 | BERROW AND BIRTSMORTON. 31 only being employed in gloving. There were thirty-one families in the time of Elizabeth, and now there is a population of 289. The principal crops grown are wheat, beans, and barley, but chiefly pasture. When the Brutes had become extinct in Birtsmorton, the Ruyhalla succeeded them by marriage, then the Oldcastles; tut all this while the manor was held of the Duchy of Lancaster, and payment was made of a rose yearly. Roses were - common acknowledgment, or chief rent, and so were capons, bat from Donhamford the Prior of Worcester annually received a nut kernel, while still more curious payments were made from other manors. To the Ruyhalls succeeded the Nanfans, an ancient and famous family from Cornwall, one of whom, John Nanfan, was "esquire of the body" to Henry VI - that is, "val. de cham." as we should now call it; he arrayed and unarrayed him, no one else being allowed to set hand upon the king; and moreover, he had the invaluable privilege of taking care of the royal cupboard all night; besides this, he was governor and commander of various islands and castles, his good fortune being acquired through lending the king a round sum of money in one of his emergencies. Richard Nanfan was sheriff of the county temp. Henry VII, who appointed him captain of Calais, steward of Elmley Castle and the lordship of Tewkesbury, &c. Giles Nanfan, another of the family, is said to have "been instrumental in the promotion of his chaplain, Wolsey, afterwards cardinal. This family resided for about three centuries at the old Court House, which is still in existence, and now occupied by Mrs. Pope, farmer. It is a fine specimen of a moated grange, with turreted walls, embattled gateway, and the original gates, lofty ornamented chimneys, courtyard, wainscoted dining-room, sculptured chimney-piece, Nanfan and other arms. Part of the buttresses is supposed to be of the time of King John. In 1704 the Nanfan heirs male failed, and Catherine, the heiress, married four times—the last when she was seventy-two years old. Her only surviving |