Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/283

 10 s. XL MAR. a), 1909.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

231

A tomb shaped like a stone coffin is half in the chapel and half under the eastern wall, and Prof. Willis considers that it was originally outside the wall, in the church- yard, " and thus the new wall, when the chapel was rebuilt and enlarged in the four- teenth century, was made to stride over the coffin by means of an arch." A doubtful tradition assigns this tomb to Stephen Lang- ton. The appointment of this great Arch- bishop by Pope Innocent III. was the immediate cause of the Interdict and of the excommunication of King John. He is famous for having headed the Baronage who compelled the King to agree to the Great Charter ; and for having divided the Bible into chapters.

In the south choir aisle, or Trinity Aisle, of Wimborne Minster in Dorset, under the second window from the east, is the marble or slate painted sarcophagus known as the Etricke tomb. Anthony Etricke of Holt Lodge, Recorder of Poole, was the magistrate who committed for trial the un- happy Monmouth when captured near Critchell after his defeat at Sedgemoor. Etricke desired to be buried neither in the church nor out of it, neither above ground nor under ; and to cany out his wish he got permission to cut a niche in the church wall, partly below the level of the ground outside, and then firmly fixed in it the slate receptacle which is now to be seen. Into this he ordered that his coffin should be put when he died (1703). On the outside of th3 sarcophagus are painted the arms of his family. The whole is kept in good repair, for he gave to the church in perpetuity the sum of 20s. per annum, to keep the niche and coffin in good order. A. R. BAYLEY.

[MATILDA POLLARD and Q-. WHALE also thanked for replies.]

THE MANORS OF NEYTE, EYBURY, AND HYDE (10 S. x. 321, 461 ; xi. 22, 174). The small body of antiquaries who are interested in the reconstruction of ancient London have reason to feel grateful to MB. W. L. RUTTON for his able and painstaking efforts to clear up the difficulties that surround the question of these so-called manors. So iar as I am able to form a judgment in the absence of maps and books, I find myself in substantial agreement with MB. RUTTON'S conclusions. I may perhaps be inclined to differ on a few points of detail, on which I do not think MB. RUTTON speaks in very decided tones. One or two of these points deserve notice.

MR. RUTTON (ante, p. 23) says it is un- certain whether the " Balywick of Neat," which appears in the plan of 1723, was formed before or after the Grosvenor ac- quisition of 1676. Although it received, perhaps, subsequent extensions, this baili- wick consisted originally of " the close called le Twenty Acres," lying opposite the manor of Neyte on the south (" [excepto et reservato] quodam clause vocato le twenty acres jacente ex opposite Manerii de Neyte ex parte australi ejusdem"), and also of some other land to the eastward. The lease of Eybury to Richard Whasshe, which MR. RUTTON has unearthed from the Record Office, and from which I have quoted this clause, is a very important document, and deserves attentive study. The reserva- tions made by the Abbot show that not only did he wish to preserve some meadow-land in proximity to his house, but also that he was reluctant to cut off his communications with the river. This land, therefore, being detached from Eybury and added to Neyte, was doubtless placed by the Abbot under the jurisdiction of his bailiff (who, as we know from other documents, was in charge of the Neyte manor), and was thenceforward known as the Bailiwick of Neyte. " Baili- wicks " are not modern creations, and I think there can be no doubt that the term dated from the early years of the sixteenth century. Later, all this land, which was chiefly occupied by taverns and market gardens, was known as the Neat Houses, and it will be remembered that it was on this festive spot that old Madam Gwyn, the mother of the fair Eleanor, met her death by drowning in the river a mournful event that was commemorated in many a doleful ballad of the day.

With reference to the remarks of MR. MORLEY DAVIES, I concur in thinking that " the great close belonging to Eybury " represented the Grosvenor Square area. It is probable that Brick Street, Piccadilly, was called after the " close called Bryk close." Another survival is Avery Row, which runs between Grosvenor Street and Brook Street, and brings us back to Eybury. The interesting old house, known as Bourdon House, at the corner of Davies Street and Bourdon Street, is traditionally said to have been the residence of Alexander Davies, the father of Mary Davies, the heiress who brought the Eybury estate into the Gros- venor family. Judging from the outward appearance of the house, it must be one of the oldest in the West End, and would seem to date from about 1670. If I remember