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repeated in the village, that the church was consecrated, and there- 
_ fore presumably dedicated, by Thomas Becket. Now at first sight 
this seems unlikely, because Becket was not Archbishop till 1162, 
thirty years after the date of this document which speaks of St. 
Peter’s church there. But it was not uncommon fora church to be 
named long before it was consecrated. Thus at Horningsham (Reg. 
Osmund., i., 313) the Church in 1224 is called “de beato Johanne 
B: aptista non dedicata” ; yet Horningsham chapel had been founded 
before 1156; and at Knook in 1226 was a chapel “in honore beat 
WV ariee Magdalenz,non dedicata.” Oral tradition, therefore, here fills 
up a gap in the docuinents. There are some other features of interest 
in these traditions. They are as follows:—that Thomas Becket 
co nsecrated Longbridge Chureh; and that he visited Crockerton 
“Revel,” coming through Southleigh Wood, “ dressed like a gentle- 
‘man, and. going back dressed like a beggar, because he had spent 
all his money at the Revel.” The Rey. W. H. Hutton, in a note 
to his Bampton Lectures for this year, has suggested to me that 
this story is a reminiscence of the story told of Becket and the 
K ir g (See Stephen’s Materials for the Life of Becket, vol. 3, 24 (Rolls 
Series) :—“ One day when he was riding in London with the King, 
they met a poor old man. ‘Do you see,’ said the King, ‘this poor 
ill-clad man? It would be charity to give him a thick warm cape.’ 
e King pulled Becket’s red cloak off, and Becket struggled to 
sp it, but let the King have it for the old fellow, who. went off 
rejoicing, while the followers offered Becket their cloaks.” The first 
thing to notice is that this “Revel” is a “changed feast.” Not only 
1 the popularity of Becket in many cases caused the re-dedication 
f Churches to him, but after the translation of his remains on 
July 7th, 1220, to a shrine in Canterbury Cathedral, that day 
same the popular festival in his honour. There is an exact 
lel to the case of Longbridge in that of Wymondham, in 
‘olk, where the old day of the parish fair was altered from St. 
Alban’s day to the morrow of the translation of the remains of 
Thomas Becket. In the same way, the old Longbridge festival 
( m St. Peter’s day, June 29th, must have been altered to the first 
4 1 Arnold Forster, Studies in Church Dedication, I., 357. 
