heavens smile, impart no inconsiderable gratification. The entertainment provided is liberal, the company disposed to please and to be pleased; whilst a band of music, whose tones are reverberated from the opposite banks, soothes the senses, delights, the imagination, and exhilarates the heart." The City State barge, which was often to be seen during the summer months on the reaches of the river about Twickenham, was named the Maria Wood after Alderman Wood's beautiful daughter. One at least of the Miss Berrys must have been a woman of taste, for she was the designer, and apparently the engraver, of Mrs. Damer's bookplate. Both the Misses Berry died in 1852, Agnes in January, and her elder sister in November, at the age of ninety, and both lie buried in Petersham churchyard, where an epitaph from the pen of the Earl of Carlisle is inscribed to their memory. However charming and attractive Strawberry Hill may have been in the last century, in consequence of the literary and social circles of which it formed the central point, the neighbourhood was not without its drawbacks. For instance, owing 123 probably to the large extent of open and unenclosed lands about Twickenham, the highwaymen and footpads would try their skill on noble and gentle travellers in their carriages. Horace Walpole, writing in 1782, complains that, "having lived there in tolerable quiet for thirty years, he cannot now stir a mile from his own house after sunset without one or two servants armed with blunderbusses." Though Strawberry Hill still stands, and though its grounds are as yet intact, yet probably they are both doomed to destruction. "Coming events," they say, "cast their shadows before them;" and therefore it may be worth while to add that on the opposite side of the road a large tract of land, extending up to the Strawberry Hill railway station, has been taken in hand by a firm of London builders, who are rapidly covering the green fields with villas. In Strawberry Vale, almost opposite to Little Strawberry Hill, on the margin of the river, is a row of suburban villas, the last of which, called "The Bachelors," is a landmark familiar to rowingmen; this, too, is the last house in the parish of Twickenham on the confines of Teddington. CHAPTER X. TEDDINGTON AND BUSHEY PARK. "Hæ latebræ dulces, etiam si credis, amanæ."- Horace. Situation and General Appearance of Teddington-Rise and Progress of the Village-Upper Teddington-Etymology of Teddington-Early History, and Descent of the Manor-“Queen Elizabeth's Hunting-Box "The Manor House-The Parish Church-Dr. Stephen Hales— "Peg" Woffington-Extracts from the Parish Register-The Church of St. Peter and St. Paul-Recent Improvements in TeddingtonThe River Thames-"Swan-upping "-Bushey Park-The Ranger's Lodge-A Village Patriot. broad expanse of open meadows. Now all is changed: rows of spruce villas and "neat" terraces have sprung up along the roads to Twickenham and to Hampton Wick, and all over the upper end of the village, which now must soon call itself a town, with its grand "hotels" and magnificent "stores," which have fairly driven out the keepers of its hostelries, and threaten to swallow up the "small trader" class. This growth of Teddington is in a great measure owing to the introduction of the railway. PURSUING our pilgrim way in a south-westerly its "Manor," its little waterside church, and its | its" direction, a road, skirting on the one side the grounds of Strawberry Hill, and on the other the greenest of Thames-side meadows and eyots, conducts us to the lower end of pleasant Teddington, a place familiar to all anglers and boating-men, as marking the first lock and weir upon the Thames, and consequently, the ending of the tidal waythough as a matter of fact the effects of the tide are scarcely felt at all above Richmond and Twickenham. From this point, however, the mud banks which more or less mark every tidal estuary disappear, and we see Father Thames flowing along all the more full and brimming, but not the less picturesque, because of the artificial means by which his course is regulated. But a few years ago-long since the accession of Queen Victoria-Teddington was a quiet rural village, with its two or three squires, its "Grove," The district which is called Upper Teddington is provided with a church, schools, a large hotel, and shops of a more attractive and showy nature than those in the older part of the village. A large portion of the parish is still cultivated as marketgardens. Teddington is situated on the left bank of the Thames, and adjoins the southern end of TwickenThe main road from Richmond Bridge to Bushey Park and Hampton Court passes through the older part of the village, which possesses a few good shops and public buildings. There is here a station on the Kingston extension line, in connection with the South-Western Railway. The village has long been a favourite spot for the disciples of Izaak Walton, and three of its principal inns the "King's Head," the "Royal Oak," and "The Anglers"—are largely patronised by the fishing fraternity. The river about Teddington and Twickenham abounds in barbel, roach, and dace, in such quantities as to induce many who delight in angling to fix upon this spot for their summer "outing." Readers of Pope will not have forgotten the following lines, descriptive of fishing in the Thames : "In genial spring, beneath the quiv'ring shade, before the year 1700. Previously it was known as "Todyngton," "Tuddington," or "Totyngton." If it be true, as suggested by Mr. Trinder, that "tot" means a small grove, and "ing" a meadow or pasture, then the name of Totyngton was not inappropriate to the place, but very descriptive of it, being "derived from the beautiful meadow, as older inhabitants remember it, sloping from the manor-house down to the river-side, with The Grove' in the background—an attractive and pretty spot, the choice of which does justice to the good taste of our British and Saxon ancestors." But we have our doubts as to the meaning above assigned to the word "tot," which appears in such names as Tothill, Tottenham, Totham, Totteridge, Tooting, &c., and which is generally believed to point to a lofty beacon.* There is no record as to the founder of Teddington, whether he was a Briton, a Roman, or a Saxon. No Roman remains have been found in situ; and probably the place grew gradually into existence as a fishing station long before it obtained its Saxon name of "Tuddyngton," or "Todyngton." As far as appears from history and tradition, there was no ford here, nor indeed any need of a ferry, because there was little or no intercourse between the "Mid Saxons" and the men of the "South Rey," or Surrey. "Remote from thoroughfares, and lying in the midst of an extensive forest, to which Bushey and Richmond Parks originally belonged, the place was The Queen's state barge, though no longer used on public occasions, is kept high and dry at Ted-reached only by the river-that silent highway. dington. We have already mentioned this barge in OLD AND NEW LONDON. (See Vol. III. p. 309.) It is of antique shape, with lofty bows, and is said to date from 1600. Its form is familiar to all who remember the engraving of Charles I. feeding the swans on the river at Hampton Court. It has not been used since 1849. The parish of Teddington extends from the river on the one hand-close by which stands the parish church and the main portion of the mother village-towards Twickenham on the other, and stretches also westward in a very irregular manner to the gates of Bushey Park. But when reached, it presented good fishing ground and fair pasturage, and these were just the advantages that the Briton of old times valued. Accordingly, it is scarcely unhistorical to assume that the forerunner of our water-side population was some ancient Briton, who paddled his cranky canoe on the flood-tide to the first fall of the river, and rejoicing to find there plenty of fish and meadows sloping to the river, built his clay and straw-thatched hut somewhere between the old church and the river, fenced round the meadow for his cows, and set up his idols in the neighbouring grove for the chance of some Druid passing that way." Fortunately, in treating of the early history of this "Centuries of quiet rolled over this retired fishing parish, we are largely assisted by a most careful station. The lordly Roman doubtless bought the series of papers which appeared in the local "Parish fish, revelling in the costly dish of lampreys; and Magazine" in 1875-76, from the pen of the ex-perhaps in his hunting expeditions drank a bowl of vicar, the Rev. D. Trinder. Teddington has been thought by casual and superficial scholars to have been so named as being the place at which the Thames ceases to be a tidal river-"Tide-end-town"; but in all probability that mode of spelling its name is not two centuries old at all events, there is no proof of its use milk at the poor Briton's river-side hut, but took no further notice of it, and passed on his way." Teddington was in the Saxon times a "tithing" in the Hundred of Spelthorne. As a tithing, it must even then have been the abode of ten * See "Old and New London," Vol. IV., p. 14. Teddington.] DESCENT OF TEDDINGTON MANOR. 125 Though no mention of the place occurs in Doomsday Book, yet authentic records show that even before the Conquest Teddington was closely connected with Staines, and that the Manor of Teddington was held by the abbot and convent of Westminster, King Edgar having granted to that body "the monastery which is called Staines, and all that belongeth to it, viz., Teddington, Halliford, Feltham, and Ashford." Again, we find that early in the thirteenth century the Manors of Teddington and Sunbury were assigned for the support of one Robert Papillon, who had been deposed from the abbotship of Westminster. In 1223, some disputes having arisen as to the question of patronage, it was agreed that the Abbot of Westminster should nominate and appoint the chaplain of Teddington. In 1371, and again in 1427, "Todyngton" was taxed at nine marks, equal to about £6, as its rate families of freemen, for it was part and parcel of the Anglo-Saxon constitution that every freeman should belong to a tithing, a hundred, and a shire, the members of each tithing being security for the good behaviour of each other. Thus a mutual dependence of each man upon his neighbour was established, and also along with it the principle of self-government. The chief officer in the county was the sheriff, or shire-reeve, who was assisted in his judicial functions by the alderman (elder), who was the supreme judge of the county court. The court of the Hundred took cognisance of matters too important for the tithing to decide; and as an alderman was chosen by each Hundred, so a tithing man was appointed by each Tithing to collect the king's dues and fines, and to preserve the peace. In some places this right would seem to have belonged to the manor court; and it is only within the last few years that the inhabitants of Tedding-able value, and was called upon to contribute ton have ceased to assemble in vestry at Easter to appoint a head-borough or tithing-man, as their Saxon ancestors did before them ten centuries ago. In the times before the Conquest there was doubtless here the usual complement of slaves and ceorls, or churls, dependent on some Thane or noble Saxon, whose flag they followed, and whose leadership they acknowledged under the king. The Thane would naturally erect near his manor-house a chapel, or "bell-house;" and this was done here. The little "Bell House" probably was dedicated from the first to St. Mary. The monks of the Order of St. Benedict at Staines had the charge of the parochial duties here before the Conquest; but in all probability Teddington was annexed by gift of Edward the Confessor to the more important Abbey of Westminster. 6s. 8d. to the service of the king. As the whole Hundred of Spelthorne produced the sum of £21, the population of it would not probably exceed 1,300 adults. What proportion of this belonged to Teddington may be inferred from the fact that in the year of the battle of Agincourt, when Henry V. required large supplies for his glorious, but fruitless, campaign in France, the Hundred of Spelthorne raised a tenth and a fifteenth, amounting to nearly £52, out of which Todyngton supplied 37s. 51d. Somewhat later-namely, in 1435-this charge of a tenth and a fifteenth was found to be in excess of what this part of the country could bear, owing to its having been "desolated, laid waste, destroyed, or excessively impoverished;" the parish received a remission of 8s., along with Sunbury and Staines, whilst Feltham and Bedfont received each nearly double of that amount. Mr. Trinder writes in the magazine above mentioned :-"It was not until the Saxon pirate, blue- In 1539, Abbot Boston, of St. Peter's, Westminseyed, fair-haired, and keen as his own long sword, ter, surrendered into the hands of his royal master swarmed upon the coast, explored the rivers, and the manor and advowson of Teddington. The manor gave his name to the land of the South Saxons then became part of a larger demesne, "the honour (Sussex), those of the west (Wessex), those of the of Hampton," which the king formed into a royal east (Essex), and to that which lay below them hunting chase. Thenceforward the chaplain of (Middlesex), that our name was heard. The place Teddington was appointed by the lord of the took the fancy of the plunderer, and a Saxon village manor, who was bound to provide a stipend of with a Saxon name arose. Hence we have certain £6 4s., a charge which has been continued to the wide limits between which the historical origin present day, though, owing to the change which of Teddington lies; for the Kingdom of Middle- has taken place in the value of money since then, six was founded A.D. 527, and in A.D. 838 a General | it ought to be nearly £50. Council of the United Saxon Kingdom was held In 1603, James I. granted the reversion of the by Egbert at the neighbouring town of Kingstonon-Thames—an event which shows the importance of the place, and the unlikelihood that any available places in its neighbourhood, especially on the banks of the river, had remained unoccupied." manor to John Hill, whose son appears also in connection with it a few years later as Mr. Auditor Hill; he was probably, therefore, a nominee of Lord Buckhurst, formerly Lord Treasurer. It would seem that among the inhabitants of Teddington Saxon beadle, or rather, bedel) used to summon all the tenants of the manor, whether copyholders or freeholders; but this has now disappeared, the manor having been sold, and the copyholders' lands having been enfranchised. The manor probably grew out of the first settle ment in Saxon times, the proprietorship of the Thane under the later Saxon kings having been little different, save in name, from the seignoralty of the Norman lord, and having gradually beer THE QUEEN'S BARGE. merged in it. It is probable that the residence of the feudal lord stood on or near the site of the present Manor House, but it is not mentioned in "Domesday "-nor, indeed, as already stated, is the "vill" of Teddington itself. The "Old House" has been from time immemorial styled "Queen Elizabeth's Hunting-box," and there is no doubt that the tradition is genuine; for the royal chase which Henry VIII. had formed stretched in every direction around Hampton Court, and could not have stopped short of the present boundary-wall of Bushey Park, and probably it extended even further. Outside of it lay a large tract of unenclosed waste, the common land of the parish, leaving but a small portion for private domains and farms. the other side of the river was Richmond Park, running up to and almost touching the old Deer Park, near which stood the palace of Sheene. Now, between these palaces and scenes of royal sport no halfway house could be more conveniently situated for a halting place, where the virgin queen could rest On House, in strict Elizabethan style, with its simple construction and triple gables, bespeaks the purport of its erection, and justifies the tradition." In all probability it was built early in Elizabeth's reign, when the queen was young and devoted to the pastime of the chase; and Leicester dates a letter from Teddington in 1570. office, in 1672, he retired to Teddington, where he | from the labours of the chase; and "the Old relieved many of the clergy who had suffered during the reign of the Puritan faction. He was buried here two years later. In 1833, when the church was altered, his coffin was found open, but his remains, having been embalmed, were almost perfect, even to his pointed beard. It was this Lord Keeper, an ancestor of the present Earl of Bradford, who settled on the church the slender endowment which it has enjoyed down to the present time. It was only about the year 1850 that the "courtleet" of the Manor of Teddington was last held. The bailiff (a Norman official, who displaced the old There was, indeed, in the parish another Elizabethan residence, namely, the Mano: House; but there is no proof that this was ever in the hands of the queen or of members of her Court, except that its reversion was granted in 1582 to Sir Amias Paulet; neither is there any proof that he ever lived and Ward, who made great alterations in the house and remodelled the grounds. Walpole, in a letter to the Earl of Strafford, dated 28th July, 1787, says that Lord Dudley here constructed "an obelisk below a hedge, a canal at right angles with the Thames, and a sham bridge, no wider than that of a violin." All these things, however, were done away with by a Captain Smith, who came into possession of the property through marrying his lordship's widow, and who also to a great extent near the river. The south aisle doubtless formed part of an earlier building, though patched and coated over, and much altered in outward appearance. In the church still survives the original chapel of the hamlet, but probably more than once renewed and rebuilt. On the south wall is a brass, asking the prayers of the faithful for John Goodyere and Thomasyne, his wife. The north aisle was built about the middle of the last century, mainly at the |