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Feb., 1878. BYE-GONES. FEBRUARY 6, 1878. OWAIN BROGYNTYN.—In reference to the note of Fitzalan Jan. 23, under the heading "Lord Capel's Sword" a correspond¬ ent suggests that it would be more correct to say that Owain Brogyntyn took his name from that of the previously existing one of the township, than that the castle took its name from him. There is no doubt the place was called Broginton in the 12th century, and has undergone several v?riations in spelling since. But according to Lady Eure's will it would seem that at one time the house went under a new name alto¬ gether, for her ladyship speaks of it as " Constables Hall, in the township of Porkinton." NOTES. THE SHELTON OAK.—It was stated in the Salopian Magazine for 1815, that there was "sufficient room for at least half a dozen to take a snug dinner" inside Shelton Oak. I have been told that eight persons have been known to dance a quadrille in it; and it will interest Shropshire readers to know that there is at least one flourishing tree existing, raised from an acorn of this oak. The tree in question is at Pentreheylin, and is on the right side just as you pass the entrance gate. It was planted about 1832 by the late^Mrs. Croxon, of Oswestry. Jabco. THE DUKE D.ALEMBERG.— The name of this French prisoner was mentioned Jan. 16. When he was at Oswestry he got up concerts of instrumental music among his fellow-captives, and sometimes they performed in the ball-room at the Wynnstay Arms Hotel, and there was free admittance for any one who liked to hear them. F. WREXHAM RACES. —At the top of the List of Entries for the Wrexham Meeting of Oct. 1833, is given the names of the winners of .the " Wrexham Gold Cup," as follows:— Yrs. Owners. Winners Sbs. Strs. Riders. 1815 Mr. F. R. Price's..Queen of Diamonds 10 5..Spencer. 1816 Sir W. W. Wynn's.. Prince de Cobourg 10 2.. R. Barnard. 1817 Earl Grosvenor's..Passamaquoddy 11 4..W. Dunn. 1818 (Did not fill). 1819 Lord Stanford's ..Olympia 12 2..T. Shepherd. 1820 Sir W. Wynne's . .Taragon 10 2. .Spencer. 1821 Sir W. W. Wynn's.. Thyrsis 13 3.. Minter. 1822 Mr. Rogers' .. Sir Edward 10 4.. Spring. 1823 (Did not fill). 1824 Mr. Mytton's ..Whittington 10 2..Spring. 1825 (No Races). 1826 Sir W. Wynne's .. Signorina 10 5.. Spring. 1827 Sir W. Wynne's .. Signorina 16 7.. Darling. 1828 Mr. Mytton's ..Euphrates 14 4..Whitehouse. 1829 Mr.Ormsby Gore's Hesperus 12 2..Darling. 1830 Sir W. Wynne's ..Penrhos 13 7..M. Jones. 1831 Sir W. Wynne's .. Penrhos 12 4.. Spring. 1832 Mr. Mostyn's .. Her Highness 14 2.. T e m pieman. 1833 Mr. Mostyn's .. Her Highness 18 3.. T e m pieman. The two that competed with "Her Highness" on the last named date were Russell, named by Mr. H. Kenrick, and.! ridden by Lear, and Pickpocket, belonging to Sir R. W. Bulkeley, ridden by Darling. Why were there no races in 1825? W.M. OSWESTRY TOWN SEAL.— It is stated in Price's History of Oswestry, p. 27, that "the oak branch on the seal of King Oswald, as mentioned in the MS. of John Davies, Esq., Recorder, 1635, was a mere ornament, as on those of the bailiffs of Shrewsbury, and several royal seals of the time of Edw. I." The writer of Price's History mentions this incidentally in his descrip¬ tion of New Gate that spanned the junction of Church and Cross streets up to the last quarter of last century. xxxx Over the gateway there was a " horse with an oak branch in its mouth," which "was the crest of the Fitzalans, and is borne by the present earl-marshal of England, as the dexter supporter ef his shield." The writer adds, "There is a very ancient carving of the horse and oak bough in the old house at Trenewydd, near Whittington." It is certainly not right to quote the Recorder of 1635 as the authority for saying that the oak branch on Os¬ westry seal was a mere ornament, for in an abstract of his MS. kindly sent me by "H.W.L." I find the author- writing of the name " Maserfield," as applied to the town, remarking :— This Saxon name was derived (as app'th) from the oulde Brittishe name thereof Messen, which in the oulde Brittish <fc ac- cordinglie in our modern Welsh signifieth an accorne, mees [mesl in the plurall number Acornes, meserie gland ium copia ana Mesbren an oake or the acornetree whence the Saxon Meserfelth (soe written bv Beda) or Maserfield by the other historians <fc Antiquaries (l): Both being the same in sense & neere in sound signifie glandium "campus & semblably the ould Britaynes called this towne Tre'r fesen glandium urbem. & accordingly the Welsh poet Llosgoth ffagloth i phen Trwy oer fisif tre'r fesen. Hereupon the Normans afterwards implying the reason & ren¬ dering the meaning of this antient Brittish name did call it Glanvill or Glandevflle Glandium Villa: & the Welsh Bards some¬ times Tre-Koderi (i.e., coed deri, oak-wood), The towne of great oakes as being situate in a soil then full of greate oakes growing thereupon, & compassed therewith for a spacious distance & large circuit on every side, and therefore (as I suppose) the oaken bough was antiently the armes of the towne of Oswestry; for upon their ould com'on seale of brasse (called the towne seale) I finde depicted a kinge (in all likelihood Kinge Oswald) sittinge on a chaire, houlding a sword in his hand, and in his left hand an oaken bough. So that when the noble owner of that antient crest the white horse came first to be owner and also Baron of Oswestry, whether to evidence his love, or to add honr to the Towne, or taking it as an honr to be Lord of the Towne, or either, he put the oaken bough into his white horses mouth, of which white horse & of that right noble peer whose crest it was, one made this disticon Hie alacer sonipes niveo candore superbus Est gentilicii nobile ste'ma sui. There is a further note, in the abstract before me, in which it is stated that the author of the MS. differs from the common account given of the origin of this crest, viz., a race between twins to a standing oak, taken for his crest by the winner. t Jabco. (1) Marginal Note. " Maesbury, a hamlet in the Pish of Os¬ westry, is now called Llys feisir or llys feisidd [feisydd]." QUERIES. "THE ENGLISHMAN'S RIGHT."—This is the title of a tract reprinted in 1785, by T. Wood, of Shrews¬ bury, and stated to be the seventh edition of a "Dia¬ logue between a Barrister-at-law and a juryman," written by " Sir John Hawles, Knight, Solicitor General to the late King William." This edition is dedicated "to the Rev. William Davies Shipley, D.D., Dean of St. Asaph," doubtless because of the celebrated case, tried at Shrews¬ bury a year or two earlier, in which he was the defendant. In the preface we are told that an English jury " has a right to give a general verdict on a_ question of _ Law, arising out of, or necessarily included in, the question of Fact before them in an indictment or information, for a supposed Libel, cannot be more fully evinced than it was in the case of the King v. Owen, in the year 1752." Who was Owen? And can any of your readers give us an out¬ line of the Trial of the Dean ? Tell. [We hope some day to give an outline of the two trials of the Dean of St. Asaph.—Ed.]