was counted in. If not, we have only to consider the destruction of churches at that time, and to count this into the number. That old clause in the Litany was no fictitious one, but inserted in faith and fear: E potestate Northmannorum, libera nos, Domine. The conquering Normans recked little of sacred places. His appetite and digestion were much like the Dragon of Wantley's,

"For houses and churches were to him geese and turkies."

If report be square with the Conqueror, he destroyed no less than six and thirty parish churches, in the New Forest. The truth of this has been questioned, but the extent of that splendid chase leaves little room for doubt. Churches, we know, had greatly increased, as Stillingfleet observes on these words in the laws of Edward the Confessor: "That there were then three or four churches, where there had been but one before"."

Though belonging to the See of Canterbury, the great Norman Baron had a stake in the parish of Tarring, as in the other parishes round about. "William de Braose" (" Domesday," as quoted by Mr. Cartwright,) "holds four hides of this manor, and has three in demesne, one plough and four villains, with five cottagers, having one plough and a half.” His possessions in these parts must have been enormous, as on the Saxons being spoiled, fortyone manors in Sussex fell to his lot, besides others in Hampshire and Dorsetshire. His South-Saxon residence was Brambercastle, of which the ruin still remains; his Norman, Braose, or Brieuse-castle, ten leagues from Caen, and two from Falaise".

Very little is known of Tarring in earlier days, at least very little has been brought to light as to its history, which seems to have been considered as one with that of the possessions of Canterbury. The following notice is quoted by Mr. Cartwright, from the "Rolls of the Hundreds," (supposed to be made in the year 1274,) and would seem to corroborate what is here stated. "The Jurors say that the tenants of the Archbishop, in his manor of Tarring and Salvington, were accustomed to perform suits to the hundred of Bretford, in the time of Stephen, then Archbishop, but after his time they were withdrawn, and are now attached to the hundred of Lokesfield, by what authority they know not, to

• Of the Rights and Duties of the Parochial Clergy, p. 129, vol. i. Ed. 1698. 7 See Pedigree in Cartwright, p. 174, with the History of Bramber.

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the annual loss to the king of 2s." It is observable that although Tarring was formerly a place of considerable repute, it had nevertheless no market. The charter for holding one is dated April 26, Henry VI., and Saturday is the day appointed. The reason for requiring one is curious, namely, that whilst the good people were atte the next market of Broadwater, "they that were abyding and beleyving in the said towne (i. e. of Tarring) stille in the mene while by the said enemys," (i. e. the Kynges enemys of Ffrance, Breteyne, Spayne, and other partys,) "had dyvers times ben taken prisoners and byn slayn as well the men as the women, childer, maidenes, wives, and doters therin beying and beleyving.” Broadwater is not so much as a mile distant, so that the alarm might soon have spread! Probably the market then, like the fair there now, might have had its convivial charms, and under such circumstances husbands might not have been in a condition to defend their families! No South-Saxon born is ever in a hurry to leave either Sussex pudding, or Sussex ale!

"Nos numerus sumus, et fruges consumere nati

Sponsi Penelopa, nebulones, Alcinoique

In cute curandâ plus æquo operata juventus"!"

Old Latimer, one might think, derived the story following from the South Downs: "A good fellow on a time bad another of his friends to a breakfast and said, 'If you will come, you shall be welcome; but I tell you aforehand, you shall have but slender fare, one dish, and that is all.' What is that?' said he. 'A pudding, and nothing else." 'Marry,' said he, you cannot please me better; of all meats, that is for mine own tooth; you may draw me round about the town with a pudding'."

The present title of the Benefice is, "Patching cum Terring." Patching was annexed in 1767 to the Vicarage, but it appears that it was a chapel belonging to the church of Tarring, as early as 1238. The Rectory is a sinecure in the gift of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Vicarage is also a Peculiar of Lainbeth, which, however, would appear to have been once in the gift of the Rector. But I may pass over the page, as what is contained

8 Hor. i. Epist. ii. 27.

9 Third Sermon before King Edward VI., p. 45. Ed. 4to. 1575. Black Letter.

in it was more or less made mention of when we were speaking of the Old Rectory House, or, as it is more commonly called, Thomas à Becket's Palace.

There was formerly a Chantry here, dedicated to the Virgin. The only remnant of its existence is to be found in a barn and a field, the one called the Chantry-barn, the other the Chantry-field. The earliest notice of it which had come to Mr. Cartwright's knowledge, "is in the Register of Archbishop Peckham, who issued a precept to his Chaplain, John de Slyndon, dated in May, 1282, to inquire into the state of the Chantry, then vacant, what was its endowment, and to whom the presentation belonged. The return to this precept is not given. But it appears by a final concord in 1313, that William atte Field, and Agnes his wife, granted to Walter de Peckham, nephew to the Archbishop, and then Rector of Tarring, the presentation to this Chantry." The last notice of it is in a return in the augmentation office, 36 Hen. VIII. It is there stated that there had been no incumbent for forty years. At present neither Rector nor Vicar have any glebe lands, (that on which the old rectory barns stood is not worthy the name,) and it would be curious to know whether or not they are under any obligation to the Walter de Peckham just mentioned, who is stated, when parson of Tarring, to have sold in 1328 to "John de Montgomery, and Rosa his wife, one messuage, one mill, forty-two acres of arable, two acres of meadow, and 5s. rent in Tarring." Probably, however, this chantry followed the fate of others. Two reasons were assigned in the Preamble to the Act of 1547, Edw. VI. One was, "for the dissolving of superstition which chantries were found to be great occasions of;" the other, "for the founding of schools of learning, and providing for the poor." But it fared with this parish as with countless others, no school was founded, neither were the poor enriched. Strype gives some extracts from a sermon of Thomas Lever's on this subject, sometime Fellow, afterwards Master of St. John's College, Cambridge. "These," he said, "were all sold, taken, and made away. The King bore the slander, the poor felt the lack. But who had the profit of such things, he could not tell. But he knew well, and all the world saw, that the Act made by the King's Majesty and his Lords and Commons of his Parlia

ment, for maintenance of learning and relief of the poor, had served some as a fit instrument to rob learning, and to spoil the poor 1."

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ALETHES.

Excuse my interrupting you. I am not aware of any remnant of the Chantry in the present fabric. Is there such, or is any ruin traceable? The Chantry, you know, was usually attached to the Mother Church.

EUBULUS.

It is remarked by Staveley, that if the model of "country churches be observed, very often some additional building, or excrescence appears, differing from the old, or first fabrick, erected and used for these Chantrys "." But there is no remnant here whatsoever. The chancel was in fact the chantry too. But you are well aware that all chantries were not necessarily separate the chantries, for example, of William of Wykeham, Cardinal Beaufort, and Bishop Waynflete in Winchester Cathedral, are between the massy piers of that splendid pile. Staveley, above quoted, states that there were no less than " forty chantrys in St. Paul's."

ALETHES.

seven and

No doubt Chantries were abused as Monasteries were, but I could no more approve of the indiscriminate destruction of the one than of the other, and I could as little accede to what Mr. Wright says in his Preface to "Three Chapters of Letters relating to the Suppression of Monasteries." But proceed, Eubulus, with what is left.

EUBULUS.

The Church of West Tarring, were but the gallery taken down, and the nave thrown open, would be one of the most spacious ones hereabouts. It is of ancient but not of uniform date, and

1 See Strype's Memorials Ecclesiastical of King Edward VI., vol. ii. part i. p. 101. Strype's own words are: "This Act was soon after grossly abused, as the Act in the former King's reign for dissolving religious houses was. For though the public good was pretended thereby, (and intended too, I hope,) yet private men, in truth, had most of the benefit, and the King and Commonwealth, the state of learning and the condition of the poor, left as they were before, or worse." P. 100. 2 See Staveley's "Romish Horseleech," p. 191. Ed. 1674.

3 Printed for the Camden Society. 1843.

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4

dedicated to St. Andrew. The nave with its beautiful clerestory and lancet windows is of the age of Edward I., as are also the north and south aisles. The roof has never been lowered, and as the old proportions are thus retained the height of the nave is very imposing. The chancel and tower date later, and are of Edward IVth's time. The former is separated from the nave by folding doors, and an old screen. Within are three stalls on either side. The old Misereres also, with their grotesque carvings underneath, remain as they were. North and south there are oak seats likewise, but without stalls or Misereres. The Altar is railed in and raised, with steps up to it, anciently called the Grees, Grice, or Gradus Chori 3—which escaped the levelling system of the day. The altar-stone was probably taken down when others were in the Diocese of Chichester. This Order of Council was in 1551, for Strype records that altars remained in many churches a good while after Bishop Day's deprivation for refusing to take down all altars within his diocese, and in lieu of them to set up a table, implying in itself, as he took it, a plain abolishment of the altar, both the name and the thing, from the use and ministration of the Holy Communion." Terring being a Peculiar of the Archbishop of Canterbury's, was not likely, on the present occasion, to be an exception to the general rule. Sometimes the stone slab is to be found laid down, like a grave stone, on the floor, but I have looked in vain for it here. Within the rails is a Piscina in perfect repair, and in the usual position, but no remnant of an Aumbrye'. Many also of the old encaustic tiles are still discernible, but for the most part the decoration is worn off. I wish I may see it paved afresh! I have no superstition on this head, and when I hear some saying it is, as it were, to tread the Cross under foot, I cannot but call to mind our noble cruciform Cathedrals whose courts I love to tread! I must not omit to add that the east window of the Chancel is excellently proportioned and very beautiful. At a trifling expense this part

♦ “Misericordiæ, Sellulæ, erectis formarum subselliis appositæ, quibus stantibus senibus vel infirmis per misericordiam insidere conceditur, dum alii stant. Nostris Misericordes vel Patiences."-Du Cange in v.

5 "Grice" is the spelling in Shakspeare. See Nares' Gloss. in v.

6 See Strype's Memorials of Edward VI., vol. ii. part i. p. 482, and part ii. p. 59. 7 Another Piscina and an Aumbrye has recently been opened in the east wall of the south aisle.