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by those of Cardiff is primarily addressed to him, and tested by him.-(See Recital in Charter of Confirmation to Burgesses of Neath, 20 Richard II.)

As William de Cardiff is said in the Black Book of the Exchequer to have held of "the new feoffment" of William Earl of Gloucester half a knight's fee in Wales, as well as a whole one in England, it is probable that more than one grant may have been made, otherwise thirty pounds, "30 libratæ terræ," of land, or thirty score of acres, (600 acres,) seems too much for the service reserved, and thirty acres, according to another computation, too little. The former will agree with the old estimate of 1200 acres in the parish, as a moiety would thus have been granted. According to Spelman, who assimilates the acre of 160 perches to the mark of 160 pence, the amount of land granted would be far less. It seems more reasonable to take the solidus, or shilling, to stand for the unit, and thus twenty acres will be represented by the pound, or "Librata," not of rent, but of weight(see Ducange); but the difficulty, without an examination of the abuttals mentioned in the original deed, must remain unsolved.

We will now inquire further into the circumstances and date of this grant as bearing on the endowment of Newton Church.

. II. The bull of Honorius II. obtained by the persevering piety of Bishop Urban, 19th April, 1128, proves that the property of the Welsh Church had been shamefully plundered. The foundation of Neath Abbey in 1129, of Ewenny Priory in 1141, and of Margam Abbey in 1147, show that the Prelate's exhortations, backed by such authority, were not delivered in vain. William, Earl of Gloucester, who alludes feelingly to the loss of his only son in his foundation charter to Keynsham Abbey (circà 1166,) seems to have aided much in re-establishing the secular or parochial clergy. Henry Thufard, the clerical founder of St. James' Church at Pyle, was probably much aided by the Earl's munificence, and in the present case as his descendants shared the patronage

of the church of Newton Nottage with those of the De Cardiffes, it is probable that this nobleman contributed his share to its erection and endowment.

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Gwrfan Escob v Landaf," says the Iolo MSS. p. 221," a wnaeth Lansanffraid fawr, ag Eglwys y Drenywydd yn Nottais," but whether "Gwrfan means Bishop Urban or Gwrgan, there seems no reason to suppose that more than cordial co-operation, and perhaps some small portion of land for which an acknowledgment is still paid to the Archdeacon of Llandaff, should be understood by these words of the Welsh Chronicle. It is however plain that the substantial part of repentance, restitution, was not overlooked even in those dark days. Though not recorded as a co-founder of Newton Church, Sir Richard de Cardiff appears to have given a rentcharge on lands in England to Ewenny, and a Matilda De Cardiff was a benefactress of Margam Abbey. The names of Hugh, and his sister Constance, of this early branch, are also recorded.

The gift of a gold ring by Richard de Lucy to William Earl of Gloucester, and Hawisia his wife, enables us to ascertain that "Richard de Cardiff," called "Senescallus," or Dapifer, (who witnessed it, together with Almeric Montfort, their son-in-law,) was then (23rd March, 1159,) in attendance on the Earl or Consul of Gloucester, and as Bishop Gwrgant died in 1183, before the Earl, we may venture to assume the interval between these dates for that of the first building of Newton Church. The rude workmanship of the stone pulpit, still remaining, may have been of almost any age, but the subject, the flagellation of our Lord, was most popular and exciting at a time when the Crusades were vigorously preached, and formed very probably the subject of the ardent exhortations of the two prelates who were brothers of Earl William, and doubtless encouraged him in church building.

Amable, sole daughter of Sir Richard de Cardiff, carried with her the property at Newton to Sir Thomas de Sanford, whose sons, Richard and Warner, succeeded.

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Jordan seems to have been a name common to the two families, and was derived from the east. According to the Cawdor MSS., Sir Thomas had two other sons, Maurice and Robert Sanford.

THE DE SANFORDS.

The industrious research of Mr. Foss in his Judges of England, vol. ii. p. 117, has thrown much light on the career of this eminent lawyer. "Sir Thomas de Sanford. The first mention of his name," says Mr. Foss, "is in 5th John (1203), where it occurs in Mr. Hunter's List of Justiciars before whom fines were levied (Fines of R. I. and John)." He was present probably as an officer of the Treasury of the Exchequer. A mandate is directed to him (13 John) to deliver 40,000 marks, fifteen gold cups, a crown, and other valuable articles in his custody, to two persons therein named. In the 17th year of King John, he is quitted of 66 sacks of money which were in the Treasury at Corfe, and which ought to contain 9,900 marks.—(Rot. Pat. John, 61, 110, p. 48). By the Rotuli Misæ, (11 and 14 of John,) he appears to have been in personal attendance on the king,-to have had the custody of Malmsbury Abbey,-and to have been Governor of the Castle of Devizes, and Custos of the forests of Chippenham, Melksham and Braden.-(Rot. Misæ, 112, 113, 137.) In the 14th of King John he was sent to Flanders, and had the scutage of his lands granted to his son Jordan to support him whilst beyond sea. The manors of Kening, Potern and Lavington, formerly of Saher de Quincy, were granted him in conjunction with Geoffrey de Nevill, and ten "dolia" of good wine.-(Rot. Claus. 141, 123, 230, 263.) He was one of the pledges for the curious payment of 200 hens, which the wife of Hugh de Nevill offered to King John for one night of access to her husband.-(Madox Exchequer, 1, 471.)

It will obviate doubt as to the identity of this distinguished judge with the de Sanford of Newton, to state that he had a son named Warnerus, (as well as Jordan,)

ARCH. CAMB., NEW SERIES, VOL. IV.

who is recorded to have been admitted to his Wiltshire property, and to have succeeded him (6th of Henry III.) as Custos of the forest of Braden.

In the confirmation of the charter of Neath Abbey (9 John), it is recited that "Thomas de Sanford" had given up, on payment of two shillings, rent paid him for fifty acres at the Black Sker, and one acre and a half on the sea shore. These lands might have been the additional gift of Earl William, which he made after that of his father, Robert the Consul, to Neath, of the first portion of Sker.

SANFORD WELL.

We must not quit the De Sanfords without recording that St. John's Well, about half a furlong below the church, received from them its ancient name of "Sanford's Well," nor is it improbable that its low circular tower may have been built by them. Vestiges of several houses may still be traced between the churchyard and this well, and part of the waste to the east of the church in the direction of the glebe field, was formerly called Twmpath y Parsondy. It seems, therefore, as if the new town or vill had been first built under the shelter of the limestone rocks called the Clevis, till its inhabitants were driven northwards by the overwhelming increase of drifted sand.

Although the hand of modern repair may readily be detected on close inspection, still the weather-beaten round tower above the basin, and the large stones roofing the rude gallery of shallow steps going down to the spring, give something of an eastern and primeval look to Sanford Well. It had its patron saint, and erroneous stories of its daily ebb and flow, in direct contrariety to that of the sea, have been long and widely circulated.

The peculiar appearances were closely observed in May, 1841, and may easily be verified. Not only the bottom of the well, but the general level of the water, is below high water mark on the beach, where it finds an outlet into the sea at the distance of about one-third of a

mile; from the circumstance of the fall from the bed of the well, over the red clay which underlies the sand, being very slight and gradual, and the outlet of the spring on the shore being midway between high and low water mark at ordinary spring tides, the following results arise: -When the tide has been coming in for about four hours, and the vent of the spring has been some time stopped on the shore, the rising sea water gradually banks up and drives back the fresh, and the basin of the well, which has been draining out for many hours, begins to fill again, if empty, or the water begins to rise, if low. These effects do not cease when high water mark is attained on the beach. The level of the water in the well is so much under that line that it continues rising from the continued stoppage of the outflow until the tide has been ebbing for about three hours, and the outlet of the spring has been unclosed on the beach. When this is clear, the well begins to sink, and continues doing so till there has been three hours' flow of the next tide, hence a partial reciprocity. In rainy weather, and at neap tides, these phenomena are much less obvious, as the causes are obviously less operative. In accordance with these facts, during the summer, and when the supply from the upper part of the spring is unusually scanty, the well becomes dry for an hour or two after low water on the shore; the villagers are therefore obliged to watch the flow of the tide, and to let the well water which rises through what they call the "nostrils of the well" rise and settle a little, before they go down to draw it. I noticed, on the 20th of May, 1841, the level of the water had risen one foot four inches in two hours, viz., from an hour before to an hour after the highest of the evening tide. The "both with tides, and both with different move”—

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Namque æstus utrique est,
Continuo motu refluus, tamen ordine dispar"-

of Sir John Stradling in his letter to Camden, had not a little poetical exaggeration in it. Still it is interesting to observe the effect when the action of the cause has

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