398 WANDERINGS AND PONDERINGS 



life will be short enough, so hasten not its end. Kenrid shall 

 rule over all Mercia ; but go thou and build a house for religious 

 virgins ; and build it over the brook called Oney, so that the 

 brook may flow through the house, and refresh it. Do this, 

 and thy mind shall be at peace." Then the lion returned to the 

 river, and Merovvald went home to his palace : and he arose 

 the next morning, and called together the masons, and the 

 builders, and the drawers of plans ; and he forthwith began, 

 and he built a nunnery over the brook Oney ; and from that 

 day, the house was called Le-Oney-minster, and the town was 

 known by the same name. When the religious house was 

 completed, Merowald died, and his brother Mercelin succeeded 

 to his kingdom. Mercelin died without issue, and the kingdom 

 of Hereford was again united to the kingdom of Mercia. 

 Ethelred, the king of Mercia, then resigned his kingdom to 

 his nephew Kenrid, to whom it of right belonged, and retired 

 to the monastery of Bardney, of which he became abbot.*^ 



Ec0cnti tlje Cfjicd. 

 Clje lEacc^ of ciaarclej? Ml^ 



There is in Herefordshire a hill called Marcley Hill ; it is 

 situate eight miles S.E. of Hereford, four miles S.E. of Lug 

 at Mordiford, six miles N. of Ross, two miles N. by E. of the 

 river Wye at How Caple, two miles N.W. of Much Marcle, 

 nine miles S.E. of Malvern, and three miles S.W. of Little 

 Marcle. It is a long ridge, running north and south, and forms 

 part of a circle or amphitheatre of hills, which extend unto 

 Stoke Edith on the north, unto Mordiford on the west, and unto 

 Settler's Hope on the south ; Marcley Hill and Seagar Hill con- 

 stitute the eastern portion of the circle. Marcley Hill has 

 wood land, and corn land, and pasture land. 



*■ Camden, in his " Britannia," treats this history with disdain. 



^ In this instance I shall give the account of the wonderful movement of this 

 hill in the words of Speed. I quote his "Theatrum Imperii Magnae Britanniae, 

 imprinted at London anno 1610 :" the event occurred in this author's life-time. — 

 " Majoris vero miraculi vel admirationis, opus Dei Omnipotentis nostra etiam 

 memoria, anno Jesu Christi 1571, illud fuit : cum coHis quem Marcley Hill 

 vocant, in hac regione, ad ortum, alto quasi somno solutus consurrexit, et horrido 

 reboans mugitu, a loco ubi constiterat se promovit, ac triduum a priore sede sua 

 magno cum stupore attonituque spectantium timore progi-essus est. Inijt illi 

 quidcm hoc iter suum septimo I'^ebrtiarij, qui fuit Saturni dies ad sextam horam 



