_Gospel Place._--In a definition of the boundaries of Bordesley Abbey,
dated 1645, given in Nash's _Worcestershire_, there frequently occurs the
term "Gospel place," thus:
"And so to a Cross or Gospel Place near to Brown's cottage, and from
thence to a Gospel Place under a tree near to a mill ... thence to the
old Gospel Place oak that standeth on the common."
I have heard that at each one of these "Gospel places" there was kept up a
mound on which it was usual to rest a corpse on its way to the churchyard,
during which time some portion of the gospel was read. Can any of your
correspondents say if such a practice was observed in any other part of the
country, its origin, its intention, and the period of its discontinuance?
And if not, can give any other explanation of the term?