Thames, Aston, Bampton, and a fourth part of the manor of Standlake, in com. Oxon." The daughter and heir of Sir William Molyns, Eleanor, married Robert Hungerford, esq., eldest son of Sir Robert Hungerford, who thus, by right of his wife, came into possession" of the lands of her inheritance, part of which were, Henley upon Thames, Broughton, Aston, Bampton, and a part of the manor of Standlake, com. Oxon." See Kennet's Parochial Antiquities, p. 562. This Robert Hungerford, says Dugdale, was summoned to Parliament by the title of Lord Molins in the 23rd of Henry VI. In what way the manor of Aston came into the possession of the Horde family I have not been able to ascertain. : 4. Concerning the manor of SHIFFORD, in early times, there is great obscurity in a charter, by which Ethelmare or Aylmer, earl of Cornwall, before the year 1005, gave certain lands to the abbey of Enshain, which he had just founded, appears the "vill of Scipfort," and a charter of confirmation by Remigius, bishop of Lincoln, who died and was buried at Ensham Abbey, in the year of our Lord 1123, mentions "Scipford" as included at that time among the possessions of the abbey. See Bishop Keunet, and Dugdale's Monasticon, III, pp. 15. 30.] It is however probable that no manorial rights were granted to the abbey, for we find that the manor of Shifford was in the hands of Edward Crouchback son of Henry III, from whom it descended to Henry earl of Lancaster, then to his daughter Blanch, from her to John of Gaunt duke of Lancaster, and to his son Henry IV. Part of the parish of Standlake was included in the royal property, of which Gaunt House, with its moat, is still a remnant. When the abbeys were dissolved by Henry VIII, the manor of Shifford was granted to Edward lord North: its lands &c. were then valued at £21. 14s. 6d., less outgoings paid to the receiver &c. £4. 3s. 4d." and so remaineth clear £17. 10s. 2d." [Valor Eccles. II, 208. Dugdale III, pp. 27-31.] The hamlet of Shifford, as royal property, was exempt from the following imposts: telonio, passagio, stallagio, tollagio, tallagio, carriagio and terragio, throughout the whole kingdom. These were different tolls and duties levied on the erection of stalls, the sale, carriage, and passage of goods, but it is difficult to ascertain their exact nature. The bounds of Shifford are accurately laid down in the charter above-mentioned, A. D. 1005, and may be traced without much difficulty, even at the present time. : "These are the land-marks at Shifford; first from the Thames to Chimney-lake from the lake to the way along the way to Cynlaf's stone: from the stone along the way to Kentwine's tree: from the tree along the way to the lake, along the lake again to Sumerford: and two weirs, one above the lake, the other beneath.*" NOTE. The manor of Shifford has, of late years, fallen into a sort of abeyance, no doubt because the population has become so small, and from the fact that almost the whole of it is divided between the two large farms, called Old and New Shifford. The tenants of both these farms have for a large number of years been members of the family of Williams. The late Mr. John Williams (formerly of Coate) who died in 1821, with his sons Mr. Michael and Mr. Peter Williams (the present tenant) have successively held the farm of Old Shifford of the earls of Harcourt. John Williams, Missionary, martyred at Erromanga, and Sir James Williams, knight, Ex-Sheriff, were branches of this family. The following account of the former may be of interest to my readers: "The Revd. John Williams was the great grandson of Mr. James Williams of Southleigh, Yeoman, who was for 40 years a Deacon of the Baptist Church at Coate. He left England in 1816 as a missionary to the island of Raiatea, the largest of the Society Islands, under the auspices of the London Missionary Society. For twenty years he prosecuted his self-denying labours in the isles of the Pacific, with an amount of success not often realized. In addition to his stated labours in preaching and teaching the truths of the gospel, in establishing schools, in translating and printing the scriptures and elementary publications, his inventive mind enabled him to instruct the natives in improved modes of constructing their houses, in burning lime from their coral reefs, in erecting simple sugar mills, and even in the construction of a sloop of some 60 or 80 tons, in all which labours, like another Oberlin, Williams was the pioneer, working laboriously with his own hands.- -The perseverance which he displayed in overcoming the obstacles which arose from his want of tools, and the destruction of his only pair of bellows by the rats, are graphically described in his Missionary Enterprizes, some 9 or 10 editions of which have been published. - His self-devotion and disinterestedness at length had its due effect upon the minds of the natives; animated with the zeal of the first Christians they abolished the superstitions of ages and brought the idols of their ancestors to their instructors to be committed to the flames. The Honourable Captain Waldegrave, H. M. S. Seringa patam, and Lord Byron, captain of the Blonde, have borne hornorable testimony to the proficiency of these poor islanders in Scriptural knowledge, and declared that they had received answers to * This sind tha land-gemærc to Scipforda: ærest of Temese on Ceomina-laca: of thære laca on thone weg: andlang weges on Cinlafe's stan: of tham stane andlang weges on Kenewines treow: of tham treow andlang weges on tha lace: andlang lace ther aft on Sumerford; and II weras: other bulan thære lace: other beneothan. questions on religious subjects put by them, which most assuredly they never would have received at any provincial school in England. The ardour of Williams's mind led him to confer the blessings of Evangelization on the Harvey group of islands, and especially the island of Rarotonga. At these islands the gospel was received with eagerness.-From one island, where it had been proclaimed, but where it was not possible to leave a missionary, a native visited Rarotonga in an open canoe, (a voyage of 80 miles) to fetch, as he expressed it, a little religion, which he took home to his countrymen, and then returned for further instruction. In the year 1838 Williams visited his native country, principally with the view of interesting the British public in his favourite scheme of evangelizing the different groups of the Pacific. His intelligent, simple, and manly appeals found a ready response in the heart of thousands. Men of science and of commerce saw, in the progress of Missions, the true basis of civilization and the advancement of knowledge. Many men of rank and affluence (and notably the duke of Devonshire) cheerfully aided the undertaking. Mr. Williams returned to Polynesia in a ship which had been presented to him, the "Camden," followed by the prayers and the sympathies of thousands. But shortly after his return, in endeavouring to gain access to the island of Erromanga, one of the group of the New Hebrides, he was massacred by those whom he came to save ; in revenge, no doubt, for some long remembered cruelties inflicted upon them by Europeans, who had formerly touched at their shores. He died Nov. 20, 1833." B. W. § 30. PAST HISTORY OF BAMPTON CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED. The most ancient monument of antiquity remaining in the parish of Bampton, is,no doubt, 'Lew barrow,' a mount about 15 feet high and of proportional dimensions, standing on the highest point of the Lew hills. The Barrow has been of late years planted with trees, and surrounded by a hedge, so that it would be difficult for a stranger to find it, and when found, the mass of foliage, with which it is thickly covered, deprives it of that striking and impressive character, which all such grand and simple monuments, in their original state, possess. It is also for another reason to be lamented that this solitary record of the Ancient Britons—for it is probably a chief of that nation who lies there entombed,-should be covered with a plantation. The yearly dilapidations of the young trees will more and more tend to deprive the mound of its original features, until they have arrived at maturity, when they will probably be felled and their roots be grubbed up, a process, which in all probability, will complete the destruction of the mound, that marks the ancient warrior's tomb. † If these remarks should meet the eye of the proprietor of Lew Barrow, it may suggest or his consideration the propriety of removing the plantation, and of restoring Lew Barrow, as near as may be, to its original state. Though there is no reason for disputing the tradition which gives a sepulchral origin to Lew barrow, I have not been able to ascertain that any Roman or British road passed through or near the parish of Bampton, though some of our antiquaries have endeavoured to prove that such was the case. It is well known that the Romans had hardly gained a footing in this island, before they began to make military roads or to re-model the existing roads of the Britons, so as to suit their own military purposes. These constructions were of two kinds, High-ways, via vicinales, of which there were four, traversing the kingdom from one extremity to the other, and bye-ways, via minores, which formed the communication between small towns and villages. The former were also denominated, Royal roads, regiæ; Prætorian, prætoria; Consular, consulares ; Privileged, privilegiate; &c. according to particular circumstances connected with them: the latter were also denominated Vicinal, vicinales; because they led from one hamlet (vicus) to another. In the third volume of Grose's antiquities I find the following account of the two principal Roman roads which passed through Oxfordshire. To save the reader the trouble of referring to that work, I extract the passage, though I suspect that the Akeman Street passed too far to the north to have touched the parish of Bampton : "The Roman roads in this county are the Ikeneld Street and Akeman Street. The first enters Oxfordshire at Garingeford from Berkshire, and passes North-east, where it enters Buckinghamshire. The Akeman Street was a consular way, enters from Buckinghamshire near Bicester, passes through Woodstock Park, and crossing the river Charwel, and Evanlode, enters Gloucestershire, South-West of Burford (it must therefore have run by or through Bampton). Another road is the remains of a vicinal way, called Gryme's Dyke, which enters this county from Berkshire, near Wallingford, crosses the Thames, and running South-East, and crossing Ikeneld Street, passes the Thames a second time near Henly, and re-enters Berkshire.' It appears, then, that before the conquest of England by the Saxons, there are no notices, in history, of Bampton, and but one ancient monument which can be said to belong to the preceding period. But soon after the country had submitted to the domination of the Saxons, we find this town mentioned as the scene of a bloody battle between the West-Saxons and the neighbouring Britons from Wales. The earliest mention of this occurrence is found in the work, commonly called the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which was written at different times and by different persons: the first part of it was written probably in the seventh century. The unlearned reader may require to be told that betwee: the years 500 and 800 of the Christian æra England was divided into seven petty kingdoms. The county of Oxford lay between the kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex. This frontierposition of Oxfordshire occasioned it to be the scene of frequent battles between the Mercians and West-Saxons, in which the neighbouring Britons, from the western parts of Gloucestershire and Wales, frequently took part, assisting sometimes one party, sometimes the other, and not unfrequently fighting against them both. In the year 611 Cynegils became king of Wessex, and in the fourth year of his reign he was summoned to repel a large army of Welchmen who had invaded his dominions on the northern frontier. In this expedition he had the aid of his brave, but ferocious and blood-thirsty son, Cuichelm, who became king after him. The notice of this exploit is given with little regard to embellishment in the Saxon Chronicle. "A. D. 614. This year Cynegils and Cuichelm fought at Beamdune, and slew two thousand and sixty five Welshmen." This is all we know of a battle, which, if we may judge by the number of the slain, must have been an action of considerable importance. It is not mentioned by Venerable Bede; and some of the later Chroniclers, as Ethelwerd, Henry of Huntingdon, and Florence of Worcester, have either followed the |