330 



COACHING DAYS AND COACHING WAYS 



preserved, and the Bell must have had as full and very 

 similar a record. To this Crown then at Tuxford (it 

 was destroyed by a violent tempest in 1587) came 

 Margaret Tudor on her journey to the north. " She was 

 met by the vicar and churchmen near where the rebel 

 stone is now standing, the bells rang merrily till 

 midnight, and large fires kept burning in the market- 



4^^*-( 









i 



Courtyard of the Bell, Stilton. 





place." The Virgin Queen slept in the room over the 

 south-east angle, and proceeded on her journey on the 

 early morning of July I2th, 1503. All the neighbours 

 of the place came in on horseback, and a great train of 

 persons on foot to see the Queen at her departure from 

 the town. These all fell into the procession and the 

 minstrels commenced their avocations and "played right 



