A Stroll through Bradford- on- Avon. 



was ennobled as Baron Westbury. Nor must we forget, as we pass 

 other houses close by, that one on the left-hand belonged once to 

 the family of Shrapnell, one of whom was the inventor of the once 

 famous " Shrapnell Shell "; and that in another, on the right-hand, 

 a well-known and deservedly esteemed Noncomformist minister, the 

 Rev. W. Jay, of Bath, found a retreat for his declining 1 years. We 

 advance onwards a hundred yards or so, and we come to the Old 

 Men's Almshouse, founded A.D. 1700 by John Hall, Esq., for four 

 poor men. Over the Almshouse is a shield with the "battle axe" 

 carved on it, the crest of the Hall family, with an inscription under 

 it, " Deo et Pauperibus." The administration of this charity is now 

 in the hands of Earl Manvers, the lineal descendant of the founder. 



13. From the old men's Almshouses we come appropriately 

 enough to those for old women. These are situated close by the 

 canal They are of Pre-Reformation date, a small payment from 

 the lord of the manor, due from time immemorial, forming part of 

 the endowment. There is still to be seen a small relic of the 

 Chapel of St. Catharine, to whom the " hospital " — using this term 

 in its original sense — was dedicated. Even till a recent period 

 Catherine-tide, or as the old folks call it Kattern-tide, was duly re- 

 membered, and many a one in Bradford reckoned their ages from it. 

 Thus an old woman once said to me, " V\\ be vower-score come 

 Kattern-tide." Till quite lately the really old-fashioned among us 

 used to send presents of small cakes, called " Rattem-Cakes," to 

 their friends, in memory of this festival. 



The Almshouse, in which, until three years ago, there were but 

 three women maintained, came to be in a sadly ruinous state. A 

 legacy bequeathed for the purpose by the late Mr. Bubb enabled 

 the trustees to build three entirely new houses some twelve years 

 ago. Increase in the income of the charity, and a better system of 

 management, permitted of the erection of a fourth Almshouse some 

 three years ago, and the addition of another poor almswoman to the 

 recipients of the benefits of the charity. 



14. But leaving the Almshouse of St. Catharine, and turning 

 down a lane on the left hand, and passing the " Pound," in which 

 stray cattle were once placed till their owner might claim them, 



