312 
Queen occupied during her stay there. He questioned why if the 
Queen came into Bath from the direction of Toghill she came to 
Lansdown instead of through Swainswick, but Mr. Green 
explained that the latter was a modern road. ‘With reference to 
the numerous pieces of plate presented from time to time to 
various sovereigns, Mr. Ellacombe said that as a rule they were 
always kept, and there was, he believed, enormous quantities 
preserved at Windsor and Buckingham palaces. It would, he 
said, be interesting if those articles which had been presented by 
the citizens of Bath could be discovered and exhibited. He 
remarked on the difference in olden time of the ushers preceding 
the royal visitors and spending money at private houses in 
preparing for their reception, whereas in the present the expense 
of the visit was borne by the hosts themselves. He asked for 
explanation as to the purveyors. Lieut.-Gen. Burn inquired as to 
the situation of the Abbey house, and Mr. Henderson for some 
further particulars respecting the Hyde Park in Bath. The 
Secretary asked for information as to the point where the 
Queen crossed the Wansdyke. He said that the charges made by 
the ushers appeared small even when compared with the different 
relative value of money in the present day. Mr. Green, in reply- 
ing, explained that the purveyors who were a great hardship to 
the country from the time of Elizabeth down to Charles II, 
simply helped themselves from the people of any supplies which 
were needed without payment. Abbey house, he said, was 
situated where Kingston buildings now stands, and Hyde Park 
was probably a portion of the High Common or land which at 
one time formed part of it, as it appeared to have been passed by 
the road winding down from Lansdown, and leading to the West 
gate. He could not explain the origin or meaning of the name, 
neither had he any particulars as to the point where the road 
crossed the Wansdyke near Devizes, except that it was in the 
neighbourhood of Bishops Cannings. 
On the fourth meeting held on February 17th, 1892, in the 
