THE REV JOHN GUTCH, F.A.S. M.A. Registrar of the University of Oxford. Drawn &Engraved by T Wageman Gent Mag. Sept 1831 PL 201 MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN GUTCH, M.A. F. S. A. ON the 1st of July died at Oxford, aged 86, the Rev. John Gutch, M.A. and F.S.A. sixty-two years Chaplain of All Souls' College in that University; Rector of St. Clement near that city, and of Kirkby Underwood in the diocese and county of Lincoln. To the former benefice he was presented by the Lord Chancellor Loughborough in the year 1795; and to the latter by Dr. Thomas Thurlow, then Bishop of Lincoln, in the year 1786. He was also many years Chaplain of Corpus Christi College. He took his degree of M. A. June 8, 1771. Mr. Gutch was elected to the office of Registrar of the University, and also Registrar of the Courts, &c. of the Chancellor, in the year 1797, on the decease of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Foster. The former office is in the gift of the members of Convocation; to the latter he was presented by the then Chancellor, his Grace the Duke of Portland. The duties of the important situation of Registrar of the University Mr. Gutch fulfilled until the year 1824, and there are few members who were presented to their: degrees during the time he held the office, who will forget the urbanity and attention with which he officiated on those occasions. At the close of that year, having, on account of his advanced age and infirmities, expressed a wish to be relieved from its duties, a proposal to the following effect was unanimously passed in convocation : -"That in consideration of his long and faithful services to the University, an annuity of 200l. to commence on the 21st December next, be granted to the Rev. Mr. Gutch, on the resignation of the office of Registrar in the course of the present term.' On the next day, after several degrees had been conferred, he resigned the office into the hands of the Vice-Chancellor, and the Rev. Philip Bliss, D.C.L. was unanimously elected his successor. Mr. Gutch retained the office of Actuary or Registrar of the Chancellor's Court to the day of his decease. The following may be recorded as an instance of the esteem in which he was held by his friends, the members of All Souls' College, where he entered GENT. MAG. September, 1831. as clerk on his first admission into the University. As senior Chaplain of the Society, it was his duty to preach before the members on three different festival days in the course of the year, and on Christmas Day 1819 he commenced his sermon as follows: "On the suggestion of one of my friends and well-wishers, I beg leave to preface my discourse on this holy and joyful season, by mentioning a circumstance relating to myself. But here, before this audience, I humbly trust it will not be imputed to any vanity or boasting of my abilities in the discharge of my duty as a humble preacher of the Word of God; but as I hope and intend it to be-a tribute of thanksgiving to the Almighty Preserver of my life. This, I may say with truth, is the fiftieth anniversary that I have had the honour and happiness of performing my official duty from this place; nay more, to speak the whole truth, as I make my appearance here at three seasons of the year, it is really the one hundred and fortyeighth time, without any intermission, by indisposition or otherwise, as far as my recollection will carry me. And having through God's Providence lately recovered from an alarming attack of illness, I beg leave thus publicly to return thanks to the Almighty for the preservation of my health during this long period; and at the same time to express my acknowledgment for the kind exertions of my friends in contributing their assistance for my comfort and welfare. And thus, having performed my vows of praise to the great God and Preserver of my life, and fulfilled my promise to my worthy friend, who first suggested the thought, but whose name I forbear at present to mention, because I observe he is at this moment one of my attentive auditors, I proceed with my discourse on this holy solemnity, and hope the season of the year and my late indisposition will be a sufficient apology for its brevity."-Shortly afterwards, his very kind and excellent friend the Hon. and Rev. Dr. Legge, then Bishop of Oxford, and Warden of All Souls' College, communicated to him the unexpected and gratifying intelligence, 202 Memoir of the Rev. John Gutch, M.A. F.S.A. that a subscription had been set on foot by the then members of the Society and several others who had formerly belonged to it, to purchase and present to him a piece of plate, as a testimony of the regard in which he was held, and of his long and faithful services; which was accordingly done in the shape of a superb silver inkstand, elegantly chased and gilt, inscribed with the college arms, together with his own. That the same regard was continued to Mr. Gutch to the day of his decease by this Society, appears by the following quotation from a letter written by the Rev. Lewis Sneyd, the present Warden, addressed to a member of his family the morning after the melancholy event had taken place :-"I am aware I ought not to intrude upon you and the family at such a season of affliction, but I am unwilling that a single day should pass without my assuring you of the sincerity with which I lament the death of your venerable and respected father. The punctuality with which he performed the duties of his office as Chaplain, his amiable and gentlemanly manners, his kind and becoming deportment, endeared him to us all, and from the many years he had been a member of this College, we had become so accustomed to him as a friend and as a member of our So ciety, that I am sure I am expressing the sentiments of every one connected with it, as well as my own, when I say that his loss will be long felt and deplored in All Souls." In 1781 Mr. Gutch published in two vols. 8vo, "Collectanea Curiosa; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to the History and Antiquities of England and Ireland, the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and a variety of other subjects; chiefly collected from the MSS. of Archbishop Sancroft, given to the Bodleian Library by the late Bishop Tanner;" and in 1786 he published, in 4to, the first volume of "The History and Antiquities of the Colleges and Halls in the University of Oxford, now first published from the original Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library; written by Anthony Wood; with a continuation to the present time." This voluminous work was commenced at the suggestion of his warm friend Thomas Warton, B. D. Fellow of Trinity College, Poetry Professor, Camden's [Sept. Reader in Ancient History, &c. &c. and was afterwards followed at intervals by the publication of the "Fasti Oxonienses, or a Commentary on the supreme Magistrates of the University, with a Continuation, and Additions and Corrections to each College and Hall, 1790." And also in 1792, 1794, and 1796, by "The Antiquities and Annals of the University," in 3 vols. On the appearance of the second volume of the work containing the Fasti, it would seem, by the following preface, that Mr. Gutch had just lost his valuable friend Mr. War ton: "The death of the late learned and ingenious Mr. Warton happening on the very moment of this publication, the editor hopes he shall not be accused of presumption in embracing the opportunity of acknowledging the honour of his friendship. By Mr. Warton's judgment of the work he was first induced to undertake it, by his friendly opinions encouraged in the prosecution of it, and by his kind admonitions assisted in its completion. He leaves it to abler hands to describe those various merits, the loss of which are powerfully felt and expressed in the affectionate regrets and respect of his friends and the public. To his friends he was endeared by his simple, open, and friendly manners, to this University by a long residence and many services, and to the public by the valuable additions which have been made by his talents to English poetry, antiquities, and criticism.” After the decease of his friend, Mr. Gutch met with every encouragement that he could desire to proceed in the completion of the work, from that celebrated antiquary Richard Gough, esq., the Hon. Daines Barrington, the Rev. John Price, keeper of the Bodleian Library, the Rev. Ralph Churton, Mr. Brian Richards, and other eminent antiquaries of the day, as well as from a numerous list of subscribers among the different colleges and their members, by whose assistance and liberality he was enabled to complete it. From Mr. Gutch's long residence in the University he had become known to most gentlemen engaged in antiquarian and topographical pursuits, and from the opportunities he enjoyed in the prosecution of his own studies in these branches of knowledge, he possessed peculiar advantages in facilitating similar inquiries and the researches of his friends, to whom he was ever as ready to lend his personal services, as he was to 1 1831.] Some Account of Castor, co. Lincoln. extract and transcribe for them whatever they required from those vast stores of historical information, the libraries and archives of this celebrated University. Numerous are the testimonials in the hands of his family, acknowledging the services he had rendered to his friends and acquaintance; none of whom ever became such, without expressing the sense they entertained of the suavity of his manners, the courtesy of his conduct, and the sweetness and cheerfulness of his disposition. At the period of his decease he was the oldest resident member of the University, and till within a very few days of the close of a life of peculiar serenity and content, he enjoyed his usual good health and spirits, falling at last a victim to the influenza which has lately been so prevalent, and against the debilitating effects of which his great age did not enable him effectually to struggle. His surviving family will long deplore the loss of a most affectionate and indulgent parent, who was the pattern of a humble and sincere Christian. Mr. URBAN, Aug. 2. SINCE the insertion of my former article on the town of Castor in your Miscellany for September, 1829, I have collected a few further particulars relative to the same place, which you may perhaps consider of sufficient interest to merit preservation. There are strong reasons for believing that Castor was a British town. At the bottom of a new road, called Navigation-lane, were several small tumuli, which bore the name of Bean Hills, an evident corruption of Bealtine, or hills of the sacred fire. They were undoubtedly of British construction, and were in existence five and twenty years ago, when I resided at Castor; but the subsequent inclosure of the moors may have subjected them to the operation of the plough, and their contents may have escaped investigation. The town was laid out in its present regularity of form by the Romans, and was a post of some importance with that military people. It had a fortified castle of prodigious strength and extent; and a hollow way which still exists, went under the fortifications, affording a subterra 203 neous passage, either for escape if hard pressed, or for the secret admission of troops or provisions; and formed an excellent outlet towards the south and west, for despatching scouts into the open country to watch the enemy's motions. A spring of fine water ran through the bottom of this vault, which had its rise within the limits of the fortress, and therefore it was impossible to cut off the supply. The garrison was manned with legionary troops, and had always within its walls a cohort of horse. The learned Stukeley says, "In nothing more that I have seen, did the Romans show their fine genius for choice of station like this at Castor. There is a narrow promontory juts forward to the west, being a rock full of springs, level at the top; and on this did they build their town. One may easily guess at the original Roman scheme upon which it was founded, and now in the main preserved. The whole town takes in three squares, at full three hundred feet each; two of which are allotted to the castle, the third in an area lying to the east before it, between it and the hills, which is still the market place. The streets are all set upon these squares and at right angles: at each end are two outlets going obliquely at the corners to the country round about; two above, two descending the hill, thus distributed; the north-east to the Humber mouth, south-east to Louth, northwest to Winteringham, south-west to Lincoln." * The streets have been paved, and many houses were built with the materials taken from the ruins of the fortress; and it is said that the nave and aisles of the Church were also constructed from the same abundant source. It is confidently believed by many of the inhabitants of Castor, that Hengist having obtained of Vortigern, as a reward for his successes against the Picts and Scots, permission to inclose as much land as he could encompass with a bull's hide, he selected this place for the experiment, and having cut his hide into small thongs, he acquired the town and lordship of Castor, and hence, they say, was derived the name of Thongcaster, which the town bears in old charters and Stukeley, Itin. Cur. p. 101. 204 Some Account of Castor, co. Lincoln. testamentary writings. I have little faith in this tale of the bull's hide, for the town is not called by the name of Thongcaster in Domesday, nor in any of the early State records; and it appears to rest solely on the ipse dixit of Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose authority on many subjects is objectionable and unworthy of credit. His work may be a very pretty romance, but it must not be implicitly adopted as genuine history. At all events, which is more to our purpose, no such transaction between these two worthies ever took place at Castor in Lincolnshire. The situation was utterly unfavourable for Hengist's scheme of dominion; and the legend adds, that he and his Saxons took up their residence within the lands thus inclosed. At that period of his career, the ambitious Saxon was not numerously attended; and he anxiously waited for reinforcements from his German confederates; but Castor would not only be too far north, but too much inland for the purposes of secret communication with his friends at home. He therefore, with the wisest and most consummate policy, placed himself in the small island of Thanet on the coast of Kent, from which he jealously excluded the Britons, that his proceedings and designs might remain an impenetrable mystery. Stow informs us, with much greater probability, that the above transaction between Hengist and Vortigern took place at Thong Castle in Kent; and I should rather be of opinion, that the town under our consideration acquired the name of Thongcaster from the tenure of the whipthong described in my former letter. The We have better authority for the decisive battle which was fought at Castor between Egbert and Wyclaff King of Mercia, when the latter was defeated with considerable loss. engagement commenced in the moor, at the north end of the village of Nettleton, scarcely a mile from Castor. Egbert's army was encamped at a short distance from the spot which he had selected to give his adversary the meeting, and Wyclaff was in the fortress at Castor. The battle was severe, and Egbert pressed so closely on the flying enemy, that he succeeded in gaining possession of the town. The dead were buried on the field of battle; and I am informed by my friend [Sept. Thomas Hewson, esq. of Croydon in Surrey, who is now 78 years of age, that he recollects being told, when he was a boy at Castor School, that vestiges sufficient remained to indicate the situation of Egbert's camp, and explain the plan of the fight, which he took the trouble to investigate minutely in 1777. He says that the trenches might be traced amongst the furze and thorns with which this part of the moor had been covered from the Roman period till about twenty years ago, when it was inclosed and for the first time had a plough inserted in its bosom. There were also two large barrows, which had been raised over the bodies of the slain; and a third nearer to the town, which was called Sturting hill, (Sax. Stightan, to set up,) and supposed to be haunted. These vestiges of antiquity have given way before the progress of agricultural improvement. But a most unequivocal token of this victory remains in an inscribed stone which was dug out of the Castle hill by some labourers in the year 1770; from which we learn that Egbert piously dedicated his spoils to God at the foot of the cross; and it is probable that from him might proceed the first regular endowment of the Church. This memorial is now in the Museum at Lincoln. It is a flat grey stone about a foot broad by two feet and a half long, and appears to have been intended to fix in a wall. The letters are uncouth, and the inscription considerably defaced. The principal family in Castor, for many centuries after the settlement of property, was that of Hundon or Houndon, some of whose monuments are still in the church, though in a state of degradation. One, under an arch in the north wall is boarded up; another is partly hid under the floor of a pew; but the following description will be correct, as it was taken by the celebrated antiquary Gervase Holles of Grimsby in 1629: "The north isle hath a quire built by the family of Houndon, as a bounde on the top, set as a finall, doeth shew, within it lyeth Sir John of Houndon. His effigies of stone in full proportion, and compleat armour; his handes closed and erected; at his head two angells supporting his pillow at either ende. "Almost over against this on a high built monument of stone, in full proportion, |