Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 9.djvu/129

 v* s. ix. FEB. is, i9o] NOTES AND QUERIES.

121

LONDON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1902.

CONTENTS. No. 216.

NOTES : Pontefract-on-Thames, 121 Tobacco : New Items 123 Heraldry before the Conquest, 124 Filbert " Verify your quotations," 125 Last Words of Gambetta Sobiesk Stuarts Archaeological Discoveries Bibliomania Bishop's Title, 126.

QUERIES : " Oliver " " Omniety " Chronograms Italian Sundial " All Cooper's ducks with me," 127 De la Pole or Pole Family Isle of Roseneath " In earthly races" Lady Nottingham Keith Keating G. L. Way, 128 Battle of Navarino Numidian Coins- Rebecca Cromwell W. E. Phillips Le Neve Family- Louis Philippe at the "Star and Garter " Stutevile Portraits of Joanna Baillie Holme of Wearmouth " Twopence for manners," 129.

REPLIES : Duchy of Berwick, 130 " Wyrall " Gee Family Bowyer Wills Quotations Greek Pronuncia- tion, 131 Vancouver Smith, of Parson's Green, 132 Gordon, a Place - name Architect's Name Wanted Barras Irish Badges, 133 'Life,' by Mrs. Barbauld Gloucestershire Origin of Chaucer "Wage "= Wages Ranulph, Earl of Chester Order of Buffaloes, 134 Lectern in Durham Cathedral Anagrams, 135 Pins in Drinking Vessels Royal Tennis Court and Nell Gwyn Movable Stocks St. Clement Danes, 136 " Rather," 137 Byrom's Epigram St. Heliers Pronunciation of Nietzsche, 138.

NOTES ON BOOKS: 'Nova Legenda Anglie ' ' The Use of Sarum ' Moorsom's ' Renderings of Church Hymns ' Morison's 'Time Table of Modern History ' ' Patent Rolls of the Reign of Henry III.'

Notices to Correspondents.

PONTEFRACT-ON-THAMES.

(See 1 st S. ii. 56, 205 ; 2 nd S. ix. 343, 395 ; 7 th S. v. 69,

136, 293, 512.)

A POINT which has puzzled the corre- spondents of ' N. & Q.' for the last fifty years has been the exact situation of Pontefract- on-Thames. The question was first raised in the second volume of the First Series in connexion with certain writs which were issued from that place in the reign of King Edward II. I quote below some of the attestations to these writs which will be found in Rymer's 'Fcedera,' vol. ii. pt. i. p. 461 :

"Teste Rege, apud Pountefreit super Thamis' xxviii die Nov b 1321.

"Ditto, apud Pountfreyt super Thamis' xxx die Nov b L321.

"Ditto, apud Pontem Fractum super Thamis' xxx die Nov bris 132L

"Ditto, apud Pontem Fractum, xxx die Nov bris 1321 (15 Edw. II.)."

The context rendered it clear that when these writs were issued the king was staying at some place on the Thames between Wind- sor and the mouth of the river, and various guesses were accordingly hazarded. One

correspondent thought the probabilities pointed to Kingston Bridge, another to Staines, and a third to Shepperton Ashford. In more recent times a much-lamented corre- spondent, who wrote under the pseudonym of HERMENTRUDE, suggested that the locality might be Woolwich or Erith, basing her view on the Wardrobe Accounts (31/17) showing the " expenses of John of Eltham, son of the King (Edward II.), in wardship of Lady Alianora Le Despenser, from 30 April to 13 June, 1326." From these accounts it ap- peared that on 30 May this lady and her royal charge dined at Shene and supped at Pontfreit, where they spent the following day. On 1 June they travelled on to Rochester, where they arrived in time for dinner. As Woolwich or Erith was further from Shene than Kingston or the other places which were previously equated with Pont- freit, HERMENTRUDE concluded that this unknown locality might be identical with one of those she had mentioned, although she furnished further evidence tending to show that Broken Wharf, near Queenhithe, might be an alternative place.

It seems odd that none of the corre- spondents who dealt with this question should have referred to any standard work on London topography, as such a course would have at once removed their difficulties. Mention is made of Pontefract-on-Thames in Strype's 'Stow,' in Maitland's 'History of London,' in Lysons's 'Environs of London, and in Cowper's ' History of Mill wall/ From these authorities it is clear that it was situated in Stepney Marsh, otherwise known as Poplar Marsh, and for some hundreds of years as the Isle of Dogs. The manor seems to have been a sub-infeudation of the great manor of Stepney, under which heading it is dealt with by Lysons. The following quota- tion from Maitland's 'History of London,' d. 1739, p. 753, embodies Strype's views on the subject :

' The Chapel House in the Isle of Dogs, or Poplar Vtarsh ; is the Ruins of a Stone Chapel, but when, or by whom built, is unknown. However, I am of opinion, that it either belong'd to the Manor of Pountfret (or to his Majesty's Servants who attended he Royal Kennels, whilst the King's Hounds were cept here), which anciently lay in this Marsh ; the capital Mansion whereof, by the Discovery of large foundations and Gatehooks, may not only be pre- umed to have stood here, but likewise divers other louses, which probably were inhabited till the great Inundation toward the Close of the Fifteenth Jentury, occasion'd by a Breach in the Bank of the iiver Thames near the Great Shipyard at Lime house."

There is no historical reason for believing hat the king's hounds were ever kept in the