Grain and Chaff from an English Manor | Page 5

Arthur H. Savory
PHIPPS.
_£ s. d._ 1 musket and bayonet.................................. 0 0 1 cartridg box at..................................... 0 3 6 1 belt at............................................. 0 5 0 for 1 scabard and cleaning y^e blad and blaking y^e hilt.................................... 0 3 6 ------- 1 12 0 (On the back.) Three days pay........................................ 0 7 6 half A pound of pouder................................ 0 0 8 for y^e muster master ................................ 0 0 6 for listing money..................................... 0 1 0 for drums and cullers................................. 0 3 0 ------- 2 4 8 Thos Rock Con^{ble} 0 12 8
(IN) A TRUE ACCOUNT OF Y^e CONS^{BL} OF ALDINGTON CHARGES FOR Y^e YEARE 1716/5 NOV. Y^e 7 & 8 1715 Y^e CHARGES FOR ATENDING AS CONS^{BL}
_s. d._
bringing in y^e Train souldiers....................... 3 0 spent when y^e soulders whent to Worcester............ 1 6
One can picture the scene in the little hamlet as Thomas Rock collected his forces at the gossip corner; the little crowd of admiring villagers and the martial bearing of the one recruit, as with "cullers" flying and drums beating he marched away, followed by the village children to the end of the lane.
William Tindal, in his _History of Evesham_, 1794, records the fact that in 1790 Aldington belonged to Lord Foley, but history is silent as to local events from that date until modern times, when, in the first half of the next century, the Manor became the property of an ancestor of the present owner. There is a tradition that the Manor House was a small but beautiful old building, with a high-pitched stone-slate roof and three gables in line at the front; but these disappeared, the pitch of the roof was reduced, and about 1850 the modern part of the house was added at the southern extremity of the old structure.
As the neighbouring parish of Wickhamford is referred to in connection with Badsey and Aldington several times in these pages, it may not be out of place to give the following inscription on the tombstone of a member of the Washington family. It is particularly of interest at the present time, more especially to Americans, and it has not, as far as I am aware, previously appeared in any other book.
INSCRIPTION
ON THE TOMBSTONE LYING ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE ALTAR, IN THE PARISH CHURCH OF WICKHAMFORD, NEAR EVESHAM, IN THE COUNTY OF WORCESTER, ENGLAND. M.S.
PENELOPES Fili? perillustris & militari virtute clarissimi Henrici Washington, collonelli, Gulielmo Washington ex agro Northampton Milite prognati; ob res bellicosas tam Angl: quam Hibernia fortiter, & feliciter gestas, Illustrissimis Principib: & Regum optimis Carolo primo et secundo charissimi: Qui duxit uxorem Elizabetham ex antiqua, et Generosa prosapia Packingtoniensium De Westwood; Familia intemeratae fidei in principes, et amoris in patriam. Ex praeclaris hisce natalibus Penelope oriunda, Divini Numinis summa cum religione Cultrix assidua; Genetricis (parentum sol? superstitis) Ingens Solatium; Aegrotantib. et egentib. mira promptitudine Liberalis et benefica; Humilis & casta, et soli Christo nupta; Ex hac vita caduca ad sponsum migravit Febr. 27 An. Dom. 1697.
[_Translation_]
INSCRIPTION
ON THE TOMBSTONE LYING ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE ALTAR, IN THE PARISH CHURCH OF WICKHAMFORD, NEAR EVESHAM, IN THE COUNTY OF WORCESTER, ENGLAND. M.S.
Sacred to the memory of
PENELOPE,
daughter of that renowned and distinguished soldier, Colonel Henry Washington. He was descended from Sir William Washington, Knight, of the county of Northampton, who was highly esteemed by those most illustrious Princes and best of Kings, Charles the First and Second, for his valiant and successful warlike deeds both in England and in Ireland: he married ELIZABETH, of the ancient and noble stock of the Packingtons of Westwood, a family of untarnished fidelity to its Prince and love to its country. Sprung from such illustrious ancestry, PENELOPE was a diligent and pious worshipper of her Heavenly Father. She was the consolation of her mother, her only surviving parent; a prompt and liberal benefactress of the sick and poor; humble and pure in spirit, and wedded to Christ alone.
From this fleeting life she migrated to her Spouse, _February 27, Anno Domini. 1697_.

CHAPTER II
.

THE FARM BAILIFF.
"If a job has to be done you may as well do it first as last." --WILLIAM BELL.
The labourers born and bred in the Vale of Evesham are mostly tall and powerful men, and mine were no exception; where the land is good the men compare favourably in size and strength with those in less favoured localities, and the same applies to the horses, cattle, and sheep; but the Vale, with its moist climate, does not produce such ruddy complexions as the clear air of the Hills, and even the apples tell the same story in their less brilliant colouring, except after an unusually sunny summer. In the days of the Whitsuntide gatherings for games of various kinds, sports, and contests of strength, the Vale men excelled, and certain parishes, famous for the growth of the best wheat,
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