Chapter C: Forbes

_Saint Thomas of Lancaster._--The following passage in Fuller's _Worthies_ (of Yorkshire) does not seem to have been noticed by either of your correspondents who replied to MR. R. M. MILNES' Query in Vol. i., p. 181.:

"Thomas Plantagenet. Before I proceed, I must confess myself formerly
at a great loss to understand a passage in an honourable author,
speaking of the counterfeit reliques detected and destroyed at the
Reformation: 'The Bell of Saint Guthlac, and the _Felt_ of Saint Thomas
of Lancaster, both remedies for the headache.' (Vice Lord Herbert's
_Life of Henry VIII._, p. 431.) But I could recover no Saint _Thomas_
(saving him of _Canterbury_) in any English Martyrology, till since, on
enquiry, I find him to be this _Thomas Plantagenet_. He was Earl of
Derby, Lancaster, Leicester, and (in the right of Alice his wife) of
Lincoln. A popular person, and great enemy to the two Spencers, minions
to King Edward II, who being hated as devils for their pride, no wonder
if this Thomas was honored as a Saint and Martyr by the common sort.[6]
Indeed he must be a very good chymist who can extract _martyr_ out of
_malefactor_; and our chronicles generally behold him put to death for
treason against King Edward II. But let him pass for a saint in this
shire, though never solemnly canonised, it being true of such local
saints, what Servius Honoratus observeth of topical gods, '_ad alias
regiones nunquam transibant_,' they travelled not so far as to be
honored in other countries. His beheading, _alias_ his martyrdom,
happened at Pomfret A.D. 1322."

It would appear from the foregoing extract that Thomas of Lancaster was never admitted into the Romish calendar of saints; though his memory was locally revered, especially for his opposition to the two Spencers, or Despensers, as they are called by Hume. This historian had no respect for "the turbulent Lancaster;" but the quaint old Fuller seems to have thought well of him.

As a _bell-man_ I am more interested in the virtues of the bell of Saint Guthlac, than in the hat of Saint Thomas, and I take this opportunity of asking assistance from the readers of "NOTES AND QUERIES" towards a collection of curious anecdotes and information about bells, which I am endeavouring to make. Any contributions will be thankfully received by me.

ALFRED GATTY.

Ecclesfield.

[Footnote 6: "_In sanctorum numerum retulit vulgus._--Camden's _Brit._ in Yorkshire. Amongst other profits received by the abbey of Leicester, in 1348, from oblations at the church of St. Martin in that town, occurs, _pes Thomae Lancastriae respondebat, 6l. 10s._"--_History of Leicestershire_, vol. i. p. 591.]

_Francis Moore_ (Vol. iii., p. 263.).--That such a personage really did exist there can be little doubt. Bromley (in _Engraved Portraits, &c._) gives 1657 as the date of his birth, and says that there was a portrait of him by Drapentier _ad vivum_. Lysons mentions him as one of the {340} remarkable men who, at different periods, resided at Lambeth, and says that his house was in Calcott's Alley, High Street, then called Back Lane, where he seems to have enlightened his generation in the threefold capacity of astrologer, physician, and schoolmaster.

J. C. B.

Lambeth.

"_Tickhill, God help me_" (Vol. i., p. 247.; Vol. ii., p. 452.).--Although I am full late with my pendent, I am tempted to add the instance of "Kyme God Knows," well known to all explorers of the Fens. The adjunct, "God knows," is supposed to be part of the following verse:

"It's Kyme, God knows,
Where no corn grows,
And very little hay;
And if there come a wet time,
It _weshes_ all away."

If I misquote, perhaps some Fen man will set me right.

As to the "Lincoln-heath where should 'un?" instanced by your correspondent H. C. ST. CROIX, in the No. for April 27, 1850, it is quite unknown in this neighbourhood, and I believe must belong to some other locale.

B.

Lincoln.

_Meaning of Tye_ (Vol. iii., p. 263.).--On or contiguous to the South Downs, in Sussex, there are several portions of land bearing this designation, as Berwick Tye, Alfriston Tye, Telscombe Tye, &c. They are all contiguous to the villages from which they derive their names. These lands were formerly held in common by the tenants of the respective manors, and I think the origin of the expression may be traced to the tethering or _tying_-up of cows, horses, &c., for the double purpose of preventing their straying, and of preserving the fences of the neighbouring tenements. I offer this conjecture with some diffidence, because the word is very often found in _composition_ with proper names of places, as Lavortye, Brambletye, Holtye, Puxtye, Ollantigh. The vulgar notion, that it means a space which originally measured ten acres, is, I think, untenable.