5ee 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 137. 



dence of Sir Ralph Clare, Baxter's sturdy oppo- 

 nent. In an old map of the town, the castle is re- 

 presented as having eight towers ; but only one of 

 these now remains, which is attached to a modern 

 house. The tower is octagonal, built of red sand- 

 stone, of massive proportions, and is in good pre- 

 servation. It contains two rooms lighted N. and 

 S. ; a turret staircase ; and a groin-roofed cellar, 

 level with the ground, and with an exterior door. 

 From this cellar an underground passage is said 

 to extend to St. Mary's Church, about a quarter 

 of a mile distant. Sir Ralph Clare was buried in 

 St. Mary's, opposite to where Baxter's pulpit then 

 stood. The flat stone that covers his grave has 

 once again been restored to the light by the re- 

 moval of the cumbrous sleeping-box that concealed 

 it, — thanks to the judicious alterations now being 

 carried on by the present vicar; alterations very 

 different to those " beautifyings" of 1786, in which 

 Baxter's pulpit was sold as worthless lumber. 

 (Vide " N. & Q.," Vol. v., p. 363.) 



The Registers preserved in the vestry of St. 

 Mary's attest the careful neatness of Baxter in his 

 official entries. The headings of the different 

 months are printed, and, in some cases, ornamented 

 after the missal style. Many of the burials are 

 set down as those of " valliant souldiers," who fell 

 in the frequent skirmishes of those troublous times. 



The row of elms on the south walk of the church- 

 yard is said to have been planted in Baxter's time, 

 — perhaps by his own hand. 



If Mr. Bealby would like a copy of my etching 

 of Baxter's pulpit (referred to at p 363.), and 

 ■would leave his address with the Publisher of 

 " N. & Q.," I should be happy to forward one to 



him. CUTHBEET BSDE, B.A. 



ST. B0TUI.PH. 



(Vol. v., pp. 396. 475.) 



As no one has hitherto answered the inquiries 

 of A. B. touching St. Botulph, I beg to forward 

 you the following Notes. The earliest mention of 

 him will be found in the Saxon Chronicle, at the 

 year 654. He is said to have then commenced 

 the building of a minster at Ycean-ho. The state- 

 ment is repeated by Florence of Worcester, who 

 writes the name of St. Botulph's convent Ikanho. 

 Its locality is thus pointed out by Leland, Itine- 

 rary, i. 31, 32. ed. Hearne : — 



" Some hold opinion that est of Lincoln were 2 

 suburbs, one toward S. Beges, a late [of late] a cell of 

 S. Mari abbay at York ; the which place I take be 

 Icanno, wher was an house of monkes in S. Botolphes 

 tyme, and of this speketh Bede [ ? ]. It is scant half 

 a mile from the minster." 



The same writer has informed us (viii. 68.) that 

 St. Botulph died in Icanno (15 Kal. Jun.), and 

 that the monastery was soon afterwards destroyed 



by the Scandinavian vikings. The authority on 

 which this latter statement will be found to rest is 

 a " Life of St. Botulph," written or embellished by 

 John Capgrave, and included in his Nova Legenda 

 AnglicB. I have now before me a fine copy of the 

 work (Lond. 1516) ; but very fevr of the events 

 in which St. Botulph is there said to have played a 

 part belong to the sphere of history. We leara 

 that Botulphus and Adulphus were two noble 

 brothers, who in early life were sent into " Old 

 Saxony" to be instructed in monastic learning. 

 Botulph there became acquainted with two sisters 

 of an English king, named Ethelmund ("regis 

 australium Anglorum " ), who, at their wish, allotted 

 to the monk a piece of barren ground, on which to 

 build a convent (" locum quendam incultum et ab 

 hominibus desertum Ykanho vocatum.") Like 

 other marshy spots, in which the ignis fatuus 

 abounded, it was thought to be infested by malig- 

 nant spirits. These were soon, however, put to 

 flight (" edito crucis signo "), and a convent, on 

 the model of the house in which St. Botulph had 

 been reared, was planted in the midst of their 

 domain. It perished under Edmund (941 — 946); 

 but the relies of St. Botulph, which had been en- 

 shrined in his own foundation, were preserved, 

 and afterwards translated, in the time of Edgar 

 (959—975), through the efforts of St. Ethelwold. 

 The head was sent to Ely, and the body equally 

 apportioned to the royal cabinet of relics and the 

 abbey church of Thorne. The closing passage is 

 as follows : 



" In libro ecclesie Sancti Botnlphi juxta Aldersgate, 

 Londoli habetur quae pars corporis Sancti Botulphi per 

 bone memorie regem Edwardum ecclesie B. Petri West- 

 monasterii est collata. Eodem etiam tempore, ut in 

 quibusdam locis scriptum inveni, per eundem mona- 

 chum, jubente episcopo Ethel woldo, translata sunt apud 

 Thornense monasterium ossa Benedicti Biscop, abbatis 

 venerabilis Wermuthensis, nutritoris Bede presbiteri. 

 Construxit autem Sanctus Ethelwoldus non longe a 

 monasterio Thornensi, in loco ubi beata virgo Christi 

 Toua inclum fuerat, lapideam ecclesiolam delicatlssimis 

 cameratam cancellulis et duplici area tribus dedicatam 

 altaribus pcrmodicis, undique usque ad eius inuros 

 vallatam arboribus dlversi generis. Sedem ibi here- 

 miticam, si permisisset Dens, sibi delegit," 



Is there any other notice of this female solitary? 



C. H. 



St. Catharine's Hall, Cambridge. 



[Leland notices this female solitary. St. Tova, or 

 Tona, was a Saxon saint, to whose memory a fair 

 chapel, called Thovtham, or Thona, half a mile from 

 the abbey, was consecrated ; and at this place was the 

 oratory of the Heremites. Lelandi Collectanea, vol. i, 

 p. 28. ; Willis' Mitred Abbies, vol. i. p. 187. — Ed.] 



The earliest mention found of this saint is in the 

 Saxon Chronicle, under the year '654, when he 

 began to build his minster at Ycean-ho, probably 

 Boston or Botulph's-town in Lincolnshire. His 



