By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.8.A. 165 



of Lancaster, was sold to the Hydes, Earls of Clarendon. This was 

 the present hamlet, or tything, of Braden, six or seven farms now 

 belonging to Sir John Neeld. There were adjoining it two or three 

 long narrow strips of land, which went by the elegant name of 

 Rags. One, from its owner, was called Poucher's Ragj another 

 and the name still survives, was called Duchy Rag, because it was 

 the strip that belonged to Duchy of Lancaster. The name is so 

 odd that I thought it worth while to give this explanation of it. 1 



Gausden. 



The records of the Court of Chancery preserve for us the various 

 suits that have been brought before the Court from very old times ; 

 and occasionally they give the particular circumstances that gave 

 rise to a suit. Among them is a story the scene of which lay at 

 Garsden, which was jnst within or upon the very border of Braden. 

 About the year 1580 Charlton Park, near Malmesbury (now Lord 

 Suffolk's), belonged to one of his ancestors, Sir Henry Knyvett. 

 Adjoining to that estate is Garsden, then the property of the Moody 

 family ; and near Garsden is Lea, which belonged to the Hungerford 

 family. A quarrel arose about some land between Charlton and 

 Garsden, and, without going to law, Sir Henry Knyvett and Mr. 

 Moody took upon them to settle it in a way of their own — a way 

 not uncommon in those days, when gentlemen walked about with 

 swords by their sides instead of umbrellas or walking sticks. I 

 give you the narrative in the words of the Record i — " By reason of 

 mortal and cruel hatred there was a duel, or single combat, in 

 Garsden Marsh, in which fight Mr. Richard Moody did grievously 

 and, as was supposed, mortally wound Sir Henry Knyvett, who, 

 being so wounded, the place of the fight being near the house of 

 Antony Hungerford, Sir Henry Knyvett was brought thither by 

 Richard Moody and others. Moody did lead Sir Henry Knyvett 



1 It should be observed that the present Duchy'Rag Farm is not the original 

 one so called. The lands of the forest had been leased by the Crown for very 

 long terms of years, When the leases expired it was found that things and names 

 had become so much confused as to make any attempt at identifying the old 

 lands impossible. An equal quantity was accordingly assigned, outside Braden 

 hamlet : and the old name was preserved. 



