Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 3.djvu/109

Rh may have been, and probably was, part of that anciently called Ottelie, and the dowry lands of Edith in Weston might therefore very well run up, "without the intermixture of any other lands," to the "nemus" or grove of the monks, which would be that growing about their habitation. There are also remains of buildings here, and fragments of them are of an ecclesiastical description. For all these reasons, it seems extremely probable that the site of the original monastery at Oddington was at the Grange Farm, under Weston wood, and not on the border of the moor, below the destroyed parsonage house.

One remark may, perhaps, be permitted on a point of etymology. Sir Robert Gait is said to have called his new foundation Ottelie, from the name of an adjoining wood. Of this word, the latter part, lie or lea, would probably describe the nature of the ground where the building was placed; so that we have Otte left for the name of the wood; and Whitaker, in his History of Manchester, interprets Otta-dini to denote the people in the woods, so that Otte would seem to be the general British term for a wood. If this conjecture be well founded, Ottelie would signify, the lea or open ground before the wood; Ottendun, now Oddington, the hill or rising ground amongst the woods, the village being, in fact, on rising ground, above the general level of its immediate neighbourhood; and Otmoor, the mere or lake of the wood, or fringed with wood, a description, which, as far as can be judged, could very correctly apply to it in former times.

The portrait of Queen Elizabeth appears to have been placed in certain churches, probably from veneration for her memory, and according to Stow it was designated in the churches of London as the Monument. It is doubtful whether this practice was sanctioned or enjoined by any authority, and it does not appear to have been generally adopted. Mr. Jabez Allies communicated a description of a portrait of the Queen, found by him in the old farm-house, called the Lower Berrow, in Suckley parish, Worcestershire; which, as he had reason to believe, had been formerly suspended in the church. It exhibits the usual magnificence of costume, and is thus inscribed, "Posvi Devm adiutorem mevm. Æt: svæ 59. Nata Gronewiciae, Ao: 1533, Septem: 6." Under her left elbow appears an open book, with a quotation from Psalm xl. 11. This portrait was painted in the year 1592. Mr. Allies remarked that great discrepancy is found in the statements of various historians in regard to the day of Elizabeth's birth, here recorded to have taken place Sept. 6. Mr. Allies stated, at the same time, that at a cottage in the hamlet of Alfrick, he had noticed a basin of free-stone, resembling a holy-water stoup, which, as he conjectured, had been brought from the parish church of Suckley, or Alfrick Chapel; it was ornamented with two sculptured heads, one apparently intended as a representation of the Blessed Virgin.