Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/594

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io- s. m. JUNE a. IOOB.

I had always understood that the lines were suggested by the appearance of the New Forest as seen from Southampton across the Water, and I find this opinion endorsed in a letter of Edna Ly all's printed in her 'Life' (p. 80), in which she says :

"On a really bright, clear day one can well believe that Watts had Southampton Water and the country beyond in his mind when he wrote 'Sweet fields,' &c."

Can any reader of 'N. & Q.' help to solve the question upon which Sir Walter Besant and Edna Lyall differed 1

J. A. J. HOUSDEN.

LULACH, KING OF SCOTLAND. Had Lulach, King of Scotland, who was killed at Strath- bolgie, a son 1 and did he fly to Argyleshire ? Was there descended from him the clan of MacLulich or MacLulach of Clachan Dysart and Argyleshire, referred to in Brown's ' Historical Tree ' as the descendants of King Lulach? J. M. MACLULICH.

14, Lauderdale Mansions, Maida Vale, W.

PARSLOE'S HALL, ESSEX. (10 th S. iii. 430.)

I AM well acquainted with the old manor house and estate of Parsloes (Parselpes, Passe- lowes, Parcelowes, or Passelewes) in Dagen- ham and Barking, co. Essex, to which your correspondent evidently refers, although I do not remember to have previously heard of Parsloe's Hall. The history of the family of Fanshawe (many of whose original MSS., documents, papers, paintings, prints, <fec., are in my possession) is also well known to me, and both are fully dealt with in my ex- tensive collections for a history of the Hun- dred of Becontree and Havering Liberty comprising Dagenham, Barking, and many neighbouring parishes made from original sources, chiefly in 1877-83, and intended for publication. Extracts from those collections, so far as Parsloes and Fanshawe are con- cerned, would, however, be far too elaborate for the pages of 'N. & Q.' Such little in- formation as G. C. W. appears to require will be found in the Rev. J. P. Shawcross's 'His- tory of Dagenham,' 1904, chap, xvi., which work is a popular account of the parish, with illustrations. The author states :

" The manor house [of Parsloes] has been without a tenant for some years [since 1855], and is fast falling into decay. The oak wainscoting has been torn from the walls, the ceilings are disfigured with unsightly holes, and the walls and floors are bedewed with damp and moisture most visibly. The fine

spacious library is, however, tolerably well pre- served. The old bell still hangs in its turret. A ghost is said to wander around this gloomy, massive pile of brickwork, having been driven from the room lie was supposed to haunt by the irrepressible, though pardonable, curiosity of visitors to Parsloes. And the once noble park has been of recent years converted into a racecourse, and is now the head- quarters of the Essex Amateur Trotting Club."

And he adds :

" We are glad to hear that there is a happy prospect of this ancient mansion being put in repair by a member of the family [i.e., of Fanshawe] with which it has been for nearly four [sic, but should read " three"] centuries associated."

It is a remarkable fact that ghosts are (for obvious reasons) said to haunt tenantless houses whether in town or country having "caretakers" in possession, as I presume that in question has.

I may add that I am a descendant (and the present representative) of the family which for nearly a century, from about the year 1570, held a leading position as residents, &c., in the neighbourhood, and gave to the City of London two Lord Mayors, Sir James and his son Sir Sebastian Harvey.

W. I. 11. V.

I can give G. C. W. all particulars about Parsloes. It has descended in unbroken succession in the Fanshawe family since 1615 to me, the present owner.

EVELYN JOHN FANSHAWE.

132, Ebury Street, S.W.

The mansion of Parselowes is a mile and a half north-west from the church. The name does not occur in the records till 1568, when it was conveyed by Martin Bowes to Rowland Hayward, Alderman of London, and Thomas Wilbraham ; and it afterwards belonged to William Fanshawe, Esq., who died in 1635, and from whom this estate passed to his descendants (T. Wright's 'Hist, of Essex,' vol. ii. p. 487). In 1634 William Fanshawe, Esq., held the manor of Sir Christopher Hatton and Sir Thomas Fanshawe, Knights of the Bath, &c., as of their manor of Barking, in free socage, by the service of 9s. l5. (Morant). It continued in the same family, and when Ogbourne wrote his ' History of Essex,' in 1814, it was possessed by the Rev. John Gascpigne Fanshawe, M.A. It is an ancient brick mansion, approached to the west' entrance through an avenue of trees. Mr. C. R. B. Barrett does not mention this avenue ; but it existed in Ogbourne's time, and possibly does still. The curious oak drawing-room was ornamented with many valuable portraits by the best masters, par- ticularly a very fine picture by Van Dyck of