Chapter C: R. M

_Gospel Place._--In a definition of the boundaries of Bordesley Abbey, dated 1645, given in Nash's _Worcestershire_, there frequently occurs the term "Gospel place," thus:

"And so to a Cross or Gospel Place near to Brown's cottage, and from
thence to a Gospel Place under a tree near to a mill ... thence to the
old Gospel Place oak that standeth on the common."

I have heard that at each one of these "Gospel places" there was kept up a mound on which it was usual to rest a corpse on its way to the churchyard, during which time some portion of the gospel was read. Can any of your correspondents say if such a practice was observed in any other part of the country, its origin, its intention, and the period of its discontinuance? And if not, can give any other explanation of the term?

G. R.

_York Mint._--Can any of your correspondents inform me of the names of the officers of the local mint at York, instituted about 1696?

O. O. O.

_Chipchase of Chipchase._--I should be glad to learn if any pedigree exists of the ancient family of Chipchase, or De Chipches (as the name is spelt in pleadings and deeds of the fourteenth century). A family bearing that name appears to have occupied or dwelt near the "Turris de Chipches," co. Northumberland, so early as Edward I.; at which time the manor of Prudhoe, of which Chipchase is a member, was held by the Umfravilles. The fact of the principal charges in the armorial bearings of both families being similar, seems to have led to the suggestion that the Chipchases were cadets of the former; but this opinion is without sufficient foundation.

A. G. W.

_Newspapers._--Which is the oldest newspaper, town or country, daily or weekly, now published? The _Lincoln, Rutland, and Stamford Mercury_ (weekly), published at Stamford, is the oldest paper I am acquainted with. The paper for the 21st January, 1853, is numbered "Vol. 158. No. 8231." This gives the year 1695 as the commencement of the paper. Perhaps other readers of "N. & Q." will follow up this interesting subject. Vide Vol. ii., p. 375., and Vol. iii., pp. 164. and 248.