2°'' S. X. July 28. 'Gfl.1 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



75 



In the State Paper Office there is an estimate 

 for repairing the platform of a part of the Block- 

 house at Gravesen(i, which, in the handwriting of 

 Lord Burleigh, is thus indorsed : — 



"25 Aug. 88. "An Estimate of vepayring a Platforme at 

 Lon<r 26. the Blockhouse at Gravesend, Frede- 



Bioail 27." rick Genebelli and Thomas Beclwell." 



Appended to a note, date 3*'° Octobri^, 1588, of 

 woi'ks done and to be done at the forts of Graves- 

 end and West Tilbury, there is this remark, — 



" Also there is to be allowed to Thomas Bedwdl for hi.s 

 charges, makinge provisions at London, and coming to 

 Gravesend weekelie to see the paymentes, which we sup- 

 posed to be your honor's meaning, thoughe it seemed not 

 so intended by tlie L. Generall, and therefore not remera- 

 bred in our Estimate." 



This evidently alludes to Genebelli and Bed- 

 well's estimate of 25 Aug. 1588. 



On the 3rd October, 1588, there is a letter 

 signed by Frederico Genebelli and Thomas Bed- 

 well, addressed to the Privy Council, for payment 

 of the arrears due to the pioneers employed on 

 tlie works at Gravesend. 



The documents from which tliese notes have 

 been made may be seen in extenso in Cruden's 

 History of Gravesend. 



Between Thomas Bedvvell the minister, and 

 Thomas Bedwell the military engineer, there cer- 

 tainly is not much accordance ; but I am strongly 

 inclined to believe that they are one and the same 

 person, from the nature of his (the minister's) 

 published works as detailed by your correspon- 

 dents, and from his having " projected the bring- 

 ing the waters of the Lea from Ware to London." 

 May I ask what authority exists for assigning this 

 engineering project to Thomas Bedwell the mi- 

 nister ? 



A few weeks ago, when looking over the re- 

 gistry in the old church at the Tower (which 

 registry, by the way, does not seenj to have been 

 kept witii a view to future reference, else the 

 entries would have been more full), I found this 

 record under the head of " Register of the Tov/er 

 of London, Burialls :" — 

 " 159.5. Bodj' of Mr. Bedwell Buried y xxx"' of April." 



The absence of the christian name prevents a 

 clear identification of the j)erson alluded to, but it 

 may, nevertheless, be intended for Thomas Bed- 

 ivell, on the assumption that his Nume7-is Geome- 

 tricis, and Mesolahium Architectonicum, published 

 respectively in 1614 and 1631, are posthumous 

 works. 



Genebelli, the other military engineer, was a 

 native of Mantua, and after being for a time in 

 tlie service of Spain was engaged by Queen Eliza- 

 beth to take part at the siege of Antwerp in 1585. 

 He it was at tliat time who destroyed, by means 

 of " an infernal," the Duke of Parma's celer 

 brated bridge. Afterwards, as shown above, he 

 was the chief engineer in strengthening the de- 



fences of Gravesend and Tilbury, and in 1603 he 

 repaired Carisbrook Castle. Of his services at 

 Antwerp I have full descriptions, as given by 

 Furnier, Floriani, Hondius, and Sti'ada ; but I 

 should be glad to know what Bertius and Or- 

 lindin and E. de Meterus say of him. In 1588, 

 when the English fireships were bearing down on 

 the Spanish fleet before Calais, the cry of Jem- 

 belly ! Jemhelly ! struck the Spaniards (who re- 

 collected the name of the terrible engineer) with 

 a panic that forced them to cut their cables and 

 run. (Sir Jonas Moore's Treatise of Artillery, 

 1683, p. 74.) 



Can any of your readers supply additional in- 

 formation relative to Genebelli and Thomas Bed- 

 loellf M. S. R. 



THOMAS GYLL, ESQ. 

 (2''i S. ix. 503.) 



The family of Gyll is one of the oldest in this 

 kingdom, as may be seen from the possessions of 

 that family in Cumberland styled GlUe's Land, 

 held by Buetli Gille before the Conquest, and 

 that It was confiscated, and granted by William 

 the Norman to one of his followers called Hubert, 

 who assumed the name of Valle or Vaux, which 

 is the exact synonyme for Gyll, and this latter 

 means cleft, or any fissure in a mountain, or 

 break like a valley, Robert, son of the inter- 

 loper Hubert, barbarously murdered Bueth Gille, 

 brother of Bueth, and confirmed himself in the 

 possessions. 



A descendant of De Vaux married Thomaa De 

 Multon, and subsequently, temp. H. III., the pro- 

 perty was conveyed to the family of Dacre, styled 

 Dacres of Gille's Land. From this family de- 

 scended the Gille or Gylle family of the north, one 

 of whom is found in John de Gille of Greystock, 

 Cumberland, whose son of the same name Is found 

 in his Inq. post mortem, 1369, 44 E. III., Cotton. 

 MSS. Faustina, ex. fol. 209. For sustentatlon of 

 this house of Gyll or Gill, see Sir Henry Ellis' 

 Domesday Booh, Ghyl of Yorkshire, who held 

 lands there In fee, ^e/n;>. p]dw. Confessor, 1041; 

 also Gale's Honoris de J^ichmond ; Camden's Bri- 

 tannia, vol. iv., and Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. ii. ; 

 Denton's MSS. of the History of Cumberland, 

 in his account of Lanercost Abbey, which was 

 founded by Hubert de Vallibus to appease the 

 wrath of heaven for the murder of Bueth Gille. 



From this house of Gille descended that of 

 Yorkshire ; and Mr. Gordon Gyll believes that 

 the Thomas Gyll in question is descended there- 

 from. 



A branch descended into the next county, Lin» 

 coin, where we find Richard, son of Michael Gyll, 

 paying 66 marlcs to K. John, 1200, which Is 44/. ; 

 and if we estimate money at twelve times our 

 present value, according to Hallani or Hume, it 



