A History of the Parish of Penistone (1906) by John N. Dransfield

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OF PENISTONE.

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A HISTORY OF THE PARISH OF PENISTONE.

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A History

OF: THE

Parish of Penistone

EMBODYING NOT ONLY INTERESTING PARTICULARS RELATING TO ITS FINE OLD CHURCH AND THE PARISH GENERALLY FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES AS CONTAINED IN HUNTER’S HISTORY AND TOPOGRAPHY OF THE DEANERY OF DONCASTER AND OTHER RECORDS, BUT ALSO SEPARATE HISTORIES OF THE ANCIENT GRAMMAR SCHOOL OF PENISTONE FOUNDED A.D. 1392; OF THE OLD MARKETS OF PENISALE AND PENISTONE ESTABLISHED RESPEC- TIVELY A.D. 1290 AND 1699, AND THE OLD AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY FOR A WIDE DISTRICT AROUND PENISTONE ESTABLISHED A.D. 1804; AND OF THE OLDEST PACK OF HOUNDS IN THE WORLD, VIZ., THE PENISTONE HARRIERS OR ‘“‘OLDE ENGLYSHE”’ NORTHERN HOUNDS, PROBABLY IN EXISTENCE BEFORE THE CONQUEST TO PREVENT THE RAYVAGES OF WOLVES AND OTHER WILD ANIMALS FROM THE GREAT FORESTS OF HORDERN, WHARNCLIFFE, AND SHERWOOD, AND THE VAST MOORS, WILDS, AND FASTNESSES, OF THE DISTRICT.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MOST INTERESTING LOCAL AND GENERAL INFORMATION, INCLUDING EDUCATIONAL, AGRICULTURAL, AND SPORTING GLEANINGS, SCRAPS, NOTES, ETC., ETC., MADE AND COLLECTED FROM MANY SOURCES DURING THE LAST THIRTY YEARS AS WELL AS MY OWN RECOLLECTIONS OF PENISTONE AND THE DISTRICTS AROUND FOR UPWARDS OF FIFTY YEARS.

BY

JOHN N. DRANSFIELD

PENISTONE JAMES H. WOOD, THE DON PRESS 19c6

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To

MY DEAR WIFE,

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HELP AND ENCOURAGEMENT.

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PREFACE,

“T do love The old remembrances—they are to me The heart’s best intercourse; I love to feel The griefs, the happiness, the wayward fates Of those that have been, for these memories Hallow the spot whereon they linger, and Waken our kindest sympathies.” Letitia E. Maclean (“ L.E.L.”)

TuE title page of this book without anything further I think fully explains its subject matters. I quite admit the book is somewhat of a medley or hotchpot, but I trust, nevertheless, for all that it will be found interesting and entertaining and useful for reference, not only to those of the locality but many others as well. Some of the information relating to the Penistone Harriers and the old Agricultural Society in particular would have been entirely lost if I had not secured it when I did. Parties from whom I had such information are long since dead. The reprinting from Hunter’s valuable Work of the particulars he gives relating to the Parish of Penistone—which are known to few—will alone, lam sure, make it worth while possessing a copy of the book. I have often been requested to publish the history of Penistone Harriers, and extracts such as the following from a letter from an old inhabitant of the district who took a great interest in them, and has now been many years in New Zealand, is an encouragement to do so. Writing me several years ago acknowledging some information I had sent him about the Harriers, he said : “Anything having reference to the old home neighbourhood in which I spent my happy days gives one pleasure that ‘non-rovers’ cannot understand, and I anticipate unbounded interest in the perusal of your book on its receipt.” I trust he will find it comes up to his expectations. Many other matters and things from being often referred to in directories and local publications such as Mr. Wood’s Remarkable Occurrences, Penistone Almanacs, and newspapers, are so well known that I do not yet again put them into print. To my friends, Mr. Joseph Kenworthy, of Stretton Villa, Deepcar, Mr. James H. Wood and Mr. Fred Crawshaw, both of Penistone, for their kind permission to insert several interesting illustrations, articles, and papers, and for other useful help and suggestions my best thanks are due, and I hereby tender them as well as my grateful acknowledgements and thanks to any others

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PREFACE.

to whom I am indebted for various particulars and information that will, I am sure, be found to add greatly to the interest and pleasure which I hope the perusal of these pages will give. I trust also with regard to several important matters referred to in the book that grave thought, consideration, and attention will be given which they deserve, and that it will result in much good arising therefrom. In the latter half of the eighteenth century Sir John Sinclair conceived the design of getting every minister of the Established Church to draw up an Account of his own parish as far back as he could get authentic information— and this was done and published about 1795-8, and is stated by the late Duke of Argyle to be “one of the most authentic and valuable economic histories ever made of any people.” Now I would suggest for the consideration of Government as well as District and Parish Councils that if such Accounts or Records were kept in connection with every District they would be found extremely useful. ‘There is generally some one in a District who has a liking for such work, and in books to be provided by and be the property of the Council would write down in them particulars of matters occurring and taking place from time to time in the district as well as natural history and weather and other notes, &c., and also collect and insert therein cuttings from newspapers referring thereto, for a small remuneration. JNO. N. DRANSFIELD. West Cliff, Penistone, July, 1904.

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CONTENTS.

HISTORY OF THE PARISH OF PENISTONE EXACTLY AS IN HUNTER’S “HISTORY AND TOPOGRAPHY OF THE DEANERY OF DONCASTER IN THE DIOCESE AND COUNTY OF YORK,”

PUBLISHED IN 1831 sai a ABE LOCAL AND GENERAL ITEMS ... a ee Abe

HISTORY OF PENISTONE GRAMMAR SCHOOL AND EDUCATIONAL

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HISTORY OF PENISTONE MARKET AND AGRICULTURAL ITEMS,

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HISTORY OF PENISTONE HARRIERS, INTERSPERSED WITH

HUNTING AND OTHER SPORTING AND GENERAL ITEMS MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS oa eae Sag res CORRECTIONS AND NOTES... “FS ae ed INDEX ra 7 ws a re S53

PAGES z to 52 109 19h 45-265 200 5, 343 345 » 524 525 + 549 je.» 552

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE PENISTONE PARISH CHURCH... oe oe ae Cis I BULLHOUSE CHAPEL ... ae nes oe ae 130 INTERIOR OF THE PARISH CHURCH... “se oa eo Een WATER HALL, PENISTONE is rae ae a 154 GUNTHWAITE OLD BARN a ee nee ae LO OLD GRAMMAR SCHOOL, PENISTONE ae oes IgI NEW GRAMMAR SCHOOL, PENISTONE ... a ii, 208 A HORN BOOK des oe gee Bee on 263 MARKET DAY AT PENISTONE aa fee -200 THE GREYHOUND STONE, HARTCLIFFE ies aan 269 HEAD OF PENISTONE HORNED RAM ... us a Sines 275 OLD PLAN OF PENISTONE IN 1749 ie Ape a 282 LANGSETT MOORS ... oe sas nd oa 2S MARKET PLACE, PENISTONE ae sia Ane 298 PENISTONE HOUND “ THUNDER ” as a ue the IAS BROOMHEAD HALL eae ree soe fs ae 369 BULLHOUSE HALL ... aes ss aes “or a a OE UNDERBANK HALL ies a aes ie pak 431 LAWTON’S FARM HOUSE, UPPER MIDHOPE re wat aes) 403 HOUNDS—“ GLENVILLE,” “ DUSTY,’ AND ‘‘ NUDGER” 473 MIDHOPE CHURCH ... ae ia re ro se 490 HAWKSWORTH’S FARM HOUSE, UPPER MIDHOPE ae ei 511 NETHERFIELD CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH ne Be See os

INTERIOR OF MIDHOPE CHURCH ... “ee 531

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THE PARISH OF PENISTON.

Portions of Wortley and of the parish of Silkston partake of the character of moor-lands; but as we advance westward towards the sources of the Yorkshire rivers, and the hills which separate the county from Derbyshire and Cheshire, the country assumes almost universally that character ; and presenting little to tempt families of opulence to settle upon it, little is presented to the topographer. Yet we shall not find even the parish of Peniston entirely destitute of interest. It consists of eight townships, all of which lie between the boundary line of the wapentake on the north, and the lesser Don on the south, which separates them from Hallamshire. The names are as follow, with the population at the two periods so often mentioned :

1811. Foals PENISTON as a as 515 bi 645 GUNTHWAITE ... wath a 11g au 86 DENBY ire ae BER a 1412 Inc BIRCHWORTH ... ba 264 ae 307 OXSPRING ... mos eos 255 aK 247 HUNSHELF ... sx as 429 eas 436 LANGSETT © a. Bis ot 235 whe 307 HURLSTON ... a pes I BBO Ex. 1524

For some purposes the parish is divided into four quarters, thus : 1. Prenrston and LANGSETT. 2, GUNTHWAITE, DeNnBy, and [NG BiRCHWoRTH. 3. Oxsprinc and HunNsHELF. 4. “THURLSTON.

The greater part of these lands belonged before the Conquest to Elric, who is no doubt the Ailric, father of Swein, who held them after the Conquest of the Lacis, and to the family of Ailric the inhabitants of these moorlands owed their church. It was placed upon a knoll near the vill of Peniston, and what lands did not belong to the family of Ailric would gladly render their tithe to this church rather than to Silkston, from which many of them lay very remote. The patronage of it continued in the posterity of Ailric to a comparatively late period. No chapel arose in any of the distant townships before the Reformation. One was erected at Denby in the seventeenth century ; and another at Bull- house in Thurlston by the early nonconformists,

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2 HISTORY OF PENISTONE. PENISTON,

the town on the pen or hill; an etymology fully justified by its situation. . The Domesday orthography is remarkable, Pangeston ; but in the Recapitulation it is Pengeston, another instance of the indifference of the compilers of that record to exactness of orthography. There had been but one carucate brought into cultivation before the Con- quest, valued at 20s, in the Confessor’s survey, at nothing in the Conqueror’s, being then waste. Aijlric held it before and after the Conquest. John de Malherb and Matilda his wife, one of the coheirs of Adam Fitz- Swein subinfeuded, and this was the origin of the present manor of Peniston. By deed s. d. they granted twelve bovates in Penigston, with all liberties in plano, in bosco, in molendino, in aquis, in pascuis et pasturcis, to John de Penigston, clerk, to hold by knight service, of Philip, son of William Wlvelai. This charter belongs to the reign of Henry Of Philip or his heirs we hear no more; and his introduction in this manner is unusual in charters of that age. But of people who appear with the addition de Peniston there are several charters still extant. 1. John de Penyston gave to Henry, son of Roger del Rodes of the same, an assart containing eight acres of land and wood in villa de Penyston, (where it is clear the word villa is not used to designate a collection of houses, but the whole extent of the manor) called Longeherste, between Elysrode on the north, and Fermyherste on the south, and abutting on Lewen-rode-brook on the east, and Greenherste on the west. 2. John, son of William de Penigestona, grants to Elias Baldwin del Rode, and his heirs and assigns, except religious persons, jews, and the chief lord of the piece of land in the Longherste, and another lying to the west of the chapel of St. John; also half an acre, which Thomas le Neuencomen held; and other parcels :—to hold at the rent of a pound cymini at the feast of St. Oswald the King, which was no doubt a great holiday through the whole honour of Pontefract. ‘To this deed are witnesses, Matthew de Oxspring and Robert his son, William, son of Walter de Sayvill, and others. 3. Joseph de Peniston released to William del Hill, of Peniston, an annual rent due to him from lands held by John, son of Henry del Rodes. These deeds belong to the reigns of Henry III. or Edward I. In Haigh’s MS. is a notice of a charter dated 25 Edward I. 1297, by which Joan, daughter of John de Peniston, grants to William [Clarel] de Aldwark and his heirs, the manor of Peniston with the demesne lands, and all right in the said vill, with liberties, easements, wards, rents, reliefs, escheats, &c. And again of a charter dated 1306, by which Cecilia, daughter of John de Peniston, grants to William Clarel, of Aldwark, knight, all right in the manor of Peniston, with lberties, &c., as before. There was also a charter by which John, son of William de Peniston, granted to Mr. John Clarel and his heirs or assigns, sundry quit-rents due to him. The witnesses were, Matthew de Oxspring and Robert his brother, Roger de Micklethwaite, Richard son of Ralph de Birchworth, Robert son of Robert de Denby, Richard de Hunshelf, and others. In the line of Clarel, Fitz- William, and Foljambe, of we have spoken at Aldwark, Peniston continued for many generations. I add a few notices of their transactions respecting this portion of their great inheritance.

1 Of this important charter I never saw any copy; but there is an abstract of it by the Rev. Francis Haigh, once master of the grammar-school at Peniston, in a book in which he had entered divers charters and other matters relating to the school, church, and manor.

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PENISTON. 3

William Clarel, by deed s. d. granted to William del Hill and Modesta his wife, two acres in Stodfeld-cliff, et fugationem et refugationem bovum, vac- carum, et equorum suorum propriorum, a messuagio dicti Willielmi in Thurl- ston usque terram del Leye in Peniston. Thomas Clarel, Dominus de Peniston, in 1392 granted to John del Rodes and others, a piece of land in the Kirk-flatt, sicut se extendit et jacet inter quinque lapides per manus predicti Thoma Clarell pro metis positos, with license to grave turf on the moors of Peniston. Thomas Clarel, of Aldwark, in 1397 grants the manors of Waterhall, Peniston, Heley, and Hoyland Swein, to John Foljambe, who re-granted them to him and the heirs male of his body. In 1489 Thomas Clarel, citizen and grocer of London, released to Elizabeth Fitz-William, of Aldwark, widow, the manor of Peniston, with all rents and services in Heley and Hoyland Swein. In the inquisition p. m. of Alice Foljambe, 25 Henry VIII, she was found to have held the manor of Peniston of the king as of his duchy of Lancaster, Godfrey Foljambe being her son and heir. In 1558, sir James Foljambe, of Walton, and Godfrey Foljambe his son and heir apparent, granted to Edward Littleton and William Wolstonholme, the manors of Peniston, Water-hall, Heley-hall, Hoyland Swein, and Newton- upon-Derwent, to the use of himself for life, remainder to Francis his younger son, remainder to Godfrey Foljambe. Agnes, the widow of a Fitz-Wilham, and sir William Sidney, her husband, had held these estates. I have not seen by which of the Foljambes the manor of Peniston was alienated, nor the precise period when the alienation took place. Brooke says that it was inherited by the Copleys, of Nether-hall in Doncaster, and the Wordsworths, of Water-hall in Penistone, in right of two sisters coheirs, who must have been the two daughters of Richard Micklethwaite, of Swathe-hall in Worsborough, married to Elmhurst and Wordsworth; and further, that the Copleys sold their share of the manor in 1750 to the Wordsworths. The Wordsworths first appear at Peniston in the reign of Edward III. ; and from that reign no name appears more frequently as witnesses or principals in deeds relating to this parish, or in connection with parochial affairs. One of the family in the reign of Henry VIII. adopted a singular, but, as it has proved, a secure method of recording some of the early generations of his pedigree. On one of those large oak presses, which are to be seen in some of the old houses in the country, he carved the following inscription : Hoc op’ fiebat A° D’ni Me CCCCC® XXV° ex supti Will’mi Wordes- worth, filii W. fil. Joh. fil. W. fil. Nich. viri Elizabeth filize et hered. W. P’ctor de Penysté q°ri aniabus p’picietur De.’ It would seem from this as if they had been brought to Peniston by the marriage of the daughter and heir of Wiliam Proctor, of Peniston, where it is a little uncertain whether Proctor is to be read as a proper name, or that William was the proctor of Peniston under the parties to whom the rectory was appropriated. Ralph was the son and heir of William, and from him I believe descended Nicholas Wordsworth, of the house called Shepherd’s Castle, who married one of the coheirs ol Wombwell, of Thundercliffe-grange, by whom he had several sons, of whom Thomas the eldest sold Shepherd’s Castle to Shaw, the vicar of Rotherham, and Edward was in the service of sir Horatio Vere. But there were many other branches of the family, and it would not now be easy to show how they shot off from the main stock. The Wordsworths were at Water-hall, an antient mansion at the foot of the hill on which stand

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4 HISTORY ‘OF

the church and town, and in a bend of the Don, in the reign of Henry VIIL., when lived a John Wordsworth of that place ; and in the reign of Elizabeth a William Wordsworth. From him doubtless descended Ralph Wordsworth, of Water-hall, who died in 1663, the husband of the coheir of Micklethwaite. From him descended in the fourth degree Josiah Wordsworth. who pur- chased Wadworth, having had a great accession of fortune from his cousin Samuel Wordsworth, a London merchant, son of Elias Wordsworth, a mercer of Sheffield. Mr. Wordsworth of Wadworth had two daughters, as hath been stated before, Lady Kent and Mrs. Verelst, his coheirs. The Wordsworths have used for arms three church bells, which seem to be borrowed from those of Oxspring. In 1763, Mr. Wordsworth, father of the coheirs, built a cloth-hall and shambles at Peniston, at the expense of £800. Previously to this time a room over the grammar-school had been used as a cloth-hall; but the cloth market was never very considerable. The market at Peniston was established in 1699, principally through the exertions of Godfrey Bosvile, esq. of Gunthwaite, a very active magistrate. The antient market of Penisal, of which we shall speak at Langsett, had long ceased to exist. The original intention of Mr. Bosvile was to revive that market; and to remove the site of it from Langsett to Peniston. And a market was accordingly opened upon the antient charter. This was strongly opposed, chiefly by the people of Barnsley and Huddersfield. On June Io, 1698, an order was signed by sir Thomas Trevor, that George Bramhall and others, the parties concerned in holding a market at Peniston, should attend at his chambers on Friday the 30th instant, to show cause why an information in the nature of a quo warranto should not be exhibited against them for holding the said market. This design was then abandoned, and application was made to the Crown for a new charter to hold a market: numerous petitions were presented ; amongst other places, Sheffield and Rotherham petitioned in favour. The petition from the Peniston people set forth, that such was the state of the country between them and Barnsley, their nearest market, that persons had lost their lives in the winter time in returning home. The petition was granted. A cross post was also about the same time established between and Sheffield, but discontinued about 1750. Peniston partakes with Barnsley in the linen manufacture.

ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS.

The church of Peniston was not founded till after the Conquest, aid previous to its foundation there can be no doubt that the tithe accruing in this parish was rendered to the church of Silkston. That it was founded by the descendants of Ailricus is evident from the great interest which they had throughout the parish, and from the fact that the presentation was in the families of their coheirs. If it had not, however, been one of their latest foundations, it would probably have been given either to the monks of Ponte- fract, of Nostel, or of Bretton; nor, whether we regard it as a privilege ora burthen, is it easy to divine a cause ‘why the patronage of the church of Penis- ton was not placed under the care of one of the three religious communities to which set so strongly the current of the liberality of its early lords. The church was placed by its founders very near the eastern edge of the parish ; but it is to be remembered that all the western parts beyond Thurlston were very thinly peopled, indeed that there were immense tracts like those in © the western parts of Hallamshire, where there were no inhabitants save a few wandering shepherds tending their flocks.

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PENISTON. 5

Here again we find the admirable provision of two rectors. A parish so extensive must have required the services of more than one pastor, while it would yield a competent, though at first but a moderate, provision for two. This was the constitution of the church in 1229. On 7 kal. Sept. in that year, Geffery de Loudham was collated to one mediety by the Archbishop on a lapse ; and on 7 kal. Feb. following, the Archbishop instituted John, son of Simon de Rupibus, to the other mediety on the presentation of Thomas de Burgh; and before that time there is a deed s. d. by which John, son of John de Peniston, quit-claimed to Roger de Montbegon the advowson of half the church of Peniston. Montbegon was, as will be seen at large under Brierley, a near relative of the Malherbs, who gave Peniston to John; and this deed, of which I have seen only an imperfect notice, appears to be an admission that the grant did not comprehend the advowson. I find also, that in 10 Henry III. 1226, there were disputes respecting the right of presentation. For on the patent rolls of that year it is found, that Henry de Huntingdon had an assize of last presentation against de Long- villers and Clementia his wife, and Geffery de Nevil and Mabilia his wife, representatives of Montbegon, of the moiety of the church, which is here called the church of Penigherst alias Peningeston. It is difficult to conjecture a sufficient reason which might move Archbishop Walter Grey to consolidate the two medieties. This, however, he did on 15 kal. March 1232, saving to Robert de Kirkham the portion which he had of the gift of Geffery de Loudham, by the assent of John de Kirkby, by reason of the custody of the son and heir of Adam de Bingham, he rendering yearly to the church two wax candles of two pounds weight each, on the day of the nativity of St. John the Baptist, which was the feast day of the dedication of the church. Its value at the time of Pope Nicholas’s taxation, 1291, was £53 6s. 8d. per annum. The presentation of the single rector was in Burgh and Nevil, representa- tives of the two coheirs of Adam Fitz-Swein, till in 20 Edward III. 1346, sir Robert Nevil, of Hornby, passed by fine to sir William Scot and Alice his wife, eons of Peniston, Heton, Badsworth, and the half church of Hoy- and. Sir William Scot was of Great Houghton. He presented in 1349. Our next document is dated 15 Feb. 32 Edward III. 1358. It is a royal license (rot. p. 1, m. 27) to Elias de Burton and John de Dronsfield, who were the two lords of Kirk Burton and of West Bretton, that they may give the advowson of the church of Peniston to the dean and college of our free chapel of St. Stephen, within our palace at Westminster, and that the dean and college may hold it appropriate. The king would no doubt willingly grant this license, for the chapel of St. Stephen was of his own foundation, and he had given to it the church of Wakefield, which the college held appropriate! The gift of that church had been followed by a gift of the church of Burton in Agbrig, the adjoining parish

1 It is a very important point in the history of the church of Wakefield, how king Edward came to possess the right of disposing of it to the college, which for so many years held it appropriate ; and as I may not have another opportunity of doing so, I shall here throw a little new light upon the subject. Dr. Whitaker conjectured that the king acquired the church by the gift of the last earl of Warren, which conveyed to him Coningsborough, Hatfield, and other dependencies of the house of Warren. This was gratuitous and improbable. It also left him to account for the possession of the church of Wakefield by the last earl of Warren, of which there was no proof, neither indeed of any connection of the eails of Warren with the church of Wakefield after the time of the sons of the Conqueror, when the Warrens gave it to their newly founded monastery of St.

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6 HISTORY PENISTONE.

to Peniston on the north. Burton and Dronsfield proceeded, according to the license, to give the church of Peniston. One link is wanting to complete the chain of connection of all the facts in the history of this church, namely, that which connects the possession by sir William Scot, and by the two lords of surton and West Bretton. We must suppose that Scot transferred his interest in this church to them, though probably only as trustees for some intended disposition of it. The appropriation, however, did not take place. Wakefield was appro- priated in 1348 and Burton in 1356, but the appropriation of the church of Peniston was delayed, and in fact had not been accomplished in the reign of Henry IV.; for that king, in the rath of his reign, 1413, granted a second license of appropriation, reciting the license to Burton and Dronsfield by his grandfather king and noticing the fact that the appropriation had not taken place. This license was granted for twelve marks paid into the Hanaper, and conditioned with the appointment of a vicar who should have a competent stipend, to be ordained by the diocesan. William de Stainton, who was the rector presented by sir William Scot in 1349, held the rectory in 1373 and 1378, and possibly to a later period. He is the last in Torre’s Catalogue of Rectors of Peniston, and we know of no other incumbent, either rector or vicar, till 1413, when a vicar was nominated by the college upon the terms ordained by the archbishop. The ordination was made on June 7 in that year, by Henry archbishop of York, who reserving to the archbishop 13s. 4d. and to the dean and chapter 6s. 8d. in recompense, &c., and directing that 6s. 8d. should be paid yearly to the poor out of the profits, ordained that the vicar to be appointed by the dean and college should have a competent manse for his residence, built originally at the

Pancras of Lewes. Tor this Dr. Whitaker accounts in a very inartificial manner. He found that in the year 1200, archbishop Geoffrey Plantaganet confirmed to the monks of Lewes a pension of sixty shillings out of the church of Wakefield; and he adds, “it is probable that they released the advowson to the representative of the original patron, for that The pension of sixty shillings appears to me nothing more than such a pension as was often granted to the religious houses out of benefices which belonged to them, but were not appropriated; and to have nothing to do with any supposed re-grant of their right to this church, to the family from whom they had originally derived their right to it: and that the monks of Lewes did not assign the church of Wakefield back again to the Warrens is manifest by a very important document relating to its history unknown to Dr. Whitaker, and unknown too to the gentleman who has given to the public what he calls an Historic Sketch of the Church of Wakefield, and who in all the material points of its history has copied Dr. Whitaker, sometimes without understanding him. This document is a grant made in 1325 by the prior and convent of Lewes to Hugh Despenser the younger, of the churches of Wakefield and Dewsbury, of which there is an inspeximus and confirmation by king Edward II. dated 1r August 1325.—Here then is the step by which the church of Wakefield passed out of the hands of the monks of Lewes; and coming into the hands of the Spensers it would naturally follow the fortunes of their other possessions ; that is, it would be forfeited to the crown: and thus it was that king Edward III. acquired his right to give the church of Wakefield to the college of St. Stephen. The king’s inspeximus may be found upon the patent rolls of 19 Kdward II. It is no matter of surprise that Dr. Whitaker, whose researches were extended over so wide a field, should not have brought to bear upon his subject every document which might have been discovered without any peculiarly painful research ; or that his acute mind should have been sometimes foiled in his endeavours to explain difficulties which arose out of the absence of evidence; but when a volume of some pretension is devotcd to a subject of such minute inquiry as a single parish church, the public expect something of the diligence of research, and at least an acknowledgment that the difficuly is felt, which a writer is incapable of removing. I believe Dr. Whitaker is mistaken also in his account of the manner in which the church of Burton accrued to the college of St.Stephen; nor does he appear to have taken an accurat view of the somewhat perplexed history of the church of Heton. ;

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PENISTON. 7

cost of the college, and £16 a year paid quarterly ; _also that he shall have eight acres of arable and two acres of meadow, with pasture to the same, sufficient for his own cattle. But the vicar was to bear out of this the burden of procurations, synodals, peter-pence, lamps, lights, books, vestments, bread and wine for the celebration of masses and the communion of the parishioners at Easter, and other times appointed; but all extraordinary burdens and the ordinary burdens of the repairs of the church buildings and chancel to be borne by the college. The manse for the vicar was to consist of aula, camera, coquina, stabulum, cum aliis domibus necessariis, that is, it was to be of three rooms only, a parlour, bed-chamber and kitchen. The ordination gives the vicar the power of distraint if his quarterage is behindhand, and imposes a fine of £5 to be paid to the fabric of the church of York, on the college, if by neglect they compel the vicar to have recourse to this remedy. Such was the new constitution of the church of Peniston; and in this order it continued till the reign of Edward VI. The dean and college were accustomed to grant leases of their rights in the two adjoining parishes of Peniston and Burton, one of which, dated 17 Nov. 37 Henry VIII. 1546, which was the year before that in which the college was suppressed, I have seen. It is made to Thomas Burdet, of Denby, gent., and William Hawksworth, of Gunthwaite, yeoman, and assigns to them for twenty- one years, ‘“ those ther two personages of Pennyston and Birton, with all the elebe lands, tythes, rents of copie-holders and freeholders, with the howses and barnes upon the sciettes of either of the said personages now beyng, with oblations, emolyments, and other the rights heretofore accustomed and apper- teyning to the said churches, except the fines of copie-holders, reliefs, issues, amerciaments, perquisites, and profits of courts ; except furthermore all escheats, wards, maryages, advowsons, collacions, nominacions, and donacions of the vicarage there, and the presentation of them as often as they shall chaunce to be voyd, with all other realties apperteyning to the said two personages accordyng to the King’s graunts thereof made; except also all manner of woods,” &c. ‘The rent was to be £53 paid to them or their certain attorney “ in their countyng-house at Westminster and the lessees were to pay the vicar his quarterly stipend of £4, and to bear all charges, spiritual or temporal, ordinary and extraordinary, except the tenth or subsidy now due. The lessees also covenant to repair “as well the late chappell of St. John the Baptist, of Penys- ton, as of all other the howses, barnes, and tenements belonging to the said two sciettes.” I Establishments such as the college of St. Stephen did not fall with the monasteries, but by the operation of the act of 1 Edward VI.

The lands belonging to the rectory constituted what was called a manor, and there was a court connected with it. A particular signed by Anthony Rowe, the auditor, soon after the suppression, states the rents of the free tenants as well those at will as the certain, at £4 per ann. and the perquisites of court communibus annis at 2s. 6d. The manor is stated in this particular to have been severed from the tithe by the commissioners of the West Riding appointed for the division of the temporalities and the spiritualties. This particular was prepared for Ralph Bosvile, of Bradborn in Kent, a younger brother of the house of Gunthwaite, who took a grant from Queen elizabeth on the 8th of April in the second of her reign, of this manor and the advowson annexed. ‘The premises were thus described, “ totum illud dominium et manerium nostrum de Peniston, cum suis juribus, membris, et pertinenciis universis in comitatu nostro Eboracensi, parcellam possessionum nuper collegii Sancti Stephani, Westm’, nunc vel nuper in tenura Thome Burdet et Willielmi

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8 HISTORY. OF sPENISTON ®:

Hawksworth vel eorum assignatorum ; ac advocationem, donationem, presenta - tionem, liberam dispositionem et jus patronatts vicaria et ecclesiae de Peniston,” with all suits of court, profits, wards, felons’ goods, &c., pertaining to the said manor, to be held in socage as of the manor of East Greenwich. Ralph Bosvile presented once. In the 12th of Elizabeth, Feb. 16, he con- veyed the manor and right of patronage to his brother Godfrey Bosvile, of Gunthwaite, who presented in 1570 and 1574. He left Francis, who died without issue; and four daughters. I Irancis Bosvile made a settlement of his estate on 8 Jan. 1586, in which, after his own issue, he settled the manor of Peniston, meaning this rectorial manor, on Ralph Bosvile, of London, gentleman, with divers remainders. It inay be presumed that it was his intention that the right of presentation should pass with the manor with which it had been incorporated, from his sisters, who were thus disinherited, to the male heir. It did not, however, in fact pass to the male heir; for the next presentation was made in virtue of a grant pro hac vice, to Anthony Goodwin from John Laci, of Brierley, esq., Godfrey Copley, of Sprotborough, esq., John Savile, of Newhall, gent., and Richard Burdet, gent., of whom Laci, Savile, and Burdet were the husbands, and Copley the son, of the four coheiresses. This was in 1597. The rectory-manor passed in the lne of Bosvile, of Gunthwaite, whose pedigree will be found under that place. But it appears that the families of the four coheiresses enjoyed the right of presentation, and agreed upcn pre- senting in turns; for the following presentations occur in the records of the see between 1597 and the time when the ecclesiastical constitution of the country was overturned :

1602. Godfrey Copley, of Plumtree, esq., who was also of Spotborough. i619, John Savile esq. (George Burdet, of Denbyesq: 1635. George Burdet, of Denby, esq. 1642. Sir William Savile, of Thornhill, bart. How Sir William Savile came to enjoy the right to name the vicar it is hard to surmise, for Savile of New-hall, and Savile of Thornhill, were quite distinct branches of the same family; and in Burdet’s double presentation there was probably some irregularity. The next incumbent, Henry Swyft, came in without any presentation from any real or supposed patron, but by the choice of the inhabitants; and even though not conforming at the restoration, so popular was he, and so beloved in the parish, that he continued to hold the church till his death, which did not occur till 1689. At that time no one seems to have known where the right of presentation rested. The issue of the four coheirs was, it is believed, exhausted, and no provision had been made to direct the descent of this inconsiderable piece of patronage. ‘The presentationlapsed. The crown presented ; and twenty-seven years more passed before there was any vacancy which could afford an oppor- tunity of a claim to present being made. The vacancy occurred in 1717, when three gentlemen, viz. sir George Savile, bart., Lionel Copley, esq., and Wiliam Bosvile, of Gunthwaite, esq., each claimed the patronage, and presented clerks to the archbishop ; viz., Savile, John Hide; Copley, Edward Woolley; and Bosvile, Edward Jackson. An inquest de jure patronatis was held on 5 March 1717, in the church of Wake- field, before John Audley, LL.D. commissioner, when, after examination of witnesses, Mr. Greenwood, the foreman, delivered upon oath, that William Bosvile was the true and undoubted patron ; and Edward Jackson the rightful

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vicar.! Mr. Bosvile rested his claim upon the grant to Ralph Bosvile, and the probable intention of Francis that the advowson should pass under the term “manor.” He also alleged that his ancestors might allow their relations, the families of the coheirs to present, as the thing was of small value, and especially as the Bosviles resided little in Yorkshire; and lastly that, if the families of the coheirs had possessed it of right, they had prejudiced their right by an irregular exercise of it. Still I cannot but think that the decision was in error. Either by mistake or design the right of presentation was not passed away by the deed which gave the rectory-manor to the male heir, to the prejudice of the sisters, who must have taken the right of presentation as heirs, for it is quite incredible that under such circumstances the Bosviles would have allowed them to present as a matter of favour without an express reservation of right; and if they had prejudiced their right, that gave no right to the Bosviles. Who were the proper representatives of the four coheirs is another question, and one not easily answered. Concerning the tithe of Peniston, which was not included in the grant to Bosvile, queen Elizabeth, by letters patent dated at St. Alban’s, July 22, 8th of her reign, for £145 15s. granted the parsonage of Peniston for twenty-one years to Nicholas Smyth, citizen and merchant-tailor of London, late in the tenure of Thomas Burdet; and also the parsonage of Burton, all late parcel of the possessions of the free chapel of St. Stephen. ‘The rent for Peniston was £31. Smyth soon after, for £120, assigned the remainder of his lease to Francis Wortley, of Wortley, esq., from whom it passed to his son sir Richard Wortley, who had a renewal of the lease, first for a term, and then for three lives, and was in possession in 37 Elizabeth, 1595. In that year terminated a great suit, which had been carried on between sir Richard Wortley and the owners of lands in the parish of Peniston, respecting the mode of tithing. Sir Richard exhibited his bill in the Court of Exchequer, against John Haigh, William Hinchhfl, Matthew Jessop, Ralph Jessop, Rainold Saunderson, Thomas Beighton, and George Walker, supposing that they ought to pay their tithe corn and hay, and other tithable things, in their proper kind. The defendants showed that certain sums had from time immemorial been paid for their respective estates; and at a solemn hearing before Lord Burghley lord treasurer, sir John Fortescue chancellor of the exchequer, sir William Periam lord chief baron, and the rest of the barons, it was decided that the defendants’ plea was good. Early in the reign of James I. there was manifestation of an intention to open the question again. For Mr. Wilson has transcribed into his Collections from the original an indenture dated g June, 1 James, between Edward Rich, Francis West, Thomas Fanshaw, and Francis Greaves, gentlemen, of the one part, and Lionel Rolleston, George Blount, Matthew Burdett, gentlemen, and ninety-one other persons of the parish of Peniston, who bind themselves to mutual support, should any action be commenced against any of them for tithe in kind, alleging, as a reason of the compact, the greatness both in skill and purse of the farmer of the parsonage; and they engage to allow their estates

1 The inquest, half clerks and half laymen, consisted of the following persons :

William Greenwood, rector of Darfield. John Senior, of Dodworth, gent. Thomas Vincent, of Barnborough-grange, esq. Richard Watts, curate of Wortley. Thomas Radwell, vicar of Arksey. John Micklethwaite, of Cawthorne, gent. Patience Warde, of Hooton-Paynel, esq. William Stephenson, rector of Rawmarsh, John Clarkson, vicar of Silkston. John Scott, of Silkston, gent. William Green, of Middlewood, esq. John Leech, vicar of Darton.

William Steer, vicar of Ecclesfield. John Rooke, of Barnsley, gent.

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to be taxed rateably to meet the expenses of any action that might be com- menced against any of them.! Wortley had also a particular suit on the same ground to maintain with Francis Bosvile, for tithe of Gunthwaite, in the Ecclesiastical Court at York, and the Court of Common Pleas, at Westminster; and as late as 1639, the same question was moved respecting tithe of Oxspring, between sir Francis Wortley, bart., and Godfrey Bosvile, esq. In Jones’s Index to Records in the Exchequer is a reference to a grant of this rectory to Henry Butler and Henry Ogle, for the duke of Lennox ; and in 1680 it was vested in the duke’s grandson, Henry Howard earl of Norwich, who by deed of 23 November in that year, conveyed the rectory of Peniston, with all the glebe lands, tithes. oblations, &c., to the trustees of the hospital of Gilbert earl of Shrewsbury at Sheffield, in whom it has ever since been vested. The terrier of the vicarage was returned thus about half a century ago: A house, barn, and stable. Three cottages near the vicarage, let at 6s. 8d. each. Two little ings of meadow near the vicarage, about 4 acres, worth £4 per annum. A close called Long-lands, in Peniston, five acres, worth £3 per annum. A close called Four-acres in Peniston, worth £2 per annum. The pension of £16 out of the rectory. A rent charge of £3 6s. 8d. given by William Rich, of Hornthwaite. Lands in Thurlston, bought with £100 given by the hon. lady Beaumont, and £40 added by the parishioners; worth £7 per annum, and more.

CATALOGUE OF RECTORS OF PENISTON.

Henry de Barton, instituted 13 kal. Oct. 1281, on the presentation of sir John de Burgh. Richard de Walton, 13 kal. Aug. 1313, on the presentation of lady Margaret Nevil. Resigned. William de Nevile, 10 Sept. 1313, on the presentation of the same lady. Richard de Rotherham, 9 kal. Mail, 1331, on the presentation of sir Thomas de Burgh. William de Stainton, 23 Oct..1349, presented by sir William Scot. While the church was in medieties we have Geoffrey de Loudham and John Fitz-Simon de Rupibus, already named; and Hugh Frassel, who occurs in Vesey’s Charter of Rotherham to the monks of Rufford. Geoffrey de Loudham became archbishop of York.

CATALOGUE OF VICARS OF PENISTON.

Thomas Bryan, instituted 23 Jan. 1413, 0n the presentation of the dean and college. He resigned. Robert Poleyn, or Pullen, instituted 14 May 1418. He died vicar; and in his last will directed that his executors should provide 7 lbs. of wax, to burn about his body at the time of his funeral; to every parson present he left rad., to every parish clerk 4d., and to every other clerk 2d.; to the four orders of friars he left 13s. 4d. Dodsworth gives the inscription from his tomb in the church, a part of which still remains, thus: ‘“ Hic jacet Robertus Pullen, quondam vicarius istius ecclesiw; qui obiit x die mensis Februarii, Anno Domini M.cccc. nonogesimo nono; cujus anime propitietur Deus. Amen.” But for nonogesimo, we should, it seems, read quinquagesimo.

1 The persons were almost all of that class designated by the word yeomen. About one half could not write their names.

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William Wordsworth, instituted 27 Feb. 1458. He appears to have been a friend of Pullen, as there is a legacy in Pullen’s will to Wiliam Wordsworth, chaplain, who is probably the same. Robert Bishop, instituted 18 April 1495. He resigned. Robert Amyas, 24 May 1498. This Amyas was of the family of the name seated at Sandal. Robert Watts. His will bears date 22 July 1542, in which he directs that there shall be Dirige and Mass at his funeral; that every priest shall have 8d., and every strange priest 6d., every parish clerk 4d., every child that shall come in form of a scholar 1d., every poor man, woman, and child, 1d. and meat and drink. He bequeaths 40s. to buy hangings and ornaments for the high altar, and also gives a pair of organs, and to a musician a playing book for the organs. He gives to sir William Addye one of his best gowns; to sir George Bilcliff the gown he wears every day. John Herbert, instituted 21 Oct. 1545. He was presented by John Chamber, M.D., dean of the chapel royal. Robert Skires, instituted 4 March 1550. He vacated by death. William Crosland, 12 August 1560, on the presentation of Ralph Bosvile. He died here. Thomas Bosvile, 9 Sept. 1570, on the presentation of Godfrey Bosvile. He died here. John Sotwell, 2 April 1574, on the presentation of the same. George Goodwin, instituted 5 August 1597,0n the presentation of Anthony Goodwin, clerk, by grant from Copley and others, pro hac vice. He died vicar. Francis Oley, A.B. 23 July 1602, on thé presentation of Godfrey Copley, esq. He resigned. Jonas Rook, A.M. 16 April 1619, on the presentation of John Savile, esq. Died here. Matthew Booth, 3 Sept. 1633, presented by George Burdet, esq. Resigned. Peter Toothill, 15 August 1635, on the presentation of Edmund Ogden, of Bull-house, gent. pro hac vice, by grant from George Burdet, of Denby, esq. He died vicar. Timothy Broadley, A.M. 27 June 1642, on the presentation of sir William Savile, of Thornhill, bart.} After the Civil Wars, the Commissioners at Goldsmiths’-hall ordered that £50 per annum, for 26 years, should be settled on the minister at Peniston by William Blitheman, of New Lathes, esq., a royalist, for which he was to be allowed £350 out of his fine, which was thus reduced to £158 The money was to be paid out of the appropriate rectory of Wath. In 1656 it was received of Elizabeth Blitheman, widow and executor of William, by Richard Hawks- worth and nine other inhabitants. I find the name of John Didsbury, minister, subscribed with the name of two churchwardens to a parish-certificate dated 12 March 1649. About this time Henry Swyft became the minister. In Torre’s Collections he is said to have “come in by the usurped powers and consent of the parish ” He was in possession when the Act of Uniformity was passed; and though he did not qualify himself to retain it according to the provisions of the Act, he continued officiating here till his death, which was not till October 31, 1689. Yet it was not without interruption. For this irregularity he was several times committed to prison, and at length did so far comply as to take the engagement

1 He is described as vicar of Peniston in an entry of his burial at Cawthorne, made in the Peniston Register 8 January 1656. 2 See Pheenix Britannicus, p. 85.

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12 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

required by what was called the Oxford Act. Calamy, who has a short notice of him,! assigns as a reason for his retaining the church, that there was no striving for the place, it being but a small vicarage. He might have added, that it was doubtful where the right of nomination was vested, and the Bosviles, who were declared to have the best claim, and who had themselves been active in the parhament cause, would not be anxious to remove him. Edmund Hough was instituted in May 1690, on the presentation of the king and queen, by lapse. He was a man of considerable learning and attain- ments, and is said to have kept the town and parish in great awe and order. He died while on a visit at Broomhead-hall, in August 1717. Edward Jackson, instituted March 14, 1717-8, presented by Mr. Bosvile. He ceded the living. Thomas Cockshutt, A.M., instituted 13 June 1722, on the same presentation. He also vacated by cession. Samuel Phipps, instituted 1 June 1761, on the presentation of Godfrey Bosvile, esq. Martin Naylor, 1809, the present incumbent.

THE CHURCH:

In the fabric of the church of Peniston, there is nothing worthy of remark, except that there is a range of clerestory windows, and a lofty tower at the west end. There are several of those grotesque heads, both in the stones and timber-work, which are often found in the works of our early church-architects. One of the bells is ancient, as appears by this inscription upon it: ‘“Maria Sancta, protege, virgo pla, quos convoco.” Dodsworth found in the windows on the south side the arms of ‘Turton, argent, three conies sejant sable; and of Oxspring, argent, on a fess between three church-bells gules, as many crosses pattee of the field, with an inscription, Orate pro Willielmo Oxspring =... qui istam fenéstram’ fier.. Also Nevil, Gules, a saltier argent, a crescent for difference; and gules a chief or. In the church are the following sepulchral memorials : First, those of Bosvile.

Hic jacet uxor ejus castissima Maria BOSSEVILE, que obdormivit x die Jan. an° libertatis Christianze M.pc.Lx1. Mors mihi lucrum. M.B.

Hic quiescit GULIELMUS de Gunthwaite, armiger. Obiit. 11 die Aprilis anno salutis M.DC.LXII.

Hic etiam quiescit GULIELMUS BossEVILLE, de Gunthwaite, armiger, nepos prefati Gulielmi. Obiit vi Juni, anno Domini M.pDcc.xxIv., etatis suz XLII. Mors ultima linea rerum.

Beneath heth interred the body of BripGert, the second daughter of sir John Hotham, of Scarborough in the county of York, baronet, by dame Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Sapcot viscount Beaumont, and sister to Thomas viscount Beaumont, of Coleorton in the county of Leicester. They dying without any other issue, the said Elizabeth became sole heir to them both. ‘The said Bridget was married to Godfrey Bosvile, of Gunthwhaite-hall within this parish and county, esquire, in October 1681, with whom she lived a loving and faithful wife. In virtue and piety she passed her time, generous to her friends, and a lover of hospitality amongst her neighbours. She left this troublesome world on the night between the 19th and 2oth of December 1708, in certain hopes of a joyful resurrection to life eternal through the merits of Jesus her blessed

1 Account, &c., p. 791.

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Redeemer, yet to the great grief and irreparable loss of her dear husband sur- viving, who placed this marble here to perpetuate her memory and excellent virtues to future ages.! In this monument is a bust of the lady commemorated, and a shield of arms and quarterings of Bosvile, viz. : BosVILE. DARFIELD, or, a saltier vaire. —, or, a lion passant gules, on a chief azure three maids’ heads of the first. DRONSFIELD, paly of six or and sable, on a bend gules three mullets or. STAINTON, argent, three crosses patonce sable. GUNTHWAITE, ermine, three bends gules. OXSPRING. WILKINSON, a fess vaire, in chief a unicorn passant, within a border ingrailed bezantée. Juxta Goprrip1 BosEviLLe de Gunthwaite, armigeri, deposite sunt exuvie, Junii 18vo, anno Dom. 1714.

Goprrey BosviLe, of Gunthwaite, esq., died January the 25, 1784, aged 66 years.

SITAR

Prope requiscit quicquid mortale Ricarpi West, de Underbank, ar. cujus hospitalem et benignam in cunctos animam presens sensit ztas ; eximiam in melioribus artibus scientiam posteri laudabunt. In mathematicis preecipué excelluisse illum preter ceteros peritus celeberrimus ille Sanderson, LL. D. Pr. Mat. Lu. testificabat. Ob. Imo Jan. 1715. Etiam West Fenton, de Inner Temple, ar. R.S.S. nepos preefati Ricardi, et filius Gulielmi Fenton de Underbank ; jurisprudentia insignis, omnibusque animi virtutibus ornatissimus. In Acad. Oxon. humanioribus studiis feliciter excultus principibus etiam viris placuit. Ghe5 Man 1731. Here are also memorials of the above William Fenton and Frances his wife, the daughter and heir of Richard West; John, son of Wiliam and Mary Fenton, who died 1741, aged 9; Richard, another son, who died 1779, aged 40 ; Mary, the wife of William, and daughter of Thomas Hatfield, of Enterclough in Cheshire, gent., 1763, aged 61; Mrs. Frances Fenton, 1794, aged 64; William

. Mr. Bosvile had a formal certificate of permission to erect this monument from Edmund Hough the vicar, and John Greaves and John Passley, farmers of the rectory; dated 6 Nov. 173%:

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Fenton, 1783, aged 82; William Fenton, esq., barrister-at-law, son of William and Mary, 1792, aged 66; Frances, eldest daughter of William Fenton, of Underbank, and Frances his wife, 1780, aged 74; Richard Fenton, of Banktop, esq., 1788, aged 79 ; Ann his wife, 1790, aged 76. Here was interred the body of Jupitn, the daughter of Mr. Richard Thorpe, of Hopton in Merfield parish, minister, who departed this life 15 day of May 1693, aged 25 years and four months.

Here was interred the body of Sy_vanus Rtcu, late of Bullhouse, gentle- man, who departed this life December the 26th, anno Do. 1683, aged 56 years.

Martha, daughter of Sylvanus Rich, 1656, aged two years; Theophilus, his son, 1660, aged four; John, son of Daniel Hoare, alderman of Hull, 1681 ; John, Susanna, Ann, and Mary, children of William and Ellinor Cotton, 1671— 1682, all of whom died young ; William Cotton, of Nether Denby, gent., 1674 ; William Beevor, of Thurlston, dyer, 58; Nicholas Greaves, of Shep- house, yeoman, 1662; John Greaves, of Peniston, 1724, aged 33; Catherine his wife, daughter of John Green, of Hoyland Swein, 1723, aged 23; Elias Micklethwaite, of Denby-hall, 1735 ; Sarah his wife, daughter of John Bedford, of Flockton, 1703; Richard Micklethwaite, of Ingbirchworth, 1730, aged 80; Josias Micklethwaite of the same, 1756, aged 45; Olivia, daughter of Mr. Micklethwaite, of Ingbirchworth, 1723; Dorothy, wife of Richard Hawksworth, of Broadoak, daughter to Mark Ashley, of Todwick-grange, gent., 1709, aged 25; George Walker, of Hunshelf, gent., 1712, aged 56; George Walker, of Hunshelf, gent., 1757, aged 70; John Walton, of Thurlston, merchant, 1770, aged 39. In the spacious burying-ground in which the church stands, are several handsome tombs of the Waltons, Wordsworths, and other principal families of this wide parish, There are also the following inscriptions :

Here was interred the body of Mr. Henry Swirt, November the 2nd, 1689, aged 66 years, and having been minister at Peniston forty years.

Here lyeth the body of JoHanna Swirt, who was daughter of Robert Holdanby, late of Holdanby, esq., deceased, and wife to Mr. Henry Swift, late minister of Peniston. She dyed June 22, 1696. Under this stone there lyeth one, Did good to all and harm to none.

Joanna Swirt, placed near her dear sister. She came into the world before her and went to heaven after her. They were pleasant in their lives, and in their death not divided. Happy are they that have a part in the first resur- rection; on them the second death shall have no power. She was interred the 31st of August 1688.1 Here lies the body of Joun Opcrort, quondam minister de Wortley, here interred Jan. 15, 1691. Rosamunp his wife was interred 6th Sept. 1704. Here was interred the body of Mr. EpmMunp Houau, late vicar of Peniston, who departed this life in the 54th year of his age, and was buried on the 26th day of August, anno D’ni 1717. Here also was interred SARAH his wife. She died May the 14th, 1748, aged 84 years. Hic requiescit pars terrena GuLIELMI Norris, capelle de Denby nuper ministri; cujus morientis beneficia extento zvo perduci voluerunt heredes. Ob. 4 Martii, 1733, et. 74. i It appears by the register that this was a daughter of Henry Swift the minister. ‘“ 1688, Aug. 31. Sep. Joanna fflia Henrici Swift.”

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In memory of the Rev. Mr. BENJAMIN SHAw, minister of Bullhouse chapel, who died the 28th day of September 1771, aged 48 years.

Here lieth MoLyNEAUX Bunny, who served with reputation in the armies of king William and queen Anne, and was a gentleman born. He died on the 6th day of May, anno Dom. 1749. Here lieth the body of Joun SanpErson, of Thurlston, yeoman, and father of Dr. Sanderson, professor of mathematics of Cambridge, who was buried the 3d day of May 1725, aged 71 years. As at Bradfield and Stannington a copy of the Book of Martyrs was kept in this church. It was given by the same hand which presented the copy to Bradfield, John Shaw, the ejected vicar of Rotherham, as appears by this inscription: “This second volume of the Book of Martyrs was given by John Shaw, of Rotherham, clerke, May 19, 1666, unto the parish church of Peniston, there to be constantly kept, to be read by any of the inhabitants of that parish, or others that desire there to read therein. And the good Lord give a gracious blessing to all the readers and hearers of it there read. So heartily prays the donour hereof, John Shaw.”’

The early parish registers are lost.

1660, Nov. 19. Exias WorpswortTu, artium magister; juvenis pius et egregie eruditus, sepultus fuit in cemeterio ecclesiz Penistoniensis.

1698, Mar. 29. Sep. Maria uxor JoHANNIS BLACKBURN, parricide, una cum Josepho filio eyusdem.

Torre has only the following testamentary burials: William Turton, senior, 1443; Robert Burdet, 1451; Richard Jenkinson, of Thurgoland, 1507; John Jessop, of Birchworth. 1569. Neither in Holgate’s Return nor in king Henry’s Valor is any notice of any chantry in the church of Peniston; yet there were certainly two, one of Our Lady and one of St. Erasmus, as the following documents will show:

1. A paper entitled, ‘ Rentale et Reddit. Sanctz Mariz.’” The rents are arranged according to the ‘‘ quarters” of the parish, and are summed up thus:

De Quart. Denby : - XXIS. 11d. De Quart. Langset. - - XIlIs. xid. d De Quart. Sancti Joh’is : ‘Xd; £ See De Quart. Thurlston - - XXS. ero. De Quart. Hunself — - - XVIIIS.

This was in 1450; and there is added the following list of chaplains in the service .

At that day was sir William Wardysworth chaplain in our lady sarvis. M¢ that sir Will. Walker entred into our lady sarvis at Penistone, x1 April

1472. M¢ that sir Will. Addy, senior, entered into our lady sarvis at Peniston, Ig September 1477. M¢ that sir Will. Addy, junior, entered into our lady sarvis at Peniston, xith day of November 1534.

Lands belonging to the service of our lady at Peniston were bought of the queen before 1569, by Francis Barker and Thomas Blackway.

2. Hec carta indentata testatur quod ego Ad. Russel dedi et concessi Deo et Beate Mariz unum annuale redditum octo denarior. percipiend. annuatim in festo Sancti Oswaldi regis de una placed’ terree jacen. in quodam loco qui

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16 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

vocatur Alditrode in villa et territor. de Thurlston, ad inveniend. unam candelam ardentem in ecclesia parochial de Peniston coram imagine Beatz Mariz in capella su& pro animé mea et animabus heredum et antecessorum meorum. This charter was dated at Peniston, on the feast of the apostles Philip and James, 14 Edward III., and has Aymer Burdet and John de Gunnilthwayte, and other witnesses. 3. William Marshall, of Denby, yeoman, had received a rent charge of five shillings from William Blackburn, late of Huddersfield, yeoman, upon his house in Huddersfield. He grants this to Richard Burdett, esq., William Benson, chaplain, and others, to the use of his will, which on 1 August 20 Henry VIII. he declared to be that they should suffer the said William Benson, chaplain, chantry priest of Seynt Herasme within the parish church of St. John Baptist in Penyston, and all other priests that shalbe hereafter elected, named, and chosen, to syng and celebrate masse and oder dyvyn service att the awter of Seynt Herasme in the same church in the honour of God and Seynt Herasme, yerly to receive 4s. and 11d. of the said 5s. for the increasing their salarye, the remaining penny to be paid to him and his heirs. 4. William Greffe [Greaves], of the parish of Peniston, made his will 2 Oct. 1524. He directs that he shall be buried im the Kyrke of Saint Joum Baptiste, of Penyston, in our lady Quere. ‘Also I gyffe to the lady servis of Penyston a kawe [cow], and to the service of Saint Erasme a kawe. To a prest to synge for my sowle one zere £4. His feoffees are to make a state of 3s. 4d. of the lands of Percival Hellewill to sir William Benson for the term of his life, except he have a servis in any place that he may live conveniently on. And the said sir Will’m sall cause ev’e zere a myngynge to be rongyne, and offer one pene at a masse, and pay the clerke his dute ; and then after his decesse to turne to the servis of saint Erasme yf the parysche will make it a servys, or else to turne to owre lade servys for ever.” The probate granted by archbishop Wolsey bears date 10 November 1524. It is perhaps owing to the revenues of these chantries being rather small rent charges than lands and tenements, that they are not found in the list of chantries. It appears from Greffe’s will that the foundation of the chantry of saint Erasmus was not completed as late as 1524; but that it was completed not long after that date appears by the following inscription round the wood work of a seat on the north side the church near the door: ‘ Orate pro animabus Wil’mi Wordeworth et Johanne uxoris ac pro anima Will’mi Benson qui hanc capellam fieri fecerunt in honorem sancti Erasmi et sancti Anthoni, A°® D’ni M D°.XXX.” Posssibly the two cottages which were the subject of an award made in the 1 Mary, by John Hollynworth, of Hollynworth-hall in Cheshire, gent., Thomas Barnby, of Barnby, gent., William Hawksworth, of Gunthwaite, William Words- worth, of Falthwaite, John Coldwell, of Handbank, and John Wordsworth, of Waterhall, were part of the chantry endowments. The possession of these was disputed between Ralph Greaves of Hunshelf, yeoman, in right of the whole body of the parish of Peniston, and Ralph Wordsworth, of Peniston, son and heir-apparent of William Wordsworth, deceased. ‘They award the cottages to the parish, but Wordsworth is to have a lease of them for thirty-four years, which was granted by Greaves and the churchwardens.

THE CHAPEL OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST. This chapel occurs in a charter s. d. of John, son of William de Peniston. It had its particular custos, as appears by certain charters of the year 1430,

Page 35

PENISTON. 17

respecting lands at Gunthwaite, where one of the parties is John del Rodes, custos capellz sancti Joh’is apud Peniston. It appears to have been accounted part of the rectory, since in the lease to Burdet and Hawksworth it was stipu- lated on the part of the college of Saint Stephen, that the tenants should repair the late chapel of St. John the Baptist of Peniston, and all houses, barns, and tenements belonging to the same. The site of this chapel was a little distant from the town. It was doubtless originally the seat of some solitary religious, a species of devotee of whom Saint John the Baptist was the universal patron. There is, little piece of ground, called the Hermit-yard, adjoining to the site of the chapel. It belongs to the grammar-school of Peniston, and in a rental of the school lands made in 6 Charles I. is thus described, ‘“‘ The Hermit-yard, containing three roods on the south side the highway leading up from the chapel, and abutteth on the site of the said chapel called St. John’s chapel towards the east, and the lands late of Nicholas Bamfurth called Levy-lands on the south, and the lands of John Bam- furth called Calf-close towards the west, and is worth by year 6s. 8d.; and now demised at 3s. by sir Francis Wortley’s officers, and hath been detained from the school by the space of twelve years last past.” The remains of this chapel were demolished by the tenant, Jonathan Michel, about sixty years ago; but the site is still called the Old Chapel.

THE GRAMMAR, SCHOOL.

On October 8, 2 James J.a commission of charitable uses, consisting of sir John Savile, knight, Robert Kaye, esq., John Armitage, esq., John Favour, vicar of Halifax, and Robert Cooke, vicar of Leeds, sat at Wakefield, and having summoned John Sotwell, clerk, Ralph Wordsworth, Ellis Mickethwaite, Ralph West, and ten other persons, to account for such evidence and rents as they may have concerning the lands belonging to Peniston school; the jury found that there were, Houses, stables, buildings, and gardens, at the north end of the town betwixt Saint-Mary-lane and the Cockpit-lane, being the gift of one Mr. Clarel, of Aldwark, then lord of the town of Peniston, as appeared by certain old writings. The Rough-field and Rough-field-ing, with cottages at the west end of the town. Two closes in the east field of Peniston. The Armit-yard in Peniston, with sundry other lands, and divers rent charges upon lands in various parts of the parish, all belonging to the free grammar school of Peniston, and the commission did so adjudge them to belong. Upon this inquest a decree of chancery was made. The whole of the land together, according to a survey made in 1702, was about 24 acres. Complaints being made in 1677 by Nathan Staniforth, then the master of the school, that the lands were underlet, a second commission issued, and the affairs of the school were reduced into better order by a decree enrolled in chancery, dated 12 June, 29 Charles II. By the decree the school property was vested in the vicar for the time being, and in eight gentlemen elected for this purpose, who were,

Godfrey Bosvile, esq. Josiah Wordsworth, yeo. Sylvanus Rich, gent. William Beevor, yeo. Robert Blackburn, yeo. Arthur Hinchliffe, yeo. George Walker, yeo. Francis Morton, gent.

Page 36

18 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

George Sedascue, of Gunthwaite-hall, esq., gave by will £20 to the master of this school. It lay for some time at interest: but was at length expended in part payment for the erection of a dwelling-house for the master. The memory of this benefactor, who was a Bohemian of some distinction, who fled to England and was an officer in the parliament army, is preserved by the following inscription over the school-house door : GEORGIUS SEDESCUE, arm. XX.L. in usum hujus schole legavit, quas Gulielmus Bosseville, arm. eedibus hisce reaedificandis impendit. An® Dni 1717.1 We proceed to the other townships of this parish.

GUNTHWAITE.

The hall, the centre of the slender population of this small township, is situated about two miles north of the town of FPeniston, from which it is separated by the intervention of the township of Hoyland Swein, a member of the parish of Silkston. It is situated near the springs of one of those rivulets which united form the Dearne, and where the country begins to lose that moorland appearance by which the greater part of the parish of Peniston is characterised. The hall of Gunthwaite having been for many ages the residence of the lords of this demesne, we shall have more to say respecting this township than respecting others of much greater extent. The etymology of it is to be sought, not in its present orthography, in which an important syllable is suppressed, but in the form in which it appears in all earlier charters, in which the name occurs Gunnilthwaite, the thwaite of one Gunnil or Gunnold, no uncommon name in the Saxon population of England. It does not occur in Domesday: and if there was any cultivation at this point at the time of the Conquest, which probably there was, the account of it is included in what is said of its neighbour Denby, where were three carucates and a vaccary. That it passed to the Lacis, and was held under them by the descendants of Ailric, the whole course of the evidence respecting it shows. The next step in subinfeudation requires particular proof. In some memoranda respecting this place made by the last Godfrey Bosvile, he says that it was held by the family who were called de Byrton from Kirk-Burton, their usual place of residence, and that it passed to an heiress who married Darcy, whose grandson sold to John de Gunnilthwaite. In this he appears to have followed a pedigree among his evidences drawn up in the time of Henry VIL, in which we have a series of Burtons and Gunthwaites, and the fact of the sale is stated. Further, of the early deeds of the Gunthwaites, in Mr. Wilson’s possession, the Byrtons are occasionally spoken of as Domini mei, and there is a charter of 33 Edward III. by which Henry Darcy, citizen of London, gives to

1 The connection of Sedascue with the Bosviles arose from his marriage with Mary, daughter of Godfrey Bosvile, of Gunthwaite. He lost his estate by the battle of Prague, being on the side of the Elector Palatine, He died at Heath-hall, and was buried at Normanton in 1688.

Page 37

GUNTHWAITE. 19

John Gonnildthwayte,! son and heir of Roger Gonnildthwayte, of the county of York, totum manerium meum de Gonnildthorpe, and all lands, &c., which he had in Burton, Barnsley, and Keresford, with his water-mill at Gonnild- thwayte, with wards, reliefs, &c., and all liberties in aquis, stagnis, vivariis, pomariis, &c., to the same manor belonging, with the half of the water-mill in Thurgoland, of which Matthew Daniel now has the other half. This deed it cannot be doubted was intended to place the Gunthwaites, who had previously been only tenants to Darcy and his ancestors, in the situation in which the Darcys stood; and we have another charter which shows that they were accepted as tenants by those who stood in a superior position to the Byrtons and Darcies. We have not indeed the charter itself; but in the reign of Edward VI. when the Bosviles had succeeded to the Gunthwaites in the possession of these lands, Godfrey Bosvile, the first of the name, obtained from the lord Mounteagle, who then represented the Neviles, and through them the line of one of the coheirs of Adam Fitz-Swein, a ratification of a charter of sir Robert Nevile to John Gonniltwayte, to the effect, as there recited, that Robert granted to John the manor of Gonnilthwaite, with its appurtenances, and an assart in Gonnil- thwaite, called Colmanclif, with all commons and liberties, &c., to hold of the said Robert at a rent of 5d. The date of this charter is not recited, but there cannot be a doubt that it was coincident with the grant by Darcy. The original of lord Mounteagle’s charter is among the Gunthwayte evidences ; and the conclusion to be drawn [rom this charter and that by Darcy, is that in the reign of Edward III. John de Gunthwaite became lord of the manor of Gunthwaite, holding of sir Robert de Nevile, who held it cf the castle of Pontefract as parcel of his great tenure usually called the manor of Brierley. In this honourable rank among the tenures of Yorkshire it passed to the Bosviles, from whom it has descended to lord Macdonald, the present possessor. But though it does certainly appear that the Byrtons stood in the position of superior lords to the family who bore the name of Gunthwaite as their addition, residing upon these lands, the rights of the Byrtons seem not to have extended through the whole of Gunthwaite. The estate called the Rodes, now Broad Oak, was held (as some other lands) of the knights hospitalers, as belonging to their preceptory of Newland, but from the absence of all chartu- laries of that foundation, we do not know who was the benefactor to whom they owed it. But of them the Rodes is in early evidences said to be held; though I find that in the 19th of Elizabeth, John Hawksworth, who held these lands, refused to do suit at the court of Godfrey Bosvile for his manor of Gunthwaite, alleging that he held them of the manor of Brierley.

I shall add a few extracts from charters relating to Gunthwaite before the purchase of the manor by John de Gunthwaite.

We have the advantage of having three generations shown in a very early deed, by which William de Gunnilthwaite gives to Laurence, son of John his son, house there, held of Newland at arent of 12d. Simon filius Willielmi de Gun- nilthyat gives Willielmo alumpno Petri clerici de Birton avunculi mei, the homage and service of certain persons at Gunthwaite. Laurence, son of John de Gonnilthwayte, quit claims to Henry, son of Nicholas de Byrton, Domino meo, all my land in the vill and territory of Gunnildthwayte. John, son of Martin de Gunnildthwayte, quitclaims to Roger son of Henry de Byrton, sundry lands in Gunthwaite to hold of the chief lords.

1 Among the charters at the British Museum, 49 D 1, is one from Henry Darcy to John de Gonnuldthwaite, of the manor of Gonnuldthwaite, &c., 8 Edward III,

Page 38

20 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

NICHOLAS DE BYRTON.=. ..; WILLIAM DE GUNTHWAITE.—=.... I HENRY.—. ele Jonn.=. 4 EA fed I ROGER — LAURENCE.= .

All these deeds belong to an early period in the reign of Edward I. or even to the reign of Henry III. It would seem as if they showed the Byrtons acquiring their rights here. Roger, son of Henry de Gunthwaite, charged his lands there with the pay- ment of 12d. annually to the church of Peniston, one half to the light below the cross, the other half to the service of St. Mary. That was done before dates were in use in charters. He, it may be presumed, is the Roger de Gunth- waite who in 7 Edward I. took a quitclaim from John, son of John Aye del Rodes de Gunnildthwayt, who calls him his lord, of lands held of Roger in Gunthwaite. The date is die Martii prox. post pasche floridum. In 1281, John, the son of John de Rodes de Gunnildthwayt, quit-claimed to Henry de Byrton, his lord, all advantage of his waste belonging to Gunthwaite, so that neither he nor his heirs should make any claim to it; and that neither he nor his heirs should alienate without consent of Henry first obtained, and that if they do so they shall pay to him a mark for each acre so alienated, with power to distrain for the same. In this deed were witnesses Matthew de Oxspring and Robert his son or brother, “f.’’ John de Peniston, William de Denby, and Robert his son, Thomas de Veteri Campo, Simon de Birchworth, John son of Alan de Denby, and Richard de Calthorn, clerk. In 1310 Roger de Gunthwaite granted to William le Couper and Agnes his wife lands at Gunthwaite for thirteen years at a rent of 4s. 8d. and to grind his corn at the mill there pro vicesimo grano. There are several other charters of Roger de Gunthwaite, who was certainly the head of the family, extending to 1321, after which he does not appear. His wife was Isabel, and he had a son John, as appears by one of his charters respecting lands at Barnsley in 1316. In 1348, John, son of Roger de Gunthwaite, appears with Christiana his wife, when they took a tenement in Gunthwaite from Robert, son of Roger Milner, of Gunthwaite; and in 1359 he took the grant from Darcy. In that year began (as far as the evidence before us shows) the connection between the Gunthwaites and the Bosviles. We have, 1, a deed of October 20 in that year, by which Thomas Bayliffe, of Barnsley, and Thomas, son of Robert the clerk, of Barnsley, give to John de Gunthwaite and Christiana his wife, for the lfe of both of them, the manor of Gunthwaite with water mill and suit of tenants, which we have of the gift of the said John, with remainder on their decease to Thomas de Bosseville de Erdesley for term of life, remainder to Alice, wife of the said Thomas for life; remainder to Thomas, son and heir of the said Thomas; remainder to Richard and William, other sons, and their respective heirs male; remainder to the right heirs of Thomas de Bosseville. This entail bears date at Gunthwaite on Sunday, October 20, 1359. Aymer Burdet, John de Dronsfield, and John de Stainton, were among the witnesses. In 1374 John de Gunthwaite was dead, and Christiana in her pure widow- hood released her life-interest in the manor of Gunthwaite to Thomas Bosvile, of Erdsley, and his heirs, for a rent of ten marks to begin at Pentecost 1375. To this deed is a seal in red wax, with the arms of Bosvile with the three bears’ heads in chief. There is nothing in any charter I have seen of either Gunthwaite or Bosvile,

Page 39

GUNTHWAITE. 21

to show on what inducement the Gunthwaites assigned this manor to Bosvile, but the opinion in the Bosviles always was that Alice, the wife of Thomas, was the daughter and heir of John and Christiana, and this opinion is countenanced by the arms of Gunthwaite having been allowed by the heralds as a quartering to the later Bosviles; and by the non-appearance of any other person as the wife of the said Thomas. Such arguments must be allowed to go for no more than they are worth. We have, however, the plain and important fact placed upon the surest ground of evidence, the very charter by which the conveyance was made, that the manor of Gunthwaite passed at this period from the name of Gunthwaite to that of Bosvile. In 1381 Thomas Bosvile had a charter of free warren here, and in his other lands in the county of York. In the same year he gave to Alice, who was the wife of Roger Bosvile his son, for term of life, the manor of Gunthwaite, with remainder to William son of the said Roger and Alice, and the heirs of his body. In 1402, William Bosyvile, of New-hall, gave to John Scott and others his manor of Gunylthwaite, as it still continues to be called, which he had of the gift and feofment of Thomas Bosvile, of Erdsley. This deed was executed at Gunthwaite, and sir William Dronsfield and Nicholas Burdett were among the witnesses. Scott and the rest assign to sir William Dronsfield, John Cawthorne, parson of the mediety of the church of Hoyland, and others; who, by deed ‘ dated at West Bretton, 1 Aug. 7 Hen. IV., 1406, convey the said manor to William Bosvile, of Newhall, and Joan his wife, for term of life, and at their deaths to revert to the donors. To this deed sir Robert Rockley and sir William Rilston, knights, were witnesses. By another deed, the Sunday after the Cir- cumcision, 8 Henry IV., 1407, sir William Dronsfield being then deceased, the other trustees grant the reversion, after the death of Wiliam and Joan, to John Bosvile, of Ardsley. There was after this, namely in 11 Henry IV., a recovery in the Court at Westminster, of this manor, by John Bosvile, against Wilham de Staveley and Joan his wife, to whom, however, he granted the manor, with sixty acres in Cawthorn, by deed dated in the same year. In 1433 John Bosvile was in possession, and having granted this and his other manors to trustees, he had a re-grant of them, and immediately after conveyed them to Maud countess of Cambridge, William Scargel, Percival Cresacre, and others. He died 21 Henry VI., leaving William his son and heir, then aged 4o. Administration of his goods was granted to Isabel his relict, and John Mirfield, his executors. For nearly a century Gunthwaite continued a member of the estates held by the family of Bosvile, of Newhall, in Ardsley; but in or before 1460 it became severed from the estates of the elder branch, and settled upona younger son, who was the immediate progenitor of the Bosviles who are described as of this place. John Bosvile was twice married. His first wife was a coheir of the lords of Woodhall, and his second a daughter of Percival Cresacre, of Barnborough. By his first wife he had William, his son and heir, who had Thomas, from whom descended the later Bosviles of Newhall and Ardsley. By his second wife he had Richard and others. _ On Richard, Gunthwaite was settled. It appears to have been the act of his mother ; and we have the following rather curious document respecting it: This Indenture beres witnes that Isabell Langton, wyf of Henri Langton, Esquyer, is aggreid and faithfullie ensured that it is her will, and also that schou [she] praies that Sir Thomas Haryngton, knyght, and William Norton, of Bil-

Page 40

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Page 41

I Witiiam Bosvite, of Gunthwaite, esq.

ficer in the parliament army, d. 3 April 1662, and was buried at Peniston.

Pe

died

a I

TO" lan,

at

I

ELIZABETH, mar. Herbert Pelham, of Fewer, co. Es-

cg ees ah ee Ne er a eee —=Mary, dau. and heir of Roger Wilkinson, citizen of London, 1661, buried

I Mary, mar. George James

Sedascue, a Bohemian, an officer in the parliament

niston. SeX, esq.

I le ise

army.

Goprrey Bosvite of=BrinGet, dau. of sir

Gunthwaite, esq., el- dest son and heir, a justice of the peace, and high sheriff 1705; died without issue 18 June 1714, and was buried at Peniston.

Jo..Hotham; of Scar- borough, bart, by Eh- zabeth his wife, sister and heir of Sapcot Visc. Beaumont, ma. Oct. 1681/ died Dec. 1708, bu. at Peniston.

icine of Kensington, el- dest son, d. with out issue in the life-time of his uncle Godfrey.

a

~

‘ee el we de BOSVILE,—ALICE, of capt. Ri- chardson, of the Powder- Mills on Hounslow

Heath.

pher Wan ford, of Ix lington, si

comer.

I WILLIAM Bos-

VILE, som and heir apparent, died young.

I : ; BosviLe, of Gunthwaite

and “Thorpe, esq., eldest son and heir, born 21 July 1745, bap. at St. George’s, Hanover-square; d. unm. in Welbeck-street, London Dec. 16, 1813, when the male heir of Bos- vile of Gunthwaite became extinct : buried with his father.

Ww. et sir Christo-

to lord Castle-

Bos-=

VILE, of Heath, esq., 2d son, bo. 2 March 1655, died before his I brother. I

d. WILLIAM

des- irk- ster

ton.

GopFrrREY Bosvi_r, of Gunthwaite, esq. and of Thorpe=D1Ana in the East Riding, bap. at Denby chapel 20 May 1717, I died in Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, 1784, bur. at St. Giles in the Fields, London.

Ac

-)

eee BLACKETT JOSVILE, 2d son, a captain in the Cold- stream regiment of guards, slain at Liensells, married Miss Wilson.

I I ALEXANDER, 2nd _ lord

Macdonald, died with- out issue 1824.

GopFrREy MacponaLp, 2d son; on being made principal heir to his uncle:assumed the name of Bosvite by royal sign manual April 1814; became the 3rd lord Mac- donald on the death of his elder brother, now lord of Gunthwaite 1830.

of Gunthwaite, esq. 2d son, heir to his uncle, died 6 June 1724, aged 41, and was buried at Penis-

BENEDICTA, Mary, mar. at Peniston 15 Nov. 1664, to Ed- dali. Ob. vc mund Bunny, of Newland, esq. lisher,relict ELIZABETH, ma. 1, John Allot, of Bentley, gent. of Joh. Hud- 2, Thomas Bowden, of Bowden, co. Derby, esq. son, both of buried at Emley 7 Jan. 1706. Bristol, died MARGARET, died unmarried after 1694. im 1719. PRISCILLA, ma. 1, Jervas Armitage, gent. chard Hartley.

a

-

, Rig

I SUSAN,

died young.

BosviLE,—=Brincet, dau. of John—Hvueu Bosvite,

I — . I of Gray’s Inn,

I Wheatley, of Royston, gent. a younger son of I esq.2d husband, Jno. Wheatley, of Wol- I a younger son ley, esq. mar, at Mid- I of Thomas Bos- hope-chapel 29 Sept. I vile, of Braith- 1729, to her 2d husb. I well.

I

, eldest dau. of sir Will. Wentworth, of West Bretton, bart. sister of sir Tho. Blackett, I of the same place.

I 7 I I

I I

I Mary Bosvi Le, only,

issue, mar. Thomas Place, of Green Ham- merton, esq.

January

: I I ELIZABETH DIANA WILLIAM Ros

Bosvite, eldest da. Warp, I VILE, young. baptised at Denby- lord visc. I dau. mar. at

ALEXANDER MACDONALD, baron Macdo- nald, of Slate in thie ete domof Ireland, buat Sit. Mar- garet’s, Westm.

~ > mar, at St. Giles in and Ward, I Hanover- the Fields 3 May died 1823. I square, 1 1768, died in 1780; August, 1780, — WILLIAM, the present earl of

Dudley.

1 Several daughters of this John are mentioned in accounts of this family, all married to persons remote from Yorkshire and Derbyshire; viz., Ellen

to to John Sheffield, of Epworth.

Gibson, alias Taylor ; Dionysia to Henry Pigot, of Croydon ; Ann to —

Denny ; Agnes to Thomas Cook, of Cambridgeshire ; and Elizabeth

Page 42

24 HISTORY OF PENISTONE:

burgh, or their heirs, immediatlie within six wekes after discesse of the seid Isabell, shall make a state of the manor of the Newhall, wyth thappurtenance, to Thomas Bosvile, of Ardesley, and to his heirs, on condicion that the seid Thomas Bosvile and his heirs relesse to Richard Bosvile and his heirs all the rent that he and his heirs has or have may in the manor of Gunthwayte, with all th’ appurtenance, and also in all the landes, tenements, and burgages, in Barnesley and Keresford, with thair appurtenance, which the seid Richard has of gyft and feoffement of Thomas Anne, Thomas Beaumont, and John Gisburn, prest; and if so be that the seid Thomas Bosvyle, or his heirs, refuse and will not relesse in the forme abovesaid, that then the will of the seid Isabell ‘is, that the seid Thomas Haryngton, knyght, and William Norton, or their heirs, make a state of the seid manor of the Newhall, with thappurtenances, to the said Richard Bosvyle, son of the seid Isabell, and to the heirs of his body lawfullie begotten; and for defawte of such issue, the remainder thereof to the seid Thomas Bosvile and his heirs and assignes forever. In witnesse wherof, as well the seid Isabell as the seid Thomas Anne, Thomas Beaumont, and John Gisburn, feoffez to her use, have set herto their seallez. Written xxi daie of July, the yere of the reigne of King Henr. the Sext alter the Conquest xxxvull. From this time our account of the owners of Gunthwaite is very complete. The house at Gunthwaite was occasionally the residence of Richard and the two Johns; but they appear to have resided more at Beighton, in Derbyshire, where they were farmers of the estate of lord Dacre of the South. Richard is buried in the church of Beighton, and his monument still exists there, a plain stone with the usual inscription round the verge. John his son is described as of Beighton in 1516, when he and his son, also named John, were appointed attornies to receive a certain charter from Henry Columbell. John Bosvile is described as of Beighton, esq., in 33 Henry VIII., when he had a grant from John Boswell, of Belhouse-grange, near Welbeck, gent., of the wardship and marriage of Christopher his son and heir ; and ina release dated in 2 Elizabeth, given by Merial Bosvile, of London, to Godfrey Bosvile, son, heir, and executor to the said John. The two younger sons of the second John were sent to London, and there one of them acquired a estate: Henny, the jouncer little is known but that he was placed as an apprentice to sir William Hewet, citizen and cloth-worker, and was admitted to the freedom of his company in the first year of queen Elizabeth. Of Ralph we shall speak hereafter. Godfrey, the eldest son of John, and the first Bosvile of that name, resided more at Gunthwaite than any of his predecessors, though in his will he styles himself of Beighton, esq. I find him described as of Gunthwaite, in a receipt for tithe, 1545; im 1550, when he was engaged in a suit respecting lands there, with William Turton’ of Denby, Ottiwel Marshden, and John Burdet; and again, in 1552 [Gonuldthwayte], in a receipt given by Thomas ‘Dawney, for money paid to him in the parish church of Snaith, according to an award made by sir Francis Hastings, Thomas Metham, and Francis Frobisher, esquires. Many pieces of evidence of this Godfrey have descended with the estate of Gunthwaite. It was he who obtained the recognition from the lord Mounteagle. Besides the recognition, he took three and twenty years after a grant from sir William Stanley lord Mounteagle, under the description of Godfrey Bosvile, esq., lord of the manors of Gumblethwaite and Oxspring, “ totum servitium, reddi- tum, relevium, wardium, et sectas curiarum, escaet. maritag. quocunque dicti Godfridi Bossevile, et heredum suorum, et Johannis Micklethwaite, et heredum suorum; ac etiam tota servitia, moras, wasta, communia, aquas, &c., in villis de Gunthwaite, Oxspring, et Ingbirchworth.” He was the purchaser of the

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GUNTHWAITE. zs

manor of Oxspring; took a grant from his brother of the rectory, manor, and presentation of the church of Peniston; and having in various ways advanced his family, he made his will July 22, 1580, the day before his death. He declares that he makes it, “considering the great ambiguities, doubts, troubles, suits, traverses, and questions, that daily do arise and grow in last wills.’ He directs that he shall be buried in the church of Beighton, without any pomp or outward pride of the world; his debts to be paid, and reparation made for injuries done by him. He gives to his son Francis two great carved bedsteads of wood, at Gonnildwhait, a goblet of silver gilt, and cover, and all other heir looms, selings, and stuff, as hath been and is known for heir looms at Gonnildthwaite, and such as shall be set forth as heir looms; also bed and bedsteads at his Lodge at Oxspring, and tables and forms there, with all his harness, cross-bows, rack, and artillery. ‘They are to descend as heir-looms to the use of his heirs male. He next gives to his son the manor of Gunthwaite, and the lease of the manor of Beighton, which he has of the demise of Gregory Fynes lord Dacre of the South. If his son die without issue male before the expiration of the lease, the remainder to his brothers Ralph and Henry. He gives to his executors for seven years his manors of Oxspring, Peniston, Caw- thorn, and Keresford, to pay debts and raise portions for his daughters. He makes his brother Henry Bosvile and his son Francis executors, and his brother Ralph Bosvile and cousin Thomas Barnby supervisors. The supervisors are to have the order of his son Francis, which he is the bolder to appoint, because he knows full well that he holds no manner of lands of any person or persons by knight-service ; and he ends with entreating them to attend to the honest bringing up of this his only son in learning and other virtuous education. His wife, it seems, was dead ; but it is remarkable, considering the splendid connection which she brought with her, being sister to Elizabeth, at that time countess of Shrewsbury, a lady of incomparable power and influence all around him, that there is not the slightest notice of her or any of her connections. His inquisition was taken at Wakefield, on the 5th of October following, before Francis Pover, escheator ; when it was found that he died seised of— A capital messuage called Gunthwaite Hall, alias Gummaldthwate-hall, and tenement and mill there held of George earl of Shrewsbury, as of his manor of Brierley, by knight service and the rent of 3s. A capital messuage called Oxspring Hall, held of the same. Tenements at Cawthorne, held of the same. Lands at Thurlston, held of Edward Savile, esq. Lands at Barnsley, held of the queen as of her manor of Barnsley. Lands and tenements at Peniston, held of the queen as of the manor of East Greenwich ; And that Francis is his son and heir, and aged seventeen years and three months. Francis Bosvile was married and was residing at Gunthwaite when the heralds visited Yorkshire in 1585. By the marriage of his sisters he became connected with four of the most considerable families in the West Riding ; and he himself took to wife a daughter of Copley of Batley, by which he entered upon near alliance with other branches of the great family of Savile, and with many others of the principal gentry of the West Riding. But he died too early in life to have taken any important position in public affairs, having scarcely reached his thirtieth year. But he lived long enough to make a very important disposition of Gunth- waite, and the other estates which had accrued to him. We may perceive in his father’s will that there was a disposition in his mind to favour the male

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26 HISTORY OF “PENTSTONE.

descent in his antient house rather than any posterity which his daughters might have, a feeling which has remarkably prevailed in the different branches of this family ; and according to this intention, soon after his marriage, by indenture, dated January 8, 28 Elizabeth, 1586, between himself on the first part, Avery Copley the younger, and John Dighton the younger, gentlemen, of the second part, Robert Bradford, esq. and Christopher Copley, gent. of the third, in consideration of a marriage had and solemnized, for a jointure and for love and affection to those of his kinsfolks mentioned hereafter, he covenants to levy a fine of the manors of Gunthwaite, Oxspring, and Peniston, and all his lands there, and in Thurlston, Cawthorn, Barnsley, Ardslow, Denby, Walton, Rough Birchworth, and Keresford Hill, as the right of Avery Copley, of the gilt of the said Francis, to be followed by a recovery to Bradford and Christopher Copley; and finally to stand to the use of Francis Bosvile and Dorothy his wife for term of life; remainder To the heirs of the body of Francis; for default to Ralph Bosvile, of London, gent. and the heirs male of his body; for default to dame Isabel Savile, widow, late wife of sir Robert Savile, knight, and daughter of Avery Copley; and after her decease to Grace Savile her daughter for life; after their decease to Robert Bosvile, of London, gent. brother to Ralph, and the heirs male of his body; in default to Henry Bosvile, of Bradborn, esq. and the heirs male of his body; in default to Richard Bosvile, of London, gent. and the heirs male of his body; in default to John Bosvile, of London, gent., and the heirs male of his body; in default to Thomas Bosvile, son and heir apparent of Gervas Bosvile, of New Hall, esq. and the heirs male of his body; and in default to the right heirs of Francis Bosvile. Not long after the execution of this settlement, Francis Bosvile died without leaving issue, and his widow took for her second husband Lionel Rolston, esq. of a family at Tanshelf in Pontefract, and as by the above settlement the estates of the Bosviles were hers for life, she and Rolston resided upon them as long as she lived. He is described as having been a captain of foot in Ireland, and in other foreign service. At Gunthwaite he acted as a justice of the peace in the latter end of the reign of Elizabeth. The date of the death of Dorothy has not been ascertained, but Rolston survived and again took to wife a daughter of Cressy, of Birkin. On the death of Dorothy the estates of Francis Bosvile descended to God- frey Bosvile, the only son of Ralph Bosvile, who is described in the settlement as of London, gentleman. I find this Godfrey described as Godfrey Bosvile, of Gunthwaite, esq. in an indenture dated 3 December 16 James I. to which Lionel Rolston is a party. The second Godfrey Bosvile was the grandson of Ralph, brother of the first Godfrey. Ralph had been clerk to the Court of Wards, in which office he accumulated a large fortune, with part of which he bought the rectory manor of Peniston, which he conveyed to Godfrey. But his great purchases were in KXent, where the descendants of histwo sons Henry and sir Robert were among the principal gentry of the county as long as they continued.! Ralph his third son, who was selected by Francis to be the heir of Gunthwaite, was a captain

1 Weever has a notice of Ralph Bosvile, in his funeral Monuments, p. 797. He says that the inhabitants of Sevenoke still spoke of him as having, “whilst he lived, been employed upon many occasions for the public, and deserving and having the reputation of a most worthy patriot ;” and he gives this epigram, “ written by some well-wishing versifier of the times,” in reference to his grandson, also named Ralph : “Dii tibi dent, Bosville, boves, villasque, Radulphe, Nec villa careat bosve, vel illa bove,”

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GUNTHWAITE. 27

in Ireland and there slain, or according to other accounts lost in one of the bogs. His wife, an early Copley of Wadworth, was married to him at Sprotborough ; there her son, the heir of Gunthwaite, was born; and there she married Fulk Grevile, of Thorp Latimer, co. Lincoln, cousin of sir Full Grevile who was created lord Brooke, with remainder to her son by the said Grevile. I The education of Godfrey Bosvile was among the Greviles, and his con- nection with that family was strengthened by his marriage with one of the daughters of sir Edward Grevile, who was uncle to his step-father. He even abandoned Gunthwaite as a place of residence and fixed himself at Wroxall in Warwickshire, among his wife’s kindred, where he was living when the question between the king and parliament was advancing to its mighty issue. His brother the lord Brooke, and his brother-in-law sir Arthur Hesilrigge, were both eminent asserters of popular rights; and in this they were followed by Mr. Bosvile, who had been returned member for the borough of Warwick in 1640; and was one of the Association for the defence of that county against the plundering thereof by papists and other disaffected persons, 1642. When the parties proceeded to try their strength in the field he was named one of the deputy lieutenants for Warwickshire, 28 June 1642; a lieutenant-colonel Jan. 27, 1643; and colonel of a regiment of foot March 3 following. In the autumn of 1642 he was at the defending of Warwick-castle against the king, and in the success of the lord Brooke at Coventry. He had the command of a party who recovered the speaker’s house at Besils-lee. In the December of 1642 he was attending his duty in parliament, and was deputed by the House of Commons to wait on lord Brooke to give him thanks for the excellent speech he had delivered in the House of Peers against an ac- commodation; and it seems to have been more in other affairs than those of war that colonel Bosvile signalized himself in those times. In 1643 he was named one of the commissioners for the West Riding to put in force the act for the punishment of scandalous clergymen and others, and also for the speedy raising and levying money. In 1648 he was named one of the high court of justice for the trial of the king; in which, however, he never sat ; and in the next year was one of the thirty-seven treasurers at war. His son and heir William Bosvile is named by Ludlow in his memoirs as one of a hundred gentlemen belonging to the inns of court who with himself formed themselves into a body of horse under sir Philip Stapleton, as guards to the earl of Essex. He had the rank of captain in the parliament army in

In a manuscript of Henry Nevile, of Chevet, I find this account of the family of Ralph, the clerk of the Court of Wards. His eldest son Henry left a son sir Ralph, who sold his office in that Court, and travelled abroad for his conscience. The second son Robert was knighted. The third a captain slain in Ireland, and father of Godfrey now heir of Gunthwaite. The fourth Richard, a captain also, and aftera mendicant friar. The fifth John, a priest and doctor of Sorbon at Paris. Among the evidences at.Gunthwaite is a certificate from Camden, Clarencieux, on the part and behalf of sir Ralph Bosvile, of Bradborn, knight, that he was invested with the honour of knighthood at Whitehall July 23, 1603, about the time of his majesty’s coronation; and that the said sir Ralph is a gentleman of quality, blood, and fair and antient coat armour, and of pure and undoubted lineal descent, and uninterrupted derivation from antient nobility, and from divers noble knights and esquires of this kingdom his ancestors, as well of his own sur- name as also of other noble surnames and right worthy families; and that by his marriage with Mary, the second daughter of the noble lady Margaret baroness Dacre of the South, he is allied and linked to very many of the most antient, worthy, and prime blood and nobility of this kingdom. All which by the view and examination of the worthy descents and fair and far-extending pedigrees of the said sir Ralph Bosvile, knight, and his ancestors, I find plainly and evidently proved and demonstrated to me by authentic records and evidence. Dated Sept. 21, 1621,

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28 HISTORY .OF PENISTONE:.

January 1643, and was desperately wounded in the fight at Aylesford between sir Wilham Waller and sir Ralph Hopton, 30 March, 1644. He had afterwards the rank of major, and finally of colonel. He was in several commissions in the time of the Commonwealth, as in that for selling the fee farm rents of the duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall in 1649; and in 1656 for the sale of the forests of Sherwood, Needwood, Kingswood, and Enfield. After the restoration he made the declaration required, on May 25, 1660, and received his pardon. On this, he and his wife, a step-daughter of sir Isaac Pennington, the lord mayor of London, retired to Gunthwaite,! where they both died within two years, and were buried in the church of Peniston. He left his eldest son and heir, the third Godfrey, a minor about seven years old. During his minority the rents of his estate were received by George Barnby, a zealous friend of tie family, and major Sedascue, who had married his aunt. When he came of age he fixed himself at Gunthwaite, a place which he much improved by buildings, and by the purchase of lands at Ingbirchworth and Micklethwaite Fields, for the improvement of the park. He bought also the manor of Midhope; and, for a somewhat larger sum, the manor of New Hall, the antient inheritance of his family, but which had passed from them on the extinction of the eldest branch. He served the office of high sheriff for the county in 1705, and having passed a busy and useful life expired on the 18th of June 1714, at the age of 58, and was buried in his parish church at Peniston. The next Bosvile of Gunthwaite was William Bosvile, nephew to Godfrey. His father had but a younger brother’s estate, and he himself being a younger son was intended for merchandise, and placed with Mr. Briggs, a merchant of Liverpool. Thisemployment not being agreeable to him, his uncle bought him a commission in lord Shannon’s marines in 1709. He afterwards became a captain in colonel Stanhope’s regiment of foot. His elder brother dying he became heir to his uncle, and succeeded to the estate in 1714. It was much encumbered in consequence of the purchases made by his uncle, though ulti- mately they were of great value to the family. These he relieved by the sale of Rodmore, and of a share in the Aire and Calder Navigation; and having succeeded in his great suit respecting the right of presentation to the church of Peniston, died at Gunthwaite in 1724, at the age of 42. A fourth Godfrey Bosvile succeeded, the only son of the last possessor. He was not more than seven when his father died, and during his minority his estates were managed, as he himself says, very honestly, by two non-jurors and a Roman Catholic, to whose care his father had committed him. These were Mr. Hodgson, who was steward to the earl of Cardigan, under whose admini- stration of that earl’s Yorkshire affairs Howley-hall was destroyed, Mr. Matthew- man, and Mr. Blackburn, who was afterwards steward to the duke of Norfolk. All incumbrances had been cleared from the property, and the estate of Broad Oak in Gunthwaite purchased, before he became of age. ‘This purchase gave him the entire of Gunthwaite. He added in 1748 the estate in Thurlston called Shepherd’s-castle to the possessions of the family. This Mr. Bosvile succeeded to the estate of Bianna in Staffordshire, by the will of Charles Bosvile, esq. of that place,in 1762. This Charles descended of one of the younger sons of Ralph Bosvile, the clerk of the Court of Wards, and when all the males of his line were exhausted, divided his estates between Mr. Bosvile, of Gunthwaite, and Thomas Bosvile, of London, of the Braithwell

1 He is described as of Richmond in Surrey, in a licence granted by the bishop of Winchester to himself, his wife, family, and guests, to eat flesh during Lent, dated March 2, 1660-1.

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DENBY. 29

branch of the family, father of the late William Parkin Bosvile, to whom he left Ulverstone Abbey in Leicestershire. He also succeeded to the estate of Thorpe in the East Riding in 1773, by request of Thomas Hassell, esq., a relation of Mrs. Bosvile; and he was placed heir in remainder to the estate of Bradborn in Kent by Henry Bosvile, the last of that line of Bosvile, a gentle- man with whom he had scarcely any acquaintance.! The acquisition of Thorpe proved the ruin of Gunthwaite. Mr. Bosvile, assisted by his lady, an amiable and ingenious woman, had made various improvements at Gunthwaite, but a house, never a good one, was incapable, by any additions that might be made to it, of being made a residence adequate to the demands for convenience of a family whose wealth had been in a regular course of accrescence since the time of the Commonwealth. ‘The temptations of a modern house erected to their hands at Thorpe seduced them to remove thither, and Gunthwaite, soon abandoned to tenants, began to sink into a state in which it owes its chief charms to nature and the recollections of departed consequence. Mr. Bosvile died at his house in London in 1784.? Both the sons of Mr. Bosvile entered the army in their youth. The younger was slain in Flanders; and the elder, colonel Bosvile, spent the greater part of his time in London with a literary and political circle around him, and died there in 1813, the last known male descendant of Richard Bosvile, on whom Gunthwaite was settled in the reign of Henry VI. His name once occurs in a book which will infallibly preserve the remembrance of it, “ The Diversions of Purley,” by John Horne ‘Tooke. Near the house at Gunthwaite is a venerable oak which it is no unwarrant- able conjecture to suppose may have been planted by one of the early Gun- noldthwaites. The barn said to have been built by the first Godfrey, is of the extraordinary dimensions of fifty-five yards by fifteen. In different parts of the mansion are arms of Bosvile impaling Hardwicke, and Bosvile impaling Hot- ham, the first and the third Godfrey, who were the great advancers of Gunth- waite. The three bends on an ermine field, the arms of Gunthwaite, appear upon the house, and also over one of the doors, what is supposed to have been a crest of Gunthwaite, a falcon or other bird, with their motto, a good old Engish sentiment inscribed in the old English character :

Try and Eryvst.

DENBY.

In this township are two hamlets called Over Denby and Nether Denby. The name appears to admit of analysis into the dwelling in the valley ; and the first settlement of population in this place we may thence infer was in

1 So little did they know of each other, that Henry Bosvile did not know the name of Mr. Bosvile’s seat in Yorkshire, but describes him in his will as “ of in Yorkshire, now or late of Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury.” 2 This gentleman had a turn for genealogical and historical inquiry, and made some collections for the history of hisown family. He began late in life, and had then reason to regret an indiscretion of his earlier years. 1 copy the penitential note he left behind him: “I Godfrey Bosvile, of Gunthwaite, in 1765 finished this account of the family according to the writings, and have likewise wrote the catalogue of the writings to which it refers, because in my younger years I employed an attorney at a guinea a day, for three days, to destroy such as were useless; and I am afraid that he destroyed several that were at least curious. Since that time I have been taught by Mr. John Wilson, of Broomhead, to understand them in some small degree, and have wrote upon them what they are, and have left this pedigree lest my successors should be guilty of the same folly with myself,”

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30 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

some of the dells which are found in these generally high lands. Cultivation had proceeded to a considerable extent here before the Con- quest. Edulf and Godric had three carucates. They had given way to Ilbert de Laci, and of him their lands were held by Ailric. There was a vaccary here at the time of the Doomsday Survey, and a square leuka of woodland. The value had been ten shillings at the Conquest, and was then six. The ancestors of the family of Burdet were early subinfeuded in this part of the great fee of Ailric, holding Denby of his posterity as of the manor of Brierley at a rent of 3s. 4d. The earlier lords appear with the addition de Denby, of whom Matthew de Denby is found in the Pipe Rolls of 12 Henry II.; and John, son of Adam de Denby, and Christian his wife, by deed s. d. gave the monks of Bretton three acres here ina place called Ebriches, with free common right through the whole township. The roll of the lords of Mid- hope speaks of a William de Denby, who married Sarah, daughter of sir Alexander Venavre, and had an elder son lord of Over Denby and Okynthorpe, which he sold, and died without heirs of his body. The lords of Barnby appear to have been considered by the writer of that roll as of the same stock with the Denby’s. However, the heralds of the reign of Elizabeth, who seem to have taken great pains with the descent of Burdet, and who had access to evidence which perhaps does not now exist, begin the descent with a Robert de Denby, hving in the reign of King Henry III. who by Sibil, daughter of Stephen de Helper- thorpe, had sir Robert de Denby. This sir Robert increased his possessions by marriage with Margaret, the daughter and heir of sir Robert, son of sir Adam de High Hoyland, by whom he had another Robert de Denby, who being dead without issue in 31 Edward I. his sister Margaret, wife of Robert de Balliol, was his heir. This lady married also Nicholas de Metham, by whom she had Alice married to William de la Sancery and Elizabeth to John Fekelton ; but by Balliol she had one daughter and heir, who had the manors of Denby and Hoyland by fine 32 Edward 1. to her and her husband Robert Burdet. This was the first settlement of the Burdets at Denby, where the name is obscured but not yet extinct. I follow the heralds in the ensuing pedigree. By deed dated at Denby 20 June 1410, William de Maltby and John Walker of Mirfield, chaplain, grant to Richard Burdet, lord of Denby, and Joan his wife, and the heirs of the body of the said Richard, the manors of Denby and High Hoyland ; if Richard die without issue, which God forefend, to: remain to Nicholas, son of John de Wortley, and the heirs of his body, with remainder to Richard and John, brothers of Nicholas. Richard Burdet, in the reign of Henry VIII. weakened the family by dividing it into two principal branches. He gave Hoyland to his younger son Thomas, from whom the Burdets of Birthwaite descended. This he was induced to do in displeasure to his eldest son Aymer Burdet, who had accused him of treason. Of the particulars of this affair I have been able to recover no account. In the inquisition after the death of this Richard, he was found to have died seised of the manors of Denby and Hoyland, with 17 messuages, 1200 acres of land, 500 of meadow, 4000 of pasture, 1200 of wood, a water-mill, two fulling-mills, and £9 10s. rent ; leaving Aymer his son and heir then aged fifty. The later generations are given from Hopkinsons Collections. The family did not appear at sir William Dugdale’s Visitation. The last Richard had then disposed of his estate. For £1500 and certain lands in the Level near Fin- ningley, he assigned Denby Hall, and all his estate thereabout, to the Saviles

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PEDIGREE OF BURDET, OF DENBY.

Arms. Paly of six, argent and sable, on a bend gules three birds or. Crest. On a tower argent, a bird with wings displayed or, RosBertT Burvet, temp. Edw. lady of Denby and Hoyland, dau. and heir of Robert de Balliol

I AYMER Burpet.7-IsaBEL LANGTON, mar. 2 Ralph Hyde.

I : I NICHOLAS, died s. p. RICHARD URRY at ane a is I ROBERT ... dau. of .... Bradburn. I Sue = ? ; AyMER Burpkt, living 1 Edward dau. of sir Robert Nevile, of Liversedge.

I ; dau. of Richard Wentworth, of Bretton.

I I RicHarp Burvet, of Denby 32 Hen. VIII. died 24 June 38 Hen. VIII. T dau. of John Rockley, of Rockley. I I Jed AyMER Burpet, of=Maup, dau. Tuomas Burprt, to m. TRACE, mar. George of York. Denby, eldest son, lof Thomas whom his father gave or George ISABEL, mar..... Elland. inq. p.m. 18 Eliz.; I Savile, of Hoyland, ancestor of RoGer. Wood- Dororny, mar..... Birkinhead. he was aged 50, 38 |} Exley. the Burdets of Bir- PHILP. ruffe, of ELIZABETH, m..... Clayton, of Clay- Henry VIII. thwaite. Wolley. ton in Hoyland. I I Fae BurveT, of Denby, esq.=ELizasetn, dau. of Henry Jackson, of RIcHARD Burpgrt, of Royston, NICHOLAS, living 1584. I London, 2nd son. 3d son.

! I I I I I I I I I

Ricuarp =Mary, dau. of RaLpu=....d. HEnry, BARTHOLEMEW =... Maup, m. John Mary, ma. Wil- ALICE.

liam Thwaites, SUSAN. of Denby, I vile, of Gun- DET, Black- ton in the parish I ELIZABETH, m. of Barnsley. esq. s.and I thwaite, sister 2nd born. of Sandal, d. 8 Josceline BraTRIx, mar. h. living I and coheir of son. Jun. 1657, zt. 83, Turner. Jno. Blitheman. mtn. I Fran. Bosvile. bur. at Sandal.

I I I I I I I I SaRAH, I Be re BURDET, =....2 Ww. BosVILE. 2nd son. Dorotuy, mar. Mary, m. JANE. STEPHEN Burner,

dau. of Edw. I of Denby, esq. eld. I d.of.... RICHARD, 3d son. Thomas Wheat- Edward Ar- died 27 July 1659, Browne, of I son and heir aged I Ogden. ley, of Wolley. Green, of BELLA. aged 42, buried at Creswick. 4, 1584. Cawthorne. Sandal. I I ae BuRDET, of =MaRGaRET, d. of Mary, mar. 1, Richard Pilkington; 2 sir Pe mar. Daniel Clarke, ae Denby, esq. aged 2, I Gervas Eyre, of Thomas of Whitley, knight, vicar of Kirk Burton, and po Eres 1612, living 1664. Rampton,! esq. and died his widow in 1682, curate of Denby. den,

I

GEORGE,

1 This marriage, which does not appear in the accounts of the Eyres, is on the authority of a volume of Yorkshire pedigrees in the Minster Library at York.

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32 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

of Thornhill. The manor of Denby is in the inquisition of sir William Savile, bariyan1643" The name still remains at Denby. Willam Burdet, clothier of this place, voted for a freehold here at the great election of 1807, and Mr. Francis Burdet gave £200 for a school here. It would no doubt be easy, by the assistance of the parish register of Peniston, and of the registry of wills, to connect the later Burdets with some younger son of the family once owner of the hall and manor. There is or lately was a Mr. Delariviere Burdet living here. In the reign of James I. there was a suit between George Burdet and divers of the inhabitants, touching the manor which he claimed at Denby. An indenture of six parts was executed June 2, 15 James I. between - 1. George Hurst, of Dighton, yeoman. 2° Jolin “West, of Denby, yeoman. 2° John Blagbourn, of and heir of Robert, deceased, and John Micklethwaite. 4. Thomas Clayton, of Clayton, tanner. 5. Thomas Haugh, of Over Bagden in Denby. 6. John Shaw, of Bargh, clothier. Reciting that the above named parties held certain messuages in Denby, which were given by William de Denby, who before the making of the statute quia emptores was mesne lord of the manor of Denby, to one John, the son of Adam de Denby, and one Adam, the son of William, the priest of Comber- worth, to them and their heirs, with all appurtenances, common rights, &c. : and that, whereas George Burdet, of Denby, esq. pretendeth to be a mesne lord of Denby, or of the manor of Denby, by, from, or under the said William de Denby, and claimeth these lands as holden of him as of his pretended manor of Denby, and hath sued some of the parties to do suit at his court—the above parties covenant for themselves and their heirs to support each other in resisting George Burdet’s claim. When the first Godfrey Bosvile was raising Gunthwaite into a place of greater consequence than it had been in the interval between his time and the extinction of its own original lords, he became involved in divers suits with his neighbours at Denby, both the lords and the freeholders. ‘Those perpetual subjects of contention in a country which is but half enclosed, foot-paths and boundaries, were the points in contest. Concerning the first, a bill was exhibited in the Court of the Lord President of the North, by William Turton, John Claiton, and Edward Woodcock of Denby, complaining that they had enjoyed a foot way from Denby to Peniston, where their parish church is, but on the 23d of October last ‘one Godfrey Bosvile, of Gowntwait, gentilman, of his extorte might and power,” stopped the said path, and also another leading to Thurlston. The petitioners alledge that they are themselves poor men, and he “a man of great maistershipp and frendshipe,” and pray redress. Concerning the boundary question we have the two following documents. M4 ye x day of Apryll a® 111° et quarto Philippi et Mariz, &c. I Godfray Bossevile, Richard Oliver, Wyll™ Morton, and John Swyft, droyf all my oxen, kye, & vill swyne unto Anot cross and ther saytt upon the sayd crosse & rede x chapit™ of Mark aurelye & so droyf y® swyn unto the west syde of the sayd Denby More, & so homewarde, & or I came home Hughe Silvester & 11 men of Wodhed, came to me for my good wyll of s* Hugh. The metes and bounders of the manors and lordshipps of Gomaldthwayth & Denbye, lymitted and certenly expressed & declared in this Sedule indented, annexed to the presentes as foloeth 1566. In primis from one close of Roger Estwodes, called Falaighe, set, lying, &

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DENBY. 33

beying in Denbye, buttying of the.... apon Colmanclyff alias Crawhill, set, lying, & beying in Gomaldthwath, & so on as one old casten dyche lyeth & goyth dyviding y® sayd Colmanclyffe als Crawhill & Denby More, unto one close of Marshalls, called Butcroft lying in Denby, and buttyng of Longrode alias Longgrene, set, lying, and beyng in Gomaldthwayth, & so buttyng of Southcroft in Denby, being the lands of John Jenkynson, & so directly unto Dastenrode, set, lying, & beyng in Gomaldth- wayth, buttyng of one of the sayde southrode of y® sayd John Jenkinsons, & of another close called Nethering of the said Richard Marshall, lying in Denbye, butting of Gledeholt, set, lying, & beyng in G. & so on to one running broke or lytell water called North Wellesicke als Jepeson sike dividing the said L. as yt runneth downe directly unto it come into y® nether ende of one close calld Nether Haugh, now in y° occupation of Thomas Bower, farmer to Godfrey Bossevil, esquyre, lying & beyng in G. & Calthorne, andso up towards Defords as the great border trees doyth devyde the said lordship of Denby, and certain Jands of the sayd Mr. Bosseviles, lying in Calthorne and parcell of the manor of G. now in the several occupations of the sayd Tho. Bower, & of one of the Hawksworths, farmers to the said Godfrey Bosvile.

rete. CHAPEL,

Wide as was the Parish of Peniston no place of public worship had arisen within it, except the parish church, before the year 1627. In that year the inhabitants of Denby and Gunthwaite united in the erection of a chapel, which was placed near to the principal seat of population, and application was made to archbishop Toby Matthew to consecrate it, and grant his licence that divine service should be performed in it. The archbishop assented to the prayer, and by an instrument dated at York December 12, 1627, reciting that the inhabitants of Over Denby and Gunthwaite had set forth that they were two or three miles distant from their parish church of Peniston, and that in the winter time it was often with the greatest difficulty, and even with danger of death, that they were able to resort to it, in conse- quence of the overflowing of the waters, and further that they had erected a chapel, and besought him to consecrate it—for various and pressing business he was unable to comply with their request for the consecration of it, yet still he granted his license for the performance of religious ordinances in it, without prejudice to the vicars of the parish of Peniston. The foundation of this chapel, as well as of several of the chapels in this Deanery, is to be attributed to the spirit of puritanism which grew strong in the reign of James I. and Charles I. The principal encourager of the good work was the second Godfrey Bosvile, and he placed here a very zealous puritan minister, who had been much patronized by his relatives the Greviles, and especially by lady Brooke, wife of Robert lord Brooke, slain at Lichfield, Mr. Charles Broxholme, of whom we have the following account in the De Spiritualibus Pecci of Mr. Bagshaw. “He was a gentleman born, and so as one reckons of the lesser (and lower) nobility. His brother was a parliament man, in and for some place in Lincoln- shire! Providence brought him into the ministry ; and, in the exercise of it, unto Belpar in Derbyshire, Gunthwaite in Yorkshire, and Denton in Lancashire, and so to Buxton, noted for its bath, but never so honoured as oa he and some of his excellent successors were as preachers and pastors ere.

There was a John Broxholme, esq., member in the long parliament for the city of Lincoln, Cc

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34 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

“Jt hath been said, that in his time, as there was violent imposition by some on one, so there was ‘violent opposition by some on the other side. This must be said of him, though his principles hindered him being an active conformist, they led him to bea passive and patient nonconformist. As another great man said he might say, his head was too big for a church door; till near his end he was placed i in chapels: such were those I have named. The violence of those called Cavaliers, who, too many of them, did, as one said, hate all manner of purity whatsoever, drove him into Derby, where under sir John Geli the father, his hfe was secured. “ Of the soundness and savourishness of his preaching, we (blessed be God) have a specimen in his book, stiled Perkins Mr. Bagshaw gives further hints respecting his character, principles, and habits, for which I must refer to the rare little volume itself. He was succeeded by Daniel Clarke, who married one of the daughters of George Burdet, esq. and had afterwards the church of Kirk-Heton. Hitherto no settled provision had been made for the minister. But on the 4 January 1648, principally through the exertions of colonel Godfrey Bosvile, the commissioners for compounding with delinquents, ordered that the heirs and executors of sir Edward Osborne, of Kiveton, deceased, should settle £25 per annum on this chapel, and the same sum on Seaton Ross in the East Riding. This money was paid irregularly; but at length the sum of £1000 appears to have been paid by the heirs of Osborne to secure these annual sums, and by the commisioners placed in the hands of colonel Bosvile. ——— — Miller and some other ministers officiated occasionally here, till 1657, when John Crooke, a native of Sheffield, settled at Denby. He was a puritan, and a non-conformist in 1662. He retired to Wakefield, where he died in 1687. For some time after the removal of Mr. Crooke there was no settled minister at Denby. An attempt was made to connect this chapel with Caw- thorne, where Christopher Walbanke was then the minister. A certificate, recommending him to the people of Denby as an orthodox godly minister, attentive to the canons and constitutions of the church, was signed by sir Gervase Cutler, Thomas Barnby, esq., Loy Kett, vicar of Silkston, Henry Bub- with, rector of the mediety of High Hoyland, Henry Lewis, clerk, and others. Timothy Kent became minister here in 1665, and so continued till his death. He has the following epitaph in the chapel:

Christum olim venturum hic prestolatur TimoTuEus Kent, Artium Magister, et hujus ecclesize nuper Minister. Pastor probus, fidelis (si quis alius) vigilantissimus : concionatur assiduus, utilis, facundus, argumentorum tamen acumine et pondere quam verborum lenocinio et jactantia, potentior. Vir bonus et elogio melior: atque non potest marmor, propriz virtutes et amicorum desideria loquentur. Obit Aug. 21, anno Dom. I6o1.

His successors have been: Gamaliel Battie. William Norris, elected 1608. Bryan Allot. Jonathan Parkin. Samuel Phipps, who settled here in 1751. John Brownhill.

1 “ The Good Old Way; or Perkins improved,” printed in 1654, after the author’s death,

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ING BIRCHWORTH. 35

The old house in Denby, named in the maps as Papist-Hall, which is only a name of vulgar reproach given to it by the people around, is a favourable specimen of the houses of the better sort of yeomanry in the time of Charles II. It belonged to the family of Blackburn, who were Catholics. One of them, as has already been mentioned, was an agent for the duke of Norfolk in the management of his Yorkshire estates. It is still possessed by the representatives of that family, the Miss Walkers of Leeds. Over the gate is carved a passage from the book of Proverbs: “ Wisdom cryeth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the door.”

ING BIRCHWORTH.

Two Birchworths are mentioned in Doomsday. One is surveyed with Oxspring, and is the place now called Rough Birchworth. The other, which is the Birchworth now before us, is surveyed with Thurlston and Skelmanthorpe. Ailric and Aldene were the lords in the Confessor’s time,and at the date of the survey it was in Ilbert, who had not at that time suffered any subinfeud- atory to seat himself here. Ing Birchworth, indeed, seems never to have been more than a few farms cultivated by a race of yeomanry, and it is only in respect of one point that it affords any materials for topography. In all the parochial proceedings at Peniston we for ever meet with the name of Micklethwaite. This was the residence of the family, though in early times they resided at the farm called Micklethwaite, or the great thwaite, which is a member of the township of Gunthwaite. In the deeds respecting Gunthwaite I have met with three generations of the family before the time of Edward I. ; namely, RoGer DE MICKLETHWAITE.=....

I

I JOHN.=....

— BALDWIN.

And again in a deed s. d. respecting lands at Dodworth, John son of Adam de Micklethwaite. The family continue to the present day possessed of good estates in this wapentake ; but a junior branch, now however extinct, attained an Irish peerage in the reign of king George I. The descent of this family from Micklethwaite of Ingbirchworth is shown in Dugdale’s Visitation. I have added from other authorities a few facts after the date of the Visitation.

Robert de Denby gave to the monks of Roche and their men free passage through his lands at Birchworth, towards the grange of Eniker, or elsewhere.

OXSPRING.

In Domesday book, Ospring ; may be the Oxwood or the Oak-wood. The latter is less probable, the Saxons having called the Oak the Ake. Two carucates had been redeemed here, and at Bercewrde, Rough-Birch- worth. Swein held them in the time of the Confessor. They were returned

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PEDIGREE “OF MICKLETHWAITE, OF YORIG SWINE, Sc.

Arms. Checkie, argent and gules, a chief indented azure,

JoHn MICKLETHWAITE.

I : JoHN of Ingbirchworth.—....

l l : Joun MICKLE- FRANCIS, a DorotTHy,—E iAs MICKLETHWAITE, a merchant.in York==.... widow THWAITE, of merchant in da.of.... twice lord mayor and burgess in parliament, I of .... Ar-

Ingbirchworth, York. Jaques. died about 1632. I dington.

es I I i Exvias MICKLETHWAITE, JosEpH MICKLETHWAITE, of Swine—Awnn, dau. of =: SusAN, mar. Christopher of the Middle Temple, of in Holderness, esq. a justice of the I Percival Le- KLETHWAITE, I ‘Topham, merch. in York, whom no issue remains peace; died in Sept. 1658, and was I vett, merch. rector of Mar- TABITHA, m. Jno. Geldert,

1666, buried in York Minster. of York. ston. an alderman of York.

I 2 el ; Joun MickLetTHwaite, of Swine, dau. of Timo- JosEpH, Ann, mar. Thomas Dickenson. ELIAS. Mary,

an utter barrister of the Inner Temple, I thy Middleton, of Stan- aged 26, of Kirby-hall, co. York. Han- and justice of the peace for the East I sted Montfichet in Essex, 1666. Dorotuy, mar. Thomas Stil- NAH, Riding, died in April 1660. I esq. lington, of Kelfield, esq.

I : : I JosepH MICKLETHWAITE, of Swine, esq.—ConsTance, dau. of sir Thomas Middleton, ANN.

aged 10, 11 August 1666, I of Stansted-Montfichet.

Tuomas MIcKLETHWAITE, of Swine, esq. MICKLETHWAITE, of Swine, and Cosham in Durham, esq. 2nd son, eldest son and heir, lieut.-general of the member for Arundel and Hull, created baron Micklethwaite, of Portar- Ordnance and member for Arundel, died lington 11 George I. and viscount Micklethwaite, of Longford, 13 George I. March 1718. both Irish honours; died unmarried 16 January 1734.

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OXSPRING. I 37

waste to the Conqueror’s Survey. Oxspring and Birchworth were given to de Laci, of whom they were held by the descendants of Ailric. A mesne lord was established here as in the other places, which made up the fee of that great Saxon house. The first of whom we find any notice is Richard de Oxspring, who lived in the reign of Henry III. He was the father of Matthew de Oxspring, whose name occurs in many charters both as principal and as witness, in the reigns of Henry III. and Edward I. I add notices of a few of his charters from the originals in the museum of the late Mr. Wilson. Matheus de Ospring gives to Roger de Hyde two bovates in villa de Ospring, which Robert, my son, formerly held. Witness, William de Hunshelf ‘and others. Matheus de Oxspring gives Ricardo de Bergh, filio D’ni Radulphi, rectoris ecclesize de Derton, et Ceciliz hlize mez, the bovate in Oxspring which Thomas Piscator held of me. If Cecilia have no issue, to Richard for life. Henry de Rockley, John de [linthill, Henry de Birkethwaite, Thomas de Dronsfield, Elias de Smytheton, John de Peniston, and Henry de Birton, were the witnesses. These were all mesne lords living around Oxspring. ‘The bovate was evidently the fortune which Matthew gave to his daughters. The fact so distinctly stated, that the husband was son to the rector of Darton, gives a degree of curiosity to this deed. A fine impression of the seal remains mm green wax. It has a fleur-de-lis rudely drawn, and only the words, SIGILLVM MATHEI, as a superscription, so that de Oxspring was rather regarded as a description than a patronymic. Again, describing himself as Matthew, son of Richard de Oxspring, so that this is probably an earlier deed than either of the foregoing, he gave to Richard, son of Peter de Snodenhill, a messuage, &c. in villa de Snodenhill, and a piece of land called Snodenhill Marske, prout metis comprehenditur sub Horlowe inter foveam terra abbatis de Kirkestide et campum de Snowdenill. ‘The tender unum obolum argenti. Liberty is also given to him to grind his corn at the mill of Oxspring, ad vicesimum vas, and his barley without multure. Another daughter of Matthew de Oxspring occurs, named Margery, and a son named Robert, whose charters are more numerous than those of his father. This Robert had two sons, Richard and John, who occur in the charters. We have therefore this descent of the early mesne lords of this place.

RICHARD DE OXSPRING= Ra See

I MATTHEW DE es sig cee i : I DE Om—...... RICHARD DE=CECILIA, MARGERY appears to have mar- SPRING, 1292. I BERGH, ried Robert de Clay. I I I I I Joun DE Ox- RICHARD DE CECILIA. RICHARD, 1307.=AMABIL,

SPRING, OXSPRING, EMMA, Robert de Oxspring gave lands in Oxspring to his two daughters, Cecilia and Emma, which were divided on Saturday the vigil of the Holy Trinity 1333, between Henry de Rockley and Emma. Cecilia appears to have been dead when this division was made, and Henry de Rockley takes what would have fallen to her share, pursuant to a grant which she had‘made to him by deed at Oxspring, on the Monday next after the feast of St. Gregory 1331, which deed is attached to that of division. The probability on the whole view of the case, and a comparison of these charters with the state of the Rockleys at that period, is that she married Henry de Rockley, though her name is not found in any of the pedigrees of that family.

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38 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

The Rockleys got a great interest at Oxspring at the beginning of the fourteenth century. In 1306 Robert de Oxspring granted to Henry de Rockley two parts of his fulling-mill of Oxspring with the water-course and dam. Margery, formerly wife of Robert de Clay in 1304, in her pure widowhood, granted to him the Clogh ina place called Clay, within the bounds of Oxspring. Richard, son of Richard de Bergh, in 1307, gave him all lands in Oxspring and Le Clay, belonging to him. In 1310 Robert de Mamecestr’ gave him two bovates in Oxspring, with the homage and services of divers persons. ‘This Robert was nepos to William de Mamicestr’ (son of William de Gringeley) who had taken a grant of the said lands and services from Roger de Hyde. This deed was dated at Brierley; and sir Nicholas de Wortley, Ralph de Wortley, Thomas de Savile, and others, were witnesses. And lastly, in 1311, William, son of William de Langdene, gave him the homage and an annual rent of 4s. 6d. of John, son of Richard, son of Ralph de Ruth Birchworth, for lands which he held in Oxspring. So that if the Rockleys kept these acquisitions they must have been nearly as powerful at Oxspring as the mesne lords themselves. Oxspring lay conveniently whenever the Rockleys were intent on enlarging their boundaries. The Oxsprings continued here. In the middle of the fifteenth century, Oxspring was the inheritance of William de Oxspring, with whose name the unusual addition of I’squire is generally found. I find him conveying his lands in trust to various persons in 30 Henry VI. the first-named being sir John Talbot, son and heir of the earl of Shrewsbury, whence it is probable that he might be an esquire to one of the knights of that noble family, especially since we find him described as ‘‘of Sheffield” in two or three charters. The other trustees were Christopher Dronsfield, Thomas de Wortley (afterwards sir Thomas Wort- ley), John, rector of Darfield, and Nicholas Greve ; and the lands lay in Oxspring, Birchworth, Cudworth, Brereley, Darton, Thurlston, and Cathill. He excepted out of this grant his place called Ornthwaite. The next year he granted a lease for sixteen years to Richard, Robert, William, and John Cook, and John Drons- feld, of his manor of Oxspring at a rent of six marks, twenty pence, and twenty-five hens at Christmas. ‘This lease bears date 20 May 1453. It was on the 20th of July following that the earl of Shrewsbury was slain at Chastillion. I am inclined to think that this William de Oxspring might have been with him in that campaign. In 9 Edward IV. he granted a lease of the fulling-mill at Oxspring, to which John Walker, of Hunshelf, was one of the witnesses. Soon after this he died, and with him ended the name of Oxspring at this place, as he left only daughters, namely, Ann and Elizabeth, between whom the inheritance was divided. These coheiresses were married to an uncle and nephew of the family of Eyre, of Derbyshire; viz. Ann to Nicholas Eyre, and Elizabeth to Ralph Eyre. The marriages took place before 11 November, 15 Edward IV. 1475, for in that year, by deed “ written at Sheffield,’ Ralph Heir the elder, Nicholas Heir the younger, and Thomas Popley, who had an interest by gift of Elizabeth Oxspring, perhaps the mother of the coheirs, leased the water-mill of Oxspring to Richard Wybsey, of Cleck-heaton, at a rent of 53s. 4d. and twelve hens. Oxspring was held in coparcency, and continued in the Eyres for three generations.

The two Richards sold Oxspring ; Richard, the son of George, in 1 Edward VI. to Godfrey Bosvile, of Gunthwaite; and Richard, the son of Ralph, in 5 Henry VIII. to sir Thomas Rockley. Various pieces of evidence concerning the transactions of the Eyres in respect ,of Oxspring have descended with the

Page 57

Rosert Eyre, of Hathersage, died 1459, and has a monument there.=Joan, dau. and h. of Robert de Padley.

I ; reo l A Ropert Eyre, ancestor Eyre, Rocer Eyre, of. Holme, from RaLtpH Eyre, =Eizasetu, dau. and co- of Eyre, of High-Low, of the Hurst. whom the Eyres of Laughton of Offerton, co. I heir of William de Ox-

&C. ar and Grove. Derby. spring, Esq.

I I l I NicHoLtas=Anvy, dau. and coheir MARGARET, m. John RALPH==MarGARET, dau. of PR) GIT, ELIZABETH, EYRE. of William de Ox- Parker, of Norton- Eyre. |.... Wickersley, of West, of Augh- eet spring, esq. Lees. I Wickersley. ton. Brown. I el ‘ ae : : ANNE, Ist. w. dau. of Robert—GEORGE Eyre, of Norman-—ANNE, 2d w. dau. of RicHARD—ISABEL, or ELizaBETH, sister of

Nevile, of Ragnel. ton-upon-Sore. I John Ley. EyRE. sir William West.

I : I : I RicHARD EyRE, Eyre, son and heir, ANNE, coheir, mar. Jerome Blythe, of JANE, mar. Bryan Rye. of

of Normanton. died without issue. Greenhill, in Norton, co. Derb. Whitwell, co. Derby.

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40 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

possession of the manor. But I shall content myself with noticing two, the first of which gave to Bosvile the share which had been bought by the Rockleys. To all trew, &c. I, Francis earl of Shrewsbury, and lord president of the queen’s council established in the north parts. Whereas strife, &c. between Godfrey Bosvile, of Gunthwaite, esq. and Isabel [ir, of Wales, widow, on the one part, and Rob. Rockley, of Falthwaite, alias Rockley-hall (son and heir- apparent of Roger Rockley, deceased, esq. son and heir of sir Thomas Rockley, knight, also deceased), and James Rockley, of Compton in Surry, esq. younger son of said sir Thomas Rockley, of the other: as well touching right to lands late sir Thomas Rockley’s in Oxspryng, Roughbirchworth, Thurliston, Peniston, Cudworth, Brereley, and Darton, and of and in free rents and services in Hun- shelf and Thurgarland, as all other accompts, suits, &c. and all the parties have bound themselves by deed 22 Maria, to stand tomy award, &c. I deem, that st G. B. shall have all the manors, lands, tenements, rents, services, and hereditaments, which were the inheritance of sir , Thomas Rockley, in Oxspring, Rughbirchworth, Thurlston, Peniston, Cudworth, Brereley, and Darton, and the rents and services in Hunshelf and Thurgarland. Allsuits to be withdrawn. G. B. to pay to Rob. or James Rockley £113. 6s. 8d. to be paid in the parish church of Silkston. Dated roth March, 1 Marie. The next is an instrument not without a parallel, but the instances are rare. The arms granted were those of Oxspring, which we have before des- cribed. Godfrey Bosvile seems to have sought to lay the foundation of all his titles deep. Sciant preesentes et futuri quod ego Richardus Eyre [de Normanton] super Soram, filius et heres Georgu Eyre, in com. Nott. generosi, dedi, concessi, et hac carta mea confirmari, Godfrido Bossevile, de Gunnildthwayth, in com. Ebor. armigero, Tunicam meam armatam de Oxspring, vocat. myne armes, quam habeo, habui, vel in futuro habere potero, in jure Richardi Oxspring avi mei, heredibus suis et assignatis. Et ego praedictus Richardus, et heredes mei, preedictam tunicam armatam preflato Godfrido hered. et assign. contra omnes gentes warantizabimus et defendemus in perpetuum. Huis testibus, Carolo Barnby, Radulpho Wordysworth, John Wordysworth, yeoman, Thoma Pecke, Wille Wordisworth, et multis aliis. Dat. apud Oxspreng, vicesimo quarto die mensis Novemb. anno regni regis Edwardi sexti, Dei gratia, Angliz, Fran. Hiberniz Rex, Fidei Defensor, ac in terra supremi capitis ecclesiz Anglicane et Hibernize primo. Per me RicHarbus Eyre. The manor of Oxspring has since descended with Gunthwaite. The conveyance from Eyre to Bosvile in 1 Edward VI. was of all his manor of Oxspring, Hornthwaite, and Birchworth, with all franchises, courts, wards, &c. Birchworth, though mentioned in Domesday, was never exalted into the rank of a township. It is a member of the manor of Oxspring ; and in early charters is spoken of under the usual form, infra divisas de Oxspring. Previously to 1686 there was but one overseer of the poor for this township and for Hunshelf. In that year two were appointed.

HUNSHELE.

The lands contained in the fork of the greater and lesser Don, form the township of Hunshelf. The greater Don divides it from Thurgoland and Wortley, and the lesser from that part of Hallamshire which is called Walder-

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HUNSHELF. 41

shelf. The name seems to be derived from some shelving land towards the lesser Don. Here Ailric had three carucates before the Conquest. They were returned waste to the Domesday Survey. He continued to hold them of Ilbert de Laci, to whom they had been given; and in his posterity Hunshelf descended, but not in the line of the lords of Brierley, but in that of the Hetons, who had four-fifths of a knight’s fee here and elsewhere in the wapentake of Staincross. Under the line of the posterity of Ailric,a mesne lord was placed at Hunshelf. They are described in the charters which remain of them as de Hunshelf. Two only belonging to the reign of Henry III. or Edward I. may require to be noticed. The first is among the evidences of lord Wharncliffe, the present lord of Hunshelf. ‘Thomas, son of Wiliam de Hunshelf, gives to Elias de Walder- shelf, fabro, a piece of land which Matthew de Hunshelf, junior, formerly held within the limits of Hunshelf at the Woodhouses; and also Rowrode. ‘The tenant is to grind his corn at the mill of Hunshelf. Ehas de Midhope, Galfridus de Mora de Waldershelf, and others, were the witnesses. The other was in the collection of Mr. Wilson. Richard de Hundechelf gives to Richard, son of Adam, and his heirs, pasture for all his cattle within the limits of the pasture of Hunshelf, which is between the rivulet of Birch- worth on the one part, and Holkesdon on the other ; and between the water of Mikel Don, the greater Don, on the south, and the territory of Snowdenhill on the west, at the rent of unum obolum argenti. How long the Hunshelfs continued I have not seen; nor any account of the course of descent which this manor took till it appears in the inquisition of Francis Wortley, of Wortley, esq. in 1586. Hunshelf lying immediately adjacent to their chase of Wharncliffe, must have been a valuable addition to the domains of that family. It has accompanied the other estates of the family in their descent to the right hon. the lord Wharncliffe. In 1602 there was an agreement made between Richard Wortley, esq. and the freeholders of Hunshelf, respecting their commons. This agreement had been long in force, when Mr. Sydney Wortley, in 1687, sought to dissolve it. The freeholders took the opinion of John Garland, esq. of Todwick, and instantly proceeded to bind themselves to each other to maintain the custom by one of those bonds of which we have seen other instances in our account of this wild portion of the deanery. In this township was living Francis West, at the time of sir Richard St. George’s visitation, 1612. He gave a slight account of his descent and family. His posterity are still residing at Underbank, a house in this township on the side sloping to the lesser Don. The indifference of the gentry in the century before last in making their returns to the heralds, is truly surprising to any one who considers the Visitation Books in the light of evidence, or who perceives what pleasure and what advan- tage posterity derives from such entries; containing facts familiar at the time, but which cannot now perhaps be recovered, after all the pains and expense that may be bestowed upon the inquiry. Francis West must have known more than he has recorded, and the name of Lewis given to his brother creates a presumption that this family was of the Wests of Aughton, in whom the name of Lewis was, as we have seen, connected with a remarkable and tragical event. Of the Archdeacon there is some account in Walker’s Sufferings of the Clergy ; and of his son, Captain Richard West, of Underbank, it is‘shown in his monu- mental inscription that he had the merit. of fostering the early genius of Nicholas Sanderson, the mathematician, whose birth is the chief glory of

Page 60

PEDIGREE OF AND FENTON, OF UNDERBANK

ARMS.

West: Argent, a fess dancette and in chief three leopards’ heads sable.

Fenton: Argent, across between four fleurs-de-lis sable.

Tuomas WEstT, of Little ‘Bretton, in the parish of High Hoyland

poste

Joun WEstT, of Little Gate a

Francis West, of Hunshelf,=Exuizapetn, dau. of Tho-

gent. living 1612 and 1639. I

; mas West, of Upton.

ie LEwIs. ‘THOMAS.

I WILLIAM.

I I JANE, mar. Geo. Mary, mar. Thomas Skiers,

Webster. of Alderthwaite, esq.

I I l Joun WEST, STEPHEN WEsT,

aged 16, 2nd son, living 1612. 1664.

deacon of

Lewis West, M.A., 3rd son, Arch- and Vicar Aldenham in Cumberland.

Carlisle

alte

I’rances, eldest dau. of Richard Marsh, Vicar ot Halitax, and Dean of York.

I Ann, mar. William Smithson, of Ching- ford, in Essex.

; I Captain RicHarD WEST,=

of Underbank:; died Jan. I I. 1715, and was bur. in I the church of Peniston. !

cl pote tea ag aes, LE Gilets te ardson,! Alder-

man of York.

rister

I Frances West, sole

dau. and heiress; died 1,1754,

Wiriiam Fenton, of Under- bank, of William Fen- I ton, of Hunslet, near Leeds. June t

aged 81.

I I West Fenton, WILLIAM

of the Inner Fenton, of Temple, esq. Underbank, barrister-at- esq. law and F.R.S. died April bap. at Barns- 14, 1783, ley, Aug. 25, aged 82,and 1699, died un- was buried I

Sept. 20, married, May at Peniston. I 1763, aged est I

61. I iat I Joun, died 1741, of Underbank, esq. aged 10. barrister-at-law ; RIcHARD, died died unmar. April unmar. 1770, aged 40.

II, 1792, aged 66,

I SamuEL Fewron, of Spring Grove, esq. a Captain in the West York Militia: died in September, 1823.

=MaRY. da. and heiress Otte vat= field, of En- terclough, co. Cest, I gent. died

1794,

2 The issue of this marriage was Peter Johnson, esq. recorder of York; Lewis Johnson; Mary, wife of John Lloyd, vicar of Rotherham ;

wis West,= Dorcas, Or York, esq. a bar- I

Gat con ) . «+ Jack- I son. I

I I BRIDGET,

Charles Drittield, esq. of Ripon, barrister-at-law.

] CATHERINE, mat.

John Hutchinson, Vicar of More- land, co. Westm.

I mat. ANN, youngest dau. mar. Nath. Sutton, Rector

of Burghwalleis

Lewis West, had=.. a son Lewis, who died without issue.

I I

Lewis FrnTon,

Fellow of Lin- eoln ford, and Vicar of Winterborn, in Dorset, died unm. 1778.

TImMotTHY, a stu-

dent in the Temple.

Frances Fenton, of Underbank, heir to her brother ; died unmar. Jan. 6,

aged 64. lel WIL Lewis FENTON.

LIAM, died unmar.

MNGi

: I RicHarp FEnN-

ToN, of Bank- I top, esq. Clerk I of the Peace for the West Rid- ime; dieds Dec. 23, 1788, aged 80, and was buried at Pe- niston.

I I I

I Mary Frnton,

only surviving issue, married sir William Wake, bart.

RtcHARD, died an infant.

1 In a pedigree I have seen it is Thomlinson, and I have not met with proof of either name.

Henry Jubb, of York ; Henrietta, wife of Ralph Tunnicliffe, an attorney at Rotherham.

eR Ole a4 ure

I I

HARRIET. MaRIA.

Ann, dau. I of Thomas. Brook,

I PETER JOHN-=ELIZABETH WEsT, at

son, of York, length heiress to this esq. branch of the family.2

I SAMUEL =ANN,

Fenton, I dau. of ofGreen- I Robert head, in I Haigh, the par: I of of Hud- I dersfield, I diedNov. I parish 10, 1763, ! of Kirk- aged 52. I burton.

Pe RIcHARD and

Joun, died young. FRANCES died unmar. 1780, ELIZABETH, mar. Rev. Charles But- tat.

of VFieldhead, Clerk, Rector of Rich- mond, died May 15, 1790.

I alee WILLIAM FENTON,=SARAQ, dau. ELIZABETH.

of Spring Grove, I of Joseph FRANCES. near Huddersfield, I Armitage, ANN. esq. heir to his of Honley. Many. cousin Fra. Fenton

a I Eminra, mar. Joseph

Haigh, of Golcar Hill.

ne SopHIA.

LoulIsa.

fee

Page 61

LANGSETT. . 43

Thurlston. Hearne names West Fenton, and says of him that he is “ ingenio “spectabilem,” as the possessor of a manuscript of Gervase of ‘Tilbury’s Dia- logues concerning the Mr. Fenton, of Bank Top, is still remembered as a gentleman whose natural powers, and knowledge of the law, gave him great influence in the country around during a long life. Among the principal freeholders of this township were the Walkers, or, as in the reign of Elizabeth the name appears, Walker, alias Slater. The last of them removed to Middlewood, in Darfield.

LANGSETT.

Higher on the little Don, and on the north side of it, extending to the point at which the county of Chester adjoins to Yorkshire, is the township of Langsett or Langside. It lies opposite to Midhope. It does not occur in Domesday. We find, however, that it must have been given to the Lacis, for it was accounted in later times a member of the honour of Pontefract. Langsett was not granted out to the great Saxon family who held so much of the lands which compose the parish of Peniston; and it was formerly the subject of question, whether the freeholders at large had any mesne lord, but were not tenants of the honour of Pontefract only. We find, however, in the extent of the honour 3 Henry VI. that Robert Rockley held one fourth of a knight’s fee here and in Whitley ; and in Bernard’s Survey, that it had been held by Peter de Birkthwaite, from whom it descended to sir Robert Rockley, and was then, 1577, held by George earl of Shrewsbury. The era of Peter de Birkthwaite is early in the 13th century. Heconfirmed a grant of an oxgang in Langside, which his father Adam, son of Orm, had given to the monks of Bretton. ‘The monks of Kirkstead in Lincolnshire had also possessions here, by gift it may be presumed of Peter or his ancestors. Dodsworth has copied from the Barnby evidence a charter of this Peter, by which he gives to “ John Tirel, and Emma my sister, for their homage and service, all my land of Waleton, and a bovate in Langside; that, to wit, which Alexander held, with all free common belonging to the said town, excepting in the wood of Hordern, in which he shall have pasture for all his husbandry cattle through the whole year, except from the first day of April to the feast of St. James, propter nisos, on account of the hawks; to hold at the rent of 6d. for all services, and for which they shall be quit of the firm of Pontefract, but they shall do the forinsic service as much as belongs to the fourth part of the said villa de Langside.”” The witnesses are William, son of Everard, then bailiff of Staincross,? Richard, son of Bernard; Matthew de Shepley; Reginald, son of Elias; Gilbert de Notton; Jordan de Heton; Robert, son of Dolphin ; Helias de Wheleia; John de Bretton; and William, son of John. __ John Tirel, described as of Bursclife, quit-claimed to John de Midhope all right he had in Horderne. Test. Gilbert de Notton, and others. Again, we have a charter from the same evidences in 1252, reciting an agreement made between Walter de Loudham, son of Eustace de Loudham, and Elias, son of John de Midhope. Walter grants to Elias for his homage and service, his whole manor of Langside with its appurtenances, to wit,

1 Liber Niger, Przefatio, p. xix, 2 He was bailiff 4 Henry-_II.-

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44 HISTORY, OF

Bilcliffe, Penisale, and Swinden, with homages, rents, &c. paying annually £10 to the said Walter, or his certain messenger at Blyth. Witnesses, Godfrey de Loudham, precentor of York; John de Hoderode, seneschal of Pontefract ; Ralph de Horbury; Richard de Tankersley ; William de Sutton; Robert de Ripariis; William de Peniston; and Richard de Rimmington. In 1257 Robert, son of Robert de Whitwell, gave to Elias de Midhope all his lands in Horderne. In 1260 Ehas de Midhope relieved himself from one half this rent by the payment of £124 to the said Walter at the priory of Blythe; to which were witnesses sir William de Mortein, sir Roger de Mortein, sir William de Sutton, sir Ralph de Crumwell, sir Nicholas D’Eyvile, knights, and others. We have no deed showing the discharge of the other moiety. In the same evidences was a charter reciting that there had been a dispute between sir John de Carlton, knight, and Elas de Midhope, concerning pur- prestures and assarts in the common pasture of the said John, within the divisions of Langside, and it was agreed on the feast day of St. John of Beverley 1280, that Ehas might make assarts in any part of the wood of Horderne, prout continebatur per metas tempore abbatis de Kirkstede! et tempore Walteri de Ludeham, saving te John and his heirs sufficient pasture for all his cattle except goats, and saving the right of chasing all wild animals within the same. The witnesses were, sir Brian Fitz-Alan, sir John de Mewis, sir Franco le Tyas, sir William Daniel, sir William de Haselthorp, and Henry de Rockley. ‘This was followed in 1284 by a grant from John de Carlton to Ehas de Midhope, of his whole manor of Penishale, with all its appurtenances in Langside, Swinden, and Bilcliffe, to which sir Franco le Tyas, sir Nicholas de Wortley, Hugh de Richard le Tyas, Matthew de Oxspring, Thomas de Ireland, John de Wentworth, and Elias de Byrton, were the witnesses. Whether the Loudhams’ manor of Langsett and the Carltons’ manor of Penishale were portions of the manor which Peter de Birkthwaite held here, cannot with certainty be determined; but these purchases appear to have put sir lias de Midhope in possession of the whole of Langset, with the possible exception of a few freeholds which were claimed in the reign of Elizabeth as held immediately of the honour of Pontefract. He was then lord of a great extent of country, a fertile valley watered by the Don, with high moor- lands about it, through the whole of which, in 18 Edward I. 1290, he had a charter of free warren. The places named in the charter are Penisale, Midhope, Langside, Ewden, Horderon, Waldershelf, Mitcheldene, and Barnside, in which no one was to chase or take any thing that belonged to warren, without the permission of him and his heirs, on pain of forfeiting £10. He obtained at the same time a grant of a market on Tuesday, and a fair on the eveday and morrow of St. Barnabas, at his manor of Penisale, with all privileges belonging to a market and fair. This was granted on June 8, 1290. There was a second grant in 1307 to William de Sheffield. No market is now held. But in the beginning of the last century there was an old yew tree in Alderman’s-head grounds near the river, under which the court for the manor of Penisale had been held from time immemorial. Around this tree the market and the fair were said by tradition to have been held, on a green plat in which it stood. It was a market for cloth, which was hung on tenters fixed on the tree. One of these rural fairs beneath the spreading

1 In the same evidences was a charter of William, son of John, lord of Peniston, quit-claiming to the abbot and monks of Kirkstel [Kirkstead] all right in a moor which lies opposite their grange of Penishall, extending from Richard’s Cross, &c. John de Midhope is a witness. The abbot had a charter of free warren in his manor of Penniggeshale, 36 Henry III.

Page 63

LANGSETT. 45

branches of an oak, is the subject of one of Callot’s finest etchings. This yew was existing in the time of Mr. Wilson, who measured the girth of the boll, and found it twenty-five feet ; and he has recorded with a feeling of regret that it was set on fire on the night of St. Mark’s day 1758, by the carelessness of a Bradfield man, who made a fire within it that he might warm himself while fishing. It continued burning for five days. He mentions also the tradition, that there was once a town called Penisale around this tree. The name of Alderman’s-head, which belongs to a house and farm near the place, seems to betoken that in the Saxon times there was living in this valley some person who was the hundreder of the wapentake. After the time of sir Elias de Midhope, Penisale and Langsett became again separated. The former went with Bolsterstone to the Shefhelds, and from them to the Rockleys. It passed with Bolsterstone to the earls of Shrewsbury, from them to the Saviles, and was sold with it by Mr. Bathurst to sir Matthew Lambe, of whose heirs it was bought by John Rimington, esq. Respecting the part which remained attached to the manor of Midhope, it passed with that manor. We find in the Barnby roll, that in the time of John of Gaunt, when William de Fynchden was the chief steward of Pontefract, and William de Mirfield the under-steward, Robert de Barnby was summoned to pay the Duke 4s. for the manor of Langside, the steward having found in a certain roll that the 4s. were paid by sir Elas de Midhope; but Robert pleaded that 2s. were paid by him for lands in Meltham and Crosland, which had not descended to Barnby, and only 2s. for Langside, and he was exonerated from 2s. In the reign of Elizabeth, Christopher Wilson, of Bromhead, and others, showed in the duchy court of Lancaster, that they were seised of divers estates of inheritance in Langside, holden immediately of the queen by the rent of 6s. and fealty, as of the honour of Pontefract, by reason of which they had common of pasture in all the wastes of Langside, till Thomas Barnby esq. and others his tenants, intruded themselves into the queen’s waste called Horderon, and inclosed 200 acres, to the disherison of the queen and the great injury of the plaintiffs ; and have also by suits at law prosecuted a claim on the plaintiffs for certain suits and services by reason of their lands at Langside, whereas there Was never any such tenure as is now pretended, nor any seisin of the said Thomas Barnby, or his ancestors. Barnby replies, that he was seised of Horderon in his demesne as of fee, and that the waste grounds in Langside are parcel of the manor of Midhope, which he holds of the earl of Shrewsbury as of his castle of Sheffield, that no other person but he hath any manor in Langside, and that the said tenants do all hold of his manor of Midhope. The replication of the plaintiffs re-asserts the allegations of their petition, and states that Horderon has been always known not to be in Hallamshire, but parcel of the honour of Pontefract. Witnesses were examined under a commission, when William Booth, a husbandman, living at Darwent, then 70 years of age, deposed that Horderon was always reputed to be within the township of Langside, and that the plaintiffs had been always known to hold their lands of the queen’s honour of Pontefract, and never did service to the court of Thomas Barnby, but at the queen’s majesty’s court holden at Staincross. Alan Jepson, of Wakefield, alias White Alan, aged 48, deposed that he was deputy bailiff to Richard Bunny within the wapentake of Staincross, and received of the plaintiffs 4s. rent due to the queen as of her honour of Pontefract, and also of the constable of Lang- side about 2s. a year for out-horn money. John Coldwell, of Hoyland-Swein, that they hold of the honour of Pontefract, and pay yearly to the queen 100s.,

Page 64

46 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

4s. castle farm, and 3s. blanch farm rents. ‘There were other depositions, which being nearly to the same effect I omit. While on the other hand it is deposed, that the manor of Midhope extends not only through Midhope, but in Lang- side; and that the plaintiffs or their ancestors have been seen to do suit at the court of Midhope; that the tenants of Horderon had done suit there; and came to Barnby’s mill at Midhope. It seems to me that neither party understood the true state of the case. Langsett could never have been part of Hallamshire; but when sir Elias de Midhope had added it to his manor of Midhope, the homage of the people of Langsett would naturally be drawn to his court at Midhope. He was lord of Langsett, not in respect of his holding Midhope, but of his representation of the Loudhams, Carltons, and Peter de Birthwaite. The payments to the queen’s bailiffs were not from the freeholders, quasi freeholders, tenants of the honour, but from the whole community, either as wapentake fine, or what was due from the mesne lord. On such imperfect and erroneous showing, the court would have found a difficulty in coming toa decision. An act of indiscretion in the plaintiffs saved the court from the difficulty. While the above proceedings were going on, some one seems to have suggested that neither party had a right to the thing in dispute; for that the right.really rested in the lord of the manor of Penisale, who was then the earl of Shrewsbury. Acting upon this suggestion,some of the plaintiffs attended on a jury at the court of Penisale, and procured a pain to be laid for laying open the common in dispute. Upon this the court found that the queen’s right, which the plaintiffs pretended to the manor of Langsett, was blemished by their own act, and directed that no further proceedings should be taken, burthening the plaintiffs with the cost. This was in the twentieth year of Elizabeth. In 1638 the people of Langsett were in dispute with the men of Midhope, respecting common right. The people inhabiting the hamlets of Swindon and Langsett had fora long time been accustomed to put their cattle upon Midhope common, paying twenty shillings a year for the privilege to the lord of Bolster- stone, under the name of water money. The complaint of the Midhope people was that they had of late driven their cattle to divers and remote places in the common, and staff-herded their cattle there, forbearing their own common on the Langsett side; also that they had cut turf. A case was submitted to Ellis Woodruffe, of Hope, esq., a learned counsel, who advised that an action should be brought, and the cause tried. I add a minute of boundaries made in 1695.

Boundaries of Lordship of Midhop cum Langsett and Swinden, towards Peniston and Thurlston on the North, and on the West as it bounds on the Lordship of Longdendale and Timnsell in the C. of Chester and Glossopdale Lordship in Co. Derb.; and on the S. the Liberties of Holden in the Chapelry of Bradfield, 15 Aug. 1695. The Boundaries of Langsett begins at the N.W. of the Blaike Royds, and so on the S. side of Mosley Edge up the Valley ; so to the upper end of Mosley, thence to Sandyfore, thence to Grayhound Stone, thence to the Standing Stone, that lies on the W. side the way that leads from Peniston to Bilcliffe. Thus far Langsett and Peniston bounds on each other. And then between Langsett and Peniston begins the boundary, viz. from the Standing Stone to the N. end of Hardcliffe Bank, and so down the Hollow, leading to Eclands Townfield ; thence over Fulshaw on the N. side the highway; thence to Redishaw Knowl ; from Redishaw Knowl to Bordhill Cross; thence to the Lad, and so goes off on the N. side of a stone that stands on the South Nabb ; thence over the upper

Page 65

THURLSTON. 17

end of Winilden to a Clough in the Lady Shaw, on the N. side of the Lady Cross; thence to Lady Shaw Bridge, lying in Salter Brook at the Lady Shaw foot. So far between Langside and Thurlston, and down the middle of the Stream in Salter Brook, to the Great Small Clough Brook; there dividing between the Lordship of Midhop and Langsett, and the Lordship of Longden- dale and Tinsel, being the bound betwixt Yorkshire and Cheshire, the W. side of the said clough being within the Lordship of Glossopdale in the C. of Derby ; then up the said clough to the Swaine Greave Head, thence to Great Howden Head, along Howden Edge to the Horestone, and by Steiner Clough head, and so along to the Craw Stone Edge, and Bullstones, and Margery Pike or Nabb, and from thence to the Black Dick head.

THURLSTON.

In few cases is the utility of Domesday Book, as a guide to the etymology of our local names, more strikingly apparent than in this name. It is there Turulfeston, which is villa Who Turulf was we must never hope to recover; and here, as in so many other cases, we must be content to suffer our inquiries to be bounded by the reign of the Confessor, when Ailric and Aldene had nine carucates here and in Birchworth and Skelmerthorpe. In the time of the Conqueror’s survey, it was returned waste. Ilbert de Laci was the lord, and no subinfeudatory is men- tioned. Thurlston was afterwards held in equal moieties. Each is returned at five bovates. At the point to which we are carried back in Bernard’s Survey of the Duchy lands, they were held by John de Thornhill and Thomas de Dalton. In 3 Henry VI. both these moieties were in the hands of Thomas de Savile. The Thornhill moiety we can well account for; Henry Savile, son of sir John Savile, of Eland and Tankersley, having married the heiress of the Thornhills in the reign of Edward III. How Dalton’s portion passed to Savile I know not; neither, indeed, when. It appears, however, that long before the marriage with the heiress of Thornhill, the Saviles were lords at Thurlston. From about a hundred original charters of lands in Thurlston, I select the following, as tending to the proof of this fact, and as illustrating in other points the early state of this township. William del Hill gives to Thomas de Heselheved the moiety of the tenements which he bought of John de Sayvile infra divisas de Thurlston; and he there specifies various small quit rents and services; one of which is 12d. from John de Cockshagh, pro tenemento in feodo de Sayvile. This was in the time of Roger de Gunnildthwayte and Robert de Oxspring, whose names appear among the witnesses. Baldwin del Hill gives to William, son of William del Hill, manerium de Ornethwaite cum pertinenciis, et totum dominium terrarum et tenementorum quas et que emi et habui de heredibus Willielmi de Ornethwaite cum omni jure dicto manerio et dicto dominio ubique pertinentibus, infra divisas ville de Thurlston. The same witnesses. By deed s. d. to which Roger de Gunnildthwaite is a witnesss, Robert, son of John de Wambewell, gave to Baldwin del Hill, totum redditum et totum tenementum meum et totum ser- vicium tenentium meorum in villa de Thurlston et infra divisas ejusdem. He then gives a long list of rents due from his tenants. He gives this cum omni- bus escaetis, &c. Again, by deed, with the same people for witnesses, John,

Page 66

48 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

son of Peter de Savile, a person who stands very high in the Savile genealogy, gives to William, son of William del Hill, and Adam Russel, omnia redditus servicia possessiones et tenementa hominum et tenencium meorum in villa de Thurlston et infra divisas ejusdem, salvis mihi et heredibus meis dominio vaste, et herbagio more, et und vaccaria in South Wyndlowdene. All these deeds belong to a period long before Savile married the heir of Thornhill, and they prove that the Saviles did not owe all their interest at Thurlston to that marriage. Thurlston passed as a member of the estates of the Saviles of Thornhill. It was enjoyed by sir Henry Savile and his son Edward, the last of the eldest line. It passed to the Saviles of Lupset, who transferred their seat to Thornhill, and was enjoyed by the two marquises of Halifax. The greatest part of the township of Thurlston was till within these few years common and moorland. It adjoined to Holmfirth (the wood of holms, a species of oak), which was a chase of the earls of Warren. It appears by the hundred rolls that the earls had encroached upon Thurlston, the jury returning that the earl of Warren had appropriated to himself warren at Thurlston for sixteen years past, they know not by what warrant. In such a wild and open country there must have been frequent disputes respecting boundaries, and great necessity to keep up, as far as was possible, the recollection of the antient metes. I add one boundary, which appears to have been written down as early as the reign of Henry VII. The Lymytts and Bownds of the Lordshyp of Thyrlston. Begynnyng at Denbebryge, and so by the heghweye to Heynbroke, and so frome sayd Heynbrok to Brokhows, and so frome sayd Brokhows to the Grey- houndstone, and so frome sayd Greyhound Stone to Hertclyff Cros, and so frome sayd Herclyffe Crosse by the heyghweye to y® Ladye Crosse, and so frome sayd Ladye Crosse by the welle unto the Salterbroke, and so by the sayd Salterbrok to the hed of the sayd brok, and so from the hed of the sayd Salterbroke, by the ded hegge, unto Snaylsden, and so by the heyght of the sayd Snaylsden unto the Styeweye in Hardden, and so frome the sayd Styewey in Harden unto the Horre Lawe, and so frome sayd Horys Lawe, as streyght as kane by lyned to y° Marye thorne, and so frome sayd Marye thorne to y® Standing stone, and from sayd Standand ston to the Brodstone, and frome the sayd Brodstone to Byrchworth Ledzatt, and so frome sayd Byrchworth Ledzatt, downe by Meyrys- broke, to the watter of Done, so by sayd watter of Done to the sayd Denbye bryge, and wher sayd bounder dos begen. With this may be compared a deposition of John Hatfield, of Bulhouse, In 1753. Above 50 years since he was present at the riding of the boundaries by justice Bosville ; at which riding were present Richard Greaves, above 80 years old at that time, of Tin wood, near Lady Bower in Derbyshire, and Humphry Bray, who had been a soldier in Oliver Cromwell’s army ; these chiefly directed where they were to go, having rode them formerly. They began at Blakeroyds, laying their hands upon the wall; the next place was the Sandy Ford, thence proceeding to Greyhound Stone, thence to Standing Stone, where are 10 par- ticular marks. This stone was since taken down by Wm. Marsh, of Cubley, and Mr. Hatfield obliged him to put up another, with the same marks as near as he could remember, upon the same place, Thence they went to Hartcliffe hill, and thence on the north side the way to South Nabb, thence north side the way to Salter brook, thence, following the middle of the stream, to the great Small Clough, and from thence to the Shepherd’s Meeting, on the top of Swaines

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THURLSTON. 49

Greave; there they pulled off Mr. Bosville’s hat and put it upon Mr. Hatfield’s head; from thence down the edge of Featherbed Moss, to the south end of the place then called the Black Dyke, or Out gate; thence along the east side of the Black Dyke, or Out gate, till they came to the Candlerush Rig, above Candle- rush Spring; thence to the top of Earnshaw Rig, thence down the side of Fuden pasture, thence to a hill called Wollf’s hill, thence cross Barnside Moor to the Intacks, thence following Langley Brook to the river it runs into. The manor of Langside is comprehended within this boundary, and Mr. Hatfield says that Mr. Bosvile was always looked upon as lord of the manor of Langside equally the same with that of Middop. Mr. Hatfield looks upon that house which the lords of the manor of Bolsterstone are pleased to call a cottage, to be a house built upon their own freehold. Mr. Hatfield never heard of any of the lords of Bolsterstone, or any body in their names ever riding boundaries of the manor of Langside. This account was given in the presence of us: John Spencer, Aymor Riche, Samuel Phipps.

I find also this account of the commons of Thurlston before the inclosure :

Buck <P. On the north side of the - : - 22864 2 On the south side: Hartcliffe - - - - - . BGO} W392 iTS Low Moor - - - - - : Deel he Fulcher - - - - 615 72 “16 Redehey - - - : - 567 07 28 Boord-hill - : . : - . Bea 3 NS Windleden, and the rest of Salter-brook- head - - - - - - T2065" 3.4 LE 6552 O 25

The vill of Thurlston is about a mile from the church of the parish, and is situated on a pass over the Don. It has long enjoyed a share in the woollen manufactures of the West Riding, and to this Thurlston chiefly owes its superiority in point of population over the other townships of the parish. The person most distinguished in science, produced by the portion of the kingdom which is described in this work, was born in an obscure family in this remote village, Dr. Nicholas Sanderson, the son of John Sanderson and Anne his wife, whose names would not have been remembered, had they not been the parents of such a son. He was born in 1682, and before he had completed his second year he became totally blind. Buta light divine shone inward; and his father perceived it, and placed him in the grammar-school at Peniston, then under the care of a Mr. Staniforth, under whom he acquired no inconsiderable classical and mathematical knowledge. ‘The use he made of the latter was to assist his father, who was in the excise, in calculations necessary in his employ- ment, but he soon superseded by more compendious methods the modes of calculation then in use. This seems to have been his employment till his 18th year, when Mr. West, of Underbank, in the neighbouring township of Hunshelf, determined to make some exertions to draw this extraordinary youth out of the obscurity to which he seemed doomed, and to place him where his peculiar talent could be cultivated. He was sent for a while to a place of education at Attercliffe near Sheffield, chiefly intended for the education of dissenting ministers ; but the mode of instruction pursued there did not suit his genius, and he seems to have for the most part taught himself, which is after all that teaching which is most effectual, till he had acquired so much mathematical knowledge that he ventured upon establishing himself, even at Cambridge, as a D

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50 HISTORY (OF

teacher of the mathematical sciences. This he accomplished in 1707, being then 25 years of age; and in 1711 he was appointed to a chair in the Univer- sity, being named Lucasian Professor of mathematics. At Cambridge he continued, increasing in reputation, till his death in 1739.

SMALSHAW.

Like Hornthwaite before mentioned, Smallshaw is called manevium in early deeds. The earliest in which I have seen any notice of it, is one by which William Pager, of Smalescihe, as the name is written, quit claims his lands there to Elias, son of Alexander de Ingbirchworth, for 4s. and for a robe, roba, which the wife of Ehas had given to Claricia, wife of the donor: three shillings annual rent to be paid to Richard de Crul, at the feast of St. Oswald. Sir John Savile is among the witnesses. Elias gave the lands by a subsequent deed to Roger, the son of John de Halywell. I Smalshaw afterwards belonged to the Turtons, a family of good account, but becoming extinct, or falling into decay, just at the time when the heralds began to hold their visitations, we have no account of them in their records. From a number of charters of this family now before me, I select the following for the sake of the illustrious names which appear in it. ‘ William Turton, of Smalshaw, gives to Richard duke of York, sir William Oldale and sir Thomas Harrington, knights, John Vincent and John Cawood, esquires, John Fereby, William Snitale, John Smith, chaplain, Henry Beaumont, and Nicholas Turton, all messuages, &c. dated 14 October 28 Henry VI. 1449.”

BULL-HOUSE.

This is another of those antient estates of inheritance called in early charters manerium. It belonged to the name of Appleyard, and of them it was bought early in the fifteenth century by William Riche, of Carlcotes in Thurlston. From him there was a series of generations of the name of Riche at Bullhouse to the time of Aymer Riche, who was the chief constable of Staincross in 1624. He was the father of William, who stands at the head of the following pedigree.

Mr. Aymer Riche left Bullhouse to the issue of his sister Martha, and it has since accompanied the Great Houghton estate. The commission of William Riche, appointing him captain of a troop of horse in the regiment commanded by colonel Laurence Parsons, was signed by Ferdinando lord Fairfax, 22 June 1644. It appears by some memoranda that at the time of his death he had a claim upon the State for £700, which was unpaid in 1656. The family were puritans. During the time of Mr. Swift they were accus- tomed to attend the church at Peniston; but they had frequently private services in the house, conducted by the ministers who had been ejected in 1662, and whom it was meant to silence. But when Mr. Swift was dead, and a vicar was appointed who was zealous for the forms of the church, when also the Toleration Act had opened the way for dissenters to erect chapels for them- selves, Mr. Elkana Riche, who had married in succession the daughters of two of the ejected clergy, built a meeting-house near his residence, which was com- pleted in 1692.!_ His son, Mr. Aymer Riche, continued to attend this chapel, and

1 Mr, Elkana Riche, in a letter to hiscousin Mr. Aymer Riche at Smalshaw, respecting a pew in the church, writes thus: “My father, mother, and myself, always sat there in Mr. Swift’s time, that is, while we went to the church: until they carried things so high, and were so full of ceremonies, that we resolved to provide a better way of worship at home. I shall therefore not sit there as they manage the church, but if you like their doings, I had rather you sat there than any other person. 8 July 1720.”

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ILLINOIS LIBRARY

UNIVERSITY OF

tf

an

PEDIGREE. OF RICHE,. -OF BULL-HOUSE.

Wiriiam Ricue, of Bull-house, gent. a captain under lord Fairfax in the civil wars, will dated 18 Aug. 1648, buried at Peniston 6 March 1649-50.

I dau. of Ralph Wordsworth Wit RIcHE,

SyLvanus RicueE, of Bull-house, gent. built the=Mary, , of Waterhall, gent. present house in 1655, bur. at Peniston 23 Dec. I mar. at Sheffield 22 April 1652, died 6 June 1704, aged of Hornthwaite, 1683, aged 56. 72, buried at Peniston. had issue,

I MARGARET, 1 w. dau. of John Shaw, Ricue, of Bull-house,=MartTua, 2 w. dau. of Richard Thorpe, of

of Rotherham, mar. 20 October 1680, died I gent. son and heir, died 21 July Hopton, clerk, mar. 1685, died x Feb, x 22-3, 10 June 1684. : I 1724, aged 65. aged 59. I I I bel I 2 l Jounx Mary, ma. SYLVANUS, AYMER Ruicue, of Bull-=Grace, dau. and heir of Wil- MarTHA, mar, 1 Rich- and John Hat- ELKANA, house, esq. only surviving I liam Bagshaw, of Hucklow, ard Rodes, esq. of Great Mar- field, of RICHARD. son and heir, bap. 1 Nov. I co. Derby, gent. mar. 4 De- Houghton; and 2, Sa- GA- Laughton- 1702, died without issue I cember 1722, died 29 Sep- muel Crompton, of Der- RET, en-le-Mor- BETH, 18 Nov. 1769, bur. in the I tember 1724, buried in the by, esq. doy, then, gent. all d, y. chapel at Bull-house. chapel at Bull-house.

ELKANA only child, born 13 Sept. 1723, died Feb, 1725.

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52 . HISTORY OF PENTSTONE:

when he died was buried there, being described upon his monument as “in his behaviour the accomplished gentleman, in his worldly affairs the man of prudence, and in charity to the poor an exemplary christian.” The ministers were of the presbyterian denomination. ‘The first was Daniel Denton, who died in 1721; next William Halliday, who died in 1741 ; then Benjamin Shaw, who died in 1771; and Thomas Halliday, who settled here in 1772, and removed in 1776 to Norton in Derbyshire. Mr. Lewis was afterwards the minister here; but the family ceasing to reside at the hall the attendance at the chapel became much diminished. At length the regular worship ceased, and the chapel was allowed to be used by some denomination of methodists.

ge The foregoing particulars relating to the eight townships forming the Common Law Parish of Penistone ave taken in their entirety from “ The History and Topography of the Deanery of Doncaster in the Diocese and County of York,” by the Rev. Joseph Hunter, Fellow of the Societies of Anti- quaries of London and Newcastle, and an Honorary Member of the Yorkshive Philosophical Association ; published in 1837.

Page 71

GENERAL ITEMS, ETC.

MY NATIVE HILLS. (A DUET).

“T love the hills, my native hills, o’er which so oft I’ve strayed ; The shading trees, the murmuring rills, where I in childhood played ; I love to feel the breezes blow—I love to feel the breezes blow up on those hills so free, up on those hills so free— Where e’er I am, where e’er I go, my native hills for me, my native hills for me. love the hills, my native hills all purpled with the heath— Those fertile grounds, those pleasant rills and the woodlands far beneath ; When fancied joys in hopes I viewed—when fancied joys in hopes I viewed, I think those hills I see— Where e’er I am, where e’er I go, my native hills for me, my native hills for

”

me,

“ PENISTONE Church is picturesquely situated, and to the east it overlooksa very beautiful vale which is well cultivated. The Church has been restored, but it has not been possible to destroy the stonework which is of very hard gritstone. The tower is finely proportioned and lofty. It can be seen from a considerable distance and forms a very striking feature in the town. It belongs to the 14th century period ; the tower arch it seems was opened out during the ‘restoration.’ The roof is excellent Tudor architecture, with well carved bosses and brackets. The eastern window is a curious example of early decorated work. The mullions when they reach the springing of the arch curve over each other and intersect, forming plain tracery of a diamond pattern. There are similar examples in Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire. The side windows are triangular headed, and have simple tracery. The west door is an excellent example: it has leaf ornaments at intervals and a double hollow moulding. But the most interesting features in the church probably are the nave arches. These are octagonal and crowned by a square abacus from which the arches spring. The section of the arches is in the shape of a Maltese cross, and the angles are splayed, closing with a triangular stop before they reach the capital.”—Alfred Rimmer, 1890.

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54 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

In 1811 and few following years. disputes arising between masters and men as to the use of machinery in cloth, calico, and lace mills, &c., bodies of men, who, probably with a view of inspiring confidence, gave out that they were under the command of a leader named Ned Ludd, or General Ludd, and hence their designation of Luddites, destroyed much machinery in the country. In these years two regiments of militia were brought into the district and some quartered at Penistone—one was a Welsh regiment—the other from Devonshire. The men were distributed amongst the farmers and inhabitants of the district and worked for them, or at their several avocations. The Devonshire men were mostly agricultural labourers and got to be great favourites.

PENISTONE GIRLS=

1732, April 12th—In the will of Josias Wordsworth, of the parish of Saint Dunstan in the East, London, of this date there is a bequest in the following words :— “JT give to Peniston in Yorkshire for teaching poor Girls to read and write Two hundred pounds to be laid out in Land or lett out to interest and the annual produce applied to that purpose and that the trustees appointed for my Brother’s Charity be the trustees Of After giving other legacies the said testator gave all the rest of his estate, real and personal to Josias Wordsworth, son of his brother John Wordsworth and appointed him executor and residuary legatee. On the 20th of July, 1736, the said will was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, and the probate in 1826 was in the possession of Mrs. Verelst of Aston. In 1822 Mr. Joseph Camm, of Beverley, being desirous of providing the means of instruction for the poor girls of his native parish, Penistone, entered into an agreement with the inhabitants that if they would build a school he would endow it with £400. The National School was accordingly erected in that year by public subscription, aided by a grant of £50 from the National Society and by another grant of £30 from the Diocesan Society. The school was opened in January, 1823.

A Sunday School was opened for the first time in Penistone on Sunday, February 28th, 1813. One was opened at Netherfield three years earlier, and one at Thurlstone in 1786.

FALLS ON DON RIVER NEAR PENISTONE.

Bullhouse Corn Mill, 114 feet Oil Mill, Thurlstone (Cloth) 10 feet Millhouse Wire Mill, 14 feet Nether Corn Mill from the Don, g feet Paper House Wire Mill, 17 -feet Nether Corn Mill from Scout, 16 feet Plumpton Cloth Mill, 15 feet Oxspring Corn Mill, 1g feet.

Thurlstone Corn Mill, 16 feet

Kirkebol—Norse for a farm. So we havea key to the prefix “bol” or “bul,” as in Bulmer, Bullhouse, and the like.

The first peal of bells in England was put up in Croyland Abbey, A.D. 870.

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STAINCROSS VOLUNTEERS. 30

STAINCROSS VOLUNTEERS. Downing Street, 15th August, 1803. My Lorp, I have had the honor of laying before the King the proposals transmitted by your Lordship for raising a Corps of Volunteer Infantry in the Wapentake of Staincross. I am commanded to signify to your Lordship His Majesty’s Gracious approbation and acceptance of these offers of Service subject to the provisions of the Act of the 43d of the King, cap. 96. I have the honor to be, My Lord, Your Lordship’s most obedient, humble Servant, Earl Fitzwilliam, &c., &c., &c. Barnsley, 2d November, 1803.

At a Meeting of the Lieutenancy held at Leeds, October, It was ordered that in case of an alarm by the appearance of an enemy on our coast.the Volunteers of the West Riding of Yorkshire should have a Place of Rendezvous appointed for each Regiment to assemble at— That the Staincross Volunteers general Rendezvous should be at Ponte- fract. In consequence of the above Order the Commanding Officer of the Staincross Volunteer Infantry appoints the Regiment to march in three Divisions for the above place as follows :—the three Eastern Companies, viz., the Hemsworth, the Felkirk and the Roystone to assemble at Hemsworth and march under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Linley Wood. The four Central Companies, viz., the Cawthorne, the Darton and the two Barnsley Companies to assemble at Cudworth and march under the command of Walter Spencer Stanhope, Lieutenant Commandant. The three Western Companies, viz., the Thurlstone, the Thurgoland and the Denby to assemble at Burton abt. Monk Bretton and march under the command of J. H. Lees, Major. Serjeants’ Names.

Colonel’s Company to be Serjeants and obeyed as such

Captain Gill’s Company to be Ser- jeants and obeyed as such

Captain Cockshutt’s Company to be Serjeants and obeyed as such

Captain Richardson’s Company to be Serjeants and obeyed as such

Captain Clarke’s Company to be Sergeants and obeyed as such

Lieut. Colonel’s Company to be Serjeants and obeyed as such

Major Lees’ Company to be Serjeants and obeyed as such

Shirt George ‘Turner Thomas Pexton William

Greenwood George Deaker Richard Sanderson William

Corbett Thomas Jagger Benjamin Trippett John Simmons John Ellison Wilham Smith John Braithwaite John Wainwright Joseph Taylor George Batty Joseph Hooking Thomas Archdale George Wainwright Richard Brown John Crossley Thomas

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56 HISTORY OF PENISSONE:

Captain Shaw’s Company to be Serjeants and obeyed as such

Captain Watson’s Company to be Serjeants and obeyed as such

Captain Wood’s Company to be Serjeants and obeyed as such

Serjeants’ Names. Baron James George Yates Samuel Smith John Hemingway — Shirt George Blackburn Matthew Wood Joshua

Mem.—The above return was when the Regiment was first formed. Of course there would be alterations from time to time, until the Regiment was disbanded. THURESTONE VOUCUN Jonathan Turner. Charles Walker. Richard Wainwright. Woodcock. John Wood. Joshua Wood.

Joseph Hinchliffe. Benjamin Kirke. John Lockwood. Joshua Moorhouse. John Turton. Edward Taylor.

John Brown. Thomas Bonhn. John Cartwright. Thomas Charlesworth. Dickinson. Joseph Gouldthorpe. James Greenwood. Isaac Thornton. Jonathan Hinchliffe. Joseph Swain. Of these men fifteen were weavers and one a spinner. maker—a trade known to have been carried on here as early as 1775. all took part in the march to Hemsworth.

VOLUNTEERS:

The following are the names of those belonging to Penistone who responded to the call of duty on August 15th, 1805, and marched towards Hemsworth, expecting to meet the French in deadly conflict : Brammall John, servant. Thorp John, mason. Driver James, servant. Turner Joshua, labourer. Fieldsend Joshua, labourer. Walshaw John, farmer.

THURGOLAND VOLUNTEERS.

Thurgoland sent one officer and fourteen rank and file to swell the ranks of those who marched to Hemsworth on the night of August 15th, 1805. These were Captain James Bland, of Huthwaite Hall, and John Holland. Benjamin Froggatt. Joseph Butler. Thomas Gregson. Joseph Coldwell. George Houghland. Joseph Drabble. Thomas Hirst. Francis Downing. Francis Hollingworth. Of this number six were wire-drawers, and three were connected with the cloth manufacture.

Bonlin was a paper They

George Jagger. George Jubb. Samuel Senior. Robert Ward.

Barnsley, 21st August, 1805.

R.O, The Commanding Officer takes the earliest opportunity of testifying his highest approbation and returning his most cordial thanks to the officers, non-commissioned officers, and private volunteers of the Staincross Regiment, which he esteems it now more than ever an honour to command, for the exemplary gallantry and alacrity they shewed in rushing to arms at the call of

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STAINCROSS VOLUNTEERS. 57

Beacon on Thursday last. It proves most satisfactorily that the King and the Country may rely upon the valour and zeal of the Staincross Volunteers. He has had the honour to receive thanks of the Nobility, Magistrates, Gentlemen, and Freeholders assembled at Rotherham to the Staincross Corps upon the occasion.

A handsome Vase, now in the drawing-room at Cannon Hall, presented by the Staincross Volunteers to Mr. Stanhope, their commanding officer, bears the

following inscription : In the night of the 15th of August, 1805, The Beacon on Woolley Edge was fired, And the order issued soon after midnight For calling out the Staincross Volunteers. Dispersed and remote as they lay, Covering the whole Wapentake and Dwelling in every Town and Village in it, So promptly did they answer to the call, That in about 14 hours they not only were all assembled to the complement of 600, except only g who were absent from their homes, But had actually marched in that time upwards of 12 miles upon an average. To record this event And to testify their regard and attachment to their Commandant The Non-commissioned Officers and Privates of the Staincross Corps of Volunteers Present this Vase to Walter Spencer Stanhope, Esq. Lieut.-Col, Comt. Staincross Volunteer Infantry. 1805.

Return of Staincross Volunteer Infantry under command of Sir F. L. Wood, shewing the strength of the Corps with the number of Arms and Accoutre- ments in its possession.

Effective Strength of the Corps. Number of Arms and Accoutrements in its possession. Sergeants. Drummers. Rank and File. Sergeants’ Muskets, Sets of Drums. Spears. Accoutrements, 32 20 598 30 650 650 IO

The following Extracts and Notes are taken from the Order Book of the Staincross and Osgoldcross Regiment of Local Militia.

Headquarters, Doncaster, 4th May, 1810. Parade to-morrow morning at 8 o’clock. The whole original Establishment of the Regiment consisting of 83g men, including Non-commissioned Officers, to be completely clothed, armed, accoutred, and equipped before Wednesday the gth inst.

In 1811-12-13 the Regiment was in garrison at Burton.

Parole Burton, Nov. 28th, 1812. Cr Sign Nottingham. Reports being in circulation that a system of nightly depredations is now (and may be expected during the winter) carrying on, the Adjutant requests the Sergeants to be very particularly on the alert during the nights and not suffer themselves to be surprised by any of these banditti. He also hopes they

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58 PENTSTONE: will bear in mind the serious charge which they have under their care, and the danger that would accrue to the country should the disaffected obtain possession of the arms, &c., of the Staincross Local Militia.

I Barnsley, 27th February, 1882. Dear Sir, I feel sure you will be glad to learn that the late Miss Lees has by a Codicil dated the 21st day of July last to her will bearing date the same day, given to “the Board of Health for the township of Monk Bretton” all papers and other documents in her possession and the two banners with poles which relate to and belonged to the Staincross Volunteers “in order that the same may be kept and preserved with all public documents they may from time to time possess relating to or belonging to the said township.” You will kindly communicate this to the Board at the first opportunity. Mr. G. W. Atkinson, - Yours truly,

Clerk to the Monk Bretton Local Cur: 1, Diese: Board of Health.

Mr. Atkinson informed the Board there were a lot of old things belonging to the old Volunteers, copies of Orders, &c. Mr. Batty and himself had sug- gested that they be handed over to the Board in order that they might be taken care of. ‘The gift was accepted and the Clerk was instructed to acknowledge the same. Mr. George Batty was then Inspector for Monk Bretton Local Board. He was at one time previously the Sergeant of Police at Penistone. Whilst with the Board he brought me the Papers relating to the Volunteers to look

Over.

At the time the Staincross Volunteers were raised the musket used was a flint-lock muzzle-loader, with single ball or ball and buckshot, effective at about a hundred yards, with a recoil as dangerous to the soldier as the shot to the object aimed at. Tor firing and loading the commands were—the musket being loaded and at the shoulder—‘ Poise firelock ; cock firelock ; take aim; fire”’: “ Half-cock firelock ; handle cartridge ; prime ; shut pan ; charge with cartridge ; draw rammer; ram down cartridge; return rammer ; shoulder firelock.”’

Barnsley, 29th July, 1889. Dear Sir, I believe you have in your possession a number of old muster rolls and other documents relating to the old Staincross Volunteers of 1805, also some swords, &c., which were once in the possession of the late Major Lees, of Monk Bretton. If you have these relics and have no use for them, I should very much like to have them and to hold them as Commandant of the Barnsley Rifle Volunteers, who I think may be justly styled the successors of the Staincross Volunteers. I hope you will not think me impertinent in making this request, for I can assure you that my only object is to preserve these interesting relics ; and I can promise that I will take the greatest care of them and make special provision for their safe custody in our armoury. Mr. G. W. A. Atkinson, Yours faithfully, Borough Accountant, Barnsley. Won. T. BAmMForTu.

Mr. Atkinson, their Clerk, at a meeting of the Monk Bretton Local Board, explained that the relics in question were handed over by him to the Board a year or two ago and were kept in the Board-room. There was a unanimous disposition manifested by the members to comply with Major Bamforth’s courteous request,.and the Clerk was instructed accordingly. I

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PENISTONE UNION. oe)

In 3 Henry V. 1415, John de Wortley with others were commissioned to muster the men-at-arms of the West Trithing and employ them for the defence of the sea coast and elsewhere, and also to place beacons in the usual places that notice might be given of the approach of the enemies in case they should attempt to make a descent while the king is beyond sea in his wars against France. During the alarm on the expected Spanish invasion in 1588 the earl of Huntingdon, lord-president of the North, wrote to the Justices of the Peace of the West Riding assembled at Pontefract for providing arms and erecting beacons. ‘This was on the 15th of April.

TIFRES:

The Rectorial Vithes of Penistone and Kirkburton were held by the Crown and were granted out to farm by Queen Elizabeth for term of years or “ lives”’ to the Wortleys of Wortley, who again granted the same out to others for shorter periods. Before 1680 the interest of the Wortleys had ceased. The tithes were next granted by the Crown to the Duke of Lennox, at whose death his grandson Henry Howard, Earl of Norwich, succeeded to them, who in 1680 by deed conveyed the same to the Masters of the Hospital of Gilbert, Earl of Shrewsbury, at Steffield, in whom they have since been vested.

sr. MARY'S CHURCH, LANGSETT,

was built at the sole cost of Sir Lionel Milborne Swinnerton Pilkington, Bart., of Chevet Park, near Wakefield, who was lord of the manor of, and a large landowner in the Township of Langsett, and was opened for public worship on Saturday, January 16th, 1875. Along with other property of Sir Lionel’s at Langsett, it was purchased about 1897 by the Sheffield Corporation for the purposes of their proposed Waterworks at Langsett.

PENISTONE UNION.

_ Penistone, Thurlstone, Langsett, Hunshelf, Oxspring, and Ingbirchworth, along with Wortley, Ecclesfield, Bradfield, Tankersley, Thurgoland, and Hoy- landswaine, formerly formed the Wortley Union; and the first meeting of the Guardians was held at the Wortley Arms Inn on Monday, September roth, 1838. The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Wharncliffe was elected Chairman, and the Ven. Archdeacon Corbett, D.D., and James Dixon, Esq., Vice-Chairman of the Board, and my father, Mr. John Dransfield, of Penistone, Attorney-at-law, the Clerk to the Board. The Guardian for Penistone ... .... Mr. Charles Marsh.

5 Thurlstone ... ... Messrs. Joseph Greaves and Jonathan Ibbotson. Tangsett ... ... Mr. John Stanley. Hunshelf ... .... Mr. Joseph Parkin Hague. Oxsprme ... ... Mr. Michael Camm.

Ingbirchworth ... Mr. James Strafford. At this time it appears there were workhouses at Bradfield, Ecclesfield, and Wortley; the one at Wortley was, however, soon discontinued. __ In 1849 Penistone Union was formed, and the above-named townships, along with Denby and Gunthwaite, the other townships in the Common Law Parish of Penistone, with Cawthorne, Clayton West, High Hoyland, Hoylandswaine, Kexborough, Silkstone, and Thurgoland, were the fifteen townships comprising it.

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60 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

The first meeting of the Guardians was held at the Rose & Crown Inn, Penistone, on Tuesday, October 30th, 1849. Walter Spencer Stanhope, Esq., was elected Chairman; Messrs. John Shackleton and Herbert Camm Dickinson, Vice-Chairmen ; and my father, Mr. John Dransfield, Solicitor, Penistone, Clerk of the Board. The Guardian for Penistone ... .... Mr. John Shackleton. Thurlstone ... Messrs. Wm. Moorhouse, junr., and John Wainwright.

Langsett ........ Mr. Matthew Marsh. in Hunshelf ... ... Mr. Jonathan Crawshaw. Oxspring ...' ..« Mc Joho Thomas Rolling 3 Ingbirchworth .... Mr. James Strafford. Denby ... .... .«.. I Messrs. Herbert (Camm and Joseph Haigh.

Gunthwaite ... Mr. James Holmes. The Workhouse of the Union at Netherfield, near Penistone, was built in 1860, and has had many additions since made to it. Mr. Shackleton was strongly opposed to the erection of a Workhouse, and I very well recollect at one election of Guardians, when he was opposed by Mr. Charles Marsh, stone mason and farmer, a placard was carried round asking the ratepayers to “ vote for Shackleton and no Bastile.” ‘The Workhouse was opened July 25th, 1861.

COACHES.

The following were the coaches calling at Penistone prior to railways taking their place. To London—The “ Royal Hope” from Halifax called at the Rose & Crown Inn weekly, at 9-30 a.m.; went through Sheffield, Chesterfield, Nottingham, Leicester, &c. To Barnsley—A coach from Manchester called at the White Hart Inn every afternoon at 4.30. To Halifax—The “ Royal Hope” from London called at the Rose & Crown Inn weekly, at 5.30 p.m.; went through New Mill, Honley, Huddersfield, &c. To Manchester—A coach from Barnsley called at the White Hart Inn every morning at 10; went through Ashton.

ENDOWED CHARITIES.

The last Report on Endowed Charities for the West Riding of the County of York was issued by the authority of Parliament in 1896. It is dated March 2nd, 1895, and contains full accounts of those in the Parish of Penistone, and also gives particulars of the previous Report of January 27th, 1827, thereon.

EXTRACTS FROM OLD ESTATE BOOKS OF tHE BOSVILLES OF

1724. The personal estate of the late Godfrey Bosville! as J. Sone

appraised ee a's “ns aol +s : 486 18 o6 To paid by Mrs. Bosville four maids’ wages from ye 22nd June to Martinmas ae ets tee 2 2: PEO. Mae To paid subscribed by Mr. William Bosville to the building of the vicarage house at Peniston mS 20,

1 Mr. Bosville died June 6th, 1724, aged 41, and was buried at Penistone. His widow, Mrs. Bridget Bosville, married Mr. Hugh Bosville as her second husband at Midhope Chapel, Sept. 29th, 1729.

Page 79

1729.

1730.

1731-2.

1732-3.

1734.

1736-7.

. BOSVILLES’ ACCOUNTS.

1726. Feb. 18, To paid the purchase money for Broad Oak Farm to Mr. Stocks ... 200 To paid Haigh for cutting Mr. William Bosville’s gravestone and to the sexton O To paid Mr. Allot for eight months’ serving the cure of Denby Chapell (viz.) from ye 6th January to the 8th September o16 To paid Mr. Jona. Parkin his sallary as curate of Denby Chapell from the 8th September when Mr. Allot left to ye roth December 1729 — 006 Recd. of Jo. Broadhead in lieu of two broad-headed arrows the chief rent paid by him ... : 000 To paid Jonathan Roebuck the purchase money for Dawall Tithes in Aymor Rich’s possession eee O54: To received of John Horn in satisfaction for Mulcture taken for Wheat and Meal ground at his Mills for the use of Gunthwaite Hall, which by a covenant of his lease of the Mills were to be mulcture free 003 To paid for cleaning the monuments at Penistone Choir 000 To paid the charges of building the house at Gun- thwaite Mill O15 To paid and expended on ‘pulling up the seat in Penis- tone Church which Richard Marsden had erected in the seat belonging to ye Oxspring tenantsthere 000 To paid Mr. Hutton his quarter’s bill due 12 April OII To received of Mr. Harrison in lieu of two pair of broad-headed arrows for two years’ rent ... 000 To paid in part for erecting 13 seats in Denby Chapel OOI To William Marsh, the mason, for work at ye Mill and laying grave-stone in Penistone Church ... seer). 000 To paid the expenses of Godfrey Bosville’s illness in the small-pox at London, presents to Sis. Bosville, Tho., John, and Mary Bosville, and expenses of his mother and Hugh Bosville’s journey to attend him there as by a particular account ... 162 To received of Mr. Harrison in lieu of a pair of arrows 000 To given Mat. Field to clean ye monuments in Penis- tone Church 000

Godfrey Bosville was me Denna Chapel May Boil January 25th, 1784, and was buried at St. Giles in the Fields, London.

Aug. 5th. To received of Mr. George Brown, Penistone, of

1830.

”»

»

sundry people, the Penistone Pew Rents for a year due to the Rt. Hon. Lord Macdonald, 1st May, 1830

June 9th. By paid James Holmes and Thomas Haigh, jun.,

Sept.

Overseers of the Poor of Denby in the Parish of Penis- tone, £10 in lieu of the Right Hon. Lord Macdonald taking a parish apprentice for said Lord Macdonald’s woods and plantations in Denby aforesaid, as psaid James Holmes and Thomas Haigh junior’s receipt 15th. By paid Mrs. Hawksworth, of Barnsley, for chaise and expenses on attending the 30th and 31st of August at her house on the sale of Lord Macdonald’s Estates in the West Riding ave ase oo ene

OL: 00 OO L560 ia O4 05 00 OI 00 05 00 03 OO OF 60 17 00 Or "05 rE 04 02 00 EP. (62 05 00 TE 304 OI oO OL 00 He died $e 8d; 54 sO 10 Oo I

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62 HISTORY OF PENISTONE,

1830. Nov. 12th. By paid Mr. Richard Stead £2 8s., being three f£ s. d. years’ interest of £16 placed in the hands of the late Godfrey Bosville, Esq., for the benefit of the minister of Middop Chapel for the time being, due roth Sept- ember last by the order and for the use of the Rev. Mr. Irving, as psaid Mr. Stead’s receipt 2°85 5 I INOva7th By, paid Rev. Brice Bronwin £12 - 10S, , being for half a year’s salary due to him as curate ‘of Denby Chapel in the Parish of Penistone the 24th June last 12 10 o » Dec. 8th. To paid Mr. Ellison fora year’s Tithe for Common Land in Gunthwaite due to the Trustees of Sheffield Hospital, Michaelmas, 1830 2 eae To paid Mr. Ellison for a year’s: Modus in lieu of Tithe for Gunthwaite, except Common Land that had been en- closed and Broad Oak F arm, due to the said Trustees

Michaelmas, 1830 ... 10 Wo » 10 received the Penistone Copyhold Rents for a year due to the Rt. Hon. Lord Macdonald, Saint Thomas, 1830 ... 2 6 10

The following are Extracts from Captain Bosville’s Rental Book for 1722 Et Seq: Joseph Broadhead, for Roper’s Land in Hunshelf and Bradfeld: Two Broad-headed Arrows. John Wordsworth, of Softley, for Land there and Roughbirchworth: A Thwittle. Thomas Firth, of Shepley, for Land in Carl-coates: A pair of White Gloves. Isaac Wordsworth, of Brook-house: A Red Rose. Mr. Fenton, of Underbank, for Turbary in Langset: A Red Rose. Mr. Nicolas Stead, for More Hall; A Red Rose. . George Crawshaw, of Bolsterstone, for Pease-bloom Close: A Pepper-Corn.

Mr. Godfrey Bosville appointed Nathaniel Shirt, M.A., one of the sons of John Shirt, of Cawthorne, an old family there, to the Episcopal Chapel of Midhope, which he held in 1657. He afterwards held the living of Kirkburton. Capt. Shirt, an officer in the Parliamentary Army, was a relative of his, and is mentioned along with others in Capt. Adam [yre’s interesting diary published by the Surtees Society.

The following from the Housekeeping Book of Mr. Bosville, of Gunthwaite, shows the prices he paid for articles, servants’ wages, etc., in the years 1740 In 1740 his female servants were paid as follows:

Rebecka Jackson oi ans £6 a year. Mary Smith. ... cas as £5 i Sarah Marshall Se ste £2 10s. a year. Sarah Howden =; ee LO ys

Mr. Bosville gave for grouse 1s. each, partridges 6d., hares 1s., woodcocks and snipes 6d. each, butter 6d. and 7d. per Ib., ducks od. to ts. 2d. a couple, chickens 7d. and Sd. a couple, beef 3d. and 3hd. per lb., mutton 4d. per Ib., Hysonn tea 18s. per lb., green tea 14s., Bohea 16s., coffee 58. 4d. per Ib.

Abraham Crossley, who would no doubt be tenant of Mr. Bosville’s moors at Midhope, sold a large quantity of game to Gunthwaite, especially moor- game.

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- BOSVILLES’ ACCOUNTS. 63

For October 27th, 1766, is the following entry :

A. Crossley, 29 woodcocks © 14° 6 16 eta 6" 8. © II snipes .. 6 i 6 hares ... oF, GO

The family consumed a very large quantity of game and poultry:

In 1775 begin several entries for expenses at Thorpe, near Bridlington. This estate Mr. “Bosville succeeded to in 1773 by bequest of Thomas Hassell, Esq., a relative of Mrs. Bosville, and going to reside there Gunthwaite was shorn of its former glory.

The following is also from the Old Rentals of Captain Bosville. Penniston Manour Coppyhould Rts. Pd. once a year

at St. Thomas’s day, se Mr. Josyas Wordsworth at Water Hall : Ol 5) Elyas Wordsworth of Gravills 2 es 4 Timothy Ellis of Hornthwaite and John Battie of Thurlston, for Mr. Elkanah Rich’s land Was ‘ ben) gaia Emor Rich of Cawthron, for land at ye Wood-end 6 John Saunderson of Wolton, for ye Syke Gy Thomas Marsh of Roydfield- house for Mrs. Morton 010 oO John Wordsworth of Schole-hill, for Mr. Eaton’s land 2 6 Richard Marsden of ye cael for yore sd. ee ~O For ye Calf Croft! ... ote QO} 1. For Mr. Rich, for Hesle- tofts OG. John Greaves of Peniston ... O; 35,76 2200 (TO

The above rents were paid to the Bosvilles until 1830.

On the 30th of August, 1830, estates belonging to them in Penistone, Oxspring, Thurgoland, Langset, Cawthorne, and Denby were offered for sale by auction at the White Bear Inn, Barnsley.

Lot 2 was described as follows: ‘“ Lot II. ‘Township. Tenants. No, on Plan. Premises. Quantities, Penistone ...William Clarke ... ... The (Copyhold) Manor of John Marsden .. 36 ... Penistone, with its rights, George Biltcliffe ... 37 .... members, and appurten- Benjamin Bailey ... 38 ... tances, and the Public o 1 o William Hinchliffe ... House called the Spread

Eagle Inn, with four other Houses, outbuildings, and yard The ancl Rents amount to £2 6s. 10d. annually.” The purchaser of the above Lot was Mr. George Brown, of the Rose and Crown Inn, Penistone, for the sum of £680.

The Old Crown Inn, Penistone, was built with bricks made from clay got in the field at Penistone Green, upon which the saw-mills of Messrs. Joseph

Laat & Sons now stand. Mr. Thomas Hawley informed me his father told im this.

a may be here noted that on the Calf Croft the Old Crown Inn and other buildings now stan

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64 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

The following from an Account of the late Mr. William Shepherd, of Barnsley, solicitor, made in 1837, with the owners in 1888 added, fives particulars of the Copyhold Estate to a recent date.

Names of Owners Tenants, Yearly Rents. Owners in 1888. in 1837. LS Thess Worsley 5. 7... George Chapman: Wm. Marsden _ ...John Mitchell o o 10 ...Mrs.Wall,of Leamington. Henry Grayson se OL HO J. Mitchell (Chapel) ...0 5 o a ” ” vee One. ” ” John Brown ... Woodend . oO 11%4...John Brown (son). Wm. Moorhouse... Woodend .» O O 7%,..John Firth Moorhouse. New Chapel ... Si

Little Ing and Chapel

Field sae 10. 2 Ambro’ Flatts and Red Broom wer NO

Benj": Silverwood. Thos. F. C. Vernon Wentworth. ...Luke Pearson White and Penistone Land Society. ...Benj®: Silverwood.

Samuel Revill ...Silverwoods a Gravels ...

9

Oo Spe ON OV Ov

Wm. Lockwood...

.. Caravels ... oe ak

” 6 Woodend © Oy do: Saml. Hadfield ...Chadwick -O 2 4...Miss Ziph. Wood’s Repre- sentatives. Ann Smith ... Chadwick Sag i. 0/3. 6 Milner, Joseph Bedford ... © <I #0 senior: G. Milner ..John Beever ... oe OF 10-574. Josh. Ingham... Woodend (Qy. Stotter- cliffe) on «. O| © 9Q§.;. Thos. F.C. V.Wentwortu. Abel Marsh ea oO 4202 1A was

John Birks ...John Shackleton o o10 J Willis Stones. John Hawley ... Mr. Walter Norton, of Rockwood House, Denby Dale, purchased the Copyhold Manor of Mr. Shepherd’s Trustees in 18 Common Law Manor of Penistone, and the privileges and rights attached thereto, passed to F. W. T. Vernon Wentworth, [sq., on his purchase of the Water Hall Estate from the Representatives of the Wordsworth

family in 1825.

9)

OUEEN' VICTORIAS JUBILEE The Jubilee of our late Queen was duly celebrated in the District. The following copy of a leaflet published by Mr. John Wood on a conveyance in the Jubilee Procession at Penistone, gives an account of what took place there. “Them that honour Me I will honour.”—7 Sam. ii. 30. Here was a Portrait of the Queen. VICTORIA, Queen of Great Britain and Empress of India, Born May 24th, 1819, Succeeded to the Throne June 2oth, 1837,

Page 83

REV. EDMUND HOUGH. 65

Married February toth, 1840, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburgh-Gotha, who died December 14th, 1861, Proclaimed Empress of India May rst, 1876. Her Jubilee celebrated at the ancient Town of Penistone, Yorkshire, June 28th, 1887, in splendid weather, by a Free Tea to all the Inhabitants, Distribution of Jubilee Medals to all the Children, a Grand Procession, Ringing of the Church Bells, Games, Sports, and such expressions of loyalty and general rejoicings as never recollected in Penistone before by its oldest inhabitant, Mr. John Reyner,! born June 19th, 1803, who was present in the Procession and also took part in the Celebration at Penistone of King George III.’s Jubilee in 1810. Her Majesty is the only Female Monarch who has ever reigned 50 years. The only previous English Monarchs who have reigned 50 years are :— Henry III., who reigned 56 years. Edward III., who reigned 50 years. George III., who reigned 60 years.

Vivat Regina.

PENISTONE CHURCH GARRISONED.

From several glimpses we get into the history of Penistone at that period we find that the inhabitants were for the most part favourable to the Parlia- ment, and that it was the scene of no little excitement. In 1643 Penistone Church was garrisoned by the Parliamentarians under Capt. Rich of Bullhouse, Capt. Adam [yre of Hazlehead, and Capt. Shirt of Cawthorne, and cannon placed there to defend the town against the Royalists under Sir Francis Wortley of Wortley and Sir Thomas Wentworth of Bretton. According to Wilson of Broomhead, a man was shot on the tower by a bullet from Jonathan Words- worth’s fold-yard as he was peeping into the town.

“T have sat and pondered often On the friends who long ago Lived upon this world of trouble, With its sorrowings and woe; In my day-dreams I have moulded All their memories good and true, I have linked them all together, Sometimes many, sometimes few.”

Godfrey Bosville, of Cromwell’s days, says Alexander Stephens in his Life of John Horne Tooke, “commanded a regiment at this time, and when praying came into fashion among the troops, like Sir Harry Vane, he resolved to pray too. Perceiving that the puritanical ministers began to possess great influence he at length became a candidate for that office, and prevailing on his own battalion to elect him, he from that moment governed and taught his men in the double capacity of colonel and chaplain.”

REV. EDMUND HOUGH.

_ The Rev. Edmund Hough died August 26th, 1717, while on a visit to Mr. Wilson, of Broomhead Hall. He was 53 years of age, and was buried at Penistone. His wife Sarah survived him until 1748, when she died in the 84th DEES to * Mr, John Reyner mentioned above died June 15th, 1893. E

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66 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

year of her age. Very little is known of Mr. Hough beyond the fact that he wrote the Country Serious Address to his Parishioners, and the following letter to Ralph Thoresby, of Leeds, the antiquarian, which contains some information about Penistone.

To Ralph Thoresby. Peniston, March 16th, 1696-7.

Dear Sir, I I The long neglect of what I promised may justly occasion you to think I had perfectly forgotten my promise; but I think I have some time since intimated some reasons in a short letter to Cousin Hough, your brother-in-law and neighbour. As to old monuments or things remarkable in our neighbour- hood, I wish I were able to have accommodated your wishes more than I am. But those few I easily recollect I shall give you here a brief account of. (1.) Note that before our present church (as I reasonably conceived) there was an ancient chapel somewhat above a quarter of a mile from the place where the present church standeth ; which chapel may reasonably be supposed to have been the place of public worship before the building of the church. ‘This chapel, though built of very mean stone, is yet extraordinarily well cemented together, so that not without some difficulty the stones are separated one from another. It is now for the most part demolished, the walls thereof having been since my coming to be vicar taken to repair the churchyard walls. (II.) As to the church it is an exact and well-built one of endurable stone as I think any in England; the steeple, one of the most exact for its height and compass, is an ornament to the church, which is now adorned since I saw you with a beautiful and neat pavement from the church gate to the great door, consisting of about thirty yards in length and I think about two yards and a half in breadth. As to monuments in and about the church they are rare and few with us. As to the epitaph on Mr. Swift’s tombstone which you desire an account of, it is, in short, this, or to this effect, viz., “‘ Here was interred the body of Mr. Henry Swift, Nov. 2, 1689, aged 66 years, and having been minister of Peniston 4o years.” (III.) Note that in the town of Peniston is a free school of an ancient foundation whose revenues consist much in land rents, the writings of some of them scarce legible, nor the names of all the donors known as I under- stand. These are the things most remarkable, and if they will be of any service to you I shall be glad. EpmMunD Houau.

Thoresby’s Diary and Correspondence, Vol. I. p. 278.

ARMS OF PENISTONE.

Thomas Clarel, the Lord of the Manor and Founder of the Grammar School at Penistone in 1392, had for Arms according to Hunter: “Six silver martlets on a red field; and we may observe that in the instances in which they still appear they are arranged upon the shield not as we should now be taught to arrange six martlets, but in parallel rows perpen- dicularly of three each.” Unless the above can be called the Arms of Penistone I know of no others. There are none recorded at the Heralds’ Office.

A Milch Cow is the design on the Seal of the Urban District Council of Penistone, and a Horned Penistone Ram on the Seal of the Burial Board.

The Act for supplying Penistone, Thurlstone, and Oxspring with gas was obtained in 1858.

Page 85

CHURCH ASSOCIATION. 07 BURIAL BOARD.

After steps commenced in 1869, and some informal proceedings afterwards, a Burial Board for the Ecclesiastical Parish of Penistone was formed at a Vestry Meeting held on the 15th of June,1871. The site at Stottercliffe was fixed upon for the Cemetery by 378 votes for as against 341 to the contrary. It contains an area of g acres 2 roods.

“ A silent, solemn, simple spot, The mouldering realms of peace ; Where human passions are forgot, Where human follies cease.”

CANON TURNBULL.

The present Vicar of Penistone, Canon Turnbull, was instituted October 20th, 1855. After the restoration, as it was called, of the Church in 1862, what was previously unknown to the parishioners and kept latent by him he then boldly avouched, viz., that he was an extreme ritualist, and troubles and dis- turbances of a most unpleasant character in consequence distracted and disturbed the parish for many years. The vigorous minded Protestants, brought up in the wild and rugged districts over which the strong moorland breezes blow, like their forefathers in the seventeenth century, would have none of it, and declined in most unmistakable terms either to change their religion for an alien one or to accept the Vicar’s assurance about confession and absolution and kindred doctrines, nor believed that anyone but Christ was entitled to say, “1 am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh to the Father but by Me.” Failing in his determined efforts to “drive” and “show” the parishioners he was “master,” after a great defeat of his nominee at a poll for election of church- wardens in 1885, he has been practically quiescent, but advertisements for curates and other things from time to time show what his doctrines still are. What good he and the host of ritualistic curates he has had claim to have done in a spiritual sense I cannot say. I know no one who has been taken into their confidence, and the English Church Union and kindred societies to which they owe allegiance keep the laity in the dark as to their proceedings, but it is well understood they are more concerned about getting power for the priests and union with Rome than the salvation of souls.

“Who builds for God and not for fame, Marks not the marble with his name.”—R. C. L. Bevan.

CHURCH ASSOCIATION.

There was a strong Branch of the Church Association at Penistone for many years, up to about 1890, and it did much good work in connection with the prevention of the teaching of Romish doctrines and practices in the Church and Schools, and to it the Parish has much to be thankful for; its task was often by no means a pleasant one. It is to be hoped that ere long the laity will have powers given them—or assert their right—to drive Romanising interlopers out of their churches. It is preposterous that these men should be allowed to be in and take the pay of the Protestant Church, and do with it the work of an alien one. If this is not misappropriating monies I do not know what is. John Wesley said, “Give me a hundred men who fear nothing but God, hate nothing but sin, and are determined to know nothing but Jesus and Him crucified, and I will set the world on fire with them,”

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68 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

We know what Romanism has done for other countries—what the Inquisi- tion did for Spain—and surely Britons will never become so degenerate in mind and body as to ever forsake God for the Pope. If they do, we know what the end will be. What has France recently had to do? What was Rome attempting to do in that country? What is she doing in this?

HOLMFIRTH PARLIAMENTARY DIVISION.

When in 1885 the West Riding had alterations made in its Parliamentary Divisions the Boundary Commissioners proposed Penistone as the name of one. The only public political meeting, however, probably convened under that name was a meeting of the Liberal 200 of the “ Penistone Parliamentary Division,” held in the Grammar School, Penistone, April 11th, 1885, when it was decided to form an Association to be called ‘“‘ The Penistone Division Liberal Associa- tion,” and rules therefor were considered. Underhand work was, however, then taking place somewhere, for the papers announced that on the discussion on the Seats Bill in the House of Commons on Thursday, April 16th, following, “Mr. W. H. Leatham proposed that the Penistone Division should be called the Holmfirth Division. Sir Charles Dilke was willing to accept the amendment, as Penistone was too small a place to give its name to a county division. Mr. Stuart-Wortley commented on what he called the conspiracy on the other side of the House to upset the decisions of the Commissioners ; he urged that though Penistone might not have parts it had position, whereas it had taken him some time to search out Holmfirth. The Committee divided: For the amendment 125, against 63.” The large majority in favour of the change was because not the slightest idea had been given that it was intended to take such a step. It was generally believed some interested parties at Holmfirth asked Mr. J. Bottomley Firth, a native of that District and Sir Chas. Dilke’s colleague in the representation of Chelsea, to take up the matter, and that he quietly got together a number of members sufficient to carry the motion. Soon, however, Penistone had its innings. At the West Riding Quarter Sessions held at Bradford on June 29th, 1885, Mr. J. Thorp-Taylor, of Holmfirth, proposed that Holmfirth be substituted for Penistone as the Election Place for the Holmfirth Division. He stated that Holmfirth was the most important town in the Division, being the seat of a great number of woollen, worsted, and cotton mills; that it had the largest population, and that the railway facilities were also good. He said, Holmfirth was the only town in the Division at which Petty Sessions and a County Court were held. It was better provided than Penistone with public buildings, and the ballot boxes could be brought to Holmfirth within three hours of the close of the poll. Mr. W. B. Denison remarked that out of eighteen townships in the Division, fifteen had memorialised in favour of Penistone and only one in favour of Holmfirth. (Hear, hear.) Mr. John Kaye said that, knowing the district well, he believed one of the greatest injustices would be done if they adopted Holm- firth. Mr. W. Aldam said that Penistone was selected as being a great place of meeting of railways which radiated in all directions. Holmfirth was in the extreme corner of the Division, and had no direct railway communication with a large majority of the Townships. The whole population of the Division was 63,800. Of these 20,000 could go more conveniently to Holmfirth, but for upwards of 40,000 Penistone would be a much more convenient centre. (Hear, hear.) It was agreed on a division to retain Penistone as the place of election. It is to be hoped Penistone, when a convenient time arrives, will-assert its right to give its name to the Division also. And why Holmfirth, so near such

Page 87

fie “OLIN BLUE CLUB.” 69

a large town as Huddersfield, and inconvenient to get to, should be entitled to have a County Court and Petty Sessions sit there, and Penistone, the only market town in the Division and twice as far off Barnsley, its nearest town, should not be entitled to either, will perhaps hkewise engage the attention of Penistone and neighbouring Urban District Councils. Certainly enterprise is not stifled, snubbed, or spoken disparagingly about at Holmfirth, even if it does not succeed at first, and its people are proud of its productions. No mention of Holmfirth by name, it is stated, can be found previous

to 1379.

- “Come let us to the hills! where none but God Can overlook us, for I hate to breathe The breaths and think the thoughts of other men In close and crowded cities, where the sky Frowns like an angry father mournfully.” Festus. RESERVOIRS NEAR PENISTONE. The hilly and rugged country and vast moorlands in and bordering the parish on the west and south, it would appear our beneficent Creator never intended to be enclosed and cultivated, but left in a state of nature to supply great cities, towns, and districts with pure water, and furnish that fresh and invigorating air so necessary for the health and welfare of the people. Grand sites for sanatoria for consumptives and convalescents are to be found around Penistone. As regards the water, it has all been appropriated by Barnsley, Dewsbury, Manchester, and Sheffield, as their reservoirs at Ingbirchworth, Dunford, Woodhead, Langsett, and Midhope testity. “The splendid supplies at the two latter places, the short-sighted District Councils of Penistone and Thurlstone—to the wonder and great amazement, no doubt, of the go-ahead and far-seeing Corporations of Barnsley, Shefheld, and other large towns— meekly allowed to be taken without claiming and securing any right of supply for their own districts therefrom, which could not have been refused, as for its whole the Parish of Penistone had riparian rights in the Little Don River. Verily distinguished service medals want bestowing by the Corporations on those who in this matter, like the sidesmen of a church near Liverpool, considered their duty to be “To hear, and see, and say nowt.” In 1874 the Wakefield New Water Company and the Wakefield Old Water Company applied to Parliament for permission to take the water of the Little Don River at Langsett, but the opposition of Sheffield and Messrs. Samuel lox & Co., of Stocksbridge Works, was too strong for them. The Penistone and Thurlstone Local Boards of that time took prompt measures to secure a supply for their respective districts, and got most liberal and satisfactory clauses inserted in the Bills of both Companies at very little cost.

foe SOLD BLUE. CLUB.” On the 3rd of August, 1889, another old institution of the District, viz., the ‘Penistone & Midhope Operative Conservative Benefit Association,” commonly called the “Old Blue Club,” celebrated its jubilee by a great gathering at Midhope. It was established on the rath of January, 1839, on those principles on which (as the Declaration to be made by members states) depend “the continuance olf social order, the security of property, the maintenance of religion, and the real liberties of the people.” In connection with the Association is a Sick Club with ample funds and a large number of members.

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70 HISTORY. OF. PENISTONE:

The Conservatives of the district must see that it does not fall from the objects of its foundation and sink into a sick club only, as at present seems likely to be the case. If leading Conservatives would only become honorary members and get the Association to join with other Conservative Associations in having great teas and meetings, say at Penistone on Primrose Day and at Stocksbridge in the autumn, it would help the cause.

In 1379, we read, there was no inn within ten miles of Barnsley, though there were several in the town. A Register of Births and Baptisms in connection with the old Wesleyan Chapel at Thurlstone, including the years 1796 to 1836, and also the Register. of Thurlstone Baptist Chapel from 1820 to 1837, may be seen at Somerset House. ROMAN TROOPS AT PENISTONE. William the Conqueror, after putting various districts of Yorkshire to the edge of the sword and scattering ruin broadcast, found it necessary to lead his troops in the depth of winter over the Pennine Range into Cheshire. An ancient Roman vicinal road is said to have entered the district near Hemsworth and passed by Barnsley, Silkstone, Hoylandswaine, and Penistone, so that this would be the most accessible route. The journey over this wild country was taken in the midst of snow and sleet, and William’s followers were almost in a state of mutiny. It will be remembered that there was a Roman encamp- ment at Oxspring, near Penistone.

“The Roman, too, once made these wilds his home, Bringing his legions from the distant South, Irom the world’s capital, imperial Rome, Thirsting for conquest with unquenched drouth, The hardy Briton struggled with his foe, Dared him to battle on the neighb’ring height ; ‘The dusky streamlets reddened with the flow, rom heroes dying for their country’s right.”

OPENING OF RAILWAYS.

I can just recollect the opening of the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincoln- shire Railway on July 15th, 1845, and riding to Dunford Bridge in a carriage somewhat similar to an uncovered cattle truck. The first sod of the Hudders- field Line was cut by Lord Wharncliffe at this end of Wellhouse Cutting on the 29th of August following, and below is a copy of the bill for the lunch of the Directors and their friends at the Rose & Crown Inn, Penistone, on that

occasion. £18. td; 80 gents’ lunch at 5/- abe ae sok ee 20° (0S 44 bottles of champagne at I0/-... 6 ss 22. 41 bottles of port at 5/6 ... ish oh axe th 39 bottles of sherry at 5/6 th ss qo 14 6 3 bottles of soda water at 6d. ... bes bee o I 6 13 bottles of soda water for band at 6d. we 6: 16-6 6 quarts of ale and porter at 6d. oe ae @ ia 6 39 quarts ale and porter for ringers at 6d. ade 019 6 Meat, &c., Mr. Miller’s men re es ce Fe Broken Glass 5 ae sae aoe O24, 70 Doorkeeper ... ao a a ae aac By Cheque to settle £70. £72 17! 6

The line was opened July 1st, 1850.

Page 89

THE PINFOLD. m1

PROPOSED CANAL AT. PENISTONE. In 1825 the question of constructing a canal between Shetheld and Man- chester via Penistone, Woodhead, and the Longdendale Valley was engaging the attention of those places. Mr. Thomas ‘Telford, the eminent engineer, had reported this the best route.

PAROCHIAL CONSTABLES. Hunter tells us that among the families who became seated in England at the time of the Conquest none obtained more extensive possessions or attained to higher dignities than the Lacis. The first settler was an Ilbert de Laci. The account of his lands in Yorkshire fill seven pages of Domesday Book, and he had other lands in other counties. His Yorkshire lands form what in later times has been called the honour of Pontefract. Penistone is included in the wapentake of Staincross, which was parcel of the honour of Pontefract, parcel of Her Mayjesty’s duchy of Lancaster, and up to about 1873 summons were issued yearly “to the Constable of Penistone and his deputy ” requiring them “to give strict warning and summons to all whom it may concern, that the Courr Leer with the view of frank-pledge, and also the Great Court Baron of our Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria with the turn” would be held at-Darton, &c. The following isa copy of one of the constable’s accounts for attending the Court: Penistone, Feb. ioth, 1873. d.

The Penistone Local Board. ‘To Richd. Lawton. fis: 1872. Expenses to Darton Court wae ae. ea on 6° © Court Fees ey ae ea sie on O; PALO Pinder’s Wage ... ne ‘is ee © 10-0 1873, Feb. 12th. Settled Richard Lawton.

The bill of John Scholey, the constable in 1837, was as follows: “ Oct. 13, Journey to Darton Court g/-, Court Fees 4/10, Paid to Pinder 5/-.” At the Town Hall, January 11th, 1871, Mr. Stanhope intimated that the magistrates had decided to issue no precepts for the election of parochial constables that year.

THE. PINFOLD.

The old Pinfold stood in part of the garden to the late Mr. Saml. Coward’s house; and when he acquired it he made another Pinfold in exchange near to the Brewery, Penistone. It is referred to as far back as 1630 in the description of the following property belonging formerly to the Grammar School but now to Mr. Joseph Birks’ representatives and Mr. Thomas Hawley and the Bank in High Street. “One Messuage or Tenement containing three Bays of slated Building and one Croft and Garden containing by estimation three roods and now in the tenure of Ralph Roads, abutting upon the Town Green towards the south-east and the Lands of the said Shaw! called Great Croft and upon the Common Pound towards the north-east, and upon the lands of the said Parsonage called Basing-yard towards the south-west, And is worth by year Xs. And now demised for the yearly rent of VIIJs.” The Parsonage iand called Basing-yard abuts on High Street and lies opposite to the property between Ward Street and Unwin Street. It now belongs to the Trustees of Shrewsbury Hospital.

1 Would “ the said Shaw” be the Rev. John Shaw who purchased Shepherds Castle Estate from Nicholas Wordsworth, and was Vicar of Rotherham ?

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72 HISTORY OF -PENISTONE

The Pinfold is now never used, indeed there is no Pinder. Old George Peace, I believe, was the last, and when I first recollect it was often occupied.

THE ROSE As elsewhere stated, Mr. William Dagley was in the early coaching days one of the landlords of the Rose & Crown Inn at Penistone, and for many years and until the coaches were superseded by railways, his son William, a dapper and obliging little man, was head waiter there. He was one of the celebrities of the place, and known to travellers far and wide—a pattern of neatness in his attire consisting of knee breeches, white silk stockings, the regulation dress coat and black bow, with high polished and spotless clean slippers with large silver buckles—he made one of those worthies who were in those days part and parcel of the old coaching hostelries but who now, lke the old coachmen, are only recollected by those who remain of the old generation. Another character belonging to the establishment was Johnson, the boots, who at the election of 1841, when Wortley and Denison defeated Milton and Morpeth, mounted Rumbo’s stubborn jackass and paraded the main thorough- fares gorgeously arrayed in the Tory colours at the expense of Mr. Joseph Paikin Hague, the then master of Penistone Harriers, and throughout his triumphant ride distributed pills specially prepared for the occasion of powder blue and soap as an antidote, he said, to the Radical germ then appearing in the district. Still another celebrity of the Old Inn was Nannie Bramall, the cook, who distinguished herself by attending no less than twice at the churchgates to be married to the universal lover of the village, Johnnie Milnes, only to experience bitter disappointment. Johnnie was, however, entrapped at last; in his 60th year he married Martha Hampshire after a tedious courtship, as recorded by the Rev. Samuel Sunderland, of 36 years. Many other interesting matters and tales in connection with the old hostelry “Where village statesmen talked with looks profound, And news much older than their ale went round,” which I personally know or have heard I have not space to record.

The Pancake Bell is still rung from the Parish Church at Penistone on Shrove Tuesday, and well within my recollection the Curfew Bell was rung regularly. And every man and maid do take their turn And toss their pancakes up for feare they burne, And all the kitchen doth with laughter sound To see the pancakes fall upon the ground.”

WOODHEAD ‘TUNNEL.

The making of Woodhead Tunnel under the Pennine Range some five miles to the west of Penistone was a gigantic undertaking. It occupied some six years in making, and an average of 800 men were employed on the works, which we are told were carried on unremittingly day and night. Sunday, instead of being a day of rest for the workmen, generally turned out the busiest in the week; indeed, being quite in the moors and with few houses for miles around, there was nothing for the navvies to take much interest in. Here is a description of their condition as given by Mr. Joseph Devey in his Life of Joseph. Locke. “The men were paid every two months to preclude their indulgence in hebdomadal excesses. The difficulties of getting provisions to the place proved-

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RHE “BEACH DEATH.” 73

almost as great as victualling Balaklava. There was no town of any descrip- tion for ten miles off, and provisions having to be dragged up a steep acclivity could not be sold for any price which the navvies could afford to pay. The contractors had to open shops of their own and pay their men partly in food. There were also no lodgings to be had in the farm-houses near, and the men were obliged to bivouac in huts run up with loose stones and mud and thatched with ling from the moors, and sleep upon truckle beds in groups of twenty together. They were visited by dissenting ministers, who preached to them in rainy weather under tarpauling canvas, and who appeared more zealous in proportion as their eyes were opened to the utter hopelessness of their mission. The men organised sick clubs and had a surgeon to attend them, whose services were far more in request than those of his clerical colleagues ; for in addition to private diseases, the number of casualities were something so alarming as to lead to a parliamentary inquiry. Twenty-eight men were killed. There were two hundred severe accidents absolutely maiming their victims for life, and four hundred and fifty accidents of a minor character.” The first train that went through the tunnel left Shefheld at 10.5 a.m. on Dec. 22nd, 1845, and arrived at Manchester at 12.15 p.m. It was 10} minutes in passing through the tunnel.

During the time when the second (or up line) Woodhead Tunnel was being made in 1849, the cholera suddenly made its appearance among the workmen living in the huts at the Woodhead end. Twenty-eight deaths took place in a short time, the disease generally carrying off its victims ina few hours. The arrival of a number of coffins created a panic among the men, and most of them left the place. A navvy’s widow known by the name of “ Peg-Leg,” having unfortunately had her natural limb replaced by a wooden one, volunteered her services as nurse. One morning she was seen leaving the roadside inn, and it was soon reported that Peg-Leg had taken the cholera. The report proved too true; the unfortunate woman died the same day.

LUDDITES.

‘The Luddites were workmen who banded themselves together for the destruction of machinery in Derby, Leicester, Lancashire, and Yorkshire. ‘The first outbreak took place at Nottingham in November, 1811, and the foolish and criminal outrages were continued until 1818. In that year, and in 1813, several men were tried and executed. Perhaps the best account of the Luddites is that embodied in Mrs. Linnzeus Banks’ novel entitled Bond Slaves, the minute historical accuracy of which, the result of assiduous research and personal knowledge, is indisputable.

THE “BLACK DEATH.”

In the year 1346 the country was drenched by the most terrible rains ever known. The whole valley of the Trent was submerged, crops were destroyed, and men and cattle drowned. Coupled with the war with France shortly before, and severe famine, the destroying angel had full swing for his unsheathed sword, and in the “ Great Black Death” it is computed that three out of every five Englishmen perished. Of labourers few were left. On the occasion of this plague was the first great National Humiliation known in England. The

last recorded case of the Black Death at this visitation was in September, A.D. 1349.

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HISTORY OF PENISTONE. GUNTHWAITE OLD OAK.

“The monarch oak, the patriarch of trees, Shoots rising up, and spreads by slow degrees, Three centuries he grows, and three he stays Supreme in state, and in three more decays.” The venerable old oak near Gunthwaite Hall, which Hunter refers to and says, “it is no unwarrantable conjecture to suppose, may have been planted by one of the early Gunnoldthwaites,” is still flourishing, and one might ask with respect to it what Mr. Ford, of Silkstone, did of the old yew tree. which stood at Woolley Manor House, and was snapped in two by the storm in the autumn of 1863. It was supposed this yew tree would be in its prime about the time of William the Conqueror, 1066. Mr. Ford, referring to the event, says: “When didst thou first behold the blush of morn ? Where wast thou once a tender sapling born ? A seed by the wind wafted far o’er the land ? Or wast thou planted by a human hand In mem’ry of some long-forgot event ? How many ages, say, hast thou here spent ? Speak! if thy knotted trunk has got a tongue, And tell us how things looked when thou wast young.” And he might ave added, tell us about William and his army when they passed through the district, and of their doings.

THE PROTESTANT SUCCESSION. It is not generally known that the succession to the throne of England of the Hanoverian line was carried by a casting vote of the House of Commons. Towards the end of Queen Anne’s reign the question of her successor was urgently debated, the Queen being childless. The nearest heirs to the throne were James, commonly called the Pretender, the son of James the Second; and the Duke of Brunswick, whose other title was Elector of Hanover, who was a great-grandson of James the First in the female line. The Pretender by birth- right was much nearer to the throne than the German Duke; but in almost the last act of his life King William the Third had cut off the last branch of the House of Stuart from the inheritance, his intention being to secure the Protestant succession to the throne. The act of King William was not accepted by the Tory Government of the day, who were, curiously enough, supported by Queen Anne, and a motion was made that the Pretender, called by his supporters Prince James and the Prince of Wales, should be invited to assume the crown on the death of his sister Queen Anne. When the House was about to divide it was seen that there would be 117 votes in favour of the Pretender and only 116 against. There was then hurrying to and fro about the lobbies and side rooms to beat up Protestant Successionists, which resulted in the discovery of two Welsh members conversing leisurely about their private affairs. One of them, Sir Arthur Owen, relates: ‘‘ When I heard that the Protestant Succession Bill was in danger, I rushed into the House and gave my vote making the numbers equal, for the Tories could poll no more, and was immediately followed by Mr. Griffith Rice, who had the honour of giving the casting vote in favour, the final numbers being : For the Protestant succession rit, LES For the Pretender ... ot gt Daeg

I Majority i ose I

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QUEEN VICTORIA. 75

The Elector of Hanover subsequently became George the First, and in his first proclamation to the people on the dissolution of Parliament he urged them to “choose only such persons as had shown the greatest firmness to the Protestant succession when it was in danger.” Who can imagine what might have been the history of these islands if the exiled son of James the Second had succeeded to the throne, and the ignoble race of the Stuarts restored? The mind fails to conjecture the consequences to the nation and the Empire if the votes of those two Welsh members who were almost shut out from the division had been omitted.

QUEEN VICTORIA. The sixtieth anniversary of the Queen’s accession to the throne was duly celebrated in the Parish, and on the 22nd of June, 1897, there was a procession at Penistone and Thurlstone, and afterwards a free tea to the inhabitants and a presentation of jubilee mugs to the children under thirteen years of age. Her Majesty loved her subjects and was beloved by them, even the most

lowly. eae NODDIT TO ME.

I’m but an auld body Livin’ up in Deeside, In a twa-roomed bit hoosie Wi a toofa beside ; Wi my coo an’ my grumphy I'm as happy ’s a bee, But I’m far prooder noo Since she noddit to me !

I’m nae sae far past wit, I'm gey trig an’ hale, Can plant twa-three tawties, Av’ look aifter my kale ; An’ when oor Queen passes I rin out to see, Gin by luck she micht notice An’ nod oot to me!

But I’ve aye been unlucky, An’ the blinds were aye doon, Till Jast week the time O’ her veesit cam’ roon ; I waved my bit apron As brisk ’s I could dee, An’ the Queen lauched fu’ kindly An’ noddit to me! My son sleeps in Egypt, It ’s nae ease to freit, An’ yet when I think o’t I'm sair like to greet ; She may feel for my sorrow, She’s a mither, ye see ; An’ maybe she kent o’t When she noddit to me!

The Queen in 1897 sent the following kind message to her people :

Windsor Castle, July 16th, 1897. I have frequently expressed my personal feelings to my people, and though on this memorable occasion there have been many official expressions of my deep sense of the unbounded loyalty evinced, I cannot rest satisfied without personally giving utterance to these sentiments.

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76 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

It is difficult for me on this occasion to say how truly touched and grateful I am for the spontaneous and universal outburst of loyal attachment and real affection which I have experienced on the completion of the 6oth year of my reign. During my progress through London on the 22nd of June this great enthusiasm was shown in the most striking manner and can never be effaced from my heart. It is, indeed, deeply gratifying, after so many years of labour and anxiety for the good of my beloved country, to find that my exertions have been appreciated throughout my vast Empire. In weal and woe I have ever had the true sympathy of all my people, which has been warmly reciprocated by myself. It has given me unbounded pleasure to see so many of my subjects from all parts of the world assembled here, and to find them joining in the acclamations of loyal devotion to myself, and I would wish to thank them all from the depth of my grateful heart. I shall ever pray God to bless them, and to enable me still to discharge my duties for their welfare as long as hfe lasts. VictToriA, R.I. ‘Our father’s land! Our mother’s home ! By freedom glorified, Her conquering sons the wide world roam And plant her flag in pride; lor England’s fame, for thy loved name, Have bled, have won, have died. Victoria! Victoria ! Long live our Nation's Queen. Victoria! Victoria! God bless old England’s Queen.” Alfred Raleigh Goldsmith.

Daniel O’Connell, the Irish patriot and leader, in the course of a speech delivered at Bandon on the eve of Her Mayjesty’s wedding day, said: “We must be—we are—loyal to our young and lovely Queen. . . . We must be—we are—attached to the Throne, and to the lovely being by whom it is filled. She is going to be married. I wish she may have as many children as my grand- mother had—twenty-two. Iam a fatherand a grandfather, and in the face of Heaven I pray with as much honesty and fervour for Queen Victoria as I do for any of my own progeny. . . . Oh, if I be not greatly mistaken I’d get in one day 500,000 brave Irishmen to defend the life, the honour, and the person of the beloved young lady by whom England’s Throne is now filled. Let every man in the vast and multitudinous assembly stretched out before me who is loyal to the Queen, and would defend her to the last, lift up the right hand.” And we are told that every man did. There is no doubt the South African War was a great strain upon her powers, and told upon Her Majesty’s nervous system. She, however, until Tuesday the 15th of January, 1901, went about and was much as usual. On that day she took her last drive at Osborne House in the Isle of Wight, where she was staying, and on the ensuing Saturday the following bulletin was issued : Osborne, Noon, January roth. The Queen is suffering from great prostation, accompanied by symptoms that cause anxiety. (Signed) R. Powe t, M.D. James Rerp, M.D. After this Her Majesty rapidly grew weaker, and died on January 22nd, 1901, at half-past six in the evening, to the great regret and sorrow of her’ subjects and many nations of the world. moh ad ae es see REE

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- LOCAL NEWSPAPERS. ee

Was there ever such a midnight in the history of the world as that which closed January 22nd, 1901, when the sad news was.as by myriad lightning flashes made to encompass the whole earth?

Her beloved Consort, Prince Albert, died December 14th, 1861. “ Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way” says the inscription on their statue in Windsor Castle.

The earliest record of a royal burial in this country, it is said, is contained in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Chronicle. It tells that “ Belyn, some time king of this land, builded a haven with a gate over the same within the city of Troy- nevant or London, which place is now called Belingsgate in the toppe whereof was sett a vessell of brasse in the which were putt the ashes of his bodye.”

GREAT INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION, 1851.

Soon after steam began to be made use of as a propelling power and railways had superseded coaches, the Great Exhibition of 1851 was decided upon. My father received the following letter in reference thereto :

GREAT EXHIBITION OF THE WorRKS OF INDUSTRY OF ALL NATIONS, 1851.

President: HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE ALBERT, K.G, ey, &C

Queen’s Hotel, Manchester, Office for the Executive Committee. 1, Old Palace Yard, Westminster, 1850. SIR, Being commissioned to organize this district for the Great Industrial Exhibition, I am of course anxious to obtain all the local information which may be useful to that end. I am instructed to apply to you for the names of a few of the most influential gentlemen in your locality who are likely to co-operate with His Royal Highness in the matter—especially the name of the Chief Official in the district, to whom a formal communication should be addressed. Her Majesty’s Commissioners will also feel obliged by your giving the movement the benefit of your own influence and support. Your most obedient servant, Hepwortu Drxon.

The names of the following persons appear to have been sent up:

The Rev. Samuel Sunderland, vicar. The Rev. Jas. McAllister, curate. Mr. George Miller. Mr. Thos. Worsley. Mr. Wm. Bingley. Messrs. John and Henry Rolling. Mr. John C. Milner. Messrs. Henry and Wm. Bray. Mr. Thos. Tomasson. Mr. Herbert C. Dickenson.

The Exhibition was opened May tst, 1851, by Her Majesty the Queen.

LOCAL NEWSPAPERS.

In May, 1858, a little paper of eight pages styled The Penistone Journal, Commercial Advertiser, and Monthly Miscellany, was issued. It was “ printed for and published by Thomas Dale, of Pitt Street, Barnsley, in the West Riding of the County of York, by George Moxon at his office No, 22, Market Hill,

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48 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

Barnsley, in the County of York aforesaid.” I believe it never got beyond the first issue, of which I have a copy. _ In 1891 I had some thoughts of starting a paper and got the following circular printed. However, I did not issue many of them, various causes preventing me proceeding further.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT. A NEWSPAPER FOR PENISTONE AND DISTRICT.

Within a radius of about five miles of the ancient Market Town of Penis- tone there is a population of upwards of 30,000. Thurlstone, Denby Dale, Silkstone, and Stocksbridge are all large and populous and important places within such radius.

PENISTONE, which was a noted Town in the old Coaching days and is now well known throughout the Kingdom, lies in the centre of the other four, and has splendid Railway communication with London, Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Barnsley, Doncaster, Hull, Huddersfield, Bradford, Leeds, aud many other large Towns. The benefits that may also accrue to Penistone by reason of the Manchester Ship Canal making it so much more accessible to and from the Sea must not be lost sight of. It contains a grand old Parish Church and a fine Wesleyan Chapel. Is governed by a Local Board. Is lighted with gas, and has-a capital water supply. ; Has two postal deliveries and three despatches daily, Gives its name to a large Common Law Parish, comprising the Townships of Penistone, Thurlstone, Oxspring, Hunshelf, Langsett, Denby, Gun- thwaite, and Ingbirchworth. Gives its name to a much larger Poor Law Union, comprising, in addition to the above Townships, the Townships of Clayton West, High Hoyland, Kexbro’, Cawthorne, Hoylandswaine, Silkstone, and Thurgo- land; with its Workhouse at Penistone. Gives its name to the Burial Board for the Ecclesiastical Parish of Penistone, comprising the Townships of Penistone, Thurlstone, Oxspring, Hunshelf, and Langsett, with its Cemetery at Penistone. Has a flourishing Grammar School, founded A.D. 1392, as well as other Schools. Is the Election Town for the Parliamentary Division. Has Conservative and Liberal Clubs. Has a Bank. Also Building and Land Societies. It has a noted Market, especially for Milch Cows, which are sent from the District to all parts of the Kingdom. The Cattle and General Markets are held every Thursday, and are frequented by Cattle Dealers, Dairy- men, Farmers and others from long distances and a wide area. There are also Saturday Afternoon and Evening Markets. Has an Agricultural Society, first established in 1804. Also a Ploughing Association. Has the oldest Pack of Harriers, or Old English Hounds, in the Kingdom. Their first known Master, Sir Elias de Midhope, A.D. 1260. Messrs. Chas. Cammell & Co., Limited, have large Steel and Iron Works here, employing about 1,000 hands. There are also the large Box and Case Works of Messrs. Jabez Nall & Co., Limited, and Steam Saw Mills and Builders’ and Contractors’ Works. Being so noted for its Milch Cows, and with such excellent railway com- munication with so many large towns, Penistone offers a splendid site

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for a Dairy or Butter Factory. In the locality are also most eligible sites for Manufactories or Works both near the Railway and otherwise. At Livery Stables and Hotels Cabs and other Conveyances are kept, so, taking altogether, it will be observed that Penistone, besides its railway facilities, has present and prospective advantages and con- veniences not possessed by many much larger Towns.

THURLSTONE contains fine Congregational and Wesleyan Churches, and several Chapels and Schools. Is a Local Board District. Alsoa School Board District. Is lighted with Gas. Here are the Woollen Mills of Messrs. Thomas Tomasson & Son, long noted as the manufacturers of the well known ‘“ Livery Drabs,” which may probably be the Cloths called the ‘“ Penistones or Forest Whites,” referred to in Acts of Parliament as far back as the 5th and 6th of Ed. VI., 39 Eliz, and 4 James I. There are also Gannister, Sanitary Pipe, and Fire Brick Works, Wire and Umbrella Frame Works, Collieries, &c., in the District. DENBY DALE. In or near are the Church, several Chapels, a Friends’ Meeting House, and several Schools. It is in the Local Board Districts of Denby and Cumberworth. Is lighted with Gas. In the vicinity are the large Fancy Woollen Mills of Messrs. Norton Brothers & Co., Limited, and others, Rope and Twine, Woollen and Woollen Yarn, Coating and Vesting, Worsted, Dye, Brick and Tile, and other Manufactories and Works. The Rockwood Harriers are also kept here. Mr. Walter Norton is the Master. At Gunthwaite, near here, is a noted “Spa,” and being situate in a beautiful valley, and amidst splendid scenery, it offers a most attractive site for a Hydropathic Establishment.

SILKSTONE has a fine old Church, and several Chapels and Schools. Is noted for its Coal. In the vicinity are Clarke’s Old Silkstone, the Silkstone and Dodworth, the Stanhope Silkstone, the New Sovereign, and other large Collieries, employing a great number of men.

STOCKSBRIDGE contains a Church and several handsome Chapels and Schools. It is a Local Board District. Here are the large and important Steel, Wire, Umbrella, Rail, and Iron Works of Messrs. Samuel Fox & Co., Limited ; and at Deepcar adjacent the large Gannister and Silica Brick Works of Messrs. J. G. Lowood and Co., Limited, and others.

The following other places within the radius aforesaid of Penistone have also Churches and Schools, and some of them Chapels as well, viz. :—-Shepley, Cumberworth, Scissett, Clayton West, Cawthorne, Hoylandswaine, Thurgoland, Wortley, Deepcar, Bolsterstone, Midhope, Langsett. and Carlecotes, Clayton West, Cumberworth, Hoylandswaine, and Shepley are Local Board Districts. The Seats or Residences of the Earl of Wharncliffe, T. F. C. Vernon Wentworth. Esq., Col, Spencer Stanhope, C.B., R. H. R. Wilson, Esq., J.P., Mrs. de Wend, J. C. Milner, Esq., J.P., John Kaye, Esq., J.P., Walter Norton, Esq., J.P., Thomas Norton, Esq., J.P., Mrs. Firth, Mrs. Clarke, John Dyson, Esq., J.P., Col. Neville, J.P., Charles Chapman, Esq., J.P., Captain Ormsby, J.P., and other Gentry, are in the District. __ The country around Penistone is a delightful and interesting one for Tourists, comprising hills “es dales, woods, moors, and fine scenery, and is rich in its historical and antiquarian associations,

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80 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

_ The late Lord Houghton, speaking at a dinner of the Penistone Agricultural Society, said “In looking upon the different portions of this great Yorkshire of ours, there is pe heise part more interesting to the young antiquarian than this District.” The nearest Towns to Penistone are Huddersfield to the North and Sheffield to the South each 13 miles distant, and Barnsley to the East 8 miles, and Glossop to the West 16 miles. Now although it is the only Town in such a wide area, and is situate in the midst of such a large Agricultural, Manufacturing, and Mining population, there is no Newspaper published at Penistone, nor nearer than Barnsley, 8 miles distant, and there only weekly Papers. With a view to remedy this state of things and supply what the District has long merited, it is contemplated to publish a weekly Paper at Penistone, and when it is observed that such places as Castleford, Drifheld, Glossop, Horbury, Hoyland, Malton, Mexbro’, Ossett, Pateley Bridge, Selby, Skipton, Thorne. Wetherby, and Wombwell can each uphold a Newspaper, indeed, most of them have several Papers, it must be admitted, considering the privileges and advantages the District possesses, that the time has arrived for one to be established at Penis- tone, to watch over and advance the interests of the old Town, and the important Places around, to which reference has been heretofore made. It is proposed to name the Paper the

Thurlstone, PENISTONE Silkstone, and Denby Dale, HERALD. Stocksbridge,

It will be conducted on non-political lines, and, although giving Local and Public News, will be mainly devoted to advance the best interests of the District in every respect. Nothing with a tendency to do harm instead of good, will knowingly be admitted into its columns. The above Particulars will show the value it is likely to be, both as an advertising medium and otherwise, without anything further being stated. The support of all desirous of seeing such a paper as beforementioned established in the District is earnestly solicited. Any further information, required by intending Advertisers and others, can be obtained on

application to JOHN N. DRANSEIELD:

PENISTONE, Author of the Histories of Penistone Grammar School, Penistone Market, and Penistone, 2nd Nov., 1891. Penistone Harriers ; also of a Guide to Penistone and District.

On Friday, February 11th, 1898, a newspaper of eight large pages styled the Penistone, Stocksbridge, Hoyland, Ecclesfield, and Chapeltown Express, and Wadsley, Oughtibridge, Deepcar, and Thurlstone Advertiser, sent forth its first issue, and is still the only local paper.

THE YORKSHIREMAN’S COAT OF ARMS,

which has for its superscription “ Tak hod an’ sup, lad,” and is the sign of “The Black Swan” at York, is thus explained by Mr. A. W. Pope to the

Spectator ; “A Flea, a Fly, a Magpie, an’ Bacon Flitch Is t? Yorksherman’s coit-of-arms ; An’ t’ reason they’ve choszn these things so rich Is becoss they hev all speshal charms. A flea will bite whoivver it can,— An’ soa, my lads, will a Yorksherman. A fly will sup with Dick, Tom, or Dan,— An’ soa, by Gow! will a Yorksherman, A magpie can talk for a terrible span,— An’ soa an’ all, can a Yorksherman. A flitch is no gooid whol it’s hung, ye’ll agree,— No more is a Yorksherman, don’t ye see?”

ANTIQUITIES OF THE LITTLE DON VALLEY.

My friend, Mr. Joseph Kenworthy, in one of his very interesting articles in the Penistone Express on “ The Antiquities of the Little Don Valley,” says Langsett means the “ long hill-side,” and Hunshelf means “ Hun’s portion”’ or

the portion of the Huns or strangers.

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SABBATH NON-OBSERVANCE. 81

The valley of Deepcar, where the waters of the Little Don join those of the larger Don, he states, doubtless presented a very marshy and boggy appear- ance in ancient times, a condition indicated by the name Deepcar, which means a “dee” hollow or deep pool and marshy place, and that until the early part of last century, when the commons were enclosed, Hunshelf and Deepcar must have been moorland with very few “royds” or cultivated clearings. Also that the woollen trade was not the only industry in the upper part of this valley, as the heaps of scoria found from time to time on various sites show that the ironstone has been smelted in bloomeries in some remote period, and that there wasa flourishing trade in common earthenware until such was super- seded by the more refined wares of Staffordshire. At a place still known as Glasshouse there was a good business done in table-glass such as candlesticks, flower vases, etc., which were highly esteemed, selling freely in London and the provinces. Further, that agricultural implements were very rude, as iron was scarce. Harrows had teeth of oak carefully dried and hardened at the fire, and the carts were generally supplied with solid wheels bored out of the tree-trunk, for iron was too dear for tyres in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. A bullock cart was to be seen at Watson House in 1830, and it will not be out of place to show that some of our field names tell us of the way in which our ancestors used to manage theirfarming. [Each man used to keep one or more oxen for the village plough until they made the team into eight; then they ploughed the land in strips of an acre or half an acre each (Thistle Acre, Lower Acre, and Upper Acre at Lane Farm, Deepcar) divided by a bit of unploughed turf called a “balk” ; each strip was a furlong, which is really a “ furrow-long,” 1.e., the length of the drive of a plough before it is turned. This was forty rods or poles, and four of these furrows made up the acre. These pieces of land were called “shots” (Near Cockshot and Far Cockshot at Bolsterstone) and there were headlands or common field ways to each shot and “ gored acres,” which were corners of a field that could not be cut up into strips, and odds and ends of unused land which were called ‘‘No Man’s or “ Jack’s Land,” Jack House in the Ewden Valley evidently being built upon a piece of land of this description.

SABBATH NON-OBSERVANCE.

I have referred elsewhere to the non-observance of the Sabbath by the higher classes, but are our Churches doing their duty? Did not our Saviour give a command to “ Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that My house may be full”? Do not many Churches, however, in these days treat this command as a dead letter, and rest satisfied with nearly empty Places of Worship? What is the reason? The Rev. Richard Bulkeley, vicar of St. John’s, Dukinfield, to grapple with this state of things and carry out the above command, in the seventies issued a leaflet, from which I give a few extracts. He said: “No one can walk through our streets and lanes on Sunday without being made painfully aware that the larger number of adults attend no place of worship on the Lord’s Day. No one in the position which I hold as vicar of this large parish could be contented that things should remain in this condition without an effort being made to alter them, and indeed I may say none who believe that they have souls to save, who love the Lord Jesus Christ and wish others to love Him also. “TI have therefore, after serious thought and earnest prayer, determined to make an effort, and that effort shall be to follow our Lord’s command, ‘ Go out F

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82 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that My house may be full.’ ” He then stated the arrangements made for open-air services and says, “ The presence of a band of singers will contribute largely to the success of the Mission.”’ Is not a Church without a Mission Band for open-air work like an army without cavalry or artillery? It did not appear as if Christ intended his disciples to do only garrison duty as He gave them a wide commission before leaving them (St. Mark xvi. 15.) The following article from The Central Baptist is worthy of serious con- sideration at the present time. of the great evils of the Church to-day is that the pastor’s time is so constantly occupied in caring for his flock that he has little time or strength to go out after sinners. Instead of this his time should be devoted to saving men, and his church—all of it—should be his helpers. “To the pastor his Church is not merely a field to work in, but a force to work with. If a pastor circumscribes his labours entirely to the membership of his own Church, and gives himself exclusively to the work of keeping them in line, he will be a failure. ‘“A pastor must be a leader of a band of Christian soldiers who are constantly struggling to rescue souls from the power of the great enemy the devil.” ‘“‘Whate’er may die and be forgot, Work done for God it dieth not.” The World for Christ. “The Lord does not say He will go and preach the Gospel to every creature: He says you are to go and do it.” The late Mrs. General Booth, in the course of her last public address, which, by the courtesy of the late Dr. Parker, was delivered in the City Temple on June 2tst, 1888, said: “A little thought will make us agreed, I am sure, that if greater progress in the effort to save the world is to be accomplished, there must be a more efficient force to make it. God has arranged to save men by human instrumentality, and if we have not succeeded in the past we are not to throw the blame on Him, as too many Christians do. A man who was sitting in his easy chair, with his feet on an ottoman, said to me only the other day, ‘But the Lord will come presently and put all things right.’ I replied, ‘IT am afraid you are expecting the Lord to do what He has called us to do.’ The Lord does not say He will go and preach the Gospel to every creature ; He says you are to go and doit. He does not say He is going to convert the world; He says you are going to doit. He hasshown you the lines on which to work, and given you the resources quite as much as and more than He has given the agriculturists to cultivate and gather the fruits of the earth. If Christians were only half as diligent as husbandmen the world would have been saved :long ago. Here are the lines; use your commonsense. But what did Jesus Christ commission His disciples to do? Not to ensconce them- selves in comfortable buildings and invite the people to come, and then if they would not come leave them alone to be damned. No, No! He said, ‘Go ye,’ which means ‘Go after them.’ Where, Lord? ‘Into all the world.’ What to do? ‘Preach the Gospel to every creature. Where, Lord? ‘Where the creatures are—follow them.’”

LAST CHURCH RATE AT PENISTONE:

The last Church Rate paid at Penistone was one halfpenny in the pound, carried by a poll on the 11th and 12th of January, 1864. The votes for the

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rate were 248, against 224. The number of persons who voted for the rate 159, against 190. The ritualistic leanings of the Vicar made it very difficult to get supporters of the rate, and effectually stopped the levying of Church rates for the future in the parish.

In 1885, on the occasion of the Easter Vestry, there was great excitement in the parish, Dr. Watson, hitherto a great opponent, turning completely round and for reasons best known to himself posing as a supporter of the Vicar, and attempting to oust Mr. Thomas Lee, a staunch Protestant, from the post of churchwarden. A poll took place on Thursday and Friday, April gth and roth. Ladies, curates, and schoolmasters scoured the parish, canvassing for Dr.Watson. Mr. Lee had no canvassers, and left himself entirely in the hands of the parishioners, and gained a glorious victory for the Protestant Party by 376 votes against 329 for Dr. Watson. If Mr. Lee had desired canvassing, his majority would have been much larger, as many who had ceased to take any interest in the church would have come to vote for him if asked by his supporters. It may be recorded that from Oxspring township, where Mr. Lee resided, Dr. Watson had not a single vote, the ratepayers there thus showing unmistakeably their opinion of his conduct, as it was chiefly at his solicitation Mr. Lee first took the office.

Mr. Daniel Adamson, one of the founders of the Steel Works at Penistone, was, if not the first, one of the first projectors of the Ship Canal from Man- chester to Liverpool. He died January 13th, 18go.

At Penistone, as elsewhere, there were various opinions as to when the 19th century ended. In 1600 there were no daily papers, so we cannot gather what the public opinion was on so important a topic. The Postman, Post Boy, and Flying Post papers which cover the period January ist, 1700, make no mention of a new century, though they do so a year later. The Times on January tst, 1801, had a leading article on the new century ; while the Morning Post of the same date facetiously announced: “Important Deatu.—Last night died suddenly at 12 o’clock that celebrated character Mr. Eighteenth Century at the great age of one hundred years.”

THE FIRTHS OF -SHEPLEY.

I have elsewhere referred to the raising of a troop by Bosville of Gunthwaite for the service of the Commonwealth. A John Firth of Shepley is stated to have been one of this regiment, which was employed to guard Nottingham Castle at the time when George Fox was there confined in prison. He preached to the soldiers from the castle walls, and John Firth was convinced thereby and became a “ Friend,” being the first of the family who adopted that religious belief, which has remained in the family ever since. It is not known whether this John Firth at once resigned his post in the army or not, but he soon became obnoxious to the Royalists, who sent a body of horse from Halifax to Lane Head to arrest him. He took refuge in an old quarry at Skelmanthorpe, but was discovered and taken prisoner. He was mounted on the back of a horse behind one of the troopers, and the soldiers proceeded with him towards Halifax. As they were passing through Boxings Wood, situated between Shelley and Kirkburton, John Firth slipped off behind the trooper, and escaped into the wood. The captain of the horse-soldiers was very much exasperated at the loss of his prisoner, and on passing the vicarage house at Kirkburton he emptied his arquebuse through the staircase window which faces the road. The vicar’s

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84 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

wife was descending the stairs at the time with a light in her hand, and, whether intentionally or not, he shot her dead. When Cumberworth Common was taken in, all the land west of Penistone Road was common land. The Firth family appear to have acquired land at the commons enclosure in 1820, and it would seem as though their neighbours thought they had got more than their fair share. There was a popular saying that the “Firths o’ t? Lane Head and the Tinkers o’ t’ Carr, Went up Nabs Cliff as far as they dar.”

SINGING IN THE WEST RIDING.

Mr. G. D. Faber, M.P., speaking on Singing and Singers at a rehearsal of the York Conservative Association Dramatic Society on Dec. 18th, 1903, said : ‘As regards oratorio singers, however, England held her own, and in one thing our singers were absolutely unequalled—in chorus singing. He would draw the line a little closer and say we had unbeatable chorus singing in the great county of Yorkshire and especially in the West Riding.” ‘““T have never heard such splendid choral singing anywhere,” says Felix Weingartner in the Musical Times of the Sheffield Chorus which he recently conducted in London, 1904. The late Mr. Joseph Siddons, of Midhope, who was once a member of Julian’s Band, told me that Julian once made a similar statement of a chorus from the West Riding he had led in London, and of which he was extremely nervous and anxious about before he heard them sing. “On one remarkable occasion,” says James Burnley in his West Riding Sketches, “at the Crystal Palace the chorus singers of Yorkshire and Lancashire introduced some striking features into their vocalism by adhering to their respective local accents. The chorus ‘ We fly by night’ was finely rendered by the alternations of Yorkshire bass voices and Lancashire altos. ‘ We floy by noight!’ volleyed the former, while the latter broke in with their soft melodius ‘We flee by neet !’ the effect being, as the musical critics say, marvellous.”

The following interesting data connected with Penistone families are culled from the Nonconformist Register of the Rev. Oliver Heywood and T. Dicken- son by F. Horsfall Turner, generally known as “Northowram” or Coley Register.

FROM_ HEY WOOD'S REGISTER:

Col. Duckinfield, of Duckinfield, and Judith, Nathl. Bottomley’s daughter, near Peniston, married Aug. 20 (1678), Sir Robert Duckinfield’s lady dying of childbed the same week. John Brown and a daughter of Mr. Swift’s of Peniston, married Aug. 6th, 1678. Lord Edlington (Scot) and Sir Tho. Wentworth’s lady, married Feb. 4, 1678. Mr. Wright and Mrs. Elenor Cotton at Peniston, Oct. 26, 1681. The son of Mr. Hatfield, of Laughton, married the daughter of Mr. Rich, of Bullhouse, March, 1698. Sir Thos. Wentworth, of Brittain Hall, buried Dec. 8th, 1675, aged 64. Sir Matthew Wentworth, his brother, of Brittain Hall, coming to the estate, died March, 1667, aged 60. Daniel Rich, of Penistone Parish, uncle to Sylv. Rich, of Bullhouse, died Oct. 1, 1697, aged 76. Mr. Milner, a Nonconformist minister, buried March 9g, 1681, aged 52; preacht at Lady Rhodes, usually very usefull.

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Lady Rhodes, of Houghton, buried April 22, 1681, at 12 in night, aged 72. Mr. Godfrey Rhodes, her son, buried Apl. 27, 1681, aged 50. Mr. Sylvanus Rich, of Bullhouse, buried Dec. 26, 1683, aged 60. Mr. Crook, a Nonconformist minister, formerly at Denby, lived long in Wakefield, died of the gout in his throat Jan. 9, 1687, aged 53. Major Sedascue, a lord’s son in Germany, fled into England, 1640; an officer in a Parliamentary army, died at Heath Hall, buried at Normanton Dec. 4, 1688, aged 76. Mr. Henry Swift, vicar of Peniston, died suddenly Oct. 31, 1689, aged 68. Mr. Prigham, vicar of Silkston, buried there Oct., 1699, aged 72. Mistress Cotton brought dead out of Cheshire to Peniston to be buried by her husband there, Nov. 30, 1699, aged 76.

FROM DICKENSON’S REGISTER.

Mr. Samul. Crompton, of Derby, and Mrs. Anne Rodes, of Long Houghton Hall, married Apl. 3, 1710. Mr. William Rooks, of Royds Hall, and Mrs. Mary Rodes, of Great Houghton Hall, married Jan. 27, 1713. Mr. Richd. Rodes, of Great Houghton, and Mrs. Martha Rich, of Bullhouse, married Nov. 18, 1713. Mr. Busk (a Swede), and Mrs. Rachel Wadsworth, of Leeds, married Feb. 2, 1715-6. Mr. Amor Rich, of Byllhouse, in Peniston Parish, and Mrs. Grace Bagshaw, of Attercliffe, married Dec. 4, 1722. Mr. Nathl. Wainhouse-Parson, of Silkston, died about March 25, 1708; he had been minister at Bradford. Mr. Godfrey Rodes, of Long Houghton Hall, buried March 1709; about 22 years of age—heir to a great estate. Mr. Wordsworth, of Water Hall, near Peniston, and his son Mr. Words- worth, of Burton Grange, near Barnesley, both buried March 23, 1710. Justice Stanhope, near Calverley, died about Nov. 26, 1710. Colonel Stanhope died Jan. 23, 1711-12 ; mortally wounded ina late action.

ELEVATION ABOVE SEA LEVEL.

The Elevation above sea level of the Places near Penistone named below is as follows :— Junction of the Don and Little Don at Deepcar 428 feet; the Don at Boulder Bridge 600; Penistone Churchyard 747; Woodhead Chapel 755 ; Stannington Church 770; Ingbirchworth Dam 800; Hoylandswaine Height 900; Dunford Bridge 954; Highflatts g79; Sheephouse Height 1025; Crow- edge 1100; Hartcliff Tower 1175; Whitley Height 1188; Carlecotes 1200 ; Mickledon Pond 1249; Moscar Cross 1255; Saltersbrook House 1366; Fidler’s Green 1469; Pikelow 1559; Cakes o’ Bread 1652; Cutgate 1705; Steiner Head 1726; Back Tor or Derwent Edge 1765; Margery Stones 1793; Holme Moss 1909; Thurgoland Bank 772.

Penistone New Railway Station was opened February tst, 1874.

Water was first supplied in Penistone from the Waterworks at Hornthwaite April 22nd, 1880.

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86 HISTORY. OF “PENISTONE:

ANCIENT > PARISH “OFS SILKSTONE:

Mr. George H. Teasdale in his interesting articles on “The Ancient Parish of Silkstone,” states that in 1750 Mr. Joseph Johnson had a pit working the Silkstone seam of coal. It was known as the “ Nabbs Pit,” from which coal was fetched to Penistone, Ingbirchworth, Denby, and places for miles round. It was sold by the pool. For instance, an entry May 19th, 1750, says: “ Jon. Hepplestone, Ingbirchworth, 10 pools 1s.” It was one of the first coal pits opened in Silkstone township. Eight pulls or pools were reckoned a ton in 1770, so I leave the reader to guess how much the collier got paid per ton in those days. “A mile from Rotherham, “says Leland in the reign of Henry VIII,” be veri good pittes of cole.” In Silkstone Fall there was once a castle or old hall, and therefrom to the Church it is said there was an underground passage. An old document speaks of the building. It is a lease indented, made “ between John Bele and Thomas Waterton on the one part, and John Swift on the other part for Silkstone Olde Hall and Silkstone Fall, made for 21 years, dated 406 Henry Vil sage continues Mr. Teasdale, this “olde hall” was of great dimensions and covered some acres, being walled round with a strong high wall with towers at the corners—similar to Houndhill. It was nearly square. The south side was perfectly straight, the north side zigzagged, and the east was straight. The entrance seems to have been at the west or low end, and it is evident there was water, probably a moat. When it was pulled down is not known, but it is handed down that the stones were taken to build Cannon Hall and Knabbs House. I ‘““Why sit’st thou by that ruined hall, Thou aged carle, so stern and grey? Dost thou its former pride recall, Or ponder how it passed The supposed oldest tomb outside the Church at Silkstone is situate at the east end. It is a sort of mausoleum built up and roofed, with an entrance at the west end. Tradition has it that a great warrior and his dog are buried together there. The inscription has not been readable for generations. The stone is of the same kind as that of which the Church is built. “ Life’s like an inn where travellers stay, Some only breakfast, and then away, Others to dinner stop, and are full fed, The oldest only sup and go to bed.” Henry de Graynaby, vicar of Silkstone, 1350 to 1362, when he was pensioned off, is said to have lived to the age of 139. In that church the {baptism on July 17th, 1664, is recorded of a female child, ‘ base begotten of the body of Mary Robinson, of Thurgoland, widdow.” One Martha Cooke, for an offence similar to that of the aforesaid “‘ widdow,”’ was the last one that had to stand in the middle of the aisle enveloped ina white sheet during the service one Sunday morning. The “ Fox and Hounds,” previously the “ Hare and Hounds” Inn at Silkstone, was formerly called “’The Angel,” and was kept at one time by two sisters, respecting whom the following lines appeared on the scene ;

“Faith and Grace this house doth keep, An angel guards the door.”

In changing name of house and occupier, a Silkstone wag added two more

lines : “Faith is dead, the angel’s fled, And Gracie is no more.”

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MOTHER PROPHECIES. 87 TOWN CHARITIES.

In years gone by the inhabitants of Penistone were called together annually in order to elect a Committee to represent them in the town’s affairs. The Committee appointed in the year 1818 was as follows :—Rev. I. Haworth, John Firth, Thomas Eyre, Edmund Smith, Joseph Bedford, William Greaves, John Birks, Jonathan Wood, and George Brown. The Committee’s generosity in those days was of a general character. We find them allowing one man 15s. “‘on condition that he does not trouble us for some time to come”; a woman had a bedgown and a pair of boots purchased for her; another, a bed; some had coals; one woman had certain articles of underwear provided. In 1827 it was agreed that the sum of £5 be paid out of the poor rate and £15 out of the highway rate towards meeting the grant from the London committee for finding employment for distressed manufacturers.

wie POOR TOUSES.”

Very many years ago three cottages at Castle Green were purchased with £25 left by Fras. Burdet, Wm. Sotwell, and Joanna Swift, and the rents applied for the benefit of the poor. At a meeting of owners and ratepayers held in the old Grammar School on Thursday, August 2nd, 1861, consent was given to the Guardians of the Poor of Penistone Union selling the premises described as “Four Cottages commonly called or known by the name of the Poor Houses with the outbuildings, gardens, and appurtenances thereto belonging, situated in the Township of Penistone, tiiree in the occupation of John Charlesworth, James Charlesworth, and Tamar Marsh, and the other unoccupied.” Shortly afterwards they were sold by auction to Mr. Joshua Halstead, who erected on the site the houses now called ‘“‘ Corunna Terrace.” ‘“Poorhouse Lane” took its name from leading to the old cottages. The Report of the Charity Commissioners of March 2nd, 1895, is quite at sea with regard to the houses—it refers to Mr. Halstead’s houses as called the ‘‘ Poor’s Houses,” which they are not, but are the private property of his representatives, and called “ Corunna Terrace.”

ASSISTANT OVERSEERS.

At a meeting of the ratepayers held in the Grammar School on the 29th day of April, 1864, it was proposed by Mr. Thomas Garnett, and seconded by Mr. George Waites, that there be an assistant overseer appointed for Penistone, and that a fit and proper person be found and appointed on the 25th of March next, 1865. John Eastwood was appointed to the office at a meeting held on the 26th of March, 1866, at a salary of £5 per annum. The following year the salary was raised to £10. In 1872 William Marsh was elected at a salary of £15, an amendment that John Eastwood be elected at a salary of £20 being defeated by one vote.

MOTRER SHIPTON’S PROPHECIES,

_ _ Blind Jack of Knaresbro’ has been referred to in connection with his work in Penistone Parish, and that town, we may observe, is noted also in other ways. It has its ‘ Dropping Well,” one of the most natural curiosities in this country on account of possessing powers of petrifaction in a high degree; and adjoining this well is “ Mother Shipton’s Cave.” This Yorkshire prophetess

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88 HISTORY) OF PENISVONE:.

was known far and wide. The following is one of the most remarkable of her predictions : “Carriages without horses shall go, And accidents fill the world with woe ; Around the world thoughts shall fly, In the twinkling of an eye; Waters shall yet more wonders do, How strange yet shall be true; Through hills man shall ride, And no horse or ass be at his side; Under water man shall walk, Shall ride, shall sleep, shall talk ; Iron in water shall float As easy as a wooden boat ; Gold shall be found and shown In land that is not now known; Fire and water shall wonders do ; England shall at last admit a Jew; The world to an end shall come In the year eighteen hundred and eighty-one.

With the exception of the last, have not all her predictions come to pass? What may be the state of things in A.D. 1981? Are not each’of the days of the Creation supposed to be a type of a thousand years ?—the first of which ended at the time of Enoch, the second at the birth of Abraham, the third at the dedication of the Temple, the fourth immediately after the birth of Christ, the fifth about 900 years since, and is the sixth, which is now running and almost ended, to see the end of the present state of things? Then the seventh will usher in the beginning of the reign of Christ on earth. If we turn to the twenty-fourth chapter of St. Matthew we read that “the disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us when shall these things be ? and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said) tmtorthem,. = 2). ee This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come.” From the reports of what the Bible Society and various Missionary Societies have done the last fifty years, and what the Salvation Army is now doing, may we not take it for granted that before the end of the present century the Gospel will have been preached in all the world? From the declension of the upper grades of Society in this country in the observance of the Sabbath and belief in the Bible, and a seeming return to heathendom, may not they become the last to be converted, unless they previously die out from sterility ? In Overdale, ov the Story of a Pervert, by Emma Jane Worboise, “ not fiction, but a narrative of facts which—the authoress says—actually occurred,” can be read the dire work which ritualism causes in families and places. As one of the persons referred to in the Look says: “ It was all very well in the earlier ages of the world, when mental power was slightly developed, and when learning and reason were at their lowest ebb; and it is all very well now for weak minds and for idle foolish women, whose time hangs heavily on their hands. But for a man in his full senses—a man who means to play his part in the world and hold his own—a man of liberal notions, bold intellect, breadth of view, and freedom of judgment—it is all nonsense and worse than nonsense.” As Dean Lefroy says, the laity possess large spiritual rights—they exercised these by apostolic invitation and recognition in voting for a successor to the high office vacated by the suicide of Judas Iscariot and in other ways, he points out in an article in the Ladies’ League Gazette for February, 1903, and

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GREAT STORMS. 8g

wherein he says he regards the fifteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles as the Magna Charta of the laity. Did not Moses, as representing the laity, on various occasions sharply call High Priest Aaron to task ? Though we have read of the glorious work of the Bible Society in the Ladies’ League Gazette above referred to, it is stated a Clergyman in the Church of England ir a sermon, said ‘‘ The Bible is a dangerous book ; it isa very dangerous book ; it is perhaps the most dangerous book we can read.” When our Bishops allow such teaching and such men to remain in the Church of England, surely it is time the Protestant laity of all denominations made a moye, if they possess the spirit of our forefathers of the sixteenth century, they would not be long about it. It would be startling to many, I am inclined to think, if the views of the Committee and Missionaries of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel were made known with regard to the Bible. Can we wonder at the state of the ‘‘ upper grades’ with such teaching as this? And that there are “ Passive Resisters”” amongst all grades against such men having any control whatever over our schools? Instead of “ passive ” resistance, active aggression is needed in this important matter.

GREAT STORMS.

The great storm of 1703 appears to have been general all over the country, or at least south of the Trent. It began on Wednesday, November 24th, and on Wednesday and Thursday it blew a great gale from the south-west, but not such as to create alarm. It was not blowing so hard on Thursday mid- night as to frighten people from going to bed, but by one o’clock on Friday morning the gale was roaring lke thunder, and few people had the courage to remain in bed. The devastation was so great that London looked as if it had been bombarded by ten thousand pieces of artillery. persons were killed in the London streets, in addition to scores who were drowned in the Thames. Over fifty churches lost their towers or steeples, ships were cast away by the score, and the loss of life was greater than in many a pitched battle. Thirteen ships of war were wrecked on the British coast, and over two thousand seamen lost their lives in them. There is no more dismal page in the annals of our navy. ‘That stout seaman Sir Cloudesley Shovel, with his squadron, gallantly rode out the storm in the Downs, only to lose his hfe and ship through a pilot’s carelessness a few years later. One consequence of the great storm was the downfall of the Eddystone Lighthouse. Winstanley, the architect, had longed for a great storm to test the stability of his edifice. He had his wish, and when people gazed from the Devon coast the morning after the storm, they saw that the Eddystone Lighthouse had gone. Its architect and four other men went to their doom with it. Some idea of the destruction in the country districts may be gathered from the fact that when De Foe took a short journey on horseback in Kent, he counted no fewer than 1,107 houses and barns which had been blown down, and 17,000 trees which had been torn up by the roots. The death-roll throughout Kngland was enormous. It was estimated that no less than five thousand people lost their lives in the storm, and the damage to property amounted to millions. In the great snowstorm of December 27th, 1836, it is recorded only one coach road in the kingdom was left open. This was the London and Ports- mouth road, the snow-drifts on which were rushed through by the Royal Brunswick coach, driven by James Carter, and other coaches following, kept open Waggons going from Oxspring Corn Mills to Saltersbrook had to be left snow fast at Boardhill for several weeks.

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The snowstorms, however, in this country would appear to be nothing to blizzards in Canada. My eldest son, John D. Dransfield, in a letter dated February 1st, 1903, says, just before Christmas they had a very bad blizzard, and that Christmas day was the coldest he had ever known. In the blizzard a farmer named Mr. Duffield got lost, and he was asked to join the search party for him. Dufhield, he says, “‘ was batching with a chum of his, Duffield’s own shanty was not quite finished, and on the day the blizzard was on, he foolishly went across to his own shanty (which was about 150 yards away from his chum’s), to put a lock on the door. He seemed to have found the way to his own shanty all right, as the lock was on the door, but seeméd to have lost his way whilst trying to make back to his chum’s shanty, and as he was only thinly clad at the time, there can be no doubt but what the poor fellow perished. ‘The search party started under a special constable as soon as the weather was better. It took us two days to reach the place, which is about 50 miles west of Arcola. When we got to our destination we were joined by the neighbours around. It is a very spazsely settled district so far. We hunted for two days, but as the snow was deep (some of the sloughs took me up to the waist), we could not come across the body, so I expect they will not recover it till the snow disappears in spring, perhaps not then, as the man may have walked miles away before he would succumb. A young [nglish- man in Carrington, got lost in a blizzard about ten years ago, his remains were not found until 7 years after, when a man who was hunting cattle, found his watch, bones, and buttons.” Myson says in the same letter he himself once nearly got lost in a blizzard also. And ina letter dated December 8th, 1903, he says, “‘ You will, no doubt, remember that just after Christmas I was one who joined ina search party who went to try and find the body of a man, by name of Duffield, who got lost in a blizzard. Owing to the deep snow we were unable to find any trace of him. Nothing more was heard of him until a month ago, when a party of land hunters came across his remains. A prairie fire had partly cremated him, a few remnants of his clothing and bones were about all that remained to identify him, excepting, strange to say, was a cheque which was made out in his name. The remains were found about nine miles south-east of his shanty, and were taken possession of by the police, who shipped them to his home in Ontario for burial.” : Each of my three children—all sons—like Canada, notwithstanding its cold and blizzards, &c. Arnold, the second, and Ernest, the youngest, went there early in 1893. They paid us a visit in the winter of 1897-8, and soon after returning in March, 1898, Arnold had an attack of rheumatic fever, and had to come home in the autumn of that year. My eldest son went there in 1898. Ernest is now married and has two children, both boys. Both he and Arnold had several exciting experiences in connection with forest and prairie fires,

storms, &c., &c.

JOHN ACTON’S JOURNAL. The following interesting items are a few of the jottings in an old journal of John Acton, druggist, Union Street,.Sheffield, given in the Sheffield Daily Telegvaph of January 16th and Feb. 6th, 1903. Mr. Acton was born at Wakefield in 1799, and came to Sheffield as an apprentice to Mr. George Hawksworth, druggist, in the High Street, on Nov. 8th, 1815. June 29, 1836. The Botanical Gardens were opened this morning. We had a good view of the company from Sharrow Moor.

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September 15, 1836. I am very happy to say that part of the stamp duty comes off newspapers to-day. All our three Sheffield newspapers are to be reduced from 7d. to 44d. The stamp was 4d.each paper with 20 per cent. off ; now it is one penny net. Sep. 17. I read a good portion of the Mercury to-day. It is the first newspaper I have seen with the penny stamp attached to it. I think it looks quite as respectable as when the stamp was fourpence with 20 per cent. discount. May 1, 1839. The Waterworks Company has been taking all the wood pipes up in our street and replacing them with iron ones. July 8, 1835. Mr. Lowdy Lyle, the guard of the Halifax and London coach, spent about two hours with us last night. Of course I had a great treat in conversing with so experienced a man about my favourite topic, viz., horses, coaches, guards and coachmen, heavy loads, slippers and hooks, throwing over awkward turns (Chesterfield to wit), what hills to lock down, and to mind and reserve some rosin in the hind boot till you get to the Nottingham going up. A little of the above talk I can enjoy with any man, even on the hearth. But when on the wing, sat with the commander, with good horses, a good whip, splendid fast coach, a long journey before you, and fine weather, I don’t think there can be any man more at home under such circumstances. And singular as my whim may appear to most people, I am always quite willing to bear the loose gibes thrown at me with good humour. October 28, 1835. I arose this morning at a quarter before six o’clock ; it was a beautiful morning. At eight o’clock I mounted the box of the “ Fair Trades” coach and went to Manchester. We had very bad cattle all the way. Watson was the coachman (he was formerly guard of the York coach)...... At last we got hold of the four which were to take us into Manchester. The near side wheeler and off side leader were just decent. The off side wheeler was remarkably poor; her huggin bones were sadly too prominent, and the skin was off them both. ‘The near side leader they had only had a week. Watson had bought him and given £4 Ios. for him. He was a well bred horse, and an old hunter, but had been starved, only having had potatoe peelings and the worst of hay. The poor fellow’s coat seemed to tell me it was all too true. When we got about half a mile beyond Ashton-under-Lyne we met a butcher driving two Scotch bullocks, and when we got within about a hundred yards of them, he set his dog at them, which ran barking and finally bit one of the bullocks.

We were going at about eight miles an hour, and [should think the bullock was going at the rate of twelve miles an hour, with his head close to the ground. Bang he went against our leaders, throwing them both down in an instant. Watson, I saw, anticipated what the result would be, and pulled up with all his might. I got down with all speed, and a shocking plight the poor horses were in. Fortunately the Ashton coach came up, and the coachman stopped and assisted us very much. The £4 ros. horse lay as still as if he were dead, and Watson said he believed if he were not dead he was dying. One of his hind feet was fast in the near side wheeler’s collar. I pointed this out, and the coachman set it at liberty. With a great deal of work we got the leaders up by taking the wheelers out of the coach and forcing the coach backwards. The near side leader was not much worse to all appearances. We had the harness to repair, as it was badly broken. When we got about two miles on the road, Watson got two men at a public-house to help him to wash the horses, and then we proceeded to the inn at Manchester, where we arrived about half an hour late. Watson was asked the cause of the delay. He explained the reason, and then referred to me. I gave Watson my card and told him if he wanted me I would assist him all I could.

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Tue INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC OF 1837.

January 25, 1837. I have not had such a brisk physic trade for years. Nearly every house in Sheffield is visited with the influenza. It is so bad in Glasgow that many shops are entirely closed, with an inscription posted on the shuts intimating that business will be resumed ina few days. Every newspaper I look into has a remedy for it. Paregoric, sweet nitre, and ipecacuanha wine are all the go, and the people buy freely, and I dare say they take nearly all they buy, for medicine differs materially from nearly every other commodity. I believe I have a touch of it myself. All I have taken for it as yet is a little theriaca et butyrum (treacle and butter). February 1. I am so very busy with the influenza that I have had time for nothing else. February 4. I saw in the paper a most alarming account of the influenza in Sheffield and other parts of England. It is very fatal both here and else- where. I have been at the physic business rather better than 21 years, but I never knew half such a physic trade as there is now. August 4, 1835. I arose this morning at 10 minutes before five o’clock. It was a beautiful morning. I let myself out of the house about a quarter past five o’clock, and took a walk round by the Shambles, the Canal, and the Parish Church (Halifax). I think the Shambles are quite equal to ours, and the Parish Church is superior to that of Sheffield ; indeed, Mr. Gill has given me to under- stand the day before that there was not such another Parish Church in all England. I could have told him very different to that, but I am always very diffident in contradicting any person older than myself. I think Wakefield Parish Church considerably superior in every respect, and then Newark Parish Church excels all the rest in England. Immediately after breakfast I repaired to the coach office and got booked for Sheffield. The fare outside was seven shillings. Wallace was the guard, and instead of Joseph Lyle being the coach- man we had a stranger, nevertheless an excellent whip. Joe had rested in Sheffield the night before, in consequence of George Wright’s sale of horses by auction to-day in the Tontine yard. : The coach was full when we left Halifax, and also when we reached Sheffield. We had six capital horses from Halifax. The leaders came with us about four miles, and I saw the guard give the postboy half-a-crown for his work. He earned it well. We had very good cattle all the way. When we came to the New Mill I had the pleasure of witnessing something new to me. We had five horses. They keep an extra horse at the New Mill to assist them up the tremendous hill. yard of the ground was done at a trot; of course I do not need to say anything more on behalf of either the horses or the driver. We had 25 horses to bring us to Sheffheld, and then of all the roads for toll-bars it “flogs” all I ever had to do with. There are five toll-bars betwixt Halifax and Huddersfield—the distance is seven miles. Then there are nine bars betwixt Huddersfield and Penistone (13 miles), and five more before Sheffield is reached—rg bars in 33 miles. It is a road that takes half as much more working as the Leeds and Sheffield road. Arrived at the “ King’s Head” at 20 minutes past seven, which I considered excellent work considering the road, the load, and the innumerable stoppages we made. December 28, 1836. The London and Halifax coach “ Hope,” which ought to have reached Sheffield from London last Monday at one o’clock, is not come yet. They are fast at Heath, about seven miles the other side Chesterfield.

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I understand there are six or seven coaches fast in the snow just there. Lowdy Lyle has £7 14s. worth of tea in his coach for me. I fully expected it last Monday, and I sat up till 12 o’clock at night expecting him every minute. July 10, 1837. An almanac published in the year 1730 has the following very remarkable prediction, which has been fulfilled to the very letter :—“ By the power to see through the ways of Heaven, In one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven, Will the year pass away without any Spring, And on England’s Throne shall not sit a King.” I think I may safely say that we have had not a single day of real Spring weather this season, and we have a Queen on the British Throne. In June, September, and December he has entries of trade very bad in Sheffield ; “ never knew it worse in my life.” January 1, 1840. I arose at seven o’clock. It was a very dark, wet morning. A very handsome lad saw me coming out of the yard after carrying the shutters away and followed me into the shop with his “ Merry Christmas and Happy New Year” tale, &c. I gave hima penny and desired him to go up the yard to the back door and do the same. He did so, and [ gave him another penny. His tale ended with “ God bless this house, the master of it, the mistress of it, the children of it,” and something about the table of it. I hope the lad’s wish will be verified. Pray God send it may, and the year of our Lord 1840 be crowned with mercies, as all my years have been so far.

TONTINE HOTEL, SHEFFIELD.

When the Tontine Hotel, Sheffield, was in the heyday of its prosperity, then, as Hunter tells us, twenty horses and five postboys were always ready when the bell was rung and the call was given “ First pair out.” “Twenty steeds, both fleet and wight, Stood saddled in stable day and night.” _ The Tontine was built on the site of the Castle barns, and was finished in 1785, James Watson being the first landlord and Wm. L. Bickley the last. In 1850 the Duke of Norfolk purchased the hotel for the erection of the New Market Hall, “ the railways having robbed it of its picturesque and lucrative stage-coach connection,” we are told. In those days it was perhaps considered that as public-houses had ruined sO many it was not incumbent to call upon railways to give compensation for ruining them. In these days, however, would it not appear that the interests of public-houses were considered by those in authority as of more consequence than injured, suffering, and ruined consumers of their intoxicating wares ?

PENISTONE CHURCH BELLS.

Penistone Church Tower is 80 feet high. In it are a set of six bells. The first, second, and fourth bear inscriptions in Latin, the fifth and sixth in Old English. All have Heraldic Arms on them. The following are the inscriptions with English translations :— 1st.—‘‘ Te Deum Laudamus, ( “ We praise Thee, O ) 2nd.—* Venite Exultimus Domino” (“ O come, let us sing unto the Lord.” ) Ludlam, founder, Rotherham, 1756. 3rd.—(This bell has no inscription, but has two or three coats of arms.) 4th.—This bell is evidently the most ancient. The inscription is :—‘ Maria Sancta protege, virgo pia quos convoco” (‘‘Holy Mary, Blessed Virgin, shield those whom I call together.” ) 5th.—* Jesus be our spede.—H.D.” 6th.—Same as No, 5, with coat of arms.

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VICARIDGE OF PENISTON, 1695.

A true and perfect Terrier or Survey of the Lands, Tenements, and Pension belonging to the Vicaridge of Peniston, 1695 :— Imprimis, One Vicaridge-house, with one Barn, and one Stable thereunto adjoyning, and also one Orchard, and one Garden thereunto near adjoyning, worth p. annum Item, Three little Cottages near the Vicaridge-house, now “demised for the yearly Rent of 6s. 8d. apiece... ba I- O28 Item, Two little Ings of Meadow-ground enclosed near to the Vicaridge-house containing by estimation Four acres of the yearly value of A: Item, One other Close’ called Longlands in Peniston afforesaid, I containing by estimation Five-acres, being of the yearly

value of see “we ae Item, One other Close called Four-acres in Peniston. afforesaid, of the yearly value of 2-1 he Item, One Pension paid by the Duke of Norfolk out of the whole Rectory of Peniston, per annum. 16. eins

Item, One Rent-charge paid by Mr. Rich out of his. Messuage and Lands at Hornthwait, given and bequeathed by William Rich, late of Hornthwait afforesaid, yeoman in and by his last Will at every Whitsontide ... 3 6-3 Item, certain Lands in Thurleston, late in the occupation of Joseph Eeley and others, purchased with the sum of £100, given by the Honourable ‘Lady Beaumont, and £40 added thereunto by the Parishioners for the Augmentation of the Ministers maintenance ; which Lands are now demised for the yearly Rent of bie As be oe wee ane aa wan 72 Oe

In these days when Ritualists propagate such superstitions with regard to the Lord’s Supper, it is refreshing to read the lines thereon attributed to that vigorous and clear-minded Queen of our country, who, with her gallant seamen, feared neither the great Spanish Armada nor the powers behind it. “Christ was the Word that spake it ; He took the bread and brake it ; And what the Word did make it, That I believe and take it.”

Turner in his “ History of Brighouse,” says, “I have found bya MSS. in ye possession of Richard Frank, of Campsall, Esq., F.S.A., that the Turtons of Smallhaigh and Millhouse in ye parish of Penistone, had for their arms A 3 conies—sejant S. (Sejant in heraldry means upright.)

An Apuorism.—‘ An Englishman is never happy but when he is miserable; a Scotchman is never at home but when he is abroad, and an Irishman is never at peace but when he is fighting.”

“‘ Something in these aspiring days we need To keep our spirits lowly, To set within our hearts sweet thoughts and holy! And 'tis for this they stand, The old grey churches of our native land.”

When I first began going—in the late fifties—with the Penistone harriers to their ancient hunting grounds in the Woodlands, the old Chapel at Derwent was then standing—it was replaced in 1867 by a new church,

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There is a tradition current in the neighbourhood that some of the Scotch rebels were imprisoned and starved to death within the old Chapel—very probably some of those who were with the pretender in his march from Manchester to Derby in 1745.

DERWENT is the old British Diwy-gwyn or gwent the white (or clear) water.

“ Mankind lke us too oft are found Posses’d of nought but empty sound.” On one of the Bells of Bakewell Church.

When Ralph Rigby, curate of Eyam for 22 years, was buried there on April 22nd, 1740, three Clergymen from Yorkshire, who had attended his funeral, were lost on Eastmoor in the snow, whilst returning home the same evening. A shepherd found one of them on the following morning, when animation was with difficulty restored, but his two companions perished.

CHARLESWORTH.

I have recorded in the account of Penistone Harriers that at Charlesworth, near Glossop, they often met the Ashton Harriers to hunt in the district. Now a chapel was built at Charlesworth, it is said, by a native of Ireland, who when travelling from Manchester to London became fatigued on the side of the hill. Unable to proceed, he lay down, and made a vow to the Virgin Mary that if she would help him on his journey he would build a church to her honour on the spot upon which he rested. A shepherd passing by opportunely assisted him, and he was spared to perform his vow, and dedicated the edifice to St. Mary. It is still called by her name. In his “ Memorials of Charlesworth” the Rev. T. J. Hosken says that “Charlesworth Chapel has a history wellnigh unique in the annals of English ...... . Though much early history is shrouded in consider- able mystery, English records show that ultimately the greater part of the lands in the Peak of Derbyshire which had formed part of the Peverel Estates were bestowed upon the Monastery of Basingwerk, probably because of its intimate relation with the family of the powerful Earl of Chester, whose murder had caused the confiscation ; and in the Feoday of Henry III. there is the following interesting entry: “ The town of Glossop is in the donation of the King, and King Henry gave it to the Monks of Basingwerk. It is worth ten pounds per annum.” ‘Is itnot therefore reasonable to suppose that, having come into the possession of the Manor of Glossop, these monks, who would often be passing and repassing between their Monastery in North Wales and their Derbyshire property, would erect some religious house in this neighbourhood which, in addition to its strictly religious purposes, would serve as a sort of resting-place and shelter on this wild and dangerous ridge, where in winter storms are so frequent and violent.” The following is an extract from a letter of W. H. G. Bagshawe, Esq,., J.P., Ford Hall, Chapel-en-le-Frith, dated July 22nd, 1897, written on the occasion of the celebration of a century’s Nonconformity at Charlesworth Chapel. “The famous reformer Gavazzi, during a visit which he paid me at Ford Hall, said to me one day, ‘ When you Englishmen came out from Rome you made a compromise, and that has been the source of all your troubles. When we Italians came out we did not leave a Popish hair upon our heads, and so we are free from sacerdotalism with which you are cursed.’ ...... When [ look around me and see the state of the Church of England at the present day, I thank God that Nonconformity is not a thing of the past, and heartily wish

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that in every parish throughout the kingdom where a ritualistic priest is found there might also be a godly, energetic, and sound Nonconformist minister to counteract his deadly teaching.” Mr. Bagshaw is the present lineal descendant of that branch of the Bag- shaw family of which William Bagshaw, “ The apostle of the Peak,” was the head many yearsago.—From The Glossop-dale Chronicle, Friday, July 30th, 1897.

ROMAN CATHOLICISM.

The object of the Church of Rome in this country, as the late Lord Beaconsfield told us, is the overthrow of the Protestant Religion and of the Protestant Constitution established at the time of the Reformation. This object has been openly avowed. Cardinal Manning, in addressing the third Provincial (Romish) Council of Westminster, said: “This nineteenth century will make a great epoch in the history of, It is good for us to be here in England. It is yours, Right Rev. Fathers, to subjugate and subdue, to bend and break the will of an imperial race, the will which as the will of Rome of old rules our nations and people—invincible and inflexible. ..... You have a great commission to fulfil, and great is the prize for which you strive. Surely a soldier’s eye and a soldier’s heart would choose by intuition this field of England for the warlare of faith. None ampler “or nobler could It is -the head of Protestantism, the centre of its movements, and the stronghold of its powers. Weakened in England it is paralyzed elsewhere; conquered in England it is conquered throughout the world; once overthrown here all the rest is but a war of detail. All the roads of the whole world meet in one point, and this point reached the whole world lies open to the Church’s will. England is the key of the whole position of modern error.”—The Tablet, August 6th, 1859. RiruaLism. ‘It is to no purpose to exclude the practice of Romish ritual if it is permitted to teach Romish doctrine and to instil by the ear that which it is forbidden to exhibit to the eye.”—Sir W. V. Harcourt, 1808. A Proup Boast.. The boast of the priest to the Spanish King: “I am greater than thou. I hold thy God in my hand, and I have thy wife at my lees Lord Palmerston.—All history tells us that wherever the Romish priest- hood have gained a predominance, there the utmost amount of intolerance is invariably the practice. In countries, where they are in the minority, they constantly demand not only toleration but equality, but in countries where they predominate, they allow neither toleration nor equality. Lord Beaconsfield—The wise men who built up the realm of England devised the doctrine of the Royal Supremacy, which has given control over ecclestiastical affairs to laymen, and which is at present the only security for our religious liberty and the great security for our civil rights. Notre.—Had not Moses as a layman, and as representing the children of Israel control over Aaron, the high priest, and did he not on occasions notably exercise such control ? Mr. Gladstone.—No one can become Rome’s convert without renouncing his moral and mental freedom and placing his civil loyalty at the mercy of another. Garibaldi, in 1867, wrote a book, “ Manlio e Clelia,” translated into English under the title of “The Rule of the Monk,” and therein he described the papal government in all its phases, and forcibly condemned it. Here is Garibaldi’s testimony against both the Republican agitators and the Clerical

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instigators :— The Italian patriot hates the priesthood as a lying and mis- chievous institution. He regards the priests as the assassins of the soul, and in that light he esteems them more culpable than those who slay the body. He regards as the worst enemies of the liberty of the people those democratic doctrinaires who have preached, and still preach revolution, not asa terrible remedy a stern Nemesis, but as a trade carried on for their own advancement. He believes that these sarme mercenaries of liberty have ruined many republics and brought dishonour upon the republican system. In 1867, speaking at Padua before twenty thousand citizens, Garibaldi said :—“ They—the priests—are the enemies of true religion, liberty and progress: they are the original cause of our slavery and degradation, and in order to subjugate the souls of Italians they have called in foreigners to enchain their bodies. The foreigners we have expelled; now we must expel those mitred and tonsured traitors who summoned them. The people must be taught that it is not enough to have a free country, but that they must learn to exercise the right and perform the duties of free men. Duty! duty! that is the word. Our people must learn their duties to their families, their duties to their country, their duties to humanity.” “Years have passed since Garibaldi thus spoke, but his words are as true now as they were at the time they were uttered.”—From “A reply to Ouida’s Impeachment of Modern Italy,” by Giovanni Dalla Vecchia, in the Review of Reviews for October 15th, 1808. The writer also says: ‘All the geniuses of Italy, ancient and modern,

‘have with one voice, incessantly stated that the greatest evil of Italy was

discord, and that the priests were the fomenters of the discord. Also: “I do not think there is a single sentence of Garibaldi and Mazzini which conveys the idea that the Vatican is not the deadly enemy of the Italian unity. We have seen what has recently been taking place in France, and it should be a lesson to us. What is the work the Priests, Monks, and Nuns, who have been driven from France and settled in this country, are going to engage What, too, is at the bottom of all our troubles in connection with Ireland? Why do the Ritualistic and Romish Clergy hate the Bible? Cardinal Wiseman, in one of his books, gives his reason why people become Protestants, and it is so true that we produce it here. He says, “I have read many reasons given by those who have abandoned the Catholic faith, and have noted that, instead of the clergy of the Catholic church possessing generally a rich variety of intellectual power, there is a sad meagre- ness of reasoning in them. Indeed, the history in every single case of those who leave our church is simply this :—The individual, by some chance or other, probably through the ministry of some pious person, becomes possessed of a Bible. He peruses the Book, and he cannot find in it transubstantiation, or auricular confession, or the worship of images, and so forth, and so he goes to the priest and tells him that he cannot find these doctrines in the Bible. The priest then argues with him, and endeavours to induce him to give up the Bible, telling him that it is leading him astray. The man perceives the weakness of the argument, and abandons communion with the Church of Rome, and becomes a Protestant.”—From The Banner of Truth and Ivish Missionary News for October rst, 1898. Mr. R. E. Dell, an advanced Roman Catholic, in The Fortnightly Review for November, 1904, denounces Papal obscurantism as follows: ‘Thousands of educated laymen in every country who have been baptized and brought up in the Catholic Church “ forsake it when they reach the age of manhood, because G

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our religious teaching appears to them to be conceived in defiance of science and in defiance of history.” Mark Pattison, one of the ablest men of letters of his time, and author of a famous essay Learning in the Church of England, was in his early days a High Churchman and an intimate friend of the great Tractarian leaders. But he was not satisfied with the development of the school. At its beginning it was instinctively felt to be a revival of the spirit of learned research. Later on this and other features were obliterated “in one desperate effort of assimilation to Ultramontanism,” So Pattison sardonically said, “ Energy without develop- ment of either mind or character appears to define the type of clergymen which the Church revival tends to form.” The late Lord Eldon, on the third reading of the Roman Catholic Emanci- pation Bill, 1829, said: “I know that sooner or later this Bill will overthrow the Aristocracy and the Monarchy. No sincere Roman Catholic could or did look for less than a Roman Catholic King and a Roman Catholic Parliament. Their Lordships might flatter themselves that the dangers he anticipated were visionary, but . . . those with whom we are dealing are too wary to apprize you by any indiscreet conduct of the dangers to which you are exposed. When those ‘ dangers’ shall have arrived I shall have been consigned to the sepulchre, but that they will arrive I have no more doubt than that I now exist. You hear the words of a man who will soon be called to his great account. I solemnly declare that I would rather not be alive to-morrow morning than on waking find that I had consented to a measure fraught with evils so deadly, and of which had I not solemnly expressed this my humble but firm conviction I should have been acting the part of a traitor to my country and my Sovereign and my God.” “We'll waft this truth on every wave— ‘Man ne’er was formed to be a slave! The heirs of an immortal mind For equal freedom were designed ’— Till every land and every sea Resounds with the cry of—Liberty ! ’—Hutton. That Protestants are free and enjoy civil and religious liberty, and that Roman Catholics do not but are simply slaves, is a fact that cannot be traversed. I The following account shows how the people of Great Britain obtained their priceless freedom. May they ever be worthy of it and fight for and cherish and retain it. “The modern movement of government by the people began, not as is some- times supposed with the eighteenth century, but with the sixteenth, and was religious in its origin. It was indeed the child of the Reformation. For the two principles by which the power of Rome was assailed were : free enquiry as opposed to the absolute authority of the Church; and the universal priesthood of all believing men as opposed to that of a clerical caste of priests. When these two principles came to be applied, they proved to be farther-reaching than even their own advocates realized at first. The principle of free enquiry turned out to mean more than the mere right of the laity to read the Bible for themselves ; it meant the right of free and independent search in every depart- ment of human thought and life; and the universal priesthood of believers carrying with it as it did the power of the people in the government of the Church carried with it also the principle of the sovereignty of the people in the government of the State.” When we see the deplorable condition of things where Rome has set her foot, Britons may be thankful that theirs is a Protestant nation and enjoys

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God’s blessings “without money and without price,” instead of those of the Pope which entail the total loss of all civil and religious liberty. The historian Froude, speaking of Spain, said: ‘In the early part of the sixteenth century the Spaniards, before their national liberties were broken, were beyond comparison the noblest, grandest, and most enlightened people in the nations of the world” And what was it crushed them? It was Rome, the tyranny of Rome and the dreadful Inquisition. “ Religion is a Faith, not a Form,” says Lord Beaconsfield. “It was a significant fact that all Roman Catholic nations were going down and all Protestant nations were going up,” said the Rev. Hugh Price Hughes, M.A., 1898. “The man who despised or disparaged the Reformation was certainly no patriot. Among the ‘dying nations’ there was not a single Protestant one,” said Dr. Welldon, Bishop of Calcutta, 1898. Mr. Francis Peck, in an article on “ Sacerdotalism” in The Contemporary Review for January, 1899, quotes one of the Ritualistic party as saying with regard to the doctrine of the economy of truth: “Make yourself clear that you are justified in the deception, and then lie like a trooper.” “Freedom’s battle once begun Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son Though baffled oft is ever won,” and it is to be hoped will lead to the establishment of great lay councils which will see that the clergy teach the religion of the laity, and not a religion that, instead of the Saviour, wishes to interpose the clergy as the mediators for the laity between God and them. When we come to consider, does it not look as if, free and intelligent Protestants that we think ourselves to be, we were—and were treated by ritualistic and romanising clergy as—bereft of commonsense. If it were not so would we meekly allow sacerdotalist priests to be dumped by sacerdotalist bishops or athiest patrons into our parishes, and allow them to dictate to us that we must renounce our Protestantism and submit to obey and follow them or otherwise keep away from the churches of our stronger minded forefathers, ae would quickly have sent such traitors to Rome, where they properly elong. Bishop King, in protesting his desire to be tried by the provincial synod, did not follow the example of St. Gregory of Nazianus, who wrote to Procopius “To tell the truth, I am determined to avoid every assembly of bishops. I have not seen.a single instance in which a synod did any good, or which did not do more harm than good.” He wrote to another friend, “ From councils and synods I will keep myself at a distance, for I have experienced that most of them, to speak with moderation, are not worth much.” Again he says, “I will not sit in the seat of synods, while geese and cranes confusedly wrangle. Discord is there, and shameful things hidden before, are gathered into one meeting place of rivals.” St. Gregory hated the “vain janglings of heated partisanship.” The above reminds one of the late John Bright’s opinion of Parliamentary Commissioners and Committees. In a conversation with Lord Aberdeen, John Bright used the following expression: ‘“‘The reports of Commissioners are generally humbugs, and so are those of Committees. The Commissions and the Committees are packed.” Lord Haddo, who was present, thereupon remarked, “It is a pity, then, we spend £400,000 a year in Parliamentary papers, for the best of them, which the reports are, appear to be valueless.”—From Many Memories of Many People, by Mrs. Sampson (Edward Arnold), 1898.

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Apropos of this, what is the country to think of the following. The War Office Re-organisation Committee, in the third and concluding portion of its report, 1904, says definitely that its object has been to “ uproot a system which had been scathingly condemned by the Hartington Commission.” Now that Commission reported in 1890, and it fell to the present Leader of the Opposition, as Secretary of War in the last Liberal Administration, to carry its recommendations into effect. All the world knows how he treated the most important of its recommendations. He set it on one side on the ground that it would help to foster what Little Englanders described as “the Military Spirit.” And now the country is left to digest one pungent utterance of the Committee :—* We unhesitatingly assert that if the recommendations of the majority of the Hartington Commission had not been ignored, the country would have been saved the loss of many thousands of lives, and many millions of pounds subsequently sacrificed in the South African War.” I Wien

‘“We to the grey goose wing more conquests owe, Than to the monks invention ; for then We cull’d out mighty armes to draw the bow; Striplings oft serve us now, then onely men, Tor these hot engins equall mischiefe can, Discharged by a boy, or by a

Bows and arrows appear no more in the Muster Papers after the year 1599.

The first Newspaper was entitled, The Diurnal Occurrences, or daily proceedings of both Houses in this great and happy Parliament, from 3rd Nov., 1640, to the 3rd Nov., 1641.

No Post Office was established in England before 1635.

Some of the Bishops and many of the nobility in old times, had a domestic harper. It is recorded of Groteste, the Bishop of Lincoln: lovede moche to here the harpe, Next hys chamber, besyde his study, His harper’s chambre was fast the by, Many tymes by nightes and dayes He had solace of notes and layes.”’

In Darley Churchyard is said to be the finest old yew in the kingdom, stated to be 2,000 years old. See also Yew Trees of Great Britain, by J. Lowe, London,—MacMillan & Co.

The following is a copy of the first message sent across the Atlantic Cable, on August 17th, 1858 :—‘‘ Europe and America are united by telegraph ; Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will towards men.”

BONFIRES ON FIFTH OF NOVEMBER.

The strong Protestantism of the Penistone District, prior to the advent of the railway, was strongly shown on the Fifth of November every year. At Penistone a huge bonfire was set alight in the Old Market Place, in front of the Church gates, and at Penistone Green there were two bonfires, one in the road near where Dr. Shackleton lived, and the other on the road near where Sammy Marsh then lived, but now called The Grove, occupied by Mrs. Rolling. Thurlstone and other places around, too, had large fires. The felling of plantations at Hartcliffe, for many years, furnished an abundance of roots for the fires. When I was a lad I often helped to fetch these roots for Penistone Green fires. They took some burning, and often kept the fires in for several

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days. They are still kept up in the district, but with the advent of the rural police, have to be kept off the roads, and are on a smaller scale altogether.

“Only one life! ’t will soon be past; Only what’s done for Jesus will last.”

BIBLE SOCIETY.

“Tts broad roots coil beneath the sea, Its branches sweep the world.” The most prophetic comment by a contemporary which we discover was penned by the Rev. George Burden, Secretary of the London Missionary Society, who was intimately connected with both the Religious Tract Society and the Bible Society in their early stages. The following note occurs in his diary :— ~ “March 7th, 1804. Memorable day! ‘The British and Foreign Bible Society founded. I and others belonging to the Tract Society had long had it in view; and alter much preparation in which we did not publickly appear, a meeting was called in the London Tavern, and the Society began with a very few. ... Nations unborn will have cause to bless God for the meeting this day.” * The grass withereth and the flower thereof fadeth away ; But the Word of the Lord endureth for evermore.”

From Aftey a Hundred Years, published by The Bible Society in 1904.

The late Queen’s father, the Duke of Kent, took a deep interest in the work of the Bible Society. At the May Meeting in the year 1874 one of the chief speakers, the Rev. Dr. Halley, gave certain most interesting reminiscences of an anniversary of the Society held exactly sixty years before at the London Tavern in Bishopsgate Street. The description is in itself interesting for its picturesqueness and for its presentation of aspects of society and costume which have for ever passed away. “T attended,” said he, “an early anniversary of this Society in 1814. Around the president (Lord Teignmouth) on the platform were men in various dresses, for in those days people generally wore uniforms. Military men wore scarlet, naval officers appeared in their blue and gold, clergymen were distin- guished by their canonicals; even Quakers wore uniforms in those days, for ae all dressed alike with hats of great magnitude and coats of a curious colour. “‘ After the chairman had read the annual report there arose on his right hand a fine, tall military man clothed in a general’s uniform to move the first resolution. This was the Duke of Kent. I think I never can forget the speech he made. He referred to the wish of his father, George III., that there might not be a cottager in the country without a Bible, or a child that could not read it. He added his own desire not only that children should read it, but trust its truths and obey its precepts.”—From The News, Friday, June 25th, 1897. Let us thank God that in these days of much reading of many books the Bible continues to be the leader in the book world. The quotation given below from the Publishers’ Civculay of August 2nd, 1902, demonstrates this fact : “We hear a great deal about the enormous sales attained by popular novels . . . and some of them have sold wonderfully well; but there is one book of which we hear very little in the gossip in the literary columns of news- papers that outsells any book published. The demand for it is constant. It is the Bible... . One of the leading booksellers of New York is quoted as Saying that while not much is heard of the Bible as a gift its sales at all

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seasons reach tremendous proportions. ‘ You may talk about your multitudinous editions of popular novels,’ he said, ‘ but the Bible leads them year in and year out; it is probably issued in more editions and got up in more styles and shapes than any other book in the world.” So that the importance of the Bible, acknowledged in the great national solemnity of the Coronation, is unconsciously endorsed by the action of all Christendom. Christian opinion remains sound at the core.

THE NORTH-EAST WIND.

“ But the black north-easter, Through the snowstorm hurled, Drives our English hearts of oak Seaward round the world. Come, as came our forefathers, Heralded by thee ; Conquering from the eastward, Lords by land and sea. Come! and strong within us, Stir the Viking’s blood ; Bracing brain and sinew, Blow thou wind of God.”—Kingsley.

pre-historic times, populations have moved steadily westward. ‘The world’s sceptre passed from Persia to Greece, from Greece to Italy, from Italy to Great Britain, and from Great Britain the sceptre is to-day departing. It is passing on to ‘‘ Greater Britain,” to our mighty west, there to remain, for there is no farther west—beyond is the Orient.”—From Our Country, by Dr. Strong.

_ Dr. Ingram, Bishop of London said the Wesleyans had been described to him as all fire, the Baptists as all water, and the Church as all starch.—May 1901. sermons lead the people to praise the preacher, Good preaching leads the people to praise the Saviour.” —Charles G, Finney. a man called to save sinners is spending his time soft-soaping saints.”

At the end of January, 1838, the river Don was frozen over in places, and at Sheffield a sheep was roasted on the ice.

‘“RESURRECTIONISTS” OR BODY-SNATCHERS:

“The body-snatchers they have come And made a snatch at me; It’s very odd that kind of men Can’t let a body be.” So the ghost of a departed wife is represented by Hood as coming to her husband’s bedside and saying. In Mr. R. E. Leader’s Reminiscences of Old Sheffield, we read that the Sheffield Medical School was established by Mr. Hall Overend, who was an enthusiast in the cause of surgical science, which in his day was carried on amid great disadvantages and hazards, since the law provided only for the dissection of criminals who had been hanged, and the supply was altogether inadequate for the medical schools. This gave rise to the horrible practice of employing “resurrection men”’ to disinter clandestinely bodies which relatives supposed had been borne to their last home. The duty of obtaining “subjects” for the Sheffield Medical School rested mainly upon Mr. Overend, and he carried it out with characteristic vigour and success. He incurred great suspicion, and both

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in money and in mental anxiety and worry he lost largely by the war he waged against antiquated law in the interest of science and humanity. The students had the “subjects” for the meresum paid to the men who procured them, while the sacrifices and costs of Mr. Overend himself were utterly unrequited. There were rumours that Mr. Overend personally took part in the lifting of bodies and their conveyance to the medical school, and it was a popular belief that his death was hastened by injuries received in one of these nocturnal expedi- tions. A surgeon who had been one of his pupils records that Mr. Overend did not go out but knew what was done. Two men were employed, and the pupils were active accomplices, planning the operations, keeping watch, giving signals, drawing off the watchers, and carrying away the bodies. When a corpse was got in the bottom of the gig or dressed up in cloak, bonnet, and veil, supported between two of them, they were not long in driving into Sheffield, as Mr. Overend kept good horses. The town graveyards were not often visited except for special cases, but the quiet village churchyards and most of those within twelve or fourteen miles of Sheffield were visited at times. Several narrow escapes of capture occurred. In 1830 or thereabouts two professional resurrectionists once got into trouble. A young man who had died of consumption and was buried in Bradfield churchyard close to the east end of the church, was the object being sought for, but some one near the church hearing a gig and the feet of a horse pacing about got up to learn the cause of so unusual a noise, and saw what was going on in the churchyard. Those in the gig made a precipitate retreat towards Sheffield, but one man was caught in endeavouring to make his escape from the churchyard, in which he would have succeeded, but his course was impeded by a deep snow-drift. He got twelve months’ imprisonment. A considerable trade in body-snatching was also carried on between Hope and Manchester some seventy or eighty years ago. One of the entries of burial at Hope has this additional note: ‘‘ Body removed same night.” Mr. Joseph Jordan, a noted Manchester surgeon, was once fined £20, and his resurrectionist condemned to undergo twelve months’ imprisonment and to pay a fine, for rifling a grave. Body-snatching must have been a profitable trade, as we read one celebrated resurrectionist made £144 for one night’s work and died worth £6,000. In Mottram churchyard is a tombstone with the following epitaph on it :— “Though once beneath this ground his corpse was laid, For use of surgeons it was thence conveyed ; Vain was the scheme to hide the impious theft, The body taken, the shroud and coffin left. Ye wretches, who pursued this barbarous trade, Your carcases in turn may be conveyed Like this to some unfeeling surgeon’s room, Nor can they justly meet a better doom.”

GREAT BRITAIN’S MISSION.

Even after the Armada’s defeat precautions were not entirely relaxed, for we read that “all good subjects doing their parts, and all evil subjects made unable, there is no doubt that Her Majesty and this realm shall continue in honour and surety.” In the days of King Edward as in the days of Queen Bess there are enemies country in the land, the most subtle and dangerous of them in the urch. Lord Russell and Tennyson had a strong bond in their common conviction that the English race was “ destined to be the greatest among races.” Both

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gloried in the “ Imperii porrecta Majestas” of England, and advocated an ever closer union with our Colonies. ‘Tennyson believed that the federation so formed would be the strongest force for good and for freedom that the world has ever known. He did not believe it hopeless that America should enter into a close alliance with such a league. From the preface to Rollin’s Ancient History, we gather that it was the love of riches, lust, pleasure, and other abominations that caused the fall of Egypt, Babylon, Nineveh, Tyre, Sidon, Greece, Persia, Rome, and other great nations. We must not be surprised, then, if the vices and lustful ‘habits common in our large cities and towns, coupled with our great desire to accumulate riches, and our drinking, gambling, and other bad habits, and especially our forgetfulness of God by not keeping His Sabbath day holy, and otherwise not acknowledging Him, will tend tothe punishment of our country. If Israel and other great nations have suffered, is it likely we shall escape ?

When we see too “idolatry” in the National Protestant Church, and those who should guide their flocks to glorify God and give Him the honour to which He is entitled, seeking the glorification of themselves, and asking their flocks to look to them instead of our Saviour, to get them to heaven, what can we expect ?—See II. Thess., c. 11 and particularly verses 3 and 4.

Still, though He may punish us as a nation—as He recently did in the war in South Africa,—if we read the Holy Scriptures aright, may we not believe, with many learned writers, that God has given Great Britain a mission to fulfil, and that, indeed, a great part of it has been fulfilled? For instance, God said to Abraham, “ Thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed My voice.” Can the British be said to be the seed referred to? What nation does, or ever did, so certainly possess the gates of her enemies? Look at the possessions of Great Britain throughout the world ! 3 And what nation has been the means of blessing other nations by a wide- spread preaching of the blessed Gospel,—Matt. xxiv. 14—and the introduction of good government and just laws as Great Britain ? Again God says: ‘* Thou shalt lend unto many nations but thou shalt not borrow, and thou shalt reign over many nations but they shall not reign over thee.”” Does not Great Britain fulfil these conditions as no other nation ever did or—if we are in the last dispensation (Acts i1., 16,17: Matt. xxiv.)—is ever likely to do? She lends to many nations but does not borrow, and she reigns over many nations but none reign over her. Dr. Karl Peters, the celebrated traveller, writing to the Tagliche Rundschan (Berlin) some time ago, said: “If we observe British policy in Africa, as on the whole globe, we are compelled to admire the tenacity with which it pursues its aims, and the cool daring with which it assumes risks and responsibilities before which other nations recoil. It is the same spirit which gave to the one city of Rome dominion over the old ovbis terrarum. Year by year the Union Jack rises higher over the Dark Continent, and in its train steam and electricity provide the firm ties with which alone coy Africa can be overcome. The fact that here again the British colours—and not as once seemed probable, the German black, white, and red flag—took the lead, finally seals the oversea relations of the two Powers. To Anglo-Saxon North America, to English Australia, to British Southern Asia, will be added Africa, English from Cape Town to Cairo. An English world epoch rises ever more distinctly on the horizon of time, and nothing is left to other nations but to reconcile themselves for good or evil with this historical fact.” “There hath not failed one word of all His good promise. The Lord our

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God be with us as He was with our fathers. Let Him not leave us or forsake us, that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord He is God. There is none else.” “In the world’s broad field of battle, In the bivouac of life, Be not like dumb driven cattle: Be a hero in the strife.”—Longfellow.

The Sheffield Registey newspaper for Friday, September 20th, 1793, records amongst deaths: ‘‘ At Adwalton in this County, on Monday, the Rev. Thomas Whiteleg, curate of Penistone.”

YORKSHIRE AND THE GO-AHEADEDNESS OF YORKSHIREMEN.

On Monday, the 7th of March, 1904, a number of Yorkshiremen, many of whom are occupying most prominent positions in China, sat down to a dinner at the Hong Kong Hotel. J!he chairman, Mr. W. Danby, architect and civil engineer, late of Leeds, after the loyal and other toasts had been duly honoured, proposed ‘“ Our Native Country,” and in doing so claimed that in the matter of bonny and healthy-looking lassses, moors, grouse, and industries, we could hold our own with any other country. In the matter of sport, we had got the English Football (Association) Cup several times, we held the Cricket County Championship for three years. Then Yorkshire puddings and York ham were known all over the world. Yorkshire was also a county of song, and furnished nearly all the principal organists to nearly all the principal cathedrals in England and Scotland. He pointed to John Wycliffe and Miles Coverdale as Yorkshiremen, who did a great deal for the presentation of the Scriptures to the people. He referred to the county’s poets, writers, artists, engineers, inventors, and in conclusion, he said there were not words in the dictionary to do Yorkshire justice. give me but some Yorkshire fare, A Yorkshire scene, some Yorkshire air,

Where lads are bold, and lasses fair, And I’m contented.”

THE GREATEST LIVING ENGLISHMAN.

Copy of the double Post Card awarded First Prize by the Leisure Hour, in an Open Competition :—

GENERAL BOOTH, Or THE SALVATION ARMY. My reason for this choice is that he is a man of unsullied character and noble aims. His purpose in life seems to me to have been the loftiest of all purposes, namely, to devote one’s life to the benefit and elevation of mankind, and to . teach them of goodness and God. His sympathies are all men’s. He has fed the hungry, clothed the taught the idle thrift, and rescued thousands from vice, and led them along virtue’s path. His work is love, and his devotion to it real; and what is the more remarkable, perhaps, it has never slackened, and he has never wearied of it during the long period of nearly forty years. _ the organization he has created is the most wonderful organization of our time. Beginning with units, its adherents now number tens of thousands,

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probably millions, and are to be found in nearly fifty countries. Its literature is circulated in thirty languages. The venerable General’s influence is world-wide. Soldiers and statesmen © are applauded, kings respected, but General Booth is loved. His labour bureau, workshops, rescue places, farm colonies, &c., are only a part of a grand life grandly lived in the furtherance of the noblest cause under the sun—the cause of humanity. His tenderness towards the people has ever been associated with higher life; and in all the lands he has visited, he has never failed to speak to the inhabitants of Jesus and His love. The world is better and purer for his having lived. His has been a great victory of peace, achieved with highest honours, in the battle grounds of God. Of General Booth it may be said, with much truthfulness, that he has made ‘“ Every day a little life, a blank to be inscribed with gentle deeds, such as in after time console, rejoice whene’er we turn the page to read them.” I CHARLES C. West-coker Yeovil, 1901. From All the World, for June, 1903. ‘““GENERAL BootH—As an old chartist and therefore Radical Democrat and semi-Socialist, we greet you to-day on the celebration of your Jubilee of good works. For the ignorance of many of your followers you are not responsible. You have had an uphill task. All honour to you as the Saviour of the Slums. Where the well-paid Churchmen have failed, you have succeeded. You have given hundreds of thousands of human beings a glimpse of a better life, and whether their belief be a delusion or a reality, the work you have done will remain a permanent testimony of what may be accom- plished by unselfish, simple-mindedness of aim. You have reduced the politics of the people to practice. The Pope of the weak, the desolate, and the forsaken, here and hereafter, your work stands, overtopping the puny efforts of State-aided priests to bring the people within the magic circle of that Christianity which is but humanity at its Newspaper, April 15th, 1894.

EMIGRATION.

Extract from a letter from Edinburgh, Sept. 2nd, 1775: ‘The fate of the unhappy emigrants who leave this country is truly lamentable, and ’tis surely from ignorance or by being misled by designing people that so many leave their homes to render themselves completely miserable. To shew the stile in which these poor people are used we need but consult the American newspapers which swarm with advertisements of the same nature with the under one, which is taken from the Virginia Gazette of January 20th :— ‘Just arrived in the Ambuscade, Capt. John Manns, in York River, from London, about seventy indented servants, mostly tradesmen. The sale will commence at Newcastle on Friday, the 21st of January inst., and continue until all are sold.’ Joun Syme.”’—The Leeds Intelligencer, September 12th, 1775. “On Friday last died suppENLy, The Sheffield Advertiser. Having never been of a very strong constitution it had evidently declined for some years past and was not in the common course of events expected to survive long; it is, however, generally reported that some sudden shock HASTENED ITS DISSOLUTION.” Sheffield Register, June 7th, 1793. The two following accounts are from the Sheffield Register for July 12th, L193" “Sale of Negroes and Cattle-—On Saturday the 2oth of June, 1793, will be sold by auction at Bowe’s Tavern, Exuna, twenty-seven seasoned Negroes in families and twenty-five head of Cattle,” as recorded in the Bahama Gazette.

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“Botany Bay, Dec. 3. Since the arrival of the last transports at this place every male convict is allowed 4 Ib. of pork, 3 Ib. of flour, 4 lb. of rice, half a pint of oil, and 8 pints of doll (nearly like English pease) per week. Every third week they receive 7 lb. of beef instead of pork. The females have two- thirds of that allowance. About two hundred that went in the Pitt died before they had been on shore three months. Molloy, who was sent from Maidstone, is made assistant surgeon to the General Hospital. No person, it seems, is prevented from returning at the expiration of their time if they can pay their passage or work it home.”

MR. MOODY, THE. EVANGELIST. The Rev. H. E. Fox, M.A., Hon. Sec. of the Church Missionary Society and Prebendary of St. Paul’s, stated in the Annual Sermon he preached in the Church of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, Charing Cross, on Wednesday, May 7th, 1902, for the Church Pastoral Aid Society, that :— “T once met the late Dean of Westminster, Dr. Stanley, and Mr. Moody, the American evangelist, at the house of a mutual friend. The two were men of very different types. One the polished man of culture, the othera plain and often homely preacher; yet both, as I am sure, truly loving and serving the Lord, and both, I doubt not, now present with Him. ‘The conversation turned upon the question—how to bring people to Church. The Dean stated his opinion that sermons should be on popular and interesting topics, and that questions of science and art, current events, and the lives or writings of great men would attract hearers in plenty. ‘ We’ve tried all that,’ said Mr. Moody, ‘and it failed. We got the best speakers and preachers in America for over a year, and there was not one conversion. Then there came a poor man and preached Christ. God was with him, and hundreds turned to the Lord. I tell you, Mr. Dean,’ he added with emphasis, ‘it must be a living Saviour for lost sinners, and nothing else will do.’ ”

The Estate of Mr. Robert Arthington, of Leeds, who left £800,000 to Missions, yielded a million sterling. He desired that every tribe of mankind should have faithful copies of the Gospels of St. John and St. Luke and of the Acts of the Apostles.

“THE SECRET OF ENGLAND’S GREATNESS.”

The Rev. Isaac Smith and the Rev. Henry Townsend, missionaries of the C.M.S. who laboured for forty years in Western Africa, brought Prince Sagbua’s present to the Queen in 1849, and Her Majesty authorised and commanded Lord Chichester to send back her gracious message in the following Christian language :— _ “The Queen has commanded me to convey her thanks to Sagbua and the chiefs and her best wishes for their true and lasting happiness, and for the peace and prosperity of the Youriba nation. “The Queen and people of England are very glad to know that Sagbua and the chiefs think as they do upon the subject of commerce. “But commerce alone will not make a nation great and happy like England. England has become great and happy by the knowledge of the true God and Jesus Christ. “The Queen is therefore very glad to hear that Sagbua and the chiefs have so kindly received the missionaries who carry with them the Word of God, and that so many of the people are willing to hear it.

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‘In order to show how much the Queen values God’s Word she sends with this as a present to Sagbua a copy of this Word in two languages—one the Arabic, the other the English. (Signed) CHICHESTER.” The above two missionaries took the Bible and Royal letter to the Prince.

The following extracts from ‘The History and Antiquities of Coventry,” by Benjamin Poole, 1870, are interesting : At St. Michael’s Church, No. 4 bell has the following motto on it: “I ring at six, to let men know, when too and from theair worke to go—1675.” No. 7 has the following motto on it: “I ring to sermon with a lusty bome, that all may come, and none may stay at home—1675.” In the ancient Church books in the year 1580, are the following entries :— ““Payed to George Aster for poyntynge ye steple, vijl. ijs. viijd. (£7 2s. 8d.) ; payed for 11) quarter and halfe of lyme, xitjs. ilijd.; payed for eggs, viijs. iiijd. ; payed for glovers pecis, woode and tallowe abowte the lyme, vs. vjd.; payed for a load sand vij ob; payed for ij stryke of mawlte and gryndyng, vijs. vujd. ob; payed for vj gallons of worte more, ij; payed for gatherynge of slates and oyster shelles, 11jd. qr ; payed to Cookson for the cradle and 1ij other purcesses, vs. viijd.” The majority of readers in the present day will probably be rather puzzled to understand how it came to be required to introduce such ingredients as four strike of malt, besides “ six gallons of worte more,” together with eight shillings and four pence worth of eggs, and a lot of oystershells for the repairing of the steeple. These requirements, however, afford a singular proof of the care and regard for durability of material and workmanship in this undertaking. Some of the best quality was used for the making of the mortar, which was tempered with sweet wort, white of eggs, and size, instead of water. Whether the oyster shells were calcined or were inserted in the joints of the stonework where it was open, it is difficult to decide ; but the slates were undoubtedly used for that purpose, of which sufficient evidence still appears on examination of the steeple. The Rev. Edmund Hough, vicar of Penistone, in a letter given elsewhere, speaks of the stone of the old chapel of St. John’s, Penistone, as being “ extra- ordinarily well cemented together, so that not without some difficulty the stones were separatéd one from another.” I The question (says the Builder), as to the advantage of mixing saccharine matter with mortar is assuming great interest, and facts are being daily brought forward to show that it is not only feasible, but of extreme value both to the builder and the engineer. All experiments go to prove that the admixture of a little sugar to hme has not only the singular property of making the resulting mortar commence setting almost immediately, but also of giving it an extraordinary amount of strength, as compared with ordinary mortars. Nor need the saccharine matter be sugar for treacle (say $d. worth added to a hod of mortar), malt, or even beer will do just as well. It is stated that an Italian builder was sent for to Worksop, in Nottinghamshire, to erect a mansion, and that before he commenced, he called out for malt to mix with the mortar. This was supplied him, and the result was that when that building was destroyed, a great many years afterwards, it could only be done by the agency of gunpowder. In the entries of many cathedral records is mentioned, “For beer for the masons,” not an uncommon event for the British artisans in this or any other age, but it is also varied with “ beer for the mortar,” which shows how well its value was known. In India the native masons always use “jaghery,” the coarsest sugar that there is, and every one conversant with Indian buildings knows that they are notorious for their powers of duration.

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The Sheffield Daily Telegraph of December 29th, 1903, in an article on the Suburb “ Ecclesall,” says, ‘‘ Greystones was built at the commencement of last ‘century by a Mr. Greaves, a grocer, who mixed with the mortar (so Mr. Cobby, —the Rev. Wm. Cobby—tells us), some two hogsheads of treacle, the result of which is that the mortar has now the strength of iron.”

SCENERY AROUND PENISTONE.

Penistone is easily reached by railway from all parts of the kingdom, and is the centre of many places of varied and romantic interest, attraction, and beauty. Lovely valleys, fine hills, and picturesque woods, moors, and fields are to be met with on one side or other, which, taking all in all, can hardly be surpassed in England, Scotland, Ireland, or Wales. Hunter says, “ often amidst ‘some of the striking sublimities of mountain landscape, England presents few ‘more beautiful scenes than are to be found at several points in the early progress of the Don,” and the Rev. Francis Homfrey, formerly of Oriel College, Oxford, in his poem entitled “ Thoughts on Happiness,” says :—

* Dear to my childhood were the Banks of Don, As year to year succeeding passes on, And memory still is adding to her store Of hoarded sweets, she never charms me more Than when she leads me on by day or dream Through the wild beauties of my native stream,”

The late Lord Houghton, speaking at a dinner of the Penistone Agricultural Society, said: “In looking upon the different portions of this great Yorkshire of ours, there is perhaps no part more interesting to the young antiquarian than this district.” “. .. Thou hadst nor hill nor dale But lives in legend.”

As elsewhere recorded, Penistone was once the seat of the cloth trade, and had a Cloth Hall, and “Ordinary Penistones” or “ Forest Whites” and Penistone” cloths were amongst those enumerated in Acts of Parlia- ment of the 5th and 6th Edward VI., 39th Elizabeth, and 4th James I. The “Forest Whites” may probably be the well-known “ Livery Drabs” which are still manufactured at the adjoining village of Thurlstone.

Outside the church gates may still be seen the stump of the old Market Cross, bringing to mind the merry days of olden times.

“When the daily sports be done, Round the market cross they run, ’Prentice lads and gallant blades, Dancing with their gamesome maids, Till the beadle, stout and sour, Shakes his bell and calls the hour.”

The Curfew Bell was rung at Penistone Church until about 1860.

“Five rivers, like the fingers of a hand, Flung from black mountains, mingle and are one, Where sweetest valleys quit the wild and grand, And eldest forests o’er the silvan Don, Bid their immortal brother journey on, A stately pilgrim watch’d by all the hills,”

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110 HISTORY OF PENISTONE. GUNTHWAITE SPA,

At Gunthwaite, the ancient seat of the Bosvilles, is a noted Mineral Spring. The surrounding country is lovely, and lying as it does, midway between the populous city of Sheffield, and towns of Barnsley, Huddersfield, Halifax, and Bradford, and with other cities and towns not far away, a more convenient, attractive, and healthy situation for a hydropathic establishment, or con- sumptive sanatorium, it would be difficult to find. It is a district typical of rural England. Woodsome Hall, Bretton Hall, Cannon Hall, Wentworth Castle, and Wortley Hall and Wharncliffe, are all within a few miles drive.

For what reason, or on what account it came to pass, I cannot say or learn, but the first Sunday in May has been immemorially held to’ be the opening day of the Spa, and bands of music, from various places,—as many as seven have been known to be there at once,—and stalls, &c., for refreshments, together with the numerous crowds who attended, made the occasion like a fair, and at last gave rise to such trespassing and unseemly conduct, that some thirty or forty years ago an end was put to such gatherings. _ Probably it was originally one of the seats of the disports of the middle ages in which both the gentry and peasantry joined, particularly at the returns of May-day, Whitsun- tide, and Midsummer. “Gunthwaite Spa Sunday—Ancient Mysterious Custom.”—A _ special article so headed in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph, of May 3rd, 1904, is very interesting, and the following are extracts therefrom every year Gunthwaite Spa has greatness thrust upon it. It has no ambition of its-own. It has been in existence as long as the memory of man can travel back, and had been there as long before the mystery and wonder of the district. But it has no history. What httle is known of it (and that amounts to next to nothing), has been handed down by word-of-mouth from father to son, through many generations. People who have gone on pilgrimage to it regularly for years know little more about it than those who, like our representative, visited it for the first time yesterday. It has a spring of water in which the people of the district have wonderful faith. They look uponit as a sort of cure-all ; but if you are to be cured you must drink of the waters on one special day in the year—the first Sunday in May. On other days the spring is just water. But on the first Sunday in May it becomes miraculously charged with all kinds of powers and properties, and people flock to it from far and near. Most of the pilgrims brought bottles or cups with them. They “supped” the water, made faces, and filled their bottles for their friends. One old lady, after handing a cup to her daughters, asked what they thought of it. One expressively described the water as “muck,” and another said it tasted like “ rotten eggs.” The “rotten egg” description seemed to be the favourite, as though people in those parts are familiar with their taste. An old lady assured me the water was good for scurvy. Inquiries I made in Penistone were not very productive. But I learnt that the water is supposed to come from a mine in which there is supposed to be or to have been silver.” I It may be observed that at Ronscliff, in Cawthorne, near by, a silver mine was worked many years ago, and from one pound of ore eight ounces of silver were obtained. A silver tankard made from the ore is still in the possession of the Shirt family. I It is stated that an old work records that the Spa, “for scurvey, inflama- tions, liver complaints and other diseases has proved effectual,’ and also contains the following account of a celebrated cure effected by it in olden

1mes ;

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JOHN WOODCOCK RAYNER. eee:

“There’s one old lady that nearly was kill’d With scurvey, but it has her heal’d ; She tried all plans, she went to Spas, And spent so much, there’s no one knows ; For twenty years she suffered much, But all she got would not it touch, Till happy day! when she began To use this water (none such ran), For now she is from scurvey free, “i As any person need to be.” From Cliffe Cottage on Hoylandswaine Heights, a little distance away, it is said, fifteen or more Churches can be seen in fine weather.

WEST RIDING. ELECTIONS.

From 1295 to 1821 it seems there were only two Members of Parliament for the whole county of York. Then a little hamlet in the south called Grampound, near St. Austell, in Cornwall, was deprived of its two M.P.’s so that the county might have four. Grampound became a Parliamentary borough in 1551 and returned two members until 1824. It sent John Hampden to the House of Commons in 1620. The Reform Act of 1832 raised the representation from four to six—two for each of the three Ridings. At the General Election for the West Riding on July 7th, 1841, there was a very stiff fight, and the two Conservatives—the Hon. John Stuart Wortley with 13,165 votes, and Mr. Edmund Beckett Denison with 12,780 votes—were elected, their defeated opponents being Viscount Milton, who had 12,080 votes, and Viscount Morpeth, 12,031 votes. On the death of James Archibald Stuart Wortley, the first Lord Wharn- cliffe, on the 19th December, 1845, his eldest son, the member above-mentioned, succeeded to the title. Hunter says the first lord was returned Member for the County of York in several Parliaments, and would have been returned again at the General Election of 1826 had not his Majesty in a manner most truly gratifying been pleased to raise Mr. Wortley to the rank of a peer of the realm, when he assumed the title of Baron Wharncliffe of Wharncliffe in the County of York. He had been returned as colleague of Lord Milton at the Elections of 1818 and 1820. I have been told that at the above election, on Wortley and Denison coming to Penistone from Wakefield to address the electors, a cavalcade of horsemen and others, and also a waggon containing the members of a brass band, drawn by twenty-four grey horses belonging to Messrs. Rolling of Oxspring Corn Mills and farmers near by, met them on the top of Hoylandswaine Heights, about two miles from Penistone, and as a guard of honour merely escorted them to Penistone; and that George Lockwood, one of Messrs. Rolling’s teamsters, who drove the waggon, turned it with all the horses opposite the old Rose and Crown Inn, from the windows of which noted hostelry the candidates addressed the electors.

JOHN WOODCOCK RAYNER.

John Woodcock Rayner, who died on the 13th of June, 1893, in a Declaration made in 1888 deposed that he had been a farmer and was then a property owner at Penistone—that he was born at Old Chapel, Penistone, on the 1gth of June, 1803—that his mother’s name was Hannah Rayner—that his mother’s father, Joshua Rayner, was a labourer, and had in his younger days been servant to the Shewabells, who lived in the Hall Fold in Penistone, which was

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behind the house late occupied by Mr. Booth,surgeon—that when he was about five years old his mother married Thomas Darwent, and they were both servants with Mr. Bradley, of Walk Mill, Oxspring—that his mother died a few years after their marriage, and they had no children—that Thomas Darwent after- wards married the youngest sister of old John Hawley, of Penistone Green, whose father was a farmer at Willow Lane Top—that Thomas Darwent afterwards became one of the waggoners for old Mr. Rolling of Oxspring Mills —that after being in service at various places he, the said John Woodcock Rayner, when 27 years old, married Mary Heeley, daughter of Joseph Heeley, of Snowdenhill, farmer and clothier, and took to Heeley’s farm—that the mother of Thomas Stanley, of Sheephouse, was a sister of his wife’s—that in 1846 he bought some land at Penistone Green and built some houses thereon, and lived there ever since—that his mother’s father left Old Chapel for the house to be rebuilt, and went to reside in Dobbin Gaps—that when he was about seven years old he apprenticed him to Benjamin Rayner, a brother of his who kept the Birch Tree Inn, Penistone, and was a large farmer—that about a year after the date of his apprenticeship his master died, and he continued with his son Benjamin, with whom he went to Old Chapel, which was rebuilt in 1811—that his master was a maltster and farmer, but was not very attentive to business, often away days together hunting and drinking, the end of which was he got into debt and was sold up—that the first vicar of Penistone he recollected was Mr. Jameson, who was succeeded by Mr. Haworth—that the first landlord of the old Rose and Crown Inn he knew was William Dagley, who was followed by Edmund Smith—that Joseph Dealtry was the first land- lord of the Old Crown Inn he knew, and after him Joseph Bedford, and then his son Joseph Bedford—that George Brown was the first landlord of the Horns Tavern he recollected, and that he afterwards went to the Rose and Crown Inn on Mr. Smith retiring—that Marmaduke Clarke was the first landlord of the Spread Eagle Inn he recollected, and Benjamin Rayner before mentioned of the Birch Tree Inn, on whose death his son John Rayner, father of Timothy Reyner, of Thurlstone, occupied it for a few years, and when he gave it up it ceased to be a public-house—that the Fleece Inn on his first recollection was occupied by William Mosley, who was also a clock maker and dresser. Clocks bearing his name are still to be met with in the district.

That it was the general custom at Penistone when he first recollected, both at the inns for market dinners and in private houses, to boil meat. The only exception he recollected was a stag killed by the Penistone Hounds at Chapeltown and divided amongst several of the inns, which was roasted.

In the Luddite times, he recollected soldiers belonging to a Welsh regiment and after them soldiers belonging to a Devonshire regiment being quartered in the district. On the occasion of some rejoicings in connection with the defeat and abdication of Napoleon a large bonfire was made in the Market Place, and the coal was fetched in a waggon drawn by men from acolliery at Hand Lane, then the only one in the district, and owned by Marshalls of Sim Hill. The waggon was made by some of the Devonshire soldiers billeted at Henry Grayson’s, of Royd Field. Before the Commons were taken in, gates were placed across the highways to keep cattle and sheep in bounds at Castle Dyke, Dawson Mill, Cubley Flat, and one just above New Chapel. He always understood that “‘ Dobbin Gapps”’ took its name because it was the way to the land pack-horses were turned into pasture.

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BENJAMIN HOWE. 113

oxen were used in the district in his younger days for team work, ploughing, &c. The Stocks were in the Cattle Market on the left-hand side of the Church- yard Gates, but the only person he recollected being put in for punishment was Samuel Rayner. He was put in for brawling in the Church, going in ona Sunday when fresh. There was also a Ducking Stool in the field—where Unwin Street now is. He recollected the stool, but never saw any one ducked. The pond was 30 to 40 yards long. He often slided on it when frozen over. Old John Hawley, who died in 1857, aged 75 years, said, however, that the Ducking Stool was in the field at Penistone Green on which Messrs. Joseph Hawley & Sons, Saw Mills, now stand. Perhaps, however, two were necessary at Penistone ? “There stands, my friend, in yondei pool An engine call’d a ducking-stool ; By legal pow’r commanded down, The joy and terror of the town ; If jarring females kindle strife, Give language foul, or lug the coif, If noisy dames shou’d once begin To drive the house with horrid din, Away, we cry, you'll grace the stool, We'll teach you how your tongue to rule. The fair offender fills the seat In sullen pomp, profoundly great. Down in the deep the stool descends, But here, at first, we miss our ends; She mounts again, and rages more Than ever vixen did before.

If so, my friend, pray let her take A second turn into the lake, And rather than your patient lose Thrice and again repeat the dose ; No brawling wives, no furious wenches, No fire so hot, but water quenches.”

The Brank or Bridle for scolds was another favourite instcument for curbing the unruly tongue I do not learn they were used at Penistone.

BENJAMIN HOWE.

Benjamin Howe, of Bullhouse, Thurlstone, who died on the 2nd day of November, 1888, and was a typical specimen of a moorland farmer, told me he was born at Hordron on the Langsett moors, December 26th, 1805—that his father, John Howe, died when he was about seven years old, of typhus fever, aged 37, and was buried at Penistone. About a year afterwards his mother married again to William Bagshaw, who came from Sparrow Pit, in Peak Forest, to work for James Hawkes, of Peak Forest, who was getting stone in Clough to make fences for the inclosure allotments—that after being in farm service for some years, he took Bridge Holme farm, and afterwards Nether House farm, both in Langsett—that the Commons were not preserved when he first recollected—that Benjamin Grayson was the first keeper he knew on Boardhill Moors—that the first landlord of the Inn at Boardhill was Robert Gothard—William Mitchell, with his mother, followed him—Benjamin Harrop married the mother, and afterwards purchased the house of Bosville’s Trustees —that Squire Leycester, of Toft Hall, near Knutsford, built the public house I H

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at Fiddler’s Green: it was called the Plough and Harrow—the Squire had purchased about 500 acres there on the enclosure of the Commons, and intended to feed cattle on them as he did on the moss he farmed in Cheshire, but it did not prove a success—that for some years before he was nineteen, he lived with his father-in-law, and led a lot of malt from Finkle Street, Wortley, for Mr. James Brown, of Masbro’, Publican and Maltster, brought it to Fiddler, and then delivered it at Ashton and other places—that in drainage work on the commons about Boardhill, large trunks of trees were often come across black with age, these, no doubt, would be remains of old Hordron Forest.

VICARS -AND CURATES OF PENISTONE:

On the death in 1809 of the Rev. John Goodair, who succeeded the Rev. Samuel Phipps, who died in 1798 the Rev. Naylor, D.D., of Wakefield, was appointed vicar of Penistone in 1809. It is said that he generally visited the Parish only once a year, viz., on St. John the Baptist’s day. No doubt he did this to secure and preserve to the Church its share of the money given by Samuel Wordsworth for the benefit of the Church and School and Poor of Penistone. The Trust Deed is dated February 26th, 1708, and with respect to the rents or monies to be paid to the Rev. Edmund Hough, then the vicar, and to his successors, vicars there for ever, there is this condition: ‘““Provided the said vicar for the time being preach every Lord’s day forenoon _and after as has been and is now used and practised in the said parish church, and alsoe preach or cause to be preached a sermon every twenty-fourth day of June, betwixt the houres of ten and twelve in the forenoon, on some suitable subject for the edification of the parishioners of the said parish, particularly of © young persons, and that the said vicar give publick notice the Lord’s day preceding such sermon. But if it happen that the vicar of the said Parish Church for the time being neglect to preach as aforesaid, except in case of sickness or some other extraordinary occasion, then it shall and may be lawful to and for the said trustees or the major parte of them, their heyres or assignes, to deduct and keep back from such vicar soe neglecting one moyety of such halfe-yearly payments till such vicar preach as aforesaid and soe continue to preach except as aforesaid and bestow such moyety of such halfe-yearly pay- ments so kept back on the schoolmasters of the said schoole in such proportions as they shall think fit.” The Deed states that John Ramsden was then headmaster of the schoole of Penistone aforesaid and John Roebuck usher thereof. Mr. Naylor had the Rev. — Jameson as his curate at Penistone for some years. Mr. Jameson is credited with having a liking for the convivial cup, and some not very creditable tales are told of him. Once he preached at Bolsterstone against drunkenness, and on being told of this by a parishioner we knew his failings, he said the people “must do as he said and not as he uals Mr. Jameson was succeeded as curate by the Rev. John Haworth. The latter died on March 6th, 1824, aged 36 years. The Rev. J. D. Hurst succeeded Mr. Haworth as curate. The Rev. Samuel Sunderland succeeded Mr. Hurst as curate in October, 1829. When Mr. Naylor died in 1837 the Rev. Thomas King was appointed vicar of Penistone by Mr. Alexander William Robert Bosville in December, 1837. Mr. King had a wooden leg, resided at Wakefield, and rarely visited Penistone. It is handed down that he said as he found the people did not care for him

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WORD OF GOD IS ALIVE.” 115

he did not care for them, and should not live amongst them. He was after- wards vicar of Ordsall, near Retford. The curates resided at the vicarage, and Mr. Sunderland at one time took boarders at the School. His sister, Miss Sunderland was his house-keeper before his marriage, and she married Mr. John Hargreaves, at one time Assistant Master at Penistone Grammar School, and afterwards Headmaster at Barnsley Grammar School. On Mr. King resigning, the Rev. Samuel Sunderland, the curate, was appointed the vicar in 1841. His brother, William Sunderland, resided with him, and one morning was found dead in bed. He was not a clergyman, but helped his brother in the school and otherwise. There are tablets affixed in Penistone Church to the memory of the Rev. Mr. Haworth and his family. The one to Mr. Haworth is as follows: “In memory of the Rev. John Haworth, Incumbent of Midhope, and nearly twelve years Curate of Penistone. He died March 6th, 1824, aged 36 years, leaving a widow and five young children to mourn the irreparable loss of an affectionate eve and his Parishioners the early removal of a beloved and exemplary astor.” The Rev. Wm. Irving, vicar of Bolsterstone, succeeded Mr. Haworth as Incumbent of Midhope, and he held the living until his death in 1847. Mr. Sunderland succeeded him. He was born at Wakefield, August 29th, 1806, and married September 13th, 1843. A tablet in Penistone Church, of which the following is a copy, records his death, &c.: “To the memory of the Reverend Samuel Sunderland, B.A., Vicar of this Parish, who was accidently killed on the 18th day of July, 1855, aged 48 years. This tablet is erected to his memory by his attached and sorrowing Parishioners, as a testimony of their deep regret for his loss. His whole ministerial life of nearly twenty-six years Was spent amongst them, and both as a Pastor and a friend by his devoted labours and earnest affectionate spirit, he endeared himself to them, and proved himself a faithful servant of his Lord and Master, by whose unexpected call he was so suddenly called to his rest. ‘The memory of the just is blessed.’ ‘ Be ye also ready, for at such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh.’”’ Until the death of Mr. Sunderland at any rate, or perhaps until the appointment of the Rural Police, the churchwardens and constables, with their long staffs or staves of office, every Sunday morning left the church and made the round of the public houses and streets of the town to see that the laws relative to the observance of the Sabbath were duly kept. Whether their duties were arduous or not, most of them, it was currently reported, took themselves on their rounds that refreshment at public houses they debarred others from. To his credit, however, it must be recorded that the late Mr. George Shaw, of Smallshaw, who was for many years a churchwarden, always refused to join his co-officials in these transgressions.

WORD OF: GOD IS ALIVE.”

_ The following are extracts from a letter of the Rev. Dr. Waller, late Principal of St. John’s Divinity College, Highbury, in reply to one as to the meaning of the term “Verbal Inspiration,” received from Col. J. F. Morton. “Yes, the Word is alive. Directly I turn it over it begins to throw out sparks in all directions like a bit of radium, and develops energy on every side, so that I don’t know which way it will shine next, and it fills me with warmth and life. Yes, the very words in the Bible are like bits of radium. It is all alive. It is life, the Word of Life, and in its living power it is verbally inspired. The Word of God is alive, Vital change, vital growth, vital power,

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is in every fragment of it. It can’t stop at the original tongue or at any version. I feel that more and more every time I touch a bit of it. Directly one tries to tie a phrase to one ‘‘ meaning” a better one starts up in one’s mind. “If verbal inspiration means verbal life and radiance, yes, the Bible is verbally inspired. If it means verbal fixity it is also inspired. For ‘ till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle ...’ ‘My words shall not pass away.’ Verbal indestructibility. But if it means verbal limitation,no. Try and limit a piece of radium, or limit the variations and changes of one human thought. The next man that catches it will start a fresh aspect of it. This letter Iam writing will mean something to you that it doesn’t mean to me. And if you start telling a third person about it, something else will emanate ; and if you write a book directly you have done it you know better. But this is em- phatically so with.God’s Word, because it is alive, alive. And it is, not only was, inspired.” Referring to the period when the Rev. Henry Swift was the popular and beloved Vicar of Penistone, 1649-89. Calamy, in his hfe of Baxter, says, ‘There was no striving for the place which was but a small vicarage, the profits whereof, till it came to Easter reckonings, were gleaned by the Duke of Norfolk, who only allowed the Incumbent a small stipend.”

At Marrow House in Worsborough Dale, according to tradition, Edith, the mother of Pope was born. The Parish Register of Worsborough records : “1642, June 18, bap. Edith, daughter of Mr. William Turner.”

The Tollgates, Posts, &c., belonging to the Doncaster and Saltersbrook Turnpike Road Trust were sold by auction on October 5th, 1871. The Bar Houses were sold by private treaty to owners of adjoining lands.

OF PENISTONE, WITH SPECIAL REFERENGE TO 17S ANCIENT

‘The soul of man is widening towards the Past : No longer hanging at the breast of Life, Feeding, in blindness to his parentage, Quenching all wonder with Omnipotence, Praising a name with indolent piety, He spells the record of his long descent ; More largely conscious of the life that was.’’—George Eliot.

I am further indebted to Mr. Kenworthy for the following interesting article :— In attempting to elucidate the history of this interesting old church, from the scanty fragments we possess, the writer would first of all congratulate the inhabitants of Penistone town on their decision to rescue this venerable fabric from the destruction which threatens it in the present condition of the tower, which has been an imposing object in the landscape for so many generations. Something must be done, and done soon, and when done it ought to be done well, and in thorough harmony with the style of architecture that characterises the building as a whole, taking care to eliminate many, if not all the blemishes which were perpetrated in the reign of ugliness and whitewash that prevailed during the Georgian era, of which the “‘ Churchwarden” windows on each side of the tower at the west end are the most conspicuous examples. Records referring to the foundation of a church at Penistone are scarce and indefinite, and it does not convey much reliable information to repeat the local guide, where it remarks: “We have no account of the existence of any

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ecclesiastical foundation previous to the Conquest. To Ailric or his descendants Penistone was doubtless indebted for its first church.” There used to be a tradition amongst the old folks in “ Snoddenhill”’ that the original intention was to build the Parish Church down Back or Bramah Lane near to Salter Hill, as being most central, and it is alleged that building operations were begun on this site, but owing to the work that was done during the day being removed in the night by some “ invisible agency ”’ this position was ultimately abandoned, and Snowdenhill was deprived of so great an honour. The father of the late Robert IJingworth, of Snowdenhill, said that this was a very ancient tradition, and was told with every evidence of implicit belief by the old people in his younger days. Traditions of this kind are related of many churches, and so far as the intervention of an “invisible power” in the removal of material from one site to another is concerned, we may smile at the simplicity of the “ past,” and yet the tradition in this instance possibly embalms the memory of some discussion between the lord of the manor and the members of the community as to the proper site for such a building. In Ye Guide to ye Ancient Moorland Town of Penistone, by John Ness Drans- field, Esq., the author informs us that on the road to Hartcliffe, just behind St. John’s, in Chapel Lane, in a field formerly known as Hermit Field, there stood prior to the erection of Penistone Church an old chapel called St. John the Baptist’s Chapel, some of the stones of which were used for repairing the churchyard wall. This information is very helpful, inasmuch as the location of such an edifice shews that the Parish Church did not succeed the old chapel on the same site as in the ordinary course of evolution, thus lending point to my interpretation of this ancient tradition, viz.: When the inhabitants of the various hamlets or “tons” sought leave from the lord of the country to build a church and bury their dead in its cemetery, there would doubtless be some competition for the privileges conferred—for instance, the ancient Welsh laws declared that to build a church for the first time in a town was to create a new “ liberty” and all the inhabitants became free. Hence it is quite possible that the work done in the day by one community was as often removed in the night by the inhabitants of a competing town, until the site was finally fixed by the lord of the manor himself. It is instructive to know that the word “ parish”’ was in early times applied to a rural commune or community of peasant farmers, and that the rector of a parish was formerly known as the “town reeve”’ or “ proctor,” in other words he was the fiscal officer of his district, and when we read that in the year 122 Penistone had two rectors, “a provision which remained until Walter Grey, the Archbishop of York,” consolidated the two, we begin to see that there may be something in the old tradition after all. Our conjectures are still further strengthened when we find that in the will of William Wordsworth, of “Snodhill,” proved March 4th, 1535-6, he leaves his son William Wordsworth “a great arke, etc.” This fine old oak chest, which afterwards came into the possession of Wordsworth, the poet, is a sort of genealogical piece of furniture, bearing an inscription in Latin, as follows :— “This work was made in the year 1525, at the expense of William “Wordsworth, son of William, son of John, son of William, son of “Nicholas, husband of Elizabeth, daughter and heir of William, i proctor (or the proctor) of Peniston, on whose soule may God have mercy.”

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118 HISTORY OF PENISIOME,

The title of “ proctor” reveals that the father of Elizabeth was the “ town reeve,” or fiscal officer of his district, and in old documents such an officer is variously alluded to as villicus, agent, curator, procurator, rector, or bailiff, and when we read that in 1229 two “ rectors’ were administering the fiscal service of Penistone parish we are more confirmed than ever in our opinion that the tradition preserved by the old folks of Snoddenhill had some foundation in fact. In what may be described as the ‘Foundation Deed” of Penistone Grammar School, as recorded in Hunter’s Deanery of Doncaster, we read that “Thomas Clarel Dominus (i.e. Lord) de Peniston in 1392 granted to John del Rodes and others a piece of land in the Kirk-flatt, with licence to grave turf on the moors of Peniston.” Here again we are reminded that in the Dominus de Peniston we have the custodian of the ancient rights of the community granting a legal instrument to the inhabitants to build a school on land which, though called the ‘‘ Church field,” was, nevertheless, communal property, as proved by the fact that the trustees were originally appointed by the parishioners. How vividly the past history of this ancient moorland parish shapes itself before our mental vision, as the names of Snoddenhill, Penisale, Oxspring, Hunshelf, Langsett, Swinden, Swinden Walls, Birchworth, Hermit Field, Chapel, Rector, Proctor, Dominus, Parish, Kirk-flatt, graving-turf, &c., &c., unfold their old-world significance to the student of “ origins.” When Julius Czsar landed on our shores the entrenchments at Heath Hall and Gilbert Hill had long sheltered and protected the cattle and families of Celtic communities who hunted the wild boar, ox, and deer from Wharncliffe to Horderon. In imagination we can peer into the dark recesses of the dense forest growths and swamps of the Don Valley of that remote period, and in the procession of the centuries we may discern “ the fathers that begat us” wielding stubborn fight with Roman legions, Saxon emigrants, and Danish pirates, their stockaded “tons” protecting homesteads of wattle and daub, stoutly constructed, with the sacred “needfire” on every hearth. Passing through the portals we see the head of the house as priest gathering his family round the hearth, where he teaches them the primitive beliefs of the ‘ hearth cult,” which makes them faithful to the commonweal and the home, in whose precincts they will be buried in “urn” or “oaken when life has fled. Little by little the higher grounds were cleared and cultivated in terraces or lynchets, and afterwards in open fields, with allotments for reeve, constable, and other communal officers, the use of the commons and rights of pannage for swine in the woods being determined in the village assembly on the moot hill. Further down the stream of time some holy man hearing of communities who were even then reputed hospitable, brave, and true, selected a spot on the waste, and whilst clearing the ground round his lonely cell, inspired the “ men on the heath” to welcome on his decease the monks of a distant ‘house ”’ to build a chapel in the field which he, the hermit, had won to culture. During these centuries the Huns on the Shelf, the Danes in Denby, and a Celtic remnant were slowly amalgamating, and the fair Gunnildr, whose “ piece of land” we now know as Gunthwaite, symbolised the security that was growing up in the rural communes of Snoddenhill and Penisale, when the shock of the Norman conquest fell upon the country. With the help of the historical mosaic we have pieced together from tradition, and the hints conveyed in names of fields and homesteads, we have no difficulty in picturing to ourselves the appearance of the town when Ailric or his immediate successors consented for a church to be erected.

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‘OF PENISTONE. 11g

In that most precious volume—the Doomsday Survey—the veritable copy handed to William the Conqueror in 1066, the name of this moorland settle- ment is twice referred to as Pangestone. This is very important, as Pangestone is evidently derived from something quite different to Peniston, “a town on a hill,” and I shall have to linger in my explanation to enable your readers to imagine what Penistone was lke in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Ina series of articles contributed to Notes and Queries by S. O. Addy, Esq., M.A., on “ The Origin of the English Coinage,” the learned author shews the intimate connection there was in ancient times between the size of a peasant’s house and the extent of his holding. To be brief, Pangestone refers to some particular and well-known stone, as in the case of Bolsterstone, Thurlstone, Broad Stone, &c. It is evidently derived from the Anglo-Saxon word “ penning ’’—a word common to the Teutonic languages—which means one of the portions of an undivided bay of a house, and has some connection with the reckoning board or calculating table, and in the light of Mr. Addy’s researches I am strongly of opinion that the name Pangestone points to the existence of a stone that was known and used as a standard of measurement in the fixing of communal holdings. At this date Penistone itself would consist of a small number of houses built chiefly of timber selected from the forests which flourished so luxuriantly where it was not open moorland. In the black land, reclaimed during last century at Moseley Farm, Rough Birchworth, and Hazlehead, trunks of trees— chiefly oak—have been found in abundance, confirming records of the seventeenth century, from which we learn that a dense wood of great extent grew round Bullhouse Hall, where it is now almost, if not quite, bare of timber. These houses were built on ‘‘crucks’”’ or forks, i.e. trunks of trees reared in pairs on stone bases or stylobats placed about 15 feet apart, braced together with cross beams, all being firmly secured with pegs of wood, the ridge tree falling into the forks formed by the crossing of the ends of the crucks at the top. The roof was made with spars riven out of the boughs of trees on which at first a thatch of turf or straw was laid, and in the earliest type of such houses the roof would be carried down to the ground; afterwards the roof which did not depend upon walls for support would be lifted or kept up for a few feet, and the wall space filled in with a shield of boughs crossed in lattice fashion, and covered with a mixture of clay, straw, and cow-dung, which, in the course of time, was replaced by rubble walls and a roof of wood or stone shingles. The space between each pair of “ crucks”’ was known as a bay, and a“ bay’ in the old economy formed a unit of measurement, houses being bought, sold, and bequeathed by the bay. In ‘‘ Measure for Measure,’ Pompey, the servant, says, “If this law hold in Vienna ten year I’ll rent the fairest house in it after threepence a bay.” In those far-off days we must remember that arithmetic was either not properly understood or was of the rudest kind, and our forefathers would gather at the Pangestone—on which divisions were marked similar to the squares of a chess board, for the purpose of a proper apportionment of the “chief rents,” and also for the purposes of division and sub-division amongst heirs, for real property in the ancient world was divided specifically, or in kind, and not, as witk us, by a distribution of the net proceeds of sale. Iam here reminded that in 1700 or thereabouts the boundaries of the parish were beaten by Justice Bosville, and in the account that has come down to us mention is made of a standing-stone, with a number of particular marks

?

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120 HISTORY OF PENTSTOWNE:

upon it, which stone has since been destroyed. A standing or standard stone is also mentioned in a document of the reign of Henry VIII. The reeve, proctor, or lord of the community would lve in a house of several “ bays,” of which the quaint old Hall at Gunthwaite, destroyed in the early part of last century, must have been a striking specimen, and when we study the architectural survivals in Snowdenhill, especially the fine old house at the west end, and the remains of the old hall at Hunshelf, we find ourselves wondering what the old hall was like that stood in the Hall Fold at Penistone many years ago.

Alas, that the people of Penistone should have valued their “ past” so lightly as to allow the old chapel, the old hall, and quite recently the picturesque Elizabethan home of the Micklethwaite family at Ingbirchworth, with other interesting relics, to be swept away so ruthlessly. But while lamenting the destruction of much that might have preserved with profit for the instruction of this and future generations, the fabric of the Parish Church, with all its associations, remains as a precious legacy from a strenuous past. My first essay to read the story of this fine old structure as depicted in its architectural lineaments was undertaken a few years ago, in company with the late Mr. Bedford, of Barnsley, who proved a most intelligent guide, and the memory of that afternoon will not be soon forgotten. We met in the nave as strangers, we parted at the south porch as brothers in our mutual regard of its interesting features and their historical suggestiveness. No mention is made of a church at Pangestone in ‘“ Domesday,” yet the remains of some herring-bone masonry at the east end of the north aisle, and three stout pillars with square abaci on the north side of the nave evidently belonged to an early Norman building. The fabric shows so many traces of considerable changes and vicissitudes through the latter Norman, Early English, and Perpendicular periods up to the hideous alterations made in more modern days that it is difficult to interpret their meaning and date correctly. To-day the church consists of chancel, nave, north and south transepts, partly merged in north and south aisles, south porch, and a lofty tower at the west end, with a modern mean vestry at the east end. It appears to have been once a cruciform Early English church. The pillars of the nave with the exception of the three already named are Early English with the proper bases. The chancel has two, if not three, Early English windows, the two first are in the south wall, which itself is no doubt original, as it has a string course shewing its former height. One of these windows is a shoulder-headed arch with two-foiled lights, the other is a pointed window with intersecting bar tracery. Both have the curve-and-slant mould, supported by corbel heads of women in wimples. The east window is another interesting window, and is of a size and breadth very unusual in the 13th century, but it has the same hood mould as the Early English windows, and what makes it look more genuine this hood mould is finished with the “mask’’ ornament, which is peculiar to Early English. I feel convinced that the church was cruciform in Early English times, because the string course on the old south wall of the chancel still marks the slope of the former transept roof, and we may venture to accept the one intersecting window in the east wall of this transept as original. Bar tracery was not seen in the north of England before 1250, and we may, therefore, ascribe the chancel and transept to the close of the Here, English period, the latter half of the thirteenth century.

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AWAIOUITIES OF PENISTONE. 121

In the Decorated period, which Rickman approximates 1277 to 1377, the aisles of the church were so much widened that the cruciform plan was very nearly obliterated ; the south doorway belongs to this alteration, also the priest’s doorway in the chancel, both of which have the sunk quarter-round in their mouldings. The buttresses, which are of the same pattern all round the church, may possibly belong to the same period, though their well-preserved condition would seem to hint at some modern restoration. When the aisles were widened the west walls of the transept were taken down, as part of a wooden arch which remains at the east end of the north aisle has a very fine carved female head in a wimple, and some delicate mouldings of the early Decorated period. This north transept probably con- tained the chantry of Our Lady, the earliest mention of which is in the r4th year of Edward the Third—1340. This piece of ancient wood carving is really good and characteristic of the period, and I would earnestly plead for its better preservation and inclusion in the scheme now under consideration. The central tower of the cruciform church, which was probably crowned by a dwarf spire, either fell or was removed in the latter half of the sixteenth century, and the present lofty tower built at the west end in the late Perpendicular style. The west door has two deep cavettos, decorated with stars, roses, and heads. When the old tower was gone, the chancel was enlarged by taking in the space under the tower, and a new chancel arch of Perpendicular design inserted fronting the naves New Perpendicular arches and responds were also given to the openings into the former transepts, which were once chantries. It is thought that the south transept was the chantry of St. Erasmus, an inscription formerly on a wooden seat stated that this transept was turned into a chapel (or chantry) in 1530. All the windows, except those already described, are of the Perpendicular period, and those of the north aisle and the chief windows of each transept are late Perpendicular, having round sub-arches.

The walls of the nave were raised, and the fine range of clerestory windows were added at the same epoch, also the panelled oak roof with brackets and bosses elaborately carved. With regard to the roofs of the transepts and chancel, I am inclined to think that beyond some slight repairs they were left unaltered, and from the latter end of Elizabeth’s reign to about the middle of Charles the Second’s reign these portions of the church were much neglected and allowed to fall into decay, a condition of things which was arrested in a somewhat surmmary fashion at the end of the seventeenth century. In the closing years of the Stuart’ period there was growing up a contempt for Gothic architecture, and in the straightened circumstances of the time beauty and learning were sacrificed to the sturdy farmers and wool mercers’ ideas of utility, who raised the walls of the chancel to their present height, and put on them a roof utterly out of harmony with the fine east window, and subjected the transepts to a like indignity. Some quaint old corbels of the ancient roof are preserved in the wall of the chancel at the top of the east end. _ __These alterations and repairs also included the demolition of the old chapel in Hermit field, the stones being used in repairing the churchyard wall and in the construction of the south porch. This porch is a most debased piece of work, and ought to be replaced by one more in keeping with the architectural features of the nave, and in taking

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E22 HISTORY \PENISTOMNE:

down the old porch every stone ought to be carefully examined, as the slabs on the benches are tombstones of the 13th century, with incised crosses fleury, and probably came from the old chapel. The little arches near the floor evidently belonged to some former piscine, and possibly the stones of an interesting cross of ancient workmanship may be found as the porch appears to be built of odds and ends.

The vestry and “churchwarden” windows are probably contemporary, dating from the Georgian era, and vividly portray the poverty of the eighteenth century intellectually and spiritually. Respecting “ piscine,” I may explain that in its origin this was simply a drain put through the wall as a sanitary convenience for the priest, who, in ancient times, had to spend long hours in his devotions in the chancel. The refinement of the passing centuries afterwards limited its use to the rinsing of the chalice, when art stepped in and transformed it into an architectural feature, and thus obscured its original purpose, so much so that an insensate craving after completeness on lines has betrayed some clergymen into committing the absurdity of putting up sham piscine in _ restored Protestant churches. The study of our ancient village churches is a source of unfailing interest and delight, for building in England from 1066 to 1547 was purely a native art, nor was it a thing apart from the national life and civilization and the growth of knowledge, art, and lterature. The massive Norman belongs to the period of conquest and military settlement ; the Karly English to the time of peace and scholarship that followed ; the more elaborate Decorated to the age of chivalry and poetry, the reigns of the Edwards and the days of Chaucer and Gower; the Perpendicular to the latest days of the unreformed Catholic Church in England, with all its wealth and luxury; and this old church, battered by the storms of centuries, and bruised by neglect and unsympathetic restorations, links the life of this thriving town with the larger life of the nation. In the religious life and history of this old moorland parish, the Church- man has no monopoly—the Nonconformist cannot be excluded. It was not the Reformation in general, but Puritanism in particular, that made this England of ours a Protestant and free country, and no other church has a nobler heritage in all that the term ‘‘ Puritan” implies than St. John the Baptist’s Church, Penistone. The early disappearance of stone altar, squints, low side windows, rood loft, &c., testifies that Penistone became a Puritan stronghold as the result of a consistent repudiation of superstitious forms and ceremonies from very early times, and if she is faithful to such a noble past her religious institutions must ever develop in thorough harmony with Protestant principles. If the Church of England, as by law established, is to be a real living force in the village, and the nation, she cannot afford to spend her energies in displays of man-millinery, and the mumbling of out-worn creeds in a chancel fitted up with imitations of ecclesiastical antiquities. We may freely admit that the puritan reaction was possibly too severe, and that a little more colour and form might with advantage have been retained, but enlisting the senses as the allies of the spirit in worship is risky work for the people, and especially for the man who claims to be a “ priest.” The religion of Jesus of Nazareth is a simple manly religion, and a Christian of the real Penistone-puritan lineage cannot by any stretch of the imagination picture Him in the garb of a priest, or decked out in the barbaric splendour deemed so necessary in the circles who specialize religion. No! the

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Pee SUBSIDY “ROLE. OF — 1379. 123

Church has still to understand that His life was His religion. He went about doing good, inspiring men in work and worship to be manly men. He was the Son of Man, the Citizen. In the homes of Penistone there is much of His spirit, and Nonconformists will show the measure of the sacrifices they have made, and are still prepared to make, for conscience sake, by extending a substantial sympathy in the restoration of this ancient church, which, in its historical associations is as dear to them as to the faithful band of Churchmen whose self-denying labours may yet gain for Snowdenhill the boon she craved in the years that are gone.

Our fathers were high-minded men, Who firmly kept the faith ; To freedom and to conscience true, In danger and in death. Nor should their deeds be e’er forgot, For noble men were they : Who struggled hard for sacred rights, And bravely won the day.

war. SUBSIDY ROLL. OF 1379. Penistone probably suffered severely at the hands of the Conqueror when he led his troops from Yorkshire over the Pennine Range into Cheshire, for, when referring to the Subsidy Roll of 1379, “ Historicus, -the Barnsley Independent of November 22nd, 1890, says of Penistone: “ At this time it was a very small place, or must have undergone some great misfortune soon after, for, according to Dugdale’s Baronage, it was built or ” perhaps rebuilt by Sir Wm. de ‘Penystone some time this century. At the poll-tax return, 1379, with the exception of Clayton West, Penistone has the smallest population in this Wapentake. Only eighteen persons were taxed, and the amount raised was 5s. 6d. The only persons in business was one shoemaker, two tailors, and a smith. Here is a complete list:

Richardus atte Waterhall and Alicia vx sh pee ase mes see V4

Robertus Steuenson ... Uae : ; ns ie vee 11] Johannes Spenser ah ha “ist cae sis wi or ve. 1] Magota famulas Seat ae a ues aah we. 11 Emma ffilia Matilda ... Sie ai ol Robertus Steuenson and Agnes vx ejus Smith ... Bas “oe «ss Willelmus Proctour! and Johanna vx ejus lee ls ae Fane Johannes Eclus es bis sie Ti Johannes Caublelay? Agnes \ vx ejus “Souter” bias J za bee ee Johannes de Bilclyf, Johanna vx... ae a aac ae ove MEY] Agnes del Skokes _... ius sae sas cat vee Ui] Galfridus del Skokes, Emma vix ejus 111]

With the exception of the priest and children under sixteen the full tale of inhabitants is told above.”—So says “ Historicus.”

In a Paper by J. Lewis Andre, read before the Society for preserving Monuments of the Dead, and inserted in the Building News of the 6th April, 1888, it states a ‘“ Post- Reformation example of the Holy Trinity, and the only one I know of, is on the brass of Bishop Pursglove at Tideswell, Derbyshire, the date of which i is as late as 1579.’

1 William Proctour, an ancestor of the Wordsworths. 2 “John the Cobbler.” from L. copulare.

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124 HISTORY OF PENISTONE. In 1786 the inhabitants of Penistone associated for the preservation of

public peace, and Mr. Busk, of Bullhouse, a gentleman of property, subscribed a considerable sum to promote the design.

PENISTONE UNION. POPULATION 1801-1901.

TOWNSHIPS. POPULATION. 1807 - 1811 41834 GST eee 1055 12038 41578 (1492 2263" 4165 ous Clayton West...... 668 665 854 887 15660 1532 1531 3435: Den werent 1061 41132" 1412 +1205 1697. “25595 574 Gunthwaite ...... Lt 11g 86 99 5) SI 83 70 68 57 High Hoyland ... 270 217, 208 225 240 22 239 232 235 Igl Hoylandswaine... 562 O11 738 748 720 68g 706 750 648 594 327 429 436 531 729. "283.4 aang Ingbirchworth ... 170 264 367 371 393 368 303 335 321 274. Ay... 401 332 440 548 550 605 585 610 582 536 ame 204 285 307 320 296 280 246 263 g22 OxspUun 219 255 247 283 278 346 370 350 oe 397 PemistOne sn 493 515 645 703 802 860 1557 2553 3075 Silkstome: 542 555 807 TO3%. Ader. reas 3. 643 652 666 W147 ~ 1548... 1783 “2982 aay 1096 «1282 «5524 1590- 2018 2251 27258

The reason that Langsett had such a great increase of population at the last census was on account of the employment by the Corporations of Barnsley aud Sheffield of many navvies on the Reservoirs they commenced making at Midhope and Langsett in 1897.

BIRTH OF NONCONFORMITY. Nonconformity in this country had its birth when the Act of Uniformity was passed in 1662—that Act threw out 3,000 ministers from the benefices they held in the Church of England. The next year the Conventicle Act was passed punishing with transportation a third offence of attendance on any worship but that of the Church. One of the immediate causes that led to the great rebellion was the religious fury excited by the encouragement Charles I. and his Queen gave to Popery, and their son James II. had to flee the country on the same account. We read his unwearied sole endeavour from the hour in which he ascended the throne to that in which he was hurled from it, was to establish the Roman Catholic religion in England. Of Charles I., another son of Charles I., we are told he thought little and cared less about religion. He passed his time in dawdling suspense between Hobbism and Popery. He was crowned in his youth with the covenant in his hand, and he died at last with the host sticking in his throat. I am surprised in these days to see how meekly and complacently the great Protestant Noncomformist bodies in the country watch Rome through the ritualists appropriating our Parish Churches. Surely Protestant Non- conformists are better entitled to our churches and their endowments than

Roman Catholics ?

ESTATE SALES IN The following are dates of Sales of some Estates in the Parish of Penistone and vicinity since the beginning of the last century.

7th September, 1802. “... the Manor, Freehold and Tithe Free Estate of Bolsterstone in the Parish of Ecclesfield in the County of York to be sold

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SALES IN THE LAST CENTURY. 125

by Auction by Mr. Winstanley at Garraway’s Coffee House, Cornhill, London, upon Tuesday the 7th of September next at 12

20th and 2ist May, 1803. In Indentures of Lease and Release of these dates, the Release made between The Rt. hon. Peniston Lord Viscount Melbourne, and Lady Elizabeth his wife heretofore Elizabeth Milbanke spinster, and the Honble. Peniston Lamb, their eldest son and heir apparent, of the 1st part ; the Honble. William Lamb and the Honble. Frederick James Iamb, two of the younger sons of the said Lord and Lady Melbourne, of the 2nd part; the Rev. Samuel Harper of the 3rd part; the Rt. Hon. John, Earl of Ashburnham, and John Milbanke, Esq., of the 4th part; Wm. Lygon, Esq., of the 5th part ; John Wilson, Esq., of the 6th part; Elizabeth Holliday and Charles Abbott, Esq., of the 7th part; John Rimington, Esq., of the 8th part; Henry Rimington, Gent., of the 9th part; Rowland Hodgson, Merchant, of the roth part; Thomas Pierson, Stationer, of the 11th part; and Bernard John Wake, Gent., of the 12th part; being the Conveyance of the Estate to the said John Rimington. It is recited amongst other things that the said John Rimington had agreed with the said Lord Viscount Melborne and Peniston Lamb for the absolute purchase of the Manor or Lordship Messuages, Lands, ‘T'enements, and Heredita- ments thereinafter appointed with the appurtenances free from all incumbrances (except the Land Tax and an annual rent of £4 6s. 4d. payable to the Lord Bishop of Durham for the time being) for the sum of £35,000. The Estate consisted of 3577a. 2r. 18p. Bolsterstone Moor, part of it, contained 1,240 acres. The rentals were £1062 4s. 10d. The Land Tax paid by the Tenants £46 1s. 5d. The Land Tax on the Woods £2 6s. 1d. It was stated in the Particulars of Sale that coal and potter’s earth were then worked upon the Estate in a small degree, which might be greatly improved. And also that some parts of it were supposed to contain lead. That the Church was a new building, and land was left for the support of the repairs, so the expense on the Estate would be very inconsiderable. The Timber and Saplings down to one shilling inclusive were valued at £2350. ) In 1761 The Hon. Benjamin Bathurst conveyed the Manors of Bolsterstone and Langsett alias Penisale to Sir Matthew Lamb. The Conveyance to Sir Matthew Lamb was by Indentures of Lease and Release dated the 23rd and 24th December, 1761, and made between Benjamin Bathurst and Lady Elizabeth his wife, of the 1st part; Sir Matthew Lamb, of the 2nd part; and Robert Lamb and Robert Harper, of the 3rd part. The purchase money was £28,600. Sir Matthew Lamb had a mortgage of £14,000 on the property when he purchased it. By his Will, dated 20th June, 1764, the said Sir Matthew Lamb (after giving several pecuniary legacies) gave and devised all and every his Manors, Lands, Tenements, Fee Farm Rents, Hereditaments, and Real Estate of what nature or kind soever, unto his only son Peniston Lamb, his heirs and assigns for ever. In 1769 the said Sir Peniston Lamb married Elizabeth Milbanke. He was afterwards created Lord Melbourne. Why were he and other members of the family given the name of Peniston ?

2oth and 21st May, 1803. By Indres of Lease and Release of these dates, the latter made between The Rt. Hon. Henry Earl of Bathurst, of the 1st part ; The Rt. Hon. Peniston Lord Viscount Melbourne and Elizabeth Lady Viscountess Melbourne his wife, and the Honble. Peniston Lamb, their eldest son, of the 2nd part; The Rt. Hon. John Earl of Ashburnham and John

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126 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

Milbanke, of the 3rd part; The Hon. William Lamb and the Hon. Frederic James Lamb, of the 4th part; William Lygon, of the 5th part; John Wilson and Elizabeth Holliday and Charles Abbott, of the 6th part; William Payne, then of Frickley in the County of York, Esq., of the 7th part; Willam Marriott, of the 8th part; and John Rimington, of the 9th part; the Manor or reputed Manor of Langset or Peningshall and other part of the Premises described in the particulars of Sale of the 15th of October, 1818, hereafter set out, were conveyed by the s¢? Viscount Melbourne to the said William Payne for £16,400. I By the Langset otherwise Langside Inclosure Act, dated 51st George III., 1811, and the Award thereunder dated March 24th, 1814, several Allotments of Land in the said Award particularly described and containing 2309 acres or thereabouts, were allotted to the said William Payne in respect of all his estates in the said Township of Langset otherwise Langside. By an amending Act dated 1st George IV., in respect of the above- mentioned Langset Inclosure Act and a Deed or Award dated 15th September, 1820, made in pursuance of such Act, it was distinguished in respect of which estates of the said William Payne in Langsett the Allotments allotted under the first mentioned Award were set out.

LANGSET, YORKSHIRE. Valuable Freehold and Tithe Free Estates.

To be sold by Auction on Thursday, the 15th day of October, 1818, and days following, at the house of Mr. Edmund Smith, the sign of the Rose and Crown, in Penistone, in the County of York, by Mr. William Lancaster, the Manor or reputed Manor and [states of Langset in the Parish of Penistone, in the West Riding of the County of York in the following Lots: I Lot 1—comprises the Manor or reputed Manor of Langset or Peningshall and the high Moors and uninclosed Commons extending from Lower Swinden Road behind Boardhill to Saltersbrook, well stocked with game and usually occupied as sheep walks. Great part of the Lower Common is eligible for planting, nearly 150 acres of which have been walled in for that purpose. Chief rents of about 12s. annual value are incident to the Manor, which also confers the right to the stone and slate, but not to the minerals under such parts of the Manor as were waste before the inclosure. Contents of this Lot 2144a. 3r. 31p The remaining 26 Lots were mostly Farms containing 828a. Ir. 26p. The whole of the above property is entirely Tithe free, but with the exception of Lot 16, Cote Farm situate at Bellecliffe and Marybrow Plantation part of it containing together 36a. 3r. 35p., was then subject to Land Tax. It was stated a Colliery was then working in Lot 26, consisting of the south-east end of Shephouse Wood containing 86a. 2r. 30p. In the above sale I believe all or most of the properties Mr. Wm. Payne purchased of Lord Melbourne were included.

On the 28th of May, 1891, there were sold at the Rose and Crown Inn, Penistone, by Mr. Edward Armitage, the Farm House at Midhope, formerly known as “ The Rose and Crown Inn,” with the Farm and Land therewith containing 80a. or. 38p. The old Toll Bar House and a Wheelwrights Shop and Premises, Dyke Side Farm 12a. Ir. 24p., and Part of Sheephouse Wood 28a. or. 28p., all at Midhope, and Lower Bellecliffe Farm at Hartcliffe contain- ing 54a. or. 4p., as well as two other Fields at Hartcliffe. Mr. John Hinchliffe, of Bullhouse Hall, was the purchaser of all the Lots except the two last- mentioned Fields for £5,550.

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BSPATE SALES IN THE LAST. CENTURY. 127

I believe all the property sold at this sale was formerly part of Mr. Payne’s large Langsett Estate, and that the only portion left unsold is the. Alderman’s Head Estate now belonging to Edward Bond, Esq., M.P.

On Wednesday, the 1st of August, 1821, the Estates of Richard Matthew- man situate in Shelley and Foulstone were sold at the house of Mr. Booth, the George Inn, in Kirkburton, by Mr. John Lancaster, and on the following day his estate in Langsett at the house of Mr. Edmund Smith, the Rose and Crown Inn, in Penistone. The estates contained together near 200 acres.

On Monday, the 19th day of May, 1823, at the house of Mr. Thomas Kirby, the Green Dragon Inn, Thurgoland, Mr. W. H. Saunders sold the property of James Cockshutt, Esq., deceased, in 46 Lots. Lot 1 was Pule Hill Farm, Thurgoland, containing 88a. 2r. 37p., then in the occupation of Mr. John Richardson. Condition 13 of the sale was “ The right to any Pews or Sittings in Silkstone Church in respect of the Property now offered for sale is reserved to the Vendors.”

On the 15th of July, 1825, the “ Water Hall” and other Estates of the Wordsworth family in the Penistone District were sold by auction at the Rose and Crown Inn, Penistone. Lot 1. The Market House, Penistone, built by Mr. Josias Wordsworth in 1763 was described as follows:

No. on Map. Tenants. Lot 1. The Market House consisting of a Dwelling-house... was ae John Hawksworth. A Carpenter’s Shop 8 Rich. Scholefield. A Chamber <u 8 John Charlesworth. Another Chamber... 8 Joseph Helliwell. Several Butchers’ Stalls 8 .... J. Beaumont and others.

Mr. John Wilcock, of Cawthorne, innkeeper, purchased this Lot for £615. The “ Water Hall”’ Estate was purchased by Mr. Wentworth, of Wentworth Castle, and along with it the Common Law Manor of Penistone and rights appertaining thereto. The Copyhold Manor belonged the Bosvilles at that date. About the year A.D. 1800 the Wordsworth Estates in Penistone, Hoyland-

swaine, and Denby comprised A. R. BP. Farms, &c. See tun 643 3 12 Woodlands Ss Ric oS 34 O O 677 3

Rentals £551 13s. 3d. The Market House Rentals were only £18 ts. od. Mr. Josias Wordsworth above mentioned left Lady Kent and Mrs, Verelst, his two daughters, his coheiresses. When offered for sale by public auction on December 17th, 1903, the Market House block of property was knocked down to purchasers for £4,400, which speaks well for the increase in value of property in Penistone since the time when Mr. Wilcock purchased it.

On Monday, the 30th of August, 1830, at the White Bear Inn, at Barnsley, valuable Tithe-free Estates, comprising the Manors of Penistone and Langsett, and several Farms, Water Corn Mills, and Woods, situate in the several Town- ships of Penistone, Oxspring, Thurgoland, Langset, Cawthorne, and Denby, and containing upwards of 740 acres of the Bosville Estate, were offered for sale by auction in 30 Lots.

Lot 2—The Copyhold Manor of Penistone, with its Rights, Members and Appurtenances, and the Public House called the Spread Eagle Inn,

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128 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

with four other Houses, Outbuildings, and Yard. Tenants:: William Clarke, John Marsden, ‘George Billcliffe, Benjamin Bailey, William Hinchliffe. Quantity oa. 1r.op. The Copyhold Rents amount to £2 6s. 1od.annually. This Lot sold to Mr. George Brown for £680. Lot 8.—was Shepherd’s Castle Farm. Lot 10.—was Kirkwood Farm. Lots 17, 18, 19, 20, 21.—Land and Premises at Roughbirchworth, con- taining 8ga. or. 7p. Sold to Mr. Michael Camm for £3,810. Lot 23.—was Oxspring Water Corn Milland Farin, containing 121a.3r. 39p. Sold to Mr. John Rolling for £7,000. Lot 24.—The Manor of Langset, with its rights, members, and appur- tenances, and the Boardhill Estate, consisting of the following parcels of land:

No. on Plan. A. Rs. ee i- op PiecesAdlotment os. ae wns sie 30° 2. New Seeds ditto ae at ~~ me San ie <2 se ee Be A ES 3a 4. Horse Pasture Allotment ee oe 11) 5. Rough Close Allotmert “es a 6. Teo 6: Public; House’ called Boardhill, with Out- buildings, Yard, and Allotment in front OV) sag ke 7. Wront as a oe eae ans i? (Or 8. New Piece Allotment Le. sere 9, Greati@roit ce 2h BO 10. Old Danniel Close Allotment — 20 2a 11. Rushey Gutter and Allotment a ate 12... : a 3. tS 8 13. Pond Close and Allotment 2) Ores

15 Ses The land comprising this Lot adjoined the Turnpike Road and ran from the lane to Hordron to twice the same distance from the Public House towards Saltersbrook. Sold to Mr. Benjamin Harrop for 1,600. Lot oe the Homestead called Raw Royd Hovse and Land in the occupation of Mr. Thomas West, and Margery Wood 8aa. or. 38p. in hand, altogether 213a. 2r. 1op. This Lot sold to Mr. Beaumont for £16,000. Lot 28—comprised the Water Corn Mill in Denby Dale, and Dwelling- house and Land containing 11a. 3r. 27p. Not sold. On Wednesday, the 8th day of September, 1847, the Hoylandswaine Estate of the Rt. Hon. Lord Wharncliffe, was offered for sale by Mr. T. M. Fisher at the house of Mr. Jonathan Brown, the Rose & Crown Inn, Penistone, in 23 Lots. Lot 1o—comprised The Wellhouse Farm containing or. 4p., together with the Manorial Rights and Tithes of the Township of Hoyland- swaine, and the coals and all other minerals under this part of the Estate: The Wortley’s acquired their lands of Hoyland-Swein by the marriage of Sir Nicholas Wortley with Isabel, the heiress of Heyrun or Heron, in the reign of Henry III. On Monday, September 12th, 1853, the Estates of Mr. Thomas Askham, in Thurlstone, Penistone, and Ingbirchworth, were offered for sale by Mr. Edward Lancaster at the house of Mr. Joseph Senior, the Rose and Crown Inn, in Penistone, in 31 Lots.

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SALES IN THE LAST CENTURY. 129

Lot 2—was the Messuage in Thurlsione, called “ The Bow-Windowed House,” with the Outbuilding, Yards, Road, and Garden thereto, the Cottage near and two Cottages called “The Factory,” con- taining three stories each with Weaving rooms therein. Lot 6—comprised the Water Corn Mill called Thurlstone Mill and Premises belonging thereto, and also the Dwellinghouse and other Buildings on the opposite side of the Road to the Mill, and three Cottages thereto adjoining, and also several Pieces of Land near the Mill, the site of all the premises containing 3a. 3r. 32p. Mr. John Greaves purchased this Lot.

On Monday, the 6th day of August, 1860, the Roydmoor, Paper House and Sledbrook Estates of Messrs. Hall, containing altogether 344a. or. 21p., were offered for sale by auction by Mr. Edward Lancaster at the house of Mr. William Holmes, the Rose and Crown Inn, Penistone. An Allotment of Moorland called “ Snailsdale,” containing 86 acres had been previously sold.

On Thursday, the gth day of June, 1864, Estates of Mr. Samuel Coward, deceased, in the Townships of Penistone, Thurlstone, and Langsett, containing upwards of 360 acres, were offered for sale by Mr. Edward Lancaster at the Rose and Crown Inn, Penistone, in twelve Lots. Lots 3 and 4—were Farms at Schole Hill.

Lot 5.—Gravels Farm. Lot 6.—Edgehill Farm. Lot 7.—Doubting Farm. Lot 8—New Doubting Farm. Lot 10.—Mossley Farm. Lot 11.—Sheephouse Farm.

_ Mr. Coward, who was a well-known member of the Society of Friends, died at Penistone February 24th, 1864, aged 87 years.

In 187— the Oxspring Estate of Mr. Bosville was sold to Mr. Thomas Edward Taylor, of Dodworth Hall, and the Denby Estate of Mr. Bosville to Mr. Walter Norton, of Rockwood, Denby Dale, by private contract.

On Thursday, the 18th day of March, 1875, the Estates at Highflatts and Birdsedge in Denby, and Dearn in Fulstone, of Mr. Herbert Camm Dickinson’s Devisees were offered for sale by Mr. A. E. Wilby at the Rose and Crown Hotel, Penistone, in ten Lots. Lot 1 comprised ‘Mill Bank House,” situate at Highflatts—now the well- known Home for Inebriate Women—and land and buildings adjoining. Lot 9 was *‘ Thread Mill” Farm at Birdsedge. Lot 1o “ Dearn House” Farm near Highflatts.

On Wednesday, the 24th day of September, 1890, the Estates at Carlcoats and Townhead, near Dunford Bridge, formerly belonging to the Hadfield family, but then to the Woods of Glossop, were offered for sale by Mr. F. B. Ellison at the Wentworth Arms, Penistone, and purchased by Mr. Charles Chapman, of Carlecotes Hall. The Estate contained about 520 acres, 371 acres of which were moorland.

Large portions of the Estates formerly belonging to the Richs of Bullhouse Hall, in Thurlstone, Penistone, Langset, and Midhope, were disposed of by the late Robert Pemberton Milnes, Esq., the grandfather of the Earl of Crewe, and when the Earl offered the residue of the Estates—all in Thurlstone, and con- taining about 474 acres—for sale by auction on February 16th, 1904, Lot 1, comprising Bullhouse Hall and Colliery and about 150 acres of Land, was sold to Messrs. John and Herbert Hinchliffe, the tenants, for £5,500; Lot 2, Bull- house Mill and Farm, containing nearly 46 acres, to Mr. Benjamin Goldthorpe, I

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130 HISTORY OF PENISTONE:

the tenant, for £1,820; Lot 3, Bullace Grange and Farm. containing about 33 acres, to Mr. J. B. Johnson for £2,150; Lot 4. House and Land near Bullhouse Hall, containing 13a. 2r. 20p., to Messrs. John and Herbert Hinchliffe for £700 ; and Lot 5, Smallshaw Farm, containing 232 acres, also to Messrs. John and Herbert Hinchliffe for £2,000.

Of an allotment of Moorland, containing 1,379a. 3r. Iop., in 1830 there were 1,000 acres thereof sold to John Spencer Stanhope, Esq., and in 1831 of the residue 335 acres odd were sold to William Bingley, Esq.

As regards the family of Milnes, we read the first Milnes—there were two brothers belonging to one of the best families of the Derbyshire lesser gentry— came to Wakefield late in the seventeenth century and, we are told, “settled down to the cloth trade and fervent Presbyterianism.” ‘They gathered together the cloth woven over the countryside, and exported it to the Continent, “making Wakefield one of the greatest cloth centres inthe West Riding before Leeds had thought of bestirring itself.” The son of Robert the elder was Richard Milnes, with whom began the glories of the family. He was wealthy enough to travel in a four-horse coach, and the chapel near Westgate Station was erected largely by his bounty. Huis grandson, Richard Slater Milnes, bought the Fryston Estate, and Great Houghton Hall came to him by marriage. Robert Pemberton Milnes, the son of Richard, married a daughter of Lord Galway, and she brought him Bawtry Hall. Richard Monckton Milnes—his mother was a Monckton—was the issue of this marriage; he added literary lustre to the family, and was created a peer by Lord Palmerston.

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BULLHOUSE CHAPELe

BULLHOUSE.

The Chapel near to Bullhouse Hall was erected by Mr. Elkanah Rich in 1692. In a letter to his cousin, Mr. Aymor Rich, of Smalshaw, respecting a pew in Penistone Church, he wrote thus: “ My father, mother, and myself always sat there in Mr. Swift’s time, that is, while we went to church, until they carried things so high and were so full of ceremonies that we resolved to provide a better way of worship at home.” The family have ever since

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OLIVER HEYWOOD. I 131

liberally supported the minister, and the Earl of Crewe has charged the Bull- house Hall portion of the Estate with an annual rent-charge of £10 for the same purpose. By a Conveyance dated March Ist, 1852, the trustees of Mr. William Morton, a former schoolmaster residing near, conveyed land at Moor Royd, near to Bullhouse Hall, to Mr. John Beckett, subject as to an allotment of land containing 11a. or. 4p. therein described “‘ to the payment of a yearly rent-charge of Ten Pounds payable to the Minister for the time being of Bullhouse Chapel in the said Parish of Penistone.” The residence of the Rich’s at Bullhouse was coeval with one of the most memorable and momentous times in our country’s history. The period which began with the Protestant Reformation and which, with varied fortune of alternate success and defeat and defeat and success, continued until it issued in what our fathers used to call “the glorious revolution of 1688.”

The late Messrs. John and William Greaves, wealthy tallow-chandlers and farmers at Thurlstone, purchased considerable properties of Mr. Robert P. Milnes, and the price for one such purchase was some £3,000. My father acted as solicitor, both for Mr. Milnes in respect of his Thurlstone Estate and also for the purchasers. The purchase was to be completed at Fryston Hall, and on my father going to the station to meet Mr. William Greaves (Billy, as he was generally called) to go to Fryston Hall, he found him with a large butter-basket on his arm. He asked William what he had got in the basket. William replied, the purchase money, and said it was all in sovereigns, and that he and his brother and sister had been up all the previous night weighing them. When they arrived at Fryston Hall Mr. Milnes was astonished and amused, both with the purchaser and the purchase money, and at having to get it counted. In those days there was rather a distrust of banks, which the Greaves’ shared with many others, and I have heard my father say the Greaves’ have had as much as £5,000 or £6,000 at one time in an old chest in their house, and he often wondered they were not robbed, as they were all old people.

OLIVER HEYWOOD.

Oliver Heywood, who might be designated the Bishop of Yorkshire Nonconformity in the 17th century, was a frequent visitor to Penistone and district, being an intimate personal friend of the Riches of Bullhouse, the Wordsworths of Water Hall, the Cottons of Haigh, and other Puritan families of the district. Healso preached frequently in Penistone Parish Church during the incumbency of the Rev. Henry Swift. We give a few extracts from his “ Register,’ out of many that might be quoted :-— “On April 23 (1665) I went and preached at Penistone, God in His provi- dence so ordering it that though I could not be quiet in my exercises in mine own house, yet it was an advantage to me and others more publicly, for I had a very great congregation, and the Lord helped graciously by His Spirit and gave us safety and security by His watchful “‘ Nov. 5, 1665. I preached at Penistone, and on Wednesday, after keeping the monthly fast for the Plague in London, notice was brought into the Church that some troopers were waiting at the church-gate to apprehend me, but I was guided a back way to my lodgings at Water Hall. They pretended to come about a brief to the church- wardens, and whether their intention was to take me I am not yet certain, but there came a naughty bailiff with them who lives near Sir Thomas Wentworth, who had often threatened to send a party of horse to surprise them at Penistone, yet I stayed and preached a funeral sermon there upon Friday for Mr, Wadsworth’s mother,” I I

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132 HISTORY OF PENTSTONWE. ‘“T went to preach at Penistone again, and once more enjoyed a comfortable Sabbath in public, March 4, 1665-6, and though Sir Thom. Wentworth had threatened to apprehend me yet I kept the monthly fast on the Wednesday, alter which was a sweet day.” “August 9, 1667. ‘Travelled to Penistone, where I preached the day after, being Lord’sday. Found comfortable assistance. On Monday I visited Mrs. Sotwell, of Kathil, being in long weakness. In the afternoon I went to Langsett and so visited Isaac Wadsworth. Lodged at Bulloughs with Mr. Riche. The day after being Tuesday, we kept a solemn fast at Leonard Appleyard’s, who hath been long distempered, and. there I preached, and God graciously assisted.” ‘ Thursday, June 30 (1670). I went to Mr. Thorpe’s at Hopton Hall; lodged there. On Friday to Mr. Sotwell’s of Cat-hill; stayed there studying till Lord’s day morning. Thence went to Penistone; preached all day quietly in the church, where was a numerous congregation. On Monday I dined with Mr. Nailour at Ecklands. Went that night to Mr. Riche’s house at Bulloughs. On Tuesday visited Widow Street at Langsett. Came back to Cawthorne-lane, preached at Nath. Bottomley’s on

Wednesday morning, thence went to Mr. Cotton’s at Moor-end.” ‘ August 29, 1678. Mr. Hancock and I preached at Mr. Rich’s house at Bulloughs; had a full assembly, some assistance: lodged there.” “ July 23, Tuesday. Mr. Naylour

and I preached at Isaac Wadsworth’s at Brookhouse in Penistone Parish; had a full assembly. Called at Mr. Riche’s; lodged at Mrs. Cotton’s.” Mention is made under date Oct. 31, 1674, of Mr. Sylvanus Rich getting slightly “ elevated ” while attending Wakefield fair and narrowly escaping being drowned. The following note is added: “I pray God it may awaken conscience. This man hath made a profession, entertained ministers and meetings at his house, but of late hath given over, often stays out late, comes home in the night, ventures through dangerous waters. Lord strike home by this providence.”

CAPTAIN ADAM EYRE,

On the 13th day of June, 1899, the Hazlehead Hall Estate, near Penistone, containing nearly 200 acres, was sold by auction to the Hepworth Iron Company for £5,000. This was formerly part of the Estates of Captain Adam Eyre, of the Parliamentary Army, whose interesting Diary is published in the 65th volume of the Surtees Society. It or what he calls “a Diurnall of my life” he began to keep at the beginning of the year 1647 and continued until January 20th, 1648-9, with few interruptions, at which date he informs us he was preparing to set out the following morning for London, so that he could arrive there the night before the execution of Charles I., which took place on the 30th of that month, and of which there can be little doubt he was an eye-witness. The Diary gives us a lively picture not only of the man and several of his relations and friends, but also of the mode of life of the yeomen of the better class of the time and place in which he lived. ‘Perhaps few writings of the time,” says Mr. Hunter, “ preserve so many points in which we see that certain practices were not peculiar to the individual, but were common to the class to which he belonged.” At the close of the war his claim against the state was £688 8s., while that on behalf of his brother Joseph, who had also been a captain in the army, was £1,168 13s., neither of which, it is believed, was ever paid. Adam Eyre died early in April, 1661. Over the mantel-piece of the parlour of the ancient messuage at Hazlehead in which he resided, and which was pulled down some years ago, were the arms and crest of the Eyres, neatly set forth in plaster together with the motto “ Vincet Virtus.” Arms: Argent, on achevron sable, three quatrefoils within a bordure azure. Crest: An armed leg couped at the thigh quarterly argent and azure spurred or.

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MUMMERS AND CAROL-SINGERS. 133

Adam Eyre was the son of Thomas Eyre, of Hazlehead, by Ellen Ramscar his wife, whose sister married Michael Burton, of Holmesfield in Derbyshire, who was High Sheriff of that county in 1647. Thomas Eyre’s father was Adam Eyre, of Crookhill in the Parish of Hathersage, Derbyshire. Miss Catherine Eyre, of Thurlstone, who died March 28th, 1902, aged 87, was of the same family, She was one of my mother’s bridesmaids and also my godmother. Hunter says the family of Eyre appear as witnesses to charters in the Peak of Derbyshire in the remotest period to which private charters ascend, and as William le Eyre of Hope, who lived in the reign of Henry III, the first of the name known, held lands of the king by service of the custody of the Forest of the High Peak, it is probable that the surname of Eyre is connected with the Eyve of the Forest—the justice seat. It is said, however, on the authority of the Hassop pedigree, that the founder was a man named Truelove, who, seeing William the Conqueror unhorsed at the battle of Hastings, and his helmet beat so close to his face that he could not breathe, pulled off his helmet and horsed him again. The king thereupon said, “Thou shalt hereafter from Truelove be called Air or Eyre, because thou hast given me the air I| breathe.” After the battle the king called for him, and being found with his thigh cut off, William ordered him to be taken care of, and after his recovery gave him lands in the county of Derby in reward of his services. ‘The seat he lived at was called ‘“‘ Hope,” because he had hope in the greatest extremity, and the king gave the leg and thigh cut off in armour for his crest, and which is still the crest of all the Eyres in England.

MUMMERS AND CAROL-SINGERS.

“England was merry England when Old Christmas brought his sports again ; A Christmas gambol oft would cheer A poor man’s heart through all the year.”

In my young days, besides the Church and other singers giving us a visit at Christmas, and the former being invited into the house and having spice cake and ale, we had the Mummers, said to be a relic of the Miracle Play of the Middle Ages—some dozen or so big lads—appropriately dressed, a number of them in calico suits adorned with coloured ribbons, and with swords at their sides, and calico helmets (also ribboned) on their heads. They formed a ring upon the large kitchen floor, into which stepped the Fool, carrying a stick to the end of which a bladder was tied with which he beat the floor, and cried, “Room, room, brave gallants, give us room to sport,” &c., and then invites the champion, St. George, to step in and clear the way. This he does, and flourishing his sword, says :

“T am St. George, who from Old England sprung ; My famous name throughout the world hath rung. Many bloody deeds and wonders have I made known, And made the tyrants tremble on their throne, I followed a fair lady to a giant’s gate, Confined in dungeons deep to meet her fate ; There I resolved with true knight-errantry, To burst the door and set the prisoner free ; When the giant almost struck me dead, But by my valour I cut off his head; I’ve searched the world all round and round, But a man to equal me I never found.”

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134 I HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

This brings up Slasher, who says: “Tama valiant soldier, and Slasher is my name ; With my sword and buckler by my side I hope to win the game,” &c. St. George thereupon tells him, “If I draw my sword I’m sure to break thy head,”’ on which Slasher retorts : “ How canst thou break my head, Since it is made of iron, And my body’s made of steel,

My hands and feet of knuckle bone, I challenge thee to field.”

They fight, and Slasher is wounded. Then came a cry for “A doctor! a doctor! ten pounds for a doctor!” Fortunately one was at hand, who, in answer to the question ‘‘ How far have you travelled in doctorship?” replied, “From Italy, Titaly, High Germany, France, and Spain, and now I’m returned to cure the diseases in Old England again,” and that he cured *‘ the itch, the pitch, the palsy and gout, If a man gets nineteen devils in his skull I’ll cast twenty of them out. I have in my pockets crutches for lame ducks, spectacles for blind humble bees, pack-saddles and panniers for grasshoppers, and plaisters for broken-backed mice,” &c. He cures Slasher. St. George again appears on the scene, and says:

“Tam St. George, that noble champion bold, And with my trusty sword I won ten thousand pounds in gold ; “Twas I that fought the fiery dragon and brought him to the slaughter, And by those means I won the King of Egypt’s daughter.”

Whereupon the Prince of Paradine comes forth and says :

“Tam the Black Prince of Paradine, born of high renown. Soon I will fetch St. George’s lofty courage down ; Before St. George shall be received by me, St. George shall die to all eternity.”

After more words they fight, and the Prince of Paradine is slain. On the King of Egypt coming toseek his son and only heir, St. George informs him of his death. The King then calls upon his knight Hector to help him with speed. Hector responds :

“Yes, yes, my liege, I will obey, And by my sword I hope to win the day. If that be he who doth stand there That slew my master’s son and heir, If he be sprung from royal blood I'll make it run like Noah’s flood.”

St. George counsels Hector not to be so hot, and threatens if he does not lay his anger aside that

inch thee and cut thee as small as flies, And send thee over the sea to make mince pies ; Mince pies hot and mince pies cold, P'll send thee to Black Sam before thou ’rt three days old.”

They afterwards fight and Hector is wounded, and ultimately the Play

closed with the moral: ‘Here come I, little Devil Doubt, And if you do not give me money I'll sweep you all out ; Money I want, money I crave, If you don’t give money I'll send you all to the grave.”

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NETHERFIELD. 135

The “ Old Tup” and sometimes the “ Old Horse” also went their rounds, but these were, whenever possible, kept outside the door, their demonstrations not commending themselves to those who were peacefully inclined. Then at the New Year we had the ‘“ Wassailers”’ with their ‘‘ Wassail Bough” of holly neatly decked out, who sang the fine old English song : “ Here we come a-wassailing Among the leaves so green, Here we come a-wassailing So fair to be seen. So God bless you and send you A happy New Year. We are not daily beggars That beg from door to door, But we are neighbour’s children Whom you have seen before. So God bless you and send you A happy New Year.” It is with feelings of sorrow that one sees these old customs gradually dying away.

DURATION OF PARLIAMENTS.

The following are the Parliaments since the death of William IV.

VICTORIA

MET ON 15th November, 1837 1yth August, 1841 18th November, 1847 4th November, 1852 ist April, 1857 31st May, 1859 15th February, 1865 10th December, 1868 5th March, 1874 29th April, 1880 12th January, 1886 5th August, 1886 ... 4th August, 1892 ... 12th August, 1895 3rd December, 1900

DISSOLVED ON 23rd June, 1841. gard July, 1847. ist uly, 1852: 2oth March, 1857. 23rd April, 1859. 6th July. 1865. t1th November, 1868. 26th January, 1874. 24th March, 1880. 18th November, 1885. 26th June, 1886. 28th June, 1892. 8th July, 1895. 25th September, 1900.

In July, 1872, at the bye-election on the resignation of Lord Milton, our neighbour, Mr. Walter Spencer-Stanhope, of Cannon Hall, had a walk-over for the Southern Division of the West Riding, and at the General Election of 1874 he and Mr. Lewis Randle Starkey defeated their opponents—Messrs. Wm. Henry Leatham and Henry Fredk. Beaumont. It will be recollected it was this Mr. Leatham who proposed that Penistone Division should be called Holmfirth Division. NETHERFIELD.

Netherfield Chapel and the chapel house and the road were all formerly on a level, but about seventy or so years ago the road was lowered by the chapel and the excavations taken and used to raise the level of the road by the house. The milestone now in the chapel wall formerly stood on the top of the hill on a level with the chapel. The wording on it is as follows: ‘“ London 177 miles, Huddersfield 12, Penistone 4.”

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136 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

In Baines’ Directory of 1822 is the following: “Harrison Rev. George, gentleman’s academy—Netherfield House.” My uncles, John Thomas Rolling and Henry Rolling, of Oxspring Mills, went to this school. Mr. Harrison began his ministry at Netherfield in 1814 and retired in 1829. He died the year after at Rose Cottage, Thurlstone.

The Town’s Pump at Penistone and the Public Wells at Penistone Green and near Corunna ‘Terrace were closed by the Local Board on the ist of October,

In reference to the deterioration of the people, Joshua Dyson, of Denby, near Penistone, a quaint but not at all a temperate old Quaker, used to say they became “ weaker and wiser.” ‘The old man was accustomed to attend all the markets around ard always walked. I have seen him many a time at Penistone very late at night on his way back from Sheffield.

Women were certainly much healthier and stronger 100 years ago than they are now ; they needed no houses with off-licenses to run to in those days, whereas now, very many cannot do even simple household duties without going or sending to such houses several times a day for “ drugged water,” which does them harm though they foolishly think it does them good—a glass or two of milk would do much more good.

‘PHE -DICKINSONS (OF iis:

In the 18th century there were two families of Dickinsons at Highflatts, near Penistone. They were cousins—Elihu the tanner and Elihu the clothier. The latter had two children—Edward, who died young, and Mary Dickinson, who married John Firth in 1817. [lihu the tanner dressed all in leather after the manner of George Fox, and Elihu the clothier dressed entirely in drab. Elhu the tanner was a dapper little man, conspicuous in hair powder, hght gaiters, and white stockings. He built and resided at Mill Bank House, and was twice married. His second wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Rothwell, gave Denby Dale its name; it was previously called Denby Dike Side. Besides being a tanner, he was a farmer, corn miller, colliery proprietor, timber and stone merchant, and a land valuer. He attended Huddersfield Market, ten miles away, by eight o’clock in the morning, both in summer and winter. In a case at York Assizes, we read from a newspaper report: “One of the witnesses for the plaintiff was Mr. Elihu Dickinson, a most respectable and venerable-looking old gentleman of the Society of Friends, who in his profession of a land valuer had been employed to inspect the farm occupied by the plaintiff and to estimate the allowances to which he was entitled by the custom of the country. His testimony, delivered with a precision and good sense which we have seldom witnessed, was strongly in favour of the claim ; and he wound up the whole by declaring that judging from his own long experience there could not be a custom more beneficial to all parties than that insisted on by the plaintiff. Mr. Scarlett: Will you allow me, Mr. Dickinson, to ask how old you are? Witness: I am nowin myeightieth year. (The appearance of Mr. D. betokens a hale and happy man of about sixty; and his clear eye and ruddy cheek presented no small contrast with the care-worn parchment-coloured visages of most of the learned gentlemen by whom he was surrounded.) Mr. Justice Bayley: Ah! Mr. Scarlet, this land valuing is a far better occupation than law. (A laugh).” Mr. Dickinson died in 1829, aged 89. He was my wife’s great grandfather.

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OLD TIMES AND OLD MANNERS. EZ

In 1792 Mr. Elihu Dickinson, of Highflatts, was working coal pits at Fulshaw. Whether he was the party who first opened them I cannot say. In 1799 he and others were working coal at Denby. Mr. Dickinson also bought great quantities of bark for his tanneries, and some he purchased off Howden and Grainfoot Farms in the Woodlands appears from-an entry in his books to to have been carried by women from there to Langsett, no easy road all over the moors, and not a single house on the way some eight miles.

SmEFPIEED FOOTBALL CLUB.

A banquet to the members of the Sheffield Football Club Team, which had the previous month brought the Amateur Cup to Sheffield, was held on the 18th of May, 1904, at the King’s Head Hotel, Change Alley, Sheffield. Mr. W. Chesterman, one of the oldest members of the Club, in responding to the toast, referred at length to its history. He said it was forty vears since he had first responded to that toast; that the Shefheld Football Club formed in 1856 or 1857 was absolutely the first such club in the country; they had no rules, and no other clubs to meet, so sides were chosen at first. Then Hallam started a club and matches were arranged, in which “ bull strength” was the principal feature. He had memories of seeing in these matches the ball lying quietly, and groups of half a dozen butting eack other like rams yards away. The idea was to charge “if you could get a shot at him, whether near the ball or not.” Sheffield Club provided the first provincial team to play in London, the match being played at Battersea Park. ‘‘ Knocking on” was allowed, and every goal that was scored was knocked through, and many a fist found a nose. Stillit was a pleasant match. (Loud laughter.) It was wonderful how the game had grown. He remembered that when the Sheffield Club went to Nottingham and won, the team came back so elated that they tossed the ball up outside the old Wicker Station and kicked it all the way through the town and up to Sandygate, where the last member of the team lived. When in Shefheld in 1860-1, I was myself a member of the Sheffield Foct- ball Club and played in matches with Hallam and the Garrison—then, I believe, consisting of the Connaught Rangers, and a very lively team the Rangers had. If not the first, Mr. John C. Shaw, a native of Penistone, and who when a boy was a clerk in my father’s office, and for many years past has been one of the oldest and best-known Conservative agents in the Kingdom, was one of the first captains of the Sheffield Football Club; and just previous to my joining Mr. John Marsh, a native of Thurlstone, had been captain. Mr. Nathaniel Cres- wick was captain when I was in the Club, and David Sellars, the old Sheffield huntsman, one of the players. I first saw and played with the large footballs now in use when at the Royal Institution School, Liverpool, in 1853-4-5, and when at Windermere College, also in 1855.

The late Dr. Favell, of Sheffield, who was a relative of mine, it is recorded, once met a grinder who was a patient of his own. ‘ Well, John,” said the doctor, “I see you’re delivering your work.” “Yes,” was the reply, “I’m ‘liverin’ my wark.” Some time later the parties met again, when Mr. Favell was returning from a funeral. ‘“ Well!” exclaimed the grinder, “so you’ve been ’liverin’ up your wark, Mester Favell.”

OLD TIMES AND OLD MANNERS.

Of old times and old manners, 1825-1850, “ Arcturus” (the late Sir William Leng) of the Sheffield Daily Telegraph some years ago wrote in that paper:

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138 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

“Don’t fancy that the old days were hungry and joyless. You should have seen on market-days the up-heaped abundance of tempting edibles on sale in the old Market Place, Hull, and the processions of waggon loads of prime beef sent down in the early spring to the Hull fleet of eighty whaling-ships. You should have beheld the commercial travellers of the time, who drove from town to town in gigs. They professed to be seeking patrons, whereas they looked as if they had come abroad to patronise creation. Every man of them seemed as though he had stepped straight out of a fashion plate—in stateliness a Don, in manner a Chesterfield, in dress and figure the glass of fashion, and mould of form. Your commercial of that era dressed faultlessly, breakfasted leisurely, dined well, and when he lifted his curly-brimmed hat to you he did so with a majestic. sweep of the whole arm to the right. His very bow was one of measured deference, his smile a benediction. He lived so much in the open air that he was fair to look upon. Nor were other classes much behind him in self-respect. The pilot we took on at Gravesend was frock-coated and silk- hatted, and had white trousers, tightly strapped down under the instep. As for dress, the sons of small tradesmen, and even of men who hawked coal in bags through the streets, turned out on Sundays and holidays superlative dandies. Satin full-fronted cravats, buff or brocaded waistcoats, lavender-coloured trousers, pale gloves, silk hats, and coats of fine olive-brown or claret or plum- coloured cloth adorned with ornate gilded buttons, made them birds of gay plumage. In summer the very policemen and soldiers wore trousers of white duck ; and as for the ‘lapsed tenth,’ who had no good cloth coats and no white linen for better wear, they were so few that on Sundays they remained in their lairs, and it was only at election times, when the pugilists marched with the musicians and the flag-bearers, or when Bendigo and deaf Burke were about to have a public set-to, that one became aware of their existence.”

ASSOCIATION FOR THE PROSECUTION OF FELON:

On the 3rd of February, Association for the Prosecution of Felons and Misdoers was formed for the Parish of Penistone. The committee con- sisted of fifteen members. The first committee were: Thomas Eyre, Jonathan Wood, John Armitage, of Penistone; Vincent Smith, Wm. Booth, Isaac Smith, of Thurlstone; Joseph Brownhill, Henry Payne, of Langsett; John Haigh, Wm. Beckett, Joseph Coldwell, of Hunshelf and Oxspring: Benjamin Haigh, Joshua Dyson, of Denby ; James Hargreave, of Gunthwait ; and John Hobson, of Ingbirchworth. John Firth, of New Chapel, the treasurer; and William Cookes Mence, of Barnsley, the attorney to the Association. The Association only ceased to exist a few years ago. I have been to many of its Annual Meetings, at which the chief and principal occupation was eating a good

dinner.

Midhope Corn Mill, belonging to Mr. Bosville, was burnt out about 1812; Oxspring New Corn Mill, belonging to Mr. Henry Rolling, was burnt out February 8th, 1856; and the Corn Mill called Nether Mill, Penistone, belonging to Mr. Stanhope, was burnt out October 2oth, 1871.

PENISTONE “CHURCH BELL. RINGERS:

“Those evening bells! those evening bells ! How many a tale their music tells Of youth and home, and that sweet time When last I heard their soothing

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PENISTONE CHURCH BELL RINGERS. 139

There has generally been a good team of Church Bell Ringers at Penistone. The following are names of old ones, most of whom I well knew :—

William Rhodes, shoemaker, who died September 16th, 1849, aged g5 years. He rang when he was go years old. Ben Crossley, he kept a beerhouse by the churchyard side. William Hinchliffe, a linen weaver. Samuel Hampshire, a linen weaver. George Biltcliffe, a watch and clock repairer. Johnnie Thorpe, a stonemason. Johnnie Milnes, a stonemason. John Thorpe, a dry waller. George Hawksworth, he was for many years the postman. Thomas Hinchliffe, a linen weaver. Elijah Hinchliffe, a linen weaver. Jonathan Hinchliffe, a linen weaver. David Hinchliffe, a linen weaver. John Hinchliffe, a linen weaver. Charles Hinchliffe, a tailor. Joseph Biltcliffe, a carpenter. Charles Biltcliffe, a steelworker.

Of the seven Hinchliffes leaving out [Elijah the other six sometimes rang the bells themselves. Charles Biltcliffe, the last survivor of the above old ringers, only died November 28th, 1903, aged 67 years.

There is no linen weaving done at Penistone now. Isaac Chappell who died at Penistone Green a few years ago, would be the last hand loom weaver here, and he came from Cawthorne Lanes, where there are still a few old ones left.

My mother, born on February 28th, 1812, at Oxspring, recollected when the river Don there was quite pure and Iree from ochre and there were trout in it and lots of eels in the mill dam. When the new mill at Oxspring was opened in 1828 she said there was a ball held in it, and that her father, Mr John Rolling the owner, opened the ball with old Mrs. Eyre, the mother of the late Mrs. Thomas Tomasson, of Plumpton. She also recollected that one year the mill waggons going to Saltersbrook got snowed up above Boardhill and had to be left there some six weeks. She used to ride on a pillion behind her father, and recollects going to Wharncliffe with a party in a conveyance drawn by one of her father’s oxen. If not a Sunday her father always began to cut his grass for hay on June the 24th, wet or fair. In her young days the road over Roughbirchworth was not fenced from the Commons, and she could walk all the way from Oxspring to Thurlstone over the commons. Plumpton Mill when she first knew it was a Corn Mill.

At Throstle Nest the townships of Hunshelf, Langsett, and Oxspring converge. Oxspring Township 1s represented there by a very narrow strip of land about the width of a cartway running from a field to the road. I have been told that years ago the body of a person was found there, and a dispute arose between the above three townships as to which should buryit. Oxspring did so and hence claimed the narrow strip as leading to where it laid.

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140 HISTORY OF. PENISDOWNE.

Old Mrs. Thomas Beever, of Boardhill, who was born at Hordron, told me when she lived there with her parents that after heavy storms of rain she had seen large trunks of trees that had been washed out of the peat brought down the stream there. No doubt they would have formed part of old Hordern Forest.

The late Mr. John Greaves told me that old Jonathan Heppenstall, of Thurlstone, who generally kept a hound for Penistone Hunt and followed the pack, informed him that his (Heppenstall’s) grandfather recollected the time when hounds were kept at Bullhouse Hall and the pack hunted by the Rich’s, indeed, if I recollect aright the grandfather himself had to look after them there.

Prior to the opening of the railway from Sheffield to Manchester, waggons went every week-day from Oxspring Mills and other places to Saltersbrook with flour, &c., for customers in Lancashire, Cheshire and Derbyshire. Here they were met by waggons sent by such customers. There was also a warehouse at Saltersbrook to store in. Yorkshire being noted for its bacon and Cheshire for cheese, the waggoners from Yorkshire brought bacon and the others cheese. These being mixed together in great brown jars were put into the oven at the Millers Arms, Saltersbrook, and after being cooked made a capital meal. Old Jonathan Roebuck, of Netherfield, told me this. He said he had tasted the mixture, and very good it was. There was a very large old oak table at the Miller’s Arms, round which they sat, and at these places the flags were quite worn by the customers’ feet. Old Edward Taylor kept the inn in those days.

When Woodhead Tunnel was bored through, a bullock was roasted at Saltersbrook.

Old William Lockwood, the saddler at Penistone, was a character. He would only work for those it suited him. His house adjoined the main street at the corner below the Old Crown Inn, and at Feast and other throng times he would tar the house-side to prevent persons congregating there. He died July 14th, 1855, over 80 years of age.

The old Vicarage House at Penistone was begun to be built in 1726 by Thomas Cockshutt, then the vicar. Towards it was contributed by Denby Quarter £40 os. 10d., Thurlstone Quarter £17 11s. 8d., Hunshelf Quarter £16 17s..6d.,,Penistone Quarter £24 10s., and other persons, @c. $42 Sum totaly fran 16s:

According to Ross’ Annual Register the river Don in 1767 overflowed at Penistone, causing great damage. Prior to 1630 the Don used to enter the Aire at Snaith. Its waters are now delivered into the Ouse at Goole by the Dutch river which commemorates the nationality of Vermuyden and many of his workmen who undertook the work to save much valuable land from inundation. ‘The old channel can still be traced.

PENISTONE LOCAL BOARD.

Penistone Local Board was formed in 1869, and held its first meeting on August 21st of that year, when I was appointed Clerk to the Board. Nine members were to form the Board, and out of thirty-five nominated at the first election for the post only three are now living, namely, Messrs. Thomas Hawley and Thomas Crawshaw, and Canon Turnbull. The first appointed members were Thomas Hawley, Joseph Hawley, John Rayner, Joseph Brook, Thomas Marsden, John Ward, W. S. Turnbull, Thomas Wood, and Luke P. White.

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142 HISTORY OF

NOTES ON’ PENISTONE ERCH.

Mr. J. B. Mitchell-Withers, of Sheffield, wrote as under on Penistone Church :—The plan of the building consists of nave with north and south aisles; chancel, with aisles; vestry, western tower and south porch. It was not founded until after the conquest. ‘The tower reminds us so forcibly of the tower of Silkstone, that we can only come to the decision that they were erected within a few years of each other, and by the same architect. ‘The western doorway varies in its detail having only one wave moulding of late character with rosettes and heads flatly carved in itsreading curves. The western window has for its jamb three orders of chamfers instead of the bold hollow; its tracery differs only in minute details. The two light windows of the belfry are identical except that the transom of Penistone is embattled. The parapet with its cornices enriched with grotesques and having large gurgoyles and its angles the angle battresses with their lower stage ornamented with deligate traceried panels, all these are evidently the work of the designer of the Silkstone tower, but instead of the single string course which occurs in the height of the former we have here two, with a great blank space of wall between, and this certainly gives much more dignity. The great charm of many of our ancient towers consists in their solid massiveness and omission of decoration on their lower stages, thus giving the idea of their great strength and reserving the decoration for the belfry windows where it was most valuable. The western windows of the aisles and some of the windows of the north aisles are most wretched semi-circular headed ones with sashes. The south aisle has three- light windows with simple foliated heads and no tracery, their arches being pointed segments. Bold hollows form their sole moulding. ‘The clerestory has three-light square-headed windows with similar foliated heads and small shallow buttresses with crocketed pinnacles. ‘The chancel aisle is gabled with the remains of a small cross at the apex, and a three-light window of simple perpendicular tracery, the termination of its hood mould being remarkable. The chancel is late decorated work, its south door being simply moulded, and its windows of the type known as intersecting tracery having no foliations. This chancel has had its walls considerably raised in the 15th century. Its eaves’ course and the springing of its gable tabling still remain. ‘The east window is unusually near the floor. The north aisle windows are two-lght with simple perpendicular tracery. The interior is simple, but extremely interesting. The nave is six bays in length; its piers alternately circular and octagonal are transitional from Norman work, having moulded capitals and bases, the latter very much mutilated. The greater part of the abaci are square on plan. The arcade arches are two orders, plain and chamfered, stopped a little above the abacus, their label moulds being chamfered. The chancel arch has chamfered jambs, continued in the arch. The tower arch is simple, the inner order being carried on a moulded corbel, and the rest dying into the wall, thus leaving the whole width of tower opening into the church. In the centre of the tower is the font, which seems to be early 12th century work. The nave roof—15th century flat-pitched—is very good, having large carved bosses and well-moulded principals, and other timbers and the wall- plate being embattled. It is much to be regretted that it has been painted and varnished, and thus its effect is completely lost. Happily this can be remedied. The eastern window of the south clerestory is filled with ancient glass of beautiful heraldic design and most lovely and delicate colour. The heraldry of this window that of the monuments have been so ably described by Mr. C. H. Bedford that I trust this glass will be observed by all visitors, Would that

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JONATHAN WORDSWORTH. 143

modern glass stainers would imitate the translucency of this work and not spoil the greater part of our interiors with their crudely coloured obscurities. Mr. C. H. Bedford in his notes says: The only painted glass remaining in ‘the Church at the present time on which is emblazoned shields of arms, is to be found in one of the clerestory windows on the south side, and this contains the Arms of Bosville of Gunthwaite impaling Hotham, viz. : BosviLLe. Argent, five fusils in fess gules, in chief, three bears’ heads sable. Horuam. Barry, of leu argent, and azure on a canton, or a Cornish chough sable, legged and beaked gules. Crest. (For Bosville surmounting an esquire’s helmet) an ox issuing from a holt of trees, proper. Motto. Virtute duce comite fortuna (“‘ With valour my leader, and good fortune 11y Companion.’’) On a scroll above the mantling is the date 1681. The window was undoubtedly put in to commemorate the Bosville and Hotham families by the marriage on October 13th, 1681, at Penistone of Godfrey Bosville, of Gunthwaite, and Bridgett, daughter of Sir John Hotham, of Scarbro’, Bart. Sir John Hotham was governor of Hull, and in 1642 refused admittance into that city to King Charles and his army; from this circumstance first commenced the civil rebellion. The immediate causes of the Great Rebellion were: (1) The religious fury excited by the encouragement which the King and Queen gave to Popery ; (2) The discovery of the conspiracy of some of the leading persons in the King’s party to march the army to London and subdue the Parliament ; (3) The insane step of the King in entering the House to claim the surrender of the five leaders of the party opposed to him. The war lasted from 1642 to 1646. In the chancel a tablet is erected to the memory of William Fenton, Esq., who was killed by brigands in Spain in 1855. he following is a copy of the inscription: ‘In Memory of William Fenton, of Underbank, I’sq., only son of Samuel and Jessy Fenton, who was barbarously murdered by robbers at Algeciras in Spain April15, 1855, aged 35 years. This tablet to the memory of a beloved brother is placed in this, his native parish, by his four sisters, the youngest of whom was with him at the time of his cruel death.” Other matters referred to by Mr. Bedford are mentioned by Hunter and heretofore recorded.

JONATHAN WORDSWORTH. In 1891, in the course of repairs to the house in Market Street, formerly the residence of Dr. Booth, two tombstones that had been used as flag-stones were brought to light. The inscriptions I copied. On one is: ‘“ Here lyeth interred the body of Jonathan Wordsworth, of Penistone, departed this life—(the date has scaled away)—1701.” On the other is inscribed: “ The body of Jonathan Wordsworth, who departed this life 17th day of February, 1769, aged 79 years.” It would almost seem, however, from their being no heading to the inscription on the latter, that the two stones may have formed one tombstone only ; and may it not be inferred that the tombstone had been taken from the churchyard to have a further inscription put thereon, and then getting broken it was never ‘The stones are now in one of the walls of the kitchen of the above ouse, Would the last-named Jonathan Wordsworth be the father of Nancy the mother of Diana, afterwards Madame Beaumont of Bretton Hall? It will be noticed elsewhere that the Hall and Hall Fold, where the Wordsworths resided, were behind where Dr. Booth’s house is situate,

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144 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

THURLSTONE BRASS BAND.

Another old institution of the district is the Thurlstone Brass Band, which has been noted for generations and taken many prizes in its day. It was first formed into an entirely brass band on the 12th of August, 1854. Previously it was mostly a string band, and the late Mr. John Bedford, of Penistone, relieving officer, who was one of the members, told me that in 1830 he and the other bandsmen walked to Liverpool—some sixty miles—to take part in the celebra- tions incident to the opening of some noted docks. The band has fittingly celebrated its jubilee this year by gaining prizes and honours at a great contest at the Crystal Palace.

WORKHOUSES.

What workhouses were in olden times may be gathered from the following particulars of one at Denby, near Penistone :— Memorandum of an Agreement made this 1st day of October, 1827, at a meeting convened for that purpose between the inhabitants of Denby Township in the Parish of Penistone and County of York on the one part, and Jonathan Shaw of the above-written Township, Parish, and County on the other part, viz.: The said Jonathan Shaw doth agree to take all paupers of the said Township into his house in form of Workhouse upon the following terms, viz. ; The rent, three pounds per year, to be paid half-yearly by the Overseer of the Poor of the said Township. When wheat is under 25s. per load the pauper’s maintenance to be 2s. gd. per head per week, and when 25s. and under 35s. per load the pauper’s maintenace to be 3s.*per head per week, and 35s. and upwards to be 3s. 3d. per head per week, with the addition of 1s. per week for coals. And at any time there should be no paupers within the said Workhouse, deduct the 1s. for coals. And the said inhabitants doth agree to the above statement and also to furnish the said Workhouse with such Bedsteads and Bedding and other Furniture as may be agreed upon by the said parties at this or any other time, and the said inhabitants doth also agree to furnish the said paupers with necessary clothing and paid for by the Overseer of the Poor. And the said parties doth agree to give each other three months notice in writing previous to the giving up of the said Workhouse, and everything according to the Inventory to be accounted for or given up peaceably and free from damage at the expiration of the three months notice. As witness our hands this 27th day of October, :827.

Richard Mallinson, ) Assistant

Signed in the presence of FOR William Turton. John Mallinson, J John Gaunt. Jonathan Shaw.

The following is an Inventory of goods placed in the Workhouse by Richard Mallinson, roth mo., 27th, 1827: 2 bedsteads and cords, 2 beds with straw, 2 long pillows, 2 coverlids, 2 long pillow-cases, 4 forks, 1 round table, 1 long pillow-case, 1 twill tick bed and chaff, 3 sheets, 4 blankets, 1 tub, 3 stools, 4 knives, 3 spoons, 2 blankets (new), 3 sheets (new), 1 coverlid (new). Amongst queries asked the Overseers of Denby by the Poor Law Com- missioners in 1834 was the following: State for what number of persons there is room in such poorhouse or workhouse or other houses, and also the greatest number which have been in the workhouse or other houses at any one time. Answer: The premises occupied by the contractor for the reception and maintenance of the poor are pretty large and might accommodate twenty paupers. The greatest number that he has had at any time has been seven paupers. The premises referred to in the answer were Shaw's.

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MRS. SUNDERLAND. 145

LORD WHARTON’S CHARITY.

Long before the foundation of the Bible Society the distribution of the Holy Scriptures throughout the more populous parts of the County of York had been provided for, if not sufficiently yet liberally, by a nobleman of former times distinguished by benevolent and religious zeal. This was Philip Lord Wharton, the “ Old Lord Wharton,” as he was usually called when his son and grandson gained notoriety of another kind, This Charity begun in 1692—By Indentures of Lease and Release dated the 11th and 12th July, 1692, Lord Wharton bargained and sold to Sir Edward Harley, of Brampton Bryan, K.B., and six others their heirs and assigns; all that capital messuage, grange, and demesnes of Smythwayte, otherwise Syningthwaite, with the appurtenances in the county of the city of York, and in the towns, &c., of Bilton, Walton, Bickerton, and Syningthwaite, and all his other houses and lands in those places upon trust ; the rents to be employed for the buying of English Bibles of the translation established by authority and catechisms to be distributed yearly to and amongst poor children who could read in such places as he should direct, and for the preaching of sermons yearly in such manner as he should direct. For their guidance in managing the trust he left a writing entitled: “Instructions by me, Philip Lord Wharton, for my trustees.”

Hunter has the following from the Doncaster Parish Register for interments : “Mem. Anno. Dom. 1683 was a very great frost, and by reason of the depth and long continuance thereof was forced to bury in the church the poor as well as the rich. It began about the eleventh of November, 83, and continued for the space of three months.”

There is a field near the Oil Mill, Thurlstone, called the “ Abbey Hill,” but I cannot find any record of an Abbey existing at Thurlstone. A mound is still to be seen in the field which might have been the site of the Abbey. Another field adjoining is called the “* Work Ing” where probably, if there was an Abbey, the Monks worked.

At Penistone also an Abbey called ‘‘ White or Green Foot Abbey ”’ is said to have existed, and several places I have heard named as its site. Where the Old Hall stood was one, and my old residence Green House, Penistone, another. If any reader of these pages could furnish any information as to these Abbeys I should be glad to hear from them.

Castle Green, Penistone, is mentioned in an old description of the Grammar School property written in 1630. If there ever was a Castle I should conjecture it would be situate in the second field from the back of the farm buildings of Castle farmhouse. There is a splendid view from that field all around.

MRS. SUNDERLAND.

Just after the reference before recorded to the Chorus Singers of Yorkshire had passed through the press the papers announced the death on May 7th, 1905, at Brighouse, of Mrs. Sunderland the once famous “ Yorkshire Queen of Song,” at the age of 86 years. She was born at Brighouse, April 30th, 1819. Her maiden name was Susan Sykes, she was the daughter of a gardener, and on June 7th, 1838, married Mr. Henry Sunderland. She made her debut in 1834 at Deighton, near Huddersfield, sang before the Queen and other Royalty on various occasions, and appeared at all the principal concerts of the country.

K

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146 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

She had the reputation of having “the most flexible voice for its power ever known in England.” ‘The purity of tone and the expression, however, of her singing were also great marks of her superiority. It is said that she so entered into her task that in sacred music she herself became much affected. There are those who say they have seen her with tears in her eyes when singing “TI know that my Redeemer liveth,” and others who hold that her rendering of it has never been equalled. She was associated with some of the greatest singers of the middle part of last century. At the last Festival in which she took part in St. George’s Hall, Bradford, she was listened to for the first time by the famous Me Titiens, who, after hearing her sing Linley’s “O bid your faithful Ariel fly,” went to meet her as she entered the anteroom and embracing her declared, ‘““ You have the most charming voice I have heard since I came to England.” The last public appearance of the “ Yorkshire Queen of Song” was at the festival promoted in her honour at Huddersfield on June 2nd and 3rd, 1864. On the occasion of her golden wedding in 1888 the proceeds of the festival then organised went to found the Sunderland Musical Competition, which annual event was celebrated in February last, and on the same occasion an address in a silver casket was presented to Mrs. Sunderland. She appeared at Penistone on various occasions, when I well recollect hearing her. One entranced with her singing wrote:

“ What enchantment, charming syren, Lingers on those lips of thine, Hearts would melt tho’ made of iron, Touch’d by melody divine.

Philomel would cease to warble List’ning to thy dulcet strain ; Handel from his sculptured marble Into life would start again.”

THE OLD CHURCH CHOIR, 1c.

The choir at Penistone Church who were deposed by a surpliced one consisted of Messrs. Joseph Hudson, of Nether Mill, Thomas Marsh, Thomas Roebuck, David Crosland, and Misses Bedford and Brown. ‘They had done good and faithful service for many years and felt being superseded so much that I believe they never attended the church afterwards. Mr. Benjamin Shaw was the last of the old Parish Clerks. Mr. William Brearley, brother to John Brearley the sexton, held the office for a long period. Mr. Michael Camm, of Roughbirchworth, who had been the organist at the church for over 40 years, died in March 1864.

The following document relates to the Progress of king Charles I. in 1633.

To the high constable of Osgodcrosse and Stayncrosse and to either of them. These are in his majesty’s name streightly to chardge and commaund you presently upon the sight hereof to warne and provide within your hundred the number of twentie sufficient carts or wains with able teems or draughts well furnished to be at the court at Bawtree upon Friday next by foure of the clocke in the morninge, from thence to remove part of his majesty’s household stuffe to Tuxford ; and that you be there personally, as well to see this service performed, as also to make retorne of all their names who you shall warne, and that you shall forbeare to warne the demeane cart of any nobleman,

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OLD CUSTOMS. 147

knight, or spiritual person for they are privileged by law from this service. Fail not hereof at your perills.

The Court at Durham, 1633. HENRY KNOLLYS

Your day is upon Friday, the 26th of July. Let your waines come furnished as they carry corne and haye.

The following is an extract from a Memorandum Book of the Rev. Benjamin Greaves, vicar of Brodsworth, as recorded in Hunter: “1704, March 15—Scarcely a shower of rain between Martinmas and this day. Water never so scarce. Nor rain, nor frost, nor snow, nor wind in Jan. or Feb. They cannot plough in some places. All wells dried up, especially in the levels. No water at Hemsworth and Tickhill. Many days in February as hot as Midsummer, especially the last day.”

The magistrates at the Sessions at Rotherham, 1676, ordered that Adam Hawksworth, inn-keeper at Ringston-hill, should have his sign taken down for having harboured Nevison, the notorious highwayman.

The first show of the present Penistone Agricultural Society was held on September 21st, 1854.

In 1868 the harvest began at Penistone on July 18th.

On October 2oth, 1880, there was a great snowstorm at Penistone which did great damage to oak trees.

On the 30th of March, 1826, the first steeplechase on record was ridden between Captain Horatio Ross on his horse “ Clinker,” against Lord Kennedy’s horse “ Radical,” steered by Captain Douglas—the former won.

By an order in Council dated the 2nd December, 1856, the old Burial Ground at Penistone Church was closed.

Lord Bacon said: “In the youth of a state, arms do flourish; in the middle of a state, learning; and then both of them together for a time; in the declining age of a state, mechanical arts and merchandise.”

Professor Heeren said: “ The increase of dictionaries and cyclopeedias is a proof of the decline of a nation.”

“. , . Time cannot withhold A precious boon which mem’ry gives to all: Fond recollection, when the tale is told, Which forms the record of life’s festival, Recals the pleasures of youth’s opening scene, And age seems young—rememb’ring what hath been.”

OLD CUSTOMS.

Penistone, like many other places, in my recollection observed the custom of having eggs and collops (slices of bacon) on Shrove Monday and pancakes on Tuesday—indeed the latter custom is still observed—and the Monday was called Collop Monday. It appears from “The Westmoreland Dialect: G. A. Walker, 1790” that cock-fighting and “casting” of pancakes were then common in that county, thus: “ Whaar ther wor tae be cock-feightin’, for it war pankeak Tuesday ; ” and “ We met sum lads and lasses gangin’ to kest their pankeaks.”

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‘“‘ Let Christmas boast her customary treat, A mixture strange of suet, currants, meat, Where various tastes combine the greasy and the sweet. Let glad SHrovE Turspay bring the pancake thin, Or fritter rich, with apples stored within ; On Easter Sunday be the pudding seen, To which the tansey lends her sober green.

Each diffrent county boasts a diffrent taste, And owes its fame to pudding and to paste ; Squab pie in Cornwall only can they make, In Norfolk dumpling, and in Salop cake ; But Yorkshire now from all shall bear the prize— Throughout the world its pudding’s famed and Denby Dale for pies.”

WILL OF -GILBERT FARE

The following is a copy of the last Will and Testament of Gilbert Earl of Shrewsbury :— In the name of God, Amen. I Gilbert Earl of Shrewsbury having by God’s good favour attained to the age of three score and two years and more and finding my bodie weakened with sickness and infirmitie but being of good and perfect memorie I give God thankes for it doe ordain and make this my laste will and testamente in forme following. Fyrst I committ my soule into the handes of Almightie God hopinge to be saved by the abundant mercie and goodness of Almightie God thoroughe the deathe and passion of Jesus Christ my onlie medeater, redeamer and most blessed Saviour. My bodie I committ to the earthe and requier the same to lie interred in Shefhielde churche where my eraundfather, father, mother and elder brother lye buried and my funeralle to be performed in such sort as befitts my rank and calling. All my goodes jewelles plate utensiles howsholde stuffe iron leade woll debtes owing me arrearages of rents leases and chattelles of what kinde soever whereof I am or during my life shall be possessed or intituled unto or whereof any other is interested to my use or in trust for me at my disposition; and all and singuler the mannors, landes tenementes and hereditaments whereof I myselfe am seized of any estate of inheritance in fee simple in possession, remainder or reversion, immediatlie depending uppon anie estate for life lyves or yeares or whereof anie other or others is or are seized in fee to my use or in trust at my disposi- tion (the manors lands tenements and hereditaments late in the possession of my late Brother Henrie Talbot esquier deceased and of Henrie Cavendishe esquier or either of them in the Counties of Derbie and Stafforde excepted and foreprized) I devise and bequeath to my executors in this my last will and testament named their heires and assigns for and towards the performaunce of my funeralles and the speedie payment and discharge of my debtes in a schedule hereunto annexed by me subscribed mentioned and expressed; and all other my juste and due debtes and full performaunce of my legacies in this my will or in the schedule thereunto annexed lmitted and bequeathed. And after my funeralles and debtes and legacies paide and discharged I further will and devise the surplusage thereof rermaininge (yf anie be) to my executors their heirs executors and assignes. Item I will and appointe an hospitall to be founded at Sheffielde for pepetuall maintenaunce of twentie poore personnes and to be called the hospital of Gilbert Erle of Shrewsbury ; and the same to be endowed with such revenues and possessions as my executors shall thincke fitt not beinge under two hundred poundes a year. Item I give to my gratiouse Soveraigne in remembraunce of my dewtie a cupp of goulde of two hundred poundes value; and to the Queene’s Maiestie a cupp of gould of the same

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value and to the Prince Charles a cupp of goulde of one hundred poundes value. Item I give and devise to my deere and beloved daughters eche of them a cup of goulde of an hundred poundes value. Item to their lordes and husbandes my sonnes in lawe to each of them a cup of goulde of an hundred pounds value. Item to my foure grandchildren the sonnes of my daughter Arundell eche of them a cup of goulde of an hundred poundes value. Item to my executors herein named a cupp of goulde of an hundred poundes a peice. Item I will and devise for a legacie to my servaunte Thomas Cooke one anmnuitie or yearlie rente of threescore poundes a yeare to be paide unto him yearlie during his naturall hfe at the feastes of the Annunciation of the blessed Virgine Marie and Sainte Michaell the Archangell by equall portions to be yssuing and goinge out of all my fee simple landes tenements and hereditaments aforesaide with full libertie to distraine for the nonpaiment of the same in anie of the saide landes tenementes and hereditaments and in anie of the saide leases. Item I will and devise to my servant William Hamonde one annuitie or yearlie rent of an hundred poundes by yeare to be paide unto him duringe his naturall lyfe at the feastes aforesaide to be yssuinge and goinge out of my fee simple landes tenementes and hereditamentes with like libertie of dystresse in anie the said landes tenementes and hereditaments and in anie the saide leases. And of this my last will and testament I ordaine and make my honor- able and worthie friend St Ralph Wynwood knight principalle secretarie to the Kinges most excellent Maiestie and my loving nephewe S* William Cavendish knight my executors. In witness whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name and sett my seale and published it as my last Will and testament this fourth daie of Maie in the yeares of the reign of our Soveraign Lorde Kinge James of England Fraunce and Ireland the fowerteenth and of Scotland the nyne and forteth. GILB. SHREWSBURY. Signed, sealed, and published in the presence of

Edwarde Cooke. Proved at London before Sir John George Moore. Bennet 14 May 1616.

“Three centuries and more ago, when Sheffield castle stood, And nearly all the country round was moorland wild and wood, There was no master cutler, but cutlers by the score, Who worked in shops beside the Don, as their fathers worked before.

Great Gilbert, Earl of Shrewsbury, was then the reigning lord, A proud and potent man was he, and always wore a sword, Whilst his vassalls’ carved whittlers stuck in their leathern hose, And this distinguished lord from serf, as everybody knows.

And early each September, by this famous feudal chief, These apron-men, the cutler-smiths, for bodily relief, Were freely sent to Sheffield Park, amongst his antlered deer, With leave to slaughter what they could, and feast with wine and beer.”

THE HOSPITAL OF GILBERT, EARL OF SHREWSBURY.

There were two strong bars to the performance of this part of the Will of Earl Gilbert—want of assets and the statute of mortmain—and the inhabitants of Sheffield would in all probability have lost the benefit of his gracious intentions had not his heir-at-law and descendant in the fourth degree been a person of a liberal and noble mind. In or about the year 1665 the foundations of the Hospital were laid. In 1673 the buildings became inhabited by ten men and ten women, of whom one of the men was appointed governor.

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This inscription was placed over the entrance :— “The Hospital of the right hon. Gilbert Earl of Shrewsbury erected and settled by the right hon. Henry Earl of Norwich, earl marshal of England, great grand-child of the aforesaid earl in pursuance of his last will and testament. Anno domini 1673.” On the 23rd day of November, 1680, the said Henry earl of Norwich then by the death of his elder brother without issue became duke of Norfolk conveyed certain portions of his Estate to Trustees for the perpetual support of the hospital namely the rectory of Peniston with all the glebe lands tythes oblations obventions profits and commodities thereunto belonging—the tythes of Cumberworth the rectory of Kirk-Burton with the glebe lands and tythes thereunto belonging in Holm-Firth, Shepley, Thirstyland and Shelley or else- where within the said rectory the farms and lands at Meadowhall in the Parish of Rotherham reputed or called Executory lands; a piece of land at Ardsley near Barnsley and other lands cottages and woods in the Parish of Barnsley and Jeoffry Croft in the Parish of Sheffield all in the County of York also lands in Bameley-Critch Heage Belperward and Duffield in the County of Derby. All these premises were assigned by the duke to Francis Jessop of Broomhall Esquire Thomas Chappell senior Cuthbert Browne of Hansworth clerk and William Spencer of Attercliffe gentleman in trust out of the proceeds thereof to keep the hospital in repair and to provide gowns and provisions for the pensioners, a power being reserved to the duke and the heirs of his family to add to the number of the trustees at their,own discretion. At the present time we read there is accommodation for twenty poor men and twenty poor women at the Hospital with money allowances, coals and certain clothing. There are eighty out pensioners with allowances of 7s. weekly ; the recipients are selected from a class who have seen better days, preference being given to those who have been tenants of the Duke of Norfolk. Besides these inmates of the Hospital there are outdoor recipients of the funds of the institution sixty in all, each of whom receives 7s. a week. The governor has a house and £200 a year. In Hunter’s “ Hallamshire,” it is stated that in the year 1715 William Birley, of London, endowed the governor with an income of £300 a year and a share of an estate at Neepsend. This enormously wealthy charity, besides its great landed and other properties, had, according to the Sheffield Telegraph of the first week of February, 1876, which contains full particulars of the Hospital Estates at that time, some £60,000 accumulated funds. What must be the income and accumulations now ?

BULLHOUSE

Copy of an old Letter relating thereto and to the maintenance of the Minister thereof :— My dear and Christian Friends, I hope you have all of you many serious thoughts of the great and awful breach it has pleased the Lord to make upon us by the death of the worthy and never-to-be-forgotten Mr. Denton. God knows and our own consciences will tell us if we make a faithful inquiry how we have prised and improved his excellent Ministry; we have all of us been faulty in this matter and some of us (I fear) very much so. It is now, therefore, our duty to be very deeply humbled for what has been amiss in the midst of us and speedily to reform, as we expect the Gospel in its power and purity to be continued unto us. WhatI have done in building the Chapel and for the maintenance of

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CHRISTOPHER DICKINSON. 151

the Ministry in this place I need not to tell you, nor need I mention how little has been done at all except by two or three persons. When Mr. Denton came hither at first I was both able and willing to allow him his Table, a horse keeping and twenty pounds a year in money. But since when I had many children to maintain, considerable sums to pay upon the marriage of my Daughters and had been at near two thousand pounds charge in building, I was obliged to borrow a great deal of money and so was not able to make good the twenty pounds a year to Mr. Denton which he was so sensible of that he was willing to make a considerable abatement. Now, after all that I have done I will for the future allow ten pounds a year to a Minister in money, his Table and a horse keeping or one of my own when he has occasion to go abroad. I hope you will all think this a good allowance from me but not a sufficient encouragement toa Minister of worth, learning and parts to fix with us such a one we have had, and such a one we will have or I will in my old age leave the place, but I hope better things. You know that in all other places the Dissenting Ministers are supported by the Free Gifts of their people and that it has not been so in this place is what you cannot find elsewhere; now not to trouble you or myself with words more than are necessary the matter in short is this—appoint two such persons as you think proper and fit to go about amongst us and see what everyone will freely subscribe to give a Minister and let them begin with me, and when that is done we shall know what prospect we have of supporting Religion and the work of the Gospel in this place. What I have now written I shall I hope follow with my serious and fervent prayers to the God of all Grace and mercy that he would be pleased effectually to incline all our Hearts to do and follow those things which make for the present, future and eternal peace and salvation of our own souls and the souls of all ours and to this end that we may obtain and maintain an able and faithful Minister to fix and reside with us.

I am, Dear Friends, Your affectionate Friend and Servant, Ries.

Dear Friend, I wrote this in March and laid it aside until now, which I begin to think was too long a delay,. You are the fittest person to see what our people will freely do in this great affair. I beg, therefore, you will undertake it, and take one with you which you judge most proper. James Rigby and Caleb Roebuck soon after Mr. Denton’s death did offer to do it, but I put them off, doubting something of their fitness. John Hadfield lately, I am told, intimated his willingness to go with you on this occasion, but I leave that to your own discretion. I am, your affectionate cousin, Bullhouse, June the 16th, 1721. Evx. RICH.

It is indorsed as follows: “To John Haigh, Shye.”

The original letters, which are both on the same sheet of paper, I found in our office, and sent them to the late Lord Houghton, November 26th, 1878.

CHRISTOPHER DICKINSON.

On the removal about 1644 of Sir Francis Wortley’s garrison from Penistone, one Christopher Dickinson intruded himself into the ministry at Penistone under the pretence of a tytle from one Mr. Copley, and there was considerable difficulty in getting him removed. 3

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152 HISTORY OF. PENISTONE.

It is recorded of him “that during all the tyme of his being here which is nere hand three years, hee hath preached though sometimes twice a day yet either altogether or for the most part other men’s works; and one thing four or five tymes or oftener repeated, on so many severall dayes without any progress at all only tyreing the tyme with tautologes and vaine iteracions to the wearying of the hearers and dishonour of the great God, Whose name ought not to be taken in vaine. “That hee is a common frequenter of alehouses and of idle company and hath been severall tymes drunk since his coming to Peniston; and that before his coming thither and after his entrance into the ministery, he kept a common tipling house. “That about November last having publicly in the parish church of Peniston given notice of a solemne thanksgiving to be celebrated the week following with promise to officiate himselfe the next day save one hee went on foote to Barnesley a market town 5 myles distant and there spent the said day of sollemnity and 2 days more in tipling and drinking amongst base lewd company, and when hee was halfe drunk for want of money sold his gloves. “That in January 1645 he was drunke on the fast day and not able to keepe it whereupon wee were forced to provide one Mr. George Didsbury to performe the office of that day. “That about... being halfe drunke hee fought with and abused the schoolmaster and sexton of the said towne of Peniston without any occasion given by them; and that hee hath had sundry quarrells with other men of worse esteeme.”’ On Mr. Dickinson’s removal from the vicarage, in a report issued by the Commissioners for ejecting scandalous ministers, some time afterwards we find him in the possession of the incumbency of Bolsterstone, which is at no great distance, and where it is reported that there was then ‘‘ no maintenance for a minister; the incumbent, Mr. Dickinson, is a scandalous man and a common haunter of ale-houses.” Instead of Mr. Dickinson the parishioners ‘‘ had made choise of one Mr. Walker, a godly and prayerfull minister, of whom by reason of Dickinson being there wee were disappointed.” After Dickinson had left, Mr. Copley, of Sprotborough, who probably claimed the right of presentation, proposed to find a successor, but this appears to have occasioned some demur on the part of the parishioners. Parliament had authorised Lord Fairfax to fill up the vacant pulpits in the County of York. In carrying out this order it is probable that he consulted the wishes of the principal parishioners; so that the parishioners of Penistone seem to have regarded themselves as having the right to control the election. With this view several of the more influential inhabitants had been looking forward to Mr. Dickinson retiring, and had made overtures to the Rev. Adam Martindale, of Gorton, in Lancashire, who was about to leave his congregation. We do not find, however, that any stranger was brought to Penistone at this time to reside. It seems not improbable that Mr. Timothy Broadley, who had been vicar previous to Mr. Dickinson, again returned to the vicarage ; but his stay could only have been of short duration, as we find recorded in the parish register 1650-1, Jan. 8, “ Timotheus Broadley, artium magister, vicarius ecclesize Penis- toniensis, sepult Cawthorniz.” Eyre’s Journal, however, states Jan. 17, 1648-9, that “ Mr. Swift promised to come to us the following Sunday,” but as the Journal ceases on the 26th of that month no further allusion is made.

At the muster of Militia at Barnsley in 1587 to repel the expected Armada, only two men were sent from Penistone and singularly enough these names

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THURLSTONE. 153

represented the two oldest families in the township—William Wordsworth and John Biltclyfe, both of whom were armed with pikes.

On the north side of the Church is a stone which commemorates the death of Edward Hardy, a surgeon, who died June 13th, 1811, during services which led to the capture of Batavia. He thus lost his life in the last action of ‘“ the Maritime war which also brought the extinction of the last remnant of colonial empire of France ” (Alison) previous to the conclusion of peace in 1814.

John Moxon, a bill-man, and John Holmes with a caliver attended the muster in 1587 from Hoylandswaine. William Catling the town soldier failed to appear. The fact that one of the Catlings served as a paid soldier for the township shows how the family was reduced. At this time Catling Hall was occupied by the Rev. John Sotwell, vicar of Penistone. He had come from Andover, in Hampshire, had been inducted into the living at Penistone April 2nd, 1574, and died 1594.

TPHURLSTONE. Thurlstone before the Conquest had been one of the most valuable

holdings in the Wapentake, but sixteen years after the Conqueror’s march was lying useless in the hands of de Laci.

The village is not named in Kirkby’s Inquest 1284, but it appears in the “ Nomina Villarum” 1316, and it was taxed with Penistone at the Inquisition of the Ninths 1341. In 1379 when we get the best view of the village in those early times we find it was more than three times as large as Penistone. In this Roll the village is called Dhurlestone, fifty-six persons were taxed, 16s. rod. was raised and seven persons were in business. Some of these names relate to families not yet forgotten in the neighbourhood :—

d. Willelmus Ryhs and Alicia vx ejus Mercer... sie ae Ss 11] Alexander de Hesilhed and Johanna vx ejus Selaster... ae aa Vj Thomas de Turton and Beatrix vx ejus Smyth Bae V] Thomas Russell and Johanna vx ejus Souter ... se sil one Vv] Hugo de Rodword and Beatrix vx ejus Smyth... ae aa Ber Vj Rogerus filius Roberti Herryson, Taylor oe a as Ses Vj Thomas de Apilyard and Cecilia vx ejus Shereman ... ass ea 4 Johnannes Rankeslay and Agnes vx ejus is a af eee Loe Thomas de Ranaw and Isabella vx ejus “as es a suse tag Johannes filius Johanna and Alicia vx ejus_... cae She Sorte uty Thomas Huddeson and Alicia vx ejus ... sae ae ae Tit Willelmus Russell and Alicia vx ejus ... ar ar ae seen CANT

Thurlstone sent a strong detachment to the muster at Barnsley, December 4th, 1587, at the alarm of the Spanish Invasion. Private men: Edward Rich, William Marsden, and John Skott were pikemen, but William Scott sent his man Nicholas Lee, an archer. Of the paid village soldiers there were Edward Firth and John Michell, archers; and William Thomson and John Nichols, pikemen.

In 1822 there were fourteen woollen manufacturers in Thurlstone, and several black warp and cloth dressers. William Wainwright was a pocket-book

Nes and Thomas Crossley, of Bullhouse Hall, had a fulling and scribbling mill.

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154 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

Hunter refers to a deed of the first year of Queen Mary as of importance in connection with the topography of the woollen trade in Yorkshire. It is made between Michael Wentworth of the first part and Robert Waterhouse, of Halifax, gent., John, George, and Gregory his sons on the other. The Queen had just cranted to the Waterhouses “the ferme of subsidy and alnage of all saylable woollen clothes and peaces of cloth hereafter to be made within the county of York and the moiety of all forfeitures of the same cloths and pieces of cloth put to sale not sealed with the seal ordained for the same ’”—for forty years at the yearly rent of £96 2s. The Waterhouses assign to Wentworth the profit from the places following :—Wakefield, Mirfield, Dewsbury, Ardslaw, Thornell, Woodkyrk, Leeds, Rothwell, Sandall, Darton, Hoyland, Emley, Almanbury, Huddersfield, Kirk- heton, Kirk- burton, Whike, Peniston,! Silkston, Sheafield, Ecclesfield, Bradfield, Barnsley, Cawthorne, Darfield, Wolley, Wys- purdale, Rotherham, Rawmarsh, Doncaster, Royston, Wath, Thriburgh, Aston, Aghton, Laughton, Cudworth, Loversel, Wadworth, and Elland—except the alnage and subsidy in Brighouse, Herteshed, Clyfton, and Kirkelease.

John Ellis, surgeon, of Silkstone, who died October 7th, 1766, and was buried at the Church there, has the following curious epitaph :

“ Life’s like an inn where travellers stay ; Some only breakfast and then away, Others to dinner stop and are full fed; The oldest only sup ard go to bed.”

a Hit cS =f

A f men

WATER HALL.

INGBIRCHWORTH AND GUNTHWAITE.

From an interesting article entitled “About Penistone,” in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph of August 3rd, 1895, I cull the following extracts :— At the foot of the hill near the town is an ancient house known as Water- hall, the old seat of the Wordsworths, from whom the poet sprang. It is so near to a.stream that like Waterhouse it must have derived its name therefrom,

1 No doubt as regards Peniston the parish would be intended, and Thurlston thus be included.

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INGBIRCHWORTH AND GUNTHWAITE. 155

or perhaps from a public well with a roof over it. It is mentioned in the fourteenth century as “ Atte Waterhalle.” As we get higher in the direction of the moors the air is cooler and rarer—it makes one feel more at ease with oneself; we begin to get hungry and to fancy that there is something almost delightful in Ingbirchworth—a hamlet which we have just reached—though the trees are so few and the buildings of the little place look as if once wealthy landlords had deserted them a century ago. As weramble on we are conscious by the local names that Danes or Norwegians once found a new home here in the days when parts of England were like the backwoods of America and wanted settling. I noticed on a handbill that this place was written Ing Birchworth. I daresay people think that this “Ing” is the well-known word which means “a meadow.” But it is not. That comes of knowing a lhttle too much. Instead of leaving the good old name as it was all in one piece, somebody has cut its head off and left its tail too long. It was better as it was, for it is the old Norse feminine name Ingibiorg, so that translating roughly we may call the place “Ingburg’s farm,” just as the next hamlet Gunthwaite was formerly Gunnhildthwaite or ‘“‘ Gunnhilds enclosure,” from the feminine name Gunnhildr. The odd thing is that these two places should be called after women. The sober antiquary will, of course, guess that their husbands had had their heads cut off for high treason, or that they had emigrated to Iceland and “left their girls behind them” and so on. It is an interesting study, but I will pass it by for the present as it may improve in the keeping. Leaving Ingbirchworth we come to Denby—the Danish village. We are now right in a Danish district, and passing on a little further we come to Gunthwaite, the seat of an ancient family who occupied it for ages. It belongs to the Bosvilles still, but they have ceased to live there. The old hall was pulled down many years ago, but many proofs still remain of the wealth and dignity of its former inhabitants. They have carved their arms on the . stonework of the outer buildings here and there, and the so fresh that it seems to have been done yesterday. One wonders why they pulled the old hall down. ‘There was a rage for pulling things down sixty or seventy years ago, just as there is a fashion for “restoring” them just now. From the scientific point of view that is the worst of the two, for it is better to have no evidence than false evidence. The most striking building at Gunthwaite is an immense barn which covers nearly half-an-acre. It seems to have been built in the fifteenth century. The upper part of it is a vast timber framework now painted in black and white, like the old houses one sees in Cheshire, the black representing the wood and the white the rubble and plaster by which the interstices are filled. But the most remarkable part of the building is the inside. The roof is supported by 24 great wooden pillars with stone bases, and the building reminds one of an ancient church with its nave and aisles. There are no less than six tall barn doors to gain access to this remarkable building. Formerly the whole produce of the estate—straw, hay and every- thing—was stored here. It was a roofed stack yard. The building is now divided into two parts by an internal wall, and this seems to have been the original arrangement. ‘The size of the two parts is unequal, and one may suppose that the larger division was used for rye which occupied more space than wheat straw, and the smaller for wheat. If the partition wall had not been there the building would have resembled the long nave and aisle of a cathedral It smells of dust and cobwebs of course, and many generations of rats must have found a home there. In the roof above the tie beams barn swallows flit about. They seem quite tame as though their grandfathers and grandmothers had long ago acquired a right to live there.

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156 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

GUNTHWAITE OLD BARN,

If the hall has gone, the old garden has not. It is sheltered from every unkind breath of wind by crumbling red brick walls covered by immense fruit trees, pears and plums, which occupy every inch of space on the inside, and on a hot summer’s day seem to be as warm as a toast. The garden keeper is deservedly proud of his garden, and he showed us every nook and corner of it. It is not lke your modern artificial garden, with foreign flowers set in rows, in squares and triangles. There is a sweet smell of lavender, of lad’s love, and many a herb and flower such as you see or used to see in cottage gardens far away from town. In one corner is a square stone summer house, with the Bosville arms carved upon it and a date which I forget exactly, but some- where about 1680. It looks as if it had been built yesterday and is quite perfect. It is entered by a door of carved oak, studded with great square nails. Here the Bosvilles and their friends may have smoked their little pipes and talked over the affiair of the State, or here the studious men may have retired to meditate or to turn over the leaves of some “kind-hearted play book.” Near the buildings is a huge oak which has seen better days for it is drawing near the end of its span of years. Hunter has described it in his “South Yorkshire ’—One often meets with such great trees near to old country seats and they seem to have been regarded with veneration. Sometimes you will meet with a cluster of four or five of them together, and hence such names as Sevenoaks, Five Oaks, which occur both in England and Germany. Judgment was given under such trees even as late as the thirteenth century. Gunthwaite lies amidst beautiful scenery, deep lanes and mysterious woods. It is hardly four miles from Penistone and is well worth a visit.

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OLD \PENISTONE. 157

No iron nails were used in the woodwork of the barn but only wooden pegs, and it is handed down that one of the apprentice lads of the carpenter who built the barn was employed during the whole of his apprenticeship in making the pegs required for it.

OLD PENISTONE. A PEEP INTO THE TOWN’S BOOKS.

The one before me begins as follows: “ Penistone, 20th July, 1818. A list of the inhabitants of the Township of Penistone chosen to act as committee- men respecting the management of the poor for the year ending on the 25th of March, 1819, viz.: Rev. J. Haworth, John Firth, Thomas Eyre, Edmund Smith, Joseph Bedford, Wm. Greaves, John Birks, Jonathan Wood, George Brown.” Another entry is: ‘“ Penistone, 6th June, 1819. A list of the inhabitants of the township of Penistone chosen to act as committee-men respecting the management of the poor and all other public matters respecting the township for the year ending 1st May, 1820: Principals—John Firth, Thomas Eyre, John Armitage, John Birks; deputies—George Brown, Joseph Bedford, Wm. Lock- wood, Jon. There were fines for non-attendance at the meetings: “If the Principal attends, the Deputy by neglect forfeits nothing; but if the Principal neglects without giving notice to the Deputy to attend in his place, he must forfeit Is. ; and if the Deputy neglects after receiving notice from his Principal, he must then forfeit 1s.” It was also resolved “‘ That if the Overseer neglect to attend, he shall be fined 1s. 6d. each time.” “Sept. 18th, 1826. Ata meeting held this day to take into consideration the right of prices at present charged for impounding cattle in this township ; resolved unanimously that any attempt to subvert the said rules which have been acknowledged by the inhabitants of this township from time immemorial shall be resisted by law. Witness our hands—Wm. Marsh, John Beaumont, James Mitchell, constable; John Armitage, G. Brown, Josh. Bedford, church- warden; Wm. Birks, Wm. Clark, Wm. Lockwood, John Hawksworth, overseer of poor.” “Oct. 7th, 1826. Ordered that all or part of the committee shall attend on Monday morning at the Poor-house to determine what repairs are necessary.” “At a meeting held on the 22nd Jany., 1827, it was resolved unanimously : that the sum of 15 pounds should be paid out of the highway rates, and 5 pounds out of the poor’s rate, towards meeting the grant from the London Committee for finding employment for the distressed manufacturers. J. D. Hurst, Jonas Beaumont, Josh. Bedford, John Armitage, John Beaumont, G. Brown, John Kenworthy, John Brown, Wm. Birks, G. Wombell, John Marsden.” Can any one reading this say what caused the distress that rendered necessary the raising of the above-mentioned grant ?—J.N.D. “1834. August 28th. At a meeting of the inhabitants of the parish of Penistone duly convened and held in the Vestry this day to take into considera- tion the repairing of Penistone Bridge, it is unanimously agreed to appoint the surveyors of the three following townships, viz., Penistone, Thurlstone, and Hunshelf, any two of which to be fully authorised to act in repairing the same bridge in such manner as they think proper. Signed on behalf of this meeting, Joseph P. Hague, chairman; George Eyre.” “At a meeting of the ratepayers of the township of Penistone held on the 30th of May, 1838, it was unanimously agreed that the overseer of the poor shall pay to the committee for building the Barnsley Court House the sum of five pounds, which it appears had been previously promised. Joseph Thickett,

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158 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

John Scholey, Abel Marsh, Jos. Mitchell, Joseph Shaw, George Coldwell, John Armitage, James Sharpley.” In 1834 Robert Pursglove was appointed mole-catcher for the year, £3 to be paid him; and in 1836, for half-a-year, £1 10s. to be paid him. It is handed down that Robert would have it that mole-catching was a profession, not a trade. He had formerly been a soldier. After a meeting held on the 25th of March, 1840, no other meeting is entered in this book, so I close with a list of those whose names appear in the book as ratepayers, office holders, or as otherwise engaged in the management of the affairs of the township for the years 1818 to 1840. The names, occupations, residences, and date of meeting when name first appears, are :—

Rev. John Haworth, curate, Penistone ae Si ... July 20th, 1818 Jonathan Wood, schoolmaster, Penistone ~ re re O. John Firth, gentleman, New Chapel ... ae a do. Thomas Eyre, maltster, Old Chapel .., se ne do. Edmund Smith, innkeeper, Rose and Crown Inn ... oak do. Joseph Bedford, innkeeper, Old Crown Inn ... Se ee do. William Greaves, cloth dresser, Kirkwood ... an By do. John Birks, yeoman, Penistone Green oe af ei do. George Brown, innkeeper, Horns Tavern ... do

William Lockwood, saddler, Penistone an on December 24th, 1818 John Thickett, cloth manufacturer, Newhouse Hill... do.

Richard Birks, farmer, Waterhall ois ae — do. John Armitage, cloth man, Schole Hill ... June 6th, 1819 J. Mitchell, cloth man, Penistone Green iad ee ... May 29th, 1820 Isaac Marsh, carpenter, Cubley woh re aa do. John Booth, surgeon, Penistone Bre ee nafs ee do. John Marsden, shopkeeper, Penistone aes ws es do. Benj: Milnes, linen draper, Penistone ek ies ee do. William Birks, shopkeeper, Penistone Eh vee soe [UNG SiG. regs John Beaumont, butcher, Penistone ... do

John Kenworthy, shoemaker, Penistone Es “August 6th, 1825

James Mitchell, draper, Penistone a eae ae March 17th, 1826 John Hawksworth, shopkeeper, postmaster ... tee April 1st, William Marsh, farmer, Penistone Green ... ... september 18th, 1826 ‘ O

William Clarke, innkeeper, Spread Eagle Inn

JOD. Hutst, curate, Penistone =. Pee January 22nd, 1827

Jonas Beaumont, butcher, Penistone ... wie sie do. George Wombell, druggist, Penistone 8 Ba do. John Crossley, farmer, Water Hall. ... Bie .«. November 6th, 1829 John Hawley, carpenter, Penistone Green ... Lee do. Benj": Lawton, carpenter, Penistone Green ... Se do. Matthew Brown, stonemason, Penistone oak as do. Joseph Helliwell, cloth man, Penistone vice ae do. Benj": Moorhouse, tinner, Penistone ... oes i ... May 6th, 1831 Rev. Samuel Sunderland, curate aoe cee Us Se do. Charles Marsh, mason, The Nook ... ci: ie bits do. John Scholey, shopkeeper, Penistone ... ie september 22nd, 1831 Abel Marsh, innkeeper, Horns Tavern oe ... september 23rd, 1833 Daniel Silverwood, farmer, The Gravels do. George Biltcliff, watchmaker, Penistone... a do.

William Marsden, pinder, Penistone Green ... ase do.

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REV. CHARLES WALTER HUDSON. 159

Benj. Brearley, land valuer, Penistone Green ie ...June 28th, 1834 Richard Lawton, carpenter, Penistone Green sei ait do. Robert Pursglove, mole catcher, Penistone Green ... nae do. John Brown, farmer, Woodend a oda ce do. Joseph Shaw, innkeeper and shoemaker, Penistone... Ke do. James Swift, tailor, Penistone ... aa Je coe March 2oth, 1835 Benj". Marsh, carpenter, Cubley ws ae be do. Isaac Silverwood, farmer, The Nook ... are an do. John Barrow, innkeeper, Spread Eagle Inn ... ae JUMe) Charles Berry, farmer, Shepherd’s ... veptember 22nd, 1835 George Coldwell, farmer, Penistone Common a Wecember 20th, 1535 John S. Crossley, farmer, Water Hall... Bee aes do. Joseph Mitchell, farmer, Castle Green ae ae. ... May oth, 1836 John Bedford, farmer, Penistone ie aks ats October 3rd, 1836 William Blakeley, shopkeeper, Penistone ve do. William Shaw, flax dresser, Penistone ee aap do. David Hinchliffe, weaver, Penistone ... a auf do. Benj®- Shaw, shoemaker, Penistone ... re We do. Joseph Thickett, farmer, Newhouse Hill ee aes March 22nd, 1837 James Sharpley, farmer, Schole Hill ... ed eas do. Thomas Roebuck, teacher at Grammar School $2, do. Joseph Downing, carpenter, Penistone Green ae October gth, 1838 Jonathan Brown, innkeeper, Rose and Crown Inn ... March 25th, 1840

Baines’ Directory of 1822, Whites’ Directory of the West Riding of 1838’ and Pigotts’ of York and other counties of 1841, give accounts of Penistone and its inhabitants at those dates.

REV. CHARLES WALTER HUDSON.

The Rev. Charles Walter Hudson, who was for many years agent for the Bosville Estates in this district and elsewhere, died on the 4th of October, 1goo, aged 93 years. He was the second son of Harrington Hudson, of Bessingby Hall, Bridlington, by Lady Anne Townshend, whose next sister married the Duke of Leeds. After taking his degree at Cambridge, he was presented by Lord Middleton to the rectory of Saundby, Nottingham, and shortly afterwards he married Julia, second daughter of Lord Macdonald of Armadale, Isle of Skye, and Thorpe Hall, Bridlington. Subsequently he vacated the living of Saundby for that of Trowell, near Nottingham, also in the gift of Lord Middle- ton, and lived there for many years. After leaving the ministry he resided at Marton Hall, Bridlington, and finally settled at Montague House, Bridlington, where he died. He was brother to Sir James Hudson, of whom the late Lord Palmerston, when asked for the best diplomatist he ever had, said: *‘I had two—Hudson and Stratford Canning; I don’t know which was best.” The Rev. C. W. Hudson was a capital agent, and much esteemed by the tenants on the Bosville Estates. He was a good judge of horses and all kinds of farm stock; and although of small stature he was a very determined man, as the following account of the notorious Saundby burglary on the 17th January, 1848. as written shortly afterwards by himself in a letter to a friend, will show. He said therein :— _ I was sitting in my drawing-room between 11 and 12 o’clock at night finishing a book when I heard someone at the window; and thinking it was my gardener who wished to see me I got up and went to the window. The shutters were closed and the curtains drawn. Finding one of the panes of

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160 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

glass was being cut I came to the conclusion it was not my gardener but some thieves endeavouring to get into the room. I immediately iurned out the lamp I was reading by and went to a passage window close by, when three men came and stood before me dressed in smock-frocks. They tried the handle of the door and, finding it locked, went to the next window where I first heard them, and commenced to take out one of the squares. I then ran upstairs and told Mrs. Hudson, who was in bed, that I had seen three men about, but if she would keep still I thought they might go away, and then returned downstairs and called my man-servant, who slept in his pantry, telling him to get up imme- diately and bring his double-barrelled gun to the drawing-room door. I went into my study, got the poker, and returned to the drawing-room door, and found the men had taken out a square of glass and opened the bottom shutter of the window. While I was standing at the door with my man watching the burglars’ proceedings, one of them crawled into the room through the window on his hands and knees. I told my servant that when I went into the room and knocked the man down with the poker he was to come to me. Before I went in, the man in the room called to his companions outside, “Come in through the window.” I took the gun from my servant and could have shot the whole three at one shot had I chosen to doso. I, however, handed him back the gun, saying to myself I would never shoot three men with a shot like a dog. As the man who had entered was drawing up the blind, I went up to him with the poker, after previously taking off my shoes and cap, intending to give him a blow on the skull, but he saw the reflection of the poker on the white blind, and turned round to look at me. I at once felled him to the ground, but unfortunately his head fell through the open window at which he entered, and his two companions immediately commenced to drag him out. I seized hold of him by the back of his neck and held on him till the men outside pulled me against the window and through it, carrying away five great squares of glass and all the frame-work—I still holding my friend by the back of the neck. I was then attacked by the other two fellows with a bludgeon and a life preserver and very severely dealt with, having my arm cut with the life preserver through my clothes to the bone, and being struck on the head with a bludgeon. In the midst of this I saw my man coming through the broken glass of the window with the double-barrelled gun. I called to him to shoot on the burglars, and on his firing the gun off two of the three men bolted. As the third was trying to get away I caught him with my fist at the back of the ear and felled him to the ground. I then got upon his neck and rammed his nose into the ground and told my man to bring the gun and pitch into him whilst I sat upon his neck. I first of all saw the locks of the gun go, then the stock, and then told my man to pitch into him with the barrels. After a time he ceased struggling to get away and said he had had enough. I told him he could get up, but if he attempted to get away I would knock him down with the gun-barrel, and gave him in charge of my gardener, who sat with him until the following morning, when I took him to Retford before the Magistrates. The result was that he was tried at the Nottinghan Assizes on March toth, found guilty and transported for life, he having previously had seven years transportation. After the trial the judge sent his messenger to ask me to dine with him that evening to meet the Grand Jury, which invitation I accepted. When the party broke up I went to make my bow to the judge when he said “I! must congratulate you, Mr. Hudson, on your bravery, but I cannot say so much by your servant.” I replied “ My lord, he is a capital man to clean boots and shoes and knives and forks, but he was never born to fight.”

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PENISTONE CHURCH. 161

Mr. Hudson restored the Church at Saundby at a cost of £3,000, and the woodwork thereof was done by Messrs. Thomas and Joseph Hawley, of Penistone, who have done much work on the Bosville Estates for many years. Mr. Hudson, his wife and children are all buried at Saundby.

About 1827 part of the road between Bridge End, Penistone, and Watch House Hill, Thurlstone, fell into a very bad state owing to a dispute between the two townships as to their respective liability. An Indictment was the result, which being tried at York Assizes, it was decided that the liability to keep the road in repair laid on the Township of Thurlstone.

Watch House Hill is said to have been so named in the year 1745, when the Scotch rebels advanced south as far as Derby, and to prevent surprise the inhabitants erected a watch house here, each householder in turn keeping watch during the night.

In 1853 Lord Scarborough as the Lord of the Manor of Thurlstone, claimed all the stone in the common lands of the township that could be worked through stone quarries. Mr. William Bayley, of Stamford Lodge, Stalybridge, a large landowner in the township, resisted his claim. A writ was issued against Mr. Bayley in January 1854, and after a trial at York Assizes and another in London, a verdict was, on June 8th, 1855, given in favour of Mr. Bayley. My father was his Solicitor in this important action. He had Sir Fitzroy Kelly as his leading counsel on the last trial, and Professor Phillips, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Edward Binney, of Manchester, noted geologists, were amongst his witnesses.

In 1854 Mr. John Booth, surgeon, Penistone, having diverted through land of his, to his house at Penistone, the water running from Tokers Well in the Backfields, Penistone, to Stottercliffe Road, Mr. Samuel Coward, the owner of Schole Hill Estate, restored the water to its proper course. Mr. Booth thereupon issued a writ against him, and at the trial of the action at York Assizes the case was referred to Mr. Henry Manisty, barrister-at-law, who in October following made his award in Mr. Coward’s favour. My father was Mr. Coward’s solicitor.

PENISTONE CHURCH.

The following interesting extracts regarding Penistone Church I take from “Our Village Annals” by Historicus, which appeared in the Barnsley Inde- pendent in and about 1890. He says :— In my notice of the Church I made reference to the consolidation of the two medieties at Penistone, 1232, following chiefly but not altogether the account given by Hunter. Since it appeared I have had an opportunity of consulting Archbishop Gray’s Register (from 1215 to 1255) which has the following notices. 15 Kal. Juli xi (June 17, 1225). The Archbishop granted a pension of Io marks per annum de camera (sic) nostra (from our chancellor) to Mr. Geoffrey de Ludham. 17 Kal. Feb. xiii (Jan. 16,1227). Institution of John, son of Simon, to the mediety of the church of Penegelston at the presentation of Thomas de Burgo. 7 Kal. Sept. xiii (August 26, 1227). Collation of Mr. Godfrey de Ludham to a mediety of the church of Penegeston, “ which has come to us by lapse.” 4 Non. Sept. xvii (Sept. 2, 1231). Confirmation of a grant made by Geoffrey de Ludham to Robert de Brikenhal, clerk, of the mediety of the tithe of corn, &c., which John de Ruphus had.

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162 HISTORY “OF

15 Kal. Mar. xvii (Feb. 15, 1232). A mediety of Penistone Church being vacant which John de Ruphus (i.e. John son of Simon mentioned above) held, and Robert de Brikenhal being presented to the vacant part by John de Kirkby, as guardian of the land and heir of Adam Burg the matter is referred to us. We unite the vacant mediety to the other giving the whole to Mr. Geoffrey de Ludham, allowing the said Robert the portion which the said Rector (de Lud- ham) gives him with the assent of the said John, the said Robert giving to the church yearly two torches containing two pounds of wax each. In Hunter, Robert de Brikenhal is called R. de Kirkham.

One of the sons of Benjamin Milnes, the old sexton, was John Milnes, a man standing 6 feet 3 inches in height. He once performed a feat which, although unintended, as reported in Mr. Wood’s “‘ Remarkable Occurrences,” proved him to possess presence of mind and activity of body which enabled him to recover himself from a position of great danger and peril. Being on the top of the church tower one day, with his hands placed on each side of one of the openings looking east, he balanced himself on his arms whilst making a feint of putting his feet through the opening. This was repeated several times until pretence became reality, and he found himself too far over to recover his balance. The leads of the roof of the church lay at a depth of 75 feet below, a fearful prospect. But a more merciful fate awaited him; within reach of his feet, placed at right angles from the wall of the tower, stood out one of those hideous stone figures which adorn the walls of ecclesiastical edifices of a certain date; without loosing his grip of the stones above the young man threw himself astride of the stone figure ; how he maintained his hold for one terrible moment is surprising, and equally so how undaunted he recovered himself, and reached the roof of the tower unhurt. A man named Johnson, ostler at the Rose and Crown Inn was with him at the time, but on Milnes’ disappearance over the tower he descended the steps expecting to find his lifeless body below.

FROM THE CHURCHWARDENS (ACCOUNTS:

The following particulars are taken from “ A Short History of the Parish Church,” by kind permission of Mr. Frederick Crawshaw.

1666 ‘There was allowed for the Arraying of 4 Apprentices foure nobles, and for their Indentures one noble 1696 Paid for the Prisoners at York Castle, Acquittance and Charges Given to a Traveller that had been abused in Turkey Given to several poor Travellers and a Bedlamer and his wife Paid for ten Foomards—heads and a Bawson’s-head For ringing Nov. 5 : Paid for a Bel-rope 4s. éd., and bringing it home 2d. 1697 Given to a poor Sufferer by the late inundations For Ringing Nov. 5 8s., on the Thanksgiving ue 6s. 8d. 1698 Given to several Travellers with passes Paid for mending the Clock Given to a Poor Minister 1699 Paid for 2 Foxes heads Given to a poor Merchant that ‘had suffered great ‘losses by Shipwreck on the Coasts of Scotland Allowed as a Gratuity to Mr. Hough towards repairs of the Vicaridee 7.7 1700 |, Paid fora. Book of Acts of Parliament and Proclamations, Be

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Page 181

1701

1702

1703 1704

1712 1717

1718

1722

1726

1735 1736

FROM THE CHURCHWARDENS’ ACCOUNTS.

Paid to John Butterworth and John Bamforth for setting up the Pinnacle of the steeple that was broken down by the wind For reparing the Churchyard wall that was broken down by the Fall of the Old Elm Tree.. #3 For Ringing on the Coronation Day For Ringing on the Thanksgiving day ... For 7 Foomards’ heads and a Mart’s head For 26 Foomards’ heads = aes For one Fox’s head For one Ottar’s head ... To Mr. Spenser for Boards for the Pulpit Sounder .. For Fetching ’em ae ‘Po. tie Ringers on ye Thanksgiving day i in June ... To the Ringers on the Queen’s Birthday .. One Old Fox ... Fetching the Clock Face from Wakefield — Spent at a meeting of the Parishioners ... To ye Ringers upon K Chs. arrival at Madrid To the Ringers on the Coronation Day The Book of Homilies . ate Expenses when Mr. B osseville viewed the steeple ae One Young Fox To the Ringers for the whole year on Sundays Spent when we Bargain’d for the Ch. pointing Given to the Pointers for Earnest of the Bargain ... To John and Thos. Heads for Pointing and Plaistering To R. Milnes for 14 Days’ Work o’the top of ye steeple 222 Stone of New Lead, ts. 8d. per Stone 396 Stone of old Lead casting and laying, 4d. per Stone Spent at Drawing up the pole to ye top o’th To Mr. Addinal for Beautifying the Church A Fox head to Mr. Rich’s men ... vee Allow’d more to the Ringers 5s. on the news of the April 15th Mamorand that this year the Vickerage being vacant, some extraordnory charge has been alowed to the officers, but to be no president Paid upon King George Proclamation Day to the Ringers ..: A new Surplice Cloath, Thread, and Making es To Jos. Hawksworth for working ye Bell Frames, Upper floor, and Hanging ye Bells ae ee For wood and working ye neather floor ... For Treating Parson Penn : To Abel Tinker for a Fox Head _ one aes et A New Rod for Churchwarden’s ose see oer Spent on Holmfirth Singers The New Vicarage House at Peniston was is begun be built im ye year 1726 by Thomas Cockshutt, then Vicar, toward which was contributed by ye Parishioners and others the sum of £141 16s. od. To John Smalbout (Dog eee) Ze ee A new Whip Lash eae aie

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Page 182

164

1736 1749

1796

HISTORY OF PENTSFONE:.

To John Smalbout for Whipping Ye Dogs Easter Tuesday, March 28th, 1749. MrMoRANDUM.—That it was agreed upon at a Meeting of Parishioners of Peniston, that no Churchwarden for the future allow more than one shilling for any Fox that shall be killed in the said Parish. It being supposed the said Parish hath been imposed upon by the neighbouring Parishes who allow no more than one shilling. Witness our hands the day and year above said. (Signed by twelve parishioners). For some 20 years the above resolution was acted upon and the price set upon a Fox’s head was ts., but in 1771 and subsequently the old price of 6s. 8d. was ‘paid. Memorandum that at a Public Meeting on Easter Tuesday, 1915, held in the Parish Churcher Penistone, it was con- cluded and agreed upon that hereafter no person residing out of the said Parish of Penistone shall receive any remuneration for destroying foxes, whether they be killed in the Parish or not. Signed by J. Haworth, Curate, three Churchwardens, and two Inhabitants. Memorandum That the Gentlemen’s Quire (now the South Chapel) was repaired in 1749 at the “Charge of the follow- ing gentlemen :— Seats. Mr. Rich for Turton Land » Walker for Dean Head 5 Walker & Mr. Mason » Fenton, 1 Closet » Lhomas Pearson , Joshua Newton , Matthewman.. Wordsworth, of Softley ae , Marsden & Miss Hinchiiff ....

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Total Robert Armroyd’s Bill for repairs in 1749 was 12s. 6d., which was 7d. a Seat and 4d. over on the whole. An account of subscriptions for an Organ for Peniston Church, being the first ever fixed here, 1768, oy ath:: Paid for Organ, Carriage, &c.. This Organ was a new one, but not ‘very good. In 1802 there was granted at a Parish Meeting towards a new Organ : : and in addition was raised by ‘subscription a The old organ valued and taken in exchange at... New Organ cost

Wakefield carriage free. Sep. 28th. It was ordered by the Archdeacon, inter alia, “That the Tomb and Grave Stones in the Church Yard be repaired by the Owners and in case of neglect that the side and end stones be removed and the top. stones laid flat.” If this order was ever acted upon, which is perhaps doubtful, it has become necessary after the lapse of over a century

Mr. John Rollin, Oxspring, conveyed the said Organ from

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Page 183

FROM THE CHURCHWARDENS’ ACCOUNTS. 105

and in the cause of decency and order, that some such course should be adopted now and our God’s acre made, as it might be with little cost, a brighter and more pleasing place. 1803 Was expended by the Churchwardens for a “ Drill Sergeant,”

according to agreement uy se’ ss Says LOMO. O 18c4 The Church and Steeple were pointed according to Estimate at a cost of ... ae Ae ves ea ime 45 OF 5 O 1807. Was expended on the Bells Ba Bae ae 1808 Geo. Brown’s bill for Church Yard Wall ... ae P40. HOR, O The Total Expenses of the Wardens that year being £340 8s. 4d. 1814 A paid Singing Master was employed and the Wardens incurred “ Expenses at Thurlstone to prevent Bear-baiting.” 1817. New Clock ox 84) Cr 6 New Clock for Ringers... ak nas oak ie ae eo Mr. Bedford bill for liquor used in taking down and putting up Clock Face ie ss ae Matthew Brown bill for gilding Clock face ie 4 18. +O 1819 Messrs Faulds & Co., for Gates in the Church Porch be to be NO 1825 [xpences for eating, &c. (while in custody at G. Brown's) of a man who in a fit of insanity went into the Reading Desk and stripped himself almost naked before the Congregation on Christmas Day... Sak se ie Pd 8 1826 John ‘Thorp’s bill for Vestry Building... ib Rees t4 6 Paid for Estimates for letting the saine se Ray On, © Paid for Rearing Supper for do. saree be! see 1828 Pickslay’s for Safe and Pipes ... vee wis ec EO 1832 Sextoness’s Wages ia > 6 1837 Hearse House ... : 24 1G: AO)

There is a list of Churchwardens, Overseers of the Poor and Highways, complete and continuous, with the exception of the years 1642-1646 inclusive, down. to the present day, and one needs but remember that the missing years were those of the Civil War, when King and Parliament were hotly contending for supremacy and in which the worthies of Penistone were deeply interested and involved. In this list we find the names of women recurring as Churchwardens, Overseers of the Poor, and Overseers of Highways, thus :—

1670 Mary Hawksworth, Churchwarden and Overseer of the Poor. — Alice Trout, Overseer of Highways. 1677 Widow Roebuck, Overseer of the Poor. 1684 Widow Greaves, Overseer of the Poor. 1689 Ann Priest, widow, of Bradshaw, Churchwarden, and in 1691 Overseer of the Poor. 1690 Widow Bulroyd, Churchwarden.

_ Ina brief but vivid character sketch of General Booth in the Independent Review for October, 1904, Miss Bethain-Edwards says :— Wherever the English tongue is spoken, in the farthermost corners of the globe, the Salvation barracks are now to be found—rallying point of the Anglo-Saxon race, haven of rest to the exile and the wanderer, connecting link between the mother-land and her scattered children. No other country has anything like it, no former civilization can show its counterpart. By the side of this astounding organisation all other schemes and systems having similar alms sink into comparative insignificance. pa ea et 5

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166 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

GREAT SALE AT

Madam Diana Beaumont, of Bretton Hall, died August roth, 1831, and on the 23rd of April, 1832, and the two following days a sale by auction, which excited great interest throughout the country, took place at Bretton Hall, when the scene was one of great life and gaiety. The auctioneer was the celebrated Mr. George Robins, “ Of auction renown, Who made a great fortune by knocking things down,” and at that day is stated to have paid £5000 a week in advertising. ‘The sale had been so extensively made known by the celebrated auctioneer, and his eloquent advertisements had proved so attractive, that as the event approached the catalogues were bought with the utmost avidity, and fashionable company flocked to Bretton Hall from every side in such numbers as to engage all the post-horses at Wakefield, Barnsley, Huddersfield, Dewsbury, and other towns. When the sale commenced, some thousands of persons were assembled in the great banqueting-room of the hall with a large temporary room added. ‘The Duke of Devonshire and many other notabilities were present. The celebrated and splendid Magna Charta painted glass window repre- senting the armorial bearings of the barons assembled at Runnymeade, fifteen feet by thirteen, and which had cost £1,000, sold for go guineas, and the Dome Conservatory, one of the finest in the Kingdom and which had cost Mrs. Beaumont £15,000, was after a languid bidding knocked down to Mr. Bentley of Rotherham for 520 guineas.

Considering Madam Beaumont’s connection with Penistone, the following letter will be read with much curiosity :— . MapaME BEAuMoNT oF Bretron HALL. To the Editor of the Barnsley Chronicle. Si, I have been much interested with the account of the family of Beaumont of Darton and Bretton published in your columns, and beg to send you the following cuttings from the Notes and Queries column of the Sheffield and Rotherham Independent of the 18th and 25th May, 1876, which contain some information about Madame Beaumont. “H.J.H.,” May 18th, 1876, says: “I never heard who was the mother of the child through whom the Bretton estates passed to the present line of owners, nor where the child was born. An old lady, on whose mind disagreeable speeches made indelible impression, once related in my hearing that—now, I suppose, nearly a century ago—she met, I think, at Mr. Heywood’s at Wake- field, the great heiress of Bretton. There was also present a corporation lady of that day who, on the conversation turning to a genealogical subject, said loudly to the heiress, “If they begin to talk about pedigree, twill be time for you and me to hold our tongues.” Madame Beaumont (18th May, 1876). ‘“H.J.H.” says he never heard who was the mother of the famous Madame Beaumont who inherited the Bretton Hall property from Sir Thomas (Blackett) Wentworth. I believe I am correct in saying that she was a Wordsworth, daughter of a Jonathan Wordsworth, mercer of Penistone, and her name was either Betsey or Nancy. I am anxious to find out where Madame Beaumont was born. The parish registers here give no clue. Although she spent her childhood here, and I was told a short time ago by an old aunt that her grandmother went to school with “ Dinah Words- worth,” afterwards famous as Madame Beaumont, and that her mother’s name was “Nance,” who in her old age lived in a cottage near Bretton Hall.

Page 185

PREACHING IN. THE -EIGHTEENTH - CENTURY. 167

Lord Houghton, who is related to the Wordsworths through the Riches of Bullhouse Hall, told a friend of mine whilst staying at Bretton Hall a story (which I had heard before frequently, but put down as only legendary) to the effect that the servants had insulted the mother of Diana, and her dignity being touched she could not allow it to pass unnoticed, so she ran to the hall and made her way into the room where the guests were assembled (the house was full of company at the time) and accused her daughter of encouraging her servant in insulting her own mother, saying “ Di, Di, Di, is it for this that I washed thee thee face when thou wert mucky when a child?” I have heard other versions of this story, viz., that she took a seat at the table and made herself generally as unruly as possible purposely to annoy her daughter and Colonel Beaumont. The “ Great Arke,” which was the subject of some correspondence between Joseph Hunter, the poet Wordsworth, and Mr. Gamaliel Milner some forty-five years ago or so, was discovered at Bretton Hall, and was taken there from Jonn Wordsworth’s, of Penistone. In the fly-leaf of a book in the possession of a member of the Wordsworth family now living at Penistone there is written: ‘* Jonn Wordsworth (or Jas., 1 am not certain which just now) his book. Given by Sir Wm. Wentworth, Bart., 1756.” Yours, &c., Penistone. ou.

I have a sheet on which are printed “ Lines on a Remarkable Circumstance connected with Bretton Hall.” ‘They record the disappearance of Sir Wm. Wentworth Blackett, and after the lapse of twenty-one years returning in the guise of a beggar-man on the day of the second marriage of his wife and claiming her. The writer of the “ says : ‘“My honest story I must now conclude, Which may by some be as a fiction viewed ; But, sirs, the boots in which Sir William went Are kept in memory of that event ; The very hat he wore preserved has been At Bretton Hall, where they may yet be seen.” I cannot vouch, however, myself that such is the fact—indeed, should doubt it.

IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. “John Wesley, the organiser of the great Methodist movement, would never have produced so deep an impression on his age had not God simulta- neously raised up for the awakenment of his church Charles Wesley, the poet of the movement, and George Whitefield, the preacher. . . . . . } “That deadness began at the Restoration. We have the strange and deplorable testimony of a contemporary that for some time after 1660 the name of Charles Il. was mentioned in sermons far more often than the name of Christ. Now a Christian is a Christian; he derives his name from Christ ; he takes his example from Christ; to Christ he owes the inestimable gift of redemption. A Christless preaching has no deep roots and can produce no great results. In the eighteenth century most clergymen seemed to be afraid to preach Christ crucified. They preached in language euphemistic or inflated or coldly classical, either on subjects purely trivial or ‘screeds’ of ‘ fusionless ’ morality. “ Judge Blackstone testifies that in the early years of George III., he went from church to church to hear every clergyman of note in London. He says that he did not hear a single discourse which had more Christianity in it than

Page 186

168 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

the writings of Cicero, and that from most of the sermons which he heard it would have been impossible to discover whether the preacher was a follower of Confucius or Mahomed or of Christ. “Further than this, the preaching of the day was utterly conventional, and

conventional preaching can never reach and touch the Archdeacon Farrar.

NONOGENARIANS IN PENISTONE AND DISTRICT.

That the bracing moorland breezes which blow over Penistone and the Districts around are conducive to longevity, I may state that I find in Wood’s Penistone Almanacks for 1872 (the date of its first publication) to 1904 both inclusive, the deaths recorded of 262 persons who had attained 80 years of age and upwards but not go years, and 16 who had attained go years and upwards. I give the names and addresses of those who attained the latter age :—- Nathaniel Crossland, Donhill House, Hunshelf, died June 6th, 1873, aged g2. Thomas Peace, Hunshelf, died August 27th, 1873, aged go. Enoch Jubb, Thurlstone, died December 29th, 1880, aged 94. Elizabeth Taylor, Penistone, died July 30th, 1883, aged 96. Mary Norton, Thurlstone, died January 12th, 1885, aged 95. Jonathan Woodhouse,! Catshaw, died Sept. 13th, 1886, aged go. Elizabeth Hattersley, Hollin Busk, died Nov. 26th, 1886, aged 94. Harriet [lingworth, Thurgoland, died Sept. 16th, 1887, aged 92. Michael Marsden, late of Cubley Hall, Penistone, died June 27th, 1890, aged 93. [Elizabeth Dickinson, Hoylandswaine, died March 28th, 1892, aged g7. John Woodcock Rayner, Penistone, died June 13th, 1893, aged nearly go. Jonas Hinchliffe, Penistone, died November 22nd, 1894, aged 96. Jonathan Wood, Clayton West, April 8th, 1898, aged go. Joseph Beaumont, Hoylandswaine, died February ist, tgo1, aged 92. Mary Lockwood, Thurlstone, died January 1oth, 1903, aged gr. Sarah Ann Cousins, Penistone, died September 11th, 1903, aged 93.

OLD -PENISTONE, Extracts from a book kept by John Scholey when Constable of Penistone,

1830 to 1840. A JACK OF ALL Hear me, if you please, while I truly relate That poor Thorpe was a weaver and kept a toll-gate ; An innkeeper, too, he was once in this town, But the Horns left the Head and were soon taken down; He is now a pig butcher, and a shaver of men, Also the town crier, and church clerk, Amen ! He is a pinder of cattle that happen to stray, And a bye-law man, too, that shows water its way ; ‘Though various his trades, and extensive his race, Grey blossoms may plainly be seen in his face ; Expensive they’ve been, there’s none can dispute, God knows what they will be when they ripen to fruit.

William Thorpe, the person referred to in the above lines, resided at one time in the cottage in the old Rose and Crown yard, Penistone, which when the inn was pulled down in 1868 was occupied by James Taylor. He was parish clerk for a period between the two terms Benjamin Brearley, the father of the

1 He was born at Oxspring in the year 1796; was apprenticed to George Brown, papermaker, of Moorhallows, Thurlstone, in 1810; and was the last of the founders of Bullhouse Sunday

School.

Page 187

OLD PENISTONE.

169

late sexton, John Brearley, held the office, and possessed a powerful voice suitable

for the post.

Amongst those he killed pigs for was Mr.

John Rolling, of

Oxspring Mills, six a day generally for him, and as a quart of ale was the allowance for each pig killed in those days, it may be gathered what caused

the “ grey blossoms ”

1831. Oct. 28.

Novy. 5.

Dec: 22.

Dec. 28.

1832.

Mar. 28.

May 11.

sep. 5.

1833. Feb. 20

May 18 June 3.

Dep.. 15; Bust

Similar items with respect to overseers,

on William’s face to which is made.

Darton Certificate Constable and Deputy journey ‘to Darton Court I Paid to Pinder ee sisi William Thorp for crying Statutes To Thorp, crying a Meeting Summoning two teams to go with and attendance Summoning two teams to go with Sheffield and attending them

soldiers’ baggage to

er c soldiers’ baggage to

To Barnsley to put overseers on for the poor Wm. Thorp for putting up advertisements Paid to Pinder Straw for Prison Highway precept Journey to Barnsley w ith Publicans list. Handy Cufts Wm. Thorp crying a meeting . Highway appointment of Surveyors Journey to Barnsley to put on Surveyors

. Inquest at Thurlstone over Thomas Heward

Pass Reliefs to persons going to Ireland and journeys to Thurlstone with them Relief to 396 travellers from Nov. 1831, to Oct. 1832 Rent for Lock-up : Accounts making up ... Accounts putting in town’s book

Noticing three teams from Thurlstone to go with baggage and attending them Bais ae Inquest at Langsett, chimney sweep. Person poorly not able to walk coach fare to Sheffield Paid Benjamin Brearley crying a meeting Inquest at Hoylandswaine Pass reliefs to persons going to Ireland and journeys to Thurlstone with them : Rehef to 283 travellers from Nov. 5 1832, to Oct. 215 1833 surveyors of the

highways, publicans and Darton Court as last year.

1834.

May 13. July 30. Sep. 21.

Paid Charles Rhodes for calling a meeting Lock for Pinfold

Crying a meeting... : ang oe Expended at a meeting for ale. Sa oe Simon Lawton, warrant backing : sta ae Two days and expenses trying to catch him Water Hall Bridge, repairing ... ane

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Page 188

170 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

1 5. Octi24, Crying Statutes Hamm. 8 0° 8 Dec. 15. Giving notes to all the inhabitants to bring their weights and measures to be adjusted at George Brown’s is Ou » bo. Crying Matketidaye me: : es ee o> OO is Paper and Candles... ne +s»

Other items similar to those of previous years.

1835: Jan. 21, burying dues for tramp 2s. 7d.; for burying dress 7s. 5d. ; Mar. 10, Inquest at Langsett 15s.; June 16, Journey to Sheffield to meet Mr. Badger, the coroner, on J. Bradley’s account; June 17, to Rotherham and Sheffield a second time, when he had gone to Manchester, and summonsing Thurlstone and Oxspring for Jury 14s.; June 18, Inquest at Penistone, J. Brad- ley, 14s. 3d.; Nov. 5, Crying Statutes Fair 6d. 1836: Jan. 4, to John Hawley, prison door locks mending 2s. 6d ; Aug. 12, Pinfold lock mending 4d. Relief to 402 travellers from Nov. 55 1834, to Oct. 31, 1835, £3 Nov., Crying Statutes Fair 6d.; Expenses at Statutes Fair of persons charged to assist the constables 2s. 1837: Jan. 9, journey to Barnsley with a vagrant, warrant and commitment 7s.; Feb. 23, journey to Rotherham for the coroner, and sum- monsing Langset and for Jury 8s.: Inquest at Brown’s 16s. ; Sep. 20, Journey to Barnsley to appear against John Senior 4s.; paid Mr. Morris’s son. 3s. 4d. 1637: Jan. 5, Prisoner so, journey to Barnsley with the prisoner and geese 8s.; horse hire to Barnsley 25, g, journey to Barnsley to appear against the prisoner 5s.; paid to Charles Rhodes for conveying the geese to Barnsley 3s., warrant 2s., commitment Is., jail fees 4s., expenses at Barrow’s for Smith and prisoner 4s. 3d. ; Smith’s wage 2s. 6d.; half-stone oatmeal 1s. 2d.; barley for the geese 7s. 3d. 1835-6-7-8-g, similar items with respect to overseers, surveyors, publicans, Darton Court, and travellers as'in previous years. 1833: Feb. 20, teams to go with baggage to Sheffield, Thomas Wagstaff, four-horse team, 13s.; Edward Eyre, two-horse team, 6s. 6d.; Widow Hall, two-horse team, 6s. 6d. 1837: Jan.. 24, card playing at Abel Marsh’s—John Ives, Joseph Jubb, Abel Marsh, and William Marsh at whist, saw no money, half-past nine in the evening.

Copy Certificate with the Accounts: “1 certify that there has-been! lous carts pressed at Penistone to convey the baggage of the 3rd Regiment of Dragoon Guards from Penistone to Sheffield, being a distance of 13 miles at sixpence per mile percart. (Cannot make out thesignature). 3 D.G. Sheffield, Sth May, 1841.”

Irom various summonses it would appear that the Justices of the Peace sat at the Rose and Crown Inn, Penistone. They also sat in a room upstairs (part now of the White Bear Inn, Penistone) then called the Shambles. Mr. John Thorneley, Dr. Stuart Corbett, D.D., and the Rev. Henry Watkins, of Silkstone, were the magistrates who generally sat at Penistone in those days.

PARISH “REGISTERS:

Parish Registers recording the dates of Marriages, Baptisms, and Burials were instituted in England in 1536 by Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, one of the chief instruments of Henry VIII. in the suppression of the monasteries and abbeys.

The early Parish Registers of Penistone Church are lost, but copies exist from the year 1643.

Page 189

BEQUEST OF BREAD TO THURLSTONE. 171 EXTRACTS FROM THE PARISH BOOKS OF PENISTONE.

“1677. Memorandum—That Widow Roebucke was chosen Churchwarden (for Denby Quarter) and George Shawe Overseer, but that they made an exchange of their offices by mutual consent.” The Churchwardens’ Accounts date from 1696.

“1700. It. for a doz. of Bread and ten gallons of Wine for the Sacrament at Easter at 6s. per gallon, £3. Is.” “It. for fetching the Wine and returning the Vessels, 5s.” “ 7803 to 1804. Drill Sergeant according to agt., £109.” “71814 to 1815. Expenses at Thurlstone to prevent Bear baiting, 4s. rod.” “1815 to 1816. Singing Master’s wages for one year, £16 16s.”

There are tablets in Penistone Church “In memory of Charitable Bene- factors to the Parish of Penistone,” but as a good many of them are referred to in these pages I do not give copies of them.

BEOURS! OF BREAD TO THURLSTONE. Extract from the Will of James Walton of Thurlstone in the Parish of Penistone and County of York, Esquire, dated June Ist, 1792 :— “T give, devise and bequeath unto Askham Eyre of Thurlston aforesaid gent" and to his heirs and assigns all those two messuages or tenements with the appurtenances situate and standing in the Syke near Mottram Well in Thurlston aforesaid now in the several tenures or occupations of Jonas Hinchliff and Elizabeth Byram. ‘To the uses upon the trusts and for the intents and purposes hereinafter mentioned expressed and declared of and concerning the same that is to say upon trust that my said trustee his heirs and assigns do and shall pay apply and dispose lay out and expend so much and such part and parts of the rents issues and profits thereof from time to time for and towards the repair and maintenance of the said messuages or tenements as shall be needful and necessary and also do and shall pay, lay out and expend the rest residue and remainder of the rents, issues and profits thereof from time to time in the purchase of bread to be distributed and divided amongst such poor persons as are hereinafter mentioned that is to say To the poor of Thurlston 12s. worth of bread on Christmas Eve 12s. worth on Valentine Day 12s. worth on Whit Son Eve and 12s. worth on Michaelmas Eve. And I do direct my said trustee his heirs or assigns to distribute and divide 120 penny loaves as Solmans cakes yearly on All Hallowes Day to the poor of the town and township of Thurlstone aforesaid and 40 half-penny rolls of bread to the poor coming out of the township of Thurlston and to the respective tenants who shall occupy the said two messuages or tenements a 6d. loaf each on each of the several days and at the several times mentioned. And in case any of the rents and profits of the said premises shall remain I direct my said trustee his heirs and assigns to lay out and expend the same in the purchase of bread and to make such judicious donation thereof to such poor persons as he shall think objects of charity but in case the said rents and profits will not extend to answer the purposes aforesaid I do direct that such rents and profits as arise and remain after such repairs as aforesaid shall be laid out in due equal manner so as to answer my intention as near as can be. Signed, James Walton. Witnessses— Josh. Moorhouse, Isaac Jackson, Thomas Heelis.” No bread is now distributed in Thurlstone under this bequest. Two houses called the “ Bread Houses,” now part of the Infant School premises and thrown into one house and occupied by the caretaker, are no doubt the cottages devised by the Will. But how is it the bequest has failed?

Page 190

172 HISTORY OF PENISTONE. THE MANORS OF TANGSETT:

With reference to Langsett, it may be stated there is a Manor of Langsett or Langside, and within it another Manor called Langsett alias Penisale. Both these Manors were the possession of Sir Elias de Midhope, and in his days an old song records that then . i « « Might yearly se seen De Midhope’s retainers on Alderman’s Green, Each paying obstrep’rous or sullen or mute To the Lord of the Manor his service and suit.” The Manor of Langsett the Pilkingtons purchased from the trustees of Benjamin Harrop, who purchased it from the Bosvilles as before mentioned in 1830, and the Manor of Langsett alias Penisale from the Paynes in 1818, and Wm. Payne purchased it of Lord Melbourne in 1803. So through this, no doubt, the demesnes of each Manor can be ascertained. The last Court for the above Manors was held, I believe, on behalf of the late Sir Lionel M. S. Pilkington, Bart., at Boardhill on December 28th, 1865. My father used to accompany Mr. John Forge, Sir Lionel’s agent, to some of the Courts. They had been held irregularly. Some of the rents our Firm collected, and the following is an extract from a letter to the late Mr. Samuel Fox, of Stocksbridge Works, dated October 24th, 1868, respecting the sum of 2s. 11d. payable by him :— “It consists of the following items, viz. :

lealty rent as owner Odor cA! Doe: as occupier OO Ra a... aes Oi 2 eG

“OF course if you attend the Courts from time to time held for these Manors the Amercement is not payable, it only being a fine for non-attendance.”

INDUSTRIES: AT Penistone until the advent of the Steelworks in 1863, was quite a rural district, and the population at the census of 1801 which was 493 had only increased to 860 at the census of 1861. At the last census it was 3071. Up to 1859 the only house between Penistone Church and Oxspring was Kirkwood Farm House. The Box Works at Spring Vale were erected about 1860 as flax and thread mills by Messrs. Waites. The Brewery was built about 1848, I well recollect the site before it was built upon, it was a pretty place. In felling some trees there the late Timothy Rayner got a leg broken: he was then a lad. None of the late Mr. John Rayner’s houses at Penistone Green were built before 1847. Part of their site was occupied by old William Shaw as a rope walk. At Castle Green there were only the old farmhouse and three houses called the Poorhouses previous to 1862—the Poorhouses and the gardens thereto were then sold by the guardians to Mr. Joshua Halstead,.who built Corunna Terrace thereon. Up to the time of the death of Mr. John Hawley in 1857, there was only the house with shops and mistals adjoining, and a sawpit in front at Penistone Green. Where the large saw mills and works now stand were then fields and gardens.

Page 191

PENISTONE CRICKET CLUB. 173

The house below when I first recollect, was occupied by Mr. William Marsh, farmer. and coach proprietor. He horsed the Hope Coach after the death of Mr. George Brown, of the Rose and Crown Inn, from New Mill to My father lodged with him from his coming to Penistone in 1831 to the date of his marriage in 1837. The cottages adjoining which now form Downing Square were used as farm buildings by Mr. Marsh. Up to about 1864 the cloth trade was pretty brisk at Thurlstone, and every Tuesday morning 8 or 1o connected with it could be seen at Penistone Station taking the train for Huddersfield Market. The Old Quaker’s Chapel at Lumb Royd I well recollect. The materials composing it were sold to Messrs. Hawley about the year 1858, when it was pulled down. Some Quakers are buried there and mounds of graves are still to be seen. It is stated that Daniel Broadhead, linen draper and grocer at Penistone, was the last person interred there. But Mr. Thomas Hawley tells me Benjamin Chapman, of Thurlstone, schoolmaster, was buried long after. I have caught trout in Cubley Brook all the way from Edgehill to the River Don. Since about 1865 there have been none below the Brewery.

THE WORDSWORTHS OF PENISTONE.

One of the old Town’s Books of Penistone was in the possession of the late Mr. Charles H. Bedford at the time of his death. It had a leather binding black with age, and went back into the seventeenth century. If anyone knows where this book now is, it would be well if they would inform the District Council or send it to them. It will be a pity if it has got lost or destroyed. In an article on ‘ The Wordsworths of Penistone ” by Mr. Bedford, he refers to itas: “The following are extracts from an old M.S. book relating to the affairs of the Town of Penistone.” [rom a list of Overseers of the Poor in it he has taken :

168g Jon. Wordsworth. 1694 Josias Wordsworth. 1700 John ‘i 1710. God. Bore Jon. 1719 Elias 1733 Phis. a2 1739 Jon. 1744 Elias E702. Jon. 3 1766 Eleas PA 178g John 4 From a list of Surveyors of ye Highways for 1772 Elias Wordsworth. 1782 Elias Wordsworth. 1785 John Ss 1789 Elias i 1795 John

From a list of Town’s Apprentices for 1728 Sarah Fielding to John Wordsworth, Sen., Scole-hill. 1732 Easter Watson to Elias Wordsworth, Gravels. 1740 Gervas Marsh to John Wordsworth, Water Hall. 1742 Hannah Watson to John Wordsworth, Old Hall.

PENISTONE CRICKET ‘CLUB.

After I left school—Windermere College, of which Mr. B. A. Irving, from Townend House, Deepcar, was one of the owners and masters—at the end of 1855, I joined the Penistone Cricket Club. Amongst those in it at that time were the Vicar (the Rev. W. S. Turnbull), John Greaves, Hugh Tomasson, W. E. Parker, Jno. F. Moorhouse, Charles Moorhouse, Henry Ward, E. T. Brearley, Vincent Corbett, John Wilcock, Joseph Siddons, Thomas B. Brook,

Page 192

174 HISTORY OF PENISTON:.

Richard Dyson, Benj™ Dyson, Charles Biltcliffe, George Roebuck, Alfred Roebuck, Henry Senior, John Brownhill, Wiliam Hawley, Alfred Baker, Joseph Lawton, Benj®. Marsh. Hugh Tomasson was the captain, and we often had enjoyable outs in waggons to various places to play matches. I was for some years secretary to the club. I

When I went to the Grammar School at Penistone the Rev. Samuel Sunderland, the vicar, was the Master, and Edmund Simpson the Assistant. The curates, the Revs. James McAlister, Robert Topham, and Geo. Butterfield, whilst they were at Penistone, came and taught in the afternoons. When I first recollect, John Mitchell lived at Old Chapel, he was a farmer and malster, and the father of Henry and James Mitchell, the huntsmen to Penistone Harriers. Daniel Silverwood lived at Gravels Farm, Mrs. Armitage and James Sharpley at Schole Hill Farms, George Coldwell at Penistone Common, Joseph Webster at Woodend, William Birks at Edgehill, William Hardy at Doubting, John Child at Juddfield, Thomas Stanley and Matthew Marsh at Sheephouse, Joseph Barrow at Cranberry Inn, Michael Marsden at Cliffe House, John Marsden at The Common, Thomas Worsley at Cubley, Henry Grayson at Roydfield, Charles Marsh at the Nook, and Joseph Mitchell at Castle Green—all were farmers. New Chapel, when I first recollect, was farmed by Joseph Armitage for Mr. William Moorhouse, of Scholes, who had married Miss Hannah Firth, the only child of John Firth, who was owner of the property up to his death about 1831. Their son John Firth Moorhouse came to reside at New Chapel about 1853. The house in front of the late Benjamin Brearleys at Penistone Green, was occupied by Messrs. Miller, Blackie and Shortridge, railway contractors, as their office when the railway was making. Mr. Miller then resided at the house now called The Grove, at Penistone Green, and occupied by his daughter, Mrs. Henry Rolling. I recollect the Manchester and Sheffield line being opened. The first railway carriage I rode in had noseats or top on; I think we went to Dunford Bridge in it. The line to Huddersfield, which was made by Messrs. Miller, Blackie and Shortridge, was opened some years later. Lord Wharncliffe cut the first sod in some land of his at this end of Wellhouse Cutting. I well recollect the Viaducts building and the navvies being paid at the office behind the old Rose and Crown Inn, which my father first occupied when he came to Penistone. John Bedford was the first Station Master and Robert Pursglove the first Porter at Penistone Station. The Rev. Samuel Sunderland, the late Vicar of Penistone, was much respected and beloved. He was killed by falling from a coach at Rowsley, in Derbyshire, on the 18th of July, 1855. He left a wife and one son named Conway, and three daughters, Fanny, Efhe, and Florence. Mrs. Sunderland died January 14th, 1900, aged 88 years. Both Mr. and Mrs. Sunderland are buried in Penistone Churchyard. My father told me that Mr. William Beckett, of Roughbirchworth, was the first farmer in the district who ground and used bones for tillage; until he did so they were generally used to fill up cart ruts or thrown away. Mr. Beckett died February 29th, 1844, aged 85 years. He was considered the father of Barnsley Market, having attended it regularly for upwards of 70 years. Up to about the time of the Penistone Agricultural Society starting afresh in 1854, large numbers of Horned Sheep off the moors were shown at Penistone

Page 193

LANDLORDS OF THE OLD ROSE AND CROWN INN. _ 175

October Fairs. Now the moors around that then carried thousands have few or no sheep on them. The last Threshers with Flails that I recollect about Penistone were old Johnnie Wadsworth, Joseph Denton, of Cubley, and Thomas Simpson, of Bridge End. Old Johnnie died March 5th, 1880, aged 80 years, in a house he lived in in the Old Crown yard. He was very fond of shooting, and when he lived in an old cottage at Upper Midhope called Lasche House he would not let the grouse alone, so at last it was arranged that he should have a day or two’s shooting every year to keep him quiet. Mr. John Firth Moorhouse, of New Chapel, was the first to introduce mowing and threshing machines into Penistone district. I believe the first field mown with one was a field of Mr. Miller’s, nearest the Brewery, then in Mr. Hodgson’s occupation. Prior to 1850 there was an apricot tree in front of our house at Penistone Green, and I well remember ripe fruit on it. Nowand for many years past the seasons have been so different that apricots would not ripen here in the open air.

One of the old Town’s Books for the Township of Denby contains the names of the Churchwardens from 1636 to 1740, both inclusive ; the names of the Overseers of the Poor from 1636 to 1848, both inclusive; the names of the Surveyors of the Highways from 1705 to 1853, both inclusive; the names of the Constables from 1705 to 1833, both inclusive. As some of Mrs. Drans- field’s ancestors, the Dickinsons, are amongst them, I have made a copy of the whole list in one of my books. In 1670 Widow Hawksworth, of Broad Oak, was churchwarden for Denby Quarter and also overseer of the poor for the Township of Denby the same year, and in 1730 Mr. Bosville was churchwarden for Denby Quarter. This would no doubt be Mr. Hugh Bosville, who married as her second husband Mrs. Bridget Bosville, the mother of Godfrey Bosville, the owner of Gunthwaite, who was then a minor.

LANDLORDS OF THE OLD ROSE AND CROWN INN.

The following were Landlords of the Old Rose and Crown Inn, Penistone : Joshua Shewabell, who died April 5th, r786 His tombstone is in the churchyard under the east window. William Dagley—His tombstone is under the same window. Edmund Smith—18— to 1823. George Brown (known as “Old Rumbo ’’—1823 to 1835. He was buried in a heavy stone coffin in the Porch of the Church. His wife, Sarah, is buried besides him. Jonathan Brown—1835 to 1849. Joseph Senior—184g to 1858. William Holmes—1858 to 1868. Joe Byrom—only a short time—he left to go into the new house opened in 1869. I cannot ascertain the year William Dagley gave up the house. From advertisements I have seen he was there in 1814 and Edmund Smith was there in 1818, so it was between those dates. The above old landlords did not content themselves with simply keeping the Inn, but farmed a fair acreage of land belonging to their landlords the Shrewsbury Hospital Trustees, as well. On George Brown taking to the Inn and Farm he paid Mr. Smith the following valuations, October 8th, 1823 :—

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176 HISTORY OF. PENISTONE.

ay Farming Stock, Implements, Crops, Tillages, &c. ... os 5439 SEPA Furniture, Fixtures, Brewing Vessels, &c. ... wo SES £1057 ag

The cost of making and fixing Mr. George Brown’s Monument in the Church was £36 gs. 4d.

The first person to be buried in the Cemetery at Penistone was Chass Hinchliffe, of Thurlstone, who died August Ist, 1880.

AN OLD CRICKET MATCH. The following is a copy of a newspaper report of a cricket match in which I took part in the late fifties of last century :— On Saturday last a friendly game of cricket was played at Midhope Stones in a field kindly lent for the occasion by T. W. Webster, Esq., between the Penistone Club and the Stocksbridge Club. From the fact of this being the first cricket match ever played at Midhope, considerable excitement was occasioned in that generally quiet locality ; and amongst the company present were members of many of the leading families of the district. For want of time the match was not played out, but had it been so no doubt the Penistone Club would have come off victorious An excellent dinner was provided at the house of Mrs. Kay, to which ample justice was done by the players, and ulti- mately a most convivial meeting was spent under the presidency of Mr. Siddons. The following is the score:

ist Innings. STOCKSBRIDGE. 2nd Innings. Wragg, lbw, b Dransfield c Wilcock a Herbert, b Hawley oe: c Hoyle I Dimslow, b Dransfield ... MO run out waa Jeffrey, c Wilcock 2 fs. 5, Webster, b Hawley 2 not out eee Wood, c Hoyle <.. I c Lawton 4 Longden, b Hawley 3 c Dransfield oO Woodhead, c Baker O b Hawley nat 2 ss 9 Db O Dalton, st Siddons 4 b Wilcock II Holden, c Dransfield 2 c Hoyle : O Wides, byes, &c. 3 Wides, &c. I 27 30 1st Innings. PENISTONE. 2nd Innings. Dransfield, b Dalton O st Webster? >a. te aed! Roebuck, st Webster O nat out... Bee de Siddons, st Webster 3 c Wragg aes de at Wilcock, b Dalton Par 2 b Jeffery shite i 3 Brownhill, st Webster ... I Corbett, b Jeffrey I Hoyle} run out 2 b Dalton ee es ae Hawley, st Webster 5 not out pas Brook, b Dalton I Lawton, b Jeffrey 3 Baker, not out ... fe) Wides, byes, &c. 3 Byes ae tie

to H to ON

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LETTERS AND POSTMEN. 177

ECCLESFIELD VOLUNTEERS.

In the month of July, 1803, a small regiment of 200 Volunteers of the Townships of Ecclesfield and Bradfield was enrolled in the general defence that was established throughout the country at this time against the expected invasion of Napoleon. The regiment consisted of three companies with the following officers : Thomas Rawson, of Wardsend, Major; Captains William Smith, of Cowley, Hugh Meller, of Shire Green, and William Ellis, of Midhope; Lieutenants John Dixon (the vicar’s son), Joseph Allen, John Dixon Skelton, of the Yews ; Ensigns Henry Morewood, John Thompson, John Worrall; Lt. and Quarter Master John Fowler, of Wincobank. The colours, which now or some time ago did survive in rags, bore the motto “ Nothing is difficult to the brave and faithful,” and were presented in person by Mrs. Greaves, of Page Hall. I havea list of the Bradfield Volunteers copied from papers in the possession of the late Mr. William Ellis, of Don View, Oughtibridge, kindly lent to me.

CoMMITTEE OF EccLESFIELDS Vs» ‘To Captain Ellis.

So a 1803 To Books ; To Ribbons ... = 206 pat oO FF 6 To Entrance Ale eae ose oo: Oo 4.' 6, 1804 To 3 Feathers a ae es 9g O To Paid Volunteers... ee £OP To Major Rawson ee as oes we oO Received of Captain Elli SAL ONO Paid to Volunteers Sis ee 40, Due to Captain Ellis... ee 22.

BULLHOUSE ACCIDENT.

On Wednesday, July 16th, 1884, a dreadful railway accident occurred at Bullhouse Bridge, near Penistone. The engine of the express train which left Manchester at 12.30 broke its crank axle and left the lines, and some of the carriages rolled downa deepembankment. ‘Twenty-four persons lost their lives and sixty-four were injured.

LETTERS AND POSTMEN.

In the year 1822, and very likely for many years after, letters which then cost 4d. each postage for a distance of fifteen miles (the postage to London being 11d.) were received from Wakefield, the post town, on Mondays, Thurs- days, and Saturdays. A postman, Richard Morris, started from Barnsley in August, 1825, and continued to bring the letters daily for Penistone. In 1845 Sheffield was made the post town. John Hawksworth was for many years postmaster. He had Midhope Mill, and left for Penistone after it was burnt down in 1812. The letter-box in his time was carved and painted of the semblance of a lion’s head and the letters were posted in its mouth. It is still in existence. His son, George Hawks- worth, was rural post messenger from Barnsley to Penistone 1840 to 1842, and from Penistone to Thurlstone, &c., from 1842 to 1872, in which latter year he was presented with a purse of gold on his retirement with a pension. He died February 24th, 1877, aged 70 years. M

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178 HISTORY OF PENISTONE:

SOME LOCAL . DEEDS “IN¢ THE

The deeds are in Latin, and the letter and number attached to each item are those of the catalogue. C. 712—Grant by Robert, son of Matthew de Osprynge to Richard his son of all the demesne in the moors, wastes and pastures within the boundaries of Hunschelf, Snodenhil, Byrcheworth and Langeley, that is to say between Litteldon and Mickeldon. [13th cent. ] C. 720—Grant by Matthew del Hill. of Thurleston, to William del Hill of the same place of land in the field called ‘“‘ Ornethweyt” adjoining the stream of Ornethweit. [13th cent.] C. 753—Grant by Alice late the wife of Thomas Bell, of Cotteworth, to John Mason, of Roreston, and John Buldure, of Penistone, chaplains of lands, rents, &c., in the vills and boundaries of Thurleston and Peniston. The Circumcision A.D. 1397 C. 783—Grant by Richard Oxspryng, of Oxspryng, to Sir William Dronsfeld of Westbretton, knight, and Robert Corffe, of Wakefield, clerk of lands, tenements, &c., in the vills and within the bounds of Oxspryng and Derton. Monday the feast of St Gregory the Pope, 4 Hen. IV. Seal injured. C. 837—Grant by Richard Oxspryng, of Cuthworth, to John Dronsfeld, of Stubbys, Thomas Wheteray, of Wollay, William Roreston and Richard West- hall, chaplains of all his lands, &c., in the County of York. t1a2th Oct. A.D. 1415. Seal. C. 864—Grant by William de Hepworth, vicar of the Church of Ruston, and Richard Oxspring, of Cotheworth, to Elizabeth late the wife of Nicholas de Wordesworth, of Penyston, of all their lands, tenements, &c., in the vills of Penyston and Thurleston, except tenements called ‘ Copstorth”’ and “ le Scoles”’ in the territory of Penyston for her life; with remainder to her son William and the heirs of his body, &c. Penyston, Nativity of St. John the Baptist, 1 dien: Vi. C. 893—Release by Robert Mason, chaplain to Sir William Dronsfeld, knight of Westbretton, Thomas de Wheteray, of Cotheworth, and William de Roreston, chaplain of all his right in lands, &c., in the vill and boundaries of Oxsprynge. Wakefield the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, 2 Hen. IV. Seal. C. 944—Demise by Richard de Berch and Cecilia his wife to Richard de Riale of a bovate of land in Oxspring and a tenement called “ Lanedirode,” and another called “Stonyflat” and “ Kirkeflat,” lying between the common pasture of Oxspring and “le feldoles” of Bohon abutting on “le eaclif” and upon Morlandes. Fragment of seal. [13th cent. I C. 958—Grant by Thomas de Schepley to William son of William del Hill of half a bovate of land with buildings, &c., in Thurlestone which Robert Bercar formerly held. [13th cent.] C. 1018—Release by Joseph de Peniston to William del Hill of Thurleston of a messuage, lands, &c., within the bounds of Thurleston, which formerly belonged to William de Ornethwayte. Bernesley, Wednesday after Holy Trinity, tear

By a Bond dated the 23rd January in the 7th year of King William the 3rd and in the year of our Lord 1696 under the hands and seals of John Haigh of Thurlstone yeoman John Sanderson of the same place William Haigh, Francis Batty, William Marsden and Helen his wife John Marsden son and heir apparent of the aforesaid William and Helen, Robert Askom and Ann his wife, William Hill, John Rich, Thomas Haigh, Josias Sanderson (all the above were of Thurlstone and the men yeomen), Elizabeth Sotwell of Cathill widow

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John Ellis of Eclands yeoman and Martha his wife Samuel Ward of Smallshaw yeoman James Holmes of Icclesfield yeoman and Sarah his wife Richard Morton of Elmhirst yeomanand Helen his wife Emanuel Rich of Illians yeoman Reynolds Rich of Hazlehead yeoman Jonas Rich of Pond yeoman Ralph Marsden of Carlecoats yeoman Henry Beet of West-Thorp yeoman John Sanderson of Hoylandswain yeoman Benjamin Micklethwait of Ardesley yeoman and Thomas Bocking and Abigail his wife. They became bound to Charles Wilson of Broomhead as therein mentioned in connection with ‘a perpetual separation partition or division of all those lands and tenements lying and being in the East and West Town Fields of Thurlston afforesaid whereof they are now seised in fee in common and undivided saving always and excepted one Wood standing in the South side of the said East Town Field commonly called and known by the name of Wart Bank which said Wood is intended to be occupied and possessed in common as it hath been heretofore by the said parties their heirs and assigns.” And variances and troubles arising in con. nection with the above matters were to be left and referred to John Ellis, John Moulson, Daniel Rich, and Daniel Micklethwait, or any three of them. Variances, &c., did arise and under or by virtue of a Deed of Arbitration or Award dated the 28th of April, 1699, the same were settled and decided by John Moxon of Thurgoland, John Ellis of Hornthwait, Daniel Rich of Smal- shaw, and Daniel Micklethwait of Ingbirchworth. By a Deed dated the 26th day of December, 1750, the setting out and division of “the several common fields called Thurlston Town Fields, Royd- moor Land, Calf Croft Ing, Norwood, Bellroyd, and Crimbles lying in Thurlston was agreed upon. And the said Deed contains the following stipulation, viz.: ‘And whereas there is a Stone Quarry with Slate delph in the field called Norwood which is to be preserved for the benefit of the Land- owners for the repairing of their several Messuages, Now it is agreed by all parties hereunto that five acres adjoining to the said Slate Quarry shall be fenced off and kept for the benefit of the said Slate and Stone.”

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

In the Protestant Church of England at the present time there exists a strange and serious state of affairs. A great number of the clergy therein abhor the word “ Protestant,” and it is well known for what reason. These men numbering some thousands assert that the clergy form the Church and deny the right of the millions of laity to be part of it, or to have any part in the government of it. They want to lord it over God’s heritage and for the laity to meekly obey them and become puppets in their hands, and in return they will for the present at any rate, secure their getting to heaven—if they are fools enough to believe them—without fee or reward, but, no doubt, if they only get the laity to a proper state of obedience and subservience they will then add—as is done in the Church they are allies of—“ pay” as well to “obey,” and thus mulct the poor laity as regards both body and soul. Knowing the puerile and idolaterous secrecies, mummeries and fopperies of these clergy, and the use among some of them of that infamous book, “The Priest in Absolution,” I cannot, when thinking of them, help my mind reverting to Ezekiel, chapters 8 and 13, Matthew, chapter 23, and 1 Tim., chapter 3. They seek their own glorification—love not the Bible because it unmasks _and denounces them and their ways—and do not preach the Gospel. Seemingly too, think it quite honest and right to take the money of the Church of England and do with it the work of an alien church.

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180 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

The Archbishops and Bishops, strange to say,—well knowing this state of things—either aid or abet, or will not, or cannot control or send them to where they belong, and snub the laity if they complain. One great argument the Archbishops and Bishops set up when complaint is made to them is that such men are earnest in their work. ‘This is well known, but the Devil is earnest too, and if that be a good plea for overlooking or condoning a wrong or rotten state of affairs in the Church, his satanic majesty may be setting up a like claim to immunity in his work. What then? If the Archbishops and Bishops would only be as earnest as the above parties, or be as earnest and energetic as Moses was when Aaron set up the golden calf, our Churches would soon be in a more healthy state. Now to remedy this sad and grievous state of things in our Protestant Church and in the sight of God, cannot the laity arise up and assert their rights and form County or General Protestant Councils throughout the land, to govern the Church, and then, if any Archbishops, Bishops, or Clergy turn a deaf ear to the appeals of the laity and do not do their duty, but act as traitors to their Church, let them be removed from their office? ‘The Protestant Churches of the United States and Ireland point out the way. Does it not seem a very strange and queer affair that a few clergy in, but alien to it, should be able with impunity to set the millions of laity, com- prising the great body of the Church, completely at defiance? And this, too, not in “ dark ages,” but when a good education is within the reach of all and they have no need to go to priests to understand God’s word. If following the example of the ritualistic clergy one of the captains of, say the Cunard line of steamers set his company and their rules at defiance, how long would he retain his post ? In a pastoral by the Bishop of Birmingham it was asserted that the only duty of laymen was to find money which the clergy were to administer irresponsibly. It would seem to be simply a case of stand and deliver with this Bishop, or otherwise Anathema. And now to what is more pleasant reading in connection with a fine old Protestant clergyman. It is from the Shrewsbury Chronicle of Friday, January 10th, 1896. It there records that at Bishops Castle the Wesleyan Methodist Church had a most successful bazaar on the 2nd inst. That the late vicar, the Rev. W. B. Garnett-Botfield, on opening the bazaar, was received with loud cheers, and said :— “It gives me more pleasure than I can adequately express to be with you here to-day. It is always a pleasure for me to visit Bishop’s Castle and see my many friends there, and upon no occasion have I had greater pleasure in visiting your town than upon the present one. When Mr. Strawson asked me a little time since to come and open your bazaar, remembering the kindly feeling you had always shewn me, and having regard to the real interest I have in your welfare, I felt that I could not say no—(cheers). Here I am, and I am glad to be here—(cheers). But it may be asked, Why am I, a clergyman of the Church of England, a Church in which I have ministered so many years and which I love, why am I here to open a bazaar for the Wesleyan Methodist Society ? In one word I will tell you why. It is because from the depth of my heart, with the deepest and fullest conviction of my soul, I can say with that large- hearted, broad-minded, catholic-spirited apostle, “‘ Grace be with all them who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity ”—(cheers). This is not the first time I have reached out a helping hand to the Wesleyan Methodists, and I have found them very glad to reciprocate any kindness I have shown them. 1 remember once in my own parish giving a small subscription to them to assist in placing

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a heating apparatus in their chapel. It was the best money I ever laid out— (cheers). A little later we required additional heating power in the Parish Church, and our Wesleyan brethren gave up their service on purpose to come and help us—(cheers). Why should not this brotherly feeling exist? We are working for one common purpose, against one common enemy, under the banner of one common Lord, in hope of one common heaven. If I am not here so often as I once was, and as I should like to be, it is not because of any diminished interest in your well-being, or because of any change in my feelings ; you must put it down to two causes—I am not so young as I was, and then, too, I have a most efficient substitute and representative here in the person of my son. (Loud and continued cheering). In conclusion, I wish you in your undertaking much success, may the result be greater than your greatest expecta- tions; and, above all, may the Gospel of Christ, by whomsoever it is preached in this town and district, be abundantly blessed—not because of the preacher, for that is a secondary matter, but because it is the Gospel of the blessed God, the Gospel which alone can raise and elevate, the Gospel which alone can save from sin and prepare for heaven, that Gospel which is ‘‘ the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.” I now declare the bazaar open, and hope you will all make liberal purchases of the beautiful things I see around me. (Loud cheers).” Dr, Chadwick the scholarly Bishop of Derry, some time ago was con- trasting the Episcopal Church of Ireland in matters of ritual with the Established Church of and he found things much better in the communion to which he belonged. In the English Church the law is openly defied ; but in Ireland the rights of the laity and the power of the Bishop are such that there is no room for an eccentric or misguided clergyman resorting, as in England, to doctrines or practices expressly forbidden in the formularies of the Church. They do not need to prosecute before the Courts in Ireland. If an Irish clergyman shows any inclination to break the law it is only necessary, says the Bishop of Derry, to tell him “if your views are not ours, cease to draw our money for breaking our rules.” Such a simple plan of dealing with lawlessness seem to have occurred to but few of the leaders of the Established Church.

Meiers OF THE MISSES BRAY, OF THURLSTONE.

Miss Mary Bray, formerly of Thurlstone, but at the time of her death April 22, 1895, of Grove House, Horbury, near Wakefield, by her Will dated the roth of July, 1894: And whereof she appointed Henry Richardson, of Wake- field, Bank Manager, and Mrs. Anne Dymond, trustees. After certain specific bequests she gave the residue of her estate to her trustees upon trust to realise the same, and out of the proceeds she directed her trustees to pay a legacy of £100 to the Sisters of the House of Mercy at Horbury and a legacy of £1500 to the vicar for the time being of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin at Horbury by way of augmenting the endowments. And she gave and bequeathed the residue of her estate to the vicar for the time being of the Church of St. John the Baptist at Penistone and the Bishop for the time being of the Diocese of Wakefield upon trust to invest the same until a site could be obtained for building a Church of England Church at Thurlstone and thereafter to apply the said investments in the purchase of such site and in or towards erecting such Church as aforesaid and endowing the same. The Will was proved at Wakefield by both the Executors, Sep. 2nd, 1895. Miss Hannah Bray, sister of the above-named Miss Mary Bray, and of the same residence, died on the 28th August, By her Will dated July 15th,

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182 HISTORY OF PENISTOWE.

1896, she appointed the said Henry Richardson and Anne Dymond trustees thereof. And after giving certain specific and pecuniary legacies including a legacy of £1500 to the vicar for the time being of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin at Horbury. Testatrix gave and bequeathed all the residue of her estate to the vicar for the time beimg ef the Church of St Baptist at Penistone and the Bishop for the time being of the Diocese of Wakefield upon trust to invest the same until a site could be obtained for building a Church of England Church at Thurlstone and thereafter to apply the said investments in the purchase of such site and in or towards erecting such Church as aforesaid and endowing the same. The Will was proved at Wakefield by both the Executors, October 15th, 1897. The principal sum that became available under the said Wills towards providing a Church at Thurlstone amounted to £6000. This is the estimated cost of the Church alone and £11,000 of the Church and Endowment together. Towards this near £9,000 is already in hand or promised. Mr. Hugh S. Tomasson, of Plumpton, Thurlstone, having in the meantime kindly given a site for the Church near his residence, the work in connection therewith was commenced in June last and the foundation stone of the Church was laid on November 5th, 1904, by Sir Walter Spencer Stanhope, K.C.B., of Cannon Hall, one of the largest land owners in the Township of Thurlstone.

In a letter addressed from Sir Thomas Fairfax to his father, Lord Fairfax (Memorials of the Civil Wars, by R. Bell) dated from Bradford April 20, 1643, he says: “Some Peniston men came to demand aid, there being seventeen colours in Barnsley five miles off them. I advised them to seek help from Rotherham and Sheffield and whilst they stood upon their guard to get their goods to places of most safeguard, for it would be impossible without more horse to defend the country from spoil.”

The following is from the MSS. of Ralph Assheton, of Kirkby in the Parish of Emley (Addl. MSS., 24,475 pp. 7): “On Wednesday the 4th of January, 1642, 500 soldiers or more out of Bradfield parrish, Peniston parrish, Burton parrish, &c., came neare Emley towne into the Park, but retreated having taken Mich. Greene constable of Emley prisoner but released him within two dayes.” “On Saturday the 21st Jan. in the afternoone above 1,000 soldiers came to Emley, and begunne presentlie*to pillage. Most of them were of Peniston and Burton parrishes. ‘Twoe of their captaynes, viz., Birkett who latelie came from London; and Bamford who came out of Ireland, with 200 souldiers came to Kirkbie, promising to take nothing but armes; were admitted into the house ; took 5 pikes, 3 fowling pieces, some plate, money, &c., all the horses but one. . .. Mr. Farrington, the parson, lost 55 sheepe, many bookes, and other goods. Robt. Hare suffered most losse; his bonds and evidences were torne in pieces, &c. . . . Many deare kil’d in the parke.”

“Dec. 24, 1647. I this day heard Ralph Wordsworth my soldier say that Captain Rich was in danger to have been drowned in coming from Peniston yesternight ; and thereupon I resolved never hereafter to stay out in the night again, which God Almighty give me grace to observe even for his mercye’s sake. Amen.’—Diary of Captain Adam Eyre, Yorkshire Diaries, Surtees Soc., Pits. Wolsey

On Saturday, Oct. 31, 1674, being Wakefield fair, Mr. Silvanus Rich of Bullough’s (Bullhouse) in Penistone parish being in Wakefield with Mr. Sotwell of Penistone and others, had drunk too liberally. In the night Mr. Rich, being

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MIDHOPE AND LANGSETT RESERVOIRS. 183

mounted ona good mare, outrid his company and came down towards Wakefield Bridge. There was a great flood; waters were lying out, so they ride deep before they come to the bridge and went below it to the river, which some imagine was five, others seven yards deep. His mare swam. He kept on though sometimes almost off. They were both taken a quarter of a mile down the water. At last she came to the other side, next the field, where the mare could not mount out of the water. He got hold of a bough but it failed him; he then got hold of another and at last got out; and at last he espied his mare which had also got out into a field. He went to her, got on and rode towards Pomfret and then forward towards home. Called at a house, went to bed, and got his clothes dried. So came home on Sabbath day. A miraculous providence and fair warning. I pray God it may awaken conscience. This man hath made a profession, entertained ministers, had meetings at his house but of late hath given over. Often stays out late, comes home in the night, ventures through dangerous waters. Jord, strike home by this providence !—Reliqua Heywood- tance, Addl. MSS. 24,486. Thoresby has the entry in his diary: “ June 19, 1714. At Mr. Boulter’s; Mr. Bennet’s, and Mr. Bosville’s; heard of the sudden death of his kinsman; Justice Bosville, of Gunthwaite, of four hours’ sickness.”

“Mr. Hugh Bosvile of Gray’s Inn in ye county of Middlesex and Mrs. Bridget Bosville of Gunthwaite in the Parish of Penistone married by me Thomas Cockshutt at their own Chapel at Midhope, Sep. 29,1725.” Cawthorne Parish Register. In Wilson’s MSS. there is a note to the effect that in ‘“‘ August, 1770. one Mr. Spottiswoode, an attorney, grandson of Mr. S. who wrote the History of Scotland, and some others from London obtained a grant from the Crown to search for silver mines. They began to work at a place on Gadding Moor near to the water side, near Gunthwaite Lane End. A pound of the silver ore was said to produce 8 oz. of silver. It was first found out in building a house there in 1731. It is said one Butterworth of Cawthorne pair of buckles of it. They also opened another mine at Woolley. Great expectations, but came to

MSS. 24,472, pp. 48. In Addit. MS. (British Museum) 10,116, being Vol. I. of Thomas Rugge’s

“Mercurius Politicus Redivivus 1659-72,” p. 14, is the following interesting Rote. — “Nov. 1659. ‘Theere ware also att this time a Turkish drink to be sould almost in eury street called Coffee, and another kind of drink called Tee (sic) and also a drink called Chacolate (sic) which was a very harty drink.”— Notes and Queries, Jan. 18th, 1902.

MIDHOPE AND LANGSETT RESERVOIRS. The area of the reservoir of the Barnsley Corporation at Hagg Wood: Midhope, is 51 acres, capacity 390,000,000 gallons. The watershed is about 2,000 acres. The embankment is 1,050 feet long, 145 feet deep from the top of the bank to the greatest depth of the trench. At the bed of the Hagg Brook the trench is sunk 50 feet. ‘There is a covered reservoir at Wortley to hold 1,000,000 gallons. The first sod of the reservoir was cut by the Mayor of Barnsley, Ald. Charles Wray, June 17th, 1897. The reservoir was opened by the Mayor and Mayoress, Ald. and Mrs. Raley, June 25th, 1903. Langsett and Hunshelf are included in the limits of the Barnsley Act as places to be supplied with water, but Penistone and Thurlstone, though

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184 HISTORY OF PENTSTOWE:

very short distance away, have not secured any right to a supply from the I hunted and shot for many years over Hagg Wood and Edgecliffe and other lands around, and once when shooting saw twenty-two hares emerge from the wood, which was not a very large one. The area of the reservoir of the Sheffield Corporation at Langsett is 120 acres ; capacity 1,400,000,000 gallons ; the watershed 5203 acres. The embank- ment is 1200 feet long; the width at the base is 700 feet and at the top 36 feet. The trench is 12 feet wide with an average depth of 85 feet, the greatest depth 119 feet. The extreme depth of the reservoir about 100 feet. It will constitute a lake 14 miles in extent. Along the top of the embankment is constructed a road provided in substitution for the old inconvenient road leading from Langsett to Upper Midhope which will be submerged. This new road makes the beautiful little Hamlet of Upper Midhope and pleasant walks around easily accessible, and around are grand sites for a Sanatorium. ‘This road was opened to the public and the reservoir closed for filling on October 17th, rgo4. Mrs. Dransfield and myself were staying at Langsett most of July and the whole of August 1896, and I then helped the haymakers and harvesters in fields that form the lower part of the reservoir and which were the last crops taken from them. We had beautiful weather, and it was delightful to walk in these fields and on Langsett Bank and the old lane to Upper Midhope, of -which we shall ever have pleasant recollections. The Underbank Reservoir near Midhope, of the Sheffield Corporation, will be wholly used for supplying compensation water to the mills and riparian owners upon the streams and rivers below, and not for domestic use. The embankment is 1,600 feet long, 350 feet wide at the base, and 32 feet at the top road level. The capacity of this reservoir is 650,000,000 gallons. The total yield of the Little Don watershed is 11,286,201 gallons per day, of which 4,516,712 gallons is required to be sent down the stream as com- pensation to the millowners, leaving 6,769,489 gallons for supply to the towns. Rotherham and Doncaster are entitled to 2,600,000 gallons per day, the rural districts of the Don—exclusive of Penistone and Thurlstone neither of which places troubled themselves at all about obtaining a supply, and were naturally left out of the Sheffield Act,—about half a million, and Sheffield the remainder. Sheffield evidently believes in no penny wise and pound foolish ways, for when parliamentary powers were being sought for to take the waters of the Derwent for Derby and other places, Sheffield at once put in a claim and got it allowed, though she will have to construct a tunnel 7 miles long to bring the water to Sheffield. Penistone for her future supply is, no doubt, waiting until aerial reservoirs can be located and stationed where they desire and drawn upon at pleasure. She has seen Dewsbury take the waters of the Don, Barnsley the waters of Scout Stream, and Barnsley and Sheffield the waters of the Little Don. The Don River and Scout Stream run close by the town. Some sixty years ago the late Mr. Samuel Coward offered Penistone a nice supply of water at and permission to pipe it through his land which ran from the spring to Penistone. A town’s meeting was called to consider the matter, and with that “saving knowledge” which characterises them, the inhabitants passed a resolution thanking Mr. Coward for his offer but that they could not accept it unless, at his own expense, he piped the water to Penistone for them.

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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN BOARD SCHOOLS. 185

On June 20th, 1905—just as this part of the Work was going to press— various estates of the late Mr. Samuel Fox in the district were offered for sale by auction, and the Penistone Urban District Council purchased a lot described as “ The Freehold Farm, with substantial Dwelling-house, Farm Buildings, and ten closes of excellent land, called Mossley House Farm, on Langsett Common, near Penistone, containing 30a. 2r. 33 p. or thereabouts, in the occupation of Mr. Hirah Crossley,” for £830. Therefrom it is hoped, we believe, to secure a further supply of water for Penistone. After demurring to the expenditure of a small sum to secure a supply of the waters of the Little Don River, it is an ambitious undertaking on the part of the Council, and one which it is to be trusted will answer all expectations. In the early seventies the late Mr. Cawley, a well-known water engineer of those days, inspected and reported on this scheme on behalf of the Penistone Local Board, and estimated it would cost £42,000 to arrange for and complete the necessary works for securing this water. It is well known, however, how often estimates fall far short of the ultimate cost, and in our own district the Waterworks at Ingbirchworth and Midhope of the Barnsley Corporation are notable instances.

Hist) CHURCH.

At the ordinary service at the Parish Church of High Hoyland on the 24th day of August, 1879, the Rev. F. G. Wintour announced to his congregation that the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, with the approval of himself, the Bishop of Ripon, and Mr. W. B. Beaumont, M.P., the patron of the lving had transferred the Parish Church from High Hoyland Church to the newly-erected Church at Clayton West, and that henceforward the parish would be designated the Parish of Clayton West instead of High Hoyland. The New Church of All Saints’, Clayton West, was opened for divine worship at Easter 1875, by the Bishop of Ripon. High Hoyland Church has been in existence over 800 years and was in ancient times a place of very considerable importance. Hunter in his “ Deanery of Doncaster” says, “The ancient Church of All Hallowes of Hoyland has disappeared and has given place to a modern edifice of which the tower is the oldest part, and that was erected only in 1679. The beauty of Hoyland is not in its Church, but its churchyard, a retired and quiet spot, but commanding extensive views over a rich and fertile couniry to the north and south. The height of this eminence makes it a suitable place on which to erect a beacon, and one stood here in the south-west corner of the churchyard in the 17th century.” Prior to his being appointed vicar of Darton in 1855, the Rev. C. Sangster had been curate at Hoyland for eleven years.

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN BOARD SCHOOLS.

The late Lord Beaconsfield told us what pressure and influence Rome and the Ritualists tried to bring to bear in high places in his day. The recent Education Act has shown the truth of his statement. Did not the late Lord Salisbury say “‘ Capture the Board Schools”? And didnot Rome, ever on the alert, instigate her allies, the Ritualists, to act on his Lordship’s suggestion, subtilely helping them with all the powers at her command? Was not the power of this combination too much for a weak man like Mr. Balfour to withstand, as Lord Salisbury knew it would be when he made his suggestion ?

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and which weakness the brewers, whose trade is their politics, have also not been slow to take advantage of. At any rate, under the false cry that religion was not taught in the Board Schools, Mr. Balfour passed the Education Act. But it cannot stand: the country will never submit long to have the education of its youth ordered by Rome. A far better and more comforting religious education was, I fearlessly assert, given in Board Schools from the Bible than in those Voluntary Schools under the control of Ritualists where teaching from their Manuals what they call religion—more properly self-glorification of priests—took the place of

God’s Holy Word.

In connection with the religious education in Board Schools I would call attention to a book entitled Studies in Board Schools by Charles Morley (London : Smith, Elder & Co.) As a reviewer says: book leaves on the mind the impression that the ratepayers and taxpayers who maintain the Board Schools are getting exceedingly good value for their money. No one can read these chapters without admiration and gratitude for the humanising and civilising work which Board School teachers are carrying on. The author’s method is not analytic or didactic; he reproduces the scenes that he has witnessed with only the pithiest comment. He does not argue or sit in judgment ; he describes, and leaves the reader to theorise and decide. Here for instance 1s a piece of first-hand evidence, worth any number of letters and articles on ‘the religious question’ in Church newspapers and the Times; the omitted portions are quite in keeping with what is quoted: The Hugh Myddleton Board School some three years ago took the place of the Clerkenwell House of Detention ; below it you may still see a maze of hideous cells, where not long ago the furtive criminal crouched. . . . The head master waves his baton, and six hundred childish voices sing the hymn ‘ Hark, my soul, it is the Lord.’ Then comes the prayer from the Morning Service: ‘O almighty and everlasting God, Who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day...” Then the master says the Lord’s Prayer, the six hundred following him, with faces uplifted, eyes closed, hands clasped. . . . The master opened the Bible at the Epistle to the Ephesians... . I went into the lowest class, where the boys are mostly struggling with words of two syllables. But they all knew what a parable was ‘An earthly story with a heavenly meaning,’ came the answer from at least four of them. . . . Then came a lesson on the storm on the lake. ‘ What did Christ say?’ asked the teacher. ‘ Peace, be still.’ ‘Yes, he had only to speak to the waves and they went down at once and all was— Peace. ‘There is a heavenly meaning to this story, though,’ the teacher went on. ‘The stormy water means the troubles of life—sickness, death, money losses, bad times, want of work, which we all of us know very well, don’t we?’ ‘Yes, sir.’ ‘But we must not lose our faith in God. We must never forget, like Peter did when he thought he was going to sink, that our Saviour is by our side, watching us, thinking of us, ready to help us—Christ our Saviour. Though we can’t see Him, He is there. Well, if we can’t see Him, how can we reach Him? how can we make Him hear us?’ ‘By prayer, sir. ‘Need we say it loud?’ ‘No, at any time, in any place, we can always pray to Him to help us, if we have—’ ‘Faith, sir.’ And these are the godless Board Schools. In conclusion the reviewer says: It is difficult to write of this book from the literary standpoint, because though it is good literature and well written throughout, its chief merit 1s that of close observation by an interpreter imbued with sympathy, possessed of insight, and touched with the humour and pathos of what he observed. The book is actuality itself, faithfully depicting real things. The chapters on the ‘Wild Boys of Walworth,’ ‘ Citizen Canots,’ ‘A Master’s Stories,’ ‘An Eton for Nothing a Week,’ ‘The Little Cooks,’ and ‘The Babies’ deal with the more usual aspects of Board School life. ‘ Fitting © the Unfit’ is an account of the Board’s classes and schools for mentally weak

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GREAT SNOWS. 187

and undeveloped children. The blind school, the day industrial school, and the truant and attendance question are also vividly placed before the reader. The book is as comprehensive as it is readable and true.”

GREAT SNOWS. “Rambler” of the Sheffield Daily Telegraph in a very interesting article on great snows in the issue of that paper of May gth, 1903, says: ‘* The memorable snow of May gth, 1853, was exceptionally heavy and disastrous in North Derbyshire and South Yorkshire. Within a mile or two of Sheffield it lay over twenty inches deep on the level, and when drifted by the winds the wreaths banked up against the walls and houses and blotted out the landscape. Many sheep perished on the hills. Grievous damage was done to the woods. Between Sheffield and Manchester the roads were blocked, and the railways for a time were in equally bad case. The night train from Sheffield fought its way westward in the teeth of the tempest to Penistone. A start was made to renew the journey, but the gathering blast and blinding downfall beat the iron-horse, and the passengers had to remain in the carriages all night. In the early morning gangs of men were sent up to dig them out. Many were the adventures on the hills and moors, and it was not until days after that the full tale of havoc was told. This storm was followed by very warm weather later on. “Rambler” also gives the following account of the great storm of December 6th, 1882, from notes of Mr. Marsden, the well-known host for many years of Ashopton Inn. Says Mr. Marsden: “I was surveyor of the roads in the Woodlands. It was the closing of the grouse season. Hicks, the celebrated driver from Bakewell, was ‘ ordered’ with two pair. He put in two ‘ Unicorn’ teams and arrived at Ashopton for the Snake Inn. I told him he would not be able to reach his destination. His reply was, ‘Reach anywhere with this team.’ He started and got, with great difficulty, to Hayridge Farm, about half-way to the Snake. Leaving one of the carriages by the road side and putting all six horses to one carriage with borrowed ropes from the farm close by, he landed at the Snake Inn. Here he stayed the night. Then I was sent for as the surveyor. Obtaining all the strength to be had we succeeded in getting the Chesterfield gentlemen away. Then came the greatest difficulty— getting the Glossop shooters away. A respected Derbyshire J|.P. was the only one left on the Monday morning. Leaving Ashopton on saddle it took me three hours to reach the Snake Inn, and I nearly perished in the attempt. Landing there in sore straits, out comes the Glossop J.P. His first words were : ‘When are you going to get me away from here?’ ‘Oh, please,’ I answered, ‘let us go inside; I want something warm.’ Then the J.P. again put his question: ‘When are you going to get me away from here?’ ‘The weather touched us all out of the common, and my answer to his worship was: ‘You are a magistrate on the Glossop bench and have given many a man seven days. I will give you seven days here.’ And there he had to stop till the Thursday.” “Rambler” then gives an account of his memorable journey with a colleague to Penistone on the night of the 6th of December, 1882. The snow commenced on the afternoon of that day. After starting from Sheffield between 8 and 9 o’clock, the train stuck at Wadsley Bridge, Oughtibridge, and Deepcar; and Penistone, thirteen miles distant, was reached after a journey of between six and seven hours. Here they found the station only a congested centre. Several of the trains had got a little further Manchester way, only to be baffled, and their passengers had to get back as best they could. In the great snow of 1888 record is made by “ Rambler” of the sad death of young William Walker, son of Mr. Mark Walker, of Riding House Farm,

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188 HISTORY OF PENTISTONE:

near Ashopton. He was aged 17,and with his brother Frank, aged 13, set out in the morning on to the moors to look after some sheep and cattle of their father’s. They took two collie dogs, “ Nell” and “Lot,” with them. These dogs some three hours later returned alone, and appeared to be very restless and pecuhar in their manner. Mrs. Walker directed her husband’s attention to them, and together they set off to seek the lads and with the dogs soon got to Winstone Lee Tor. Here they found a great mass of snow had fallen over the cliff and buried the path below. The dogs stopped here, and Mrs. Walker soon discovered a foot of her youngest son projecting out of the heap. They quickly managed to get him out, to every appearance dead, but with using every effort restored him, and asking him where Willie was he answered dazed like, “‘ He was here last night.” The old dog Nell was now seen scratching and ‘“waffling”’ at another part of the heap, and here Willie was found, but so deeply buried that assistance had to be obtained to cut him out. He was quite dead, and no doubt if it had not been for the sagacity of the dogs both lads would have lost their lives. The inquest was a very sorrowful one—the father and mother and little lad who was saved being the only witnesses. ‘‘ took a hansom from Sheffield to Ashopton Inn to attend the inquest. To get there the hansom had to be double-horsed tandem-wise, and they several times passed through walls of snow higher than themselves. Mr. Brookes, the coroner, had the greatest difficulty in getting to the farm to view the body.

I have a book containing a list of all persons who voted at the great Election for the County of York in 1807, with their residences, descriptions, and location of freehold properties giving their qualifications, but the number of names for the Parish is too long for insertion here.

At the General Election for the County of York prior to 1741 Sir Miles Stapleton and Lord Viscount Morpeth were returned without opposition. In consequence of the death of Lord Morpeth, an extraordinary election took place at York in December, 1741. The candidates were Cholmley Turner, who secured 8,003 votes, and George Fox, who polled 6,940. The names of the Penistone voters were Matthew Archer, Edward Batty, William Green, Joseph Greaves, Joseph Horsfall, Thomas Harrison, James Mitchell, Thomas Pearson, Benjamin Priest, John Silverwood, Matthew Stanley, John Wordsworth, James Watson, Ellis Wordsworth, Joseph Marshall, and John Parkin. Ten of them voted for Turner, and six for Fox. John Parkin would no doubt be the person who erected the houses near the old Rose and Crown Inn, Penistone, and by diverting the watercourse running through the town caused the proceedings at law in 1749 elsewhere referred to.

GRAVESTONES IN BULLHOUSE CHAPEL.

Alterations have recently been made at Bullhouse Chapel, including the taking away of a raised platform, which had been in position a great number of years. On the removal of the platform the gravestones of the Riche family were revealed. ‘The first stone bears the following inscription: ‘“ Here lieth interred the body of Martha, the wife of Elkanah Riche, Esq. She departed this life February the 1st, An. Dom. 1722, in the 59th year of her age. Also the body of Elkanah Riche, Esq. He died July ye 24th, An. Dm. 1724, in the 65th year of his age. This building was erected by the said Elkanah Riche, An. Dm. 1692.” At the head of the stone adjoining this is a tablet, on which was inscribed: ‘Six feet earth from this stone heth the body of the rev. learned and pious Daniel Denton, Master of Arts, who was minister here 28 years. He died February 18th, On the stone at the foot is the following: “ Here

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Sit PREDERICK TREVES. AND. HOLIDAYS. 189

lieth interred the body of Grace, the daughter and heiress of Wm. Bagshaw, of Huckloe, Esq., and wife of Aymer Riche, Esq. She departed this life September the 30th, A.D. 1724, in the 27th year of her age. Also the body of Elkanah, son of Aymer and Grace Riche. He died February ye 7th, An. Dm. 1724, aged 1 year 4 months.” This stone bears a coat-of-arms at the foot. On another stone is the inscription: ‘ Here lieth the remains of Aymer Riche, Esq., who died November 18th, 176g, aged 67. He was in his behaviour the accomplished gentleman, in his worldly affairs the man of prudence, and in charity to the poor an exemplary Christian.”” This also bears a coat-of-arms. Three stones placed side by side are embellished with scroll designs, along with the following inscriptions: ‘Here lyeth interred ye body of Elkanah, son of Elkanah Riche, gent., who departed this life March ye 3rd, A.D. 1717, about ye . .. year of his age. This young gentleman lived . . . and died much lamented.” ‘‘ Here lyeth interred ye body of Sylvanus, son of Elkanah Riche, gent., who departed this life December ye 20th, A.D. 1707, aged 17 years. He was tall of stature, and a sober, sweet-tempered youth.” ‘ Here lyeth interred ye body of Richard, son of Elkanah Riche, gent., who departed this life October ye 8th, 1700, aged 2 years and g months. Also the body of Elizabeth, daughter of Elkanah Riche, gent., who departed this life February ye 19th, 1707, aged 6 years and 7 months.”

SIR FREDERICK TREVES AND HOLIDAYS.

The man who openly boasts that he can do without the holidays which most people deem essential should ponder over the following statement, which is attributed to Sir Frederick Treves. Says the well-known doctor :—‘‘ One cannot burn the candle at both ends. There is an enormous wear and _ tear in existence, and when a man says to me that he cannot afford to take a holiday, I reply: ‘You must be very well off. I cannot afford to do without one.’ No very busy man can afford to dispense with holidays. One who has to live our mode of life must be always alert, keen, fit; and he cannot be fit unless he has complete change and rest.”

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THE OLD GRAMMAR SCHOOL.

PENISTONE GRAMMAR SCHOOL.

‘“ Ouoniam refert a quibus et quo quisque modo sit institutus (“It is of great moment by whom and in what manner every one is educated.’’)

ENGRAVED on the headstone over the doorway of the School is the following inscription, namely: ‘ Circitey 1397. Grammar School. ‘ Disce aut discede.’”’ That the School was erected “ 1397, as the word “ cirvcitey”’ implies, may be taken to be correct. And the Latin words, “ Disce aut discede,” which mean “ learn or leave,” show very clearly that no scholar who did not make up his mind to learn would be allowed to stay at the School, and have the Master’s time wasted over him. Many centuries ago the Clarels of Aldwarke, a wealthy and important family, and possessed of vast estates, were Lords of the Manors of Waterhall, Peniston, Heley, and Hoyland Swein. And Hunter, in his valuable work, The History and Topography of the Deanery of Doncaster, sets out that: ‘‘ Thomas Clarel, Dominus (that is Lord) de Peniston in 1392, granted to John del Rodes and others a piece of land in the Kirk-flatt, sicut se extendit et jacet inter quinque lapides per manus predicti Thomas Clarel pro metis positos, with license to grave turf on the Moors of Penistone.” ‘Translation: ‘So much as extends and les between five stones placed as bounds by the hands of the above-mentioned Thomas Clarel.” That the above piece of land, described as in the “ Kivk (that is Church) flatt,” was the site of the School, and shops and houses adjacent, formerly part of the endowments of the School, and that the above “ grant of 1392” is the “ Foundation Deed” of the School, few acquainted with Penistone I think will have a shadow of doubt. Indeed, the fact that the grant is not made to John del Rodes alone, but to himself and others; and from what is

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192 HISTORY OF FEMISTONE.

shown by an Inquisition made in 1604, and hereafter fully referred to, make it plain that the land was not granted to John del Rodes for his own use, but to him and others, whose names we have not, as Trustees for the purposes of pro- viding a School or seat of learning for Penistone and district. That other endowments were soon added is apparent from the said inquisition; but that the school would at its foundation be called a Grammar School is open to question; though in an old information of the inhabitants in 1785 it is stated “That there has been from time immemorial or for a long time past a Free Grammar School of and within the said Parish of Penistone, in the County of York.” However, be that as it may, there is the undoubted fact that the Grammar School at Penistone is by far the oldest in the district. Many years before Barnsley, Sheffield, or Huddersfield began to take up the question of education Penistone had its Grammar School; indeed in 1397, and for many years after, Penistone would probably be a more important and opulent place than either Barnsley, Sheffield, or Huddersfield. The Barnbys, Bosvilles, Burdets, Clarels, Cudworths, Cutlers, Eyres, Micklethwaités, Riches, Rockleys, Went- worths, Wordsworths, and Wortleys, amongst others, would all be influential families in the district in those days; and through the exertions of some of those families—many of whom are at one time or another mentioned in the School Documents—it may safely be assumed that Penistone became a great seat of learning. It is believed to have become a Grammar School early in the reign of Queen Elizabeth from the fact that the school has always received rent charges out of lands in Bagden, which were left by William Turton in 1559 on certain conditions in his will mentioned. In King James the First’s reign, namely in 1604, and in Charles the Second’s reign, 1677, Government enquiries were held in connection with this school; and that it was a well- known and flourishing school long prior to 1604, must be apparent from the Inquisition taken upon the Commission then granted, and the Decree there- upon made; and from which the following extract will be interesting as showing how well even at that period it was endowed, namely :—

In 1604 the Inquisition showed that there belonged to the Grammar School at Penistone “ All the Houses, Stables, Buildings, and Gardens, in the North end of the Towne betwixt St. Marie-lane and the Cockpit-lane, and beinge the gift of one Mr. Clarel, of Aldwarke, then Lord of the Towne of Pennystone, as appeareth by certain ould Dedes thereof had and made (that is to say) First, the Schoolmasters House and Garden. Also one Shoppe and a Chamber in the occupation of one Thomas Waynewright. Also one Cottage and a Garden in the occupation of Uxor Roides. Also the House wherein Ralph Walker latelie dwelt. And three other decayed Almshouses not certenlie rented. Also one House, one Stable, and one Garden in the occupation of Uxor Bower. Also one House in the occupation of Thomas Wodcock. Also one House in the occupation of James Marsden. Also more Lands at the West end of the Towne in Penystone aforesaid (that is to saie) First, one House, one Croft, and one Garden in the occupation of Raulph Roder. Also one House and one Garth in the occupation of Uxor Wordsworth. Also the Roughe field and Roughe field Inge in Penystone, in the Schoolmasters occupation. Also two Closes in the East Field, in Penystone aforesaid, in the occupation of the said School- master. Also two Doles in the Eastfield aforesaid, in the occupation of Uxor Bower. Also one Dole in the Dobbinge Gappe in Pennystone. Also the Balgreave, in Penystone aforesaid, in the occupation of Edmund Beamont. Also one acre and a half in Redbrome, in Penystone aforesaid. Also the Armit Yeard in Penistone, in the occupation of John Baumforth. Also Land in the Hacking in the occupation of Gregory Wordsworth. Also one Cottage in

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THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 193

Denbie, and two Crofts of Land there in the occupation of John West. Also a rent charge of twelve pence yearlie goinge out of the Lands of Frauncis Apleyard, of Ecklands. Also issuing out of the Lands of John West, of Denbie, given by the Will of William Turton, a rent charge of 33 shillings and four pence. Also given by the said Will issuing out of the House and Grounds at Bagden a rent charge of 37s. 8d. Also given by the said Will a rent charge of Ios. per annum, going out of the Ark in ground in Ingbirchworth, in the lands of Richard Micklethwaite. Also a rent charge of 3d. per annum going out of a Croft of John Leadbeathers, of the White Hart, Pennystone. Also Thomas Ellis, of Spinkegall, ought to pay out of Moisebotham to the Schole of Penny- stone for ever 3s. 4d. per annum. Also the heirs of Smallcawe (Smallshaw), in Thurlstone, videlicit Richard Micklethwaite paieth per annum 6d. or a pound of Wax to the said Scole for ever. Also William Cudworth, for Pogge Croft, ought to pay to the said Schoole, out of the said Pogge Croft, a rent charge of fourteen pence yearlie forever. Also Francis Greaves and John Greaves for lands in Hunshelf called Storthe, which sometime were Sir Richard Wortley’s lands, ought to pay and have paid 3s. 4d. per annum. Also Francis Greaves and the heirs of Edward Hellywell ought to pay a rent of 3s. 4d., issuing out of Hellywell House and land, to the said Schole yearly forever. Also the Heirs of William Blagborne, out of lands in Huddersfield, were charged with 4s. 11d. of rent, but no proof made of the possession or payment of that rent. Also William Wordsworth (in lieu of Jessopp House) is to assure for ever 3s. yearlie rent to the use of the said School for ever out of Cotes yeard. Also the Heirs of John Walker and Richard Bilcliff ought to pay for Thomas Silvester’s House and the House called Peck House, in Hunshelf, twelve pence. Also Raulph Wordsworth, of Snodenhill, a rent charge of 4s. 11d. per annum. Also the some of £3 6s. 8d. remaininge in the hands of [lias (obliterated), of lands given to the School by John Micklethwaite, his Father, whose Executor or Administrator he is.”

Now we repeat again that the very fact that in 1604 the School, as is shewn by the above Inquisition, was possessed of all the houses, lands, rent- charges, and premises specified in the said Inquisiton, must make it apparent to all that for a long period there had been a large, important, and flourishing School at Penistone, endowed and patronised and thought much of by the wealthy families of the district. Indeed, such a long list of Endowments must have been the accumulations of years—nay, centuries ; and there is little reason to doubt but that the School which is now called the ‘“‘ Penistone Free Grammar School” is the school that was first erected in 1397, the date on its headstone, and thenceforward was the most noted and popular school in the district, and that a wide one. But even the above list does not appear to have included all the endowments of the School in 1604, for we find the following Presentments, namely; ‘‘ The joynt Presentments of the Churchwardens and Constables of the Parish of Peniston to the Articles ministered unto them at Rotherham by the King’s Majesties Commissioners for charitable uses, 1613. First, we present that there is in the Township of Penistone one House called Joseph House, alias Jesop House, with two Crofts of Meadow about two or three acres, in the occupation of one Robert Storry; and is detained wrongfully from our School by Thomas Wordsworth, of Shepherd Castle, as may be proved by divers Deeds, as also by Roger Micklethwaite, and by a Paper Rental. Item, we present these Parcels of Ground of right to belong to our Free School, which were either through oversight or negligence of some persons left out and overslipt, when the rest of our Parish Land were decreed to our School at Wakefield, before Sir John Savil and divers others, when the like Commission for Charitable N

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uses was holden there, that is to say—One acre of Land lying in the High Royd, and one rood lying in the three roods both within the Demeasn of Shepherd Castle, and in the cccupation of Thos. Wordsworth, Gentleman, or his assigns. Also one half-acre lying in the Lumb Royd. And one half-acre lying in the Long Lands, within the Tenement of Scole-hill, and in the occupa- tion of Wm. Wordsworth. All which said parcels of Ground are imployed to the use of our said School. we present a rent charge of 3s. yearly going out of the Lands of Ralph Greaves,-late of Hunshelf, of right to belong to our School, as may be duely proved by a Paper Rental with 17 substantial men’s hands to it, and also by Mr. Hey, our Schoolmaster, who hath received divers rents for the same. Jtem, we present that there are divers Rents detained and kept back from our School which of right ought to be paid, and which were likewise decreed to our School at Wakefield before Sir John Savile and divers others as is aforesaid and as may be duly proved by Mr. Hey, our Schoolmaster. Item, we present Francis West, Gentleman, for detaining a certain original Deed which he had at the hands of John Sotwell, Gentleman, deceased. Witness, Ralph Roads and Richard Sotwell. Richard Brooksbank, Andrew Haigh, Robert Marsden, Thomas Sylvester, Churchwardens ; William Bostock, Edward Hinchclyff, John Micklethwaite, Ric. Hawksworth, Ric. Pymond, Chri. Wordsworth, John Mitchell, Hugh Ellis, Constables.”

The old Deeds shewing the early Donors to the School, and some of which were in existence in 1604 and 1696—as is shown by the Inquisition of 1604 and a letter from the Rev. Edmund Hough, then Vicar of Penistone to Ralph Thoresby, of Leeds, the antiquarian, dated Penistone, March 16th, 1696-7, where n he states, ‘‘ That in the Town of Penistone is a free School of an ancient foundation whose revenues consist much in land rents, the writings of some of them scarce legible, nor the names of all the Donors known as I understand ’— have long since been lost, as appears from a memorandum under the hand of the Rev. Francis Haigh, a Master of the School, dated St. Andrew’s Day 1757, wherein, after stating that the Inquisition of 1604 was held at Wakefield, before Sir John Savile, Knight, Robert Kaye, Esq., John Armitage, Esq., John Favour, Vicar of Halifax, and Robert Cooke, Vicar of Leeds, refers to the Gift of Mr. Clarel—“ as it then (that is in 1604) appeared from certain old Deeds none of which I ever saw, and I suppose them now all lost.” Although Penistone since 1604, probably on account of its being situated so near the Moors and ina bleaker district, has not made the progress that either Barnsley, Shetheld, or Huddersfield have done, prior thereto it would be a more important place, as the fact of its having such an important School when those places were without any to equal it—if they had any at all—fully shows; indeed of the town of Sheffield in 1615 we read that—‘ By a survaie of the towne of Sheffield made the second daie of Januarie 1615 by twenty four of the most sufficient inhabitants, there it appeareth that there are in the Town of Sheffield 2207 people of which there are 725 which are not able to live without the Charity of their neighbours. These are all begging poor. 100 Householders which relieve others. These (though the best sorte) are but poor Artificers; amonge them there is not one that can keep a team on his own land; and not one above ten who have grounds of their owne that will keep a cowe. 160 House- holders not able to relieve others. These are such (though they beg not) as are not able to abide the storme of one fortnight’s sickness but would be drawn thereby to beggary. 1222 Children and Servants of the said Householders, the greater part of which are such as live of small wages and are constrained sore to provide themselves necessaries.” And Dodsworth, as Hunter informs us, has preserved the memory of a singular, and indeed a savage, custom, of which

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THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 195

Sheffield Park was formerly the scene. In the topographical notes which he made at Sheffield in 1620 he writes that “ The late Gilbert Earl of Shrewsbury was wont in every year on a certayne day to have many bucks lodged in a meadow near the towne side about a mile in compasse, to which place repaired almost all the apron men of the Parish, and had liberty to kill and carry away as many as they could with their hands, and did kill some tymes twenty, and had money given them for wine by the earl.” If the above account of the inhabitants be correct, there is no doubt but that a good fat buck or two would not come amiss to them; and might it not have been because Sheffield was in those days such a poor place that the custom originated and was kept up? Penistone at this time had, as before mentioned, many wealthy and influential families residing in the neighbourhood, and its inhabitants would, there is little reason to doubt, be better off than those of Sheffield, Huddersfield, or Barnsley. Considering the valuable endowments the school acquired it would no doubt give a liberal education even in its early days and be resorted to by all classes ; but with the teaching therein from time to time—as it is not now _ of much consequence—it is not our intention to enter upon. At all events in its early days, scholars that attended the school were expected to do their best, as the words on the headstone “ Disce aut discede,’ which, as I have before stated, means “ Learn or leave ;”’ or to put it more plainly “ Learn or take your hook” plainly show. And probably the following account an old chronicler gives of the course of education pursued by the higher classes in early times may be interesting. It speaks of their sons “bene sette at foure year age To scole at learne the doctrine of Lettrure : And after six to have them in language And sit at meat semely in all nurure ; At ten and twelve to revel its thety care, To dance and sing, and speak of Gentleness ; At fourteen year they shall to field I sure, At hunt the deer and catch an hardiness. For deer to hunt and slay and see them bleed, An hardiment giveth to his courage, And also in his wit he taketh heed, Imagining to take them at_avantage ; At sixteen year to overray and to wage, To just and ride and castles to assatl, To skirmish als and make siker scurage, And set his watch for peril nocturnall. And every day his armour to assay In feat of arms with some of his, His might to prove, and what that he do may, If that he were in such a jeopardy Of warre by falle that by necessitie He myet algates with weapons him defend ; Thus should he learn in his priority His weapons all in arms to dispend.”

That things were very different in those times to what they are now from the above plainly appears ; and that they were perilous times the fact that at the age of 16 scholars had “to set their watch for peril nocturnall” makes it apparent. Of the noted men who received their education at this school, probably the one who attained the most eminence in comparatively recent years was Dr. Nicholas Saunderson, the blind, but eminent Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge. He was born at Thurlstone, and attended the school when Mr. Staniforth was master. Popular tradition ascribes the attainment of a know-

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ledge of letters to a habit of passing his fingers over the inscriptions on the gravestones in the churchyard of Penistone. The cottage in which he was born was pulled down many years ago. It was situated near to the residence of the late Mr. John Crosland Milner; and when a coachhouse was erected on the site of the cottage, Mr. Milner very considerately identified the locality by causing the following record to be cut conspicuously upon a stone in the gable end of the new building—“ Hic natus est Dr. Nicholas Saunderson, 1682.” Dr. Saunderson was a great friend of our greatest and most eminent of mathe- maticians, Sir Isaac Newton; and there is a memoir of Dr. Saunderson in the “Northern Star, or Yorkshire Magazine” by Mr. Wood, master of the Free Grammar School, Penistone. Of the masters of the school in olden times we have no record; probably they would be priests who officiated either at the Parish Church at Penistone or at the chapel of St. John the Baptist, which formerly stood on the site of the house now called “St. John’s” or “ Old Chapel,” occupied by Miss Stones; and the walls whereof the Rev. Edmund Hough, in his letter to Thoresby, the antiquarian before referred to, says have been “since my coming to be vicar taken to repair the churchyard walls.” Would John del Rodes, the first-mentioned trustee in the foundation deed of 1392 be a master? We find him described in charters dated 1430 as “ custos capellcee sancti Joh’is apud Peniston.” Probably the priest that loved “ venerie,” as Chaucer says, and whose doings are recorded in ‘“‘ Dr. Mack,” a song of the Penistone hunt, might have been an old master, indeed may he not have given his name to the song? It says of him—

“Tt happened on St. Hubert’s day, as we were going to mass, sir, He heard the music of the horn and saw the beagles pass, sir ; He shut his book, his flock forsook, and threw away his gown, sir, Mounted his horse to hunt the fox and tally ho’d the hounds, sir. One day he had a pair to wed, bold reynard passed in view, sir ; He threw his surplice o’er his head, and away to Midhope flew, sir ; Tho’ they did pray that he would stay, for they were not half bound, sir ; He said that as right take it they might, and tally ho’d the hounds, sir.”

William, described in Hunter as proctor (that is writer) de Peniston, in 1525, would probably also be a master of the school. In 1613, Mr. Hey was master ; he died 28th May, 1630. In 1630, Mr. John Cotehill; he died 8th May, 1644. In 1644, the Rev. George Didsbury ; he died 24th April, 1666. In 1666, Mr. Revel; declined in 1668, and died 2nd May, 1672. In 1668, Mr. Nathan Staniforth ; he died 24th November, 1702. In 1702, Mr. John Ramsden. He was a noted master, “and for the greater convenience cf a writing master, and the better accommodation of a considerable number of boarders, the parish (assisted not only by Mr. Ramsden, but by the gentlemen in the neighbourhood) built the present school and (the late) school house upon a very extensive plan.” He died 12th March, 1726, In 1726, the Rey. Jonathan Parkin; he died 3rd May, 1751. 1751 the Rev. Francis Haigh): She November 770: 1776, the Rev. Joseph Horsfall, curate of Penistone. His appointment gave creat dissatisfaction. He is stated to have been ‘‘a master who does little or no duty otherwise than by a deputy,” and an information in Chancery having been threatened to be filed against him by the parishioners, he resigned in 1785. 1786 to 1836, Mr. Jonathan Wood, better known as “Old Schooly Wood,” he died 22nd April, 1836. His usher was Thomas Roebuck an old soldier. Miss Wood also assisted in the school. 1836 to 1855, the Rev. Samuel Sunderland, also vicar of Penistone. When on an excursion to Chatsworth, with the Sunday school teachers, on the 18th July, 1855, the omnibus they were in was upset near Rowsley Station when returning, and he was thrown off and killed. He

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was greatly respected, and his death was a great loss to the parish. 1855 to 1867, the Rev. John Wesley Aldom; resigned 15th March, 1867. 1867, the Rev. Alfred Steane, appointed and accepted, but resigned previous to acting. Mr. George Curtis Price, B.A., appointed, but declined. Mr. Walter Mooney Hatch, B.A., appointed, but resigned after holding the office for a few months, and having had throughout his mastership one scholar, and he only for half a day. 1868 to 1884, Mr. Theophilus Jackson; resigned 5th July, 1884. 1884, Mr. Othman Blakey; resigned January, 1885. 1885, Mr. Harry Hardy. A copy of the appointment of Mr. Ramsden, we are glad to say, is amongst the school documents, and as it will be interesting we give it in full. It reads as follows Be it known to all persons whom it may concern, that John Ramsden, late of Batley, in order to his being admitted Schoolmr. of ye Free- gramr. School of Peniston, in ye West Rid. of ye Coun. of York. He ye said John Ramsden doth agree covenant and promise to and with ye Feoffees of ye sd school to wit, Godfrey Bosville, Esq., Josias Wordsworth, of Waterhall, Gent. ; Arthur Hinchclyff, of Hooten Pannel Yeom.; and Edmund Hough, vicar of Peniston, as followeth. He doth promise yt he will freely admit into and teach all Gramr. Scholars in ye sd Free School, being children of such parents as are Lawful Inhabitants of ye Parish of Peniston, in all ye Rudiments of ye Latin and Greek Tongues, with ye Rhetorick according to ye Foundation of ye said School—2nd, that ye said School may be of Generall Use to ye poorer sort and to promote their Learning to Read English as well as ye Latin tongue, as hath been formerly for many years accustomed. He doth further promise and engage to consent to a salary yearly out of ye advanced Rents, to an Usher as shall be deemed or thought fit and convenient by ye said Feoffees or their successors or ye major part of them to teach ye said English tongue, and further he doth promise to see yt ye said Usher (when elected and substituted) do his office in his place as he ought to do—3rd, He doth promise diligently and faithfully to attend ye sd Free-school and schollars, as many hours every day as are usually accustomed, and yt he will not allow any more play days or Holy days than are commonly allowed in ye Best Govern’d Schools in this Kingdom ; Grants of play shall not be oftener than once in ye week; nor for more than half a day unless upon some extraordinary occasion.—4th. He doth further promise that he will carefully endeavour by moderate correction and other prudent methods to restrain all swearing, cursing, lying, and other evil practices, spoken or committed within or without ye School by any under his Authority.—5th. That he will instruct or cause to be instructed once in ye week those Children Capable in some Orthodox Catechism, and in pticular in ye Church Catechism, those yt have been Baptized according to ye custom of the Church of England that they may when called give an account thereof, publicly in ye Church.—6th. In case of any extraordinary Inability Rendering him wholly unfit and unable to manage ye said School to ye satisfaction of ye said Trustees or their Successors in ye afforesd cases, he doth promise freely to surrender up all his Right, title, and claim in ye said School, unto ye Trustees or their successors ; and yt while he continues Master of ye said School he shall not enter into Holy Orders in ye Church, without ye consent of ye said Feoffees or their successors or ye major part of them under their hand writing first had.—Feb. gth, 1702.” The clause that “he will carefully endeavour by moderate correction and other prudent methods to restrain all swearing, cursing, lying, and other evil practices spoken or committed within or without the school,” we may say—with one enforcing the teaching of “ good manners,” now sadly neglected in many schools—is worthy of being inserted in agreements of the present day. Probably the document

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would be prepared by the Rev. Edmund Hough, as Hunter says ‘‘ he was a man of considerable learning and attainments, and is said to have kept the town and parish in great awe and order.”” He died, we may say, when on a visit to sroomhead Hall in August, 1717. Mr. Wood and some of the prior masters also appear to have been licensed to the school by the Ecclesiastical Courts at York, and he also obtained from the Quarter Sessions on the 1oth October, 1787, a certificate that he had taken the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and done what required under an Act of 25 Charles II., intituled, ‘“ An Act for preventing dangers which may happen from Popish Recusants.”

The trustees of the school were originally appointed by the parishioners, and in nearly all new schemes for schools now promoted by the Charity Commissioners it will be observed that public bodies representing the parishioners have a great voice in the appointment of trustees, and it is only sight they should have, for who have more interest in a schocl in their midst than parishioners? The commission of 1604 was directed to John Sotwell (clerk), John Hawksworth, Thomas Ellis, Wm. Cudworth, John Greaves, Ral. Wordsworth, F. Catlin, Xpofer Marsden, [Ellis Micklethwaite, John Micklethwaite, Nicas Silvester, Ralph West, Gregory Wordsworth, and John Wordsworth. And the Commission of 1677:—To Josias Wordsworth, Ambro Wordsworth, Thomas Greaves, Thomas Mitchell, and Isaac Woodcock. And they would probably be the trustees of the school at those dates. By the Decree made under the Commission of 1677, the following gentlemen were appointed trustees of the school, namely :—Godfrey Bosville, Sylvanus Rich, Robert Blackburn, George Walker, Josias Wordsworth, William Beever, Arthur Hinchhiff, and Francis Morton, and the Vicar for the time being. The number of trustees thereby appointed, it will be observed, is nine, and in reference thereto we find it stated in the old Information before referred to, that may be well presumed that as the Parish of Penistone, altho’ consisting of eight townships, is divided into four quarters, two Trustees for each quarter might be appointed either by the Parish at large or each quarter appoint their own Trustees, and the Vicar of Penistone always to make the ninth.” Their names would suggest that each of the eight townships appointed a trustee ; and from an old book, kept by Mr. Staniforth, a master of the school, it appears the trustees named in the Decree were elected by the parishioners on the 19th November, 1677. The Report of the Commissioners for Inquiry concerning Charities (vol. 17, p. 751) says :—‘ The Feoffees named in the Decree were chosen by the inhabitants of the parish, to whom it was left to recommend proper persons as They appear, however, not to have exercised their right, as the power of choosing new trustees and appointing the schoolmaster has on all subsequent occasions, as far as can be discovered, been executed by the trustees for the tine being. The next appointment of trustees would appear, from the above report, to have been made in 1724, but no further trace thereof, nor who then appointed trustees, can be ascertained. Subsequent appointments took place by Deeds dated 17th and 18th November, 1748; 15th and 16th July, 1783 ; 2nd and 3rd January, 1786; 1st and 2nd January, 1801; ist and 2nd January, 1807; 23rd and 24th January, 1833; and the last appointment by a Deed dated 12th September, 1854. The trustees of the school thereunder were Robert Pemberton Milnes, John Stuart Lord Wharncliffe, John Spencer Stanhope, Frederick William Thomas Vernon-Wentworth, Vincent Corbett, Joseph Parkin Hague, Edward Montagu Granville Stuart Wortley, Walter Thomas William Spencer-Stanhope, Thomas Frederick Charles Vernon-Wentworth, John Hall, John Crosland Milner, Thomas Tomasson, the Rev. Samuel Sunderland, and Henry Rolling, fourteen in all.

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A further endowment was given to the school by Samuel Wordsworth, of London, merchant, who, by his will dated the gth March, 1703, gave £400 to the church and school of Penistone, and £100 to the poor of Penistone, as his intimate friend, Richard Green, and servant, William Hobman, along with his (testator’s) three brothers, John, Josias, and Elias, should think fit to employ or bestow it, and they, it is stated, with the advice and approbation of the vicar of the parish of Penistone and schoolmasters of the parish of Penistone, and the overseers of the poor of the said parish, by and with the advice and approbation of many freeholders and other inhabitants of the same parish, and the better to secure the said £400 and £ 100 from being lost or wasted, purchased therewith an estate at Netherthong, and, by indentures dated the 25th and 26th February, 1708, the same was conveyed to the use of Elkanah Rich, George Beaumont, George Walker, Thomas Haigh, John Greaves, Josias Wordsworth (the younger), Elias Wordsworth (the younger), John Wordsworth, Josias Wordsworth (the elder), and Elias Wordsworth (the elder), as upon trust, after paying outgoings and expenses, to pay one-fifth part of the clear rents and profits unto the overseers of the poor of the said parish, who were to give and distribute the same to and amongst the most poor, aged, and infirm inhabitants of the said parish, that were not common beggars nor receiving poor assessments. And of the balance of such clear rents and profits, three-fifths thereof was directed to be paid to the vicar of the Parish Church of Penistone for the time being, half-yearly, provided the said vicar for the time being preached every Sunday, forenoon and after, as had been and was then used and practised in the said Parish Church, and also to preach, or cause to be preached, a sermon every 24th day of June, betwixt the hours of 10 and 12 in the forenoon, on some suitable subject for the edification of the parishioners of the said parish, particularly of young persons; and that the said vicar give public notice the Lord’s day preceding such sermon. But if it happen that the vicar of the said Parish Church for the time being neglect to preach, as aforesaid, except in case of sickness, or some other extraordinary occasion, then it should be lawful for the said trustees or the major part of them, their heirs and assigns, to deduct and keep back from such vicar so neglecting one moiety of such half-yearly payments till such vicar preached, as aforesaid, and so continued to preach, as aforesaid, and bestow such moiety of the half-yearly payments so kept back on the schoolmasters of the said school, in such proportions as they should think fit. And the remaining two-fifths of the balance of such clear rents and profits were directed to be paid to John Ramsden, then headmaster of the school of Penistone, and John Roebuck, then usher thereof, and to their successors, masters and ushers of the said school for the time being, in such proportions as the said master and ushers’ other salaries were paid or payable, provided the said schoolmasters continued to teach the Assembly’s Catechism, as had been formerly taught in the said school. But if the said schoolmasters, or either of them, neglected to teach their scholars the said catechism, then it should and might be lawful to and for the said trustees, their heirs, or assigns, or the major part of them to deduct and keep back from the said schoolmasters or suck of them as should neglect his or their share of the said two-fifths of the remainder of the rents and profits of the said premises, and bestow the same on the vicaz of the parish for the time being. The share of the above endowment at present payable to the school is about £50 a year.

particulars of all the endowments, and of other matters that are interesting, but too numerous to set out here, appear in old documents connected with the school ; and it is suggested that the master should be furnished with a book wherein to have the same and other noteworthy parish records written,

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200 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

by some of the scholars, and kept in the school for reference when required by the trustees or parishioners. For several years immediately prior to 1888 both the inhabitants and the trustees were extremely anxious to see the School made of more benefit to the district than under the existing arrangements it could be, and after several private and public meetings and enquiries held and made by the Charity Commissioners, terms were settled to the satisfaction of all parties. By an Order of Her Majesty in Council of the 28th November, 1887, the new scheme for the future management of the School received approval. Thereby, in addition to the Karl of Wharncliffe, Mr. W. T. W. Spencer-Stanhope, Mr. Thos. F. C. Vernon Wentworth, Mr. John Crosland Milner, and the Rev. W. S. Turnbull, the old Trustees, who under the new scheme are called co-optative governors ; eleven other trustees, who were to be called representative governors, had to be appointed by the following public bodies, viz., two each by the Penistone and ‘Thurlstone Lecal Boards, one each by the Denby Local Board, the Ingbirchworth and Gunthwaite Local Board, the Hunshelf School Board, the Oxspring School Board, and the Council of the Firth College at Shefheld, and two by the Public Elementary School Electors, who shall be either the same persons as for the time being are respectively chairmen of the several bodies of managers of such of the Public Elementary Schools in the ancient parish of Penistone as are not Schools provided by a School Board or persons appointed in place of such chairmen by the managers of each such School. Representative governors having been duly appointed, the new machinery at once got to work. At the end of 1888 Mr. Lionel Ernest Adams, B.A., who for five years had been second master at the Stafford Grammar School, was appointed head master of Penistone Grammar School, and Mr. H. Hardy retained as assistant master. In 1892 the 500th anniversary of the foundation of the School was duly celebrated, and a certificate in an appropriate border of various coats-ol-arms and neatly framed was presented to all connected with the School. The following is a copy of the certificate :

Yenistone Grammar School. Motto: ‘“ Disce aut Discede.’

500TH ANNIVERSARY, 1892.

The Foundation Deed of this ancient School sets out that “Thomas Clarel Dominus de Peniston in 1392 granted to John del Rodes and others a piece of Land in the Kirk-flatt sicut se extendit et jacet inter quinque lapides per manus predicti Thomas Clavel pro metis positos with license to grave turf on the Moors of Peniston.” On the above Piece of Land the School was built and now stands.

Chis to commemorate the above Anniversary was given to who in 1892 was a Scholar at the School. WHARNCLIFFE, Chairman of the Governors. JNO. N. DRANSFIELD, Clerk to the Governors. Christmas, 1892.

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THE NEW GRAMMAR SCHOOL,

Under the new scheme the School forthwith advanced in popularity and in the number of its scholars, but what contributed more than anything else to its achieving its present proud position and prestige was the acceptance by the governors in 1893 of an offer of £2,300 by the Sheffield Union Banking Com- pany for the site of the old school and premises adjoining, and purchasing thereout the extensive premises at Weirfield, about one mile from Penistone on the Huddersfield Road sometime previously built and occupied by Dr. Watson. They are admirably adapted for a School and occupy a beautiful, healthy, and bracing situation, which no doubt has been the cause of many parents—not only in adjoining towns and places but from far and wide—sending their sons to the School as boarders or otherwise ; and to accommodate these and provide further educational advantages great additions have been made to the existing premises during the last few years. Here not only a good education is got for the mind, but the benefit of fine moorland breezes for the body.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS: FOUNDED A.D. St. Peter’s, York, prior to ere BM 730 St Alban’s, about _... me ae se 1095 Derby Free School, about Bier ame 1162 St. Edmundbury Free School ... aoe Winchester ee Sia was 1373 Penistone Free Grammar School oes a Bion ee nas eae ae 1440

St. Paul’s School... abe ree ee

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202 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

FouNDED A.D. Wimborne afte cas bie 1510 Berkhamstead ae ae + sass ESA Shrewsbury Soe nae oo Sue 1551 Marlborough de sas ae pe. SST Christ’s Hospital sa as 1553 Westminster wate ae Se ie SOO Charterhouse a ae sae A 1561 Rugby es a Sag aie eo Soy, Harrow ae tke Nis 1571 Uppingham ... ao ae ae Sonn Ou:

GRAMMAR SCHOOL

In a little old brown-paper-backed book with the Grammar School Deeds are several very old descriptions and particulars of the Grammar School property and rents, and also a copy of the Will of William Rich of Hornthwait dated the zgth day of October, 1673.

The book was written by Mr. Nathan Staniforth, one of the masters of the School.

The descriptions of the property are too long to set out here, but the following names of places, fields, &c., in the Township of Penistone in use in 1630 may be interesting: Castle-green, Kirk-brook (this would be what we now call Cubley Brook and Green Dyke—probably it would be so called from running past the old chapel of St. John the Baptist), Mowsley-Park, Three Lands, Dobbing-Gapp, Cubley, the Town-Green, High-royd, Callis Lane, the Hackings, Allen-field, Lumm-royd, the Hermit-yard ‘abutting on the scyte of the said Chappel late called St. John’s Chappel towards the East,” Levy Lands, Otley-field, Ball-greave, Rudbroom, Ambry-F lat, Scottish Croft, Long- lands, Cock-pit Lane, the Common Pound, Basing-yard, Kirk-flat, St. Mary- Lane.

The commons of Peniston would then come close to the town. John Shawe and various members of the Wordsworth family would appear to have been large land-owners in the township in these days.

Of names of persons in the Township of Penistone in 1620 as tenants of Grammar School property and owners of lands adjacent, I came across the following: John Shawe, Thomas Wordsworth, Mathew Roebuck, Barbara Burdet, John Earnshaw, Thomas Denton, Jonas Rooks, William Woodcock, George Ibotson, Ralph Wordsworth, Wiliam Gower, Ambrose Wordsworth, Richard Swift, Nicholas Bamforth, John Bamforth, Henry Burgon, Robert Stony, John Bilclif, Margaret Woodcock, James Marsden, William Carter, Widow Roads, Ralph Roads, Widow Vessey. Many of the above surnames are still common in the district. Jonas Rook is described as “clerk,” so no doubt he would be the then Vicar of Peniston.

As I know of no other copies of all the particulars and information con- tained in the little book above referred to, I have made a complete copy thereof in one of mine.

The following therefrom I, however, think will be interesting:

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GRAMMAR SCHOOL PROPERTY. 203

RENTALE REDDITUS ST& Mari& QuARTERIJ DE HUNSHELF.

Johannes de Snoddhill et Henricus de Stebinroyd tenent in Snodhill unum Messuagium et totum terram nram et ad Martini et Pentecostes p annum reddunt ee ise as at aoe, See eC: Dominus Nicolaus de Wortley tenet in Hunshelf unum Messuagium et dimidium bovat terree quondam Ade Filijy Wittimi, et ad dictos Terminos reddit = ns. “isd. Dominus predictus Nic. tenet unum Messuagium, et dimid bovat terre in Hunshelf, et ad dictos ‘ferminos reddit mt = ous ests xjd. ob. Adam Filius Witti filly Adze tenet unum Messuagium et dimid bovat terree quond Jacobi de Wortley in Hun-

shelf et reddit ... ve As Sai ices Ob; Idem Adam tenet certas terras in Hunshelf jacentes par- ticulariter in Holowood-royd, et reddit... eh,

Johannes Hall tenet quatuor acras terre et prati in Hunshelf juxta aquam de little Dun in Mosebotham et per annum reddit... re ss Richardus Dunning tenet in Hunshelf unum Messuagium et octo acras terre, et per annum reddit ... es vid. Tres filiae Hugonis Ward tenent unum Messuagium e dimid’ bovat terrae juxta pontem in Hunshellf, et

ys:

reddunt i aes iz mite an xijd. Johannes Swynhird tenet duas acras prati in Hologh- royds, et per annum reddit sae ee see xigel. Wittus filius Johis Molson tenet duas acras terra in Hunshelf-edge in Le Shirt-flatt, et per annum reddit iijd.

Adam filius Witti filyy Adee tenet duodecim acras terra in Hunshelf qua vocantur Eggecliffe et Greenhill

et p annum reddit aaa i ar Rij cli Johannes Procter de Peniston tenet in eadem Hunshelf certas terras quee vocantur Jesep intake et p annum reddit cat cars ee ae ey xjd.

UM es) 1 vd,

How Penistone Grammar School became originally entitled to the above- mentioned rents or rentcharges, whichever they were, or who the donor or donors thereof I cannot find out. All of them are long since lost to the School except the first, which is now a rentcharge of 4s. instead of 4s. 11d., and is payable out of property at Snowdenhill, late belonging to Mr. John Pearson but now to Mr. de Wend Fenton. The said William Rich directed by his Will the paynient out of his real estate of the sum of £3 6s. 8d. “‘ yearly and every year for ever at the Feast of Pentecost only unto the Godly Preaching Minister of the Word of God at the Parish Church of Peniston afforesaid for the time being from time to time successively for ever”; the sum of gos. unto the Schoolmaster of the Free

Grammar School of Peniston yearly, and 20s. yearly to the Poor of the Parish of Penistone.

At the end of 1892 Mr. Adams resigned the head-mastership of the School, and Mr. Joseph W. Fulford, M.A., from the Grammar School at Retford, was

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204 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

appointed in his place and still holds the post. He has been very successful in passing pupils at the various examinations, &c. At the end of 1892, on my retirement from active practice as a solicitor, I resigned the office of Clerk to the Governors, and was succeeded by Mr. Charles Hodgkinson, my partner. I succeeded my father, Mr. John Dransfield, who died on February 4th, 1880, and he succeeded Mr. Joseph Parkin Hague, who died in 1855, as clerk or agent.

The great Duke of Wellington, speaking in the House of Lords in his latter years of the necessity of revealed religion as an element essential to all true education, he turned to Lord Roden, of whose sympathy he was certain, and exclaimed with emphatic earnestness, ‘‘ And what, my lords, after all, is there of real education without the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“God give us men; a time like this demands Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready hands ; Men whom the lust of office does not kill; Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy ; Men who possess opinions and a will ; Men who have honour, men who will not lie.”

“Party is the madness of many for the gain of a few,” says Pope.

’

Moitke’s favourite motto—* Erst wage, dann wage ”’—“ First weigh, then

IN TEMPERANCE, The majority Report describes intemperance as “a gigantic evil” and “a national degradation.” Sir Frederick Treves, addressing a Church of England Temperance Society’s meeting held at Westminster on Thursday, May 4th, 1905, on “ The Physical Effects of the Use of Alcohol,” said that alcohol was, of course, distinctly, a poison. It had certain uses, like other poisons, but the limitations on its use should be as strict as on arsenic, opium, and strychnia. It was a curiously insidious poison, producing effects which seemed to be only relieved by taking more of it—a remark which applied to another insidious poison, morphia or opium. Alcohol had a certain position as medicine, but in the last 25 years its use by the medical profession had steadily and emphatically diminished. People were often heard to say that alcohol was an excellent appetizer when taken before meals. But the appetite did not need artificial stimulation; if the body wanted feeding, it demanded food. As for its “aiding digestion,” it hindered digestion even when taken in sinall amounts, as could be easily demonstrated. Then there was the idea that alcohol was strengthening. As a fact, it curiously modified the nourishment of the body; it greatly lessened the output of carbonic acid—a very important matter—so that the drunkard was necessarily an ill-nourished man; and to reach the acme of physical condition was impossible if any alcohol was used. Its stimulating effect was only momentary, and after that had passed off the capacity for work fell enormously. Alcohol, as it were, brought up the whole of the reserve forces of the body and threw them into action, and when these were used up there was nothing to fall back on. It dissipated rather than conserved bodily energy. As a work producer it was exceedingly extravagant, and might lead to a physical bank- ruptcy; and he was not speaking, he would remind them, of excessive drinking.

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It was a curious fact that troops could not march on alcohol. In the Ladysmith relief column, which he accompanied, the first men to drop out were simply the men who drank. The fact was as clear as if they had all borne labels on their backs. As for the statement that alcohol was ‘‘a great thing for the circulation,” it increased the heart-beat and reddened the skin by using up the body’s reserve power, but then the heart’s action became emphatically weaker—a temporary effect being got at an enormous cost. The action of alcohol on the central nervous system was very definite and was that of afunctional poison, first stimulating and then depressing the nervous system. The higher nerve centres went first, becoming slightly dulled. The man who worked on even a moderate amount of alcohol was not at his best. Fine work could not be done under that condition. The use of alcohol was absolutely inconsistent with a surgeon’s work, or with any work demanding quick and alert judgment. He was much struck by the number of professional men who for this reason had discontinued the use of alcohol in the middle of the day. The last notion he would refer to was that alcohol kept out the cold—that a “little nip” was good when going out into cold air, and so forth. In the words of a great authority, alcohol really lowered the temperature of the body by increased loss of heat and to some extent by increased oxidation, and much reduced the power of the body to resist cold. Finally, he would say that the great and laudable ambition of all, and especially of young men, to be “fit,” could not possibly be achieved if they took alcohol. It was simply preposterous to suppose that any young healthy person needed any alcohol whatever; and, indeed, he was much better without even the smallest amount of it. Having spent the greater part of his life operating, he would say, with Sir James Paget, that of all people those he dreaded to operate on were the drinkers. He hoped that what he had said would help his hearers to answer such absolute fallacies as glass of port can do you no harm.”—Sheffield Daily Telegvaph, May 6th, 1905.

BurFaLo Birt a TEETOTALER.—Colonel Cody, better known as “ Buffalo Bill,” interrogated as to his attitude towards alcohol, once replied: “Iam an abstainer and have been one forsome years past. Iwas led toabandon alcoholic liquors because I found it best for health, purse, and reputation, but more especially as an example to those under me. You must remember that I have here six hundred men from all parts of the earth. A more sober class of traveller cannot be found. There is a saying among my men: ‘If you want to quit, get drunk.’ I insist on sobriety, for in a work lke ours it is absolutely necessary to be sober. Horsemanship and skill with the rifle demand it.” This is the testimony of wisdom and experience.

OF THE EIGHTH CENTURY.

Alcuin, one of the most learned men of the eighth century, has given interesting account of what he learnt at the school at York where he was educated and what he himself afterwards taught when he had become eminent asa teacher. The former comprised in addition to grammar, rhetoric and poetry, in which Alcuin was evidently a proficient—‘ the harmony of the sky, the labour of the sun and moon, the five zones, the seven wandering planets, the laws, risings and settings of the stars, and the aerial motions; of the sea, earthquakes, the nature of man, cattle, birds and wild beasts, with their

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206 HISTORY ‘OF -PENISIONE.

various kinds and forms, and the Sacred Scriptures.’’ Whilst as to the latter Alcuin tells us “‘ To some I administer the honey of the sacred writings ; others I try to inebriate with the wine of the ancient classics. I begin the nourishment of some with the apples of grammatical subtlety. I strive to illuminate many by the arrangement of the stars as from the painted roof of a lofty palace.” Alcuin’s instructions combined in short what, in the phraseology of the time was called the totum scibile, or entire circle of human learning. London, by Charles Knight, 1851.

There is extant a celebrated “ History of the Archbishops of York,” by Alcuin, who was himself master of the school at York in 780. His fame as a school- master was so great that he received an invitation from Charlemagne to Aix-la-Chapelle.

SUN?

“Not once or twice in our proud Island’s story, The path of duty was the way to

A few years ago, at a terminal inspection of the Oxford Military College, a quiet looking old gentleman stood among the spectators on the parade ground. He watched with interest the various drills and exercises performed by the cadets, and was evidently both a soldier and a man of high rank, but he seemed to be unknown to the majority of the public who had received cards of admission. Later in the day he presented the prizes which had been won in the term, and delivered a short address to the following effect :— “T should have considered your chairman, Colonel Duncan, to be the proper person to distribute the prizes, and I should have been better satisfied had he done so, but I have been told that as a Member of your Council and as the senior officer present here to-day, it is my duty to occupy this position. When the matter was put to me in that light and when that word Duty was pronounced I had no choice because I have always regarded the claims of duty as paramount. And I would counsel you, my young friends, in the life on which you are entering, never to lose sight of duty. Whatever may be the circumstances in which you find yourselves, whatever the difficulties by which you are confronted, let duty be your guide and follow it without turning to the right hand or to the left. My next advice to you is this: never lose an opportunity of doing a good and kind action. Do it for its own sake! You may not always receive a temporal and immediate return although you may often reap even that advantage; but in any case the consciousness of having done good will be your most gratifying reward, and one of which you cannot be deprived. Lastly, I would say: Redeem the time. Make use to the utmost of all the means of improvement at your disposal. Look well before you, and prepare with thoroughness and care for the career which you have chosen. The present time is yours, but old age comes upon us more rapidly than we anticipate, and if we have not acted thus our latter days will be embittered by unavailing regrets.” ‘“Tf youth be spent in wisdom’s ways, To age are purest pleasures given, And death but comes to end our days On earth, to be resumed in Heaven.”

Have not the Japanese recently to some purpose shown us how to observe the claims of Duty?

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A NATION’S GREATNESS. 207

WHITEPIEED AND ELOCUFION.

So far from concealing the fact of his attention to delivery or the manner as well as matter of preaching, Whitefield strongly urged the importance of the study and practice of elocution in preparation for the ministry. In one of his letters he quotes a well-known saying of Betterton the actor: ‘‘ Mr. Betterton’s answer to a distinguished prelate,” says Whitefield, worthy of lasting regard. When asked how it came to pass that the clergy who spoke of things veal affected the people so little, and the players who spoke of things barely imaginary affected them so much, he said: ‘My lord, I can assign but one reason ; our players speak of things imaginary as though they were real, and too many of the clergy speak of things real as if they were imaginary.’ ”

A NATION’S GREATNESS.

“ Do we clearly know in what a nation’s greatness consists?) Whether it be great or little depends entirely on the sort of men and women that it is producing. A sound nation is a nation that is composed of sound human beings, healthy in body, strong of limb, true in word and deed, brave, sober, temperate, chaste, to whom morals are of more importance than wealth or knowledge—where duty is first and the rights of man are second—where, in short, men grow up and live and work having in them what our ancestors called the ‘fear of God.’ It is to form a character of this kind that human beings are sent into this world, and those nations who succeed in doing it are those who have their mark in history. They are nature’s real freemen, and give to man’s existence on this planet its real interest and value. Therefore all wise statesmen look first, in the ordering of their natural affairs, to the effect which is being produced in character; and the institutions, callings, occupations, habits, and methods of life are increased and estimated first and beyond every other consideration by this test. The commonwealth is the common health, the common wellness. No nation can prosper long which attaches to its wealth any other meaning.”’—Froude’s Oceana.

In the reign of the late Emperor William of Prussia—the grandfather of the present EKmperor—when serious changes were proposed to be made in the National Church of Prussia and also in the schools, the Emperor, in an address which was published to the whole nation, used these weighty expressions :— “The Christian religion is the foundation upon which we must abide. There is a movement in the present day in the churches—a leading astray of souls which deeply grieves me, and a falling away from religion as the sole basis of morality. Our religious education must become much deeper and more and more decided ‘That is of greater importance in the education of the young than the quantity of knowledge; the scientific training of the intellect will not produce moral elevation of character. If there is anything that can give stability in the present life it is the one only foundation which is laid in Christ Jesus. We must all build on the one foundation of the Bible and the

Gospel.” When the Emperor was confirmed he wrote out the principles on which he resolved to govern his life. Here are two or three of them: “I will cultivate

and nurture in me a kindly disposition to all mea, for are not all men my brethren? Whenever I meet with merit I will encourage and reward it, more especially modest and hidden merit. I will begin every morning with devotional thoughts of God Almighty. Corrupt men and flatterers I will resolutely turn

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away from me. I will seek my favourites among the good, the true-minded, the upright, the sincere. Those shall aye be dearest to my heart who tell me the truth, even at the risk of my displeasure.” Mr. Kingston tells a story which illustrates in a picturesque way the punctiliousness and care for little things which distinguished the Emperor and governed his conduct for three-quarters of a century in perfecting the German army. Whenever he went to his study window or balcony to acknowledge a military salute he invariably first buttoned his coat. One of his generals asked him why he stood thus on ceremony with his guards. ‘ That is not it,” replied the Emperor; ‘ they have never seen me with my coat unbuttoned, and I do not intend that they ever shall, for, let me tell you that it is the one button left unbuttoned that is the ruin of an army.” When his Majesty was once on a visit ina distant part of his dominions he was welcomed by the school children of the village. Taking an orange from a plate he asked “To what kingdom does this belong?” “To the vegetable kingdom, sire,” replied a dear little girl. He then took a gold coin out of his pocket and holding it up asked “And to what kingdom does this belong?” “‘To.the mineral kingdom, sire,” replied the child. “‘ Amd to what kingdom do I belong?” asked the Emperor. The child coloured deeply for she did not like to say “the animal kingdom” lest his Majesty should be offended, when a bright thought came into her mind, and she said “ To God’s kingdom, sire.” The Emperor was deeply moved. A tear stood in his eye. He put his hands on the child’s head and said most devoutly “ God grant that I may be accounted worthy of that kingdom.”

“No really great man” writes Dean Hook in his biography of St. Basil, “certainly no good man can exist unless the heart has been cultivated as well as

Dr. Johnson says, “‘ No man ever yet was great by imitation.” A disposition to imitate is frequently a vice of students, and it is one which especially besets those who have not the command of great leisure. The pressure of work hurries them in their reading, and they are tempted to adopt some writer as their master instead of studying to master the writer. Soon the fatal results appear. The lion’s skin will probably not fit, and the occasional bray discloses the ridiculous truth; and in any case the power of individuality—a sacred power, and one of God’s best gifts,—is so oppressed that all the buoyancy of naturalness disappears.—Boyd Carpenter, Bishop of Fezpon.

LACONIC: -INSC RIP

The following lines were found in 1813 engraven on a Stone among the ruins of the Friary at Guildford :—

“‘ Si sapiens fore vis sex serva quee tibi mando Quid dicas et ubi de quo cut quomodo quando Nunc lege nunc ora nunc cum fervore labora Tunc erit hora brevis et labor ipse levis.” TRANSLATION : ‘If you are willing to be wise, These six plain maxims don’t despise : Both what you speak and how take care Of and to whom and when and where, At proper hours, read, work, and pray, Time then will fly and work be play.”

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PROFESSOR HUXLEY’S ADVICE TO BOYS. 209

“ Evil the world is; life a long battle ; Wrestle with anguish, and warfare with sin, Proving the heart of us, trying our mettle By troubles without us, and terrors within ; And yet ’tis worth living, to-day and to-morrow, The life which God lived in the wealth of His love, Life be made perfect in patience of sorrow, God-life on earth, like the God-life above.” Rev. Walter C. Smith, D.D., L.L.D.

Tis the hard grey weather Breeds hard English men.”—Kingsley.

A So.pigeR’s SHORT PrAyeR.—Lord Ashley, before the charge at the Battle of Edgehill, made this short prayer :—

“© Lord, Thou knowest how busy I must be this day, If I forget Thee, do not Thou forget me.”

PULLING DOWN OF THE OLD GRAMMAR SCHOOL.

The Old Grammar School was last used as a school on Saturday, May 2oth, 1893. It was built when Mr. John Ramsden was master, viz., 1702-26, and took the place of one built about 1397. On July 31st, 1893, the pulling down of the school commenced, the site with adjoining property of the Foundation having been sold to ‘the Sheffield

Union Banking Co. Ltd.

PROFESSOR HUXLEYS ADVICE ‘TO: BOYS. TO THE EDITOR OF THE DAILY NEWS.

Si1r,—It so happens that, guided by the old saw “‘ Maxima reverentia debetur pueris,” I took particular pains to think over what I intended to say at the distribution of prizes to the University College schoolboys last Thursday ; and I even went so far as to write out my speech in full. That my address departed verbally from the manuscript which I enclose is likely enough, as I had only two or three notes. But it certainly was nowise different in substance. Under these circumstances, am I asking too great a favour in requesting that you will find room for it in the Daily News, in order that such of your readers as may be interested in knowing that I am still sane may compare it with the editorial comments which appeared on Saturday ?

Royal School of Mines. I am, yours faithfully, T. H. HUXLEY.

Ladies and Gentlemen,—Let me remind you that you are simply spectators of to-day’s proceedings, and that it is not my business to address you. If it were, the occasion might tempt me to take up much more of your time than I intend to occupy in saying a great many things which I have no intention of saying. For though I am not by nature greatly given tosentimental reflections I cannot but imagine that we men and women are tempted to say of the hearty boys, at the demonstration of whose mental and physical vigour we have been

assisting, that which Wallenstein says of Max Piccolomini: O

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210 HISTORY. OF PENISTONE.

“For, oh, he stood before me like my youth Transformed for me the real to a dream, Clothing the palpable and the familiar With golden exhalations of the dawn. We have reached the hard realities, the palpable limitations, the familiar drudgery of actual life; while for these joyous lads the future is a vision of limitless possibilities shaped out of the golden exhalations of youth and hope. A long, an earnest, perhaps a sad, homily might be preached upon this text. Happily for me I am not called upon to deliver it; but I may at once address myself to these boys, who are doubtless beginning to think that [am maundering, and that if there is anything in the world real and palpable, not to say familiar, it is just themselves. So, boys, let me tell you that it has given me great pleasure to come among you to-day, and to hand you the prizes you have won for proficiency in all sorts of intellectual-and some physical exercises; and, as I have perfect confidence in the judgment and in the justice of those who award these prizes, I am sure that you deserve the honours you have obtained, and I offer you my hearty congratulations upon them. You have a right to take an honest pride in your success, and I would even excuse a little vanity, if the fit is neither too strong nor too long. But though self-satisfaction, if one comes by it honestly, is a very good thing in its way, the whole value of success, here as elsewhere, does not lie in self-satisfaction. In the present case I should say that the chief value of success lies in the evidence which it affords of the possession of those faculties which will enable you to deal with those conditions of human existence into which you will be launched, to sink or swim, by and bye. Let me appeal to your knowledge of yourselves and of your school-fellows. What sort of fellows are those who win prizes? Is there in all the long lst which we have gone through to-day the name of a single boy who is dull, slow, idle, and sickly? Iam sorry to say that I have not the pleasure of knowing any of the prize-winners this year personally—but I take upon myself to answer certainly not—Nay, I will go so far as to affirm that the boys to whom I have had the pleasure of giving prizes to-day, take them altogether, are the sharpest, quickest, most industrious, and strongest boys in the school. But by strongest, I do not exactly mean those who can lift the greatest weights or jump furthest— but those who have most endurance. You will observe again that I say, take them altogether. I do not doubt that outside the list of prize-winners there may be boys of keener intellect than any who are in it, disqualified by lack of industry or lack of health, and there may be highly industrious boys who are unfortunately dull or sickly; and there may be athletes who are still more unfortunately either idle or stupid, or both. Quickness in learning, readiness and accuracy in reproducing what is learnt, industry, endurance, these are the qualities, mixed in very various proportions, which are found in boys who win prizes. Now there is not the smallest doubt that every one of these qualities is of great value in practical life. Upon whatever career you may enter, intellectual quickness, industry, and the power of bearing fatigue are three great advantages. But I want to impress upon you, and through you upon those who will direct your future course, the conviction which I entertain, that, as a general rule, the relative importance of these three qualifications is not rightly estimated; and that there are other qualities of no less value which are not directly tested by school competition. A somewhat varied experience of men has led me, the longer I live, to set the less value upon mere cleverness ; to attach more and more importance to industry and to physical endurance. Indeed, Iam much disposed to think that endurance is the most valuable quality of all; for industry, as the desire to work hard, does not come to much if a feeble frame is unable to respond to the desire. Everybody who has had his

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way to make in the world must know that while the occasion for intellectual effort of a high order is rare, it constantly happens that a man’s future turns upon his being able to stand a sudden and a heavy strain upon his powers of endurance. To a lawyer, a physician, or a merchant it may be everything to be able to work sixteen hours a day for as long as is needful without knocking up. Moreover, the patience, tenacity, and good humour which are among the most important qualifications for dealing with men are incompatible with an irritable brain, a weak stomach, or a defective circulation. If any one of you prize-winners were a son of mine (as might have been the case, I am glad to think, on former occasions), and a good fairy were to offer to equip him accord- ing to my wishes for the battle of practical life, 1 should say, “I do not care to trouble you for any more cleverness ; put in as much industry as you can instead ; and oh, if you please, a broad deep chest and a stomach of whose existence he shall never know anything.” I should be well content with the prospects of a fellow so endowed. The other point which I wish to impress upon you is, that competitive examination, useful and excellent as it is for some purposes, is only a very partial test of what the winners will be worth in practical life. There are people who are neither very clever nor very industrious, nor very strong, and who would probably be nowhere in an examination, and who yet exert a great influence in virtue of what is called force of character. They may not know much, but they take care that what they do know they know well. They may not be very quick, but the knowledge they acquire sticks. They may not even be particularly industrious or enduring, but they are strong of will and firm of purpose, undaunted by fear of responsibility, single-minded, and trustworthy. In practical life a man of this sort is worth any number of merely clever and learned people. Of course I do not mean to, imply for a moment that success in examination is incompatible with the possession of character such as I have just defined it, but failure in examination is no evidence of the want of such character. And this leads me to administer from my point of view the crumb of comfort which on these occasicns is ordinarily offered to those whose names do not appear upon the prize list. It is quite true that practical life is a kind of long competitive examination, conducted by that severe pedagogue Professor Circumstance. But my experience leads me to conclude that his marks are given much more for character than for cleverness.

Hence, though I have no doubt that those boys who have received prizes to-day have already given rise to a fair hope that the future may see them prominent, perhaps brilliantly distinguished, members of society ; yet neither do I think it at all unlikely that among the undistinguished crowd there may lie the making of some simple soldier whose practical sense and indomitable courage may save an army led by characterless cleverness to the brink of destruction, or some plain man of business who, by dint of sheer honesty and firmness, may slowly and surely rise to prosperity and honour, when his more brilliant compeers, for lack of character, have gone down, with all who trusted them, to hopeless ruin. Such things do happen. Hence let none of you be discouraged. Those who have won prizes have made a good beginning ; those who have not, may yet make that good ending which is better than a good beginning. No life is wasted unless it ends in sloth, dishonesty, or cowardice. No success is worthy of the name unless it is won by honest industry and brave breasting of the waves of fortune. Unless at the end of life some exhalation of the dawn still hangs about the palpable and the familiar; unless there is some trans- formation of the real into the best dreams of youth, depend upon it whatever outward success may have gathered round a man, he is but an elaborate and a mischievous failure,

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212 HISTORY OF PENISTONE. PRESERVATION OF “Faz TEETH.

Bowditch, in examining the teeth of forty persons of different professions and living different kinds of life, found in almost all vegetable and animal parasites. The parasites were numerous in proportion to the neglect of cleanliness. The ineans ordinarily employed to clean the teeth had no effect on the parasites, whilst soapy water appeared to destroy them. I may say I have for many years used simply carbolic soap for my teeth with the best

results.

SUCCESS.

The first and chief element of success is decision of character. Without this and the kindred traits that are always found in its company such as resolution, courage, and hope, there is little chance of success.’ With it “there is no such word as fail,” and seldom any such thing as a failure. To such a spirit even difficulties afford a stimulus; “for a resolute mind” it has forcibly been said, ‘‘ is omnipotent.”

“‘As in a mirror vanish’d years This well-known view is raising; With lightning glow the past appears, As thoughtful I am gazing.”—Anon,

“A speck upon your ivory fan You soon may wipe away ; But stains upon the heart or tongue Remain, alas! for aye.”

IN “BRACE UR.

“Young men, you are the architects of your own fortunes; rely on your own strength of body and soul. Take for your star self-reliance. Inscribe on your banner “ Luck is a fool, pluck is a hero!” Don’t take too much advice, keep at the helm and steer your own ship, and remember that the art of commanding is to take a fair share of the work. Think well of yourself. Strike out. Assume your own position. Put potatoes in a cart, go over a rough road, and small ones go to the bottom. Rise above the envious and the jealous. Fire above the mark you intend tohit. Energy, invincible determin- ation with a right motive are the levers that move the world. Don’t swear, Don’t deceive. Don’t read novels. Don’t marry until you can support a wife. Be civil. Read the papers. Advertise your business. Make money and do good with it. Love your God and fellow men. Love truth and virture. Love your country and obey its laws.”

AID YOURSELF.

Aid yourself and God will aid you, ’ Is a saying that I hold ; Should be written not in letters {| Wrought or silver or of gold, 4 But upon our hearts be graven, A command from God in heaven ; "Tis the law of God Who made you— Aid yourself and God will aid you.

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DR. ARNOLD AND RELIGIOUS TEACHING. 213

Aid yourself—who will not labour All his wants of life to gain, But relies upon his neighbour, Finds that he relies in vain. Till you’ve done your utmost, never Ask a helping hand, nor ever Let the toilful man upbraid you— Aid yourself and God will aid you.

Aid yourself—you know the fable Of the wheel sunk in the road; How the carter was not able By his prayers to move the load, Till urged by some more wise beholder, He moved the wheel with lusty shoulder ; Do your work—your own Maker made you— Aid yourself and God will aid you.

It is well to help a brother Or a sister when in need, But, believe me, there’s another Not-to-be-forgotten creed. Better love did never science Teach to man than self-reliance ; *Tis the law of Him Who made you— Aid yourself and God will aid you.

Many times have we seen the question asked, ‘“‘ What shall I do with my son ?”’ King David said, “I have been young, but now am old, yet never have I seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” Now let us take the education of our youth at colleges and schools. Three classes of education are needed :—education as concerns the body, education as concerns the mind, and education as concerns the soul. Is it a fact that at most colleges and schools in this country the only education that is given now is that which relates to the getting of earthly honour, perishable renown, and riches ? Did not the greatest Teacher the world has ever seen pass a rebuke on such teaching when He said: “Rather seek ye the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you”? Kings ii1., & 10 15 Verses. Solomon said: ‘Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it”; and again, ‘Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man”; and ‘ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” May we not gather from the lives of Joseph, Joshwa, Job, Samuel, and Daniel of old, and many since, that Godliness is profitable not only for this life but for the life to come also? Secures

‘Something sterling that will stay When gold and silver fly away.”

DR. ARNOLD AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION.

The late Dr. Arnold, head master of Rugby School, and perhaps the most distinguished teacher of modern times, felt the responsibility of that important situation. Ina letter to a friend, alluding to his appointment, he writes: “I hope I need not say what a solemn and almost overwhelming responsibility I feel imposed on me. I would hope to have the prayers of my friends, together

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with my own, for a supply of that true wisdom which is required for such a business.” ‘To another correspondent he writes: “ With regard to reforms at Rugby, give me credit, I beg of you, for a most sincere desire to make it a place of Christian education. . . . My object will be if possible to form Christian men. ... For the labour I care nothing if God gives me health and strength, as He has for the last eight years. But whether I shall be able to make the school what I wish to make it,—I do not mean wholly or perfectly, but in some degree,—that is an instrument of God’s glory, and of the everlasting good of those who come to it; that, indeed, is an awful anxiety.”

Such were Dr. s feelings, his hopes, and his anxieties in the prospect of his removal to Rugby. In August, 1828, he and his family removed thither ; and on the 30th of the same month he commenced his labours. He entered not only upon a situation of great responsibility, but a situation which required of him peculiar boldness and earnestness and discretion. It was required of him, not merely that he should sustain the reputation of the school, but that he should improve the system of education which had long been followed there, and which was also at that time the system of education which obtained generally in the public schools of the same kind throughout England. It was required of him that he should keep up the character of the school for classical . learning, and yet that the education imparted should be much more general than it had been. But another and important object was to be achieved. ‘“ The absence of systematic attempts to give a more directly Christian character to what constituted the education of the whole English gentry was becoming more and more a scandal in the eyes of religious men.” This evil required to be remedied ; and it was well for Rugby School, and for hundreds of the youth of England, that a man of Dr. Arnold’s energy was called by Providence to accomplish this work. Our readers can have little idea of the difficulties Dr. Arnold had to over-. come. Great though they were, he faced them manfully. He changed nothing for the mere sake of change; but took care that every change he introduced should be an improvement. It was one of his principles that whatever ought to be done ought to be well done. In communicating religious instruction to his pupils, Dr. Arnold was most assiduous. But religion was not confined to the chapel of the school in which Dr. Arnold regularly officiated. It seems to have been Dr. Arnold’s great desire and constant aim to lead his pupils to feel that their religion was to be carried by them into the schoolroom, there to make them faithful and to give energy to all their endeavours ; that it was to be carried forth from the school- room to the playground, there to direct their intercourse with each other ; that in public and in private, at work and at play, it required the avoiding of what was wrong and the doing of what was right. He sought ever to impress upon their minds that God required of them that they should honour their teachers, remember the wishes of their parents, and be kind and faithful one to another, He led them to feel that God required of them that they should improve their time and cultivate their minds; and most earnestly did he strive to impress upon each of them his own responsibility as having influence with his com- panions and being an example to others. Let us give our readers an extract or two taken almost at random from his addresses to his pupils :—‘ Do you think of God now? Do you remember that He ever and in every place sees what you are doing? Do you say your prayers to Him? Do you still think that lying and all those shuffling and dishonest excuses, which are as bad as lying, are base and contemptible and wicked? or have you heard these things so often from others, even if you yourselves have not been guilty of them, that

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you think there cannot be any great harm in them? Do you still love to be kind to your companions, never teasing or ill-treating them, and never being ill-natured or out of temper with them? or have you already been accustomed to the devilish pleasure of giving pain to others; and whilst you yourselves are teased and ill-used by some who are stronger than you, do you repeat the very same conduct to those who are weaker than you? Are you still anxious to please your parents; and in saying your lessons, do you still retain the natural thought of a well-bred and noble disposition, that you would lke to say them as well as you can, and to please those that teach you? or have you already learnt the first lesson in the devil’s school, to laugh at what is good and generous and high-principled, and to be ashamed of doing your duty? Then you have already had some experience of the truth of what the Bible tells you, that man’s nature is corrupt and bad.” Again, speaking of the tendency to frame excuses for disobedience to God, he thus addressed his pupils: ‘ You are not fitting yourselves carefully and humbly for that state to which it may please God to call you; you are, too many of you, not bringing up to godlinesss and good learning. But the nature of excuses given for not being so, is well worthy of our consideration. .. . One of these excuses arises out of a feeling that your common work is not a matter of religion, and that therefore it is not sinfulto neglect it. Idleness and vice are considered as two distinct things .. but what is not vicious may yet be sinful; in other words, what is not a great offence against men’s common notions of right and wrong may yet be a very great one against those purer motives which we learn from the Scriptures, and in the judgment of the most pure God. ‘Thus idleness is not vicious, perhaps, but it is certainly sinful; and to strive against it isa religious duty, because it is highly offensive to God... . As it is plain that you have no other principal duty but that of improving your minds, as you have no other way in which you can bring forth fruit, so it is plain that to neglect this in you isthe same sort of sinas if a minister of Christ were to neglect the spiritual benefit of a congregation committed to his charge ; the ground does not bring forth the fruit which the sower looks for, and it is therefore rejected and judged unprofitable.” We have before stated that on his appointment as Head Master of Rugby School he declared it to be his earnest desire “ to make it a place of Christian education.” Now there is a very wide difference betwixt the imparting of Christian instruction and Christian education. In saying so, however, we must explain what we mean; for this distinction is constantly overlooked. Judging from what is- said and written about education, even many who seem to regard themselves as authorities on the subject do not seem to have the very slightest idea that the mere imparting of religious knowledge is not education. No one understood the difference betwixt these better than Dr. Arnold. ‘ Consider,” he says, “what a religious education in the true sense of the word is; it is no other than a training our children to life eternal; no other than the making them know and love God, know and abhor evil; no other than the fashioning all the parts of our nature for the very ends which God designed for them—the teaching our understandings to know the highest truth, the teaching our affections to love the highest good. ... Schools can certainly give religious instruction, but it is not certain they will give religious To give a man a Christian education is to make him love God, as well as know Him; to make him have faith in Christ, as well as to have been taught the facts that He died for our sins and rose again; to make him open his heart eagerly to every impulse of the Holy Spirit, as well as to have been taught the fact as it is in the Nicene

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Creed, that He is the Lord and Giver of spiritual life. . . . A school does its best to educate as well as instruct, when not only does the teacher’s example agree with his teaching, but when he does his endeavour to make the example and influence of the boys themselves (a far greater matter than his own), agree with it also. If he can succeed in this, his school will, to many, be a place of real Christian education ; it will have taught them to know Christ, and helped them to love and obey Him.” Such were Dr. Arnold’s views of the difference betwixt religious instruction and religious education; and such was the idea of a Christian education which he had formed and which it was the labour of his life to realise. For Dr. Arnold was no dreamer, no visionary, not a man of mere theory ; he was emphatically a man of action. He had formed in his mind the idea of a Christian school, and earnestly and perseveringly he laboured to make Rugby that school. He could not hope to send forth all educated, though he made it his endeavour to do so, and he took care, if he could only send forth many educated, to send forth all instructed. The religious instruction which he imparted to his pupils was ever of that nature and imparted in that manner which he thought best fitted to promote religious education. Dr. Arnold was not satisfied with explaining to them the doctrines and duties of religion; but he sought to make those doctrines live within them, that the duties might not only be known but practised. His instructions were not addressed merely to their understandings; he was ever appealing to their consciences and seeking to lay hold of their hearts. He not only gave his pupils, to use his own metaphor, a map of the road which they were going and which would keep them in the right way if they used it; but knowing from his own deep experience how wayward and weak and irresolute they were, he sought to impress upon them the danger of erring and the willingness of their Saviour to strengthen them, and their responsibility as knowing the way and having all needful grace in their offer. And then he sought to prepare those entrusted to his care for the world and for eternity by leading them rightly to improve the manifold discipline to which they were necessarily subjected in a large school like that over which he presided. He regarded the school, and he sought to lead his pupils to regard it, as a sort of epitome of the world; and their life there as calculated to exercise such an influence on their character, that almost to a moral certainty their life in the world would be only an enlarged edition of their hfe at school. For even as in the world they should have trials and temptations and responsi- bilities, so had they all these at school. And Dr. Arnold knew well that if he could only, by Gospel motives and encouragements, lead them to overcome the trials they met with at school, they would thereby be prepared for overcoming the trials they should meet with in the world; that if they could be roused and encouraged to resist the stream of influence toward evil that in every large school sweeps along all “neutral and indecisive characters,’ they would be prepared for resisting in after life the stream of popular opinion and worldly custom; that if they could be led to exercise the influence they had with their companions, and especially over those younger than themselves, for good and not for evil, they might be expected to use their influence over fellow-men for good in after life; and that if they could be led not to fear ridicule, not to shrink from duty through fear of their companions, but to reverence their teachers, to do their will and to respect their authority, they should thus be prepaied for going steadfastly on their way through life, fearing God and having a tender regard to His will. And then again, in the ordinary business of the school, there was the preparation for the great business of life; and that not

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merely in the giving of knowledge, but in the forming of habits. Dr. Arnold’s sound penetration led him to use the ordinary discipline of the school as an instrument for promoting God’s glory. He brought the lessons of religion to bear upon the performance of the most common duties of the schoolroom ; so that his pupils might feel that even when learning Latin or Greek or history or geography they were under the eye of God, and were doing or disregarding His will according as they did what was appointed them faithfully or slothfully. Thus Dr. Arnold laboured to make those entrusted to his care religious men, who should carry their religion with them into the world, and even in the ordinary business of life be doing the will of God. Labouring to infuse energy into his pupils in the schoolroom and to make them feel that a great and earnest work was going on there, training them up to habits of diligence and perseverance, he sought to send into the world men of energy, making their influence to be felt there and to be felt for good; earnest men feeling they had a work to do which it was their duty to do with all their might and to do well. He himself had drunk deeply into the spirit of what he himself called “ that magnificent sentence of Bacon ’”’—‘ In this world God only and the angels may be spectators,” and by his example, his instruction, and his discipline, he sought to send back to his parents and to the world every boy given him in charge with “ that magnificent sentence ” written on his heart.

We have, perhaps, kept our readers longer with Dr. Arnold in the school- room than was necessary for impressing them with the greatness and goodness of his character as a teacher. But truly a visit to that schoolroom is well calculated to profit, and hath doubtless been made profitable to many a grown man, as well as to manya boy. We now hasten on to lay before our readers the result of Dr. Arnold’s energy and devotedness. We have, in regard to this, the testimony of one than whom there could not have been found a man better qualified to give an opinion. It is the testimony of Dr. Moberly, Head Master of Winchester, one of the first schools in England. He had been, before his appointment to that office, tutor in the most flourishing College in the University of Oxford, and therefore had the best opportunities of seeing the effects of Dr. Arnold’s training, as exhibited by those of his pupils who went to Oxford to study. He says, speaking of the state of matters when he himself went to the University: ‘‘’the tone of young men at the University, whether Manchester, Eton, Rugby, Harrow, or wherever else was universally irreligious. A religious undergraduate was very rare, very much laughed at when he appeared, and, I think I may say, hardly to be found among public schoolmen. ... A most singular and striking change has come upon our public schools; ...and I am sure that to Dr. Arnold’s personal, earnest simplicity of purpose, strength of character, power of influence, and piety, which none who ever came near him could mistake or question, the carrying of this improvement into our schools is mainly attributable. He was the first. It soon began to be matter of observation to us in the University, that his pupils brought quite a different character with them to Oxford than that which we knew elsewhere.’’ Thus testifies Dr. Moberly to the effects of Dr. Arnold’s influence and labours; and in the same letter, though he had but a slight acquaintance with Dr. Arnold, he expresses his own obligations to him. ‘I have always felt and acknowledged ”’ he writes, “that I owe more to a few casual remarks of his in respect of the government of a public school than to any advice or example of any other person. If there be improvement in the important points of which I have been speaking at Winchester (and from the bottom of my heart I testify with great thankfulness that the improvement is real and great) I do declare, in justice, that his example encouraged me to hope

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that it might be effected, and his hints suggested to me the way of effecting itt Such was Dr. Arnold in the schoolroom; earnest, energetic, laborious, God-fearing. And he was earnest in everything. Whatever his hand found to do, he did it with all his might. ... No man ever lived who had a deeper conviction that all schemes to make a population moral, without making it religious, must come to nought. He felt that the strength of a great country like ours consists in a well-conditioned people; and that if they are allowed to sink down into ignorance and infidelity, the greatness of her princes and the wisdom of her rulers will alike be powerless to arrest her decline. The providing of wholesome instruction for the lower classes, therefore, was what he greatly desired. He longed to see science and religion, which had been so long divorced, again united ; and from the useful knowledge provided for the people, the salt of the Gospel no longer studiously excluded.

The above interesting and instructive notices of Dr. Arnold as a Teacher, are taken from articles in the Youth’s Instructor for 1851.

“So much to do, so little done !” Said Africa’s illustrious son, In whose short life was crowded seen What deemed as “ much” to most had been.

Cecil Rhodes and General Gordon were great friends, and what examples they have set to our young men. When Gordon started for Khartoum he sent to invite Mr. Rhodes to go with him, but the latter preferred to remain at the Cape. So trifling an incident was it that changed the face of South Africa and profoundly modified its future. We all know how he ended the Matabele war, and the dispositions of his will.

“Therefore to go, and join head, heart, and hand, Active and firm to fight the bloodless fight, Of science, freedom, and the truth in Christ.’—Coleridge.

“Don’t give up.” Difficulties are permitted to stand in our way that we may overcome them; and only in overcoming can we expect success and happiness. The mind, like the body, gains strength and maturity by vigorous exercise. It must feel and brave, like the oak, the rushing storms, as well as bask, amid gentle breezes, in the warm sunshine.

HAPPINESS.

“Happiness must be something solid and permanent, without fear and without uncertainty.” These are the words of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia, to some young associates of spirit and gaiety, who spent life in idle pleasures and riotous excess; and he goes on to say: ‘“ My friends, I have sincerely considered our manners and our prospects, and find that we have mistaken our own interest. The first years of man must make provision for the last. ‘ He that never thinks never can be wise.’ Perpetual levity must end in ignorance ; and intemperance, though it fires the spirit for an hour, will make life short or miserable. Let us consider that youth is of no long duration; and that in mature age, when the enchantments of fancy shall cease and the phantoms of delight dance no more about us, we shall have no comforts but the esteem of wise men and the means of doing good. Let us therefore stop while to stop is in our power; let us live as men who are sometime to grow old, and to whom it will be the most dreadful of all evils to count their past years by follies, and

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to be reminded of their former health and happiness only by the miseries and maladies which indulgence has produced.”

“The fear of the Lord is wisdom: and to depart from evil is under- standing.”

When shall we emulate the Romans in their best and their purest days—

*“When none was for a party, When all were for the

BE: FIRM.

The wind and the waves may beat against a rock standing in a troubled sea, but it remains unmoved. Be you like that rock, young man. Vice may entice, and the song and cup may invite. Beware! stand firmly at your post. Let your principles shine forth unobscured. ‘There is glory in the thought that you have resisted temptation and conquered. Your bright example will be to the world what the lighthouse is to the mariner upon a sea-shore; it will guide others to the point of virtue and safety.

PLAY THE MAN.

Gird your loins about with truth, Life will not go always smooth, Singing lightsome songs of youth: Play the man. Learn with justice to keep pace, Spurning what is vile and base, And bravely ever set your face To play the man.

Fear not what the world may say ; Hold the straight and narrow way, In the open light of day, And play the man. They will call you poor and weak, Being merciful and meek ; Heed them not, but steadfast seek To play the man, It needeth courage to be true, And patiently the right to do, Loving him that wrongeth you : Play the man.

Trust in God and let them mock ; They will break as they have broke, Like the waves upon the rock—- Play the man.

HOW TO READ A BOOK.

Lord Macaulay, who had a very remarkable memory, in recalling some instances of his childhood, said: ‘‘ When a boy I began to read very earnestly, but at the foot of every page I read I stopped and obliged myself to give an account of what I had read on that page. At first I had to read it three or four times before I got my mind firmly fixed. But I compelled myself to com- ply with the plan, until now after I have read a book through once I can almost recite it from the beginning to the end.”

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DON’T SELL YOUR SOUL.

Get riches, my boy! Grow as rich as you can. Tis the laudable aim of each diligent man Of life’s many blessings his share to secure, Nor go through this world ill-conditioned and poor.

Get riches, my boy! Ah, but hearken you, mind, Get riches, but those of the genuine kind. Get riches, not sov’reigns and acres, unless You thoughtfully use them to brighten and bless.

Get riches, not such as with money are bought, But those that with love and high thinking are wrought ; Get rubies of righteousness, jewels of grace, Whose brightness Time’s passing shall never efface.

Get riches! Do not as the foolish will do, In getting your money let money get you ; To steal life’s high purpose from heart and from head, And prison the soul in a pocket instead.

Get riches! Get gold that is pure and refined ; Get riches from above; get the love of mankind ; Get gladness through all of life’s journey; and then Get Heaven for ever and ever. Amen.

It is not in the abundance of things we possess that contentment comes and placidity of spirit. Cornelius Vanderbilt said a few days before he died : “I don’t see what good it does me—all this money you say is mine. I can’t eat it; I can’t spend it; in fact, I never saw it, and never had it in my hands fora moment. I dress no better than my private secretary, and cannot eat as much as my coachman. I live in a big servants’ boarding-house, am bothered to death by beggars, have dyspepsia, and most of my money is in the hands of others who use it mainly for their own benefit.”

QUINTIN HOGG.

Who can estimate the value to the country of such a life as that of the late Mr. Quintin Hogg, for whose monument we have only to look around the celebrated Polytechnic in Regent Street, London, with its 18,000 members. Heartily can we endorse Lord Jteay’s testimony at the Meeting of the London School Board, when he said :— “Quintin Hogg was the representative of all those qualities which constituted the character and greatness of this country. His singleness and steadiness of purpose, his self-sacrifice, his cheerful and tactful leadership, his conscientious discharge of duties, and his manly faith overcame all difficulties. He had left behind a precious exainple to us of the way in which to serve God and our fellow-men, an example which should serve to stimulate future workers to follow his footsteps.”

DR. NICHOLAS SAUNDERSON.

Dr. Nicholas Saunderson once visited Thurlstone, after an absence of forty years, and on that occasion his memory was found to be remarkably retentive of things which happened in his youth. He was going down Stottercliffe with his friends when he went on before them to open a gate. He, however, got to the wrong side of the gate, and he said “I can tell you that forty years ago this gate opened on this side.” This, on enquiry was found to be the case, though it had been locally forgotten. He died April 19th, 1739, aged 57.

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“Then speak of a man as you find him, And censure alone what you see; And, if a man blame, let’s remind him That from faults there are none of us free. If the veil from the heart could be torn, And the mind could be read as the brow, There are many we'd pass by with scorn Whom we're loading with high honours now.”

*“GOD’S GENTLEMEN.” “ An honest man’s the noblest work of God.”

Dean Farrar, in the course of the first of a series of interesting articles on “God’s Gentlemen,” published in the Christian Globe, writes : “In the living world of to-day many a true man is slandered, many a false man successful, many a libertine flattered, many a liar praised and feared. Barabbas is chosen: Christ is crucified. But when death has redressed the false dip of the world’s balance, history executes the liar and the debauchee. The world is false even to its own best ideals. It professes to admire the ideal of the perfect gentleman. Yet it isindifferent to its truest and noblest elements. This was what one meant when he defined a gentleman as ‘ the devil’s imita- tion of a Christian.’ The devil’s imitation—for a man may have upon the surface the semblance of those fine qualities which do make a gentleman, and he may have the sprightliness and good humour which are in themselves charming, and yet may be a scoundrel to the backbone. “ Nevertheless, whatever is attractive and noble about the ideal of a gentleman is also essentially Christlike. Ixpel from your estimate of gentle- man or lady all false or finical elements. What constitutes such a character is not the knowledge of etiquette, or the observance of conventionalities. Noone can approach within a thousand miles of being a gentleman or lady by studying the rules of a hand-book. Dress will not make a lady nor wealth a gentleman. A churl is none the less a churl for being a Nabal ora Dives. A man essentially coarse cannot be transmogrified into a gentleman by amassing a fortune or by driving in a carriage and pair. A woman innately vulgar cannot pass off as a lady by tricking herself out in velvets and furs. Nor will outward grace of manner and appearance make a gentleman. A man cannot be turned into a gentleman by his tailor or his dancing master. “Nor has rank anything to do with gentlemanliness. The motto of my old college—Trinity College, Cambridge—taught me that ‘Virtue is true nobility.’ 1 have known churls in coronets, and mean hearts beating under stars. I have seen girls in diamonds in whose conceit and rudeness I have recognised less of the true lady than may often be found in hovels. I believe there are as many of God’s gentlemen among shepherds on the Highland hills and peasants in Irish huts, and honest God-fearing artizans in crowded cities, as in castles and palaces.”

Addison says :—If there are Angels who look into the ways of man, how different are the notions which they entertain of us from those which we are apt to form of one another. We are dazzled with the splendour of titles, the ostentation of learning, the noise of victories. ‘They, on the contrary, see the philosopher in the cottage, who possesses his soul in patience and thankfulness under the pressures of what titled minds call poverty and distress. They do not look for great men at the head of armies or among the pomps of a court, but often find them out in shades and solitudes, in the private walks and by-

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paths of life. The evening walk of a wise man is more illustrious in their sight than the march of a general at the head of a hundred thousand men. A contemplation of God’s work. a voluntary act of justice to our own detriment, a generous concern for the good of mankind, tears shed in silence for the misery of others, a private desire of resentment broken or subdued; in short, an unfeigned exercise of humility or any other virture are such actions as are glorious in their sight and demonstrate men great and reputable. The most famous among us are often looked upon with pity, contempt, or indignation ; whilst those who are most obscure among their own species are regarded with love, approbation and esteem.

It is strange to observe the callousness of some men before whom all the glories of heaven and earth pass in daily succession without touching their hearts, elevating their fancy, or leaving any durable remembrance. Even of those who pretend to sensibility, how many are there to whom the lustre of the rising or setting sun, the sparkling concave of the midnight sky, the mountain forest tossing and waving to the storm or warbling with all the melodies of a summer evening ; the sweet interchange of hill and dale, shade and sunshine, grove, lawn, and water, which an extensive landscape offers to the view; the scenery of the ocean, so lovely, so majestic, and so tremendous ; and the many pleasing varieties of the animal and vegetable kingdoms, can never afford so much real satisfaction as the streams and noise of a ballroom, the insipid fiddling and squeaking of an opera and wranglings of a card table. So writes Dr. J. Beattie, and it makes one ask the question if any neglect in our education creates this state of things. Alcuin, the noted Master of York School, would appear to have made these matters objects of study.

“ Think nought a trifle, though it small appear ; Small sands the mountain, moments make the year, And trifles life.” —Young.

‘Small habits well pursued betimes May reach the dignity of crimes.”—Hannah More.

Not more than a hundred years ago almost everyone in England was more or less whipped. Not only were soldiers, sailors, cogues, and thieves scourged, and children birched, but even in the household and workroom as well as in the schoolroom the rod ruled. Tradition still hands down the names of head masters who were famous for their exploits in whipping at the public schools. There was Dr. Busby, of Westminster, whose rule is spoken of as “ Busby’s awful reign’’; Dr. John Baker, of Winchester, the inventor of a stinging rod, composed of four apple tree twigs; Dr. Butler, of Shrewsbury, whose left- handed floggings were famous; Dr. Parr, of Norwich, who held a flogging levee before the classes were dismissed, and whose rod maker was a murderer who had been hanged and resuscitated; Dr. Wooll, of Rugby, who well flogged a whole class of thirty-eight boys in a quarter of an hour ; and great- est of all, Dr. Keate, of Eton, who once flogged all the candidates for con- firmation, having mistaken the confirmation list for the “ flogging bill,” and who on another occasion rose from dinner and flogged eighty boys belonging to one division of the school who had mutinied.

Along with Alcuin we may name Robert Ascham as another famous Yorkshire Educationist. He was tutor to Queen Elizabeth, and no doubt his teaching had great influence on her. No one laid greater stress on the necessity for religious and moral training as the end and aim of all methods of education than he did.

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The following are some wise words delivered in 1883 by the veteran, M. Ernest Renan, before the pupils of Lycée Louis le Grand: “ Your years forbid you to be cautious. Nobody is fearful about life when he is beginning it. A kind of blindness, skilfully arranged by nature, presents existence to you asa tempting booty which you burn toseize upon. Wiser men than you will warn against the illusion which underlies your youthful ardour. They will tell you of disappointments; they will say that existence does not keep its promises, and that if people only knew what it was they took in hand they would not have the naif empressement of your age. But I declare to you that it is not my sentiment. I have traversed this life which opens before you like an unknown and limitlessland. Iexpect to encounter nothing much more init of the novel : its termination, which seems to you indefinitely far off, is very near for me. Well, with my hand on my heart I say that I have found this life which it is the fashion to calumniate, good and well worthy the appetite which youth shows for it. The one real illusion of which you are guilty about it is to believe it long. No, it is short, very short, but even thus I assure you, it is well to have existed, and the first duty of man toward that infinitude from which he emerges is to be grateful. ‘he generous rashness which makes you enter without a shadow of arriéve pensée upon a career at the close of which so many enlightened folks aver they have found nothing save disgust, is really very philosophic after its kind. Forward, therefore, with good hearts; suppress nothing of your ardour; that flame which burns within you is the same spirit which, providentially spread throughout the bosom of humanity, is the principle of its motive force. Forward! forward! say I; lose not your love and passion for living. Speak no evil of the boundless bountifulness from which your being emerges, and in the special order of individual fortunes bless the happy lot which has bestowed on you a generous country, devoted teachers, kind relations, and conditions of development in which you have no longer to strive against the old barbarisms. “That joyous intoxication, then, which springs from the new wine of life, and which renders you deaf to the weak complaints of the feeble-hearted, is legitimate. Do not be ashamed to abandon yourselves to its influences. You will find existence full of sweet savour if you do not expect from it what it - cannot give. When people complain of life it is almost always because they have asked impossible things from it. Upon this belief, wholly the teaching of the wisest, there is but one foundation for a happy life—the pursuit, namely, of the good and of the true. You will be well pleased with existence if you make fair use of it, and if you abide well pleased with yourselves. A noble sentence is that which says: ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven, and all the rest shall be added unto you.’”’

THE NUMBER SEVEN.

Hippocrates says the septenary number, by its occult virtues tends to the accomplishment of all things, and is the fountain of all the changes in life ; and, like Shakespeare, he divided the hfe of man into seven ages. The teeth spring out in the seventh month or sooner, and are shed and renewed in the seventh year, when infancy is fully changed into childhood; at twice seven puberty begins ; at three times seven the adolescent faculties are developed, man- hood commences, and men become legally competent to all civil acts; at four times seven man is in full possession of all his strength ; at five times seven he is fit for all the business of the world ; at six times seven he becomes wise, if ever; at seven times seven he is in his apogee, and from that time decays ; at eight times seven he is in his first climateric; at nine times seven or sixty-three, he

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is in his last or grand climateric; and at ten times seven or threescore and ten, he has approached the normal period of life.

In “Every-day life in South Africa,” by Miss E. E. K. Lowndes, the Authoress, who was going to South Africe shortly before the Boer War as governess, and took a third class passage in a large and beautiful steamer, states : must confess that I felt rather doubtful at first as to the sort of company I had got into, there were so many rough-looking men going out, but I learned that appearances are often deceitful. No men could have behaved better. I have crossed the Atlantic several times, first class, and there was nothing but betting, gambling, and drinking among the men. But I never saw a game played for money, nor any one in our part the worse for liquor during the whole voyage. After we had got over our sea-sickness I used to notice many of the rougher-looking men quietly reading their Prayer Books or Bibles on deck before breakfast, and Sunday was kept very quietly. People may sneer at the good Old Book, but travel about the world a bit and you will soon find whether those who respect it or those who despise it are the best sort of people amongst whom to be thrown.”

“ Make them wise and make them good, Make them strong for time of trial ; Teach them temperance, self-denial, Patience, kindness, fortitude.”

A Historian tells us that in an English Cathedral there is an exquisite stained window which was made by an apprentice out of the pieces of glass which had been rejected by his master, and it was so far superior to all others in the Church that, according to tradition, the envious artist killed himself with vexation. So with Christ. All the builders of society had rejected the sinners and made the painted window of the righteous. A new builder came. His plan was original, startling, revolutionary ; his eyes were upon the condemned material. He made the first last, and the last first, and the stone which the builders rejected He made the head of the corner. He always specially cared for the rejected stone. Men had always care for the great, the beautiful, the righteous ; it was left to Christ to care for the sinners.

“ The Church,” said Mr. William Crooks, M.P., the other day, “ has a great opportunity if the parsons will come down from the pulpit and rub shoulders with the people.”

THE TEACHER.

To guide the head, to teach the heart, To train the opening mind, Be henceforth my delightful part, In which my joy I find.

The soul to fill with living truth, Before the cares of life Have furrow’d o’er the brow of youth And led to manhood’s strife.

Unseen, obscure, maybe, my place, My work unknown to fame ; But let me calmly toil to trace On minds the deathless Name ;

That Name which stands on high sublime, The symbol and the text ; Of all that’s great through rolling time, Of future endless rest.

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BURNS'’S EPITAPH. 225

FEAR. OF RIDICULE.

I know of no principle which is of more importance to fix in the minds of young people, than that of the most determined resistance to the encroachments of ridicule. Give up to the world, and to the ridicule with which the world enforces its dominioa, every trifling question of manner and appearance: it is to toss courage and firmness to the winds, to combat with the masses upon such subjects as these. But learn from the earliest days to inure your principles against the perils of ridicule. You can no more exercise your reason if you live in constant dread of laughter, than you can enjoy your life if you are in constant terror of death. If you think it right to differ from the times and to make a stand for any valuable point of morals, do it, however rustic, however antiquated, however pedantic it may appear; do it not for insolence, but seriously and grandly, as a man who wore a soul of his own in his bosom, and did not wait until it was breathed into him by the breath of fashion. Let men call you mean if you know you are just, hypocritical if you are honestly religious ; pusillanimous, if you feel that you are firm. Resistance soon con- verts unprincipled wit into sincere respect ; and no after-time can tear from you those feelings which every man carries within him who has made a noble

and successful exertion in a virtuous cause. Sidney Smith.

BURNS’S EPITAPH.

Poor Burns !—No one would appear to have more regretted his misspent life than the poet himself from the following touching epitaph, which he prepared for his own tomb:

“Ts there a man whose judgment clear Can others teach the course to steer, Yet runs himself life’s mad career Wild as a wave? Here pause—and through the starting tear Survey the grave! The poor inhabitant below Was quick to learn, and wise to know, And keenly felt the social glow And softer flame, But thoughtless follies laid him low And stained his name.”

The outpourings of his noble and manly heart will ever be with us, but the cursed drink spares neither rank nor station, however gifted its votaries may be.

‘‘When nations are to perish in their sins in the Church the leprosy begins,”

Our danger is to rely upon men, methods, and money, instead of relying upon Him who alone can raise up the men and equip them, suggest the methods and vitalize them, bring in the money, and make it a blessing when we have got it. Take the men as an illustration. When Christ founded His Church He wanted a dozen men with whom to begin the work. Where did he get them? Did he send to Greece to seek among the cultured philosophic disciples of Socratesand Plato? Did He go to seek in that home of legislative gemius and military prowess, disciples hardened and trained by severe discipline ? No! He mostly tramped along the shingly shores of the Sea of Galilee, and 1

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selected men with hard hands and brown, sunburnt faces, but men whose hearts could be made big enough to enwrap a whole world in their love and sympathy. He sent these men to College for three years at His own blessed feet (and unless a man has been to that College you can never make him a minister by sending him to any other). At the end of that time they graduated with their S.W. They were soul winners of such a type that their names are scarcely ever rightly heard in these days but they bring inspiration and help to the hearers. We shall not be misunderstood here. ‘There is nothing in the highest intellectual culture that need interfere with the saving of men. One of the mightiest soul-winners the world ever knew was a keen scholar. St. Paul’s was a master mind, he was a giant in intellect, yet his supreme passion was to win men to Christ, and thousands were the crown of his rejoicing. By all means let us culture the mind as much as possible. God expects us to make every gift we hold as effective as it can be. Not one word do we say against culture and refinement. The Lord expects every disciple of His to bea lady ora gentleman according to the sphere in which we move. ‘There are no sanctions for vulgarity in the Word of God—“ be courteous.” These things give a polish to the shaft that often makes it pierce the deeper in the holy war. In these the Church is growing rich. There never were so many scholarly and gifted men in God’s army as to-day. We give thema hearty welcome and long for more. It is a cause for profound thankfulness that the Church of Christ sees the value of these things, and gives the utmost encouragement to men of high scholastic attainments and men gifted in scientific research and knowledge to enter her ranks. She was never so rich in gifts as she is now, but the deepest need is not so much for gifts as for graces. A hallelujah lassie, who left a Lancashire cotton mill only three months ago, if filled with the Holy Ghost, will do more real work in building the city of God than the longest- headed D.D. in the land who has not got this glorious anointing. If he also has this fulness, he will accomplish more than the lassie, for he has more gifts, more machinery. But if he has only the gifts, and she has the holy unction, then, for the work of God, we prefer the lassie to the Doctor of Divinity.

The Power of Pentecost, by Thomas Waugh,

God makes men to differ. No two faces are alike, and of all the millions on the earth, no two have precisely the same endowments. Some have five talents, some two, some but one.

“Education (without religion)—A kind of gymnastic for the arm that paralyses the spine.”—Bushnell. I

“Lives of great men all remind us, We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us, Footprints on the sands of time.”—Longfellow.

When Wesley first preached in All Hallows Church, Lombard Street, London, about 1738, he had a remarkable experience. When going to preach a charity sermon there on December 28th, 1788, he thus spoke to Thomas Letts, the originator of the famous diary :— “It is above fifty years, sir, since I first preached in this church; I remember it from a particular circumstance. I came without a sermon, and going up the pulpit stairs I hesitated, and returned into the vestry in much mental confusion and agitation. A woman who stood by noticed my concern, and said, ‘“‘ Pray, sir, what is the matter?” I replied, “I have not brought a Laying her hand on my shoulder, she said, “Is that all? Cannot

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CHURCH LIFE OF THE PRESENT DAY. 227

you trust God for a sermon?” ‘That question had such an effect upon me that I ascended the pulpit, preached extempore with great freedom to myself and acceptance to the people. And I have never since taken a written sermon into the pulpit.”

Whitfield died in harness, aged 56, September 29th, 1770, worn out with manifold journeyings and labours. ‘‘ We shall have time enough,” he said “‘to rest in Heaven. We are immortal till our work is done.” Just before his death, when a friend said to him that he was more fit to be in bed than to preach, he clasped his hands and said, “‘ Lord Jesus, I am weary in Thy work, not of Thy work.”

“ Remember two paths are before thee And both thy attention invite, But one leadeth on to destruction, The other to joy and delight.”

OF THE PRESENT DAY.

Amongst many other things the Bible gives us, the history of the Jews and the preface to Rollin’s Ancient History tells us what caused the downfall of mighty nations of old times. Since throwing off the dominion of Rome, Great Britain has risen to be the greatest and most powerful Empire the world has even seen, and it is now recorded as “a significant fact that all Roman Catholic nations were going down, and all Protestant nations were going up.” Amongst the “ dying nations”’ some little time ago spoken of by the late Lord Salisbury, it was observed by Dr. Welldon, Bishop of Calcutta, that there was not a single Protestant one. Attention has been drawn to the above matters by reading an article entitled ‘‘ Church Life of the present day,” by Reginald Lucas, in ‘*‘ The Ladies’ League Gazette for the Defence of the Reformed Faith of the Church of England” for May, 1900. Lady Wimborne is president of the league. The following is an extract from the article above referred to: “Our Church lies between two dangers—the zeal of the romanizing party and the deadly apathy of her own people. It is a serious accusation, but I make it in all sincerity. The religious feeling in the higher grades of English society is feeble to the last degree. An English country house on a Sunday morning is as often as not the abode of heathendom. Out of fifteen or twenty people three or four only—perhaps not one—will go to Church. For few is the Sunday service more than a social convention ; for still fewer is it the rock bed of daily life, the sacred emblem of Christianity in our national existence.” Does not the above unmistakably show that there has been great neglect in the religious education of “the higher grades of English society” of the present day? For this state of things who is to blame? Are the churches? are the schoolmasters ? are the parents? Would there be so many “ashamed of Christ,” ignorant of the Bible, and neglecters of public worship, if when young they had been taught that to “fear God and keep His commandments was the whole duty of man”? Is there another nation on the earth where the people are so afraid of publicly acknowledging their religion and their God as in England ? It is very sad indeed to know that amongst the clergy of the Church of England there are many who have a voice over public schools who know not of God’s command in Deut. vi., 6, 7, 8, and g verses—are no lovers of the Bible

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and would not have it made “ too common.” Such clergy are well aware that all who read the Bible would quickly see through their aims for self-glorification and power to tyrannise over the free conscience of men. In the 16th century Parliament had to purge the National Church of like traitors, and will, no doubt, ere long have to repeat the operation. ‘There is little doubt also but that God raised up the Salvation Army and women to spread the truths of the blessed Gospel and counteract their machinations. See 1 Cor. 1., verses 26, 27, 28, and 29; Joel 11, 28, 29; Acts na 16,47, 16. and Psalm (Revised Version). I Surely when there is such a state of things existing in our midst as that spoken of by Mr. Lucas in his article before referred to, it behoves that some- thing be at once done to prevent the people being given up to ignorance and lust, to indifference and godlessness, and thus bring on the decline and fall of our ereat empire. We had rather a rude awakening in the war in South Africa. Certainly, instead of other nations of the world in recent times saying, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people,” they have called and treated us as if we were something vastly different. As they should set an example to the grades below them, the following testimony of Napoleon may be commended to the consideration of the higher erades of society. That great little man in his last days said, have proved the strength of England”; and one day laying his hand upon the Book of Books, said. “‘] have often wondered where the strength of England lay, but since I have come to this lonely spot, I have had time to think, and I have come to the conclusion that any thinking man must come to, that the strength of England lay in the great secret contained in this Book.” Nelson, too, knew this great secret, and publicly acknowledged that to God he was indebted for his great victories. The lives of great and God-fearing men of all ages should be impressed upon our youth. ‘ Them that honour Me I will honour, and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed,” God says, and there are many instances of this in the Bible and elsewhere. Verily ‘‘ righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” Is it not a reproach to parents, teachers, and ministers that children are not taught above all things to be not afraid of publicly acknowledging their religion and their God? Even heathen countries set us an example in this

PHYSIQUE AND STAMINA.

Although many remarks had from time to time been made that the physique and stamina of the people of this nation were sadly deteriorating, it was not until the South African War that it forced itself to the front, and caused that attention being given to the matter that it deserved. In this district there are not near so many strong and healthy men and women as there were in my younger days. What with the smoking of cigarettes by our boys, and the eating of chalk, raw rice, and other deleterious matter by our girls, which gives them white, unhealthy-looking and deathly complexions, we are getting the country flooded with a vast number of anemic and pasty-looking objects of stunted growth, who should not be allowed to marry and propagate their species. Indeed, it is a national scandal that steps are not taken by Goverment in the matter, and that our Medical Officers of Health do not boldly speak out both to the Government and otherwise thereon.

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PHYSIQUE AND STAMINA. 229

At a meeting of the Royal Dental Hospital on March 30th, 1903, Lord Kinnaird, the chairman, said: ‘‘A perfect set of teeth in an adult was now extremely rarely found. The Hospital Authorities had, for some time past, been endeavouring to secure a perfect set of teeth for purposes of demonstration. Such a set had recently been discovered, a guardsman being the fortunate possessor. In contrast between us and our old Viking ancestors, the following will be interesting. _ In March, 1g02, at Gainsborough, were found nearly the whole of nine skeletons, which showed they had been men in the prime of life, and of great stature. Competent authorities, who examined the remains, were of opinion that some of the men must have been nearly seven feet high. The teeth in the skulls of what were fully developed men, showed that dentists were not needed in those days. In some of the skulls not a tooth was missing, and all were white. From the numbers of skeletons which have been discovered on the east side of the bank of the Trent at Gainsborough, it is surmised that the locality was the scene of early battles, or the burial place of a Viking Colony. A recuiting sergeant at Manchester, during the South African War, when questioned on recruiting matters by a newspaper reporter, stated that of young Irishmen he could depend on passing eight out of every ten who offered themselves, whereas of natives of the city and district around, he could not be sure of passing two out of every ten who offered themselves; verily, a very sad state of things. But what can be expected when we see what a sale there is of quack medicines. Digestive organs might not be made to digest foods when there is such a use of articles that require no digestion. No wonder the race is degenerating through not digesting. I have elsewhere referred to that noted Yorkshire Regiment, the “‘ Haver- cake Lads,” which shows what oatmeal porridge and milk can do. Was it not Dr. Johnson who, in conversation with a Scotchman, said, “ They feed men in Scotland on oatmeal and horses in England on oats”? and did not the Scotch- man reply, “ Where do you find finer men than there are in Scotland, and finer horses than there are in England”? In a letter I had some time ago from my eldest son in Canada, he said: “I have been told on good authority that in the early days it was the custom of some pioneer Irish and Highland bachelor farmers to prepare a large dish of porridge, and then take the dish of porridge to where the cow was and milk on to the porridge, which afterwards they partook of with great relish. John Adams, the man I was staying with before I came to my own place, was one of the men who used to get his meals in this way in the early days; he certainly has the toughest constitution of any man I know of round here, heat and cold have no effect on him whatever.” What would a regiment of such men be worth in these degenerate days ? When Field-Marshal Lord Roberts, then Major-General Sir Frederick Roberts, was, at a Special Court of the London Common Council held on the 14th of February, 1881, presented with the freedom of the city, he said in the course of his reply, “ Esprit de corps is, as I said on a former occasion, the back- bone of the British Army. It is this feeling which teaches our soldiers to take in the traditions of their regiment ; and consequently to take a pride in helping to keep up its good name. My lords and gentlemen, it must be remembered that fighting is not the only demand made upon our soldiers. It is, of course, the main object to be kept in view in any system of training ; but all, especially British soldiers, must possess great powers of endurance. Without them they are really worth nothing. What is it that causes the long casuality roll during acampaign? Not the losses in battle, but the steady, never-ceasing disease,

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brought about by insufficient and badly cooked food, hard work, night duties, and by exposure to extremes of heat and cold. Against such trials, only the strongest can bear up, and unless our regiments are composed of men full grown, and of tried stamina, our armies, in point of numbers weak enough at the best for the work they have to do, must dwindle very rapidly when they take the field. My lords and gentlemen, if you will only enquire for yourselves, you will find that during the late Afghan War, the boy regiments broke down without an exception.” In Ceesar’s Commentaries on the Gallic War, Book II., c. 15, we read, “ There was not access for merchants amongst them. ‘They suffered no wine and other things pertaining to luxury, to be imported; they thought that their spirits became enervated by these things, and their valour relaxed. ‘They were men, and of great valour.” In the Boer War, out of 265,000 British and 55,000 Colonial troops engaged in it, 21,579 lives were lost; about 13,000 of which were from disease. The Seaforths, Camerons, Connaughts, Royal Irish, and the Cape Mounted Rifles were most immune from disease. The British troops had about 11,000, and the Colonial troops about z,o00 deaths from disease.

“There are no girls like the good old girls ; Against the world I'd stake ’em ; As buxom and smart and clean of heart As the Lord knew how to make ‘em! They were rich in spirit and common sense, A piety all supportin’ ; They could bake and brew and had taught school, too, And they made the likeliest courtin’.’—Eugene Field,

Still another account to show the sort of folks who were reared on oatmealy At a tea and concert given a few years ago by Mr. B. O. Pearson, chairman of the Farsley Urban Council, to 270 aged residents, Mrs. Hannah Horn, aged go, in supporting a vote of thanks to Mr. Pearson, enlarged on the condition of the working classes eighty or more years ago, when it was ‘porridge to breakfast, porridge to dinner, and porridge to tea—for a change.” (Laughter.) Waving her hands over the octogenarians near her, she said in a full, rich voice, ‘‘ Why, bairns, ye know nowt.” (Loud laughter.)

Sandow, the strong man, says the body should be cultivated in every school, and that ninety-five per cent. of the weakly children could be made physically and organically strong. But could this be done if the children were not properly fed and lived in healthy surroundings? And what about the children of the drunken and degenerates of our country, now no small number, who have suffered mentally and physically through the sins of their parents ? If the vast sums now spent on intoxicating drinks, which do no good whatever—though many shut their eyes to the fact—were spent on better food, clothes, furniture, and dwellings, I venture to say there would soon be such an alteration for the better in the physique, stamina, and well-being of the people as no school education could accomplish. Slums, too, would then soon be things of the past, and ‘back to the country ” be the cry. Why, too; should manufactories and large works be allowed to congregate together in large towns? Would it not be much better for the workpeople and their families if, for instance, the location of manufactories were fixed by the Local Government Board or County Councils away from towns and out in the country ? !

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CROMWELL AND HIS IRONSIDES. 231

CROMWELL AND HIS IRONSIDES.

Reference has been made to the men who make the best soldiers, and Lord Rosebery recently, in referring to Cromwell’s army, said :— “Cromwell became early aware of the enormous force which religious fervour would give to his army, but he did not utilize this discovery by making hypocrites of his army. He utilized it by selecting those men who he knew were of good repute among their neighbours, steady, earnest, God-fearing men, who would be equal to sustaining the onset of the brilhant army commanded by the king and hiscousin. Cromwell told his friend and cousin, the illustrious Hampden, that the men whom he was leading were no match for the chivalry of the king’s army. He said: ‘You must get men of spirit and take it not ill, I know you will not, but you must get men of spirit, as like to go as far as Parliament will go, or you will be beaten still. I raised such men as had the fear of God before them, and as made some conscience of what they did; and from that day forward I must say that they were never beaten, and whenever they were engaged against the enemy they beat continually.’ With these men he won battles and beat down the chivalry of England. Are we to believe, then, that those Ironsides were merely canting hypocrites, that they rode to death with a lie on their lips and a lie on their hearts? Surely not. ‘To believe that would be to misunderstand the nature of the forces that sway mankind. Nor did the lives of these men belie them. As a contemporary chronicler says, ‘The countries where they came leapt for joy for them,’ which I believe is not always the welcome given to an army by the peaceful inhabitants of the country they traverse, ‘and even come in and join with them.’ And so by his selection and by his influence he wielded that impregnable force, that iron band, which he himself at the last could hardly sway to his will. Had they been hypocrites this could not have been; and as they could not have been hypocrites, their exemplar, their prophet, their commander, could not have been a hypocrite, either.” It makes one proud to read what our country became under Cromwell. Savs the Edinburgh Review, “ After half a century, during which had been of scarcely more weight in European politics than Venice or Saxony, she at once became the most formidable power in the world, dictated terms of peace in the United Provinces, avenged the common injuries of Christendom on the pirates of Barbary, vanquished the Spaniards by land and sea, seized one of the finest West India islands, and acquired on the Flemish coast a fortress which consoled the national pride for the loss of Calais. She was supreme on the ocean. She was the head of the Protestant interest. All the Reformed Churches, scattered over Roman Catholic kingdoms, acknowledged Cromwell as their guardian. The Huguenots of Languedoc, the shepherds who, in the hamlets of the Alps, professed a Protestantism older than that of Augsburg, were secured from oppression by the mere terror of that great name. The Pope himself was forced to preach humanity and moderation to Popish princes ; for a voice which seldom threatened in vain, had declared that unless favour was shown to the people of God, the English guns should be heard in the Castle of Saint Angelo.” What a contrast to the days of Charles II, when the same Review records ‘‘that buffoons and courtesans ruled the people, and a Dutch fleet was riding in their channel.” During the American War, Stonewall Jackson was able to exert a wonderful influence over his soldiers. One of the men explained, when asked the secret, that it all came of Stonewall’s prayers. “We always know,” said he, “ when there’s going to be a long march and hard work, because Jackson is always powerful in prayer just before a big fight.”

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Have we not, too, all heard and read of Havelock and his “ saints,” of the good example they set to other soldiers, and what they did? Did not Havelock say, “‘ For more than forty years I have so ruled my life, that when death came I might face it without fear?” Stonewall Jackson also, when told he had only about two hours to live, answered, “ Very good, it is all right—Order A. P. Hill to prepare for action— Pass the infantry to the front rapidly—Tell Major Hawks.” Presently a smile of ineffable sweetness spread itself over his pale face, and he said quietly and with an expression of relief, ‘‘ Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees.” And then without pain or the least struggle, his spirit passed away. If, for the sake of ten righteous, God would have spared Sodom and Gomorrah, nations and individuals little know what they owe to the prayers of the righteous, though the latter are often shunned and treated as of little account.

BULL AND BEAR BAITING.

Of what took place in Penistone and the villages around in the times when bull and bear baitings were common, the following description of Skelman- thorpe Feast, taken from Taylor’s Life of Isaac Marsden, will give a good idea :— “The village green during the feast week at Skelmanthorpe was a scene of wild confusion. The public-houses were crowded with drunken revellers, who caroused all day and made mght hideous with their quarrels and disturbances. A stout stake was fixed in the middle of the green for bull-baiting and _ bear- baiting. Here some unhappy bear would be chained, with only liberty to move round the pole and sit on his hind legs. Savage bulldogs were incited to attack him, and as they pinned him by the nose and made him yell with pain, the excited crowds screamed with delight. If the bear caught the dog in his paws and crushed the life out of him, he became the hero of the hour and was removed from the stake for a brief respite by his tormentors. Then a fine powerful bull would be chained to the stake by the nose with only sufficient length of chain to enable him to defend himself. ‘The dogs were set upon him, and if he was a tame, spiritless creature who allowed himself to be torn and worried, the spectators gloated over his sufferings and thought it served him right ; but if he became furious and tossed the dogs like shuttlecocks with his horns, and broke away from the stake to wreak his vengeance on the crowd — around him, they were wild with admiration. Occasionally a ring was formed and savage bulldogs were incited to attack each other. They would fight with wild fury till one of them was worried, when the crowd would adjourn to the public-house to settle their betting accounts and devise new forms of amuse- ment. Often two powerful young men would strip and enter the ring for a brutal prize-fight ora match of wrestling. Among these scenes of revelry would be mountebanks, showmen, fortune-telling gipsies, vagabonds, and thieves from every quarter. The din and uproar and strife lasted day and night. Work was entirely suspended for a week, and the savings of a whole year would be spent in folly and sin.”

“Look not mournfully into the Past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the Present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy Future without fear and with a manly heart.”

“Trom labour health, from health contentment springs, Contentment opes the source of every

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SIR EDWIN ARNOLD AND THE BIBLE. 233

When we know that the love of riches, lust, pleasure, and other abomin- ations, caused the fall of Egypt, Babylon, Nineveh, Tyre, Sidon, Greece, Persia, tome, and other great nations, it behoves us to bear in mind that “Righteousness exalteth a nation.” ‘The Dean of Manchester, Dr. Maclure, preaching in the Cathedral at Manchester, on December 29th, 1go1, said: many people of the present day gave themselves up to a life of pleasure. It was confessedly a feature of modern days, this pleasure-loving by the public, and one they needed warning against. Expenditure on it was growing apace. No characteristic more strongly marked the closing years of the nineteenth century than the multiplication of theatres and places of amusement, at which the plays and performances were too often associated with a very unhealthy stimulant and indelicacy of sentiment, to say the least, and he knew what he was talking about, so that it was very difficult to find a theatre which it was safe to go to. Their national games had, in many instances, degenerated into mere spectacles for the entertainment of onlookers, not unmixed with a gambling spirit and a spurious love of sport, if it deserved the name of sport.”

SIR EDWIN ARNOLD AND THE BIBLE.

In connection with its centenary, the British and Foreign Bible Society received the following from Sir Edwin Arnold :— You ask me to respond to the query: “ What I owe to the Bible?” My short reply would be “ Everything.” My longer reply, to be sufficiently serious and comprehensive, would run to reams of paper; but if, as I suppose I am, addressed as a man of letters, will simply say that I owe my education as a writer more to the Bible than to any other hundred books that could be named. It 1s, together with the classics and our Book of Common Prayer, the - grandest possible school of style, letting alone all that must ever be on the moral and spiritual side. I had read the Bible through and through, three times over before I was twelve years old.

The Daily Telegraph, in its reference to the Bible Society’s centenary, says : “Whether England has ever produced so great a man of action as Cromwell, taken all in all, as warrior, statesman, despot may well be doubted. But the Lord Protector owed his power, as England ever since has owed tnuch of hers, not only to his force of leadership, but to the character of those he led. The Puritan movement, as has been finely said, made England the nation of one Book, and the Puritan Dictator was the iron epitome of Old Testament strength like no man since. In their turn the Boers were the people of a Book, and whatever may be thought of their politics, it was the deep Biblical impress upon their character, which alone enabled the Ironsides of the veld to maintain for nearly three years the struggle of a handful against the whole resources of an Empire. Into all lands the Bible Society has sent forth its sowers to sow.”

“Were I, O God! in churchless lands remaining, Far from all voice of teachers and divines, My soul would find in flowers of Thy ordaining Priests, sermons, shrines.’’—Horace Smith,

“Thou hast conquered, O Galilean,” are the words attributed to the Emperor Julian on his death-bed, who all his reign strove to discredit Christianity and signally failed.

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234 HISTORY OF PENISTONE: MORAL COURAGE.

Mr. C. Ernest Tritton says, “It is my privilege to address a meeting of sandwich-men almost every week of my life, and I know many of them personally. ‘Their condition is of the most wretched description, the pay being only 1s. 2d. per day, but it is a fact that a very large number of them are men who have once occupied good positions in life; and if you ask them what brought them down so low, the reply almost invariably is, “ You know, sir ; it’s the old story ; drink has been our ruin.”

Somebody has said that to give a young man the power to say “ No” isa grander gift than giving him a thousand pounds. ‘““More of courage is required This one word to say ; ‘Than to stand where shots are fired In the battle fray.”

We read that “to fear God and keep His commandments is the whole duty of man,” and it should be the great aim of all teachers to instil ‘“ moral courage” into their pupils. If they only do this, they will endow such pupils with a power that will make them—with the fear of God in their hearts—a powerful force in the world. Examples of old, such as Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Nehemiah, David, Daniel, Paul and other apostles, show this, and in recent times we can point out Cromwell, Nelson, Havelock, Gordon, Stonewall Jackson, Lord Roberts, and many others. Do not their lives show that men of prayer are men of power? Indeed, a brave man is known as much by his moral courage as by any one single quality. It is, no doubt, a fine sight to see a fireman plunge into smoke and flame to rescue the endangered inmates of a doomed dwelling, or lifeboatmen go to the rescue of the crew and passengers of a shipwrecked vessel, but it is a far grander sight to see a man stand up in the midst of a godless, sneering company and defend integrity or mayhap the Bible or even God Himself. In nothing is the temptation to cowardice so strong as in matters of religion. The man who can face the most horrible of deaths in the battlefield is often ashamed to stand by his colours when his Saviour is assailed. ‘The man whom no chairman, however august—no speaker, however eloquent—no audience, however large—can awe to silence when his political creed is attacked is often an abject coward and speechless as a mute when his Lord is dis- honoured. When a young man is ashamed of his godly mother, and is afraid to confess that he reads the Bible and that he goes to the House of God through fear of a sneer from some silly, empty-headed, or depraved companion, his manliness has already nearly perished, and his feet are on the brink of a terrible precipice. Even rough men have been known to put to shame professing Christians in this respect. The story of Richard Weaver, the converted collier, illustrates this. He was once preaching in the open air, when he was savagely attacked by some of his auditors. A big, burly Yorkshireman fought his way through the crowd, shouting out, ‘“ My muther’s a Christian 1’ Barnsley, and ye shanna touch him, ye shanna.” I It is refreshing also to know that Sir Robert Peel was not ashamed to boldly profess his Christian faith when occasion demanded. Ata grand dinner party, when the ladies had gone to the drawing-room, it is said the host began to make sport of religion, and most of the guests were not slow to follow suit. Sir Robert, rising to his feet, said to the host, “May I ring the bell?” “Certainly,” was the reply ; and when the servant appeared Sir Robert asked

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WINCHESTER COLLEGE. 235

permission to retire, saying in a firm voice, “I could not possibly stay any longer: I ama Christian.” ‘That was moral courage of the right kind; and in these days, when religion is so often ridiculed, there is much need, for young men especially, to display moral courage in arousing their love for and faith in God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sidney Smith said that “ People will fight for religion, they will die for religion, they will do anything but live for it.”

“Some months ago I read Westward Ho! for the first time, and now have read it again with prayer that has been answered ; for God's blessing has gone with it. I feel as I never felt before that Protestantism is tite religion of this life especially, and that I have been heeding the future to the neglect of the living present. Many a day thinking of you, I have gone on deck to my duty and seen God where theoretically only I have been in the habit of looking for Him—on the sea, 1n the clouds, and in the faces of men; and the Holy Spirit descending has stirred my pulses with the sense of universal love prevailing above, around, and benéath. . . . I am able to speak of God and of religion with less of the humiliating hesitation that I am accustomed to, and trust that He will give me that manliness that will enable me so to talk of His workings, which, alas! we are in the habit of practically ignoring. H.M.S. St. George, off Hong-Kong, 1856. Capt. ALsTon.”

From Charles Kingsley, his Letters and Memories of his Life, edited by his wife, 1895, Macmillan & Co.

“ No epitaph nede make the just man fam’de, The good are praised when they're only nam’d.”

It is recorded in praise of Alfred the Great that “as king and legislator he based his laws entirely on the Bible, declaring to his people that immutable truth which no other king or legislator has been sufficiently enlightened to proclaim, that if they obeyed the precepts of God no other laws would be required.” * The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave, Await alike th’ inevitable hour, The paths of glory lead but to the grave.”

WINCHESTER COLLEGE.

On the east end of the schoolroom is a table of the scholastic laws, some of which are singular enough. Thus :— “In THE CuyurcH.—Worship God. Say your prayers with a pious affection of mind. Let not your eyes wander about. Keep silence. Read nothing profane. “IN THE each one be diligent in his studies. Let him repeat his lessons in a low tone to himself, but in a clear tone to his master. Let no one give disturbance to his neighbour. Take care to spell your theme right. “In THE Court.—Let no one throw stones or balls against the windows. Let not the building be defaced with writing or carving upon it. Let no one approach the master with his head covered or without a companion, “In THE CHAMBERS.—Let cleanliness be attended to. Let each one study in the evening, and let silence prevail in the night.

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236 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

“In THE Town, going on the hill.—Let the scholars walk in pairs. Let them behave with perfect modesty. Let them move their hats to their masters and other respectable persons. Let decency regulate your countenance, your motions, and your gait. Let no one on the hill go beyond the prescribed limits.” The going on tke hill requires some explanation. When Wykeham founded the College, having a lively regard for the health of the scholars, he ordered that they should go on St. Catherine’s Hill a certain number of times in the week for exercise, which they do to this time, and the whole seventy boys run wild up the steep ascent every other day. At the opposite extremity of the schoolroom are the following emblems and inscriptions :—

Aut-disce ... A Mitre and Crozier >. The expected reward of learning.

Aut discede An Ink-horn, a case of The emblems of those who Mathematical Instru- depart and choose a civil or ments and a Sword military life. Manet sors ASSCOUDEC. Orns aad The lot of those who will qualify Wercdarcedi themselves for neither.

In the evening preceding the vacation the celebrated song of ‘“ Dulce Domum” is sung by the boys in the court and schoolroom of the College. A band accompanies the happy choristers, and the effect produced by the collection of glad voices singing this glad old song is very beautiful. The following is a translation of the “ Dulce Domum ”

Sing a sweet melodious measure, Walt enchanting lays around ; Home! a theme replete with pleasure ; Home! a grateful theme resound.

CHORUS.

Home, sweet home! an ample treasure ; Home, with every blessing crown’d ; Home, perpetual scene of pleasure ; Home, a noble strain resound.

Lo! the joyful hour advances, Happy season of delight, Festal songs and festal dances, All our tedious toils requite. Home, sweet home, &c.

Leave, my wearied muse, thy learning, Leave thy task so hard to bear, Leave thy labour, ease returning ; Leave my bosom, oh, my care. ‘Home, sweet home, &c.

See the year, the meadow smiling, Let us then a smile display ; Rural sports our pain beguiling, Rural pastimes call-away. Home, sweet home, &c.

Now the swallow seeks the dwelling, And no longer loves to roam ; Her example thus impelling, Let us leave our native home. Home, sweet home, &c.

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HEALTH. 237

Let our men and steeds assemble, Panting for the wide champaign ; Let the ground beneath us tremble While we scour along the plain. Home, sweet home, &c.

Oh, what raptures! oh, what blisses! When we gain the lonely gate; Mother’s arms and mother’s kisses, There our blest arrival wait. Home, sweet home, &c.

Greet our household gods with singing ; Send, O Lucifer thy ray ; Why should light, so slowly springing, All our promised joys delay ? Home, sweet home, &c.

The boys on the Foundation are seventy in number; but there are other

scholars besides. From The Land we Live in.

SHE TEETH.

“A native of India never fails to express his astonishment in no flattering language when he sees the state of most European people’s teeth. He is simply surprised, to use a mild word, to find how dirty and decayed are the teeth of many people in this country.” But how is it that the teeth of an Indian as a rule are so beautiful, white, and shining? Simply because he keeps them clean. In his country the cleansing of the teeth is almost a sacred duty, if sacred duties are “those never missed.” If children had plenty of hard Yorkshire oatcakes and seamen’s biscuits, especially if made of wholemeal, given to eat when young, I feel sure their teeth would be much better, and I am sure they would enjoy both the oatcakes and biscuits.

HEALTH,

In China we are told the medical men are paid to keep their patients well, and not for curing them when ill. It is a sensible plan, and if all our Medical Officers of Health were paid such salaries as were sufficient without private practice, so that they could devote their whole time to looking after the health and wellbeing of the districts they were appointed to, we should soon see a change for the better. -It hardly seems right to expect Medical Officers of Health in private practice to do all they can by preventing disease to curtail or lesson their practice. What said Demetrius of old?

“The world would lose its finest joys Without its little girls and boys,”

The following words are said to have found a place for many years in the late Dr. Cade’s Surgery, Spondon :—

“ Brandy, beer, and betting, Domestic care and fretting, Will kill the strongest man alive; But water, air, and diet, Domestic peace and quiet, Will make the weakest man to thrive.”

‘““What’s rank or title, station, state, or wealth, To that far greater worldly blessing—Health?”

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238 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

“Our moral being owes deep obligations to all who assist us to study nature aright, for, believe me, it is high and rare knowledge to know and to have the full and true use of our eyes.”

“Though I look old, yet am I strong and lusty, For in my youth I never did apply Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood ; Nor did I with unbashful forehead woo The means of weakness and debility ; Therefore my age is as a lusty winter ; Frosty but

Though born with a feeble constitution, Cornaro lived to over one hundred years of age, and then, we are told, his mind was not enfeebled. He never had occasion for spectacles, and he did not become deaf.

Solon said to Croesus: “If another come whose iron is better than yours, he will take away all this gold.”

“In the days of my youth,” Father William replied, ‘“‘T remembered that youth would fly fast ; And abused not my health and my vigour at first That I never might need them at last,”

LORD NELSON'S PRAYER.

“An authentic prayer of the heroic Lord Nelson—the original of which is in the possession of Sir William Scott—in the handwriting of his Lordship ; composed while the enemy’s fleet were in sight :— ‘““May the Great God whom I worship grant to my country, and for the benefit of Europe, a great and glorious victory! and may no misconduct, in any one, tarnish it. And may humanity after victory be the predominant feature in the British Fleet. For myself, individually, I commit my life to Him who made me; and may His blessing light upon my endeavours for serving my country faithfully: to Him I resign myself and the just cause which is entrusted to me to defend. Amen, amen, amen.—Victory, October 21st, 1805, in sight of the combined Fleets of France and Spain; distance about ten miles.”

TWELVE BUSINESS MAXIMS.

A president of the London Chamber of Commerce gave the following twelve maxims, which he had tested through years of business experience, and recommended as tending to ensure success :—

1. Have a definite aim. Go straight for it. Master all details. Always know more than you are expected to know. Remember that difficulties are only made to be overcome. Treat failures as stepping stones to further effort. Never put your hand out further than you can draw it back. At times be bold, always prudent. The minority often beats the majority in the end. 10. Make good use of other men’s brains. 11. Listen well, answer cautiously, decide promptly. 12) wie by all means in your power “a sound mind in a sound ody.”

es

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“A>; BARGAIN.’ 239

There are three kinds of people in the world—the “ wills,” the ‘ won’ts,”’

and the “can’ts.” The “wills” accomplish everything; the ‘“‘ won’ts” oppose everything ; the “can’ts” fail in everything.

“In youth we feel the battle’s ours ; That we can win against any odds. In age we trust less to our powers And put more confidence in God’s,”

There is nothing more beautiful in God’s world than a young man or young woman entering upon life with a firm resolve to rise above all that is little and unworthy of an immortal soul, and spend their lives amid good thoughts, good deeds, and good events. The great need to-day among the masses of young people is higher ideals.

“____ when a good man dies, For years beyond our ken, The light he leaves behind him lies Upon the paths of men.”—Wordsworth.

“A BARGAIN.”

It was once proposed to the old Duke of Wellington to purchase a farm in the neighbourhood of Strathfieldsaye, which lay near his estate, and was therefore valuable. The Duke assented. When the purchase was completed the steward congratulated him upon having made such a bargain, as the seller was in difficulties and forced to part with it. ““ What do you mean by a bargain?”’ said the Duke. The other replied, “ It was valued at £1,100, and we have got it for £800.” “In that case,” said the Duke, “ you will please to carry the extra £300 to the late owner, and never talk to me of cheap land again.”

When a man has enough to live on, instead of stopping the intensity of his daily work, he often keeps it up for the sheer pleasure of making more money, or adding luxuries to personal or family life. He is working for luxuries which inevitably corrupt and derange life; and good cannot come to him, his family, or the world from such a viciously false state of things, or higher still comes the man whose fortune bulks too large to leave him any excuse for continual toil at all. He administers his millions and makes his inoney payments to the world—charities, educational gifts, and so on. But his personal service—not at all. He practically repudiates the idea. Not liberty to serve, but license to live at ease, is what he expects his riches to bring him. Made free to serve, he evades the obligation as a matter of course. The outcry against wealth in these days of the greatest wealth the world has ever seen, has this solid truth behind it: That riches that commute personal service by money payment or repudiate it altogether, are corrupting to social and national life. It is this aspect of wealth that the Gospels rebuke with a direct rebuke, that Christianity cannot afford to explain away. But where riches are used, loyally and personally, to render large and far-reaching service beyond the power of ordinary men, there should be none so foolish as to object to the fortune or its possessor.—Great Thoughts.

Great men are not born for themselves ; great powers on which all stand and gaze, are meant for the good of all mankind.—Bossvet.

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240 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

Edward Thring, Headmaster of Uppingham School, 1853 to 1886, was a noted Christian teacher, and in sixteen years increased the pupils from 25 to 300. “His Life, Diary, and Letters,” by George R. Parkin, is invaluable to teachers, and as the story of the life conflict of a militant and hard pressed Christian leader, it appeals to Christians of all classes, and can hardly fail to stimulate and encourage.

The War Cry of October 8th, 1904, contains the wonderful life story of Major Yanamuro, the editor of the Japanese War Cry, and one of the repre- sentatives of Japan at the Great International Congress of the Salvation Army in London in 1904. Born of poor parents, he was brought up by a well-to-do uncle.. He early got converted to Christianity, and one deep and lasting impression—he states—that convinced him why the common people were so utterly indifferent to Christianity was that those who set themselves to preach the salvation of Jesus did so in language and ideas that were unintelligible to uneducated labouring men. He made a vow to God that if He would allow him he would consecrate his life to preaching the Gospel to the common people. His energy, perseverance, and faith were remarkable. He wanted to go to the Christian college at Kyoto, but had no money to pay fees. But he says, “‘] had heard of George Miller of Bristol, and of God’s answers to his prayers, and I thought that if the earthly fathers of the young men students did not mind providing for their sons at college, surely my Heavenly Father would provide for me if I would trust Him.” He did so and got helped through the college, and in other remarkable ways as well, he tells us. Coming across General Booth’s In Darkest England and the Way Out, filled him with a longing to learn more of the Salvation Army. ‘ Meanwhile,” he says, “ my college course had come to end. Church people wished to make a minister of me, but I could not consent, because I saw clearly that under their system I would not be able to work among the common people, but mainly or solely among the middle classes and educated folk.” Soon after, the Salvation Army came to Japan, and he states: “I attended their meetings and also went to see Colonel Wright. I became convinced that if their spirit and principles were adapted to the Japanese, they would save Japan. I offered myself as a candidate, and was one of the first cadets to enter the Training Home. Thus has God led me and influenced me step by step to the realisation of my life’s ambition and consecration—the preaching of the salvation of God to the common people.” This was what Christ did (see Luke iv. 18), but how is it so few ministers of the present day do it? God will not have the poor neglected, and because they were neglected, no doubt, he raised up the Salvation Army.

The following letter in the Manchester Courier of October 1oth, 1888, iS worthy of a place on this point. It is as follows :—

THE CHURCH AND THE WORKING CLASSES.

Sir,—It will be supposed from the number of meetings held in the evenings for working men in connection with the late Church Congress that the clergy are deeply interested in their temporal and spiritual welfare, and are particularly anxious that the “ masses” should be saved from the corrupting and demoralising influences that surround them on every hand. But what is the result of such meetings? Is the object accomplished? Do they see their

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THe CHURCH AND THE WORKING CLASSES. 241

churches better attended? Is there a general improvement among the working classes in the various parishes? Alas! no. The object is not to be accom- plished in that ready, easy, and off-hand manner. It requires effort of another and more trying kind, but which few are found willing to do. The question has been solved “ how to reach the by a few of the Church’s clergy, but it has not been by occasionally coming in contact with them, but mingling with them in daily life and taking an interest in their temporal and spiritual welfare by personal] contact. Some multiply their services in church, and are to be seen regularly and punctually in their places, but still the people do not come. How is this? The fact is it requires something more than the ringing of a bell or a surpliced clergyman to draw them. The late Bishop of Manchester gave the common-sense explanation of this failure, but at the same time lamented that few of his clergy were willing to do that which would fill their churches—namely, visit the people in their own homes. They would willingly enough trot off to church half-a-dozen times in the day to conduct a service for two or three worshippers, but could not be got to follow people into their homes. The Bishop of Liverpool, speaking on behalf of the Church Pastoral Aid Society, in the Y.M.C.A. Rooms, some three years ago, reminded the clergy present that the old adage was still true to fact— The house-visiting parson made a church-going people.” But this as a body they will not do. If it was understood that a part of their work was to visit from house to house, as other duties would allow, just as much as reading the prayers and preaching, [ venture to say that not one half of those now in orders would have offered themselves for the work. They hate to come in contact with the poor in their poverty. They will not soil their broad-cloth with the dust of their homes. Incumbents are said to be pastors over so many souls, but how few of them do they ever come into contact with. The parochial system in such cases serves only to keep out other neighbouring clergymen who might do a little for the faithless shepherd, but dare not trespass. As a visitor of many years standing, I have heard the remark over and over again, by parishioners, that for ten and fifteen years they have not had a clergyman inside their doors. Is it not a shame that such be the case? Evidently the work is taken in hand because it is easy and gentlemanly, and often more remunerative than other callings. No wonder that the masses are breaking loose from their early training, and joining either Dissenters or Atheists. It is true in some cases they employ lay-agents and Bible women, and were it not for these agencies the Gospel would never find its way into the thousands of homes, but this does not remove their responsibilities one bit. In order to shew what may be done I will conclude with an extract from the Bishop of Liverpool’s paper, ‘‘Can the Church Reach the Masses?” which he read at one of the Church Congresses.

His Lordship said :— “1 know a parish of 5,000 people in Liverpool without a rich man in it, but only small shopkeepers, artizans, and poor. There are only 30 families in it which keep a servant, and not one family which keeps two. Now, what does the Church of England do in this parish? Ina plain brick church holding 1,000 there is a simple hearty service, and an average attendance of 700 on Sunday morning, 300 in the afternoon, and g50 in the evening. In three mission rooms there is an average attendance of about 350 in the morning and 450 in the evening. The communicants are almost all of the working classes, and nearly half men.... ‘The worthy minister of this parish began his work alone about 14 years ago with four people in a cellar. After his church was built, he had only eight communicants at his first administration of the Lord’s Supper. Hehas now 800 communicants. He has 18 Bible classes, Q

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242 HISTORY OF One; with 600 adults on the register, and 1,700 Sunday scholars. The congregation raises {800 a year for the cause of God. There are 1,100 pledged abstainers in the district. There is not a single house of ill-fame, or a single known infidel in the parish.” What a mighty power for good the Church would be if all her clergy were equally active. Yours, &c., OBSERVER.

What blessings would also accrue if Ministers of all Protestant denomin- ations would in every parish unite together in every good work, instead of setting the unchristian, uncharitable, ill-natured, narrow-minded, jealous, and bigoted dog-in-the-manger example to their parishioners many of them now do. Can many with truth call themselves Ministers of the Gospel ? Christians (not called Ministers) can meet together on the same platform in a good cause, why not they ?

DOCTORS AND DRINK.

Distinguished medical men are unanimous in their condemnation of it. The Lancet: “As an agent for producing degeneration, alcohol is unrivalled.” Sir H. Thompson: “There is no greater cause of evil, moral or physical, in this country than the use of alcoholic drinks.” Dr. Norman Kerr: ‘Alcohol vitiates the blood, inflames the stomach, destroys the kidneys, hardens the liver, and softens the brain.” Sir W. B. Richardson, “ He once called ‘drink’ the devil in solution ; he now gave it another name which he hoped they would remember—that of a palsied beverage.” Sir W. Gull, F.R.S.: “Alcohol is a most.deleterious poison.” Sir Astley Cooper: ‘I never suffer ardent spirits in my house, thinking them evil spirits. Spirits and poisons are synonymous terms.” Sir Andrew Clarke, M.D., F.R.C.P.: ‘Alcohol isa poison ; so is strychnine, so 1s arsenic, so is opium. Alcohol ranks with these agents.” Dr. Hector Mackenzie declares that ‘“‘ Alcoholism must be regarded as a powerful predisposing cause of tuberculosis.” Professor B. Brouardel (Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris), who was introduced as the greatest living sanitary authority in Europe, in the course of an address delivered on July 24th, 1901, at the TUBERCULOSIS CONGRESS in London, said :— “ Alcoholism was the most potent factor in propagating tuberculosis. The strongest man who had once taken to drink was powerless against it. Time was too short for him to draw comparisons between the laws in force in different countries, those which were proposed, private efforts, associated efforts, and temperance societies. But he could say that a universal cry of despair rose from the whole universe at the sight of the disasters caused by alcoholism. Any measures, State or individual, tending to limit the ravages of alcoholism would be their most precious auxiliaries in the crusade against tuberculosis. Still he would like to draw attention to a mistake made too easily in the different countries by Ministers who had charge of the financial department of the State. They liked to calculate the sum the State Government will derive from the duty on alcohol, but they should deduct from it the cost to the community of the family of the ruined drunkard, his degenerate, infirm, scrofulous, and epileptic children, who must have shelter. This invasion of

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alcoholism ought to be regarded by everyone as a public danger, and this principle, the truth of which was incontestable, should be inculcated into the masses, that the future of the world would be in the hands of the temperate.”

“The liquor traffic was the heaviest drag upon the progress, and the deepest disgrace, of the nineteenth century.”—New York Tribune.

« Against temperance there is no v. 23.

“Tt is well known that the increase of drunkenness, the increase of public- houses, and the increase of the poor rates, go hand in hand. The weak-minded victims of the gin-palace who help to swell the profits of the proprietors ultimately fall on the shoulders of the ratepayers, either in the workhouses or in the lunatic asylums. There is no reason why the publicans themselves should not support the besotted creatures who have found ruin in their alcoholic wares. It is against the spirit of fair play that the publicans should reap all the reward, and everybody else be made responsible for the depravity of his Newspaper, April 15th, 1894.

“Thus, also, though youth may be alleged as an excuse for rashness and folly as being naturally thoughtless, and not clearly foreseeing all the conse- quences of being untractable and profligate; this does not hinder but that these consequences follow, and are greviously felt throughout the whole course of mature life. Habits contracted even in that age are often utter ruin; and men’s success in the world, not only in the common sense of worldly success, but their real happiness and misery depend in a great degree and in various ways upon the manner in which they pass their youth.”—Butler’s Analogy.

From 1893 to 1902 the rejected of those who offered as recruits for the British Army—according to Major-General Sir Alfred Turner, the late Inspector- General of Auxiliary Forces—was 60 per cent., and when we are also told that another class, ‘‘ whose increase would benefit society, were becoming sterile,” we are face to face with an appalling state of things.

MORAL DECAY OF SOCIETY.

Lord Charles Beresford several years ago, in the North American Review, said “ British Society has been eaten into by the canker of money. From the top downwards the tree is rotten. ‘The most immoral pose before the public as the most philanthropic and as doers of all good works. Beauty is the slave of gold, and Intellect, led by Beauty, unknowingly dances to the strings which are pulled by Plutocracy.” Further, he says: “This is the danger which menaces the Anglo-Saxon race. The sea which threatens to overwhelm it is not the angry waters of the Latin races or the envious rivals, but the cankering worm in its own heart, the sloth, the indolence, the luxurious immorality, the loss of manliness, chivalry, moral courage, and fearlessness, which that worm breeds. This danger, which over- threw Babylon, Carthage, Athens, Rome, and many other mighty nations and races in the past, now threatens the race to which we belong.”

* There’s a lot of kinds of sinnin’ that the good Book tells about, Sims concerning which a body needn’t ever be in doubt.”

_ Ina letter to the Yorkshive Post, Dr. W. Hall, a well-known Leeds doctor, writes: ‘During twenty years 100,000 children have been examined by me as to their fitness for factory labour—upwards of 30,000 were rickety. We are no

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244 ‘HISTORY~OF-- PENISTONE, longer a straight-limbed race. ‘The remedy is cheap and simple enough. -It is clean milk food, but it must be purified before it is taken, and it needs to be prepared wholesale.” I The above raises another question, viz.: How many of the mothers of these 100,000 children ‘were strong and healthy enough to suckle their own children? How often in these days we see women with children who look— instead of being able to suckle them—as if they would do with a good nourishing milk diet themselves.

ESKIMO WOMEN’S GOOD TEETH.

“The Eskimo women must be strong of jaw and persistently industrious, for the archaic method of keeping skin garments soft and pliable is for the women to chew the skins all over from time to time. This constant practice gives the women jaws and teeth strong enough to bite pieces out of tin pails, which they will often do on board the whalers, being given an empty preserve can if they will bite a fragment out of the ld.”—Family Herald, Montreal.

In a Windsov Magazine of some years ago is the following nice letter from Prince Ranjitsinhji, the famous cricketer, to British boys :— “My dear boys,—Keep yourselves in good condition at all times. Cultivate patience and perseverance ; both qualities are necessary for doing things which are well worth the trouble. Do not be despondent at your failures, and be modest in the hour of your success. Wishing you all good luck, believe me your well-wisher,

Americans feel that they must keep their flag waving. It embodies all that is dear to them as a Union and as a people. If they did not insist upon the ideas for which the name of Washington stands, the influx of Iuropeans might undermine the foundations of their government. As it is, they are able by their teaching in the schools, national celebrations, and other agencies to maintain their principles and make out of the conglomerate mass of nationalities who pour in through her gates every year, genuine and thoroughly-convinced American citizens.’”—Commissioner Howard, in the War Cry of March 24th, 1goo.

GRAPPLING WITH DIFFICULTIES. ‘Tender-hearted touch a nettle, It will sting you for your pains ; Grasp it like a man of mettle, And it soft as silk remains.

AN, TH

How lov’d, how valu’d once, avails thee not, To whom related or by whom begot. A heap of dust alone remains of thee, Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be.

On the 24th of June, 1899, the Archbishop of Canterbury unveiled at Rugby a statue of Tom Hughes, who, as the author of Tom Brown's Schooldays, assisted to make the Rugby School and its famous head master, Arnold, known throughout the civilized world. In unveiling the statue, the Archbishop said Tom Hughes had it in him to a marvellous degree to drink in the spirit that animated Arnold, and that it

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THREATENED FRENCH INVASION IN_ 1814-5. 245

was reserved for Tom Hughes to tell them what Arnold was as a schoolmaster, and how in the school he bestowed himself on his duties in such a manner as to reveal to all who came within the knowledge of his work and into contact with his personality what sort of a teacher was required for the education of English lads. In the school they saw how Arnold’s nobility of mind penetrated into the character of his boys, by the steady way in which he kept all those whom he taught perpetually penetrated with the thought of pursuing the highest aims he impressed not only those who had great abilities, but average boys with something which lifted them far above what they could have been without his teaching.

THREATENED FRENCH INVASION 1804-5.

In a recent volume of Traill and Mann’s Social England, it is wisely observed “that it would be well if in our schools to-day the children were taught what was done at the time when Napoleon was preparing to invade England, for the patriotic spirit ought to be zealously fostered to a far greater extent at the most susceptible age.” The following extract sets forth very tersely the extreme tension at that time :— In October, 1804, Napoleon was preparing to invade England and huge patriotic handbills called upon all Englishmen to arm in defence of their country. The clergy preached on defence, the poets wrote patriotic ballads. county had meetings to organize defence. ‘There were general fast-days solemnly kept and used by the volunteers for drill. Itvery male housekeeper rated at £8 a year or over was to be sworn in as a constable unless he were already a volunteer or physically disqualified. ‘The jobmasters offered their horses, Pickford’s and other large firms offered their waggons for transport. Pitt, as Lord Warden, headed 3,000 volunteers, and intended to take the field. Wilberforce writes, ‘‘ His spirit will lead him to be foremost in the battle.” On October 26th, 1803, George III. reviewed the Volunteer corps of London. num- bering 12,400 men; seven of his sons rode on horseback at his side. Lord Eden calls it ‘‘ the finest sight I ever beheld.” The old king meant to head the army, and arranged that the queen and princesses should take refuge with the Bishop of Worcester; a servant and furniture were to be sent with them that their arrival might not inconvenience the bishop. The treasure from the Bank was to be removed from the Bank to Worcester Cathedral in thirty waggons escorted by volunteers; the artillery and stores from Woolwich were to be moved to the Midlands by the Grand Junction Canal. Elaborate arrangements were made for signalling the approach of the enemy by beacons. ‘The Press was to publish no accounts of the king’s troops or of the enemy except by authority of the Secretary of State, who twice a day was to give an official report. Party suspicions were almost forgotten; the Pittites were willing to let Foxites arrange the removal of women and children to places of safety, provided that the more responsible duties of actual defence were left in their own hands. It was not until the end of 1805 that the camp of Boulogne was broken up and the scare was over. But the feeling of bitterness remained, and was increased when in 1806 by the Berlin decrees all British subjects, whenever found, were declared prisoners of war. Napoleon had placed under arrest all I'nglish travellers and residents in France between the ages of 18 and 60. This made about 1,100 persons captive, and about 1,300 were taken in Holland. In England there were 25,000 French prisoners, the majority of whom were kept at Plymouth, Portsmouth, Liverpool, and Chatham.

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246 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

The late Mr. John Spencer-Stanhope, of Cannon Hall, near Penistone, was a prisoner in the hands of the I’rench between 1810 and 1813 at Barcelona, Verdun, and Paris, when he was set at liberty by Napoleon without any conditions, in a passport still preserved at Cannon Hall.

PREPARE POR Rye LORD STRATHCONA’S ADVICE TO YOUNG MEN.

There is no more unique figure in Great Britain to-day than Lord Strath- cona and Mount Royal, Lord High Commissioner of Canada, Knight of St. Michael and St. George. He is the largest landowner in the world. He possesses millions of acres. of land in the Great North-West, rich in minerals and furs; he has a vast estate in Scotland, and he owns the controlling interest in the Canadian Pacific Railroad. And still Lord Strathcona, with his vast wealth, is a plain, unassuming man, and he speaks with pride of his humble birth and his struggle with poverty in his early days. When asked to what he attributed his wonderful success through life, he said :— “When I was a boy, my mother taught me to be honest and save my money. She was one of the best women that ever lived. She made me work, which was another good thing. Every mother should teach her children to be honest and work and save their money. When I was earning only fifty cents a day I saved half of it. No man can succeed in life if he spends all he makes. I'rugality is a necessity in everyone’s life. Then I prepared myself for my work. [very man should prepare himself for his work. Prepare is a word I lke. I wish every boy could understand the necessity of preparing himself for his position. Mr. Carnegie, when he was a common blacksmith, prepared himself. He worked hard; he did his best. To-day he is a very rich man. I have no friend that I think more of than Mr. Carnegie. I should like to tell every young man starting out in life the necessity of preparing himself for his work.” The Social Gazette. A HUDSON BAY NOTE. The following is a copy of a Hudson Bay Note which Lord Strathcona, then Donald A. Smith, signed as Governor :—

No. 179. OnE Pounp STERLING. 1870.

HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY.

1 promise to pay the Bearer on Demand the sum of One Pound Sterls: at York Factory in Rupert’s Land in a Bill of Exchange payable Sixty days after Sight at the Hudson’s Bay House, London.

London, the 1st day of July, 1870. For the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading into Hudson’s Bay.

No. 179. R. G. Smita, Secretary.

Issued at York Factory the 7th day of October, 1870, by Don. A. SMITH, as Governor.

Ent? Jno. Accountant.

It is marked payable at York Factory in Rupert’s Land, which is situated at almost the western extreme of Hudson Bay and far north, too. It might

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take six months to reach York Factory. Then the bearer would be paid by a bill of exchange payable in London, England, sixty days after sight at the Hudson Bay House there. It is not surprising that, though the pound note Was issued in 1870, the stamp on the left-hand corner denoting it paid is apparently dated Jan. 4th, 1878. It is a curiosity of finance as well as an historical earmark, for 1870 commenced a new era for the Hudson Bay.

We are told in particular of Cyrus the Great that he planted all the Lesser Asia. Now Plantations have one advantage in them which is not to be found in most other works, as they give a pleasure of a more lasting date, and continually improve in the eye of the planter, and in course of time are a source of great wealth.

The late Lord Shaftesbury, who for many years was an evangelist and philanthropist of the front rank, was brought to the Saviour by the earnest instruction of Maria Millis, the godly old nurse of the family. Neglected by his own parents, who were utterly worldly butterflies, she taught him before he Was seven years of age much about the Saviour, and a prayer which he used to his dying day. When she died she left her gold watch to her titled protege, and this he never discarded, but ever wore and used as a memento of her faithful goodness to him. Many a time in his later life he made public con- fession of his boundless indebtedness to this gracious woman in leading him to the Saviour.—Life of Faith.

BOOK OF PROVERBS AND SCHOOLS.

I think if more use were made of the Book of in our schools it would tend greatly to the benefit of the nation. Solomon was a wise man that even schoolmasters may learn from; indeed, leaving out our Creator and our Saviour, was not he the Prince of Schoolmasters? He said, ‘““A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches,” and “‘Seest thou a man diligent in business, he shall stand before kings.” We have had a very recent example of this in General Booth, who has been most diligent in his Master’s business. Let us ponder these things, as Rudyard Kipling says, “lest we forget.”

That far-seeing statesman, Lord Beaconsfield, strongly warned the country in his day what Ultramontane influence was brought to bear in high quarters, and at the present time it is very powerful in our Diplomatic and Foreign Services, and through it many important appointments at home and abroad that will bode no good to our Empire have been made. At the present time Ultramontane influence, it is reported, is exercised over Government, mainly through his Grace the Duke of Norfolk, whose interference in these matters wants careful watching by Protestant Members of Parliament. Has Govern- ment not recently sent a Roman Catholic Ambassador to Protestant Holland, in which country the atrocities of the Spaniards under the Duke of Alva are not yet forgotten? The Duke has only recently been made the tool of Rome in asking for an alteration in the King’s Declaration. Would not, however, his Grace have been better employed in getting Rome to withdraw the [excommunication declaring all Protestants heretics, before interfering as he does in such matters? It is Protestants that should complain, but Rome, we know, will give nothing, but is like a leech, and her aims bode no good to this

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country. What are we to think of the action of her Bishop at Leeds and her Priest at Sheffield in connection with recent municipal elections? Does not Rome, too, claim to have been the great factor in passing the recent Education Act?

“SALUS

John Foster Iraser, in an article in the Manchester Evening Chronicle of April 30th, 1903, said :-— ;

ce

... It is quite true that the -humanity-we rear im great imdustiial centres is neither stalwart nor beautiful. I remember landing in Liverpool alter having been abroad for a long time. ‘The thing that first struck me mnght between the eyes was how scraggy, ill-made most of the men were. ‘Take a walk down Market Street, Manchester, on a Saturday afternoon, and notice the physique of the surging throng. How many of the men are well built and five feet six in height; Did you eversee such a lot of anamic, undersized women? Vast sections of the community have lost that broad, burly, ruddy vigour which did us good stead at Agincourt and on the field of Waterloo. . . . All sorts of changes, however, are taking place, which will lead to the decentralisation of population, and will be to the advantage of what is the backbone of the nation—the working class. As far as they are concerned the tide is just on the turn—hardly noticeable, I admit, but yet most assuredly turning—not to the even distribution of workers all over the land, but to a considerable dispersal from the crowded centres. What is beginning to do much in this direction is cheap and speedy electric cars into rural districts. It is clear we are but at the starting point of electricity as a means of locomotion. It is acommonplace to say that electricity is in its infancy, but certainly what the end will be is like a story of the days of Haroun al Raschid. What may be relied upon as inevitable is that before many years there will be special tracks on either side of main roads, outside towns, intended for the use of motors. Financiers will soon appreciate the golden harvest awaiting those who establish motor omnibuses to run at a speed of, say, thirty miles an hour. The whole trend of public opinion and desire is towards the country ; owners of land will be ready enough to sell ; the overcrowding problem would solve itself. “There is another sign that the real rush before long will be away [rom the towns. Many industries are being removed from congested areas and taken to the country. It isn’t love of nature that is the cause of this, but economic reasons; the cheapness of property and in many cases the propertionate cheap- ness of labour. I am well aware many trades are more or less dependent on their localities. Still, the remark holds true that, with improved railway facilities, a great many industries now being followed in towns can be removed to healthier and not overcrowded districts. ‘The best proof this can be done is that it is being done to a great extent in various parts of the country. Instead, therefore, of the outlook being black as regards the physique of the race, I am convinced we are really past the blackest period, and that we are just on the threshold of a new era, when misshapen figures and pallid cheeks will not be a characteristic of our big manufacturing centres, but marked exceptions. We are not all about to become agricultural labourers again ; but there is a decided prospect of our becoming much healthier as a people than we are at present.”

A letter in the Standard of July 31st, 1897, signed “ Mem Sahib,” speaking of Englishmen in India, said: ‘“ Many of the younger civilians of to-day are of very poor physique. Not only is their power of work affected, but they also

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fail to impress the natives thoroughly. With them, a fine bearing and appear- ance is of great importance.” We have agricultural societies and colleges to improve our horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs; but is it not of more importance to the nation that our children should have at least as much attention paid to them as will assure their growing up “ strong and rosy-cheeked maidens and stalwart and robust youths” as of yore?

I read that the Chicago Board of Education, on children entering their schools, take their weight and height and chest measurement, also test their sight and hearing and examine their teeth, &c., and thus no doubt arrange for that good and physical training, feeding, education, and attention being given that was necessary to benefit each particular boy or girl deficient in any of the above respects.

It is handed down that Bosville of Gunthwaite raised in the wild and rugged district of Penistone, where he was a large landowner, a regiment of 1,000 strong to fight on the side of Cromwell in the Parliamentary wars, and that not one of the troopers was under six feet in height. Whether this is the Yorkshire regiment now known by the name of “ The Havercake Lads” I cannot say ; but I can safely assert that it would be difficult—if not impossible,—though the population is much greater, to raise such a regiment in the district in these days, or probably in any other district in England of the like size and popula- tion. Being brought up on ‘‘ Havercakes”’ and rye or wholemeal bread, bad and defective teeth would then be as rare as good teeth are in these degenerate days. Indeed, are not sound teeth the sign of a good constitution ? If our soldiers had now to bite off the ends of cartridges, what percentage of them, I wonder, would have teeth that could stand the ordeal? Just fancy, too, what ordeals and hardships our soldiers who went on foreign service before the days of steam had to undergo. May not the discarding during the last fifty years of oatmeal and whole- meal as food, coupled with excessive smoking in these days, be the cause of the physical decay of our race? In Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management I read, the whiter the bread the less nourishment it contains—that Majendie proved this by feeding a dog for forty days with white wheaten bread, at the end of which time it died: while another dog, fed on brown bread, lived without any disturbance of his health ; and that in many parts of Germany the entire meal is used, and in no part of the world are the digestive organs of the people in better condition.

In Switzerland every man must serve in the army if he be physically capable, and if he be not physically capable he must pay what is called the “Military Exemption Tax.” Such a tax as this, however, seems to raise serious questions. For instance, if a man be physically unfit through no fault’ on his part, should he be liable to the tax? And as there are many who inherit weak constitutions—such as the children of consumptive parents and of excessive drinkers—it raises the grave question whether such parties should be permitted to marry and bring into being a debilitated offspring ? ; Is it not sad and appalling to think what the offspring of the degenerates of these days will be, and to think that many such offspring through physical failings and deficiencies may be inclined to say it would have been better if they had never been born.

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At the Royal Agricultural Society’s meeting in June, 1899, Lord Moreton reported that Joseph H. Hinchliffe, of Skelmanthorpe, who was educated at Penistone Grammar School and taken scholarships at the Yorkshire College, Leeds, had received the gold medal and life membership of the Society, having obtained over three-fourths of the maximum number of marks, viz., 1200 out of 1500.

REFORMING THEM BRI ea wily:

Whilst at the front I was not impressed, says Mr. A. G. Hales in the Daily News, by the type of British officer one so frequently met. Some of him was magnificent. I met some officers, ranging in rank from second leutenants to generals, who were as good as anything the world could breed; others, many others, were no more fit to lead men into or out of action than a camel is to lead achurch choir. I used to wonder how they managed to get intosuch high and honourable positions, because I had been trained to look up to a British officer as the noblest work of God. In the old days when I was a laddie living in a little village on the edge of aclearing, the old pioneer stock used to gather of a summer’s evening under the trees and talk of the “old country.”” Most of them knew that they would never set eyes on their native shores again. Yet they always spoke of it endearingly as Some were Englishmen, some were Irishmen, some were Scotchmen, and over their pipes and the big brown jugs of home-brewed ale, they were apt to touch the reminiscent vein, and though only one of the ‘ kinder,” I delighted to sprawl upon the grass under the shade of the almond trees and listen, for those were the days of the Franco- Prussian War, and no matter what topics the grey-beards started upon they always got back to the British Army and Navy. Some of them had been soldiers, some sailors, and when they spoke, boy though I was, 1 knew that their fingers were upon their heart-strings. How proud the old chaps were as they boasted of this general or that commodore. I can recall one old salt even now after all these wandering years. His red face, not guiltless of colours that neither wind nor weather had placed there ;_ his pipe clenched in his left hand, his big right fist rolled up in an ungainly lump banging the rough slab that did duty for a table, whilst his rough voice with just a soft suspicion of whisky on its outside edges cracked the silence into a myriad of echoes. ‘“ Don’t talk to me of Frenchmen, sir; don’t tell me about Germans, for I served under a man that never struck his flag; no, sir, never, and what’s more, he wouldn’t ha’ done it if the enemies’ line o’ battleships had reached from the China Seas to Portsmouth. He might ha’ gone down with his ship, but pull his flag down, no, by the Lord of Hosts, never, sir;’’ and the veteran would glare around, looking for a denial to his statement, ready, old as he was, to shed his jacket and uphold the honour of the Navy. There was another man, a little dried-up fellow all whipcord and fencing wire, who had been a soldier, served with Napier, I think, though I may well be mistaken, for the battle for bread during thirty years that have waned since then has choked many things out of my memory. He used to get on the sailors’ nerves—“ Strike his flag,” he used to say in his low monotone; ‘strike his flag, of course he didn’t. Why should he? I’ve served under men in the British Army who never lost a gun, men who never thought a fight worth calling a fight unless the odds were ten to one. Our officers were devils incarnate, some of ’em, but they didn’t know how to spell surrender.” Once he took me into the stable, and, pulling off his shirt, showed me his back ribbed with scars caused by the lash, and told me a tale that made the blood jump to my head, young as] was. “ Why didn’t you shoot him?” Iasked. The little dried-up

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mummy of a man chuckled. “I meant to,” he said, “but the beggar was so game, took us into action with such a swing, and brought us out with such a rip and rattle that I worshipped him as an officer, though I hated him as a man.”

I used to think of those old fellows often when out in Africa, and wonder what had come over the breed. I had worked with so many Englishmen in tight places during my life and never found them wanting in nerve or grit, always found them just the same old hard, gritty material when real grit was wanted, and it made me feel sick all over to see how tamely they surrendered to those farmer folks out in the veldt. It’s no use cutting capers with the King’s English, no use being mealy-mouthed because a few critics of the same calibre are throwing mud. We know, and all the world knows, that “ surrender’”’ has entered more largely into our language since this war began than it ever entered into our national dialect before. On twenty different occasions our officers have cried “ peccavi” during the present campaign. We have surrendered eleven thousand men and thirty guns to a crowd whom we contemptuously called a mob of farmers. Will some student of history be good enough to tell me in what campaign since Boadicea held the coasts against the Romans, British officers have been guilty of similar conduct? Has the British soldier as a fighting force deteriorated to such an extent that he can be no longer depended upon to stand to the death at the bidding of competent officers? I say that he has not. The British private of to-day is as good as he ever was. I may be mistaken, but that is my opinion, although almost every day we hear of fresh surrenders. We have only two alternatives to choose from—either the British private (which means the nation as a whole) is not what he was and ought to be, or the British officer, who represents a privileged class, is below par. I incline very strongly towards the latter idea, and the sooner we look for a remedy the better. Sooner or later I feel convinced that every man will have to serve in the ranks to learn his business before he is entrusted with a commis- sion ; but I know that there will have to bea social upheaval before that comes to pass, and I am pessimistic as to its becoming an actual fact until the nation has received a rude awakening. I have become more convinced of this since I have read the flabby report of the alleged Hospital Commission, which is so tame that I can almost imagine that the members of the Commission have been reared and hand-fed upon the very doorsteps of the War Office. Henceforth I have no faith in Commissions, and shall pin my faith to the good sense of the nation as a whole. I do not know any of the gentlemen who acted on that Commission; but judging them simply by their work, added to what I know of the subject, I would not credit them with sufficient virility and manly independence to belong to folksin power. Some day the nation will awake; then there will be mourning in the great house of Lickspittle even from Dan to Beersheba. The only thing to be done at the present moment, as far as I can see, is to sweep away the abominable system which has grown up in half the regiments in the British Army in regard to expenses that are crowded upon a young officer. When the purchase of commisions was done away with a great reform was anticipated, but it fell short of anticipations, because a social law was enacted amongst a wealthy and privileged class which effectually crushed most of the good the abolition of purchase promised to do. That law has held good for years; it holds good to-day. I have been busy ever since I have been in England hunting up facts in connection with this matter, and I have arrived at the conclusion that the system I refer to has had more to do with the inferior class of our army officers to-day than anything else. To put the matter plainly

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it simply amounts to this:—An army ring exists just as much as rings exist on the Stock I’xchange or elsewhere. If a youngster joinsa good regiment his life is simply made unbearable for him unless he has a banking account of sufficient strength to support all kinds of nonsensical fads. He may have all the brain and energy of a Wellington, a Napoleon, or a Roberts; but unless he can put his hand into his own or his father’s or his mother’s or his aunt’s pocket to the tune of big money for the purpose of keeping up a fool’s reputation for extravagance he is made to feel in a million ways that the sooner he packs up and clears out the better for him. No one insults him, no one gives him a handle to take hold of. He is simply frozen out and allowed to feel like a pariah dog on an ash heap, and by this means the places are kept open to the men of third-class brains and twenty-fifth-class energy, who happen to be able to write a big cheque for a mess ball, a polo pony, or a regimental band. This is the beginning of the reign of Edward the Seventh, to whom the whole Empire is looking for great and glorious deeds. This king, who reigns over the mightist empire the world has yet known, may do many things before his sands run low in the glass, but I know of few that will go closer to his people’s heart than the use of his kingly influence in regard to army reform. Why should the young, able, intellectual, gallant, and deserving lads who happen to be cursed by the bane of poverty be crushed out of the great king’s service to make way for inferior men who have little to recommend them out- side their banking accounts? ‘To me it seems an infamy, an outrage upon all that is noble, chivalrous, and good. Why should a coterie of wealthy dandies be able to rot to the very core an empire’s greatness? ‘They themselves are of little use when it comes to battling with the nation’s foes. Why, then, should they be allowed to bar the path to better men? ‘Things are ordered dillerently in our navy. ‘There the expenses are under proper control, and hence we have the finest navy on the face of the waters. ‘The same state of affairs could and should pertain in our army. I know that by doing this the army would soon become unpopular with a certain class, and the sooner the better, as it seems to me, for that class are not our bulwark and our stay when it comes to real fighting—let our lady novelists say what they may to the contrary. Every officers’ mess in the kingdom wants pruning down. Colonels want to be judges of war, not of wines. Subalterns want to know how to face privations, not to play polo. Fancy balls and fancy bands may be well enough for’ garrison towns, but they don’t help a lad to keep the flag flying when the rush of battle comes. A scale of living should be fixed, and rigidly adhered to, which would enable an officer to live in a manly, independent way upon the pay his country grants him, and the man who attempted to exceed his lawful limits in the presence of his brother officers should be expelled the service. Do this, and in the next war see how many times we shall read that ugly un-British word surrender.

Thus, as follows, said Solomon :— “This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me: There was a little city and few men within it; and there came a great king against it and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it. Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man. Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength ; nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heard.”

Did David’s mighty men become so on account of their riches or on account of. their great courage and ability ?—see 1 Chronicles and eleventh chapter for

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names and particulars of them. Was the word “surrender” in their vocabulary ? And what about Joshua who was “ neither afraid nor dismayed”? Had he not something better than riches to depend upon ?—see the first chapter of the Book of Joshua. Nelson, Havelock, Stonewall Jackson, Gordon, and other very successful commanders knew, too, like Joshua, whom to depend upon. To read also in the papers such accounts as the following was not at all pleasant. “To speak plainly, the public of London have utterly lost faith in the average run of British officers. They believe them to be incapable of com- manding British soldiers against white men who have the gift of reason. There isn’t one of the farmer-cornmandants with the Boers who has not out-manoeuvred and humiliated our dandy officers. The Boer commandants, peasants though they be, are better strategists, better tacticians, bolder in conception, and warier in execution than our polo-playing, pig-sticking, or merely idle officers of whom too many regard the army as an annexe of society.” “There is nothing but praise and admiration for the non-commissioned officers and men; only the commissioned officers are blamed as incapable.” “Our officers have the best fighting material in the world behind them ; yet the Boers seem able to play with them, to shepherd them, and to capture their guns. We don’t seem able to surprise the Boers ; we almost invariably fail to capture their guns. If the fault does not le with our men it obviously rests with our officers. Very early in the war it was pointed out that our misfortunes were due to our army being officered by the least ingenious class of society—the class which has been the most sterile in achieving anything in any department of human effort. That is a view which has since found wide acceptance. But it is as old as the Crimean War, and though people’s eyes were opened then they were adroitly closed again in caste interests.”’ ‘In short, all the evidence available points to the utter incapacity of a large proportion of our officers, and belated facts concerning the operations in Natal indicate that greater ineptitude was never shown in war than was mani- fested in connection with these operations. The gaining conviction that so many of our officers are incapable is shared by the Boer leaders who outwit and beat them. ‘These Boer farmers and ex-lawyers admire the heroism of our men, though they consider it fatuous, but they have a genuine contempt for our officers, with some saving exceptions, and really people at home are inclined to agree with them.” “If the breed from ‘sterility’ were to die out, the nation would be the gainer.” “ty Mr. Kruger and many of the Boers got their sole education from the Bible.” I think I have before mentioned what Julius Czsar said of his soldiers in the Gallic wars. ‘They suffered no wine and other things pertaining to luxury to be imported; they thought that their spirits became enervated by these things and their valour relaxed. ‘They were men, and of great valour.” ; Now should it not be the aim of—indeed enforced on—all officers, medical men and chaplains included, to set a good example to and to look well after the moral and spiritual as well as physical welfare of the men under their command. What pleasure can there be in commanding regiments composed mainly of men incapacitated by disease as referred to in Lord Wolseley’s “Memorandum to Officers,” dated April 28th, 1898, wherein he says “many men spend a great deal of their short term of service in military hospitals, the wards of which are crowded with patients, a large number of whom are permanently disfigured and incapacitated from earning a livelihood in or out

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of the army.” When this is the case there are undoubtedly screws loose some- where. And where? It would seem that the chaplains have not much influence over the men or such a state of things should not exist. Does it not behove the authorities, considering the uncertainty of life, especially in time of war, to see that only specially gifted and devout men should be selected as chaplains to regiments, and such as will have the confidence and esteem of officers as well as men, and be able to exercise a fatherly care over them, as most of them are little better than big lads? ! ** A smile, a word or a touch, And each is easily given ; Yet either may win A soul from sin Or smooth the way to heaven. A smile may lighten the falling heart, A word may soften pain’s keenest smart ; A touch may lead us from sin apart— How easily either is given,”

Whilst on the above matters the following question strikes one, viz. :—Are not the great majority of the ministers of the Church of England and most other religious denominations in our country at the present day about as short of initiative and spirit as regards measures for capturing sinners as officers of our army were in capturing Boers? Suggesting to them not to keep all their forces continually doing “ garrison” duty, but to send mission bands of speakers, players and songsters into the open air to meet the enemies in the field com- pletely unnerves and upsets them. How is it—“ degeneration” again, or impotency, incapability, or what? I wonder at how many congresses, confer- ences and meetings the question ‘“ How to reach the has been brought forward in lengthy papers and speeches the past dozen years. Why, if any school lad were asked the question he would at once answer “Do as Christ and the Apostles did—go to the masses,” and many who will write papers and make speeches, if they are acquainted with the gospels well know too that is the way, but shirk the work. And now by way of change I will bring to notice a different sample of officer to those Mr. Hales speaks so disparagingly about. It is an account well worth handing down of a grand old veteran. “In these days of frequent changes and transfers,” says the Indian Weekly Review, ‘‘it does not often fall to the lot of a regiment to receive the farewells of a colonel who has served with its colours more than forty years. This happened the other day to the 3rd Queen’s Own Bombay Light Cavalry, Neemuch ; and we do not remember ever to have read a more touching or more soul-stirring address than that which was made by Colonel Graves, C.B., on his leaving the regiment. ‘I joined you,’ said the veteran, ‘as a lad of sixteen on the 1st of April, 1838, and I leave you an old man on the 24th of May, 1878. We have been together in peace and war, in plenty and scarcity, in cantonment and camp, for more than forty years; and I am the oldest soldier—the father—of the regiment.’ Among the old colonel’s ‘ boys’ there were grey-bearded warriors who had ridden with him through Sindh, and above the passes into Affghanistan in the old time in 1840-41 when he was still a griff. Their sabres had gleamed with his throughout the whole of that advance on Cabul with Nott in 1842; they had served together in every action from the retaking and blowing-up of Ghuznee to the re-occupation of Cabul and Khilat- i-Ghilgai, and the ultimate rescue of Lady Sale and the other prisoners. Many of them could remember a day long ago when at Jellalabad, on the return of

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the avenging British Army, the swarms of hill-men came fiercely pressing on its rear; how young Graves and a squadron of his beloved 3rd charged back ‘into the jaws of death, into the mouth of hell’; how the young hero’s horse was shot under him when in the very midst of the Affghan thousands; how, on the horse of a fallen comrade, he charged home again with all that remained of that devoted band, and by this brilliant exploit preserved the army from further molestation for many days. Twice in Sindh, twice in Affghanistan, once in Persia, once in Abyssinia, these ‘ boys’ had followed their ‘father’ in many such a mélée, and when after all this the old soldier spoke to them,—of the pain and sorrow with which he was leaving them—‘ my regiment so dear to me, my happy home for so many years ’—who shall scoff at these old veterans if their hearts rose in their throats and unwonted mists dimmed their eyes as they bade farewell to the old colonel?” And have we not also that grand Christian, General Gordon, and “ that man of magnetic power, that great, big, bearded, bronzed warrior, John Nicholson,” and a host of other old Indian heroes to set forth as examples to our young officers ?

At an Education Conference at Bradford on June 30th, igo4, Dr. Hall, of Leeds told an alarming story of the physical degeneration of the working classes, and traced it to a variety of causes—political, social and moral. One startling assertion was that go per cent. of all children born in all classes of society are handfed, 7.e. the women of the land fail in mothering power. That and the employment of female labour are ruining the physical stamina of the race. Now does not the above point out that it is of more importance to see to the proper feeding and bringing up of children than to paying all attention to physical and gymnastic drill. What does Sandow say ?

PRAYER.

All who value the evangelistic work of Mr. Moody will rejoice in his late escape, says Evangelical Christendom for January 2nd, 1893, from the perils of the deep. It was a position of no small danger for the steamer in which he was sailing to New York, to be helplessly adrift in the Atlantic, 700 miles from land, with screw shaft broken, and the stern of the ship so injured as to admit 30 feet of water into the after compartment, and to add to all rough weather causing the vessel to roll fearfully. But Psalm cvii. 28 had a fulfilment. they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their distresses.” Mr. Moody held a prayer-meeting in which (he says) “Protestants, Catholics, Jews, all joined. It was really a most impressive meeting. We earnestly asked God to save us from the dangers with which we were surrounded, to calm the elements, and to send to our assistance some friendly ship.” All three petitions were granted, and before the week was ended a thanksgiving meeting was held when the ship was in Queenstown Harbour, - when they “praised the Lord for His goodness,’ and many who read of the deliverance will re-echo the praise. It may encourage belief in the efficacy of prayer, if we quote some words spoken by Mr. Moody to the reporter of an American newspaper when the vessel cast anchor in Cork Harbour. “There never wasa more earnest prayer to God than that of those 700 souls on the helpless, almost sinking ship in mid-ocean, last Sunday evening, when we met in the saloon to implore God’s help, and» God answered us, as I knew He would. He sent us a rescuing ship, and He

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calmed the sea so that for a week it was as smooth as it is in this harbour, though there were storms all around us. It was the grandest test of prayer I ever knew. My son was with me. He is a student in Yale College, and the learned professors there have instilled into him some doubts about God's direct interference in answer to prayer. After we had prayed that night I had reached a point where I cared not whether it was God’s will that we should go up or down. I determined to go to rest as if we were sailing safely on our way. My boy couldn’t rest. We were fast drifting out of the track of vessels, and our peril was extreme. About a quarter past two o’clock he came and woke me, telling me to come on deck. ‘There he pointed out an occasional glimpse of a tiny light that showed over the waves, as our ship rolled heavily from side to side. ‘It is our Star of Bethlehem,’ he cried, ‘and our prayers are answered.’ ”’ Was it the Cunard steamer Umbria, which left Liverpool for New York on December 17th, 1892, in which Mr. Moody sailed ? . Some years ago I read that Mrs. Cunard—would it be the wife of the founder of the Line ?—was so deeply impressed with the responsibility under- taken by her husband involving so many lives, that on the days of the sailing of the steamers she always denied herself to all friends, and spent the whole day in prayer for the safety of the ship and passengers ; and that no vessel on that line had ever been lost, and no death had occurred through any accident connected with the working of the vessels, neither had any serious accident ever befallen

one of the steamers.

MAJESTIC CARRIAGE. NOBLE APPEARANCE.

In the unchanging East the bearers of burdens carry them by preference on their heads, and carry them so well that from vessels filled to the rim with water none is spilled. Inquire how it is that the sons and daughters of the Orient are so tall and straight and have a gait so stately, and you will be told that this ancient custom of balancing heavy jars of water or ponderous packs of merchandise upon their crowns accounts for their having a mien so martial and a carriage so majestic. Many appear to have taken note of the noble carriage of those sons and daughters of the Saracen, whose necks erect as towers, whose large lustrous eyes, whose dignified gravity, and whose gracefully flowing robes add so much to the nobleness of their appearance. The London correspondent of the Sheffield Daily Telegraph, in the issue of that paper of July 20th, 1904, referring to the engagement of Lady Ulrica Duncombe, said that she and her sisters owed their splendid carriage to their mother, who instructed her daughters to walk daily in the schoolroom while balancing their books on their heads.

An American writer, Dr. Laurence Irwell, says: ‘Never was there a race which suffered as the English-speaking race is now suffering from the fertility of the worst specimens of humanity. With each generation the vitality of the community is being reduced by its manner of life, and in order to enable it to continue the fight against the inevitable laws of nature, all sorts of artificial aids have been invented. False teeth, spectacles, ear trumpets, wigs—to say nothing of predigested foods—are a few of the contrivances with which we are trying to carry out the pernicious doctrine of the survival of the unfittest.” The consequence is that deaths from suicide and diseases of the nervous system are steadily increasing. Is it right that these poor and to be pitied “ degener- ates’’ should be allowed to marry and produce offspring more degenerate, whose only wish can be that they had never been born?

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Why BRITONS ARE BEING BEATEN ? 257

“*Twas not the spawn of such as these That dyed with Punic blood the conquered seas And quashed the stern ; Made the proud Asian monarch feel How weak his gold was against Europe’s steel ; Forced even dire Hannibal to yield, And won the long-disputed wor!d at Zama’s fatal field.

But soldiers of a rustic mould, Rough, hardy, seasoned, manly, bold; Either they dug the stubborn ground, Or through hewn woods their weighty strokes did sound, And after the declining sun Had changed the shadows and their task was done, Home with their weary teams they took their way, And drowned in friendly bowls the labours of the day.” Horace.

Only at the recent Church Congress at Liverpool, a gallant colonel, referring to the great opportunities of mothers, said: ‘‘ When one looked at the empty-headed society girls of to-day one trembled for the future of England.”

WHY BRITONS ARE BEING BEATEN? ARE SOTS:

That is the answer which some very shrewd observers are giving to the question why we are being beaten by our American and German competitors. Mrs. Mary Hunt, the indefatigable temperance woman, to whose exertions it is chiefly due that twenty-two millions of school children are this day receiving scientific temperance instruction as part of their regular schooling in the United States, was last month on a brief visit to London. She called at the Review of Reviews Office, and in the course of an interesting interview she gave an account of her recent visit to Germany, where she had an houtr’s talk with the German Empress. She expressed the strongest conviction that the drunkenness of Britain was the main cause of the decadence of our people. She says :— Twenty years ago business interests in the United States paid no attention to the effect of the beverage use of alcohol or of tobacco on working ability. About that time the now universal study of physiology, which includes with the laws of health those relating to the nature and effects of alcoholic drinks and other narcotics, began to be a legal requirement of all pupils in the public schools of that country. During the past ten or fifteen years, the children have been carrying from the schools to the homes of the 79,000,000 people of the United States the story of the evil nature and bad effects of alcoholic drinks and narcotics. One result of the universal diffusion of this knowledge in America is that “fully 1,000,000 railwaymen and 2,000,000 more in other employments are required to be total abstainers. The prohibition of the Army Canteen and the the grogging in the Navy keeps the service free from the drink evil.” The increased interest in health in the United States “is to a large extent due to the study of physiology and hygiene—including scientific temperance— by all pupils in all our public schools.” The American workman does not resent his employer’s demand for abstinence, because he has learned, often from his child in the public schools, that alcohol not only dulls the brain but weakens that nerve control of muscle necessary to the precision essential for fine work. R

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England is beginning to see the difference in results between occasional talks by temperance advocates to school children and the systematic graded public school study of this topic required by law in the United States. If England will begin to educate her children against intemperance, England may be saved —Review of Reviews, June, 1903.

JUVENILE SMOKING.

The following fact parents and schoolmasters should bear in mind, viz. : that all medical men now admit that if a boy takes to smoking in his early teens, the heart and brain soon become seriously affected—the former weak, flabby, and unable to pump out a sufficient quantity of blood to supply the body. Consequently a low kind of nervous dyspepsia is the result, and growth is seriously interfered with. Nor is this the worst of it, for boys who smoke never grow up into perfect manhood, The tide of life ebbs; it does not flow. They will lack true manhood, but will very easily be led to drink. Such creatures are not the fittest and consequently cannot survive. But while they do hold on to their wretched lives, they help to fill our gaols and latterly, probably, our lunatic asylums. And most important of all, if these poor imperfect specimens of humanity marry, what will their offspring be ?

THE. BIBLE:

“Read your Bible! read it right, First thing at morn and last at night.”

“May every subject in my dominions possess a Bible and be able to read it.’—King George III.

Our great judge, Sir Matthew Hale, said: “If I do not honour the Word of God by reading a portion of it every morning, things go not well with me through the day.”

Professor Ruskin told us that the most valuable part of his education came from the Bible.. Under his mother’s guidance he carefully read and committed to memory chosen chapters thereof. Here, he told us, was laid the foundation of the fabric of his extensive knowledge, and here he found the fund of that wisdom which had guided him through life.

If every child at school had to learn off by heart such chapters as the Ist Psalm and the 22nd of Proverbs, &c., they would never forget them. To fear God and keep His commandments, we read in the Bible, is the whole duty of man, but how is it that the Protestants of the British race are mostly so ashamed of God and of being thought or called religious ? Can such a charge be laid to any other nation ? What percentage of communicants of the Established Church dare boldly ee their stand in the open air or elsewhere, and speak for God and their religion ? Am I wrong insaying that the teaching of our churches and schools results in our youth fearing man more than God? And the result is that to many of them “the fear of man bringeth a snare,’—as, for instance, when they get under the power of ritualistic priests who go in for confession and absolution, &c. There would not be the cry against the last Education Act that there is, if it were not for the fact that, as regards the Church of England, it hands

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PENISTONE AND ITS MOORLAND AIR. 250

what is called “ religious teaching” mainly into the hands of ritualist clergy, of whom there are some 10,000 in the Church of England, and who, sad to say, love better the teaching of their Manuals than that of the Holy Bible.

WHOM CAN WE TRUST.

Trust in a Prince—his word may fail ; In Friends—and they shall die ; In health and wealth and world’s regard, Alas! how soon they fly, Trust thy own heart—'tis faithless all; Thy life—’tis insecure ; But he who trusteth in the Lord Tor every shall endure.

PENISTONE AND ITS MOORLAND AIR.

Mr. James John Hissey, in his very interesting work, A Drive through England, ov a thousand miles of Road Travel (London: Richard Bentley & Son, 1885), says :-— ‘““A perfect day in England is as fine a thing as the world can produce.” “In travelling through our own beautiful country there is no sameness, no weariness. The scenery gradually but continually changes, affording to the traveller a never-ending source of delights”; and that “ Nathaniel Hawthorne, who never praised anything English without reason, said: ‘ For all in all it was the best climate in the world.’ ” On the outward journey from London of himself and wife, Mr. Hissey records that, after leaving Sheffield, mid-day halt was at Penistone, situated high up in the world and surrounded by dreary moorlands. Here we found an inn, almost as desolate as the place itself. We drove up to what appeared to be the principal doorway of this forsaken hotel, but could discover no one about. Then we entered the stable-yard and sought for the ostler, but there was nobody visible. Presently, however, we managed to unearth the land- lord from out of some outbuildings, where he was amusing himself chopping up wood, or with some such occupation. He appeared exceedingly surprised to see us, for he said they never did any business or had any visitors except on one day a week (Thursday, I think he said) which was a market day. In the evenings he had a few customers, inhabitants of the place who dropped in for their pipe and glass and a chat, and that was all. Moreover, he said, no one now travelled by road if they could help it in these parts, as they (the roads) were very desolate and hilly, therefore there was some excuse for his look of astonishment in seeing us with a phaeton and pair in cool possession of his deserted stable-yard. When, however, he had recovered from his surprise and comprehended the situation, he at once set to work to help us and to offer us what hospitalities the limited resources of his inn could afford. He showed us into a barely-furnished room, and a scrubby-looking servant appeared in due course ; and eventually we procured a rough and ready meal, which, however, our long drive through the bracing air caused us to appreciate more than we otherwise should. “The country round about Penistone is of the most wild and cheerless description ; bleak, barren moorlands succeed one another in a confused, chaotic outline, swept unrestrained by the winds of heaven. What a spot this must be in the winter time, when the north-easter is raging unchecked in its fury, and the snowstorm drives across this wild tract in unabated vigour. The traveller who ventured by road in such times might almost as well be traversing

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the wilds of Siberia; he could hardly be worse off. Even now in midsummer— warm as it was on the lower ground—it was quite cool up here, too much so, indeed, for our enjoyment; in fact, we wondered if it could ever be really warm in this elevated region. Immediately around the town small quantities of land have been tilled and a brave attempt has been made to bring it under cultivation ; some few crops make a desperate struggle for existence, as we had evidence by their stunted growth. We judged, however, the only thing Penistone could boast of in perfection was the air, of which there was certainly an unlimited supply of the purest and most bracing quality. Anyhow, the land about is hardly of that class ‘that you tickle with a plough and it laughs at you with a harvest.’ “In the afternoon we proceeded on our way. Our road now became very wild, traversing as it did the bleak, peaty, swampy moorlands. We had nothing but a vast expanse of barren land around and a grey clouded sky overhead ; the intense loneliness and stillness of this far-reaching solitude was almost depressing. There was hardly a sign of life; not a solitary sheep, not even a wandering bird did we see, only once a startled grouse flew past us with a sudden whir-r-r-r! and that was al]. But in spite of the loneliness we mightily enjoyed the drive. The air was most exhilarating and bracing, and it sent the blood coursing through our veins, infusing new life into our bodies. Moorland air is a sort of natural champagne, only there is this difference in it—you may indulge in any amount of it without the fear of after consequences, save an alarming appetite. “By degrees we discovered the moors were not so barren or monotonous after all. Heather and gorse in bloom were visible here and there, and bright yellow mosses and bilberry plants flourished everywhere with their delicate green leaves and purple wine-stained fruit; and now and again a damp rock or a peaty pool, as it caught the light, shone out brightly from the dark gloom around. The varying tones and colours of this vast undulating sea of moors were a study in themselves—sombre in places, rich in others, and actually gay where the glinting sunlight caught the bright yellow of the gorse and the glorious ._purple of the heather. No one can say the moors are colourless or melancholy who has studied or observed them much. What had appeared to us at first all cheerless and gloomy, upon closer acquaintance we found exulted in a thousand hues; the colouring was low in tone certainly, as suited the scene, but it was by no means wanting in subdued harmonies, which latter are always more pleasing to the educated eye than severe contrasts, though perhaps not at first so telling. At the same time, from the brightness of the heather and gorse to the powerful darkness of the peaty soil, the range of colour and light and shade were by no means limited. “Our road was an ambitious one. Higher and higher it ascended till it appeared we were surely approaching the end of the world, and that when we reached the summit of the far-stretching moor—away yonder where it seemed to join the sky—we should simply look over into space ; but when at last that height was gained, we found the world extended many a league beyond. Before us was a prospect that involuntarily called forth our admiration. First came russet moors, then dark blue hills beyond hills, the more distant ones being lost in a dreamy dimness or hidden by a veil of low-lying clouds that stretched across the horizon. ‘There was just a suspicion of a warm yellow in the west, where the sun was sinking low, and a corresponding tint from sundry pools in the near foreground—which shone forth like burnished gold—lighting up the landscape as the eye does the human face. Down, far down, in the valley were woods and villages mingled together in a shadowy indistinctness,

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OUR ENGLISH VILLAGES. 261

and mists, too, were gathering in the hollows and were gradually creeping up the hillsides; and winding away below us we could trace our road for miles— a trail of light grey till lost in a mystery of haze and gloom in the distant dale. Down the hill we went at a famous pace, the leather of the brakes being almost worn away in the rapid run. How delightful was the swift, easy motion through the light, invigorating air! we had in our drive a perfect atmospheric bath. Fresh or moorland air excels all other tonics, and it is the most lasting in its effects. Dame Nature is the best and pleasantest of doctors, and in the end the least expensive, only alas! too often we do not consult her in time. Huddersfield, our night’s destination, was reached at a late hour.”

OUR ENGLISH VILLAGES. It is a sad pity that so little is known about the villages in which we live. All writers seem to join in the same lament, and mourn over the ignorance that prevails in rural England with regard to the treasures of antiquity, history, and folk-lore which are to be found almost everywhere. Mr. Hughes, the author of Tom Brown’s School-days, says that the present generation know nothing of their own birthplaces, or of the lanes, woods, and fields through which they roam. Not one young man in twenty knows where to find the wood-sorrel or the bee-orchis; still fewer can tell the country legends, the stories of the old gabled-ended farmhouses, or the place where the last skirmish was fought in the Civil War, or where the parish butts stood. The following episode—worthy of note by teachers, auctioneers, and solicitors—well shows the difference between one who exercised his powers of thought and observation and one who did not. A story is related that a certain gentleman, being tired of an estate he had recently purchased, placed it in the hands of the famous auctioneer, George Robins, to dispose of. Calling some time afterwards at the office, the gentleman said he had read a most charming description of a property for sale in that day’s Times, and he desired to know further particulars. ‘“ Why,” replied Mr. Robins quietly, “that’s your own place.” “ My place!” said the astonished owner ; “ why, I had no idea it was half so beautiful; I’m not going to part with such a lovely spot.” “England! thou hast within thy wave-girt isle Scenes of magnificence and beauty rare, Too often scorn’d by thy ungrateful sons, Who leave, unseen, thy lovely hills and vales, And seek for pleasure ‘neath a foreign Our old country houses were, say modern masons, shockingly badly built. “Why, sir,” said one to me, “do look here at this wall. It is three foot six thick—what waste of room; and then only the facing is with mortar between the stones, all the rest of the stones are set in clay.” I was engaged building my porch when the man said this. So I, convinced by his superior experience, apologised for my forbears, and bade him rebuild with mortar throughhout. What was the result? That wall has been to me ever since a worry. The rain beats through it; every course of mortar serves as an aqueduct, and the driving rain against that wall traverses it as easily as if it were asponge. Our old houses were dry within—dry as snuff. Now we cannot keep the wet out without cementing them externally. Those fools—our forefathers—by breaking the connexion prevented the water from penetrating. _ Do any of my readers know the cosiness of an oak-panelled or of a tapes- tried room? There is nothing comparable to it for warmth. What the reader certainly does know is that froma papered wall and from a plate-glass window there is ever a cold current of air setting inwards. He supposes that there is a

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draught creeping round the walls from the door, or that the window-frame does not fit : and he plugs, but cannot exclude the cold air. But the origin of the draught is in the room itself, and it is created by the fire. The wall is cold and the plate-glass is cold, and the heated atmosphere of the room is lowered in temperature against these cold surfaces and returns in the direction of the fire as a chill draught. But when the room is lined with oak or with woven woollen tapestry, then the walls are warm and they give back none of these chill recoil currents. ‘The fire has not the double obligation laid on it of heating the air of the apartment and the walls.

From Old Country Life, by Baring Gould.

There is an old distich which tersely says :— Hardwick Hall, More glass than wall.” and Lord Bacon, when ona visit there, wrote, ‘““Ouae cannot tell where to become to be out of the sunne.” Our ancestors, by the way, generally spoke of their country as “sunny England.” ‘Truly the windows of this superb mansion are both numerous and ample, and as we approached it I shall never forget the effect of so much glass reflecting ina thousand tints the sunlight—it was simply gorgeous. [he numerous diamond panes, each glistening on its own account, formed a glittering whole as of countless jewels in a setting of sombre grey stonework. But in spite of many adverse remarks, I think the architect knew very well what he was about when he planned the windows thus; they are indeed walls of light. Yet internally we did not feel they were at all too large ; in judging of the merits and demerits of these, critics appear to have forgotten that the long stone mullions, transoms, and quarrelled leaded lights take up a good deal of the space and consequently intercept an appreciable amount of light. ‘These windows, it must be remembered, are not mere vacant holes in the walls filled in with plate-glass, which the modern builder so delighteth in, and which make you feel almost as if you were sitting out of doors. Having vot our modern plate-glass windows, we at once acknowledge their bareness by hiding them with curtains, both silk and lace. Plate-glass has many sins to answer for; like fire,it is a good servant but a bad master, and it has mastered the modern architect. Hardwick Hall was erected by the notorious Elizabeth, Countess of Shrews- bury, known in old times by the nickname of “ Bess of Hardwick,” a wonderful woman in her day, and a great favourite of her masculine namesake, Queen Elizabeth. She was a most imperious and businesslike woman, and had a penchant for matrimony and a perfect mania for building. She took to herself no less than four husbands, and in each case the mare was master (or mistress, whichever is the correct expression) of the team, the last and most henpecked being the Karl of Shrewsbury, whose life she made such a burden to him that he actually complained to the Queen that he had been reduced to the condition of a “pencyoner.” Needless to say, he gained nothing by his unmanly com- plaints, for we actually find him writing in a letter dated April ye 5th, 1585, to the famous Earl of Leicester, “ the Queene hathe taken the part of my wief and hathe sette downe this hard sentence agaynst me, to my perpetual infamy and dishonour, to be rulled and overaune by her so bad and wicked a woman. The only consolation from his friends he got was from the Bishop of Lichfield, whose wife he (the Bishop) acknowledged “ was a sharpe and bitter shrewe, yet that if shrewdness or sharpnesse may be a just cause of separation betweene a man and his wiefe I thinke fewe men in Englande woulde keepe their wiefs longe.”—From A Drive through England, &c., by James John Hissey.

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THE HORN-BOOK. I 263 THE HORN-BOOK.

“ When little children first are brought to schoole,

A horne-booke is a necessary toole.” Pasquil’s Night-Cap, 1612.

Oo Pg ee hh tek bmw mo Pp

re ee tps £ & aeisn ASCTCDEFGEHFCTCHKEM A OPQRKRSTH MW ADS. 223-9. 2 Oo" ab cb ib ob ub ba be bt bo bu ne Fee 06 - ne Ce 6) 4 I CO ad ed 1D od ud da De Dt Do Du

En the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen,

Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy flame Thy Hingdom come Chop will be Done in Earth as it is in Heaven Gibe us this dap our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as Wwe forgibe them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation Hut deliber us from evil

Amen

The Horn-Book, that ancient medium of scholastic instruction through which our forefathers obtained their rudimentary knowledge of the A.B.C., was in use before the introduction of printing, and came down to the early years of the nineteenth century. At one time it was to be found in every school in the land; it is now a rarity so great as never to be seen save in the interior of a museum, or in the hands of a few collectors of curiosities. The oldest examples consisted of a sheet of vellum with the characters in writing, but this primitive form was on the introduction of the printing press changed to a printed sheet of paper. This was placed on a thin piece of oak, and over it was laid a sheet of transparent horn secured in its position by tacks

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driven through a border or mounting of brass. It usually contained the alphabet in large and small letters, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Roman numerals. A few monosyllables were occasionally included. In a poetic composition by William Cowper there is a description of the horn-book used in his day. Hus lines are as follows :— “Neatly secured from being soil’d or torn, Beneath a pane of thin translucent horn, A book (to please us at a tender age ‘Tis call’d a book, though but a single page), Presents the prayer the Saviour deign’d to teach, Which children use and parsons—-when they preach.” Black-letter horn-books are extremely rare. The sketch above is of a fine example found in pulling down an old farm-house at Middleton, Derbyshire. On the back of this specimen was a picture of Charles I. in armour mounted on a horse, thus altording a proof of the period to which it belonged—generally the patron saint was figured on the reverse of the horn book. Horn-books do not appear to have been very costly, for in the early part of the eighteenth century they were sold at-the low rate of twopence each. In a quaint old publication by Peacham entitled The Worth of a Penny, it is recorded :—‘* For a penny you may buy the hardest book in the world, at which at some time or other hath posed the greatest clerks in the land, viz., an horn-book, the making of which employs above thirty trades.” “To Master John, the English maid A horn-book gives of gingerbread ; And, that the child may learn the better, As he can name he eats the letter.”

Bygone England, by Wm. Andrews, F.R.H.S.

THE . BIBLE IN Dr. Massie’s phrase at Newcastle, ““The Bible in the Schools and the Priest outside,” is an excellent motto for those who wish to settle the religious contro- versy in education in. a just and equal spirit... 2 [The opposition present Education Act is not against training in Biblical knowledge, but against that form of it which vitiates with alien and sacerdotal poison.—The Christian, June 8th, 1905. It certainly may be taken for granted that there would have been no Passive Resisters or other opposition to the Education Act if it were not the fact that Ritualistic and Romanist: priests desire in our Protestant schools to put themselves and their Manuals in the place or stead of Almighty God and the Bible; +See 2, Timothy ii-toe7, ands 0.

The Rev. John Todd, in his Sunday School Teacher, a work which would be valuable in the hands of every schoolmaster and schoolmistress, says: ‘I rejoice in the belief that the impression is becoming more and more universal, even among those who are not professedly acting as Christians that the heart must be educated as well as the mind,” and selects the following testimony from M. Victor Cousins’ able report on public instruction in Prussia: have abundant proof that the wellbeing of an individual, as of a people, is no wise secured by extraordinary intellectual powers or very refined civilization. The true happiness of an individual, as of a people, is founded on strict morality, self-government, humility, and moderation ; in the willing performance of all duties to God, his superiors, and his neighbours. A veligious and moral education is consequently the first want of a people.”

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ee EDUCATION OF GIRLS. 205

It is most important this should be well borne in mind now that ritualism and atheism are making such strides. In 1848, when every throne on the continent was either seriously shaken or everthrown, whilst the Queen of could drive and walk about as usual, M. Guizot, the French statesman of that era, said to Lord Shaftesbury, ‘I will tell you what saved your empire. It was not your police—it was not your army—it was not your statesmen—IT WAS THE DEEP SOLEMN RELIGIOUS ATMOSPHERE THAT STILL IS BREATHED OVER THE WHOLE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND.”

In connection with the Higher Education of Girls in the District, it is expected that Schools will ere long be erected for them near the Grammar School at Weirfield.

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“ANOLSINAd LV AVG LANAVIN

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PENISTONE MARKET.

* Good luck to the Hoof and the Horn, Good luck to the Flock and the Fleece, Good luck to the growers of corn, With the blessings of plenty and

As the question of providing increased market accommodation has been now long engaging the attention of the Local Authorities, a short acount of the ancient market at Penistone, and other kindred matters, may be interesting. Penistone is the highest market town in England. The market, which is held every Thursday, is a noted one for milch cattle, which are sent from thence to all parts of the Kingdom. Fairs for cattle and sheep are held likewise on the Thursday before February 28th, the last ‘Phursday in March, Thursday before May 12th, and Thursday after October 11th As will have been before observed, Hunter has given full particulars of the establishment of the Market at Penistone by Mr. Bosville in 1699, and of the earlier one at Penisale in 1290.

THE YEW TREE OF PENISAL.

De Midhope, of Langsett, as chroniclers sing, Was lord, when our Edward the First ruled as King ; Broad lands on each side of this well-watered vale Had swell’d his rich rent-rolls from heirship and sale.

In woodland and pasture he summered his flocks, And chased the wild deer o’er the heath-skirted rocks ; While to Kirkstead he paid tythe of all he possessed He bravely and freely rejoiced in the rest. Tor Penisal, whither his serfs might repair, He purchased the grant of a market and fair ; Where weekly came vendors with basket and beast, And clothiers each year at Saint Barnabas feast.

Ere long, and he planted a beautiful yew, Which flourished through ages, so slowly it grew ; _ On a plot of rich greensward around this fair tree, Met buyer and seller in bargaining free.

Thither came with stout ellwand the wolster whose pack Of linseys and wolsey was strapped on his back ; He, on the wide yew keen with tenter hooks made, From bough-end to bough-end his fabrics displayed.

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268 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

Hither came, too, the pedlar, with glittering things, Sharp whittles, gay girdles, hooks, buckles, and rings ; And far o’er yon moorlands, bleak, purple, and high Came mother and daughter to gossip and buy. Tradition, unchronickled history’s page, Tells what houses rose here in a subsequent age ; How the Yew Tree thrice honoured in growing renown, Stood green in the midst of Penisal town.

How in its broad shadow might yearly be seen De Midhope’s retainers on alderman-green ; Kach paying obstreperous, or sullen, or mute ‘To the lord of the manor, his service, and suit.

But ages have left not a trace of that town ; And its Fair and its Market alike are unknown ; While the Yew—the brave Yew! long survivor of these Showed how much faster time levelled houses than trees.

Yea, it stood but three lustres since on yon green knoll When twenty-five feet was the girth of its bole; And round it with many a strange legend and tale Oft lingered the grey-beards and youth of the vale.

It stood—and perchance had been standing this day Had not a lone fisherman rambled that way ; He thoughtless or reckless, to warm his chill’d hands Lit up in its hollow a bonfire of brands.

“Twas April, and moonless the night of St. Mark O’er the neighbourhood flicker’d strange gleams in the dark ; "Twas the Yew Tree aflame! its green beauty was gone; At the ravage affrighted the rustics looked on, days and five nights shone the red glow around Ere the time honoured tree was burnt close to the ground ; Tew years marked the spot—but men died and grass grew, And left to tradition the Penisal Yew.

In what is called the Beast Market, Penistone, is the stump of the old market cross, and set up in a field on the left-hand side of the road to Hartcliffe, to the west of the town, is another cross, said by some to have been the Penisal Market Cross, but by others, only a guide for travellers over what was formerly part of the open moors. We may here state that in the wall of a field adjoining the road, nearly opposite to the last-mentioned cross, is a stone on which a well-executed figure of a greyhound is engraven. Has this stone any connection with Sir Elias de Midhope or the market at Penisal, or was it set up merely for a boundary stone, and be the one referred to in the boundaries of Penistone, Thurlstone, and Langsett, as set out in Hunter? Milner, in his history of Winchester, states: ‘Market crosses were of various shapes and sizes, and were designed to excite public homage to the religion of Christ crucified, and to inspire men with a sense of morality and piety amidst the ordinary transactions of life.”

The Wortleys, in the year 1307, obtained for their tenants of Wortley the benefit of a weekly market on Thursday, and of a fair every year for three days on the Vigil day and morrow of Pentecost. In 1773, there was an unsuccessful attempt to revive the old market there, which had then long been discontinued. By reason of Penistone Market being so famed for milch cattle, the Penistone Local Board adopted a milch cow as the design of their seal.

Page 287

Biltcliffe & THE GREYHOUND STONE. [ Photo.

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270 HISTORY OF - PENISTOWE.

Penistone was likewise one of the first towns in the Kingdom to establish agricultural societies, and in reference thereto we cannot do better than give an extract from the address of the committee of the present agricultural society there, contained in their schedule of prizes for 1880. “Tt will, no doubt, surprise many to learn that agricultural shows were held alternately at Penistone and Wortley in the beginning of the present century, and the committee have recently had kindly lent to them schedules for the years 1804, 1806, and 1816, from which it appears that the district of that society comprised the townships of Penistone, Wortley, Pilley, Thurgoland, Hoylandswaine, Cawthorne, Thurlstone, Bradfield, Langsett, Hunshelf, Oxspring, Longdendale, Gunthwaite, Ingbirchworth, Woodland, Denby, Silkstone, Dod- worth, Stainbro’, Ecclesfield, ‘and Shepley, and that prizes were offered for cattle, sheep, horses, pigs, and corn, and to servants and labourers. “Tt is therefore no wonder that the Penistone district should have been so _long famed for its breed of milch cattle and horned sheep, when the committee can and do with feelings of great pride show that it was one of the first in this country to establish those annual shows which have since become so universal, and done so much to improve the various breeds of cattle, and otherwise benefit the agricultural interest in the United Kingdom.” As they will no doubt be interesting, a copy “of the schedule for the year 1804, and an account of the shows held at Penistone and Wortley in that year, are given below :—

WORTLEY FARMERS” CLUB: At a meeting of the above society, held at the Rose and Crown Inn, in Penistone, on Monday, the 27th of February, 1804, The following resolutions were agreed to:—rst, That as the number of members already admitted amount to more than thirty, the subscriptions will raise a sufficient sum to enable the society to distribute the following premiums :—

SHEEP. For the best Penistone Wether Sheep .... One guinea. For the best Penistone Ewe above two years old One guinea. For the best Two-shear Penistone Ram ... One eumed: For the best Two-shear Penistone Ewe ... One guinea: For the best Shearling Penistone Ram ... One guinea. For the best Cross-bred Shearling Wether out of a Penistone Ewe One guinea. For the best Two-shear Wether of the same sort as the last ie One guinea.

For the best Two-shear Ewe of same sort as last One guinea. For the best Two-shear Sheep of any Polled sort One guinea. For the best Shearling of any Polled sort ... One guinea. For the best Two-shear Ram of any Polled sort One guinea.

HORNED CATTLE. For the best Two-year-old Bull of the

long-horned sort .. One guinea and a half. For the best Two-year- -old Bull of any other sort” <2. One guinea and a half. For the best Two- -yeat- ‘old Heifer of the long-horned sort zi One guinea and a half.

For the best Two-year-old Heifer of any other sort aoe a ... One guinea and a half.

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WORTLEY FARMERS’ CLUB. 271

PIGS.

For the best Boar ... = eas Sah .-. One guinea. For the best Sow... “ee ae ... One guinea. HORSES. For the best Two-year-old Colt or Filly of the cart kind ... ... One guinea and a half.

SERVANTS AND LABOURERS. To the best Sheep Shearer ... ... Two pairs of Shears. To the Shepherd who rears in the year 1804 the greatest quantity of Lambs out of a Flock of Penistone Ewes, consisting of not less than fifty, in proportion to their number ... oe To the Shepherd who rears in the year 1804 the greatest quantity of Lambs out of a Flock of Polled Ewes, consisting of not less than fifty, in proportion to their number as ze To the Male Servant in Husbandry who has lived the longest time in his place with a good character a af ae aes One sumed. To the Female Servant who has lived the longest time in a Farmer’s place with a_ good character cH Be oe = a One suined:

One guinea.

One guinea.

2.—That no Cattle, Sheep, Horses, or Pigs be allowed to be shown for the above premiums, unless bred within this district to which this Society is confined, and bona fide the property of a subscriber of this Society; who at the time of shewing must produce a certificate stating the age, the place where bred, and the person’s name to whom the Sire and Dam belonged. And no Sheep or Beast will be allowed to show for more than one premium. 3.—That all Penistone Wethers and Ewes of any age shewn for the above premiums must have been kept according to the custom of the country, with the remainder of the Stock Sheep, until the first of March, 1804, and that the owner must produce his certificate thereof before he is allowed to shew. 4.—That the Candidates for the Sheep-shearing premium must shear a sheep before such Judges as the Club may appoint. 5.—That the Candidates for the Shepherds’ premiums must produce certifi- cates signed by their Masters stating the number of the number of Lambs, and the place where they were lambed. 6.—That the Candidates for the Servants’ premiums must produce certificates from their Masters stating the length of their service, and their character, and in order that they may receive every encouragement the Society will give half a guinea to the unsuccessful Candidates who come nearest to the winners in length of service and goodness of character. 7.—That the Candidates for the Sheep-shearing, Shepherds’, and Servants’ premiums must be actually living within the district to which this Society is confined, and which consists of the following townships, viz., Wortley, Pilley, Thurgoland, Penistone, Hoylandswaine, Cawthorne, Thurlstone, Bradfield, Langsett, Hunshelf, Oxspring, Longdendale, Gunthwaite, Ingbirchworth, Woodland, Denby, Silkstone, Dodworth, Stainborough, and Ecclesfield.

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272 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

8.—That all the above premiums be determined and given at the Sheep- shearing at Wortley Hall, on the 21st of June, 1804. g.—That Mr. Wortley, Mr. Foster, of High Green, and Mr. Ellis, of Midhope, be appointed a Committee for the purpose of arranging all matters connected with this Society. I 10.—That in case of their being a sufficient Fund another Meeting will be held after Michaelmas, 1804, for the purpose of giving premiums for Fat Cattle, Sheep, and Pigs, for Ploughmen, for the best Samples of Corn, and any other object that may be fixed upon on the 21st of June, 1804. I hae such persons as wish to become members of this Society may put down their names either at the Rose and Crown Inn, in Penistone, or at the Wortley Arms Inn, Wortley ; and that the subscription be not less than Half a Guinea each person, to be paid on the 21st of June,

1804. NAMES OF THE PRESENT MEMBERS. J. A. Stuart Wortley, Mr. Ronksley, Hollow Meadows. Sir Francis Lindley Wood, Bart. » Bedford, Pond. F. O. Edmunds, Esq. », Chapman, Penistone. James Cockshutt, I‘sq. ,, Dagley, Penistone. sq: » Birks, Water Hall. James Bland, Esq. Jonn Camm John Lees, » Hargreave, Gunthwaite. The Rev. Stuart Corbett. » Greaves, Hunshelf. Mr. John Foster, sen., High Green. » West, Cawthorne. » John Foster, jun. 5 . Bantks: 5 ithe Cowleye 5 Balmer, Hollingworth Hall. ,, Hall, Rodmore. ,, Charles Greaves, Woodland. , Lhomas Eyre, sen., Woodland. », Hardy, Penistone. 3 thomas Fyre, jun. House: » Richardson, Pewell Hill. » Askham Fyre, Thurlstone. 5, Parkin, Claphouse. » James [hunlstone: » J. Parkin, Wharncliffe Lodge. » William Ellis, Midhope. » John Kelly, Wortley.

Hague, Blackmoor. Barnsley: Printed by Thomas Cockshaw.

AGrRicuLTurRE, July 5th, 1804.—From the Sheffield Ivis—The friends of agriculture will no doubt be highly gratified with the following account of the proceedings of a society formed in the neighbourhood of Penistone for the improvement of the district extending along the moor edges. In consequence of notices printed and dispersed at the formation of the club, early in the last spring, the first general meeting was held at Wortley on the 21st of June instant, at the sheep shearing of James Stuart Wortley, Esquire. By twelve most of the gentlemen and farmers were assembled, when several lots of cattle, sheep, &c., the property of the club, and bred in the district, were exhibited, and afforded the highest satisfaction to all present. The prizes offered by the

society were adjudged as under :— SHEEP.

For the best Penistone Wether Sheep, one guinea, to Mr. Ronksley, Hollow

Meadows. I For the best Penistone Ewe, above two years old, one guinea, to Mr.

Bedford, Pond.

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WORTLEY FARMERS’ CLUB. 293

For the best two-shear Penistone Ram, one guinea, to Mr. Ronksley. For the best two-shear Penistone Ewe, Mr. Bedford. Other prizes for sheep were awarded to J. A. S. Wortley, Esq., Wortley Hall; Mr. Hargreave, Gunthwaite; and Mr. Thomas Parkin, Wortley.

HORNED CATTLE.

For the best two-year-old Bull, of the long-horned sort, Mr. Pearson, Cliffe. For the best two-year-old Bull, of any other sort, Mr. Hammond, Pilley. For the best Sow Pig, Mr. Foster, High Green.

HORSES. For the best two-year-old Colt of the cart kind, James Cockshutt, Esq., Huthwaite. SERVANTS AND LABOURERS.

To the best Sheep Shearer, two pair of shears, Benjamin Thorpe. To the Male Servant in Husbandry, who had lived the longest time in his place with a good character, one guinea, John Beever, 27 years with Mr. John Greaves, of Aldermanshead. To the Female Servant who had lived the longest time in a farmer’s place with a good character, one guinea, Martha Wordsworth. The certificate of Martha Wordsworth deserves to be made public as a singular instance of meritorious service. “This is to certify that Martha Wordsworth, now of Handbank, has lived servant with Abraham Crossley and Ann Crossley his wife the space of 53 years, during their lives; also she has served 12 years since my parents’ decease, performing all the duties of a farmand house servant.—Signed, Joun CrossLey, Handbank, June 2oth, 1804.” After attending the show, the company dined together at the Wortley Arms, where several new members were enrolled, and another meeting was appointed to be held at Penistone, where a show of fat cattle and sheep is intended to take place for prizes, and subject to conditions to be fixed at the first meeting of the society’s committee.—W.

Wortley Agricultural Society. The annual meeting of the Wortley Farmers’ Club was held at Penistone on Friday, the 13th October (1804), when the following premiums were adjudged :— gs. -d. To Mr. Thomas Eyre, sen., Woodlands, for the best Penistone Ewe, then off the moss fe Mr. Ronksley, Hollow Meadow, the best fat Penistone Wether tole Mr. Thomas Eyre, jun., Flash House, the best fat Penistone

Ewe... = hee ee ot Ie 6 Mr. Birks, Water Hall, do., “do., polled Wether ; 20 Mr. Thomas Parkin, Wortley, the best do., do., gelt Ewe Pints 6

Mr. George Chapman, Penistone, the best t polled Ewe suckled a lamb i Mr. Ronksley, the best Penistone Ram .. 3 J. A. S. Wortley, Esq., the best polled Shearling Ram Mr. Hargreave, Gunthwaite, do., do; aged... se Mr. Ellis, Midhope, the best Tup Lamb, Penistone >... Mr. Haigh, Blackmoor, do., do., polled .. a Mr. James Eyre, Thurlstone, do., do., Shorthorn ne Mr. Birks, the best fat Cow 3 one ae aie oe Mr. James Eyre, the best fat Pig ove pee see a

ee PR SO Yoyo) (e) (oe) ©)

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274 HISTORY. OF

%6. a. Mr. Thorp, Banks, the best sample of wheat ... ‘St ae J. A. S. Wortley, Esq:, do.,.do:, cals nas Mr. Kelly, Wortley Inn, do., do. , barley 1 Ae

An additional premium offered at this meeting for the best I Penistone Ewe having suckled a lamb, was adjudged to Mr. Hague, of Blackmoor ... i To James Hague, shepherd to Mr. Hague, ‘of Blackmoor, having raised 61 lambs from a flock of 67 Penistone Ewes ee To John Sampson, shepherd to Mr. Thorp, having raised 131 lambs from a flock of 110 polled Ewes ... I 1 The meeting was respectably attended, and several new y members elected. The show, particularly of sheep and pigs, gave universal satisfaction. From a laudable desire of promoting the objects of the Society, John Verelst, Esq., and Mr. Foster, of High Green, though rendered incapable of obtaining any premiums by the regulations of the ‘Club, gratified the company by exhibiting some very capital stock. It is but justice to Mr. Foster to add that he is indefatigable in advancing the interests of the Wortley Club, notwithstanding a restriction imposed upon him by the original regulations, by which, from the acknowledged superiority of his Sheep Stock, he is not to enter the list for two years from the date of the institution. —Sheffield Ivis, Nov. ist, 1804. In 1806, Shepley was added to the District of the Society.

In the year 1853 the old Agricultural Society, after having been for many years discontinued at Penistone, was restarted and is still in a flourishing condition, though after 1883 on account of losses through several successive wet » show days the Shows were in abeyance until 1889. In 1883 the experiment was tried of holding the Show on a Saturday instead of on the Thursday (the market day) but it was not a success. The Shows up and prior to 1883 were much more of a purely agricultural character than those that have been held since. There were more classes for cattle, sheep, horses, and pigs, and in addition to large money prizes offered by the Society a Special Prize of £5 5s. for many years was given annually by the President, and also annually for a number of years about twenty other Special Prizes of the value of £3 3s. by other Land- owners and the tradesmen and innkcepers of the town. ‘These handsome money and other special prizes, which latter were of silver and silver plated, and other useful articles attracted some of the most noted breeders of Shorthorn Cattle, Leicester and Lincoln Sheep, and Pigs in the Northern and Midland Counties to come forward as competitors, and thus the treasured souvenirs of the old Shows are to be met with far and wide. My father, when he had Oxspring House Farm in hand, was a large exhibitor and won several of the special prizes, one of which (a silver- plated Cruet Frame he was awarded for some sheep) is now amongst my possessions. On the restarting of the Shows in 1889 classes for Pigeons, Rabbits, Cavies, Cats, and Bread, were added, the Butter classes increased, and better prizes offered for that indispensable commodity which have secured for Penistone the credit of having one of the best country butter shows in the kingdom. With this comprehensive list of classes and prizes and consequent variety of exhibits, and a most energetic secretary in Mr. James H. Wood, the Annual Show— though it has always been a noted one and largely patronised—still holds its own and has become, as one may say, more widely attractive, though there are many more Shows in the country than was formerly the case. As showing the entries of typical Shows prior to 1883 and since, those for the Shows of 1879 and 1904 are given below :—

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PENISTONE SHOW. 278

1879. 1904. 1879, 1904, Horses ea 54 Ses 138 Butter oe; — axe 85 Cattle aoe SI 33 Bread uae ~~ 104 Sheep vee 65 see 23 Dressed Fowls — wes a Dips... ome 33 aa 6 Eggs cae — ome 16 Ponies wad 9 er — Stands ae E2 ee 9 Donkeys... — a — Horticulture, &c. — an: 26 Dogs aaa) 202 aa 270 Agricultural I asx (266 mas 374 Produce —_ ras 34. Pipeans: ... 35 aie 301 Trotting Rappits 4s. ai aE 143 Handicap _ nae 9 Cavies - ane 25 — ae — 19 771 1617

Prizes for Butter, Eggs, Oatcakes, Horticultural and Agricultural Produce, were given in 1879, but as the entries were then for these things only made on the morning of the Show, they did not get entered in the catalogue. In 1879 the entries for cattleh—and I am not sure whether in other classes also—overtopped the entries for the Yorkshire Show of that year which they had never done before nor have done since. This year (1906) will make it fifty years since I first had to do with the Society in some way or other. In 1859 I was placed on the Committee, and succeeding the late Mr. Elihu T. Brearley, who died in 1866, I was Secretary for many of the following years up to 1882, and am now the oldest official of the Society though of late years I have not taken a very active part in this work. Sir Walter Spencer Stanhope, K.C.B., who is one of the patrons and has been President of the Society, is the only one who has been thus connected with the Society since it was established. Mr. John Bedford was secretary of the Society for the first few years after it was established.

J. W. Duckett] HEAD OF A PENISTONE RAM. [ Photo,

This portrait was taken by the kind perm#ssion of Mrs, Wood, widow of the late Mr. Edwin Wood, of Penistone, butcher, from the head in her possession of a ram which had been the property of Mrs, Crossley, of Upper Midhope,

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276 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

The following account is taken from Spooner’s History of Sheep (1844). He says: “ The Penistone isa breed of sheep found on the borders of Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Derbyshire, on a heathy tract of land about 26 miles in length by 20 in breadth, and they are called the ‘ Penistone’ from the market town of that name, where they are sold. They are described by Mr. Low as having wool of a medium length, of a silky appearance, but harsh and wiry, and weighing from 4 lbs. to 5 lbs. the fleece. They have white faces and legs. The rams exceed the size of the ewes and wethers in an universal degree, a peculiarity which is ascribed to their being taken to the lower country to be reared. The rams alone! have horns, which are very large, lying close to the head and projecting forward. A distinguishing character of this breed is an extreme coarseness of form, and especially of the extremities. The feet are large, the limbs long, the shoulders heavy, the sides flat, but the most singular characteristic is the length and muscularity of the tail, in which respect the Penistone sheep differ from all others in the country. This enlargement of the tail is merely muscular and long, and not analogous to the growth of fat which takes place in the tails of certain sheep of Eastern countries. ‘The mutton of these sheep is highly valued for its juiceness and flavour.”

Formerly many parties kept flocks of this breed, as the extract below, from the book containing the orders of the Shepherds’ Society, held at Saltersbrook, by the principal sheep keepers in the Liberties of Woodlands, Penistone, Bradfield, Longdendale, Saddleworth, Holmfirth, Glossop, and Kinder, and the marks distinguishing their sheep, printed in 1807, will show :—

ORDERS, At a meeting held at the house of Thomas Taylor, at Salterbrook, on the 20th July, 1807, the following conditions were agreed on by those who entered into this society :— I. That two meetings be held at the aforesaid place annually, the first on the 20th of July, and the second on the 5th November, except those days happen on a Sunday, then on the day following, Il. Any person bringing strayed sheep to the above meeting, the owner or owners of such sheep shall pay or cause to be paid reasonable expenses for taking up, keeping, and bringing them to the said meeting. Lastly, That all pinders who have books of marks, if any sheep come into their hands belonging to any member of this society, they shall take them to their respective owners, who shall pay them reasonably for their trouble.

MEMBERS IN THE WOODLANDS.

1 Thomas Eyre, Howden 13 George Eyre, Allport 2 Edward Eyre, Bankslee 14 Benjamin Longden, Upper House 3 Matthew and Benj. Webster, Ridge 15 Thomas Wilcockson, Wood 4 Thomas Webster, Bank Top 16 Joseph Eyre, Upper Ashup 5 Thomas Fox, Westing 17 Robert Middleton, Elminpits 6 Duce Fox, Marebottom 18 Zacchus Middleton, fwoThornfield 7 Jesse Wain, Birchinlee 19 Thomas Bridge, Bell Hag 8 Rowland Eyre, Goars 20 Isaac Middleton, Bridge End g William Walker, Fairholmes 21 William Tomasson, Grainfoot 10 Charles Greaves, Rowlee 2 flocks 22 Joseph Dawson, Derwent Hall 11 Benjamin Eyre, Gillothey 23 William Thorpe, Derwent Mill 12 John Eyre, Allport 3 flocks

1 Not so; both have horns,

Page 295

tee SHEPHERDS’ SOCIEL TK. 277

24 William Thorpe, High House 25 John Cotterill, Dingbank 26 Daniel Rose, Tin Wood 27 Edmund Barber, Shuts 28 Charles Wain, Ash House

29 Abraham Thorpe, Derwent 30 John Fox, Old House 31 Thomas Hall, Riding House 32 George Fox, Yorkshire Bridge 33 William Wain, Derwent

MEMBERS IN PENISTONE LIBERTY.

Edward Taylor, Windledon 2 flocks Samuel Hadfield, Townhead Josh. Hinchliffe, Dickroyd House Joshua Hinchliffe, Dickroyd House Thomas Wainwright, Townhead George Hall, Carlcoates 2 flocks Joseph Kenworthy, Carlcoates William Booth, Carlcoates 2 flocks John Martin, Carlcoates George Hirst, Sofley James Hirst, Sofley Joseph Goldthorpe, Savel House John Greaves, Ranah William Charlesworth, Hazlehead Joseph Clark, Middlecliff

eS OW CON

HH

H i)

‘HOR OH ni -& Go

16 Edward Milnes, Flash House 17 Joseph Shaw, Smallshaw 18 Daniel Wainwright, Shorehall 1g William Lockwood, Penistone 20 John Hague, Blackmoore 21 John Crossley, Langsett 2 Joseph Brownhill, Bruck House 3 Jonathan Bramall, Swindin ; 24 Elizabeth Bramall, Swindin 25 Daniel Charlesworth, Swindin 26 Benjamin Crosley, Swindin Walls 27 William Bagshaw, Hordron 2 flocks 28 Joseph Barrow, Blakerhodes

MEMBERS IN BRADFIELD LIBERTY.

Benjamin Crosley, Middop 2 flocks Joseph Hawksworth, Middop Joshua Sanderson, Middop Green, Middop Wilham Downing, Middop Hall John Hague, Wind Hill Joseph Creswick, Euden John Howe, Euden John Rimington, Esq., Broomhead Hall 10 John Helliwell, Wigtwizzle 11 Wilham Crapper, Wigtwizzle 12 Jonathan Thompson, Wigtwizzle 13 Benjamin Wood, Oldbooth 14 Thomas Holling, Wigtwizzle 15 Thomas Hobson, Spout House

CONT Qn GO NOH

\O

16 Thomas Crowshaw, Onesacre 17 William Ronksley, Rularnside 18 James Bird and Wm. Marsden, Fullwood Back John Greaves, Hollowmeden John Karnstowe, Cowan-far-strides William Ibbotson, Bradfield Dale George Ellot, Bradfield Dale John Bacon, Hallfield Widow Hamerton, Sugworth John Oliver, Mosker House Edward Hall, Swingleyforth Jasper Horsefield, Brogginiun Henry Ibbotson, Woodseats Jonathan Bacon, Stubbing John Barnes, Whitelee

NO

NHOH DY HH OW GN

jw ND

MEMBERS IN LONGDENDALE,

John Newton, Woodhead 3 flocks James Sykes, Woodhead Thomas Howard, Woodhead John Bower and Sons, Woodhead 4 flocks Samuel Dearnsley, Woodhead Thomas Garside, Enterclough John Moorhouse, Hey John Moorhouse, Hey g Thomas Hadfield, Crodinbrook flocks 19 John Wood, Highstone

CONT BW NOH

tr Wilham Buckley, Highstone 12 William Newton, Hollens 13 George Garlick, Armfield 14 Henry Miller, Armfield 15 Thomas Garside, Hollingworth Bank 16 William Garside, Hollingworth 17 Thomas Rhodes, North Britain 18 Joseph Brownhill, Hollings 19 Abisha Brierley, Armfield

Page 296

278 HISTORY OF PENISTONE. MEMBERS IN SADDLEWORTH LIBERTY. 1 James Bradbury, Diggle 4 John Wrigley, Greenfield 2 George Schofield, Lanehead 5 Joseph Wrigley, Greenfield 3 James Bradbury, Fairbanks 6 Luke Whitehead, Greatclough

to

MEMBERS IN HoOLMFIRTH LIBERTY.

John Green, Yateholm Abraham Crossley, Green House 2 flocks

26

27 28

Joseph Bower, Highgate Joseph Kay. Holmstyes James Hinchliff, Longley

3 George Roberts, Brownhill 29 Matthew Lockwood, Harrandon 4 James Hinchliff, Ramsden Laith 5 John Hollingworth, Ramsden 30 John Booth, Woodhouse 2 flocks 6 George Kay, Holm 31 Jonas Hinchliff, Longley 7 Joshua Howard, Holm 32 Joseph Heward, Greave S Abel Whitehead, Upper Close 33 Thomas Earnshaw, Daisylee g David Whitehead, Holm Cliff 34 [Ebenezer Booth, Wickleden 10 Samuel Wimpenny, Bradshaw 35 John Hinchhiff, Bent 11 Arthur Turton, Bradshaw 30 Joseph Kirk, Rounding 12 Job Bradbury, Bradshaw 37 John Robuck, Berrystal Head 13 Jeremiah Whiteley, Bartin 38 Eli Hirst, Knowles 14 John Whiteley, Greenowler 39 William Hirst, Knowles 15 James Broadhead, Lower Knowl 40 John Wagstaff, Foxes’s 16 Joseph Broadhead, Whitewalls 41 John Goddord, Raddlepit 17 Nathan Littlewood, Greengate 42 John Midgley and Jonas Charles- 18 Joseph Tinker, Howood 2 flocks worth, Nab 1g John Woodcock, Howood 43 Jonas Batty, Thuskinkles 20 Joseph Broadhead, Cow Well 44 Anthony Hirst, Hepshaw 21 John Crossland, Stubbin 45 James Beard, Maythorne 22 Joseph Crosland, Waterside 46 Joseph Willey, Upper Maythorne 23 John Lockwood, Mossedge 47 John Brook, Bank House 24. Josh. Wood, Whitegate, and Josh. 48 David Daltrees, Newmill Moorhouse, Nab 49 George Hirst, Netherland 25 Joseph Wood, Whitegate 50 Aaron Hirst, Hardin MEMBERS IN GLossop LIBERTY. 1 Thomas Garside, Brownhill to George Winterbottom, Blackshaw 2 John Kershaw, Hurst 11 Joseph Wyatt, Blackshaw 3 Joshua Shepley, Royal Oak 12 John Platt, Padfield 4 Wm. Hibbert, Pygrove 13 John Rowbottom, Lane Head 5 John Wagstaff, Glossop 14 Moses Hadfield, Simorley 6 John Hampson, Methley Moor 15 Joseph Newton, Torside 7 John Robinson, Gnathole 16 David Sykes, Torside 8 John Handforth, Matley Moor 17 Joseph Roberts, Deepclough 9g John Winterbottom, Bilberry Hill 18 Robert Robinson, Chunall MEMBERS IN KINDER LIBERTY. 1 Thomas Gee, Ashes 2 flocks 2 George Eyre, Upperhouse As the various Marks will be interesting to few, it is unnecessary to give thein.

The meetings are still annually held at Saltersbrook, and at the Snake Inn, in the Woodlands, and though the gatherings may not rival those of yore, still old tales and reminiscences are told, and “ Ale and song and healths and merry ways Keep up a shadow still of former days.”

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MOORLAND SHEEP. 279

The enclosure and sale of Commons in the Liberties mentioned under the various. Inclosure Acts passed since 1807, and the awarding of allotments in lieu of common rights, greatly reduced the number of keepers of Penistone sheep, and notwithstanding the present Agricultural Society at Penistone for some years had classes for, and a fair show of, the old white-faced breed, the entries gradually became less, and prizes ceased to be offered. The black-faced Scotch sheep appear to be now kept by many in preference to the old breed. It is to be trusted, however, the owners of the moorlands in the district will not let the old breed be lost, but either keep flocks themselves or otherwise stipulate they shall be kept by their tenants. In the early part of last century, a number of Penistone moorland sheep were sold from Rowlee Farm in the Woodlands, and sent into Kent. Three of them did not settle there and started back, and two of them, it is recorded, actually got back, and the horns of one of them were hung up in Hope Church. The seal of the Burial Board of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Penistone 1S a horned sheep of this breed, and was engraved from a sketch made by Mr. Grimshaw, the artist, of a splendid old ram, the property of the late Thomas Beever, of Boardhill, a noted sportsman and well-known character. Beever was for many years, and up to his death, head keeper for Sir Lionel Pilkington and his predecessors over their extensive moors near Penistone, and was a well-known authority on grouse and their habits and diseases. Huis widow, who in her younger days could also shoulder a gun and bring down the game, kept the old “ Hostelrie”” at Boardhill after her husband’s death, and his eldest son, also called Tom, stepped into his father’s shoes as head keeper to Sir Lionel. It may be interesting here to note that on the occasion when Mr. Grimshaw took the sketch of the old drove him and the late Mr. John IF’. Moorhouse, of New Chapel, Penistone, to Boardhill. There was a deep snow at the time and the ram was consequently brought into the parlour of the inn for Mr. Grimshaw’s convenience. After his work was done, and over a cup of tea, “Old Tom,” as our host was generally called, told us as a kind of secret that the old sheep the winter before got into his wife Betty’s bad graces, she having judged him guilty of being in that state many of our aristocracy and American heiresses are now generally understood to be, and in consequence he had lost many of those tit-bits and attentions she had in previous winters bestowed upon him. As the following spring, however, advanced, and lambs made their appearance not only singly but in twos and twos, and I do not know whether there was not a three, he was quickly restored to favour again; and certainly when we saw the grand old fellow it was plainly to be seen that—though her powers of observation had for once been at fault—he had a good mistress. Is the statement really correct that of some twenty American heiresses who have married members of our aristocracy, half of them are entirely sterile and others next door to being so? Really there must be something in our moorland air. Not far from Boardhill is a spot called Lady Cross—at present there is only the pedestal of the Cross there, and the pillar, I am told, is laid in a garden on the opposite side of the road to Ellerslie Lodge—perhaps some Local Authority or adjoining owner of property near by will see that it is restored to and securely fixed in its proper place? Well, back to my story—there is a tradition handed down that ages ago a large landowner, having property here as well as elsewhere, was sorely troubled at there being every likelihood of his estates passing at his death out of the old family line. He was told, however, or it happily struck

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him—I forget which—to visit his heather-clad domains with his wife. He accordingly did so, and the pure air worked such wonders that the delighted husband fixed there what would then no doubt be called Lady ——-— Cross, in commemoration of the happy visit and its consequences. These and other like instances really make one think that it would be a paying concern to establish in these regions what might be called a “ Vivifiorium or Life-giving Institution” for the benefit of our aristocracy and American heiresses and others similarly afflicted, and to help them to take away their ” (see Gen. xxx. 23). The reason of the Cross being set up at Lady Cross would be a good testimonial, and the statements of the Bishop of Ripon and others would show the need of such an institution. Whilst speaking about this locality I may further state that the old Inn at Boardhill was the only place about Penistone that I ever came across home-made “hung beef.” It was in the early sixties of last centuty when I and the late Mr. Thomas Stanley, of Sheephouse, were canvassing in connection with a Poll for a Church Rate. When we got to Boardhill Inn after a long round, Mrs. Beever brought us some fried hung beef and onions for tea, and right well we enjoyed them. She told us they occasionally killed a steer in the autumn and cured its beef this way, and found it came in very useful. One fine ‘Thursday many years after my visit with Mr. Grimshaw and the death of * Old Tom,” I set out to go for a walk up to Boardhill and Fiddlers Green with my favourite hounds—Glenville, Nudger, and Nimrod—and intended to return by way of Windleden and Dunford Bridge. When I got, however, nearly to Boardhill I bethought me I had heard that old Mrs. Beever was not very well and turned across to Hordron, where she then resided, to give her a call. I found her fairly well but her youngest son (Ben) very seriously ill, having burst a blood vessel in his lungs a few days before. I sat and had some comforting words and prayer with the poor invalid, and then thinking any longer stay would be prejudicial intended to take my leave. He would not, however, let me go but made me stay and have some tea and further talk with him. I promised to give another call ina few days, but was destined to see him no more on this earth, as on the Saturday following I was sorry to have word that in a fit of coughing he had again burst the blood vessel and been called home. His old mother did not long survive him. She had in her day been a remarkably fine, strong, and handsome woman, and was born, bred, and lived all her life on the moors. When my brothers and sisters and I were youngsters our parents occasion- ally took us a picnic to Swinden Lodge, the shooting box of Sir Lionel Pilkington, and those happy days one recalls with pleasure. In the stream just below the Lodge there were in those days plenty of trout but for many years past I believe there have been none there, neither at Hordron where the late Mr. David Ward, of Sheffield, when lessee of the moors, made some ponds and stocked them with fish. How is this to be accounted for? Will the more extensive burning of moors in recent years have anything to do with it? I think it only right to here record that I have—like many others—felt what a blessing it has been to me to have come across and be an auxiliary of the Salvation Army. At their services I learnt not to be ashamed of my religion and to be able to speak publicly a word for my Saviour and my God as well as speak words of comfort and offer a prayer when needed for any on beds of suffering or affliction and point them to the Saviour. Though a communicant I might have gone to a Church of England Church to the end of my life without being able to do what I can now. How is it no meetings for prayer and for testimonies are ever held in those Churches? lf such were held

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it would help, I am sure, to give many more of that moral courage which was so eminently possessed by, and unmistakeably shewn when occasion demanded by the late Sir Robert Peel, as I have heretofore recorded.

In the vicinity of Saltersbrook, near to Boardhill, we may state the rivers Don and Mersey both take their rise. The history of the sheep in this country is coeval with its earliest history, and the first woollen manufactory in the island was established by the Romans, at Winchester. Some of the fabrics reached Rome, and they were so highly appreciated that during the continuance of the Roman domination, in the most luxurious era of the empire, the finest and most expensive robes—those used only in days of festivity and ceremony—were furnished by the British factories. One Roman writer, Dionysius Alexandrinus, uses the following language, as quoted by Hollinshed, and strongly expressive of the value of the material :— “The wool of Britain is often spun so fine that it is in a manner comparable to the spider’s thread.” ‘The first Guild of Fullers was chartered at Winchester. “To spin with art, in ancient times was seen, Thought not beneath the noble dame or queen ; From that employ our maidens took the name Of spinsters, which the moderns never claim.” Brit. Farmers’ Magazine, 1830, p. 436. In the Faroe Islands is, or until recently was, a wild race of sheep of great antiquity ; they are covered with black short curled wool, and their flesh has a peculiarly dark appearance and venison-like flavour. In 1821 Mr. Trevelyan visited the island, and found the remnants of this wild race in no way dependent on or under the control of man. They are some- times caught by dogs, but can seldom be obtained except by being shot or intercepted in a narrow space and driven over the clifts. On the almost inaccessible rock island Sott, near St. Kilda, a breed of miniature sheep, descendants of parents left there by the Vikings of old, in the present days thrives in a perfectly wild state.

PENISTONE IN 1749. (See Plan on succeeding page). From the plan will be gathered some idea of what part of the town of Penistone was like 160 years ago. In the first place, it may be remarked that the compass points are wrong, though they are so in the original, which is in my possession—for instance, the 9 marked eastward on the plan should be northward, and the others accord- ingly. The pond from which the watercourse ran was existing in the memory of many now living, though the watercourse itself has long been covered over. It originally ran through the land where Wood’s printing office now stands. John Parkin’s house comprised the premises now occupied by Messrs. Wood Fieldsend and Herbert Swallow. The large stone at the north-west corner with “P” and other letters thereon would probably be fixed there to show the extent of Parkin’s boundary. The buildings shown on the Hospital land are so different from the old Rose & Crown Inn and buildings thereto, which were pulled down over thirty years ago, that those pulled down then must have been erected since 1750. The old inn was well known throughout the kingdom in coaching days, and especially when Mr. George Brown, commonly called “ Old Rumbo,” was mine host, as affording capital accommodation for both man and beast.

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Clofe

Willward

0 one

SS ee 7 ee —¢ lath _ cated JAcW pect ~~

MARKET PLACE Town Street W Furbank delineavit /749.

North war

Explanations aaaa ye The ancient Courfe of the Water tdlinterrupted by y b i CT 5 aha P y uilding of Join Parkins houfe The Courfe for fome tme after or fudferance through a part of the ree Land now ftopl, C,C,¢,¢ The Courfe if now takes a Caufey inte the Market place and fo a- long, the Lane(or high ad) towards &e ae

PENISTONE IN 1749.

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PENISTONE IN 1749. 283

Thanks to the enterprise of that public-spirited man, Mr. Justice Bosville, of Gunthwaite, a cattle market had been established at Penistone in 1699, and the location of that market is shown on the plan as well as the general market lace. On the site of the buildings denominated “sheds”’ on the plan Mr. Josias Wordsworth, the owner of Water Hall and other estates in the district, in 1763 erected what he called “ The Market House.” When the Wordsworth estates in Penistone, Hoylandswaine, and Denby were sold in 1825, lot 1 comprised the following premises, viz.: The Market House consisting of a

TENANTS. Dwelling house ei Sa John Hawksworth Carpenter’s shop ade Yas Richard Scholefield Chamber i a John Charlesworth Another Chamber Ae Joseph Hellewell Several butchers’ stalls ... dss J. Beaumont and others

These were, however, many years ago converted into shops, and the premises are now occupied as a chemists’ sundryman’s shop, a grocer and provision dealer’s shop, and the White Bear Inn. Previously to the erection of the Cloth Hall, a room over the Grammar School was used for that purpose.

The Penistone Inclosure Act was passed in 1819. The Award thereunder is dated 28th Jan., 1826. The Thurlstone Inclosure Act was passed in 1812. The Award thereunder is dated 17th Dec., 1816. ‘The Oxspring Inclosure Act was passed in 1818. The Award belonging to this Inclosure was never executed. The Hunshelf Inclosure Act was passed in 181c. The Award thereunder is dated 15th Dec., 1813. The Langsett Inclosure Act was passed in 18:1. The Award thereunder is dated 24th March, 1814. The Midhope Inclosure Act was passed in 1818. The Award thereunder is dated The Thurgoland Inclosure Act was passed in 1813. The Award thereunder is dated 29th August, 1815. The Silkstone, Hoylandswaine, and Cawthorne Inclosure Act was passed a4 Geo, III. The Award thereunder is dated 13th May, 1852. The Ingbirchworth Inclosure Act was passed in 1800. The Award thereunder is dated 15th Dec., 1813. The Shepley Inclosure Act was passed in 1827. The Award thereunder is dated 15th May, 1830. The Denby with Clayton West Inclosure Act was passed in 1800. The Award thereunder is dated 14th June, 1804. The agreements relating to Wortley Inclosure are dated The Award thereunder is dated 3rd August, 1810.

The Graveship of Holme Inclosure Act was passed in 1828, The Award thereunder is dated

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284 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

Allotments were awarded under the Penistone, Thurlstone, and Langsett Inclosure Acts, in heu of Tythes.

CATTLE

In the years 1865-6-7 England was visited by the Cattle Plague or rinder- pest, supposed to have been brought by some infected animal or article shipped at a foreign port. It committed great ravages in various parts of the country, but the farmers in the immediate neighbourhood of Penistone, with a few exceptions, had none of their cattle attacked. No cure whatever was found for the disease, and it was only by stringent measures taken by Government for the slaughter of the infected animals, and against the removal of cattle from infected districts, that it was stayed. In consequence of the severe restrictions on the removal of cattle in the years 1866 and 1867 no prizes were offered for them at the Penistone Agricul- tural Show, and the Penistone Market was forsaken by the cattle dealers. Irom 1742 to 1756 a somewhat similar plague raged amongst horned cattle in this kingdom, and we have the following in connection with it from the family history of James Fretwell, of Maltby, yeoman, printed in the 65th volume of the Surtees Society’s Publications and other sources. “Saturday, May the 8th, 1756.—The markets for horned cattle at Pontefract were opened, which had not been permitted for several years on account of the distemper which had so long raged amongst them; but now abating in those parts, leave was obtained the last sessions at Pontefract, for permitting the market to be kept there as usual. The distemper continued many years, and many were very great sufferers; but (which I thought somewhat strange) not- withstanding so many died yet beef was not dear. One reason I suppose might be that many people sold off their stock lest the distemper should take them off. All medicines were ineffectual (so far as I could learn), and there were such orders about removing or selling them, &c., as was very troublesome to observe. But blessed be God, who in His great goodness has spared us any, yea, so many of our cattle as may by his blessing increase and multiply and supply our wants.” Robert Sanderson, of Oustwick, a quaker farmer, who kept a diary princi- pally relating to the weather, state of the crops, &c., says: ‘“1748—In the latter end of the eight month, this year this distemper and plague amongst horned cattle which began at the latter end of the year 1745, and had spread from beside London from one county to another, notwithstanding many acts of the Privy Council, and great endeavours were made to stop it; but all proved to no purpose. It spread by degrees till about the ten month 1747 it arrived in Yorkshire, beginning first in this country at Patrington and Cave, with Priest of the former, and Proctor of the latter, and made some progress this winter, and spring, and summer, but not very sharply until about the eighth month 1748, it broke out in Holderness with great violence, to the great surprise of several. It had been at Patrington and Winestead, as above, but was much abated in the summer; but now it broke out at Skeffling and Nocton, and Out Newton, and from thence to Aldborough, with such violence that all now began to be in great fear; and now many that had great stocks of fine cows and other cattle did not know how soon they might be only fit for nothing but to tumble into the ground. 1753—1st month: The distemper now raged with greater violence than ordinary in our parts, so that things appeared as threatening as in 1743. 1755—Ist month: The distemper still bad in several

places.”

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OXEN USED FOR PLOUGHING. 285

In the Parish Register of Misson is noted the following memorandum : “A raging distemper broke out among ye horned cattle in this kingdom in ye year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and forty-two, and in ye reain of his majesty king George the second, and the raging distemper broke out in the town of Missen, in April, in the year of our Lord 1748, and in three mounth time there died of ye raging distemper, 700 horned cattle and upward. Reverend Mr. Foss, Vicar. THomMaAsS LAIsTER, Clerke.”

The agriculturists in many parts of this kingdom have since 1879 suffered severely and sustained grievous losses, and as steps were taken by some noble-minded ladies to improve.the woollen manufactures of the country, we may call attention to an Act repealed little over go years ago, which, if it had been in force at the present time, might have been a benefit to farmers. The Act we refer to is the 30 Charles II. c. 3, intituled “An Act for burying in Woollen only,’ and “intended (among other things) for the encouragement of the woollen and paper manufactures of this kingdom.” Thereby it was enacted “ That from and after the first day of August, 1678, no corpse of any person or persons shall be lined in any shirt, shift, sheet, or shroud, or any thing whatsoever made or mingled with flax, hemp, silk, hair, gold, or silver, or in stuff or thing other than what is made of sheep wool only, or be put in any coffin lined or faced with any sort of cloth, or stuff, or any other thing whatsoever that is made of any material but sheep’s wool only, upon pain of forfeiture of five pounds of lawful money in England.” Was it, however, intended that we should always be favoured with prosperous times, or would they be for our welfare ? Let us rather seriously consider whether the bad seasons of late years may not have been righteously sent as a warning to us. Are we not becoming, both as a nation and many of us individually, too apt to forget or ignore God ? National thanksgivings for His mercies, or humiliations for His chastisements, seem to be things of the past. When by many God is forsaken and set at naught for Romanism, Ritualism, and Atheism, which are rampant in the land ; when their satellites, the Jesuits, are swarming amongst us, and when the Bible is laid aside for their immoral and pernicious literature and the traditions of dark ages, can we wonder or be astonished that God should forsake us, and that we should be visited with bad times? See Deut., c. 28.

OXEN USED FOR PLOUGHING.

John Thicket, who lived at New Lodge, was one of the last persons in this district who used oxen to plough with. He had two—a black one and a black and white one. My mother told me her father, Mr. John Rolling, of Oxspring Mills, had one that went in a conveyance, and she recollected very well going with others in a covered conveyance to Wharncliffe drawn by it.

The oldest Agricultural Society in existence is the Bath and West of England Society. It held its 123rd Show in 1900.

Probably the oldest Agricultural Society’s Medal in the United Kingdom is one awarded by the Royal Lancashire Agricultural Society in the year 1780 for the best crop of turnips. It is of silver and displays fine workmanship, and was shown at the annual meeting of the members of the Society in 189 5.

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WAGES IN OLDEN TIMES.

The wages paid to haymakers in the time of Edward III. were 1d. a day. A mower of meadows 3d. a day or 5d. an acre. Reapers of corn in the first week of August 2d.,in the second 3d.a day, and so on until the end of August, without meat, drink, or other allowance, finding their own tools. For threshing a quarter of wheat or rye 23d.; a quarter of barley, beans, peas, and oats 14d. A master carpenter 3d.a day, other carpenters 2d. A master mason 4d. a day, other masons 3d.,and their servants 1$d.a day. ‘Tilers 3d., and their “knaves”’ 13d. Thatchers 3d. a day, and their knaves 14d. Plasterers and other workers of mud walls and their knaves in like manner, without meat or drink, and this from Easter to Michaelmas, and from that time less according to the direction of the justices.

THE sHANSEA PS LEAGUE,

In the Middle Ages, and until the reign of Elizabeth, the Hanseatic Leaguers were the great merchant adventurers of Northern and Western Europe. In 1551 they exported from England 44,000 pieces of native cloth as compared with 1,100 pieces exported by the English. Their principal depot in England was the Steelyard in London. In 1853 the Steelyard property was sold to an English company for building purposes for the sum of £72,500 by the cities of Liubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg, the sole heirs of the once powerful Hanseatic League. The present Cannon Street Station stands on part of the site. The name Steelyard took its rise from the fact that on this spot stood the great Balance of the City of London known as the Steelyard, on which all exported or imported merchandise had to be officially weighed. It was after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1474 that the German factory first took this name from the circumstance that its domain was then greatly enlarged. Wool was one of the main sources of England’s ancient wealth, and as representing that fact the Chancellor of England is seated appropriately upon a wool-sack. So valuable indeed was the wool trade that a special tax was placed upon wool, a tax which Edward III. repeatedly farmed out to Cologne merchants for the space of several years in advance in return for ready cash. The Hansa Towns, by Helen Zimmern.

In 1808 the milk supply of London was entirely in the hands of women, and 8,500 cows kept in hovels supplied London with milk. The price was 4d. per quart, or 5d. for a better sort. The art of watering milk was well known at that time. The milkmaids—strapping wenches—worked from 4 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“HOBSON'S: CHOICE.”

The most famous of all the old pack-horse carriers was he of Cambridge, of whom Milton wrote: ‘ Here lies old Hobson; Death hath broke his girt, and here, alas! hath laid him in the dirt.” He it was gave rise to the saying ‘““ Hobson’s Choice,” for he obliged his customers for hackneys to take the one that stood next the stable door. At Cambridge he erected a handsome stone conduit, and left sufficient land for its maintenance for ever. He died about 1630 in the 86th year of his age.

A pretty correct idea of the state of this district before the Conquest may be obtained by regarding the whole as covered with a native forest, not so dense but that sheep and oxen might rove among the trees, Islets varying in

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extent from two hundred to two thousand acres were cleared in various parts of the forests on which were settled a few husbandmen, their families, and labourers, who were pursuing their agricultural employments under the eye of a superior, who had in some instances erected for them a mill and a place for the performance of the rites of Christianity. Hunter’s South Yorkshire, Vol. 1, p. xx.

THE WORK OF THE ROMANS.

The Romans had done much for Britain during the 472 years for which they were more or less masters here. They had covered the country with excellent roads, some of which are even now the great roads of England, and as sound as when new; for instance, twenty-five miles of the road from Lincoln northward to the Humber. They had raised bridges, drained morasses, made watercourses, opened mines, built cities, and given to the townspeople what we now call corporations. They had introduced all over the country gardens, fruit trees, orchards, vineyards, gentlemen’s villas, public hot and cold baths, fine public buildings in cities, horses, and improved breeds of cattle and sheep ; commerce and agriculture were established; and in the year 359 no less than 800 ships had sailed from Britain with corn alone—apparently. indeed, all from London. To protect trade against the sea-pirates the Romans had appointed a high-admiral called “ The Count of the Saxon Shore,” with nine fortified and garrisoned sea-ports along the south and east coasts. And withal the Britons had—from a race of wild heathens, some of whose tribes (the Attacots) had once been cannibals—became a learned, polished, civilized Christian nation. ‘Early Christianity in England”: No. 7, Churchman’s Magazine.

Down to the year 1730 the whole of the cloth manufactured at Leeds was brought to market on men’s or horses’ backs. Coals were in like manner carried from the pits on horseback.—Thoresby, In the rural districts of Yorkshire manure was also carried a-field on horses’ backs, and sometimes on women’s backs, while the men sat at home knitting. — Brockett. The cloth packs were carried by the “bell horses” or pack-horses; and this mode of conveyance continued until the end of the last century: Ihe pack-horses only ceased to travel about the year 1794.—Scatcherd.

WILLIAM NEVISON, THE HIGHWAYMAN.

William Nevison, the notorious highwayman, was born at Wortley. Being apprehended in a public-house at Sandal-three-houses, near Wakefield, he was convicted and hanged at York May 4th, 1685. Lord Macaulay in his History of England says: “Thus it was related of William Nevison, the great robber of the north of Yorkshire, that he levied a quarterly tribute on all northern drovers, and in return not only spared them himshelf but protected them against all other thieves; that he demanded purses in the most courteous manner; that he gave largely to the poor what he had taken from the rich.”—Ballads and Songs of Yorkshire, 1860.

A NOTED PACK-HORSE DRIVER.

Mr. James Harrop of Silkstone, who died in 1858, aged 86 years, was when 16 years of age a pack-horse driver between Manchester and Pontefract, and had a gang of 20 horses under his charge. On the death of his father he com- menced on his own account, and was one of those who introduced the stage-

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waggon into Yorkshire. He drove the first waggon with merchandise between Doncaster and Manchester. He also made two journeys from Barnsley to London with his waggon, and on his last journey lost three valuable horses. He kept powerful, splendid animals, and hated the turnpike gates. Mr. John Haynes, of The Beacon, Silkstone Common, who knew him well, told me, when Boardhill Bar was first put up he hitched six of his horses to the gates and pulled them right away up the moors. and was often at variance with the Trustees of the Road. He was himself a tall, very broad-shouldered, and strong man, and the nabob of the village, no one on account of his determined character caring to get across with him. On retiring from the road he kept the Ring of Bells Inn at Silkstone, where in one of the rooms was painted over the fireplace the following particulars of his experience as an innkeeper :—

“Customers came and I did trust them, Till I lost my money and their custom ; To lose them both it grieved me sore, So I resolved to trust no more; Chalk is useful, say what you will, But chalk ne’er paid the maltster’s bill. I'll try to keep a decent tap, For ready money, but no strap!”

Toll-bars in England originated in 1267 on the grant of one penny for every waggon that passed a certain manor. The first general repair of the highways of this country was directed in 1288. Turnpike gates for exacting tolls (which were otherwise previously collected according to Chalmers) were set up in the reign of Charles II. in 1663. The state of the roads before M’Adam’s mode of improving them was brought into operation about 1818, was dangerous on many of them.

“BLIND JACK OF IXNARESBOROUGH.”

John Metcalf, usually called “Blind Jack of Knaresborough,” received £340 for making two miles of road over Highflatts, near Penistone. Though deprived of sight at the age of four years, he obtained at different periods of his life considerable reputation as a musician, a soldier, a guide, and constructor of highways. This extraordinary man died in the year 1810 at the advanced age of 94 years, having previously published a memoir of his own life dictated by himself.

By 1821 we are told 24,581 miles of turnpike road had been constructed in England and Scotland, and 8,000 miles in Ireland.

YORKSHIRE MOOR SHEEP.

“ There were certain conditions to be fulfilled if we were to have a wealthy city. One was that there must be some source of natural wealth in the neighbour- hood. That conditionhad been fulfilled as far as Manchester was concerned at two periods. In the early part of our history it was fulfilled by the neighbourhood of the Yorkshire Moors, which formed then, as they form now in a lesser degree, the great feeding ground forsheep. During the Middle Ages one of the greatest exports of England was raw wool. The Yorkshire wool was the finest quality

in Europe, and was eagerly sought for by the weavers on the Continent.” J. D. Wilde, M.A.

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HOME-GROWN AND IMPORTED WHEAT. 289

When by an Order of the King and Council, 30th July, 1297, 8,000 sacks of wool were ordered to be seized in twenty-five Counties, Yorkshire alone of the Northern Counties is named. In that county the revenue of the abbots from wool was very large, and the Convent of Bolton gave rewards to those who killed wolves.

From the fleeces of wool that came to the Dean and Chapter at this time, A.D. 1495, it would appear there were about 35,000 of shearable sheep within the “ jurisdiction of Bakewell.”—See Cox’s Churches of Derbyshire.

What number would the vast Yorkshire Moors be carrying at that time? Could not these Moors, besides giving sport to the few, be made into valuable adjuncts of land or farm colonies ?

March 14th, 1866, was a Day of Humiliation throughout the Diocese of Ripon on account of the Cattle Plague. During the fortnight ending this week more than 700 cattle were slaughtered by order of the inspectors in the West Riding, and the amount payable as compensation was about £7,000.

“Tll fares the land to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay.”

In the time of Edward the First we read that dozens of Italian merchants came to England, and especially to Yorkshire, to buy wool. This was taken across the Alps to Italy, and there woven into cloth.

Travelling from place to place in these moorland districts at that period was a far more serious matter than we can imagine, and attended with great personal labour and fatigue, for the ruts were deep, the descents precipitous, and the way often such that it was hardly possible to distinguish in the dark the road from the unenclosed common or moor which lay on both sides. That the roads were bad may be gathered from the fact than when Mr. Wortley— the first Lord Wharncliffe—came down from London, a number of his tenantry used to meet him at Sheffield with cart horses, that were harnessed to the carriages which contained his family, servants, and luggage, because posting any further was impracticable. The cavalcade then rode alongside with torches in case they were overtaken by darkness, for it then, we are told, took four hours to travel the eight miles by Greno-wood Head to Wortley Hall.

HOME-GROWN AND IMPORTED WHEAT.

Mr. J. B. Lawes, of the Rothamsted Experimental Farm, writing to the Field on the Wheat Crop of 1881, said: “The seven seasons ending with 1881 have been more disastrous to British agriculture than any seven consecutive years of which we have record. The change in the relative proportion of home produced and imported wheat which has taken place during the last five years has entirely altered the character of the trade. In 1868-9 two-thirds of the total bread consumed was the produce of home-grown wheat. A few years later the requirements of the country were met by one-half of home-grown and one-half foreign wheat. But the harvest of 1879 scarcely supplied one loaf in four required, that of 1880 only one in three, and that of 1881 will also supply only one loaf in three required.” The area under wheat in the United Kingdom in 1881 was slightly under three million acres. In 1895 only half that quantity, viz., 1,500,000, and still less at the present time. T

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290 HISTORY OF PENISTONE. A little over 200 years ago the population of England was about 5,000,000. The following extract, written about 1850, is from Lord Macaulay’s History : —- Many thousands of square miles, now rich in corn land and meadow, were then overgrown with furze or fens abandoned to wild duck. At Enfield, hardly out of sight of London, was a region of five-and-twenty miles in circumference which contained only three houses and scarcely any enclosed fields. Deer, as free as in an American forest, wandered there by thousands. Wild animals were numerous. In 1696 only two millions of quarters of wheat were grown, the strongest clay soils being selected for that purpose, and the produce was consumed only by persons in easy circumstances. The cultivation of the turnip had been lately introduced, but these were not used for animals, therefore in seasons when grass was scarce it was no easy matter to keep cattle and sheep alive. They were killed and salted in great numbers at the beginning of the cold weather; and during several months even the gentry tasted scarcely any animal food except game and river fish. The income of a country gentleman was not more than one-fourth of what it is now, and they seldom left their homes even to go to London. The yeomanry of the period are described as an eminently manly and true-hearted race about 160,000 in number, with an average income of from £60 to £70 a year. ‘Their number was then greater than those who farmed the lands of others. No canals had been dug, and during a great part of the year most of the roads were impassable for vehicles. [our-fifths of the common people were employed in agriculture at fourpence a day with food, eightpence without food. The great majority of the nation lived almost entirely on rye, barley, and oats.

PENISTONE 2S

In addition to the Feast, which commences on the Sunday after the 24th of June, there is still held at Penistone on the Tuesday after the first Saturday in November in each year what is locally called the “Statis” for the annual hiring of farm servants. In my young days these were important occasions and were largely attended, but the advent of railways has in most places deprived them of their former

usefulness and holiday festivities. 1 Very characteristic is Mr. Thos. Lister’s description of the “Statis”’ in its

palmy days, when “From youths and maidens thronged in rows Employers now their servants chose. Each youth prepares this answer true To ‘Na, my lad, what can ta dew?’ While vacant eyes they downward fix, And scrape the pebbles with their sticks. ‘Wha, aw can plew the streitest furra, An’ so’ an’ mo’, an’ team an’ ’arra’, As weel as ony man a’t spot, An’ good’s the caricter aw’ve got.’ The girls to each enquiring dame Their merits testified the same : ‘Well, I can wash an’ bake an’ brew, An’ milk, an’ manage t’ dairy tew.’”’ Though it was business first, after the hirings were over it was pleasure afterwards. It was customary in those days for the lads to sport new smock frocks on this occasion, which they would, in order to display their Sunday © “togs,”’ twist round their waists and roll the sleeves up to their elbows. The lasses, in the brightest of coloured dresses and the smartest of bonnets, would

try to outvie them, and notwithstanding

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PENISTONE STATUTES. 291

“Bleak wintry days were nearing fast, Through half-stripped woodlands roar’d the blast ; The brown leaves whirl’d in sportive round, Or, sere and withered, strewed the ground,”

they made the best of things and enjoyed the fun of the fair.

“Some to the shops and stalls repair To spend what trifle they can spare ; Or round the balladmongers crowd, Who chaunt their jingling strains aloud.”

And as evening came on many would hasten to the public-houses where, fiddlers being provided, . lads and lasses rang’d in pairs Dance jocund to the sprightly tone, While floor and ceiling shake and groan,” The engagements were clenched by the employer giving a piece of silver called the hiring penny, and if the lad or lass should rue of the bargain before Martinmas day they signified this by sending back the hiring penny. ‘The characters of masters and mistresses were thoroughly riddled out, and there was always some one

‘“Who this advice did freely lend— ‘If yo’ wi’ her agreement make The bond you'll shortly want to break, I know her weel—a screwing jade, Who finds a faut where noan is made.

Yorkshire lads, like “ Hieland laddies,’”’ were greatly prized in the Army— the “ Havercake Lads” had shown what Yorkshire physique and stamina could do in many parts of the globe. “T’ Stattis” was then generally a good harvest ground for the recruiting sergeant, for the country lads, when the drink was in and the wit out, were very ready to join the Army, attracted by the brightly-coloured ribbons with which the sergeants were always ready to decorate their hats. The late Mr. John Widdop, of Barnsley, records that on one Statutes day there, he saw twenty-one recruiting sergeants march sword in hand a dozen or more times from the Three Cranes Inn to the George and Dragon, Sheffield Road, and at each place plenty of ale was distributed amongst the rustics, and each , . Sergeant twirled his sash and told his story, Talked of wounds and honour and glory.”

999

Mr. Wm. Lipscomb, the well-known agent for the Savile Estates, who died September 16th, 1904, in his 80th year, in an article entitled “ Fifty Years’ Recollections of West Yorkshire Moorlands” in the Land Magazine for October, 1899, said: “In some respects the modern habits of life have deteriorated the physique of the natives. The substitution of tea for milk and of wheaten bread for oatmeal are, I think, responsible for the almost universal want of good teeth among the children and young people,” and that “it must also be expected that the migration to the valleys and their employment in factories must result in a less stalwart race than when their ancestors never left the hills.” Then could be said of country girls:

“ Grace in every motion, Music in every tone, Beauty of form and feature Thousands might covet to own, Cheeks that rival the roses, Teeth the whitest of pearls,”

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292 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

Prior to Waterloo there was no difficulty in getting recruits in the High- lands, and when “ Bonny Jean” raised the Gordon Highlanders for her son, the Marquis of Huntley, we read: lad frae the hills cries ‘I’m ready To gang whaur your Grace may command’ ; A ribband she ties on his bonnet, A shilling she slips in his hand, And bending her down frae the saddle, She presses her rosy wee mow’ To his cheek, that grows red as the heather— Oh! fast come the Hielandmen noo,” Regiment after regiment was raised for the Wars with America and France and the campaigns in India, and corps after corps was sent to the North to fill up their ranks depleted by battle until it is computed that by 1810 some fifty thousand Highlanders had joined the British Army. The greater number of the Highland battalions, or at least their remnants, were disbanded as soon as their work was done, and the stories which each successive batch of war-worn veterans carried back with them to the glens—how they had served their country in its hour of need to be turned adrift when the crisis was passed, penniless and destitute, without even the gift of a medal to show what they had done—rendered the service so unpopular among Highlanders proper that since Waterloo a country that once supplied recruits to half the British Army has barely filled the ranks of half a dozen regiments, thus showing how true the saying that ‘When war’s proclaimed and danger’s nigh, God and the soldiers, the people cry ; But when war is over and all things righted, God is forgotten and the soldiers

LO20OV ENTRY

This phrase has been in use from time immemorial, and many people know nothing of its origin, it may be well to explain it, especially as it has given to the City a sort of unenviable notoriety for the want of such explana- tion, which is this:—In former times the principal inhabitants of Coventry had a strong antipathy to association with soldiers, and were averse to the interchange of civilities with members of the military profession. If a female especially was known to hold any conversation with any one holding an army commission while quartered in the City, she immediately became the object of popular scandal. With the military, therefore, who were the subject of this prejudice and consequently found themselves as it were isolated and confined to their own quarters and messrooms, originated the phrase about sending to Coventry; meaning thereby that to send a man to Coventry was to exclude him from all ordinary intercourse with society and condemn him to a compara- tively solitary life. It is unnecessary to add that no such ground of complaint against Coventry exists any longer.

History and Antiquities of Coventry, by Benjamin Poole, 1870.

COACHING DAYS.

About the year 1837 when coaching was at its best a waggish rhymster at Birmingham wrote an amusing article respecting his interview with a ghost— the ghost of Samuel Slow who lived and died there 100 years ago. Mr. Ghost relates how different he ‘finds things to what they were when he left them and amongst other matters refets to coach travelling as follows :—

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“On a great event from hence I went to famous London Town, It took us three days going up and four in coming down ; On a large and solemn ponderous coach we dared the perilous road, Kach carrying a large blunderbuss lest robbers were abroad. At each inviting tavern we passed upon our route, The outside folk all clambered down and the inside all got out, And a quiet cup and pipe we took whilst the horses were tackled to, And talked about the price of grain, and the wind which way it blew. Ah! that was doing business in a snug deliberate way, How travelling degenerates! It quickens every day, See behind four rampagious steeds, folks scour the country through, And journeys that took us twelve hours they gallop it over in two.”

In 176c, Samuel Glanville, of the Angel Inn, Shefheld, and others set up ‘“machines on steel springs,” as they called coaches that performed the journey between Leeds and London in four days. In 1806 the news of Mr. Pitt’s death took three days to reach Sheffield. No doubt the conditions of life at the beginning of last century would appear very strange to usnow. ‘The following written in 1822 and referring to the year 1801 is interesting in connection with the means of communication between Sheffield and Manchester by way of the Snake Inn previously known as the Devonshire Arms : “°Twas in August this year that a cart with a load Came hither from Sheffield on quite a new road, Through a country which only some twenty years gone None but shooters of grouse had ere set their foot on. No horse could get through it—with hard labour man— F Now mail coaches run o’er it on M’Adams plan. The month that succeeded gave a spur to each mail And much quicker journeys began to prevail, The chariots of burgess, of conveyance the flowers Came flying from London in seventeen hours.”

The new road was opened on the 23rd of August, 1821, and Mr. Wright or “Billy Wright,” as he was generally called, of the King’s Head, Sheffield, one of the old school of landlords drove the first coach from Sheffield to Glossop, and a writer who had the honour of sitting behind him says “It was entering a country which had hitherto been sealed to all but a few sportsmen. ‘The first view of Win Hill and the five miles of the Woodlands from Ashopton to -the ‘Snake’ is one of the most beautiful drives in England and can never be forgotten. On that day the sun shining brightly the jovial coachman, the splendid greys, the cheery notes of the bugle, heard for the first time in those solitudes caused the blood to dance merrily through the veins of all that goodly company and was a portion of the sunshine of life.”

“Them,” he cries with a fine directness of pathos, “ them as ’ave seen coaches afore rails came into fashion ’ave seen something worth remembering! Them was ‘appy days for old England afore reform and rails turned everything upside down an men rode as nature intended they should on pikes, with coaches and and smart active cattle and not by machinery like bags of cotton and hardware. But coaches is done for ever and a heavy blow it is! they was the pride of the country ; there was’nt anything like them as I’ve ’eerd gemmen say from foreign parts to be found nowhere nor never will again.”’—From Coaching Days and Coaching Ways, by W. Outram Tristram.

On the 27th December, 1836, was a great snowstorm throughout England. All the stage coach roads except the Portsmouth road were snowed up—that toad had begun to have a block of coaches at Hindhead when the Star of

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294 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

Brunswick, a yellow bodied coach that ran nightly between Portsmouth and London, came up. The coachman’s name was James Carter. He made very little to do about the matter, but whipping up his horses he charged the snow- drifts boldly and resolutely and with much swaying from side to side opened a path for himself and the rest.

One bitterly cold March morning in 1812 when the Bath coach reached Chippenham two of its outside passengers were found to be frozen to death and a third in a dying condition. .

SHEPHERDS MES: ‘“G,” writing some years ago among the “Scraps” in the Live Stuck Journal says :—It is commonly said that the oldest representative body in the country is and that this goes back to some date in the bygone past so ancient that no one dare say in what year it actually took place. But there is another annual gathering which is almost if not quite as old; and that is the meeting of the shepherds of the three counties of Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Cheshire, to restore to each other (and to claim the return of) sheep which during the past twelve months have strayed upon their liberties. ‘This institu- tion is known to have been carried through for centuries, and every year nearly one hundred sheep are produced to find owners for them. On one occasion a small flock was driven in vain to these meetings for two or three years in succession, and then it was ‘‘sold to pay A similar place of exchange used to exist in the Border Counties; and probably in districts farther north and on the Welsh mountains. It would be curious to endeavour to collect the record of these very ancient sheep-courts, for that is what they really are; and the older shepherds are virtually in the position of judges and have to decide whether the claimants of the various strayed sheep have made out their right to them or not. In October each year most of the sheep-keepers in the Shepherds’ Society on the moors around Penistone send many of their sheep to winter on the Longshawe Moors of the Duke of Rutland, better known as the East Moors, and fetch them back in March. ‘hese gatherings are very interesting, and Fox House Inn, where the shepherds meet, is like a fair. And what old tales and adventures in connection with the moors are then recounted. Prior to 1840 large gangs of men yearly came up from Shefheld and elsewhere on the night of the 11th of August to Midhope and Langsett, and on the 12th drove the moors before them, and shot the grouse. In the thirties Mr. Elmhirst became lessee of the shooting on Midhope Moors—no better for their size in the Kingdom—and he determined to stop these raids. No one previously had cared or dared to do so. Benjamin Mate was then the keeper on Midhope Moors, and for the occasion engaged about forty men to protect the moors. The poachers came as usual, and on the 12th started to walk the moors abreast. They paid no heed to the keepers, and made short work of them. Charles Beever (“Old Nelson” as he was generally called), Ebenezer Kaye, and John Marsden, of Knuckle-o’th’-Hill, got severely mauled ; indeed the latter’s injuries were said to have caused his death. The rest of the watchers escaped as well as they could. This affray, however, and the prosecu- tions arising thereout, put an end to the raids on these moors. Some years later one took place on the adjoining moors of the Duke of Norfolk, when Charles Wilson, one of the keepers, got an arm broken. Thomas Beever and John Addy were two other noted keepers of these days, The former was head keeper on the Boardhill and Lady Cross Moors, of the

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Biltcli ffe & Sons]

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296 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

Pilkingtons of Chevet Park. He married Elizabeth, better known as Betty, a daughter of William Bagshaw, of Fiddlers Green, and she could handle a gun as well as her husband. Addy was one of the watchers engaged in the affray on Midhope Moors before referred to. As a ‘‘caller” of grouse he was unequalled, and he told me he had killed as many as 200 brace in a season, mostly by “calling.” He died on the 8th of March, 1897, aged 85 years. The grand old veteran was in his day the beau idéal of a gamekeeper—he looked it every inch. Whilst many keepers of the present day from their dress may be taken to be anything from a cockney tourist to a marquis, it puzzled no one to tell Addy’s calling. He was a very powerful man, and a grip of his hand was never forgotten. A regiment of men the like of him—sound in wind, sight, and limb—would have delighted the eyes of Lord Roberts or Lord Kitchener ; they would not have troubled doctors or hospitals much, except in case of wounds.

It is wonderful what moorland sheep can stand, remarks “ Rambler ” in his interesting accounts in the Sheffield Daily Telegvaph of “the gathering of the sheep at Fox House”’ on the Longshawe moors and in one records that “ John Slack, of Ramsley Lodge—that lone-looking house on the upper range you see as you dip down the four mile hill—cannot in 1898 parallel his experience of three years ago when his good cur led him to a long dyke side where huddled beneath the heaped-up drifts five hundred sheep were found. They had been under the snow a day or two. When dug out half-a-dozen of them were dead and most of them half-famished for lack of food.”

Now moorland sheep as a general rule have had to give place to grouse, though it is confidently asserted that where there are the most sheep there are also the most grouse.

Seeing what great quantities of foreign meat we now import from other countries is it right that our great moors and commons should cease to be made use of as pasture ground for cattle and sheep? Could not such pasturage instead of being allowed to run to waste be rented from the owners by the County or District Councils under Parliamentary powers to be obtained for such purpose, and the right to run sheep and cattle thereon for a small sum be granted to allotment holders, small farmers, cottagers, artizans, and others? In order also to benefit wider areas than simply their own districts if the pasturage would allow it, might not County and District Councils provide the sheep and their shepherds and after payment (as in Building and Land Societies) of a certain sum in weekly or monthly instalments to defray their cost, let the Commoners—as the persons who would have sheep on the moors would be called—be entitled to one or more sheep according to the payments made after the fashion of the old goose clubs?

If our Councils did this would it not benefit not only our agricultural labourers and tend to prevent their flocking to our large towns but also create in cottagers, artizans, small shopkeepers, and others in our large towns and elsewhere an interest in agricultural matters and country life which the running of motor trams on our roads will help and foster and thereby greatly increase our rural population and the stock of sheep and cattle in the country, and also by providing the poor and other classes with the best of mutton not leave our sy so dependent on foreign countries for a supply of meat as we now are:

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SHEPHERDS SOCIETIES. 297

“© hearts to the hills of old memory true ! In the land of your love there are mourners for you, As they wander by peopleless lochside and glen, Where the red deer are feeding o’er homesteads of men.

E’en the lone piping plover and small corrie burn Seem sighing for those that will never return.’—Shairp.

“ Princes and lords may flourish or may fade, A breath can make them, as a breath has made; But a bold peasantry, their country’s pride, If once destroyed can never be supplied.”

No doubt the passing of the numerous Enclosure Acts at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries and consequent extinction of commoners’ rights may have tended in a great measure to the decrease of sheep on our moors and commons and to our having to rely on the foreigners now for what we once produced ourselves. In earlier times the enclosure of commons occasioned great ill-feeling. We read that in 1622-3 the discontent between the gentry and comimonalty in some counties respecting enclosures grew to a petty rebellion. Sanderson gives a story of James the First being about when on a hunting excursion in Berkshire to dine witha man of title when he came toa fellow in the stocks. The King asked him what was the cause of his restraint. ‘The man of title said it was for stealing a goose from the conmon. ‘The fellow in the stocks appealed to the King as to who was the greater thief—he for stealing geese from the common or his worship for robbing the common from the geese ? ‘ By my soule, sir,’ said the King ‘ I’se not dine to-day on your dishes till you restore the common for the poor to feed their flocks.’ ‘~The man was set free and the restoration of the common quieted the county.

“The law’s severe on man or woman Who steals the goose from off the common, But lets the greater villain loose Who steals the common from the goose.”

It is to be trusted the ventilation of these matters will cause that con- sideration to be given them that their importance would appear to deserve. For juiciness and flavour no mutton comes up to that of sheep fed on our moors and commons.

What a pleasure it would be to see cottages similar to the following common in the land. “A jargonelle pear tree at one end of the cottage, a rivelet and flower plot of a rood in extent in front, and a kitchen garden behind, a paddock for a cow, and a small field cultivated with several crops of grain rather for the benefit of the cottagers than for sale, announced the warm and cordial comforts which old England even at her most northern extremity Ste to her meanest inhabitants.” Andrew Fairservice’s cottage—Rob Roy, cott.

* Let not ambition mock their useful toil, Their homely joys, and destiny obscure ; Nor grandeur hear with a disdainful smile The short and simple annals of the poor.’—Gray.

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m1 ell Peele

“ANOLSINGd “AOVId LOMUVN

SS Sa SS a

+S

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PENISTONE DAIRY FACTORY. 299

-~

PENISTONE DAIRY FACTORY.

For some years prior to 1896 the question of establishing a Dairy Factory at Penistone had been mooted and discussed, and the following are particulars of Penistone and the townships within a radius of five miles around, which it was suggested would constitute a suitable district from which the factory could draw its supplies of milk.

Townships. Acreage. Penistone ... ae «ts 1,050 acres. Thurlstone ... bie W740), (part, moorland), Ingbirchworth ae ie Denby ice Ss ot 2764-5, Gunthwaite oe Fecal “2 Hoylandswaine ats rae Eggo: Cawthorne ... A oa 3.440 ,, (exclusive of woods) Silkstone... aie - + |.” Oxspring ... a fa BAe ls Thurgoland ut 4h |; a “re wood) Hunshelf ... i ae Parts of the township of Bradfield, which townshi Bolsterstone ) : I Wale P cas contains 33,730 acres, including a great extent ... vee j of moorland. Langsett ... i sas 4,730 acres (part moorland).

Say about 49,000 acres.

The above district is mainly a grazing one. The river Don and its tribu- taries run through it, and Harrison—who in or about 1637 surveyed the manors of various noblemen in South Yorkshire—describes the Don as “the swift Done,” and praises it for the fertility of its banks. “ The fine grasse which groweth upon the banks thereof is so fine and batable that there goeth a proverb upon the same, as oft as a man will commend his pasture, to say there is no better feed on Done banke.” Its dairy cattle are noted throughout a great part of England—indeed London dairymen years ago advertised and still advertise their milk as from the best Yorkshire cows. And Wheeler, in his History of Manchester, dated 1836, says: “ The cattle dealers who attend the town market with milk cows make their purchases in the West Riding of Yorkshire. They produce the very best stock, and in no part of England are there to be seen finer herds of cows than those of the milk farmers about Manchester.” It is confidently asserted that these cows would be purchased principally at Penistone Market. Indeed Mr. Joseph Ogden, of Fairfield, near Manchester. a very large cattle dealer, who died in 1891, had for nearly half a century attended Penistone Market, and was the largest purchaser there of milk cows for the dairymen of Manchester and other places. The nature of its pastures, swept by the pure and bracing moorland breezes gives Penistone butter a most important quality—that of keeping well. ‘ In addition to its milk and butter, Penistone is famed for its good oats and oatmeal, its good hay, its good hams and bacon. Yorkshire pigs are known throughout the world, and Penistone Moss mutton from its moor sheep—if equalled—cannot be excelled. I have carefully noted the prices of milch cows in the markets of Yorkshire Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, and other counties for some time, and I found that at

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300 HISTORY: OF PENISTONE.

none of them were higher prices realised than at Penistone. Indeed, before the Cattle Plague in 1865-6, I knew myself some half-score of cattle dealers who came from distant parts the night previous to be ready for our market day. The Sheffield Daily Telegraph headed its account of the Show of the Penistone Agricultural Society for 1895 “In a Butter-producing Centre,” and said: ‘‘ Penistone butter meets with great favour in many quarters, but its manufacture by so many different people and under such varied conditions as thus arise make it impossible to dispose of in large quantities to big dealers, who require as a first necessity uniformity of quality for their customers.” Then further referring to the exhibits, says: ‘“ Butter is largely in evidence, the number of competitors proving to the hilt all that has been said on the subject of Penistone as a centre for butter making.” The Barnsley Chronicle of July 5th, 1890, observed: “ We know of no part of Yorkshire where such an undertaking, if established on a firm basis, is more likely to prove a success, beneficial alike to the farmers and those towns and districts which they may undertake to supply with dairy produce,” and then further went on to speak of its excellent railway communication with many large towns. 4 The Leeds Mercury of April 2nd, 1896, said: ‘ Preliminary steps are being taken to start a dairy company at Penistone, which will carry on its operations on lines similar to those that have proved so successful in Denmark and other Continental countries. From its position in one of the most noted dairy districts in Yorkshire, and from its central situation with respect to the large towns with which it is surrounded, Penistone ought to offer many advantages to’a company that supphes the choicest and cheapest milk, butter, cheese, eggs, bacon, and other produce. Not very long ago the Duke of Devonshire bade farmers in these days of agricultural depression turn their attention more to the practical benefits that ensued from co-operation, in which lay almost their only hope.. : The Sheffield Daily Telegvaph of April 3rd, 1896, remarked: ‘“ Penistone seems bent on acting as a pioneer in the matter of agricultural progress. Over and over again we have advocated in these columns co-operation among farmers as one of the readiest means of combating some of the evils attendant on agricultural depression. ‘The experiment will be an interesting one, and we see no reason why it should not be a success. Penistone is the centre of a noted dairying district; and its railway facilities are of the best, for it stands within easy distance of some of the best markets for dairy produce in England.” At length, under the auspices of the West Riding Chamber of Agriculture and the Penistone Agricultural Society, a public meeting to consider and discuss the matter of the establishment of a Dairy Company at Penistone was held in the Assembly Room, Penistone, on Thursday, the 6th day of August, 1896. There was a very large attendance. The chair was occupied by Capt. F. J. M. Stuart-Wortley, President of the West Riding Chamber of Agriculture (now the Earl of Wharncliffe), and there were present the late Earl of Wharncliffe, Col. W. Spencer-Stanhope, C.B., the Rev. T. T. Taylor, Mr. Wm. Lipscomb, Mr. Claude M. S. Pilkington, Mr. Walter Norton, Mr. Chas. Chapman, Mr. John Richards (managing director of the National Supply Association), Mr. C. H. Cobbold (agent to Mr. T. F. C. Vernon-Wentworth), Mr. C. J. E. Broughton (agent to the Earl of Wharncliffe), Mr. F. E. Walker, of Escrick (agent to Lord Wenlock), Mr. Baldwin (secretary to the West Riding Chamber of Agriculture), and other landowners and leading agriculturists of the district. Lord Winchelsea. and the Earl of Crewe were both expected, but wrote that important engagements prevented their attendance. _ 7

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After some interesting addresses by Mr. John Richards and others, the following resolution was proposed by the Earl of Wharncliffe, seconded by Mr. Joseph Hoyland, of Cawthorne, and carried, viz.: “ That this meeting, recognising the value of combination and co-operation amongst those interested in agriculture, resolves to establish a butter factory at Penistone on the co-operative principle; and to appoint a committee to ascertain the support likely to be given to the undertaking by farmers and others.” In pursuance of such resolution a committee was also appointed at the meeting, and after such committee had collected information and had several meetings thereon, it was in April, 1897, decided to form a limited Company to be called “ The Penistone and District Dairy Company,” with a capital of £2,200, of which £1,200 were to be debenture shares bearing interest at 3 per cent., and the remainder ordinary shares of £1 with tos. called up. A site for the factory was kindly given by Mr. T. F. C. Vernon-Wentworth on his Water Hall Estate, close to the town of Penistone. The necessary capital was quickly subscribed, the factory built and got to work, but through various causes not necessary to mention, at the end of 1902, by incurring of several bad debts of large amounts, it ceased operations. If it had been differently managed, it is the opinion of farmers who had dealings with it, as well as others, that it would have been a success. I believe them, especially when we see that dairy factories in other places not possessing the advantages of Penistone are doing well. The field is, however, open for another trial, not only for milk, butter, and cream, but other articles for which the district is noted. Most associations do not confine themselves merely to milk, butter, and cream, but we read deal in other “useful items” produced in their districts.

ALPORT LOVE. FEAST.

Another old institution in connection with the Moors of the Peak I must not forget to mention. Immediately under the fortress-like rocks called Alport Castle, and faced by the steep tor crowned Hey IRidge, is Alport Castles Farm, a house linked by tne law of association with the persecution of the covenant- ers under Charles II.’s infamous Act of Uniformity in 1662. At the ejection on Black Bartholomew Day in that year, three excellent clergymen in Derby and forty-three in different parts of the country were cast out of their livings and exposed to cruel persecution because each “dared to be a Daniel.” At Alport Castles Farm, remote and isolated amid the Derbyshire woodlands, the covenanters assembled to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, although the sleuth-hounds of persecution were on the scent of the Psalm singing rascals, and an implacable soldiery followed them to the inmost recesses Of the Peak. The Alport Love Feast as it is called, is still held on the first Sunday in each July, and to it worshippers come from far and near. The Sheffield Daily Telegraph, for August 22nd, 1896, contains a most interesting article in reference to the Feast.

A GREAT STORM.

It was in 1692, as late as the and of April, of which a quaint chronicler of the period says :—“ April 2nd was the sad snowing Saturday, which beginning about 7 o’clock in the morning continued with very great flaques all the day,. and supposed all night, and all day on Sunday, which destroyed many old sheep and lambs, anda man and seven horses were starved to death about Pike Hall, and some horses starved on our high- moors, and some on: Tideswell:

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302 HISTORY OF PENISTONE.

moors, as many as I heard reckoned to seventeen in all thereabouts ; and many escaped very hardly which in regard that ye snowe melted some little was thought the more strange.” The man and horses that perished near Pike Hall were connected with one of the cavalcades of packhorses and ‘“‘ chapmen ” which in those days carried merchandise along “bridle stys” from town to town. This we know from these further particulars given in a contemporary letter from Derby :—“ We had such a storm and such snow as was never known here in the memory of man. Between here and Sheffield there was a snow a yard deep in some places, and one John Webster, of Hogmaston, in Derbyshire, and six horses between Pike Hall and Hurdlow, were starved to death; he would needs adventure from Pike Hall where others stayed and were saved, and their packs and horses as they came from Derby, and Hurdlow is not two miles further where Webster was

A NONCONFORMIST FARMER BEFORE QUEEN VICTORIA.

In these times of agricultural depression the following account—showing how a Norfolk farmer obtained help and also preached to Queen Victoria— will be interesting. Her Majesty had listened to thousands of sermons from the most distin- guished preachers in the Churches of England and Scotland, but perhaps few of all the sermons she had heard pleased her more than one preached at Windsor Castle by a Nonconformist farmer. . Theophilus Smith was quite a Salvationist. He came of a sturdy Norfolk family, and found time in the intervals of farming to take his share in the work of the little chapel at Attleborough. He had found time, too—and brains—to effect a useful improvement in the plough, and it was his inventive genius which brought him one day in the summer of 1841 to Windsor Castle. The Earl of Albemarle, at that time Master of the Horse, had taken a kindly interest in Theophilus and his plough, and it was to the Earl that the Norfolk farmer was indebted for his opportunity of seeing the Queen. When Theophilus arrived at the Castle, the Prince Consort was ready to receive him. “He shook hands with me quite friendly,” said Mr. Smith afterwards, “and we got talking about my plough, and I showed him how the models worked. He liked them so much that he ordered one to be made, and said I could call it the ‘ Albert Plough.’ ” Then came the Queen. Theophilus was astonished. He had expected a lady with “a gold sceptre in her hand, and her gown all a-trailin’ behind same as we see in the picters. But there she was&