CH. XIII SIR ANTHONY KINGSTON 319 to exonerate him, and pleaded that he had acted only under compulsion, "but howsoever it was, Sir Anthonie Kingston that was provost-marshall in the kings armie under the lord privie seale wrote his letter unto the said maior signifieng to him that he and other with him would come and dine with him such a daie. The maior seeming to be glad thereof, made the best purveiance he could to receive them, and at the time appointed Sir Anthonie Kingston came with his companie, and were right hartilie welcomed by the maior. But before they sat downe to dinner, calling the maior aside, he told him that there must be execution doone in that towne, and therefore willed him that a paire of gallowes might be framed and set up with speed, so that they might be readie by that time that they should make an end of dinner. "The maior with all diligence caused the same to be doone; so that when dinner was ended, Sir Anthonie calling the maior to him, and asking whether the gallowes were set up accordinglie as he had willed, the maior answered that they were readie. Wherewith Sir Anthonie taking the maior by the hand, desired him to bring him to the place where they stood, and comming thither and beholding them, he said to the maior; Thinke you maister maior that they be strong inough? Yea sir, quoth he, that they are. Well then said Sir Anthonie, get you even up unto them, for they are provided for you. The maior greatlie abashed herewith, said; I trust you meane no such thing to me. Sir said he there is no remedie, ye have been a busie rebell, and therefore this is appointed for your reward and so without respit or staie, there was the maior hanged." After this we are not surprised to find that his zeal for the king's peace found a field for its exercise nearer home. The Enclosures Commission issued in 1549 was unpopular with the lower orders whether Romanist or Protestant, and rioting broke out all over the country; the newly erected fences were torn down, the ditches filled up, and the deer parks ravaged. Sir 320 "HANGMAN'S ACRE" CH. XIII Anthony Kingston, says a Bodleian MS. quoted by Rudder, "being Lord of the manor of Painswick caused a gallows for the insurgents to be erected upon Sheepscombe Green in this parish; and made a prison in Painswick, to secure all sorts of offenders; and supposing they might be useful to posterity, he also gave three estates in his lordship, since called Gallowslands; one always to maintain the gallows, a second to keep two ladders in readiness, and the third to provide halters: and that nothing in so necessary a business might be wanting, provided that the tithing-man of Sheepscombe should be hangman, and that he should enjoy an acre of land in that tithing for his service." "There are many people now living," adds Rudder, "who remember the gallows, and the tithingman for the time being still enjoys a piece of ground there called Hangman's Acre, but in this respect his office is a sinecure." History does not record the number of victims offered up to justice on Sir Anthony's gallows tree, nor, however useful his legacy proved to be, does "posterity appear to have held his name in grateful remembrance. his death without lawful issue in 1556 Painswick passed into his sister's family, but his name lingered for a time at Miserden, where there is an altar tomb with the fine coloured effigy of William Kingston, Esq., sheriff of the county, who died in 1614. " On Painswick is a clean, trim-looking place with a rather modern air about it which marks it off from the towns of the eastern side of the hills. Some of the larger houses seem to date from the prosperous days of the earlier part of the last century, when the Wiltshire and Gloucestershire clothing towns still held their own against the growing competition of the north. The houses which face the main street have sloping gardens behind, and on the level plateau in the grounds of the "Falcon" inn is a famous bowling green, on which some dozen games may be played at once. Bowls is a game much cultivated in these parts, the local club holds regular meetings on summer 322 KIMSBURY CAMP CH. XIII evenings, and the matches played against neighbouring towns such as Tewkesbury and Cheltenham are the great events of the season. The bowling green at "The Bell" at Tewkesbury, with its thick, well-kept yew hedges, is one of the oldest and finest in England. ter. Of the older houses the gem is the Court House, just behind the church, so called not as one would naturally expect, because the Courts of the Lord of the Manor were held in it (the Lord lived at Painswick Lodge close by Sheepscombe), but because King Charles slept here on his march to Gloucester in August 1643 and held his court in the large room which still exists. A royal proclamation is extant "given at our Court at Paynewicke" forbidding his soldiers to rob or molest any of the country people who should bring provisions for sale to the market which he was to establish in his camp before GloucesA month later, and the king, foiled in his attempt upon the city, was here again-Essex and his army of relief had been descried upon the hills to the north-east and on a wet gusty autumn afternoon the beleaguering forces marched southwards up the steep ascent to Kimsbury camp. Tradition has handed down from generation to generation the pathetic story how Charles, in deep dejection at the failure of an attempt which might have proved the turning-point of the war, was sitting on a stone near the camp, when one of the young princes, weary of their present life, asked his father when they should go home. "I have no home to go to, my son," was the disconsolate reply. Kimsbury Camp is an ancient fortification a mile to the north of the town, 900 feet above the Severn. It forms a conspicuous landmark in the long line of the Cotswolds, when viewed from the opposite side of the river, and from its summit we shall get our last look at the great stretch of vale and hill, with which our wanderings along the western edge of Cotswold have made us so familiar. It is a view of which we can never tire; true, the same objects may again and again |