1825.]

History of the Church and Priory of Swine.

about Sweyn King of Denmark? or what could induce them to connect him in any way with the plebeian designation of their own place of abode, supposing him never to have been there? They would have been much more likely to change a noble into an ignoble appellation, and to merge the memorial of a Monarch in the term for a pig-stye. I do not mean to say that this tradition affords of itself sufficient ground for affirming that the Monarch died and was buried there: tho' it is rather remarkable that historians are far from being agreed, either as to the time, the place, or the mode of his decease. Mr. Thompson indeed informs us, that "the historians of the eleventh century mention the particular circumstances of the death of Sweine, and assert that he was buried at York" and refers to Drake. This alludes to the statement in some of our old Chronicles of his being stabbed with a knife at Gainsbro' or Thetford. But others assert, and are followed by Fox, that he died mad; and the Danish Chroniclers scruple not to affirm that he returned to Denmark, and lived to a good old age. But even if we were obliged to give up King Sweyne, he is not the only Danish hero of the name connected with this Island, and of whom history retains a record. Canute, his successor, had a son of the name, and another who bore it was contemporary with William the Conqueror, and sent his sons to invade England, who landed in the Humber, penetrated far into the North, and wintered between the Ouse and Trent. I must not omit to mention, that the non-existence of any tradition ascribing the place to the purposes of a hogfold or market, and of any popular custom denoting such an origin, are favourable particulars on my side of the controversy.

4. The vestiges of ancient military works still discernible, and the Danish and other remarkable names indicative of the residence here of a Royal personage neither British nor Roman, confirm me in my opinion. Mr. Thompson indeed, from compunction, I suppose, at having assigned to your parish so humble an origin, labours strenuously, but, in my opinion, unsuccessfully, to confer on it the dignity of having contained a Roman station. The earth-works he describes do not exactly correspond with the more

495

ordinary Roman camps;-there are no
names fundamentally Latin, as far as
I can gather from his work, attached
to any adjacent places, which is gene-
rally, I almost think universally, the
case elsewhere, and the reliques found
have more claim to a British than a
Roman origin. So that whatever
pre-
dilection the luxurious Romans might
have for swine's flesh, I am still un-
convinced that either there was ever
any extraordinary quantity of that ani-
mal in your parish for them to eat, or
that, supposing there had been, they
were ever there, as residents, to eat
them. But the remains in question
do bear a strong resemblance to a
Saxon fortification. It may well be
supposed, therefore, that a fortress was
here erected by that people for the de-
fence of the coast, on the site of a pre-
vious British one, and wrested from
them, and applied to his own pur-
poses, by Sweyn, after a victory so de-
cisive as to induce his followers to
confer his name on the scene of ac-
tion. Several of the ancient names
preserved in the documents quoted in
Mr. Thompson's work, add greatly to
the probability of this theory. Snores-
holme is unquestionably from Snorro,
which is decidedly a Danish proper
name: Snorro's Holme. Swynesholme
(which by the bye would be Swine-
holme, if it were derived as Mr.
Thompson imagines, from a herd of
swine), Collesholme, Seggesholme, and
Brauncesholme, are also from proper
names, and most probably Danish. I
should not feel justified in adding
Tyryngholme, though Mr. Thompson
mentions Tyryng as being a proper
name. I rather suppose the appella-
tion to have been given after the ap-
propriation of the land to religious pur-
poses, indicating that particular por-
tion as being reserved for providing
vestments, &c. for the monastics; quasi,
the Attyring-Holme, especially as it
forms part of the Beningholme, which
signifies the allotment devoted to pious
uses, from the Saxon word Bene, prayer.
Coleman, however, is a proper name
occurring in Domesday Book; and at
Swine, it seems, there is, or was, a
Coleman-dale. Wighe-field, Waghun,
and the Waight, sound very like cor-
ruptions of the name of Wightred,
who was then Earl of Northumber-
land, and likely enough to have com-
manded the Saxon garrison here in
person. He is expressly said, in a

passage

496

History of the Church and Priory of Swine.

passage from Fox already quoted, to have been defeated and obliged to swear fealty to Sweyne. Earl's Ditch probably derives its name from the title of this nobleman. But above all, Conyston-gate, and Conyston-dyke, strike me as decisive indications of a Royal resident at Swine in the Saxon or Dano-Saxon period. Coning or cyning is the Saxon word for King; whence Conisbro' near Doncaster; and Coneystreet in York, &c. Ton signifies a moated or fortified residence. Conyston-gate and Conyston-dyke denote, therefore, the gate or road, and ditch or dyke of the King's abode. And how could such names originate, if no Monarch ever inhabited such a dwelling here? And what other Sovereign than Sweyne does either history or tradition mention as having thus honour ed the parish of Swine?

But I fear I have already wearied your patience with the length to which my remarks have been extended. I leave you, therefore, to come to a decision from the evidence already before you; trusting that even if you remain unconvinced by my arguments, which I am well aware might by abler hands have been set in a much more advantageous point of view; you will at least respect my motives, and deign to profit by my advice. You may, if you think proper, communicate my views to Mr. Thompson, who, on fuller consideration, will perhaps be led to retract his present opinion, and who in that case, from his vicinity to the spot, his intimate acquaintance with it, and his access to various documents relative to its history, as well as from his acknowledged talent and long experience in Antiquarian pursuits, may be hereafter enabled to throw new light on this, I think, rather interesting subject.

I remain, my dear Milne,

Your affectionate friend,
THOMAS GREENWOOD.
To the Rev. R. Milne, Vicar of Swine.

My Dear Greenwood, Dec. 6, 1825.
Myddelton-sq.

MANY thanks for your long, valuable, and interesting Letter. I could not resist laughing heartily, when reading the commencement of it; nor do I think resistance would have been possible, had I been more phlegmatic than I naturally am. But you are quite mistaken as to the motive by which I am influenced, when you suppose that

[Dec.

the proposing to make some addition to the name of the parish lately entrusted to my care, arises from a wish to avoid the danger of a joke, so formidable to fools and simpletons. Few, I think even yourself will allow, can stand a laugh better than I can; and good sense, good taste, and good feeling, forbid a man to act the Goth upon the antiquities of his country, and that merely to avoid a pun or jest. Being entirely opposed to Mr. Thompson in my opinion as to the derivation of the word Swine, and having a strong suspicion, which I am happy to find so strongly corroborated by your Letter, that it is the identical appellation of the great Danish warrior, the motive by which I am influenced is to rescue this memorial of the renowned father of Canute from oblivion. It will, therefore, I have no doubt, afford you great satisfaction to learn that I have no intention of changing the name (I would be laughed at till Domesday, rather than be guilty of such a Gothic action), but merely of adding that of Denmark to it. That the name is in danger of being lost, is but too evident; since a gentleman who has done himself such honour as an Antiquary and Historian, has actually confounded it with that of a certain animal, who assuredly never laid claim to the sovereignty of the ocean, and who was therefore not likely to contend with Neptune for the dominion of the sea shore, nor even for the banks of the Humber, flooded as they so frequently were in those days, till the very site of the village in question must on many occasions have assumed the appearance of an island. The adding of the epithet Denmark to that of Swine, and thus associating the name of the Monarch with that of the country whence he came, will, I trust, for ever prevent such a mistake hereafter, and, like the buoy that rides upon the wave, and marks to every passing mariner the situation of a certain spot, will on the undulating stream of time ever mark the principal scene of the great Northern warrior's operations, and distinguish to all succeeding generations the noble name of Sweyn.-I am, my dear Greenwood, neither a Goth nor a Vandal, but your very affectionate friend,

R. MILNE, Vicar of Swedenmark. The Rev. T. Greenwood, St. Antholin's Rectory, Walling-street.

ANCIENT

1825,]

ANCIENT SEALS.

Ancient Seals.

HAVING been long in arrear with our Correspondents on this subject, we this month present to them a plate occupied entirely with their con tributions, the whole being, as we believe, before unpublished, and many recently discovered. The designs of several we are enabled to explain, whilst others we must leave to the ingenuity of our readers.

Figure 1 is from a brass matrix, purchased in 1824 by a brazier of Liskeard in Cornwall, from a quarter not mentioned. It is, as set forth in the inscription, the Seal of Henry Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, and Earl of Chester, for the Office of the Cocket of the Duchy of Cornwall:

S. henrici principis Wall' due' cornub' comit' restr' de officio coketti ducatus cornubie.

Our Correspondent, J. R. of Mawman near Falmouth, ascribed it to Henry the Sixth, because the seal of Prince Edward his son, as engraved in "Sandford's Genealogical History," is, except in the inscription, very nearly similar. As, however, Henry the Sixth was never Prince of Wales, (succeeding his father before his creation, and when only nine months old), it is undoubtedly an official seal of Henry the Fifth when Prince, whose seal as Prince of Wales, engraved in Sandford, it also much resembles, excepting that the swan used as the crest (or rather the badge), holds no labell'd ostrich feather in his bill. Henry of Monmouth, as he was styled, was created Prince of Wales in 1399; and in that year, it is probable, this seal was made. He ascended the throne in 1413. -The cocket office was that office in the custom-house where the custom was paid for goods to be exported. The certificate of this payment being called

a cocket. The derivation of the word

and its application have been rather fully entered into by the late Mr. Gough, in vol. LXXII. p. 210, where is an engraving of the seal of the cocket in the Port of Exeter (which had unaccountably become the seal of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Bredon in Worcestershire.) A seal of the Cocket for Inverness and Croc Bedhi is engraved in vol. LXXXI. ii. 521.

Figure 2 is the seal noticed in the present volume, parti. p. 210; and no GENT. MAG. December, 1825.

497

further remarks have been received in

its explanation. The inscription, from

an unfortunate fracture, is unintelligible, and the arms on the flag supported by the dog, require appropriation. From the appearance of the lion of Scotland, we conceive it to be posterior to the accession of James I. but copied from an ancient model. Of the provincial office of Admiral of England in the county of York we have discovered no mention elsewhere.

Figures 3 and 4 are representations
of a leaden impression, found some
years ago by workmen employed in
repairing the bridge leading to Nor-
wich Castle; and now in the posses-
sion of Mr. Johnson, the highly re-
spectable Keeper of that prison. "It
is," says our Correspondent G.T. "in
a very excellent state of preservation,
and is composed apparently of a mix-
ture of pewter, silver, and lead; it cer-
tainly partakes most largely of the baser
metals, but is much harder than if it
The legend on the obverse is:
solely consisted of either pewter or lead.

RAIMVNDVS CVSTOS HOSPITALIS
HIERVSALEM.

On the reverse:

HOSPITALE DE HIERVSALEM.

"It is therefore, I should think, the seal of Raymond du Pay, who was the Master or Keeper of the Hospital established at Jerusalem for the relief of poor pilgrims sometime previous to the first Crusade, and who succeeded Gerard, the first Director, about or shortly before the year 1113, when he and his companions, who had previously been members of the order of St. Benedict, called themselves Knights of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, now Knights of Malta *."

Fig. 5 was communicated by Mr. C. Faulkner of Deddington in Oxford

shire. The brass matrix was found at

Oxford. The inscription seems to be:
Policer de arqusdouct.

Fig. 6 is from a brass seal found in
Devonshire in 1823. It is inscribed

Teban de S. quentin.

Fig. 7, communicated by Mr. C. Faulkner, is from a brass seal presented to him by a friend, who found it

*See Mr. Butler's Short Historical View of the Provincial Religious and Military Orders of the Romish Church.

among