ii s. VIIL OCT. 25, i9i3.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
333
at other addresses, from 1847 having two
shops in the city. Besides Mark Bartley
from 1825 to 1850 and later one Andrew
Bartley (probably a son) was in business as a
clockmaker at 17, Merchant Street, Bristol.
If M.A. wishes further information, I shall
be happy to send it.
JOHN E. PRITCHARD, F.S.A. 22, St. John's Road, Clifton. [MR. E. T. MORGAN also thanked for reply.]
ALMSHOTJSES NEAR, THE STRAND, c. 1820 (11 S. vii. 130, 236, 315, 417). I missed seeing ' N. & Q.' for some months, and have only lately read the replies to my query about some almshouses near the Strand. I feel some doubt whether the almshouses to which I refer can be those of St. Clement Danes for the following reason. The Rev. Henry Vallance, brother to my great- grandmother, was master or chaplain to the almshouses in question. His nephew, my great-uncle, stayed with him there in 1821, when he was 11 years old. In after years he searched for the place, but could not find it. My description of it comes from the recollections of his widow, who only heard him speak of it, never herself seeing it. Had the building been standing so late as 1871, he should have had no difficulty in finding it. Mr. Vallance was also, I believe, Chaplain to the Ironmongers' Company, and this may help to identify the almshouses. F. C. BALSTON.
"TRAMWAYS" (11 S. viii. 168, 275, 308). Since my last communication was written, a reference has been supplied to certain Standing Orders of the House of Commons of 1799, dealing with the procedure to be adopted in case of
" any intended Application for Leave to bring in a Bill for the making of Ways or Roads usually called Railways or Dram Roads." 4 Commons' Journals,' liv. 664.
It is reasonable to assume that the word " dram road " had already been in use (locally, at any rate) for some years.
Q. V.
CHECKENDON (11 S. viii. 232). In the Oxford Archaeological Society's Proceedings (1893), pp. 1-47, there is a detailed and very valuable paper upon Checkendon, entitled ' Notices, Manorial and Ecclesiastical, of the Parish of Checkendon,' by Rev. M. T. Pear- man. This is as full an historical account of the parish as I believe exists. A Rental and Survey of the parish is in P.R.O., S.P. Domestic, Eliz., Ixxv., No. 91 ; and a con- veyance of the manor and advowson, 1416,
will be found in Harl. MS. 54, 1. 34. Various
Court Rolls of Checkendon. from Henry V.
to Henry VIII., are in P.R.O. For the
wall-paintings which were discovered there
see Soc. of Ant., Proc., xvii. 386 ; Building
News, 1868, p. 708, and 1869, p. 261;
Church Builder, 1869, No. xxxi., p. 95.
A. L. HUMPHREYS.
THE MILKWORT IN LITERATURE (11 S, viii. 188, 277). Miss Pratt devotes some pages of ' Flowering Plants, Grasses, and Ferns of Great Britain ' to the notice of Polygala, and mentions (vol. i. pp. 193, 194) that P. vulgaris was used decoratively in Rogation processions, and was referred to as "gang -flower" by Bishop Kennet and Gerarde. It is stated (p. 196) that a touch of the leaf of the P. venenata of Java is capable of causing violent sneezings and faintness. This might be added to the touch-me-not plants already enumerated in the columns of ' N. & Q. ' ST. SWITHIN.
OCTAGONAL MEETING-HOUSES (11 S. vii. 27, 72, 173, 238, 417 ; viii. 298). One of the most notable of these is the Regent's Park Baptist Chapel, built by Sir Morton Peto on the site of the Diorama. Peto was allowed to erect the chapel upon the condi- tion that the character of the outside should not be altered, so as to keep the terrace of houses as uniform as possible. The original interior had been so constructed as to exhibit two dioramas. The spectators were seated on a movable stage, and after one diorama had been shown, the stage would be moved in order to view the second picture. As a boy I considered this to be a delightful part of the entertainment.
The first minister of the chapel was the Rev. William Landels, and during his ministry the place was filled to overflowing. The present minister is the Rev. F. B. Meyer. BAPTIST.
There is an octagonal meeting - house, known as The Octagon, in Middle Street, Taunton. It was used at the beginning of the nineteenth century as a Wesleyan chapel. The registers formerly kept there, which contai* a signature of John Wesley, are now at Somerset House (Non- Parochial Registers. Somerset, 80, i., ii.).
SIR JOHN,PLATT, KNIGHT, GRANDSON OF SIR HUGH PLATT (US. viii. 289). Sir John Platt of Godalming (baptized 22 Dec., 1649) married Rebecca, daughter of Sir Thomas Stringer, Knight, at Enfield ; died 17 June, 1705, and was buried at Wickham Skeith,
