542 
P I T 
appearance of this part of the edifice is excluded from 
common view. The body of the church is fcarcely in a 
better condition : a portion of the ceiling has fallen down, 
and left a difnial hole, through which the naked tiles of 
the roof are feen ; and the worfhippers may be literally 
fprinkled with “ the dew of heaven.” The pulpit-cloth 
and cufhion, moth-eaten, if not ragged ; and the minif- 
ter’s Common Prayer Book, with its loofe and tattered 
leaves, ready to be difperfed by every puff of wind, too 
forcibly obtrude themfelves to be overlooked. Two 
pews there are, and alfo a few feats ; but I faw no defk 
for the clerk ; and when I enquired which was the rec¬ 
tor’s pew, was informed that the boards of it had been 
taken away by a tenant about fifty years ago, to be con¬ 
verted into fhelves. A chalice or flagon, and a pewter 
plate or two, are faid to be all the utenfils belonging to 
the altar; and one of the neighbouring farmers occafion- 
ally fupplies a table-cloth at the time of celebrating the 
Communion. There are four bells in the fteeple, of 
which the wheels and apparatus are fo much decayed, 
that two of them are ufelefs. 
In a fubfequent communication, dated Nov. 24, 1822, 
we are happily relieved with—“I have now the pleafure 
of correcting my former defcription, by faying that the 
whole of the exterior is now in a refpeffable condition of 
neatnefs, and even the little crofs upon the eaftern gable 
reftored to its place. The windows new glazed or mend¬ 
ed, the roof repaired, the bells once more tunable ; the 
difgraceful condition of the floor and walls no longer 
the fubjeCt of complaint; a new pulpit fubftituted inftead 
of the miferably decayed old one, and a new defk for the 
clerk, who formerly had none at all; the partition broken 
down between the nave and chancel, the ceiling rendered 
at leaf!: decent, and the whole ftruCture creditably neat 
and in good order.” 
The parifh of Pitchcott is not included in the furvey 
of Domefday Book ; and in fome topographical publi¬ 
cations it has been incorrectly ftated that the parifh- 
church was a member of North Merfton, with which, 
however, it has no other connexion than proximity of 
fituation. It is ftated in the Agricultural Survey of 
Buckinghamfhire to contain about 600 acres of land, of 
which one hundred are faid to be arable; but this efti- 
mate is not at all correct, the proportion of arable not 
being fo great. About 120 acres, formerly the eftate of 
Paul Wells, efq. are tithe-free. The manor was anciently 
held under the Bohuns, earls of Hereford, as paramount 
lords, temp. Edw. III. and, according to the account of 
Mr. Lyfons, in Magna Britannia, was in the family of 
Vernon in 1377 and 1557. Mr. L. farther ftates, that it 
was purchafed of fir Walter Pye in 1603, by an anceftor 
of Thomas Saunders, efq. the prefent pofieffor, and alfo 
patron of the reflory; but that gentleman does not take 
notice that the advowfon was vefted jointly in two 
branches of the fame family. It feems probable that the 
manor, as well as advowfon, was likewife divided, for 
rents were undoubtedly paid to a perfon of the name of 
Mead during part of the laft century, and a purchafe was 
effe&ed of that lhare of the eftate by Thomas Saunders, of 
Brill Houfe, in Bucks, efq. formerly governor ofFort St. 
George in the Eaft Indies, who prefented his relative, the 
Rev. Mr. Lally, to the reCfory, and died about the year 
1776. 
The reCtory is rated in the king’s books at 10I. per 
annum. The aCtual value, more than half a century ago, 
was between 120 and 130I. per annum, but it muft have 
been confiderably increafed of late years; and land con¬ 
tiguous to that appropriated to the parfon is now let for 
near 50s. per acre. The Rev. William Hughes, the pre¬ 
fent incumbent, who was prefented to this reftory about 
1786, is alfo reftor of Bradenham in the fame county, 
where he refides; the church of Pitchcott having been 
from time immemorial ferved by a curate, ufually minifter 
of the neighbouring parilhes; and divine fervice being 
performed once every Sunday. 
The fummit of the hill, near the church, commands a 
P I T 
remarkably fine and extenfive profpedt over the Vale of 
Aylefbury, aptly enough defcribed by Drayton as “ wal¬ 
lowing in her wealth,” to the beautiful w’oods and plan¬ 
tations at Albury and Aftiridge, the feat of the earl of 
Bridgewater, on the borders of Hertfordfhire (more than 
twenty miles diftant), on the eaft; the Chiltern-hills and 
a range of bold eminences ftretching towards the courfe 
of the Thames, on the fouth-eaft ; and an imineafurable 
expanfe towards the weft, where the eye is loft in the in- 
diftinCtnefs of the objects which form the horizon, and 
fpontaneoufly withdraws itfelf, to contemplate that ver¬ 
dure with which the fertile diftrift: around it is covered j 
the neat farm-houfes, fpruce hedge-rows, and comforta¬ 
ble cottages, which befpeak the induftry and opulence of 
the more immediate neighbourhood. 
Before the conftruCtion of the turnpike-road from 
Aylefbury through Window to Buckingham, the com¬ 
munication between the former place and the north-weft- 
ern parts of the county w'as by means of a track long 
fince difufed, and now nearly obliterated, which crofted 
the parifh of Pitchcott, and is delineated in fome of the 
old maps. At prefent there are only two roads through 
the parifh; one from north to fouth, parting near the eaft 
end of the church, and the other an obfeure track, run¬ 
ning partly along its weftern border; but on the brow of 
the hill, near the manor-houfe, are ftill remaining the 
marks of a very ancient road, which points nearly north 
and fouth, and was probably the original line of commu¬ 
nication with the villages of Oving and Whitchurch, 
and parts adjacent. Gent. Mag. Nov. 1817. and Suppl. 
1822. 
PITCH'ER, f. [from the Gr. / 3 i*o;, a fmall veflel with 
ears. See alfo Beaker.] An earthen veflel; a water-pot. 
—Pitchers have ears, and I have many fervants. Shake- 
fpeare. 
We read of kings, and gods, that kindly took 
A pitcher fill’d with water from the brook. Caretv. 
[Pioche , Fr.] An inftrument to pierce the ground in 
which any thing is to be fixed.—To the hills poles muft 
be fet deep in the ground, with a fquare iron pitcher or 
crow. Mortimer. —One who pitches; as, the pitcher of a 
tent.—One who throws forward.—An expert pitcher of 
the bar. Smollett's Don Quixote. 
PITCH'ET, a town of Upper Siam: forty miles fouth 
of Porfelouc. 
PITCH'FORD, a village of England, in the county of 
Salop, famous for its coal, which yields a confiderable 
quantity of tar. Here are fome falt-fprings and a wire- 
mill. 
PITCH'IN, a town of Perfia, in the province of Mecran : 
100 miles weft of Kidge. 
PITCH'INESS, f. Blacknefs; darknefs. 
PITCHING, f. The aft of laying with ftones end wife; 
the ground fo laid with ftones. 
Pitching, the inclination or vibration of a fliip length- 
wife about her centre of gravity ; or the motion by which 
flie plunges her head and after-part alternately into the 
hollow of the fea. This is a very dangerous motion ; and, 
when confiderable, not only retards the (hip’s way, but 
endangers the malts and ftrains the veflel. This motion 
proceeds from two caufes ; viz. from the vefiel’s improper 
conftrudlion, or the ill-arrangement of her cargo. 
PITCHTNG-PENCE, f. Money paid for pitching, or 
fetting down, every bag of corn, or pack of goods, in a 
fair or market. Jacob. 
PITCH'LEY. See Kettering, vol. xi. p. 694. 
PITCH'Y, adj. Smeared with pitch : 
The planks, their pitchy cov’rings walh’d away, 
Now yield, and now a yawning breach difplay. Drydxn. 
Having the qualities of pitch.—Native petroleum, found 
floating upon fome fprings, is no other than this very 
pitchy fubftance, drawn forth of the ftrata by the water. 
Woodward on Fo(fi!s. — Black ; dark; difmal. — I will 
fort a pitchy day for thee. Shahefpeare. 
Pitehy 
