these notes, at the commencement of the eighteenth century. I may, however, append the names of Sheriffs of Flintshire of our family from the reign of Henry the Eighth to that of George the Third, which I have found in an old catalogue of the Sheriffs. I do not know why they should begin with King Henry the Eighth, for there were Sheriffs of Flintshire from the establishment of the county, in King Edward the First's time, but perhaps they were differently appointed. From the date of this list in 3rd Sheriff. 36 " 14th 20th 30th 1543. Sir Thomas Hanmer, Knt. was 82nd " I am reminded, also, that I have very slightly alluded to Hanmer Church, the chief monument of our parish, and a centre for its inhabitants in life or death: one way or another they most of them come round it. But I am not sufficiently acquainted with ecclesiastical architecture to descant on its peculiarities or its merits, and can only speak of it in general terms as a simple and graceful building of the Tudor reigns. It was not completed till the last of them, for one of the upper stones of the tower bears the date of 1570, which was 12th-13th of Elizabeth, and the chancel was not erected till after the time of Queen Anne.1 1 It was built in 1720, in the succeeding reign. Before then there was a chancel of oak frame-work; the materials were taken away by one Probert, Sir Thomas's steward, who erected some cottages with them on his own account, which being neglected till many years afterwards, William Hanmer of Iscoyd purchased them back again, in 1753; hence they went to the family of his daughter, Mrs. Curzon, in whose time they were converted into the Royal Oak public-house. I had the satisfaction to become ultimately the owner, and to pull it down. I sometimes hear observations about Queen Anne's Gothic, but it has a character not to be disregarded of its own, and to me the chancel seems a light and well-ordered place, where the power of seeing the sun shine through the long windows is so far from detracting from, that on the contrary it rather adds to true solemnity, at least, it may do so, according to the temper of our minds.1 Those two verses of Penseroso, "Storied windows richly dight, Casting a dim religious light," are answerable for a great deal of muddle in churches at this day. The dedication of the church was to St. Chad, and we continued in the diocese of Sanctus Ceadda, or Lichfield, till the Reformation, when we were transferred to Chester, and in these days to St. Asaph; but through all the changes St. Chad, who is a frequent patron of holy wells, has kept one for himself in a meadow close by, and though it has rather suffered, but without intention, at my hands, from drainage near the mill-pool, a large volume of water could easily be collected there again. We still warn the neighbourhood with the curfew, and up to the 1 "Dans ton âme tranquille, où le jour vient d'en haut." CC VICTOR HUGO. time of the Tithe Commutation Act the clerk was paid in corn for ringing it. Our Welsh churchyards, as we read of them occasionally, did not quite correspond with the ideas of Gray's Elegy, nor with the grave and tranquil epitaphs, such as "Moult est etroite ma meson," of ancient times. There was the place, as is shown particularly by Lord Herbert of Cherbury, where neighbour drew draughts against his neighbour, and waylaid him in the paths where he was like to come. There may be more than the parson's sheep about them even now. However, I do not remember any such story applicable to ourselves; on the contrary, when the mere at Hanmer is bright and full, and the sun lights up the cottages, and the wind comes softly from the water, and, as not unfrequently is the case, the organ inside may be heard through the south door, a more peaceable and beautiful prospect than that which is thus presented cannot be beheld, and it is improved by a tall grey stone cross, which, to the credit of our forefathers, has outlasted the Puritan times. The church is in good repair, and it has had some modern gifts presented to it. It was greatly purified, as Pisistratus purified Delos,' by removing 1 Thucydides, lib. iii. sect. 104. the sepultures that were within it,-not altogether, for those who were engaged in the operation, like the Athenian, did not quite complete it: this was done about thirty years ago. The ceiling of the north aisle, repeated in a portion of the southern one, is, I suppose, the most artistic and symbolical member of the fabric. In its triangles and circles and pentalphas primæval mysteries are involved. Under those on the south side yet droop the funeral banners of this house; but some have fallen to pieces, poles and all. In the chancel is the cenotaph of Chief Justice Lord Kenyon, who is buried outside near the tower, and there are a few other monuments. The bells, six in number, have the advantage of the neighbourhood of the mere, and they make good music over it; but they are not, so far as I am a judge, very remarkable in themselves; they have not a name among them, and the inscriptions are common-place and dull. It is not interesting to know that "T. R.' of Gloucester re-cast this bell," nor to read a rhyme worthy of Sternhold and Hopkins on another, while "Prosperity to this Parish," though a formula capable of more refined applications, may at 1 I believe, Rudhall. |