Beggars Bush: A Perambulation through the Disciplines of History, Geography, Archaeology, Literature, Philology, Natural History, Botany, Biography & Beggary

Brian Twyne A Student’s Correspondence 1609

“Dr. Kinge deane of Christchurch, turned away one morninge fiue bakers and so many brewers of townesmen belongings to yt colledge, and hath priuiledged others and tuke them in their place, which if euery colledge should doe as I thinke we must, we should quickly bringe them to beggars bush.”

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The correspondence between Brian Twyne while the latter was at Corpus Christi, Oxford from 1601 to 1612 and his father, Dr Thomas Twyne, a prosperous physician living in Lewes, Sussex, echoes the dialogue between students and parents through the ages. Much of it concerns Brian Twyne’s lack of funds and advancement, and his father’s unwillingness or inability to assist him. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted: March 16th, 2011 | Filed under: Writers | Tags: , , , , , , , | No Comments »


Godmanchester Huntingdonshire Begersbusshe 1576

This is the best known Beggars Bush site, though for the wrong reason, and through unusual  sources. The site was on Ermine Street, which was the main northern road west of the fens. John Walker’s The Universal Gazetteer (London 1798) lists two Beggars Bushes, including this one and another in Middlesex at Enfield.

It is now the site of the Wood Green Animal Refuge, at King’s Bush Farm.

It is on a summit standing at 138ft above sea level in an area where the average height of the surrounding country is closer to 50ft. From London it is the last of a series of rises, and in both directions the trees on the summit stand out against the skyline. It would be widely visible, not only from the Great North Road, (A1198) but from the roads to Stevenage & London (A1) and the road to Cambridge (A14). It would be passed by travellers from London to the north of England.
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Posted: March 13th, 2011 | Filed under: Places | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments »


Andover Hampshire Beggars Bush 1621

John Taylor, the Water Poet, in the dedication to his The Praise, Antiquity and Commodity of Beggary, Beggars & begging, etc.  (1621) refers to “Beggars Bush, neere Andever, or to his Hawthorne brother within a mile of Huntingdon”. The second is clearly the Beggars Bush at Godmanchester, which is the most well known, probably through Saxton’s map.  The first “neere Andever” is a mystery.

It must refer to Andover, Hampshire. However, I can trace no Beggars Bush site in or near Andover, nor can Hampshire Record Office. It may have been a name for a minor location only used briefly. There is at Andover a Coldharbour a similar derogatory place name often found near Beggars Bushes. East of that and on the south side of London Road is a Folly Copse and an area now named Round Bush Copse.
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Posted: March 13th, 2011 | Filed under: Places | Tags: , , , , , , | No Comments »