63 



By Eev. Christopher Wordsworth, M.A. 



HE Eev. C. Slaclen, of Alton Barnes, Wilts, possesses a small 

 brass seal of the usual oval or vesical shape, measuring 

 lfin. x lin. It represents the Agnus Dei (" Lamb and Flag ") 

 with the legend ^ SIGIL D' NEVSM : DE LOTECARHALL. 



Lotegarhala, or Ludgershall, near Bicester, Bucks, was an alien 

 hospital connected with Santingfeld, in Picardy, " Santinegfelda 

 juxta Wy tsand," and (together with that of " Farle juxta Lectonam," 

 in Bedfordshire, which also was connected with it), the property 

 was made over by King Henry YI. to King's College, Cambridge, 

 in 1448. 



An experienced antiquary, Mr. James Parker, suggests (in a letter 

 to the Eev. F. F. Morgan, Eector of Ludgarshall, near Aylesbury), 

 that sigil d' nevsm might possibly stand for " Sigil/wm dom-me 

 Yirginis Sancte Marie." In which case it might probably have 

 belonged to St. Mary's Church, in Ludgershall. That is certainly 

 the dedication title of the Buckinghamshire Church, as St. James 

 is said by Mr. Parker to be of that in Wiltshire. 



As it has made its appearance so near our Ludgershall, it is only 

 natural that we should wish, if possible, to connect it with our 

 Wiltshire neighbourhood. 1 



That there was an alien priory or hospital at Ludgarshall, in 

 Bucldnghamshire, is, however, well understood. 



In Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. vi. (part ii.), p. 639, there is mention 

 of one " Brother John Eokele, master of the hospital of Farley and 

 Lotegarshall" (from Prynne, hi., p. 591). Also, a charter of the 

 1st year of Henry IV. (1399 — 1400) mentioning the land in 



1 The person from whom Mr. Sladen got the seal professed to have got it 

 " from a soldier who brought it from abroad." The fear of the law of treasure 

 trove makes it often difficult to get a precise statement of the facts of findings. 



