2nd g. N«> 78., Mat 23. '67.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



417 



Leaning Towers and Crooked Spires (2°* S. pas- 

 Sim.') — I was at Spalding a short time since, and 

 saw in the neighbourhood of that " Little Lon- 

 don," as I heard it then called, a leaning tower at 

 Weston. The tower leans very perceptibly to 

 the west, and has done so for many, many years. 

 It appears quite safe, and from all I could learn 

 will doubtless, time permitting, continue as many 

 more. There is another peculiarity I noticed in 

 church architecture, not many miles from Spald- 

 ing; at Fleet the tower is quite detached from 

 the body of the church. I have heard this is the 

 case with other churches in Lincolnshire, but 

 never saw it before, or heard of it in other parts. 

 I should be pleased to know of any other similar 

 cases. The reason for such, I conclude, is, that 

 from the peculiar nature of the soil in the Fen 

 districts of Lincolnshire, it is very difficult to 

 establish good foundations ; and that, as in the 

 case of Weston church, where the tower has the 

 extra weight of the body of the church against it, 

 it would be driven out of perpendicular ; whereas 

 if it is separate, it would most likely settle equally. 



The ringing of bells likewise, in many cases, 

 causes the tower or spire to rock, and on bad 

 foundations this would not only endanger the 

 tower itself, but, if it were united to the body 

 of the church, would endanger that also. Any 

 further information on this subject will oblige. 

 The spire of Salisbury Cathedral is out of perpen- 

 dicular, evidently from a settlement in the founda- 

 tion, which, I believe, was principally composed 

 of fagots, the ground where the cathedral is built 

 having been a marsh. Two of the piers which 

 support the arches over which the spire is built, 

 are bent underneath the centre of the spire : on 

 the pavement is a mark showing the proper 

 centre, and the distance from it of the present 

 one. It was plumbed by Sir Christopher Wren, 

 but a year or two ago, when I visited Salisbury, 

 there had been no visible alteration. I think the 

 variation from the true centre is twenty-two 

 inches, but of this I am by no means confident. 

 Perhaps if I am in error some correspondent of 

 " N. & Q." will kindly correct me. 



Since writing the above, I have received the 

 number of " N. & Q." for April 25, and see there 

 are mentioned detached belfries, but none in 

 England. Henri. 



Paris Garden (P' S. x. 423. ; xi. 52.) — 



" Paris Garden is the place on the Thames Bank Side 

 at London, where the Bears are kept and baited ; and 

 was antiently so called from Robert de Paris, who had a 

 House there in Richard the Second's time ; who by Pro- 

 clamation ordained, that the Butchers of London should 

 have a Convenience in that place for receipt of their 

 Garbage and Entrails of Beasts ; to 'the end the City 

 might not be annoyed thereby. — Ciaus. 16 Ric. 2. 

 Dors. 11." 



w.w. 



Malta. 



The Murrain (2°'i S. iii. 327.) — With regard 

 to this murrain of 1747, the Worcestershire bench 

 ordered, — 



" That 4s. per week be allowed to the several turnpikes 

 where it shall be thought necessary, in order to have a 

 man to sitt up every night to watch the sayd turnpikes, 

 that no horned cattle be permitted to goe through the 

 sayd turnpikes without propper certificates to be first 

 showne, and surveyors of the several turnpikes to appoint 

 propper persons to watch at the sayd turnpikes, the ex- 

 pense to be paid by the county." 



Next year, it was ordered, — 



" That Grey Devy of Kingswinford be appointed in- 

 spector for the hundred of Halfshire, in relation to in- 

 fected cattle, to take care that no infected cattle be brought 

 into any parish of the said hundred, and to persue the 

 order of counsel made for preventing the spreading the 

 infection amongst the horned cattle ; and to be allowed 

 7s. a week till further order." 



For these, and the like orders — which were 

 continued up to July 1756 — see Noake's Notes 

 and Queries for Worcestershire, pp. 103-5. 



CUTHBERT BeDE. 



" The DiveVs Necherchiefe, neere Redriffe " 

 (2"'^ S. iii. 370.) — This is undoubtedly the spot 

 still marked by the name of " The Neckinger 

 Road," which runs in a zigzag direction from the 

 Grange Road, near the site of Bermondsey Spa, 

 to East Lane. It is in the parish of Bermondsey, 

 but not far from the boundary of Rotherhithe. I 

 have seen it written, and heard it called, " The 

 Devil's Neckinger," or the devil's neck in danger, 

 a name which it is said to have derived from the 

 dangerous course of the road between two ditches, 

 as shown in Sayer's Map of London, 1768, in 

 which, and also in Bowles's plan (about the same 

 date) the name is spelled " Neckincher." 



In Phillips's History and Antiquities of the Parish 

 of Bermondsey, 1841 (p. 104.), it is stated that the 

 Neckinger Ditch is an ancient watercourse, and 

 was formerly navigable to Bermondsey Abbey. 



Old Gerard's name of the place suggests a deri- 

 vation which is new to me. G. R. C. 



Epigram on " Who lorote Icon Basilike ? " (S""^ 

 S. iii. 301. 339.) — I believe both your correspon- 

 dents M. N. S. and C. Mansfield Inglebt are 

 in error respecting the above epigram. When I 

 was at Cambridge, it was commonly quoted as 

 follows : 



" Who wrote, ' Who wrote Icon Basilike ? ' 

 I, said the Master of Trinity, 

 With my small ability, 

 I wrote, ' Who wrote Icon Basilike ? " 



The point lies in the third line, which is incor- 

 rectly given by both the above named gentlemen. 

 It is most unlikely that Archbishop Whately had 

 anything to do with the authorship of it, as he 

 had no connexion with Cambridge. I have always 

 heard it ascribed to Benjamin Hall Kennedy, the 

 present Head Master of Shrewsbury School, who, 



