QUERIES.

ESSEX QUERIES.

Maplin.-I find the name of these sands on one map only, and that a modern one. I should be glad if any one could give me the etymology of the name. One friend suggests the W. mablan, a "burying place." I fancy the name may have been derived from a Dutch vessel (perhaps the Meppeling), sunk here.

Manorial Customs.—I shall feel obliged if any Essex correspondent can inform me if there are any remains of the following manorial customs, viz.-Avage or Avisage, Childwit, Trampole Fence, Leppe and Lasse and Green Silver (Writtle); Lawless Court, (Rochford); Mark Perry and Totteray, (Maldon); Service by making the King's baskets (Liston); Snottering Silver (Wylegh); Ward-staff (Lambourn); Warrocks (Morton).

Hatch.-I shall also be glad of a complete list of the "Essex Hatches,' as Kelvedon Hatch, Pilgrim Hatch, &c. I presume the meaning of the word in Essex is always that given by Morant (p. 185), "a low gate towards the forest." The word "hatch" has another meaning, viz. “flood gates," but no flood gates exist, or ever could have existed in many of the places bearing the name of Hatch, as no water of any kind is near them. Play-stall. Why is the Poor's land at Little Wakering called the Play-stall.-R.S. CHARNOCK.

Horn church." Horn-church, in Essex," says Aubrey, "hath its denomination from the horns of a hart that happened to be killed by a King's dog, near the church, as it was building, and the horns were put in the wall of the church. Mr. Estest, a Gentleman Commoner of Trinity College, Oxford, went to school there, and said that the stumps of the horns were extant in his time." I cannot now remember from which of Aubrey's books the foregoing comes; but from one of them I am sure. The story is very like what a school-boy would tell, and Aubrey believe. Does any Essex reader know any more of the matter?—F.

Notices of Norfolk Literati.-I am glad to see from the wrapper of the fourth number of your interesting little publication, that you have at length added Norfolk to Suffolk, Cambridge, and Essex, as forming portions of East Anglia; and surely no county has a higher claim to the distinction. I am glad of this too, as a Norfolk man, for I now feel that I have justly the privilege of requesting the insertion of a query, which I shall be greatly obliged to you, or any of your readers to answer at your earliest convenience. A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine, soon after the death of Potter, the translator of Sophocles, &c., Vicar of Scarning in Norfolk, and Lowestoft and Kessingland, in Suffolk,-asserts that this author left behind him a manuscript work, consisting of Biographical Notices of Norfolk Literati, from the time of Queen Elizabeth to the commencement of the present century. May I beg to enquire whether this manuscript be now in existence, and if so, in whose keeping it is?— NORFOLCIENCIS.

N

Christopher Bullock, the Botesdale Dwarf.-At the meeting of the Society of Antiquaries, May 10, 1855, Mr. John Gough Nichols, F.S.A., presented to the Society a broadside, containing an account, with a large woodengraving, "of Mr. Christopher Bullock, of Bottesdale, in the County of Suffolk, 1755;" a dwarf not mentioned in Caulfield's Remarkable Characters. Is any thing further known of this Suffolk Wonder?-L.

Kings' Arms in Churches (p. 41).-May I ask your correspondent R. C. to refer me to the law of Charles the Second, to which he alludes as not having been rescinded, commanding the Royal Arms to be hung up in a conspicuous place, in all churches.-W.

Rev. James Peto.-Any information respecting the Rev. James Peto, Minister of Sandcroft, otherwise St. George, South Elmham, Suffolk, one of the ejected 2,000 Nonconformists, will be gladly welcomed by-L.

Count Bryan.-I shall be obliged by any information relative to this personage, to whom the Gentleman's Magazine, for Sept., 1856, makes the following reference:-BURIENSIS.

"The Verses to Lady Firebrace' may be had when you please, for you know that such a subject neither deserves much thought nor requires it." This refers to the" Verses to Lady F-ce at Bury Assizes," which appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine for Sept. 1738, p. 486. "It seems quite unintelligible," remarks Mr. Croker, how these six silly lines should be the production of Johnson,"-though they have always been printed among his poetical works. They begin ::

"At length must Suffolk's beauties shine in vain,

So long renowned in B-n's deathless strain ?"

Johnson (adds Mr. Croker) I suppose never saw her; the lines, if his at all, were made we see, to order, and probably paid for." Whence the order originated, it is now difficult to say; but I am able to give the name of the person designated in the second line He was a well known character in Bury St. Edmund's, who went by the name of Count Bryan; and who had written several poetical pieces which were inserted in the Magazine, some of which are now curious for the allusions they make to the principal families then resident in his neighbourhood. See "The Ladies at Bury Fair," in vol. i. 445; "The Glories of Bury," in vol. iii. 657; and other pieces in vol. v. 323, 325, 733; vol. viii. 98, 99. The lines attributed to Johnson must have been intended to provoke this Suffolk poet to fresh efforts."

Animals at the feet of Effigies.-It would be very interesting to have a note of all the instances in East Anglia of animals at the feet of effigies, whether on stone, or brass, or picture; and some attempt made to ascertain the reason why they have been so placed. In making a note of any instance, it would be desirable, if possible, to state whether the animal was also used as the crest of the family, or whether there is any tradition attached to it. May I ask your various intelligent correspondents to contribute to your pages what notes they have made on this subject.-BURIENSIS.

Meaning of the syllable Ford in names of Places.-Whence does Wangford, in Suffolk, derive its name? How is the name spelt in the earliest known documents? Does the syllable ford refer in all cases to a ford across a river or piece of water ?-L.

ERRATA.

P. 26, 1. 18, for Medd, read Tuedd; p. 34, 1. 28, for Form-holl, read Fermholt, p. 35, 1. 1, for katholikou, read katholikon; p. 38, 1. 11, read pulpit at Kedington. near Clare; p. 43, between lines 10 and 11, insert the date 1655; p. 43, 1. 29, for Arrington, read Ovington.

I contributed to your last number but one a statement of the dimensions of Hadleigh Church; but as several mistakes have been committed in the printing of it, I will here repeat the statement with some additions.

The Church consists of a Chancel, a Nave, and two Aisles, running the whole length from east to west-an inconvenient plan, I think, especially where the piers of the Chancel arch are thick, for it is almost impossible so to arrange the Pulpit and Reading-Pew, as to make them visible to the congregation in the eastern extremities of the Aisles.

The length within is-Of the Chancel, 48 feet, or 16 yards

In all, including the Tower, 163 ft..

Nave, 94
Tower, 21

31

7

Nave and Chancel, 26

In all 64 feet.

South Aisle,
Tower,

The west wall of the Nave and the Tower are six inches out of the square; the east wall of the Chancel is twelve inches out of the square; and the South Aisle is two feet longer than the North Aisle.-HUGH PIGOT.

SUFFOLK SUPERSTITIONS, PHRASES, &c.

I offered in my last communication to supply some account of Suffolk Superstitions and Popular Remedies for Complaints, &c., if it was thought that such a collection would be interesting to the readers of the Fast Anglian; but I have since read a Paper on the subject, before the Archæological Institute, at Bury St. Edmund's, which will be published amongst the Proceedings of the Institute. I need not, therefore, repeat it here; but I will take this opportunity of asking the readers of the East Anglian to make similar collections in their own neighbourhoods, and to contribute them to your pages, or, if they prefer doing so, to me; and I shall be happy to embody them in my Paper, if they arrive in time.HUGH PIGOT, Hadleigh.

CHURCHWARDENS' BOOKS OF ELMSETT.

I have lately had put into my hands an old Churchwardens' Book, belonging to the Parish of Elmsett, near this town. This interesting volume is in size 8 inches long, by nearly 7 inches wide; it appears formerly to have had a parchment cover, but this, with the exception of a fragment at the back, which bears inside some old black-letter writing, has been torn away long since. The records it contains extend from the year 1530 to the year 1663; and in compliance with the wish expressed by one of your correspondents, I shall have pleasure in giving both in this, and in future numbers of the East Anglian, some curious extracts from them. The "reckonings" were made sometimes in May, sometimes in September, October, and November; and they usually, but not invariably follow each other in chronological order. Perhaps the most remarkable items, which they contain, is the lists of cows, which were formerly the property of the church, Gifts of these animals appear to have been made in PreReformation times, for purposes connected with Roman Catholic observances, for the book contains under the year 1543-4 the following list of gifts, which had been bestowed upon the parish for the purposes specified : I. A cowe of the gift of Mother Gilderslew, now in the hands of John Smyth to fynd a light afore ower lady in the Chauncel wth a stoke of iiijli waxe.

II. A nother cowe of the gift of Alice Snelling gave (?) now in the hands of Thomas Patten wth a stoke of vjli waxe to fynde a light afore or lady in the Chauncell.

III. A nother cowe of the gift of Alice Snelling, now in the hands of Walter Snelling to pay the.... ?

IIII. A nother cowe of the gift of Roger Smyth, now in the hands of William Gilderslew to fynde a light afore.... (illegible).

V. A nother of the gift of Nicolas Gants, in the hands of John Snelling for to help to fynde the pascall and syngng light.

VI. A nother of the gift of Thomas Poole, in the hands of John Cuxson to help to fynd the pascall and synging light.

VII. Another cow of the gift of.... (illegible), in the hands of Nicolas Smyth to the same use.

VIII. A nother cow of the gift of.... (blank) in the hands of Richard Sparow for to fynd or Ladys light.

IX. A nother cow of the gift of.... (blank) in the hands of Will'm Smyth....or ladys light.

X. A nother cowe of the gift of.... (blank) in the hands of John Snelling, of Nawton, to the same usc.

XI. A nother cowe of the gift of.... (blank) in the hands of.... Cyrby to the same use. XII. Another cow of the gift of Will'm Blaxettt, in the hands of John Barker of ....to fynde a lyght in the Rode Lofte.

XIII. A nother cow of the gift of Will'm Clifforde, in the hands of John Cooke, of Bramforde, to fynde a light afore or lady in the Northe syde of the Churche.

Allso Sparrow hathe vis, viiid. of the gift of John Ostwoode, to fynde a light on the Rode loft.

Allso John......hathe xiijs iiijd. of the gift of John Freer, to fynde a light before Seynt Peter.

I am not able to say positively whether the profits arising from these sources, were more than sufficient to defray the expenses of the lights, &c., in the church; or whether (as seems more probable) other cows had been given to the parish: but in an earlier part of the book, there is the following item in the Churchwardens' Account for the 36th year of the reign of Henry the Eighth (1544-45).

xv. ijd.

And allso of the said liijs. iiijd. ther is to be distributed to the power which grewe and came of the p'fitts of the vij nett belonging to the parish. Again, in the next year's acconnt (1545-46), there is a similar item :— And allso of the said lvijs. ixd. there is to be distributed to the poore which grewe and came of the p'fitts of the vij nett belonging to the parish.

xiii. viijd.

The same item, only varying in the amount, is given in the years from 1546 to 1550, when it is omitted; but at the "accompte of Robt. Hamond and John Plampen, Churche Wardens of the p'yshe of Elmyssett, made by them the iiij of January, and v yere of the Raynge of or Sou'ayne ladey quene Elizabeth" (1563-64), this list of the "neate," or cows, was handed in, together with the names of the persons to whose care they were entrusted, and of the sureties, who protected the parish from loss.

The sum'e of ye neate that belongethe to the p'yshe of Elmyssett.

In the hands of Nycholas Boyse iiij nett. Sewerte for ij of them John Sherewoode, and for the other ij, Robt Hamond and John Plampen, Sewertes.

In the hands of John Sherewoode, one cowe; Sewertie, Nycholas Boyse.

In the hands of Robt. Stowell, one cowe; Sewertie, Walter Braby.

In the hands of John Lupton, one cowe; Sewertie, Thomas Mannyng.

In the hands of John Cokke, of Somersh'm, one cowe; Sewertie, John Plampen.

Sum'e viij nett.

It is rather amusing, on examining this list, to see how the object of the "sewerties" was practically defeated. One neighbour appears to have been surety for another, on condition that the kindness was returned to himself by the party whom he had befriended; and thus the parish had really no security against a "conspiracy to defraud."

The list, which is given in the following year, shews that a few changes had taken place in the names of the persons who had possession of the cowes," and of the friends who were sureties for them.

66

In

The Sum'e of nette belonging to the parish of Elmessett.

ye hands of Nicholas Boyse, one cowe; suertie, John Sherwodde, In ye hands of John Sherwodde, one cowe; suertie, Nicolas Boyse. In ye hands of John Plampen, one cowe; suertie, Robert Warde. ye hands of John Bacon, one cowe; suertie, Wyll'm Stevens.

In