title of Aber Gavenni upon which the majority of voices gave it the heir-male And when he had again proposed Whether the title of Baron Le Despenser Baroness le Despenser should be conferr'd on the female and her heirs they unanimously agreed to it to which his Majesty gave his Royal Assent And Edward Nevil was soon after summon'd to Parliament by the King 's Writ under the title of Baron of Aber-Gavenni And being according to the usual ceremony introduc'd in his Parliament-Robe between two Barons he was placed above the Baron de Audeley At the same time also the King's Patent was read before the Peers whereby his Majesty restored rais'd preferred c. Mary Fane to the state degree title stile name honour and dignity of Baroness le Despenser Baroness le Despenser and that her heirs successively should be Barens le Despenser c. But the question of precedency being proposed the Peers referr'd the decision thereof to the Commissioners for the office of Earl Marshal of England who signâ—d their Verdict for the Barony of le Despenser This was read before the Peers and by their order register'd in the Parliament Diary out of which I have taken this account in short What ought not to be omitted is that John Hastings held this Castle by homage ward and marriage 6 Edw. 2. When it happens as we read in the Inquisition and if there should chance any war between the King of England and Prince of Wales he ought to defend the Country of Over-went at his own charges to the utmost of his power for the good of himself the King and Kingdom The second town call'd by Antoninus Burrium Burrium who places it 12 miles from Gobannium is seated where the river Byrdhin falls into Usk. 'T is call'd now in British by a transposition of letters Brynbiga for Burenbegi and also Kaer-ŵysk by Giraldus Castrum Oskae and in English Usk. Usk. It shews now only the ruins of a large strong Castle pleasantly seated between the river Usk and Oilwy a small brook which takes its course from the east by Ragland a stately castle-like house of the Earl of Worcester's and passes under it The third City call'd by Antoninus Isca Isca and Legio secunda seated on the other side of the river Usk and distant as he observes exactly 12 Italian miles from Burrium is câ—ll'd by the Britains Kaer Lheion and Kaer Lheion ar ŵysk Kaer Lheion ar Wysk which signifies the City of the Legion on the river Usk from the Legio Secunda Augusta called also Britannica secunda This Legion instituted by Augustus and translated out of Germany into Britain by Claudius under the conduct of Vespasian to whom upon his aspiring to the Empire it prov'd serviceable and also secur'd him the British Legions was placed here at length by Julius Frontinus as seems probable in garrison against the Silures How great a City this Isca was at that time our Giraldus informs us in his Itinerary of Wales A very ancient city this was saith he and enjoy'd honourable privileges elegantly built by the Romans with * The câ—â—cuit â—f 〈◊〉 walls aâ—â— 3 miles Enderoy brick walls There are yet remaining many footsteps of its ancient splendour stately palaces which formerly with their gilded Tiles emulated the Roman grandeur for that it was at first built by the Roman nobility and adorn'd with sumptuous edifices an exceeding high tower remarkable hot †An. 16â—â— hot baâ—â—s were dâ—â—â—ver'd 〈◊〉 S. Julâ—aâ— the brâ—â—â— equilateâ—â—ly squâ—â—â— about 〈◊〉 inch tâ—â— like thâ—â— at S. Aâ—â—â—â— Mr. Aâ—â—â— baths ruins of ancient temples theatrical places encompass'd with stately walls which are partly yet standing Subterraneous edifices are frequently met with not only within the walls but also in the suburbs aqueducts vaults and which is well worth our observation Hypocausts or stoves contriv'd with admirable artifice conveying heat insensibly through some very narrow vents on the sides Two very eminent and next to St. Alban and Amphibalus the chief Protomartyrs of Britannia major lye entombed here where they were crown'd with martyrdom viz. Julius and Aaron who had also Churches dedicated to them in this City For in ancient times there were three noble Churches here One of Julius the Martyr grac'd with a Quire of Nuns devoted to God's service another dedicated to St. Aaron his companion ennobled with an excellent order of Canons and the third honour'd with the Metropolitan See of Wales Amphibalus also teacher of St. Alban who sincerely instructed him in the Faith was born here This City is excellently well seated on the navigable river Usk and beautified with meadows and woods Here the Roman Embassadors received their audience at the illustrious court of that great King Arthur And here also the Archbishop Dubricius resign'd that honour to David of Menevia by translating the Archiepiscopal See from this City thither Thus far Giraldus But in confirmation of the antiquity of this place I have taken care to add some ancient Inscriptions lately dug up there and communicated to me by the right reverend Father in God Francis Godwin Lord Bishop of Landaff a lover of venerable antiquity and all other good literature In the year 1602. some labourers digging in a meadow adjoyning found on a checquer'd pavement a statue of a person in a short-truss'd habit with a Quiver and Arrows the head hands and feet broken off and also the fragment of an Altar with this Inscription of fair large characters about three inches long erected by Haterianus Lieutenant-General of Augustus and Propraetor of the Province of Cilicia 〈…〉 HATERIANVS LEG AVG PR PR PROVINC CILIC The next year was discover'd also this Inscription which shews the Statue before mention'd to have been of the Goddess Diana and that Titus Flavius Posthumius Varus perhaps of the fifth Cohort of the second Legion had repair'd her Temple a Id est Titus Flavius Postumius Varus quintae Cohortis Legionis Secundae Augustae Templum Dianae restituit T. FL. POSTVMIVS VARVS V. C. LEG TEMPL DIANAE RESTITVIT Also this votive Altar out of which the name of the Emperour * Geta seems to have been rased when he was deposed by his brother Antoninus Bassianus â—â—e Phil. â—â—ns 〈◊〉 1â—5 and declared an enemy yet so as there are some shadows of the Letters still remaining b Id est Pro salute Augustorum nostrorum Severi Antonini Getae Caesarum Publius Saltienus Publii filius Maecia Thalamus ex hac gente aut tribu nempe Publ. Saltienus ortus est Praefectus Legionis secundae Augustae C. Vampeiano Luciliano Consulibus PRO SALVTE In printed Copies Claudius Pompeianus and Lollianus Avitus Coss An. Chr. 210. AVGG N. N. SEVERI ET ANTONINI ET GETAE CAES. P. SALTIENVS P. F. MAECIA THALAMVS HADRI PRAEF LEG II. AVG. C. VAMPEIANO ET LVCILIAN And this fragment of a very fair Altar the Inscription whereof might perhaps be thus supplied
invention And a little after Besides in that book of his which he entitles The History of the Britains how sawcily and bare-facedly he forges every thing is obvious to any one who reads it not altogether a stranger to the antient histories For such men as have not informed themselves of the truth swallow all Fables that come to hand by the lump I say nothing of those great adventures of the Britains before Julius Caesar's landing and government which he either feigned himself or handed down the fabulous inventions of others as authentick Insomuch that Giraldus Cambrensis Dâ—script Cambr. c. 7. who lived and wrote in the same age made no scruple to call it The Fabulous History of Geoffry Others deride Geoffry's foolish Topography in this narration and his counterfeited testimony of Homer and would persuade us that the whole story is a thing patched up of meer incongruities and absurdities They remark farther that these his writings together with his Merlin stand condemned among other prohibited books by the Church of Rome Others observe that the greatest admirers of this our Brutus are themselves still wavering and unresolved in the point That Author say they who takes upon him the name and title of Gildas and briefly glosseth upon Ninius in the first place imagineth this our Brutus to have been a Roman Consul in the next to have been the son of one Silvius and then at last of one Hessicion I have heard also that there is a certain Count Palatine very earnest to have our Brutus called Brotus because his birth was fatal to his mother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek signifying mortal In the judgment of others these men might have bestowed on the Britains a more probable and yet a more illustrious original if they had drawn their descent either from Brito the Centaure mentioned by Higinus or from that Bretanus upon whose daughter Celtice according to Parthenius Nicaeus a very antient author Hercules begat Celtus the father of the Celtae and from which Bretanus Hesychius deriveth the word Britain Bretanus Thus I have laid before you the observations and opinions of other men upon this subject If I have any ways impaired the credit of that history concerning Brutus no man can reasonably quarrel with me for I hope in matters of this nature every man may be allowed the liberty of his own thoughts and of publishing those of other men For my part it shall never trouble me if Brutus pass current for the father and founder of the British Nation Let the Britains descent stand good as they deduce it from the Trojans I shall never contradict it nay I shall shew you hereafter how with truth it may be maintained I am not ignorant that in old time Nations had recourse to Hercules Lâ—vy in later ages to the Trojans for their originals And let antiquity herein be pardoned if she sometimes disguise the truth with the mixture of a fable and bring in the Gods themselves to act a part when she design'd thereby to render the beginnings either of a city or of a nation more noble and majestical For Pliny well observes That even falsly to pretend to a descent from illustrious persons argues some respect for vertue And for my part I readily agree with Varro the most learned of the Romans That these originals fetched from the Gods though in themselves false yet are at least thus far useful that men presuming upon a divine extraction may thereby be excited to generous enterprises and pursue them with a more than ordinary eagerness which makes them seldom fail of extraordinary success Augustin at Civitat Dei li. 3. c. 4. From which words by the way St. Austin gathers that the most learned Varro was inclined to think that all such opinions were really grounldess though he did not openly and expresly own it Since therefore men are not yet agreed either concerning the notion of the name or concerning the first Inhabitants of Britain and whether as to these points the truth will ever hereafter be more clearly discovered now it hath lain so long and so deeply buried I must declare my self extreamly doubtful I hope the reader will be inclineable to excuse me too if I modestly interpose my own conjecture without any prejudice to or against any person not in a contentious humour but as becomes a man that pretends only to discover truth which I am now doing with such a dis-interested zeal that even the just apprehensions of censure could not persuade me to desist Now that I may with the more ease and success discover the reason of this name if possible I will in the first place endeavour to find out as well as I can who were the first Inhabitants of this Island Though indeed these first Planters lye so close in the most hidden retirements of Antiquity as in some thick grove that there is but very small or no hopes of ever retrieving by my diligence what hath for so many ages past lain buried in oblivion To run up our enquiries therefore as high as we can omitting Caesar Diodorus and other writers who will have the Britains to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Aborigines home-bred and never transported from any other place imagining that mankind at first sprung out of the earth like mushromes we are informed by Moses in the sacred History that after the Flood the three Sons of Noah Shem Ham and Japhet after their issue were multiplied to a great number left the mountains of Armenia where the Ark had rested separating themselves into the several quarters of the earth and that by them the whole world was peopled It may also farther be proved as well by reason as by the authority of Theophilus Antiochenus that when their families came to be dispersed abroad by little and little some of their posterity at last arrived in this our Island Whereas says he in old time there were but few men in Arabia and Chaldea after the division of tongues they more and more encreased Hereupon some took their way toward the East others to other parts of the great and wide Continent others traveling towards the North seeking a place where to settle still marched on taking possession of all that lay before them untill they came at last even to Britain seated in the northern climates Moses himself doth also expresly assert the same when he informs us that the Islands of the Gentiles were divided in their lands by the posterity of Japhet The Islands of the Genttiles Divines do interpret to be those which lay farthest off and Wolphgangus Musculus a Divine of considerable repute is of opinion that the nations and families which descended from Japhet were the first possessors of the European Islands such as are saith he England Sicily c. Now that Europe fell to the share of Japhet and his posterity besides Divines Josephus and other Authors have delivered as their opinion To which purpose Isidore cites
Octogonus fons est munere dignus eo Hoc numero decuit sacri baptismatis aulam Surgere quo populo vera salus rediit i.e. The font is an Octogon a figure or number worthy of that function It behoved the place or court of holy Baptism to be raised in this number by which true salvation is restored to the people And it is a common observation that as six was the number of Antichrist so eight of true Christianity The fourteenth seems to be a wolf and boar 2 fierce beasts joyned together and the head of a town or city Vano Civit. Mr. Speed applies it to Venutius a valiant King of the Brigantes married to Cartismandua who betrayed the noble and gallant Caractacus In the fifteenth one letter seems to be misplaced Durnacum was the city Tournay and the head is as they usually decipher cities The sixteenth with a woman's head Orceti if truly spelt is the name also of some city unknown to us Conjectures upon the Coins added The nineteenth is in Mr. Speed but the letters ill wrought and placed he reads it Casibelan the first General of the Britains against the Romans His country seems to have been North of the Thames and to have comprehended part of Hartford and Buckingham shires Yet he conquer'd the chief City of Imanuentius whom he slew and whose son Mandubratius fled to Caesar in France and brought him hither See more of him in Tab. 11 Co. 4. The twentieth is of Cunobeline son of Theomantius nephew to Casibelan by the British writers called Kymboline The head seems to be of a woman On the Reverse a Sphinx a figure so acceptable to Augustus that he engraved it upon his seal Wherefore it may be it was placed upon this Coin to please the Emperor a more than ordinary friend to Cunobeline who was declared a friend to the Romans and is said to have lived many years in Rome In the twenty third seems to be the head of a city inscription Vanit seems to be the same with Vanoc Co. 8. The twenty fourth seems not the head of a person but of a place probably Camalodunum when Christian The twenty fifth Arivogius is both by Speed and Archbishop Usher thought to be Arviragus of whom more Co. 27. Ononus I understand not The twenty sixth is probably of Cartismandua Q. of the Brigantes whereof Caledonia was one part A woman infamous for betraying the warlike Caractacus into the hands of the Romans and for abusing her valiant husband Venutius The twenty seventh a crowned head with many strings of pearls about it is thought to be Arviragus I wish there were more than bare conjectures for it For I do not find that Arviragus was a Christian as this Coin declares there being a cross and a string of pearles about it an ordinary ornament of the cross in the first peaceable times of the Church Harding I think is the only Author who affirms him a Christian but 't is generally said erga Religionem Christianam bene affectus Vit. Basing and that he gave to the first preachers of Glastenbury so many hides of land as helped much to maintain them And Gildas saith that it was well known that the Christian Religion was brought into Britain in the latter end of Tiberius's time He lived in great reputation in Domitian's time whose flatterers upon some prodigies appearing foretold him of some great good fortune to him as that Arviragus should be thrown down from his chariot The twenty ninth Dr. Plot who hath published these three thinks to be Prasutagus and Boadicia but I see no resemblance of one or more faces I rather imagine it to be some fortification The one and thirtieth was put into my hands as belonging to York in Antoninus and antient Authors written Eburacum But I take it to be a Gallick Coin and to signifie either the Eburovices or rather Eburones which were inhabitants of the country of Liege The head seems to be of a City rather than as Bouteroue thinks of Ambiorix Cotivulcus or some other of their Princes The three and thirtieth is also to design some city or country it may be of the Auscii now Ausch in Gascoine or some other unknown It is to be noted that after the example of the Romans who stamped the armed head of a young woman probably Rome a notable Virago who gave name to the city with the word Roma on one side of their Coin other cities and countries placed also the head yet not always helmeted but commonly in the dress of the place where coined British Coins TAB II. That the first was of some British Prince in esteem for an holy man I collect from the pearls about his head set in the ancient form of a glory as also by the hand under the horse for the reverse Many of these British coins are adorned with pearls I conceive the reason to be the plenty of them in this country so great that Julius Caesar is said to have undertaken his expedition for obtaining them and that at his return he dedicated a shield covered with British Pearl in the Temple of Venus In some coins of Constantine the great of Arcadius Eudoxia and others in Gretzer l. 1. c. 15 16 is an hand signifying some favourable action of Providence towards them as reaching to take Constantine into heaven crowning Arcadius c. In this it may intimate the sustaining of his Cavalry This is only conjecture since we know not the person The second and third by their rugged and unhandsom looks seem to have been some of the ancient British Princes but the letters being worn out forbid us to guess who they were The fourth is Cassivelaunus others name him Cassibelinus or Velanus as if he were a Prince of the Cassii a people not far from the Trinobantes part of the dominion of his brother Immanuentius whom he slew and deposed his son Mandubratius who thereupon fled to Caesar and was restored by him to his just dominion But this action caused Mandubratius to be looked upon as an enemy and traitor to his country and so hated that he accompanied Caesar in all his wars and left the Kingdom to his son or nephew Cunobeline His son lived in Rome with the favour of Augustus and the Senate who declared him a friend of the Romans as is plainly intimated in that Speech of the generous Prince Caractacus From these transactions we may observe 1. That the Romans by this submission and request of Manubratius had a just cause of War against Cassibelinus and consequently against all the Britains who chused him their General 2. That this conquest was exceedingly beneficial to the nation and countrey which by the Romans acquired civility if not humanity also and prudent government good husbandry too and improvement of wealth and trade both by sea and land and thereby prepared them for receiving the Gospel 3. That the Britains quickly apprehended these benefits and advantages and therefore more readily embraced and
honour of the deceased party When the Roman Empire began to decline and barbarous nations made frequent incursions into their provinces then the British armies fearing they might be involv'd in the calamity of their Neighbours chose themselves Emperors first Marcus then Gratian both of whom they presently murder'd and lastly â—tura â—runt â—tantine 〈◊〉 chose â—â—eror â—he sake 〈…〉 in the year 107. they * chose one Constantine purely for the sake of his name and against his own will in this city Caer Segont as Ninnius and Gervasius Dorobernensis tell us He setting sail from Britaine arrived at Bologne in France and got all the Roman forces as far as the Alps to joyn him defended Valence a city of Gaule with great resolution against the forces of Honorius the Emperor and set a garrison upon the †Rhine â—henum that was before defenseless He built several fortresses in the passages of the Alpes In Spain by the assistance of Constans his son whom from a Monk he had rais'd to the title of Augustus he was very successful and then sending letters to Honorius to beg pardon for his crime in suffering the soldiers to force upon him the Purple received back an Imperial Robe from that Emperour Buoy'd up with this he pass'd the Alpes with a design to march to Rome but hearing of the death of Alaric the Goth who had been a friend to his cause he retreated to Arles where he fixed the Imperial seat commanded the city to be call'd †after his own name â—tantiâ—â—â— and summon'd thither a solemn meeting of seven Provinces In the mean time Gerontius rais'd a faction against his Master and after he had traiterously slain Constans his son at Vienne in Gaule closely besieged Constantine the Father in Arles but while one Constantius sent by the Emperour Honorius was marching against him with an army Gerontius laid violent hands upon himself In the mean time Constantine being reduc'd to great necessity by the closeness of this siege and by some unhappy sallies of the garrison brought to despair he quitted his honour and that load of fortune and entring into the Church took upon him the Order of a * Priest â—â—y upon which the city was presently surrendred and he led prisoner into Italy where he was beheaded with Julian his son whom he entitled the Noble 〈◊〉 entiâ—â—e 〈◊〉 and Sebastian his brother The History of these affairs which is before deliver'd more at large I have here abridged from Zosimus Zosomen Nicephorus Orosius and Olympiodorus that truth may triumph over the vanity of those who by the help of their own invention have adulterated this story with their ridiculous and simple forgeries Our Historians report that in this city was the inauguration of our martial King Arthur and soon after the place was demolish'd either in the Saxon Wars or when Athelwolf in rebellion against King Edward his brother assisted by that crew of Danish Robbers destroy'd all this country as far as Basing-stoke Nothing now remains but the walls which though they have lost their coping and battlements seem to have been of a great height For by the rubbish and ruins the earth is grown so high that I could scarce thrust my self through a †passage which they call Onion's hole â—â—gipâ—râ— tho' I stoop'd very low The walls however remain in a great measure entire only some few gaps there are in those places where the gates have been and out of these very walls there grow Oaks of such a vast bigness incorporated as it were with the stones and their roots and boughs spreading so far round that they even raise an admiration in all that behold them In compass the walls contain about two Italian miles so that perhaps from the largeness of the place the Saxons call'd it Selcester that is a great city Sel what For Sel seems in their language to have signified great since Asserius Menevensis interprets the Saxon word Selwood by Sylva magna i.e. a great wood On the west-side of the walls where 't is a level there runs a long ridge cast up for defence of the place It includes about 80 acres of land a good and fat soil now divided into separate fields with a little grove towards the west and eastward near the gate a farm-house with a small Church of modern building in which while I search'd for ancient Inscriptions I found nothing but some Coats of Arms in the windows viz. in a field sable seven Fusils argent Bendwise as also in a field sable a Fesse between two cheverns Or and in a shield Or an eagle display'd with two heads gules Arms of the Blewets Bainards and Cusanz I find these last to be the Arms of the Blewets to whom this estate came after the time of William the Conquerour the second are the Arms of the noble family of Bainard of Leckham and the first is the Coat of the family of the Cusanz by whom this estate pass'd hereditarily from the Blewets to the Bainards But in the reign of William the Conquerour this was in the possession of William de Ow the Norman who being accus'd of treason appeal'd to a tryal of his innocence by Duel but being conquered he was by command of King William Rufus punish'd with the loss of his eyes and testicles The inhabitants of this place told me it had been a constant observation of theirs that tho' the soil here be fat and fertile yet in a sort of baulks that cross one another the corn never grows so thick as in the other parts of the field and along these they imagine the streets of the old city to have run Here are commonly dug up British tiles and great plenty of Roman Coins which they call Onion-pennies from one Onion whom they foolishly fancy to have been a Giant and an inhabitant of this city There are often found too some inscriptions which the ignorance of the Country-people has robb'd the world of There is only one brought up to London and placed in the garden of the honourable William Cecil Baron of Burghley and Lord High Treasurer of England which is this MEMORIAE FL. VICTORI NAE T. TAM VICTOR CONIUX POSVIT I shall not be positive as some others are that this was a monument in memory of Victorina who was called Mater Castrorum i.e. Mother of the Camp and who rais'd the Victorini son and grandson Posthumus Lollianus Marius and Tetricus Caesars in Gaule and Britain against Gallienus the Emperor But I have somewhere read that there were two Victors in Britaine and that both flourished at the same time one son of Maximus the Emperor the other * Praetorio Praefectus Praefect of the Guards to the same Emperor and mention'd by St. Ambrose in his Epistles But I dare affirm that neither of these was he who set up this monument in memory of his wife As there is one Roman military way that leads from hence directly southward
call'd the Vineyard Vineyards and another on a rising hill by Oversbridge near Glocester where was a large house moted round belonging to the Bishop of Glocester built about the year 1351. by the Abbot of Glocester but 't was totally ruin'd in the late Civil Wars b The Custom of having forfeited Estates return'd them is now lost by desuetude for upon the strictest enquiries among understanding men it does not appear that 't is us'd oâ— claim'd in any part of this County c The present Forest of Dean â—ean forest contains about 30000 Acres the soil a deep clay fit for the growth of Oak The hills are full of Iron-ore which colour the several Springs that have their passage through them Here are several Fornaces for the making of Iron which by the violence of the fire becomes fluid and being brought to their forges are beat out into Barrs of various shapes The workmen are very industrious in seeking out the Beds of old Cinders which not being fully exhausted are burnt again in the furnaces and make the best Iron The Oak of the forest was so very considerable that 't is said to have been part of the Instructions of the Spanish Armada to destroy the timber of this place But what a foreign power could not effect our own Civil dissentions did for it went miserably to wrack in the Civil wars d The Aventon â—venton mention'd by our Author is at present call'd Alvington being a Chapel of Ease to Wollaston the estate of Henry Duke of Beaufort St. Brevial's-Castle is now ruin'd and serves as a prison for offenders in the Forest It has been always esteem'd a place of trust and honour and several of the Nobility have been Governours of it His Grace the Duke of Beaufort is Constable of the place Here it is that the Mine-Court Swain-Mote and Speech-Court are kept wherein are several old Customs of Pleading e By the river Wye lyeth Newland â—wland a large Parish standing in a pleasant plain where are vast Mine-pits of 60 or 70 foot deep and as large as a considerable Church Mr. Jones a Hamborow-Merchant erected here an Alms house for 16 poor men and women and gave a very good house and stipend to a Lecturer the Company of Haberdashers in London being Trustees North-west from hence is Westbury â—estbury a very large Parish reputed about twenty miles in compass f Our next guide is the Severn â—ern which runs in this County above 40 miles by land 't is in some places 2 or 3 miles over and yet the tyde floweth the whole length of the current as high as Tewkesbury It is remarkable that the tydes one year are largest at full Moon the next at the change and and that one year the night-tydes are largest the other the day-tydes g This river first goes to Tewkesbury â—wkesâ—y where but little of the Abbey remains saving only the Church which is now Parochial and had once a fair Spire upon it Mr. Fuller in his Church-History makes it a controverted point whether the Abbot of Tewkesbury had a voice in Parliament but by Bishop Godwin's Annals it appears he had one 1539. So that this County had four mitred Abbies Glocester Cirencester Tewkesbury and Winchcomhe The Corporation was dissolv'd by the Proclamation of King James 2. 1688. h At a little distance from hence is Deorhirst â—rhirst where Mr. Powell in the year 1675. dug up in his Orchard an old stone with this Inscription Odda Dux jussit hanc Regiam Aulam construi atque dedicari in honorem S. Trinitatis pro animâ germani sui Elfrici quae de hoc loco assumpta Ealdredus vero Episcopus qui eandem dedicavit 2 Idibus April 14. autem anno S. Regni Eadwardi Regis Anglorum i.e. Duke Odda commanded this Royal Palace to be built and to be dedicated to the Holy Trinity for the soul of his Cousin Elfrick which was parted from his body in this place But Ealdred was the Bishop who consecrated it on the second of the Ides of April and the 14th year of the reign of the Holy King Edward i Next is what our Author calls Oleaneag Olaniage in Saxon instead of Olanige for so our ancient Annals read it and makes it famous for the battle between Edmund and Canutus But general tradition will not allow this to be the place neither is it justify'd by any analogy between the old and new names Near Glocester betwixt Oversbridge and Maysemore there is an Island call'd to this day the Isle of Alney which one need not scruple to say was the very place of that action k From hence the Severn runs to Glocester Glocester in Saxon GleaÆ¿anceaster where the Castle mention'd by Mr. Camden is now the common Goal for Debtors and Felons The Monastery built there by Osrick being ruin'd and decay'd was repair'd by Beornulph King of the Mercians in the year 821. who chang'd the former institution into Seculars and they continued till Wulstan Bishop of Worcester plac'd Regulars there of the Order of St. Benedict in the year 1022. A learned Member of this Church has discover'd by some ancient Records that Ralph Willington and not the two mention'd by our Author built our Lady's Chapel and gave Lands to find two Priests for ever there The Offerings at King Edward's Tomb were very large for presently after his death so great a respect was paid to the memory of their injur'd Prince that the Town was scarce able to receive the Votaries that flock'd thither And the Register of the Abbey affirms that if all the Oblations had been expended upon the Church they might have built an entire new one from the very foundation The Tower is so neat and curious that several Travellers have affirm'd it to be one of the best pieces of Architecture in England Abbot Seabroke the first designer of it dying left it to the care of Robert Tully a Monk of this place which is intimated in thole two verses written in black Letters under the arch of the Tower in the Quire Hoc quod digestum specularis opusque politum Tullii haec ex onere Seabroke Abbate jubente The Whispering-place seems to be purely accidental for if one survey the out-side of the Church he will see that two parts of it were tackt on only as passages into a Chapel erected there l As for the City King John made it a Burrough to be govern'd by two Bailiffs and King Henry 3. who was crown'd here made it a Corporation On the south-side of the Abbey King Edward 1. erected a noble Free-stone-gate which is still call'd Edward's Gate it was repair'd by the last Abbot but almost demolisht in the late Civil wars K. Richard the third gave it his Sword and Cap of Maintenance and added the two Hundreds but after the Restoration of King Charles 2. they were taken away by Act of Parliament and the walls pull'd down because they had
afterwards the penitent King cleans'd the Sanctuary rebuilt the Monastery restor'd the old endowment and added new possessions and at last Roger Bishop of Salisbury gave the place to m One Wimund who instituted Canons Regular and became the first Prior of them a very learned Canon Regular who there setled a perpetual society of such Regular Canons for the service of God But leaving these matters let us return to the University The Danish storms being pretty well blown over the pious Prince K. Aelfred restor'd the Muses who had suffer'd a long exile to their former habitation and built three Colleges one for Grammarians another for Philosophers and a third for Divinity q But you have a larger account of this in the old Annals of the Monastery of Winchester In the year of our Lord's incarnation 1306 in the second year of St. Grimbald's coming over into England the University of Oxford was founded the first Regents there and Readers in Divinity were St. Neot an Abbot and eminent Professor of Theology and S. Grimbald an eloquent and most excellent Interpreter of the holy Scriptures Grammar and Rhetorick were taught by Asserius a Monk a man of extraordinary learning Logick Musick and Arithmetick were read by John Monk of St. Davids Geometry and Astronomy were profess'd by John a Monk and Collegue of S. Grimbald one of a sharp wit and immense knowledge These Lectures were often honour'd with the presence of the most illustrious and invincible Monarch K. Aelfred whose memory to every judicious taste shall be always sweeter than honey Soon after this as we read in a very fair MS. copy of that Asserius who was himself at the same time a Professor in this place there arose a sharp and grievous dissention between Grymbold and those learned men whom he brought hither with him and the old scholars whom he found here at his coming for these absolutely refus'd to comply with the Statutes Institutions and Forms of reading prescrib'd by Grimbold The difference proceeded to no great height for the space of three years yet there was always a private grudge and enmity between them which soon after broke out with the utmost violence imaginable To appease these tumults the most invincible K. Aelfred being inform'd of the faction by a message and complaint from Grymbold came to Oxford with design to accommodate the matter and submitted to a great deal of pains and patience to hear the cause and complaint of both parties The controversie depended upon this the old Scholars maintain'd that before the coming of Grymbold to Oxford learning did here flourish tho' the Students were then less in number than they had formerly been by reason that very many of them had been expell'd by the cruel tyranny of Pagans They farther declar'd and prov'd and that by the undoubted testimony of their ancient Annals that good orders and constitutions for the government of that place had been already made by men of great piety and learning such as Gildas Melkin Ninnius Kentigern and others who had there prosecuted their studies to a good old age all things being then manag'd in happy peace and quiet and that St. German coming to Oxford and residing there half a year what time he went thro' all England to preach down the Pelagian Heresie did well approve of their rules and orders The King with incredible humility and great attention heard out both parties exhorting them with pious and importunate entreaties to preserve love and amity with one another Upon this he left them in hopes that both parties would follow his advice and obey his instructions But Grymbold resenting these proceedings retir'd immediately to the Monastery at Winchester which K. Aelfred had lately founded and soon after he got his tomb to be remov'd thither to him in which he had design'd his bones should be put after his decease and laid in a vault under the chancel of the church of St. Peters in Oxford which church the said Grymbold had raised from the ground of stones hewn and carv'd with great art and beauty This happy restauration of Learning receiv'd two or three interruptions in few years For in the reign of K. Etheldred n Probably out of revenge for the injuries they had done 'em An. 1002. when upon the King's Commission to kill all the Danes in England the execution at Oxon. was more particularly severe the Danes sack'd and burn'd the city And soon after Harold sirnam'd * Levipes Haretoot was so incens'd against the place for the death of some of his friends in a tumult and prosecuted his revenge in so barbarous a manner that the scholars were miserably banish'd from their studies and the University a sad spectacle lay as it were expiring till the time of the Conquerour when too as some say he besieg'd and took this city o Notwithstanding all the Copies of Matthew Paris and Roger Wendover call it Oxonia which is confirm'd as well by other Authorities as an old Tradition that while the Conquerour was in his march to the north for the quiet of these parts he came to Oxford which refusing to yield to him and a soldier from the wall highly affronting him he storm'd it on the north-side and getting possession gave the greatest part of the city to Robert de Oily who in the Survey had within the walls and without 42 houses inhabited and 8 lying waste but those who write so have been impos'd upon by reading in faulty copies Oxonia instead of Exonia Yet that it was even then a place of study we may learn from the express words of Ingulph who flourish'd in that age p The Editors of Ingulph 684. found this passage in all the Copies which confutes those who would make us believe it is not genuine I Ingulph being first placed at Westminster was afterward remov'd to the Study of Oxford where in the learning of Aristotle I improv'd beyond most of those who were of equal years with me c. For what we now call Universities they call'd Studies as I shall by and by observe However about this time the city was so impoverish'd that whereas according to the general survey there were reckon'd within and without the walls 750 houses besides 24 mansions upon the walls 500 of 'em were not able to pay the geld or tax When to speak from the authority of Domesday-book this city paid for toll and gable and other customs yearly to the King twenty pounds and six sextaries of honey and to Earl Algar ten pounds Soon after Robert de Oili a noble Norman before-mention'd when for the reward of his services he had received from the Conquerour a large portion of lands in this county he q An. 1071. by order of the King who was jealous of the fidelity of those parts built a castle on the west-side of the City fortified with large trenches and rampires and in it r It was not built for a Parish-Church for the Oseney-Register
260 foot the height of the wooden part belonging to the same Belfrey 274 foot c. k Diana's Temple Some have fancy'd that a Temple of Diana formerly stood here and there are circumstances that back their conjecture as the old adjacent buildings being call'd in their Records Dianae Camera i.e. the Chamber of Diana the digging up in the Church-yard in Edward the first 's reign as we find by our Annals a great number of Ox-heads which the common people at that time not without great admiration lookt upon to be Gentile-sacrifices and the Learned know that the Tauropolia were celebrated in honour of Diana And when I was a boy I have seen a stagg's-head fixt upon a spear agreeable enough to the Sacrifices of Diana and carry'd about within the very Church with great solemnity and sounding of Horns And I have heard that the Stagg which the family of Baud in Essex were bound to pay for certain lands us'd to be receiv'd at the steps of the Quire by the Priests of this Church in their Sacerdotal robes and with garlands of flowers about their heads Whether this was a custom before those Bauds were bound to the payment of that Stagg I know not but certain it is this ceremony savours more of the worship of Diana and the Gentile-errours than of the Christian Religion And 't is beyond all doubt that some of these strange Rites crept into the Christian Religion which the primitive Christians either clos'd with out of that natural inclination mankind has to Superstition or bore with them a little in the beginning with a design to draw over the Gentiles by little and little to the true worship of God l However ever since this Church was built it has been the See of the Bishops of London and under the Saxons fifty years after the expulsion of Theonus the first Bishop it had was Melitus a Roman consecrated by Augustine Archbishop of Canterbury It was in honour to this Augustine that the Archiepiscopal * Insignia Dignity and the Metropolitical See were translated from London to Canterbury against the express order of Pope Gregory There are bury'd in this Church to say nothing of S. Erkenwald Persons buried in Paul's and the Bishops Sebba King of the East-Saxons who quitted his Crown for the sake of Christ and Religion Ethelred or Egelred who was rather an oppressor than governour of this kingdom the beginning of his reign barbarous the middle miserable and the end shameful he made himself inhuman by conniving at Parricide infamous by his cowardize and effeminacy and by his death miserable Henry Lacy Earl of Lincoln John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster Simon de Burley a famous Knight 17 A right noble Knight of the Garter executed by encroached authority without the King's consent J. de 18 Sir John de Bellocampo or Beauchamp Beauchamp Warden of the Cinque-Ports J. Lord Latimer Sir John Mason William Herbert Earl of Pembroke Nicholas Bacon Lord Keeper a person of great conduct and profound judgment Sir Philip Sidney and Sir Francis Walsingham most famous Knights c. and 19 Sir Christopher Hatton Christopher Hatton Lord High Chancellour of England to whose sacred and lasting memory his †Nepos nephew 20 Sir William Hatton William Hatton of the ancient family of the Newports but by him adopted into the name and family of the Hattons dutifully erected a magnificent monument becoming the dignity and high character of so great a Man m Besides this there is nothing of the Saxon work that I know of remains in London for 't was not long they had enjoy'd a settl'd peace when the West-Saxons subdu'd the East-Saxons and London fell into the hands of the Mercians And these civil wars were scarcely ended but presently a new northern storm breaks out namely that Danish one which miserably harrass these parts and gave a great blow to this city For the Danes got possession of it but Aelfred retook it and after he had repair'd it committed it to the government of his son-in-Law Aethelred Earl of the Mercians Notwithstanding after this those Plunderers did often besiege it especially Canutus who dugg a new chanel with a design to divert the Thames but they always lost their labour the citizens stoutly defending it against the assaults of the enemy But for all this they were under continual apprehensions till they joyfully receiv'd William the Norman and saluted him King whom Providence had design'd 21 The good of England against those spoilers for the Crown of England From that time the winds ceas'd the clouds scatter'd and the true golden age shone forth Since then it has not endur'd any signal calamity but by the bounty of our Princes obtain'd several immunities began to be call'd the ‖ Camerâ— Chamber of the Kings and has grown so in Trade ever since that William of Malmsbury who liv'd near that time calls it a City noble wealthy in every part adorn'd by the riches of the citizens and frequented by merchants from all parts of the world And Fitz-Stephens who liv'd in that age has told us that then London had 122 Parish-Churches and 13 belonging to * Conventuales Convents and that upon a muster made of all that were able to bear Arms it sent into the field forty thousand foot and twenty thousand horse Then it began to encrease on every side with new buildings and the suburbs round to stretch it self a long way from the city-gates n especially to the west where it is most populous Nurseries for Common Law or Inns of Court and has 12 Inns of Court for the study of our Common-Law Four of them very large and splendid belong †Ad â—â—â—ns sive â—â—am to the Judicial-Courts the rest to Chancery 22 Bâ—sides two Inns moreover for the Serjeants at Law In these there are such numbers of young Gentlemen attend the study of the Law that in this point they are no way inferiour to Angiers Caen or Orleans as 23 Sir John Fortescue J. Fortescue in his little Treatise of the Laws of England has told us Those four principal ones I mention'd Formerly call'd The New-Temple The Old-Temple where now Southamton house is in Holborn-Templâ—rs are the Inner-Temple the Middle-Temple Grays-Inn and Lincolns-Inn The two first are in the place where formerly in the reign of Henry 2. Heraclius Patriarch of Jerusalem consecrated a Church for the Knights Templars which was built after the model of the Temple near our Saviour's Sepulchre at Jerusalem For 24 At their first institution about A. D. 1113. there they liv'd in that part of the Temple next the Sepulchre and from it had their name being under a vow to protect the Christian Religion 25 The Holy Land and such as came in pilgrimage to the Sepulchre of our Lord against the Mahometans 26 Professing to live in Chastity and Obedience By which
means they gain'd great esteem and respect from all hands by the bounty of Princes 27 Devout people had large possessions and much wealth and flourisht in great reputation for their piety 28 Yea and in the opinion both of the holiness of the men and of the place King Henry 3. c. Upon one of those Monuments the characters whereof are obscure I read Comes Pembrochiae and on the side Mâ— eram â—â—â—tis Mâ— multoâ— vâ—cerat armâ—s The Statute concerning the Templars lands 17 Edw. 2. Many Noble-men were bury'd among them whose Images are to be seen in this Temple with their leggs across for so all those in that age were bury'd who had devoted themselves to the service of the Holy War or as those times worded it had taken up the Cross Among the rest were William 29 Marshal the elder a most powerful man in his time the father William and Gilbert the sons all Marshals of England and Earls of Pembroke 30 Upon William the elder his Tomb I some years since read in the upper part Comes Pembrochiae and upon the side this Verse Miles eram Martis Mars multos vicerat armis But 31 But in process of time when with insatiable greediness they had hoarded great wealth by withdrawing Tithes from Churches appropriating spiritual livings to themselves and other hard means their riches turned to their ruin For thereby their former piety was after a manner stiflâ—d they fell at jarr with other Religious Orders their professed Obedience to the Patriarch of Jerusalem was rejected envy among the common sort was prâ—cured which hope of gain among the better sort so enkindled that in the year of our Lord 1312. this Order was condemn'd for Impiety and by authority of the Pope utterly abolisht However their revenues by Act of Parliament went to the Knights-Hospitalers of St. John of Jerusalem lest what was given upon a Religious design contrary to the Will of the Doners should be turn'd to other uses Notwithstanding it appears plainly by ancient Records that after the Templars were driven out this place was the seat of Thomas Earl of Lancaster and of that 32 Sir Hugh Spencer Spenser who was a great favourite of King Edward the second as afterwards of 33 Sir Aimer de Valentia or Valence Audomar de Valentia Earl of Pembroke and at last it was turn'd into two †Collegia Inns for Lawyers Concerning the other two I have met with nothing upon record only there is a Tradition that one of them was the habitation of the Lords Grey 34 Of Wilton the other of the Earls of Lincoln Near these between the New and Old Temple King Henry the third built a House of Converts for the maintenance of those who turn'd from Judaism to Christianity which afterwards King Edward 3. made a place for the Rolls and Records upon which account it is at this day call'd the Rowles The Rowles o These Suburbs run along in a continu'd set of buildings and the stately houses of some of the Nobility upon the Thames as far as Westminster The most considerable of them are ‖ â—ride-well St. Bridgid's-Well where King Henry 8. built a Palace for the reception of the Emperour Charles the fifth but now it is a house of Correction Buckhurst-house 35 Or Salisbury Court belonging sometimes to the Bishops of Salisbury 36 The White Friers or c. the house of the Carmelites the Temples before-mention'd 37 Then without the Barrs Essex-house built by the Lord Paget Arundel-house 38 Before call'd Hampton-Place Somerset-house built by Seimor Duke of Somerset Next to pass by the rest the Savoy so call'd from Peter Earl of Savoy who liv'd in it which Eleanor wife of Henry 3. bought of the Fraternity of * Montis Joâ—â—s Montjoy and gave to her son Edmund Earl of Lancaster whose posterity had it for a seat a good while till Henry the seventh made it a †Pauperibâ—â— sacraâ— Hospital for the Poor 39 Worcester-house late Bedford-house Salisbury-house Durham-house built by Anthony Bec Bishop of Durham and Patriarch of Jerusalem 40 And thereby the only ornament of this part the Britain Burse built by the Earl of Salisbury and so nam'd of King James 1. York-house for so it has been call'd of late formerly 41 And Northampton-house now begun by Henry Earl of Northampton Bath house But what do I giving particular names to these †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which do not belong to any one but as Fortune disposes of them Westminster Wâ—â—tminâ—â—er formerly above a mile distant is now by these Suburbs joyn'd so close to London that it seems to be part of it notwithstanding 't is a distinct City of it self and enjoys its own Magistrates and Privileges Once it was call'd Thorney from the thorns now Westminster from its westerly situation and the minster For 't is particularly eminent for that Church for its Hall of Justice and the King's Palace The Church's greatest honour is deriv'd from the inauguration and burial of our Kings in it Sulcardus affirms that there once stood in that place a Temple of Apollo and that it was thrown down by an Earth-quake in the time of Antoninus Pius Out of the ruins whereof Sebert King of the East-Saxons built another to St. Peter which being destroy'd by the Danes was re-edify'd and granted to a few Monks by Bishop Dunstan But afterwards King Edward sirnam'd the Confessor built it anew out of the tenth peny of all his revenues for a burying place to himself and a Monastery to the Benedictine Monks endowing it with lands dispers'd here and there through all England But hear a cotemporary Historian The devout and pious King has dedicated that place to God both for its nearness to the famous and wealthy city for its pleasant situation among fruitful grounds and green fields and for the nearness of that principal river which from all parts of the world conveys whatever is necessary to the adjoyning City But above all for the love he bore to the Prince of the Apostles whom he always reverenc'd with a singular zeal and veneration he made choice of that for the place of his sepulchre Then he order'd a noble structure to be begun and built out of the tenths of his whole revenue such a one as might become the Prince of the Apostles that after the transitory course of this life he might find a propitious God both upon account of his piety and his free offering of those lands and ornaments with which he designs to enrich it Whereupon the work thus nobly begun is successfully carry'd on without sparing for either present or future charges so it may be made worthy of and acceptable to God and the Blessed Apostle Peter Please also to take the form of this ancient building out of an old Manuscript The * Principaâ— area body of
an ancient family but now of execrable memory for a most cruel and horrible plot never parallel'd in any age which Robert Catesby of Ashby St. Leger the dishonour of his family running headlong upon villanies gaping after the most detestable cruelties and impiously conspiring the destruction of his Prince and Country lately contriv'd under a specious pretext of Religion Of this let all ages be silent and let not the mention of it convey this scandal to posterity which we our selves cannot reflect on without horrour nay the dumb and inanimate Beings seem to be moved at the hainousness of such a villanous conspiracy Hard by is Fawesley Faweâ—â—â— where the Knightleys have long dwelt adorn'd with the honour of Knighthood descended from the more ancient family of Knightley of Gnowshall in Staffordshire And more eastward upon the Nen whose chanel as yet is but small stands Wedon on the street Wedâ—◠〈◊〉 the Street once the royal seat of Wolpher K. of the Mercians and converted into a Monastery by his daughter Werburg a most holy Virgin whose miracles in driving away Geese from hence some credulous writers have very much magnified I shou'd certainly wrong truth shou'd I not think tho' I have been of a contrary opinion that it is this Wedon which Antonine in his Itinerary calls Bannavenna Bennavenna Bennaventa Bannâ—â—na 〈◊〉 Isaâ—â—â—na 〈◊〉 naâ—â—â— and once corruptly Isannaventa notwithstanding there remain not now any express footsteps of that name so much does length of time darken and change every thing For the distance from the ancient Stations and Quarters on both sides exactly agrees and in the very name of Bannavenna the name of the river Aufona Avenna now Nen the head whereof is near it in some measure discovers it self Likewise a Military-way goes directly from hence northward with a Causey oft broken and worn away but most of all over-against Creke a village where of necessity it was joyn'd with bridges but elsewhere it appears with a high ridge as far as Dowbridge near Lilborne A little more northward I saw Althorp â—â—â—â—p the seat of the noted family of the Spencers Knights allied to very many Houses of great worth and honour out of which Sir Robert Spencer the fifth Knight in a continued succession a worthy encourager of virtue and learning was by his most serene Majesty K. James lately advanced to the honour of Baron Spencer of Wormleighton Hard by Althorp Holdenby-house 〈…〉 â—â—denby makes a noble appearance a stately and truly magnificent piece of building erected by Sir Christopher Hatton 〈◊〉 Christoâ—er Hatâ—◠〈◊〉 died 〈◊〉 1591. Privy Counsellour to Qu. Elizabeth Lord Chancellour of England and Knight of the Garter upon the lands and inheritance of his great grandmother heir of the ancient family of the Holdenbys for the greatest and last monument as himself afterwards was wont to say of his youth A person to say nothing of him but what is his due eminent for his piety towards God his love for his Country his untainted integrity and unparallel'd charity One also which is not the least part of his character that was always ready to encourage Learning Thus as he liv'd piously so he fell asleep piously in Christ Yet the monument the learned in their writings have rais'd to him shall render him more illustrious than that most noble and splendid tomb in St. Paul's Church London deservedly and at great charges erected to the memory of so great a person by Sir William Hatton Kt. his adopted son Beneath these places the Nen glides forward with a gentle small stream and is soon after encreas'd by the influx of a little river where at the very meeting of them the City called after the river Northafandon and in short Northampton â—orthampâ—â—n is so seated that on the west-side it is water'd with this river and on the south with the other Which I was of late easily induced to imagine the ancient Bannaventa but I err'd in my conjecture and let my confession atone for it As for the name it may seem to have had it from the situation upon the north-side of the Aufona The City it self which seems to have been all of stone is in it's buildings very neat and fine for compass large enough and wall'd about from which walls there is a noble prospect every way into a spacious plain Country On the west-side it hath an old Castle 10â—5 â—egister of Andrews beautiful even by it's antiquity built by Simon de Sancto Licio commonly call'd Senliz the first of that name Earl of Northampton who joyned likewise to it a beautiful Church dedicated to St. Andrew for his own sepulture and as 't is reported re-edified the town Simon the younger also his son founded without the town ‖ De Pratis De la Pree a Nunnery It seems to have lain dead and neglected during the Saxon Heptarchy neither have our Writers made any where mention of it in all those depredations of the Danes unless it was when Sueno the Dane with barbarous fury and outrage ravag'd all over England For then as Henry of Huntingdon reports it was set on fire and burnt to the ground In the reign of St. Edward there were in this City as we find in Domesday 60 Burgesses in the King 's Domain having as many Mansions of these in King William 1.'s time 14 lay waste and 47 remained Over and above these there were in the new Borough 40 Burgesses in the Domain of K. William After the Normans time it valiantly withstood the siege laid to it by the Barons during the troubles and slaughters with which they had then embroil'd the whole Kingdom Who being maliciously bent against King John for private and particular reasons did yet so cloak them with pretences of Religion and the common good â—â—â—rtitus 〈◊〉 that they termed themselves The Army of God and of Holy Church At which time they say that military work was made they call Hunshill But it stood not out with like success against Hen. 3. their lawful King as it did against those Rebels For when the Barons brought up and now inur'd to sedition begun a war against him in this place he made a breach in the wall and soon won it by assault After this as before also the Kings now and then held their Parliaments here for the conveniency of its situation as it were in the very heart of England and in the year of Christ 1460. a lamentable battel was here fought wherein such was the Civil division of England after the slaughter of many of the Nobility Richard Nevill Earl of Warwick took that most unfortunate Prince King Hen. 6. then a second time made Prisoner by his subjects To conclude the longitude of Northampton our Mathematicians make 22 deg 29 min. and the latitude 52 deg 13 min. d From hence the Nen hastens by Castle-Ashby where Henry Lord Compton has begun a very fine House near which is
designs took him off r In the late Civil wars being made a garrison it was almost ruin'd so that he left his project unfinish'd 22 And the old Castle defac'd The family of these Corbets is ancient and of great repute in this Shire and held large estates by fealty of Roger de Montgomery Earl of Shrewsbury about the coming in of the Normans viz. Roger Corbet the son held Huelebec Hundeslit Actun Fernleg c. Robert Corbet the son held lands in Ulestanston Corbet pranomen Rotlinghop Branten Udecot 23 And in later ages this family far and fairly propagated receiv'd encrease both of revenue and great alliance by the marriage of an heir of Hopton More to the south lies Arcoll Arcoll a seat of the Newports 24 Knights of great worship descended from the Barons Grey of Codnor and the Lords of Mothwy Knights and in its neighbourhood is Hagmond-Abbey Hagmond-Abbey which was well endow'd if not founded by the Fitz-Alanes Not much lower is pleasantly situated upon the Severn the Metropolis of this County risen out of the ruins of old Uriconium which we call Shrewsbury Shrewsbury and now a-days more softly and smoothly Shrowsbury Our Ancestors call'd it Scrobbes-byrig because the hill it stands on was well wooded In which sense the Greeks nam'd their Bessa and the Britains this city Penguerne that is the brow of Alders where likewise was a noble Palace so nam'd but how it comes to be call'd in Welsh Ymwithig by the Normans Scropesbery Sloppesbury and Salop and in Latin Salopia I know not unless they be deriv'd from the old word Scrobbes-berig differently wrested Yet some Criticks in the Welsh tongue imagine 't was call'd Ymwithig as much as Placentia from the Welsh Mwithau and that their Bards gave it that name because their Princes of Wales delighted most in this place It is situated upon a hill the earth of which is of a red-dish colour the Severn is here passable by two fair bridges and embracing it almost round makes it a Peninsula as Leland our Poet and Antiquary describes it Edita Pinguerni late fastigia splendent Urbs sita lunato veluti mediamnis in orbe Colle tumet modico duplici quoque ponte superbit Accipiens patriâ sibi linguâ nomen ab alnis Far off it's lofty walls proud Shrewsb'ry shows Which stately Severn 's crystal arms enclose Here two fair bridges awe the subject stream And Alder-trees bestow'd the ancient name 'T is both naturally strong and well-fortified by art for Roger de Montgomery who had it given him by the Conquerour built a Castle upon a rising rock i in the northern parts of this town after he had pull'd down about 50 houses whose son Robert when he revolted from King Hen. 1. enclos'd it with walls on that side where the Severn does not defend it k which were never assaulted that I know of in any war but that of the Barons against King John When the Normans first settl'd here 't was a well-built city and well frequented for as it appears by Domesday-book 25 In King Edward the Confessor's time it paid Gelt according to an hundred Hides In the Conquerour's time it paid yearly seven pounds c. it was tax'd 7 l. 16 s. to the King yearly There were reckon'd 252 Citizens 12 of whom were bound to keep guard when the Kings of England came hither and as many to attend him whenever he hunted which I believe was first occasion'd by one Edrick Sueona a Mercian Duke but a profligate villain who ſ An. Christi 1006. Flor. Wigorn. not long before had way-lay'd Prince Alfhelm and slain him as he was hunting At which time as appears by the same book there was t There are not now the least remains of any such custom a custom in this city That what way soever a woman marry'd if a widow she should pay to the King 20 shillings but if a virgin 10 shillings in what manner soever she took the husband But to return this Earl Roger not only fortify'd it but improv'd it much by other useful buildings both publick and private and founded a beautiful Monastery dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul and endow'd it liberally as he did likewise u The very marks of this Church are quite gone unless it was mistaken for St. Giles's yet standing in the same parish tho' ruinous and which some alledge was the ancient Parish-Church the Church-yard of it being yet their common place of burial St. Gregory's Church upon these conditions so a private history of this Monastery expresses it That when the Prebendaries thereof should die the Prebends should go to the Monks From which arose no small contest for the Prebendaries sons su'd the Monks to succeed their fathers in those Prebends and at that time Prebendaries and Clerks in England were not oblig'd to celibacy but it was customary for Ecclesiastical Benefices to descend hereditarily to the next of blood Prebends inheritable But this controversie was settled in Henry 1.'s reign That heirs should not inherit Ecclesiastical Benefices about which time laws were enacted obliging Clergy-men to celibacy Afterwards other Churches were here built and to pass by the Covents of Dominican Franciscan and Augustine Friers sounded by the Charltons Jenevills and Staffords there were two Collegiate Churches w Besides these there are two other Parish-Churches within the walls St. Alkman's and St. Julian's erected St. Chads with a Dean and ten Prebendaries and St. Mary's with a Dean and nine minor Prebends At this day 't is a fine City well inhabited of good commerce and by the industry of the Citizens their Cloath-manufacture and their trade with the Welsh very rich for hither all Welsh commodities are brought as to the common Mart of both Nations It 's Inhabitants art partly English partly Welsh they use both Languages and this must be mention'd in their praise that they have set up 25 A School wherein were more Scholars in number when I first saw it than any School in England one of the largest Schools in England for the education of youth for which Thomas Aston the first Head-School-master a man of great worth and integrity provided by his own industry a competent Salary l 26 It shall not now I hope be impertinent to note that when divers of the Nobility conspir'd against King Henry 4. with a purpose to advance Edmund Mortimer Earl of March to the Crown as the undoubtful and right heir whose father King Richard the second had also declar'd heir-apparent and Sir Henry Percy call'd Hot-Spur then addressed himself to give the assault to Shrewsbury c. At this city when Henry Percy the younger rebell'd against Henry the fourth and was resolutely bent to attack its walls which that King had made exceeding strong by a turn of Fortune he was prevented and his measures broken in a trice for the King himself was suddenly at his
the liver and spleen and the late Dr. Owen assured me that he found relief from it in the acutest fits of the stone Upon the death of William Herbert Earls continued the last Earl mention'd by our Author the honour of Earl of Pembroke descended to Philip Herbert who was also Earl of Montgomery and was succeeded by Philip his son After whose death William his son and heir succeeded and upon his death Philip Herbert half-brother to the last William At present Thomas of the same name enjoys the titles of Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery CARDIGANSHIRE THE shores being obliquely driven back towards the east from Octopitarum or St. David's promontory receive the sea into a vast bay much of the form of a half-moon on which lies the third Region of the Dimetae call'd by the English Cardiganshire in British Sir Aber Teivi and by Latin Writers Ceretica If any suppose it denominated from King Caratacus â—â—â—g Caraâ—â—â—â—â— his conjecture may seem to proceed rather from a fond opinion of his own than any authority of the Ancients And yet we read that the same renowned Prince Caratacus rul'd in these parts On the west towards the sea it is a champain country as also to the south where the river Teivi divides it from Caer-Mardhin-Shire But towards the east and north where it borders on Brecknock and Montgomeryshire there is a continued ridge of mountains but such as afford good pasturage for sheep and cattel in the valleys whereof are spread several lakes or natural ponds That this country was peopl'd formerly not with cities but small cottages may be gathered from that saying of their Prince Caratacus who when he was a captive at Rome having view'd the splendour and magnificence of that city said â—â—â—â—ras Seeing you have these and such like noble structures why do you covet our small cottages a However let us take a slight view of such places as are of any noted Antiquity 〈…〉 â—â—â—er 〈◊〉 The river Teivi call'd by Ptolemy Tuerobius corruptly for Dwr Teivi which signifies the Teivi water springs out of the lake Lhyn Teivi under the mountains already mention'd At first 't is retarded by the rocks and rumbling amongst the stones without any chanel takes its course through a very stony country near which the Mountaneers have at Ros a very great Fair 〈◊〉 Fâ—ir for cattel to Stratfleur â—â—râ—â—â—r â—â—â—a fâ—oâ—â— a Monastery heretofore of the Cluniack Monks encompass'd on all sides with high mountains From hence being receiv'd into a chanel it runs by Tre ' Gâron â—â—e ' Gââ—â—n 〈◊〉 Pheâ—â—â—â—â— and by Lhan Dhewi Brêvi a Church dedicated to the memory of St. David Bishop of Menevia and thence denominated Where in a full Synod he confuted the Pelagian heresie at that time reviving in Britain and that not only out of sacred Scripture but likewise by miracle for 't is reported that the ground on which he stood preaching mounted up to a hillock under his feet b Thus far and farther yet the river Teivi runs southward to Lhà n-Bedr â—â—â—â—-Bedr a small market-town From whence directing it's course to the west it makes a broader chanel and falling over a steep precipice a near Kil-Garan â—â—â—-Garan makes that Salmon-Leap I have already mention'd in Penbrokeshire For this river abounds with Salmon and was formerly the only river in Britain as Giraldus supposed that bred Beavers â—â—â—vers A Beaver is an amphibious animal having it's fore-feet like a dog's but footed behind like a goose of a dark gray colour and having an oblong flat cartilagineous tail which in swimming it makes use of to steer it's course Giraldus makes several remarks upon the subtilty of this creature but at this time there are none of them found here c Scarce two miles from this Kîl-Gâran lies Cardigan Cardigan call'd by the Britains Aber Teivi i.e. Teivi-mouth the chief town of this County fortified by Gilbert the son of Richard Clare but being afterwards treasonably surrender'd it was laid waste by RhÅ·s ap Gryffydh and the Governour Robert Fitz-Stephen Fitz Steven whom some call Stephanides taken prisoner who after he had remain'd a long time at the devotion of the offended Welsh for his life was at length releas'd but compell'd to resign into their hands all his possessions in Wales Whereupon he made a descent into Ireland though with a small army yet very successfully and was the first of the Normans who by his valour made way for the English-Conquest of that Kingdom From the mouth of Teivi the shore gradually retiring is wash'd by several rivulets Amongst them that which Ptolemy calls Stuccia Stuccia or the river Ystwyth at the upper end of the County deserves our notice the name whereof is still preserv'd by the common people who call it Ystwyth Near the source of this river there are Lead-mines d and where it is discharged into the sea is the most populous town of this whole County call'd Aber-Ystwyth which was also fortified with walls by the above-mention'd Gilbert Clare and defended a long time by Walter Beck an Englishman against the Welsh Not far from hence lies Lhan-Bà darn-Vawr i.e. Great St. Patern's who as we read in his life was an Armorican and govern'd the Church here by feeding and fed it by governing To whose memory a Church and Bishop's See was here consecrated but the Bishoprick as Roger Hoveden writes fell to decay long since for that the people had most barbarously slain their Pastor At the same place the river Rheidiol Rheidiol also casts it self into the Ocean having taken it's course from that very high and steep hill Plin-Lhymmon which terminates the north part of the County and pours forth besides this those two noble rivers we have already mention'd Severn and Wye Not very far from Aber-Å·stwyth the river DÅ·vy the boundary betwixt this County and Merionydhshire is also discharg'd into the Ocean The Normans had scarce setled their conquest in Britain when they assail'd this coast with a navy and that with good success For in the time of William Rufus they wrested the sea coasts by degrees out of the Welshmen's hands but granted most part of it to Kadŵgan ap Blèdhyn a most prudent Britain Lords of Cardigan a person of great interest throughout Wales and at the same time in much favour with the English But This Salmon-Leap is not at Kil-Garan but between Kennarth and Lhan Dugwydh his son Owen proving a rash young man and a hater of Peace and annoying the English and Flemmings who had lately settled there with continual excursions the unhappy father was depriv'd of his Inheritance and forced to suffer for the offences of his son who was also himself constrain'd to leave his native Country and to flee into Ireland King Henry the first granted this County of Cardigan to Gilbert Clare who planted Garisons therein and fortified several Castles But Kadŵgan with his son Owen being
Biwell which in the reign of King John was the Barony of Hugh Balliol for which he stood oblig'd to pay to the Ward of Newcastle upon Tine thirty Knights Services Below this Castle there is a most comely Weare A Weare for catching of Salmons and in the middle of the river stand two firm Pillars of stone which formerly supported a Bridge Hence Tine runs under Prudhow-Castle in old writings Prodhow Prudhow which is pleasantly seated on the ridge of a hill This till I am better inform'd I shall guess to be Protolitia Protolitia which is also written Procolitia and was the station of the first Cohort of the Batavi 'T is famous for gallantly maintaining it self in the days of Henry the second against the siege of William King of Scots who as Nubrigensis expresses it toil'd himself and his Army to no purpose Afterwards it belong'd to the l The first of this family I meet with was Gilbert of whom the Historian gives this honourable character Ipso quoque tempore i. Anno 1245. obiit quidam praeclarus Baro partium Angliae Borealium custos flos singularis scilicet Gilebertus de Humfranvilla parvulum quendam relinquâ—â— haeredem Cujus Custodiam statim concessit Rex Comiti Legrecestriae c. Sir Robert Umfravil was Sheriff of the county in the 46th and 51st years of Edw. 3. and in the 2d and 6th of Hen. 4. Another Sir Robert Umfravil a younger son I think to the said Sheriff was Vice-Admiral of England A. D. 1410. and brought such plenty of Prizes in cloth corn and other valuable commodities from Scotland that he got the by-name of Robin Mend-market J. Stow in Hen. 4. Umfranvils Umfranvils an eminent Family out of which Sir Gilbert a Knight in the reign of Edward the first was in right of his wife made Earl of Angus in Scotland The true heiress of the blood as our Lawyers express it was at length married into the family of the Talboys and after that this Castle was by the King's bounty conferr'd upon the Duke of Bedford But to return to the Wall Beyond S. Oswald's the Foundations of the two Forts which they call Castle-steeds are to be seen in the Wall and then a place call'd Portgate Portgate where as the word in both Languages fairly evinces there was formerly a Gate or Sally-port through it Beneath this and more within the Wall stands Halton-hall the present seat of the ancient and valourous family of the m This family has been a good while in this County William Carnaby Esq having been Sheriff of it in the 7th year of Hen. 6. But 't is likely it came from Carnaby near Bridlington in the East-Riding of York shire Carnabies and hard by Aidon-Castle which was part of the Barony of the fore-mention'd Hugh Balliol Now since a great many places on the Wall bear the name of Aidon Aidon and the same word in the British tongue signifies a Military Wing Ala militaris or Troop of Horse many whereof were as the Liber Notitiarum teaches us placed along the Wall let the Reader consider whether these places have not thence had their names as other Towns had that of Leon where Legions or whole Regiments were quarter'd However near this place was digg'd up a piece of an old stone wherein was drawn the pourtraiture of a Man lying on his bed leaning upon his left hand and touching his right knee with his right together with the following Inscriptions NORICI AN. XXX ESSOIRVS MAGNVS FRATER EIVS DVPL ALAE SABINIANAE M. MARI VS VELLI A LONG VS AQVI S HANC POSVIT V. S. L. M. Beyond the Wall rises the river Pont and running down by Fenwick-hall the seat of the eminent and valiant family of the Fenwicks Fenwick for some miles fronts the Wall and had its banks guarded by the first Cohort of the Cornavii at Pons Aelii Pons Aelii built by the Emperour Aelius Hadrianus and now called Pont-Eland Pont-eland Here Henry the third concluded a peace with the King of Scots in the year 1244. and near it the first Cohort of the Tungri lay at Borwick Borwick which the Notitia Provinciarum calls Borcovicus Borcovicus From Port-gate the Wall runs to Waltown which from the agreeableness of the name and its twelve miles distance from the eastern sea I take to be the same Royal Borough which Bede calls n In the Saxon at wallâ— Ad murum Ad mâ—â—â—â— where Segebert King of the East-Saxons was baptiz'd into the Christian Church by o Holland rightly observes that Sigebert was baptiz'd by Finanus who also at the same place baptiz'd Peada King of the Mercians together with his whole train of Courtiers and Attendants Bede lib. 3. cap. 21. Paulinus Near this is a Fort call'd Old Winchester Oâ—d â—â—â—chester which I readily believe to be Vindolana Vinâ—oâ—â—â—â— where as the Liber Notitiarum says the fourth Cohort of the Galli kept a Frontier-garrison Thence we went to Routchester where we met with evident remains of a square Camp joyning close to the Wall Near this is Headon which was part of the Barony of p In an original Charter dated the first year of K. Stephen conveying some Lands to the Church of Winchester subsign'd by a great many Barons we have Signum Walteri de Bolebec Bar. Seld. Tit. of Hon. par 2. c. 5. p 571. One Isabel de Bolebec Countess of Oxford first founded a Covent of Dominicans in that City for which the University had no reason to reverence her memory Hugh de Bolebec who by the mother B â—â—â—y 〈◊〉 was descended from the noble Barons of Mont-Fichet and had no other issue than daughters marry'd to Ralph Lord Greistock J. Lovell Huntercomb and Corbet And now near the meeting of the Wall and Tine Nâ—wcaâ—â—â—â— upâ—n 〈◊〉 stands Newcastle the glory of all the Towns in this Country 'T is enobled by a Haven on the Tine which is of that depth as to carry vessels of very good burthen and of that security that they are in no hazard of either storms or shallows g It s situation is climbing and very uneven on the northern bank of the river which is cross'd by a very fair bridge As you enter the town from hence you have on the left hand the Castle overtopping you and thereafter a very steep brow of a hill On the right you have the Market-place and the best built part of the Town from which to the upper and far larger part the ascent is a little troublesome 'T is beautified with four Churches r and defended by exceeding strong walls wherein are seven gates and a great many turrets What it was anciently is not yet discover'd I am very inclinable to think 't was Gabrosentum since Gateshead which is as it were its suburbs is a word of the same signification with that British name deriv'd from Goats as has been
Hamilton Earl of Abercorne Just by stands Blackness Castle Blackneâ—â— and beneath that southward the ancient City of Lindum which Ptolemy takes notice of by the learned call'd yet Linlithquo Linlithquâ— but commonly Lithquo adorn'd with a fine House of the Kings a noble Church and a Lake plentifully stock'd with Fish from which Lake it seems to derive its name for Lin as I hinted before in British sounds as much as Lake Eâ—rl of Linâ—â—thquo It had formerly an Hereditary Sheriff of the House of Hamilton of Peyle but its first Earl in our memory was Alexander Levingston advanc'd by K. James 6. from the dignity of a Baron which his Ancestors had long been honour'd with to that of an Earl as a little after Mark Ker Baron of Newbottle was to the title of Earl of q Lothian Earl of Lothiaâ— f * â—ee mâ—â—â— of it inâ—â— the Adâ—â—tions Additions to the GADENI a WHether the People inhabiting those four Counties mentioned by our Author were call'd Gadeni and Ladeni is a point not so universally agreed upon Indeed they seem to be no other than those call'd by Mr. Camden according to different Copies Ottadini Ottadeni and Ottalini and by that Learned Gentleman Drummond of Hawthernden Scottedeni upon a supposition that the initial letters Sc. were probably either quite gone or so obscur'd as not to be legible by which means the Transcribers might be drawn into an error However that they are to be carried farther Northward than Northumberland to which Mr. Camden has confin'd them is plain from Ptolemie's fixing that Curia the place remarkable amongst them in the 59th degree of latitude And in a village in Mid-Lothian call'd Cutrie there seem to be plain remains of the old Curia as there are of the Ottadeni Scottedeni c. in Caer Eden now call'd Carriden in West-Lothian where was found a Medal of Titus Vespasian in gold with some Roman Urns and a Stone with the Head of an Eagle engraven upon it Dun-Eden also the ancient name of Edenburgh seems to point out to us that ancient People and to prove that their bounds extended as far as the water of Eden calld yet by some Eden-water About the mouth whereof at a place called Inner-Even are yet to be seen some remains of ancient Buildings b The Shire of TEVIOTDALE Teviotdale comprehending under it Lidesdale Eusdale and Eskdale is in length from Reddinburn on the east to Anandale on the west about 30 miles and the breadth from the border to the blue Cairn in Lawdermoor about 14 or 15. It is a good soil extraordinary well mixt with Grass and Corn and water'd with several rivulets that run into Tiot and Tweed The Valley-grounds abound with Corn short of few Shires in Scotland for the goodness of the grain so that great quantities of it are frequently transported into England Free-stone and Lime they have in great abundance The high grounds are furnish'd with excellent grass and produce great store of cattel of all kinds and of the best broods in Scotland both for largeness and goodness Nor does this County want it's remains of Roman Antiquity for here are some vestigia of their encampments and a military way runs from Hownam to Tweed call'd the Roman Causey and by the vulgar the Rugged Causey The Mountains Mountains most eminent in it are Cokraw from which there runs a tract of hills westward dividing Scotland from England which are only passable at some places There is another tract of hills going from Harewell which run along to Craucross being 12 miles and in the body of the Shire are Rueburgh-Law Mynto-hill and Hadinton-hills They have the Regalities Râ—galiâ—â— of Jedburgh-forest belonging to the Marquiss of Douglas the Regality of Hawick belonging to Bacleugh and the Regality of Melross in the person of the Earl of Hadington Several ancient Families of Gentlemen inhabit this County and those of very considerable Estates The Sherifdom for 't is governed by a Sheriff is in the Family of Douglas Sir William Douglas of Kevers being hereditary Sheriff In this Shire they have 3 Presbyteries Presbyâ—â—ries Jedburgh Kelso and Melross Within this compass our Author likewise includes the Shire of Peebles Peeblâ—â— or Tweedale so call'd from the river Tweed which rising at a place called Tweed's cross runs east the whole length of the Shire and for the most part with a swift stream 'T is bounded on the east with Etrick forest on the south with part of the Forest St. Mary Lough and Anandale on the west with the overward of Clidesdale and on the north with part of Caldermoor the head of North Esk and Mid-Lothian In length it is 26 miles and where broadest does not exceed 16. In which compass are 17 Parish Churches that make up a Presbytery call'd The Presbytery of Peebles The Countrey is generally swell'd with hills many of which are green and grassy with pleasant and fertil valleys between well watered and adorned with Gentlemen's houses Their grain is generally oats and barley and as for planting they have little of it except about the houses of the Gentry The Head Burgh of the Shire is Peebles Peeblâ—â— a Burgh Royal seated in a pleasant plain on the side of the river with a stately bridge of five arches over the Tweed and a fine Church As to Antiquity the place called Randall's-trenches Randâ—â—â— trenchâ—â— seems to have been a Roman Camp and there is a Causey leads from it for half a mile together to the town of Lyne Next to Peebles our Author barely mentions Selkirk Selkâ—râ— which yet is a Sherifdom called otherwise The Sherifdom of Etrick forest because formerly it was wholly covered with woods which were well furnished with Harts Hinds and Fallow Deer but now they are in a great measure destroyed On the north 't is bounded partly by Tweedale and partly by the Regality of Stow in Mid-Lothian on the east and south by Teviot-dale and on the west partly by Teviotdale and partly by Annandale The body of the Shire is very near Quadrangular and the Diameter every way about 16 miles The Inhabitants have generally strong bodies being sober and frugal in their diet and living mostly by feeding of Cattle whereby they do not only support themselves but maintain a good Trade in England with their Wooll Sheep Cows c. c As the MERS Mers has its present name from being the boundary or march between England and Scotland so was it also call'd Berwickshire because the town of Berwick was formerly the chief burrough thereof which was afterwards given away by King James the third upon capitulation for redemption of Alexander Duke of Albany But if we may believe some Scotch Authors one more ancient than either of these was Ordolucia and that of the Inhabitants Ordolutae a branch of the Scottedeni It is the south-east Shire of all Scotland bordering upon the sea and divided from Berwick by
confiscated by Act of Parliament The head city of this county is Limerick encompass'd by the Shanon a famous river which divides its stream and embraces it The Irish call it Å¿ Louminagh is the name Loumeagh Limeâ—ick L umeagh the English Limerick It is a Bishop's See and the great mart of this Province of Munster first taken by Reimund le Gross an Englishman the son of William Girald afterwards it was burnt by Duvenald a petty King of Thuetmond At last it was given in fee to Philip Breos an Englishman and King John fortified it with a castle At present t is reputed two towns the upper for so they call it where stands the cathedral and the castle has two gates which give entrance to it and each of them a fair stone bridge leading to them strengthen'd with bulwarks and little draw-bridges one of which leads Westward the other East The lower town which is joyned to this is fortified with a wall and castle and a fore-gate at the entrance More to the East stands Clan-William Clan-William so called from a family of that name descended from the House de Burgo which the Irish call Bourk who inhabit it Of this family was that William who slew James Fitz-Moris the plague and firebrand of this country upon whom Queen Elizabeth conferr'd the title and honour of Baron of Castle-Conel where Richard Rufus Earl of Ulster Baron â—f Castâ—e-Coneâ— had fortified the Castle together with a yearly pension in recompense for his bravery and the loss of his sons slain in that conflict In the South part of this county stands t Killmalock Kil-mallo next in dignity to Limerick both in respect of plenty and populousness and walled round Likewise Adare a little town fortified heretofore situate upon the same river which straightways from thence runs into the Shanon near which stands u This is now in the County of Cork Clan Gibbon Clâ—n Gibbâ—n the Lord whereof John Fitz-Girald called John Oge Fitz-John Fitz-Gibbon and from the grey hair of his head the white Knight was banished by Act of Parliament But by the clemency of Queen Elizabeth his son was restored to the whole estate The most noted and eminent in this tract besides these Bourks and Fitz-Giralds are the Lacies the Browns the Hurleys the Chacys the Sapells the Pourcells all of English extraction the Mac-Shees and the Mac-brien O Brians c. of Irish extraction The County of TIPPERARY THE County of Tipperary is bounded on the west with that of Limerick and the river Shanon on the east with the County of Kilkenny on the south with the Counties of Cork and Waterford and on the north with the territory of the O Carolls The south part is very fruitful produces much corn and is well built The west part of it is water'd by the long course of the river Glason Emely not far from the bank whereof stands Emely or Awn a Bishop's See and by report a very populous and well frequented city heretofore The Sewer or Swire a noble river which rises at Badin-hill runs through the middle of it and so through the lower Ossery Lower-Ossâ—ry which by the bounty of King Henry the 8th gave the title of Earl to the Butlers and then through Thurles which gave them the title of Viscounts from whence it passes by Holy-Cross a famous Abby heretofore which makes the Country about it to be commonly called the County of the Holy Cross of Tipperary The County of the holy Cross of Tipperary The wood of the Cross This Abby enjoys certain privileges granted in honour of a piece of Christ's Cross preserv'd there The whole world says St. Cyrill is fill'd with pieces of this Cross and yet as Paulinus says by a constant miracle it hath never been diminished This was the belief and opinion of Christians in ancient times And it is incredible what a concourse of people do still out of devotion throng hither as to a holy place For this nation does yet firmly persevere in the religion of their fore-fathers which is now grown in more reputation than ever by the neglect and ignorance of their Bishops for there is none here to instruct them otherwise Cassil From hence the Swire passes by Cassil adorn'd with an Archbishop's See by Eugenius the third Bishop of Rome with many suffragan Bishops under it and so forward making many Islands as it runs along till it encompasses Cahir-Castle which has its Baron one of the family of the Butlers raised to that honour by Queen Elizabeth But his son proving disloyal was thereupon attainted the castle being taken by the Earl of Essex in the year 1599 and he himself committed From whence it runs by Clomell Clomell a market town of good resort and well fortified and also by Carick Mac-Griffin situated upon a rock from which it takes its name the habitation of the Earls of Ormond which with the honour of Earl of Carrick was granted by King Edward the 2d to Edmund Boteler or Butler Here it leaves Tipperary Earl of Caâ—rick Annâ— 9. Edw. 2. and becomes a boundary to the Counties of Waterford and Kilkenny Thus much concerning the south part of this County That northward is but barren and mountaneous twelve of the hills here are huddled together and over-top the rest these they call Phelem-ge-Modona This north part is call'd in Latin Ormondia Ormondia Butlers Earls of Oâ—mandâ—â— in Irish Orwowon that is The front of Mounster in English Ormond and by many very corruptly Wormewood It s glory is from its Earls who have been many since James Butler a The heir of this noble family is now Duke of Ormond both in England and Ireland to whom and his heirs King Edw. the third gave this title for term of life Anno 2. Ed. 3. together with the royalties and other liberties as also the Knights-fees in the County of Tipperary which by the favour of the Kings of England his posterity still enjoy Earl f Tipperary Hence this County is reputed Palatine and he has been call'd by some the Earl of Tipperary The ancestors of this James were heretofore Butlers of Ireland an honourable office from which they derive the name of Le Boteler or Butler Those of this family were nearly related to Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury being descended from his sister After his murder they were translated into Ireland by King Hen. the 2d who hoped to redeem his credit in the world by preferring his relations to wealth and honours The first Earl of Ormond in this family was James son of Edmund Earl of Carrick who married the daughter of Humphry Bohun Earl of Hereford by a daughter of King Edw. the first and this was their first step towards honour Hereupon his son James was commonly called by the people the noble Earl The fifth Earl of this family not to be particular in the account of them had the
into the Neor upon which stands the third Burrough-town of this County that takes the name Kallan from it and also Inis-Teag Inis-Teag a fourth The family of the Butlers spreads its branches almost all over this Country and has flourish'd in great honour being for their eminent virtues dignified with the title of Earls of Ormond Wiltshire in England and as it is already said of Ossery Besides the Earl of Ormond Viscount Thurles and Knight of the Garter there are of this family the Viscount Mont-Garret the Viscount Tullo the Barons de Dunboyn and Cahyr with many other noble branches The rest that are eminent in these parts are also of English original the Graces the Walshes Levels Foresters Shortels Blanch-felds or Blanchevelstons Drilands Comerfords c. The County of CATERLOGH THE County of Caterlogh by contraction Carlogh bounds upon Kilkenny on the east lying wholly in a manner between these two rivers the Barrow and the Slane The soil is fruitful and well shaded with woods It contains two towns considerable more eminent than the rest both situate upon the west of the Barrow the one Caterlogh about which Leonel Duke of Clarence begun to build a wall and Bellingham that famous and excellent Lord Deputy of Ireland built a strong Castle for the defence of it The other is Leighton in Latin Lechlinia where was formerly a Bishop's See now annex'd to the Bishoprick of Farnes These towns have both of them their Wards and Constables to govern them The greatest part of this County belonged by inheritance to the Howards The Stat. of Absenties Dukes of Norfolk descended by the Earls of Warren from the eldest daughter of William Marshall Earl of Pembroke but King Henry the eight by Act of Parliament had all the lands and possessions granted him either belonging to him and the other Gentry or to the Monasteries here in England b See the County of Waterford the last paragraph because that by their absence and neglect of private affairs there they had endangered the publick interest From hence the Barrow runs through the Barony of Ydron Baron Ydron which belonged to the Carews of Devonshire 13 For Sir John Carew an English Knight died sâ—isâ—d thereof in the time of King Edward 3. ever since Sir N. Carew an English Knight married the daughter of Digo an Irish Baron which has since our memory been recovered after a long usurpation by Peter Carew Upon the river Slane stands Tullo memorable for Theobald Butler brother's son to the Earl of Ormond who was lately honoured with the title of Viscount Tullo by King James The Cavanaughs Cavanaghs are very numerous in these parts descended from Duvenald a younger son or Bastard as some say of Dermot the last King of Leinster warlike men and famous for their good horsemanship and though very poor at this day yet of as much honour and generosity as their forefathers Upon the account of some slaughters which many years ago they committed upon one another they live in a state of war at this day Some of these being trusted by the English to manage their possessions in these parts about King Edward the second 's time usurp'd all to themselves assuming the name of O-More O-Moâ— From 〈◊〉 book oâ— Patricâ— Fingâ—â— and taking the Toles and Brens into their confederacy by which means they dispossess'd the English of all that territory between the Caterlogh and the Irish-Sea Among these the river Neor joins the Barrow and after they have travell'd some miles together in one stream they quit their names and present that with their waters to their eldest sister the Swire which empties it self soon after from a rocky mouth into the sea where on the left there is a little narrow-neck'd promontory upon which stands a high tower built by the merchants of Rosse while they flourished to direct their vessels into the river-mouth Hooktowâ—â— QVEENS-COVNTY TOwards the north-west above Caterlogh lies a woody boggy tract call'd in Irish the Lease Lease in English the Queens-County which Queen Mary by her Minister Thomas Ratcliff Earl of Sussex and Lord Deputy at that time first reduced into a County Hence the chief town is call'd Mary-Burgh Mary-Burgh defended by a garison under the command of a Seneschal who with much ado keeps off the O-mores pretending to be Lords of it as also the Mac-Gilpatricks the O-Dempsies and others a mischievous and unquiet sort of people who are daily conspiring against the English and endeavouring to free themselves from their laws At the first coming of the English into these parts Meilere was sent hither to subdue this wild and hostile part of the country Hugh Lacy Lord Deputy built a castle at Tahmelio for him as also another at Obowy a third upon the river Barrow and a fourth at Norrach Among others also he fortified Donemaws Donemawâ— an ancient castle situate in the most fruitful part of this territory which fell to the Breoses Lords of Brecknock by Eva the youngest daughter of William Mareshall Earl of Pembrook Where also the Barrow rising out of Slew-Blomey-hills westward after a solitary course through the woods sees the old city Rheba Rhebâ— a name it stiâ—l preserves entire in its present one Rheban though instead of a city 't is now only the reliques of one consisting of some few cottages and a fort However it gives the title of Baronet to that noble Gentleman N. of S. Michael commonly called the Baronet of Rheban Baroâ— Rhebâ—â— The KING's-COVNTY AS the Queen's County aforesaid was so named from Queen Mary so the adjacent little County on the north divided by the river Barrow and called heretofore Offalie was term'd in honour of Philip King of Spain her husband the King's County as likewise the head-town in it Philips-town Philips-town where there is a garison a Seneschal and several noble families of the English the Warrens Herberts Colbies Mores and the Leicesters of the Irish the family of O-conor to whom a great part of it formerly belong'd as also of Mac Coghlam and O maily Fox and others who stoutly defend this and the other possessions left them here by their ancestors while the natives complain that the estates of their families are took from them and no other possessions in lieu assigned them to live upon For this reason they break out into rebellion upon every occasion and annoy the English with great outrage and cruelty The County of KILDAR THE County of Kildar lies along like a foreland to the King and Queen's Counties on the east very rich and fruitful Giraldus Cambrensis applies those verses of Virgil to the pastures of it Et quantum longis carpunt armenta diebus Exiguâ tantum gelidus ros nocte reponit What in long days the browzing cattle crop In the short nights the fertil dew makes up The a The Shire-town at this day is Nans near which at Sigginstowne Thomas
these are most a It is not so at this day but on the contrary is as safe and secure as any part of Ireland sadly infested with those pernicious people the O-Tooles and O-Birnes Among these Glynnes lays the Bishoprick of Glandilaugh which has been desolate and forsaken ever since it was annexed to the Archbishoprick of Dublin In other parts this County is very well town'd and peopled and surpasses all other Provinces of Ireland for improvement and beauty 't is divided into five Baronies Rathdown Newcastle Castle-Knoc Cowloc and Balrodry which I cannot as I should indeed desire give a particular account of because I am not well acquainted with the extent and bounds of them First therefore I will only glance along the sea-coast and then follow the rivers as their course leads me into the inner parts of this County none of which are twenty miles distant from the shore To begin in the south the first place we meet with upon the coast is Wicklo Wâ—â—â—lo 〈◊〉 a Coâ—ty 1606. where is a narrow haven with a rock hanging over it enclosed with good walls instead of a Castle which as other Castles of this Kingdom is prohibited by Act of Parliament to be commanded by any one as Governor that is not an English man by reason those Irish men that have bore that charge heretofore have to the damage of the Government either made ill defence in case of an assault or suffered prisoners to escape by their connivance But let us hear what Giraldus says of this port who calls it Winchiligillo There is a port at Winchiligillo on that side of Ireland next Wales which receives the tide every high water and ebbs with the sea and though the sea has gone back and quite left it yet the river which runs into the sea here is all along as it goes salt and brackish Next upon the top of a hill by the sea-side stands New-castle whence may be seen those shelves of sand call'd the Grounds which lye along for a great way upon this coast yet between them and the shore the water is said to be seven fathom deep A little higher where the b It is the bound between the Counties of Dublin and Wicklow so that the part already described south of that river is comprehended in the County of Wicklow Bray a small river runs into the sea stands Old Court â—ld Court the estate of the Wallenses or Walshes of Caryckmain a family not only ancient and noble but very numerous in these parts Next to this is Powers Court â—wers â—â—â—rt formerly as the name it self shews belonging to the Poers a very large castle till Tirlaugh O Toole in a rebellion overthrew it From the mouth of the Bray the shore runs in and admits a bay within that compass where at the very turn of the * Cubiti elbow lyes the little Island of S. Benedict which belongs to the Archbishop of Dublin This bay is call'd Dublin-haven into which runs the Liffy 〈◊〉 v. Lifâ—â—y Giâ—ius Aâ—â— Liff the noblest river of this County though the spring of it be but fifteen miles from the mouth the course of it is so winding and crooked that first it goes south by S. Patricks land and then west after that it plies northward watering the County of Kildare and at length eastward by Castle Knoc heretofore the Barony of the Terils whose estate by females was transferr'd to other families about the year 1370 and by Kilmainam formerly belonging to the Knights of the order of S. John of Jerusalem now converted to a place of retirement for the Lord Deputy This Liffy is certainly mentioned in Ptolemy though the Librarians have carelesly depriv'd it of its proper place For this river Libnius is describ'd in the present editions of Ptolemy to lye in the same latitude in the other part of the Island whereas there is really no such river and therefore now if the reader pleases let it be re-call'd from exile and restored to its Eblana Of it thus Necham Viscera Castle-Knoc non dedignatur Aven-Liff Istum Dublini suscipit unda maris Nor thee poor Castle-Knock does Liffy scorn Whose stream at Dublin to the Ocean 's born For Dublin is but seven miles distant from the mouth of it eminent and memorable above all the Cities of Ireland the same which Ptolemy calls Eblana Eblana Dublin we Develin the Latins Dublinium and Dublinia the Welsh Dinas Dulin the Saxons Duflin the Irish Balacleigh that is a town upon Hurdles for so they think the foundation lyes the ground being soft and quaggy as was Sevill in Spain which Isidore reports to be so call'd because it stood upon pales fastned in the ground which was loose and fenny As for the antiquity of Dublin I have met with nothing that I can positively say of it that the City must needs be very ancient I am satisfy'd upon Ptolemy's authority Saxo Grammaticus makes it to have been sadly shatter'd in the Danish wars afterwards it sell under the subjection of Edgar King of England as his Charter already mentioned testifies 21 Wherein he calleth it the noble City of Ireland Next the Norwegians got possession of it and therefore in the life of Gryffith ap Cynan Prince of Wales we read that Harald the Norwegian after he had subdu'd the greatest part of Ireland built Dublin This Harald seems to be that * Pulchricomus Har-fager first King of Norway whose pedigree stands thus in the life of Gryffith From Harald descended * Other wise call'd Abloâ—eus Anlasus and Olanus Auloed from Auloed another of the same name This Auloed had Sitric King of Dublin Sitric had a son Auloed whose daughter Racwella was mother to Gryffith ap Cynan born at Dublin while †Thirdelacus Tirlough reign'd in Ireland This by the by At length upon the first arrival of the English in Ireland Dublin was soon taken and gallantly defended by them when Ausculph Prince of Dublin and afterwards Gothred Prince of the Isles fiercely assaulted it on all sides A little after an English Colony was transplanted from Bristol hither by King Henry the second giving them this City which was perhaps at that time drain'd of Inhabitants in these words with all the liberties and free customs which those of Bristol enjoyed From that time it flourished more and more and in many doubtful and dangerous circumstances has shown great instances of its loyalty to the Kings of England This is the Royal City of Ireland and the most noble * Emporium Mart wherein the chief Courts of Judicature are held The City is well wall'd neatly built and very populous c Dublin is more tâ—an as big again as it was when Camden wrote the buildings much more supmtuous and the City every way much more glorious and magnificent An old writer describes it to be noble for its many Inhabitants very pleasantly situated Joscelinus de Furnesiâ— In the life
of S. Patrick l. 2. rerum Anglicarum cap 26. and well supplied with fish from the river as it runs into the sea here famous for trade and for those sweet plains oaky woods and fine parks so entertaining about it Thus also William of Newborow Divelin a maritime City is the metropolis of Ireland it enjoys the benefit of a famous harbor and for trade and concourse of merchants rivals London It s situation is particularly pleasant and wholsome having hills on the south plains on the west and sea just the by it on the east and and the river Liffy on the north where ships ride safely Upon the river there are Kaies as we call them or certain works made to break the violence of the water For Caiare among the ancients signified to restrain Ad Auson lib. â— c. 22. check or hinder as the most learned Scaliger has observed Here the City wall well built of free stone begins fortified on the south with rampiers it has six gates which open into large suburbs on all sides The access on the south is by Dammes-gate near which stands the King's castle upon a rising well fortified with ditches and towers and provided with a good Arsenal built by Henry Loundres the Archbishop about the year 1220. In that suburb on the east side near St. Andrew's Church Henry the second King of England as Hoveden says caused a royal palace 22 Or rather banqueting-house to be built of smooth wattles very curious after the manner of this Country and here with the Kings and Princes of Ireland he kept a Chrstmas-day in great solemnity Over against it stands a fine College on the same spot where Alhallows Allhallows Monastery heretofore stood dedicated to the Indivisible and Holy Trinity endow'd with the privileges of an University by Queen Elizabeth of blessed memory Univâ—rsity b gun and foundâ—d in 1591 May 13. S ud n s â—dmiâ—ted in the year 1593. for the education of youth and lately furnished with a good Library which gives no small hopes that Religion and Learning will after a long exile return to Ireland formerly the seat of the Muses to which foreigners resorted as to the great Mart of liberal arts and sciences 1320. L. MS. of Baron Houth In the reign of Edward the second Alexander Bicknor Archbishop of Dublin having obtained from the Pope the privileges of an University for this place and instituted publick Lectures first began to recall them but this laudable design was broken by the turbulent times that followed The north gate opens towards the bridge which is arched and built of * F. vivo Saxo. free stone by King John who joyned Oustman-town to the City For here the Oustmanni which Giraldus says came from Norway and those Northern Islands setled according to our Histories about the year 1050. In this suburbs stood formerly the famous Church of S. Mary de Oustmanby for so 't is call'd in King John's Charter and also a House of Black Friers whither the King's Courts of Judicature were lately transferr'd On the west part of Dublin there are two gates Ormonds-gate and Newgate which is the common Gaol both leading to the longest suburb of this City named St. Thomas where stands also a noble Abbey of the same name called Thomas Court Thomas Court founded and endowed with large revenues by King Henry the second to expiate for the death of Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury On the south we enter by S. Paul's gate and that call'd S. Nicholas opening into S. Patrick's suburb where stands the Palace of the Archbishop known by the name of S. Sepulcher with a stately Church dedicated to S. Patrick very fine within for its stone pavements and arch'd roof and without for its high steeple 'T is uncertain when this Church was first built but that Gregory King of Scots about the year 890 came in pilgrimage to it is plain from the Scotch history Afterwards it was much enlarged by King John and made a Church of Prebends by John Comy Archbishop of Dublin which was confirmed by Coelestine the third Bishop of Rome in the year 1191. After that again Henry Loundres his successor in this See of Dublin augmented the dignities of the Parsonages Pâ—rsonatuum as the words of the founder are and made it conformable to the immunities orders and customs of the Church of Salisbury At present it consists of a Dean a Chanter a Chancellor a Treasurer two Archdeacons and twenty two Prebendaries Stat. Parl. 18 Hen. 8. c. 15. the only light and lamp not to conceal a very noble Character which a Parliament of this Kingdom gave it of all pious and Ecclesiastical discipline and order in Ireland Here is also another Cathedral Church in the very heart of the City dedicated to the Holy Trinity but commonly call'd Christ's Temple Concerning it's foundation we have this passage in the Archives of that Church Sitric King of Dublin son of Ableb Count of Dublin gave a piece of ground to the Holy Trinity and to Donatus the first Bishop of Dublin to build a Church on in honour of the Holy Trinity and not only that but gold and silver also sufficient for that design and to finish the whole * Curâ—â— Church-yard This was done about the year 1012 at which time Lancarvanensis affirms that Sitric son of Abloie so he calls him flourished The work was begun by Donatus but carry'd on and finish'd by Laurence Archbishop of Dublin Richard Strongbow Earl of Pembroke commonly call'd Comes Striguliae whose tomb repair'd by 23 Sir Henry Henry Sidney Lord Deputy is to be seen here Robert Fitz-Stephens and Reimond Fitz-Girald On the south side of the Church stands the Town-hall built of square stone and call'd Tolestale Tolâ—stalâ— where Causes are try'd before the Mayor and where sessions and publick meeting of the Citizens are often held The City enjoys many privileges Formerly it was govern'd in chief by a Provost but in the year 1409 King Henry the fourth gave them the privilege of choosing every year a Mayor with two Bailiffs and of carrying a guilt sword before him Afterward King Edward the sixth changed these Bailiffs into Sheriffs There is nothing wanting to the grandeur and happiness of this City but the removal of those heaps of sand that by the flux and reflux of the sea are wash'd up into the mouth of the river Liffy and hinder great ships from coming up but at high water Thus much for Dublin the account whereof I confess to be mostly owing to the diligence and knowledge of James Usher Chancellor of S. Patricks whose variety of Learning and soundness of Judgment are infinitely beyond his years As for Robert Vere earl of Oxford whom Richard the second who was profuse in bestowing titles of honour made Marquiss of Dublin Maâ—qâ—â—â—â— of Dubâ—â—â— and afterwards Duke of Ireland I have took notice of him before and need not report it here