2"d S. VI. 139., Aug. 28. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



165 



Sutton upon Trent, at the great age of 113 years, Ann 

 Hardwick. She was born at South Collingham in this 

 county (Nottinghamshire), in the year 1745, and lived 

 in the house in which she died the unprecedented period 

 of 94 years, having entered it as a servant when 19 years 

 old." 



K. F. S. 



cauerfetf. 



THE DUEYABDS. 



Three country seats lying nortb of Exeter, 

 along the new Tiverton road, are so called. The 

 peculiarity of the name, and its triple application, 

 caused me long ago to make inquiries as to its 

 origin. 



All I could learn, however, was that it had 

 something to do with the Druids. Perhaps, among 

 the numerous readers of " N. & Q.," this may meet 

 the eye of one, acquainted with the subject, who 

 ■will be kind enough to tell us whether anything 

 authentic, and what, is known relative to it. 



The literal translation of the word is sufficiently 

 obvious : it being a compound of dur or dwr, 

 water, and gard or garth, an enclosure ; either a 

 garden, or fort, or any other enclosed space. Now 

 I am inclined to think the Duryards were three 

 forts, or entrenched camps, constructed for de- 

 fence against some enemy on the opposite shore ; 

 but by whom I cannot offer an opinion, except 

 that they were a Celtic people — possibly by the 

 Cimbri against the ejected natives of the Stone- 

 period — more probably by the Belgae (apparently 

 Celts) against the Cimbri or Cymri, whom, in 

 their turn, they had driven across the Exe, and 

 eventually drove across the Tamar. 



The present valley of the Exe was no doubt in 

 those remote times an estuary for some miles 

 above the city ; the tides flowing at least as high as 

 Cowley Bridge, and probably much farther up the 

 valleys of the Exe and the Creedy, which have 

 their confluence here. We may presume that at 

 low water it presented the usual appearance of 

 most estuaries — mud banks, with the fresh-water 

 winding through them in a tortuous shallow chan- 

 nel, ofl'ering no very formidable impediment to 

 the passage of an enemy contemplating a razzia. 

 In their descent to the shore, the invading force 

 would undoubtedly file down the cwms or valleys, 

 not only as more convenient than scrambling 

 down the steep-wooded faces of the hills, but also 

 as concealing tlieir movements, numbers, &c. To 

 such invasions it was necessary to establish mili- 

 tary posts opposite the points oi dibouchement, and 

 near such places as afforded a facility of landing. 

 Such are the positions of the Duryards. Near 

 each a depression in the line of cliffs or steep 

 ground, extending from St. Davitl's Hill to Cow- 

 ley Bridge, offers the only landing-place; and 

 opposite to each a cwm descends from the heights 

 on the western side of the estuary. 



I should observe that what appears to have 

 been the site of the first, or '■^ the Duryard," 

 is now occupied by a place called Belmont ; the 

 ancient and rejected name having been adopted 

 for a more modern house, somewhat in rear of it, 

 and higher up the hill. 



The third is called the " Great Duryard," and 

 no doubt was a larger and more important work 

 than the other two ; not only because it was far- 

 ther from support, but also as being opposite the 

 great cwm descending from " Waddle-Down," and 

 debouching at Ewick-Barton, down which it was 

 reasonable to expect the more formidable force of 

 the enemy would approach. Beyond the Great 

 Duryard farther precaution was rendered unne- 

 cessary by the expansion and bifurcation of the 

 estuary. 



Having mentioned above the somewhat silly and 

 unmeaning name of " Waddle-Down," perhaps 

 the highest ground in the neighbourhood of Exeter, 

 I would ask learned etymologists whether it is not 

 a corruption of the old Anglo-Saxon name, 

 " Wathol-doun, " the wild-high hill ? " A. C. M. 



Sir John Franklins Arctic Expedition, — When 

 the ill-fated "Erebus" and "Terror" left our 

 shores on their memorable expedition, each ship was 

 supplied with 200 tin cylinders for the purpose of 

 holding papers which were to be thrown over- 

 board at intervals, with the statement of the longi- 

 tude and other particulars worthy of record, writ- 

 ten in six different languages, and which were to 

 be forwarded by the parties finding them to the 

 Admiralty. 



Can you or any of your readers inform me whe- 

 ther any of these cases have been found ? It 

 seems strange that out of 400 none should have 

 fallen into the hands of those for whom they were 

 intended. R. 



Darivins Botanic Garden. — In the Saturday 

 Review of Aug. 14, it is said 



" Yet many of tlie present generation may remember 

 that Miss Edgeworth considers admiration of The Bo- 

 tanic Garden as the most obvious proof of poetic taste, 

 and Lord Brougham still draws liis favourite quotations 

 from the repertory of coloured glass which appeared to 

 his youthful eye a treasury of jewels." 



Where does Miss Edgeworth advance the 

 opinion given by the Saturday Reviewer ? 



On what occasion, save in his speech on the 

 Steam Engine at Birntingliam last summer, has 

 Lord Brougham quoted The Botanic Garden ? 



E. B. 



Ancient Funeral Pall in the University Library, 

 Cambridge. — In the room below the public li- 

 brary at Cambridge where the Musical Library is 

 kept, the ceiling is formed of a large piece of 



