Notes and Queries, Number 73, March 22, 1851 | Page 7

interesting desideratum in historical genealogy, by contributing a pedigree, authenticated as far as practicable by dates and authorities, and including collaterals, of OWEN GLENDOWER, from his ancestor Griffith Maelor, Lord of Bromfield, son of Madoc, last Prince of Powys, to the extinction of Owen's male line.
All Cambrian authorities are, I believe, agreed in attributing to Owen the lineal male representation of the sovereigns of Powys; but I am not aware that there is any printed pedigree establishing in detail, on authentic date, his descent, and that of the collaterals of his line; while uncertainty would seem to exist as to one of the links in the chain of deduction, as to the fate of his sons and their descendants, if any, as well as to the marriages and representatives of more than one of his daughters.
I have in vain looked for the particulars I have indicated in Yorke's Royal Tribes of Wales; in the Welsh Heraldic Visitation Pedigrees, lately published by the Welsh MSS. Society, under the learned editorship of the late Sir Samuel Meyrick; and in the valuable contributions to the genealogy of the Principality to be found in the Landed Gentry and the Peerage and Baronetage of Mr. Burke,--a pedigree, in other respects admirable, in the Landed Gentry of a branch of the dynasty of Powys, omitting the intermediate descents in question.
S. M.
Meaning of Gig-Hill.--Can any of your readers favour me with an explanation of the following matter in local topography? There are two places in the neighbourhood of Kingston-on-Thames distinguished by the name of Gig-Hill[3], although there is no indication of anything in the land to warrant the name.
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Are there any instances to be met with where the place of punishment by the stocks or pillory in olden times, was known by that name?
There was a king of Brittany who resigned his crown, and obtained the honours of canonisation as Saint Giguel, in the seventh century. St. Giles, who died about the sixth century, might, perhaps, have had some connexion with those who are traditionally believed to have been punished on the spot; that is, if we judge by his clients, who locate themselves under the sanctity of his name as a "Guild" or fraternity in London.
There is, however, a curious use by Shakspeare of the word gig. It occurs in Love's Labour's Lost, Act V. Sc. I.:
Holofernes says,
"What is the figure?"
Moth. Horns.
Holofernes. Thou disputest like an infant. Go, whip thy gig."
I submit this matter, as local names have often their origin in religious associations or in proverbial philosophy.
It has been suggested that giggle, as a mark of the derision to which the culprit was exposed, might so become corrupted.
If the term be connected with the punishment, it would be, doubtless, one of general application. The smallest contribution will be thankfully received.
K.
[Footnote 3: [One of these places, namely, that on the road from Kingston to Ditton, is, we believe, known as Gig's Hill.--ED.]]
Sir John Vaughan.--In the patent under which the barony of Hamilton of Hackallen, in the county of Meath, was granted on the 20th of October, in the second year of the reign of George I., to Gustavus Hamilton, he is described as son of Sir Frederick Hamilton, Knt., by Sidney, daughter and heiress of Sir John Vaughan, Knt.; and that the said Dame Sidney Hamilton was descended from an honourable line of ancestors, one of whom, Sir Will Sidney, was Chamberlain to Henry II., another of the same name Comptroller of the Household to Henry VIII., &c., &c.
Can any of your genealogical friends inform me who the above-named Sir John Vaughan married, and in what way she was connected with the Sidneys of Penshurst, as the pedigree given by Collins contains no mention of any such marriage?
The arms of Sir John Vaughan, which appear quartered with those of Hamilton and Arran in the margin of the grant, are,--Argent, a chevron sable between three infants' heads coupled at the shoulders, each entwined round the neck with a snake, all proper, thereby intimating his descent from the Vaughans of Porthaml Trêtower, &c., in the county of Brecon.
J. P. O.
Quebecca and his Epitaph.--
"Here lies the body of John Quebecca, precentor to my Lord the King. When his spirit shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, the Almighty will say to the Angelic Choir, 'Silence, ye calves! and let me hear John Quebecca, precentor to my Lord the King.'"
Can any of your correspondents inform me who John Quebecca was, and where the epitaph may be found?
E. HAILSTURE.
A Monumental Inscription.--Near the chancel door of the parish-church of Wath-upon-Dearne, in Yorkshire, is an upright slab inscribed to the memory of William Burroughs. After stating that he was of Masbro', gentleman, and that he died in the year 1722, the monument contains the two following hexameters:--
"Burgus in hoc tumulo nunc, Orthodoxus Itermus, Deposuit