humanities.lit.authors.shakespeare

On Feb 15, 8:19 pm, Lyra wrote:
>
Here is some background reading -
this is ongoing research for me,
as I started within the hour.

(quote)


History of St. Mary with St. Matthew, Cheltenham

A church synod in 803 referred to a priory in Cheltenham, and another
one held in Gloucester in 1086 mentions "a church with its chapels"
here. Domesday Book (1086) tells us that the church at Cheltenham was
held by Reinbald, Dean of the Canons of Cirencester Abbey. He was a
great man of the time and had been Chancellor to Edward the Confessor.
He held at least sixteen other churches elsewhere in the country.

In 1133 Henry I formally granted to Cirencester Abbey "the church of
Cheltenham, with the land thereof, and the mill, and the chapels, and
all other appurtenances to the said church belonging". The Augustinian
canons of Cirencester were great church builders and they began to
build the present church soon after that date. By 1190 it was
important enough for the nearby churches of Charlton Kings and
Leckhampton to be "made subject to the mother church of Cheltenham"

by Bishop William de Vere of Hereford.

It remained subject to Cirencester Abbey until the Dissolution of the
Monasteries in 1539 when the Crown confiscated all the Abbey's
properties. Cheltenham Church and its lands were then leased to a
succession of laymen, who were responsible for employing curates to
serve the Church and parish, while they themselves enjoyed the profits
of the church land and properties.

The most famous of these laymen was Francis Bacon (1561-1626) to whom
the Church, and the Chapel at CharIton Kings, were leased in 1598.

=46rom 1619 to 1626 there was a very long and complicated law-suit about
the stipend paid to the Curate of Cheltenham as a result of which it
was increased from =A310 to =A340 a year.

http://www.stmattschelt.org.uk/history.htm

Graveyard Humour

The following three graveyard inscriptions can be found in the grounds
of St. Mary's church.
"To the memory of John Higgs, died 1825.

Here lies John Higgs,
A famous man for killing pigs,
For killing pigs was his delight
Both morning, afternoon and night
Both heats and cold he did endure,
Which no physician could e'er cure;
His knife is laid, his work is done,
I hope to heaven his soul is gone."

John Higg's grave stone and epitaph
Click on the picture to enlarge it.

"To the memory of John Paine, blacksmith, died 1796.

My sledge and hammer lies reclined,
My bellows pipe have lost its wind,
My fire's extinct, my forge decayed,
And in the dust my vice is laid,
My coal is spent, my iron's gone,
My nails are drove, my work is done."

"To the memory of Isaac Ballinger, died 1721.

Reader! pray covet not this world,
Out of it you may soon be hurled,
For as a wheel it turns about,
And it was a wheel that turned me out."

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> Well, this is different for me - this post is about Bacon!
>
> Elizabeth's post interested me...
>
> (quote)
>
> I know, I've poured over maps of Gloucestershire looking for Bacon's
> 'estate on the Avon' claimed by
> the Baconians. Stratford is what?
> twenty or thirty miles from Gloucestershire,
> Gloucestershire is maybe sixty miles
> long? then you hang a left at the Severn
> to Wilton which looks to be another
> thirty or forty mile drive?
>
> (unquote)
>
> `````````
>
> I've looked around to see what I might find,
> and I wonder if there is a link here...
>
> (quote)
>
> Cheltenham Church and its lands were then leased to a succession of
> laymen, who were responsible for employing curates to serve the Church
> and parish, while they themselves enjoyed the profits of the church
> land and properties.
>
> The most famous of these laymen was Francis Bacon (1561-1626) to whom
> the Church, and the Chapel at CharIton Kings, were leased in 1598.
>
> http://www.stmattschelt.org.uk/history.htm
>
> `````````
>
> Cheltenham is certainly in Gloucestershire,
> and there appears to be a River Avon in the area...
>
> in fact, two, the Wiltshire Avon
> and the "Tetbury Avon".
>
> (quote, excerpts)
>
> The Avon rises near Chipping Sodbury in Gloucestershire, dividing into
> two before merging again and flowing through Wiltshire. In its lower
> reaches from Bath to the River Severn at Avonmouth near Bristol the
> river is navigable and known as the Avon Navigation.
>
> Course
>
> The Avon rises near Chipping Sodbury in Gloucestershire, between the
> villages of Old Sodbury and Acton Turville. Running a somewhat
> circular path, the river drains east and then south through Wiltshire.
>
> Its first main settlement is the village of Luckington, two miles
> inside the Wiltshire border, and then on to Sherston.
>
> At Malmesbury it joins up with its first major tributary,
>
> the Tetbury Avon, which rises just north of Tetbury in
> Gloucestershire.
>
> This tributary is known locally as the Ingleburn, which in Old English
> means 'English river'.
>
> Here, the two rivers almost meet but their path is blocked by a rocky
> outcrop of the Cotswolds, almost creating an island for the ancient
> hilltop town of Malmesbury to sit on.
>
> For much of its course after leaving Wiltshire, it marks the
> traditional boundary between Somerset and Gloucestershire.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Avon,_Bristol
>
> ```````````````````