fastened behind. The use of the Morpeth brank is thus recorded:-"Dec. 3, 1741. Elizabeth, wife of George Holborn, was punished with branks for two hours at the Market Cross, Morpeth, by order of Mr Thomas Gait and Mr George Nicholls, then bailiffs, for scandalous and opprobrious language to several persons in town as well as to said bailiffs." In the Stockport brank the tongue-plate is ball-shaped, with nine iron points-three on the upper surface, three below, and three pointing backwards-so that it could not be put into the mouth without wounding it; and, to make matters worse, the chain (which still remains attached to it, and, together with a leathern strap, added to lengthen it, measures two feet) is fastened to the front of the noop, as if to pull the wearer of the bridle along in her unwilling tour of the streets. There is a somewhat similar brank, which was formerly at Forfar. Instead of the plate, or gag, there is a kind of spur-rowel, with three sharply-pointed spikes. When placed in the mouth the upper spike pierced the roof of the mouth, the lower one pierced the palate, while the other bored the tongue. A long chain is also attached to this, which bears date 1661, and is said to have been the bridle by which witches were led to execution. Even as recently as 1824 the brank at Congleton was used on a woman for scolding and using harsh language to the churchwardens and constables, as they went on Sunday morning around the town to see that all the public-houses were closed during divine service; and she was ied through the towr by the Town Clerk's clerk, accompanied by hundreds of people; and on her return the bridle waɛ taken off in the presence of the Mayor, magistrates, constables, churchwardens and inhabitants.

[96. In a letter signed "Mercator," which appeared in the Advertiser on the 1st of August, 1823, appears the following passage, which may throw a little light on the subject Mr Johnson enquires about:-"There is no circumstance which appears to a stranger more singular and surprising that in a well frequented market town like Stockport there is no Town Hall-no building to accommodate the farmers on a market day, except a low and miserable room in the Dungeon Brow. And certainly is it not a ludicrous spectacle at the October Fair to see the mayor and aldermen and gentry of Stockport marching in grand procession, with a band of music and all the insignia of municipal office, to hold their court and sit in council in a dirty mealhouse; all crowding

pell-mell into a poor unplastered room, hardly superior to the meanest stable in the town, and all the assembly in danger of knocking their dignified heads against the ceiling, or metamorphosing their blue surtouts into the floury habiliments of a dusty miller." Commenting on this letter, a writer in the Advertiser of a week or two ago says:- "The Dungeon Brow spoken of is now known as Mealhouse Brow, and derives its present name from the mealhouse to which Mercator' refers as the meeting place of the magistrates and the mayor and aldermen of the town. The 'Dangeon,' which formerly gave it its name, still exists underneath the premises of Mr Alfred Parkes, ironmonger, and is distinguishable to passers-by by a small door near the top of the brow. The mealhouse was so called because of the accommodation it provided for market people, but for municipal and magisterial purposes it was always styled the Court House." ED.

LORD CLIVE.

(Query No. 77-March 5.)

197.] The following extract from a work by Mr T. Worthington Barlow, F.L.S.,may be of interest as affecting the above question:-" At a school house, adjoining a small Presbyterian chapel which stands in the midst of Rudheath, close to the road leading from Holmes Chapel to Knutsford, and about two miles from the former place, the great Lord Clive received almost the first rudiments of his education. This celebrated man was born at Styche, near Market Drayton, in Salop; and, probably through the influence of his mother's family, she being the daughter of a Mr Gaskell, of Manchester, a place not far distant, he was sent at a very early age to the school we have mentioned, which was then kept by Dr. Eaton, a man who appears to have combined learning with considerable discrimination. At all events, he was at no loss to discover in his young pupil the germs of that greatness which afterwards so successfully developed themselves; but discerned in the schoolboy the character of the future hero. 'If,' said he, that lad should live to be a man, and an opportunity be given for the exertion of his talents few names will be greater than his.'" It would be interesting to know a little more about this school to which Mr Barlow refers. Perhaps some of our readers may be able to supply information on the subject. ED.

ANNE BOLEYN AT BOLLIN HALL.

(Query No. 7, 17, 18-February 12)

[98.] The only connection of Queen Anne Boleyn's name with the neighbourhood seems to be through Sir William Brereton, her groom of the chamber, to whom the

[103.] LIABILITY OF INNKEEPERS.-In discussing with an innkeeper, the other day, the subject of Sunday Closing, the gentleman I refer tɔ, after expressing his approval of the idea of Sunday Closing, remarked:-"But it must be with none of your reservations as to travellers. If you shut us up, shut us up altogether; I should not care to be compelled to stop at home for the benefit of any 'commercial' who might choose to demand admission." Was the innkeeper right in this? Is he bound to give admission to people, and how far does his liability in this respect extend?

J. MOTTRAM.

[101.] THE REV. MR MORRIS; BILLY SHUTTLE; AND PARSON CASH.-About 40 years ago there was a Rev. Mr Morris lived at Wilmslow, and preached at Dean Row Unitarian Chapel. He was said to possess a "dynamic" engine that could with ease level Alderley Edge into the Hough, or any other similar little undertaking, and do it in a few hours,' Can, or will, any of your readers give any information of this rev. gentleman or his engine. I am told) that not a few racy anecdotes could be given concerning this worthy by some who knew him intimately. And what was the end of his contemporary, Billy Shuttle? I am sorry no one has told us anything of "Parson Cash."

T. J.

SATURDAY, MARCH 19TH, 1881.

Notes.

THE KING OAK AT POWNALL.

[105.] Referring to your correspondent " W. N's" remarks on this subject (No. 61), and his statement regarding the oak tree in the "Carrs." I beg to state that there were two famous oak trees on the Pownall estate. The one he refers to in the "Carrs" was called the Queen at the time, the King oak, which I previously mentioned, was standing The latter grew in the Paddock. The Queen oak in the "Carrs" was a much smaller tree than the King was. The Hall was a boarding school in 1801-2. The master's name was Mr Jones. Thomas Heald, his brother William, and Robert Hardy were day scholars at the time. Morley. EMILY HARDY.

STROLL ABOUT CONGLETON. [106] We take the following extract from an interesting account of a ramble about Cheshire which appeared in a leading London weekly some months ago:-"From Brereton Heath it would be only a tolerable walk to Congleton, though, if time is important, the North Staffordshire line from Crewe by Alsager and Harecastle will be preferred. Approaching the town in this way, the traveller has to his right the long narrow ridge of Mow Cop (1,100 feet high), whilst still nearer to Congleton is Cloud End, which is about a hundred feet higher. These hills are the hindermost reach of that highland district known in Derbyshire as the Peak, and in Staffordshire as the Moorlands. To the botanist, geologist, and pedestrian theso heights and outlooks offer varied attractions; and to the antiquary the town itself affords an excellent starting-point for excursions. Its chief inn, the "Swan and Lion," is a striking old timbered house, the great porch of which, having a room over it, rests on two large stone pillars. The town stands pleasantly above the waters of the Dane and near the foot of Clond Hill and Congleton Edge. Its churches and public buildings are comparatively modern, and none of its few remaining timber houses can vie with the inn; but in one excursion of no great length may be seen a most interesting church and a most striking old hall, which no visitor to Mid-Cheshire should leave uninspected. The first of these is Astbury, a fine church of the early seventeenth century, with nave, chancel, side aisles of equal length with the chancel, olerestory, remarkable west porch, south porch, and tower surmounted by a spire. The nave is separated from the aisles by five pointed arches on either side, springing from elust red a'ches of millstone grit from

Mow Cop; and the chancel is divided from the nave by a carved oak screen; whilst the oak stills and the rood-loft are equally fine. Two chapels at the ends of the aisles contain monuments of interest. That on the north belongs to the Wilbrahams of Old Rode. Tue most remarkable effigies in the church are those of Dame Mary Egerton, of Oulton (1599), and of a fourteenth-century recumbent knight of the Cheshire Davenport family, at the east of the north and south aisles re-pectively; but outside the church are four very curious recum bent figures, much decayed, the two central ones being a knight and his wife, whom the legend inscribed on the arched canopy above them identifies with Randulf Brereton and his wife Ada, daughter of Richard, Earl of Huntingdon. The church roof is of carved oak, decorated with foliage, of date 1701; there are remains of a fresco on the north wall of the nave, and the gurgoyles which surround the exterior are very grotesque. Passing out of the old lych gate, the traveller may make his way from this mother church of Congleton and its thriving sunny village, in a southward direction, towards Old Moreton Hall; for he may well omit Great Moreton Hall, the lodge of which is passed on the way, the house having in this century been modernized and adorned with a central tower. But the Old Moreton Hall or little Moreton, is, even in its present state of neglect, and with but three sides remaining, one of the finest structures of the kind in Cheshire. Moated, and approached by a bridge on the south, it is entered by a fine old gateway, above which are sleeping-rooms, and above these a gallery (68 feet by 12), the sides of which are formed of bay windows, the roof of oak panels with quartrefoils. Over the west window is a figure of "Fortune " under a wheel, and at the east end another figure with a globe, with mottoes apparently denoting the uncertainty of Luck and the stability of Knowledge. In the old dining-room is a mantelpiece surmounted by the arms of Queen Elizabeth, and over the upper windows are the arms of Brereton and Moreton, and the date 1559. The chapel and ante-chapel, divided by a screen, are low and ill-proportioned, though lighted by a painted window, as its walls are by black letter texts. A good deal of discussion about this old hall took place some time since in "Notes and Queries," and, if we recollect rightly, a correspondent claimed the ownership of it for a relative of his. It is but right to say that to whomsoever it belongs, its custodianship at present can do no credit to any one. Its inmates are of the class of day labourers, in a district where education is at a low ebb. Its panelled

rooms are used as a potato store, and it is solely owing to the inherent vitality of its oak beams and joists that the whole of a marvellously curious fabric does not rot and come down with a run.'

OLD NANTWICH.

[107.] From the same source as the above we also gather the following reference to Old Nantwich :Approaching the shire from Whitchurch and the south, the tourist who can spare the time should make acquaintance with the picturesque sheet of deep water which must have given a name, as it adds picturesqueuess, to Combermere Abbey. Other meres, however, excelling it in interest, are to be visited further on, and so we press forward to Nant. wich, once famous for its salt works, though these are now entirely extinct, and the site of the last brine pit of what was once the most productive salt emporium of Cheshire is occupied by a modern town hall. As might be expected, with the brine pits is gone the old pious custom of a hymn of thanksgiving sung by the inhabitants oa Ascension Day for the "blessing of the Brine;" and, in truth, with the exception of the fine red sandstone cruciform church of the fourteenth century, and one or two interesting Elizabethan timber houses, little of old Nantwich survives, except the narrow streets. Of the church the most notable features are the octagonal embattled tower, the stone vaulted choir, and its carved oak stalls, said to have come from Vale Royal Abbey, and the perpendicular east window; and the general view of the interior, as seen from the west entrance, speaks much for the pious zeal of those whose wealth was derived from the agriculture of the rich dairy flats of the banks of the Weaver, or from the ancient "store and sorts of salts" which, according to Drayton, "made Weaver to excell." It may seem against the grain of modern sentiment on church restoration to deplore, as we are fain to do, the relegation to the vestry and to other half-hidden corners of altar tombs such as that of Sir John Craddock and the Maistersons, which was done at the last reparation by the advice of an eminent architect. The church, too, is again under restoration. The town formerly boasted two characteristic old timber and plaster hostelries, but one of them, the Lamb, has been superseded by an entirely new edifice of modern brick, and the stuccoed front of the Crown completely hides the vestiges of antiquity to be found in the panelled rooms of the interior. On the other hand in the square a spirited tradesman of sound tiste has bestowed great pains on the conservative reparation of a striking timbered house-of which the date is not preserved-in which are several curiously-panelled

and ceiled rooms; and at the end of Hospital-street stands a remarkable timber work edifice, said to have been a restoration in Queen Elizabeth's day, almost every room in which has characteristic oak panelling and ceilings, and cornices of plaster to match. It is still called, from its Elizabethan owners, "Churche's Mansion," and has a legend outside giving the date of 1578."

LOCAL BOOKS AT THE FREE LIBRARIES. [108]-I desire to bring an important matter before your readers, especially those of them who are members of the Free Library Committees. I refer to the great importance of collecting, preserving, and classifying local literature of all kinds-I mean books descriptive of the town and neighbourhood, maps, plans, Acts of Parliament, Municipal documents, works of native authors, locally printed books, periodicals, newspapers, and pamphlets. Very few of these ephemeral publications are preserved by contemporaries, and after having served the purpose are put on one side and generally get lost or destroyed. But it is obvious how exceedingly valuable they become as materials for history and biography after the lapse of a few years, and how difficult it is to meet with them when wanted for reference, unless they have been preserved in some public institution. Most of the Lancashire Free Libraries have, most wisely, in my opinion, made a speciality of these local collections, and have carefully sought for, bought, and catalogued every sort of publication relating to, if not the whole county, their own town and district. The Manchester Free Library has an invaluable collection, begun at the first starting of the library-30 years ago-numbering many thousands of publications relating to the history and trade of the city and country round. Bolton, Rochdale, and Warrington have, in their respective Free Libraries, extensive and ever increasing collections of locally printed books and tracts. Why should not the Cheshire Free Libraries start special local collections which have proved such a useful and attractive feature in the public libraries of the adjoining county ? Is it too much to venture to hope that now their attention has been called to it the matter will be earnestly taken up by the Library Committees at Stockport and Macclesfield? Macclesfield.

Replies.

CESTRIENSIS.

THE CLIVE FAMILY OF SHROPSHIRE.

(Query Nos. 77, 97, March 5, 12.)

[109.] The Clives of Styche were connected with Manchester by something more than the ties of

marriage. Richard Clive, of Styche, in the county of Salop, appeared to have leased from the warden and fellows of the Collegiate Church of Manchester several messuages and tenements in Newton from 1728 to 1749. In 1750 licence was granted in respect of a messuage and tenement called Halls to assign to John Bouverie, of Beachworth, in the county of Surrey, Esq., and to Edward Lewis, of Copthall Court, London, gentleman.

These lands and premises were mostly let by the clergy at a mere nominal rent for a consideration, and the lessee would, of course, find his profit in the tenant.

The Gaskells were also lessees of the Church lands, as the following abstract will show:-1701, June 27, Nathaniel Gaskell, of Manchester, gentleman, for a valuable sum of money and the surrender of a former lease, three closes in Newton, heretofore part of a tenement called Adam Hall's tenement, one of which said closes is known by the name of Warden's Close, and is abutting on the north side upon the lands in the possession of Randle Kempe, and upon the south on one Boardman's lands, and the other two said closes are called the Priest's Fields, and are abutting or the west side upon the said Warden's Close and the said Randle Kempe's lands, and on the east upon the common called Newton Heath; all which said closes were heretofore in the possession of William Williamson, gentleman, and late in the possession of James Lightbowne, Esq. Rent 78 8d. -J. Owen. BULLOCK SMITHY.

(Nos. 45, 46, 73, 99, Feb. 26, March 5, 12.)

[110] This name is certainly of considerable antiquity, as will be apparent from the following entry in the first volume of the Stockport Parish Registers :

1592, December 15, Nicholas Manley, slayne at Bullock Smithey, buried." In 1618 one of the boundaries of the old Macclesfield was Bullock Smithy, and it is named in many subsequent documents of the 17th century. The old name was changed by residents in the village some 45 years ago to the more euphonious one of Hazel Grove. (See Earwaker's "East Cheshire," vol. I., pp. 264, 405, vol. II., p. 105.)

the Town of Manchester," by R. Hollingsworth, edited and published by William Willis, of Manchester, 1839, he says Hollingsworth wrote the following works:-"Certain Queries Modestly propounded," &c., &c.; "especially to Master Samuel Eaton." "A Rejoinder to Master Samuel Eaton," &c., &c.; "especially to his Dearly Belove and Longed-for, the Inhabitants in and neere Manchester, in Lancashire." GENERAL.

ALE-YARD.

(Query No. 76-March 5th.)

[112.] The "ale-yard" which was in use some years ago is a glass tube of about a yard in length, of the shape of a trumpet, having at the thinner end a glass ball about the size of an ordinary apple. It holds, when filled with liquid, three half-pints. There are a few in existence still, but they are chiefly kept as family relics. A friend of mice at Sandbach has one at the present time suspended from a wall in his sitting-room.

(Query, No. 104-March 12th.)

[115.] In a series of papers written by me, and pub. lished in the Advertiser about four years back, references are made to the Rev John Williams Morris, formerly a minister of Deanrow Chapel, and to Billy Cash or as he called himself, William Stafford Cash. I think I cannot do better, for the information of your querist, than quote from these papers, and firstBilly Cash, or Parson Cash.-"Billy, or "Parson," Cash was about the town (Wilmslow) many years as an odd man. He was appointed bellman azd

Scavenger by the Court Leet, and this gave him a sort of quasi-official position in the place, and he sometimes magnified his office. He was well-spoken and a very good town-crier; a very good singer, with some knowledge of music; and he had more learning than one expects to find in a man of this kind. I have heard it said that he was born in Lindow Workhouse, and that in his youth he was very steady and studious, and that he aspired to become a minister amongst the Methodists, but that his mind failing him he fell into loose habits and afterwards became a waif upon society. He got a precarious living by going on errands, sweeping the streets, using his bell, and by going about the publichouses as a make-sport for some bigger fools than himself. The anecdotes of Billy Cash and his pranks would fill a book -Rev John Williams Morris.-At this time (40 years back) the old Presbyterian Chapel, at Deanrow, was in a most dilapidated state. The windows were out, the benches down, and the place was almost gone to the moles and the bats. This was mainly owing to the loose conduct of a pastor, then the incumbent of the place. But for many years, in the latter part of his life, this gentleman was most exemplary in his be haviour and did all he could, both by precept and example, to correct the evil done and to forward the cause of religion and temperance. He was gotten down in the world and his congregation was gone, and though he manfully battled with the waves of adversity for many years he found the world hard and unrelenting, and did not meet with that encouragement in his better life that he ought to have done." He was well educated man, and devoted considerable attention to Mechanics, and tried to bring out a new force or engine. There is no doubt that he worked at this long, but whether his principle was worth anything I cannot say. His main failing was his poverty. He had no relations, and with his death the whole thing fell through. He was the author of a very useful charta religiorium containing much interesting information. I have seen this sheet hanging in cottages, mounted on rollers. The last I saw was in Samuel Mottram's house on Mill Brow. Morris was a controversialist of a public kind, and lectured in defence of Christianity against the late Robert Owen's "New Moral World,” &c., which was making considerable noise just then. He held a public discussion in his chapelyard on the evidences of Christianity with a Mr R chard Carlyle (I am not sure whether I am right in the Christian name) and he was for many of the latter years of his life a very able temperance reformer, tee'otalism at that time having just been introduced by Livesey and others. I have in later years met with persons who owed their reclamation from a vicious life to the Rev. John Williams