108 Family of Giffard of Boy ton. 



head. Now, seeing that the widowed Margaret Giffard retained the 

 Manor and Church of Boy ton — that all Giffard' s other estates were 

 confiscated — seeing that this Chapel was built in the middle period 

 of decorated architecture — i.e., tempore Edward II. — seeing the 

 magnificent slab — the signs of a fine brass — and no other family 

 having been of distinction sufficient to justify such marks of pre- 

 eminence except the Giffards — can I doubt that the headless 

 skeleton was the form of John Giffard le Bych ? whose body had 

 probably been conveyed from Gloucester after execution, and 

 interred in the church where his gallant ancestor Sir Alexander 

 already slept, and where his widowed and bereaved mother the 

 Lady Margaret slept at last. A curious memorial of John Giffard 

 is in my possession, and is now in the Museum — it is the Baron's 

 golden signet ring, which was found at Sherrington, where the 

 castle of the Giffards once stood, and was found under a hearth- 

 stone with several coins of the reign of Edward the Second. 



I must conclude. I trust my brother Archaeologists will accept 

 this my hastily compiled memoir. Your Secretary will tell you 

 how unwillingly I undertook a task that others would so much 

 better have performed. I will hope another year there will be no 

 possible crevice of our Archaeology to be filled by the overtasked 

 and very humble Yicar of a large parish. 



