Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 3.djvu/133

 i'2 S. III. FEB. 17, 1917.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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.are other forms), and a smaller hundred on the left of it called Fingham (Effingham). By John Speed's time these two hundreds had been joined under the name of Cop- thorne. But the resultant hundred does not, and did not, so far as I can find, include a place called Copthorne. This is not un- exampled in local history. We have the parallel of the old Berkshire hundred, Xachededorne, which on the authority of Skeat means " at the naked thorn." Skeat quotes Mr. Stevenson's edition of Asser, which says, "It is tempting to identify this bare or leafless thorn with the ' unica spinosa arbor ' mentioned in the life of Alfred," a tree famous as the meeting-place of the armies at the battle of Ashdown. The " thorn " is, I suppose, in both cases the hawthorn = " hedge-thorn," which by its longevity and persistence would be suitable to mark a boundary. I presume that the village of Copthorne was so named from having a hawthorn hedge which was possibly a county boundary between Surrey and Sussex. But in the ' Victoria County History, Surrey,' vol. iii. p. 176, I read con- cerning Copthorne Common : " Part of it is called Effingham Park, from an Effingham on the county border, but this has no connexion with the village of Effingham in Surrey." It seems very odd that the two names Copthorne and Effingham should turn up in conjunction both in the hundred -and in the totally different district some miles from it. Copthome hundred seems, though not at the period of Domesday, to have included an island of land to the south round Newdigate, but Xewdigate is not Copthorne village. Surely there is some connexion between the two pairs of names.

As for the derivation of Copthorne, I take it that the latter part of the word is certain, recording the presence of that sort of haw- thorn through which the wind blew in other element in the word, and shall be glad to have light on it, as on the other points which puzzle an amateur topographer.
 * King Lear.' I am not certain as to the

V. R.

ST. B ORCHARD. The following paragraph irom The Tablet of January 27 seems worthy of a place in ' X. & Q.*' St. Burchard'^s day is February 2. At Wiirzburg he is -venerated as St. Burkardus :

" At fierce to, in the Higher Apennines of Parma, arises the majestic and most ancient monumental church of San Moderanno. The first chapel to the right on entering is dedicated to San Barcardo, otherwise St. Borchard, or St. Brochard, an English saint of noble Anglo- Saxon parentage, who was Bishop of Wiirzburg

from 742 to 751. A short time ago the Bishop of Parma, Mgr. Conforti, on occasion of his episcopal visitation, determined to explore the chapel and discover the saint's tomb. Having removed a very inferior oil-painting at the back of the altar (as we read in the Corriere d' Italia), there was found under a large arch of marble a sarcophagus of Carrara marble, with the inscrip- tion, on a triangular marble slab with the Imperial Eagle at the apex : ' Carolus Imperator fecit fieri hoc opus S. Brochardi MCCCLV.' On the capitals upon which the arch rests are observed on the one side an angel's head, and on the other the head of an eagle, indicating, as was customary with mediaeval tombs, that the shrine was under imperial protection. Inside the tomb was a leaden casket containing the saint's remains, and bearing two inscriptions. The discovery is considered to be of great importance, both artistically and historically. St. Borchard was a companion of the English St. Boniface in his apostolate of Germany, and was by him appointed Bishop of Wiirzburg. He played an important part in the deposition of Childeric III. and the election of Pepin as King of France, with the approval of Pope Zachary, in 752."

JOHN B. WAESTE WRIGHT.

WATTS'S CHARITY, ROCHESTER. From Dickens' s ' Seven Poor Travellers,' which was published in 1854, we have been familiar with the inscription opening the nightly dole bestowed on wayfarers by this charity in Rochester they " not being rogues or proctors," as it seems to be immemorially given, from Dickens to a guide-book only a few years old.

The Gentleman's Magazine, however, for 1753 (vol. xxiii. p. 382) has the following :

" In the City of Rochester on an House of antient Form a Stone is placed with this In- scription.

Six poor travellers, not being rogues,

proctors, women, or contagiously infected,

may have lodging here and be courteously

entertained one night gratis,

and each of them shall receive fourpence

as soon as admitted.

Richard Watts, Esq., formerly of this city by his will, dated 22d Aug., 1579, founded this charity, In gratitude to whose memory (the former

inscription being worn out)

This stone was inscribed and erected in the mayoralty of Benj. Graydon, Esq., A.p. 1748.

The mayor and citizens of this city, the dean and chapter of the cathedral, church war- dens, and commonalty of the bridge, are to see this executed for ever."

The guide-book states that the alms- house was rebuilt in 1771, and again not very long ago. As the above inscription differs considerably from those first referred to, it may not be out of place to record it here, verified, as it apparently was, by the editor of The Gentleman's Magazine.

W. B. H.