LEONARD WHEATCROKT, Ol' ASHOVER. 7 1 



Esquire Adderley-'' is referred to with gratitude for his generosity 

 to the ringers : — 



" Willi ihal he g:ive us ale which made us sintj 

 And when we went, we made our 4 bells rint^.'f 



" Upon the birth of Hannah Crofts, daughter to (reorge Crofts 

 and Troth his wife : — 



" O'lh 12'" of August before the font you bended 

 Rarelyt with witnesses you were attended." — 1627. 



" Vpon the birth of Leonard Cowley, son of Giles Cowley§ and 

 Joan his wife baptized Sep. 21, 1637." 



" Vpon one James Yorke, author of a Booke of Heraldry." 



" A single acrostick vpon Robert son to Rob. Booth and 

 Alice his wife who was Bap. Mar 3, 1644 : — 



" Rouse v|) ould Friend and view y'' christened name. 

 Of your trew birth, you never need fear shame, 

 Besides your gallant calling, you are of noble blood, 

 Endeavouring daily for to practise good. 

 Robert y'' father (Booth) And Alice y"' mother 

 To tell your age, I scorn it for to smother. 



"Baptized you were, ('tis fifty years and more) 

 On March the third I say in Forty four. 

 O pray now watch, and to your Saviour pray 

 To be prepared against your dying day : 

 Heaven be your guide to walk in th' narrow way." 



* Probably Charles Adderley who married Felicia, elder co-heiress of John 

 Milward, Esfj., and through whom he obiained a moiety of .Snitterton with the 

 Manor house, {i'. Lj'son.) 



+ The church bells in those times were regarded more as means for village 

 recreation than as monitors of better things. Their dedication to sacred uses 

 was utterly forgotten. Happily, in every well-regulated church, these pro- 

 fanations are things of the past. Leonard, as will be perceived, considered 

 the belfry and the tells as his own, and himself supreme head of the ringing 

 fraternity. 



t Bravely or largely. 



§ Giles Cowley and another jiurchased the manors of Ashover and Lea, from 

 Sir John Pershali, Bart., in 1648. 



