464
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. vm. DEC. u, 1907.
Johnson whose family belonged to the
neighbourhood of Doncaster once told me
that the " great lexicographer " was, he hac
heard, one of his stock remotely. There was
a Dr. Nathaniel Johnson, a physician ol
Pontefract, who left MS. collections for a
history of Yorkshire in many volumes
about 150 years ago. Nathaniel is not one
of the commoner Christian names, so this
fact may be suggestive, especially if taken
in conjunction with the literary activity
displayed by the two doctors.
A. S. ELLIS.
HIGHWAYS REPAIRED:
HAMPSTEAD AND NORTH-WEST OF
LONDON.
IN a lecture recently given before the Hampstead Antiquarian Society on the conditions of travelling in ancient times, very little was said as to the repair of the highways. Indeed, a subsequent speaker spoke of the roads made by the Romans, or by remote ancestors, as having been allowed to fall into ruin, while "nothing" seemed to have been done towards road- making and highway repairing until the end of the eighteenth century.
It may readily be admitted that the work of this sort was meagre and bad ; but the following jottings culled from Middlesex wills among my notes suffice to show that the roads in the north-west of London came in for more attention than in most districts. Perhaps, with the exception of the road between London and Dover, the North-West route running through Edg- ware was the best-maintained road of any in England. Apart, however, from the extension of this great highway, so many were the pilgrims to the shrine of Our Lady of Willesden, that from Westminster to Kilburn at least the road was particularly well kept during the Middle Ages.
John Burton of Hampstead, by his will dated 1426 (175 More), left 33s. 4d. for the reparation of the king's highway (from Hampstead) towards London.
1532. John Bleverhauset of Hampstead directed that his house there should be sold, and the proceeds spent on the highways between Hampstead and St. Gyles in the Fields.
In 1552 John Armstrong of London left money for the repair of Mapes Lane, " which is between Kylborne & Wilsdon."
In 1500 William Page of " Our Blessed
Lady of Wilsdon " left 102. to repair the
highways in that parish.
In 1558 Henry Page of Wembley, Harrow, left a sum for the repair of highways between London and Harrow.
In 1564 John Kempe of Marylebone left money for the repair of the roads between Kilbourne and Paddington.
Edward Harvest of Edgware in 1610 left land in Holloway, the income to be used for the repair of the highway between Tybourne and Edgware.
About this period one named Mulbury also left land for the repair of the road between Bushey Heath and London.
Richard Page of Sudbury left by his will, dated 1556, 20s. for the repair of the " high- ways called East Lane in Harrow."
Richard Braunche of Oxgate, Willesden, and of Clitterhouse, Hendon, by his will, of 1552, left 20s. for the mending of Oxgate Lane ; and long before this namely, in 1492 John at Woode of Hendon left 6s. 8d. for " new makyng of Braynte Bridge between Finchley & Hendon."
Dame Sarah Kempe, widow of Sir Nicholas Kempe of Finchley, in 1649 left money for the repair of the highway between Islington and Stroud Green ; and numerous other cases of such philanthropic work might be given.
As to the removal of obstructions we have frequent evidence ; for instance, in 1551, when at Highgate a yeoman was punished for obstructing a public way in the Bishop of London's Park leading from Hendon to Highgate. In 1624 Percy Herbert was prosecuted for neglecting to repair a bridge at Hendon called Brunstreete " Bridge ; and similar actions to enforce repairs occur in the Session Rolls. Then, too, it was usual in most manors to devote one week a year to the general repair of the manor ways, and on these occasions all considerable tenants had to furnish carts, horses, oxen, and men to assist with this work under ain of penalty, which was several times nforced by application to a justice of the peace.
Early instances of drays, carts, and waggons were desired by the lecturer, and [ may therefore note here the mention of ' dung-carts with the things thereto ready 'urnished " which occurs in the will of John Bonnion of Wilsden, dated 1603. Previous to this date there was, I believe, a waggoner iving at or near Kilburn who carried by waggon and team between Hendon, Hamp- stead, and Westminster. I am unable to
