ADDENDA
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Johnson, Walter
Page 9.Churches on Roman foundations. The piers of the chancel arch of Bosham church, Sussex, rest on enormous square bases, which are believed to be Roman. The capitals were also probably copied from Roman models. Mr P. M. Johnston, F.S.A., in Victoria Hist. of Sussex, 1907, II. p. 362, suggests that the work represents “possibly the triumphal arch of Vespasian’s basilica.” Roman relics have been found under the floor of this pre-Conquest church.
St Michael’s church, St Albans, retains much Roman material in its walls and piers.
Since this chapter went to press, I have read Mr Montagu Sharpe’s Parish Churches on Romano-British Sites, 1909, in which evidence is adduced to show that many of our parish churches occupy the sites of pagan rural chapels (sacella) and are closely associated with the lines of centuriation as planned by Roman surveyors. The sacellum was a small unroofed place consecrated to a deity (p. 4), containing an altar, and sometimes a shrine (aedicula). The sacellum was also used for non-religious purposes, e.g. as a place of refreshment. Mr Sharpe states that the Roman surveyors divided a district into areas or “blocks” by means of four public ways (viae vicinales). In the canton of the London Civitas a side of such a square measured 1⅛ miles (p. 2). Maps are given, one of which shows that 30 parish churches of the Isle of Wight “had intimate connection with the lines of the Roman Survey” (p. 3). Such churches are especially found near cross-roads.
Mr John Ward’s The Roman Era in Britain, 1911, pp. 111-113, deserves notice in this connection, especially with regard to the conflict between the historical evidence and the “comparative silence of archaeology.”
Page 14.Classification of earthworks. A portion of the scheme is appended, in order to explain the groups of earthworks to which reference is made.
A. Promontory fortresses: partly inaccessible, on account of cliffs or water, partly defended by artificial walls or banks.
B. Hill-or Contour-forts: fortresses situated on hill-tops, with artificial defences following the natural line of the hill.
C. Rectangular, or other simple enclosures, including forts and towns of the Romano-British kind.
D. Castle mounts: forts consisting of a mount, with an encircling ditch or fosse.
E. Castle mounts with baileys: fortified mounts wholly or partly artificial, having an attendant court or bailey.
Page 118.Churches as fortresses. The church of St Michael, Torrington, Devon, was employed by the Royalists (1646), both as a prison and a powder magazine. Owing to an explosion, probably accidental, the church was blown up, and about 200 prisoners were killed.
The town referred to by Thorold Rogers seems to be Alton.
Page 161.Arms taken to church. A few of the old oak seats in Clovelly church, Devon, are notched, and it has been supposed that the purpose was the accommodation of weapons. In one case there is a corresponding hole in the floor, rectangular in shape, which may have been intended to receive the butt end of a musket (cf. the stands in City churches for holding the sword of the Lord Mayor).
Respecting the rating of the clergy for armour, see Notes and Queries, 11th Ser., IV. p. 468.
Page 167.The Borsholder. The powers of this official are enumerated in William Lambard’s work, The Duties of Constables, Borsholders, Tythingmen, and such other lowe Ministers of the peace (1583), pp. 15, 16, 20, etc.
Page 201.Objects in churches. An enormous pole was formerly suspended in a horizontal position in the nave of Bosham church, Sussex. It was traditionally said to be the staff of a Mediaeval giant, Sir Bevis of Southampton, who was accustomed to stride across Bosham Harbour at one step, on his way to Southampton (K. H. MacDermott, The Story of Bosham church, Sussex, 1906, pp. 14-15). For a list of curiosities formerly preserved in pagan temples, see J. Beckmann’s History of Inventions, Discoveries, and Origins, trans. by W. Johnston, 1846, I. pp. 283-4.
Page 344.Plan of churchyards. Additional examples of churches which have little space on the North side: West Tarring, Sussex; Northam and Clovelly, Devon; Hambledon, Surrey. Small South yards: Ferring and Lyminster, Sussex.
Page 346.Introduction of headstones. It is asserted that the churchyard of Grasmere, Westmoreland, was devoid of gravestones until the early part of the nineteenth century, and was used as the playground of the village school. Wordsworth thus refers to the churchyard in The Brothers:
“An orphan could not find his mother’s grave; Here’s neither head nor footstone, plate of brass, Cross-bones nor skull,—type of our earthly state Nor emblem of our hopes: the dead man’s home Is but a fellow to that pasture-field.”
Page 405.Tennyson and the yew. Two other lines from the same poem (In Memoriam, XXXIX. vv. 1, 2) deserve notice:
“Dark yew, that graspest at the stones And dippest toward the dreamless head.”
These lines suggest the Breton superstition that the yew sends out a root into the mouths of the dead.
Page 412.Drawings of the horse. Sketches of hog-maned horses, bearing signs of halters, have recently been discovered in the Magdalenian caves of North Spain.
Page 440.Superstitions respecting the horse. In Bavaria, it was formerly the custom for horses to be taken to church once every year, to peep at the altar or the effigy of the local saint. This observance was supposed to ensure good health to the animals during the next twelvemonth. (Notes and Queries, 11th Ser., III. p. 266, authority cited.) The practice is still followed in Italy.
In our own country, horses were taken at Easter into the “middle” of Hertfordshire churches to be blessed. (Notes and Queries, 11th Ser., III. p. 318.)
Page 460.Curved ridges due to plough-teams of oxen. The curvature indicative of ancient tillage generally takes the form of a flat reversed S; in other words the unwieldy team turned to the left when approaching the headland. Mr T. Blashill (Jour. Brit. Archaeol. Assoc., N.S., II. pp. 218-23) deduces that the old-fashioned heavy ploughs turned the furrow-slice to the left. This is not, however, a necessary conclusion. A reversed S-curve might be associated with a right-handed mould-board. Moreover, Dr W. Fream (Elements of Agriculture, 1892, p. 45) asserts that “none of the old ploughs turned a furrow”; they stirred the earth but did not turn it over. In such a conservative occupation as agriculture, one would scarcely expect to find such a revolution as Mr Blashill postulates. He observes that modern ploughs are so made that the furrow-slice is thrown to the right, and the team also turns in that direction at the headland. A similar feature is noticeable in old cultivation ridges in many parts of the Continent, where the curve is more frequently that of a flat S, not reversed. It should be remembered that the old turnwrest plough, formerly employed in some parts of England, enabled the ploughman to throw the furrow either way.
The “line of beauty” traced by old ploughs is alluded to by William Mason, in his English Garden, Bk II., ll. 51-6 (Vol. I. of Works, 1811, p. 237). He is referring to “ploughing steers”:
“That peculiar curve, Alike averse to crooked and to straight Where sweet Simplicity resides; which Grace And Beauty call their own; whose lambent flow Charms us at once with symmetry and ease; ’Tis Nature’s curve ...”
To prevent overstatement respecting the connection between ox-teams and the curved furrow, it should be added that formerly there was “a prejudice, if not a superstition, in favour of crooked ridges” (W. L. Rham, Dict. of the Farm, 1858, p. 291).