and its blazon would be-In a park vert, palisaded or, a hart lodged and a well arg., the wreath or and gu.

Although it must have been a station of that tribe of Britons named Cattieuchlani, and in the centre of the district called Flavia Cæsariensis after the Roman subjugation, the manor of Hartwell has yielded but few relics of high antiquity, or fragmental evidences of former times. It is conveniently placed between the Akeman and Ikening Streets, the latter of which is still called the Acknal Way by the country people-whose local etymology thus becomes "speaking antiquity," as it were; and traces of a madan or maiden-path, the name for an ancient British military road, run from the one towards the other, under the usual designation of Portway. It is traceable in a line south of Hartwell, being commonly called by the synonym, Ford Lane,-from the Celtic or British Fford, a road,-in the portion from thence to Cold Aston and the south of Stone station. Arriving at the Calley, it crosses the Oxford Turnpike road close to the Bugle Inn, and, turning by Bittenham-Anglo-Saxon Byght-hám, a corner bendpasses over the archway bridge of the Hartwell grounds into Lynch Lane, whence it continues across the fields and meads in a north-easterly direction to a spot distinguished by that curious but very frequent name-Cold Harbour; communicating also with another spot bearing the equally common designation of Cold Comfort.*

* I made a communication to the Society of Antiquaries on the subject of "Cold Harbours," which is printed in the 33rd vol. of the Archæologia. Since that paper was read, the Rev. William Airy, Vicar of Keysoe, has

Several skeletons of men and horses, with two or three corroded third-brass coins of the Lower Empire, one of Mezentius, were found in 1842, when lowering the high road near Stone: and a large Byzantine bronze fibula had been found by a labourer in an adjacent spot, in 1840. In Eythorpe fields, near Stone, there are two conical mounds, nearly touching at their foot, which appear to be artificial; but in the spring of 1819, at my request, Dr. Lee excavated the one which stands on his own ground. It is about thirty feet high, and of two hundred feet radius at its base. The trenches were opened with an animation worthy of success but antiquarian expectation was doomed to disappointment, for the geological details gave indisputable evidence of its being a natural deposition, like the strata of the district, from which the outer masses had been swept off by the floods which scooped the valley below. A very accurate record of the cutting was taken by the Rev. J. B. Reade, the excellent and intelligent Vicar of Stone, and the following tabulated depths of the section may be deemed an illustrative abstract :

But, although few artificial vestigia can be directly traced to the British or Roman occupants of this immediate neighbourhood, there are numerous inferential evidences of its early importance. All, however, is rather inferential than positive, as respects the immediate vicinity of Hartwell; for Camden, speaking nearly three centuries ago of Czlerbungh, deplores that its old British

obligingly sent me a list of other places so called in the vicinity of Roman roads in Bedfordshire, Suffolk, and Huntingdonshire. Among these, he calls my attention to "Serpentine Green," about one mile north of Yaxley, saying "The last will amuse you; but it looked so like a translation of your origin of the name (Coluber), that I could not refrain from setting it down." There is a noted Cold Harbour under Ashridge, where the old Roman way joined the Ikeneld Street near Tring.

name, "through the injury of time," was quite lost. When the Romans had over-run and subjugated the island, the Vale of Aylesbury was included in the before-mentioned Flavia Cæsariensis: and we may conclude that the inhabitants, being given to agriculture and the arts of peace, did not require the establishment of camps and garrisons to keep them in check; hence the paucity of archæological relics of that day. The nearest Roman station to Hartwell, of any importance, seems to have been the well-chosen one at Whitchurch.

In the summer of this year (1850), traces of extensive Anglo-Romano sepulture were discovered in opening the foundations for a County Lunatic Asylum, about a couple of furlongs west of the village of Stone. The principal feature consisted of two pit-shafts containing funeral pottery, similar to those in Surrey, which were recently described by Dr. Diamond. Though the urns were of the homeliest order, typical of a lowly people, the "find" was locally interesting. The disinterment was superintended by the Rev. G. B. Reade; and Mr. J. Y. Akerman, the zealous and persevering Archeologist, is about to describe the relics to the Society of Antiquaries.

After the memorable departure of the Romans from Britain, the vale became for a long period the theatre of battles and revolutions among the Britons, the Saxons, and the Danes; and the remarkable White-leaf Cross cut on the face of an opposite hill, the name of Bledlow-ridge, and other local marks, still bear testimony to the sanguinary bearing of those distressing struggles, although Milton might loftily brand them as only comparable with the skirmishes of kites and crows. The political importance of the numerous competitors, on all sides, may be questionable enough: yet those dreadful ravages which occasioned the burning of towns and villages, and spared neither age, sex, nor condition, constituted too calamitous a period to be passed only with a sneer! At length, in or about the year 571, Aylesbury was one of the four British garrisons taken by the Saxons under Cuthwulf, in the expedition which he made to Bedford; and the district was incorporated as a part of Mercia, to whose monarchs it became subject during the continuance of that kingdom. But of those times, although traces may be caught in other parts of the county, the space around Hartwell is singularly

barren of substantial evidence; nor does the traditionary lore of the village extend its glance into remote antiquity. Such a country, in such a situation, must have been well peopled, and studded with fanes and edifices; but all has passed, doubtless into better hands, and the very ruins of a former day have perished!

3. HARTWELL PARISH.

Formerly the commons, common fields, and wastes in this county, bore a very large proportion to the whole of its area; but between the years 1702 and 1797 there were no fewer than thirty-one Inclosure Acts passed by the Parliament, comprehending thirty-eight thousand four hundred and fifty-seven acres,-besides twenty-two Acts in which the number of acres is not specified. The district of Hartwell had long been open and woody; at length however it was inclosed by an Act of Parliament passed in 1776. In this year there were one thousand seven hundred and forty acres inclosed in Stone and Hartwell parishes; the effect of which was, that meat and butter considerably increased, but wheat diminished in the ratio of nearly four bushels per acre. Among other arrangements made on that occasion, an allotment of land was assigned to the rector in lieu of tithes; yet it seems that the respective adjustments were not conducted without effervescence, and their consequent irregularity is still felt. The Rev. Richard Smith was the Rector of Hartwell and Vicar of Stone; and, among some remarks to an estate survey made in 1777, I find the following, in the autograph of Sir William Lee: "He (the reverend gentleman) was offered to have one entire allotment for all his rights in both parishes that by Act of Parliament were to be compensated in land, to be laid together in one farm adjoining to the vicarage of Stone, with farm-house, barn, &c., but from an unaccountable obstinacy he insisted on having the several detached pieces scattered about in the map, without any accommodation."

Being ecclesiastically connected with the chapelry of Little Hampden (Hartwell cum Hampden-Parva), a small vill among the woods on the opposite side of the vale, the statistical returns of Hartwell parish have, since the reign of Henry III., usually included both that hamlet and the smaller one of Sedrup. In the beginning of the last century, Hartwell contained seventeen families, consisting of sixty persons; the average number of births annually being three, and of burials two. In 1813, there were the mansion, the rectory, four farmhouses, and thirteen cottages tithe-free: and the population, which, in 1730, was found to be seventy-six, now amounted to one hundred and twenty-four. The augmentation has been steadily progressive; for, in 1841, the inhabitants numbered seventy males and sixty-eight females; and in 1850 there were one hundred and forty-six men, women, and children; while the cottages had increased to twenty-four. Among these, there is the good fortune to reckon but two or three paupers, so that while their neighbours of Stone were paying four shillings in the pound for poor's rates, Hartwell averaged only one shilling and eight pence. Hence a general appearance of substantial comfort, and consequent peaceable habits: the cottages are neat, with good gardens and out-houses, and every convenience for the proper accommodation of the tenants,-points of importance which have been specially looked to by the present lord of the manor, Dr. Lee. The poorer inhabitants of the village are considerately attended to and assisted by an institution established in 1814, under the name of "The Stone and Hartwell Benevolent Society:" by supplying them with fuel and clothing, small sums of money in sickness and distress, and by providing the use of child-bed linen and other necessaries for poor married women. donation of 107., and a subscription of 67. per annum, by the late Sir George Lee, was augmented with the interest of 1007. by Louis XVIII. King of France. The latter is said to have been the proceeds of the sale of plate and furniture used at Hartwell House, during his Majesty's residence there.

A

Such are the local charities of Hartwell and Stone, but it must be recollected that they are also situated in the hundred and union of Aylesbury. They have, however, generally rowed together with mutual advantage, being too