holding a shield, on which may be traced, though much worn, the figure of an eagle displayed. Being without name or date, this monument has given rise to a conflict of opinion. The earlier county historians speak of it as a statue to one Ansloe," but it is now regarded with greater probability as a memorial of Sir John de la Mere and Maud, his wife, who rebuilt the transept in 1382. Near the west door is a well-preserved brass, representing a male and female figure wrapped in shrouds, and annexed is the following inscription:"Of your Charite pray for the Soules of John Hampton Gentleman, Elyn his Wife, and all their Children, speciallie for the Soule of Dame Alice Hampton his Daughter, whiche was right beneficiall to this Church and Parish. Which John decessed in the Yere of o'r Lord MCCCCCLVI, on whose Soules Jhu have M'cy. Amen." "* The Hamptons seem to have been a respectable local family, one of whom was sheriff of the county in the reign of Edward II. They probably held land under the abbesses of Caen and Sion, and no doubt derived their name from the parish. There is a tradition that Dame Alice Hampton bestowed upon the inhabitants the extensive tract of Hampton Common, which formerly contained a thousand acres, but is now much reduced. There is also the following inscription :-"Of your Charite pray for the Soule of Edward Holiday and Margery his Wyfe, which Edward decessed the 6th Day of Aprill, A.D. MDCCCCCXIX." A third brass of apparently about the same date is without any inscription. But on a stone slab in the south transept we may read :-"Here lyeth the Body of Elizabeth Grevel, Gentilwoman, who was first wyfe unto Richard Dantford; secondly unto Mr Michael Webb; 3rdly unto Mr Walter Payne; 4thly unto Mr Gyles Grevel, who deceased the 25th day of December, 1608." Monuments of more recent date are numerous, and of them a large number, as might be expected, are devoted to the community of clothiers. Of this class the following may be taken as a specimen :- "Subtus jacet Georgius Small, Armiger, Optimus Pacis Curator, ditissimusque hujus sæculi Pannarius. Obiit tertio die Octobris, Anno Domini 1704, | Etatis 77. Mary Small, Widow and Relict of George Small, Esq., departed this life Sept. 3, Anno Dom. 1719, | aged 89."

The church is surrounded by an ample burial ground, thickly studded with massive stone tombs, on which are nailed brass plates bearing the inscriptions, after a style very common throughout the county.

The neighbouring parish of Avening, in situation, extent, and history, has much in common with Minchinhampton. A bleak and monotonous road, bounded by stone walls, leads the traveller across a high and level tract of country. On approaching Avening, however, the road gradually descends, and the village appears in a deep hollow, clustered among the hills. Its substantial cottages,

• This inscription has been given in vol. iii., p. 123.—ED.

with their cheerful and old-fashioned gardens, combine to form the type of a really picturesque English village. But a peculiar character is given to the place by a group of half-ruined cloth mills, which, closed at a time of commercial depression some fifty years ago, wear a melancholy and deserted appearance. Near the southern entrance of the village stands the old rectory, a small and unpretending structure, which, neverthless, possesses associations of more than common interest. It was long the abode of Dr. George Bull, a famous Anglican divine, who was rector of Avening from 1685 to 1705, in which year he was promoted to the bishopric of St. David's. One of his first cares on taking possession of the living was to rebuild the dilapidated rectory, which in its renovated form was to be his residence for twenty years. Dr. Bull, as is well known, was noted among High Church divines as a controversialist; and in that character he was highly esteemed by Bossuet, who, while fully acknowledging his zeal and erudition, lamented his inability to receive the Catholic doctrine in its entirety. It is recorded that Dr. Bull found his parish in a very insubordinate condition, owing partly to ignorance and the prevalence of dissent, and partly to certain abuses arising from the observance of the village feast. He succeeded during his twenty years' incumbency in restoring and maintaining harmony and order; and on his departure to St. David's, he seems to have carried with him the warm affections of his flock.* At a short distance from the rectory stands the old church of Avening. Built on a slightly rising ground, it is surrounded by a spacious churchyard, the uneven surface of which is dotted irregularly with mossy graves. Close outside the churchyard gate, flows a clean, but shallow rivulet, spanned by a wide and substantial bridge. This little brook has its source in the high lands above Avening, and for some distance forms the boundary between this parish and Minchinhampton; then flowing onwards towards Woodchester, it empties itself into the scarcely more important Frome at Dudbridge. This is one of the many English streams which bear the name of Avon, and according to a not improbable etymology, it has been thought to lend its name to the parish through which it flows. The church of the Holy Trinity is a fine cruciform building, originally of the Norman era, but the additions of succeeding centuries have altered its appearance. Its grey and weather-stained walls are surmounted by a roof of heavy stone tiles, almost blackened by centuries of rain and storm. Between the nave and chancel rises a square embattled tower, its plain and massive proportions impressing a stamp of strength and durability upon the building.

The history of Avening contains much that is curious and romantic, being intimately bound up with the life of the ill-fated Brhitric, Earl of Gloucester, whose possessions covered a large part

See what has been stated in No. 1049, headed "George Bull, D.D., and the Parish of Avening, 1685-1705," vol. iii., pp. 61-65.-ED.

of the county. The story of this hapless nobleman may be read in our English histories. Being sent by his sovereign, Edward the Confessor, on an embassy to Baldwin, Count of Flanders, he was so unfortunate as to arouse the affections of the count's daughter Matilda, destined a few years later to be wife of the Norman Conqueror. She was unable to obtain from the Saxon earl any return of her attachment, and the disappointment seems to have rankled in her mind. Its effects on the unhappy Brhitric were tragical. No sooner had the Norman Conquest made Matilda mistress of the English people, than we find her exacting reparation for the slight by the imprisonment and premature death of Brhitric.* His estates were seized by the Conqueror, and given to his queen for life. The manor of Avening was shortly afterwards bestowed, perhaps in reparation for this injustice, upon the newly founded abbey of the Holy Trinity at Caen, and it is alleged that Matilda, desirous of making further amends for the bloodshed attendant on the Conquest, resolved to build a church at Avening. It is likewise said that she took advantage of the presence of her husband's court at Gloucester to superintend in person the progress of the work. On its completion the church was consecrated in honour of the Holy Rood, and as a natural result of this dedication, the annual village feast is held on the Sunday following the Exaltation of the Cross. From that time until recent days the church and manor of Avening shared the fortunes of Minchinhampton. They remained in the possession of the nuns of Caen till Henry V. conferred the two manors on his favourite foundation of Sion. the Reformation they passed into the hands of Lord Windsor, and in the succeeding century were purchased by the family of Sheppard. When the late Mr. Philip Sheppard disposed of his ancestral estates in this neighboured, the manor of Avening passed to Mr. William Playne, and is now enjoyed by his representative.†

At

The church is entered by a mutilated Norman door, which is approached through a roomy but ill-lighted porch. The interior of the building forms a striking exception to the almost universal rule of church restoration. There is a plainness and simplicity in the architecture which forcibly carries back the mind to remote ages, and this impression is but little disturbed by the intrusion of any modern embellishment. In the chancel alone has there been any attempt at restoration, which, while it has brought into view a fine vaulted roof, has left untouched all the genuine features of antiquity. The communion table of black oak is a curious relic of the Stuart period, having been presented to the church in 1657 by the Rev. William Hall, at that time rector of the parish. Carved in bold capitals on the front of the table are these words: “Holynes unto the Lord Halaluja Salvacion and Glory." Owing to the wide

See No. 1560, headed "The Weird of the Honour of Gloucester: Earl Brhitric and his Successors," ante, pp. 65-70.-ED.

+ See Nos. 890, 947, headed "The Sheppard Family," vol. ii., pp. 508-511, 570.—ED.

extent of the parish there is an unusual number of monumental slabs, many of which, owing to the accumulated dust of years, are extremely difficult to decipher. One of the most curious monuments is in the north transept; it represents a man kneeling, in the costume of the Elizabethan age, and bears this inscription:"Here lyeth the body of Henry Brydgis, | Esqvior, Son to John Lord Chavndos, | Baron of Shevdley, who departed this Life | the 24 day of Janvari, Anno Dom. 1615." On a stone slab in the middle of the nave is this striking announcement :-"On this spot fell the Rev. Nat Thornbury, Rector of this Church, March 11, 1816, at the moment of entering on his duties. An awful lesson to those who survive, that in the midst of life we are in death." The incumbent, whose sudden death is thus impressively recorded, had been rector of Avening for thirty-seven years, and has left a remembrance of his presence in the district. He was a man of extensive and varied attainments; he instituted Sunday schools in his parish, encouraged the cultivation of allotments, and established amusements for the old and young of the village. So much, indeed, was his memory cherished by his parishioners, that he is still spoken of by the older inhabitants as "the good Mr. Thornbury."

Closely adjacent to Avening on the south-west is the parish of Horsley, which completes the boundary of the Stroud borough towards the south. It would be difficult to imagine a place more romantically situated than the village of Horsley. It is scattered along the slopes of a deep valley, whose sides are thickly clothed with plantations of larch, while at the bottom flows a swift and sparkling rivulet, which makes its way into the Avening brook at Nailsworth. Irregular groups of cottages are dispersed about the valley, and the main village-street winds upwards along a ridge, whose crest is topped by the pinnacled tower of the church. Horsley is rich in memories of ecclesiastical antiquity. Given soon after the Conquest to the abbey of St. Martin at Troars, in Normandy, the manor passed about three hundred years later by exchange to the priory of Bruton, in Somersetshire. It was not long before an offshoot from Troars sprang up in the village of Horsley, which, at the exchange with Bruton, was transferred to the latter house, and survived until the general suppression of monasteries. Of the priory of Horsley no trace remains, though some fragments of its painted glass have been set up in the manorhouse at Chavenage. This fine old mansion, with its curious detached chapel, was built in 1576 by Richard Stephens, one of the first lay proprietors, in whose family the manor has continued to the present time. The parish church was almost wholly rebuilt in 1838; but the graceful fourteenth-century tower was wisely preserved, and its dedication to St. Martin has kept in mind the early connection of Horsley with the Norman abbey.*

A sm. 8vo volume, entitled The History of Horsley, by the Rev. Messing Rudkin, Vicar, has been published by Messrs. Whitmore and Son, Dursley, 1884. See "Notices of Recent Publications," No. 3, pp. 19, 20. The church was restored near the close of 1887.-ED.

Retracing our steps, we quickly reach the busy hamlet of Nailsworth, which, although the scene of much commercial activity, possesses no independent existence, but is divided between the parishes of Avening, Horsley, and Minchinhampton. It contains many picturesque old houses, and some slight remains of an ancient chapel long since converted into a stable. Here we strike again into the Bath Road, on which a walk of four miles brings us back to Stroud, the starting point of our excursion. GEORGE T. C. DOLMAN.

St. Mary's Hill, Inchbrook, Stroud.

In

1591.-MOCK MAYORS AT RANDWICK.-(See No. 1564.) confirmation of my statement (ante, p. 74) that the custom of electing mock mayors was common in former times, I append extracts from a letter published, without signature, in the Gentleman's Magazine for May, 1784, curtailing also the song, which in point of incoherency is worthy of the author of "George Ridler's Oven,” and may possibly be from the same inspired pen. It may be inferred from the writer's opening remarks that the ducking-stool was still in use in some parts of England.

"As I was last year passing through the village of Randwic, near Stroud, in Gloucestershire, my attention was attracted by a crowd of people assembled round a horsepond, in which I observed a man, on whom I imagined the country people were doing justice in that summary way for which an English mob is so famous, though I was at the same time surprised to hear them singing, as I thought, a psalm, since I never knew that to be a part of the form of such judicial proceedings. I soon, however, was informed of my error, and learned that it being the 2d Monday after Easter, the people of the parish were assembled, according to an annual custom (the origin of which no one could tell me), to keep a revel. One of the parish is, it seems, on the above-mentioned day, elected mayor, and carried with great state, colours flying, drums beating, men, women, and children shouting, to a particular horsepond, in which his worship is placed, seated in an arm-chair; a song is then given out line by line by the clerk, and sung with great gravity by the surrounding crowd. "THE LORD MAYOR OF RANDWIC'S SONG.

"When Archelus began to spin, | And men to lucre did not yield, And Pollo wrought upon a Which brought good cheer to every bower.

loom,

Our trade to flourish did begin, Tho' Conscience went to selling broom.

When princes' sons kept sheep in field,

And queens made cakes with oaten flour,