320 



"Notes on Poulshot." 



and I cannot myself claim for the inscription more than the name 

 or sign manual of the bell-founder. The words of the inscription 

 are separated by long intervals, and appear — as near as can be given 

 — as on the preceding page. 



I submit our paten and chalice for inspection. The cover of the 

 chalice bears the date 1576. I should be glad to think the chalice 

 to be of the same age. The comparatively modern ornament, IHS 

 within rays, engraved on it, may be a recent addition. 



The paten bears a name, dear to lovers of " the gentle craft," 

 Isaac Walton — son, however, of " Piscator," — Rector of this 

 parish from 1681. The name of John Squire appears in the regis- 

 ters next to his in 1730, but the handwriting changes at 1720, and 

 again at 1724. It cannot be proved, therefore, from the registers 

 when his incumbency ceased. He certainly was not buried here. 

 This Isaac Walton's mother was sister to Bishop Ken, the non-juring 

 Bishop of Bath and Wells. When the Bishop was residing at 

 Longleat, where he found a home, he frequently visited his nephew 

 in the rectory here ; and in 1703 he was in some peril, owing to the 

 displacement of a beam during the great storm which swept over 

 the country in that year. The same storm wrecked the palace at 

 Wells, and Bishop Kidder, who had been appointed to the see from 

 which Ken had been ejected, perished in the ruins. As we have no 

 historical interest attaching to the place, I cling with some satis- 

 faction to this fact of the residence of the good Bishop in this parish, 

 and to the thought that he must have worshipped in this Church. 



Our registers date from 1627, and are merely the hum-drum un- 

 broken record of baptisms, marriages, and burials, diversified here 

 and there by the occurrence of such strange names as Jerusha, 

 Ishkah (? Issachar), Grecion, Merriel, Angel, Unity, and — the 

 parents must have had some spite against their son — Ahab. 



There is one scrap of traditional interest of which I should be 

 glad to make something. It is stated in Mr. Waylen's History of 

 Devizes, I suppose on good authority, that King Edward I., once, 

 if not oftener, dated from Paul's holte, as the name was originally 

 read. This would indicate the presence of a hunting lodge or some 

 such building, where Majesty might be entertained. The only 



