Correspondence.

WINDSOR,
21st January, 1892.

SIR,-May I be permitted to add the following notes to Mr. Rutland's able address reported in the last number of the Berks Archæological Society. "Leland states that Maidenhead was denominated Alaunodunum, and also observes it was of old time called "Sowth Elington."

The town is situate on a Roman road, but whether it existed during Roman period seems uncertain.

The name "Elyndene" is found in the Court Roll of Bray and Cookham between 1333 and 1454. The town is called Elinton for the last time in the Bray Court Roll, 1296.

The name formerly spelt Maydenhuth in Bray Court Roll, 1288 to 1395, is supposed by Lyson and Gorham to be derived from "Maiden" (signifying "New") and "hythe" (a wharf). The word "Maiden" is used as we speak of a "maiden" speech. Personally I prefer Mr. Rutland's derivation. It is spelt in the Bray Court Roll as " 'Maydenhith" from 1432 to 1500, and as "Maidenhead" from 1500.

The old chapel was erected by the family of Hosebund about 1270, and re-built 1724. It stood in the roadway of the main street, and was re-built (where it now stands) in 1824.

The oldest Memorial Tablet bears date 1663. The Communion Plate is dated 1657 and 1727.

The Cookham Court Roll mentions Galfridur as Chaplain, 1395. (Richard II.) The Chapel became a benefice 1726, and Chas. Millar was the first Chaplain who received institution from the Bishop.

Yours obediently,

A. H.

The Quarterly Journal

OF THE

Berks Archæological and Architectural Society.

HE first Summer Excursion was held on Wednesday, June 1st, 1892, when a visit was paid to the Site of the Ancient Palace of the Bishops of Salisbury, at Sonning, and to the adjacent Church of St. Andrew's. A valuable paper was read on "The Early History of the Sarum Bishopric," by the Rev. J. M. Guilding, F.S.A., and an interesting account of the Parish Church given by the Ven. Archdeacon Pott. By the kind invitation of the Rev. H. and Mrs. Golding-Palmer, of Holme Park, the Society was entertained at afternoon tea. A large number of members were present, and the expedition was in every way successful. The thanks of the Society are due to the Rev. H. and Mrs. GoldingPalmer for their kind hospitality, and to the Ven. Archdeacon of Berks and the Rev. J. M. Guilding, for their instructive papers upon the antiquities of Sonning.

During the present month it is proposed to visit the ancient town of Newbury; notices of this excursion will shortly be issued.

Ꮮ

The Fairfaxes, of Hurst.

By Rev. C. W. Penny, M.A.

IN the village of Hurst, just opposite the south porch of the venerable church, and separated only by the road from the churchyard, is a picturesque, time-worn, redbrick building of two storeys, well known as The Almshouse, or Barker's Hospital. Over the front door, upon a white stone, under some carved scroll work, now much weather worn, and a shield which propably once displayed the Barker coat-of-arms, is cut the following inscription :

This Hospitall for the

Maintenance of Eight Poor Persons,
Each at 6d Pr. Diem for ever, was
Erected and Founded in ye Year, 1664,
At the sole Charge of
WILLIAM BARKER,

of Hurst, in the County of
Wilts, Esqr.,

Who dyed on ye 25 of March, 1685,

And lyes buried in the South Chancell of this Parish.

Henry Fairfax, Esq., His Nephew & Heire, M.P.

In which inscription it may perhaps be well to remark that the last two letters stand for "monumentum posuit," that is, "erected this memorial."

Who was Henry Fairfax, of Hurst?

In his charming little guide-book-"A Few Words about Hurst" —the late Vicar of Hurst, the Rev. Archibald Cameron, has fallen into an error as to the identity of Henry Fairfax, of Hurst. He says (p. 37): "The only surviving daughter, and consequently the heiress of Henry Barker, whose tomb we have described, was married to Henry Fairfax, second son of Lord Fairfax, the great leader of the Parliamentary Army, second only to Cromwell himself." And Mr. Cameron goes on to moralise upon the varied and

distracted feelings, by which the little village of Hurst must have been agitated in those stormy days, with the Fairfaxes of Hurst Lodge at one end and the Windebanks of Haines Hill at the other end-families at the opposite poles of the political compass, while Reading was being besieged by the Parliament, and the first and second battles of Newbury were being fought in our own county, "besides the more distant but bloodier battles of Marston Moor and Naseby, in which Lord Fairfax was a leader, and in the first of which he was wounded."

No doubt the village of Hurst in those troubled times was divided, like the rest of England, between Cavaliers and Roundheads, who sided with King or Parliament. But it is at least doubtful whether these Fairfaxes belonged to the latter faction. Unhappily for Mr. Cameron's suggestion, Thomas, the third Baron Fairfax, the 'Great Lord Fairfax,' as he is sometimes called, the great Parliamentary General, had no son. He left an only daughter, Mary, who married George Villiers, second Duke of Buckingham, the dissolute and profligate heir of the Favourite of the two first Stewart kings. And therefore Frances Barker could not have been his daughter-in-law.

Henry Fairfax, who married Frances Barker and inherited Hurst Lodge in right of his wife, was the father of the Henry Fairfax, who erected the memorial stone over the front door of William Barker's Almshouse. He was buried at the east end of the north aisle of Hurst Church, and the monumental slab which covered his grave may still be seen there.

Hurst Church is no exception to most of the churches of this district. It has been restored and so darkened by modern stained glass that it is almost impossible, except on a very fine, sunny forenoon, to read an inscribed stone, especially if it is set in the floor. Even then it is necessary to kneel down and bring the eye quite close to the slab, and sometimes even to feel the letters, so bad is the light in that particular corner. The difficulty in this case was increased by a huge, unsightly, deal painted case, too heavy to be shifted, which at present stands upon the slab and effectually conceals from view the initial words of each line of the inscription. By the aid of Ashmole's Antiquities of Berks, who, however, is not always to be trusted, I am able to give the following epitaph :Here lyeth the body of Henry Fairfax,

Second Sonne of Thomas Viscovnt

Fairfax, of Emely, in Ireland, who married

Frances only davghter of Henry

Barker, of Hurst, Esq: by whome hee

Had two Sonnes and one Davghter, (vix.) (sic)

Henry, John and Frances.

Hee dyed

The 4th day of Jvly, Anno. Dni., 1650.

Being the 50th Yeare of his Age.

I am not sure of one word in the above inscription. Ashmole gives Viscount Fairfax, of Ernely '; Burke in his Landed Gentry gives of Elmley.' I, owing to the above-mentioned deal case, could only read the last two letters. -ly.' I see there is a village in Yorkshire named 'Elmley or Emley'; and there is the well-known Irish See of Emly, in Ireland, of which Archbishop Magee was once Dean, but which was suppressed in 1872. I believe, however, that it will be found that it was from the Irish village that Viscount Fairfax took his title.

At the top of this epitaph is sculptured a very elaborate coat-ofarms for Henry Fairfax himself; at the foot is his wife's lozengeshaped scutcheon. The tinctures of course must be sought for elsewhere; but, as near as I could make it out, the following is the coat of the husband. Quarterly of eight: 1, Three Bars gemelles, surmounted by a lion rampant (Fairfax); 2, A Chevron between three mules' heads, erased; 3, Barry of eight, on a canton a Cross Patonce; 4, A Cross; 5, A Bend; 6, A Bend; 7, A Chevron between three martlets; 8, Fairfax, as before, with a crescent for difference. In Ashmole's time there was fastened to the wall above an atchievment with nearly the same coat-of-arms emblazoned upon it, from which, if necessary, some of the tinctures may be learned. At the foot of the epitaph is the wife's coat, viz. Fairfax, as above, with a crescent for difference impaling Barker. This last coat is Quarterly-1 and 4, Per chevron nebulée, or. and sa. a lion rampant, counterchanged; 2 and 3, Per fess, sa. and arg., three tilting spears erect, counterchanged, with a crescent at the central point for a cadency.

It will be seen, therefore, that while the first Henry Fairfax of Hurst was indeed the second son of a Thomas, Lord Fairfax, he was not the son of the Parliamentary General. His father was the first Viscount Fairfax, of Elmley or Emely, in the peerage of Ireland; whereas the 'Great Lord Fairfax,' also Thomas, was the third Baron Fairfax, of Cameron, in the peerage of Scotland, a totally distinct creation.