the east by Chiswick, Acton, and Twyford; on the west
by New Brentford, Hanwell, and Greenford, and is situated
about seven miles west of London (Marble Arch). The
parish, in its ancient undivided state, was about three miles
and a half from north to south, and two miles one furlong
from east to west, and about thirteen miles in circum-
ference. It contains about 3,800 acres, according to the
parochial survey. Twenty-six acres of land lying in the
parish of Chiswick, formerly belonged to Ealing. Norden,'
writing in 1593 of the "soyle and fertilitie" of the district,
says: "The soyle is excellent fat and fertile, and full of
profite: it yealdeth corne and graine, not only in aboundance,
but most excellente good wheate.
The veine of this
especiall corne seemeth to extend from Heston to Harrow-
on-the-Hill. It may be noted also how Nature hath exalted
Harrow-on-the-Hill, which seemeth to make ostentation of
its situation in the Purevale, from whence, towards the time
of harvest, a man may beholde the fields round about so
sweetely to address themselves to the sickle and sith,
with such comfortable aboundance of all kind of graine,
that the husbandman who waiteth for the fruits of his
labours cannot but clap his hands for joy to see this vale so
to laugh and sing." He quaintly adds, "Yet doth not this
so fruiteful soyle yeeld comfort to the wayfairing man in
the wintertime, by reason of the claiesh nature of the soyle:
which, after it hath tasted Autumn showers, waxeth both
dyrtie and deepe. But unto the countrie swaine it is as
a sweet and pleasant garden in respect of his hope of future
profite, for-

"The deepe and dirtie loathsome soyle
Yeelds golden gaine to paineful toyle".

"The industrious and paineful husbandman will refuse a palace to droyle in these golden puddles

1 Speculum Britanniæ.

. . it seemeth

they onlie covet to maintaine their ancient course of lyfe, and observe the husbandrie of their fathers, without adding anything to their greater profite."

To go back to Saxon times-and the supposition that Ealing was a Saxon settlement is strengthened if not established by (a) its name; (b) an ancient manor in the parish; (c) and possibly traces of a Saxon church. Ealing was certainly unpleasantly near some skirmish or conflict at Hanwell, beween the East and West Saxons, during the long struggle for supremacy, which, A.D. 827, ended by Ecgberght's dream of a national sovereignty being realised for a brief period. Mr. Allen Brown, in his delightful Chronicles of Greenford Parva, gives the following interesting account of a discovery which bears upon this:-"A few years ago, when some labourers were digging gravel at Hanwell, they discovered the remains of skeletons, evidently those of three or more warriors, as their iron spears were found with them: they had been buried 'with their martial cloak(s) around them,' ie., with coarsely-woven hemp garments, fastened over the breast with round bronze fibulæ, or brooches. The fibulæ were of the saucer pattern peculiar to the West Saxons.' They are thickly plated with gold, carved with very pretty characteristic designs. The richness of these ornaments indicates that the wearers had been persons of some note."

Ealing, however, had an earlier existence than that of Saxon times, though under what name and form of occupation is lost to history. Convincing evidence of Roman localisation has come to light within recent years, by the disinterment of "fragments of Romano-British cinerary urns, Samian ware, and portions of a Roman lagena". These were found at the "Mount," Ealing, in 1889, and are now in the collection of Mr. John Allen Brown. Some two years

1 Dart's History of Westminster Abbey, vol. i, p. 12.

after the discovery of these ancient relics, a rare gold coin was found, not far from the same spot, of which a most interesting description appears in print.' The coin is of considerable importance to numismatists, being held to be one of a class of coins which were in use in this island before the Roman invasion (B.C. 54). The type is rarely found in England, but a description of it appears in Sir John Evans' Ancient British Coins. It is of nearly pure gold, weighing I dwt. 4 grains, the symbols on it being of Greek, not Roman, origin. From the learned article already alluded to it would seem that the coin is of Macedonian parentage, and probably dates back to 150 or 200 years before the Christian era.

1 See The London and Middlesex Notebook for March, 1891. "Discovery of a rare gold coin at Ealing", Mr. Allen Brown.

CHAPTER II.

Memorials of the Old Parish Church.

Earliest Historic Notice of Ealing.-Magister Scholarum.-Vicarage and Glebe.-Grant to Gerard de Aylesbury.-The Old Church.— Inventory of Church Property in 1552.-Some Churchwardens' Difficulties. Parliamentary Survey of 1650. - Theological Troubles.-Illustrious Divines.

--

E have seen that from time out of mind the Bishops of London have been Lords. of the Manor of Ealing. But the first mention of the place that remains to history, so far as is known, is during

the episcopate of Richard de Belmeis, who was Bishop of London from 1108 to 1128. Richard was the immediate successor of that Maurice, "the king's clerk", who was chosen to London at the Domesday Survey Council. In the time of Maurice, St. Paul's Cathedral, built by Ethelbert in 597, was burnt down, and Maurice laboured diligently to restore it. Still more zealous in the work of re-building was Bishop Richard. Newcourt, who had the custody of the records and muniments of the diocese of London from 1669 to 1696, writing of him, says: "He purchased whole streets near his Cathedral church, where laymen dwelt, pulled down the houses for a cœmetery, or churchyard, and near enclosed the same with a wall." King Henry I showed his royal

approval of his chaplain's energy by a command "that all those ships that brought stone to the church should be free from toll and custom"; and, as a further mark of favour "the king granted him all great fish that might be thenceforth taken within the precincts of his lands": no insignificant gift in those days.

Not content with the great work of re-building the cathedral, Richard de Belmeis bestirred himself to increase the literature or "Grammar Learning" of his people, and to do this the better he founded what is now the Chancellorship of St. Paul's. In olden days the Chancellor was called Magister Scholarum, because under this dignitary's control and governance was the "grammar learning, not only of the church, but of the whole city", where all the teachers of grammar are " to be subject to him". In addition to acting. as scribe for the Chapter and keeping the seal, the Master of the Schools was enjoined to "take care that the lessons be well and distinctly read in the choir, to teach those that are ignorant in that kind, to encourage those that do well and to correct those that do not". Also, "when the Bishop reads the last lesson, he is to hold the book to him". It is in the endowment of this office that we find the earliest existing notice of Ealing. The tythes of Xelling and Madeley-both places being in the possession of the Bishop-are appropriated by him for the purpose. Newcourt gives the following account of this grant: "To the Master of this School of St. Paul's (namely) one Hugh, and to his successors in that employment, the first Richard de Belmeis by his charter, granted the Habitation of Durandus, at the corner of the Turret or Clochin Tower, where William, Dean of St. Paul's, had placed him by the said Bishop's command, together with the custody of the library belonging to this church. To this Hugh, Henry, a canon of the same Bishop's, that had been brought up under the said Hugh, succeeded, and to