some few observations I must bring it to a 
 close. 
 
 It is remarkable what a change seems to have been 
 effected in Christian names by the Rebellion. Whereas 
 before children were christened with pretty sinple 
 names taken from the Gospel history, or from the 
 early saints, such as INIary, jNIartha, Elizabeth, Anna, 
 Margaret, Agnes, Bridget, Dorothy, Cicely, Katharine, 
 Agatha, now nothing would content the Stanford 
 people but Old Testament names — such as Susanna, 
 Abigail, Deborah, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel ; whereas 
 boys before wei-e called John, James, Peter, Andrew, 
 Stephen, Richai-d, Alfred, Christopher, Gregor}^, 
 Augustine, now noticing would content their mothers 
 but that they should be called Enos, Noah, Abra- 
 ham, Moses, Abiah, Jeremiah, Amos. As to surnames, 
 whilst those of the gentry have for the most part dis-
 
 86 A BEEKSHIRE VILLAGE : 
 
 appeared, we have preserved some amongst the yeomen 
 and labourers for centuries. At the beginning of the 
 seventeenth century, three gentlemen, described as of 
 Stanford, were in the Commission of the Peace, viz., 
 Francis Pigott, Esq., Richard KnoUys, Esq., John 
 Higham, Esq. All these names have passed away. 
 Fuller complains that the gentry of Berkshire, sown 
 thick in former, come up thin in latter ages. Few 
 families indeed have possessed estates in Berkshire for 
 many generations. Among the oldest Stanford sur- 
 names are Whitehorn, Wiblin, Penstone, Collins, 
 Spinag'e, Falconer, Pusey, Cowderoy, Cox, Wiltshire, 
 Franklin, Lambourne, Gosling, Varney. One opulent 
 family has still a remote representative. Sir Walter 
 Tyrrell held the manors of Hatford and Stanford at 
 the commencement of the eighteenth century. He 
 was high sheriff in 1723. His son is buried in Stan- 
 ford churchyard, and a sum of money is lodged in the 
 hands of trustees to be applied to the keeping up his 
 tomb, the residue to go to the parochial school. A 
 descendant of the Tyrrells married a Penstone, after- 
 wards Mrs. Belcher, the mother of ]\Irs. Cowderoy, 
 who possesses a silver seal engraven with the Tyrrell 
 arms. 
 
 Another family formerly of jmsition in this parish 
 was that of Hatt. Captain Hatt is buried in Stan- 
 ford churchyard. He fought at Culloden, and appears 
 to have been high sheriff in 1782. A descendant of
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 87 
 
 his, Miss Ilatt, married a Whitfield, Mr. John 
 Whitfield, of Sheepcroft Hill, has in his possession 
 two swords, once the proi:)erty of Captain Hatt ; and 
 not many years ago an old man in the village pos- 
 sessed a hat worn by him on the field of Culloden. 
 Another relic of this g-entleman is a small teapot 
 of antique shape, in the possession of Mrs. Avery 
 Whitfield. 
 
 Many families now in the rank of labourers were 
 once in the position of yeomen, as the Spinages, the 
 Falconers, the Franklins, the Strattons. 
 
 Stanford — there is every reason to think — was very 
 much cut off from the rest of the world before the 
 formation of the Great Western Railway. For fifty 
 or sixty years before that event, it seems to have 
 had no resident gentry. General Cox was probably 
 the last proprietor who resided in the village. This 
 isolation has been the means of preserving traces of 
 ancient manners and customs, but these are fast 
 wearing out. The old games are still remembered, 
 but there has been no backsword play at Stanford for 
 more than forty years. Old people still tell of the 
 stages which were erected at the time of Stanford 
 feast, to give men the opportunity of breaking one 
 another^s heads. It was customary for Stanford men 
 to pit themselves at backsword play and wrestling 
 against the inhabitants of the lianneys, i.e. the vil- 
 lages of East and West Ilanney, near Wantage.
 
 88 A BERKSHIRE VILLAGE : 
 
 Football was formerly much in vogue^ as indeed may 
 be inferred from the meadow near the church called 
 Football Close; but not only in that field, but in 
 others still pointed out, the game was played. The 
 game of fives was also practised, and a wall opposite 
 the churchyard gate is shown as the spot where 
 many contests took place. Another game remembered 
 is that of hockey, which still lingers amongst the 
 Stanford boys. Other sports less manly in character 
 were much practised, such as cock fighting; and pugi- 
 listic encounters between the Stanford and Charney 
 men were very common. Playing at marbles and 
 chuck-farthing it is said was the usual Sunday amuse- 
 ment of all classes, who thus whiled away the time till 
 the bells ceased to chime for church, some not even 
 stopping then. On the whole there does not seem much 
 reason to regret the changes which have taken place. 
 No doubt a revival of football or hockey would pro- 
 mote health and good fellowship, in the same way as 
 is done by cricket ; l)ut I venture to think that cock- 
 fighting, boxing, Sunday marbles, and cliuck-far- 
 thing are treated as they deserve in being neglected. 
 Nay, although backsword play has found an eloquent 
 advocate, it too, perhaps, is better honoured in the 
 Ijreach than in the observance. Games have probably 
 fallen into disuse through the gentry making London 
 their residence so much more than formerly, as well 
 as through the operation of other causes, lint still
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 89 
 
 there is no lack of thaw and sinew in the Vale. 
 Cricket is at present at low ebb^ it is true, in Stanford, 
 but it seems reviving- ; and some among- the Stanford 
 boys g-ive jiromise of future excellence. There is 
 much sliding- and some skating practised by both 
 sexes in the winter, and few can be found to compete 
 with the Vicar of Stanford in the latter exercise. 
 There is hardly a young- farmer who does not hunt for 
 at least a few days in the season. The other day the 
 Old Berkshire killed their fox at Stanford, and a very 
 singular death it was. The whole field of scarlet- 
 coated horsemen, with the dogs, were completely at 
 fault, when the fox was discovered on a cottage roof. 
 Being driven from his retreat, Reynard made his way 
 down the chimney, astonishing the owner, Betty 
 Andrews, by appearing before her in a sooty dress. 
 The love of field sports has not departed, nor is there 
 any want of manly vigour. It was only a few days 
 ago that the son of the good Rector of Shellingford 
 taught the Londoners what those bred in the Vale can 
 do, by carrying off the prize of a golden goblet at the 
 athletic sports of Westminster School. No doubt it 
 is to be desired that the labouring classes might have 
 a few national holidays, in which some of the ancient 
 games might take root again ; but this will never be 
 the case, I fear, until those old red-letter days, the 
 saints' days of the English Church, the non-observance 
 of which Charles Lamb regretted, are again revived.
 
 90 A BEllKSHIRE VILLAGE : 
 
 The abandonment of a peculiar costume in the 
 Yale is a real subject for regret. The sameness and 
 ugliness of black hats, black coats, and trousers all 
 must allow. It is this which makes a modern English 
 crowd so sad and sombre as compared with a con- 
 tinental one. But black coats and Manchester shawls 
 are a bad exchange for the clean white smock of the 
 men, and the red cloaks of the women, once almost 
 universal in the Vale. The white smock is still re- 
 tained during the week by the older Stanford farmers, 
 but a red cloak is seldom to be seen. Formerly red 
 cloaks were heirlooms, and old Widow Falconer has one 
 in her possession which has served four generations. 
 
 The elder generation of farmers^ wives make sad 
 complaints against the dress of the present day — the 
 long sleeves and long dresses, and flimsy materials of 
 which it is composed. Formerly a material made of 
 linen and woollen was that commonly worn, and a 
 kind of short bedgown and short skirt, with a large 
 serviceable check apron, a costume still retained in the 
 North of England, was the prevailing fashion. 
 
 What was customary in the last generation in the 
 way of female costume may be gathered from ISIrs. 
 Trimmer's tale of the " Two Farmers." JNIrs. Simp- 
 kins, on her marriage, was presented with her wedding 
 dress, of which the following is a description. She 
 had a neat Quaker-colour silk and stuff, a white stuff 
 petticoat, quilted in small diamonds. The gown was
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 91 
 
 made with robing-s, and laced before with white satin 
 ribbon, and it had no train. She, it should be ex- 
 plainedj was not a topping- farmer's wife, and laid no 
 claim to gentility. Therefore, her cap was made of 
 fine lawn, with a pretty edging and a snug- crimped- 
 wire border, trimmed with white ribbon, pinned on 
 in veiy exact puffs, and a bow before and behind. 
 It had also a lappet trimmed with the same edging", 
 which went behind the ribbon and came a little below 
 the ears, but no ribbon streamers. She had also a 
 clear double muslin handkerchief, with a narrow 
 worked border, a pair of robings to match it, and 
 a clear lawn apron. In addition, she was presented 
 with a neat black cloak and bonnet, a pair of silver 
 buckles, and a pair of white silk mittens. 
 
 At the time this costume was worn it was still 
 usual to sit in the kitchen with the servants, a 
 custom well remembered at Stanford. A farmer in 
 those times would often teach the boys on the farm to 
 read, or would ask them questions on husbandry, 
 such as, which was the best method of reaping- corn, 
 tying- up the sheaves, building- up the shocks, making- 
 ricks, &c. Sometimes they would sing-, while the 
 farmer's wife or mother would ply her spinning- 
 wheel. The song-s sung would be such as the " Berk- 
 shire Lady," " Fair Rosamond,-*^ the " Lamentations 
 of Jane Shore," " Chevy Chace," and sometimes, 
 perhaps, " Wadley Fair." Such a manner of spending
 
 92 A BEKKSHIRE VILLAGE : 
 
 the wdnter evenings was not^ I am forced to admit, 
 universal in Stanford, for on making inquiry of an 
 aged labourer what was his former experience, he 
 said that at Stone^s ftirm, then occupied by Mr. 
 Penstone, he and the wench sat in opposite corners 
 of the chimney, and looked at one another. The farm 
 house was the home of all the unmarried men, and 
 whenever the master was a God-fearing man the 
 custom must have been productive of much good, and 
 have preserved the men from that bane of the labourer, 
 the village beerhouse, to which resort is often had 
 solely for the advantage of a cheerful fireside. In 
 these times the stocks and whipping-post, only lately 
 removed from Church Green, were often in requisition, 
 and many can remember seeing the stocks in use, and 
 can tell of the whipping inflicted on John Clarke for 
 stealing, by John Goulding, the tithing-man. In 
 these days there was little locomotion. The farmers 
 had no gigs, and a farmer named Tarrant is said to 
 have been the first to adopt one. Travelling was 
 principally practised on horseback, females riding 
 behind the men on pillions, grasping them by the 
 button-hole in front. A pillion cushion is still pre- 
 served by Mrs. Cowderoy. A relic of this custom 
 is to be seen in the upping-stocks attached to many 
 farm houses. Communication with London was made 
 by the waggon, which took two or Ihivo days on 
 the road. A little later, a coach ran from Wantage,
 
 ITS HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 93 
 
 throug-li Faring'don, to Loudon. Old people tell of 
 the peace rejoicings after the last French war, when 
 there was grand feasting on Chuix-h Green, and a 
 booth erected for dancing at Goosey, when Mr. Spicer 
 led off the dance. At this time gipsies abounded in 
 the neighbourhood, and one of them, Gravelines 
 Boswell, is buried in oar churchyard ; and from that 
 circumstance, or because the gipsies when they came 
 to church sat in the spot, the east end of the aisle 
 is called " Gipsies' corner." The i)Oor had some kind 
 friends in these times. The laljourers still remember 
 the soup given by Madam King, and the stor}- 
 is related that the late Madam Hughes, of Uffington, 
 the grandmother, I believe, of Thomas Hughes, Esq., 
 M.P. (Tom Brown) was accustomed to come over to 
 Stanford, when the small-pox was threatening the 
 country, and inoculate the people with a knitting- 
 needle, at the Red Lion, or as they stood in a row 
 by the Jockey Inn. At this time ladies were called 
 Madam and Dame, farmers and their wives Gafler 
 and Gammer. 
 
 Another kind friend to the labouring class, at 
 a more recent date, was the late Philip Pusey, 
 Esq., of Pusey. He was the first to let out land in 
 allotments, and to encourage the planting of potatoes 
 and other vegetables, a plan which has largely contri- 
 buted to the labourers' comfort. The labourers, it is 
 true, often suffer now from hard times, and sometimes
 
 91 A BERKSHIRE VILLA.GE ; 
 
 from that which is hardest to bear, want of employ- 
 ment, but in a great many ways their lot is improved. 
 Bad as are some of the cottages in Stanford, they 
 have been worse, and that in times when no coal was 
 to be obtained, but only w^ood or furze. A hundred 
 years ago no labourer could obtain any tea or white 
 bread, or potatoes. Now coal clubs and clothing 
 clubs put it into the power of all who are thrifty 
 to make provision against hard times. In speaking 
 on this subject I ought not to omit a tribute of 
 thankfulness to the present inmate of Stanford 
 Rectory, whose skill in medicine and thoughtful 
 Christian charity has for a long period alleviated 
 the sorrows of many in our village. Nay, I 
 rejoice to say that a spirit of kindness is not con- 
 fined to any class, but that whenever sickness or 
 trouble happens, the attention of the poor one to 
 another is most touching, putting many times the 
 aid of the higher classes to rebuke. Before bringing 
 this village history to a close, it is worthy of mention 
 that the village of Stanford was well represented at 
 the Exhibition of 1851, when all the labourers renting 
 allotments of Mr. Pusey were sent by him to London, 
 clothed in white smocks, free of expense. They were 
 marshalled in Hyde Park, and introduced by the 
 Squire to the Quoen, in a speech to which she gra- 
 ciously responded. Tlie late war in the Crimea will 
 long be remembered in Stanford, for to that war
 
 ITS HTSTOllY AND ANTIQUITIES. 95 
 
 Stanford contributed a noble volunteer, the Rev. G. 
 H. Proctor, who met his death ministering to the sick 
 and dying". A tablet to his memory has been placed 
 in the parish church. Whoever reads this little work 
 will probably connect our village with another name 
 not unknown in England — one whom we have learned 
 to love and venerate. He needs no eulogy of mine, 
 and his work w411 have a more enduring memorial 
 than I can give. May he long be si:)ared to minister 
 
 " Where a few villagers on bended knees, 
 Find solace which a husy world disdains." 
 
 In conclusion, may I express a hope that if any 
 have taken an interest in the incidents I have collected 
 about our parish, they will strive on their part to 
 render their own village what every village should 
 be — a Christian village, like that of AAhich we read 
 in the Gospels, where He who was the Son of God 
 lived as a poor villager, as the carpenter's son, fulfil- 
 lingr all the duties of that station. "VYe shall do 
 this if we strive to live together as good neighbours 
 and good Christians, the strong bearing with the 
 infirmities of the weak, and the weak with the 
 strong.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Extract from the Original Book of the Churchwardens' 
 Accounts of the Parish of Stanford in the Yale, Berks ; 
 containing an Inventory of the Church Goods, taken about 
 May 11th, 1553 (7th of Edward VI.) : also a statement of 
 the disposal of them by the King's Commissioners, and a 
 record of the articles renewed in the reign of Queen 
 Mary. 
 
 Imprimis a cope of redd velvett & a pyllow 
 
 It. a cope and shutte [? suit] of vestments for the 
 
 Prest and Subdeacon of blew satten with ther 
 
 albes 
 It. a cope of bawdekyns with a sute of vestments for 
 
 the Prest, Dyacon, and Subdiacon of the same 
 
 with the albes 
 It. one old vestment of many cullers of nedull-worko 
 
 with th appurtenance. Note — ii of the albes 
 
 were stolne 
 It. ii olde chesabubuls of dornyx without albes 
 It. i oldchysabuU of resid [i.e. raised] worke of grene
 
 98 APPENDIX. 
 
 and redde velvet the grownde golde wyer with the 
 appurtynaunce 
 
 It. i frunt for an alter of the same worke 
 
 Itm. a frunt for an alter of paynttyd cavas — stolne 
 
 Itm . i olde cope of hlew sarcenet 
 
 Itm. i olde vestment of sylcke 
 
 Itm. i olde vestment white fustyan — with i albe — solde 
 
 Itm. ii crosses of copper and gylte — i other of lede flo- 
 rysshid one withe golde foyle — this the Commis- 
 sioners had 
 
 Itm. viij banner clothis and i stremer of canvas paynttid 
 — the hanners solde 
 
 Itm. ^^j olde altar clothis ii towells 
 
 Itm. iij corporas clothis with casis — this the Commis- 
 sioners had 
 
 Itm. a pece of bawdkyn for the Sepulture — stolne 
 
 Itm. a vayle & iij clothis for Lent — ye vale gevon T. 
 Myller 
 
 Itm. ij olde coverletts of carpet worke 
 
 Itm. vij siirpleses of all sorts — one stolne 
 
 Itm. iiij bells, a sance [i.e. sanctus] bell&sacryng bell 
 
 Itm. ij dialysis of sylver parcell gylte — the Commis- 
 sioners the one & the paten of the other 
 
 Itm. ij pyxces — i copper another of brass 
 
 Itm. a canape of lynet worke 
 
 Itm. ii cruotts of pewtter a crysmatory of pewtter 
 
 Itm. a holywatter pot of brasse a payre of sencers of 
 bras
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 99 
 
 f. 
 
 Sma v''" xvi*' iij*^.' 
 
 These parcells aforesayd be in the 
 Kynge's inventojy of the wicli the 
 Kyng had all (save the bells in the 
 stepuU, the alter clothis towells sur- 
 pleses and albes) delyvyred to Mr. 
 Yong Mr. J Wynchecomb ye yonger, 
 the xi day of May a° li K Edv. vj'e 
 7 All so y*^ dd [i e. they delivered] 
 backe agayne a challes withowte a 
 kever [i. e. cover] or paten — Mem 
 that J Fawkener, Vicar bought all 
 the stuffe that the Kyng's Comm''^ 
 above namyd did receyve owt of 
 Stanford, except plate bells brasse 
 pewtter & the canape of Lynet & 
 copper & gylte — the corporas caysses 
 & ther clothis surplcses alter clothis 
 keverletts albes & a kevering for the 
 Vtabull of sylcke & payd therefore 
 
 Thes be the parcells of goods that was lafte in the 
 Church, & not put into the Kynge's inventori. 
 
 Imprimis a challes with a kever parcell gylt 
 
 Itm. a payr of grayt canduUstycks callyd standorts of 
 
 bras 
 Itm. a payre of small CanduUstycks of brasse to set one 
 
 the altar 
 Itm. a crosse of copper and gylt. Itm. iiij sylver sponis 
 
 Itm. a bell for the belman & a sacryng bell 
 
 Itm. ij here clothis for the altar 
 
 Itm. a basson of latten (This bason was changed for a 
 
 pewter bason hav more money lede to yt. as 
 
 F 2
 
 100 APPENDIX. 
 
 appearetli in Thomus Collens & J. Whaye's ac- 
 count) 
 Itm. a lanthome 
 
 grayt lentten clothe 
 
 ij pecys of lawnde towell brayde with roys [i. e. 
 
 rows] of red and yallow sylcke 
 Itm. a brod sylcke cloth with roys of blew and red sylcke 
 
 with golde wyer 
 Itm. a myter of white satten with borders of red velvet 
 Itm. a front for an alter of blew satten with byi-ds of 
 
 golde & tr^vylls of golde with greue and white 
 
 sylcke 
 Itm. an albe with a stole and fana 
 Itm. a fi'ont for an alter of grene say with helmet & sheld 
 
 trayled with gold wyer 
 Itm. another front for an alter the growndo whyte sylcke 
 
 with a trayle of grene sylcke & golde wyer 
 Itm. V towells of the whiche ij be bothe brod & long 
 Itm. a cvirten of bockeram with ryngs 
 Itm. a fyne lynen cloth with a hole in the myddest that 
 
 keveryd the pyx 
 Itm. a lytuU bagge of red taffeta 
 Itm. a pyllobere with worke of rod & blacke crule 
 Itm. a dyadeni for the p3'x 
 Itm. iij chests ij with lydels & one without a 1yd & a long 
 
 coffer that did put in torchis 
 Itm. a chest cawlyd the pore man's box 
 Itm. a bybull — the paraphrasis of Erasmus ij bokes of 
 
 comon prayer — a Salter — all this in Englysh 
 Itm. a baner pole with a plate of yron rownde about hit 
 Itm. ij bancrs 
 //;«. a tabull with a frame — hit was solde
 
 APPENDIX. 101 
 
 Thes parcels foUowyng Mr. John Fawckcner Vicar 
 bowght of tlio Kyng's Commissioners & soldo the same 
 unto John "Whistler & Koger Chiu'che to the use of the 
 Churche of Stanford for the sum of v'' svi^ viij** the wich 
 was levyed of the Church Stockes & payde to the sayde 
 Vicar the xxi day of December in the first yere of the 
 reyene of the most Xtian lady Queyne Marye 
 
 Imprimis a cope of red velvctt & a pyllo of the same 
 
 Itm. a cope & sute of vestments for the Prcst, Dyacon & 
 Subdyacon of blew satten 
 
 Itm. a cope and sute of vestments for ye Prest, Dyacon & 
 Subdyacon of bawdkyn 
 
 Itm. one old vestment of many cullers of noduUwork 
 
 Itm. ij olde chesabulls of dornyx 
 
 Itm. i olde chesabuU of resyd worke of grene and red vel- 
 vet the grownde golde wyer 
 
 Itm. a fmnte for an altar of ye same worke 
 
 Itm. one olde cope of blew sarcenet 
 
 Itm. one olde vestment of sylcke 
 
 The parcells above wrytten were delyverd to John 
 Whistler and Roger Churche in the precens of Kichard 
 Rawhns and John Hawkyns Church Wardens and others 
 of the paryshe. 
 
 The parcells following the Kyng's Commyssioners de- 
 lyvered backc sum to the uze of the Churche sum to be 
 gyven to pore people. 
 Imprimis ij old keverletts 
 Itm. a stremer 
 
 Itm. vij olde alter clothis & ij towells 
 Itm. iij clotliis for lent 
 Itm. vij surplisis of the wich one was stolne
 
 102 APPENDIX. 
 
 Itvi. a challes of sjlver parcell gylt witliowt a paten 
 Itm. vij the others were stohie or lost 
 
 Thes pai'cells followyng renewed syns the begynniug of 
 Queyn ISIaryes regne 
 
 Imprimk Dorethe Phetjijlase Voys hathe made of the 
 Churche Stuffe ii coporas casss [? cases] one of 
 purpuU velvet with the image of Chryst Mary & 
 John and another of Sylcke nedull worke 
 
 Itm. the sayd Dorethe hathe made a payre of curtens for 
 the hygh altar of the Churche Stuife 
 
 Itm. the sayd Mistress Dorethe hathe gevyn to ye 
 Churche a pyx to put in the most blessed Sacra- 
 ment of ye altar of clothe of tyssu 
 
 Itm. the sayd Dorethe hathe gyven a pax 
 
 Itm. the sayd Dorethe hathe gyven a fyne corpora's 
 clothe 
 
 Itm. the sayd Dorethe hathe made a Sacrament clothe to 
 be over the pyx of the Churche stutfe 
 
 Itm. Elyzabeth Phetyplace Voys gave a pace of bawdyr 
 to make a pawlle for to lay over the herse or a 
 canape to carry over the Sacrament of the altar 
 conteyning . . . yards ... in brayd & . . . 
 yards in lengcth 
 
 Itm. J. Whayre & T. Colens the Churchwardens bought 
 of T. Poye . . . olde baners and paydo for them as 
 appeareth 
 
 Itm. ye sayde Whayre & Collens bought in tliis yere ij 
 liallfe portuisis a processionall a manuell a payre 
 of cructts of pewter a chrismatory of pewter a 
 payre of saynces [i. e. censers] a holy water stocke 
 of brasse
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 103 
 
 Tt7n. Tliomas Whitchorne of Gozc [i. e. Goosey Chapelry 
 in the Parish of Stanford] gave to ye Churche of 
 Stanford ye xx"^ day of Apryll a.d. 155G a vest- 
 ment for a Prest to see [i. e. say] Masse in of 
 yellow sarcenett & an albe & a arayse stolle and 
 fana [i. e. fanon] new 
 
 Subjoined is a list of some who have had the cure of 
 souls in the parish of Stanford in the Vale : — 
 
 Roger Campedene, 
 
 Rector 
 
 . 
 
 died 1398 
 
 John Fawconer, Vicar 
 
 . 
 
 )} 
 
 1586 
 
 Hugo Goodman 
 
 
 . 
 
 )) 
 
 1625 
 
 Giles Bingley 
 
 
 . first 
 
 appears 
 
 , 164L 
 
 Laurence Poeock 
 
 
 >5 
 
 55 
 
 1667 
 
 John Frewen 
 
 
 5) 
 
 55 
 
 1700 
 
 John Hutton 
 
 
 >5 
 
 55 
 
 1711 
 
 James Ayscough 
 
 
 11 
 
 55 
 
 1715 
 
 i^vTnirr^ I'lr^m 
 
 ' of Stanford 
 
 and 
 
 
 
 \JX CtiliVCa V IL/CtJ 
 
 
 Hatford 
 
 
 
 
 
 Thomas Home, \ 
 
 icar 
 
 ?) 
 
 
 I/O/ 
 
 George Turner 
 
 )5 
 
 ») 
 
 
 1768 
 
 Eobert Wetherell 
 
 )) 
 
 )5 
 
 
 1793 
 
 Thomas Sanders 
 
 >) 
 
 >) 
 
 
 1834 
 
 Christopher Wordsworth, Vicar 
 
 >) 
 
 
 1850 
 
 GILBERT AND EIYINGTON, PIUNTEES, ST. JOHN'S SQUARE.
 
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