Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/349

 ii s. vi. OCT. 12, 1912.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

285

Lead has four niches, in which are carved

the Chesham arms, (2) the Chesham

crest, (3) the badge of the 10th Hussars,

the badge of the Northamptonshire

Imperial Yeomanry. At the foot of the

column is inscribed :

"Erected by friends in the Pytchlev Countrv the memory o f Charles Compton 'W., third

arcm Chesham, K.C.B., who met his death while hunting with the Pytchley Hounds, Novem- ber 9, 1907, aged 56. A good man : a gallant soldier : a true sportsman." At the foot of the memorial is a drinking- trough for cattle. Carved in incised letters over the stone basin is the following :

" I shall journey through this world but once.

Any good thing therefore that I can do, or anv

kindness that I can show any human being,

let me do it now. Let me not neglect it nor

?r it, for I shall not pass this way again."

Stratton Audley. On 13 July, 1907. Mr. blater Harrison unveiled a tablet to the memory of Lord Chesham in Stratton Audley Church, Bucks. It is of alabaster with an Irish green frame, and bears the following inscription :

" To the glory of God, and in affectionate '"?i" n bra / ? ce of Major-General Charles Compton \\illiam Cavendish, V.C., K.C.B., third Baron ( heshani ; born December 13, 1850, killed from i ! r,n- hunfcm S near Daventry, November 9, f''- . T1 ? 1S tablet is erected by his friends in the Bicester and Warden Hill Hunt, of which he i V S o ? Sreatly ^teemed Master from 1884 to

9rf. My time is in Thy hand.' "

Wellington Barracks. On 8 Nov., 1908 Major-General Vesey Dawson unveiled a memorial to Lord Chesham in the Royal Military Chapel, Wellington Barracks. It consists of an arch supporting the gallery on the south side of the chapel, and is thus inscribed :

" ? n Memory of Major-General Charles Compton \\ illiam Cavendish, third Baron Chesham, K.C.B Coldstream Guards 1870 to 1875, subsequentlv 10th Hussars, 16th Lancers, and Imperial Yeo"- manry, South Africa. Killed out hunting 9th Aovember, 1907. This arch was erected bv his brother officers of the Brigade of Guards and old friends.

Lord Chesham met with his death in negotiating a fence near the Daventry reservoir, close by the high road between Daventry and Welton. The fence is now cut away, and on the spot was erected in February, 1909, a Celtic cross 4ft, 6 in. high, standing on a small base. The shaft is thus inscribed :

" This Cross marks the place where C. Compton \\., 3rd Baron Chesham, met his death while hunting with the Pytchley Hounds, November

ir. ?!', aged 56 ' Erecte d by his friends in the Pytchley Country."

JOHN T. PAGE.

ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF COWES.

SOME two years since a question on this sub- ject failed to elicit any definite information, though it was honoured by a courteous reply from the late PROF. SKEAT, who effectually pointed out the fatuity of my weak suggestion that the name Cowes might be derived from the same root as the Cornish place-name of Caraclowse in Cowse (see 11 S. i. 88, 155).

Some of your readers may, however, be interested to read the information found in a diligent search of the Calendars of State Papers for the reign of Henry VIII.

As the history of the little town only began in his reign, it appeared strange that the origin of its curious name should remain unknown ; and the result of an examination of the letters and notes concerning the building of the two castles on the opposite shores of the River Medina would seem to show that before a single house was built on those lonely wooded shores the anchorage now called Cowes Roads bore the name of " The Cowe," and was known as a rendez- vous for the small fleet of those days. This odd name is less remarkable, perhaps, when we remember " The Bullock Patch " and " The Horse Sands " not far off, and recall the extraordinary names of various shallows and banks in and near the Solent.

All guide-books are agreed that Cowes was called from two great guns planted in his two new castles by King Henry in the year 1540 ; but this would appear to be one of the many instances of a reason invented to cover ignorance.

At all events, the State Papers tell us that in 1512 the King's ships were at anchor " at ye Cowe betwixt ye Isle of Wight and England."

In 1512 also ships were sent to re victual the ships " at the Cowe." In 1525 we hear again of " the Cowe " as an anchorage merely ; and in 1537 Dudley reports on more than one occasion that he is riding at anchor "at ye Cow under ye Wight. 1 ' It does not seem to be otherwise described till after Henry began to fear the French and to fortify his coasts to resist them, when the eastern and western extremities of this anchorage required to be named as the points to be guarded.

When Quarr and the other abbeys were dissolved, the fate of the island shrine was singularly hard, for its stones were hurried to The Cowe as fast as Mylle could tear them down ; and an army of workmen, paid by the King from the proceeds of the sales of Church property, were employed by this