Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/121

 9* s. vii. FEB. 9, 1901.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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so instructive, is that outside the wall of the extensive churchyard there is evidence, chiefly to the west, of ancient interments. To explain them two theories may be advanced. One is that the churchyard was originally un- enclosed, burials taking place anywhere on the wold in the neighbourhood of the church, only the portion more densely buried in being afterwards walled round. The other and more probable theory is that, before the erection of the churcn, or even perhaps in pre-Christian times, this central spot in Grindalythe, the "district of the green dale," was conveniently selected as the place for the interments of the people of the neighbour- hood. Here, where the graves were thickest, a preaching cross was first erected, and after- wards, at some period before the Norman Conquest, the earliest church was built.

The churchyard at Kirby Grindalythe will, I think, help to throw light on the formation of some of the oldest churchyards, those of later origin being perhaps explicable by MR. GERISH'S theory. Other churchyards with interments beyond the walls may exist else- where. ISAAC TAYLOK.

It would appear that certainly so early as about A.D. 750 spaces of ground ad- joining churches were enclosed and conse- crated for burial, and by a canon of the ninth century every grave was to be esteemed sacred, to be adorned with the sign of the cross, and to be preserved from trespass and violation by dogs and cattle. Many 'churchyards have a history far older than the churches which stand in them, being originally places appropriated to religious assemblies, divine service being performed there, until at length the church was added for greater honour and convenience. It has been noted as a curious fact that in a large majority of cases the churchyards are on the north side of the church and on the north side of the road leading to them. There is a superstition amongst many old - fashioned folk that the north side of the churchyard is less sacred than the rest of the consecrated

S-ound. "To be buried there," wrote urandus, the great fourteenth - century ecclesiastic, "is, in the language of the Eastern counties, to be buried out of sanc- tuary." Hence the position was largely appropriated to the graves of suicides, un- baptized persons, and excommunicates.

The Emperor Justinian made a law (pos- sibly legalizing an existing custom) "that none shall presume to erect a church until

e bishop of the diocese hath first been acquainted therewith, and shall come and lift up his hands to heaven, and consecrate the place to God by prayer,

and erect the symbol of our salvation, the venerable and truly precious rood." Sir R. Phillimore, ' Eccl. Law,' p. 1761.

The service, therefore, for the consecration of a churchyard prior to the actual church erection in volvestheexistence of a cross, possibly simply of wood. An Irish canon of the eighth century published by D'Archery seems more explicit, for it directs a cross to be set up wherever there is consecrated ground to mark the limits as well as the sanctity of the place. One of the constitutions of William of Blois, Bishop of Winchester, made in 1299, .says : " Let a handsome cross be erected in every churchyard, to which the procession shall be made on Palm Sunday." For more interesting information upon the same subject see a paper by Mr. Crawf urth Smith, entitled * The Churchyard and its Accessories,' contributed recently to the Architectural Association, 56, Great Maryborough Street, W.

HARRY HEMS. Fair Park, Exeter.

LINES ON THE SKIN (9 fch S. vii. 27). It may be of assistance to N. K. E. to know that the author of these lines was named Power, and was, I believe, a native of Atherstone. I believe they begin as follows, and not as quoted :

There's a skin without and a skin within, A covering skin and a lining skin. But the skin within is the skin without Doubled and carried complete throughout.

L. LLOYD.

IPPLEPEN, co. DEVON (9 th S. vi. 409 ; vii. 50). I do not feel qualified to deal with the whole of the article at the last reference, but must protest against the effort to make out certain well-known Irish family names to be Semitic. Before venturing upon such deli- cate ground as this, MR. THORPE should at east have made his comparisons with the genuine Gaelic forms of these names, instead )f with the English phonetic spelling of them. Thus, excluding McBeth, sometimes angli- cized Beton, which is Scotch, and of doubtful rigin, the correct Irish orthographies of the names in question are as follows : MacCar- McDona, O'Caiside for Cassidy, O'h-Eilighe 7 or Healy, O'Mathghamhna for Mahony, O'Maol-Eoin for Malony. Still older forms are to be found in the Ogham inscriptions, >y the aid of which, for example, McCarthy 3an be proved to be derived from the Irish equivalent of the historic name Caractacus. JAS. PLATT, Jun.
 * haigh for McCarthy, MacDonnchadha for

On this subject MR. PAYEN-PAYNE'S note 7 th S. ix. 6), to which the Editor refers, may