Reviews Heraldry in the Churches of Beckenham

REVIEWS Heraldry in the Churches of Beckenham. By the Rev. David Christie- Murray ; illustrated by R. Davies, C. E. Lane, and A. J. Temple. 13 X 6|. Pp. 76. Plates 22. Privately Published, 1954. 10s. 6d (Distributed by Europa Publications, 56 Bloomsbury Street, London, W.C.L) This account of lost and existing heraldry in the Anglican churches of the Deanery of Beckenham is the first result of years of loving labour, commenced when the author was working in the diocese of Rochester. He realized the absence of any comprehensive account of the heraldry in the diocesan churches, and, with the enthusiasm and determination that one associates more with the later Victorian antiquaries, he set to work to provide one. There are twelve more deaneries in the diocese, and the work is ready for pubhcation, provided it receives adequate support. The volume is of particular interest to the genealogist, since wherever an inscription exists (or once existed) in conjunction with heraldry, it is given in full. Pedigrees, too, are freely employed to explain the use of quarterings. The heraldry itself is sanely and simply blazoned, and a glossary provided. In all cases where known, the authority is given for the use of a coat by a particular family ; where variants occur, they are given. Some Romanticism has entered, via Burke. " The ancient family of Berney derived its surname from the town of Berney, near Walsingham, which it possessed at the Conquest." This reviewer is no Horace Round, but the parish of Barney consisted of thirty-six houses in 1808, and the earliest arms of the family quoted by Walter Rye are from Brackley. Again, under Fortescue : " The founder of the family, Sir Richard le Forte, protected William the Conqueror at Hastings, by bearing a shield before him. . . ." Le Forte is not amongst the list (compiled by the editor of the Complete Peerage) of men known to have come with WUliam, or to have been at the battle. The account of the arms and quarterings of the Style family is of particular interest to this reviewer, as he possesses a seventeenth century armoury of Wilham Style. It has seven entries under the name " Style of Wateringbury in Kent, Baronet " is blazoned as " Sa. a fes fretted bet. 3 flower de luces Ar. within a Bordure of the second." " Style of Beckham in Kent Ktn. and Baronett " is, however, blazoned, " Sa. a 220 REVIEWS fes fretted betw. 3 flower de luces in a bordure ingrailed or." Despite this entry, it does not appear that Style of Beckenham used the border engrailed. It is difficult to believe, if Mary Frewen, co-heir to her brother who died in 1787, married WUliam Lord, that Frewen therefore quarters Lord ; but the errata hst for this volume is likely to be but small. Of the illustrations, one can only write that they are of unequal merit. The achievements appeal least to the reviewer (though the Hanoverian Royal Arms are good), and he could wish many of the lions had been tricked by another draughtsman. But he would not belittle what must have been a joyous venture, and would recommend the volume to all Kent antiquaries. R. H. D'ELBOUX. Archaeology from the Earth. By Sir Mortimer Wheeler. 9 x 6 . Pp. xi. + 221 ; 23 plates. Oxford : Clarendon Press. London : Cumberlege, 1954. 25s. Sir Mortimer Wheeler's long-awaited book on the method and technique of archaeological excavation is a highly original work not only by reason of the scholarship by which it is shaped, but also because of the briUiant skill with which his findings are given life. He insists, on his first page, that the archaeologist is not concerned with digging up things, but people, and that his whole outlook must be seasoned with humanity. " Dead archaeology is the driest dust that blows " ; this is a true saying and worthy of all men to be believed. How does archaeology work ? The seventeen chapters of this book provide a complete answer to a difficult question in the solution of which advanced technical knowledge must be balanced by a creative imagination. Chronology and stratigraphy provide the background against which the author discusses the layout of an excavation and, in detail, the excavation of structures, town-sites, and burials. Subsequent chapters are concerned with the practical aspects of staff training and control, the selection of tools, the organization of a pottery shed, photography, the field laboratory and pubhcation. There is an especially clear and precise account of the overall planning of field research. It sets out, as an example of tactics, the plan by which the history of Verulamium was discovered, and on the other hand, to show the operation of a large scale strategic plan, the method by which the native cultures in India were eventually brought to an archseological datum-line and related to Roman civilization. The book is very well produced, well illustrated, and cannot be regarded as expensive. It instructs, inspires, amuses and delights the reader, and perhaps in that order. 221 REVIEWS The XVth Mile Stage. By Harold Mair. 8 X 5£. Pp. xvi. + 123. Illustrated. The Author (Little Scudders, Fawkham, Kent), 1953. 6s. Mr. Mair, who is also a member of the Society, has written a pleasant little book about various aspects of the history of Dartford and its neighbourhood. He describes Littlebrook and Cotton Manors, and gives brief accounts of his countryside during the Anglo-Saxon, Norman and Medieval periods, adding chapters on the notable figures connected with the history of Dartford. Sir Stephen Tallents contributes a foreword, and the book concludes by four interesting short papers on the Folk of Kent, the Territorial Division of Kent, the Custom of Kent, and the Manor of Kent, all by Mr. Gordon Mair, papers which some readers may think are the best part of the book. The Story of Oldbury Hill. By Sir Edward Harrison. 8£ X 5£. Pp.12 with four illustrations. W. H. Smith & Son, Sevenoaks, and the Post Office, Ightham, 1953. 3s. Sir Edward Harrison, lately our Honorary General Secretary, has written this booklet in response to a request for a plain and simple account of Oldbury HU1, its prehistoric peoples, fortifications, and " battles of long ago." It provides an excellent summary of all therelevant facts about the rock shelters, now fortunately in the care of the National Trust ; the Iron Age hill-fort, in the exploration of which the Society played a leading part ; the Roman attack on the fort which the Belgae tried to repel with their slings ; and the significance of Patch Grove pottery. Many visitors will have cause to be grateful for this eminently readable account which never departs from the high standard of accuracy we have learned to expect from its author. Archeology. Teach Yourself Books. By S. Graham Brade-Birks. 7 X 4£. Pp. xii. + 220 ; 120 figures. London : English Universities Press, 1953. 6s. This book, by one of our members, is concerned with " everything that would interest the members of an archaeological society to-day," and its learned author describes in a popular way nearly everything from eoliths to medieval architecture, coats-of-arms and place-names. In the custom of the series, each section of the book is followed by an " exercise," and by a concise up-to-date bibliography. It is at once evident that the author has taken much care and trouble in the preparation of his book, and everyone will echo his hope that " it should be possible for all of us who wish to have a wide outlook and an intelligent interest in the world around us to be able to teach ourselves enough to be able to appreciate the relics of past ages." 222 REVIEWS Archceology in Britain : Observing the Past. By I. Noel Hume. 7£ X 4f. Pp. 120 ; 27 figures. London : W. & G. Foyle, 1953. 2s. 6d Mr. Noel-Hume, who is Excavations Assistant at the GuildhaU Museum and weU experienced in his subject, starts his book by saying that a hand-book and a spade " can transform a well-meaning enthusiast into an archaeological menace in no time at all," and it is his aim to help the novice observer to recognize antiquities, and to explain how skilled archaeologists deal with the material which they have uncovered. The second part of his book is intended as a guide to the identification of antiquities. It ranges from prehistoric flint implements to the pottery and glass of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and although it is brief, it is well done and very satisfactorUy illustrated. The list of Museums with good collections of archaeological material is far from complete. R. F. JESSUP. Kent Churches, 1954. By H. R. Pratt Boorman and V. J. Torr. \0\ X 8. Pp. 173, illustrated on each page. Maidstone : Kent Messenger. 20s. This admirable book forms a companion volume to Kent, Our Glorious Heritage, noticed in Arch. Cant., LXIV, (1951), 181. Although it is embellished with more than 300 photographs of various features of nearly 300 Kentish churches it is something more than a picture book, for the text paragraphs have been written with clarity and authority. The names of the authors and publishers are a sufficient guarantee of the quality of the photographic reproductions which form, not a series of the usual " church views," but a selection of features which covers a large field in fabric and fittings. Thus the gallery of hlustrations includes exterior and interior views of our churches, in use, disused and ruined ; walls, materials, towers (a most interesting series), vanes, doors and doorways, windows, porches, vaulted and other roofs, arches and arcading, waU paintings, sedillia, fonts, pulpits, screens, altars and altar rails, Royal coats-of-arms, monuments, coffin-lids and tombstones. The selection has obviously been chosen to cover aU periods of church architecture and styles of decoration represented in the County. This book is a delight and an education to look at and read and should be both an inspiration and a challenge to us to whom this heritage of faith and beauty has been committed. How this charge is sometimes neglected can be read on page 32 in connection with the present deplorable state and hopeless future of Burham Old Church. J.H.E. 223