wayfaring man a charitable and religious shelter. Mr. Fosbroke, in his British Monachism, has quoted from the life of Fiacre, in the Golden Legend; who, having procured a spot in which "to lede his lyfe heremyticke and solitarily," there "founded a chyrche," and "beyonde it a lytill way thens he bylded a lytil house wherin he dwelled, and there herberowedde the pour that passed by." In Don Quixote, also, is mentioned a hermitage, which had adjoining to it "a little house, built by the labour of the hermit's own hands, which, though narrow, is large enough to receive travellers." Thus, at the first stage from London on the North, there was a Hermitage on Highgate hill, one of the occupants of which was so particularly attentive and munificent to the travellers, that he formed for them the causeway through Holloway. There was also a similar foundation on the other road at Tottenham. On the Birmingham road, near Chipping Norton, is now a handsome inn called Chapel House, which Mr. Gough (in Magna Britannia) states was an ancient chapel used by pilgrims.* Others throughout the country will occur to our readers; and chapels on Bridges were of a similar class. Many of them were endowed; others were supported by the bounty of the wealthy traveller, to assist the indigent. "For the relief and entertainment," says one of the historians of Glastonbury, "of devout pilgrims resorting to this holy place, there was not only a Hospital built at Glastonbury, but likewise in other places, where they were entertained gratis. There were two such in the neighbourhood, one called the Chapell of Playsters, near Box, a town in Wiltshire near the Bath; the other was a great house * The editor of Skelton's Oxfordshire supposed that "the buildings of this inn were formerly those of Cold Norton Priory." (Chadlington Hundred, p. 5.) In digging to enlarge the house, stone coffins, a silver crucifix, and some beads were found. + Still standing, now the George Inn. 4 It may have been a reason for establishing such a place at Chapel Plaster, that the Abbats of Gloucester had a country mansion or palace at Kington St. Michael, about eight miles distant toward Malmesbury, so that it was found a convenient restingplace. This house is still used as a dwelling-house, and a few years ago contained a magnificent ancient bedstead. With respect to the origin of what now appears the singular name of Chapel Plaster, it may be suggested that the former and not the latter word was possibly the adjunct to the original name of the spot, which may have been the plas-trew, or woody place. From Leland we learn that it was surrounded with wood in his time:-"From Haselbyri to Monckton the country beginnith to wax woddy: and so forth like to Bradeford." The architecture of the Chapel belongs to the close of the fifteenth century. The design possesses considerable merit, and its ornaments have been carefully executed. The body and chancel together measure 29 feet in length, and are each 9 feet 3 inches in width; but the distinction between them is sufficiently marked on the exterior by the superior height of the roof of the body, which is distinguished at its western extremity by a bellturret. The porch at this end is covered with a steep roof and gable, but the door and small window are its only embellishments. It, however, shelters a handsome door, surmounted by a niche of very elegant and somewhat singular design. A figure of the rood is remembered to have stood in this niche; but some years ago it was thrown down and beaten to pieces. In the spandrils of the doorway are blank shields, projecting in the centre, and perforated at the dexter chief, after the Tudor fashion. On the south side of the outer door is a piscina, but now closed. There are windows on the sides of the chancel, but none at the east end, Hearne's Hist. and Ant. of Glastonbury, p. 26. which presents a buttress in the centre, rising nearly to the summit of the gable, which has been ornamented with a cross in stone; but nothing more than the pedestal remains. A modern oven has been attached to this end. A transept on the north side of the body formed a portion of the original design. Its roof is as lofty as that of the body, and the gable terminates in a handsome finial. The window retains its tracery, but the mullions have been destroyed. The lower room of this transept has a very large fire-place. The upper floor was approached by an exterior staircase, shown in the view. A plan and several views of Chapel Plaster are preserved in Mr. Buckler's collection of the architectural antiquities of Wiltshire, in the possession of Sir R. C. Hoare. The modern appropriation of this ancient and interesting building is mean. As the adjunct of a small alehouse, it is continually exposed to injury, which is inflicted without remorse and without measure. Still less creditable, however, was the purpose to which this interesting building was perverted at one period during the last century; when the ancient hermitage, the refuge of the weary traveller, became the lurking place of highwaymen. In "The Discoveries of John Poulter, alias Baxter, who was apprehended for robbing Dr. Hancock, of Salisbury, on Clarken Down, near Bath," (the eighth edition, 1754,) it is frequently mentioned, being kept by "Sn and M—y G- -a. After robbing Dr. Hancock, Poulter and his comrade Burk returned to Chapel Plaster, whence they had started; and "Burk ask'd M-y G- if she was not afraid to see us load our pistols; she said, No; they are not the first I have seen loaded by night in this kitchen." Haslebury House, one mile from Box, is of the age of Elizabeth or James the First. Early in the present century, several stone coffins were ploughed up near this mansion; probably marking the site of the Church of Haslebury, which has been long destroyed. It has been customary on the induction of a new Rector, that he should read prayers in a room in the old mansion; and in an inclosed GENT. MAG. VOL. III. place called the burying-place (the same in which the coffins were found?) a portion of the mould is placed in his hand. The parishioners have now appropriated to them the south transept of the Church at Box. MR. URBAN, Pimlico, Dec. 4. AS many of your columns have lately been occupied by the researches of Archery Correspondents, probably the following communication will be interesting and acceptable to some of your readers, especially to those who are Toxopholites. That celebrated seminary of learning, situated at Harrow-on-the-hill, was founded in 1590, by John Lyon, who, before his death, drew up the Rules for its direction; one of which enacts, that the amusement of the scholars shall be confined to "driving a top, tossing a hand-ball, running, shooting, and no other." Among the five articles subjoined to the Rules, recited to all persons introducing scholars to be received on the foundation, I find, Thirdly, you shall allow your child, at all times, bowshafts, bow-strings, and a bracer, to exercise shooting." The The practice of Archery was coeval with the foundation of the school, and this custom has often been considered very singular, and peculiar to Harrow school; an idea which has probably arisen from the longer duration of it there than elsewhere. public exhibitions of archery at Harrow were annual, and I have traced them back for more than a century. The first Thursday in August was the day on which originally six,* and in later years twelve, boys contended for a silver arrow, value 101. ; but the first Thursday in July was afterwards substituted for the former day. The competitors were attired in fancy dresses of spangled satin; the usual colours were white and green; green silk sashes, and silken caps, completed the whimsical figures of the Archers. The * In 1730 and 1735 the competitors were eight, the value of the arrow was 31. We have inserted in our Correspondent's list the conqueror of 1735; and beg to refer him to our Magazine for 1816, i. 175, when the shooting seems to have been revived, and the silver arrow won by Master Jenkins.-EDIT. U shooter who first placed twelve arrows nearest to the central mark, was proclaimed the victor, and carried home the silver arrow with a procession of boys attending him. The last silver arrow was contended for in July 1771, and gained by the late Lord Spencer, then Lord Althorpe, who had his likeness taken at the time in the archer's dress in which he won the prize. This picture was returned to his Lordship in 1817 by the Rev. Henry Drury, of Harrow, who then succeeded to it, with other property of the late Dr. Heath. The arrow prepared for the ensuing year, (the last ever made for the purpose) is now in the possession of the abovenamed Mr. Drury. Few other particulars of the arrowshooting remain : whoever shot within the three circles which surrounded the central spot, was saluted with a concert of French horns; and the entertainments of the day were concluded with a ball in the school-room, to which all the neighbouring families were invited. The abolition of the arrow-shooting was one of the earliest measures of Dr. Heath. The reasons which induced him to abandon this ancient custom are stated to have been, the frequent exemptions from the regular business of the school, which those who practised as future competitors for the prize, claimed as a privilege not to be infringed upon these encroachments had at length become so injurious to discipline, as, after some vain attempts to correct the evil, to cause the total abolition of the usage. Added to this, the concourse of blackguards from London made the Butts a public nuisance; and Dr. Heath determined, at all events, to curtail the number of public practisings previous to the great day. The boys, in a huff, refused to shoot unless they could do so as formerly, when the doctor took advantage of this feeling, and abolished the thing altogether. On August 2nd, 1744, an Indian chief went to Harrow to see the silver arrow shot for, and was much pleased with the diversion; but signified, through his interpreter, that if they would give him leave to shoot, he would carry off the prize.* * See Gent. Mag. vol. xiv. page I now subjoin a list of the fortunate winners of the Silver Arrow, with the days on which the exhibition took place, as far as I have been able to obtain them; and I sincerely regret that neither at the school, nor at any other place that I can discover, has any record or memoranda been kept of this singular and ancient custom. What few are here, for the first time collected together, have been found in old newspapers and magazines of those times, at considerable research and no less labour; but if your numerous readers will assist me to complete the list, I shall feel myself amply repaid. The day was always on Thursday, except in 1751 and 1767, when it was on Friday, and 1757, when it was on Saturday. 1731, Aug. 5, Master Brown.* The Butts were on the left of the London-road, to a person entering the village from thence, and backed by a lofty and insulated knoll, crowned * Son of Captain Brown, of Greenford. + Son of Mr. Cox, the Head Master of the School. Nephew to the then Archbishop of York. I HAVE no wish to break the repose of our Antiquaries, by reviving a very old subject of controversy; viz., the purpose for which Yew trees were planted in our churchyards; having no doubt myself, that they were placed there by our ancestors,-firstly, for the solemnity of their appearance, in unison with the religious character of the place; secondly, for the purpose of supplying evergreens for the occasional decoration of churches. Had the cedar of Lebanon been known in England, probably it would have been often substituted for the yew: and when a churchyard is now planted, the latter tree, for the greater rapidity of its growth, and by reason of its foliage being more lofty, and less in the reach of cattle, would be preferable. The purport, however, of this letter is to remark, that the yew tree was not planted in churchyards to furnish wood for the archers. I never believed the truth of this supposition, on account of the slow growth of the tree, and the inadequacy of it to furnish from its branches sufficient bows for the use of a parish: that is, of that part of a parish which was called out on military duty. The truth of this opinion is now confirmed to me, by a passage in the Toxophilus of Ascham, in which he asserts, that all the best bows of our English Archers were made from the TRUNK and not from the ARMS AND LIMBS of the tree. Now, as many of our magnificent and gigantic trees, in the churchyards of eastern Kent and Hampshire, are, I presume, from 500 to 1000 years old, it is clear that they were never used for such a purpose; and that the demand for bows at Cressy and Poictiers was not answered by them; but there are many districts in Hampshire and Wiltshire, in which there appear to have been wild thickets or woods of yews, and many fine trees of the kind stand singly on the downs and in the fields, as the beech trees do in Buckinghamshire. I am not acquainted much with Cheshire or Lancashire; but as they were celebrated for their bowmen, especially at the battle of Floddon, perhaps one of your correspondents will inform me whether the yew is common in those counties now; and whether its growth is luxuriant in their soil and climate. Although the yew is not nice, as Evelyn would say, about soil, it affects the chalk: nor did I ever see a very large calcareous soil. The passage of Asyew which was not on a chalky or cham is as follows: "Every bow is made either of a bough, of a plant, or of the bole of the tree. 1. The bough commonly is very knotty, full of pins, weak, of small pith (strength), and soon will follow the string, and seldom weareth to any fair colour; yet for children and young beginners it may serve well enough. 2. The plant (in a young tree) proveth many times well, if it be of a good and clean growth. 3. The bole of the tree is clearest, without root or pin, having a fast and hard wood by reason of his full growth, strong and mighty of cast, and best for a bow, if the staves be even cloven, and afterwards wrought, not overthwart the wood, but as the grain and straight growing of the wood leadeth a man, or else by all reason it must soon break, and that in many shivers." CHURCH OF ST. EDMUND ON THE BRIDGE, EXETER. Mr. URBAN, Nov. 4. THIS ancient and in many respects curious Church having been recently taken down, I inclose a drawing of the building, and a few observations, with a view of preserving some slight reminiscences of a structure, which however humble its first appearance might be, will be found, in common with nearly all our ancient parish churches, to possess a considerable degree of antiquarian interest. The foundation is connected with the history of Exe Bridge, which, according to Izacke,* was founded by Walter Gervis, a wealthy citizen, in the year 1250. The Rev. G. Oliver, of St. Nicholas's (Catholic) Chapel at Exeter, who has investigated with deep research the history of his city, leads us to the correct date of this structure. The founder of the bridge erected a chapel on the arches at the east end thereof, which, adds Mr. Oliver,† "there is abundant reason to suppose is no other than the present parish church of St. Edmund." * Memorials of the City of Exeter, 1677, p. 13. + History of Exeter, 8vo, 1821, p. 39. The Church would appear to possess an earlier date, from the circumstance of Isacke having erroneously inserted in the list of Churches which appear to have existed in the city in the time of Bp. Simon de Apulia, the Church of St. Edmund. This list is acquired from the circumstance of the above-named prelate having deemed it necessary to arrange and regulate the boundaries of the several parishes within the city; and this regulation having been concluded in 1222, it would make St. Edmund's Church (if the present building was referred to) older than the bridge on which it stands, and at the same time deprive the worthy citizen Gervis of the 'diadem,' which his labours so truly deserved.' Mr. Oliver proves the fallacy of Isacke's enumeration by a list derived from the Taxation of Pope Nicholas IV. and the Register of the See, in which the name of this Church is not included, thus exposing the error into which Izacke has led his readers, by inducing them to believe that the Church existed in the time of Bishop Simon. It is singular to observe the prone Memorials, p. 6. |