VOL. XVIII. (i) EXCURSION— PAINSWICK & KIMSBURY CASTLE 29 



across an entry which showed that in 1152, just before Henry II. began to 

 reign, a composition was made concerning two interesting l)uildings, Llan- 

 thony Abbey in Wales and Llanthony in Gloucester. Hugh de Laci, who 

 succeeded his father, was the founder of the great Llanthony, and he gave 

 Wyke to the Monks at Abergavenny. He was, therefore, surprised to find 

 that in the 14th century the Canons at Llanthony at Gloucester were pre- 

 senting Vicars to Painswick Church. Hugh de Laci had confirmed the 

 Church to Llanthony in Wales, and yet later vicars owed their appointment 

 to the Gloucester Priory. Since then, as he said, he had got hold of a com- 

 position which occurred about 1152, by which Painswick Church was handed 

 over to the Gloucester Priory. In addition to that, whilst he and Mr 

 Marsland were overhauling the wall which lay between the Church and 

 Mr Marsland's house, they found a stone which hacWNorman moulding on it. 

 Moreover, in a heap of stone which came from under the floor of the Church 

 during the alterations in 1883, he had discovered a piece of a Norman arch 

 with the typical sunken star on it. The present building commenced to be 

 built at the end of the 15th century, and another church at Haresfield, which 

 belonged to the same Monastery, had the same double chancel feature. The 

 meaning of this was — or at least it was quite possible — that the two chancels 

 were the size of the original chuicli. Small as it would have been, it must 

 be remembered that the church at Kempley was only 60 feet long, and the 

 first chapelry at Stroud only 33 feet long. The whole of the Norman Church 

 had vanished, but there was sufficient evidence, in addition to documentary, 

 to show that one existed. The chapel at the end of the north aisle was 

 dedicated to St. Peter, and was believed to represent the ancient chapel of 

 the same dedicatioji. The great features, theieforc, of the rebuilding in 

 Henry VII's. time were the large nave, the north aisle and the western 

 tower. Reference was then made to the Seaman tomb, the effigies being 

 those of Dr John Seaman and his wife, who lived in the Court House close 

 by. The tomb originally belonged to one of the Talbot's Lords of the Manor. 

 It then became appropriated by Sir Wni. Kingston, the base being much 

 older than the effigies i"esting upon it. It was clear that this Kingston 

 monument has, since a hundred years, been used as a repository for Dr 

 Seaman's monument. Sir William Kingston died at Painswick in 1540. A 

 hundred years afterwards the soldiers of the Commonwealth and of Charles I. 

 were engaged in fierce conflict in and around Painswick Church, and accor- 

 ding to Mr John Theyer, who is said to have been buried in Brockworth 

 churchyard, and wlio was a descendant of the last Prior of Llanthony, the 

 soldiers tore the brasses off the wall at the back of Sir William Kingston's 

 tomb, broke up the carved work, and no doubt demolished his effigy, but in 

 the wall behind the figures of Dr Seaman and his wife were proofs of the 

 brasses which once stood there. This was an illustration of the want of 

 respect one generation had for another. The speaker alluded to the con- 

 nection of the Talbots and Lisles with the Manor of Painswick, and the 

 tragedy of the battle of Nibley Green — the most famous of family quarrels 

 between Thomas" Talbot and the then Lord Berkeley, his cousin. The 

 Berkeley warriors were victorious, and Lord Lisle, Lord of the Manor of 

 Painswick and Wotton-under-Edge, was shot. The quarrel was over the pos- 

 session of Berkeley Castle. Mr St. Clair Baddeley suggested that as Lord 

 Lisle could not be buried in Wotton Church, seeing that Lord Berkeley's men 

 were pillaging in the district, and even took the dead N'iscount's house " over 

 Lady Lisle's head," the body was brought to Painswick Church and there 

 buried. The altar of George 11., with its handsome Ionic pillars, was perhaps 

 the finest thing in the church, and deserved a better jwsition. Reference 

 was made to the famous peal of 12 bells and the Ancient Society of Ringers 

 connected with the town, and, pointing to the wall of the new south aisle, 

 the speaker said that for some curious reason or another, one or two stones 

 of a much older date had been inserted, one bearing a portion of the ten 



