Banished from Italy, he took refuge in Greece, where it was
said he married a daughter of the King, afterwards sailing to discover a
new country. Arriving off our shores, he sailed up the River Dart until
he could get no farther, and then landed at the foot of the hill where
Totnes now stands. The stone on which he first set foot was ever
afterwards known as Brutus's stone, and was removed for safety near to
the centre of the town; where for ages the mayor or other official gave
out all royal proclamations from it, such as the accessions to the
throne--the last before our visit having been that of her most gracious
Majesty Queen Victoria.
The Charter of Totnes was dated 1205, the mayor claiming precedence over
the Lord Mayor of London, for Totnes, if not the oldest, was one of the
oldest boroughs in England. It was therefore not to be wondered at that
the Corporation possessed many curios: amongst them were the original
ring to which the bull was fastened when bull-baiting formed one of the
pastimes in England; a very ancient wooden chest; the staves used by the
constables in past generations; a curious arm-chair used by the town
clerk; a list of mayors from the year 1377 to the present time; two
original proclamations by Oliver Cromwell; many old placards of
important events; an exceptionally fine fourteenth-century frieze; a
water-pipe formed out of the trunk of an elm tree; the old stocks; and
an engraving representing the arrival of William of Orange at Brixham.
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