i2 s. vii. DEC. 25.1920.J NOTES AND QUERIES,
517
estates in the 37th Henry VIII., where he
built a house. In his will made in January
1569/70 he declared Richard Hickes of
Barcheston, whom he had sent out to the
Netherlands to study the art of tapestry
weaving, to be "the only author and beginner
of this art within the realm." In a codicil
-dated Sept. 28, 1570, he stated that he had
established Hickes
" in the mansion house at Barcheston with the my 11, orchards, gardens and pastures without paying .any rent in money, chiefly in respect of the mayntennance of making of Tapestry, arras, moccadoes, carolles, &c."
William Sheldon died at Skilts, Dec. 23, 1570, and was buried at Beoley (not Bevley) with great pomp on Jan. 15 following. His executors were his son Ralph Sheldon, Edmund Plowden, and Anthony Pollard. There is a fine monument erected to his memory in Beoley Church by his son Ralph, with effigies of himself and his wife. He was twice married. His first wife (by whom he had a family of six children) was Mary Willington of Barcheston. On her death, he married Margaret, daughter of Sir Richard Brook, and relict of Sir William Whorwood, by whom he had no issue. Beoley is in Worcestershire, about three miles from Redditch, and Skilts in the adjoining parish of Studley in Warwickshire.
A. C. C.
FRENCH PRISONERS OF WAR IN ENGLAND (12 S. vii. 469). The inquirer should consult a paper entitled 'French Prisoners at Portchester ' (with a picture of Portchester Castle) in ' The Wild Flowers of Selborne ' (London, John Lane, 1906), by the Rev. J. Vaughan, Canon of Winchester Cathedral, who formerly worked in Portchester.
G. R. D.
' The best account of this subject is to be found in Mr. Francis Abell's encyclopaedic
- Prisoners of War in Britain, 1756 to 1815 '
(Oxford University Press, 1914).
J. M. BULLOCH.
The best authority on the subject of the prisoner's works is ' The Depot for Prisoners of War at Norman Cross, Huntingdonshire, 1796-1816.' By Thomas James Walker, M.D., M.R.C.S. Constable & Co., 1913. It contains several excellent illustrations of bone and straw work. Plate xiv. may be specially mentioned as showing an "Elabor- ately Carved Ornamental Design in Bone- Representing a Theatre with Figures
in Carved Bone on the Stage, the work of the
Norman Cross Prisoners of War." This
specimen is in the Peterborough Museum.
The book was much appreciated, a second
edition being required within a year.
An earlier volume ' The French Prisoners of Norman Cross : a Tale,' by the Rev. Arthur Brown, Rector of Catfield, Norfolk, n.d. ; and ' The Story of Dartmoor
Prison,' by Basil Thomson (London, William
Heineman, 1907) may also interest WHITE Y.
HERBERT E. NORRIS. Cirencester.
ST. OSWALD (12 S. vii. 468). It would appear that there has not been at any time the joint dedication of a church to SS. Oswald and Edmund, Kings and Martyrs. Out of a total list of sixty-two dedications to the former in Arnold Forster's compila- tion, in one case only is he coupled with another the church of Grantley is dedi- cated to SS. Cuthbert and Oswald.
It is, by the way, very uncertain that the Gloucestershire dedications to St. Oswald have relation to the Saxon king, and not rather to the celebrated Bishop of Worcester of that name, whose jurisdiction included what is now the co. of Gloucester. This latter opinion is, on the face of it, the more natural. C. J. TOTTENHAM.
Diocesan Library, Liverpool.
ROYAL ARMS IN CHURCHES (12 S. vii. 470.) The custom of setting up the Royal Arms in churches dates commonly from 1547-8. Prior to that time it was apparently illegal, for in 1546-7 the curate and churchwardens of St. Martin in Ironmonger Lane, London, set up the King's arms with texts of scrip- ture about it, and upon complaint by the Bishop and Lord Mayor they were ordered to remove this and reinstate the crucifix (see Acts of Privy Council, Edward VI. J| It would seem that in 1614 it was unusual also to exhibit the arms of the Prince of Wales, for in that year Archbishop Abbott granted a licence to John Serjent, painter- stainer of Hitchin, to enable him to " survey and paynte in all the churches and chappells within this Realme of Eln gland, the Kinges Maties Armes in due form, with helme, crest and man tell, and supporters as they ought to be, together with the noble young prince's and to wrighte in fayre text letters the tenn comman de- ments, the beliefe and the lords Prayer, with some other fruitfull and profitable sentences of holye scrypture."
One example of the prince's arms waa discovered under a coating of whitewash
