Welsh Journals

36 BYE-GONES. Feb., 1872. REPLIES. DEATH TOKENS IN WALES (O.A., Feb. 7, 1872).—When I was a boy at home my father lived a few miles south west of Newtown. Near our residence were some old holly trees which were a favourite resort of some " owls." These birds used to make at times a good deal of noise at nights, but one time we had a relative lying ill there, and I remember the morning before he died asking him how he passed the night. Oh ! he said only middling; those "hwllarts" (owls) kept flying at the window and making a noise all night. You'll see, he said, they'll not do so to-night. My relative died at five that evening, and curious like, as boys are, I purposely kept awake to ascertain if they would make a noise that night, when, strange to say, not a sound was heard the whole night. No doubt, my relative connected, in some way in his mind, the "hwllarts" and his approaching demise.—Probably he had some superstitious notions on the question, which he never explained.—Ap Rice. I never heard of the ' Grwn' death token mentioned by Edromo, but I remember, some years ago, a highly intelligent inhabitant of Criggion, Montgomeryshire, telling me that when he was "a boy, upon one occa¬ sion, during a very heavy snow, his mother called him to her as she went up stairs one night to bed, and pointed out to him a light proceeding slowly from a neighbouring farmhouse in the direction of the church. A servant coming up stairs at the time was also witness to it. The light traversed a line where there was no road or gate into the churchyard, and in a moment or two all the windows of the church were lighted up, and then gradually the light went back by the course it had come, and vanished in the neighbouring farmhouse. They knew, I believe, that their neighbour the farmer was un¬ well, but the snow was so deep that it was not until the second day that they heard he had died at tne very time they saw the light. The snow continued, and the roads became more and more blocked up, so that on the day of the funeral it was found to be impossible to take the pro¬ cession by the ordinary course ; so a portion of the church¬ yard wall was taken down, and the bier was carried through the opening. That portion was the very spot at which my friend saw the light cross on the evening of the death.—Jaeco. CHURCH BELLS (O.A. Jan. 3, 10, 24, Feb. 7, 14, 1872).—The following is extracted from the Church¬ wardens'account, 1736 and 1737, of Llanfechain Church, Montgomeryshire :— £ s. d. Pd. the Bell-founder, as appears by receipt............ 715 6 Pd. for hemp for making ye bell-ropes ................ 3 4 No. 1 Bell. ' A. R. Robert Owens, Ch. Warden, 1730.' No. 2 Bell. ' A. R. Roger Trevor, Esq., Ch. Warden, 1737.' Pd. R. Owens an arrear for 1736 for ye carriage of ye bell to Shrewsbury.................................. 5 0 Pd. him wt. he laid out then for weighing ye bell and for ye freight of it to Gloucester.................... 8 6 £ s. d. Pd. R. Owens for carrying ye bell .......... 00 05 00 „ „ for drink taking down the bell 00 02 06 „ „ carrying a load of coards for thesteeple.................. 00 02 06 10 0 From this it will be inferred that an old bell was sent to Abraham RudhalL of Gloucester, in 1736, to be recast. — D.M. A slight contribution to the history of the Church Bells of Wales and the Border may be found in the Os. Ad. Feb. 17,1858, under the heading of Llansaintffraid. " The small bell, which has done good service in the belfry of the parish church for upwards of 240 years, was broken last week. Many a tale has this bell told, and many a merry peal has it helped to send forth, since the days of James I.; but, as if determined that its last joyous sound should be uttered in commemoration of the marriage of the Princess Royal, it broke soon after that auspicious event." No one has yet sent to Bye-goves any jottings pertaining to the Llansaintffraid Bells.—H.B. BRIEFS FOR WHITTINGTON CHURCH.— {Q.A. Dec. 13, 1871).—Briefs were letters patent, giving licence to a charitable collection for any public or private loss. They seem to have been legalized by the 4th Ann, c. 14. They were issued by the Court of Chancery, sub¬ ject to several restrictions. It would appear that persons who desired to issue these briefs had to petition the Court and nominate certain persons to "lay" them. These persons were technically called " undertakers," and re¬ ceived the " briefs" from the Queen's printers, giving a receipt for the number received, which receipt was filed in the Court of Chancery. The undertakers then endorsed each brief with the name of a trustee, having first stamped it with a proper stamp, kept by the Register of the Court of Chancery, the punishment for counterfeiting which was one hour in the pillory. This done, they were dis¬ tributed among the churches and chapels of the country, through the churchwardens, deacons, and ministers. Within two months after, on a Sunday, the brief was publicly read before the sermon, and an appeal made. The amount collected, the place, where and when, was endorsed on the back. Within six months the under¬ takers had to collect these briefs and the money, and de¬ posit them and it in the Court of Chancery and give notice to the sufferers. I do not know whether any calamity happened at Whittington to cause this petition for briefs, but it is obvious from the annexed account that the method of appealing to the public by briefs was a very expensive one. £ s. d. Collected on 9,986 Briefs ............614 12 9 £ s. d. Paid Patent charges in the issue .. .. 76 3 6 Salary for 9,985 briefs, at 6rt. each .. .. 249 13 0 Additional salary for London........5 0 0 880 16 6 Nett receipts.. 273 16 3 It will be noticed that the gross receipt from each brief was under fifteen pence.—Edromo. OSWESTRY OLD CHURCH (O.A., Feb. 7, 21, 1872).—I have read with much satisfaction the letter of Ward Morley, and which, I think, from its early references, goes far to prove the inaccuracy of those who have lately persisted in calling the Old Church of Oswestry " St. Mary's." I agree with your correspondent, that the church was, in very early times, dedicated to " St. Oswald." Leland, who wrote in the reign of Henry VIII., in speaking of Oswestry, says "the church was some time amonasterie, called the White Minster, after turned to a paroche church, and the parsonage impropriate to the Abbey of Shrewsbury." A writer in the "Gentleman's Magazine " of May, 1810, gives an account of the battle at Oswestry, in 642, between Penda, the pagan King of Mercia, and Oswald, the Christian King of Northumber¬ land, aad, after describing how Oswald was slain, says, " every posthumous honour was heaped upon him by the monks, who represented him as a martyr to Christianity, and that a monastery was founded by them and dedicated to St. Oswald." Willis, in his survey of St. Asaph (a book of great authority), also says, that the church of Os¬ westry is dedicated to St. Oswald, from whom it is well