A history, military and municipal, of the town ... of Marlborough, and more generally of the entire Hundred of Selkley

Introduction

One of the uses of a Preface is to record the kind assistance received in the compilation of the pages following; in doing which, in the present instance, it is but fair to state, that no one but myself is to be held responsible for the sentiments hereinafter uttered. This proviso, it is hoped, will legitimate the pleasure of parading the names of Mr. Reeve, of Marlborough ; Dr. Bandinell, of the Bodleian Library, who furnished the address at page 327 ; the Rev. Richard Smith, of Marlborough ; the Rev. J. E. Jackson, of Leigh de la Mere ; the Rev. Edward Wilton, of West Lavington ; and Mr. John Neate, of Marlborough, who supplied the interesting document at page 261. In the municipal department free use has been made of Merewether's and Stephens's elaborate work on English Boroughs. Should

INTRODUCTION.

. it appear strange that in a work comprehending, though in a subordinate degree, the entire Hundred which includes Avebury, no notice is taken of the countless theories connected with that spot, it may be sufficient to reply that Mr. Britton has already " trod the weary round" in the third volume of his Beauties of Wiltshire; and that to agitate again the dense cloud of learned dust which has been raised around and about the magic circle, while destitute of the power of laying it, were an attempt alike impertinent, unprofitable, and vain. The numerous historical tracts relating to Marl borough, preserved in the Library of the British Museum, constituted the principal inducement to the execution of a series of papers, entitled, ' Wiltshire during the Civil Wars,' which some years back passed through the columns of the Wiltshire Independent newspaper.

Since that period I have met with some few others, and the courtesy of friends has added so much miscel laneous information, that I am now enabled to offer this History of Marlborough and the Hundred of which it is the metropolis, as an instalment of the more copious illustration which I hope yet to make of the annals of Wiltshire during that most interesting period of English history. In any memorial of the struggle of the seven teenth century, the men of Marlborough merit an honourable distinction ; for they were the foremost to attack, and they also suffered the most deeply. If to this be added the fact, that after the great fire the rebuilding of the town in far more than its original beauty took place under the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, through the means of a national subscription,

INTRODUCTION.

. V stimulated in all probability by his generous example, here is another memento well worth recalling to the view of a community whose principal claim to the notice of the historian rests upon their ancestral association with that great man in the cause of civil and religious liberty. Another, though subordinate, design of the following sketches is the exhibition of that local or domestic government characteristic of the mediæval boroughs, which, deriving its origin from the military and colonial system of old Rome, and kept in vigour by the Roman element, distinguishing the civic from the Saxon or rural population, contrasts not unfavourably with that metropolitan centralisation which has almost sapped the independence of the provinces, and of which even Edin burgh has recently begun to complain.

The charm of the present History, therefore, (if it have any) must of necessity be retrospective ; and while the transplantation of the name of Marlborough to a score of new sites in the Colonies guarantees for the original a representative futurity, the burgesses of the old town may, not without a dash of self-gratulation, appropriate the motto of the noble house of Bruce, "FUIMUS."* Devizes, Christmas, 1853. * The Legend of Elgin and Ailesbury. ADDENDA ET COEEIGENDA. Page 29, 7th line from foot, dele "had." 64, line 9, for Brumston read Balaton. 1:57, in heading of Chapter, dele " other events in Wiltshire." 332, line 23, for of office read office. 342, 9 lines from foot, after ° age," dele the semicolon, 362, reverse the words Jesse Heneage. 371, at foot of page. Sir John Hynde Cotton was, it is true, M.P. for Cambridgeshire till 1736, but ne is the same person who afterwards represented Marlborough. 374, 6 lines from foot, for Newman read Newnham. 381, 19th line, for from Hungerford read through Hungerford. 389, 20th line, for grandson read son. 391.

The engraved plan should have shown a foss exterior to the moat round the southern portion of the garden. 392, 4th line from foot, supply the hiatus with Roger, whose son was clerk of the peace. 397, 5th line, for son-in-law read nephew. 495, 13th line, for Rohee read Rokle, meaning Rockley. N.B. Roman road at page 7, line 8, described as keeping north of the stream. This portion of the road was probably subordinate to the main military track which there is reason to think crossed the Kennet at Fyfield, and ascended Btraight up to the superior station of Folly Farm. N.B. In the dates taken from civil war documents and others the year has been made to com mence on the 1st of January. N.B. The Rev. Jonathan Lypeatt, at page 416, was rector of Wath, but not an ancestor of Mr. Francis. PAGE 84 CONTENTS.

Chapter I

&sb«*" PERIOD BEFORE THE NORMAN CONQUEST ORIGIN OF MARL- BOROUGH AND MILDENHALL ROMAN STATION SIR RICHARD COLT HOARE's OPINION CASTLE MOUND SILBURY HILL — FOLLY FARM — TEMPLE FARM — MERLIN — THE SAXON CHRONICLE 1

Chapter II. Norman Period Doomsday Book Mint

— STEPHEN'S WARS PRINCE JOHN MARRIED AT THE CASTLE MARLBOROUGH GIVEN UP TO THE FRENCH PRINCE THE LEGEND OF LACOCK— BARONS' LEAGUE IN THE CASTLE SUNDRY CASTLE RECORDS FOREST RECORDS . . . .21

Chapter III

the reformation marlborough a suffragan see — two protestant martyrs — -dr. edmunds, of albourn bishop shaxton orders popish relics to be brought to his house at ramsbury — suppression of religious houses — st. Margaret's — st. John's — the white friars — templars at rockley — okebourn — easton AVEBURY 79

Chapter IV. Municipal History Roman Municifium

— MEDIÆVAL BO- ROUGH TOWN MEETINGS CHARTERS DISPUTES WITH THE MEN OF SOUTHAMPTON PROCEEDINGS IN THE COURTS — BYE-LAWS — CHAMBERLAIN'S ACCOUNTS . CONTENTS.

Chapter V. Paoe Stuart Rule

— FREEHOLDERS IN SELKLEY— KING JAMES' SAGACITY — CECIL'S DEATH AT ST. MARGARET'S THE VICAR OF OKEBOURN THE SEYMOUR FAMILY — LORD SOMERSET LORD HERTFORD, LIEUTENANT OF WILTS — TRAINED BANDS — SIR FRANCIS SEYMOUR HIS CONDUCT IN THE HOUSE — BREAKING OUT OF THE CIVIL WAR — FIRST SIEGE OF MARLBOROUGH SECOND SIEGE OF MARLBOROUGH — OTHER EVENTS IN WILTSHIRE DOWN TO THE PERIOD OF KING CHARLES'S DEATH . . .137

Chapter VI. Events Subsequent To King Charles's Death

— FRANKLYN's WIDOW THE BURFORD RISING CROMWELL AT RAMS- BURY THE GREAT FIRE NEW MARKET-HOUSE TRADES- MEN'S tokens — cromwell's charter — plots of wildman AND PENRUDDOCK — HOULBROOK THE BLACKSMITH THE SEYMOUR FAMILY CHARLES II AT MARLBOROUGH — THE EJECTED DIVINES ...... 251

Chapter VII. Municipal History Resumed, Beginning With The Restora- Tion Of Charles

II THE PLAGUE THE ELECTION OF 1679 SURRENDER OF THE CHARTER CORRESPONDENCE WITH LORD BRUCE JAMES Il's CHARTER ELECTION OF 1689 ELECTION OF 1714 DOUBLE MAYORALTY- — THE JACOBITES OF WILTSHIRE ROADS AND CANALS LADY HERTFORD AND HER FRIENDS . . . . ' . 330

Chapter VIII. Wilts Militia

— EDWARD GIBBON — LORD CHATHAM — SILBURY HILL EXCAVATED ALBOURN FIRE WEARING OUT OF THE CORPORATION THE REV. CHARLES FRANCIS'S RESIGNA- TION — THE WILTSHIRE REFORMERS OF 1780 CAUSE OF THE WAR — GEORGE III AT TOTTENHAM — MILITARY ME- MORANDA — WELLESLEY, BENETT, AND ASTLEY — MODERN MISCELLANEA ... .... 397 BIOGRAPHY ..... . 496 INDEX .565

Chapter I. Period Before The Norman Conquest Origin Of Marlborough And Mildenhall

ROMAN STATION SIR RICHARD COLT HOARE'S OPINION CASTLE MOUND SILBURY HILL FOLLY FARM TEMPLE FARM MERLIN — THE SAXON CHRONICLE. 'T'HE chronicles of a single country town may often bring us into contact with some of the principal passages in the history of a great nation. Viewed in this aspect, Marlborough appears invested with considerable interest ; and it will be the fault of both writer and reader if occasions of profitable re flection be not derived from a simple recital and review of its chequered fortunes. The absolute origin of but very few towns can be traced with any degree of certainty. They may often have existed long before they acquired the names by which they are known at the present day. British appellatives would give place to Roman substitutes, and these again, while retaining their signification, would become Saxonised in form ; or, as it frequently happened, a town might acquire altogether a new designation derived from the title of its new owner, the indices of its previous existence as a place of residence con tinuing nevertheless to be manifest all around.

In the case under consideration, there can be no doubt that the whole valley of the Kennet was the resort of aboriginal inhabit ants, and Marlborough itself is close upon the confluence of several Roman roads ; yet it is equally certain that neither antient Britons nor Romans gave to the town its modern name. This we must rather refer to the Saxons, who, upon their occupation of the island, imparted their own nomen clature almost universally. The neighbouring military station at Folly Farm, including its suburb of Mildenhall, bore, under the Romans, the title of Cunetio, evidently derived from the river Cunnet or Kennet ; and this is probably as primitive a sound as we can trace in the neighbourhood. It is so closely allied to the Kynetæ of Herodotus and the Kynt of the British bard Aneurin, that we may be safely satisfied with the theory which has peopled the valleys of North Wilts with some of the earliest wanderers.

If, while the hoary historian informs us that beyond the Celts, who occupied the west of Europe, that is to say, Gaul and the shores of the German Ocean, there lay still further west the nation of the Kynetæ, we recall the fact that the only countries still further west were the British Isles, we shall not be surprised to find that the part of the shores of this country visible from the con tinent has borne the name of Kanti, Cantium, or Kent, from the earliest periods. But the Kanti were driven inwards by successive invaders ; and though displaced by Celts even in their pastoral recesses, still retain a memorial in the name of the river Kennet, and in the important Roman station styled from the stream on which it stands, Cunetio or Cunetium. As it was the practice of the Romans to fix their cemeteries outside the walls of their towns, a portion of the ground on which Marlborough now stands may possibly have been the burial field attached to Cunetio ; for the castle-mound cer tainly appears to claim a sepulchral origin, though, owing to its superior magnitude, it is now the only survivor of the kindred memorials, which, on this supposition, must once have surrounded its base.

Here we may suppose the pagan Saxon invaders continued to inter their dead, till around the churches raised over their ashes the later or Christianised Saxons would ROMAN PERIOD. 3 begin to cluster and inhabit. Thus the town would be undergoing a process of removal. At this period some chieftain, such for instance as Alfred the Great, casting his eye upon the now well consolidated mound, and judging it a valuable accessory to a fortalice, would wall it in and defend the approaches ; and while reserving its apex as the seat of the donjon or keep, would flank its base with numerous subordinate buildings more suitable to the purposes of habitation ; a process in fact similar to that which there is reason to think was adopted with reference to the mounds of a similar class at Canterbury, Thetford, Lewes, Oxford, and some other places.

And should the reason be asked, why Marlborough's twinbarrow of Silbury escaped a similar fate, an apparent solution will be found in the inferior advantages of position offered by the latter ; for Silbury Hill was not in the vicinity of a flourishing town, neither was it so well posted on a river. Of course all this is conjectural, but it furnishes a reason for the shifting of the town from a spot a mile to the eastward. An attempt has been made to show that mounds of this kind, when found within walls, were invariably of Norman origin, and constituted an essential part of Norman castrametation : but, in truth, when that people visited us, we had already passed the period when gigantic earthenworks were in vogue. The power of the Norman architect was rather symbolised by his lofty masonry, his intricate approaches, his double-walled quadrangular keep, the base of which could hardly be laid on the point of a conical mound ; though such a rampart of earth, when found ready made, might still have had its uses, and might even come to have a tower built on it; but this, it is presumed, would be a departure from the Norman ideas, which evidently had expanded beyond the requirements of the old Saxon or circular keep.

That the occasional occurrence of conical mounds in Norman castrametation is to be allowed to limit their construction to the Norman era, is a position not to be established by the dicta of a few antiquaries of the last century, especially when, as in the case of Marl borough, such mounds happen to carry in their own elements and in their surrounding memorials the traces of a far more remote antiquity. There is another still more formidable objection to the theory of their Norman raising. Their con solidation would be imperfect, and totally unequal to the required pressure. On such a mound as that of Marlborough, a century or more must have elapsed before the skilful archi tects of the Norman era would venture to raise a superstructure of stone. There was, it is true, a hillock termed a motte, frequently directed to be raised within Norman lines, but this was for purposes very subordinate to the foundation of a keep.

In corroboration of the sepulchral theory above urged, it may be added, that at Lewes Castle the remains of an important Roman cemeteiy have been discovered and explored at the very foot of the Castle Mound ; and " recent discoveries at Canterbury show that the Saxons not only continued to inter their dead on the site of the Roman burial places around the antient city down to the time of their conversion, but that they afterwards erected Christian churches on the same spots." (Wright's Celt, Roman, and Saxon, p. 437.) Sir Richard Colt Hoare, who evidently regarded Marlborough Mound as possessing equal claims with Silbury Hill to the character of a sepulchre, thus describes these two formidable barrows : "Marlborough Mound is a huge pile of earth, inferior in pro portions only to Silbury Hill.

Each one situated on the river Kennet, the one near its source, the other near its margin; and I have no doubt but that in antient times each had some corresponding communication with the other. In more modern times, when the present Inn (this was written in 1819) was the hospitable mansion of the Hertford family, this stately mound was converted into a hill of pleasure; on the ground floor a cavern was excavated and ornamented as a grotto, with shell work, &c, the sides sliced down so SILBURY HILL. as to form a spiral walk around it, fenced with parapet hedges, and the summit crowned with a summer house, of which Dr. Stukeley has given a view in his Itinerarium Curiosum. Still, notwithstanding all these inappropriate decorations, it assumes an imposing appearance. This mound has been so mutilated, as well as lowered in its height, that it is impossible to calculate an exact measure ment of either its circumference or height; but as nearly as we could guess by a trial with our chains, we found the base to be about one thousand feet in circumference, and the diameter of the summit one hundred and ten feet."

(Antient Wiltshire, Part I. p. 15.) Sir Richard's dimensions of Silbury Hill are as follows: "The circumference, as near the base as possible, measured two thousand and twenty-seven feet, the diameter at top one hundred and twenty feet, the sloping height three hundred and sixteen feet, and the perpendicular height one hundred and seventy feet ; but that part of our measurement which will excite the most surprise, is, that this artificial hill covers the space of five acres and thirty-four perches." (Page 82.) Stukeley's measurements are rather less, as he estimates the diameter at the top of Silbury at one hundred and five feet, and the base at "somewhat more than five hundred," and gives the solid contents as 13,558,809 feet. The following remarks on tumuli are from J. Y. Akerman's Archæological Index.

"The raising of mounds of earth or stone, over the remains of the dead, is a practice which may be traced in all countries to the remotest times. A heap of stones marked the tomb of Absalom. The grave of Patroclus was thus distinguished. Herodotus informs us that the tumulus erected over the remains of Alyattes, the father of Crœsus, was more than six stadia in circumference. (Lib. i. c. 93.) And Diodorus Siculus says, that that of Ninus was of such dimensions, that at a distance it might be mistaken for the citadel of Nineveh. (Lib. ii p. 95, ed. 1604.) Virgil's allusion to the tomb of Dercennus is well known ; ' Fuit ingens monte sub alto Regis Dercenni terreno ex aggere bustum.' Æn. lib. xi. 819, 850. And a huge tumulus erected by Germanicus, in the forests of Germany, covered the remains, and told to posterity the destruction of the legions of Varus.

(Tacit. Annales. lib. i. c. 62.)" Now, though the mound of Marlborough, as well as many other of the Gothic relics of this district, will probably ever remain " standing enigmas," they are evidences of an early and numerous population. That the valley of the Kennet was a primeval settlement, forcibly struck Sir Richard Colt Hoare in the course of his numerous journeys of explora tion. No writer, in fact, has discoursed so largely on the memorials of a former age still extant in this neighbourhood as Sir Richard, in his folio treatises on Antient Wiltshire. The learning which directed his researches, and the un assumed ardour which carried him through them, render him a very agreeable guide. We cannot therefore do better than let him speak for himself in the few passages to be presently selected from the diary of his rambles in the vicinity of Marlborough.

To elucidate his remarks, it will be desirable, by way of preface, to specify with precision the geographical and commercial position which Cunetio occupied during the Roman period. The fact that the British trackway over Hackpen-Down avoids Marlborough, suggests the idea that the town, if existent at that period, was of small consideration. For its earliest genuine history we must therefore look to the Roman era, when as a military station, placed at the junction of three or more important lines, it undoubtedly rose to considerable influence. Its position was as follows : — First, ROMAN STATION OF CUNETIO. 7 There was the high road from Venta Belgarum (Winchester) to Corinium (Cirencester), passing through this station. Secondly, It stood on another Roman way from Bath to London, a line which, in crossing Wiltshire, passed through Spye park, then over Roundway Hill, then skirting the base of Silbury Hill, came upon the Kennet river, just opposite Lockeridge House, making a slight curve in order to keep north of the stream ; then to Cunetio, or Mildenhall ; Rudge Farm, and so on to Speenhamland and Silchester, near Reading.

Thirdly, There was a road from Sorbiodunum, or Old Sarum, which there can be little doubt ran through Burbage and Everley. This is not so straight as many Roman thoroughfares ; but the fact is we may trace several of their trackways destitute of this characteristic feature, which was principally required for military uses. The well known one, for instance, from Old Sarum to Bath, was not more direct than a modern road. Wiltshire, Somerset shire, and Gloucestershire, constituted the centre of Roman fashionable resort in Britain. The country, blest with peace and prosperity, was everywhere spotted with villas, and reticulated with roads. In seeking, therefore, to identify Roman ways, it is unnecessary to look only for straight lines. Fourthly, The great highway called Ermine Street, from Gloucester to Silchester, passing through Cirencester, Cricklade, Stratton St. Margarets, and Speenhamland, of course avoids Marlborough, but there is the straight branch hence, joining it at the station of Nidum (Nythe Farm), a mile this side of Stratton St. Margarets, thus rendering continuous on to Cirencester the road mentioned first in the list as coming from Winchester.

"Marlborough and its neighbourhood," observes Sir Richard, " are the most interesting places which, as an antiquary, I have yet met with. Its environs abound with British antiquities, which have been already described. My present researches are directed solely to the vestiges which the Romans have left behind them. 1 know of no situation in our island which can boast of two decided stations situated so near to each other : the one at Mildenhall, in the vale of the river Kennet ; the other at Folly Farm, on an adjoining hill, to the south above the river. Each from situation may dispute the name of Cunetio ; I shall therefore distinguish them by the names of Upper and Lower: but I must give the preference to the latter, for the great road which I have lately described enters it, and proceeds afterwards to Speen and London.

The former may also claim its Roman road, from Winchester to Nidum and Corinium (Cirencester). The Roman road coming from Win chester made a bend to the left, when it reached the top of Cockatrip Lane, and crossed the fields into the station. An other Roman road also evidently issued from this station, and from the direction of the compass, it seemed to have pointed towards Sorbiodunum (Old Sarum). The road to Winchester, after quitting the station, is visible in an angle of Levy Copse, from whence it pursues its course over two grounds called Leonard's Fields — where it has been demolished by the plough within the memory of farmer Hutchins, who has long resided on the spot, and gave me very obligingly every information I could desire; and he himself destroyed that little portion of the causeway at the south-east angle of the above fields.

"On entering Savernake forest two Roman roads separate: the one bearing south-east towards Winchester ; the other nearly south towards Old Sarum. Having touched upon new scent, you may naturally conclude that we were very eager in our pursuit of this hitherto unknown causeway. They each cross the London turnpike road between miles lxxii and lxxiii, and the one which points towards Sorbiodunum directs its course through Bradenhook Copse, to the back of the park keeper's at Bradenhook Lodge where the ridge is visible, and still so a little beyond it, as far as the bottom; but here all traces are lost, and nothing left except a few tumuli in the probable LOWER CUNETIO. line for us even to hazard a conjecture about the further pro gress of this road. "Mildenhall or Lower Cunetio. — Having in Iter VI mentioned the Station at Folly Farm, which I have distin guished by the name of Upper Cunetio, we must consider the relative position of Lower Cunetio.

There can be no doubt of this being the Cunetio described by Antonine, in his Iter between Bath and London, as the several stations upon the line are for the most part known, and fortunately a fragment of the causeway leading to Spinæ, or Speen Hill, is visible on issuing from this station. It ascended the Down towards Hill Barn, then, probably, proceeded through Hen's Wood to Hug's Ditch ; and through Lawn Coppice to Cakewood, Standgrove, Hungerford, and Speen Hill, where the Roman station of Spinæ, on the grounds of Mr. Wild, was ascer tained by my friend, Mr. Leman. " I feel happy, in this opportunity, of acknowledging the re peated acts of kindness and liberality which I have received from the Rev. Mr. Francis, who resides within the area of the Station (at Mildenhall), and in whose garden numerous coins have been dug up, and to whom my work stands indebted for the very curious brass vessel and the Roman urn, both of which have been engraved, and by his means rgscued from oblivion.

" Besides the very singular occurrence of two decided Roman stations being situated at so short a distance from each other, the whole vicinity of Marlborough bespeaks a considerable antient population. The many British works with which the more open country abounds have been already described in a former part of my work ; and the low land and meadows of the Kennet are continually productive of Roman antiquities, for in these fields each of the above-mentioned relics were discovered by labourers digging for gravel. The declivities of the ground bordering on the vales present also in many places those slight intersected banks which we have ever found attendant on antient residence. We have also a ' Cold Har bour,' and a small square camp, where Mr. Cunnington dug up Roman pottery at the upper end of the town of Marl borough."

In another place Sir Richard Colt Hoare has the following notice : " Adjoining the town of Marlborough there is a common, at the southern angle of which there is an earthen work, inclosing above three quarters of an acre of land. The south and west sides are rectangular, the other sides irregular: the entrance was towards the east." (Antient Wiltshire, p. 40.) This inclosure is commonly termed " The Bowling Green." " Folly Farm. — This tenement is situated to the north of the great London turnpike-road, nearly opposite to milestone lxxiii. It overlooks the vale of the river Kennet and the town of Marlborough, and is elevated in its site. This hill is covered with a variety of banks, ditches, and other irregular works, which I am inclined to attribute to an earlier period than the Roman. We here find the names of Isbury and Postern Hill, and within these more antient works are the clear and undoubted remains of a Roman settlement, authenticated by a portion of its square circumvallation with the usual rounded angles, &c, numerous coins, and other relics.

When I first visited this supposed Roman station in October, 1805, I made use of that important discoverer of truth, the spade, which had been my unerring guide through the widely extended field of British antiquities; and on the present occasion it convinced me that the Romans had dwelt on this spot, for on finding an arch of brick, and following its course, I came to an interment of burned bones deposited within an urn of black, well-moulded pottery. I also found, on digging, the remains of coarse tesselated pavements. The farmer, by name Hutchins, who has resided many years on this estate of the Earl of Ailesbury, is continually finding coins and other THE MARLBOROUGH BUCKET. relics of Roman antiquity, amongst which are those figured in the annexed plate which I have thought worthy of being recorded.

The female figure is given of its original size, and is not devoid of elegance in proportion and design : she appears to have held a speculum in her hand. Two spoons were also found on the same spot in a very perfect condition. The whole of these articles were of bronze, and have been presented by Farmer Hutchins to the Rev. Mr. Francis of Mildenhall." The Marlborough Bucket. — " I must not omit to mention a very curious relic of antiquity, which, by the zeal of the Rev. Mr. Francis of Mildenhall, was rescued from destruction. It was discovered in a meadow adjoining Marlborough called St. Margaret's Mead, situated just beyond the first milestone on the road to London. According to the original drawing presented to me by Mr. Francis, and drawn upon a scale of three inches to one, the vessel must have been two feet in breadth and twenty-one inches in height.

It was formed of substantial oak wood ribbed with iron hoops, had two handles of the same, and a hollow bar of iron was placed across the mouth of the vessel and affixed to the two square upright pieces projecting from the circle. It was plated with thin brass, and ornamented with embossed representations of grotesque human heads and animals. The deposit of human burned bones which it contained proves it to have been originally destined to sepulchral purposes, but I am at a loss even to conjecture the period to which it ought to be attributed. The labourers employed in digging gravel for the roads in this mead frequently meet with coins, pottery, animal bones, &c. To Mr. Francis I am indebted for a beautiful little cup of bronze coloured pottery, with six indentures in it ; and in the collec tion of the same gentleman I observed many coins of the Lower Empire, some fragments of the fine red-glazed pottery; and the very singular interment or sacrifice of the bones of a cat and a cock, amongst which I could distinguish plainly the jaw and teeth of the former, and the leg of the latter, with the spur still adhering to it."

The bucket here described by Sir Richard is not a solitary instance of this species of article being discovered in Anglo- Saxon cemeteries. Several have been found in Kent and Cambridgeshire, and one at Fairford in Gloucestershire. The last mentioned was only four inches in diameter, and of the other specimens delineated in Mr. Wright's work, The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon, none approach the Marlborough Bucket in size. The writer further remarks, " These buckets are, as far as I have observed, always found in the graves of men, and they wer.e evidently vessels which served for some thing more than ignoble purposes. The only explanation I can suggest is, that they were for containing the ale, mead, or wine, which was to be served in the Saxon hall. They are probably the vessels alluded to in the words of the poem of Beowulf, which describes how ' Cup-bearers gave Tbe wine from wondrous vats.' 1. 2316, p. 429."