2°<i S. VIII. Sept. 10. '59.] 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



205 



In the latter case it may probably be accounted 

 for by the fact of the minster having been made a 

 cathedral on the creation of the see of Ripon in 

 1836 (by the act of 6 & 7 Will. IV. c. 77.), having 

 been previously only a collegiate church. 



Your correspondents may perhaps be able to 

 mention other instances. 



I should add that I have seen the super-altar 

 in royal chapels, and lately remarked it in some 

 of the college chapels at Oxford, and even in a 

 church which was simply parochial. 



Is there any definite rule about its being pecu- 

 liar to any particular class of churches ? 



Can it be derived from the Roman Catholic 

 practice of elevating the host ? If so, what is the 

 propriety of retaining it in our cathedrals ? 



I have been told it is for the purpose of exhi- 

 biting the communion plate, which now undoubt- 

 edly is its practical use (thus making a huffet of 

 the altar), but could not be its original object ; 

 for if so, it would be just as necessary in most 

 parish churches. John Ribton Garstin. 



Dublin. 



CAXCUITH. 



The situation of this place has been the object 

 of great contention among historians and anti- 

 quaries, and has never been satisfactorily cleared 



Collier, in his Ecclesiastical History (vol. i. p. 

 319., edit. 1852), says : " and as for the synod of 

 Calcuith, in which Lambert was forced to resign 

 part of his province," &c. This synod was held 

 in 785 according to the Saxon Chronicle.^ Florence 

 of Worcester, Huntingdon, Hoveden, &c. 



The Saxon Chronicle (785) says: "this year. 

 Abbot Bothwin died at Ripon ; and this year 

 there was a contentious synod at ^ Chalk-hythe ;' 

 and Archbishop Lambert gave up some portion 

 of his Bishopric ; and Higbert was elected ; and 

 Offa resigning, Egbert was consecrated King." 



There is a tradition at Chalk in Kent of this 

 council being held there. 



Offa had then conquered Kent, and he is said 

 " to have, gone out of his own dominions to meet 

 the high Dignitaries of the Church and the Pope's 

 legate." 



Spelman places this council in 787 ; others think 

 it was two years earlier. Pope Adrian sent Gre- 

 gory, Bishop of Ostia, and Theophylact, Bishop of 

 Vodi, to assist at it, with the character of legates. 



On their arrival one of these legates travelled 

 into the kingdom of Northumberland to King 

 Oswald. Eanbald was then Archbishop of York ; 

 and there was a meeting of all the great men of 

 the kingdom, clergy and laity. 



The legates state, in their letter to the Pope, 

 that from the time of St. Augustine there had 

 been no prelate or priest sent from Rome into 

 Britain till now. 



They likewise state that they had delivered the 

 letters of his Holiness to Offa, King of Mercia, 

 and Kinielph, King of the West Saxons ; the first 

 of which was present at the synod of Calcuith, and 

 all declared themselves ready to submit to the 

 directions of Rome. 



In Collier's Eccl. Hist. (vol. i, pp. 320. to 323., 

 edit. 1 852) the reader may see the particulars of 

 the twenty heads or canons of this council or 

 synod at length. 



These canons were first read in the Northum- 

 brian synod ; where, after they had been sub- 

 scribed by the king, the bishops, nobility, and 

 clergy of the province, they were brought by the 

 legates and presented at the council or synod of 

 Calcuith in the kingdom of Mercia : this would 

 hardly imply Kent. And here they were unani- 

 mously received and signed by King Offa, Lam- 

 bert, Archbishop of Canterbury, twelve other 

 bishops, several abbots, and other great men of 

 the laity. (See Spelman, Condi., vol. i. p. 300., 

 &c.) 



It would appear that besides Archbishop Lam- 

 bert, who is said to have signed the canons of the 

 sy7iod of Calcuith before King Offa, that twelve 

 other bishops subscribed the roll. Matthew Paris 

 says that Bishop Lambert resigned part of his 

 province to the Archbishop of Lichfield at this 

 synod of Calcuith; and that Offa had his eldest 

 son Egfrid, a prince of great hopes, crowned here. 

 (See Collier, Ibid., p. 324.) 



On the 26th of July, 816, another council was 

 convened at Calcuith, or Celichyth. It was com- 

 posed of the bishops south of the Humber, and 

 within the respective kingdoms of the East Angles, 

 Kent, Mercia, and the West Saxons. 



Wulfrid, Archbishop of Canterbury, presided, 

 and twelve of his suffragans. Kenelph, King of 

 the Mercians, with his nobles, attended it, and 

 the abbots, priests, and deacons of the province . 



Eleven canons were passed at this council, and 

 very important ones. The reader will find them 

 set down in Collier's Eccles. Hist. (edit. 1852, vol. 

 i. pp. 348. to 354.) 



The Saxon Chronicle does not mention this 

 council ; but it is probable that the Celichyth 

 mentioned here, caused Dr. Lingard to think it 

 was held at Chelsea, which originally bore that 

 name. 



Will any of your readers be pleased to give any 

 information they may possess on the situation of 

 this place, and they will greatly oblige many of 

 your readers ? J. W. 



Birmingham. 



Vauxhall Punch, 8fc. — As these celebrated gar- 

 dens are under rapid demolition, perhaps the 

 representatives of "the immortal Simpson" will 



