66 CUMNOR. :BERKSHIRE. (KELLY'S diocese of Oxford. The cthurclh of S:t. Michael is a'n edi- Leicester), in the presence of Edward VI. at Sheen fice of stone, generally in the Transitional Norman style, Court, Surrey, being then only 18 years of age; on the with insertions and additions of a century later, and 8th of Sept. 1560 while staying at Forst.er's house at consists of chancel, nave, north aisle, a chapel at the Cum'nor, she met with her death at the murderous east end of the sout':l aisle, which served as a mortuary hands of her host and his accomplice Sir Richard Var chapel for the abbey of .AJbingdon, nortJh pol'Ch and a ney; the latter died a miserable dea:th. in London: For battlemented we·S:tern tower containing a cl{)Ck and 6 ster, offering to divulge the particulars of the deed, was bells; the west doorway is Norman and tlhe tower arch a strangled in prison by Dudley's order, and the Earl him fine example of Transitional work: against tlhe north wall self died, 4 Sept. 15'88, at Corrrbury Manor house in of the chancel is :the rich altar-tomb of Anthony Forster, Oxfordshire, when his titles became extinct, his son, Sir e. 1572, and whose epitaph, of 32 verses, speaks highly of Robert Dudlcy, by his second wife, having failed to estab 'bim. as being amiab:e a'nd· accomplished; the tomb has lish his legitimacy; the remains of the hapless lady bra.sses of himself in armour,and /his wife Ann(W"i:liams), were brought from Oumnor to Gloucester (now Wor wi& several children: there are other brasses to Cathe- cester) College, Oxford, and thence taken, with great rine (Williams), wife of Henry 6taverton, gent. 1577; solemnity, to St. Mary's church, and there interred, the and to Deodatus Staverton and his wife Edith (Williams), funeral being attended by the University and City au c. rsBo; there is :L.so a memorial to Benjamin Iluck:er thorities, the officers of the Heralds' Co:lege, and many D.D. \Sam.etime· fellow of .All Souls College, Oxford, vicar oth('rs, as described in the Dugdale MS. in the Brit. Mus.; here and rector of Frilsham, 1755 -8o: he was editor of in r874, the la.te Very Rev. John William Ilurgon B. D. the "6temmata Ohicheleiana" and keeper of the uni- late Dean of Chic'he·ster, and then vicar of St. Mary's, versity archives at Oxford, and was buried here 24th caused the following inscription to be p:aced on the a:tar Dec. 17Eo : in 'the church is preserved a very fine ex- steps : "In a vautt of brick, at the upper end of this amp:e of a chained Bible, dated 1611, and said to have quire, was buried Amy Robsart, wife of Lord Robert been. used!. by the Oxford University Press in I832-3 for Dudley K.G. \Sunday, 22 September, rs6o :" the old producing au exad reprint of the authorised version: a Hall, pul:ed down in I'8Io, was a quadrangular building, list of vicars., in the church, commences in 1314, and with good Decorated windows and doors: some of th~ has been continued 'to the present time: there is also a windows, with their stained glass, were removed to Wy full-length statue in Caen stone of Queen Elizabeth, tham Abbey, the residence of the Earl of Abingdon; crowned, and bearing the orb and sceptre, said to have others are now on the south side of the church at Wy been erected by t'he Earl of Leicester, in :the garde'ns of tham, and one of the doors, with the inscription "IANVA old Cumnor place: the church affords 300 sittings. The VIT..E VERBUM DOMINI" above it, is in the wall sur r~gisters all date from 1559. The living is a vicarage, net rounding Wytham churchyard. The village inn, a. pie yearly value £242, including 25 acres of glebe, with resi- turesque old-fashioned hostelry, is still "The Bear and dence, in the gift of the Earl of Abingdon, and held since Ragged Staff." Oake'n Holt, the seat of Sir William Wil r877 by the Re-v. Samuel Young :Kaylor Griffith M ..A. of son Hunter K.O.S.I., C.I.E., LL.D., M.A., J.P., D.L. Exeter College, Oxford. The Rev. Dr. Buclder left £ Ioo stands on a. wo<>ded eminence and commands an exteR (of which the present interest is £7 r7s. 4d.) to b~ ex- sive view of the upper valley of the Thames and four pended in the purchase of Bibles and Prayer Books for surrounding countie,s. The Earl of Abingdon is lord Gf the poor; the Rev. John S:atter, £r 10s. year~y for the the manor a'nd chief owner of the land; St. John's Col poor; Mr. William Se:lwood, £4 ns. annually for the lege and Merton College, Oxford, are also landowners. parishes of Be•s.s-elsleigh and Cumnor alternate:y, to be The soil is various, consisting of stone brash, sand and laid out in the purchase of foul-weather jackets; Mr. G. loam; the sub-soil is various, principally limestone. Noble left two £5 notes to 'be lent to poor persons, one The crops are a succession of grain. The area. is 5,g6z at a time, and to he repaid at the rate of IO groats per acres of land and 32 of water; rateable value, £6,718; quarter; Mr. Oarey Godfrey, tf..1e interest of £wo, to be the popu:ation in rBgr was 919. l-aid out in rewards for the Sunday S'C'hool; Mr. H. Hall, Chawley, t1'..1ree quarters of a. mile north~east; Dean the yearly interest of £wo, to be divided amongst four court, 2~ north-east; Swin.ford, 2i miles north; Hen industrious persons not receiving pari~h relief; Mrs. M. wood, 1! mile south-east; Fi:tc'hampsted, 1! mile north; Peacock, the interest of £5oo, £3 of which towards the and Rocklt>y, 1! miles south, are hamlets. school and £r2 to be divided amongst three poor widows Parish Clerk, Edmund Holifield. who are not on the parish; Mr. W. Slatter, the interest Post & M. 0. 0., S. B., Annuity & Insurance Offi.ce.- of £wo, to be divided between the school of this parish Edmund Holifield, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive from o.nd the Blue Coat School at Oxford. The pDor's land Oxford at 7.30 a.m.; dispatched at 7·5 p.m. The of 7 aeres a'nd 3 cottages produce £22 year:y. T·he nearest telegraph office is at Oxford, 4 miles distant manor belonged at a very early period to the abbot and Pillar Letter Box, Ohawley, c~eared 7.25 p.m. daily, convent of Abingdon, by whom the manor house was sundays excepted nsed as a country seat and built as a sanatorium: ·wall Letter Box, Oaken Holt, cleared 10.30 a.m. daily; in 1562 it was purchased by Anthony Forster, sundays, Io.go p.m Juring whose occupancy the tragic event so vividly O'n.urch of Eng:and School, founded in r861, for 153 told in the pages of "KQnilworth," is said to have oc- children; average attendance, 125 ; the school-room curred: Amy, the young and beautiful daughter and with teachers' house, was built lby the Rev. the ..t.i.On. heires'> of Sir John Robsart kt. of Norfolk, was married Char:es F. 0. Spencer M. A.. vicar 185o-61; Thomas .Tune 4, r55o, to Lord Robert Dudley (afterwards Earl of James Cole, master Gri:ffi.th Rev. Samuel Young Naylor Olanfield John, dairy farmer May Fdk. .Arth. frmr. Bradley farm M.A. (vicar), Vic.all'age Coates Hy. frmr. Mt. Pleasant farm Podbury John, farmer Hunter Sir William 1-Yilson K.C.S.I., Coster John, market gardener Richa;rds Edward R. poulterer & far- C.I.E., LL.D., M.A., J.P., D.L. Drewett Aylmer, wood dealer mer, Dean court Oaken H