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ears next day.

He ordered the skull to be returned and the rest of the remains buried. Young Thomas Dable also saw it. Mr. Leaf, Schoolmaster, is now dead. My father, William Locking, perfectly recollects this circumstance, and my coming home saying that I was frightened at the skull with its teeth."

At this meeting of the Society, in the Church, a letter was read from Mr. George Beaumont, of East Bridgford, protesting against the continued desecration, and expressing the opinion that the coffin should be reinterred.*

A description of the Thoroton coffin, of the inscription near the chancel door, and of other points of interest, was given by Mr. John T. Godfrey, for a full account of which we refer our readers to the author's reprint, entitled-" Robert Thoroton, Physician and Antiquary."

The accompanying views of Car Colston Church are from photographs respectively taken before and after the restoration of the Church in 1882.

From Car Colston a short drive brought the party to Screveton, a village little visited, lying, as it does, like Car Colston, off the main road, but full of interest from its association with the Whalleys, one of the most remarkable of Nottinghamshire families. At the Church they were received by the rector, the Rev. W. E. Bury. The Church, which is dedicated to St. Wilfrid, is interesting from the variety of its styles of architecture. It consists of a nave, with north and south aisles, south porch, western tower, and chancel, on each side of which was formerly a chapel. There are evidences of an earlier Church on the same site, the principal being the respond at the east end of the south arcade of the nave, and

* On the 27th of June, 1874, the writer visited this Church and made the following note of what was then told him on the spot :-" At the west end of the north aisle is Dr. Thoroton's coffin: it was found about 20 or

30 years ago, just outside the chancel. There were some large bones found in it, which were placed in a smaller stone coffin, found at the same time by the side of Dr. Thoroton's, and supposed to be his wife's, It measures 7 feet 3 inches. At the time of its discovery it was 'washed

out.""-W.P.W.P.

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ASTOR, LENOX AND TLDEN FOUNDATION

the beautiful Norman (transition) Font, dating about 1170, pointing to a Church of some importance as early as the middle of the 12th century. As regards the present one, the chancel was built probably soon after A.D. 1200, but was much altered at some distant period, when the eastern wall was rebuilt, the chapels removed, and the arches of communi

[graphic][merged small][subsumed][merged small]

cation built up. The north aisle was built next-about the middle of the thirteenth century-and has some sixteenth century insertions at the east and west ends. Early in the fourteenth century the arcades of the nave were rebuilt, and the south aisle, if not at the same time, soon after, and later on the east window of this aisle was inserted. Between the latter and the adjoining window of the south aisle, a piscina

The tower

Remains

was recently discovered, in perfect preservation. was the last addition, late in the sixteenth century. of some of the original fittings were found, e.g., a chancel stall end-after which those recently erected have been modelled— and a beautifully-carved "miserere," which has been introduced as the seat of the priest's stall on the north side. There is, too, a good specimen of the parish chest, probably three hundred years old, of somewhat unusual length. There are in the church several slabs to the Thoroton family, one of them dating back to 1751. In the south-east corner is an incised effigy, which the villagers have defaced by adding their names. In the tower (formerly in the chancel) is a large monument in the Renaissance style, consisting of an altar tomb, surmounted by the recumbent effigy of a gentleman in a complete suit of plate armour, with head resting upon helmet bearing the crest of the Whalley family-a whale's head erased and having a whale at his feet. Along the edge of the slab sustaining the effigy, the following inscription is carved in relief:

bere lyeth Richard Wballaye, esquire, who lived at the age of 84 years, and e’ded this life the 23 of Move’ber, 1583.

This Richard Whallaye had no less than five and twenty children, and spent the latter part of his life at the family seat of Screveton, known as Kirketon Hall. His last wife, Barbara, erected the monument, one of the finest in the county, to his memory. Whallaye was a steward of the Lord Protector Somerset, in the time of Edward VI., and shared in the vicissitudes of his patron. Amongst his descendants was Richard Whalley, who took to the old home at Kirketon, his second wife Frances, daughter of Sir Henry Cromwell, and aunt of Oliver Cromwell. Whether the Protector ever visited his aunt at Screveton we know not, but early in the great struggle between King and Parliament, he enlisted in his service one of his cousins from the village. This was Major General Edward Whalley, "Aunt Fanny's second son," who took an active part in the Civil Wars, rose to a high position in the council

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