1831.] Local Antiquities-Kellington. the eastern window, is composed of eight trefoil arches, sustained on pillars; in the four central ones are the usual inscriptions. The pulpit and reading-desk are alike in design, but differ in height; they are situated on either side of the centre aisle, and are octagonal in plan, and not remarkable for elegance of form. The font is octagonal; it consists of a pedestal sustaining a basin, with a quatrefoil on each side the pannelling, after the Tudor fashion. On the south side of the altar is a marble monument to the memory of Mary, wife of Benjamin-Godfrey Windus, Esq. who died Jan. 23, 1830. In addition to the principal entrance the doors in the flanks of the building communicate with small porches, except at the south-east angle, where there is a vestry. The Chapel is calculated to accommodate 415 persons in pews and 386 in free seats, making a total of 801. The first stone was laid in May, 1828; and it was consecrated on the 26th May, 1830. The contract amounted to 48937. 118. 6d. E. I. C. Mr. URBAN, Kellington, May 9. THE shafts of ridicule have never been more frequently directed, or perhaps more undeservedly, against any literary pursuit, than the study of antiquities. To spend so much time, and exhaust so much learning and ingenuity in the developement of an almost illegible inscription, to be found only on some lately dug-up stone or marble; to attempt, by the derivation of the names of places, in some measure, to discover the manners and customs of their former inhabitants, whomsoever they might be, is by many considered as the height of human folly. Yet what advantages have not occasionally been derived from antiquarian researches? Advantages which would have been utterly inaccessible by any other way. The materials to which all human records must necessarily be trusted are of a perishable nature, and must soon decay by the corrosive hand of time. Ancient coins, gems, medals, and monumental inscriptions, still, however, remain. To what extent, history, local, as well as on a more enlarged scale, of kingdoms and nations, is indebted to such elucidations, every one must necessarily : 13 know. The scripture account of the deluge has lately been very strongly confirmed and verified by many recent discoveries, not very different in their nature from such as these. We in the present day certainly enjoy a very strong and diffusive light on many subjects; but without some knowledge of antiquities, we in vain attempt to illuminate remote periods. "The rays of the sun are abundantly sufficient to guide our steps on the surface of the earth but he who investigates the subterraneous cavern must have recourse to the assistance of the lamp." Impressed with the great utility of such investigations, I venture to offer you a short and imperfect account of an extensive, beautiful, and well-cultivated district in the West Riding of the county of York. I have met with no authentic record of it whatever. It is scarcely mentioned by Camden; which may be accounted for, perhaps, as it furnishes no remarkabed memoranda of the "olden time." however, Keeling, Kellington is a small neat village situated upon a rising ground in the Wapentake of Osgoldcross, within the honour of Pontefract, from which it lies in nearly an eastern direction, equi-distant from it and Snaith, its distance being about seven miles from each. The derivation of its name seems to be involved in considerable obscurity. Permit me, to venture a conjecture. we are told by Cotgrave, is a small kind of fish, particularly of that species of which stock-fish is made. Ton, from the Saxon, it is well known, signifies a village or town situated upon a hill; hence, perhaps, its etymology, Keelington, or Kellington. The former appearance of this district, before the late inclosures, and the banking out of the rivers Aire and Calder, which are here united, may, perhaps, in some measure, tend to confirm this hypothesis. The country about being naturally low and level, was, prior to the recent improvements, frequently irrigated by the river to a considerable extent. The tide also along the Humber still flows at a very short distance from this place. In consequence, then, of those frequent inundations, and the uninclosed state of the place, the whole adjoining country presented one continued scene of almost innumerable pools of stagnant water, of various forms and dimen 14 Topography of Kellington, Yorkshire. sions, abounding with an unlimited crowd of fishes of almost every species. In short, this place seems formerly to have been, what some parts of Lincolnshire and the fens of Cambridgeshire now are, almost tenanted by the finny race. In these latter places, we are told that, even at present, fishes are taken in such abundance that they are not unfrequently used as a manure for the soil. In the memory of several of the inhabitants now living, the Dutch frequently came up the Humber to purchase eels (lampreys) as baits for fishing with, in their more extended marshes or dykes. The parish, which is of considerable extent, is now generally fertile, and well cultivated. It is divided into four quarters, or hamlets: Kellington, including Roal; Beal or Beaghall, including Kellingley; Whitley; and Eggbro'. These are severally regulated by their own vestries and laws, without interfering in any respect with each other, as if they were distinct parishes. Roal, Rowle, or perhaps anciently Roan, is situated nearest the river, and close upon a deep pool called the old Eu or Eau (water). Roan, it is well known, is the old word for the eggs of fishes, which are used as a snare to entrap several kinds. Hence, perhaps, the name of this division. Beaghall, or, as it is more commonly called Beal, was formerly much celebrated for its precocity in fruit of various descriptions, together with early potatoes, cucumbers, &c. To beal is to ripen. Beal, also, in the old Gothic, is used to denote any excrescence or protuberance of any kind. Hall, or Halls originally signified a place where laws were promulged, public meetings held, &c. and hence it came also to be applied to any market in general. The first part in Kellingley must, most probably, be applied in the same manner as in Kellington; and ley is well known to imply any portion of flat or level ground, not generally in a state of cultivation. This division of the parish was, it would seem, anciently in this state, and occasionally inundated by the river, and abounded with temporary lakes and pools, well peopled with their concomitant piscine inhabitants. Whit is used to denote any point; ley the same as before. At this place is the junction of three neighbouring parishes, viz. Kellington, Womersley, and Snaith. I should think [July, this a more probable derivation than Wheatley; as I do not find that this place is more remarkable for producing that most useful grain, wheat, than the adjoining soil on each side. What may be implied by the appellation Eggbro', or, as it is usually written at full, Eggborough, seems very uncertain. The word egg is frequently used for any sperm or offspring, and borough, in the old English, is sometimes applied to a particular kind of descent in landed property, by which it descends to the owner's youngest son; or in case of a default in issue, to his youngest brother. Whether any such custom prevailed here, 1 am unable to say. Knottingley, a very large village, adjoins this parish, and is situated also in a low level ley or plain. May not this have had its name from the place where nets were usually made (Knotting) for the purpose of enclosing the finny sojourners in the vicinity? Some writers derive its name from Knout or Canute; but upon what foundation I am ignorant. In a former number of your Magazine I ventured to offer your readers a few remarks on the antiquity and probable descent of the church, till the presentation and perpetual advowson were finally vested in the master and fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge (see vol. xcv. i. p. 213). Nothing survives to indicate the date of its foundation with any certainty. It is an old, elegant, and neat fabric, consisting of two aisles, dividing the nave into two unequal portions, by means of five columns joined at the top in the pointed style of architecture. The nave is separated from the chancel by a semicircular arch. The chancel is apparently a double one, and seems to have been built at different periods. The southern side is more properly deemed the chancel, as it is kept in repair by the college. It is separated from the other adjoining part by two arches, continued and similar to those by which the nave is divided. The interior roof of the church, as well as that of the northern part of the east end, is very curious. It is of massy wooden arches, and embellished with many a hideous carved head. the altar are to be seen niches for the purpose of containing holy water. The whole is covered with lead, except the southern side of the chancel. A very small portion, indeed, of painted Near 1831.] Topography of Kellington, Yorkshire. glass remains in one of the southern windows. At the eastern extremity of the church, which is somewhat higher than the chancel, on the outside, is a small elevation for the purpose of containing one single bell, which it is presumed was made use of to warn the people when the Host was elevated, at the celebration of high mass. Many such small steeples yet remain in several churches, where a small bell is placed to inform the congregation, by its tinkling noise, when the service is about to begin. In the year 1716, a gallery or loft was erected, in order to accommodate the singers, as well as to afford more space for the enlarged population. The church, a little, perhaps, before that period, seems to have been new pewed, in a great measure from the materials which had composed the former ones, as some of them are much carved and ornamented. The chancel part was also divided into two parts by a slight wooden partition about this time, one of which is at present appropriated as a vestry room. The remotest date found upon any of them is 1693. In the square turret at the western end, which is somewhat low and massy, are placed three very musical bells, with the following dates and inscriptions; on the small bell, "God save the Church, our Queen, and Realme. Amen, 1600." On the large bell, this, Soli Deo gloria, pax Hominibus." 1638. In the churchyard, which for the place is rather unusually large, lies an old stone in a horizontal position, upon which very legibly appears, in the middle a cross, on the right side of which is a recumbent figure of a man with clasped hands, at his feet a dog, at his head something which cannot easily be decyphered, and on the left what seems to be a serpent; on each side of the top of the cross are also what appear to be two embossed circles. At the upper end of this lid or cover may also be seen, on another detached perpendicular stone, a similar cross; no inscription whatever can be discovered on either. This I conjecture was the cover of a coffin. It perhaps may be objected that the breadth of the stone is not sufficiently large for that purpose. But may it not have been let into the coffin? Marks of holes still remaining, where 15 lead has been used, may perhaps strengthen this supposition. Where the stone was originally placed is entirely unknown. The traditionary account of this curious antiquarian relic is as follows. In former times the districts adjoining this place, from its marshy situation, and abounding much with low wood and shrubs, afforded a retreat for reptiles of several kinds, among which was reared a serpent of enormous size, which proved very destructive to the flocks of sheep which depastured in its vicinity. This, however, was at length subdued, though with the loss of his own life, as well as that of his faithful dog, by a shepherd of the name of Armroyd. The stone is supposed to be intended to commemorate this occurrence; the cross upon it being imagined to represent a crook or dagger, by which this fierce and terrible invader of his fleecy care was at last extirpated. Armroyd close, a parcel of ground situated at the point bounding the four divisions of the parish, and where it may well be supposed was placed a cross, is reported to have been given to the descendants of the courageous Armroyd for his signal services; and the rectorial tythes of which were bequeathed by them to the Vicar of Kellington, while the landed property itself is vested in the Trustees for the Free-school at Tadcaster. Such are the fabulous and visionary traditions respecting this remaining memorial of former times. Such situations, however, as this seem anciently to have been, were by no means ill adapted to rear a progeny of such destructive reptiles as that here described. Nevertheless, upon the whole, I would rather abide by my former conjecture, in your vol. xcv. i. p. 214, that this ancient stone is, somehow or other, connected with the order of the Knights Templars to whom this place formerly belonged. May not Arm (a projection into) and royd (a cross) have been intended to signify such a sacred emblem, placed there for the purpose of defining those boundaries ? Monumental inscriptions to be found here, are neither important nor remote in point of time. I shall copy some of the most remarkable. Within the chancel, upon a horizontal stone nearly defaced, is found this inscription: "Here lieth the body of M. Thomas 16 Dr. Johnson's Scotch Pudding. Style of Kellington, being 60 (it is supposed) years of age, exchanging life for better the day of April, 1620." Inside the altar rails, on a descendant of the same family: "Here lieth the body of Thomas Style, son of M. Leonard Style, of Ouston, who died the 4th day of November, 1648." In the same situation also occurs this: "Here lieth the body of Margt wife of John Welburne of Hull, and daughter to M. Thomas Style, 1666.' " On the southern side of the nave suspended against the wall is an escutcheon, containing, under a coat of arms, (on the dexter side, Argent, on a bend, Sable, three horse-shoes; the sinister side of the shield sable and gilt, divided by a wavy line. The crest, on a helmet, a horse-shoe supported by two hands,) this inscription: “Elizabeth, the wife of John Farrer, esq. departed this life the 2nd day of March 1686." vens, Cœlestes moriens gaudet adire domos." Two neat mural marble slabs have recently been erected, upon which are inscribed "Sacred to the memory of Joseph James Swaby, esquire, son of Honble Joseph James Swaby, late of the parish of St. Elizabeth in the island of Jamaica, a gentleman whose many virtues and affability of manners will render his memory long regretted. He died Oct. the 3, 1821, in the 32 year of his age." Within the altar rails, on the north side of the Chancel : "H.S.E. Johannes Wallas, natus Bracanbrugii in agro Cumbriensi, March 23, 1738; obiit Nov. 24, 1819. Requiescat in pace.' The whole of this parish is at pre [July, sent, in an excellent state of cultivation; turnips, barley, and maslin (a mixture of wheat and rye), together with a few woads, are its chief produce. It is much celebrated also for a very superior breed of sheep, as well as of short-horned cattle. Notwithstanding its low and apparently unhealthy situation, it still may challenge a comparison, for the general longevity of its inhabitants, with any district, of equal extent and population, in the United Kingdom. Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, OMICRON. Lansdown Terrace, July 10. MR. WILSON CROKER's late edition of Boswell's Life of Dr. Johnson, having excited some attention, the following anecdote, connected with the great Lexicographer's tour in Scotland, may, perhaps, be useful to the editor in a future edition. It is possible that the little incident here narrated may have materially tended to prejudice the mind of that "literary giant" against our Scottish neighbours. P.A. NUTTALL. DR. JOHNSON'S SCOTCH PUDDING. Both cold and damp the day had been, Soon was the mutton duly cooked, |