INDUSTRIES 



Kent,' and whose known date is from 1 363 to 

 1381. Be this as it may, the oldest bells 

 certainly from the Wokingham foundry seem 

 to be the second at Appleford, one at Arbor- 



Fic. r. STAMP OF LION'S HEAD. 



field, and two at Didcot, all in Berkshire ; 

 also three in Hampshire and two in Oxford- 

 shire. All these are ornamented merely with 

 stamps of a trefoil, a lion's head (Fig. i), and 

 a coin. Then it seems 

 likely that the beautiful 

 set of crowned capital 

 letters long associated 

 with this foundry, in- 

 cluding the initial cross 

 formed of fleurs-de-lis 

 (Fig. 2), and the stop 

 (both crowned like the 

 letters), were added to 

 the stock-in-trade. This 

 first inscribed group in- 

 cludes a bell at North 

 Moreton (Berks), one at 

 Winchester, and one at Dorchester (Oxon.). 

 The latter is worth description. It is in- 

 scribed : >J< PROTEGE : BIRINE : QVOS : CON- 

 voco : TV : SINE : FINE : RAF : RASTWOLD. 



the coin, the same lion's head (Fig. i), a 

 horse (Fig. 4), the trefoil (placed on its side), 

 and the coin again. St. Birinus, to whom the 

 bell is dedicated, was the first bishop of Dor- 

 chester, A.D. 634 to c. 648. The name of 

 ' Raf Rastwold,' who was doubtless the 

 donor, enables us to date the bell approxi- 

 mately, as by an inquisition post mortem 

 preserved at the Public Record Office it 

 appears that he died in June 1383, and that 

 he held at the time of his death (besides the 

 manor of Hyle, in Wilts), the manor of 

 Crowmarsh Gifford in Oxfordshire, which 

 village is only four miles from Dorchester, 

 and various lands at Hurst, in Berkshire, 

 only four miles from the foundry. A satis- 

 factory connection therefore appears be- 

 tween the native place of the bell and its 

 subsequent home. 



The second bell at St. Maurice, Winchester, 

 has the three stamps trefoil, head and coin 

 and the crowned cross as well, but no letters. 



FIG. 



INITIAL CROSS OF FLEURS-DE-LIS. 



The inscription begins with the cross ; an 

 ornamental stop divides each word ; and at 

 the end come a figure of a dragon (Fig. 3), 



FIG. 3. FIGURE OF DRAGON ON BELL AT DORCHESTER (OxoN.). 



This completes the history of the trefoil 

 stamp, which never reappears, as so many old 

 stamps do, on later bells. 



One bell in Hampshire and one in Oxford- 

 shire have merely the cross, coin, and lion's 

 head. There was formerly a bell at Seale 

 (Surrey) which is said to have had only the 

 cross and head ; it seems probable, however, 

 that the coin was on it, but was overlooked, 

 as it was melted before Mr. Stahlschmidt 

 visited the tower. 



There are three other bells inscribed en- 

 tirely in capital letters, which seem to come 

 next, one at Sherborne St. John (Hants), 

 inscribed : 4 AWE : MARIA, preceded by the 

 cross and the stop between the words, and 

 followed by the coin and lion's head ; and a 

 like bell at Chilton (Berks), except that AVE 

 is correctly spelt. And the tenor at Chertsey 

 (Surrey), j< ORA : MENTE : PIA : PRO : NOBIS : 

 VIRGO : MARIA with cross and stop, followed 

 by the lion's head and coin. 



All the remaining examples from this 

 foundry, numbering over fifty, bear the two 



413 



