Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 10.djvu/387

 12 s.x. APRIL 22, 1922.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 317 Co. Armagh, wrote under date of September, suggests that when King Charles enclosed the Paik it ma have been his intention to use this 1909: ma> I mound as a standing-place to shoot from when. Elizabeth (Tsevin) Irwin was my great-grand- i the ^eer were driven past on the flat open space mothei. After the death of her husband, Robert immediately in front of him. Irwin, she lived with her son William (my grand- 1 :< j es se says that there is no doubt this mound father) until early in the nineteenth century, ! was j n the fj rs ^ pktce a British barrow. Be when she moved to Anapola, County Monaghan. j states it was once opened and a considerable deposit She died at Anapola, at the age of 80, in J83U; of a&hes was found in the centre of it. It is and was buried at Tynan, Nov. 11, 1831. [generally known that a large number of such barrows If CAPTAIN FIREBRACE would get in touch | with H. C. Irwin he could very likely learn the parentage of his ancestor, Jane (Irwin) Black. J. D. NEVTN, were once to be- found in the immediate vicinity, twenty -three having once stood on Wimbledon Common, on the high ground over- looking Kingston Vale and Roehampton. " THE KING'S STAND INGE " IN RICHMOND PARK (12 S. x. 273). My predecessor, the late Mr. A. A. Barkas, made considerable re-earches into the history of Richmond Park, and I extract the following from one of his lectures on the subject : This mound stands about 100 yards beyond the end of the " New Terrace " walk. It is separated fiom the footpath in the Paik by a ditch 01 fosse and a light iron fence. The tradition which has been handed down from father to son by the several park keepers is that Henry VIII. stood on this mound to watch for a signal from the Tower of London assuring him of the execu tion of his wife, Anne Boleyn. There are, how- ever, sti ong reasons for doubting this story. Anne Boleyn was beheaded at noon, May 19th, 1536. History shows that on the evening of that day Henry was at a revel 60 miles away from this spot. Confusion exists also as to the character of the signal, to say nothing of the amusing nature of the confusion. Some waters say it was the sound of a gun, others the flash f om the gun, one writer alarms it was a black flag, and Dr. Evans and E. Jesse both state that it was a rocket, whilst Miss Strickland nv-ntions both signal-gun and a flag on the sp.re of Old St. Paul's. According to Ha- risen Ainsworth, in his story Witx.sor Cai-tl King is described as being in Winusor Park at the time of the execution. I am told that when the trees are bare the Tower of London is visible from the mound in question. I have not seen it myself, but the distance is close on eleven miles. But the question that arises in my mind is whether it would be possible at noon-day in May and at that distance to see the flash of a gun. or the bursting of a rocket, or even to hear the sound of a gun of that p- riod. Again, the same tradition has long been attached to soii.e high g ound in Epping Forest On the 1637 map, the olaest we have of th< Park, the site is named " The King's Standinge. This name may be a reference to the Henry VI II legend, but it seems to me more probable that it re.ers to the then reigning King Charles I. who nHosed the Park in that year. The spot is the highest g ound in the Paik and mav have been the King's standpoint fo issuing his oiders whn purveying the land. Mr. Pulman, the Superintendant of the Park In view of these facts, it is pretty certain that Major, U.S. Marines. I whatev.er purposes the mound may have served 1 in later years it was in the first place an ancient no On burial-place. A. CECIL PIPER, Borough Librarian ~ Richmond, Surrey. The story of Henry VIII. waiting for
 * he Tower gun to announce the execution of

Anne Boleyn is also told in connexion with the "Anne Boleyn Castle," East Ham^. Pimp Hall, Chingf ord ; and elsewhere. Pagen- stecher's ' History of East and West Ham,' p. 210, referring to the former, says : - It is said that the King was waiting there OIL the day she was beheaded, until the Tower gun was fired as a signal of the completion of the sanguinary deed. No pang of remorse, wave of compassion passed over him. h'-aring the boom of the gun, he started off with his attendants on a hunting expedition in the forest The very next day he married Lady Jane Seymour. In a ' Guide to Chingf ord,' by Bruce Cook, p. 29, referring to a barn at Pimp Hall, Chingford, the writer says : There ib a story connected with this barn that Hen: y VIII., upon the day fixed for the execution of Anne Boleyn (only three years after his hasty marriage to her), stung with remorse rode hastily out of London trying to stifle his thoughts, as the hour of execution drew near, with a day's hunting in Epping Forest. Arriving at the barn, where the banquet was being prepared, he heard the guns on Tower Hill announcing that Anne Boleyn was beheaded. He" immediately post- poned the hunt and hurried back to London. The day following, he rode into Wiltshire and married Jane Seymour, his third wife". Percival's ' London's Forest.' p. 47, places the tradition at High Beech or Buckhurst Hill, and says that " when the roar of the cannon conveyed to him that the heads- man's work was done that Anne Boleyn was no more he exclaimed, " The day's work is done ; uncouple the dogs and let us follow the sport." G. H. W. " BERWICK " berquet " or (12 S. x. 229). This is bercovet," an old English weight, about 1731b. avoirdupois. J. W.