1 THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. NOVEMBER, 1823. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. CURIOUS DOOR FORMERLY IN THE BOCARDO, OXFORD. "The City Bridewell, a strong and judiciously planned edifice, is situated in Gloucester Green. Till within a few years of the time of its completion, anno 1789, offenders within the jurisdiction of the Mayor of Oxford were confined in the upper part of the North gate, or, as it was commonly termed, Bocardo. In the Bocardo were immured for a length of time the venerable and illustrious Archbishop Cranmer, and his dignified fellow-sufferers in the cause of true religion, the Bishops Ridley and Latimer, who quitted their dreary prison only to proceed to the stake. In 1771, when the North gate, having been sold to the Commissioners under the Paving Act, was pulled down, a door of appalling strength, said to have belonged to a cell in which the prelates were confined, was procured by Alderman Fletcher; and is preserved in the lodge or entrance to this new city prison, or Bridewell. [See the annexed representation.] It bears the following appropriate inscription. This door was at the entrance of a cell in the Old City Goal Bocardo, called the Bishop's Room, wherein the Bishops Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer were confined, and from whence they were taken to suffer martyrdom in the town ditch, behind the houses opposite Buliol College, in the reign of Queen Mary See Gent. Mag. xc. pt. ii. p. 386. Por 388 8 Roman Altar found at Great Boughton, Cheshire. Portraits of the Martyrs, burnt in wood, Mr. URBAN, TH H. C. B. Chester, Nov. 2. HE Roman Altar, of which I subjoin a sketch, was found in March 1821, in a garden or field called the Daniels, in Great Boughton, Chester, near the junction of the ancient Roman roads to Mancunium and Mediolanum. It was discovered in a bed of marl, intermixed with sand, in a reclining posture, detached from the pedestal, which was a square stone six inches thick. The whole was covered with a mass of stones and rubbish, probably the remains of a building in which the altar was at one period deposited. NYMPHIS FONIBVS The field is on all sides surrounded by abundant springs of fine water, and the "Fountains," to which it was dedicated, probably burst forth their pellucid treasures in the immediate vicinity in which it was dug up. The height of the altar is 4 feet; the middle part of the column is 2 feet; the base and capital two feet three inches; the thuribulum is about an inch in depth, circular, and nearly 8 inches diameter. The inscription is NYMPHIS ET FONTIBUS, LEG. XX. V. V. [Nov. twentieth Legion—the Mighty-the Victorious, to the Nymphs and Fountains. If this altar was erected by the Legion, when they first established a colony in Chester, it is 1778 years since; if on the eve of their quitting Britain, 1491 years;-taking a medium, this relic of Roman piety and gratitude, may have been formed about 1670 years ago. Several Roman altars have been found in Chester. In 1653, an altar, dedicated to Jupiter the Thunderer, by the 20th Legion, was discovered in Forgate-street, and is now amongst the Arundelian Marbles at Oxford: in 1693, one erected by Flavius Longinus, of the 20th Legion, in Eastgate-street, in the possession of the Rev. C. Prescot, of Stockport, and in 1779, one dedicated to Esculapius, now the property of Sir John Grey Egerton, of Oulton Park, Bart. The 20th Legion, of which, for so long a period Chester was the principal station, was not composed of mercenary troops, but of Citizens of Rome. The altar I am now particularly describing to you, was purchased by our noble and magnificent neighbour the Earl Grosvenor. It is deposited in a beautiful octagonal Gothic temple, erected purposely for its reception, on the South side of the sheet of water facing the East front of Faton House, the splendid seat of the noble Earl. The house is about three miles South of this city, approached by a most romantic line of road skirting the mazy wanderings of the Dee the holy river" as it was emphatically designated by our British ancestors. Immense additions are making to the house under the superintendance of Mr. Gummow, the able architect and builder; and in a few years the pleasure grounds will equal any in the Empire, Mr. Forest having already made a paradise of a situation naturally low and marshy. I may probably furnish you with some particulars of the stile and works at Eaton House, the new wings to which are expected to be completed in the autumn of 1824. J. H. HANSHALL. Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, Close of Sarum, Nov. 4. YOU have in some of your former publications treated your readers You Which may be rendered, The with Memoirs, Anecdotes, and Obser * Wade's Walks in Oxfordshire, p. 316. vations upon the Poets, the Philosophers, and other distinguished charac ters that had a strait Paffage to it from the North End of New-Inn-Hall-Lane, and adjoining to it, another little Turret, which is yet ftanding, and made a Dwelling-Houfe.-And here the Reader must know, wherefoever these back Doors were made, was a Common Paffage thereto: As Water-Gate, and the little Postern, the Weft Side of it, and oppofite to this Place spoken of, had: And for this Reason, that in Times of War and Siege, the Defendants fhould make Use of them as Sally-ports.-The ufual Way to ftrengthen thefe Places was, to roll a great Stone against them (a Thing very inconvenient) or to cross them with a Chain; but K. Ed. I. difliking of this, did by his Brief, dated at Westminster March 16,m 33 Reg. to the Chancellor, Mayor, and Commonalty, command them, upon Sufpicion of Men of evil Report lurking in the Suburbs, to fence them with Doors and Chains, which was fo performed, and kept fhut every Night. The next Thing obferveable, onward, is another Tower," between the last spoken of and Bucardo. This in K. Ed. I. Time was a Prifon for common Whores; for as upon divers Complaints made to him by the Chancellor of the Univerfity, of great Enormities that happened by fuffering Men and Women to be put in one Prison together, by his Brief, Regn. 33,° he commanded the Mayor and Bailiffs to provide one for each Sex, which accordingly they did; and this Tower being enlarged towards the Infide of the Wall, was appointed for eight Housewifes, which afterwards, as is seen in the Accounts of the Chamberlain of the City, was called Maiden Chamber. P Come we now to Bucardo, Bocardo, &c. or the North Gate of the City, remembered in St. Frid. Days, Anno 700, and before. This was the ftrongest Gate of the City, as indeed for good Reafon it ought, having no River before it as the others had; was well ftrengthened on each Side with a ftrong bulky Tower, and backed with another Gate, both formerly well fenced, especially the outermoft, with a Port - cullis, to let down before, as also a military Engine erected over it, through which was caft down any Thing obnoxious to the Enemy approaching thereunto. Such a Gate fo ftrengthened, was called Porta Macho-Collata, which had a Paf machicolata fage over it like to a Grate, through which scalding Water, or any other weighty Substance, might be caft upon the Affailants.Befides this, were two great folding Doors hung thereon, made ftrong with Bars of Iron nailed upon them; as alfo a maffy Chain that croffed the outward Gate, by which we cannot otherwise imagine its primitive Beauty and Strength, not only for Fortifications, but for Battlements, Statues, and Arms thereon, which afforded great Delight to Strangers that came that Way; and fo it might have continued, but the Barons Wars ceased, Halcyon Days appeared, and our Swords became rusty, and this Place, for Want of Use, fell into the Hands of the Mayor and Bailiffs, who afterwards made it a common Prison for Debtors and Malefactors belonging to their own City, and which for the fame Use continued till lately.-It has also been a Prifon for Scholars for little Faults. But what renders this Place the more memorable is, the having the Archbishop Cranmer, and the Bihops Latimer and Ridley their Prifoners, previous to their cruel Sufferings by Fire before Baliol College. The Archbishop March 21, 1556; the two latter O. 16, 1551. Before we proceed further, we will endeavour to give the Reader an Account whence Bucardo (Syllogifticum illud Texua) the ufual Name of this Gate, with the Prifon over it, is derived, which to me, I confefs, has always feemed strange indeed. We find Brocardia, &c. from our Lawyers to fignify, Materiam Contentiofam & Sententiarum & Opinionum plenam; that is, A contentious Matter full of Significations and Opinions. Now, whether fuch Matters were acted here, and the Place fo called by a Metonymy, I tv. p. 66, 5 Ed. II. Carcer Oxon. Temp. H. III. Bucardo mentioned 9 H. VI. Twyne 92. This Gate, from its British Derivation, muft reasonably be fuppofed to be the Effect or Refult of the British Times. And the Antiquity of the City feems to imply as much.Buc. Celt. or Brit. an Elevation. Ar near, or at Don or Do, Junction, (i.e.) a lofty and fuperb Gate in the Wall, opening a Paffage to, or adjoining the Suburbs and Country.-Bullet's Celt. Dict. in Verb. It was fold by the City, the Proprietors of it, to the Commiffioners of the Paving-Act, in 1771, for 306 1. In pulling it down a Silver Medal, lumpy, having the Adoranda Rubigo, and green with Age, was found in a Recefs of an upper Room herein, having on one side the Figure of an Owl; on the other, the Greek Letters, A. . E. the Initials of Athenae, evidently the Grecian Arms. It is now in the Poffeffion of the Rev. Mr. Horn, of Wanfted in Effex. The Foundation Stone of this Building (as yet preferved in St. Michael's Church) appears plainly impreffed with a Lion paff. curved Tail, with a Variety of infculped Decorations attending it. As late as 1643, on the Eaft and North Gates were feen Efcutcheons of a Lion paff. Tail queue as before. No. 964, in Harl. MSS. 8vo. by R. Simons. Vid. before in Weft Gate. So The Greeks on their antient Structures com- J. Stanville, Nicholas Upton, and other our Brutus & Locrinus illius primogenitus hæc Arma portaverunt, & omnes Reges ab illis defcendentes, ufque ad Belinum-Sol Leo pass. Gua. Mars. (i. e.) Or, a Lion paff. Gardant Gul. Dedit Brutus 30. Fil. fuo Cambro Regnum Sir Winston Churchill, Knt. in his Hi&. Edit. 1544, confirms this of Brutus, that in 2855. M. he bore the Lion paff. as before. To return to Ashmole.-Gul. conquestor Arma portavit hæc fequentia, nam in illo alia predicta Filii ej. duo W. Rufus, & H. I. Ea quæ Pater ferebant ufque ad Stephanum.-Mars duos Leones paff. Gua. Sol. H. II. Ita portavit Arma Mars 3 Leones paff. Gua. Sol. Whence his prefent Majefty bears Gul. 2 Lions paff. Gard. Or. Imp. the Arms of Albanact as before, Or. a Lion Rampt. Gul. Reg. Brit. Infignia MSS. in Muf. Oxon.At St. John D'Acre the ancient Ptolemais, are yet to be seen the Ruins of a Palace, which acknowledge King Richard I. of England for its Founder, and his Arms the Lion paff. as before, is yet visible on fome of the Stones.-Gordon's Geog. Gram. Edit. 1749. An Owl alfo visibly appeared impreffed on Part of this Ground Stone, after its first public Appearance, till being too roughly fcoured in order to wash it clean, it loft the Owl and Part of itself, which gave Way or mouldered for very Antiquity. Some difcern the Figure of a Spread - Eagle (now almoft defaced or worn off.) This was much in Ufe with the Greeks, and engraved on the public Buildings in their Cities, Capitals of Temples, &c. Often was a Lion paff with an Eagle conjoined on the fame Stone. Vid. Tefforo, as before.Lib. Pemb. Numm. &c. know know not; but notwithstanding (to speak Theologically) in the Times of the Old Teftament, the Gates" of the City were used as Seats of Judgment, Administration of Juftice, and Decifion of Controverfy.-Hamon, and Sechem his Son came to the Gate of the City, and communed with the Men of the City, which was fitting for hearing and determining Caufes; and again," there is mention of oppreffing the Poor in the Gates, (i. e.) as Commentators have it, in public Judgment, which was exercised in the Gate; and from hence probably our Ancestors in this City might by this Example follow, and make this Place their common Portmote for executing Juftice and deciding of Controverfies, as they do now in their Guildhall. That this Gate first came by the Name of Bucardo, my Author thinks from Bochord, in Saxon, fignifying a Library; and that this was put to the Ufe of a Library when our University was in Bellofitum, or Beaumond, in its Neighbourhood. X From hence the Wall inclosed St. Michael's Church, and thence ran to Turl Gate, between which two Places I find, besides other Houses, two Halls for Scholars of the fame Name that adjoined to the Wall withinfide of it, and occupied the Tower there, which is yet ftanding, paying Rent to the City. The Names of the Halls in the Registers are thus; the one called Whiteball fupra Muros, W. Gudere, Principal, who refigned Anno 1450; the second called alfo Whitehall fub Muris, and W. Gudere Principal in 1450. -This W. Gudere was Principal of these two Halls at the fame Time, not uncommon in these Days. - Having done with this Part of the Wall, we come to a little Poftern called Trill, or Turl-Gate, in the Parish of St. Mildred, leading from the City to Baliol College and Trinity, fo called from Peter Thurold or Thurald, or Edward Torald, who lived also by, or built it." This was not built when Exeter College was founded. Going on we meet with two Towers under the Limits of Exeter College, one whereof is converted into Chambers for the Scholars of the faid College; and the Ground under and without the Wall, where fometime was a clear Stream running, gave Name to the Street adjoining. Canditch hath been a long while filled up, and Houses built thereon. Come we now to another Poftern called Smith-Gate, leading from the City at and of the to Beaumont-Street, Wadham, New Park, &c. This Gate joined to our Lady's Printing House. Chapel, and from a Footway, for the Pleasure of King James to fee the Schools erected, was made paffable for a Cart in 1643, when by an Order |