390 



Wiltshire Seals. 



letters of administration, &c. At other times it is subject to the Prebendary of 

 Yetminster and Grimston, whose jurisdiction is almost as extensive as the 

 Dean's. He visits, grants administrations, and has a regular Court at Salis- 

 bury, in which "Wills are proved, i 



" I have only to add the singular circumstances under which, I have been in- 

 formed, that this ancient Seal was found. About ten years since an iron- 

 monger at Bridgewater, who occasionally purchased old metal, purchased a 

 quantity brought to him as having been collected in the neighbourhood of 

 Glastonbury and the adjacent villages. Amongst the metal was a lump 

 of clay, possibly put there to increase the weight if overlooked ; it was, 

 however, noticed and thrown aside. After the vendor, however, had left the 

 shop, it happened that this rejected lump of clay was struck with a hammer, 

 and the brass matrix of the Seal proved to be enclosed within it. No further 

 account could be obtained, in regard to the precise place where it may have 

 been found, or whether its concealment in the clay was merely recent, and the 

 lump added to the old metal with some such intention of deceiving the pur- 

 chaser, as has been conjectured. It seems possible that the finder may have 

 remarked some small appearance of the existence of metal in the piece of clay, 

 without perceiving that it was an object of any interest or elaborate workman- 

 ship. He would, accordingly, not have taken the tronble to clear the clay from 

 the matrix, more especially as the addition to the weight would be to a trifling 

 degree in his favor." 



Mr. Way adds : — 



' ' I am in possession of the brass matrix of a Shrieval Seal, having been that 

 of one of the Giffard family, who was Sheriff of Hampshire in the reign of 

 Henry VI. It was found in splitting up an aged oak tree near Crondale, in 

 that county, and fell out of the decayed old trunk of the tree in the course of 

 that operation. This preservation and discovery of a seal is sufficiently singu- 

 lar, but I think the particulars which I have mentioned regarding the Yet- 

 minster Seal are scarcely less remarkable, and may serve to remind the archse- 

 ologist that a vigilant watch must be maintained, even under circumstances ap- 

 parently least favourable to his enquiries." 



Grimston is a hamlet in the Parish of Stratton in the Hundred 



of St. George, county Dorset. It anciently belonged to the Church 



of Sarum, forming a Prebend in conjunction with Yateminster. 



On the Seal is the figure of St. Andrew in crucifixion, the Saint to 



whom. Yateminster Church is dedicated ; and round the margin 



the words, * S* OFFIC PREBEDE DE GRIMSTA ET 



YEATEMENSTRE. 



1 The Prebend of Yetminster being now shorn of all substantial provision, the proceeds of the stall 

 being taken care of by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, the Prebendary enjoys the honorary title 

 only, with the privilege of paying very heavy fees for taking possession of it. The jurisdiction used 

 to be nearly as Hutehinshas stated it : or rather it was this : that the Dean had Episcopal jurisdic- 

 tion, and the Prebendary the Archidiaconal. This arrangement has, however, been altered : the 

 jurisdiction of the Dean and Prebendary having been, as in the case of all Peculiars, transferred to 

 the Bishop and Archdeacon of Dorset, so far as the Clergy and Chnrchwardens are concerned : but 

 the Court of the Prebendary remains, for the present, as to Wills, &c. [Ed.] 



