and partly in the law courts. The story of his loss is a strange medley.
One William Hod, of Normandy, in the year 1265 shipped to Portsmouth ten
hogsheads of woad. Robbers seized the woad at Portsmouth and carried it
off to Guildford; Hod, pursuing, recaptured his hogsheads and lodged
them in Guildford Castle. Immediately appeared Nicholas Picard and
others from Normandy, demanding the woad in the name of Stephen Buckarel
and others. If the woad was not given up, they threatened to destroy the
whole of Guildford by fire the next morning. The under-sheriff, whose
family lived in the neighbourhood, at once gave up the woad, whereupon
Hod instituted proceedings against Sir John D'Abernon the Sheriff, and
won his case. Sir John had to pay as damages six score marks--about
equivalent to L900 of our money.

Stoke D'Abernon church holds a number of other interesting monuments and
brasses; indeed, for its size, it is fuller of valuable work and
memorials than any other Surrey church. One of them, placed to the
memory of "Sir Richard the Little, formerly parson of this church," has
a haunting note of personal loss. It is a pleasure to puzzle out the old
Norman-French:--

SIRE RICHARD LE PETIT IADIS PERSONE DE CEST EIGLISE ICI GIST RECEYVE
LA ALME IESU CHRIST.

Another rare form of brass is that of a little chrysom child, Ellen
Bray; another, a curious engraving of Lady Anne Norbury, with four tiny
sons and four tiny daughters gathered at her feet in the folds of her
gown. There are imposing monuments to Sir Thomas and Lady Vincent, Sir
Thomas enormous in trunk hose and his Lady with her hair elaborately
frizzed in a Paris hood. In the body of the church, the pulpit is a
magnificent piece of early seventeenth century carving, and to the wall
near it is fastened a wrought-iron hour-glass, which must have measured
many a weary discourse. Another of Stoke D'Abernon's possessions is one
of the finest thirteenth century oak chests in the southern counties.

[Illustration: _Stoke D'Abernon Church._]

Outside, the church is interesting in other ways. You can see in the
south wall of the chancel a large slice of Roman herringbone brickwork,
perhaps brought by pre-conquest builders from some villa or other ruins
close at hand; and on the south wall of the nave, high up, is a sundial
which before the conquest probably stood above the old south door. With
so much that is old and venerable in the building and its monuments it
i