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The Supposed Residence of the Ancestors of Milton the Poet.

See.p.9.

1820.] Pyrton Manor House, and Milton, co. Oxford,

Mr. URBAN,

THE

Hollyport, Jan. 1.

Mr. URBAN,

HE maxim has, I believe, been frequently acknowledged, nor do I expect it to be disputed, that a circumstance trifling in itself, may by an alliance to a great subject, become a matter of interest to the world. Under this impression, the following extract from the Register Book of Marriages at Pyrton in Oxfordshire, relating to the patriot Hampden, may not, perhaps, unjustly claim a place amongst more valuable iuformation communicated in your widely-circulated Publication; and I think will not be unacceptable to your Readers; especially as the knowledge of such trifles is frequently of infinite service to the Historian, in affording facts of undisputed authority, by means of which to ascertain the date or truth of others more mo'mentous.

“1619, John Hampden of Hampden, Esq. and Mrs. Elizabeth Symeon, daughter of Mr. Edward Symeon, of Pyrton, was married the 24th June, in the 17th year of King James."

The family of this celebrated man still reside at their mansion in the village from whence they have assumed their appellation.

I

Milton, Jun. 2.

SEND you some account of Milton in Oxfordshire, a place which, from associations connected with it, is not wholly unworthy of the atten'tion of the Antiquary. The principal part of my information I have derived from the manuscripts of the Rev. Thos. Delafield, a former vicar of this place, a gentleman to whose antiquarian researches this part of the county of Oxford is deeply indebted. Upwards of 20 quarto volumes in his own hand-writing, supported by au thorities, and adorned with well-executed drawings of the arms of the families mentioned in them, now remain in the Bodleian Library, a monument of his industry and perseverance.

Milton, or Middeltone, as it is styled in Domesday Book, is divided into four hamlets; of these Great Milton alone possesses a place of public worship, though it appears from various evidences, that a chapel of ease formerly existed at Little Milton. "There joyneth to Great Milton, Little Milton," says Leland," and there is a chappel of ease dedicated to St.James;" of ground in Little Milton, called the and as a further proof, in a small plot Chapel heys, fragments of human bones have frequently been dug up.

The Symeons, who are of interest The circumstance, however, which only as having been connected to the former, lived at the Manor House in history of this place is that of its bemust give the greatest interest to the Pyrton. Whether they were posing the residence of the ancestors of sessed of the manor or not, I am not informed. The house is still remaining; it is antient of course, but in a fair condition, and is occupied by a very respectable family of the name of Badcock, as a farm-house.

The sketch sent herewith (see the

Frontispiece to the present Volume), shows its present state. I understand that it has been modernized within the memory of some people now living.

There is an antient Bust in the Hall, supposed to be that of the Patriot; but I think the features are coarser than any likeness I have seen of him.

The village of Pyrton is about four miles from Chalgrove Field, where Hampden was wounded; he was brought to Pyrton immediately in his way to Hampden, till proper conveyance was procured for him.

Yours, &c. HENRY WALTER. GENT. MAR. January, 1820.

our immortal Poet of the same name. It is much to be lamented that there are no records precisely fixing what part of his family lived there, or how many descents removed from him. The Registers do not any where conficiency may be easily accounted for, tain the name of Milton, but that dehaving probably quitted the parish from the circumstance of the family previous to their commencement, Poet, we learn, was born in Breadwhich was in the year 1550. The father, a scrivener, while his grandstreet, in 1608, at the house of his Forest, which at that time extended father was the keeper of Shotover therefore, that the grandfather and very near to Milton. It is probable, his ancestors, then and previously, were possessed of the estate and mansion in that parish. The house which has been always assigned as the pater

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nal residence of the Miltons, is now standing; and in size and consequence appears well adapted to a gentleman of moderate fortune at a time when that description of gentry were more common than at present.

I have herewith sent you a small Drawing of this house (see the Frontispiece of the present Volume); although this cannot be proved to have been the residence of the family, yet the traditions to that effect are so strong and numerous, that there can be little doubt of the truth of the essential fact.

The remains of antiquity in this Parish are not very considerable. Dr. Plot, in his Natural History of Oxfordshire, has described a British coin of Prasutagus, the husband of the heroic Boadicea, which was dug up at Little Milton, (C. 10. S. 6. Tab. 15. No. 21.) and we learn by Stey. Antiqu. Abridg. that a certain grange of the Benedictines at Abingdon stood on the South side of the Church at Great Milton, about or previous to the year 1272; which is further corroborated

by Leland, who says, "at this place I have heard say, there was many years since a Priory of Monks, a cell, as one told me, to Abbington Monastery. The house of the Priorie was by likelihood where the farmer's house is now, hard by the churchyard, for there appears great foundations of buildings; some say that Monsieur de Zouche's house was where this farm-house is, and the voyce is that Zouche had the Priorie land given him."

The earliest possessors of this parish, of whom we have any authentic account, are the De Zouche's, whose residence was that mentioned by Leland, who, further speaking of this family, says, " in the Church of Milton is an highe tombe of freestone, with the image of a knight and ladye, with an epitaph in French, declaring that Rich. de Zouche and Helene his wife lie buryed there." This tomb has long since disappeared, nor can any account be obtained of its removal. From this family descended William de Zouche, who left two daughters his heirs, of whom Elizabeth married Thomas de Camois, who in her right succeeded to the manor, together with that of Wheatly, an adjoining parish. They had issue a son, Richard, who died in the life-time of his father, leaving

issue a son, named Hugh, who at length succeeded to the estates, and was summoned to Parliament from the 7th year of Richard II. till the 8th of Henry V. 1421. This Manor was then styled Lamois Manor. Au anecdote may be recollected of one of this family, who, in the reign of Edward I. sold his wife by a regular indenture of bargain and sale. This Manor subsequently passed to the Danvers's, from them to the Bray's, and afterwards to Sir Michael Dormer. This gentleman, the son of Geoffrey Dormer, a woolstapler of Thame in this county, was elected Lord Mayor of London in the year 1541; and was succeeded in this property by his son Ambrose Dormer, who died in the year 1566. His eldest son Michael received the honour of knighthood, and erected the sumptuous monument at the East end of the South aile of the Church. The alabaster figures of the knight in complete armour and that of his lady, are recumbent upon an altar of the finest marble; pillars of the same material support a canopy over their heads, the sides of which are adorned with different escutcheons of the family, and four sculptured figures of Death, of about a foot in length, are disposed at each corner. The whole is executed with considerable taste and skill. The son and heir of this gentleman was Sir Robert Dormer, Sheriff of Oxfordshire in 1628, who died Aug. 17, 1649. The eldest son of Sir R. Dormer was Wm. Dormer, Esq. who rebuilt the family residence, situate in the hamlet of Ascot, with great splendour, but which was burnt to the ground by an accidental fire, which took place while the workmen were completing the interior. This William Dormer, says Wood, went to Uxbridge Fair in 1683; and on his return died at High Wycomb, “having (to use his own quaint expression) then and before taken too much of the creature, whereupon he was brought to Milton and buried." He married one of the daughters of Edmund Waller, Esq. of Beaconsfield (the Poet), and had by her four

children.

Sir Michael Grene purchased the Manor of Great Milton of Sir Michael Dormer in the year 1588; and the terrier, attesting a composition of immemorial standing between the

1820.] Illustrations of Cambrian History and Antiquities.

vicar and the farmers of the rectory,
was drawn up in the year 1632, and
signed among others by this gentle-
man. He sold this Manor in his life-
time to the Lord Keeper Coventry.
With the exception of Chilworth, the
united manors of this parish are now
the property of John Blackall, Esq.
Yours, &c.
E. E.
(To be continued in our next.)

ILLUSTRATIONS OF CAMBRIAN HIS-
TORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
Ceubren yr Ellyll.

A FEW years ago was to be seen

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on the road-side near Nannau, in Merionethshire, the seat of Sir R. W. Vaughan, Bart. M. P. a large hollow oak, known by the name of the Spirit's blasted Tree" (Ceubren yr Ellyll). The event which gave rise to so ghostly an appellation, is preserved by tradition among the moun tain peasants in this part of Merionethshire, and founded on a deadly feud that subsisted between the celebrated wild, irregular Glyndwr *,' and his kinsman Howel Sele, then resident at Nannau. When Owen took up arms against the English, his cousin Howel, who possessed great influence in the country where he lived, declined to embrace a cause which, though perhaps laudable, and somewhat conformable to the rude spirit of the times, he foresaw would be unsuccessful, and bring down upon his country increased rigour and oppression. His refusal provoked the choleric Chieftain, and laid the foundation of an enmity which, though not immediately conspicuous, was not the less inveterate. I transcribe from Pennant the result of their quarrel :

"Owen and this Chieftain had been long at variance. I have been informed that the Abbot of Cymmer Abbey, near Dolgellen, in hopes of reconciling them, brought them together, and to all appearance effected his charitable design, While they were walking out, Owen observed a doe feeding, and told Howel, who was reckoned the best archer of his day, that there was a fine mark for him. Howel

The present very respectable proprietor of Nannau is a descendant of Owen's, whose family name was Vychan, now modernized and softened into Vaughan, and not Glyndwr. He was so called from his patrimony of Glyndwrdwy, near Corwen, in Merionethshire.

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bent his bow, and pretending to aim at the doe, suddenly turned and discharged the arrow full at the breast of Glyndwr, who fortunately had armour beneath his clothes, so received no hurt. Enraged at this treachery, he seized on Sele, burnt his house, and hurried him away from the place; nor could any one ever learn how he was disposed of, till forty years after, when the skeleton of a large man, such as Howel, was discovered in the hollow of a great oak, in which Owen was supposed to have immured him in reward of his perfidy."

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This oak, the terror of every peasant for miles round *, remained in its place till within these few years, when one morning, after a very violent storm, it was discovered, to the great regret of its worthy proprietor, blown to the ground, and its superannuated vitality destroyed for ever. All that could be done with it was done. Sir Robert had it manufactured into work-tables, cabinets, drinking-vessels, and, to extend its circulation still further, into snuffboxes; these are distributed among the Baronet's friends, and highly are they valued by their fortunate possessors, not only as the gifts of a gentleman almost idolized in Merionethshire, but as the relicks of so venerable and remarkable a parent.

Margaret uch Evan.

If female worth deserves to be recorded, surely the accomplishments of Margaret uch Evan should not be passed over unnoticed. Few ladies in North Wales have attained so much renown as Margaret of Penllyn, whose abilities were by no means circumscribed by etiquette, or confined within the sphere of the general occupations of a woman. Passionately addicted to the joys of the chace, in her kennel were always to be found some of the choicest dogs in the country; and that she might not experience the torments of that fashionable monster, Ennui, she would, to use a vulgar phrase, "turn her hand to any thing." She was a boat-builder, shoemaker, joiner, and blacksmith, by *"And to this day the peasant still

With cautious fear avoids the ground; In each wild branch a spectre sees, And trembles at each rising sound." Ceubren yr Ellyll, or The Spirit's blasted Tree, a Legendary Tale, by the Rev. G. Warrington, inserted in the Notes to Scott's" Marmion."

turas;

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