worked the keys, by pressing which the strings were "stopped"; while the other turned a handle at the end of the body which caused a wheel inside to revolve against the strings and so produce a sustained tone, the pitch of which was regulated by the keys. In the later derivative one performer was able to discharge both functions. The principle of the hurdy-gurdy was accordingly that of a viol sounded by a wheel instead of a bow; hence the name vielle by which it was known in France. The keys are simply slides pushed back by the player, with projections to stop" the string.

The manner in which the symphony was held during performance varies. Sometimes the keys

appear at the top, as in an example found in the Loutrell Psalter; in other instances it is held, as here, with the keys downwards, in which case the slides when released would fall back by their own weight. As the vielle à roue, or viol with a wheel, this curious instrument long continued in use, and a French specimen of the nineteenth century is included in the Galpin collection.1

"It is generally supposed," says Dr. Watson in his note on this instrument, "that the ancient vielle (whose descendant in direct line was none other than the peripatetic charmer of our youthful days, the vanished hurdy-gurdy) was the prototype of those stringed instruments which are played by friction; in which case it may be regarded as the real ancestor of the viol family." It is only fair, however, to say that in tracing the descent of this family strong claims have been 1 There is another example in the Henry Watson Collection Manchester.

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made in other directions, as is the case with other complicated pedigrees, but we must forbear to pursue the investigation.

In concluding these notes upon this very interesting collection of medieval carvings, the writer would add that it is not without trepidation that he has ventured upon ground that properly belongs to the domain of the expert in musical archæology. Should justification, however, be needed for the attempt which has been made to describe them he would seek it in the fact that no account of the carvings has hitherto been available. If, therefore, what is here presented be found to be of use, no further excuse is needed; if not, none we fear will be accepted.

The writer's acknowledgments are due and are hereby most gratefully tendered to the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral, to Messrs. J. and E. Cornish, Ltd., for kindly allowing the reproductions from Crowther's Architectural History, to Miss E. K. Prideaux, Mr. F. H. Crossley, F.S.A., and the Rev. H. G. Hiller, M.A., for the use of photographs, and to Mr. J. F. Russell, librarian of the Henry Watson Music Library, and others for help courteously rendered in various ways.

LEASOWE TOWER, 1593: A RECONSTRUCTION BY H. HOPPS.

LEASOWE CASTLE: ITS OWNERS

AND HISTORY.

By E. Cuthbert Woods, L.D.S.

Read 9th December, 1920.

THE pile of buildings called The King Edward

VII Memorial Convalescent Home for Railwaymen, previously known as Leasowe Castle, has had a fairly long and very varied career. Helsby, in his edition of Ormerod's Cheshire (ii., 474), says it was built by Ferdinando fifth (not eighth) earl of Derby, relying, no doubt, on the stone in the tower which bears the date 1593, the year in which that earl succeeded his father Henry. He further states that the building consisted originally of an octagonal tower four stories high, with windows on every side of its octagonal periphery, and surmounted by a flat lead roof.

The history of the manor of Wallasey, which seems originally to have included Poulton and Seacombe, is not at all clear, the evidence being scanty. One moiety was held directly of the earls of Chester, and appears to have been given, though there is no record, to Birkenhead Priory, which acquired a mediety of the church. John de Meoles, lord of Great Meols, in 1416 held 7 bovates of land in Wallasey of the Prior of Birkenhead in socage. Wallasey Hall was in later days 1 Inquis. p. m.

In 1296 Mary widow of Alan del Halle claimed dower against the prior of Birkenhead and against Robert the son of Alan, in respect of two messuages and 4 bovates of land in Kirkby in Walley; Chester Plea Roll 9, m.6.