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NOTES AND QUERIES, is* s. n. OCT. 29, '98.

FIELD-NAMES (9 th S. ii. 86, 155). There is a considerable tract of country called " Bull- hassocks "in the parish of Haxey, Lincoln- shire. A local writer thus explains the name :

" Hassocks are tufts of rushes or coarse grass ; and the prefix ' bull ' means strong. The place has taken its name from the large round tufts of grass standing above the common level of the field." ' Place-Names ' (of the Isle of Axholme), by J. K. Jolmstone.

0. C. B.

On an old plan of an estate near Hed en- ham, Norfolk, are the following names of fields : Tear Coat Grove, Tear Coat Moyes, Home Close, Nonsuch Piece, Further Moyes, Seething Close.

On the plan of an estate in Suffolk, dated 1725 : Hempland (afterwards called the Bleach), Garden Pightle, Little Cunnister, and Killn Hill (no vestige of a kiln is shown, proving the survival of the old designation).

HARRY SIRR.

Slade, "a long flat piece of ground lying low and wet." See Ash's ' Dictionary,' pub. 1775.

Slade, A.-S. slcBd, slade, a valley (Somner) ; " a path or way in the vales between the mountains (Lye)." See Kichardson's 'Dic- tionary,' pub. 1858.

Slade, A.-S. slced, " a little dell or valley ; a glade ; also a flat piece of low moist ground." See Ogilvie's 'Imperial Dictionary,' pub. 1883. JOHN H. JOSSELYN.

Ipswich.

Slade means a wet place in a wood.

Shoulder of Mutton may be derived either from "ham," a well-known field-name in Berks, or from a public-house sign.

Hough Close. Query hoe or how, a (Danish 1 ?) burial-place 1

Kettle Muse : vieivse, a hole or way through a hedge. Query, Cattle Meuse ?

Close, a small grass field attached to a farm.

Shovel Board, an old game.

Sparvin's Wood also occurs as a Berkshire field-name.

I fancy A.-S. terms for different sorts of plough-land or animals would explain some of the names. EMMA ELIZ. THOYTS.

" SQUAB " (9 th S. ii. 167). It is years since I saw a "squab," and I should say this article of furniture is now rare, even in Derby- shire, where in the living room of every workman's cottage this was an indispensable " household god," upon which the good man of the house rested his weary bones after his tea, which was also his supper. Squabs were

distinct from sofas these in the best rooms. A squab was made in two or three patterns. One might be called a " settle " from its shape a low seat, six feet long, on four short legs, the bed eighteen inches wide, sloping slightly backward to prevent persons rolling off, a receding back two feet high, and low arms at each end. Seldom was the seat cushioned. Two other forms there were, both without backs, and one of them with only one arm, the other with a hinged end, a pillow support. These stood against the wall next the fireplace, under the window. Squabs were ordinary seats by day, resting- places in the evening, and with big families were made up as beds at night. Squab must not be confounded with the long settle once common in every alehouse. The long settle many said " lang " had a back which often reached within a foot of the ceiling of the room, and was fastened by means of stays to beams. The length of these depended upon the position they filled.

THOMAS RATCLIFFE. Worksop.

The following passage from Canon Parkin- son's ' The Old Church Clock ' explains what a squab is :

"'Go behind the squab if you wish not to be seen ; you will be safe enough there.'

" This squab was a long oaken seat, or settle, with a high wooden back, running from the fireplace half- way down the middle of the room. I dare say such seats (and very uncomfortable they are) are still to be found in most of the old farmhouses in the North."

RICHARD LAWSON.

Urmston.

"Squab, a long cushioned couch or stretcher, generally without back and ends, common in old- fashioned houses, both in town and country." 'A Glossary of Yorkshire Words and Phrases,' 1855.

C. P. HALE.

WYATT FAMILY (9 th S. ii. 289). Besides Hasted's 'History of Kent,' in the Gentleman's Magazine for September, 1850, will be found an interesting paper about the Wyatts, who were originally a Yorkshire family. ' Athena? Cantabrigia,' vol. i., ' Boxley Abbey,' by the late Rev. J. Cave Browne, and ' Memories of Mailing and its Valley,' by the Rev. C. H. Fielding, all contain information about members of the Wyatt family of Allington, in Kent. ARTHUR HUSSEY.

Wingham, Kent.

I shall be happy to send Miss BERTHA WYATT seven generations (or even eight in a side branch) of the Allington Wyatts, beginning with Sir Henry, who was con- fined in the Tower in the fifteenth century,