Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 3.djvu/9

 ii s. in. j.. 7, MI.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

they officiated ; they attended at funerals, j and proceeded on foot before the corpse, singing, until they reached the church ; they had also (probably at "The Angel") public feasts, with music and song.

Lamb Alley, formerly between Nos. 144 and 145, derived its name from a sign of " The Lamb Tavern " ; and Sun Street, part of which still exists at the back of No. 144, though formerly it had a continua- tion through the opposite side of the street, also had its name from a sign of " The Sun." A token of " The Sun " in Bishopsgate Street, issued by W. I. A., probably relates to Bishopsgate Within, where there was a tavern of which Sun Yard marked the site :

"To be Sold

A Strong season' d Hunter ; also a gentle Gelding, Master of about fourteen or fifteen Stone, fit for a Lady. Enquire of Major Tames in Sun Yard, Bishopsgate Street." Daily Advertiser, 1 Oct., 1741.

" The King's Arms," 128, Bishopsgate Street, was an ale-house in 1742, unless the following announcement relate to " The King's Arms," 106, Bishopsgate Street Within :

" Lost the 31st of March last, from behind the Stoke Newington Coach, between Stoke Newing- ton and Bishopsgate, a Deal Box, with some Shifts, and Wearing Apparel. Whoever will bring the same to Mr. Hawkins at the King's Arms Ale-house in Bishopsgate Street, shall have a Guinea Reward, and no Questions ask'd." Daily Advertiser, 8 April, 1742. The tavern stands at the corner of Acorn Street, and was perhaps originally " The Acorn." There certainly was, according to Dodsley, an " Acorn " sign here which gave its name to Acorn Street.

Sweetapple Court, at No. 157, was so named, not after such a sign, but after Sir John Sweetapple, the owner (Dodsley's ' London ' ) ; but who he was, whether knight or baronet, or whether he had held the office of Alderman (he was not appa- rently a Mayor), I cannot say.

J. HOLDER MA.CMICHAEL. (To be continued.)

CHAMNEY OR CHOLMONDELEY FAMILY.

WHAT has been described as the " curt and absurd pronunciation of Cholmondeley as Chulmley or Chumley the contraction of illiterate flunkeys," appears to have another variation, to wit, " Chamney," a hybrid which will not be found in the ' Patronymia Britannica.' A family of Chamney sprang up in the counties of Wicklow and Wexford

towards the end of the seventeenth century, and their descendants may still be traced, I relieve, in the sister isle. The traditional rigin of the name is related in ' The Metal Mines of Ireland,' a paper read before the Royal Dublin Society by Mr. G. H. Kinehan on 24 March, 1886.

Speaking of the co. Wicklow, the author says :

" Bacon, an Englishman, came over and built works at Shillelagh. Before his time most of bhe charcoal was sent to Wales to be there used in the final working of iron. He, however, con- sidered it would be more economical to import the pig iron than export the charcoal. This adventure was most successful, and at the time of the Commission for examination into the state of timber in Ireland, he had amassed a sum of over one million pounds. Having only one child, a daughter, the bait was too seductive to one of the Commissioners, a scion of the twice noble house of Cholmondeley, who became Bacon's son-in-law and successor, relinquishing his herit- age, and changing his name to Chamney. Al- though he changed his name during his life, and his descendants adopted the change, yet on his tomb in Carnew churchyard his real name and lineage are given. The Chamneys greatly in- creased the trade, having works not only at Shillelagh, where Bacon established the industry, but also in the Vale of Clara ; at Bally-na-Clash or ' Clash ' in Glenmalure ; at Woodenbridge and Aughrim, in the Vale of the Darragh Water, and elsewhere ; besides innumerable bloomeries ; his works popularly being said to have ' filled the county.' The Clash and Shillelagh iron was of very superior quality. Elsewhere in Ireland 5 the iron trade gradually ceased, as the woods were exhausted, but here it seems to have come to a sudden and untimely end prior to 1761, on account of a fracas between Chamney and the English agent of the lord of the soil. Written informa- tion about the old ironworks is very hard to pro- cure, as nearly all the Chamney papers appear to have been destroyed when the family were dis- persed. Old people will tell you that ' the noise of the Chamney hammer was a weather guide.' Also they know that the iron and ore was carried; in baskets on horseback from Wicklow port, and from the different mines ; and the old horse- tracks from the mines and Wicklow to the fur- naces can still be shown."

Nearly twenty years ago I entered into correspondence with the late Rev. Joseph Chamney, D.D., Rector of Dromiskin, Armagh, with reference to the Chamney family, and we were able to piece together the following fragmentary genealogy. I Ballard, co. Wicklow, and Ballynellot, co. I Wexford, born 1650, married circa 1686 Jane,
 * John Cholmondeley or Chamney of

daughter of Bacon, ironmaster of

Shillelagh, and had issue a son Thomas and two daughters : Elizabeth, b. 1688, married Percival Hunt of Lara, co. Kildare ; Anne,

married Archer. He died 1733, and.

was buried at Carnew.