1830.] Roman Remains on Lancing Down Sussex. Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb;- The likeness of a kingly crown had on." And subjoining, in sequel, a striking portrait of Death, from. Sackville's Induction to the Mirror of Magistrates," I cannot help remarking, in reference to the same, that I am of opinion this passage must have escaped the searching eye of Mr. Todd, as the DART"-" a dreadful sight to see," being "in triumph SHOOK," seems to decide that Sackville's stanzas must have impressed the imagination of Milton, more powerfully than the passage selected from Spenser. Extract from the "Induction to the Mirror of Magistrates." "The SHAPE of Death aright, That daunts all earthly creatures to his law, Against whose force it is in vain to fight. No peers, no princes, nor no mortal wight; No towns, no realms, cities, nor strongest tow'r, But all perforce must yield unto his power. HIS DART anon out of the corse he took, And in his hand, a DREADFUL sight to see, With great triumph EFTSOONS THE SAME HE SHOOK; That most of all my fears affrayed me." ROMAN REMAINS ON LANCING DOWN, SUSSEX. MR. URBAN, Goswell-road, May 5. IN a former volume* you, briefly noticed the discovery of this pavement, and having occasion to visit the Western part of Sussex, I conceived a plan and drawing of some of the principal antiquities discovered, would be acceptable to your readers, and deserve a place in so valuable an historical record as the Gentleman's Magazine. Lancing Down, on which this pavement is situated, is one of the bold terminations of the Downs, which are so frequent on their southern side. The view is of a very extensive and interesting nature, embracing a sea view from Beachy Head to the Isle of Wight, and the towns of Worthing, Littlehampton, and Portsmouth. Mr. Medhurst, the discoverer of the * Vol. xcvi. ii, p. 631. GENT. MAG. July, 1880. 17 pavement, was formerly a turner in Brighton, and still carries on the trade at Lancing. Before it was explored,*. he states this place appeared like a considerable tumulus, but on penetrating the centre about four feet, he came to the pavement. It is forty feet square, square, paved with coarse tesseræ, and with a room in the centre, sixteen feet the room he found ashes, and twentymuch damaged. In the centre of In different parts near the building se-, five pieces of British and Roman coin. veral graves were opened, containing ashes, combs rudely carved, fibulæ, styles, and some pottery. The walls of the building are from six to ten inches above the pavement, and are three feet in thickness; they are built of chalk and flint. The exterior of the inner one has been stuccoed. In the annexed plan, the graves are represented at the proportionate distance, from the principal building. The following is an exact account of the discoveries made in the neighbourhood of this edifice. The total number of graves opened amounted to thirty-five. 1. A ring of iron, part of a 'metal dagger, and some burnt bones. 2. A bath lined with hewn chalk, two feet deep, and four feet and a half in diameter; an extremely curious broach represented in fig. D, was found on the edge. 3, and 4, contained some burnt bones, and a fibula. 5. Some burnt bones, and an elegant fibula, represented in the annex ed plate, fig. C. The semi-diamond portions are similar to steel, and it is in very good preservation. 6 and 7, contained a small earthen vase, burnt bones, and two lachryma tories. 8 and 9, produced burnt bones and a comb. 10. This was by far the largest in-. terment opened, and amply repaid the trouble. Under the head of a skeleton were the bones of a fowl, and on the breast a curious fibula, representing a cock, fig. B. It is of gold, ena spirited gentleman in the county has superIt is much to be regretted that no intended the discoveries made by this industrious but unlearned man. An historian and scholar, like Sir R. C. Hoare, would bring to light much valuable and interesting information from discoveries which could be made in these Downs. 18 British Urn found at melled with red and green, and has a singular appearance. 11 and 12, contained rings of wire, bone combs, brooches, and burnt bones. 13. Four small earthen vases, two brooches, burnt bones, and some broken pottery. Fig. E, is of bronze, and was found on the floor of the building. Fig. A, is a vase of baked earth, 144 inches in height, 10 over the brim and 12 at the widest part. This curious discovery was made on Good Friday, 1823. T. A. The three coins, or sceattæ, represented in the plate, have been communicated by another Correspondent, but are said to have been found at the same spot. It measures 21 inches high, 13 broad at the top, and 64 at the base, is of a dirty reddish brown colour, and in a very good state of preservation. This is the largest and best formed of any of the British specimens I have seen.† Its thickness is three-quarters of an inch, and its shape, considering it was *All of the above ornaments are represented in the annexed plate, of their real size, except the vase. + Of those engraved in Hoare's " Ancient Wilts," it most resembles that in Tumuli, plate viii. vol. I. p. 81. There is much of the same sprig pattern on one in Tumuli, plate xvi. made by the hand, very perfect. It was found, which is not uncommon, with its base or small end upwards. The coarse cloth in which the bones were usually deposited, was entirely decayed, but the pin or brass fastening (also represented above) was in good preservation. The bones were white and well burned. The difficulty of procuring perfect specimens of these rude funeral vessels of our ancestors is very great, being half baked, or, as some antiquaries imagine, baked only in the sun; they are so very soft, that the utmost care must be exerted to prevent their falling to pieces. Chalk seems to preserve them best, for I have never been able to remove those in a perfect state, which I have discovered in clay or sand. It may not be out of place, if I here remark that these urns are often miscalled Roman, Danish, &c. when our present knowledge of pottery and sepulchral remains may more properly term them British. All the Roman urns I have seen have been made of much better materials, and appear to have been turned with a lathe. I would wish to ask any of your learned correspondents, if they imagine the British ever burned their dead before the Romans invaded this country. From my own observations, I should say it was a form borrowed from the Romans; and I conceive those tumuli in which we find the skeletons, with stags' horns, the bones of dogs, birds, &c. to be the most ancient form of burial that was adopted in this island. We generally find these remains at the lowest part of the tumulus, and the urns either in the centre or at the side; and in some it would appear that the urns were placed little more than just under the turf; and indeed in many places I have seen well burned bones covered only with a stone, not more. than a foot under ground, and where there has not been the least shadow of an urn. There has never, I believe, been any regular number of urns found in a tumulus; in some as many as 15 or 20, in others only one or two. May we not suppose that, during the frequent battles which the Romans must have had with the British, the British burned their slain after the Roman custom, and put their bones in these rude urns, placing them in the tumuli which had already been formed? F. D. Yours, &c. 1830.] Mr. URBAN, Account of Biggleswade, co. Bedford. 19 Biggleswade, lieu of which, three manors, part of the IGGLESWADE, a market town Bin the county of Bedford, is situ- viz., Spaldwick, Biggleswade, and ate on the great north road at the distance of 45 miles from London. It gives name to the hundred in which it is situate; the ancient name, according to Domesday Book, was Bicheleswade; but since the compilation of that book it has undergone several changes, for the most part orthographical, viz. Biketeswade, Bigelesworth, Biglesward. In ancient records it is called the Borough and Foreign of Biggleswade, and it hath now its bailiwick or franchise, to which the tolls of the market and fairs are payable; the present proprietor of the bailiwick is Mr. Simeon Sell. We learn from the Norman Survey, that the Manor was then held by Ralph de Lisle, and was rated for ten hides; there were seven villeins, ten bordars, and three servants; also two mills of 47s. yearly value. Its value was 171. yearly. In the time of King Edward the Confessor, Stigand the Archbishop held this manor, and it was then worth 107. Richard, the tenth and last Abbot of Ely, perceiving that encroachments were daily being made upon the privileges of their monastery, obtained a grant from Henry 1. making their Abbey a Bishoprick, but Richard died before it was put into execution. Now as there was no province assigned, the King sent for Robert Bluet, then Bishop of Lincoln and Lord Chancellor of England, and obtained of him that the county of Cambridge might be the province of the new Bishop; in Bugden. The grant of Henry I. only mentions the vill of Spaldwick, and is to this purport: "The King having taken into consideration the state of his kingdom of England, and finding that the harvest was great but the labourers few, and therefore the labour too much upon them, &c., with the advice of the Pope Pascal did convey and make over the Vill of Spaldwick, in the county of Huntingdon, part of the possessions of the monastery of Ely, with all its rights and appurtenances, to the Church of Lincoln, and to Robert Bishop of the same sce, and to his successors for ever, in as free and ample a manner as ever the monastery of Ely had held it," &c. Browne Willis states that Biggleswade was obtained by the successor of Bluet, for which he was to make the King an annual present of a rich gown lined with sables, worth one hundred marks: and we accordingly find that the manor was granted to the Bishop of Lincoln without any allusion to any assignment of the county of Cambridge as a diocese for the Bishop of Ely. The Bishops of Lincoln continued to hold the manor and enjoy the privilege, as is evident from the extracts from the public records given beneath, until 4th Edw. III., when Henry Bishop of Lincoln was summoned to answer by what authority he claimed to have, in his manor of Biggleswade, view of frank pledge, with all things to view of frank pledge belonging, twice in a year, Coke's account of the Franchise of Ely, in the 4th Vol. of his Inst. "Inspeximus insuper cartam celebris memoriæ Domini H. quondam regis Angliæ progenitoris nostri in hæc verba: H. rex Angliæ Archiepiscopis, &c. Sciatis me reddidisse et concessisse Deo et Ecclesiæ beatæ Mariæ Lincoliæ, et Alexandro Episcopo et omnibus successoribus suis imperpetuum, manerium de Bicheleswada cum terris et hominibus et omnibus ipsi manerio pertinentibus, in bosco et plano, in aquis et extra, in pratis et pasturis, in molendinis et ecclesiâ: in via et semitis, in piscariis, cum soca et saca et tol et team et infangenetheof, cum omnibus libertatibus et quietationibus et consuetudinibus et omnibus rebus eidem manerio pertinentibus, ita bene et in pace et honorificè et quietè optinendis Ecclesiæ Lincolniensi et prætaxato Episcopo, et omnibus successoribus ejus, sicut ego unquam manerium illud melius et liberius tenui dum fuit in manu meâ, vel aliquis qui illud liberius ante me tenuisset. Hanc itaque redditionem et concessionem meam, sicut superius determinatum est, factam collaudo, collaudatam confirmo, et illam præfatæ Ecclesiæ et Episcopo Alexandro et successoribus ejus integrè illibatèque permansuram regiâ auctoritate et a Deo mihi concessâ potestate corroboro. Testibus Rogero Episcopo Sarum, &c. &c.; apud Gillingham, anno ab incarnatione Domini millessimo centessimo tricessimo secundo."-Dugd. Monast. vol. iii. p. 261. E'p's Linc' ten' in Bykeleswade Str'tton H'd'm' di' feod' de Baronia Eccl'ie sue. Testa de Nevill. Ep'us Lincoln omnes habet regales libertates infra maner' et Hundred' de Bykeleswade. 29 H. III. Inq. post mort. Pleas of quo warranto. 20 Account of Biggleswade, co. Bedford. viz. one after the feast of St. Michael, and another after the feast of Easter, of all resiants and tenants within the same manor; with soc, sac, toll, theam, infangthef and outfangthef, gallows, tumbrell, pillory, and thew at Biggleswade; and one market at Biggleswade on Monday, and one fair there yearly, on the eve and on the day of the exaltation of the Holy Cross, with pleas of market and fair, and toll, &c. and to have free warren in all their demesne lands in the aforesaid manor, &c. And the Bishop, by Thomas de Huntington his attorney, came; and as to the view and also the aforesaid liberties of sac, soc, toll, and theam, infangthef, &c. &c. and the fair aforesaid, says, that he and all his predecessors from the time whereof the memory of man does not exist to the contrary, were seised both of the aforesaid liberties as well as the appurtenances to the aforesaid manor, and by that authority he claimed the liberties, &c. And as to the Market at Biggleswade, he said that the Lord King Henry, by his charter, which the Lord King Edward reciting confirmed, and which confirmation was then produced, granted to Hugh the second Bishop of Lincoln, a predecessor of the then present Bishop, that he and his successors for ever should have a market at Biggleswade, which his father granted and gave to him, and which the same Bishop had always up to that time quietly enjoyed, with all liberties, rights, and customs of a kind appertaining to a market, and by that authority he claimed the aforesaid market, &c. And as to the freewarren aforesaid, he says, the Lord the King Edward, by his charter then produced, granted and confirmed to the then present Bishop, that he and his [July, successors for ever might have freewar ren in all his demesne lands at Biggleswade, although such lands were not in the bounds of the King's forests, &c., and by that authority he claimed free warren, &c. I find no change in the proprietor of this manor until the time of Edward the Sixth, when Henry Holbech, alias Rands, was removed from the see of Rochester, and confirmed Bishop of Lincoln, Aug. 20, 1547, in order that the estates belonging to the see of Lincoln might be given up to the Crown, which he readily yielded to before he had been possessed thereof a month, he in one day confiscated all the principal manors belonging to his Bishoprick, alienating Sept. 26, 1547, the Lordship and manor of Biggleswade, with more than twenty others. By an inquisition taken at Ampthill, Jan. 14, 3 Edw. VI. it was found that Sir Michael Fisher, Knt. who died June 18, Edw. VI. possessed of this manor, together with that of Clifton and some others, left his granddaughter Agnes, the daughter of John Fisher, which Agnes was found to be his heir, being then twenty-two years old, and the wife of Oliver the first Lord St. John.* The manor afterwards became a part of the Crown possessions, and was, Feb. 18, 1772, leased to Robert Earl Granville for the term of thirty-one years, and by the then last survey was valued at 287. 3s. 24d.‡ Soon after the expiration of the above-mentioned lease, it was sold (by auction at Garraway's Coffee-house, Sept. 10, 1807) to Sir Francis Willes, Knt. for the sum of 2180/. Sir Francis died Oct. 30, 1827, seized of the manor, which he devised to Peter Harvey Lo * Created Baron of the Realm by letters patent bearing date Jan. 15, 1558, by the title of Lord St. John of Bletsho. + Account of Manors held by Lease from the Crown. In the Val. Eccl. of Henry. VIII. we find that Biggleswade was worth per annum In rents of Assize........ £. s. d. ...36 4 6 |