THE RELIQUARY.

JULY, 1863.

NOTE ON SOME DISCOVERIES AT SUDBURY, DERBYSHIRE

BY THE RIGHT HON. LORD VERNON.

In the summer of 1855, a discovery of some horns and a human skull was made on the Sudbury estate, of which some particulars may be worth recording in the pages of the 66 RELIQUARY.' In that year, as well as since, extensive draining operations were being carried on on the estate, and it was in the course of these operations that the horns,

etc., were discovered.

A reference to the accompanying plan will best

explain the situation of the remains, and their position with regard to

the neighbourhood.

It will be seen that the drain, called on the plan the " new cutting," was made on the opposite side of the Lake from the Hall, and passed between the "Great Eyes" and "Little Eyes" and by the "Glebe Lands," "Mill Stones," and "The Swan," between the river Dove and the village of Sudbury and the roads to Derby and Scropton. At the point marked A on the plan, the workmen found the immense stag's horn shown on Plate I. fig. 1. The spot where this horn was found is about thirty yards below the "Old Dove Bridge," on the road from the Railway Station to the village of Sudbury, and to the right of that road. The horn is a remarkably fine one, and of large size, and is well preserved. The length of the horn is two feet eleven inches, but as the top is broken, it has orginally been of larger size. The length of the lower tine is thirteen and a half inches; of the third, fifteen inches. This interesting relic lay in watery ground at the depth of between six and seven feet from the surface.

In continuing the cutting through what are called the "Glebe Lands," no horns or other notable remains were found, but on coming to the boundary of "the Eyes," an interesting discovery was made. Here, at the point marked B on the plan, the workmen came upon the upper portion of a human skull imbedded in the watery earth, of which the land is here composed It was found at a depth of between six and seven feet below the surface, at the point where the water from the Lake falls into the cutting. It is shown on plate I. fig. 2. The skull being found about the middle of the cutting, it was hoped that some other remains might be discovered near it, and therefore the place was afterwards opened and enlarged by the Hon. A. H. Vernon, but without success. From this point the cutting, as it was continued through "The Eyes," brought to light many horns, fragments of bones, and portions of skulls of various animals; and all at about the same depth, viz-between six and seven feet. In the same cutting a large oak tree was found, about nine feet beneath the surface. The wood was extremely firm and compact, and of a perfectly black colour. Out of this oak some pieces of furniture

have been made.

On the same plate with the stag's horns and human skull just described, are given representations of some of the more perfect remains discovered at the same time, and which are probably skulls of the Bos longifrons and Bos primigenus. The finding of these human and other mammalian remains, would appear to show that the surface of the ground upon which these animals had lived and died, and upon which the trees of the forest had grown, must have been six or eight feet below its present level.

The whole of the remains which have been described are preserved at Sudbury Hall, and are in excellent preservation. It is much to be regretted that the human skull is so very imperfect, and that no remains indicative of its period were discovered.

Sudbury Hall.

LINCOLN HEATH, AND ITS HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS.

BY THE REV. EDWARD TROLLOPE, M.A., F.S.A.

PREBENDARY OF LINCOLN, AND RECTOR OF LEASINGHAM.

[Continued from Vol. III. page 226.]

Ir is now a hot day in July (the 27th), in the year 1466, and again a grand funeral procession is crossing the Heath, but on this occasion it is coming from Lincoln southwards towards Grantham, where the mourners will rest awhile; and strange to say, this is the funeral of one who has been dead for six years! Two knights in plate armour, covered with black surcoats, advance first, followed by a troop of horse; next a long train of priests follow, one of whom bears a veiled crucifix, and others massive wax lights, while they chaunt a solemn dirge for the dead; then is borne a banner emblazoned with the Royal arms, surmounted by a Ducal coronet, and then follows the coffin, raised upon a lofty car drawn by seven horses, and covered by a canopy of black, powdered, with crowned initials in silver; but the most conspicuous ornament of this car, is the figure of an angel in silver placed in front of it. Does this express a hope that he whose body it overshadowed had obtained a crown immortal? Not so; but that had he lived he would have worn an earthly crown-that of England; for it is the remains of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, who was slain at the battle of Wakefield, that are now being transported from St. John's Priory, at Pontefract, to their final burial-place at Fotheringay. But who follow as chief mourners? Two brothers, the one tall and exceedingly handsome, but in whose countenance are clear indications of sensuality and sternness; the other, whose face also would have been handsome but for its villainous expression, and whose figure we can at once see is deformed, notwithstanding the drapery he has skilfully thrown around his person: the first is Edward IV., King of England; the second, Richard Duke of Gloucester, who in his turn shall be king, after he has become the murderer of that brother's children by whose side he is now riding; and as Richard III. of evil memory, shall lose his kingdom and his life on Bosworth Field. Such was one of the reminiscences of the fearful wars of the Red and White Roses; from the effects of which this country was comparatively speaking tolerably free, although one of my own name, I regret to say, proved a fearful scourge to it immediately after the battle of Wakefield, to which I have already alluded. The victorious Lancastrian army, to whom Queen Margaret had promised the spoil of all the counties south of the Trent, was under the command of Sir Andrew Trollope, whose terrible doings are thus described by the chroniclers Stowe and Speed, and the historians Hollingshed and Peck: "Andrew Trollope, Grand Captain, and as it were leader of the battle,

with a great army of Scots, Welshmen, and other strangers besides the northern men, destroyed the towns of Grantham, Stamford, Peterborough, Huntingdon, Royston, Melbourn, and in a manner all the towns by the way unto St. Alban's, sparing neither abbeys, priories, or parish churches, but bore away crosses, chalices, books, ornaments, and other things whatsoever was worth the carrying, as though they had been Saracens and no Christians. There came before them an evil fame of their behaviour to London, whose wealth looked pale, knowing itself in danger. But there was nobody who durst venture to resist their power, like a sort of whirlwind, scouring back out of the north, and seeking to involve all England in the outset of their fury—a grievous multitude passing uncontrolled here and there thirty miles wide, and like locusts, covering the whole face of the earth almost as far as London."

In the reign of Henry the Eighth, a very different procession passed over the Heath. 'Tis something like a bridal party, rather than a funeral, that now appears on an early August day, when the short scanty herbage of the heath is embrowned by the heat, and its distant undulations are apparently quivering beneath the rays of the sun, the very rabbits with which it abounds so plentifully, declining to appear upon its surface until the shadows of its scattered bushes and numerous ant-hills begins to lengthen as the day draws on. And now a blaze of scarlet flashes forth to add to the heat of the scene, for fifty men in short coats of that brilliant hue, trimmed with black and gold, advance on horseback with grand halberds in their hands. Then follow other personages glittering with jewels, and then come a most remarkable pair-the one upwards of six feet in height and bulky beyond proportion, is mounted on a steed of commensurate size; his features were probably once good, but now his vast expanse of face is scarcely relieved by his short light-red hair, and although his complexion is naturally exceedingly fair, his face at present is of one uniform deep rosy hue, for he is exceedingly hot, and his steed fully sympathises with him in that respect. His vest is of white satin slashed and puffed, and rich with embroidery of gold and small pearls his short coat is of murrey-coloured velvet, edged with minever round his neck is a wide jewelled collar of immense value, and on his head is a flat black velvet cap, ornamented with a curling white feather and a cluster of diamonds. His expression indicates a strong will and an imperious temperament, but his face is now beaming also with unmitigated delight as it turns towards his companion, who is in every respect his opposite. It is a pretty but a very little lively lady in her first youth, who might well be the daughter, but really is the wife of him who rides beside her. A semicircle of large pearls edges her head-dress in front, and this terminates behind in a veil of silver gauze that floats over her shoulders her tightly-fitting robe is of blue satin, decorated with single diamonds round the top, in conjunction with golden embroidery; her hanging sleeves are trimmed with minever, and round her neck is a collar of the purest pearls, interspersed with great diamonds. The large man, I need perhaps scarcely say, is

:

Henry VIII., the little lady, Catherine Howard, who has been his fifth wife for just a year. Henry is now on his way to York, for the purpose of meeting his nephew, the King of Scotland. He has held a Council at Sleaford, he will dine at Temple Bruer, in the half-ruined buildings of the old chivalrous order of the Templars, and he will enter Lincoln still more brilliantly habited, as will the Queen. After a while he will again cross the Heath on his return, coming from the residence of Wymbish, of Nocton, to this place, where he will receive the Portuguese Ambassador; but within six months that young gay smiling wife of his, on whom he now gazes with such rapture, will find a grave within the precincts of the Tower, for at his own desire her head will have been struck off, and she will have shared the same dreadful fate that was experienced by one of her predecessors-Anne Boleyn.

cause.

And now let us suppose that another century has passed away, and let us look upon a third cavalcade crossing the Heath towards Lincoln, but from a different point, namely, Grantham. First a single trooper appears in a steel cap, back and breastplates, mounted on a thick-set steed; then two more; and next half-a-dozen trumpeters, to whose instruments are attached small banners embroidered with the Arms of England and France. But who is he that now advances? A personage of middle size, but commanding mien and handsome features; on either side of whose pale lofty brow, and melancholy features, terminating in an auburn pointed beard, hang waving curls of dark brown hair until they rest upon his rich lace collar; his person is nearly covered by a large black velvet cloak, relieved only by one glittering ornament on the left shoulder, but when this envelope partly opens, a still more brilliant decoration is seen beneath, hanging from his neck by a wide blue ribband. It is Charles I. on his way to Lincoln, for the purpose of interesting the people of this county in behalf of the Royal Let him then pass by-let his few attendant nobles follow -let the captain of the guard with his suit of half-armour and his sword drawn, trot on; let his troopers two after two follow him, with their steel caps glittering in the sun, and let us mark the issue of the King's mission. The citizens of Lincoln will profess to be loyal, but next year their loyalty will be sorely tried-the war between the Parliament and King Charles will have begun, when Lincoln will declare for the former, and Grantham for the latter! Then the Parliamentary Commissioners will hurry over the Heath to seize the Grantham Corporation plate, and bands of their party will follow for the purpose of plundering such gentlemen's houses as may be supporters of the Royal cause; when poor Mr. Dymocke's house, at Metheringham, will meet with peculiar attention at their hands, because he is the Royal Champion, and every thing in it, down to the poor cook's working dress, will be carried off. But a change ensues; Grantham has been seized by Colonel Cavendish for the King, where he is joyfully received, and Belvoir Castle is occupied by Sir Peregrine Bertie; in vain does the Parliament party send a detachment across the Heath from Lincoln, under Major Drake, for he is forced to retire, and is imprisoned on his return on account of his failure;