Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 1.djvu/407

Rh the correctness of this appropriation, and suggests the probability of the inscription referring to the Boduni.

Mr. Way laid before the Committee the following instances of impending desecration:—

"St. John's church, near Laughton le Morthen, Worksop, Yorkshire, having ceased to be of utility as a place of worship for the parishioners, and used only at present on the occasion of funerals in the adjacent cemetery, is to be left to fall into decay, and is now in a state of great dilapidation. The vicar is the Rev. J. Hartley. Mr. Galley Knight has great influence in that part of the country. The Trinity College Kirk, Edinburgh, is condemned to be demolished, to accommodate the projectors of a railway, in the line of which it chances to be placed. The town council have been in vain petitioned on the subject. The few remaining traces of Berwick Castle are also condemned, to suit the convenience of a railway company. However inconsiderable the fragments of construction may be which mark the site of this border fortress, they surely deserve to be preserved, as a memorial of no small historical interest. At all events these kind of "vandal" acts should be brought under the notice of the public in our Journal, as statements made at the Committee meetings." Mr. Way also stated that the Rev. George Osborne, of Coleshill, Warwickshire, reports the discovery of a small brass in the church at that place, which is now detached from its slab, but the indent to which it appertains appears in the pavement of the chancel, and the brass will shortly be replaced." This brass appears to be mentioned by Dugdale, in his detailed account of sepulchral memorials at Coleshill, as Alice Clifton, widow of Robert Clifton; she died in 1500. It represents a lady, temp. Hen. VII., she wears the pedimental fashioned head-dress, with long lappets, the close fitting gown of the period with tight sleeves, which terminate in a kind of wide cuff, by which the hands are covered excepting the fingers, so as to have the appearance of mittens. Her girdle falls low on the hips, being fastened in front with two roses, from which depends a chain with an ornament at the extremity in the form of a large bud, or flower, of goldsmiths' work, which served to contain a pastille, or pomander, according to the fashion of the sixteenth century, esteemed as a preservative against poison." Numerous detached sepulchral brasses exist in parish churches in the country, and almost every year we hear of one or more which for want of being secured in time, are mislaid and lost.

Dr. Bromet remarked that some brasses commemorative of the family of Mauleverer, have been within a few years removed from a stone in the chancel of St. John's church near Laughton le Morthen.

Mr. Smith, in reference to the destruction of ancient remains by railway projectors, observed, that the directors of the Lancaster and Carlisle railway were about to carry their line through and destroy one of the few Celtic monuments remaining in this country. It consists of thirteen large stones of Shap granite, and is situated in a field the property of the Earl of Lonsdale on the road from Kendal to Shap, and about two miles from the latter place. The attention of the Earl of Lonsdale has been drawn to the circumstances in which this ancient monument is placed, with a view to effect its preservation.

Mr. Wright observed that it was very desirable that the Committee should keep