Part 1

NOOKS AND CORNERS OF ENGLISH LIFE, Past and Present.

BY JOHN TIMBS,

AUTHOR OF "STRANGE STORIES OF THE ANIMAL WORLD," "THINGS NOT GENERALLY KNOWN," ETC.

SECOND EDITION. _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS._

LONDON: GRIFFITH AND FARRAN, (_Successors to Newbery and Harris_,) CORNER OF ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD. M DCCC LXVII.

PREFACE.

Pictures of the Domestic Manners of our forefathers, at some of the most attractive periods of English History, form the staple of the present volume. These Pictures are supplemented by Sketches of subordinate Scenes and Incidents which illustrate great changes in Society, and tend to show, in different degrees, the Past as the guide for the Present and the Future.

The value and interest of Archæological studies in bringing home to our very doors the information required of special localities, and their former life, have, it is hoped, been made available by the Author of this work, so far as to render it acceptable as well for the soundness of its information as for its entertaining character. The antiquary of old was but, in many instances, "a gatherer of other men's stuff;" whereas the archæologist of the present day adds to the worth of antiquarian studies by placing their results in new lights, and thus extending the utility and amusement which they afford.

The materials for writing English History are inexhaustible; and one of the aims of this work is to seize upon and group from such stores leading facts and transitions, and by means of condensation to present their narratives in a more tangible form than that in which they were originally written. In this task the Author has brought to bear, from a variety of accredited sources, evidences of the condition of the English people--in their "woods and caves, and painted skins"--their homes and modes of living, in cavern and castle, mansion and cottage; the origin of their Domestic Inventions and Contrivances in the several stages of comfort; House-furnishing, Dress and Personal Ornament; Provisions and Olden Cookery, and Housewifery; Peasant Life, with its curious Customs, Laws, and Ceremonies; Fairs and Festivals and Amusements. To these succeed a few Historic Sketches: Traditions of Battle-fields, and other memorable sites; Mansions and their Families: romantic Narratives, Portraits of eminent Persons, &c.

The authorities and sources of information conveyed in the following pages, are fully acknowledged. "Quotation," said Johnson, "is a good thing; there is a community of mind in it;" although some writers seem to ride upon their readers, like Pyrrhus on his elephant, forgetting that "there is not so poor a book in the world, that would not be a prodigious effort, were it wrought out entirely by a single hand, without the aid of prior investigation." Real antiquarianism has been well defined as a lively knowledge of the Past, comprehending the spirit of a period through the details of its customs, events, and institutions; the language of its writers, the movements of its sciences and arts; and, by keeping in view these points, the writer of the present volume hopes he has succeeded in producing a recreative result worthy of the acceptance of the reader.

CONTENTS.

I. Early English Life. PAGE

Aboriginal Britons--British Caves--Bosphrennis Bee-hive Hut and Picts' House--On the Brigantes of Yorkshire; by Prof. Phillips 1-7

BRITAIN BEFORE THE ROMAN COLONIZATION.

Lappenberg's Picture of South Britain--War Chariots--Druidism, its Rites and Customs--Arch-Druid and Mistletoe--Legend of Stonehenge--Charles II. at Stonehenge--Fire Worship--Druidical Serpents' Eggs--Druids' Medicines--Druid Schools and Priests--Trade of the Phoenicians--Tin-trade of Cornwall--Ornamental Art--British War-chiefs--Britain and New Zealand compared 8-23

THE ROMANS IN ENGLAND.

Civilization of Ancient Britain--British and Roman Encampments--British Trackways and Roman Roads--British Railways--Country of the Brigantes--London of Roman origin--The Romans leave Britain--Roman London in Leadenhall Street--Mr. Roach Smith's Museum--Roman Wall, Pottery, and Glass--Roman City of Uriconium, Wroxeter, described--Owen Glendower's Oak--Shropshire Legends of Giants--Silchester explored--Conquest by Cæsar: Condition of the People then and now 24-45

DOMESTIC LIFE OF THE SAXONS.

Saxon Architecture--Saxon Houses--Mead-hall, or Beer-hall--Saxon Beds--Story of Vortigern and Rowena--Origin of the Wassail Cup and the Loving Cup--Dinner in the Middle Ages--Peg Tankards and Drinking Horns--Mazer Bowls--The Hanap--Saxon Metal-working--Alfred's Jewel, and Ethelwulf's Ring--Saxon Coins--Glass-making--Saxon Cloths and Dyeing--Embroidery--Iron-smelting--Alfred's Inventions--Travelling in the Saxon Times--Sussex Roads--Stirrups, Spurs, and Bridles 46-60

MEALS--BRITISH, ANGLO-ROMAN, AND SAXON.

Britons' Early Living--Roman Luxury--British Oysters--Roman Supper--Saxon Law of Host and Guest--Canute's Dinner-law--Origin of "Lady"--Saxon Provisions--Saxon Feasts--Early Baking--Elecampane--Ale and Beer--Brewing in Monasteries and Colleges--Oxford Ale--Ancient Vineyards--Danish Drinking--Ancient Names of Provisions 61-70

II. Castle Life.

Castles of England--Roman Castles--Pevensey--Maiden Castle and Poundbury--Introduction of Bricks--Norman Castles--Conisborough and _Ivanhoe_--Tonbridge Castle--Bedford Castle Siege--Raby Castle, Durham--Kitchen of Raby--Durham Castle, Kitchen and Buttery--Legend of Mulgrave Castle--Corfe Castle, and King Edward the Martyr--Lady Bankes's Defence of Corfe--Castles _temp._ Edward III.--Windsor Castle, its History and Description--St. George's Chapel--Round Tower and Round Table--William of Wykeham and Chaucer, Clerks of the Works, Windsor Castle--Restoration of Windsor Castle, by George IV.--Sir Jeffrey Wyatville's Gothic--Canon Bowles on Windsor Castle--Pictures at Windsor; Keep, and Private Apartments--Warwick Castle, its History: Pictures, Warwick Vase--Guy's apocryphal Curiosities--Historical Earls of Warwick--Kenilworth Castle--Leicester and Queen Elizabeth--Arundel Castle--Dukes of Norfolk--Bevis's Tower and its Legend--Norman Remains, Interior, Vineyards, Historical Picture 71-108

III. Household Antiquities.

The Old English House--Norman Houses--The Manor-house--The Hall--City Companies' Halls--Embattled Mansions--Wingfield and Cowdray--Mary Queen of Scots at Wingfield--Thornbury Castle and its History--Longleat, Wilts--John Thorpe, the Elizabethan Architect--Holland House, Kensington--Burghley, Northamptonshire--Hatfield House, Herts--Campden, Gloucestershire--Haddon Hall, Derbyshire--Lines on Haddon--The Great Hall--Hall at Hampton Court--Hall Windows--Hall Fires--College and Inns of Court Halls--Hall in Aubrey's Time--Queen Victoria at Hatfield--Eltham Palace Hall, its present Condition--Early Mansions of the English Gentry--The Oldest Dwelling-house in England--Wood and Stone in building--London built of Wood--Chestnut Timber and Ornamental Carpentry--Kenilworth Hall Roof--Half-Timbered Houses in London--English Cottages--Sussex Cottages, by Cobbett--Brambletye House and the Comptons 109-134

THE ENGLISHMAN'S FIRESIDE.

Warmth and Ventilation--Count Rumford and Dr. Arnott--Introduction of Chimneys--The Hall Louvre or Lantern--Chimneys of Wood--Smoke Farthings and Hearth-money--Crosby Hall--The Hall Fire and God's Sunday--Rushes used--Coal introduced--Awnd-irons--Hever Castle--Christmas in the Great Hall--Silver Fire Implements--Invention of Grates--Prof. Faraday on Ventilation by the Chimney--The Open Coal Fire--Roman Mode of heating Houses--Flue-Tiles and Hypocausts--History of the Curfew, and Curfew ringing 135-147

PRIVATE LIFE OF A QUEEN OF ENGLAND.

Last Days of Isabella, Queen of Edward II.--Private Life of Five Hundred Years since--Mortimer and the Queen--The Castle of Castle Rising--Daily Expenses--Visitors and Pilgrimages--Ancient Meal Hours--Queen Isabella at Windsor, Tottenham, and Canterbury--Death of Queen Isabella--Messenger, Alms, and Doles--Repairs--The Queen's Love of Jewels--Minstrels' and New Year's Gifts--Murder of Edward II. (_note_) 148-160

THE ENGLISH HOUSEWIFE.

Gervase Markham's Tract--Olden Cookery--Banquet Bills of Fare--Brewing and Wine-making--The Bakehouse--Spinning--Domestic Medicines--Carving by Ladies--Lady Mary Wortley Montague on Carving 161-166

A HEREFORDSHIRE LADY IN THE TIME OF THE CIVIL WAR.

Hereford, the ancient City--Mrs. Joyce Jeffries and her Servants--Gifts to Country Cousins--Lending Money--Dress of the Lady, 1638--Housekeeping Expenses--Amusements and Social Customs--Civil War Imposts--Lord Strafford's Trial--Mrs. Jeffries' Generosity 167-176

HOUSE-FURNISHING IN THE MIDDLE AGES.

Cabinet-work--Bedsteads--Beds--Tapestried Chambers--Blanket and Worsted--Great Bed of Ware--Warming-pan, ancient--Chairs--Chamber at Hengrave--Rushes and Carpets--Hall Furniture--Court Cupboard--Wardrobes--Loseley, near Guildford, described 177-183

DRESS--PERSONAL ORNAMENTS.

Laundry Accounts--Hangings--Woollen Clothing--Pomanders--Country Life, 17th century 184-187

PINS AND PIN-MONEY.

Pins introduced from France--Pins first made in England--Pinners' Company--Pins, _temp._ Elizabeth--Pinners on London Bridge--Origin of Pin Money--What becomes of all the Pins?--Pin Wells 188-191

PROVISIONS--BREAD-MAKING, GROCERY, AND CONFECTIONERY.

Olden Bread-making--Manchets, Recipes for--The Manciple--Pastry-making taught in Schools--Christmas Game Pie, 1394--Cookery, _temp._ Richard II.--History of Sugar, 195--Tea and Coffee introduced--Spices and other Condiments--Olden Confectionery--March-pane and Biscuits--Dessert Fruits, 13th century--Oranges introduced--Lincoln's Inn Fruit and Vegetable Garden--Ornamental Fruit Trenchers--Vegetables in early use--Conveyance of perishable Food--Antiquity of Cheese--Banbury and Cheshire Cheese--Ballad on Cheshire Cheese--Sage Cheese--Ale and Beer--Hops introduced--Our National Drink 192-216

IV. Peasant Life.

"A bold Peasantry, their Country's Pride"--Serfdom--Were and Wergild--Operative Tenants--Rent paid in Labour--Monday-men--Villeins--Stocks for Vagrants and unruly Servants--Services of Tillage--Ploughing Boon--Harrowing and Bed-weeding--Threshing, Thatching, Delving, &c.--Inclosures--Malting for the Lord--Malt-silver--Ancient Harvest--Reaping Boon--Hayward--Love-boons or Law-days--Autumnal Precations, _temp._ Edward II.--Ram Feast--Beltane Superstition--Hayfield cut and cleared--Mutton Rewards--Hock-day Court and Sports--Hardicanute's Death--Scot Ales--Sheep Shearing and Clipping-time Customs--Conveyance Service--Arriage and Carriage--Farming a Castle or Monastery--Vraic in the Channel Islands--Langerode--Watch and Ward--The Beadle--Sleeping in Church--"Firm Locks make faithful Servants" 217-234

Olden Housemarks: Land, Cattle, Sheep, Swans, and Ducks; Houses and Cottages--Merchants' and Tradesmen's Marks--Picture Marks--Ancient Conveyancing 235-237

V. Customs and Ceremonies.

May-day Carol on Magdalen College Tower, Oxford--Flower Customs at Oxford--May-day Song at Saffron Walden--May-poles still extant--Raine's Charity--Picture of Oxford 238-244

BANBURY CAKES, CONGLETON CAKES, ETC.

Banbury Cakes abolished by the Puritans--Banbury Cross--Banbury _zeal_ and _veal_--Old Fuller on Banbury--High Church Banburians--Congleton Triangular Cakes and Gingerbread--Sale of Banbury Cakes--Banbury Cheese--Banbury Cross restored--Sack Brewage at Congleton--Shrewsbury Cakes--Islington and Holloway Cheesecakes 245-253

HORSELYDOWN FAIR IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.

Horselydown--Curious Picture at Hatfield House, of the Fair, described--Hermitage 254-258

WAKE FESTIVALS IN THE BLACK COUNTRY.

Bull-baiting, Cock-fighting, &c.--Wake-time, better spent--Bloxwich Bull 259-263

KEEPING BIRDS IN THE MIDDLE AGES.

Alexander Neckam and his Treatise--Love of Animals--Hawk and Eagle--Parrot--Barnacle--Swan, Nightingale, Sparrow, Raven, and Crow; Cuckoo, Cock, Wren, &c. 264-268

VI. Historic Sketches.

THE STORY OF FAIR ROSAMUND.

Woodstock Bower, and Rosamund's Well--The Nunnery at Godstow, near Oxford--Rosamund born--Known to Henry II.--Maze at Woodstock--The Silken Clue--The Poison Cup--Rosamund's Tomb at Godstow--Legend from the _French Chronicle_ 269-277

CARDINAL WOLSEY AT ESHER PLACE.

Fall of Wolsey--Retires to Esher--His Servants and Retainers--Henry VIII. demands a cession of York House--The "comfortable Message"--Death of Wolsey at Leicester--The Abbey--Esher Place embellished by Kent--Dr. Johnson's Portrait of Wolsey--At Cawood--Weighing his Plate--Wolsey and Christchurch--Death and Interment of Wolsey--Tomb-house and Sarcophagus--Cavendish's _Life of Wolsey_ 278-292

TRADITIONS OF BATTLE-FIELDS.

Worth of Tradition--Antiquity of Tenure--The Wapshotts--Flodden Field Tradition--BATTLE OF HASTINGS described--Roll of the Conqueror's Companions--TOWTON FIELD described--TEWKESBURY FIELD explored--BOSWORTH FIELD--The Battle--Relics of Richard, Duke of Gloucester--His Autograph--Black Boy Inn, Chelmsford, a Plantagenet Lodge--Baynard's Castle and Crosby Place--King Richard's Inn, Leicester--Omens to the King--Oxford, Norfolk, and Surrey--Richard's Last Charge--Sir John Cheney--Combat of Richard and Richmond--Richard's Body carried to Leicester--Legend on the Corporation Bridge--Wars of York and Lancaster--Rose-tree at Longleat--False Traditions 293-314

CURIOSITIES OF HATFIELD.

Princess Elizabeth kept Prisoner here--Old Palace--Park--Queen Elizabeth's Oak--The Vineyard--Historical Documents at Hatfield--Olden Furniture--Portraits of Queen Elizabeth, and other Pictures--Elizabeth's Abode at Hatfield--The Mansion built by the Earl of Salisbury 315-322

THE GRAND REMONSTRANCE 323-325

CAVALIERS AND ROUNDHEADS 326-328

THE EVELYNS AT WOTTON.

The Evelyn Family--Wotton House built--Grounds planned and laid out by John Evelyn--His Tour in France and Italy--Public Services--Sayes Court--Retires to Wotton--Great Storm of 1703--Mills on the rivulet at Wotton--Lord Abinger--Lines, to the Countess of Donegal, by Swift--Abinger Church--Kneller's Portrait of Evelyn--Historical Curiosities--Character of Mrs. Evelyn--Evelyn's "Elysium Britannicum"--His Planting--Milton Court and Jeremiah Markland 329-342

LORD BOLINGBROKE AT BATTERSEA.

Battersea Parish and Manor--Sir Robert Walpole and Bolingbroke--Pope, Swift, Arbuthnot, Thomson, and Mallet at Bolingbroke House--Burning of 500 Copies of the _Patriot King_--Death of Bolingbroke--Tomb, by Roubiliac--Site of Bolingbroke House--Horizontal Mill--"Pope's Parlour," and _Essay on Man_--Rose's _Diaries_, and Mallet's treacherous Executorship--Bolingbroke's Ingratitude--Lord Brougham's Comments--York House, Battersea--Archbishop Holgate--Residence of Sir Thomas Boleyn at Battersea--A Shakespearian Query 343-352

THE LAST OF EPPING FOREST.

Inclosure of the Forest--A Royal Chase--Hainault--Forest Scenery--History of Epping Forest--Visit to Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge--Chingford Hall--Curious Tenure Custom--Elizabeth's Fondness for Hunting--Conclusion 353-361

APPENDIX.

Ancient British Dwellings--The Saxon Hall--Abury and Stonehenge 362-364

I. Early English Life.

DWELLING-PLACES OF THE EARLY BRITONS.

It has been well observed that the structure of a house reveals much of the mode of life adopted by its inhabitants. The representations of the dwellings of the people of the less cultivated parts of Europe, contrasted with those of the more cultivated countries, should afford us the means of comparing their different degrees of civilization. In the same manner we may measure the growth of improvement in any one country by an attentive consideration of the structure and arrangement of the homes of the people at different periods.

The aboriginal Britons are described as dwelling in slight cabins of reeds and wattles, and in some instances in _caverns of the earth_, many sets of which, arranged with some degree of symmetry, antiquaries have recognised; but Cæsar tells us that the maritime tribes had buildings in the fashion of the Gauls--that is, of wood, of a circular figure, and thatched. Such towns as they had were clusters of huts erected on a cleared portion of the forest, which covered the greater part of the island; and they were invariably surrounded by a rampart, constructed of felled trees strongly interlaced and wattled, and a deep fosse, which together formed a fortification. The site of the modern city of London, with the river Thames in front, the river Fleet on the west, and an almost inpenetrable forest in the rear, may be taken as a fair specimen of the locality usually selected for the residence of the British Chief.[1]

That our ancestors lived in caves is attested by the existence of a group of these abodes near Penzance, the most remarkable of all ancient British Caves hitherto discovered in Cornwall, and thus described by Mr. J. Edwards, to the Royal Institution of that county:--"Half of a mile W.S.W. of Caër Bran, and four and a half miles W. by S. of Penzance, there is, in the village of Chapel Euny, a cave, consisting for the most part of a deep trench, walled with stones, and roofed with huge slabs. It extends 30 feet from N.N.W. to S.S.E., and then branches eastward, and probably also to the S. or S.W. So far it accords with the description of an ordinary British cave. But its floor (as I was informed by the miner who opened it about three years ago) was well paved with large granite blocks, beneath which, in the centre, ran a narrow gutter or bolt, made, I imagine, for admitting the external air into the innermost part of the building; from whence, after flowing back through the cave, it escaped by the cave's mouth--a mode of ventilation practised immemorially by the miners in this neighbourhood, when driving adits or horizontal galleries under ground.

"Another peculiarity is still more remarkable. Its higher or northern end consisted of a circular floor, 12 feet in diameter, covered with a dome of granite, two-thirds of which are still exposed to view; and my informant had observed a still greater portion of the dome-roofed chamber. Every successive layer of the stones forming the dome overhangs considerably the layer immediately beneath it; so that the stones gradually approach each other as they rise, until the top stones must originally have completed the dome; not, however, like the key-stones of an arch, but by resting horizontally on the immediately subjacent circular layer. The miner found no pottery, or anything else, in the cave. The height of the present wall of the dome is about 6 feet above the lowest part I could see; how much lower the original floor might have been, I could not ascertain.

"Another British cave, not even referred to in any publication, is to be seen at Chyoster, nearly three miles north of Penzance, the walls of which, instead of being perpendicular, are constructed on the same principle as the inmost part of the cave at Chapel Euny; so that the tops of these walls which support the huge slabs forming the roof, are much nearer each other than their bases. Each cave formed part of a British village, that of old Chyoster being decidedly in the best state of preservation of all the British villages in this neighbourhood."[2]

Both caves are built of uncemented stones unmarked by any tool. The cave at Chyoster extended originally, as appears from its remains and the rubbish left by its recent spoilers, fifty feet or more in a straight line up the sloping side of the hill. It is 6 feet high, 4 feet wide on the top, and 8 feet wide at the bottom, and is thought to have been originally a storehouse. It appears to have been built on the natural surface of the hillside, and then covered over with stones and earth, and planted with the evergreens which still abound there.

A few years subsequently to the above investigations, in one of those intellectual excursions by means of which our acquaintance with the early history of our island is so greatly extended, the following results were arrived at:--In the autumn of 1865, in an excursion made jointly by the Royal Institution of Cornwall and the Penzance Natural History Society, they inspected on the north coast of the county, Gurnard's Head, a rocky promontory, jutting some distance into the sea, and bearing very distinct traces of having been fortified by the early Britons against an enemy attacking from the sea, this being the only specimen of an ancient British fortification where traces of sea defences have been found. In all other cases they seem to have been erected as a protection from an attack by the land side, and to have been evidently the last retreat of the natives.

Next was visited the Bosphrennis Bee-hive Hut, first brought to light by the Cambrian Archæological Society: it was seen in clusters or villages by Cæsar. And, on an eminence near the village of Porthemear, was found a large inclosed circle, now hidden by briars and thorns, which, on examination, showed the remains of several circular huts, leaving no doubt that here a considerable ancient British village had once existed.

Of the homes of the Picts, the most distinguished among the barbarous tribes inhabiting the woods and marshes of North Britain, there remain some specimens in the Orkneys: they are rude and miserable dwellings underground, but they are supposed to be calculated for the requirements of a more advanced state of society than that of the dwellers in Picts' houses. A complete drawing of one of the Orkney specimens has been made, and was exhibited to the British Archæological Association in 1866.