Minor Queries with Answers.
Stoven Church.—Can you give me any information concerning the original church of Stoven, Suffolk, which was of good Norman work throughout, as lately ascertained by the vast number of Norman mouldings found in the walls in restoring it?
L. (2)
[In Jermyn's "Suffolk Collections," vol. vi. (Add. MSS. 8173.), in the British Museum, are the following Notes of this church, taken 1st June, 1808, by H. I. and D. E. D.: "The Church consists of a nave and chancel, both under one roof, which is covered with thatch. The chancel is 30 ft. 3 in. long, and 15 ft. 5 in. wide. The communion-table is neither raised nor inclosed. The floor of the whole church is also of the same height. The nave is 30 ft. long, and 16 ft. 1 in. wide. Between the chancel and nave are the remains of a screen, and over it the arms of George II., between two tables containing the Lord's Prayer, &c. In the N. E. angle is the pulpit, which is of oak, hexagon, ordinary, as are also the pews and seats. At the W. end stands the font, which is octagon, the faces containing roses and lions, and two figures holding blank escutcheons, the pedestal supported by four lions. The steeple is in the usual place, small, square, of flints, but little higher than the roof. In it is only one bell, inscribed 1759. The entrance into the church on the N. side is through a circular Saxon arch, not much ornamented. On the side is another of the same description, but more ornamented, with zig-zag moulding, &c." Then follow the inscriptions, &c. in the chancel, of Mrs. Elizabeth Brown, John Brown, Thomas Brown; in the nave, of Henry Keable, with extracts from the parish register commencing in 1653.]
The Statute of Kilkenny.—Said to have been passed in 1364. What was the nature of it?
Abredonensis.
[This statute legally abolished the ancient code of the Irish, called the Brehon laws, and was passed in a parliament held at Kilkenny in the 40th Edward III., under the government of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. By this act, the English are commanded in all controversies to govern themselves by the common laws of England, so that whoever submitted himself to the Brehon law, or the law of the Marches, is declared a traitor. Among other things the statute enacted that "the alliaunce of the English by marriage with any Irish, the nurture of infantes, and gossipred with the Irish, be deemed high treason." And again, "If anie man of English race use an Irish name, Irish apparell, or any other guize or fashion of the Irish, his lands shall be seized, and his bodie imprisoned, till he shall conform to English modes and customs." This statute was followed by the 18th Henry VI. c. i. ii. iii., and the 28th Hen. VI., c. i., with similar prohibitions and penalties. These prohibitions, however, had little effect; nor were the English laws universally submitted to throughout Ireland until the time of James I., when the final extirpation of the ancient Brehon law was effected.]
Kenne of Kenne.—Can any of your Kentish correspondents inform me to whom a certain Christ. Kenne of Kenne, in co. Somerset, sold the manor of "Oakley," in the parish of Higham, near Rochester; and in whose possession it was about the close of the reign of Queen Elizabeth or commencement of James I.?
The above Kenne, by marrying Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir Roger Cholmeley, and widow of Sir Leonard Beckwith, of Selby, in co. York, acquired possession of the same manor in co. Kent.
After the death of his first wife, he married a Florence Stalling, who survived him. He died in 1592.
F. T.
["Christopher Kenne of Kenne, in the county of Somerset, Esq., was possessed of the manor of Little Okeley, in Higham, Kent, in the right of his wife, the daughter and co-heir of Sir Roger Cholmeley, anno
22 Eliz.; and then, having levied a fine of it, sold it to Thompson, and he, in the reign of Charles I., alienated it to Best."—Hasted.
Of course, the Christian name of Thompson, and other particulars if required, can be obtained by a reference to the foot of the fine in the Record Office, Carlton Ride.]
Rents of Assize, &c.—In the Valor Ecclesiasticus, the following varieties of income derived from rent of land constantly recur, viz.:
"De redditu (simply).
De redditu assisæ.
De redditu libero.
De redditu ad voluntatem."
Can the distinction between these be exactly explained by any corresponding annual payments for land according to present custom? And will any of your readers be kind enough to give such explanation?
J.
[Redditus.—Rents from lands let out to tenants; modern farm rents.
Redditus Assisæ.—Quit rents: fixed sums paid by the tenants of a manor annually to the lord; as in modern times.
Redditus Liberi.—Those quit rents which were paid to the lord by "liberi tenentes," freeholders; as distinguished from "villani bassi tenentes," &c.
Redditus ad voluntatem.—Annual payments "ad voluntatem donatium;" such as "confrana," &c. The modern Easter Offering perhaps corresponds with them.]
Edifices of Ancient and Modern Times.—Can any of your architectural or antiquarian readers inform me where a chronological list of the principal edifices of ancient and modern times can be found?
Getsrn.
[Consult Chronological Tables of Ancient and Modern History Synchronistically and Ethnographically arranged, fol., Oxford, 1835. For those relating to Great Britain, see Britton's Chronological and Historical Illustrations, and his Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain.]
Gorram.—Please to direct me where I can find a short account of Gorram, an ecclesiastical writer (I suppose) mentioned by D'Aubigné, vol. v. p. 245.
L. (2)
[The divine alluded to by D'Aubigné is no doubt Nicholas de Gorran, a Dominican, confessor to Philip the Fair of France. He was an admired and eloquent preacher, and his Sermons, together with a Commentary on the Gospels, appeared at Paris, 1523 and 1539. He died in 1295.]
"Rock of Ages."—Who is the author of the hymn beginning "Rock of Ages?"
J. G. T.
[That celebrated advocate for The Calvinism of the Church of England, the Rev. Augustus Montague Toplady.]