Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/538

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442
NOTES AND QUERIES.
[10 S. XI. June 5, 1909

troops under Sir William Waller on the above date. On the west side are carved trophies of war; on the east appear the King's arms and those of Grenville; on the south the character of Grenville is eulogized; and the north side is thus inscribed:—

To the immortal memory of
his renowned grandfather
and fallen Cornish friends
who conquered, dying in the royal cause
July 5, 1643,
This Column was dedicated by the
Hon: George Grenville, Lord Lansdowne
1720
Dulce est pro patria mori.

Chalgrove, Oxfordshire (18 June, 1643).—Marble column erected by subscription at the suggestion of Lord Nugent and unveiled on 19 June, 1843 (the 18th being Sunday). It abuts on the Oxford road, and is thus inscribed:—

Here, in this field of Chalgrove, John Hampden, after an able and strenuous but unsuccessful resistance in Parliament, and before the Judges of the land, to the measures of an arbitrary court, first took arms, assembling the levies of the Associated Counties of Buckingham and Oxford, in 1642, and here within a few paces of this spot, while fighting in defence of the free monarchy, and the ancient liberties of England, he received a wound of which he died June 18, 1643. In the two hundredth year from that day, this stone was raised in reverence to his memory.

(See memoir of Lord Nugent prefixed to his Some Memorials of John Hampden,' 1854, pp. lxiii-iv.)

There is also a cross erected to the memory of Hampden on the estate for which he refused to pay Ship Money at Great Hampden, Bucks.

Battle of the Boyne, Oldbridge, co. Louth (1 July, 1690).—An imposing obelisk to commemorate the battle has been erected on a rock on the southern bank of the river, near where it was forded by the English. One authority gives the height as 120 ft., and another as 150 ft.

Bosworth Field, Leicestershire (22 Aug., 1485).—In the second volume of Hone's 'Every-Day Book,' under 22 August, was given an engraving of King Richard's Well, situated "on the spot where the celebrated battle of Bosworth field was fought," and also a copy of an inscription written by Dr. S. Parr for placing thereon. Whether this was ever carried out I am unable to say. Writing to the press in August, 1885, the 400th anniversary of the battle, the late Mr. J. Tom Burgess stated that the spot was "unmarked by any memorial." He referred to the intention of Mr. Chas. Holte Bracebridge to erect one, "but death intervened before his purpose was accomplished." He then suggested that as an opportune time to erect an appropriate monument, but I have no note that anything resulted. (See 7 S. xii. 68, 161, 238, 315.)

Hackendown, Kent (A.D. 800).—A round tower was erected at Hackendown Banks, near Kingsgate, by the first Lord Holland, to commemorate a battle fought there in the above year between the Saxons and the Danes. On it is a Latin inscription.

Wallace Memorial, Stirling.—This magnificent tower overlooks the field of Bannockburn (24 June, 1314), and commemorates Sir Wm. Wallace (? 1274-1305) and the battle of Stirling Bridge (11 Sept., 1297). It stands on Abbey Craig, and the foundation stone was laid by the Duke of Athole on 24 June, 1861. The cost of building was about 15,000l., and it was inaugurated on 11 Sept., 1869. The tower is 220ft, high, and on the western corner, about 50 ft. from the ground, is placed in a corbel niche a spirited bronze statue of Wallace, the work of Mr. D. W. Stevenson, which cost 850l. This was unveiled by the Marquis of Bute, 15 June, 1887. In the entrance hall of the tower are busts of Thos. Carlyle, Sir Walter Scott, Wm. Murdoch, James Watt, John Knox, David Livingstone, Robt. Tannahill, Robt. Burns, Adam Smith, Thos. Chalmers, Geo. Buchanan, Hugh Miller, King Robert the Bruce. W. E. Gladstone, Chas. Rogers, Sir D. Brewster, Allan Ramsay, and Wm. Burns. A flagstaff 120 ft. high was erected on the field of Bannockburn in 1870.

Shrewsbury (21 July, 1403).—Battlefield Church was erected by Henry IV. in 1407-8 to commemorate this battle. Over the east window is a corbel containing a statue of the king surmounted by a canopy, and above it can be seen the large capital letters H. R. (See Antiquary, July, 1903, and 10 S. x. 446.)

Evesham, Worcestershire (4 August, 1265).—On Green Hill, overlooking the battlefield, an octagonal tower was erected to commemorate the event by Mr. Edward C. Rudge of the Abbey Manor House, in 1842. The same gentleman also erected an obelisk in the Manor House grounds. On the latter are a bas-relief depicting the rescue of King Henry III. during the progress of the battle, and also a quotation from Drayton's 'Polyolbion.'

In 1899 a movement was set on foot to erect an equestrian statue of Simon de Montfort at Evesham, on the spot where he was buried. John T. Page.

Long Itchington, Warwickshire.