Page:Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries.djvu/297

 2i8 Devon Notes and Queries. which were then and long afterwards chapels of Heavitree, are inserted in place of S. James' and S. Leonard's. The mistake is probably due to the author having consulted Jenkins' History of Exeter instead of the Taxation of Pope Nicolas. On p. 84, after telling the story of the assassination of Walter de Lechlade, the precentor, and " the legend that the murderer escaped by the South Gate, and that by the King's order the keeper of the gate and the Mayor of the year of the murder, Alfred atte Gate (de la Porta or du Port) were both hanged," he adds, "Such a tale is not to be believed except on the evidence of contemporary documents." This scepticism, for which not a particle of reason is alleged, is altogether uncalled for; for in No. 48, p. 95, of the Inquisitiones post mortem J 15 Ed. I, is the cotemporary evidence, the inquest held on "Alured de la Porte felon" shewing that he was seized of "a messuage at Exeter"; and in the recently printed volume of Ancient Deeds, H. 227, he is described as " Mayor of Exeter." On p. 156 it is stated that "the dispute between the City and the Abbot and Convent of Sherborne concerning the passage and ferry at Exmouth was settled in 1267." This statement contains two errors. In the first place, it was not Exmouth ferry, but the ferry at the mouth of the Exe ; for the little fishing hamlet on the ledge at the river's mouth was then called Ledge hamlet (Lydwic) or Pratts head, and did not get the name of Exmouth until 1349. In the next place, the dispute was not settled in 1267, but only a temporary truce patched up. The City and the Abbot were shortly afterwards at loggerheads. The final settlement was in Easter term 1349, in the King's Bench at Westminster, when the jury found that the Passage, Lastage and Quay at Pratts head, at the mouth of the Exe, were and are parcel of the fee-farm of the City of Exeter held of the Duke of Cornwall. It is perhaps hardly correct to say, as on p. 63, that All Hallows on the Walls has changed its site, but still deserves its name. The ancient church of All Hallows on the Walls stood on the wall where Bridge Street now joins Fore Street. It was pulled down in 1770 to make the approach to the then New Bridge. The present church of All Hallows in Bartholomew Street has nothing to do with it. It is not on the wall, and was not erected until 1843.