the time of the Conquest, when it was granted to Ranulph de Mortimer in reward for his important services, Wigmore had been the head of the famous Barony of the Mortimers, Earls of Marche, and was reputed one of the most ancient Honours in England, having twenty-one manors that owed suit to the HonourCourt, holden there once every six weeks. All the land wherein these manors lay, is called Wigmore-land and had two constables; it gave too its name to one of the Hundreds of our county. No doubt the men of Lucton, Yarpole, and Croft were led to Mortimer's Cross by Sir Richard Croft from that old border castle which stood, according to family tradition, on the top of Croft Ambrey from the Saxon times, and no better site than the Ambrey for a border keep could be found. The following is an account of this battle by Hall in his Chronicle of 1548 and 1550, and taken from the edition of 1809, p. 251:-"The Erle of Marche, so commonly called, but after the death of his father, in dede and in right very Duke of Yorke, byeng at Glocester, heryng of the death of his noble father, and lovyng brother, and trusty frendes, was wonderfully amased, but after cofōrt give to him, by his faithful lovers and assured alyes, he removed to Shrewsbury, and other townes upon the river of Severne, declaryng to them the murder of his father, the jeopordye of hymnselfe, and the unstable state and ruyne of Realme. The people on the Marches of Wales which above measure favored ye lynage of the lord Mortimer, more gladly offered him their ayd and assistence, then he it either instantly requyred, or hartily desired, soo that he had a puyssant army, to the number of xxiii M., redy to go agaynst the quene, and the murderer of his father. But when he was settyng forward, newes were brought to him, that Iaspar, Erle of Pembroke, halfe brother to Kyng Hery, and Iames butler, Erle of Ormond and Wylshyre, had assembled together a great number, both of Welshe and Irysh people, sodainly to surprise and take him and his frendes and as a captive to convey him to the quene. The Duke of York, called Erle of Marche, somewhat spurred and quickened with these noveltyes, retired backe, and mett his enemies in a fair playne, nere to Mortimers Crosse, not farre from Herford east, on Candlemas Day in the mornyng, at which tyme the sunne (as some write) appered to the Erle of March, like iii sunnes, and sodainly joined all together in one, and that upō the sight thereof, he toke suche courage, he fiercely set on his enemies, and the shortly discōfited: for which cause, men imagined, that he gave the sunne in his full brightness for his cognisance or badge. Of his enemies were lefte dead on the ground iii M & viii C. The Erles of Pembroke and Wilshyre fled, and Syr Owen Towther, father to the sayd Erle of Pembroke, which Owen had married Kyng Henrie's mother, with David Floyde, Morgan ap reuther, and divers other, were take and behedded at the citie of Herford." It needs not to give any details of the Battle of Mortimer's Cross, as the summary of an excellent paper on the battle by Mr. Flavell Edmunds has already appeared in our Transactions, in Volume 1870, pp. 1-3. Moreover, a more detailed copy is to be republished. We must not fail, however, to draw attention to the Battle Field Oak, which for near a thousand years "has braved the battle and the breeze." The Battle Oak stands not more than two hundred yards from the Mortimer's Cross Inn, close by the Blue Mantle Cottages, at the opening to Hereford lane, which is indeed a portion of the old Roman road. The tree is probably, it has been said, "the only one remaining on the field of battle which was there on that 'bloody Candlemas Day' (February 2nd, 1461), so glorious for Herefordshire, which placed the young Lord of Wigmore upon the throne, and was so fatal to the Lancastrians. The tree occupies about the centre of the Lancastrian position, and may, therefore, very reasonably be supposed to have given its shelter to Sir Owen Tudor and his staff for the night before the battle. It now forms the boundary mark of the four parishes of Kingsland, Lucton, Aymestrey, and Shobdon, and may certainly be said to figure on more legal documents than any other tree in the county. It has a circumference of 14 ft. 2in., is quite hollow, and for the most part dead, though it has still living branches to the north and east." I am sure I shall be pardoned for drawing the special attention of the members of the Woolhope Club to this glorious old oak, and repeating this notice of it which they will find in the same Volume of Transactions, 1870, p. 307. We cannot but rejoice that this noble monument of past times still lives and flourishes, yea, bears fruit. But time hastens to destroy even what man would spare; and within our own recollection, and the life-time of our fathers, how many of the most aged and venerable trees have fallen beneath his scythe and more wait but the "little sickle of a moment" to cut them from the roll of things that are. Than a tree, a grander child earth bears not. To forests of immeasurable extent, Which time confirms, which centuries waste not? So venerable! 'twere sacrilege t'escape The consecrating touch of Time. Time saw Of goat and deer, the schoolboy's knife, and sprang years, Time gave it seasons, and Time gave it A tomb for centuries; and buried there The epochs of the rise and fall of states, The memory of man. -Amanitates Querneœ. BATTLE FIELD OAK, OR GOSPEL OAK, AND BLUE MANTLE This oak tree being a boundary tree of the four parishes of Kingsland, Lucton, Aymestrey, and Shobdon, may also be called a "Gospel Oak." No doubt portions of the Gospels and Psalms have been read under its boughs when the Parishes went "beating the bounds." The accompanying representation of the Battle Field Oak is taken from the south-west aspect. It is reproduced by permission from a photograph by Mr. Went, of Wigmore, and it also shows the south end of the two Blue Mantle Cottages which are situated about two hundred yards south of Mortimer's Cross Inn. At Mortimer's Cross-roads is a milestone which gives the following distances in miles:-London 146, Leominster 6, Presteign 8, Ludlow 10, Tenbury 13, Hereford 17, Aberystwith 75. An ordnance bench-mark on the milestone indicates, on reference to Map XI, N.E., an elevation of 320 3 feet. No satisfactory explanation can be given as to the origin of the title “Blue Mantle" to these Cottages. Mr. George W. Marshall, Rouge Croix, a member of our Club, in reply to my enquiries does not think it at all likely that the Blue Mantle Cottages would have anything to do with the Pursuivants of the name. He adds that probably Thomas Franche, or else his predecessor Coller, Gent, held that office at that period-no more can be found by reference to Noble. I have also enquired, without any success, from Edward Bellasis, Esq., |