8 
house, but none of the present generation have ever seen it. The last relics of the 
staunch old cavalier, which were in existence some fifty years ago, were some 
helmets and other armour which used to be in a small room on the top of the 
house, known by the name of ‘‘ Old Stratford’s Room.” 
Mr. Anthony Stratford was never married, nor did he leave any representa- 
tives of his family in Bushley. The Farmcote branch, also ruined by their devotion 
to King Charles, in 1753, were renting as tenants, under the Tracys, the land 
which their fathers had owned. The Guyting branch has ended in female issue, 
and is represented, I believe, by the Stratford Collins, of Walford, Hereford. 
Thus, while the old families have died out, the old house they built, 
adorned, and dwelt in, outlasts its owners, and after 400 years bids fair to last as 
long again. 
We have allotted a considerable space to this interesting old residence and 
its owners, because the facts there stated are novel, and are not such history as can 
be obtained from books. 
From Payne’s Place the travellers hurried on to the battle-field, where, on 
the site of Queen Margaret’s camp, the Rev. W. 8. Symonds gave an oral but very 
vivid account of 
THE BATTLE OF TEWKESBURY. 
After pointing out that the extent of the earthworks indicated the existence 
of a camp probably constructed in pre-historic times, and that the tired soldiers of 
the Queen could not have thrown up these defences during the few hours which 
elapsed between their arrival and the commencement of the battle, the learned 
lecturer expressed his belief that tradition was correct in calling this the head- 
quarters of the Queen’s army, and that she had passed the night preceding the 
great struggle upon that spot. He then described how, on Thursday, the 2nd May, 
1471, the Queen proceeded on her march to Berkeley, and from thence to Glou- 
cester, with the intention of passing through the city in order to join the army of 
the Earl of Pembroke. But King Edward had commanded the Governor of 
Gloucester Castle not to suffer the Queen to enter the city, and she hastened on 
with her tired followers to Tewkesbury, with the intention of there crossing the 
Severn. The Queen and her army reached Tewkesbury in the afternoon of Friday, 
having travelled, during that day and the preceding night, 36 miles with very 
little refreshment, for the country was nearly depopulated, and in an abject state 
of poverty. Meanwhile King Edward had made one of the most extraordinary 
marches ever known, having taken the high ground along the ridge of the Cots- 
wolds, intersected by many steep valleys, and the day was hot and weary. It 
would have been impossible to have provisioned the army at the then poor village 
of Cheltenham, and they carried food with them on their sumpter horses, and 
found stores of provisions and whole casks of wine at Prestbury, a favourite hunt- 
ing seat of the Bishops of Hereford. It was moonlight before the wearied soldiers 
reached Fiddington Common, where water could be obtained, and some little 
shelter for the men. The King slept at Fiddington Grange. Mr. Symonds then 
described how the army was marshalled, and the attack was made in the mist of 
