Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/397

 as. vm. NOV. is, 1913.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

391

Did David, James, and Richmond leave any children ? If so, what were their names, and whom did they marry ? It is probable that one of the three David, James, or Richmond had a daughter who married a Stephen (?) Weaver. A. R. GRIDLEY.

HEART-BURIAL IN NICHES IN

CHURCH WALLS. (11 S. viii. 289, 336, 352.) WHEN the body of Leo XIII. was embalmed, I saw it stated in one of the papers that the viscera were placed in an urn, and that the urn was placed in a niche in the Church of the SS. Apostoli. I do not know whether the viscera of former Popes were placed in niches or buried in the ground. The viscera of Pius IX. were taken to the Grotte Vati- cane ; those of previous Popes who died in the Quirinal were taken for interment to the parish church of SS. Vincenzo ed Anas- tasio a Trevi.

The heart of Daniel O'Connell is buried in the ground in the left aisle of the Church of S. Agata dei Goti.

The heart of Maria Clementina, queen of James III., called the Old Pretender, is in a shrine against the second pillar on the right of the choir of the Church of the SS. Apostoli. JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

In vol. xxi. of the Journal of the British Archaeological Association is an article ' On a Heart-Burial at Holbrook Church, Suffolk,' in which reference is also made to an instance of heart -interment in the church of Ewyas Harold, Herefordshire.

R. FREEMAN BULLEN.

As I suppose even pious founders have but one heart, like lesser men, the tradition that] John of Baliol's heart ever reposed at Brabourne, Kent, can only refer to a tem- porary arrangement. For the rime has it :

In Dulcecorde Abbey She taketh her rest,

With the heart of her husband

Embalmed in her breast.

At John's death his royal spouse Devorgilla of Galloway caused his heart to be embalmed and placed in an ivory casket which became the constant companion of her widowhood. But about 1275 she founded the Cistercian house known as the New or Sweetheart Abbey (" Duz Quer," "Douce Ccour," and "Dulce Cor " in old records), some six miles

south of Dumfries. Here, in 1289, she was laid in the quire before the high altar, with her husband's heart pressed close to her own.

The Baliols of Cavers, who were akin to the Baliols of Barnard Castle in Teesdale, certainly possessed estates in Kent, which may account for the tradition.

A. R. BAYLEY.

Many years ago, when at Weston-super- Mare as a boy, I remember going to an old church a mile or two from the town, and being told that the heart of one of the murderers of Thomas a Becket was de- posited in the church. I think the name of the place was Kewstoke.

WlLMOT CORFIELD.

AGE OF YEW TREES (US. viii. 331). In May, 1898, there was a correspondence in The Standard about yew trees, to which I contributed a letter giving certain observa- tions, from which Country Life estimated the growth of a yew tree at about 9 in. of diameter in a century.

I here restate the examples I then gave, and add a few others I have since collected.

In Hughson's 'London' (1809) it is stated that the yew tree in Woodford Church- yard, Essex, was the largest of its kind within 12 miles of London ; it then measured 14ft. 3 in. round the trunk at 4Ht. from the ground, and the spread of its branches covered a circle 180 ft. in circumference. In October, 1892, I measured this tree and made it over 15 ft. in girth ; its umbrage was reduced to 150 ft.

In his ' Selborne ' Gilbert White (d. 1793) states that the yew there girthed 23 ft. In September, 1897. I measured this tree ; it then girthed 25ft. Sin. at 4ft, above ground; umbrage about 180ft.; height, about 60 ft., or rather higher than the vane on the adjacent church tower.

In 1793 the Brockerihurst yew (Hants) girthed 15ft.; in 1887 it girthed 18ft.; umbrage, 70 yds.

In Westbury Churchyard (Bucks) the yew tree stands isolated, and its growth has not been influenced by the too close propinquity of church or other tree ; its bole is clean, upright, and cylindrical. On 17 Sept., 1907, I measured it : girth, 8 ft. 4 in. On 1 Oct., 1913, T again measured it, and made the girth 8 ft. 6 in. ; umbrage, 50 yds. ; height, about 50 ft. The increase of 2 in. in six years means in increase of 33 i in. in a century, or about 11 in. in diameter in