Some Account of a Saxon Inscription, on a Stone found near Falstone, in the County of Northumberland, in a Letter to ROBERT SPEARMAN, Esq. of Serving Shields, from the Rev. JAMES WOOD, Minister of the Scotch Chapel at Falstone.

THE Antiquarian Society of Newcastle upon Tyne, instead of a copy of the inscription which they enquire after, are heartily welcome to the stone which bears it. I will send it by the carrier as soon as I can. This expedient will, I think, answer most of the queries which accompanied your letter.

I farm about an acre of land in Hawkhope-hill, belonging to Thomas Ridley, Esq. of Park-end; it lies on the north side of the North Tyne, and was formerly divided into two patches, by a low sloping bank, overgrown with thorns and brambles. About six years ago I employed labourers to clear this bank for cultivation; and then and there the stone in question was found, about three feet from the surface. It is a kind of grey freestone, rather smooth on the one side, having the inscription on the other, about a foot long, and in the form of a bar of lead from the smelt mill. No vestiges, however, of a church, or burial-ground, at or near the place can be discerned.* The English and Scots chapels of Falstone are both within a quarter of a mile of the spot where the stone was found; but, so far as I can learn,

* Mr. Wood, in 1814, pointed out to me the field in which this stone was found; and “Ruins" are marked upon it, in Armstrong's large map of Northumberland. By the form of the surface of the back part of the stone it appears that it has been broken off a larger stone. I suppose it to have been a part of the ornament of the capital of a Saxon column. In the annexed engraving it is given in its true size. The smaller figure represents its ends. J. H.

neither of these edifices can have any claim to antiquity, the first having been founded about 90 years ago, and the last about 110.

Within the bounds of this chapelry of Falstone and its immediate vicinity, there are some houses consisting of very thick walls, with stone vaults below, which have evidently been erected for the purpose of defending the possessors of them, and their cattle, against the depredations of the neighbouring moss-troopers. Here, too, are some remains of ancient castles; but we have no authentic account concerning them, and tradition, you know, is not to be depended upon. Wonderful stories, indeed, are told of them. Tarset-hall, for instance, on the north side of the Tyne, and Dally-castle, on the south, may be about a mile distant; and there is, they say, between the two, a subterraneous road cut out, even below the bed of the river. Less than half a century ago vulgar superstition, it is said, has been so quick-sighted as to discern horses and chariots driving between these two old castles at midnight.

Tarset-hall, together with a vast extent of land about Tyne-head, are reported to have been the property of the Cummins; and tradition makes up a marriage between an heiress of this domain and one of the house of Northumberland; and consequently, the estates remain to this day in the present noble family.

JAMES WOOD.

An Account of the Seal of the last Treasurer of the Augustine Monastery at Canterbury, in a Letter to the Reverend WM. TURNER, by JAMES GOMME, Esquire, of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

THE
following is an account of a seal in my possession, which be-
longed to the last Treasurer of the Augustine Monastery at Canterbury.
The legend is S' THESAURARJE: HDN: SCI:
AUGUSTINI: CANTUARJEN: In English-" The seal of
the Treasurer of the Monastery of St. Augustine at Canterbury."

In the upper compartment is the prior in the act of blessing. He has a mitre on his head as presiding over a monastery, whose superior was entitled to wear one; these sat in the House of Peers as possessing baronies, but their number does not appear so fixed as the prelates. The crozier is turned inward to distinguish him from a bishop. Below are the arms of the priory (the same now used by the Deans

of Canterbury); but to identify in whose priorate the seal was made, and no doubt to prevent future forgeries, the letter G. is placed in the centre of the cross.

The large keys in saltier are allusive to the office of treasurer ; the two figures which stand on the bottom of the keys are two monks, with musical scrolls in their hands, from which they appear to be singing. The small dots about the field of the seal are only ornaments, and to fill up. The three stars on the top and on the sides of the shield of arms, probably have some precise meaning relating to the prior, or may be parts of his own paternal armorial bearing.

The date of the seal may be nearly fixed from the following account: Thomas Goldstone was prior for twenty-four years, eight months and ten days, says his epitaph; he died Sept. 16, 1517. He was highly trusted and employed by King Henry VII. It might have been supposed the seal of the treasurer in his time; but it was most probably cut in the priorature of his successor,

Thomas Goldwell, D. D. of Canterbury College, Oxford. This respectable man was the last prior. After presiding here twenty-three years, he witnessed the dissolution of the monastery, signed the surrender, and probably with this seal. He received a small pension and died in privity. A stall in the cathedral of Canterbury, adjoining the priory, was offered, but he refused it.

We must give the seal in the time of Goldwell instead of Goldstone, for this reason: it must naturally be supposed, that in every priorature, there would be a new seal for the treasurer of the monastery, and that when the new seal was delivered, the old one was surrendered and broken, to prevent its being used. At the dissolution, the seal could be of no possible use: it was, therefore, either flung aside as useless, or Dr. Goldwell kept it in the hopes of the religious houses being restored.

High Wycombe, 24th Jan. 1815.

JAMES GOMME.