A History of the Town and Parish of Nantwich. By James Hall. Printed for the Author. Nantwich, 1884.
The County Palatine of Chester abounds in quaint and curious county towns, but few of them have a more interesting history than Nantwich. Some account of the town is to be found in Ormerod and in Lysons, and smaller notices of it have been published more recently in a local journal, in whose files these are now buried. Mr. J. Hall has therefore supplied a decided want, and by his researches in the Record Office and in the family papers of Messrs. Wilbraham and Tollemache, he has added largely to our knowledge of its earlier history. These results he has now placed before the world in a handsome quarto volume, the subscription list at the beginning of which is a proof that an author, unlike a prophet, may succeed in getting “honour even in his own country.” The work treats in successive chapters of the foundation of Nantwich, the history of the barony of which it formed a part, its church, hospital, grammar-school, and other ancient buildings, its early charters, and other privileges, its guilds, fairs, and bridges, its mention in the Subsidy Rolls, its visitations from battle, plague, and fire, and its share in the struggles of the Civil war. The latter part of the volume is devoted to an account of its commercial importance, its banks, its manufactories and industries, and especially that of salt, while full value is given to the contents of its parish registers, its charities, and the histories of the several families connected with the town, the Cholmondeleys, Wilbrahams, Tollemaches, Kingsleys, &c. The volume is illustrated by several views, well engraved on stone, and some woodcuts, showing the details of its street architecture. We would draw particular attention to the view of “Old Houses in High Street,” given on p. 415.
Old Registers of the Parish of St. John Baptist, Peterborough. By the Rev. W. D. Sweeting, M.A. Peterborough: G. C. Caster. 1884.
This little brochure, of some sixty octavo pages, formed the subject of a lecture delivered by Mr. Sweeting before the members of the Church Institute in March last, and has been published by request. Among the entries quoted are several of a quaint and curious character, and some which contain glimpses into the life and habits of our predecessors, thereby imparting to them an amount of interest which will probably be found wanting in the registers of the present day when they come to be examined some 300 years hence. The clergy are now supplied by authority with books, with spaces marked out and ruled for dates and names, and the insertion of anything beyond the mere fact registered seems to be in every way discouraged.
Old Aunt Elspa’s A B C, “imagined and adorned” by Joseph Crawhall (Field & Tuer), is a quaint book for children, printed on rough hand-made paper, and illustrated with curious woodcuts after the manner of the old chap-books. It is one of the “chepe and curious bookes” “imprynted atte ye signe of ye Leadenhalle Presse, in ye Old London Streete, in ye Health Exhibition, South Kensyngton, London towne, in ye yeare of Grace, 1884.”
Ye Historical Sketch of ye Olde London Streete. Edited by T. ST. Edmund Hake. Waterlow & Sons. 1884.
Under the above title Mr. Hake has set forth in a neatly-printed brochure, embellished with eleven illustrations—or “gravinges” as they are here called—the principal features in the now well-known Old London Street in the International Health Exhibition at South Kensington. As he tells us in his introductory remarks, it would be difficult for a historian, a romance writer, or even a poet, to select a subject calculated to awaken more interest than Old London. “In secluded nooks and corners where an echo of the footstep can often be heard, may be found some monument or landmark—a temple, tombstone, or tavern—which speaks eloquently of the past. The ‘writing upon the wall’ may be worn out; the stone once smooth may be wrinkled like an old face; still such are the ‘things of fame,’ to inspire the minds of men, and to lead to reflection and research.” The illustrations embrace full-page etchings of the north and south sides of the “street,” and smaller engravings of Bishopsgate, the Rose Inn, the Three Squirrels, Isaac Walton’s house, the tower of All Hallows Steyning, &c.
English Etchings for July and August (D. Bogue, 3, St. Martin’s-place, W.C.) contain several admirable examples of this popular art, among them being “Westminster-bridge with the Houses of Parliament,” by Mr. Ned Swain; and “Middle row, Holborn,” by Mr. A. W. Bayes. The clearing away of the block of buildings represented in the latter plate, a few years ago, made it possible to see fairly and well the Holborn front of Staple Inn, one of the oldest existing specimens of our street architecture, dating from the time of James I. It is seen on the right-hand side of the plate. Dr. Johnson lived in Staple Inn in 1739, and there wrote his “Idler,” “seated on a three-legged chair, so scantily were his chambers furnished.” This publication, which has now reached its thirty-ninth monthly part, continues to maintain the high character which it has hitherto enjoyed.
The Journal of the British Archæological Association (Vol. xl., Pt. ii.), which is now before us, contains a large number of most interesting papers, as will be seen by the mere announcement of the following titles: “Dover Records in the British Museum,” “Historical Sketch of the Castle of Devizes,” “The Development of the Fortifications of Dover Castle,” “The Crosses at Ilkley,” “The Castles of Sandown and Sandgate,” “Samphire,” “Recently-discovered Fresco at Patcham Church, Sussex,” “Roman Embanking and Sanitary Precautions,” “Remarks on Recent Archæological Relics of London,” “Some Relics of the Past recovered from London Sites,” &c. Many of these papers were read by their authors at the Archæological Congress at Dover last year.