I 



I 



By W. W. Ravenhill, Esq. 41 



former's attainder in the seventh year of King Edward IV., it 

 was granted by that monareh to Sir John de Burgh, who died four 

 years later. Fortescue recovered possession in 1475, and died there 

 at an advanced age some years afterwards. It gives a second title 

 to the present Earl Fortescue. In the chancel of the Church is the 

 chancellor's monument, heavy and tasteless, a coloured recumbent 

 figure of him in his scarlet robes, erected by a descendant, A.D. 

 1677. 



But we must return, and pay a short visit to Campden. Whether 

 the tradition is correct which tells us of a great fight occurring at 

 Battle Bridge, between the Mercians and West Saxons, I must 

 leave to others to decide ; at any rate there was a good battle-field, 

 and a boundary not far off, and cattle and crops to fight for,' and the 

 name " Camp " ^ supports it. Perchance the town was previously 

 erected to guard the ford, or afterwards to celebrate the victory ; and 

 we may credit its early importance as an agreeable dwelling-place, if 

 not as the scene of the congress of all the kings of the Saxon Hep- 

 tarchy in A.D. 689, "to consult of the making of war or peace 

 with the Britons." There may be those who attribute the name to 

 this last-mentioned event. 



The manor has time out of mind been desirable, and amongst the 

 owners of its fair broad acres are many noble names, e.g., De Somers, 

 or Saumarez, the Archbishop of Canterbury in the 6th year of King 

 John ; ' Gilbert De Clare, Earl of Gloucester; Berkley; Audley; and 

 Stafford. In William the Conqueror's time it belonged to Hugh, 

 Earl ot Chester, and afterwards it came by descent to Nicolas de 

 Albeniaco (Albany) and from him by descent to the De Somers. 



Mr. Green, in his " Conquest of England," p. 235, refei-s the breaking up of 

 Englisli Mercia into shires to the days of Athelstan, certainly after A.D. 919. 

 Tliat portion of it inhabited by the Hwiceas was then divided into Gloucestershire 

 and Worcestershire. 



^ Camp=fight or battle ; den^a woody place, Anglo-Saxon. Atkyns says the 

 meaning is " a camp on the plain." 



^ The Archbishop may then have been King John himself, for Hubert Walter, 

 Archbishop of Canterbury, d. 13th July, 1205, and there ensued a triangular duel 

 over the see between the King, the Pope, and the monks of Canterbury. Stephen 

 Langton was appointed November, 1206. 



