Mr. Allies, in his "Antiquities and Folk-lore," mentions a remarkable echo at the Upper House, Alfrick, which is so distinct that it will allow about ten syllables to be uttered before it begins to repeat them. A pointer-dog in the neighbourhood used to resort to the spot, and bark till he was tired at his supposed antagonist. Nash records that in the parish of Bromsgrove were several echoes—one at the white gate, between Dyer's bridge and the turnpike; another in the Crown Close behind High Street; a third at the east and west corners of the church; a fourth at Woodcot; and a fifth on the east side of High Street, near the Presbyterian meeting-house, opposite New Barn. Whether any of these mocking nymphs have left their cells since the days of Nash, the writer is unable to say. There is a good echo in the Bath Road, about two miles from Worcester Cross, and another on Lansdowne Terrace. In the garden of Chaddesley Corbett vicarage an echo is produced by the tolling of the great bell of the church, which, after an interval of two or three seconds, returns distinctly upon the ear, as though it were the tolling of the bell of Stone church, which is two miles distant.
THE LAST FOOL.
The last country gentleman who kept a fool—that is, a professional jester—in his house, was said to have been Mr. Bartlett, of Castlemorton. Jack Havod, or Hafod, was the name of "the squire's fool," and his tricks and drolleries were remembered by the inhabitants of Castlemorton long after his death, and are related even in the present day. It is still a common saying there—"As big a fool as Jack Havod;" and it is also told of him that on one occasion he was assisting in storing peas in a barn, and there being insufficient room for the crop, Jack very coolly shovelled them out of a window into a pool of water underneath, saying, "We've got a vent for them now;" and to this day it is a proverb in the neighbourhood—"We've got a vent for them, as Jack Havod said."
NOTES ON ELMLEY LOVETT.
The only doctor of medicine known to have resided in this parish for the last 200 years was John Aaron, Esq., of the Moat House, Cutnal Green, who died in 1767, aged 83. He was descended from an ancient family of Little Drayton, near Shiffnal, Salop.—Dr. Wanley, of Elmley Lodge, who died in 1776, aged 69, was the only "D.D." that has held that rectory for the last two centuries.—Between the river Salwarpe and Bury-hill Estate, near Droitwich, is some meadow land belonging to the parish of Elmley Lovett. This land is more than two miles distant from the nearest boundary of the parish, and there runs some part of three other parishes between it, viz., Elmbridge, Hampton, and Salwarpe. The area of this land is about five acres, and is the property of Mr. Roberts, and rented by a gentleman at Droitwich, who pays the rates to Elmley Lovett.
COUNTY MAGISTRATES' WAGES.
By a statute as old as the time of Richard II, County Magistrates were allowed to make a charge of 4s. per day, and the Clerk of the Peace 2s., as wages for attending Quarter Sessions. That charge has been regularly made and allowed by the Sheriff up to the close of last year (1855), when the ancient statute was repealed by the passing of the Criminal Justice Act, 18th and 19th Victoria, chap. 126. In this county these wages were clubbed together as a dinner and wine fund for the magistrates, but the old practice is now discontinued, and the magistrates will henceforth be thrown upon their own resources. In the year 1810 a long and bitter controversy, at one time wearing a serious aspect, arose among the magistracy of this county, in consequence of Mr. Welch, the chairman, having been charged by Mr. Johnson, a fellow magistrate, with misappropriating a part of these "justice wages" that had been intrusted to him. The Bench acquitted Mr. Welch.
ROYAL VISIT TO KING'S NORTON.
There is a common tradition at King's Norton that Queen Elizabeth came thither, and was entertained at an ancient house adjoining the churchyard, probably the residence of the Manorial Bailiff; but the name of the Queen has perhaps been mistaken for that of Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I, she, according to Dugdale's Diary (p. 52), having come to King's Norton from Walsall on July 10, 1643. The manor was part of the Queen's dower.