_Answer._--The Milward family possessed good landed possessions and
resided at Wollescote (called Ousecote in Nash) in the reign of Henry
VIII. The last of the family bearing the name was Thomas Milward,
Esq., who died in 1784. By his wife, Prudence, daughter of Captain
Oliver Dixon, of Dixon's Green, Dudley, he had four daughters, viz.,
Elizabeth and Ann Milward, who died unmarried; Prudence, the wife of
Mr. Hungerford Oliver, who had issue--the late Edward Oliver, Esq., of
Wollescote, and others; and Mary, the wife of John Foster, of Leicester
Grange, county Warwick, Esq. (Sheriff of Worcestershire, 18th George
III), who had issue one child, John Foster, of the Middle Temple, who
died unmarried. Mr. Edward Oliver succeeded to the property of his
grandfather and the papers referred to by your correspondent. Being
afterwards in embarrassed circumstances, he left Wollescote and resided
in a distant part of the kingdom for several years. The papers, in
sacks, were left at tenants' cottages, and by removal, damp, and other
causes, became gradually lessened, until about twenty years ago, after
Mr. Oliver's return to Wollescote, when he was induced by a relative,
Mr, J. H. Dixon, of Oldswinford, to look over the papers with him, and
they retained such as possessed any topographical or family interest,
made extracts from some, and destroyed the rest. Mr. Dixon, who has
made topographical collections relative to Stourbridge, Dudley, and
some other neighbouring places, possesses, I believe, the few Milward
papers remaining.
CAST-IRON GRAVE SLABS.
A cast-iron slab may be seen on a grave in Himbleton church, having an
inscription to Philip Fincher and his wife, who died, the former in
1660 and the latter in 1690. Is any earlier instance known of the use
of cast-iron for such a purpose?--_Answer._ In Mr. Lowe's paper in the
Sussex collections is a description of a cast-iron grave slab of the
fourteenth century, existing in Burwash church. It has an ornamental
cross, and inscription in relief, and is considered as unique for the
style and period, being probably the oldest existing article of the
kind produced by our foundries.
STEWPONEY.
Can any one supply a more probable origin of the odd name of the
"Stewponey" inn, near Stourbridge, than the following: In ancient times
there was probably a bridge over the Stour near Stourton Castle, and an
inn would be necessary for the traffic passing over the bridge. This
hostelry would be described in the Latin documents of the day as that
by Stourbridge (_Stour ponte_), easily corrupted into "Stour pone" and
"Stewponey." Or the word may be a corruption of the French _Pont_ and
the word _Stour_.
QUEEN ELIZABETH AT HARTLEBURY.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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