Welsh Journals

Oct., 1874. BYE-GONES. 121 refuse this honour from lukewarmness in the people's cause, for we find that soon after the protector's death, he took up arms in defence of the old cause, and successfully re¬ sisted Sir George Booth in his efforts to raise the county in favour of the King. He died at Denton in the year 1689. DUTTON, Sm Piebs, of Hatton and Dutton, of Cheshire, was son and heir of Peter Dutton, of the same place, and the adjudged heir of Lawrence Dutton, of Dutton. He was the eighteenth lord since the conquest, of the last named place, and filled the then high office of high sheriff of his county in the 34th year of King Henry the Eighth's reign. Notwithstanding his high position and proud blood, he was indicted by Sir John Done, of Utkington, of a very foul offence—the subornation of the testimonies of George Holford and other gentlemen against Pyers Bruen, " a true gentleman, one of the servants of the said Sir John Done," and was found guilty, and punished by outlawry. How he purged himself of this crime is not related, but it is clear that his heir kept the property and continued to do so in lineal descent down to 1699, when it became vested in the daughters of a Peter Dutton, as co¬ heiresses. Sir Piers died in 1546. DUTTON, EnwABD, a native of Cheshire, and mayor of Chester in 1604, must not be passed over, although he is not distinguished as a writer, nor even as a warrior who had taken any part in the many gallant actions of his countrymen upon the battle field. In some respects he was a greater man than any of them, for he re- mained_ true to his post as chief magistrate when Chester was visited by a dreadful pestilence, and some of his children and servants died of the plague. All business was sus¬ pended, and so many of citizens as could afford to do so, fled from the town. This excellent man disregarded dan¬ ger, and true to his duty, he succoured the afflicted and dying, assured that God would protect him, and bring him safely through the ordeal he had to undergo. So worthy a native deserves to be honoured by posterity, and in the local histories of his native county his name is mentioned with affection and respect. DUTTON, Laubbnce, of Dutton, in Cheshire, is celebrated in the local annals of the County Palatine as a gentleman against whom a quo warranto was issued in the 14th of Henry the 7th, to ascertain "why he claimed all the minstrels of Cheshire, and in the City of Chester to meet before him at Chester yearly at the Feast of Saint John the Baptist, and to give unto him at the said feast four bottles of wine and a lance, and also every minstrel to pay unto him at the said feast four pence halfpenny; and why he claimed from every¬ where in Cheshire, and in the city of Chester, fourpence to be paid yearly at the feast aforesaid, wherpunto he pleaded prescription." This strange claim had some foundation, and Dr Gower accounts for it thus :—Rendal Blundeville, the seventh Earl of Chester, had attacked Llewelyn Prince of Wales upon several occasions, but being one day surprised and surrounded at Rhuddlan Castle by a force superior to his own, he sent to Roger Lacy, Constable of Chester, for immediate help. It being the Midsummer fair at that time in the city, Lacy collected, and marched with a crowd of players, fidlers, and musicians, and all the loose persons ho could bring together, to the relief of his mend. Llewelyn, alarmed at the approach of so vast a multitude raised the seige and fled, and Randal, to evince his gratitude to Lacy, gave him an exclusive prerogative over those particular trades and mysteries which had oeen exercised by these fortunate and signal instru¬ ments of his preservation. The Constable's son, John Lacy, reserved to himself an exclusive privilege over some of these mechanic occupations, but granted to Hugh Dutton, of Dutton, and his heirs the Minstrel prerogative. This gave to that family the rule and juris¬ diction over Cheshire Minstrels, and their right to so much of the original grant has been reserved in some Acts of Parliament. Courts were held from time to time at which licences were granted to all who were thought worthy to play upon musical instruments ; so late as 1754 twenty- one licences were so granted, and the last court held was in the year 1756. " Thus terminated the incorporated body of Chester Minstrels, after being in existence and exercised its legalized functions for upwards of five hundred years." DUTTON, Richabd, served the office of mayor of Chester in the year 1627, and was the lineal descendant of Edward Dutton, who filled the same office in 1604; of Richard Dutton, mayor in 1567 and 1573 ; and of FfouUc Dutton, who had been mayor in 1537—1548 and 1554. In the year 1644 be was an alderman of the city, and much devoted to the service of the king. At one of the assemblies of the body corporate, held at this time, it was agreed that a proposition made for raising three troops of horse for the defence of the city should be adopted, and Alderman Dutton was directed to repair to Oxford to present to the King the assurances of the loyalty of his fellow citizens to the Crown. We may assume that the worthy alderman was not content with this proof of his personal attachment to the royal cause, but that he made great sacrifices of money to the interest he had chosen to support, for we can find no further trace of a Dutton occupying the high post he and his ancestors had so worthily filled previously. The reflection is a sad one, but it is too well founded, that devoted loyalty to the Stuarts generally brought old families to poverty. There i3 reason to believe that it was so in this particular in¬ stance, but the honour of serving the Crown under such circumstances is all the greater, and no name in Cheshire is surrounded with a more imperishable fame in that re¬ spect than that of Dutton of Dutton. October 7, 1874. NOTES. ROMAN CATHOLICS AT HOLYWELL.—The well where you bath, is floored with stone, surrounded with pillars, on which stands a neat little chapel, dedicated to St. Winifrid, but now turned into a Protestant School r However, to supply the loss of this chapel, the Roman Catholicks have chapels erected almost in every Inn, for the devotion of the Pilgiims, that flock hither from all the Popish parts of England. {Journey Through England: London, Pemberton, 1722.) D. CHURCH BELLS.—The following are the inscrip¬ tions on the bells of Clunbury, Salop:— In excelsvs Deo. William Clebry made me. W. C. 1620, IESU bee ORV speed 1631. W:B: W:E:B:E:W:D: Gloria ni excelcis Deo. 1640. The mis-spellings ni and orv 3eem to have been caused by the letters being carelessly inserted. Wbekin. [We shall be glad to receive further bell inscriptions of Wales and the Borders: our list of last year by no means exhausted the inscriptions available.—Ed. Bye-gones.] QUERIES. WELSHPOOL TOWN HALL.-I read in Lewis'* Topographical Dictionary that the hall was enlarged in. 1824, for the holding of an Eisteddfod. Previously it was 62 feet in length, to which 40 feet were added. How was this done, and at whose expense ? Blackpool. 31