he taught them that could hear him how they should live 7. To which perhaps may be added the great Council of Kyrtlington held there not long after in an 977 at which were present King Edward the Martyr and St Dunstan Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and at which died Sidemannus Bishop of Crediton This Council by Sir Henry Spelman d H. Spelman Concil Tom. 1. An. 977. p. 493. is taken to be the same mentioned by Wigorniensis held at Kyrtlinege which he guesses to be now Katlage in Cambridge-shire but I rather believe it was held here not only for the sake of the name which remains the same to this day but because of the one and only Constitution made there viz. That it should be lawful for the Country People to go in Pilgrimage to St. Mary of Abington a thing in all likelyhood not so desirable to the People of Cambridge-shire as to ours of Oxford-shire so near the place Beside the great reputation that this place was of in ancient times seems to justifie my plea it enjoying as great Privileges and perhaps being a fitter place in those days for the reception of such an Assembly then Oxford it self for I find it part of the Possessions of the Kings of England from whom it came to Henry Son of Edmund Crouchback Earl of Lancaster and Father to Henry the first Duke of Lancaster by whose Daughter and sole Heir Blanch it came to John of Gaunt Duke of Aquitane and Lancaster and was free a Thelonio passagio lastagio pacagio stallagio tallagio tollagio cariagio terragio per totum Regnum as I find it in an old Charter in the possession of the Right Worshipful Sir Tho Chamberleyne now Lord of the Town whose singular civilities in imparting this and some other matters hereafter to be mention'd I cannot but in gratitude ever acknowledge 8. From whence after so long but I hope not unpleasant digression I return to the Beautiful Oxford again a place of so sweet and wholsom an Air that though it must not be compared with that of Montpellier yet upon my own knowledge it has proved so advantagious to some that it has prefectly recovered them of deep Consumptions and particularly a worthy Friend of mine who though he came hither sufficiently spent yet without the help of any other Physick within few Months felt a sensible amendment and in fewer Years became of as sanguine a complexion as the rest of his friends that had almost despaired of him 9. Some have thought the Small Pox here more then ordinarily frequent and it must indeed be confest That we are perhaps as often though not so severely infested as some other places for generally here they are so favorable and kind that be the Nurse but tolerably good the Patient seldom miscarries But admit the Objection be truly made That it is more subject to the Small Pox than other neighboring Cities about yet if by so much the less it feel the rage of the Plague I think the edge of the charge is sufficiently rebated 'T is reported amongst the e Philosoph Transact num 49. observations of an ingenious Person that resided long in the Island Japan That though the Air be very salubrious there yet the Small Pox and Fluxes are very frequent but the Plague not so much as ever heard of which has often made me reflect on the year 1665 when the Pestilence was spread in a maner all over the Kingdom that even then though the Court both Houses of Parliament and the Term were kept at Oxford the Plague notwithstanding was not there at all 10. Others again tell us of the Black Assise held in the Castle here an 1577. when a poysonous steam broke forth of the Earth and so mortally seised the spirits of the Judges Sheriffs Justices Gentry and Juries beside great numbers of others that attended the business that they sickned upon it and almost all of them dyed but let it not be ascribed to ill fumes and exhalations ascending from the Earth and poysoning the Air for such would have equally affected the Prisoners as Judges but we find not that they dyed otherwise then by the halter which easily perswades me to be of the mind of my f Nat. Hist Cent. 10. num 914. Lord Verulam who attributes it wholly to the smell of the Goal where the Prisoners had been long close and nastily kept 11. 'T is true that Oxford was much more unhealthy heretofore then now it is by reason the City was then much less and the Scholars many more who when crowded up in so narrow a space and the then slovenly Towns-men not keeping the street clean but killing all maner of Cattle within the walls did render the place much more unhealthy Hence 't is that we find so many rescripts of our Kings prohibiting mactationem grossarum bestiarum infra muros quod vici mundentur à fimis fimariis bearing date 13 Hen. 3. 29 Edw. 1. 12 Edw. 3. 37 Hen. 6. g MSS. in Arch. Bib. Bod. fol. 90 91. and all alledging the reason quia per has mactationes c. aer ibidem inficitur because by the killing such maner of Cattle and laying the dung in the streets the Air was infected Moreover about these times the Isis and Cherwell through the carelesness of the Towns-men being filled with mud and the Common-shoars by this means stopt did cause the ascent of malignant vapors wherever there happened to be a Flood for beside its stirring the infectious mass great part of the waters could not timely pass away but stagnating in the lower Meddows could not but increase the noxious putrid steams But the former being long since remedyed by the care of the Vniversity and the latter by the piety and charge of Richard Fox Bishop of Winchester and Founder of C.C.C. Oxon. who in the year 1517. cleansed the Rivers and cut more Trenches for the waters free passage h Hist Antiq. Univers Oxon. Lib. 1. pag. 245. the Town hath ever since continued in a healthful condition though I cannot but believe but were there yet more Trenches cut in some of the Meddows the Air might be somwhat better'd still especially during the Winter season when I fear somtimes Floods stay a little too long and that not only near Oxford but in Otmoor and all along the Isis from Ensham to North-moor Shifford Chimly and Rotcot which brings me again to the general consideration of the Waters as well of the whole County as City 12. That the healthiness of Waters consists in their due impregnation with Salts and Sulphurs and their continuance so in their continual motion is indisputably evinced from the stinking evaporations of them upon any stagnation Now that the Rivers here abound with these will be altogether as manifest as that they run if we consider but the Springs they receive and Earths they wash The Isis 't is true till it comes to New-bridge receives not that I
Est tamen Armillae suus quandoque circulus l Tho. Bartholin Schedion de Arm. Vet. §. 4. p. 41. And that when rings are thus hung to bracelets there is always some mystery in it quod annuli Armillis fere jungantur non caret mysterio m Idem §. 4. in princip Where by Armillae he means 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ornaments for the wrists and by annuli and circuli ornaments for the fingers Armillae id brachio praestant quod digitis annuli n Ibidem i. e. that bracelets have the same use on the wrist that rings have on the finger 112. Now that ours was an Armilla is plain enough for that the great Copper ring is of somwhat above three inches diameter and big enough to encompass any ordinary mans wrist the lesser iron one and green ring of glass being additional ornaments especially the latter which questionless was put on to represent an Emrauld that sort of stone as Pignorius and Bartholin both testifie being much used in bracelets o Vid. Laurentium Pignorium de Servis Et Bartholin Schedion de Armill §. 3. p. 37. which makes me think it the bracelet but of some ordinary person the Armilla it self being copper with which saith Bartholin only the vulgar adorned themselves Armillae aereae plebeae censendae sunt p Idem §. 3. de Armillarum materiâ p. 32. and the appendent glass but a counterfeit Jewel 113. For eminent places in this County during the Government of the Saxons and Danes in Britan we may reckon first Banbury then called Banesbyrig where Kenric the second West-Saxon King about the year 540 put to flight the Britans fighting for their lives estates and all they had q Camd. Britan. in Oxf. After the Conquest about the year 1125. it was strengthned with a Castle by Alexander the then great Bishop of Lincoln and since that Jan. 26. 1º Mariae made a Burg or Burrough consisting of a Bayliff 12 Aldermen and 12 Burgesses in recompence of their faithful service done to the said Queen Mary as 't is exprest in their Charter in manfully resisting John Duke of Northumberland that rebelled against her whence 't is plain this Town was ever zealous in matters of Religion of what perswasion soever they were heretofore as well as now Since again on the 8 of June Jac. 6 it was made a Major Town consisting of a Major 12 Aldermen and 6 Capital Burgesses 114. And secondly Benson alias Benesingtune * Will. Malmesburiens de gestis Reg. Ang. lib. 1. cap. 2. which Marian says Camden calls villam Regiam the Kings Town and reporteth that Ceaulin the third King of the West-Saxons about the year 572 took it from the Britans which his successors kept 200 years after till they were dispossest again by Offa the great King of the Mercians r Camdeni Britan. in Com. Oxon. And thirdly though Dorchester has its name from the British Dour which signifies water and therefore called by Leland Hydropolis and seems to have been known to the Romans by the mony found thereabout and the Latin termination Cester which says Leland the Saxons applyed to Cities as well as Fortifications ſ Lelandi Comment in Cygneam Cant. in v. Hydropolis yet it never came to its height till Birinus an 614. was seated there as Bishop of the West-Saxons by Cynigelse their King whom he had newly Baptized and Oswald King of Northumberland God-father to Cynigelse t Ven. Bedae Hist Ecclesiae Gent. Ang. lib. 3. cap. 7. 115. About this time the Town of Berencester alias Berncester in Saxon Burenceaster and Bernacester which I take to have been its primitive names seems also to have been raised and to have taken its name as some have thought from the same Bishop Birinus quasi Birini castrum But I much rather believe it so called from Bern-wood or Forrest mention'd by Bede v Chronologia Saxonica in An. 921. Florilegus and Wigorniensis w Mat. Westmon Florent Wigorn. in An. 918. upon the edge whereof it was then seated nor is now far off it after which perhaps from St. Eadburg to whom the Priory there was and Parish Church is now dedicated it changed its name to Burgcester and since that to Burcester now Bisseter 116. The Town of Burford in Saxon Beorford seems also to have been a place of good Antiquity but most remarkable for a battle fought near it about the year 750 x Rog. Hoveden Annal. Part. priori in An. citat perhaps on the place still called Battle-edge West of the Town betwixt it and Vpton between Cuthred or Cuthbert a tributary King of the West-Saxons and Ethelbald the Mercian whose insupportable exactions the former King not being able to endure he came into the Field against him met and overthrew him here about Burford winning his Banner wherein there was depicted a golden Dragon y Camd Britan in Com. Oxon. in memory of which Victory perhaps the custom yet within memory of making a Dragon yearly and carrying it up and down the Town in great jollity on Midsummer Eve to which I know not for what reason they added a Gyant might likely enough be first instituted 117. After the Conquest I find it the Town of Robert Earl of Glocester base Son to King Henry the First to whose Son William I have seen an Original Charter granted him by King Henr. 2. giving to this his Town of Bureford Gildam omnes consuetudines quas habent liberi Burgenses de Oxeneford most of which it has since lost and chiefly by the over-ruling power of Sir Lawrence Tanfield Lord chief Baron in Queen Elizabeths time Yet it still retains the face of a Corporation having a common Seal c. the very same with Henley as described in the Map if they differ not in colours which I could not learn 118. As for Wudustoke or Wudestoc Sax. ƿudestoc i. e. locus sylvestris now Woodstock it seems to have been a seat Royal ever since the days of King Aelfred it appearing by a MS. in Sir John Cotton's Library that he translated Boetius de Consolatione Philosophiae there z MS. in Biblioth Cottonianâ sub Othone A. Nay so considerable was it in the time of King Aetheldred that he called a Parliament there and Enacted Laws to be seen amongst that collection of ancient Laws set forth by Mr. Lambard a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gul. Lambard fol. 82. Whence it may almost be certainly concluded that here must have been a house of the Kings of England long before the days of King Henry the First who yet 't is like indeed was the first that inclosed the Park with a wall though not for Deer but all foreign wild Beasts such as Lyons Leopards Camels Linx's which he procured abroad of other Princes amongst which more particularly says William of Malmesbury he kept a Porcupine hispidis setis coopertam
as Animals Plants and the universal furniture of the World Secondly her extravagancies and defects occasioned either by the exuberancy of matter or obstinacy of impediments as in Monsters And then lastly as she is restrained forced fashioned or determined by Artificial Operations All which without absurdity may fall under the general notation of a Natural History things of Art as the Lord Bacon a De Augm Scient Lib. 2. cap. 2. well observeth not differing from those of Nature in form and essence but in the efficient only Man having no power over Nature but in her matter and motion i. e. to put together separate or fashion natural Bodies and somtimes to alter their ordinary course 3. Yet neither shall I so strictly tie my self up to this method but that I shall handle the two first viz. The several Species of natural things and the errors of Nature in those respective Species together and the things Artificial in the end apart Method equally begetting iterations and prolixity where it is observed too much as where not at all And these I intend to deliver as succinctly as may be in a plain easie unartificial Stile studiously avoiding all ornaments of Language it being my purpose to treat of Things and therefore would have the Reader expect nothing less then Words Yet neither shall my Discourse be so jejune as wholly to consist of bare Narrations for where the subject has not at all or but imperfectly been handled I shall beg leave either to enlarge or give my opinion 4. Since then the Celestial Bodies are so remote that little can be known of them without the help of Art and that all such matters according to my proposed method must be referred to the end of this Book I have nothing of that kind to present the Reader with that 's local and separate from Art but the appearance of two Parhelia or mock-Suns one on each side of the true one at Ensham on the 29th of May early in the morning in the year 1673. With them also appeared a great circle of light concentrical to the true Sun and passing through the disks of the spurious ones as in Tab. 1. Fig. 1. which though I saw not the Phaenomenon is as truly drawn for so it was confest by some that did as I could possibly have done it if personally present and yet so incurious was the amazed multitude that they could not so much as give me ground to guess at the diameter of the circle much less whether it were interrupted in some of its parts or intersected as they usually are with any other circles of a fainter colour 5. Whether these appearances are caused by reflection or refraction in the Clouds according to the old Philosophy or by both in a great annulary cake of Ice and Snow as Des Cartes or by semiopaque Cylinders as M. Hugens de Zulichem will be too too tedious hereto dispute Let it therefore at present suffice that this Phaenomenon is worthy our notice in regard 1. That no circle passes through the true Suns disk nor the spurious ones found in the intersection of two Irides as in those that appeared at Rome March 20. 1629. b Des Cartes Meteor cap. 10. Gassend in Ep. ad Renerium and in France April 9. Anno 1666. c Philos Trans num 13. 2. That whereas generally such mock-Suns appear not so bright nor are so well defined as the true one is these according to the agreement of all appeared of so even and strong a light that 't was hard to distinguish the true from the false and perhaps might not be inferior to the Parhelia mention'd by Cardan d De rerum Varietate lib. 14. c. 70. or that lately were seen in Hungary e Philos Trans numb 47. 6. When they appear thus bright and illustrious Astrologers heretofore always presaged a Triumvirate thus the Triumvirate of Antonius Augustus and Lepidus with all the evils that attended it was referred to the Parhelia seen a little before and herein Cardan is so positive that he fears not to assert That after such an appearance we seldom if ever fail of one and therefore refers the Parhelia seen by himself to the Triumvirate of Henry the second King of France Charles the fifth and Solyman the Turkish Emperor And truly were not these to be more than suspected of vanity it were easie to adapt a Triumvirate to ours But my Religion and that God that hath exhorted us not to be dismayed at the signs of Heaven and solemnly professes that 't is even He that frustrates the tokens of the Lyars and makes the Diviners mad f Isa 44. v. 24 25. has taught me to forbear I shall therefore add no more concerning these things but that though most commonly the Parhelia with the true Sun appear but three in number yet that somtimes more have been seen as four g Philos Trans numb 13. in France Anno 1666. five h Des Cartes Meteor cap. 10. at Rome Anno 1629. five i Matthew Paris 17 Henr. III. in England Anno 1233. and six k Des Cartes Meteor cap. 10. Fromond Meteor Lib. 6. Art 2. Anno 1525. by Sigismund the first King of Poland which are the most that we read were ever seen at a time though Des Cartes endeavors to shew 't is possible there may be seven 7. And indeed this had been all I thought I should have mentioned concerning the Heavens but that even now while I am writing this at Oxon on the 23d of November Anno 1675. about 7 at night behold the Moon set her Bow in the clouds of a white colour entire and well determined which continued so for about half an hour after I first saw it The reason why such appear not of divers colours as Rain-bows do that are made by the Sun has been alwaies ascribed by Philosophers to the weakness of the Moons raies not entring so deeply into the opacity of the clouds But if we may give credit to l Sennertus in Epitom Phys Dan Sennertus it has once to his knowledge happened otherwise viz. in the year 1593 when after a great storm of Thunder and Lightning he beheld an Iris Lunaris adorned with all the colours of the Rain-bow As for ours though I could not perceive in any part of it that it had the least shade of any colour but white however I thought it not unworthy our notice not only for the infrequency of the thing they never happening but at or near the Moons full and then but so very seldom too that m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Meteor lib. 3. cap. 2. Aristotle professes that he saw but two in above fifty years and I know several learned and observing Men that never saw such an Iris in their lives but also because of the great clemency of the weather that followed upon it at that time of the year there falling not one drop of rain nor
sweet and healthful Air they live in Whereas the Inhabitants of fenny and boggy Countries whose spirits are clogg'd with perpetual Exhalations are generally of a more stupid and unpleasant conversation 3. That the qualities of Waters and Soyls together with the situations of places so the respective Quarters of the World make them more or less healthy according to the great b Id. ibid. Hippocrates there is no doubt But to these I must beg the favor of adding not only more swasive but more irrefragable proof I mean the great age and constant health of persons that have been lately and are now living here Richard Clifford not long since of Bolscot in this County died at 114 years of age Brian Stephens born at Cherlbury but Inhabitant of Woodstock dyed last year at 103. Where also there now lives one George Green but born at Ensham in his hundredth year at Kidlington one Mris Hill was born and lived there above an hundred years and at Oxford there is living beside several near it a Woman commonly called Mother George now in her hundredth year current The pleasant situation of which City is such and so answerable to the great Reputation it ever had in this respect that it must not by any means be past by in silence 4. Seated it is on a rising Ground in the midst of a pleasant and fruitful Valley of a large extent at the confluence and extended between the two Rivers of Isis and Cherwell with which it is encompass'd on the East West and South as also with a ridge of Hills at a miles or somwhat more distance in the form of a Bow touching more then the East and West points with the ends so that the whole lies in form of a Theater In the Area stands the City mounted on a small hill adorned with so many Towers Spires and Pinnacles and the sides of the neighboring Hills so sprinkled with Trees and Villa's that no place I have yet seen has equall'd the Prospect * Ab amoenitate situs Bellositum dictum 'T was the sweetness and commodiousness of the place that no question first invited the great and judicious King Alfred to select it for The Muses Seat and the Kings of England ever since especially when at any time forc'd from London by War Plague or other inconveniencies so frequently to remove hither not only their Royal Courts but the Houses of Parliament and Courts of Judicature Many Synods and Convocations of the Clergy have been also for the same reason held here of which as they have promiscuously happened in order of time take the following Catalogue A Catalogue of Parliaments Councils and Terms that have been held at Oxford A Parliament held at Oxford in the time of King Ethelred anno 1002. A Parliament at Oxford under King Canutus an 1018. A Parliament at Oxford under King Harold Harefoot anno 1036. A Conference at Oxford under King William Rufus an 1088. A Conference at Oxford in the time of King Stephen A Council at Oxford held against the Waldenses temp Hen. 2. an 1160. A Council at Oxford under King Hen. 2. temp Tho. Becket Archiep. Cant. an 1166. A general Council at Oxford at which King Hen. 2. made his Son John King of Ireland an 1177. A Parliament at Oxford called Parliamentum magnum temp H. 2. an 1185. A Council at Oxford temp Rich. 1. A Conference at Oxford in the time of King John A Parliament held at Oxford temp Hen. 3. an 1218. which first gave occasion to the Barons Wars A Council at Oxford under Steph. Langton Arch-Bishop of Canterbury an 1222. A Council at Oxford an 1227. A Council at Oxford under Stephen Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and his Suffragans an 1230. 14. Hen. 3. A Council at Oxford temp Hen. 3. an 1233. A Council at Oxford under Edmund Arch-Bishop of Cant. A Council held at Oxford by the Bishops temp Hen. 3. an 1241. A Term kept at Oxford 31 Hen. 3. A Council at Oxford temp Hen. 3. an 1247. A Council held by the Bishops at Oxford an 1250. A Parliament held at Oxford called Parliamentum insanum 41 Hen. 3. A Council at Oxford an 1258. A Parliament at Oxford an 1261. A Parliament at Oxford an 1264. A Council at Oxford under John Peckham Arch-Bishop of Canterbury an 1271. A Council held at Oxford under Robert Winchilsea Arch-Bishop of Canterbury an 1290. A Parliament summon'd at Oxford 4 Edw. 3. A Parliament at Oxford 19 Novemb. an 1382. A Parliament at Oxford 6 Rich. 2. A Term kept at Oxford 11 Rich. 2. A Term kept at Oxford 16 Rich. 2. A Convocation of the Clergy at Oxford by Tho. Arundel Arch-Bishop of Canterbury an 1395. A Parliament at Oxford 1 Car. 1. 1625. A Parliament summon'd at Oxford temp Car. 1. an 1644. The Terms kept at Oxford eodem temp it being the Kings Head-Quarters in the late Civil War A Parliament at Oxford 13 Car. 2. an 1665. The Term kept at Oxford eodem temp the Plague being then at London 5. Of these there is an imperfect List in a MSS. c MSS. fol. C. p. 173. in Corpus Christi College Library Oxon. in which there are also mentioned three Synods held in St. Maries Church A Provincial Chapter of the Fryars Preachers and a Council held at Oxon. whose Votes were written by Abraham Woodhall There is also a Provincial Council at Oxford mention'd in the Catalogue set before the Decrees of Gratian. But these bearing no date and in all likelyhood the same with some of the afore-mentioned I pass on to another Parliament which though not at Oxford yet was held in this County and therefore I suppose not improper for this place However I shall rather venture the danger of impropriety and misplacing then omit the taking notice of so considerable a Meeting it being the first Parliament held in the County and doubtless in England called it was at Shifford now a small Village in the Parish of Bampton and shewing now nothing adequate to so great an Assembly 6. There is a MSS. in Sir Robert Cottons Library that gives an account of this Parliament which it saies consisted of the chief of all Orders of the Kingdom and was called at Sifford now Shifford in Oxford-shire by King Alfred where the King as Head consulted with the Clergy Nobles and others about the maners and government of the people where he delivered some grave admonitions concerning the same The words of the MSS. are these At Sifford seten Dancr manie fele Biscops et fele Boclered Erles prude et Cnihtes egloche ðer ƿas Erle Elfricof ðe lage smuth ƿise ec Alfred Englehird Engle derling on England he ƿas Cyng hem he gan leren sƿo hi heren mihten hu hi here lif leden scolden i. e. There sate at Shifford many Thanes many Bishops and many learned Men wise Earls and awful Knights there was Earl Elfrick very learned in the Law and Alfred Englands Herds-man Englands Darling he was King of England
find I in other Authors that it was ever after attempted One there was 't is true sent hither as a present by St. Lewis the 9th King of France to King Henry the Third Anno 1255. which says Matthew Paris * Matth. Paris in Reg. Hen. 3. in Anno Dom. 1255. was the first seen on this side the Alps and perhaps there may have been two or three brought for shew hither since but whether it be likely any of these should be buryed at Cornwell let the Reader judge 163. Beside had this thigh-bone and tooth and the several others that have been found in England such as the two teeth taken up at Edulfsness in the County of Essex in the Raign of King Richard the First that might have been cut into two hundred of an ordinary cize m Cambden in Essex and divers other bones and teeth found at Chartham near Canterbury n Chartham news set forth by Mr. Joh. Somner and Farley near Maidstone in Kent whereof I have one now by me dug up and given me by the truly Noble and Ingenious Jacob Lord Astley near seven inches round and five ounces and â…› in weight of which more when I come into Kent Had I say these bones and teeth been ever the spoils of Elephants we should certainly at some time or other have met also with those greater Tusks with which they are armed of which I have not heard there have been any yet found in England nor any thing like them 164. Add hereunto what prevails with me much that since the great conflagration of London Anno 1666. upon the pulling down of St. Mary Wool-Church and making the site of it into a Mercat-place there was found a thigh-bone supposed to be of a Woman now to be seen at the Kings-head Tavern at Greenwich in Kent much bigger and longer than ours of stone could in proportion be had it been intire We have also here at Oxford * In the Medicine School a thigh-bone that came from London three foot and two inches long which I guess may be of an agreeable proportion with ours And the same day I brought the tooth from Cornwell there were two others happily procured for me by my worthy Friend Samuel Fowler A. M. dug up in the Parish Church of Morton Valence about seven miles from Glocester in the way thence to Bristol in all points so exactly like the other from Cornwell in ridges cavities c. that had they not differ'd somwhat in colour they could scarce have any way been distinguish'd Now how Elephants should come to be buryed in Churches is a question not easily answered except we will run to so groundless a shift as to say that possibly the Elephants might be there buryed before Christianity florish'd in Britan and that these Churches were afterward casually built over them 165. If it be urged out of Ponticus Virunnius and some others that the Emperor Claudius was at Glocester and that he built that City after his own name in memory of the Marriage of his fair Daughter Gennissa with Arviragus then King of Britan o Pont. Virunnii Hist. Britan. lib. 4. where possibly he might have some of his Elephants with him which might dye and be buried thereabout It must be answered that notwithstanding the name of Claudii Castrum now Glocester seems so much to favor the story in hand that yet in all likelyhood there was never any such matter For neither Suetonius p Sueton. in vita Claudii who numbers up all the Daughters that he had and shews how given in Marriage Nor Dion q Dion Cass Rom. Hist lib. 60. who do's the same who lived in his time and had born the Office of Consul remember any such Daughter or so disposed of to Arviragus 166. Beside how was it possible that Claudius who came hither and was returned again to Rome within six months should find so much time as to come up so far in the Country as Glocester much less to celebrate such a Marriage and build that City since the same Dion expresly says that of those six months time he was here in Britan but sixteen days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are his own words r Idem loco citato and those sixteen days in all probability were spent in ordering his Army and joyning them with the Forces of Plautius that lay then at the mouth of Thames ready to receive him and in taking of Camulodonum which the same Author asserts he did that Expedition and so immediatly returned 167. But what is instar omnium in this difficult point there happily came to Oxford while I was writing of this a living Elephant to be shewn publickly at the Act An. 1676. with whose bones and teeth I compared ours and found those of the Elephant not only of a different shape but also incomparably bigger than ours though the Beast were very young and not half grown If then they are neither the bones of Horses Oxen nor Elephants as I am strongly perswaded they are not upon comparison and from their like found in Churches It remains that notwithstanding their extravagant magnitude they must have been the bones of Men or Women Nor doth any thing hinder but they may have been so provided it be clearly made out that there have been Men and Women of proportionable stature in all ages of the World down even to our own days P68 The Sons of Anak no question were very great men and Goliath for certain was nine foot nine inches high s 1 Sam. c. 17. v. 4. We read also of the Sons of the Titans and of high Giants t Judith 16. v. 7. and of Giants famous from the begining that were of great stature and expert in War u Baruch 3. v. 26. And to omit the Fables of the Giants of Mount Erice near Drepanum in Sicily 200 cubits high of Tanger in Mauritania 60 cubits w Vid. Athan. Kircheri Mundum subterr lib. 8 sect 2. cap. 4. and of the Giant found standing in a Rock cleft by an Earth-quake in the Isle of Candy 46 cubits supposed to be Orion or Otus x Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. 7. cap. 16. and several others mentioned by Phlegon * Phlegon Trallianus de rebus mirabilibus cap. 11 12 17 18 19. Amongst the Romans Theutobochus King of the Teutones or Germans vanquish'd by Marius is reported by Florus to be insigne 〈…〉 phispectaculum so very tall that he was seen above all the Trophees y Flâ—ri Hist. Rom. lib 3 cap. 3. which were the spoils of the Enemies usually carryed aloft upon the tops of spears Naevius Pollio says Pliny z Nat Hist lib. 7. cap. 16. was so great a Giant having no account of his dimensions that it was taken for a wonderful strange thing that when a great press of people came running upon him he had like to have been killed 169. But to come closer to the business and more determinate statures
discontinued by ploughing and other accidents yet by their pointing and after a diligent scrutiny I hope I shall render at least a probable account of them 19. But before I descend to particulars it will be necessary I think to acquaint the Reader that of these amongst the Romans some were called publick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and others Vicinal p ff Ne quid in loco publ vel Itinere fiat L. Praetor ait §. viarum And that the first sort of these were otherwise called as reckon'd up by Taboetius q Julius Taboet in Ephemerid Histor by these other different names Regiae by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Praetoriae Consulares Militares Privilegiatae Illustres frequentatae Celebres Eximiae c. and after by the Conqueror William in the Laws he confirmed of St. Edwards Chemini majores from the French Chemin as may be seen by the Laws of the same King Edward r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gul. Lambard inter L.L. boni Regis Edoard LL. 12 13. of which sort we had in all but four in England Watling-street the Foss Ikenild-street and Erming-street whereof two stretched themselves from Sea to Sea the length of the Land and the two other the bredth all misdemeanors committed in these falling under the cognizance of the King himself Pax autem quatuor Cheminorum intellige majorum sub majori judicio continetur ſ Ibidem 20. Beside these there were many others of like erection though of less extent by the ancient Romans called Vicinales quod in vicos ducebant i. e. from Colony to Colony from station to station which were also publick if compared with the more private Agrarian ways t ff Ne quid in loco c. L. §. quibus supra And these were after by King William called Chemini minores and were the ways as expresly described in the Laws of St. Edward the Confessor de Civitate ad Civitatem de Burgis ad Burgos ducentes per quos Mercata vebuntur cetera negotia fiunt c. all misdemeanors committed in these falling under the cognizance of the Earl or chief military Governor of the County or of his Vice-Comes or Sheriff 21. It will also be expedient to inform the Reader that both the Majores and Minores were somtimes raised and somtimes level with the ground u Nich. Bergier Histoire des grands Chemins de L'Empire Liv. 2. chapitre 17. and somtimes trenched and the raised ones somtimes only of earth and somtimes paved w Ibid. Chapitre 7. especially in moist and boggy grounds though it must also be acknowledged that we somtimes find them paved where there was little need which I guess might be done to exercise the Soldiers and common people of the Country least by lying idle they should have grown mutinous and affected alterations in the State But where they were indeed laid through meers and low places and necessity compelled them to raise and pave them we have the exact method of making them laid us down by Statius x Papin Surc Statii Silvar Lib. 4. in via Domitian Hic primus labor inchoare Sulcos Et rescindere limites alto Egestu penitus cavare terras Mox haustas aliter replere fossas Et summo gremium parare dorso Ne nutent Sola ne maligna sedes Et pressis dubium Cubile saxis i. e. that they first laid out the bounds then dug trenches removing the false earth then filled them with sound earth and paved them with stone that they might not sink or otherwise fail 22. Of the four Basilical Consular or Praetorian ways or Chemini majores I have met with but one that passeth through this County the discovery whereof yet I hope may prove acceptable because not described before or its footsteps any where noted by Sir H. Spelman Mr. Camden or any other Author that I have read or could hear of whereat indeed I cannot but very much wonder since it is called by its old name at very many places Ikenild way to this very day Some indeed call it Icknil some Acknil others Hackney and some again Hackington but all intend the very same way that stretches it self in this County from North-east to South-west coming into it out of Bucks at the Parish of Chinner and going out again over the Thames into Berks at the Parish of Goreing lying within the County in manner and form and bearing to the Parishes and Villages placed on each hand as described in the Map prefixed to this Essay by two shaded parallel lines made up of points which I have chose to shew that this way is not cast up in a ridged bank or laid out by a deep trench as some others are described also in the Map by two continued parallel lines that the Reader or such as please to view them hereafter may know where to expect a bank or trench and where no such matter 23. The reason I suppose why this way was not raised is because it lies along under the Chiltern hills on a firm fast ground having the Hills themselves as a sufficient direction Which is all worth notice of it but that it passes through no Town or Village in the County but only Goreing nor does it as I hear scarce any where else for which reason 't is much used by stealers of Cattle and secondly that it seems by its pointing to come from Norfolk and Suffolk formerly the Kingdom of the Iceni from whom most agree and perhaps rightly enough it received its name Icenild or Ikenild and to tend the other way West-ward perhaps into Devon-shire and Cornwall to the Lands end So much mistaken is Mr. Holinshed in his description of this way y Raph. Holinshed 's description of Britan lib. 1 cap 19. who fansied it began somwhere in the South and so held on toward Cirnecester and thence to Worcester Wicomb Brimicham Lichfleld Darby Chesterfield and crossing Watling-street somwhere in York-shire stretched forth in the end to the mouth of the Tine at the main Sea Yet the Learned Mr. Dugdale z Antiquities of Warwick-shire in Barlickway Hundred pag. 568. seeming to favor this opinion in his description of Ickle-street that passes through Warwick-shire I suspend my judgement till I have seen more of both 24. Amongst the many Vicinal ways or Chemini minores we have but one neither here of all those mentioned by Antoninus in his Itinerary and that is part of the Gual-Hen which signifies in Brittish antiquum Vallum that went between Pontes now Colebrook and the old City Caleva or rather as it was written in the ancientest Books Gallena a See Burton 's Commentary on Antoninus his Itinerary Itinere 7. à Regno Londinium to which our Fore-fathers adding the word Ford by reason of the shallowness of the River there and changing the letter G into W a thing frequently done by the Saxons b See Rich. Verstegan's
Caesaris Commentarior de bello Gallieo lib. 5. it being much larger than any of the rest and having deep holes within I suppose to preserve water the small Fortification under Cornbury Park-wall and the large one called Beaumont near Mixbury-Church encompassed with a ditch 170 paces one way and 128 the other I can give no account of them but that in general 't is like they were works of the Saxons these being all square though the last by its name should indeed be Norman 80. And so again for the Fortification commonly called Roundcastle west of Begbrook Church but in the Parish of Bladen and Lineham Barrow between which and Pudlycot a Seat of the ancient Family of the Lacy's there is a passage under ground down to the river I can say little of them but that in general 't is most probable they were made by the Danes they being both round but upon what particular occasion I could no where find 81. Beside the circles of Earth cast up by the Danes there are others of stone in many places of this Nation and particularly one here in the very bounds of Oxford-shire near Chipping-norton in the Parish of Little Rollwright the stones being placed in manner and form and now remain as exactly engraven Tab. 16. Fig. 2222 in a round of 'twixt 30 and 40 paces over the tallest of them all which may be a scale for the rest being about seven foot high North of these about a Bolts-shoot off on the other side the hedge in the County of Warwick stands one singly alone upwards of nine foot high in form as described Fig. 1. and Eastward five others as in Fig. 3. about two furlongs off the highest of them all about nine foot also meeting formerly at the top as drawn by Mr. Camden with their tapering ends almost in shape of a wedge since whose time there are two of them fallen down from the rest Of which ancient Monument or what ever else it be he gives us in brief this following account k Britannia in Oxfordsh 82. Not far from Burford he should have said Chipping-norton for Burford cannot be less then 7 or 8 miles from it upon the very border of Oxford-shire is an ancient Monument to wit certain huge stones placed in a circle the common people call them Rollrich-stones and dream they were somtimes men by a miraculous Metamorphosis turned into hard stones The highest of them all which without the circle looketh into the Earth they call the King because he should have been King of England forsooth if he had once seen Long-Compton a little Town lying beneath and which one may see if he go some few paces forward 83. Other five standing on the other side touching as it were one another they imagin to have been Knights mounted on horseback and the rest the Army These would I verily think says he to have been the Monument of some Victory and happily erected by Rollo the Dane who afterward conquer'd Normandy for what time he with his Danes troubled England with depredations we read that the Danes joyned Battle with the English at Hochnorton a place for no one thing more famous in old time than for the woful slaughter of the English in that foughten Field under the Raign of King Edward the elder 84. That this Monument might be erected by Rollo the Dane or rather Norwegian perhaps may be true but by no means about the time of Edward the elder for though it be true enough that he troubled England with depredations yet that he made them in the days of King Alfred I think all the ancient Historians agree An. 897. according to Florilegus l Matth. Westmonast in An. citato but according to Abbot Bromton m Johan Bromton Abb. Jorn in vita Aluredi a much better Author in the year 875 near 40 years before that slaughter of the English in King Edwards days as will plainly appear upon comparison of this with the 75. § of the same Chapter 85. Therefore much rather than so should I think he erected them upon a second Expedition he made into England when he was called in by King Aethelstan to assist him as Thomas of Walsingham witnesses against some potent rebels that had taken arms against him n Tho. de Walsingham Ypodigma Neustriae sub initium whom having vanquished and reduced into obedience to their Prince and perhaps too slain the designed King of them who possibly might be perswaded to this rebellion upon a conditional Prophesie of coming to that honor when he should see Long-Compton might erect this Monument in memory of the Fact the great single stone for the intended King the five stones by themselves for his principal Captains and the round for the mixt multitude slain in the Battle which is somwhat agreeable to the tradition concerning them 86. But if I may give my opinion what I really think of them though I do not doubt much but they must be a Danish or Norwegian monument I can by no means allow the round or other stones to be Sepulchral monuments For had the Cirque of stones been any such memorial it would certainly have had either a tumulus in the middle like the monument near the way to Birck in Seland and of Langbeen Kiser not far from it o Olai Wormii Mon. Danic lib. 1. cap. 3. and another near Roeschild * Idem lib. 1. cap. 6. or a stone Altar as in the notable monument of Harald Hyldetand near Leire in Seland p Idem lib. 1. cap. 5. placed there says Wormius in another part of his Book eo fine ut ibidem in memoriam defuncti quotannis sacra paragantur that they might yearly offer Sacrifices in memory of the defunct at the place of his inhumation But neither of these are within Rollright Cirque nor could that curious and learned Antiquary the Worshipful Ralph Sheldon of Beoly Esq one of the noblest Promoters of this design who industriously dug in the middle of it to see whether he could meet any symbols or marks either who might erect it or for what end or purpose find any such matter 87. For the very same reason it is also as certain that it cannot have been any place of Judicature such as was used in old time in the Northern Nations whereof there is one so great in Seland as described by Wormius that it takes up no less than six and forty great stones of stupendious magnitude within its circumference q Olai Wormii Mon. Danic lib. 1. cap. 10. and so does Rollright and more too but then it has no stone nor I suppose ever had erected in the middle for the Judge to sit on as those always had Beside these Fora or places of Judicature by the Danes called Tings seem always to have had their muniments of stone either of a Quadrangular or Oval Figure and not to be entered but at two sides as that at Orething
customary for them to have so many Cirques of stones as Kingdoms though in the same Country Thus as Wormius testifies there are three at this day in the Kingdom of Denmark one in Seland another in Schoneland and a third in the Cimbrick Territory because these were anciently three distinct Principalities and under the dominion of as many Kings i Ol. Wormii Mon. Dan. lib. 1. cap. 12. as 't is certain England was also about this time 97. And if this conjecture may be allowed to take place we are supplyed also with a reason why we have no tumulus in or near this monument there being no King or eminent Commander slain but only a conquest of the enemy in or near this place intimated by the five stones meeting in a point at the top which perhaps may be the disposition intended by Saxo Grammaticus and out of him by Wormius Cuneato ordine which he says expresly signified Equestrium acies ibidem vel prope fortunatius triumphasse k Idem lib. 1. cap. 9. i. e. that Knights or Horse-men there or near the place obtained a glorious Victory 98. Yet against this conjecture I fore-see there lye two objections worth removal 1. That in these Cirques of stones designed for the election of Kings there was always a Kongstolen most times bigger than the rest placed in the middle of it as intimated above § 90. And secondly that had this place been at first designed for the Inauguration of a Danish or Norwegian King and such places been so essential to a good title as pretended above § 93. certainly all the Kings of the Danish race that reigned after here in England would have been either crowned here or at some other such Forum whereas we have no such Kongstolen in the middle of the Cirque and beside find Canutus with great solemnity Crowned at London Harold Harefoot here at Oxford not far from this Cirque and Hardi-Canute likewise at London 99. To which it may be replyed that though not placed in the Cirque yet here is a Kongstolen not far off which 't is like was not necessary should be set within it for I find the place where the new elected King stood and shewed himself to the people at the Forum for this purpose at Leire in Seland to have been without the Area as our Kongstolen is Area saxis undique cincta Coronationi Regum deputata vicinum habet Collem cui Coronatus jam insistebat jura populo daturus omnibus conspiciendum se praebiturus l Idem lib. 1. cap. 5. i. e. that the Area encompassed with stones designed for the Coronation of their Kings had a Hill near it whence the new Crowned King gave Laws and shewed himself to the people it seeming indifferent from hence and another such like hillock called Trollebarolhoy whereon the King also stood at the place of such election near Lundie in Scania m Idem lib. 1. cap. 12. whether he ascended a stone or mount of earth within or without the Area so he thence might be seen and heard by the people 100. And to the second Objection it may be reasonably answered that the Danes by this time having gotten the whole Kingdom and such capital Cities as London and Oxford were might well change the places of their Coronations Beside Canutus and the rest were much greater persons and more civilized than Rollo and his crew can be presumed to have been for beside that he lived above a hundred years before them we find him though the son of a Norwegian Iorli or Earl a great Pyrate at Sea n Vid. Chronicon Norwegicum and little better then a Robber by Land well might he therefore be contented with this Inauguration after the old barbarous fashion having gained no City wherein it might be done with greater solemnity 101. But as for the stones near the Barrow at Stanton-Harcourt called the Devils Coits I should take them to be appendices to that Sepulchral Monument but that they seem a little too far removed from it perhaps therefore the Barrow might be cast up for some Saxon and the stones for some Britans slain hereabout aut vice versa at what time the Town of Eignetham about a mile off as Camden informs us was taken from the Britans by Cuthwolf the Saxon o Vid. Camd. Britan. in Oxfordsh Which is all I can find worthy notice concerning them but that they are about eight foot high and near the base seven broad and that they seem not natural but made by art of a small kind of stones cemented together whereof there are great numbers in the Fields hereabout which makes thus much for the conjecture concerning those at Stone-Heng that they may be artificial it being plain from these that they could and did do such things in the ancienter times 102. There stands also a stone about half a mile South-west of Enston Church on a Bank by the way-side between Neat-Enston and Fulwell somwhat flat and tapering upward from a broad bottom with other small ones lying by it and another near the road betwixt Burford and Chipping-norton which I guess might be erected for the same purpose with the two former as above-mention'd Unless we shall rather think both these and them to have been some of the Gods of the ancient Britans as the Reverend and Learned Dr. Stillingfleet thinks it not improbable those Pyramidal stones mention'd by Camden in York-shire called the Devils bolts p Idem in Com. Ebor. somtimes were And so likewise Stone-Heng in Wiltshire which he judges neither to be a Roman Temple nor Danish Monument but rather somwhat belonging to the Idol Markolis which Buxtorf saith the Rabbins called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 domum Kolis q Joh. Buxtorfii Lex Talmud in v. Markolis of which more hereafter when I come into that County and into Kent where of Kits-coty-house which I take to be an Antiquity of the same kind 103. That the Britans long before the arrival of the Romans were acquainted with the Greeks has sufficiently I guess been made appear already § 66. of this Chapter and that long before that they were known to the Phaenicians and all the Eastern Countries is plain out of Strabo r Strabonis Geographiae lib. 3. pag. 175. Edit Is Casaub Paris An. 1620. and Bochartus s Sam. Bocharti Geog. Sacr. part 2. lib. 1. cap. 39. and by comparison of the Learning and Religion of the Druids with those of the Indian Brachmans Now that it was the ancient custom of all the Greeks to set up unpolish'd stones instead of Images to the honor of their Gods we have the testimony of Pausanias in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 228. Edit Sylburg i. e. that unhewn stones amongst all the Graecians had the honor of Gods instead of Images more particularly the same Author asserts that near the Statue of Mercury there were 30
a Royal Seat there as in all probability likewise at Heddington near Oxford for though Tradition now goes that it was but the Nursery of the Kings Children whereof there remains yet upon the place some signs of foundations in a Field near the Town called Court-close yet it is plain that King Aethelred did somtimes at least reside there himself for he concludes a Charter or some such like Instrument wherein he grants Privileges to the Monastery of St. Frideswide here in Oxon. of his own Restoration in English thus This privilege was idith at Hedinton and after in Latin Scripta fuit haec Cedula jussu praefati Regis in villa Regia quae ...... appellatur die octavarum beati Andreae Apostoli his consencientibus p ...... qui subtus notati videntur Ego Aethelredus Rex hoc privilegium c k Monasticon Anglican Vol. 1. inter adde 〈…〉 129. Beside these the Kings of England had several other seats within this County not to mention again that Woodstock was one or that old Alcester was the seat of Alectus such as Beaumont just without the suburbs of Oxford the Birth-place of the valiant King Richard the First Langley upon the edge of the Forest of Whichwood a seat as Tradition has deliver'd it down to us of the unhappy King John who perhaps during the time of his Residence here might indeed build the Castle of Bampton which also Tradition informs us was of his foundation And Ewelm built indeed by William De la Pool Duke of Suffolk who marrying Alice the daughter and heir of Thomas Chaucer had a fair Estate hereabout but after upon the attaindure of John Earl of Lincoln and Edmund his brother Grand-children to the Duke it came to the Crown in the days of King Henr. 7. and was afterward made an Honor by laying unto it the Manor of Wallengford and several others by King Hen. 8. All which houses are mark'd out in the Map by the addition of a small Imperial Crown placed somwhere near them 130. As all places that gave title to ancient Barons most of whose Families long since have been extinguish'd are mark'd with a Coronet such are 1. The Baronies by ancient Tenure which were certain Territories held of the King who still reserved the Tenure in chief to himself whereof the ancientest in this County were those of Oxford and St. Valeric the head of the latter being the Town of Hoke-Norton e Camd. Britan. in Com. Oxon. both given by the Conqueror to Robert D'Oyly who accompanied him out of Normandy f Monasticon Angl. vol. 2. p. 2. The Barony of Arsic belonging to Manasser Arsic who florish'd An. 1103. 3 Hen. 1. the head of which Barony was Coggs near Witney Summerton and Hardwick in this County being other members of it 3. The Barony of Hedindon now Heddington given the 25 of Henr. 2. to Thomas Basset in Fee-farm whose Son Gilbert the Founder of Bisseter Priory in the first year of Richard the First was one of the Barons that attended at the Coronation And these are all the Baronies of ancient Tenure that were heretofore in Oxford-shire 131. In the beginning of the Reign of King Edward the First there were several other able men summon'd as Barons to Parliament that had not such Lands of ancient Tenure as those above had which were therefore stiled Barons by Writs of Summons to Parliament The first of these in Oxford-shire was William de Huntercomb whose seat still remains by the same name in the Parish of Tuffield who was summoned to Parliament by the Kings Writ bearing date the 23 of Edw. 1. The second I find was Joh. Gray of Rotherfield whose Ancestors being of a younger House of Walter Grey Arch-Bishop of York had Rotherfield given them beside many other possessions by the said Arch-Bishop He was summoned first to Parliament the 25 of Edw. 1. 132. And so was thirdly his next Neighbor Ralph Pipard of the other Rotherfield in the same year of the same King their seats having now almost quite changed their names for those of their owners one of them seldom being called otherwise than Pipard or Pepper and the other Grays Also fourthly John Baron Lovel of Minster-Lovel whose ancestors though Barons by tenure many years before as seised of the Barony of Castle-Cary in Somerset-shire yet dis-possest of that I know not by what means received summons to Parliament whil'st seated here at Minster 25 of Edw. 1. 133. The fifth of these Barons was Hen. le Tyes who having a grant of Sherbourn here in Oxford-shire from Richard Earl of Cornwall temp Henr. 3. which Sherbourn had formerly been a part of the Barony of Robert de Druis was summoned to Parliament the 28 of Edw. 1. And so was sixthly John de la Mare of Garsington the very same year To which should be added the Barons by Letters Patents of Creation so first made about the 11 of Rich. 2. But of these whose Barony is now vacant there is only seventhly the Lord Williams solemnly created Lord Williams of Thame the first of April 1 Mariae who had also summons the same time to the Parliament then sitting but his Patent it seems was never enrolled 134. For this account of these Baronies I acknowledge my self beholding to that Learned Antiquary William Dugdale Esq Norroy King at Arms in whose elaborate Volumes of the Baronage of England the Reader may receive more satisfaction concerning them Yet beside these as the people will have it the Manor of Wilcot was the head of a Barony one of the Barons whereof as tradition tells them lies buryed under a fair Monument in North-Leigh Church But the Writings of the present Proprietor my worthy Friend Mr. Cary of Woodstock whom yet I found inclined to believe some such thing being at London whereby otherwise it possibly might have been proved and the testimony of the people being too weak an evidence to build upon I have rather chosen to forbear then add a Coronet to the place 135. Beside the Saxon and Danish Fortifications above-mentioned there are others here in Oxford-shire of a later date either quite rased or in a manner useless and some of them too known but to few wherefore I have thought fit to give this short account of them To pass by therefore the Castle of Oxford so well known to be built by Robert d'Oyly who came in with the Conqueror and the Castles of Bampton and Banbury spoken of before the first that presents it self to my consideration is the old Castle of Deddington formerly Dathington g Thomas de la Moor in Hist vitae mortis Edv. 2. in principio which I take to be ancient and the very place no question to which Aymer de Valence Earl of Pembroke brought Piers de Gaveston the great Favorite of King Edward the Second and there left him to the fury of the Earls of Lancaster Warwick and Hereford who carrying him to Warwick after some time
caused him to be beheaded in a place called Blaklaw in their own presence h Ibidem 136. Secondly the Castle of Ardley the Foundations whereof are yet to be seen in a little Wood west of the Town which if any heed may be given to the tradition of the place florish'd about the time of King Stephen and so perhaps thirdly might Chipping-norton Castle free leave being given at the beginning of his Reign to all his Subjects to build them Castles to defend him and them against Maud the Empress which at last finding used somtimes against himself he caused no less than eleven hundred of these new built Castles to be rased again which no doubt is the cause we find no more of them but their bare Foundations and Trenches 137. But fourthly the Castle of Middleton now Middleton-stony was none of these for I find Richard de Camvil had Livery given him of Middleton Castle in Oxford-shire which must needs be this the tenth of King John as part of his own Inheritance by descent from his Father i See Mr. Dugdale's Baronage of England vol. 1. Bar. Camvil And fifthly as for the ruins of old Fortifications at Craumersh or Croamish Giffard near Wallengford I take them either for the foundations of that wooden Tower erected by King Stephen in the year 1139. when he besieged Maud the Empress and her Brother Robert Earl of Glocester in Wallengford Castle k Chronica Gervasii Dorobornensis Floren. Wigorn. in An. citato or else of the Castle of Craumerse or Croamish it self built by the same King Stephen at another siege of Wallengford An. 1153. which Henry Fitz-Empress endeavoring to raise and bringing King Stephen to great straits they came at last to an accord concerning the Kingdom of England l Chron. Gerv. Doroborn in An. citat 138. There are some other Antiquities of yet later date that I have met with in Oxford-shire also perhaps worthy notice such as that odd bearded Dart Tab. 16. Fig. 7. having the beards issuing from it not as usually one against another but one lower and the other higher perhaps thus contrived for its easier passage in and as great or greater difficulty to get it out of a body which were it not for the too long distance of time I should be willing to take for the Materis Mataris or Matara the British long Dart which were usually thrown by those that fought in Essedis m Jul. Caesar Comment de bello Gallico lib. 4. But the stem of it being wood and not very hard neither I cannot afford it to be above 200 years standing or thereabout Nor can I add more concerning it but that it was found somwhere about Steeple Barton and given me by the Worshipful Edward Sheldon Esq TAB XVI ad pag. 356 To the right Worsp ll Sr. THOMAS SPENCER Baron one of the Noblest Encouragers of this Essay This 16.th Table of some of the ANTJQUJTJES of OXFORDSHJRE cohere of the last was Aug out of HJS 〈◊〉 grounds in memory of his kindness is thankfully dedicated by R. P.L.L.D M Burâ—hers Sclupsit 140. As for the Stone it self it is of an odd kind of texture and colour too not unlike to sight to some sort of cheese exactly of the figure and bigness as engraven in the Table and most likely of any thing to have been one of their Togrâ's or Stamps wherein the chief persons of the Eastern Countries usually had their names cut in a larger sort of Character to put them to any Instruments at once without further trouble That they have such kind of stamps is clearly testified by Alvares Semedo in his History of China They Print says he likewise with Tables of stone but this manner of Printing serves only for Epitaphs Trees Mountains c. of which kind they have very many Prints the stones which serve for this use being also of a proper and peculiar sort p F. Alvares Semedo Hist Chin. part 1. cap. 6. sub finem as ours seems to be So that in all probability the letters on this stone contain only the name and perhaps the office or other title of some person of Quality and therefore hard to be found out and that it was brought hither by some Traveller of the Honorable Family of the Spencers and either casually lost or carelesly thrown out as a thing of no value 141. And thus with no small toil and charge yet not without the assistance of many Honorable Persons whose names in due time shall be all gratefully mention'd I have made shift to finish this specimen of Oxford-shire which I am so far from taking for a perfect History that I doubt not but time and severe observation to which I hope this Essay will both encourage and direct may produce an Appendix as large as this Book For that new matter will daily present it self to be added to some one or other of these Chapters I am so sensibly convinc'd that even since the Printing the first Chapter of this Treatise I have found here at home just such another Echo as at Mr. Pawlings at Heddington in the Portico's of the new Quadrangle at St. John Baptist's College And since my writing the second my worthy Friend Dr. Tho. Taylor has found so strong a Chalybeat Spring in Fulling-mill-ham-stream near Oseney Bridge that notwithstanding last hard Winter when the greatest Rivers were frozen this continued open and smoaking all the time tinging all the stones by reason of its not running nor mixing with other water with a deep rusty colour And thirdly since the Printing the 48 § of Chap. 8. I have seen a Lapis Ranulae taken out from under the Tongue of one Johnson a Shoo-maker by the skilful Mr. Pointer Chirurgion here in Oxford 142. Which is all I have at present to offer the Reader but that he would take notice 1. That in Chap. 2. § 69. where I mention a Well so eminent heretofore for curing distempers in the Parish of St. Crosses that it has given it the more lasting name of Holy-well that I intend not that Well of late erection though perhaps the water of that is as good and now most used but an other ancienter Holy-well behind the Church in Mr. Nevil's Court before his house And that secondly notwithstanding the authority of the Learned Dr. Hammond with whom a man need not much be ashamed to err some will have that he calls the Well of St. Edward in the Parish of St. Clements rather the Well of St. Edmund for which I find the very same authority alleged that Dr. Hammond brings q Vid. Hist Antiq. Univers Oxon. lib. 2. pag. 10. col 1. And lastly to beg of him that though in general he find me unequal to my design and many particulars of this Essay perhaps ill placed and worse expressed that yet in consideration that this is my first attempt wherein many Inconveniencies could not be fore-seen which may hereafter