upon it, round which the ruder dwellings of the people would cluster, for, we must remember, at this time christianity was the public profession of England; doubtless, much of superstition and ignorance remained. It was not so very long before that, at a solemn council, it was ordained that the "remainder of heathenish customs must be laid aside," particularly men, (i.e, christians), "were forbidden to deform their bodies by any superstitious marks or scars in conformity to the pagans." But still Alfred and Alfred's son were christians; and, therefore, a christian church, of however humble pretensions, would be a necessary appendage to a royal burgh, especially a burgh which was founded in opposition to the heathen Danes, for in such light were the northern pirates universally considered, not merely invaders of the soil, but the persecutors of Christ.

It is not likely that the defences of Witham were long kept up; for a time the successes of Edward at Colchester and Maldon may have made the place convenient for the operations of a Saxon army in the midst of a Danish, or Danish affected population, as was then the case with this neighbourhood. Before long, however, the Saxon interest and influence declined, and when after the second battle of Maldon, and the decisive victory of Ashendun, the Danes became the acknowledged masters of the country, they no longer needed a place of defence for themselves against a friendly population, the earthworks became gradually levelled, the walls, if any, fell into decay, and all that remained of the royal burgh were the few huts and the little church of St. Nicholas, that marked the adjoining hill.

There is a spirited speech preserved of Brythnoth, the Earl of Essex, who was slain when the Danes gained their last battle at Maldon. On his appearing with his Saxon army, the Danish leader offered to retire if the Saxon would pay a large sum of money by way of ransom. Brythnoth answered the messenger scornfully, and, raising his shield and shaking his spear, said "Hearest, thou mariner, what this people saith; they will give you spears for tribute, the venomous edge and old swords; these weapons that serve you not in battle. Messenger of the sea forces, take an answer back-tell thy people much unpleasant news-that here stands undaunted an earl with his army, who will defend this country, the land of Ethelred, mine elder (i.e. chieftain), the people, and the earth. There shall fall heathens in battle. Too shameful it seemeth to me that you, with your treasures, go to the ships without being fought with, now that ye have come so far hither to our land; nor shall ye so easily obtain treasure; of

C

us shall point and edge, grim war play-first take care, before we give ransom."

I ought not to avoid a subject which cannot be treated with any certainty, the origin of the name of Witham. I cannot agree with those learned men who recognise in it a corruption of Guit havon. Ham or hamlet, or village, seems the natural termination of any collection of dwellings, which were not under the shadow of a castle if Wit is a corruption of Guith, signifying separation, the name would describe what was certainly the fact, a village separated, or isolated in the middle of the forest, for probably there was no nearer town or village than London on one side and Colchester and Maldon on the other. If, however, the name is derived from "Wit" or skill, it may have been so called from the skill with which the work was done during King Edward's summer encampment

Let us for a moment glance at the state of England when Witham was built. Land had been cleared here and there in the forest, and manor houses had been built for many a Saxon thane in the centre of his cultivated property-the civil divisions into counties, and hundreds, and tythings, had been completed; there were no separate ecclesiastical residences for the clergy, but they lived in common as in a college, and went out from thence to exercise their functions in those districts only which had been assigned to them by their bishop. Many churches had been built by the lord of the manor, in consequence of the encouragement given. by securing to the lord the patronage; and the only burden to which church property was liable, was the obligation to furnish aid in building of towers and bridges "which could not be released to any." Yet, it must be acknowledged, the outward condition of the church was not very grand'; the buildings had most of them been constructed hastily, and of wood, a few logs set upright, side by side, constituted the walls; and the roof was covered with thatch or with reeds. The interesting church of Greenstead near Ongar will perhaps convey some idea of the manner in which our earliest churches were built. Time had worked its usual inroads, and the Danes had committed useless and wanton injury where ever they went; so that oneof the kings declares "all the monasteries in my realm are nothing but worm eaten and rotten timber, and boards, and what is worse, within they are almost empty and voyde of divine service"-"When bishop Finan, in the seventh century, went to his see in Holy Island and built, the Cathedral there, it was not built of free stone, but with timber and covered with reed after the Scottish manner.”

Neither were vessels for divine worship of a costly character, nor the dress of the officiating clergy very sumptuous at this time, for a canon was passed in a Saxon synod at Calcuith forbidding "the clergy to perform divine service without stockings, and that thre chalice and paten be not made of horn."

With respect to the manor houses, "The Saxon thane built his hall from the wood of his demesne by the labour of his bondmen; it was thatched with reeds or straw, or roofed with wooden shingles; in plan it was little more than the word 'hall' implied, a capacious apartment, which in the day time was adapted to the patriarchal simplicity of the owner, and formed at night a stable for his servants, to whose accommodation their master's was not much superior in a small adjoining chamber. The fire was kindled in the centre of the hall, and the smoke made its way out through the opening in the roof. The lord and his hearthmen, by which name his more confidential companions were known, sat by the same fire, at which their repast was cooked, and at night retired to share the same dormitory, which served also as a council chamber."

With respect to the farming peasantry some light is thrown upon their occupations, from the following dialogues, which have been preserved by Sharon Turner :

The Ploughman. "I labour much; I go out at daybreak urging the oxen to the field, and I yoke them to the plough. It is not yet so stark winter that I dare keep close at home for fear of my lord; but thre oxen being yoked, and the share and cultro fastened on, I ought to plough every day one entire field or more. I have a boy to threaten the oxen with a goad, who is now hoarse through cold and bawling. I ought also to fill the binns of the oxen with hay, and water them, and carry out their soil, he adds, It is a great labour, because I am not free.'

The Shepherd. "In the first part of the morning I drive my sheep to their pasture, and stand over them in heat and cold with dogs, lest the wolves destroy them. I lead them back to their folds and milk them twice a day, and I move their folds and make cheese and butter, and I am faithful to my lord."

The Cowherd. "When the ploughman separates the oxen I lead them to the meadows, and all night I stand watching over them on account of thieves, and again in the morning I take them to the plough well fed and watered."

But it is more than time to pass from the foundation of Witham. Its name and history, indeed, connect it with our Saxon forefathers, but it was afterwards in

the very heart of the Danish sovereignty; names with which we are all familiar attest the same historical fact: the manor of Hubbrege, probably so called from "Hubba," one of the Danish heroes, who, after many successes, was slain by one of Alfred's earls; the farm of Dengue, in our own parish; Danbury on the Hill (the burgh of the Danes), Canewdon, or Canuti domus, where King Canute is said to have frequently resided, and even the names of fields in the adjoining parish of Cressing -Hocschedde, Knytesreden, Le Zerd, Grymeslond, Ungelberdeslond, Scharpecroft, Raggels, Sweyneslond, which continued to be names in the 14th century, show how completely the Danish invaders had, in these parts, taken possession of the country. And not only in Essex: it is remarkable in London that so many churches should have been named after the two Norwegian saints, King Olaf and St. Magnus, who were not canonized till after the death of Canute the Great -a fact which furnishes no mean evidence of the influence of the Danes in England. It may, perhaps, create a smile to be told that St. Olave Street, hastily uttered, and gradually losing the distinctness of the original syllables, became soon corrupted into the present Tooley Street.

But as we have no Danish records of Witham we must pass on to the period of the Norman conquest, when we have more certain facts concerning our parish. I need hardly inform you that after the conquest of England William the Norman ordered to be made a complete register of the whole property of every county in his newly acquired kingdom, and a comparison of the condition of each property under his predecessor Edward the Confessor, with its condition after the conquest. The work was performed generally with great care and exactness, and, where the private interests of the monks did not interfere, was completed with great fidelity. As Witham was singular in having neither priory, monastery, or nunnery within its boundaries, we probably may depend on the accuracy with which our parish is described; but that 1 am not slandering the good monks of that day, you may yourself judge by the account given of Domesday book by Ingulphus, one of that fraternity. King William, for the taxing of his whole land, took this order in all England, which book, called the book of Bermondsey, was laid up in the king's treasury, which was in the church of Winchester (or Westminster), in a place called Domus Dei (pronounced Dai), and since shortly Domesday. There was not a hyde of land, but he knew the value thereof, and the possessor also, neither meire nor place there was but it was valued in

the king's role. The rents and profits of the possession and the possessor were made manifest and known unto the king according to the fidelity of taxors, which, being chosen out of every county, taxed or seized their own territories, or made their own rent role; these men, well-wishers and friends to our monasterie weighed not our monasterie at the full price, nor to the true measure thereof, preventing and providing upon zealous affection towards us for the king's taxation and other burdens that might afterwards befall."

Without dwelling on the doubtful morality which is shown in the sly satisfaction of the worthy monk, I go on to observe, that when the survey of England was made nearly 800 years ago, the country must have been already divided into parishes, and as a parish was an ecclesiastical* and not a civil district, this division implied of necessity a church in every parish, for Blackstone tells us that "there was a distinction of parishes and even of mother churches so early as the laws of Edgar, 970. Before that time the tythes were paid by every man to what church or parish he pleased; but it was then ordered that all tenths and firstfruits be given to the church to which the parish belonged; however, if any great man had a church in his own demesne, provided it had a cemetery, he might allot one-third of his tythes to the maintenance of the officiating minister."

It is a remarkable proof of the fidelity of the Domesday survey that the names of our present parishes occur with very few exceptions: Witham, Bracteda, Chelleuadana, Hafelda, Nutlea, Coggeshala, Falcheburna, Terlinga, Fairsteda, Ultinga, Reuenhala. To come, however, to Witham. We have an exact description of at least four distinct manors, and if the word manor implies of necessity a mansionhouse as its central hail, then we have some little idea what Witham was like at this period of which we are speaking. The four manors described are-1, Witham; 2, Blundeshale; 3, Hobrege; 4, now called Powers Hall. From Domesday we infer that there was in all about 1,800 acres of enclosed land, in detached portions, but contiguous to these different mansions. As Blunts Hall, however,

* A parish is that circuit of ground which is committed to the charge of one parson, vicar, &c., having cure of souls there; the division into parishes took place by degrees; boundaries of parishes were originally ascertained by those of a manor or manors; some lands belonging to irreligious or careless owners, and situate in forest or desert places, became extra-parochial. Blackstone i. p. 114.