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"means, literally, elf, or fairy kingdom*.' Now, as Alfrick and the hamlet of Lulsley, which adjoins it, certainly were considered as fairy-land, as stated in my pamphlet (the substance of which is given in the latter part of this work), we must admit that this view of the etymology is not altogether without reason; and it may have been the opinion in medieval times, although we consider the one proposed above to be the more probable.

ST. AUGUSTINE'S OAK.

In addition to what has been said under the title "Old Storage," relative to the site of St. Augustine's Oak, it may be further observed that Bede, in his "Ecclesiastical History," states that "Augustine, with the assistance of King Ethelbert, drew together, to confer with him, the bishops or doctors of the next province of the Britons, at a place which is to this day called Augustine's Ac, that is Augustine's Oak, on the borders of the Wiccii and West Saxons." Here then we have an account of the oak as far back as the year 731, when Bede's "History" was written. Camden in his "Britannia" says, There is a place whose situation is not exactly known, in this county [Worcester], called Augustyne's ace, Augustine's Oak, where Augustine, the Apostle of the English, and the British bishops met, and after some squabbling about the observance of Easter, the preaching of the Gospel, and administration of baptism according to the ritual of the Romish Church, separated with as little agreement as before 1."

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Gough, in his Additions to "Camden,” Vol. ii., p. 490, second edition, remarks, "Spelman thought he found Austin's Oak at Aufric, a village bordering on Herefordshire, which, as he explains Bede§ and Henry of Huntingdon ||, lies in the confines of the

The elves are called Alfar in Scandinavia (see Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," Vol. i., p. 25, note 5); and Dr. Nash certainly describes "Alfrick" as Alferwyke, and Alfredeswic, as before stated.

+ B. ii., c. 2., p. 81, Giles's translation.

This conference is said to have taken place during the Saxon heptarchy in A.D. 603.

§ "II.2.

|| "III., 325."

Wiccii and West Saxons, and may be a contraction of Austinfric* q. d. Austin's territory. But, not to mention that the true name of this village in writingst is Aulfric and Alfredeswic, he makes Herefordshire a province of the West Saxons; and probably the Oak was a tree, and not a village in any age.

Dr. Nash, in his account of "Suckley," says, "We are told in the Additions to Camden §' that Sir Henry Spelman thought there was some remains of the name of Augustine's Oak in Aufrick, which, as he explains Huntingdon, lies on the confines of the Wiccians and the West Saxons (in confinio Wicciorum et occidentalium Saxonum,' p. 186) Ac id est robur Augustini in confinio Huicciorum et occidentalium Saxonum.'-Bede, L. 2, c. 2, whom Huntingdon copied." The Doctor then added, "The province of the Wiccians did indeed border on the West Saxons; but Worcestershire, much less that part which joins Herefordshire, did not, though in the province of the Wiccians. When Bede wrote, this province was not divided into counties, &c. Bishop Gibson, in his "Additions to Worcestershire,” says this oak was in the confines of the Wiccians and West Saxons. He does not say it was in Wiccia, much less in that part of the province which is now called Worcestershire; but that it was in the confines of the West Saxons, upon which the part now called Worcestershire did not border; wherefore, admitting this oak to have been in the confines of Hùiccia (for in the same ‘Additions' we read Vectorium), it might have stood in that part of Glouces tershire which bounds the confines of Wilts and Somersetshire, provinces of the West Saxon kingdom, perhaps near Tetbury ||, in Gloucestershire."

The Doctor also added, that "Sir Henry Spelman was drawn Query of Austinric.

+ Query-In what writings is it called Alfredeswic? As Dr. Nash's "History" was published in 1781, the above probably was quoted from him, for which, however, he gives no authority as before stated. The first edition of Gough's Camden was published in 1789, and the second edition in 1806. There is no village in the hamlet, unless a very few cottages scattered about near Alfrick Pound may be called a village.

§ That is, in those published prior to Gough's additions. || MSS. Thomas and Lyttelton.

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into the above supposition by the old maps, &c., which write the name of this place Acfrick." Some have supposed it to stand at Aka or Rock; others at a place called Apostle's Oak, near Stanford Bridge; others again, with still less reason, suppose it might have been the Mitre Oak, in the parish of Hartlebury," Nash, Vol. ii., p. 397. The Doctor also, in "Postscript Corrections and Additions," Vol. ii., p. 19, in speaking of Aka or Rock, described in Vol. i., p. 10, &c., says, "Some have supposed this to have been the place where St. Augustine met the British bishops under a great oak, and that from hence the parish obtained its name: certain it is here was a hollow oak held in great veneration by the country people, and called by them the Apostle's Oak. When the turnpike was first erected, it served as a habitation for the keeper, and through his carelessness was burnt down*."

Having thus brought together the various conjectures which have been offered by different writers concerning the site of this celebrated oak, we will only further add that, supposing it to have been in Alfrick, the top of Old Storage would seem to be the spot in that locality on which, most probably, it stood.

Some further mentions of Alfrick will be found in the sections on Ancient Castles, Primitive Roads, and Folk-lore.

Before leaving the hamlet, I must notice a very curious relic. It does not, however, belong to this county; but as I became acquainted with the facts respecting it in Alfrick, and as I am not likely to be a Bedfordshire historian, I feel that I cannot do better than introduce the subject here.

The late Dr. Abbot, chaplain to the Duke of Bedford, used occasionally to visit some relatives of his of the name of Harris, who lived at Chirkenhill, in the parish of Leigh, and upon those occasions he sometimes came to the Upper House in Alfrick, during my late father's time, and used to show a ring, which he said belonged to the celebrated John Bunyan. The remembrance of this circumstance led me, in later times, to make some inquiries

* See the account of Abberly relative to a supposed sapling from this oak.

respecting the ring, of one of the Chirkenhill family,—namely, the Doctor's niece, Mrs. Williams, of Tivoli Lodge, Newport, Monmouthshire, who resided with him several years before her marriage, and up to the time of his death; and who, by letters dated respectively November and December, 1830, kindly informed me that Dr. Abbot, in his last illness, presented Bunyan's ring to the Rev. G. H. Bowers, of Bedford, and that if she recollected right, it was found at the time the North Gate House on Bedford Bridge was taken down in 1765, which was the prison in which Bunyan was confined. That the Gate House was near the centre of the bridge, and that she believed the ring was found in its ruins, and sold to her uncle by a workman. That she then had in her possession a print, published on the 1st of March, 1772*, of the Bridge and Gate House as they stood in Bunyan's time. That the drawing from which the print was taken was made 1761, in which the North Gate House appears; and that she had heard Dr. Abbot say the prison was at times nearly under water. That the ring was very beautiful, and used as a signet. That it was made of fine gold, and was in a most perfect state. That the bridge was supposed to be built in Queen Mary's reign, in lieu of a prior one. That there were two Gate Houses upon the bridge near the centre, which were taken down together. That the one on the north was used for the prison, as before stated; and that on the south served as a store house for the arms and ammunition of the troops quartered there.

Mrs. Williams also gave me a drawing of the Bridge and Gate House taken from the print.-(See the lithographic engraving of it here represented, Plate 5). The prison was that part where the loophole appears.

Upon receipt of these communications I sent the particulars to Mr. Bower, of Bedford, perpetual curate of Elstow (where Bunyan was born) and requested further information, who, in reply, dated 17th November, 1830, stated that Bunyan's ring was presented to him by the late Dr. Abbot, in his last illness, in August

* By S. Hooper, No. 25, Ludgate Hill, and B. Godfrey, Sen.

+ Born 1628; died 12th August, 1688.

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