186 Swindon and its Neighbourhood. 



and patrons. The date of 1653 is on the Manor House; and an 

 emblem of two pair of hands holding one heart between them is 

 also there, to signify that two brothers, William and Ralph Freke, 

 possessed the estate in partnership, and could enjoy it without 

 quarrelling. The same harmony is further denoted by a Latin 

 inscription, being a quotation from the 133rd Psalm: "Ecce, quam 

 bonum et quam jucundum est habitare fratres in unum." — "Behold," 

 (behold, i.e. in the case of Hannington) "how good and joyful a 

 thing it is, brethren to dwell together in unity." 



The Church has an ancient Norman doorway. Hannington 

 village was the birth-place of the Right Rev. Dr. Narcissus Marsh, 

 who rose to be Lord Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland. 

 In that country his name is held in the highest respect. He 

 was the founder of a chapel and a noble library in Dublin, and of an 

 almshouse in Drogheda for the widows of clergymen. His baptism 

 is duly entered in Hannington Register as the son of William and 

 Grace Marsh. His father had come from Kent and purchased a 

 little property in the parish, but of the family nothing is now 

 known there. There were some years ago some of his relatives in 

 Ireland, one of whom was a fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. 

 Archbishop Marsh had been, in his earlier days, Yicar of Swindon 

 for one year, 1662. 



The Archbishop gave a great many of his Oriental manuscripts 

 to the Bodleian Library at Oxford ; and the same library is in- 

 debted to Hannington for a donation in the year 1657 of 500 gold 

 and silver coins, with a cabinet to contain them. These were 

 presented by the two brothers already mentioned, William and 

 Ralph, sons of Sir Thomas Freke, whose filial affection for their 

 Alma Mater is duly recorded by an inscription there. 



Ceicklade. 



Cricklade has two Churches and two crosses ; the churches are 

 St. Sampson's and St. Mary's. St. Sampson's is a very unusual 

 dedication, and it is not at all unlikely that many persons have 

 lived at Cricklade all their lives, and have gone quietly to the 

 grave, under the innocent conviction that the canonized person, 



