Part 19 (2/2)

[11] In many cases the name ”b.u.t.ts” refers to the fact of the land, under the common-field system, _ab.u.t.ting_ on meadows or roads, _e.g._ ”b.u.t.t-close,” in the parish of St. Mary Bourne.

APPENDIX

BOOKS AND DOc.u.mENTS RELATING TO PAROCHIAL HISTORY

To anyone who sets himself the task of writing a history of his village, the following notes may be useful. With regard to the etymology of the name, concerning which absurd errors are made in most guide books and old county histories, it would be well to consult Canon Taylor's _Words and Places_, being careful to study the earliest form of the word in _Domesday_ and old doc.u.ments. Bede's _History_, the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicles_, and other old English chronicles, published by Bohn, may contain some allusions to the parish and neighbourhood, and also Kemble's _Saxons in England_. The _Domesday Book_ is, of course, a mine of wealth. The Public Record Office contains many doc.u.ments which will be of great service--the _Testa de Neville_ (Edward II.), _Marshall Rolls, Nonarum Inquisitiones, Pipe Rolls, Patent Rolls, Close Rolls, Hundred Rolls, Inquisitiones post-mortem_, and the _Feet of Fines_. The _Manor Court Rolls_, if they still exist, in the custody of the lord of the manor, should also be consulted. The journals of local antiquarian societies and county histories will of course be examined. The history of the families connected with the parish must be traced. The British Museum and the College of Arms contain fine collections of _Heralds'

Visitations_, and Burke's _Landed Gentry_ and Dugdale's _Baronage_ are the chief sources of information. Old _wills_ will yield much information, many of which are in course of publication by the Index Society, and county archaeolgical journals; and Somerset House and many diocesan registries contain the original doc.u.ments. The Historical Ma.n.u.scripts Commission has published many volumes of borough records which are of great service, and the lives of any great men connected with the parish may be studied in the _Dictionary of National Biography_. As we have already pointed out, the parish chest contains valuable sources of information upon the history of the village, and its contents should be carefully examined.

The registers of the diocese contain many doc.u.ments relating to the ecclesiastical history of the parish, and from them we can obtain a list of the rectors or vicars. If the church was connected with any monastery, Dugdale's _Monasticon_ will furnish some information. The Public Record Office contains the doc.u.ments _Taxatio Ecclesiastica P.

Nicholai IV._ and _Valor Ecclesiasticus_, which give an account of the value of the first-fruits and tenths, and also some volumes on the sale of chantries, and the inventories of church goods. The name of the saint to whom the church is dedicated must not always be accepted, in spite of years of usage, and should be confirmed by reference to some early will of a chief person of the village buried in the church, which usually gives the name of the patron saint. The story of the church writ in stone should be traced by the various styles of architecture, with the help of Rickman's _Gothic Architecture_ or Parker's _Glossary of Gothic Architecture_. If there has ever been a monastery in the parish, Dugdale's _Monasticon_ should be consulted; and if there are any remains of a castle, Clark's _Mediaeval Military Architecture in England_ will be useful. Prehistoric remains, such as barrows, earthworks, pit dwellings, and caves should be described; also any Roman roads and villas; the flora and fauna of the neighbourhood, geology, folklore, and dialect.

The following books are recommended:--

Evans' _Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain_.

Evans' _ Ancient Bronze Implements_.

Boyd Dawkins' _Cave Hunting_.

Boyd Dawkins' _Early Man in Britain_.

Greenwell's _British Barrows_.

Fergusson's _Rude Stone Monuments_.

c.o.x's _How to Write the History of a Parish_.

Wright's _Essays on Archaeological Subjects_.

Parker's _Mediaeval Domestic Architecture_.

Sims' _Manual for the Topographer and Genealogist_.

Burn's _History of Parish Registers_.

Seebohm's _English Village Community_.

Toulmin Smith's _English Gilds_.

Haine's _Manual of Monumental Bra.s.ses_.

Bloxam's _Principles of Gothic Architecture_.

Tanner's _Not.i.tia Monastica_.

Cutts' _Middle Ages_.

Lee's _Glossary of Liturgical and Ecclesiastical Terms_.

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