By the Rev. W. C. Lukis. 



67 



while on the fifth is "John Strickland Minester 1656." 1 On two 

 of the bells at Broadchalk there appears a name with which Wilt- 

 shire Archaeologists are very familiar. The epigraphs on both are 

 alike, viz., "George Penruddock Knight John Aubrey Esquier 

 c. w. 1660. W. 4 P." The history of these two bells is given by 

 Aubrey himself in his ' Natural History of Wiltshire' (Britton's 

 Edit. p. 102) although he there speaks of but one bell. "At Broad- 

 chalke is one of the tuneablest ring of bells in Wiltshire, which 

 hang advantageously; the river running near the churchyard, 

 which meliorates the sound. Here were but four bells till anno 

 1616 was added a fifth; and in anno 1659 Sir George Penruddock 

 and I made ourselves churchwardens, or else the fair church had 

 fallen, from the niggardliness of the churchwardens of mean 

 condition, and then we added the sixth bell." One of these two 

 bells I regret to add is broken in many pieces, and appears to have 

 been so for a long period. The church has been put into a tidy 

 state of late years, but why should three out of the peal of six be 

 suffered to continue broken, and " the tuneablest ring of bells in 

 Wiltshire" be rendered silent ? Not, I should hope, " from the 

 niggardliness of the churchwardens," nor from any dislike to the 

 music of bells. For John Aubrey's sake (if for no other reason), 

 the three broken bells should be recast; and whenever that good 

 work may be contemplated by the parish, I would suggest that 

 the inscription on the Aubrey bell should be perpetuated on the 

 new one. The tenor at Aldbourne bears this epigraph: "Intonat 

 de celis vox campane Michaelis. Deus propicius esto aiabus Bicardi 

 Goddard quondam de Upham Elizabeth et Elizabeth uxorum ejus 

 ac aiabus oim liberorum et par en turn suorum qui hanc campanam 

 fieri fecerunt anno dni Mcccccxvj." 



I have been told that the present family, who are descended from 



1 "This Mr. Strickland was a zealous Puritan, who was elected to the Assembly 

 of Divines, and was one of the most regular attendants. On the appearance of 

 the Act of Uniformity in 1662, he relinquished the rectory of St. Edmund's 

 from purely conscientious motives, and died suddenly after preaching and ad- 

 ministering the Sacrament, probably to a dissenting congregation, in Oct. 1670." 

 Hatcher's History of Salisbury. 



K 2 



