Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 6.djvu/301

 THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 179 Dr. Charlton (No. 10), in which the inscription distinctly gives the name and sex of the deceased, the addition of the shears, supposing them to be merely a feminine symbol, appears, as Mr. Fairless suggests, wholly superfluous. Mu. Faulkner, of Deddington, communicated the following pai-ticulars regarding occurrences at that place during the Civil Wars, accompanied by a copy of the Order of Charles I. addressed to the parson and parishioners, dated from Oxford, Jan. 21, 1643 (printed in Skelton's Oxfordshire), in which it was stated that the bells of their church, being reported unser- vicealde, in consequence of the fall of the tower, the parishioners were required to send them to the King's magazine, at New College, that the metul might be used for public occasions.* A second order subsequently issued from the King's Commissioners : of this document Mr. Faulkner sent a transci'ipt, here printed. "It appears, from an entry in one of the parish registers of the period, that, in the year 103-4, the church tower fell, and the bells, in consequence, were rendered unfit for use. Both the King's and Parliamentary troops were at Deddington, and in the neighbouring villages, during the con- tinuance of the Civil "War, but the vicar and the principal parishioners seem to have espoused the cause of the King. On the night of the 2nd of September, 1643, the Earl of Essex, who had taken up his quarters at Aynho, sent a regiment, under the command of Colonel Middleton, to dislodge two regiments of the King's Horse, who were stationed at Ded- dington, and on the following morning a considerable skirmish took place there, and at ' a pass ' on the road leading to Oxford. " On the 1st of July, 1644 (after the battle of Cropredy Bridge, fought two days previously), the King's army rested at Deddington, and that night the king himself slept at ' the Parsonage House;' and thence proceeded on the next morning towards Evesham. These facts deserve notice, although they occurred subsequently to the date of the documents now communicated, in order to show that a good understanding evidently existed between the King and the inhabitants of this town." The letter addressed by the Commissioners was in the following terms : — " ffebruary the first, 1G42. " The Commission'^ have this day received iuformac'on that two of the Bells are now brought in to the Officers of the Artillery from Dadington, which are directed speedily to be weighed and valued. And whereas there yet remained three Bells more, whereof one onely is hanged up fitt for use and the other are not. It is thought fitt that these two other Bells shal be sente in also for the King's service, and when they be brought they shall be weighed and valued also, and y'^' sheriff of the County is desired to send these two other Bells speedily and the Parishion'* shall have satisfiicton from the King for these foure Bells, to be paid unto them either in Bills or money when their steeple shal be fitt to receave them. "K Heath. W Walter. Geo: Strode, ffr: Tyller. Tho : Gardiner. Geo : Benyon."
 * ^ Illustrationfof till' Antiquities of Oxfordshire, Wootton Hundred, )'. 7.