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View of the Bridge, Church, & Castle Hill. Fotheringhay

ornamented at the angles with octagonal embattled turrets, on which were

Mr. URBAN,

May 12.
HE late amiable and venerable

T Historian Leicestershire, in symbols the four

History of Fotheringhay, has justly observed, that this place has been distinguished beyond any other in Britain, except the capital, by the aggravated misfortunes of royalty. "Had this ancient town (says he) been known only by the splendid foundation of that great prince, Edmund of Langley, whose grandson aspired to the throne of this kingdom, and which his greatgrandson Edward the Fourth, by a more fortunate turn of affairs, actually ascended, it would have claimed the regard of the Historian."

The accompanying view represents the collegiate Church, and some adjoining buildings; the Castle-hill appears on the right side, while the river Nen (which served for the outer moat of that princely edifice) laves its banks on the left. Across this beautiful water, which produces pike, perch, tench, bream, ruff, roach, dace, gudgeon, bleak, minnow, the red and silver eel, and sometimes the salmon and trout, is thrown a handsome stone bridge leading directly to the town, which is formed of one principal street. The present edifice replaced one of a much older date in 1722, under the direction of Mr. George Portwood, of Stamford ; the stone being brought from the quarry at King's Cliffe.

The former bridge owed its erection to the munificence of Queen Elizabeth in 1573, and consisted of four piers of stone covered with wood, and fenced on each side; in one part by a wall, and in the other by a railing. A tablet recording its erection, was inserted in the wall on the left hand, after having passed the bridge on the side nearest the College-yard.

During the great rebellion, the parliamentary troops, in their barbarous zeal against monarchy, as they passed this place, erased with their swords the words “God save the Queen."

The most interesting object existing at this place, and which appears towering above the surrounding edifices in the accompanying plate, is the Collegiate Church. The beautiful tower, of two stories, may be seen to rear its highly ornamented head above the west end of the nave, and is calculated to command respect. The lower story is square, finished with a plain parapet GENT. MAG. May, 1827.

gelists; two, those of St. Matthew and Mark, the Lion and the Angel, still remain. The sides of this story are pierced with three small and four larger windows, under obtuse angled arches; the latter divided into two stories of four bays by plain tracery. The upper story of the tower, having the appearance of a lanthorn, is octagonal, surmounted with an embattled parapet, ornamented at the angles with crocketed pinnacles. Each face is occupied by a lofty window of two stories of three bays, with elegant tracery. From the buttresses, surmounted with crocketed pinnacles, which adorn the ailes, spring ten segments of arches, which, resting against the wall of the nave immediately under the embattled parapet, strengthen the clerestory. These are very minutely shewn in the annexed engraving.

To the right of the view is the Castle Hill, which stands at the eastern extremity of the town, on which, in June 1820, some of the remains of the ancient fortification were discovered on the removal of some of the earth. "Lo! on that mound in days of feudal pride, Thy tow'ring Castle frown'd above the tide; Flung wide her gates, where troops of vas

sals met

With awe the brow of high Plantagenet."

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"Few are the flow'rs that wave upon that mound;

No herb salubrious yields the blighted
ground;

Beside the thorn the barren thistle springs;
The raven there his pilfer'd carrion brings
To glut in secret; or, impressed with fear,
Croaks his hoarse song to desolation's ear."

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Simon de St. Liz, the second Earl of The Castle was originally built by Northampton, at the close of the 11th, or beginning of the 12th century. It St. Paul, Baroness de Voissu, daughter came into the possession of Mary de of Guido de Chatillon, married to Audomare de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, who fell in a tournament on the day of their nuptials; whence she is characterized by Gray as the

"Sad Chatillon, on her bridal morn That wept her bleeding love." It was the birth-place of Richard the Third, whose character has been so assailed by historians and poets, as scarcely ever to be mentioned but

402

Crypt under St. John's Church, Clerkenwell.

with feelings of horror. A votary of
the muse thus alludes to the place:
"When from thy lap the ruthless Richard
sprung,

A boding sound through all thy borders rung,
It spoke a tale of blood-fair Neville's woe,
York's murd'rous hand, and Edward's fu-
ture foe."

But as the clouds of prejudice pass
away, we are enabled to discern some
interesting traits of character worthy

of commendation.

From the residence of a prince, Fotheringay Castle became a prison for the unfortunate victims of royal justice or tyranny. The last who entered within its walls as a prisoner, was Mary Queen of Scots, whose beauty and amiable manners appears to have secured for her, from our gallant countrymen, more pity than her conduct ought to have inspired. Here she received that punishment which her crimes had long rendered just, but the circumstances attending its execution were of too extraordinary a character to meet with praise, though they might admit of defence.

The ground-plan of the keep was "in the form of a fetterlock." I need not inform your readers that this was a favourite device of the House of York. Whilst the contention for the crown existed, the falcon was represented as endeavouring to expand its wings and force open the lock; but when the Lords of this badge had attained the summit of their ambition, the falcon was represented as free, and the lock

open.

L. S.

Mr. URBAN, Pentonville, April 12.
N the course of making drawings,

Description of Clerkenwell, which I
am now publishing, I proceeded to
the crypt, under the ancient church of
St. John, but not without some mis-
givings as to the possibility of entering
a place which has been described by
Malcolm as most dangerous and pes-
tiferous: his words are, (see Londinium
Redivivum,)" Having heard of the
vaults, or rather crypt, beneath the
church, I wished to explore them,
and accordingly was accompanied by
the sexton; but the horrid sight that
lay before me banished all curiosity:
besides, the decaying effluvia of my
fellow creatures issued in such deadly
streams towards the dry air, that I

[May,

was glad to have recourse to a phial of
lavender water which the sexton held.
Mr. Mitchell's vault is near the door,
and several of the men were employed
on it: how they bore without injury
the unwholesome damps, I am at a
loss to conceive, as it was in July.
The coffins are immersed in dews, and
the arches; whether these have been
are piled and wedged into the shape of
windows originally, or whether these
have always been vaults for the dead,
I did not stay long enough to examine.
The arches and groins are similar to
those of other groined crypts." Not-
withstanding this appalling account,
upon entering I found that the vault
had assumed a character much more
favourable to investigation, as the prac-
tice of burying in mere wooden coffins,
which prevailed in Malcolm's time, has
long been discontinued. There are,
however, many circumstances which
demand the attention of the officers of
this district of Clerkenwell; the damp-
ness formerly complained of does not
exist in any great degree at present,
but decay being always in progress,
the bodies are occasionally exposed in
an unseemly manner; in short the
whole of the vault, which is extensive,
requires to be cleansed; the ruins of
coffins are in some places piled to the
very roof, the middle aisle is com-
pletely blocked up at its entrance, and
far beyond, the only way left to it
being by a narrow passage through the
north aisle between two piles of cof-
fins; not a gleam of day-light is to be
seen throughout this dreary cavern ; it
is equally impervious to the air, ex-
cepting what is afforded at the en-
trance. Some years ago, upon an oc-
casion of repairing the church, a party

near its western extremity, a cobweb
hanging from the upper coffins which
stretched across the aisle, and is de-
scribed to have been as large as a
funeral pall, and of most extraordinary
thickness. It is admitted that the pre-
sent church of St. John is the choir of
the church demolished by Somerset,
in the 3rd of Edward VI., the nave
having been blown up by gunpowder;
the materials were employed to build
the magnificent palace in the Strand.
The vaults are immediately beneath
this ancient choir; the groining, espe-
cially in the middle aisle, is very per-
fect, supported by clustered columns
richly moulded; the capitals are about

3 feet from the ground, which appear to be composed of rubbish and clay. Being anxious to ascertain the length of the columns, and likewise to know if a pavement existed, the churchwarden very obligingly directed the sexton to excavate the ground, when we found about a foot from the surface the basement of the columns, and a flooring of stone, but the water presently rising prevented further research. Opportunity, however, was given to make a correct drawing. The pillars ⚫ were found to be 4 ft. 24 inches high.

According to Stow, "St. John's Church was dedicated by Heraclius, patriarch of the holy resurrection of Christ at Jerusalem, in the year 1185, and was the chief seat in England of the religious knights of St. John of Jerusalem, whose profession was, besides their daily service to God, to defend Christians against Pagans, and to fight for the Church." H. S. STORER.

Mr. URBAN,

THE

Cork, April 25.

HE coins I am now about to notice are unquestionably the most difficult to class of all the AngloSaxon coins; nor has any attempt, that I am aware of, been made to assign them to any particular Kings, or even Kingdoms of the Heptarchy. I cannot indeed entertain any very sanguine hopes of being able to throw much light on a subject involved in so much obscurity; but as every step may lead to further discoveries, I shall not hesitate to submit to the judgment of you and your learned readers such ideas as have occurred to me.

ters seldom capable of forming a regular legend.

Those of the Danes were all probably struck after the year 870, when the Danes first formed any considerable settlements in England, and seem to have been in imitation of the coins of Berhtulf, Burgred, Eadmund, Æthelward, Ethelstan, and other princes of the middle of the 9th century. Many of them are executed with considerable elegance, but the legends totally unintelligible; whilst those of the Saxons, whenever they present any legends, are. almost always easy of interpretation, as we find with respect to the sceattas bearing the names of Egberht, Edberht, Alcred, Alhnoth, Beorna, Ethelred, and perhaps some others. The arrangement of these two classes seems to have been attended to by Dr. Combe, who has in his two plates, with the exception of No. 17, Pl. 1, which is evidently Danish, and Nos. 18 and 21, Pl. 2, which are perhaps Saxon, put down those probably Saxon before those which appear to be Danish; but perhaps Dr. Combe's object was only to exhibit them in chronological order, and therefore the Saxon have for the most part been put down first, as they are evidently of earlier date than the Danish. Attending to the above distinctions we may, I think, consider the entire of the sceattas in Ruding's 1st Plate, except No. 17, to be Saxon; the first seven Nos. and Nos. 18 and 21,, Pl. 2, are also, I believe, Saxon; and also the entire 16 Nos. in Pl. 26, and the sceatta in Plate 29; the remainder of Pl. 2, viz. from Nos. 8 to 37 inclusive, with the exception of Nos. 18 and 21, will, I think, be found to be Danish, having every appearance of being struck since the middle of the ninth century, and many of them, particularly Nos. 8 to 17, having letters some of them not unlike the Runic, and such as we do not find on any of the ruder and more early sceattas.

The first idea that naturally suggests itself is, that the sceattas were minted at different periods, commencing probably about the latter end of the 6th century, and ending about the latter part of the 9th; it will also, I think, be readily admitted that some of them were struck by the Saxons, and some by the Danes. To enable us, therefore, to form a better judgment of these Thus far we have proceeded on coins, it will be necessary to distin-grounds which, if not certain, may at guish them into the above two classes, into which I think it will not be difficult to reduce at least a great part of them. The former were most of them, if not all, struck before the year 800; for we do not find any which bear the names of princes of later date; they are generally of rude workmanship, and bear for the most part rude heads, and the figures of animals, with a few let

least be considered highly probable; when, however, we come to distin guish them into Kingdoms, and attempt to appropriate them to any particular princes, our progress becomes of a far more unsatisfactory nature; almost the only guides we have to direct us being a comparison with the sceattas, whose legends are intelligible, and an attention to the few letters

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