125 Wiltshire Notes and Queries. James Shepherd, the youth who was executed in 1718 for high treason, in having offered in a letter to Mr. Heath, the non-juring clergyman, to assassinate George the First, always professed to have imbibed his Jacobite sentiments at the school in Salisbury where Dr. Hinchcliff had placed him. It appears to have been a school celebrated as the favourite asylum for the youths of such parents as favoured the Pretender. Is any thing further known of this school, of its masters, or of its alumni? J.W. CHARLTON PARK.-The following instance of presence of mind occurred in 1773, when Lord Suffolk was adding the east front to the old house. As Mr. Darley, the surveyor of the works was examining the roof, he lost his footing, and fell off. In the progress of his descent, he caught hold of the corner of a window, sixteen feet below the point from which he fell. The shock dislocated his shoulder, but he kept his hold and worked himself in at the window. When the men came to his assistance, they found that he had also broken his leg at the ancle, in such a manner, that the great bone protruded through the skin. Mr. Dewell, the surgeon of Malmesbury immediately attended him. J.W. WILTSHIRE DURING THE CIVIL WARS; or, a Political, Military, and Domestic History of this County, during the Stuart controversy, embracing a period of one hundred years, that is to say, commencing with the outbreak of the war in 1640, and terminating with the Rebellion of 1745. This, which has already, in part, appeared in the Wiltshire Independent, J. Waylen proposes to re-publish in a thick imperial octavo, with additions, and illustrated with numerous engravings; price not to exceed a guinea. Subscribers' names to be sent to Mr. N. B. Randle, or Mr. H. Bull, of Devizes. In furtherance of such a scheme, the loan of, or privilege of access to, original documents, such as warrants, inquisitions, parish entries, and private letters, will be esteemed a favour, and will be duly acknowledged. When the paper on which old documents are written is much creased, carefully press a warm iron over it, and draw out the creases. If a parchment document be creased, dip it in cold water, pull out the creases, and place it quite flat under a board with a weight upon it, and keep it there till it is dry. If the ink with which any document has been written, whether on parchment or paper, has become so pale as to render the document illegible, wash it with a solution of tannin made thus Tannin, one drachm; water, one ounce: add a little spirits of wine to keep it from getting mouldy, and keep it well corked. If a document be torn and all the writing be on one side, paste it very smoothly on paper, but if there be writing on both sides, at or near the torn part, repair it with gold beater's skin, stuck on by gum arabic dissolved in water. F. A. CARRINGTON. THE WHITTLEGATE. In the year 1823, I was told by the Rev. H. J. Todd, who had been one of the Chaplains of King George the Third, and was then Librarian to the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace, and Rector of Settrington, a valuable living in Yorkshire, that as Rector of that Parish he had a right called a Whittlegate. This he said was a right of dining at the house of each inhabitant householder in his Parish one week in every year, but he must take his own knife, nothing being said as to a fork, as forks were not used in this country till long after the existence of the right of Whittlegate. The Parish of Settrington, in which Mr. Todd had this singular right, is a Parish containing 5,540 acres of land, and in the year 1831 there were in it 131 inhabited houses, 40 occupiers of land who employed labourers, 34 tradesmen and master workmen, and 5 professional and well educated men. When the right was first established, the place had probably a much smaller number of inhabited houses. The Rev. gentleman also further informed me, that from his residing at Lambeth Palace he could not exercise this right as he should have liked to have done, but was paid five shillings a year by each householder in lieu of it. The term Whittlegate is manifestly derived from the two words whittle a knife, and gate going; we have now a long knife to cut beef called a Sheffield whittle, and "gang your gate" for go your way, is a common expression in Scotland. I was informed by Mr. Todd that he knew of several Clergymen in the north, who in respect of the livings they held, had the right of Whittlegate. Does any such right exist in Wiltshire ? F. A. C. 128 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE MUSEUM AND LIBRARY. The Committee feel great pleasure in acknowledging the receipt of the following articles, presented to the Society: By the late Mr. DAVIS, Chippenham.-Portrait of Robert Elliott of Chippenham; painted by Provis. By the SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES, London.-Vols. I. and II., and Nos. 37 to 43 of their Proceedings, being a complete set to the present time. Also a list of Fellows for 1855. By the REV. VAUGHAN THOMAS, B.D., Corpus Christi College, Oxford." A Memoir of the Rev. Samuel Wilson Warneford, LL.D., late Rector of Bourton-on-the-Hill, and Hon. Canon of Gloucester and Bristol." 1 vol., large 8vo., 1855. The following alterations in Rule IV. were decided on at a special meeting of the Society, held in the New Town Hall, Chippenham, on Monday, September the 10th, 1855. IV. Members shall have the privilege of introducing friends to all meetings of the Society, in such numbers, and on such terms, as the Committee for the time being, may fix at a preliminary meeting. H. BULL, Printer, St. John Street, Devizes. The Great Bustard: By the Rev. A. C. SMITH.. PAGE 129-145 164-177 On the Self-Government of Small Manorial Communities, as exem- Account of a Barrow on Roundway Hill near Devizes, opened in April, 178-181 By 182-184 1855: By Mr. W. CUNNINGTON, F.G.S... 185-188 Sheriffs of Wiltshire: By the Rev. J. E. JACKSON 189-235 Devizes Seals: By Mr. EDWARD KITE.. 236-238 Font in the Church of St. George, Preshute: By Ditto.. 239 Pilgrims to Rome from the County of Wilts, A.D. 1504: By Ditto.. 241 242 Foster of Marlborough, with Pedigree: By the Rev. JOHN WARD. The Despencers' Estates in Wilts: By J. WAYLEN, Esq.. On "Carduus Tuberosus:" By T. B. FLOWER, Esq.. Contributions to the Museum and Library. 244 245 249 251 252 ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE The Great Bustard 129 Tumulus, with fallen Cromlech, near Littleton Drew.. 164 172 Seals of Devizes.. 236 Font in the Church of St. George, Preshute, Wilts.... 239 DEVIZES: HENRY BULL, SAINT JOHN STREET. LONDON: BELL & DALDY, 186, FLEET STREET; J. R. SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE. |