Part 37 (1/2)

{108c} The bolt of a crossbow was forged square, hence its name ”quarrel,” from ”carre,” or ”quarre,”-square.-”Lincs. N. & Q.” Vol. IV, p. 21.

{108d} The Roman lituus is supposed by antiquarians to have been adopted from barbarous nations, the serpentine form indicating the object of their wors.h.i.+p. The serpent was held sacred among the Druids of Britain.

{110a} ”Archaeological Journal,” No. VII., Sept., 1845, p. 253. The dimensions of the chest were 16 inches square by 8 inches high; the interior 12 inches square. The height of the urn was 7 inches; its diameter at the widest part, 7 inches; diameter of mouth, 4 inches.

{110b} At the restoration of the Parish Church in 1864, in making some alterations in the floor of the chancel, a lead coffin was found below, said to have been that of Lady Jane Dymoke. It was temporarily removed during the operations, but orders were given that it should be re-interred. Before, however, these instructions could be carried out, it mysteriously disappeared, and doubtless found its way to the melting-pot.

{111} ”Proc. Soc. Antiq.” 1849, 1st series, 57. The finding of the Horncastle coffins is described in ”The Reliquary and Ill.u.s.trated Archaeologist,” April, 1897.

{112a} In Norwich one of the princ.i.p.al thoroughfares is named ”Rampant Horse Street.” To this same superst.i.tion also we owe the huge figures of the white horse cut in the turf at Bratton Castle and at Oldbury Camp, both in Wilts.h.i.+re. Tacitus speaks of ”immolati diis abscissum equi caput.”

{112b} Quoted, ”Surtees Society Publications,” vol. lxxvi.

{112c} Weir's ”History of Horncastle,” p. 27.

{113} ”Provincial Words of Lincolns.h.i.+re.”

{114a} An old Lincolns.h.i.+re term for a male elf is ”Tom-tut,” which may be a corruption of Tom-cat. A person in a rage is said to be ”quite a Tom-tut,” or spitfire, like a cat spitting. In connection with ”s.h.a.g,”

we may add that there is a sea bird frequenting some of our coasts called a ”Black-s.h.a.g.” Another explanation of Tab-s.h.a.g, which has been suggested is that ”Tab” is another word for turf sods, and sods used to be cut on the moor for fuel.

{114b} ”Facts and Remarks relative to the Witham, &c.” by W. Chapman, p.

18. A large anchor was also dug up at a considerable depth, indicating that large vessels also ascended the river to Lincoln.

{115a} Thompson's ”Boston,” p. 126.

{115b} Letter from Sir Joseph Banks to the Editor of the ”Journal of Science and Art,” No. ii., p. 224.

{116} There was a wood called Synker Wood, which extended from within 100 yards of Kirkby lane, westward to the Tattershall road skirting the boundary between the parishes of Kirkstead and Thornton, having at the east end of it Synker Wood House. South of this wood, near the Tattershall road, was a lee, or strip of gra.s.s land: and south of that again, and opposite the present larger farm house, there was another smaller wood called the Synker Pool Wood. Of this there is one solitary oak left still standing, about 20 yards from the road; and it was some yards eastward of this tree that the boat was found.

{118a} Account of trees found under ground in Hatfield chase.

”Philosoph, Transactions,” No. 275, p. 980

{118b} Richard of Cirencester (circa A.D. 1380) says of them, Coitani in tractu sylvis obsito (habit-antes). Some writers, following Ptolemy, call them Coritani, others Coriceni, but the learned Dr. Pegge prefers Coitani, as a name in harmony with the ”circ.u.mambient woods,” Coed being still Welsh for wood.

{118c} ”Flores Historiarum,” A.D. 1377.

{118d} Brooke's ”Lincoln,” p. 14.

{119a} Brooke, Ibid. But the earliest record of a stone church in the British Isles is that built by St. Ninian, first Bishop of Scotland. A.D.

488, at Witherne, in Galloway. Bede, ”Eccles. Hist.,” book iii., ch. iv.

{119b} ”Egregii opperis,” Bede, ”Eccles. Hist.,” book i. p. 32.

{119c} Weir's ”Hist. Lincolns.h.i.+re,” vol i., p. 32.

{120a} A fine copy of Magna Charta, is still preserved among the Archives of the Cathedral.

{120b} In the preamble to a Charter granted to the city (4 Charles I.) Lincoln is called ”one of the chiefest seats of our kingdom of England for the staple and public market of wool-sellers and merchant strangers, &c.” There came into the writer's possession a few years ago a curious relic, consisting of a terra cotta cube, light red in colour, each of the six sides being 1 inches square, and having each a different, deeply-cut, pattern; crosses of different kinds, squares, or serpentine lines. It was found in a private garden in Lincoln, and was p.r.o.nounced to be a stamp for bales of wool. I exhibited it before the Linc.

Architectural Society, the Society of Antiquaries, &c.; and ultimately presented it to the British Museum.

{120c} The number of monasteries closed by Henry VIII. was 645, containing some 20,000 religious persons.