SIR JOHN BORROUGH, KT., GARTER, AND RICHARD ST. GEORGE, KT., CLARENCIEUX.

TOGETHER WITH

The Gatherings of Oxfordshire,

COLLECTED BY RICHARD LEE IN

1574.

EDITED AND ANNOTATED BY

WILLIAM HENRY TURNER.

LONDON:

1871.

At a Meeting of the Council of the HARLEIAN SOCIETY, held at 8, Danes Inn, London, W.C., on the 16th day of March, 1871, the HON. HENRY ROPERCURZON in the Chair, it was resolved that

"The VISITATIONS OF OXFORDSHIRE IN 1574 AND 1634, to be edited by WILLIAM HENRY TURNER, be one of the Publications for the Present Year."

Preface.

THE present volume comprises the Church Notes and Visitation of the County of Oxford taken by Richard Lee, Portcullis, and Deputy of Robert Cooke, Clarencieux, in the year 1574; the Visitation of William Harvey, Clarencieux, in 1566; and the Visitation taken in 1634 by John Philpott, Somerset, and William Ryley, Bluemantle, Officers and Deputies of Sir John Borrough, Knight, Garter, and Sir Richard St. George, Knight, Clarencieux, Kings of Arms.

The first portion (pp. 1-118), containing the notes made by Lee during his progress through, and while engaged in his Visitation of, Oxfordshire, has been transcribed from an original manuscript preserved in the Bodleian Library among the Wood collection, numbered 14 D.

It is a small quarto MS., in Lee's own handwriting, who has described it on the first page as being 'The Gatherings of Oxfordsher, Anno 1574.' It was formerly in the possession of Ralph Sheldon, of Beoly, Worcestershire, from whom (in accordance with his will) it descended with other books to Anthony à Wood, who has paged it from 1 to 125, and added at the end a rough index of the places mentioned.

The arms are rudely tricked, and the pages throughout are interspersed with genealogical notes and notices of arms on monuments, in churches, and in the windows of the manorial houses of the County gentry whose pedigrees are enumerated in the Visitation. In arranging this volume for the press, great difficulty has been experienced, both on account of the crowded and indistinct drawing of the charges of the shields as well as the position of the writing belonging to the several coats. This difficulty has caused a repetition of words in the arrangement, which was thought necessary in order to avoid the possibility of a mistake. In every instance Lee's notes have been printed in black letter, and all additions to the original manuscript have been placed within brackets. The pages 20, 21, 30, 39, 41 to 48 inclusive are blank, and one coat of arms only is tricked on p. 40, without any note from whence it was obtained or to whom it belonged.