Thames Valley Villages, Volume 2 (of 2)Harper, Charles G. (Charles George)
History
Thames Valley Villages, Volume 2 (of 2)
Harper, Charles G. (Charles George)
Thames Valley (England)
The bridle, originally of bright steel, was made to pass over the head,
and round it, and is provided with a flat piece of metal, two inches in
length and one in breadth, for insertion in the mouth, the effect being
to press the tongue down and to prevent speech. It is duly provided with
hinges and a padlock.
For many years it hung by a chain in the vestry, and thus became injured
and rusted; but in 1884 it was enclosed in an oaken, glass-fronted
cabinet; so its further preservation is assured.
[Illustration: BRASS TO JOHN SELWYN.]
On a board suspended against the chancel wall are four small brasses of
the Selwyn family, showing John Selwyn and his wife Susan, and their
eleven children. He was keeper of the royal park of Oatlands, and died in
1587. On one of them, Selwyn himself, is represented mounted on a stag
and in the act of plunging a hunting-knife through the animal’s neck.
This traditionally represents an actual occurrence. It seems that when
Queen Elizabeth was once hunting at Oatlands, a stag stood at bay and
made as if to attack her; whereupon Selwyn jumped from his horse on to
the stag’s back, and killed it in the manner shown.
Several elaborate monuments are to be seen here, including that of
Richard Boyle, Viscount Shannon, who died in 1740. The life-size statues
of himself and his wife are by Roubiliac.
The “Old Manor House” has of late years been rescued from its former
condition of slum tenements. It stands off some bylanes, where there
is a good deal of poor cottage property, and was long subdivided into
small dwellings. A long, low building of timber, lath, and plaster, it
dates back to the time of Henry the Eighth, and was then probably the
residence of the keeper, or ranger, of Oatlands Park; and perhaps the
residence one time of that John Selwyn of whose notable deed mention has
just been made. In after-years it was associated with Ashley Park, and
in Cromwell’s time was occupied by Bradshaw, President of the Council,
and one of the signatories of Charles the First’s death-warrant. If one
were to credit the old rustic legends and tales of wonder, this would be
a historic spot indeed; for the old Surrey peasantry firmly believed that
Bradshaw not only lived here, and was a party to the King’s execution,
but that he executed him with his own hands, on the premises, and buried
him under the flooring. English history, it will be perceived, written
from the rustic point of view, should be entertaining.
[Illustration: WALTON-ON-THAMES CHURCH.]
[Illustration: HALLIFORD.]
[Illustration: WATERSPLASH NEAR HALLIFORD.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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